Left Behind

So far, the biggest thing that's bugging me is that I don't know where my place is.  Mostly I'm talking about hanging out with my friends.  I've always had little circles of friends, and not really only held on to one particular group, but rather get my fix here and there, and them move on.  Now that I've seen just about everyone I had planned on seeing once, I don't feel like I fit in with them anymore.  Theyr'e all doing there own thing, which is wonderful, and I'm glad to see that they've all been active and driven while I've been gone, but their growth in the last year excluded me, for obvious reasons, so now that I'm back, I feel like everyone got a running start.  I'm sure this feeling will diminish after a while, and it's part of coming home, but it's a strange feeling.

Comments

[hayes]

hey Jeff! welcome "home". your buds haven't gotten a "running start" any more than you have. you just started from different places. you'll meet back up soon enough. what you have to be concerned about is feeling that you're NOW on your study abroad trip. Portland is the perfect place to come back to after a year abroad because it's such an odd place anyway. this'll seem wierd to think about at first, but you'll see what i mean soon enough. just know that your longing for something different will never be the same as your friends' longing for change. you now know what change is, i'm pretty sure, and how you communicate that change to others who desire it is a challenge.

unfortunately, your experiences in Korea probably haven't given you many answers to life's big questions or made life any easier for you. in all likelihood, you won't get the answers. instead, you've changed into the person that LIVED in Korea for a year and developed into someone who can live the answers rather than ask the questions. The important thing to do at this point is to appreciate Portland for everything you'd taken for granted before leaving for Korea. this will help a bit, but i still see you planning a trip soon!

best of luck to you and i look forward to running into you in the mentor room. i'm not a big fan of that place, so i'll leave a note in your box. you did good...like i said, welcome home.

[alicia]

is there some reason you haven't responded to any of my comments or are you just being flakey??

[Guy]

Hi Jeff, I for one can relate because I spent 6 years total in Korea throughout 69-88. It's strange but after living in the orient, one thinks about family ties. But when one comes home, we find that you can never go back, it's alway's changing, too fast. From your statment you were a teacher in Seoul? And the pay was good? The only real concern about Korea is how safe will it be and how long could one stay there without having to have an exit plan? I've thought several times that maybe I should apply to a GS job in Korea but it's too "iffy" as far as security goes. I'm too old to go jumping into a fire. Well, just thought I'd share something with you about Korea.