Living in Korea is something of a rollercoaster for me sometimes. This week was not one of the best. The weather was miserable all week, the classes were slow and long, and overall, it just wasn't a bright point. So you've been forewarned, this is not the cheeriest post. But, it is my life right now. So, take it as you will.
The middle school had their midterms last week, though I didn't find out about it until Thursday, when I mentioned to my high school coteacher that I hadn't had classes on Wednesday. She told me then that the middle school was having midterms this week and that everyone went home at 12. Well that would've been nice to know. Especially since Tuesday, the day before I go to the middle school I asked her if she knew when they were having their tests. She told me she did not know. Anyway, instead of at least getting to take advantage of leaving early on Friday, I am told that the students are taking some sort of writing test after the finish their midterms. They failed to mention that I could go home as soon as I was "done with my work". Except I do all my work at home so... I was done when I walked in at 9 but stayed until 3:30. Ah well. So this week the high school had their midterms Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Since I am at the middle school Wednesday and Friday, that doesn't do me a lot of good but I did get to go home at 12 yesterday so that was nice. I spent the day curled up with my cat reading and listening to the rain.
But, the weekend is here again, and the sun is shining so it's time to turn it around. Last weekend was busy, I spent Friday night in Pohang, Saturday I woke up at 6:30 to take the 3 hour bus at 7:30 to Daejeon, then I jumped on a 2 hour bus to Daegu to try and make the soccer game. I caught about the last 30 minutes but was told I didn't miss much. Pohang lost, again. I have yet to see them win a game this season. Then all of the Pohangers went out in Daegu for a night on the town, and it was lunch at Travellers, a western bar and restaurant in Daegu, and then the bus home. So I think this weekend I'll just lay low and mosy around Pohang a bit.
In other news, tomorrow marks 4 months until I am home. Some days this is all that gets me through the moments. But most of the time, it makes me sad. I feel like the end is sneaking up on me and I know that I'm going to miss this place when I'm gone. More importantly, I'm going to miss the people. I have met so many amazing people here but even after 8 months, I can't shake the feeling of transience. Especially with my departure looming. I know 4 months is a long time and a lot can happen, but it's always there, in the shadows, mocking me. And other people are leaving before that. Jerome, the guy I met that is from Orlando and lives in Yeongdeok with Mark and I, is leaving at the end of July and lots of other people are leaving in June or July. With Jerome, it's not so hard because I know I will see him at home. It's comforting actually. It's like I get to take a piece of Korea home with me in more than just souvenirs or memories. But most of the people I meet here I will likely never see again, or won't see for a long time in the best cases. I know I've made a post similar to this before, but it's been weighing on my mind this week and is probably part of the reason my mood has been less than stellar. At home, when you met someone, time usually wasn't an issue. But here I feel like every person I meet has an hourglass above their head and if I don't get to know them, don't become a part of their life quickly enough, I will never have the chance. And that is scary. And unfortunate. Because there are some really incredible people here that, given a bit of time, I feel like I could become really close with. But, the days tick away and life moves on, whether the connections are made or not.
Anyway, sorry for the dark cloud of a post. Hopefully my weekend will be filled with sun and beach and laughter and all around good cheer. Hoping this finds you happy and well.
♥
Friday, May 4, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
What's This?
What's this? What's this? There's flowers everywhere!
What's this? There's petals in the air
What's this? I can't believe my eyes I must be dreaming
Wake up dear, this isn't fair What's this?
What's this? What's this? It's suddenly so warm
What's this? I can finally move my arms? (No jackets, hooray!)
What's this? The streets are lined with Little children laughing
Everybody seems so happy Have I possibly gone daffy? What is this?
What's this?
There are children on the playgrounds and short sleeves all around
They're busy playing soccer, no frost or snowballs to be found!
The windows are all open Oh, I can't believe my eyes
And in my bones I feel the warmth That's coming from inside
Oh, look What's this?
There's buds on every tree Why that looks so unique, inspired
They're growing oh so quickly. They'll be gone in just a blink. What's this? What's this?
And the trees are white with blossoms, how queer And who would ever think
And why? They're selling goldfish on the street And everything that's sweet
And there's a smile on everyone So, now, correct me if I'm wrong
This looks like fun This looks like fun Oh, could it be I got my wish? What's this?
Oh my, what now? The sun is finally out And now, the birds are singing songs
No coats or hats or scarves or gloves I need to keep me warm
Or protect me from the chill, only little cozy things Like sweaters or cardigans
What's this? The rain boots are all missing And the parkas can't be found
And in their place there seems to be Good feeling all around
Instead of chills, I swear I feel the sun upon my hair
The smell of beach and sunscreen Is absolutely almost here
The sights, the sounds They're everywhere and all around I've never felt so good before
This empty place inside of me is filling up I simply cannot get enough
I want it, oh, I want it Oh, I want it for my own
I've got to know I've got to know
What is this place that I have found?
What is this?
Spring time, hmm...
That's right ladies and gentlemen. Spring is here and I am loving this new found season. Florida really needs to get with the program and get one of these. The cherry blossoms were amazing, as anticipated, the weather is great, even when it's not sunny I appreciate that I'm not roasting or freezing, and the colors are unbelievable. Florida just doesn't get colors like this. The color of brand new leaves is the most vivid and happy I have ever seen in my whole life. It is actually impossible to see that color and not be happy. Unfortunately, like the cherry blossoms, the color doesn't last long and quickly matures to the regular boring leaf green. Paints a nice picture huh? haha okay but really. When it follows the vibrancy and sheer joy of the color of life bursting from the the bark, well, it never stood a chance. However, the fade of the green is cue for the dandelions to explode. I walk past this house every morning and they have quite a large front yard area in front of their house with several cherry blossom trees and the ground is just a sea of dandelions. These being my absolute favorite, for the seed heads of course, this adds a nice little pep to my step just before getting to school or right after getting off. And I don't care who you are, if cherry blossoms and dandelions don't make you happy, you have no soul.
Speaking of cherry blossoms, a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to finally break my winter spell of inactivity and start getting outside again. So on Election Day, March 11, which is a National Holiday in Korea, aka no school, a group of people, myself, Mark, and Jerome included, spent the day hiking up Nayeonsan Mountain, home of the Bogyeongsa Temple. We didn't actually see the temple, we were too busy climbing the mountain and then avoiding the rain, but it's not too far away, and I wasn't particularly interested in the temple, so no worries. The hike is a rigorous 20 km to the top with 12 waterfalls along the way. I had been having chest pains for about a week prior to this, accompanied by some difficulty breathing but figured some physical activity might help and do me good but ended up having a bit of trouble. I didn't quite make it all the way to the top, but was only about 5 minutes from it so it was close enough for me. The first five or so km is pretty well maintained with relatively well marked trails and even handrails and ropes to help you climb the really steep parts in some places but once you get to about km number 6 or so, it starts to get much more rough and adventury. Always a good time. Luckily, we had no injuries aside from the sore bodies, which was to be expected. And, despite some rain and an overall lack of sun, it was a great day and it was awesome to get back outside and see some nature.
That same weekend, I headed to Gyeongju with Guido and some others from Pohang to see the cherry blossoms. Gyeongju is known for it's cherry blossoms, particularly around Bomun Lake. It's a man made lake surrounded by few parks, some hotels, and even an amusement park. So we rented bicycles for the day and biked (forever) to and around the lake. It was a bit soon to expect so much out of my back after the hiking on Wednesday, but I made it and it was a gorgeous day filled with beautiful flowers, lots of laughter, and a fabulous time on a bike with great people. I also actually remembered not only to bring my camera but to use it, shock I know, so there are lots of pictures on facebook of the flowers and everything else.
So far spring has brought picnics in the park, soccer games in shorts, hiking, bicycle rides with flowers streaming down like dreamy snow, and a foreigner very grateful to no longer need 3 jackets and a long sleeve shirt and long underwear under pants and two layers of socks in boots plus gloves and a hat and scarf to be almost warm. I'm hoping this weather sticks around for a while and know I will miss it when it's gone, especially since unless I leave Florida, I may never see it for more than a day or two at a time again. I hope you all are having nice weather back home and that the heat hasn't taken hold just yet. I hope the birds' songs lifts your spirits and a flower brings a smile to your face.
Hoping spring is being as good to you as it is to me. ♥
What's this? There's petals in the air
What's this? I can't believe my eyes I must be dreaming
Wake up dear, this isn't fair What's this?
What's this? What's this? It's suddenly so warm
What's this? I can finally move my arms? (No jackets, hooray!)
What's this? The streets are lined with Little children laughing
Everybody seems so happy Have I possibly gone daffy? What is this?
What's this?
There are children on the playgrounds and short sleeves all around
They're busy playing soccer, no frost or snowballs to be found!
The windows are all open Oh, I can't believe my eyes
And in my bones I feel the warmth That's coming from inside
Oh, look What's this?
There's buds on every tree Why that looks so unique, inspired
They're growing oh so quickly. They'll be gone in just a blink. What's this? What's this?
And the trees are white with blossoms, how queer And who would ever think
And why? They're selling goldfish on the street And everything that's sweet
And there's a smile on everyone So, now, correct me if I'm wrong
This looks like fun This looks like fun Oh, could it be I got my wish? What's this?
Oh my, what now? The sun is finally out And now, the birds are singing songs
No coats or hats or scarves or gloves I need to keep me warm
Or protect me from the chill, only little cozy things Like sweaters or cardigans
What's this? The rain boots are all missing And the parkas can't be found
And in their place there seems to be Good feeling all around
Instead of chills, I swear I feel the sun upon my hair
The smell of beach and sunscreen Is absolutely almost here
The sights, the sounds They're everywhere and all around I've never felt so good before
This empty place inside of me is filling up I simply cannot get enough
I want it, oh, I want it Oh, I want it for my own
I've got to know I've got to know
What is this place that I have found?
What is this?
Spring time, hmm...
That's right ladies and gentlemen. Spring is here and I am loving this new found season. Florida really needs to get with the program and get one of these. The cherry blossoms were amazing, as anticipated, the weather is great, even when it's not sunny I appreciate that I'm not roasting or freezing, and the colors are unbelievable. Florida just doesn't get colors like this. The color of brand new leaves is the most vivid and happy I have ever seen in my whole life. It is actually impossible to see that color and not be happy. Unfortunately, like the cherry blossoms, the color doesn't last long and quickly matures to the regular boring leaf green. Paints a nice picture huh? haha okay but really. When it follows the vibrancy and sheer joy of the color of life bursting from the the bark, well, it never stood a chance. However, the fade of the green is cue for the dandelions to explode. I walk past this house every morning and they have quite a large front yard area in front of their house with several cherry blossom trees and the ground is just a sea of dandelions. These being my absolute favorite, for the seed heads of course, this adds a nice little pep to my step just before getting to school or right after getting off. And I don't care who you are, if cherry blossoms and dandelions don't make you happy, you have no soul.
Speaking of cherry blossoms, a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to finally break my winter spell of inactivity and start getting outside again. So on Election Day, March 11, which is a National Holiday in Korea, aka no school, a group of people, myself, Mark, and Jerome included, spent the day hiking up Nayeonsan Mountain, home of the Bogyeongsa Temple. We didn't actually see the temple, we were too busy climbing the mountain and then avoiding the rain, but it's not too far away, and I wasn't particularly interested in the temple, so no worries. The hike is a rigorous 20 km to the top with 12 waterfalls along the way. I had been having chest pains for about a week prior to this, accompanied by some difficulty breathing but figured some physical activity might help and do me good but ended up having a bit of trouble. I didn't quite make it all the way to the top, but was only about 5 minutes from it so it was close enough for me. The first five or so km is pretty well maintained with relatively well marked trails and even handrails and ropes to help you climb the really steep parts in some places but once you get to about km number 6 or so, it starts to get much more rough and adventury. Always a good time. Luckily, we had no injuries aside from the sore bodies, which was to be expected. And, despite some rain and an overall lack of sun, it was a great day and it was awesome to get back outside and see some nature.
That same weekend, I headed to Gyeongju with Guido and some others from Pohang to see the cherry blossoms. Gyeongju is known for it's cherry blossoms, particularly around Bomun Lake. It's a man made lake surrounded by few parks, some hotels, and even an amusement park. So we rented bicycles for the day and biked (forever) to and around the lake. It was a bit soon to expect so much out of my back after the hiking on Wednesday, but I made it and it was a gorgeous day filled with beautiful flowers, lots of laughter, and a fabulous time on a bike with great people. I also actually remembered not only to bring my camera but to use it, shock I know, so there are lots of pictures on facebook of the flowers and everything else.
 |
| Bike ride around Bomun Lake |
Hoping spring is being as good to you as it is to me. ♥
 |
| On the trail on Naeyeonsan Mtn. |
 |
| At a soccer game in Daegu this weekend! Go Pohang Steelers! |
 |
| Fun weekends in Daegu! |
New Seasons, New Students, and the same old Routine
After returning to a freezing Korea, that much colder since I spent the last 2 weeks on a beach, spring could not come soon enough. And it has arrived. February, March and April were pretty quiet, uneventful months. Just waiting for it to warm up enough not to need 8 layers of clothes and trying to get back into the swing of things at work. In Korea, the students go back to school at the beginning of February for one week, then they have two more weeks off, then graduation, one more week off, and then the new school year starts at the beginning of March. I got about 60 new 1st grade middle schoolers and about 30 new 1st grade high schoolers (10th grade) - but I didn't realize I had new middle schoolers until half way through my first class when we were reviewing phrases we learned last year and half of the students didn't know what I was talking about. Oops! So, it was backtrack and rewind time. Followed by a brief introduction and basic hangman instead of review.
So far the rest of the school year has been pretty standard. A few mishaps here and there, usually the result of a lack of coteacher and my girls thinking that meant it was free day and I was wearing my invisible cape. But, nothing too tragic. Midterms were last week for middle school, though I didn't find out until Friday that I was supposed to go home at 12 on Wednesday, not 4. :/ And that after they finished midterms on Friday they had a writing test so I had to stay until "my work was done". Yeah, didn't find that out until I left at 4. I was allowed to leave after lunch if my work was finished. Except oh yeah, it was finished before I even came into work. Oh well. Spent the day writing that novel that was my last post. Then headed to Pohang for the night, Daejeon Saturday morning, Daegu Saturday night, and home Sunday afternoon. It was a great weekend, but long, and not filled with sleep. Think I'll probably be making next weekend a nice relaxed one filled hopefully with lots of sun and beach. :]
In other news, I am still doing taekwondo and tested for my purple belt on Thursday. I will find out if I got it tonight and if I did it will be my 5th belt! Yay! :] (The belts are white, yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, red, red with one black stripe, red with two black stripes, and then black.) So, halfway! But it's like climbing a mountain, the higher you go, the harder it gets. But I will be happy if I can leave here with my red belt. Absolutely thrilled if I could leave with a black stripe. I love it and even though it absolutely kills me some nights and other nights it takes everything I have to put on my dobo and walk to class, I love learning the new sets and skills. And it is absolutely the best feeling to watch myself improve my form and strength. The feeling when I finally nail a set or a certain move is great. There's nothing else like it. And that's what I tell myself when I'm laying down whining to myself about not wanting to get up. haha
I still have my cat, Switch. Although these days it's a wonder I haven't throttled her or thrown her out yet. We've been dealing with her first few real heats and it's been rough. It was one week on, one week off for the first two and it was intense. Like having a colicky infant. Just crying and meowing and yowling incessantly. If my neighbors didn't know I had a cat before, they definitely do now. I'm hoping they slow down a bit and maybe mellow out, at least a little. It makes me not want to be home when she's like that. I can't read or watch a movie or even listen to music because I can't hear anything. And skyping is a real challenge. As soon as someone starts talking (part of the problem with watching movies and music) she takes it as her cue to start in. If I'm quiet she still yowls but it's usually not as loud or incessant. So, hopefully the next time she goes in won't be for a few weeks and it will be easier for both of us. Also, I found someone to take her when I leave!! When I first got her I had every intention of bringing her home to the States with me as I knew I would fall in love with her and wouldn't want to leave her behind. And I was right, I do love her, and I don't want to leave her behind, but I think that this will be best for her and that is what's important. Anyway, it's the same guy that watched her when I went on vacation to the Philippines so I know he'll take good care of her. Also, she loved it there and he has a cat already so she'll have company. It's really good to know that I will be leaving her with someone that will love her as much as I do and will take care of her. That she will be happy and safe. It's definitely still going to be hard saying goodbye, but that's going to be tough anyway. I've met so many amazing people here and made so many awesome friends, but they are from all over the world and while that's really cool to know people all over the world, the reality of it is that that means I won't get to see them often, if ever again, and that's really hard to know. So, for now I'm just focusing on enjoying the rest of my time here and making the most of everyday. And trying not to let any opportunities slip by unnoticed or unexplored.
