UPDATE

Quick update because I'm pretty sure I've got to go and get on a bus soon.

Thing 1: Orientation is over at last and I've been told that I'm teaching at two different elementary schools that are in the same area. One school gave me a fairly detailed description, saying I would be teaching there wednesday to friday, grades 4-6. The other school provided almost no detail, so all I know is that there are 300 students or something and 20 classes. OK, that was a short one, but I've gotta run, and I likely won't have internet for a couple of weeks.

First Korea Post!!

Hi friends! The blog is back by popular demand (I swear it)! I flew into South Korea last night and am currently staying in a dorm room at what I assume is a university in the city of Daejon. I woke up in Toronto on Sunday morning at 4am, was on a plane around 8am, flew 5 hours to San Francisco and then another almost 12 hours from there to Seoul. From the airport we got on a “shuttle bus” for a 3 hour trip to Daejon. We got here and settled in around midnight on Monday. I didn't see a sunset from Sunday morning to Monday night. For serious. It was like we just skipped right over Sunday night...which I guess is exactly what happened. Anyway, we're here and the jet lag isn't so bad as of right now.

Points of interest thus far: after I had cleared security I walked into a washroom at Pearson and saw a girl that went to university with me drying her hands. We had had a few classes together but I hadn't really heard from her in a couple years, but we remembered each other. Turns out, not only was she flying to South Korea to teach English, she was going to the exact same city as me! My guess is that the chances of that happening are pretty slim right? Anyway, not even on a plane yet and off to a pretty good start. When I got here I met ANOTHER girl who went to UTSC for a couple of years and found out we have some mutual friends too!

UPDATE: I have now been here for a couple of days. I have been REALLY busy. We've got a packed schedule starting at breakfast at 7:30am and ending with Korean lessons that are over at 8:30. For seven days in a row. Friday gives us a nice little break with a field trip into the city (but still takes up the whole damn day). The food is served to us cafeteria style and it has been cracking me up on the regular. They are trying to cook food that is familiar to us, but since they are Koreans who cook for Koreans, the meals are usually lacklustre and a little strange sometimes. Lots of soup for breakfast, lunch AND dinner...creamy, bland, thick stuff that looks suspiciously all alike even though it's got a different name each time. And cabbage! Cabbage in the soups, cabbage in the stir fries, cabbage in the salad, cabbage in the meat (I swear). Also there were hotdogs (or spam) in my lasagna today hahaha. Yesterday for dinner it was rice, fried rice AND spaghetti, which also made me LOL.

What else...had the medical check up today. I will list all of the things that happened. Hearing test, colour blindness test, urine sample, blood sample, height, weight and chest measurements (by chest I mean my rack...so they're going to totally label me as obese lol ), eye test, consultation with doctor (for real), blood pressure and an X-ray which took place in a mobile X-ray bus. The same bus, my temporary roomate pointed out, on which the muffins they were feeding us afterwards were being stored. Thus the title “radiation muffins” was coined today haha.

Ok, this should be an update enough for everyone. I still don't find out what age I am teaching or where I'm living for sure until Sunday I think. I haven't had a chance to explore Daejon at all since the gave us a TEN PM CURFEW because foreigners can't be trusted. Found a bar down the street from the campus last night, but this area doesn't appear to be super trendy or anything. Will give more details when I can though.

Kuh-why-eeeee

This is how you pronounce the name of the island. I, as with most places I have ever been outside of Canada, was pronouncing it totally wrong and had no idea until I arrived. Now we allll know! Alright now, it's only been a couple days but now seems to be a good time for blogging, so let's do it. Yesterday we started into the extra touristy junk, with a little plane ride around the island. It was excellent...it's something like 90% of the island is unreachable by road, and there are parts that you can't even hike to up in the mountains. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to go all the away around the island, including into the interior for a bit, and back out to sea. Tiny tiny. Found out that this island boasts the "wettest place on earth" where I guess it just rains non stop.


Today we did a kayak/hike tour. I may have misled dad a little about how much effort this trek was going to be, and he was pretty exhausted by the end. Oops haha. In my opinion, it was all totally worth it because we got to see and also swim at the bottom of a picturesque little waterfall. And we got a picture of my standing in it, which is totally the greatest. And of course all the parts other than just that were also super beautiful.

