I'm not sure if you heard, but the U.S. presidential election was a week ago now. Since South Korea is 15 hours ahead of Iowa I was actually able to follow the results Wednesday while at work. Now, I'm actually not political AT ALL. If you ask my friends some might say I am, but if you ask my friends who actually enjoy politics and keep up on the who's who and what's going on in the political world, they'll easily tell you I don't care all that much. At the end of the day I feel it's a big game (for some) and certain important issues are ignored because people are busy trying to win the game.
This is my opinion, feel free to agree/disagree. With that said, I do try and still keep informed and vote to make sure I'm doing my part in making the world a better place and using my vote to put people into office who I believe will accomplish this. I'm actually starting to get a little side tracked, okay regaining focus. So although I don't see myself as a person who keeps up with politics, this election was still important to me. Fast forward to Wednesday....
Wednesday morning came and I could barely contain myself. I was so nervous to see how the election would finally turn out. I couldn't just sit and watch the election online because well, I had to teach. I taught five classes back-to-back that morning with about ten minute breaks in between. Needless to say, every chance I could get my eyes were glued to my computer. Once classes were over, I quickly ate lunch and ran back to my classroom to watch more election stuff. I thought,
finally, I can get some real watch time in! I was wrong. Two teachers took the rest of last week off to study for a certification exam they were taking over the weekend. We had a good luck afternoon snack to wish them luck. Except it wasn't really a snack. It was
jjimdak. Very delicious, but I had just eaten a large lunch an hour before. Luckily President Obama was announced as our next president before this afternoon snack took place, but I still really wanted to watch his speech. I quickly had a few bites of jjimdak, but once I received my friends text telling me it's show time I got up and ran to my computer. I sat there watching his speech. I was just so happy the candidate I wanted to win was re-elected. All I wanted to do was jump up and down and scream out loud. I looked around the classroom in search of someone to celebrate with and it was just me. Just me feeling the excitement of the election. Just me who really truly cared. At that moment I realized I would have given anything to be back home with my friends and family. I usually never let myself think this way. Once you start having thoughts like this things can quickly take a turn for the worst. I immediately thought,
WAIT, it's dinner night with the friends tonight. I'll celebrate than!
Dinner time with my closest Andong friends came and I could not wait to finally share my excitement. To my surprise it wasn't exactly what I hoped it would be. Out of my friends who were there, some weren't American and others kept their voting status to themselves. Not that my non-American friends weren't happy for me, but the excitement wasn't there like it would have been back home and to be fair...why would it be?! In that moment all I wanted to do was cheers my glass of wine and be merry. I wanted to be with old friends screaming our re-elected presidents name celebrating the victory. Whether you were for Obama or not, I just truly longed to feel excitement in the air. No matter where I turned to that day I kept finding myself let down. To be honest, I'm still really shocked the election triggered a bout of homesickness. You mentally prepare yourself to be okay around the holidays and for birthdays, but the ELECTION? I suppose maybe it's just another reminder on how I'm constantly missing out on things. That night I went to bed a little buzzed, full of
vet koek and really missing home.
A trip to Gwangju, my old home.
This past weekend I finally went back to Gwangju. The trip was insanely long. Since I live in a smaller city if traveling anywhere other than Seoul or Busan I usually have to take a bus to Daegu and then catch another bus to my original destination. Traveling to Gwangju was no different. I left school at 4:30 to make by bus for Daegu at 4:50. Two hours later I was in Daegu boarding another bus. This time the bus ride to Gwangju was 3 1/2 hours long. By the time I made it to Gwangju it was 11 pm and I was completely exhausted. Once I actually got off the bus and started to walk around U-square the joy of being back in the Ju took over. I was ecstatic to finally be back in the place I once considered home. That night I sat and chatted with some of the best people I've met while in Korea - Krissy & Kivi! We were all pretty tired and eventually headed to bed. The rest of the weekend was filled with laughs, eating, drinking too much and seeing great friends. I was even able to see my old supervisor, Sunny who in actuality is more of a friend! I somehow also managed to crash a baby shower. By the end of the shortest weekend of my life we said our good-byes and I found myself on yet another bus thinking of all the experiences I had the previous year. On our way out of the city we passed Yongbong dong, my old ghetto neighborhood and I started to tear up.
It's funny how one day I was sad over missing something back home, but the next moment I'm almost in tears over no longer living in a place I once considered my home in Korea.
