Part III.

He had and probably always would be a man who liked the truth. The truth was very important to him. But, it took him some time to understand that the truth was not absolute. He started to understand that it was honesty he was attracted to. The truth was nice, the truth was an ideal, but honesty is what got his attention. Honesty is hard and honest people should not be taken for granted. This much he knew. The longer he remained in Korea the more he realized he had spent many years being dishonest with himself. That was going to change sooner than he had expected. He remembered, "Honesty is hard."

His days became formulaic at work. He fell into a pattern and became restless. What did he want? He wanted something more but he didn't know what it was. So, he started to take little trips around Korea by himself. He would get on a bus or a train and travel to a city or a town he had never been to. He would get off at his destination and simply walk around. A private person by nature, he was uncomfortably always the focus of attention as he walked around. The smaller towns were the worst. Living in a country that is over 95% ethnically the same can present different challenges when you fall into that 5% category. He decided that the bubble he walked within needed to be popped if he was going to survive in this country of starers and pointers. He walked through neighborhoods and smiled at small children who froze in place when they saw him coming. The more curious ones would practice their English. "Hello", they would say. "Hello", he would reply. Once they realized he could talk the other children would attack him with the English words they knew. Like ravenous sharks they would tear the English from his body. In time he would get used to these events and sometimes enjoy them.

The more he hung out with the new friends he was making the more he realized how much he had changed. The more he talked to his friends back home the more he realized how lucky he was to have them in his life. He was changing and he was bringing them along for the ride. His girlfriend had been in Korea for over half a year and their time together was spent sparingly. It took a buses, subways, trains and taxi cabs to bring them together. He began to realize that they could have lived down the street from each other and they still would have been a universe apart. Things were different. Things had been different for a long time now. For the first time he was being honest with himself. They didn't belong together. A few months later they would break up over the phone and never see each other again. It would be an uneventful departure. Like the air leaving a balloon it would simply shrink until there was nothing left, not even hard feelings.

A month before the break up he would buy her a new digital camera. He knew she enjoyed taking pictures and he wanted to see her smile one last time. By this time he knew the ship was sinking and it was only a matter of time until it sank into the depths of the ocean. His new friends didn't understand why he would spend so much money on a person he was one conversation away from breaking up with (mutually). His old friends never questioned the gift. His old friends knew better. He couldn't fault his new friends for their confusion and what seemed to be frustration with his gesture. They had never met her. They had never witnessed her smile. Almost a year after the break up (mutual) he would go shopping for a digital camera for himself. He wanted to get a nice camera before he returned to the states. As he was testing out the different cameras he would think about her taking pictures and seeing the world through her unique lens. He would feel a twinge of sadness which would quickly be replaced with a smile.