It's the day before my "supposed" leaving date for South Korea. (not to mention my Birthday!!! :) I say "supposed" because although my flight was scheduled for 6:11am in the morning, the Korean consulate office is having communication problems with the Korean immigration system, thereby delaying my visa & departure...yet again. :( Nonetheless, I remain optimistic! I shall certainly be out of the States this week!
Within the past few months I've had quite a few conversations with people about my leaving for Korea. I've received a myriad of responses which unsurprisingly seem to fall into category by age. Those in my age group are normally quite excited for me and agree that it will be "way cool and I should send back gifts and are nikes cheaper over there?" (No, they aren't!) The middle aged folks- those who are around the age of my beautiful mother- assure me that it will be a "rewarding experience and be careful what you eat". Older people, however, are often sure that I am "entirely too young for the journey" and warn me that it is inevitable that i'll end up in a dark and gloomy jail cell in North Korea....& also "be careful what you eat!"
Of course, there are radical deviations to be found within my observations. One such includes a 30 something year old ex-convict whom I met at the greyhound (12 years for a murder charge) who heavily chastised my aspirations to teach english in South Korea while there are "black kids in America who need more help." His accusations included "selling my soul for the almighty dollar." Just to put it out there, this is not an not an attempt to "abandon my people" or "the cause", as he put it. I simply want to get my feet wet in the international world, build my resume, and at the same time, get that "rewarding experience" all the 30-40 year olds were talking about!
