Today marks our eighth month in the Republic of Korea. That's two-thirds of our contract time. What follows is a description of what's currently on our minds, and a description of what we will be doing before our return to the PNW.
This second semester has gone by quite quickly so far, it's already halfway over, and I'm sure that the rest of our time will go by quickly too. Next week students take their mid-term exams, which for us means three days or so of sitting at our desks with no work to do. Not bad, but boring at times. After mid-terms we have eight weeks until the students take their final exams during the first week of July, and the term ends on July 18th. Between the 18th and when we leave, we have to do a three week English camp. This is the most variable factor in our remaining time, we probably won't know much about the camp until late June. Other than that, we might take a weekend our two out of Seoul, and possibly a three day trip to Japan, though that might be to much of a hassle.
We have our departure date set, we'll be leaving Korea on August 15th, a little more than a week before our contract officially finishes on the 24th because of our remaining vacation time. We also know the date we'll be home, on October 9th, as we've already purchased those tickets. The intervening weeks will be spent on a trek westward around the northern hemisphere across Eurasia.
Our tentative plan is to take a ferry from Seoul to China, where we will spend a few days in Beijing. Unfortunately, this coincides with the 2008 Summer Olympics, which probably means we've chosen the absolute worst time imaginable to visit that city since the Tianemen Square Protests of 1989. We've already run into trouble simply trying to find information about trains from Beijing, reservations have been blocked by the Chinese government for some reason, and you can only get tickets three days in advance. Nevertheless, we've booked rooms (at about 5 times the normal rate) and we plan to buy tickets onward to Ulan Bator, Mongolia when we arrive.
We will be taking the Trans-Mongolian branch of the Trans-Siberian railway, the longest railway in the world. From Beijing we will go to Ulan Bator, Mongolia, spending a few days there. Then on to Irkutsk, Russia, near Lake Baikal, the worlds deepest lake, and the largest by volume of water. From Irkutsk, we will likely stop somewhere on the way to Moscow, or else spend the three-and-a-half days on the train. From Moscow we'll head north to St. Petersburg, then cross over into Finland visiting Helsinki. Then a boat to Stockholm, Sweden, and the train again, south into mainland Europe by way of Denmark, spending some time in Copenhagen.
By the second week of September we'll meet Katie's sister Kim somewhere in western Europe, travel around a bit, and finish up in Munich in time for Oktoberfest. Unfortunately, this means starting and ending our journey during some of the biggest festivals in the world, so we're not exactly planning the most cost-efficient route. In any case, we will be leaving from Düsseldorf, Germany on October 8th and flying into Vancouver, B.C. this route saves us some money, but we'll have to take a bus south into the States.
So, between now and August we'll be pretty busy just trying to figure out all of the details for this trip, if nothing else. Researching, arranging visas, purchasing tickets, reserving rooms, and synchronizing schedules is enough to occupy a lot of our free time. But at least we won't be too bored, twiddling our thumbs while watching the second hand on the clock. It's better to be busy so the time goes by faster.
No comments:
Post a Comment