On the Road Again

Once more I sit, waiting with breathless anticipation, in an airport gate waiting for my flight to be called. Almost three months after my arrival in South Korea and I'm leaving once more, this time to Paris. I have never particularly felt any urge to see the 'City of Lights' or rather, and perhaps better suited, 'City of Love', but this year has the added attraction of friends located in the city itself and a desperate need for a vacation. At this point I really don't care where I go, so long as I'm out of Asia.

Now don't get me wrong, I love it here. My students, fellow teachers, fellow foreigners, it's all pretty awesome. I even love Jochiwon a little bit, despite its smell and tendency towards piles of vomit but sometimes you really feel the need to escape the tediousness of daily life in the J-won and a this point just trucking to Daejeon or Seoul for the weekend really doesn't cut it anymore. And since I was already denied  my vacation once I feel that much more desperate to flee the continent.

For months I've been surrounded by the fairly homogenous society of Korea. It's not a bad thing per se, but homogeneity gets kind of dull. In a small town like Jochiwon it has gotten to the point where I am just as surprised as the Koreans at seeing an unknown foreigner. And now I will travel to a place where people won't be able to assume what language I speak simply because of what I look like. I'll get a chance to practice my almost non-existent French and revel in the wonders of French cuisine....but mostly just cheese. While cheese is accessibly in Korea it comes at a cost and for some reason it's just not as enjoyable as I also found it in Canada. Maybe being in the next best place for cheese, besides Holland, will excite my taste buds once more.

Ah well, nothing I can do for the next three hours about the lack of cheese in my diet. I'll just have to content myself with AWESOME sour candies and bubble gum.

For sure the lack of crying babies and bickering ahjumas is making this wait much less interesting than the 'Asian' gates at the Toronto airport. Mostly just sleeping Russians, who have been plaguing me the last couple of days, Russian airlines, Russian music, Russian men, bah, and the occasional argument down on the ground between the luggage men.

All in all, a FASCINATING time.