Friday, August 22, 2008

It was a dark and stormy day



Tropical Storm Fay is whipping by at up to 50 miles per hour and the forecast calls for half a foot or more of rain. Already, when I went out to the back yard to record the attached video, I sank up to the ankle.

I guess I'm being prepared for the monsoon season next summer in Korea. For now, I'm on a deserted island in a sea of uncertainty. (I'll try to avoid force-feeding you any more metaphors.) (Ah, crap, I did it again.)

I'm pretty isolated in the house, as the authorities are telling everyone to stay home. There's no place to go, anyway; I don't need anything from outside and it's dangerous to drive... even more dangerous than it usually is when I drive. As long as I have my Web and my tv, I'll manage, though it is a little lonely. I just hope that the power stays on and the plastic sheeting doesn't blow off the valuables waiting on the porch for the garage sale that will theoretically take place on Saturday.

As for the uncertainty, I'm waiting for email from Like School in Daegu giving me a visa registration number from the Korean government. Then I'll need to make an appointment with the Korean consulate in Atlanta: twelve hours of driving for a ten-minute interview to prove that I'm a native English speaker. Apparently a master's degree in teaching English isn't proof enough. Then the school will buy me a ticket. Oddly, there don't seem to be any direct flights from St. Augustine to Daegu.

I'm supposed to be working in Korea on September 1; if the timeline the school gave me is accurate, I'll hear from them sometime between today and Monday, unless of course it takes longer, as it sometimes does.

So the whole deal is up in the air, and I want things to move. I wish I were there now.

Thanks for reading... please keep checking back. I bet I get better at this. Maybe the next entry will be entertaining. You never know.

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