Thursday, March 30, 2006

"This COULD be the worst field trip ever."--John

So today was fieldtrip day at CIS. Baaaalls. We went to some Army museum, and it was cold and boring and laaame. But my boys learned some new words like "tank," "cannon," and "soldier." Nice.

So anyway, here are some cute pics from the trip.

Here's my whole class... waiting. They just looked cute (okay, the ALWAYS look cute) so I took a pic. I would have put the real class pic on, but I'm pretty sure my supervisor can't operate my camera because the birthday pics when dude's camera was broken don't exist, and she took the one today and again, it doesn't exist. So that's... awesome.

This was some statue and pool we passed... I just thought it was pretty, especially with my mountains in the background. *sigh* :)

And this last pic I had to post because I laughed about it for quite a while. It's my Willy, my ADD poster-child and dumbest kid in class, reading the brochure for the Military Academy. Let's be honest... it's his only chance!

Okay, so that was this morning.

This afternoon, I had my Younghoon class, my 5th graders. Lately, they have been cracking my $#!t up. Today, I was explaining to them the word "cud" and I told them that a cow has 4 stomachs and basically eats and throws up all day long. And Aerae goes, "To me that's not delicious." And I just LOST it. That was SOOOOO funny, and I don't even know why.

And on Tuesday, I was telling my supervisor about one of my B.C. kids named Lion, who is INSANELY loud and I pretty much can't stand it anytime he talks to me. I actually told Lion on Wednesday to stop smiling because I coulnd't stand it. Whatever. So anyway, I'm telling Karen about this, and John (my 5th grader) goes, "Maybe it's because his name is Lion." And he said it with such realization, I just doubled over, howling with laughter. Really... I nearly peed. Those kids are great.

Okay, one last pic. I'm convinced that one of my YH students looks like my cousin, Tiffany, if my cousin Tiffany were Korean. Which she isn't. But if she was, she'd look just like this:

Am I right or have I been in this darn country too long?

I'm wiped... I should get to bed ASAP!

Much love.

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Sunday, March 26, 2006

"Yeah, I bought you Michael Bolton tickets for your birthday."--Kelly

I spent my Saturday fabulously and it was awesome. Started the day with a dog walk. Then headed to Itaewon and spent LARGE amounts of money. I bought a dress, lunch, bracelets, a doggy outfit for Lancelot, and, oh yeah, my tickets to and from Hawaii. Yay!!!

It's a funny thing about spending money, once I spend some, I just wanna spend more. Anyway... Yeah. The dress=REAL hot, and I'm so excited about Hawaii I could pee.

Also had lunch with a friend, and it was really nice to catch up with her., and joke about seeing Micheal Bolton.

Ha ha, I just figured out the way to stop my dog from barking... Bark back. Ha ha ha, it's so funny. He stares at me like, what the HECK just happened? It's awesome.

Anyway, after my spending spree, I came home for a minute and headed back out again to have dinner with my friends. Mark, his gf and I went to Brachel's (Brandon+Rachel) house, where Rachel actually cooked food for us; including mashed potatoes that were JOYful. It was just nice to hang out and chat and eat a meal that I didn't have to buy OR cook. Yay.

Yesterday was just a good day. And I am happy.

Today I took Lancelot for a long walk and did some errands, then I went to church. Now I suppose I'll have to work on my monthly plan. BALLS.

Well, at least I feel like I spent my weekend well.

*Sidenote: Still trying to update about the wedding but Blogger seems to be FIRMLY against it. I'm getting REAL pissed about it.

Much love.

Friday, March 24, 2006

"I feel like a caged animal!"

Y'know, lately I've just been walking around this city feeling like everything is just... right. My tunes are bumpin' on my iPod, the weather's amazing, and life's just good. And that feels good, to feel like for once things are right and I'm where I'm supposed to be.

And then... you have Parent/Teacher conferences and you want to scratch you eyes out with the nearest blunt object. It's always just so, like... frustrating. Case in point: I got the question, "How can I make my child study at home?" from several parents. Whaaa? Lemme break it down for you: YOU are the parent. THEY are the CHILD. They are SIX. MAKE THEM STUDY. BE A FRIGIN' PARENT.

I mean COME ON.

It's nice to know parents are the same all over the world, though. Licensing, I'm telling you, it's the way to go.

And then my dumb kid's mom is like, "You should make the class for the smart kids AND the slower ones" and I'm thinking, "Thanks for letting me know because I only went to school for five years to learn how to be a teacher and you didn't. I forgot. CLEARLY you should run my classroom and not me." I'm sorry her kid's dumb, but he IS and that's all there is to it. I'm sure he's good at other things like... um... like... well I'm sure there's something.

