"Happy Year of the Dog!"

Interesting long holiday weekend. Friday was... Oh, Steve's. Saturdy you already know about too. So we're up to Sunday, which was the acutal holiday. Lunar New Year, in case you missed it. It's now the Year of the Dog.

Sunday morning I just hung out, did some laundry. Then the J and I went to church (we walked to the subway station because it was faster than the bus. Traffic =ed CRAZY!) After church, we decided to have an adventure and try to find the Hard Rock Cafe here in Seoul. I kinda just wanted to go see it, and after church I'm hungry, so it all worked out. But all the maps and directions are DUMB because we had to walk forEVER to get there, and the lady at the restaurant was like, "Oh yeah, you should have gotten off at this stop!" Just when we were giving up hope of finding the dang place, the neon guitar beckoned me in the night. So we found it and we chowed and it was cool. JohnandLindsay, along with ChristaandAdam met us there, only because the beer was $1. Sweet.

We all left with the intention of going to this blues bar called Just Blues, but, once again, it wasn't open (we tried to go during Chusock but it was again, closed). I'm starting to wonder if the place actually exists. So that was a bust. But, when we were walking to the subway, someone spied this little gem of a sign:

If you can't read it 'cause my picture's blurry and crap, it says www.analsurgery.co.kr. No, I'm not lying...

Then we missed our transfer on the way home, and decided that the boys would race the girls home, to see which route was fastest. It was touch and go most of the way (let's just say the girl's team did a complete figure 8 before we got going the right way) but we TOTALLY won. :) Awesome.

Then Monday... Met up with The Girls (Linds, Christa, The J) and went out to COEX for this animal thing J wanted to check out. I wasn't really that into it, but I did get to see this little guy:

Yeah, it's a turtle. But it's a turtle called the Yellow Belly Cooter. :) I loved it.

So we hung out around the mall for a bit, where I purchased two CD's of joy (The John Mayer Trio's Try! and Journey's Greatest Hits) which went DIRECTLY onto my iPod as soon as I got home. My mission for a plain, black shirt with sleeves was fruitless, however. Balls. You wouldn't think a black top would be hard to find but you havne't been to Korea. I think my dream will never come true... Balls.

Came home and watched Brokeback Mountain again. Soul destruction occured... again. Why do I do that to myself?

I brought Lancelot to work with me today because there's still no kindies walking around, and I figured he'd enjoy it. He did a really good job, and loved all the attention. He didn't even poo inside!! Yay!! Back to the grind tomorrow, with a full teaching schedule.

The next year will be NO fun. :(

Much love.

"I'm not hitting on you..."--Steve, aka, The Brit

Went to Steve's last night for a final farwell bash for him, James and Nadine, Sean and The J. It was pretty good times, and I avoided getting sad. Steve spent the whole evening "not hitting on me" but telling me I was a beautiful girl and he was just an old bastard (all of this said with a Liverpool accent. I loved it.) Steve likes to give me love-life advice when he's drunk. It's fine. I told him he should stay just so he could compliment me all the time. He told me I was Julia Roberts about 20 times. I'm JUST sayin'... And apparently I got out just in time, 'cause when JohnandLindsay showed up, Angry Drunk Rodney had shown up, and he was only sad when I was with him.

I'm so scared that February will make me feel... lonely. And Rodney too. I think we're gonna have a rough month, Rodney and I.

Went shopping at James and Nadine Mart this morning and it was awesome. People leaving is key because you get TONS of stuff. LOVE it. :)

Also took Lancelot to the vet in Itaewon 'cause a) I wanted him registered there and b) I came home to him having puked all over last night. He's fine, turns out I just can't give him milk products (wash my yogurt containers before I toss them). He'll be fine. And his hernia's fine, as are his eyes. Plus, I let Dave and Catherine know we were coming, and Lancelot even got to see his mommy. I also bought myself a new pair of Adidas and Lancelot an outfit...

