6 months

Well, as you may have guessed from the title "6 months", I am half way through my year-long contract here in Korea. I suppose when I think of it, it feels like it has gone by quickly. So. When was the last time I updated? Ah. I see it was Mother's Day. That was last Sunday! I don't think anything major has happened since then. But here's what I remember:

The week went by as it usually does, slower than molasses in a freezer on Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday is sort of in the middle. Thursday and Friday is overshadowed by the allure of the weekend, with it's seemingly endless possibilities -(Catching up on chores, exploring Korea, being adventurous...) Usually, the cleaning and the adventurous doesn't happen, but I often explore Korea.

Anyway, Friday was "teacher's day". Some of us got cute gifts. Lindsay's students wrote her this big poster about how they love her as a teacher and how they'll all behave that day!

I got a few cards and some gifts. They were really nice, and it made me feel good (although that might have been the already elated feeling of a Friday...) I got a card from Molly and Karen, and a box of vitamins from Alex. Also, Cain gave me 3 onion rings, and Scott gave me a candy which he insisted on unwrapping and touching before he gave it to me. Anyway, the whole day made us all feel good.

Friday night, we played video games until the wee hours of the morning. Then on Saturday, me, Jenny, Mark and Sarah had Indian food at the Mall (the restaurant I went to a last weekend with Mark). After that, Jenny and Mark left and Sarah and I continued on our adventure to Gangnam station. We heard of this station from our new co-worker Dave. He's from Korea, but he lived in Canada for 7 years I think, so he knows all about our quirks. Anyway, he told us that at Gangnam station, there is... tadaaaaaa... NEW YORK FRIES. Well that means one thing and one thing only - poutine. POUTINE. I have had 3 poutines since I got here 6 months ago - a drastic change from one a day last summer. Ok, so I know there has to be a balance, maybe every day is a little extreme, but 3 in 6 months is just torture. No one should have to go through that.

Well, we found the subway station alright, and yes the New York Fries was there. I felt like it was too good to be true. Like I had just been Buddha in front of the Himalayas being urged by the God of Temptation to turn the mountains into gold... like I had just been wandering the desert for 40 days only to see a waterfall or a glorious Coca-Cola pop machine.

Ok people, you have to take me seriously, I REALLY like my poutine.

Anyway, I ordered the poutine, shakily looked in my wallet for my money (how awful would that have been?!? To come all this way and forget the simple task of taking out cash!), handed the lady my money and it was all real. I think I might have slipped into nirvana when they handed it to me. I took a picture of it, the colours, the scents... it was all a blur really.

To say the least, I will be going back.

That was Saturday.

Sunday, we went to a new coffee shop that just opened around the corner, it's really quite nice. You get your own little rooms and everything. I went there with Sarah for a few hours, while we read. After that, we had a barbeque up on the roof of our building which was really nice. We were up there for a while, the sun set and it was time to pack up and get back to our work weeks. In case you're wondering, we had steak, sishkabobs (I don't quite know how to spell that word), nachos, and other things like rice and stuff. It was my first barbeque that I used chopsticks and had rice with!

Speaking of reading, I finished Brother One Cell. It was good. I assume that each reader brings something different from it, but I couldn't help relating his situation to mine, however less severe it might have been. He was forced into 3.5 years of service in the Korean prison system. I guess I saw myself reflected in the fact that sometimes it's more than I think I can handle, that every day there is a new challenge to deal with, and that while doing all of this work that would be stressful even at home, I am still trying to learn a new language and culture. Thankfully, I don't have to do all of this while in jail, so I guess I'm much better off than Cullen Thomas was! Anyway, his book also told me that I should focus on the task at hand, take pride in it and focus on improving yourself day by day, rather than looking at how much time I have left to 'serve' if you will.

Once again, I loooove Korea, but the teaching is running me dry of all the patience I had in my body. Although having said that, I think I am much more patient now than I was when I left Canada.

At the other end of the spectrum, I bought the book "Confessions of a Shopaholic" on Saturday, and finished it on Sunday. I really enjoyed it. I'm glad that I'm not that bad when it comes to shopping. Although reading the book kind of makes you want to go shopping. I was at a CD store on the weekend (mid way through the book about shopping), and I saw that they had a complete set of Mozart's works. Everything he's ever written in a nice little box of CDs. It was only 124,000 won! That's like $100 Canadian. (actually it's more, but this is what I was thinking to myself at the time). After like 15 minutes of debating with myself, I put it down and decided that if I really want it, I can get it in Canada when i don't have to worry about getting it home. It was pretty heavy.

I think that's all for now, it seems that every time I think I am going to write a short post, they become long. Perhaps I should put a limit on what I write! Anyway, I have to make some quizzes and then be off for work! ... only 6 months to go!