Return of the Adventurer

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The other day my mom asked me, “When was the last time you wrote a blog?” Three months ago, Mom. Three months! She unintentionally/intentionally had me thinking about it again, so I started wondering if the dust had settled enough in my life to even see what was going on in it. Well, here’s to the return of the adventurer–even if the adventures now are not as exotic as they were two months ago!

Since I moved home from South Korea on August 25th, Texas has given me a warm welcome (also quite literally; it’s November and it was just 84’F/29’C yesterday). There were many things I missed about being home, and aside from friends and family, I wrote a list of many other things I found myself pining for while I lived in Korea!

The “Things I Miss” List (written in Korea):

• Bonfires
• Hobby Lobby
• Driving my car (and the freedom thereof), listening to music in my car, and road trips in general
• Colorado / New Mexico mountains and pine trees
• Corn mazes
• Brisket and Texan BBQ
• Birchwood trees
• Salty chips
• Chai and Pumpkin Spice (and literally anything pumpkin)
• Mexican food (enchiladaaaaaas)
• Seeing the starry night sky and the Milky Way
• Mom’s homemade baked goodies & strawberry jam
• The smell of Canada
• Tim Hortons regular iced coffees and Boston cream donuts and Timbits
• Fresh air, big blue skies, Texan sunsets, thunderheads
• Riding in my brother’s truck

Now I can’t say that I’ve been living in the US long enough to know for sure what I miss about Korea, and to be quite honest, I’m so relieved that I’m home that I haven’t given much thought to it. And also because of the mental energy required to deal with cancer in the family, which I’ll write an update below. But when I talk about the snippets of my experiences in Asia with someone, I think, That wasn’t actually me that was there. I was just watching another Allison do those things. Maybe it’s a way of coping with relocation again or processing in small doses rather than the entire thing at once. But over time, I’m sure I’ll realize that the Allison who lived and breathed those experiences in Korea was actually me.

Reverse Culture Shock (it’s a real thing)

Reverse culture shock happens when someone returns to their home country and finds that they don’t quite fit in like they used to. Thankfully…this hasn’t been as big of an issue as I thought it would be for me. If anything, the most I’ve experienced this is when I try to share some of my stories with my friends, family, or even strangers (lol what can I say, it was an insane year of my life). Sometimes my stories go in one ear and out the other, and it’s not that these individuals don’t care, it’s just that there’s no way to properly describe these moments I’ve had, to help them step into it, unless they’ve simply just lived in South Korea. I can’t blame them! But it doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

Thankfully, that’s the extent of my culture shock in terms of not fitting in as before. I think it’s been easier on me because of the sweet relief I feel for being back in a country that speaks my language and I can rest well in knowing I’m with my family again during such hard times. Sweet, sweet relief.

What I’ve been doing back in Texas so far

Not much, honestly. And that’s precisely what I mean to do. Fulltime jobs can wait; this is a season to be with my family. And if I get restless, which happens often because let’s face it–I’m not used to not adventuring–I hit up the gym, write, or even bake! So far I’ve made pumpkin donuts, three apple cobblers, rhubarb and strawberry pie, olive oil cake, and a slew of other tasty treats. I missed having an oven (oops I forgot to put that on my list).

In October, I took a road trip with my brother up to Canada and finally saw my relatives I hadn’t seen in far too many years. I also quickly re-acquainted myself with Tim Hortons and breathed in the crisp, clean smell of mountains and Birchwood trees. These little things were big things I really longed for when I didn’t have them!

Also since being back home, I’ve really dived into my new church community which I hadn’t done before I left for Korea (big regrets so I’m fixing that now). I think it’s hard for anyone to make friends with strangers when you get older, but after two months of persistently showing up despite how scared, lonely, and upset I sometimes felt, I am now tasting the first fruits of meaningful friendships. I’m gunna keep pressing in no matter what! We all need connection, especially when life gets challenging.

Watchya gunna do next, Allison?

I don’t know, but I can tell you that I’ve fallen quite in love with Lubbock, Texas, and I think I intend to stay for a while. *Gasp* Yes, maybe I can stay in one place for longer than a year! The rest God will piece together as we go, just as He’s done for me before, time and time again. Thank goodness.

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Alright, I know some of you are wondering how my mom is doing so the official update is below. But with all the rest already said, thank you for reading my adventures. For that, you are my adventure buddy. Let us go on and take the adventures that shall fall to us!

Signed,

Allison the Adventurer

[ November 9th, 2023 ] An Update

My mom finished her last chemo treatment (8 of them in total–wow) in September and is currently re-growing some eyelashes. Yay! We sometimes joke that her hair will grow back blonde. After 6 months of treatment, we’ve reached the big turning point: surgery on November 20th. We’ve met with a surgeon in Baylor Scott & White (in Dallas) who specializes in thyroid and heart surgey. He is confident that the procedure to remove the tumor will be quick and easy. So easy, in fact, that he says she could even drive herself home the next day (not that we will let her, but still!) We were so shocked. In the beginning of all this, the doctors refused to operate, said it was too dangerous, and now with this surgeon’s experience and the robotic arms he’ll use, it’s easy. Of course it’s not done until it’s done, but this is seriously an answer to our prayers and yours!

Today my mom and I were reviewing medical records on the size of the tumor and found that it’s shrunk by 40% since the start of chemotherapy–and that’s also some big praises.

But one important update is that a second mass has been found on Mom’s esophagus, and though the doctors feel positively that it’s not cancerous, her and I will be going to Dallas a week early to confirm what it is with a biopsy. I don’t think anyone in the family is a happy camper about the debut of a new mass, and so we don’t like to talk about it. Kinda like an elephant in the room. But I take encouragement from Owl City’s lyrics, where he writes,

And that was how I learned to live when you can run, but you can’t hide
How to feel trapped in a tunnel but come out the other side
‘Cause with all the stormy weather in the world, you learn to take life one storm at a time
You don’t have to be afraid

Tornado, Owl City