Kiss The Ground

I actually kissed the ground in the airport when I landed in Vancouver recently after leaving Korea. Never done that before. I always sing, 'I love you! Peggy Sue!' when we hit some good turbulence on a flight. The stewardesses love that.
My reasons for leaving Korea were legion. One recent afternoon I was sitting in a coffee shop in an area of Seoul called Itaewon. This is not a pretty congregation of humanity, this area. Two fify something year old guys were sitting at a table in front of me talking about the Korean women walking by, which bar to go to if you wanted to pick up, and one guy was excited about some ESL situation he had lined up. I thought with dread of how possible it was that I would end up just like those guys after being in and out of the Asian ESL loop for 5 years.
I was planning to work things so I left exactly, to the day, at the six month mark in my contract. That way I wouldn't be required to pay back the airfare and visa run costs my employer put out to get me set up. That was the plan.
I went to the bank not long after that and the armed guard working at the bank accosted me. I was at the bank machine right at the point in the transaction where the slot opens and you grab your money when the bank security guard with the gun on his hip grabbed me and pushed me out of the way. This wasn't a gentle shove. He very forcefully pushed me back a few feet. The premise was that he had to clean up a little bit of garbage in the area of my bank machine. He said 'excuse me' to me in English as he was launching me out of the way and gave me a really weird look. I was. Physically accosted. By a guy. With a mother fucking gun. Who in fact works for the bank. 27 hours later I was on a plane home, singing Buddy Holly when things got shaky.
You know when a male dog starts to hump your leg, that feeling you get? Korea and everyone in it feel like that to me right now. Revulsion, and you end up spending your whole time trying not to launch someone or something across the room.
A woman who knows ESL told me I'll never get a work visa to teach in Korea again because of how I left. I offered to tattoo that sentiment across my forehead.
I am renting the top floor of a brownstone house my uncle owns right smack in the middle of Ottawa. Paying almost nothing for this gorgeous spot. Spending time with family and friends I've know since I was a kid. Grabbed a Tim Horton's coffee in the airport. I'll be playing outdoor hockey in a matter of weeks. It's the little things...

Post Script:
Not one person has bumped into me, shoved past me, or stepped on my toes since I got to Canada.