December

wow its been a while since I last wrote anything! Been really busy and sick. Mostly busy with work and following SS501 activities. Work has been interesting. Lately the kids have been really nice to me. The other day two of my boys were fighting over me in one class (3rd grade), then in the next class I walked in and one of the boys was sitting at his desk wearing my hat, scarf, and gloves (4th grade).

Yesterday was a really interesting day as well. I n my 2nd class (1st and 2nd grade) I was having a discussion with my students about what they want to be when they grow up. Here is part of the discussion:

student: "teacher, what do you want to be when you grow up?" (keep in mind that I am 35 years old!)

Me: "Me? I want to be a photographer. A photographer is a person who takes pictures of things. I would also like to be a model."

Students: "oh no teacher! You can't be a model!!"

Me: "Why?"

Students: "because teacher, models are really thin and you are very fat!" (thanks for stating the obvious!)

Me: " :( so what should I do?"

Students: "running motion for 30 minutes every day, jump rope 200 times, hoolahoop 2000 times a day, and drink 10 liters of water each day"

Me: "ok, so what should I eat?"

Students: " for breakfast-2 carrots, 3 broccoli, and 1 apple. Lunch- soup, and 5 broccoli, dinner- pizza and rice!"

Me: "What about chicken?"

Students: "oh no teacher, chicken is too fattening!"

Disappointment:

I have had a lot of disappointment over the last couple of months with regards to traveling and SS501 activities. It started in October when I was supposed to go to Japan for 4 days during Koreas holiday time called chuseok. We had our tickets and hotel room reserved and paid for then my friends boss told her that if she went-she would be fired so we had to cancel everything-she ended up quitting two weeks later anyway so we should went anyway! Everybody over here was so worried about getting swine flu-but now that so many people have gotten it-they have realised that it is no worse than the regular flu-the media just blew it out of proportion! So the next week I had VIP tickets to see SS501 in concert for my birthday. The day before my birthday I get a call from the concert venue saying that concert was cancelled due to swine flu (again with the pig flu nonsense!). So then, I enter 120 times in a contest to meet SS501's leader Kim Hyun Joong-and I didnt win-not that I really expected to! The event ended up being cancelled due to some copyright issues or something like that. Then I find out that SS501 is going to be in a charity concert in Seoul. I desperately searched the internet to find tickets with no luck (mostly because my korean is so limited!) only to find out later that tickets were free-all you had to do is register online and bring 2 packs of rameon to the concert. I find this out the day of the concert and then find out all of the tickets were gone! :(. So next my friend and I decide that we want to go somewhere for our winter vacation. At first we thought Malaysia (some day I will get there) but it was too expensive so we settled on Singapore-which is cool because I have an E-Pal there that I would like to meet. So then her boss never gives her approval to go because apparently there is some fuss about foreign teachers getting too much vacation time here. Please-I get 3 days in the winter and 3 days in the summer-thats not vacation time in America-thats regular time off for a work week! It is a little different for my friend though because she works for public school and gets 6 weeks off per year-comparable to the US. So we decided to cancel our trip to Singapore. Yesterday I found out that SS501 postponed their Bangkok, Thailand concert from Jan.9, to Feb.13-which is valentines day weekend and Chinese new year so a lot of Asians had to cancel their tickets. Since I do not celebrate Chinese new year and will have the time off, I am trying to go to Thailand for the concert-we will see what happens! SS501 will be holding 3 concerts that month (from what I have heard)-1 in Thailand and then 2 encore concerts in Seoul at the end of the month. My goal is to see all three. I am worried about what the future holds for them as their contract is up in June so I want to see them as much as possible for the time being in case it is a long time before I get to see them again. Last time I saw them in concert I was so sick that I couldnt really enjoy it fully. It was the best concert I had ever seen, but at the same time I was so miserable the whole time.

Sleep:

I am suffering from lack of sleep! I don't know why! Part of it is because I have bronchitis and the caughing spells are keeping me up all night. I have a very long day today that I am dreading because I I have not slept since Sunday night and it is Tuesday!

Gyeongju:

A few weeks ago my friend Julie came down to visit me. I finally had the chance to explore the beautiful town I live in. Gyeonju was the first capitol korea under the Shilla Dynasty. Our first stop was to visit a place called Shilla Mellinium Park. This place is so cool. It is different from an traditional village I have ever gone too. We originally went there because we had heard that our favorite TV show Boys over Flowers filmed a few scenes there including the date between JiHoo and JanDi and the hotel on the property was the set for JiHoo's home. It was so cool-of course as soon as I got home I ahd to watch those scenes again! We were also pleasantly surprised by the shows they had. First we watched a show demonstrating the military techniques they used during the Shilla Dynasty, then we watched a show called "Tears of the Queen" about Queen SeonDuk (the first Queen) love for a Baekje general. Even though the dialogue was all in korean, the music and drama was powerful enough that we could understand what was going on. There is also a working set there for the drama "Queen SeonDuk" which is in it's final episodes on TV now. We got to walk on the set and take pictures with cutouts of the characters. It was really interesting and I love the drama as well. Throughout the park there are kiosk where you can make traditional arts and crafts. We didnt get to see much because we didnt get there until almost four and the park closed at 8. It is really big so you need a whole day to fully enjoy it. The next day we took a city bus tour-which I expected to be really cheesy but was actually pretty cool. We got on the bus at Gyeongju train station at 11 o clock in the morning. We didnt eat breakfast so we went to the family mart next to the station and triangle kimbap and coffee then set in front of the station and had a little picnic. Then we got on the bus where our guide greeted me in english and explained that everything would be in korean. Fortunately, before each stop, they played a short video explaining about the place we were going to in english. We first went to a park were the royal family played games. Then we went to where all the royal family have their tombs. One of the tombs has been excevated so you can go inside it. Everything has been moved to the National museum and their are replicas inside of what was originally there. We then went to the first observatory in Asia built by Queen SeonDuk. Then lunch at a Korean buffet and off to the Buddhist Grotto where they held their religious ceremonies. Finally we went to the Buddhist temple Bugulksa. The grounds of this temple is absolutely beautiful-especially when we went because all of the leaves were changing colors and it was in the evening so the sun was starting to set which made the colors even more vibrant. The tour ended back at the train station around 6p.m.

