The Downward Spiral

I've been lax in posting to my blog; apologies to any faithful readers I may have.

I guess I've reached the point they tell us about when beginning a life in the foreign service, when you don't have much time left at your current post and you start focusing on the things you don't like about the place/people/culture/whatever. I guess it's a subconscious effort to detach yourself from the place, since there are inevitably things that you like about it and will be sad to leave behind.

Perhaps this finally hit me when I realized that the people we had language training with were starting to depart post. The first of the group left last Thursday, and the rest will leave in the next two months or so. Thanks to the assignment fiasco and tour extension that came of it, we'll be the last to leave.

Having been here a year and nine months already, there are more and more strange faces/names at the Embassy community. At least the Koreans are a constant, and will likely be here when we come back in a few years (almost everyone who is assigned to Korea comes back for another tour, like it or not).

So, I guess I'll have to do my best not to think about how most Korean public restrooms have a bin next to the toilet where you're supposed to put your used tissue (Koreans seem to think that toilets can't handle flushing the paper -- or maybe they use way more than they need), or about the numerous laughable superstitions about food (such as bean paste eliminating the cholesterol from extremely fatty meats).

Ah, well. On the bright side, I'll be done in Public Affairs at the end of September so I'll have a little free time before we head back for home leave.