-Lao-Tzu
Traveling may have been more simple in his time because in my experience, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a hoard of paperwork. However, paperwork (though painful, tedious, and often infuriating) has proved it's worth and in nine days from this present moment, I will begin my journey to the far side of the world.
Said side of the world happens to be South Korea. Where I have accepted a teaching position with EPIK (English Program in Korea) a reputable English teaching program that finds foreigners jobs in Korean government schools. I was delighted to take this job last week, when after months of applications, background checks, government stamps, approvals, letters, etc. etc. ad nausium I finally received an official job offer to teach in Gangwon Province, South Korea.
Though I have been filling my spare time with research about my destination, a great many things remain a complete mystery. My appointment is through the Provincial Office of Education and I have yet to learn which city in Gangwon will be my home for the next year, or even the age range of my future students. I find myself beset with a curious collaboration of feelings, of excitement, and anxiety (like the kind a child feels on Christmas Eve!) I can't wait for time to pass so I can start my adventure, but in the same right I have much to do before I leave. Places to go, items to pack, people to see, all that. And yet I find myself consumed with a peculiar form of procrastination. Stacks of clothes and supplies litter my bedroom floor as I write, and I tell myself I could stow them away now... but I don't. On the one hand I can't until it's time to have all my clothes washed, all items accounted for, and all matters settled. On the other hand I don't want to, I'm not ready. Packing my bags means it's time to leave. There is much too much left to do before that happens, and only nine days before I'm winging my way across the world.
(Eccentric Aside) Isn't it marvelous? That in nine days I will participate in one of the greatest marvels of the modern world, I'll traverse the globe! I'll travel to Korea! And all the land and sea I'll cross to get there will take less than a day! A hundred years ago, this same journey would have been near impossible, only fifty years ago it might have taken months to arrive on South Korea's shores.
I will do it in less than a day
Marvelous!
We live in a world of many conveniences, cell phones, and wi-fi, tablets, etc. Though I find it's easy to forget how quickly everything happens. We have a kind of cognitive dissonance with the past that seems to rob us of most the marvel of what we experience today.... but that's the subject of some other rant.
What matters is that I am nine days away from an adventure unlike any I have previously encountered. A long stay in a faraway land is an intimidating prospect, but in the same right it's exhilarating! Where will I live? What will I see? How will I feel? Who will I meet? Wonderful, wild, and whimsical prospects pound my brain as I continue to procrastinate on packing.
An adventure unlike any other,
and it's only nine days away....
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