Stopover in Dallas and Back Home!

Back in mid-September I made my return to the US, nearly two years since I had left to start my contract teaching in Korea.  I often hear people lament how quickly time seems to fly.  When looking back on the 21+ months, 12 teaching and 9 traveling, it was a bit of a blur.  But so much happened in that time, so much more than I would have experienced simply studying or working back home in Ohio.  In that sense the time was well spent and action-packed; a great deal happened in less than two years!

I'll take my post-college experience
 instead, thank you very much.

Before heading home to Columbus I had a stopover in Dallas.  Back in March I began collecting airline miles - through credit card signup bonuses - and by the summer had racked up enough American Airline miles for my flight home.  A big advantage of AA miles is they allow travelers a free stopover.  My flight had a scheduled layover in Dallas, which happens to be where my close high school friend, Andrew, lives.  So for the same number of miles I was able to spend 6 days in Dallas before flying on to Columbus.

Andrew works as a 'customer loyalty representative' for small company called FiveStars.  Essentially they manage loyalty programs - think Kroger Plus Card or My Starbucks Rewards - for small and medium sized businesses (check out their website for more info).  Luckily Andrew has a flexible schedule and we hung out most of the time I was in town.  I saw his office, met the FiveStars Regional manager, and went with Andrew around Dallas while he installed their product at several small businesses.

Andrew (R) with his brother

A Five-Stars loyalty card

Over the weekend of the 14th Andrew and I took a road trip to Austin, Texas.  Thanks in part to the University of Texas, Austin is known as a young, liberal city, quite an outlier in the largely conservative state.  Most people in other regions of the US, me included, think of the average Texan as a pick-up driving, shotgun toting, G.W. Bush loving cowboy.

Just your average Texan, right?

Although there are plenty of those in Texas, the state has more diversity than you might think.  Population growth in recent decades has attracted a wide range of immigrants - many Latinos of course, but also liberal northerners and Asians.  A major reason why Andrew's parents, both from Korea, left Columbus for Dallas was to be in a city with a larger Korean population (why they lived in Alabama before Ohio is beyond me).  Houston has an openly gay mayor, Austin is fairly liberal, and even Dallas is changing.  But let me be clear: Texas isn't turning blue any time soon!

The weekend in Austin was a needed getaway from work for Andrew and another memory with a great friend I hadn't seen in years.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and listened in on a conference call with the FiveStar's higher-ups in San Francisco.  That night we took a tour of downtown, stopping at more than a couple watering holes on 6th Street; I'd probably end up there most nights out if I lived in Austin!  Saturday was gameday: University of Texas played Ole Miss, and although we didn't have tickets we still caught some of the action at a campus bar.

Later in the evening we met up with a few locals - actually one was a Korean girl who works at her dad's campus restaurant (Korean fusion).  Again we ended the night on 6th street.  We didn't arrive until 1:30 but danced at the club till they turned on the lights and ushered us out at 2:15. If only it was Seoul and we could have stayed out until the next morning!  Saturday night was more fun; the two of us weren't exactly dying to dance together without any company on Friday.  Finally on Sunday, nice and late, we headed back to Dallas, and the following day I left for Ohio.

View of 6th Street from a rooftop bar.

Traveling, and especially living abroad, can result in culture shock.  Wikipedia (my trusty source) defines culture shock as "the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply travel to another type of life" (the actual source is a Canadian sociology book, but it's all on wiki!).  I haven't been too overwhelmed or 'shocked' when traveling, a possibly exception being a trip to India on Semester at Sea.  But upon returning to the US I definitely had a sense of reverse culture shock; re-adjusting to the US may have been stranger than traveling abroad!  I kid a bit, but in all honesty it felt bizarre standing in line at the Dallas airport with a bunch of Americans; my first thought was woa, so many fat people!  (sorry to play on another Texas stereotype, but it is true).

Any peculiarities I experienced returning to the US were overshadowed by the joy I felt seeing my family at the airport.  Many people have asked me if I missed the US during my travels; for the most part I didn't really miss it.  The big exception was my family.  We are all very close, and I had been looking forward to seeing them back home.  After the first few days catching up with family, resting, and re-acclimating, things quickly went back to normal.  I was enjoying my time at home but already planning my next big trip.  More on that soon!

With my mom and sister at the airport returning home