Thailand Tales

Well I don't have any wild or crazy stories from my trip, mostly due to my sickness, but I managed to see a few things in the short time I had there.

Tuesday morning I was awake bright and early for a tour of the "must see sights" of Phuket. We started out at a lookout point for a view of the Adaman sea and Kata and Karon beaches. Next up was a Sea Shell museum which had shells from all over the world that some guy has been collecting his entire life. It was alright but sea shells don't hold much interest for me and that was precious tanning time wasted! From there we went to a temple, which I wasn't allowed into because apparently my bare shoulders would offend Buddha, which is just as well cause I have almost the same level of interest in religion as in sea shells. After that we were off to the cashew nut factory, as Thailand is one of the world's largest producers of the nut, it was alright, it gave me a chance to grab a few souveneirs and try cashew juice, which was interesting. Lastly we ended up at a big souveneir shop which was just another opportunity for them to sell us stuff, but I didn't find anything of interest. After I arrived back at my hotel I decided to get some tanning done and went out to the pool side for a few hours. Deciding I was feeling much better I then headed to the gym for a short workout. After getting off the elliptical I realized I actually was not better and now on the verge of over heating. I finished off the day with a movie and room service trying to get back some of my energy.


Wednesday I was up bright and early for a boat trip out to Phi Phi island, which is actually divided into two islands, one was the place where 'The Island' was filmed and the other, which was where I ended up, was the place that the Tsunami hit. It was amazing the devastation that was still done, but also partly interesting because I was there for the anniversary of it and had an opportunity to see some of the memorials that were being done in honour of it. I had four hours to spend on the island before taking the boat back so I rented out one of the chairs on the beach and stretched out. By this time I was a little worried about the sun because it was super hot and I had decided that I could handle being sick, or I could handle being burnt, but there was no way I could deal with the two together, so I camped out under an umbrella and slept most of the morning away. With an hour or so left to kill I wandered around the shops and grabbed some lunch before making it back to the boat. After getting back I went to the markets and decided to try my hand at bartering. I may be many things, but a barterer is not one of them. I feel so guilty like I am trying to rip them off, meanwhile it is the other way around, but everything is so cheap to begin with it just seems wrong to be talking them down from somethign that is already way below what I would pay anywhere else in the world. I finished off my night by getting a hair cut because I had nothing else to do and my hair was in desperate need. The lady took off a little more than I wanted because I said just a trim, but I guess when I wait 8 months between hair cuts I lose the right to say where the dead ends end and the healthy hair starts.

Before I knew it, it was Thursday and my last day of vacation. I was up around 6ish and walked from Karon beach to Kata beach and explored some more shops. I was back at the hotel around noon and headed back out to the pool for some tanning and swimming. At 4:30 I had one final spa treatment which was an "Asian hair treatment" promising me hair like the Asians. It was a massage and mask concocted of avocado, coconut and who knows what else but my hair came out surprisingly soft and manageable and the massage almost put me to sleep. Afterwards I headed out to the streets and back to the market prepared to barter for some souveneirs, which I didn't do too bad at but I'm sure if I had paid more attention in Negotiating skills while at Seneca, I could have saved a few Baht. To end my night I found a spot to eat dinner and ended up having fresh crab, over rice with sweet chili sauce. It was alright, although my biggest regret about being sick was that I had almost no appetite the entire time I was there and therefore didn't get to try so many of the amazing things that Thailand had to offer.

Friday morning I had a wake up call at 3:45 and was off to the airport, from Phuket I went to Bangkok where I had an hour and a half to explore the airport, which was amazing. I could have spent a fortune in duty free, but ended up with a few books, a bottle of rum for my friend Tom, and a couple bags of Jasmine rice and Thai spices.

Alright, that is Thailand in a nutshell, I have a few other short stories to go off on but they can wait for another time. I will work on getting pictures up either tonight or tomorrow, depending how the night goes!

Happy New Year!

Home Sweet Home

Alright I am back. Sorry for the lack of posting throughout the week, it wasn't that I didn't try but apparently Thai's have a completely different meaning of "high speed internet" than me and anytime I have to wait for anything more than five seconds I lose interest in it...hence, no posts.

I have a million things to say about Thailand, despite being sick the ENTIRE time, but right now it is 4:51 am and my wake up call rang me yesterday at 3:45 am so I will keep this short and sweet.

There is a debate as to whether I am tanned or a little rosy, but I am already peeling... I got home tonight at 11:45ish and was itching to get out and meet everyone. Actually despite the hot hot weather in Thailand, the lounging by the poolside, and the endless pampering, I was sooooo excited to be on my way back here today because I couldn't wait to see the gang, which makes me happy on so many levels because I have met such amazing people here. On the other hand it was a complete eye opener of how difficult it is going to be for me to leave here in 5 months time and say good bye to the same people.... I can't even think about it yet...but I am back...and there will be some stories to come tomorrow after I've had some sleep and cleaned my disgustingly messy apartment.

BTW, I came home to a package from Lisa and 7 xmas cards...you guys are amazing!

Merry Christmas!

I made it! The flight was fairly decent, despite being close to 10 hours, plus bus rides and such. Well worth it though, I forgot how much I missed the sun and the sand. Unfortunately I brought along a cold with me. It started out as the sniffles and a scratchy throat and by the time I reached Bangkok it was a "My head and nose hurt, my eyes are watering and who is gonna take care of me????" feeling. I am probably the first guest the hotel has ever seen check into the hotel with her winter jacket still on. Anyhow I loaded up on dimetapp and tylenol and I feel better today than I did yesterday and hoping I will feel better tomorrow than I do today.

First off, my hotel is AMAZING. You know how when you get somewhere and you are happy with your place until you see the other places surrounding it? My place is that place! I had Christmas cookies as a greating, escort to my room, baggage delivery. I am so spoiled! I love it.

I woke up this morning and walked around the hotel to check out my surroundings: the fitness centre, the spa, the tennis courts, the (3) pools...and then I headed out to the beach and checked out the stores. Lots of cool things to look and potential souveneirs but will give it a few days in hopes of finding other stuff.

Started working on my tan in the late morning and then took a break from it with a relaxation massage and a facial. Went back to tanning afterwards and fell asleep by the pool.

Spent the last few hours just wandering again and had some Shrimp Cashew Nut with rice for dinner. Delicious. There is also a fantastic looking room service menu that I will have to check out while I'm here as I'm not such a fan of eating alone in restaurants. (Says the girl who can up and move to Korea on her own, fly to Thailand alone, but god forbid she should sit at a table alone).

Tomorrow I have a day tour around Phuket and I am going to book another tour for Wednesday, either to Phi Phi Island, where The Beach was filmed, or James Bond Island, where some other lesser known movie was filmed....

Anyhow I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

I'm Off! (kinda)

I'm such a geek. I am at the airport and still blogging away. My procrastination lasted right up until two o'clock last night when I finally sauntered in from a noraebang. I packed (hopefully brought all the essentials), watched some tv, made a somewhat drunk call home to mom and dad (I'm such a classy daughter), and showered before leaving for the bus station.

Anybody who says sleeping on a bus isn't comfortable should try it after a night with no sleep. I slept like a baby. Got to the airport 4 hours before my flight, due to my fear of being late for anything, and slept on a chair for another hour or so.

I am battling a head cold right now and just drank some "magical elixir" as Megan and Lauren call it. Tasted awful. But if it clears my head I will be a happy girl. Who am I kidding...I'm practically in Thailand...I am a happy girl!

Okay...ten minutes til boarding!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!

Thoughts on Procrastination? Meh...I'll Think of Something Later...

For someone who has gone on and on about tomorrow's departure you would think I would be slightly more prepared and organized.

Last night went out, ended up at Brickhouse playing poker. Did not make my newly imposed curfew.

Slept in wayyyy too late.

2:20: Showered and should be starting to pack...but instead am meeting with Kevin for coffee, after which I will meet with some of the neighbourhood crew for the James Bond movie... at some point I have to call home, pack, exchange some money and clean my apartment.

Organization skills? F for failure.

A Moment of Thanks

Before I get too busy with the excitement of being on vacation for 12 days exactly 24 hours from now...

I want to say Thank You to everybody who has sent cards or packages, honestly, being so far away from everybody, stuff in the mail can pretty much make my week.

