hiking last weeked

this is at chungsangsan--a mountain in gumi. beard and i went with the teachers and director of my old school. woke up and out of the house by 930--ON A SATURDAY. had a great time.

went to the dr

hi all.
saturday morning i woke up with a cold--ick. it wasn't too bad, just some snot. went hiking with segyero teachers, had a great time. came home and napped. met up with eungyung and jenny at new fish and grill restaurant. that was super! ordered a sashimi salad, au gratin potatoes, fried flounder, and something else but i forget. and we drank our fair share of bamboo soju. eungyung knows the guy that opened the restaurant and he has a thing for her so we got 3 or 4 dishes free. i love service. we already know what were going to order next time. and he said we can go in whenever we want and only order beer. most bars/restaurants/hofs require that you order a side dish with your drinks. it's nice to know people. we went home fairly early--1 i think.
sunday i woke up feeling even worse, no hangover, just the plague. but i was pleasantly surprised to see taht my family was online. i got to talk to everyone! happy happy happy. they were all at brian's house celebrating dad and brandy's birthdays. they could see my but brian's webcam was having problems or skype was having problems. somewhere there were problems. but it was nice to hear them nonetheless. i'm going to try to call home more. it's hard with the time difference and our schedules.
after talking to them i just made the train to daegu to meet angie. angie, her parents and i all went to the electronics market. angie wasnt sure of the way so her dad drove. very nice of him. i found a case for my old hard drive. HAPPY DAY! it was only 20 bucks. i was prepared to spend so much more. all my pictures from last year, my music. whew. then on to costco. it's like a little bit of home--bulk sized. got a 6 lb bag of pretzals, 55 packets of oatmeal, a bottle of wine, a brick of extra sharp cheddar cheese, 2 circles of havarti, bag of cooked shrimp, barrel of lotion, brick of cream cheese, 6 bagels, and a butt load of chicken. might just make chicken, cheese and kimchi quesadillas tonight. yummy yum yum. angies mom gave me some homemade kimchi. that's the BEST.

sunday morning

fairly eventful weekend--still in progress.
friday night we went to waegook cook for an "international music festival and art show." we stole a couple pictures from bryan. it wasn't REALLY stealing since he told us to and watched us do it. he wasn't too keen on beard trying to steal his hat. hadn't granted permission for that. we came home early b/c we were going camping with the crew from segyero at 930. yikes. very early for a satruday. but we made it. we went up chungsang mountain. it wasnt very difficult thankfully. it was really great to see my old teachers. i see angie and eungyung fairly regulary but hadn't seen annie, nancy, math teacher or mr lee since i left last year.
pictures:

usual wednesday

wow. i started typing tuesday and believed it was still tuesday for a bit. but NO it's wednesday and it's almost over meaning i have successfully made it over the hump once again! i even made it to the gym monday tuesday and this morning! 3 for 3. although i'm thinking of skipping tomorrow. probably not a good idea, i know. however, i'm going hiking saturday morning so perhaps i'll count that as my 5th day at the gym for the week. we'll see how i feel when i get up. this morning i was up before my alarm.
action packed weekend itinerary:
friday night--will's in town for one night before going back to anyang to attend a job interview.
saturday day--hiking with segyero's teachers and perhaps also having lunch with them.
saturday night--going to the opening weekend of a new restaruant in shinpyeong called fish and grill. one of eungyung's friend's is the owner. i met him before at a fish and grill in songmo dong.
sunday--meet angie in daegu, go to electronics market to hopefully get a case for my old hard drive and perhaps make a trip to costco. we're out of cheese. i also want to see if they have mac and cheese as my supplies are dwindling--only one packet left!

yummmm cheesy goodness.

