Out and About

Well, I took the old girl for a ride out to the country today. It is amazing how much my world has expanded since getting this bike. A 10 minute drive outside of the city and everything changes. People stacked on top of people quickly changes to vast fields of rice and small mountians.

I truly love driving this motorcycle. It is truly a feeling of freedom, and power and well....I just feel tougher somehow (sometimes I even snarl lol ).

Spring is here in Mokpo, and everything is blooming and beautiful. Sometimes I miss home, and I will see something that looks a little like home and just for a second I pretend that I am in Nova Scotia, on my way out to my sisters to visit.... I am really looking forward to my visit home in July. I am happy here, but Nova Scotia is home.

To get a clearer image, just click on the pictures.

Meet the Girls

Well, after careful consideration (and 3 weeks of waiting) I decided to say goodbye to my old stolen motorcylce and move on. So I bought a new one. Very nice bike, love to ride it and then yesterday I got a call fom the police in Gwangu (about 1 hour from my home) it turns out they found my old bike! I cannot believe it! I took the bus to Gwangu and went to the police station, and there she was! Very dirty, missing her mirrors, but she started up and I took her home. It was the longest I have ever been on a motorbike, and the fastest I have ever gone (a pitiful 80 km per hour). I had such a nice drive though. The country side is so beautiful, rich with the aroma of spring flowers. Everything is turning green and the mountains and stretches of rice fields are so amazing to look at. It is very different than living in the "city" of Mokpo (Mokpo is considered the "country" by people in Seoul). It got me to thinking, I would love to do a road trip around Korea. A few friends of mine here have motorcycles and they may be up for the adventure. October is a beautiful time here in Korea, and we all have at least 10 days off. It would be a great photo opportunity and a chance to really explore Korea. I will keep you posted on my next move. For now, I am going to rest my weary legs (feel like I have been riding a horse.... and not in a good way lol ).

Shit and other funny stories

I have, as many of you know, the tendency to attract series of unfortunate events. Sometimes they are my doing, sometimes it is just fate, but all the time (eventually) they are funny, and it leaves people saying "that could only happen to Christa". So I thought I had better write down some of these funny stories to entertain all you folks at home.

There are not very many western people here in Korea and they are so curious about me! Sometimes I feel like I am "representing" the western world when I am out and about. So, I try to put my best foot forward and make a good impression wherever I go. Well today before work I went swimming, and after my swim and shower I went to get changed. Well to my dismay in my early morning fog instead of putting my brown towel in my backpack, I put my brown PANTS in my backpack. So I had nothing to dry off with. So there I am (a spectacle on a good day) drying myself off with a pair of pants. I am sure that the women in the changing room now think that people from the western world do not use towels, they dry off with pairs of pants. Sorry Canada....not representing very well today!

So a funny story...
When I first arrived here in Korea (within a month or two) a bunch of us got together to go to Costco (a 2 hour train ride away). I don't know what I was going through, but I ended up buying over 300$ worth of Costco stuff. I had brought my suitcase so that was helpful. So I get to the train and cannot lift my suitcase so I sweet talk a man into loading it onto the train for me. I hop on the train and bend over to pull it the rest of the way in. I now have the suitcase with 300$ worth of food in it and I start moving backwards but suddenly I start slipping and sliding. I don't know why, I assume there is water on the floor or something like that so I don't really mind that much. But then I realize, "man I am really sliding around here, that can't be water". Thankfully I don't fall because what I am in fact sliding around in is human waste.....no not pee....I go off to the bathroom to clean up and there is, of course, no soap (very typical in Korea). So I have to steal some from the guys washroom. I am in there gagging and gagging, trying to clean my brand new crocks without throwing up. If my buddy Kim was there she would have been weak with laughter. So eventually, I am cleaned up and relatively sure I don't smell like shit so I head to my seat. All my friends are saying "where were you, what happened?" but before I could inform my friends a train employee came over to see me. What for? you ask Surely it is to ask if I am okay, or to bump me up to first class, or to give me a free drink....something, right? No, she is just making sure I actually have purchased a ticket to go for a slid on the shit train.

Back to Good

Well, things are MUCH better this week. No burns, lost money and nothing stolen. I wish I could say that my bike has been found, but no luck there. I have recently been asked to help create a curriculum for a workshop this summer. The people running it have 1/2 million dollars (American $) to spend on it. It will be unlike anything done before. I am so happy to partake in this, not only for the money ( it is ALOT!) but for the opportunity to make some much needed changes to the way English is being taught in Korea. I am "in charge" science. So I am putting together a very cool program that will show kids really fun and exciting science experiments. I am really looking forward to it. Another bonus lately, is that I have been offered extra money to teach extra classes. It will be a lot of fun I am sure. I will be teaching the same kids four times a week, and the classes are small. It is a great opportunity, and the money will be my travelling money this summer.
I am also doing very well with the exercise and eating well...more to follow.
I went out with the teachers this afternoon for a picnic. It was great. There are a lot of cherry trees here and they are all in bloom. It is so beautiful to see. There are so many blossoms that the trees look like they have just been covered in snow! It is really amazing to look at. After the picnic, we all went out to dinner. It was great, except one part....let me digress....
I went out to dinner with a friend once, and it was a restaurant that you cook your own meat...(very usual in Korea) an all you can eat kind of place. And there was the option of chicken. Well this person was totally turned off eating the chicken because there were chicken feet mixed in with the meat. I can understand that, but it would not keep me from eating it. Well, it got me to thinking...are we so removed from the fact that the meat we are eating was once alive? Does the nice little packages in the store help us to forget that the chicken breast was part of a living animal. I think that is sad. I think in order to really appreciate the meat we have, we should have to partake in the killing process once in awhile. You know, so that we don't forget that an animal gave their live so we could eat.....so back to the story....
We went to a chicken restaurant (I know, you did not see that coming) and I went around back to use the washroom. In the back is a chicken coop, and the chickens are in there clucking around thinking, "man this is great, all I have to do is sit here and someone brings me food!" I bet they are bragging to all their friends about the sweet setup they have. And then along comes a guy who drags one of the chickens out...and I know that that is going to be my dinner, and it is. I did not fall to pieces or anything, but it made me think about what I was eating. Unfortunately the teachers failed to tell me that the chicken (covered in a red sauce) was RAW!
There goes my appreciation for chicken.....