Tuesday

How To Be Alone, a poem by Tanya Davis



If you are at first lonely, be patient. If you’ve not been alone much, or if when you were you were not okay with it, then just wait. You’ll find its fine to be alone once you’re embracing it.


We can start with the acceptable places, the bathroom, the coffee shop, the library, where you can stall and read the paper, where you can get your caffeine fix and sit and stay there. Where you can browse the stacks and smell the books, your not suppose to talk much anyway so its safe there.
There is also the gym, if your shy, you can hang out with yourself and mirrors, you can put headphones in. There’s public transportation, we all gotta go places. And there’s prayer and mediation, no one will think less if your hanging with your breath seeking peace and salvation.
Start simple. Things you may have previously avoided based on avoid being principles. The lunch counter, where you will be surrounded by “chow downers”, employees who only have an hour and their spouse work across town, and they, like you, will be alone. Resist the urge to hang out with your cell phone.

When you are comfortable with “eat lunch and run”, take yourself out to dinner to a restaurant with linen and silver wear. You’re no less an intriguing a person when you are eating solo desert and cleaning the whip cream from the dish with your finger. In fact, some people at full tables will wish they were where you were.

Go to the movies. Where it’s dark and soothing, alone in your seat amidst fleeting community. And then take yourself out dancing, to a club where no one knows you, stand on the outside of the floor until the lights convince you more and more and the music shows you.
Dance like no ones watching because they are probably not. And if they are, assume it is with best human intentions. The way bodies move genuinely move to beats, after-all, is gorgeous and affecting. Dance till you’re sweating. And beads of perspiration remind you of life’s best things. Down your back, like a book of blessings.
Go to the woods alone, and the trees and squirrels will watch for you. Go to an unfamiliar city, roam the streets, they are always statues to talk to, and benches made for sitting gives strangers a shared existence if only for a minute, these moments can be so uplifting and the conversation you get in by sitting alone on benches, might of never happened had you not been there by yourself.

Society is afraid of alone though. Like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements. Like people must have problems if after awhile no one is dating them. But lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless, and lonely is healing if you make it.

You can stand swaffed by groups and mobs and hands with your partner, look both further and farther in the endless quest for company. But no one is in your head. And by the time you translate your thoughts an essence of them maybe lost or perhaps it is just kept. Perhaps in the interest of loving oneself, perhaps all those sappy slogans from pre-school over to high school groaning, we’re tokens for holding the lonely at bay. Cause if you’re happy in your head, and solitude is blessed, and alone is okay.,


Its okay if no one believes like you, all experiences unique, no one has the same synapses can’t think like you, for this be relieved, keeps things interesting, lifes magic things, and it doesn’t mean you aren’t connected, that community is not present, just take the perspective you get from being one person in one head and feel the effects of it.

Take silence and respect it, if you have an art that needs practice stop neglecting it, if your family doesn’t get you or a religious sect is not meant for you, don’t obsess about it. You could, be in an instant surrounded if you need it, if your heart is bleeding, make the best of it, there is heat and freezing be a testament.

Sunday

What I've recently learned about myself

There is a pattern. I see it very clearly at times, and at other times it is foggy and difficult to spot.

I seem to jump to quickly into things. I seem to not want to take helpful advice from close friends and family, even though I know they are right. I seem to want to believe that something is what it isn't. I seem to be wrong about relationships a lot.

I guess I'm seeing clearly for now, but it may not last. So I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to remind myself of the things I've learned next time the situation is uncertain.

There are good things and bad things to these truths I have uncovered; good that I have caught on to the pattern and therefor can choose to do something about it. Bad, that each time I repeat the cycle, I care less and less.

The series of events goes something like this: I'm happily single for a while, content to just travel and make my jewellery, hang with my dog etc., and suddenly meet someone who I know in some ways is not always a good match for me. I go along with it anyways, curious to see how it may turn out. Before I know it, I smack in the middle of a "serious" relationship. How did I get there? How did I wind up making future plans and sharing "i love you's" with someone I wasn't even sure about from the beginning? Well, I think I have an answer. I get caught up in wanting to believe that what I have is something way more fantastic that what it actually is. I want it be how it is my head. But, alas, it seems that the reality is never as satisfying as the fantasy.It seems that my fatal flaw is being in love with the 'Idea' of being in love, that gets me into hot water.

