something else

2nd yr, 1st qtr--DONE!

2009-12-07T05:55:00.002+08:00

I just finished my last final of the quarter and I'm feeling good about it.
In 4 mins when my first on-call shift is completed, Kath and I are going for a walk in the freezing cold and windy--yet sunny--day. I think we're going to head out to Lake Padden.
Tonight I'm going to try to finish my essays for the Critcal Language Scholarship to get funds to learn Bahasa Indonesia, in Indonesia and apply for the International School Services. I need to go to ISS's conference in Boston in June to be hooked up with a job. And as you may have noticed, I would like to live in Indonesia. I have found several openings for school counselors across the globe-one must be for ME!
Time to bundle up!

big day!

2009-08-19T11:51:00.002+08:00

Today was the last day of my summer job. I worked for the Border Policy Research Institute and the Whatcom Council of Governments. First I hung out at the border attached to a laptop or a PDA collecting data. Then I was thankfully chosen to clean the data and make pretty graphs out of it. I've spent last couple of weeks knee deep in a database. But--a plus, I've learned some stuff about Access and I have another reference for my resume.
Today is also the day Walker's wife Kadie's water broke! There's going to be a Wee Walker any minute, I can feel it!
Today we also continued the cleaning of the house. Bryant's mom is coming for a visit and that's a good excuse to deep clean. Lord knows the apt needs it and we won't do it on our own. Today was vacuuming and folding clothes. These tasks also entailed stacking magazines and old mail (hey! there that is!) and Bryant vacuuming so hard he broke a...thing, it doesn't really have a name. Now it is a thing without a lid.
TOMORROW is a bigger day. I am starting my internship at Burlington-Edison High School. I wasn't feeling nervous until today when Jen asked me if I was going to be wearing a suit. A suit?! No one is going to be there except the counselors and maybe secretaries. Then she said I needed to impress people-and I agree. So I mentally reorganized my day to fit a trip to the blasted mall to find a suit. I emailed others to get a second opinion--Kath, a teacher in the school next to mine said hell no! I like that answer. So I came home and picked out my second best outfit next to a suit--nice grey pants and a black button front shirt, black socks with grey circles and black danskos. I even de-linted or whatever it's called the shirt. I continued cleaning, showered and settled down with a beer to check out the McKinney-Vento act that was mentioned in an email from my supervisor when my phone rang. It was Laural, my supervisor. She just wanted to let me know NOT to dress up tomorrow (a HUGE phew on my part) and that wearing shorts/capris and a nice shirt was just fine. woot.
And tomorrow Joan gets here. Kath let her crash at her house so she doesn't have to get a hotel so Rick gets a roommate for a few nights. We're thinking we'll cook out over there later on.
The rest of the week will be spent in OR.

2009-07-18T09:26:00.000+08:00

i can't wait to swim in clear waters again!

miso soup

2009-07-15T07:00:00.002+08:00

I made miso soup for the first time today. I've made the packets before but the other day we bought the soft, keep in the fridge miso so today i thought I'd give it a try. The directions said to boil some kelp and some other green thing we don't have in 4 cups of water. I had neither so i substituted onion. not a surprise as i love onions. I brought that to a boil and added tofu and 3 tablespoons of miso. The package said 4 but...I didn't want it to be too salty and figured I could add more later if need be, best to be conservative with salty things. I looked in the fridge for some greenery and found half of a zucchini and chopped that up. I let that all simmer a while longer before adding 2 sheets of dried seaweed. It was delicious. When I ate the soup again 3 hours later, I reheated it with leftover rice. Good stuff.

So maybe it doesn't look so good in the photo but it was tasty.

crazy dreams since watching 6 feet under

2009-07-03T09:06:00.002+08:00

i've had a couple weird dreams since we started watching six feet under.
the first one i am planning my wake (mind you i don't want a wake, but that's what goes on in the show and my mom once told me that i had to have a wake and that it wasn't for me but for everyone else--just like the rest of my life ;). Ok, so i'm planning my wake and i am thinking of how i want my hands folded, or not and which rings i want to wear and whether or not i'll wear shoes and which ones. when i'm dreaming about the shoe thing--in my dream--i think of a conversation i had with steve blazek (sp) who used to run the funeral home in town. it was my first wake and mom had arranged it so i could ask him questions. i asked if the woman (i can't remember who died...) was wearing shoes and he said yes but either i didn't believe him or i was just really curious and i asked to see-- AND HE SHOWED ME!! Thanks, Blazek! She had on black shoes and some sort of hose, I'm surprised I didn't ask about THAT.
Second dream. In this one I'm dead and I know I'm dead and AGAIN i'm planning the wake I don't want. This time I'm in the morgue and I'm thinking, I should have my retainer in and I wish I had packed my mascara--funny b/c i never have make up in my purse. not that the retainer part isn't funny...there was more to this one but it's lost now.

headed to IA in a few hours. dinner with kath and maria first.

seattle trip pt 1

2009-04-14T11:30:00.014+08:00

We went to Seattle 2 weekends ago to hang out with Jess and Kevin. We took the Amtrak bus down and got in around 5:30. We met Jess and walked to a sushi restaurant--Maneki. I forgot my camera in the car at that point so there are no pictures from there unfortunately. We had some rolls, some sashimi, plenty of sake. My favorite sake was the bouquet aftertaste. My favorite roll was the sassy salmon roll--a little spicy, a LOT delicious! This is where we met Kevin's sister, Jen.
The whole time we were there Jess, Kevin, and Jen kept referring to a SUPLISE that made me nervous.
After walking around the international district looking for a bar to have a drink--one drink--before the suplise. This is the bar we ended up at.

Then we found our SUPLISE!

VENUS KARAOKE! Smaller karaoke rooms for you and your friends--just like Korea! WOOT!

Heck yeah!

This guy was there--They say his name's Steve.

This is what Steve did to Jess's car. He neglected to tell her when he got out of the car...

At the car wash

Beard scrubbing. Scrubba scrubba scrubba!

Jess rinsing.

Bear

SUCCESS!

Hello World

2009-03-31T00:50:00.020+08:00

It's been brought to my attention that I have not blogged since January. Ellen, this one is for you!
Last week was Spring Break. I went camping with Christy and Megan at Silver Lake State Park off of Mt. Baker Hwy in Maple Falls Tuesday night.

Wednesday, Timm rode his bike out (nuts) and Craig and his kids Keegan and Kaeliegh came out for dinner and marshmallows.

We sang songs and huddled by the fire.

C, M and I walked around the park Wednesday and found some nice cabins and a little trail. The lake is pretty nice too, except for all the goose poop.
Friday Chirsty and I went to a seminar about healing Native American children who have been sexually abused. We gained some new ideas and insight. It was one of slowest seminars I have ever been to. and no set schedule. i got to practice having patience.
Friday night Rick came over for dinner and he and Beard decided it would be a good idea to buy as much pork as possible and grill it all the next day. And that's what we did.

5 different bbq sauces and a rub. all delicious.

We boiled the meat first so it was good and tender.

we grilled 18 lbs and made our way through about 11--pretty good for 6 ppl.

Tara made an awesome coleslaw, too. BBQ pork and coleslaw--yum!

Sunday we (me, Beard, Tara, Sam, Delilah, Rick) took a hike to walk off some of the pork. We started at the N. Chuckanut Trailhead on the Hemlock trail and turned off on the Salal Trail. We were looking for the Madrone Crest trail and were probably on it but it wasn't posted.

We ended up back on the main trail and made our way back to the car. And since the pork was still on sale, we bought another package for the freezer.
Sunday night Beard and I had dinner with Stacia and Evelyn who work with Beard at the Border Policy Research Institute on campus. Good food, good company.
And now it's Monday--bah.
I have an interview today with David Davidson of BPRI to work for him this summer at the border. It's a backup job in case I can't work with a professor on research. I think it would be pretty interesting though. Interviewing people about what they are bringing over the border--I might even be able to sit in the little box.
Tonight I have training for teaching kids English online and then dinner with Beard and Rick. Kath's spring break is this week so she's headed to LA to see her parents.
Tomorrow class starts again....
Here are some more random pictures for your viewing pleasure.

On the wagon

2009-01-13T09:03:00.001+08:00

The original wagon on which reform alcoholics pledged to stay was the horse drawn water cart of the late 1800s. During Prohibition, reformers would take a vow to stop drinking alcohol ans substitute water. A backslider was said to have fallen off the (water) wagon and back into drinking alcohol.

--From: I Didn't Know That

things i did today

2009-01-12T12:25:00.002+08:00

1. woke up
2. drank 1/2 cup of coffee while talking to Megan on the phone.
3. finished ch. 1 of family
4. ate breakfast
5. went to kohls with kath
6. called Dad
7. walked to work
8. actually put some time on the phone--2 completes!
9. went grocery shopping w/ Beard.
10. read Whaley article
11. rode exercise bike for 15 mins
12. did 2 loads of laundry
13. did the dishes
14. ate dinner
15. ate some dark chocolate
and NOW...i'm starting on chapter 2.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T01:15:00.001+08:00

Just practicing.

obama and his use of sentences

2008-11-22T01:19:00.002+08:00

He's creating quite a stir...
This is pretty funny. I laughed out loud on more than one occasion while reading this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/obamas-use-of-complete-se_b_144642.html

satruday

2008-11-09T03:36:00.003+08:00

Sooooo, I think I might be getting a cold. My nose is stuffy then runny, my left gland in my neck is swollen, and my throat is scratchy. I think that means I'm getting a cold.
I'm vitaminning and teaing, I shall overcome. As you can see I'm bundled up with a scarf and hood. You can also see my Ipod ear cords. Shuffle songs is treating me well today.
Today I want to finish up my presentation on my school visit for Diana's class. I have 10 slides in power point (my first time using power point, by the way). I just figured out how to take a picture of my screen or parts of my screen using Grab and I'm mighty happy about that.
Another reason to be happy is that mac is going to send me a new battery! Mine has started acting wonky: only staying on for about 30 mins and then BOOM off, no 10 minute warning, and the little orange light stays orange instead of turning to green when it's fully charged. I called mac and dude said he didn't think he could send me a new one for free b/c I was over my 300 charges--I was at 303. I had explained to him that this started about 2 weeks ago but I thought maybe I did something b/c I had changed the settings about a month ago. He talked to product guy and came back on and said they'd send me a new one! YEAH!
And I turned the heater on in this room. soon i'll be toasty on another rainy day.

HA russian funny

2008-10-19T01:12:00.001+08:00

doggone it, you betcha, doggone it, you betcha, say it ain't so joe

minesweeper

2008-10-12T01:37:00.002+08:00

this reminds me of jen playing minesweeper in college. she could beat the biggest square.
best quote: 'that clock is gonna keep tickin until it says 9, 9, 9.' 'And then what?' 'Nothing. You just suck.'

Wow.

2008-10-10T23:09:00.003+08:00

I just found an awesome program by accident. It's called Kiva-loans that change lives. I went to Kiva.org and learned that I can lend any amount of money to an entrepreur in a developing country, they use it and then I GET MY MONEY BACK and I can lend again to another business owner. During the process I get email updates as to how the money is being used. I think this is amazing. Check it out.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php

Two things I'm happy to have this AM:
1) public transportation, in particular WTA bus 71x. It was 2 minutes late but super warm inside.

2) Good Earth Original Decaf Sweet and Spicy Tea.

