The Korea Report, Part 1

I'm here! Yay!

Yeah, so, I've actually been here for almost 2 weeks, but hey.

I was supposed to be getting internet access at my apartment by the end of the first week, but I guess procedures just changed. Like, within the last week or something. So now, I have to have my ARC (Alien Registration Card) before they will let me sign up for internet access. But once I do, it's going to cost me $15 PER MONTH. No people - we're not talking dial-up. We're talking high speed internet. I wasn't planning on getting cable while I'm here, but then I found out it will set me back a mere $5/month. So how could I turn it down?

The sad thing is that it will take me another 3 weeks until I actually get internet and cable at home, so the blogs may be pretty infrequent until then.

So that's my excuse for keeping you in suspense for so long. Now here's my story, from the beginning.

On May 7, 1980, a wondrous thing occurred...

Just kidding, we won't go back that far. Hows about we start with the flight?

The baggage limitations said that I could check 2 bags of 50 lbs each. So one of my bags was 51 lbs and the other was about 68. I knew this ahead of time because I have a handy little bag weigher thingy. But I figured - I'm moving to another country for a year and it would be prohibitively expensive to ship stuff, so I'll just hope that they don't charge me to much if my bags were overweight.

They charged me $25. Score!

Then they gave me an aisle seat in the exit row. Double score!

So I got on the plane, settled in, and wasted time sleeping. I say "wasted time" because I later found out that they had personal movie players with a huge selection of movies, and I only had a chance to watch 2 before the plane landed.

My plane got in a little early, and I collected my bags and got through customs in about 45 minutes. Then I met up with a dude holding a sign with my name on it, and he took me to my apartment. He told me he didn't speak much English, then he called the director of my school and spoke with him for a minute. Then the director told me that the driver would drop me off at my apartment and the next day, one of the teachers from my school would come by my apartment at 12:30 to take me to school.

It was about an hour drive to my apartment, so we got there by about 7:30 pm. Not bad. He basically helped me take my bags up to my apartment, showed me how to unlock my door (with a code, not a key), shoved my bags into the entryway and hightailed it out of there. By this point I was starting to get hungry, but I hadn’t wanted to take up any of my packing space with food. Fortunately, the person who lived there before me left a bottle of orange juice in the fridge. Unfortunately, that was all I had to last me until Monday afternoon. I thought about trying to go out and get some food, but I didn’t even have any cash. So I drank some orange juice, spent a couple of hours unpacking my things and collapsed into bed at around 10:00.

Much to my surprise, I slept straight through until about 7:00 am! I have never adjusted to a time change that quickly before! So I spent some more time unpacking, drank some more orange juice, and got ready for work. At about 1:00, I started wondering if someone was really coming. I was starting to get tired, too, so I thought I would just lie down on my bed and rest while I waited for someone to show up.

My doorbell rang at about 2:00. One of the directors and another new teacher were there waiting for me. Joe didn’t actually work at our branch, he was just bringing us to the school. Veronica also flew in Sunday night.

So Joe took us to work, which was conveniently located across the street. Then we got a crash course in teaching so that we could start that day.

So much for getting a week of training.

Speaking of teaching, I have a class in about 10 minutes, so I guess this is the point where I leave you hanging...

I'm off!

AAAHHHH! I'm so excited, scared, nervous, happy, anxious, sleepy, crazy, (insert emotion here) - basically I'm just a big ball of nerves and emotions. I can't believe I'm really moving to Korea tomorrow/today (it's past midnight, but I haven't gone to bed yet).

I'm basically done packing. But I grossly miscalculated how much stuff I had. I can't tell you how gross my miscalculation was.
It was Seriously Gross.

The plan was to pack all of my clothes, shoes (please don't ask me how many pairs of shoes I have), and other necessities, then fit in books and movies as I had room. I have a ton of books that I haven't read yet and it's always nice to have a few favorite movies.

Suffice it to say that I am grateful to know that there are good places to find English books in Seoul and I can buy movies on iTunes.

I found myself pulling articles of clothing out of my bags left and right - if I wasn't positive I would wear it more than a handful of times, it came out of the suitcase. It seems a shame to leave all of this perfectly decent clothing behind, but I suppose it will be as if I had new clothing when I return a year from now.

