Wrapping Up and Signing Off

My last weekend in Korea was lovely...I had a sinus infection and a couple other little ailments, but I wanted to say goodbye to Angie and Mike so I made the journey to Busan anyway. We visited a temple on the coast, and then we went to Gwanali Beach and played around for a few hours. It was a really laid back weekend, and I got to hang out with some of my favorite Koreans as well. Mike's older brother Gareth was visiting from Wales and his Korean friends from Daegu were visiting so there was a big group of us mulling about enjoying the slower parts of Korean life...
Anyway, my last week was fairly busy with farewell outings and with wrapping things up so I could be ready to leave. Monday I went to the hospital to investigate my sinus infection (turns out one side of my face was full of stuff...not cool). Mac (my coworker) left the same day I did, so he had a going away party on Tuesday, my goodbye outing was Wednesday, Thursday was a night in to pack and such, and Friday was another night out. Angie, Mike, and Gareth came up to Daegu to say goodbye and to take me to the airport, so I didn't sleep before the big flight. I had a great last night; I enjoyed my last five pints of Hite and/or Cass, I learned how to play darts and discovered that I'm either decent or have spectacular beginner's luck, and I got to hang out with some really cool people. And I made it to the airport on time for my flight. I even had time for a cup of tea before I had to head through security.
I left from Daegu, headed up to Seoul, flew to Tokyo, then it was the long haul to Washington, D.C., and from there I had one last flight to Portland where my parents and best friend picked me up. I actually didn't mind the small flights; it's the 15 hour flight from Tokyo to DC that's killer. And somehow I ended up between two people again. Awesome.
It's nice to be home, but there are definitely things I miss about Korea. So far jet lag has not been kind to me. I'm exhausted within a couple hours of waking up, and 7pm is starting to seem like an acceptable bedtime. It's all I can do just to sort through the mail on my desk. And apparently it makes me ridiculously emotional. I cried at dinner for no apparent reason on Sunday. Crazy. Anyway, I've already begun my job search here in Maine, but if prospects are looking dismal at the end of the summer I may consider heading back to Korea. I was actually starting to love it by the time I had to go. Who knows what the future holds? But for now, I'm happy to be home :)