Books. Books. Books.

i read books. not many, just a few books.
there are 1061 books in my house.
there are 274 books in my room and 787 books in my brother's room.
i counted all the books.
it took me 30 minutes.
my father and brother like books.
this year they bought 134 books.
my brother's room looks like a library...

... hilarious excerpt from a student's journal this week!

Speaking of books, what are YOU reading?
On my shelf these dayz...

1. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
2. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
3. Under The Overpass by Mike Yankoski
4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
5. The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Estatic Poems by Rumi

And true to scatterbrained form, I'm reading them ALL, at once, in bits and pieces...

Deceived by an Apple

I bought a new cleaning product from the mini-mart close to my apartment. They didn't have the one I usually buy in stock, and as I couldn't read any of the labels, I chose the one with a green apple on it, thinking it might have a nice fresh scent. Oh, Eve, will you never learn? Spent some of Saturday morning cleaning, and I'm pretty sure this product is high-content, if not pure, bleach. My bathroom smells like a swimming pool, and my head feels like it's swimming now too... from inhaling fumes in an enclosed space, while scrubbing tile grout on my hands and knees. Whew... strong stuff. But the bathroom is sparkling!

Oh, and more about my bathroom (I can't believe I haven't blogged about this already)... it has been quite the experience! My shower is open-concept... as in the shower head is mounted on the wall beside the sink, and there is a drain on the floor beneath the sink. So everything gets wet. I mean everything... the walls, the floor, the sink, mirror, toilet, and my towels if I forget to take them out. The toilet paper has a little plastic flap that protects it from getting drenched, and the power outlet also has a cover. But let me tell you... it is not pleasant to use the bathroom after showering.... for a while the toilet seat just stays wet. It kind of feels like a not-yet-trained child was there before you!

In winter, the tile floor is icy cold, as the bathroom's back wall is adjacent to the unheated hallway, and has none of that nice in-floor heating that is in the rest of the apartment. So I would stand, shivering, in the center of the circle of warmth that the hot water makes on the floor around me, and then scurry outta there as soon as possible. I guess it was good for water conservation! And I understand now why Koreans love their saunas and spas, in winter especially. You see them out in the streets most mornings and evenings, carrying a basket of toiletries, on their way to or from the public bathhouses. I haven't made it there yet, as I am told bathing suits are not permitted (men and women bathe separately, but together with their own sex) and I'm not sure I'm quite brave enough for that! A pleasant feature in my bathroom, however, are the seahorse stickers on the floor, which I think are supposed to be grips for your feet. Most are missing parts of their fins or tails, but this one is perfectly intact!



I don't think any shower experience could be as bad as that time in an Ecuadorian hotel, when I electrocuted myself (twice) in the shower, by trying to change the position of the shower head, with my wet hand. The shower head had unenclosed wires wrapped around it, and I felt a current of electricity, in my fingers through to my elbow! Conversely, I don't think any shower experience could be as wonderful as biodegradeable shampoo in the lake in summer at home, or as peculiar as showering in a solar-heated makeshift bathroom in Fiji, with cracks beneath the door wide enough for a rooster to stroll in and have a look, and numerous geckos flitting around the ceiling above my head. Or... as beautifully simplistic and memorable as that gorgeous sunny last day at camp in Ecuador, when three of us showered out of a bucket drawn up from the camp's well. Really, my bathroom here is relatively quite sophisticated!

The One-Year Mark

I know I said it was only a one-year contract, but I've extended my time with the school here for a few months more... the plan at present is to be home to Nova Scotia for Christmas!!!

The Cultural Cringe

There are three things I don't think I can ever get used too, no matter how well-adjusted I've become to Korean culture over time...
1. Children that bow to me. I'm all for respecting your elders, but something about these little guys bowing their heads to me, makes me very uncomfortable. It always catches me off-guard, whether it happens on a street corner or in a school hallway... I get the cultural cringe. I do admit I've started bowing to my elders here, out of respect for them and this cultural custom, but I guess I just don't feel worthy of such a display of public submission myself. I'd rather a high-five or a "Hi, teacher!" or even just a shy smile, but some of these children have been taught to be very respectful of their teachers. Others, of course, are little rugrats, of similar breed to those found in every other country I've visited! Don't worry, there's always an element of craziness in my classroom.
2. The parasol-carrying women.


