Life, what is it but a dream?

Now, in Canada, I find myself questioning whether or not I actually spent a year in Korea, met all those people and lived through all those wonderful experiences, walked those streets in distant lands and.... it's a strange, dreamy feeling.... oh, sorry... must be the JETLAG talking! Another few minutes and I would have been talking about my friend the green unicorn.

So... yeah, jetlag sucks, but let's get caught up, shall we?

I flew out of Korea on Wednesday morning, arriving at the airport just in time to ... run into Matt and Helen!!! We were, naturally, very excited to see each other one last time, and finished off our impromtpu rendezvous with a hearty "See you tomorrow!". It was great to see a friendly face, especially since the next 18 hours would prove to be slightly trying.

I took the "screaming baby express" flight to Tokyo, but only after passing through every single security measure known to man, except "cavity search". You know, toothpaste can be dangerous. Gee, better put it in a ziploc because we know that will save us....

From Tokyo, I had a ridiculously long 11.5 hour flight to Detroit aboard "crying child airlines"... there were a bunch of Korean babies being delivered to their new adoptive parents in the USA - and as cute as they were, they still managed to cry, scream, howl, etc for most of the flight. I got my revenge by snoring the entire way across the Pacific. In Detroit, I had some time to kill, so I ate a sandwich the size of my head (LOVE American portion sizes) after going through security AGAIN, this time having to remove my shoes, belt and all jewellery to pass through the checkpoint.

I was worried that I would have to give my biodata (fingerprints and photo) to US customs and spent most of the flight from Japan wondering how I could get out of doing so. It doesn't make sense that any government should force me to give them my fingerprints - especially when said government isn't even my own!

Right - so I got to Canada in one piece, toothpaste safely wrapped in a plastic bag by the airport authorities, and met up with my sister and her family. I'm staying at my Mom's place now (My Mom is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean right now.... she's on a cruise), and the past few days have been a blur of family and friend visits, punctuated by lots of naps. I haven't been able to get a handle on my sleep schedule as yet - making it hard to plan very much.

I'm currently at Strega, taking advantage of Kelly's computer and internet connection, and wondering, honestly, where the past year has gone. The next few days will see more meetings with friends and family, more shopping and, hopefully, the establishment of some sort of routine.

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold.

Yay - found a computer.... I need to write this all down before I forget what I've been up to...

Friday was my last day at school (photos will be added at some point - update: See Flickr link), and I (of course) got gifts from the teachers and a few cards from the students: "Dear Baginia. I am regrettable. Don't go to Mokpo." I guess that means that they liked me after all, even if they still can't spell my name. After school, I ran to meet up with Karen and head to Gwangju where we would finally get a closer look at the new incoming teachers (including my friend Jen, who has come back to Korea), and say goodbye to Matt and Helen. After two weeks of goodbyes, it was so hard to say a final goodbye to them, so Matt and I decided to simply say, "See you tomorrow" instead of the usual weepy "I'll never ever see you again... waaaaah".

On Saturday, I presented to the new recruits. The fun part was that I got to see friends like Kirsten, Dustin, Jen and Daragh. The unfun part was that I was not firing on all cylinders... I got back to Suncheon on Saturday and called Melissa. We headed out to Julianna's with her boyfriend Chris for supper. Even though I kept insisting that I wanted an early night, we ended up going to a soju-bang afterwards (yummmmmmmy soju cocktails), then to WA bar, and finally back to Julianna's, where I met up with some other friends to say goodbye. Congrats were in order for Cassie, who tested (and got) her black belt that day. (I'll have to wait a few months before I can go test for mine).

Sunday morning, I woke up quite early and immediately started packing and cleaning. Since Jakob has moved to Gwangyang to be with Jessica for the next month, I was able to do all the final packing, cleaning and garbage-ing etc without his help. Kim, Jeannie, Steve and (especially) Nina helped me out on that final morning by grabbing some of my extra things (either to keep or to store) and I was finally off to Mokpo, where I met up with Alex who has agreed to store pretty much everything I have in his spare room. After a few back-and-forths between Brent and Stephanie's place and Alex's, we headed out for supper. I'm really looking forward to my eventual move to Mokpo - a lot of the people seem really nice and I know that Jen and JP will be there to keep me company too.

