my palace

8:12 p.m. nikki sp
i'm staying at unilodge, which is like neill wycik back in the t-dot, but better.
there are lotsa yanks here, but also a smorgasboard of others.
there's a pool, hot tub, rec room, roof top terrace with bbq, and lounges on every floor.
so its pretty sweet.

and this is a tour of my bachelorette pad... i'd love to give one in person though!


















ok, so it looks a little bit like a war zone... it took me a bit to get all my stuff packed away. it's all put aside now. but i still have to do laundry to get rid of all the piles everywhere.

my kitchenette is pretty sweet. i love my sandwich maker. it's the best 12$ investment i had ever made in my life. not a day has gone by here where i havent used it.
i should be in an informercial for one of these babies cuz i mention how good it's been to me to every new person i meet. i really should name it. they call sandwiches here 'sangas' for short... so i'll it sanga banga.
a little uninspired but whatever.


the next pictures are the importantest part. my bed space.

















it's actually the cleanest part of my whole loft. i parked my bed right under a low part in the ceiling. needless to say, i've smoked my head a few times. but i like sleeping in the corner, so it's a compromise i'm willing to make.
this is what my bed faces. my closet. it's surprisingly unfull. but considering all the piles i have on the main floor... well, i guess not so surprising.





and this is the view of the ground floorr from the top. so many damn piles. and my spiral staircase which is pretty, but a bitch to walk down in the middle of the night, and drunk. many a bruise will be owed to that baby.






and this is the view of the city skyline from our rooftop terrace. it's nice not having huge skyscrapers or condos obstructing our view.

so yeah... i love my apartment. anyone who's visited here has said the same. i also love having a couch that i can crash on when i'm too gone to make it upstairs. and i love having a double bed and pity those who booked twinshares which lack the necessary privacy and bed space in case any visitors happen by.

i just can't wait for people from home to visit me. i have adequate space and am opening up my place for guest. and, i will clean up a little bit, so it'll be a good time.

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hope, blood, turandot

7:42 a.m. nikki sp
the sydney opera was pretty great cultural experience. especially since it was free.

it's really great that we got to meet people that like going out and doing stuff, especially when that stuff costs nothing.
anj and i had a pretty chill day today. i had to my rsa certification course today so i can work in bars while im over here, so i was stuck in a classroom for 6 hours of the day. in the meanwhile anjuli got to sleep. but as soon as i got home, i took a little snooze myself.
and once we were ready to go, it was pretty late. so we came into the opera halfway through. but that was alright. i dont think i woulda had the patience to go thrugh all three acts.

it was fucking packed there. like more packed than any festival in toronto. maybe as much people as attends warped or maybe even more.
the group had brought wine and antipasto... anj and i brought cowboy shooters and 2 different kinds of kit kats that they dont have back home - cookie dough, and pralines and hazelnut. everything was delicious.

but yeah, it was so impressive - everyone being able to sing for so long. the conductor's arms mustve been so tired. but it was amazing seeing all the costumes and the orchestra.
i felt pretty classy being there. well as classy as i can feel downing shooters and snarfing ddown chocolate bars.

it was pretty cool cuz one of their friends had gone to calgary on an exchange. and had spent 2 years in canada. he's actually applying for canadian citizenship, but he needs to save money first.
while he was in north america he roadtripped all around the coast and was able to hit cali and tj. and he liked san fran and san diego, both of my favourite places there. aaand, he went to coachella! i'm so damn jealous, and very interested at the same time.

but we had to leave them before i could find out more about his travels... and his name. i think it was dan, but i dunno.

needless to say, we didnt make it to coogee today. it's a good thing cuz the evening was a little chilly. but tomorrow we'll have a full day there.

and we're probably gonna meet up with my work peeps, the irish lads, and have some cheeky drinks. mmm....baileys... so it'll be interesting to see how that turns out, with steve and all. it's a tricky business mixing business with pleasure. i plan on quitting that job soon once my other job picks up though. and since i'm rsa certified, i at least can do other bar work too.

anyway, there'll be lotsa backpackers there, so it'll probably be another day of spot the aussie. they're too rare around here.
but it;s nice hearing all the different accents, and meeting other travellers who are expanding their horizons.

i dont even want a career anymore, i just wanna travel for the rest of my life.

i need to marry rich. and marry to get aussie citizenship. that'd be so awesome.

it hasn't even really sunk in that i'm here. everything's all happening soooo fast, but it's been really amazing over here.