Kickin it in Geumcheon

2008-10-01T22:14:00.001+08:00

This is hilarious. Thanks, Bryan!

i want to be a dolphin

2008-09-16T07:35:00.001+08:00

Check this out. Dolphins are blowing air rings.

diving in FL

2008-09-03T09:32:00.002+08:00

1st step, getting ready to dive. roughish seas. belly not happy.

belly still not doing well. waiting for captain jim to quit yappin so i can get in the water.

more spiegel grove

fred and i swimming under the crane

lock test--finishing deep water dive

2 videos from minneapolis

2008-07-16T09:14:00.002+08:00

video of a big storm in minneapolis

segway tour on stone arch bridge across mississippi

lummi "adventure"

2008-06-24T13:28:00.008+08:00

Beard, Kath and I went to Lummi Island this Sunday to ride the 7 mile northern loop. Where I have lived in the past, no one would think of asking me if I rode my bike to the ferry--hell no. What? Seven miles isn't enough for you people?! And, in case you haven't noticed by all the crosses on the side of the road, not a very safe place to drive. Ride--no.
We get to the ferry parking, it's fairly packed, probably b/c you can leave your car there for FIVE days, free. We wait in line; the order being: pedestrians, cars, bikes. BUT-the laugh's on YOU pedestrians, we with our bikes are only THREE bucks each, you with your measly feet are FOUR bucks.
It was a perfect day--little wind, sun, pretty wispy clouds, the water sparkling. Of course we took a lot of pictures and laughed at ourselves and those around us.

the ferry

a beach on the northern side of the island

me and beard

the scenery

who loves her honey bowker?

me and kath showing our athletic ability riding uphill. it may LOOK flat...it;s an illusion.

Here's a link: http://www.lummi-island.com/

playing

2008-06-09T11:41:00.003+08:00

So...I want to finish reading my book but it's taking a boring turn and I have laundry in the washer and don't want to fall asleep before it's done. I decided, why not blog.
This weekend we helped Kath finish moving. It went really fast b/c so many of our friends were there and we had already made so many trips with her parents. Everything's in and basically where she wants it. It's a sweet house. We found out this weekend that our friends Derick and Keri are pregnant. She's 35 and considered an elderly mother. I thought that was a bit odd.
Today I went with kath to a graduation party for her student, miguel. he's been living by himself and working full time in order to graduate. His mom lives in Mexico. He saved up 680 to buy her a ticket to his graduation and somehow she got the wrong visa and they wouldn't let her in. It was really nice of Kath to do that for him. She bought burgers and buns and pop and a graduation cake and a ton of her students came. I got to meet her Ethiopian students as well.
And now, I'm home. Beard's finishing up his essay questions--reluctantly. I think I'll make my lunch for tomorrow, finish up the laundry and head to bed.

things

2008-06-05T13:42:00.002+08:00

i saw tonight.
1) giuseppe's--i have no idea how to spell this. italian restaurant next door to downtown johnny's and the pickford. went for a pre-movie drink w/ roshni and megan.
2) met muslim who learned to fly and is in a movie about it. he gave me not one but two copies of the quran. he's from bellingham. his wife is going on a cross-country tour of small town america. if you see her, check out what she has to say.
3) saw then she found me--helen hunt, bette midler, mr darcy, and ferris bueller. how could it be so boring?!
4) roshni drove me home and we saw some old folks searching under the streetlight for something. we turned around and i asked if i could help them look for something. the couple was dressed in all navy/black, man in hat, woman in scarf. she gave me this huge smile and opened her plastic bag--they were searching for earthworms. of COURSE!

and now i'm having a baby glass of wine before retiring.

ear

2008-05-30T15:39:00.002+08:00

my shorty ear piece gave out. i don't miss him too much. i mean, sure, stereo is good, but really...i can still hear.
however, i feel awkward with one ear bud in. like i'm missing something.
i've searched for my back up pair of ear buds. i bought them before we left for indonesia but they've jumped ship.
yar--the one ear bud bandit rides again.
photo:

oldish videos

2008-05-21T12:40:00.006+08:00

This is from the Butterfly Garden in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Monkey at a Flower Garden in KL.

2008-04-30T13:23:00.007+08:00

saturday night bill was in town. after eating turkey meatloaf made by kath's mom, marie (which has allowed us to have meatloaf sammies for lunch the last two days), we decided to go out. we went to the shoe first. beard and i hadn't been there since we left. it's a lot different with the non-smoking and the more lighting.

it was crowded nonetheless and we decided to find a quieter spot.
we headed to the waterfront.

it was quiet. we ordered a pitcher and a vodka blah blah blah for kath and settled in.
soon--there was dan pike, mayor. chattin us up.

it was a nice night...
and now

getting ready for bed.

yeah!

2008-04-20T05:35:00.002+08:00

so...
if you remember WAY back in 2006 when my toshiba laptop took a shit, i thought i had lost everything. all my pictures, music, etc.
THEN in late 2007 Angie took me to the electronics market in daegu and a wonderful man there put my 80gig hard drive into a box and MAGIC i had access to all my old stuff.
Immediately upon returning back to our apt in gumi, i plugged in my old hard drive into beards PC and copied all my photos to CD. I had assumed that I couldn't plug it into my mac without losing everything. Beard talked about dreams of networking our computers and la la la. i started downloading music, copying friends cds, etc in korea to make up for my severe lack of music. i forgot about my old hard drive and that was that.
we moved back to WA. i unpacked my old hard drive and we talked about networking again. Beard actually checked out books from the library on how to do so. We still have the books, but no networking.
Today I decided I was going to plug in the hard drive to my mac and see what happened. I expected warnings, weird noises, perhaps sparks. BUT NO! nothing! all my pictures are there and i can open them. all my music is there and i can play it.
IT'S AMAZING.
So, while beard is on the phone with windows help, i'm trying to play down my excitement that I'm able to access my old files.

whoa is me

2008-04-18T13:18:00.002+08:00

first ha to myself for my PBdom.
This picture is me after 13+hrs of work. Sure, a little of it was down time, but I WAS still there and still half-assedly working. And that was only like 30 minutes anyway. And yes, 1 hour was piloting a study which is usually a little exciting and fun b/c I get to be on and answer questions and troubleshoot and be cool--all with my co-project manager megan. We're calling GA right now and MAN do some people speak SSSSLLLOOWWW down there. "hold on, hold on, taaaake yooouuurrr tiiiiimmme." Great. An estimated 10 minute survey now takes 20.
Marilyn is back at SBDC that makes me happy b/c now I don't have to work with the forgetful retired cop. She wasn't a cop when younger, she became a senior patrol officer and she's ALL about it. I don't want to go on about her. She was nice and all...
Now we're going to watch stupid ass lost on my computer b/c beard's is acting up. go figure.

full of fish

2008-04-07T09:55:00.002+08:00

sunday

2008-04-07T02:08:00.003+08:00

me watching beard read his favorite daily reading.

today is a rainy sunday. we're going to canada today to visit kath's uncle in the hospital and eat some delicious sushi and sashimi. yummy yum yum.

snow

2008-03-29T09:17:00.000+08:00

it's snowing and pretty hard, too. I might expect this in the midwest or east but up here? COME ON! oh well, gives us an excuse to sit inside and read and watch movies all day.
kath's in vegas (lucky) and we're in charge of hanging out with zoey tonight. this also involves eating whatever kath has in her fridge, i know there is an orange pepper in there somewhere. we've invited the hairs over for dinner and then hopefully some euchre.

last night we went grocery shopping and then watched a couple episodes of lost before making a dinner of tofu, broccoli, onions nad mushrooms. I got everything together and beard took care of the sauce. it was lip smacking good. then we watched even more episodes of lost and went to bed fairly early for a friday.
tomorrow we're going to do a take back our trails 5K walk/run. A couple of weeks ago a woman was running on squalicum trail in the AM and was assaulted. As far as I know the man hasn't been caught. This walk/run is in response to that.

working and reading

2008-03-27T09:30:00.002+08:00

I've had to work hard these past couple of days to get caught up on everything from when I was sick. Now that's done, thankfully. I just finished 2 books: The Omnivore's Dilemma and Mummy's Legs. Omnivore's Dilemma is great for anyone who thinks a lot about food. I really liked it. Mummy's Legs is a novel. It was ok.
Beard and I have been watching Lost streaming online. We're on season 2. I don't know about this show. It holds my attention, that's for sure, but some of lines/plots are too much for me and I'll walk away for awhile. I always come back though.
Tomorrow I'm going to a yoga class with Rebecca and then to dinner at Roshni's. Tonight I have to add the ingredients to my Amish Friendship Bread start.

spring things

2008-03-21T11:18:00.001+08:00

my NEW BIKE--aka rad rabbit

bike friends

blossoms on our tree

suzie and mikkel's clementine!

I'm IN!!

2008-03-21T10:56:00.002+08:00

hello hello
I got into my grad program! woo hoo! My professor called me today to let me know. She said she nominated me for a scholarship, too. We'll see how that goes.

maybe i am die

2008-03-19T09:40:00.003+08:00

beard ended last week with a very bad cold. megan and i hung out with him and NOW--we're both sick. she more so than me. i didn't go to sbdc today and was only at arn from 8-1. i'm going to try to go in again tomorrow but only half time i think.
lots of snot and coughing. fever, chills, ugh.

so yeah

2008-03-18T09:46:00.002+08:00

i was put on the alternate list. but i'm FIRST on the list. The prof said it's very rare when they do not use the alternate list to fill the slots. so...i wait again. 7 out of 6. yar. oh well. beard's in and we wanted at least one of us to get in so we didn't need a plan b.

afterwork

2008-03-13T08:45:00.004+08:00

wooo,
it was a pretty busy day at works today. ARN in the AM was getting training materials together. then SBDC and entering impact survey data, then back to ARN to interview potential new hires.
Tomorrow will be more of the same except I'm going to go over an RFP at ARN on top of hiring stuff.
5 days until I find out if I get into my program! I'm a horrible waiter.
Here's me after work:

On easter we're going to see these people and their spouses:

And we're going to stay at these people's house:
crap, i havent uploaded those pictures yet and all my old pictures are on my external hard drive. well--what are you going to do.

today

2008-03-12T22:54:00.002+08:00

pb & j on toast for breaky. yum.
happy it's not raining this AM so riding my bike to work will be more pleasant.
wearing a sweatervest today. not sure how i feel about it but i need to wear something.
listening to npr talk about south by southwest makes me remember a year ago hearing a podcast about south by southwest while i was walking to Pak's apt to teach soon chul.

oicture

2008-03-11T13:08:00.003+08:00

just remembered to take a picture.
watching beard rummage around the apt looking for .5 lead. "all we have is .7 lead and .5 pencils" me: that's how we roll.
then he came in the room and said and said,"ah! grr uniball. what was i saying?" leaves the room, i'm giggling. comes back in the room, "i know, we should get networking for dummies."
just read 2 books--the seas by samantha hunt. decent novel, a bit out there. i heard about her from npr. the second, burned alive by souad. about a palestinian woman. both good, both quick reads, one a little and the other very disturbing. waiting for books on hold at the lib. can't remember which ones. thinking of finding a bio of mother theresa.
just read a rant on craigslist about bra-buying. i hear ya, lady. i hear ya.

forgetful

2008-03-10T02:23:00.003+08:00

this picture a day thing...not working so well.

gonna make breakfast--broc, b. olive, onion omelette.
garrison keeler is talking about farts. i love it
cargo farts--the ones that deliver a load!
clamping. HA

you tube videos

2008-03-03T10:18:00.002+08:00

wait until the end of this one. maybe we need this in Bham.

first blog of the new year-in march

2008-03-03T10:07:00.002+08:00

wow. long time since i've blogged.
back in the states now. things here are about the same as when i left. that fact was extremely awe-inspiring. i've been many places, seen so many things and feel changed myself and things here have just been moving on as usual.
perhaps more on that later.
for now, i want to start a picture a day. we'll see if i can keep up. i want to see myself age, now that i'll be 30 this year. i could stop at any time.

