Seven Reasons Why You WANT To Go To Taiwan...

On the 91st floor of Taipei 101

1) It's a very nice city. I mean, I'm not that big of a fan of urban spaces - especially not in Asia - but wow. Taiwan is surprisingly clean, with wide boulevards and low buildings (okay, except for Taipei 101 - which is a damn tall building). There are mountains around it, a river that snakes through, and no feeling of over-crowdedness at all. Given that the population of Taiwan is more than the population of Canada, in about 1 billionth of the landmass, it's quite surprising!

A peaceful place to sit

Old men playing a game in the flower market

2) There are glorious old trees and green space everywhere. Due to the extreme humidity, the trees have roots that spring right out of their branches.... it's just gorgeous. We were able to go from city centre to a mountain top in just a few minutes on the subway.

Nina, me, Christa on the 91st floor of Taipei 101

The seaside walk at Danshui

3) It's a blend of Asian cultures... which is so different from Korea. Both Taiwan and Korea have been occupied by/invaded by/colonized by/influenced by China and Japan but to different degrees and with different results. Korea claims racial purity, that everything wonderful about it is "Korean", and ignores the influence (for better or for worse and in better or worse situations) of these other two Asian super-powers. Taiwan, on the other hand, takes a bit of what makes China delicious, a bit of what makes Japan fun, and blends them beautifully together. The Taiwanese are fashionistas and dandies to the nth degree - with shaggy layered hair everywhere, and enough eye-candy for even the most hardened people watcher. And, unlike Korea, Taiwanese style is all about originality.

Famous arches - entryway to CKS Memorial (which was under renovations - grrr)

4) Oh, the shopping. Oh yes... yes.. well. I left with a mostly-empty backpack, came back with a bulging backpack and two carrier bags. From the jade market (the size of two football fields) to the night market to the boutiques to the GIFT SHOPS.... it was mostly low-pressure shopping. This was not like Beijing where you had to haggle for 15 minutes over a t-shirt, this was fun, pleasant, happy.... and cheap.

5) Besides shopping, I have also been known to enjoy eating. The best thing about traveling, I think, is being able to taste ridiculously delicious things that you never knew existed before. Taiwan is full of Chinese-influenced food. The street meat ranges from candied strawberries to grilled tofu (YUM) to tentacles on sticks (um, no thanks). The grocery store has a tank full of frogs. The idea of "I'll fry this and make it even more delicious" is alive and well, thank god, and yet it all seems healthier than it sounds.

6) Speaking of health, we managed to get a few health treatments done too. My "relaxing acupressure foot massage" (aka the most painful experience in my life to date) was pretty amazing, um, after the fact. Actually, it was kind of neat because each bit of your foot corresponds to an organ or some other part of your body. So, if it hurts, it means that there may be a problem there. As the 400 year old Chinese lady was pummeling and squeezing my poor little feet, I was able to scream out "Ohhhh - that's my sinuses!" or "Aggggggg - watch the parietal lobe!". Gentle, they are not.

A much better idea was going up to Xinbeitou (a part of Taipei) to the natural sulfur steam baths. If you can think of a better way to spend the afternoon besides lolling around in a hot bathtub filled with naked Chinese ladies, I'd like to hear it. No, but seriously, our spa boasted semi-outdoor baths, meaning that we could gaze up at tree branches framing the blue sky while we soaked our troubles away in the bath.

View from the top of the Miramar Ferris Wheel

My foot and Taipei 101 (in the background) from the top of the Miramar Ferris Wheel

7) Taipei is FUN. The Night Market was like a carnival, one of the main tourist attractions is a HUGE ferris wheel, and Chiang Kai Shek's memorial is full of break-dancing teens. So far, and of course only judging from a few days' visit, it's the happiest place I've visited in Asia so far.

But... the best part of Taipei, besides having an expert (Nina) to show us around, was that you don't get "White Man's Burden" from being there. There was nothing that we did that the average Taiwanese couldn't also have also done (maybe they couldn't have done it all in 5 days, but then I couldn't afford to visit Niagara Falls for 5 days either). This was pleasure without the guilt, without feeling like my presence was being grudgingly accepted because of the dollars in my pocket, or that anyone was being exploited so that I could have a good time.

Many scooters - simply everywhere - and covered sidewalks (against the rain)

Fishing

Home Again, Home Again

We shopped. We ate. We walked for miles.

