Occasional Observances From a Long Way Off

The first poem I read in the tenth grade textbook

2011-09-09T18:53:00.003+09:00

Road Between Saskatoon and Edmonton

Yes - there are hills on the prairie,
trees, even; the roads sometimes winds.
It is not
home on the range
with perpetually sunny skies,
for up there in that sky
wider and higher than the one I grew up with
clouds shift and reshift,
drop sudden showers,
vanish again in sunlight.

I name over the foreign words and objects:
those almost lakes are sloughs;
that is a windbreak of poplars,
geometrically planted before the square farmhouse.
The chief difference in the land
is that there is more of it.

The little towns are prairie cliches,
each with its grain elevator
onion-domed church
and Chinese restaurant.

But there are hints of Celtic landscape
near Kitscoty and Innisfree
lake water set in valleys
Irish and wet,
with new green grass,
and I can even imagine
the nine bean-rows
and a homesick immigrant
almost finding himself at home.

Will I ever be at home in this country?
Will I ever be at home again away from it?

- Elizabeth Brewster

The North American Tour of 2011

2011-07-26T07:26:00.003+09:00

This one goes out to the numerous people who have told me they're getting very tired of seeing me sleeping on that rat-infested train. Hopefully, the wildlife of my homeland is a nice change.

And the winner is...

2011-04-08T13:23:00.002+09:00

After logging what felt like countless hours using China's public transport, I can report that sleeper trains are superior to sleeper buses. The buses smell bad. I think I alluded to a truly terrifying rat incident on a train a few posts back. Well, it happened and I'm still haunted by it, but our ever-chivalrous Lee stayed awake all night making sure no rodents had the opportunity to get back in my bunk. In trying to decide the victor of the public transport race, I've decided to repress the rat memory and replace it with a gentle husband one, making trains the winner by a caboose.

Return to Kathmandu

2011-04-06T15:58:00.001+09:00

We're back in Kathmandu, after an amazing trek, a few relaxing days in Pokhara (hair conditioner! real coffee! nearly-hot showers!), and a long bus ride back to the city. Of course, we have many pictures of the Annapurna Circuit and can't wait to tell you all about it, but I feel an obligation to go back in time and get caught up on the post-Kashgar, pre-Nepal experiences. We wouldn't want to deprive our fans - all ten of you - of stories of ancient caves, panda bears, and unscrupulous Uighur taxi-drivers. Patience, loyal readers, patience...all will be revealed in time.

For now, though, I thought you might enjoy a few of the things that occur on a normal morning in Kathmandu. I'd like to call this "Things that would never happen in Canada."

1. I woke and had yet another cold shower in yet another hotel that guarantees hot water.
2. When I left the hotel, a middle-aged Nepalese man asked if we wanted to buy some smoke. "Marijuana? Hashish?"
3. I nearly got run over by a rickshaw because I looked the wrong way. I need near-constant reminders to myself: they drive on the left, they drive on the left. It is Nepal. Maybe this should be my mantra.
4. At the Indian embassy, I had to complete my application by supplying the name of my father or husband. As you can imagine, Lee did not have to fulfill this requirement.
5. Also at the embassy, I saw four 20-something American boys dressed like Hare Krishna.
6. For breakfast, I had two cappuccinos, a lemon pancake, and a mango lassi. Total cost: $5

Where to eat in Kashgar

2011-03-04T16:44:00.003+09:00

It's the most popular place in town, the food is delicious, and we'd highly recommend eating there, if only we could remember its name.

Where to stay in Kashgar

2011-03-04T16:32:00.003+09:00

The middle of winter is the lowest of the low seasons in Xinjiang province. We hear that the city is full of tourists in the summer, but we didn't see any in February. Many of the hotels and tourist offices were closed when we arrived, but the Seman Hotel, in all its resplendent glory, was open. The decor is fitting of this former Russian consulate. We felt like Anna and Vronsky, only without all the death and tragedy.

The etiquette of travel

2011-03-04T16:14:00.002+09:00

In case anyone forgets to bring their manners with them to China, the municipal government has decided to remind everybody.

Kashgar

2011-03-04T15:33:00.004+09:00

With limited time and vast distances to cover, we knew that we would not be able to only travel overland, as we had originally intended. We decided to fly out to Kashgar,Xinjiang, and make our way back to Kunming from there. A hastily-purchased but far-from-direct flight from Lijiang, with overnight stops in Chengdu then Urumqi, had us in Kashgar in fifty short hours.

Xinjiang has long been on our list of must-see destinations. Both of us were drawn to see that province's huge mountains and deserts and to explore some of the old Silk Road sites. One of us is far more cultured than the other, and wanted to understand first-hand how the people of Xinjiang, with culture and religion unique from the rest of China, are able to reconcile their traditions with those of their new Chinese landlords. I wanted to go and eat mutton and flatbread. Neither of us was disappointed.

Kashgar's bazaar was noisy and bustling, with items on offer ranging from used boots to fur hats to livestock to food of highly dubious origin. We had read that at any time, one could expect to hear over fifty languages or dialects being spoken in the market. Sounds about right.

Baisha

2011-03-04T15:25:00.005+09:00

A two hour walk down a quiet highway from Lijiang took us to the village of Baisha, which lies in the shadow of the 5596m Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Not much to do there besides enjoy a pleasant lunch, shop for some Naxi handicrafts, and breathe some very fresh mountain air.

Around town

2011-03-04T15:17:00.007+09:00

Lijiang is the traditional home of the Naxi people, who evidently loved waterways, narrow cobblestoned roads, raptors, and picturesque rooftops.

Another old city

2011-03-04T14:59:00.004+09:00

You know you have a rightful claim to being an "ancient city" when a great Tatar warlord stopped by the local watering hole for some frosty milk of Paradise.

With gratitude

2011-03-04T14:49:00.005+09:00

The yak gives us much...aforementioned sticks of grilled flesh, hours of toil humping loads up mountain trails, and bottles of creamy yogurty deliciousness. Thank you, yak, for all that you do.

Lijiang

2011-03-04T13:28:00.002+09:00

Tourists, like us, flock to Lijiang for a few reasons: to walk around the old town, a UNESCO World Heritage site; for the spectacular view of YuLongXueShan [Jade Dragon Snow Mountain] from Black Dragon Pool; and to eat yak meat kebabs.

One-speed pace

2011-03-04T13:11:00.002+09:00

We rented bikes in Dali to go for a ride around Erhai [Ear-shaped] Lake. The villages down by the river made for a very tranquil day of cycling. The lake itself is huge, with a surface area of over 250 sq.km, and we did not much more than 25km out and back. The pace was leisurely, the lake was clean, the air was fresh, and the people smiled warmly…a very pleasant way to spend the day.

The Old City

2011-03-02T23:25:00.002+09:00

We had both read and heard that Dali has a laid-back feeling, often enticing travelers into staying a day or two longer than they had originally planned. True, all true. With the Cangshan Range as a backdrop, and the massive Erhai Lake a ten-minute downhill bike ride away, the old walled city has much charm.

Dali

2011-03-02T22:56:00.003+09:00

Saying goodbye to Kunming after a month of classes, we headed north on Yunnan’s touristy trail. First stop, Dali.

