What Living in New York City Taught Me...

As I head out for my flight to Korea and really say goodbye to New York City (at least for now, unless I get a job here, then i'll be right back),  I can't believe that i've lived here for 4.5 years. It's actually the longest place I've lived in consecutively since  high school in Georgia. That's impressive given that it was never a city  I intended to move to. In fact, my sister lured me here with promises that it would be fun to live near family.... and it totally was until she told me a year later "we're moving to korea!" and then packed and moved in like 2 months, taking my niece away from me...

ANYWAYS.

As I spend my last 50 hours in the city that never sleeps and reflect back on how much i've stretched and grown, here are a few things the city taught me:

How Traveling Made Me Realize the Greatest Gift My Parents Gave Me...

My mom says I get all my bad traits from my dad 

There are many things I am so grateful to my parents for. For instance, every day, when I eat American food, I thank the LORD that He gave me Korean parents. Like hello... have you guys tried korean bbq? kimchee? soondubu jjigae (tofu soup)?? That's a combination of flavors that is unheard of in what I call "white" cuisine of meat and potatoes (no offense). Also, CNN just did a piece on Korean food.  And thanks to my parents, when I'm at a restaurant I never have to ask: "is this really spicy? Am i going to be okay?"

But the greatest gift they have given me (which I learned through traveling), and the thing that I am most thankful to them for is... * drum rollllll *

Cafe Tuin + Writing Postcards

Given the beauty of Amsterdam, I decided that today I'd walk around and get back into photography. Usually photography for me is mostly a summer time activity. That's because in the winter, by the time I get off work it's too dark to take photos. The weather also doesn't help because my poor fingers can't handle the cold and who really wants to be outside taking photos with the wind slapping against your face so hard that it makes your eyes teary?... Only super passionate photographers, that's who.

What Does Rest Even Look Like?! My First Monday in Amsterdam

As much as I talked about rest, and being excited about it...day 4 here in Amsterdam and I realized that I have no idea how to actually rest. Like... what do you mean I have an extra 8 hours to myself in the middle of the day now?! What do you mean that my weekends are just like my weekdays?! Wait, can I just watch an extra 8 hrs of netflix??? just kidding... (but in my defense, Netflix in Europe has shows and movies out that aren't airing yet in the US.) So this weekend I literally stressed about how I was going to rest. 

Taking My Sabbatical (Rest)

I officially jumped into "unemployment" this week. I put that in quotes because 1) I'm not officially done with my job just yet. There's still some close out things that need to be taken care of next week, but technically my desk is no longer mine. And 2) because apparently another adult term for unemployment is ... sabbatical.