Indonesia

2007-11-28T16:40:00.000+08:00

Finally on vacation. Test is over. Sitting near/on beach all day long. I dove today for the first time in over a year. Was great. I find myself getting bored/antsy after about 25 minutes and ready to head up. Luckily that was about the time we saw some huge needlefish that held my attention again. The water was warm and there wasn't too much current. We had to swim at the surface to find a place to walk up on the beach--wasn't too excited about that. I'll take a boat any day!
The food is fabulous. We can eat Indonesia food cooked by locals for super cheap--under $3 for the two of us--or eat western food for a little more expensive--between 5-6 bucks. beer is between 1.50 and 1.80 for a big bottle. we're saving money on water (which we both drink a ton of) by refilling our old bottles for 25-30cents. Our bunglow (including breakfast) is 8bucks a night. We have 2 big beds, a ceiling fan, a porch, and our own bathroom--sans hot water.
So far neither of us have had many bug bites, thankfully. and we're supposed to be taking malaria meds but keep forgetting. chickens, ducks, and cats roam freely here but everyone seems to be healthy expect hte cat that pesters us at breakfast. we've named him plague ball.

i can't believe

2007-11-01T08:35:00.000+08:00

I'm intentionally returning to a country where this happens. (the people picketing, notice in the picture the young child, not the settlement)
christian values--love your neighbor always gets thrown out the window.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071101/ap_on_re_us/funeral_protests_11;_ylt=Aq5RbhBxU0TUK2ulFgXqINME1vAI

YES

2007-10-30T17:45:00.000+08:00

if beard and i ever tie the knot--this is going to be useful!

http://www.byebyeblender.com/

a bridal registry that lets guests give money towards a honeymoon or luxury gifts. PERFECT for people who have been living together for a while and have all the household stuff.

spare me my life

2007-10-24T08:09:00.000+08:00

A way to learn English in Japan. Wait for the girls.

damn, i make good soup

2007-10-15T20:12:00.000+08:00

it kind of looked like this. i don't have the fancy bowl.

today for lunch (during the drill) i made a great pot of soup. i've had the cold that won't go away forever now and i decided to hot it out. i started some water boiling and put in the rice pillows. then i added a generous helping of kimchi followed by mushrooms (the big ones htat are stuck together), odang, 2 spicy green peppers, 2 big cloves of garlic, one med large onion, corn, and a little carrot while this was all simmering i added in 2 forkfuls of spicy red paste. YUMMY Yum yum. It was a 9 tissue lunch.

no

2007-10-15T19:52:00.000+08:00

just a test. a bit scary when you don't know what's going on...

are we being attacked?

2007-10-15T13:15:00.000+08:00

what the frick is going on around here. we were just finishing up lunch and what i would call a storm siren went off for a long long time and fighter planes were flying over head--a lot. and then the siren stopped and there were announcements for quite sometime. then the announcements stopped and the siren went again. no planes and no announcements this time...
most likely its a test. i remember something like this happening last year but no announcements and only one siren and places and EG said it was to test the army.
off to work. we'll see what they say.

korea

2007-10-12T07:48:00.000+08:00

One thing I'll miss about Korea--the cabbies. Well, some of them.
I know I'll miss the harmonica cabbie. I've had him twice. I get in for the long ride to Gupyoung Dong (about 25-30 mins). He says nothing for a while until we are deep in rush hour traffic. Then he brings out the "where are you from?" i say america. He says OH AMERICA! Number ONE! i say, thanks. Then he calls me Miss America. I say, yes, it's true. how did you know? Then silence for about 5 minutes as I go back to eating my fruits and veggies.
Then, we're at a red light. He takes out a harmonica and waves it at me. I say, harmonica. He says, america!. So that means either he got it IN america, someone brought it for him from america, it was made in america, or he thinks my name is america. He then proceeds to play home on the range, during which the light turns green, we're in a lot of traffic with a lot going on, but this doesn't deter him from playing. He finishes, I smile and say good! I'm hoping he'll put it away, we have a tricky intersection coming up. But NO! He says, America number one song and plays the star spangled banner--complete with a hendrix-esque riff in the middle. nnniiiiccceee. we arrive safely to dunkin donuts. phew.
The first time this happened I was on a shorter ride and he played 3 songs. Number one korea song and numbers one and two america songs. I remember home on the range but i can't remember the other one. I might have encouraged him this time b/c the traffic was lighter and i wasn't so pressed for time.
On a side note. The other day as I was walking I saw a kid on a bike playing a harmonica--and there was a kid on the back of his bike! This kid is either the cabbie's son or his protege.

wowza

2007-10-08T22:42:00.000+08:00

just spent a HUGE amount of money on plane tickets. doing things slightly different. beard found a cheap flight out of kuala lampur, malaysia to moline. SO we're leaving Jakarta dec 15th, flying to malaysia. I'm hanging out a day and a half and then leaving on the 18th for moline. that is if our reservations go through. we'll see about that soon enough.
and now that my tummy's in knots, i'm going to try to go to bed.

long time no blog

2007-10-03T20:43:00.000+08:00

first let me just say i have the "death hurt" this means that my right gland in my neck is swollen and hurts REALLY REALLY bad. it means i'm doomed for sickness. DOOMED. ive been stocking up on vitamin C but we all know where this is going. sick city.

second something funny: tuesday i had my picture taken for a newspaper ad, again. This will be the 2nd time i've been in the newspaper for DDD. yes, i'm that hot. or something. anyway, i wore a nice shirt instead of a regular tee-shirt and as i was leaving for lunch my boss pats her stomach, points to mine and says, Traci, you're not fat! i say, um...thanks. I want to reply by patting my stomach and saying You, too! but decide to just get in the elevator. i think it was a complement.

and now--we returned from china sunday. had a minor issue that could have been major with customs trying to come back in, and tuesday was my birthday. beards birthday was today (wednesday) which is also a national holiday. i'm not sure why and i don't really care. i'm just really happy to have the day after my birthday off work. as is beard,too b/c as with most years, he starts out his birthday hungover b/c i was born a few hours ahead of him. tuesday i went ot WA bar with CH and had a pilsner urquell and then we went to bisan for red chicken, aka yum yum chicken. then we went to jenny's and then back to my apt. eungyung, ken and his gf yubi, sandy and his gf tidha, and keith all helped us celebrate the bdays. eg brought a delicous chocolate with chocolate mousse cake and then ordered this great chicken dish.

this AM, i woke up fine and ate pizza, sat, showered and met jenny and CH at homeplus. stocked up on some goodies, taught for a bit, saw CH's apt and then went out for dinner with beard. pork galbi.

and now i'm at home. going ot get off the computer and read a decent amount of the book i just started. tomorrow--back to work and studying. this weekend--jinju and lantern festival and mini gumi reunion.

come on

2007-09-08T20:55:00.001+08:00

i hate going to funerals. in fact, i think most people hate going to funerals. so WHY must we air them on TV. LIVE. why? someone famous dies. sad. have a nice memorial program. but really, the funeral on CNN, come on! THERE IS SHIT GOING ON IN THE WORLD! WARS! FAMINE! lots of stuff we need to know about. don't spend all evening on an opera singer's funeral. sure, great guy. well known. will be missed. but his funeral on tv? not needed.

frick yeah, IOWA

2007-09-02T22:26:00.000+08:00

in the Jordan, Jesse go keep it up or hang it up game... i give this a KEEP IT UP!

SUMMARY: A minister marries two men outside his Des Moines home Friday morning; then the judge who threw out Iowa's gay marriage ban stays his ruling.

Two men sealed Iowa's first legal same-sex marriage with a kiss Friday morning in Des Moines, less than 24 hours after a judge threw out Iowa's ban on gay marriage and about two hours before he put that ruling on hold.

It was a narrow window of opportunity.

Polk County Judge Robert Hanson temporarily cleared the way for same-sex couples across the state to apply for marriage licenses in the county when he ruled Thursday that Iowa's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed marriage only between a man and a woman, violated the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection of six gay couples who had sued.

County attorney John Sarcone promised a quick appeal and asked Hanson to stay his ruling until that appeal was resolved.

A dozen gay and lesbian couples were waiting at the county recorder's office when it opened at 7:30 Friday morning.

"This might be our only chance," said Katy Farlow, who waited in a lawn chair with fellow Iowa State University student Larissa Boeck.

Just after 11 a.m., about 20 gay couples had finished applying for marriage licenses when Recorder Julie Haggerty announced she could no longer accept applications. Hanson told The Associated Press about an hour and half later that he had formally stayed his ruling.

The stay meant the recorder's office was not permitted to accept any more marriage applications from gay couples until the Iowa Supreme Court rules on the county's appeal.

Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan were among the lucky few to get their application through.

The marriage license approval process normally takes three business days, but Fritz and McQuillan took advantage of a loophole that allows couples to skip the waiting period if they pay a $5 fee and get a judge to sign a waiver.

Friday morning, the Rev. Mark Stringer declared the two legally married in a wedding on the Unitarian minister's front lawn in Des Moines.

"This is it. We're married. I love you," Fritz told McQuillan after the ceremony.

Fritz explained their hurry: "We're both in our undergrad programs and we thought maybe we'd put it off until applying at graduate school, but when this opportunity came up, we thought maybe we wouldn't get the opportunity again."

Republican House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, said the ruling illustrates the need for a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

"I can't believe this is happening in Iowa," Rants said. "I guarantee you there will be a vote on this issue come January," when the Legislature convenes.

Gov. Chet Culver left open the possibility of state action.

"While some Iowans may disagree on this issue, I personally believe marriage is between a man and a woman," the governor said.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, and nine other states have approved spousal rights in some form for same-sex couples. Nearly all states have defined marriage as being solely between a man and a woman, and 27 states have such wording in their constitutions, according the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Dennis Johnson, a lawyer for the six gay couples who sued after being denied marriage licenses in 2005, said Iowa has a long history of aggressively protecting civil rights in cases of race and gender. The Defense of Marriage Act contradicts previous rulings regarding civil rights and is simply "mean-spirited," he said.

Roger J. Kuhle, an assistant Polk County attorney, argued that the issue was not for a judge to decide.

Hanson ruled that the state law banning same-sex marriage must be nullified, severed and stricken from the books, and the marriage laws "must be read and applied in a gender neutral manner so as to permit same-sex couples to enter into a civil marriage . . ."

"This is kind of the American Dream," said plaintiff Jen BarbouRoske of Iowa City. "I'm still feeling kind of shaky. It's pure elation. I just cannot believe it."

Kate Varnum of Cedar Rapids, another plaintiff, said she was elated but expected more legal battles: "I don't expect this to be the last one." (Henry C. Jackson, AP)

Unfortunately, this is going to be an issue for some time. HANG IT UP, PEOPLE. if people want to get married, let them. why NOT?! Love, baby, LOVE.

a trip to daegu exco with DDD

2007-09-02T10:44:00.000+08:00

free!

2007-09-01T20:09:00.000+08:00

I am free of one student loan as of today. I paid off stupidass wells fargo. YEAH!!!! it feels good, friends. it feels good. it's the smaller of my two loans but the one with the highest interest and biggest monthly payment. i won't be able to pay the bigger one completely off this year but i will be able to pay off enough so that beard and i are equal in our debt and still put some away towards some sort of retirement. coming back to korea for a second year was definitely a good idea financially.
i've been wanting to put a few thousand towards retirement for a few years now but it seems things keep coming up. i was going to put money for this loan into an IRA but i really really really wanted to get rid of it. but now, by my not-at-all strict calculations, i'll be able to get even with beard and still have enough to invest and travel in november/december and move back to Bellingham.
recently i was in a funk and wanting to move back/quit my job/change everything. a big funk. i felt like i was working my ass off and was unappreciated and tired. but then a couple of days ago, i got over it. paying off this loan helped. it made me realize WHY i'm working my ass off. And really, I like working. True I get SUPER sick of teaching at my hogwan. But the kids in general are still really cute and continually surprise me.

on a different note: today is mine and beard's 8 year anniversary. Eight years is a LONG time. I can't believe i'm not sick of him yet. OK, not really. We work well together. Rosaleen bought us each a choco muffin and put a candle in it at work on Friday. She put a note underneath that said to write 7 things we liked about each other. At first I scoffed at it, joked (i can maybe think of three) but really it was nice. (i just asked beard and he said he though it was cool but if asked again later he would scoff at it). It was nice to take a minute and think about why we like each other. And really, it was a minute, Rosaleen was waiting.

games i play

2007-08-27T22:52:00.000+08:00

here are a few of the games i play with my kids along with the lessons in their books. they are very simple but they love them.
1. erase the number game. (mostly with the littles/beginners) i write a series of numbers on the board, say 20-40, then i have one of them erase a number. if he/she erases the correct one, he/she gets to roll the dice. the number rolled is the amt of points he/she gets. the wee ones LOVE it b/c they get to use the board eraser AND the die. and of course there is standing up and running after the die.