I forgot to mention last time: Reggae is a BIG deal here. They love it, it's played heavily on 2 of the 4 radio stations, and of those 2 one of them ONLY plays it. It makes cruising around pretty badass.

There is a Hawaiian form of Pidgin, which is English mixed with regional language or variations. And they call it Pidgin too. I haven't heard a lot of it, but I have definitely noticed some interesting dialect, like 'tree' instead of 'three' as an example.

Wal-mart sells the cheapest souvenirs. That's just how it is. Although I haven't been in Costco yet haha.

OH! And I found out today that it is totally legal to sit in the bed of a pick up truck if all the seatbelts in the front are being used. That is a law. On an unrelated (or is it?) field, booze is crazy cheap.

That is all for now.

Hawaii Installment

Okay team...it has been a while, but I feel inspired to fill the internet in on this little Hawaii side vacation. Short story: this is the greatest place on Earth. Somehow, Hawaii has been underrated by the tourism industry. Doesn't seem possible right? But seriously, this place is some kind of untapped paradise. Beautiful weather every day, perpetual beaches, friendly and welcoming culture, perfect AND empty beaches, and WHALES!!!! SERIOUSLY! I am glad this island isn't swarming with people, but frankly it is astounding that it isn't. For those of you who don't know, I'm on the island of Kauai, in this little tiny town called Kekaha, a town that according to the guide books, is "rarely visited, even by locals". This place is smaallll town...Bayfield style...but with a school...and so much surfing. So, since I wasn't really planning on blogging at all, but have been noticing little things I want to share with everybody, and probably won't have a chance to upload any photos until I get home, I'm gonna list off some of the more interesting things I have noticed while here! HOORAY!

1. The "surf's up" sign. You know that thing you've seen in surf movies with the thumb and the pinky sticking up?

Ya, this one right here!! This is a big thing. People flash this to each other when they pass on the road, when they see each other on the beach...all the time. Spreads lots of good will and surfer karma I guess.

2. Literally everyone here surfs. Everyone. It's like hockey in Canada. People can surf before they walk. It's pretty cool.

3. Jacked up trucks/jeeps. Jacked up literally...like when the body of the vehicle sits above the tires by at least a foot? Like that...all the rage. And not new trucks...trucks from the 1980s. Vehicles here age waaay differently than in Canada...salt damage occurs on THE TOP of the vehicle rather than on the underside. Weird right? Either way, it means that taking preventing salt damage tends to be a lot easier, and thus vehicles age more gracefully and thus older vehicles can be "cool" and not just totally worn out.

4. The Pacific Ocean is terrifying. Totally scary. Respect. I've heard lots of stories about pro surfers getting HELLA banged up...and these are people who KNOW what they are doing and still manage to get totally mangled by the ocean.

5. Hawaii's main industry is tourism. Until about 10 or 15 years ago it was sugar cane in a few places still, such as this island, but this has been totally shut down and moved to the Philippines where labour is cheaper. On this island there is a great deal of seed corn grown, but that requires minimal manual labour. Our hosts have been telling me that since property values have increased by so much, young Hawaiians are unable to buy their own homes, and up to 4 generations are living within one rather small house (and spending a lot of money on their souped up trucks!) Sooo...economic situation could be better, especially on this island that tends to stay away from the tourist spotlight.

6. ROOSTERS! Actually roosters everywhere. Back in 1992 a hurricane destroyed all the cages that the fighting cocks were kept in. If you know the fist thing about anthropology you know that cock fighting is a pretty big deal in Polynesian culture, thus, a pretty big deal in Hawaii. You might also know that it is highly frowned upon by most Western governments. Thus, in 1992 when this hurricane hit, a bunch of illegal fighting cocks were released into the wild by a hurricane, and there was no legal recourse for going about recapturing them since nobody wanted to take responsibility for a bunch of illegal birds. So now there are just wild roosters all over the place! And not North American variety roosters...fricken South East Asian JUNGLE fowl is what they are called!!! As a person who is afraid of most kinds of birds, they are pretty intimidating. I've been taking photos of them, but at a respectful (fearful) distance, so watch for those to come.

Okay, that it is for now. More to come probably!!! Also lots and lots of photos. Peace and love friends!