The town is well-equipped to handle the glut of tourists it gets, but has done so without altering most of the historical buildings and streets. Most of the streets are still cobble-stoned, and the main shopping area is pedestrian-only. Some of the restaurants we went into were not much bigger than most OOFALWO readers’ dining rooms, with one or two items on the menu. Our first night, we had a few plates of delicious dumplings after watching the friendly proprietor roll them out to order.

Because of its location on the established Kunming-Dali-Lijiang-Shangri La trail, Dali has the obligatory “Western breakfast” joints, reggae bar, and sidewalk cafes. While we usually went with local fare, we will admit to wiling away a few hours on Foreigner Street, people-watching and downing a frosty beverage or two in the late afternoon.

It's our last day in China

2011-02-27T17:07:00.004+09:00

One month ago, we left Kunming for Northern Yunnan province. After seeing Dali and Lijiang, we flew all the way to Kashgar, then made our back across Xinjiang province via Urumqi and Turpan. A long bus ride brought us to Dunhuang, then another to Jiayuguan. We made our way through Gansu province to Xiahe, then came back to Lanzhou, down to Chengdu in Sichuan province, and finally had one last train trip which brought us back to Kunming yesterday morning.

We journeyed down the Silk Road. We travelled through deserts, mountains, and long vast expanses of nothing. We went to ancient cities, caves, and markets. We visited mosques and temples. We sampled many types of bread, noodles, and hot pots. We slept on buses, trains, and in hotels that varied from cold and dirty to clean and comfortable. We felt adventurous, fortunate, and occasionally horrified.* We saw the things people expect to see in China - the Great Wall, panda bears, and pagodas - but often stumbled onto the unexpected.

Tomorrow we fly to Kathmandu where we'll fulfill a long-held goal of trekking in the Himalaya. Excited is an understatement on this day - we're practically skipping down the streets of Kunming getting ready to go. The truth is, one only needs three things to be able to travel: money, time, and the desire to go. While we've always had the desire to go to Nepal, one of the other two has always been missing. Well, no longer, our bags are packed and we're ready to go, happy to leave behind the long bus and train rides of China to begin hiking from teahouse to teahouse on the Annapurna Circuit.

*Get these motherf&$@ing rats off this motherf@&*ing train! It's a story for another day, when the trauma wears off.

Language School Farewell

2011-01-31T22:42:00.007+09:00

Some of the good folk we met at the language school saw fit to join us for a farewell dinner. These are some very nice, very smart, and very well-travelled people. Befitting a group of Danes, Norwegians, Finns, Yanks, Frenchies, Aussies, and Canucks assembled in China, we went for Italian food.

More Kunming

2011-01-29T20:32:00.003+09:00

Let me boast

2011-01-29T20:07:00.005+09:00

When we came to Keats School, we decided to partake in some of the extracurricular activities. Two afternoons a week we went to tai ji (video of our amazing teacher will be coming in a later post), and Lee also opted for two weekly calligraphy classes. It turns out he's a natural at shufa. His teacher, the very kind man pictured above, has had one of Lee's works mounted on a scroll. It will be entered in a provincial exhibition hosted by the Yunnan Daily newspaper in the "foreigner" category. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of anything other than his first day's work (pictured above), but after the exhibition is over, the scroll will be mailed to Canada. You'll be able to admire his work next summer.

Around Kunming

2011-01-28T21:23:00.003+09:00

One more day of classes, then taking the newfangled Mandarin skills out for a month on the road in western China. See how many people we can ask such useful phrases as "Do you prefer classical music or going to pop concerts?" and "Do you have the habit of being a picky eater?"

Safety first

2011-01-28T20:53:00.003+09:00

Unintentional humour second.

Realism not required

2011-01-25T21:35:00.002+09:00

Excavated in the 1970s in Hubei province and dated circa 400 BCE, this sculpture depicts a crane with antlers. Apparently it was common for animal sculptures to be placed outside tombs to guard the spirits within. Those are all the details I have, so any discussion about why somebody would want a crane with antlers to protect her immortal soul will have to remain in the realm of the hypothetical.

The Duke would be proud

2011-01-24T21:01:00.006+09:00

As Lee mentioned, we get three healthy and delicious meals each weekday. I'd like to add, however, that the Howard penchant for sugar and artificial flavour continues to reign triumphant over a well-balanced diet. Those Twizzlers you see in the photo above were off the shelf and in my basket faster than you can say "sweet tooth." My glee could only have been greater if they were black, but even the cherry flavour was rapidly consumed with mindless joy. All 396 grams were gone by the end of True Grit. That little girl's fortitude was nothing compared to the gumption I showed in demolishing that licorice. In my defense, this was the first time I've seen Twizzlers in Asia, so I was eating enough to make up for a few years without.

By the way, I have seen very few Westerns but have never enjoyed one until now. I guess the combination of Matt Damon, the Coen brothers, and a female protagonist overpowered my usual boredom with the genre. I'd suggest they give that youngster an Oscar if I hadn't already seen Natalie Portman in Black Swan. I thought she was fantastic. As you can tell, living in the language school bubble has left us with time to catch up on our movie watching. We'll be leaving next Sunday, but hope to find time for Howl and Blue Valentine before we go.

Et toi, Montreal?

2011-01-23T21:09:00.003+09:00

Evidently nous canadiennes held the event a year later. We gotta get on a mailing list.

Who knew?

2011-01-23T20:26:00.006+09:00

Apparently, way back in 1999, Kunming hosted the World Horticultural Expo. How that slipped by without us knowing is a mystery - we're usually very up on our international gardening extravaganzas. The legacy of what surely must have been wild times had by all is an enormous amount of well-tended green space on the edge of town.

We initially balked at the price of admission [see also: Butchart Gardens, Victoria 2002 with Bruce, Terri, and Lily; Butterfly World, Kuala Lumpur, last month; in front of our hut, Malapascua Island 2009, some dude's suitcase full of seashells] but since we had walked for over an hour to get there, we decided to pony up the sixteen bucks and go in. It turned out to be a great decision, with no vehicles, no crowds, a dinosaur and a galleon festooned with flowers, a bunch of oldies flying high-tech kites, and a few playful puppies to help us wile away a blue-skied Sunday.

Street food

2011-01-19T21:11:00.004+09:00

Kunming makes my stomach very, very happy. As delicious as the food is at the school, I have still managed to sample some wares from a multitude of street vendors. Photographic evidence here of last weekend's breakfast choices and a yammy midday snack. For the sake of propriety, I took no pictures of this evening's carnivorous deluge, a score of mutton skewers. No bread, no vegetables, hey, not even a table to sit at...just twenty sticks of grilled sheep flesh and me.

Eternal What?!?

2011-01-19T20:17:00.003+09:00

For those of you read about my cold toes via email, I apologize for the double whinge. At least this time you get photographic evidence of how far we've come from the beach. And of the fact that it's never too cold for the playground.

