Two Years....

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Lao Tzu
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. - Nancy Sinatra

... or a pair of sandals.

After two years here in Korea, meaning two years of working and traveling, I can think of no better way to express how far I've come than to show it through my shoes, and by shoes, I mean flip-flops and sandals.

Let's start with the red sandals on the bottom: From a spa in Taipei, Taiwan. I went there in September 2007 with Nina and Christa. We spent the afternoon in a bathhouse connected to the natural hot springs (which had been originally set up by the Japanese), and decided that the slippers they gave us were so comfortable, that we had to have a pair ourselves. I wore these sandals through Cambodia, climbing the ruins of Angkor Wat.

Moving counter-clockwise to the fake Birkenstocks. I picked these up in Melaka, Malaysia at the Chinese night market in July 2006. I had gone there with a few people from the hostel/guest house where I was staying. The sandals I'd brought with me were ready to die, and I needed new ones to see me through the rest of my journey. These sandals are now ready to kick the bucket, I am sure... but I just can't let go of them. They make me think of my first solo barely-planned Southeast Asian backpacking experience... .and Melaka is still one of my favourite places to be.

The blue beaded flip-flops are from Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia. They were bought after the flip-flops I was wearing (the ones with oranges all over them that I bought for $10 in Suncheon with Melissa and Jessica) suddenly exploded as I tripped over a cobblestone on the main walkway of Gili T. I was with Monique and we'd just enjoyed a few cocktails or two, while trying to avoid a creepy guy from Alberta, and admiring the waves that crashed into the rocks along the beach - sometimes even splashing the tables at the restaurant. Nina had brought me a similar pair of brown ones the year before (they broke) and Monique brought me another pair of light blue ones (which were too big, and now belong to my niece Bridget). Gili T was an amazing part of Indonesia for me - it's where I got my Open Water Scuba certification.

Hahaha. The next sandals were bought at Payless in Quebec and are as old as God! I do still hold on to some things that I brought with me from Canada. It seems that, although those items may be fewer and far(er) between, they are precious enough to keep forever.

The Indian sandals have only been worn once. When I was in Jaipur, India in January 2007, I picked up two pairs of shoes - these sandals and another pair of camel hide slippers. The slippers were worn to bits as I wandered around India for a month, but these ones were never actually worn. I've made a fair attempt to wear them, but I'll be the first to admit that they really hurt my feet. I bought similar sandals for my brother and sister in Jodhpur, but I haven't heard whether or not they've actually got any wear out of them.

The next sandals jingle when I walk, and they are my new favourites. Bought at the Old Market (Psar Chaa.. spelling???) in Siem Reap, Cambodia, they have proven themselves to be excessively comfortable (and did I mention jingly?). The lady who sold these to me (and a pair that I eventually sent to my sister) also sold Ty a pair of pants for his cousin and a scarf for me. We'd gone there on the afternoon of the Chinese New Year in February, 2008. Since many of the shops were Chinese owned, they were closed or closing early, and we (I) needed to get a lot of souvenir shopping done. After our shopping extravaganza, we found ourselves in a lovely Khmer massage salon, being pummeled in one of the few non-sleazy massage salons of Cambodia.

I did love my blue Korean sandals (I also bought a red pair - which makes me think of the red and blue design on the Korean flag). When I lived in Suncheon, I was in a large apartment complex featuring, amongst other things, two full-on department stores. I bought these sandals in defiance (I believe) of my feet being too big for most of the shoes in this country - unless it is a blatantly foreign brand, like Puma.

The next flip-flops are kind of ugly, but go along with a funny story... oh, and they are Japanese, but bought in Korea. I'd gone to Seoul to see Karen (who I'd traveled through India with) for the last time -- could it have really been a year ago?? -- Anyway, we'd been out dancing the night before, and I'd killed the sandals I was wearing (the ones Nina got me in Bali?) and had stolen the hard plastic shower sandals from the Love Motel we'd stayed at. As my feet got more cut up from our wanderings around Seoul, I knew I needed new shoes, so I bought these and left the terrible plastic ones behind in the store.

Finally, my embroidered Indian slippers from, where else... New Delhi, India. It was one of our last days in India, and Karen and I were shopping up a storm around Connaught Place in Delhi. I was bound and determined to get a pair of these slippers... and there they were. Horrid pink and purple things on the second floor of a shop along the government emporium strip (we spent the better part of a day there - picking up things that we'd not wanted to drag with us for our whole month - telling ourselves that we'd probably find the same thing later on in another shop).

It's fun. It's fun to point to a pair of shoes and say, "These are from Malaysia", or describe the airport of Taipei as if it were my second home. But these are only from fragmented weeks or days of traveling in a time where I've grown - personally as a person and professionally as a teacher - and not always the full blogged-about story.

I like this. I like being able to say that my sandals, or my clothes, or my earrings, or my friends, etc. come from dozens of different countries. And this is not boasting, although it may sometimes sound like it. I mean, for the most part, I live a normal, boring, domestic life but... I am also living a dream that I had for a long time... to see and taste and experience the world in a whole new way.

The past two years have represented a lot of different things for me - I've bought sandals, yes. But I've also done other things, like make friends with people who probably wouldn't have been my friends if I'd been in Canada, sadly saying goodbye to far too many. I've tasted things that I didn't know existed, danced on remote beaches, swum with pink dolphins, snorkeled with reef sharks. I've enjoyed and endured the privileges that come with being a free, Caucasian woman in a foreign land. I've watched debts disappear as I've lived more fully than I ever have before. I've filled my passport with stamps. I've lolled in a frangipani-filled tub while the rain drummed on the roof of the Balinesian spa. I've seen the Taj Mahal, the Forbidden City, Harajuku Street and Angkor Wat. I've smiled or cried my way out of police encounters in Korea and Indonesia. I've touched - or been touched by - Holy sites in India, Korea, Japan and Cambodia. I've been fortunate enough to smile and be smiled at by people in Korea, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Taiwan, the US and Canada.

How blessed am I?

I mean... really.

And this is just the beginning. As I begin the next chapter of my life... that of actually traveling with another person, I have plans to see more and more of this wonderful world. And I can't wait to see where my feet, and my sandals, will take me next.