Plans, plans, and more plans

So I need to book my flight to Korea soon which requires some serious contemplation on what I want to do after the program ends. I assumed that this trip would be much like the Japan trip, i.e. no one would want to make concrete plans so I ended up traveling on my own that last week. Not that it was a bad thing, I quite enjoyed being able to just do whatever I wanted. But I did miss not having anyone to talk to at meals. With Korea, it seems I was grossly mistaken in expecting the same sort of dynamic. It seems that there a quite a few people in the Korea group that like to plan rather than wing it. There has already been quite a bit of discussion about a trip to Japan after the program ends and some mention of coordinating a trip to Jeju island during the program. Overall, this makes me happy. I can wing things if needed, but I do like to have an actual plan with an idea as to what will be happening. If the plans for Japan actually materialize (and since I am mostly dealing with engineers here, I think they will) then I will probably join the group for a while, then split off to do my own thing when they go to places I ‘ve been before (though I think I do want to go to Kyoto again). I’ve already talked to my host mother and I will need to plan in some time to stay with them. I am really excited to see them again, though kind of horrified too – Emi (the mother) just told me that Waka has just started kindergarden! She was just a baby when I met her! Oh well, at least Emi shouldn’t have changed much. I’m not sure how much the kids will remember me anyway…. I love taking to Emi because she always makes it clear that she loves me as much as I love them. When I first emailed her, I asked if the family would still be in Kyushu (their hometown to which they typically travel every August for the Obon festival). I thought that they would be back in Yokohama (near Tokyo) by the time I would be able to go to Japan, but if they were in Kyushu I was just going to travel that island. When she wrote back to me, she apologized for the fact that they were not going to still be in Kyushu because they needed to drive back. She then offered to look into flying to Kyushu so that she and the girls could stay longer to see me. Which is really going out her way, but made me feel wanted, so I can't deny that I liked it. Not that I would let her do it. It's easier for me to go to Yokohama anyway. Alright, more later!

Active once again

After my 2008 trip to Japan, I let this blog lie unactive since I haven't had any adventures quite as fun as that. But it is now fairly official that I will be going to S. Korea this summer for at least 8 weeks to have more fun (and do some research too). I've changed the name of the blog to reflect the fact that this time, I will be working on Anthozoans (sea anemones and relatives) rather than the super annoying (to work with at least) Medusozans (jellyfish, hydra, ect.). I'm sure that I will end up posting randomly like I did in Japan (I never really did post on all of my travels at the end) but hopefully I'll be a bit better than last time. In any case, I'll post again before I go to talk about exactly where I'm going (short answer Seoul) and what I will be doing while I am there. Ja mata ne/Annyeong!