Repatriation

it's a strange feeling, coming back to korea, to seoul. in the past two years i've sprawled across europe, had my first taste of the arab world, snowboarded in south america, and along the way filled to capacity the visa pages of my recently hole-punched and invalidated passport. armed now with a new, cheesily patriotic US passport (a renewed canadian passport on the way as well), i've just collected my first visa stamp marking the start of a journey discovering what it means to be a gyopo in korea.

i've been to korea close to a dozen times in my life. always with parents. always within the vast and hermetic socioeconomic bubble of my family and my mothers extended family. while the dynamics of these family relations are very slow to change, if ever, the added language barrier has essentially frozen them in time - a time when i was a hairless prepubescent, barely able to wipe my own ass.

i can now wipe my own ass, expertly. and the language barrier is slowly eroding, crumbling at times in large chunks as i realize that, often, it stands only on a silty foundation of embarrassment.

as much as i feel i have changed, korea has changed even more, and at an ever hastening pace. the last time i visited was via a new international airport. this time, there is newly minted currency, graciously apportioned to the more diminutive and wallet-fitting size of the euro and dollar. south korea is still technically an emerging nation, but it is only a matter of time until the appropriate statistical metrics reach a level to justify a change in designation; just ride public transport for a day and try and argue infrastructure. culturally and economically, the influence of such a geographically small (half) peninsula is impressive and undeniable.

amidst such a dynamic and evolving culture, i'm finding my extended family to be an incredible anchor, an unexpected boon, and a source of pride, loyalty, and love.

hopefully i've bagged enough sleep in-flight/tonight/this morning to cut through the jet lag, cause starting today i've got an entire city of incredible nosh to eat my way through over the next 4 weeks.