Hope you are all well back home. Love and miss you. ♥♥
So far the rest of the school year has been pretty standard. A few mishaps here and there, usually the result of a lack of coteacher and my girls thinking that meant it was free day and I was wearing my invisible cape. But, nothing too tragic. Midterms were last week for middle school, though I didn't find out until Friday that I was supposed to go home at 12 on Wednesday, not 4. :/ And that after they finished midterms on Friday they had a writing test so I had to stay until "my work was done". Yeah, didn't find that out until I left at 4. I was allowed to leave after lunch if my work was finished. Except oh yeah, it was finished before I even came into work. Oh well. Spent the day writing that novel that was my last post. Then headed to Pohang for the night, Daejeon Saturday morning, Daegu Saturday night, and home Sunday afternoon. It was a great weekend, but long, and not filled with sleep. Think I'll probably be making next weekend a nice relaxed one filled hopefully with lots of sun and beach. :]
In other news, I am still doing taekwondo and tested for my purple belt on Thursday. I will find out if I got it tonight and if I did it will be my 5th belt! Yay! :] (The belts are white, yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, red, red with one black stripe, red with two black stripes, and then black.) So, halfway! But it's like climbing a mountain, the higher you go, the harder it gets. But I will be happy if I can leave here with my red belt. Absolutely thrilled if I could leave with a black stripe. I love it and even though it absolutely kills me some nights and other nights it takes everything I have to put on my dobo and walk to class, I love learning the new sets and skills. And it is absolutely the best feeling to watch myself improve my form and strength. The feeling when I finally nail a set or a certain move is great. There's nothing else like it. And that's what I tell myself when I'm laying down whining to myself about not wanting to get up. haha
I still have my cat, Switch. Although these days it's a wonder I haven't throttled her or thrown her out yet. We've been dealing with her first few real heats and it's been rough. It was one week on, one week off for the first two and it was intense. Like having a colicky infant. Just crying and meowing and yowling incessantly. If my neighbors didn't know I had a cat before, they definitely do now. I'm hoping they slow down a bit and maybe mellow out, at least a little. It makes me not want to be home when she's like that. I can't read or watch a movie or even listen to music because I can't hear anything. And skyping is a real challenge. As soon as someone starts talking (part of the problem with watching movies and music) she takes it as her cue to start in. If I'm quiet she still yowls but it's usually not as loud or incessant. So, hopefully the next time she goes in won't be for a few weeks and it will be easier for both of us. Also, I found someone to take her when I leave!! When I first got her I had every intention of bringing her home to the States with me as I knew I would fall in love with her and wouldn't want to leave her behind. And I was right, I do love her, and I don't want to leave her behind, but I think that this will be best for her and that is what's important. Anyway, it's the same guy that watched her when I went on vacation to the Philippines so I know he'll take good care of her. Also, she loved it there and he has a cat already so she'll have company. It's really good to know that I will be leaving her with someone that will love her as much as I do and will take care of her. That she will be happy and safe. It's definitely still going to be hard saying goodbye, but that's going to be tough anyway. I've met so many amazing people here and made so many awesome friends, but they are from all over the world and while that's really cool to know people all over the world, the reality of it is that that means I won't get to see them often, if ever again, and that's really hard to know. So, for now I'm just focusing on enjoying the rest of my time here and making the most of everyday. And trying not to let any opportunities slip by unnoticed or unexplored.
Hope you are all well back home. Love and miss you. ♥♥
Friday, April 27, 2012
I'm alive! Oh right, and here's a post. :]
Alright folks. I'm alive. Sorry it has been ages since I last posted. Life just gets away from me. So I figure I owe you all at least 2 or 3 good posts, especially since I never even finished my adventures in the Philippines. Also, I'm going to attempt to start blogging regularly again, hopefully on Fridays since that is a relatively easy day and, I don't know, it just seems like a good day to do it. :] So, I'll start by telling you about the rest of my Philippines trip and we'll go from there. Readysetgo.
So, I left off with my amazing trip with Tao Philippines through the wilderness and beauty of Palawan. If you haven't seen the pictures or videos I've posted on facebook, you should go look. Here are the links to the videos. This first one is good, but, it's all in German. And it's pretty long. It's a whole documentary. But it's interesting and about the company as well as the trip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-eedTpXf8I&feature=share
This second one is only five minutes and it's in English and it describes the actual trip better. I think it does a really beautiful job of capturing the mood and vibe of the experience. http://vimeo.com/40630773
Okay so, if you watched either one of those, you can see for yourself how beautiful it is. But even as amazing as those videos portray it to be, they can not even begin to describe what this expedition was like. It changed my life. Yes, five days on a boat with 14 other complete strangers, plus the 7 Filipinos working the boat, who I spent more time with and got to know better than the other travelers, changed my entire life. I have never been more at peace with myself, or with God, or the world around me. Everyday wasn't sunshiny and beautiful but the experience was about so much more than weather. Even when the wind was throwing needles of stinging rain onto my overly sunkissed shoulders, that'll happen when you spend 6 months in Korea where the sun hardly makes an appearance and then change to everyday in the sun, and the water was so choppy it was impossible to sit still, there was a calm within my heart. My soul was sublimely happy. I can't recall ever feeling so centered and simply happy in my whole life. And when the storm moved on, and the seas calmed, leaving the boat to return to the gentle comforting rock I had come so used to so quickly, the sun peeked out from behind the thunderheads and warmed and dried my skin. The warmth soaked into my body and my heart. And aside from the breathtaking scenery and water so clear you can see 20 feet down like the floor is just below your feet, I forged friendships with the guys of Tao that I will forever hold dear in my heart. I picked up a little brother and several friends and even had a romance. And those connections just added so much more to the trip. They gave it a dimension I didn't know it was lacking. So, after 5 unforgettable days with Aurora, our boat, soaking up every bit of it we could, we finally pulled in to the harbor of Coron with sadness in the faces of everyone aboard. We gathered our things and stepped of the boat for what would likely be the last time.
Luckily, as most of us were spending a few days in Coron, we didn't have to say goodbye to our new friends just yet. We headed off to our hotels so get settled, drop off bags, clean up, and then met for dinner at a local bistro. I decided to take a short nap, which led to me accidentally sleeping longer than I meant to, of course, and being an hour late, but, no harm done. After all, there's no such thing as late when you live on island time. Some of us weren't ready for the night to end so after dinner a few of us headed out to a bar for some drinks and dancing. After we'd had our fill, those of us that remained, the last ones to bed every night of the trip, myself, Max, my new German friend, Edrian, my romance, Chance, my little brother, and Mharjio, the man responsible for the absolutely amazing food we got to eat, headed over to Captain Lito's house to carry on a bit longer. Well, Captain Lito was already asleep, it was after 11 after all, and he'd just finished a 5 day trip, and was leaving again in 2 days to do it all over again, so we sat in his living room and talked with his wife and sister, then watched Gulliver's Travels and had a marvelous time. His wife is such a sweetheart and his sister was hilarious. Finally, everyone getting tired, we headed back into town to call it a night. Edrian walked me to my hotel and I turned in for the night.
The next day brought one of the best days of my life, not to mention the trip. Edrian and Chance showed Max and I around the island of Coron by way of motorbike. And we started with a bang. Chance was the only one that could drive but he asked me if I thought I could do it, and wouldn't take no for an answer, so... a bit of chaos ensued. Despite my vehement protests, Chance put me on the bike, and with a 6'5" German on the back behind me, I attempted to drive. Well... you can imagine how that ended up. We crashed into a building, Max rolled over top of me, and I ended up under a very large German and a motorbike. Yeah. Thankfully, the worst injury was my shattered pride and the rest were only minor scrapes and a few bruises on me. So, we came up with plan B. Instead of renting two motorbikes and trying to force me to learn to drive in 5 seconds, I hired a driver (much better idea) and the trip was back on. Our driver was this super awesome guy named Omar, who really just added to the trip. We got a bigger bike since there would be three of us, Omar, me, and Edrian behind me, Max got behind Chance, and we were off. We went off the beaten path and Chance showed us his favorite spots and some amazing waterfalls tucked away in the jungles of Coron. But, the excitement didn't end with my run in with a building. The waterfalls Chance wanted to show us most were at the top of a mountain. Unfortunately, there had been a lot of rain in the last few months and the roads got washed out pretty bad, but, being a 16 year old boy, that didn't dissuade Chance at all and up we went. At a few places the going got pretty rough and we even had to get off and walk a few times. The bike could barely make it up with just Omar, and with the weight of two people on the back, it just wasn't going to happen. So the ride was a little rough, but still enjoyable. Until the bike slipped into a rut on the path and spilled to the side, taking us with it. Well, with someone on the bike behind me, and my desire not to be under a falling bike for the second time in one day, my reaction time for getting off the bike wasn't exactly Flash-worthy. And my leg hit the muffler. Now, if you've ever been on a bike, or around them, you know how hot mufflers get. This, plus my flesh, not exactly a brilliant combination. This all happened within seconds and Edrian and Omar had jumped off and caught the bike so it wasn't falling anymore, and since they were trying to keep it from falling again I figured I better just stay on and not move, to make it as easy for them as possible. Except that didn't really work and it fell again, slamming my leg, again, into the muffler. This time it hit closer to the bike, where the muffler is hotter, and the skin seared to the muffler, and when I pulled away out of reflex, my skin decided not to come with me. That's right folks. Two third degree burns in under 30 seconds. Hooray vacation! Anywho. So, in addition to my new body modifications to my leg, Omar hurt his wrist when he caught the bike from falling. His braking wrist. So, we have an injured driver, a wounded traveler, and we're in the middle of jungle. With nothing but two motorbikes, and a whole lot of mountain left to climb. So, in true manly fashion, we all suck it up, wrap Omar's wrist with a small lanyard the bike key was on, it was the only thing anyone had, we were only wearing swimming clothes and tshirts, mount back up, and carry on. After a bit we started to make our way back to civilization a bit and stopped for a break at Ollie's house (another guy with Tao but he worked on a different boat) and hung out with his wife and super cute kids for a bit. But the memorable part about Ollie's house is when we got there, Omar asked Ollie's wife for some toothpaste. So she comes out with a tiny packet of Colgate and I'm thinking - you really need to brush your teeth right now? That's a little strange, but, whatever floats your boat. Except then he tells me to let him see my leg, and proceeds to put toothpaste all over my burns. Umm, cool? Actually, yes. It made them stop burning and although the worse burn melted the toothpaste, it still helped dramatically with the pain. I would have never thought to put toothpaste on a burn and some people would probably call me crazy but, I got to learn the Filipino way of treating burns, or how to do it when you're in the jungle anyway. So, after a bit of rest and conversation, we got back on our bikes and continued on.
I got to see some really incredible views that day and have a once in a lifetime experience that I could have never expected on any vacation, but the two moments that will never fade from my memory, of this I am sure, are the following. We were coming down the other side of the mountain when we came around this turn and there was a break in the trees. You could see everything. It was looking down over this valley and all the other mountains that were shorter, of course Chance's favorite spot was on one of the tallest mountains on the island, and I felt like I was in a dream. Or a movie. It was absolutely breathtaking. The land was so untouched and primal and beautiful. My favorite view in life will probably always be an uninterrupted horizon looking out over the ocean, but the view of that valley will always be close behind. It was like looking over it all I could see all the life teeming just beneath the canopy of leaves. There was a whole world in that sea of green that had nothing to do with humans, and that was beautiful.
The other moment that will stay with me forever was at the end of the day. After seeing all of this awe-inspiring scenery, seeing all of God's wonder and glory untouched and in person, we were cruising down a dirt road and the sun was streaming through the leaves. Edrian had one earbud in and I had the other and we were listening to some song. But the moment wasn't about the music. There was just this instant where, with the sun speckled across my skin, and the warm wind kissing my face, with Edrian sitting close behind me, and us listening to the music, I felt like I had found another world. This wasn't the world where money or things mattered, there were no politics or big businesses, no factories or smokestacks or underhanded deals. There was just the sun, and the wind. There was melody and the earth. There was the sound of birds and insects singing sweetly in the coming sunset light. And it was perfect. It was simple and pure. The way life was supposed to be. It was the culmination of everything I had felt on my trip all refined into a single moment of pure, unbridled, life.
So, riding that wave of euphoria and holding onto that feeling of life, we headed to the hot springs to finish the day. We soaked away the sore muscles of a long ride and basked in the moment. After we went for a bit of dinner and I said goodbye to Max, not knowing if I would ever see him again, as he was leaving the next morning. And it was the end of another wonderful day.
The next morning brought breakfast, a trip to the Tao office to hang out with Rose, one of the managers, and a pleasant run in with Max. He was waiting for his van to go to the airport so we spent his last few hours recalling some of the awesome memories we had made over the last week and, at his insistence, maybe it's a German thing, having a few beers, even though it was only 11:30. After he left I headed back to my hotel, enjoyed a massage, then got a pedicure, and walked around the town for a bit. I (literally) ran into Edrian and Chance, when I was paying more attention to a little girl on the other side of the street than to where I was going, and since I had no plans, decided to spend the rest of the day with them. They were gathering supplies and loading up the boat for the next expedition which was leaving the next morning so I helped with that and after we were finished, we (me, Edrian, Chance, Mharjio, and the boat mechanic, who was a really awesome guy but who's name I never found out :/) sat around drinking rum and talking. By the way, in the Philippines they drink rum called Tanduay, and if I ever find it in the states, I just might become an alcoholic. It would be the only reason that would ever happen but man, is this delicious. Especially with some pineapple juice. Just so yummy. And I don't even like rum. But this is just... different. Anyway, then it was dinner and one more round of uncertain goodbyes, as every time I said it, I wasn't sure if I would ever see them again.
Sunday morning I woke up early, grabbed some fruit for breakfast, and headed out to the harbor to see the boys one last time before they left. They were finishing loading the boat with fruits and vegetables and ice, and while they were making trips back and forth to the boat, I got a chance to talk to some of the other men running boats in the area and Omar, who brought the loads of supplies in his trike. Finally, the time came to say goodbye for the last time, at least for a while, because I just can't accept that I'll never go back or see them all again. It was a sad moment but filled with the joy of friendships and memories made. And I know that I will see them again, if only through technology or dreams.
I spent the rest of the day exploring Coron by foot, got lost on side roads through the real village, away from the tourists, and ended it with a nice dinner with Lucy and some of the girls we had met on the boat.
Our last day in Coron Lucy and I did a bit of souvenir shopping and got hot oil treatments for our poor hair. Too much sun and salt water and not enough conditioner does not nice hair make. Then we headed to the Tao office to wait for our van, I saw goodbye to Rose and Markus, some fast friends I had made in the office, and when the van arrived, we headed to the airport. It was just a few short hours later that we were boarding our international flight "home" - or Korea, as it were - and before we knew it, vacation was over.
It was an amazing experience and one I will cherish for the rest of my life. I know I will go back to the Philippines at least once, hopefully many times, and often. It's got a special place in my heart and in the future, I may just call it home.
Sorry this post was something of a novel. I hope you enjoyed reading about my Philippine adventures at least a smidgen as much as I enjoyed having them. Because this took so long I won't be making another post today but I do promise to post again before it's been two months. Hope everyone back home is well. Miss you all and I'll see you in 4 months! ♥
So, I left off with my amazing trip with Tao Philippines through the wilderness and beauty of Palawan. If you haven't seen the pictures or videos I've posted on facebook, you should go look. Here are the links to the videos. This first one is good, but, it's all in German. And it's pretty long. It's a whole documentary. But it's interesting and about the company as well as the trip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-eedTpXf8I&feature=share
This second one is only five minutes and it's in English and it describes the actual trip better. I think it does a really beautiful job of capturing the mood and vibe of the experience. http://vimeo.com/40630773
Okay so, if you watched either one of those, you can see for yourself how beautiful it is. But even as amazing as those videos portray it to be, they can not even begin to describe what this expedition was like. It changed my life. Yes, five days on a boat with 14 other complete strangers, plus the 7 Filipinos working the boat, who I spent more time with and got to know better than the other travelers, changed my entire life. I have never been more at peace with myself, or with God, or the world around me. Everyday wasn't sunshiny and beautiful but the experience was about so much more than weather. Even when the wind was throwing needles of stinging rain onto my overly sunkissed shoulders, that'll happen when you spend 6 months in Korea where the sun hardly makes an appearance and then change to everyday in the sun, and the water was so choppy it was impossible to sit still, there was a calm within my heart. My soul was sublimely happy. I can't recall ever feeling so centered and simply happy in my whole life. And when the storm moved on, and the seas calmed, leaving the boat to return to the gentle comforting rock I had come so used to so quickly, the sun peeked out from behind the thunderheads and warmed and dried my skin. The warmth soaked into my body and my heart. And aside from the breathtaking scenery and water so clear you can see 20 feet down like the floor is just below your feet, I forged friendships with the guys of Tao that I will forever hold dear in my heart. I picked up a little brother and several friends and even had a romance. And those connections just added so much more to the trip. They gave it a dimension I didn't know it was lacking. So, after 5 unforgettable days with Aurora, our boat, soaking up every bit of it we could, we finally pulled in to the harbor of Coron with sadness in the faces of everyone aboard. We gathered our things and stepped of the boat for what would likely be the last time.
