monkeys and gorillas

teddy has been called "monkey teacher" by his students since he started teaching. he can make a great monkey face and probably even acts like one by times in the preschool classroom. so the other day (as korean students always do) the kids asked him if he had a girlfriend. it is most often easier to aviod further questions and teasing if you just say no, so that's what he did. another student piped up saying that he saw teddy with a girl and he did have a girlfriend. then a student excitedly asked "is she a gorilla?!" and the student who saw teddy with me said "no she's not a gorilla. she's really pretty!".

HAHAHAHAHAHA-----"is she a gorilla?"---HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

children are so funny!

home sweet home......

.........in a way..........

i guess now that i have lived in korea for 5 years, and this is where most of my friends are, this feels like home to me. it's great to be back. i have wonderful friends here and being back with t is wonderful too.

my plan was to come back here for a month and then go home to nova scotia (around the 17th-18th of july).........but that plan has changed, for a few reasons. since returning to sokcho, i have been seeing my acupuncturist/chiropractor and he tells me that i have 2 fractured ribs from the bus accident. his work with acupuncture is amazing and i can't get help like this for this cheap in canada. since i have limited movement and tons of pain doing most things, i have a huge lack of desire to repack in 2 weeks and dragging luggage around is nearly impossible for me right now. i'm not ready to say good bye to my friends yet. i'm not ready to be away from t for another 3+ months again. with more time here i can visit friends i would otherwise have to just call. so for these reasons i have decided to stay until about the 5th of august.

i will be missing out on things at home and that was the difficult part in this decision. my high school reunion is this summer and i was excited about it and i feel bad about not going now after telling my friends i'd be there. i'll miss meeting my new cousin, but hopefully when they're back in nova scotia for christmas i can meet him then. wendy was going to come home the end of july and now she's not doing that, i think, but i will see her eventually.........that's not a totally missed opportunity. my mom had booked some time off work, so i feel bad that i'll not be home for that. but all in all, i will see my family and friends eventually when i get home.

i hope this doesn't disappoint too many people, but i feel much better about staying longer than running off again in a couple weeks. i have said it many times and it remains true.........i love the life i have but the good byes are so hard. understand that leaving here this time is for a long time (maybe forever) and this means not seeing some of these people again, and some people i will see again, but probably not for a long time. korea gets to us foreigners sometimes, but i must say that there is something about this place that has kept me coming back for 5 years. i was so excited to be back after the 3 months travelling alone. i miss this place when i'm not here but i think it's time for me to move on. i want to live somewhere new, do something different and i'm not sure where or what, but hopefully i can figure that out over the next 5 or 6 months. when i come home this time, i'll be staying 'till after christmas.........so it's not only going to be one of those flying 2 week trips. i'll have lots of time to get together with anyone who wants to see me. over the next while i'll be organizing the few photos i took when i was travelling so stay tuned for some visuals. they're not great but may give you an idea of some of the things i experienced.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TEDDY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOO YOUUUU!"

well.....well.....well......

time is finally coming to a close on this trip. check out time has passed and i don't need to be at the airport for another 5 hours........but i think i'll be going early. i can only sit with these bags for so long. hopefully i can check them in asap when i get to the airport. i was watching cnn yesterday and they had a story on japan and korea's latest robot developments. then they had a question for people watching and they could email in their answer. the question was "if you had a robot, what would you want it to do for you?". i would definitely have my robot carry my luggage! especially now with my back in the state it's in.

to anyone coming to seoul this weekend.......you rock!.......and wanna have sushi for dinner saturday night, at that place next to tobi's? think about it. if not, have another suggestion ready 'cause i'm done making decisions for a while. i'm more than ready to just do what you guys want to do. i probably won't be online between now and korea........but i guess that depends on how boring the airport is and how cheap the internet there is! thanks for all the love and care this week. i can't wait to see you all.

biggest fear #2!!!!!!!

so i saw a tarantula, one of my 2 bigest fears in coming to thailand, almost 2 weeks ago. i survived. haven't slept through the night since.......but i survived.

last night i left mae sot to arrive in bangkok early this morning for a day of shopping and a flight to the beach this evening. well, i took some gravol for the trip and was out cold........sleeping like a log. i was awoken at 5am to screeming and the bus all over the road and what have we here but my other of the two biggest fears..........a bus accident on a night bus in thailand. the whole time the bus was swerving (which was maybe a second or 3) it was thinking "it's happening. it's happening. it's happening." then after a nose bleed, something hitting me in the jaw and my head banging on the ground, i kept saying "it happened. it happened. it happened." after i realized i needed to get out i began to panic because the bus landed on it's side......the side i was sitting on and a woman from across the aisle was pinning me down because she landed on my leg. after a minute or two she came to and got out then i was able to get myself out. the worst was yet to come though. we had to walk out the front windshield and when i got there there was a dead guy pinned under the front of the bus and we all had to step on him to get out! when i saw this i took one step back but there were people behind me and i had no other option. so there i went over the dead guy like everyone else. after i got out i began to check myself out and saw blood from minor scrapes and millions of tiny pieces of glass all over me. then i wanted to put my hair back in an elastic and it was coming out in locks in my hands. this scared me to death and made me cry. after a bit the emergency team (if that's what you want to call them) came. they had no water and hardly anything for anyone except transportation to the hospital. everyone was thirsty and was asking for water so the emt's were going around looking for random bottles of water from the bus!! as if they don't bring water with them and just start handing it out! anyway......i ended up going to the hospital, got a bunch of xrays of my ribs, spine, and skull, my scrapes were cleaned of the glass, and i was given some antibiotics and pain killers. then two of the only other 3 foreigners on the bus were 2 girls from france and they were amazing at helping me with my bags when the police returned us to the accident scene. i couldn't have done it alone. they are staying at the same place as me tonight and hopefully i see them again.

i am skipping my trip to the beach. can't be bothered with travel at the moment. the place i'm staying at in bkk has a swimming pool and i'll relax there 'till i go to the airport late thursday night.

to my dear mother who would probably give anything to call me right now........you can't. i just asked at the desk and the phone there is only for room to room and front desk calls. don't worry about me. i'll be fine. i'll probably see you online this week and i'll call you asap when i get to korea a week from today.

2 weeks to go!!!!

......and that means only one week left in mae sot! can't believe it's almost over. my group is really funny. they have been giving me some going away presents this week..........one was a beautiful burmese outfit and today they gave me a winter jacket!!! what the.....? why in the heck with heat like this would i need a jacket?? i certainly appreciate their generocity.......but it would take up half of my backpack to take this home. i think i'll see if one of the 2 burmese guys working in the volunteer office can use it. i'm scared as to what they may present me with next friday when i'm already loaded down with the stuff i already have. hopefully i can tell them and have them understand that this is more than enough gift giving and my bags will be full. i can somehow see this not being understood!