home.

I may be home already, but somehow I missed posting this and forgot to finish it.  So here's some thoughts on home.



WARNING: Serious post.



   I'm not one to get home sick.  For the most part, I have been pretty comfortable whether I stay at home or off at college. Wherever I am with people I love is home.  I like to exist where I am, if that makes sense.

   Now, I won't say that I'm particularly homesick, but I think I do have a greater sense of what home is now, and what it is to not feel at home.  I remember feeling a bit of the same sense when I first started college and knew very few people at Grace.  But I have since lost that, and even then, at Grace I knew that if I ever needed to go home, I could in a heartbeat and two hour drive.

   Until now, I have never been away--FAR away--for an extended period of time.  Don't get me wrong, I love the adventure, just as I have on other trips.  But it's a very different adventure when you're not returning home in 14 days.  It's easy to be adventurous when you know you'll be back in comfort soon; it's harder when your adventure has to be home.

     And yet, it's amazing how much attending college in a foreign still feels like college.  I still have classes and scheduling and a love of Fridays.

     But it's also amazing how much every day activities become an adventure.  Have you ever tried to grocery shop in a foreign language?  Get directions?  Order food?  Even the most simplest tasks take on a new layer of dimension.  Is this the correct way to address someone?  Is it offensive to do this? To wear this?
        And you can forget about being nonchalant about anything.  Blending in just isn't possible unless you're in a big city like Seoul or Busan. Everyone notices an outsider easily.  When I trip, when I drop something, I'm already more conspicuous as it is.  If I don't show up to class, it's obvious.

     But through all this, I've learned a lot about home.

     You know how the Bible talks about this earth not being our home?  I'm not very good at that.  I take things as they come and probably feel far too comfortable and at home most of the time.  But by living here for a short amount of time I think I'm getting a better idea.  I'm comfortable, and what to do all I can while I'm here, but I know that this is not my ultimate destination.

But we still get to experience pieces of home even when we're not there.

Google+ Hangout with Hannah and Rosemarie

Tabby and Lauren (taken before SK)

     The wonder of the modern age is that I can talk to and see someone halfway across the world, and they, me.  The connection can be rather spotty sometimes.  Scheduling time that works for everyone can be difficult.  It's not ideal or perfect.  I'm still far from "home."

But when we finally get to chat, it's home.