Day 5 - 5 things that make me happy

April challenge
Day 5 - What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?

Oh man, I have to limit myself to just five?! I feel like I could mention 20 or 30 or more. But, I'll stick within the prescribed amount.

1. Being married! That's number one for sure. Being married and actually living with the person you love is by FAR much, much better than being separated by an ocean and a continent like we were last year when I was in Tanzania and Jonathan was in Maine. It was a hard year for both of us, but so many great things happened during that year, too. But nothing can top living in a cramped little Korean apartment together!
2. My job. I absolutely love my two original coworkers and I am really enjoying getting to know the other people in our new integrated office. It's really a pretty perfect job for me. I get to sit at a desk for four and a half days a week and use a bright red pen to edit page after page of stuff other people wrote. Occasionally I'm called upon to write some passages myself, but those are fun, too, because I can be completely creative as long as I'm sticking within the subject matter of the chapter (for instance, today I wrote passages about Music & Art, Studying English, Modern Electronic Devices, Rainforests, and several others). Although I'd never have known it when I came to Korea, editing ESL textbooks is probably my dream job. It's fun (like phonics!) and interesting and actually quite informative. I've learned a lot of interesting material since starting to work at the textbook office. I have no idea where I'll find a job to equal this when I head back to North America in the summer.
3. My new-found favorite beverage, honey lemon tea. Ever since I randomly happened across a very easy recipe for this wonderfully relaxing drink, I've been partaking quite often (mostly because both Jonathan and I have had colds back and forth for the last month or so). One of the best things about the tea is how simple it is to make. A cup of hot water, 1 1/2 tablespoons of honey, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. And voila, you have yourself a mug of yummy warmness slipping down your throat. Bliss! And I'm not even a big tea drinker. I usually prefer hot chocolate. Well, hot chocolate, move over, there's a new drink in this apartment. (Recipe from HowDoesShe.com)
4. Relying on my own two feet. Since coming to Korea I've walked most of the places I need to go. To the institute, to the store, home again, etc. When we lived in Cheonan we did take the city bus once, the subway into Seoul once, and a taxi a few times, but for the most part we walked when we needed to get somewhere. And since moving to Seoul, we've been walking more than ever. We haven't yet taken a taxi here, and while we regularly use a bus to get to Costco and a subway to explore the city, when we're in our neighbourhood we walk everywhere. It's wonderful to know I'm getting around on my own steam, and I really want to keep it up when I get back to North America.
5. Seeing tiny green buds on the trees! I've been waiting and watching for spring to arrive for what seems like months now. I really expected to see the start of spring sometime in February. And now it's the beginning of April and it is only just barely starting. You'd think that coming from Canada I'd be used to spring taking a while to push winter out of the way. Well, I am. But I'm not used to winter being so dull and brown. At home we have evergreen trees covering our mountainsides. So when the snow melts, the dark green trees keep things from getting to drab. Here there are many trees all over the city and countryside, but very, very few of them are coniferous. I am just itching for the brown to turn into green. It's coming, though, slowly but surely. All the rain we had on Monday and Tuesday have opened the buds and every time I walk outside I notice more colour. I couldn't be more thrilled!