J'aimerais être un flan....un flan aux abricots...

Migration

2009-07-24T01:15:00.002+09:00

First, I migrate back to the USofA and now this wee little blog migrates over to Wordpress.

Hello?

Anyone there?

*tap tap*

The counter tells me that this thing got 92 visits yesterday. From whom, I know not.

Update your bookmarks, I suppose.

Europe in 4 parts

2009-07-23T08:43:00.006+09:00

Part one: Germany

First place: Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt was a nice city. I flew into there, because, well, it was cheap. Everywhere else was a few hundred dollars more expensive. I also had to fly in and out of DC because it was again, a few hundred dollars more to fly from local airports.

However, my outgoing flight was from Dulles -> Charlotte -> Frankfurt. If I'd gone directly from Charlotte -> Frankfurt, it'd be $15 cheaper, but a 5 hour drive opposed to a 2 hour drive. So technically my flight from DC -> Charlotte only cost $15? I don't know. Fuzzy logic is involved.

Anyways (hello ADD) I flew into Frankfurt. It was different from the rest of the cities on the itinerary because it was more like a modern city: it had tall buildings. Buildings that were taller than the churches.

Train station

It was busy. Good lord, it was busy.

But, it was at least centrally located to the hostel I was staying at.

Saw the Goethe Museum, a few churches, and the Main river

Not to mention a MJ shrine

I took a short nap in this park. What can I say? I was jetlagged, and it was shady, green and had some seriously, irresistably soft grass :D

Then, I went to Munich

Munich was cute and charming. As with Frankfurt, it was a very compact city. When you look at the map, you think it's huge. Imagine walking from SOHO to Central Park. That's what you imagine. Then you walk from one main spot to another and it takes only a jiffy.

Visited the Residenz, former home of some German kings.

Found another park, but this time for a picnic, not a nap.

Traveled to Würzburg, where I was born almost 20 some years ago...

Another angle of the Neu-something castle in Füssen.

I ~~started stalking~~ met up with David in Munich. David was one of the first people I met in Korea, and he was in the middle of an epic, jealousy-inducing, round-the-world trip. We did a few trips in Korea, like Gangneung and Deokjeok-do, and had planned to go to Jeju-do in the fall. Europe isn't quite Jeju-do, but eh, I guess it'll do :P And if you look back here and scroll down to the crossword picture, yeah, cool kids!

I miss Cat.

Next up: Amsterdam

Addendum:

I googled "nomadicduck" and then it asked me if I meant "Nomadic Duck" which came up with this

I'm wondering if I like it enough for the $25..

Bonjour, encore

2009-07-22T11:26:00.003+09:00

After a whirlwind trip to Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, I am back.

It was awesome. The company couldn't be beat and I saw and did many things I'd been longing to do. It gave me a much better idea of what I want to do next time I go, and that I really need to work on my french.

Random picture:

Castle in Fussen, Germany. Neusomethingoranother

I'm bit jetlagged & under the weather (go figure). While it was a great trip, it rained a great deal of the time and was chilly. Thus, I have a respiratory infection and germs swirling about my body. It was well worth it though.

Hopefully my computer will be more friendly so I can upload more pictures.

I don't really know what's up next for me; I'm due to head north to New York next week or the week after. I've started considering returning to Korea.

.....

I know.

Yet I don't.

Crap.

I sort of feel ready for grad school, yet I don't. I want to get a job here, but the economy is in a rut. I'm sure I could find one, but I won't be able to afford to live the way I did in Korea. I still want to travel. I want to spend time with people there.
I just don't know if I can take another year so far away from my friends and family.

This is what happens when I'm bored...

2009-07-02T11:40:00.006+09:00

I buy silly things like this:

And then I do annoying things like photograph my family members against their liking.

I also find dust spots on the filter and give them names.

This big guy, his name is Burris.

Today is Papa Smurph's birthday. He turned 39 for the 16th time!

I'm glad he likes simple cakes that take very little artistic talent to decorate. I'm also glad he doesn't mind that the frosting melted and had to be readjusted. Woopskies.

Happy Birthday Papa! Thanks for puttin' up with me :D

So I'm off to Germany tomorrow. I have an oversized backpack, 2 cameras, enough memory cards to take around 10,000 pictures, and very little planned. Should be fun! Be back in 2.5 weeks =)

27 cousins. 8 girls.

2009-06-30T03:08:00.004+09:00

That's why I'm never having children.

I will not only end up with little terrors (payback), but they will be boys.

out of those 8, 4 are Murphy girls

The youngest (and tallest) graduated from high school this weekend.

Congrats Lindsey!

*sniffle* our littlest Murphy girl is growing up..*sniff* I remember the day when she was a wee newborn and we put her in Cabbage Patch Doll clothes and then the doll's stroller and crib. I mean, what? Who would do such a thing???

Hmph, not those Murphy sorts.

Notice how out of all the Murphys, Jeanie's the only brunette, atta girl!
My kids are also likely to be gingers or blondes of some sort. You know how much I would pick on them??

Watch me eat my words.

Raise your hand...

2009-06-24T05:02:00.000+09:00

if you like cheerwine!

ah, delicious.

What I've been up to lately.

2009-06-20T08:09:00.003+09:00

The jetlag is still killing me. I've been resisting the urge to fall asleep for about the past hour, and with any luck, I'll make it past 9:30 for once.

I'm kind of tired of explaining to people why I returned earlier than anticipated (So I could play the Sims 3 with my sister, duh.) and have resorted to copying & pasting emails.

So what have I been up to?

A whole lot of nothing.

Pretty sure I've caught up on all the Law & Order, Jon & Kate + 8, and Wife Swap that I missed.

I'm also pretty sure my brain is going to turn to mush faster watching TV than it would have staying in Korea.

Random visuals taken from my shiny new cellular device

Yes, that's THE Strawberry Shortcake. And yes, that is the most productive thing I've done. sigh.

coffee. mmmmmm.

Jeanie's stuffed Sno-2-go. nom.

She wants to be Korean, too.

Dang, he got tall.

So did she.

And that cheesecake was still frozen.

It's been a bit overwhelming being home. Not only readjusting to the U.S., just ridiculous family can be overwhelming. We had dinner on Sunday night, after I'd been up since Saturday morning Korea-time, local time Friday afternoon, and it was overload.

Well then.

2009-06-14T21:41:00.003+09:00

So I'm back in the States, which I guess marks the demise of this wee blog.

Not sure, might blog about Europe, but my life in the States will mostly deal with trying to figure out what the bloody heck I'm going to do next, and the insanity that is running through my brain.

Don't ask me what happened. A load of bureaucratic bullshit and a need to mother people when you don't have a single clue about them, in my opinion.

So, last days in Korea:

Jesse + Chicken

YEEC Love

Last round at the hound

Artwork= gilded egg crates with pine cones. One of those pine cones violated my tooshie =(

Last round at RMT

dukbukki at Tongin Market

This dukbukki is different from typical dukbukki because it is made with a dry rub instead of loads of sauce. It was tasty, and I wish I'd had the chance to try it before.

The sushi in the background has a nice hunk o'American neon yellow cheese on it. nom........pukeface

It looks like a child's tea party...for adults

Um, damn Snow White!

Rocks

Puppy

Airplane

14 hours >.<

Pillow <3

Bridge to Staten Island.

✌

Yayz!

2009-06-09T09:19:00.004+09:00

Have I mentioned that I love snail mail?

Especially snail mail that comes from lovely family members who are surprisingly nice enough to feed my gum-fix and add other cute, fun randoms?

Yay! June care package!

Let me just say that getting care packages evokes an emotion/Michelle that is similar to 4 year old Michelle, who Aunt Kathy would buy GIANT Pixie Stix from the Piseco Lake Lodge, and then this person would eat all of. DUN DUN SUGAR RUSH!

UNO! HUZZAH!
I promptly got my butt kicked. I need to up my Uno game.

We tried playing Scrabble Apple, which isn't that hard, but you have to be good at anagrams...I'll brush up on those later

Yeah gum! Yeah cookies! Yeah Chickpeas!

Gracias fam!

This area is very well-known for 다하누촌 (Dahanoo) beef. I'm not sure what makes it so special or so expensive.

There are certain Korean agricultural products (like beef and rice), which are protected by the government, so farmers have the ability to charge up the butt for their products. In the end, the Korean product ends up being more expensive than their imported counterparts. For example, American beef is the cheapest beef in Korea. Weird.

Anywho, point of this babble:

My class took me out to dinner on Monday to celebrate the end of the session. And we got BEEF.

Revolving cow. MoooooooooOOoooOOOOooooOooooooOOOoo...

Wait--- I don't eat beef.

Crap.

I had to go for the polite factor. I want good evaluations!

Greasin' up the stone plate

Oh hai, Kate!

Sam and Sophie..Sam looks a little red in the face...Hmm..

Betty gave us socks.

I've never heard anyone squeal so loudly over socks. Not even when cute Asian ones were spied.

Then we left.

Liz found snails!

Liz decided to name herself after Reese Witherspoon.

ahhh, Konglish listening comprehension!

Ooo! Cow intestine! DELISH!

Yeah. I ate leaves. and kimchi. it was tasty.

My head still hurts a bit. I'm going to Seoul this afternoon, maybe I'll go see an English-speaking doctor when I go there. I still haven't done my taxes...

Sunday things, pizza style!

2009-06-07T22:00:00.005+09:00

What I like about Korea in June:

There are roses everywhere!!!

I had planned to go to Samcheok, which isn't far from here, this weekend, but I wasn't able to because of slight health difficulties.

I've been getting some wicked stress headaches lately. The pain started in my shoulder, crept up my neck, and then blew up into massive and slightly crippling headaches. I could deal with it until it started to make my head hurt, but after that, I turned into a major space cadet.

So on Friday, we went to the clinic in Jucheon, where they charged me a whopping 1,000W (.80 cents) for physiotherapy involving heating pads and then muscle stimulation. The muscle thing was weird because they put suction cups on my neck and shoulder and they made weird tingly feeling for a while. The ones on my neck only exacerbated the pains in my neck and head and were quickly removed. After that, they gave me a strange massage-type thing with the Korean version of Icy-Hot.

I know there are funny pictures of part of this process because Jesse took them. Depending on how mortally humiliated I feel like getting, I may post them..

So this weekend I did squat. I felt better yesterday, but clearly not up to par, because because Nicholas caught me staring into space and unbconsciously making spit bubbles. Oh dear. Regression.

I don't think it helped that he (accidentally??) hit me in the head with a soft baseball. =(

Today I waddled around a bit, but being vertical is a bit painful. With any luck, tomorrow will be better.

So, the whole point of this really long background story is HOW IN THE WORLD DO I RELAX MYSELF??

Option 1:
Go Running.

I have 2 problems with this:
1. I'm lazy
2. I'm kind of afraid I'll go ridiculously overboard and return to Bobblehead looking Michelle that I was my last 2 years of college. HAHA! I think Papa would come over and drag me back to the states and maybe actually tie me down to bed and force me not to be such a maniac.

So I either need to find a healthy balance of exercise, or not do it at all.

Option 2:

Eat

Only then I gain weight and that makes me stressed and then, yeah. eyeroll.

Option 3:

COOK!

I still eat, but hey, I share!

Today, I went with option 3, and made PIZZA!

goodness, I miss my kitchenaid!

However, making the pizza dough, kneading it, and punching it was delightfully calming.

pre-cooking

hummmm

Ooo look at that glow!

I may have used a good swig (or three) of this wine to make some sauce

Tada!

It kind of looks like a face; you have olives for the eyes and nose, and a tomato for the tongue.

show off!

Korean pizza cheese or "eee-tal-eee-en chee-chuh"

I think Italian cheese actually has taste...

In the end, not too shabby for a meal!

Daddykins, have I thanked you for the toaster enough times, because if I haven't, thank you, thank you. And thanks for the olives!

I planned to go out of town next weekend, but I don't think I'll be able to, mainly because I did nothing this weekend. I still have to finish my income taxes (EEEK! Thank you Uncle Sam, for granting us a 2 month extension! :D ), do my grades for this session, prep for next session, write a few more proposals to beg for grad school funding (what?), and sleep. Yeah. I'd take my laptop with me to the beach, but I don't think it'd go well with sand. We'll see. I really need a vacation.

A few extras:

1. I jokingly considered whacking my head against a brick wall so I'd go unconscious. Then I remembered that time I sledded into the corner of a brick building using my head, and how it didn't knock me unconscious. and that was on accident!

2. I'm pretty sure that my drugs have some notice along the lines of "Do not operate heavy machinery or cars" but I consider a Hyundai neither, so what's the big deal?
Eh, kidding! I asked Steve to drive today.

Things that (still) confuseth...

2009-06-04T06:57:00.006+09:00

Remember this epic fail with buying starbursts? (Read footnote on this entry*)

I had a similar one the other day, except with buying dried fruit. I guess, in retrospect, it might be about the same amount of money (30,000W or about $23) for the same amount, but the silly Korean woman gave me loads of dried fruit and I was all befuddled. But it is tasty cakes.

I should figure out how to throw those mango slices into a cookie...Oooo, I just got an idea..

Every time my mother told me not to play with my food, I ignored her.

Heck, every time my mother has told me something, I've probably ignored her or I've continued to give her the same deer-in-headlights look.

Nope, nothing's changed. I'm still a slob. :D

This is perplexion over the cost of fruit: (yes, I just changed an adjective into an..adverb? maybe a verb? my brain is fried from too many parts of speech, thanks!)

Or maybe it was that I didn't want my picture to be taken, or the sun was in my eyes or something.

Last session, my homeroom class drew this photo of me:

The trainees said it looks just like me..The sweater, the position of the hands, the curvy body shape. So I had to explain hips to them..
My explanation was something along the lines of:
"I'm half-Irish. I have hips because Irish people are genetically made to have babies, and thus the women have wide hips. When they have babies, they should just pop out like they're coming down a slip-n-slide."

Of course, they didn't quit understand the "popping out" of babies, or slip-n-slide. I think they still failed to see the humor. Eh, at least I think I'm slightly humorous.

I got my first speeding ticket! Woops =(

I didn't even get pulled over! They have these shiesty surveillance cameras. Wimps! Can't even give someone the dignity of pulling them over! Really, we're in the country, what's the big deal if we're doing 80kmph in a 60kmph zone? What are we going to hit? A rooster?? Moreover, it's less than 50mph. Could you imagine driving through all those backroads near Newport doing a mere 35mph the whole time? Only if there's 3 feet of snow on the ground.

