After a famine, a feast of a post

It has been ages since I last posted. I have been a very lazy real blogger, but in my head I pretend blog all the time. What I need is some sort of link in my brain to my laptop. I mean, usually I'd reject such technology in suspicion of government misuse and all, but I think I can risk it for better blogging. ;)

So, what to say? Lots of what I intend to blog about I just forget. I must have the worst bloody memory ever. I compensate by attempting to have some sort of organizational system, but I really do have an immensely sucky memory. Just imagine what I'll be like when I'm 90.

And I make a very sucky Canadian. There was a joke today at work about double preps and double doubles. And Lee said that four of the people in the room just got the joke. Thing is, for a minute I thought I was that unknowing fifth. I worked in Tim Hortons for a summer, but I didn't make the connection. I have lived out of Canada for a total of five and a half years now. I don't read newspapers of any kind, much less Canadian ones. And I have lived overseas longer since moving out of my parents' home in my small hometown than I have lived in Canada since then. My present plans will have me in yet another overseas job, for a couple of years I suspect, and back to visit Canada in the summer. Because, you know, for all that I'm not the solo American on staff, I am in fact not much of a Canadian. I am a visitor. I mean, I have yet to find a country I like better. And it will always be home, in a very significant way. But until I make that move back to Canada, a part of me isn't Canadian. And that move back to Canada doesn't seem to be coming any time soon. That makes me sad and happy at the same time, if that makes sense to anyone but me.

Work is work. As always, I like the students. They say the funniest things. Jully, my favourite, is no longer at Heritage, sadly. Her most recent gem is well worth sharing. She was sitting in class as I walked in with her handphone (cell phone) on the desk, her mp3 player in one ear, and an electronic dictionary open in front of her. When I commented on all her technology, she told me: "Teacher, I'm a digital woman. I'm not analog." It's the Jullys that make teaching the amazing job that it is. She was an incredible student and I haven't seen many like her. She loved learning English and was amazingly bright and funny. I'll miss teaching her. I will also miss the Dolphins class. I only got them for a month, but they were four very bright students. They were amazingly smart and enthusiastic and funny and interested in learning. They remind me a bit of myself, back before I got all bitter and jaded about school.

The last couple of weekends have been full. A week ago on Friday I was in my usual Hongdae haunts - 66 and TinPans. Sheila and Vanessa ran an amusing scam about being female wrestlers on a tour of Korea. Then Saturday was Reena's goodbye party, which invovled the amazing combo of soju and chocolate ice cream at Carne, some very amusing photos, and great dancing at Halaboogies. Anita got lost and Charyl showed us how to work that pole. Sunday was its usual self, with some dinner (3 Alley) and some Geckos time. Then this past weekend I did a bit of hibernating. I had a great Ladies' Night on Thursday but one that lasted until the morning, leaving me kinda tired. I went out for dinner with Laura, Hanna and Paul and for some pineapple soju, but I had myself tucked up in bed on a Friday night by 1am. After a marathon sleep, which was much needed, I headed out on Saturday for Erin's birthday at Bricx, which meant yummy margahritas. I ended up at the Loft, by way of Helios, but was out at the early hour of 3am (and that is early by Korean expat standards). Sunday I hung out for a bit with Lizard Boy. I stayed in Sunday night though, and read like a fiend.

Then there was my Monday night. Champagne? check! Learn to play dominoes and win? check! Cheeseburger with dill pickles, not sweet ones? check! Listening to the new Norah Jones CD? check! Woo! I now have seen the most recent Grey's Anatomy episodes (I am addicted, people!) and I have the first season of Eureka and the first half of the second season of the L Word to plow through next. That said, it is disconcerting to sit on a bed that is also occupied by a lizard. It is quite a big lizard. I'll have to get a picture the next time I chill with it, since we seem to be becoming buddies.

Grey's Anatomy has gotten me thinking about any number of things. It also makes me cry quite regularly. One of the things that gets me is just how "shades of grey" the world is. I don't get why age is supposed to make one more set in one's views and conservative. It seems to be making me into the opposite. All that black and white I used to see is gone. It started with thinking that McDreamy is, in fact, not an asshole. The situation between him and Meredith is not always good and sometimes he doesn't make the right choices. But he is also in a horrible and impossible situation, not of his causing even, and he does his best. If life hands out instruction manuals for dealing perfectly with all these difficulties that we face, I must have been skipping class that day. (That is entirely likely, of course, given just how often I skipped!) Anyway, I just think that as the years pass, I realize more and more that people do their best. Often their best isn't very good or isn't enough, and yet, it is their best. There seems little more we can ask of one another. Life is incredibly complex and there is seldom a clear cut right thing to do. We muddle through.

My contract in Korea is winding down. I'll be here in Seoul until April 10th. After that, the plan is Hong Kong, though no idea when exactly, as these things are dependent on tons of paperwork and visas. Who knows what exactly will happen. I will be sad to leave Korea - my friends here are amazing and I very much enjoy my life. However, I suspect it is time for a move. I always think that it is the options that scare me a little that are the right ones to pursue. Thus, it is time to move on. Time to be a bit scared again. :)