Signing in from Madrid. Hola!

The culture shock even during this first day has been bewildering, confusing, and tiring. I've spoken Korean thank yous to a number of shop keepers, and I keep passing things and accepting things with both hands, Korean style. Everything is different, the buildings, the people, the sounds, even the smell of things. I'm tired, and frankly lonely and sad, missing what feels like two separate homes and emotional connections on opposite sides of the world at the same time. The hostel is nice, albeit smokey and full of people my age with drinking and drug stories to which I simply cannot relate. God help me I just don't binge or pass out or fight or deprive myself of sleep or make any of these stories that get passed around the bar table by my generation.

On the upside, I can speak more Spanish than I previously thought. Somehow, those dozens of hours doodling on my desk in the back of Ms. Ciccone's class through high school weren't a complete waste.

Looking back, I remember having the same sad and lonely feeling my first day in Korea as I do now. I felt desparate and lost that initial night in September '08, but it all picked up over the course of the first week. I can only hope the same will happen here in Europe. I'll write a long entry about Korea with photos at some point, but for now I'll say that it was a great experience, and that I think I grew into a better sort of person from it all. I've also found love, and with a little luck that love will come to Canada some time sooner or later. I didn't realize what I had, what we had built, until I was forced to come to terms with the fact that I was leaving. Cholong, you and I can pass this test, I'm sure of it.

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Anonymous said…
Yes. We can. I'll do my best for us.♡
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