Old and New Pillars: Rachel and________ (I'm figuring it out :-)

I just Skyped with Rachel (my sister for those who may not know her), and in an instant the vast majority of my homesickness/longing for American comforts dissolved away. I should qualify that last statement by saying, I'm not feeling super-weepy homesick where I just want to cry and go home, but rather, I am feeling that type of homesickness where I just deeply realize how wonderful my family and friends back home are, and thus how much I am going to miss them over the next year.

And...with THAT said...I can also feel myself on the brink of really just letting go of "back home" to the extent that I now have people and places here in South Korea to which I can grab and use for support. I don't mean 'let go of' in the sense of completely forget about, but I mean 'let go of' to the extent that I free up the mental capacity I need to form meaningful relationships here in SoKo. Fostering positive and meaningful relationships in one location is challenging enough let alone trying to juggle two different lives, one of which is only accessible via electronic means. And I don't want you to read this and think, "Oh great, now I'm not going to hear from Seth anymore," but rather read it as, Seth is getting his roots a little more established in SoKo, and is feeling less of the need to "lean on" the folks back home.

Any now I'm just thinking about my decision to leave the U.S. Was that selfish? I mean, I realize that I am also a source of support to people in my life, and now I've just up and taken off? Maybe my decision was selfish. Damn...I never thought about that before. Well, I'll say this. If you need anything, and I can help you from abroad, don't hesitate to reach out. And even if what you need is just a quick bit of conversation or someone to vent to, don't hesitate. Surely communicating electronically won't be like an in-person conversation, but it'll be close, and using Skype, it could be very close.

In any case, Skyping with Rachel meant a lot. Though I am finding new sources of support over here, it is really nice to be able to feel the support of the people back home. So thanks Roo. I love you so much.

Anyway, enough of this rant...