Hai!!!

This past weekend was Chuseok in KOrea. It is pretty much a Korean version of Thanksgiving. In any event, this holiday meant I had a 4-day weekend! So Walter and I flew off to Japan. Japn is absolutely AMAZING! I looooooooooooooooove Japanese food. I honestly think they have some of the best che'f in the wolr thre. They put so muhc effort and care into each small little detail of their food. They don't just create meals they create art. I thank god that as we were walking the goregous streets of Gion in Kyoto (the tradtional japanese area where you an spot geisha's roaming the streets) we stumbled upon a very exclusive restaurant hidden away. As we walked in we were greeted by a young man who spoke very little english and asked us to kindly give him a moment. Then our soon to be chef entered and he said "There is no English menu here. I am very sorry, but I would love to help explain to you each item." How can you say no to that. As he guided us to the traditional japanese bar where you watch your chef prepare your food right before your eyes. Our chef suggested we try the course meal. BEST DECISION EVER. For around $200 Walter and I enjoyed the best meal of our lives. We sipped on sake, plum wine and beer as we ate various cuts of beef (including beef shashimi) garnished in the most beautiful way. Not to mention desert was off the chain! It was a pudding with Matcha topping. I am actually drooling as I recap this meal. Our chef kindly explained exactly what each thing we were eating was and how we were supposed to eat it. Not only was the food of the highest quality but so was the service. It's because of that combination that not only was that the best meal of my life but one of the best experiences of my life as well.

Kyoto was the highlight of the trip for me. As I mentioned it was there that I had the best meal but we also stayed the night at a tradional Japanese hotel. We had tatami floors and paper doors as well as an Onsen in the basement. When we arrived they gave us a present via "lucky draw" and then served us traditional japanese tea in our room. On top of that we were given kimono like robes to wear during our stay which was pretty much the cherry on top of an already amazing sundae.


But it also goes without saying that Osaka was also a beautiful and wonderful city. The nightlife, arcades and shops were great here. Our first dinner in Japan was in Osaka and it was also an amazing experience. Once again we were personally served by the chef and he too spoke english. We had 3 differnt main dishes consisting of unagi (bbq eel, one of my favourites) as well as a few unagi side dishes. This experience felt like an episode out of Iron Chef where the main ingredient was unagi. Everything was amazing and cooked to perfection and served in beautiful presentation. My favourite was the egg white with unagi. It felt as though I was eating velvet beacuse the egg was soooo smooth.

yum Yum yum Yum = my review of Japan

If you love food, and you haven't been to Japan...GO! Not to say that was the only thing I loved about the place. The people are generous and kind there and that is also a big reason why I loved it. But the food just realy stood out to me as some of the best damn food in the world!


A song from a sad Japanese drama I used to like:

Jimjibang

So today I had my first bath house experience in Korea. These bath houses are called jimjibangs. Naturally I went to the largest and nicest one in all of Asia =).

I was nervous at first because in these places you have to strip down to nothing and bare it all for the world (or at least all the other women in there) to see. It was surprisingly only uncomfortable for about a minute. I guess being North American nakedness is something we're brought up to feel shameful about. What's more, I find that we North Americans are all so self conscious of our bodies. This was why I really enjoyed this experience. It not only was cool going into cave baths, herbal baths and champagne baths etc. but it honestly made me feel more comfortable in my own skin. Looking around at the tons of other women there I noticed that no one had the "perfect body". So why should I feel like I had to have one?

Yah I have a little more padding here and there than I'd like, but we all have something we don't particularily love about our bodies. How nice it was to be in a room full of people completely naked and not think once to myself about those inadequacies I feel everyday even when I'm fully clothed.

I think it's something every women should try once. How nice it would be if us women had the self confidence we should.


