Adventures in Jeju Nights...

The picture above obviously isn't at night, but it does show our bikes lined up along the road. We're on the other side of the street guzzling water like maniacs. The bike at the back was the one I rode.

Now, as promised, our nights on Jeju:

Night #1: Jen, faster than a speeding bullet made it to our checkpoint long before Annelie and I. She set up a tent, took a shower and read a few chapters before Annelie and I pulled up to the campsite at darkness fell. We pitched my tent, slapping away biting insects all the while. That task completed, Annelie and I took our sweaty, stinky, tired, grimy selves off the the shower building...that was closed!!! We turned on dejected heels and took our sweaty, stinky, tired, grimy selves back to the tents. After chatting for a while over our Corner Store dinner and congratulating ourselves on completing Day One, we fell exhausted into our tents. Even though the loud children (and their parents) in the tent next to ours were unfamiliar with the word "bedtime", we managed to get a few hours sleep. The showers were still closed at 7:00 the following morning, so Annelie and I got our sweaty, stinky, tired, grimy selves back on our bikes and hit the road for another day.

Night #2: With no campsite to be found for our second night, we pitched out tents on a beach, along with several other groups of biker/campers. Annelie and I finally found a functioning shower room and scrubbed off two days of sweat, and promptly replaced it with beach sand. During the night, rain and thunder woke us from our beachy dreams prompting us to pick up our tents and move them under an awning on the beach. A few minutes later, the wind was so fierce even under the awning, that the sides of my tent were blowing in, reducing my floor space by half. With Jen's help I moved the tent further under the awning and was soon sleeping soundly again.

Night #4: Unable to find a beach or a campsite, Jen went above and beyond and found us a lovely room in a place Korean's call a 'Pension'. It had a bedroom, livingroom/kitchen, and a bathroom. It also had a washing machine - which by this time was a welcome convenience. It's best feature however, was one of those "Rainmaker" showerheads. What a lovely treat. All three of us slept like babies.

Night #5&6: We stayed on Udo Island in a pretty, but HOT Minbak (A minbak is similar to a pension, but cheaper). Again, it was nice to be spared the disadvantages of rain, sand and noisy neighbours. I like camping, and I like bike trips, but I don't know if I like the two of them together.

Stay tuned later for Adventures in Jeju Days.

Adventures in Jeju...

I'm happy to say we're back safe and sound from our cycling trip around Jeju Island. You can see the road we took on the map. It's the road that goes around the circumference of the island. The scenery was gorgeous, the people were so friendly, my bum hurt for days on end, and my pinkie finger on my right hand seized up from clutching the handle bar for hours on end. My bum has since recovered, but my finger hasn't yet.

Unfortunately, with my finger out of commission, and our internet server to be shut down later today for maintenance, I won't be able to post again until somewhere around Tuesday. In the meantime, I'll let you know you'll be looking forward to a 3 part Jeju series. Part One: Jeju nights. Part Two: Jeju Days. Part Three: Janice's Jeju internal monologue.

Adventures in disgusting chores...

Once in a while, as the evening approaches and I emerge from a heat induced stupor, I realize that some out-of-the-ordinary chores in my house need to be tackled. There are the usual out-of-the-ordinary things like: sorting, organizing and dusting my bookshelves, de-crumbing my toaster oven, getting rid of the plants that were pronounced dead some time during Lent, and vacuuming all the cat hair out of the fan. Then, there is the once-a-month task of cleaning the bathroom drain. After years of putting it off as long as possible (until the water was up to my ankles by the end of my shower), I have since developed a very efficient system. I know, efficiency and I aren't usually on speaking terms, but this was necessary. So, if you ever find yourself in Korea with a clogged bathroom drain - and unless you're a bald person who only showers once a month, you will have one - here's what you'll need: a plastic glove, some paper towel, a set of wooden chopsticks and a specially trained and certified supervisor. (Catticus is a good one.) Put the glove on one hand, and pick up your chopsticks with the other. Use the chopsticks to pry the cover off the drain and extracate the big, black clogged filter. Then, holding the filter in your gloved hand, pull out the clogs with the chopsticks. (It's best if you pretend it's noodles and not gungy hanks of slimy wet hair.) Plop the gunk onto the paper towel. When you're finished, put the filter and cover back using your gloved hand. Then, pick up the soggy paper towel and chopsticks. Hold them firmly in your gloved hand, then pull off the glove over the gunk in your hand and toss the whole lot in the trash. Finished. You never actually have to touch anything slimy.

