Just when you thought I was done

I just wanted to say that I had a great day. But I wanted to give Jeong-In her own post so it wasn't totally mixed up w/my babbling. Which didn't quite happen, but hey, I tried. I got a really wonderful email today, only about 3.25 lines long, but exactly what I wanted to hear: a professor at a university here who has written two books on hanji and natural dyes is happy to meet me and gave me his contact info. Wohooo! Of course, I was too crazed getting out of the door to call him but I will tomorrow. I ran to the huge bookstore in the basement of a huge life insurance company to get supplies to mail a letter and CD of images to the nun and get birthday gifts for my niece. Part of the joy / difficulty of being here is all the FAMILY. Suddenly there are like 20 new birthdays to keep track of, and other family events.

But at the same time it's really nice to know that I can call up a cousin or an aunt anytime if I'm in a pinch, and they'll be able to help me. Today I ran off to my cousin's place to drop off the gifts and have lunch. I was supposed to go shopping for plants w/her since she is plant QUEEN (this is a glimpse of her veranda. She has an amazing green thumb. It's the way she stays sane), but I had to skip it and instead run to meet my mom's friend who was in town w/things for me from NY: colored pencils, a fall jacket, vitamins, and other things that moms send to daughters living on the other side of the world. I then ran to the studio to get my Portable Library books ready to ship and hit the post office.

I did my Korean homework and a couple of other pieces to mail tomorrow, uploaded pictures,* and then ran off to Jeong-In's opening. The whole day I was thinking, this is my life. People always wonder what the hell I do w/my time. I guess this is it. And while running through the streets of Seoul today, I felt really grateful for this life I've made for myself. For a while now, lots of people have been asking me where I'll be in 5, 10, 15 years. That answer has always been a total mystery. Some options are starting to formulate now, still smoky, and quite scary (b/c goodness! We all know how I feel about long-term commitments). But what's exciting is that it's not something I ever imagined, yet it makes a lot of sense, and it does what all the best endeavors of my life have done for me: it brings together all of my talents and abilities and passions. And it marks how far I've come, b/c I didn't know that I had these abilities, or, I worked hard to cultivate them. I just hope things keep coming together for my research for the next eight months, and then I'll worry about the years to come after that.

*The persimmon festival.
Visiting the temple in the mountains.