Bulguksa Temple Grounds

Grotto
observatory

Random thoughts in korea

1. I am finally mastering the art of microwave cooking! Microwavable kimchi and rice,Microwavable kimchi and rice with chicken, Microwavable kimchi and rice with pork, Microwavable kimchi and rice with tuna, jjajang bap (rice with black sauce), jjajang myung (noodles with black sauce), jjajang myung with shrimp, etc.!


2. tomorrow is pepero day in Korea. It is the only special day that I know of anywhere in the world where girls give each other chocolate covered cookie sticks in order to wish each other luck in growing tall and thin! I love Korea's crazy holidays that usually occur around the middle of each month:
pepero day-Nov.11-give each other chocolate covered cookie sticks
valentines day-Feb 14-similar to American valentines day but a little different. Here on valentines day, women give their men (or whomever they want to be there man) chocolates
White Day- March 15-men give the ladies hard candies and stuffed animals (I would prefer the chocolate though with stuffed animals!)
Black day-April 16- those who have not found lovers by this time dress in black and gather together to eat jjajang myun (noodles with black sauce). This is usually the day for me!
may 20-rose day-where lovers give each other roses
June 15-kiss day-no explanation necessary!
even Christmas is different here. In the US Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ and being together with family and friends. Not mention the decorations that start selling in August! Here, they start selling Christmas decorations around December 20 and Christmas is a time for lovers. The most popular Christmas song is WHAMS "Last Christmas"! Terrible!!! :)


3) Walking in Korea- when you walk anywhere in Korea, you literally take your life into your own hands! Because, not only are you walking on the streets, but there are also parked cars, moving cars, street vendors, motorcyclist, bicyclist and other pedestrians. Going and coming to/from work I have to cross a major street. There is a crosswalk but no crossing light so you have to step out in front of traffic and pray that they will stop! I usually try to find a group of Koreans who are crossing at the same time and cross with us-I figure there is safety in numbers! The few sidewalks are not safe either because they are shared with parked cars, bicycles, motorcycles and are paved with uneven stones.

4) Walking home in the rain- tonight as I was walking home in the rain- I started thinking about how happy I am that I listened to my dad! Before I came to Korea, he told me not to buy a nice expensive umbrella, but rather get a couple of cheap ones. After being here for 15 months, tonight I final realized why. The wind was so strong that I felt like I was trying to walk in a tropical storm! As I walked I had another dilemma: do I take the back steps to my complex that is well lit, close to my building, covered in wet leaves, broken, and unevenly spaced, or do I take the side steps that are also near my building, dark, covered in wet leaves, evenly spaced but made of uneven stones, or do I walk around the complex to the front gate in the cold wind and rain without a jacket on-only a hoodie, t-shirt, jeans and black flats? I opted for the most dangerous-the back steps because i was cold, wet, tired and they were the closest. I just grabbed onto the rusty gate next to the steps and pulled myself up-praying that I wouldn't fall!

5) The rain-I really dislike rain-I always have. It is cold, wet, boring, depressing gives me a headache and makes me want to sleep. The problem here is, that my kitchen and balcony are made of tin walls so all night long while I am trying to sleep it sounds like my apartment is trying to blow apart then I hear a constant plink, plink, plink all night-then people wonder why i am cranky the next day! I love my apartment though when it is not raining! I have a beautiful 180 degree view of the mountains out of my kitchen window and a lot of storage space. The enclosed balcony is the perfect size for my dog "baby" to have his own room.

6) cold-the weather in Korea has been really weird lately. Two weeks ago it was in the 20s and 30s and snowing in Seoul! Last week it was in the high 70's! Today it is back down to the low 50s. The heating system here is in the floor. You turn it on before bed then by the time you get up in the morning the air is comfortable but unless you wear slippers, your feet will feel like you are walking around on hot coals. I do not have heat in my kitchen, bathroom or balcony so keep those doors closed so that i can get the full heating effect in the living room and my bedroom. When turning on the heat, I have to be careful not to turn on the hot water also-otherwise my boss will get a call from the apartment manager and gas company saying I am using to much hot water. When I moved in, they told me to fill a bucket up with hot water then turn the gas off-otherwise it will be to expensive. I don't do that though-I just try to remember to turn it off immediately after I finish. To cook, shower, heat anything using gas-the gas has to be turned on and off every time. I hate washing my hands at work because they never turn on the hot water-even when the weather is cold!


I do love it here-I am not really complaining as much as just making general observations and laughing at how things are so different yet can be so similar!

My life in Korea so far!

Young Baby Kyu Min Hyun--aint he cute!

Three days after returning from my wonderful vacation and the SS501 concert, I received a sudden blow. My boss gave me a letter saying that as of August 24th, I no longer had a job do to financial problems. So, I had two weeks to find a new job, new apartment, and a new visa. I desperately wanted to stay in Cheonan-but it didnt work out that way. I now live in Gyeongju, teach at a smaller-better school, have a bigger apartment, a really cool cell phone, a house phone, a great boss, and an adorable dog that I named Young Baby Kyu Min Hyun because he is so cute and so little (smaller than my chihuahuas back home! ) He is also named after all five members of SS501- Heo Young Saeng, Kim Hyung Joon "Baby", Kim Kyu Jong, Park Jung Min and Kim Hyun Joong! I am also directing the play Snow White. It started out as a small production of two classes doing the play for the other students and their parents. Now, it is all 8 classes doing 2 plays and each class performing a song and a poem in either the local city park or down by the riverside which is a major tourist area! And I have to organize, teach, and produce this thing!!!! My students were complaining about memorizing their lines so I made a deal with them. I told them that if they would memorize all of their lines, then I would learn a song in Korean. They told me that since I like SS501 so much that I could sing one of their songs. The only one they are familiar with is "UR Man" so that is the song we agreed on. Then they said that I have to do the dance also. Now we have three problems: I am a terrible singer, I speak very little korean, and I definately can't dance! The 24th of October should be quite comical to say the least!!!! Now I need to find the lyrics to UR MAN. I have found the romanization of them, but that doesnt help-I need the actual hangul (korean characters) to read in order to get the correct pronunciation. I have a youtube video that teaches that dance-but that doesnt help the fact that I am extremely clumsy, top heavy, and have no rythm!
11:51 PM

