I’m not exactly how to describe what I’m feeling right now. Since I found out last Sunday that my only option for breaking my contract is to run, I’ve been more stressed than ever in my life. I have a stressful day at work, then go home and pack for hours. I alternated this week between 230am and 430am bedtimes. So, every day was only a little sleep, and even then I woke up every morning worrying and unable to stay asleep. So right now, I kinda feel like death.
Friday night after work, a friend helped me load up his car and take stuff to Kayla’s to store while I’m gone. Saturday I made time for acupuncture with Danielle, then Jenny and Jay came and we took Hayes-y to Sungseo. I had planned to put him in a kennel, which wasn’t ideal because of the cost. But they would take him, and if anything were to happen to him, they could fix it right away, which made me feel better.
At the last minute though, a future coworker agreed to watch him for the month I’ll be gone. He has two dogs, and lives in the building where I‘ll be. Such a wonderful offer, although I wonder how long his dominant female dog will hump my boy. He was so annoyed when she started. The look on his face was hilarious; he was so confused. Then he started whining to me, “Mooommmm! Get her off of me!” I explained that he has to handle this on his own, but he was not amused. I thought it was hysterical.
I got the rest of everything moved, after finally finding a taxi driver that understood enough English for me to explain that I wanted him to go to the next street where my apartment is, wait while I load a bunch of stuff, then take us to Suseong-gu. He did it, and only charged me the meter. He was so great that I gave him a big tip.
Kayla and I had a delicious dinner (I kinda forgot and kinda didn’t have time to eat all day), and I introduced her to Jack, Amy, and Danielle, who all live close to her. I feel bad leaving her since she’s only just arrived a few weeks ago, and doesn’t have many other friends yet. Hopefully, they’ll get to hang out a bit while I’m gone.
A couple of odd/funny things happened Saturday evening. First, we got a sand storm from the Gobi Desert, maybe the strangest sentence I’ve ever typed. It looked like thick fog, but it was really hard to breathe, and the air tasted like dirt. I actually didn’t know that it wasn’t fog until Kayla clued me in. Ethan posted some stats on Facebook last night. Apparently this happens every year at this time, and last year was really bad. They had 375 parts per cubic meter. On Saturday we hit a record at 2700 parts/m3. Insane.
When we got downtown for dinner (at 11pm), we were waiting to cross the street, when this man in his twenties emerged from a cab. He was wearing every trendy fashion thing possible: a shirt dinner jacket, a very nice dress shirt, a scarf, a fedora, and gorgeous shoes. He had a typically Asian “boy band”-type hair cut, and the perfect man-bag. I was so stunned at him, that I couldn’t help but stare. I was hoping I wasn’t the only one who noticed. I said to Kayla, “Can you please tell me what just got out of that cab?” “Fabulous,” she said. “Fabulous just got out of that cab.” It was just fantastic. I would have proof, but my phone camera doesn’t do well in the dark.
I stayed with her Saturday night, because we were going on a tour the next morning early to the Apricot blossom festival in Gwangyang. We got to sleep at 130am, and had to leave for the tour stop by 6am, so only 4 hours of sleep again. We made it, but it was rough.
The tour was great, but we really need to convince Eric that 6am is a go-to-bed time, not a wake-up-and-be-somewhere time. And because we didn’t have enough people, we joined another tour, with a longer schedule and an extra stop. It took 2 hours to get to the festival, which was lovely, but much more hiking than we thought. We expected more hanging out in nature relaxing time, but we didn’t really get any.
Next, we went to Oidondo (?) Island, to see more flowers. It took an hour to get there, and it was freezing, so a bunch of us just went back to the bus after a bathroom stop. Another hour of traveling, and we finally reached the Eco-Reserve at Sunchon Bay. I wasn’t going to even get off at that point, but changed my mind, and I’m really glad I did.
