Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A Korean Vegetarian!
Can it be!?
While eating dinner at camp tonight I was asked if I was watching my weight b/c I was eating a salad. No, I said. Then thinking, WHY!? Are you implying that I need to be watching my weight!? hahahha
My friend then said oh, she's a veg and the woman beside me said me too!
WHAT I said!? you are the FIRST Korean that I have met that doesn't eat meat.
I was very surprised.
So not all Koreans eat meat and not every American is a gun lover and to be feared, right Jess.
While eating dinner at camp tonight I was asked if I was watching my weight b/c I was eating a salad. No, I said. Then thinking, WHY!? Are you implying that I need to be watching my weight!? hahahha
My friend then said oh, she's a veg and the woman beside me said me too!
WHAT I said!? you are the FIRST Korean that I have met that doesn't eat meat.
I was very surprised.
So not all Koreans eat meat and not every American is a gun lover and to be feared, right Jess.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Scariest Place....
Today with the high school kids I did a geography/travel lesson.
I had them ask their partner questions like where have you travelled? where would you like to travel and one question was where do you think the scariest place to visit would be?
Many of the kids said U.S.A. Mmmwwaa ha ha I thought.
Why? I asked. They all showed the universal sign for gun and said many guns and bad people.
What could I say. I couldn't disagree. I just relished in the moment that even wayyyy over here on this tiny island these kids know that America is filled with gun crazy Americans and they are scared to go there. They didn't say the Middle East, they said U.S.A. hmmmmm
I had them ask their partner questions like where have you travelled? where would you like to travel and one question was where do you think the scariest place to visit would be?
Many of the kids said U.S.A. Mmmwwaa ha ha I thought.
Why? I asked. They all showed the universal sign for gun and said many guns and bad people.
What could I say. I couldn't disagree. I just relished in the moment that even wayyyy over here on this tiny island these kids know that America is filled with gun crazy Americans and they are scared to go there. They didn't say the Middle East, they said U.S.A. hmmmmm
Random
While buying a Coke Zero at the Mini stop after getting some groceries, I ran into 2 of my grade 1 girls from my second school. They are very cute and we were speaking as much as we could get across. My new cat, Pabo came up and the one girl asked if she could come up to my apt. in half English and half Korean. Her friend slapped her on the arm as in she shouldn't have asked me to come up, but I said sure.
They came in and yelled in excitement and a little bit of fear of the 6 pound orange cat. I told them to walk towards him slowly and put out your hand.
How to introduce yourself to a new animal 101.
But really, they have no idea how to approach an animal. They were loud and both walking over to him with arms out. No no no! I'm thinking. This cat is mental and only a few months out of rehab!! haha
Once I showed them how, they were good and after only a few hisses Pabo warmed up to them. They were playing together and he even let the one girl hold him.
It was very sweet. They said that they both want pets but their parents won't allow them.
I gave them a few freezy/popsicle things I had in the freezer and they looked at my pictures.
It was a nice random moment.
They came in and yelled in excitement and a little bit of fear of the 6 pound orange cat. I told them to walk towards him slowly and put out your hand.
How to introduce yourself to a new animal 101.
But really, they have no idea how to approach an animal. They were loud and both walking over to him with arms out. No no no! I'm thinking. This cat is mental and only a few months out of rehab!! haha
Once I showed them how, they were good and after only a few hisses Pabo warmed up to them. They were playing together and he even let the one girl hold him.
It was very sweet. They said that they both want pets but their parents won't allow them.
I gave them a few freezy/popsicle things I had in the freezer and they looked at my pictures.
It was a nice random moment.
Breakfast of Champions
For the 3rd Saturday now I have been going to the island of Docho to teach the high school students for a couple of hours. The past few ferry rides have been VERY irritating and uncomfortable. Rosa Parks uncomfortable, like hey whitey, get the hell off our ferry.
Trying to find my happy place and just relax I find myself surrounded by rowdy Koreans who are getting ready to go to the island of Hongdo (which is apparently very beautiful) for hiking and whatever else they do there.
