Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The first paragraph is about pushy old ladies...

Hi guys! Just me, dropping a line. It's been a while for sure...sowwy! It's just kind of getting to that point in being in a new place where things start to seem not interesting enough to write home about anymore...if that makes sense. I guess there are some things that still surprise me everyday, like when an old lady totally invades my personal space on the subway. Today one actually grabbed my hips and moved me over one seat so she could sit beside her friend. I just shook my head and smiled and tried not to laugh. Last week one was hanging on to the same pole as me and her hand kept slipping down so that it was on top of mine but then she'd move it up again really quickly...it probably happened like 15 times in total haha.

Other than old lady antics, things are starting to feel like they're stabilizing. A few weeks ago I was feeling a little burned out from too much...things. Just trying to do too much and be too many places in too short of a time period. My first three months here has been pretty packed with seeing things, doing things, going places and frequently staying out really really late. I think that there's no coincidence my burnout occurred almost simultaneously with the weather getting colder. As you may already be aware, I hate hate hate hate HATE winter and cold and snow and wind. Loathe it. Winter is for blankets and books and movies and for short walking distance excursions to the nearest licensed establishment when required. Also, I was sick for like three weeks. Started out as just a regular cold and then dragged on and on. Same thing happened with several of my friends and a couple of them developed bonafide bronchial infections :(. Not to lay blame, but I am gonna mention that they didn't turn on the heat at my school until last week, same with many others. Know how hard it is to recover from a cold when you are constantly chilled to the bone? Yeah. Hard. I've been feeling mostly better for a couple of weeks but the cough and mucus and sore throat sneak back into existence every once in a while. So, anyway, in summary, I've been hanging around Daejeon and slowing down into winter mode...until winter vacation anyway :)

WINTER VACATION YOU SAY!? THAT SOUNDS SPLENDID! Right? It looks like I'll be getting the last two weeks of February off work ( until March 3). I haven't quite determined a plan as of yet...but I will definitely be going somewhere WARM with BEACHHEESSSSS. My Lonely Planet Southeast Asia book has come in the mail so I've got some reading to do before I figure it out for sure. I'll update again when I do know. Expect something like Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam etc.

In general things seem to be going well. I still get this anxious feeling sometimes that everything is going to go to shit and I'll be in Canada by the end of next week over some ridiculous issue out of my control. Or that I'm going to "do something wrong" and get kicked out of Korea. I expected I might have some stress regarding this as a residual effect of what happened with China. Realistically, this situation has almost nothing in common with the one I found myself in in China, so worrying about it is probably stupid. Problem is, anxiety isn't really one of those things where mind over matter works. I'm hoping that the longer I stay here the more it will help me to get over it, especially because I'd love to make a visit back there sometime next year and would love to not have a panic attack at the airport. Sometimes it surprises me that I still worry about that. What a stupid series of events. Sigh.

Okay, I should probably cut it off here. Sorry for the solemn tone, I really am having a great great time. Besides, I'd be a total jerk if I didn't miss having you guys around at all amirite? Hope everyone is doing okay (and not missing ME too much haha)

Love,

Mary