Me and the Millennium Falcon learn to ride...

Mom: Click HERE.

Yay!

My computer is FINALLY hooked up at home. What could be better? Oh..... Spice Girls Reunion!!!!

Born to Run and other updates

Whew - it's been quite a week, what with living in 147% humidity and all that. I don't think my body ever actually stops sweating. And it's funny to read all my friends' blogs and realize that, yeah, all we waygook do is talk about the damn weather.

1) Tuesday night was the night that I got up to 5th gear on MY motorcycle. I've finally settled on the name "Millennium Falcon" because it is both nerdriffic and cool and lends itself easily to phrases like, "She might not look like much, but she's fast enough for you old man." when people laugh at her small stature from atop their 250 cc or their Harleys or BMW or whatever. Christa and I took our new bikes out for a spin on some new asphalt - can you believe that I am excited about asphalt now???

2) I'm slowly reading (to make it last) "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Do yourself a favour and get it for yourself.

3) Yesterday, all my classes were cancelled and I was taken to a volleyball tournament and given beer. Instead of drinking and playing volleyball, I learned how to play a traditional Korean game called "Yut". And then won four boxes of kleenex as my MVP prize. No, I am not making this stuff up.

4) Due to a mix-up/Lost in Translation moment, instead of removing the computer that is currently in my apartment and helping me hook up my laptop, my school is giving me another computer for my apartment. Eventually, my apartment will simply be jammed to the gills with computers.
Through a lot of miming, drawing of cartoons and the fact that most computer terminology is Konglish, I was able to explain the mix-up.... If you've ever mimed "Please remove the computer from my apartment so that I can hook up my Canadian laptop once you provide me with the IP address and the password, then put the new computer in my classroom because that's the one that is really on its last legs and is currently running Windows '98"... well, you know how it goes.

5) Last night, I arrived at TKD and one of the grandstanding teen boys (he's really awesome) ran up and said "Baginia, test day!". Apparently, it was a test day when we had to stand in front of the Grandmaster and all the teenage and preteen boys in the class who have been doing TaeKwonDo since they could walk and demonstrate our moves. The first move was... the splits! Seeing as I've never been able to do the splits in my life, and I don't see why I should start doing them now at the ripe old age of 32, and seeing as the Grandmaster gave all the commands in Korean, it all went downhill from there. In other news, I'm learning the names for all the TKD moves in Korean now.

6) I'm attempting to learn my entire Grade 6 class (15 students) names. One kid told me his name and I was like, "Yeah, I'll learn that one tomorrow". I've managed to learn about 3 of their names, including pronouncing them in a way that does not elicit peals of laughter from everyone in the class. (Can someone explain to me why my pronunciation of 'Lee Sang Su' is so funny?? Am I saying something rude?)

This weekend, I will be celebrating Canada Day by heading to Wando on the Millenium Falcon with Christa, Jens and Randi on their respective vehicles. We are apparently sleeping on the beach. I am not sure if I may end up wussing out of that - camping? On the beach? During Rainy Season? Sounds wet and malarial to me.

TaeKwonDo

I keep forgetting to talk about TKD. I've started at a new school here. It's very different from the class I took in Suncheon that was all foreigners and conducted in English. A bunch of my friends from that class did their black belt tests last Saturday. Having missed 6 weeks when I went to India and almost two months between moving and going to Canada, I'll just have to wait a bit more for my chance.

For my Mokpo class, I am with a group of young Korean boys (from elementary to high school) and the class is given, naturally, in Korean. I arrive about 20 minutes early and chat with Mr Lee, the owner of the school, in English. In return I get an hour-long TKD lesson. I'm lucky that Haydar's lessons in Suncheon gave me such a good base in the kicking techniques as well as the poomse (forms). It's nice to show up as a foreigner and the only girl and manage to (slightly) impress the seven-year old red belts with my knowledge of the poomse (most of the boys don't know past their 3rd or 4th poomse, but I know up to 8). The class is a lot of fun with the two teenagers constantly grandstanding, and the littler kids crying from time to time. It's also in a very small room and so a total sweatfest. Korean children, no matter the weather, don't seem to sweat very much, while I'm feeling absolutely swamped by the humidity and tend to start dripping sweat after about 3 minutes.

