Thursday, November 15, 2012

What it's like to leave everything I've ever known

Some of you might have received a text, others of you might have seen my post on Facebook, but one way or another the word is out. For those of you that might not have heard, last week I accepted a job at DYB Choisun Institute in Seoul, South Korea. I signed a year-long contract to work six hours a day, six days a week, teaching the English language to elementary and middle school children.

Initially, I was to begin employment on November 29 but since getting a visa takes roughly three weeks, and I will need a day or two at least to get moved into my new apartment, the school is being flexible with my starting date.

The job, however, is not what I intended to write about since I really have nothing to say about it yet. The purpose of this post is to express the mixture of emotions which I have trouble expressing in real life. For some reason, I can't fully show my family and friends the excitement, the fear, the relief, or the sadness I feel about leaving my home and moving to the other side of the world. These are the things I feel every night before bed but that can't be verbalized when someone asks me how I feel about moving.

It has been a dream of mine ever since I can remember but now that it is approaching, it doesn't feel like I thought it would. I have spent two decades in Kalamazoo and the longest that I have been away was the three months I lived in Los Angeles last summer. Kalamazoo is my family and friends, my favorite restaurant and coffeeshop, my childhood treehouse and the road I take to school. Nine out of ten memories are in Kalamazoo. It is all so familiar, which I love and hate at the same time.

I won't say that it is my time to get out of here, just that it is too late not to. And somehow that is what is comforting. Since I have no idea what to be excited for or afraid of, the only thing I can do now is go and see for myself. The only thing that I do know right now is that Kalamazoo is full of good people who will be missed.


4 comments:

  1. I love you, Maxwell William Koopsen.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG SO EXCITING! also.. middle school? you are going to love it! they know way too much about sex and drugs and death.

    also i think you are so brave for doing this! nothing will ever be the same after this experience, your mindset will always be changed, for the better!

    you're going to be just fine :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good luck Maxon! Remember you are leaving all you have ever known for all you will ever know and can possibly be. See you further down the road when we are both wiser and smarter men.

    ReplyDelete