i keep forgetting that it's winter back home, until i get messages of people swearing at me cuz i get to hit the beach and bathe in the sun whenever i want.

i hope lotsa people end up visiting me though, that'll be a friggin party. aussies are fun, but canadians know how to drink and more importantly, how to party.

my couch is a pretty decent size, and it's all ready for any lucky visitor who wants to occupy it!

just gimme a shout and we'll go fucking nuts down under
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happy fuckin australia day

9:45 p.m. nikki sp
i love it here

it wasnt such a crazy party day like canadia day is, but it was still pretty awesome.

anj and i went to bondi again. for the third time for the first half our day. we're slowly reaching our tan goals.

shit, im a little cunted right now.

um. afterward we went to patrck;s friends place in glebe, which is pretty much right arounf the corner. and ddrank some more. the guy to girl ratio was very weak though. disappointing. but we met heaps of cool people. probably the most aussies we've met since we've been here.
i've met more foreigners than aussies. pity.
but we dran k and went out and it was good.

had to leave early cuz i', thinkin of doing a rsa course at 930 so i can wrk at bars here.
shit. im so tred.

last night was pretty sweet. had my first day on the job, which wasnt too fruitful. it's all about luck when it comes to selling paintball. a bit of a randm job, but it's the perfect job for travellers.
so i'm out with this irish guy all day. he was there in my group interview with another buddy of his, and i thought they were both cute.
however, it's messy to mix work with pleasure, so i didnt do anything with it.
but, our work environment is pleasure. every end of the week after work, we drink a fridge full of beer together then head out and resume drinking.
steve and i were the first people back, so we were drunk by 630. i apparently had called anj and slurred the whole time. this doesnt surprise me. what does, however, is that i didnt d-dial more people.
so to initiate us into the company the newbies had to collect smebody;s number from the bar across te street.
i did even better - i brought the person with me.
mike was a very nice person to go through all of this. but shit man, i was so wasted at that time. i think i agreed to have dinner with him sometime this week... we'll see if that happens. but at least he's an aussie. at least from what i remember, so that will be a more local experience.

anyway, my coworker and i got along really well once the alcohol was running through our system. the irish accent is the hardest for me to pick up on, yet i was surprisingly able to understand him. so that was a good sign.
and we pretty much lft the gongshow at some really early time liek 1030 or something earlier.
but after getting steadily drunk from 5, that was alright.
esp since we played kings which kickstarted all the festivities.
i dont even think this makes sense cuz i'm a little gone right now.
but...

needless to say, it was an awesome first day, and a great australia day eve celebration.

might see him and his mates (i dont think i can pull that word off yet. you need an accent to make it work... along with 'i reckon')... tomorrow cuz anj and i will be at coogee beach where he lives.
so that might be interesting.
and if i don't, well at least we;ll catch some good sun time.

and tomorrow we're prolly gonna go out with the people we met today to celebrate someone's birthday party.
shit a blood brothers mkusic video is on the tv right now, and i ve never seen one. this is amazing.
i love it here.
i get sidetracked easiely.

nightlife isnt the best here, but once you find sme good people to prty with, it;s a fucking blast.

this has been a fucking awesome week.
4 job interviews, only 2 i could attend cuz afterwards i was hired and didnt need to go to the others.
then meeting all these cool aussies and otherwise. great fun. and beaches...
life is good.
life is fucking amazing.
i just hope i dont get ragged on by my coworkers on monday.
apparently as we were leaving to get food, steve was getting many pats on the back. that;s hilarious. i didnt even notice.

i just hope i dont fall.
although, it is quite a romantic place to be over here.
sigh.

this blog shoudla been over an hour ago.
just rambling bnow.

but nikki is happy :) and everything is falling into place.
and that's the end of this chapter.
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ocean breathes salty

4:54 p.m. nikki sp
i have a beach buddy now!



anj is here, which is why i've been lax in blogging.



but we went to the beach on her first day here (sat), and we went again today.






bondi beach is beautiful and so is everyone there. it's very superintimidating.














so we tried to make like the locals and get rid of our canadian pallidness.

we're going back thursday, so we should be black just in time for australia day. which i'm super stoked for by the way.


yesterday we returned to virgin cuz anj had to get a cell phone.

and well, i had to see the boys again.

but to my dismay, they weren't there :( je really wanted to see hudson

however, to compensate, aussie ben was there to help, and canadian patrick was a nice welcome from home :)

ps i love virgin mobile.s salesmen.

