End of an Ex-pat Era

The time has come for the first ex-pat's I met in Mokpo, those who threw out the lifeline and rescued me from certain loneliness, to return to Canada. After more fiascos than I could even begin to record here, Todd and Laura are returning home to Toronto for an unknown period of time. Suffice to say they wanted to stay but things really didn't work out.

At the bar last night I met a whole whack of new people. Apparently a large group has just arrived to teach in Mokpo's elementary schools. But for me their arrival only signaled the wave of departures that will wash over this place in the coming months. All the people who I first met: who directed me, instructed me, encouraged and cavorted with me, are leaving the picture. Some are leaving with plans to conquer more of the Far East. Others are returning to their respective homelands.

I can't help but feel a mix of emotions. In this microcosm of the working world, it is all too apparent how fleetingly people pass in and out of our lives. How they can have a tremendous impact and then be absent a day later. The "good-bye's" are just now beginning, and over the course of the next two months they will ebb and flow until the foreign faces of Mokpo have eroded entirely; transformed from those who were into those who will be. There are those with whom I would like to stay in contact: we exchange all the necessaries and part with the best intentions of writing. But most of these connections, wittingly or otherwise, will be lost along the way. Beginnings and endings are so pronounced here that it's hard to avoid the "bigger picture". Where are and who are the selected few without whom life would be unbearable? Have I told them they mean this much to me? Do they know how much I need them all the time? How weak I'd be without them? How can I pursue my ambitions without risking our bond? If I stood still would it be easier for either of us, or just as hard?

I feel the need to express my tremendous gratitude to everyone who has made my time here (in Mokpo and on Earth) a bit easier, a bit brighter, and 100% worthwhile. I don't write, I don't e-mail, and I definitely don't phone, but you're in my heart and mind every day, in everything I do. Thank you all.