Two months ago I was on a plane ride to Seoul, South Korea.
(Now, sitting at my parents' kitchen table in upstate NY, I realize I should've started this blog two months ago).
Last Monday, I returned from a summer job teaching English at a university in Korea. It was the first time I've ever left the country (unless Canada counts?). In fact, I've hardly ever left upstate New York. Consequently, those were the most unique 9 weeks of my life.
I could share all the crazy details of motor bikers plowing through red-lights and sidewalks, and about the university's multi-purpose "soccer field / baseball field / army training field / construction site / parking lot" - but I'm sure you could read all about those in any Korean tour guide book for foreigners.
Instead, I mean to track the longterm impact that experience will have on my life. I knew going into the gig that it was gonna go by FAST. So, every weekend I soaked up as many tourist sites as was physically possible and, after finals, I added all my students on Facebook and even received cake and gifts from them!
In the end, I felt like a world traveler. I felt like I had a million amazing adventures and a million amazing new friends. I felt like I was the conquerer of another world! I felt like Peter Pan in Neverland.
Alas, my coworker, Ben, warned me it'd all feel like a dream. He said once we got back home, it'd be like none of it had ever happened. On the plane ride back to the States, I was haunted by Dustin Hoffman's words in Spielberg's Hook:
You know you're not really Peter Pan, don't you? This is only a dream. When you wake up, you'll just be Peter Banning, a cold, selfish man who drinks too much, who's obsessed with success, and runs and hides from his wife and children!
Unfortunately, he is kind of right. The return home does make it all feel like a dream. I guess it's because everything changed for you, but back home, nothing changed. I can look back at pictures, souvenirs, and Facebook the people I've met, but none of it will be the same as actually being in Korea.
That's why I either have to move back or keep on moving forward. I guess this blog is my attempt to keep moving forward and figure out what to do with the rest of my life.
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