Braids and Facials

Today, a day off, I went for a swim and had an appt to get my hair braided as it's getting hot here and hair is becoming very annoying.

It took the lady FOREVER, 2 hours and a bit and I'm not that happy with it but whatever. Live and learn and at least it's out of my face.

This cut into my visiting time with a good friend Reena who is leaving Korea tomorrow. This was unfortunate but we did enjoy our time at the Red Club.

I had a facial and Reena got a wicked looking massage. We were there for almost 2 hours!

My facial was only $25 and is amazing and Reena's massage $30!

It is a great place and is another thing I love about Korea!

Mini vacation

Like the rest of this month, I don't work a full work week and have thursday and friday off. Tomorrow is busy with errands and stuff but friday morning my mini vacation begins with a 4 hour ferry ride to Jeju island, the Hawaii of Korea and where newlyweds go frequent.
This is my first time going and I have wanted to visit Jeju since I arrived in Korea.
Friday will be checking in to the hotel and doing a bit of exploring until Julia arrives later that evening.
Monique and Jessica will be arriving on Saturday and more exploring will take place. We are all gathering in Jeju to participate in the 12th annual Jeju marathon. From my one and only experience of running a full marathon, I have no interest in running another one until I do an Ironman, which again will be a 1 time deal!
Anyway, Monique and I will be running the half marathon and Julia and Jessica will be doing the 10k. This is the longest run for both of the girls so it will be exciting for them.

Not sure how exciting this entry is but I am VERY excited about visiting the island and hope to have lots of beautiful pictures. The current weather has bumped me up to 2 showers a day so I'm expecting it to be quite warm and beautiful.

Countdown

In exactly 6 weeks I will be arriving at Vancouver airport!

Hoooray!!!

Other things I miss from home:

* Pudding
* sitting where you want in the movie theater
* chewy candies from 7-11, ju jubes and licorice
* trashy magazines
* really good salads
* fresh vegetables
* soup
* protein bars
* whole wheat flour
* chocolate chips
* garlic marble cheese

Pirates of the - this movie sucks

So my good friend Reena and I, who every time we get together it seems to rain, anyway, we had a nice lunch and went to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. Reena had already been a movie geek and checked out the reviews and noticed that it didn't receive a very good one.

Oh well we thought, we get to look at Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom so even it if stinks at least we can look at some attractive men as there is a lack of attractiveness in our town.

Well, after 2 hours even their handsomeness couldn't keep us interested.

END already! For most of the movie, no, almost ALL of the movie I had no idea what was going on. WHERE are they going? WHY are Will and Elizabeth not speaking to each other?

IT was wayyyyyy too long and didn't really have anything interesting going on.

We left the movie less than impressed but then bought some cool stickers and stuff at one of the wicked stationary stores.

And of course, it's still raining.

Happy Birthday Buddha

Today is Buddha's birthday and yet another day off. I decided to take part in a celebration at the largest temple in Mokpo which is near my all boys school. The temple is beautiful and old and decorated with prayer lanterns.

I was the only waygook present and could feel the tv cameras pointing in my direction every so often. I did know one person however, the principal of my school who speaks very little English. I said hello and that everything was beautiful. Yes, I think so he said and that was the end of that.

With the everyday bitching that goes on between friends about what our rude students did and how we almost got hit by another car or got pushed out of the way at the bank, this was a refreshing, calm and relaxing experience.

It always seems that when being away from home and the differences of this country get you down there is always some cool experience that picks you back up.

Sea of Pink

Yesterday, Sunday May 20th some friends and I took part in The Pink Marathon in Gwangju. There actually wasn't even a marathon, only 5 and 10km. It was great.

We stayed in a convienent love motel that had lovely framed nude photos and of course, porn on the big plasma tv!

Some friends were running their first race ever, Jessica was celebrating her one year anniversary of running her first one and I was still finishing a 10k at 1 hour 5min.

I was finally able to meet up with my old friend Noelle with whom I shared a hotel room with at the Prince hotel when we first arrived.

It was fun. and hot!

A big Thank you...

To the little assholes who let the air out of my bike tires this afternoon. I now know how long it takes me to walk home! 45 minutes. That's JUST how I wanted to end my day today.
Why?

