Sippin on 'French black tea' >u<

Greetings from a distant space... I seem to only be a “good” blogger sometimes. I guess that is the flow and rhythm of my life though, so I accept it. Life here is acutely chaos right now. I am hungrily devouring novels as I simultaneously walk to school. I have been lesson planning and planning my winter trip to India. I am missing my recently departed American friends, while trying to organize future activities (that I wish they could come to)…

I realized yesterday, as I have been racing around that 1) I was practicing yoga (asana and pranayama) only once a day, sometimes for less than half an hour. My body has been jittery with extra energy and I am just realizing why… I have manifested all of this energy inside of me and now am not using it… So my goal is to hop back on the wagon of discipline and experience yoga more often.

Recently, after a conversation with a friend I realized that I am a picky reader. The books I read, I criticize more often than not. I am not sure entirely how I feel about this aspect of myself. Example, in reading ‘Three Cups of Tea,’ I have been increasing disappointed in the extent that the author worships the main character. If the author had only written the book expressing what the main character had accomplished in his life; that alone would have shown what an extraordinary person he is. But the author time and again refers, through quoting others, that the main character is “a different species, not one of us,” blah blah blah… by doing that he is taking away the credit that humanity deserves. It is like claiming that people can’t be that good. It is also stripping the main character of his humanity. Boo.

Oh tangents.

So to back track for a moment… Having Jamie and Co. here was epic and I am sooo glad they came. We finished their vaca off by heading to a town called Samcheok, at the ass-crack of dawn last Saturday. For all of you who are regular readers, this is the place with the famed penis park. We went to the second biggest cave in all of East Asia. It was mammoth, but we only could walk 1.6km of it. The walk to the cave was breath-takingly fall filled. The leaves were crazy colors of caramel, lime, crimson… So rich… We ate some mountain food (san chae bi bim bap) and just hung out. It was at the bus station that we bid our adieus. *sad face*

My students are still asking about my friends and wanting them to come back. One of the classes actually got an audience with Jamie and Co. so the other students wanted their time. Currently my second year students are in the throws of applying to university. They travel to Seoul on the weekends to take university entrance exams or interview. They spend their weekdays preparing paperwork and interview materials. They are busy little stress balls and I am so proud of them.

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