One Year Out of South Korea: Lessons Learned and Observations

I landed at Salt Lake City International Airport on December 22nd, 2017, with a lot of money saved, two more paychecks coming in January and February because my job in Korea was that awesome (officially my contract ended March 1st, 2018), along with a boatload of hope and optimism. I had already been turned down by a few teaching jobs at that point, but I had already prepared myself for the upcoming battle: trying to readjust to life in the USA and resettle successfully. South Korea made up the third country I had been a long-term expat in. I spent 8 months in the Netherlands as a college student at Leiden University (should have been 12 but I spent my financial aid money a little too quickly) from 2002-03, a year and 8 months as a teacher in the Czech Republic from 2005-07, and 8 years and 11 months in South Korea: 2007-08 and then 2010-December 22nd, 2017. Despite having the greatest job that I think a human could possibly have (15 hours a week was considered full-time for mo