Footynotey: Also in that entry on Starbursts is a picture of my friend, and former boss from Binghamton, Josh. He'll be back here in the end of the month, yay!

Friday Things

2009-05-30T11:34:00.002+09:00

Okay, so technically it's Saturday here, but it was Friday when I took these and it's still Friday in the states.

We took a field trip, yay! fotos:

I played with the color accent option on my camera. I wonder if they have it on the DSLR too...

Where's Waldo??

We took a boat ride on a less-than-seaworthy boat. It was less than 5 minutes, but as soon as I stepped on, I planned out my escape and centered myself in the boat, lest it capsized....paranoia....

The woman on the left is Catharina, she's a year younger than Mama Murph, and is the oldest trainee here. Maybe it's because I haven't seen Mama Murph in almost 15 months, but compared to all the older women that we have this session, I think Mama Murph has aged very well..

What no Korean home is acceptable without: a row of kimchi pots!

Non field-trip:

The local grocery store! They've run out of coke zero and Hershey Nuggets with Almonds. Crap!

We found some trainees by the side of the road and picked them up.

Hyundais are much like clown cars..You can fit 6 Koreans, 2 white people, and 1 half-Korean into one. Or 6.5 Koreans and 2.5 white people, depending on how you look at it.

Wednesday was Jesse's birthday, so Nicholas and I escaped to Jecheon to pick up a cake to surprise her. We went to Baskin Robbins and found this cute little guy:

Not quite sure what flavor he was, but he was tasty. AND FILLED WITH POP ROCKS!

...interesting.

I wonder if you can find cute creations like that at the Baskin Robbinses in the States

FLASHBACK!

2009-05-29T20:43:00.003+09:00

The year is 1990. (Okay, a year between 1990-1992. I'm going with 1990, because I don't remember being in school at the time.)

Setting: Grandma Mickey's house, typical weekend with Dad and Jeanie away from Carthage. Newport is a quiet town. The firehouse with that cursed alarm that only would ring right after Dad's arrival. Carson's down the street, which housed delicious orange soda. Across the street are Jason, Mike, Uncle John and Aunt Kathy, probably still sleeping it off. Next door, the Foster house is full of kids. In the backyard, there's a barn, with cows....maybe even chickens.

Time: Early morning, either breakfast has just been eaten or we haven't eaten it yet.

Characters: Jeanie, aged 7-9; Michelle, aged 4-6; Daddykins; Mickey; and Fred.
Exposition: A sleepy Michelle wanders downstairs and pokes her head hello to family. Gramma and Grampa are probably reading the newspapers, and eating cereal with banana slices or raisins. Perhaps even a slice of toast and OJ. No apples or rootbeer. Apples and rootbeer are meant for lunch. However, cookies are always a possibility.

Rising Action: Michelle has the itchies. Why?!

Climax: Daddykins pulls up 4-6 year old Michelle's pajama shirt and notices the tell-tale red bumps of, THE CHICKEN POX!!!!. Then, Daddykins promptly asks, "What did you do, sleep with the chickens last night??"

Falling Action: Michelle ponders this question, and wonders, 'Did the chickens fly in through the window and sleep under the bed last night?!?! IS THIS HOW I GOT THE CHICKEN POX?!?!

Denouement: For the next few years, a naive Michelle is pretty convinced that the chickens from next door sneaked into the back bedroom of Gramma Mickey's house and slept under her bed that fateful evening.

Epilogue 1: Michelle gives Jeanie the chickenpox, even though Jeanie had already had it before. To this day, Jeanie has not forgiven Michelle.

Epilogue 2: At age 22, Michelle is pretty convinced she will not get the swine flu, lest any pigs do like the chickens, and sneak into her room at night and sleep under her bed... O_o

How to amuse yourself out in the sticks

2009-05-26T19:39:00.002+09:00

1. Tease your co-workers and be equally teased. The amount of shit Nicholas gives me would put him nicely in with the Murphy family.

2. Make magnetic poetry-like magnets for my classroom.

(insert photo after it's been completed)

3. Grade papers (HA!)

4. Make banana bread-
there would be photo evidence of it, had we not eaten it all :D

5. Take pictures of yourself and ponder life's questions.

Exhibit A:

Betty, are there really 300 chips in each bag? I may have to count them.
Better question: How the heck do you expect me to make 3 dozen cookies out of the bag?! What, are they the size of pennies?! Come on now!

Do I look Asian yet? It's my goal to become a chamaleon...if I make enough peace signs, I'm sure I'll blend it!!

Chipmunk cheeks! If only I had some helium so I could do the proper Alvin, Simon and Theodore voices!

Now in regards to this foto, I have the following extra to say:

A. I know what you're thinking, what would MICKEY say??

I think Mickey would forgive me. Since you people soooo meanly took her away from her kitchenaid and now she can't whip up some of her classic cookies and then send them, she'd forgive. P.S. I'm totally on her side; if she can get into my car, I'll take her home next time I see her!

B. Where the heck did I get those in the ROK?

Actually, not difficult to find. There are sites such as ezshopkorea.com, but they charge out out the butt! Luckily, I have a Daddykins and a Jeanieface who are kind enough to lovingly compile care packages once in a while. I blew threw that Easter one, mainly because of weekends, and somedays, the food sucks. Like today, they had entirely too much red pepper in everything. The only thing without obscene amounts of red pepper was the white rice. So now I'm eating a can of tuna. PURE PROTEIN!
Anyway, we know I have a high tolerance for spicy foods, but even this stuff. Ouchies!
So it's kind of like a regression to college...Except I never got care packages in college...but at least there was Wegman's...mmmmm

6. Read books. Since Saturday, I finished Middlesex, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and All Quiet on the Western Front
Huh. I better slow down, or I'll be out by the week's end.

7. Have video chats with the famille:

We're not touching yoooouuuu

Beguilement.

2009-05-22T17:18:00.003+09:00

The Confusion that is Korean drinking culture.

Argument: It is okay to drink in a classroom/place of work, but not in an opposite-gendered co-workers room.

1. After Euri's going away, Amy got a note saying that I ought to be more careful about taking beer to Nicholas' room. For shame!

2. Upon cleaning out a certain former co-worker's desk in Classroom E, Amy found empty beer cans. Some of which may have been consumed while with students in the room.

3. A class was chastised last night by the building manager because they were drinking in their classroom.

In conclusion:

1. They are on vacation, hence why they are exempt from drinking rules and being hungover.

2. It is okay to drink in public, but not in private.

3. I'd still rather drink in private with members of the opposite gender than in my place of work.

4. They are not on vacation and should stop whining about having to do work; they're being paid to be here and frankly, a little part of me gets smug when I torture them with more work because they're whining. I hate to break it to you, but if you want to keep your job, and if you want to ameliorate your English, you have to practice and use it.

I think I'm going to Thailand. I'm irresponsibly going to start booking trips so I don't irresponsibly quit my job, pack up and go home. It makes sense in my world.

My aforementioned former co-worker was relieved of his job because, well, he relieved himself of it in the end. Early last week, I recieved a Facebook message from what looked like some girl offering employment. I would've blown it off had I not seen the same e-mail address on his computer. Other trainers found more stuff, and in the end, he was placed on suspension and ended up quitting.
Suffice to say, if you are "checking your friend's e-mail while they're in Cambodia because the internet is too slow" yet they keep it contact with you via MSN messenger, you might want to plug all the holes in your ship before you sink.
It also helps if you don't leave a lot of windows open on various public work computers.
The biggest issue that was made and presented to the head office was that he was mis-using technology.
My biggest issue with it that this was that this "employment" being offered had to do with videotapes and being tied up. Let's just leave it at that.

Ho hum.

2009-05-21T08:22:00.000+09:00

Darnit, I guess I'm staying gainfully employed, haha

Monday things.

2009-05-18T12:24:00.002+09:00

Last week was a bit on the ridiculous side.

A bit of work drama, a bit of finger drama, and a side of sleep deprivation.

We started a new session

Had a few classes

Nick had a mishap cutting the cheese, tee hee

Celebrated Teacher's Day

Got the list of important numbers from Jessy: CHICKEN!

Said farewell to Euri (until she returned yesterday..and left again today)

And then went to Seoul for meetings and pizza.

This is supposed to be an appetizer, main course and dessert all in one. I don't know what's what but the crust is stuffed with sweet potato, and there's a shrimp wrapped in mashed potatoes and fried on the crust of each slice. Strange.

There's been a bit of workplace drama that is putting my current employment in peril. Self-decidedly in peril. Suffice to say that if things do not go as I would like, I'll be on a plane headed home.
I like the job, however, a boundary of professionalism was crossed, and I refuse to work in such an environment. The issue is up in the air, we'll see in 2 weeks time where it goes.
Suffice to say, I would not be much disappointed if I were to go home.

Hum de dum

2009-05-13T11:36:00.003+09:00

Nice people bring you flowers when you're having a poopy week:

The grounds are surrounded by these, and they're quite pretty. However, they're all on their way out, so we won't be able to enjoy their cheery color much longer. Booums.

I know I've mentioned this before, but it's a bit more prominent now than before.

My friends in Seoul were about my age; I was younger than most, but they were mostly close to my age. There were a few, like Chris, who were in their late 20's/early 30's. It was weird to be so young, but it was okay, because most of my friends in their mid-20's are pretty mentally immature (in a nice way, haha).
Out here, the age difference is a stark difference. Nicholas is the closest in age, and he's 28. Amy is next, Allison is in there somewhere, Sean is 33 and Steve's 36.
It doesn't bother me per se, as much as the imbalance of certain gender ratios, but it's a bit, um, weird.
Weird.

What NOT to Say

2009-05-12T07:18:00.002+09:00

Screw Clinton and Stacey.

I'll wear what I want!

I teach this afternoon seminar called "Ice Breakers" that deals with, tada!, Ice Breakers, and Small Talk.

For Small Talk, there's a list of 'do's' and 'don'ts'.
I need to add the following:

1. I hired you because you're young and cute (In the context it was kinda like, uhm, okay. Then upon further explanation at a later date, it was okay.)
2. If you get bad evaluations next month, it's probably because they're jealous of how beautiful you are. And I'm not kidding, really. Very, very pretty. O_o
3. Are you on a diet? (Are you on a stupid kick or are you always this annoying and whiny?)

>.<

Woopskies

2009-05-09T17:45:00.004+09:00

So I just made a small flub and deleted my last 25 entries. Hum. Oh well. Do forgive?

The first session concluded on Wednesday, so we were off the past few days. It was nice, because we got to go into Seoul and we'd just gotten paid.

Seoul + paycheck = ridiculous.

Ate lots of good food, yum! Did some shopping, yay!

Ze fotos:

Group shot of the session

A lamp at Yeti, a very tasty Indian restaurant in Hongdae that we discovered.

See that green stuff? ASPARAGUS!!!!!!!!!!
Oh. my. gosh. It was tasty. I didn't know it could be found here, and haven't had any in well over a year. Suffice to say, it was heavenly.

(At Buddha's Belly in Itaewon)

Steve, a bit pensive

Alison
She's quiet. Very, very quiet.

Nicholas at this cute wine place that I've wanted to try in Itaewon, just never really had anyone with the interest or willingness to spend loads of King Sejong's on.

The bar is made out of a car..I think it was an original Mini

Patbingsu! It. is. deliciousness.
Shaved ice + fruit + sweet red beans + sweetened condensed milk + dab of fro yo = pretty friggin good summer treat.
The cupcake on the other hand. Barf. Hockey puck is an understatement.

It's one of those things that you think about, and think it's kind of weird, until you try it.

Shwarma. Yum.

Trying to pick up Nicholas' backpack. Epic fail.

Books!

A French grammar book, a Korean language book, Middlesex (per Jasmine's review), A Spot of Bother, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

I started the latter, and I like it so far. I'm about 2/3 of the way through already. I have a few other books here to read, but they're all kind of depressing and I needed something a little lighter.

I'm losing my French, so I could use a little review; the Korean one I should've bought a year ago.

The food was awesome. Hence why there are about a million pictures of food.

I bought a few things for the family, so be on the lookout for a package, dear family.

Oh, and I got my Korean Driver's License

A few forms to fill out.
I had to trade in my Virginia driver's license and take a vision test. It was pretty painless. The drivers licensing office in Kangnam lacks much English, however, and I just followed the sign for "Foreigners" that was written in Korea.
When I go home, I just give them notice, and they'll give me back my VA license.

toot toot

I need a nap

Visual Overload

2009-02-22T20:57:00.003+09:00

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?

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

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

2009-02-21T23:13:00.004+09:00

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!

2009-02-19T09:00:00.004+09:00

Bill finally shared his Guam photos

100th Post!

2009-02-18T09:12:00.002+09:00

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!

2009-02-14T16:21:00.004+09:00

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.

2009-02-14T11:14:00.002+09:00

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

2009-02-10T20:16:00.003+09:00

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!

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.

2009-02-08T22:33:00.001+09:00

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?

Guam, the run down

2009-01-31T20:52:00.003+09:00

Okay, so Guam, cliff-notes style

Friday evening:
Matt and Andrew kindly covered my last 2 classes of the day so I could rush to Incheon to catch my 9:30 flight, it was delayed, but having that cushion time was about a million times better than missing the flight.

Everyone's excited:

We landed around 3:30am in Guam, which is an hour ahead of Seoul. We paid an overpriced fare for a taxi from the airport to the hotel ($20 for 1.5KM, really?) and then checked in, passed out for a few hours.

On Saturday, we woke up at 7:30 to go hike Tarzan Falls, which looks like this:

Unfortunately my camera went for a bit of a swim, but later on, miraculously recovered from the perils of near-death and is currently working. A strange combination of accidentally turning it on and off wet, then putting it in the freezer, then leaving it out to warm up (and who knows what other mystical gods were looking out for me) produced a normally-working camera! Huzzah! I wasn't ready to move onto camera #5 in this 10-month span, anyway.

We didn't have a rental yet, so we relied on the kindness of strangers to get around. One guy, Camden, is an officer in the Navy, who is stationed in Hawai'i, but keeps getting sent around to do training, so his wife and kids are in Hawai'i, but he was kind enough to drive us from the meeting spot to the hike spot and then we bought him dinner as a thank you at this awesome restaurant, Jeff's Pirate Cove.

Our hotel was beach-front, so we swam and played for the rest of that day.

