Ah, Canada. Our home on native land. It's a place I haven't seen in almost three years.

Because I have been away so long, I may not be the best person to talk about what to do on returning. Still, I'll give you what I can.

A stranger in your own country

When I was a teenager, I read Bernie Parent's autobiography. There was one anecdote from his life that always stuck with me about moving to new surroundings.

When he was drafted and first went to the World Hockey Association, he had never left Quebec in his life and couldn't speak a word of English. After leaving the WHA and going to the Philadelphia Flyers, during one off-season he went back to Quebec after not living there for several years.

He found that he had forgotten how to speak French. He had been so long away that he couldn't function in the French society he grew up in.

I am not saying you will forget how to speak English by the time you get back, but I am saying you may not be ready for the transition. Some people may be so acclimatized to living around Koreans that they forget how to behave around westerners.