The Beginning of the End

My last days in Korea were absolutely hectic. I had to return to school for the three days since the new semester began before my contract expired. I had to try and say goodbye to two years worth of co-workers and friends. I had to try and figure out how to deal with a recently discovered hernia. I had to pack up my life in to two large bags and clean my apartment. I had to pay bills, and on and on and on.

After having so much free time for most of my two years in Korea, it was all gone and I found there weren't enough hours in the day to do the things I needed to do. Something had to be compromised, and usually it was sleep. I still managed to teach two days of classes at school and get my apartment relatively clean for the new teacher moving. I made it to the airport and made it across the rest of the world to NYC. My mind is finally starting to wind back down.

Summer Doldrums

I'm done teaching in Korea for good. I finished out the rest of the semester's classes, did a three-day camp at my school, did a three-day camp at another school, and taught two classes a day at my school again for the past week and a half.

I'm on vacation, and I don't know what to do with myself. Even when I was teaching the two classes a day at my school, I would come home around 11am and have absolutely nothing to do. Daegu is hot and humid and has been rainy on and off for the summer so far. Where's the motivation?

I sold my motorcycle, that was real sad. I celebrated my girlfriend's birthday which was fun and not exceedingly expensive. I had a dinner party and two poker nights at my house. My friends are off in North Korea or Malaysia or Thailand. I have my visas for China and Russia. I bought a suit for the upcoming weddings I'll be attending. It's gotten so desperate that I watched Step Up 3D and Salt in the theaters. And the sad part about that is that Step Up 3D was about a thousand times better than Salt. Seriously, don't see that movie.

I have two weeks to the day left until I head back to the States for a quick visit. I should be living it up my last days here, but I'm bored and unmotivated. I find it much easier to to play poker or the Settlers of Catan online than do research for my upcoming travels, or practice the guitar, or write entries in this blog, which has been sporadic at best.

Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to hike to the top of Palgonsan tomorrow morning, as early as I can. I've been to the mountain plenty of times, but not once have I gone to hike it. I'm gonna do that, and then maybe I'll take the cable car down if it's up and running again. The last time I was at Palgongsan, to visit the Safety Theme Park (seriously), the cable car was down for maintenance, or renovations or whatever. After that, I'm going to come back into the city, shower, meet Miju and pick up my new suit fresh from its alterations, and then meet Moe and probably Paul and eat some BBQ meat and maybe get a little drunk. I'd like to go the beach this weekend, but all the good train times might be booked up. We'll see.

I think all these doldrums come from me not having to work. And I'm not just talking about working at school, although that would help. I mean that life here in Korea doesn't have that feeling of a little adventure anymore. I know how to get around. I know how to do the things I need to do, and where to do them. I (sorta) know how to talk to people. I'm not complaining, and I don't think that Korea is boring. I guess the curiosity in me is just satisfied at this point, and I don't need to work at my daily life anymore. I think I'm really gonna enjoy traveling and feeling like I'm doing something new.