I really don’t know where to begin. I’ve seen so much in a share under 24 hours that I know I cannot do justice to all the things I’ve had the privilege of seeing.

I guess the best is to back up a month and take you with me to Mississippi. While I was there, a presenter gave us a model for how to leave well (not live well, but leave well). The same presenter gave us a snapshot of what it is like to go from one culture to another culture, and how there are several stages that one goes through—the honeymoon stage where everything is good and all is well; the fight stage where I really wish Korea was more like America; the flight stage where I basically want to fly home to have Chick-fil-A or Chipotle because this kimchi is making me crazy or I spend 14 hours of my day on Facebook talking to my American friends; and the fit stage, where as best as a foreigner can, I am able to join in the new culture and enjoy it.

SIDEBAR:

By the way, I live by an Air Force Base. The plane overhead just reminded me.

One thing that is cool about having an Air Force base nearby is that there are more English words on packaging than I was hoping for—which makes it feel more like Prague than getting dropped in a “we don’t speak English and we frown on those that do” culture. By the way, if I had the entrepreneurial drive, a good director, and insanity, I might take a page out of Bear Grylls’ hat (he of Man vs. Wild fame on Discovery) and do a show for the Travel Channel where I skydive/get dropped from a helicopter/hang glide/etc. into a foreign culture and I have to find an English-speaking person. I’d call it Man vs. Culture and it would last about four minutes because one of two things would happen. First, I’d probably get sued for stealing everything from Man vs. Wild. If I didn’t, I’d go on the first excursion and I’d find an English-speaking person in about four minutes. My show would almost be as lame as a season of 24 where all they do is let Jack Bauer do what he wants to do…and they’d have to call the show 10. Better yet, it’d be called 1.

The bad thing about living by an Air Force base is the occasional flyby of an F-16 at about 5000 ft. Still, even that is pretty cool.

END SIDEBAR

Anyway, I’m in the Honeymoon stage.

Let me back up 24 hours, which is about the time yesterday that I realized that zero bags that I checked to go to Seoul got to Seoul. Apparently, they hadn’t gone to orientation to learn how to leave well, so my bags will be getting to me tomorrow. Thankfully, I have good people here who have donated stuff to the single guy cause and I no longer smell, and, better for me, I’m no longer wearing what I was wearing on the plane.

By the way, the plane rides over were flat-out naughty. I flew Business class to Tokyo and then got a bump up to First Class to Seoul. Flying has now been ruined, because I have experienced the best.

I’m exhausted, so I’ll pick up tomorrow. Peace out.