How it all began...

A long time ago, before Paul and I met, I dreamed of living and working overseas. This dream has taken many forms over time, from missionary in the bush to bible translator to language teacher. Finding Paul as my lifelong love a couple years ago was quite a sweet surprise! But the desire to work abroad still didn't lessen, even with all the joys of love and marriage. (I even made it a condition of marriage that Paul and I temporarily live overseas!) I'd broached the subject many times in our short time together, not wanting him to forget my dream. Finally, this past summer, we started seriously considering spending a year in Korea teaching English. Paul had just finished school and I was still working at the Zoo. We were both fed up with the ratrace in D.C. and saw a year abroad as our chance to venture into a new horizon, get some solid international experience, and learn about a new culture. So, in pursuit of a year as teachers, I cancelled my enrollment to George Mason University's Linguistics program and Paul postponed his search of permanent jobs in our area. We planned to leave in January of 2007 and so began to prepare for the school search process. We did our research about the language and the culture and began applying with different private institutions, hoping for a bite. After flurries of e-mails and interviews with Korean directors and recruiters, we have finally settled on a school in Sokcho, South Korea. We are now in the process of applying for our teaching visa and we'll be flying out at the end of December to start working on January 2nd.
As with all dreams, this one hasn't been painless. At times I second-guessed our decision (even though I was the one who started it!). Since we knew we'd be leaving, we both knew that we'd have to continue doing temp work for several months, which gets waring after a while. But, through it all, God has confirmed our path and brought in people who've tried this before to reassure and encourage us.
And now, we have only 2 weeks left in D.C.! Time is moving quickly and we're excited and nervous. We're packing up our apartment, moving to Chicago (to store our goods in my parents' basement) and visiting for a week or so, then packing our bags for Korea and heading to New Hampshire for Christmas with Paul's family. December will be crazy, but we're eager to be on our way! Thanks for keeping up with us!