Sunday morning

My mosquito net fell down on my head for the second time in 24 hours. I also have a humidity headache and Oscar and I haven't felt dry in almost 36 hours. Apparently there will be more of this to look forward to for another 2 months. Needless to say I cant sleep.

Beside my 2 lessons today, I have to reinstal my computer which has an Asian flu! Apparently North Korea has a special unit to attack south Korean computers, and much like my own immune system, my anti virus doesn't seem equipped for the Asian viruses. I have deicided to go back to Mac. None of this would be happening if I had a Mac!

On a brighter note, kick monkey continues to kick butt in TaeKwon do. I am no expert by any means, but I am doing better than I expected, and the constant sore feeling in my body is not entirely unwelcomed. I am going to try YOGA on Monday morning.

Well, I am going to try to get more shut eye. I don't have to teach for another 3.5 hours.

K

One of the first meals with Chris in my kitchen. Trying to impress him with Mexican food. 

Me and my death-machine. My helmet matches the scooter and proudly displays the Canadian flag on the back. 

after a tiring hike in Daejeon 

Seoul, Soul and more Soul

Well, I don't hate Seoul any more. As a matter of fact I think if I had to spend another year in Korea, Seoul would be a good place to spend it. We spent most of our time in Etaiwan, which is a district (Dong in Korean) that is supported mainly by the US military presence, where you will find "hooker hill" and a Mosque within a few feet of each other, and a place where you can buy middle eastern groceries YAY!!!

We got in Saturday evening, and the first order of business was finding a place to sleep. We checked out a place that seemed clean enough, but was very much like the Iranian caravanserais, and the room didn't even have a window. I "X"ed that place though it was only 30,000 won. We went to another place called the Seoul In (Original name eh?) and the rooms were much better- still no window, but a full on A/C and it was only 45. SO I said "Let's take it", and we did, dumped our things, and went out to discover.

Among some of the incongruous things I saw in Etaiwan, were a couple of Ecuadorians selling handicrafts on the sidewalk, a lot of non Koreans and really up to date fashions. The Korean population was definitely outnumbered by the foreigners, and it was not only surprising, but a bit refreshing. No one stared at us, we just blended in!

We went to "Spy", a very chic little club for a pre-dinner cocktail, and enjoyed a rum and coke in the "Red Rum- oops Room" covered with velvet walls, and snazzy decor- very "Wallpaper". I know now not to go for the 151 proof Rum on an empty stomach!!!
We considered many dinner options, Thai, Indian, and a real N.Am. style pub, but settled on a French restaurant which served us the best meal I have ever enjoyed in my entire life! As Chris likes to say "There were real live French there so you know it was a good establishment". Yes, no dead French in sight, and the food- oh the food! I had a beef tenderloin with Béarnaise sauce, and Chris had a cream soup with Saffron and seafood Paella. Yum yum YUUUUUUUMMMMMM! No room for desert! though I am certain it would have been heavenly.

We then hit the Salsa club. I was so pumped I could barely stand it. I had a bad feeling though as we went up the steps, I couldn't hear any music! We walked into an absolutely empty club, and to my horror they were playing Bachatta! We asked the bartender when the place got going, and we were told that the "US army boys" were given a curfew of 9pm, so there would be no action tonight. Nothing- NADA! Deeply disappointed, we went on to find another club, when we both realized our evening had been perfect already, so why ruin it by carting ourselves half way around Seoul to get more exhausted, and not find a good Latin club? Plus, every step was more difficult due to the heat, and humidity, and more painful, due to my red heels, PLUS we had an air conditioned room awaiting us. So like a couple of old coots, we called it a night and went back to our hotel.

Cheers!

Check out this article about Armenian Brandy. Yum!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3777007.stm

At School

I was told blogging’s addictive but I didn't believe it till now. I brought my computer to work today because one of my kids was wearing a Bob Marley shirt yesterday and didn't even know who he was, so I brought it in to play some Bob for them. Why wear the shirt if you don't know who is on it? But then that’s kids for you! (Again- I sound OLD!)

