I woke up Sunday morning to the sound of clapping hands, tacky Korean songs, and some dude yelling in a mike. It felt as if someone was slowly bolting a screw in my brain. I hate Korean elections because they are LOUD.
Lee Myung-Bak was recently elected Korean President, and it is now time for the National Assembly. In any Korean election, each party is assigned a number (you vote for number 4, you talk about number 3, you discuss number 6’s recent scandal, names don’t really matter), and stands representing the candidates are set all over the country.
The stands display big screens showing the candidate doing community work, reaching out to minorities, shaking hands with the elderly… you name it. Right in front of it there are between 5 and 10 people wearing the party’s colors, dancing and singing the theme song (usually a pop song they’ve adapted the lyrics to), their hands up in the air. It’s just loud and funny to watch.
Thus I woke up Sunday morning to the sound of loudspeakers yelling a candidate’s name and I was pissed. Friday night Bill and I had been to La Vie for a few drinks, and met with Amanda, Danila, Julia, Woody and Arielle at Baghdad Café just to share a few laughs until 2am.
In the intent of being ready for the Blue Agave’s 80s night, I had planned to stay home all Saturday. However, Bill and Amanda showed up for some banana pancakes I had made with (incredibly expensive) organic flour and eggs. As I was about to nap, Mr. Lee called to say he couldn’t find my scooter.
Indeed, as I was riding home Friday night, my tire blew up on the highway. Yes, a flat tire at 100km/hour is scary. Fortunately, my co-worker wasn’t too far behind and he gave me a ride home. The problem is that the highway we were on is brand new and not even on the map so I had to get a cab to meet up with Mr. Lee and show him the way. 2 hours that took. 2 hours!
By the time I got home, I had to get ready to go to Kendra’s potluck and quickly cook my infamous shrimp/kimchi/chives pancakes. The potluck was relatively boring, but the food was alright. We ended up going to La Vie to see Joey, Hugh and Minyoung’s performance – all very entertaining (Minyoung has an amazing voice, especially when she sings Rufus Wainwright’s “Halleluiah”)- mainly Hugh’s song “shitting in the woods”.
A lot of fun, a lot of lovin’! It’s insane to walk into a place and know everyone there, all the hundred-something foreigners on the island. Blue Agave was packed and I can’t really say it felt like the 80s – except maybe for the music Jeremy played (he's my favorite (and only!) French-Canadian on the island), and a few people totally looking swell hehe
As I went home around 6am after disgusting McDonald’s with Tim, Isaac, Jeff and Candice, I just passed out. And then I woke up.
It was already sunset , and by the time I stepped outside, the night had fallen. I was amazed with the fresh smell of the air and the sight of a cherry blossom fully bloomed right next to my apartment building. How long had I been sleeping? How come I had never noticed it before?
I walked to Mr. Lee’s bike shop to pick up my scooter and drove to the ocean. It was windy, it smelled salty and fishy and I loved it. I took a walk along the beach for a while, and then headed to a flower shop where I bought beautiful plants… and roses for me!
After weeks of walking like a zombie, with my eyes closed all the time (figuratively speaking of course), I was finally awake. Everything started making sense again, I stopped worrying about what others think about me, I stopped trying to please everyone, I stopped pretending to be someone I’m not, and I started feeling incredibly peaceful.
I only have 5 months left on the island, and I’m so excited about summer – taking diving lessons with Paul and Amanda, snorkeling on the beach, having beers by the sea with my people, driving around Jeju, hiking, hell even sailing!
This morning I even took the shore road to work, wondering why I don’t ever do this. Maybe it’s because I save half an hour if I take the highway. But what’s half an hour, compared to driving by the ocean, catching a glimpse of some women diving, listening to the waves breaking on the shore, and the familiar smell of the sea – which recently brought back memories of summer vacations with my family.
Got a busy week, with simlabs starting again, a soccer game Wednesday night (Jeju vs. Busan), meditation on Thursday, and Sunny coming over from Seoul for the week-end. It’s also the Cherry Blossom festival this Saturday! I’m going to start going to Korean classes next Monday (7-9pm) and keep knitting with Julia every Tuesday. I’m thinking about doing rock climbing with Dan if the class is not too advanced… I’m fully prep, doing weights in my classroom ;)
On a final note, here are some of my students playing dodge ball and Scrabble on game day… notice the boy on the right… yes, it’s a perm! And that’s little Joe doing his work while everyone else is playing :( He’s so adorable, always smiling, yelling “Yes teacher I understand!”, bringing me food, giving me hugs, but unfortunately he is also a very slow learner (or he just doesn’t give a damn about English!)…
