Worlds Apart

I've recently become friends with a girl whom I have grown quite fond of the last few weeks. I think she might be the first genuine person I have met here in Korea thus far. I have learned that there are two types of people in Korea; those who are running away from something, and those who are running towards something. I think I'm a mix of the two. I suppose there could be a third type, those who come for the money, get comfortable with the life-style, and start dating a Korean. But that doesn't really count. Why? Just because I say so.

Today my friend and I were out and about, and we sat down for a moment before catching the train back to our neighborhood. She mentioned something so interesting to me that I'm still thinking of it five hours later. She grew up in Canada, in the same house, with the same friends, and living in a small town for most of her life. She did some traveling and lived in Turkey for a while. I on the other hand, have not lived in the same house for longer than two or three years, let alone state. I have lived in a total of seven states, and as of now three countries. I have also spent a lot of time traveling.

She said how amazing it seems that we came from such completely different backgrounds, the exact opposite almost, and we still both ended up here in Korea. Now. We are both still working, and anticipating the same thing. We are both eager to see the world, and want to spend a lot of our near future accumulating knowledge on other cultures and living abroad.

It's funny how strangers’ paths cross, and the people who seemed to be on the same path suddenly decide to choose a different one. Just these few months that I have been in Korea, have had such an impact on me. I used to think I had the worst luck in the world that I must have done something terrible in another life to have things turn out this way. I truly understand what it is to be independent, and to live every part of your life to your own being. I truly believe that what you put in is what you get, and will infinitely believe in karma.

Now I can understand why I felt like no matter how I tried the last five or six years, things just would not fall into place. I was not living for myself. I was making decisions based on something else, on someone else. I was struggling for approval from everyone, and not focusing on the approval from myself. I was convinced if I was making someone else happy, it would in return make me happy.

I not-so-quickly learned that I had gone about living in all the wrong ways. While I don't think that my life from here on out will be full of rainbows and unicorns, I do know that I feel better equipped to handle disappointment and defeat. And just learning that lesson makes everything before now worth it somehow. Although I miss things and people more than I should, and more than they will ever know, this is the place I should be. For the first time I can say this is the place I should be.

People ask me all the time if I get tired of moving around and traveling so much. And the answer is of course I do. I have done some amazing things, and will continue to do amazing things. Will I nest someday? Maybe. Will I continue to travel? Probably.