Now that we’re “back”…
by Sharon -- October 11, 2010
After a short hiatus in Seattle, Jason and I have finally reached the true home stretch back to California. Eleven days in Seattle, including my best friend’s wedding, was the perfect way to come back to the mainland.
The main question we have been asked recently is the obvious: what are we going to do now that we’re back home?
The short answer to this question is “we’ll be spending time with friends and family, going to weddings, and then probably going back to Korea for a year.”
Yes, we have two more weddings to attend, one in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles. These weddings also inevitably includes bachelorette parties. Every weekend from now until mid-December is planned out, and then in December we’ll be traveling to the East Coast for two weeks to visit Jason’s extended family before Christmas. While we’ll be busy every weekend, the in-between weekdays will be spent mostly in San Francisco or Folsom (where our parents’ live).
In the meantime, I will be finishing my application process to teach English in Korea for next year. If I am accepted and sign a contract, Jason and I will be moving back to Korea in February for at least a year while I teach. Jason would continue to work on his online start-up, UnAnchor.com, while I rake in the money as the only breadwinner. Woohoo!
The only other option is rather random, as Jason brought it up completely 
out of the blue. If we don’t move to Korea, we would probably try to get a job on board a cruise ship…. Let the confused frowns begin. Apparently Jason found a dude online who has worked on board cruise ships for 10 years and wrote a book on getting one of these jobs, which only requires about 4-6 months of straight contract work at a time. This way, we could postpone “settling down” and continue “traveling” while earning money and not having to pay rent.
So until we figure out exactly what we will be doing as of 2011, these are our main prospects. But who knows, maybe one of us will hit our big break and we’ll be making so much money that we won’t need to go to Korea! Here’s hoping!
Be awesome and help us share:
Good luck to you guys. Actually the cruise ship idea is great. I approve, haha. It’s been great keeping up with you guys, and I hope you’ll continue to post on this or another blog when your adventures continue.
Carmen
Enjoy all of the festivities!!! Yeah, Earl is a pro when it comes to working on cruises.
1st off congrats on making it home safe and sound and finishing a RTW (RTASIA) trip!!! I am so glad you guys at least know what yall are going to do. I think that is the scary thing of coming back and not knowing at least yall know. I have read about other bloggers who just arent sure and its good to read about some who do know. Good luck on everything else & hopefully yall move to Korea~
We would love to have you in the “hood” come back to Asia and we will come visit you in Korea!
man, working on a cruise ship actually sounds kind of awesome! maybe that’ll be my next step…
if you guys end up getting into that line of work, i’ll have a million questions for you!
So I’m a little biased here… but it was fun having you around in Korea and all. Cruise ships sound like fun as well, but all work and no play is the (anecdotal) story I’ve heard about them. Be sure your contract actually lets you get off the boat when you’re in-port!
Are you applying through EPIK? My husband and I were planning to do this, but they won’t accept us because we want to bring our dogs (I know, total pet parents… *shrug*). Anyway, we’re trying to get a contract at a hogwon, probably going over in Jan.
It’s been so much fun following throughout your journey. Best of luck on whatever comes next for you guys!!
yes…. imreading this on my honeymoon…
i love the cruise ship idea! I used to consider it a lot myself when I was coming out of school! I think all you need is a MMD (merchant mariner document) and im not sure how hard that is to even get. I dont have one, but Cole does.
anyways… LOVE the pictures! and btw… are you going to be in rsvl for thanksgiving? hope so… ill be there too!!!
btw, I told Cole I was a little sad we left for our honeymoon before you guys left Seattle
wished we could have spent a few more days with you guys in our town before you left 
maybe another day 
Thanks for the comments everyone! It’s nice to know that our tentative plans to go back to Korea are so positively received.
Andrea: Yes I’m applying through EPIK as well as EPIK recruiting agencies. So far so good, except for the mind boggling steps and paperwork that you have to submit ! Good luck with finding a hagwon- let us know what happens!
Holly: I’m not sure where exactly we’ll be for Thanksgiving, but I’ll be in Sac, so wherever the whole family is going, that’s where we’ll be!
Your blog is awesome! I just started reading about 2 days ago, and I came across it while I was looking for blogs about Korea because I’m moving there this Sunday to teach English for a year. My friend is also trying to get a cruise ship job through his uncle. Both options sound really fun! Keep up the good posts!
Props for taking an amazing adventure, a lot of risks, and doing what your instincts tell you go in life. I myself am planning on going to Indonesia/Singapore in a few months but not in the same capacity you guys went to Asia (just a couple week vacation here). It was funny because for the last couple weeks, I’ve been working at work with a guy named Ben who you guys went to HS with and in our conversations he mentioned broadly of your experience and I was like “I subscribe to their blog!”
While many people indicate that the cruise ship job sounds like a good idea, I am going to have to say otherwise. Have you guys been on a cruise ship before? If so, which one? My 2 week cruise experience to Alaska allowed me to meet many people who work on the cruise ship from many different countries. For many of these people, it is a great financial opportunity because they make all this money to take home to their families and get their daily necessities covered for them (like shelter, food, etc). Most, if not all, of these workers never get to leave the boat and venture around because they are cleaning, resting, and getting prepared for the next departure. I find it mentally tiring and a lot of physical work. Also, if you’ve never been on a cruise boat before, I would think it’d be hard to commit to 6-9 months living on a cruise ship. It was difficult for me toward the end of my 2 weeks. Don’t get me wrong, the cruise experience was great for the time that I was on but being on there for an extended time is another matter.