Monsoons

Summer brings the rain. I don't remember having so much rain in this sweltering season back home. But I'm in Asia now. And summer in Asia means too much rain.

Sometimes I stop and ponder where I am and contrast it to where I was. I am so different now. I'm not sure that I could even put my finger on how. Each passing year I become more like the person I was meant to be. And here - I'm in South Korea. Why am I so insane to take a year off of my American life and live here?

I'm beginning to see the great benefits in living in and experiencing a culture different than your own. It makes you slow down, it brings about humility when dealing with people. It softens you. Or at least it's doing that to me. Almost daily I'm found in an embarrassing situation, where I'm misunderstood, or misinterpret what the other person is trying to say. There is no ease of communication. Nothing is smooth and cool. It's choppy, uncomfortable and exciting. Maybe for some people this chips off single-culture notions and leaves them rough around the edges.

If I had to funnel down the main idea of this post, it would probably come to a generic statement such as this: find yourself. Go live in a different country, or at least a different place. Go figure out who you are, away from your comfort zone. When you're surrounded by everything that makes your life easy, you'll always be a cushions and cream version of yourself. Wouldn't you rather be real? To know what you're really made of?