Am home. Am exhausted. Am fat(ter). Am poor.

All in all - an excellent time was had by all.

Will write more tomorrow.

Taiwan: Day One

We (Nina, Christa and I) arrived last night after a full day of traveling (Mokpo - Gwangju - Seoul - Incheon - Taipei) and we haven't really slowed down...

Here's a very quick of my first impressions - Quick since I'm currently on a Chinese computer that I have to pay for:

1. There are scooters EVERYWHERE here.
2. It rains all the time.
3. Virginia in a Jade Market could also be entitled "A Fool and Her Money...."
4. When it isn't raining, it's humid as hell.
5. And then it starts raining again.
6. It's a *very* clean city and beautiful with wide boulevards, lots of trees (yay) and not too "city-ish" like Beijing or Tokyo or Seoul.
7. The shopping is great fun.
8. The people are beautifully dressed with eccentric hairstyles.... love it.
9. There are 812 ways to prepare tofu here, apparently, and I've not yet had my fill.
10. We are *very* lucky to be traveling with Nina, who used to live here and who is showing us around.
11. It's just started raining again....

I'm going to go wake Nina and Christa up now and demand to be taken to the Night Market for some more shopping.

10,000 Page views?

There's a hit counter at the bottom of my blog. I haven't looked at it in a while - and was a bit surprised to see the number 10,000... this is since October 2006.

Now, this is counting page views, not visitors... but still.

Wow.

Hey... I seem to be going to Taiwan tomorrow!

It's kind of funny how I have done no research about Taiwan at all. Usually, when I am visiting a country, I start out by reading a guidebook, researching on the internet, exploring fiction written from that area's authors.... I learn a few words of the language, read a bit about the politics. It's what I am currently doing for Turkey, Syria and Jordan...

And this time? Nothing. I know next to nothing about Taiwan, except a bit of its history (related to China and independence).

And this is certainly not because I am not excited about it. On the contrary, Taiwan is one of the places I decided that I would visit before I even left for Korea. I am totally psyched up to just get there already!!!

I think the reason that I am so relaxed about the planning aspect, is that I am going with Nina and Christa. Nina used to live there, and she is going to be our "guide". She has already figured out where we are going and what we are doing. All I have to do is follow along and take pictures. Oh, and shop. Am definitely excited about that. And eat. I've already decided to come home poor and fat.

Those of you who have followed international news (in Canada) or local news (in Korea) know that there is a big typhoon that was threatening us all week. Put your fears to rest now... this storm is *not* going to interfere with our trip at all. See? Here's a little picture - it's from last Wednesday, but you get the idea. That peninsula up on the right is Korea. Taiwan is south of China.


It's been a good week. Besides the glory of the island school, I have also had supper with Alex (always fun), been fed deliciously by Nicola, and hosted the Club Joie de Vivre (French night). This morning, I went to a different school to do five kindergarten classes in a row. I was greeted with applause and cheers and justs had a great time there. Teaching is the best job in the world.

I also received my first ever Chuseok gift (from the kindergarten school). It's a ridiculously huge box all wrapped up with gold paper. I haven't opened it yet... okay... let's go see what's inside.

It's a big box of.....

DRIED SEAWEED.

I'm thinking... regift.

Island Time

This is an e-mail that I wrote and, after minimal editing, decided to post as a blog. Ever since the first time I went to my island school, I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to capture its essence with words. For some reason, it just all came tumbling out yesterday.. this is rather different from my normal blog posts. Pictures were taken by my friend Dave, who accompanied me to Gohado in July.


… So, I went down to the staffroom and they just wanted to remind me (again) that I was going to Gohado (island across from my apartment with all the lights) today. I looked outside and asked if I could walk to the ferry terminal. It was a perplexing request, but I was finally granted permission. Yay.

I had to walk through the construction site that is bringing a new road through the neighbourhood by my school. It's a complete state of devastation - houses have been demolished and the hill is being torn up. I don't know if these houses belonged to anyone or if they had been standing empty. A part of me doesn't want to know either.

I got onto the searoad sidewalk, looked up at the clear blue sky, smiled at the intrepid green-suited fisherman who is always under that strange boat that is parked up on land, and started singing. I was followed by a few butterflies, and was feeling a bit like a Disney character with seabirds and sunshine whirling above me.

