I hope you're having a good week...and that it's not too nutty!
I'm so predictable yes, but isn't he cute?

January Day

This Saturday Chris and I took the camera and went for a walk to a place called Chocolate Lake. We walked along the water by the rotary where all the boats are parked, and asked ourselves why we had never been there before. You know when you get that feeling almost of embarrassment when you realize what was right in front of you.
It was -26 ˚C with the windchill and our eyes were watery, our fingers burning from the cold...but it felt like a perfect January day. I don't know how the ducks keep from freezing their little pink feet right off, sleeping among the slabs of ice.



On the way back we took the elevator from the parking garage to cut through the mall, and when we got off and stepped into The Bay we felt like aliens from some other, frozen planet. I said to Chris "did you feel like you had walked into another world for a second there, like you were an explorer of some icy barren and undiscovered landscape and then were suddenly plunked into the ladies undergarment section of the mall?" and he said "yeah, I did!"

Sadly, I've been very unproductive in the crafts and art and painting department lately, and I have nothing to report. However, I am getting through the paperwork relating to Korea, and tomorrow I'll be sending a batch of documents to the school. So I'm only a few steps away from getting my "shit together" as they say. I've learned a few korean words (well, just one that I can remember, actually): Komapsumnida, means thank you. I figured that was a good one to start with.
This week I told my employers I was leaving. I had been dreading this part, as I hate leaving jobs. A few weeks ago I mentioned something about Korea, and then a few more times, until a couple of days ago when I finally said I'd most likely be leaving at the end of February. There has been tension in the air since then, and a few times I've found myself about to apologize. I stop myself though, because I've learned that there is only so much weight you should carry on your shoulders in these kinds of situations, and although I understand it sucks for an employer to lose someone, I have a bigger responsibility to myself than to them.
I've found a map that is specific to Buk gu, finally! Although I've yet to find my school on it, it's exciting to be able to see the street names of where I'll be living...a world away.

http://english.daegu.go.kr/AboutDaegu/AreaMap/2001pdf/map_main.htm Click on Buk gu and look for DongChundong.

Buk gu shot who in the what now?

It's been somewhat of a hectic and frustrating week, trying to get through the paperwork involved in getting an E2 visa. However, I'm also getting really excited about going to Korea now!
I have been hesitant until now to really allow myself to get excited, because I kept thinking in the back of my mind that it might not really happen, but now it's pretty certain.

So when I haven't been on the phone with my recruiter, lawyers or the consulate in Montreal, I've been doing research on Korea and on the place in which I'll be living for a year.

I'll be in Daegu, which is the third largest city in Korea, next to Seoul and Busan. It's the capital of Gyeongsanbuk-do, which is one of 8 provinces (I think) in South Korea. Daegu is divided into 7 districts and there is one county. The district I'll be in is called Buk gu, and it's to the north of the city center. The population of Buk gu is about 510 000 and it covers about 95 square kilometers.
I've had to do a lot of detective work based on the address on my contract, and I'm finding that there are quite a few interesting discrepancies when it comes to how words are spelled. I searched for Pukgu online for quite a while, and then realized the p was pronounced as a b which makes it Bukgu. Sometimes it's hyphenated, other times it isn't. Sometimes it's called Bukdeagu (and of course Pukdaegu) and sometimes Daegu is spelled and pronounce Taegu. I haven't been able to find it on a map, so I've been trying to get an idea of where it is based on what's around it...but then the names of those places have various spellings too! It's fun though, and I love looking at Daegu on google maps and trying to imagine being there, across the world.

Besides paper work, I've been trying to get a list of things to bring made up. Interestingly, I've heard from a few people that it's a good idea to bring bed sheets, since they're difficult to find in Korea. Apparently the traditional way of sleeping doesn't involve bed sheets. I find this intriguing. How does that work? Just blankets?
Deodorant is another big one. I find this hard to believe, but I've read Korean people don't sweat a whole lot and mostly don't use deodorant.
I've also been told that toilet paper is not supplied in public washrooms, and that people generally bring a roll with them when they go out.

I leave you with an odd and embarrassing picture of me in my baggy long johns, partly because it kind of fits in here (toilet paper in the background) and because I don't have any other new pictures to show and I feel that there should be at least one picture with each post. Maybe if you're feeling bad about yourself and your appearance this will brighten up your day ("at least I don't look like that when I go to bed at night!").

Saturday

Chris and I spent the afternoon at the harbour, hanging out with the birds. It was really nice, about 10 degrees so the air was fresh. We saw ducks, pigeons (my favourite), gulls, crows and sea urchins. I could watch them for hours, wondering what they're thinking about, where they're going next.



I love this one. He shows us one perfect, pretty eye.

You can click on the photo and zoom in to see it larger.

Ouch, my TMJ hurts

About three years ago I started to feel some pain in my jaw and teeth, and then occasionally in my sinuses. At first it seemed like sinus problems, then my dentist told me I needed a root canal, and eventually, as the months wore on and the pain intensified and nothing seemed to fit, I was taking about 6 extra strength ibuprofen a day and still in pain. I had my wisdom teeth removed, had cranial X-rays done...and no clear diagnosis in sight until about 7 months ago.

