In less than 24 hours we will depart from Incheon International Airport on the first leg of our journey home, thus ending our tour of duty in Korea. The bulk of the packing has been done, goodbyes have been said, our replacements have arrived and we have started preparing mentally for our return home.
With 3 (maybe 4) cups of coffee from my "Troy-teacher" mug, 4 times saying "whose sitting nicely?", and 6 nights in Beijing standing between this moment and my first step back on Australian soil, its time t0 reflect on our time here.
The rollercoaster ride that was our stay in Korea has included experiencing the initial buzz of entering a new culture, the homesickness that comes with realising the your only 3 months into a year long contract, a dispute with our school over our contract, a bitterly cold winter and utter excitment as the temperatures climbed everyday during the ascent into the warmer months, and finally a reluctance to leave. There were times when we felt burnt out from it all, but we got through them and we have made it through the year in one piece and we are all the better for it. We will take out a lot of good memories and importance lessons, we had some really good times and we will have visited 4 new countries.
There are so many things I'm gonna miss about Korea. We have made some good friends here and I will be sad to leave them, to all my new friends who suffix there name with -teacher, I had a blast hanging with you all over the last year and I hope this won't be last time our paths cross. There have many moments that I would count as highlights of our time abroad. These include escaping the winter to the awesome warm weather of Thailand (even if it was only for a week), singing along to "Debbil's Haircut" at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, finding $5 PS2 games :), buying a coffee plunger, winter ending and last but not least the first moment I walked in front of a class. While I won't particularly miss working for our hagwon, I will miss the kids. I know it sounds cliched but my time teaching these kids has really changed my life. You spend so much time with them while your here some of them become like your best friends and I know It makes me a big girly man but, saying goodbye was really hard (please refer to the previous entry "I've finally cracked").
For me, it was my first time teaching, so I think it affect me more. Having said that, I am looking forward to being home again, and seeing all my friends and family again.
Being back in Australia will be strange, "reverse culture-shock" they call it. Everybody will speak english (and as a bonus they will all have aussie accents!), drive on the left hand side of the road (instead of both), there will be no kimchi with every meal and no pickles and hot sauce with my pizza. Cookies will become biscuits, a trash can will be a rubbish bin, and Candy will be lollies. This Hoju will be an ordinary old Australian once again.
To everyone back home, I can't wait to see you all, save a seat at the pub for me. To everyone I'm leaving in the land of the morning calm, I salute you and say Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.
- T
