I'm only happy when it rains

Is it weird that a gray, drizzly day like this can lift my spirits?

Something about walking in the cool air and feeling the mist on your face. I dunno. It probably means I've been living in the Northwest for too long.

This is the outside of the aquarium I went to near the beginning of my stay:

When I went, those plexiglass columns weren't there. For the last few weeks, I've been witnessing a bunch of construction around the entrance to the aquarium, and now I wish I had documented the whole thing because it's pretty funny. At various time those columns have been filled with water, and sometimes tropical fish. One time there was even fake coral and everything, and it looked very cool. But inevitably, I would walk by the next day and the whole thing would be drained and replaced by buckets. I'm starting to think they're having some serious engineering issue with the whole thing. I'll just see if it gets finished before I go back to the States.

The reason I was at the mall was to look for a place that would take a passport photo of me for my visa. There was a photo-printing desk that advertised that they had English-speakers on staff, so I went there. I have new sympathy for all the foreigners that we tried to help back when I was working at the zoo. There, "we speak Spanish" meant that there were two girls who had about three years of high-school-level Spanish between them who would repeat everything you said and try to mumble out a response. The English-speaking guy at the photo counter wasn't even that bad, but he managed to thoroughly confuse me until he just resorted to pointing me in the direction I needed to go.

I finally found the right place, and I now have eight tiny pictures of me with a serious face. They wouldn't let me buy just one; I had to get all eight for fifteen bucks. Because this stupid visa isn't going to be expensive enough already.

Kris and Eun-hyuk have gone on vacation in the Philippines. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Suwon to check out my uncle's family's new apartment. On Thursday we might go to the beach. Glee!