"Someday, I'm gonna buy something on the subway."

Well, my friends, today was that day. You see, there are people selling stuff EVERYWHERE in this city, including people selling crap on the subway; everything from CDs of "greatest" or "best" music you've NEVER heard, to book lights and ear muffs. I bought a top that lights up and it's awesome. I'm gonna either use it as a prize for my kids OR... keep it for myself. ;)

Speaking of my kids, it was a fieldtrip Thursday this week, and a good one it was too. We went to Chang Gyeong Gung Palace, and it was one of the prettiest places I've seen in Seoul. Of course, it being springtime, there were flowers everywhere, and it was a beatuiful sunny day and it was just... lovely. The kids had a great time picking up flowers and pinecones and all kinds of flora and fauna. Anyway, here are some pics.

First of all, I have to make a comment about the irony of an ancient palace surrounded by modern city. Palace and... skyscraper?

We came across some dancers and it was so picturesque I had to snap one.

We also discovered this magical greenhouse, where I found this flower. I was wearing a shirt the exact same color that day, and my little Jenny actually remembered it the next day in class.

Here's my whole class, in front of some flowers.

And finally, just for The BF, Willy and the flower he found, which he put in his hair.

So that was that. It was one of our better fieldtrips, I must say.

Then last night, Friday, I went out to Hooters (again, fake not real) and hung out with the boys from work: Rodney (my big brother), Paul (former hippie rockstar who knows Bob Dylan), and Gareth (the new Brit), and then Steve (the old Brit) showed up too. We just sat around and drank beers until Steve started fighting (verbally) with Paul about something, and then Rodney and Gareth got into it and I'm like, y'all don't need to fight 'cause I'm the only chick here! Can't we all just get along? It was pretty funny, and a good time after all.

Today was class and then home to take Lancelot out into this beautiful day. Then I went to Jade's new house, and hung out with her and her new husband. She even made dinner, and she's not the most adept cook. But it was really good. And I saw all thier wedding and honeymoon photos, so that was cool.

It was a nice day.

Much love.

"Bacon? Where?!"

Here's a summary of my past few days, complete with pictures.

On Wednesday, we made "glasses" in art class, and they turned out so cute that I made them all put the glasses on and take a picture. My class, in case you don't know, is as follows: (back row) Julie, Grace, Lucy, Willy, Eric, Joon (front row) Jinni, Jennifer, Caroline, Jenny, Pitt, James and me.

Then Friday night we had staff dinner at Hooters (NOT a real Hooters, just a rip off of the name. Let's be honest we're in Asia, the hooters here are few and far between.). I ate snails, and discovered that they were in fact delicious. Exciting. And the only fooseball table in probably 50 km was put into full use. It was a good time, and I totally bonded with the Brit on staff about Eddie Izzard. Magical. Anyway, here's me and Rach and our "hooters."



And Adam, Christa, Sophie (that's her green coat), and Rach playing some foose. Good times had by all.


Then came Saturday. Class in the morning followed by one of the most GLORIOUS experiences I've had here. Breakfast. A real, actual, resturant breakfast with bacon, and sausage, and omlettes and everything!! It was amazing. In true Korean style, we ordered one of everything and shared it. Pancakes, French toast with strawberry cream cheese inside it, an omlette, scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast and bacon, glorioius, glorious bacon. It was amazing. In fact, here's the crew and our spread:


I really wanted the waiter to get more of the food in the picture but, well, can you blame him for taking one of the people? Not really. Anyway my friends Mark (head of the table, glasses) and Corinne (brown shirt, glasses) are true pals for letting me be a refugee to thier class. My class is small and practically spiritless. And because of thier class, I met two other Dane Cook enthusiasts. You gotta love that.

"Have you seen my shoes? I kicked them off in a fit of joy." Ha ha, I <3 Dane.

And after breakfast, I mosied to my new favorite place, a used/new book store called What The Book? It made my life even more because the guy who owns it (or at least he works there) is a Greek, and we totally bonded. You don't meet many Greeks here, and we were both wearing our coats and even though he was a Sigma Cheese, it was nice to meet him. Three books later, I left and came home to my dog and my cleaning.

