I almost stayed in tonight. The wind finds a way of seeping under your skin here, like Lethbridge, bleeding into your peace of mind. It is difficult to be comfortable enough to be introspective when you are cold under your skin. My late night walks have become a time for reflection and walking meditation. But, like a monk in training, I persevered the astringent air and took to the road- baby steps. First I intended to see if I could make it to the bank, 3 blocks away. Then we’ll see how the ol’ legs are feeling. But, like has become [View Full Entry]

---

---

We needed a break. From this city. From "reality", whatever the hell that means. And man, did we get it. It was nice to see Ty. ALways nice to have a little slice of home. But it was a weird trip. A lot of stories I have heard a thousand times suddenly defamiliarized me to where I came from. Are they really that bad? I love Erin, she is amazing. And there's nobody I would have wanted to go on that kind of weird weekend with more than her. But there were moments when I wanted Ty to just stop telling [View Full Entry]

---

---

Amazing that a culture so vibrant with energy, metropolitan cognition, and a sense of humour, has such a stifled sense of creativity by reputation. Dallas said that Koreans are utterly pragmatic (my word actually, not his) - no creativity whatsoever I think his words were. This may be slightly unfair to the people of such a mysterious place such as Seoul- a place of definitive contradiction - but the reputation stands the test of time. There must be some truth behind it. A few months ago I visited an exhibit showcasing Dutch portrait photography and the emergence of a Korean genre [View Full Entry]

---

---

Friday night. Not too sure what to do with myself. I'm not too worried about it either. It is a nice thing to know you have no obligations. DO whatever you want. Wander around in the dark in Bundang if you please....it's sure as hell safe enough, and the air is beginning to get that welcoming smell of spring. Or burn out on the computer. No, that won't do. That is a waste of a night, isn't it? Oh that's right, I have a cell phone now. If you want to call it a cell phone. More like a piece of [View Full Entry]

---

---

So when is the magical when I get up and everything just seems normal? It always feels like it is right around the corner...I have confidence moving around and stumbling my way through conversations, I know enough people here that I am now woven into the tapestry that is Bundang. And yet, something is still unsettled. Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe on the inside I don't want to be settled. It is refreshing to, for once, be shaken up- for life to be unpredictable, and for my identity to be a little blurry. It makes for an easier transition- [View Full Entry]

---

---

I have a gym membership now. That was a big thing to get out of the way. And it has been the success I wanted it to be. It has pulled me out of my physical slump. Mornings are easier now. But a cough has been going around. Actually, it is a brutal Asian cold (not to be confused with Asian flu, I hope) that lingers in the form of a dry, irritating, nagging, painful in that itchy sort of way, cough. This, in and of itself, is not the end of the world. However, Dreaded Class 14 has created a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Somewhere I heard it described in this way: the desire to fall deeply in love with something is that the world becomes much more manageable. Passion for something, one individual focus for that passion, allows one to center their attention, to keep from spilling all over the place (I think it was the movie "Adaptation"- I'll have to search for the actual quote- certainly its eloquance will exceed my awkward paraphrase). Being a person of passion, this makes absolute sense. This may be the actual reason I have a love affair with being in love- the intensity is focused, cleaner, less [View Full Entry]

---

---

The prison wasn't what I thought it would be. I think that is probably what the majority of tourists think as they walk slowly through the halls, and cells, and torture chambers of what was once, not so very long ago, the Japanese prison used during the occupation. Many Korean suffered and died in these halls. So to walk though it all, to be right there, right in the middle of such place, is rather unsettling. However, it is not the idea of what once was that really shakes you to the bone. Oh no, it is what is happening right [View Full Entry]

---

---

Home again, home again. And this time, that "coming home" feeling after a long holiday- that feeling that you no longer need to expend yourself, no longer need to BE somebody else, you can just relax and live "normally"- that feeling is here. And yet, as would be expected, it feels nothing like that. A few weeks in the Philippines, as it turns out, was exactly what I needed to kick start the next few years of my independent. Before the Philippines I was still holding on, still in that transitional stage of "what do I bring from home here? how [View Full Entry]

---

---

Travis has arrived...... And it is just as I suspected. I was an idiot not to rest up before he got here. I knew that would bite me in the ass. How strange of an experience it is to be a "regular" in a foreign place. Having been on the island of Boracay for at least a few days now...a good week not including the break we had in the Northern part of the country....I am now, of course, and expert. I know where to go to have the best mango banana shake, the bets place to see the view of [View Full Entry]

---

---