Countdown to Korea: COMMENCE!

Three weeks from today, I'll be starting my new job. Three weeks. That's 21 days. Spelled out, it looks like this: twenty-one. In Korean, it's... well, I don't know. 21.

My emotions are a roller coaster right now - sometimes I burst into tears just looking at an American flag or a cheeseburger (not quite true, but you get the sentiment). Then there are other times, times like this moment right now, when I'm really excited. Like stupid excited. Like I started skipping at the client site today. I can't even really come up with a word that properly conveys both my enthusiasm and elation. When you Google enthusiam, by the way, you get this picture:

I'll let you imagine me imitating all those faces, one by one, particularly the fourth one. Yessss.

I can't really put my finger on the cause of this sudden excitement. I still don't know any Korean words aside from "I want Starbucks!" and Seoul didn't magically turn into a smaller city. It's still flat out terrifying, but I'm so flippin excited I can't sit still. Last night I spent hours playing on Google earth, locating things that will be important to me when I get there - like the bright yellow children's library and a Pizza Hut.

A huge contributing factor is most definitely my friend Cassie. She's moving to Daegu on August 17th, and even though I have no idea how close that is to Seoul, just the mere idea of having a friend in the same country - a GIRL friend in the same country - makes me giddy. When I originally told Ben I wanted to go to Tokyo Disney, he begrudgingly agreed, probably hoping that he could ditch me at the airport and do something grown-ups like to do instead. But when I told Cassie I wanted to go to Tokyo, she jumped up and down! We've already planned our trip, including a stop at a Japanese gameshow because, let's be honest, Japan has the most ridiculous gameshows in. the. world.

Cassie and I also already planned how we're going to spend our "Harvest Holiday" (ie: Koreans celebrate my birthday as a national holiday. SCORE!). We don't have much figured out besides the fact that we'll be spending the three days bouncing from one Korean city to the next, but that's all I really need to know. I have PLANS with a FRIEND in KOREA. It's magic.

On a somewhat related note, it's pretty certain Benny won't be in the big K with me. He's been talking with the Saudi school, and he's being offered a pretty amazing opportunity on the ground level of an educational expansion. I'm still kind of scared it's all a ploy to kidnap cute, blue-eyed American boys, but he's excited (and perhaps a little too trusting). Instead of exploring Asia with me, he's opting to spend the year with 80 dudes in an alcohol-free, estrogen-free commune. I'm choosing not to be offended by this. :) Best wishes, buddy. Seoul will miss you. (Me too.)

Totally unrelated but thrilling: I've decided I'm buying a macbook to take with me. Be on the lookout for distorted pictures of my face that will no doubt be hysterical.

To sum up: I'm excited. The library is yellow. Japan has great gameshows. Ben's secretly gay. MACBOOK.