I've been home for about six weeks now and that has led to a resounding silence here on the old blog. But what can you say about coming home from a year and a half in a place so different as South Korea? A lot, I guess, but the exact things are harder to put my finger on.Reverse Culture Shock, first of all. When I came home from a semester in Grenoble, France three years ago I wrote an article about reverse culture shock for a feature writing class. Even as I read up about the unsettling feeling of returning home when you've had profound, self-changing and self-discovering experiences abroad, I didn't anticipate the way the shock of coming home would leave me floored for months. Reconnecting with old friendships proved more difficult than I ever imagined and I was at a loss to answer the simple yet epic question "How was France?"
For whatever reason, this return has gone much more smoothly. I geared up for it, remembering that much as I was ready to come home, I would probably be bored here and have some trouble adjusting. I've spent time with close friends who were genuinely curious to hear about my travels, and friends who I kept in touch with pretty well while I was away, so they already knew some of my stories. I've traveled extensively in the US while I've been back, from visits to friends and family to cross-country road trips on various errands, so I never got bored. (So far I've visited Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Austin, Seattle, Las Vegas and San Francisco. This weekend I'm headed to Chicago before I hit France.) And I've found myself more appreciative of what I have here, the parts I missed and the parts I criticized while I was away.The one place where I really encountered culture shock was the Flatirons Crossing mall in Broomfield where I worked at the movie theater in high school. Asia is crowded, sure, but the crowds at this mall overwhelmed me. The din of all those English conversations I understood every word of deafened me. And I had no idea where to turn in the sprawling stores with rack after rack of clothing in all different sizes. Not to mention those spendy price tags. I was reeling and uncomfortable in 5 minutes flat, and after 20 I had to leave.
Other than that it's mostly daily inconveniences like spending $7 on a cheap meal instead of $3, and having to obey traffic laws when I'm driving that have me muttering about the U.S., much in the same way I cursed Korea. I don't really mean it in either place.
In fact, I find myself missing Korea quite a bit. I've visited Korea Towns wherever I can in my travels and sought out Korean barbecue joints. As anticipated, every third sentence I speak starts with "In Korea..." or even "In Japan..." or "In Vietnam..." And the fact that bars kick you out at 1:30 a.m. instead of, essentially, never is a constant disappointment. Truth be told, while I'm enjoying home I find myself missing noraebang, K-pop, my scooter and all my friends even more than I expected. And the more I enjoy home, the more I don't want to leave. France will be great and I'm excited to go, but once I get back, I'm also excited to find a place I can stay for awhile, somewhere I'll have a few years before it's time to say goodbye.
