Almost ready...

Less than one week! Less than one week until I get on that plane. Holy shit--less than one week...

Crap.

Well, at least I have a ticket. In my last entry, you'll recall that I was nervous about getting my visa back from the Korean Consulate in Chicago. Thankfully, that came in last Saturday, so I let my school contact know asap. Monday they bought my e-ticket and emailed it to me, with the casual opener, "Here's your e-ticket. Check it out." If only. The website it was from was entirely in Korean, with no English translation option. The parts of the e-ticket itinerary that were in English made no specific mention of which airlines I would be flying on ('cause that's not important or anything), but did state the flight numbers. From those, I was able to determine that I will be flying on American Airlines to Chicago and from there direct to Seoul on Korean Air. The truly shit part is that I won't be flying out until TUESDAY the 27th, so that I won't arrive until 4:30pm (Seoul time) the day before I have to start orientation. No worries...I'll only have just flown 14 hours in a tin can, across god knows how many time zones, so I'm sure there'll be no problem "hitting the ground running" as my welcome email so perkily put it. Bastards.

Anyway, this last weekend was a great time, getting to go out for a few drinks with friends. Friday night at my dad's bar for karaoke, and Saturday night at Tanner's for...karaoke. OK, that last one was completely on accident, but it wasn't as torturous as previous karaoke nights at Tanner's have been. My friend Jennifer from Minneapolis was able to make it down (along with her hottie boyfriend, Turker). Speaking of hotties, Matt Overton came out with us, so that was the first time I've seen him since Kevin Bell's wedding. Of course, the usual hotties were out: Jennifer James, Derek, as well as Timm and his ladies up at my dad's bar on Friday. (By the by, I heard later from my dad that they were the very last people left in the bar on Friday--so, way to not puss out like the rest of us, Timm!) I posted some pictures up above from last weekend, if you guys are interested. I haven't yet developed the b&w disposable camera that was provided by Jennifer James, but I'll post those ASAP. There are some classic shots on there of my new traveling partner, the miniature wandering gnome named Blue-Eyed "Jenkins" Louie. You know the drill...pose a garden gnome in front of the Eiffel Tower like he's a tourist, then take his picture and mail to friends, a la "Amelie". Jennifer has entrusted him to me for the duration of my stay in Korea, so keep your eyes peeled for him in my photos.

Next entry will either be right before I leave, or right after I get there..."right after" being a relative term, given my likely lack of time and/or energy. Good grief...I feel like I'm getting ready to walk off a cliff! Anyway, wish me luck...I just might need it.