Now I'm just hoping that I won't have to pay too much because my bags are over the weight limit. I was blessed enough to get my visa in Seattle yesterday, so I didn't have to make an extra trip today, after all. Who knows? Maybe they will just waive the extra charges tomorrow... or better yet, bump me up to first class :) Then my bags would be within the weight limits.

I'm going to sign off for now - I've got to figure out what to do with all of the stuff I'm leaving behind!

Annyonghi kaysayo!

Woot woot!

Oh yeah, baby! I've got my plane tickets and I'm flying out on Saturday!

Somehow it doesn't seem real until the flight is booked.
Would you believe that I just got the tickets this evening?
And that's only because I wouldn't stop harassing the recruiter to book them.
He kept telling me, "Oh, it's no problem, there are plenty of seats. We've got time." In fact, I think those are exactly the words he said to me over the phone last night.

My response was, "Yes, I understand. But I would like to know when I'm flying out..." So he finally gave in and called the travel agent to book my flight. Lo and behold, there weren't any seats available for Friday night.
Hmmm...maybe it would have been wise to book the tickets more than four days in advance? So he said he would book them for Saturday. He told me that he would book them the next day (today) and send me the itinerary.

And he did! I fly out Saturday afternoon. They've booked me nonstop to Seoul (flying time is just under 12 hours), so I will arrive Sunday evening.

Yes, I know. Saturday afternoon + 12 hours does not Sunday evening make.
But Seoul is 17 hours ahead of PST, so we're talking Saturday afternoon + 12 hours + 17 hours. AKA Sunday evening.
Kinda trippy.
It'll be cool on the way back, though. I'll leave Seoul, fly for 12 hours, and get to Seattle 5 hours before I left.
hehehe

I'm going to get back to packing - I'm actually way ahead of the game and may not end up scrambling around the night before, hurling things haphazardly into suitcases.

Hmm..that'd be nice.

Tomorrow I'm going up to Seattle for my visa interview.
They'd better accept me, cuz hey - I've got plane tickets.
It seems to be more of a formality than anything else. I just have to try my best to not act crazy, and they should give me a nice shiny little stamp in my passport.

Of course, the shiny little stamp takes 24 hours to process, so unless I can sweet-talk the interviewing officer into speeding things up and returning my visa'd passport to me tomorrow, I'll be schlepping back up to Seattle on Friday to retrieve my little blue book.

Including the trip to the airport, that would make three trips to Seattle in as many days. For anyone who hasn't noticed the price of gas recently - it ain't cheap.
Here's hoping I can charm the folks at the Korean consulate...

I know that I have been woefully remiss in my blogging lately.
I would apologize, but it's my blog - I do what I want.
Also, I haven't seen you folk commenting recently, so... yeah.

There seems to be something about coming home that sucks the blogginess right out of me.
Call it catching up with family and friends.
Call it slow internet access.
Call it laziness.
Call it what you will.
But I can tell you right now, that new adventures breed blogginess.

Well, new adventures and comments.

So the new adventure are coming, now it's up to you, citizens of Townsville! Comment away and watch the blogs of new adventures pour in like...
like...
blogs...

Errr... right...

Onward!!

Jerk face

I can't believe how close I am to leaving. I'm so excited for the future, but I'm also starting to pay more attention to all of things I'll miss. And by "things," I mostly mean "people." I have just one Sunday left at Liquid. I'm going to miss my church and my church family the most.

I'm not a big fan of Jersey. It won't be hard to say goodbye to the bad drivers, traffic, bad drivers, ridiculous highways which redefine the purpose of a U-turn, and bad drivers.* In case my opinion of New Jersey drivers isn't clear, check out this blog.

But I have some great friends out here and I will miss them a lot.

I know I'm going to miss the family that I work for, too. But it's still work. So for now, I'm just excited to be done with it.

And then sometimes I feel guilty for being ecstatic that I only have 9 days of work left.

Nikki made this for me at school today in "Writer's Workshop."

When she first found out that I was leaving, she seemed to handle it really well.

I was quite surprised, and thought that maybe she wasn't as attached to me as I thought she was. It was a relief, though, to think that she wouldn't really be that upset to see me go and she was adapting to the fact that she would have a new nanny.

