So Long Seoul

Hello Readers!

Well, here we go again. All of my worldly possessions are back into boxes and bags, though now on two continents. We leave in about 15 hours for Bangkok. A flight leaving Seoul will drop us in Beijing for 6 hours before another flight gets us to Bangkok, estimated arrival around midnight. We'll be lucky to see our beds by 2am.

Dear Lord, are we excited.

So how are we doing at the end of our tour here in Korea? Well, let's see..

• We didn't make it the full year, something that irks us both. But the stories coming from PLUS in the 5 days since we left are enough to confirm that, if anything, we stayed too long.
• The biggest noticeable difference is the weight loss. I arrived in Korea weighing in around 245 lbs. I leave weighing right about 215 lbs. It'll prolly be coming in around 200 lbs. by the time I get stateside again.
• Less fantastic is the sudden paleness I've noticed. All this time in a big city, with winter, is just making me more and more pale. I hate it. Plus, all this time wearing jeans actually wore the hair off parts of my legs. I'm looking forward to flip flops and cargos again.
• Speaking of which, this winter thing sucks. When I blogged earlier about it I talked about the snowball fights and the snowmen, and left out the hell that is winter. The black slush that just covers the whole damn city is disgusting and maddening. I'm tired of having a stuffy nose, and it taking fifteen minutes to get dressed to go outside. You want a white Christmas? Great. Go north, take pictures. Don't mess up my home with your prayers for snow...
• Did I mention I'm tired of the cold?
• This part feels like a game show: if Jen and I pack up now and come home (not gonna happen), played it safe and waited on the exchange rate we'd have 17k in our pockets. Nuts, huh? If we travel and spend some we'll have less, obviously, but there is a chance we can make even more than we thought. So do we take the money, or see what's behind door number 2? (The answer is Door #2... hopefully you've already figured that out)

I promised pictures.



This is the staff of Rocky Mountain Tavern, where I spent entirely too much time. These guys were amazing. They are, from left, Julie in the white, Thor is the guy above her, Sarena is the one whose face is poking between Jen and I. She quit a few months back, as did the girl in black on the other side of me (I don't remember...) Hi-yah is above and behind Jen, Joy is in the green, Ronin is the one looking confused. That last duo has Jackie Chan with Don Juan on his shoulders. Hopefully a few of them will make the jump across the pond- they were a trip.



Here's a picture of Al's Korean Wives- Angel, Rachel, Whatsherface, and Jennifer. Don't get worried, they're only Korean wives. They don't count in the USA. Except Whatsherface, apparently. She thinks she's coming to Bangkok with me.


This is Drew. He wore Guiness pajama pants with a belt to brunch on Sunday morning. Now, you could point out that we have brunch at a bar, but that's not the point. The point is he wore a belt with pajama pants. And that is AWESOME. Drew and I have been tearing apart Seoul alongside the gents in the next picture. I think you'll get a chance to meet them...


This is Harrison, aka Tank, Mike, and some goofy lookin old guy. I don't have time to get into why he's called Tank. Just trust me, he deserves it. But I *do* have time to tell you he's Jewish, and I got his bacon at breakfast. Friend Status: Confirmed.


Here's some random pretty girls to make all of you single guys feel dumb for not coming to Korea with us. See how sad they are?!?!


:::LONG PAUSE:::

Ok, now it's around 6am. We still haven't slept, but I gotta get this out before I go. We're off like a rocket, folks. Say a prayer.

But we are, for better or worse, bringing the laptop. Wifi is plentiful in Southeast Asia, and the streets are made of cheese. So sayth Fivel.

We'll try to post when we land, if only a line or two. We love you!!!!!

-Al & Jen