Luckily, as most of us were spending a few days in Coron, we didn't have to say goodbye to our new friends just yet. We headed off to our hotels so get settled, drop off bags, clean up, and then met for dinner at a local bistro. I decided to take a short nap, which led to me accidentally sleeping longer than I meant to, of course, and being an hour late, but, no harm done. After all, there's no such thing as late when you live on island time. Some of us weren't ready for the night to end so after dinner a few of us headed out to a bar for some drinks and dancing. After we'd had our fill, those of us that remained, the last ones to bed every night of the trip, myself, Max, my new German friend, Edrian, my romance, Chance, my little brother, and Mharjio, the man responsible for the absolutely amazing food we got to eat, headed over to Captain Lito's house to carry on a bit longer. Well, Captain Lito was already asleep, it was after 11 after all, and he'd just finished a 5 day trip, and was leaving again in 2 days to do it all over again, so we sat in his living room and talked with his wife and sister, then watched Gulliver's Travels and had a marvelous time. His wife is such a sweetheart and his sister was hilarious. Finally, everyone getting tired, we headed back into town to call it a night. Edrian walked me to my hotel and I turned in for the night.
The next day brought one of the best days of my life, not to mention the trip. Edrian and Chance showed Max and I around the island of Coron by way of motorbike. And we started with a bang. Chance was the only one that could drive but he asked me if I thought I could do it, and wouldn't take no for an answer, so... a bit of chaos ensued. Despite my vehement protests, Chance put me on the bike, and with a 6'5" German on the back behind me, I attempted to drive. Well... you can imagine how that ended up. We crashed into a building, Max rolled over top of me, and I ended up under a very large German and a motorbike. Yeah. Thankfully, the worst injury was my shattered pride and the rest were only minor scrapes and a few bruises on me. So, we came up with plan B. Instead of renting two motorbikes and trying to force me to learn to drive in 5 seconds, I hired a driver (much better idea) and the trip was back on. Our driver was this super awesome guy named Omar, who really just added to the trip. We got a bigger bike since there would be three of us, Omar, me, and Edrian behind me, Max got behind Chance, and we were off. We went off the beaten path and Chance showed us his favorite spots and some amazing waterfalls tucked away in the jungles of Coron. But, the excitement didn't end with my run in with a building. The waterfalls Chance wanted to show us most were at the top of a mountain. Unfortunately, there had been a lot of rain in the last few months and the roads got washed out pretty bad, but, being a 16 year old boy, that didn't dissuade Chance at all and up we went. At a few places the going got pretty rough and we even had to get off and walk a few times. The bike could barely make it up with just Omar, and with the weight of two people on the back, it just wasn't going to happen. So the ride was a little rough, but still enjoyable. Until the bike slipped into a rut on the path and spilled to the side, taking us with it. Well, with someone on the bike behind me, and my desire not to be under a falling bike for the second time in one day, my reaction time for getting off the bike wasn't exactly Flash-worthy. And my leg hit the muffler. Now, if you've ever been on a bike, or around them, you know how hot mufflers get. This, plus my flesh, not exactly a brilliant combination. This all happened within seconds and Edrian and Omar had jumped off and caught the bike so it wasn't falling anymore, and since they were trying to keep it from falling again I figured I better just stay on and not move, to make it as easy for them as possible. Except that didn't really work and it fell again, slamming my leg, again, into the muffler. This time it hit closer to the bike, where the muffler is hotter, and the skin seared to the muffler, and when I pulled away out of reflex, my skin decided not to come with me. That's right folks. Two third degree burns in under 30 seconds. Hooray vacation! Anywho. So, in addition to my new body modifications to my leg, Omar hurt his wrist when he caught the bike from falling. His braking wrist. So, we have an injured driver, a wounded traveler, and we're in the middle of jungle. With nothing but two motorbikes, and a whole lot of mountain left to climb. So, in true manly fashion, we all suck it up, wrap Omar's wrist with a small lanyard the bike key was on, it was the only thing anyone had, we were only wearing swimming clothes and tshirts, mount back up, and carry on. After a bit we started to make our way back to civilization a bit and stopped for a break at Ollie's house (another guy with Tao but he worked on a different boat) and hung out with his wife and super cute kids for a bit. But the memorable part about Ollie's house is when we got there, Omar asked Ollie's wife for some toothpaste. So she comes out with a tiny packet of Colgate and I'm thinking - you really need to brush your teeth right now? That's a little strange, but, whatever floats your boat. Except then he tells me to let him see my leg, and proceeds to put toothpaste all over my burns. Umm, cool? Actually, yes. It made them stop burning and although the worse burn melted the toothpaste, it still helped dramatically with the pain. I would have never thought to put toothpaste on a burn and some people would probably call me crazy but, I got to learn the Filipino way of treating burns, or how to do it when you're in the jungle anyway. So, after a bit of rest and conversation, we got back on our bikes and continued on.
I got to see some really incredible views that day and have a once in a lifetime experience that I could have never expected on any vacation, but the two moments that will never fade from my memory, of this I am sure, are the following. We were coming down the other side of the mountain when we came around this turn and there was a break in the trees. You could see everything. It was looking down over this valley and all the other mountains that were shorter, of course Chance's favorite spot was on one of the tallest mountains on the island, and I felt like I was in a dream. Or a movie. It was absolutely breathtaking. The land was so untouched and primal and beautiful. My favorite view in life will probably always be an uninterrupted horizon looking out over the ocean, but the view of that valley will always be close behind. It was like looking over it all I could see all the life teeming just beneath the canopy of leaves. There was a whole world in that sea of green that had nothing to do with humans, and that was beautiful.
The other moment that will stay with me forever was at the end of the day. After seeing all of this awe-inspiring scenery, seeing all of God's wonder and glory untouched and in person, we were cruising down a dirt road and the sun was streaming through the leaves. Edrian had one earbud in and I had the other and we were listening to some song. But the moment wasn't about the music. There was just this instant where, with the sun speckled across my skin, and the warm wind kissing my face, with Edrian sitting close behind me, and us listening to the music, I felt like I had found another world. This wasn't the world where money or things mattered, there were no politics or big businesses, no factories or smokestacks or underhanded deals. There was just the sun, and the wind. There was melody and the earth. There was the sound of birds and insects singing sweetly in the coming sunset light. And it was perfect. It was simple and pure. The way life was supposed to be. It was the culmination of everything I had felt on my trip all refined into a single moment of pure, unbridled, life.
So, riding that wave of euphoria and holding onto that feeling of life, we headed to the hot springs to finish the day. We soaked away the sore muscles of a long ride and basked in the moment. After we went for a bit of dinner and I said goodbye to Max, not knowing if I would ever see him again, as he was leaving the next morning. And it was the end of another wonderful day.
The next morning brought breakfast, a trip to the Tao office to hang out with Rose, one of the managers, and a pleasant run in with Max. He was waiting for his van to go to the airport so we spent his last few hours recalling some of the awesome memories we had made over the last week and, at his insistence, maybe it's a German thing, having a few beers, even though it was only 11:30. After he left I headed back to my hotel, enjoyed a massage, then got a pedicure, and walked around the town for a bit. I (literally) ran into Edrian and Chance, when I was paying more attention to a little girl on the other side of the street than to where I was going, and since I had no plans, decided to spend the rest of the day with them. They were gathering supplies and loading up the boat for the next expedition which was leaving the next morning so I helped with that and after we were finished, we (me, Edrian, Chance, Mharjio, and the boat mechanic, who was a really awesome guy but who's name I never found out :/) sat around drinking rum and talking. By the way, in the Philippines they drink rum called Tanduay, and if I ever find it in the states, I just might become an alcoholic. It would be the only reason that would ever happen but man, is this delicious. Especially with some pineapple juice. Just so yummy. And I don't even like rum. But this is just... different. Anyway, then it was dinner and one more round of uncertain goodbyes, as every time I said it, I wasn't sure if I would ever see them again.
Sunday morning I woke up early, grabbed some fruit for breakfast, and headed out to the harbor to see the boys one last time before they left. They were finishing loading the boat with fruits and vegetables and ice, and while they were making trips back and forth to the boat, I got a chance to talk to some of the other men running boats in the area and Omar, who brought the loads of supplies in his trike. Finally, the time came to say goodbye for the last time, at least for a while, because I just can't accept that I'll never go back or see them all again. It was a sad moment but filled with the joy of friendships and memories made. And I know that I will see them again, if only through technology or dreams.
I spent the rest of the day exploring Coron by foot, got lost on side roads through the real village, away from the tourists, and ended it with a nice dinner with Lucy and some of the girls we had met on the boat.
Our last day in Coron Lucy and I did a bit of souvenir shopping and got hot oil treatments for our poor hair. Too much sun and salt water and not enough conditioner does not nice hair make. Then we headed to the Tao office to wait for our van, I saw goodbye to Rose and Markus, some fast friends I had made in the office, and when the van arrived, we headed to the airport. It was just a few short hours later that we were boarding our international flight "home" - or Korea, as it were - and before we knew it, vacation was over.
It was an amazing experience and one I will cherish for the rest of my life. I know I will go back to the Philippines at least once, hopefully many times, and often. It's got a special place in my heart and in the future, I may just call it home.
Sorry this post was something of a novel. I hope you enjoyed reading about my Philippine adventures at least a smidgen as much as I enjoyed having them. Because this took so long I won't be making another post today but I do promise to post again before it's been two months. Hope everyone back home is well. Miss you all and I'll see you in 4 months! ♥
Friday, February 10, 2012
The Philippines.Part 2
Upon arriving in El Nido, Lucy and I took a trike to our hotel, Four Seasons, which was actually called All Seasons, but I think they found out Four Seasons is an American chain and so they sort of sucker you in with the name. It was a very nice hotel, not exactly what I was expecting, but nice. And it was beachfront so that was definitely a plus. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After the mixup with dates in Puerto Princesa I was looking forward to checking in, having some nice dinner, and getting some good sleep. Unfortunately, they got the dates mixed up, not my fault this time, and they had no empty rooms. So they put us up in a hotel on the other side of town, called Viva Rosa - it was the theme for our trip apparently - which was decent. It was a bit out of the way but it had hot showers and soft beds. I was very glad to be changing hotels the next morning though as we discovered it also had too many roosters and not enough quiet. Now, there are roosters all over the Philippines, and when I say all over I mean just about every family has one, cock fighting is big there, but this hotel had at least 3 and they had crowing competitions from about 4am til we left at 8:40, when the Four Seasons trike finally showed up, 40 minutes late. We caught the tail end of breakfast at the Four Seasons hotel, and then did a bit of exploring. The beach in front of our hotel wasn't nice, though the view was beautiful, but we found that if you walked down a bit and turned the corner there was a beautiful private beach just waiting to be relaxed upon. Which we promptly did. After a bit we headed into town and did a bit of exploring. The hotel was on the very outer edge of town, which was sort of a pain but at the same time nice because it meant the area wasn't swarming with tourists. It also meant that when we walked to town, we could have taken a trike but we thought it'd be nice to get a bit of exercise and we didn't think it was that far, it turned out to be an hour walk with not enough sunscreen on my back. And so I got my first burn of the vacation. It wasn't too bad though and went away within a few days.
We spent the next 5 days doing pretty much the same. Relaxing on the beach, making occasional trips into town for dinner or shopping, and basically just forgetting that the rest of the world existed. With the exception of an island hopping day trip somewhere in there - days stopped having names and numbers, there was only yesterday, today, and occasionally tomorrow - which we booked through our hotel. We left after breakfast and saw a couple of lagoons, had some fish cooked over a fire pit on the beach, and got to do some snorkeling. It wasn't exactly the highlight of the vacation but it was a nice break from the town, although there were far too many tourists at all of the locations for my taste, it was sort of a teaser for what was to come on the Tao boat. Our last day in El Nido we stocked up on sunscreen, checked in for our expedition for the next day, and went to sleep giddy and ready to start our boat trip. So after a relaxing week of beaches and small town El Nido, the first part of our vacation ended.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed to the Tao office for some amazing coffee and to start our expedition. This was the highlight of the vacation. We would be spending 5 days and 4 nights on a boat, sleeping on remote islands, enjoying the catch of the day - although I was in no way prepared for how delicious the food was - and getting to see the beautiful and remote parts of the Palawan islands the way they were meant to be seen. The trip is through a company called TaoPhilippines and they are the only company that does trips like this. The company was started by two guys, Jack and Eddie, from the UK - Eddie is Filipino but went to university in the UK and met Jack there. Eddie went on vacation and fell in love with the country so on his next vacation he brought Jack with him. Jack had the same sentiments as Eddie and so the two started this company to show people the hidden beauty of the remote islands of north Palawan. They also have social welfare projects and build schools for children on some of the islands. Overall it is really just a phenomenal company, aside from the most amazing experience I could have ever hoped for on a vacation, they are making it a point to give back to the community they are now part of and are making a difference in the locals lives everyday. Anyway, if you want to know more about the company you should check out their site, and if you ever go to the Philippines you should absolutely take a trip with them. You won't regret it. So, on to my trip. :] Sunday morning they loaded up our big bags onto the boat. We were supposed to be on the largest boat, Buhay which means "life" in Tagalog - the local language - but some of the people scheduled for the trip dropped out and so with our smaller numbers we ended up on a slightly smaller, but just as amazing boat named Aurora, for Eddie's late mother. We were ferried to boat with our day bags by guy named Edrian in a small motorboat, where I had my first, and only :], fall of the trip. Not really a fall as much as a slip. When I stepped into the boat I didn't think to take my flip flops off and because it was wet in the boat I slipped forward, almost going headfirst into the water. Everyone had a good laugh, myself and included, and we made it to the boat without any other complications. Which was good considering it was a 2 minute ride. Once on the boat we met the rest of the crew, DenDen, and Chance, the other two guys that would work the boat with Edrian, Johann, our expedition leader for the first day, his boat is Buhay so we were supposed to be with him but with the smaller group, and the smaller boat, we would have a different expedition leader, but she just got back from a trip and asked Johann to take the first day so she could rest. There was also Captain Lito, Mharjo, the chef, and the engine mechanic whose name I could not, and still can't, remember. Oh, and of course, Tiger. She is an island dog that lives on the boat. After everyone was aboard the boys pulled up the anchors and we set sail. The first night we stayed in Bacuit Bay at Tao Village - about 10 minutes from El Nido, though we took a bit of a longer way to get in some snorkeling. The island where we stopped for the night was absolutely amazing. We pulled up in the boat to a beautiful white beach, the clearest water I've ever seen, huts hiding in the trees, and a hammock swaying in the wind. A couple of the guys got a fire going while people started showering. I went for a swim in the ocean and could not get over how clear the water was. Even when it was 10-12 feet deep, I could still see the bottom like it was only a few feet below me. After a nice swim I took a nice shower with a bucket. Running water is nice but I don't mind the bucket, I think Korea has sort of transitioned me into that. And it was fresh spring water from a well in the jungle so it washed away the sweat and salt of the day and left me refreshed. Then we all got a free massage from some of the women who lived nearby. Tao pays them to take care of the village and to give one massage to each guest when they come through. For us it was the first night, but if we had done the reverse trip from Coron to El Nido it would be the last. Regardless it was amazing and everyone agreed that they did such a good job they deserved tips. Then it was time for more food. Mharjo (pronounced Mar-jee-oh) was the chef and he makes the most amazing food I have ever had in my life. No questions asked. Everyday we had something different for breakfast, be it eggs and vegetables, fried eggplant, porridge and fruit, or pancakes it was delicious. Lunch and dinner were always some sort of fresh fish cooked over a low fire or coals by one of the guys, usually Edrian, and an assortment of vegetables by Mharjo. I mean really, I can not even express to you all how good this food was. So after an amazing dinner, we cleared the table and sat around sharing stories with the other guests on the boat and Jack and drinking rhum and coke or rhum and pineapple juice til late into the night. Now back home I don't like rum and thought that it would be the same anywhere but rhum in the Philippines is delicious. It doesn't even taste like rum. The rhum in the Philippines is called Tanduay and it is dangerous. So, after much drinking, laughing, and debauchery, we called it a night and made our way to bed. We stayed in huts built up off the ground on mattresses the boys set out for everyone. They even gave us sheets and hung our mosquito nets for us, though I didn't find them necessary.
