… does not exactly describe me at the moment. I have a bag of papers on my desk at work to go through, and all my clothes are loose. My kitchen stuff is not packed, I am to clean the fridge (and the floor near the washing machine) and take apart my desk for transport to Jeonju.
On Friday, I’ll move my stuff over, come back for one last night in Iksan, and then I move to Jeonju for real. In Jeonju, I’ll need to buy a yoh, a kind of floor-quilt for sleeping on (because I use that rather than beds) and a washing machine and various kitchen things, like a rice cooker and pots and plates and so on.
My last week in Iksan has been a welter of activities. Meeting people for dinners and lunches and coffees so we can say goodbye. My Korean teacher, Min Jung, presented me with a glass pig jar stuffed with over 600 origami paper cranes… she said she wanted to make a thousand, but the jar was too small and time constraints prevented her. A thousand cranes is supposed to be a symbol (or invocation) of good luck. I told her, considering how lucky I’ve been so far, I probably don’t need the extra 400 cranes. It was a touching gift.
Last night I met with my class from last term, and then with some people from work. It was the last day of work for one of the office guys, so we drank and ended up… yes, you guessed it, at the Noraebang (the “singing room”, ie. a private Karaoke room). Today, I rose late, returned some phone calls, and then went to the park with my friend Kimberley, Ju Young, and Chong Sook. Tonight I am meeting Young Ja after her swimming class (which used to be our swimming class) and then I will
Tomorrow morning I will clean out my desk, turn in my keys, pack the rest of my stuff. Then in the afternoon I’ll have coffee with another friend from the language center (Kyu Jin), and in the evening dinner with a class of mine from last term. Friday, I’m moving the second and final load of my stuff over to Jeonju in the morning with the help of Kimberley, meeting with an old friend (Woo Jin) at night, and then later meeting with another old friend (Hadden) after that. Saturday I move to Jeonju. Sunday, in Jeonju, another meeting, probably in the afternoon, time permitting.
There’s a line in one of Myoung Jae’s songs that we perform in Dabang shows, Mars, that is running through my mind a lot these days:
Like a fire burning down,
Making friends and leaving town…
I can’t really mourn distance from a loved one in this move. I move alone, and unattached. I feel bonds, but not bound here. So it’s a good way to go. A little sorrow and loss, and a great deal of curiosity and some excitement and happiness about the change, slight as it may be. What actually will come to me, I can’t know, but it looks bright enough from here…
PS: Tons of photos in my camera, and on the old analogue film in the old analogue SLR camera I resorted to using when my digital’s battery died. Argh! Anyway, pics forthcoming.