On Saturday, Kenneth and I went to The Alive Museum and Maze which is an interesting place. You pose in different situations and take pictures based on camera angles and stuff. The maze is and insane course which you have no preparation for. There's a ropes course where you crawl Mission Impossible style which is not meant for people over 5'8 so we both had a rough time in there. But, we did it which was fun and felt good to complete! I've never felt so vigorously challenged from just walking in off the street wearing jeans.
Way to stand on your mark, Allison.
Spiderman kiss
Ben Hur
I love him
My pose is better
This is my fav pic of the whole set
Get it, girl!
We didn't quite figure out the logistics of this one, how to paint a pic of yourself.
After the museum we went for lunch, which I am only mentioning so I can show you what we ate. All the restaurants in the area were Korean and had a lot of seafood. We saw a sign for chicken and beer so ran inside! There were literally 3 things on the menu that I would eat (the rest being seafood) so we ordered 2 of them. Friend chicken and this corn dish which is just corn and melted mozzarella together. It's not a combination you see a lot. Although, Koreans put corn in a lot of things.
The timing of him leaving isn't great but it will give me some time to think about what I want and as they say distance makes the heart grow fonder. He's had an interesting life, and it's not that he carries baggage but I have to decide if I want to be a part of what he wants. Here are some things that are exciting:
- I already told you about the Sask Roughrider jersey situation
- His birthday is Dec 9 which was Ann's birthday
- Before he came to Korea, he was looking at moving to Edmonton to go to U of A to get his Master's in Political Science and also a NAIT (where I work back home). He is also looking at going to Memorial University in Newfoundland.
- His sister just had a baby named Olive and when he talks about her his face lights up which makes me happy because he loves his family
- He saw my wall of pictures (of all of you fine folk back home) and studied the pics of the babies. Then, pointed out which ones are the same baby from different time periods. I just like that he thought about it and cared to even look. (I hate comparing a new relationship to old but after 4 years Ace couldn't even remember some of my best friend's names.)
We have lived very different lives which I can foresee being challenging at times which is why I am being so guarded. He is here in Korea because he fled Nigeria after the election which he was involved in. He found out some incriminating evidence on the person who won the election and they wanted him gone. He was shot at, and the bullet hit the person beside him who later died. He came here for a work conference and didn't leave (he's been here 6 months). That is why he is back home, to officially quit his job there and bring back his laptop and stuff which belongs to his work. He couldn't even fly directly into Nigeria in fear he would be detained so he flew to a neighboring country where a packed car (with food and other items) was waiting for him and he drove over the boarder. He keeps telling me how excited he is to bring me there one day and I will love it. So far, it sounds a bit dangerous. He said once the new president is elected it will all be over with his situation. He has a small car on his forehead/eyebrow from a machete. Back when cellphones first came out he had one and people were doing anything to get one. He said one day he was walking down the street talking on his phone and someone swiped at him with a machete, but luckily he ducked and didn't get hit too badly. Plus, he's pretty tall guy and at the time played semi-pro soccer so was quite strong. He was able to overtake him and leave the situation. I asked if he stabbed the guy with the machete. He said no - he would never do that to someone. I don't know if I'd feel the same in that situation.
I get that all of the above sounds so scary but he is so normal about it. It's just part of life where he grew up and I think part of why he wants to leave. I asked him about that whole Nigerian prince scam that you hear about all the time. He said it makes him so frustrated. He sees these 19 year old's driving Mercedes and he knows how they go the money. You ask them what their job is and they just say "I'm working on my clients." I asked him if other counties do the same scams or if it's just Nigeria. He said others do it but when they get caught they just say they are Nigerian because Nigeria has a bad wrap.
One of the other reasons Kenneth is here is because jobs are so bad back home. He said in one month here he makes what he would in 8 months there, and he doesn't even make a lot of money here. About the same as me. I asked him if his family is okay and he said yes, he sends money home most months if necessary. His sister's baby was breech so he sent money home for the surgery. He has a brother who is a doctor in Sierra Leone who actually was dealing with the Ebola outbreak. So, his family is situated well for now, all things considered. I love his passion and drive for a better life. He wants to get his Masters and PhD so he can teach or have his own company.
On Sunday I mostly just relaxed. I met up with Jean for lunch and we ate delicious Turkish food! He reassured me about the North Korea situation. He said it might be a good idea to keep a "go bag" handy with photocopies of my documents, plus my originals and enough cash to get me to the embassy or the airport, along with the address to the Canadian embassy written in Korean. I am putting that together this week. But, he is truly not worried so neither am I!
Have a good week! (I love how I said this would be a short post and it was so long!) I just realized that some people (aka my family) aren't on Facebook and have no idea about Kenneth so I have to go type some emails now!
Love,
Alli
Okay one more. He is the kindest person. Can't you tell?
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