TRANSITION...UGH...SPRING...YAY!

Ah...I am having a rough couple of weeks. Here is a pic of Cari's goodbye party at a very hipster spot in the trendy-yet-outta-the-way-the-way-hipstersl-like-it neighborhood called Gangnam-gu cheong. Theres a lot of happy faces and good people in this picture. and all of them,

are departing slowly yet sequentially from my life. It is weeks between each departure, but it seems like a blink, and they're gone. I'm looking back at photos from memopries that seem like yesterday and relizing that it was ten months ago that Nina and I sat at Olympic park and sipped hot chocolate from the wrap around porch at Tous Les Jours coffeeshop, and it was five months ago that I was excited for the first snowfall, rushing off to the park to build snowmen with my dear friends. It's been two months since my last concert, a week since my last good climb, and two days since my last goodbye. it's killing me a little bit each time. Maybe i'm being melow-dramatic, but i've been here nearly 3 years, and every six months or so, I have to go to parties, and live it up till my good friends leave, and then I have to go out and meet new people and have this conversation:

"So, hi, I'm Susan"

"Nice to meet you, too"

"Where are you from?"

"Seattle...well near Seattle...but I lived there before moving to Korea."

"What brings you to Korea?"

"Ah...interesting...hmmm...."

"Yup, yup, I work at a public school. Did my time at a hagwon...oh really? you work at a hagwon and you like it? good for you."

"...? just about two and a half years...yeah I guess I can speak a little Korean."

"So do you like hiking? is this your fist time with __such n' such__'s group?"

"Oh...I see..."

"You hate kids? then why are to teaching kids???"

ugh....stop already i'm bored!

So yes, I go thru this convo so many times.

yesterday I hiked. and it happened again and again. I listen to this convo more than i take the time to have it anymore.I would rather ask, "Who's your favorite Pooh Character?" or whatever else is on my mind. The other one I hear a lot is travel-talk. What to do/see in Thailand, Malaysia, India...oh yes, I've been there, you must go try blah blah blah....

Sometimes it's interesting, It's just so distant, removed, and easy convo.

I got bored on the hike yesterday, even though the view was INSANE, and we literally climbed up the face of the mountain at times. most of the way up, actually was practically vertical. I promise to post some pics, but I didn't take any while hiking, too busy focusing at the work at hand!

Kate and I sang a lot of songs and it was joyous, and I found myself thinking about what I would miss about Cari a lot. That's the thing about hiking, though. If you have things to sort out, it can really clear your head. but if you're trying to distract onesself, you very well may find yourself bawling on the side of a mountain, or downright miffy, at the least.