The other cool thing about Chung Mu TKD is that a few of my students are in the class before mine, which has given me a closer relationship with them, including a girl who is a 2nd dan black belt and only 11 years old, and a very quiet boy who just came into my classroom and gave me a candy. Sweetie!

My walk home from TKD takes me up 200 (yes, I've counted them) cracked, uneven concrete steps straight up the mountain, in a narrow concrete alleyway between traditional homes. Once at the top, I am on my street, overlooking the harbour and the lights of the islands as well as the lights of the homes that tumble down the hill to the water. It's an incredibly beautiful sight that I get to enjoy three times a week.

And then....

I kicked off the weekend with a two hour hike up and over Yudal mountain near my home. It was great to walk up paths overhanging with trees, scramble over rocks and enjoy the view of the ocean, and still only be about 5 minutes from home. It was a trail that didn't seem to be much used (actually, it didn't seem to be much of a trail), meaning that, until I hit the top and started back down, I didn't pass another person. It was nice to have that time to lose myself in the woods and pretend that I was in a more natural place, leaving behind the general busy-ness of my schedule here in Mokpo. From there, I headed home, showered and changed and ran off to JP's, as Jen and I had roped him into making supper for us (pasta, pesto, veggies and tofu - YUM). A few bottles of wine later, we decided to head to the P-Club, the closest thing Mokpo has to a waygook bar.

The next morning, I woke up to a phone call from Stu and was off to meet him and Christa for a motorbike safety lesson. Although Christa and I started off joking around and acting like the world's worst students, we eventually got focused and were led through a few motorbike manoevers by Stu. You think that rolling forward in a straight line is easy? Ha! Think again!! The parking lot we were working in was relatively empty, except for the woman with the coffee cart and the random old men drinking soju in the back of a pick-up....oh, and the tour bus. Needless to say, three foreigners putzing around on motorbikes does attract a bit of attention. We were finishing up just as the rain started and had the pleasure of riding home in the pouring rain (Hello Rainy Season!) again. You know when your clothes are so wet that you could wring them out? Yeah. Like that.

I had enough time to get ready and run to the bus terminal to meet up with JP and Garrett as we were all on our way to our friend Matt's Open Mic Night. I arrived in the nick of time, with only three minutes to buy my ticket and hop on the bus. We arrived in Gwangju, having made the acquaintance of Emanuel, another teacher in Mokpo, on the bus, and headed for TGIFridays, before finally getting our butts to the fabulous Windmill Hotel where we were sharing a huge VIP suite with Jessica, Monique and Cathy. Just as we were leaving the hotel, the rain, which had stopped came back with a vengeance, making sure that we were good and soaked when we arrived at the venue. It was great to see friends from Suncheon and elsewhere, and to make new aquaintances from Gwangju too. And the music was just great: Emanuel, Stu, Matt and Jens all played, as did Scott and Daniel (my replacement in Suncheon). Other people that I didn't know also played, including one guy who did an amazing instrumental set. Wow.

Making the most of our evening in Gwangju, we then headed to Vanilla, a techno night club. Keeping with the spirit of the entire day, and noticing perhaps that my hair had had time to dry, the rain gods poured on us again as we walked from the Open Mic to the night club. I've started noticing a correlation between my presence outside and the rain, leading me to believe that I have very bad rain karma. After we'd shaken our things at Vanilla, we headed to WA bar to finish off the evening playing "fashion police" to all the wicked awesome Korean styles to be found in downtown Gwangju in the wee small hours of the morning.

The next day, I wandered around Gwangju with new Mokpo pals Jens and Randi (they replaced Brent and Stephanie.... well, they can't really REPLACE Brent and Stephanie, can they? I mean, they are wicked nice and all, but NOBODY is as BEAUTIFUL as Brent and Stephanie were.... but I digress), hitting Art Street, a bookstore, a new market that only stocks waygook food not readily available in Korea - like oatmeal and cheese - , then to Aveda and finally the bus terminal. Needless to say, I was exhausted and quite happy to spend the rest of the evening watching weird Korean TV/subtitled movies.

