A Wild Sheep Chase - Review

  That's right, readers... I go on an amazing holiday with amazing people, and all I want to do is talk about the latest book I have read. What can I say? I have strange priorities...

Book Review

A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami

  I was stuck at the airport for hours in Tokyo, because I am a fantastic friend and opted to join the girls on their early morning airport pilgrimage rather than sleep a few hours extra and meet them in Korea. This meant I had time to kill in Narita Airport, so I alternated between snacking and eating for the most part. I was woken up by a crying child and figured there must be a better way to spend my time and I went wandering around and found some super well-stocked book shops. They had a great mix of Japanese and English books, so I stood in the English section for a good 30 minutes deciding what book I wanted to read. I was really happy to see plenty of Japanese books with English translations, so I picked up some that had the 'ol tag line of "best seller" on them. Many of them were by some guy named Murakami, so I grabbed one of his and flipped to the back to see what the deal was. To be honest, they all seemed a little, well, weird. Some borderline supernatural, some murder mysteries, some action, and some romance (are sex and romance the same thing?? I seriously doubt it, but I think you get my point). I ended up settling on a book called "A Wild Sheep Chase", which was apparently about a guy who goes looking for a lost magic sheep with his girlfriend who has ears that give her ESP. Ok, like I said, it was strange pickings. 

  Can I just say, it was the best thing I have read since "American Gods".

  The narrator is a recently divorced guy who, through strange circumstances, ends up being blackmailed into hunting for a lost sheep that was photographed by a friend. This sheep is kinda magic - it possesses people and they end up doing great things. I see now that the sheep must be a metaphor for something, but I am still thinking about this book and puzzling over what it could be. 

  Anyway the guy goes off with his new girlfriend on the hunt for the sheep, and ends up meeting people from his past on the way. I think the Narrator himself is a pretty messed up dude, and in a way going on this little sheep hunt is a way of him sorting through his own life. I wont give away the ending, but it certainly didn't end the way I thought it would, which I quite like in a book. I used to read a whole lot, so endings to stories tend to become rather predictable... This one ended badly but well fitting for the story. Some might actually say it was a happy ending of sorts. Have a read and tell me what you think I spose. 

  The book is writing in the first person, a style I am not accustomed to but fitted this story well. He ducks into the past at times, but tells these things as if he is talking to you real time. The author is descriptive without going into retarded detail, and keeps things on point. Certain parts of the story seemed a little irrelevant to me, but it all went towards character development so I guess it all worked out. So if you are reading, stick with the seemingly off bits. 

  Having just been in Japan and seeing certain sites mentioned, it was nice to put a real image to the places. The story is mainly set in areas in Northern Japan, and even if you have never been there (which I haven't) you can certainly get a feel about what its like. 

  I liked the main character. I felt like he was totally relatable, because everyone at some point knows what it feels like to simply feel, well, there. Just being present without actually being present. Utterly mediocre and static. He needed something to put him back into motion and remind him to live. I don't know what happens to him after the book, but in my head I have made up a great scenario for him, where things turn out well. Unfortunately I don't think that they would have... I think he may have gone the way of "Rat".

  An interesting side the the actual writing is that no one is named. Some people have nicknames, but not one person is actually named. I thought this was quite clever... 

  So anyway I really think you should read it. It was a good book, but kinda makes you think. Like I said earlier, I am still undecided about what the sheep actually represents. I googled it, and some people have said personal ambition, some religion/faith, some depression, some drugs. I honestly don't know. 

Side note on my holiday/vacation

  Yes, I went to Japan for 8 days and then back to Korea where I spent a drunken week in Busan with 2 of my Aussie friends. Nay is still here in Korea, so after she leaves and I have a bit more time, I will let everyone know what we got up to (G-rated version) and how the whole thing was. I also took some adorable videos of my kids for Summer Camp so I will get them up too. 

  I can already tell this next 6 months is gonna fly by... I signed my new contract yesterday with Songshin, so I am locked for another year in this mad place. I mean mad in the literal sense, not this whole "mad"/"cool"/"awesome" sense. Its crazy here, I am going to come home and need to be locked away in an asylum for another 12 months. I'll be mid-30's before I am fit for Australian society again. 

  So yeah I will update next week or something. No promises, because I break them all the time. 

xoxoxo

And that was camp

Vacation is so close I can taste it...