Once I realize this, it's time to leave. At one time, skipping the country was a favorite escape of mine, but as time wears on, I have less energy, and less motivation to even give an excuse as to why I'm leaving.
Once I'm single again, the cycle will eventually repeat itself within 6 months. Each time, I become less and less emotionally attached. I think what bothers me the most is not caring, not having an emotional reaction at all when saying bye to someone I cared about. The problem may be me not taking enough time to consider how things will turn out, or already knowing how things will turn out, but not caring at the moment.

For these things I have no cure. I don't know what the answer would be; "look before you leap"? "Patience is a virtue"? How do I not let what's in my head cloud what's in front of me?
For now, I have simply admitted to "having a problem" and isn't that the first step to recovery? .... wait, I'm pretty sure that's what they say to alcoholics... meh.

Tuesday

iLife

I just bought an iPhone. I am both excited and saddened.
Excited because it is a shiney new toy to play with, and it's nice having a cell phone again.
Saddened because I have joined part of a generation, for who the iPhone is an cultural icon. It is a whole way of life that one can not avoid being part of even without owning the iphone. There were no "apps" in life before this thing. It annoyed me. Everything was suddenly connected to itunes, ipods, iphones.

I tried to convince myself that it was "just a phone" ... a pretty, shiney, very smart, useful phone... just a phone that has a compass, recipes, GPS, can be used in any country and changed into any language... who am I kidding? I'm suckered.
Am I really behind technolgy thinking that this phone is magic? can other phones do this? I mean it doesnt take much to impress me- I remember when I got a phone that could take pictures and video and I was blown away. That said, I also remember my parents getting their first "cell" phone that was about the size of a shoe box and plugged into the car lighter. yea.

so, having something so perfectly fit to my every like, is pretty amazing to me.
Now....if it could brew my coffee in the morning as it's waking me up...

Oh, Canada

Since July is Canada's birthday, I've made a list of things I love about being back home. Things I forgot about, or missed dearly, or just simply took for granted while I was away.

1. gravy. I know how silly it sounds, but I love gravy, and not being bale to have it whenever I wanted made me sad. I guess that goes for Poutine as well, a Canadian meal of fries, cheese curds and, of course gravy. mmmm

2. drive through service.- drive through coffee, drive through food, drive through banking, drive through liquor. We're a lazy country.

3. Diversity- of cultures, languages, religion, food. I like being part of the melting pot.



4. Wide. open. space. and as much of it as you can handle.



5. Wilderness. not just a park, or a small patch of forest, but vast areas of uncharted land with animals bigger than a squirrel.

6. Drinking from the tap. So many people in first world countries don't realize how lucky they are to have access to clean running drinkable tap water. I dont care what it tastes like, if it's safe to drink I'm gonna stick my head under the tap and lap it up.

7. Camping. Canada is known for it's woods, so get off the couch and get your tent and sleeping bag, we're goin' camping. mosquitoes, and fires and long johns, oh my!

8.Having personal space. Most asian countries, being as populated as they are, maybe give up on the idea of people having their own "personal space" and just become unaware of others bumping into them ,or reading over their shoulder, or sitting next to you on the subway when all the other seats are empty.....

9. Open-mindedness ( for the most part) of things that are different; not the "norm" of society... I know there's still a long way to go with some things, but Canada, comparetively you are doing great.

10. The laid back aura of Canadians in general. Rules Shmules! "It's ok, It's all good, no worries, what odds, geez bye dont worry about it!" These are all things I hear on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

11. Ceasar salads, ceasar drink and fish and chips. preferably all served at the same time.

12. Books! in English! Libraries full of 'em!

13. Clothes that fit my big 'ol Canadian butt.

14. Patios. nothing like sitting in the sun with a beer, or if one should be so lucky, a Ceasar.

15. Freshly brewed coffee anywhere you go. no instant stuff.

16. Newfoundland culture. nuttin like it in da world. Scuff n scoff? mugg up? or just a good ol yarn over a tea.


I know there's alot more, but that's all my brain could come up with for now.
It's good to be home.

Monday

Touring with Erin- Day one

For my last week in Jeju, my friend Erin flew down to stay with me from Seoul. It's only about and hour flight and prices are usually pretty decent if you go with Jeju Air. (and Jeju residents get a 10-20% discount) I flew with these guys alot going back and forth to visit people on the mainland, and the service was always great.