Today, Monday, is some kind of celebration for the Korean War. I'm not sure if it's something like a Veterans' Day or what, but my school decided to mark it by walking around Yudal mountain with 120 students all wearing red shirts in the fog. I suppose it would have made more sense if we were walking with another school, or walking to a place (say a cenotaph) to commemorate the Korean war, or walking on a road that actually has random traffic on it from time to time. But we weren't.

Still, I can think of worse ways to spend Monday morning..... And morning classes were cancelled, and the kids were all nice and tired out in the afternoon, making me wish that we started all our Mondays like that.

In other news, I won't be getting my motorbike until Wednesday....can't wait!

Confusion:The Great Equalizer

Generally, foreign/native speaker/waygook teachers spend about 60% of their time not having the slightest clue what is going on. This is due to both the language barrier and the fact that we are pretty low on the food chain. On any given day, we might have cancelled classes, extra classes, a holiday, a random workshop, all classes are 5-minutes shorter or longer today for some reason.... whatever. As frustrating as it may be, you have no choice but to accept it and chalk it up to being the one person in the whole school who always seems a bit dense, especially when asking for the 12th time, "I don't have any classes today?".

Yesterday, when I arrived at school, the head teacher told me "Wednesday, Thursday, changee". Okay, so the schedules for Wednesday and Thursday are switched. No problem. Then, in the first period, the Grade 2 teacher (who is currently the bane of my existence, but it's okay, because it's a mutual thing...) arrived with his crowd of urchins. But wait...I see them first period on Wednesday, and this Wednesday was really a Thursday, when I don't see them until 12:00 (Ha! Just try miming that to an ajosshi who thinks he's king of the world!). Then, in the 2nd period, both Grade 3 and Kindergarten arrived and I had to explain to my darling kindy kids (who were all hugging me) that there was no English today. And... well, you get the idea. All day, I either had classes that were 5 minutes late because the teachers forgot to send them to me, or classes showing up at the wrong times.

The Korean teachers didn't know about the schedule change, but I, the waygook, did. For the first time in over a year, I actually got to appear like I knew what the heck was going on!

Where I was this evening (not avoiding Meron, I swear)

This evening, I made supper for Ms Cheong and Mrs Myeong. They wanted "traditional Canadian food". What was I supposed to serve them? Kraft Dinner? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Fish sticks? Grilled cheese and tomato soup?

I made a tossed salad with an herb garlic dressing, spinach fettucine primavera and vanilla ice cream with mango and pineapple for dessert. Oh, and two bottles of white wine. I taught them how to taste wine, and we had fun sniffing each wine and saying what we thought they smelled like. They said that the meal was very "mild". This is a polite way of saying "This sucks. Where the heck is the kimchi?". I explained to them that Canadian (North American) food is like an orchestra - it can all blend together, or you can taste each subtle flavour alone. So, when you eat a salad, you taste the lettuce, the carrot, the cucumber, and each herb in the dressing, the olive oil will come through.

They were polite about it, and ate everything, and yes, they did bring out kimchi too (after the ice cream and fruit - geez!). And next time I have to bring forks, since fettucine loses its charm when eaten with chopsticks.

Then I went to TaeKwonDo and sweated out a bottle of white wine. From the island school to the broken English supper to TKD, it's been a long day.

Island School

Today, my school sent me to an "Island School" to spend about an hour with three (3) students! This is a big improvement on the last place they loaned me out to - where I had to play "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" then mime sports with forty-three (43) kindergarteners in one room while the principal, vice principal and various teachers sat in a row at the back and watched me make an ass of myself in the name of English education.

In the morning, I took the ferry to Gohado (where I'd been once before with Jen, Jens and Randi) with Mr Shin, the head teacher. The kids were wicked awesome - 2 girls and a boy - and it was really fun. I started reflecting on how my situation here is one that I've always wanted to be in: I really feel like I'm actually teaching something, to kids who want to learn. It might take me a few days to really formulate all that I want to communicate, so look for a deeper, more philosophical, blog in a few days. Anyway, this island is much bigger than I thought it was, and there is a big hill to hike on (something for me to look for on subsequent visits). My bad ferry karma continued to this trip too, with Mr Shin and I standing on the pier for about 45 minutes, waiting for the ferry back home. He decided to use the time to teach me how to (really) break someone's hand using a mix of Hapkido and TaeKwonDo), which is a cool thing to practice on your boss.

