It's Been Too Long, but I'm Back!

Okay, this blogging thing requires dedication and some sit down time and as you can tell I haven’t been good at either. I was so ready to blog last year and share my experiences teaching abroad that I started living and found that sitting down and actually writing about what I was doing became a second hand thought. So, here I am sitting at my computer with thousands of pictures and some very interesting stories that are dying to be told, and I owe it to you and myself to find some dedication.

It’s 2011 and I first came to Korea in 2009. I have been here, completed my first contract, and extended it twice, gone home and started my second contract, which I have been on for four months now. So, guess you can say I have adapted to living abroad, or at least I have adjust enough to keep doing it until I find something else I like doing more. Either way I am in Korea and doing what I love, traveling and seeing the world. And all that doing what I love stuff comes with some very interesting experiences, life lessons, new and different people, and plain old comedy from time to time. However, I wouldn’t trade the life I have, even with the most difficult experiences, for anything in the world. Ok, maybe a bathtub and a nice clean upscale apartment with a picture view, but hey I guess I’ll get back there again one day, just not today. I have too much stuff to see and do.

So, I will promise you this, I will dedicate the time and energy to release some of what has happened over the last year, going on two, along with some of what is happening if you promise to keep reading. Is that a deal? If so, I’ll even start by leaving some recent photos and begin with my latest adventure, China and Lunar New Year. Stay tune the stories are coming and if you like them tell your friends and family because My Soul to Seoul is going to turn into The Adventures of the Nomadic Chic, and I promise you that you will not want to miss these wild and crazy stories.

Until next time,

The Nomad Chic©2010 aka Cha Jones

Molestation on the Subway

My tiredness had consumed me
My feet were fatigued and sluggish
Yet there were no seats available on the subway
And it seemed as if every stop had more arrivals than departures
But just when the unbearable became tolerable
The doors gave way to an influx of those on their way elsewhere
At last I had a place to liberate and rest the day’s aches and pains
But then I notice him standing before me, he was speechless
An elderly Korean man who without words was demanding my seat with his facial gestures
But I revisited the Civil Rights archives and resorted back to my ancestor Rosa Parks
I was tired and too tired to move, and wondering if there was a reason he picked me
Why should I be the target of his silent protest as he looked me up and down from head to toe
But in that very moment I decide to ignorantly look the other way because my tiredness became pressing
I ignored him altogether hoping that his masculine disposition would realize I was a feminist
But just when the thought that his stares could become a Korean gender/ageist protest
The female passenger to my left cordially advanced her seat to the man after eyeing me
And just when I thought our silent dispute for the seat was over he stared me down one last time as if to say he had won the battle but had not gotten what he truly desired, my seat
Then the next thing I knew was she was speaking in Korean and aggressively rubbing my arm
I was confused thinking that she was talking about the feministic war that had just taken place
However, she was obviously letting me know that my color had gotten her attention
Within seconds most of the cars attention had turn to me
She was still rubbing me and speaking in Korean and I was clueless and perplexed
Next thing I knew was she was comparing my arm to hers and smiling
And just when things had reached their baffling peak the elderly man who was just at war with me chimed in with a raise of his thumb gesturing some sort of approval
Just by reading the facial expressions I felt somewhat safe, but I was still a little uneasy
And without understanding a word she was uttering I said, “Gomap-Seumnida,” or “Thank You”
Then the flood gates opened as the entire subway cars attention became more pronounced
She continued to rub my arm and smile, and he kept gesturing with thumbs up
But I felt I had been molested on the my way home after a long tired day of sightseeing
And for the first time my complexion gave way to a foreign but almost distinguishable acknowledgment
And I realized that even in this foreign place my skin color is still is the topic of conversation