Sunday, we met up with another person we met on the hike, Alex, who is former Army and now a student at the U of Guam. He took us around part of the island in our newly acquired rental car, and we went to Talafofo Falls park, which was a bit touristy, but it had a sort of exhibit of a Japanese WWII soldier who hid in a cave for 28 years because he was afraid he was going to get killed and thought the war was still going on.
The part I didn't understand was in all the photos and written things, they referred to him as a "Hero" and I don't really understand what's so heroic about hiding in a cave for 28 years because you're afraid of dying. Aren't the Japanese supposed to be big fans of suppuku?
I digress.

Then we went spelunkin!

Oh yeah, there are wild pigs.

We also drove around the island a bit and saw some great views like this:

I like to play with the color options on my camera. That one was Bill's idea.

Monday, we went to Denny's for a greasy diner breakfast ahhaha
I've never been so happy for hashbrowns and sunny side up eggs :)

Then we wandered around, met up with Alex again and went snorkeling!

This is where we went snorkeling

This is me made into a mermaid:

On Tuesday, we had to check out at noon, so we spent most of the day driving around the island seeing the spots we hadn't.

Ashley, at Two Lover's Point- She works at my school

Dave- works for the same company, but at a school about 15 minutes away in Jamsil.

Bill, jumping into a swimming hole

The ocean from the swimming hole

a pretty picture of Jess

A Memorial for fallen soldiers from Guam that were in the Vietnam War

View from the memorial

We left Guam around 3AM on Wednesday morning, arrived in Incheon at 7:43 made it through immigration and customs in less than 20 minutes, hopped on the slowest Airport Limo Bus EVER, sprinted from the Apgujeong stop to school and had 15 minutes to spare before classes started.
And our flight was 20 minutes early.
We would've been earlier if we hadn't had the world's slowest bus driver. Who goes under the speed limit when there's no traffic?

Things I liked about Guam:

1. It was warm!
2. There was clean air
3. People said, "Excuse me", "Thank you", "You're welcome", etc.
4. I didn't get stared at
5. The people were ridiculously friendly
6. did I mention the air was clean?
7. did I mention the people were friendly?
8. Not getting purposely bumped into
9. The good food and salads.
10. Good drivers

I think I left Cat alone too long though because he's been awfully needy and whiny the past few days.

Guam!

2009-01-28T22:54:00.003+09:00

I went to Guam over the weekend, I'll give a more detailed update later, but seeing as we took the red-eye in and then sprinted through the airport to make it to teach our 9:40 classes, and proceeded to teach 10 total today, I think I'll sleep or else I continue to write really long, grammatically incorrect, run-on sentences.

Quick photo-tease:

Sunset from our hotel

L -> R Me, Jess, Dave, Ashley, Bill

Sunday things...

2009-01-18T16:51:00.005+09:00

Considering I've only got a few weeks left here in the ROK (And by few, I mean about 10) I think I might actually do a regular Sunday post.

I've a pretty long list of things to do before I leave and starting in Feb. I'm going to tackle that list.

I may be returning. Essh! I know!

We all know that the job market in the states sucks, and ideally, I'd like to get an editing job. I'm pretty set on deferring grad school because taking out $80K in loans while not being sure if I'll have a job at the end of doesn't seem very logical.
So ideally, I'll be heading home, finding an editing job (with any luck) and staying. If not, I may return here to teach or edit. Again, ideally edit.
But the cost of living is pretty low here, and I would not be able to afford to live in NYC the way I live here. The exchange rate is awful, but I've got a lot of life ahead of me still.
Plus, I want to travel more. I have a wonderful copy of the Lonely Planet SE Asia and I've been reading it to plan the Philippines, and there are many more places I'd like to go.

We'll see.

Anyways, visual stimulation because these words aren't that interesting:

A cute sweater I bought. Ignore my messy, unmade bed please
I might keep it, might give it to Sarah, haven't decided on how selfish I feel like being. I have to go get something for Jacob too, sigh.
IT HAS EARS

It snowed on Friday

The air quality in this country is impeccable.

Random store in Hongdae.

Chris and I getting coffee at Tom'n'Tom's.
At all the coffee shops, there are separate, enclosed areas for smoking. It's awesome. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist in restaurants, bars, etc.

I won't be updating until next week after Wednesday.
I leave for Guam on Friday evening and return at 8am (hopefully) Wednesday morning. I have to teach at 9:40...It ought to be interesting.. :D

Currently reading: Hornby, Songbook. My current reading list is outpacing the rate at which I've accumulated books recently. David gave me the Hornby novel for Christmas, and I've a few Dad bought and I've bought to catch up on. I think I'll take a few to the beach with me O_o

Also, things to do on my list : (HELP if there are any else you think I should add)

1. Climb another mountain
2. DMZ/Paju tour
3. Samcheongdong/Art exploration/ cool places exploration
4. Street food (I've really only had it about 3-4 times here..for shame!)
5. Kimchi Museum
6. Ice skating
7. New foods- Samgyetang among others
8. Namsam at night
9. Korean library (i dunno, just. huh. yeah.)

I'm sure there are more, but I'm tired and can't think.

Asssah!!

2009-01-14T13:42:00.003+09:00

Korean Lesson of the day:
"Assah!" is like saying "Sweet!" Or "Awesome!" or "Score!"

ah
sah

I should have started learning a word a day when I got here, oh well. Maybe next time?

Apologies for the lack of updates, January is a bit of a busy month.
There's extra child torture that has me ~~babysitting~~ teaching between 9-12:30. Oh fun!

There's a pizza chain here called Mr. Pizza. Mr Pizza's slogan is "Mr. Pizza loves women!"
But one of the little kids realized "Michelle-teacher" sounds vaguely like "Mr. Pizza"
Yes,
I am now Mr. Pizza

July is my co-teacher for the class and provided a little artistry:

Dad and I went to Cheongyangi Market a few weeks ago:

It's pretty huge. There's a lot of fresh produce, meats, dried foods like nuts, rice, etc, and kimchi of course!

Currently listening to: Jason Mraz. I want to go to the concert but I'm not paying 88,000W to stand.
Currently reading: nothing! I bought Unbearable Lightness of Being and read the first page and then things got busy. I finished Diary within a few days. I have a book a friend lent, I forget its name, but it's big and about India or something. Maybe I'll tackle that later.
that's all she wrote.

Don't get your panties all up in a knot!

2009-01-03T23:43:00.004+09:00

Back in late spring/early summer, a store next to the school opened up.
An underwear store.

Sadly, it went under in early October.

But how could it?? especially with this kind of advertising:

hahahaha
She does have underwear on, it's just, well, very tiny underwear.

One day, on my way to work, there was a tiny Korean girl who, while walking by, stopped, gaped, and said "ooooo pretty!" in Korean.

One thing I'm really looking forward to when I get back is non-smoking establishments.
Most coffee shops have a separate section for smokers, but in the restaurants and bars it's a free-for-all and gets awfully thick. Hell, walking in the streets is terrible.
Sigh. Or, ya know, when your neighbor smokes constantly so all summer long and on the rare winter day when you crack your windows to air out the apartment a bit, the smoke drifts in and taints your only bit of sanctuary.
Angst.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T16:59:00.002+09:00

Oh hay, 2009, how's it going?

I wish I had something to write about or even pictures to post, but I don't really.

60 work days to go until I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Here, the only picture I could scrounge up:

A lone, sad boot:

Now I'm going to go read Diary by Palahnuik because Kyobo didn't have Light In August
*insert ineffectual fist shake*

Cat torture...lulz

2008-12-29T21:55:00.004+09:00

Jeanie sent me a Christmas box, yayz!

Cat torture ensued..

I loved Sarah's input:

A wishlist!

Thanks Jeanieface!

Random:

At the express bus terminal...
Mary looks a little like Michael Phelps there...

Merry Kah-riii-suh-mah-suh

2008-12-25T23:47:00.005+09:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday :)

Dad and I did. We made turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, creamed corn, AND apple crisp.
Not bad for a toaster oven and 2 gas burners!

Two of my friends, Matt and Chris, joined us. This is Chris' second year here, and when he said this dinner beat the heck out of Dunkin' Donuts last year, all I thought was "oi, just oi"
But we had plenty of turkey and why not spread the love a little? All I've heard is everyone complaining so hopefully they were cheered a bit.

So thanks to Dad for making such a feast possible =)

We still have 1/2 a turkey left (it was too big to put into the oven at once, so we split it in half. I'll photo document it tomorrow)....Who wants dinner tomorrow? haha

Throwback:

My partner and crime, I think circa 1989 or 1990.

Dad and Jeanie are all comfies watching TV on the couch and I'm all like, hey what's going on?? Where's my warm body? There's gotta be room for me, I'm the littlest! I wanna snuggle too!

My cold is getting better though I keep losing a lung here and there.
I'm in the middle of Everything is Illuminated, though Ashley lent me Twilight so I'm trying to finish that quickly so I can get it back to her.

Sleepface!

They don't sing...they yell

2008-12-21T16:05:00.005+09:00

At least Christmas recitals are the same internationally. Cute kids yelling/trying to sing, parents gushing about how cute they are.

These are our 6 year old, first year students:

These are our 6 year olds, who are second year Kindy students:

These are the 7 year olds, who, I think, have been attending our school for 2-3 years

My friends and I did a Secret Santa:

..afterwards, Natalie, Ashley and I individually wrapped each of Bill's pairs of underwear in tinfoil, saran wrap and packing tape. That's what he gets for stealing our phone charms!!! hahaha

Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock..

2008-12-20T01:18:00.001+09:00

We had a Kindy Christmas recital today

this is all I have for now:

That is Daniel, he's 5 years old and a second-year Kindy student. He's adorable.
He ordered me to re-take the first photo I took so he could make a funny face.

Now, I sleep.

you cant ask for much more

2008-12-13T22:56:00.004+09:00

This is my Charlie Brown Christmas tree that was an overwhelming .75cents

Also,thanks to Dad, I found out I do have a channel in English. The Armed Forces NEtwork to be exact. Woooo! It airs NBC shows...so I just watched The Office

And Dad brought me a wonderful toaster oven (with a rotisserie!) and it produced a wonderful chicken dinner. Oh nomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom.

Life is good.
la vita e bella

o rly?

2008-12-13T01:13:00.001+09:00

My phone has a English --> Korean dictionary. I found this:

It's beginning to look a lot like Hanukkahhhhhhh!

2008-12-08T11:04:00.001+09:00

It snowed yesterday:

This is the street I live on

This is a man dutifully carrying his companion's umbrella to shield her from the deathly snowflakes

This is, "I'll cut you bitch!" expression

Sugar, we're going down!

2008-12-03T10:42:00.001+09:00

I think the Korean Herald might want to make a bigger graph to accommodate the ~~exchange rate~~ rate of suck

Gobble, gobble

2008-11-29T01:22:00.005+09:00

Retraction on my lack of Thanksgiving activities. I met up with David in Kangnam for dinner. I was hoping to get some Indian food from this tasty restaurant, but it's one of those tiny, 5 table joints, and there were a few people waiting outside, so we decided to meander elsewhere.

We stumbled across across an Italian restaurant, Il Mare, which apparently is a chain here, but it was cheap Italian. Cheap western food is always a plus.

The whole baby octopus in my pasta, not a plus. Sadly, no photo evidence of that.

But, the highlight of the meal( other than my company of course, I'm not a total jerk!, well then again...):

Breakfast at Tiffany's was playing!

Oh I'm sorry David, you wanted to have a conversation? hahahaha
Breakfast at Tiffany's is my hockey.

Then I noticed this:

I guess it's an Audrey Hepburn themed restaurant.
I wonder if they play other movies apart from B@T.

I need to take it easy this weekend. or at least, I ought to. Likelihood of that happening is slim. Tonight was merely dinner & scrabble. Tomorrow, there are birthday and going away shenanigans, but I really need to stop coming back from Hongdae at odd hours of the morning. Those 20,000W cab rides add up.

Contemplating Guam for the Lunar New Year break. Tickets are between $500-$600USD, which isn't bad. Ashley invited me, and I'm hoping July (not the month, pronounced Julie) agrees to go. If she does, I'm down. Hum deee dum.

I'm going home broke. Yay! Shinzy'll be lucky if she gets her airfare back.

Cat + no airfare + "you have to be out of the house 6 months after you graduate"= end of Shinzy's love for yours truly.

Someone..adopt me please? I cook, I clean, and I don't smell (well, I'm working on that last one...)

Work is growing increasingly frustrating, as evidenced in the last post.

Andrew, one of my co-workers, has been here since September '07, and is by far one of the most positive people I've met, and is the only person I can say that I work with who is truly in it 99% for the kids and nothing else. Yet, this past month has even got him down and it's more disheartening when it gets to him.

oh well, at least I have books..

Thanks Dad and Jeanieface for the latest box!

I'm pretty sure this concern for me will wear off when I return and you'll be sick of me per usual ^.~

I'm thankful for my health

2008-11-28T20:16:00.001+09:00

Who the hell am I trying to kid?

And what the hell was I thinking. We're not running a school, it's a business here! Why provide the kids with some sort of quality when we can make money instead.

And what do I think I am, some kind of a teacher?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

4 months.

Nonsensical

2008-11-26T23:06:00.002+09:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's almost Turkey Day here.

I'm probably not doing anything. I've had about 3 Thanksgiving dinners each year for the past few years, so I think I can go without one...
I was supposed to get dins with a friend, but those plans fell through. Quite a few places in Seoul offer buffet dinners, but they require reservations and it's late notice, and blah blah blah. lethargy and apathy

Darn, I guess this just means we'll have to do one in April...

Bar Food:

Peanuts, dried anchovies, and gochu (red pepper) sauce.

Ummm deeelish!

According to Dad, I used to go apeshit over those fish and cry if I couldn't get them.
I think that ended when I realized they were staring at me. Oi oi oi

On Tuesday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the kinder kids. They enjoyed it. They made Gingerbread men (Thanksgiving?), a Thanksgiving Tree (with turkeys on it, oh my!) and some other things.
The only part I was required to be there for was the "store" where we "sold" various items to the kids in exchange for ze american dollar:

I ran the bookstore

John ran the toy store.
I accidentally left my camera bag, which was cute and looked like a cat, over on the shelf behind him, and I'm surmising that it got sold. Oh dear.
I don't care about the bag, just the fact that there was a memory card and battery in it. That memory card may hold some interesting memories. Oh dear, again.

This is Andy:

He's like a teddy bear, and so sweet. I love him.

Gabriel, also a sweetiepie

Elizabeth, aka future shopoholics of Korea member #58948493081321

Ashley doing the clothing store

Matthew making a sketchy-looking kind of deal with a kid haha

oh no, my head!

They're GRRRRREEAT!

