A question I’ve been getting a lot lately is, how do I spend my time? In today’s post, I’ll share how I’ve been keeping myself busy, as well as some reflections after almost 2 months of living in Seoul.

Unanchor, Eat, Unanchor, Exercise, Unanchor, Sleep – Repeat

I don’t have a “job”, Sharon does, so what do I do all day? While I’d love to give an exciting answer, the answer is actually quite boring – I work a lot. Mohammad and I have been making a lot of exciting progress on our travel startup, Unanchor. In my next post I’ll be giving an update on how things are going.

A Routine!

After spending the last year and half in almost no routine whatsoever, it has been a really nice change of pace to have a set schedule again. I wake up around the same time and eat meals around the same time. I enjoy it…for now :-).

The House-Husband

Being supported by my wife has not been the humbling experience I thought it would be. I’m obviously eager and excited to be earning my money again, but I’m not ashamed to be supported by my wife. In fact, I’ve quickly adopted the house-husband role. I do the food shopping, I cook, I do laundry, I clean. Sharon has whipped me right into shape.

It’s been a lot of fun to have our own kitchen again. I’ve been experimenting with a lot with different types of meals since we began following the 4-hour body, slow carb diet. More on that in a future post as well.

Still Traveling?

There are times when I honestly forget that I’m living abroad – it’s a testament to how comfortable life in Korea is.  However, there are also times where that goes out the window and I’m given a big reminder that I’m no longer in Kansas (or California):

• Sharon and I went out to have some Makkeoli (shocking…I know) and we tried to order some food. We ordered wrong and the waitress just said “no” and laughed at us a little bit. Apparently, they felt bad and decided to give us 3 incredible plates of food for free! You don’t tip here, so there’s really no way of thanking them for their generosity. So, we ate it all and gave them a big “Com-sah-hamida” as we left.
• Again, we went out to dinner the other night and the owner of the restaurant, very obviously happy to have us there as he was wearing a huge smile, pointed at some of the food he knew how to say in English and said “potato”, “kimchi”, “radish”. It was quite precious.
• Last weekend on the way to camping I had to pass through a very small town where they obviously don’t see a lot of foreigners. Within the span of waiting 15 minutes for a bus, we had 2 extremely drunk old men tell us that they loved us (because this is the only English they know), several kids yelled that they love Obama, and one very creepy old woman stood awkwardly close and simply stared.

Completing my New Year’s Adventure Resolution!

One of my primary goals in Korea was to complete my 2010/2011 New Year’s Adventure Resolution. I didn’t waste time. I joined the Korea on the Rocks Climbing forum, bought climbing shoes, a harness, found someone to practice with and started climbing. Last weekend, the Korea on the Rocks group had a “meet and greet” and I officially completed my New Year’s goal. I went outdoor rock climbing. To my surprise, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I’m still unsure if it will become a regular hobby of mine, but I’m looking forward to doing more of it during our time here. Korea is a great place for it. (Unfortunately, I only have pictures from the outdoor practice wall.)

Filed under: Work: South Korea