A Butterfly's Journey

And I have a diploma to prove it! Well, I don't quite have the diploma yet, but I have finished all of my classes and am no longer a student! Now I'm just waiting for my diploma to come in the mail proclaiming me a recepient of a B.A. in International Studies.

Luckily, I have quickly found a job and am now working. Technically my mom found the job, but I'm still the one that was hired and am working and will be getting money. The job I have now is temporary. The people all seem fun and nice. I'm just holding my breath until they actually give me real work. Today was my second day, so I'm still just being introduced to the job. I think (hope?) that's going to quickly change.

Now I just have to read books and study and wait until July so I can take the Foreign Service Officer (FSO) test from the Department of State. I really want to become an FSO. They're the ones that live in U.S. embassies, granting visas and helping the Americans who are abroad. At least, the type of FSO that I want to become is like that. There are 5 different tracks you can take as an FSO. It's just really competitive and I am feeling less than confident. We'll see, I suppose.

I've been meaning to post for a while now, but just haven't, so I finally did. ^^; This's all I'll say for now, though. Later.

I had two teeth extracted today. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it'd be. The worse part is that I can't really eat anything that I have to chew. So, for the next day or so I'm going to be living off of jello, pudding, potatoes (mashed and soup), and ice cream. Whoo. Yeah, that's the excitement that's going in my life right now. At least I got painkillers. ^^

Sitting in Panera's, listening to classical music and killing time until my six o'clock class.

All the papers and presentations that are due this semester are kind of stressing me out. Not that I'm really doing anything about it. Yeah, that's me, the procrastinator. I know I can't really do that with two of my papers/presentations. Even I can't type out 20 pages in one night. I know. I've tried before. It didn't end well.

I have to post pictures of my cute animals, I have decided. Once I figure out how to do that on here, I will... I should probably look that up.

Well, just a check in to say hey and mention that I'm still breathing. I'm getting a root canal on Thrusday. o.o Slightly freaked, but I'm sure I'll survive. After a 15 months, it's about time I get this root canal done. Gosh I'm good at avoiding and putting things off.

Cheers for the rest of the week. <3

And so the "preachers" return to campus once again. The building I tend to hang out in front at school has patio tables and a grassy area. "Preachers" like to stand in the grassy area and "preach" at us sinning college students. Usually their "preaching" tends to go along the lines of 'God hates sinners. Your skirt is too short, so you are a sinner, so God hates you. You're a homosexual. God hates homosexuals, so God hates you. Save yourself while you can.' Surprisingly, this guy didn't not go about those lines and follow the other 'preachers'. Until he starting saying that he did not sin and that he was not a sinner. Why? Because he believed in God and Jesus and chose not to be a sinner. Okay, so I suppose that might be possible. But I know human behavior. I know that we are not perfect. And even if the Bible does say that those who're God's children do not sin and sinners are children of the devil (or something like that,) it doesn't mean that 'true' Christians are perfect, non-sinning people. Only people like them pretend to believe in that. I mean, that would put you on the same level of Jesus and Angels and 'people' like that. It's almost impossible for anyone to achieve. Especially in the 'real world'. So, yeah, interesting. Happily he decided to leave, so it's quiet here once more. Apparently he'll be back tomorrow. Guess I should be happy that I don't have to worry about him, since I won't be here.

And I'm sorry, but trying to have a logical debate using the Bible seems oxymoronic to me. As River says in Firefly, "Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics - doesn't make sense." Of course, trying to have a logical debate on any religion can be just as productive as chasing one's tail.

And people still haven't learned that saying anything to them only fuels them. The best way to get rid of them is to ignore them. At least I met one person today who knew that. ^_^


The entire mini-scene with River and Book:

Book: "What are we up to, sweetheart?"
River: "Fixing your Bible."
Book: "I, um...(alarmed)...what?"
River: "Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics - doesn't make sense." (she's marked up the bible, crossed out passages)
Book: "No, no. You - you can't...
River: "So we'll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God's creation of Eden. Eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one. Noah's ark is a problem."
Book: "Really?"
River: "We'll have to call it early quantum state phenomenon. Only way to fit 5000 species of mammal on the same boat." (rips out page)


I <3 River and Firefly. <3 <3 <3

So I took this quiz and found out that my ideal TV boyfriend is...