I think it had more to do with her grasp of time and how soon I would be leaving.

I read this today and felt like I'd been punched in the gut. I'm a big jerk.


*I always thought that U-turns were maneuvers utilized by drivers who have discovered that they are going the wrong way. Not so in New Jersey - on some highways, one can only get to most businesses if they are heading in the right direction - thus necessitating U-turns.

Fasten your safety belts!

I love change. I love adventure and discovery and learning new things. I love moving.

Almost two months ago, I made the decision to move to South Korea for a year to teach English. But while I've spent some time researching, planning, and making arrangements, most of my energy has been devoted to gritting my teeth and making it through another day at work.

I've finally made it out of that stage of my journey and I am SO EXCITED!!! The coming months are going to be great! I feel like I've been waiting in a really long line at a rollercoaster, but now I'm getting on.

Based on my own past experiences, tentative plans, and a little help from some expat resources - this is my outline of the stages of my journey:

Stage 1:The Gritting-My-Teeth-and-Counting-the-Days Stage

This was the first stage. It's pretty much self-explantory. And over. Yay! I can tell that it's over because I'm pretty much in a constant state of excitement for my upcoming adventure. Even on bad days, I don't have to give myself a pep talk and remind myself that I'm leaving soon. My departure day is so close, that I just shrug my shoulders and go back to reading about Korea.

Stage 2:The Packing-Up-and-Making-Preparations Stage

November 17-December 14: My last 4 weeks.

Practically speaking, my main focus for the next month will be making sure I have everything packed up and all necessary plans in place. I have already gone through a lot of my stuff, throwing things away and organizing. Over the next two weeks, I hope to have most of it packed up.* I have an interview this week with the recruiters who will help me find a job in Korea. I'm reading books about Korea and books about moving overseas. I'm going to start studying Korean.

Mentally and emotionally speaking: I'M EXCITED! This month will go so fast, I just have to hang on! It will definitely be stressful at times - but still EXCITING!

Stage 3:The Visiting-DC Stage

December 14-18

FUN TIMES!

Stage 4:The Home-for-the-Holidays Stage

December 18-January 1

This stage will mainly consist of sleeping, hanging out with the fam, hanging out with friends, playing canasta, watching movies, cooking, baking, and all things fun.

Stage 5:The Back-in-NJ Stage

January 1-14

This stage may not occur, in which case, Stage 6 will just start 2 weeks earlier. Hopefully I will know for soon in the next week.

I may be coming back to work for a week and a half to train the next nanny. If I do, I will be staying with a friend for a few days to hang out after I'm done.

Stage 6:The Yes-I'm-Really-Moving-to-South-Korea Stage

January 14-February 15ish

This is me packing up, finalizing plans, getting plane tickets, and going!

Stage 7:The Hello-Korea! Stage

February 15ish-April 15ish

My first weeks in Korea will be full of excitement and wonder as I discover many new things and adjust to everyday life. I'll find certain foods and customs about Korea that I really like. I'll make some friends and find a church.

Stage 8:Culture Shock

I'm guessing this will hit around mid-April. Not sure how long it will last. I'll probably be tempted to hole myself up in my apartment and do nothing. I'll be homesick. I may ask myself and others why in the world I ever decided to come to Korea. I may question my sanity and accuse myself of being masochistic. It won't be fun, but I'll live through it.

Stage 9:The I-Live-in-Korea Stage

After successfully dealing with culture shock, I'll get back to life. I'll do more exploring, learn more Korean, make more friends, and more of a good time will be had. Not sure what will happen after this.

So you can see that the next 5 months or so are going to be chock full of adventure and excitement. Yay! I'm in a state of euphoria right now :) And I'm going to see Dane Cook at Madison Square Garden tonight!**

*To be completely honest, this goes against my nature and really isn't very likely. But I'm optimistic anyway!
**Hmmm..I forgot to insert the Madison Square Garden Stage...

I Am a Rockstar Chapter 1: In which nothing is said about being a rockstar

K, here's my exciting news:

I quit my job.

However, in my line of work, "giving notice" does not mean two weeks. More like eight. But because my boss was worried that she couldn't get someone to start right before the holidays and I'm such a nice person (no comments from the peanut gallery, please), I gave 11-1/2 weeks notice.