The Epilogue (I think)

So, some time has gone by, a semester is winding down, things appear to be getting back to normal? We'll see. So as to keep this from becoming a diary entry, I will try to stick to the hard facts.

I am almost definitely not going back to China this summer. Firstly, there is no money to do this. Second, I realized I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to do this, which is silly and was making me incredibly anxious. So I'm going to look for opportunities in Toronto for the summer, including internships and volunteer spots, and use the Crocs store as a financial back up. After this semester, I only have one more to go. I could do it in the summer, but I am way more likely to find full-time employment or an internship now than in September. I also realized that I have been living like a nomad for almost a year and would be REALLY happy to just stay in one spot that feels like mine for a little while. Then I will graduate in December, and figure out what to do after that. I am really ready to be done school at this point, regardless of what happens afterwards.

With the school, things are weird. I haven't really had a follow up meeting since I dropped the co-op, which I think was supposed to happen. We have had large forum type meetings, including one that the Dean attended. This defies all logic, but the Dean is the first U of T admin type to say that they did not handle the situation right, that things were done wrong, and that measures are being taken to correct them. It blew my mind. In a good way. Yesterday we met with him to discuss the matter further, particularly the issue of compensation for the crazy amount of co-op fees we paid for almost no job experience. He says he is going to do his best to compensate us financially, whether it be through tuition credits or bursaries. We are completely satisfied with this...U of T is rather stingy with their finances...so this is a big deal.

I'm still coping with a lot of emotional baggage from the whole thing, but it's getting better. In April I am planning on heading to the US to visit my Tibetan boss man and a couple of my friends from Xining, which I am really looking forward to. And my classmates will start to come home in the next few weeks! I can't even express how excited I am to see them, honestly.

Okay, just a quick update for everyone, and probably the end of this blog with this title. It was fun while it lasted! Thanks for reading and caring!

AND THEN...

I dropped the co-op part of my degree and am going back to school this semester. I am registered in mostly anthro courses which I need to fill out my anthropology major. My IDS specialist has been essentially taken care of. I was waiting to find out if there was any chance of me getting another job outside of Canada and it sounded like there wasn't, and that's not what I signed up for. In addition, once you have completed 8 months of co-op, you MUST write a thesis...like, a post-grad style thesis. If I am not tied to this thesis for the next year and a half, my options for leaving Canada again this year basically increase by 20 times. In addition to this, there is a course I have signed up for that allows me to get a credit for doing volunteer work one day a week and then writing a paper to be marked by the 'supervisor', who is this really cool woman that does a tonne of development work (among other cool things). Thus, I am still going to be getting experience working with a development organization in Canada, and writing a research paper about it, WHILE going to school. From what Hridi and I can tell, this is winning. We are still going to pursue an admission that the school was in the wrong for ever sending us on these placements in the first place, but that may take some time. What's most important for my mental well being right now is having at least a short-term plan, something to keep myself busy and my small shred of hope that I might get back to China as soon as the summer. Future possibilities of course need to be investigated further, once I'm not scrambling to get my late (EXTREMELY LATE) OSAP application in, registering for courses, meeting with various admin types and finding a place to live (THE WORST...I hate looking for apartments).

Quick update: I have discovered that nobody 'asked for or needed an intern' in Xining. Thus, from the information I have, I wasn't working for an organization OR a person. That's just messed up. I feel like I owe it to future IDS generations to make sure nobody ever gets sent out into a situation that craptastic ever again. Students aren't guinea pigs...not after thousands of dollars in co-op fees. Due diligence, transparency, and an apology would be nice. We'll see what happens.

So yeah, back to normal except everything is different! Thanks for being the best support team anyone could have ever ever asked for!!!!

Welp...

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, I am no longer in the glorious people's republic. I have been in Canada for about 2 weeks, and there is a good chance I'm not going back anytime soon. Reasons for this are long-winded, complicated and vary depending on who you ask, so I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail on here. We'll just say that I'm not happy about it and my displeasure has been made known. The fact is that I'm here whether I like it or not, and I now need to focus on what's next. Here's a little update though.

