Blah Blah Blog
Annyoung,
Ssup?! Hey, it’s been awhile. Been a long while. Well, sadly, I’ve been so sick for the last 2 and 1/2 weeks that I’ve had very little of interest to write about. This has been perhaps the most hellish bug I’ve ever played host to. It is kicking my honky ass all over the penninsula. It started right around the time of my girlfriend’s arrival… maybe two days prior. I felt a bit off-colour, a bit wobbly in the knees. I puked a few times, inexplicably. Nicole got sick, too. Slowly, her symptoms went away, and my symptoms morphed into new ones altogether. My nausea continued for sometime, but eventually, it was totally outshone by newly arrived head-cold symptoms. I’ve been to two doctors. The first one had a look down my throat, and I watched him grab a steel instrument to push on my tongue with. I then watched him throw the used instrument back into the container he had just obtained it from! And people wonder why they get colds here! I’ve taken more pills in the last month than in the last two years combined, much to the displeasure of my ailing liver. Currently, three times a day, I am taking a bulky cocktail of seven multi-coloured pills and capsules of mysterious content. I happen to know it includes antibiotics. This bug has seriously dragged me down.
You ever have mono? This illness feels like that, minus the swollen throat. But just standing up a week ago felt like lifting a car after fasting for a week. And we all know how that feels! Well, we did venture out a few times regardless of my pale, worn appearance, listlessness, and incessant moaning. We went again to Nampo-dong, the shit-smelling shopping district. We walked for several hours in a place called Gukje Market, a fairly famous spot for buying anything from knock-off clothes to digital cameras, from live eels to freshly liberated pig’s heads. No shit. And of course, I had my camera, but it wouldn’t work for me (it’s okay… I’ve got my eyes on the new Nikon D50, and am hoping to buy it in the next few months). But yeah, this one narrow alleyway was lined with monstrous pig heads, all staring out and looking rather miserable. It was morbid, and kind of cool to see. I had photo opps jumping out at me at every turn (not to mention over-zealous sales people), but I have nothing to show for it because of my fudged camera (leaving me with nothing but memories made sloppy and warped by too many cold tablets).
Nicole is here, as many of you know, and she is teaching at my school. She has her own kindergarten class, and is picking up extra work at night. Within a week or two, we’ll be dragging in a solid 6 ‘G’z a month. It’ll all be worth it. All the vomit and stomach cramps. And the salsa (Korea’s actual word for ‘the shits’). And the month long flu bugs I’ve been privaleged enough to become intimate with… twice now, in my mere 2 and 1/2 month stay here. And the spoiled brats. And the bad instant coffee. And the… !
No, it’s all good. For example, on the Nampo-dong outing, we were helped at least three times by overly helpful Korean people. There are so many nice people here that the tough old ladies which push you out of line or the grumpy, spitting, staring business men are easily forgotten. We occasionally order food in. We can get a great spread of assorted sushi (called cho-bap here) delivered to our apartment for about $14. And last weekend, Nicole and I sat in bed drinking coffee on Saturday morning and watching people surfing across the street! So, yeah, while the surfing is not nearly epic here, it is here, and as soon as I get a lot healthier and a little wealthier, and one of those little storms blows in off the East Sea, I’m going down to the surf shop to rent me a drysuit and a longboard. Kite surfing is taking off here, too. It looks like a blast. But I can’t afford a start-up like that. No, I’m focused: two or three books a month, a laptop, a digital SLR, semi-retirement starting, well, about 10 years ago, and a little piece of land in paradise…. and maybe a week in the Phillippines somewhere along the way, too.
As far as teaching goes, I am definitely getting much better at it. I also have a great deal of respect fo teachers now, because it really is difficult, and certainly is a noble craft. It is like surfing waves of chaos. It’s always precarious. You’re constantly dealing with so many dynamics at once, in one little room, namely with children, little volcanic or egg-shell egos, and the possibility for complete disorder is always very close. Hats off to all the teachers of the world. I think when I come back to Canada, I will continue to teach. I’d have to say that I really like it, as exhausting as it can be.
Anyway, unfortunately, I will be posting no new pictures of Korea for awhile. Hopefully, shortly, I’ll have more riveting things to write about than kindergarten kids or the colour of my cold pills. I miss you Rocky Mountains, Starlight Challenge, family, friends, NHL hockey, hot wings, good beer, English book stores, etc, etc. Until we’re all drinking soju and dark Canadian draft by a fire in a ski chalet together somewhere next Christmas,
Cheers!
Su Tee Bun
PS. Most importantly: Say no to Jumbo Resort! Go here: http://www.keepitwild.ca/ . Or vote NO (question of the week, far right-hand column) here: http://www.kootenayadvertiser.com/ . Thanks for keeping me up to date, Jim and Christy.
