Lots to say...I think

It's been quite a while, sorry. The past 3-4 months I've been terrible at communicating with you guys. There are still two emails in my inbox from late Dec/early Jan.... I've just been in a funky mood. Well, today I woke up at noon (sorta early for me), felt great, and decided to update and post pics.

First, I went to the 63 building. It's Korea's tallest building. It was built in 1985, and at that time was the largest building outside of North America. It was built for the 1988 Summer Olympics. It has an aquarium, over 90 stores, numerous restaurants (including a European bistro on the 59th floor), wax museum, Imax Theater, etc. Here're the pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/jmphry/63Building#.

The ski trip to the east coast got cancelled. Instead, I went to a nearby one by myself. It took like 2 hours to get there because of bus transfers and traffic, but I only snowboarded for a couple of hours anyway cuz I suck much worse than I used to. The place I went to had only a handful of runs and is generally regarded with derision by my friends, but I don't care cuz it's close, and I suck. Anyway, here're pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/jmphry/YangjiPineResort#.

I went to China during the first week of February to see John and Lindsey. It was crazy fun getting to see them again, and making a new friend, Erin. We went to a couple of parks, a zoo, ate at a lot of different restaurants, painted the town red (but then we remembered that's the commie color, so then we painted it white and blue), watched a few movies, tasted some tea, bought lots of tea, etc, etc, etc. One of those "etcs" is me leaving a chunk of toe flesh in an escalator. Pretty gruesome, but I'll never run up a down escalator in sandals again. When I got back to Korea, people asked me if I went to a doctor in China, and I just laughed. I wanted to keep my toe, not have it infected and later amputated. Here're the pics (not of the toe, of a park, zoo, and temple): http://picasaweb.google.com/jmphry/ParkTempleAndZoo#.

I got new prescriptions in my glasses, so my eyesight is fine now. I didn't remember this, but Grace told me that when I first went back in August, they said that my eyesight had gotten a tiny bit worse, but that eyedrops would probably help it and cost less. All I remember is them saying to use eyedrops. The eye doctor was amazingly cheap and efficient. First, let me tell you that there is one on every second corner, I swear. I walked into one, told them my problem, they administered an eye test, examined my glasses, then made me new lenses to fit into my current frames, all in less than an hour-and-a-half and for less than $70. I feel like a freaking hawk now. To quote Brian Regan, "I just had my prescription changed over 6 years. You ever wait that long? Then you get new lenses and you're like, 'Man, I coulda been seeing things." How could instantly improved vision not be on the top of your to-do list. 'Ehhh, I'll see tomorrow.'"

I've only got 5 more days of teaching left! I'm excited about not working. People've asked me if I'm excited about going home, and I guess it just hasn't hit me. It will when I'm on the plane, but right now all I'm thinking about it packing, selling crap, moving to Grace's house, vacation, then packing again and traveling for 25 hours....

For those of you who don't know, my plans are the following: finish work on Friday the 26th. Move to Grace's house on Saturday. Hang out with her and a few friends all week, doing touristy stuff. Fly out on Saturday morning at 10:30 local time. Get to Tokyo at 12:25 local time, 7 hour layover, then arrive at DFW at 3:35pm local time. 3 hour layover, then arrive in Charleston at 9:45pm local time. Because of the time change, all this happens on Saturday, March 6th. I will take off at 10:30am and land at 9:45pm, but it will take 25 hours. I will live in Charleston at Nick's house for the week, then move to Myrtle Beach for a few months or maybe through the summer. The timing will be difficult on that because I need a job, and I want to ultimately live in Charleston, so I can't wait until after the summer to get a job in Charleston.

I guess I did have a lot to say. I'd like to say I'll update this regularly again, but with my current track record I really don't have much faith in that statement. I've also been wondering what to do with this blog when I get back, since the name of it is, after all, "Jason in Seoul."