the gym again

Rosaline and I started at the gym this AM. Bright and early at 830. woke up freezing and didn't think I'd be able to do it but I knew it needed to bed done. AND it's nice knowing someone is waiting and going to hold you accountable.
plusses of the gym:
1. it's near my home.
2. the locker room is well heated
3. it's fairly clean
4. all machines have instructions on how to use them AND what areas they work--in ENGLISH.
5. they give you shorts and shirts to work out in.
6. it's only 2 people short of empty in the AM.
7. there's a sauna
8. there are plenty of bikes and treadmills.
minuses:
1. the downstairs area where all the machines are is pretty chilly unless you're doing cardio.
2. the bikes don't have tvs.
3. it's 50,000 a month. 130 for 3 but i'm making sure I go enough in one to justify.
4. it's not right next door--or even better--in my living room.
so there you have it. the plusses outweigh the minuses. now i just have to get out of bed to go again in the morning. monday is always the hardest day. and upon leaving the gym i felt great. after lunch though i was more than ready for a nap. i'll go to bed early tonight and make sure to get up and get going in the morning.
at least that's what i say now...
i came home from work tonight and fried some tofu. then cooked some spinach with garlic, onions and butter and tossed the tofu in on top. yummy yum yum. and then, while chatting to some friends online i took some practice GRE tests--some good some not so good. i found out i have lost any math that i might have learned and i need to focus more on that than vocab. aaiiissshhh.

one more try

i just tried posting and had pictures with captions and there was some stinkin error so i have to do it all over again.
thursday we went sledding with the little ones. none of us were really looking forward to it as we had to be to school by 940 but it was super fun when we got there. the kids (and the big kids) had a great time. as you can see:

kids on the bus--they're so little!


june and alex (in the mask)


mini and sunny, the girls i was responsible for


martin is having a great time and she hasn't even gone down the hill yet!


cindy leads the way back up the hill


philip ready to go down the hill


katy

rion


stephanie


bryant teacher got in on the fun

the big kids (waegook teachers) got to go down the big hill. it was great! however, the guy teaching us how to go down the hill (please) told us to keep our legs OUT of hte sled and the bottoms of our feet on the ground. silly man how are we supposed to go FAST?! so we nodded and smiled and as soon as he got out of the was sledding like normal people. somehow keith and rosaleen got covered in snow. if you want to see that picture head to www.periplay.blogspot.com

Friday we had a staff dinner which lead to a staff noribang session. keith's first noribang experience. it was really fun. as soon as i get the pictures from rosaleen, i'll put them on here. After the noribang, keith, rosaleen, marion and I headed to ireland for a movie, jenny came over too. she's all right for an illinoisian.
Saturday Beard went ice climbing for the first time and I headed to Bryan's to learn how to use garage band. I can't wait to experiment more with it. making music is great.
When Beard got home and everyone was ready we all headed to the dwejegalbi restaurant in Shinpyeong and then for makali.

beard and alice


alexis and kelly


keith, charles, and zach (new guy)


beard, alice, marian, rosaleen, tibha, collin


bryan drinking makali

and for today--a jimjilbang. relaxation.

good morning!

i think i mentioned once before about koreans' fear of electric fans. rumor has it it stems from a son of someone of rank dying in his room to save face they said he had died from oxygen deficiency b/c the fan was running and the windows were closed.
and here's the warning in the Cultural Guide Book for Migrant Workers in Korea:
"Dangerous electric fans
In summer, many go to bed with a fan on. In some cases, a fan turned on too long can cause death from oxygen deficiency, hypothermia or fire from overheating. A fan with a timer can help prevent such dangers; you can set the timer before going to bed for one to two hours' run. Do not forget to have the windows open for ventilation."

There you have it. You can't make this up.

Yesterday was good. I like Tuesdays in general. I have a break at 2 and it was a nice, sunny day to take a stroll. After work Rosaline and I went to check out the gym. We found a really nice one. It has 2 floors, a sauna room and equipment that says how to use it in English and which muscles it works. For the same price as Keith's gym, without the trainer who calls all the time. I was going to go this AM but didn't sleep well and convinced myself in my semi-conscious state that going after work would be a better idea.

and then after some more thinking i decided monday would be best. let's see if i do it.

ya think?

