Well, there goes my back

So, after many many times picking up the kids, throwing them in the air, spinning them around and never having a problem, I finally pulled some back muscles and could hardly walk. This happened on Friday and I was hoping it would go away and be better but it only got worse. Well, I went to a doctor, got some x-rays to see if my spine is OK, and it is, just that the curvature at the bottom is kind of gone cuz of the tension in my muscles. So I did a bit of physiotherapy but it didn't seem to work. On Monday, I told my bosses wife and luckily there's a acupuncture clinic just next to the school. During lunch I went there and wow, it was amazing. First, she used these electric currents to massage my muscles, then acupuncture, and then did the suction cup things. Now my back is a lot better and I'm going to go in a few more times, but it looks kind of scary cuz where the suction cups were now there's huuge hickeys there. Definitely works tho and am glad this place is so close by and really cheap.

Travel Plans

Alright, so, after my friend Jody came back from Thailand and showed me a bunch of her amazing pictures and told me her travel stories, well, the travel bug bit me again. This time I'm actually going to plan a trip in advance instead of deciding on a whim and having only a couple of weeks of planning. I wanted to do a tour of meditation centres after January of this year and when I finish my contract at this school I'm going to take a couple of months and do that. Now, the dilemma is, do I want to go through Europe and get back the needed mojo from civilisation, or shall I brave it and do that here in Asia. Well, I'm looking at both options. So far, I've found out information from countries in Europe and a tour would be: Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Poland, Romania and then finally back to Korea to start another year of fun and craziness. Now since the European Union, you can get a universal train pass for a couple of months for a decent price. This would allow me to travel to any of the 18 countries in Europe at any time for 2 months. Amazing!!!! In Asia, the countries where there's a possibility are: Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Philipines, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. Not all will be on the final list but these are the choices. I have to wait for schedules and plan out a plausible route, also, see what the price and time differences would be between Asia and Europe. But this trip is totally possible :). It would be an amazing experience for sure!

Yaay

Well, I joined the gym and today was the first day. It was really hard to get myself up and go to the gym, especially on a Monday evening. I was so tired and I was getting a headache, but I said, that's it, I have to go. It was great. Well, It took a while to let the people at the front desk know who I am and that I've already registered I just had to pay. And then one of the trainers told me to follow him and he showed me a machine and just told me to get on and run for 30 minutes. It was great. I'm glad he kind of pointed me in the right direction. It was a great workout and I was sweating like mad. After that, I started communicating with a woman from there and we kind of figured out that we both like squash and they have squash courts there so using sign language we decided to go play for about 30 minutes. Wow, I was so exhausted by the end. It was nice though and she said she's there ever evening so that's perfect. I'll have a squash buddy every night and go workout and have someone to chitchat with, even though it's pretty hard since I speak very little Korean and she speaks very little English. In any case, I'm glad I joined that gym :). Now I can do something productive in the evenings during the week.

Homesick

Well, today has had to be the lowest point in my whole time being here. There's nothing wrong really, but I'm just feeling so homesick. I want to be with my family, my friends, hear familiar voices and take part in the familiar activities. I guess it didn't help that I found some songs online by total accident. I stumbled onto this song that I used to love when I was really little and remember I used to listen to it and dance in the living room: Dan Spatarul "Drumurile Noastre", oh and so many others that I remember... Compact, Mihai Constantinescu, Stefan Hrusca, Mirabela Dauer, Angela Similea, Ilie Micolov, Catalin Crisan, Madalina Manole, Laura Stoica, Gabriel Cotabita, Ducu Bertzi, Loredana Groza. These are just some I found and remembered, but I'm sure there's more. Oh, what a wonderful childhood I had. I see pictures from life back home and miss so many of the small mundane things that happen there. I miss having my dad's BBQ and eating my mum's awesome salads. I miss talking to them, or arguing with them, I miss the familiar smell of the house, the sound of the highway in the back yard, the sunny weekends spent lounging around the house. Anyways, it's been 6 months already, so what's another 6 months :). Tomorrow is another day and I'm sure I'll be in a happier mood.

Love you all and miss you so much.

Thailand (July 30 to August 6)

Wow!! What can I say, true paradise. Amazing food, amazing beaches, clear blue and warm water, super cheap shopping, relaxed atmosphere... It was real paradise. Too bad it was so short. I spent most of the time in Phuket on Patong beach, and just one day in Bangkok for shopping. Here are the pics :).


Funky reflection of the plane


Well, since I was on my own, these are the only kinds of pics I can really take. So this is me on an elephant :)


Huuuuuuge palm trees. WOW!!




That's me, holding on for dear life as the driver jumped off to take a picture.


I was trying to get on the elephants head. She didn't really care much.


This is on a crazy boat going to Phi Phi island where they filmed that movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. I never thought I would get sea sick, but damn, that was one bumpy ride.


The sand was sooo fine. Unbelievable.






A strange fruit... looks cool








Reggae bar. There are many everywhere.


Patong beach. Palms and white sand... soo beautiful.






I asked someone to take a pic of me. Am wearing all clothes I bought there. Super comfy stuff.


Feet shot.


My two piece swim suite. Was hard to find my size but finally found one.


See my tan?


