Captain's Log: Star Date 2014/03/07 - The Island of Formosa

Here I sit, in a strange new land, in a strange new life, on what may become a typical Friday night: the wife and her sisters playing mahjong in the living room, and me sipping on a beer, listening to music and banging away on the keyboard. This blog has been neglected far too long. - Ooops!  Forgot the beer! Yikes!

It's an odd thing, starting a new life.  Moving away from the familiar into uncharted waters.  Why did I stay in Korea so long? The answer is pretty simple.  Staying was easier than going. Despite all the crap that I complained about, for most of the time I was there, the options - or lack of options - elsewhere, made Korea the best choice.  To a certain extent, it was the only choice.  While I'm not uncomfortable with change, I am a man that likes a certain amount of routine.  Sometimes my routine led to stagnation.  The last four years in Korea are proof of that.  Yet when you hit that comfort zone, it can be a hard thing to break out of, and I accept that I'm the only one who can break that cycle. The cycle has been broken, and it is good.

There are things I will miss about Korea. I made some really great friends in the years I was there (you know who you are). There's part of me that will always be waiting for Ian's call on a Saturday afternoon to decide which animal was going to be killed, grilled, and eaten and whether we were going to take the bus or cab it to Gung-dong.  I'll miss Mr. Ho saying, " I LOVE / HATE Jaegermeister!" depending on whether he beat me at pool or not. Hell, there's even a part of me that will miss arguing with the KAIST students over their horrid music tastes.  Over all, the fourteen years I spent in Korea was a great experience.  Sometimes when you're stuck in the middle of it, it doesn't feel that way, but hindsight is always 20/20, and I'll remember my time in Korea fondly.

There will be routine here in Taiwan as well, and I'm liking the way this routine is starting. Waking up in the arms of someone you love deeply is a wonderful thing. It's almost as if Rebecca and I are starting a new relationship in spite of the fact that we've actually known each other for almost ten years and have been married for a year and a half. It makes me realize that I've been alone for a long time. I'm happy.