Well, I've been home for about four days. I use 'home' in the most subjective way possible here. I've had requests to keep the blog going while I figure out what the hell I just did for a year (i was in korea), and how one readjusts to their former location. I guess I'll do so chronologically.
First and formost, they lost my bags in Taipei. I was coming from Seoul on the 10th, but my flight got delayed for nearly three hours because of the typhoons in Taiwan (I like telling people that my return home was delayed because of the "typhoons in Taiwan"... it sounds worldly and dangerous). Ultimately, it was cool, though. If my flight had left on time, I would have had to kill three hours in the worst place in the world, the Tiapei International Airport. I've had a couple layovers there, and that place is no better than a series of single-wide trailers welded together. But no, instead of having a layover, my flight landed in Taipei about 20 minutes after my flight from Taipai to SF was supposed to depart. In an unprecedented move, they held the plane for me. Amazing. I landed in Taiwan and as soon as I walked off the plane, I heard "Mr. Bailey, please follow me. Run." So we ran through the generic hallways to my across-the-world flight that was waiting for yours truly. In retrospect it was fantastic, but of course this meant that there would be no way my checked baggage would make it. Even though it has been a little annoying and a less-than-perfect process, the last of my bags will arrive, delivered to my doorstep, within the hour, so it's all good in my book.
After spending some time during my layover in SF with a friend, I arrived in Portland at 8 a.m. on the 11th. By the way, I flew on probably the worst day to try to fly in the last three years. There was a ban on all liquids on board, and I had to check a bag I could have easily brought with me (on top of that I had to throw away my contact solution). Anyway, my lovely mother picked me up at the airport, for a dramatic return home. Except for getting to see moms again, everything was much less dramatic that I was thinking it would be.
As a generally quiet, analyzing type of guy, instead of constantly yelling out "Oh Wow! this is totally different than Korea. Oh my god! Paper towels! Breakfast!" I just kind of sat there. First of all, to give you an understanding of the sort of time difference I had just gone through, I technically arrived in San Fransisco about two hours before I departed from Taipei (it was the dateline that did it. the flight was about 11 hours, I think). I was exhausted, and on top of that i didn't really know what to think. It wasn't crazy, but it wasn't completely dull either.
Probably the strangest single even I could point to was going out with two of my best friends last Saturday night. We hit up some of the old spots we used to frequent, and I was totally blown away by how lame I thought it was. I had been fantasizing how glorious Portland was, and now that I was back, I gained a new appriciation for Seoul. This is all in terms of nightlife, though. In the daytime, I'm pretty confident that Portland beats Seoul, but for nightlife, I'm skeptical.
I had forgotten how annoying drunk Americans (mostly from the suburbs) are. There were plenty of white people in Seoul, and you could definately tell that they acted differently when out on the town, but I always attributed that to them being in a foreign place, so acting somewhat obnoxiously was a part of that (i'm sure know I was at some points). But that night in Chinatown, whitey was everywhere, and I was simply not sympathetic to their behavior. If you're abroad, by all means act a fool, but at home... wow.
Being home has been easier than I had dreaded it to be. I no longer have to work up the nerve to ask where the bathroom is, or worry about people laughing at me when I speak. I did accedentily bow to someone the other day, which was funny, but other than that I'm doing fine in my re-adjustment. The only problem is I don't really have much to do right now, but we'll see what I can do about that.
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