Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Ends

I am in the rather awful Manila airport, staring down the end of my vacation. I'll write an outline now, before it slips away.

18: fly to Taipei, train to Hualien
19: Taroko Gorge, night market
20: train to Taipei, temples, night market
21: hot springs, Red House art center, our neighborhood in Taipei
22: zoo and night market again
23: fly to Manila, overnight near airport
24: fly to Palawan Island, pristine beach, fish dinner at baywalk
25: Cowrie Island
26: underground river
27: fly to Manila, sunset
28: Manila Chinatown and Intramuros
29: flight back to Korea

I still have four days in Seoul to look forward to with John, thank goodness, or I'd be pretty crazy at the thought of heading back.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Taiwan

Taiwan is awesome. I shall not leave. Except I am kind of chilly. So I guess I will accept going to 80 degree The Philippines on Thursday. Yeah, that sounds ok.

My life is not so hard.

On a semi-related note, I love Kirin for creating the reasonable and non-sucky "Bar Beer."

Friday, January 17, 2014

Seven Good Things, Week Three

Saturday: I walked through a little bamboo forest. They were cool and smooth to the touch, and the little stumps of the culled stalks were surprisingly strong. Did you know that bamboo is just badass grass?

Sunday: I'm currently reading a silly YA book series, but I'm enjoying it. Sunday I got to read it, but in company. There is something just super pleasant about people that you can just read with, and don't have to always be talkative and "on" around. So I sat, and I read, and I was happy.

Monday: My first camp ended. That was a good thing. Monday was not a fantastic day.

Tuesday: I had dinner with my girls, and we got wings, which were tasty. Then Liz and I went and got a beer too many, and had deep and serious conversation together, our faces too close and our gestures too animated. I got a lot of things off my chest. It was a relief. I also slept like a baby.

Wednesday: I had dinner up in Techno Valley with tall Amanda. She took me to a place that brings you unlimited pizza with your order, so I finally got to try all the bizarre Korean variations on pizza risk-free!

Thursday: Tiffany bought a car recently, and she took me for a ride. We drove home after dinner in the dark along the river, singing along to country music, and everything just sort of floated away. And then I packed, 24 hours before my departure, which is definitely a personal record for me. 16 days in a backpack and purse: I've still got it.

Friday: I'm leaving tonight. I'm off on an adventure, finally, after three-and-a-half months in one single country. It's time to go. I can already feel the new wind on my skin.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

No Blogging

I was a bad blogger this week. Frankly, I was too damn busy: teaching camp, getting the last details of my trip planned, seeing friends every night of the week, thinking abstractly about packing (I did actually pack tonight!) and so on.

I'm kind of stressed out, right now, because I went ahead and opened my mouth and said some things. And now I feel tenuous, and scared.

I leave Daejeon tomorrow and head up to Seoul. I will spend the night there, then fly to Taiwan on Saturday morning. I will spend two nights in Hualien, near the Taroko Gorge, and three nights in Taipei. Then it's on to the Philippines, where I will spend one night essentially in transit, followed by three nights on Palawan Island and two nights in Manila. Then it's back to Korea. I'll be spending the long weekend in Seoul, then coming home on the evening of the 2nd before starting back to teaching on the 3rd.

It'll be pretty intense. I'll try to keep you up to date, but I promise nothing.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Cold

It is cold, cold, cold here in Daejeon at the moment. My hands went quite stiff in just six minutes at the bus stop. Of course that didn't cause me to actually put my phone away. Because addiction. My toes are cold, too, so I'm wearing multiple pairs of socks. On the plus side, the heat in my school and flat is purring away quite effectively, so it's only outside that I suffer.

I finished camp one today. Tomorrow camp two will start and I'll do it all over again. I'm always a bit nervous about having to repeat something that was, frankly, somewhat ad-libbed. (Camp itself was planned to the letter, but my lectures were not. I just rambled about how World War I was not really anybody's fault, and other like topics.) I'm sure it will be fine, though.

I went back to Jeonju this weekend. John's birthday is next week, but I'm leaving on holiday on Friday, so I decided to spirit him away this weekend. (The infinite superiority of gifting experiences over things cannot be overstated, in my opinion.) We visited the traditional Hanok village that I had spent thirty rain-soaked minutes sprinting though during orientation. It was beautiful and peaceful, and quite a relief to get out of Daejeon for a little bit.

I think I might be getting old, though, based on my weekend. Friday night I stayed in and played cards. Saturday I was up before eight to go spend the day at, essentially, Colonial Koreasburg. Then I was asleep before midnight again, and up before eight on Sunday for an action-packed day of watching movies, reading, and eating too much food. It was pretty great, though.

Now I just have four more days before I get out of Korea for real for a bit. I'm so pleased. I've *missed* traveling.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Seven Good Things, Week Two

Saturday: I finally managed to introduce the rhyming game into Korea. Let it begin.