2. sticky ball tic-tac-toe. i draw a tic-tac-toe board on the board and divide the class into 2 teams, X's and O's. X's read the question, O's answer and then the rock paper scissors to see who gets to throw first. If an O lands on a square with an X in it, he/she rock paper scissors to see if they can change the X to an O. We play till we run through the questions or a team wins.

3. dice/number game. this one i pulled directly from my nether regions when my kids were sick of basketball game. i drew 2 smaller tic-tac-toe boards and wrote numbers 1-6 in them, with doubles of some numbers. 1-6 b/c of the numbers on the die. they are divided into 2 teams, one for each board. they ask and answer a question, rock paper scissors and throw the sticky ball. the game ends when finished with the lesson and we count to see who has the fewest numbers left. winners get one point more than losers.

4. basketball game. i put X's on the floor and assign points to them. sometiems the kids are in teams, sometimes they get points themselves for making the basket. i make them bounce it a certain number of times or no bouncing. they have to read the dialogue or the question and answer and if they get it correct, they try to make a basket. 2 chances.

5. snake game/tree game/race game. i draw random things on the board with lines thru them. the kids read the lesson and if correct, roll the die and erase the number of lines, fruit on the tree, dots to get to the finish line.

6. jump game. there are 2 versions. one is joan's. i write 2 categories on the board and have half the class line up in front of me. i say a word, they jump to the side the correct category is listed. after 4-5 words, the kids still in line get some points. will's game. the kids read whatever they have to correctly or answer a question correctly and then have to jump as far as the can. the one who jumps the furthest, gets the most points. i change it up without telling them and the second time have the one who jumps the closest getting the most points. they LOVE that. (ha)

7. writing game. this can be done with anything. 2 kids run up, grab the marker and write whatever you tell them. spelling words, numbers, answers to questions, questions to answers, lines of the reading book, the next line in a dialogue. it's great. and it takes a while. markers on the other hand, tend to wear out quickly.

8. bounce game. again for those sick of basket ball game. i make up a random bounce combination. ex. once on the floor, then the palm of the hand, then the ceiling, then the board. they do it as many times as they can in a row after reading from the book, answering a question, spelling, etc, and get that many points.

9. switch game. best in small classes of kids all about the same size/demeanor. i can only play this in one class so far. i put hte desks like musical chairs, one less than the kids. then i do a rhyme to pick a kid to start. i have he/she write a number, answer a question, give a word with a certain letter sound, etc. then i yell SWITCH and they all try to get in a desk. the one who doesn't has to answer a question or whatever.

10. sticky ball game. i draw some random shape on the board, draw a bunch of lines thru it and write in numbers, positive and negative. i put the kids in 2 teams and have them try to wind by throwing the sticky ball at the numbers after doing the exercize in the book.

i have a few more games but i can't remember them right now. these games are really fun at first and then boring. first for the teacher and then the kids. it takes a while for the younger ones to get bored. then i have to think of alternatives. it usually happens on the spot.

happiness is...

2007-08-16T22:32:00.000+08:00

coming home to a clean bathroom.

something else that makes me happy:

somebody's going to china!

2007-07-24T11:51:00.000+08:00

that would be me. or i should say us. !
i just booked tickets today. we leave sept 23 from daegu and return from beijing on the 30th. happy happy happy. sept 23rd thru the 26 is a huge korean holiday--chuseok. we'll have those days off for sure and we're going to ask for the 27th and 28th. we have 3 more sick days and won't take any more until then so we'll still have one more to use before november. they SHOULD let us and if not, well our flight doesn't come back until the 30th...we'll just have to call in sick. it's ballsy but we havent done it yet.
we'll be seeing this:

and this:

and this

and MORE.

hate is a strong word

2007-07-22T14:25:00.000+08:00

but i'm going to use it in this instance. i hate the construction workers outside my bedroom window. i'm sure they're nice people but one can only be woken up at 7 for so many consecutive mornings before one is filled with rage. and it's not like they wake me up and then dont make any more noise. the noise is continuous until around 5 or 6. stone cutting, slamming shit around. dropping what sounds like boulders from the roof into a metal container below over and over again. pounding pounding pounding. one morning as i was coming IN from a night out, they started right as my head hit the pillow. i yelled at them. i know it didn't make any difference (it probably only made them want to make even more noise) but i'm fed up. they took a break for a week and i thought maybe it was over. but no. it will never end.
by the way, it's SUNDAY. no rest for the wicked.

Friday again

2007-07-20T07:09:00.000+08:00

Yesterday flew by and it's Friday again! On Fridays I have 8 classes, but then I'm free for 2 days. No waking up early, no frickin ding dong. No Korean teachers talking through me while I'm sitting at my desk, no points.
This weekend I need to get a new pair of sunglasses. The one's I got when I moved to Bellingham are shot. I can still wear them but the lenses are so scratched it's not even funny. Luckily, glasses are cheap here.
Tuesday we had a day off, national holiday, celebrating what I'm not sure. Jenny, Ken, and I went to Daegu to eat and get haircuts. I finally found someone who would give me the haircut I want without sucking teeth and saying, No, no, too short. Or, the famous, I don't think so. We found a place called The Classy of Hair. Nice. When I sat down, Eric (korean name?) asked what I thought of the place, I said it was comfortable and he said, classy? I said, oh yeah. He gave me the exact cut I've been trying to get for a few months. I even bought shampoo from him.

After this, I came home b/c I had an "appointment."

mud

2007-07-18T11:02:00.000+08:00

we went to the mud festival this past weekend. we had a great time, as expected.
we planned on meeting jenny at the taxi stop at 815 and arriving at waegook cook at 830 for the bus. we had bought snacks, drinks, and much needed accessories during the previous 2 days. we get down stairs--and it's raining. fine by me. rain=not so frickin hot. keith on the other hand, detests rain. we put most of our belongings into the cab's trunk--which must have doubled as a kiddie pool. when we took the 6 packs out, keith was the first to lose a beer, shattered on the street. while waiting to board the bus, 2 of ours fell thru the bottom, bomb style. crash! crash! green glass everywhere. jenny was the only one injured, a slight cut on her foot. it's amazing beard didn't get hurt, the glass was all over his feet.
finally everyone's on the bus and we take off close to 9.

ken and jason on the bus

we took many pee/smoke/get more beer breaks. at first i was annoyed, but then i started drinking at rate of my fellow travelers and came to like the breaks.
at break number 28 on a 3 hour tour. and look! i'm happy!

the bus ride was pretty fun, but it had it's awkward moments.

and "funny hats" moments.

next blog--the actual festival.

the 4th

2007-07-05T19:51:00.000+08:00

is now the 5th. i explain to each of my classes (or at least TRIED) why july 4th was important to americans. i'd day 90% of them understood. the older ones might have learned about it in school. bright kids.
a few days before our independence day is canada day. i have no idea why this day is important to canadians besides the fact that it has the name of their country in it. i asked my canadian roommate and he said it was like our 4th of july. and i said but we're celebrating our independence you all weren't made independent that day so what's all the hype? he just kind of laughed but never really gave me an answer. maybe he doesn't know. i bet wikipedia does.

bycracky--wikipedia DOES know.

Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada) is Canada's national holiday, marking the establishment of Canada as a self-governing country on July 1, 1867. It is a federal holiday generally celebrated on July 1, annually by all provincial governments and most businesses across the country.
A day off from work for most citizens and residents, Canada Day is Canada's main patriotic holiday, often a time for outdoor activities in the early Canadian summer. Frequently referred to as "Canada's birthday," particularly in the popular press,[1] the holiday does not commemorate a clear-cut date of "independence" or "founding", recognizing instead the confederation of three British North American colonies into a Dominion, a kingdom in its own right within the British Empire,[2] known as Canada, through the 1867 British North America Act, after which the British Parliament still retained several political controls over the country, and many of Canada's modern provinces were yet to be created. July 1, 1867, saw the beginning of a new phase of Canadian self-sovereignty, initiating a gradual march towards full independence from Britain that was completed with the proclamation of the Constitution Act by Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, on April 17, 1982.

so canada day marks the date it was made self-governing of what the British Empire didn't want to govern. check.
and now we know.

last night we went out for friend chicken and beer with daeyoung and nick. we found black beer on tap, folks. ON TAP. and it's fairly tasty. and it's in hyeongguk dong which is close to wear we live and within 2 blocks of daeyoung's school.

TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!

so it IS true. i knew it.

2007-07-04T11:09:00.000+08:00

Leif Parsons
Related
Green Potatoes: The Problem and the Solution (PDF)

It sounds like a joke, or perhaps just an urban legend that grew out of Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham.” But food scientists say this one is no myth. The reality is that green potatoes contain high levels of a toxin, solanine, which can cause nausea, headaches and neurological problems.

Potatoes naturally produce small amounts of solanine as a defense against insects, but the levels increase with prolonged exposure to light and warm temperatures.

The green color is actually caused by high levels of chlorophyll, which by itself is harmless. But it is also a sign that levels of solanine, which is produced at the same time as chlorophyll, have increased as well.

According to a recent report by Alexander Pavlista, a professor of agronomy and horticulture at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, a 100-pound person would have to eat about 16 ounces of a fully green potato to get sick. That is the weight of a large baked potato.

The report noted that most green potatoes never reach the market. Still, to avoid the development of solanine, it is best to store potatoes in cool, dimly lit areas, and to cut away green areas before eating.

Another good rule: if it tastes bitter, don’t eat it. Unlike Dr. Seuss’s entree, this green meal would not have a happy ending.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Green potatoes contain a chemical that can cause sickness.

scitimes@nytimes.com

some stuff

2007-06-29T12:01:00.000+08:00

works been worky lately. had to bring in the contract to show that we should have 5 days vacation in the summer instead of the 4 sally recently changed it to. now the korean teachers are being a bit cold towards us. They'll still have to work.
I think we're going to ride the bike up the west coast. However, beard was saying something about checking out the phillipines. we'll have to see about that money wise. we want to go to china during our next vacation and i'm not sure we can swing both.
i'm still really excited to come home, but it's going to be weird leaving here.

lately

2007-06-23T13:40:00.000+08:00

i am currently on keith's computer (thank you, keith) because my computer refuses to turn on and is in the shop. as of thursday, they didnt know how to turn in on either. so the waiting begins.
i found out tuesday that our friend ciaran passed away. he had a form a cancer that attacks the lymph nodes and had gone back to ireland for treatment. his girfriend, dajeon, had gotten a visa and was on her way to see him. he died of an asthma attack on the way to the airport to pick her up. ciaran was a wonderful person and will be deeply missed. i want to put a picture of him here but keith doesnt have one on his computer...
ill post again later.

interesting

2007-06-11T12:38:00.000+08:00

i know i've mentioned several times about korea having a drinking culutre. here's a related article i read today.