I know many of you are (a) really grossed out now, and (b) never going to have to try this at home. Even so, you should never underestimate the usefullness of a set of wooden chopsticks and a plastic glove. Think about it. I'm sure there are some "I don't wanna touch it" chores around your house. Next time you're faced with something slimy, reach for the chopsticks. They're not just for Chinese take-out anymore.

Adventures in stuff I've never done before...

5:28am: The sun is rising, the cats are fighting, the eyes are opening, dagnabbit I'm awake.

5:32am: I'm on my bike cycling through the morning mist while the dew is still on the rice in the paddy fields. I've never seen 5:30am from a bicycle before. I've seen it through car windows, plane windows, airport windows and tent flaps, but never from a bike. It's really quite pretty and serene. I'm breathing deeply and enjoying the silence. I should do this every day.

5:59am: What on earth was I thinking, and why didn't I eat breakfast first? I'm never doing this again. Oh good! I'm nearly home.

6:00am: Hooray! I have a witness!! Annelie's just walking out the door with watering jugs on her way to the garden and can testify to the fact that I was getting home from a bike ride at 6am.

6:01am: I decide (against the wishes of my stomach) to accompany Annelie to the garden.

6:30am: Home from the garden, scarfed down a yogurt, drank another 500ml of water. Decide never to go biking at 5:30am ever ever again.

6:45am: Mmmmm, back in bed. Should have stayed here all along.

10:15am: Mmmmm, waking up again after a nice, long nap. Thinking maybe I'll go biking at 5:30am again tomorrow.

You may be wondering "Why all the bike stuff all of a sudden?" You may also be wondering why the Vikings never managed to maintain their settlements in North America, but I can't answer that one. I can answer the bike question though: in a week and a half, I'll be joining an expedition of 3 young women for a bike ride around Jeju Island. The island is located off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, and is really a volcano, so it's shaped like a cone. There's a 250km trail that goes around the circumference of the island and is apparently quite a nice way to spend a few days. Rumour has it that it can be done in 2-3 days. We're planning on 5 days, just in case. There are campsites all around the island, and the ocean is always close at hand if we need a swim to wash off the day's sweat and grime. The kicker is that until yesterday, I haven't biked more than 20-30 minutes at a stretch since about 1998. I usually just use my bike for transportation around campus, not for long bike rides.

Yes mom, I'll be wearing a helmet. (And probably also stuff a roll of Charmin down the back of my pants).

Adventures in ... Pink

I bought a new bike yesterday, and it was a sad, sad day in Janice Land when the only bike with the features I wanted was pink. If you look closely down near the pedal, there are rainbow coloured circles, and it says "SWEET". Hopefully after I get a black seat cover and handles, it won't look so much like Strawberry Shortcake should be riding it on her way to a tea party with Barbie. The good news is it has gears, which my old bike didn't. It was like riding around with the bike in 6th gear. I've also provided a close-up of some nifty accessories I got in Japan, including an umbrella holder and a cover for my basket (so certain hoodlums around here don't confuse my basket with a trash can). I've also got a light on the front that runs on the power I generate by pedaling.

I missed a good photo opportunity earlier this evening when both cats in my house were treated to a nice shampoo and shower. They were too quick for me afterwards and rushed off to lick themselves dry in private before I could capture their sad, soaked, scrawny selves on camera. Now I have to very soft, sweet smelling kitties who aren't talking to me this evening.

That's all for this hot and humid evening, and I promise never to post in this colour again.

Adventures in Japan...(Part III)

Before we left for Japan, I must admit I was a little worried about the cuisine. I'm skeptical of things like raw fish, green noodles and fermented salty plums. I needn't have worried. I was well fed during the trip.

I was terribly excited that Japan has Wendy's Hamburgers. I was happy to get a fix of Frosty's and non-McDonald's burgers. It was a treat I got to enjoy 3 times (twice in one day, my arteries are loathe to announce). Three times in ten days is a nasty fast-food wollop in 10 days, but I figure 3 times in one year isn't a bad deal...all 3 times just happened to be in one week.