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
SS501-The sexiest concert ever!
I know this is late! Most of you know how hard I tried to get tickets for the August 2, 2009 SS501 concert in Seoul. Well, 2 days before I went back to the states on vacation, I finally got tickets. I had no idea where I would be though!. I came back to Korea on the evening of August 2nd. As expected, the airline lost my luggage. I went to my friend Rudia's to stay for the weekend. I was so happy to get some korean food and Soju! The day of the concert, I woke up early-feeling terribly sick. I got maybe an hour and half sleep that night because I was so hot and keyed up about everything. At 11:00AM, I met my friend Karissa at the KTX station and we took the the subway to Olympic Park. I was praying that I would not throw up the whole way there! When we got there, as soon as I saw all of the vendors selling SS501 stuff I completely forgot about being sick and had one thing on my mind: SHOPPING!!!! I ended up buying about $50 worth of official merchandise-my favorite .... well, I dont know! I got a ball cap, 2 posters, a fan (it was freakin' hot!), and a stationary set, oh and a book! By this time it was only 1pm. and the concert did not start until 7! Around 2 I started feeling bad again, and threw up all over a tree-in front of every body!! I was so embarrassed! Around four we found the section where we were supposed to line up. At 430-it started pouring down raining! Of course with in seconds-there were vendors selling ponchos! At 530 they let us go in the arena. When I got inside I about died! WE were in the seventh row-right in front of the stage!! They showed some videos and I talked to the people around me. One of the girls recognized me form the hotsun chicken and shinsgae dept. store fan meetings! I was shocked because I looked terrible! No make up and I couldnt do my hair because of my luggage being lost! Anyway, the concert finally began. At first I was like "are they kidding! This so retarded-the guys look like freaks! They are too good to be looking like this--and this is when they were singing my favorite song--DeJa Vu. Then they changed clothes and it kept getting better and better. They sang all of my favorite songs including DeJa Vu, 4 chance, Wuss up, Hey girl, If you can, and please be nice to me. The best part of the concert was Kim Hyun Joongs solo part (of course-he is the best right! Well, it's a tie between him, Kyu Jong, and JungMin!) Before he came on stage, they showed a video of him taking a shower. It was so hot I got so dizzy and though I would pass out! Then he came on stage and starting dancing. Usually, I think it looks so stupid when singers grab themselves on stage-but he makes it look sexy-like he is saying "hey baby I have a nice big present for you!" Then he starts singing Please Be Nice To Me. Towards the end, he takes off his jacket and a female dancer comes on stage. They rip his shirt open and start dancing together. She leaves and the other dancers come on stage. Then he does the sexiest move. He lifts his shirt a little and rolls his hips-then he completely removes his shirt and throws it into the crowd of screaming girls! I thought he was skinny, but, man does that boy have a nice chest and arms! At the end of the concert they celebrated Hyung Joon's birthday (yes- as Ashley pointed out, that is who my dog is named after--"Baby"). They brought out a cake and sung happy birhtday-then the real fun began! They started chasing each other around the stage with super soaker water guns and cups of water! Oh, by the middle of the concert I was in the front row. Hyun Joong, Kyu Jong, and JungMin all three walked on the side of the stage where I was standing and I got to see their beautiful smiles-JungMin even waved at me! After the concert, I met up with Sophia-one of the friends that I made at the Shensagae fanmeeting! I was on cloud 501! I cant wait for the DVD to come out! I still dream about that concert! If only I were 12 years younger, and 100 lbs lighter!

Sunday, July 05, 2009
My fourth of July spent with Kim Hyun Joong and SS501 Current mood: ecstatic
While most Americans spent independence day with BBQ's, parades, and fireworks-I spent the day with my friends chasing my favorite singer (and group) around Seoul! Here is how my weekend went:Friday:1019 p.m. Picked up my friend Katie from the train station.1045 p.m. Dinner and SoJu near my apt.Saturday:0130 a.m. go to bed0245 a.m. text messaging with my friend Ashley about her not going on the train with us to Seoul0530 a.m. get up and get ready to go to Seoul0720 a.m. breakfast at McDonalds in Cheonan then to train station to go to Seoul0817 a.m. Train leaves for Seoul0856 a.m. arrive in Seoul0930 a.m. take subway to Gangnam area of Seoul1015 a.m. arrive at hotsun chicken where Kim Hyun Joong was rumored to arrive. We hung out at starbucks until around 1130 a.m. when we saw the crowds starting to gatherwhile waiting we met a girl named Sabrina who was there to see him from China1:50p.m. Kim Hyun Joong arrived2:15 p.m. it starts pouring down rainingWhile waiting for Kim Hyun Joong to arrive, we found out that the rest of Kim Hyun Joongs singing group SS501 while be appearing at 4pm at a local shopping mall to sign autographs, so Katie and Ashley go on ahead to check things out for us in case we needed to get tickets. Meanwhile, me, Sabrina, Rudia, and Lindsey (the international team: American-Chinese-Korean-Canadian) waited in the rain and watched as he took pictures and greeted contest winnersKatie and Ashley arrived at the mall and were taken to a convention hall where they were told that even though we didnt have tickets, we could sit in the back and watch-we just couldnt meet them or get autographs.3:15p.m. Kim Hyun Joong leaves Hotsun Chicken to go to the mall for the second fanmeeting and promotion of their new clothing line. At this time he spots me and Lindsey in the crowd because we are the only white chicks there-and smiles at us! Rudia who was standing behind us got this great picture of him!3:25p.m. we pick up Jolie and go to the mall. On the way there is a major traffic jam near the mall and me, Jolie, and Lindsey are all yelling in Korean "bally ka bally ka!" (go fast, go fast!) we are also playing phone tag with Rudia and Sabrina who are in the taxi behind us.3:37 We finally make it to the mall. As we are running in, we run into Kim Hyun Joongs bodygaurds coming out of the bathroom next to the elevator. We go up to the 6 floor where the convention hall is supposed to be only to find out that we need to be in the next building only. Ashley and I start playing phone tag at this point and Jolie just takes off running down the esculators! Finally we make it to the room and wait for SS501 to appear. They appear 10 minutes later. Then they take time to give autographs and pictures to the fans with tickets. Some fans became aggressive and had to be physically removed from the stage. As soon as they finished the autographs--Kim Hyun Joong makes the announcement that they are walking back to see us girls that dont have tickets. A couple minutes later all five of them walk back to where we were. Unfortunately, the Korean fans would not listen to the bodygaurds and swarmed the guys as soon as they got to us. The other fans then tore down the caution tape being used to hold them back and started chasing the guys. Being the polite foreigners that we are :) we stayed back because the poor guys had a look of terror on their faces. Jolie joined the chase however, and yelled "I love you" to them in English! The two youngest members of the group speak very good English and looked up at her-smiled- and waved at her! While here I met a girl from New York who is here for SS501's fanmeetings and concert in August. I told her about how everytime the concert tickets went on sale, they would sell out before I could get one. She told me her friend has an extra one and said she would call me. This girl has followed SS501 all over the world for the last 3 months! She had some great pictures of them that she took! Same thing with Sabrina from China! We spent most of our waiting time looking at the pictures and videos they had on their cameras from the various places they went to see SS501! Suddenly all that remained in the room was my group of friends and the bodyguards. One of them came over and gave us each a poster of the guys. 5:45p.m. I get to go to the bathroom for the first time all day!!! I come out and there are a bunch of girls/women talking and passing out stickers advertising a ss501 fanclub online. We start talking to them and find out that one of them was chosen to have her room raided by SS501 at their JeJu Island fanmeeting in May. They came to her hotel room at 1 AM to say goodnight and play rock-paper-scissors with her and her roommates for the chance to win a special gift from the guys. I knew she looked familiar--it was because I had just seen her on TV the night before when I was watching the video of the hotel room raids on SS501s TV show "Romantic Sky."6:00 p.m.

