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.