Interviewing myself...

So you've been gone from the country you've called home all your life for almost a year and I wonder... Have you changed at all?

hmmmm

• I can use chopsticks much better now!
• I like spicy food and fish (didn't think I liked them a year ago!)
• My sense of direction is much better now...
  
• this is due to a heightened consciousness to detail-- when you can't read all the communication we take for granted every day, you can't afford to be oblivious like I have been most of my life =) It's a little like the sense of seeing becoming more acute when the sense of hearing is lost-- except even reading lips won't help me in this language I can't understand =)
• I don't see the complicated illegal immigrant issue in the same way I used to-- Some of my good friends are illegal and as their opportunities are even more limited in their home countries, they are willing to take their chances to support thier families with no other hope (and when they are caught, they praise God for His provision and for being restored to their families, and we all pray that God will open a legal way for them to return) I don't venture to say that the issue is parallel to the US problem now, but it used to be so black and white in my head, and now it's not....
• I am more comfortable with the ambiguities and mysteries of life, faith, and culture-- The Bible is absolute truth, but there are so many things in the West we consider to be "right" that are really just cultural. Besides that, explaining away a mystery doesn't solve the mystery, it just allows us to be at peace with something we can understand-- even if it's not entirely true.
  
• Now that I'm back in the States, I begin more sentences than I'd like with "In Korea, we..." It's becoming obnoxious to me already, so it must be driving everyone else crazy!
• I'm just a tiny bit more decisive. "In Korea I..." ... don't have time to second guess everything and whatever I don't decide on quickly just won't get done, purchased, or whatever. I think this has led to the next one...
• I live life more and think it less! I took many journals with me and I've used them to jot down thoughts I don't want to forget, but it's not so much of a survival mechanism anymore. It's good to live in reality instead of so much time spent inside my own mind (scary place =)
  
• I'm a little bit better teacher-- This one is kind of cheating... in the first decade of teaching it's pretty hard not to improve with each year's experience =)
• I've been living in a very touchy-feely place. I'm not sure if I'm really changed or if it's just a way to fit into this culture, but we're often packed in so we practically sit on each other, hold hands walking everywhere, and hugs are the natural way to greet each other. I've always been awkward with this stuff, but it seems that some of that barrier is broken down-- the difference is that all the physical connection doesn't mean so much here...with no personal bubble, it's not a big deal to touch someone else-- either shoving or hugging!
• I got a little more organized in schoolwork, but most of my world is just as random and haphazard as ever (thus, months between having time with organized thoughts to blog!)
• I'm quicker to make friends and less demanding of them in the way of intensity-- I'm still not "casual friend" material, but I can have more than 2 friends at a time and my head doesn't explode =)

Have you missed anything while you've been gone?

• My niece was born 3 days after I arrived in Korea, so I had never held her or seen her except on my computer screen-- I do love holding Kaitlyn now! And playing with Logan and hanging out with Mariah-- I've missed months of them growing up and am surprised at how different they are and still much the same... It's the same with everyone, but with children it's so much more obvious!
  
• With the advent of the internet (thanks Kerry!), skype and other international communication, blogs and e-mail, I don't feel that I've entirely lost touch with what is happening for my family and friends across the US, but I am enjoying catching up in person now this summer!
• Having transportation parked next to my door-- but the loss of car payments, insurance, maintenance, and needing to be alert while traveling are a good trade-off!
• Knowing what drugs I'm taking after getting prescriptions from the doctor =)
• Doritoes, Reece's, salad, pizza, and small (normal) spoons
• Understanding the language around me! Grocery shopping is so much easier when you can read the labels-- find a foreign food store sometime and try to find the salt, vanilla, mayonnaise, and the kind of toothpaste you like!
  

All in all, I'm pretty much the same person and while I enjoy being back in my homeland again, I miss Korea at the same time-- it's a GREAT place! Come visit sometime!!