I opened my package from grandma and grandpa at work the other day, the Canadian shirt was very cute, the Vanilla deoderant was fantastic (to anyone who hasn't tried Secret's vanilla deoderant I highly recommend you go out and buy it...it's practically edible...) and the best was the candy canes! They don't have candy canes in Korea so I took them to a few of my classes and the kids were so excited to have "Canada Candy" one of my classes spent about five minutes taking pictures of them, posing with them and examining them before biting into them.

Beth I know yours didn't technically come in the mail but internet money wiring is cool! I am definetly going to be using it for some sort of spa treatment while I'm away!

And mom, dad, in all my excitement of presents I opened your package too! :P Mom, your taste in clothing is impeccable as always (ha ha ha)...jokes, I like most of it, only alll of the shirts seemed to have lost their sleeves on the way here, which is unfortunate cause sleeves are kinda essential in winter...weird.... (see I never change!)... the "inner wear" (as Koreans call it) is fantastic! Will call home today or tomorrow and properly thank you but everything was awesome! I am on cloud 9 with my biscotti tea and in sugar heaven with all the candy/chocolate!

Carrie, I know you mentioned a card, it hasn't shown up yet but I will keep you posted as to its arrival!

Okay I will definetly post before I leave for vacation, and I will probably post during as well, but for now Merry Christmas, enjoy the time with family and friends, and I miss everyone so much!!!

Love,
Diana

Ho ho ho!

Give me a T...

Give me an H...

Give me an A...

Give me an I....

meh...even I'm sick of listening to me go on about Thailand....

Bought my bus ticket this morning! It's official! At 5am I will be enroute to Incheon Airport! My plan is to go out on Saturday night, get home at the normal time, have a shower and head to the bus station. That way I don't have to worry about waking up so early and I can be almost guaranteed I will sleep most of the way there!

I Showed Them!

I know you are sick of hearing me talk about poker. Too bad.
Turns out I'm not doing so well in tournament play even though I started off great. I just keep getting raw deals, like last week I went all in with a full house and somebody else matched me and had a higher full house. Oh well, most of them seem to think that I am a fairly respectable player. Last night we were playing a cash game and there were seven of us involved. Not only did I win BUT I was responsible for taking each and every player out of the game!

Poker Rocks!

4 Days til Thailand!

Dong Ship...or something like that

Korea has the strangest ways of expressing their sentiments. They are such a rigid culture they don't believe in living together before marriage, women living on their own, and don't ever admit you are gay, should you be. Yet amongst all their 1950's beliefs they behave in the strangest manners. The boys in class are always rubbing each other's shoulders, holding hands and other peculiar behaviour for teenage boys. You will see drunken man stumbling down the street at night with their hands in each other's pockets, leaning on each other, hugging, whatever...one of the weirder expressions that I have noticed lately and we talked about it a lot this weekend as well, is the act of "dong ship," which is when you really like someone you express this by poking them in the butt. Yes, the butt. I have one class where I have to practically stand against the wall in fear of being prodded by my students. You will be walking through the grocery store and see kids just poking their parents constantly. And they do it all while smiling and laughing because it is a sign of affection. So bizarre...

Dear Weekend, Why Must You Go So Fast?

Another weekend has come and gone at the speed of light. In some ways this is a good thing, such as, one week today I will BE IN THAILAND! and yes, I've already bought my hawaiin tropics tanning oil...oh yeah...

Friday night was a great night out with the neighbourhood crew, we drank too much and stayed out way too late, which is always the best indicator that the weekend has arrived. I've started imposing a 4am curfew on myself and have almost made it home by that time the past two nights.

Last night a few of us went bowling to start the night off. There were five of us so we had the three that were just there for shits and giggles on one side, and Trey and I were in competition mode on the other side. Five games later I came out on top with 3 wins and 2 losses. It seems such a waste all those years Beth and I spent in league bowling and the only time those skills come in handy is 2 or 3 times a year when I can drag a few people to a bowling alley. (note to self: If I ever have kids they are playing a much cooler sport)

After that we headed over to the Santa Claus bar and Lauren and I escaped to grab some food. When we started our walk back to the bar the snow was just lightly falling, and by the time we were at the end of the street we were caught in a dumping of snow. We went inside covered with snow and this immediately had other foreigners running out the door to check it out. On our way to our next stop we got sidetracked and ended up in a park having a crazy snowball fight for half an hour or so, and by the time we got to the final stop of the evening we were cold and damp and I was not a happy camper. I stuck around for a respectable amount of time and bailed just in time to make it home for the imposed curfew.

Today we had a potluck Christmas dinner at Mark and Marta's as a send off before everyone gets caught up in their Christmas travel. It was delicious. We had Costco chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans (yuck!), salad, cranberry sauce and gravy. Tom made a delicious dessert called banoffee pie, which was banana, caramel, graham cracker and whipped cream...so good.

Unfortunately it is now pressing midnight and I have to be up early to tutor and start the work week. Boooo....

Skilled in Brainwashing

So it's that awful time again of English phone calling, where all the foreign teachers have to call the students and have conversations in English with them. They actually kind of amuse me, but with the wee little ones it can be a bit of a challenge. To make my job easier I've been prepping the kids in class by having mock phone calls and asking them what they would say to each question. Of course, for my own amusement I always throw in, "And who's your favourite teacher???" And if they don't say my name I say "Minus 10!" which always gets a laugh.

I was in the office the other night making these phone calls and Korean Richard heard me asking the kids who their favourite teacher was and he laughed each time I did it. While he was in class yesterday he asked two of those students, "Who is your favourite teacher?" and they shouted back at him, "Diana is. Not you."

I figure if I can get enough kids into that mind frame I should be in good position to ask for a raise...

It's Christmas, Charlie Brown!

Hurray! My Christmas package arrived yesterday, which made me the happiest kid in school! As you can see I've propped them up nicely against my only "living" plant, and I use the term living loosely.

David and Lorne were shocked and amazed that I wasn't tearing into the packages as soon as I saw it, but I told them I was waiting until Christmas. Their response was that this is the one time I can cheat and open them before Christmas and nobody can do anything about it. This prompted me to tell them the story of the ONLY time I have ever peaked early:

I was ten and knew all of our presents were wrapped in mom and dad's closet. I chose a cube-shaped box and ever so gently lifted the wrapping away from the box. To my shock it was a set of four escargot dishes. Now back then was when I was just beginning to aspire to be a chef, but c'mon, no kid EVER wants escargot dishes for Christmas! And back then I still had the subtly of "ooh it's nice," verses my bluntness now of, "Send back pile!" You think it's funny that when I was ten I owned my very own set of escargot dishes?? Guess what was under the tree the next year?? My second set of escargot dishes!

Now really today it is great, I have a kitchen stash for myself when I finally get responsible and have a place of my and I'm sure whatever crap I would have actually wanted when I was ten would have been long gone by now but this is why I do not peak, it is in fear of Christmas Karma!

Besides, my stocking and wrapped presents make me feel all warm and Christmassy inside!

*Yawn*

Well the rest of my weekend stayed pretty low key. I made it to Seoul and wandered around a market I had never been to before and then found a shopper's paradise where I could have spent days (and dollars) just wandering. I behaved and restricted myself to window shopping, although there were so many Western stores I could have been on a street downtown Toronto and not known the difference. They even had a Krispy Kreme! Those type of things always make me laugh because I saw it and was like "Oooh Krispy Kreme!" and then realized I have never even been to one at home so my excitement over it was kinda silly. I walked on, without a doughnut, although had the line not been so long I might have been tempted. A lot of foreign foods are like that here I find, something I would never glance at in Canada holds all the temptation in the world here just because I know it is a rarity and I might not find it again. This explains why I have a can of ocean spray cranberry sauce, half a bag of maple sugar cookies, and 7kg of baking soda in my cupboards. The one thing I did find though that I was quite happy about was Canada Dry Gingerale, which I have stocked up on for when I get a cold mid-winter and am having a pity party for myself, coughing away, and wondering why nobody is rushing to my bedside to take care of me. (it didn't happen in university, it probably won't happen here either :(

Anyways, I decided to hold true to my promise of not going out for another night of debauchery and instead met up with Lauren for a dinner of noodles down the street, came home by 9ish and curled up in front of my computer. I fell asleep just after midnight and woke up at 8:30. I started chatting with Matt online and ended up falling asleep mid conversation (what can I say, he's not that interesting ;) and didn't wake up again until noon. Disgusted with myself I got up and headed to the gym. Afterwards I came back and made a cup of tea and watched some tv, where I promptly fell asleep for like another four hours. You would think after all that sleep I would never have been able to fall asleep for the night, but I did, and I slept right through. I didn't think it was possible to sleep that much in one day. But on the plus side yesterday I felt more recharged than I have in weeks and think maybe it was my body telling me to slow down a bit here. Meh...I can sleep in Thailand...

