Here We Are

I know trips halfway around the world aren't the arduous journeys they once were, but this one was still quite a voyage. At 5:00 am Charlotte time, Bobby and I entered airport world, and 24 hours later we are sitting here in Seoul awaiting our final flight. There is something very surreal about spending so much time in airplanes and airports. Maybe it's the recirculated air. Anyways, obstacles we encountered on our journey were many: I got airsick for the first time, we were sent to the customs office in Seoul when I blithely reported that I planned to stay in Daegu for two years, despite my lack of a visa, and we quested for an ATM that would accept our cards once we arrived in Incheon. The fifth one worked, and we were rewarded with coffee and dinner.

I have already encountered a few strange and interesting things. There was a white noise machine in my bathroom stall. We had dinner at a Korean food court, which is nothing like the American variety. Bobby and I placed our orders at the counter and paid for our food. We then helped ourselves to some free appetizers and waited for our number to appear over the food counter. Once it did, Bobby retrieved two huge wooden bowls of food, still steaming, along with additional bowls of soup and rice, while I got our utensils: steel chopsticks and spoons. Our utensils all came from a UV heater, which I guess keeps them sanitary. The food was tasty, though spicy, and Bobby was pleased with his pork.

Next stop, Daegu! I can't wait to take a shower.

It's Official

My orders are finally here. I accepted my job offer a little over two weeks ago, but I was not to consider it firm until I passed my background check. As of today, I no longer live in the limbo of knowing I'm leaving, but being unable to do many of the things I need to do to prepare. I'm officially going. Success!! Living abroad has been my dream since I studied in Wales as an undergrad and discovered that there's an entire world out there I haven't seen. I can bask in the knowledge that three weeks from now I will be having adventures in an exotic place. That's lovely for a few seconds... and then I remember that between now and then I have to arrange to have our stuff shipped, buy plane tickets, close out our lease, close our bank, cable, power, water, auto insurance, and cellphone accounts, make arrangements for my retirement account and final paychecks, sell my car, give the post office a forwarding address (when I get one, that is), get medical files, stock up on prescriptions....well, you get the idea. In short: AAAAAAAUUUGGHHH!!!

It's going to be a busy few weeks, but at least I won't have time to dwell on the enormity of what I am doing. I've never been to Korea, or even Asia. The semester I spent abroad my junior year in college changed me. Arriving at a train station in a country whose language I didn't know with no place to stay and limited funds, yet managing to feed and shelter myself like a responsible adult, gave me confidence that the myriad of self empowerment lessons I had in grade school failed to provide. I know this experience will be different from traveling as a student: I will actually have responsibilities. I have two libraries to run. I can only imagine the person I will be after I finish this journey. As a future colleague in Yongsan keeps telling me, if I can do this, I can do anything.

Though, of course, this time around I have someone to share the experience with. This blog will be about our experiences in a far off place, the (so I am told) incomparable Land of the Morning Calm.

Radical Reference Library of Congress Subject Heading Blog-a-thon

Dear Library of Congress,

This subject heading is long overdue:

Afro-Hispanic Literature (cross reference to Spanish American Literature-Black Authors)

I also suggest Afro-Hispanic Studies and Afro-Hispanic Poetry.

Not only are there several works out there on Afro-Hispanic topics, such as:

Afro-Hispanic Review: Publication of the Afro-Hispanic Institute

Afro-Hispanic poetry, 1940-1980 : from slavery to Negritud in South American verse

John Lipski, A history of Afro-Hispanic language: Five centuries, five continents

There have also been conferences on the subject.

On behalf of reference librarians everywhere, I thank you in advance.


Note: I have tagged this post rr_lcsh2008 and for:radical_reference