the packing has commenced....

such a process it is for us. paul just throws his stuff in a bag, but i am a pile maker. i make lots of piles and sort through what i think needs to go and what must go. i started a few days ago after ms. lee came on thursday. i did it so i would not wear any of the clothes i want to take with. she did the laundry, so i made a pile of clothes. then i make piles of the other things---books, camera gear, crochet project, gifts and other things for folks, stuff i want to take, etc. then we have to charge all of the electronics as well. gosh, we have so many. i don't realize how spoiled we are until we go to charge everything---camera battery, iPods, nintendo DS, palm pilot, korean cell phones. man, there is so much to do. paul has been working on his travel entertainment---downloading games for his DS via the R4. he has been pretty excited about some of the games he has found.

once we have sorted ourselves out then we move on to the house. we clean out the fridge, put coats into the closet inside the house from the entryway, and move shoes. with the humidity here we also have to put out these deals called hippos. they are small plastic boxes that have some material in them that absorb moisture from the air. they have pebble like stuff inside and when we come back in august they are fill of liquid. they work and everyone puts them all over their houses---in closets, in drawers, on shelves, all around---i am sure you get the idea. we are going to unplug stuff too. just overall preparing the house to not be lived in for five and a half weeks. ms. lee will still come and check in.....clean up......make sure all is ok. we pay her through the summer even though we aren't here. some people leave a crazy list for their adjuma to work on over the summer---clean the curtains, windows, clean out this and that. personally, paul and i aren't demanding. we don't mind that she has a lighter load. i am just happy to have her and that she cleans what she does. we are so laidback adn flexible.

we also have to move the litter box for the kitties. we are closing the door to the office and bedroom this summer as they were upset with us last summer and decided to pee on the mattress. eeewww, i know. so we are prepared to "fight" back this year........no access to the bedroom. ah ha! we are so smart and witty. we are paying a lady to come in and feed them. her name is diana and she actually lives on campus with the pastor of seoul union church. her name is diana. she also will feed the fish, "streaker".

yes, i said fish. we now are the parents of a fish....we adopted him from our friend isaac mills before they left. they weren't sure what to do with him, and i thought i would help out. streaker was a gift to isaac for his birthday. although he did have other friends in the tank, none of them seemed able to survive for unknown reasons. i do have to say that isaac was quite pleased to know i would adopt him and care for him. i plan to take him to the classroom in the fall. i am praying that sam and india don't plan an escape for streaker while we are away. we have strategically moved furniture to make it more difficult to get on the counter. streaker's small tank does have a secure lid also which should keep them away. sam and india do fancy sitting and watching him swim around. we have had to intervene with the squirt bottle when they get too close. we don't want to freak out streaker with a bit cat staring at him.

we are working on the packing......it is such a joy. we leave monday morning..........we should be on the airport bus at 11:00 or so. yippee. i will be happy to be on the bus and ready for the next adventure of the summer.