Women gain status in South Korea
Court ruling against drinking linked to job reflects changing society

By NORIMITSU ONISHI, New York Times
First published: Sunday, June 10, 2007
SEOUL, South Korea -- In a time-honored practice in South Korea's corporate culture, the 38-year-old manager at an online game company took his 10-person team on after-work drinking bouts twice a week. He exhorted his subordinates to drink, including a 29-year-old graphic designer who protested that her limit was two glasses of beer.

"Either you drink or you get it from me tomorrow," the boss told her one evening.
She drank, fearing that refusing to do so would hurt her career. But eventually, unable to take the drinking, she quit and sued.
In May, in the first ruling of its kind, the Seoul High Court said that forcing a subordinate to drink alcohol was illegal, and it pronounced the manager guilty of a "violation of human dignity." The court awarded the woman $32,000 in damages for the incidents, which occurred in 2004.
The ruling was as much a testament to women's growing presence in corporate life here as a confirmation of changes already under way. As an increasing number of women have joined companies as professionals in the past half-decade, corporate South Korea has struggled to change the country's thoroughly male-centered corporate culture, starting with alcohol.
An evening out with colleagues here follows a predictable, alcohol-centered pattern: dinner, usually some grilled pork, washed down with soju, Korea's national vodka-like drink; then a second round at a beer hall; then whiskey and singing at a "norae bang," a Korean karaoke club. Exhorted by their bosses to drink, the corporate warriors bond, literally, so that the sight of dark-suited men holding hands, leaning on one another, staggering toward taxis, is part of this city's nighttime streetscape. The next morning, back at the office, they are ready to fight, with reaffirmed unity, for more markets at home and abroad.
Many professional women manage to avoid much of the drinking by adopting well-known strategies. They slip away while their male colleagues indulge in a second or third round of drinking. They pour the drinks into potted plants. They rely on male colleagues, called "knights in shining armor," to take their turns in drinking games.
Companies, too, have begun to respond. Since 2005, Posco, the steel manufacturer, has limited company outings to two hours at its mill in South Korea's southwest. Employees can raise a red card if they do not want to drink or a yellow card if they want to go home early. At Woori Bank, one of South Korea's largest, an alarm rings at 10 p.m. to encourage workers to stop drinking and go home using public transportation, which stops running before midnight.
Still, at least 90 percent of company outings -- called "hoishik," or coming together to eat -- still center on alcohol, according to the Korean Alcohol Research Foundation. The percentage of women who drink has increased as they have joined companies.
South Koreans consume less alcohol than most Europeans, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a research group.
But Cho Sung-gie, the alcohol foundation's research director, estimates that South Koreans rank first in binge drinking: The goal is to drink as much as possible, as quickly as possible, so that co-workers loosen up.

fan death

2007-06-08T07:46:00.000+08:00

it seems we have the first reported case of fan death here in the ROK. "a drunken man fell asleep in a motel with the fan on all night without the window open and died of suffocated" is what KBS news reported. you know, because the fan takes the oxygen out of the air. duh.
a couple hypotheses as to what the real story might be: a drunken man fell asleep in a motel with the fan on all night and died of alcohol poisoning. a drunken man died of a heart attack in a motel while having sex with a woman other than his wife. a drunken man committed suicide in a motel room.
all of these tarnish his reputation--fan death it is!
i'll try to keep a running tally. it'll probably be hard to keep up.

happy birthday, will!

2007-06-03T15:45:00.000+08:00

will came to gumi for his 25th birthday. he was meant to buy a bike near here saturday but it had some problems. supposedly "perfect fix" on tuesday. we went out for pizza in gupyeong and then to a bar and then psycho. fun fun.

at the pizza place. jenny, jihye, beard, will, me hanna

uh huh

after a horrible run-in with jenny, will is hiding is nose. understandably.

counting the cash. however, bike upsa.

huge ass pitcher

kids sing happy birthday to will teacher.

will teacher is...

a few pictures

2007-06-02T18:48:00.001+08:00

just below diamond cave

lamps

view from inside diamond cave. on the ceiling are paper lamps

i'm a good driver...

the buggy beef place

saturday afternoon

2007-06-02T15:57:00.000+08:00

so, some stuff's happened since i've last blogged.
beard and i registered to take the GRE in Jakarta on November 20th. Our last day at DDD is Nov. 16 so that gives us a couple days to finish packing, travel, rest and take the damn thing. so excited...
second, we finally went to seoraksan--a beautiful national park way up north, near the border. we had the thursday off for buddhas birthday and took friday off so we'd have a long weekend. wednesday we went out for fish with daeyoung and after ended up walking to waegook and from there walking to the bus station to see when buses left and didn't get to bed til 4...these things happen. beard was a little more hungover than planned so we chilled at home til 3 and then took the bus to daegu to catch the express bus to sokcho (town near the park). we had enough time to eat and make the last bus at 6. bus ride was ok. not sickening like the ride to the snow fest in taebaek, thankfully. and on the bus were me, beard and one other chick. nice and quiet. the ride was supposed to take 5.5 hrs and only took 4.5 hours. woohoo. (an aside--i just typed yippee instead of woohoo and then i thought, wait, i never say yippee. does anyone say yippee? i guess i do say it but only sarcastically as in yippee we have an unplanned meeting after work. so i changed ti to woo hoo b/c i DO say woo hoo and i wasn't trying ot be sarcastic at all). we stayed at a cheap yeogwan near the bus station that the driver pointed to. as in most yeogwons the ajumma was sleeping behind the window and we had to wake her up to take us to a room. the door to the room opened directly into the bathroom. not even the traditional area for shoes. we had to take off our shoes in the bathroom. weird. and it wasnt a big bathroom either. the room itself was small but it looked clean and there was an air con if needed and it was only 20,000. deal. we immediatly went back out in the rain to get something to eat. found a pelicana chicken place that said welcome to sokcho in russian. the chicken was pretty good. bought a beer to drink while watching discovery channel. the only decent channel on tv and we don't have it here. we watched mythbusters about shooting a gun into the air but i cant remember the exact myth and something on engineering that was interesting but i can't remember what we learned...
we assumed it would be raining friday, too so we slept in. when we woke up around 11 it was a bright sunshiney day. perfect. we took a taxi to the park--beard thought, wrongly, that it would only cost 5-6K to get there. unfortunately he was mistakend and it was almost 15. we got caught in traffic and every red light. but 15 isn't bad. he took us to the crystal motel which reminded me of my days of crystal meth. you just can't get any good crystal meth these days. mmmmm, meth. i've never felt so dirty yet had my apartment so clean since.
we walked in--no one. no noise. we were looking around to see how much a room would cost, usually it's posted. i leaned over to see if it was on hte wall behind hte counter and BAM the ajumma sat up from her reclining position scaring the shit out of me and beard. she laughed and told us it was 30,000. good deal we thought considering hte location. we checked out the room--screens on windows, big tv w/ discovery channel, non bean-filled pillows, towels, hot water. good enough to be our home for 2 days. we paid and headed out for some much needed food. had the local bibimbop with mountain vegetables. not quite sure what hte veggies were, but they were good. decided to walk to the park and check out the waterfalls. we made it to piryeong (dragon) waterfall but couldnt find the trail to the biggest waterfall in the park. on hte way back we saw a trail with a danger sign that beard thought might be it. i said he could try it but i wasnt going ot. just a little over a week ago we were on a trail that was very steep adn slippery so we took a side trail adn wehn we got further down and looked back there was a danger sign across the trail we were tyring to go down. i wasnt going to do that again. he decided not to either. he called daeyoung when we were closer to the bottom and sure enough, that was the trail...he went on about that for a while, let me tell ya. a better thing was that as we were walking down one of hte many stairways, we saw todd and adrienne. they lived in gumi last year and are now in seoul. we exchanged numbers and arranged to meet later for dinner.
They told us the cable car was worth it so we bought tickets. the ride it self was ok, but form there we hiked up further and it was gorgeous. pretty windy. it was a bit hazy so we couldn't see very far but it was very nice. i'll add pictures in anohter post. we took the car back down and headed to the motel to clean up. met todd and adrienne and had samgypsal. just to remind you all--the last time i ate that i was puking and shitting the day after b/c i hadnt eaten red meat in 5 years. i was more than a bit leery especially since we were supposed to hike the next day. not to worry--everything was fine. it's an ok dish but i like galbi much better. less fatty, more flavor. drank a couple more beers at the mart and were in bed by 1. go us!
Saturday was beautiful. we were up at 8 (!) and ate and walked to the park. we had decided to go up ulsanbawi (ulsan rock) and then down and to biseondae and diamond cave. the walk to ulsanbawi started easy enough and then the 800 steps started. whoa. and it was very, very windy. women were laying down on hte steps at one point. we get to the top and its a huge, exposed rock face. amazing. we sat down immediately b/c i was thinking i might fly off if standing. there were guard rails, but still. i had already lost my bandanna right off my head on the way up. luckily for me a man brought it up. nice guy. we got our picure taken on top. i crawled to the picture area and remained squatting. beard stood for a couple minutes but held on with both hands. and there were kids up there. no way. the way back down was a piece of cake compared to hte way up.
we stopped to try to push over the rocking rock. i think it moved a little, beard denies it. supposedly 2 people can make it rock but 12 can't push it over. or at least that's what hte sign said. then to the river/stream/creak for some gimbop and coffee. when we were back at the crossroads to go to biseondae i was ready for beer and sitting but i'm glad beard talked me into going. the trail was really easy, even paved at the beginning. we got to biseondae viewing area--lots of people were rock climbing that day. and then we took the straight up, stairs all the way, hike to diamond cave. we got to where i thought the cave was but then beard pointed basically straight up to the actual cave--many more steps. we chilled for a while and watched the climbers and then made our way to the cave. there was a monk sitting on a platfrom thing right outside the cave, a woman monk sitting at a little table selling candles and a monk in the inner cave chanting. looking out you see other mountains. very idyllic. i made a video of the monk chanting on the sly. on our way back down the steps we ran into todd and adrienne. todd suggested we stop at the first beer place and get boozy. and we did. again and again. all the way back down. the first beer was 4000, second 3,500, and the third and rest of the beers were 3,000. we ate at a buggy beef place adn returned to our seats at the mart.
i wanted ot know what hte liquor with the penis lid was like. these bottles were everywhere. in the US they would be hidden behind something so the kiddies wouldnt see but this wasn't even a liquor store, just a regular mart. so we bought one. i think it was the bad tasting one. somewhere along hte line someone had the idea that we should each buy a bottle of different liquor to taste it. that probably wasnt the best idea...but it was interesting. we were by a noribang and these older women kept coming out in small groups and usually 2 or more of them had botttles of beer. this is very odd. women RARELY walk around in public with beer. sometimes you see them taking shots of soju in a restaurant after saying no no no. especially older women. but they kept coming. there was also these 2 poodles. one was supposed to be white haired but had lost almost all of his hair and was about 3 times the size it was supposed to be. it didn't even raise it's tail. the other one was brown and very cute. hte owner of hte mart sat with us for a while with the dog. the mart ajumma, im assuming the dudes wife had this nasty sore on the back of her neck. it was in an odd place. we couldn't figure out how she could get injured there. ew. it grosses me out just thinking about it.
Sunday we woke up and showered trying to alleviate the after effects of drinking a lot of beer and hten experimental liquor on top of it and then headed into sokcho to find a bus home. we were thinking of checking out the beach but it looked like rain and was still windy so we left. lots more people on the bus this time but still a decent ride and got home in teh same amount of time.
thirdly, my friend angie has left korea for a while. she is going to japan to see her aunt for a bit and then to victoria island in cananda for a homestay for 6 months, maybe more. victoria island is near bellingham so when i get out there i'm going to try to see her. i'm hoping she can come to hte US but right now she only has a visa for canada. the visa for the states take a lot longer. maybe she can get a visa from canada...not sure.
lastly and perhaps the most important. jen found a way for me to not be constipated. i love the internet. really, what did we do before? so yeah, i take a tablespoon of olive oil mixed wiht a tablespoon of lemon juice 2 times a day. it worked. it really really worked. i am SO happy you can't even imagine. and it's a natural remedy which makes me feel good. i didn't want to take a pill. and it beats my old natural remedy which was drink nasty beer friday night to guarantee a BM on saturday...
i think that's about it...
oh yeah, that stuff about crystal meth--lies. i've never done crystal meth or have even come CLOSE to doing crystal meth. ha.