It was actually pretty neat, and had many things to see. I didn’t take my wallet at first, so I didn’t make it into the astronomical observatory or Eco Museum, which I think I would’ve enjoyed. But I got some great souvenirs after I got my money. I found a decoration that’s a ceramic blue-glazed blowfish. Super cool, and appropriate given the blog title. I also found a ceramic fish flute (like an ocarina) for my mom’s mantle. They had many cool things, but some were really expensive. 3.5 hours of driving later, and we were home. The total adventure took 13 hours.
After we got back, I had to meet Lynn to give her my documents for my new visa, and sign some paperwork. We went back and I got everything situated again for Thailand. I got an hour (one) of sleep, before getting ready to head to the train station and on to Busan. I managed to get a ticket and get on the train, and to the correct stop, short of Busan. Amy and Jack had warned me that the taxi drivers just outside the train station would try to charge me twice the fare to the airport, so I was prepared to say no. I successfully talked him down from 20,000 won to 10,000, and then watched him fume all the way there. I arrived at 415am, and the airport was closed, but the security guards allowed me to sit in the dark baggage claim with them until 5am when the lights came on. Check-in opened at 6am, and I got everything done easily. Security was easy, and the immigration process was painless. The little man asked, “Will you be coming back to Korea?” I said, “No. My contract is finished.” He said, “Then this resident card is expired. That’s why I’m taking it.” I was worried that there would be a struggle, and that he wouldn’t want to take it. No problem. He stamped my visa cancelled, and I was free. I took a few steps away from the desk, and started to cry in immense relief.
There’s no way to explain how stressful my life has been lately. My situation has been truly toxic, and I’ve been doing everything I can to push through and keep going. But the feeling of knowing that I don’t have to deal with that craziness anymore is outstanding.
I got on the plane, a lovely Airbus model for Thai Airways. Lots of legroom, a meal, a few snacks, and lots of drinks and such. I missed several of them however, because as soon as we were wheels up, I was out. I had two fantastic two-hour naps, with a meal in between. For the last couple of hours I spoke with the Thai woman next to me. She was lovely. She lives with her American businessman boyfriend in Korea, but Thais can only get Korean visas for up to 2 months, so every two months for the last two years she has had to return home for two weeks to get a new visa. Her English was perfect, and we got to talk a bit about the areas near her hometown of Udon Thani in the northeast. I was sorry that I didn’t catch her name or contact info.
Immigration in the Bangkok airport was super easy, and tourist info and money exchanges are all over the customs and baggage claim areas, so it was very easy to navigate. I made my way through and up to the 4th floor to try to buy an air ticket to Koh Samui. Bangkok Air was too expensive, so I waited for a long time for AirAsia, a budget airline that is frequently not available to travel agents. It was worth the wait though, because I was able to get a flight for later today for half the price that Bangkok Air wanted to charge me. Unfortunately it’s already been delayed for an hour, so we’ll see when I actually get there. The other downside so far is that only Bangkok Air and Thai Air actually fly onto Koh Samui.
While I was waiting in the Bangkok airport, I found a delicious food place, where I had salmon maki rolls, which melted in my mouth, and the best pad thai I’ve ever eaten. Highly highly recommended.
When I finally get on the way, I will be flying into Surat Thani (sir-aht tahn-ee), which is the closest mainland town to the islands on the south-eastern coast. So, I’ll be staying there (somewhere) tonight, and tomorrow morning I’ll get on a ferry to the island. The ferry is cheap and takes about 1.5 hours. I hear taking it during the day is a great way to see a bunch of beautiful uninhabited islands along the way.
Although the air ticket to Koh Samui is pricier than I’d like to pay for a one-way ticket, it’s far better than the alternative, which I was considering. There is a night train which goes south from Bangkok to Surat Thani, but it takes between 11 and 13 hours to get there. There are supposedly comfortable sleeping berths, but 13 hours on a train can’t be fun. I took a plane for that long to get to Korea, and I was angry hours before the trip was finished. Even if I could manage to deal with all of that, I’d still end up in Surat Thani, so I’d still have to make that ferry trip, and taxi to the far side. So, I’ll possibly choose to take that route later to save money and such, but today I just want to get there and relax for a while.
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