Cleaning was so key... Anyway. That night, I went out to Dongdaemun with Linds to see what we could see. And THIS is what we saw:


Um... too funny. And I also found myself some treasures, like THE most comfortable pants in the world, and some cool shirts. Yay. It was a little sad because none of the fabulous shoes fit me, but alas, sometimes being gargantuan isn't an advantage. Whatever. Anyway, it was fun and I'm glad I went. Lancelot even got a new outfit. Faux Ralph Loren. lol.

And now we're up to today. This morning, I got up early and went to church at a new place with Sophie from work. It was nice, tiny, but nice. I liked everything except the moment at the end where we stood in a circle and held hands and sang some song. It was pretty Kum-buy-ah, let's be honest. Anyway... then I came home and tried to nap and relax, until Lindsay and I went to see this play about a mole and a poo.

Basic story line: This mole sticks it's head out of its hole, and an animal poos on his head. Then the mole leaves the hole to investigate who did it, and comes across a host of animals. Each animal poos, and the mole compares the poos and realizes that they are not the same. Long story short, it was a dog. Anyway, it was HORRIBLY disgusting and incredibly foul, I'm talking giant animal poos flying across the stage, but completely hilarious. Can't wait til Linds sends me the videos she took.

And now it's Sunday night, and I'm looking forward to an easy week. No 5th graders this week, a fieldtrip (in theory), Performance Theater, and Big Test on Friday. That RULES.

Have a great week, y'all.

Much love.

"Happy Easter guys!"

First of all, Happy Easter everyone! Hope you all have a lovely day and all that jazz. :) My Easter was nice. Got home a little bit ago from church and dinner, which is pretty much all I did today. It's fine. ;)

I DID talk to my family this morning, and my mom showed me the best Easter Miracle ever (after, of course, THE Easter Miracle), which is Fairy Tale Theater on DVD. I can't even talk about how magical that is. I really can't.

But yesterday I was a busy little bee. Class in the morning, followed by a doctor's appointment. I really went to see about diabetes stuff, by my knee's been hurting all week, so I got that checked out too. Turns out I have tendonitis in my good knee (nice) and I have to take it easy and take the anti-inflam he gave me. Balls. He also gave me the name of a diabetes specialist, so that was pretty good too. Hopefully, I can get an appointment there before too long, and I might get a day off out of it... if I swing it right. Key.

After all that, I came home and got Lancelot bundled up, and we headed out to Yeouido to see the cherry blossoms. I got there just before sunset, but I still managed to snap a few pictures. And even after dark, it was really pretty. Observe...

This is just Lancelot in front of some trees. Doesn't he pose well?

And this last one is just a cool pic of this building. You can't tell, really, but it was shimmering in the dusk. Really, really beautiful. And the pic even looks a little artsy, with the water fountain in front. I rule. :)

Here's the Seoul skyline, with the Han River in front, my mountains in the back.

My favorite part was meeting a Peruvian lady who was selling jewelry on the street. We talked for a little bit, and I even tried to use my Spanish, but it kind of got all garbled with my Korean. It was crazy! I was using Korean sentence structure with Spanish words... it was bad, but kind of funny.

Anyway... Have a good week.

Much love.

"I think spring has sprung."

It seems as though spring has sprung here. It's been over 55 all week and sometimes over 65. Yay! So trees are blooming, and plants are growing and life isn't quite as dreary as it tends to get in the winter. Plus, Buddah's birthday's coming up soon, and there are lanters hanging up all down the streets. It's really pretty. And today, on the way back from lunch, these Buddhists gave me a little lotus flower lantern. Super cool.

To help you all see what I see, here are some pics. This first one is the lanters, right across from my school, taken last night.

Pretty, I think. :) And this next one is one of the trees outside my apartment. Cherrie blossom, I think...