2008-11-24T22:39:00.003+09:00

You might've had a rough weekend when you find your shoe in your bathroom and your phone in your fridge.

Though I was starting to freak about having to inform Shinzy I lost my phone (again) but luckily it turned up, next to half a dozen eggs and a head of lettuce.

And oh snap, my frosted flakes came with a free bowl

It's the little things.

November is almost over, which means it's almost December, which brings my year here almost 2/3 done!

17 weeks to go, who's counting?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2008-11-23T13:39:00.006+09:00

It flurried here the other day, and the kids went absolutely apeshit. I miss that enthusiasm for snow. But then I remember how, almost exactly 1 year ago, I was digging the tin can out of this:

Ewwwwwwww

I think my enthusiasm was also qualled after that freshman year incident involving cracking my head open, a sled, and a brick building.

Hum. Oh, you're supposed to stop? Snap, I knew I missed out on some of the finer lessons inherent of childhood.

It's almost snowboarding season, I'm excited to see what Korea has to offer

Damnnnn, girl!

2008-11-23T13:11:00.002+09:00

I'm in the search of a gym to go to, and there's one that has ads all over the place near Kangnam-gu Office Station

So I visited their website:

http://clubssports.co.kr/html/staff_pt.htm

I'm half-tempted to go just to see if they really look like that....airbrush much?

Jacki's abs are a bit frightening...'roids?
and why is Robin smoking? Not like, "Hey hottie, you so smokin'!" but in the literal, aren't you a personal trainer?

Ah, Korea, the land where around 50% of the women have had plastic surgery. Bowchickawowow

Yackity Yack, don't talk back!

2008-11-22T13:39:00.002+09:00

Previously, I mentioned one of the things I don't like about the job is how it's ever changing. Once I get used to it, or start to like a certain class, I'm switched to a different class or the kids stop coming to ECC, etc.

One of my classes, that I've taught for 8 months, has gone from being hell to being awesome. So of course, it gets canceled.

There's only 2 students, which is supposedly the reason it's been canceled, and in my opinion, it's one of the best classes the school offers for the elder students.
It's based on CNN news clips and it makes them listen and learn vocabulary and actually instigates a lot of good conversation.

It was bad when it was only 2 students and one of those students was an obnoxious boy who would always declare "I am genius!" and refuse to do any of his work. Phone calls to his mother did nothing because she wears rose-colored glasses and her son is infalliable. He would berate the other student, a girl, as well as me and the other Korean teacher and the secretaries. I was so glad when he dropped.

When I started to teach it, there were 8 kids, then one day, when my boss was on a tangent, she barged into a class and reamed us out (myself included. suffice to say we had a nice chat on appropriate classroom behavior on her behalf. sad to say, she hasn't learned that yelling at teachers in front of the students is NOT appropriate. but she's another story...) and the next month, 5 of the students switched to a different hagwon because of her.

Kelly drew a Panda to go with Friday's lesson

It's so frustrating to actually try to get the kids to talk, and with these two, we've made some serious progress where I don't even have to force or prompt them to talk to me, when we start class, they'll automatically just talk to me and tell me things and ask questions.

Argh, stupid boss.

I'm going to miss them.

Well now it makes sense...

2008-11-20T22:33:00.000+09:00

Maybe a reason they all have GPS thingys is because there aren't any street names here.

Well, the major raods have names, but other than that, they don't. So how the heck are you supposed to give someone directions to your house? I have no idea.

Take a left at the double barber poles, go past two Coffee Beans, a Tom'n'Tom's coffee, and a Kimbap Cheonguk, then a right at the restaurant with the fish tanks out front, then hang a right at the family mart. It's the third brick building on the right- but if you get to the 7-11, you've gone too far.

Science: the butt of all classes, because the experiments are usually pretty bad. Last week's: the digestive system!

Daniel-- he sounded like he was driving a tractor trailer through the small and large intestines..

Aaron (left) and Brian (right)

Stella(left) is awesome at reading. YouJin, right, has a strange obsession with saying she killed someone and that someone died...shrug

Note to self: scarves are okay to wear to work..when the kids don't use them as tissues..ewww :(

Korean Christmas cards (errr, season's greetings? ) are very beautiful. I would post pictures, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. Art Box, this cutesy stationary store also has some that are spiffy.

Did I really just say spiffy?

My brain is going to mush.

I'm beginning to feel like I wear the same 2-3 outfits over and over again. Oh wait....

I dropped a bit too much money at Kyobo bookstore last weekend. Mostly on Christmas gifts though (or so is my excuse)

Recently finished: Look Homeward, Angel (Thomas Wolfe), Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom), Sense and Sensibility(Austen), and Run With the Hunted (Bukowski).

Currently reading: Jane Eyre

Next up: Into the Wild, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.

With any luck I'll find some Faulkner. I'm also on the hunt for a used copy of The Dharma Burns

Kerouac's Thirty Essentials:

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monologe
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in your morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of your experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see your exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

Being Irish..it's a lifestyle

2008-11-19T00:24:00.000+09:00

I spend too much time at the wolfhound...

Oooohhhh

2008-11-15T14:48:00.000+09:00

I wish I were a glow worm
A glow worm's never glum
'Cuz how can you be grumpy
when the sun shines out your bum!

I've had a strange jonesin for bagels lately. I wonder if it's possible to find edible lox in this this country...

Today, Mark and I were going to climb Dongbongsan, a mountain on the northern outskirts of Seoul. I've heard good things, and this time of year had a bit of a promise for a beautiful hike.
I woke up early, and we met at Dongbongsan station at 9 am, and of course, it's pouring.
We waited an hour and a half, but it never lightened up, so instead we went to BBQ chicken. Ah, chicken and hof. My poor arteries =(

I'm pretty sure it only rains on weekends here. No wonder the people are so miserable...
It rained pretty much every weekend of July and August..which added to the misery of being trapped in a city.
Maybe next weekend.

Koreans don't smile much. You get on the subway, and they all look miserable. Maybe the women are miserable because they're hungry...or they look it

A few randoms:

Medicinal turtles outside of a pharmacy in Apgujeong
I don't know what part of them is medicinal..and i don't really want to know

massive eraser.
The kids have some serious sticky fingers! They keep stealing my erasers, or mauling them by stabbing them to death with their pencils.... Dad bought me a bunch of those ones that you put on the ends of the pencils..I've got 1. This one will hopefully prove to be indestructible.

I have yet to see a taxi or a car without GPS. Even on Deokjeokdo, a tiny island, the cars had GPS.

I think I'll go finish reading Jane Eyre. I've been a bit ravenous for books lately. Maybe it's the cool weather crushing my outdoors explorations. Jasmine pointed out Project Gutenberg to me, but I'm not sure if I can sit in front of a computer that long..

You might be a little bit jaded...

2008-11-14T00:30:00.000+09:00

when, walking from Apgujeong Station to Cheongdamdong, you see 3 red cars but are more fascinated that they're red than the fact that they're Lamborghini's.

I need to write something positive about Korea.

I'm still a bit in that funk, but it's just the Korea doldrums. or the Michelle doldrums.

I've been overcome with this ridiculous fear that I'm going to spend a year here and have nothing to show for it.
I was discussing this with Genevieve, a former co-worker of mine, who took this year of Hagwon hell and turned it into a great job working for the German school here, and is making close to twice what she made last year. She's assured me other wise and I think I need a swift kick in the ass to go along with that...

I've reached this point where its like, okay, this is what I feel like I'm missing out on is an unretrievable year with my friends and family. Granted, with friends, especially, that's the way things go, especially post-college. Most of mine are centrally located in the NYC and tri-state area, which is nice. But I don't want to live there. I'M A PANSY WHEN IT COMES TO COLD.

So in April, I'll go home with a little money, a little resume fluff, and a cat. And hopefully a little more sanity and a little more sense of self-purpose (don't put your money on it. you'd be safer investing it in wall street. HA!).

Wooop de doo.

But I do enjoy it here. Well, least to say I've had a good time. It's had it's moments where I just want to throw things, cry and have a 5-year-old-style hissyfit. Then its had its great moments when I think about the fact that I've been to Japan, seen the leaves changing at Seorksan, set off fireworks in Gangneung on the beach, gone to Dokjeokdo, and met a colorful number of people along the way. And what I'm looking forward to the most, other than going home: sitting on the beach in Boracay, reading books, having intelligent conversation (!), and exploring the Philippines with Jasmine.
I don't have incredibly high expectations for this trip, and I don't know what Jasmine's expectations are, but I'm just looking forward to having familiar company, knowing that shooting the shit with her isn't going to be the same shooting the shit deal I've got going on here.
It will be relaxing. It will be cleansing. And most importantly, it'll be comforting.

In the end, what gets me through the days: the kids.

They may make me frustrated. They may make me yell. They may make me want to slam my head against a wall especially when I spend 30 minutes with one kid who can't differentiate between "e" and "a" sounds, even when I go over the difference in Hangul Alphabet (Korean) and try to explain it to him in like terms. But over all, they make you smile when they run up and hug you and have no recollection of being sent to the babychair in tears, the day prior, for punching another kid.

Clicky:

Photos that I'm too lazy to upload onto here

The magic of video chat

2008-11-12T22:29:00.000+09:00

Unbeknowst to Pops, I take photos of him while we chat....

I call this, Pensive Papa Smurph

And this, "Hey Dad, Remember that time you were fixing the light on the front of the house and I was holding it and you forgot to turn the electricity off?....ZAP"

mmmm delishoousss

2008-11-12T08:55:00.000+09:00

Something about this is disturbing

Randomocity

2008-11-11T23:21:00.000+09:00

If I ever though speed limits were suggestions, Koreans take their traffic laws far beyond my interpretations..

U-turn lane!
You can go when the light turns a certain color (green? yellow? red? they all mean the same thing...GO!)

The main road near where I live.
I went to see Quantum of Solace with a few friends. It was good. Korean movie theaters are pretty nice. It's weird because they assign seats and occasionally you have to sit next to someone really obnoxious who answers their phone in the middle of the movie, so you turn your head and tell them to be quiet in Korean....

At Cheongdam Saegori(intersection)..
In one direction, all the leaves are green

In the other:

A Pepero display:

It's also genetic for Asian children to do the peace sign:

We have to take the kindy children to the playroom on the 6th floor at the end of every day...I'm always terrified I'm going to get stuck in there with 20 kids...AHHH

This retail therapy thing needs to sto.

another notebook i really don't need but i know i'll use and only cost 1,000W
it says:
Everybody has gloomy days. there are miserable days when you feel small and you shouting, "Please kill me!"
Maybe work is pain in the nightmare
You're under major pressure to fill someone else's shoes and everyone in the office is driving you crazy.
But who knows what amazing things are in store just around the corner? Best of all, there's love
Love is...your smell
Mom says that "you are better handsome than Bred Pitt" even papa smelled of sweat.

I want to yank my hair out so badly right now that I'm half-tempted to quit.
It'd be stupid, but there's a listing for a job that pays 50,000W/hour near me. Housing isn't included, and neither is airfare, but if I work the hours I'm working now for that much money, I'll more than break even. Here's to this idiot!

Boredface

2008-11-10T22:33:00.001+09:00

Click here to view my house

So there's this silly thing where you draw a house and then it tells your personality. Here's mine:

Based on the drawing and the 10 answers they gave this is a summary of their personality:
Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. Once you have a problem, you need a friend with you. Your life is always full of changes.

When it comes to love, you shut yourself off. It's difficult to win your heart because you have decided to keep your feelings deep inside. You have a strong personality and you like to command, influence and control people.

You are not a romantic person by nature. It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You don't think much about yourself.

Great, I'm a prude! I also think that entire thing is shit.

Leader? No. (just don't go asking Kohya any questions about me...)
Freedom? Ah, oui.
Strong? Maybe, but you get kicked in the ass enough times, it's bound to happen
Avoid being alone? HA! I relish in it some days.
Excitement? To an extent. who doesn't?
Problem? Not really, I internalize. Can we say introvert?
Love? Most definitely. Light switch!
Command? Que?
Influence? Que?
Control? Uh, I can't control my kindy classes.
Romance? C'est quoi? un film?
Thinking much about myself? Who has time? Errr, I don't like to toot my own horn.

This is Jeanie's house. son.

I can't find Cat. He has this thing about sitting on top of the laundry machine when it's running. how weird.

Shut up and grow a pair

2008-11-10T20:05:00.000+09:00

Do you ever wake up thinking, today is going to be a good day?

That's how I felt this morning. Well, who wouldn't after an amazing 14 hours of sleep?
I'll return to that later, but I never knew I was capable of such. 14 hours? really? I used to count 4 as good.

So I wake up, go for a walk, because it's only 7 a.m. and what else have I got to do?
It's finally fall here in Seoul, so I get to experience that crisp, bright fall morning. The leaves have changed to dramatic shades of reds, yellows and oranges. The morning air is clean and free of the exhaust of the thousands of cars that have yet to clutter this city. It holds a bit of promise, and that slight cold snap that foreshadows the coming winter.

Then, I go to work. Still not bad, Monday's aren't too terrible. A few kinder classes, a few afternoon classes, a short break, and then my last few early evening classes.

First class, not bad. The kids are well-behaved and do their work with only the typical two having difficulties (I'm pretty sure one may be dyslexic). Then, I go back up to the teachers room, et voila! On my desk, a substitute sheet for Ryan. Who, in common EFL teachers in Korea terms, ran.

To run= leave the country/company without prior notice. usually done right after payday.

I somehow doubt he left the country, in fact, I think he may still be in the country.

And I'm not an angry nor violent person. I do get angry, I do get pissed. I do get bitchy, and when I do I'll call myself out on it and apologize. I'm cognizant of my emotions and treatment of others. Sometimes I think overly so, but whatever.

But this made me angry. And let me just say that if I see him again, I will either punch him in the face or give him a straight shot to the babymaker.

I know the latter of those two is very, very wrong, and the only person I ever really enjoyed doing it to was Ron, but he deserves so much more than what Jeanie and I ever accomplished to make up for the hell he put us through as children.

In the U.S., when a typical teacher is absent, they hire a substitute. In the lovely hagwon system, there is no such thing. You get your employees to cover. So I taught in addition to my own classes, two of his. Which I will be covering until a replacement is found.
That replacement is not likely to come until December.

No overtime, no extra pay. Nada. All the bloodshed with none of the glory. Damnit.

It's cowardly, unprofessional and immature. Granted, if you tell them but don't get them 6 weeks notice, they'll prorate your airfare from you last month's salary, but unless you have a damned good excuse (and not liking the boss is not one of them), grow a pair, take it like an adult, and don't fuck over your co-workers whom you claim to like.