And here are two completely random pictures from the weekend - one of me joyfully pounding something or someone with a piece of bamboo (I'm supposed to look like I am doing Geum-do - Korean sword fighting) and another of me on my soon-to-be new motorbike. In the background, you'll note a group of my friends and the ferries to the islands.

What a weekend!

Wow. Where to begin?

I suppose I should start with Friday, and going to the bike shop to put a down payment on a motorcycle. I went with Christa. See, what we're going to do is this... I'm buying her bike and she's getting a new bigger one. But the thing is that I'm really buying the bigger one and then we are trading. The final payment will be made this coming Friday, which is very exciting.

Then, Friday night, I waited around my apartment for my friend Nina to arrive from Suncheon. We decided not to go out and sat around and chatted until we both fell asleep. The next morning, we were up bright and early to get ready for our ferry to Waydaldo - and the beach! While I putzed around and drank coffee, Nina made sandwiches and packed up the zucchini bread that she'd brought with her (and the chips and dip too - making me want her to visit more often). There was a bunch of us going to Waydaldo (aka Love Island) and some of the crazier people were planning to camp out over there.

Nina and I walked to the ferry terminal (a 5-minute walk), past a bunch of fish markets where pick-up trucks full of ice were being loaded up with the morning's catch. It was smelly. And it really makes me wonder at the quantity of fish (both live and dead) that is taken from the sea every day, just in Mokpo. Outside of every restaurant, there are huge aquariums absolutely crowded with all manner of sea creature, and most are slowly dying. Ergo, the fishing boats go out and fish, the live fish end up in front of restaurants where they die in big aquariums, the other fish are packed in ice and driven around the city in a pick-up truck until they turn green. And the next day, the whole process starts again. I just wonder how sustainable the fisheries industry is here.

Anyway...we got to the ferry (there was one group that went on the 10:30 ferry and one group on the 12:30 ferry. All in all, there were 15 people in our group out on the island that day) and had a great cruise out to the island. We ride right past my apartment building and it's fun for me to see the islands that I see from my window right up close.

Waydaldo is a small island, and the beach is small, but somewhat cleaner than Shinan Beach (near my place). Also, there are gazebos and picnic tables, where, armed with mosquito nets, tents, backpacks and towels, we quickly established the colony of New Canada.


At one point, I wandered over to some rocks with Jen and Paddy and decided that it was the perfect spot to sit and read (look closely at the picture and you'll see me in a bikini...). It occured to me that, although this beach is not of tropical paradise beach quality, living in Mokpo is going to ruin me for choosing a vacation destination. Like, why would I go to a country to "sit on the beach and relax" when I can take a $7 ferry to an island and sit on a beach and relax all I want? I know that you all feel my pain and empathize with the difficulties of my life. Ahem.

A group of us, given that the weather was iffy and rainy, decided to head back to Mokpo on the last ferry out- according to the signs, the ferry left at either 5:13pm or 5:30pm. The boat actually didn't show up until 6:30pm which was fine, but for next time... should we wait for the boat or just go there at 6:20???

Nina, Monique and I headed back to my place where we were joined by JP and then headed out for mushroom shabu shabu. From there, we went to the famous P-Club, where we were joined by Christa for some deep conversation. Exhausted by the day of sun, we headed home after a few drinks and before we all ended up sleeping on the table.

Sunday morning, Nina and I relaxed and watched TV (I have a few English-subtitled-in-Korean channels and International CNN) until she decided to head back to Suncheon in the early afternoon. I was pretty tired, but had people coming over later in the afternoon to make kimbap... so no rest for the wicked.

