Visual Overload

Cuteness:



The 5 year old girls of Princeton class, who'll be moving on up to Pennsylvania Class in March
Sally has a Koala sweater (with ears) and Julie has a teddy bear one. Clearly, I need to schedule a "wear your fuzzy sweater to school day" and wear my sheep one too. Photo Op!!



Sally and YooJin



Julie



Sean and Ethan, Yale class, 5 year olds, moving on up to Princeton class in March.



YoonJi and Eunice, also in Yale class





Eunice doing her science experiment.

Science is usually a hit or miss class. I think the company that does the experiments has about the same 20 items they just reuse and make into different things.

This one was good because you took a turtle cut-out and taped it to a plastic syringe (no needle) and attached a plastic tube to the end where the needle would go, and then another syringe at the other end of the tube. The air pressure allows you to move the turtle's head in and out, and the kids loved it.

Probably a majority of the science experiments are either too difficult for them to put together (and sometimes too difficult for me to put together), or just plain failures because of faulty manufacturing. The concept is good, but the materials are too shiesty.




John, a co-worker of mine, turns 23 on Tuesday, so we had dinner on Thursday.



Shabu Shabu, seafood version:



Matt




Chris



Whole octopi, why not?

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This one's for Jeanie:


Sidestory: Being strange, half-Korean children, Jeanie and I have a love and adoration for tofu that many of our friends are befuddled by. They don't like the texture, taste, etc. But we love it. Plain, in soup, pan-fried with a side dish of soy sauce, in salads, I've definitely sneaked toffutti into things I've made at home (shhh! don't tell dad!), stir-fried, baked, etc.

Here, they have this "Morning Tofu" which is silken tofu. It comes in these tiny containers and has a little spoon and dipping sauce. I'm addicted. If it grosses you out, tough. :P hahahahaha

How to eat Morning Tofu:



Procure package. Conveniently found at many convenience stores (heyo!)
Usually about 1,300W or $.86 (thank you exchange rate!!)



Open package.
Notice tiny spoon and packet of delicious soy sauce and sesame oil mixture.



Dig out small well and pour sauce packet. The well is important because the top of the tofu is generally level with the sides of the plastic container. If you add the sauce without the well, it spills over the side.

Enjoy!

More reading about soy

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This is the Cheongdam Wedding Hall, I live about 2 blocks behind it.



This is Tom'n'Tom's, where I get my coffee. Depending on the light at the crosswalk, it takes between 2 and 7 minutes to get there.



This is the new Tom'n'Tom's that is opening up just down the road. (that big white light above the cab's left tail light). I took this photo from the same place I was standing when I took the one of the current T&T's
For the last month I will be in Korea, this is where I will be getting my coffee as it cuts out the tempestuous crosswalk light.





This is an Audi dealership and a Bentley dealership next to T&T's








This is a pile of trash in Dongdaemun.

In Korea, trash pick-up isn't funded through taxes; instead one must purchase government-issued trash bags and use those. Those trashbags aren't very cheap, but they pay for trash collection. Good idea? Bad idea?
Well, it's part of the reason there are so few public trashcans here.
When they changed it to that buy-the-bag policy, people started throwing their trash into street receptacles because it was cheaper.
And the way to fix that? Get rid of public trashcans of course!

In Japan, the lack of trashcans works. There is little litter and the streets are clean.
In Korea, epic fail. So every morning, city works scramble to sweep up all the trash in the streets that has accumulated because no one carries their trash to the nearest trashcan located a kilometer down the road....

Way to go!




Doota! department store in Dongdaemun




Need shoes?







Serrr-biisss--uhh!

or Service,

or,

Free Stuff you get when you buy stuff in Korea!

When you go to restaurants they'll give you food for "service", or free, usually an extra dish of something.
And occasionally, when promoting new products, you get them.
I got this little 120ml bottle of Vita Lime 30 for a 700W rice triangle.

"30 limes' worth of Vitamin C in every bottle"



30 limes? really? 30?
Couldn't they find a more efficient way to extract Vitamin C from a fruit than 30 limes for 120ml?






Visual Overload, stop.

Mid-life crisis, or something of the sort

As my time here dwindles down, I keep throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks.

Most of what I hear from the US is that the job market sucks...Yay!

The exchange rate also sucks. *sad face*

ideas:

1. Go to grad school for publishing. Take out about $80K in loans (negatory!)
2. Go to a summer publishing institute held either at NYU or Denver. (I'm in the process of applying. ) Then hope like hell that I get a job at the end of it.
3. Just apply for editing jobs.
4. Go to grad school for my Master's of Teaching or Education
5. Teach in the US
6. Teach for DODEA
7. Spend more time in Korea
8. Mooch of the parentals until they are no longer humored.