AND they ate into half my unpaid lunch hour. BALLS.

Anyway...

I'm still trying to update about the wedding, but Blogger is refusing to let me upload more than 5 pics, and it's just pissing me off. BUT, I'm working on it.

No class tomorrow... Sleeping in, YAY!!!

Much love.

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Sunday, March 19, 2006

"God is in the rain."--from V for Vendetta

So I WANT to update about the wedding but blogger HATES me and won't let me upload any pics. So I'll update about that tomorrow, or as soon as the pictures decide to stop hating me. Nice. Anyway, the wedding was cool. More on that later.

Last night I went to the movies with Mark and we saw V for Vendetta. It was completely terrifying because frigin' Hugo Weaving wears that freaky mask thing the WHOLE movie. BALLS. I was NOT appreciative of that. The only thing that made it tolerable was Natalie Portman. And let's just say my girl crush was totally confirmed because she still looks amazing with a shaved head. Whatever.

The effects in the movie were sweet, prime example being during the last knife fight scene and there's this like of smoke coming off the knife. HOT.

The movie was pretty good too, kind of a 1984 meets The Phantom of the Opera-type story. A crazy evil government (headed up by The Storyteller/Mr. Olivander himself, John Hurt!) and a dude in a mask who falls in love with a pretty girl. It's fine.

But I'm a fan of comic book movies so I was feelin' it.

After the movie I came home and stayed up til 3 am talking to my parents. Um... neat. So today I was pretty tired all day but I managed to walk Lancelot, grade papers AND go to Starbucks/church with a splitting headache. :) After church I hung out with some Michigan kids and it was AWESOME. We ate dinner at Subway and life was glorious.

Today was a good day, despite the headache. Maybe because two of my favorite people bought tickets to Hawaii today.

Maybe because talking about Michigan and thinking about the people who love me there makes everything better.

Much love.

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Tuesday, March 14, 2006

John:"I hate birthday parties." Rodney: "I do too."

Okay, so I hate birthdays. ESPECIALLY birthday parties at school, as does nearly everyone that works there. I mean, I'm not a huge fan of celebrating my own birthday, let alone the faux birthdays of two of my students. Ick. They were SO loaded with sugar and I just suddenly became completely exausted and it was icky. But anyway, here are some pics because, as annoying and exausting as the kids can be, they're still real darn cute.


Pitt and Julie, the birthday kids.

My whole class. Notice Willy and James being crazy in the foreground. They're ALWAYS like that.

Always.

Also, I officially signed my 6 month contract today. So, I'm staying until January 31st. I got everything I wanted, which is awesome. So... I'm staying.

Start saving for Hawaii.

In other news, Lancelot climbed on my bed last night after drinking a bunch of water, and he totally audibly burped in my face. It was really cute. :) My little baby got his last set of shots today AND his big doggy teeth have grown in, at least the front set. So that's exciting. But today at the vet I found out that one of his nuts hasn't, like, decended or whatever, and it's bascially "stuck" in his abdomen. Is he my dog or what?

I mean COME ON.

Geesh.

Much love.

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Sunday, March 12, 2006

"I don't even know what it is but I want to buy it!"--Rodney

Had a decent week. Went to Costco on Thursday and experienced the joy that is buying real cheese. :) I was excited about it.

Friday I skipped dance to spend time with my dog, plus I had a headache. Balls.

Saturday was class and then Youngsan with Rodney and Deborah. I bought a webcam (video chat with me!!), an iPod case, new headphones, and two DVDs. Joy. I HEART Youngsan. Secretly I want to buy everything there, even stuff I don't need or won't use. It's fine. And it was pretty awesome because I showed Rodney this whole area of Youngsan that he'd never even been to before. I opened up his world. lol. I'm changin' lives over here.

So then I came home for an hour because Lancelot's really been needing me a lot lately, and I haven't really been around for him, and I feel really bad about it. But anyway, after some QT with my baby, I went out again to Carne Station. It's an all you can eat/drink place for one price. Let's just say I am breaking up with Carne Station and I am NOT allowed to go back. Ever.

It was bad. Blah.

I spent most of today recovering and working (house stuff, school stuff, y'know) and watching The Office which I'm totally obsessed with because Jim LOVES Pam SO MUCH. He's the George O'Malley of sitcoms.

Also watched Everything is Illuminated which I bought yesterday. Good movie, although I can't look at Elijah Wood in glasses without thinking about the character he played in Sin City. I was kinda waiting for him to eat someone the entire movie. But he didn't. Anyway, good movie. I have a whole new respect for Liev Schrieber who adapted and directed it. Yay for him. Oh, but make sure you read the book first. It's the funniest book about the holocaust you'll ever read.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna read now. What, I'm not sure since I'm reading three books at one time, but whatever. Choices are part of life, eh?

