Chubby Chick Running

In the late 90 ’ s a band named “ Fool ’ s Garden ” had a mega hit with a song called: “ Lemon Tree ” .

Cape Town has always been the city of my dreams. We lived here for 6 months when I was just a little girl and I loved it. When I started going to university, I came to the Western Cape at least once a year and I always said that this would be the place I settled down in.

There are lots of theories about the signs / t-shirts / stationary that are so readily available all over Korea. One theory is that the bad English (or Konglish as it is fondly known) is the result of an individual with bad handwriting copying words or phrases. Another theory is that Korean phrases are directly translated into English and slapped onto merchandise. One more theory suggests that these words were thought up by foreigners, who know exactly the amount of entertainment value that Konglish has to offer.

The last time I cruised around the island, I was on the back of a big, black, bad-ass motorcycle. A REAL bike. Holding on to a cute boy at 5 am in the morning, chasing an elusive sunrise. Every high school girl's dream. There is, however, something very uninspiring about going up a hill at 20km/hour on a maroon scooter, half clutching the gas, half walking it out, while guys on bicycles pedal past you, smiling as if the uphill road takes no effort at all. Tonight's trip around Geoje island would have been a waste if it hadn't been for the inspiration that went along with my sudden realization that I have only 40 days left in Korea.

It was my birthday on Wednesday. I love birthdays! To me it is a celebration of a year that has passed, adventures that have been lived, new things learned, old things forgotten. I am getting to an age where people are expecting you to have reached certain milestones: Get married? Have a stable job in a good company and climb the corporate ladder? Have a house? Have a car? I have none of those. But here is a list of things I did in the past year. Some of them are average. Some of them are huge. All of them make me thankful that I have lived another year.

Death whispered in my ear last week, as it sometimes does. Instead of stopping and asking  who it was going to take away from me THIS time and instead of taking a minute to call all my loved ones to tell them I love them... I did what I always do when Death talks to me. I did what I do best: I ran. I ran as far and as fast as I could. When I couldn't run anymore, I partied as hard as I could. Then I dropped to the floor and slept as long as I could...and when I finally woke up Death had taken from me one of the most important influential people in my life. One of the bravest women I've ever known.

Today was one of THOSE days.  I'm in a super time of my life and a very blessed season. I've been eating right, exercising and doing things that I like. I went back to my old church in Okpo and I've been taking more responsibility there. I've met some pretty awesome people and made special new friends. But TODAY.....man oh man.

Why should I blog? Why do I want to blog? Why does anyone blog? Let's be honest... People blog because they have something to say.   I have a diary. I write in it sometimes (mostly while I am in class and my kids are doing some work in their activity books.. ) But the thing about a diary is this: You write your deepest thoughts and fears in it. You don't show it to the world. You sometimes don't even show it to your friends. Plus, it's really difficult for your friends and family to read your diary when you are on the other side of the world... I'm going to try my hand at this blog thing. I want to share some of my experiences in Korea and some of my thoughts on this crazy country. So this is me. Blogging for the first time.