The Here and Now

I have spent the past half an hour reading about traffic.
It started with one simple article about parking issues and in the way that news sites often are, I was constantly a click or two away from countless related articles.

One article after another detailing parking, traffic, and carpooling.
The price of gas, carbon footprints, road rage.

I feel disconnected.

For three years I have been outside the world.

Two years in a chilly place of occasional taxis, more frequent snow-goes, and millions of footfalls for short distances. I had a car the whole time, but that car resided in sunny Florida, a long way from my Alaskan home.

I have now been in Korea for one year. One year, yesterday.
I have my motorcycle, it’s fun and almost fast. I can drive along country roads to country destinations.
Out in the boondocks there is little traffic.

When we hit real cities, Ilsan, Geumchan, even Seoul, we rely completely on public transportation. Buses are routed to every place a person might go.
A spider web of subway routes cover the city and many outlying areas.
Trains snake across the country.

You don’t have to drive. There is no need.
Except for the actual feeling of driving, there is no want to own a car.

Sometimes, I think to the future. To that moment when I move back to the States. To a city. To a seemingly normal life. I think about the culture shock that three years away has prepared me for.
I think about driving and parking and traffic jams.
I think about gas prices and carbon emissions, and road rage.

With 6 months left in my fairytale world those thoughts of the future has become more frequent. Will I survive re-entry?


Holy crap, two in one week. This is nearly a freaking record!