Thank You and Blog Hiatus

I've been home for about a week and I'm slowly adjusting to life in Canada. I'm still terribly jet-lagged and not sleeping well. I'm awake at night and drowsy during the day. And when I do sleep at night, I usually wake up after an hour or two, confused about what time it is. Still, it's good to be here. I'm enjoying the comforts of home, wonderful food, and spending time with family. I'll gradually start meeting my friends when I feel better.

My first reactions about being in Canada are that it is much colder than Busan. Even though it's not that cold in this part of Canada right now, it was still a shock to my system after two years in a temperate climate. Second, the streets around the neighbourhood are noticeably wider than in Busan. I was used to seeing narrow corridors and tight winding roads. There is just more space here. Third, and I think this is a sign of the times, but I'm not used to seeing so many people without facemasks. True, just about everyone wears masks at indoor public places here, but in Korea, people wore masks outdoors as well. I went long stretches of time without seeing someone's full face. 

I think I'm experiencing a slight case of reverse-culture shock. I'm slightly overwhelmed with English-language input. All of the radio, television, and discussions around me are happening in English. I can no longer tune out the peripheral sounds. And people tend to be more direct and forceful in their speech here, so sounds that I hear are slightly more aggressive than I'm accustomed to.

I want to say thank you to everyone and anyone who's read this blog over the two years and supported me while away in South Korea. I especially want to thank my family who were my most loyal readers and supporters. I managed to average one blog per week and it was really motivating to keep going knowing that I was being read by people back home. With the COVID-19 pandemic, I didn't get to travel as much as I wanted, but I still experienced fascinating aspects of everyday Korean life and I often wrote about those things in the blog. I hope it was at least somewhat interesting for you as well.

Finally, I'd like to thank my co-teachers, co-workers, students, friends, and acquaintances back in Korea. The strange, fun, challenging, baffling, and rewarding experiences I had in Korea are largely because of you. Korea was truly a memorable time in my life and made all the more enjoyable because of you. For anyone debating whether or not to go to Korea, I say 'give it a shot'.

The Chronicles of Derek blog will be on indefinite hiatus moving forward. I won't be adding new blogs while here in Canada but all of the previous blogs will remain accessible online should you wish to revisit them. If I happen to take on another noteworthy adventure, I'll restart the blog. Who knows what will happen in the future?

The Long Journey Home

I woke up before my alarm on Saturday, anxious get on with my journey home. I needed to be out of the apartment by 8am to catch my train and also because the new teacher would be arriving around 10:30am to move in. I needed to be long gone by then.

I squeezed the last few items into my suitcases, did a quick sweep of the floor, and moved the last of my rubbish to the street. After two years in this apartment, it is once again empty and clean.

As I took my first few steps towards the subway station, two suitcases and a heavy backpack in tow, I noticed an immediate problem. The wheels on one of my suitcases were bowed out so the suitcase wasn't pulling smoothly. It was dragging on a ground. I did my best to balance the suitcase on one wheel, but it was hopeless. I essentially dragged the suitcase on the sidewalk for 10 minutes, uphill to the subway station. It made a terrible grinding sound the whole way. By the time I got home, I saw that my suitcase was shredded.

I arrived at Busan station about 30 minutes before the train departure. I found my seat in the first class car and shoved my luggage in the rack between the cars. I paid for a first-class seat to have a little comfort for the journey and to have a bit more space to myself. I sat in a single seat, so there was no one immediately beside me. However, as the train began to move, my train car was completely empty except for an older man sitting directly in front of me. The staff had to remind him to wear his face mask. By the time I reached Seoul 2.5 hours later, the train car was at full capacity.

I had hoped to enjoy a view of the Korean countryside one final time from the train, but instead, the view was obstructed by extreme haze and fog. I received an air advisory warning about the poor air quality throughout the country and especially in Busan. The air was okay inside the train car, and it was a good day to stay indoors.

When I arrived at Seoul station, I needed to find additional transport to Incheon Airport, which is about an hour from Seoul. I knew it would be a serious pain to drag my baggage through the station, so luckily there was a train staff member with a dolly who offered to carry my suitcases (for a small fee) and lead me to the express train. I readily agreed and followed him through various passage ways through the bowels of the station, up several elevators, and we eventually emerged next to the express train. He helped my buy a ticket from the kiosk and loaded my luggage onto the train. In his broken English he explained repeatedly when I needed to exit the train. I think helping foreigners find the train is a side-job for him, but I was very glad for his service, if not a little guilty for letting him push the luggage-loaded dolly.

I arrived at Incheon Airport and loaded my luggage onto a cart and then proceeded to kill a couple hours before I could check in. I arrived extra-early just in case there were any delays on my cross country travel from Busan to the airport. I drank a chocolate-banana smoothie for lunch, and eventually checked in with Air Canada. I was happy to be rid of my heavy suitcases.

The flight was delayed by 20 minutes to allow time for connecting passengers to board our plane. I sat in an aisle seat and didn't have anyone next to me, so I was comfortable. I don't usually sleep on planes, but this time I slept briefly. I know this because I tried to watch two movies, The French Dispatch and Shang-chi the legend of the ten rings, and I have no idea what happened in either movie. I managed to watch a James Bond flick in it's entirety.

We landed in Toronto after a relatively smooth 13-hour flight and passed through security, baggage claim and customs without difficulty. All of my health and travel documents were in order, so there weren't any issues. 

Airways Transit drove me to my hotel for the last leg of the journey. Door to door, from my apartment in Korea to the hotel in Canada, I was on the move for over 25 hours. I am now suffering the effects of jet lag, so I am sleep-deprived and exhausted but wide awake during the nights.

I'm happy to be home. Home at last. Home at last.