Summer

My last morning in Changwon for quite a while - 2 months. The next 2 days will see me in Changwon, Seoul and Tokyo for about 9 hours each, in flight over the Pacific for 11 hours, and in Vancouver for about 13 hours. At which point I can crash happily into bed in that city. If you think the math doesn't quite add up on this equation, you're right - I land in Vancouver about 8 hours before I leave Tokyo, thus getting to spend nearly all of Sunday in BOTH those cities. Am I too late to take part in that MIT guy's "time travellers" convention??

This is my first trip back to Canada since leaving for Asia 26 months ago. I think the culture shock will be enormous, but I'm looking forward to it - I'm already aware of plenty of changes in myself, but how many other changes am I unaware of? How much have the people I loved back home changed as well? I'm eager to see, to share, to add even more love with these changes to the already enormous love for them all that I've been carrying around since leaving. I hope!

And then there's the place itself - everyone here keeps asking me if I'm excited to go home, and yes, I'm excited. But it's not home, this is. Right now it feels more like a trip to summer camp - my absolute favorite place growing up. I went every year for a week or two without fail, knew the grounds intimately, loved the people and the place passionately. But it was still camp, still a diversion from everyday life, rather than everyday life itself. My campground's just gotten a whole lot bigger of late - as it should.

The next few days are bound to be chaotic, so forgive the pause in my posting while I settle into the travel groove once again. The wait will be worth it - for all of us!