Some advice my brother gave me once that I ignored at the time but has proven to work in Kunming: if you have a problem, throw money at it. Kunming is called the City of Eternal Spring by the Chinese. Lee would like you to know that's "a large, steaming crock o'shite." I'm pretty sure that name was created by the Department of Propaganda in Beijing to justify not providing central heat to anyone in Yunnan province. The temperature drops to 1 or 2 degrees at night, with highs of 12-15 during the day. Sounds not bad, right? Except that when it's two degrees outside, it's two degrees inside. After shivering through the first two days of class, I decided to take your advice, Chris. I went and bought a jacket and scarf and fuzzy slippers. After a couple more days, I was still cold. Now I have bought a jacket with a zip-out liner that at least says "North Face," a pair of hiking pants lined with fleece, gloves, and thick socks. I didn't think I'd need that stuff until we went to Nepal, but now I'm all kitted out. And I wear it all to class and fill my water bottle with boiling water (known in China as "white tea").

Oh yeah, I bought the scarf at Zara. It cost more than the jacket and fuzzy slippers combined, but it's flannel and like wrapping myself in a large blanket. I love it. Am I the only one surprised there's a Zara here outside of Beijing or Shanghai? It's right next to the Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton stores. I guess it really is the new China.

Let's catch up, shall we?

2011-01-19T18:45:00.008+09:00

I'm going back in time to show you a few more pictures of Malaysia. Go get yourselves a cup of tea and enjoy. First up is the bus ride from KL to Lumut. We were accompanied by Jian Ghomeshi and six hours of Q podcasts - highly recommended by both of us if you need to fill time on a long journey. If you look closely in the rearview mirror, you'll see our seriously hot bus driver, who looked as if he might hop off the bus at any moment and run an ultra (though let's be honest, he's nothing compared to Lee).
From Lumut, we took the ferry to Pangkor. We actually spent Lunar New Year on this island in February, 2000. It pains me to type this because Malaysia has always held a warm and special place in my travel memories, but the last decade hasn't been kind to this little place. After the ferry crossing and a short taxi ride, we arrived at the beach where we spent our first holiday to see this:
The giant construction pit on what was once a beach coupled with a pretty severe garbage problem led to a less than sunny first day for me. Fortunately, as you know from the post "Tough Day at the Office," we did find a stretch of sandy beach further down the road to wile away a few days, and ever-affable Lee convinced me that when the prawns in your salad look like this, it's impossible to feel morose.

...and a cot

2011-01-19T18:26:00.004+09:00

It makes Green Villa (one of our Seoul Apartments) look positively palatial, but it's cozy and home sweet home for two more weeks.

Photo update: As you can see, after numerous failed attempts, I finally got a picture to load. The blogger help page is full of seething would-be bloggers who have been hamstrung by this glitch. It seems to have been remedied. Lee just told me I have to go outside, turn around three times and spit to remove the jinx I caused by suggesting it was fixed. Be right back...

Three hots

2011-01-16T20:44:00.006+09:00

Monday to Friday we eat in the school cafeteria. The food, to understate the fact, has been outstanding. Chef Li has been honing her craft for 22 years, and has received some sort of Master Craftsperson designation from the government. She buys her fruits, vegetables, and meat direct from the farmers daily, and puts out at least ten dishes for each meal. Many of these dishes, to Deanna's delight, are green and leafy. Many of the others, to my delight, are hot and spicy.

On weekends we are left to fend for ourselves. We found an excellent noodle house close to the school, have been for hot pot, and today found Salvador's, opened years ago by an American and now serving up an impressive array of brunch choices. My Mexican breakfast (eggs, potatoes, beans, homemade salsa, and a warm tortilla) and Deanna's Greek omelette were tasty; more importantly though, in a city still without its first Starbucks [gasp], an endless stream of strong dark coffee.

Just Kids

2011-01-15T22:13:00.003+09:00

What do Julia Child and Patti Smith have in common? Virtually nothing, except that both are iconic cultural figures who have been famous for decades, and I knew nothing about either of them until I read their memoirs this year. It seems funny that now I'm writing for the second time in a month to say that I loved an autobiography when ordinarily I never read them, but trust me, this is a great book.

Just Kids is Patti Smith's recollection of her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe. They lived in New York, in Brooklyn and the Chelsea Hotel, and they were friends, lovers, mutual muses, collaborators, and artists long before either of their work became known.

Smith won the National Book Award this year. In her acceptance speech she talked of books so fervently that I wanted to read hers. In it, she describes the years when she and Mapplethorpe were starving bohemian artists struggling to find their creative voices, and she worked at Scribner bookstore to support them, making extra money by scouring used book stores for rare and vintage books then selling them for profit. She spent days and hours immersed in books and writing poetry long before she became a singer and musician. That poetic voice is highly evident in this story, which at its best is a lyrical elegy to a lost love.

Watch her on Stephen Colbert here.

Photos forthcoming?

2011-01-11T22:13:00.003+09:00

Well, we're back in the blogosphere, but for some reason photos won't upload. You'll all have to live in suspense to see Lee eating giant Malaysian shrimp and chasing away little beach snakes for a few more days. Until then, here is some evidence of a cultural difference between West and East to ponder...

Every night, part of my Chinese homework includes previewing the next day's lesson. Each lesson has vocabulary and a dialogue based on a specific theme, things like "Greetings and Introductions" and "Time and Date." Tomorrow we are studying Unit Seven. The dialogue (in English because it seems a waste of time to type the phonetic Mandarin) looks like this:

Visiting the Teacher

A: David, I want to visit our teacher.

B: So do I.

A: When should we go?

B: The teacher says she would be at home in the evening.

A: But I have got something to do in the evening. I have to go to class.

B: What about Saturday night?

A: Saturday night would be all right. I'm free.

B: Shall we go at half past seven?

A: All right. I will wait for you at home and we will go together.

Now bear in mind, this is only unit seven of an introductory-level book. We haven't even discussed such basics as "Weather" or "In the Hospital." This means that whoever wrote this text decided that acquiring the language skills to show up at your teacher's house uninvited on a Saturday night is more pressing than learning how to say "Today is sunny" or "I drank water from the tap and I might be dying of cholera."

Over the wall

2011-01-10T20:20:00.003+09:00

We're in Kunming. Unbeknownst to us, the Chinese government has decided OOFALWO, along with Facebook, YouTube, and Skype, is a threat to national security. Wily Internet experts, fortunately, have come up with a way around the cyber-blockade, and our next door neighbour happens to be a software analyst from Dallas who has introduced us to the wonderful world of VPNs. For a mere $69.99 we're out from behind the firewall, barely singed.

All this to say, we're back. We have a few more pictures to post of Malaysia before we get into the China experience.

Stay tuned...

Tough day at the office

2010-12-29T18:55:00.004+09:00

Yes, yes it was.

To the victor go the spoils

2010-12-28T21:54:00.007+09:00

As far back as 1999, and I think in an attempt to sound more worldly than I actually was/am, I have been chucking around the old chestnut of being in Malaysia more times than ever being in Manitoba. As of this trip, I think those numbers are 7 to 3, in Malaysia's favour. This to say that I fancy I have some familiarity with the place, and know roughly what I'll see while getting sunburned and eating mango.

