4 weeks to go

With 4 weeks to go, and with my departure date being in the same month as the current date, things are feeling more real. You're probably thinking "yeah, whatever, you've been there before, so why are you so excited?". Sure, I am going back to Korea. There will be things that are the same in Korea no matter where you go. But it's the things that are different that I'm looking forward to.

I've been away from Korea for about 9 months, so my Korean skill will be a bit rusty. Also, since I'll be living in a different place, the Korean spoken will be in a different accent. I'm sure that there will be situations where I'll have to tell people that I've lived in another province before, so when I speak/use Korean, it might be a bit different.

I'll be in a different city/town, with a different job. So, different people, different things to get used to, a different group of kids, and a different group of people that I'll see every day, both at work, and both outside of work. I plan on re-starting my Geomdo classes a few weeks after I get there. I'll have to take a weekend trip to Jeongeup and Jangseong to collect my old swords, and to meet up with my previous hagwon boss, students and previous geomdo teacher - a kind of end of chapter event, to start a new.

My latest challenge is to be able to put my life into a 20kg suitcase, with 5kg of carry on stuff (My 17" Macbook Pro weighs 2.8Kg!). I'm going to have to send one package over, either just before I go, or get a family member to send it just after I leave. The main culprits of weight are my geomdo uniforms and Korean text books. I'll also set up another box to be delivered later, with some winter clothes. I'll have enough to survive the end of summer, and the autumn. I can also make a trip to Itaewon to get some clothes after I arrive. I just need to take enough to survive for 2 months.

I was sick with a bad cold for a few days in the last week. I was expecting a lot of schools to call then, since I was sick, asking me to work that day or the next. But, no calls. This week (Week 4 of this term) will be the first week out of four when I haven't had any days pre-booked. This means I'll have to wake up at roughly 6:30am, and man the phones, just incase someone calls me for work. With being sick last week, I've decided that I won't work in my last week in Australia. The last thing I want, is to have a cold when I'm travelling, mainly for the fact that people will think it's swine flu, and get all super paranoid about it. If I can limit my contact to snotty nosed kids, the better my chances are of not getting sick. It also gives me a week to drink heaps of water and orange juice, if I do catch a cold in the second last week I'm in Australia.

The recruiters that I went through offer a pickup service from the airport to your school. I'll be arriving at Inchoen Airport just after 7am, Korean time, and by the time i get my suitcase and get through customs/immigration, It'll be 8am-ish. I've decided that I'll get one of the buses from Incheon Airport to Anseong, rather than get in a van with a stranger. I've seen too many scary movies and the news to just randomly get in a car. Stranger Danger and all that.

Also, I want to do it myself, to test myself. I want to see how bad my Korean has become, and also just to be stubborn and independent. I'd rather get a bus, and relax on that, and take it all in.

By this time, in exactly 4 weeks from now, I'll be on a plane heading towards to Malaysia, and the 2.5 hour stopover there, before I get the flight to Korea.