Two Months to Go!

I haven't posted in ages, but that's because I haven't wanted to be a negative Nelly. My work situation has been extremely frustrating over the past four months, but with the addition of a new foreign coworker things are looking up (at least a little).

My parents did come for a visit in late May and early June, in which I took off four days of work and there were two national holidays, so I had time to travel around Korea (Incheon to Seoul to Busan to Jeju to Mokpo to Gwangju to Incheon). I had a good time traveling, though Jeju was frustrating because of its public transportation system. In that time I took a plane, trains, subways, buses, ferries, taxis, and my former roommate's mother's private car. I was able to see a lot of the country and visit several places I had not been before, which was quite fun. However, on my return to work my problems there began.

During the two day summer vacation (which made a four day long weekend), I took the chance to travel internationally to Japan. I flew into Osaka since it was much cheaper to fly there than Tokyo, and spent the night in a hotel near Osaka Castle. The next day I explored Osaka Castle and the Umeda underground shopping district, which was really fun. I felt like an idiot since I only knew two words of Japanese and couldn't read a lick of it, but other than that it was great. I then took an overnight bus to Tokyo, where a friend from high school who I hadn't seen in five years greeted me and took me all around the city. We went to a famous shrine and to several different districts in Tokyo, at one point meeting up with another friend of mine, a mutual friend from high school, for the entirety of her half hour break in the day's schedule. I took another overnight bus back to Osaka and spent the morning in Umeda again before flying back to Korea. It was a short but lovely (and expensive, considering the Won to Yen conversion rate) trip. I kind of wish I had done my year abroad teaching in Japan!

I still have some vacation left, and I'm excited to explore other places in Korea that I haven't had the chance to see yet. I still need to go on a DMZ tour and I want to go to the other major cities. Chuseok is also coming up, and with it hopefully a chance to hike Gwangju's famous mountain, Mudeung.

What I'm really excited for, though, is what I have planned for after Korea. I'll be departing Korea for Uganda to visit a friend of mine doing a Fulbright there, and from Uganda I'll be heading to London to visit a friend studying at a university in Oxford. After that I'll be going to New York to see a few friends before finally ending up at my parents' house for the holidays. Everything for 2013 is TBD, but I'm hopeful that I will find something great!