I’d like to use my final post from South Korea to say thank you.

I’ll start by saying thank you to Korean food, for feeding me, filling me, for having snack aisles full of odd-tasting things that convinced me to stop buying snacks altogether and allowing me to thus stay in shape.

Thank you to Korean pop for giving me at least a half-dozen words or phrases I could pull out at any point in the classroom and watch forty teenagers morph into a very large a cappella group. These include: “I don’t care,” “Too much,” “Sorry,” “Nobody,” and of course, the letter “G,” (g, g, g…) which made it a whole lot of fun to spell my last name.

Thank you to the bartenders of this fair city and country for knowing that an establishment shouldn’t close until the sun is up, or at least until the very last customer has stumbled home. None of this “last call” bullshit.

Thank you everyone who’s been reading my lengthy posts and notes since I started my “Sundays” thing almost a year ago. I started it for my own fun, but it has become a fascinating and invigorating activity for me, and I have learned so much about you, and from you. Sure, I’m starting the conversations, but your input is the real reason I keep on writing.

Thank you to my friends and family at home for always making me feel like I was welcome to return whenever I felt I needed to, and for truly showing me how much I’m loved. And thanks to Skype and the interwebs for making all that possible too.

Thank you to anyone and everyone I’ve wronged in the last two years for not tossing me out like garbage and for forgiving me my errors. I’m aware every man, woman and child is entitled to a few mistakes, but there were some decisions I made that were over the line, and to anyone whose toes I’ve crushed, I thank you for seeing that I am better overall than I am when I’m at my worst.

Thank you to my colleagues, who aren’t reading this I guess, but it still needs to be said. Without their kindness and relative patience, a giant life change like this one wouldn’t have gone as smoothly as it did. I might have been one of those people on Dave’s ESL Café who really need some cheese with their whine, but instead, I was lucky enough to work for a school (and a program: gotta give it up to the flawed but supportive and informative EPIK) that made me feel welcome and celebrated. I’ve been informed that may school may lack a native teacher this coming semester, which just makes me sad, because it’s a grand place to work, and my students are, by and large, fantastic young people.

Speaking of which, I have to thank them as well, because, when it comes down to it, we’re teachers, and teaching is about the students. I thank them for helping me see what it was I want and need to do with my life, for not cracking under the ludicrous and dangerous pressure that is the South Korean educational system, for generally being bright and hilarious kids. Life’s a lot easier when you wake up excited to go to work.

Thank you to South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia for welcoming me into their countries (even if I had to jump through some hoops for Vietnam and China… communists!). I’ve always traveled as much as I could afford to, but taking these fascinating journeys, mostly by myself, has educated me more than I could have imagined as a little kid memorizing country names in New York. I hope to return to some of these places one day, but even if I don’t, the memories and the pictures will be a part of me forever.

And, finally, I simply must thank all of you. I came here at age 21, semi-fresh out of college, with little direction, not a whole lot of ambition, and way too much anger. Through my time spent with you, I believe I have put myself on a path to greater and grander things I didn’t even know I could do.

I obviously like to be the center of attention. I like to host my trivias and be the captain (Blastin) of the bus. But it wouldn’t have been any fun if I didn’t have wonderful people like yourselves with whom to share my particularly brand of crazy.

If any of you ever find yourselves near New York, do not hesitate to drop me a line, for you will have a host, a guide, and most importantly, a friend.

Peace and love,
Justin Pierce Baldwin Gerald