On the flight here from Seoul, I proposed a wager: first one to see a monkey gets to choose the breakfast place and have their morning meal paid for by the other for a week; first one to see a hornbill gets an especially fancy dinner in the locale and time of her or his choosing. While Deanna may have expected to get out the city before peeling her eyes, I knew to be vigilant from day one. And sure enough, over our first cup of morning coffee in KL, I saw a good-sized primate ambling down the street. Deanna picked up the breakfast cheque, and every one since then.

We had been on Pulau Pangkor no more than six minutes today before being buzzed by some frisky hornbills, which I spotted first, to my own great delight. I'll spend the next few days lounging in the shade of a palm tree planning a suitably impressive meal at the loser's expense.

Local wares

2010-12-28T21:30:00.005+09:00

A small sample of the wares available in the markets of Jalan Petaling.

The ox and lamb kept time

2010-12-28T20:29:00.007+09:00

What to do on Christmas day when travelling? Despite the shopping mall displays, it would be possible to just ignore the holidays altogether, but it seems unsporting not to acknowledge it somehow. Lee's solution: pub food. Nothing says pa-rum-pa-pum-pum like Guinness and a meat pie served with mashed and gravy. We went to follow it up with my idea: high tea at the Carcosa Seri Negara, an old-school colonial hotel in the Lake Gardens. It seems that I should have come up with my plan at least three weeks before we arrived in KL and called ahead to make a reservation. We were turned away at the gate and told we can come a week from Wednesday, the first day a table is available for a couple of wayward travellers to have Earl Grey and scones in the garden. I did get a photo before we scampered back down the hill to have another beer at the pub.

Entrapmented

2010-12-28T20:17:00.003+09:00

The original plan was to post a five second video of the Petronas Towers, with me launching into my usually unassailable Connery imitation: Well, alright, I'll climb across the bloody thing, but I better get a sex scene with Zeta-Jones.

Turns out, on video my Connery sounds more like Ernest Borgnine doing David Niven doing Sean Connery. You are officially spared the indignity.

Where the druids dance

2010-12-28T19:57:00.002+09:00

With four business days to wait for Chinese bureaucrats to put a sticker in our passports, we took to foot in KL. The Lake Gardens are a great respite from all the glass and concrete. We sat on park benches, balked at the price of admission at the Butterfly Park (six bucks, to see some moths? Really?), and happened upon this mini-Stonehenge just outside the National Planetarium. No pagans unfortunately, but there was a vending machine.

Little India

2010-12-25T11:53:00.003+09:00

With our arrival in Big India still months away, we had a small preview yesterday. Bright colours, amazing smells, and Bollywood movie soundtracks blaring from each storefront - a veritable, and enjoyable, assault on the senses.

Home free

2010-12-25T11:36:00.007+09:00

Two things happened in Kuala Lumpur that made us feel homeless. We had to go to the Chinese embassy to get tourist visas for our upcoming trip to Kunming. Filling out the application proved difficult because we are actually residents of nowhere. We applied for non-residency status in Canada while living in Seoul and forfeited our Alien Registration Cards in the Incheon airport, thus invalidating our Korean temporary resident claim. Currently, we have no employer and no address.

Then while shopping in the Central Market, I saw a couple of things I liked and would have bought. I realized, "home" is currently a storage facility in Calgary, a shipping company in Korea, or my own little backpack. While the blanket I liked would have looked great in our apartment in Korea, we have no apartment in Korea. Apologies for the belated realization, readers, but it suddenly struck me right there in Peter Hoe's store that we are untethered to any place in every way except the emotional.

This post brought to you by...

2010-12-25T11:26:00.003+09:00

Our guesthouse has intermittent and sporadic wifi access. Starbucks, however, hasn't let us down yet.

Greetings of the season

2010-12-25T10:58:00.006+09:00

While the signs of the season are around us here, you are all there. We miss you and hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Travel reading

2010-12-22T19:20:00.003+09:00

I realize that I'm late to this particular party (years late if were going by the release of My Life in France and the movie Julie and Julia - decades late if were going by Child's cookbooks and TV shows of the 70s and 80s), but I've just discovered the wonder who was Julia Child. Of course I was aware of her professionally, but until this weekend I didn't know anything about her personally. Now that I've read My Life in France, I'm so enamored by her. She was feisty and independent, yet warm and inviting. Mostly I'm struck by how she and Paul always made sure to "feather their nest" regardless of where they found themselves, and together created comfortable and warm homes in China, France, Germany, Norway and the US. They were such a great team, so passionate, always working together to find both of their artistic and professional callings.

My friend, Sylvia, lent me this book as we were leaving Seoul to go to the airport. She knew I'd like it as much as she did. Now I miss you even more, Sylvia!

#127 – The Case of the Missing Silk King

2010-12-22T18:33:00.003+09:00

Shortly before we left Korea, our friend David lent us the book Jim Thompson: The Unsolved Mystery, which recounts his 1967 disappearance (Thompson's, not David's!). An American expat who lived in Thailand and founded a silk company, Thompson was well-known among expats and locals alike, and wasn’t without enemies. While travelling in Malaysia, he went to the Easter Sunday morning service at All Soul’s Church near Brinchang, then ate lunch with his traveling companions. Deciding to go for a walk while the others went back to their rooms to rest proved a fateful decision – he was never seen or heard from again.

Thompson’s disappearance is remarkable because of its complete lack of evidence. Search parties were immobilized and immediately began combing the area. No traces of him were ever found. Despite one of the most exhaustive investigations in Malaysian history that included interviews with friends, family, suspects, psychics, and witch doctors and inspired two book-length studies of the incident, there is still no adequate resolution.

The lack of evidence stops nobody from speculating, however, and theories abound.

Yesterday, Lee and I went walking on the trails of the Cameron Highlands. There has been much development over the last five decades, and tourism is clearly the dominant industry. Maps are passed out and posted everywhere. The path is well signed, though the maintenance people can’t keep up with the growth of the jungle – in many places the path was overgrown and we had to push our way through. I wouldn’t call it extremely technical or demanding, but it does feel treacherous at times. The daily rainfall makes the rocks and tree roots quite slippery and the path is often narrow with a steep drop-off. It seems entirely possible that if someone slipped and fell into the thick growth, they would go unseen by any search and rescue team.

If you’ll permit me the opportunity to add my opinion to the mix (if Thompson’s cousin in America and people who knew him for about five minutes in Thailand get to offer their two cents, why shouldn’t I?), I’d say he met his end in the jungle that day. Although he was an experienced hiker, his health wasn’t great and even the most qualified trekkers can lose their footing on a slippery path. He didn’t specify exactly where he was going, meaning the search would have had to extend in every direction, making it easy to overlook some places. There has been much speculation that his disappearance was the result of an organized attempt to eliminate him for political or financial reasons. If this were the case, somebody probably would have talked. The case generated enormous publicity, and let’s face it, people don’t have the willpower to keep secrets, especially if there’s a huge reward to come forward.

So there you have it. I’d like to thank my best friends and trusty sidekicks Bess and George, my boyfriend Ned Nickerson for always believing I can solve the crime, and my father for bailing me out whenever the situation becomes dangerous.

