great day, great week, great life - Sept 26

Hello again!

So, it's been over a week.

Last weekend, it was Chu-sok, which I may be spelling wrong. Bascally, it is Korean Thanksgiving. That means I had time off, and so did Jessie. We did what anyone would do if they were visiting a foreign country during a HUGE national holiday. We sought out other foreigners.

Yes, we went to Seoul to see Steve (for those of you who don't know, and old friend of mine from high school) and his girlfriend Crystal. They have a wonderful little loft apartment, and they live in a Seoul outskirt called Bucheon. Getting there may be half the fun, but for us, it was half the story.

We were every bit the conscientious travellers, tickets purchased well in advance, field notes ready with translations of "Please take me to the bus station" ready for cab-drivers. Well, we arived at the bus station in time, we thought. Of course, we were being very stupid, because we assumed that a bus would be waiting for us. It wasn't. We went from being early to being late with one easy wait. We arrived at the Naju bus station with eleven minutes to get to the train station. I had my note ready, with a ticket ready to show to convey our sense of urgency... and I dropped it. apparently. Halfway there, I asked Jessie if she had her ticket, because I had only one. She didn't. I freaked. I flailed around in the cab like a dog chasing it's tail trying to find the ticket. But, it was nowhere. Or, more likely, lying next to where the cab had been parked. Anyways, it all seemed pretty hopeless. We probably wouldn't make the train, and we only had one ticket anyways. We were goign to try, and then try to explain our situation if the need arose. We ran into the station, which was empty enough to be discouraging. We ran through a turnstile (not realizing we were supposed to have swiped our tickets), and got onto the train about twenty seconds before the doors closed behind us. We were so lucky!

Luckily for Jessie, she possesses the magical ability fall asleep on command. I, do not. I did, once, when I was a younger lad, but now I just have to count away the minutes. I am especially bad at falling asleep when I am worried sick, which I was. My stomach was turning with all the possible scenarios that awaited us when a steward came to check tickets/police were waiting for us in Seoul. Well, no ticket collector came, which worked out well for me, but there was still the second turnstile as we got off the train. It was busy, so there was no way we could run through it without swiping... and my mind was racing with possible scenarios that awaited us as we set off countless alarms, two non-Korean speaking foreigners with one ticket. You know the scene in twelve monkeys, where Bruce Willis is running through the airport check-in area with a Hawaiian T-shirt and fake moustache and a wig, and he gets shot in the back with a young Bruce Willis looking on, unknowingly witnessing his own execution? That was the scenario I affectionately called "worst case".

Anyways, to the left of the turnstiles, there was a big area, with no ticket-swiping slot, and very few people. We made a break for it. We passed thorugh. There were no angry calls from behind, no people chasing us, and no six-year-old Matthew with his Brown sweater with the dog face on it witnessing me getting shot in the back. Somehow, we had basically stolen two train rides. True, we had one ticket, and had paid for two, but at no time was that ever questioned. I still can't believe that nothing worse happened, and I haven't slept in a week.

Other highlights included:

A trip to the national palace museum on the busiest day of the year. If you like kicking heels and having your heels kicked, I highly recommend it! Also, Jessie dropped a pamphlet into the main palace building, so maybe you can save yourselves a trip to the gift shop!

Going to the market in Seoul, a place that should have literally been a sea of heads (okay, not literally, unless you mean fish heads), on a holiday which sees Seoul empty out, ie, it was all closed and no-one was there. But I got a cool shirt!

Getting to vent about Korean craziness to sympathetic ears without having to worry about offending anyone, thank god, I was about to explode!

Drinking too much Hite and going to a DVD-bang, the greatest invention since the BYID card. Basically, it's a private theatre for you and three or four friends.

And the wildest coincidence in history: I ran into a student who was in my english-conversation group at Queen's. That's right. One of the three Korean people I knew before coming to Korea.

This is getting too long, so I will continue the highlight format for the remainder:

Wicked teacher workshop, spent talking about Chusok, and how much work it is for women in old-fashioned families, where the wife of the oldest son is expected to prepare for the whole family. Guess who was the wife of the oldest son in my group? The teacher who has two other jobs! Man, she could not buy a break. But she's saving up! She has three jobs! Basically, hearing about Korean Thanksgiving is the first thing so far that has made me homesick (Sorry mom and dad, I think I have an emotional deficiency in that regard). I'm really going to miss Thanksgiving in the Ottawa Valley...

Eating popsicles three or fours times a day. Basically, it's the only way to get cool without air-conditioning, and the only way to get chocolate of any quality.

After four weeks of Sunday-night pizzas, finally learning to ask that they not put corn on it. (Aniyo oksusu!)

Eating the hottest wings of my life, almost stamping a hole in the floor, and crying like a little girl.

Hearing 40 13-year-old-girls sing "Hit me baby, one more time" as a pronunciation exercise.

KILLING my co-teacher at Scrabble in front of his class, in spite of my best efforts to not embarass him, and literally HATING every minute of it. Seriously, you just can't do that in a country that values saving face! I don't know how I will crawl out of that hole...but it was inevitable when our three letter words stacked up like "eat" (3 points) and "hex" (32 points with triple letter score).

Playing pingpong after class with the Boys' school president, getting KILLED.

Taking my first run in years, and wishing I could cut my legs off afterwards. Also, looking like a jackass with my ipod while running. Just like Jennifer Aniston (Damn you and your tabloids mom).

Anyways, more to come...

And I'm thirteen hours ahead of you all there in Southern Ontario, just so you know.