It's been one year to the day since we flew into Incheon airport for the first time. It was a very gray, very humid day. The sky was all one shade of gross. Not the best start.

We flew into Incheon again a few days ago coming home from Australia and it looked much the same. It contrasted to the sunny skies and pleasant temperatures of the Australian winter and didn't help my already ambivalent feelings about returning to South Korea. The return didn't get easier.

We flew in on the Thursday before the 3-day Independence Day holiday weekend. We knew this, but we forgot something: Koreans travel in hordes on holidays. Our plan was to take the bullet train straight from the airport to Daegu, but it was sold out, so we went into Seoul where many more trains leave from. EVERY train was sold out. The last one leaving for Daegu was the slow train getting into town at 11:30 at night with standing room only, and if every other train is sold out, you know that the train will really be like standing in a crowded subway car for over 4 hours. Nope. All the nope's in the world.

This wasn't quite the auspicious start I wanted for our second year in Korea. Gray skies, crowdedness, sold out trains, trapped in Seoul. Everything Australia wasn't. Couldn't we teach English in Gold Coast? I'm sure someone needs to learn English there...

But our night improved. I still had the number of a guesthouse we stayed at a few months ago so, while in the ticket line, I texted if she had two beds for the night. She had exactly two left. We snatched them before anyone else could. We bought our train tickets for the next day and headed to our favorite neighborhood in Korea: Itaewon. We showed up at the guesthouse and Ga Young, the owner, told us that her friend was preparing a pasta dinner to eat on the rooftop and that we were welcome to attend. Over budget from our vacation and unhappy that we were spending more money to stay in Seoul, that sounded wonderful. And the cast of characters at the guesthouse was incredible. Newly arrived were two Germans doing some exploring in Korea. Amazingly, one of the Koreans staying majored in German and so we enjoyed listening to them talk. The other Koreans there had varying levels of English but they were all fun. A South African filmmaker came in late and was in town to film a 'Happy' music video for Seoul. The night was cool and comfortable, the view from the rooftop stellar, the company and conversations eclectic.  It was a good time. We would be okay for another year in Korea, I thought. It's not all bad. 

And I remember how far we've come in a year. We're not totally lost with every new thing we do. We read Hangul. We can order at restaurants with no English (as long as they have food we know). Before, there wouldn't have been a chance. I would have stood at the counter, staring at gibberish....

We can exist here. It's not always pretty, but we can do it. And we're gonna make bank and memories doing it. I'm thankful for the time we've had here so far, the experiences we've shared together, the friends we've made from around the world, and the opportunities our time here provides. Here's to one more year!