Intensives are FINISHED!

In a month that started with me losing one of my best friends to Canada, almost losing my DSLR (camera), and sitting in gum with my favorite pair of jeans on, this month is turning out to be okay.

First, one of my good friends here left back to her home. Let me tell you a little about her. Her last name literally translates to “small butt,” and it’s Italian. She can outeat me, and she can outdrink me. Without exhaggerating, we said the same thing at exactly the same time at least five different occasions. The last occasion was my favorite one. I remember we were both kind of walking around our office. At one point, I turned a corner and our eyes met. She gave me a look that said, “I love you,” and I gave her a look that said, “I love your small butt.” So you see, we had a very special EMOTIONAL connection. Going on with my story, we looked at each other for a moment the way lovers do. Then, we both saw a cake on the table about halfway between us and off to the side. Of course, I had to ask something along the lines of “what’s this cake doing here?!” When I said it, I heard another voice (small butt’s voice) at the same time saying the same thing. Mind you this was the fifth time we did this, so understand me when I tell you that we got married on the spot. The cake became our wedding cake; we wiped it on each others’ faces and everything. The thing that I love about her and the thing that I will miss most is that she was able to rationally explain to me why we were allowed to eat that cake (our wedding cake) despite the fact that it was not ours, and it was wrapped, untouched, and in all of its original packaging. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is… She will be missed…

The second (almost) horrible thing to happen to me this month was when I almost lost my camera, and it is only by a stroke of luck that I have it with me today. When I went to Busan in the early part of this month, I took a taxi from the bus terminal to Kris’ apartment. Well, I forgot my luggage in the trunk because I was so fixated on finding Kris’ place. When I saw Kris, I was relieved that I had gotten there. Then, he asked, “Do you want to put your stuff upstairs?” And, I nearly flipped. I thought, “Holy Mother of Cheese, this cannot be happening to me right now.” I ran outside to where the cabbie had dropped me off, and, of course, he was long gone. Kris ran down the street, but that didn’t accomplish anything. At that point, I was trying to think of what I actually had in my luggage and whether it was that big of a deal. I nearly pooped bricks because, well, I realized exactly what I had in there. Back to the story, I immediately returned to the bus terminal because I was praying to God that the cabbie returned back to bus terminal. When I got there, I tried to look at all the taxis in the taxi line to try to spot a familiar taxi. Of course, I had no idea what color the taxi was, and I didn’t even pay much attention to the driver. I thought I had taken a black taxi, but I was not even 100% sure. What is interesting is that I sort of guessed what taxi color I had, and I even told Kris, “I think it was a black taxi, so look out for the black ones.” In studying psychology, I learned that people’s memories are actually really bad. Your memory can insert valuable information just as easily as it can delete important information. With that, I was aware of all this, so I was trying really hard not to fixate on only the black taxis, even though I had, by this time, convinced myself that I had taken a black taxi. So, I was at the bus terminal, and I was looking at all the taxis, and I knew for sure that this was not working. Also, by this point, all the cabbies were on to me. I was literally walking up to the cabs, looking at the middle compartment (because that’s all I remembered of my taxi), and I was not asking to go anywhere. It’s a funny thing how many people I can upset in such a short amount of time (and over nothing). After looking at about 30 different cabs in this manner, cab drivers were kind of asking me what the heck was going on. Don’t forget that I’m in Korea, so when they ask me, it’s in Korean. Haha. Also, don’t forget that I speak like Korean. All I was able to say was, “I forgot bag.” Haha. Next, I started to try to get phone numbers of cab companies. Turns out there are over 20 different companies that run their cabs to this terminal. Ugh! It was not going well. Eventually, I found ONE cabbie who spoke a little bit of English. I told him I forgot my bag in a cab. Also, I asked him where cabbies usually go when they drop off a passenger. This is useful information because if cabs tend to relocate, then I am in deep, deep poop. I have no idea what happened next, but this guy was like, “come with me,” and he pointed to his cab. Clearly, I was confused because I didn’t really want to leave the terminal, much less with this random cab driver who was going to take me to where? Where the heck is this guy going to take me that could possibly make the situation better?! Logically, I said, “okay.” Where and what I was going to do with this guy, I have no idea. It didn’t matter because nothing was going to come out of looking through various cabs. At this point, I had called Kris several times, I had called my Korean friend who was no help, and I had tried to get some of the different taxi companies/phone numbers off of the sides of the taxis. So, I left with him. We were talking for about two minutes when he stopped talking, and he said, “I remember you!” Never have I ever been so in love with an Ajossi (Ah-juh-she), an older Korean man, before that moment… He swerved to the side of the rode, we both got out, I checked the trunk, the bag was there, I cried, he cried, there was hugging, I may have peed my pants, I told him he was beautiful, I told him I loved him, we held hands, I asked him to marry me, and so on and so forth. After all that (only about 30 minutes), I found him, I found the taxi, I found my bag. The taxi was yellow.

In Busan, Kris and I had loads of fun. I went hiking, and I finally found something aesthetically beautiful. It was the first thing I found in Korea that I thought was beautiful. For the first time, I enjoyed a sense of peacefulness in this crazy, crazy place. It didn’t last long enough. Several hours later, I was walking on Haeundae (Hay-oon-day) Beach where there are supposedly 500,000 people on a busy day. Keep in mind that the beach is only 2km long. What does that mean? It means you cannot see the sand if you look at it from atop one of the nearby hotels. It’s pretty insane. Actually, Kris and I spent several hours there, and the beach is lined with umbrellas while the water is filled with skinny Koreans. I fit right in! At the end of the day, the umbrellas are taken down, and that’s when the parties on the beach start up. All the kids drink soju and beer, and they all eat fried chicken. Throughout the night, the beach gets completely trashed. There are so many old women, though, that pick up the trash at all hours. I really feel bad for them, but c’est la vie. By morning, everything is cleaned up and ready for the next day’s commotions.

When I got home from the trip to Busan, the intensives began. I don’t really want to talk much about these intensives, but the fact is that I haven’t had a whole lot of fun. I worked between 50-55 hours a week for the last three weeks. It’s been really crazy, and this is the most I’ve ever worked in my life. At various points, I’ve wanted to shoot myself in the face. I have no idea how, but I have managed to come on time everyday, teach all my classes, and stay sane.

The weekends haven’t been of any help as far as catching up on sleep. I’ve been on this regiment where I have to find new areas of Korea that I like. In essence, I was being a tourist and exploring. I found a lot of neat places, and I can’t wait to show the people who visit me. Also, Kris came last week, so we had a lot of fun. We went to party, shop, and we saw a big palace…

At this point, I’m kind of over this whole “blogging” thing. I think I’ve written enough today. I just wanted to update once, and now that intensives are done with, I should be a regular blogger in the near future. I hope everyone is well. Sorry if we haven’t talked in a while, but I have been exceptionally busy. Next week, we have a new semester, and I am going back to my 2:30pm-9:30pm schedule. I’m excited. I love you all. Cheers.

Love,
Kyle

P.S. If I move to South Africa, don’t say I didn’t warn you…