we talked to patrick for a good period of time, virgin's a really chill environment so it was like having coffee, without having to pay for coffee. we were just sitting in the cushy chairs and chilling.

talking about poutine, clamato, graham crackers, ketchup chips, and a load of other stuff.

also ben had taught english in korea, so it was interesting seeing what he had to say about that since i had been there so recently.

he also had a lip piercing.

ps. i love lip piercings. i'm a sucker for them.

and well done tattoos and quasimohawks. and tallness and dimples.

knees=weak.

irregardless.

oh yeah, speaking of tattoos and why i love them, we saw some inked dudes, one had the team canada hockey emblem on his back shoulder, so i talked to him about that and other travelling stories. it's such a good icebreaker.

anyway, ben suggested a place to get piercings done on bondi, hwever, prices have prolly gone up since 5 years ago when he got his.

luckily, i found a place that had a special - half price tongue/nipple piercings for this week. so i'm gonna try to come in thursday to get something done. this place also has 'tight arse tuesdays' where you come in and say 'im a tight arse' and get half price off any piercing cept for surface and genitals.

hopefully it's not sketchy, so i can get something safe and good.


so back to virgin... while i was there i got 2 calls for job interviews which was pretty sweet since i had already received 2 other calls earlier.

so out of like 10 resumes i sent out on friday, i heard back from 4 or 5 on monday. thats a pretty good return rate.

and i had an interview today, which went sweet. it was a group interview, and it';s pretty easy to tell who will make it to the next round.

it's for a company called ministry of paintball, and it's pretty much promo/sales work, but the company is sweet. very chill, and every friday they treat us to beers.

my dream job.

i still wanna get the one tomorrow! demoing stuff is easy and sweet. if i can work in bars and demo alcoholic bevvies, i will shit myself. i love australia. and the opportunities i'm having here.


aaand at virgin, at the end of our conversation, patrick invited us out to chill with his friends for australia day this friday for bbq .

life is so sweet.

canada day last year was pretty great, so hopefully this will be it's aussie counterpart. im excited for fireworks and inebriation.

p.s. ministry of paintball has incentives where they give top workers free trips and cases of beer. amazing.


so needless to say, our outing to virgin was productive and almost gave me everything i was hoping for. i would have preferred to talk to hudson more about his tattoo. but you can't win em all eh.


today has been pretty chill too. the water was much warmer today than saturday, when it was glacier cold. like my first step in the ocean almost froze my foot off. i was pretty numb after a minute.


i also picked up a copy of the brag, which is pretty much like now magazine. i love it. it has info on so many shows i'd like to see, so hopefully i can meet peeps from my scene there.

there are so many festivals coming through here. like 5 or something. at least.

if i can make enough money, im so hitting that up.

sigh.

i seriously need concert buddies.

this australia day looks promising though.


ps, i have so many bites. i'm like braille. they're so random too. in order, these gross pictures are the back of my thigh (jesus i kept spelling that like the country), and my assback.
sooo itchy.
boo urns.
anj and i are gonna try to mix drinks that are easy and tasty. of course baileys is involved.
fuck i love bailey's so much. i wish i had kahlua too.
anyway, i need to shower all the sand out of my orfices, then get my drink on.
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look right, then left. stand left, walk right. and anticlockwise.

10:01 p.m. nikki sp
i am totally gonna get smoked by a car or some aussie in a rush with my ignorance.
i keep standing on the wrong side of the escalators, or whatever they call them here. and i jaywalk funnily, which is conducive to me getting into an accident of sorts.
oh well. when in rome, eh.
and for the record, the water does drain anticlockwise.
i like these little quirks.

the weather has been beautiful here. but i've just stayed within the city, so there's not too too much to take pictures of. i'm also trying not to look like a tourist so much.

i got a cell phone today. virgin mobile did a really good job recruiting their hires. i want to work there. or constantly buy cell phones there.
the dude that helped me, hudson, was very attractive and very helpful. as was his co-worker on giving me advice on where to get a piercing in sydney. both of them have lip rings, which i have become quite fond of. apparently any mouth one is like upwards of $75 AUD. that's a little steep for me. in korea it cost like 20ish USD. i shoulda done it there, but i dunno how clean it was. and i suppose that's a pretty important factor in this department. also, they recommended that i didnt drink for at least 3 days, and that's all there really is to do there. so i think i made a good choice.