There is such great light in my classroom at this time of day. It is a quarter to five and it is brilliantly sunny outside. I just went out to get some kim-bab (the Korean version of California rolls, but a little bland unfortunately) and it is so perfect outside, its almost a sin to be in here. But since I am here I might as well write a blog. I have a spare right now.

I ride my scooter to work every day. There are many women who ride scooters here, and I can tell they are women because they don't wear helmets here very often. But still it is an unusual thing to see, and a female foreigner on a scooter, in a skirt must be really unusual, because I get very surprised looks. A few weeks ago I was riding down my street and two boys on a bicycle were riding up, and the kid sitting on the handlebars was SO shocked that his jaw dropped and his eyes popped out. I half expected him to tip the bike because he was trying to tell his friend what he was missing. It was so funny that I started chuckling.

There is a lot here that makes me chuckle. In a lot of way Koreans are so much like Iranians. They have been so insulated, and they are so homogenous, that there is little “political correctness”. I have to say, most of what irritates me comes from the fact that I have lived in a very uptight PC city most of my life, where people can say things like “What are YOU looking at?” and that usually means “F-off and stop staring“. Here there is no secret made of the “spectator sport” and if you ask such a dumb question, you will get the obvious response: “You- what else?” That is of course if you speak the language.

I like staring at them too. Believe it or now they DON’T all look the same and I have found Koreans to be profoundly beautiful. I prefer the dark skinned ones though they are big on the China-doll look and use everything from powders to laser surgery to obtain that look. I have two girls in my classes who are very delicate, with fine features and beautiful lines. I will photograph them all before leaving. I guess that means I better start soon. The other thing I would like is to have a web-cam and show you what this class looks like, but then the parents have to give consent and it gets complicated.

Two very popular surgeries in Korea are having your eyes enlarged by cutting a section of your eyelid out, and lypo suction because they like to be very very slim. So as a result, these operations are relatively cheap here. It is about 800 dollars US to get lypo done here, and I know of one foreigner who has had that done here, and was very happy with it. So for those of you looking for an excuse to make your way out here, think of how much you can save on plastic surgery :)

I am home now, and spent a small fortune on beef for dinner tomorrow. What the hell, its payday, and I want to make a decent curry. So, I will wrap this up by making an observation. A week can make a hell of a lot of difference. I am in such a different head-space now than a week ago! I am much better, livlier and really looking forward to seeing Seoul.

I will keep you posted.

K

The morning after

Pain, such sweet pain. Who ever said "no pain no gain" was BS? I know exactly what muscles I have used.

My deal is I am not having any babies till I am in good shape. There are too many things to worry about so I will at least start on the right foot. Fortunately I don't think I am that far from being in good shape (don't laugh too loud now)- though I am a little farther in the baby department. And who knows what work they will put me up to in Nepal, so I better be in decent shape. But oh sweet pain. I went to the Yoga class this morning, only to find out the instructors wife doesnt know Tuesday from Wednseday. So I will try again next week.

Also I have no water. I cant shower and with the heat as it is, this will be a bad situation. They are cleaning the tanks in the building and the water will be off from 7 to 7 tonight. Of course the signs in the building are all in Korean, but my friend who lives in the building next to mine always calls me and tells me these things.

When I first arrived, they cut off my cold water because the girl before me hadnt paid the maintenance bill. I had to shower using scalding hot water. If anyone thinks cold showers are bad, try a boiling one. Still, I would take that over no shower today. Good thing you are so far away.

More later...

Kick Monkey!

Well I am going to have to type slowly, since I injured myself in my first TaeKwondo class. I was supposed to fall face forward to the floor, landing on my hands and touch my forehead to my hands and I bent my wrist the wrong way. Plus this is an old mountain biking injury and it doesn't help that it is humid as a wet cat out there. I sound SO old!