Nice. ^_^

I've been catching up on the latest episodes of Supernatural and Rachael mentioned this quiz she had taken. So of course I had to go take it. ^^

Only one more episode to go and then I'll be done with that. Then I just have to watch the two recent episodes of Prison Break and most of the new season of Heroes and I'll be all caught up on my shows. Yay. ^^

I guess it's been a while since I've posted anything here. Being slightly less than a month, though, is actually pretty good for me. I tend to go months and months (or years and years) before writing in journals again. So I am back home again. I'm living with my parents right now, which is working out well, I think. For the moment. ^_^

I'm in my last semester of school right now, taking four classes. It's kind of nice, because I only have classes on Monday and Wednesday and then Thursday night. Lots of free time. Which I think will start to fill up with work. Which makes me sad. But, unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to work to survive the semester. It makes me sad. :( I was hoping to go the semester without having to work. Well, I'm going to try to work the least amount of hours as possible. We'll see how it goes.

I got a new computer! Yep, right now I'm typing on my new laptop. I had to take my old one in to be worked on, because before I left for South Korea, I spilled coke all over it. The laptop still worked, but while in Korea, I realized that the CD drive wouldn't open and there were also some keys that were really sticky. The people at the repair center decided it would cost more to repair it than what the computer was worth (I found out it would only a couple dollars more expensive,) so I got to pick out a new one. I love Best Buy's computer service plan. (Yay for accidental service plans!) I was hoping not to have to spend a lot of money, so I wouldn't have to worry about work so soon, but I knew that I had to buy a service plan with my computer and it had to have accidental in the service plan's name. So, even though the computer was free, I had to spend a couple hundred bucks on the service plan. But the service plan already payed off, so I think it's worth it. I absolutely love my new computer! It does have Vista, which I have to get used to, but it's not too bad. It's a lot faster than my old computer, though, with lots more memory and, because it's a 'entertainment computer' it has cool things like a built in webcam and microphone. It looks nice, too. ^_^ Overall happy with it and totally in love. <3

Mom and I have started to look at horses. To be more specific, we've looked at two. The second one we decided was too young (she was only three) and would need to much attention that we couldn't afford to give her. She was really cute with a nice personality, so I think she'll find a good home easily. The first one we saw was named Franky. They are both Standardbreds. My mom and I both rode him and saw him being ridden and lounged by his trainer. Not having been ridden at the canter and bouncing trot withstanding, we both liked Franky. Everyone else who was there really seemed to like Franky, too, which just added to our positive feel to him. There's another horse that we're supposed to be looking at soon. This horse was abandoned at on a property owned by a neighbor. Our next door neighbor who was telling us about it didn't seem to know a lot about it, except that it was being ridden by the other neighbor's kids. I guess we'll find out more when we see him.

Whoever we do end up deciding to get, this means that I have to learn how to drive a trailer. o.o I'm not sure how well that is going to go. At least Lori's barn, the only place I plan on having to drive to, isn't too far, with minimal turns involved and only back streets. I can go nice and slow and careful. Of course this will all have to wait until we actually get a horse. And a trailer. No need to worry about it now. I have enough that I can worry myself about without thinking about things like towing trailers.

Time to go to class. I'll write later.

Yay! I'm home. Well, sort of. I'm in the good ol' U.S. of A. I was home for about 4 hours or so. Right now I'm at my grandpa's house in Arizona. My mom's side of the family (minus one brother & co.) met here for Christmas. It's been good. A bit chilly weather, but nothing too bad. There's so much active wildlife here. We see all sorts of birds throughout the day and tons of rabbits. My grandpa's house has a golf course in the back and the rabbits love to find food on it. We can just sit on the back porch and watch them and the the quail searching for food.

Speaking of food. So much food! Nothing speaks of Christmas (besides presents and church) like tons of food. And by tons of food, I mean mountains of food. So much food that you have leftovers for a week. At least. Or something like that. Luckily, Charlane (my grandpa's wife) decided to get catered food for Christmas. Which means that all we had to do was heat it up. It was nice. ^_^

Today I made hoddeok (호떡) for the family from hoddeok mix I brought back from South Korea. They really seemed to enjoy it. Mom and I had a ...fun time shaping the dough and adding the spice mix for the hoddeok to be cooked (hoddeok dough mix is a bit sticky.) My dad was nice enough to cook them for us. I think they turned out pretty well. ^_^ I'm going to have to see if I can find the mix somewhere else, or a good recipe for it.

Looks like dinner is about ready (yep, one of the leftover meals.) Guess I better get off so I can eat. More info about my 'fun' trip home later.

