The End???? (Better Late Than Never)

SINCE what seems like an eternity ago when I last wrote on my blog, I think it's fair to say that countless things have changed in my life.

I don't really know where to begin with summing up all the events, and all my emotions but I felt that I needed to certainly give this blog some symmetry (and perhaps myself some closure) by writing what could be the final entry in my blog.

Let's do a quick recap for those who have either not been informed or are a little slow on the uptake of recent events!

At the end of February a couple of my friends, Luke and James, came to stay with me for a couple of weeks. Unlike other visitors I had in Korea, the pair of them didn't exactly take in the full Korean experience but they did enjoy their time, eating some good food, spending time in a new culture and also meeting some interesting new people.

The only place that the three of us headed out to whilst they were around (except for a handful of shops and restaurants) was the COEX Mall in Seoul, which is basically a huge shopping centre and also houses a couple of museums and an aquarium. In my attempt to be a good tour guide we headed to the aquarium in their first couple of days there, and then thanks to a combination of jet lag and/or laziness, the other two other places of significance they experienced were Charlie's room, and my room!

I did manage to coax the pair of them into the classroom for a little while before they left, and they seemed to enjoy themselves in a very different environment to what they might be used to. They met some of my more advanced students and understood exactly what I had been 'dealing' with in the last couple of years.

Before they headed back home to England they were around to receive the shock news that I was also to be heading home much earlier than estimated. It's a long story how that all came to pass but to give you the edited version, the Kindergarten program that I was devoting a lot of my working hours to was due to end in February, and rather than having to take classes off other people (who would also need amended schedules as they were leaving) Talkster decided to offer me the opportunity of an early release from my contract and a six week advance on the time that I was due to head back home.

It was pretty weird at first to be honest. I had been fully prepared to see out my contract until April, even though I was missing home by this stage very much. What I figured was going to be a six week process in waving goodbye to Korea turned out to be a four day process with very little time to go round and plan to do anything. In that time it was also difficult to cope, because my friends were still with me, and there wasn't much of an opportunity to do much because I was also working!

In the end I managed to get myself sorted out, using my last day in Korea to spend time with the people who had become my whole life in the last year, and although it wasn't exactly how I planned things, I was pleased to be able to get the opportunity. At the time it didn't seem very real that I would be coming back to England, and as I sit here writing this now, even though I have been back for two weeks, it feels like much more time has passed by. I still find it weird that I am back at home.

Once I had managed to collect all my belongings up (which took a surprising amount of time) and headed out to my flight early Sunday morning it became a reality that I was actually coming back. I decided to keep it as a surprise from everyone back home as I felt that with all the time that was supposed to go between then and when I was actually supposed to come back, I could get some very priceless reactions from my friends and family (many of them who probably still don't know that I am around!

So that's how things worked out in the end I guess, it's good to be home, but I was also very sad to leave Korea behind (as you will know if you read my next planned entry.) I don't think there's anyway that I will ever be able to sum up my experiences in Korea, and very few of the unique ones can have justice done to them by explanation. I hope I have done my best to get my points across throughout the ten and a half months that I was here and I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through all of this!

"Every end is a new beginning"

Proverb