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On Monday, a week ago, I found a real job in Korea. It begins November 13, presuming the work Visa is sorted out in a timely manner and I can get my interview with the Korean consulate in Los Angeles finished over the phone. If I do have to drive to California, it will disrupt my delicate monetary balance, and I will bring my brother along for surety on the road.
I will be teaching in Seoul, at a school called YumKwang Christian School (which is lucky, because they have services in English and I won't spend ages hunting down a church). It's very exciting, but I'm also incredibly tense, having gone through all my clothes while trying to mentally inventory everything I might need for a year that I can get away with packing. I think I will really need my Sharper Image clothes steamer....it's rather small and not very heavy. How will I bring my bulky old laptop?? My stomach is in knots, unfortunately. I suppose it's not too early to sit down and do a mock-packing to get a real sense of weight, dimension, and what all I should bring.
Knowing this is the last couple of weeks I'll have to spend with Yoshi is heartbreaking. I am more in love with him than ever, and his sweet spirit has obviously charmed everyone else around him (except for maybe the larger dogs at the dog park; his attitude there is disappointing). I knitted him a sweater, and although it is pretty baggy, he looks so handsome in it and it clearly keeps him warmer. He doesn't tremble nearly as often in the fleeting cool hours of the evening and early morning. I'll bring him down to Tucson to spend the next year with Toby and Tyler. If I could bring him to Korea, he would already have been packed! I hope these few months in Phoenix have been good for him; he's gotten loads of quality attention from our family, and my complete lack of social life has left me a great deal of time to spend with him and take him places with me. I've spent a month away, I've spent four and a half months away with sporadic visits, but I've never spent a year away from this little dog. He is my ray of sunshine! I hope it doesn't get too dark in Seoul.
Well, in the hopes of pursuing graduate schools, I mentioned to the school manager (who interviewed me) that my Five Year Plan included me in grad school, and she seemed amicable to that idea. It really was a great interview (did I mention she sent my recruiter a job offer immediately after speaking with me for 40 minutes?) so I'm satisfied this is a good fit. I'm fully intending to complete my general GRE and build rapport with potential advisers for conservation biology. I'm simply gridlocked with things at the top of my To Do list, however. It's stressful.
On the bright side, I'm getting things done, bit by bit, and if I want to keep that up, I'd better stop doing this.
10.21.2008
10.12.2008
a large world after all
I apologize for not keeping up with my journal here. It has been far beyond a month since my last post, and admittedly I have thought about recording some thoughts in this box, but my limited access to Internet is the usual excuse why not.
So, I wouldn't say life has been terribly bumpy as of late, just busy. It seems like my entire day is eaten up with things to do or time spent recuperating, and when the weekends finally roll around, I just eat it up and then in what feels like a moment it has passed and suddenly I'm waking up early Monday morning, yet again.
It's all just very whoosh! and that's not always bad but it certainly wipes you out.
Toby came up this weekend, and that was wonderful. It wasn't just for me, which was actually pretty nice, that way we had very special time together when we could get it.
Yoshi wants Toby back, though. Ever since the he and his brother came by today to say goodbye before departing back to Tucson, Yoshi has been watching out the window and frequently asking me to go outside so he can check for their car. I think it just reminded him that Toby and Tyler are somewhere other than where he is, and he hasn't seen them in over a month besides. Plus, it got very cold very suddenly and he is trembling like a leaf, while I can't locate any of his sweaters (which look so cute on him!). So he sits in the window, watching and shaking. It truly is heartbreaking.
On the topic of the weather, however, it's finally sweater-wearing time! My cooler-weather wardrobe was just dying to come out of hiding, and the idea of wearing scarves again tickles me greatly!
On Korea, I am still in the stages of very little momentum. Working this much has made my estimated departure date creep up stealthily, while I have gotten nearly nothing done in the way of preparation. I've sent off my documents, am waiting for an interview or two with some schools out there that would suit my start date, and then the work Visa is next. Then I pack everything I can think of in two 50-lb. checked bags and one carry-on, and make my merry way to the other side of the planet, knowing next to nothing about what my life will have in store next.
Hrm. This is the only sentiment I seem able to muster about the state of events to follow.
But at present, I feel anxious and I'm sure there are several things I ought to do, if I could just bend my attention their way. So that's what I'll do.
So, I wouldn't say life has been terribly bumpy as of late, just busy. It seems like my entire day is eaten up with things to do or time spent recuperating, and when the weekends finally roll around, I just eat it up and then in what feels like a moment it has passed and suddenly I'm waking up early Monday morning, yet again.
It's all just very whoosh! and that's not always bad but it certainly wipes you out.
Toby came up this weekend, and that was wonderful. It wasn't just for me, which was actually pretty nice, that way we had very special time together when we could get it.
Yoshi wants Toby back, though. Ever since the he and his brother came by today to say goodbye before departing back to Tucson, Yoshi has been watching out the window and frequently asking me to go outside so he can check for their car. I think it just reminded him that Toby and Tyler are somewhere other than where he is, and he hasn't seen them in over a month besides. Plus, it got very cold very suddenly and he is trembling like a leaf, while I can't locate any of his sweaters (which look so cute on him!). So he sits in the window, watching and shaking. It truly is heartbreaking.
On the topic of the weather, however, it's finally sweater-wearing time! My cooler-weather wardrobe was just dying to come out of hiding, and the idea of wearing scarves again tickles me greatly!
On Korea, I am still in the stages of very little momentum. Working this much has made my estimated departure date creep up stealthily, while I have gotten nearly nothing done in the way of preparation. I've sent off my documents, am waiting for an interview or two with some schools out there that would suit my start date, and then the work Visa is next. Then I pack everything I can think of in two 50-lb. checked bags and one carry-on, and make my merry way to the other side of the planet, knowing next to nothing about what my life will have in store next.
Hrm. This is the only sentiment I seem able to muster about the state of events to follow.
But at present, I feel anxious and I'm sure there are several things I ought to do, if I could just bend my attention their way. So that's what I'll do.
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