~*Farewell Korea*~

Last Saturday we had some pretty nasty weather. That coupled with the high yellow dust particle count left the sky an gloomy dark brown. However, Korea isn't really know for disastrous weather, such as deadly earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, or ice storms. Lucky for them, eh? Of course, I say this, and then 2nd and 3rd period was cancelled today so that the students could be in their homeroom classes for the hurricane and fire drills. No earthquakes to date in Korea just yet, but I suppose they are becoming more prepared as the earth's plates (is that right?) shift further east from Japan.

After going to Gangnam to pick up contacts that weren't there, I met Seunghui for dinner in Geumjeong, and then returned to Jeongwang for a nice chat, cake, and wine with Sarah. Of course I got back to my officetel quite late, so I slept in the following morning. By 3pm, I was on the train to meet Kelly for dinner at On the Border at Coex Mall in Samseong. OTB is a really nice Mexican Grill, so the there was a 45 minute wait. We walked around for bit, where I found some great souvenir finds. And shame, I feel like I should have bought more. Oh well. On the menu? A large chicken quesadilla with REAL cheese, chili con queso for the fresh tortilla chips, and endless bowl fulls of FRESH salsa. Afterwards we headed towards Dongdeamun (North Seoul) to look for Korean fabric. Something I've been on the hunt for since I came. But of course, I wasn't aware that this was the premiere location for doing so until a few weeks ago. I live far away and had been busy. To our disappointment and surprise, the shopping centers, including underground *all night* markets were closed. Kelly and I were just standing in the raining, dark evening, with hardly anyone around, trying to figure out what to do next. Dongdeamun was too far just to go back home. Well, Doota, this gigantic shopping center I ate at one day with Katelyn and Nashly back when I worked at ECC, was open. So, we went in for some amazingly delicious crepes filled with cream, chocolate, strawberries, and bananas...all rolled up for our enjoyment. I even got extra banana as service :) Kelly and I our talkers. I met her a couple weeks ago. She is from Texas, has a degree in education, currently works at Hogwan in Nowon (Northeast of Seoul), and has applied to work at a one of the DOD schools on base in Korea. However, she is also quite passionate about combating childhood obesity, and interested in nutrition. Mid sentence I asked "Oh my goodness...what time is it?" It was 11:05pm, 5 minutes after I could catch the last train home. We ran down the escalators saying "Joshamenyo...joshamneyo.." (excuse me), and headed towards the train. I was only able to reach Sanbon, and had to take a 20,000W taxi the rest of the way. I arrived home about 1:40am, but the evening was still great. She has called me a couple times since just to chat. Sweet~

Monday- Gangnam, Tuesday- Post Office (12.660 kg box = 36,000W!!!), Wednesday- money transfer, hair cut, turn off phone, dinner with Lee in Oido. Been rushing around to get recommendation letters as well. Thursday, not sure. I won't have a phone, which sucks, but Chorong and I were going to do something... I guess. We'll have to facebook it all out. Gonna try the airport bus on Friday. Kelly says they will stop and help with luggage. We'll see. If not, I catch the bus by Emart, so there are lots of taxis waiting to taxi people home. Perhaps if nothing else, I could grab one of those to take me to the airport. Suenghui also gave me the phone number for the Sihueng taxi service.

I've just been told that at 3pm I will be paid! That better be true because the bank closes at 4pm. Let's hope so! Gotta send some emails, then I'm off. Love to all. Perhaps the next time you hear from me, I'll be in the States.