Life

Is this real life? 

Even I am in shock at how much I've abandoned my blog and how much has happened in a month. Where to begin to catch up?
Okay to start off with, this is MONTH II. It feels like yesterday. I'm also surprised at how much I've made Seoul my home in such a short period of time. I'm impressed at my ability to adapt and at the wonderful people I've met thus far. 
This weekend was Lunar New Years!! A holiday that I have never celebrated before in my life, and I confess that once upon a time I also made the terrible cultural mistake of calling it: "Chinese New Years" Oh big NO NO! Other Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year people! Not just China.... and although I did not celebrate it the traditional Korean way as I would have loved to, I did get to try on the Hanbok 한복 and had the marvelous opportunity to go to Church, but that's such a long story, so let me start from the beginning ~
A few weeks ago I went volunteering again and to my surprise, fate worked its little magic and on that day I made a new friend from Guatemala. I was ecstatic to have finally met a Latina in Korea, AND on top of that she introduced me to (a now new friend) from Venezuela. I tried not to be a crepper, but I just didn't know how to explain to her that I demanded we became best friends haha. Anyways, The following week we met up and they introduced me to their group of Latino friends, and as silly as it sounds, I felt like screaming "yesss I found you!" I just felt at home finding this group of new friends. All hysterical and extremely welcoming. 

CHURCH- 

Here is where I spill my heart out: I am beyond words to explain how I felt this past Sunday. If this was not legitimate proof of my blessings, gosh I don't know what could be. To begin with, I have not attended mass in a long time. To an extent this is unusual for me, since I was  once not so long ago, a determined Catholic who religiously went to Church every Sunday. But as LIFE always hits us all, for one excuse or another, I progressively stopped attending. Moreover, around this past Christmas time, I was brand new to this city and I made  that an excuse to not attend mass on Christmas (which is unheard of in my heart and life, and yes I still feel guilty about that on the inside.) Anyways, as ridiculously far fetched as this may sound: I feel as if somehow God was tired of hearing my excuses and he knew exactly how to get me to come back. He put a new friend in my life, and she took me to Church. It was that simple. She said: "I go to a Spanish mass on Sundays, come with me and I will introduce you to the Hispanic community in Seoul" and I know in my heart it was God indirectly saying: "Here you go Oriana,  I'm killing two birds with one stone and I'm blessing you with a great community to surround yourself with, as well as welcoming you with open arms back to Church, even though you abandoned me for a while." Needless to say, mass was something else. I quietly shed a few tears after receiving communion, because I had a really beautiful realization. It is now crystal clear that regardless of what corner of the world I am in, God is always watching over me, I was appointed a guardian angel and he will never leave my side! I am blessed beyond measure and I feel that now more than ever. 
Okay enough about my ephinany ^^ SO BESIDES Church, new friends, Lunar New Years, a super cool new savvy phone, getting a terrible case of food poisoning which caused me to be in bed for 2 days straight, Sightseeing, and enjoying the nightlife of this fantastic city: I have one more exciting update:

KOREAN CLASSES- 

Oh my goodness! I am officially a student again, and I love it :) I began a Korean course in the Ganada Institute of Korean ( conveniently located at the Hongdae campus) and well, what can I say. Of course I am in level I and very much struggling already but I love love love it. It is a bit exhausting, I am now working full time and going to school part time, but then again when is Oriana not used to trying to be superwoman and being eagerly involved in everything? ;) FSU trained me well, and I am now juggling 12 hour long days! I go to classes in the morning and work in the afternoon, but I actually enjoy the intensity of classes since I am confident that after my full year, I will be fluent in basic Korean!!! >.< I think that would officially qualify me as a polyglot and well, life goal: complete! ..... hmmm but I must confess, Korean is NO JOKE. WOW. I am only on lesson 2, week 2, and I already cry in class. So the first lesson was learning the alphabet, and after I learned it I felt like the smarted duck in the pond! Yes, excellent, got this, easy piecy, easy as pie. UNTIL lesson 2 came about and now we have to form complete sentences. Oh yeah, dummy came out and now I never raise my hand in class anymore. It is so different than anything I was used to. French, Spanish and English all use the same structure, but in Korean you literally have to say everything backwards and remember the polite and less formal way of saying this. AH! It's just going to be way more than I originally thought, but I am ready for the challenge! I'm known to have even more determination when I set a goal for myself. Perseverance is my middle name, and trust me when I say: I will speak Korean by the end of this year! 
Well, with that being said: I have class tomorrow at 10am bright and early! 
More pictures to come soon .......   <3
Absolutely loving life and counting all of my blessings.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!