Out comes the Hite (beer), delicious dried squid snacks and of course the Soju. This is great. Oh by the way, it's 8 in the morning and they are getting plastered already. Then all the ajuma's pass some gum around and I can just see where this is going. It's not like that one annoying person who is snapping their gum, it's ALL of them.
So create the picture in your mind. Waygook sitting in the middle of beer, soju, gum snapping, yelling, and dried squid being passed around at 8am.
I lasted about 7 minutes before I left my seat and went and sat on floor downstairs.
Very comfy.
I wanted to start to cry but I had to laugh.
Luckily the ride home was much much better.
Trying to find my happy place and just relax I find myself surrounded by rowdy Koreans who are getting ready to go to the island of Hongdo (which is apparently very beautiful) for hiking and whatever else they do there.
Out comes the Hite (beer), delicious dried squid snacks and of course the Soju. This is great. Oh by the way, it's 8 in the morning and they are getting plastered already. Then all the ajuma's pass some gum around and I can just see where this is going. It's not like that one annoying person who is snapping their gum, it's ALL of them.
So create the picture in your mind. Waygook sitting in the middle of beer, soju, gum snapping, yelling, and dried squid being passed around at 8am.
I lasted about 7 minutes before I left my seat and went and sat on floor downstairs.
Very comfy.
I wanted to start to cry but I had to laugh.
Luckily the ride home was much much better.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Yesterday we were doing a description activity where the kids had a picture of someone I cut out of an old People magazine (thanks Jen!) and they had to describe that person and then make a Wanted poster (thanks Stuart).
Anyway, one cute girl asked me a question and I noticed that she written down "Bread Fit" where the name is supposed to go.
Hmmm Bread Fit.
Ohhhhh! you mean Brad Pitt!! hahahaa I thought this was pretty funny.
The picture was actually of David Beckham.
Anyway, one cute girl asked me a question and I noticed that she written down "Bread Fit" where the name is supposed to go.
Hmmm Bread Fit.
Ohhhhh! you mean Brad Pitt!! hahahaa I thought this was pretty funny.
The picture was actually of David Beckham.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Worth a beating!
So I'm quite certain that my co-teacher for the grade 1's (gr. 7's) hates it when I play games with the students.
The game I had this week works really well and the students get pretty excited and into it. To me, I think great! they are interested! Loud, but interested, engaged and using English.
Mr. Lee thinks, God, why does she always have to play a game with them, they are SO loud and annoying.
Yesterday, Mr. Lee was getting pretty fired up acting as the bouncer for this game and was yelling a lot. More than I had ever seen. Hmmmm, ok, we're still playing the game.
After the bell had gone, Mr. Kim, who is a very gentle man normally, continued to yell at the students and kept about a dozen of them behind. I thought, oh no! Was it b/c they were too excited during the game and weren't listening to him?
While cleaning up my stuff/spying on what he was doing with these students, I notice that he has them all line up so they can all get whacked with the all mighty "love stick".
So all the students got a nice little whack on the back of the calves.
Once finished with his whacking, he tells me that those students were bad b/c they had worn their outside shoes inside.
What hellions!
The game I had this week works really well and the students get pretty excited and into it. To me, I think great! they are interested! Loud, but interested, engaged and using English.
Mr. Lee thinks, God, why does she always have to play a game with them, they are SO loud and annoying.
Yesterday, Mr. Lee was getting pretty fired up acting as the bouncer for this game and was yelling a lot. More than I had ever seen. Hmmmm, ok, we're still playing the game.
After the bell had gone, Mr. Kim, who is a very gentle man normally, continued to yell at the students and kept about a dozen of them behind. I thought, oh no! Was it b/c they were too excited during the game and weren't listening to him?
While cleaning up my stuff/spying on what he was doing with these students, I notice that he has them all line up so they can all get whacked with the all mighty "love stick".