What?

You say two weeks from today I will be lying on a beach in Phuket, Thailand???? How nice for me :) :) :)

Oh Brickhouse...I just can't quit you!

Earlier tonight I started writing a post about how I was making a change and spending the Friday night in, by myself, curled up with my laptop and Lost dvd's. I had left over pasta for my dinner and was just about to change into some sweat pants for a night of lounging. I feel like I've been on the go for the past few months without any down time to myself and this week I have really noticed it. They laughed at me all through work and between each class asked me if I had made plans or responded to text messages I was getting. I very confidently told them that I was not going out, nor was I drinking, this weekend is all about me. They laughed at me and I muttered how I would show them. I got about two minutes into an episode of Lost when my phone started ringing. It was my friend, Kevin, who said he was having a rough day and even though I didn't want to go out or drink would I watch a movie with him. The selfish part of me screamed no, but the considerate part of me who knows how much he has listened to me whine in the past, told me to throw back on my real clothes and walk, in the rain, to his place.

I got to his place and we chatted for a bit and then he said he wanted to go to The Brickhouse. I said okay but I was not going to drink. By the time we arrived it had changed to how we would stay for one drink just to say we had done something. When we arrived Chris and Ron were playing poker. Kevin and I sat in a corner of a bar in an attempt to do some people watching. Five minutes later a group of people that we know walked in and all of a sudden we were front and centre in the bar. Chris and Ron's poker game ended shortly after that and when I heard Ron ask if anybody was in for a second game my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I was in!

I ditched (er...left) Kevin with the other group and put on my game face. It was also trivia night at Brickhouse and those involved in the poker game asked if I was interested in being part of their trivia name, I then became the newest team member of, 'Poke-her'...fantastic... so not only did my plans of not going out, not drinking, and not gambling go out the window, but I was gambling on two games simultaneously. Oh Korea... I didn't win poker, though I stayed in quite long and many of the girls in the bar were quite happy to see a girl representing, and my team didn't win trivia.

I didn't get the alone time that I had been hoping for, but it was kinda nice to be out with a different set of people for a change, mix up the routine a little. Sometimes when you are with the same people all the time it is harder to mix and mingle because you are pigeon holed into that one group, tonight was a nice change of scenary and conversation.

Tomorrow I am heading to Seoul alone. I am just going to wander, maybe invest in a hair cut and try not to lose my wallet. I am sure I will have one or two random tales to tell tomorrow...

Happy Friday!

Wanna Bet?

So as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have joined a poker league. Tuesday night was the second night of tournament play (the first week I came in second for my table). I did not fare so well this time and was the first one out for my table, second out if you count the guy that was a no-show and had to take sixth place by default. Anyhow the emerging trend seems to be that the people that get out first in their tables start another game for cash. We had five of us all ready to play a cash game when five more people decided that they were going to join. I don't really think any of them had a clue how to play being that they would call anything and go all in and just make ridiculous calls, it was annoying and the game ended fairly quickly, although I did not get out quickly enough to join the next cash game that was starting. Around one am, Chris, the owner of The Brickhouse and founder of the league asked if I was in for yet another game, and I said yes, despite the fact that I had made plans to meet Lauren at 10:30 the following morning to go to immigration and get our multiple entry stamps for our passports, which I need because I am leaving for Thailand in 17 days! Anyhow, I didn't win any of the games that I played and ended up home just after 3am. Getting up the next morning sucked.

Yesterday at work I was sleepily making my way through the day when Chris sent out a group text message saying, "10 000 WON ($10) .buy in tonight at Brickhouse!!!" I immediately perked up and sent a text message to Trey seeing if he was in for it so that I would have somebody to split cab fare with (and so I wouldn't be the only one playing poker like it was an addiction). He was just as keen as I was! This meant I had to text Lauren and bail on my plans to go to the sauna, as is normal Wednesday night tradition, tho I did promise to make it up to her by cooking her dinner tongiht. We even got David, my manager, out for it as well. It ended up just being the three of us and the two owners of the Brickhouse but it made for a good time, despite the fact that I didn't win the first, the second or the third game. I think I made it home just before 3, only this morning I had to be up at 8 to make it to my tutor.

So if I don't seem to be posting much lately or seem to have fallen off the face of the earth there is a good chance you can find me at The Brickhouse playing poker, possibly losing all my money and making it so that I need to stay in Korea for a second year...I might need an intervention ;)

Hmmmm....

Is it wrong that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I have a class that only has one kid in it, I hope and wish that kid gets sick and can't some to school so I have an extra spare?

Writer's Block

I feel like I should write something interesting cause my postings have been rather lackluster lately. Although maybe it isn't so much the postings, as the material I have to work with. But just like what your favourite tv shows do when there isn't much to work with, show clips from past episodes, I went rummaging through my gmail and found a group email I sent from about a year ago while I was living it up in Australia. I can't believe it was a year ago, this has been the fastest year of my life....

Hello!

Well we did it. We are officially finished school and now hold Masters degrees. It was a rough three months of going to school one or two days a week and occasionally having to take a night off from our hectic schedule of relaxing over boxed wine and watching old movies or visiting Coogee Bay Hotel, but now that we are done we can take a deep breath and begin to relax a little over here ; )

To celebrate, Kiki, Elissa, Ali and I came to Melbourne for three days. Little did we know when we booked our tickets three weeks ago, November 1st is the Melbourne Cup, a big horse racing event, that is actually considered a public holiday here (all for a 3 minute race!). Naturally, everyone from Sydney who heard we were coming were jealous that we were going to experience Melbourne Cup, as it is such a big deal, and they commended us on our planning of coming at such a prime time. In response to this we jus nod and smile and pretend like we knew all along that the Melbourne Cup was happening, and of course, this is why we planned our trip at the time we did. So this morning we left Sydney on the 6:00am flight to Melbourne, arrived at our hostel around 9:00 and were off to the races by 9:10. Not only is the Melbourne Cup a big holiday around here, it is also a great excuse for everyone to throw on their best dresses and hats and live it up. So that is exactly what we did. We managed to get tickets for a party that was happening right outside the stadium and included all of our food and beverages, which is important to have at 9:30 in the morning ;) Over a morning of 35 degree weather, mimosas and sitting around waiting for a race we managed to have great time, and the park grounds we were at were really beautiful. The pictures we took our amazing...unfortunately I managed to leave my camera in the taxi on the way back to the hostel and right now the camera and pictures are AWOL... : (..... although i managed to realize it within seconds of the cabby driving away so here's to hoping that the tracking and service people at Silver Top taxis will deliver it safely to me before the night is out... if not, you will have to take my word for how great it is, and believe me, we looked pretty hot in all of our dress up....

Work is still going pretty well, another chef has quit which means that I will be working a lot, in comparison to the fifty hour week i worked this past week. It seems that the days just keep getting longer, and the time change also did not help, as my 6:00 o'clock morning starts became 5:00 this past Sunday, which meant that my alarm was goign off at 3:45 in the morning. Nobody was more shocked by this early mornign start then our downstairs neighbour, Josh, who was still out partying when I left for work at such an early time and was shocked to see that people actually had to work at such an hour. The head chef has also asked about the possiblility of me extending my visa and staying thru the busy season until the end of March, which is when he will also be leaving. I haven't quite made up my mind on that one, although it is tempting to stay through such warm weather, verses coming home to a cold Ontario winter. I also finally gave into the idea of chef pants and now am in full costume at work, next on my list is a pair of chef shoes, as yesterday at work I managed to dump a pail of soapy water into a pail of oil from the deep fryer, which instantly errupted all over the floor and my shoes, which was a little scary and left me with images of my foot melting into my shoe... (lovely, eh?)

At the end of the month, Elissa and I will also be homeless again. We are hoping that we will be able to find a spot close to the beach and within walking distance to work, and be able to live there for a few months. Elissa has applied to the Canadian embassy for a communications job in Spain to start at the end January, which she is excited about as she has previously lived in Spain and would like to go back, not to mention how that would look on her resume, plus she is keen to do as much globe trotting as possible before heading home.