We finally eat for the first time since 7:20 am. Lindsey was starving! We went to Outback in the basement of the mall to eat dinner. They put us in a private room that had another table of women at it-this group happened to be the same group from outside the bathroom! I was so high on adrenaline I cant eat my dinner. We end up giving all of our leftovers to Jolie to take home to her husband!After we eat, we say goodbye to Rudia and Sabrina, and get on the bus to come back to Cheonan.8:15p.m. bus to Cheonan8:56p.m. arrive at Yawoori (our local mall and main bus depot) and go to our favorite hangout--Starbucks.9:15- By this time we have our second wind and decide to go singing. So we went to my favorite singing room and sang for an hour and a half.11:00p.m. I finally get home, shower and play computer games for a while--then chat with Michael online for a few minutes.2:00a.m. I finally go to bed--only to get up again at 830am for church!
5:10 PM

Thursday, May 07, 2009
Busan trip Current mood: sleepy
This past weekend, there were 3 holidays in Korea: Workers day-Friday, Parents Day-Saturday, and Childrens day-Tuesday. Since we had 4 1/2 days off, my friend and decided to go out of town to Busan. At first we thought about Seoul-but we can go anytime since it is only 30 minutes by KTX train (2 hrs by bus, 2.5 hrs by subway). Busan is 2.16 hrs by KTX or 5.5 hrs by bus. We got the last 2 remainig tickets for Busan, packed a backpack and headed south for the weekend. We didnt even have hotel reservations because everything was booked up. We got on the train at 6am and got to Busan, and was in a hotel room less than 100 yards from the train station by 9am. Again we got the last room they had also. We paid 39,000 won a night --which is about $30. The location was perfect in that if we got lost all we had to do was say take us to the train station. The hotel literally shared a courtyard with the train station on one side and the subway station on the other side. Saturday we took the subway to Jagalchi seafood market which every kind of seafood imaginable, then we went shopping in an underground shopping mall where I got a coach purse for 30$! Then we took the subway to Haeundae beach (supposedly the most famous beach in Korea though I dont know why--SongDo was much nicer). There we ate lunch at PapaJohns Pizza and went to the Aquarium. After the aquarium we took the subway back to our hotel. Lindsey slept while I took a bath. Then we walked around thrying to find dinner. We went to a little Korean restaurant where we had grilled pork wrapped in lettuce with about five different side dishes--this is quickly becoming my favorite korean meal! After dinner we went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream sundaes and then to a DVD room across from our hotel to watch a sad Korean movie called the little prince (with english subtitles). Sunday we ate breakfast at Starbucks then went to a Buddhist temple. We took the 45 minute subway ride to Haeundae beach, then a 45 minute bus ride to the temple. After the temple we went to the APEC house, then Busan Tower. At the tower we met some interesting people from Korea and Japan and watched a cultural show. We then went to eat dinner. The restaurant was empty when we went in then we saw people looking at us and saying "foreigners" so when we left the restaurant there wasnt an empty seat in the place! Koreans are always so shocked to hear Lindsey speaking fluent Korean!!! They are also shocked to hear my broken Korean-because most foreigners only speak english to them. We then went back to the hotel, used the internet to look up the romanization of the korean words to our favorite songs, changed clothes, flirted with the bellhop, and then went to a noraebang (karaoke room) where we sang for 2 hours! Monday we ate breakfast at Dunkin doughnuts, then took a taxi to Songdo beach. We stayed there for about 4 hours, came back to the train station and ate lunch at Pizza Hut, then went to the DVD room to watch an english movie with korean subtitles! Then we went to a coffee shop for about an hour and then caught our train home. We got home about 10pm Monday night. Then we had Tuesday all day to rest before going back to work on Wednesday (yeah right do you think we would actually rest when we had the chance to!
Dinner Sunday Night- beef and kimchi on the grill. For our dinners we ate Korean food. We ate lunch at Papa Johns on Saturday, McDonalds on Sunday, then Pizza hut on Monday! Breakfast every morning was at Dunkin Doughnuts and starbucks!