Around 4:00, JP, Jen, Alex and Jongwon arrived at my place, followed closely by Mrs Myeong (kindergarten teacher) and Ms Cheong (secretary) - they are also my ping-pong buddies and my Tuesday night badminton partners. Mrs Myeong might be meeting my family in August when she goes to the USA and Canada too. Mrs Myeong's son, Hanbin, also joined us. My job had been making the rice, which unfortunately had too much water in it, so it was more like "ddeok" - rice cakes - and I was laughed at.... Anyway, the two ladies had brought over tons of veggies and food - seaweed wraps, sesame oil, leeks, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, eggs, pickled radish, bean sprouts, red pepper powder, garlic.... and we soon set to rinsing the veggies and getting JP, who was the handiest with a knife, to cut them all. We each took turns putting down a piece of seaweed ("kim") then spreading rice ("bap") on it, then adding veggies or tuna or (in Jongwon's case) a ton of mayonnaise, before rolling it up in a small bamboo mat thing and squeezing it, then brushing it with sesame oil and cutting it into pieces. Each kimbap roll disappeared as soon as it was made, we were so hungry. When everyone was kimbapped out, we ate a really good soup of garlic, red pepper powder, onions and bean sprouts. Now that we know how to make it, we will be able to have regular kimbap parties.... I just need to work on my water to rice ratio with my rice cooker thing.

Satiated, everyone started drifting out one-by-one, until finally, I had just an hour to myself to unwind from a glorious glorious weekend.

In other news, my students have figured out where I live. On Friday evening, there were four students at my door and on Saturday morning, a different group was there, ringing the doorbell. This must not continue.

FOR PHOTOS: Monique's blog has pics of Wayaldo. Click here.
If you are on Facebook, quite a few pics have been uploaded there.
I took tons of pictures of the kimbap making but I still don't have my cord for my computer, so I still can't upload anything.

MOM, AL- DO YOU HAVE MY CAMERA CORD IN CANADA????

I CAN RIDE A MOTORCYCLE!!!!!

What else can I say?

I just attract them

I have two filthy stray kittens wrapped in my purse, sitting in a cardboard box under my desk. Hopefully, they will be reclaimed by the two filthy stray students who brought them to me.....

Badminton and Kimbap

After school today, I played badminton for almost two hours. Now, the last time I held a badminton racket was in Quebec, about 7 years ago, if not more. I went with two teachers who I am always hanging out with at school - they are my ping-pong/lunch partners - and seem to be determined to make me skinny.

*Interjection*
Okay, wait. You all know how I am wicked bad with names? Like, if I've met you once, and then meet you again, you should notice that I will never greet you by name. Ha. Now my secret is out. And now you are all going to start testing me, aren't you? I can think of one instance where I actually had a friend in high school that I called by the wrong name for, like, ever. And, I used to forget my boyfriend's name all the time. My students in La Pocatiere used to test me around November (like 3 months into the school year) to see if I could remember all their names. Yeah, but once I have it locked in my head, I will never ever ever forget it. And it's ridiculous. I can totally remember random things - I'm good with faces - favourite foods of random people - but names are my Achilles Heel. Soooooo.....
*Interjection Ends*

I can't remember these two teachers' names. And now it's gone past the point where I can politely ask them what their names are.

*sigh*

Okay, so after playing badminton with them until my right arm no longer worked and became little more than a vestigal limb, we went out for the BEST MEAL I HAVE EVER EATEN IN KOREA ever (mushroom shabu shabu - aka "diet food" - okay, okay, I get the point.). Like, ever. And they made sure that there was no meat in the meal, in the side dishes, in everything. Wow. And it was AMAZING. And this restaurant is literally 10 minutes walk from my house.

Somehow, I agreed to host these two ladies whose names (one of them is bringing her kids!) I don't know at my apartment on Sunday evening to make kimbap (one of my favourite Korean "fast foods"). It was like some sort of Korean Jedi mind trick. "We will come to your house on Sunday afternoon and make kimbap".

And I just smiled and nodded... and wondered what their names were.

Weekend Report: TKD, BBQ and Getting Lost

The weekend started bright and early on Saturday morning as I was silently freaking out in my kitchen while chopping vegetables and marinating chicken. I'd invited a crowd over to my place for a housewarming BBQ on the roof and I was having the normal pre-party panic that a) nobody would show up b) too many people would show up, the police would be called, I'd get deported c) the cat would escape d) it would rain (nope, clear skies) e) someone else would also have a BBQ on the roof at the same time and we would have to battle it out.... Well, you know how it is.