Hmmm...not much more is happening around, as I mentioned earlier, the time change happened this past weekend which makes us 16 hours ahead of you guys, not 12 (sorry for the early wake up the other day mom!)... so for those I have been chatting with the odd time over msn, it is now that much harder to catch each other with the time difference, although I will try and make a better effort at going now at convenient times, as now that I have been away for almost 4 months it is really nice to be able to chat with everyone and catch up with what is going on at home... so please also send emails keeping me up to date on what is going on!

As for now, we are off for dinner and a night out on the town in Melbourne!

Miss You all,

Love,
Diana

Wow...did anyone actually read through all of that, hard to believe I was longer winded then than I am now! Though in my defense I only wrote about once a month or so! I wanna go back to Australia damnit! Man if you had told me last year that I would be in Korea now I never would have believed it. If you had told me I would be teaching children the shock of that probably would have killed me!

A Weekend Just Like Any Other

Another weekend has passed at the speed of light. Not much has been happening around here. It is COLD! Friday night was a night of drunken debauchery at The Santa Claus bar. It was Lorne's 30th birthday so he came along, as did the rest of the members from my work. The Korean teachers definetly got a look at the craziness foreigners get up to when they aren't teaching English. I think it is a pretty safe bet that Jennifer, our newest Korean teacher, will never be out with again. That's all I am going to say about Friday because I don't want to tell tales, but I think over the past three weekends our group has definetly been known as the rowdy group.
Yesterday I went to Marta and Mark's, as they were having a house warming party for their new apartment, which is amazing and once again reminds me that I live in a shoebox. It was actually a pretty low key night, mostly due to the fact that I was still trying to catch up on sleep from the previous night. We ordered dominoes and sat around talking and then Lauren and I made it home by 1:30, which is considered an early night around here.
Today it was my intention to stay in my area and just relax, hit the gym, and then finish my (last!) French assignment for the year, but as usual mid afternoon rolled around and I got restless so I headed downtown and bought some jeans and hair clips and earrings (my forthought was to buy Christmas presents for you guys, but shopping for myself was way more fun...so there).
Now I am in for the night and ready to start yet another week, and I would just like to point out, if you aren't watching my ticking countdown, 3 weeks from today I will BE in Thailand!!!

Guess What It Did This Morning???

Diana's Hit List:

1. Mother Nature

Picture This

A foreigner (me) walking home, from Home Plus, on the busy streets of Korea with a shopping bag in hand. In this shopping bag are Christmas cards. My cheeks are rosy from the cold and my fingers are just poking out of my jacket enough to clutch my bag. I am bobbing along to the tune of Have A Holly Jolly Christmas on my MP3 player.

It dawns on me at that moment that this is kinda like a scene from Home Alone, where Kevin is going about the holidays even though he will most likely be alone for it. I should be sad about this but I am strangely okay.

I think I need a Christmas wreath for my door.

I'm Flattered, Really I Am

So you may remember a few weeks ago that my students were trying to play cupid; however misguided their arrow may have been. The saga continued on Friday, and this time words just won't do it justice, so thanks to my super awesome camera here is the latest in mine and David's courtship.

Just in case I wasn't able to get the idea from their words, they drew fun little pictures to go with the proposal. (if that's what you wanna call it).

Now this picture says it is the wedding room. One bubble is saying "My name David." The other one says "My name Diana"

Now for the final picture...are you ready???? Remember these kids are like ten!

That is David and I, in what is labelled the bedroom and the Korean word says Honeymoon. Fantastic.

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato

Had an excellent time at the murder mystery party last night. You should be relieved to know that I did not kill Santa, though I am good friends with the person who did. The party was so much fun, I really had had no clue what to expect of it, whether we would just be mingling at a party and trying to drop lines in or whether it would be like clue. Rebecca (the hostess) had a bunch of tables set up and we all sat around with our lines and as each act would start we would have to work our lines in where we thought was appropriate to the story. There were three acts altogether and Rebecca broke each act up with American Thanksgiving Dinner.

Wow. It was amazing. She put on an incredible Thanksgiving dinner, for fifteen people, with a two element stove top, a microwave, and a toaster oven. She had bought precooked chicken at costco and had her mom ship so much stuff from home, we had everything! Wild rice, mashed potatoes, with gravy, cranberry sauce (my favourite!), dinner rolls, broccoli AND pecan pie and pumpkin pie for dessert. Don't worry... I have pictures... it was delicious!

Being that we are in Korea and surrounded by travellers there were Americans, Canadians, Brits, Aussies, even a Korean. I think that there were four of us Canadians in total and as I had mentioned previously, my name was Regina Wells. The Canadians referred to me as Regina (like the capital of Saskatchewan) and everybody else thought this was hysterical...because it rhymed with, well, you know...The rest of the party thought the name should be pronounced Re-geen-a. Either was there was a consensus by some at the end of the night that from now on my nickname shall be Regina.

The party finished around one and some people were heading to the Brickhouse, I was wiped from a very late night the previous night, and had I decided to go it would have been my third time there this week, and there is no need to be excessive. My friend Kevin and I grabbed a cab and I managed to make it home just before two, which is probably the earliest weekend night I have had in months.

Today's agenda consists of a sauna, French homework, and maybe dinner with Megan and her mom, who is visiting for a few weeks, and some of the other neighbourhood gang. Sadly before I know it, it will be Monday morning and I will be back to work. :(

Blah blah blah

So my posting has been less than stellar this week, I even forgot all about my series of Six Months In Korea. I dunno why, other than nothing crazy or exciting has been going on around here and I haven't been able to turn any of the mundane into something sarcastic or witty which is what normally do when things are slow around here.

I blame the weather.

It isn't Canada-cold yet, but it is chilly, and I hate chilly. I have finally broken out the winter jacket and am starting to dress in layers at work. The thing with coldness is that it makes me very hermit-like, in fact, right now I am lying in bed, under my covers with no intention of moving except to maybe make myself a coffee.

This weekend I am going to a whodunit party with some people I know, and some people I don't, so it will be a good chance to meet a few new faces. My character is Regina Wells and I am the owner of a gas station chain within Korea. The whodunit party revolves around somebody who has murdered Santa Claus. It should be a good time, I've never been to a whodunit party and it will be a change from our normal Friday and Saturday venues.

And it will give me something to post about instead of this babble....

Have a good weekend!

All In!

Tuesday night. Shoulda been at the Beer Hunter with the others from the Songchon Dong neighbourhood but instead was over at the Brickhouse. Why? Because there is going to be a poker league starting on Tuesday nights! Trey played a few weeks ago in a game and I was supposed to play but lost my wallet, and you know how the rest of that night went. Then this past Saturday another poker game was on and I was all excited until I was told that it was a "boy's game." But tonight was a free for all, anybody could play, regardless of sex. Tonight's buy in was 10 000 WON ($10), but next week the actual league will commence and we will all pay a fee to join and then from there on it will go by point system. Despite the fact that it was open to both males and females, I was the only girl. Which did not stop me from taking third place and winning 20 000 WON, some other guy came second and Trey came first, which is the second time he has won with that group of people.

Anyhow I am really excited to be playing again, I was a little worried today that I might have forgotten how, but it was just like I remembered it, only I was a better player than I remember! Hooray for poker!

Randomness

Okay this is probably not nearly as funny to you guys being that you don't know the people, the bar, or Korea, but this is just a little something of the randomness that happens over here. (sorry I know it is kinda dark, I don't know how to adjust that)

The Have Nots

Well last night gave me a bit of a taste from home when we were at the foreigners' bar, The Santa Clause, on the tv screen (via an internet feed) was a hockey game between the Oilers and some other team which was okay, but the best part of that being on tv was the commercials. What a way to be reminded of home! First commercial was of The Keg...ymmmm.... The Keg...(begins to drool), which prompted me into a speech to all the Americans and Brits about how The Keg is the greatest restaurant ever. Then there were commercials for Quiznos and a few other great places I didn't even know I was missing.
I went up to the bar to grab a drink and in the fridge were two cans of Canada Dry gingerale, and gingerale is impossible to find in this country. All they seem to have is Cider which is kinda like gingerale but it is clear in colour and just not the same. I decided I had to have something with gingerale in it and promptly ordered a rye and ginger. They pulled out a bottle of Canadian Club. It was great, other than the fact that I don't really like rye, but last night I was willing to make exceptions!

Anyhow that was just a side note, to continue on with my series, I bring you: Six Months In Korea: The Have Nots.

