It’s hard to believe that we have been back in the US six months now.  Korea seems like a dream almost.  If it wasn’t for the wonderful friends we made, the hundreds of pictures, the beautiful art pieces hanging on our walls (along with the ones that still need to be framed), the cultural habits we picked up, and the speaking in tongues.  We would never know we were gone.  But every time I hand something off two handed to a sales clerk with a slight bow, I laugh to myself and think of Korea.   

People always ask us are you happy to be home.  This time of year, yes, it is good to be home.  This is a special time of year.  It is nice to be home and have eight inches of snow on the ground for a real white Christmas. Decorating our own tree and just being able to enjoy our home.  These are all wonderful things we missed. 

There are things that we miss from Korea too.  The everyday adventure of living in another culture is something that makes you really look at things differently.  I miss the open air markets and trying to figure out what things are.  I miss trying to communicate with the Koreans in broken Korean and a large quantity of hand gestures to get what I need.

I miss the warm hearted nature of the Korean people. I miss the willingness of people from all cultures to get to know each other and their cultures in excitement and without preconceptions of what people should be.  There is something wonderful in having an exchange and really getting to know people from other countries without media bias.  Face to face time is always a better option.  I miss discovering the similarities in people regardless of culture.  I miss comparing societal traits.  I miss being told “this is the most delicious” when being given something to try by a Korean friend.    

In a world where we look at people for their differences in US society and frown on the fact that someone is may not believe the way we do it was enlightening.   I think as Americans we tend to be suspicious of everything and everyone.  Living in a country where the language barrier is present and you have to have blind faith in people makes you grow.  I don’t want to ever go back to being the suspicious American.  I want to continue to grow.

I greatly miss the open nature of helping out people from other countries to learn a place that is foreign to you both.  I miss the willingness for people to make friends and have a rapid true friendship from it that will likely develop into something for life with at least from some of them. I  miss the open communication between cultures that tells truth to what life is like in each society. 

The world is not such a big place.  We need to realize that.  What do we know of a country if we have not been able to actually talk to it’s people? 

This time of year is a time for reflection.  A time to be appreciative of those things we have.  What I am most appriative of this year are our families, the friends we have made and the friends we came back to and the great oppurtunity that we got ta have by living in a foreign land.

So for all our friends from all over the world we wish you a happy holiday season.  Whether that be Christmas, Solnar, New Year, lunar New Year, or twelfth Night.  May Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas or black peter bring you something special this holiday season.  Take care,

C and H