I was basically given less than 48 hours to pack up my life in China. I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone or wrap up any of my business. I was planning on moving into a new apartment on December 1st. The big 2 month holiday was coming up. Friends were coming to visit, then family, and we all had wonderful plans. My Chinese was improving rapidly, and I was making some great friends. This hurt. This hurt BIG. A lot of you know that my basic life philosophy is based on thinking that the people in my life and my relationships are more important than basically anything else. I cherish you guys, deal with it. Having to just cut ties on such short notice is likely going to haunt me for a long long time. So, I have overcome a lot of the emotional trauma I was going through a couple of weeks ago, but I'm definitely still dealing with random outbursts of sobbing and tears, although these are increasingly less frequent too. I owe my friends and family a gigantic thankyou for helping me through this, for your shared outrage, your words of encouragement, your patience and your understanding. Just amazing. I hope I can be there for all of you when you need it like you were for me!

So, what HAVE I been doing? Well, my first stop when I got back to Canada was Vancouver. I hadn't been planning on stopping over, but when Brig said "clearly I am going to come see you at the airport even if it's only for 30 minutes" it occurred to me that being in Vancouver and leaving after 1 hour was ridiculous. For reasons yet unknown, the school wasn't super happy about me stopping in Vancouver and actually tried to forbid it. Fortunately they relented at the last minute after I told them I had already purchased an alternative ticket to Toronto for a few days later. I figured "What does it matter where I am as long as I'm not in China right? Isn't that what the big deal is about anyway?" Anyway, I went to Vancouver. I didn't do a whole lot. I went to Whistler because Charlene insisted on taking me, and I'm glad she did. It was wonderful...everyone tells you about how pretty BC is, but as a stubborn and proud Ontarian I guess I've always brushed it off haha. Vancouver was perfect...exactly the adjustment period I needed before confronting Ontario, Toronto, and U of T. Plus, I got to see Brigitte and meet all these people I've heard all about but have never met. AND I got to see Main and Hastings in real life, which was exciting because I'm a big Canadian social sciences nerd and have read SO MUCH about that corner!!! SO RAW!

After Vancouver, I came back to Toronto. In chronological order: saw parents, saw Hridi, saw U of T (blech), saw Lisa, Lauren and Ray (And Hridi again), saw Abby and Tzazna, moved in with Abby and Tzazna, then saw as many other people as was possibly possible. This week is kind of a blur of me dealing with emotions and a couple of surprises and trying to wrap my head around being in Toronto and having to deal with the logistics of paperwork and stuff I had to do. It was good though. I have great friends. Unfortuantely my return has coincided with end of semester crunch time and everybody is all stressed out and busy, but we managed to work around it. Yesterday Dad picked me up and we stopped in Waterloo to see Robert. Quick Robert update (since about half of you will want to know): in the middle of exams, still taller than me (first thing he pointed out actually), has a job in SARNIA next semester (isn't working with any relatives though), still gets confused easily, did a dumb thing in the car and bent one of the rims, turns 21 on friday, has JUST discovered what a hair straightener is and what it's used for and is totally blown away by it. The usual.

I'm now back in Clinton where it has been snowing for like a week straight. I am trying to unpack my stuff (it sucks) which is going slowly. First of all, things in my suitcase still SMELL like China. And some things in the suitcase haven't been worn since China. Memories and stuff. Additionally, mom's house is already full of my stuff. I have 3 rooms worth of stuff, because I usually have 3 rooms at my disposal (dad's, mom's, with me). So I'm taking things out of my suitcase and have no where to put them. The drawers are ALL full. It would almost be better to just leave it in the suitcase until I move somewhere new (which is probably going to happen). Everybody should be home for Christmas soon, so Clinton isn't so bad.

What's next? The school hasn't really given me a good answer on this one yet and my main contact there is on vacation until January. I would like to get some answers from somebody sooner than that, but it may just simply not happen. I would love to find another job outside of Canada, but that generally doesn't ever happen once somebody comes home. There is a good chance the replacement job will be in Toronto or Ottawa. I am trying to push the school to find me something new sooner than later because I don't want to just be hanging around. You shall be kept posted about this situation.

So that's that. Details will be shared one on one if you should so desire! And I'm sorry to anyone that I didn't see and all the people I haven't responded to and stuff like that. Things are finally just starting to normalize now, so I should be able to talk about this stuff more now.

I'm working through it, I'll be okay eventually. Thanks again everyone!