And just like that I got in the plan and left Korea.
Okay, so maybe it wasn't "just like that" but instead a goodbye Korea that was as much mixed with a wide range of emotions as it was smiles, giggles, tears, excitement and a lot of nerves regarding the unknown.
I left my husband, said goodbye to him at Incheon Airport and there was most definitely a "what-the-hell-am-I-doing" feeling that sent me to the airport bathroom a few times.
Our teary-eyed goodbyes were randomly interrupted by Korean strangers who recognized us from the show we did and few boxing fans. It only served to annoy Snickers but rather to reinforce to me why I had to go. I needed to breath and Korea chokes me. I was looking forward to being in Canada, a country I am all too familiar with but that doesn't know the me as really anyone but me, Amy B. They don't know me as Amy the boxer, Amy the coach, and they certainly don't know me as Amy "Half Woman" -- the foreign wife who doesn't cook Korean food or doesn't have a Korean baby, thus being considered as only half a woman.
I left Snickers outside where I lined up for security check and passed through the gate but it wasn't until I unloaded my bags and took out my cellphone that I started to cry. A mini panic attack set in right as I went through the metal detector. It was controllable and nothing big but there was definitely that desire to grab my bags and turn to run back out the gate to where Snickers was.
"Am I really doing this?!", was the question of the day.
It was a mix of contemplating the above question, the crazy turbulence and the annoyingly hyper three kids sitting in front of me with their holy wiped-out, husband dominated Muslim mom that made my journey to Canada terrible. I got off the plane at Pearson Airport in Toronto and puked. I hadn't slept, hadn't ate, and hadn't had a consistent emotion since I got on that second plane to Canada. But there I was, now in Canada, and there I was waiting for my high school buddy to come pick me up. Being picked up by a sweet friend most definitely helped to calm my nerves regarding this trip...as did it being Ice Cream Wednesday.
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