Lesson Learned

      As I write, Brandon and Quentin are somewhere over the Pacific Ocean and only a few hours away from greeting me at the Busan airport. And (probably) as you read this on your Christmas Eve, they'll already be here enjoying some Christmas fun with me. Tomorrow's plan is to have a Christmas breakfast of their choosing, whether we go eat somewhere or prefer that I cook for them. Afterwards, we'll hike over a few peaks and then climb along the jagged coast of the East Sea. And as for Christmas night, we'll head to a main shopping district which is traditionally decorated for this time of year in order to see the lights and trees (something far too few and far between out here).

      From there each day holds the promise of excitement and wonder. The sights, food and drink, experiences, music, and general camaraderie should be more than enough to entertain for their duration here. Obviously writing won't come as frequently as I'd like it to at first, but I'll do my best. Rest assured however that afterwards will be filled with entry after entry and photo after photo of what transpired.

      Anticipating their arrival has forced me to clean my apartment which was a good thing because you'd have looked at it and swore I was hunkering down for the (failed) apocalypse. I promise it was only in that condition due to the fact that I was on my death bed.

      I feel as though I've recovered now and have found out what the culprit was. The last meal I ate before becoming sick was at a buffet – not anything delicious like Shoney's breakfast buffet, but a typical Korean buffet. One dish that it included was rotten fish on the bone...and this was no accident. Koreans purposely left fish flesh out and exposed for who knows how long to rot. I tried it before knowing what it was. I didn't think anything of it afterwards though; we've already discussed the list of peculiar things I've eat out here. I mean if one can handle their jellyfish, chicken feet, and pig hide, then what's a little rotten fish? WRONG! Don't do it guys, it's a terrible trap. Lesson learned indeed.