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?