I can sense you doing rapid mathematical calculations in your head and realizing that this means it took me 2-1/2 weeks to share my news with you, my faithful readers.

But don't look at it that way - I'm letting you know nine weeks in advance! Wow! Don't you feel privileged?!...

Technically, though, I have more than 9 weeks left. In 9 weeks, I start my Christmas vacation. I'll have 2-1/2 weeks off, then I come back for 1-1/2 weeks to train the next person. But I'm calling it 9 weeks for a few reasons:

1. Nine weeks is easier to digest than thirteen weeks*, or in a word - sanity.

2. I'll only be working eight days in January. Following a 2-1/2 week vacation and preceding...the end of my job...it will go quickly and should be easy.

3. I'm moving home at Christmas; so I'll be packing a bag to come back out here in January. This lends to the notion that I'm really quitting in December. Rather than taking a trip home for Christmas before coming back to work, I'll be moving home for Christmas and taking a trip back out here for work. See the difference?

One of my weeks at Christmas is unpaid time off, but the rest is vacation. So I'll be paid for my last 3 weeks here, but only working half of it. Cool, right? I think so.

Then I'm back in the good old Northwest for a month. I'm not going to work, either. For a whole month. I'm pretty excited about it. But I hope I don't go crazy. I don't think I will. I should have plenty to keep me busy. Between catching up with friends and family, getting rid of as much of my stuff as I can part with (it's tough to be a nomad and a packrat at the same time - not practical), and preparing to move to South Korea, I shouldn't get bored.

That's right, I said I'm moving to South Korea. Seoul, to be specific. I'm hoping to go in mid-February, right after the Lunar New Year. This has led to all kinds of ideas for a new blog name. Here are my favorites:

"Life through my eyes: your window into Seoul"

"For those about to ROK,** we Seoul-ute you."

Too cheesy? Any other ideas?

I'm sure that some of you are wondering what happened to my dreams of becoming a US diplomat. Oh, they're still firmly in place. But they're also still dreams and I have to have a backup plan. To be honest, I'm not very optimistic about the exam I took last month. I'll find out how I did sometime over the next few weeks, but I'm not holding my breath (mostly because that would be stupid - holding one's breath for a few weeks could not end well).

However, if I do pass, I will be invited to take the oral assessment. I could take that in DC in December and I would find out at the end of the day how I did.

Were I to pass the written exam and pass the oral assessment with a high score, there would be a good chance of getting hired within the next few months. In this case, I would not go to Korea. In any other case, it is off to Korea for me!

If anybody*** wants to come with me, let me know soon and we can probably be roommates and get jobs at the same school! All that is required is that you have a passport from an English-speaking country, a Bachelor's Degree in any major, and the ability/willingness to commit to a year.

Stay tuned for Chapter 2, in which I reveal details of my secret life as a rockstar.

*If you recognize that I actually have 13 weeks left, that means I gave 15-1/2 weeks notice! Wow! I'm a really nice person!

**ROK = Republic of Korea aka South Korea. All the cool kids use this abbreviation. Admittedly, the phrase doesn't make sense if you understand what ROK means, but I still think it's mildly clever...

***By "anybody," I don't really mean anybody. For example, if you randomly stumbled onto this blog and we've never met, this doesn't include you. Sorry.

Moving

Here I go, moving again. Has it really been just 4 months since my last move? I seem to remember commenting then that I was sick and tired of moving. It’s not necessarily the physical act of packing up and moving to a new place that gets to me (although that does play a part), it’s more the emotional uprooting and necessity of reestablishing oneself in a new place and building new friendships. What was wrong with the old friendships? Why must I get new ones?

The whole moving process is stressful. Although, I will say I am getting much better at it. I have a tendency to overestimate my time and abilities and wind up stressing myself out much more than is necessary. This time around, however, I took 4 days off before my move. A new record. This is not to say that I haven’t been under stress, though. While I’m not very good about mentally acknowledging or dealing with stress, my body forces me to recognize it. It’s a bit funny, really, I’ve discovered that when I get stressed out, my eyes twitch. I picked up on this last spring when I was writing my senior thesis. My eyes twitched so often, I was beginning to wonder if something was seriously wrong with them.