I took a picture of the meal I purchased before getting on the train from Tokyo. These little 'lunch packs' are available at all train stations and come in handy when you're racing to catch a train and don't have time to stop for a meal. Even though it was cold, the beef was quite tasty, and the vegetables were nice (the brown stringy ones are bracken, not earthworms). The pine nuts on the rice was also a nice touch.

When we were in Sanda visiting Jen and Korey, we discovered a little thatched roof restaurant nestled into the woods beside a stream. It smelled so clean and fresh - like Canadian cottage country after an August thunderstorm, and as you can see from the pictures, all you could see around you was lush green, green, green. The noodles we had there were also delicious - and green, green, green! Soba, as the noodle dish is called, is supposed to be quite good for you. It was such a nice, surprising discovery tucked into the backwoods of Japan.

As tasty as Wendy's, Noodle houses and Train food were, the highlight meal was one that Jen's cousin treated us to. The restaurant itself was an incredible experience. The building was about 100 years old, and you would never know it was a restaurant from the outside. When you walk past, all you see is a doorway and a long flight of stairs going up. After removing our shoes, we were led up the staircase, down a hallway, down another flight of twisting stairs, then down to the end of another long hallway. The hallway had individual rooms along its length. We were led to a room at the end that had tatami mats on the floor, sliding wooden lattice-work doors, and a beautiful Japanese garden with a small pond just outside the floor-level window. In the middle of the room were two tables, each standing in a pit in the floor, so we sat on the floor, but our legs hung down into the pit. We sit on the floor alot in Korea, but my legs still get stiff or numb after a long meal. It was nice to trick my legs into thinking we were at a table. The meal itself was very tender beef, vegetables and tofu grilled by a skillful waitress right at the table. The atmosphere, presentation and flavours all combined to make what's likely to be the most (pleasantly) memorable meal of my life. (As you can see from the picture, I also got to drink Canada Dry Ginger Ale: another treat not obtainable in Korea).

Adventures in Japan... (Part II)

Our accomodations in Japan were always nice and clean. We stayed for a few nights in a Youth Hostel, a few nights with good friends who used to teach here but now teach in Japan, and a few nights in a Capsule Hotel. Originally designed for business men who missed the last train home - due to overwork, or overindulgence in the surrounding entertainment districts - these hotels offer everything you need for an "oops, I didn't plan to stay the night" night. While most capsule hotels cater only to men, a few cater exclusively to women, or, like the ones we stayed in, provide a 'women's only ' floor. In the picture on the bottom, you can see Jen's excitement over our unique-to-Japan (I think) sleeping arrangements and an overview of what the establishment looks like, while the picture on the top shows a closer view of what the inside of the capsule looks like. It's big enough to sit up in, and has a TV, a shelf, a light, a radio and an alarm clock. Although there are no doors on the capsules, there is a macrame curtain you can pull down and hook from the inside. The hotel provides clean sheets, pillow cases and pajamas. In the morning you can take a shower or bath in the bath house, where towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and body wash are provided. If you're really in a pinch, you can also buy a clean dress shirt, socks, and boxers at the counter downstairs. All in all, it's a clean, cheap place to spend the night. (Earplugs are suggested though - just in case.)

Adventures in Japan... (Part I)

My friend Jen and I arrived home last night after a 10-day adventure in Japan. Since I still have a week of vacation left with nothing planned, my next few posts will be re-capping my trip. Right off the top, let me say that I had a fantastic time and very much enjoyed the break. However, there are a few things I hope I will never ever do again...

1) Never start a vacation in a typhoon with a pair of canvas running shoes and a broken umbrella. Before we even reached the ferry terminal we were drenched and cold. By the time we arrived at the terminal, all the clothes I'd packed in my backpack were soggy, and we were dripping all over the floor.