Since I was the oldest I got preferential treatment. I chose the bed I wanted, I chose sightseeing locations, and got the last remaining seat on the subway while Lindsey stood. If anyone older than me got on the subway though, I would have had to given up my seat and it was a long subway ride! Very cheap though! What would have cost about 20$ by taxi, only cost 2$ Roundtrip) by subway!We would go 6 stops get off, change to another line and go 16 stops to the beach. We had to get a hotel at the subway station because all the rooms near the beach were sold out because it was both a korean holiday and a japanese holiday. Japan is a 2.5 hr ferry ride from Busan.


our hotel--funny things:
1) in the closet, there was a bag with a flashlight and a rope that looked like bedsheets tied together in it that said "fire escape equipment"
2) the decor reminded me of the decor in tower of terror at disney
3) in the elevator there was a sign that read "we are always prepared to the complaint reports in the front office"
4) as we were checking out a roach that looked like a palmetto bug on steroids came out of the bathroom to see us off
5) I was so excited that we had a bath tub because I have only taken showers for the last 8 months. I got in to take a bath and the thing was so small that my butt got stuck between the 2 side walls!
6) when leaving the hotel for any amount of time-you must leave your key at the front desk, the pick it up when you return


Saturday, April 18, 2009
Dating tips from sixth graders Current mood: amused
My students are desperate for me to get remarried because I am too old to be single, so since I was supposed to go out with a new guy last night, here is the advice my students gave me:1) dont make noise when you drink something2) dont eat a lot of food3) ask him his hobbies4) invite him to do something with you that you both enjoy5) dont talk about other men6) dont laugh out loud-just smile pretty7) dont wear perfume that smells boyish8) show up for the date 10 minutes late9) when drinking, use both your cup and saucer10) make sure you know his phone number11) find out what kind of girl he likes12) drink tea instead of coffee-it is more ladylike

12:12 PM
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
would never happen in America Current mood: amused
So today, I was quite impressed with one of my young students. I believe he is9 in american years which makes him 11 in Korea. Our school is being remodeled so beginning today we had to relocate to the fourth floor of our building. The rooms are quite a bit smaller and there are not enough chairs and desk for everybody. So my one boy-Kay (Kai) was sitting down when one of the girls came in late. He looked around the room and saw there were no chairs left, so he got up and picked up his things and told her "noona (older sister) I am sorry but there are no more seats so you can have mine." He then put on his backpack and stood against the wall. I was so touched so I offered him my chair. He smiled and said "no, Katrina ssan sang nim (teacher) is tired and needs to sit down-I will be okay standing here" Then Sally -the girl that came in late saw a chair that in a corner with a box on it. She moved the box and gave him the chair, so he was able to sit down and share a desk with another boy. What amazed me the most is that he is the youngest in the class and she is the oldest-yet he is the only one that did that. They make a real big deal about age and how you speak to someone older than you. When meeting someone it is very important to find out their age (or if the same age-their birthday) so that you know how to address somebody.On a more negative note, punishment is very different here and I love it. The two main punishments I have seen at my school are flicking or hands in the air. The flicking is primarily between the students. Usually if a student does something wrong (no homework, speaking Korean in class, being disrespectful to the teacher or other students) the older classmates will flick that student really hard on the forhead until they have a mark. I have seen the teachers do this as well but not as often. The preferred method of the teachers is the hands in the air method. If a student does something wrong (late, no materials, texting in class, playing computer games in the lab) their teacher wil make them stand in a very public place in the school with their hands in the air for a certain amount of time-usually starting at 5 minutes and going as long as 30 minutes. A few variations I have seen have been making the kid hold their backpack up in the air-or the missing materials or wearing a sign and yelling their infractions while they hold their hands up. I saw one teacher get mad today because a very young student (6 in US age) addressed the teacher as "Angela" rather than the more formal of "Angela-nim" (miss Angela) or Angela SSan Sang Nim (Angela Teacher).Could you imagine if they had this system in the states how different or students would be? The biggest discipline problem I have is the students using to much Korean in class and trying to take pictures of me all the time with their cell phones while I am teaching! There have been many times where I have had a nice collection of cell phones on my desk!
9:59 PM

Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter-Celebrity for a day! Current mood: amused
Today is Easter and I felt like a celebrity all day. It started yesterday when my friends Julie and Lindsey and I went to get our hair done-then Lindsey and I went to my friend Hye Hyun's nail shop to get our nails done. At church we decided that everybody should dress in traditional Korean clothes called a "Hanbok". The men were to wear a suit with a pink tie. The dresses are very difficult to put on so there has to be at least one other person to help. The ensemble includes: white socks, pantaloones (bloomers--silk pants that have elastic around the ankles), a very big petticoat that zips up in the front and crushes your boobs so tight that you cant breath, the skirt that wraps around and ties in the front, an undershirt, and a jacket. My friend Julie-who I call "unni" which means big sister in Korean-came over to help me dress and carry things to church. I felt really awkward because people were staring at me as I walked down the street! On the way, we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast. Julie announced that she was to be my lady in waiting for the day and would not let me do anything! she brought my food to me then returned my tray, carried everything, and provided wet tissues for me to clean my hands! Then we went to church and met up with everybody else dressed in Hanboks. After church we had a potluck dinner and took the subway to a local high school that was having a cherry blossom festival. This is when the real fun began. I picked up one more lady in waiting-Sarah, and a handmaiden-Susan! They made me really feel like a Princess. At the festival we watched the boys high school perform a dance to Justin Timberlakes "Sexy Back". We then walked around the campus to take pictures and look at the cherry blossom trees. As we were walking people would take random pictures or videotape us. It really was like a celebrity because Lindsey and I were dressed up in the traditional Hanbok while Susan and Julie were in the modern Hanboks-we were also surrounded by a group of 10 friends-including ChonHo (my trainer from the gym and friend-who has a degree in being a bodyguard). Every few minutes people would walk up to us and ask to take our picture, or comment about how beautiful we were. We would say okay they could take our picture, all of a sudden 10 camera's would start flashing out of nowhere like papparazzi-both from our friends and strangers! A big thing over here is "couple shirts" where couple would wear identical shirts to show their love for each other. The most fun picture was with an older couple that were dressed in white leisure suits with red shirts, big sunglasses, and a round hat. They were so sweet and cute. He spoke english and had a great since of humor! I have never felt so beautiful in my life! We then went downtown to the mall. We went into a coffee shop to change clothes and a young man came up and started talking to me-it was so sweet! By this time we were exhausted so we changed into jeans and went to eat all the things we had given up for lent at Outback for dinner! To end a perfect day-Jolie and I found some socks with F4 on it for about .50 cents! Jolie got some with Gu JunPyo and Yoon JiHoo, I got Yoon JiHoo and So YiJung!
9:58 PM