for future reference, around central station is a good place. this will be good to remember for when lynn comes here and we get some sorta inking done.
hudson liked my tattoo. his was alright. just a tribal half sleeve, if you could even call it a sleeve. it was hot, irregardless.
that has been my most satisfying human contact since i've been here. and i'm glad anjuli's likely gonna get a virgin phone too, which means i get to see them again :)

i love it here.
i love summer. i can enjoy solitude here. and being surrounded by all sorts of people.
there are lots of foreigners here.

but yeah, i keep noticing many cultural differences between toronto, sydney, socal, and seoul.

alcohol:
toronto: no drinking in public. drinking age is 19. you purchase drinks at lcbo or beer store.
australia: no drinking in public. there are also no alcohol zones. drinking age is 18. get drinks at liquor store.
u.s.: no public drinking. drinking age is 21. drinks are available at grocery stores too.
korea: drinking age is 18/19 (you age at new year's apparently). you can drink anywhere. even byob to restaurants. you can get alcohol anywhere like a convenience store to the grocery to whatever. i miss that.

night life:
t.o., usa, syd: last call is 2am. streets are pretty dead around this time cept for drunks stumbling out of the bars.
there are select districts that house clubs, pubs/bars.
seoul: bars close around 7am. everyone runs around the street till late. everywhere are buildings with 3 different floors of bars. they make good use of vertical space.

language:
t.o.: downtown, everyone speaks different languages, primarily english. but in many different neighbourhoods, you here different foreign languages.
cali: mostly english and spanish. with some random asian languages.
syd: i've been hearing lotsa english in many different accents. and also lots of foreign languages everywhere. i cringe when i hear asian languages.
seoul: korean. no englishe. not even konglish. they're alright at charades.

food:
to: lotsa different ethnic foods. mostly western fast foods. then italian and americanized asian cuisine. gotta tip.
cali: fastfood burger and taco joints. some american asian. coastally, lotsa seafood. gotta tip.
syd: a lot more variety than the others. portuguese for example. malaysian. etc. no tipping nec.
korean: bbq (very delicious). rice mixed with a lot of random suff (also pretty good. probably the best kind of asian rice). questionable seafood (ie penis fish and slithering octopi). all of these with tons of side dishes included. their soup sucks. and bastardized western food (bulgogi, shrimp, fish burgers). no gratuities.

money
canada: canadian dollar. 1, 5, 10, 25 cent, 1, 2 dollar coins. 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 etc bills in different colours, with holograms.
us: us dollar. 1, 5, 10, 25 cent coins. 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 etc dollar bills. all the same colours. but in different sizes. hard to tell them apart and requires lotsa time at the cashier to get shit in order.
aus: australian dollar. 5, 10, 20, 50 cent, 1, 2 dollar coin. 50 cent is massive. 2 dollars probably as big as 5 cent piece. 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 etc dollar bills. very bright colours. larger denominations are partially transparent.
korea: korean won. 50, 100, 500 coins. 1000, 5000, 10000 bills. that is all. blandly coloured. you end up carrying a huge wad cuz the highest is a 10000, which is about $10.

getting around. transportation.
tdot: ttc is king. buses, streetcars, trains. easily accessible but expensive. but worth it. you win some you lose some. it's easy to walk places and not get lost. try driving in rush hour and you're screwed. taxis are expensive. but best bet for getting home after a late night. vomit comet is wayyy too busy and smelly.
socal: in orange county everyone drives. the only people that take the busses are those whose cars are in repair. or the hispanics. it's a rare occurrence to see someone walking. like sasquatch. in l.a. public transit is alright. busses are cheap. train fares are based on distance travelled, and they dont really check your tickets. viva la honour system. a weird bunch on the train though.
seoul: the train system is overwhelming, but very useful once one becomes familiarized with it. distance-based fares. on the street, signs and maps are everywhere so it's very helpful in the not getting lost department but to walk from one district to another is a looooong walk. busses are confusing. i didnt even bother. im sure they're useful and cheap though. cabs are pretty convenient. cheap and readily available. just dont speak much englishe though. you'll probably get lost if you try to do charades. like they'll take you to the city gymnasium instead of the city stadium for a womans basketball game instead of the men's.
sydney: walking around the city is very pleasurable to the senses. it's easy to get lost because it's not the typical grid system that im familiar with in toronto, montreal and l.a. it's more like san fran in a way. but it's easy to get unlost with all the landmarks. not as many maps as id like. havent tried public transit yet. train looks confusing but i'll lose my virginity tomorrow going to meet anjuli. hopefully it's quick and unawkward. busses havent been necessary. cabbies are nice and charming.



that's about it for my short lesson in cultural studies. i have observed more. but i'm tired.

the end for now.