how many

2007-05-18T07:32:00.001+08:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There is
1
person with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

THAT'S ME!

still here

2007-05-11T07:35:00.000+08:00

not much to post lately. just working, studying, working and wait, what is that other thing i do? oh yeah STUDYING. and lately, actually 3 times this week, i've been watching a movie after studying and working on ainsley's (leah's baby) blanket. yes, she is a year old--or almost, but come on! it takes a while. and i'm doing these strips so i have to change color and the pink is being all dumb. but at least i'm working on it again and that's what counts. i already told leah she'd get it before she graduates high school and that's still my goal.
we're still thinking about where to go for vacation. we had chosen indonesia for sure but then realized it would be the rainy season and the diving might not be so good. Then we were thinking Philippines but found out it will have comparable weather. So, I think we're back to Indonesia.
Something I would like to go off on a bit: emails and the people who answer them. Last week I sent emails to 3 companies: DHL, ETS, and WECU. I asked DHL if they ship laptops internationally and what the process is for doing so. I asked ETS what hte best way is to sign up and pay for a test date. I told WECU the status of my travler's checks and to email me when they were received. I filled out their stupid forms before each email, I put in all information they would need. From DHL i got an email saying to go to a specific part of their website to get started. No yes or no, procedures. From ETS I got an email that said paper tests are available where computer-based tests are not and the dates for said tests. That is NO WHERE NEAR the answer to my question. I went through their whole website, i KNOW about the paper tests. And from WECU I got an email saying teh woman didn't have my account number (i had put it in the email) so she could not montior my account but that i could use online banking. NO shit?! i can use online banking?! wow, thanks! you're so helpful.
What is going on here? I ask read the FAQs looking for my answer first, I ask specific questions, I give needed information. Do people not read the whole email and just assume what I need? I tried emailing ETS again but I think I'll end up calling. I'm going to have Beard call WECU and as for DHL, i'm waiting on it. I don't need to ship anything for another 6 mos.
on a happier note--it's friday again! I am really tired of teaching little little kids and I don't know how people can do it all the time, as in more than a year. The 40 minutes drag on. They want to play the same games over and over. And the snot that just pours out of them...i don't even want to think about where it all goes.now that it's nice out, i'm going to take them outside!
tonight i'm going to drink beer with eungyung. don't know where or what time but i'm pretty sure it's still happening. i'm hoping we can cook out again on sunday. we haven''t had ireland over yet. they are always traveling when we have one.

choppy chop chop

2007-05-06T10:00:00.000+08:00

before

after

last sunday

2007-05-05T10:38:00.000+08:00

i planted marigolds and almost purchased that sweet hat.

haircut?

2007-05-05T00:31:00.000+08:00

i'm thinking of getting a chop tomorrow. the hair's gotten quite long and it's getting quite hot. i don't like hair on my neck when it's hot. we'll see what happens tomorrow...
today was market day at school--photos on the way. tonight, waxing was done. it was a family affair.
later

a walk

2007-05-02T23:05:00.000+08:00

will and i went for a walk in the country by my apt last weekend. here's will in a field.

hidey ho!

2007-04-21T14:08:00.000+08:00

yep, its been a while. i've been super busy. i'm studying like crazy for the GRE. sunday, tuesday and thursday i study vocab and monday, wednesday and friday it's math. i'm going to apply for the masters in school counseling program at western and hopefully get my job back at ARN. That's the ideal situation anyway. that i get the job and get into the program. i miss working at ARN. i miss working with adults and having grown-up conversations. and i'm totally ready to go back to school. having a goal is great.
today, after realizing i don't the psychology of learning pre-requisite for the program i was frantically looking for online courses i can take this summer. after a couple of frustrating hours--and help from jen--i still hadnt found one that i felt completely comfortable taking. So i gave up and went on a walk/hike with jenny to the hill behind the stadium. there was a little exercise area up there and we hula-hooped a bit but these huge ass korean hula hoops hurt! then we walked around a different way and came upon what might be a water treatment facility, then walked back down. had a beverage at a mart while a mom and her kids kept coming back around to say hi. walked back here, made stir fry and quinoa, got some ice cream and that's that. i just finished writing some definitions, going ot review them in bed, read, then sleep. im pooped.

where have all the bees gone?

2007-04-07T09:21:00.000+08:00

I've been hearing about this on my NPR podcasts lately. Bees are disappearing and no one's quite sure why. The disappearance will have a negative effect on crops this year. No one seems to be sure why they have disappeared--thousands of hives are empty and no bodies are found. One theory is that pesticides have disoriented them. I also heard something about how bee houses haven't changed since they were first built over 100 years ago. A lot has changed since then and the houses haven't kept up. Bee technology people.
This is an article I found on Newstarget.com.

The honeybee population in the United States is currently suffering a devastating collapse. Honeybees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. Have they all been kidnapped by mad beekeepers, or is something more frightening occurring with the pollinators in our ecosystem?

During the final three months of 2006, a distressing number of honeybee colonies began to diminish from the United States, and beekeepers all over the country have reported unprecedented losses. According to scientists, the domesticated honeybee population has declined by about 50% in the last 50 years.

Reports of similar losses to the honeybee population have been documented before in beekeeping literature, but are widely believed to have occurred at this scale previously only at a regional level. With outbreaks recorded as far back as 1896, this is regarded as the first national honeybee epidemic in U.S. history.

The phenomenon, referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), is not yet well understood. Even the existence of the disorder remains in dispute. Nevertheless, what cannot be denied is that a shortage of honeybees in the continental U.S. has affected cropowners from California to the New England states.

"There are shortages [like this] that pop up from time to time," said Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist at Princeton University. "Whether there are more [shortages] than there were 20 years ago, one would guess yes, as there are fewer bees to go around, but it's not well documented."

Subsequent investigations suggest these outbreaks of unexplained colony collapse were experienced by beekeepers for at least the last two years. Are the honeybees dying in the fields they pollinate, or do they simply become too exhausted and disoriented to find their way back home?

Why honeybees are the invisible link to an abundant food supply
Whatever the reason, why should we care so much? Why should it matter at all to Americans?

When entire bee populations seem to disappear or die out in alarming numbers, the ramifications can be astounding. Bee pollination, which most farmers depend on, is responsible for as much as 30% of the U.S. food supply.

"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food," said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation.

A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States. These include such diverse food sources as almond blossoms, pumpkins, cucumbers, raspberries, avocados, and alfalfa. Unless something is done to protect the honeybee population soon, many fruits and vegetables may disappear from the food chain.

"The sudden and unexplained loss of honeybee populations is an early warning sign for coming disruptions in modern agriculture," explained Mike Adams, executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center non-profit group (www.ConsumerWellness.org). "If we continue to lose honeybees at this rate, we may find ourselves in a dire food supply emergency that will not be easily solved," Adams said.

"During the last three months of 2006, we began to receive reports from commercial beekeepers of an alarming number of honey bee colonies dying in the eastern United States," said Maryann Frazier, a senior extension associate in the Department of Entomology at Pennsylvania State University's College of Agricultural Sciences.

"Since the beginning of the year, beekeepers from all over the country have been reporting unprecedented losses. This has become a highly significant yet poorly understood problem that threatens the pollination industry and the production of commercial honey in the United States," she said.

Honeybees are killed by synthetic chemicals
Scientists, for now, have primarily attributed the honeybee decline to diseases spread as a result of mites and other parasites as well as the spraying of crops with pesticides. It may also result from the treatment of forests, rangelands and even suburban areas to control a wide variety of pests.

"There is no question that the extremely irresponsible use of synthetic chemicals in modern farming practices is significantly contributing to this devastating drop in honeybee populations," said Mike Adams. "The more chemicals we spray on the crops, the more poisoned the pollinators become. And the fact that honeybees are now simply disappearing in huge numbers is a strong indicator that a key chemical burden threshold has been crossed. We may have unwittingly unleashed an agricultural Chernobyl."

In order to deal with this devastation, a newly formed CCD working group has been organized in hope of finding a solution to the dwindling honeybee population. According to the CCD mandate, the group will explore "the cause or causes of honeybee colony collapse and finding appropriate strategies to reduce colony loss in the future."

Comprised of university faculty researchers, state regulatory officials, cooperative extension educators and industry representatives, the working group hopes to develop management strategies and recommendations for this epidemic. Participating organizations include the USDA/ARS, the Florida Department of Agriculture, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania State University, and Bee Alert, Inc., a technology transfer company affiliated with the University of Montana.

Research involving the value of honeybees to agriculture could be beneficial to both the beekeeper and the grower. The knowledge formed from such research maximizes the likelihood of finding answers that will aid beekeepers in promoting good health for honeybees within the pollination industry. It should also keep the grower well informed about the process of pollination and the relative damage of different pesticides to honeybee populations.

A detailed, up-to-date report on Colony Collapse Disorder can be found on the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium Web site at http://www.maarec.org

The pesticide link to honeybee populations
Pesticides, specifically neonicotinioid pesticides, including imidacloprid, clothianiden and thiamethoxam, poison the bee while it is in the process of collecting nectar and pollen. The poisoning may occur when the material is ingested, or it may be transported to the hive where it poisons other bees in the colony.

According to a recent report, "Pesticides in Relation to BeeKeeping and Crop Pollination, even organic insecticides -- the chlorinated hydrocarbons, organophosphates, and carbamates -- vary in their toxicity and are not recommended."

Pesticides can also damage wild bees, but the toxicity level of a specific insecticide to honeybees and wild bees is not always the same. Even among wild bees, some materials are more toxic to one species than to another.

According to the CCD report, "If bees are eating fresh or stored pollen contaminated with these chemicals at low levels, they may not cause mortality but may impact the bee's ability to learn or make memories. This could cause the colonies to dwindle and eventually die."

So far a few common management factors have been found, but no common environmental agents or chemicals have been identified. There is no one substance currently being branded as the culprit.

Not limited to the United States, this problem is complex and the ramifications are alarming. Such a loss to the honeybee population can occur in other countries that have highly developed agricultural infrastructures.

This only begs an even deeper question for society to answer: If we are so dependent on honeybee pollination for our food supply, what happens when the bees are wiped out? Mike Adams calls our current food production situation a "food bubble" and explains that as mankind disrupts nature and destroys sustainable ecosystems, the natural backlash will impact the food supply first. "Following a century of synthetic chemical poisoning of planet Earth, the human race is in for a rather abrupt population correction. The collapse of pollinators is merely a sign of things to come. Humans will either find a way to live in balance with the planet, or they may ultimately face the same fate as the honeybees."

Hwang Sa

2007-04-07T08:50:00.000+08:00

Hwang sa = yellow sand.
This is the wikipedia definition.
Asian Dust (also yellow dust, or yellow sand) is a seasonal meteorological phenomenon which affects much of East Asia sporadically during the springtime months. The dust originates in the deserts of Mongolia and northern China where high-speed surface winds and intense dust storms kick up dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles. These clouds are then carried eastward by prevailing winds and pass over China, North and South Korea, and Japan. Sometimes, the airborne particulates are carried much further, in significant concentrations which affect air quality as far east as the United States. Areas affected by the dust experience decreased visibility and the dust is known to cause health problems, such as sore throat and respiratory difficulties, in residents. The dust has been shown to increase the daily mortality rate in one affected region by 1.7%. The effects of the dust are not, however, strictly negative, as it is thought to enrich the soil of the regions where it is eventually deposited by contributing important trace minerals.
The dust is caused by desertification in northern China near the Gobi Desert. Although such storms have occurred from time to time throughout history, they became a pronounced problem in the latter half of the 20th century, as agricultural pressures on the Gobi region intensified.
In recent years, South Korea and the People's Republic of China have participated in reforestation efforts in the source region. However, this has not affected the problem in any significant way. In April 2006, South Korean meteorologists reported the worst yellow dust storm in four years.

http://yellow.metri.re.kr/images/adust_warning_sys.jpg

that link shows the difference between an advisory and a warning-like with tornadoes in the midwest. and, of course, there are cartoons to help you know the difference.

