A Rural Paradise

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It was upon watching a movie with my dear friends about a young man trying to prove he was responsible enough to expand on his family's business by going to rural China that I suddenly realized that was the very place I wanted to go. After much talk and consideration, and nearly ultimately deciding against it (for my initial experiences in Korea weren't good), I changed my mind and signed the contract. The university was persistent and my curiosity wasn't subsiding so off I went.

First, of course, I went to Korea. After that first night, the rest of the trip was actually amazing. I realized a whole other side to the country that I'd either let or made myself didn't exist in my lifetime there. Seoul though, and this visit I had the privilege of having, made up for it all. Suddenly, I found an interest in the Korean language, something I thought impossible to ever occur. When I left, i was with a light heart, a smile, and a wave at my dear friend's school, as though she could see it through whatever wall she was teaching behind.

My trip since then has lasted on is own another lifetime. I wish I felt more like typing it all here but my desire to record every detail of my life on paper has long since faded. Suffice it to say, I somehow have found myself exactly in that place where the American business boy did. A foreigner where foreigners are rare, a rural side of a great nation, and the world before me, beckoning with open wings. Say, let's look forward for an eternity. When we look back again, it'll be to beautiful sunrises and the only dark moment will be when our eyes are closed. Somehow, though, even then, there will be a trickle of light seeking to be part of that bright world.

Also, the chickens are pretty darn cool. Nothing screams countryside like chickens raised on a university campus and little children running about. =D

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