Hilary Meets the Land of the Morning Calm

Moving home from my apartment in QC went much more smoothly than I could have hoped. I did the majority of my packing Friday afternoon when I got out of work, and was worried when I realized that my packed boxes took up a good portion of the living room. I showed the mountain to Dad when he arrived but he seemed perfectly confident, so I stopped worrying.



After a last home cooked meal of curry, and drinking some of our recently home-brewed beer, a card game of Rummy began between my Dad, Shige, and Alejandro (my two roommates this summer). This card game was to continue until 2AMish, finishing at the most popular bar in town, The Golden Lion. Pitchers were had, card games were lost, and a good time had by all. It was a perfect last night out.

With the help of Shige and Alejandro's muscles, the truck was loaded incredibly fast Saturday morning, and Dad and I were soon on our way. Thankfully, customs decided not to search through the mountain of stuff in the bed of the truck. Saturday night and Sunday have been full of family visiting. My stepbrother Dave and his wife Ariel came down from ME, Ellen's sister Rachel, her daughter Jordy, and her boyfriend Evan spent the night on their way to vacation on the cape, my stepbrother Zeke graced us with his presence (for both dinner and brunch!) and my brother Bryn came with his wife Carrie, and their two boys Oliver and Elliott. Boy have both my nephews grown! Here at my parents house we do not have TV, and let me tell you, we don't need it, as these two toddlers are more than adequate entertainment for 10 adults! I would also like everyone to know that I ate a wing of barbq chicken for dinner under Zeke's supervision (we are preparing me for my undoubtedly non-vegetarian lifestyle in Korea.)

Today it is off to the Korean consulate in Boston for my visa interview (standard procedure for all first-time applicants for the E-2 work visa). After I will be meeting up with my cousin Jenna and going to Plum Island for some beach time with our grandmother. I will be going to visit my other paternal grandmother in CT later in the week.

On a final note, I woke up this morning to an email from my employer notifying me my tickets have been bought. There was a second email with the electronic tickets. Departure day is Sunday morning, with a flight leaving from Boston at 9AM. There is a transfer in Chicago, and my final flight leaves at 10:30, with an arrival in Seoul at 4PM their time. (They are 12 hours ahead of us too, so if you do the math, that equals a very, very long flight!)