My time in tiny Jeju island off the coast of Korea was extremely good – emotional in many respects, overly stimulating at times – but an experience I will always value.
I unearthed some Korean language skills, saw some beautiful sights, made many new like-minded friends, had a love story, drank a bit too much. In this journey I’m on, it’s enriching to meet people who think or see the world in a similar way.
Some things I will miss:
- Breakfast with my HP colleagues – the morning jokes, wondering if the ajumma would ration us enough or extra eggs, joking about a former HP colleagues ghost in his room, talking in an uninformed way about the upcoming US election, posting egg photos on Slack. Camaraderie.
2. Natural beauty – cliffjumping, secluded black sand beaches, olle trail-walking, hiking to the top of Hallasan.
3. Work inspiration – hard to capture in photos, but the collaboration was flowing. Now it’s time to consolidate and take action.
4. Korean food – got in my cheesy chicken and Korean BBQ fill my last week.
5. Vegan food with my new friend – yummy curry, healthy bibimbap, spiced tofu scrambled eggs cooked for me! Gratitude. Makes me want to be vegan.
6. Connection. Date night at an Italian restaurant and then out until 5am.
7. Connecting with myself, being vulnerable. Realizing that it’s time to go. Jeju was an exceedingly emotional and somewhat heavy time for me. I’m only realizing this now that I’m out of it. I feel like I may have had some breakthroughs.
8. Improving my guitar skills!