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!
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!
posted by Ms Parker at
3:15 PM
1 Comments:
re: your bad rain karma
have you ever read "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy"? not the first one, but the 4th one (maybe 5th, I can't remember currently).
Well, at the beginning of the book, there's a completely inconsequential character who is depressed because it rains everyday of his life. no one believes him, so he chronicles it, being able to describe over 100 types of rain.
Anyway, what he didn't realise, is that he's actually a Rain God. All rain adores him and follows him wherever he goes.
In your case, I think this is worth looking into :P
By
Vanessa, at 12:13 PM
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