Concerning coming to term(s)

The title is a bad pun...I've been here nine months! This week was hit by a snaggle as I became a newly initiated insomniac. Ick. I've always been really solid with sleep and it definitely messed with my head to have that disrupted. From about Sunday night to Wednesday night, I would drift into a very light daydream-y sleep for hours and hours until I would finally get from one to three hours of decent REM before the morning. Not awful, I managed to mostly keep a good mood, but Thursday I waved the white flag when I came down with a sore throat. That night I seriously went to bed at 9 and didn't move for 11 hours and while I didn't sleep that whole time, I finally accumulated a solid amount. This weekend I also caught up a bit. I'm not normal yet, it still takes me forever to settle into really thick sleep but I'm at least reassured that it's not serious.

This weekend, probably from resting up, was relaxed. Friday night I caught Prince of Persia which was the best bad movie I've seen in a while. I certainly enjoyed Jake Gyllenhall's abs but my friend and I were reduced to giggling hysterics by the clumsy script and plot. I was really entertained though and I suppose there's little difference between laughing at and with a movie, it was a success. Saturday morning I had a much needed skype convo with my momma and then met my friend downtown for a Thai massage. First, they served me shockingly blue tea in these awesome elephant tea cups, and then on to the main event. It was bliss, very different from the tried and true Swedish variety. For one, they had me wear these PJ type things. I later found out their practicality for two reasons. One, my massage was in a room with four other people. Two, it was basically sport yoga without any of the effort- my masseuse contorted my body into positions the like of which I will likely never experience again and woke up muscles previously dormant and innocuous. So not quite a nakie environment. It also involved little massage perse, it was more lots and lots of pressure points (with amazing kung-fu like agility and strength I might add- she put one finger on one little point on my shoulder blade and it felt like my whole back imploded) and lOTS of stretching. At points, it bordered on painful and I bad to definitely breathe deeply but my worked my body well and I was relaxed so job done. And only 50 bucks for an hour. I might do that again before I leave, who knows.

After that, my friend and I went and got some delicious steam pork buns and decided we wanted to go for a drive. We went out of the city, past Yuseong, past the National Cemetary (where the Cheonan victims are buried by the way), past Donghaksa, to this little artist village. It was sheer nirvana to get out of the city, I always feel like a drowning man clutching at straws when finally get a shot at fresh air and green. There was a sharp chill in the otherwise balmy city air which totally made it feel like Seattle and between that, the rolling lush emerald hills, reflective rice paddies, and delicious quiet, it was lovely.

Today I got up and worked out, and then had a picnic with my friend. We attempted to rent bikes and go down to the river only to be entirely thwarted by the very complicated renting machine. Oh well, we walked around Government Complex and ate to the very civilized background of classical music coming from the Art Center. There was quite literally no cloud in the sky and it was robin's egg blue. We popped into this dinky little museum and saw some bizarre art supposedly about the sense of humor (there was lots of poop memorabilia...) and then lay down on some benches to soak up the sun and the breeze. I got my first little shade of summer color and then took a very necessary and very heavy two hour Sunday afternoon nap. Mmm mmmm.

Regarding the summer vacation update, the latest decision is Jeju Island. We were going to go to Laos or Vietnam but I just realized it would be a poor replacement to Thailand (because of the protest instability...) and I'd rather go back and do that area properly when I have a few weeks. This way I can thoroughly cross Korea off of my list. Also, recently the predictable homesickness has popped back up but nothing I can't handle. I credit mom and dad with holding it off for two months, impressive and much appreciated.

I also had a nice talk with Shayna tonight and we had a very interesting and appealing revelation about my time here. I was joking that my year in Korea didn't "fix me" as promised, delivering the perfect career and life path that I probably did half-expect upon coming here. To be fair, I was still in the blind panic of graduation and the crippling indecision of infinite possibilities in August so it's understandable I craved that from my year here. Well, Korea didn't fix my indecision but I realized it did start to fix my outlook. I'm slightly different, I'm more relaxed to let the journey take me where it will and I'll find my way in time. I've had to battle so many things this year that being scared about my future just sort of fell to the wayside somewhere. I'm not saying it's completely anxiety-free but I'm at peace with it. So that's well worth knowing and a nice, satisfying development to see in myself.

As these reflections might hint, things have taken a turn in my mind towards the end. I tried to resist it but I can't shake the thought that I'm finally there, the home stretch, the last quarter, less than 90 days and then...

Well, not quiet "then" yet. Lots of adventure to be had, still chances to "love the reeling midnight through" in these summer months. Bye for now!! :)