::A Geek in Korea::

Since my computer is packed away awaiting its trip across town tomorrow, I ended up going to a PC room to type tonight. We decided that Seoul wasn’t a possiblity today. We were simply too tired from the day of packing. We got everything we could in boxes, wrapped, and ready to go. Once we had done that, we took Yoshi for his first walk outdoors.

Yoshi loves following us around in his verandah, but as soon as I put the leash on him and tried to get him to follow, he laid down and refused to move. Luckily he is easily persuaded by snacks. I carried the snack bag in my pocket, and whenever he would stop walking I gave the bag a rattle to remind him he got a treat if he kept moving. Eventually he started following us around. The three of us had a nice jog around the block. Exercise at last!

I took him for a second walk alone when I got up from a nice long nap. I had better luck getting him walking without feeding him constant snack alone, but he was really interested in everyone other than me that he met on the walk. He would sit or lay down when I wanted to get him to walk past a person he hadn’t met yet. Several children saw us together, but none of them approached. I don’t think they were scared of the dog. Some of the old women laughed when Yoshi started following them around as they exercised. At that point I was following him, not vice verca. Eventually I got him back into the apartment, and he looked contented.

The best thing about the new apartment will be the opportunity to walk Yoshi around the large parks nearby. I’ve got two days of relative calm after we unpack and before we leave that will be spent with Yoshi exploring the park near the river. We’ll go to Seoul on Thursday before we leave for the United States on vacation to pick up some souveniers. Anyone that wants something, post some ideas in the comments section. Sorry, but you are going to need to visit me when I’m in the States to pick it up.

When I arrived in Korea, I had a backpack and a suitcase to my name. Five years later, I’ve got an apartment so full of stuff they will probably need to use a lift device to move it all. Bed, television, bookcases, tons of books, games, a computer. All of it is getting packed for the move tomorrow. As such, our internet connection is getting cut this afternoon, and I’ve got to put my computer in a box. We are about 80% finished packing things up.

Tomorrow some movers we hired will come, possibly with a lift truck, and start hauling our belongings across town. Then tomorrow is delivery day, with the furniture and appliances set to arrive. The Internet should be restored sometime tomorrow afternoon at our new place, so I can resume telling you about how much it sucks to move. Right now, there is a mountain of things we have already, and we are planning to go to Seoul if we get everything packed today.

We need to bring gifts when we meet the family, so not only do we have too much stuff, we have more shopping to do. I have the week off before our trip, but I wasn’t allowed to go shopping on my own in Seoul for the gifts. I guess my taste isn’t up to someone’s standard. The last time I went home I bought Anime style Transformer figurines for my friends. I’m sure my grandmother would love my taste in gifts.

Anyway, lots of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it. All this drama had to happen during Korea’s rainy season. We haven’t had a clear day in a week. Now to dig in the cords of my computer and detach the beast from the net. See you on the flip side!