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first sober day of 2007

7:29 p.m. nikki sp
january 15
well i guess it was 14, but the 14th was such a nonday.

it's interesting having my own place in res.
res life is weird.

at least here it is because nobody is on the same schedule, so some people are midsemester, some havent started yet (ie me)
so the friends-making process is arbitrary.
i've been too busy getting my suitcases all unpacked and getting every random accessory in place that i haven't really approached a group of people for social shit.

i also wanna be careful about with whom i associate. like i dont wanna make friends with the first group that just happens to be nice to me, just to find out they're really annoying and fake or something stupid like that.

i'm trying to be less hasty for 2007.
it's not an official resolution. but the good latter part of 2006 was sooo random. fun, interesting, many good stories. but a little unfulfilling.

ergo, i wanna jump into things with a touch more consideration put forth.

so i'm pretty much waiting for anjuli to arrive before going nuts.
it's really comforting that she's going through this with me, otherwise i'd have to wait for some instituted process like our student orientation to meet some people.
it's a little intimidating starting this by myself for the meanwhile. i'll be coming in at like 10ish pm, and a whole horde of like at least a dozen people will come out loudly heading over to a bar.

hmm. there's a cute boy sitting across the couch from me. this can prove slightly distracting.

gahhh.

my attention span sucks.

but yeah, it's hard to approach such a large group and be like 'hey, can i hang out with you?' ...cuz it's a little desperate. cuz it's not like they can really refuse, so they're forced to agree. and even if they reject me... well that's even worser.

damn, the boy left.
he looked slightly foreign but it's hard to tell

i'm in the lobby of the res/hotel, because that's where the best wireless connection is.

ok he's back.
haha, oh a.d.d.

i need a mobile phone and a job and money and friends.
that would make me happy. not necessarily in that order. but they're pretty important.
oh here comes another group. only like 8 people this time. 5girls 3 boys i think...

stream of consciousness writing.

interesting stuff.

i have no interesting photos yet because idiot that i am i often forget to bring my camera. and i havent done too much touristy stuff, so stuff i'd be taking pictures of would be of everyday life. and i cant be bothered to do that yet.

i have a contact here given to me by one of mark's friends. the british dude. and he gave me a present to give her, so that sort of forces me to get together with her.
it's not too bad of a situation.
i think she's more than a few years older than me.
oh another group comes, only 5 though...

anyway, man i feel antisocial.
but yeah, craig described her somewhat of a bint.
not too long ago, i wasnt compatible with those type of people. but my survival instincts have kicked in and made me accept those people in order to have at least a moderately good time. usually drunk. or cunted as the british would say.
i feel so international, having hung out with a the british, australian, south african, american, and canadian.
and so many people here dont have accents or not an australian accent, so i dont think i will develop one. :(
that was one of my goals.

i'll probably contact melanie tomorrow for a coffee date thursday or friday. otherwise i might go crazy a little bit before anjuli gets here.

god there are so many tall guys here. it's very appealing. and while i never really admitted to it before as i never really thought it was the case, i think i do enjoy blondes more... :S
they're a lot more drama though :(
a brunette mohawk would suffice, but i left a couple of those back home... that's in the past. and in the future.
so in terms of now... well, it's nice seeing some sweet piercings and sleeves again.
there isn't too much of that in korea. asians can pull many weird styles off. but very asian asians can't do hardcore.
i only saw 1 body art place when i was down there.
within a few hours of getting to sydney did i find a tattoo place where i might eventually get inked.
haven't decided what to do though.

there are so many random styles here too. more queen streety all over the place. well thats not true, as i havent really been all over the place. but the places i have wandered too have included some more queen street type people.

another group comes.

sausage fest. 6 dudes. mostly north american sounding.

this super long entry should give an indication of how i'm starved for regular conversation.

i suppose i better stop rambling till i become more focused/less lazy.

p.s. i welcome drunk dials/voicemails at 416.619.9256

i hate being in such a different time zone. and whenever i hear an asian language being spoken, i cringe.

that is all.
the end.




