Farewell, Seoul

[ClosetOtaku]

It's with very mixed feelings that I depart Korea. Being in the military, you do get used to moving frequently, yet this move is more bittersweet than perhaps any other move I've had before.

At this hour I'm still struggling with the jet lag that's an unavoidable companion when you fly halfway around the world in less than 16 hours. I'm back in the United States -- back "home" -- although in the words of Rich Mullins:

Nobody tells you
When you get born here
How much you'll come to love it, and how
You'll never belong here
So I'll call you my country
And I'll be lonely for my home
I wish that I could take you there with me...

Already I'm reveling in the wonders of the States -- I can go almost anywhere and be understood; I can get clothes in my size and bacon and eggs for breakfast; I can drive on highways and roads without having to dodge murderous buses and nimble bongos (a small blue flatbed truck driven by suicidal men who ignore most traffic laws while maintaining bored looks on their faces).

Yet there's a lot to Seoul that I miss. I miss sharing the common dishes, liked whole baked fish or kimchi, with other diners, everybody eating out of the same bowls. I miss the hardwood heated floors that you walk around with your socks on. I miss moonlight strolls and morning bike rides on the Han River. I miss going out on the streets, day or night, and feeling safer than I've felt anywhere else in the world. I miss the steamed rice that's the cornerstone of every meal.

Korea is a world away and a world apart from the States. You should note that of the "1000 Places You Must Visit Before You Die", not one of them is in Korea. No matter, it is not Korea's fault that it sits at the crossroads between powerful, world-dominating nations like China and Japan. Had it not, perhaps some of its treasures would remain for us to admire. Then again, it would not have produced the wonderful people it has, people toughened by hardship and now reveling in a rebirth of both religion and economy.

Korea is a very Christian nation, so much so that I have met many Korean missionaries who have traveled to other, less-evangelized parts of Asia to spread the gospel. It boasts the world's largest membership church. I never visited there, but I attended several services at a church whose membership was 35,000. "In my Father's house, there are many rooms." Likewise. The fact that Korea has been richly blessed, I think, is no coincidence.

Yet, now, Korea stands at a crossroads. Let there be no doubt in anyone's mind that China is a giant that has awoken from its long and terrible nightmare and is now intent on extending its influence throughout the world. Japan, the dominant economic powerhouse of the region, is on a gentle, sloping decline -- but is far from dead yet. With China the hammer and Japan the anvil, can Korea escape economic and political annihilation? I mean this in the truest sense -- the people of Korea will survive, but the notion of Korea as a separate national entity may not.

Some of this is Korea's own doing. A true democracy for less than two decades, many political forces that date back prior to World War II are still in power. The rich are very rich -- and you need not look very far to find the poor. There is some simmering discontent among students and the young adults about this, but so far it has not translated into much more than the occasional demonstrations you might see on CNN. The "Miracle on the Han" is over, the economy has stalled, and the leadership seems fresh out of ideas about how to handle its own internal problems, let alone the emerging realities it has been handed.

And, of course, adding to the excitement is the fact that the world's third largest army sits across a border that's 35 miles to the north of Seoul -- and their leader is a paranoid madman with nuclear weapons. Imagine if your next door neighbor was intent on moving into your house someday -- and was eagerly breeding dozens of Pit Bulls to unleash on you should that day come -- and you've got an idea of how it feels to look across the DMZ and see the faces of the gaunt North Korean soldiers looking back at you.

And that, in a nutshell, was my Korean experience. I guess we in the West enjoy our security and our comfort items, a state Ezekiel called "full of bread", and I am developing something of a guilt complex plunging unapologetically back into it. I've lived in a place far less secure with far less comfort, and yet the people there seem just as happy and the society much less violent than what I know to be in the U.S. On the other hand, while I liked Korea, it was much like Japan in that I will always feel like an alien there, always on the "outside".

So, farewell, Seoul. You were my home for a short while, yet you were never my home. And I return to a place I call home, yet know from you that it falls short in many ways, too. As C.S. Lewis says, if my heart yearns for a home that no place has satisfied, then I must have been created for a different Home. To be content with that knowledge is something I still have to learn.

[Ingemar]

Nostalgia: the etymology is from the Greek nostoi, a story of homecoming. Homer's Odyssey is a famous example of nostoi.

Being away from home for a week is enough to put me in a disconnect, as if I were a lamb separated from the flock. I couldn't imagine how it would feel to be away for years and years and years.

Wherever I travel from, I always echo my Mom's sentiments that "There's no place like home." Even after staying in my aunt's cavernous mansion of a multi million dollar house, there's nothing more comforting than the sight of our family's shabby two-bedroom condominium.

Yet the longing for home soon becomes replaced with the longing for the place where I once was. This is especially true after Anime Expo, where I met so many wonderful people who I may never ever see again. I begin to think that we as humans struggle for so many days and years for the morsels of happiness life gives us only to return to a state of (at best) drudgery or (at worst) tragedy. It's like that old saying says, "For every teaspoon of honey, you get a gallon of cod liver oil."

Though my friend, our experiences are hardly similar. As a servicemen, you were ordered to be where you needed to be, where as my trips away from home are usually vacations. Yet there is always something to respect, if not like about some place other than home. It can make a new person out of us.

They way you describe S.Korea really makes it sound like it is standing on a razor's edge, which is true. The place remains a god among insects (I mean no disrespect) and the threat of being crushed by larger beasts is all too palatable. I can only hope that the work the Lord has done in the country will not be extinguished even by His haters in the North. As far as Christianity goes, I hope it doesn't die out almost overnight the way it did in Japan.

[termyt]

I, for one, would like to welcome home one of our nation's sons. You have done your homeland a great service. Thank you.

When you do finally find your true home, it is my prayer that I will be there as well to welcome you home one final time.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

:sniff: bye bye kimchi... bye bye kalbi... bye bye random gahng-peh (gangs) on the streets... bye bye people who snatch your purse T_T

I wanna go to Korea some day.... meet some relatives... including some cousin of mine who is a model whom ive never met before...

[Jaltus-bot]

Welcome home.

*wants to go to Korea now*

[Yojimbo]

Wow that was wonderfully written ClosetOtaku. My grandpa spent two years there in the Air Force as a mechanic for the Sabres at Punang. And his brother was at the Inchon landing and the retreat back across the DMZ.

I've always wanted to go to Korea. It seems to be an amazing country and the Lord has done alot of good work there. People from Korea I have found to be very hospitable and loving people. I think it's incredible that they have like you said managed to stay afloat between economic competition from China, Taiwan, and Japan, and with the North's military arsenal only a stone's throw away.