Because it took so long for someone to tell me "You're not crazy, there's a name for all these symptoms!" I thought I would share some of my experiences with this disorder. Maybe someone reading this will see themselves and be able to find relief, or at least acknowledgment.

Temporomandibular Joint and Muscle Disorders have varying symptoms, usually involving pain in the jaw, face, teeth and or sinuses. There is a small joint at the point where your jaw and skull are connected. For some reason, in some individuals, the joint becomes worn out and no longer works properly. This means that everything else in that area--muscles in the face, jaw, head, neck and shoulders--has to work much harder than it should, leasing to strain and discomfort. As the jaw opens and closes abnormally, the nerve that connects to the face, teeth and sinus area is sometimes irritated, causing intense pain. Some people experience cracking, popping and dislocation of the jaw upon trying to open and close the mouth. Others are left completely unable to open and close the mouth.

When I read others' stories I see that I am actually fortunate, it could be worse. However, the intense pain I feel when I have a flare up (like today and yesterday for example!) really interfere with my life. I haven't slept in 36 hours, I feel extremely frustrated and I also feel like a burden to those around me. Anyway, enough of my whining. Here are a list of symptoms typical to people with a TMJ disorder. If you have experienced this kind of thing, please tell me about yourself and how you are managing to cope.

-Headache
-Teeth grinding (your teeth may feel "sore"in the morning)
-Teeth clenching
-Ear pain
-Tooth pain
-Facial/sinus pain (no sinus discharge)
-Cracking when opening the mouth
-Difficulty opening the mouth
-Jaw "twitching" shut involuntarily
-Difficulty chewing or biting accurately (teeth that don't fit together well)
-Stomach discomfort

Here is a link to just one of many many websites dedicated to TMJ disorders.

Just google TMJ disorders and you'll find tons of info, as well as forums where you can hear others' stories.

Into the desert with my yellow-lined bag

"In the jars dark liquids. Dried viscera. Liver, gall, kidneys. The inward parts of the beast who dreams of man and has so dreamt in running dreams a hundred thousand years or more. Dreams of that malignant lesser god come pale and naked and alien to slaughter all his clan and kin and rout them from their house. A god insatiable whom no ceding could appease nor any measure of blood.
The jars stood webbed in dust and the light among them made of the little room with its chemic glass a strange basilica dedicated to a practice as soon to be extinct among the trades of men as the beast to whom it owed its being."

I've begun reading The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy, and I have to say Damn! I reckon that's some good writin'.

I fact the writing is just so beautiful, I don't know if it would even matter what the story was about, but the story so far is also mesmerizing. I'm embarrassed to admit I chose this novel because the back cover suggested it had to do with a wolf, and being the animal lover that I am, well you know how it goes. After I bought the book I read reviews (again this makes little sense) and was a little concerned about reviewers' complaints of a certain lack of punctuation. They're correct--no punctuation except for periods and question marks! But you know, it seems to make sense. It adds a kind of immediacy and lends itself to the characters' voices.

Out of context, the above quotation might be difficult to place; at this point a father and his two sons are searching an old barn for wolf traps. It is early 20th century near the border to Mexico.

In other news, I've made a bag out of some wool and a printed cotton given to me by Chris's grandmother. I never get tired of brown and yellow! To me, yellow is such a happy colour, but at the same time no too in-yo-face, you know? Great for any occasion.
Anyway, the bag is pretty simple but I'm happy with it because I managed to get the bottom and sides in there, and it feels nice to use. I've made so many that were eventually deemed "practice bags" because they either fell apart or didn't hang right when I put them on my shoulder.

One Year

One year has gone by, and I try and measure the distance somehow.

One year ago I was thinking about my upcoming undergraduate exhibition and graduating from art school. I was thinking about pigeons, guinea pigs and two sets of curtains in the apartment have since changed. Today I am exactly one year older, and the people I see on a daily basis are pretty much all different than they were one year ago. I have knitted one scarf since then, started quilting as a hobby, decided to not get my master's degree and started eating dairy and eggs (free range) again. I think I may be a little more laid back about some things--crumbs on the counter and leaving the bed unmade--and my hair has grown quite a bit. There have been at least three major oil spills in that time and I love my boyfriend even a bit more than before.

I've been considering this length of time and trying to measure how long it really is, partly because in a few weeks it's likely that I'll be in South Korea...for a year. I'm excited, but also terrified. Sometimes a year seems relatively short when nestled in the context of the rest of my life. Sometimes I wonder if I'm underestimating just how long a year really is and I imagine myself having a nervous breakdown when reality comes crashing down upon me once I get there.

I try and picture time as a string in my mind, with last year at one end, now at the other, and the year's major events hung in between. In some cultures time is not measured as anally as it is here, and people are even a little unsure about their own age; maybe if I stopped thinking of this period of time as a Year and instead just focused on what I have to do while I'm there, the events, those knots on the string, it would seem more tangible, more manageable.

I don't normally make new year's resolutions, but I do usually write a list of goals. Some have been on my list a few years now, like Getting In Shape and Learning to Not Take Things So Personally, and it seems those are always tougher than things like Undergraduate Exhibition or Cleaning Out the Storage Closet. I haven't come up with a fresh list yet, but I think that keeping a journal will be on it. In the past I've kept journals and was always so glad I did later on. Lucky for me Chris bought me a pretty new journal for Christmas. Here's to one year.