Flora

2010-12-20T18:05:00.004+09:00

The Cameron Highlands is composed of three small townships, connected by a series of well-marked trails. We stayed in Tanah Rata, and one morning followed "Jungle Walk #4" to the town of Brinchang, about an hour away. Compared to the previous day's slightly harrowing uphill effort, this was very tame, allowing us to stop and smell the flowers.

The art of bread

2010-12-19T19:21:00.004+09:00

One of the things that Lee and I most like about Malaysia is breakfast. Sitting at a sidewalk table, drinking coffee and freshly squeezed mango, pineapple or orange juice, eating roti canai and deciding exactly how to wile away our time is the perfect way to begin a day of traveling. Breakfast-wise, the Cameron Highlands does not disappoint, and watching the preparation only adds to the experience.

After a long day of locomotion yesterday, we fortified ourselves for the hike ahead.

And so it begins

2010-12-19T18:02:00.006+09:00

Our apartment to Incheon airport: 75 kilometers, 100 minutes, Altay's car

Incheon airport to KLIA: 4608 kilometers, 367 minutes, Boeing 737-300

KLIA to KL Sentral station: 25 kilometres, 30 minutes, Express Bus

KL Sentral station to Tapah Road: 150 kilometres, 120 minutes, train

Tapah Road to Tapah to Tanah Rata: 70 kilometres, 250 minutes, very rickety bus

Tanah Rata to the top of Gunung Beremban: 5 kilometers, 90 minutes, our own steam

And so it ends

2010-12-19T17:07:00.008+09:00

A few photos to wrap up almost 50 months in Seoul...

A monument to me.

A monument to Deanna.

Furniture we sold, books we kept.

Packing, storing, and shipping.

Miscellaneous waterfowl on Yangjaecheon.

Everything we'll need for eight months on the road.

Redux

2010-11-26T12:27:00.003+09:00

With only three weeks left in Seoul, we are now busily wrapping up loose ends before heading off for new adventures. Doctors and dentists to see, accounts (internet, phone, bank) to close, furniture to sell, storage and shipping to arrange, and many good friends to wish well over farewell meals and drinks...

The plans are taking shape nicely. We have secured jobs for August 2011, and are excited to be getting back to both the Canadian school system and the high school classes we have been away from for half a decade. We'll be moving to an offshore BC school just outside of Shanghai, a city we've visited and loved. Moving back to China is an exciting prospect, as we feel we've only scratched the surface of all the Middle Kingdom has to offer a couple of wayward prairie folk.

But that is nine months from now, and peregrination looms. Yesterday we flexed the credit card to book flights, buy travel insurance, and reserve our spots in a month-long Mandarin course. There are many finer details to work out - some soon, some as we go - but we do know roughly where and when we'll be there. We leave Seoul for Malaysia on December 17th to trek in the highlands, rest on an island or two, and loll around Kuala Lumpur. We'll spend January stumbling through tonal phonemes and doing tai ji at a language school in Kunming, China. In February we'll take our new speaky-skills on the roads of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, and maybe even dip down into Vietnam.

March and April will have us in Nepal. We have long wondered which of the Annapurna trek or the Everest Base Camp trek might suit us best, and have time to do both if that's what we decide. At the end of April we'll take the short flight to Delhi for five weeks in India. If we think we haven't yet had our fill of yaks and yetis, we'll head north to the Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh. If we're feeling mountained-out, we'll head south to the backwaters and houseboats of Kerala.

Then it's back to the people we love...Boston for a week in June, and seven weeks of Western Canadiana...long enough to bore you all silly with tales from foreign climes. Of course, you'll likely already know the stories, as we have high hopes for frequent dispatches from afar [FOFALWO?].

Uiryeong

2010-11-08T14:32:00.006+09:00

This weekend saw us road-trippin' south with many of the wonderful folk we work with, plus friends made while running, for the Sangil Marathon festivities. A four hour drive on the school's bus took us to the mountains of Uiryeong County. A bit of evening-before shenanigans at a prototypical Korean love motel, bibimbap in lieu of pasta for a pre-race carbo load, and a good night's sleep found everyone ready to go on Sunday morning.

There were three different distances, all of which headed straight up the mountain to a halfway point, then turned around and came all downhill from there. Except for the last kilometer, which somehow managed to be uphill (and against the wind) both ways.

A fantastic day for the Sea Bass Running Club...Shannon, Marcia, and Kimberley dusted off the 5k race in great times. Ian, Volkan, and HyoIl found great success over 10k. Kevin, Mark, Tonya, Bokhwa, Deanna, Rebecca, and Michelle all took on the 23.6k to the 800m summit, and all came in with big and well-justified smiles on their faces. I acted as official photographer, but ended up spending much of the day being greeted and photographed by gaggles of giggling teenagers.

In great Korean race-day fashion, an odd assortment of door prizes were claimed at the end. Deanna won a 4kg bag of rice, which she promptly regifted to an elated Bokhwa, the world's smallest most prodigious rice-eating human. A quick trip to the 7-11 for beverages and snacks, pizzas delivered to the bus, and a ride back to Seoul with a lot of laughs and some great new memories wrapped up a highly enjoyable weekend.

More bits of Turkey

2010-08-17T21:29:00.007+09:00

The blame for the little hiatus in blogging for the last few weeks falls squarely on our employers and their incessant need for us to return to work after vacation.

While we recounted our Turkey trip to OOFALWOvians in some semblance of chronological order, there is simply no way that a dozen or so posts and some photographs could fully cover all we saw and did in nine days there. To fill some of these gaps, here are a few more tidbits:

The ubiquitous ice cream cart

A mural of dead religious people inside Hagia Sophia

Medusa doing her thing in the Basilica Cistern

Last day in Istanbul

2010-08-05T08:40:00.005+09:00

A Bosphorus cruise was scheduled for our first day in Turkey, but we were rained out. This turned out to be fortuitous, as some friendly Turks we met felt sorry for us and arranged to have the private yacht of a Turkish pop star sail us down the strait - a vast improvement over the large tourist ferry which was originally scheduled.

Skunk Eye insurance

2010-08-02T11:48:00.003+09:00

There is not a public building nor private home nor edifice of any kind in Turkey that doesn't have at least one nazar hanging on the wall. These amulets, known also as a Blue Eye or The Eye of Medusa, serve to repel the evil intentions sent your way by those who may issue a pox on your house or otherwise besmirch you psychically.

In the widening gyre

2010-07-30T19:14:00.002+09:00

For a detailed explanation on the origin and meaning of Sema, the Sufi ceremony replete with the dervishes who whirl, click here. We were treated to a private showing in an old wooden hall, and were amazed at how intently and perfectly the young adepts moved. The combination of the sweeping movements, the chanting of the master, and the accompanying ney (Turkish flute) was both transfixing and haunting.

Turn his merry note

2010-07-29T09:29:00.002+09:00

Tree posers and tree huggers alike were spurred into action around Bursa's 600 year-old maple tree.

Ephesus

2010-07-27T21:38:00.017+09:00

To begin our journey through this ancient city, a little bit of history brought to you by Samsung. Go, Korea!

Our tour guide was excellent. She pointed out the Temples built to various gods and goddesses, the small theatre, Curetes street, and the Gate of Heracles.