2) When you board a ferry 2 hours after a typhoon has passed by and soaked you, don't think "Hey, a nice hot bath would be great right now." We were in the Japanese-style bath house onboard when we left the shelter of the harbour and hit open water. With a single heave, 1/2 the water in the tub splashed out onto the floor. Clinging to the side of the tub, we were tumbled and tossed and rocked and sloshed until we were queasy. I spent the rest of the night in my bunk willing my stomach to ride out the storm. By morning, the sea had calmed and we pulled into Fukuoka harbour around 8am, ready to catch the train to Kyoto.

3) After a night on a stormy sea, and a morning on a bullet train, don't expect your lunch menu to stay still when you finally sit down on something that doesn't pitch, toss, rock, sway or bump. By that time, my stomach was hunky-dory, but trying to convince the rest of my body that it was stationary was a bit tricky.

Adventures in Cognitive Leaping...

I couldn't sleep the other night, thanks to too much coffee, too much heat and too many neurons performing their synaptical dance. Instead of thinking of things to sooth, calm and lull myself, I ended up thinking about things that fascinate me. Not regular things like belly buttons and dryer lint, but things that really really fascinate me.

1) Cuneiform. Yes, that ancient stepping stone between expressing oneself through pictorgraphs, and expressing oneself through phonetic symbols. Imagine the cognitive leap between "I want to preserve information about a horse, so I'll draw a [stylized] representation of a horse" and "I want to preserve information about a horse, so I'll use a few arbitrary lines to represent it". In itself that's a pretty big leap...but then you've got to get all your educated buddies to recognize and conform to what your doing. Then, from that, comes the realization that by agreeing on arbitrary symbols, you can represent things other than nouns. All of a sudden you can start recording concepts like love, faith, adoration, and pride, for posterity. It's really amazing when you think about it.

2) Historical Fashion. In particular, the 18th and 19th Centuries can keep me occupied for hours. It's fun to make connections and see how changes in the political or social events of the time affect changes in fashion. Also, what moron invented the cinched corset, and why did women agree to wear it? And to think that the hoop skirt was actually considered a practical solution. Interesting.

3) Why on earth didn't I go into Museum Studies at university?

Adventures in Hecticicity

Yes, I said hecticicity. You know, when hecticification has occurred, resulting in a state of hecticicity. The word describes the final two weeks of the semester perfectly. Between setting, administering, grading and recording exams and scores, it's been a busy couple of weeks. The last two days have been especially busy with time divided between mind numbing paperwork and dealing with disgruntled students. ("I know I've earned a 'B', but why can't you give me an 'A' anyway?" or, worse yet, "I've earned an 'A', why did I get a 'C+'?"). I hate having to grade on a curve. Students with lower scores think they're entitled to a higher grade, just because there's space left in the 'A' section, and students with higher scores are punished with a rotten grade, even though they've earned an 'A'. Grrrrr.

After all that (and a lousy night's sleep on Thursday - stupid fighting alley cats) I didn't make it out of bed at 4 o'clock this morning to watch South Korea lose their chance at a spot in the Round of 16 in the World Cup. I woke up around 5, but didn't get up to watch the match. Campus was too quiet, so I knew we were losing. The first game we played was at 10pm, and we watched the game on a big screen in the Amphitheater. The next two games were at 4am. I got up to watch the first one, and ended up drifting off during the 2nd half, only to be awakened by a deafening roar coming from all the dormitories as Korea scored a tying goal. I didn't hear any roaring last night, so I knew South Korea bowed out of this years tournament with no goals in their final game. Luckily, England is still in the running, so I'm not left teamless in the next round. I'm still hoping Canada will eventually make it to a World Cup...haven't decades of dedicated Soccer Mom's been able to produce a winning national team yet? The first batch of 'em should be all grown up by now! C'mon guys, don't get your moms up at oh-dark-thirty in the morning for years, only to leave your nation stranded 18 years later!!

Since it's the fist day of my holidays, I'm still lounging (faffing, as my South African friends would say "faff" what a fun word.) in my pajamas contemplating a magnificent breakfast. I should let you in on a little secret though...I usually spend so long contemplating, that I get too hungry to make a magnificent breafast and end up with a bowl of cereal or a fruit smoothie. Sad, but true. Darn, and it just happened during the typing of that last paragraph. I think it was the parenthetical inclusion of 'faffing' that did it. Now I'm too hungry to make crepes with blueberry coulis. Cornflakes it is.