In the Past Six Months:

• I have not figured out how to work my Korean laundry machine and continue to have loads that last anywhere from 41 minutes to 2 hours, given the machines temperment on that day
• I have (still!) not received my toothpaste that I ordered from Ebay in June
• I have not cooked a meal for myself that did not involve using a rice cooker
• I have not had a hair cut (I'm practically a hippy it's so long!)
• I have not called home nearly enough (sorry that probably won't change, I hate talking on the phone)
• I have not had one kindergarten class go by where I don't beg one of the other teachers to take the class for me
• I have not figured out the Korean alphabet or nearly as much Korean as I thought I would
• I have not mastered the art of using chop sticks

Okay that's all I got with the have nots, I'm sure more will come to me later but this will have to suffice.

Part 1

Do you know what next week is? I'm sure you do because I am expecting anniversary gifts and cards in the mail, and you should have posted them at least 1 week ago to make sure they arrive on time. If you are still in the dark you are banned from my blog until further notice...

Next week, Monday to be exact, I will have been in Korea for 6 months. SIX MONTHS! I am finished half of my contract, if I were to sneak away in the middle of the night, they wouldn't even be able to hold me liable for my airfare here, now I am at the point where I start working towards my airfare home. I have no idea where the time went, it seems like just yesterday I was looking out the window of the plane all teary eyed thinking I was completely insane and that this could potentially be the slowest year of my life. (At least when you expect the worst you are never disappointed!)

Anyhow because I have been here six months and everyone uses the six month here as a major marker it has made me a bit homesick. (quit doing cartwheels mom, I said a bit!) So my next few postings are going to centre around the momentus occasion of Six Months In Korea!

First Installment: In the past six months...

• I have learned to appreciate children, somewhat
• I have probably doubled, if not tripled, the total amount of rice that I've consumed throughout my entire life
• I've learned to hulahoop
• I have made it to level four in French through Durham online courses
• I beat the game of Fish Tycoon and found all six magical fish
• I have broken an MP3 player, a digital camera and a hair straightener
• I have bought 3 house plants (1 of which is still living)
• I have received 15 cards and/or care packages from various people (THANK YOU!)
• I have sent 7 kids into the hall for not listening to me (including a girl on crutches)
• I have learned to tolerate, if not enjoy, the taste of beer
• I have forgotten the art of tipping and table manners
• I have become one of those people that have a cell phone glued to hand and send and receive text messages like its my job
• I have had Korean women steal my beauty products
• I have stolen a Starbucks mug from a historical street (revenge!)
• I have experienced an event called MudFest and enjoyed it
• I have gone through 3 boxes of Tide, yet not made a dent in my Baking Soda: http://along4theride.blogspot.com/2006/07/and-you-thought-i-was-kidding.html
• I have posted 111 blogs (am I boring you yet????!!!!!)

Stay tuned....

Matchmakers

I keep trying to remember what I was like when I was ten or eleven, but I think I've repressed all of those memories cause nothing comes to mind. However, I do have a class of 3 boys and 3 girls all around that age. The other day I walked into class and the kids were full of giggles. Julia told me to look, and then she flashed her pencil case at me for about a nano second and all of the kids burst into laughter. When I finally saw what was so funny I discovered it was a ton of tiny drawn hearts with the words, "David loves Diana," on it. (David being their other teacher and my manager) I kinda shook my head and smiled and kept on going. Later in the class we were playing hangman and Alex was up at the board, he chose three words: David loves Diana. Just as the bell rang the girls handed me a note and said, "This is from David but he wants you to read it after class."
I got back to the teachers office and asked David what he had been talking about in his previous class to get them so out of control. He informed me that there had been a picture of two people in love in their work book, and from there it just snowballed until I was being passed love notes in class.

The outside of the letter:
a drawn heart with the words: Diana I love you.

The inside:
Diana I Love you.
Please wading (wedding?)
because you very very prity
next see you by by
Love, 11/5, David -
I love you diana
Please...

Not sure what the please... stands for but as far as love letters go, who could ask for more???

If You've Ever Doubted That I'm Truly A Spaz...

Sometimes I think I do the things that I do just so that I have something to write about on here:

Today I headed back to Seoul to pay for my trip to Thailand. Megan and Lauren were supposed to come with me but bailed this morning due to lack of sleep. That was okay with me, I was ready just to have a day to myself with aimless wandering and no time schedule. Seoul was okay, I picked up my ticket, went to the foreign food store (bought chicken oxo and pyslium husk...not too exciting) and then to the English book store where I picked up some new books. Oh I also ate at Subway which was a nice taste of home.

After that I headed back to the train station because I wanted to get back to Daejeon early in the evening to go bowling with everyone. I got back to Daejeon and walked out of the train station and there was a massive line for cabs with no cabs in sight so I figured I would walk a little ways and not wait in line. About 1.5km later I decided to hop on a bus and just get home. Reached into my purse to grab my wallet. No wallet. Pull everything out of my purse to verify that my wallet, is in fact, not there. Not there. I go through my bag of purchases thinking I dropped it in there. No wallet. The reality of it doesn't quite hit me and I think, "Oh well, deal with it later." Then I take about three more steps before realizing that a) I have no money for a cab or a bus b) I can't explain my situation to anyone and c) MY WALLET IS GONE!!!

I called Lauren and asked if her she would meet me at the 7/11 to pay for my cab and it was one of those conversations where I started out all calm and in control and as I continued on my voice got higher and then barely audible until I was just the foreign girl sobbing into a phone on a corner of a busy street. After I hung up and collected myself, I called my manager and asked him what I should do. He told me to head back to the train station. By this time I was pretty sure that my wallet had fallen out on the train because I knew I had had it when I bought the ticket. I run back to the train station and get to the information desk, which is closed. So then I go to a lady in a booth and put her on a phone with David and she gets someone else to come get me and they take me to the lost and found. And now, what I truly appreciate about Korean train systems, is that they give us assigned seats so I was able to say what car I was in and what seat I was on. They called the train that was en route to Busan and thankfully my wallet was under my seat. (And as Megan pointed out, my wallet has now been to Busan before I have). I still don't have it back because round trip for the wallet is still a few hours away but I should have it back around 11 tonight.

Next problem was that I was at Daejeon station with no money to get home. Now my friend, Trey, bought a motorcycle a few months ago that I have refused to even get on for a ride down the street, but he offered to come get me and this was the best (only) option I had. A few minutes later he arrived, gave me his helmet and we were off! I was terrified!! Korean driving is terrifying when you are in a vehicle that has doors and a roof, this was outta control! BUT it was soooo fun! And freezing!

So all in all, it was just another typical Saturday in Korea...full of randomness and stories! But my wallet is safe and I can breathe again!

Very Desperate Housewives

I don't know why I am surprised about the way that Korean women act here when it is such a male dominated society, but I think that these women saw an episode or two of Leave It To Beaver and accepted that June Cleaver was the role model to follow.

First of all, up until the early nineties there was a law that women were not allowed to smoke in public. The law no longer exists but the only women you see smoking in public are foreigners, the rest do it in the washrooms, which not only makes waiting for a washroom even longer but also makes you emerge smelling like an ashtray. Of course this is just a minor observation, most of my observations on Korean women come from the lady I tutor.

Now before I start the domestic bashing let me say that sometimes her life seems pretty sweet. She comes for Enligh tutoring two mornings a week, from there she goes swimming or to the gym, then she goes for lunch with the other housewives where they spend the afternoon talking, going to the saunas or shopping. Seems like the life of luxury, but then she tells me about other things from home.

Last week we had the term rebel and I was trying to explain to her what it meant. When she understood she was like, "Ah, okay," she laughed and then proceeded to tell me that, "Sometimes after dinner I don't do the dishes right away, and sometimes I even wait until the morning!" to prove that this isn't her only rebellious tendency she followed up with, "And sometimes, I don't wash the floor for two or three days!!!" And then she cackled like this was the most rebellious thing in the world. In addition to these acts of rebellion she usually tells me stories about how her husband always comes home drunk, smelling of whiskey and cigarettes. (When I asked her about cancer she also informed me that, "I don't think cigarette smoking is that harmful to people") This past Monday when I asked her what she did all weekend she said nothing because her husband and kids sat in front of the tv all weekend and the only time they talked was to say, "When is our meal ready?"

A few weeks back I asked her about North Korea and she told me her thoughts (and I use the term thoughts very very loosely):

#1: I don't think Koreans worry about things like that too much.