It wasn't until we got here, however, that the place really came to life...

But the best came near the end of the road, where the Esphesus Library stands. The oldest library in antiquity, it once held twelve thousand scrolls. The statues on the front represent wisdom, knowledge, intelligence and virtue, the last of which also reflects the ancient sense of irony, as an underground tunnel connected the library to the brothel across the way, thereby allowing would-be scholars to ignore those scrolls in favour of a different kind of pleasure.

At this point, it seemed like a good idea for all the loyal RISers to sit down and enjoy story hour with their librarian...

White hot rocks

2010-07-25T11:17:00.003+09:00

Thermal spring at Pamukkale.

Let us lie

2010-07-20T19:09:00.002+09:00

This pooch had the right idea on a very hot day, and didn't seem to mind when I shared some of his shade.

Schadenfreude

2010-07-19T19:15:00.002+09:00

From the day we learned of our itinerary months before, many of us had become particularly excited about the prospect of staying in a 5 star spa resort in Afyon. The website of the Korel Thermal Resort speaks of the healing properties of the water and the mud, the first class hamam (Turkish bath), and the obligatory range of mani/pedi and massage options.

[Un]fortunately, both Rebecca and Cailin picked up stomach bugs and had to wait around their rooms for medical attention and intravenous fluids. This delayed our check-out time by hours, allowing Deanna and I to flounce longer in the pools, wander the beautiful grounds, and pay through the nose for some extraordinarily good Turkish coffee.

Food

2010-07-17T16:00:00.002+09:00

To say that we ate well and much in Turkey would be another massive understatement. On this particular day in Konya, we started with a vast breakfast spread at our home-stay (including, to Deanna's great delight, the local version of PB and J - sweetened tahini paste and rose jam), then continued a few hours later for two meters each [not a typo] of pide, Turkish pizza. We've had pide before at the Turkish restaurants in Seoul, but apparently in Konya, size matters.

The school had arranged for two of the nine nights we were in Turkey to be spent with host families, as a chance to give us a more intimate sense of Turkish hospitality and culture. Deanna and I had two wonderful nights, staying with lovely and interesting folks, who tried their best to fatten us up. In Konya we were fortunate to stay with Ayhan, our school's former business manager now back home to finish his Ph.D, and his parents. Ayhan's mom very discreetly and sweetly managed to pull Deanna aside after breakfast to practice some of the English she had learned for the occasion.

Piles of Pretty Painted Plates

2010-07-15T20:04:00.004+09:00

Not a minute was wasted on the RIS trip to Turkey. The second the post-balloon champagne glasses were drained, we were off to the Pottery Barn. And by barn, I mean cave.

All of the pottery, Iznik in Turkish, is hand-painted and some of the larger pieces take up to 25 days to complete. We saw the craftspeople at work on a tour given by the Guray brothers, who are carrying on a family business that has been going strong for over 120 years. One of them gave us a hands-on demonstration of each step of the process, while the other explained the traditional artisanship begun generations ago.

And what tour would be complete without a little shopping before climbing back in the van?

Up

2010-07-14T11:27:00.002+09:00

Arriving late after a day of touring Cappadocia by land, we had a very short night in a hotel in Kayseri, an hour away from our balloon launch site. Alarms and wake-up calls at 3:00a.m weren't especially necessary though, as there was a spectacular thunder and lightning show, complete with torrents of rain, through the night. After some frantic phone calls to see if we were still going to the balloons (it turned out not to be storming in Cappadocia), we piled into the van at 4:00 for the drive.

We signed the "we won't sue you if something goes awry" forms, had the traditional pre-ballooning breakfast of coffee and a mountain of cookies, then watched the much-practiced crews get everything ready. Just as the sun was rising, we climbed aboard and began our slow ascent skyward.

We were all surprised at just how large the basket was. The pilot had his own compartment in the middle for his gadgets and instrumentation, and then there were two sections on each side for passengers. Each section held six adults, and our balloon was a full house.

The ride itself was about 90 minutes - we never rose higher than a few thousand feet so that we could stay below the remnants of the cloud cover. The sky was full of balloons - at one point Lee counted thirty or so, including, for all of our prairie readers, the ubiquitous Re/Max balloon. When he wasn't concentrating on keeping us all alive, our Spanish pilot answered some questions about the landscape, about balloon-piloting in general, and managed to flirt back with an enamored Rebecca.

We touched down very softly and were treated to a champagne toast, a group photo, and some commemorative certificates. To say that ballooning in Cappadocia was both serene and exhilarating would be to understate the experience.

Cappadocia

2010-07-12T20:25:00.007+09:00

It's vast. It's old. There are many caves. Christians used to live in them. Now tourists stay in cave hotels.

Or as the Lonely Planet says:

The Hittites settled Cappadocia from 1800 BC to 1200 BC, after which smaller kingdoms held power. Then came the Persians, followed by the Romans, who established the capital of Caesarea (today’s Kayseri). During the Roman and Byzantine periods, Cappadocia became a refuge for early Christians and, from the 4th to the 11th century, Christianity flourished here; most churches, monasteries and under ground cities date from this period. Later, under Seljuk and Ottoman rule, Christians were treated with tolerance.

Cappadocia progressively lost its importance in Anatolia. Its rich past was all but forgotten until a French priest rediscovered the rock-hewn churches in 1907. The tourist boom in the 1980s kick-started a new era, and now Cappadocia is one of Turkey’s most famous and popular destinations.

Dramatis Personae

2010-07-10T19:36:00.002+09:00

The first part of our month away was a ten day tour of Turkey with the good folk from school. Seen here, on the morning of our first day in Istanbul with the Hagia Sophia obscured by umbrellas are HyeYoon, BokHwa, Rebecca, Deanna, Jill, Marcia, and Cailin. The next picture shows the indefatigable Altay being the Guide Par Excellence, which he did amazingly well for the duration of the trip.

And we're back...

2010-07-09T20:58:00.003+09:00

In the last month, we've seen Turkey, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Now back in Seoul, we have hundreds of photos to sort through and eventually post for your enjoyment. Stay tuned, loyal readers, as we entertain with our follies. To begin, an attempt to answer the age-old question: how many goofy tourists can fit in a phone booth?

Sunday Morning Run

2010-05-30T12:52:00.003+09:00

Merhaba

2010-05-27T12:07:00.003+09:00

With only ten days until we leave for Turkey, it is the time to immerse ourselves in the essential vocabulary we will need to blend in with our Eurasian hosts. Yesterday after school we had our first (of one) 45 minute Survival Turkish class, with Altay leading eight of us through a four page handout of phonemes and blends. I of course was studious and attentive, while Deanna sat in the back sniggering at the words that sound funny in English (vok, dus, pu, pi to name a few). At this point the best we can hope for is that Altay not leave our sides or that we continually happen upon Constantinopleans well-versed in the art of charades.

The hut

2010-05-21T05:53:00.002+09:00

After a month and a half of being outsmarted by youtube's "upload video" feature, here are some better-late-than-never moving pictures of our spring break in the Philippines.