He HATES his life right now...

but let's be honest, it's DAMN cute. :)


After that, Lance, The J and I wandered around Youngsan where my life became complete. I FINALLY got my hands on Brokeback Mountain and Tristan and Isolde. Watched both today and am still recovering from Brokeback. I'll be recovering for the next few days, I'm sure. OMG... Ennis LOOOOOOOOOVES Jack. My soul weeps still.

Met two of the newbies today. They seem cool. That's exciting.

Talked to my sis this morning (yay!) and she told me a family friend's child died of brain cancer yesterday. He was 19 or 20. And I know it's cliche, but he really was a good person. A really good person from a great family.

I can't believe it.

I'm just reminded how important life and family are, and how much I love everyone back home and appreciate thier love and support more than they can realize.

RIP Bonz.

Much love.

"I'm so over the naked right now."--Rachel

Yes, Rachel, The J and I were all naked together last night. We went to the sauna in celebration of The J's 25th birthday and because we all needed a little relaxation in our lives. It was pretty great, a much nicer place than the sauna by the school. I might just have to go back on Monday to celebrate my day off. LOVE it. We'll see though.

On the walk there, we went under an overpass where the subway goes. And by "went under" I mean I had to stoop.

The opening was only 1.5 meters tall. Um... nice.

So that was yesterday. Today was a day of sadness for many, as it was the last day of kindergarten before new teachers show up and old ones leave. Acutally, one new teacher already showed up. Ty, from Windsor. Whatever. He's been in Korea before, so hopefully CIS won't shock him. Anyway, I even got a little teary when Elly said by to them (she's leaving) and when I took thier names off thier chairs and cubbies. :( My little Spots are moving to Spong Bob class... They're growing up! Yes, I'm moving with them but still...

The day ended on a high note, however, when John goes "Hey, Alicia. Eric fell in the fish bowl." And I look over, and Eric (my little mullet) is standing there, bum sopping wet and dripping on the floor, and I realize he's just, effectively, sat in the fish "pot" we have on the floor. So I start laughing, and the poor kid gets all embarassed and starts to cry (Eric NEVER cries. Ever.) and I felt horrible because I was laughing, and it was funny, but he was so embarassed. Anyway, John and I (and everyone else, too) got a laugh. So for the next week, while we're changing over, it'll be tear down Spot class and build Sponge Bob class. I'll see my babies, as Sponge Bob class, again in a week.

Finally, let me close with this photo:

This is Lancelot after his first bath. He was so mad at me, and scared by the whole thing, he retreated to my open clothes drawer and just layed there. It was really, really cute. :)

Much love.

"It hurts every time..."--Rodney

Yes, I went to Rodney's last night to watch him drink himself to a stupor. I actually went because I wanted to hang out with people again before they leave... next week. Yes, everyone is leaving sometime next week or soon thereafter. It's crazy to think about how everyone I know, the few faces I recognize around town, will be gone. And new people will be here to take their places. Even though I'm not leaving, I'll be a wreck just because everyone else will be so sad... Gah. I guess it's all part of this job. People come and go, and that's how it works. Still, it's sad and exciting and necessary. So it will happen and we will deal with it.

I do feel bad for Rodney, though, because he's really losing his two best friends here and that always sucks. And James and Nadine have been here for two years; that's a lot of memories and time spent together. I mean, in Korea time, it's like 20 years or so. :)

Not much else exciting to report. My kindies are getting on my NERVES and I'm so glad it's the weekend so I can not see them for a minute. They still make me laugh, though, so that's good. The other day, Jinni was standing still and then just fell down. Just bam! on the ground. What is that about? Really... that poor girl can't stand up. Ever.

Tonight is The J's birthday celebration so I'm gearing up for that currently. And by "gearing up" I mean drinking lots of water and playing with my iPod. 1500 songs and counting... That rules.