With everything more-or-less prepared, and with time to spare, I headed down to a nearby university gymnasium to see a TKD competition. Or so I thought. I'd been invited by my TKD instructor and as I arrived, I noticed that the parking lot was crowded with those painted up TKD vans that come and pick up all the kids for their classes. The gym was full of kids in their gear, and just about every school in Mokpo was represented (a lot of people). In the middle of the gym, about a dozen guys were doing a sort of acrobatic TKD set to music. Really neat. Like, three guys would stand on top of each other holding boards and a fourth guy would run up and do a backflip and kick all the boards. Rather impressive. But... I couldn't stay too long, since I had people coming over.

The theme of this party was "Song Titles" and everyone had to come dressed as one. A brief (incomplete) listing of the ones I remember:
Jen: Shiny Happy People
Monique: Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Randi: Harajuku Girl
Me: Doll Parts
Stu: I come from a land down under
Tony: Turning Japanese
Warren: Leave Virginia Alone
Shannon: No Woman, No Cry
Richard: Earl
...
Most people just did what I did and slapped a few bits onto their normal clothes so that they wouldn't look too weird if we had to go wandering around in public. Props to the guy who came dressed as "Love Shack" (name escapes me) and especially Cathy and Alex who did a dual costume as "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots". Really fun.

Oh, and there weren't too many people, there was enough food (there was tons to drink), and everyone cleaned up after. It did get a bit chilly on the roof after a while, so we headed into my apartment. It was kinda hot with so many people in there (had to keep the door closed because of Jakob - who was an absolute sweetie all night), so we went off to the P-Club to finish off the evening.

The next day, I got up ridiculously early (again) and decided (once Stu and Melisa had wandered off to start their days) to go for a long scooter ride - you know, instead of doing the dishes. Stu had told me that I would find some nice countryside if I followed a certain road and then turned here, then there then wherever. Right, I decided.... I'm off to get lost.

After the urban confusion of Mokpo, I found myself on a 2-lane road, heading towards Muan. Still, there were cars passing me and it wasn't a leisurely drive at all. I decided, on a whim, to turn up a smaller concrete road. I followed that road as it twisted between rice paddies, past farms, past confused children waving at me, past small, far-flung traditional homes... and then it ended - turning into a dirt path that wound its way through some trees and up a hill. I turned off the engine and was absolutely engulfed by silence (a rare commodity here in Korea). I hopped off the scooter and started walking up the path. There were so many trees and strange fruits and flowers - growing wild and densely (also rare in Korea). I passed an orchard that hadn't seen a human hand in a while, almost jumped out of my skin when a wood pigeon took flight from two feet away from me. I felt like I was on another planet -- tons of butterflies fluttered around me, making me feel like I was entering a truly enchanted place. It was so amazing. Towards the end of the path, I could spot the familiar colourful painting and roof design of a temple or shrine. I kept walking towards it, alerting two (chained) dogs who started barking. There was a small house near the shrine but, even with the barking of the dogs, nobody came out. I went right up to the doors of the shrine, trying each one, but all were locked or jammed shut, and the screens were papered so that I couldn't even see in. I hope that I can find that place again one day!

I walked back to my scooter and hopped on, still not sure where I was or where I was going. I continued for a few more kilometres and found my way back onto the 2-lane road. I spotted a brown "tourist destination" sign, directing me to a Lotus Pond, so I decided to see what it was all about....

It must be an impressive site when they are all blooming, since the lotus pond seems to be the size of about five football fields. There's a crazy lotus shaped building in the middle (looks a bit cultish) with a greenhouse inside (and that's the only place I actually saw any lotus blooms), and a restaurant (closed) where you can get lotus food products. I'd like to go back there too, during lotus season (whenever that is....).

I eventually found my way home, once again following small concrete paths until I could get back to Mokpo. It occurred to me that, although a motorcycle will allow me to go further, my scooter permits me to travel on tiny paths, like to the lost temple. And, since I am going slower, I can really experience the places that I am riding past - you can literally feel the humidity when you pass by rice paddies - and it reminds me of when I rode my scooter from Suncheon to Mokpo - real freedom and adventure. How lucky I am.

And so...