I woke early the next morning and caught the sunrise, spent some time talking to Eddie and indulged in amazing coffee that Eddie's grandmother sends to him from north Philippines that she grows and sells. It was the best coffee I've ever had. You can see now why this trip was so good. Aside from being in the Philippines and all of the amazing sights, every time I turned around there was incredible food and coffee waiting for me. And, with being active everyday I even toned up and didn't gain any weight. I wish I could live like that everyday. So, after everyone was up, fed, packed, and ready to go we just had to wait on Zaza to get there and then we were off for the day. Once Zaza came the trip took on a bit of a different feel. When I met Johann he immediately made me think of Jack Sparrow. As our expedition leader, you can see how this would be good for the trip. Zaza was a different story. She's nice and everything, but she's not much of a people person. Johann took the time to get to know, or at least appear to get to know, the guests whereas Zaza sort of acted as though she had better things to do. At least that was the way I felt. She was really nice and not necessarily antisocial or rude, it just gave the trip a different vibe. Anyway, once Zaza got there we were on our way. We spent the rest of the trip doing pretty much the same. Stopping to snorkel and for lunch, amazing dinner and breakfast on the islands, beautiful reefs and days spent lounging in the sun or swimming. It was absolutely paradise. If heaven is different for everyone there is no doubt in my mind that mine will be a beach. With the sun warming my face, waves crashing on the shore or lapping at the boat as music drifts with the wind, soft sand between my toes, and good friends for conversation. Life just doesn't get better than that.
More in the next post. :]
We spent the next 5 days doing pretty much the same. Relaxing on the beach, making occasional trips into town for dinner or shopping, and basically just forgetting that the rest of the world existed. With the exception of an island hopping day trip somewhere in there - days stopped having names and numbers, there was only yesterday, today, and occasionally tomorrow - which we booked through our hotel. We left after breakfast and saw a couple of lagoons, had some fish cooked over a fire pit on the beach, and got to do some snorkeling. It wasn't exactly the highlight of the vacation but it was a nice break from the town, although there were far too many tourists at all of the locations for my taste, it was sort of a teaser for what was to come on the Tao boat. Our last day in El Nido we stocked up on sunscreen, checked in for our expedition for the next day, and went to sleep giddy and ready to start our boat trip. So after a relaxing week of beaches and small town El Nido, the first part of our vacation ended.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed to the Tao office for some amazing coffee and to start our expedition. This was the highlight of the vacation. We would be spending 5 days and 4 nights on a boat, sleeping on remote islands, enjoying the catch of the day - although I was in no way prepared for how delicious the food was - and getting to see the beautiful and remote parts of the Palawan islands the way they were meant to be seen. The trip is through a company called TaoPhilippines and they are the only company that does trips like this. The company was started by two guys, Jack and Eddie, from the UK - Eddie is Filipino but went to university in the UK and met Jack there. Eddie went on vacation and fell in love with the country so on his next vacation he brought Jack with him. Jack had the same sentiments as Eddie and so the two started this company to show people the hidden beauty of the remote islands of north Palawan. They also have social welfare projects and build schools for children on some of the islands. Overall it is really just a phenomenal company, aside from the most amazing experience I could have ever hoped for on a vacation, they are making it a point to give back to the community they are now part of and are making a difference in the locals lives everyday. Anyway, if you want to know more about the company you should check out their site, and if you ever go to the Philippines you should absolutely take a trip with them. You won't regret it. So, on to my trip. :] Sunday morning they loaded up our big bags onto the boat. We were supposed to be on the largest boat, Buhay which means "life" in Tagalog - the local language - but some of the people scheduled for the trip dropped out and so with our smaller numbers we ended up on a slightly smaller, but just as amazing boat named Aurora, for Eddie's late mother. We were ferried to boat with our day bags by guy named Edrian in a small motorboat, where I had my first, and only :], fall of the trip. Not really a fall as much as a slip. When I stepped into the boat I didn't think to take my flip flops off and because it was wet in the boat I slipped forward, almost going headfirst into the water. Everyone had a good laugh, myself and included, and we made it to the boat without any other complications. Which was good considering it was a 2 minute ride. Once on the boat we met the rest of the crew, DenDen, and Chance, the other two guys that would work the boat with Edrian, Johann, our expedition leader for the first day, his boat is Buhay so we were supposed to be with him but with the smaller group, and the smaller boat, we would have a different expedition leader, but she just got back from a trip and asked Johann to take the first day so she could rest. There was also Captain Lito, Mharjo, the chef, and the engine mechanic whose name I could not, and still can't, remember. Oh, and of course, Tiger. She is an island dog that lives on the boat. After everyone was aboard the boys pulled up the anchors and we set sail. The first night we stayed in Bacuit Bay at Tao Village - about 10 minutes from El Nido, though we took a bit of a longer way to get in some snorkeling. The island where we stopped for the night was absolutely amazing. We pulled up in the boat to a beautiful white beach, the clearest water I've ever seen, huts hiding in the trees, and a hammock swaying in the wind. A couple of the guys got a fire going while people started showering. I went for a swim in the ocean and could not get over how clear the water was. Even when it was 10-12 feet deep, I could still see the bottom like it was only a few feet below me. After a nice swim I took a nice shower with a bucket. Running water is nice but I don't mind the bucket, I think Korea has sort of transitioned me into that. And it was fresh spring water from a well in the jungle so it washed away the sweat and salt of the day and left me refreshed. Then we all got a free massage from some of the women who lived nearby. Tao pays them to take care of the village and to give one massage to each guest when they come through. For us it was the first night, but if we had done the reverse trip from Coron to El Nido it would be the last. Regardless it was amazing and everyone agreed that they did such a good job they deserved tips. Then it was time for more food. Mharjo (pronounced Mar-jee-oh) was the chef and he makes the most amazing food I have ever had in my life. No questions asked. Everyday we had something different for breakfast, be it eggs and vegetables, fried eggplant, porridge and fruit, or pancakes it was delicious. Lunch and dinner were always some sort of fresh fish cooked over a low fire or coals by one of the guys, usually Edrian, and an assortment of vegetables by Mharjo. I mean really, I can not even express to you all how good this food was. So after an amazing dinner, we cleared the table and sat around sharing stories with the other guests on the boat and Jack and drinking rhum and coke or rhum and pineapple juice til late into the night. Now back home I don't like rum and thought that it would be the same anywhere but rhum in the Philippines is delicious. It doesn't even taste like rum. The rhum in the Philippines is called Tanduay and it is dangerous. So, after much drinking, laughing, and debauchery, we called it a night and made our way to bed. We stayed in huts built up off the ground on mattresses the boys set out for everyone. They even gave us sheets and hung our mosquito nets for us, though I didn't find them necessary.
I woke early the next morning and caught the sunrise, spent some time talking to Eddie and indulged in amazing coffee that Eddie's grandmother sends to him from north Philippines that she grows and sells. It was the best coffee I've ever had. You can see now why this trip was so good. Aside from being in the Philippines and all of the amazing sights, every time I turned around there was incredible food and coffee waiting for me. And, with being active everyday I even toned up and didn't gain any weight. I wish I could live like that everyday. So, after everyone was up, fed, packed, and ready to go we just had to wait on Zaza to get there and then we were off for the day. Once Zaza came the trip took on a bit of a different feel. When I met Johann he immediately made me think of Jack Sparrow. As our expedition leader, you can see how this would be good for the trip. Zaza was a different story. She's nice and everything, but she's not much of a people person. Johann took the time to get to know, or at least appear to get to know, the guests whereas Zaza sort of acted as though she had better things to do. At least that was the way I felt. She was really nice and not necessarily antisocial or rude, it just gave the trip a different vibe. Anyway, once Zaza got there we were on our way. We spent the rest of the trip doing pretty much the same. Stopping to snorkel and for lunch, amazing dinner and breakfast on the islands, beautiful reefs and days spent lounging in the sun or swimming. It was absolutely paradise. If heaven is different for everyone there is no doubt in my mind that mine will be a beach. With the sun warming my face, waves crashing on the shore or lapping at the boat as music drifts with the wind, soft sand between my toes, and good friends for conversation. Life just doesn't get better than that.
More in the next post. :]
The Philippines.Part 1
After 3 weeks of winter camps and icy, windy Korea, I could not wait for my vacation in the sun. Friday night I headed to Daegu to meet the guy that watched Switch and take her to him. I was a bit nervous as I had not met him before and only had a few conversations with him on facebook, but I was pleasantly surprised as we had coffee and talked before handing over Switch. After squaring away all the details and getting everything settled, I passed Switch off and headed out into Daegu for a night out before vacation. Everyone in Daegu was out of town on their vacations already so I had some dinner and called it an early night and found my way to the only jimjilbang I knew how to get to in Daegu. Unfortunately, this is the jimjilbang where I lost my jewelry a week prior. Yeap, both rings(this includes my high school class ring, the loss I am most upset about) and my necklace. Luckily, I wasn't wearing my irreplaceable pendant and while the it was all sentimental and expensive jewelry, it is all (theoretically) replaceable. But, it was the only place I knew of to stay so off I went. After a nice shower and some serious quiet time in the saunas, I tried to catch a few hours of sleep as I knew Saturday and Sunday would be long days full of travel.
Saturday I caught up with a friend to kill time until Lucy got to town and then met up with her after lunch. By the way, Lucy was my traveling companion and friend that lives about an hour north of me in Andong. We went to the same orientation but didn't really start hanging out until we found out we were taking the same vacation and decided to pair up to make things safer and easier. She's from England and is 24 and it was nice to have someone to travel with. Anyway, we bought our tickets for the KTX train and I got to experience my first train ride. It wasn't too exciting, though I think it may be different if I was on a standard rail train as the KTX is something akin to a bullet train. Anyway, we made it to Seoul in record time, only 3 or 4 hours, it seems so long ago I can't remember, and then switched to the airport train. Upon arriving at Incheon Airport, I was thoroughly impressed. When I came through this airport six months ago, it was after 24 hours of travel and no sleep, dazed and reeling from the travel and the sheer fact that I was in South Korea. I was clearly not observant or aware of much around me because I would have remembered how awesome the airport is. I did not feel like I was in an airport. No one was rushing, it was quiet and there were no harsh lights. There was an ice rink, a movie theater, of course lots of restaurants, and a jimjilbang. Not to mention all the stores for duty free shopping. Lucy and I got some dinner at a restaurant offering Thai, Italian, Korean, and Japanese food, and then made our way to the jimjilbang for a bit of de-stressing and some sleep. The de-stressing was great, the sleep, hard to come by in jimjilbangs but at least this one had a sleep room. The one in Daegu never shut up. I swear Koreans don't sleep. But regardless, we were up bright and early for our 8:15 flight out of Korea and into the not-so-beautiful-butmuchclosertowherewewanttobe-Manila.
It was a short 4 hour flight to Manila, losing one hour, the Philippines are one hour ahead of Korea, and then we joined the throngs of other confused tourists as we attempted to figure out where to go and how to get there. We had to take a shuttle from the arrivals terminal to a separate terminal for domestic flights with Philippine Airlines. After a 30 minute wait and a 15 minute shuttle ride, we made our way through the airport and started the 5 hour wait for our next flight. By the time we finally boarded and then made it to Puerto Princesa, we were exhausted and ready to crash for the night.
First Lucy had to wait to get her checked bag as we were only allowed one piece of carry on, which was a bit of a hassle, as there is one small baggage carousel and everyone crowds around it and then tries to push out the one door simultaneously. Everyone who checked baggage (almost everyone on the plane) had to then go through the same line to make sure your ticket matches the tag on your luggage. Which I appreciate, but it’s time-consuming. Unfortunately, Lucy had lost her baggage claim slip and they kept asking me for one for my backpack, but I didn't have one as it was my carryon, and they almost wouldn't let us out of the airport. Basically it came down to, we didn't have what they wanted and there was no other way to check so they waited until we were the last people and then when no one came up demanding that we had their bags, they decided we weren't lying and let us go. Then we had to take a trike, the local form of transportation, which is basically a motorbike with a glorified side car, to our hostel, House of Rose. Easy to remember. :] Upon arriving I was disappointed to discover I accidentally booked the wrong night, I booked for January 23 and we needed January 22, but the girls were super great about it and worked it out by letting us stay in an extra room in the house that some guys had used the night before for a similar reason. They even gave us a beer on the house for the mixup, even though it was my fault, turning what could have been a frustrating and disastrous start to our vacation into a pleasant one. So after dumping our bags in the room we found the bar and enjoyed some pleasant conversation and a few more beers before turning in for the night. However, instead of calling it an early night, an Australian guy from the bar, he lived right next to the hostel, insisted on taking us out for a few drinks since it was our first night of vacation and we would only be in Puerto Princesa for the night. We acquiesced and our plans for a quiet early night changed to a night on the town. Some craziness ensued and after getting split up, I headed back to the hostel in hopes Lucy would be there when I woke up. Luckily she was, though it was a late night for both of us, and with little sleep, again, we caught the van to El Nido. The trip took about 5 hours with one stop for a quick lunch and another stop to fix something on the van, which I'm pretty sure was just an excuse for the driver to pee. It would have taken longer if our driver cared about silly things like speed limits. I cannot tell you how many dogs, chickens, and people we almost hit. It was a long, bumpy ride, with no attention paid to speed limits and rough roads for at least half the trip. But, it was air conditioned, and there was good conversation to be had so while not the most pleasant trip of the vacation, it could have been much worse.
Well, this post is long enough so I'll write about El Nido in the next installment. :]
Saturday I caught up with a friend to kill time until Lucy got to town and then met up with her after lunch. By the way, Lucy was my traveling companion and friend that lives about an hour north of me in Andong. We went to the same orientation but didn't really start hanging out until we found out we were taking the same vacation and decided to pair up to make things safer and easier. She's from England and is 24 and it was nice to have someone to travel with. Anyway, we bought our tickets for the KTX train and I got to experience my first train ride. It wasn't too exciting, though I think it may be different if I was on a standard rail train as the KTX is something akin to a bullet train. Anyway, we made it to Seoul in record time, only 3 or 4 hours, it seems so long ago I can't remember, and then switched to the airport train. Upon arriving at Incheon Airport, I was thoroughly impressed. When I came through this airport six months ago, it was after 24 hours of travel and no sleep, dazed and reeling from the travel and the sheer fact that I was in South Korea. I was clearly not observant or aware of much around me because I would have remembered how awesome the airport is. I did not feel like I was in an airport. No one was rushing, it was quiet and there were no harsh lights. There was an ice rink, a movie theater, of course lots of restaurants, and a jimjilbang. Not to mention all the stores for duty free shopping. Lucy and I got some dinner at a restaurant offering Thai, Italian, Korean, and Japanese food, and then made our way to the jimjilbang for a bit of de-stressing and some sleep. The de-stressing was great, the sleep, hard to come by in jimjilbangs but at least this one had a sleep room. The one in Daegu never shut up. I swear Koreans don't sleep. But regardless, we were up bright and early for our 8:15 flight out of Korea and into the not-so-beautiful-butmuchclosertowherewewanttobe-Manila.
It was a short 4 hour flight to Manila, losing one hour, the Philippines are one hour ahead of Korea, and then we joined the throngs of other confused tourists as we attempted to figure out where to go and how to get there. We had to take a shuttle from the arrivals terminal to a separate terminal for domestic flights with Philippine Airlines. After a 30 minute wait and a 15 minute shuttle ride, we made our way through the airport and started the 5 hour wait for our next flight. By the time we finally boarded and then made it to Puerto Princesa, we were exhausted and ready to crash for the night.
First Lucy had to wait to get her checked bag as we were only allowed one piece of carry on, which was a bit of a hassle, as there is one small baggage carousel and everyone crowds around it and then tries to push out the one door simultaneously. Everyone who checked baggage (almost everyone on the plane) had to then go through the same line to make sure your ticket matches the tag on your luggage. Which I appreciate, but it’s time-consuming. Unfortunately, Lucy had lost her baggage claim slip and they kept asking me for one for my backpack, but I didn't have one as it was my carryon, and they almost wouldn't let us out of the airport. Basically it came down to, we didn't have what they wanted and there was no other way to check so they waited until we were the last people and then when no one came up demanding that we had their bags, they decided we weren't lying and let us go. Then we had to take a trike, the local form of transportation, which is basically a motorbike with a glorified side car, to our hostel, House of Rose. Easy to remember. :] Upon arriving I was disappointed to discover I accidentally booked the wrong night, I booked for January 23 and we needed January 22, but the girls were super great about it and worked it out by letting us stay in an extra room in the house that some guys had used the night before for a similar reason. They even gave us a beer on the house for the mixup, even though it was my fault, turning what could have been a frustrating and disastrous start to our vacation into a pleasant one. So after dumping our bags in the room we found the bar and enjoyed some pleasant conversation and a few more beers before turning in for the night. However, instead of calling it an early night, an Australian guy from the bar, he lived right next to the hostel, insisted on taking us out for a few drinks since it was our first night of vacation and we would only be in Puerto Princesa for the night. We acquiesced and our plans for a quiet early night changed to a night on the town. Some craziness ensued and after getting split up, I headed back to the hostel in hopes Lucy would be there when I woke up. Luckily she was, though it was a late night for both of us, and with little sleep, again, we caught the van to El Nido. The trip took about 5 hours with one stop for a quick lunch and another stop to fix something on the van, which I'm pretty sure was just an excuse for the driver to pee. It would have taken longer if our driver cared about silly things like speed limits. I cannot tell you how many dogs, chickens, and people we almost hit. It was a long, bumpy ride, with no attention paid to speed limits and rough roads for at least half the trip. But, it was air conditioned, and there was good conversation to be had so while not the most pleasant trip of the vacation, it could have been much worse.
