Home, Home Again

I have been internetless and computerless for the last few days, but that all got fixed this morning. I don't even know where to begin with my last few days, so I guess I'll just start from the beginning and bring you up to speed.

I got in an airplane at 11:15am in Tokyo last Thursday. I flew across the Pacific and half of the US to Chicago, caught a connecting flight to KC, making my total travel time about 15 hours and 4 minutes. Since KC is fifteen time zones behind Tokyo, I arrived in KC at around 11:19am on Thursday morning, 4 minutes after I had left Japan. One of the weirdest feelings in my life.

From there I began moving around the city seeing familiar places and faces. Although I feel that the adjective "familiar" is warranted, I've got to explain that everything, as familiar as it was, was also very surreal. I was cruising down streets and hearing voices that have been huge parts of my life for my whole life - minus the last 18 months. And suddenly they are back in my field of vision, like nothing ever changed.

But I have changed and my eyes have changed. The last 18 months in Asia have made me view my KC surroundings a little bit differently.

There was a huge welcome home party for me on Friday night. I got to see tons of old friends. I found it a little bit overwhelming to have so many people around, but I had the opportunity to hug people that I have been missing for a long time and it was a night that I had been dreaming about for months.

Saturday brought my first KU game in a few years. We went to Lawrence and ate at Frees State, had some good brewery beer and went to Allen Fieldhouse. I got tears in my eyes during the pregame announcements and KU thrashed K-State for 40 minutes as we got hoarse in the stands.

I had me teeth cleaned by a Dentist that spoke English. I got my haircut by a woman who spoke English. I met a girl that speaks English that I've been wanting to meet for a long time.

I am slowly adjusting to life in Bushtopia. I have been on Cloud 9 for the last half week and don't expect for anything to change.

I'm around.
I should be posting some pics of Japan after I upload them.

Much Love from KC

I'm Not There (finally)

I don't live in Korea.

As I left the country, the lady at emigration asked me, "When do you plan on returning to Korea." And I answered, "Never," with a huge smile. The plane flew over Seoul and I could point out my neighborhood easily as well as lots of landmarks. It was weird to see the same thing I saw out of my window when I flew into Korea almost 18 months ago, but now I knew and understood everything I was looking at. I feel like I conquered Seoul and now it is time to move on.

I'm hanging in Tokyo. Today was bodacious. I took tons of pictures, but I somehow managed to leave my computer's power cord in Korea, so y'all might have to wait for me to be Stateside to see my pics.

Some highlights from today:

-Shopping for mesh hats and Gremlins sweatshirts at an outdoor flea market.

-Watching a wedding procession march through a Shinto temple, wearing full Kimono gear, with lots of pomp and circumstance and loud traditional drumming.

-Watching a crew of Greasers dressed like a 50's motorcycle gang twisting and shouting to rock and roll music in a park. They were pretty cool and just one of the many groups of people I saw expressing themselves - lots of self-expression in Tokyo.

-An unreal four-course dinner at a Japanese restaurant. The highlight of that meal was the shrimp and avocado tartar - unreal.

I've got lots more stories and pictures to share. I'll see you a lot of you in a few days...

Much love from TOKYO!

numbers

I have always had a mathematical mind. Numbers are streaming through my head all day every day and I am quite comfortable with that.

But recently, my life has become dictated by numbers. I have been doing little countdowns for everything. Two days left in the classroom. Eleven classes left to teach. 62 hours until my flight to Tokyo. One more load of laundry. Four more rides on the subway. Two more trips to Starbuck's...

In kind of an ironic twist of fate, I have also become totaly comfortable (finally) with Korean numbers. I feel as if I understand every number being said around me. I guess it's about time for me to figure out that system - and it is incredibly useful since I am leaving in two days.

I have had one number mishap though. The other day in class, I tried to say the number 18. It is roughly said, "shib-pal." Unfortunately, I said "shib-bal." I didn't really know there was a difference until there was a lot of giggling and I questioned whether I had said the wrong number. So I repeated myself and was met with more boisterous laughter. However, the kids all opened their books to the right page so I figured they were just laughing because I talk like such a dirty foreigner. I repeated this same number in the teachers lounge and was met with shocked faces, both Koreans and foreigners. Turns out, instead of saying "18," I was basically using a Korean slang version of the word "fuck." Oh well, I do what I can - and it's not like they can fire me with two days left.

My replacement shows up at noon tomorrow. I've got to show him the ropes and then it is adios. I know I will miss being here in a couple months, but for now, I'm counting down the minutes till I leave here...

Much love from Seoul

Retirement

I officially put in my retirement notice today. I went to the National Pension Office and filed all the necessary paperwork to get my pension sent to me back in the United States of America.

In a well-lit, sterile white room I sat amongst my fellow Korean retirees as they sipped hot tea, utilized the free blood-pressure testing machine and vocalized the discomfort their aging bodies are feeling. I could tell that we all had a lot in common. The daily grind here in Korea sure can add up to some wear and tear and totally understand how they are feeling. It has been a long time coming for me, but I feel like I am ready to join this lot. If anybody knows of any good retirement homes back in the States that have openings, give a holler. Unlike my Korean retired brethren, I have no offspring to house me, so I will be forced to fend for myself in this cruel world. I need to get a set of golf clubs, a rocking chair for the front porch and start making a list of things to complain about, but as soon as that is all taken care of, I'm ready for my golden years.

6 days left in the classroom
35 classes left to teach
2 weeks until I'm in KC

See you all real soon...

