I usually go back through my calendar and look at the different weekend's events that I have marked down and that jogs my memory so that I can tell you about what has happened (this also sometimes works for during the week, but as the weeks seem to see less action, there is less to tell because of this fact and because I often don't mark the events down on my calendar during the weekdays for some reason that is completely unknown to me), but this time I went to do this and I am drawing a blank...so, there will be days and even weeks that are unaccounted for, but I assure you, I was still in Korea. I was not in jail. And I was more happy than not. These things I am sure of! The other thing I am sure of is that I am sick, yet again (I have been sick more times since arriving in Korea than I have been in my entire adult life, I think. Damn you, you little disease carrying monkeys! Damn you all to hell!) as I am writing this, so forgive me for any randomness or nonsensical business that may spill out from my Niquil medicated fingertips.
From mid November where I left off, I will skip to Thanksgiving. It was an uneventful week and an even more unremarkable Thanksgiving day. I spent the day working and then ate dinner at home with Steve. We had ramen noodles. Halfway through the bowl I looked at him and said "happy Thanksgiving" to which he sort of snorted and said, "yeah, (ha) happy Thanksgiving huh?" It was the least traditional Thanksgiving of mine to date (and I thought last year's was going to be tough to beat what with spending it in Florida eating Mediterranean food with an Israeli, a Finish girl, an Aussie, and a Belgian!) but at least it was with another American! But I will say that I find something almost every day to be thankful for, so my thanksgiving is year round, and that was something on Thanksgiving day that I took the time to note and be extra thankful for. That and friends. Family. Food from home (even if I couldn't have any this year). And many of the other things that being in Korea has made me appreciate even more.
Black Friday was spent working then after work I headed to Seoul to see some friends. Unfortunately I got sick Saturday evening, so it kind of limited the amount of fun had by all involved. But overall it was a nice visit and it was really nice to be back in the good company of some very dear friends. However, it should not go unmentioned that while in Seoul for this visit, I tried nakchi (still-moving octopus!) for the first time. It was...ok. Not my favorite. Better than the gaybul (the cockfish for stamina) that I ate the last time I was in Seoul seeing these friends.
The last week of November flew by (as is usually the case) and ran right into the front end of my week's vacation to the Philippines! We left Friday evening for Busan and arrived late Friday night in Manila Philippines. We stayed in Manila Saturday and Sunday then began making our way south Sunday evening. I was surprised at how much English everyone there spoke (even the very poor/seemingly uneducated people) and forgot how nice it was to be able to easily converse with someone again. A nice change from Korea. What was not so nice was the extremely high level of poverty (especially compared to Korea and it's VERY low poverty level) and thereby the high level of greed present. People expected us to pay them for giving us simple directions or they would try to "help" us put our bags in the taxi trunk just to try to get money. It was ridiculous! Also, there was a complete lack of what the hell was going on from one person to the next! For instance, we ask the person at our hotel about ferries from one place to another and they assured us it was possible. Then we asked someone else and they said it was not available to the destination we wanted to go. Then we asked someone else and they said "there are no ferries running from here at all, ever." Then when we finally got to where we wanted to go, they told us we could have just taken a ferry from where we had been to get there! It was so confusing and so frustrating. It wouldn't have been a problem except that I only had a week there, so I didn't have time to be jerked around like that! But, in the end, I got to do what I wanted to on my vacation which was go diving. It was really nice to be back under the water again and to see all the fishies and sea life. I also got to just chill out and not have to be around children, coworkers, or Koreans/be in Korea for a few days and all of those things were damn fine by me!
I came back from the Philippines with a new attitude, outlook, and "plan". Not all of these were positive though. The attitude and outlook definitely weren't, unfortunately, but I think the plan is. And I am working at adjusting the attitude and the outlook is making a shift in the right direction too.
The plan is to budget, budget, budget from here on out! I have been far to slack with my accountability with my spending and it is showing in my savings, and this just will not do! So, I am putting myself on a very strict allowance each week to try to get my savings heading in the right direction. I am also making some other positive changes when it comes to my running and my eating habits. There's no time like the present to start on those "new year's resolutions"! With this said, it is safe to assume that future posts will be less than exciting as a low budget offers up less action packed weekends and fun filled events (usually) but that doesn't mean I won't still find some kind of fun (or trouble) to write home about, don't you worry.
I can say with certainty that I am very much nearing my limit of patience with a stationary lifestyle as it has now been nearly 9 months to the day of my arrival in Korea, and I haven't made it beyond 3 months in one place in the year proceeding this. But I also know that picking up and moving on is not the best thing for me (or my finances) at this time. So I will hang tight, refocus, find new joy or even just the original joy of being here, and finish up my time here on a positive note!
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