Seoul chapter

The thing about starting a new chapter in your life is that another chapter has to end. I remember how sad I was to leave my family and Tootsie (my puppy) when I set off on my journey to live in Korea. It was something I had to prepare myself emotionally for, for weeks. When I arrived I continuously felt like I was off to a rugged start and missed my family and my own sense of normalcy. But I soon realized it was well worth the risk and the struggle of setting off onto a new path. I found amazing friends and found myself calling Seoul my home. Even as soon as a month into my new life here, I would miss my little studio apartment and Korean food when I was traveling. I would arrive back to our little street and see the local stores and feel like I was home. It was such a good feeling knowing I had made a great choice to start a new chapter even though closing the previous one had been incredibly difficult.

Well my Seoul chapter is on it's final pages here in Korea. There is still so much to be done, so many memories to make, and new places to explore. I look forward to continuing to enjoy the summer with the good friends I have here. But I know that my days are numbered, and in all honesty, I'm quite happy about that. Now being in my 11th month abroad, I spend more time thinking about home and missing the people I love. Knowing that the reunions are right around the corner is almost harder to deal with than knowing it's ages away. It's like you can taste it, although it's not a reality yet.

Part of my missing home comes from having to say goodbye to my closest friend here. She has been my rock while abroad and these last few months I have in Korea wont be the same without her. I have never worried about living life here in Seoul without her because we were supposed to finish our contracts at the same time. We would have been packing together, saying goodbye's together, and both moving forward with new and amazing adventures back home! We would go through the ups and downs of leaving our lives here in Korea, together. But with her getting an amazing job back at home that needed her two months earlier than she had anticipated to leave, the plans changed. There was no comfort in doing it together, there was just her leaving to see her family back at home and me still having two months on my contract. I am incredibly jealous of that fact she will be hugging her mother in a few hours time, and on many occasions have wished it was me taking the flight back today.

The thing about starting a new chapter is that you meet new people, become attached to new things, and realize you need or want things in your life that you had never anticipated you would. All of a sudden something you never had before, but became accustom to now, is a necessity from here on out. Extraordinary people make extraordinary friends, and make for extraordinary memories. The experiences you have shared are ones that will not soon be forgotten and the mark that these people make on your life is undeniable. But every chapter closes, and those people move on with their lives. I find myself holding onto the hope that the chapters in my life that are still to be written, are full of new extraordinary memories with the same extraordinary people.

I know how rich my life has been while in Korea because as the clock keeps ticking and America is coming into view, I am also becoming quite sad. As the friends fall away, the job, and the kids I teach I now realize that my new sense of normal will soon fall away as well. I soon will be mixed up in this intermittent space of what I used to know and all I've learned while being here, and somehow trying to make the two coexist.

The mixed emotions, the sadness of saying goodbye, all point to how blessed I am. I have people I love that I look forward to seeing soon and a home to go back to in NC. And as far as being sad about leaving the people and places that have made Seoul my home......well I wouldn't be sad to leave it all if it wasn't great while I was here.