I feel like the longer I'm here, the more angry, mean and callous I get.
Scratch that, the older I get, the more of a jerk I become.

I used to be really nice, and I'm not saying that to toot my own horn, but I was terribly naive at the time.
The semester prior to my final kicked this lesser-nice version of me into gear. It was mostly a, "stop being nice to everyone else because they end up treating you like shit" and no more heart-on-sleeve kind of thing that just seems to have escalated here.

No more of this smiling to people and asking them how their day is. When you walk through crowds, make sure your elbows are out and you shove right back into them as they shove into you. When they shove ahead of you in line, shove back in front and do not let them take your cab, heave them out of your way if you must. They don't really weigh much here, I'm sure one of my thighs weigh more than most Korean women in Cheongdam...

At least I got Peppero today
Peppero is this stick cookie thing and the company made November 11th a holiday, because 11/11 looks like 4 sticks of Peppero (and I thought Hallmark was good at holiday marketing ploys...)
A few of my students brought me some.

14 Hours of Sleep

I went to the doctor for this whole asthma thing and it wasn't really bothering me during the day, but it was at night and I wasn't sleeping well. In Korean, the pharmacists put your medication in this convenient (but not child safe) packets according to dosage. My night dosage has this special blue pill. Well, whatever that blue pill is, I don't know, but I'll call it the "knock michelle on her ass pill"
I took it after I ate dinner last night, and then I woke up at 7:30 am. Heyooooooo

Um, I think I'll skip that one tonight

Artery clogging good time

2008-11-08T22:35:00.000+09:00

Random (mostly unhealthy) things I've eaten in Korea:

Korean Sandwich..deconstructed from up -> down

white bread, chicken teriyaki, egg (yes, egg), white bread, lettuce tomato, mayo, sweet pickles white bread.

1 sandwich= 3 slices of white bread? wtf? (maybe this is why sandwiches are considered junk food here?)
I usually end up taking out most of the chicken and that middle slice of bread. it also makes a good salad.

Purple Sweet Potato Donut from Dunkin Donuts

I was jonesin' for a bagle, but they didn't have any. I should've just gone to a coffee shop...
It wasn't bad. It was dense, and a bit chewy. I don't know if that was the potato part or the purple part...

And since when have sweet potatoes been purple?

Waffle!
This is the closest to a greasy diner breakfast I can get. Well, unless I go to Itaewon, but I spend enough time there as it is....
Filled with a tiny bit of cream and caramel. or chocolate. or raspberry. or mango. or kiwi. or some other flavoring. tasteycakes.

$7 bag of Starbursts. cringe.
I think I might have posted this before, I don't remember. When we were little and we'd go to the commissary, there'd always be a bag of Starbursts in the checkout aisle. Who knows if we asked mom for them or if we just threw them in, but they were sort of a tradition...

The one time a month I go grocery shopping

There are cheap restaurants all over. I've mentioned the Kimbap joints. This is usually what I order, unless it's Tuna Kimbap. This is stir fried tuna and veggies in a spicy sauce. Who knows what's in it. I can only distinguish the gochu (pepper) and sometimes the sesame oil. Then again, that's probably all there is to it.

Dalk galbi...or fire chicken!
Josh and I got this when he visited a few weeks ago. Josh was my first ResLife boss in Bingo. He's also half-Korean, and I hadn't seen him since Bing's Spring 07 graduation

Josh!

The primary reason I haven't been doing a good job saving money is because I choose to go out a lot. and they usually end up being dinners in the liquid form:

I'm the dweeb on the left. I don't know how I can drink those and not get sick or very drunk. yay irishy!
However, uncle john > me

This girl can drink too:

The one on the left is my middle uncle's daughter, and the one on the right is the eldest uncle's daughter. at least, I think... The one on the left is a voice actress and apparently relatively known. They asked me about TV commericals and shows I've watched trying to figure out if I've ever watched one...Errrrr, tv? My TV's been on 4 times in 7+ months

She also has a pet chicken and an actual balcony with a garden and grass for the chicken and rabbit.

She made chicken for that dinner. And couldn't find her pet....

Also, the good Korean boyfriend/husband will carry either your parasol or your purse. Occasionally both.

Bunnies for sale. They sell kittens and puppies in a like manner, usually in subway stations. No, I didn't eat those.

I learned Thursday that I have environmentally-induced (or as the doctor told me, incubated) asthma. Woopskies. Maybe I should've listened to that Bing doctor when he told me to come back for an asthma test.
I'll have to go buy one of those face masks they all wear. But I think I'll stick to my own tradition and keep washing my hands

Well huzzah, no kangaroos

2008-11-05T21:58:00.001+09:00

I have my laptop back, woo! I'm one of those people who really takes advantage of those Extended Warranty programs. To date on my macbook, I've gotten an entire new keyboard, a new battery and a new power adapter. Thank you apple, I appreciate it.

The new keyboard has that nice, brand-new springy feel.

If 준호 eats my power cord again, I'm giving him to a Korean lady who'll probably eat him...

Visual stimulation:

A delicious grilled cheese sammich. Thanks for the groceries pops!

A very empty subway car on the 3 line

the sun coming up over the Han...en route to take my GRE. That was early. AND THE COFFEE SHOPS WERE CLOSED.

...the humanity

Dongduk Women's University-- where I took my GRE. It's like an Asian William and Mary with all the historic buildings around it

Police exercises in Hongdae on a weekend night. They do them constantly, and who knows why. I just avoid them...

Fall in Seoul

How I dry my clothes-- this is the express cycle here (with the fan blowing on them)-- how's that for technology? :P

Cute Jindo puppies at someone's house near mine..They looked like my aunt's dogs when they were little

And this is for Kashif:

proof that they'll put crap on TV in any country. the islanders? on korean news? really? lameeeeee haha

That's it. I can't provide any verbal stimulation, that part of my brain hurts.

Well, when you're using it as TP anyway, what's the big deal?

2008-11-03T23:35:00.000+09:00

I got my laptop back, huzzah! By the looks of it, they replaced the entire keyboard, nice-uh!

They seemed to have overlooked the power source though, and it still doesn't work. Back to the Apple Repair Center tomorrow...

But for your viewing pleasure:

The kiddies in their Halloween regalia

The only cool part about being in a PC 방 is that I can type in Korean!
But it doesn't help me focus on writing these admission essays.

I'll give someone a jar of maraschino cherries if they hook a sister up....

Cat from now on will be known as 준호....

the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out...

2008-10-29T22:15:00.000+09:00

I realize I haven't written in a while, but Cat ate my power cord and so I took it to the Apple Repair center a week ago and I've still got nothing. I've been relying on work computers and now gave in and went to the PC Bang...because I have a terrible internet addiction

Here:

This made me laugh

It's been a busy week. A lot of work. I have to write 5 tests, decorate a classroom for the Haunted House, write evaluations, grade tests, and a lot of other crap by Friday.
A few of my co-workers have been sick lately too, so I've been covering extra classes. I had to cover when I had pneumonia, and I understand that people get sick, but shit, come on people, grow a pair!
I think because I always know I could very likely get worse, I won't use one of my precious sick classes (classes, not days. I teach up to 9 classes a day. I take a day...well, you can do the math) unless I'm blue and on the floor.
The pneumonia's cleared up from a lung, but there's still something in the left. So they sucked more of my blood out of my pelvis (really, not necessary. OW!) and x-rays and blah blah blah.
If I take too many sick days, or get substantially sick, I lose my job. Which means I lose my healthcare, which means I'm high and dry in Korea. Not a pretty picture.

Well here's to chipperness! Sorry for all the negativity. Hopefully this weekend I'll have my macbook back and cute Korean children in Halloween costumes.

Fine, fine, fine!

2008-10-18T20:46:00.000+09:00

Okay, okay, I guess y'all can have him back on your side of the world now.

It was a pretty successful trip....Taco Bell, Robitussin, enough Mandu to feed the Russian Army, a trip to the east coast at Sokcho/Seoraksan National Park, Dad reminiscing up in Uijeongbu, even though they've long since closed Camp Stanley and such, lots of souvenirs, a little cat torture (and vice versa, our toes!), and most importantly, the Emergency Room! Ahhhh, fun daddy time.

Here are a few pictures. I'm e-mailing Papa Smurph destructions on how to upload photos to a server, so who knows, maybe he'll have some up.

A new suitcase and a last snack of Delimanjoo. Not quite sure what's in them. They're filled with a pudding/custard like substance. Dad's not too fond of them..*coughcough* There are also little walnut filled cakes you can find from street vendors that he also doesn't like at all.

Kind of vanilla-y, but dang, they're tasty. So are the cream filled waffles. Which were close to Dad's closet as well.

Obviously, we ate a lot. They lost weight, I gained weight! Then again, they were walking around for hours every day, while I was wiping boogers off my skirt.

I tried to feed him well! But he's almost into his 34's...If you see him without his belt on, give his pants a good yank..muwhahahhaha O:)

And no, I shit you not, when they were here, I came home, put my hands on my skirt and found a booger that did not belong to me.

Jeanie and I went to Dr. Fish

Jeanie enjoyed it, she's braver than I am. I at least got my heels in this time. Dad abstained....loooooser!

There's no denying Dad's a dedicated GM buyer. Heck, my VW was the first non-GM car he'd bought in probably 20 years. (Word is he had a bug or two back in the day, but I've yet to see photographic evidence...)
However, it was in Korea that he found his next GM buy:

The Chevy bicycle! Why didn't he think of it earlier?? Full on GM logo and everything..

ahh, Korea sparkling!

This is Dad reminiscing at the Korean War Museum

Dude's got some interesting stories.
(And I'd like to take this time to thank the Korean War Museum for also remembering and mentioning the US soldiers who were part of the war here.)

See the resemblance?

It's them Murphy genes!

1/2 of the Murphy girls:

These were at Sokcho. We only went for a bit. I wasn't feeling too hot, literally. I ended up with 5 layers on and was still shivering. But it was still pretty! And awesome to get out of this smoggy city.

It was probably a good thing we didn't spend the night though...I forgot to pack underwear....some things will never change :D

Weeeeee!!! I'm a tool!!! :D

And now the cat and I share the same dejected expression:

sigh. He's looking for a warm body (we know I don't retain body heat well). I won't post a picture of myself cuz I look like I got socked in the face. yowza.

The exchange rate for the won is a bit disappointing, and I'm about to start using it for TP. Really though, I'm at the point where I'm going to lose so much money going home, I might as well blow it here having a good time. Shinzy'll get over the fact that I'm broke, right? right?

But since I've been here 6 months (well, about 4 days short of 7(holy crap time flies when you're having.....fun?) I've decided to show how little changes in that time.

This is my landlord's car:

It's moved twice since I moved in. Once, the first week I was here, and then a few weeks ago when they installed those privacy glass things over the windows. Then again, I'm not completely sure it moved for the window installation because the same trash is still under it that has been for months.

So within the next 5ish months I'll be back. I must make a bit of a stopover in the Philippines to visit Jasmine prior to heading back. One of those "when in Rome" things, and also because it's always good to see a familiar face in a foreign country!
Though, if McCain and Palin win, I'm moving to Australia. I don't care if she can see Russia! I probably had more international travel experience in-utero than she's had in 40 something years! At least I did within my first 2 years of being. pish posh. enough of that nonsense.

And now, I sleep. toodles.

2008-10-14T13:08:00.000+09:00

I have pneumonia...yayyyyyyy

No biggie! It's not as if it's something I've never had before. giggle.

Just call me a pincushion

2008-10-13T08:55:00.000+09:00

My personal favorite method of bonding with Papa Smurph

Ahhh, the lovely ER. We've got plenty of stories from there. I'm fine, just a little under the weather. It was fun!! But I really wonder why they give you shots in your tooshie. Oh well, my glowing white tooshie was probably the first one the nurse had ever seen.

Wahoo! Take that Korea!

It's October already?

2008-10-07T23:29:00.000+09:00

I guess time flies when you're having fun.

Jeanie arrived on Sunday, and it's been fun times since.
I work all day, they explore all day. Jealousy!
Sigh, bringin' home the bacon....

But what you don't know is why Papa Smurph really came to visit...

I'll let you in on a secret:

This is why:

To get me on to Yongsan to get a cheese quesadilla. mmmmmm

Yeah, I know, Taco Bell, gross. But sometimes you kind of just get a jonesin'....

This is his reaction to that:

Okay, not really.

He also brought me Robitussin other drugs, woohoo! hahaha

No it's been good to have them here :)
We'll have plenty of family time this weekend and then next.

Also, congratulations to Eric and Jonni!

weee, baby girl!

So this makes, 26 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

12 girls out of 35. We're doing well. Woohoo!

Update

2008-10-03T22:44:00.000+09:00

Papa Smurph has successfully arrived and is probably sleeping at his hotel by now.

We had dinner, and chatted while he unpacked. Hurray for OTC cold meds! He also brought a newspaper and I checked out the Ukrop's ad, which made me want to cry. Just kidding.

I am quite envious. And the ironic thing is, Ukrop's is maybe the 2nd most expensive grocery store in Williamsburg (behind Fresh Market) and the prices make it look like an Aldi or a Walmart in comparison to here.

My turn to sleep. He brought me cold meds, just in time, and now my brain is swimming in Robitussin. eg, Michelle lunacy amplified.

The coolest of the cool kids go to sleep at 11p.m. on Fridays. :D

Where the wild things are? not here...

2008-10-03T09:51:00.001+09:00

1. What is up with baseball this season? The Rays? really?

2. Is anyone else as amused as I am to watch the VP candidates' debate?
I wish I had popcorn and a microwave so I'd have something to throw at my computer.

I'll write something legitimate later, but no guarantees on that. I *have* to get my personal statements done, and I've got 3 weeks til the GRE, and I have a bit of an errand tonight, which I'll update on tonight, likely.

But I am le tired...

2008-09-28T23:59:00.000+09:00

I went to a baseball game today, it was fun.

This is Matt, we work together. I think it's the best picture from the game because I caught the field reflecting in his sunglasses.

and this:

In front of Bongeunsa temple by COEX. They do a traditional Buddhist tea ceremony in English on Thursday, which I'm hoping to attend on the 16th, as I have no work that day (huzzah! holiday!!)

