Exhaustion!

I titled this post Exhaustion because at times this week i've felt my body at an almost breaking point! Not only am I mentally tired but also physically lathargic and feel immobile. It might be a combination of things, lack of satisfying foods, lack of sleep from living on a loud street and also constantly being surrounded by things that are moving. Everyday I witness bikes, vans, cars, busses, motorbikes, trucks and pedestrians go by at a fast pace. It's been overwhelming so say the least. If I can't see them then I can hear them. I'm definitely not used to that. My morning commute to work is either a crammed bus ride with men in suits or joining the herd of students down the street! haha, either option I'm on display for people to stare and call out at me.

Mainly I think the heat is really tiring! So when I went hiking on Saturday with my super excited, energetic co-teacher Christine I didn't know if I'd make it up the mountain without falling over from exhaustion.
Here we are together, she's bright and cheery and I look like death! We also visited a blacksmith village. It was on the edge of Guri in a more natural area, quite pretty and even quiet!

In my second week in Korea I have gotten up to a lot of new things. Its been fun but again tiring. I forgot how exhausted I felt in Japan at first and add the horrible heat to it and living in my current apartment, I can barely function. Here are some random pictures of the events of the last week. I attended a hip hop concert with a teacher and her friend. It was quite the event. I felt like we were at a premiere for a movie or the Grammy's. They shuffled everyone in as if we were walking the red carpet, people stopped for photos and we got free food and drinks.

I'm not the biggest hip hop fan, but from what I could tell it was quality music, good beats and the crowd loved it. The opening DJ (below) was super lame though. He only played cheesy top 40 dance music from 20 years ago. I found that quite humorous!

I've been super fortunate to meet up with Melissa and Julius a few times now. We've gone for drinks and dinner and shared many stories about teaching in Korea. They've been a big help and it just is good to be around people from home who you can relate to. Melissa and I went yesterday to get my bangs chemically straightened which was fabulous! and CHEAP! for under 10 bukcs I got a straight perm, a hair wash and style, juice and he even gave juice to her! It was amazing. I especially liked the hair stylist warning signal he did just before using the hair straightener!

Anyung!

Sometimes I don't even know why I write blogs, it seems they never actually post and I end up doing them atleast twice before it gets done right. But here it is, for the second time, my new blog an anecdote of hillarious happenings in Guri, South Korea.

WELCOME!

In the picture below we have the good-bye crew at the Regina Airport. It was a tearful one. As you can see from the empty chair while I took this picture I have already become a void in the lives of these amazing people. Thanks for the good bye wishes Wanda, Can and Anne. I love you and miss you!I arrived Friday night and despite being super tired from travelling I could not fall asleep. It was sooo NOISY and so hot! I remember thinking as I finally dozed off this was going to be a long year as the noise from the traffic was sooo loud and it went all night. I didn't sleep well and woke up early to the sound of pouring rain. Saturday was actually a really hard day. Since it was rainging I didn't want to leave, but I started to notice how dirty, moldy and smelly my apartment was. I kinda woke up to a nightmare. By 3pm, I HAD to leave despite the fact I had no umbrella and didn't know where I should go. I ended up finding a convenience store, bought a cheap umbrella and found a place with internet. Below you can see the gloomy day, and my apartment. Its the brown one directly in front of the busy intersection!!!
Thank goodness Sunday was a sunny hot day, it gave me some motivation. I woke up early and began cleaning of cleaning out my fridge. It took two hours to get it white but there was still an awful smell. I tried to tackle the kitchen, but after finding black oily scum on the cupboards I had to stop. So I left my apartment and went exploring. Once, I was out and about I realized there were some neat things to find and I became super excited about this new place. I happened upon a local agricultural market where you can get fresh, fish, vegetables, fruits and grains. I bought only what I thought would be useful fresh because there was no WAY I was going to cook in the awful kitchen I had. Below is a picture of the fish market. The fish guys were super friendly and kept saying, "oh beautfiul".

I actually had a wonderful day exploring. It amazed me so much how many people live in this area. There are people everywhere! I no longer felt the alone, different feeling I had the day before when things were so new. It was like the pain right after the bandaid comes off. I already can tell I will be more self suficient living where I am now, than I was even after 10 months of living in Japan. I don't want to compare the two countries because there are some major similarities but also I've noticed some differences that make me feel more at ease here in Korea.

This is a picture of a water fountain near the station in Guri. Everyone was using it as a way to cool down in the heat!

I've eaten the lunch three days now and it resembles school lunch in Japan sooo much except for the red spicy sauce loaded on everything. I wonder how long its gonna take me to st

Closing Time

It has been a long time since I left Nagai and Japan. Plans for posting a few blogs about travelling to Okinawa and Niseko fell through because I was so busy after returning to Canada. I'll do my best to describe it all in on quick blurb from how I remember the feeling of being done my job and travelling around Japan, the country I become so fond and famlialr of:

Travelogue by Kelly Krupski

On January 3rd, 2010, I left the life I had made in Japan to do two months of travelling before returning to Canada. First a visit to hustling bustling Seoul left me with adrealine and a need for more. Then an Okinawan homestay near the sea was a quiet view of the tropics. I worked on my Japanese with locals at a festival, pottery men and while hitchiking. On the island, I felt a connection with the Japanese people I once was so distant to. My last trip to Tokyo happened in a flash. An ironic Shinkansen ride, onsen, sushi dinner, snowboard concluded the lasts of my favorite things to do in Yamagata with a samishi Nagai sayonara. Through a rough blizzard and ferry ride I came upon Hokkaido the winter wonderland and snow festival. Niseko was a snowboarder's paradise but lacked authenticity and there it hit me I was no longer used to Western lifestyle. At that moment the FUN of re-adjusting began. My life in Japan was over, my travels complete. Those moments I was alone to cherish the peace of independence were now memories. The times I shared adventures with new friends and old ones, became a pile of random photos. Images that carry fond memories of past different chapter in my life.

Take a look at some the photos below to see how my adventures in Japan came to a close:

Hikari's car during the blizzard.
The last day we all rode together before some of us would eventually move away, Mark andIback to Canada, Liam to Niigata, Ant and Kevon to the UK. It was a great group we finally made and for once I had sweet people to ride with.

Kindergarten kids I'll forever miss their cute and intersting ways, so unlike kids at home! (not a day goes by though that I don't miss working there...haha!)

GAMO!

Sushi man, I love you too! annto mo daisuke!

Japan life, that's a wrap!

I'm back to my life in Canada. It has been an intersting few months re-adjusting. I've been fortunate for the timing of it, to be in Canada for the Olympics, to see my family and friends, visit with my cute neice and enjoy a taste of prairie spring. I've struggled about what to do next, how to mix back in with social groups and become involved in physical activity to work off my Japan belly. So far, I've been successful in that I'm almost there. Almost settled, almost fitting into my old jeans...just in time to leave for Korea the next adventure.

With a year of overseas life under my belt, I'm still not sure what my future holds there exactly but I'm excited for what it could bring!