Friday, March 27, 2009
BOF favorite characters
So I was thinking about my favorite show-as I have for the last two weeks since I started watching it and was trying to decide which character is my favorite. This post is directed mostly to my students!!! :) 1- JiHoo--All my students know I love JiHoo! The reason he is #1 to me is because he is the rescuer! Anytime there is trouble-he shows up. He also plays devils advocate alot in order to get JanDi and Jun Pyo together. The thing I dont like about him is that he is too stubborn to admit how he really feels and to stand up to his friend.2) YiJung-I fell in love with him when he took Ga Eul to the club and made over her in front of the jerk she was dating. He wasz such a smooth talking gentleman!3) Jun Pyo- I didnt like him at several points in the show and still dont really know how I feel about him. The thing that I do like about him is his money! I really hate the fact that he turned his back on his friends because of his mother.4) Woo Bin-I dont know much about him. I do think he is hilarious when he throws out random hip hop words in English.The perfect man-I think that the perfect man would be a combination of all four of these characters: extremely wealthy, heart stopping smiles, lovable arragance, loyalty to friends, protective, fun, sincere, romantic, love to shop, talented, and of course it would be even more perfect if this man was a devoted Christian!ahhh.....sigh.... but this kind of man only exists in Fairy Tales and Korean drama's! It is still fun to dream heheheheh!The teachers at school tease me because I am the oldest and I love this show so much, but they dont realize that I understand enough Korean to recognize that they are talking about it as much as I do! The only difference is the language we talk in! Three of them are even coming to the party I am having for my students next week!!
10:23 PM