So all the students got a nice little whack on the back of the calves.
Once finished with his whacking, he tells me that those students were bad b/c they had worn their outside shoes inside.
What hellions!
Hey!
Hosing down the bathroom with just water doesn't make it clean!
It just makes it annoying for the people who want to use the bathroom and now have to tip toe around in order to not wipe out and try not to get their clothes wet from water being everywhere!!
It just makes it annoying for the people who want to use the bathroom and now have to tip toe around in order to not wipe out and try not to get their clothes wet from water being everywhere!!
3 WEEKS TILL VANCOUVER
Other things I miss:
* Big cumulus clouds and clear skies.
* Swedish berries
* No Smoking in public places!
* Prairie and open fields
* clothes and shoes that fit
* a really good ceasar salad
* the Stepmill at the gym
* Big cumulus clouds and clear skies.
* Swedish berries
* No Smoking in public places!
* Prairie and open fields
* clothes and shoes that fit
* a really good ceasar salad
* the Stepmill at the gym
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
I hate you
FRUIT FLIES!!!
It is my own fault as I had left the compost a little too long and a ton of flies had been attached to the bananas I bought.
Classic, open the lid and a bunch of the suckers fly out. Grrrrr.
I hate bugs.
It is my own fault as I had left the compost a little too long and a ton of flies had been attached to the bananas I bought.
Classic, open the lid and a bunch of the suckers fly out. Grrrrr.
I hate bugs.
The Inevitable
It finally happened.
I came home to find a bug on the wall above my fridge. Ok, a bug, I'll kill it, big deal.
Then I start to think, hmmm could that be my worst fear coming true right in front of me, could it be!? A cockroach!!!! no no, get that out of your head, it can't be. I keep this place spotless and this bug is too small. NO!
Well... my friend Virginia was nice enough to confirm, that yes, it was a cockroach as "they are small here".
No! I can't believe it! I'm in denial.
Damn it! It's true. but how!!!??
So there I am spraying my entire kitchen with this Raid type stuff I have to keep the ants away and now my place wreaks. I'm probably doing myself and the cat more damage with those chemicals than I am the cockroaches!
Of course now I feel like I have bugs crawling all over me and will be scared every time I open the kitchen cupboards.
DAMN YOU!
I came home to find a bug on the wall above my fridge. Ok, a bug, I'll kill it, big deal.
Then I start to think, hmmm could that be my worst fear coming true right in front of me, could it be!? A cockroach!!!! no no, get that out of your head, it can't be. I keep this place spotless and this bug is too small. NO!
Well... my friend Virginia was nice enough to confirm, that yes, it was a cockroach as "they are small here".
No! I can't believe it! I'm in denial.
Damn it! It's true. but how!!!??
So there I am spraying my entire kitchen with this Raid type stuff I have to keep the ants away and now my place wreaks. I'm probably doing myself and the cat more damage with those chemicals than I am the cockroaches!
Of course now I feel like I have bugs crawling all over me and will be scared every time I open the kitchen cupboards.
DAMN YOU!
There's always something...
Either interesting or disgusting going on around here in Korea.
This morning while out for a run I had the pleasure of watching a man, obviously on his way to work, dressed nice etc, do a full on farmer blow with each nostril. Gotta get it nice and clean before work!
There were adjuma's laying brick down on the boardwalk.
And a man staring straight at my boobs while I ran by. Not like there's even much to stare at so I was a little confused.
Then there's witnessing the daily stupidity of drivers and almost always running into someone who is not paying attention on my bike or getting nearly hit by cars.
There is always something interesting or disgusting that makes me say hmmm or ewwww gross!
This morning while out for a run I had the pleasure of watching a man, obviously on his way to work, dressed nice etc, do a full on farmer blow with each nostril. Gotta get it nice and clean before work!
There were adjuma's laying brick down on the boardwalk.
And a man staring straight at my boobs while I ran by. Not like there's even much to stare at so I was a little confused.