P.S. I like these songs =)

The One Thing I Know About Myself For Certain

I AM

Main Entry: indecisive

Part of Speech: adjective

Definition: uncertain, indefinite

Synonyms: astraddle, changeable, doubtful, faltering, halting, hemming and hawing, hesitant, hesitating, hot and cold, inconclusive, indeterminate, irresolute, of two minds, on the fence, tentative, unclear, undecided, undetermined, uneventful, unsettled, unstable, vacillating, waffling, wavering, weak-kneed, wishy-washy

...I've already decided to delete this post...*sigh*

There and Back Again

So I just finished watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and it was pretty good...although there were a few dry scenes. I could also see how it would have been a much better movie the big screen but o wells.

On another note, I just came back to Busan from my two week "vacation" to Canada. It was fun but really tiring and must say I'm glad to be back in Korea. Kind of feels like home a little more than Markham now. I guess that's because I didnt really get a chance settle in. But i came to the realization that I'm definitely not ready to move back to Canada anytime soon. It feels like I've changed a whole lot but everything there has remained exactly the same.

Life is easier here I guess, I am free to do as I please because I live on my own and my job gives me the time to. My friends and I are all on the same page because we have the same job and now that I've figured out the culture and the language (to certain extent) I don't find myself running into too many conflicts.

I doubt that I will be renewing my contract in March because Wally will have to go home in January and I know a big part of my happiness here is having the extra time and space to be with him. I guess I realize that when I do move back, something's gotta give. So I'll most likely move out and who knows...maybe wally and I will be back in Asia again.

The Dream

I call two of my best chingus. We hang out, hang up clothes and hang on to the cups of ice cream in our hands. This moment is ordinary and yet so dream like. The slight chill from the ocean breeze feels cool against my skin. It makes me feel...alive. As we sit side by side, connected by our love of ice cream and life itself, we contemplate the adventures of yesterday, today and tomorrow "Where else in the world do you see this?" says Kiara. "Only in Asia" we say simultaneously. What a beautiful juxtaposition the city lights and the ocean make. I look around and I see the multicoloured lights of the magnificent Gwangan bridge dancing off the waves of the ocean. I take a bite of my decadent chocolate ice cream and take a deep breath. I am here...very few people can say what I'm about to say. I am living the dream.

Dream - Priscilla Ahn (Korean-American artist - how appropriate)

I was a little girl alone in my little world who dreamed of a little home for me.
I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing.
I had a dream.

Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I'm supposed to be.
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest tree.
I had a dream.

Now I'm old and feeling grey. I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave.
I lived it full and I lived it well, there's many tales I've lived to tell. I'm ready now, I'm ready now, I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing.
I had a dream

"No fishing"

Ever since the first moment I stepped foot into South Korea I have been doing things that I never would have done back home. For example, living alone, eating moving octopus tentacles that stuck to my tongue and sort of the opposite...letting fish eat me alive =)

My feet in a pool of hungry fish.
Notice how there aren't that many fish eating my feet?...


Well that's because Walter's crusty toe jam filled
feet were too delicious to for the fish to waste too much
time eating anyone else's feet.

Thank God for Wally. With the few fish that actually were eating my feet I was laughing hysterically for 10 minutes straight. It's one of the most ticklish things I have ever experienced. Oh and I forgot to mention that this place is not a spa, it's a coffee shop called Dr. Fish. So basically you order your Mocchacino (or your drink of choice), stop by the free snack bar (with waffles, popcorn etc.) and take it all to a table or the tanks and fill your belly while the fish simultaneously fill theirs. Well that's actually a lie the fish don't really ever fill their belly's completely because they're constantly pooping out long strings of...dead skin?

Now, back to "no fishing". This is a term used by my children at school when I fake them out. It pretty much means "no faking". This all comes from a language in Korea called Konglish. It sounds like English (ok well at least it's supposed to), it looks like English but the terms and words take on different "Korean" meanings. Thus, it isn't English. The entire Konglish movement is sort of an attestment to how hard it is for Koreans to learn English. Not only is their native language the complete opposite of English in everyway (reversed sentence structure, completely different alphabet etc.) but the few English words they do know mean something entirely different to them than they do to the rest of the world. Here are a few more Konglish words and their meanings: "service" = it's free, "set" = combo, "ok ok ok ok ok" = ok (as in ok and I'm not trying to be rude and cut you off by talking over you and saying ok 10 milllion times....it's just Konglish).