It seems to me that the most obvious way of dealing with stress is to relax. Makes sense, right? For instance, someone in my situation might try to get a lot of packing done, then get a lot of rest. That way, they are neither stressing because they have a lot left to do nor because they haven’t had a chance to rest.

But that’s not me. My eye was twitching like nobody’s business last night. So I opted to get a lot of packing done, and then bake a couple of loaves of apple bread. My dad gave me a big sack of apples* (in hopes that they would be returned in some other form - apple pie, for example) that one of his clients had given him. But I only used about 4 apples for the bread. So tonight I made an apple cheesecake, and an apple honey bundt cake. I realize that this may seem like an odd thing to do in the midst of a move. However, my eye hasn’t twitched at all today - so it must be working. I’ve got just about everything packed up, so I’ll probably bake some apple pie or an apple crisp tomorrow - I’ve still got half a bag of apples left.

I suppose the good thing here is that I know I’ll be in one place for at least a year and a half. I’ve moved about 4 times in the last year and a half - so this is definitely an improvement. But it’s nearly 4 in the morning right now, so I’m going to end this blog without actually closing it. I’m 26 years old - nobody tells me what to do. What?

* There ain’t nothing like Washington Apples

The Bi-monthly Update

Hey folks. I'm back. Yes, I know, it has been nearly 2 months since my last post. I was going to apologize, but then I glanced at my last 5 posts and took note that there is nary a comment. So I owe you nothing. Ha. Didn't see that one coming, did you?

But out of the goodness of my heart, I'm going to post anyway. My last post was just one week prior to moving back down to C-town. I moved in with Julianna for a month, which was Fun Times. However, she does not have wireless internet (gasp!), so I was forced to utilize a dinosaur that lives in her house which she passes off as a computer. Add sporadic connectivity to the above-mentioned dinosaur, and you have a recipe for blog famine.

By mid-July, Julianna needed the extra bedroom back, so I moved to a cozy nook underneath an overpass. Well, that was the plan, anyway. But then I found out that my dear friend Hannah was moving into a little 2-bedroom house and she didn't have a roommate. So I moved in with her. This has also been Fun Times. Although we don't see each other nearly enough due to our busy schedules, it's fun to have her as a roommate. However, we do not have internet access (double gasp!), so I rarely even check my email, let alone blog.

So those are my excuses for not blogging, what are your excuses for not commenting?

Right now, I am neither at Julianna's house, nor at Hannah's house, nor at that lovely spot under the overpass. I am in North Jersey (not to be confused with South Jersey - two different worlds, people).

I got here yesterday and I'll be here for a couple of weeks working as a nanny/household manager while the current one is on a trip to Europe. If everything goes well (and I believe it will), I will be moving back here in late October/early November.

So that's basically what has been going on in my life for the last couple of months. I'll probably be blogging more over the next couple of weeks.

*Hint* If you want to hear more from me - feedback helps :)

I don't feel like coming up with a title today - deal with it.

The past week has definitely been interesting, if nothing else. Saturday I moved up to Renton with the help of my family and a couple of friends. After we had everything unloaded, we got some dinner and then everyone but Jessica and I headed home. Our cousin Jennifer, who lives in California, was in the area for a conference and we were planning on getting together. So Jess and I had about half an hour to get ready before we left. Needless to say, nothing was really unpacked. Well, Jen was in Everett. I knew that was north of Seattle, but I didn't realize how far north it was. Renton is just south of Seattle and it ended up taking us 40 minutes to drive to where the conference was. Ugh. We finally got there, though, and it was really fun to see Jen again. She and her husband were leading worship at the conference, so I got to hold their 3-month-old daughter during the whole service. Yay! After the service was over, Jess and I went to a Denny's nearby with Jen, her husband, their baby, and their band. We hung out there for a little over an hour, then we had to leave to go pick Laura up at the airport. Her plane had been delayed, so she was supposed to be getting in around midnight. The original plan was for us to stay at my place that night and drive to Centralia in the morning. However, since we didn't have time to settle in at all, and I had forgotten a few key items (a shower curtain, for one), we decided it would be better to drive back that night. So after picking up Laura, we went back to my place to grab our stuff, and headed for Centralia. We got there around 2 am. So lots of sleep was had by all. Not.

