Monday, April 28

Today I hardcore practiced my anxiety procrastination.

Tuesday, April 29

Today I progressed to anxiety-based sleep procrastination.

Wednesday, April 30

Had THE driest scone ever after going to the pharmacy. But the pink grapefruit juice was lovely.

Big Day Today. BIG.

My parcel of paperwork to give the dean, excusing me from classes during my medical leave…or whatever you call it. I have saved all my medical paperwork and receipts since I’ve been here (of course I did). One of these days I should add it all up. My off the top of my head guess is that’s between $4-5000. Out of pocket.

A) I left the building. Ha ha. I had to go PLACES and DO THINGS. My eye chose today to be REALLY super-you-know-what-ing weird and uncomfortable. And I’m still coughing and runny-nosing and more out of breath than usual. But I Soldiered On.

B) I FINALLY. F  I  N  A  L  L  Y  went to speak to the dean and I am now officially (well, once I give her back the paperwork) a Language School Dropout. OH the relief. I’ve had it. I’m done. I’ve been mentally done for awhile but somehow managed to keep pushing through. Going back to The Hill last term pushed me right up to the edge…and then the whole eye issue, surgery, exhaustion, discomfort, missing 95% of this term’s class…pushed me right on over…

…INTO THE FEATHERY SOFT COMFORT OF FULL RETIREMENT BELOW.

In my relief, I sat by the lake for a bit after getting my talk with the dean over with.

Yes, technically I retired in July 2023…but really all I did was swap out work for school…which ended up being equally difficult and stressful and exhausting. Perhaps even more so…AND I wasn’t even getting paid to do it. BUT…being a language student is what got me to Korea and has allowed me to stay here as long as I have (and it’s not over yet), so I will be forever grateful to it for that. I think I’ll write a separate blog post on the whole language school experience and why leaving it is the right choice for me at this time, but for now I’ll just share with you guys how this changes my immediate future plans.

I have about two weeks now to leave Korea – so I need to hop on over to the nearest country (Japan) and return to Korea on a tourist visa. Yes, you have to actually leave the country to do that. Which is a costly shame, but…it is what it is.

So, once I return the cancellation form to the dean, complete with proof of travel out of the country, she’ll submit it to immigration and they’ll give me my “must leave by” date. I will be taking the ferry (I can’t fly yet with my not-yet-totally-healed retina) from Busan, Korea to Fukuoka, Japan for 4 nights. I mean, technically, I could just get right back on the next boat back to Korea. It’s not about staying out a certain period of time, it’s getting your passport stamped when you return. BUT, as long as I’m going, I might as well stay a few days, I don’t know that Fukuoka is a place I would return to in the future, so may as well see some of its sights while I’m there now. It’ll depend how cheaply I can find accomodations.

Speaking of cheap, once I’m no longer a student I will lose my Korean health insurance and will have to buy private insurance and that’s just more costly in general, but I’ll also be paying a higher price as I’m purchasing the insurance from already inside the country I want to insurance for – you’re really supposed to sign up while still in your home country. Also, it will not cover pre-existing conditions, so I’ll be paying out of pocket for my future eye exams and surgery (fortunately, Korea’s healthcare is WAYYYY less expensive than the US). Also, this has to act as my primary insurance since I’m not yet covered by Medicare (got a few months to go). So this is going to be costly.

BUT, I’m getting a full refund for my summer tuition and that will cover the insurance and most of the upcoming medical expenses. But…I will still need to be pretty frugal. Not that I haven’t been, but…

I will need to keep this Japan trip pretty low-budget. I’ll get a room with a kitchen so I can eat breakfast home and several dinners…and pack sandwiches to take with me during the day.

And when I return, I will have 90 days in Korea as a free woman. No school, no obligations, FREE!!! I won’t know the exact date til I hear back from immigration, but it should be mid-August-ish, pretty close to the Aug 23 date I had originally.

Then I will return to the US for a few months after Korea, visit family, speak some English, stock up on things to continue my trip, then return to East Asia in November with a 2-month stay in Japan.

So that’s my plan for the next 3-7 months.

Whee!

Thursday, May 1

My floor’s kitchen. Small, but very neat and tidy. There’s one burner on the cooktop…the refrigerator is for kimchi only, and immediately to my right (out of photo) are two rice cookers. They provide free kimchi and rice daily. 

Happy May Day!!!

