Last Night in Korea



I know I should do SOMEthing...

 So I've been sitting in my hotel room most of the evening just kinda stalled into stillness.  I've been reading my book (maaaaaan, I love the e-reader I got for Christmas!) and drinking too much pepsi and I've had 2 baths (yep, count 'em, 1-2!!).  My stuff is strewn all over the bed and though I keep thinking I should try to fit it into my 2 bags, here I am still laying here.  I'm still avoiding the wild piles of email, charging my camera battery, my e-reader, my MP3 player, and DOH!! slapping myself in the forehead for leaving my computer's cord (the one I sent home) plugged in on the floor when I packed it up... hopefully there's a postal outlet at the airport in the morning!! (come now, anyone who knows me knows I couldn't leave this country without forgetting SOMEthing, lol)


Camped out at Tom n' Tom's

Earlier I went to Tom n' Tom's (a local coffee shop where you get free wireless if you just buy a coffee or something... me, I always get the pepperoni pizza pretzel set) and used the netbook for a little while.  I bought an ASUS Eee PC for $240 online and I am loving it so far... it should make it much easier to write while I'm away - it's such a cute, tiny little thing!  It's battery life isn't awesome, but I should probably check my power settings before I complain too much!  They were playing some great jazz music, so it was nice to just sit there and veg out, watching the world go by on the streets of Itaewon outside the window in the freezing gale of wind below.

The universe was on my side today, and even though I slept in until 745 I still managed to get all of my crap done today... I finished packing the crap that I dragged with me to the hotel and carried the ridiculously heavy box to the post office to send; I transferred money home, I cancelled my cell phone (which hasn't worked in weeks anyway), and I went to the pharmacy...



Allowed into Bangladesh!!

 I finished uploading books and music and a couple of movies, I picked up my passport and my shiny Bangladesh visa, and I mailed a schwack of boxes off from the post office.  I also went by the school to say goodbye to the boss and his wife ("Class Mom" we call her) and her little sister Terry... that was all good and fine (no tears, I swear!) until Class Mom started crying when I hugged her goodbye - then, I was a mess.  Damn, and I was doing so good!!

Last Day of School, Playing with the Girls

Boss tried to drag me into the teacher's office saying "Come back to work, I have a spot for you right here!" and he shook my hand and hugged me 5 times asking me to come back as soon as I could, promising me all the contents of the heavens if I'd just come back to work for him again... it was a nice way to leave, and much different than I expected.  I also got to say goodbye to a few of my older kids, which was also a pretty wonderful treat (I intentionally went when they wouldn't be there so I didn't mess with their new-teacher vibes).

I have one more stop to make in the morning before I catch the bus to the airport, to drop something off for one of my kids at her mom's clinic, and then I'm off to the bus.  That being said I should probably go to bed soon, but first I must deal with this freakin' mess, lol.. morning will be here all too quickly... so, well, goodnight!!

Final Farewells



Goodbye Girls!



Boss came and took away all my furniture on Saturday to give to the new teacher. That's right, the new teacher got ALL the furniture (even though she moved in early), and I was left in my apartment with only a couple blankets and my pillows, lol. Okay, so I made that sound worse than it really was... the funny thing? It's exactly how I moved IN to Korea, so it was appropriate that that's how I'm moving out as well.

I officially moved out of my apartment on (what day is it today!?!) Monday night after working until 7pm, and I've been at a hotel since then. Hotels in Korea are not cheap in this neighbourhood, it's costing me $70/night to be here - outRAgeous, really! That's what I get for working/living in the fancy-schmancy richpants neighbourhood of Bundang :)

You made Korea ALL kinds of fun :)

The hotel is nice (though it's covered in piles of my stuff), it has a soft (by Korean standards) bed, a sofa with a coffee table, free coffee and green tea, and a computer with wireless. If I could make Skype work on it that would be the bomb, but I'm fine without it really.  It has a giant TV (with a DVD player and VHS that I just noticed), and the fridge has water and juice and cookies and crackers that are all free for the noshing. Mostly I'm enjoying the giganticness of the bed, and the hot hot bubbles of the jacuzzi tub after ALL that freaking time being restricted to my hard-as-a-rock bed and the apartment's showers only!