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sydneysydneysydney

8:04 p.m. nikki sp
pearson, lax, incheon, osaka, brisbane, sydney
=6 airports in less than a month

many different climates, many different faces

and i am finally finally at home for the next 6 months

i fucking love it here.

the flight from osaka to brisbane was sketchy. i was getting anxious and pannicky and very alone feeling as it was night time and i had to endure 8 hours of semidarkness.

invincable was the inflight movie, it was touching. so it made everything all better.

i wish i was in brisbane longer. it was really nice seeing people who spoke english again.
and it was nice to sweat. that's a luxury in january.

summer summer summer

our landing was amazing. i recommend anyone flying to sydney to get the window seat on the left side - so any seat 'a'
it was a beautiful show. it almost made me want to crash over the coast.

i love my loft.
i love having my own space that's completely mine, at least for the next 6 months.
it's in a decent location.
and walking around, it was like san fran at one point with the hilliness.
i couldnt stop smiling. i'm genuinely happy here.
which is a nice change from the craziness i felt on the flight.

i'm so so so happy :D

i don't know what else to say cept for i need to pass out and shower.

it's been a loooooong day.
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pink light district

7:20 p.m. nikki sp
i'm pretty sure i stumbled upon it today
by accident of course, there's an alleyway behind the street that yongsan station is on.
chicks clad in tight clothing with hooker footwear standing in windows bordered by pink neon lights. should i have taken a picture or would that have been rude?

too late for that now.

i only have 2 nights left in this city before i'll be in australia!!!

i think i've seen everything this place has to offer. the last couple of days have just been lazy days with no purpose.

i can't remember if i mentioned this but wednesday night we got fucking cunted. that's apparently the british way of saying smashed, shitfaced, plastered, etc.
it was a great level of drunkenness. and i met another group of english teachers once mark banished me from his group.
it was nice to leave the sausage fest for a little bit and meet some other chicks. and south africans.
and other canadian boys.
i just needed a change in scenery people wise.
canada buddy is a good bar for that sense of new familiarity.

with mark's boys, we played kings. and one of the rules was any girl playing had to drink twice as much as everyone whenever she had to take a drink.
i was the only girl.
i got drunk pretty fast, which made it easier to introduce myself to the other group.

they gave me beer immediately, thus winning a place in my heart.
they were also playing drinking game jenga, and the chick across from me picked the block that said 'kiss the person across from you'. so that was my introduction to the game.
and when it was my turn, i gt the same block, and kissed the other canadian dude.
this game was funner than kings, cuz there were more interactive rules, and there's no way the guys woulda done anything homo.
...well...maybe cept for the british one.

irregardless.

and before we left, the new group shared shots with me which made me like them even more.
don't get me wrong - i love beer. especially beer i dont have to pay for.
but shots i dont have to pay for are great too.

so, today's my last day alone. hopefully tonight we'll hit a hotel with a hot tub and do it up all classy like. this stupid korean bed makes my neck stiff every time there's cold weather.

and tomorrow we'll be scooting around, getting random street eats.
and then getting fucking right cunted for al's birthday.
that's a pretty good last day for me here in korea.
since my next stop is hot oz, i don't think i'll miss this place one bit.


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10 dollar pork night

6:01 p.m. nikki sp
is tonight. i'm a little excited for it because i am a fan of pork, and koreans know how to do their meat.


their seafood is questionable, ditto for anything you can by at a kiosk on the street... but sweet meat is pretty delicious.




my days here are coming to an end.


the biggest culture shock has to be the plumbing.




i tried doing my laundry today.


my clothes are clean, at least. but there was no english translation on the washer, so i had to wing it.


after pushing a few buttons, i heard swishy noises, so i felt i was successful so i left it alone.


when i rechecked it, however, there was a huge puddle on the closet floor.


i was a little panicked cuz i didn't wanna flood my friend's place.


but i saw it all eventually disappear into a hole in the closet floor.


goddamn, i don't understand how hard it is to attach the hose to the hole.


this flooding and draining thing happened at least 3 other times.




they also don't have dryers here, so all my stuff is hanging around.




they're so ahead in some things...but plumbing...gahh








i've seen most of the different shopping areas and spent as little money as i could.


i was gonna go to the kimchi museum yesterday cuz the idea of a museum based on cabbage and cabbage preparation methods is fasinating and a little funny to me.


but as soon as i got there, it seemed like something much funner to do with someone else, so i just wandered around the mall.




i've been making more of an effort to eat korean foods.


