Stephanie in Suwon

Teacher Stephanie........Stephanie Teacher? hmmmm......This might take some getting used to...... Training so far is what it is.....but I still wish I could have observed some actual teaching in a classroom setting. We don;t even get our schedules or class levels until tommorrow afternoon. Seriously. I'm going to be prepping my freaking ass off tommorrow night and Thursday morning. Kids can smell fear, I swear to god. You know that nightmare where your in school in your underwear? It'll be like that, with less underwear and more with the kids just laughing and pointing at their silly white teacher while throwing spitballs and screaming at the top of their lungs. Yeah. That'll be good. In any case, life here as yet to settle into a real routine so to speak. I'm looking forward to it, in spite of the spitball/screaming aspect of it. The staff at the school have been really friendly, very helpful. In particular, our counselor, Kim, has been fabulous. He's pretty chill,...

It's official. Life as I know it has been completly and utterly thrown out the window. I have leaned new meaning to the phrase....What the Fuck? I am sitting in an internet cafe, surrounded by blue neon lights (inspite of the fact that it's still daylight outside), vending machines selling everything from hot canned coffee(yes you read that right) to freeze dried noodles and flaked squid and more 14 year old boys then I think I've ever seen(which is a little bit creepy...not gonna lie.) The sound is near deafening, gun shots, machine guns, bombs, greneades...all computerized of course. South Korea seems to be a gamer's paradise....Weird Al, eat your heart out. Air conditioning, sweet, sweet air conditioning is mercifully blowing right on me, a blessed reilef from the air outside, which is humid, hot and unrelenting. There are bugs here the size of my hand. The way the air smells changes with every breath I take; seaweed, garbage, exaust, womens perfume, water, fish, fri...

The air is thick and wet here. Foregien smells are everywhere, both pleasent and alarming.The people are a strange mix of polite/gracious and rude/pushy. I have realized I never knew the meaning of the word NEON until I saw the buildings..the sight is incredible up close. It can feel like an assault on your senses at times, the sheer volume of noise, lights, people, bombarded with a language you are so unfamiliar with, the strange mix of english and hangul in the thousands, yes thousands, of signs staring at you from every direction. You have to smile......it's just all so different. What else can you do? We have met some friends already, 3 Canadian, 1 Aussie who happens to also be Chinese and cannot understand why the Korens assume she can speak their language. They will be our fellow teachers. It's nice to have people who understand you. There is to much to write about right now, we only have 15 minutes before we will be meeting up with Ian, Dave's friend who moved to Kor...

Today is my last day at my current job. I say current because in the past 3 years I have had 7 jobs, some of which I worked simultaneously, a few of which I actually enjoyed with varying degrees of success and all of which I am thoroughly, completely and utterly finished with. It’s time to move on. In every sense of the word. Dead end jobs are easy to get stuck in. Most of them are involve you spending much of your day in a state of semi consciousness, a defense tactic used by your brain to keep you blissfully ignorant of the fact that the tasks you are performing are futile and irrelevant at worst and insignificant at best. Unfortunately at some point, your brain gets pissed off at you for sending it to university for 4 years and then asking it to help you focus while you type words into a computer while sitting under fluorescent lights and listening to the co-workers who have worked together for coming onto 8 years discuss the weather. It abandons you with the final thought that you ...

I am soooo leaving in, like, a week. Like OMG!! Letting go of possessions I’ve held onto for so long, and not feeling much at all is making me feel pretty good. Like I’ve grown or something. Suppressing a panic attack when I realize that I won’t be able to buy my favorite shampoo after I’ve used up my supply is making me feel not so good. Like I’ve regressed or something. I guess the important thing here is balance. And speaking of things that forever seem beyond my reach, I’ve been contemplating this whole “relationship” concept that seems to be going around the universe these days. Is it just me or did things seem a hell of a lot easier when everyone knew that boys had cooties, girls were gross and that sticking to your side of the proverbial playground really worked best for everyone involved. When the acceptable form of courtship was to mercilessly pick on and humiliate the object of you affections? Ok, well maybe that last statement still holds true for some “grown-ups” but still…...

A little more then a year ago, I was approached by a co-worker (none other then the lovely Gigi!!) and asked if I would be interested in dancing with a troupe that she was working with here in Calgary. With a few years of dance training behind me and a love for performing that is seemingly endless, I agreed whole heartedly to come and audition and check out what the troupe had to offer. The troupe called themselves Kabuki Guns Burlesque. Fishnets, corsets, tassels, ruffle bums, hot pants, glitter, feathers and fans, diamonds, high heels, gloves, polka dots, leopard skin, satin and silk, pasties in all their twirling and occasionally blazing glory, and anything and everything that sparkled. To say I was interested was an understatement. One of the crappy things about leaving is all the things you have to say goodbye to. Family, obviously. Friends, that’s a given. But experiences are a difficult thing to close the book on. It’s tricky to pinpoint what exactly you’re leaving behind. Is i...

It doesn't seem to matter what time of day I post at, the time of posting always reads between 9-11am. Bloggers? Ideas? That is all.

Dear Mom: As you will most likely be reading this once I get to Korea, I would just like to inform you that I will be, at times, and only if the situation calls for it, language you may find inappropriate for your daughter to be using. My only defense is how most everyone in my effing (she doesn’t like that either, says it’s the insinuation that matters…) life tells me how every day in every way, I’m becoming more and more like you. My benevolent and jovial personality is evidence of this as is my growing adoration of red wine. Moving on… Gym culture is an interesting thing. Although I can certainly understand why some abhor it, I personally find that it works for me. I consider myself fortunate in that for the most part, I enjoy working out and so look forward to my time spent at the gym. And while I enjoy the occasional work out buddy, I also find it a time for me to be alone, and relish the opportunity to focus on nothing more then breathing, reps and the new Matchbox Twenty song bl...

With limited time left in the city that seems to be blowing out instead of up, trying to cram a years worth of “quality time” with family and friends presents an issue. Plays, parties, BBQ’s, dates with friends, family time, not to mention packing, shopping, moving, and drinking heavily, all while trying to focus on the fact that your life is about to change shape dramatically so as once it does in fact happen, your not a weeping, shaky mess huddled on the floor rocking back and forth crying for mommy. Not that that would ever happen to me. I’m far too sophisticated and together for that. But I digress. This past weekend was jam-packed, as usual, but this one had a slightly different feel to it. Friday night found me rushing home to have a phone date with a friend who lives in Vancouver. It amazes me sometimes how in spite of being in very different places in life, there are some friends that just feel like home. A very organized, strictly controlled, neat and tidy, on schedule home, b...

6 more days of work. I'm just sayin.........