Four months too long.

From subways and sky trains to Durban International Airport. 

It's been 5 months and 10 days since I've been back to this beautiful country. Still reminiscing about Korea and the last two and a half weeks I spent in South-East Asia. This is the first post I've written since being back so it's highly overdue. I guess for me this is also a means of putting closure on a chapter of my life that I will probably never re-live.

I arrived in South Africa on March 17 and on the 18 I was already yearning to return to the land that had become my home for the past two years. (You can read my blog about my past 2 years in Korea: Life in Korea's Fast Lane). I continued feeling like that for about 4  months. So much so that I was secretly in the process of re-applying to Korea. Application check, police clearance check, passport check. I just needed to round up a few more documents before I could hop on a plane and jet back to the east.

You have to understand where I was coming from. You have to understand what it's like having your life flipped completely upside down and then having it return to 'normal' again. That was the case for me. After I returned I had only a handful of friends who I could still call up. I was living in a little town (compared to the big cities I'm used to) and I had way too much time on my hands which caused me to question the life I had known pre-Korea. 

I returned to find everything pretty much the same as when I left. Family were the same, the neighbourhood was the same (if not, worse) and most importantly the people were still doing the same things (even at home) and still following the same routines. I didn't bother going out much because I knew from experience that the social scene is nothing like Asia's. I know I was wrong for thinking like this but I was really getting depressed about not being in Korea and the fact that I was not finding a job here in SA. It's really hard to discuss this with someone who's never experienced it. It's especially harder if you have been living abroad for an extended period of time and have become accustomed to that way of life. Most travelers have to deal with this after spending time overseas- whether just a short vacation or a longer period of work or study. 

Getting down from a travel high is difficult. In Korea I could afford to travel to at least 3 different countries on ONE salary and still have change. In SA, not so easy. One would have to save up for at least 4 months just to visit one country. 

In the 4 months of being back, I only went for 3 interviews. The 3rd interview was for the job I currently have. Securing this job was a life-saver, to say the least. Not just financially but also from a practical point of view. The truth is that I enjoyed being home with my family, eating home-cooked meals and sleeping in until 10. But I was bored. I needed to get up at 6am get busy during the day and then go to bed exhausted. I needed that rush. There was never a dull moment in Korea- the spontaneity kept me on my toes. 

Now the point of this post is not to wallow in nostalgia and feel sorry for myself, it's to move on and enjoy where I am in life right now. I'm living in beautiful South Africa - in the capital city of my province, I have a great job that pays well enough and I'm living with awesome family. I'm still working on my social life and getting a bit more independence, but for now I seem to be okay. 

There are a few strategies I'm working on to help me deal with the adjustment, or at least to make it bearable. I will share those in my next post :)