A Korean guy passed me and *he* was dancing to his iPod, so I figured that it wasn't just me. As I walked along, I really started to observe the place where I live. Funny how there are things here that I take completely for granted, but that I would be photographing if I were in, say, India.

I passed a fish market where women in grey and pink skirt-suits attend to the customers. I passed two old dudes next to a truck. One of them called out "How are you?" and I responded "Great! How are you?". He looked a bit confused and went back to his discussion with his friend.

I walked past a sort of depot where the fishing boats unload their stock, where men in rubber boots walk around with big steel hooks in their hands, or shovel ice over that day's catch. Through the window, I could see that there was one old guy hobbling along, but keeping in step with me (he couldn't, or didn't, see me) and I boggled at how different his life was from mine but how we could still walk together-ish along the same patch of ground.

I met up with Mr Shin, my head teacher, at the ferry terminal and we got our tickets and waited for the ferry, surrounded by the ancient generation - poor women in mismatched clothes carrying too-heavy loads. Bringing fish or fruit to and from the islands. Mr Shin began doing Tai-chi moves as we waited and you could almost feel a wave of peace come off him.

When the ferry finally arrived, 10 minutes late, we ran aboard, nearly outrun by the women bent double under boxes and bags.

Arriving at the island, I was happy to notice that there was no car waiting for us, and we would have to walk the narrow concrete pathways, snaking through the rice paddies, to reach the school.

The tide was out. Old fishing boats stood tilted and jaunty in the mud. Tiny happy crabs ran past us, and pure white cranes flew around us as we walked past dwellings that give new meaning to the term "ramshackle hut" - my favourite one has walls entirely made of multi-coloured doors that have been - or seem to have been - used as target practice for a rifle at some point in their existence. The island smells of fish and garbage and slowed down time and happiness mixed with desperation and tradition and the end of an era, once the new bridge is built to link the island to the mainland.

Words do not and can not do it justice.

We arrived at the school, through the beautiful gardens, and were greeted with smiles and waves from the three children that make up the in-school population. The vice-principal (?) and teacher sliced up pears and apples for us, after yelling at an old man in a wide-brimmed hat to bring them water to wash the fruit in... the taps weren't working today.

At this school, I teach two girls and a boy. One girl seems a bit "slow" but today she was absolutely on the ball - getting every answer right and participating like an angel. The younger girl is the daughter of the cafeteria woman at my main school and an absolute doll. The boy is the son of a fisherman (I discovered later) and spent his summer working on his dad's fishing boat. He is in Grade 5. His arms and legs are covered in small scars. I do wonder what will become of him. Of all of them.

For lunch, we all sit together, teachers, students and the boy's mother (today was her turn to prepare lunch for us), at a long table in the "kitchen house" located behind the school. One room is a kitchen, the other is for eating. For me, they prepare more vegetables and less meat than usual, and show exaggerated concern over the spiciness of the kimchi. The boys mother is gorgeous. She has impossibly long hair that has been bleached red. I thank her repeatedly for the stirfry of peppers and potatoes that she made especially for me and manage to eat most of it.

Back in the main school building, we drink coffee and chat. The two women who run this school are unusually (for Korea) proficient in English, making it easy to keep the conversation going. We talk about the typhoon and news reports from Suncheon and Beolgyo that the rice crops have been damaged, and this only a few weeks before harvest.

Coming to this school makes me feel like I am standing on a door that is trying to flip over in the middle of the ocean. On one hand, there is so much beauty in the atmosphere there. In the fact that the gardens are tended by the man in the hat (who reminds me of my Gedo - grandfather) and that this entire structure exists just to bring education to a handful of children. That you feel like time has stopped, until another plane takes off from the Mokpo airport and you realize that the door *is* going to flip, and if you haven't managed to scramble up over the edge by that time, you are going to either sink or swim. I love the fact that I am coming to that place, but also realize that I am one of the weights that is going to bring the door over.

We drink our coffees and talk until 1:45, when like clockwork, Mr Shin and I stand and walk back to the pier. We do this in total silence, except when he is telling me how to say the name of something in Korean. He lets me do silly things like stand on the edge of a pond and point to the frogs.

"Frog," I say and point. He looks in the water. Am I pointing to the pond, the bizarre lily-pad like vegetation, the tadpoles? He nods and smiles and we continue on.

"Crane," I say and point to one of three huge white birds that we have startled from their patch of rice paddy. This time, I know the Korean and say "Hak". He nods and smiles and we continue on.

