Lost in Korea: up & coming

Right now I would be out rollerblading because it is so incredibly hot in my room at the moment and any place has to be cooler by comparison, but...I am taking tonight off from doing anything remotely physical in the way of exercise since my left knee has been giving me trouble once again. I used to run a lot when I was still back in St. Louis and sometimes I'd run more than I thought it was safe for me to do. Needless to say I think I tore something back then, or maybe pulled a muscle or something. I went to the doctor and he said it was a strained ligament and that a little time off my feet was all I needed. After I rested for about a week or so my knee was back to normal again and has continued to be since then. Until this past week of course...

As you may or may not know I am a rollerblading fanatic. It's just my thing, always has been. If it's a nice day and I'm not hitting the trails with my blades I always feel like I'm doing something wrong, like I'm doing myself a disservice by not taking the opportunity to get outside and skate. So since this past week has actually been warm enough to be comfortable, yet still cool enough to be tolerable I've been out almost every single day on my blades. Of course, since blading here in downtown Seoul is all very new and exciting to me I was rather reluctant to come back when my legs were starting to feel strained (which is what you're supposed to do when blading). Most nights I'd be skating for two or three hours at a time, and on some fairly rough pavement. So what does this mean exactly? Bad news for my already previously-injured knees. Needless to say my left one in particular started giving me trouble this past weekend and became almost unbearable last night. I could barely even walk yesterday because it was so stiff and painful, nor was I able to get much sleep. But thankfully today it's feeling a lot better and I think I'll be able to get out and do some walking tomorrow night at the very least.

So yeah, to summarize, I hurt my left knee and it's been giving me trouble these past few days, but it feels better today. Hence why I'm staying in this evening (for what seems like the first night in ages). It's such a pain being here in my room and having nothing to do but watch movies I've downloaded off the internet (thank god for cable modems). I suppose I could be packing but it's just too hot for that right now.

In other news, I told my school on Friday that I wouldn't be staying another year. I know they were dissapointed that I wasn't going to renew my contract but I just think I've been here long enough and it's time for me to go home and sort through stuff there. I know they told me they'd give me two weeks off to go back for my brother's wedding, but even they should know that two weeks could never make up for being here yet another year. I wouldn't be able to do anything in two weeks, and even if I did do that I'd probably be so badly jet-lagged the entire time that I'd spend most of it walking around like a zombie. So yeah, it's just time for me to go home.

As soon as I do leave here though I'm going to be heading off for that much-needed, long overdue trip to Europe that I've been wanting to take since I can remember. My friend Maggie is putting together a show (Love the Radio Edit) for the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scottland and I told her I'm going to try to make it over to see it and stay with her and Danya for a few days at least, maybe check out some of the other shows and see the town too. From there I'm planning on travelling to London to do some of the normal touristy things, and then last but not least I'm going to Paris where I'll be spending the remainder of my trip. I'll probably be gone for at least two weeks, if not a little longer, after which I'll be coming back to the US and getting ready for my brother's wedding. And then...after that, I'm not sure what I'll be doing. Peace Corps is still an option, as is the JET program in Japan. But then again, I might just stay in St. Louis, for a little while at least. In any case, I probably won't be heading off to any faraway places until after the new year. Since I missed spending this past holiday season with my family I know they'd just kill me if I missed two in a row. Besides, one was hard enough and even I don't think I could do it again.

So yeah, lots of stuff coming up. We're getting down to the wire as far as my days left here in Korea. I wonder what I should do with this blog when I leave? Keep it until I'm off to some other part of the world where I can blog about more twisted and hopelessly incorrect uses of the English language? There's no way for me to really download this to my computer so I guess it will remain in cyberspace for now.

Okay, enough blathering. Here's some pics of my friends and I hanging out around COEX mall yesterday (just like all the kids do back home!).