...why on earth do you guys keep reading this stuff????

Adventures in Aclimatization...

I now feel as though I've officially passed two very important milestones in my Korean adventure.

1) I must now have the right amount of kimchi, fermented soybean paste and tofu in my system to be attractive to Korean mosquitoes. This is my first year noticing multiple bites.

2) It's 31 degrees outside, and I wore a cardigan to class because I want to save my summer clothes for when it gets hot.

Adventures in Pyrotechnics...

The nice thing about living on a Korean campus is that there are fireworks to celebrate everything. This happens to be the 50th Anniversary of Daegu University, and celebrations kicked off tonight. Around 10:20pm, Catticus and I were sending off a couple of e-mails and getting ready to turn in for the night. Around 10:21pm, Catticus nearly fell of her perch as my windows rattled and the echo of the first boom faded away. I turned off the lights and headed for my balcony. My balcony has a perfect view of all campus fireworks displays. Tonight's display lasted about 15 minutes, and included some that I've never seen before. Some were shaped like hearts, and some just twinkled like gold dust. Next week is the student's festival, and there are usually fireworks both to open and close the ceremonies. I love fireworks. Catticus doesn't.

Adventures in Politics...

As you may have noticed, I don't blog about politics very often. It's usually because I have a tendency to tirade against idiocy - and then find out my facts are either incorrect or incomplete. I don't want my tirades against idocy to wind up being my own idiocy recorded for posterity. That being said, I think the connection below is pretty clear:

In 1998, hard-core Republicans were doing their best to oust Bill Clinton, by any means necessary. When asked "...why the Republicans would persue a course that was neither right nor constitutional, [Newt] Gingrich replied, 'Because we can.' ".*

I think there are thousands of folks in Afganistan and Iraq, thousands of folks who have had their phones monitored and thousands of folks who haven't seen an increase in mimimum wage since the Clinton Administration (...insert any other examples you can think of here) who illustrate exactly what happens when a group of people that act unconstitutionally when they're not in power are granted power. They wind up consistently ignoring both international and domestic laws...because they can.

*Clinton,Hillary. Living History. New York: Scribner, 2003.

Adventures in Citrus...

A parcel arrived today from my sister. Included in the wonder-box were some things I didn't have room for in my suitcase at Christmas. While I was in Canada, I was fascinated by all the new and exciting items filling the shelves at Shopper's Drug Mart*. One of the the things I picked up was some Crest Citrus Splash*. Today was the first time I tasted it, and now I have a dilemma. On one hand, I love the taste of it. It tastes like an orange Creamsicle*, so after dinner if I'm feeling like some dessert, I can just brush my teeth instead. Same taste, fewer calories and fights cavities! On the other hand, since I'm a fan of citrus, I also use Febreeze* citrus air freshener...so my new toothpaste also tastes like the smell of my bathroom when I'm trying to make it not smell like my bathroom. Korea has a pine flavoured toothpaste, which I simply can't use because it tastes like Pinsol* bathroom floor cleaner. I think I'll be okay if I don't brush my teeth immediately after using the air freshener, or I could keep my toothpaste in my fridge, so that when I brush my teeth I'll really feel like I'm having a snack. See, I told you it was a dilemma.

*Good Heavens, that's a lot of name brands in one Blog post!

Adventures in Livestock...

This morning as I was rushing down the hallway in the Agricultural College building, I was acosted by, and nearly tripped over, a chicken. It darted out of a supply cupboard, clucking and squaking like...well, like a chicken. (No surprise there really.) While all the other buildings on campus are generally wildlife free, it's not unusual to be visited by cats, birds, rabbits, or puppies in this particular building. I wonder what it was doing in the cupboard? Maybe I'll look for some fresh farm eggs next time I'm going by.

Adventures in Tree Climbing...

I was thrilled when my niece showed a proclivity for climbing trees. I felt that perhaps it was time for me to give up climbing trees, and be content to leave the height-defying arboreal acrobatics to the young. Then, I read this article about Keith Richards (guitarist for The Rolling Stones) climbing a tree at the age of 62. Okay, he eventually fell out of the tree and got a concussion, but the fact remains that he was climbing. I think I should be on the safe side if I stop climbing at ... oh, maybe ... 60. That still leaves me 30 good tree-climbing years. Maybe K and I can climb together next time I'm home. Wait a minute, now that I think of it, my great-grandmother fell out of a tree at a nearly great-grandmotherly age. Mom, how old was she?

