Wonderchicken Index

My two-week visit to back to Canada, by the numbers.

  • years since previous visit: 4
  • kilometres driven: 3270
  • members of personal pantheon of heroes (of 5 surviving) drunk with: 4
  • percentage doing better than last time I saw them: 100%
  • percentage of them who believe they are dying: 25%
  • percentage of them with whom manly tears were shed about one thing or another: 75%
  • ways in which I might well have died while rolling ATV into icy bog: 4
  • number of beers consumed before said accident: 4
  • number of hours before getting some dry clothes on: 3
  • number of beers subsequently retrieved from mud under chest-deep icewater: 18
  • cameras ruined: 1
  • fresh moose carcasses manhandled: 2
  • teeth chipped on shot embedded in Canada goose breast: 1
  • average price of Canadian cigarettes:$9.50
  • approximate price ratio, Canadian/Korean smokes: 4:1
  • packs of duty-free Korean cigarettes given away, despite people claiming they didn’t like them: 8
  • teeny bottles of maple syrup brought back for coworkers: 11
  • number of new cocktails discovered with unrestrained glee: 1
  • number of new cocktails discovered whose ingredients cannot be bought in Korea: 1
  • car-battery-sized blocks of cheese consumed: 1
  • hamburgers eaten: 18
  • number of days free of alcohol consumption: 0
  • kilograms of weight gain: 3
  • unexpected pleasure at returning to Korea, which now feels like home: unlimited