BKLOG

I woke up this morning sore… but in a good way.

A few of the foreigner boys and I had gotten together for some tackle football last Sunday and my body was still recuperating.  After two hours of working muscles that had lain dormant since ninth grade, I was having trouble walking… but I was still happy for the distraction from Korean life.

Each day since then, I’ve regained a little more flexability.  For example, I can now put my socks on again in under two minutes.  I laid in bed for a while and stared at the ceiling.  it felt good to let the sleep slowly leave my body.  I sent some emails, ate breakfast, and left for work.

I now live in a ‘love motel’ that is across a small river from where I work.  Well… it is too small to be a river but too big to be a stream.  So let’s just call it a ream.  The walk is a pleasant one… except when I go by that one seafood restaurant that always reeks of rotting mollusks and moldy laver.  I hope to hell I’m not still here when the summer heat and humidity amplifies that horrid stench.

I didn’t wear my headphones on the way to work today.  It seemed preferable to bask in the sounds of a Korea I was beginning to appreciate and enjoy.  Part of my commute follows the ream and it thrilled me to notice the water was higher and swifter today.  In the places the sun had not yet reached, it was covered in a sheet of ice and sparkled.  A beautiful scene despite the concrete banks and bits of trash entombed underneath the surface.

‘Holy shit!  I’m actually happy here!’

The building that was my desitination is situated between the two bridges in town.  Luckily there are a few spots where stepping stones have been installed.  Of course, there are no hand rails or even a clear path to the water’s edge, but crossing in this way is better than walking alongside traffic the whole trip.

I made my way, gingerly, down the bank.  My set of stones are just beyond a small dip in the river bed which, to my delight, had created a touch of winter beauty.  Overnight, the water spray from the agitated flow had encapsulated some detritus in smooth glistening crystal.  It was only a humble tree branch and some pieces of styrofoam cooler… but the suddenness of this magical scene took my breath for a moment.

Then I slipped.  The ream had managed to spread its beauty onto my path and I went down hard with a thud.  My ass is sore again, but not in a good way… I cut my hand when my arm plunged through the icy crust of the ream… and somehow, I managed to rip my sock open and bleed all over my shoe.

I swear to all that’s fucked… Korea is the worst place in the entire universe.  What the hell was I thinking?!  Of course crossing the ream by stepping stones is a terrible idea!  There’s nothing poetic about it.  Nobody was around to see me, but I know Korea is laughing.  That bastard country lulled me into a state of false security and hit me while I wasn’t looking.  A sane man would have taken the bridge… no… a sane man would never ever step foot in this corner of the world.

I’d rather live in Alabama.