Sleepless in Seoul

There is no "lag" in my jet lag.
I wake up before the hour hand hit 7 and there is nothing I can blame but my prodigiously accurate Circadian clock for this sleepless-ness.

Windows are opened, and I just lie there, trying to orient myself to this new setting.

• Air is humid--Yup, it's Korea.
• Distant sounds of cars and buses opening this new Monday-- Check. That's Korea.
• Mom sleeping next to me--This must be Korea.
  

I get out of my bed (=temporarily made from a thick blanket) and make another quick tour of my new home. Actually, it is small enough that the tour can be made with locking my feet at one place and just compass-ing around. A quick 360 degree rotation and I feel the same unfamiliarity and synonymously, an excitement that I felt last night. (Oh, having to wear rubber slippers in the bathroom also makes me realize that I am in Korea.)

I walk over to the window and these are the views that I see:

on the left

on the right

and down.

I feel strange in recognizing 남산타워 as the very landmark I saw on the night of January 1999. Though it took me lot longer than I thought, I was certainly meant to make this dramatic come-back. Call me young and arrogant, but I'd learned enough from various transitions to understand that destiny's interventions can sometimes lead us to the starting point, only to present to us the same-olds with mature/upgraded/experienced eyes. 남산타워 is still the same; only I have changed.

Perhaps this is the homecoming,
the one I've anticipated since February 1st, 1999, the 12-year-old girl's first sleepless night in LA.