Friends, for all those who I have not told, I recently finalized plans to teach English in Busan, South Korea for the next six months (and being paid millions of Won to do it), beginning January 31. I have not spent more than three weeks or so outside of the greater New York metropolitan area, so moving to the Far East will be quite the experience for me.
I’d prefer to spend the days prior to my departure watching basketball, Aussie Open tennis and researching all of the crazy weird food options I’ll have the chance to sample in Korea, but there are many things that one must do before he leaves the country.
Personally, these things include getting Visa Paperwork done with the South Korean Consulate, dropping more paperwork off at the Portuguese Consulate per my Portuguese Citizenship application and finalizing law school applications for my potential fall entry into law school.
Most consuming though has been packing. Six months is a time that I haven’t yet wrapped around my head. I don’t think its a really long time, but I don’t know what “stuff” I need in those two pieces of luggage (<50 pounds) and one carry-on bag (<25 pounds) that I am entitled to board the Korean Air plane with.
Seventeen pairs of boxer briefs, fifteen A-Shirts (aka wifebeaters), twenty pairs of socks are packed right now, but I need to add pants, shirts, shorts, shoes, belts and a few other accessory type items.
The toughest part of clothes selection will be determining which items are pack-worthy and which would just be a waste. For example, I’d like to pack a pair of bright green Adidas adicolor Kermit the Frog shoes, which are really sick, but are ridiculousy needless and impractical. I can’t wear them to work or to excersise and they are too loud to wear all the time when going out. So I will probably have to make the tough call on those.
Besides tough calls, packing has also made me aware of essential items that I lack. Thus far, I realized through the pack that I don’t have a watch, a second suitcase without a hole in it, a CD-wallet, a digital camera (at least as of now I can’t find my own) and a few books that I’d like to bring along for the trip. A few things to get between now and Friday.
In the coming months, I’ll be writing about more interesting than packing and dropping off notarized documents to consulates. Living in Korea should be a trip and then some and I hope to have a fair collection of stories and pictures to share with family and friends. More to come…..Technorati Tags: South Korea, Busan, Packing, Travelling
