Past gone by: "The life of a stranded traveler"
The rush of the city traffic below my 8th floor Seoul apartment that morning was barely audible beyond the voices in my head telling me it was time to go. A city of 20 million people moved with seeming effortlessness behind the walls of my apartment, but I lay stuck in the thought of impossible movement. After two years adjusting to a completely foreign culture, it was now time to say good-bye to the 'foreign' that had become normal, and return to the 'normal' that now seemed so foreign.
I lived in South Korea for two years teaching English, living famous, fighting only crowds, and always being pleasantly welcomed, admired, thanked, congratulated, honored and liked. In Korea I was a Western Superstar. Korea was my fifteen minutes of fame. However, to every 15 minutes of fame, there is always a last minute, and mine was realized that morning sitting in my apartment. My time in Korea had come to a close, for now.
Two months later, my contract finished, I delivered my last box to the post office, passed off my cell phone into grateful hands and boarded a ferry to China. The ferry between South Korea and China took almost 24 hours and gave one last opportunity to be surrounded by the respecting and awe-holding stares of the South Koreans.
Nine countries in South East Asia, one bad case of traveler's diarrhea, and many strange and wonderful experiences later, I arrived back to an international airport in time to catch a flight 'home.' In case you are wondering, being sick and traveling is like trying to breath underwater, it doesn't mix, and if you try it, you choke, and are FORCED to surrender. In my case, I was introduced to the small corner pharmacies of Vietnam, which carry antibiotics imported from Canada. (Some of the best things come from Canada: medicine, maple syrup, poutine..etc) Thank you Canada!
Walking through SE Asia I saw the places of history come to life through the Vietnam war sights, Angkor Wat, the Chinese and Thailand landscapes, the erupting metropolis of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and most impressively the generations of families affected by, but not ruled by, the post-civil and international war times in Cambodia.
Waterfalls and skyscrapers, oceans, coral and mountains, beaches, huts and houses, temples and shacks, smiles and scowls and stares: the life of a traveler is now only a memory of the past, a history once lived and now frozen; lifeless; stone; cold; trapped in the present times of 'home' once forgotten and now relabeled to be what it no longer is. The life of a Stranded Traveler lingers in the here, but wishes to escape to explore places still unseen or heard. I am living the life of a stranded traveler. I am obediently 'trapped' in Oregon.
I lived in South Korea for two years teaching English, living famous, fighting only crowds, and always being pleasantly welcomed, admired, thanked, congratulated, honored and liked. In Korea I was a Western Superstar. Korea was my fifteen minutes of fame. However, to every 15 minutes of fame, there is always a last minute, and mine was realized that morning sitting in my apartment. My time in Korea had come to a close, for now.
Two months later, my contract finished, I delivered my last box to the post office, passed off my cell phone into grateful hands and boarded a ferry to China. The ferry between South Korea and China took almost 24 hours and gave one last opportunity to be surrounded by the respecting and awe-holding stares of the South Koreans.
Nine countries in South East Asia, one bad case of traveler's diarrhea, and many strange and wonderful experiences later, I arrived back to an international airport in time to catch a flight 'home.' In case you are wondering, being sick and traveling is like trying to breath underwater, it doesn't mix, and if you try it, you choke, and are FORCED to surrender. In my case, I was introduced to the small corner pharmacies of Vietnam, which carry antibiotics imported from Canada. (Some of the best things come from Canada: medicine, maple syrup, poutine..etc) Thank you Canada!
Walking through SE Asia I saw the places of history come to life through the Vietnam war sights, Angkor Wat, the Chinese and Thailand landscapes, the erupting metropolis of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and most impressively the generations of families affected by, but not ruled by, the post-civil and international war times in Cambodia.
Waterfalls and skyscrapers, oceans, coral and mountains, beaches, huts and houses, temples and shacks, smiles and scowls and stares: the life of a traveler is now only a memory of the past, a history once lived and now frozen; lifeless; stone; cold; trapped in the present times of 'home' once forgotten and now relabeled to be what it no longer is. The life of a Stranded Traveler lingers in the here, but wishes to escape to explore places still unseen or heard. I am living the life of a stranded traveler. I am obediently 'trapped' in Oregon.
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