A wise man once said: “To make them love you, you must make them wait.”
I’m not exactly sure who that wise man was, but it sounds pretty apropos at the moment for me. Over the course of the last year I’ve gone weeks, even months, without updating you on the adventure that has been my life since I left American ground on August 14, 2009. This most recent hiatus, I can say with certainty, has been the longest. I’d apologize, but that just doesn’t seem right.
Today, on August 17, 2010, just a little more than one full year since I’ve been abroad, I find myself sitting on my bed in the closet-sized room that my friend Lowell has very generously offered up to me in his apartment for the last couple of months. Tomorrow, I begin a new chapter of my life in Korea, something that, had you asked me one year or even 6 months ago about the possibility of happening, I probably would have laughed you off as a crazy person. And yet, here I am. So who is the crazy person now, huh?
In case you were wondering what I have been doing since the last time that I wrote to you, my faithful readers, I will spend a few moments updating you. No, I haven’t just been sitting here picking the lint out of my belly button and watching the most recent KPop releases. In fact, I have been what the Spanish call “muy busy.”
At the end of May, I finished my third term as a teacher at Pyeongchon, abandoned my place of residence for the decidedly more free closet of Lowell’s, and set off for Cape Town, South Africa, to meet the rest of my family (sans Papa Rudnick) for a three week vacation. My younger brother Howie had spent the semester studying at the University of Cape Town, and so we went down to meet up with him and explore the southern tip of the continent of Africa. The trip was great, and as it was the first time I’d seen any of my family since their visit to Korea in December, I enjoyed myself even more thoroughly.
We spent about a week touring around Cape Town before we headed north to Ngala Reserve near Kruger National Park for a four day safari. To say that the safari was amazing, spectacular, unbelievable, and stupefying would be an absolute understatement. If you ever want to really feel like you have seen a wild animal, go there. In the course of our short stay, we witnessed a pack of six male lions stalking a herd of water buffalo, a group of wilddogs that compromised about 1% of the species alive on the entire face of the planet, and four cheetahs feeding on an impala that they had just killed, faces bloodied and mouths watering. And that only begins to tell the story. I am telling you, no matter how difficult it is or how much money you spend, it will be worth it. You will never be able to visit a zoo in good conscience again. Check out my pictures on facebook if you don’t fully believe me.
After our safari, we said goodbye to mumsie and Johanna, and the three Rudnick brothers headed back to Capetown for the start of a little sporting event formally known as the World Cup. Going to a Celtics playoff game is one thing, but try standing in the Cape Town fanzone, watching the Cup’s first game between South Africa and Mexico surrounded by thousands of crazy South Africans. Or sitting in the stands with thousands of American fans somehow congregated halfway across the world to cheer on the Red, White, and Blue, after having spent the previous night watching your favorite basketball team lose in Game 7 of the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Fakers while battling the initial onslaught of a rather horrific case of food poisoning. Once again, I can’t really do justice to our time spent there in the course of one blog entry, but check out the pictures and buy me a beer some time and I promise to tell you all about it.
On my return from South Africa, I spent the next month hanging out in Korea, enjoying the spicy weather, staying up way too late to watch World Cup games, playing basketball, and hanging out with friends and one particularly stunning Korean of the female variety. Just so I wouldn’t lose my edge, I threw in a little substitute teaching as well.
At the end of July, I left Korea for the beginning of my month-long excursion through Southeast Asia. I spent a week in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia with the Riranator, lying on the beach, snorkeling, hiking through the jungle, and eating a tremendous amount of delicious seafood. After saying goodbye to her, I flew to Singapore to meet Howie and Lavi for Rudnick Boys Extravaganza 3.0. We spent a couple days there, then headed up the eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia and into Thailand. In those three weeks, Lavi and I got certified to scuba dive, and once again we spent a great deal of time lounging, sunbathing, eating, and near the end, trying to figure out if every Thai person that walked by us was a man or a woman. Just as in the case of Africa, I can’t really adequately describe the awesomeness of the last month, so the invitation to recount and imbibe remains open.
Tomorrow, I begin a new job. No longer molding the minds of Korean youth through my savvy American whit, I will now be working in the research and development wing of the same company, writing material for an English-learning program aimed at young Korean professionals. I’ll be in an office behind a desk, no longer having to grade review tests, essays, or Critical Thinking Projects. Of course there is a lot about the teaching gig that I will miss, but I am very excited for the new position and think that I’ll be able to utilize my intelligence and creativity (not to mention my modesty) a bit more. Waking up at 7:15 a.m. doesn’t particularly tickly my fancy, but I guess that is what becoming a grown-up is all about: not getting your fancy tickled quite as much.
Aside from the new job, I also move in to a new apartment tomorrow with two of my good friends from school. I am pretty stoked to have roommates, and the place we landed is rather baller: kimchi fridge included.
As I reflect on the year that was, I can point to a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but in the end, they have all led me to where I am right now. I am happy, comfortable, and am sporting a great golden tan, so I’d have to say that life could get a lot worse.