In eight and a half hours I will be on a bus leaving this place. Kinda sad. Kinda happy. Even though I'm leaving here, I'm still going to be in South Korea for 2 more days. It seems weird - I already feel like I'm going to be in limbo for 2 days, until I actually leave South Korea.

I'm going to spend the two days in Seoul. I still have a little bit of shopping left. I also want to try to pick up a Korean language textbook from Yonsei's Sinchon campus. We'll see. I will be spending Friday, and most probably Saturday, with some of the Americans who are here. That makes me happy. I'll get to see them a little bit more.

It doesn't seem real, and at the same time, it doesn't seem soon enough. I'm definitely happy to be going back and seeing family and friends, but I know I'll miss my friends here, too.

Well, I suppose I should be finishing packing. We'll see when that happens.

It snowed last night while we were in Seoul. I was surprised, because I didn't think that Seoul got that much snow. There was still remnants of it left when we went out at eleven.

We went to the Seodaemun Prison museum. That was interesting. It's a museum that is in the buildings that remain from the Seodaemun Prison. The Seodaemun Prison was built by the Japanese and used during their time of occupying Korea. It has a lot of information on the torture and suppression committed by the Japanese in the prison. Definitely not a happy place.

After that we went to Gangnam to meet a Korean friend of Amanda's. He was nice and his girlfriend, who joined us later, was nice too, though she was shy about using English. Natalie and Daisy ate with us, but then they decided to go back to Wonju. I decided to stay with Amanda and the four of us went to a boardgame cafe. It was really interesting. We played three different games and I won two of them. ^_^

Wah! Only a week left. I know I keep commenting about this, but I keep thinking about it. I won't think about it and then all of a sudden, the fact that I have so little time left here jumps to the forefront of my mind and it feels a bit unbelievable.

Still time for procrastination.

Sitting in the hostel right now in Hongdae. We were going to go to a SuperJunior miniconcert tomorrow, but we found out that you had to already have tickets to get in. So, no SuperJunior. Not that we haven't seen them twice already, with Daisy also getting to hug Shindong (which we still haven't heard the last of, and I probably won't for a long time.) No worries. Instead, we're going to a prison museum and meeting a friend of Amanda's. Should be interesting.

I'm happy, because my teeth are not bothering me at the moment. *knock on wood* Hopefully this will last until after I get back to the states (hopefully until after I get permanently back home.) I'll just take what I can get for now.

Only a week left. 0.0 I can't believe it. It seems too soon, but sometimes not soon enough. Now that I'm feeling better, it seems too soon more often than not. No matter how I feel, though I'm leaving when I'm leaving.

My friends are bothering me about being on the computer, so I guess I'll get off. Happy times.

So, two things. First, in Korean class today we watched My Sassy Girl. I have been wanting to watch this movie for a long while, because I kept hearing about it, but I never got around to it. So I was happy that we watched it in class. I liked it. I think that I liked the other movies we saw better, but they all were a bit different and all had their amusing points. The other movies we've watched in Korean class were Eumran Seosaeng (Perverted Scholar, I believe), Dalkom Salbeorhan Yeonin (My Scary Girl), and Geunyeoreul Midji Maseyo (Too Beautiful to Lie/ Don't Trust Her.) They were all amusing films and ones that I probably would have never seen (except for My Sassy Girl possibly.) This means that the only class I have left is on Wednesday and it's a review. Then there's just the final on next Monday.

Tonight was our program's graduation ceremony. It was really short and at least a fourth of Korean students didn't attend. I think most of them were in the dorms studying for exams which are next week. (Koreans are kinda crazy about studying when it comes to exam time.) Everyone received a certificate of achievement (aka staying until the end.) Other awards were also given out. The top three teams, chosen, I believe, by the staff and teachers, were all given gift certificates. The top Korean students (one girl and one boy), voted on by the American students, were given certificates of merit and a gift certificate. Ironically, both were absent. I abstained from voting, because I had no idea who to vote for on the girl's side and, as I figured, the guy I would have voted for was chosen anyways. After that the top two International students (again a boy and a girl) were chosen, voted on by the Korean students. Tyler was chosen as the boy and, somehow, I was chosen as the girl. I was sure I had heard wrong, but they didn't stop me when I went up and my name is clearly typed on the certificate of merit. I also received a 100,000 won (~$100) gift certificate to the co-op on campus, which is awesome, because I was planning on buying stuff from there anyways. Then Tyler and I were told that we had to give a farewell speech. I don't even remember what I said, but I know that Tyler's was more elegant. But that's alright. I survived. One of the Korean students had to give one too and SooYoung finally volunteered to do it. He started out in English, but he was nervous, so we told him to speak in Korean, which he seemed to do much better in. After that we took a picture and then it was over. Fun.