Sunday: Dog walking with Snowball again. I brought a big group, and I think the dogs got fairly well-exercised and loved on.

Monday: I slept, deeply and dreamlessly, for a solid three hours of the afternoon, and woke rested and happy.

Tuesday: I had a productive day at work, somewhat scrambling, but did manage to get all the work I should have been doing during the previous days done.

Wednesday: I already wrote about camp and acupuncture, so I'll say that my language exchange with Haeri went as well as it always does, and she was adorable, and I managed to make sentences such as "The apple is on the table." and "The water is inside the cup." in Korean. Success!

Thursday: Watching kids pretend to iceskate around on their little socks, including a few lifts and dips, was adorable.

Friday: Well, it hasn't actually happened yet, but I am sure I will have a lovely evening playing cards with some friends.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Damn it.

Well, stabbing myself repeatedly in the wrist with a large-gauge sewing needle and then whacking it with a book has failed to rid me of my damned ganglion cyst. It's starting to quite hurt. I want it gone.

Fixing My Back

When I'm stressed out, my shoulders shoot up to my ears, my jaw clenches, and my hands flex into little claws. Then I realize I'm doing that, and forcibly shove my shoulders down and hold them there until I get distracted, when they shoot right back up. I've been stressed, lately. My life is... strange. I don't know what's going to happen in it. For the first time in a long time, I've been left without a clear, step-by-step plan of action. I despise this. I'm so bad at "living in the moment" and "taking things one step at a time" and all that nonsense new-age bullshit.

I'm not crazy about my job, and in a way I've never experienced before. There are certain ridiculous elements to my job: having to say hello and goodbye to the vice principal and principal upon arriving to and leaving work come to mind. But the ridiculous aspects of my job are actually few and not so extreme here: I am paid decently and on time, I work a set number of hours, I teach a set number of lessons, I have a curriculum to follow, nobody expects me to mentor several new teachers, my commute is reasonable, I'm at only one school, my boss doesn't hound me, so on and et cetera. So I have none of the problems I used to have in past jobs. The problem is simple here: I'm bored. My job is repetitive and unchallenging. I have too much downtime at work, which I can't spend doing things that are visibly not-work. I'm bored, and it's driving me batty.

And it's not that I haven't looked for more to do at work. I have tried to expand my role, create more lessons, and modify things. But I'm generally not allowed to, because it's all about that end-of-year exam, and so we have to run slavishly but quickly through this state-mandated curriculum. Other parts of it can't be helped: I have to do each lesson six times because I teach six sixth-grade classes. There is nothing to be done about that.

I'm still considering signing a contract for a second year. I'm 99% sure that I will, in fact. Because there are reasons to stay: I can save a bit of money. I can travel around Asia. I can take part in professional development. There are people here to whom I wish to remain near. I can learn a new language, no matter how much it refuses to stick, and experience a totally different culture with all of its frustrations and beauty.

But, yeah, stress. On Saturday I just sort of arched my back, and my neck went into a spasm that, frankly, terrified me. I haven't felt that sort of intense, sudden pain EVER when not associated with a broken bone or a brain-stem infection. My neck stabbed pain that felt physical and cold as it ran down and spread over my shoulder. While that level of pain went away after a minute or two, it continued to throb horribly for twenty or so minutes and was still tender and sore on Monday.

So when my friend Amanda invited me to go to the chiropractor with her, I jumped on the chance. Maybe some new-age bullshit was just what I needed, after all.

First, the doctor observed me in a marked mirror, to see how crooked I was. He tsked. I smirked. Then he had me lay on a table and he cracked my back, twice. He rubbed my neck and shoulders and then cracked my neck, assassin-style, to the right and left. Then to the right again. Next, I lay face-down on an adjustable table while he pulled on my legs and arms, then I flipped over and he pushed hard on my stomach. Then it was time for acupuncture. Oddly enough, I couldn't even feel the needles go into my skin, except for one tiny pinch on the small of my back. When they went in, though, a tingle went out from that site. It was strange. Suction cups were also applied, leaving me marked.


I lay with the needles for awhile, then they were removed and I was given ultrasound by a tech. Ultrasound is the weirdest thing. It always leaves me a bit flummoxed: does it hurt, or is it just something we're not used to? (How much of what we call pain is actually that, and how much of it is just being scared of a new feeling?) Then little ultrasound suction cups were clapped onto my shoulders and hips. They moved and made little gurgling noises while tingling me gently. It was like being made love to by sea creatures. Finally there was some time with a heating pad, and a few more stretches.

The whole hour-and-ten-minutes treatment cost me 7000 won (about 7 bucks) with insurance.

