Back Again

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What is it about Itaewon that draws one so consistently back?

I know what people that have been here are thinking...you are lazy tourists that want to avoid the authentic experience and hide away in your own pre-established routine and plethora of expectations and don't want to be challenged or embarassed (HA! to those who think Itaewon can't embarass you).

I think it is the hockey.

Jen and I had an errand running day....back in Bundang. We were wandering the suburbian streets last night at 2 o clock in the morning because we were too tired to argue with the Korean cab driver about expenses and street names. Where's the logic there I wonder?

So we have time to kill. So what if we chose to stick to the familiar. It is a very strange place to be,in your mind,when you are not comitted to a "lifestyle". That is, afterall, the only difference between back packing and whatever it is we are doing. When you are a nomad you have already forsaken the comfortable, the roots, teh stable, the expected. When you are a foreigner teaching in a different country you have only abandoned the comfortable. We have not really, truly, abandoned anything but our pride and our hockey jerseys (while, mine anyway). We are sort of homeless, and yet keep ending up back in Bundang in our soon to be apartment that already possesses a full array of bathing suplies in the cupboard and food in the freezer. We are sort of back packing, and yet our back packs keep ending up in motels in the American district of Seoul. We are almost teachers, and yet we are aimlessly wandering the country wondering if something else will go wrong that will inevitably bring us back to the Rocky Mountain for an excuse to drink and cheer (or cry, as lately that is how the Flames have been making me feel).

The truth is, I have put myself into the right frame of mind. The only frame of mind, I imagine, that will be of benefit to me in our unique situation. That frame of mind is to stay openminded, interested, passionate, laid back, courageous, compelled, content. It is an ever adaptable person that can survive daily being in the new, and also one that can forgive themselves for seeking pleasures from home when you have not, as of yet, become a tourist OR a local.

I can say this, HOPEFULLY we will be in the Philippines tomorrow. I can also say that, if we aren't, I will find a way to let it go. That is what this trip is ultimately for....letting go...something I am horrifyingly bad at. Going with the flow is one thing, actually emotionally, mentally, letting go is another. I hope that didn't just jinx us.......if the Fates are listening, I don't need to learn that lesson tomorrow......

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