Anyways, we packed up our scooters from Mr. Lee's Bikes, and headed off on a 3 day tour of the island. It was the best goodbye Jeju could have given me.

It was Erin's first trip to Jeju, so I wanted to show her all the best spots before we both headed out. We took the coastal road down to my favorite beach Hallim, stopping in Aewol along the way. I cant remember the name of the little cafe at the end of Aewol, right before you get back on the highway, but they had awsome coffee, good food and an amazing view. Not to mention that it had a very cool "Greek" eclectic feel to it, complete with a surfboard hangin from the ceiling.
Erin with a slightly road-rashed elbow due to the minor scooter vs. gravel incident.
The Haenyo (women divers of Jeju) were out gathering scallops and other shellfish to sell to local restaurants. A dying breed, these women are a force to be reckoned with. Unique only to Jeju, these women have a long and tumultuous history. They simply amaze me.





By late afternoon we reached Gecko's, a favorite of many expat living in Korea. The Gecko's bar in Seoul has been a staple of Itaewon for years, but the Jeju location is a newer, larger bar on the south side of the island. They serve all the same tasty stuff as the original Gecko's, but you can eat outside on a big patio.
After a yummy dinner, we headed home to sleep so we could get up early the next morning and head out for day 2!

More to come of my scooter adventures with Erin....


Sunday

These Boots Were Made for Hiking

Trail at Western Brook Pond

I'll be updating the trail info as I do them, but so far I've only completed 5 in Gros Morne and 1 in Port aux Choix.
Bakers Brooks Falls

Crossing the river to Snug Harbour at Western Brook

The Coastal Trail at Green Point has been my favorite so far, but definetly the easiest. It's 6km return, basically starting at one trailhead, walking 3km, and then turning around and walking back the same way.


The trail is pretty flat, going along the rocky shoreline of the Viking Trail. The trail is clearly marked, either by boardwalk or by worn footpath lined with stones. It gives great views of the Long Range moutnains and the fjords on one side, with a never ending view of the ocean and beach on the other. The beach is not swimming kind- it's all large rocks, very cold, deep water, and undercurrents. No sand along this trail, but alot of tall grasses and tuckamores ( stunted juniper trees) You'll see the trailhead about 15km north of Rocky Hr.
Bakers Brook Falls trail is located on the road going into Berry Hill Campground, North of Rocky Hr, and just a bit past the Gros Morne swimming pool. It's 10km return down to a large Waterfall. The trail is nice and flat, boardwalk and gravel. It winds through a forested area with alot of fallen trees, with nice views of Rocky Harbour hills and the start of the Long Range. This trail is nice for wildflower enthusiasts- in July you'll see orchids, Yellow Lady Slipper and the Showy Lady slipper in bloom, as well as plenty of Blue Flag Irises.


Western Brook Pond is probably the most walked trail in the park. There is a boat tour that winds in through the large glacier carved mountains that is very busy in the summer months. I've done the boat tour when I was much younger and remember it being pretty incredible- Large cliffs that dramatically meet with the long narrow pond that sits between the fjord. Although the trail itself only takes you to the mouth of the fjord, the view is still pretty spectacular. It's 6km return on a mostly flat, wide path, some of which is boradwalk through marshy areas. Picture Plants, the provincial and carniverous flower of Newfoundland, are common on this trail, as is Labrador Tea. When driving North on the 430, keep going past Sally's Cove and the turn off for the S.S. Ethie shipwreck. You'll see the parking lot for Western Brook Pond trail on the right- you'll know it's the right one- it's always full of cars.
That's it for now, but they'll be more soon!

Friday

Home for a Rest

I'm adjusting to life in Canada slowly.

I haven't posted anything in such a long time because I think I felt I had nothing to post about. Being back in Canada, I felt like my life wasnt exciting anymore. That I was boring and had a boring life after leaving seven years of life in Korea. Sometimes I'm still envious of the life I gave up. But it's getting better.

After jumping from job to job, I hope I have finally found a home with the national parks. Maybe it's being out in the woods that makes me feel finally at home. or close to it. Maybe I just needed something to make me feel like my life in Canada can be interesting too.

I've made a goal to hike every trail in Gros-Morne NP this summer, over 125km of trails. So far I've walked 27km. I'm enjoying taking things one kilometre at a time.