It was a weird dream. Ive had permutations of it a couple times. Again, my entire extended family were gathered in some sort of party, for me. My cousins, dead grandparents, closest friends, and mere acquaintances I haven't seen in years were all toasting to me and emptying crockpots full of miniature hot dogs and queso dip. Wiping off any attempt to get all Carl Jung on my unconscious out of my eyes, I made a solemn decision to take the day by the balls and swung my legs out of bed and stepped into the bathroom for a well-earned pissing. It had been another late night, without any media besides the eighty channels of korean tv broadcast into my television, as I had no power converter for my laptop, once again (I finally got one today, for just fifteen dollars!) Korean TV is horrible, absolute trash. Even the cooking shows will disgust. They put LIVE SQUID into those pots of boiling vegetables. They keep squirming through the commercial break. That's nothing anyone should have to get used to. Cooking shows in the states are all about creature comforts...in Korea...not so much. AHHHH!!!!! Please excuse the awful pun!
I discovered that I once again had no hot water, so, foregoing the shower, decided to forego the daily routine of a pot of green tea and stuffed my work clothes in the backpack and ducked out into the streets, to go to the beach for the first time. Now, I have been to the ocean here, but it wasn't the beach, the fun, party beach with sand and umbrellas and corn dogs. i had heard which subway station it was at, so I found my way there and rode over. It was a distance of nine stops, about 15 minutes. On the way I listened to the newest episode of my favorite podcast, the Viking Youth Power Hour, at www.thefeedlot.org
When I got to the stop I went up to the street and spotted the likely place for the beach, namely where the horizon became an empty, azure void. Always a good clue. After finding it and seeing its expanse, my cells expanded and contracted in earthly ecstasy. I have always loved being near an ocean. Its the only way I have ever connected with nature. I absolutely love it. Sometimes, it makes me cry. It did today. But I didn't. Crying in front of complete strangers is like shitting or being naked in front of absolute strangers, so I wept on the inside, with complete abandon, so overwhelmed and excited to be in such a beautiful place. I was listening to an amazing interview Timothy Leary did with a Berkeley radio station in 1966. It was so touching...my feet in the sand, a cold Sapporo resting in my hand, and my eyes gazing out over that cerulean beauty that is the Pacific seen from a new perspective.
Of course, it was Tuesday, and I had to be at work at 1:30, and I hadn't given myself time to swim or anything. Plus, I didn't bring my shorts, and I would have frozen my nuts off. But, it was a transcendent several moments. I finally got up and made my way back to the subway, back to Kyungsung (my neck of the woods), and got a bowl of "ibeembopp", a bowl of fresh veggies, rice, hot sauce, and a couple eggs, for lunch, across the street from the school I teach at. For three bucks! And it came with soup and kim-chi! Nuts! I love the food here, a good counteractment to all the McDonald's I ate in Kansas City in the month before I left. I am going to be so healthy in just a week or two.
Teaching went well today. I drank too much coffee and sweated visibly in front of everyone, and had to punish a particular class clown, an action which I hate, and feel like a hypocrite over, as I spent many years reveling in being one, but it was OK. We had a talk after class and I assured him that I liked him and that his life would be great, but that while in class, for one asinine reason or another decided by neither of us, he would have to obey me. He understood. He's a great kid, James.
I am learning so much by being out here, teaching these kids, dealing with all this new shit, etc. Its great. A dream. But a real one. I am sitting here, about to eat a hardboiled egg, read a book on the Mayan Calender, and go to sleep, hopefully soon. I am eager to be rid of these perpetual bags under the eyes.
I am going back to the beach in the morning, with more Timothy Leary on the ipod. What a nice routine. What a nice new thing to have to do, remembering that two months ago I was sharing an RV with a friend in the backyard of a hostile neighbor, with no place to shower.
And to think, now I wear a tie to work.
Happy Trails!
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