Monday morning, I said "See you tomorrow" to Brent and Stephanie (get it? Instead of a final goodbye....), took their laptop to transport to Canada, and boarded a KTX (like the French TGV) to Seoul. The train ride was great since the tracks pass through so many neat farming villages and countryside and mountains. Wow. Springtime really is the most beautiful season in Korea. I arrived in Seoul and decided to try to find a hotel room. I ended up wandering around Dongdaemun Market and Stadium for over an hour before wearily checking into the first hotel I saw. I'm actually quite glad, since I have a glorious comfy bed, TV with all the fun channels (like On Style) and internet down the hall. I wandered around Dongdaemun and began buying souvenirs for friends and family back home. The thing about Seoul is that a foreigner just isn't as hot a commodity as in Suncheon or Mokpo, and other foreigners seem to go so far as to pretend that they don't see you! It's a big difference from Jeollanamdo but I guess it's good practice for Canada, when I will look like everyone else. Another funny thing is that I am having a real hard time understanding the Seoul accent - they speak sooooo fast here! I guess Seoul reminds me of Toronto - fun to visit, but I would never live here.

So.... right. I checked my e-mail on Monday afternoon, and there was a message from Brent saying "Please check the pocket of my laptop case and tell me if you find my passport". So... yeah, it was there, in my hands in a hotel room in Seoul while Brent and Stephanie, who were flying out on Tuesday morning, were sitting in their apartment (packing and cleaning) in Mokpo. Don't worry - it all turned out okay in the end with a midnight meeting in the Yongsan train station, and I was able to say another, "See you tomorrow" to them last night.

This morning, Tuesday, I got up early-ish (but not early enough to meet Brent and Stephanie for breakfast - ooops!) and decided to play tourist. I headed to the Seodamun Prison, which was a Japanese run prison during the Occupation of Korea by Japan. The main prisoners at that facility were members of the Korean Resistance, some of whom are considered to be National Heroes, including Ryu Gwan-sun, a young woman who eventually died there. The images and scenes of torture were quite jarring, but many of the descriptions had a decidedly propaganda-ish twist - this was not a place of unbiased history... but perhaps that's how historical atrocities should be presented, instead of being sugarcoated by political correctness. (On a side note, the Japanese government issued a formal apology to the people of Korea in October 2001.) Anyway... I met up with Nicola at noon and we went for a final lunch together before heading to Insadong, a great shopping area (I went there with my mom in October) for traditional items. By that time, I was a bit shopped out, so we went for tea in this great place called the Old Tea Shop. Absolutely crowded with tables, cushions, chairs, knickknacks, antiques and birdcages, this is a really special teashop. There are even live birds flying around!

After saying goodbye... I mean, "See you tomorrow" to Nicola, I headed back to Dongdaemun, and hit up a corner shop for as much soju and weird Korean candy as I could carry. Now, I've got a date with my big comfy bed and my fun TV channels.... tomorrow is going to be a hellish day of non-stop travel.

"See you tomorrow".

Illegal Alien....

Yup, I am homeless, unemployed and an illegal alien. I have no phone, no internet and (until I get back here) no computer access and no fixed address.

And it's fun....

Postings will be rather sporadic from now on. I will be back in Canada on April 25.

Because Korea is fun, that's why....

So, I met up with Lana for a last blast shop around Suncheon. We meant to buy makeup, cat food and traditional baby back carriers (Hey Kelly, guess what you're going to unwrap at your baby shower....). Instead we... well... mimed our pizza toppings to our waitress for 5 minutes, played with/bought makeup, and had funny pictures taken. We also wandered around looking for baby back carriers, honestly we did! And we just couldn't find any....

Here are some pictures... Lana in the makeup shop with our 4 sales assistants. They spent most of their time laughing at us. The entire shop is about the size of your front hall closet, is ridiculously overstaffed and would be a germaphobe's nightmare since you can test just about EVERYTHING on your own face, mouth, whatever. I walked out looking like Barbie with aqua blue eyeshadow. Lana rocked some gold sparkles and super long mascara. Considering that our makeup consultants were wearing white, pink, green and blue powders on various bits of their faces, we really didn't look half bad.