It's a busy week; tomorrow it test day and it's very likely that all of the written tests, orals tests, grades and evals will be due on Wednesday. We're not supposed to grade the tests in class, but other than read my book (which I'm not allowed to do) all I can really do is stare out the window.....at the brick wall of the building next door

Wednesday is also the halfway point. I'll write something then, I guess. We'll see.
I have a lot of bullshit time on my hands during the days, especially Tuesday/Thursday, though I'm beginning to think October's schedule is going to kick me in the ass and be a bit humbling.

so now i'm going to take a nap and hope kim jung i doesn't fire any missiles

God almighty, I'm free at last!

2008-09-27T23:30:00.000+09:00

I just said goodbye to my aunt and Peter. Cry, cry, cry!

I may have made out like a bandit, but the emotional assholery I put up with this week (and for the past 20 someodd years) is not worth it.

They started talking all businessy tonight because we were watching the debate and then discussion led towards the crap state of the economy. Advice was doled to me and criticism was applied, and so I asked her how much her new Mercedes cost the pottery ($150K) and then asked how many of their employees couldn't afford to feed their families without multiple jobs and she shrugs and says, "not any of my business"

Karma? Helllloooo? Where are you when I need you? You've done me well in the past, how about now?

I like the Pottery employees; A lot of them have watched me grow up and they've always been really nice and encouraging, which is more than I can say for certain family members (not to name anyone....), so when my aunt asks me why I wasn't a business major, I can simply say, "Because I am entirely too unselfish"

Yay capitalism!

Anyways, enough bitching. That's not the purpose of this! Which is also why I don't write that often. The truth sucks some days.

Every time I talk to people they ask me what I eat. And I've been meaning to write a pseudo-expose on Korean food (at least the street food), but I don't eat street food often. It doesn't really exist in this area. I'm planning on dragging Jeanieface to Dongdaemun when she gets here. It's a well-known shopping district and is near a river that Lee Myun Bak (the current prez) had revitalized when he was mayor of Seoul. I've never been at night because even though I feel safe here, it's still nice to have a traveling companion. Silly drunk Korean males....

Anyways, back to food:

Food here isn't hard. Granted, I get sick of Korean food after a while, but I mix it up. I've been eating this stuff since I was born; some if it is still gross (pigs feet? non, merci), and some of it is like home. But nothing's like Grandma's kimchi (6 months and counting...)
The hard part is finding food that doesn't have pork or beef in it.

I've had pork here once. It was bad. It might've been the fact that is was pork belly (read: same part of Porky the pig as bacon, but uncured), but after that fiasco and driving the big white bus for two days, I decided it just wasn't the time to reintroduce mediocre-tasting protein.

An example:

Soon dubu chigae. Or: spicy bubbling cauldron of kimchi, seafood bits, and soft tofu and fire retardant sticky rice.

This is a good, 'I have a head cold and need to breathe out of my face', kind of soup. It's not that spicy (for me, but I'm a freak of half-Korean, half-Irish nature), and it comes to the table still bubbling and spattering out little red splashes of broth. Don't wear light colors!

There's this chain of Kimbap restaurants here (Kimbap= that smelly, Korean-like sushi my mom sent me to school with in middle school and subsequently caused a great deal of "ewwww! gross!" and ridicule) that sell such dishes for pretty cheap.
Actually, eating Korean food here is cheap. You can get a full meal like that for $5 or less. And you get free refills on that little side dish on the top.

The bad part is, my sodium levels have to be through the roof. And I'm not anywhere close to controlling what I eat as I have been. Woops.

The good part is, when you're exhausted from a wonderful day of chasing small children, wiping runny noses, and correcting the grammar of 13 year olds who like to declare "I am genius!," there's usually one close by.

Another bad part is, when you have too many of those days and eat at these places so often that you've started to rank them on:
1. The quality of the food
2. The amount of food
3. The busyness and spaciousness of the restaurant
4. The menu
5. The workers

There are two near me that have really nice middle aged women who give me extra panchan(the little dishes) or sometimes they give me a little discount.
They're impressed with my Korean skillz (yes, a "z" because I feel like being an absolute tool because I'm being this analytical).

I also eat sandwiches. Or toe-suh-tuh. Toast?

Tuna salad with sweet pickles (ew) and egg. How's that for protein?

It was a random meal. I haven't gone back since because the whole pickle and tuna thing was a bit of a turn off. And the egg. Koreans like to put egg in sandwiches for some reason. Overkill much?

I really do miss vegetables. The occasional salad is a godsend and I did buy some salad goods, but it's not as adequate as I'd like it to be. shakes fist at ineffectual Korean grocery stores

Uno mas:

Cat's preferred position of laptime.
It's like he's airing out his nads, but he doesn't have those anymore. Sorry buddy, overpopulation. =(

We're in the middle of a battle.
He still bites. He still scratches. He goes crazy around 5 am and does a marathon around the room.
But he is very nice to come home to after a long day, he doesn't complain when I put my cold feet on him and he sits very nicely when I clip his claws.

We also have a new teacher, Ryan, this month, as Josh's contract is leaving. I'm sad to see Josh go, but it's kind of cool because when I arrived, he was halfway through his contract, and time has flown since then. Not too shabby.

Who am I going to ask what color chickens are?!?!!! sad face.

Ryan's cool, has some teaching experience. The only thing is: he's from South Carolina and has the full-on drawl and I'm hoping it doesn't rub off on me because I've all but eradicated it from my vocabulary, except for my usage of "Y'all". Oh and don't ask me to say 'Norfolk.'
oi oi oi

That's the end of my dorkery.

Tomorrow: going to see the Doosan Bears play baseball. My second game ever! And both have been in Asia! I'm slowly testing the waters of the sports world...

Jeanieface and Papa Smurph next week, w00t! And a trip to Seoraksan (east coast)!

A Korean "Western"-style wedding

2008-09-22T09:36:00.001+09:00

My aunt came on Friday, but sadly I didn't see her until 8:30 AM Saturday morning

the aunt

her boyfriend

Point 1: I didn't need to be reminded of why I went to school 4 states away and subsequently moved across the world, but I was. Gee golly whillikers, the maternal side of my family is AWESOME. Whatever, she basically just paid for my flight to the Philippines. Or to Shanghai. We'll see.

Her: Michellleee!
Me: Hi Emo
Her: Well you look healthy!
Me: Healthy?
Her: Well, fat.

eyeroll

Throughout the day there were dual conversations of how much I suck and how much we all suck but how proud they are of Grant and Ron and Jeanie, a little bit for Jeanie at least.

I shut up though when I told them that I was the youngest and the only one that is financially independent. (minus care packages hahaha)
My one moment of not being shat on for the day. Yay!

Point 2: I woke up at 6 a.m. two Saturdays in a row. Who knew it was possible?

Anyways, breakfast and a wedding ensued.

Step One: Get your hair done

Whenever I'm around my aunt in cities, there's this surreality that exists. Mainly because I'm used to being a minion and she's a high-rolling kind of lady. So do we take public transportation in NYC or Seoul? Heck no, she gets a driver

So we went somewhere in Kangnam to get our hair done with the sisters and mother of the bride. Somehow I ended up getting pulled into that fiasco, and let me just say that they poofed my hair up so much for a white girl, I would've made Diana Ross proud.

Overpriced hair salon. I was reading the menu and haircuts started at $80. Gag

Step 2: After that we went to the wedding hall in Yeouido, which is like a 30 minute drive, without traffic.

In Korea, they have these mass-producing wedding halls that are very formulaic and very efficient in the whole process. You go in, there's a room with the bride where you can sit and take a picture with her, like this:

Then you go to the table, and you fork over your monetary gift, and they give you a ticket for the buffet. Now logically, you'd go sit down and watch the ceremony, but some people just fork over the money and go straight to the buffet, which we learned after the ceremony

Step 3: Wedding ceremony

Differences in a Korean Western-style wedding and an actual Western wedding:

-They don't stand when the bride is escorted down the aisle
-The family, other than the mothers, aren't recognized or seated in a particular spot prior to the wedding
-There isn't a wedding party. No groomsmen, flower girls, bridesmaids, etc

and the kicker:
-Talking throughout the ceremony is okay. Getting up and leaving and is okay. Small children running around and screaming is fine.

My aunt was disgusted, as she repeated to me multiple times. As they are a very wealthy family and should be able to have something of a much classier manner. But you really can't change the behavior of your guests, in my opinion. At least not in Korea...

But it prompted her to say, "When you get married, Peter and I will take care of it"

Even more reason for me to elope! I think Dad might actually thank me...right Dad?

There was a big screen above the minister's head so they can show it live.

Step 4: Food
Then after the ceremony, you move downstairs to the banquet room where there's a huge buffet and people are taking advantage of the copious amounts of food and free booze.

The centerpieces were also quite classy, and kind of rivaled Eric and Jonni's

hahah

This is the aunt and the boyfriend, whom she likes to call "uncle peter"

Was I not invited to the wedding? I know she has a thing for Vegas shotgun weddings, but jeez, you think we'd have been invited to #3....

Anyways, then you eat. I took advantage of the fresh fruit. Mmmmm

The mother of the bride

After the wedding, the bride and groom change into the traditional Korean Hanbok costume and go do the bowing to the relatives thing. The moms wear the Hanbok throughout.

The dude on the left apparently owns a lot of Lexus dealerships here. Ridiculous.

It was all over by about 2, then we went back to their hotel, which is conveniently right down the road from me! Grahhhhhhhhhhhh

It does have a nice view though.

I escaped their fun times yesterday, made up excuses about Sunday plans.

And this is what all the cool kids do in Itaewon on Sundays:

I love the Wolfhound. Dad, I'm taking you there, just for the fish'n'chips. Tuesday two-fers!

We're adding Scrabble to our oh-so-exciting crossword puzzle activity. Dorkface!
If anyone wants to join in on the dorkery, the more the merrier

Tonight, more family fun, this time with my great uncle's daughters, who are pretty awesome. So hopefully it'll be less painful that Saturday.

I'm a lobster! a lobster? first lobster! there was more than one lobster present at the birth of jesus?

2008-09-16T22:38:00.000+09:00

Saturday: My alarm failed to go off at 5:30, but luckily I have a handy little natural clock in one Cat, so I dragged my sleepy butt out of bed and to the subway station

It was quite packed.
Took the subway all the way to the end of the Incheon line, and in total it was only like..2 hours..Fun! :D

Then we took a high speed ferry to Deokjeokdo. It was fun and refreshing. There were a lot of French people on the ferry, whom we would end up running into a lot later on in the trip. It was great to see non-Korean kids. They were quite adorable as well.

But it was a smooth, scenic route, and this time no one got sea sickness! woo!

Tiniest lighthouse ever!

We spent most of Saturday on the beach. That night there was a bonfire and we met some cool people. One guy was from Monroe, but had graduated when most of my friends would've been freshmen so he didn't know any of them

It's a pretty tiny island. I'm not quite sure what the population is, but that picture is pretty much indicative of most of rural Korea, from what I've seen.

Sunday, we climbed a mountain that had this neat little pagoda thing on top. It was a bit of hike..plus I was in flipflops. But the view was great. Those pictures are on the bottom, plus more will be uploaded onto my Flickr later.

Monday we took a ferry back. There wasn't any school for most of us today, but I took my GRE this morning and needed some study/sleep time.

somewhere on the subway

And that was my weekend.

My GRE was okay. It was only the analytical writing section and I wrote a lot, and used plenty of examples, but I guess we'll see how I do. It takes them longer than usual to process our scores, so I really won't find out until November some time.

This weekend: My aunt arrives and it's off to my first Korean wedding!

This ought to be interesting. bangsheadondesk

sorry, a bit of narcissim

Deokjeokdo

2008-09-15T19:50:00.000+09:00

hooray for 4 day weekends!

I wish I'd gone to Deokjeokdo earlier. It was a good trip, and awesome to get out of Seoul.
It's located off the east coast of Korea, an hour's ferry ride from Incheon, where the airport is.
I'll have a more coherent and detailed update later. I'm a bit pooped and am taking part one of the GRE tomorrow. Oh boy. Wish me luck?

Yummies in my belly!

2008-09-11T23:14:00.000+09:00

I didn't know there was a French section of Seoul, but apparently there is. I went there for dinner with Genevieve tonight and had some very yummy Chicken Pot Pie. Not exactly french fare, but it was a reasonably priced American restaurant. At least the pie was. I'll have to go back when it's day time and I can see better. And take more photos

but for now:

Korean, English, and French?
Usually it's only Korean, English and Japanese.

Cat surveys the goodies:

Chuseok = gift giving! The school gave one of these to each of us.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with 6 tubes of toothpaste. I still have 2 left from what I bought with me; I'm quite finicky about my toothpaste, and the stuff I've bought here is crap. Plus they don't have fluoride in the water, so I'm really hoping my teeth aren't riddled with cavities when I get home.

And this is how I feel now:

g'night! :)

Silly Rabbit, Trix are for Kids!

2008-09-09T22:19:00.000+09:00

Part of this whole impress the parents routine also includes ridiculous class schedules.
Today, the four year olds and I were supposed to read a Time for Kids article on Child Labor in India.

.....

So who wants to color fish? What does they fishy say? *fish mouth motion*

What my co-worker Matt wrote on my facebook wall:

wow, you have to teach them that? maybe the koreans wanna put things in perspective: "sure, you'll have to go to school for 6-10 hours any given day six days a week, plus homework and only the tiniest of time slots alloted for playtime, and continual pressure that if you do not get into one of three certain colleges, you can never succeed with the material wealth our culture promotes on advertisements and our tv shows and you will work 10-12 hours any day as an adult. but, hey. you're not in india"

Also this past weekend, I was at Seoul Station and I saw this mariachi band:

Il m'a amusé

I'm off to Deokjeok-do Island this weekend, which I'm stoked about. It's a long weekend because it's the Korean Thanksgiving-esque holiday of Chuseok. And though I should study for my GRE which is um, Tuesday (eek!), I likely wouldn't be studying even if I were stay in Seoul. I'd probably be shopping (eesh! It's only the writing part and if I can't write an argument essay, well I really shouldn't have been able to graduate with an Arts degree.

Random Amusment:

Nombre 1: Original Chinatown Cuisine? What's that? MSG? General Tso's Chicken? Fortune cookies? haha
Nombre 2: Say it outloud..."Ho Lee Chow!" "Ho Lee Chow!"
These Koreans..they're so punny

C'est tout, au revior!

It's like living in a fishbowl...

2008-09-06T01:14:00.001+09:00

Staring, considered by most societies to be rude.

But in Korea, especially if you're white, it's okay!