Adventures in Quick Naps...

I got home yesterday shortly before 1pm, and since my pottery class doesn't start until 2pm, I changed into my potting clothes, and flaked out on my bed for a quick 5-minute rest (I can't really fall asleep in 5 minutes, so these rests don't usually turn into naps). The cat curled up next to me, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up with the residue of some kind of Mermaid and Potato dream clearing itself from my brain. I stretched and looked at my watch, thinking I'd better hurry if I was going to make it to pottery on time. Wasn't I more than a little surprised to realize that 3.5 hours had passed! I'd missed pottery AND 1/2 of Oprah. On the other hand, I'm really glad to have a job where a 3 hour mid-afternoon snooze doesn't get me fired! I'll enjoy it while I can.

Adventures in Mischief Perpetrated upon William Blake...

(If you've never read William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, you should take a look at "The Lamb" and "The Tiger" before reading this post. It won't take long; you can Google 'em.)

I was curled up with my l'il cat this morning, and found myself quoting William Blake. Sadly, my cat is neither a lamb, nor a tiger, so my renditions needed to be altered. This was the result, with prolific apologies to Mr.Blake:

On Good Days ~
(From 'The Lamb')

Little kitty, who made thee?
Does thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee purr
Coating all my pants with fur;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender meow,
Sounding better than a cow?
Little kitty, who made thee?
Does thou know who made thee?

On Bad Days ~
(From 'The Tiger')

Kitty, kitty, taking flight
In the kitchen at midnight,
What imaginary fly
will you chase ‘til dawn is nigh?

Kitty, kitty, sharp'ning claws
On the furniture at all hours, (If you say this bit with a fake accent, it rhymes)
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? (Just like Blake himself expected these last two lines to rhyme)

Happy 80th Birthday!

Yup, Her Majesty is celebrating her 80th Birthday. I don't really have much to say about it, I just figured I would mention it. I've always been a fan of the monarchy, although I think is has more to do with a fascination for the gowns and glitter than for the job itself. Either way, I think the Queen has managed to hold on to a tough job with poise and dignity for a really long time. Having said all that, I honestly don't know the lady very well. Oh, sure, we've had tea together a few times, and there was that time in '99 that I lent her five bucks, because she 'forgot her purse at the palace', but beyond that, we're not all that close.

When I was a kid and had to clean the bathroom, I used to imagine that the Queen was going to stop by. It was on those days that I actually scrubbed all the nooks and crannies I could find...until I got bored and switched to pretending I was a TV commercial and I'd try to sell myself some shampoo instead. Once in a while, I'd imagine the Queen stopped by and I would try to sell her some shampoo. It never occured to me that she might not be in the market for 1/2 a bottle of Pert Plus. Maybe I should have sent her some for her birthday. It's got to make a better gift than the two black beavers Canada gave her once. At least shampoo is practical. What was my country thinking??

Adventures in Yellow Dust...
Spring is such a conflicted time here in Korea. On one hand, the cherry blossoms are fluttering to the ground like pink snow and the lilacs are starting to produce their gentle purple fragrance. On the other hand, China has started exporting it's noxious yellow dust. Every spring, wind picks it up from the Gobi Desert and hurls it across the Yellow Sea directly into the lungs, eyes, teeth and icecream cones of the residents of South Korea. From the picture above, you can see one of the storms that passed over the Korean peninsula recently. (It's the big dusty looking swoosh to the right of the picture...yup, there it is. You've found it now. The big mass of yuck that's not clouds, water or land.) From my perspective (ie, not one from a satelite) it just looks like a hazy, hazy day. However, don't let those tiny particles fool you into thinking they're harmless. The icky bits (particles) in today's dust were 2-3x higher than what US officials consider a 'hazardous' health concern. That's in Daegu. Seoul had twice as many icky bits. We usually get several dust storms a season, and hopefully we'll get rain tomorrow to dampen the spirits of this latest one before either my lungs or my icecream become permanently damaged.