#2: I think God will take care of it.

It took much of my effort to not ask her where this God person had been for the past world wars, but I managed to smile and nod like these were very profound thoughts.

Now maybe you are thinking that my lady is just the exception to the rule but Lorne teaches a lady as well and his stories are often very similar. It is great really though, because not only have I gotten a trip to Korea, it is also like a time warp to the 1950s.

Who Wants Various Pork Parts???

Say It Ain't So!

The past few days the weather has been pretty cold; cold enough to make me contemplate breaking out my winter jacket. Last night it was rainy and cold, making me wish I had a pair of gloves. My Texas friend, Trey, (who is not accustomed to snow) text messaged me at 1:30 am last night to let me know, "IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I'm not sure which pleased me more, being woken up by a text message, or the fact that it was snowing. This morning skies are clear and the sun is out, but apparently, despite my moving across the world and hiding, winter has still managed to find me. %*$&!!!

Who Knew?

One of the most popular pieces of exercise equipment that I have seen in Korea is, surprisingly, the hula hoop. Oh yes the hula hoop, how retro. But they don't have just any hula hoops, these hula hoops have bumps on the inside and they are quite heavy...supposed to be good for the S line (hour glass figure). So a few weeks ago I thought I should delve deeper into the Korean experience and I went out and bought myself a hula hoop. I have to admit, I am becoming quite the hula hoopist...but it comes at a price... first off, when it falls the bumps kills my inner knee and ankle on the way down, leaving wonderful marks... and when it doesn't fall this is the result:

So while I may be improving my S line I am also begining to look like a spokeswoman for the abused. This could be why the hula hoop trend hasn't taken off in other parts of the world.

You Know It's A Good Night When...

The place you usually stop to get after the bar food is serving the fresh food for the day ahead, rather than from the day before.

Ahh....4:20am... I need sleep.

I'm Such a Cliche

Megookin is Korean for American. And to most Koreans because I am white, I must also be American. (except when they confuse my blondness for a Russian prostitute, another great stereotype) And yes they also assume black people come from Africa, I am in the least mulitcultural country in the world. Now when I hear "ooh Megookin!" I turn around and say "Canada saram!" (Canada person). And I guess it isn't all that different from home in turns of Asian people, when I told people I was coming out here there were a lot of you that said "Oh Chinese babies are so cute," obviously not making the distinction of Koreans from Chinese, so I guess I can't point fingers at the Koreans too much, but still...

It's one of those things where you don't realize how patriotic you are until you are out of the country. The only time I feel overly partriotic at home is when I'm watching tv and a show mentions Canada and I get all excited for a few seconds (oh you do it too, admit it). But here I wear my Canada shirts proudly. When I climb mountains that is; when I'm out drinking I let them think I'm American, no sense in tarnishing the Canadian image.

In most of the grocery stores here there is always an oh-so-tiny foreign foods section which I always peruse with great interest, not because I'm looking for something, but because I like knowing what is there should I be wanting something. Most of the time Canadian products are largely represented by maple syrup, British products are centred around tea, and I haven't seen anything stereotypical of Americans, but I guess that is because guns aren't legal here.

Anyhow yesterday morning I was out in the grocery store and I happened upon a package of Dare Maple cookies, something I would never buy at home but yesterday I just had to have them. They will probably sit in my cupboard and go stale cause I'm not particulary fond of them but they made me feel Canadian buying them. Before you know it I will be dropping "eh" into every sentence getting a flag tattooed on my body just to represent...

Trick or Treat

Everybody has been asking me if Koreans celebrate Halloween. No, they don't. (They don't celebrate Christmas either, to save you from asking in a month or two's time). This did not stop us from having a Halloween party at work and getting the kids to dress up. The ones that did dress up were pretty cute and I should have taken pictures for you, but if you are anything like me, the moment someone starts showing you pictures of kids you don't even know your eyes glaze over and you are forced to feign interest. Hmmm... I do that with pictures of kids I do know too....
So we had all these unorganized games with the kids: dressing them up like mummies, candy toss, soccer and trying to get them to say Trick or Treat, though most of the time you would say to them, "What do you say?" and they would answer, "Candy please!"
My boss actually went all out with the candy, we had a ton of twix bars, snickers, hershey kisses, tootsie pops and something called laffy taffy. I gave in and decided to try the laffy taffy which was florescent in colour and made of pure sugar and artificial flavouring, it should have been disgusting but it was kind of addicting. A belly ache ensued after that...
The best thing of Halloween here is that our kids don't come to school every day, we have MWF kids (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and TTH kids, so we had Halloween festivities two days in a row, which means it is now Wednesday and it will be my first day of teaching actual classes. And I think we have a tourist expedition on the weekend involving mountains and a suspended bridge which I can't wait for!
Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Like Sardines, I Tell You!

Another birthday celebration this weekend, this time for Lauren. I think I have now asserted myself as the birthday baker, which is a role I always enjoy. Of course having no oven means I have to rely on the grocery store for a premade cake slab that I can ice or decorate as I choose. Last week Megan and I were talking about the goodness that is Tim Hortons and Megan declared her love for boston cream doughnuts. Being a Brit, Lauren hadn't heard of Tim Hortons nor boston creams. Thus I set out to make her a boston cream cake, with custard from scratch. I was pretty impressed with it, who knew custard was so easy to make?

Anyhow there were 11 of us out to dinner last night for some fantastic Korean food and then I invited everyone back to my place for cake. That's right, 11 people to my shoebox apartment. It was great! First of all, 11 foreigners walking down the street causes quite a commotion, but 11 of us crammed into a 10 x 10 apartment is quite an adventure.

And for the past five months I am pretty sure my landlord (who lives in the apartment next door) has been quite happy with his foreign tenant, who never plays loud music, never has people over, and never causes any commotion, and then last night I blow it all by inviting the entire foreign population of our neighbourhood over. Meh, it had to happen sooner or later...

How Bizarre

I had another one of those "Korea is so strange" moments the other night. Richard, the new teacher, who is seemingly normal and not the whack job I had braced myself for, (btw I stole the term whack job from my friend, Megan, and I love it), wanted to go out for a drink after work and unwind and be reassured that teaching really isn't as scary as it looks in the first week.
Anyhow we went to a place called Garten Bier, which is fantastic little bar with electronic cup holders that keep your beer ice cold. We were sitting around talking when Trey walked by, so he came into join us and shortly after that we messaged Megan and Lauren, so it turned into a nice little gathering.

A group of Korean men, in their mid twenties, came and sat at the table next to us with a bag full of take out food, a silver mixing bowl and plastic gloves. How bizarre. The one guy throws on a glove, opens a container of rice, a container of seaweed and throws them into the mixing bowl. He then proceeded to make meatball shaped balls and put them on a side dish. This went on for about fifteen minutes and we all were watching out of the corner of our eyes to see what would happen next. He finished rolling all the rice balls and then opened another container full of chicken wings (which I now know are known as fire chicken). Then all his friends put a glove and began to eat.

About fifteen minutes later they turned to us, gave us a glove and a plate with rice balls and five pieces of chicken and told us to try it. Now I know we aren't supposed to take candy from strangers, but chicken and rice seems perfectly acceptable. Trey tried it first and said it was super hot. I decided to act all macho and show the Koreans that I could handle spice just as well as the next guy and I had a piece too. It was insanely hot; burn your lips and leave them tingly for 15 minutes hot, but delicious at the same time. We then tried the rice balls which are meant to cool the heat and they were also quite good. Nobody else was brave enough to try it so Trey finished it off. We thanked the Koreans and then they went back to their own conversation, but shortly after pulled out another bag. It was a Lotteria bag, which is kind of like a Burger King restaurant, and they pulled out hamburgers and began to eat those. Now I'm not sure what I found stranger about all of this, the random eating of food in a restaurant that is not from that restaurant (kinda like eating an Outback steak in the middle of the Keg), or that they would eat such a delicious meal and polish it off with crap hamburgers.

Oh, I love Korea, there is always so much randomness happening.

One Step Above Telemarketing

Our school has jumped on the band wagon with many other schools and has started "English Phone Calling." This is where we call our students and let them practice their English speaking and phone skills. We do this with all our students, regardless of age and level. It sounds dreadful, I know, but it can actually be pretty amusing. Sometimes the hardest part is getting past the parents because each conversation starts off, "Yobaseyo? (hello) Ummm...Diana teacher. YBM..Uhhh...Phone English....Umm, is (student name here) home?" We have sent letters home explaining all of this to them but most of the time I still have to yell for one of the Korean teachers to talk to the parents and explain it all again.

