New people are exciting. The past few weeks have been a blur. People moving in and out of chairs, of rooms, of apartments...of my life (and everyone elses I suppose). It is one of the little things that keeps you going around here, one of the things that is guarunteed to change. The dynamic of the office and of the compound gets thrown completely out of whack when a new bunch of people arrive, and for the transition period that exists between pre-arrival of the new teachers and post-departure of the 'old' life feels completely and utterly unstable. But underneath the [View Full Entry]

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Well.....the poor new girl........ Poor me you say? No, I think that one was my fault- no sympathy required. So I got a little excited at the idea of partying with Brianne and Andrew (and eventually a whole big crew) as their time is running out, and at seeing the boys (it has beena month) and at just an excuse to enjoy my weekend, and Andrew had an easy time convincing me to partake in far too many shots. There is no need to discuss the ending of the night. I should know my limit. So a vow of Rocky celebacy [View Full Entry]

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The water splays alkaline silver in perfectly manicured watery pellets from the fountain - dead center of the pond. Slipping marble slides beneath my sandals, my flip flops, my thin guardians of crabs and seashells- relics of their glory days. The life of a flip flop is not a long one- a walking metaphor of the holiday world it belongs to. Yet myriads of Koreans still venture out into the evening heat, despite the possibility of an infectuous tan- they hide in the shadows of the hollow [View Full Entry]

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I know I shouldn't be surprised at the extent in which popular culture and movies and the grotesque exaggerations of the media influence my expectations of things, but in travelling to destinations that have been played up in so many ways on the screen I am continuously checking myself. I would like to think of myself as a critical thinkier, aware of the fact that Vietnam is not bombshells and black skies anymore (in the same way that Korea is not the green smoky hills that it is on MASH, and yes I know that's not really Korea). And yet I [View Full Entry]

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Ths irony of creating a holiday among your friends when you are young as an excuse to meet up every year and party is that sometime syou find yourself on the other side of the world partying alone. Well, I suppose it isn't "the" irony, but this year I was not able to celebrate the infamous "Good Day" with my friends (and I am sure that they didn't celebrate it either come to think of it) in Canada. Instead, I trucked my ass down to Daecheon beach in Boryeong for the glorified Mud Festival- a shmorgous-borge (I have no idea how [View Full Entry]

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Though it is not a new concept to me, I have, as of late, discovered the extent of my obsessive nature. It is absolutely true that the further you go from home, the more intense the magnification becomes on the picture you view or yourself. It has always been apparent to me that I have obsessive tendencies. This is all part of my passionate nature. I have alwayus thought of it as an endearing quirk, something that gives people a reason to remember me, something that holds me out from the rest. It is the character traist in others that are [View Full Entry]

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Anyang....... I knew it would be a good one. In fact, I almost predicted to a tee how the day would go. Thankfully it went fabulously. Ususally when I look forward to something it all falls apart. Fortunately (this is where I would tell my elementaries, who love the game "Fortunately, Unfortunately"...."no kids, there wasn't an unfortunately this time, and don't you ruin it for me with your pessimism...".......ok, maybe i wouldn't say that) we made it to the hockey game with ourselves and most of the wobbly pops in one piece (Sean almost lost a limb after he dropped the [View Full Entry]

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It went to game seven. Once again the stakes were high, the pressure on, and the Cinderella team from good ol' Alberta lived up to the pressure and brought 'er to a suspenseful game seven of the Stanley Cup Playoffs: the best sports scenario in the history of sports. In Korea, spirits were high, booze was flowing....game six was a blow out to top it all off. On Sunday the Rocky Mountain Tavern looked just like SChanks did, I imagine...people strewn all over the place in plastic deck chairs and camped out on the floor in the spaces between the seats. [View Full Entry]

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....and then there was another ticket in my hot little hand (Vietnam...I stare at the letters and let the word slowly seep into my consciousness), a thick piece of paper, once a magnificent tree on the edge of suburbia somewhere, now a neatly packaged promise of my impending adventure. I have forsaken Korea as of late- denied its ability to entice me, to bring me into the 'foreign mystique'. Five minutes on a patio in Insadong, solitarily sipping subtle and refreshing Iced Green Tea while hoards of mingling Saturday shoppers meander though the streets below (an image of Hemmingway with olive [View Full Entry]

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So while my brother and my father were basking in the California sun I too was taking in the joy that is a summer day in an amusement park. In all fairness, Disneyland IS slightly more exciting, slightly more "magical" than Everland, but this could be the childhood memories I have to create this highly exaggerted perception of DIsneyland as the be all and end all of childish fantasy. Though it wasn't "the be all and end all", Everland offered its own menagerie of delights for me to sink my teeth into for the best day of the year. With descriptions [View Full Entry]

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