Thursday, March 26, 2009
korea and life Current mood:Reflective
1) KoreaI still love korea very much. It is hard to believe I have been here 7 months already. I am very tired and ready for a break. I am anxiously waiting for July to get here so I can go home for 3 weeks. I am becoming more Korean everyday, , but I still miss some of the conveniences of home.A) Language-I am starting to understand the Korean language a little better each day. B) To help me learn, I have started watching Korean TV shows more than American shows. I watch them on TV, then watch on the computer with english subtitles. Right now my favorite shows are Boys Over Flowers and Hello My Teacher. They are both very similar in content in that both feature a love triangle, young, extremely handsome, disgustingly rich bullies that are tamed by an average girl. BOF is the most famous show in Korea right now-it is everywhere from cell phones to dunkin donuts! It is about a group of boys at an elite school for the extremely wealthy. The boys are called F4. They all have distinct personalities but they have each others back at all times. The characters are:Gu Jun Pyo-Heir to a major corporation with a witch for a mother. He is the leader of the group. He is extremely arragant, cocky, childish, mean spirited, jealous, and protective. He is also extremely afraid of bugs!Yoon JiHoo- Talented musician, introspective, kind, sleepy, grandson of former president, afraid to drive a car because his parents were killed in a car crash when he was a small child-which he blames himself for. He is the hero of the show-when the girl gets in trouble-he always happens to be right there!So YiJung- smooth talker, ladies man, killer small, artist, afraid of commitmentWoo Bin- fighter, stays mostly in the background, says very little. From what I have heard, he is supposed to be a pro fighter or something.Geum JanDi-sweet, hard worker, swimmer, cute but not beautiful, whips these boys into real men, part of the love triangle with JiHoo and JunPyoGa Eul- JanDi's best friend, in love with YiJungYiJung and Woo Bin are referred to as Koreas Don Juan and Cassanova because of their player lifestyles.I would love to find a man like JiHoo-rich, talented, handsome, kind, always there to save the day, fun to be with-make him a Christian and that would be perfect! The storyline for other show is almost the same only the focus is on a rich boy, his artist uncle, and the substitute teacher hired to keep him out of trouble. C) Korean Music-- In order to identify with my students, I have started listening to korean music. It is Hilarious! They will be singing in korean then randomly throw in english words-I love it!! My favorite group is SS501. They are the BSB or INSINC of Korea with leader Kim Hyun Joong (JiHoo on BOF) being the Justin Timbrelake of Korea! He is good as an actor, but great as a singer. I especially love it when he sings in English-he has virtually no accent and sounds American!D) Korean Food--the food here is so good. It is a little spicy and salty, but I am getting use to it!E) Thurs. 8pm class-- Tonight my last class was discussing BOF. All of a sudden I burst out laughing as I looked at each of the students. The boys were still in there School uniforms which is kaki pants, white shirt, red tie, brown and pink vest, brown and pink blazer with the school emblem on it, and tennis shoes. We then started discussing who was which BOF character-it was so funny because the personalities matched some of them perfectly:Jack is Jun Pyo because he has an arragant but lovable personality. He is a natural leader and all the girls love him while the boys are afraid of him! He is one of my oldest students. He is very sweet to me though!Andrew is JiHoo-Andrew is so sweet and smart-all the teachers adore him! He comes in every week with a big smile, gives a slight bow and says "Hi Katrina-How's it going?" Like he has known me all his life! Some of the Koreans would be put off by this because it is so informal to speak to a teacher-but I love it (it seems that most of the students I like are the ones that the Korean teachers dont like-except in Andrews case because he is so adorable! I worry about him hanging out with Jack though because Jack has a bad reputation for being a really big bully! Again that is why Jack is JunPyo!)Jackson is YiJung, He is a smooth talker and has a great smile! He is a small kid, but he has such a big personality!I would love to see what kind of men these three become-they are going to be heartbreakers!Sammy is Woo Bin, he is new to the class and we dont know much about him so he is still kind of a mystery to us.Jacob is JanDi's little brother-strange but nice kid (he is actually more like a character from SouthPark both in personality and appearance!)Stella is JanDi - sweet and adorable, but doesnt take any nonsense from the boys! She really looks like JanDi also-especially when she wears her school uniform (similar to the boys only with a plaid skirt instead). Plus I think her and Jack like each other and I think Andrew also likes her!Annie-Ga Eul-this character doesnt really fit her, but I think they chose it for her because she likes Jackson even though he is really mean to her!Ruby-JunPyo's older sister-because she is always beating up Jack!Anyway, this gives you some insight into the personalities of some of my middle school students. They are all in the seventh grade. This is one of my favorite classes! They are so energetic and fun! They always put me in a good mood. I asked them what character I should be and they said JiHoo's first love because she is a beautiful model and very kind! I said no because she breaks JiHoos heart-I would rather be the girl that leaves JunPyo at the alter and helps him and JanDi get back together! We had so much fun tonight! They called each other by their BOF names all night-it was great. They played it the hilt! Especially Jack! We played Bingo and I didnt feel like leading the game so I asked who wanted to lead the game and Jack stood up and said "Im JunPyo so I am the one who can lead it" and everytime Stella said something he would say hey, you Geum JanDi-shut up or if one of the others said something smart to him he would just get a serious face and say F4 red card and then start laughing! The F4 red card on the show was a signal to the school that the person who got the card was targeted to be bullied. I loved it I spent the whole hour laughing my head off! F) F4 Party- next week is the season Finale of BOF and all the girls at my school are depressed about it! So we decided to have a F4 party at my apartment next Saturday with one of my other favorite classes. Out of 30 classes, I have 6 that I really like-actually they are all my middle school classes! It started out just as lunch at my place when they got out of school Saturday because they love when I cook American food for them and they have been begging to see my apartment. Then as they were talking about being upset over the end of BOF, I suggested we make it a F4 party! So I am going to decorate with F4 themed decorations, make Spaghetti and Chicken Alfredo (I know its Itallian but they think it is american food!) and we are going to watch videos on youtube of each of the F4 actors. I have a feeling it is going to be more of a JiHoo party since that is who most of them like and I can find more stuff on Kim Hyun Joong than I can the others. It is going to be 6 teenage girls and 2 teachers in my tiny one room efficiency apartment-should be interesting! 2) LifeI have been really emotional and in deep thought about life lately.A) HealingI am still in a lot of pain from my shoulder and leg injuries. My leg is much better but acts up once in a while. My shoulder seems like it is never going to heal. I have been in continous pain for about 5 months now. I am getting really frustrated!B) Age--I am really confused about my age these days. In the US I am 34, in Korea I am 36 and on a test I had done at the gym yesterday-it said that my real age is 39! That really made me feel old! Plus it seems like in Korea, once a woman hits 30-she is ancient-especially if she is not married. Most of my friends here are younger than me, so I am everyones unni or noona (older sister). I am going thru what Judy refers to as a quarter life crisis only I have been going through it for 10 years now! Lately I have been thinking about what I would have done differently if I could do my 20's over again. I think I would not have married the wrong guy just because he was there and I was afraid that it was my only chance, and I would have gotten a degree in something useful that I would enjoy doing (even though teaching here is 100 times better than teaching in the States!), and I would have finished my masters degree-at least one of them!C) Singleness-for the most part I love being single this time around! I have no one to answer to but myself and God! There are times though that I wish I had somebody. I sort of still have Taoufiq, but that is a relationship that can go nowhere more than just being friends. I will always love him because he was my first love, but I know we can never be together again as husband and wife. Sometimes I fear that I am holding on to him just because I have nobody else, and part because it would crush my mom if I totally let him go. He is a great man that needs a wife that thinks like he does. I am also afraid to let myself fall for a Korean man because I know the hardship that is caused by mixing two cultures into a relationship. With a korean man it would be a little different though because I live here and have become assimilated into the culture and like I said earlier I am becoming more Korean everyday-even though I am still very much a foreigner. My prayer is that I will accept nothing less than what God has for me. Part of me fears that being single is my punishment from God for ignoring scripture and Godly advice and marrying Taoufiq. Also I want the fairy tale! I watch my friends with their husbands and ask "why didnt my husband do that? Wow they are still going on dates and they are married-I didnt even get taken on dates when we were dating! It is actually quite depressing if I think about it too much.D) Gym and health--my injuries in my leg have healed enough now that I am going back to the gym. I am taking it slowly though. I am only working abs and legs and cardio. I cant do any weight training because I cant raise my left arm yet. I only go a couple days a week these days though because I get really tired easily because I am having to rebuild my endurance and strength. I havent lost any more weight but I havent gained either. Also my doctor took me off BP and diabetes meds because my sugar levels have been consistantly under 100 for 2 months now. I still have to keep a close eye on the BP though. Next week is my trainers last week at the gym so I will be on my own. Now that he has graduated from University, he has to find a better job to support his family. I am going to really miss him, but we hang out outside of the gym also so I will still see him and his wife, it will just be hard to stay motivated without him being there to push me.I think that is everything I had to say. I know it is a lot-but like I said-I have been really reflective lately!I love and miss everybody and hope to see all of you in July!
10:43 PM

Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thoughts on the state of the world Current mood: distressed Category: News and Politics
The past couple of days I have been reading some disturbing world news headlines. One headline stated that N.Korea is threatening war against S.Korea, USA, and Japan if a "peaceful nuclear satellite" that they are launching this week is shot down. The story also continues to say that if anything gets sent crosswise-even if it is accidental during the war games between Japan, S. Korea, and the USA, it will be taken as an act of war against N.Korea. The article stated that both sides of the N/S Korean border have troops standing by to be combat ready at a moments notice. Even the slightest miscommunication by either side can lead to an all out war-reigniting a ceasefire that has been in place since 1953 (isnt this how the US civil war started?). The second story I read, talked about Chinese government, and private planes and boats harrassing US navy ships in the south China Sea in an area that is considered to be international waters. As I think about these headlines, I try to think of a country or even a continent that is not involved in some Kind of war. We have the middle east where just about everybody is fighting, ongoing civil war in Ireland, and central american countries, China and Tibet, several countries throughout Africa are involved in civil war, and European countries, and the US have their hands in just about every other war. No wonder people call us evil. Probably the only continents that do not have some kind of war raging is Antarctica and Australia. I wonder if we can officially call ourselves in world war three yet? I then started thinking about a horrible movie I saw this weekend called Watchmen. I wonder how we can give such high ratings to movies that promote extreme violence, nudity that leaves nothing to the imagination, domestic violence, rape, and promoting an energy being as a god-all of this wrapped in a superhero package. What is this doing to our minds? What is it teaching our children? Pondering all of these things reminds me of the conversation Abraham had with God in Genesis 18:16-33 where he asks God to spare Sodom if He is able to find 10 righteous people. We know how that story ended-God only found Lot, and saved him and his daughters-his wife was disobedient and looked back, thus becoming a pillar of salt. How many righteous people would God find in our nations today? As the body of Christ, we have a responsibility to stand up and be counted as righteous among the nations. No, I do not mean to have an "appearance" of being righteous or a holier than thou attitude, but a genuine, sincere, Christlike love for people-including those that seek to do us harm. We have a responsibility to pray for our nations and especially for our leaders-that God would give them the wisdom to make decisions to lead us into prosperity and not poverty, to lead us into peace and not into war.

