Sit down. get ready. the horsemen of the apocalypse are on their way. how do we know that these are the end times? what are the signs? 2 of them have made themselves manifest in recent days:
1. I have a cell phone.
2. I have health insurance.
such things have never been heard of before.

I was in korea from...well, for about 9 days. i went to get my visa so i could work in japan legally (as opposed to "illegally", which was more of a technicality, really). i was warned that getting my actual visa could be a rather lengthy endeavor, so i gave myself 10 days, just in case. in reality, when i finally had everything in order and autographed, it took less than 24 hours. "come back tomorrow" they said. and it didn't even cost me anything. but, as if to show me that they still have the power to screw up my life in a really big way, they put my visa (my occupation is "religious activities") , which is a gargantuan sticker that takes up one whole page of my passport, over the stamp the koreans were nice enough to put in my passport when i came into the country. you know the one- it's red, it's my tourist visa, it proves that i entered the country legally, same old, same old. i didn't realize this fact until i tried to leave the country and the immigrations guy went through my passport about 8 times looking for that stamp, and i could feel the incredible weight of bureaucracy bearing down on me like an obstinate japanese official. then the guy just chuckled a bitter little chuckle, and gave me my exit stamp. one more reason why korea is better.

but not really. at least, not much.

Other than the little visa adventure, my time in korea was uneventful in a fun sort of way. ro flew to seoul and we hung out there long enough for me to get my visa, then we went to pohang, which is where she lives on the grounds of a college campus, and watched movies and hiked and played volleyball with the students. i realized that i don't miss being in school at all. all the homework, all the hours spent losing your eyesight to small print in bad lighting. it didnt' help that most of ro's friends study at the law school, which is not something that interests me in the least.

But, now i have my visa, so i went and got my alien registration, which i used to score with the national health insurance (paying 30% is a lot less than getting your brother to make you a cast from twigs and having a crooked arm for the rest of your life). then i got a little stamp that has my name on it and got that registered, complete with certificates in duplicate. then i went to the bank and opened up myself a bank account (which, sadly enough, comes with money sold separately), and got myself a cell phone. my number (from americaville) is: 011-81-80-3468-7427. any guesses as to which of those long list of action points took the longest? that's right: the cell phone. japanese bureaucracy is a lot better than i'm used to- they seem to have found the perfect formula for having exactly one person more than is absolutely needed, which means there's never a line, but just barely.

Well, it's not like winter even gave fall a chance- so cold, so bitterly cold. it happened in what seemed like overnight- one day it's a little chilly and brisk, the next you're so cold you wanna die. there's been no snow, or even ice, that i've seen, but i'm sure it's there, in as much shock as the rest of us about the sudden weather change. the rain has stopped, and i think i prefer the cold to the rain. at least when you bike hard in the cold you get warm. now if i could only figure a way to get drier the longer you bike in the rain...