A few of my conversations have gone like this:

#1
Me: Hello Eric, it is Diana teacher.
Eric: Hello teacher. What are you doing?
Me: I am still at school. What are you doing?
Eric: Oh.
Me: When is your birthday Eric? (fully knowing it was on Monday)
Eric: It is Monday.
Me: Are you having a party?
Eric: Yes
Me: Can I come? (obviously joking)
Eric: Uh, hold on. (Korean conversation ensues to his mother) My mom says you can come!
Me: Uhhh...ummm...

#2
Me: Hello Nicole. This is Diana teacher.
Nicole: Hello teacher.
Me: What are you doing?
Nicole: I don't know.
Me: Have you had dinner?
Nicole: I don't know.
random questions follow, followed by phonics sound questions
Me: Okay Nicole, can I talk to your sister Casey now?
Nicole: Yes.
I wait
Me: Okay are you getting Casey for me?
Nicole: No
Me: Can I talk to Casey?
Nicole: Yes
a few more minutes pass
Me: Is this Casey
Nicole: No.
Me: Let me talk to Casey
Nicole: I don't know.

and so on...

Now imagine 60 of those conversations! My favourite ones are the ones where they hang up on me cause it still counts as their phone call.

It's Gonna Be One of Those Weeks, Is It?

Monday mornings suck no matter what part of the world you live in. My Monday's always start earlier than the rest of my week because I tutor an adult at 9:00. My manager has gotten kind of sick of having to wake up early to come open the school for me so he gave me keys and a security card to let myself in. (I love being trusted with keys, not!) So this morning I get to the school, swipe the security card and the second light did not go off to show that the alarm had been disarmed. I kept swiping the card. Nothing. Went to give David a call and realized I had left my phone at home. Kept swiping. Nothing. The hopefull, optimistic side of my brain kicked in and was like "Just open the door anyhow, what could possibly go wrong?" I unlocked the door. Alarm goes off. Lights start to flash. 10 seconds later the phone starts to ring. I answer it, "Yobasayeo?"(hello) A man says a slew of Korean that I do not understand, I say, "Hanguk mal mateyo" (I don't speak Korean). So by now the security company is thinking, a foreigner is breaking into the school, alert North Korea for back up. By some stroke of luck (surely not mine cause I clearly don't have any) my tutor showed up and was able to talk to the man and explain and that got the alarm to shut off. Half an hour later the security people show up and I show them my card. They made me call David. Then they talked to him and left shortly after. I finished my session, locked the door behind me and headed to the gym. Now I have to head back to work shortly where I can imagine that I will be handing my keys back over to David. It's for the best really.

*the follow up* I got back to work and David was kind of cowering at the site of me, turns out he had given me the security card for his apartment, not the school, so I was absolved of any fault!

Rain Rain Go Away

I woke up this morning to a sound I haven't heard in at least two months. Rain splattering against the ground, it is kind of nice actually. Rain is one of those excuses where you can justify not leaving the house, watching tv and lounging in your pajamas for far too long. (okay I can justify it, I have no car or umbrella and Koreans believe that the rain is like acid to your skin so I'm going to share that belief today and enjoy my laziness).

I suppose eventually I will have to make myself presentable and head to the grocery store as my fridge and cupboard contents consist of an empty cereal box, rice, instant seaweed soup and some aloe juice. I can't even use that as an excuse to order in delivery as I can't speak Korean to place an order.

This week coming should be somewhat exciting, my school is getting a new foreign teacher! I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting to see if I like it or whether I want to take it back to the store for an exchange (who me??). You think I'm kidding but you would be surprised at the number of whack jobs that are over here. Apparently it takes a certain type of person to pack up and move to Korea (not sure what that says about me) but I've heard stories of teachers coming over to convert their students to various religions, teachers who work for a month and pull midnight runs, and my favourite, the teacher that showed my friend, Kevin, around his new school all while talking through his ventriloquist doll that was perched on his hand. Nevertheless, it will be exciting to have a new face around school and maybe I can pawn off some of the classes I don't like on him. His name is Richard and he's from England. Our school also got a new Korean teacher last week, her name is Jennifer and she seems really great, her English is quite good as she lived in the U.S. for a few years. I haven't hung out with work people in quite a while but we have a few work functions this coming week to welcome the new teachers and it will be a nice change from the routine. And it will be fun to show another newbie around town and introduce him to all the people I know, providing he isn't a whack job.

Well enough of this, back to being lazy.

Ta-ta!

Captain's Log, Day 153

Scarily enough, I have been in Korea for FIVE whole months as of yesterday!

Another weekend, another trip to Seoul. I have decided that I love Seoul. I am perfectly happy living in Daejeon but it is so cool to be able to hop on a train and head up to Seoul. The purpose of today's trip was to pick up my ticket for my trip home at xmas...hahahahah...oops...I mean for my trip to THAILAND (don't worry you only have to put up with comments like that for at least another two months). My friends Marta and Mark were also planning on heading to Seoul for the day and Lauren decided to join us as well.

We split up upon arriving in Seoul with Mark and Marta having their own odds and ends to take care of and Lauren and I in need of a little retail therapy. We jumped on the subway and headed to COEX Mall, the biggest mall in Korea. It was fantastic. I bought a few shirts, a Lonely Planet Guide for Thailand, and various products at my favourite store, Skin Food. Skin Food is the best body product store ever (and coming from me, that is high, high praise), they have all sorts of funky products (mushroom deep cleanse, tomato face packs, cappucino face scrub, celery face wipes, etc) and it is so reasonably priced. Which for me, really only means that it easier to justify why I can't walk by a store without getting something. The best part of the store though, and what enourages me to keep buying is the free samples you get with each purchase. Today I bought tea tree face scrub and a new foundation (to replace the one I shattered all over my floor a few weeks back) and I got at least ten different free sample packets (peach serum, black honey foam, beer shampoo, anti wrinkle cream, face whitening toner...maybe I shouldn't use that, all sorts of great stuff). Okay I will stop because I know that this stopped being interesting after the line, Skin Food is the best body product store ever...

So anyways, we shopped and shopped and shopped until it was after six and we were to meet up with Mark and Marta for dinner in Itaewon at a popular spot called Geckos, which is highly populated with foreigners and army guys. The food was great, I had a steak sandwich and salad with a Belini martini, delicious. By this time it was 8 or so and we decided to make our way back to the train station and to Daejeon as we were pretty wiped from the day.

The only problem with today was the fact that I got all caught up in our shopping and eating and what not that I didn't actually make it to the travel agent to pick up my ticket...oops...guess I will just have to make another trip out there soon!

Two Months From Now...

Me in Thailand

You in Canada

Mwuhahahhahahahhahahaha

where I'm staying: http://www.r24.org/phuket-info.com/phuket/islandia/details/

You're How Old?

A few weeks ago I made a comment about the fact that in Korea I am 25 years old, but all over the rest of the world I am only 24, and then I never followed up with the reasoning behind it.

Let me tell you, Korean's have birthdays ass backwards. First off, if it is your birthday it is your responsibility to treat everyone. All over the world people are hiding the fact that it is their birthday because they don't want to accept another year, here they are hiding it because they don't want to pick up the cheque.

The craziest thing of all though is their notion of ages. Again, all over the world we are trying to stay young and scrape a few years off the actual number, here they just toss a few extra on for the hell of it.

So here's how it is. When you are born you 1, you don't start off being 0, or counting the weeks, then months. One minute you haven't been born, the next minute you are already one year old. But wait, it gets sillier... you have your second birthday, not the following year, but on the start of the New Year. So let's say you are born on December 31st. You are one. The next day you turn two. Craziness!

A Wee Ma Weh A Wee Ma Weh

My friend Megan's birthday was a few weeks ago and for her birthday she was given a lovely stomach bacteria that postponed the celebrations by a week and a half. So Saturday night we had birthday festivities.

My ears jumped at the word birthday because this meant I got to show off my culinary skills and whip up a birthday cake, only problem was that it is pretty hard, if not impossible, to bake a cake with only two elements and no stove, and a country that doesn't seem to sell icing sugar. So I improvised and bought mini angel food cakes, whipped up a white chocolate mousse and did 14 three-layered white chocolate raspberry mousse cakes. I didn't get to decorate them all fancy because when packing for Korea I must have left my cake decorating tools at home, despite all of this I was happy with the final result, and I must say they were pretty tasty.