Lancelot is doing well. He's learned that he can poo outside (yay) and right now he's being a good boy and laying on the floor. SO CUTE!

I'll update more soon. I'm so bad at doing it regularly!

Much love.

"I should tell you, I should tell you...."--Mimi, Rent

Saw Rent for the third time last night. It. Was. Glorious. Different than I remembered (more talking) but still awesome. Man, I love that dang show. Ma. Gi. Cal. I mouthed every word, probably annoying every person around me. Deal with it. The most important thing was that I won another convert, as The J is now totally addicted to the soundtrack. LOVE it. Turns out, this is the 10 year anniversary world tour. Hard to believe that show's been around 10 years...


Anyway, here's me out front. Did I mention I love Rent? Because I do.

Lancelot went to the vet yesterday, and he came through it like a champ. Two needles and a microchip later, and he only yelped once. In his defence, though, that microchip needle was HUGE. I would have yelped too. But he's all started on his shots, so that's awesome. Oh, and the latest thing he's obsessed with (besides my clothes and dirty socks) are these fake flowers I tried to throw away and he got out of the trash. He loves them for some reason.


Here he is, playing with the dang fake roses. Whatever... he's so weird.

Today I went out to run errands with Lindsay and The J, and we went out to Youngsan to purchase some bootlegs (key). While we were walking around, I saw the place where old trains go to die.



I dunno... I just liked the picture. Old subway cars, just chilling in the middle of the city. Kinda cool. After we left Youngsan (let's just say I bought seven DVDs... but two were gifts...so it's not that bad... Right?) we ate the burritos of JOY from this crap little burrito joint. It was key, I'm not gonna lie. And the little Korean boy who worked there is CLEARLY meant to be with me because a)he is a cute Korean boy 2) he speaks English and d) he can provide me with burritos. This alone is enough to woo me. I'm just saying... :)

Okay, not much else to say. I'll get back to watching King Kong now. Adrien Brody just showed up... :)

"Making things makes my hands smart."--Min Soo

One of my students in my Young-Hoon middle school class said this in her journal entry (topic: All About Me) when she was talking about her hobbies. I nearly died it was so cute. Plus, Min Soo totally looks like the Korean version of my cousin Tiffany, so that probably helps. I'll have to post a pic because it's a little bit scary how much they look alike. To me. But really, isn't that so cute?

The J told me today that her parents want me to teach her class. How nice is that? It's probably just because her kids know me and I talk to them and play with them when I can, but it still made me feel pretty good. I would take them, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna stay with Spot... It'd be nice if someone let me know. Whatever.

Not much else to say. It's been a pretty chill week. Yay.

Much love.

"She hope that you will stay."--Elly, translating during conferences

So I had my Parent/Teacher conferences yesterday. They went pretty well, got to talk to all the, well, representatives of the kids. Let me put it that way. I saw a dad, a grandma, and the rest were all moms. The general sentiment was that I am doing a good job, they are happy, and they want me to stay with Spot (soon to be Elmer, I think) until they graduate. It's great to know that the parents are happy, and my parents don't seem to be loony and childish like other people's parents, and so I guess I'm really happy about it all. Hey, I aim to please.

I also started my new class today. I'll have 5 kids all together, and their English, except for one girl, is exceptionally good. And the lowest in my class' English is phenomenal compared to what I've had so far. So I'm really excited about the whole thing, even though I have to work til 7 two nights a week. Boo. :( I finally feel like I'm teaching something I know how to teach. Ahhhh.

Other than that, life's not too exciting. Lancelot's doing well, we've had more pee-pees on the paper than on the floor now, but no successful poops. Although the last one was on the bathroom floor so... he was close-ish. lol

That's it for now.

Much love.

"Yeah, he is right cute, eh?"--John of JohnandLindssay

So I'm a new mommy. Lancelot came home to stay yesterday, and he's been causing trouble ever since! No really, he's a good boy but we're gonna have to work pretty hard on the peeing and pooping thing, because at this rate, I'm gonna have to take out stock in a paper towel company! He's an excited pee-er. Sweet.

