An Unpublished Letter, Published

Dearest Cheongju,

Although our affair was brief, you showed me years of beautiful experiences in the 365 days that we spent together.

When I met you, I was merely a girl.  Afraid and lost, I was hoping to find something in you that would help me glue it all together.

With you, I flourished into a passionate, loving individual. Destiny led us to cross paths with the vibrant people that I was lucky enough to be surrounded with. We shared laughs and drinks and happiness and tears and blackouts over those very blurry nights.

You taught me to love completely and to give every part of me to the moment because time is forever fleeting. My darling students and unreadable co-teachers and wonderful strangers showed me that sometimes, we didn’t need spoken language to communicate. Love and curiosity was all around us. All I had to do was open up and feel it.

And yes, we had problems. There were periods when I got completely lost in frustration and anger and stress and at times, you made me feel so terribly alone. You broke every piece of my heart and I spent too long of our time together longing to leave you.

But I regret nothing and thank you for everything that you have shown me.

You helped me realize that I never need to find that glue because I am not broken. Life is a series of moments, floating in our memories. It is up to us to decide which ones we will happily capture and which ones we will allow to infect us.

You were everything that my twenty-three year old self could’ve ever asked for.

Again, I thank you.

Love always,

tiffypoo

Thank you for the support and the suggestion!  Please note that the gym I recently joined is a really inexpensive, dinky gym. I know that if I went to an expensive one, the experience may be comparable to the one I went to in Korea. In Korea, I was paying $80-something a month. There was a pool and saunas, the gym was two floors. It was extremely spacious and it had some equipment that I’ve never seen before. There was a post-work out machine that had a band that you could put around your waist, and it acted like a hula hoop. All the treadmills (12) faced individual TVs. It was really nice. The gym that I signed up for, I paid $8.95 for the first month. There were four treadmills that sat uncomfortable close to each other and they faced a huge mirror. I was really intimidated because I didn’t wanna watch myself or other people run. Their machine seemed… cheap? The technology didn’t seem as advanced as Korea’s. It seemed really tiny. But either way, I’m still getting my exercise… right? 

Thank you for the support and the suggestion! 

Please note that the gym I recently joined is a really inexpensive, dinky gym. I know that if I went to an expensive one, the experience may be comparable to the one I went to in Korea.

In Korea, I was paying $80-something a month. There was a pool and saunas, the gym was two floors. It was extremely spacious and it had some equipment that I’ve never seen before. There was a post-work out machine that had a band that you could put around your waist, and it acted like a hula hoop. All the treadmills (12) faced individual TVs. It was really nice.

The gym that I signed up for, I paid $8.95 for the first month. There were four treadmills that sat uncomfortable close to each other and they faced a huge mirror. I was really intimidated because I didn’t wanna watch myself or other people run. Their machine seemed… cheap? The technology didn’t seem as advanced as Korea’s. It seemed really tiny.

But either way, I’m still getting my exercise… right? 

Sorry for the blurry picture! I miss the crazy nightlife in Korea. This place was called “Say Hello” and it was PACKED. My friends and I had to get a booth, which required us to purchase some food. Suddenly, the music got really loud and all the Koreans stood up and started to shuffle. It was cray! Tonight is my first time going out in Canada. Will let you know how it goes!

Sorry for the blurry picture!

I miss the crazy nightlife in Korea. This place was called “Say Hello” and it was PACKED. My friends and I had to get a booth, which required us to purchase some food. Suddenly, the music got really loud and all the Koreans stood up and started to shuffle. It was cray!

Tonight is my first time going out in Canada. Will let you know how it goes!

In Korea, they go all out for their fire drills.

It starts off normal, the sirens go off and everybody rushes outside. But students are usually wearing masks and teachers are covering their faces with heaps of tissue paper. Once outside, everyone sits down and watches “the show”.

First, yellow smoke pours out from one of the kindergarten windows. Teachers rescue a dummy and perform CPR on it. Then, a little fire appears in the middle of the playground and other teachers tackle it with a fire extinguisher. The teachers at my school (intentionally?) failed to put it out, so the fire truck brought out the big guns.

