Pride spectacular, Jeju Island adventures and exciting plans for the future!

So much has been done and happened since I last made kimchi (see last post) that it seems funny to write it all on one screen, so I'll chronologically compartmentalize.

Pride, Seoul!
I have been to a fair number of prides in Portland, OR, but none have felt as eventful or necessary as this one. It was a small event compared to any pride in the states, kept mostly secret from the public despite being held in one of the biggest cities in the world. Because coming out is dangerous for many people, the event staff handed out "no photo" stickers as well as press passes giving permission to take any photos at all. So, while I have a grip of excellent pride pictures, I cannot put them up anywhere on the web, save perhaps this one:

because there are no people in it. There were many booths giving out all kinds of information, just like your regular stateside pride, as well as a stage with a few "main events" just like home. But what was remarkable was the air of actual *pride* many of the Koreans exuded and the exuberance of the multitudes of foreigners. While there was a lot of information that I couldn't read, I gathered that there is a fairly organized if small undercurrent of GLBTQ activism alive in South Korea. This makes me really really happy, as there are no laws protecting anyone from anything happening to them because they are gay here. Even for foreigners, even for me. So, I too wore a sticker 'just in case', cause the last thing I need is some Korean parent claiming I'm corrupting their toddler with my 'choices', unless I want to be sent home early (which I've considered). The highlight of the day time was perhaps the parade, which is less of a spectator event like at home, and more a solidarity march. It was fab. At night a bunch of friends and I went to a "women's club" in Seoul, and had the time of our lives. Why a 'women's club', you ask, and not an all everyone queer fest? Because the gay bars are segregated into "women", "men" and "trans", which makes it hard to hang out with some of your friends. lame. This is sadly not for some sort of fist in the air decades behind the times feminist agenda, but for the protection of those who may go. double lame. I have hope that sometime Korea will catch up to the west, and the west will catch up to say--ancient Greece or something, but for now, I love what I got.

Jeju Island!
Because I am spoiled with travel in Korea, the following weekend 3 of us went to Jeju Island to see what the "Hawaii of Korea" was all about. It turns out that it's all about unpredictable weather, excellently variable modes of transportation and awesome beach swimming. We arrived Saturday to find out that we *did* indeed need our international driver's licences to rent scooters, but after many phone calls from the nicest hotel manager ever, we managed to rent three 50cc scooters for 20,000 won a day. This may be the best money I've ever spent. I'd never been on a scooter before, and my cursory lesson didn't do much to teach me how to ride, but I managed OK, even riding into a thunderstorm at 10pm, lost as lost can be on the highway. Over the course of 24 hours, I fell in love with scooting on scooters, and vow to get one sometime that I can call my own.
If this isn't the picture of happiness on my face, I'm not sure what is.

The helmet w/goggles was especially great, though the goggles only hampered any effort at effective steering. I kept them off.

Saturday we took the scooters for a couple hour drive up the west coast of the island and discovered a great raw fish resterant, teeming with locals and other mainlanders on vaca. It was good, but I could have done without the live shellfish pulsating at me. (I have since re-vowed to become vegetarian). It was after this meal that we ended up scooting home on the highway, into a thunderstorm. This might have been the stupidest thing I've ever done, not having much experience driving a car, nevermind a scooter, nevermind in a foreign country, nevermind in the rain and thunder. But having survived it, I may one day be able to bungee jump, paraglide, or many of the other things that scare me senseless.
I slept like the dead (ha ha) Saturday night and woke up Sunday to lazily getting around to scooting over to some waterfalls and witnessing some old mermaids free diving. These ladies are amazing, and the last of their kind. They free dive, that is, do not use any scuba gear but can hold their breath up to two minutes and descend up to 20 feet to gather fish, shellfish and seaweed near the beach. All of the women are grandma-aged, and their daughters have not followed in their footsteps, mostly working in the cities and such. What is even more spectacular, is that they work as a collective and share all the profits from their catch, including what they make at their makeshift restaurants on the rocks, where they will cut you up some of whatever it is they've got, and happily serve it with some raw garlic and soju. When we went, much of what they had is what they call "sea squirt", which looks about as appetizing as it sounds. I have so much respect for these women and what they do--they're real life mermaids!

After this, we had to return the scooters and catch a bus/hitch hike to the famous lava tubes. While they were about to close and we could only go 250 meters into the some 7,000 meter long tubes, I got a good feeling for what it must have taken for Mrs. Earth to create something so spectacular. The tubes were underground, pitch black and rocky like nothing else I've ever seen. It was kind of like being inside a damp loaf of bread burned black, but way colder and much more inspirational. I wish I had a picture.
Afterwards, we took the bus again to Sanguang beach, with black sands purported to relieve arthritis, athlete's foot, and a variety of other ailments. I was barely there 5 minutes before I put on my swimsuit and jumped into the warm-ish water. My friends could hardly get me out, and I felt like I was 6 years old when they started with "Ali---aren't you hungry? Shouldn't you stop swimming now?" I did finally get out that evening to go eat, but was promptly back in again around midnight and then again around 5am. What can I say, maybe I belong with the old mermaid ladies.
I really hope I can get back to Jeju before I leave Korea, as there is *so* much more to see, if I can keep out of the water long enough.

Now, onto:

~~~The Future~~~

I am exited to announce, over this venue and many others, that I will be travelling to Nepal in November and December of this year to donate my time and money giving medical aid through acupuncture. This is a dream come true for me, and I feel very very blessed to be able to participate. I think acupuncture is amazing, and though I don't know much about Nepal or the specific community in need, I know they could use some help and I am happy to get in there and do it. It is so important to give what you can to the world, especially as westerners because no matter what our life's lot may be---we usually have more than our share compared to so many others. I balk at this injustice, and while I've come to terms with the whole "life's not fair" thing, I think I can do something to make it better, if not fair-er. We'll see.
So, to this end, I have fulfilled another one of my life's goals, which is to have my own website and share my love of the visual. While I may be an amateur photographer, it makes me endlessly happy to be able to share my photos and perhaps raise some funds to donate towards the trip to Nepal as well, since volunteering isn't free for the wallet, however free-ing it may be for the spirit.
I encourage you to take a look at:
http://www.internationalphoto.weebly.com

Let me know what you think, and get some photography to pretty up your wall space, or cross someone off your gift list.

And this brings me to today, which is again miraculously Thursday and two days away to a visit to the beach in Pohang. Maybe there'll be more swimming!