I'm here

Today might have been the longest day of my life. We got into Daegu last night at 11:30pm, and were off to school this morning at 9:30am for an eleven hour day.
I'm going to bed in a minute, but before I forget:

The preschool kids' favorite song is the theme from "Ghostbusters". They absolutely went wild when we played it.

The 15 year old Alice wrote in her composition: " Second, I can read books everywhere. Think about it. Can you watch rad movies in a subway? Probably not. But you can certainly read books everywhere."

Now Alice is famous, and we are all entertained.

The sign above the toilet read "Please sit for stooling".

Also, there's a gym at the top of our school's building, and there is an excellent possibility that we will be inheriting a cat! YES!

It's time to go!

This is my last night in the states before a year in Korea. Tomorrow at 9:05am, I take the Whidbey shuttle to Sea-Tac airport. Then to Tokyo (again), then to Busan with Timber, then to Daegu by bus. It's going to be quite a trip, but I'm looking forward to watching 3+ movies on my personal TV on the flight to Tokyo and rice for breakfast. I'm nervous, but mostly excited. It kind of feels like Christmas. It feels like I'm leaving so much here, and I am. At the same time I am looking forward to so much unknown. I hope I can share the new with the now, tomorrow with the yesterday. I hope I can live each moment to it's fullest, I hope I get enough sleep and enough leafy greens, I hope to learn how to be a better acupuncturist, I hope I learn a new language, hope to become a better writer, hope to discover new joys in etymology as I teach little bits the weird language I call home. I have so many dreams for this trip, but also so much grief in knowing that I can't take everyone and everything I love here with me. It's just a year, and it's going to fly by, I just hope I can fit it all in. I have had such a beautiful opportunity to say 'see you later' to all my dearest friends, nothing could have happened more perfectly in the month between China and Korea. But at the same time it makes it all the harder to go. I have never felt such love for so many people, and never felt so loved by so many people. Homecoming is going to be awesome, but now: into bed and onto the plane!

Tuvan throat singers quotes of the night

"This song is about beautiful horses, and nice girls."
(really, what song isn't?)

and also

"When you hear the car horn, help us to make sheep sound."

Tuvan throat singing is not a new passion or hobby, but it sure was different.

What is it about clamshells

yay for macro
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.

There is this, lets call it a trend. I'll be generous and call it a trend, but I think that it might actually be an ingrained habit, or custom, or tradition even of modern day coastal peoples to turn clamshells, much like this one---perhaps even one day this very shell, into soap dishes. Most often this is for the guest bathroom, or the kitchen sink. Sometimes it is for every water spigot in the house. Sometimes, the glory of the clamshell goes beyond just holding soap, and will hold other things: buttons, paper clips, push pins, peppermints. My question is: what the? What on earth inspires SOAP DISH! when walking on the beach and coming upon these monstrosities of calcification now hollowed by clammy death? And how is this inspiration so seemingly the universal inspiration of every beach comber with a house down the street? Something in me gets it, understands this collective experience, but I think I'll have to dig deeper to find the root, because really, it's weird.