“It’s wave over wave, Sea over Bow, I’m as happy a man as the sea will allow”

Thanks to Great Big Sea for providing the soundtrack to today’s adventure. My 1st thought as I boarded the hydrofoil ferry to Japan this morning was “Why bother taking a boat if you can’t go out on the deck?” Soon I realized that in contrast to an airplane, if the ferry goes down, the life vest under your seat might actually do you some good. Secondly, you can watch the waves, so you can expect when you’ll crest or pitch….unlike crazy things like wind and airpockets that just lurk around in the sky waiting to shake your airplane.

On the ferry, they showed (with Japanese dubbing) the woodworking show with the woman who used to be on Anne of Green Gables, and Road to Avonlea.

Also on the ferry, I met a guy from Florida who was also going on a visa run. He knew where the Embassy was, so I tagged along with him until we got our paperwork done. After that, I wandered about for some time in search of my hotel. Eventually I found it, and it was wonderful! An absolutely perfect place to relax for a few days. In fact, after a nice hot bubble bath, I curled up for a ‘quick nap’ at 4pm…and didn’t wake up again until the next morning!! I had an intense 16 hour hibernation to help me recover from months of GO!GO!GO! Ahhhhhhhhhh. Maybe years from now, I’ll look at such a long snooze as a waste of my time in Japan. But right now, I think it’s worth it.

Ahh. I’ve arrived in Daegu, and am totally congested. I can hardly breathe, but I’m too excited to care.

My new room isn’t ready to move in yet, so I’m crashing on John’s floor for the night – but I’ve seen my new place and I love it!! It’s small, but bright and clean and new, and has a great view of the mountains. Very nice.

Tomorrow I officially move into my new place, but won’t actually sleep there until Thursday night. grrrr.

Happy – excited – and going to sleep.

And so begins my last full day in Daejeon. I got up early, feeling like a big slimy cat had crawled into my lungs and had kittens. Not a good start to the day.

Now however, it’s 11:00am, and the movers have just left with 7 boxes, 2 huge suitcases, and a bicycle, which they will deliver to my door in Daegu for only $55 !! Not bad at all. Everything else I’ll carry on the train with me tomorrow. I also need to find room for a big Astro Boy alarm clock that Mike gave me for a going away gift. The thing is hilarious. When the alarm rings, it plays music, and makes ‘blast off’ noises, and he sings something in Korean. It’s pretty funny.

Mike and Paula have fled the apartment for the morning, (after doing a stellar cleaning job!) so now I have a few minutes to get used to the idea that I really am leaving – before the place fills up again for my goodbye open house.

Yesterday, I was finally permitted to tell my students that I was leaving. The seemed confused, and a little sad. I was too. They’re mostly good kids. Then, last night, I went out with my favourite Korean friends ‘Ken’ and ‘Jenny’ to the Outback steakhouse. Those two make me laugh and smile and keep me sane. I’m going to miss them tons.

I may not have any new postings for a while until I get settled in Daegu, but I’ll try.