I had no idea what to expect, so I kept making little squeaks and exclamations as I was startled with one thing after another. It was nice, though. I think I'll go back.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Camp Day One

Well, the first day of camp went very well. The kids seemed to have fun, nothing went awry, and a great interest was even taken in the historical parts of the lesson. Which was a huge relief, because I do often worry that what I find *so impossibly interesting!* is actually found to be boring and lame by others, who simply humor me with a smile and a nod. Kids don't do that, though. Kids tell you how awful an awful thing is. So I'm fairly certain that today was a good day for them, which equals a good day for me.

Now I'm off to get chiropractic acupuncture for the first time. Oh, boy.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Monday, January 6, 2014

My Front Door

Well, my door broke again. Which wound up making me 45 minutes late to work, but got resolved rather quickly. The repairman came and fixed the jam in the lock, and then yelled at me (I think to the effect that I should install a keypad lock. I just repeated, "I don't speak Korean." in a dead voice until he stopped. I've never understood the insistence that people will suddenly understand you if you just shout and invade their personal space.), and then showed me 8 or so times how to turn the key in the now-unjammed lock while I nodded and said that, yes, I do understand the concept of a lock. But at least they were nice and understanding at work about the whole being late thing.

I accomplished almost literally nothing today, which means that I actually have a fair amount to do tomorrow. But camp starts on Wednesday so hopefully that will inspire me to actually, you know, do my damn job. Because I have been a really lazy waste the past week. If I ever get the bright idea to work for myself, remind me of this. Just say "deskwarming." My lack of self-motivation at work these days is sort of horrifying.

On a more positive note, I had a pretty good weekend. I spent Friday evening at Jihei's, mainly coloring and playing with her kid. It was really fun, actually, and reminded me that I am quite fond of toddlers in the right context. Then I went home and curled up with my electric blanket, a glass of wine, and my kindle, reveling in my solitude after a week of... solitude. Oh, well.

Saturday some of us attempted to go to an ice festival. That was not successful, but we did manage to wander around, make too much noise at cafes, and play the rhyme game I so love. Sunday was dog walking and eating myself almost sick at Dino Meat.

There are moments you don't want to forget, but don't want to talk about either. There were those, too.

Friday, January 3, 2014

New Year's Resolutions

Today I read this, and it rang true. I also have noticed that I tend to neglect you, little blog, on Fridays. Maybe I'm just tired on Fridays, or looking forward to the weekend, or who knows. Anyway, therein comes my New Year's Resolution: from now on, my Friday posts will be dedicated to recognizing an amazing moment from my life, each day. It's not that I don't notice them now, most of the time at least, but maybe writing them down will make them more tangible and help me to remember them when I'm feeling low.

Saturday: We went Noraebanging, and I sang "Time after Time," which was fun. I think I need to try that one next time I'm forced to sing at a work event. We also won extra time singing "F*** You," which is a really fun group song.

Sunday: I was told I was missed. That was comforting knowledge to have.

Monday: The first day of my deskwarming stint allowed me to come to work in my sweats and watch tv while completing the anxiety-soothing task of cutting out 72 identical cardboard circles of exactly 4 cm diameter.

Tuesday: New Year's Eve. Pretty much the whole night was fantastic.

Wednesday: Finding a really comfortable place to lie in the sun.

Thursday: That first crispy bite into a steaming hotteok (Korean pancake-like thing, filled with a hot cinnamony paste) on a cold winter night.

Friday: Sherlock season 3 at work, shrieking happily at the computer while alone in my office.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

2013 in Review (with random vignettes for fun) Part One

January: I rang in the New Years in the Clifford House for probably the last time.


Flew back to Hungary and went back to work, knee-deep in end-of-semester nonsense. It snowed a lot. Not much else really happened in January until the end of it.


I went to Geneva on my annual "I'm going to kill things if I don't get away alone" journey. I climbed bell towers, wandered botanical gardens, walked around that massive lake (not the whole way!) and took a normal city tram to France. I also ate a lot of cheese, and spent one long evening tucked into a little pub, on a velvet couch, reading The Book Thief from start to finish. The owners brought out a lamp for me when it got too dark, and tissues when I predictably sobbed at the end. I ate what can only be described as an obscene amount of food, particularly cheese.

                                    

February: I headed to Scotland for a reunion with Juliet and Jessica. Juli was visiting her boyfriend's family from Vietnam, and Jessica flew in from Spain. We traipsed about Edinburgh (mainly sitting in pubs, playing cards and drinking bitter ales), which was amazing. The best part, though, was traveling to stay with James' family, the Blocks, who thoroughly welcomed us into their home. They took us to a traditional dance, where we were spun around by locals totally bemused at the sight of all these foreigners in their community center. I don't think I've ever had so much fun while sweating so profusely!

