Honestly, now.

I’ve been home from vacation for over a week and it’s taken me this long to get settled in.  My apologies.  But first things first.  My work schedule has chanced for the next month.  Instead of working in the afternoons and evenings, I’ll be working hours that regular human being work…..sorta.  On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I work from 10am to 7:30pm.  On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I work from 10am to 4:30.  So if you have a desire to call (and I hope you do), please call me in the mornings. 

Anyways, Cambodia.  I highly recommend visiting the country.  I’m going to try to return there for a little while in November (during my CELTA course).  I’m still working on getting captions put on all the pictures (it’s on my to-do list this weekend, so we’ll see), but I figured that I could at least post the photos.

I don’t have much time (I’m writing this before class), but I do want to apologize/thank everyone who put up with me the past week.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been in such a rotten mood for an extended period of time, relatively speaking.  I wasn’t sad, just angry at the world.  It took me a little while to get over it.  Now the world and I have an understanding.  So I’ll end this with my favorite quote for this week..

“In a fight between you and the world, back the world.”  Kafka

I’m off to Cambodia!

My apartment is feeling more like my apartment. (Pictures to come when I get batteries for my camera.) Feeling like a squatter isn’t so fun. I’m getting settled in just in time for a friend and coworker of mine to move in for a few weeks. (She just needs a place to crash until the school finds her a place.) She moves in tomorrow. I’m off for Cambodia on Friday. To say that I’m looking forward to this trip would be a gross understatement.

It always cracks me up how things mentioned in passing or in a joking manner turn into reality.

“Hey Anne! Your job sucks. Wanna come to Korea?”

“We should go to China.”

“Come visit me in France.”

“Let’s go to Cambodia sometime.”

And most recently……

“Does your pact include coming to mardi gras?”

I’m trying to convince Ben to promise to stay in Korea (and with DYB) until the end of June 2009. That would be at least one friend that I’d have through the rest of this stint in Asia. I told Dan about my proposal and he posed the question above. Today, I mentioned it to Ben. And now, I’m laughing because it might happen. Too funny.

I’m in a wonderful mood today. Tired, but not exhausted like last week. I miss my friend (and anticipate missing more), but then again, it’s not like last week. Now is a rather nice time to dwell in, if that makes any sort of sense. Today I enjoy my job, my friends, my home, and my future. Heck, I even enjoy the weather (hot and sticky).

Peace unto all.

Last night, I was moping about the house thinking of all the people who have left and all of those going to leave in the next few weeks.  My phone rang and the caller ID came up as 000-0000, meaning a calling card call.  Typically, it’s international.  I picked up the phone.  To my surprise and joy, it was my friend Yohan.

I met Yohan at Avalon, where we both worked at the time.  His English and my Korean were pretty much at the same level, but we were friends anyways.  He left for New York (to study English) last year.  I was supposed to go visit him while I was at home, but never made it.

Anyways, he called to say that he’s coming back to Korea for a few weeks and now we can actually hold a conversation.  I’m pretty excited.  We’re supposed to go to Caribbean Bay (a water park) for a day of fun.  I’m looking forward to it.

In other news, I’m settling into my new place.  Well, sort of.  I can’t help but think of it as Dan’s place.  There’s not as much storage space as in Arion, but that’s alright.  It has more windows and it only take about 20 minutes to get to school.  I’m working on getting rid of a lot of clothes that I haven’t worn and stuff that I haven’t used.   I’m an aspiring minimalist.

I am no longer a resident of Bundang.  Bittersweet, indeed.

I can’t remember who said “all fear comes from trying to know the future,” but it’s one of my favorite quotes.  A lot of grief that I create for myself stems from the nasty habit of trying to know what’s going to happen.

Before anyone (Mike) gives me crap for the plethora of typos (Mike) that I anticipate will be in this blog (Mike), let’s just have a break down of my sleeping habits the past few days.

Last night: 3 hours of sleep

Night before: 3 hours of sleep

Monday night: 4 hours of sleep

Sunday night: 7 hours of sleep (hurray!)

Saturday night: 2 hours of sleep

Friday night: 45 minutes of sleep

I blame going away parties.  I blame having cool enough coworkers that I actually WANT to go to the going away parties.  Also, even though I have been going to bed far, far too late, I’m still getting up at my regular time.  Ouch.  Fortunately, that time is over.

Anyways, I said goodbye to Dan this morning (I went to the bus stop with him).  In stark contrast to my emotional state earlier this week, this morning I was smiling.  While seeing a good friend leave is painful, I’m still happy to see someone go and be where they need to be.  So, with the exception of desperately needing a 10-hour nap, I’m fine.  Or, at least, as fine as I typically am. 

Oh, and I’ll probably be moving on Saturday.

This morning, while making some tea and waiting for a friend, I was hit by a staggering impulse to leave.  No warning, just go the the airport and find the first plane that would take me out.  I didn’t particularly care where.  This has happened before, this desire to go, but never to this extent.  Usually my practical side does a good job of quelling such things. But not today.  Today I was tallying up what I my losses would be and deeming most of them acceptable.  Heck, as long as I got on the right plane, I could make my meager resources last the better part of a year.  Send an email at the airport so my family wouldn’t worry too terribly much and just go.

Two things slowed me down enough that I had the chance to talk myself out of it.  The first was that my computer was at school.  Yes, it would be an acceptable loss, but I’d loose a lot of projects that I’ve been working on.

And I couldn’t find my passport.

I did find my passport (it was in the kitchen drawer).  The moment passed and I’m back here at work, trying to get up the concentration skill necessary to grade and plan.  Yeesh.  I can’t wait for this week to end already.

Photos are here.

I am incredibly lucky. I work with a phenomenal group of people(Mel, Roopa, Ben, Rene, etc.). I can say (without the slightly feeling of dishonesty) that I like all of my coworkers, both foreign and Korean. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked with such a group. On Saturday, Dan had his last day. That night, we had what is perhaps the absolute best going away party that I’ve attended. We started out at a Moroccan restaurant. The food was fantastic and the service was outstanding. Next, Rene got ALL of us (group of maybe 20+) into a very neat club that had rooms which lead to other rooms. After that, we tried to go to another place, only to be told that the people wearing flip-flops weren’t allowed. No worries. We just went somewhere else. I don’t think I’ve ever had to much fun in Itaewon. I think I left around 4:30am. Good times.

I’ve been meaning to go to Busan for a while (sometimes, you have to get out of Seoul) and Dan wanted to go there as well. So Sunday, we took the KTX (a train that goes 300km an hour) down to Busan. We played on the beach, wandered around the fish market, saw the Taejongdae cliffs, then headed home, sun-burnt but happy.

Dan’s the guy that I would pester on a daily basis when I first came to this campus back in March (or was it February?). Anyways, like with everyone where, we became friends. And as people here are wont to do, he’s decided to go do something else for a while. Good for him.

Here’s a few things that I picked up from Dan.

1. Carry a water bottle (and I’m sorry that I lost yours)

2. Bring a handkerchief wherever you go. They are remarkably handy.

3. Travel light.

4. Always be reading something.

5. It’s all about maintenance.

I’m glad that he’s leaving. Korea (or any other place for that matter) has a poisoning effect on people who don’t belong here anymore. It’s not fun for those of us left. It’s hitting me harder because his departure marks the beginning of so many more friends leaving. Some of whom I’ve been friends with for almost as long as I’ve been here. But still, I’m glad that I’ve them. And in another year, it’ll be my turn to leave.

I’m already excited.