Around the world in 80 days? Try 35.

Thirty-five days. Five weeks. Korea -> Ukraine -> USA -> Korea. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am back in South Korea. I landed at 4am Korea time on Sunday, September 4th. After the unbelievably long delay in Charlotte, my flights both to LA and from there on to Korea left on time... and my checked bag (which as of 15 minutes before boarding my last flight hadn't shown up) actually made it to Seoul. Whew! And I really will blog about my time in the US as soon as I get the chance.

I took a wonderful five hour nap after getting back to my apartment. When I awoke, I went out and bought cat stuff (litter box, litter, food, toys) to prep my apartment for Charlie's arrival, then set off for Daegu to reclaim my cat. Seth - the fellow living in my old apartment, who took care of Charlie while I was gone - had told me that he would be gone all day on Sunday, but he promised to leave the door unlocked for me. Unfortunately, I'd emailed him from Charlotte saying I probably wouldn't be coming until Monday. Additionally, I don't yet have a phone. As such, when I made the decision to pop down to Daegu (an $80 round trip on the KTX), I had no way of getting in touch with him first to see if he had left the door unlocked or not. Now, having lived in that apartment for a year, I knew exactly how to break in... which is, of course, exactly what I did when encountered with a locked door.

Perhaps if I'd done like a normal human and come in through the front door, Charlie would've been easier to catch. As it was, it took about thirty minutes (plus her favorite cat food, some toys, and some catnip) to lure her into my grasp - whereupon I promptly shoved her into the carrier. She was not happy - and expressed her displeasure by peeing. In the cloth carrier. So yes, I took a stinky cat in a stinky bag back to Seoul on the KTX. My sincere apologies to anyone sitting in my vicinity.

Charlie is a little freaked out by being in a new place, although she's been purring and demanding attention, so I suspect she'll recover from the shock fairly quickly. Now if only I can recover from jet lag... My first day of work is tomorrow, and I don't want them to think I'm a half-awake moron. (I woke up at 3am today - which tends to happen when you fly from the US to Korea - and drugged myself back to sleep with some NyQuil. I woke up at 7am, which is around the time I'll need to be getting up on a daily basis anyway, so here's hoping I've defeated the jet lag somewhat!)