So, then we went to one of those photobooth places (if you've never been in Korea, you'll just have to take my word for how much fun it is) and posed as "Happy", "Angry", "Sexy" and "Cutie" - see if you can figure out which one is which. I feel that this is completely normal behaviour for two 30-something women, by the way. We were assisted by the photostore owner, who wants to put our pictures out front of his shop, and three high school boys who helped us scan and e-mail the pictures so that we could post them on our blogs.

I am such an ESL teacher - gotta mime EVERYTHING with my hands too!

Finally, for those of you who aren't tired of random pictures of my students....

This guy is friends with Do Hyun, my hot scooter mechanic. We've bonded over bikes.

Class 2-6 strikes a pose. Ten seconds later, all the boys on the right fell over. The guy with the reddish hair in the far right is the fabulous Mr Moon - aka Blue Moon aka Casanova. This was one of my favourite groups.

Ga-young was at the summer camp last August. One of the only students whose name I know for sure (and often use in class).

My boys of 2-6, hiding behind their textbooks.

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

So, on Friday, there was a big party in Suncheon to say goodbye to the dozen or so teachers who are leaving here permanently. A good time was had by all, even if our memories were a bit spotty the next day.

It probably won't hit me until I get to Canada that the same "old guard" won't be here anymore.

In other news, I'm starting to hammer out dates to see people once I do get to Canada. Taking a lesson from my new backpacking experiences, I've decided that a few hours on a plush Canadian train or bus is nothing compared to 7 hours of bone shaking dustiness on a bus from Bikaner to Jaisalmer with most of the population of India sitting on the roof. I'll attempt to put in a few longer visits in Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec, instead of using the excuse that they are "too far".

At this point, however, my boxes and bags are packed and I'm pretty much ready to roll... just got a few days of school to get through (i.e. games and movies...) and then a few days of bouncing between Suncheon, Mokpo, Gwangju and Seoul before I do a marathon Korea-Japan-USA-Canada trip home.

Oh, and can someone in Canada PLEASE record the new episode of Heroes for me? I've been watching it online in Korea and really need to know what will happen next.

Lest I Forget: Part 2

Another series featuring my students. I'm only taking group pics of my Grade 2 classes, since I don't know my Grade 1 groups well enough....These four boys are the best part of one of my Wednesday classes. The kid on the right, with the face mask is "Bunny Slippers" and the 2nd from left is super good in English.

A grade 3 students. I'll call him "Puma" because he has blue and yellow pumas (that he compared to mine). We sometimes end up on the bus together, where he delights in making me sound out signs in Korean. After we took the picture (nice face on me), he came back to my desk and said, "Never forget me". Okay, Puma, I won't.

Two sweet girls from 2-7 class.
Just a nice group of girls. The 2nd from right sat next to me at a Korean movie once and translated the whole thing for me.
The girl on the left used to hate me, now she likes me. The girl in the middle is wicked smart and a good dancer.

This guy is some sort of wrestling champion in the region. I sometimes see him on the bus. Every few weeks, I give him money to replenish my bus card with, which he sees as a privilege.

Group 2-4 (or is this 2-2) - Note the Wrestler in the front left. The girl behind me is really good in English, and the guy on the far right at the back is wicked nice too.

Okay, this is class 2-2 (or 2-4?). Notice a few of the girls from summer camp. Beat Boxer is in the very front. My Boyfriend is behind me and next to him is the guy who can only say "Okay okay".

Class 2-7. The Wolf is on the far left behind me - I am between two very nice students. The kid in the front cracks me up.

Lest I Forget - Part 1

If you don't care about my students, you might as well just skip this post all together. It's my way of remembering the kids I've taught over the past year. Note that most of the nicknames were invented by Melissa and I as a way of keeping track of the students and (except for certain kids) nobody else is aware of them.