... I've found something to do with the afternoons that I don't teach, but that I am at school (this is instead of playing around on the internet...), which is almost every afternoon. I've been hijacked by a secretary into playing:

Ping pong!

Apparently, according to the kindergarten teacher, it will make me "slim". Hmmm, was that a backhanded compliment??? Anyway, today was the first time I'd ever actually played it and I really enjoyed it. Little known factoid (once again from the kindy teacher): the further back you stand from the table, the more calories you burn. Hey! I think she thinks I'm fat or something!!

In other news, I've started TKD again, this time it's 99% in Korean, making me the last person to do anything. Oh, and I'm surrounded by five year olds who all have their black belts. It's nice to be back into it again, though. And there is another foreigner in the group, Richard, who I've met a few times before.

In a Teacher-of-the-year moment: I gave an 8 year old girl a ride home on my scooter. The way I see it, at least she was wearing a helmet. It was kind of funny, as I was hemming and hawing over whether to put her on the scooter, a guy drove by with TWO helmet-less kids on his, so I figured that it was probably not her first time on one.

Aaaaaaand.... I've decided that I can compare my current living situation with some far flung Greek village: whitewashed homes that climb up a hillside, lots of fish, foreign language, toothless old folks waving to me as I pass by on my scooter. It's pretty cool, actually. I can hardly believe that I'm actually living here.

Sick me...

I just got home from the doctors. My head teacher insisted on taking me this afternoon, only after I taught my five scheduled classes, naturally. Since my voice is still touch and go, I've started teaching my kids the ASL finger-spelling alphabet in the hopes of using kinesthetic teaching to help with spelling. They are all very quick learners - Grades 4 and 6 already have the full alphabet and Kindergarten is up to the letter "e" after only 10 minutes. They also have the filthiest hands I've ever seen - which may explain why I am sick.

Right, so the doctors: one room with the exam char separated by a fold out screen. I felt like I'd just walked into a Norman Rockwell painting. The exam chair was hooked up to a brown contraption with all sorts of wires and cords and stuff sticking out. One of these cords was attached to a metal thing that was put up my nose (!!!) to spray something, which was then sucked out (yuk!) by another of the ...probes? I don't know. And the doctor was wearing one of those old-school metal circles on a headband things! I've never actually seen one in real life and was pretty surprised to be faced with one here. Anyway, he decided that I had.... a cold. I've been told to "rest" and stay away from cold wind.

Oh, and take 37 brightly coloured pills over the next 2 days. And the pharmacist gave me one of those health drinks that makes your spinal column tingle....

The best part of the outing, however, was when we parked the car. It was one of those parking garages that doesn't use up any space. So... you park the car on a shelf thing and then key in your license plate, then a platform comes down and picks up your "car shelf" and then, well, shelves it somewhere. Then, when you want your car back, you key in your license plate and it appears magically before you - pointing the other way so that you can just drive straight out!!

Yes, yes, the car parking technology today was better than the health care. Whatever. It was cool.

I have my cat and hamster and I live next to a beach resort???

On Friday, I headed back to Suncheon with Stu to pick up various boxes and animals, and to distribute various Canadian products to friends there. We started at Nina's (Good thing too, as she didn't come out that night! Shuuuuuuuuun.), then went for supper and ended up at TaeKwonDo. I didn't participate, but enjoyed watching everyone sparring. In my 2-month hiatus from TKD, they have all far surpassed me in technique and ability and most are preparing to do their black belt test in a few weeks (don't worry - I start TKD in Mokpo on Monday night). Then, I headed to Chris and Melissa's place and we went off to Julianna's.

It was great to see old friends and meet new people there, and it was great to be able to catch up with people like Cassie, who was on her way to the USA on Saturday morning. It's good to know that, for now, Suncheon is a place that I can head to and "start where we left off" with quite a few people. Of course, given the transient nature of Korean contracts, it won't always be the case.

The next day, bright and early, we loaded up the car with boxes and a hamster and headed to Gwangyang to Jessica's to get Jakob. We drove Jessica to the Gwangju airport (she was on her way to run a marathon in Jeju-do) and she filled us in on how traumatized she was after having Jakob in her care for over a month (He can be a bit high-maintenance and emotionally trying.... ).