In other news, I went completely ballistic on this kid today, and I'm not gonna lie that it felt AWESOME because he SUCKS and I'm pretty sure that if I wouldn't go to jail, I'd physically injure him. Anyway, there was a whole situation preceding the explosion involving a book falling on my foot and the class laughing and the offender not apologizing and the entire class sitting in silence for about half an hour and doing NOTHING, but anyway, that explosion was KEY to my life. AND, to top it all off, I asked my supervisor to call his mom before the whole thing happened.

I was so mad at him I was literally shaking.

Anyway... appointment at the clinic tomorrow to see about getting insulin pump supplies here and, hopefully, to find out why my good knee's been hurting all week.

So... yeah. That's my update for now.

Here's hopin' for good weekends all around. :)

Much love.

"Are you really my Bubba?"

Have you seen my dog? Becuse I took him to get a haircut, and this is what came back:



He's hairless! His shaggy hair is gone! I hardly recognize my little baby. And he's TOTALLY depressed about it; his head is hanging low, and he won't even give me kisses. It's pretty bad... And he hates life even more because it's still a bit chilly out, so I'm making him wear his outfit so he doesn't get cold.


And the shampoo she used smells really strong. Ewww.

I hope it grows back fast!

Hopefully good plans are in the works for tonight... Fingers crossed.

Ewww again. He's farting.

Much love.

"Is this a fatty store, Bubba?"

So I just got back from a long walk with the dog, the goal of which was to peruse the selection of $10 shoes at the local Converse store and perhaps buy a pair, but I'm pretty sure the place is an illusion. I tried to find it once by myself before, and I was unsuccessful. But then, one magical day, I went with Lindsay after work and we found it and awesome shoes were purchased. Today, I went on a quest alone, and the place was gone, a mirage.

Perhaps it's like Terebethia: I need someone else to make the magic work. I dunno. But, the trip was not entirely unsuccessful as I discovered, miracle of miracles, a fatty store. Now granted, a fatty store in Korea is like any normal store back home, but still... I felt joy. I didn't find anything I loved, and it was a little pricey considering I can buy stuff on the street for, like, $10, but still. They had pretty stuff, and it was reasonably priced, so I'm SUPER excited to keep checking the place out. :)

Also bought two more pairs of glasses for a record shattering $90. I RULE at life! Glasses are THE accessory of the new millennium, according to me.

I might be going to an island this weekend, if the plans work out. That'd be SUPER cool! Plus, I'm having grown up fun on a weeknight for the first time in AGES tomorrow night. Yay me. This week=joy.

Much love.

"Sorry dude."--John

I'm sure you all want to know how my weekend was, right? Well, wait no longer. Here's the scoop.

Friday night was my last dance class, and I was a little bit sad, truthfully, but I can always go back if I get too bored and fat. I may go come next winter, when I'm still here... Balls. Moving on.

Saturday was my day with Lancelot, because he got the snip snip. Yes, friends, he is no longer a man. So while he had the surgery, I went to Suyu, one short bus ride away, and chilled out in Starbucks for a while, reading the new book I'm obsessed with. The Time Traveler's Wife. Ob sessed. Check it out. Anyway, then I walked around and ended up with a new tank top, a new coat, and a new shirt. Whatever, I was stressed, so I had to have some retail therapy. Whatever. Anyway, my boy did very well, and he has three bandages, but he's a little trooper. He was pretty pathetic yesterday, but today he's almost back to his old self, so that's good.

After I brought him home, I just sat around and watched Sex and the City and The O.C. all afternoon. Rachel came over for dinner, which I cooked, and it was nice to have company.

Today was a recheck at the vet (he's fine) another trip to Starbucks (whatever, it's fine) and a lunch with JohnandLindsay and The Americans who were staying with them. Yummy. We walked around Insadong for a minute, and I bought a jogsaw puzzle off the street because I am the coolest kid ever. :) Then Linds and I went to Apgujeong where we bought nose studs and I got two piercings. Whatever. They will turn into an orbital next month when I get the barbells changed to a hoop. And let me just mention that two piercings and three nose studs cost me $15. Hooooooooooot.

Another good weekend. :)

Back to work tomorrow. Poo.

Much love.