So, that's it

Unbelievably and probably with little anticipation, this is my last post from Korea.

How did it come to this? Really. Where did this last year go? Time flies when you're in a foreign country, keeping up with Asian life, looking for a job in Canada, looking for a home in Canada, buying a car, packing everything you own in four bags, planning a trip around the world with a twoyearold, planning a trip to Florida three days after you get home and potty training. It all really does just pass you by.

And now here we are. 11:00 pm on Tuesday, eight hours before we get in a taxi to the bus station, on our way to Busan, before we fly to Beijing. I wish the gypsy lifestyle was as cool and carefree as they say.

I had no intention of my final post from here being rushed. I always thought it'd be this long, well thought out reflection, with wonderful metaphors and summaries of important lessons learned over the last year. Instead it's a scattered blurb I'm writing in between packing and cleaning. And our last day has been a total mess. I suppose there'll be time for reflection later.

So, one final story of confusion and incompetency, something that goes hand-in-hand with being a resident of this grey, grey place. The plan all along, as dictated by Carmen's school, has been for her to go to the school this afternoon and pay our final utility bills and pick up the damage deposit we put down last March. It was inconvenient, but whatever. As we were packing this afternoon Carmen's co-teacher, Su, shows up with three men. One was the gas man, the other was the school accountant and the third was just some random short, bald guy who seemed to not really have a job but yelled a lot. Su says they're going to cut the power, gas and heat. "When?" Carmen asks. "Right now," she says. 2:00 in the afternoon. We look at her, stunned, and say that's impossible. "Oh, but we talked about, remember?" she says. Hmm, no, we don't remember that, because it never bloody happened. How the hell are we supposed to live with no electricity, heat or ability to make food? The amazing part is it took us quite a while to make them realize how completely, utterly ridiculous that is. Then they tell us we owe two months worth of utilities. The problem is we only owed one, because I paid last month's last week. The gas and electrical companies won't have record of this until Thursday which means they don't know for sure if we've paid and, of course, they don't believe we have. So Su tells us we need to pay for both months and if it turns out we have paid, they'd wire us the money to Canada next week. Again, the amazing part is it took us a while to make them realize how ridiculous and illogical that is. Then, before they leave (an hour later) they tell us we have to pay for today's use of the utilities. I'm in shock as they discuss whether it should be ten or fifteen dollars. I grab the calculator and divide last months bills by 30 and show them they're asking for four dollars. FOUR DOLLARS. They realize how incredibly stupid that is and sheepishly take a handful of change from me. To top it all off, Carmen has to take our house keys to the school before we leave in the morning, but they want the door to be locked. So, Cate and I have to stand outside with our stuff and wait for her to come back. Think that'll happen? Me neither.

The upside is we're going to Beijing tomorrow. Once the stressful stuff is over with, I'll write a bit more about how this chapter of our lives has finished up. If possible, I'd like to add photos and an update from Beijing, but chances are I won't have time in between sleeping and being a tourist.

It's been fun.