We decide that, the next time I come to Gohado in October, we will walk over the hill instead of around it.... we may miss the ferry, but neither of us would care. He insists on escorting me to Gohado, even though I could make it here on my own with no problem. I think he does it for himself, so that he can breathe this piece of heaven as well.

We arrive at the crumbling concrete pier with much time to spare. While he sits down under a tree and looks at the water, I wander down to where three people (2 men, one on crutches, and a woman) are fishing. They cast their lines repeatedly into the brown water, dodging the plastic bottles and bags that are floating everywhere. This makes me sad.

A glorious old fishing boat, full of folded nets and traps and lights and ropes pulls up to the pier. A woman runs out to climb aboard, then stops and waves at me. It's the boy's mother, the woman who made lunch today. She asks me in Korean where Mr Shin is and seems to be offering a ride. I stand up and run to Mr Shin, tell him that we have a lift back to the mainland in a real fishing boat... the kind that I watch every day as they return from the seas in the afternoon, the kind that used to wake me up every morning at 5 when I first moved here. I feel like a little kid who has just been offered a balloon animal from a clown.

But then, she points over her shoulder to the ferry that is arriving 10 minutes early, smiles, clamours aboard her husband's boat. There will be no fishing boat ride for us today. Quickly, they move off and the ferry takes their place. Mr Shin and I run and jump aboard before it takes off. While he goes inside, out of the sun, I stand next to a battered blue pick-up truck (containing one little white dog with orange ears and a purple tail) and watch the city of Mokpo come closer. I can see my entire neighbourhood, including my apartment, and I feel content. Yudalsan is silhouetted strongly against the clear blue of the sky, wearing a cloak of tumbling stone houses that are surely going to be destroyed as that new road comes through, only to be replaced by anonymous apartment blocks. I can feel that floating door again and hope for a bit more time to live this old-style Korean life.

Mr Shin and I step off the ferry and the magic spell is broken. I'm no longer on island time, and neither is he. I run to catch up with him as he rushes up the sidewalk to his car, then speeds us both back to school.

From the window of my apartment, I can see most of Gohado. I can't see the pier or the school, but I know that they are there. I look at it for a bit, trying to figure out where the magic has gotten to and why I can't feel it anymore, then turn away for another month.

Typhoons, floods and saying goodbye (again)

This past weekend, I was supposed to go to Wando to go camping. The last two times that I've gone, it's been either stormy or typhoony (yeah, that was fun). When I learned that there was going to be a storm on the weekend and that the storm had a name, I decided that camping on the beach just might be a bad idea.

Instead, I found myself in Suncheon, where I got to meet up with Steve (yay Mom, are you happy?) two nights in a row and got to see Michelle one last time before she leaves for South Africa (hmmm, maybe I'll go visit her there...).

I hadn't seen Steve since last April, when I left for Canada for a month. Although we'd still been in communication, our paths had simply not crossed for a while. It was just great to meet up with him again (and Kristin too!).... also at Steve's that evening was my former co-worker at Suncheon Jeil, Lucan. Lucan is living quite the Korean adventure: He's on TV now! See, in Korea, there are several TV shows about math, or science or English - educational programming. Lucan is the host of an English Reading program (Reading Adventure on EBS, for those of you in Korea), and seems to be enjoying it a lot - and it's an opportunity that couldn't have happened to a better person.

Saturday night was bittersweet - fun, but at the same time so very sad, since I had to say goodbye to one of my friends (again) who was heading back home. Michelle and I first became friends when we had to share the smallest room in the world in Seoul last winter. We were in TKD together and I was her preferred hairdresser when it came to the upkeep on her platinum locks. Happily, she paid me back in wicked spicy curries from her decidedly "fusion" kitchen. She and I both have the gift of gab, and we would talk on and on - she talked a lot about South Africa, changing it from a nebulous concept to a possible destination for me. A clothes horse, a free woman and a glamour-puss who never left the house without checking twice in a mirror, Michelle is one of the most honest, most open, purest and kindest people that I know. I will certainly miss her.

Sunday afternoon brought the dreaded typhoon to our door and, literally, into Ty's apartment. With windows that were decidedly not watertight being lashed with wind and rain, it was only a matter of time before he and I were rushing madly around his apartment, unplugging anything electric, using towels and blankets to sop up the water as best we could, and laughing at the absurdity of it all. Then a strong gust of wind broke the window (the pane still stayed in place, though cracked), and I was doubly happy that I'd not gone to Wando. It was absolutely insane weather.....

