The Last Night

Well, the bags are packed and the boxes almost sealed (except for some last minute rearranging that will probably take another 2 hours -- typical hk) and it's my last night in Seoul. hk in seoul will, at 1:45 pm tomorrow , no longer be an accurate name for this blog.

I wish I had more deep, more profound words to leave this blog on, but since my emotions, as a method of self defense, have gone into seclusion, I don't really feel anything deep or profound. I had my hair done today for the last time, and -- dammit, is that another mosquito bite? little f--kers!!! -- at first I thought, Well, I'll take this time in the chair to ruminate about the future and think about the past two years, but then I found myself wondering if I should take the big suitcase with my pack in it or just bring my backpack as it is and take bigbro's big pack stuffed with my winter clothes...

So that's how it ends, these two years of expatriate life -- me in a Gangnam salon, scalp aching as my hair is tugged earnestly by two hairdressers, worrying about packing. (It was hella expensive too.) (But not as expensive as it would be in the States.)

Okay, that's not quite the truth, because after the hair appointment, I had dinner with my friend Hyojung from work, and then another work friend joined us and it was and is raining because of a tempest and the last time I went to the States, it was just after a tempest too! and I actually had a dish tonight for dinner that is pretty much the same thing I had for my first meal in Korea, 22 months ago.

I was not exactly a different person then, but I was not quite the person I am today. I learned a lot about myself and the country I was born in (and in some senses still belong to). I learned a new language and made friends from other countries and straightened my hair and got a red belt in taekwondo and got to know my father and his family and lost weight and discovered that I am not even close to being ready to settle down.

There are adventures ahead, and the next one for me is law school (can a hk in law school blog be far behind?), but it ends, you know, in three years (less if you drop out to join the foreign service!). What lies beyond? I can't even venture to guess. It's been an amazing trip so far, though, and there's no reason to think the fun's gonna stop.

A final word: thank you. I've paid more attention to details and taken more joy in life's absurdities because I wanted to record it here, for you. Thanks for reading.