Earplugs

No, you wouldn't think that you would need earplugs at the gym but today I woke up with a minor headache and was not ready to listen to the blaring techno music that is played at the gym.
Is is really necessary to blast the music like that!? what's worse is that I have friends that live in the same building as the gym and they have to be woken up by dance mix '93 every morning.

And then we all have to turn up the volume on the tv that we are watching so we have blaring techno and mutiple tv shows playing. hardly annoying!

On the positive the guy didn't grab my fat today!

I'm off to Gwangju this afternoon with some good friends to participate in the run for cancer tomorrow morning. should be interesting and fun.

Ohhhh waygookin!

The countdown has begun

I have long been looking forward to coming home but now I am actually in the process of booking and purchasing my ticket so I think that I can officially start my countdown to coming home.
I will depart from Korea on July 11th and arrive in Canada on July 11th as well.

From now it is 8 and a half weeks away and I CAN'T WAIT!

See you soon!

Things I look forward to:

* cottage cheese and other "normal" type foods
* home made pizza
* Monster
* coffee shops that open before 10am!
* clothes that fit
* tanning beds
* being able to ask for something
* having people understand what you're saying without playing charades
* NO SQUID!
* Not being nearly hit by a car everyday
* not being stared at. Well...
* parks and open spaces
* dogs being walked and not eaten

Hmm I'm sure there are many more things that will be added to this list as time goes on.

Fat Grab

On my way out from the gym this morning, the gym worker guy is checking out my bike gear and trying to have a conversation with me and then he goes in for the fat grab on my stomach.

Hmmm. Um, WHY did you just grab my fat!? was that really neccesary?
Then he lifts up his shirt and grabs what little fat he has around his waist. What are you trying to say here buddy!? hahaha

Ohh Korea. You make me laugh.

redness and suction cups

After vball this afternoon I attempted to go for a run and enjoy the beautiful weather today. The run was a bust but the weather was amazing.

I laid in the park for an hour and a bit not thinking that the sun would have that much of an effect on my skin that hasn't seen the bright bright sun in many months.

Along with the lovely bruises left on my back from the suction cups, I also have bright red, sore shoulders from the sun. To go with this, I have some great racoon eyes.

Here'e hoping that the weather is the same tomorrow. With a little sunscreen this time!

Take me back to the farm part 2

Whatever came over me at 1130 tonight, I decided this was a good time to give my new cat a bath.

Here we go. When is the last time I've done this?

Got out the dish washing gloves and put my game face on.

He was actually really really good. YES!

Single Knock out

Well, I was all excited about a day of volleyball, taking it back to high school and university days of being in a gym all day, waiting for you next game but no.

Once I finally found the school, thanks to the completely incorrect directions given to me by Mr. Moon, we were starting our first and only game.

We lost to some shit team in a best of 3 game.

Ok, now we will go for lunch.

Ohh, we play again in the afternoon.

No. We are finished.

Uhhhhh. Already, we only played 1 game?

Yes.

But I have a bag full of food to keep me going for the whole day and I've spent the past hour trying to find this bloody school and that's it!?

I was bummed but still had fun.

Why?

Why is it that whenever you're in a room doing something, cats always seem to pick that exact moment to come in and take a huge, smelly dump.

EVERY time I'm in the computer room, this cat comes in and lays a huge one and it's disgusting!

Monster preferred to take a smelly one when I would just get into a nice, relaxing bath. Thank you for that!

They are laughing inside I bet! jerks!

I LOVE MAY

When we first came back to school in March we were all looking at how many holidays were coming up. Yes, how lazy can we be as this job is pretty much a joke as it is.
It wasn't looking good. Only one holiday here, one there. Not many at all. We were sad.

But... May has turned out to be the greastest month yet. Originally us waygooks had thought that the only holiday we would get was Buddha's birthday on the 24th. No.
I don't work 1 full week this entire month. This is due to exams, students getting physical examinations, students going to Jeju for a camping trip, my other school having exams, teacher's day, random day off for this volleyball tournament and of course Buddha's birthday.

So this is why I love May! It will soon be June and then I will be home!