After church on Sunday, I rushed home to throw my things into the Jeep (I'm driving my brother's Jeep right now) and head to Seattle. I had an interview at Starbucks at 3 and I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get up there. It was a good thing I did, too. There was a surprising amount of traffic for a Sunday, especially going through Tacoma - it took me about 20 minutes to go 3 miles. Yuck. Unfortunately, the A/C in Jonny's Jeep needs recharged, i.e. it doesn't work. As it was a hot day, the almost-2-hr-ride was therefore Not Fun Times. I got to Starbucks at about 2:45. They gave me a free drink, the interview went well, and I was asked to come back for a second interview on Tuesday. My mom came up later that afternoon with a bunch of stuff that I greatly needed (the aforementioned shower curtain). Then we bought some groceries and came back and watched a movie. She stayed the night with me then left the next morning. Tuesday morning I went in for my interview and got the job! Then I had cable and internet installed that afternoon. The rest of the week has been extremely uneventful. One might even say boring. Yes, that seems to be the appropriate term, boring. I can't wait to start working. Then I will at least have people to talk to. During the last few days, I don't think I've spent more than 10-15 min per day talking to another human being. It's such a weird feeling. I did start talking to myself yesterday, though. That didn't take long. I go in tonight to fill out my new hire paperwork, then I start work tomorrow. And not a moment too soon. You know those people you sometimes see talking to themselves? The ones who sound like they're having a conversation with someone, but as you look around to see who it is, you realize there isn't anyone? Yeah, I know who you mean. I saw one at the mall yesterday. Really? What a coincidence.

All I can say is, "Wow."

God is amazing. I know that and have known that for a long time now, but I still never cease to be amazed at the things He does in my life. I think it has to do with the fact that although I know God loves me personally, it overwhelms me to think of the things He does specifically for me. God overwhelmed me yesterday. Halfway through the day, I found myself saying over and over again, "I can't believe it. I'm so happy." I couldn't stop smiling. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I'll start from the beginning...

Last week, my friend Laura asked me if I could take her to Sea-Tac airport on the 9th (yesterday). As I don't have a job right now, I told her that shouldn't be a problem. Thinking about it later, I decided it would be a great opportunity for me to look at apartments and apply for jobs in Seattle. My attempts to find a summer job in C-town had been unsuccessful and I was beginning to feel like it was time for me to move up to Seattle anyway, so I figured I should take advantage of the fact that I was going to be in Seattle. Once I decided on that, I realized that I would also need to pick a date to move up there. Any companies to which I applied would doubtless want to know when I would be available to start work; also, if I found an apartment, I would need to tell them when I would be moving in. Not only that, but if I was applying for jobs, I would (hopefully)be called in for interviews. So I thought, "Why wait? I might as well move up on the 13th and set my availability date as the 15th." However, that would mean that I only had one week to get a car, an apartment, and a job.

I spent quite a bit of time looking at ads for apartments and jobs. In the end, I chose 10 apartments to look at and 8 jobs to apply for. I printed off directions to everything as well as 10 copies of my resume, and left with Laura and Julianna at around 6:30 am yesterday (stopping at Starbucks on the way to the freeway, of course). Shortly after 8, we dropped Laura off at the airport and headed for the first apartment on my list. When I was researching apartments, this one had caught my eye. From the pictures, it looked like it was a really nice, really big apartment. It was a 2-bedroom, but it was only $700. The 1-bedrooms I was looking at were $550-650 per month, so I thought that if I could get a 2 bedroom for a little more, it would be worth it. Then I'd have an extra room if Jess decided to move up there, or I could find a roommate and split the rent. Anyway, I called the day before and the guy I spoke with told me that they probably wouldn't have an apartment available until the 22nd at the earliest - annoying. But I was still hopeful, so we went to this place first. It's beautiful, not to mention really big. It's 1,150 square feet! The apartment complex also offers free parking, an olympic-size swimming pool, a fitness center, and pool tables with equipment. Not bad, huh? We found out that to move in, they only require first month's rent (prorated) and a deposit (which is significantly less than one month's rent). Not only that, but they are currently running a special - $400 off the first month's rent. In the words of Ricky Gervais (or David Brent, whichever you prefer) - that's mental!

