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Published: January 31st 2007
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Hello, hello,
Well, I have been busy lately, what with trying to figure out the rest of my life and all. And also being told last Thursday that I have to move this week. So, as many of you already know or at least may have doubted by knowing my incredible amount of patience, I have admitted defeat!!!! Yes, I have decided to cut my time here short and head out to bigger and better things. So I am finished with the little snotty brats as of February 23rd, if I can last till then. The plans are still somewhat blurry but look as follows for the time being. Travel around Korea for 7-10 days after my sentence is over, I want to check out some places in the south and an island called Jeju. Then, make my way to New Zealand with a possible stopover in Thailand or somehwere nice and warm. I'm heading to Christchurch or Auckland to play some rugby. But before any of this is set in stone and I write to you from another destination, let me recount the last few weeks that saw some interesting experiences.
I have to be brief as I
Yong Pyong
A visit from home: Jean-Francois! Nice to see you! am in a week from hell and really I shouldn't be doing this cuz I have so much else to do. So I will hope that pictures say 1000 words. Life was hard coming home after a wonderful time in Japan. Wow, can't believe I just called this place home without realizing it! Anyways, the life back to the routine and the kids was horrible, to say the least. Good thing I got some opportunities to hit the mountains for some skiing and to spend time with a Korean family. The skiing part is self-explanatory but get this: rear-entry boots! Yeah, baby, that's all they had in my size the last 2 times I went, embarassing indeed. The mountains here are small, crowded, deprived of snow (at least YongPyong where we were last weekend) and did I mention before, open all night long! Well, until like 5am. Because that's what I wanna do, freeze my ass in the middle of the night! But the crowds are away so apparently people take lessons then.
However, the INTERSKI 2007 is taking place this week in South Korea and Hilary and I went to the hill to watch the opening ceremonies (like
Yong Pyong
OK, I agreed to this one for Hilary! I can't help it if I'm always hungry! mini-Olympics) and cheer for the Canadians. A group within whom I happened to know many faces for having worked with them or been coached by them in the small world that is alpine skiing and the CSIA in Canada. It was so great to see familiar faces and speak French and English for a change!!! Jean-Francois kindly joined us for a Korean dinner on Saturday night before being annihilated by jet-lag.
As for my Korean weekend, well, I met this lovely lady at the gym who speaks a little bit of English and had explained to me some yoga moves and words used by the instructor. We talked everytime our paths crossed and she kept inviting me over to her weekend house in CheongPyeong, some 2 hours away. So I agreed, nothing better to spice up your life than to head out with a stranger to an unknown location! Glad I did it. I wouldn't miss rugby practice, of course, so we left on a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. We were in the car for a while, mainly stuck in the stagnant traffic (get this I noticed a road sign on the way back for Seoul:
Sweet family
The people I stayed with in CheongPyeong. 40km but it easily took us 1.5 hour to drive) but we made it to this desolate countryside and to a lone humongous log cabin. Ha, wrong word, that's what I imagined, no, a log mansion made of Canadian wood! So the weekend went as follows: eat, sleep, eat, go for a drive in the mountains, stop to eat, go for a walk, eat, meet family friends, play traditional Korean games, eat, relax.. ah, and did I mention eat? Well, I was treated like a queen! I basically hung out with this lady who cooked all day for me, her husband and her in-laws (none of them spoke English). I felt bad because they wouldn't let me sleep in one of the guest rooms on the 3rd floor cuz it was too cold so her husband slept there. Then, they wouldn't let me sleep on the couch or the warm living room floor or even share a bed with me so I got my own double bed and the lady took the floor. It was quite the experience and the whole family was so sweet. we drove back barely in time for work on the Monday morning.
I don't
Log "cabin"
The house in the middle of nowhere, the winter is quite bare and dry but I bet it's gorgeous there in the summer! mention my weeks because they are all the same, dreaming of the weekend and counting down the days and the hours but my weekends are fun. We also had a weekend of food debauchery at Nat's house where we proceeded to bake and eat all day on a Sunday, fun times! You gotta love it when you realize you are still hanging out in your pjs at 5 pm on a Sunday, in someone else's house! But if I may say so myself, I make a mean apple pie!
Alright, passed my bedtime again, love you all!!!! I am off to Guam this weekend for a quick 2 days of beachin' and rugby, I can't wait!!! It's keeping me alive, that and my "new" found addiction to LOST, the best tv show ever!
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