Au contraire to the deep, nut-brown tan craze of white North Americans, Korean women do their utmost to protect their skin. It's probably a healthier way to go, but carrying these frilly sun shields reminds me of an 18th-century English novel... I've even seen skin-whitening sunscreen and face bleaching creams here! I am personally quite fond of the intoxicating feeling of sunbeams kissing my face, and will probably pay for it, in later life. I get scolded by women here for standing in the sun instead of the shade at bus stops! It's really quite amusing. But hey, I've always thought wrinkles were beautiful, they are like storylines, displayed on faces.
3. No seatbelts. I always do a double-take to see babies bouncing on their father's knee while he drives the car, three monkeys (children) tumbling around in the back seat, or two crammed together on the front passenger seat, no belts. It just amazes me, especially with the number of traffic accidents around here. How many times do we have to make mistakes before we learn from them? Seatbelts, people... seatbelts!!!

Summer Nights

Campfire last night at Gujora Beach with friends. We even managed to make s'mores! Although the marshmallows were pink and the cookies were not quite honey grahams. It's all about improvisation when you live in a foreign country and attempt to recreate your own culture...

Street Pianos

This is fantastic! 30 pianos, installed all over London by artist Luke Jerram, in an attempt to "provide a creative, blank canvas for the public to express themselves..."
An open-air, urban art installation, the pianos were set up in various public spaces all over the city, to encourage spontaneous musical expression and create community. Each piano is uniquely hand-painted, and comes with its own laminated songbook and plastic cover, in case of rain.



More video and photo footage of this project can be found at www.streetpianos.com
The musical catalysts held their place in London for three weeks in June/July, after which time they were donated to local community groups and schools.
Just a little something beautiful I thought was worth sharing!

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Six Weird and Wonderful Birthday Happenings

1. was sung a cheerful "happy birthday" by mom and sheilagh over skype (wonderful)
2. got a sliver of glass stuck in my foot, from the wine glass i broke last week and neglected to clean up properly (weird)
3. was given a precious wee gift of handmade soap by a korean student (wonderful, although somewhat weird were the random marbles and the rainbow bead she also included in the box)
4. another student discovered a grey hair on my head during class, i made her pull it out (not really weird, more like terrible)
5. discovered three more grey hairs and pulled them all out (no comment)
6. went out to "norebang" or korean karaoke, with some friends (wonderful)
7. was surprised by homemade banana birthday cake with cream cheese icing (supremely wonderful)
8. there were three candles on my cake (weird)
9. was told to keep the leftovers, so had some with breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day (why not, it's my birthday!)
10. went on a morning waterfall hike adventure (wonderful)
11. climbed to the top of the waterfalls, only to discover they had been altered with fiberglass "rocks" to give the falls a more picturesque cascade (very weird, and somewhat disappointing)
12. ate a picnic lunch in the rain (weird, but fun)
13. was asked by a korean teenage boy at a bus stop if i was french (no idea why, weird)
14. received a french facebook wall post from tonton quist, had to use online translator to understand and respond (both weird and wonderful, but sad that all those private lessons didn't stick as well as they ought to have)
15. received two emails from one of my grandmothers, saying pretty much the same thing, because she wasn't sure the first one got through (grandmothers are wonderful people)
16. had a wonderful skype convo with some of the weirdo FFATS up at malagash
17. was read a bedtime story over skype by alli churchill, about a tall, dumpster-diving, gypsy-woman befriending a little boy and a homeless cat (my future life, weird)
18. sang and played a brooke fraser song at church (wonderful, i love her)
19. made thai green curry for dinner, one of my favorite foods
20. saw a white crane fly over a lush green rice field, the stark contrast was so extraordinarily beautiful, it made my breath catch in my throat
21. received many birthday wishes (in various forms; emails, facebook wall posts, skype calls, etc.) from faraway but never forgotten friends, causing me to feel overflowingly euphoric about how richly blessed i have been in the friendshi category
22. was treated to an organic, non-dairy choco mint chip ice cream by my buenos amigos, jen henry-huffman and her screamo lover, aj (wonderful)
23. the elevator in my apartment building broke, and i live on the 12th floor (weird, but it's a good thing there are two of them)
24. fell asleep listening to the "once" soundtrack (dreamy)
25. woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of wind violently rattling my apartment door (dang monsoon season!)
26. i am now twenty-six years old, a new leaf in the life has been turned!

thanks to any and all who read this and to those who sent birthday wishes.
you are invaluable to me!