Welcome to the World

My two-year stint in South Korea is coming to a close. I had no idea that the decision I made to move to Asia would change my life so completely. But now this particular experience is nearing the end. I have no idea what the future will bring, but I'm so completely content with the choices I've made to get to this point.
It's not always been easy, at times it's been beyond difficult and I didn't think I was going to make it through. In the end, I did, in fact, make it through and I couldn't be happier with what I've seen, what I've learned, the people I've met, the roads I've traveled and the journeys I've been on.
I leave this weekend for a three-week trip to visit my friends in Australia and to visit my best friend in New Zealand. I'm so incredibly excited for so many reasons. I get to return to my beloved Australia and see people I haven't seen since I lived there 8 years ago (Crap!) and be around the Western culture again after 2 years. I'm beyond words excited about seeing my best friend in New Zealand. We call each other HLPs, Heterosexual Life Partners. She's truly one of the most amazing people I've ever met and it's been over 4 years since we've seen each other. It's remarkable though, no matter how much time has passed since we've seen each other or how long we go between chats, we always pick right up where we left off. I can completely be myself with her and I'm safe. She and I have been through so many things individually and together. I trust her with my life and I'm beyond thrilled to finally get to see and talk with her again. It's going to be amazing.
I can't believe it's taken me this long to finally make an international trip while living in Korea. I know that sounds incredibly spoiled, I live in a foreign country for god's sake, but so many of my travel plans that I made for this incredible journey have not come to fruition. I know that's life, but it's hard to work toward a goal and see everyone around you get to zip off to foreign destinations while you sit at home. I know I'm being unreasonable and quite selfish. My plans and dreams are just too big for my wallet, but I've made my choices which I must live with.
Given how horrible the economy is and how many people are struggling (and the fact that I'll be unemployed in a matter of weeks), I'm so thankful for the experiences I've had.
All that being said, this experience has been all-enveloping and I'm looking forward to looking outward for the first time in quite some time. It's time to re-introduce myself to the outside world; the world outside the Korean peninsula. It will be a beautiful, humbling and reflective time.

Break Me Offa Piece a That!

A recent comment made by one of my Jinju friends got me thinking about how much foreigners spend and are willing to spend on little bits of home.
My friend spent the equivalent of $8 on a small jar of peanut butter. I haven't bought peanut butter in awhile, but I used to quite frequently last year. Nutella is a super-splurge at about $13 a jar. I do, however, buy parmasan cheese, which is over $5 for the smallest bottle available, 85 grams. Some things we're just willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money for.
Don't get me started on cheese. I miss cheese so incredibly much, it's actually quite ridiculous. I had the opportunity once to go to Costco in Busan (yes, Korea has Costco, which is a journey in itself) and I bought pretty much nothing but cheese and then promptly ate it all within about a two-week time period. If one can find cheese in a store in Korea, it's very small and VERY expensive, but sooooo worth it.
Us foreigners definitely miss home and most things within it and we're willing to do many a thing, including spending our hard-earned Won, to get a little piece of home.