**Warning, warning, long log!**
Day 26:
As I was sitting on the subway going to work, minding my own business, an angry looking man comes up to me and shoves a bunch of bible pamphlets. I pretended not to notice and did nothing, but he was staring- no, GLARING at me, and wouldn't budge one bit until I took that sheet of paper from his hands.
To mention an odd phenomenon that always occurs when I go to Korea; people always, and I mean, ALWAYS, ask me for directions. Once I had four people ask me for directions on a single day, even though I'm probably more clueless than they'd ever be since I didn't even live here for most of my life. I also get easily approached by people with pamphlets, surveys, or weird pseudo-religion beliefs. I really wonder why. Do I look helpful? Or perhaps easy to exploit? I'll never know.
ANYWAY back to the bible pamphlet: there were two sheets, one in Korean and one in English. The English one seemed innocuous enough, with descriptions about prayer meetings and the benevolence of Jesus Christ our lord and savior. Okay, fine. I read the Korean one, which was probably five times more wordy, and... ah, there we are. It's one of those pamphlets again. The extremist, homophobic kind.
It also said that after investigating five generations of atheists and Christians, the atheist family had criminals, bums, and people who couldn't read, while the Christian family had resectable students, high-paying businessmen, and successful politicians. Therefore, be good Christians.
There is so much that I could say about this, but why don't we skip it and go on our merry way.
It was the last day of the Holt Motherland Camp, therefore there was nobody in the office but one worker. Obviously, workload was really low. In the middle of work, we both went to the other building across the street to see a bit of the Motherland Camp closing ceremony. The adoptees were all dressed in either hanbok or Taekwondo uniforms, and the ceremony took place in Korean and English (the one I translated). I felt quite important. I wanted to see Ms. A again, the one whom I translated for during her birth family reunion, but she had to leave early due to flight issues.
Day 27:
The last day of work!
Since the camp was all over, the office was busy again, and I was therefore busy again for the first time in a week or two. I realized that one's performace flies when one knows that it's the last day of work; I took calls like a pro when I used to be awkward and unsure all this time, took notes of appointments, organized shelves, and of course, tranlsated like mad. It was hectic.
At the end, the workers there gave me a bunch of stuff as thanks, and said many compliments that I was very, very flattered. Good to know that my translations are pretty superb. I could have melted to the ground from all the sweet words. The item haul (?) was pretty awesome stuff. I want to go to Jeju island again! With friends! I didn't know their souvenir foodstuff had gotten insanely awesome since the last time I went there!
Though I had to go back one last time the next day to fetch my certificate and recommendation letters. Ah, well. I'm done for now. Now I can really feel that the end of my Korea trip is near.
Day 28:
If I had to describe the day, it would be: public transit.
I headed out at 11:30AM to fetch proof that I worked for Holt the past month of July. I picked up my stuff from the main building, went to the building that I worked with, and had to wait a bit for my recommendation letter because the office was mad busy again. In the meantime, I gave them a packet of cookies I bought on the way as a present, picked up some calls, and even translated a letter, though I was officially done with work. "But you translate so well! I can't resist asking for one!" was what the worker said as she asked me for the task. Oh, well, it wasn't as if I was too busy that day.
After picking up the letter, I went to my grandmother (dad's mother)'s house one last time, and it took twenty-one subway stations from where I work, including transferring lines. I'm not good with finding my way in Korea, but after this, I'm pretty sure I'll have absolutely no problems with subway. At all.
I always feel rather pampered when I visit my grandmother and my uncle since they offer a lot of foodstuffs whenever I go there. Ice cream, watermelon, (Korean) pear. Once again, all sweet. But at least two out of three were fruits that contained a lot of fluid. With the heat and the amount of time I travelled, I needed it. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS OF RIDING AND WALKING AROUND.
While taking me back to my aunt's house by car, my uncle (dad's younger brother) gave me a little speech about social interactions. He is one of the (rare) male relatives with some pretty useful advice since he's a teacher and all. I'll... take that into mind. I just need to have some guts, like I always do.
Day 29:
Museum day.
Okay, so my cousin had to do his summer homework involving going to the museum, but still. It was my first time going to the Korea National Museum, so I was up for the trip.
The building was pretty large and impressive, complete with lake. A LAKE! within the building! It even had tadpoles and lotus flowers and all!
The interior was impressive as well, and it contained various treasures dating all the way to the stone ages till contemporary. We went to see the Goryeo bronze mirror exhibit, Goreyo celadon porcelain, Joseon white porcelain, and the prehistoric exhibits.
What else can I say about old, preserved stuff lying in museums? It was impressive. The porcelains, especially, are quite pretty, so were the mirrors; there were too many designs, large and small, to count.
The museum also contained other Asian and Central Asian exhibits. It'd take more than a day to go through it all.
Next we went to see the special exhibit of Greek and Roman sculptures, delivered from the British National Museum. "Gods, heroes, and mortals" were the theme of the exhibit. While walking around I couldn't help but notice that the ancient Greeks had... life forms being born from almost anything. Medusa's blood and sea water, Zeus's thigh, Zeus's head, Hephaestus' reproductive fluids and dirt...
"Instant life, just add anything!"
My little cousin, being at the silly age and not knowing much of Greek/Roman mythology, shrieked and giggled awkwardly at all the naked men and women. "Ancient Greek and Roman people are perverts!" was the immortal quote that he cried out.
And then we came back all exhausted and aching. And I really need to sleep now.
At a moment of depression and anger, I sprouted out a very sad facebook status. Well, I did feel like crying a bit at the moment - all the happy, active people meeting old friends and new, excited about everything and everyone, while I sit here friendless. And although I had a great time with my job and experiences here in Korea, the fact that my oldest friend in contact just stopped calling all of a sudden and wouldn't pick up the phone was quite a stinger, along with the fact that I had almost no friends this summer. We were friends for seven long years, after all, and he's always been a nice guy, so being left in the dark so suddenly hurt me more, I guess.
I should probably move on and forget about it, at this rate, just call him next year and be all, "Hey, where did you disappear off to last year, you cruel, cruel thing? What's up?"