See you in Vietnam!!!

I've spent this last week saying goodbye to everything here.  Goodbye to my young Korean-teacher friends, goodbye to moms of the girls I taught at home, goodbye to other ex-pats that I've been so happy to get to know since 2003, goodbye to my kids in the classroom and at home, goodbye to their parents...

Goodbye shellfish BBQ!

I've had my last in-country shellfish bbq with Barb, my last Korean bbq with Jill (we forgot about noraebang/karaoke!), my last shabu-shabu (also with Barb), and my last night out with $5 drink all night and dance up a storm at the Loft (my terribly favorite dirty little hole in the wall in Seoul) with Jill and Katie.

See you in Canada!!

Laying around here tonight I don't even feel sad about most things, I feel kinda empty, maybe it's better to describe it as numb.  Tomorrow I have a list of things to do, (go to the bank, cancel my cell, mail packages home, repack my travel bag, pick up my passport from the Bangladeshi Embassy in the one alloted hour, say goodbye to one last friend), pay for another night at this hotel...

I'm not feeling that stressed about it, but I am feeling a little frozen.  As a matter of fact, the only thing I'm thinking about is having another bath, disappearing down in the bubbles with my music on and the candles lit... relaxing.  So, off I go then!

See you soon in India!!

The more I make room and distance myself from Korea so that I can allow my heart to get on the plane, the more I also feel myself distance from other things in life that I just can't carry around in my backpack for the next 5 months.  To my friends and loved ones at home and abroad I'll keep in touch as I can (both with the constraints of technology and the self-imposed limits on time spent online vs. experiencing the countries I'm in), but please don't take my absences personally.  MOM: I PROMISE TO WRITE SO YOU KNOW I'M ALIVE AND WELL! 

Oh, and I just checked my inbox... 74 emails in my inbox - really world??!  That just made me run away, lol, I'll get back to it later, maybe at the airport, lol...

Goodbye Korean BBQ in Korea!

As the ancient taxi driver last night reminded me, I'm about to "recommence studies in the university of life."  I went into Itaewon to meet a friend and on the way home the driver really said that to me after asking about my travel plans (I'd only mentioned Bangladesh, Nepal and India by that time)... "Why are you going to very poor countries to have a trip?  You don't like to go to Guam? To Saipan?" 'I don't want beaches and resorts, I want to see what life is like there... I want to see the country, I want to feel what it's like to spend time there, in the country and with the people...'.  "Ah, you are a student of life... you have a new job now, you will study at the university of life." 

Strange as it sounds, he's right, it's a big world out there, and there's just so much to get to know and understand - and not ALL of it is out there, but helps me figure out stuff on the inside too. 

The next 5 months are going to be amazing for all kinds of reasons, and it starts in 2 more sleeps. 

2.

More.

Sleeps.

Thursday morning my flight leaves at 9:40.  That means I can check in around 6:40, be the first in line to deal with my visa at immigration when they open at 7, which means I leave my place here around 5:15am to catch the first airport express bus the heck outta dodge... wow!

Sleepover!!

Watching the CareBears Movie
(and totally ignoring teacher of course!)

 Sandy (the most energetic 5-year old with ants in her pants that you have EVER met) and Margaret (grown up for her 6 years, loves to be the centre of attention), the two little girls that I teach at home on Tuesdays came for a sleepover on Friday night.  Their moms can't remember the last time they had a night at home without their kids, so I invited the girls to come to my place for the night.  Sandy has never spent the night away from her mom before, but she is fearless so we weren't really worried. 

When mom dropped them off it was hilarious, because she was in my apartment yelling "teeeeeeacherrrrrrr!" while I was the only one hanging out saying goodnight to her mom.  Poor mom, I think it was sad for her to leave without her daughter tugging at her pantlegs to stay, lol... when it's time for our class she is usually shoving her mom out the door with both hands with a "see you later mommy, it's my classtime now, bye!!!!"... This, from the little girl who in March took one look at me and screamed for her mom to stay - she's so grownup now!!

 



Margaret's favourite thing is the new cell phone
her grandpa bought her to start elementary school with!



