Unending Magic (x-posted)

Can it really be August?! It's been a good summer and I'm savoring what's left. Korea was absolutely amazing, and I'll never, ever forget this trip. There was SO much to take in, both in terms of fun stuff, as well as me starting to gain an understanding of the richness of the culture there. Put most succinctly, I experienced that trip from a unique, combined perspective: 1) that of a foreign (American) tourist trying to navigate through the language barrier and social customs of a different land, AND 2) that of someone discovering their own ethnic heritage and and learning some important family history in the process. I've been struggling--almost to the point of being paralyzed--with how to put it into words...and also with whether it's even necessary. Because, how can you capture experiences that are that deep and profound, without writing an entire book or travel memoir or something, right?

Re-entry was super difficult in terms of jet-lag/tiredness. There's a 13-hour time difference between here and there, meaning that day and night are reversed. It's like you go over there, and especially on the first night/day, you fight the urge to go straight to bed at 5pm, instead staying up with the locals to get onto their time table. Then a frightening realization hits that if you don't get onto local time ASAP, you'll sleep away a chunk of time that would be better spent taking in all there is to take in and doing all there is to do. And what's convenient about having an almost perfect half-day time difference is that you don't have to change your watch! I didn't adjust mine for the entire time. All I had to do was look at my watch, tack on an hour, and mentally switch the a.m. with p.m. or vice versa. When I came back, I again tried to fight the urge to sleep during the day, or wake up and snack in the middle of the night. But my body clock was still sorta messed up for a couple of weeks.

Since early July, I've been working as a summer research assistant in my advisor's lab. I've been gardening a lot, swimming laps on most days, and cooking and baking a lot. I have the 7th and final Harry Potter book, and am getting ready to delve in. To my surprise, I've been a little bit scared to read it, because I don't want it all to end! A least the movies will stretch the magic for a little bit longer. Just like I wish this summer could be stretched a bit longer...

Architect Boy is gone now, which makes me sad. He moved to DC yesterday to start working at a firm in Bethesda, MD. Fittingly, we spent his last evening here wandering around at the county fair, enjoying the farm animals, taking in the fleeting magic of the ferris wheel lights, and eating funnel cakes. Because that is how we met a year ago.