My Bags are Packed

Today is my last day in America, so if course I spent it cleaning and packing. I also ran several different errands around town as well, but mostly I stayed home. The day started out kind of dreary; the rain was pouring. This made me sad because I needed to run some stuff to a storage unit and I didn't really want to do it in the rain. So in order to just get it over with, I moved bins of stuff to my car in the pouring rain and took it to the storage unit. Several hours later, it was blue skies and sunny out.
Just my luck. In the morning I had also done my laundry and as soon as it was done in the dryer, all of the clothes went right into my suitcase. Packing was not fun at all. I had to make sure each suitcase weighed less than 50lbs. After an hour or so of moving stuff back and forth between the suitcases, I finally finished. Throughout the night, I kept finding random things around my room that I forgot to pack, and so I need to squeeze it into the already stuffed cases. But in the end, I finally managed to get everything all packed, I just hope I'm not forgetting anything. Also, might I mention how colorful my suitcases are, it's like I'm collect all of the Skittle colors.

All the colors!

My last week in the states, on the other hand, has been quite eventful. I have been going back and forth around the Puget Sound visiting friends and also running errands. I had had to go to Seattle twice for my visa paperwork and I also rented camera equipment around the same time, so I needed to get that as well. I also had to go to the other side of the water for the wedding that I shot. This last week, I was mainly traveling for fun and saying goodbye to my friends. On Wednesday, I went up to Bellingham for the day for one last visit with my best friend and my little nephew Nathan. I am going to miss both of them dearly. By the time I'm back, Nathan will be so big and probably walking. Emily has promised me plenty of Skype time so hopefully I will still be able to see him.

Me and lil' man!

One last hug!

Then on Friday, I met up for lunch in Lakewood with Jessica. She is actually the one that came to visit me in Korea. She lives down in Vancouver, so we meet up every once in awhile in Lakewood because it is somewhat in between for us to drive to. We also meet up for lunch at a Korean BBQ restaurant called Cham Korean BBQ Buffet. It is really good especially because you are able to cook your own meat, like you can in Korea. It was a short meeting but it was still fun because it was the last one for awhile. Hopefully she'll be able to visit me again in Korea, especially because she wants to.

On Saturday, my mom and I had a mother-daughter day. We went out to breakfast at a local diner. I was hoping to get dome chicken fried steak but the cook who normally prepped for it was sick, so I wasn't able to have any. Sad day! Then afterwards, we went downtown to a place called Dancing Brush, where you are able to paint your own pottery. I won't be able to see the finish product because it takes a week for them to fire it and what not. But that is okay, I painted it mainly for my mom to use. We also did a little shopping downtown. There is a shoe store called Indigo Plum that was having a huge sale. I was able to purchase a pair of Toms for $25. Such a good deal. We also went to my favorite bakery, Sluys. It was a good day.

Painting some pottery

Then on Monday, I went over to Seattle again to go to the EMP Museum. (EMP stands to Experience Music Project). The museum isn't just music though, it also is sci-fi, fantasy, and pop culture, which is what I am more interested in. I met up with another friend who also came to Korea, Tom. We went to the museum as well as walked around Seattle Center and had lunch. It was a beautiful day in Seattle, which is rare in February.

Overall, I feel like my last week in the states was a good one. I said my goodbyes and had a little fun as well. I explored new places and saw some old ones. I will miss the beautiful Pacific Northwest and am sad to day goodbye. I know it won't be forever but the Pacific Northwest is a place that I hold dear to my heart.

Seattle Skyline