Dear Sid

2010-05-20T16:27:00.004+09:00

Happy 2554th! We got you the same Nothingness we got you last year, but in a different colour. Hope you like it, and thanks for the three day weekend.
Love Deanna and Lee

Up

2010-05-18T12:43:00.002+09:00

One of the places we'll be visiting next month is Cappadocia, this weird, rocky, cavey, spirey, pilgrimagey, moony-looking UNESCO site in central Turkey. We are hoping for blue skies and clear sailing so that we can take the balloon ride and survey what surely is an amazing place from above.

My Great Love

2010-05-14T05:23:00.002+09:00

We are both relatively private people and public displays of affection are not often our thing. Yet I hijack OOFALWO on this day to sound my barbaric yawp over the cyber-roofs of the world and to thank Deanna for fourteen years of adventure, poetry, and love.

Post-race meal #2

2010-05-07T06:03:00.003+09:00

Slightly disoriented from standing in the slanted room, we were surprised to learn that our race medals were not chocolate coins.

Half on the Han

2010-05-04T06:38:00.002+09:00

Here's to Team RIS, who ran with style on Sunday morning.

Is there a better way to spend a sunny May Sunday?

Over the obligatory post-race feast, we already started to plan our next running event. (Photos and effects courtesy of Rebecca. Thanks, Meyer!)

Shopping

2010-04-19T20:14:00.002+09:00

Seashell necklaces, sunscreen, peanuts, and Gatorade - couldn't really need much more.

Room with a View

2010-04-18T16:04:00.004+09:00

Huts have come a long way since we started island-hopping in this part of the world. Here's the view of our hut from the water...

and the water from our balcony.

Malapascua

2010-04-12T21:38:00.004+09:00

Words can barely do this idyllic little island justice, unless I resort to a long list of superlatives or a stream of hyberbole, which I was told never, ever, ever to do in a million years by the world's most pompous writing professor. Pictures barely suffice either, especially after I unwittingly messed with the cameras settings, adding a definite blur to most of the snapshots we took. Fortunately, a few photos were salvageable.

Spring break

2010-03-30T12:15:00.002+09:00

Not that I am not enjoying the boundless energy and exuberance of a room full of ten year olds infected with spring fever, because I am. I'll enjoy it even more 76 hours from now, when they head home to torture their parents for nine days and we head to Malapascua Island. A three hour flight from Seoul to Cebu, a few hours on a bus to the port, then an hour on a ferry takes us to a week of three-naps-a-day and plenty of paperback novel consumption.

Turkish TV Stars

2010-03-04T17:54:00.002+09:00

Months ago, before I started work at RIS, a film crew came and shot footage of the school for a well-known Turkish TV show. You can watch this clip - it's edited down from 45 minutes to 5. And it's all in Turkish, but at least you can see what the school looks like and how cute the students are. Most importantly, there are a couple of good shots of Lee doing his thing.

We kid you not

2010-02-04T07:42:00.003+09:00

Debate rages about the appropriate mixing order of the ingredients. Is it flour, sugar, chicken breast, egg or flour, sugar, egg, chicken breast?

All good things

2010-01-10T10:01:00.002+09:00

Bright and early tomorrow morning, we get back to educating the kiddies. In keeping with the ancient Korean tradition of posting a picture of bubbling fountains on one's blog to mark the end of a fantastically invigorating holiday, I've posted a picture of bubbling fountains to mark the end of a fantastically invigorating holiday.

Looking Down

2010-01-09T13:50:00.001+09:00

The view from the top of Daemosan, January 1, 2010.

Aeschylus for Mayor

2010-01-08T09:04:00.003+09:00

Gwangju is famous for its falling anvils. Since the Shilla dynasty, Gwangju citizens have been taught to cast their eyes skyward to seek out airborne tools of the forge. Children are taught from the earliest age to be ever vigilant for heavy iron blocks in flight. The municipal government issues safety helmets to all citizens, then puts these signs around the tourist areas of town, lest travellers forget to don appropriate headgear.

And two eyes made out of beans

2010-01-07T08:11:00.002+09:00

Bored baristas + snowdrift = Starbucks snow family

The south part of South Korea

2010-01-06T10:39:00.002+09:00

This morning's conversation in our house (pre-coffee):

Deanna: What should I blog about?

Lee: How about a picture of Mokpo?

Deanna: OK. I chose a picture. I don't know what to say about Mokpo.

Lee: Mokpo is nice.

Although it may not be creative or inspired, loyal readers, there you have it.

Aftermath

2010-01-05T09:40:00.003+09:00

As it was snowing yesterday, Deanna and I were joking about how excited we were to see that much winter whiteness. We joined thousands of Seoulites in going out to take pictures and videos, like snow was some kind of novelty to a couple of erstwhile prairie kids. Turns out, according to this AP story, our glee had some historical merit.

It seems it will take at least a few days to get back to normal. Sidewalks are piled high, cars are abandoned under huge drifts, and we haven't seen a McDonalds delivery scooter since the weekend.

A revolution of snow

2010-01-04T10:06:00.003+09:00

This morning we awoke to the heaviest snowfall we've seen in three years in Seoul. As proud owners of a new camera with better video capabilities than our last one, we bundled up for a frolic in the flakes. Since it is a new decade, we've decided to finally adapt to the technology of the last decade and add moving pictures to the OOFALWO thrill ride.

Give me your tired...

2010-01-03T17:00:00.003+09:00

There was a myriad of sleeping options in Gwangju. We could have chosen the place with the giant windmill on top, the ersatz Kremlin, or the love motel whose front step was littered with flyers featuring half-naked Korean women. In the end, we went with the faux Statue of Liberty hotel where we yearned, nay, felt our breath flowing more freely from the moment we entered.

2009: A Year in Review

2010-01-02T09:35:00.011+09:00

January, Mill Bay BC, Snow.

February, Seoul, Teahouse.

March, Jamsil Olympic Stadium, Seoul Marathon.

April, Busan, Cherry Blossoms.

May, Gwanghwado Ultra, 100 km.

June, Mabul, Borneo.

July, Yangpyeong. A day in the countryside.

August, Calgary. A whirlwind trip.

September, Hanbok.

October, Yeongdong Ultra 101 km.

November, Yangjaecheon. A five-minute run away from our new apartment.

December, Gwangjucheon. Crane technique. If do right, no can defence.

Here's to Twenty Ten

2010-01-02T09:16:00.003+09:00

From the OOFALWO Home Office in Gaepo-sa-dong, best wishes for a joyous and blogorific new year.

Leaving on a slow train

2009-12-25T21:15:00.002+09:00

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go. Well, they're not and we're not. But they will be before we board a southbound train in the morning. First stop Gwangju, a city we've not yet seen, to see some stuff and some things. We'll follow that with visits to other places we haven't been before, and arrive home some time later than the time we left. Makes you wonder why we're teachers, not military strategists or logisticians.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-24T10:42:00.003+09:00

The first sign of the season in our neighbourhood.

The holiday season

2009-12-16T09:57:00.003+09:00

Hours away from a dress rehearsal and a day away from the Winter Performance, the Grade Three students are busy going over their lines, whilst I take an OOFALWO moment

on the company dime. We are the only elementary class not singing a Yuley tune, opting instead for short speeches about travelling to different countries for the winter vacation. Which starts exactly 52 hours and 53 minutes from now...

