Some things I did in December 2015

December was mostly occupied with preparation for my PhD defence, while grading exam papers and finalizing student grades. I had two defences. I'm happy to say that I passed the defences without too much problems, although I was quite nervous.

I went to several dance performances, finally saw Miyavi perform live, and also went to see Star Wars on the biggest screen in the world.

And a family member came to visit me. My brother arrived on Christmas day and visited me for three weeks. Within his first couple of nights in Korea we went to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, and also to the Light Festival at the Garden of Morning Calm, close by Chuncheon. I also made my brother wait to see Star Wars because I wanted to see Macbeth first, before seeing Star Wars again. Macbeth was great, and seeing Star Wars a second time didn't disappoint.

Some things I did in January & February 2015

First I spent a couple of days in Hong Kong. For a long time I wanted to celebrate New Year's Eve in Hong Kong and I was finally able to schedule my trip to South Africa in such a way that I could be in Hong Kong over the end of the year, and hailing in the new year while standing at the Hong Kong Harbor. After a couple of days in Hong Kong I continued my journey to South Africa where I stayed for about six weeks.

I got to see many friends and family. My trip in South Africa started in Johannesburg where I stayed for two days with my friend Franco. I then went to Vanderbijlpark almost a week, and then on to a road trip with one of my best friends to Pinetown where I stayed one night with another one of my best friends, and returned to Sasolburg the next day. From Sasolburg I went to Potchefstroom and stayed there for about a week--after Potchefstroom I went to Johannesburg again, then Pretoria, and then Tzaneen, Polokwane, back to Johannesburg from where I flew to Durban and Pinetown again. Finally I flew to Cape Town, went to a small Western Cape town, again to Cape Town where I stayed for about a week to spend time with my brother and another of my closest friends. From Cape Town I flew to back to Johannesburg to catch my international flight via Singapore back to Korea. As always, my South Africa trip was not particularly relaxing. All the travelling was rather stressful, and many of the people I care about are going through difficult times. Nevertheless, seeing so many of the people I love dearly was a great blessing. Because of my PhD studies I wasn't able to visit South Africa in two years, so it had been a rather long time not to see many people I care about. Also, because a might have my graduation ceremony during my break next January/February, there is a possibility that I may not be able to visit South Africa then.

Below are some representative photos from the trip:

This last picture is the first draft of a poem I wrote while in Cape Town.