Much love from Seoul

Moments

And we'll collect the moments one by one
I guess that's how the future's done
-Leslie Feist

As I navigate my way through the hedge maze that is Seoul, Korea, in my last few days I have started to relish the little moments that I will take with me.

Throughout the last year plus, I have held on to little moments from my past before I arrived in Asia that always make me smile. They are those little pieces of memories that when explained outloud mean nothing to the listener, but to the rememberer they mean everything. I have thoughts of certain nights or certain smells or certain sounds and certain feelings that have affected me. These memories always whisk me away to a different time and place and have the power to change my emotions in an instant.

I think I have a lot of these little moments from Korea that I will take with me. Many of them mean nothing to you without the context of every other moment from the last 18 months of my life, but I think some of them have universal appeal:

1.
Standing in the teacher's lounge, an English co-worker marches in with an unpleasant look on his face. He approaches a Korean co-worker. She listens attentively, armed with a fluency in Korean and a good understanding of the English language.

"You will never believe what happened in class," says the Englishman. "Little Jimmy did not do his homework for the fifth straight class."

Using the English vernacular that she has picked up from the Englishmen around the office, but also speaking with a Korean accent, she responds, "That is utter bollocks. Don't worry. I will have a talk with him and I promise he will stop being such a lazy cunt."

2.
I am in a hurry, late for school and walking at a brisk tempo through the subway station.

As I quickly walk down the corridor, an older woman awkwardly jogs past me, dressed to the nines and wearing high heels. I get to the escalator only to pass her as she stands still on the moving stairs frantically tapping her foot and checking her watch.

She again runs past me after I have reached the bottom of the escalator and continued through the station. Smiling, I pass her again as she stands on the moving sidewalk that moves at a slow pace. She now looks more worried, but there is no way in hell she will be using her legs like a sucker if there is a moving sidewalk.

I get to the end of the hallway containing the moving sidewalk and walk fifty yards forward. For a final time she passes me, running and looking quite stressed that she may miss her train.

I approach the platform to find myself standing next to the same woman. We get on the same train and both arrive at our destination at the same time, only my heart rate is about 30 beats per minute less than hers.

3.
The sound of the crazy drunk on the street by my school that, literally everytime he sees me, raises both of his arms, smiles and yells, "Calipornia!"

4.
I hand back a test on a Wednesday that I gave on Monday. I tell the seven-year-old kids that I expect them to take the tests home and have their parents sign them and bring them back on Friday.

As I hand them out, I hear an excited, "Asah!" Then I pass a test to a girl that regularly scores well, but she has failed this one. She does her best impersonation of me impersonating Borat and says with a tinge of sadness, "Wawaweewah."

5.
The sounds of a hundred Korean children yelling ununderstandable things in the hallway of my school.

6.
The feeling of getting on a plane in Kansas City 18 months ago and asking myself, "What the hell am I doing?"

7.
(this one hasn't happened yet, but I already think it will be a big memory I will take with me)
The feeling of getting on a plane in Seoul and telling myself, "What the hell did I just do?"


I've got a lot more to share y'all, but let's wait until we are creating moments of our own...

Much love from Seoul

100

Every time I log into blogger I am told how many past posts I have posted in the past. This just happens to be number 100. I've been in Asia for a long time...

I have the next few days off in celebration of the Lunar New Year (aka the Chinese New Year.) This has given me time to start cleaning out my apartment. I just threw away a huge stack of magazines and and lots of boxes and other useless shit I had lying around on my shelves. It's a good feeling to start the process of moving.

Lately, I have been reflecting a lot on my time over here. I don't even know where to begin. This has been an interesting period in my life to say the least. There were certain things I really wanted to get out of living abroad for a year and half, and I would say that the majority of those goals have been met. It is hard for me to truly see the changes that have taken place inside me, but I know that I have moved in a positive direction.

There are lots of ideas bouncing around in my head on this topic of change and to be honest with you, I am having trouble transforming those thoughts into words.

I've had a blast hanging out in Seoul for a while, but the time has come to get away from it all and return to a life less strange. I fly out of Seoul in 15 days and I arrive back in KC in 19 days. Up until recently, both of those events seemed so far off that I couldn't even imagine them. But now that they have become real concepts to me I am having trouble controlling my excitement - the thought of leaving has consumed my thoughts.

I am uber-excited to see all of you.

Much love from Seoul

ps - I'm gonna miss my students most of all. When I was cleaning I found a birthday card a student gave me last year. It is a piece of paper covered in glow-in-the-dark planet and star stickers, pink heart stickers (formed into the shape of a bigger heart), puffy ice cream stickers and two yellow duckling stickers. It reads:

Happy Birthday!
Kyle Teacher
Thank you so much for teaching me
You're so tall.
I'll study and behave.
I love you!
Love,
Lisa

It's February Y'All!

Now that my intensive schedule is over and I have returned to my regular schedule, life is grand.

I have definitely entered the last phase of my journey. I have lots to take care of to close out my time here and every time I check one more thing off my list I realize I am that much closer to coming home. I've got three weekends in Seoul, one in Tokyo and then that next weekend I will spend around town in KC.

Work this week has been an absolute joy. I really love teaching when I'm not at school for thirteen hours at a time. I know I am a better teacher when I am less stressed and I had a few near-perfect lessons this week. I am relishing every moment in the classroom because I know that is one of the things I will miss the most about being over here. And how great is that - that one of the best parts of my life right now is my JOB.

I've got some good times ahead both in Asia and at home. Now that February is here I feel like things are getting better every day.

I'm gonna start packing up my apartment this weekend (Asah!) and start gathering my thoughts and my things to prepare to make my move outta here.

Much love from Seoul