But, he's damn cute. Here's a pic...

Here he is in his room. He acutally posed for this one.

And Lancelot chillin' on my backpack. Must be comfy!

So other than a life-changing even occuring yesterday, I also went to Namsan Tower. It's exactly what it sounds like--a huge tower, in the middle of Seoul, that you can go up and see the view from. We got there in time to watch the sunset, and take some mad pretty pictures.

The sun sets on another day in Seoul.

Seoul in all it's splendor.

Seoul at night. That line of light is traffic. But from this height, at this time of day, it really looked pretty.

We DID take a group shot, but unfortunatley, it wasn't on my camera so I can't post it yet. Balls. But I will once I get my hands on a copy.

So that was my Saturday. Today I went to Costco in the a.m., then chilled for the rest of the day. JohnandLindsay came over for some puppy love, and we just got back from dinner at T.G.I. Friday's. Good stuff. I was gonna make nachos but... I'm over it. French onion soup was just what I needed.

So that was my weekend. I really should do some work for that new class I'm starting this week... but I just don't feel like it! And I have Parent/Teacher tomorrow. Blah.

Alrighty, I'm out.

Much love.

"Oh, TGIF."--Elly

I had a good week this week. I'm glad too, because I'm not about a hard week after vacation. You've gotta ease back into it all.

Not much to report, really, except that last night I went to see Stomp with The J (she bought me a ticket for Christmas. One of those presents you really give yourself, and not necessarily to the other person. But it's fine.). It was awesome!! It made me want to go home and bang on everything, and in the lobby after the show people were tapping on their legs and clapping and stuff, imitating the show. Too funny. But the show was completely riveting, I can't remember being that enthralled with a show in a long time. It was really, really awesome. Yay! I love shows! There aren't many concerts here, but at least I can see theater. So that's... something.

I could have gone to see Backstreet Boys next weekend, though. Too bad I'm going to see Rent instead. :)

In work news, I'm starting a new class next week. In truth, I'm a little bit sad to give up my T/Th ESL class, and a little pissed I have to work til 7 two days a week, but I'm excited to start this class. It's a reading comprehension/writing class for kids who go to English academies. Their English is really good; amazing compared to what I've been around since I got here. Let's just say thier English is better than some of the people who work at my school. It's fine. Anyway, so I've been a little stressed trying to get this class thing figured out, but I think once the ball gets rolling it'll be good. So we'll see. It's actually something I know how to teach, so I'm hoping it will work out well for everyone.

Other than that, I've been a little bit of a hermit this week, because The BF sent me all the episodes of Alias this season and I've been watching. Let's just say ep. 1 broke my soul and I've yet to recover. *sigh* Still, it's awesome and clearly The BF is the best ever.

:)

Much love.

"Picture yourself on a boat on a river..."--The Beatles

So, Hoi An was a giant festival of gluttony and fabric. We left Hoi An at noon, and caught a flight to Hanoi, our last stop on the whirlwind tour. Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam. I was thinking that, if anywhere in Vietnam, there'd be some Western chains there but no. It's so weird to be in a place and not see a McDonald's, Burger King, or Starbucks for an entire week. The only thing I recognized was a Western Union.

So we get to Hanoi and just decide to walk around. The night before, I'd read about a beer, bia hoi, that is brewed so fresh there are no perservatives in it, and it costs about ten cents a glass. So, on our wanderings we found a bia hoi corner and had a couple beers (after treating ourselves at a salon).

The crazy drunk guy that pissed me off, Chris the Canadian Who Wants To Change the World, and me and an empty glass. Pretty cool.

The next day, we left for a "cruise" of Halong bay, a series of islands and caves and stuff off the northern coast. The weather was a bit cloudy and cold (but not as cold as Korea for SURE!), but still really lovely and relaxing.

