full circle

It's November. It's the start of my 12th month in Korea.

I've enjoyed my time here, so I haven't ever been counting down the days until I was done. However, I'll admit that every now and again I'd flip through the calendar on my desk and gauge time; how long I'd been here, how much longer I'd be here. November always seemed a long way off, like it'd never actually arrive.

But, here I am, in the same month of 2009 that I left in 2008.

I've always enjoyed how each season has it's own trademarks- it's own sights and smells, just a certain ambiance which accompanies it. Well, now that it's the same time of year as it was when I first got here, I'm experiencing the Korean autumn's sights and sounds for a second time.

Along with those sights and sounds, as if piggybacking on them, come the thoughts and feelings I had when I first got here. So, walking down the street I'm reminded of the apprehension and doubt I once felt. I'm bombarded by the ghosts of these feelings I'd long defeated or learned to ignore, but rather than being haunted by these things, I simply give them a wink and a nod.