Korea...time is up.

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I was lucky to have the chance to see everything one last time, to absorb the atmospheres, to taste to food, feel the sensations of empty Buddhist halls and the sparks of powerful memories.

As I walked down the busy streets of Sinchon that had been my home for most of this last year, all vivacity of the newness in this great place was last. In my awareness of cultural differences and recognition of the taboos of Korean lifestyle, I had become comfortable.

The familiar streets were just as familiar as they had been several weeks before I had gone to Thailand and that sense of awe in the great unknown slipped into an appreciation of a world that I was able to experience.

I spent the last days with Ji Hyang, a friend I was so grateful to see again over a year after she left the states from her study abroad experience. I saw my Korean roommate Su-jin, the most compassionate Korean girl that I had met. Her sweet yet often harsh honesty gave me an insight to Korean society that I never would have had with out her. She was my source for all questions and for learning to write Hangul and to speak…though we mostly only called each other awful names in Korean out of love.

I was able to see Alina and Marina again and they took me out for one last night. We had become close through mutual friends over the past year and now we were even talking about meeting up again in St, Peter’s Berg.

Together we had adapted to Korean lifestyle, we saw the surprising and often homely sights of the Communist North, we embraced the smoothness of Soju, and walked the streets late at night meeting Korean people. On our last night we went for Korean BBQ, to a tucked away fruit Soju bar and then had our pictures done Korean Style.

The next morning Alina, Marina, and Su-jin walked me to the cab, and before I knew it I was back in the airport and headed to San Francisco.

It was Just like that. The end to an extended journey where home never really felt that far away and where the difference of the world had been bridged in so many ways in my mind.

I had no regrets.

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Photos

Me Madina and Alina
Pictures Korean Style

Alina
At Korean BBQ

Su Jin
ON the Bus...

Toilet
One of the Little things I will miss

Me
Coffee with Ji Hyang

Never see this in the States..
One of the Little things I will miss

Sweet Korean Couples
One of the Little things I will miss

Sleepin' on the Job
One of the Little things I will miss

Comments

[srh]

sexy thang...
a bit of korea still lingering.... i miss you... let me hear from you soon. srh

[anonymous]

hey~~
now i'm walking the busy streets in Sinchon everyday as you did. some of those pics above are where i might hang around. miss you. i'll put up some more pics of Yonsei in Facebook. :) miss ya

[roxana]

yay
rebekah..i got to follow your footsteps to korea and it was very good. i must say i think you were able to see a lot more than me, but i think i had a different kind of drive in this case and just getting to the end of the application process was a victory for me. i still wish i had more time to see more of it. and i remember ji hyang! that was over 3 years ago... good luck with whatever you are doing now. :)