Goodbye Korea

It’s done. We have left Korea and are now spending five hours in Tokyo before jumping on a flight to Seattle. I cannot use adjectives like “bittersweet” or “sad” or “heavy-hearted” to describe my feelings. I have only one descriptor for that feeling: intense joy (or does that count as two?).

Of course, we have enjoyed our last two years, but it was in spite of Korea, not because of it. We’ve done considerable traveling from there, had the experience of teaching overseas, and even met some good friends. But, there is nothing about Korea itself that I’ll miss. The food doesn’t agree with me, there is little variety in historical sights, the people do not seem overly friendly to tourists, and it’s too hot and too cold. All the men in Songtan have a spitting habit (complete with the full throat-clearing cacophony a ten-year-old does to annoy his sister). There is little green space. The air carries the constant scent of sewage. There are too many cell phones and taxis and scooters. Korea is named “the land of the morning calm,” but I’m still not sure why. Tell that to the people who shout into their phones or play Korean-techno music outside of our bedroom at 2 am. It’s more like the land of mourning the calm.

We’ll still have connections to Korea. I accidently let the movers pack my landlord’s DSL modem in my shipment. So, we’ll always have that tie.

For fun, you may want to revisit that first blog entry I wrote on the plane coming to Korea almost two years ago.