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 :)

Wakeboarding (July 14)

Well, this was an awesome day. I went with a Korean friend of mine, Hanah and her uncles family east of Seoul to a really nice river where we went wake boarding. I've never done that before so I didn't really know what to expect. Well, I had a blast. After wake boarding, we went on a banana boat. Whoa, almost flew off on some of the sharp turns. Too bad I don't have a picture of that, but here are some pics of the wake boarding.

This is Hanah and me before going into the water.

A little bit of coffee to wake me up and get me ready for what's to come.

A little bit of practice, definitely not enough because once I was in the water and the boat was pulling me I totally forgot everything. Hahahaha.

Hm, the water looks scary...

On goes the board. I look so cool :P

Oh my god, I'm going to sink!! Can you see the terror in my face? Hahahahaha

Eeeek, it's cold. Ok, here we go, the boat is slowly moving.

Oh oh, almost almost, damn... obviously I fall face first into the water many many times.

Ok ok, I'm starting to get up...

Yeaaaah, I think I'm standing!!

Yeaaah!!! 5 seconds of smooth riding, after which I still fall face first into the water, but still, I managed to stay up for 5 seconds :D.

This is the whole Group, can you find me?

Naesosa temple

Well, I got back a few hours ago from the temple stay at Naesosa temple, Byeonsan Peninsula National Park in Jeollabuk-do. It wasn't quite what I expected but the hiking we did was absolutely amazing. The meditation in the morning, the sound of the cicada bugs calling out all around, wow... incredible. Here are some pictures and a video.

This is the link to the video where you can hear all the sounds of the forest:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2530181671

This is at a beach before reaching the temple. We walked around a bit, it was very nice and hot.

Here I am, hiking I had to take the top of the uniform off because it was so hot and humid that I couldn't do it anymore. The scenery here was phenomenal!

Me, Jody and DM posing and taking more picture.

In the forest. The hiking trail was so well managed and organized. It was really a pleasure to hike it.

Canada day party in Seoul

Even though it was rainy, the food was good, the beer was cheap ($2.5 per Moosehead bottle) and the company was great.


And here the party begins.


Nice pose :)


Raffle tickets for Air Canada flight to Vancouver.

Some Canadians got in the true spirit of the event.


Tug of war, East vs. West

And here starts the mud fun.

Rafting and Bungee jumping with Adventure Korea

Well, here's a super trip, rafting in a not so wild river, but still very beautiful. The highlight of the trip was the bungee jumping... wow, amazing experience. Enjoy the pictures.

The rafting group.

Warm up

Our boat.

Raft train :)

Taking a break on one of the beaches.

Swimming, body rafting, horsing around :)

Raft sliding, wheeeeeee :)

Bungee bridge, 54 meters high.

The jumpers.

Nervous smile before the plunge.

Can you see me kicking my legs, waving my arms, if this were a video you could hear me screaming at the top of my deep voice... hahahaha, oh what a site.

Oi bar in Hang-ik

Well, this was an absolutely amazing bar, I will update the information later, I just want to put some pictures up here.

This is the entrance. It all looks like a white cave.

The bar and then these weird things on the floor where you can sit. Also, to the far side are some stairs where people were sitting and watching the dancers.

There were a bunch of these little cubicles where you could sit with friends and just relax.

That's me, oh it's such a Korean pose :P.