Because of the storm, I had to leave Suncheon later than planned. As the taxi drove through the flooded streets, I was able to survey the damage of garbage washed up on curbs, branches that had been snapped off and even a few closed roads. Mokpo doesn't seem to have been hit as fiercely (strange, since it is on a coast while Suncheon is more inland), and this morning, I am being treated to the clear blue skies and fresh air that generally follow a typhoon. Many of the fishing boats that would normally have been in open water have been moored nearer to the shore in the harbour outside my house, and it's just completely peaceful now.

This morning, I will go to my "island school", which I love. Friday is our departure for Taiwan, and *that* is going to be amazingly cool. Can't wait!

Ummm... where did the week go?

It's been one of those weeks where time has simply flown. Perhaps it's because I've been feeling a bit under the weather (result of rock-star lifestyle and working with filthy kids?), and spent a lot of time sleeping.....

Yesterday, I was napping in the "nurse's office" - which is basically two beds just outside the kindergarten class. The kindy class was inexplicably full of 4th graders and I was just drifting off to sleep when I got that "someone is looking at me" feeling. I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by about five little grade 4 girls who were wondering what I was doing there.

"Baginia sick?"

Yes, yes, Baginia is sick. But my students have this way of making me feel better.

It's quite unbelievable for me to see how they are advancing and how they are learning so quickly. When Chad taught here last year, he introduced certain routines that I have kept up. These routines, and adding just a *wee* bit each day has resulted in Kindergarteners who know all their colours and how to count to 20, Grade 1s who know all the big and little alphabet letters (keep in mind that Korea has a completely different writing system), Grade 2s who can read basic English words (like "dog", "cat", "big", "look"), Grade 3s and 4s who can follow verbal instructions, Grade 5s who can ask and answer questions and Grade 6s who can write sentences and even argue a point! Think of your own second language learning -- can you do any of these things in French? Spanish? Korean?

This is not because of me. This is because of them - and their enthusiasm towards English (thanks to Chad!), and a supportive school environment. This is the result of 2 to 3 hours of English instruction per week.... which is unfortunately not the case in most other public schools here. Nicola, for example, has over a thousand students in 3 different schools. How can they possibly benefit from her presence?

And well... am now looking forward to a weekend in Suncheon and/or Wando (if the weather holds - am NOT doing any more typhoon camping, thankyouverymuch!), and the countdown to Taiwan is really on! One week left!

p.s. Check comments on the post just before this for a chance to win a trip to Korea!

Gwangju Sunday or Fun (Sometimes) Free Things in the City

Waking up after the hike + night out in Gwangju was a bit of a challenge, but we managed to get up and out only slightly after noon.

The night before, Ty had bought me an absolutely hilarious flower. It's two pink lilies, wrapped up with gauzy pink ribbon, with a gold heart with a pink crystal hanging off it and butterflies dangling around. The florists in Korea are amazing with what the artistry that they can do - and it's completely tacky and over-the-top -- but so much fun at the same time. I stuck it in the side pocket of my backpack so it became my antenna while we walked around.

We limped (me because of hike, him because of dodgy ankle) around downtown Gwangju - stopping in at the Dog Cafe. Now, before you assume that we were eating boshintang (dog soup) or something - take a good look:


It's a cafe/pet store/groomers with about a dozen dogs and cats in various states of dress and decoration running around. You can order tea or something, or just play with all the cute puppies and kitties. Yes - they are wearing dresses. Yes, some of them are dyed pink. But these are some of the happiest animals I've ever seen.


I surprised myself by completely adoring this little fluffy dog-thing. But the total highlight was this completely blissed out cat-in-a-dress that spent all her time attempting to turn herself inside-out while purring.

Don't you want to be this cat?

We got more ridiculous photo-booth pictures taken (Mom - same place as we went that time), but were once again too slow/confused/spastic to decorate them all up before the time ran out. Then, we headed out for some ice cream.

Korea has this whole "dating couple" culture that I was previously only witness to. Here, couples will dress alike (from head to toe) and a lot of the restaurants serve "couple sets" that seem to have been born from some random 1950s Coke advertisement - outlandish drinks with two bendy straws sticking out of them and the like. So, two simple scoops of ice cream get blinged up (like the flowers and the puppies) with random cookies and decorations and served in one bowl with two spoons. Great fun.... once again in a cute-overload, over-the-top, drag queen kind of way.

