A Few of My Favourite Things...

One of my favourite things to do is to sit by a window on a rainy day and just experience the weather. The dampness in the air, the smell, the sound... without a doubt I am happiest on rainy days.

Unfortunately, it doesn't actually rain much here, outside of the monsoon that is. I can actually count the number of days it has rained since my arrival. Three. No less and no more. And not one of those days included a storm. If I'm happy on rainy days, I become damn near ecstatic with the coming of a storm.

So imagine my surprise, the sheer joy I felt, when I awoke this morning and saw that it was raining!

Immediately I poured myself a cup of coffee, grabbed my book and sat on the window ledge in Rachel's apartment, completely content.

Other than finding time to enjoy the weather, this first week of vacation has been full of rediscovery. JeeYoung, Kyle's girlfriend, told me of a bookstore where I could find not only English books, but French as well. Thanks to her I have begun reading again and it is because of the hours spent at said bookstore that I had a book to read this morning. I had almost forgotten how much I love reading, but between The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Le Petit Prince and introducing Caitlin to The Wheel of Time I have managed to fully re-immerse myself in literature.

I've also re-discovered South Korea. After six months of working here, Seoul had become just another place to live. I found myself confined to Bundang and not taking the time to explore the city and experience the culture. Having some time off has allowed me to relax and absorb the environment and, as a result, the city has become almost new again. I guess this just re-enforces the fact that I am not meant to live and work as I travel, but purely as vacation and for enjoyment.

So for a week Caitlin and I have been doing a whole bunch of nothing, vacation-style. Wandering Seoul, eating our favourite foods, drinking our favourite coffee, hanging out with (and squatting in the residences of) Rachel and Kyle (affectionately deemed "Auberge Rachel" and "Chateau Harris", respectively)and preparing for the next leg of our journey.

We leave for Malaysia on Monday and will be spending a bit of time there before continuing on to India. Although this wasn't originally in the cards, I'm embracing the spontaneity and am trying not to freak out too much. Caitlin is being very supportive and understanding, indulging my planning urges by agreeing to be at the airport earlier than necessary to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

More on Malaysia and why we're hanging out there later. As for now, I need to grab another cup of coffee and get back to my book.