After the leasing agent gave us a tour of the apartment and the apartment complex (she took us around in a golf cart - fun times), she asked me if I was interested. I told her I was, and if they could have the apartment ready by the 15th, I would be very interested. So, she said she would see what they could do and let me know. On the way back to the office, I asked her how much they rented the 1-bedrooms for. If they were much cheaper, I could always move into one of them and then move to a 2-bedroom later if Jess moved up. She told me they were $650 per month, but if I wanted a 2-bedroom, she could rent one to me for $650! Obviously, I didn't have a problem with that. When we got back to the office, she gave me a leasing application to fill out. While I filled it out, she spoke with one of her coworkers. Then when I gave her the completed application, she told me that they could have the apartment ready by the 15th. I was ecstatic. I did my best to maintain my composure while she took care of some paperwork. She told me that she would let me know in the next day or two if my application had been accepted or if they needed more information. I didn't even bother to look at any other apartments. I was sure I had found the right one.

As we drove away, we decided that it would be a good idea to drop off some resumes at some local businesses. It would be nice to have a job near my apartment. There was a shooping center about 5 minutes from the apartment complex, so we drove into the parking lot. Julianna saw a Seattle's Best Coffee and suggested I apply there. I declined, telling her that I'd feel a bit like a hypocrite since I go to Starbucks several times a week and firmly believe that it is Seattle's best coffee. Then we spotted a gym and thought that would be a good place to start since I have relevant experience. As I was sitting in the reception area filling out an application, however, I could feel guys looking at me and I remembered what it was like working at a gym. A free membership would be nice, but I decided that the place wasn't at the top of my list of places I'd like to work. After I went back to the car, we started driving around the parking lot to see what other businesses were located there. Lo and behold, Julianna noticed a Starbucks! Coincidence? I didn't think so. I had been considering applying at a Starbucks somewhere in Seattle, and just that morning Laura had encouraged me to do so, saying that the benefits were great and it was a good job to have. Excitedly, I grabbed one of my resumes and quickly headed into Starbucks. I asked one of the employees if they were hiring. He replied that he wasn't sure, but I was welcome to fill out an application. So I sat down and filled one out. When I handed in my application and resume to the manager a few moments later, he asked me if I could come in for an interview at 3:00 on Sunday. Seriously. I'm not kidding. Trust me, I was a lot more shocked than you are. He hadn't even looked at my application! I agreed, of course, and in a daze, I groped my way to the door and managed to find the right car in the parking lot. There I tried to relay my tale to my sister, but I mostly just grinned.

Oh, I forgot to mention the car. My mom told me last week about a website that was advertising a '99 VW Jetta (that's a VW Bora to the Brits) for just under $5,000. Blue book price is around $9,000. I called and found out that it was a theft recovery with some vandalism done to it. The seller is having Volkswagen build him a new motor for the car; he's also replacing the interior and painting it. It will be done in 3 to 4 weeks. I spoke with him Monday night and I'm going to buy it! In the meantime, I'm going to drive my brother's Jeep (which will help sell it, since I'll be in the Seattle area - I may even be able to get him a better price than what he was asking). If I end up selling it before my car is ready, I can probably just walk everywhere. I don't think it's more than a mile from my apartment to Starbucks, so there you have it!

It may seem like I'm jumping the gun a bit. After all, I haven't been approved for the apartment yet. Not to mention the fact that I haven't been interviewed at Starbucks yet, let alone hired! That doesn't matter to me, though. The moment my sister said that she saw a Starbucks, I had a feeling that was the place I would get a job. Then when I was asked on the spot to return for an interview, it only confirmed it for me. I felt the same way about the apartment. I thought it might be difficult to do all three things in a week, but essentially, God made it happen in 2days. So now I guess I just need to pack, because I'm moving on Saturday!

It's good to be home

Well, maybe I should say it's good to be at my sister's home. While I was in Spain last year, my parent's cleverly seized the opportunity to sell our family home, so I don't actually have a home right now. Much to my relief, my sister has taken me in. I don't really know how long she'll put up with me before I'm back on the streets, but for now I'll just enjoy having a bed to sleep in and not think about the inevitable.

My plane flew in to Seattle night before last at about midnight. So by the time I got to my sister's place, it had been 25 1/2 hours since I left my brother's place in Spain. That may seem like a long time to be traveling, but my bags had it even worse. They just got in about half an hour ago.

