Counting Down

I've been trying to keep it to a minimum but with tomorrow making it one week till I take off on a plane to the US, it's not easy. A week from today I will finish my last English camp and hop on a train to Seoul, then take the subway to Incheon, crash for the night in a hotel, and then grab a plane to Tokoyo and then on to Atlanta. To say I'm excited is an understatement. I'm ready to see my friends and family. It's been 11 months. Have things changed in the last 11 months, yes. But it will be good to see everyone.
I was thinking last night as I was eating a yummy bowl of bibimbap and some gu mandu that, I've come a long way. When I got here I had no clue how to order food in Korean. Much less what anything was. Now I can order food and know what I'm ordering. I also have made new friends, done some things I never would have thought about doing before, and generally had a good year.

I no longer feel like beating my head against the wall when I get told things that would have seemed totally asinine if I was in the US. For example, last week I was chatting with my co-teacher Sunny and we were talking about what needed to get done when I get back from the US. She said, she had bad news from the VP. I have to be in quarantine in my apartment when I get back. I can't go to school on that Wednesday like planned. Why? you ask. Because they are afraid I will be bringing Swine flu back with me. Now I might have been offended, if it was just me, but anyone, teachers or students, who go overseas during the vacation can't come back to school till they have been in Korea for at least 4 days. That gives me plenty of time to get over my jet lag. The nice and sweet part of this is that Sunny was mad cause she said she's going to miss me and want to see me after my vacation, she doesn't want to have to wait for the quarantine period.

I'm sure some of my vocabulary has changed. I have a bad feeling I'm going to answer someone in Korean when I first get home. I've just gotten in the habit when it's easy questions of just using Korean to make things easier and clear for the Koreans I'm around. I'm fairly sure I will answer some question I've been asked with a "Nay!" not a "Yes." My newest muttering of "I-go" will get some strange looks where as it is normal here. My "oye!" has slowly been changing. They are little things that I have noticed I picked up but they don't surprise me here. But the strangeness of them in Atlanta will be a bit of a shock.

I'm sure I will be having reverse culture shock. I'll probably bow at someone, yell out Anyoung haseo as I walk into a store. Things that are normal and expected here, but never done at home.

I also know, but I'm not sure how it will feel, that people and things at home have changed also. There has been a year of events, relationships, growth, etc. That has happened while I've been gone. It's tough to think about how my relationships with my friends are going to be different, I'm just visiting this trip. I no longer live there. My home, is in Daegu.

There will be questions about how many more years are you going to be in Korea? Answer: I don't know. Do I have my future planned out right now... nope. I just know that I've signed a contract saying that I will be teaching for the DMOE for the next year. I'm fine with that plan. But I know others will be interested in answers I don't have yet.

It's not time to worry yet....

I've been jokingly asking Sunny since the first rumblings with North Korea started and she said don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. So every time something happens I ask her "Is it time to worry yet?" She always says "No, don't worry." Today at lunch I was eating with the 6th grade teachers and Sunny and I said ok I'm asking with everyone here. I then prefaced the question with there is a lot of coverage in the US papers and International news about North Korea doing things. After the missiles this weekend "Am I allowed to worry yet? I know my mom is worried and I'm going to have 3 weeks at home dealing with my mom worried about it." They all said nope. We'll tell you when it's time to worry. So then it was follow up question time. So if everyone else is worried how come you aren't worried? We're not worried cause we have the US Army here. Why would any one attack us when we have your army here? I was like... hold it. All of your men have to do military service and yet you are counting on the US Army? Yup.
Then they changed the topic. It was interesting. But as I've said before to people it's not time to worry. The South Koreans don't think it's a big deal so, all of us over here really aren't worrying.