I had a great four day trip to Beijing over the Lunar New Year break. I joined a friend from my hall on a bus tour and saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and other such noteworthy sights. A good time was had by all, and pictures have been posted. Perhaps I will find time to add captions before long.
I added some new pictures from my last trip to Korea and a few in Miscellaneous as well. More will be up soon, and I’ll get the captions edited shortly. Enjoy.
Last Saturday I returned home from two months in Seoul. Perhaps you think I will tell you that the key to beating jet lag is to stay awake the entire trip so that you’re so exhausted that you have no difficulty getting to sleep at the right time and thereby reset your internal clock. Well, I tried this (30 hours straight with no sleep), and it works. But there’s a problem. Did you notice the words “you’re so exhausted”? Isn’t that what I was trying to avoid in the first place? So now I’m back to a normal sleep schedule, but all that lost sleep weakened my immune system and I came down with a cold, in addition to still being pretty tired. Nevertheless, I have to admit it’s better than the last return trip, when I could barely stay awake at work for several days. I guess this is the best I can hope for.
A friend from my congregation back home (see, I still call Spokane “home”) is on his way to Mali, where he’ll spend 8 months doing … whatever it is you do in an extremely poor semi-arid desert country with a 45% literacy rate. I presume this would involve ostriches and camels. Although there is still some question regarding internet availability, we hope to follow his exploits at: http://kalebwenzel.podcastpeople.com
Apparently I’ve been pretty slack at updating my friends and family with the minor detail of my delayed return to the States, cause I’ve had several people, my mom included, wondering if I was already home. Well, people, even though I know you probably won’t think of checking here due to my complete failure to update this site, I’d still like to go on record as having informed you that I will not be returning home until October 13th. However, it’s a bit like I’m going on a vacation to the States, because the plan is to return yet again to Korea on November 11th. It’s starting to feel like home here. Kinda weird.
I now have a working internet phone with a Spokane phone number and a cell phone with a Seoul number so friends on both sides of the Pacific can contact me without paying crazy international rates. Since both numbers will likely be used for the long term, I’d rather not post them, but feel free to drop an e-mail to dan@danhochee.net if you would like and I’ll be glad to share. Besides, it would be nice to hear from you, since we never talk these days.
I returned to Seoul with no problems and I’m settled into my new apartment. It’s small but nice. I look forward to seeing friends again at the meeting tonight (Friday night, here).
I hope to have pictures posted soon.
My departure date was adjusted back to what I originally suggested, which means leaving next Tuesday morning, Aug 14th, arriving on the evening of the following day. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Korean food?
To my friends in Colorado: Do you feel better now that I’ve included you? 
For those of you who have known me for a while, you’re probably familiar with the unending series of unfortunate events that keep my life interesting and my friends entertained. Well, here’s the latest installment: a car accident.
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I’ll be heading back to Seoul for round two on August 19th (arriving two days later due to the length of travel and time difference). It will be great fun to see all my new friends again.