The girls and I had a great time, really!  They were in their jammies before I even came in from the porch and saying goodnight to mom, they were so excited.  They came over when I finished teaching Friday and we made spaghetti together... not much to that, right?  Of course I forgot to take photos because I was too busy making sure they didn't burn down my kitchen, but we had lots of fun!  There was spaghetti sauce EVERYwhere, but that's just what I consider a consequence of those under 4 feet tall being in the kitchen!  :)

 After dinner we made some pictures for their mommies with stamps and markers and cutouts (they love to draw of course) and then we watched the Care Bears (which was a little creepy, when compared to what I remember them looking like when I was a kid!).  The girls loved the movie, and it was all I could do to get them to EAT once it was on, lol... they were very cute...



Sandy rolled around on my floor like
a human mop, lol, she loves ballet - I think
this was the snake ballet!



Once the movie ended we put away our dishes and I put on my jammies and we all brushed our teeth.  We did manicures (very grown up, that is!) and played Guess Who together, and then we had a mini dance party (because man Korean kids looooove dance parties!) to some good ole' dance music. 



When it was coming on midnight I figured I should probably start getting them wound down into bed.  We did the toothbrushing facewashing routine and the three of us piled into bed - it was just like I remember sleepovers with all the giggling and silliness.  After about 20 minutes they were quiet enough to start falling asleep, and I was pretty impressed.  I had promised pancakes in the morning, so that got them quiet (ahhh, successful bribery - yay!). 

About 4 hours later after the 3rd time I got kicked hard in the shin by Margaret (she dreams of soccer I think!), and the 5th time I woke to catch Sandy from rolling off the edge of the bed (she decided to curl up at the end of the bed, lol) I moved my butt to the sofa to sleep.  I didn't really sleep any more between then and when the girls woke up at 8, between making sure Margaret wasn't kicking Sandy in the head, and that Sandy wasn't rolling herself off the bed - I was on watch, lol.



When they finally woke up we watched an episode of Magic Schoolbus all snuggled up in blankets, and then we made strawberry pancakes and my friend Jill (another teacher they know) came down to have breakfast with us.  When I brought out the vanilla ice cream the girls were beside themselves, they thought it was the best thing ever to have ice cream for breakfast, lol. 




They both enjoyed their pancakes and icecream
(and not necessarily in that order!)

 

They had a great time mixing the batter and pouring in all the ingredients and cracking eggs and stuff, and hardly ANYthing wound up on the floor - it was incredible!!  :)  The pancakes turned out perfectly, and it was as though we hardly finished before mom was back to pick them up... I can't say they were well put together (I hadn't combed their hair or done anything more than getting them into their clean clothes), but they were in one piece, and they were so happy.

Me too, what a great way to start my weekend!!  I'm going to miss Korea, a lot.

We're Booked!

So the flight is booked, I am leaving on the 16th at 9:45am in the morning out of Edmonton, arriving in Korea late afternoon on the 17th. Korea is 8 hours ahead of us timewise, so I'll lose some time that way. I never mind so much so long as I can catch a wink or two on the plane. It's a bit of an odd feeling, leaving, of the 'parting is such sweet sorrow' variety. I'm going to miss a lot of things, and life is certainly about to go through some major shifting, but I am just now starting to get really really excited about the adventures ahead.

S and I are trying to figure out what it will all look like, as she has decided upon a new-old adventure of her own. Maggie has all of her vaccinations and travel gear (though I have yet to get her into the carrier bag without much screeching and squawking), I have some new luggage and a few new pieces for the wardrobe (I don't think I'll be ready for the "you too fat!" comments right away, I hope to put off shopping for clothing in Korea as long as possible). I'm heading up to spend some time with Mom in a couple of days, and this past few days with the besty and god babies have been really great. One more stop for a bit of shopping for shoes and undies post-final-payday and I'm all set.

I'll find out more later this afternoon about the Bundang job and the apartment when I talk to the school, hopefully everything is going to be all set up before I arrive - that would be rockin'! So today is the 7th, 9 more sleeps and I'm hoppin' the plane, woohoo! It's a little baby 'woohoo' for now, but it's growing...