It has rained in Seoul for the past three days– the kind of rain that makes the land vibrate; where full fields look like they’re boiling.
The saying goes that when it rains, it pours, and for me– this week– the saying is true.
So in accordance with that damn saying, my computer crashed. It was my lesson in supplementing a lonely weekend by downloading the entire series of Sex and the City.
Stupid, stupid!
So now I’m at a PC Bong fulfilling my baser desires by browsing facebook. And (in Carrie Bradshaw style, as tribute to my weekend) I couldn’t help but wonder— in a digital world, where lives are picture perfect (thanks to the “untag” option) is everyone really as happy as they seem?
For me, these days I’m experiencing the lonely side of travel. The side where you’re looking back on what you once had and realizing it’s gone and you’re living in a small apartment in Seoul, South Korea in a certain shade of neon from the pay-by-the-hour Honey Motel across the street, watching Sex and the City and wondering what the hell you’re doing with your life.
The reason I always wanted to travel is because I always wanted to put myself out of my comfort zone. I felt like in travel, I could find something– whether it be something about myself, something about the world, or something about what I wanted to do with my life. Actually, I wanted to find all three. But it seems all I’m finding is that I had already found it. And now it’s gone.
A friend of mine says that’s just a drawback of travel– it can be unstable and at times, it can make you miss what you once had.
So is that how we’re supposed to live out our lives– cursed by having been blessed? Or is learning the lesson that we didn’t appreciate what we once had, the only way to learn to appreciate what we have.
So although recently I haven’t been able to tell if the weather fits my mood or if my mood fits the weather, life has always shown me– and I know– that both will always get better.
In the meantime, there’s music. And here’s something one of my best friends Megan sent me; ignorant to how I feel, and all too perfect. Let me know what you think.
Anne-Claire Siegert is currently living in South Korea. She is a journalism graduate from The University of Tennessee and has worked as both a photographer and journalist for print and web in the U.S. and in Italy. Her passion is travel and so currently, she is teaching in Seoul, South Korea where she funds her own adventures until the day she can make it as a travel writer. She loves red wine, reading and, most of all, Kris Kristofferson.
