Wrap up!

Well how much can one person work before they crack? Somehow, I think they were looking to find that. Anyway, I really wanted to come home with gifts for friends and family, instead, I barely had time to sleep and eat my last two weeks! I do have to say, that I sent poor Teresa home hungover. I think Stacie was a little hungover, so why not return my favor to them and be hungover myself? I basically went out, and tried to see how many tequila shots and beers I could have in one night. I was successful. I finally did not lose the drinking contest with myself, instead, relatively chill night. I ended up going to a handful of bars/clubs in town that were in a very trendy, classy, and rich neighborhood. Ferraris and Maseratis lined the streets like Toyotas and Hondas do in Seattle. It was interesting. You all know how I dress, so I looked like a total scrub wandering in and out of these different clubs. It was nice.

Did much else really happen? Well, my quest for the perfectly tailored suit came up short. I never made it home with Soju. In fact, work got in the way of all kinds of everything. I didn't make it to the Sit n Spin restaurant, nor the women's university portion of town. I do recall waking up in a panic the morning of my flight about 10 minutes before I was supposed to check out. That poor bag was crammed full, and I still am not sure if I possibly left something behind or not. Then I went and had a delicious McDonalds breakfast, and yes it is EXACTLY the same. Trip to the bus, then off and up out to the airport. Boy Incheon is a million miles from Seoul, and yes I know I said that before. But you know how sometimes when its your first time somewhere it seems longer than it really is? Well, it was still really far!

Anyway, boredom at the airport, hours, then 747 to LAX. Crap, am I gonna be sandwiched? Nope! No one in front of me, behind me, or next to me, AWESOME!!! So amazingly enough I think I scam about 3 hours of sleep. Then, LAX, gosh that airport sucks! Get out of the international terminal and take the tram or trolley to my next terminal...NO, LAX SUCKS!!! No tram? No nothing? What a ghetto fabulous airport, send it south and a little more central and that is what LAX is! To top off my hatred of LA, why not have me sit in LAX for 3.5 hours!!! Oh, phone messages, "you owe us money," "where are you," you know the usual when you un-ass a country overnight. Anyway, how can we top this miserableness, why not cram this freakishly tall body into the smallest plane ever! I was dragging my shoulder down the ceiling. And throw in an entire plane that has to GO, and there being only one bathroom, and why not be next to the bathroom? Awesome.

Well thank goodness, its not late, get to Seattle, bag comes quick, ride comes quick, zero traffic, and time for beers. Ahh, I needed that hot duchess action. A bunch of people showed, even better, hard to say hello and hang with them all, but think I did an alright job. A little weirded out by one, maybe thats just my sis talking, bet she's right. Eh, whatever. Top it all off with sleeping about 15 hours, and you've wrapped up a long and eventful trip. Best part is, its probably happening again soon. Well, more info will be here if it does! TTYL.

SS

Death becomes him...

Good Lord!!! I have not been this sick since, well since my wonderful bout of Mono last year! I can still barely speak, but am no longer SOOO sick that I am having hotflashes. Yeah, I thought I was that sick for a while that I was THAT different. As one of the walking zombies, I have been able to still work in a larger than normal workweek. That was attained by working 7 days while sick in one week. Gotta love it. Now I am feeling pretty good, save the lack of functional voice. So I have found that my relief that was coming over from the states, well, they were supposed to have been here already, yet, I still have no itinerary that they are on their way. That could provide a rough spot, since I am leaving friday, and they won't be here until tuesday at the earliest. To top that off, this is going to be my busiest workweek yet, so that makes it more interesting.

Well, after all the unglamour of working, sleeping, and just plain being sick, the weekend. Well saturday, more of the above, sleep. It did me good, felt better saturday and today, sunday, than I have in quite some time. So, guess what, DMZ tour. Yeah, finally. So head up to the DMZ, tiny little bus, on a freeway to the border. Yeah, freeway, easy to send thousands of troops either direction. Oh yeah, there are tank traps designed into the freeway, but they are designed to only save Soeul 30 minutes, which is about 1 hour 30 minutes before the north koreans are here. FUN!!! Anyway, the tour ended up being a bit disappointing, it didn't go to Panmunjeon (treaty table), but did go through all of the new re-unification propoganda and other pats on the back about how integrated north and south are. ARE YOU CRAZY!!! They are still at war! THEY STILL KILL EACH OTHER!!! Last I checked, there still was an absolutely INSANE communist DICTATOR up north. Are we forgetting that? Seriously, no real change will happen until communist dictatorships are removed, look at Cuba, China, and then other communist nations that are no more. No real change until the nut jobs are gone. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of nut jobs in the free world, but there are SOME checks and balances against them if they end up in a powerful position.

ANYWAY, lesson, the South Koreans have this rosy outlook that reunification will happen, will be easy, and will create harmony. In the reality I see, it will cripple the economy of both immediately, let's not forget the business of war is a lucrative one and employs millions. Not just the north, but here too. I just think its a bit childish the propaganda vision stated during the whole tour and I don't buy it. It was not nearly as powerful as I'd hoped for, and not as scary as I had either. A good thing without a doubt. Maybe there is real progress, hooray, but grain of salt is all I'm saying.

On another note, they did talk about rail, and how the japanese wanted to tunnel under the sea to korea, and that inherent fear popped out in their explanation, they might invade with such a tunnel. Comical to hear, but a very real fear, considering Korea has to be the most conquered and "run over" society on earth, no offense to the Jewish population of the world, but seriously, the Japanese have done some atrocious things in their past. Most of it here on the Korean peninsula. World politics and such are fun...enough of that!

The tour guide, HILARIOUS. For some reason, finished every sentence with "boom, boom, boom." It had all of us Americans on the bus near tears by the end of the tour, it was too much. She was very nice, it was just funny to hear, boom, boom, boom.

What a week.

Hey all, been a while, eh? Well, just really been busy at work. What can I say? Just been putting my head down and going away. Went out a few days this week for some beers and not much more. Even a handful of nights where I just worked, went to the hotel and went to bed. Just one of those weeks.

I did end up at the Irish pub a few times. That place has some pretty mean chicken strips and fries, but its no duchess. SIGH!!! They also have pretty dog-gone good bloody marys. Well thats about it for now, feeling a bit sick, and just working in the hotel room. At least terminator 2 is on, so some entertainment, but I am hunkered down, for sure. Hope all is well where you are. Talk to ya'll soon.