Stupid Weather and Stuff

Man, I thought Friday was pretty rough, what with having to finish packing all my stuff, making trips to Goodwill, cleaning my apartment, packing the car, and then driving 670 miles, but today was worse. Last night, the whole midwest got dumped on by ice.

My car was a big block of ice this morning, and it took 20 or 30 minutes of letting it run on high defrost, then borrowing an ice scraper from the lady at the motel desk before I got the windows all clear. Then I got on the freeway and averaged about 15 mph for about an hour and a half. When I finally got up to sort of decent speeds, my windshield wipers gave out on me and it was freezing rain on me and it was like driving without my contacts in and I was pretty much inches from death. Imagine driving on Interstate 40 through Oklahoma City with waxed paper all over your windshield. What a nightmare.

I was able to pull off at an exit and pull over so I could hack at the ice all over the wiper blades. It's funny how nice people in Oklahoma are. I was out there for maybe 15 or 20 minutes and at least four cars stopped to help. I explained to them that I just needed to get the ice off the blades, and I was okay. Finally, two burly young guys with a "must help, don't take no for an answer" attitude pulled up in a big truck beside me (on the right side, too, so they had to jump the curb onto the grass), and didn't ask me if I needed help, just started helping. They reminded me of a couple Pughs, actually. So I ended up spending the rest of the day stopping every couple hours to scrape the ice off the blades, and I bought an ice scraper of my own, too. In the morning I have to find an auto center and replace them.

After all that, I got pulled over in Chandler, OK. It had cleared up, and I was back up to the speed limit because the roads weren't icy anymore, just a little wet in some parts. The cop said I was going 82 in a 75 zone, and why was I driving so fast? Actually, I didn't realize I was going that fast (though significantly slower than I would have been going had it not been bad weather out). Incidentally, 82 was the speed I was going when I got my last (and first) speeding ticket, which incidentally, was during my last cross-country trip. That ticket was from a Massachusetts cop.

So now I have to pay a parking ticket. Strangely, the ticket doesn't seem to have a dollar amount on it. I have to call the number on the envelope when I get to Maine. I hope it's not a lot of money. It's probably a million dollars. Stupid Chandler.

After more delays with stopping to get the ice off the blades, and more crappy slow-down weather, I came to a complete stop only 100 miles before my destination, due to what I assume was a major wreck. It took about 15 minutes before we were able to move again. As I passed the dozen or so police cars and emergency medical vehicles, I actually didn't see any wreckage. I'm not sure if they dragged it off ahead, or if the median was recessed enough to hide the carnage and debris. Two of my favorite words.

It ended up taking 11 1/2 hours to drive about 550 miles. What a nightmare. Yesterday it only took 7 1/2 hours to drive 530 miles. Yesterday was a much better day.

I have to give props to my car, despite having crappy windshield wiper blades even though I only used them like 20 times over the past two and a half years because I lived in LA. I drove through rain, hail, freezing rain, and snow and subjected the car to temperatures way below anything it's ever experienced, and it's doing really well. It handles great on the ice and I never felt like I was losing control of it.

I'm very tired.

Super 8 Motel, Gallup, New Mexico

I notice that there are computers with internet access everywhere now. I went to Jiffy Lube the other day and there was a computer in the waiting room, and now as I'm waiting for my continental breakfast to toast at the Super 8 Motel, I see there's one here in the corner of the lobby, too. Wow.

Day one of travel took a very long time. The TripTik I'm using gave me a total day's distance of 20 miles less than it actually was, so that was a little annoying. I drove about 670 miles, from just before noon to about 10pm PST. Of course, it's Mountain Time here, so I lost an hour, too. The cats did sort of okay. They haven't eaten anything yet, even though I gave them some canned food at the motel, and offered them dry food and water both during rest stops and here in the room. I guess they'll eat eventually. I ended up letting them out of the carriers at the first rest stop, and they promptly scurried into the even more confined spaces under the seats. So I took out the leashes and attached them to the seat heads, so they could roam about while I drove and I wouldn't have to worry about shoving them back in the carriers when I needed to stop for gas and such.

They ended up towards the end squishing into one carrier and cuddling (from fear). So I just locked that one up and brought it to the motel. I'm leaving this place in a couple hours, and only have to do about 530 miles today, so I'm hoping it will be a little easier today.

Travel

Never in the history of packing has there been a trunk more impeccably packed. I might post a picture of it. I'm particularly proud of the fact that since the little nook in the far side of the trunk didn't quite fit my sewing machine, I turned the machine on its side so that the hinge of the trunk lowers into the space in the center when I close it. I was also able to fit all my paintings in the trunk, on top of my suitcase and boxes, which I didn't think I was going to be able to do. Now I just have to pack the inside of the car as well. I hope I don't have to leave anything behind.

I had to delay my trip a day. I was supposed to leave at about 10 this morning, but it took me so long to do everything I had to do lately--sell all my stuff, make three trips to Goodwill to drop off the rest, paint my apartment back to white and clean the whole place, plus picking up my last paycheck and faxing my last set of documents to South Korea. I just couldn't get it done. I didn't even start painting my bedroom until this morning, since I spent all of yesterday doing everything else, and the day before yesterday painting the living room (I think it really took 12 hours).

Luckily, I made reservations at motels that probably don't book up, so it was no problem calling and advancing my reservation a day at each place. Today I'm trying to get my landlady to give me my security deposit back before I go. She was supposed to come by yesterday so I could check out and get the check, but she forgot. She also forgot about the appointment when I signed the lease. It's annoying. She said she could mail it to me if I gave her a forwarding address, but frankly, I don't trust her. I had to call the housing department on her twice since I've been here for negligence, and I wouldn't be surprised if it took months to get the money out of here if I don't get it today. I talked to her husband today, and he said to call her after 4:30, so I'm hoping it'll happen.

