The Journey

After being in the USA nearly 2 months my time for returning to Korea nears.  This is the time I shift my thinking over from being in the USA to going back to Korea.  It is the time for buying what I need, checking money issues, travel details, etc.  It is the time to do what I haven't done yet while back in the states, although I have done about everything I had planned.  It may be the time for one more USA steak, or pizza, or maybe a good fillet fish somewhere since all the fish in Korea are bony.

I am now 5 days from the door, the door of the KAL flight that will wing me over 15 time zones in about 15 hours.  We will chase the sun, you might say. We who travel westward over the Pacific might be called "sun chasers".  The sun will rise somewhere over Missouri as I head for Chicago.  Then, the sun will still be up in Korea when landing.  It is like a never ending day with 20+ hours of sun.  It will be 1:30 a.m. Kansas City time when I land on Thursday, in Seoul it is 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

The body gets real confused on these trips.  Because we are served 2 good meals and a good snack on the Asian airlines, we eat at odd times.  In fact, time means little at this point.  When coming back to the USA I landed at 10:00 p.m. and went grocery shopping!  We were in the store at midnight, but I didn't care because my body had no idea of time anyway.  Sleep does not come easy after long trans-Pacific flights.  It may be midnight in Kansas City but the body has no idea, it is probably registering 2 p.m.

I don't sleep on planes.  This is a real drawback for me.  I can only sleep when lying down, or when I am completely exhausted.  I have flown some of these trips never closing my eyes while passengers around me never seem to wake up!  Oh, I have tried taking a sleeping pill, but it only made me listless, but sleep never came.

It is when I get on the bus to Cheonan in the evening as the sun finally sets that sleep takes over.  It is a strange sleep.  I have no idea I went to sleep, but I suddenly jolt awake having no idea where I am.  I finally get some bearings and find myself jolting awake again a few minutes later.  It is like that all the way to Cheonan, a 2 hour bus ride after the long flight.

You would think once I get into my room at 9 p.m. that I would collapse on the bed and wipe out for hours.  No way!  It never happens for me like that.  I unpack, go to bed and then get up in an hour because sleep is no where to be found.  I am suddenly energized.  I want to do something but all is dark, it is midnight.  I stir around the room still arranging stuff I unpacked.  I go to bed again at 1 a.m..  This time sleep comes, but at 3 a.m. I jolt awake like I missed the alarm.  I try to go back to sleep.  Sometimes it works, and I sleep another hour or so.  Sometimes it does not work, and I finally get up at 3:30 and make coffee.  I can't remember my last cup, somewhere over Alaska maybe.  What time was that anyway?  No idea.

After 2 sleepless nights the sun rises.  I am awake and waiting for it.  I am really draggy but not sleepy.  I do little things, take short walks, my body is in very low gear.  I try not to doze during the day but that is impossible.  I find myself waking up without knowing I went to sleep.  Welcome to the early signs of jet lag.
At 6 p.m. my head is nodding.  I cannot stay awake but I must.  If  I sleep, I will not sleep at night.  I go to McDonalds, to the store, anywhere just to walk and make myself stay awake.  If I am lucky, I fight until 9 p.m..  No way to fight any longer.  I crash.  I will rest tonight.  Maybe and maybe not.  At 3 a.m. I jolt awake.  Here we go again.  It takes maybe 4 or 5 days of this to begin getting into the normal sleep routine.  When I fly east to America it sometimes takes up to 2 weeks.  I love to fly, but the fatigue and jet lag on these long trips pay a heavy toll on the body and mind.

I took a wrong bus from the airport one morning after flying all night from Singapore.  I am sure it was just fatigue.  I felt so foolish doing that.  I have never done that before.  I had to teach 2 classes that day and barely made it to class on time due to my error that put me in the wrong city.

Yeah, the mind is shifting now to the trip.  I know it will be long and tiresome, but I do like Korea and I am ready to see all my friends.  My friend Soon will pick me up at the bus station.  It will be good to be back.
Well, that is the journey.