I had a freaking huuuuge cockroach in my room. Freaked me out. Well, you can see my shoe and the size of that thing. Took me like 20 minutes to corner it, spray it with insecticide and squash it. Damn thing.


On another boat.


This was on Coral Island where I went scuba diving. Soo beautiful I didn't want to leave.


Me getting ready for para sailing. That was one tiny vest.


Of we go.. wheeeeee :D






Some little shrine. That's as much sightseeing I saw in Thailand. I went for the beach and the shopping there :).

Sand art. I was bored and thought I'd make something, this is what it turned out :)

Again me on the beach. Ooooh, soooo nice :)

In the airport in Phuket. Foot diaries. I should make a whole album of foot shots :)

Tuk tuk in Bangkok. Those things are soo unsafe but they still drive faster than the cars.

The floor of the tuk tuk.

Me and my flying hair in the tuk tuk.

The weekend market in Bangkok. Super cheap and nice shopping. I spent all day there and bought sooooo many nice things :D.

Foot massage. This was the only pic I took but in Phuket I went to soo many massage places. Fell asleep a few times :).

Swimming with the kindys

This was the Thursday before the summer holiday and it was super nice and sunny outside so we took the kids to a nearby pool for them to swim in. I naturally had to go into the water with them and well, take a look at the pics :).

These three little monkeys where shadowing me. I think they were a bit scared of the water.

1... 2... 3... SIT DOWN... giggle giggle giggle

I was just taking them and twirling them in the air... I don't know if it was fun because I was doing that or because I kept yelling WHEEEEEEEE every time I was doing that hahahaha

Awww, she was clinging on for dear life here. Sooo cute :)

Clara and me :)

Dana teacher in action... HAHAHAHAHA :). Cute cute kids

Subway thoughts

The reality of it hit me today. I don't belong here, and it's a wonderful thing. I am so different and I like that. I don't want to make a life here, just money and experience. I miss Germany most of all places with all it's order. Today in a long time I felt really Canadian and realised that that's where I belong. I am a hippie at heart and Canada is where my home base is. Romania and Europe are part of me but I could never live there. I am too different and would not be able to fit in into that society. It's amazing what you can observe. I am so lucky to be put in such a different place and be forced to observe myself and analyse what makes who I am. This is what life should be about, experience and learning. Not only about the world but also about ourselves, or else everything that we are exposed to is wasted if we don't grow from it. Now when I get all those stares I know it's not because there's something wrong but because I'm different and that's a beautiful thing to realise, accept and be happy about. I guess this head cold I have right now is making me see things differently and more clearly. Oh wow I'm melting!!!

***

Here I am, sweat dripping down my back, riding in the subway for more than an hour, drunk men to my left and right sleeping and leaning on me, heads bopping like they were listening to music. And I look around and see where I am. I am close to that 6 month target, where every foreigner realises where they are, the reality of their situation. From there, there are two directions one can go in... one: Oh my God!! What am I doing here?! I want to go back home and never come back!!! and two: Oh wow, this is amazing, I can't believe I'm actually getting paid to have this experience!!! Well, for me, I'm missing normality as I know it, I'm missing order, am missing the familiar, but at the same time I am really grateful of this opportunity because I have learned and grown so much from what I have done so far.

But, the 6 month mark isn't here yet so let's see what happens :).

Sauna

Heeeelp, I'm melting!!!

I can't believe how hot it is outside. And it's not just hot, but it's super humid as well. If I stand, I sweat, if I sit down I sweat, if I lie down I sweat, if I walk I sweat even more and the bad thing is, if I have my air conditioner on I get sick (which I currently am) so I have two choices: either melt or deal with a cold which makes me feel like I'm boiling even more. And it's gonna get even hotter than this, wow... I can't imagine it. Right now, going outside feels like a sauna, and in the evening, it's still this hot, and there's no breeze to make it bearable. It's such a strange temperature.

Anyways, on Monday I'm finally going to Thailand. Found out I'm going on my own, which should be quite an interesting experience. I don't really know anything about Thailand so I'm going today to buy one of those LonleyPlanet traveling guide books to at least know where I can find a place to sleep and a beach and some elephants to ride. Hahahaha.

More pictures coming soon :)

Mud Festival (July 21, 22)

This is the famous mud festival, happens once a year for 2 weeks. It's in the middle of the country on the west coast in Boryeong. It wasn't a very well organised trip but we had most of the time free time to sit on the beach, walk around, drink and be merry :). Here is some of the evidence :).

Yup, that's me, on the beach, in my summer attire with a beer in my hand, my hair tied back... life is beautiful :D

Jo just had to get mud on herself. This wasn't nice mud, it was mud with blue paint in it and it didn't come off very easily. Jo got the new nickname "smurfette", hahahahaha!

Finally I get to sit on a beach, oh how nice :)

Interesting signs. This was really true, but the food was just more expensive and actually not all that good.

Beautiful sunset. Picture not taken by me though.

At night drinking :). I don't remember this picture being taken, I guess the alcohol must have hit in :)

Wherever there's mud, there will always be some mud wrestling. Jo and me went at it too :).

Mud boot camp. Rolling in mud, crawling through mud, throwing mud... oh beautiful mud :)

The picture says it all :)