the countdown begins

just got back from a week at cape cod. would have been more relaxing if i hadn't gotten a call from the korean consulate saying i was missing a form. and this would have been a little bit easier to fix if i had computer access at that time so i could download this form. so my family dropped me off at the eastham library, where i waited for almost two hours to use a computer, while my family went to enjoy the wonderful beach. to make things worse, after i downloaded the form there was a space at the top for a picture. not knowing whether or not this was necessary for my visa, i ended up going to a photo studio in orleans to get a "just in case" passport-sized photo. luckily this wasn't really out of the way because the post office was located in the same building.

long story short, jude's mom checked our mail daily and told me my package came in on friday afternoon (yesterday) and i was more than a little anxious to get home and make sure this was my visa and not some other "you've made a mistake" thing from the consulate. lo and behold, my visa was waiting for me! in addition, a family friend who works for a map company sent me tons of maps, both bookmark-sized and poster-sized of asia, south korea, and daejeon. now i'll be able to find my way back when i'm stumbling home from bars.

finally, i won't actually be leaving until august 4th, which gives me some more time to enjoy being home and make sure that everything is packed and ready to go. this also means that i'll probably get there on friday and i'll have the weekend to adjust a little bit, as opposed to being thrown right into teaching.

ah, the waiting for the visa process

so it's been a while, but there really isn't that much to update on. i just figured i should add another post. right now i'm waiting for my visa. hopefully it will come today, tomorrow, or saturday, otherwise i'm gonna have to have someone check the mail for me because i'm going to the cape as a last hurrah. it took longer than i thought it would to get all the paperwork in order, because once again, good ol' catholic university screwed it up. their slogan "do it all" is more like "do it all... wrong." i was waiting for a while for my transcripts, then i called to see what was taking so long. they told me it had been mailed out a while ago, i said i never got it and asked them to send another. two days later i received two transcripts, which makes me think they screwed up the first time.

still not sure exactly what time i'm leaving, i think the school just got my plane ticket. i'll have to ask. i've been really bad about working on my korean, hopefully i'll use my beach time wisely. then again, that's what the 5837394 hour plane ride is for.

apparently everyone and their mother is giving people my email address, because everyone i've talked to knows someone who is either teaching in korea or japan or is stationed in korea. but i'm not complaining because i'm sure it would be nice to talk to or meet up with these people.

go big or go home.