Stephanie in Suwon

Due to the fact that I am no longer Stephanie in Suwon, and plan on keeping my blog despite this turn of events, I felt the need to rename it. Thus the new heading. And I like it. I plan on staring at the stars a great deal in the coming months, lying on torch-lite beaches, sipping pina coladas, and staying out way past my bedtime. I remember wishing on stars when I was a kid, and by kid, I mean up until I was in university and even for sometime afterwards. I remember frozen winter nights in my hometown, when it was clear and the sky seemed to explode with thousands of them. I remember warm, drippy summer nights at camp, lying on the dock, eating cake we’d stolen from the kitchen, and trying to find Orion’s belt. I loved how quiet everything seemed, how small we felt, how safe. Living in Korea gives you plenty of opportunity to feel small, but not a whole lot of quiet, and you can forget about feeling safe. Not in the literal sense of the word, just the very nature of being here can se...

According to the customized countdown I have programmed into my computer, I am apparently leaving for Thailand in under a week and will be closing the door, pardon me, dramatically slamming the door a la Steph-Morris-throwing-a-hissy-fit-at-age-13 style, at my current place of employment. I’m going out with a mutha-fuking bang bitches and am blowing this Asian pop stand I’ve called home for the past fourteen months. Here’s how it’s all going to go down: For some reason, mostly having to do with the fact that the school I’ve given my blood, sweat and tears to over the course of the past year could probably be better run if a group of monkeys took the wheel, has decided that Dave and I need to work on Monday and Wednesday, but not on Tuesday. This is nonnegotiable for us, not that I would normally mind being given an extra day to pack, but in this particular instance, is also giving them the opportunity to not give us our full paychecks for the month of October, even though we have worke...

.....I hate to talk like this I hate to act as if there's something wrong But I will say I have this dream at night, almost every night I've been dreaming it forever It's easy to remember It's always cold, always day, always here I always say, I'm alright, I'll be okay If I can keep myself awake I get up early and look around me And can't help but wonder what you mean But when I'm sleeping, I'm so deep in It's so much more real to me Closer than reality It's always cold always day always here I always say, I'm alright, I'll be okay If I can keep myself awake I get up early I look around me I'm buying coffee by the pound But when I'm sleeping so deep in it I can't keep myself awake

There are many things about Korea I will miss. This particular blog is not about any of those things. There is a little concept we Canadians like to call “personal space” and while I understand that by growing up in the second largest country in the world, I have been afforded a tad more of this then someone who had the providence to be born in, oh I don’t know, Calcutta perhaps? Understanding this fact does not deter me from wanting to shove back when the old Korean woman elbows me in the stomach in order to ensure her place in the subway line, or the violent urge to throw my coffee at the driver of the motor bike that just clipped me….because it was driving on the fucking sidewalk. A year in Asia has neither lessened my urge to kill regarding these people who have clearly never seen or even considered the idea that SOME people might think it’s fucking rude to invade their fucking space never mind assault them in some manner while doing so. Nor has it diminished my response of incredu...

I was on the phone with a dear friend of mine yesterday, wishing for the ability to hug through phone lines, as I have so often wished for during my sojourn here in SK. If I could have one superpower I think that would be it, the ability to give physical affection regardless of distance, time and space. Imagine the comfort and strength one could give and gain from this prospect. The possibilities are damn near endless. This act of superhuman ability could change the world as we know it. Just think of our world leaders on a conference call deciding the fate of our insignificant planet. Voices are being raised, hands are shaking in righteous anger, fingers poised over the buttons that will activate the nuclear warheads that will reduce out world to a smoldering pile of radioactive waste and then….suddenly…..a warm embrace envelops them all, kind words of comfort whisper, “It’s all going to be ok……shhhhhhhh….” Their hands slowly drop to their sides; eyes close against the tears welling up...