Oh, and by the way, Lancelot has the GROSSEST smelling farts. Ever.

Eewww.

Much love.

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Sunday, March 05, 2006

"This is my United States of whatever!"--Liam Lynch

Does anyone know that song? Because Mark reminded me of it and it's TOTALLY awesome. :) It's going on the iPod IMMEDIATELY.

Anyway, today was a typical Sunday. Didn't do much of anything except go to the store, clean my apartment, go to Starbucks and go to church. SO exciting! Here's what Lancelot and I do on Sundays...

Good times and most necessary. He's all clean too, because yesterday he got a bath, which he still hates. Observe...

Trust me. He was pissed. :)

Yesterday I also went to dinner with my friend Mark, and then his girlfriend met up with us and we all went to see Brokeback Mountain. Yes, it came out here. I know, I was shocked too. It was weird to see it with an audience, and I'm pretty sure I was the ONLY person in the whole theater crying. Like seriously, I was trying with every fiber of my being to stay somewhat composed and cry quietly (instead of BAWL like I wanted to) and no one else was even batting an eye. Whaa? I think the whole gay thing didn't really affect people, because most people here still believe there are no gay Koreans. Nice. Welcome to 2006. ANYway, I think that's why it didn't really connect to them the way it does to me. Or maybe I'm just a freak. But still, it was awesome to see it in theaters but I'm glad I have it at home where I can BAWL properly. Sometimes, you need it.

Went to church today and it was pretty nice. The pastor that we had before went back to Chicago where he was raised (find him Liz!!) so now we have another guy who's also pretty good. After service Jenny, Mark, Erin and her boyfriend Matthew went out to eat. Matthew just came in to visit from Canada, like, yesterday. But Erin seemed really happy, and he seems nice (They "met" on the internet two months ago, while on separate continents, and, for all practical purposes, met yesterday. Oh, and they're getting married. Whatever.), although a little too knowledgeable to be socially comfortable, (hi, I play Dungeons and Dragons) but a nice guy. And if The J's theory holds true, these two will be together forever because the TOTALLY look alike.

Anyway, took the subway home and decided to capture this little gem of a picture, to share with everyone at home. This is a typical Korean toilet as can be found in any subway station and some buildings.

Yep. It's a fancy-fied hole in the ground that you squat over to pee. But secretly, I love using them. NEVER tell! :)

I'm off to hit the showers and read before bed.

Much love.

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Thursday, March 02, 2006

"I'm famous!"

I am officially famous. I showed up in the Korean paper today. It was awesome. A pic of me and Fred (and about 100 Koreans) at the exhibit yesterday. I wish I could type Korean characters on my keyboard so I could look for the pic on the internet, but I can't search the paper name. Boo.

But I've clearly infultrated Korean society: I'm in the papes. :)

Much love. :)

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Fred: "So do you know anything about art?" Me: "Nope."

I had a good day off. This morning, my only dilema was deciding when to go to Starbucks because I thought Oprah was on, but it turned out to be Dr. Phil, so I could have just gone, but whatever. Stupid AFN that doesn't tell me what's on next... But anyway, good morning of Starbucks and chillin' out.

Then I met my friend Fredrick for the Matisse exhibit, and it was really cool. Unfortunately, neither of us know anything about art but still, any opportunity for culture and learning is fine with me. I mean, I may not know about art, but I can at least say I like something or I don't. Anyway, it was an exhibit of the Fauves, which was this French movement in painting before cubism, and used bold colors. The stuff was crazy with the colors! One lady's face alone was, like, 20 colors. I really liked it, though, better than the Reniassance/Baroque stuff I saw a couple weeks ago. It was mostly naked ladies and boats and stuff, and the ladies that WERE wearing clothes were all wearing big hats, which I support. I really liked most of the paintings I saw today.



We saw this chick, La Pompadour, a Matisse. Clearly.


And a naked chick, another Matisse.



And then we saw this lady by Louis Valtat called Sur le Boulevard. My limited French skills were tested with all the names of the paintings, and I did surprisingly well. I rule!

I discovered some cool painters that I like, namely Raoul Dufy and Emile Othon Friesz. Whatever, I'm cultured and fab.

The only bummer of the day is no dance because I'm TOTALLY feelin' the dance this week. Plus, I walked all the way there only to discover it was closed. Should'a had someone at work call, but let's be honest, I could use the walk.

Anyway, gotta get back to Grey's Anatomy because something SO secret happened between Meredith and George... FINALLY!

Much love.

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