Saturday, November 01, 2008
Halloween Current mood: exhausted
Phew, I am ehausted. I have been making halloween decorations all week with my students, then Last night we decorated the school for tonights party. I got home from work last night at 1130pm, then I had so much to do that i didnt get to bed until 230AM. I woke up at 7am to finish preparing for the party to meet some co-workers for lunch at 11. I was pleasantly suprised when I found out that my director came in from a different town just to take the entire staff out to lunch at a fancy restaurant. It was a buffet on the 8th floor of a building with wall to wall windows overlooking the countryside. Then it was time to go to school for the 8 hr party! My job at the party was to be a witch and do ghost writing. Basically what I did for 8 hrs is paint words and pictures on paper using milk and lemon juice, then hold the paper over a candle until the words magically appeared. Only 3/4 of them caught on fire! Finally about 2 hrs into it I realized the dye in the paper was causing the fires so I had my mngr. bring me some plain white paper. Finally about 5 hrs into it I got the hang of it, and was able to do about 20 without a fire. Throughout the duration I did about 450 of these (250 students-some two or three times, their siblings, and the teachers. My right shoulder feels like it is going to fall off! I also had a table with bowls of brains, guts, and eyeballs (spaghetti noodles, raw meat, and grapes--but they didnt understand the concept. About 7 hrs into the party-one of the teachers realized I hadnt had a break-so we closed up my room and I went to the teachers room to eat dinner--cold french fres and a mcchicken sandwhich that had been waiting on me for over an hour! I sat there for about 20 minutes and ate-McDonalds never tasted so good! I returned to my room to a group of sad students because they didnt get to do my activity so I made their ghost writings for them while they did something else. Finally it was time to clean up. We cleaned the entire school in under an hour. Every teacher would go to one room and clean it, then we would all move to the next room.Even one teacher that is 6 months pregnant was lifting chairs and desk until I told her to stop! As we finished each room my director would come behind us and vac and mop with bleach--in a tailored suit at that! I was shocked! I have never seen a boss do that! I was even surprised that he stayed for the party because he lives 1 1/2 hrs away, but he did. He took off his suit jacket, put on a scream mask and walked around passing out candy to everybody and palying with the kids! Finally now I am home and ready to take off this war paint and go to bed--I am afraid I am not going to be able to move in the morning--I need a massage and a chiropractor bad!

Thursday, October 02, 2008
white in korea Current mood: fascinated
It is interesting how people view beauty. Here in korea i get a lot of looks and comments. For one thing, they are not used to seeing somebody so big. The avg. woman here wears a size 2 in american clothes. That is something we associate with being beautiful. Also americans spend alot of time and money trying to get darker skin. Here I get commits like your skin is so white and beautiful-how can i get my skin like yours. I also have girls asking what they have to eat to get light hair like mine. These are things we really take for granted. They are constantly telling me how beautiful i am which has been very good for my warped self esteem.. Also I have children following me to work because they recognize that i am a foreigner and they want to practice talking to me in english. Then there is the other end of the spectrum. I get little kids pointing at me and crying because I am so white that they think i must be a ghost or something. It is very interesting watching peoples reaction to seeing me. I can walk down the street and have people bowing and greeting as they pass by, then i have those that when they see me coming they cross to the other side to give me room on the sidewalk. People are so funny!

Thursday, August 28, 2008
korea-week one Current mood: adored
My apartment
How do I describe my apartment? It is a bedroom with a sink, stove, washer, bed, desk, mini frig, TV and laptop. I have a tile foyer with a cabinet for shoes. Today I also received a plastic dresser-kinda like the one I used at Judy's only this one also has 2 drawers at the top for small items. My bathroom is basically a large shower with a toilet and a sink in it! I live over a restaurant, and across from a large super market, a bank, beauty salon, baskin robbins, and mcdonalds. Every thing is very convenient-except my school.
My School/community
My school is a 15 minute walk from my apt. The streets are very narrow, and accommodate traffic in both directions, parked cars-anywhere they find a space, pedestrians, bicycles, and street venders. People drive up and down the streets with their goods in their trucks-advertising over a loud speaker. My school consist of 6 female korean teachers, a korean secretary, and me! The kids are very respectful and bow as they enter the room if I am there or if I return a graded paper to them. That is another thing. I have no lesson plans to write, no papers to grade, no report cards to write, no parent teacher conferences. My manager does all of that for me- I just teach-or rather talk. Basically the kids parrot whatever I say. I average 6 students a class and teach 50 minutes. I have 5 classes a day. My 2 hr friday class has 1 student! Some of the kids are pranksters! But in a fun way-like yesterday I walked in and they were all hiding under my desk. One of my largest classes is all boys-10 of them! They are a trip! In the US if you tell a student he cannot participate in an activity he will look at you and say so, I dont give a @$%, here they start bowing, apologizing and begging for another chance to behave--so different! I actually enjoy teaching again. Every night at 5 pm dinner is delivered. The father of one of the students owns a restaurant, so we call in our order and he delivers it to us at no charge. The food here will be a seperate blog. All of the teachers are very sweet and helpful.
Singing Rooms
On my first day here, the advanced class had a surprise party for me at a "singing room" This is exactly that! You go in a room that has a hi-tech video Karoake machine, disco ball, couches and a table. You pay for how much time you want and sing as many songs as you can in that time frame. The computer scores how well you sing the song--I got a 97! We had so much fun, but because we walked and it is still hot here, I was drenched with sweat.