I haven't a clue.
Numbers 6 and 7 offer more travel opportunities. Hum.

Enfin!

Bill finally shared his Guam photos

100th Post!

For about 325 days in the country, that's not that bad, is it?

Meh.


Aujourd'hui:





It's better than moldy underwear!

Unless by fresh they mean, "Don't get fresh with me!"
Cuz then, um, *cough*

Moving on...



It's kind of hard to read (apologies for crappy picture), but it says:
Face Remodeling

Heyooo, remodeling? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Excuse me, I need to go in for a little remodeling.
-Oh, would you like the Cherry Oak, Cedar or Maple? Marble or tile?






Cutiiieee:



Youjin!
So much love, curiosity and sweetness in such a tiny body!

And what a view!

It's been relatively mild here, and so I like to take the opportunity to open my windows and air out my poorly-ventilated apartment.

And what a view!




I love the hues of brick in the morning, don't you?


Okay, not really. But the upper right-hand corner caught my eye:




Ah, teddy bear, I feel your pain.









By the way, have I mentioned lately that I live in what my school likes to call, the "Beverly Hills" of Seoul?




Well, hm. Okay, maybe in a little world called every Korean's fantasy.

Maybe I take a few shots of the more Beverly Hills-like part...

Random.

My school gave us Lunar New Year Gifts:




Mmmm, instant coffee!

I know have enough instant coffee and toiletries (remember the Chuseok giftset?) to last me 'til the Apocalypse.
One of my friend's schools gives wine. Crappy wine, but wine. Hum...





I think Seoul Metro needs a better translator.





Seodaemun Prison:



Chris in one of the Japanese torture devices. With this one, they lock you in it for days until you're paralyzed.

Seodaemun Prison is on the north side of Seoul and was built by the Japanese, I believe. In the very least, it was heavily used by them.
There were a lot of "Righteous Korean Patriots" who were imprisoned, tortured and killed there.



The secret tunnel for removing bodies, haha. You can't take us anywhere :(

Sad panda

Visual:

Bankbook:





Whenever you open a Korean bank account, they give you a bankbook. They're pretty nifty because whenever you go to the ATM, you can update it. So instead of getting a statement, you have this little book that details every withdrawal, payment, deposit, etc to your account. You can also use it to withdraw money, pay your bills (done at the bank), and maybe more, who knows!

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Everyone keeps asking me if I'm counting down the days to my departure, and I'm not really doing so.
Am I counting down the days to the end of my job? Definitely. 34 working days!
I mean, I love the kids. But the bureaucratic BS, my boss, the ridiculous extra work and lack of respectful treatment is not worth it.
The turnover rate is slightly ridiculous and I wonder why.
At the end of the month, there will be 2 American teachers leaving and 4 Korean teachers. That's 6 teachers out of 14. David just started his first month and I'll be leaving at the end of March.
In the office, there's been a new accountant every month for the past 4 and they're training a new woman now; at the front desk, one woman has stayed constant and the other is about the 3rd or fourth.
At least there are enough people to change into these spots?

I think part of the reason Mama Murph got upset in this morning's conversation was because I said I wasn't homesick.
And I'm really not. I was at one point, but then I got over it. It doesn't mean I don't miss my friends or family, I do, to an unbelievable extent. However, it doesn't really constitute homesickness.
It's sort of cyclical- in college, each year I pretty much had a group of friends and so I wouldn't get homssick. The first year was the roughest as far as homesickness goes, but the subsequent ones were much easier.
But in each year, like I said, I had a different group of friends. I had a few that carried over from year to year, but most of my relationships didn't extend past that year. After that sort of pattern, you find yourself feeling slightly disposable.
And now that I have this great group of friends here, who'll be here for months after I leave, and now that I'm comfortable, I'm facing the ultimate of saying goodbye to them.
So much of what has made this relationships is purely conditonal.
Never again will I be in that college situation, and though I may find myself back here, it's not guaranteed.
In a nutshell, I guess what it all boils down to is that I wish it weren't all so conditional. It is good that I have friends from all the different facets of my life that have drawn us together, but I'm not ready to say goodbye to another group and only have good memories and photos to hang on to. We're all bound to move on and grow distant, but I'm not really ready for that. It's a bit exhausting.

Angst.

Sunday update:

Not going to lie, I can be a bit vindictive.
So when the taxi drivers are assholes and take the long way to places, I leave a mess in their cabs.
Mostly snotty tissues.
I get more annoyed when I'm sitting there telling them where to go and they ignore me.


Does that make me a bad person or an instigator of Karma?