Then there's witnessing the daily stupidity of drivers and almost always running into someone who is not paying attention on my bike or getting nearly hit by cars.
There is always something interesting or disgusting that makes me say hmmm or ewwww gross!
Friday, June 8, 2007
FIRE CROTCH
This is what I have when I sit on my bike after it's been sitting outside in the sun at work.
Now that my bike seat has decided to stick in one spot and I am unable to take it off, this is what I get when the nice leather seat that has been sitting in the blazing sun all day.
Great.
Now that my bike seat has decided to stick in one spot and I am unable to take it off, this is what I get when the nice leather seat that has been sitting in the blazing sun all day.
Great.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
More Jeju pics
View from our hotel room/sunset from ferry
Chocolate museum trolley
bored
Deciding which chocolates to eat
Jeju Island
This past weekend some friends and I headed out to the beautiful island of Jeju to take part in the 12th annual Jeju Marathon.Myself and Monique ran the half and Julia and Jessica ran the 10k. A first for all of them.
Hoping the weather would be beautiful and that I would come back with a nice tan, when I finally got off of the 5 hour ferry ride, it was raining. It rained all friday and night. It rained all Ssturday. Of course I thought. Murphy's Law.
In any case, I was able to see some beautiful parts of the island. Highlights included dowtown Jeju-si which included a nice market, an hour bus ride down the coastline of the island to go to the chocloate musuem. Good think the choco was amazing, cause the rest of the museum was lacking.
Saturday night the girls and I made a giant pasta dinner and had some laughs with a somewhat early bedtime in preparation for the run on Sunday.
We rose to cloudy skies on sunday morning. Oh surprise, more rain we all thought. By the time we arrived at the race site the skies cleared and it turned out to be an absolutley gorgeous day. I got my tan and a great set of racoon eyes which students and teachers love to comment on.
My run was not my greatest but the race course was beautiful. Oh, so beautiful. The other girls had really good runs and it was so nice to do it together. I'll definitely go back for the run and for my own vacation.
Once I finally dragged my ass across the finish line, I was able to head down to the blue blue water and dip my sore legs in. It was so pretty and I wanted to stay there all day but we had to go pig out on Pizza Hut. It was great.
The ferry ride home was not so great. Seated in a large open room that is shared with about 20 something people, children running by, girl beside me pulling out a big smelly bag of squid treats to munch on. Mmmmm.
We passed the time by taking many ridiculous photos and wandering the ferry playing Tetris and eating ice cream.
It was a great weekend and I can't wait to go back.
I might fly next time though.
One for the big girls
While shopping for a dress today for Darren's brother's wedding, I went into this one store that looked like the sizes were a bit bigger. Like, for normal sized people. I thought maybe sizes 12, 14 and up and up.
The chubby Korean clerk, looked at me and said, "Oh no, only big size".
Oh my I thought. Even to big for ME! Who is considered huge to most other stores and clerks.
Yeah! you go chubby Korean girls and yeah to the rest of us. ANY SIZE!
The chubby Korean clerk, looked at me and said, "Oh no, only big size".
Oh my I thought. Even to big for ME! Who is considered huge to most other stores and clerks.
Yeah! you go chubby Korean girls and yeah to the rest of us. ANY SIZE!
The power of the spray bottle
So this week I had my grade 3's. Which is equivalent to grade 9's at home. They are assholes and my biggest challenge at the all boys school.
Not wanting to deal with any crap this week, I decided to bring in my spray bottle that I use to spray the cat with.
Hmmm, this might work for bratty teenage boys as well I thought.
Well yes, it does and it is my new best friend in the classroom!
Hey, it's better than getting wacked with a wooden stick on the back of the calves!
Not wanting to deal with any crap this week, I decided to bring in my spray bottle that I use to spray the cat with.
Hmmm, this might work for bratty teenage boys as well I thought.
Well yes, it does and it is my new best friend in the classroom!
Hey, it's better than getting wacked with a wooden stick on the back of the calves!
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