At least now I have time to get everything done without stressing too much over it, and I'll be able to do my ten hour drive tomorrow on more than four or five hours of sleep.

My cats are wondering what's going on. There is one piece of furniture left in the apartment, and I have all this junk strewn about. I've been trying to give them attention before I go, but it's been hard with everything I've been doing. I hope I'll have time to relax with them tonight. I gave them new collars with tags last night. They weren't too keen on them when I put them on, since they're used to being naked, but they don't seem to mind them too much now. I haven't seen them trying to get them off.

Anyway, beyond my `trip, I'm pretty much all set for now with South Korea. My friends got my a going away present, which involved a guidebook, so that'll be useful. I've sent all my documents now, too, so I'll just have to go through the visa process when I get to Maine. It's too bad the process didn't start earlier. If I had been able to apply here, I could have walked to the Korean consulate, but now I'll have to mail the application in to Boston.

By the way, thanks for the offers to let me stay in Indiana. The way my trip runs this time, it doesn't work out very well for me to stop there, though. Maybe one of these days I'll do a cross-country trip in which I'm not speeding through without doing anything interesting.

Cross-Country Travel Arrangements

I was so proud of myself for actually arranging my whole trip from Los Angeles to Dad's house in just a couple hours. Last time I drove from coast to coast, I used a AAA TripTik, which was pretty helpful. It gives you step-by step directions from destination to destination, with maps on every page, plus useful information like construction delay possbiilities, scenic routes, etc.

Now they have the TripTiks available online, for even people who aren't members (which is good, because the AAA website doesn't recognize my member number). I was able to type in my starting and ending address, plus the addresses of a couple friends I'm staying with along the way, and get a full set of directions, plus options for hotels and other stuff along the way. I checked out the hotel information for places I want to stop, and all I had to do was make some calls to check rates and make reservations. Then I just clicked on the hotels I will be staying at, and they are added to my trip, with the directions adjusted to compensate. Boo-ya.

I'm staying in Gallup, NM; Shamrock, TX; and St. Robert, MO for pretty good rates, plus stopping in Columbus, OH and New York City to see friends. This gives me pretty even travel legs each day; I'll be driving 650 miles the first day, but only 500-600 miles each day after that. I'm sure the kitties will be glad when we get to Maine.

Crunch Time

It seems like so recently that I was just sitting around waiting for this whole Korea thing to happen, and now I feel like I don't have time to do everything I need to do. I am rushing around to do things like get passport photos for my visa application, figure out what kind of background check I need done and where to get it, and find a free clinic that will do a health check for me.

The health check was a doozy; every medical facility I called said they couldn't conduct a preemployment health check without a form from the employer, but my hiring agency doesn't provide one and they say doctors do this all the time, so they should have a general form. I ended up digging the medical screening form I'd had filled out for entrance into Pitzer, which I had inexplicably saved for eight years, and recreated it in Microsoft Word, without all the references to "student." The doctor didn't know the difference, and I'm hoping the Korean immigration department won't, either.

I had a great phone interview on Tuesday with a lady from an organization called Kate LA. Apparently this is an organization in Orange County, California, but the actual school is in Gwangju, South Korea, in the southern part of the country. I was expecting to be interviewing with someone in Korea, but she was actually in Riverside, about 50 miles away, when she called me. We talked for about half an hour, during which I asked her a lot of questions about the position and the school, and she told me about the area and what the other foreign teachers (Canadian) were like at the school. She said she really wants to work with an American now. She said she could tell by my voice that I would be great for their school, so she's supposedly going to hire me. Now I'm just waiting for the ball to start rolling.

I'm supposed to get an email with a contract within a couple days, assuming they don't decide to go with someone else. Then I have to go through the grueling visa application process. I really, really want this all to happen before I leave for Maine on December 6. If I apply for my visa here, I can walk to the consulate and do it in person, since I live in Koreatown. If I'm in Maine doing this, I have to mail my application to Boston, which will naturally take longer.

Updates on my cross-country planning soon.

Debut Blog Entry

It's still about three months until I head off for South Korea. I don't even know what part of the country I'm going to yet, but I should find out sometime in December.

I am about to start my third quarter of Korean language at the Korean Cultural Center here in LA, but I don't feel like I learned much this last quarter. We had substitutes for two weeks, and the rest of the time we spent learning one thing each week, without reviewing or applying the knowledge in later weeks. I'm about to start cramming for the placement exam in three days; I hope I can make it to the next level. And I hope that by the time I go back to Maine I'll have learned enough to get by in Korea. I hope to have the drive to continue studying during my month in Maine; I'll still have the textbook to guide me.

I'm preparing for my big move, and it's a little excruciating. I'm eager to sell everything I own (pretty much), but right now I'm settling for things I don't need. It's not going as well as I would like, although I have made a major dent in my old textbook collection. I think I am going to have to make some major trips to the thrift store right before I leave. And also ship home a number of boxes. With two cat carriers and a litter box in the back seat, I'm not going to have much packing room.

Major undertaking number three is the GRE. I think I've decided to take it in Maine before I go abroad. It's feeling a little soon to take it, but I don't want to take it in Korea, since I may not be near a testing facility and it's more expensive there. It will be too late to take it when I get back, if I want to start grad school in June 2009, so that leaves the next three months as the only viable solution.

By the way, I'm considering going to school to become a teacher, assuming I end up liking it. Teaching English to Koreans will probably be different than what I'd do out here, but it's the same idea. If I don't like it, I'll have plenty of time to come up with a major before I start school. Linguistics, maybe.