Supposedly this year is going to be pretty bad b/c China didn't get much snow. Just what I heard.

new camera

2007-04-04T12:06:00.000+08:00

i treated myself to a new camera this past weekend. canon IXY. it's the same as a canon ixus 850, but japanese version. i think the ixus is korean. in the states its the SD version. ANYWAY it's great and i love it. much much much faster and better than my old camera. not that anything was wrong with my old camera, i was ready for a change. here are some pictures from it.

i treated myself to a new camera this past weekend. canon IXY. it's the same as a canon ixus 850, but japanese version. i think the ixus is korean. in the states its the SD version. ANYWAY it's great and i love it. much much much faster and better than my old camera. not that anything was wrong with my old camera, i was ready for a change. here are some pictures from it.

yellow sand

2007-04-03T07:56:00.000+08:00

It's yellow sand season again. NASTY. Last year I liked to pretend that the concept of yellow sand was ludicrous and another thing Koreans thought that just wasn't true. Sure, I saw it on cars but I didn't think I could get sick from it...But I got a few unwanted colds SO this year--I did it.

it's so hot and will go well with my ajumma sun mask.

fart

2007-03-30T11:45:00.000+08:00

thanks for the game, will. i love that it's korean.

Hide the Fart

korea

2007-03-14T12:09:00.000+08:00

here's something i found on krista's friend katie's blog. she stole it from someone else...
You know you're Korean When:

1) You're 12-years old and you don't go home until 10 pm, or 11, or 12
2) And yet when you're unmarried at 25, you have to be home by ten.
3) You wrap kimchi around your rice before eating it.
4) You stare like a blinded deer in headlights at anyone different.
5) You attempt to go into the subway or elevator before the people get out.
6) If you ain't chewing and slurping your food at a loud volume then you
obviously ain't enjoying it. (eating deliciously)
7) You "slightly disregard" traffic rules. Like stopping at crosswalks for
those pesky pedestrians.
8 ) You go home and everything smells bad.
9) You think having 4 seasons is really special.
10) You describe any girl over 110 pounds as "fat."
11) Your closet is full of black, brown, and grey clothes.
12) You suddenly want to go to Prague or Bali because you saw them on a
Korean drama.
13) You drive out of a blind alley at 60 km/h.
14) you're an "expert" at making ramyen noodles.
15) You try the doorknob instead of ringing the doorbell or knocking first.
16) You eat more off your friend's plate than your own.
17) You answer the phone with a loud warbling
Wieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee????????
18 ) Your favorite teacher is the one that beats you the hardest.
19) The national hero you admire most is the one who has a nuclear bomb
pointed at you.
20--i didn't like this one so i deleted it (tm)
21) You appear to be thinking you look quite dignified while drinking your
shooter of 2 cent booze after noisily slurping octopus.
22) You're dropping a log in the squatter and spit on the floor in front of
you, thus clearing two orifices at once. Korean multi-tasking.
23) You jump out of the shower at the local gym and stand naked in front of
the mirror blow drying your family jewels. (men and women do this)
24) You grab the communal toothbrush at the gym and take it into the shower
with you!
25) Even though you weigh 120 you have to try and out bench the 190 pound
guy, because he's a foreigner.
26) You think that your mom's kimchi can cure your grandma's halitosis and
your grandpa's cancer.
27) Your cell phone has more than 20 pictures stored on it...of yourself.
28 ) There's more toilet paper in your dining room than your bathroom.
29) You believe that flushing toilet paper down the toilet will clog up the
plumbing so instead, throw your *beep* paper in a bin next to the toilet.
30) You are no longer bothered by the old Korean lady (ajumma) shoving a mop
between your legs as you stand at the urinal.
31) You view the handicapped-ramped crosswalks as a perfect place to jimmy
your car into at an angle. Pedestrians and handicapped people be damned- you
need to park!.
32) You hang a plastic glove filled with water in the window because you
believe mosquitoes and flies are scared of their reflection. (so THATS why they do that)
33) You look at thin blonde women and assume they are Russian hookers. (I've been asked if I'm Russian and I'm not blonde>
34) You open all of your windows in the middle of winter and crank up the
heat.
35) You're standing in the shower at the Sauna and offer to scrub a total
stranger's back. (This happened to me)
36) You don't think it's at all weird to share a hot tub butt naked with a
grandfather and his two grandsons.
37) You open the window a crack when your fan is running, just in case
because you think running fans can kill you! (It's true, also if someone in the family commits suicide, you say they died by "fan death")
38 ) You've traveled to various places in the world and when asked about
whether you liked the food or not, you say, "I don't know." "Did you try the
food?" "No. Well, only the chicken. The only food I ate in Germany was
chicken." (Kimchi and gimbop are brought on most vacations)
39) You dial a wrong number, proceed to yell at the people on the other end
of the line for not being the people you were trying to call, hang up on
them in a huff......and then hit redial.
40) You do exactly what your boss tells you to do, no matter how stupid and
idiotic.
41) You would never dream of asking to get paid extra for the overtime
worked.
42) You feel well rewarded for the long hours and sacrifice if you get taken
out for sam-gap-sal (Pork BBQ)and a few hours in a singing room once or
twice a year.
43) You sleep under a piece of oversized gauze and call it a sheet.
44) You put sweet potato on pizza. (it's actually pretty good)
45) You think picking your teeth or nose in public isn't polite...unless you
oh so discreetly do it with one hand covering up your activity.
46) You push, claw, and elbow your way to position yourself to be the first
to exit the subway car, and then right after you exit, you walk at a snail's
pace.
47) You go on a nice beach vacation, where you sit under the beautiful shade
of your huge umbrella fully clothed, wearing a Darth Vader visor, covered in
sun tan lotion, refusing to go near the water.
48 ) You eat dog because it supposedly gives your four thrusts instead of
three. (ha)
49) After going to the washroom, you wash your hands for 1 second under ice
cold water and dry them in your hair.
50) You open up a new business with an arch of balloons and two dancing
girls.
51) You proudly adorn your new business with a sign that reads:
"SINCE 2005"
52) You close the business two years later after realizing there were
already ten nearly identical businesses on the same block.
53) You would rather park on the sidewalk than the huge parking lot 5 feet
away.
54) You drive for 5 hours to spend 30 minutes at some over crowded tourist
trap.
55) You order a side of kimchi to go with your steak.
56) You ask the foreigner next to you if he can use chopsticks, while he is
eating with chopsticks.
57) You deny that Koreans still eat dog, after the foreigner next to you has
just said, "Last night I went out for dog with some Korean friends, it was
better than I thought it would be!"
58 ) You think eating eel will give you a hard-on, but eating bean sprouts
will make you lose it, and the reasoning behind both is: "the shape".
59) You correct the pronunciation of the American in the back of your cab,
by saying: "Ahh...you meaneuh Joji Bushi..."
60) You think your foreign co-worker's fridge is full of coca-cola, burgers,
ready-made sandwiches and spaghetti.
61) You think the messages of the Buddha and Jesus are perfectly compatible
with the statement: "Koreans are a superior race."
62) You base that superiority on being a descendent of a bear that ate
garlic.
63) And you claim the above is only a myth, but you believe it. And that
makes sense to you.
64) No one in your country has AIDS, but "kimchi" can cure it.
65) You are a young man who really believes in a future Asian revolution,
after which you, as a Korean, will be administering an Asian dominated
autocracy in which Chinese labor and Japanese technology are under your
boot. But whitey is way under that, and Africa and Southeast Asia have
somehow disappeared. You perform self-love to this fantasy daily.
66) You laugh at your foreign co-worker's "Brooseuh Williseuh" shaved head,
while pressing down your comb-over with a hand covered in your own saliva.
67) Your students try to convince you that Catholics are NOT Christians.
68 ) Your students tell you that they are devout Catholics but don't know
who the Pope is.
69) You order pizza and it comes with corn and mayonnaise as well as a side
serve of pickles to put on top.
70) You think that smoking in a crowded restaurant (with a no smoking sign)
or any other place is perfectly acceptable behavior for men but women who
smoke in public are clearly prostitutes.
71) Your students are convinced that music by The Beatles is hard core
rock'n'roll.
72) You see a flashing green walking man in the distance indicating that
pedestrians may cross...and you run at full pelt, as though you were running
away from a T-Rex, to cross the road. God forbid having to wait 2 minutes
until the next one.
73) You think that the sink in the bathroom/public toilet is for fixing your
hair and appearance and NOT for washing your hands after going to the
toilet.
74) You have a terrible cold and it doesn't occur to you that coughing in
other people's faces and food will make them sick too.
75) You honestly believe foreigners care about whose island takashimi/dokdo
is!
76) You think an ambulance with a siren blazing is just another car.
Therefore, you need not make way.
77) You hear the monthly air-raid sirens you are totally unfazed and go
about your business.
78 ) You stick a needle in your thumb to relieve indigestion. (i've never heard of this)
79) You wear an undershirt with a t-shirt.
80) You own a cell phone with a built-in breathalyzer. (what? they make those?)
81) Your main purpose of going to the office everyday is to persuade your
colleague(s) into a night of drinking.
82) Low cut, v-neck, floral print, pink t-shirt, shiny jeans, and Paris
Hilton-esque sunglasses are perfectly acceptable items for a heterosexual
man to wear for a night on the prowl.
83) Your pink/lavender v-neck shirt is the manliest shirt you own.
84) You put corn on/in any kind of Western food.
85) You warn your visiting friends/family about how hot ALL Korean food
is... and check to make sure they can eat it when they're half done.
86) You understand why prior to a given date there will be no heat and after
a given date there will no longer be heat, regardless of the weather.
87) You cover your mouth when you laugh or smile but not when you cough or
sneeze.
88) In the winter (-10 degree weather), you wear short skirts, but in the
summer(in +40 weather) you cover all skin with jeans and a sweater because
that＊s the fashion.
89) You don＊t wear deodorant because Koreans don＊t sweat.＊
90) You think women who are proud of their sexuality are sluts.
91) Your idea of real "bonding session" is getting liqured up on soju until
you puke or pass out
92) Seeing a man in a funny costume hitting another man in a funny costume
over the head with a plastic hammer has you rolling in stiches.
93) You use your 7 words of English because a foreigner is within earshot.
94) You bring korean food with you when you visit another county.
95) At any given moment in your life, your favorite song is a jingle from a
TV commercial.
96) You see an adult/child take a leak in public and think nothing of it.
97) You simply walk over the guy laying on the sidewalk.
98) A Korean mispronounces serveral words and you understand them perfectly.
99) You set up a time to meet somebody and think nothing of it if you are
two hours late.
100) You plan a major event at the last minute and wonder why it didn't go
well.
101) Of course you're well travelled! You went on a package tour to see
Angkor Wat (13:00-13:15), the Grand Palace (17:00-17:20), and, of course,
Italy (an entire Tuesday afternoon!).
102) When your business is failing you dig up your great Granda and rebury
him facing in a different direction. (i don't know what this means)
103) Your son seems to be getting a lot of colds, so you change his name. (what?)
104) You think that giving money to homeless people whom you've never met is
a character flaw on the part of the giver.
105) You think scientists will soon find evidence of Korean culture on the
moon.
106) You can't remember the last time you saw your children.
107) You think the most influential person in world history is King Sejong.
108) You tell every foreigner that you meet that Koreans are kind＊.
109) You deny that Korea owes any scientific or intellectual debt to the
West.
110) You think that the American Army is occupying your country, but you
don't want them to leave.
111) The grass outside your company needs cut, so you call up your Granny
and tell her to get her knitting circle over there asap.
112) Although there are 20 other free urinals in the men＊s bathroom,

you
take the one next to the foreigner so that you can peek at his willy.
113) You convert to Christianity because your senior at work is a Christian,
and he seems like a nice guy.
114) You think badminton is a sport.
115) You aren＊t even the slightest bit moved by the plight of animals at the
local zoo.
116) You think that the only reason why Koreans have never invaded any of
their neighbors (Russia, China and Japan) is because Koreans are very
peaceful.
117) You＊re a Korean bus driver and you can＊t figure out why the old lady
who just boarded the bus is now lying face down on the floor.
118) You pick a booger on a packed subway, hold it up for inspection, roll
it into a ball, inspect it again, flick it. Then, without the slightest hint
of self-consciousness, go back for seconds.
119) Your children spend 16 hours a day memorizing things they forget the
minute they pass the exam and you think you are providing a great education.