Today’s forecast was for torrential rain all day, and for once the forecast is right, and I’m enjoying a full day of nothingness. Napping, scrolling, listening to the thunder, making lists…not feeling guilty about doing nothing.

Oh, making lists. I don’t want to fill all my time up again (as I am known to do), I DO want a relaxation period. But I have a lot of things I’d like to do, want to learn, etc…and don’t want to just piddle my time away. Correction, I would LOVE to just piddle my time away…but I think I would regret that later, so. Lists.

Some of these things relate back to my new year’s resolutions for this year, which pretty well got blown out of the water with the way this year started: politically, family-wise, medically…but yeah, I have a lot of things to figure out, to learn, to do…but my main project for today is figuring out the ferry situation to Japan. It sounds so simple…til you get to the website. I’ll get it figured out. But I’m excited to have some actual dates to start planning around…and I’m excited for even just this mini-trip to Japan.

Fukuoka is really known for its food, and particularly its food stalls. I love me some good street food. And I’m looking forward to Japanese food, I think I’m going to be much happier with it than I have been with Korean food. After figuring out ticketing, I’ll start working on an itinerary for the few days I’m there. Too bad I’ll have missed cherry blossom season, but…next year!

Friday, May 2

I’m stuck in leaving-korea-staying-in-japan-returning-to-korea-leaving-korea-airbnb-bus-ferry-airfare-eye-surgery-immigration hell. I can’t get all the things to play nicely together. And it’s pissing me off because if I could leave Korea for the US just five days later (which is not up to me), my airfare would be $500 instead of $1000…and that saved $500 could be my airfare back to Japan in November and I just can’t give up trying every single option/timeline…but it looks like I just need to give it up.

WHICH PISSES ME OFF.

Ton kasu. Pork cutlets. Thick ones, thin ones, and ones stuffed with mozzarella cheese. Shredded cabbage with black sesame dresssing. And rice with things on top.

On a brighter note, I had dinner out (IN THE WORLD) with building/school friends, then ice cream…THEN on the elevator back up to my room afterwards a man on the elevator just handed us ice cream bars.

Did I JUST EAT ICE CREAM?? Yes. Did I still take the ice cream bar? Yes. Yes, I did.

They have finals in two weeks. And I do not. WHEEEEEE!!!!

The weather is delightful.

Saturday, May 3

Look! I match my trash!

Yeah. Did NUTHIN.

Oh! No! That’s incorrect! I spent HOURS getting my Fukuoka airbnb and ferry situation sorted out. Now I just have to book the bus or train to Busan to get to the ferry.  I think it was around 1am when I finished up…I kept changing the dates and trying to find The Perfect Airbnb to fit with my schedule and financial needs so I could fly back to Tampa in August when the flights were cheaper.

I miss Travel Agents. I know, I know, BUT THE INTERNET! But they do this day in and day out and know all the secrets and best deals, days, etc. I know nothing. You start from scratch Every Time.

In the end, it is NOT The Perfect Airbnb, and it’s a little further from the city center than I wanted, BUT it has a bathtub and a balcony…and it’s just a 3-minute walk to the train that can connect you to all the main attractions and places I’ll want to go. The other ones closer to town were all actually further from a train station, like a 10-15 minute walk (and that’s THEIR walk, not MY slow walk) and as we all know I kinda hate walking. I love going along slowly and seeing all the things, but I actually dislike walking.

Sunday, May 4

The embarrassing “before.” We’ll see if there’s ever an after.

Did a little cleaning up today. In this past month while I’ve rarely left the building, I’ve really accumulated a lot of trash and recycling. And now I think I’ve broken my bathroom sink and I’m gonna have to have them in to look at it and I can’t have them in when it’s such a mess. Ugh.

Ordered McDonalds. Watched a movie. Another thrilling week in South Korea (I started typing Carolina ha ha). It’s a long weekend for students and workers here, it’s Buddha’s birthday AND Children’s Day (and Katie’s birthday, but I don’t think the lanterns strung all around are for that). So if I want to do something tomorrow I need to find something off the beaten path as everything will be crowded.

I’m taking requests for places to go and things to do if there’s anything you’d like to see. Didn’t I make a wheel for that?? This has been a very distracting year so far.

Maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, Happy May Day/Buddha’s Birrthday/Children’s Day/Katie’s Birthday to one and to all xoxo