I thought I’d update on what I’ve been up to. The two most exciting things (Vietnam and the Philippines) I’ll leave for last.
Last weekend I went to Sue’s house. It was so nice, I hung out with her and her family. We watched the Netherlands win against Brazil on Friday night which was pretty awesome and then on Saturday we went shopping in Anyang. Sue lives in Gunpo, a suburb of Incheon, and it was nice to be in a Korean suburb. Most people live in apartments, but the streets are much less busy and there are far fewer businesses than in a typical Incheon neighborhood. It’s basically apartment buildings, schools, and some small shops and restaurants with lots of open space. It’s pretty nice. Also, Sue’s parents’ apartment is so nice. I think beause all Korean live in apartments, the apartments they do have a much nicer, and also much less expensive, that apartments in the United States.
This upcoming weekend I’m going with Alischa to Busan, South Korea. Busan is the second largest city in Korea, next to Seoul, and is in the south of the country. It’s apparently a really nice, big city that’s on the water. If the weather cooperates, all I want to do is chill out on the beach.
Next weekend I’m going to Boryeong to this thing called MudFest. It’s basically a party and music fest in the mud. I have no idea what to expect, but I’ve heard from everyone who has gone that it is awesome.
Then, at the end of the month I’m going to Vietnam for 2 weeks! I’m so excited! I’m flying in to Ho Chi Minh City and out through Hanoi. What I do in between is still up in the air, but will probably include Hoi An, Hue, Sapa, and Halong, and possibly also Dalat and/or Nha Treng. We’ll see. I want to enjoy my time places and experience the cities instead of going to as many as possible, but I also want to see a lot.
So then I’ll come back from Vietnam and then a month later is Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) and I have off of work for 1 week. During that month I’ll probably go to Jeju Island in Korea and if I haven’t gone to Suwon yet by that point, I’ll go to Suwon too. But that week of Chuseok I’m going to the Philippines! I just worked out the tickets today. I was originally going to Shanghai for the vacation, however it’s tricky getting a Chinese visa. There’s some brand new law that says that if you have a Korean work visa, you have to have at least 6 mos left on the visa to get a Chinese visa. It’s weird, this isn’t a Korean law, but a Chinese law (I think.) But I’m more excited about the Philippines anyways. Shanghai I’m sure is really nice, but it’s probably more similar to Korea than the Philippines are. So my plan is to fly into Manila, but immediately go to an island and stay there for the week.
I’ll come back from the Philippines on my last Saturday in Korea, and then I’ll finish work on Tuesday and fly out on Wednesday. Thanks to Connecticut being 13 hours behind Korea, I’ll land in the United States on Wednesday evening Eastern Time. A lot of people travel on their way out of Korea, but I’ve already been to Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan and I will be going to Vietnam and the Philippines.
The next 2 1/2 months or so will be intense, but by that I mean awesome and then after I’ll be home and that’ll be refreshing. A year away is a long time, and while I would not take back this decision to come here and I’m so happy that I made it, and my entire life is better for it, I’m looking forward to going home and a year is a long time.
In the meantime, I’ll be traveling and teaching quite a bit.
