shape shifting over here on this side of the Pacific. This week, or today, to be more present about this whole thing, I am feeling really good. Two weeks ago, we got new schedules. Which means that I *don’t* have overtime anymore. Can I get a holla back on that one? Seriously. The 11 hour day was doing nothing for balance or joy in my life. I was living sort of like I was in college again. Mech. Eating late, sleeping SUPER late and generally feeling lackluster. But now, NOW, I get an extra hour/hour and a half to do whatever I want. I can do yoga. I can read. I can watch episode after episode of whatever crazy thing jim has “borrowed” (last night we started with speed racer…). It’s great.Yoga is back, I’m reading a great book (eat, pray, love), and we’re in the process of building a roof garden at school. Which is definitely givin’ me a feeling. I spent all of last weekend getting’ messy and dirty and pullin’ weeds and watchin’ crazy nature things happen in our little plot ‘o land in the sky.
we found green and black striped spiders and giant stick bugs and watched a praying mantis devour her lover and tried to explain why to an 8 year-old Korean girl whose father said, just don’t eat your husband’s head—good advice indeed. For a video of this truly bizarre Darwinian phenomenon, check this out:
we’re hoping to get the soil good and rich and plant some stuff this weekend. You have no idea how nice it is to have a project. For real.
I also started Korean classes. Woohoo! With some girls that I work with at the Gwangju
International Center. And I met some great people in my class who are normal and fun. I’ve been missing the connection and community factor here in a major way, so it’s totally amazing to feel like I can relate to people again and that I could actually build great friendships here. and be able to say, hey, could you please NOT hit me with your car, you jackass, when I’m crossing the street—or, yeah, I don’t think I really want this intestine soup that you’ve set down in front of me. thanks though. that’s fun.Other things that have happened in the past month:
Cooked up some live abalone at a joint in a very cool neighborhood (vegetarians, read on if you dare: these looked like tongues as they cooked. they definitely squirmed and popped as they cooked up in the plate. And they tasted delicious if not an extreme protein overload.
Went away for the weekend to the same beach that I went to the Mud Fest at – Daecheon Beach – in celebration of one year makin it together and the fact that the man was burning and we weren’t there to see it burn…twice. It rained all weekend, but it was lovely. With
the exception of a minor breakdown, it was a lovely time. We stayed in a cute little boutique-y modern hotel called the Motel Coconuts, we ate TONS of clams, jim spun some fire on the beach with some awesome homemade poi and taught me some skills (we attracted a crowd and even got some Korean kids who wanted to chat with jim after he was done), I got to go to the mud sauna which involved a regular old sauna with the extra added bonus of a trough of healthy mud to slather all over yer body (which I find fantastic – good for the skin you know…read the “steamin’ it up” post for more on my adventures in Korean saunas), ate fabulous food on Sunday that involved yummy sashimi served over cold veggies with the best chili sauce I’ve had here yet, and topped the trip off with a screening of La Dolce Vita in a café overlooking the beach complete with soju and a nice chat with an current air force guy/former raver (!).When we got back to Gwangju, we decided to try out western restaurant all our kids talk about – VIPS (Very Important People Service). It’s right across the street from the bus station, so we figured, what the hell. We knew it would cost us, but whatever. It was late. We were hungry. But alas, the experience was no less bizarre or circus-like than anything else we try to do in Korea. Though the menu was in English, and our server spoke to us in English, leading us to believe he ahd a grasp of the language, our meals were silly wrong – rare meat, wrong potatoes two times, no wine until the end of the meal. But the salad bar was ridiculous heaven. I actually ate smoked salmon with capers, horseradish and onions. The greens were out of control – Korea has all sorts of yummy stuff they grow that’s green. There were nachos and tacos and pizza and pasta. Lychee fruits, pineapple. Everything was yummy. Except for the part where I ordered a medium steak and got it rare. That was not yummy. But $60 later, we were satiated and laughing. Which is better than being starving and hysterical which I can definitely say has been the case for me, unfortunately (for me and for jim). And so concluded our anniversary/let’s burn stuff vacation.
Had a Chicken Man birthday –though I posted about my bday, I hadn’t yet gotten all the
pictures together from the bday party at school. One of my kids had a bday party on the same day as my bday, so there you have it. I got Chicken Man on my birthday, too. Check out the "funky chicken" post for more…Found the best bar ever in this city. It’s run by this great Korean guy who has an insane collection of cds and dvds in the bar. It’s small. It’s dark. It’s got sultry green walls. It caught our eye first because there are posters of wim wenders movies in the stairway leading to the street, and 2) because it’s called truffaut. For any of you movie crazies like me out there, truffaut is just about the coolest. Godard. Truffaut. Graham Atkinson turned me on to them.So, after a bizarre and unexpectedly yummy dinner at a bbq joint next door that was fashioned in the manner of an American GI bar circa 1950 (complete with camo canteens hanging from the chain link fence that lined the walls, US air force flight suits behind said fence, and tires spray painted silver bolted to the ceiling), we headed up those stairs to see what the mystery was. And wow. I was in awe. A whole wall of every movie I’ve ever loved or wanted to see. Jim Jarmusch collections. Takovsky. Godard, Italian, Spanish, French, American, German. Whatever. It was better than any video joint I’ve ever been in. and it was made for me! for ₩20,000 to join the club, you can take out 2 videos and keep them for 2 weeks. No rental fee. When you’re done being a member, you get the money back. Being in the bar was like walking off the street into a dark doorway in Barcelona. I am in love. Finally, character, personality and true devotion to something real in one of these bars. (there’s a bar called Che across the street from school. We went on one night hoping to find an ambience true to the name, but alas, it’s just another bar with pricey drinks, big couches and whiskey for ₩150,000 a bottle.
Went out to one of the biggest clubs in Gwangju with some other teachers from work. Definitely had a fabulous time. It was insane and totally ridiculous. See the “clubbin in korea” post for more.
Things at school got stirred up a bit with one teacher being fired and one quitting and being fired. I do wish the two teachers better fortune somewhere else in their lives. I hope it will bring some better balance to our lives at school as they depart.
In general, things are lookin up here. it’s an ebb and flow for sure. And I’ve got lots of work to do exploring all these crazy emotions here. but every day is a little better, and that’s all I can really hope for.
Much love to you all
catie
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Lovely
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