Pain sucks. For most of today one side of my teeth has been hurting almost non-stop. This means that I also have been having a headache and a horrible earache on that side, too. I tried different things, but nothing was helping. The only thing that helped was when I cried. I was surprised. It was hurting so much and I was hormonal enough from being on my period, that I actually started crying a little. As I was wiping my tears away and blowing my nose, I realized that the pain had stopped. This happened a few more times. I don't know what's making the pain stop or start. It's really annoying. Luckily, *knock on wood*, my teeth don't seem to be bothering me at the moment. The real test will be when I go to sleep - or at least try to go to sleep.

With this happening and only 2 weeks to go (in exactly 2 weeks I'll be in the air on my way home,) I got really homesick and just wanted my mom. I put it off for about an hour and a half, but I finally gave in and called home around 3 am their time. My mom was nice and talked to me and I felt a bit better. I caught her up on most of what was happening in my life and she let me know that they bought a pool table and reassured me that, even though I wouldn't be able to apply to grad school for atleast another year, if for some reason I couldn't get a job, I could always turn to being a pool shark.

I love my mommy. <3 <3 <3

Got back from Seoul a couple of hours ago. Left on Friday and stayed the night there. It was fun. I had tacos Friday night, which was yummy. We ate at Dos Tacos and their sauce tastes like it could be from Tijuana Flats. I also got a 2008 planner with art by Park HeeJung. The art on the cover looked familiar, but I know now that I haven't read anything by this person. I still like the planner, though.

So I was only planning on staying in Seoul for a daytrip, leaving Friday night. But, Daisy found out about this 'hug event' and so I agreed to go with her to this event. It was cold and (more importantly) windy outside. We stayed outside for about four hours, waiting in line to get a ticket for her to claim her hug from Shindong, her favorite Super Junior member and then waiting in line to actually go and see them. I wasn't allowed to go inside the building, which sucked because it was so windy outside. The staff (two girls my age) that were outside were nice enough to let me and three mothers use their heater with them.

When they left I was going to leave for warmer weather elsewhere, but this young woman started talking to me in English. I found out she was waiting for her friends to come so they could all get their hugs. Her friends were working so she had gotten their tickets for them. Found out that she is 26 year old (Korean age) and a Yonsei University (Shinchon campus) alumni. I told her that I was studying at Yonsei and she got all excited.

It was fun talking to her and interesting to see her at an event like this. Most college aged girls won't say that they like boy bands. It seems to be an unwritten rule in South Korea that once you become a college student, you are too old to like boy bands. She admitted that she hasn't told her university friends or coworkers about her hobby, because of this view. I've only met one college student at my school that admits that she likes Super Junior. And I only found out that she liked them last Wednesday.

I kind of wish that I had bought all three version of their new album so I could have gotten a hug from Heechul, my favorite member. (Having all three versions with you was the requirement for you to be able to get a hug. I only have the first version.) But what would I do with three different versions of the same album? And why spend my money on that when I have other things I /need/ to buy. I think I would have been happy if I would have done it. (I mean, I would have gotten to hug Heechul.) But I am also happy having not done it. And now I don't have to worry about what to do with three versions of the same CD. Does that make me sound in denial? It shouldn't. Now I just need earplugs for when I'm around Daisy who was almost incoherent when I first saw her after she talked and hugged Shindong. 0:P

Time for bed. Yay for no school tomorrow! I get to sleep in!

Yay! It's snowing. I'm hoping for a white day tomorrow. Though I'll be going to Seoul in the morning, so I won't be able to fully enjoy it. Never-the-less - Happiness. ^_^

We were planning on going to Seoul just tomorrow. One of my friends is having an interview at a hagwon and so 'the gang' was going to accompany her and then visit other places. Then we found out that Super Junior (a Korean boy band) is having a 'free hug event' on Saturday. Of course this meant that Daisy /had/ to stay for Saturday to get her hug. And that meant I had to stay, too, because I'm a fan of theirs and I find her actions around boy bands highly amusing (we attended Asia Song Festival 2007 and Korea Sparkling Concert together.) A couple of the others decided it would also be fun to stay over and see this 'hug event'. So, we're staying until Saturday. It should be fun. ^_^

It's sleeting. Sleeting. I'm not entirely sure that's actually a proper word, but I think it works. But sleet. Here.

