War and Peace

All this North Korean craziness... wow huh? It sure has a different spin being this close to it. So, imagine this, many foreigners in Korea are pretty political in the first place... being world travellers and all so of course there has been a ton of dialogue about this new development with Kim Jong Ill and his nuclear power. It's interesting; there are those who are young and invincible and think nothing of it, there are those who have been here forever and think little of it, there are those who have been here forever and are freaking out, and those in all the middles that may be. My friends and I have discussed it at length over beers and I find myself part of a group evacuation plan. It's reassuring. Reassuring to have the plan, just in case and reassuring to have friends to discuss and process fears with, offer reassurances to, and plan "just in cases" with.
So, in the midst of all this I had a very strange experience the day before yesterday... as I was leaving the gym a siren started to wail in my area of Daegu, maybe all over Daegu, I don't know. This happened once before as I was in the shower and I discovered later it was basically an attack warning practice. So there I was coming out of the gym. I came out in the middle of the siren and it went on for about 5 minutes. I didn't know what I would see and at first everything looked normal so I had a seat on a bench outside the building to have a cigerette (all that working out ya know :). The gym is right on this busy intersection where I have to cross to get to work, so I was sitting there and I noticed as the siren was winding down that there were security type people at all the crosswalks and they were heading into the street. So I looked at the lights to see if it was ok to cross and all the traffic lights were black. Then the siren stopped and I realized that the security people were stopping traffic and not letting people even cross the street. Some people were walking down the street but not crossing the major intersections. Then I saw a motorcycle delivery guy get stopped trying to sneak through on the sidewalk and then... all was still. It was this incredibly surreal and serene moment in time... it felt like the world had stopped around me. I have waited at this light every weekday for over a year, walked down this street, listened to traffic whizzing by and horns honking... the people idling even shut off their engines to wait it out. It was so quiet... and then I felt that brief moment of panic and fear as I let the reason to be running this drill come to the forefront of my thoughts... and I couldn't help it, I had to look up into the sky... and at the moment a low flying military plane flew through and my heart was racing and then it was gone and I put the reasons out of my head to focus on the rare, once in a lifetime serenity of the moment. Knowing that had the drill been real, the serenity of that moment would have been the same as everyone would have been taking cover. I had to wonder, would I take cover? Or would I enjoy my possible last moments in that peace? I was so awestruck, a smile even came across my face; people were looking at me strangely... (oh how I miss the quiet of the country, will it weird me out or will it feel like home?). After 15 minutes another siren went off and as soon as it did people starting RUNNING across the street from all sides and traffic starting moving from all sides and the lights did NOT come back on as soon as the siren went off... maybe a 30 second delay, long enough. People were running, horns were blaring and it was crazier than normal for a few moments. And in those few moments, I stayed on the bench, content to wait for the lights, and LAUGHED. I couldn't help it. This city is so fast and people are so late for something, man, I don't get it. I just sat and laughed, and while people looked at me strangely while I was smiling, no one noticed me laughing because the crazy fast life had started back up for everyone except me...

The Korean Thanksgiving holiday is at its end. My school had wed.-fri. off and its been quite nice. I spent my holiday dog-sitting for a friend who lives down town so I was able to take long puppy walks by the river and party like a rock star in the down town area. I ate good eats with other foreign friends who did not jump ship over the holiday and played some smashing pool games by night. I spent time with a friend who is leaving and solidified a friendship with a woman I have "seen around" but never really sat and chatted with. It was relaxing. As it nears its end though, I feel a bit of sadness as I have been looking forward to this holiday for so long. It dawns on me that the next "big thing" in my life is leaving here. I hit the one year mark last week, it amazes me. I spent so much time planning to leave and never doing it and here I am, ready finally to make plans to leave "for real". It's such a weird transient place; the ex-pat community of Korea. Friends come and go so often. It's hard to get used too. As I contemplate leaving, the sadness is leaving the friends I have made. But unlike other places I have been I will not be able to come back and visit them, because most of them will be gone in a year's time. I have met people who go away and come back and are stunned to go to the old stomping grounds and know no one. Of course, there are those who stay on... and those who come back. And I will miss them, the lifers, the repeaters, and the "one-yr and I'm out" crowd. I am not a lifer... but I may be a repeater :) So yes, I will be sad to leave... but I have to say I am also really, really excited to go home and see old friends and my family. Happily, so far, this emotion is winning out. So, I am off to have one last holiday dinner with my dear friends in Korea. When I come home, I can start planning, packing and celebrating my approaching departure :) Wa-hoo!