We limped/wandered around a bit more, then gave up and headed to Shinsegae. I was happily surprised to be recognized at the Aveda counter (well, seeing as I own almost every Aveda product known, and I've bought them all from the same girl, and I do sort of stick out here - maybe it isn't that surprising) and I took advantage of this moment to get us two free blue oil head and neck massages.

Finally, it was time to go to the bus station, but instead of hopping on our buses right away, we sat in the middle of a bookstore where you can find almost every single Lonely Planet guidebook (in English) and learned a bit more about each other's countries and/or places we've been or want to go (there was actually a Montreal guidebook - but it didn't show any really good pics - disappointing! And even, get this, a Saudi Arabia guidebook!). South Africa seems to be over-run by a plethora of rather scary insects (Meron, ever heard of a Parktown Prawn?), zebras and random cute-looking fluffy animals with unpronounceable names. And penguins.

As I got on the bus to head to Mokpo, I was surprised to find Ms Jeong (who I've mentioned tons of times in my blog already). Yay - a friend on the bus who let me cut in the line half-way through instead of having to wait at the end!

Last week was an insane week of near-constant socializing. This week might end up being a bit the same with a Korean movie, French Club, possible school outing, Suncheon Friday and Wando weekend coming up.... And only 11 days 'til Taiwan!

Adrenaline Overload

I'm coming off a few days of too much fun, activity and adrenaline and not enough sleep or rest...

On Friday evening, I wisely decided to go to a Mokpo Ladies' Night hosted by a girl named Michelle. This brought the number of nights out in a row to three and guaranteed a happy Saturday morning. In all honesty, it wasn't that bad, I left at a reasonable time and was able to get up and moving on Saturday with no problem.

Saturday, I met up with Alex, Jongwon, Ian and another new couple (whose names escape me) at the bus terminal for the trip to Wolchulsan, a glorious collection of ragged granite peaks. The sky was a perfect blue (a blessing after 10 days of rain) and we were all in high spirits. Once in Yeongam, we were joined by a few other folks, including Stu, bringing our numbers up to twelve people. And off we went...

Instead of following the main trail (too crowded, said we), we took Stu's famous "Goat Trail", meaning that you have to be as sure-footed as a mountain goat to survive it. Two of our group headed back after the first few kilometres, while the rest of us slogged on, sweating and puffing but admiring the amazing views that we were starting to get. We passed a few signs telling us that the trail was closed and that it was dangerous, but kept on going.

Imagine that you are standing on a smooth granite rock, flanked on all sides by empty space leading down to a valley where you can hear the rush of a hidden waterfall. It's beautiful, but dangerous. The realization that one false step would either send you crashing down to the valley or, at the very least, break your leg suddenly hits you. There are nine other people around you, moving about on their own rocks, scrambling and jumping, calling to each other and laughing. And you have to climb off this rock, onto another rock, using a fraying rope ladder....

I had two "freak-outs" as we climbed up the Goat Trail. Without getting too dramatic, let's just say that I'm thankful for friends like Stu, Alex and Ian who placed my feet one by one into niches, guided me or even physically carried me, so that I could continue.

Once at the top of the mountain, we were able to enjoy the views... it took us roughly 6 hours to climb - about 4 hours up and just over 2 hours down. Physically, it's a challenging day - you are constantly using all four limbs to move yourself over boulders. Even the "trail" isn't that easy, as it consists of rocks to scramble over or vertical metal stairs that you cling to.

Find pics on Facebook (for those of you who are there...) or on Stu's blog and Flickr.
...

But, our day was not over yet. We (Ian, Mike, Stu) drove on to Gwangju, where there was a bit of a "meet n' greet" for Canadian Connections people. We found Jessica, Monique, JP and Sloane and headed out for supper at Outback. As we finished eating, we were joined by Ty and we headed on to the Wa Bar, where we met up with Shane, Andrea and quite a few CanConx folks. Feeling absolutely exhausted, I'll admit that I pretty much just sat at my table... I just didn't feel like being the social butterfly. We eventually moved on to the Speakeasy (yes, that would be FOUR nights in a row), where we managed to have a pretty good time until the wee hours.... you know, typical Gwagnju Saturday night.