Headline from New York Times:
Bias Is Found in Food Studies With Financing From Industry
oooohh. really? so you mean if coke funds a test saying coke is better, the results will say that coke is better? NO WAY! I'm shocked and appalled!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/health/09research.html
you'll have to copy and paste to read it, i still haven't managed to learn how to insert a link and right now i'm on the computer at school so everything's in korean...

and this is NEWS.

monday monday monday

all in all it was a good day. I absolutely love my first class. I can't believe how well they speak English and how easily they repeat and more importantly remember what I say. Yesterday I made 2 teams--P&Q, A&B were getting way too old--and then i said fairly quickly, Mind your Ps and Qs. Katy repeated it right away and asked, "What does that mean?" I love hearing that so much more than, "Teacher, what?' So, i used the simple explanation--it means be nice. she thought it was great and giggled. Today Johnny was acting up as usual and she said Johnny! Mind your--teacher what was the letters? HA i LOVE it. My second class--Bunny class--isn't the best class in the world. However, I've come to terms with it and I no longer get angry. If they get out of control i Just talk to the kids who are paying attention and pretend the others aren't there. Eventually the troublemakers can't stand me refusing to give them attention and start asking to play a game. I remind them they have to be sitting nicely and there you go. It sounds a lot smoother than I can really pull it off...(chum chum chum).
Thursday we're going sledding with the wee ones. I hope there's fake snow b/c the small amount of snow that fell Sunday is gone except for the top of the mountain. It'll be interesting. I hope they give us time to go home and change before coming back to teach the afternoon classes.
This weekend will be anohter Gumi weekend. I was looking back to last year when I started this blog and there were tons of entries about trips we took. No wonder I didn't save as much money as expected! I'm definitley curbing the trips this year. At most 2 a month. The end of January were going to Taebaek (sp) to the winter/ice festival. And most likely soon after I'll be headed up to Seoul. Our friend Greg gets back the middle of Jan and my brother's friend Nick is going to be stationed at Osan starting the middle of Feb.
So far I've been good at not frivolously spending money. I've only bought one sweater since we've been back, no funny t-shirts at all. Then again, it's not really t-shirt weather...but no need to think that way! I also haven't been drinking as much. That's positive in more ways than one.
lets see if i can scrape up a random picture:


andy, katie, and james adams

me watching something apparently interesting and posssibly a bit scary. i think i look like a youngun in this picture. and it was before my latest piercing forced its way out of my ear.


me and beard in the sky bridge in Davenport. I'm still amazed this thing exists. wowza.

is it just me?

or does everyone have a problem locating scissors in a hurry/when you really need them? it seems like no matter what special place i put them in they are never there. and i know it was like that when i was growing up, too.
today i went to lotte mart again. i got the necessities--wine, brie, razor, wheat bread, knife sharpener, prawns. and now it's back to sitting in front of the computer. although i'm hoping to start charlotte's story tonight.
last night i watchedd 3 episodes of one tree hill. i had never heard about it so i checked it out and it wasn't too bad. although i'm not sure if i actually like the show or if i just like to see if chad michael murray can make more than 2 facial expressions.
and now--a quote from the Cultural Guide Book for Migrant Workers in Korea: "Pork, annoyance for Muslims" p. 47.
another kid picture: stephanie looking like she could be a punk rocker for halloween




one thing that was GREAT tday is that I found some old friends on Myspace. My good friend Tony has a page and it was nice to read his stuff and see some pictures. I'm hoping we can stay in touch.
and now--dinner!

allllll day

so, i've spent all day messing with iTunes and I think I've got it. I've moved the entire iTunes folder to my external hard drive. Now I'm wondering if I can move the whole iTunes program over there...I'm not going to try it until I've researched it a bit more. I've already spent a lot of type copying, deleting and what not.
by all day, I mean the last 4 1/2 hours. We didn't wake up until after 1 and then there was sweet potato pizza to be ordered and devoured.

sweet potato pizza.....yum yum yum


good morning, beard! how's the pizza?

and now that i've deleted my podcasts, i'm finding more...bliss.

and that's it.
p.s. it snowed today.

and one more thing

when did the background noises in movies (gunshots, music, bombs yada yada) get to be so DAMNED important that they have ot be so much LOUDER than the rest. i can't stand it. i can barely understand what the actors are saying but when the music pipes up i have to cover my ears! geesh!

