I recently bought an old iPod Touch off another expat teacher for about $50. It may lack some now-expected things like a camera or the ability to download apps but it’s got its most important feature, the ability to play music. It also has a neat note function, which I have begun to use on occasion when inspiration has struck me and I’m nowhere near a pen and paper. I’ve tried before, too, carrying those wherever I go. But, despite it sounding like the writerly thing to do, it’s something that I’ve never been consistent with. I consistently like to have a soundtrack.
*
Anywhere can be a paradise or prison
Anyone can be a savior or Satan
Anytime can be your time to die
And one twist can turn the narrative in the other direction.
Why, mind, why
Must shaking things up be so much fun for you?
Because, it is.
*
My wish, whenever I return to the U.S.
Is to never stop appreciating the ease
of communication
in ones native language.
Amen.
*
What kind of Korea do you want?
Foreign? Or, foreign light?
This is by no means derogatory toward one
Or the other; both offer their own benefits.
But, after five months in Busan,
I have come to think more and more about
what life could be in the other Korea,
whether one is better than the other,
whether a change would be welcome
in Year 2.
*
I like to listen to songs
I listened to
When Korea was
The furthest thing from my body and mind.
*
I still do not know
Still answers still for searching
Thankfully, still lost
JPDdoesROK is a former news editor/writer in New Jersey, USA, now serving a one-year hagwon tour-of-duty in Jangnim and Dadaepo, Busan, South Korea.