I love traveling. There's nothing like that thrill of excitement that you get when you first enter a new country. It's strange, but I forget about that rush until I'm actually entering the country. Then it just kind of hits me. This past month was the first time I had ever been to Morocco or Ireland, and in Morocco I had the added thrill of being in a new continent. I think I'm addicted to travel. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to go anywhere right now. I'm perfectly content to be back in C-town relaxing and getting some rest (oddly enough, though, I've only slept a total of about 10 hours in the last two nights- go figure). However, I know that in a couple of months, all I'll be thinking about is that next hit..er..trip. While I was coming home, I had a layover at JFK in New York. At the airport I popped into a Starbucks to get my usual Iced Caramel Machiatto and a pamphlet caught my eye. It was about some contest that Starbucks was running where the winners get a free trip to the country of their choosing which has a Starbucks in it. The brochure was old; the contest ended a few years ago. I looked over the list of countries, though, and I started getting excited thinking of all of the places on the list that I wanted to visit. I definitely have an addiction. I'm planning on going to England over spring break, but that's not for another 8 months or so. I could be a wreck by then. I'm hoping to get a car in the next few weeks, though. If I get it off of Ebay, it will probably involve flying somewhere and driving it home. Maybe that will help stave off the cravings. Oh well, for now maybe I'll just go unpack my bags. After wearing the same clothes for the last month and a half, I'm pretty excited to rediscover my clothing.

A bit of seriosity for a change

Wasn't quite sure how to spell seriosity, as I just invented the word. I'm pretty sure I'm going to start using it, though. Seriousness just has too many s's in it- unless, of course, you're a snake. Cobra- feel free to use the word. I did imply that this was going to be a serious blog, though, didn't I? Back to that, then.

Oh, how the time does fly. It's hard to believe that I have now been living in Madrid for nearly 7 months. And I don't want to move back to the States. I'd like to go back for the summer to visit, but then return to Madrid in the fall. Unless something drastic happens, though, this is not going to happen. (Raul- that's a subtle hint for you: Go ahead and propose already) I have one year left at the UW, and I don't think I would be able to graduate next spring if I came back here in the fall. That's okay, though. I like Seattle, too. Once I get over the reverse culture shock, I'm sure I'll be glad to be back.

So, I have just over a month left in Madrid and over two months before I return to the States. I know it's going to go by ridiculously fast. Especially because of how busy I'm going to be: This weekend (April 21-23) I go to Granada. Next weekend (April 28) I go to Berlin, then to London (May 4) to meet my family. We'll all be there together for 2 days, then they come back with me to Madrid (May 6) and they're here until the 11th. The following weekend my roomate moves out and it is my last free weekend before finals. I was thinking about going to St. Petersburg, Russia that weekend, but that might have been the last straw in the coffin..er..the nail that broke the camel's back? Then I have 2 weeks of finals (May 20-30...yuck). At some point in the two days after my last final is over, I move out of my flat. On June 1st I go on a hike called the Camino de Santiago. It is a pilgrimage to the city of Santiago de Compostela, which is believed to be the burial place of James the apostle. For more information, click on the link above. The section of the hike that I will be doing covers a total of 170 miles. After which, I come back to Madrid for 3 days (May 13-15), go to the farewell dinner for my study abroad program, and get a little rest before going to Morocco for about 12 days. I'll return to Madrid on or around the 28th and head back to the States. However, on the way back, I may or may not be stopping in Munich to visit Hannah and I may or may not be stopping in New Jersey to visit Christin and my other friends out there. Right, so, that should keep me busy.

When I get back to the States I get to figure out where I'm going to live for the summer- Centralia or Seattle (not to mention with my parents or my sister). At some point during the summer I need to find a place to live in Seattle, get a job, and buy a car, not necessarily in that order. Hang on, I'll also need to take care of the bureaucracy end of studying abroad (getting all of my credits transferred and such) and register for classes for autumn quarter. So, yes. I am looking at the months ahead with a little bit of trepidation. I'm going to be going on a Transition Rampage.

I'm not really worried, though. Mildly apprehensive, maybe, but not worried. I know that God will take care of me; He always does.