  I have come to the conclusion I am one of the worst ESL teachers going around. Half of it is my fault the other half I blame my co teacher, but I just have no idea how to effectivly plan a lesson. especially a 3 hour lesson. And that is what camp is basically, from 9 - 12 the kids come in and are supposed to do English activities and learn something. My take on it is to do as many crafts and fun things as possible. They are getting English simply by listening to me and following instructions so its not a complete loss. Needless to say that they aren't doing much new learning. 

  The word of the week was most definitely "slime, which we did on Thursday and was asked to repeat today. It killed some time so I was like hell, why not? So we made more slime and play doh. They say "no Teacher we don't like to do this" and instead of me saying stfu kids you WILL do this, I am all like "oh, ok. What do you wanna do?"

"SLIME"

Whatever. They don't wanna be here any more than I do. The schools offer the English Camps for free over the school holidays as a way to get the kids out of their parents hair. I read on a fb group page that some people hate  the whole catchphrase of "paid babysitting" for what we do at camp, but unfortunately for me it is pretty accurate. I don't give a shit what the parents think, if they hated me that much they would find a way to get me out of the school. And if that tragedy did happen I have back up schools. 

  It seemed to me that they enjoyed most of the activities. The fave for them was the "egg parachute" followed by "slime". I got videos of them doing the egg drop but only play doh and not slime. It got messy and I didn't want my camera getting grubby. 

  Another highlight for me personally was watching the kids put every condiment on their egg and cucumber sandwiches. Again, I have videos of this - I am planning on putting it together later tonight or tomorrow and popping it on youtube. 

Pastels and candy

Eating popcorn and watching Flubber

KiMin and his play-doh face

  There are some things that I would change for the camp, but mostly I liked the craft and I will do it again next year, depending on the students. Other things I would change include not getting shit-faced on a Tuesday night and then having Wednesday as egg sandwich day (it made me wanna vomit), preparing stuff in the afternoons rather than freaking out in the morning (keeping in mind I have a good 4 hours in the afternoon to prepare - instead I snooze and watch tv shows), and also have more back up ideas. In my defence, I was told by my co that the camp would be 2 hours in the morning, but the kids all stayed until 12 every day. So my plans were never going to be good enough. 

  I am glad its over, because now it's time for vacation. And you all know what that means - Japan.

Japan

  I am soooo excited to see Jess and Nay, they are flying all the way from Australia to meet up in Japan for 8 days in the Land of the Rising Sun. I will put my Korean-induced prejudice aside and make the most of the time. Things I am most excited to see are mainly in Kyoto I think (I really wanna see this bamboo forest Amy recommended to me!) and I am super keen to try the food. But the big draw card is my friends. Honestly, they could have said "Hey Bon, lets sit in your room all week and play xbox" and I would have been down for it. I am really looking forward to some girly time with people from home. 

  I love all my friends here, and we have the best time and the best gossip sessions etc, BUT there is something about having a yarn with someone from your own country, especially when you know its gonna be 2 of your oldest friends. Us 3 girls have been planning on this trip to Jap since we were about 16, and I can't believe here we are, more than 10 years later, actually doing it. How many other people out there can say that they have done this??? I am also really looking forward to introducing them to Korea and the crazy people and culture. 

  I am heading off with basically no money, which has turned into the story of my life since coming to this place. Korea has robbed me of my ability to save and budget, 2 things that I had trained myself to do really well at home. Now I live from pay to pay, and freak out in between. I have a constant counter on my phone which counts down to every pay day. So I am going to be doing this trip on the cheap which I didn't want to do but I am sure it is possible. Or I will do my usual and borrow money. There is a great bank here called Megan, who is an amazing friend who doesn't charge interest :)

  I am also getting sich which is typical for me. My throat is killing me and my head has been pounding since yesterday afternoon. I think I just need more sleep but there is too much to do. Painkillers to the rescue and we are good. It will NOT stop me from enjoying this time!

Somebody wants to be packed in the suitcase!

In other news...

  My sister is in Europe with her bf. I am so jelly, I think the place I most want to visit on that side of the world is Italy (where she is now). It sounds amazing and I am obsessed with food. So massive diet and save up and then go. Maybe one day I can get married and have my honeymoon there :)

  Its coming up to goodbye time for some of my favourite people here. I hate thinking about it, but such is life I guess. I know we will stay in contact because everybody likes free accommodation all over the world!

  I don't think I have anything else right now... My head os pounding and I really want to go home and snooze. I won't though, I will go home and try and colour more of my hair. I am trying to get it pink but it keeps going orange. FAIL. 

xoxoxoxo