Me, chillin' on the boat. The J has a way of catching me in the frame without my knowledge...

One of the first things we saw was Surprise Cave, which was discovered by the French in 18something. It was really cool, but the "natural" part of it was a little thrown off by the complete tourist trap that it was made into. But anyway...

Here's me in a beautifully backlit cave.

Most of the cruise was just floating around in the water, going past island after island. The scenery was really gorgeous, though.

Like this...

And this. So cool.

We ALSO climbed 400 friggin' stairs to see some stupid view. This is us, at the top.

NOT worth it if you ask me. I was none too happy about having done it.

We finished our time in Vietnam by seeing the water puppets show. It's exactly what it sounds like, puppets in water. The people stand behind the screen and operate the puppets. It's actually pretty cool.

Here's a pic. Three people puppets and a dragon! All in all, Hanoi was pretty interesting, but only because we didn't spend much time there. I liked Sai Gon better, I think.

Finally, one last pic. Let's recall that Vietnam is a communist country, which you mostly don't think about while you're there, until you see something like this:

And then you're like... Neat. It's SUCH a strange feeling... And, like, we even passed a couple of shops that sold old propaganda posters, and The J and I went into them, and read the posters, and it was a crazy head trip. I'm still kind of sorting that whole bit of the trip out.

So anyway, that's about it. This is just a miniscule sample of the pictures, but I guess you'll just have to wait till I print them and come home...

Oh, and I am the luckiest girl in the world because everyone at home loves me so much. Thank you!!

Much love.

"Why don't you take my picture, 'cause I won't remember?"--Filter

More Vietnam pics... Here we go!

The rest of the first day, after the tunnels, we spent touring around the city. We went to a cathedral, the post office, the War Museum, the History Museum, one of many Buddhist temples, and we ate at this restaurant that Bill Clinton ate at when he came to Vietnam in 2000. We also saw this cool market, and went to a tailor to have an ao dai (a-o zai) made. This is the traditional Vietnam dress, and EVERYONE wears them.

This is The J and I at the History Museum.

Spiral incense at the temple. It signifies the spiral that is reincarnation. When the spiral burns up, there's red paper at the top, signifying reaching Nirvana.

Proof I was actually there...

This is the Sai Gon traffic. Motorbikes EVERYWHERE, compeltely different from Korea. Oh yeah, and there's no crosswalks. We just had to bob and weave our way through. This is a street we actually crossed.

Day 2--Christmas Day.

We did a tour of the Mekong Delta. We had our own private boat, and a tour of the four islands there: Dragon, Turtle, Phoenix and Coconut. We ate tropical fruit, drank coconut juice out of actual coconuts, and were generally given the princess treatment. Goooood times.

On our private boat, with our coconuts.

This little guy was our lunch on day 2. Yummy!

Me, in the hat, on the Mekong River. Palm trees!! :)

Me and The J, in our ao dai. We left Saigon the next morning for Hoi An.

Hoi An, let me tell you, is the place where dreams come true. Every dream I ever had for myself was never this glorious. Hoi An is a town on the coast, and it's just chock FULL of tailors. They can make you ANYTHING, including taylor made shoes. Well let me tell YOU, I sure took advantage of this place. I even got my legs threaded (the pull out all the hair on your legs using thread as, like, tweezers), an experience not too many people can say they've had.

I was a little bit excited by the mosquito net in our room... It's fine. Wouldn't you be?

Me, and the spoils of war. Two dresses, one suit, one shirt, one pair of lounge pants, a coat and six pairs of shoes, all tailor made for me. Awesome! But the best purchase I made there, by far, was a $7 North Face bag to carry it all home it. :)

Yes, there were things of acutal relevance to see near Hoi An. This picture is from My Son (me son) where there are relics of a bunch of temples built by the Cham people. There are 54 cultural groups in Vietnam. The Viet people make up about %84, and the rest are cultural minorities. The Cham is one group. They built these Hindu temples hundreds of years ago, then moved to another part of Vietnam.

