It's been a pretty good couple of days over here. On Friday I finally got my ARC, which means that as an officially Registered Alien I don't have any more hoops to jump through. This pleases me TO NO END. This also meant I was able to open a bank account which in turn means I can be paid this week and finally stop piling up credit card debt as well as buy a few things that will make my apartment a nicer place and my life that much more enjoyable. Seriously, I've already plotted so many ways to spend that money that I'm really going to have to start budgeting. I'm pretty sure I've planned out at least three months' salaries worth of purchases in my head.

On Saturday afternoon a friend came down from Seoul to check out the Songtan black markets selling American products from off the base. Then we had Mexican food for lunch and I had a plate that was meant to be enchiladas but was in fact pretty much just a big plate of melted cheese. Then we whiled away the afternoon with pool and darts in a little English bar that actually sold Moosehead beer. Basically, with American Tylenol, Mexican food and Canadian beer, I crossed North America all in the same afternoon in Korea.

Escorted my friend back to the subway station and went back to Hell Central to meet up with a friendly Intelligence Officer (who, when I asked him for his take on North Korea's threats of attack, laughed and said "Not a chance"). Several garishly-coloured drinks passed and I now have someone to take me on base for Taco Bell. (Intel guy's take on Taco Bell: "Taco Bell? What the fuck do you want THAT for?")

As for today, I'm relaxing and doing chores and will probably attempt church in the evening. I was sad, when I got home, to discover my great-aunt (or maybe great-great-aunt... never could be bothered to work it out) had died. She was 87 and had serious kidney problems, so it was clearly coming, but still. Sad. She was quite adventurous and did a lot of really interesting stuff in her life, including getting lost at sea for a while. Plus, she had the depressingly rare ability to ask intelligent questions about my travels and so she was a pleasure to converse with. RIP.