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.

The World is Flat

As I look around here in Korea I cant help but notice the drastic juxtaposition of two clashing cultures. For arguments sake I will call these two cultures the traditional culture and the K-pop culture. The tradition culture consists of women in Hanbok, folk songs, tea, temples and respect. The K-pop culture consists of women in mini-skirts, K-pop, bars and clubbing. Due to these two conflicting cultures I sometimes feel as thought I am living in a land of contradiction. Many Koreans fear the loss of their culture and I can honestly understand why as the younger generation does not seem very interested in their heritage. This of course leads me to beg the question, is my presense in Korea and my purpose of being here contributing to this loss of culture?

I have to answer that question with an indecisive yes and no. The yes side of the answer is inescapable. I am here as an embassador of the ever conquoring Western culture, spreading my language and consequently my culture. The result is a McDonald's and Starbucks on every corner and of course music like "Insomnia or Sorry Sorry Sorry" (music that I love by the way). I don't want to give the K-pop culture a negative wrap but I just want point out that it is drastically different from traditional Korean culture. Then again it is only natural for humans to evolve and modernize their behviour. Maybe holding on to a traditional past is futile anyways...who knows...

However, I also feel that my being here is contributing to a greater peace and understanding in the world. I now know a lot more about Koreans and because of that I also feel a bond with this country and it's people. I hope that the reverse is true as well and that the Koreans I have met have a newfound bond with Canadians and our culture as well.

Now for the "no" part of the answer. Ever since I've got here I've been really participating in and emersing myself in traditional korean culture. The number of temples, palaces and festivals are countless already just 2 months into my trip. So I think it's a two way street. My culture maybe rubbing off on them, bu theirs is rubbing off on me as well.