Egg-cellent

Tonight I cooked eggs.  

I wasn't anything fancy.  I just hard boiled 10 eggs so that they'd be ready to go whenever I fancied one, wanted one in a salad or for any other reason that a person could want or use a hard boiled egg.

            

          

Sure it was just boiling water (and even that I had to Google to make sure) but I'd never done it before.

Make hard boiled eggs, not boil water.  Asses.

It's the smallest thing; but having done it successfully, I felt so happy and proud of myself.  

It may be silly - and a little bit schoolgirl foolish - to get happy about getting eggs right,  but it reminded me to...

Soul Place

"If people can have soul mates, then surely they can have soul places." 

This is such a simple, brilliant idea.  

A soul place.  

My friend Kirsten got me thinking about this concept when she emailed me that quote the other week.

To be honest, I didn't really give it much thought - just read it and thought it sounded like a great way to describe a place that you love.  

But calling a place your soul place is implying a lot more than just love, it's implying even more than the great experiences you get from a fantastic journey.  

I have places all over the world that I love.  Places that the mere mention of the name has my face smiling and my brain swirling with a parade of amazing memories.

But I had never considered any of them to be soul places of mine.  Sure I love them.  I'd definitely go again.  

But a soul place?  I wasn't so sure I had one.  

And that thought was just upsetting!  I have been all over this great big world and to not have a soul place… well that's just bananas!

So I got on Google and went looking for this quote - hoping that there was more to it so that I could use it to associate, connect, bind part of myself, part of my travels with a place that could be my soul place.

I didn't find the quote, but I found this article...

~~~

A soul place can be anywhere. It needn't be in a far off exotic land, although there are many such places in the world considered to be sacred, soul places. Your soul place might be in your own garden or a neighborhood park. It might be an island or a city, a special restaurant, or by a pond.

A soul place is anywhere you feel a greater sense of harmony and ease. There might be many such soulful places on the planet that inspire you, and open you to a new sense of freedom and joy.

Pay attention to the places where, in spite of whatever level of activity is going on around you, you feel rested. In a soul place, you can breathe more deeply, set down your burdens, let go of cares and concerns that occupy the mind.

When you come to a soul place, it's like being put on an oxygen tank, even your bones can breathe. Because your soul is responding at a level that doesn't involve the mind, all the tight and contracted places that have been "waiting to exhale" finally do. It's like taking off a pair of tight shoes, or loosening your tie.

When the needs of the soul are ignored, life begins to feel like a desert. We find ourselves feeling parched and dry, thirsting for something we can't quite name. A soul place is a drink of water for the thirsty soul.

We take vacations to such kind of places, hoping to "get away from it all". While the conscious mind might not know it, what we're really searching for is a way to get closer to ourselves.

In a soul place, we come to know ourselves in a new way, even if we only spend 15 minutes sitting on a bench in a neighborhood park. New sensory pathways are opened. We allow more of what nurtures to flow in and what constricts to flow out. ...

Some soul places are intimate and very personal, sometimes captured in tiny moments. We get a glimpse of something transcendent and the place where those moments occur are indelibly marked on our souls. …

The soulful nature of life is where the richness lies. I hope you won't miss it in yours.

In your journey to nurture your soul, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. The soul's garden beckons us to dig in, dig deep, and plant new seeds of creativity. As the garden grows, tending it becomes the journey of a lifetime, one that will take you far and wide to places where your soul feels fed.

~~~

In truth, I don't think I needed the quote or this article (although they are both pretty great) because I think I have found my soul place.  I just needed to let the world stop around me, take a breath and let my soul exhale.

Where's your soul place?

Above taken from an article in the HuffPost, Healthy Living section by Dr. Judith Rich: The Soul of a Place: Where Does Your Soul Call Home?

Since We Are Almost There

Where's there?… Turning 30.

Which I'm sure is an age to embrace.  An age to welcome.  A new phase in life that has the scars of your teens safely tucked into the past, has you passed the ups and downs of your 20s and is waiting for you, with eagerness, to begin a new decade.  

30.

Well I say to 30 - no thanks. Really, and truly, no thanks.  I don't want you, I don't like the sound of you and I'm sure as hell am not ready for you.  But isn't that the thing with time and aging - you can't stop it.  It's going to come and then you'll be there.  

Be 30.

Yippie.

Thankfully, I have a few more years.  Just a few, but a few is more than none.  Right?!

And since it is still a bit off, my dear friend Amandine felt she should share this gem with me so that we come to it prepared… 

Turning 30: 30 Things Every Woman Should Have And Should Know

Here's how I fare so far: (red = ones I have, or think I have, accomplished)

By 30, you should have ...