i appreciate the way they do their rice. a lot more flavourful and better textured than most asian places.


the soup, however, sucks. bland city. i do not approve.




the soju is appreciated. a nice and cheap way to get drunk. i like it way better than vodka. and it's so readily available.


it's one of the cultural quirks i enjoy.




scootering around has been pretty fun too.

it's a really efficient way to get around because if the streets are too busy you can take the sidewalks, and if there are to many people on the sidewalks you can weave back onto the street.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1711939171

i'm gonna try to get my hands on one of those when i'm in oz.


which might be dangerous/ineffectual/confusing as i'm probably gonna be to drunk to drive it a lot of the time, as well i suck at steering, and they drive on the opposite side of the street...


but fuck, it's fun.




anyway, tomorrow i think i'm gonna head to insadong.


it's a little touristy artsy hood, and i need to feel a little cultured. they also have this warhol thing which is trippy.


but i haven't decided what i'll do for friday while mark's at work.


that evening we're gonna check into a hotel with a whirlpool hot tub for a change. bathe the right way and such.


i miss that luxury.




so saturday will probably be mostly spent in that tub.


the night has yet to be decided...


sunday is al's birthday and the boys are trying to figure out what to do for him. he has a seriously serious girlfriend, so a stripper is out the question for some reason.


so they're prolly gonna get fucking crunk.


which really isnt too different from their goals any other night they get together.


i dont think i'll be able to parttake in any of that debauchery unfortunately as my flight leaves at 6ish pm. so i''ll prolly be at incheon at like 4ish...


my first stop is in japan. not tokyo, but i forget the city.


then allllll the way south to brisbane shortly before going to sydney.




christ i'm almost at my final destination!! so excited, i'm about done with this cold and foreignness, but i'll ride it out cuz it's the easiest way.
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the toilet pissed on me

11:11 a.m. nikki sp
korea can be super ahead in some things, and very behind at others.
i've already detailed the standard "shower" arrangement.
their washrooms are quite interesting.

for example, the first lounge i went to here, i was warned i had to take some serviettes with me because they didnt provide toilet paper.
lo and behold the warning was correct.

but a couple of nights ago, we were at this other lounge in bucheon, i think it was called the w bar or something.
when i went to the toilet, i was releived to see full rolls of toilet paper. and on the side of the toilet was a keypad with various sets of buttons.
i thought 'wow, a toilet from the future, maybe it decides how much to flush based on if it's a one or a two.'
so when i was done peeing, i arbitrarily pushed a button - everything was in korean and the diagrams were unclear.
while i did not see any attempt to flush, a tiny little hose peaked out from under the seat, and started spraying
and spraying
and spraying.
fuck, the stall was so small too, i pushed myself up to the door as much as possible.
i didn't know how to make it stop. i wasn't sure if by pressing any more buttons i'd get sprayed more or prolong current spraying or what.
but what the hell, i gave it a shot.
fortunately, it ceased.
however, it didn't change the fact that the lower half of the back of my shirt was drenched.
amazing.
the boys made fun of me for this. but hey, it's an honest mistake.

eww...soo wet....

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super long recollection/update dedicated to alicia, now with pictures!

8:07 p.m. nikki sp
see lish, i'm keeping my promise.

i keep remembering random shit from cali and my first days here in korea.

for example, my first impression: seoul is like chinatown, but everywhere. and in korean.

the apartment that i'm staying in is okay sized, and with heated wood floors. that pretty nice. just studio/bachelor style with a separate closet for a washing machine.
the bathroom consists of a toilet and a sink with a hose over it.
and the hot water comes very randomly, which makes every showering experience an adventure.






so my first night, i met mark's buddies - al, craig and jordan (the other canadian here) and they're a pretty comfortable group to spend time with.
al's from brisbane and craig is from somewhere in england.
i don't remember what i talked to them about because i was jetlagged and drunk off free plane beers and the beer that they were already drinking.
here you can drink and anywhere and smoke anywhere you can eat i think.
the next day was new year's and that was pretty interesting.
we didn't go to city hall as was planned, but we ended up in a foreigner bar which was all right.
fucking packed with white people. it felt like home :)
and after that we lit up some roman candles in the alleyway. it was festive.
we planned to celebrate 5 different new yearses, but slept through england's so we compensated by celebrating calgary's unexpectedly.
we wanted to be at canada buddy for toronto new year's, but it was closed. so we all sat outside in the walkway, and raised our respective bottles of wine and champagne as the toronto was introduced to 2007. it was pretty nice.
later that night we watched 007.
the theatres have assigned seating, which was pretty funny because there were only 2 groups in the whole place.

