1. I wish I could go to Canada.
2. I wish I could go to Canada today.
3. I wish I could go to Canada this very exact minute.
4. Last night I tried calling and texting Q. Eleven hours and forty four minutes later he responded with a phone call. A phone call that I missed because I was in the shower. I could have phoned back, I know, but I didn’t. And so, that was the only noise my phone made all day. He tried calling back another 8 hours later, nice.
5. In between wishing I could simply runaway to Canada I laid on the floor with Mi Nam thinking about all the things I could do if I were in Canada. I would have probably started today off by going to church up on Jane Street where Pastor Granville would yell out, like he always does, “It’s great to see sister Amy in the house today!” I was never sure whether he just favoured me or whether he did it to try to make me feel comfortable being the only white gal in a church packed with some 300 people. Church would be followed by lunch out with some of the married ladies who always insisted “you must eat to grow strong in the Lord Amy”. My afternoon would be spent at System Fitness and then I’d stay in for the rest of the night.
6. In Korea, my Sundays usually consist of staying in for the whole night… actually, the whole morning, afternoon, evening, AND night.
7. I’ll be the first to admit it, I am definitely in a low mood lately. I’m homesick… what do you expect?! I went from seeing all the people I grew up with, grew to love and then got thrown back in a life of what feels like silence and solitude.
8. Both my weight training gym (Hongik) and my boxing club (UP Boxing) are closed on Sundays and so I was totally bored out of my skull and way too unmotivated to do anything besides veg out on the couch with Mi Nam snoring in my ear.
9. I think the thing that has been bugging the heck out of me in terms of my life in Korea is that it’s just so routine and predictable. Everyday I weight train, come home to do some laundry and eat, walk Mi Nam and then I go boxing in the evening. This is my routine 6 days a week. With the exception of Panty Boy Jr. and Jae Min, all my friends abide by the rules and go home every night to their families. My boyfriend is overly innocent and naive, doing exactly what he thinks I want, which ironically, is exactly what I don’t want. I kind of wish I had a trouble maker friend or was dating a bad boy. At least then I’d have some spice to my life. In Canada, Italiano was my trouble making partner in crime, and boy did we ever have fun!!! We never broke any serious rules but we had a lot of fun pushing the limits and things were never boring. Whether we were driving around in his old skool Porshe or hitting up the Croc on a Wednesday night, I always loved my time with him. We kind of brought out the mischievous side of each other and I liked that. I guess I was kind of hoping that Pyoung would be the edge that I craved in Korea but he, well, refuses to apologize and honestly I’m not interested in the drama that accompanies him.
10. Finally around 9pm I snapped out of my blah mood and walked over to the neighbouring LG store where I dropped some cash on a DVD player. Spent the rest of the evening walking “Sex in the City” on DVD.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Isn’t it funny how when you’re down in the dumps, people scatter, but when you’re on top of your game, everyone wants a piece of you?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.
-- Author Unknown
As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).
After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.
Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.
3 comments:
Sorry to hear about how homesick you are. I know what that's like. Every year it got harder and harder for me to return to Korea. The sixth time, I cried like a baby all through my first flight. I think my husband decided to emigrate to the U.S. solely because he felt so sorry for me (he was on the flight with me). It's so hard to be away from all that's comfortable & familar and from all those people that make it that way. Unfortunately, my husband is now super homesick. It's been worse since he returned from visiting Korea in the spring. I feel so sorry for him. I hope you and Q will discuss very seriously where you both want to live in the future before making any lifelong commitments. I'm sure you love each other enough to weather anything, but I will say it doesn't get easier to be far away from home; it only gets harder.
Although I'm sure this is not going to make you feel better in the least, I did want to let you know that I had Tim Horton's coffee (based on your rave reviews) for the very first time yesterday when I went to Montreal to watch a soccer game (Montreal Impact). My brother-in-law was driving and I made him take me. I actually thought it was more like Starbucks, but realized it was actually more like Dunkin Donuts. I had a cappuccino glace (or iced cappuccino). It was VERY good! Sorry.
I think it's probably harder in a small city like Chonan, as there is only a small pool of people with whom you can communicate in English.
It must be rough to be so far from home :( But Korea is also home too...a second home. I feel you on stupid boys though haha.
Anyway, I've had no computer for a month so I'm just now getting caught up on all of your entries. I still have tons more to read (your trip to Canada seemed like a good time for you!) so expect a fewwww more comments from me :)
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