I'm still in Canada. I've moved out of my downtown apartment and back home with my family for three weeks.  The most difficult thing is not my mother (surprise!), it's the suburbs; there is nowhere to walk.  I also work from home, and consequently have been experiencing an unnerving bout of cabin fever.  A recent excursion to my old neighbourhood in downtown Toronto is a great release.  The old houses and streets lined with trees are familiar and comforting.  I see them with fresh eyes, and I haven't even left the country yet!  I take the subway back to Scarborough, again alienated in the suburban landscape, marooned in my own city.

I fight boredom with anticipation for travel.  My passport, ticket, clothes, books, toothbrush and 200,000KW are all packed up. I try to spend as much time as possible with friends here before I go. It is a good distraction, but can also feel forced.  Like that last set of dynamite rolls at all-you-can-eat-sushi, no one necessarily wants it, but you feel you should have it while you can.  Staying in on a Friday (and blogging) feels like a waste of precious Canada-time, but also like a sensible thing to do before a Big Exotic Adventure. 

Are you ready for me Korea?  I have been thinking about you.  Piecing together what you look like from the photos I've seen.  Imagining your personality from the stories I've heard.  All this hullaballo, displacement, primping and preening, for what is really just a big blind date.