One of the benefits of having recently returned from a backpacking trip is that I have plenty of new ideas still knocking around in my head. I began my 5-week European trip in Istanbul, Turkey, where I visited my friend Samantha. For me, two of the best things about Istanbul were the opportunity to see lots of gorgeous Turkish art and architecture, and the wide availability of pomegranates. Yum!

Having recently moved back to the United States after more than two years spent living and traveling abroad, I can’t help but notice some things that seem to be ubiquitous around the world but are strangely absent from my home country. Case in point: markets. Even in the most posh neighborhoods, the streets of Seoul are lined with vendors selling vegetables, clothing, gifts, snacks, live fish and other wares. Entire neighborhoods were devoted to outdoor markets that had permanent status and offered literally everything you need to live – and quite a bit of entertainment as well. I’ve shopped in outdoor markets in Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Ecuador, and Italy, all with their own quirks but built on the same basic model – the combination of shopping and socialization. In the states, we do have some green markets and craft fairs that follow this model, but for us they’re novelties and special occasions, not a routine part of life. I miss markets. Shopping in markets is more of an adventure – what will they have today? How low can I bargain the price? What is this, anyway? – and after getting used to them, shopping the American way at big stores like Target and Whole Foods seems plain domesticated.

Here it is, another year! 2011 was an extremely busy and successful year for me, and I’m hoping that 2012 will be, too. Currently, I’m back in Kansas, living with my family and gearing up to make a career of illustration (finally!). It’s intimidating to think about starting my own business after two years of working steady teaching jobs and traveling, but its the right time for me. Becoming a full-time illustrator is my number one goal of the year, as well as to continue running (and hopefully do another full marathon) and traveling (definitely Canada and hopefully South America).

I’ve spent more than two years living and teaching in Seoul, and now I’m on the move again and looking for a new horizon. Living abroad has changed me in many ways, as has living in Korea specifically. I want to stop and take note of the things I value and love about Korea and expat life.

•gaining perspective on my own culture
•gingko trees in fall
•indoor shoes
•public bathing
•being part of an international community
•challenging my own expectations about what’s possible
•knowing what it’s like to be illiterate
•noraebang
•Korean picnic culture
•public transit, even in small towns
•Korean marathons
•Jeju Island citrus – kyul, hallabong, gingkgang
•charismatic taxi drivers
•street food
•letting go of Western expectations
•konglish funny
•being resourceful
•kimchi and banchan
•living in a giant international city
•fruit trucks
•Korean BBQ
•hiking
•outdoor markets
•mixing of traditional Korean and modern international lifestyle
•eating family style at restaurants
•red bean and rice cakes
•friends I need to visit all over the world

Photos of the course courtesy of Braking Boundaries/Jared Mitchell.

This unpublished illustration about Korean public baths, jjimjilbangs, was created for NEH Magazine.

This illustration was created to accompany Whisper Chase’s column in the October issue of NEH Magazine.

Kate and I kicked off our travel and leisure campaign with a trip to Gyeongju, home of some of Korea’s most important historical sites. We visited tombs, temples, pagodas and pavilions, rode our bike through rice paddies and lotus fields, and ate lots of Gyeongju bbang and cheol bori bbang.

In our last weeks in Seoul, we devoted our free time to hitting all the sites we somehow missed as well as revisiting old favorites. We hiked the fortress walls north of the city, sought out quirky cages in Samcheongdong, visited Changdeokgung Palace, went to a baseball game, rode the world’s steepest wooden roller coaster, got lost in the Dongdaemun shopping maze, and bought loads of cut Asian stationery products. Naturally, we had to eat sometime, so we revisited all our favorite restaurants- crepes, naengmyun, barbecue, Kzakh, Uzbek, jjajangmyun, bubble tea, mojitos, Thai, pizza, street food galore. We continued our traditions of sky lounge lunches and dinners with our Korean co-teachers.

Another weekend we hiked Dobongsan, north ofs Seoul. The views were spectacular and we reveled in Korean hiking and picnic culture. The pictures say it all.

All the while, I was training for my second running of the Chuncheon marathon. I spent a lot of time on the Han river and it’s tributaries, the Tancheon and the Yangjaecheon. The atmosphere can range from serene and solitary to bustling with walkers, runners, cyclists, inline skaters, musicians, fishermen, pets, children, soccer games, tai chi clubs, and picnickers. On Sunday afternoons it feels like being in a Where’s Waldo cartoon.

Of course, I had to spend a lot of time running at my very favorite place in Seoul, Namsan. This was when I felt the most nostalgia for leaving Korea.