Well, this post is long enough so I'll write about El Nido in the next installment. :]
Sunday, February 5, 2012
A New Year
Wow, the new year feels so long ago now. It's hard to believe it's only been a month since 2011 was ending and we were ringing in 2012 in Daegu. I had a pretty low key new year, just a few friends gathered in Daegu with a few drinks and lots of laughs. I met some a guy and his twin brother from South Africa, the one I met was on vacation and his twin teaches here. So I clicked with their group and spent the rest of the night hanging out in the club with a nice finish at Burger King for some morning ice cream. Unfortunately, the subway doesn't open until 5:30 and it was only 3 so we went to a Lotteria and sat around for a few hours until the subway opened so we could get to our bus terminals. We said our goodbyes, exchanged infos and parted ways.
It's still so uncanny to me that I have met so many people for a day or a weekend, had such a great time with them, and yet will, in all likely hood, never see them again. Back home this was never the case. Except maybe in Orlando. And even there it was unlikely. Usually if you saw someone once, at least if you ever went back to where you met them, you would meet them again. Here I feel like everything is so transient and always changing. Even though people are here on one year contracts, and even those that stay two or three years, it still such a small snippet of their life. Of course there are the people with whom I really connect and so keep in contact with regardless of distance, but those are usually ones I met at orientation or see multiple times because of a common friend or frequenting the same places. I guess I just feel very transient here. I don't feel like Korea is home. Even after six months at the same job, and the same apartment, it just isn't the same. But, I suppose that could be a good thing since it means there's no danger of me loving it so much I would ever be tempted to stay another year, or even another six months. I am enjoying my time here and the great people that I meet along the way, the experiences I get to have and all the awesome stuff I get to see, but it still feels like an extended vacation to me. So while Korea will never be my home, it will at least offer me a place to form unforgettable memories and have what I'm sure will always be some of the most outrageous times of my life.
So here's to the new year and all the surprises and changes it will bring with it. Hope everyone back home is having a great start to their new year!
It's still so uncanny to me that I have met so many people for a day or a weekend, had such a great time with them, and yet will, in all likely hood, never see them again. Back home this was never the case. Except maybe in Orlando. And even there it was unlikely. Usually if you saw someone once, at least if you ever went back to where you met them, you would meet them again. Here I feel like everything is so transient and always changing. Even though people are here on one year contracts, and even those that stay two or three years, it still such a small snippet of their life. Of course there are the people with whom I really connect and so keep in contact with regardless of distance, but those are usually ones I met at orientation or see multiple times because of a common friend or frequenting the same places. I guess I just feel very transient here. I don't feel like Korea is home. Even after six months at the same job, and the same apartment, it just isn't the same. But, I suppose that could be a good thing since it means there's no danger of me loving it so much I would ever be tempted to stay another year, or even another six months. I am enjoying my time here and the great people that I meet along the way, the experiences I get to have and all the awesome stuff I get to see, but it still feels like an extended vacation to me. So while Korea will never be my home, it will at least offer me a place to form unforgettable memories and have what I'm sure will always be some of the most outrageous times of my life.
So here's to the new year and all the surprises and changes it will bring with it. Hope everyone back home is having a great start to their new year!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Memories Made and Remincising
Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
And as Christmas comes to a close for me, I try to concentrate on the good things and all I have to be thankful for. I have met so many amazing people over the last 4 months and have had some wonderful experiences. Every day has not been a dream but I am alive and healthy, something I am especially thankful for considering my most recent health adventure. I have great friends to spend my time with, and an amazing family and friends back home to miss. Not to mention my glorious Savior, the reason for the holiday. I am abundantly blessed. It also brings to mind all the wonderful Christmas memories I have with my family, be it sitting in front of the fireplace or praying we can find just one open McDonald's for some Christmas breakfast, I can truly say I have a blessed life and the most amazing people in my life.
This year there was no Christmas tree, very little Christmas music, though that meant I didn't have a chance to get sick of it, like I usually am 2 days after Thanksgiving, and certainly none of the regular traditions, I still had a nice weekend celebrating the day.
After a week of easy Christmas lessons I headed to Yeongyang for a potluck Christmas on Saturday complete with ping-pong, a game of HORSE (basketball), secret Santa gifts, an abundance of delicious (non-Korean :] ) food, and a fabulous finish at my first noraebang (karaoke). I got there Friday night so I wouldn't have to worry about traveling on Saturday and had a nice evening with David, Vince, Marlene, and Lucy, who graciously offered her apartment for festivities and sleeping for 13. :] It's a good thing she has a big apartment. Saturday morning we woke up to a bit of snow, though it didn't stay for long it was a nice touch. After cooking the rest of the food for the afternoon, we headed out to play a bit of ping-pong until everyone else arrived. Which we followed up with a game of HORSE. In the cold. On top of a mountain. :o Once we were all sufficiently frozen we headed back to Lucy's and started the final preparations for dinner and waited for everyone to arrive. Cue mingling, drinking games, music, and general holiday festivities. Once everyone got there we had a delicious meal including mashed and roasted potatoes, chicken, all kinds of vegetables, and all other sorts of goodies. :D Then Dom and Dave treated us to a bit of live acoustic Christmas music and then we headed circled 'round for secret Santa. I got Andong soju, they're famous for it, in two beautiful ceramic figurines. All of the gifts were really nice and it was a lot of fun to see what everyone got. There were mittens, chocolate, wine and soju, bear coin banks and more.
To end the night we headed to a noraebang down the road from Lucy's. Korea really loves karaoke. So much so that they have establishments entirely dedicated to it. Like karaoke bars, but more. In a noraebang there are usually 5-10 rooms, of varying sizes, for different sized groups. You go with your group and you get a room and there are couches, and screens and microphones and they bring you food or drinks, you can order stuff, nothing serious, but snack type things, and then you sing your heart out. So we figured what better way to end Christmas Eve than to do just that. And sing we did. For 2 hours, until our throats were raw and the bottles were empty. We commemorated Christmas with Feliz Navidad at midnight and then headed back to home base and crashed for the night.
Sunday morning brought hangovers for many and gathering of belongings for our treks back to our homes. We said our goodbyes and ended a great weekend with friends. It was nice to be able to share Christmas with such great people and make all the wonderful memories. I know I'll never have another Christmas like it.
And yet, although I had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with friends, nothing can compare to Christmas breakfast, all the kids in one house, and family gathered round.
I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams...
Merry Christmas everyone. Miss and love you all. ♥
And as Christmas comes to a close for me, I try to concentrate on the good things and all I have to be thankful for. I have met so many amazing people over the last 4 months and have had some wonderful experiences. Every day has not been a dream but I am alive and healthy, something I am especially thankful for considering my most recent health adventure. I have great friends to spend my time with, and an amazing family and friends back home to miss. Not to mention my glorious Savior, the reason for the holiday. I am abundantly blessed. It also brings to mind all the wonderful Christmas memories I have with my family, be it sitting in front of the fireplace or praying we can find just one open McDonald's for some Christmas breakfast, I can truly say I have a blessed life and the most amazing people in my life.
This year there was no Christmas tree, very little Christmas music, though that meant I didn't have a chance to get sick of it, like I usually am 2 days after Thanksgiving, and certainly none of the regular traditions, I still had a nice weekend celebrating the day.
After a week of easy Christmas lessons I headed to Yeongyang for a potluck Christmas on Saturday complete with ping-pong, a game of HORSE (basketball), secret Santa gifts, an abundance of delicious (non-Korean :] ) food, and a fabulous finish at my first noraebang (karaoke). I got there Friday night so I wouldn't have to worry about traveling on Saturday and had a nice evening with David, Vince, Marlene, and Lucy, who graciously offered her apartment for festivities and sleeping for 13. :] It's a good thing she has a big apartment. Saturday morning we woke up to a bit of snow, though it didn't stay for long it was a nice touch. After cooking the rest of the food for the afternoon, we headed out to play a bit of ping-pong until everyone else arrived. Which we followed up with a game of HORSE. In the cold. On top of a mountain. :o Once we were all sufficiently frozen we headed back to Lucy's and started the final preparations for dinner and waited for everyone to arrive. Cue mingling, drinking games, music, and general holiday festivities. Once everyone got there we had a delicious meal including mashed and roasted potatoes, chicken, all kinds of vegetables, and all other sorts of goodies. :D Then Dom and Dave treated us to a bit of live acoustic Christmas music and then we headed circled 'round for secret Santa. I got Andong soju, they're famous for it, in two beautiful ceramic figurines. All of the gifts were really nice and it was a lot of fun to see what everyone got. There were mittens, chocolate, wine and soju, bear coin banks and more.
To end the night we headed to a noraebang down the road from Lucy's. Korea really loves karaoke. So much so that they have establishments entirely dedicated to it. Like karaoke bars, but more. In a noraebang there are usually 5-10 rooms, of varying sizes, for different sized groups. You go with your group and you get a room and there are couches, and screens and microphones and they bring you food or drinks, you can order stuff, nothing serious, but snack type things, and then you sing your heart out. So we figured what better way to end Christmas Eve than to do just that. And sing we did. For 2 hours, until our throats were raw and the bottles were empty. We commemorated Christmas with Feliz Navidad at midnight and then headed back to home base and crashed for the night.
Sunday morning brought hangovers for many and gathering of belongings for our treks back to our homes. We said our goodbyes and ended a great weekend with friends. It was nice to be able to share Christmas with such great people and make all the wonderful memories. I know I'll never have another Christmas like it.
And yet, although I had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with friends, nothing can compare to Christmas breakfast, all the kids in one house, and family gathered round.
I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams...
Merry Christmas everyone. Miss and love you all. ♥
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Game of Operation
So much has happened since I last posted. It was almost a month ago but it seems much longer than that. So, I'll just dive right in. Oh and fair warning, this will be a long and personal post, aka, not the most interesting read. You've been warned. :]
So Wednesday, November 16, my coteacher, Oeja, insisted on taking me to the doctor since I was out Monday and Tuesday sick. It was a pretty standard appointment. What are your symptoms, where does it hurt, the usual. Then he has me lay down on the bed to do the part where they push around on your stomach just to make sure everything's okay. Well, I had found a lump about a month earlier in my lower abdomen, and told Oeja that I needed to see a doctor when it wasn't getting any smaller. That was the beginning of November. But, between her busy schedule and everything going on at school, the third graders huge, life changing test, and the school festival, we hadn't gotten around to it yet. So, back to my appointment. The doctor starts pushing around on my stomach and finds the lump, it was kind of hard to miss. So he tells me I need to have an xray, and they send me back to the xray room. After, we go back in to talk to the doc and he tells me he can't tell anything from the xray so I need to go to the hospital and have a CT scan or MRI done asap. But, Oeja had night classes on Wednesday, so she scheduled the appointment for Friday.
On Friday, we left school after lunch and headed to Pohang for the appointment. I find out they're going to do a CT scan with contrast so they give me and IV and I have my first CT scan. They send the results to the doc, she tells me I have a cyst on my right ovary, and they send me upstairs to the Gynecology and Obstetrics doc. He tells they need to operate to remove it, I lose it a little bit, and that he wants to do the operation tomorrow, Saturday, morning at 9 am so they need to admit me to the hospital tonight so they can get everything ready and do pre-op in the morning. Holy wow. At this point I am reeling. So we begin the admittance process and all the necessary test before surgery. I texted Susan right after I found out what it was as she had asked me to let her know, and also because I needed to tell someone. She called my mom and dad in the states and left a message since it was 2am there. Unfortunately, since they wanted to admit me that night, I didn't even get a chance to go home and pack a bag or get anything. Susan came Friday night and brought me a bag of stuff and took my key so she could take care of Switch for me. She also stayed Friday, all of Saturday, Saturday night, and half of Sunday. I really don't know if I would have been able to do it without her. God blessed me so much when he placed her in Yeongdeok.
So Saturday morning rolled around and after the doctor finished his rounds, they came and got me for surgery. The anesthesia must have worked because I don't remember much of Saturday after about 9. The operation went perfect, they removed the cyst, and there was no damage to the ovary. I also found out later when the results came back from the biopsy that it was completely benign and everything is fine. But it's good we caught it when we did because apparently cysts can burst. :/ After the surgery I had to stay in the hospital for 6 days for recovery which presented obnoxious roommates and their family, daily phone calls from my mom, frustration at the absence of internet in the hospital, seriously, what kind of hospital doesn't have internet, horrrrrible hospital food, apparently that's universal, a lonely Thanksgiving, and an all around crap week. Oeja came and drove me home on Friday, and I spent the weekend relearning how to walk upright without and IV attached to me. Switch was very glad to have me home, and I fully indulged in the attention. I love my cat. :]
The next Monday I went back to school and things have pretty much been back to normal since then. My high school students made me a fantastic paper with their wishes for me to "no sick," the Taekwondo kids all signed a card that Susan brought me with their sentiments to get better, and I have been making steady progress towards being 100% again as soon as possible. I had a checkup the Friday after I got out of the hospital to make sure everything was okay and was deemed "normal" by the doc because "normal people have 2 ovaries and 1 uterus, so, you're normal." Good to know doc, thanks. I am not waiting the recommended six weeks before exercising but am only going as far as my body will let me. I don't need to be seeing any more doctors.
I will however, be seeing the beautiful Philippines in January. I started planning my vacation and will be spending 16 glorious days in the sun and the ocean, soaking up every bit of warmth and relaxation I can manage. I am going with a friend from orientation, Lucy, and we are going to have more fun than should be allowed. But, I'll make a separate post about how very very excited I am about that and other more fun and interesting things later. ♥
So Wednesday, November 16, my coteacher, Oeja, insisted on taking me to the doctor since I was out Monday and Tuesday sick. It was a pretty standard appointment. What are your symptoms, where does it hurt, the usual. Then he has me lay down on the bed to do the part where they push around on your stomach just to make sure everything's okay. Well, I had found a lump about a month earlier in my lower abdomen, and told Oeja that I needed to see a doctor when it wasn't getting any smaller. That was the beginning of November. But, between her busy schedule and everything going on at school, the third graders huge, life changing test, and the school festival, we hadn't gotten around to it yet. So, back to my appointment. The doctor starts pushing around on my stomach and finds the lump, it was kind of hard to miss. So he tells me I need to have an xray, and they send me back to the xray room. After, we go back in to talk to the doc and he tells me he can't tell anything from the xray so I need to go to the hospital and have a CT scan or MRI done asap. But, Oeja had night classes on Wednesday, so she scheduled the appointment for Friday.
On Friday, we left school after lunch and headed to Pohang for the appointment. I find out they're going to do a CT scan with contrast so they give me and IV and I have my first CT scan. They send the results to the doc, she tells me I have a cyst on my right ovary, and they send me upstairs to the Gynecology and Obstetrics doc. He tells they need to operate to remove it, I lose it a little bit, and that he wants to do the operation tomorrow, Saturday, morning at 9 am so they need to admit me to the hospital tonight so they can get everything ready and do pre-op in the morning. Holy wow. At this point I am reeling. So we begin the admittance process and all the necessary test before surgery. I texted Susan right after I found out what it was as she had asked me to let her know, and also because I needed to tell someone. She called my mom and dad in the states and left a message since it was 2am there. Unfortunately, since they wanted to admit me that night, I didn't even get a chance to go home and pack a bag or get anything. Susan came Friday night and brought me a bag of stuff and took my key so she could take care of Switch for me. She also stayed Friday, all of Saturday, Saturday night, and half of Sunday. I really don't know if I would have been able to do it without her. God blessed me so much when he placed her in Yeongdeok.
