Stephanie in Suwon

Dee wants me to die in a fire every time I say this but I am so happy that it’s finally cooling down outside. Seriously, after 3 solid months of extreme heat and humidity I am ready to kiss summer goodbye, a sexy french kiss with lots of tongue that will leave him begging for more so as to ensure his return at the appropriate time next year though. Yes, him. I’ve always thought of summer and winter as male and spring and autumn as female, although I’m not sure what this says about my views on gender. Dee? Thoughts? Summer and winter both being seasons of extremes while spring and fall remain more temperate, a slow shifting from one extreme to the other, cushioning us and controlling the transfer of the seasons. Being a female, I know that’s how most people see me, a restrained and judicious force of nature, soothing and reassuring. No? Maybe ever-changing and transformative, always ushering in one extreme or the other with little to no regard as to what people are actually ready for? S...

Walking home tonight, I was waiting to cross the street when a stray breeze ruffled the branches of a nearby tree, showering me with a fine coating of dust and debris. I was in the middle of thanking Mother Nature in the four-letter kind of way when I brushed a yellow leaf out of my hair and watched it fall to the ground. I stopped dead and looked at it. It’s the first one I’ve seen so far, and I know there will be more soon. Many more. Very soon. The seasons are changing once again here in Korea. From summer to fall. I’m watching the seasons change here again and I know that means I have been here, in Korea, for one full year. Now before you say anything, I’m not an idiot. (Shut up Angelo….) I realized and recognized this fact late last month and thought back with a reflected smile to my first week here, my first month here. How so many of the things I take for granted, that are common place to me now were shiny and new then, how so much seemed to shimmer with possibility and everythi...

Japan was nothing like I expected, but more than what I hoped for. It was expensive, tiring, and confusing at times. It was enlightening, humbling and thrilling as well. I was disappointed by the things I thought I would appreciate the most, and taken aback by things I expected to smile politely at. Tokyo was jarring. We arrived at night, well after dark, exhausted from a day of delayed flights, bad airline food, and a humidity that rivaled my first few days in Korea. The air was soupy, thick and wet. Yuck. Word to the wise, if at all possible, when traveling; try to NOT arrive at your destination after dark. It does nothing but confuse you of your surroundings and increases your sense of disorientation. We were up at dawn the following day, regardless, strolling through temples by 10am, breathing in the heady incense that permeated that air. We made our way to Shibuya crossing, and joined the oceans of people that swarm the street the second the lights allow. The fashion in Tokyo is a...

This month cannot end fucking fast enough. If any of you happen to read about a teacher in South Korea who put a kid-sized hole through the wall of her classroom when, after busting her ass to make it through all the bloody material her school requires her to get through while keeping the children’s rapt attention for two hours discussing photosynthesis and adjective clauses, one of her unwilling, sassy-ass minions called her a bad teacher for never playing games in class, please believe me when I say I tried to restrain myself. But working 12 hour days while prepping for 7 different classes does funny things to one’s perception of right and wrong and I know that most of you, of the three of you who still read this, will understand the sentiment when it comes to something that you know is wrong, but at the time, feels very very right. Alright, alright, so I’m not going to be chucking kids through walls…..probably. Besides, they might not let me leave the country if I started acting on ...

I have been living and breathing work. I am tired. I am sick. I am currently living on approximately $5 per day as the money I have been earning has been eaten up this month by travel plans, exciting but exhausting and doing nothing to diminish my To-Do list, and/or the debt I am trying to pay off to the soul sucking sponge known as the Canadian Government, who I have yet to receive my tax refund from. It is nearly August yet my skin is the color of a cadaver on account of the fact that the majority of my days are spent cooped up in a classroom with a virtual army of unmotivated, unappreciative, Ritalin deprived children who have the audacity to ask me exactly when I am leaving Korea and cheer when I answer, soon. This could be a side affect of the 14 pages of homework I am forced to give them each class in order to keep up with the ridiculous curriculum set by the baby-sitting business I currently work for…oh, I’m sorry, “school”. I can kiss the gym goodbye for the next month, one of...

Thanks for making my month away from school such great one. Thanks for Frankie's and La Merche. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, feelings and laughter with me. You helped make all this a little more real. Cheers to you my fellow Albertan, say hi to the Spolumbo's crew for me! :) Catch ya on the flip side, mkay?!? xoxo

I’m so confused. Allow me to elaborate. Last Friday was the culmination of a 6-day-1-day-break-5-day-work-week. Even after the weekend, I’m fucking exhausted, and it’s only Tuesday, but am finding solace in the bottle of wine I purchased from the 24 hour convenience store located less then a block away from our apartment. Australian Shiraz, on sale. There are times that I love Korea☺. But back to the confusion. My last class on MWF consists of a group of 6th graders who have the camaraderie that can only happen when a group of individuals has been together for an extended period of time. In their case, this particular group of kids has been together for almost a year now. They’re lazy, loud, rambunctious, sarcastic, opinionated and ADD. I fucking love them. But don’t tell them that. Their last teacher let them get away with bloody murder so I’ve been a royal B-I-T-C-H to get them to be more serious about their class work. And they’re getting better (because I’m a fucking rock star teac...