Adventure #27: Moved back to Korea

Before I left Korea, I had resigned from my job. I had stayed beyond my one year contract for an extra three months, thinking that this would be ample to time to get my fill of Korea. But two weeks short of leaving the country I took back my resignation and asked my employer if I could come back. I was so sad, nearly devastated, about leaving this place that I couldn’t imagine leaving for good. I feel a connection to this country. Teaching for 15 months here was not enough. So I came back! Ironically the day I flew in was the day that North Korea fired at South Korea. I was in the air when it happened. For the first week that I was back here, I seriously freaked out. I wasn’t sure what was really going on. I was getting calls and e-mails from concerned family in the U.S., who are getting their information from a very distorted media. After consulting with some coworkers in Korea, I’m content and confident that the South Korea has a very specific exit plan for Americans should things escalate. It seems that North Korea has backed down, and things have settled down here.

Now that I’m back and have settled in, I know that I made the right decision coming back here. I feel being here is a crucial part of my journey of self-discovery. I feel more like myself in Korea than I do in the U.S. if that makes any sense at all. A quote from the Nanny Diaries comes to mind: “You must immerse yourself in an unfamiliar world in order to truly understand your own.”

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