So Saturday morning rolled around and after the doctor finished his rounds, they came and got me for surgery. The anesthesia must have worked because I don't remember much of Saturday after about 9. The operation went perfect, they removed the cyst, and there was no damage to the ovary. I also found out later when the results came back from the biopsy that it was completely benign and everything is fine. But it's good we caught it when we did because apparently cysts can burst. :/ After the surgery I had to stay in the hospital for 6 days for recovery which presented obnoxious roommates and their family, daily phone calls from my mom, frustration at the absence of internet in the hospital, seriously, what kind of hospital doesn't have internet, horrrrrible hospital food, apparently that's universal, a lonely Thanksgiving, and an all around crap week. Oeja came and drove me home on Friday, and I spent the weekend relearning how to walk upright without and IV attached to me. Switch was very glad to have me home, and I fully indulged in the attention. I love my cat. :]
The next Monday I went back to school and things have pretty much been back to normal since then. My high school students made me a fantastic paper with their wishes for me to "no sick," the Taekwondo kids all signed a card that Susan brought me with their sentiments to get better, and I have been making steady progress towards being 100% again as soon as possible. I had a checkup the Friday after I got out of the hospital to make sure everything was okay and was deemed "normal" by the doc because "normal people have 2 ovaries and 1 uterus, so, you're normal." Good to know doc, thanks. I am not waiting the recommended six weeks before exercising but am only going as far as my body will let me. I don't need to be seeing any more doctors.
I will however, be seeing the beautiful Philippines in January. I started planning my vacation and will be spending 16 glorious days in the sun and the ocean, soaking up every bit of warmth and relaxation I can manage. I am going with a friend from orientation, Lucy, and we are going to have more fun than should be allowed. But, I'll make a separate post about how very very excited I am about that and other more fun and interesting things later. ♥
Friday, November 18, 2011
Student's Paper About Twilight
My 2nd grade middle school conversation class was required to write an English essay about anything they wanted. There were some really great ones but I just had to share this one. It's Twilight - from the eyes of a 16 year old Korean girl.
This is typed exactly as I received it, before any corrections. Enjoy. I did. :]
Hello.
My name is Jin Hwa.
I usually read books once a week.
I will explain the most exciting book I was reading.
The title of the book is 'twilight'.
First, I saw the movie and then I knew that there is original books.
The main contents of this book is the love between Edward who is vampire and Bella who is person.
The story begins that Bella transferred to the Forks.
And there were living a vampire family, The Cullens.
The family had to live among humans, it is because they do not hunt humans.
The youngest family members Edward feels a severe thirst for blood.
Edward has the ability to read thoughts. And only Bella can avoid it.
So he sometimes go the other place because Edward feels curiosity and thirst for Bella. But Edward soon realizes that it is love.
And they are falling in love.
However, Bella are in danger by the emergence of an intruder between the two, but Edward eventually obtained.
Their Love is dangerous, but you know to get so big.
the most impressive part that I saw was a part of Edward and Bella's first kiss.
Because I never have seen to kiss a vampire and a human ,I read this part in detail.
Edward lived about 100 years, and Bella lived 17 years, but it is both first kiss.
And between them, there are the food chain.
Edward is the vampires who is the best carnivorous animal and to hunt only human or animal.
And Bella is just human who can be thri game,
So, this moment are the parts that can know their love truly.
The book is the combination of fantasy and romance.
When I read this book, I thought if I fall in love with vampire, What will I do?
Will continue to conform with the risk in?
Can I live forever like them?
Of course it is not posible.
I thought that I can be the vampire when I read this book.
In fact, there may be vampire.
This book consists of a series followed by a story unfolds.
The first book 'Twilight' are drawn the meeting of the Edward and Bella.
Second book "New Moon" comes about Edward and Bella's love and the crisis.
The third book 'Eclipse' fights a war with the new vampire and the proposal of Edward is the main contents.
Fourth book 'Breaking Dawn' is the center that Edward and Bella's marriage and pregnancy.
I do not like fantasy novels, which oddly enough, this book are very interesting.
Twilight can be Introduction of my fantasy novel.
On December 01, "Breaking Dawn Part 1" coming up, I'm going to just go to the cinema.
Movie as much as funny book is expecting.
Fantasy fiction, if the people who have preconceived ideas about the 'Twilight' is recommended reading.
After reading the book You should see the movies!
I love 'Twilight".
Fantastic, eh?
This is typed exactly as I received it, before any corrections. Enjoy. I did. :]
Hello.
My name is Jin Hwa.
I usually read books once a week.
I will explain the most exciting book I was reading.
The title of the book is 'twilight'.
First, I saw the movie and then I knew that there is original books.
The main contents of this book is the love between Edward who is vampire and Bella who is person.
The story begins that Bella transferred to the Forks.
And there were living a vampire family, The Cullens.
The family had to live among humans, it is because they do not hunt humans.
The youngest family members Edward feels a severe thirst for blood.
Edward has the ability to read thoughts. And only Bella can avoid it.
So he sometimes go the other place because Edward feels curiosity and thirst for Bella. But Edward soon realizes that it is love.
And they are falling in love.
However, Bella are in danger by the emergence of an intruder between the two, but Edward eventually obtained.
Their Love is dangerous, but you know to get so big.
the most impressive part that I saw was a part of Edward and Bella's first kiss.
Because I never have seen to kiss a vampire and a human ,I read this part in detail.
Edward lived about 100 years, and Bella lived 17 years, but it is both first kiss.
And between them, there are the food chain.
Edward is the vampires who is the best carnivorous animal and to hunt only human or animal.
And Bella is just human who can be thri game,
So, this moment are the parts that can know their love truly.
The book is the combination of fantasy and romance.
When I read this book, I thought if I fall in love with vampire, What will I do?
Will continue to conform with the risk in?
Can I live forever like them?
Of course it is not posible.
I thought that I can be the vampire when I read this book.
In fact, there may be vampire.
This book consists of a series followed by a story unfolds.
The first book 'Twilight' are drawn the meeting of the Edward and Bella.
Second book "New Moon" comes about Edward and Bella's love and the crisis.
The third book 'Eclipse' fights a war with the new vampire and the proposal of Edward is the main contents.
Fourth book 'Breaking Dawn' is the center that Edward and Bella's marriage and pregnancy.
I do not like fantasy novels, which oddly enough, this book are very interesting.
Twilight can be Introduction of my fantasy novel.
On December 01, "Breaking Dawn Part 1" coming up, I'm going to just go to the cinema.
Movie as much as funny book is expecting.
Fantasy fiction, if the people who have preconceived ideas about the 'Twilight' is recommended reading.
After reading the book You should see the movies!
I love 'Twilight".
Fantastic, eh?
Long Overdue
Sorry I haven't been around much lately. Life has a way of sweeping me up and although I never forgot about the blog, posting just kept getting pushed farther down on the to-do list. I feel like nothing has happened since my last post but I'm sure once I start writing this one everything will come flooding back. Which is why the posts always end up being 3 miles long. Anyway, guess I better just jump right in.
Halloween came and went without too much excitement, being a holiday Korea doesn't celebrate, and November came in full force. With colder winds and freezing nights, my heater has been my new best friend. Also, it has led me to believe I may take up knitting to make another blanket. Of course, it's something I've always wanted to learn anyway, but another one of those things I'll get around to "later" that has a way of never happening.
So weeks are flying by. I feel like every time I turn around it's Monday and I'm doing it all over again. The weekends are the only time anything eventful happens and those fly by just as fast. The weekend after Halloween I went to Daegu with a friend from orientation to help her celebrate her birthday and had a great time catching up with everyone else from orientation who met up with us. Then headed back home on Sunday and began the week.
This was the week of the big exam for the 3rd grade high schoolers, which was on Thursday, and then the school sports day and festival that my girls in the English club have been preparing Goldilocks and the 3 Bears for. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were regular days with the exception of practice during lunch. Thursday was...confusing. I thought Oeja had told me the week before that since she wouldn't be there, she was supervising the exam, that I would not go to the middle school so that I could help the students practice more for the play. So Thursday morning I went to the high school and started on the computer, per usual. Until the phone rings at the head teacher's desk. It was Mrs. Keong from middle school asking if I had forgotten that I had class this morning. The class that I haven't seen in 3 weeks because she kept canceling so she could finish the textbook with them. So by this point it's about 9:15 or so. So I try to explain to her that I didn't forget I just thought I didn't have to go because of what Oeja said. She didn't understand or didn't believe me or some combination thereof so I told her I would be there in a few minutes. I grabbed my things and headed over. By the time I got there it was after 9:20, and the class only goes until 9:45. So I jumped into the lesson, frazzled and irritated and got as much done as possible. During the break I tried again to explain to Mrs. Keong that I wasn't trying to ditch the class and I hadn't forgotten, there was just a misunderstanding. To no avail. After finishing my second class, and last of the day, I went back over to the high school and finished my day there. Until Mrs. Keong came over at the end of the day to tell me that the head of the Yeongdeok Education Office was coming next week to review her testing of the students and she didn't have time to make the test blahblahblah. So she wanted me to do it. Her work. After being retarded and pissy that same morning. Whatever.
So Friday rolled around with beautiful weather, a nice warm day, and a wonderful combination of Pepero Day and the school festival. Pepero Day is on November 11 every year but was of course extra special this year since it was 11/11/11. On Pepero Day students buy lots of Pepero, or Pocky, which is the biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate, almonds, or strawberry, and give them out to friends and teachers. It is on 11/11 because the sticks are long and thin and apparently look like one's. Seems silly but I will not be arguing with a holiday that has children (and the principal) giving me delicious chocolate and strawberry covered biscuit sticks. :] These were enjoyed thoroughly as I watched the students spend the first half of the day outside in the sunshine having sports day. They played dodgeball, a lot - these kids are serious about competitions, this awesome game with a giant ball where each team has four players and three have to squat and hold the ball while the fourth runs up and hits it (similar to the way you would hit a volleyball) and then the other team tries to catch it. If they drop it, the other team gets a point. Anyway, looks like loads of fun and the girls are so funny when they play it. They also played tug-o-war with a very large rope. After sports everyone split for lunch and then began the final preparations for the talent show part of the day. I drew noses on and gave ears on headbands to my 3 bears, gave Goldilocks her golden yarn wig, ran through our lines a final time. Then everyone headed to the gym/auditorium and the show began. There was dancing, singing, and merriment all around. We did our play, unfortunately I could not get anyone to take a video or even pictures :[ but I did get a few shots of everyone before, and the girls did a wonderful job. Then I joined the audience and enjoyed the rest of the performances. Also, I now know why they split the girls and boys and the girls wear uniforms and are not allowed makeup. My girls are closet freaks. My sweet shy little Goldilocks came up on the stage in a group that was doing a dance in tight black pants and a long sleeve white dress shirt tied up around her waist and danced like she was doing it for money. It was crazy, and definitely a little view altering. I will never look at those girls the same. It was just such a blatant display of what this culture promotes in young girls when they're given the freedom to express themselves with no limitations. Not that our culture does any better certainly, but eye opening all the same. It's another one of those things where this country has such a glaring juxtaposition of ideas. On one hand they put their girls in uniforms and forbid makeup, maintaining that exposed shoulders or any chest, not even cleavage, just skin on the chest, is taboo, but showing the entire leg and fearing everything else will be falling out at any given moment and encouraging the obscene amount of makeup they put on and the scandalous dancing is not only acceptable but rewarded. One girl, a 16 year old in one of my classes, did a chair dance for pete's sake. As in, a chair dance. I was speechless. Aside from the minor culture shock and reminder of the inane contrasts of culture and appropriateness in this country, the girls did a wonderful job and the night was a total success. I left with a smile on my face and even happier that it was the weekend.
I had been feeling a little wimpy all week and the weekend brought a cold raging full strength. I spent it curled up in bed reading and trying to sleep it away. With no luck. I called out Monday and Tuesday and did not, to the disdain and irritation of, and obscene amounts of worry from Oeja, go to the "hospital" (what they call every doctor) to get meds. I went back to school on Wednesday and after seeing my face, apparently I still looked quite ill, Oeja cancelled my first class for the day, Mr. Ha cancelled my second, and when I put my head down on my desk to rest for a bit, all the teachers went crazy. They were apparently so worried about me that they insisted that Oeja take me to the doctor to get medicine. And, at her insistence, and complete and total unwillingness to take no for an answer, off we went. So I had my first trip to the doctors, an x ray and a prescription later, I paid my $6 to the lady at the desk and we headed over to the pharmacy. My 3 days of pill cocktails set me back a whopping $2 and we went back to the school. I spent the rest of the day at my desk.
Which brings us to yesterday, Thursday. I came in, early, prepared and ready to teach, not as common as you might think, only to find that my classes had been cancelled for the day so the students could practice for the school festival which is apparently today. No one had told me the middle school was having their festival, much less that it was today. So instead of classes, Mrs. Keong comes in about 10 with the stack of essays that my conversation class wrote for her thing for the head of the Education Office for me to correct. She was going to bring them to me on Monday but since I called out Monday and Tuesday, which I'm sure she thinks I did to spite her, and she obviously was not going to do her own work, no matter what. So I start in, when she comes back about 10 minutes later and tells me that I also need to create 2 crosswords, with 10 clues each, for the students to do as part of this test. :/ When she comes in 2 hours later to see if I'm done yet - correcting 8 essays.... - she adds that I also need to make a conversation to have with student with 10 lines for each person to test their listening and speaking abilities. When I tell her okay, but I'm not finished with the essays yet she says "Well this is your work today. You're very busy today huh? Will you get the crosswords done? Will you do the conversation today?" With each question she gets more insistent and pisses me off a little more. I assure her it will all be done and mentally suggest she leave before I lose control of my tongue. She has now given me all of her work and then gotten crazy when she thought I wouldn't get it done in time. ..... Cue angry Rose. So I go back to working on the essays, and get to one that has no mistakes, is written in high English, and has numbered bullet points in it. So I google the name of the paper, "How can I improve my English conversation skills" and violia! The first link google finds with the title of the paper is, you guessed it, her entire paper. Word for word. She didn't even bother to read it. If she had, she would have seen the line that says "To find immigration offices near you go to Services Near You." Well, on the original, "Services Near You" is a link. Nice-uhhh. <- How Koreans say "nice." So I take the paper down to Mrs. Keong and explain to her that the student didn't write the paper and she says "Oh, you know the student?" "No, I don't know her. But she copied this from the internet." "*indignant tone and look* The students were allowed to use the internet for help." "No, she copied it straight from the internet. She didn't write this." "Oh. Are you sure?" "Yes." "Are you really sure? Really sure?" "Yes, I can show you." "Oh no. Okay, just rank her last." ....
Really, that's all you're going to do? So I ranked it last and wrote on the top of the paper "Copied from internet. :[ " BUSTED. :D And start working on the next paper.
So in she comes about 2:30 to see if I'm done. Well, I had just finished one paper that took me over an hour because I had to stop at every sentence not just to correct it but to try to decipher and guess the meaning, then correct it. I only had one paper, plus the one I was working on left. She wants to know which one is first - I was to rank them 1st to 8th based on the number of corrections, etc after correcting - and when I tell her which one is first, she looked at the name and then looks at me. Well, one of the students in the 3rd grade, Sun Gu, though she's not in my conversation class so I'm not even sure why she wrote an essay, lived in Canada for 2 years and one of her parents in Canadian. So she speaks/writes English almost fluently. Mrs. Keong loves this girl and definitely plays favorites. She was certain that her paper was the best and she should be first. Mrs. Keong did not read any of the papers and only knows what they are about by reading the title. She insists that Sun Gu's should be the first rank. I tell her that another student's paper is better, with less mistakes, and she says, well surely she copied it from the internet. I assure I checked very thoroughly and that she did not copy it from the internet. She tells me "Then she must have copied it from somewhere else. Sun Gu should be first. Look, her [Sun Gu] paper is 3 pages. This other paper is almost one." Well, Sun Gu's paper was two with a few lines on a third page, and the other paper was 1 and 3/4 of a 2nd page. Not to mention, since when does length of a paper determine quality... yeah. Plus, the other student had fewer mistakes and does not have anyone in her family that speaks English and certainly never lived in an English speaking country, much less for two years. Now, Sun Gu is not my favorite student, but I have nothing against her. She is lazy, but it's because she can afford to be. She's very intelligent and definitely has the upper hand in everything English related. So she doesn't need to try, and she knows it. Anyway, I'm being objective about this, and trying to stay calm, while Mrs. Keong just keeps insisting that Sun Gu be first. Not a discussion I'm going to win. I acquiesce, and go back to correcting the paper I was working on. When I finally finish the essays, I start the crosswords and am just finishing the first when Mrs. Keong comes in, all panicky to see if I'm finished. I give her the essays, ranked, and tell her I'm working on the crosswords. She says thank you once and leaves. Angry Rose. I finish the work and at 4, an hour before I usually leave, she comes in to tell me I can go home if I've finished. I have, and give her my USB with everything on it. No thank you. Nothing. Angrier Rose. She copies it and I leave. This woman infuriates me. Almost instantaneously. She is ungrateful and demanding and annoying. Not a good combination of things. Thank the lord I have Oeja at the high school or my experience here would be drastically different and I'm thinking significantly shorter than a year.
