Ha!

Wow - it's certainly interesting to be back in Korea. It's the second time around, so I was able to hit the ground running. But before I get to that, I need to fill in my last few days in Canada:

The biggest news from the last few days in Canada is definitely the birth of Cohen Morlais Gillard Watson, Kelly and Steve's baby (scroll down to see pics from their baby shower). Kelly and I met on the first day of Grade 9 at Denis Morris High School in St. Catharines, and have remained best friends since that day. This is no mean feat considering all the moves, changes etc that can happen from the age of 13! It was so special for me to a) be called at 2 am for the birth announcement and b) to get to visit them in hospital (I took a ton of pictures, but can't upload until I get my own computer hooked up). You know how sometimes you see newborn babies and you kind of have to pretend that they are cute? Ha! Not with Cohen - he's absolutely stunning!!

The day before I left, my mom hosted a going away party with friends and family and lots of food. The highlight (for me) was the "Vodka Cake" - yes, my mother flavoured the icing on the cake with vodka. Vodka has no flavour, says you??? Ha! It was flavoured vodka (peach) and it worked perfectly well, thank you very much! I've decided now to use vodka to flavour everything - from breakfast cereal to tomato soup. So far, it's working out well.

On the day of my departure, I decided to start the day by packing. Yes, little miss organization that I am, I hadn't really bothered starting to pack until the last minute (much to the chagrin of my mother), and it meant having to leave behind a few things. With everything crammed to the gills (literally - my weight limit per bag was 23 kg and when one of my bags was weighed at the airport check-in, it was at 22.8 kg - Ha!). My brother Al drove us to Toronto, and we got to wander around Chinatown and then the downtown a bit, eating at a Moroccan restaurant before hitting the airport. Once there, I met up with some new folks (Sarah and Andrew) and JP, who I'd met last year in Wando. Like quite a few of my friends and acquaintances here, JP is back for a second "tour of duty" in Korea after a few months of reality in Canada. The flight went well and we arrived in Incheon (Seoul) at about 2:30 am on May 24, having skipped May 23 altogether. While waiting for the bus to take us to the Gimpo airport for our flight to Gwangju, JP and I initiated Sarah and Andrew into Korean foreigner lifestyle by drinking a bottle of soju in front of the airport. Good times!

We arrived in Gwangju at about 8 am, and were put up in a hotel, then given the day to wander around. May 24 was Buddha's birthday, so there was no school anyway. As I walked around the streets of downtown Gwangju, it hit me that I wasn't experiencing the culture shock (Oh my God! Everyone is Korean! Oh my God! I can't read any signs! Oh my God! What is this on my plate? Oh my God! Hello Kitty is on everything!) that I had the first time through. It was as if I'd only been away for a few days, and I was able to walk right back into my role as Random Foreigner. It was also great to know that I already had friends here - like JP, Jen and Stu - who I got to see on my first day back.

The next day (April 25), I dragged Stu and JP to Emart to buy the Essential Survival Device for a Foreigner in Korea (a coffeemaker), and we were off to meet our new co-teachers. I'd already met my co-teacher, Mr Shin, a few months back, so it was not a stressful meeting at all. He drove me to my apartment in Mokpo, introduced me to a few staff members, walked me around the neighbourhood and introduced me to a few shopkeepers, and bought me some bread. Very cool! There's a real feeling of being welcomed with open arms here - which is great.

The apartment, which I'd seen four times before, suddenly seemed to have become quite a bit smaller than what I remembered. It's a one-room apartment, with a small entrance vestibule and a wee kitchen/balcony. The bathroom is a tiled cube, meaning that you get to pretend that you are showering on a yacht every day! For comparison's sake: It's smaller than Meron's upstairs room, it's probably got the same general square footage of my brother's living room, it's roughly the size of Barb's living room, and way smaller than any of the rooms in Toronto Kat's house, but could be compared to the kitchen space of Montreal Kat's place, or the dining room of La Commune in La Pocatiere. But.... it's got lots of charm! Chad, who lived here before, constructed this really cool "door desk", which is made up of a chest of drawers, a door, a TV, some shelves, 2 milk crates, an old school desk and some random blocks of wood. It's amazing, holds a lot of stuff and is a great use of the vertical space in my apartment.

The neighbourhood is decidedly "Old School Korea", with lots of steep alleyways that twist between traditional homes, random fishing products for sale (Need some anchor chain? Let me know and I'll set you up), lots of vegetable gardens and a decidedly distinctive smell (which I like to refer to as "Wall of Ass" - you are just walking along when suddenly "WHOA!" It's literally like hitting a wall.). I'm miles away, in distance as well as design, from Shidae apartments in Suncheon.

The first order of business on Friday afternoon was to get in touch with Alex and Jen and move all my stuff from Alex's place to mine, assisted by Jongwon and a random student of Alex's who needed to prepare for a university interview in English. As the boxes and bags were moved in, I found myself wondering how I was going to fit everything into the space that I had... Anyway, we checked out the local "random kim bap restaurant with an orange sign", ate cheegeu ramyan, and took turns asking Alex's student possible interview questions.

So, all day yesterday was "Unpacking and Apartment Decoration Day". Waking at the ungodly hour of 3:30 am (Ha! Jetlag!!!), I managed to make the space VERY livable and cool. I've got wall-hangings, pillowcases, sarongs, saris, scarves, statues, colourful books, knickknacks and pictures from my travels covering every decorate-able surface. I can't wait to video it and upload it (once again, have to wait for computer to be hooked up) to show you all. JP and Jen (and Paddy!) came over in the early afternoon and helped a bit, then we decided to go out wandering (Jen was in Suncheon last year, then moved back to Canada and came back to Korea, Mokpo this time, in April), eventually finding our way to Emart to pick up more essentials for the apartment (like a squeegee for the glorious tiled-cube shower). Then, while Jen and I watched random movies on TV (Ha! I finally have a functioning TV and cable - expect lots of posts about the random-ness of Korean TV) and drank coffee (Jen) and wine (me), JP put my new bookshelves together, then made us a wicked awesome spicey tofu stir-fry thing. Jen and I decided that JP is definitely deserving of our friendship, since he can turn the random objects in your fridge into delicousness.

My apartment looks out onto the water, and one of the islands is decorated with lights that change colour every few seconds. There are also ferries and fishing boats going by constantly. Some of them honk their horns (or whatever the nautical term is) as they approach the ferry terminal down the street, and there is the constant din of boat engines as they motor past, punctuated by the odd seagull!!

And so, this morning, I woke up to the sound of fishing boats heading out to sea, in a nicely decorated apartment (still have to get pictures up and clear some of the random debris and clutter), having spent a day with friends, and looking forward to a new beginning....