Dinosaurs, Speeding Tickets, Fajitas, Rings, Grasshopper Moment

I'll admit that I've been putting off writing a blog because I've got so much to say.... and I've been too busy lately to really sit down and write it all out (well, busy outside of work, since school life is still mostly teaching in the mornings and chatting on msn in the afternoons...).

Let's do this in order, shall we?

Dinosaurs: Christa and I have been taking our bikes out about 1 or 2 times per week. We've explored the area around Mokpo, and I've got a good idea now of how to get myself around and/or out of the city. Last week, we decided to "follow a brown sign" (brown signs point to the tourist destinations here - they are often hilariously inaccurate) and headed to the "Dinosaur Footprints" somewhere around Haenam (to amuse myself, I keep singing the OutKast song "Hey ya!", but change the lyrics for "Hae-nam!". It's fun. Try it.). It was a gorgeous afternoon/evening. Without too much ado, we found our way to the glorious dino prints, only to find that the museum was closed. We took turns posing with the big dino statues in the parking lot, then decided that we were starving and headed back to the village/one-lane road that was near the dino museum. After driving up and down THE road, looking at all the closed shops and restaurants and wishing that we could find some kimbap, Christa stopped and asked for directions from a random guy. Of course, we still didn't get it and kept driving up and down the street until a car drove slowly past me, with a woman leaning out the passenger window, motioning for us to follow. The guy that Christa had asked earlier was driving and they brought us to a (closed??) restaurant, where the lady made us some kimbap and ramyan. Still, you know... surreal.

It seems like, as soon as you step out of your "safety zone" here, something weird just seems to happen to you.... It gets to the point where these things are just par for the course. And what makes it weird is comparing it to "What if this had happened to me in Canada?", and realizing how different the outcome would have been. This brings me to my next part: Speeding Tickets.

On Saturday, Christa, Garrett and I decided to head out west from Mokpo, instead of south. As we rolled along, Christa realized that something was wrong with her bike, so we pulled off the highway and into the feeder lane for a truck weigh-in station. We knew that the guard at the weigh-in place would be able to help us, so we went up and introduced ourselves with a garbled (in Korean) "Hello. Friend. Motorcycle. Problem. Cell phone? Mechanic". Before we knew it, there were four (4) guards standing around our bikes, sucking their teeth and checking out what was wrong with Christa's bike. Her speedometer cord had somehow wrapped itself around the thing that holds the front wheel on... or something. Anyway, the guards headed back into the guard house to call, and I followed, because I am curious/nosy. The guard house was one room, equipped with a wall of TV screens showing the highway at various points, there were 2 computers, one big screen TV (for entertainment), 2 couches and bits of highway safety equipment (like fluorescent vests and lit up stick things). One guard was on the phone for us, one was playing solitaire on the computer, one was polishing his shoes, and one was going outside every 30 seconds to smoke a cigarette (It's reassuring to know that English teachers from outside Korea are not the only ones who get bored at work sometimes....). As we waited for the mechanic to arrive, eating ice cream that one of the guards went to the store to get for us (!!!), we had a chance to really study our surroundings.... one of the TVs was hooked up to a speeding camera, and every so often a little "police light" icon would pop up on the screen and show the picture of the vehicle, how fast they were going, their license plate etc... Trucks passed by continuously, being weighed, and NOBODY paid the slightest attention to what was going on. Why they needed four people in a fully-automated guardhouse is beyond me... Anyway. The mechanic arrived, and they "fixed" the bike. Christa decided to turn back to Mokpo anyway, leaving Garrett and I to ride around the country roads (eventually making it to Wolchulsan) on our own. On our way, we "followed a brown sign" to something called "Prehistoric Dwellings" or something, which was two thatched shacks in the middle of a field that we explored a bit, noting that they were absolutely infested with huge spiders, but also noting that it was way cooler inside the shacks than outside.

It's nice to know that I'll be able to get to a place like Wolchulsan on my own now. This summer, it seems like everyone is leaving to go back to Canada/the USA, and I'm going to be mostly alone in Mokpo once school finishes next Friday (Anyone feel bad for me??? Anyone???).

So, Saturday evening was spent eating Fajitas at Jens and Randi's place in celebration of the 4th of July. See, English teachers in Korea are not all from Canada. Actually, it's funny, because I find that there are way more Canadians in Mokpo than in Suncheon, where there are a fair number of people from the US, South Africa, the UK and Australia/New Zealand - to the point where I was, for example, one of only two Canadians in my TKD class last year. Jens and Randi put on a great Mexican fiesta, complete with homemade fajitas, and managed to fit 20-odd people into their small apartment (they are in Brent and Steph's old place). Jessica and Monique stayed at my place that night. They have both renewed their contracts, but will be moving from Gwangyang and Yeonsanpo to Mokpo next August. I'm quite happy about that fact!

On Sunday evening, I convinced Jen that we needed to go for another hike on Yudalsan - which is fast becoming my favourite place to be - it's just a great hike/climb, with everything from boulder formations and island views to flowers (that Jen can identify beyond "Orange" or "Pretty") and statues and pagodas and carvings and a souvenir store with dolls made of bird feathers - and then opened one of my sacred pasta sauce packets for supper. We also had wine, chocolate and the best mango EVER, making it the perfect end to a wicked weekend.

My "Tuesday Night Culture Club" made up of me, Mrs Myeong and Ms Cheong is still going strong. I've introduced them to some "Canadian" food, and they have brought me to some really excellent restaurants in town - last night's post-badminton selection was a North Korean style Nang-myeon (cold noodle) shop. Nang-myeon is usually underwhelming, but in this case, they made the noodles in the restaurant using black bean or barley and it was really good. After the nang-myeon, we headed out to a wicked awesome jewellery store to pick out... Friendship Rings! Yeah, okay... I know. Weird. I don't know how I agreed to this. Anyway, we finally agreed on a neat pattern and our rings will be ready in about 2 weeks. While I was in the store, I also fell completely in love with a lavender jade and silver ring, and decided to buy that too!

From there, I headed to TKD, where I had a bit of a "Grasshopper Moment". As we were all doing the splits (HA!), the instructor came over and said "Stretching is difficult for you.". Hmmm... maybe because I've never been able to do the splits in my life???? Then he went on:

Do you know the story of The Stupid Grandfather Who Moved the Mountain? In China, there was a stupid grandfather. Every day, he dug with his shovel and moved some dirt. Everyone laughed at him because they said you cannot move a mountain with a shovel. The grandfather said that he, and his children and his children's children would move the mountain one day.

Then, he looked at my pathetic attempt at the splits again and said, "Try every day and you will achieve". So, this means that getting me to do the splits can be compared to three generations of stupid Chinese people digging up a mountain. Hmmmmm.....

Whew, that was a long post. Gotta get to school now.....