the day after, mark took me to lotte world which is an amusement park. it's pretty big and busy and packed with lotsa random rides. it was alright. i like rides. we spent most of our time in the restaurant drinking beers through.
apparently here it's uncommon to order just beer. so we ordered a plate of chicken and 7 beers, which the waitresses found quaint.
im assuming nobody else really does that. well, we're canadian and that's how we do.
nothing much else really happened that day.

my last blog detailed yesterday.
last night we got chicken, and the dude at the store was really cute trying to speak english to me.
dude:where are you from
me:canada
d: you speak korean?
m:no
d: you look oriental.
m: i'm from the philippines.
d:oh philippines. haha okay.

end scene.
we also ordered a 3000 cc pitcher of beer to share, which the dude thought was funny too.
and afterwards we each had a bottle of wine, which all in all was a pretty good night.

so here we are. my day today.

i was pretty optimistic - it was skirt weather.
one of the first things i saw when i was walking down the street was this fat boy grunting and dancing to music on his ipod. it made me giggle.
i almost died though, by mis-swallowing a fry. my throat was discomforted for at least 20 minutes, but i survived.

i spent most of my day around city hall. however, i'm not quite sure which building was city hall.
i wandered around a traditional marketplace (namdaemun) and there were many interesting little markets and respective odours.
lots of heart, dismemebered pigheads/snouts, liver, and general entrails were my welcoming to the place.
they sold lotsa shit for cheap but i didnt really need anything, so i didn't get anything there.

wandering around, i stumbled upon Myeong-dong, which is a really nice shopping place. i really shouldn't have shopped. i really really should conserve my money. but some of the stuff was so cute and cheap, so it was hard not to take advantage of it.
i would have loved to have taken my girlfriends there, cuz there were quite an assortment of cute shops.

there was a girl holding a 'free hug' sign, so i gave her a hug and giggled for a bit after that, thinking about what that would get me if i did that in the t-dot.



on my way home, though, there was this creepy old dude sitting beside me, who was 'falling asleep' and at one point his finger carressed my bare thigh. it made me so uncomfortable and i thought i was gonna throw up in my mouth a little bit.
i mean, it wasn't much, but i still felt violated. it's just wrong.

so that put me in a bad mood.

i promised myself that for every time i don't get lost, i'm gonna get a couple bottles of wine to celebrate. and since i was wandering today, i couldnt really be lost.
but that old dude put me in such a bad mood that i didnt feel like getting celebratory wine.
sigh.

i'm still waiting to see what we're doing tonight.
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the actual adventure begins

7:39 p.m. nikki sp
ok, so cali was great. a nice breather. perfect weather and just relaxing in general.

but now i'm in south korea and have been since the 30th.
and it's quite different.

some key things of note -
when i'm dining with my english teacher friends all of whom know enough korean to survive here, it really confuses the fuck out of the waitresses when i avoid their eyecontact and this tall blonde guy orders instead.

i've only had a couple of days around by myself. and i'm picking it up quickly.
when you rely on someone to be your eyes, ears, and mouth you don't really get the full experience.
so yesterday, i ventured out around seoul for the first time alone. i took the easy route by going to a predominantly foreigner infested neighbourhood (itaewon), just so in case i get lost or whatever, i could be redirected with more simplicity.
it was a little grungy there.
people stared at me more than they do in bucheon.
and, well, i got lost.
first mistake i took the wrong line-1 train. luckily i made it back to my neighbourhood with much ease. but when it's dark and you're navigating your way through a bunch of unmarked back alleys, with crazy old men staring at you.
not fun at all.
so this took me about 30ish minutes to finally find my way.

but then we went to canada buddy - a bar for canadians in korea, and it felt like home.
one of the english teachers i met has had a lot of travel experience and has visited many of the same parts of the states that i have, so he was able to enlighten me about the world.

and today i went to dongdaemun, which was really busy and shopping rich and i really enjoy the style here, so that was a treat.
of course not getting lost was a bonus.
in preparation of not getting lost i got a couple of cheap bottles of wine in conviction that i was not going to get lost.
and of course, it all fell into place.

a chicken dinner is now in order, followed by some wine.
it's getting more manageable here. :)
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