tia is no longer in Korea.

7 months ago, I moved to Korea to teach English because…

1. I wanted to try teaching. without committing to teacher’s college. Both my parents were teachers. And I think I had some of the best teachers growing up- which is probably why while most little girls’ favorite game was house, mine was school. I would tape a piece of paper to my closet door, line up my stuffed animals and write on “the board.” So, after realizing my childhood dream -sort of- through the Junior Achievement program last year where I taught a class of eighth graders for a whole day, I thought hey! why not!

2. I love kids. Most of the time they talk Barney, Elmo, Dora and her little brother. But sometimes, because of their innocent and pure view on life, people and everything in between, they offer little nuggets of wisdom. Wisdom we’ve forgotten while growing up and learning to survive in the real world. I knew teaching kids would teach me more about life than I could ever teach them. I was definitely right about that.
3. I wanted to move to a new country to gain a fresh perspective on life. Pretty self explanatory- if not now, then when?
4. Korea sounded exotic– compared to other Asian countries we hear about all the time like China and Japan. I know this is a lame reason… but I’m having an honesty moment here.
5. Live in a place surrounded by mountains. I’ve always thought mountains were magical and fell in love with them the first time I visited Switzerland during my childhood. I’ve never lived in a place with mountains before Korea but Korea definitely filled that void. A fellow expat summarized it perfectly:

/\ – mountain

/\/\/\/\/\/\ – mountains

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ – Korea

Having lived and traveled around Korea a fair bit- I can say this pretty much sums up Korea’s landscape.

6. Move to a country where I know no one. (this is harder than you think for a Tamil with a BIG family- trust me. We have family everywhere.)

7. Take a break from the rat race corporate career path. Since graduating uni, I’ve worked at 3 companies doing 3 very different jobs. And although I loved my time at all three, I always felt I liked my job more because of the people I worked with rather than the job itself. And while that’s very important, (and I’ve certainly been lucky in that respect) I think it’s just as important -if not more- to find your calling. your passion. a job that fulfills you. they say find a job you love and you won’t work a day in your life. Either “they” are crazy or on to something genius. I like to believe it’s the latter.

At first glance, I feel like I’m right back to where I started. Korea was supposed to be this new and exciting experience where I (as cliche as it may sound) was supposed to find myself and figure out my passion, my purpose. I figured if moving to the other side of the world doesn’t inspire me to figure out what I really want to do with my life, nothing will. That was an ambitious goal. And by ambitious I mean unrealistic. Because that didn’t happen.

What happened was I changed. I became a totally different person. Reading some of my blog entries from 6 months ago- I can clearly see that. And I’m so grateful for having had this experience. They say that one of our most important core needs as human beings is the need to grow. And I can say Korea definitely allowed me to grow in more ways than I could’ve ever imagined.

So what does this all mean? And what’s next?

This blog has taught me that I love writing. And there are some people out there who like to read my writing. I know, it came as a surprise to me too. Since tiainkorea is no longer relevant, I have decided to start a new blog:

http://www.beeyouteafull.com

I saw this drawing on pinterest and fell in love- which was the inspiration for the url. I couldn’t believe it was still available!

beeyouteafull

And this is what beeyouteafull means to me:

because being beautiful isn’t an outside job.

it’s an inside job.

it requires you work hard like a bee.

it requires you to be you.

it requires you to nourish yourself with the good stuff- with a cup of tea maybe.

it requires you to be positive. to always see the glass as half full. even if it’s half full with air.

they say a beautiful life isn’t about the years in your life but the life in your years.

How will I live a beeyouteafull life?

Totally cheese-y? yes. Totally me? also yes. I’m not sure what I’ll write about. But the above will serve as a manifesto. I feel like having a manifesto makes it sound more official. Obviously, this is all subject to change.

So I will continue writing. But since I’m in no longer in Korea, I will no longer have a “job.”

I know that I don’t want to work a 9 to 5. And I don’t want to be chained to or “climb” a corporate ladder. And I know what you’re thinking- riiiiiiiight Tia. Welcome to the club. That’s the rest of us and our uncles. I know that. I know it’ll be hard. And I know I may not find my passion until I’m really old. Like 30. Or maybe I never will. But like some famous music artist once said, I’m going to die trying. Cliche? Yes. But did you really expect anything else from me?

Basically, I’m going to go on a “yes” diet. Try everything- every opportunity that comes my way.

To quote one of the best minds that ever lived:

“You’ve got to find what you love. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” -Steve Jobs

If you have any advice and/or suggestions as to what I should be/could be doing/trying, I’d love to hear from you.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. And I’ll see you at beeyouteafull.com

Inspired by Reddit

TL;DR: no longer in Korea. starting a new blog: beeyouteafull.com. looking for inspiration/volunteer work/job in Toronto.

Why life as a twenty something is pretty awesome.

I love taking pictures at the airport right before a vacation because I know that when I look back at my vacation pictures, that’s the picture I’ll want to relive most.

And heres why.

The endless preparation is behind me. No more hotel reviews to read, the search for the cheapest, fastest flight is over and my bags are packed and checked in. I’ve crossed off all the items on my to-pack list, I’m done with the frantic last minute shopping runs. And perhaps the most dreaded of all: my bags are under the luggage weight limit! I don’t know about you but I’m more afraid of the scale at the check-in counter than the one in my washroom.

And while I’m no fan of sitting in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end, I know that at the other end of that flight lies a great adventure. That is what is so special about the airport moment: anything is possible beyond it. But so often we focus on the check in lines, the security lines, the washroom lines, the crowds of people and the overpriced airport food that we forget about the exciting journey we’re about to embark on.

Being a twenty something is a lot like that airport moment.

We’ve put ourselves through years and years of school, went to saturday morning heritage classes and took some form of extracurricular activity to become a well rounded person.

And while most of us are still unsure of where life our lives are headed, we have a vague idea of what we want and know that the road to wherever that is will be filled with lots of laughs and tears. Sometimes more of the latter than the former.

But that’s ok because if airport moments and vacations are anything to go by, I know that at the end of this vacation we call life, the memories I’ll most want to relive are these. Because it encompasses all the work we put in to get here and the anticipation of all the possibilities that lie ahead.

We’ll look back at these 20 something years and wonder why we worried so much. Because everything turned out alright. Because the decisions we made were the right ones. Because we ended up with the right people. And because these really were the good old days.