We stopped in Gwangju so that Stu could take a nap. I picked up tons of animal supplies (haven't figured out where to get animal stuff here in Mokpo yet), including a big new pretty cage for Mr Shane, then rewarded myself for such selflessness by picking up a few things at Aveda and Benefit (!! Yes, there is a Benefit counter at Shinsegae now, and I can actually afford it....). And we headed back to Mokpo, stopping briefly in Naju to say hi to Cathy.

Once in Mokpo, Stu went back to Wando, and I started unpacking my purchases, boxes and animals. There was a knock at the door and it was Warren, a guy who came over with my original group back in April 2006, but who I hadn't really seen at all last year. We went out for supper then, having heard that there was a possible bonfire on the beach that evening, headed to the small "Shinan Beachy", located about a 10-minute walk from my house!!!

It was a beautiful evening - all the islands were lit up, and it was amazing to see a sort of resort-like hotel, restaurants and I guess what you could call a "boardwalk" crowded along a small, man-made and (given the Korean aversion to putting garbage in garbage cans) very littered beach. One of Warren's students was there with her family and friends and they invited us to sit down and drink some beer+soju shots.

By this time, I was absolutely exhausted, so any plans of going out later were nixed and I walked home (literally 10 minutes), admiring the lights, the boats, the harbour, and snuggled up with my kitty cat (who is currently afraid of the big standing mirror that fell on his head this morning).

My headaches have ceased, but now I am coughing and coughing and coughing. My voice kept coming and going all weekend (mostly gone rather than here), probably due to the fact that I won't just shut up and let it heal. Apparently Mokpo has a very bad air quality (the cause of the headaches?) and it's been suggested that I buy a facemask to wear when I'm out walking around! If I do, it will either be the one that has a cartoon nose and whiskers like a kitty cat or the one that says "Lovely Pig!" in bright pink script.

*still no pictures - sorry*

Surreal Suppers

On Wednesday night, I rode Red Devil out to Jen's place, which is conveniently located on top of a huge hill, behind a statue of Jesus (similar to Hot Homeboy Jesus of Wando) and a closed psychiatric hospital. I got lost a total of 3 times on the way there, and had to keep stopping to ask for directions. Everyone was wicked nice though and did their best to steer me in the right direction. As someone who believes that getting lost is the best way to get found in a new place, I don't have a problem with tooling around Mokpo aimlessly.

We went out for "toasteu" (think grilled cheese with egg and cabbage) and "coppy-mocha" (instant cafe-mocha), for a total of about $3 each. Then we hit a stationary store for a cute overload of sparkly barrettes, mirrors, notebooks, stickers and socks. Oh, and I bought a watermelon (more on that later).

Last night, I met Alex for dak-galbi (chicken that you cook with vegetables at your table and eat with a leaf). It was so spicy that I thought my head would explode. We people-watched and were, in turn, watched. Alex is great because he doesn't mind being the English monkey in a fishbowl, and neither do I. A lot of foreigners can't stand always being looked at and pointed at (and it can get frustrating after a while), but there is a fun aspect to it too.

After supper, we walked around Old Mokpo (with all its lit-up archways), until we came to some sort of a smelly, dodgy market alley thing. It was an entire alley of ... pig's head restaurants! It's quite common in Korea to put all the same style restaurants together. I don't know... like, you're going to walk past the first 12 pig head restaurants until you get to the one you like? Oh, yeah, and the pig heads were all on display, conveniently cut in half so that you could see, like, everything.

Yesterday morning, I brought a watermelon to school. I went to the staff room and started cutting it. One of the teachers saw me and smiled, said hi and left. About 3 minutes later, every single staff member, from the principal to the janitor were sitting around the staff room table, eating watermelon (a rather slurpy, spitty affair) and telling me how beautiful I was. Best 8 bucks I ever spent!

Am going to Suncheon tonight - can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a less positive note - I've been getting headaches every day here. I don't know if I am still jetlagging or what, or if it's the air, or if it's just the mental stress of starting in a new school, or self-imposed dehydration to avoid using the squatters at school. It sucks because I've been having to cut social visits short (i.e. with Jen and Alex) because of my head.