2015 was a great year

Hazell
Dear Readers,

Korea has been a trip and I think the big adventure is about to get started. 11 years ago I came to Korea with less than $500 dollars in my pocket, a mountain of credit card debt, a dream and not much else. I came to Korea because I had the urge to travel the world. After graduating university from the awesome University of Delaware I had school loans out the wazoo and no real plan on how to pay them. I tried to get a "corporate job" but I was rejected because I had "no experience." For a few months I lived as a hippie artist writing and working as a barista at the Brew Ha Ha! Then when the bank loans kicked in I started working 7 days a week morning and night as a waiter, cook and barista at a number of different places because I was determined to pay off my school loan within a year. It was about 15,000 USD and I would go into the bank once a week reeking like coffee, grease and sweat dropping $300- $1000 dollars, whatever I could. I wasn't going to let debt stop me from what I wanted to do.

After the last payment was done, I worked a while longer...but I should have worked more...and saved up enough for a 1 way ticket to Gyeongju, South Korea. I guess that's where my adventure began. But seriously...I was poor when I came and I had no idea about what I was doing here. I had a tiny one room apartment that was on top of a roof and I could easily hear my neighbors' TVs. If I wanted to use the internet I had to go to the smokey PC room to rent a computer for 1 dollar an hour. I worked and I saved and I sent money back home to pay off my credit cards and even saved up a little money to buy an Apple iBook computer. From there I started to write, blog and invest in stocks. I did pretty well and later moved to Seoul. I worked, I saved and had fun. Maybe I had too much fun.  I didn't have much direction then and I was looking for the next big adventure. That came in the form of marriage and now having a kid. 

Being a father is an amazing thing. Each day I wake up and I have this smiling, growing child in our lives. It gives life purpose and it quiets all the other distractions in life. Each day that I talk and interact with my Hazell, it has an impact and I see her grow and develop each day. Speaking of which. I should get back to work so I can make sure she has food in her belly and that I can get home in time to play with her. 

Bye for now and I wish you all a happy new years and thanks for reading!

Dan




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