I don’t quite know where the phrase, “The proof is in the pudding” came from. Everybody knows, the proof is in the photos. Pudding really has very little to do with it.

I really have left Korea. As evidence, my last photo of the place (it’s hazy because it’s Korea in March, but if you look closely you can see it):

I spent some time at home, recuperating, drawing strength from the familiar and from the love of family and friends. I went to some birthday parties, got some administrative stuff taken care of, helped my mom paint some walls, and slept more than I perhaps ought to have. And then I got on a plane . . .

. . . and came to DC. Now I’m living with my husband in an apartment on Capitol Hill. What?! Living with my husband?! Living with? I find I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for the day when I’ll realize (or someone will inform me) that one of us has to get on a plane and fly to the other side of the globe. Even though I keep telling myself it’s not going to happen, I remain unconvinced. I guess I’m no match for me.

Also: work is great right now - I am learning all sorts of things about South Asia (that’s the region encompassing India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh) that I never knew. Not that I ever knew much, but this is taking the whole “you learn something new every day” thing to a whole new level.

So life is good. And I’m living with my husband (!!). Pretty soon, when someone asks me the eternal “so how’s married life?” question, I think I may have an answer.

It’s a time of renewal. Definitely a good time of the year to come back home.

I’m home. And relaxing. I’ve already spent several days doing basically as little as possible. And it’s so, so, so nice.

Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be hanging out with family and pets, making plans to do fun things like get together with friends, change my absentee ballot mailing address, go to the ballet, renew my driver’s license, get my hair cut, etc, etc. It’s kind of a nice list of things to do, believe it or not. I get to feel almost like a normal person for a couple of weeks, being able to call businesses or government agencies during business hours, actually go places in person, get paperwork done or receive packages in less than 4 weeks, explain what I want and expect to get it, and just basically act like a regular citizen again. It feels really, really good.

Today was my last day of work in Seoul. I leave behind some fabulous colleagues, surely some of the best in the world. Many of them have become close personal friends, and I will be sad to part company with them. At the same time, I am going on to a whole new place, with new adventures, and best of all I get to do it together with the man I love. And what could be better than that?

The three or four people who visit this blog regularly may have noticed that there’s been radio silence on my part for a while lately. It’s certainly not because there’s nothing to talk about, though - on the contrary, I’ve been busy. My brother came for a visit, and we had a great time. Got out of Seoul a little bit (not far, but out nonetheless), and spent some time seeing the sights in Seoul too.

I’m so, so glad he was able to come. It was great to spend some quality time with him, just the two of us, and to be able to share some of the things I most enjoy about Korea with someone I really care about.

(* I know, I know, the title is corny and bad, but it was meant to be that way – sometimes you’ve just got to try and throw people a little off-balance.)

Last weekend I went to my first Korean wedding.  It’s a modern Korean wedding, so not nearly so much bowing and ceremonial stuff that I wouldn’t understand without a narrator.  Also no traditional clothing - at least not for the bride and groom.  Well, traditional clothing was involved, but not until after the ceremony and the photos.  The wedding was in a pretty large church, and she wore a beautiful white dress that had a long train and was all beaded and glittery, along with a veil that also followed the beaded and glittery theme.  She looked gorgeous, and both of them seemed so happy.  I felt so privileged to have been invited to be a part of her special day, and I wish them all the best.  A couple of photos for your enjoyment:

Yesterday, I worked over 15 hours straight.  I am surprised I was able to string a sentence together by the end of it.  Why in the world would I do such a crazy thing, you might ask?  Well, I wasn’t the only one.  Our boss (or our boss’s boss’s boss’s . . . boss’s boss) was in town for a special event.  Seems to have been a success, though.  Yay, us!  Now we can try to get some sleep.

You don’t get someone to just sit and be companionably still with.

You don’t get to have a hug or a sympathetic glance from across the room when you’re having a really hard day.

You only get a couple of hours a day of contact with the person who matters so much to you, and sometimes you don’t even get that.

You don’t get a companion to go with you to parties or dinners, or even to share a quiet home-cooked meal.

You don’t get to walk down the street, taking in your surroundings, holding hands with someone you love.

You don’t get a pair of welcoming arms at the end of the day.

But you do get this (it came in the mail today):

Well, overnight between Thursday and Friday, we were told Chennai is out. So the long, long, saga continues, and now the verdict is this:

Yep, they’ve changed the whole thing to be destination MUMBAI.

So Chennai is out, Mumbai is in. Timing, we’re told, remains the same, and prospects for us being together also, so say the powers that be, remain the same. Now all they’ve got to do is find us some actual job slots to move into, assign us to those slots, and redo all the preparations I’ve already started on for Chennai. Sigh.

Fingers crossed that this is indeed, as they assure me, the final word.

5 weeks and counting…

It’s rare that I am driving to work and turn a corner and literally gasp in complete shock at what I see in front of me. It’s particularly rare in a city like Seoul where the rules of the road are not always followed and accidents are relatively common. However, today that is exactly what happened.

Because today is the day that this:

… became this (I took this photo just after recovering from that great astonished gasp):

Namdaemun, or “Great South Gate” is (was?) one of only two remaining gates from the city walls that protected Seoul back in the old days. Years ago, the Korean government designated it as National Treasure #1, and it is (was) probably the most famous landmark in all of Korea. It represents a deep connection to their history, and a great pride in their country - indeed some colleagues today called it the symbol of their country.

There is some speculation as to the cause of the fire that led to the subsequent collapse of the top part of the gate. Knowing what I do about how Korea works, it is doubtful that Namdaemun will remain in this state for long, and it is also doubtful that the timbers now lying charred atop what remains of the gate are anything close to the original 14th century timbers. But people here in Korea are nonetheless, quite understandably, completely appalled.