home sweet home......

.........in a way..........

i guess now that i have lived in korea for 5 years, and this is where most of my friends are, this feels like home to me. it's great to be back. i have wonderful friends here and being back with t is wonderful too.

my plan was to come back here for a month and then go home to nova scotia (around the 17th-18th of july).........but that plan has changed, for a few reasons. since returning to sokcho, i have been seeing my acupuncturist/chiropractor and he tells me that i have 2 fractured ribs from the bus accident. his work with acupuncture is amazing and i can't get help like this for this cheap in canada. since i have limited movement and tons of pain doing most things, i have a huge lack of desire to repack in 2 weeks and dragging luggage around is nearly impossible for me right now. i'm not ready to say good bye to my friends yet. i'm not ready to be away from t for another 3+ months again. with more time here i can visit friends i would otherwise have to just call. so for these reasons i have decided to stay until about the 5th of august.

i will be missing out on things at home and that was the difficult part in this decision. my high school reunion is this summer and i was excited about it and i feel bad about not going now after telling my friends i'd be there. i'll miss meeting my new cousin, but hopefully when they're back in nova scotia for christmas i can meet him then. wendy was going to come home the end of july and now she's not doing that, i think, but i will see her eventually.........that's not a totally missed opportunity. my mom had booked some time off work, so i feel bad that i'll not be home for that. but all in all, i will see my family and friends eventually when i get home.

i hope this doesn't disappoint too many people, but i feel much better about staying longer than running off again in a couple weeks. i have said it many times and it remains true.........i love the life i have but the good byes are so hard. understand that leaving here this time is for a long time (maybe forever) and this means not seeing some of these people again, and some people i will see again, but probably not for a long time. korea gets to us foreigners sometimes, but i must say that there is something about this place that has kept me coming back for 5 years. i was so excited to be back after the 3 months travelling alone. i miss this place when i'm not here but i think it's time for me to move on. i want to live somewhere new, do something different and i'm not sure where or what, but hopefully i can figure that out over the next 5 or 6 months. when i come home this time, i'll be staying 'till after christmas.........so it's not only going to be one of those flying 2 week trips. i'll have lots of time to get together with anyone who wants to see me. over the next while i'll be organizing the few photos i took when i was travelling so stay tuned for some visuals. they're not great but may give you an idea of some of the things i experienced.