Life Conspires Against Me

As comforting as it is to be back home, with the stability of a day-to-day routine and the support of a caring Korean network, it’s overwhelming, too, to catch up on two months of life. I didn’t realize how much I missed—or how much I changed—until I was back. I’ve forgotten how to teach, I have mounds of correspondence demanding responses and way too many photos to sort through, my Korean is nonexistent, and I am unable to think because I drink tea by the liter and it keeps me up at night. I’m overwhelmed. And on top of everything, I have another big goodbye coming up that I am already dreading. I will be leaving Korea so soon—maybe not for months yet, but I’m sure it will roll around before I am ready. There’s still so much I want to do this semester—mountains to climb, festivals to experience, food to eat…there’s not time enough for it all. So I have a ton of planning to do, too, and no time to do it because I am so frazzled. I suppose it’s a good thing I have these two weeks to pull myself together before the semester REALLY starts and I freak my students out. I’m having trouble becoming reacquainted with the familiar—or perhaps, reconciling my memories of the familiar with the actualities. Reverse culture shock…it gets me every time…