120) You can hold entire 10-minute phone conversations using only the sounds
'eeehhhhhh' and 'yeaaahhhhh'
121) You don't care if your bratty children run ragged in restaurants with
no discipline whatsoever
122) You think ending sentences with three or four whiny-sounding tonal
fluctuations in your spoken language is chic and cute
123) Rice and kimchi....the breakfast of champions.
124) You think its fine (and actively encourage) your child to grow up
loathing Japan.
125) You think Korea really is the 'Hub of Asia'.

saturday in the park

2007-03-10T12:49:00.000+08:00

or, right now, at the computer. but SOON to be walking a trail. beard and i are going to see if the trails we found separately are indeed the SAME trail. ill take pictures.
i had to take a stand at work thursday evening and i felt kind of guilty about until yesterday at work when it all ended well. at 230 i was told that my 300 class would be moved to 545. can't do i said, i have plans every tues and thurs at 615 in a dong 30 mins away. what should i do she asked. i don't know i say, not my job, i think. i go sit down. 5 mins later, feeling not nice, i go back out and say if she can move my other classes up so im still done at 545, there's no problem. b/c, really, i like the class, and i only really care about getting done at 545. after my class she says she called the moms and it wont work moving up the class. i say well, i already have more classes than everyone else on tues and thurs, i'm not leaving later, too. she says ok ok, what about bryant? i say, ask him. so does, he can't. i warn rosaleen and keith to be prepared. in the end rosaleen takes the class that night and keith ends up with it "permanently". i ended up with one of keith's classes. it worked out fine, i think. i'm not sure how keith feels. he'd probably just say it's not bad.
ok, time to get a move on this walk.
mom--i checked your snapfish acct--my new pictures aren't there. i re-emailed mine and beards to yahoo. let me know if you get them.

kids say the darnedest things

2007-03-01T14:52:00.000+08:00

so i was teaching my student (15 yrs old) and he had to answer a question about an interesting custom in his country. here is what he answered: men better than women. i must have looked appalled. he said no, really. i said please explain. he said, father father father dead people? (konglish for ancestors). i said yes, ancestors. women are robots. i say WHAT!? but you dont think that NOW right and he said TEACHER! women cook, clean, like robot, you know? MAN i said. but NOW you don't believe it, right? and he said, teacher, pass. (konglish for next question). i think i scared him.

another thing. he needed an eraser and he didn't have one b/c korean kids use these clicky erasers like we used to use (or wanted too but mom wouldn't buy them. the dooms had them, one in red and one in navy. i coveted them.)and his friend stole the eraser and stuck his pen where the eraser should go, cap end and now the cap won't come out. i said that friend was not a friend but a jerk. jerk=not nice person. then he said no teacher, he is very handsome so he is my friend. and i said it doesn't matter if he's handsome, he broke your stuff on purpose. and he said teacher he is handsome and girls think he is handsome and i get a girlfriend.

so there you have it. hang out with good looking people and you get a significant other. it's just that easy. even if they break your stuff.
oh right--and men are better than women b/c women are robots.

tuesday

2007-02-27T17:34:00.000+08:00

yep, today was NICE. went to work at 11:20, taught a great class. had lunchy at noon. taught a mediocre class at 1240 where i told a girl that 2 of my students were going ot be changing classes. this is a girl who doesnt seem to like anyone and is always starting fights. i found out thru tears that one of hte girls who is moving is her friend and that she is NOT happy about her changing classes. so i said that girl would be in her class tomorrow morning. this is totally true. however she won't be there in the afternoon, or ever again. thankfully we have a long weekend and im sure she'll have forgotten she was even in the class when she starts up again.
after that unpleasantness, i had a break. rosaleen and i went in search of yoga places. we found a sauna/gym/jimjilbang/golf area but no yoga. as we were walking around 2 mins after we happened upon some middle school girls who said hello so i asked THEM about yoga. the said a different dong and to take the bus. no time chickies, no time. we walked off. they came running back. the place we were just in had yoga--what? they offer to go ask. sweet. nope, still no yoga, the sign was from january. they do offer stretching (sa ta re ching) which is "yoga same same". however, it isn't at a time when we can take it. walked more--nope.
came back in to prep for next classes but decided to take a walk with marion b/c she too has no class (ha), so we take off in the opposite direction. still no yoga, but a nice walk in the warm sunshine.
come back with her at 240--find out my 245 class is finished b/c the 2 students i had graduated. SWEET. beard doesnt have a class either so anohter walk is had. it was GORGEOUS outside. i cant wait for spring.
tomorrow's a long day and then NO SCHOOL thursday. jenny's going ot be cooking up some food for the teachers at her school (my old school) so i'll be heading over there and THEN who knows what.

graduation videos

2007-02-27T17:31:00.000+08:00

picture

2007-02-23T18:48:00.000+08:00

scarf and turtle necklace. im afraid to wear the scarf out of hte house. much to much red sauce and grossness out there.
i realize i could have put this in the last post but mom prints out hte ones without pictures for my dad to read and he's catholic so he might know something about the fat/pancake business. and yes, i also realize i've been photohappy recently. SO WHAT

does my hair look poofy?

note

2007-02-23T18:44:00.000+08:00

the irish call fat tuesday pancake tuesday. rosaleen had to go home after school today to eat a pancake. yes, she knows its friday but she wasnt here tuesday. i wonder if it's always been pancake tuesday and then someone said hey, eating a lot of pancakes makes you fat, let's call it fat tuesday. or if it was fat tuesday adn the irish and i just found out from will, the englsh and i guess since scotlands in the middle there THEY probably call it pancake tuesday too, and those lads said well, let's see what makes us fat--um, PANCAKES. let's call it pancake tuesday, it sounds better. actually i like fat tuesday better. look what i got in the mail today.

hungarian rapper

2007-02-23T18:37:00.000+08:00

ok so this is a video of-you'll never guess.....a hungarian rapper. really. i like what he's saying and i love that he's making it in his second language. the rest just cracks me up.

see?

2007-02-22T22:15:00.000+08:00

ahhhh

2007-02-22T21:18:00.000+08:00

nothing like sitting back relaxing with a prime max and some old tunes on a thursday evening. as you may or may not know i have been trying to get my old music onto my new computer for quite some time. what was needed was to first--get a case for my old hard drive (done). Next, hook it up to a PC, preferably beards, to somehow transfer the files to my mac. i started usinga disc, it had 2 folders done in 2 hours. we decided to try to network our computers. first with bluetooth wastn working and then somehow greg showed us the way using the router. wonderful. well, not at first but hten somehow the magic happened and we were able to pass files. it was beautiful. i have most of my old music over. i have A LOT of music. over 33gigs. so now i'm passing it from my hard drive onto my itunes so i can put it on my ipod and be one hap hap happy chick.
and---new for spring, a new schedule. that's right folks, we will all have a new schedule at the ol' hogwan. i'll soon be going in for a 940 class and a 1030 class and then have from 1110-2 OFF. then 6 classes boom boom boom and done at 630. this is monday, wed and fri. tues and thurs are conversation classes and who knows what's going on with those. this and next week our schedules are all over the places and lots of mishaps are happening. yesterday we were told we didnt have to come in til 2. frantic phone call at 1240, you need to teach your class. um, no. ill be in at 2, like i was told. and all was well. tomorrow back in at 940. but done at 630 and no plans after. except to talk ducky into letting me take her out for a birthday dinner.
i need to stop signing up for online communities. theyre taking over my life. really. i opened a myspaace acct when i was in bellingham but didnt do anything with it. and now i have some friends here on it and i had a boring sunday and now i check it at least twice a week. NOW i've joined jen's deal the my beloit circle thing and i feel like i need to do more to it somehow but when i try to do things they dont work right away and it's discouraging. then kelly wanted me to join facebook to share pictures from the snowfestival so i did and they asked me all these questions i wasnt sure what they meant so i added some friends and was done--no pictures added. christ! what's next!? and what about poor friendster? i've let that lie idle for i don't know how long. and sending albums on snapfish?! all that commenting and turning and deleting and crap!!! i have over 400 pictures from cambodia ALONE, do you know how friggin long that takes?! i feel like i need more hours in teh day to do crap on the internet i feel obligated to do for other people to know about me or SOMETHING, i can't really figure out why i feel obligated really. so i think im going to take a hiatus. not from the blog of course. i love the blog. true, i don't get any many comments/emails as i would like from it, but it's where i can ramble on and read it later without a decoder ring b/c of my shittyass handwriting. and it can a few pictures easily for others to see and take.
well enough of that.
im going back to sitting back and relaxing prime max style. ahhhhh. this is nice again.
tomorrow's friday.
it's supposed to still be warm--i know b/c i recently added a weather channel dealiebob on my dashboard.
and now im soothed.
peace out

snow fest

2007-02-21T07:25:00.000+08:00

so we went to a snow fest a while back. over all i give the experience a c+. that's up from a c, thanks to my brain clearing out the not so pleasant things such as, but not limited to: our bus arriving an hour after expected, bus ride from hell, beard's episode, shit storm, stupid restaurant. everything else--super. we went with kelly, alexis, zach (aka justin), collin and tibha. alexis and tibha weren't at the snow fest the first day, unfortunately. however, they got to see everything the second day when it was bright and sunny.
here are some pictures. girls--let me know if you want different ones.

HAIRCUT

2007-02-20T09:42:00.000+08:00

new hair cut

new haircut with glasses

happy lunar new year. year of the pig this year folks--VERY lucky.

yes yes

2007-02-16T08:13:00.000+08:00

it's been a while but i'm going to try harder. january went well...
today's mom's birthday. i tried calling last night (since it's her morning) but i guess i caught her while she was still in bed and she missed the phone. i'm going to try again tonight or tomorrow.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070213/ap_on_re_us/dolphin_defenders

you have to copy and paste this article in case you missed it. when i first saw it in my google reader i thought it was an onion article, but no. crazy. sounds like something in an austin powers movie
"we've been doing this for 35 years, and we've ironed out all the kinks." uh huh. right. THEY'RE ANIMALS. not that some animals aren't intelligent in their own way...
yeah, so that cracked me up. sea lions with cuffs and ropes--you can't make this stuff up!

anyway--it's friday am and i should be getting ready for school. long weekend this week! YEE HAW!

hiking last weeked

2007-01-28T12:02:00.000+08:00

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

2007-01-23T09:05:00.000+08:00

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

2007-01-21T08:29:00.000+08:00

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

2007-01-17T22:27:00.000+08:00

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

2007-01-15T20:12:00.000+08:00

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.