At one point Juliet was dancing with an older gentleman, and her boyfriend James was just sitting there, staring. I sort of cleared my throat, and he grinned at me, and looked down quickly before catching my eye. "Isn't she so beautiful?" he asked. At that moment, through his eyes, I couldn't say no.



I cat-sat for a week in a luxurious apartment and decided that someday I would like to earn a bit of money. That, combined with the ever-increasing anti-foreigner sentiment I experienced on street corners and public transit, plus my job being just untenable (no matter how much I loved the teaching parts of it), added up to a growing feeling in my stomach that it was time to go. It was time to do something new. So I applied to EPIK at the end of February.

I also celebrated my half-birthday with Rachel with one of the best dance parties ever, thanks to the 2003 top forty countdown. Remix to ignition! I took Balint bowling for his birthday and finally met his parents, who it turns out are real, and not imaginary as we all suspected. February was a good month.


two of my favorite men

March: March came in like a lamb, bringing unseasonably warm weather to Budapest. Anna and I rode our bikes around town, and I could even bike to work again. And then the snowpocalypse happened for the March 15th holiday, stranding me in Budapest as trains broke down and the country ground to a halt. We had the most hysterical pub quiz in the history of pub quizzes, courtesy of St. Patrick's day and getting a bit punchy, which resulted in THE U2 ROUND:


My rats got sick; I had to take them to the vet and give them medicine via syringe. They were troopers about it and got better, but in the meantime they waddled about grunting adorably. I became obsessed with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which (thankfully!) came to an end, as most things should. Good stuff happened for gay people, and I was happy. And, finally, I created you, little blog. I'm really happy I did that.

April: I spent the Easter holiday with Lyla in Belgium and the Netherlands. Mainly we ate food, walked, and drank beer. We also wrote reviews of all the beer we drank, after drinking said beers, so those got ridiculous. I decided that I would never want to live in Amsterdam, because it's the weirdest place ever.


The day after getting back from that trip, I interviewed for EPIK. My interviewer (I applied directly) recommended that I request a city if I wanted to be in a city. So I looked briefly at all the cities that you could request, and chose Daejeon. (It just looked right. I found out a day or so later that Budapest is its sister city. I liked that coincidence.) I found out the following Monday that I got in.

I wrote a resignation letter in English for the foundation and handed it in, feeling nothing. I wrote a much shorter, much more awkward resignation letter in Hungarian for the school and handed it in covered in little wet spots, sobbing on Principal Anna's shoulder. She asked me if I was planning to come back again, like last time, and I shook my head, then she welled up, too. "El kell mennem. Szükséges. Nem akarok, de nagyon szükséges." She nodded. I feel like I grew up in Krudy school. I became an adult there. Then I washed my face and told my students

I saw a bunch of shows, of the theater and ballet persuasion, but of tv, too. I got reading glasses. I ran my first 10K, in 64:48, and didn't even die. I ended the month with The Weekend of the Lyla, to celebrate her 27th birthday, and her.

May: The first of May was Labor Day, so Lyla and I went to Esztergom and walked across the bridge into Slovakia, but everything was closed, so we headed home. I did get to touch a live, wild bird, fulfilling a life-long dream. I don't even care that it was a pigeon.

my grope victim

I became somewhat disillusioned with Doctor Who. A friend from home, Abbey, visited Budapest and I showed her the city. I attended five parties in a span of three days and then refused to socialize for a week. I got an eye-lash infection, did all the videos of the students for the end of the year, and wrote and administered a bunch of finals. Eurovision happened, and it was a tame disappointment.

I spent the last weekend of May in Madrid, which I've already written quite extensively about here, here,  importantly here and most importantly here

June: The first weekend in June, Jessica visited Budapest. I showed her around, took her to all my favorite restaurants, and we even went to the Opera and baths together. Mefi kitten adored Jess, spending every moment possible glued to her legs, which was adorable and hysterical.                        





Then I went to Forest School with 7A, which was amazing and also broke my heart. The last night, we sat around the camp fire, singing songs, five or six of my girls leaning on some part of me. I looked up at the sky, and all the hundreds of thousands of millions of stars, and I still felt significant. I still felt like I'd done something important, and that these young people were themselves important and real. We might just be specks of dust, but who is to say that dust doesn't matter?

Budapest flooded. I got my placement to Daejeon on the same day as Krudy's closing ceremony. I thought that was good and right. I missed saying goodbye to most of the teachers because I was at foundation camp during the year-end meeting. This was sad, but probably for the best. Then I went to foundation camp, which was fine, even if it lacked the students I loved. I got my last paycheck from the foundation, and literally dusted off my hands as I checked my balance. I was done. The goodbyes started.



Summer started. With it came long nights, lazy days, and a few bad choices. 


Did I say bad choices? I meant excellent life decisions.



To Be Continued...