Another chapter is this story we call life

Its been a very looong while since I've added to our blog about out life in Korea but there have been a variety of reasons for the lack of blogging. Most of you know that at the end of January my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Within 3 months she has had 3 surgeries, 7 incision sites, 15 lymph nodes removed, a PowerPort installed, and a complete mastectomy on the right side leaving an 8 inch scar. Needless to say being in Korea was not where I needed to be. On Tues. March 16th I made the long trip back to Grand Rapids, MI to be with my Mom.

I'll be here in the US until May 9th, sadly thats Mother's Day and that will not be much of a present to hear as I leave. I am however VERY thankful that I'll have this time to walk through some of the hard times with her and makes some memories too.

Much to my surprise there has been reverse-culture shock coming back to the States. We've been in Korea for about 3 1/2 months and felt like we'd finally settle into a system. You learn to grocery shop, do laundry, dry clothes, clean, cook, and get around town. What you don't hear much about is when you leave the country you just got adjusted to you are going to have some shock the other way.

I will never forget sitting in the airport in Chicago and thinking why do I have a headache, there is so much noise in here. There are so many people talking and I don't want to hear about it. I hadn't realized I'd gotten used to not hearing English and it was overwhelming to my brain to all of the sudden hear so much of it.

Another sense that overwhelmed me was sitting on the plane thinking, "what is that smell!?!?!" then you realize is yourself and its soooo embarrassing. I was like how long have I smelled like this and those poor people sitting around me wondering has this girl taken a shower in a week? No, its not that I just came from Korea and frankly Korea has a smell of its own. Most countries do even Brasil.

So its been a transition coming back to the States. An unexpected trip has been a curve in the road but we are making it work on all sides of the world. There are hardly words to describe how much Ben and I are missing each other. We had gotten so used to having just each other around and being in such close quarters all the time... I've grown to miss my little Korean home it kept us close in so many ways.

Its funny this things you miss. I'm already excited to go HOME, my home is with Ben, where ever we are. But alas I'll miss a wonderfully comfortably sized bathroom, HOT showers, adult size towels, and restaurants being open later than 10pm. Thats just the beginning. But there are many more things we've yet to discover and learn in Korea and I look forward to the rest of our time there with fondness.

Well thats all for now...