I'll explore other social qualms later but for now:

I'm sick of being stared at. Sweet lord. Yes, I'm half-white. Yes, I can see you staring at me. I don't care if you're "curious," that's a crappy excuse. Thus, I've decided to start making this face to people who stare:

For if I will be stared at like a circus freak, I WILL MAKE MYSELF DESERVE GETTING STARED AT.

Really, it's not as if they haven't seen white people before.

When we went through training after I first arrived, the Foreign Teacher Trainer, Sam, explained the "Korea stages."

Stage One, Months 1-4: Typically, the Honeymoon stage. You love Korea! You're gung-ho about learning the language and embracing the culture!
Stage Two, Months 5 and beyond: GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE stage!
Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration.
There are some people who completely skip the first stage and go to stage two and do what we call a "midnight run." With those, you get your paycheck, then leave the country without telling your boss. They figure it out the following school day.

My honeymoon stage was over long ago. It's not that I don't like it here, I just feel like I'm in the doldrums. The frustrated doldrums.

Our school goes on a monthly cycle. Every month it changes; there is a little regularity.
Since I started, I've taught a lot of classes regularly, but this past month it was a bit drastic and frankly just made my brain go SPLAT.

It has a bit to do with the fact that we've had a lot of the American teachers come and go in the past few months-- June, July and August, consecutively we've had teachers leave. And while the new teacher filled in most of the previous teacher's classes, for some reason this month the schedule went to hell.
So most of the kinder kids I'd been teaching since I started in April, I don't teach anymore. I've been thrust into most of Ian's kinder classes and it's basically like starting all over again. Learning new personalities, new class schedules, habits, tendencies, etc and it really is a massive pain in the butt.
I understand that they'd have to get used to a new teacher anyway, but wouldn't it make more sense to put the new teacher in that position? That way it's only one class that gets thrown off for a while not two that have to adjust to a new teacher (two as in, the new class I take and the class I used to teach who gets picked up by someone else). Do you know how long it takes to "train" these kids? But mostly just learn how about how they learn best, how to make things easy for them to understand? Grahhhhh!

I don't really like the word train, but that's the word they use here...eyeroll
arf arf I want my treat!

I also picked up a new afternoon class of 1st graders. They come in for 2 40-minute lessons after they go to public school.
And this is where Michelle finally realized why there are morning 4-6 year old classes.

In Korea, there is no government regulated or required Kindergarten. Thus, unless their parents send them to private pre-k/kindergarten, children get thrust into first grade without any prior schooling.
The morning kids are there to get ahead in their English studies and basically ravage the other kids academically for the first few years.

So I'm teaching a group of kids...with no knowledge of English whatsoever and dear god if I have to do it beyond this month, I will be wrinkled and grayer than necessary at my age.

It does not help that the parents sit outside the class, wave through the windows and watch on CCTV. One girl didn't go either my class or the Korean teacher's class; she sat outside with mommy instead. And so when mommy asked me what to do, the first thing that pops into my head is"
"Drop her off, go shopping for an hour and a half, and ignore the tears. She'll get over it"
But no, bite your tongue, don't offend the parents or feel the wrath of the boss lady. dun dun dun!

Or if mommy wanted, mommy could save herself a good chuck of change and teach the kid herself since she knows English pretty well, but where does logic prevail in this society? Nowhere!

But at least I can understand what they're saying. It's difficult when they don't even know the English word for "bathroom."

Each classroom is on CCTV. Big brother much?
There's a monitor in the office on the 3rd floor, and it's huge, and occasionally, your class gets full screen instead of a tiny square of a shared screen. Those are the days I dread. There's also a TV in the office where the Academic Director is, and probably also one in the office where the manager is. If this were say, inner city, violent-prone, I'd understand more, but it's just ridiculous.

It's all about control. It's about the company controlling us and us controlling the kids. EVEN DURING P.E.!
But if you don't follow the controlled rules stipulated in the teacher's guide for P.E., you'll feel the wrath.

Heaven forbid you let the kids run around and get some of that "we only get PE twice a week and are forced to sit through 6 40-minute classes with 2 breaks consisting of a 10 minute milk break and a 40 minute lunch break even though we're only 4-6 years old and really could use a nap time as well, energy out of our systems"

Other Korean oddities:

Social faux pas:

-Eating in public. Thinking about nibbling on that muffin while walking down the street? Better think again. For shame!

-Don't show those shoulders off! How dare you! What are you thinking? A SPAGHETTI STRAP TANK? You're just trying to sell your body. BUT wearing booty shorts and 3" heels? Perfectly acceptable. And not provocative in any way possible. And if you're a middle aged soccer mom, you bet those legs are thin enough for these shorts! Your teenage daughter, however, looks healthy/normal and outweighs you by a good 10-15 pounds, and is wearing a t-shirt the size of an American XXL, kneesocks and Chuck Taylors. 80's much?

Socially acceptable:

-Spitting/hocking loogies in public- regardless of gender. No comment.

-Picking your nose. Again, no comment, except no wonder my attempts at rearing the kids are futile.

-Not washing your hands post-bathroom. Really, you'd be amazed at how few women wash their hands after using the bathroom. And most public bathroom don't even have soap. Did I mention how much hand sanitizer I go through?

-Public drunkenness. Unless you're a foreigner, then don't even think about it. Shame on you! But if you're a Korean male, it's perfectly acceptable to be smashed at 9 p.m. stumbling about the street, puking in the subway, peeing in alleys, sleeping on the steps of Armani....

I'm not this bitter, really. I'm just homesick I guess.

But Papa Smurph will be here shortly! As will my Korean aunts..and Jeanie! It'll be dandy! And perhaps there'll be more interesting updates.

Random thought, things I will go a year without:

A dryer
An oven and all homebaked goods
Driving my car
An American Thanksgiving and Christmas
Cable TV (No ER? No Grey's Anatomy? No Law & Order? Good thing I can download....)
A bathtub
A Murphy family function :(
A yard
My grandparents, minus Grampa Kim
The rest of the fam :(

I'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood for a friend from home, but at the soonest I may get to see a friend come Christmas, and definitely in April, after I finish my contract and make a trip to the Philippines.

Okay, enough.

I'll likely post more pictures next time.

And it's almost time for another round of postcards, so be on the look out!

How to ruin a perfectly good fruit salad

2008-08-25T22:23:00.001+09:00

Cover it in coleslaw-tasting mayonnaise!

Mmmmm delicious!

Gag. Not worth $13.

Random homesick rant:

Foods I miss:

Grilled Chicken- yes, Chicken is junk food when it is primarily consumed deep fried. Try baked, grilled, anything but fried!

Hearty Sandwiches- a la whole grain bread, hummus, veggies, etc. Not with 3 slices of white bread stuffed with potato salad, egg, questionable lunch meat, pickles, a few slices of tomatoes, lettuce, and doused in mayonnaise. Overkill much?

Cookies- There's one chain of bakerkies- Paris Baguette- that carries freshly baked cookies. I'm assuming the dough is mass produced by the company and then they bake everything at the individual stores. However, the bakers need to realize cookies are not hockey pucks. There is one near me that bakes them perfectly soft. Oh heaven. Those are saved for bad days.

All produce. Cheap produce. I was reading a newspaper article on how the Korean government is watching food prices for the month of August, because suppliers tend to gouge prices right around the Korean holiday of Chuseok (their version of Thanksgiving). The article said in 2007, the price of a box of 12 apples went from $30 to $41.
Can I take these people to the lovely orchards of upstate New York where you can pick your own apples for less than 50 cents a pound? Please? Do you know how much apple crisp all those apples we would pick made? Gluttony. I think we spent more on buying the flour, butter, oatmeal, graham crackers, sugar and cinnamon than we did on the 30 pounds of apples. Yeah, yeah, 30 lbs, we were a little excited...

No complaining! Suck it up and take it like a real man, Murph!
I'm almost done with month 5, which means I'm almost on month 6, which means I'm almost halfway done! And Jeanie will be here in October so it'll be swell!

Murph out.

Market day!

2008-08-17T21:48:00.000+09:00

I went shopping again...eesh!
Went looking for clothes. Came back with nail polish. Go figure. At least I fit the size of the nail polish. This one-size-fits-all country, not so much.

But this is a walk through video of Namdaemun Market. It's on the north side of Seoul, near City Hall. It wasn't that busy today, and a lot of the stalls were closed down. But you can find a wide array of things. There's housewares, clothes, souvenirs, bootleg handbags, and, when everything's opened, in one of the basements there's an imports market. Where you can get a stick of deodorant for a mere $10! And Swiss Miss hot cocoa. I'm not sure how much that goes for, but one of my co-workers was rifling through her desk and turns to me and says "You have to try this! It's the best drink I've ever had!" and hands me a packet of swiss miss.
Mmm, delicious. Even better with real whipped cream. Or bailey's. Depending on how irish one feels that day...

And there's no rain...

2008-08-16T20:51:00.000+09:00

I got a new smorgasboard of postcards today. There's a store in Insadong, an area with a lot of galleries, and they have this crazy collection of comic book character type stuff. but it's tiny. I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad's closet is bigger than the store...
Anyways, I couldn't resist.

I also bought a new notebook because my other one suffered the same fatal ending as my iPod.

Outside

Surprise innards! Pretty much sums it all up.

The whole Olympics thing is pretty intense here. I've mostly only watched it on the internet because I don't have cable and get a total of 4 channels. And whenever I have turned on the TV, it's been Park Tae-hwan winning. Korea's done really well, so could we watch something else please?

I guess this is how people cheering for other countries feel when they're in the US. We don't really play other countries' athletes either.

Itaewon!
Shh, don't tell Shinzy I went there. She's convinced that the pharmacists are going to get me hooked on painkillers like Codeine.

I'm not a big fan of Itaewon, but I went on Friday afternoon with a friend because the Canadian bar has satellite and we got to see other athletes.

I'm actually more afraid of the religious zealots that frequent Itaewon, than the rest of the expats or GIs. You will not suck me into your vortex!

But I do go there...for postal services, phone cards, and falafel.
Mmmm, chickpeas.

better than peanut butter roasted squid!

Still nameless.

2008-08-13T22:35:00.000+09:00

I've been trying to sneak a picture of this place forever, but they don't let you take pictures and yell in Korean. So I took this from afar:

Guess how much those watermelons cost??!!

If you said $10, you're wrong!

If you said $12, you're wrong!

If you said $18, you're wrong!

If you said $20, you're wrong!

But if you guessed the wonderful amount of $24, you're a winner!
For $24, I either expect it to be turned into one heck of a fruit basket or a watermelon keg, already filled.

Cat and I are getting along okay. Just okay because he still hasn't slept through the night. We've progressed about 1 hour each night though, so I'm hoping tonight he sleeps until 6 am. Please kitty?! I'm working on the not biting thing too. It'd be great to take him home and have him nip someone. eyeroll. Dad would probably emulate Gram and take him out to the creek :(

How to procrastinate

2008-08-12T21:09:00.000+09:00

Well, it did last with me for about 3 years. Which in Michelle-years for electronics (think of dog vs. human years) is like 40 human years.

A video of the youngest kids I teach. I have one of them acting like crabs I may upload later.

22 years later...

2008-08-09T14:23:00.000+09:00

Meet Cat:

Cat joined me today :)

Cat doesn't have a name. I'm pretty sure everyone remembers how creative I am with names. An assortment of Childhood stuffed animals named, Beary, Kitty, Bunny, etc.
It's a good thing those Cabbage Patch Kids came with names (Thanks Xavier Roberts!)

He's adjusting. Meowing like crazy and throwing his litter around.
He's fixed. Not declawed though, so when you touch his belly, beware!

Japan, cliff note style:

We took the ferry from Busan, which is on the southern tip of Korea, because it was about 1/2 the price of flying to Osaka or Tokyo. I'd like to see Tokyo one day, but this trip needed to be slightly ecnomical. And I'm sick of summer in big cities.

Anyway, the ferry takes a little less than 3 hours to go from Busan to Fukuoka. The original idea was to get a train pass and go to a few places throughout the country. That idea was nixed when I found out that traveling from Fukuoka to Mt Fuji was $200, and the all-over-Japan rail pass was $300. The price wouldn't have been that bad if it were for more than 5 days. Long story short: The main destinations were Nagasaki and Fukuoka.

When we got to the ferry terminal, we were all excited, thinking we were going to take one of these big guys:

Then our boat ended up being this one:

haha, it's so little! If you think about it, it makes sense, because we were taking the high speed hydrofoil, and there's no way the big one could get there that quickly. The big ones are overnight sloths.

But this is what it looks like when it goes:

First stop: Fukuoka: We spent 2 days there. It's a gorgeous, modern medium sized city. There are tons of temples like this around:

Or maybe that's a shrine. I really don't remember.

It had these things, which are prayers and well wishes, things like that:

We spent Tuesday(night) and Wednesday in Fukuoka, then we went to Nagasaki by train. It took less than 2 hours and was only $30 each way. Have I mentioned lately how much I love transportation outside of the states?

The train was mostly empty, and it went fast.

Amtrack needs to get on top of this:

Nagasaki is smaller than Fukuoka, but I liked it. You don't realize how much better port cities and ocean cities are until you're stuck in a city with a stinky river all summer long.

The first day, we went to the Atomic Bomb Museum, which was interesting. They don't allow photos in there, but I took some pictures of the Peace Park

The hypocenter:

This is what remained of Urakami Cathedral, which was 500meters from the hypocenter:

The cathedral, rebuilt:

There were a lot of statues like this one:

They were donated by other countries who have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty

A lot of it was under construction/restoration though. The anniversary is August 9th, so they were getting ready for that

This made me laugh because the dog's got a look on his face that looks like, "That didn't come out of me, run!"

That was Thursday, July last.

We went out that night for dinner at a cute sushi restaurant.

The owners were super nice and so surprised when we walked in. We were their only customers and well, I guess they weren't expecting 2 white tourists

and then we met a group of expat JET (Japan English Teachers, it's their Public School program) teachers, and one of them turned out to be from Binghamton. Small world. We reminisced on what we didn't miss (snow, Walmart) and what we do miss (Wegman's).

Friday, it was decided to go to the Penguin Aquarium.

I didn't like the Penguin Aquarium for the same reasons I don't like Zoos. They ought to be free, and they certainly shouldn't have clips on both their wings I mean, really, what are they going to do, fly away?

Grumble

Penguins, cute, but they shouldn't be there:

I don't really remember the rest of what happened on Friday. Likely more shrines and such.
There was a bit of a financial crunch because our ATM cards wouldn't work. Well, I never did actually try mine in Nagasaki because I had cash on me, but whatever. Long story that I won't get into because that'll lead to crankypants.