When the fire truck starts putting out the fire, students go buck. 

It was a super exciting event to be a part of. 

So I think that I’m going to post a few more things about Korea since I still have some pics left over. When my sister came to visit, my friends suggested that we go to the Arcade and go on this ride called “Disco Pang Pang”.  What is this you ask? There’s a DJ who controls this huge tilted wheel. He controls it and at the top of the tilt, he can make it bump. He humiliates you while trying to make you fall. Because we were all foreigners, he kept us on for 10 minutes. I was horrified. I didn’t want to fall, so I held on for dear life.  This is the next day. My arm was bruised up and my body hurt for 3-4 days.  NEVER AGAIN. 

So I think that I’m going to post a few more things about Korea since I still have some pics left over.

When my sister came to visit, my friends suggested that we go to the Arcade and go on this ride called “Disco Pang Pang”. 

What is this you ask? There’s a DJ who controls this huge tilted wheel. He controls it and at the top of the tilt, he can make it bump. He humiliates you while trying to make you fall. Because we were all foreigners, he kept us on for 10 minutes. I was horrified. I didn’t want to fall, so I held on for dear life. 

This is the next day. My arm was bruised up and my body hurt for 3-4 days. 

NEVER AGAIN. 

Korea is all about gifts. When I left, my fav co-teacher and I exchanged them. This was one of my weakest moments of leaving the country. I wanted to thank her for everything but my voice wavered and I could feel tears starting to form.  It’s weird to think that I may never see her again. I loved her so much!  (P.S. It was a bunch of traditional Korean utensils for the kitchen.)

Korea is all about gifts.

When I left, my fav co-teacher and I exchanged them. This was one of my weakest moments of leaving the country. I wanted to thank her for everything but my voice wavered and I could feel tears starting to form. 

It’s weird to think that I may never see her again. I loved her so much! 

(P.S. It was a bunch of traditional Korean utensils for the kitchen.)

After an exhausting 18 hour flight, I finally landed in Toronto.  I definitely think I experienced reverse culture shock. I saw a mixture of different races (not just Koreans), colours that didn’t induce seizures, smelled fatty Canadian foods (Tim Hortons) as I raced through the airport. I started to panic and my heart rate skyrocketed - maybe I made the wrong decision, maybe Canada isn’t my home anymore. I miss Korea.  My luggage was out in five minutes and I slowly trolleyed my suitcases out of the airport. I saw my best friend and I walked even slower. Was this real life?  We hug each other and I start making crying noises but there were no tears. She walked somewhere and I followed her. Everything was a blur. She turns a corner and I hear “SURPRISE!”  All of my close friends had shown up at the airport too! I dropped to the floor and started bawling. I was finally home. I kept getting up to touch them to make sure that this was really happening and then dropping to the ground to cry again.  They made the cutest sign for me.  I’m so happy to be home but I still feel like I left a part of me in Korea. 

After an exhausting 18 hour flight, I finally landed in Toronto. 

I definitely think I experienced reverse culture shock. I saw a mixture of different races (not just Koreans), colours that didn’t induce seizures, smelled fatty Canadian foods (Tim Hortons) as I raced through the airport. I started to panic and my heart rate skyrocketed - maybe I made the wrong decision, maybe Canada isn’t my home anymore. I miss Korea. 

My luggage was out in five minutes and I slowly trolleyed my suitcases out of the airport. I saw my best friend and I walked even slower. Was this real life? 

We hug each other and I start making crying noises but there were no tears. She walked somewhere and I followed her. Everything was a blur.

She turns a corner and I hear “SURPRISE!” 

All of my close friends had shown up at the airport too!

I dropped to the floor and started bawling. I was finally home. I kept getting up to touch them to make sure that this was really happening and then dropping to the ground to cry again. 

They made the cutest sign for me. 

I’m so happy to be home but I still feel like I left a part of me in Korea. 

