To Feel At Home

It takes a lot of effort to truly feel at home in a foreign country.  The reason home feels so good is because everything is familiar.  We know what will happen, when it will happen, and why it will happen.  Of course, that familiarity is completely absent on arrival in a foreign country.

I remember being first dropped off at my apartment last March and subsequently going out for a stroll.  As I walked around my new neighborhood, I felt slightly overwhelmed at the idea of living in this little enclave called Guyeong-ri.  It’s a 30-40-minute bus ride outside the city center, and very much a family oriented neighborhood – Not exactly a happening place full of young people.  Nonetheless, I made a mental decision that day to really make this place home. 

Now, just over 1 year later, I can honestly say that I feel like a part of the community here.  There’s the guy at my local convenience mart who always wants to practice English and give me free gimbap.  There’s the women at one of my favorite restaurants who always ask me how my job is, and if the students are well behaved that week.  There’s my favorite little hike right outside my door that affords me a view of the entire city.  And of course, there are always my students who wave and say hi to me literally every time I leave my house.

I always kind of chuckle to myself when I tell people where I live in Ulsan.  More often than not, people feel sorry for me, because where I live is “the countryside”.  But to me Guyeong-ri is and always will be my Korean home.  I only wish I could show it to more people.