Maybe I've been watching too much Gilmore Girls...

but I've been thinking a lot about how charming and lovely it may be to run a little bed and breakfast in the south of France. Not right now, obviously. I mean first of all, I know extremely little about the south of France other than that it's on the Mediterranean. Also, I know extremely little about running a bed and breakfast other than that I'd need someplace to put some beds and make breakfast... It certainly wouldn't be meant as a career, but maybe as a way to supplement my writing income since I've yet again chosen a path where the majority of people fall off into oblivion rather than a nice easy route to a proper job that provides a life-sustaining income.

Then again, I've also wanted to be a lawyer, a forest fire-fighter, an actor, etc, etc, etc.

I think it mostly stems from the idea of actually having a place to call home. It's very disconcerting to be yet again living out of a suitcase with all of my stuff in various boxes stashed in various closets and garages around the world. I guess I always figured that by my early thirties I'd kind of have things sorted out, and feel more like an adult. Instead, I think I feel like more of a confused kid right now than I've done since I first crossed that stage in the UofG arena so many moons ago.

Stupidity reigns supreme.

I have lost what little faith I had in the general populace having any form of brain what-so-ever. The most recent example of the stupidity of the masses is the US Beef protests in Seoul. In a nutshell (help, help, I'm in a nutshell) the situation is thus: Korea and USA signed a free trade agreement which pretty much boils down to Koreans being able to export cars more freely, in exchange for re-opening their doors to US beef.

The FTA was signed by the now-unpopular new president (who was voted in with an overwhelming majority, and is now the most hated man in Korea for doing exactly what he said he would do...) and the opposition decided to rally the Anti-American spirit to force their hand. So, they used the "journalists" (who have never heard of research and only report what their superiors tell them to, and wouldn't know a fact if it jumped up and bit them in the arse) and planted false stories and internet rumours that US beef was just rampant with MAD COW!

This is a disease that the WHO (W standing for WORLD) downgraded to a NON-issue 3 years ago. Anyway, the Korean public is now convinced that if they eat US beef they will immediately get Mad Cow disease, which is, according the them (but not anyone else) contagious and airborne. Never mind the fact that the majority of Americans chow down on beef regularly and there has not even been ONE case of Mad Cow in humans in America... Oh, and, the US would specifically be sending it's diseased meat to Korea, and not the good stuff. Because that's what you do with allies and trading partners - try to poison them.

THEN! A foreign company bought a Korean bank, then sold it at a profit. This is business, right? Well, because they were foreigners, they were arrested for making a profit. So, shockingly, foreign investors are pulling out of Korea and my hard earned won is quickly becoming as valuable as, say, the Thai baht or the Vietnam Dong... BOO!

To top it all off, I was stupid enough to read the public comments on various internet news articles, such as Dr. Morgantaler being awarded the Order of Canada for his dedicated fight for women's reproductive rights, and I see the small-minded, bigotted, 18th Century opinions being posted by a supposedly educated group of people, and it just makes me want to drop out of the human race... Can there be any hope at all for people who equate a doctor fighting for women's choices and safety to Hitler?

Needless to say, as scary as the next few months will be, I am *really* looking forward to a change of scene, a change of pace and a change of the types of stupidity I'm faced with. There is no escaping it, but new forms of stupidity might not be quite so annoying for at least a while...

Change can be good...

but having everything changed all at once can be a bit trying, even for me. We all know I tend to fly through life by the seat of my pants, and that "plan" is a four letter word. But there comes a time when even I feel overwhelmed by it all.

Some time this month - though I don't know exactly when - my current live-in boyfriend will be leaving. His ship will, quite literally, sail - once it's completed. He will be away for pretty much the next 9 months. Unfortunately he has had very poor experiences with long-distance relationships in the past and is rather gun-shy about trying again. This is compounded by the fact that neither of us know where we will be in 9 months - and whether it will be feasible for us to live near each other at that point. So, big question marks on the love-life front.

As for me, personally, I'm at the point where I'm done with Korea. I've had my experience of living in a completely foreign culture, and it's definitely made me grow as a person. I've had incredible times and horrendous times here, and learned so much about human nature and about myself. Now I want to continue this experience in a not-quite-so-completely-foreign culture where I can easily buy good cheese, chocolate and wine. So, I'm ready to leave. But where do I go?

I'm not interested in living in Canada again. At least not for now. Part of this is fear of my financial past catching me, but mostly it's because I know what Canada is like, and I want something different. I'd really like to live in Ireland and spend some time exploring that half of me. I haven't spent more than 3 weeks in the country of my birth since I was 5. And I'd like to live nearer to my Dad and get to know my extended family. But Ireland is expensive and other than family, I don't know anyone there.

I'd also like to live in France, but I only know a few people there, and they live in Paris - I'd rather live in Lyon or along the Mediterranean. I also am not so great with French, which will make it harder to find work.

The only thing I know for sure is that I'm going to apply to the distance ed course in Journalism, since it's more affordable than an on-campus course. And if the Korean won would go back up, I'll have more than enough for tuition. At least for this year.

So what do I do? Live in Ireland or France? Stay in Korea to make more money? Bum with my brother in Wyoming? Move to a beach in Thailand??? See... so many question marks...