1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you’ve come.

2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.

3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour.

4. A purse, a suitcase, and an umbrella you’re not ashamed to be seen carrying.

5. A youth you’re content to move beyond.

6. A past juicy enough that you’re looking forward to retelling it in your old age.

7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age -- and some money set aside to help fund it.

8. An email address, a voice mailbox, and a bank account -- all of which nobody has access to but you.

9. A résumé that is not even the slightest bit padded.

10. One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry.

11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra.

12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it.

13. The belief that you deserve it.

14. A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine, and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don’t get better after 30.

15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship, and all those other facets of life that do get better.

By 30, you should know ...

1. How to fall in love without losing yourself.

2. How you feel about having kids.

3. How to quit a job, break up with a man, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.

4. When to try harder and when to walk away.

5. How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn’t like to happen next.

6. The names of the secretary of state, your great-grandmothers, and the best tailor in town.

7. How to live alone, even if you don’t like to.

8. Where to go -- be it your best friend’s kitchen table or a yoga mat -- when your soul needs soothing.

9. That you can’t change the length of your legs, the width of your hips, or the nature of your parents.

10. That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it’s over.

11. What you would and wouldn’t do for money or love.

12. That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs, or not flossing for very long.

13. Who you can trust, who you can’t, and why you shouldn’t take it personally.

14. Not to apologize for something that isn’t your fault.

15. Why they say life begins at 30

Not a bad start.  Plus I still have 3 more years ^^

Bingo!

It is a hard fact that my English skills are limited to reading and speaking.  Reading might even be a stretch, some words I just blank on.  

Forget spelling.  

That's a skill I failed at from the start.

So the joy I had when I was told that my winter camp would be a phonetics camp was through the motherf#@*ing roof.

I might have said this before, but camps are meant to be fun.  Spark the joy for learning English, outside of the classroom setting.  However, my record with fun camps has been a draw.  50/50.

Of the four camps I've done while being here, I've been able to design* two of them.

• Summer 1 - EBS English camp (a program all online designed by someone in Korea that required me to do nothing, except push a button on the computer to advance to the next screen).
• Winter 1 - Reading and movie camp (I designed the reading portion, picking the books and made all the supporting materials to go along with it.  The movie bit was part of a pre-made BMOE booklet thing, that - although it was created by native English teachers - so fairly shitty on the whole).
• Summer 2 - Reading and craft camp - for the younger students / Reading and writing camp - for the older students (I designed).

that brings us to this most recent one...

• Winter 2 - Phonetics camp (pre-made book by someone, it was decent for the most part.  Not that thorough, but decent.  Although all that was required of me was to repeat words, pass out snack and...)

Play Bingo.

We played a lot of Bingo.  We played Bingo everyday.  But the kids never tired of it.  It was boggling.

But if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

So we played bingo this camp.  I guess that's fun.

*by "design" I mean I was told the type of the camp we were going to have; and I got to come up with an idea for how to carry it out.

Bearing Down

At first I was a bit bafted by my intense laziness and endless desire to do nothing, I mean nothing, but sleep.

Working 4 hours is hardly enough to wear a person out.*

And then I remembered that I did this exact same thing last winter.  I'd work a few hours at school teaching camp, have lunch, then come home to spend the next 3-4 hours slightly comatose in my bed.

If it were an issue of light - I'd write it off as SAD; however, Busan is gorgeously sunny throughout the winter.

The only issue is the cold.  

It's freezing.  And windy.  

These coupled together just cut into your person and strike down to the bone - making your bed the only real place you want to be.

No point meeting up with friends after work, because you can't do anything but go indoors.

Perhaps it is a sad issue (plus not as many people get half days during winter camp or if they do, they are too bothered by the cold to go seeking other half-dayers and instead retreat to their homes as well).

So instead I am once again bearing down into the covers of my bed and into the pages of my books...

**

and am hibernating for the winter.

* I'm sure there are jobs that exhaust a person after 4 hours.  Mine is not one of them.

** image from MyPaperDayDreams

Snnnnnip

Cow was having some behavioral problems.  Ones that I could only associated with one thing….

his balls.

So they had to go.

It was necessary, but my heart still broke for him.  

Not having balls myself, I can't imagine how it would be to lose them; but from my general understanding, the idea of having them snipped is a bit… ouch to the male gender.

But when your fur baby pees in your purse, hearts can only break so much.

Everything went well.  20mins later and Cow was 2 balls lighter and a bit drugged out of his little furry face. ^^

He's all better now.

And he isn't holding a grudge at all!