I met Jun at the gym on a Tuesday night, around 10pm. While sweating my ass off, a Korean guy came up to me and started speaking English, excited as a little boy. You will understand that I am on the spot every single day in Korea, so I don’t really respond positively when a random stranger starts talking to me while I’m covered in sweat, grinning my teeth as I am lifting weights. It’s just me I guess ;)
Nonetheless, he was so thrilled and energetic that I soon let my guard down and we became good friends. That’s about when I started emerging.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been feeling… bleh. Just the crappy weather, raining every day, my neighbors waking me up at 4am and other personal issues made me the crankiest French-Canadian on Jeju Island.
Last Friday night Jun met me in front of City Hall – where I discovered that the painting on the wall represents Samsunghyeol legend, the three Gods who emerged from holes in the ground and procreated with the only three women in Jeju.
We met up with Alicia, Kyle, Lisa and Amanda at GP for some delicious White Russian and the usual chatting. It was really nice. Then we headed to a bowling alley and that was just hilarious.
The night ended up at Led Zepplin, with a deep discussion with Autumn about false pretense and fake friends. The next day, I was painfully nursing my hangover when I heard that two foreigners had hit Jun.
As it turns out, he was leaving the bar and wished two white guys a Happy New Year. Without apparent reason, the guys started a fight. Seriously. That’s what’s wrong with stupid hammered foreigners in any given country. It’s pathetic. I’ve seen it too many times in Seoul, not to mention Thailand. I can’t say that I’m the classiest girl when I’ve had one-too-many drinks, but at least I’m fun!
Sunday morning a couple of friends came over for brunch and it was great! I didn’t expect everyone to show up, but they did and 10 of us fought over pancakes with maple syrup/honey/whipped cream/strawberries, cream cheese and toasts, bacon, fruit, and fresh juice.
Then we rode our scooters to the horse field near Halla mountain and got a glimpse of what winter should look like: snow! It actually felt like March back home, in spring, when it’s getting warmer and the snow is melting. The ground is all wet and slippery. That’s basically what we were so excited about!
Doug was so cute… he said with his Australian accent “did you know you can make a snowball and then roll it in snow and it gets bigger? You can make a snowman with that!” All of us Canadians laughed.
We took a nice walk, threw snowballs at each other, and rode the sleigh downhill. There was a Korean family there too and they seemed to have a blast. I had to leave early to meet up with my Korean friend Shine at a book café. It was a nice day. Lisa came over while I was cooking dinner (pasta with garlic, olive oil, black olives and cheese… miam!) and we chatted for a while.
Yup, it was a good week-end and I felt like I was finally emerging; I’m going to Indonesia in less than a month, and when I get back it’ll almost be summer. Mom and dad will visit, so will Josiane, and before we know it this whole year will be over.
But then again, I had a bite of reality-check with the pain of what seems like a crack in my root-canal treatment, as well as two wisdom teeth coming out and some strange pain in my chest and shoulder. For weeks, my neighbors have been waking me up at 4am and this morning they didn’t stop until 7:30am. I think I’ll be sleeping at Amanda’s tonight.
The truth is, I wonder why I look forward to this year being over. Is it just because of the crappy weather, the commute to work, and my lack of sleep? I’ve got good friends here, and I wonder if my life would be any different (culturally yes, but personally?) if I was back in Quebec.
Ugh. What happened to my plan of being zen? I guess it’s sometimes hard to let it go and just “be”.
Nonetheless, he was so thrilled and energetic that I soon let my guard down and we became good friends. That’s about when I started emerging.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been feeling… bleh. Just the crappy weather, raining every day, my neighbors waking me up at 4am and other personal issues made me the crankiest French-Canadian on Jeju Island.
Last Friday night Jun met me in front of City Hall – where I discovered that the painting on the wall represents Samsunghyeol legend, the three Gods who emerged from holes in the ground and procreated with the only three women in Jeju.
We met up with Alicia, Kyle, Lisa and Amanda at GP for some delicious White Russian and the usual chatting. It was really nice. Then we headed to a bowling alley and that was just hilarious.
The night ended up at Led Zepplin, with a deep discussion with Autumn about false pretense and fake friends. The next day, I was painfully nursing my hangover when I heard that two foreigners had hit Jun.
As it turns out, he was leaving the bar and wished two white guys a Happy New Year. Without apparent reason, the guys started a fight. Seriously. That’s what’s wrong with stupid hammered foreigners in any given country. It’s pathetic. I’ve seen it too many times in Seoul, not to mention Thailand. I can’t say that I’m the classiest girl when I’ve had one-too-many drinks, but at least I’m fun!
Sunday morning a couple of friends came over for brunch and it was great! I didn’t expect everyone to show up, but they did and 10 of us fought over pancakes with maple syrup/honey/whipped cream/strawberries, cream cheese and toasts, bacon, fruit, and fresh juice.
Then we rode our scooters to the horse field near Halla mountain and got a glimpse of what winter should look like: snow! It actually felt like March back home, in spring, when it’s getting warmer and the snow is melting. The ground is all wet and slippery. That’s basically what we were so excited about!
Doug was so cute… he said with his Australian accent “did you know you can make a snowball and then roll it in snow and it gets bigger? You can make a snowman with that!” All of us Canadians laughed.
We took a nice walk, threw snowballs at each other, and rode the sleigh downhill. There was a Korean family there too and they seemed to have a blast. I had to leave early to meet up with my Korean friend Shine at a book café. It was a nice day. Lisa came over while I was cooking dinner (pasta with garlic, olive oil, black olives and cheese… miam!) and we chatted for a while.
Yup, it was a good week-end and I felt like I was finally emerging; I’m going to Indonesia in less than a month, and when I get back it’ll almost be summer. Mom and dad will visit, so will Josiane, and before we know it this whole year will be over.
But then again, I had a bite of reality-check with the pain of what seems like a crack in my root-canal treatment, as well as two wisdom teeth coming out and some strange pain in my chest and shoulder. For weeks, my neighbors have been waking me up at 4am and this morning they didn’t stop until 7:30am. I think I’ll be sleeping at Amanda’s tonight.
The truth is, I wonder why I look forward to this year being over. Is it just because of the crappy weather, the commute to work, and my lack of sleep? I’ve got good friends here, and I wonder if my life would be any different (culturally yes, but personally?) if I was back in Quebec.
Ugh. What happened to my plan of being zen? I guess it’s sometimes hard to let it go and just “be”.