Anyway, today is a new day. The middle school festival is today, though I have yet to see any of it as it is rainy and cold outside, I think they may be doing it upstairs, but I don't care enough to go see. I don't even hardly know any of the students here, classes get cancelled so often.
Anyway, that's my life. Not too different from home, though significantly colder.
Oh, and I started Taekwondo last week. I go Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday of every week. It's wonderful. I really love it. The teacher is great and we're in a kid class so I don't feel like I'm being judged. Which is nice. I hope to get my uniform, which is not called a gi - those are karate uniforms. Taekwondo uniforms are called dobo's. As in Taekwondo-bo - this weekend from Pohang. And possibly some retail therapy with the lovely Susan (the Korean-Canadian that lives in my town and takes Taekwondo with me and is a complete sweetheart).
Welp, off to do no work and read. :]
Miss you all and love dearly. ♥
Halloween came and went without too much excitement, being a holiday Korea doesn't celebrate, and November came in full force. With colder winds and freezing nights, my heater has been my new best friend. Also, it has led me to believe I may take up knitting to make another blanket. Of course, it's something I've always wanted to learn anyway, but another one of those things I'll get around to "later" that has a way of never happening.
So weeks are flying by. I feel like every time I turn around it's Monday and I'm doing it all over again. The weekends are the only time anything eventful happens and those fly by just as fast. The weekend after Halloween I went to Daegu with a friend from orientation to help her celebrate her birthday and had a great time catching up with everyone else from orientation who met up with us. Then headed back home on Sunday and began the week.
This was the week of the big exam for the 3rd grade high schoolers, which was on Thursday, and then the school sports day and festival that my girls in the English club have been preparing Goldilocks and the 3 Bears for. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were regular days with the exception of practice during lunch. Thursday was...confusing. I thought Oeja had told me the week before that since she wouldn't be there, she was supervising the exam, that I would not go to the middle school so that I could help the students practice more for the play. So Thursday morning I went to the high school and started on the computer, per usual. Until the phone rings at the head teacher's desk. It was Mrs. Keong from middle school asking if I had forgotten that I had class this morning. The class that I haven't seen in 3 weeks because she kept canceling so she could finish the textbook with them. So by this point it's about 9:15 or so. So I try to explain to her that I didn't forget I just thought I didn't have to go because of what Oeja said. She didn't understand or didn't believe me or some combination thereof so I told her I would be there in a few minutes. I grabbed my things and headed over. By the time I got there it was after 9:20, and the class only goes until 9:45. So I jumped into the lesson, frazzled and irritated and got as much done as possible. During the break I tried again to explain to Mrs. Keong that I wasn't trying to ditch the class and I hadn't forgotten, there was just a misunderstanding. To no avail. After finishing my second class, and last of the day, I went back over to the high school and finished my day there. Until Mrs. Keong came over at the end of the day to tell me that the head of the Yeongdeok Education Office was coming next week to review her testing of the students and she didn't have time to make the test blahblahblah. So she wanted me to do it. Her work. After being retarded and pissy that same morning. Whatever.
So Friday rolled around with beautiful weather, a nice warm day, and a wonderful combination of Pepero Day and the school festival. Pepero Day is on November 11 every year but was of course extra special this year since it was 11/11/11. On Pepero Day students buy lots of Pepero, or Pocky, which is the biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate, almonds, or strawberry, and give them out to friends and teachers. It is on 11/11 because the sticks are long and thin and apparently look like one's. Seems silly but I will not be arguing with a holiday that has children (and the principal) giving me delicious chocolate and strawberry covered biscuit sticks. :] These were enjoyed thoroughly as I watched the students spend the first half of the day outside in the sunshine having sports day. They played dodgeball, a lot - these kids are serious about competitions, this awesome game with a giant ball where each team has four players and three have to squat and hold the ball while the fourth runs up and hits it (similar to the way you would hit a volleyball) and then the other team tries to catch it. If they drop it, the other team gets a point. Anyway, looks like loads of fun and the girls are so funny when they play it. They also played tug-o-war with a very large rope. After sports everyone split for lunch and then began the final preparations for the talent show part of the day. I drew noses on and gave ears on headbands to my 3 bears, gave Goldilocks her golden yarn wig, ran through our lines a final time. Then everyone headed to the gym/auditorium and the show began. There was dancing, singing, and merriment all around. We did our play, unfortunately I could not get anyone to take a video or even pictures :[ but I did get a few shots of everyone before, and the girls did a wonderful job. Then I joined the audience and enjoyed the rest of the performances. Also, I now know why they split the girls and boys and the girls wear uniforms and are not allowed makeup. My girls are closet freaks. My sweet shy little Goldilocks came up on the stage in a group that was doing a dance in tight black pants and a long sleeve white dress shirt tied up around her waist and danced like she was doing it for money. It was crazy, and definitely a little view altering. I will never look at those girls the same. It was just such a blatant display of what this culture promotes in young girls when they're given the freedom to express themselves with no limitations. Not that our culture does any better certainly, but eye opening all the same. It's another one of those things where this country has such a glaring juxtaposition of ideas. On one hand they put their girls in uniforms and forbid makeup, maintaining that exposed shoulders or any chest, not even cleavage, just skin on the chest, is taboo, but showing the entire leg and fearing everything else will be falling out at any given moment and encouraging the obscene amount of makeup they put on and the scandalous dancing is not only acceptable but rewarded. One girl, a 16 year old in one of my classes, did a chair dance for pete's sake. As in, a chair dance. I was speechless. Aside from the minor culture shock and reminder of the inane contrasts of culture and appropriateness in this country, the girls did a wonderful job and the night was a total success. I left with a smile on my face and even happier that it was the weekend.
I had been feeling a little wimpy all week and the weekend brought a cold raging full strength. I spent it curled up in bed reading and trying to sleep it away. With no luck. I called out Monday and Tuesday and did not, to the disdain and irritation of, and obscene amounts of worry from Oeja, go to the "hospital" (what they call every doctor) to get meds. I went back to school on Wednesday and after seeing my face, apparently I still looked quite ill, Oeja cancelled my first class for the day, Mr. Ha cancelled my second, and when I put my head down on my desk to rest for a bit, all the teachers went crazy. They were apparently so worried about me that they insisted that Oeja take me to the doctor to get medicine. And, at her insistence, and complete and total unwillingness to take no for an answer, off we went. So I had my first trip to the doctors, an x ray and a prescription later, I paid my $6 to the lady at the desk and we headed over to the pharmacy. My 3 days of pill cocktails set me back a whopping $2 and we went back to the school. I spent the rest of the day at my desk.
Which brings us to yesterday, Thursday. I came in, early, prepared and ready to teach, not as common as you might think, only to find that my classes had been cancelled for the day so the students could practice for the school festival which is apparently today. No one had told me the middle school was having their festival, much less that it was today. So instead of classes, Mrs. Keong comes in about 10 with the stack of essays that my conversation class wrote for her thing for the head of the Education Office for me to correct. She was going to bring them to me on Monday but since I called out Monday and Tuesday, which I'm sure she thinks I did to spite her, and she obviously was not going to do her own work, no matter what. So I start in, when she comes back about 10 minutes later and tells me that I also need to create 2 crosswords, with 10 clues each, for the students to do as part of this test. :/ When she comes in 2 hours later to see if I'm done yet - correcting 8 essays.... - she adds that I also need to make a conversation to have with student with 10 lines for each person to test their listening and speaking abilities. When I tell her okay, but I'm not finished with the essays yet she says "Well this is your work today. You're very busy today huh? Will you get the crosswords done? Will you do the conversation today?" With each question she gets more insistent and pisses me off a little more. I assure her it will all be done and mentally suggest she leave before I lose control of my tongue. She has now given me all of her work and then gotten crazy when she thought I wouldn't get it done in time. ..... Cue angry Rose. So I go back to working on the essays, and get to one that has no mistakes, is written in high English, and has numbered bullet points in it. So I google the name of the paper, "How can I improve my English conversation skills" and violia! The first link google finds with the title of the paper is, you guessed it, her entire paper. Word for word. She didn't even bother to read it. If she had, she would have seen the line that says "To find immigration offices near you go to Services Near You." Well, on the original, "Services Near You" is a link. Nice-uhhh. <- How Koreans say "nice." So I take the paper down to Mrs. Keong and explain to her that the student didn't write the paper and she says "Oh, you know the student?" "No, I don't know her. But she copied this from the internet." "*indignant tone and look* The students were allowed to use the internet for help." "No, she copied it straight from the internet. She didn't write this." "Oh. Are you sure?" "Yes." "Are you really sure? Really sure?" "Yes, I can show you." "Oh no. Okay, just rank her last." ....
Really, that's all you're going to do? So I ranked it last and wrote on the top of the paper "Copied from internet. :[ " BUSTED. :D And start working on the next paper.
So in she comes about 2:30 to see if I'm done. Well, I had just finished one paper that took me over an hour because I had to stop at every sentence not just to correct it but to try to decipher and guess the meaning, then correct it. I only had one paper, plus the one I was working on left. She wants to know which one is first - I was to rank them 1st to 8th based on the number of corrections, etc after correcting - and when I tell her which one is first, she looked at the name and then looks at me. Well, one of the students in the 3rd grade, Sun Gu, though she's not in my conversation class so I'm not even sure why she wrote an essay, lived in Canada for 2 years and one of her parents in Canadian. So she speaks/writes English almost fluently. Mrs. Keong loves this girl and definitely plays favorites. She was certain that her paper was the best and she should be first. Mrs. Keong did not read any of the papers and only knows what they are about by reading the title. She insists that Sun Gu's should be the first rank. I tell her that another student's paper is better, with less mistakes, and she says, well surely she copied it from the internet. I assure I checked very thoroughly and that she did not copy it from the internet. She tells me "Then she must have copied it from somewhere else. Sun Gu should be first. Look, her [Sun Gu] paper is 3 pages. This other paper is almost one." Well, Sun Gu's paper was two with a few lines on a third page, and the other paper was 1 and 3/4 of a 2nd page. Not to mention, since when does length of a paper determine quality... yeah. Plus, the other student had fewer mistakes and does not have anyone in her family that speaks English and certainly never lived in an English speaking country, much less for two years. Now, Sun Gu is not my favorite student, but I have nothing against her. She is lazy, but it's because she can afford to be. She's very intelligent and definitely has the upper hand in everything English related. So she doesn't need to try, and she knows it. Anyway, I'm being objective about this, and trying to stay calm, while Mrs. Keong just keeps insisting that Sun Gu be first. Not a discussion I'm going to win. I acquiesce, and go back to correcting the paper I was working on. When I finally finish the essays, I start the crosswords and am just finishing the first when Mrs. Keong comes in, all panicky to see if I'm finished. I give her the essays, ranked, and tell her I'm working on the crosswords. She says thank you once and leaves. Angry Rose. I finish the work and at 4, an hour before I usually leave, she comes in to tell me I can go home if I've finished. I have, and give her my USB with everything on it. No thank you. Nothing. Angrier Rose. She copies it and I leave. This woman infuriates me. Almost instantaneously. She is ungrateful and demanding and annoying. Not a good combination of things. Thank the lord I have Oeja at the high school or my experience here would be drastically different and I'm thinking significantly shorter than a year.
Anyway, today is a new day. The middle school festival is today, though I have yet to see any of it as it is rainy and cold outside, I think they may be doing it upstairs, but I don't care enough to go see. I don't even hardly know any of the students here, classes get cancelled so often.
Anyway, that's my life. Not too different from home, though significantly colder.
Oh, and I started Taekwondo last week. I go Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday of every week. It's wonderful. I really love it. The teacher is great and we're in a kid class so I don't feel like I'm being judged. Which is nice. I hope to get my uniform, which is not called a gi - those are karate uniforms. Taekwondo uniforms are called dobo's. As in Taekwondo-bo - this weekend from Pohang. And possibly some retail therapy with the lovely Susan (the Korean-Canadian that lives in my town and takes Taekwondo with me and is a complete sweetheart).
Welp, off to do no work and read. :]
Miss you all and love dearly. ♥
Monday, October 31, 2011
Time flies when you're having fun, and rice.
Hey everyone. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. Life sort of gets away from me. I always mean to post and then I get distracted by something and then I turn around and it's time for class and then I turn around and it's time to go home and then I look at the clock and it's two in the morning. So, exactly like home. :]
The last few weeks have been relatively uneventful. The week after Seoul I had a bit of a cold but nothing serious and it faded within a few days. After spending two weekends traveling and sleeping in strange places, I was ready for a relaxing weekend at home. Spent two days cleaning, doing laundry, watching movies, reading and thoroughly enjoying doing nothing. :]
The next week I unfortunately got my first migraine in Korea which came on Wednesday night and stuck around until Saturday afternoon. I called out of work Thursday and Friday and had to cancel my plans for the weekend to head to Busan to see the friends I made at Global Gathering, celebrate Mark's birthday, and see the International Fireworks Competition. I was disappointed but after two days in bed, a big weekend just wasn't happening. Since I was feeling better on Sunday I decided to finally make my way out to Jangsa beach, the closest beach to my house. Which is about a dollar and 15 minute bus ride. It was wonderful to have my feet in the sand and waves crashing at the shore. I felt like I was home. I've decided as long as I'm by the ocean, I'm never too far from home. Then I grabbed a bus and went to Pohang for some grocery shopping and dinner before heading back home and calling it a night.
Monday came too early, as usual, but with a nice surprise of no student class and only one teacher class. Also, apparently Mr. Pa and Mrs. Keong have decided that they don't want to have English teacher class and since Oeja had a student class this week, that was canceled too. :] The rest of the week sped by with Halloween lesson plans for the high school students and the rest of my easy Directions lesson. Following directions (as in to a place, though I think this week we might cover directions like "Close your face" and "Be silent") and a review on giving directions.
This weekend was fun. I spent Saturday hanging out at home and then got ready and went to Pohang to Tilt for a fabulous costume party. :] I was a black cat. I made ears out of foam board and super glued them to a black headband. Pair that with a black dress, stockings, and some serious eye makeup and eyeliner for a nose and whiskers done by yours truly, and I was pretty attention getting. ;] I met a Marine :D, some of Mark's friends, and a few asian guys on the street haha. I only wore some of the eye makeup (no eyeliner or other face makeup) on the bus, and no ears, which for me was still a lot of makeup, way more than I ususally wear, but the asian guys apparently thought I looked great. And not out of place at all. I felt totally painted but I guess in a culture where women don't leave the house without being dressed and makeuped to the nines, my normal is just not doing it for them haha. Good thing I'm not here to impress anyone. :] So anywho, I had a wonderful time dancing my heart out and enjoying the festivities until about 4 then took a taxi and crashed for the night. Sunday I had plans to go hiking up a mountain on the outskirts of Pohang but a completely overcast sky and shivering temperatures decided otherwise for me. So I spent the day hanging out in Pohang and then made the journey home to my lonely kitty. She misses me so much when I'm gone and is such a cuddler when I come home. Even if it's just being gone at work. It's so cute.
So, now it's Monday again and tomorrow is the first day of November. Hard to believe I've already been here 2 and a half months. I've already seen so much and I can't wait to see everything else the country has to offer. Hope everyone at home is well. Miss you and love you. ♥
The last few weeks have been relatively uneventful. The week after Seoul I had a bit of a cold but nothing serious and it faded within a few days. After spending two weekends traveling and sleeping in strange places, I was ready for a relaxing weekend at home. Spent two days cleaning, doing laundry, watching movies, reading and thoroughly enjoying doing nothing. :]
The next week I unfortunately got my first migraine in Korea which came on Wednesday night and stuck around until Saturday afternoon. I called out of work Thursday and Friday and had to cancel my plans for the weekend to head to Busan to see the friends I made at Global Gathering, celebrate Mark's birthday, and see the International Fireworks Competition. I was disappointed but after two days in bed, a big weekend just wasn't happening. Since I was feeling better on Sunday I decided to finally make my way out to Jangsa beach, the closest beach to my house. Which is about a dollar and 15 minute bus ride. It was wonderful to have my feet in the sand and waves crashing at the shore. I felt like I was home. I've decided as long as I'm by the ocean, I'm never too far from home. Then I grabbed a bus and went to Pohang for some grocery shopping and dinner before heading back home and calling it a night.
Monday came too early, as usual, but with a nice surprise of no student class and only one teacher class. Also, apparently Mr. Pa and Mrs. Keong have decided that they don't want to have English teacher class and since Oeja had a student class this week, that was canceled too. :] The rest of the week sped by with Halloween lesson plans for the high school students and the rest of my easy Directions lesson. Following directions (as in to a place, though I think this week we might cover directions like "Close your face" and "Be silent") and a review on giving directions.
