I'm in the pleasant and care-free time of summer time in korea. It's raining constantly, but that should break in the next week or so, and after that, it's time again for sweet sweet vacation. Until then, i will plod along; attending classes, but not teaching; attending school, but not working. I am over my hump of depression that hit mid to late semester. A feeling of distance that was very great and anxiety related to the future plagued my mind for a while, exacerbated by the rainy days.

But i look forward to the summer holidays. For the last six years, i've taken vacation in the same set of days, the last week or two in july and the first week or two in august. It feels like that time of year again, and i embrace that. The plans are pretty exciting, we're going to kick off vacation with a concert in Seoul, called the Jisan Valley Rock Festival. Some notable acts are Weezer, Basement Jaxx, Patti Smith and Oasis, as well as a couple dozen Korean rock bands. For three days, the cost isn't too expensive. We picked up a tent to camp out over night, and i expect the event will be pretty awesome. Ryan Hillstead and Lisa Styles are also attending, so it'll be a Weyburn infused event.

After that, we will rent a car (i'm scared already) and drive down the west coast. We haven't explored that side of Korea at all and i'm excited at the opportunity to see a part of Korea that may offer a different view of the country...or may not. Either way, if we're not having fun, we can drive the entire length of the country in less than six hours. Our final destination of this leg will be Jeju-do, an island province only a few hours by ferry off of the southern coast. This place has been called the Hawaii of Korea, although having been to jeju one time before, i will say it's more like the florida of korea. We'll spend the largest part of our vacation here, I think, camping, snorkeling, and climbing the volcanic mountain, Hallasan, which happens to be the biggest mountain in South Korea.

If we are lucky, and the weather holds, we'll take a ferry over to Busan for a few days, and then into Japan. Last summer, we weren't able to do the southern part of the island, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, etc, so even just a few days will be enough time to pick up some of the spots we missed last year.

Then, all too soon, we'll be back at work, for another two to three weeks of not really working before the second and final semester begins. The time to return is coming down, though we have two more major excursions planned before we come back.

OH, and hard to believe i almost forgot. NINE INCH NAILS!!! YEAH!!! AUGUST 15th!!! ETP Festival!!! i'm thrilled to have this opportunity to see the band i love most play one last time. we were disappointed that we couldn't go to summersonic festival in japan because of financial reasons, but trent heard my wish (i'm sure), and has scheduled the last asian tour date in seoul, just for me...SWEET! oh, and limp bizkit is the other headliner...yay...

that's all for now, i swear i'll post more often this summer, i swear!

Lucky MOFO!! :D