February 25th, 2012 I’ve spent the past week trying to “pack”. By that, I mean I sloppily dumped everything into three suitcases. I kept wanting to blog about this to you, dear followers, but unfortunately, my mother reads my blog on the daily and I wanted to surprise her. This morning was my second last day in Korea. I was up until 5 AM and woke up at 9 AM. I decided to repack everything because I am a responsible adult now and adults roll their clothes and try to make everything fit in a pretty, organized rectangle. I’d have to say that I did a pretty good job. I’m terrified that I went over the weight limit and I still need to see if I can fit souvenirs in it. All my friends have asked me to bring them back this or that when I don’t think that they realize that this means that I have to run around trying to see if I can fulfil the 20 things on my list. My friend Kayc came over and kept me company while I cleaned my apartment (thanks for the facebook hack, jerk). We walked around this really nice town next to mine and had Shabu Shabu. Then the new girl came and I gave her my keys and I moved my life to my friend, Sylvia’s place. I’m just hanging out here, waiting until tomorrow. I am numb because I think that I feel so overwhelmed. A part of me really isn’t ready to leave anymore. I don’t want to leave the great friendships that have started here. I don’t want to leave the money and the convenient life. But I need to grow up. Getting drunk every Friday and Saturday isn’t my ideal life. I want to go home and work on my career. I want to be with my friends and my family. I want to be able to function and not depend on others. I will miss this country, where I have called my home for the past twelve months. Thank you for following me, guise. I have no idea what direction my blog will take now, but I appreciate everyone who gave a fuck about my life in Cheongju.

February 25th, 2012

I’ve spent the past week trying to “pack”. By that, I mean I sloppily dumped everything into three suitcases. I kept wanting to blog about this to you, dear followers, but unfortunately, my mother reads my blog on the daily and I wanted to surprise her.

This morning was my second last day in Korea. I was up until 5 AM and woke up at 9 AM. I decided to repack everything because I am a responsible adult now and adults roll their clothes and try to make everything fit in a pretty, organized rectangle. I’d have to say that I did a pretty good job. I’m terrified that I went over the weight limit and I still need to see if I can fit souvenirs in it. All my friends have asked me to bring them back this or that when I don’t think that they realize that this means that I have to run around trying to see if I can fulfil the 20 things on my list.

My friend Kayc came over and kept me company while I cleaned my apartment (thanks for the facebook hack, jerk). We walked around this really nice town next to mine and had Shabu Shabu. Then the new girl came and I gave her my keys and I moved my life to my friend, Sylvia’s place.

I’m just hanging out here, waiting until tomorrow.

I am numb because I think that I feel so overwhelmed. A part of me really isn’t ready to leave anymore. I don’t want to leave the great friendships that have started here. I don’t want to leave the money and the convenient life. But I need to grow up. Getting drunk every Friday and Saturday isn’t my ideal life. I want to go home and work on my career. I want to be with my friends and my family. I want to be able to function and not depend on others.

I will miss this country, where I have called my home for the past twelve months. Thank you for following me, guise. I have no idea what direction my blog will take now, but I appreciate everyone who gave a fuck about my life in Cheongju.

My favourite Hookah/Shisha lounge has mouthpieces that are individually wrapped like candy. I think it is super cool! 

My favourite Hookah/Shisha lounge has mouthpieces that are individually wrapped like candy. I think it is super cool! 

(I fell in love with this old school ad when I was munching on breakfast in Gwangju.) I HATE how smoking indoors is allowed almost everywhere in Korea. This means that after a long night at the bars, I wake up to my hair and clothes smelling like death. There is always a stale death cloud of smoke hanging around in the room.  Sometimes when I leave, I find myself struggling to catch more air and I get weird breathing problems in the morning. 

(I fell in love with this old school ad when I was munching on breakfast in Gwangju.)

I HATE how smoking indoors is allowed almost everywhere in Korea. This means that after a long night at the bars, I wake up to my hair and clothes smelling like death. There is always a stale death cloud of smoke hanging around in the room. 

Sometimes when I leave, I find myself struggling to catch more air and I get weird breathing problems in the morning.