Wow, it's already 2010...where has the time gone. It feels like it was just yesterday I was leaving 1166 off to an uncertain future. So I wanted to give you all a summary of 2009.
Looks like my volunteering (April/May) in Mexico City paid off, as Mexico City has recently legalized same-sex marriage (pretty cool working with the team that made this happen).
I have been living in Korea since July 5, 2009 and in the 3rd largest metro area (Daegu) =2.5million. I really like living here..best part about it is it's proximity to the beach (1hr) and Seoul (2hours) both on fast train. And this past weekend I went skiing and had a blast, all for less than $200USD. Everything here is cheap!
Hmm, major accomplishments???? I went on a 2 week southeast Asia tour. 6 days in Kuala Lumpur, 6 days in Thailand (3/Bangkok and 3/Pattaya (beachtown)), 3 in Singapore and 3 in Cambodia (Siem Reap). Traveled alone and made amazing/new friends along the way.
Beside teaching to wonderful adorable little Korean kids, my spare time is spent outdoors (there's a huge mountain literally 3 minute walk from my apt) that I hike and as you can see on one of the photos attached (the views are spectacular). I go out to Daegu's nightlife quite frequent and while they don't have much in the gay scene (non-existent actually), it is still a lot of fun. I am getting old folks and have the "starting a family" itch, we'll see how long my single life will last.
As for CNN, some of you may remember I was the superstar back in April (reported on swine flu and earthquake)....I now have direct access to a few producers over at CNN and they use me almost on a monthly basis.
1. I reported on Seoul Fashion Week (got red carpet treatment when they saw my reports on CNN...oh yeah and I met the mayor!),
2. reported at Pusan Int'l Film Festival (Asia's biggest of it's kind) and hung out with celebs/actors/directors/producers from around the world (mostly Asia)
3. My vacation photo was selected as photo of the day on cnn.com (I'm #2) http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/12/21/photo.of.day.gallery/index.html
Life events: Grandma (of age 108) had a stroke but is stable, she has lived a full life and I'm bummed I'm not there...Best friend had his baby earlier than expected but glad to report Rowen Bailey is kicking butt and fighting all odds..long time friends from Miami / high school are still searching for their loved ones in Haiti..my prayers are with them all.
Future???? A year ago, if you would have told me that my name would be used on hundreds of new sources around the world, come up on TV sets around the world, traveled to Cambodia, moved to Asia...I would have LAUGHED and not think twice at how ridiculous that sounds. What is in store for me next? I don't know, it seems that getting laid off has started a chain of interesting events and I am just literally going along for the ride....Stay tuned..
p.s. I'm heading to Macau, Bali and Hong Kong (Feb 6-15)..let me know if anyone has friends that can show me around!
