RETURNING TO (re) EXPLORE: ASIA

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    My phone rang late one night sometime during the summer of 1995. It was my friend Ed. "Hey Mag, what are you up to for the rest of the summer?" he asked. I was in the midst of a youthful contemplation of life, including my highly dubious future and what to do with it next. A great, but somewhat turbulent, experience with high school was now over and it was time to focus on that commonly taken next rite of passage: namely, the pursuit of so-called higher education. My journey, however, took a much different turn... 

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"I'm not sure at the moment Ed, why?" I asked. "A lady flew in from Toronto last night, and flew out this morning. I think it had something to do with culture shock," he said "can you come, to Korea?" 

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Ed was a friend from Ottawa, Canada (where I spent most of my pre-teen life), and a young Korean man who helped run English schools in Seoul (not to mention, a highly skilled jokester and noreabang singer!). He also knew me well enough to know that I was born to travel. Ed's 3:00 a.m. phone call had woken me up. "Ed, can you give me 15 minutes to wake up a little, to think, and call back?" He hung up, and called back within five. "Ok. I'll come for a bit" I said. My flight across Canada and the Pacific Ocean to a continent I had never visited before was booked on the following day. I thought I'd be going for a month (or two at the most), but stayed for four years. 

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I left Korea in 1999 with many fond memories (including an impromptu stint as an actor in a Korean sitcom to add to my non-existing acting credentials), amazing friends, a love for Korean food and culture, and experiences I would not have had had I passed up this unforeseen opportunity. I turned 18 in Korea and transitioned to the responsible adult (within reason of course) I needed to become. I also developed a profound love and interest in learning foreign languages (a love, however, that was arguably already determined much earlier in my life as my family and I immigrated to Canada) and global cultures.

After four amazing years, I returned to Canada invigorated and inspired, all the while experiencing an intensive dose of "reverse culture shock." I missed the smell of markets, that incredible feeling of exploring what to me was foreign, being surrounded by the sounds of a culture, etiquette and language I was keenly trying to figure out, and the kindness of strangers who despite my freckled Polishness embraced me as one of their own. 

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I've travelled to many fascinating places since, but have always carried some regret that I never explored more of this wonderful continent; in particular Southeast Asia, when I initially had the chance. So, fast forwarding now, nearly two decades later (has it actually been that long?!), I'm back - this time in a region that is as new and refreshing to my thirst for cultural immersions and burning curiosity as was Korea back in the mid-90s.   

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