Imagine the confusion when Koreans travel to North America and see signs that say "No fishing"!!! "Oh my God!" <------ (another Korean favourite!)

Its Been Almost Two Months....Oops

Wow I honestly don't even know where to begin. I have done soooo much since i last blogged that it seems a little silly even trying to fit it all into one post. Either way, I'm gonna try.

Let's start with my trip to Shanghai, China. I went to Shanghai the weekend of May 4th. As it was long weekend here is S.Korea. (May 5th = Children's Day) To start things off i had a somewhat of a unique airport experience. The Busan Gimhae Airport is split into two buildings. One for domestic flights and one for international flights. Although my final destination was international I had a stop over at Seoul. Not knowing that this meant I had to be in the domestic building (because i didn't know there were 2 buildings) I had the taxi diver drop me off at the international building. It was 4am and extremely dark. The building was not yet open and so I waited outside with about 5 other people in the extremely cold dark. About 15 mins later a security guard let us in. I was drowned in relief. But then time kept passing and the lights weren't be turned on. Until about an hour before my flight, actual workers started to show up and I was able to ask someone where the hell i was supposed to be. They pointed me to the other building so I dragged my suitcase down the road to the domestic departures building. Things were looking up. From there i landed in Seoul where I had the pleasure of enjoying the Asiana Business class lounge. It was really nice...free foo, drinks and massage chairs. Enough said. I had 4 windows to myself on the plane and I ordered my meal from a menu =) ...When I got to Shanghai I had to wait at the airport for 5 hours =( because Wally couldn't find a flight with a closer landing time to mine and we were told that it was dangerous for women (especially foreigners) to take Taxi's by themselves in China. Better bored than sorry I guess. Once we got to Shanghai I must say I wasn't impressed. It was dirty and rainy and all I could think was "yuck". Then we found a beautiful and extremely lit up road called Nanjing. The trip only got better from there. We met up with Walter's friends and had a good time. The food was AMAZING....I'm drooling just thinking about the PeKing duck...YUMMERS!

The next weekend I was off to Seoul for the second time. I didn't have as much fun as I did the first time when I went with the girls but it was ok. I think the rain sort of killed the trip. The highlight of the weekend was probably the Japanese prison/museum we visited. It was educational and interesting to see how the Koreans were treated by the Japanese. Needless to say there was a lot of torture and disease.

Somewhere in between that trip and now I began feeling very isolated at work. I was no longer playing volleyball and due to the fact that my school is ridiculously small there are a VERY limited number of people who speak English. In fact the only person actually brave enough to speak to me is my co teacher. This started to eat away at me, and one day at work I just sorta broke down. The silence and isolation can definitely get a person here. Not outside of work of course as I have many wonderful and fun friends...I'm talking strictly at work. Somehow...I got over that feeling of isolation....it just doesn';t really bother me anymore.

I joined the gym...i feel more fit already =)

I cut my hair ...twice (lol)

I got my ears pierced (woo hoo)

Wally has decided to take a leave of absence from work so that he can study for his CFA and find something part time here in Korea =)

The weekend of June 15th, I went to Jeju-do. The most popular island in S.Korea. Wally and I stayed at the Hyatt and had the times of our lives in paradise. It was gorgeous, we lied on the beach, we swam in the ocean and we ate like pigs.....what more can a person ask for.

I just realized how much I travel lol.

S.Korea is coming into Monsoon season so it's raining cats and dogs over here. It was really nice and sunny up until today tho. So I can;t really complain. I heard it only rains hard for about 2 weeks....so I guess Monsoon season wont be so bad.

Overall, life has been good. I love this extended vacation/work thing. I can't help but think I'm a genius for getting myself into this lol. However, although I'm having a blast here I'm excited to see everyone back home. I'll be in Canada for summer break for July 24th-August 8th.