I'm going to stop here and post this.... Sunday was a surreal day of cats in dresses and other random-ness with Ty and I'd rather do two smaller posts than one huge long one that nobody will read....

You are never bored if you are not being boring.

Sooooooooooooooooo..... where do I start? How about with Wednesday night?

Mr Shane (my recruiter from Canada) arrived in Mokpo and piggy-backed onto the first official meeting of the Club Joie de Vivre (Mokpo chapter), which is a French-speaking club started up mostly by Emanuel and a little bit by me. Anyway, we met at the appropriately named "Cafe Manon", which is a great little cafe-that-is-not-a-brothel (as many "coffee shops" in Korea are wont to be). There was precious little French spoken that night, as we were all too excited to see each other and too busy talking to Mr Shane about lesson plans (Alex) and general gossip.

See, Mr Shane was in Mokpo because he was coming to, um, follow me around with a video camera to show people what life is like in Korea. I was a bit confused as to why anyone would want to watch me chat on msn/play on Facebook/blog for 6 hours, which is really how I spend my day at school, but decided that it might be fun.

So.... on Thursday morning, I woke up bright and early and cleaned the entire apartment, including washing dishes (I have a rule that I only wash the dishes when I know someone is coming over), made the bed, and tried not to kill the cat when he attacked my be-stockinged leg and tore my new imported-from-Canada pantyhose. Then, I threw my kitchen rug out the window (I was shaking it out) and watched in horror as it landed on my downstairs neighbour's air conditioning unit. While I was trying to figure out how to mime that little tidbit, Mr Shane arrived, followed closely by my VP and a random secretary. Yeah.

So, Shane filmed my apartment, my school, four of my classes (Yes, I was actually teaching!!) and the cafeteria. The kids were soooo wicked awesomely good. They were perhaps shocked that Baginia Teacher was "wearing pretty" (under strict orders from my VP, who also told me to "clean house") and not the same pair of jeans that I wear every day. Once I get a copy of it, you can expect it to be on the blog.

Right. Then, after school, Ms Jeong took me (finally) took me to the cell phone hooking-up place to make my NEW CELLPHONE work. See, Stu and Jessica's whining at me to get a cell phone has finally paid off.... oh, and Stu got a new cell and handed me his old one. Yup, that's how badly he wanted me to have one.

Contrary to my phone in Canada, I paid nothing to hook anything up or get a number. I receive calls for free, can text rather cheaply and pay something like 6 cents a day for call display. Take that Bell Canada!!! Oh, and it will take pictures, play games, music and who knows what else (still need to explore it fully).....

So, after the phone hook up, I met up with a whole herd (gaggle? pride? pack?) of waygookin teachers and we went off for supper, which degenerated into drinking at Mokpo's fabled P-Club, which degenerated further and yadda yadda yadda, I have a headache this morning, but am looking forward to a Mokpo Girls' Night tonight.

Tomorrow, I am off to hike Wolchulsan again, because I apparently didn't learn my lesson the first time I did it (wow - so long ago! It was the first time I'd ever really hung out with Stu since our arrival in Korea)... followed by an evening in Gwangju.

See Jessica? I can go for a whole 5 minutes without mentioning Ty's name!

Yes...

Being a foreigner in an alien culture is a way of institutionalizing your aloneness, of going public with it. You are no longer failing to meet the expectations and values of your own world, nor do you have to meet those of your adopted one -- or if you do, no one expects you do it perfectly.

- Cleopatra's Wedding Present, Robert Tewdwr Moss

Wee update

• It suddenly cooled down here. It's actually *cool*. This makes sense as everything in Korea runs according to a calendar.
• I spent my first day of school watching the shelves under the window crumble - yeah, just you try to go and mime "water damage" - and chatting with the janitor who wanted to practice his English and didn't care about the wall falling down in my classroom ("The school is old," said he.). I wonder if I actually get to teach next week. The kids were glad to see me, which was awesome, but they seem to have regressed and forgotten all the wonderful English words that they learned before vacation.
  
• Jen got me addicted to this website called Earth Album - really amazing stuff.
• Everything is feeling perfect now: I've got a job that I like, live in a beautiful apartment, am surrounded by friends who had the good sense to move to Mokpo, see nothing but blue skies at the moment - it's like, I can't complain!
• In three weeks, I am heading to Taiwan for a few days.... so much fun to say that.
• And... I finally got pictures of Tyrone where he looks like a real live grown-up. Take that, mean commenters!