Massage of the future

This past week and a bit I've had a tight neck resulting in more headaches than I want.

I went to The Red Club, a very nice spa in our little town and finally was able to convey that I have a sore neck etc etc.

Soooo. It starts out normal. Lotion, the therapist had some great moves, then it went futuristic. They wheeled some machine over and plugged it in and then did ultrasound all over my back! This was pretty awesome actually. The thing was warm with jelly, it was great. Wait, that sounds really bad. Get your mind out of the gutter! Anyway, it was good.

Before I continue, I need to give you some info. In the jimjilbongs I have seen many women with these circular red marks all over their body. Hmmm. Of course confused, I just figured it was some strange Asian remedy for pain or something. From what I had heard, they're from some suction cup thing. Hmmmm, still confused but whatever.

Well. Enter, the suction cup machine. My friend Julia, who was getting a facial beside me says, "Oh, suction cups!". WHAT!

Another machine, the therapist puts these suction/alien things on my back and presses start! They lift up your skin little by little and then one BIG suction which is actually a little painful but in a neat/good kinda way. It felt pretty neat actually but also very strange.

From this little alien suction machine, this is what my back now looks like:

We have a big volleyball tournament tomorrow so it better not hinder my performance or my school will be pissed!

Weddin Palace

Last Sunday my good friend Reena accompanied me to our first Korean wedding. My co-teachers. Much like everything else in Korea, it was done in a balli balli formation. Hurry up, get out of the way, move, honk, go faster.
Why would I have expected a wedding to be any different. It's not one of the most important days of your life, no. Why would you want it to be quiet, without having to listen to the people talk in the hallway and in the audience.
Well, this is Korea. And as we've all realized by now that things that are "normal" to us are not considered normal here.
Let's set the scene.
Wedding Palace, Sunday, 1130am.
A wedding palace is a HUGE building which specializes in, yep, weddings! There are 3 floors with a room where you get married and a big huge dining area, buffet style.
My first question mark was, hmm 1130. Man, you're going to have to get up really early in order to get ready!
Well you better hurry, because there are 2 more weddings right behind you once the guy is finished with you! 1130, 130 and 330 are the scheduled wedding times.
My co-teacher looked beautiful. There are no bridesmaids or groomsmen, no flower girl or cute kids walking down the aisle. The mothers do some sort of thing at the start and then it is the usual walk down the aisle with the wedding song. Then some important looking Korean man yells at them for about 15 minutes, then some guy sang them a song, they bowed to each side of the room, took pictures and then walked down the aisle and had ribbons and stuff shot at them from a trumpet looking thing.

They had better get out of there quick cause they were catching a flight from Incheon airport that afternoon!

Whoa!

But overall, it was very pretty and yet another interesting Korean experience.

Delicious?

Yesterday I was in the school cafeteria eating my salad with Italian dressing on the side and one of the kids comes up and says, "teacher, is that delicious?". Yep I said. They're all looking at it with confused looks on their faces. Hmmmm not delicious she says but still wants to try a little. So I dip some lettuce in the dressing and give it to her and you think she just ate shit. Ohhhhh, not delicious. They point to their empty food trays and say DELICIOUS! I say, no, not delicious, also pointing to their food trays.
So what you're saying is that lettuce, vegetables and some salad dressing grosses you out but fermented roots and vegetables and things that move on your plate don't.
Hmmmm ok.
Until the veggies are not covered in spicy, salty, fermented sauce, I'll stick with my salad thanks.

My humps

So I thought that maybe the little guy might want to lay on the bed with me last night after his stressful day and seeing as he was still somewhat doped up I figured there's NO way he'll try humping me.
Well no. There he is, biting on the blanket, making weird alley cat I need to hump something right now sounds and the motion which I don't need to explain. GROSS!!!! get out of here you pervy cat!
Man, I hope the testosterone leaves his body soon!

Take me back to the farm

I'm sure that's what the little guy is thinking after his ordeal today. The cab ride, the vet, the puking, where's my nuts!?, more puking, what's this stupid thing on my head?, where's my nuts?

He made it through and is resting now but still a little stoned. I have never seen a cat puke so much in one day!

Hopefully he'll stop humping me now!