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Published: September 20th 2012
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At the airport sauna in Seoul It’s been about a month since I’ve been back from summer vacation and since school started back up, and I finally feel like I have a rhythm in my life again. In August, I went back to the US for my 12-day vacation, so I thought I’d tell you a bit about that.
My good friend was getting married, and it worked out that my vacation was at the same time, so I splurged a bit to buy a ticket to the US. It was a great trip which included seeing most of my favorites who live in the US--friends from home, friends from college, a friend I’d met in Korea, lots of family, and my wonderful pets. I flew into Pittsburgh, and then we road-tripped down to Atlanta for the wedding, with a stop in Richmond. After Atlanta, my family and I spent a few days near the Smoky Mountains before driving back to Pittsburgh. A day later, I took a Megabus to DC, spent the weekend there with college friends, and then suddenly I was back on a plane. I think I used my time really well, but it certainly wasn’t a restful vacation--when I got back to
Sheetz!
A must-stop place Korea I was exhausted.
Some highlights and revelations from being “home”:
-Pets are super. Having lived with pets most of my life, but without them for the last year and a half, I realized again how great it was to have them around. I really wanted to pack the smallest cat in my suitcase, but decided against it.
-I felt so lucky that I could be there for my buddy’s wedding. In the months around it, I missed two other good friends’ weddings, so I was glad I could share this one’s exciting day. I’m also glad I made it through giving the toast, because I’d been really stressed about it.
-I have it pretty good in Korea. I can get around really easily and cheaply without driving. In the US, gas was expensive. I visited DC which has a decent public transit system compared to other US cities, but it was about 3 times as expensive as Korea’s transit. These kinds of revelations make me stressed to think about coming back to the US, especially without a job.
-My family is awesome. When you live away from your family, I think you appreciate the
time you are together more. At least it’s true for me.
-Some of my Korean habits will be a bit hard to break. Notably, I entered a hotel elevator by myself and realized there was someone in it, so I quickly did a small head nod/bow. She probably didn’t really notice, but I was surprised at my habitual movement. Also, visiting foreign-speaking countries may be a problem, since I’m used to speaking (a bit) of Korean in everyday life. At the Tokyo airport, I accidentally said, “Kamsahamnida (Korean for ‘thank you’)” to the Japanese cashier, then got flustered because I couldn’t think of the Japanese quickly.
-Life without a cellphone is weird. I don’t really use my cellphone that much here, but it’s always good to have it. Especially in the US, when driving or travelling and meeting people, it’s hard to get by without one. My bus ended up being 4 hours late to DC, and when I went to use a pay phone (they still exist) in the station, none of them actually worked.
-American grocery stores and Target are wonderfully excessive. I forgot what it’s like to have (year-round) such a variety of fruits
and vegetables, plus all the options of other things. For most products in Korea, there are maybe 2 brands available—except ramyeon (Korean ramen)—there are at least 20 varieties in each grocery store. Almost everyone I reunited with in the US commented that it seemed I’d lost weight. I may have. It’s probably a combination of not having a car, playing soccer/salsa dancing/hiking, and mostly cooking my own food. I am way healthier living here, and I think the availability of “convenience” foods in grocery stores will probably lead to unhealthy choices when I get back.
-I appreciated being in a place where I could understand total strangers. I liked that I had an opportunity to small-talk with people at the grocery store, just because I could fluently speak the language. This is a small piece of the comfort of being in a place with norms, customs, languages, etc., that I’d grown up with—I knew mostly what to expect in just about every situation I encountered. It was definitely a nice, easy contrast to living in Korea, where every day I’m in situations in which I have to guess what people are talking about, what’s in my food, etc. (I’m
not saying it’s terrible this way, it’s just a bit difficult and creates kind of a stressful feeling if I think about it.) Even more than that, I didn’t feel like an outsider. People in my area and where I traveled generally have a similar skin tone to mine, a similar accent to mine, and didn’t seem to have a problem sitting near me in a restaurant, on the subway, or on the bus. In Korea, and I’m not sure how much of it is in my mind or not, but I constantly feel stared at. I hear the Korean word for “foreigner” semi-often around me, and yet I don’t know if they’re talking about me or what they’re saying. No one sits near me at lunch and if all the other tables fill up and it’s the last option, I am positive the women who sit near me converse about what foods I’ve chosen, and how much of each I’ve taken. It can be really draining to always feel judged and be a representative of “foreigner”.
-I live in Korea quite happily without yearning for most American products, but in the weeks leading up to my trip home,
I began fantasizing about cheesecake, American beer, Rachel sandwiches, and many other delicacies we don’t come across often in Korea. Once in the US, I didn’t really go crazy and binge on anything, although there were some moments of appreciation at a first bite/sip of something I hadn’t had in a while.
-In going back to the US after being a constant traveler in Korea, I realized how much of the US I haven’t seen. Although we did road-trip, I could easily spend a month being a tourist in the (relatively) small section of the US I traveled to on this trip. When I am in the US on a full-time basis, I need to act as more of a tourist in my own country. There are so many beautiful/interesting/ “American” things to see, and I’m more appreciative of that now that I have spent so much time away.
There are definite difficulties to living in a foreign country, and sometimes a home country can be unsurprising/boring, but experiencing my always-home and my current home in a short time period helped me put both places in perspective. I have to say I appreciate both places a bit more
now.
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