Did you know that? I bet not!

Okay, enough for tonight. Bed time.

Much love.

"Don't take a picture, remember this in your head."--Indigo Girls

Okay... I have pics now. So... let's get on with it.


Fresh off the plane and ready to go! We got in to Sai Gon Christmas Eve at about 2pm, Vietnam time.

This is our first hotel, the Lucky Hotel. I haven't seen a bathtub in a long time... I got a little bit excited.

This was my Christmas Day miracle... a New Kids on the Block video on MTV Europe. Magical.

We found a mall with a Christmas display. Actually, most of Sai Gon (Ho Chi Minh) was decorated. Kind of nice. And check out our outfits... Christmas Eve in capris and sandals. Sweeeeet.

Our first full day, we went to the Chu Chi Tunnels, a system of tunnels and traps that the Vietnamese people used during the war. This is Joanna in a tunnel's entrance. I wasn't about to try shoving myself in there!

Here we are in front of a tank that was actually used. What's up with my face?

And here I am IN a tunnel... This is the face of terror! It was so small and hot and dark in there, I kinda freaked out a little bit. It's fine.

We even got to shoot guns for $1.00 a bullet! It was Joanna's first time... but we Americans love our guns, so I felt like an old pro. Man it was loud though!

I'll update with more pics again soon, but it might take a while to get them all on because this pretty much hates uploading pictures. And I'm ready to get on to bed now and don't feel like doing any more.

Today was a nice day back. I hope this week is the same!

Much love.

"Good morning, Vietnam!"--Robin Williams

Well, I've been there and back. I got home at about 7:20 this morning, I'm running on very little sleep AND I pretty much missed New Years, but I hade an AMAZING time.

Serioulsy, I can not recommend Vietnam highly enough. It's cheap and fabulous, and you pretty much can be a princess for a week. It's certainly a part of the world I never thought I'd see, but now that I've been there I want to go back.

The worst thing about the vacation was this strange guilt--I'm a tourist there with all this money, compared to what they have, and it's just unreal. I got a manicure for $3, an hour-long foot treatment/massage for $6, clothes tailor-made to fit me, shoes taylor made to fit me... and other countless things with the limited amount of money I took with me. I mean, I was living LARGE there and it just sort of made me appreicate what I have, in terms of freedoms and opportunities.

Even though it's in Asia, the culture of Vietnam is totally different from Korea. I was SO happy to not have to deal with any nasty, shoving, pushy old adjumas for a week. Joy of joys! And everyone there was so welcoming and friendly, and Joanna and I were really taken care of well. People bent over backwards to help us out. Amazing. And the sights there are amazing too. Islands that are just gorgeous, even on a cloudy day. People working in rice fields with water buffalo, things that you always imagined but never though you'd actually see. It's a completely different world.

I would recommend it to anyone.

Joanna and I met some great people out there, too. Besides the great Vietnamese people, my favorites were the Americans we met. I loved that Joanna was talking to them about temperatures and distance, and I had to translate it into Farenheight and miles. GLORIOUS, considering I'm lost in measurements pretty much ALL the time. I don't care what anyone says, I love Americans!! We also met a guy from Spain, who sort of made me miss my family because I hadn't heard that accent in so long... I even got to practice my Spanish a little bit. Key.

Heard WAAAAY too much of ABBA's "Happy New Year" and became a little bit obsessed with old George Michael. It's FINE. :)

If you'll notice, there are no pictures in this entry. This is because I, like an idiot, forgot my camera at school. AWEsome. So, when Joanna finishes uploading and gives me the card and reader, I'll have pics to share, and more details about the trip. Look forward to it.

Also, get to pick up Lancelot (my puppy) on the 10th. Visited him today, and am totally in love.

Happy 2006, everyone. Hope it's everything you dreamed.

Much love.