Life Here Life There

So many thoughts have come in and out of my head over the past week and a half. It's hard to believe I've been gone that long! It seems like I left Minnesota so long ago, yet not that long ago at all. Quite a bit has happened since I've been in Korea as I am sure you can tell from my Facebook page and from this blog. It's hard to put into words every emotion that I've had, every thought that I've had, every description of every experience that I've had, etc. It's overwhelming in so many ways. As much as this trip has been an amazing experience, it's also had many times of difficulty and sadness. As I sit here in the hotel lobby listening to the people next to me slurp soup, listening to the hotel staff scamper about behind the counter, listening to the easy listening live music in the coffee shop across from me, and watching my laptop battery slowly die, I try and think of my life back in Minnesota and it becomes quite difficult. It's hard to imagine what my life was like before I left and how Minnesota has kept on keeping on since I've been gone, and to know that I will return to it in less than a week. Everything and everyone back home (MN) seems so far away and I'm not talking about just distance. My life as I left it in Minnesota will never be returned to. It cant be. Not after an experience like this. At this moment I feel so different almost to the point of not recognizing myself. I'm torn between feeling a bit homesick for the few things back in Minnesota that actually mean something to me, and feeling homesick knowing I am leaving my country, my roots, my place of origin. I've connected with this place in ways I never thought possible that run deeper than any photo, any blog entry, or any conversation about how my trip has been and/or was. There is so much to be said, yet not enough battery power to say it and certainly not enough time to process all of my thoughts into words right now. Being this removed from myself and my old life is such a refreshing place to be and so strange at the same time. I feel comfortable, confident, and so changed knowing that I will never live the life I had been living in Minnesota before I left and came to Korea. I'd like to think splendid changes and ways of being and ways of knowing myself and the world around me are en route. I guess only time will tell.