I think sleet should be banned. It's just the weather being indecisive. It just has to decide if it wants to be rain or snow before it drops. That's all. It's really very simple.

Luckily my last one-on-one meeting was rescheduled, otherwise I would be walking through the sleet right now. But I'm not. So I can just complain about it.

You know, I enjoy the cold, but I can see how a person can get tired of it winter after winter. It will be nice to go back to Florida where the only time (or two) it dips below freezing is late at night. I was hoping it would snow more before I left, but it's only snowed a few times and only once was it really substantial (ie we could have a snowball fight.) That's alright. I'm just happy to see snow at all.

Today the Korean students had presentations for their English classes. International (aka American) students helped each group. Most of them were really amusing. I felt bad for one group, because they had made an information board, because it was one of the options, but the way they had to present it was different than they expected so it didn't go over too well.

Aw, speaking of, Jaehyun is so adorable! I know I've thought this before and I will say on record that if I was a couple of years younger and staying in South Korea for any longer I would totally try to go out with him. He's too adorable and cute not to. That not being the case, though, I just enjoy him for what he is. XD

...Yeah, so anyways, on to the reason of mentioning him in this post. Yesterday I found 'The Polar Express' at the university library. It is one of my favorite children's Christmas books, so I felt compelled to check it out. I brought it with me to our one-on-one meeting that we have every week (this was our last week ;_;) and I made him read it. He actually liked it, which made me happy.

(For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story, it's about this boy who goes to the North Pole on the Polar Express train on Christmas Eve. He receives the first gift of Christmas which he asks for a silver bell from Santa's sleigh because it makes such a beautiful noise. Santa gives it to him. His parents can't hear the sound, however, and slowly everyone else around him stops hearing it, but he always does because he truly believes.)

Jaehyun walked with me back to the dorm, because we were both heading there. Right outside I met Jenny and talked to her about lunch for a minute. Jaehyun waited for me just outside the entrance, where the Christmas tree was standing. I was really paying attention, but when I walk towards him, he had one of the silver ornaments in his hand and was looking at it. He saw me and put it down so we could walk inside and as he entered he smiled and said, "It didn't make a sound."

He's so adorable! XD

...Okay, yeah, I'm done. I promise. Time for me to head to bed anyways. Early class tomorrow with a vocab quiz. Fun.

Gah. My teeth are bothering me so much right now. >< So, before I came to South Korea in August, I knew that I needed to get two root canals. I just didn't have enough time to get them done. I also have a few other cavities that need to be taken care of. They didn't bother me too much in the States, but every now and then they really act up here. I have to watch what I eat and I even sometimes have to be careful with how I breath in cold air.

And right now they're bothering me. T_T It wouldn't be sooo horrible if it was just my teeth that hurt, but when my teeth start hurting shortly after other parts of my head will start bothering me, too. My ears always start hurting. Right now the area right behind my jaw hurts also. These in turn are causing me to have a headache. It sucks.

Sometimes brushing my teeth works well to make my teeth feel better. Sometimes it can make it worse. Teeth suck. So do cavities and root canals. Though, unfortunately, I can really only blame myself for this happening. I just have to get them fixed as soon as possible once I get back.

Time to go brush my teeth.

Right now I'm an exchange student in South Korea with less than three weeks left before I go home. My feelings are mixed, but, at the same time, low-key. I'm happy that I'll be going back and seeing friends and family. I'm happy that I'll be seeing familiar sites and eating familiar food (yay for American food!) I'm also sad, though, that I'll be leaving my new friends. Besides being an extremely picky eater and not really speaking Korean, I have enjoyed living in South Korea and interacting with its people. I know I'm going to miss this place and my friends here once I leave.

I still have to buy a bunch of presents for people. Most of my friends are going to get the generic gift of phone straps. They're cute, so I think they'll like them. I still have to buy presents for my aunts and uncles and I'm not entirely sure what to get them. I suck at buying gifts - especially ones from another country that are uniquely Korean. I think I'm going to fall back on alcohol. That can work.

I bought a beta while I was here (you know, one of those fishies.) I couldn't stand having no pets and almost no interaction with animals for over three months. So he's hanging out here on my desk. The only thing is that I don't know who will take care of him after I leave, because I can't take him home.

Now I'm being rushed to get ready to have a picnic with the other Floridan who's here. Sounds... interesting. I have a feeling these last few weeks are going to go by very slowly and yet, at the same time, very quickly. Cheers.