This is group 2-1. The kid with his hand over my head is "Monkey", right behind me in the tie is "Handsome Doctor", between them is the new kid with a great accent.

This is group 2-8. Far left side is "Helllooo" and the guy in the blue jacket is "Hi, Hello, Anyong".

A few of my girls from 2-8 - guess which one is me. Notice the "Girl with the bad hair" who used to hate me, but now she likes me.
Min Ji and Su Bin. Su Bin cleans my language lab. Both are in class 1-5.
Grade 1 girls. The girl in the middle is Ye Bin. She loaned me a copy of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and speaks better English than I do.

The kid on the left is the sweetest student I've ever met, and really good in English too. The guy on the right is dating "Sailor Moon".
This is "My Boyfriend". He just had 7 metal staples taken out of his scalp because he fell off the back of a motorcycle last week.
This kid was cleaning the bathroom during my class - was probably caught smoking. Bad Hair and Small Face got him and dragged him over to take a picture. During the winter, he hangs out with his friends who sell "go gu ma" (baked sweet potato) on the streets.

The kid on the left is "Bad Boy" - which is also the limit of his English. He points to himself and says "Me Bad Boy". He always sits at the back and comes in handy when I need the lights turned off ("Bad Boy, please turn off the lights"). The guy on the right has a large-ish nose and is considered quite handsome by the ladies.
The girl on the left was in one of my supplementary classes. The most she got out of it was to say "Okay" instead of "Finethankyouandyou" when asked "How are you today?". She's in Grade 3 now.

The girl on the right sometimes rides the bus with me.
"Chingu" will stand at the end of the hall and scream "BAGINIA!" when he sees me. He was in my group 2-2 last year, which was the WORST GROUP EVER... like, in my life. Once Chingu (it means "friend" in Korean) started liking me, things got slightly better.
Handsome Grade 3 students. The guy on the right is better in English than he cares to admit. The guy in the middle is a good kid. These three guys together disprove the ridiculous myth that all Koreans look the same.

One day I will look back on this day and say...

... Hey, Nina, Nicola, Jeannie, Jessica and Melisa, do you remember that time we went to that Tibetan Buddhist temple, Daewonsa, to look at the cherry blossoms?
Do you remember how we got on the world's oldest bus and that beautiful hundred year old lady sat with us and put her hand on my leg?
And wasn't it funny when the bus stopped on the side of the road about 8 km (the sign said 5 km) from Daewonsa and made us get out and we couldn't understand why and we asked those police officers to give us a ride on their motorbikes but then we saw all the crowds of people who were probably also there to look at cherry blossoms and started walking, but then we got all whiny and flagged down a flatbed pick-up truck and sat in the back and drove up the road waving like princesses with flower petals falling in our hair?
And remember how we still had to walk for ages when we got out of the back of the truck, but it was okay because it was so beautiful with hundreds of trees full of cherry blossoms lining either side of the road?
Lunch was great, wasn't it? Bibimbap with edible flowers... Melisa had fun with her flower, didn't she?
And when we finally made it to Daewonsa, do you remember meeting up with that female monk who spoke English and she told us that there was going to be a concert of some sorts, and then introduced us to the head monk and we realized that we were in the middle of some sort of Daewonsa Flower Festival and there were literally hundreds of people wandering around?
And after we saw the temple and the museum, do you remember Melisa, Jeannie, Nina and I getting dragged off to whack ddok with the news cameras rolling and that weird guy stole my scarf and then asked me for my phone number and then bought us ice cream?
The concert was cool too, wasn't it? How we listened to traditional Korean music, followed by some sort of folk music and then those two cute guys (classic Korean pop star style) and that girl were all singing and they were all like "I love you" to us while Melisa and Nicola danced and that really really old lady was smoking and got up and danced too?
Remember how the bus home never came and there were still tons of people and cars around and we hitchhiked and that lady picked us up and all six of us piled into her SUV and she dropped us off at the bus station and we realized that we weren't going to make it back to Suncheon, so we went to Gwangju and then headed our separate ways, but couldn't believe the kind of day that we'd had?

Yeah, that was a pretty cool day, wasn't it?