This weekend was fun. I spent Saturday hanging out at home and then got ready and went to Pohang to Tilt for a fabulous costume party. :] I was a black cat. I made ears out of foam board and super glued them to a black headband. Pair that with a black dress, stockings, and some serious eye makeup and eyeliner for a nose and whiskers done by yours truly, and I was pretty attention getting. ;] I met a Marine :D, some of Mark's friends, and a few asian guys on the street haha. I only wore some of the eye makeup (no eyeliner or other face makeup) on the bus, and no ears, which for me was still a lot of makeup, way more than I ususally wear, but the asian guys apparently thought I looked great. And not out of place at all. I felt totally painted but I guess in a culture where women don't leave the house without being dressed and makeuped to the nines, my normal is just not doing it for them haha. Good thing I'm not here to impress anyone. :] So anywho, I had a wonderful time dancing my heart out and enjoying the festivities until about 4 then took a taxi and crashed for the night. Sunday I had plans to go hiking up a mountain on the outskirts of Pohang but a completely overcast sky and shivering temperatures decided otherwise for me. So I spent the day hanging out in Pohang and then made the journey home to my lonely kitty. She misses me so much when I'm gone and is such a cuddler when I come home. Even if it's just being gone at work. It's so cute.
So, now it's Monday again and tomorrow is the first day of November. Hard to believe I've already been here 2 and a half months. I've already seen so much and I can't wait to see everything else the country has to offer. Hope everyone at home is well. Miss you and love you. ♥
Monday, October 10, 2011
Music Lyrics and Mondays
Happy Monday.
or something like that.
So for the last two weeks when I come in on Monday morning to the high school, there is a note or two on my desk on these square white pieces of paper. But the notes are actually lyrics to love songs. They are written in English and it's a man's handwriting. Today's reads "Even though it seems I have everything, I don't wanna be a lonely fool. All of the women, all the expensive cars, all of the money don't amount to you." And the back says "I want something else to get me through this semi-charmed kind of lie." I unfortunately did not keep last weeks, which was lines from 3 different songs, as I assumed it was something random accidentally left on my desk, but I am going to start keeping them from now on. I have no idea who is leaving them but they are not there Friday afternoon, I know because I bring my notebook back from the middle school and leave it on my desk on Friday afternoons, but they are here when I come in Monday morning. It's a mystery... :]
As for this weekend, Seoul was amazing. Friday afternoon I ran home after school for a quick shower and to pack, met up with Mark and Parag (Mark is the guy that lives in Yeongdeok too, and Parag is an English guy from Yeonghae, a town about 10 minutes north) at the bus terminal and was Seoul bound by 6:30. We got in about 11:15 or so, made our way to the subway for a 32 minute ride to Honguk University (I know because they made a bet it would take over/under 30 minutes) and then separated to find our hostels. Mark and I got to ours and the owner tried to tell us that we had booked 1 person for 2 nights instead of 2 for 1, which we argued out, then after insisting he had no room he took us to the sister hostel (we booked at Hey Backpackers and stayed at Hey Backpackers 2), 2 minutes away. We finally got everything sorted, then Mark and I dropped our bags and headed out into the Seoul night. We planned to only stay out for a bit so as not to wear ourselves out for the night to follow, Global Gathering was scheduled to run til 4am, but of course, time got away from us and we crashed back into the hostel at 6:15am. I was in bed asleep by 6:30. Unfortunately, the room I stayed in was right next to a construction site and since it was morning, they were working. Loudly. Pulling steel cable. Continuously. Did I mention loudly? Needless to say I did not rest. So I got up about 8:30 or so, waited for the shower, showered, then crashed on the couch in the main room. I slept there, much better than in the room, until about 10:30 when the owner woke me up asking why I wasn't sleeping in the bedroom. I explained about the noise, he said close the window, duh, it was closed. So then he tells me to go sleep in the other room on the other side of the hostel, where lucky Mark got to sleep in quiet all morning. So I did. And slept, roughly, because by this time people were up and moving around, making no effort to be quiet in the room, until about 12. Then Mark and I gathered our things and headed out to meet up with the group. Except then I found out that instead of neither of us having somewhere to stay Saturday night, Mark's friend had offered to let him stay in the hostel with them, but there was only room for one. So we went around to the hostels in the area trying to find me somewhere to stay, to no avail, and I decided to figure it out when it came time to sleep. My plan basically evolved to, stay out and party til 6, take the subway to the bus terminal, grab a bus, and sleep on the 5 hour ride home. Sounded good, and free, to me.
So we rejoined the group, and started to the festival. This led to a subway ride, and an hour of lost walking, 2 blisters, and an irritated me with 4 men completely unwilling to ask for directions, admit they were lost, or listen to me, who knew where we were supposed to be going, but didn't want to leave the group. We finally made it to the festival, which was as far away from the subway as possible, about 3ish. Luckily, it was a beautiful day, so even with the walk, spirits were high and everyone was just glad to have finally found it. We sat outside for a bit and drank what people had brought with them as we were not allowed to bring it in with us. And started meeting awesome people from the start. About quarter til 5 we gathered our things and our group and headed in to see Example at 5. Checked our bags and claimed a place. Then thoroughly enjoyed the first performance of the night (that we saw.) The rest of the night was spent dancing, drinking, and laughing my cares away. The night ended with a bit of a frustrating walk out, repeatedly having to collect the men, irritating taxis unwilling to take us because the fair wasn't enough, and finally, a wonderfully soft bed, blanket and pillow. Oh yeah, because since we didn't stay out til 6, but rather left Global Gathering about 2:30 - between sore feet and tired everything elses, and a lack of performances worth staying for combined with remaining crowds being excessively drunk and all around not as much fun, there was a general consensus of departing - and some of the girls finding I had no where to stay (this is the same group Mark was staying with that only had room for one) insisted they would double up and I was to stay with them at their hostel. I'm telling you, the people I'm meeting here are some of the best ever. Thanks to Tash, Marie, Candace, Mark, Jason, and Andy (wife) for making Seoul amazing. It's not about the city, it's about the people. And I wish you all lived closer but I can't wait to see you in 2 weeks in Busan! :D
So Sunday morning, I was up and out of the hostel and navigating the streets of Seoul by 8. I found the subway by 8:30, successfully navigated (read CONQUERED) the Seoul subway system, then found and made my way to the bus terminal, grabbed a bit of food and jumped on the bus homeward bound. Not gonna lie, at this point I felt like a boss. Having come over here as public transportation illiterate as I was - I'd never taken a bus, taxi, subway, never used a payphone, or been lost on foot in a city (most certainly not without a cell phone), and just generally had no idea where I was or where I was trying to go (as far as names of stations), throw in the significant language barrier, and I feel like I king when I accomplish any of these things on my own. For most people they are small and insignificant but for me, from Scottsmoor, I've come a long way. Though it is always nice to come home to my small town with a taxi station but none cruising the streets, only one bus terminal, no subway, no trains, and a good ole small town feel. I miss dirt roads and rivers, horses and the country, but I could not be happier with where God has placed me in this country. They don't have country like we do at home, but I'm as close as I could get without it becoming a major inconvenience. So thanks God, I don't know why I doubt you or your aims for me. ♥
The bus ride only took about 4 hours instead of 5 because the roads are clearer Sunday morning than they are Friday night and I was happy to see that my delivery of cat litter, scheduled for Saturday, was waiting for me at the door. Switch was happy to see me and very cuddly to show she missed me. I love coming home to her. :] Unfortunately, I've been doing a bit of research about bringing her home and I'm scared I won't be able to. I found an agency that will do door to door or port to port service but the door to door is 4000-4500 USD. Which is not going to happen. I'm looking into the port to port and I'll see how much that is. Also, when it gets closer, like next year, I will call American Airlines and see if I can just do it without an agency and how much it is that way. Some airlines will let you take the cat as carryon so I could just take her in the cabin with me, which would be ideal. And then during layovers I would just take her to the bathroom, etc. I just can't imagine leaving her behind. I love her and the thought of never seeing her again, just leaving her with someone else just kills me. I can't justify 4000USD but a hundred or two I may be willing to do. And if I'm willing to pay that now, and I've had her for two weeks, in a year I'm really not going to want to give her up. But I don't regret getting her, ever. Most especially now that we've got the training issues worked out. I don't know what the girl I got her from did to her but she is such an affectionate cat, definitely definitely a cuddler, and lets me hold her now. The girl I got her from said she wouldn't let her hold her, and that she wasn't much of a contact cat, not really a cuddler. Maybe I should tell her she was doing it wrong. :] If anything I would say the only cuddling problem I have with Switch is that sometimes she's too close and wants to be too close, read, on my face. Apparently cats think it's a good place to be since Dani did the same thing. Geez I miss my blobcat. Yeap, definitely can't imagine never seeing her again either. Cats just steal my heart, no bones about it.
Anyway, that's my update for today and this weekend. I need to actually do some planning. And figure out what I'm going to do in my English teachers class in 2 hours. Boo. I hate it. I've only had one actual class with them, then the makeshift pizza post-birthday party, then we had Monday off, a school fieldtrip, another Monday off, and then today. Blegh. Why can't they just teach themselves....
Back to work I suppose.
Miss and love you dearly.
♥
or something like that.
So for the last two weeks when I come in on Monday morning to the high school, there is a note or two on my desk on these square white pieces of paper. But the notes are actually lyrics to love songs. They are written in English and it's a man's handwriting. Today's reads "Even though it seems I have everything, I don't wanna be a lonely fool. All of the women, all the expensive cars, all of the money don't amount to you." And the back says "I want something else to get me through this semi-charmed kind of lie." I unfortunately did not keep last weeks, which was lines from 3 different songs, as I assumed it was something random accidentally left on my desk, but I am going to start keeping them from now on. I have no idea who is leaving them but they are not there Friday afternoon, I know because I bring my notebook back from the middle school and leave it on my desk on Friday afternoons, but they are here when I come in Monday morning. It's a mystery... :]
As for this weekend, Seoul was amazing. Friday afternoon I ran home after school for a quick shower and to pack, met up with Mark and Parag (Mark is the guy that lives in Yeongdeok too, and Parag is an English guy from Yeonghae, a town about 10 minutes north) at the bus terminal and was Seoul bound by 6:30. We got in about 11:15 or so, made our way to the subway for a 32 minute ride to Honguk University (I know because they made a bet it would take over/under 30 minutes) and then separated to find our hostels. Mark and I got to ours and the owner tried to tell us that we had booked 1 person for 2 nights instead of 2 for 1, which we argued out, then after insisting he had no room he took us to the sister hostel (we booked at Hey Backpackers and stayed at Hey Backpackers 2), 2 minutes away. We finally got everything sorted, then Mark and I dropped our bags and headed out into the Seoul night. We planned to only stay out for a bit so as not to wear ourselves out for the night to follow, Global Gathering was scheduled to run til 4am, but of course, time got away from us and we crashed back into the hostel at 6:15am. I was in bed asleep by 6:30. Unfortunately, the room I stayed in was right next to a construction site and since it was morning, they were working. Loudly. Pulling steel cable. Continuously. Did I mention loudly? Needless to say I did not rest. So I got up about 8:30 or so, waited for the shower, showered, then crashed on the couch in the main room. I slept there, much better than in the room, until about 10:30 when the owner woke me up asking why I wasn't sleeping in the bedroom. I explained about the noise, he said close the window, duh, it was closed. So then he tells me to go sleep in the other room on the other side of the hostel, where lucky Mark got to sleep in quiet all morning. So I did. And slept, roughly, because by this time people were up and moving around, making no effort to be quiet in the room, until about 12. Then Mark and I gathered our things and headed out to meet up with the group. Except then I found out that instead of neither of us having somewhere to stay Saturday night, Mark's friend had offered to let him stay in the hostel with them, but there was only room for one. So we went around to the hostels in the area trying to find me somewhere to stay, to no avail, and I decided to figure it out when it came time to sleep. My plan basically evolved to, stay out and party til 6, take the subway to the bus terminal, grab a bus, and sleep on the 5 hour ride home. Sounded good, and free, to me.
So we rejoined the group, and started to the festival. This led to a subway ride, and an hour of lost walking, 2 blisters, and an irritated me with 4 men completely unwilling to ask for directions, admit they were lost, or listen to me, who knew where we were supposed to be going, but didn't want to leave the group. We finally made it to the festival, which was as far away from the subway as possible, about 3ish. Luckily, it was a beautiful day, so even with the walk, spirits were high and everyone was just glad to have finally found it. We sat outside for a bit and drank what people had brought with them as we were not allowed to bring it in with us. And started meeting awesome people from the start. About quarter til 5 we gathered our things and our group and headed in to see Example at 5. Checked our bags and claimed a place. Then thoroughly enjoyed the first performance of the night (that we saw.) The rest of the night was spent dancing, drinking, and laughing my cares away. The night ended with a bit of a frustrating walk out, repeatedly having to collect the men, irritating taxis unwilling to take us because the fair wasn't enough, and finally, a wonderfully soft bed, blanket and pillow. Oh yeah, because since we didn't stay out til 6, but rather left Global Gathering about 2:30 - between sore feet and tired everything elses, and a lack of performances worth staying for combined with remaining crowds being excessively drunk and all around not as much fun, there was a general consensus of departing - and some of the girls finding I had no where to stay (this is the same group Mark was staying with that only had room for one) insisted they would double up and I was to stay with them at their hostel. I'm telling you, the people I'm meeting here are some of the best ever. Thanks to Tash, Marie, Candace, Mark, Jason, and Andy (wife) for making Seoul amazing. It's not about the city, it's about the people. And I wish you all lived closer but I can't wait to see you in 2 weeks in Busan! :D
So Sunday morning, I was up and out of the hostel and navigating the streets of Seoul by 8. I found the subway by 8:30, successfully navigated (read CONQUERED) the Seoul subway system, then found and made my way to the bus terminal, grabbed a bit of food and jumped on the bus homeward bound. Not gonna lie, at this point I felt like a boss. Having come over here as public transportation illiterate as I was - I'd never taken a bus, taxi, subway, never used a payphone, or been lost on foot in a city (most certainly not without a cell phone), and just generally had no idea where I was or where I was trying to go (as far as names of stations), throw in the significant language barrier, and I feel like I king when I accomplish any of these things on my own. For most people they are small and insignificant but for me, from Scottsmoor, I've come a long way. Though it is always nice to come home to my small town with a taxi station but none cruising the streets, only one bus terminal, no subway, no trains, and a good ole small town feel. I miss dirt roads and rivers, horses and the country, but I could not be happier with where God has placed me in this country. They don't have country like we do at home, but I'm as close as I could get without it becoming a major inconvenience. So thanks God, I don't know why I doubt you or your aims for me. ♥
The bus ride only took about 4 hours instead of 5 because the roads are clearer Sunday morning than they are Friday night and I was happy to see that my delivery of cat litter, scheduled for Saturday, was waiting for me at the door. Switch was happy to see me and very cuddly to show she missed me. I love coming home to her. :] Unfortunately, I've been doing a bit of research about bringing her home and I'm scared I won't be able to. I found an agency that will do door to door or port to port service but the door to door is 4000-4500 USD. Which is not going to happen. I'm looking into the port to port and I'll see how much that is. Also, when it gets closer, like next year, I will call American Airlines and see if I can just do it without an agency and how much it is that way. Some airlines will let you take the cat as carryon so I could just take her in the cabin with me, which would be ideal. And then during layovers I would just take her to the bathroom, etc. I just can't imagine leaving her behind. I love her and the thought of never seeing her again, just leaving her with someone else just kills me. I can't justify 4000USD but a hundred or two I may be willing to do. And if I'm willing to pay that now, and I've had her for two weeks, in a year I'm really not going to want to give her up. But I don't regret getting her, ever. Most especially now that we've got the training issues worked out. I don't know what the girl I got her from did to her but she is such an affectionate cat, definitely definitely a cuddler, and lets me hold her now. The girl I got her from said she wouldn't let her hold her, and that she wasn't much of a contact cat, not really a cuddler. Maybe I should tell her she was doing it wrong. :] If anything I would say the only cuddling problem I have with Switch is that sometimes she's too close and wants to be too close, read, on my face. Apparently cats think it's a good place to be since Dani did the same thing. Geez I miss my blobcat. Yeap, definitely can't imagine never seeing her again either. Cats just steal my heart, no bones about it.
Anyway, that's my update for today and this weekend. I need to actually do some planning. And figure out what I'm going to do in my English teachers class in 2 hours. Boo. I hate it. I've only had one actual class with them, then the makeshift pizza post-birthday party, then we had Monday off, a school fieldtrip, another Monday off, and then today. Blegh. Why can't they just teach themselves....
Back to work I suppose.
Miss and love you dearly.
♥
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