I did find this Cathedral, also rebuilt after the bombing

Giant camphor tree:

Statue at the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum. They had a few works by Picasso, Valazquez, and a few others, but it was cool to actually realize how much I remembered from Art History in High School, all 5 years ago.

26 Marytrs of Japan.

A few cute things:

2 headed panda, haha

If there's a fire, grab an elephant?

Not going to lie, this is how I feel most days.

More detail and coherency later. I need to get back to studying for my GRE.

It's a Kodak moment!

2008-08-05T00:34:00.000+09:00

Japan photos:

Start with 4 and go backwards. Also, they aren't edited yet, so some of them are still sideways (read: A LOT) tee hee, sorry! I'll get on top of that soon.

Also, I do not suggest trying to sort through them unless you have a broadband connection.

If you want to access my pictures directly, instead of through the slide show, click here

Hellooo

2008-08-04T00:10:00.001+09:00

Back from Japan! Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I will be uploading pictures and such within the next few days, but they are a hectic few days.

Love and miss you all!

Hey mickey, you're so fine...

2008-07-27T00:02:00.000+09:00

Last time, what I ate. This time, where I shop:

Oh yeah, that's where I get all the sweatpants and the infamous polar bear fleece pj pants!

And that was the best 3,000W I've spent so far...

I am the epitome of youth and health

2008-07-22T22:41:00.001+09:00

No, not really. I ate better in college. And I actually worked out. Is it sad to say I miss the salad bar at the dining hall and FitSpace at 6 am?

My lunch, 5 days a week:

Usually tuna. This one had a hotdog in it, which got scooped out (ew). They're little rice triangles stuffed with..stuff. Simple, delicious, not very filling, but they're cheap and they'll do.

Being a vegetarian is hard here, they stick dashi (dried fish flake type stuff) in a lot of the panchan, or side dishes, that are served with every meal. They also don't count spam, ham, pork, etc as "meat". Which kind of explains why my mom thinks I would eat spam when I was a vegetarian. I never did really disagree with her that Spam isn't meat, but I still wouldn't eat it.

I kind of miss being a veggie. Although the return to chicken and seafood were worth it.
I have yet to venture into beef. I tried samgyuepsal, which is basically uncured bacon. It comes from the same part of the pig and is probably 75% fat. Which I guess makes it delicious?
Anyway, they bring it out to you and you cook it at your table and blah blah.
Long story short: Bad news bears. I won't be eating that again and I doubt I'll be eating beef. It may have been the type of pork, but frankly, I didn't like it enough to go back through that pain. Ick.

I'm too lazy to cook, imagine that. And I hate cooking for myself. I'll cook loads of food for other people, but not for myself. I should adopt a homeless person and make food for them, haha.

Another thrilling day, I know. :)

typhoon? crazyyyy

2008-07-20T22:31:00.000+09:00

So apparently the rain that we're having is from a typhoon.
YAY RAIN!

I have nothing to write about really; I sort of feel obligated to write on this thing and give updates. Then again, does anyone even read this? Uh, helllooo out there cyberspace, can anyone hear me?

Yep, that's what I thought. Nothing but echoes.

So here, a picture:

Dirt bikes, street legal in the ROK! Wooo!

Can I have one Daddy, please?
Eh, I gave up on that when I got my jetta. I think. Maybe. I don't know. You can't really off-road in a jetta...or can you?

I guess I'm what you'd call accident prone

Oopsies? And this is why we can't have nice things.

Anyway, July is almost over. W00t! 8 more days then it's off to Japan for a bit. I'm pretty excited.
I want to go to China while I'm here too. Someone want to move to China so I can go visit you, please?
Philippines is pretty much definite. Thailand would be swell also.
I'm going to go back with an empty wallet and a full soul, or backpack, or something pretentiously poetic like that.

There'll also likely be something new post-Japan. But we'll see.

Also, someone asked me what the title of this thing was about, it's from the film Jeux d'enfants, which is on my top 10 list. Okay, top 2.

There aren't any subtitles, but if you mosey about YouTube, there's a version with the subs
Uno mas: Wall-E and The Dark Knight aren't going to be released here until August 7th, so please don't spoil the movies!
I think Dark Knight deserves a trip to Yongsan's IMAX screen, though.
I'd probably actually be able to go and buy bootleg copies of both there right now too. Korea, Sparkling!

Random things I miss:

The lavender room with the obnoxiously pink comfy chair, both situated in the back of the house.
and the jolly folks that live there

River house, how i prefer to spend summer evenings

And last but not least: Considering how many people I know are getting spread out between the East and West Coasts, a serious cross-country trip is looking rather promising. Yes, I'm planning already. :P

First, separate, then recycle accordingly

2008-07-14T23:13:00.000+09:00

Please, don't forget to recycle your pets.

"You can't put your finger there!"

2008-07-10T21:51:00.000+09:00

And cue Avenue Q! (Bad joke, for shame!)

Korean kids have this cruel little trick where they take their pointer fingers, and then jam them up your tuchus. No, they haven't done that to me, yet (knock on wood). I have witnessed it (Poor Joe *insert sad face* )I have a feeling most of my kids would be too terrified to do that. Well, the oldest ones would be. The middle ones aren't that mean (knock on wood) and the younger ones, well let's just hope they won't.

BUT WHERE DO THEY GET THE IDEA?

I don't know, but if you check out this angle of the North Face Gorilla in Apgujeong, it may provide a little insight:

I'm feeling quite parenthetical today.

It was a relaxing day, I taught all of 3(!) classes. Tomorrow, no dice til 3:00. But Monday, the month of hell doth start. Here's to overtime though! Which will promptly be turned into funding for college applications, publishing institute application, recommendation bribery (i kid!) and GRE testing.

I may need a math tutor. I haven't done math in 6 years. Maybe I can barter with the kids, they're better at it than I am.

BINGE!

2008-07-08T00:10:00.000+09:00

Postcard binge, send addresses to machellebelle AT gmail DOT com, please and thank you!

Merci, j'espere que tout va bien, tout le monde me manque et maintenant, je me coucherias. bonne nuit!

Tickle me elmo

2008-07-06T00:18:00.000+09:00

Please, ignore my idiotic giggle and commentary:

Good deed of the day:
I was waiting for a friend and it started raining. There were a group of GI's (I'm assuming here, but it's pretty simple to tell the difference between civies and military people here) standing in the street outside the Starbucks I was in (woo! sellout!) but a handicapped man, who had been pushing himself along the sidewalk, tried to get shelter under the overhang of the building. There was a step a few inches high, and he couldn't roll himself up, so the GI's picked him up and placed him in the dry area.
Wooo! not all foreigners suck!

O'Kim's..Irish?
Brauhaus..German?

The fish are supposed to clean your feet or something. It tickles like hell

I can't believe they have this in Korea...

july, july! it never seemed so strange

2008-07-04T23:39:00.000+09:00

C'est ma vie:

Yale Class- Brian, Yoonji and Katie. I think they're 4, but I'm not sure. The whole Korean age thing still confuses me.

Yoonji picks her nose, constantly. And her ears. She likes to eat boogers and ear wax. She also sticks her fingers in her ears during story time, what a sweetheart :P

Brian needs a little more mommy time. He seems a bit less developed than the kids but just seems emotionally fragile all the time. He'll cry at the slightest thing.

Katie is cute, she's pretty well-behaved and has it together. She's really quiet though.

Yale Class- Sean. He's a cutie patootie.

Brown Class-- Sally and Apple. I think they're about 5 or 6.
They're in the "teacher, I love you" stage. Whenever they do something wrong, it's "teacher, I love you!" Thanks?
It's cute though, and their English is getting better. They're getting better at asking questions and saying simple things like "please" and "thank you."

Brown Class- Sally and Jinny.

Odyssey- Thomas and Annie

David and Thomas.

I adore David, I taught him in a one-on-one for a few months. The entire class is awesome though, they're always well-behaved and they have this amazing enthusiasm that some of the other classes lack, especially the older ones. Their English is pretty good as well and they're really competitive, so it's a lot of fun to turn the class into a competition and race.

That's pretty much it from here for now. I'm trying to lay low this month, at least until the end. I'm going to Japan on the 29th for a bit, which I'm really stoked about. I wanted to go to Mt Fuji, but it's rather expensive, and so we're sticking around Fukouka/Hakata and Nagasaki.

A few things I want to do:

Beach- I need sunshine and nature, dammit!
Temple/Shrine- there's a lot.
Atomic Bomb Museum (I'm a dork O_o)
Onsen- Japanese Hot Springs
Sky Dream Fukouka- it's one of those giant Ferris wheels, like the London Eye
Meganebashi Bridge
Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium
Church of the 26 Martyrs- Japan's firth cathedral
Eat Sushi, hahaha
Ignore July 31st. The day does not exist.

Not sure what else. Ideas are good.
Also, postcards will be sent out shortly, but if you'd like some Japan paraphernalia, get in touch please.

Other than that, Korea is good.
The days really seem to fly by, and we're constantly working for the weekend.
It's good to be busy though, I'm sure my time here will fly by.
Sadly, my Korean skills have not improved themselves much, as it's incredibly easy to maneuver sans Korean. I do know how to read now; I know the numbers; and I know how to direct a taxi driver to my apartment.
I ought to start taking lessons or get a conversation partner, but I'm just so exhausted at the end of the day.
And although it may be a brash generalization, I've started categorizing Koreans into groups:

The ones that realize I understand Korean- They're generally really impressed by it and I've gotten a lot of compliments on my comprehension, even though my responses tend to be shit. But they realize I understand what they're saying and it's very encouraging.

The ones who think I don't understand anything so they're assholes to me. I don't know how many times I've overheard conversations on the subway, on the bus, in a restaurant, but one day, I fully intend on piping up and laying the smack down, haha. They're usually the starers too.
I have no idea how I'm going to react when I move back to a country where I'm not perpetually stared at.

The ones who speak English and so they start conversations. Usually middle aged businessmen who may not even stepped foot in an English speaking country, but they need the skill to get a job here. They're usually just curious, and ask me what I do, how old I am, etc.

A lot of people also think I'm a student, I guess because I look young. Well, I am, but perhaps I'll find a teacher here younger than me. Mayyyybe.

Random thought of the day: I MISS CHEAP FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES!
I want to go to Wegman's and buy some delicious red grapes for mere $.99/lb. Though I doubt you can do it anymore. But I've got a serious jonesing for a fruit salad...

I'm taking care of myself, buying the groceries, paying the bills, partying hearty (who said that?), and going through the motions of adulthood.
I'm a big kid now, wahoo!

In all seriousness, I'm good. I've come to terms with life, I've made peace with myself, and I realized just how much the past year and a half has taught me, and I know when to burn bridges and tell people to f*ck off.

It's good.

enfin: joyeux anniversaire les E.U.!

Friday night fever?

2008-06-28T16:11:00.001+09:00

Nothing is constant but change. Sometimes that shits sucks

corrupting the youth

2008-06-27T00:43:00.000+09:00

We didn't have flashcards like this when I was in kindergarten:

I've run out of reading material, oh dear. Any suggestions for what I tackle next?

A little slice of serenity...

2008-06-23T09:11:00.000+09:00

I am not a city person. After graduate school, I'm pretty much refusing to live in a city ever again. I'll commute, if need be, but I require a yard. I'm kind of like a puppy, I need to roll around in the grass and eat dirt, I will refrain from publicly marking my territory though :P

I like my green space and quietness, so on the weekends when the weather is nice, I like to explore the parks. I have yet to go to the Hangang River Park, but I think that'll be on the next weekend. Or the beach, whose plans get thwarted by "predictions" of rain every weekend. Lamecakes.

Bongeunsa Temple

It's kind of near my apartment- within walking distance at least. My concept of walking distance is a bit skewed because I tend to walk eveywhere, but it's not worth taking public transportation, unless the weather's bad.
But it's kind of an oddity because it's juxtaposed against a very expensive area of Gangnam. Well, all of Gangnam is expensive, but it's right across the street from the COEX Mall and Convention Center. It was quite surprising how the sounds of the traffic horns and scooters were so easily drowned out.

Jongroo-- The Bell Pavilion

From the other side

The detail on the buildings is amazing, I can't believe all that is hand painted. I wonder if they paint them first, then put them on the buildings, or do it Michaelangelo style

Mireukdaebul Statue-- the largest Buddha statue in Korea. It symbolizes hope for Maitreya to arrive and save man kind

Please remove your shoes, don't take better ones on your way out...

Stone Monuments of Merit

They offer miniature versions of temple stays for foreigners, but they're only on Thursday afternoons. Maybe I'll get another Thursday off sometime in the next 9 months, but we'll see. I think an actual temple stay would be an awesome experience before I leave. I can sacrifice that hour of sleep at 3 am for a little meditation :)

mosh pit?

2008-06-20T12:47:00.000+09:00

At the end of each Kindy day, they go to the Playroom on the 6th floor to do a little wrap-up activity. We squish as many children as possible into the elevator, and then it's up, up and away! And it makes me feel like I'm in a kindergarten mosh pit:

plunk

2008-06-15T22:39:00.000+09:00

Olympic Park

And, if while waiting for your train, you happen to fall, hopefully a bystander will unfold the ladder to help you escape from the path of the oncoming train :)

That's all I have for today. Maybe more later.

Image du jour

2008-06-10T23:39:00.000+09:00

Pizza in a cone, near Gangnam-gu Office Station

It was okay. There was corn in it, per usual, and there was sweet potato in the very tip. But the crust/cone was crispy.

Not much new here.
First bout of homesickness hit, but I'm going to mostly attribute that to a crap week.
And the terrible realization of how much grad school is going to put me back unless this year here really earns me some brownie points in the assitantship/scholarship/grant/TA departments.
Then again, I also should remember what my last internship adviser told me:
"The best advice I was ever given was by my thesis professor: always consider your resume a work of fiction" ~A. Smith, Phd, Binghamton '07

I'll drown my sorrows in a pb&j sammich, with american wheat bread(!) compliments of a dear friend, heh :o)

Dooo wop

2008-06-08T10:06:00.000+09:00

2008-06-07T19:37:00.000+09:00

Every time I re-read my entries, my writing makes me cringe.
This coming from the girl who is planning to furthering her education in the publishing field.
Tisky tisky smalls, you'd better get on top of this.

Updates to come, I'm enjoying a nice relaxing 3 day weekend. Next month, I'm definitely packing the backpack with the Lonely Planet, camera, and few changes of clothes, and hitting up Japan.

Hope everyone is well.

Hugs, kisses, and all that jazz.