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On My Way, Part 2

Well, I was planning to post, “I’m Here,” as the follow-up to the last post, but now I find myself on my way again. I was in my apartment by 5:00pm and Lime dropped by with coffee, the angel, and after that we went around Bucheon for a while. At first I thought I wasn’t tired, but after we had a nice dinner, I found myself absolutely exhausted, so we got us some sleep.

This morning, when I woke up, I couldn’t bear to start unpacking. I had the yogourt I’d bought last night, and some orange juice, and just relaxed a little, watching a couple of episodes of Arrested Development, Season 2. Then I went to the main office and what do you know? I got some more of the information I’ll be needing for the semester, talked about when we’d be having the semester-start meeting within the department, and so on. And then, suddenly, EuiJung — the office assistant who’s been dealing with my visa situation and everything else related to me — got a phone call, and then an email, and now, yes, a full two weeks ahead of schedule, I am again on my way, this time to Fukuoka, Japan.

I’ll be there for 2 nights; this is purely because March 1st is a holiday in Korea, and Korean holidays are observed in the Korean embassy/consulates abroad (which is normal for all — or at least most — countries, by the way). But the fastest possible way is to go Tuesday morning, hand in my passport, and then find a cheap room — which my co-worker Leon says are gettable at the rate of about $40-50 a night in Fukuoka. Tuesday evening and Wednesday will be wandering, Thursday I’ll pick up my passport in the morning, if I can, and then hopefully I’ll be on my way back by Thursday midafternoon — I’m giving the Fukuoka Consulate some leeway in that, assuming that if the passport isn’t ready in the morning, that it will be by the early afternoon.

I’ll probably fly, since I’m assured it’s the easiest way and since I’m only a short distance from the international airport now. So I guess I should get a move-on. I think the easiest way to book a ticket is to go to the airport itself and book it — besides which, this will let me get a sense of how far off it is by train, since I’ll be making the trip tomorrow morning again.

This is a big big big relief, as it means I can start teaching after missing only a day, or perhaps even only a half-day, of the semester which is beginning on Thursday, March 2nd! All I can say is whew.

So off I go.

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