first off

who sings that song that goes: i don't a pickle, i just want to ride on motorcyyyyycle..? who who who?!
now we're watching this movie the professional--second time--and i still dig it. cracks me up actually even though it's about killing. meh
had a student today who actually WANTED to do better--and he wasn't 5 yrs old. he even pulled another book down off his shelf so we could go over it. this from a kid who sometimes takes a good 3 minutes to get a word out.
have i ever known anyone named matilda? melita, yes. hilda, yes. what was the name of the woman who lived in the same building as hilda--the one luse's own now? i can picture her and her apartment, but cant think of her name. mom, gramma, help me out here.
another thinkg i thought of b/c of this movie. yesterday less and today more i've been noticing some reflecting, like that of a watch off the sun, to my right, usually when i look lower. not all the time though...but i'm wondering about it nonetheless b/c when i started seeing little sparkle things there were a few holes in the old retina.
figured out how to add lyrics to itunes. HOWEVER...........yes, it does need that many elipses. I'm having an issue with my iPod having the same amount of GB as my hard drive. what to do what to do. I have an big external hard drive but it doesnt communicate with my computer's hard drive too well. i have to search for files--did i mention that i tried moving my iTunes folder to my external HD but then iTunes couldn't find it so I moved everything back but i would have had to delete all the stinkin duplicates so i deleted EVERYTHING. screw it. and then i copied the folder again and it seemed fine. BUT NO. i put the files back but now have to search--supposedly one by one. WHY OH WHY? this can't be true, right? one at a time?! someone, help me with my iPod, iTunes woes. I know someone knows some stuff. I'll try it, I have time. I'll even report back as to how it works. I know I don't have to worry about losing anything except podcasts (no biggee b/c searching for podcasts is like christmas), everything else is saved separately on my external hard drive.
enough rambling. perhaps tomorrow i'll head into daegu to get a case for my old computer's hard drive. i can feel more woes coming on... but perhaps not.
have a nice day!!!!

smooth sailing

back to work today for our grueling 2 day week. oh the agony. the kids were a bit on the crazy side today as should be expected. but i was happy to see them. my cutie patootie class of 2 3-yr olds was handed off to beard as they can no longer make it and 2 and he is free at 245. so, as much as i love having another 40 mins free in the day, i'm going to miss them.
also today one of my student's quit (going ot australia, my butt) and in her place is a boy originally from china. i'm not sure how long he's been in korea but his korean is much better than mine. his english is pretty good, too.
on to personal matters, i have the gumi cold back again. amazing how while i was in busan i felt fine, hardly any snot to mention. but as soon as i'm back in gumi, i'm running for the tissue. perhaps it was something i picked up on the train...
next--i am still in love with my iPod. i've found many more podcasts and listen to them on my walk to and from school, on breaks, while making dinner, etc. i listened to one today from NPR (best station ever) called my cancer. it's about a former war correspondent's battle against--you guessed it--cancer. i didn't start from the beginning but as of where i am now, (thanksgiving episode) he's on a break from the treatments. very interesting stuff. and perfect length, too--each segment is just a tad over 3 mins.
and that's about all i can think of now. i got a package from mom today! more chocolate, some gum, bath gloves, socks and much needed under eye fixer cream. i've been feeling old...THANKS MOM!!
kid picture--james

back again

so it's wednesday but it kinda feels like sunday b/c i have to work tomorrow. today's been a hang around the house type day. i talked to some people online, cleaned up and vacuumed, ate 2 meals, made some more flash cards for the stinkin GRE, and watched some TV shows thanks to alluc.org. and of course i downloaded a shit-ton of music and updated my podcast. AND i remembered about craigslist.org. so now that i think about it, i HAVE done stuff today. sure, most of it was in front of my computer but that doesn't mean anything.
beard talked to my brother last night and he is very happy with the mirror i got him for his bar. i was nervous it wasn't going to come out right but he said it was exactly what he wanted.
yesterday as i was going to post pictures here from new years a very unfortunate thing happened. i was cleaning off the memory card by protecting the pictures i hadn't uploaded then i pressed delete--expcept for the protected--and it deleted ALL but 2 of my pictures. ALL. no pretty videos of fishes from the aquarium, no silly videos of beard in the mullet, or of joe prancing on the beach. GONE, ALL GONE! but, i'm not mad anymore. these things happen.
here's some random christmas pictures, just for fun.

me--yeah beer!

my christmas meal

tibha on christmas morning. i have a new found fondness for bb guns. however, they still make me nervous. You'll shoot your eye out!