Field trip

2009-12-10T09:19:00.002+09:00

Yesterday the Grades One to Five teachers accompanied this motley crew of ragamuffins to the Samsung Children's Museum for a morning of general chaos. It's a great place for an elementary school excursion, with a wide range of interactive exhibits to tire out the mini-humans.

A Separate Peace

2009-12-09T15:43:00.003+09:00

Growing up on the mean streets of Regina's Normanview West, the closest I ever came to real danger was casting an accidentally wayward glance at one of the seventeen year old Grade Eight kids from McLurg School. This is a very different reality than some of the students I now teach at RIS. With news of yesterday's bombings in Baghdad, a few of the students are awaiting word of the safety of their extended families there. We hope with them...

O Tannenbaum

2009-12-08T15:03:00.002+09:00

With the Yule season upon us, as evidenced by the little Chuck Brown tree on the coffee table and the already-half-empty bottle of Baileys in the cupboard, I treat Deanna daily to my own interpretation of a seasonal medley - The Little Drummer Boy (Josh Groban version)/ Silent Night (Louis Armstrong version)/ Handel's Messiah (air guitar version)/ Edelweiss (in the never to be trifled with original Captain Von Trapp version)/ Joy to the World (that dude with the really high voice from The Bee Gees version). For the fourteenth consecutive Christmas, Deanna is hoping for cochlear implants.

New post

2009-12-07T06:07:00.002+09:00

New apartment.

New running plans.

New job (for Deanna).

New shoes.

New stuff in our new apartment.

New walk from our new apartment to work.

New coffee shop near our new apartment on our new walk to work.

New decorations on our little Christmas tree.

New tattoo on my leg.

New plans for traveling around Korea over the winter holidays.

New plans for a summer in Turkey, Hungary, and train travel through Europe.

Same old everything else.

The Yeongdong Ultra (101 km)

2009-10-26T08:31:00.006+09:00

Lee and I went to Yeongdong by train on Saturday afternoon. We ate our final pre-run meal on the journey. Lee ate kimbap, a banana, and a Powerade, while I ate a sausage sandwich, pretzels, and a tomato and feta salad. I don’t think Costco smokies are on any nutritionist's list of approved pre-run foods, but for some reason I like them before a run. I think it’s the excess sodium.

We arrived in Yeongdong, left the train station, and saw a huge banner advertising the run. We headed up a hill lined with persimmon trees and ended up at the stadium. On the short walk, we marveled at the quiet. The small town feel was immediately apparent after the bustle of Seoul.

Our friend BJ acted as the race director. He owns a shoe company, so he always comes to races to set up his booth and sell shoes, but this time he did double duty. He introduced us to a few people and we registered and picked up race packets. Shwag included a nice running jacket, which fits Lee perfectly (mine is a bit big – Korea has great races in every way except the gender-biased loot which only ever comes in man sizes). Anyway, we checked our stuff, changed and plopped down in the shade for a while.

We started running at 4:15. The course led out of town and into the countryside. The first 25 kms were very gently rolling. I felt great. I hit the 32 km aid station at about 3:20. One guy working the aid station told me Lee was about 30 minutes ahead. The sun had just set, and I headed off into the hills. From 32 – 59 kms there were two moderate and one massive hill. Unfortunately, my very cheap flashlight started to sputter and wane until it was basically useless. There were two runners ahead of me and I tried to stay on their heels to borrow their light. BJ pulled up next to me as he was traveling between aid stations to see if I was OK. I told him about the light, which he examined and dismissed as “made in China.” then he sped away and returned five minutes later with a borrowed headlamp that had four settings. The entire course was pitch dark between sunset and sunrise – there were no city lights, no streetlights of any kind, just a massive sky full of stars.

As a sidenote, my light burning out was a good example of karma. Two weeks before the race, Lee went out and bought a headlamp, which I dismissed as overpriced and unnecessary. I also teased him about it. A lot. And karma got me in the end.

Anyway, the hills were tough, but I felt surprisingly good. At the 54.4 aid station, I fortified myself with seaweed soup, a Korean staple for ultramarathon runners and new moms, who are fed it everyday for a month after their babies are born. It’s pure delicious goodness (rice, broth, seaweed, and clams). The soup carried me up the largest hill of the run, 800m over 3 km.

After that, a blessed downhill slide for 15 km. Around the 63 km mark, I made a friend. He was Mr. Yoo, a finisher of 23 previous ultras and very chatty guy. We stayed together for about 10 kms, and passed the time chatting about his business and family and our favourite restaurants in Itaewon. At the 73 km aid station, a volunteer told me Lee was only a few minutes ahead, so I left Mr. Yoo behind and tried to catch Lee.

I was closing the gap and almost caught him, but around 85 km I really began to run out of steam. It wasn’t a competitive thing – I just wanted the company and to see how he was doing. I was wearing all my layers (long-sleeved shirt, jacket, toque) but it felt really cold and once I started walking for longer periods I couldn’t warm up. I spent the last part of the run daydreaming about hot showers, warm hugs, and our duvet.

Kind soul that he is, Lee stopped about 500 metres from the end. I caught up to him in 2 or 3 minutes and we crossed the finish line together. 101 kilometres in 14:36:57.

If I were to sum up the experience I’d say this: for 75 kilometres I felt on top of the world fantastic, everything went perfectly and I was completely enjoying the experience. For the next 10, I was starting to feel tired. For the last 16, I thought please, please, please let me finish. And I did. And the hot shower afterward felt fantastic!

The volunteers, race organizers and other runners were top-notch. The whole event was well-planned and the course was stunning. I’m amazed that such natural beauty is so close to Seoul. Mountain, rivers, stars, and absolute quiet on the road – perfection!

BTW, there were 210 runners in the event and only ten women. Of those ten women, I finished second! I was presented with a trophy, a five kilo box of grapes, and a 5 kilo box of persimmons.

Weekend running

2009-08-16T18:29:00.010+09:00

Last Thursday, Lee and I woke up early to run before work. After a few days of pouring rain, the skies cleared and I was the fortunate viewer of an absolutely perfect sunrise. Seeing as I'm barely coherent when I roll out of bed and stumble down the stairs for my morning run, I didn't have my camera, but it made me think I should start carrying it with me when I run, as I often see photogenic and/or completely random scenes of interest. So I did.

This weekend, Lee, Rebecca, Marcia, Jill and I went to Seokchon Lake to run on Saturday. Lee carried the camera, which hasn't been used for so long that we only noticed the battery was completely dead when we went to snap a photo. Thankfully, Marcia brought hers so we were able to record for posterity the clock with a built-in thermometer. Yes, it's hard to read, but the temperature was indeed 33 degrees when we finished.

Sunday saw us at Umyeonsan to run and hike. The main trail to the summit tends to be crowded on the weekends, but the lesser-used paths are practically empty. The shade of the trees makes it a perfect place to run at this very hot time of year.

What Korean mountain would be complete without a Buddhist temple?

The cairn at the top. Many people walk around it in a clockwise direction and pray.

Seoul down below.