One year ago today, a person I have never met, nor even sent an email too, ended his life in Beijing China. This person is the reason I'm living in Korea today. When I was a University student I knew when I graduated it would be tough to find a job, America was in a recession at the time. I started looking at other things I could do, the only idea that came into my head was travel. I started reading people's blogs and eventually came across the Korea Life Blog. The blog was funny and informative, full of pictures and was updated every day, sometimes multiple times a day. I quickly became a daily reader and started thinking about teaching ESL myself. Well here I am.
There are a couple things I really liked about Shawn's blog. The first is that he updated almost every single day. I knew without a doubt that there would be something new to read every time I checked his blog. The second thing is that he always had a positive humorous way of writing about the most difficult situations. He kept his writing positive even when he was having a rough time. Third, he wrote in a personal way, he gave details about his life that I would never do. Finally, a lot of his posts were written in story format. He would have characters, and pictures, and I often felt like I was reading a book.
Shawn eventually wrote a book about his time in Korea. You can buy it here. He was a very talented writer.
He eventually moved to China after living in Korea for 5 years. He ended his life one year ago today. Someone archived Shawn's China life blog, you can read it here. Even though Shawn's Korea life blog has been deleted, through the magic of the internet you can still read it here.
I've been here 7 months now, I've had good times and bad. I've seen things, learned things, and met people that have already changed my life forever. My world view has been expanded. I now realize just how big the world is. I'm still struggling as a blogger, I can't seem to find a good format. I don't think I would be able to emulate Shawn's format, he was just too talented a writer. I've thought about only focusing on Korean culture, maybe food or history, but thats already been done. The only unique thing I can offer is my experience in Korea. So I will write about that, the good and bad, the negative and the positive. I will try to write honestly so I don't give anyone false impressions that this place is paradise. Most importantly, I will try to update every day, even if it's just a couple pictures or sentences.
Well, I never knew you Shawn, but thanks for everything man.