Here is how it went. I got the gear- the white baggy pants, the white shirt and the white belt even. I got dressed, and came into class. The class in underground underneath my grocery store- God I wish I had seen it the first week I was here. Anyhoooo, the "master" (a very nice, lean, tall man with glasses that don't fly off his face no matter how many times he twirls) started saying something about me. I was standing next to him at this point. I understood Canada, TaeKwondo when I was young (since I told him I did a few classes) and some other things I didn't get. It is very strange being spoken about in front of a bunch of strangers. It is even stranger when you have NO CLUE what is being said. For all I knew he was saying "yeah, this foreigner here thinks she can keep up with us but we will likely never see her after this class". Regardless, he turned to me, put on my white belt, tied it tight and everyone applauded.

We began with stretching exercises which is where I earned my gold stars. Gymnastics was my thing when I was younger and I am still incredibly flexible, so while the green and brown belts couldn't straighten their legs while holding the bottom of their feet, I did it without batting an eye. I can kick very high too and I was impressing the pants off them. Fortunately there are 3 other girls in the class and 6 kids, who thought I was really cool, and asked me after class to go have ice cream with them (which I declined). I have modifiedmy nickname (christened by Chris- from fighter monkey, to kick monkey)

Well, I will write more details about the actual exercises later on. My wrist hurts and I am feeling sleepy.

I am also getting progressively more sore...

THIS ought to be fun!

NEWSFLASH!!! My intercom just rang as I was typing and my doorman said "Motorcycle, vroom vroom" and I went down there to move it, thinking it was in the way of someone. Well I got there and he was all flustered and I knew something bad was up. I went out and NO scooter!! He was blabbering on in Korean and I got it that someone was trying to steal it. I saw it about 500 meter down the walkway. The other security guard who never says two words to me spoke in clear English that two men had picked it up and were on their way with it when he saw them. They dropped it and ran. How lucky am I? You can bet I locked it now. And I keep getting told that there is no crime in Korea. Well I guess its starting. To think I almost lost scooty :(

Elevator rides

I have been meaning to write about this in several emails but now I will write it here. There are very few Koreans who own pets, or even like them. As some of you know they actually breed a kind of dog for food, yet they also have another breed of dog that is considered very intelligent and not for eating. In October a man was fined and later imprisoned because he ate his neighbors "smart dog", and his neighbor asked him to compensate him. When he couldn't, he was jailed. Now I am getting off topic.

I live in a 15 story building, and I am on the 10th floor. I have to take the elevator to take Oscar for a walk 5 times a day. I always dread having other people in the elevator, because if they are not trying to play with Oscar (which is fine) they fear him. Oscar is a Shi-tsu and about the size of a fat cat. I have had varying reactions from kids gluing themselves to the wall of the elevator, to a woman and her child actually squealing and leaving the elevator yesterday (I had to laugh out loud just to show her how ridiculous I thought she was being). My dog was on a leash, by my feet, minding his own business, but there you have it! People will even cross the street to avoid him- at least I think its him they are trying to get away from....maybe it's me?!?!?!

So as I see it, this culture is full of contradictions, as is any culture really. I picked up Oscar from the street too. He was somebody's pet at some point, but Koreans generally like tiny dogs that they can carry in bags. They also like puppies, so when they get too big, they sometimes just put them out on the street. I do believe Oscar was one of those dogs. He had no leash, but he was very well trained. He is my favorite Korean.

Aghhhhhhh Korea!!!!!

Well, after a week of hell at my school and feeling rather down in the dumps, I sent a "cry for help" email to all my friends and family to see who'd say what? And by far the best response came from Teresa, who reminded me of Yoga philosophy that boils down to "enjoy the here and now". I sat back thinking about my hippie friend and her cool outlook on life and realized that Korea was the same it ever was (as I had known it anyway) but it was MY outlook that has changed. I still loved my kids, and they were still the same kids, so I turned myself around, and I am having a much better week. Thanks babe!

We are heading to Seoul this weekend. I will continue my quest for a nose piercing. I have 19 weeks left to go folks, and I really dont know where I am going next. Yippie!

I know I am going to Nepal for my volunteer humanitarian gig for two or three months, but after that, it depends where Chris ends up I think.

Well, this is rather short for a first posting but there you have it. Feel free to respond.

K