We started off the night by going out for sam-gup-sal (definetly not the way you spell it), which is bbq pork, that you cook yourself on the grill at your table, sprouts, kimchi, garlic, hot sauce and then you roll it in lettuce leaves. They also brought us bondaggi (bugs) but we declined them and sent them back to the dirt...er..I mean kitchen.

After that we went back to Trey's for some drinking fun and cake. Following this we headed out to the Noraebang (like karaoke only each group of people gets their own room). Now I have stated many times that I will never sing (tho I did do it once when I had about 10 too many shots of soju) and I started off the night by restating this fact. It's not that I like being a killjoy, but I am actually the worst singer in the world. About half an hour into it I realized I probably wasn't that much worse than some of the others so I decided to give it a go with not 1 but 3 (THREE!) songs. I wasn't totally brave I had a partner each time, but my playlist went like this: The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Trailer For Sale or Rent, and Sweet Caroline. And ya know what? It was kinda fun, I am still the world's worst singer, but at least I am loosening up a little. And before you all start in on your comments I would like to say that, no I was not intoxicated - I think I had one, maybe two drinks all night. So to quote Matt, "Shut it!"

We sang our hearts out for about 2 hours, we only paid for one hour but because there was about ten of us there and most people were buying drinks the person in charge kept adding minutes on. Finally around 3 or so I made it home and got some sleep to prepare for the fun that was Ginseng Expo. Anyhow you can see more photos here if you are so inclined: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=e9ujen3.bb19rwcj&Uy=-jevdjx&Ux=0

2006 World Ginseng Expo

Just try telling me that you did something more exciting than that this weekend?? Actually I had a fantastic weekend and so much to write but I will only write about Ginseng fest for now and bore you with the other tales at a later date.

Apparently there has been a Ginseng festival going on for the past three weeks in a town called Geumsan, about an hour away. Today Megan, Lauren and I hopped on a bus and decided to check out the wonder that is the Ginseng Expo.

It was actually pretty cool, it was set up outdoors and there were exhibits on Ginseng Food, The Cultivation of Ginseng, the Health exhibit and the history of Ginseng. I learned more than I really need to know about Ginseng but it was a well put on exhibit and one of those touristy things that I am glad I got to partake in.

As usual, being the whities that we are, we stuck out like sore thumbs and thus were asked to pose for a few pictures by the 'press' people of the expo. I may need to attend next year just to see what they are using our photos for. We also were asked to pose with a bunch of Korean army guys, so we obliged them as well and got a photo of that for ourselves too.

As for freebies I got ginseng candy and ginseng vitamin c. We decided to act like full out Koreans and we ate meat on a stick (hopefully it was chicken), and then had ginseng tempura, which surprisingly was pretty tasty, kinda tasted like a carrot.

Anyhow this post does not do justice to the wonder that is Ginseng Expo so check out the pictures that I have posted: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=e9ujen3.3jcodd4j&Uy=2rd2sd&Ux=0

Well it has been a busy, exciting weekend so I will write more tomorrow but for now I am off!

Because I Can

I've been hearing all sorts of tales of cold weather and snow flurries and winter jackets from your side of the world.

I just wanted to rub in the fact that I was outside today with sandals and a t-shirt and I was still too hot.

That is all.

In other news...

Have I mentioned I think I have West Nile Virus?? I mean, I probably don't, but I did climb a mountain last week and ended up walking a 13.5 km trail (not including the hike up the mountain) right around dusk and when I came home I was covered from head to toe, and everywhere in between, with bug bites. I looked like I had the chicken pox. Seriously I walked into my kindergarten room at the beginning of the week and they were covered with bites and we were comparing marks. So itchy... and Koreans seem to believe it is because 'mogis' (mosquitos) like people with O+ blood types, and I don't know what my blood type is but I'd be willing to bet I'm an O+

This week has been the longest week in the world, it always amazes me how fast you can get out of work mode from just one week. And knowing that I don't have another holiday for 11 weeks (of 51 working days) is just making time seem even slower.

Not much is going on around here, the weather finally feels like it might be turning to fall for good, although the days are still warm enough, so normally I leave the house with sandals and a light shirt on and walk home from work shivering and shaking. It would probably just be easier to take a jacket to work I know but I am such a suck when it comes to admitting that summer is actually over.

I think I have decided to go to Thailand for Christmas!!! It is the place I have wanted to see for quite awhile and when I was in Australia I kept saying that I wasn't going home until I went there, and then I ended up feeling bad about spending the money and taking time off of work while I was there so I ended up leaving without ever going. (leaving without ever going...that's gotta be like an oxy moron sentence, no?) Anyhow, now that I am back on this side of the world I am going to take hold of the opportunity. I think I am going to Phuket (pronounced Fuuket, although the other way is much more fun to say ;) for 5 days, including a 2 day tour around the area and lots of tanning time. I have a 4 star resort and it is going to be awesome, so if you are in the area drop by and see me...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I've also learned that Taiwan is actually close enough to Korea and cheap enough that I could actually go there for an overnight trip or maybe on a 3 day weekend, so maybe I will get a few travel adventures in throughout the year. I have to do something as they don't seem to have tanning salons anywhere in Korea and right now I'm paler than I've been in years.

Okay I am wiped and I've just downloaded a ton of Law and Order episodes so I am going to grab my ramen noodles, sip my coffee and veg...

Watch Out For Flying Missiles

So I have this great idea for a sequel, where North Korea starts launching missiles...oh wait a minute... somebody already took that idea.

If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, you obviously don't live in South Korea, or on this planet... pick up a newspaper once in a while will ya??

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/09/korea.nuclear.test/index.html

Things around here are pretty calm Koreans don't seem to be making a big deal about it, but then again South Koreans seem to have this attitude of "North Korea hates us but we just really want them to like us so we will stand by them no matter how bad they treat us and whatever else they want us to do."

I don't have that much input on the whole thing as of yet, I am not as informed as I should be to make any profound statements or assumptions (as if that's ever stopped me before) but my best bet right now is that it is going to be hyped up really big all over the news but probably won't affect my safety in any shape or form. (In other words: RELAX MOM!!!!!) Right now it is just like a world event that I have front row tickets for..maybe should put off my trip to the DMZ (de-militarized zone) for awhile tho...

Randomness Rambling

Happy Thanksgiving!

There are some times when travelling just isn't as much fun. Those are the times when you know you are missing out on good stuff at home. I absolutely love Thanksgiving: usually that last trip up to the cottage until Christmas, the smell of fall, great food, great drinks, and of course, the family. So for everyone who is back home enjoying Thanksgiving this weekend please eat some or all of the following:

* turkey
* cranberry sauce
* stuffing
* mashed potatoes, with gravy
* roast vegetables
* apple pie

To wash it down I suggest either a chocolate martini or a special coffee, laden with baileys and kahluha. No whip cream...no need to be excessive ;)

In other news, my vacation is over. Where did nine days go??? I thought I would have had at least one or two days of "oh god how am I going to fill the next 15 hours before I go back to sleep," but I barely sat still for more than a few hours at a time. Unless you count yesterday where I delved into complete computer nerdiness and changed around my blog (hope you like!), updated my photos on flickr, and other random nerdiness that I didn't even know I was capable of.

At the start of the vacation I had various goals for myself to accomplish in the down time: spending extra time on my French tenses, finishing the grammardy game I am making for my kids (it is much cooler than it sounds), and organizing my closet that is crammed with clothes that desperately need to be ironed. What I forgot about while I was setting these goals is that: a) just like in highschool and university, it only makes sense to do homework right before the due date, b) I can get paid to do things like grammardy at work, and c) I don't know how to iron.

Bah! Now tomorrow morning I gotta get up early, head to work and resume the 'normalcy' that is my life. Boo....

White Christmas?

White beach maybe...

So a few months ago I told everyone I was coming for Christmas. I would also like to point out that when I first started this blog I stated that when things got boring I would occasionally make stuff up. So if you believe everything I say, really you only have yourself to blame.

Here's the thing. I do want to come home for Christmas because I have so many plans already for it and it is the first time in my life I have ever had plans for New Years this far in advance (if you don't count working). BUT flights have gotten ridiculously expensive, to the point I would be paying over a full month's salary, and that doesn't even include what I would spend on getting to and from the airport, departure taxes and the cost of carrying out all the plans I have made for my return. I would have to stay and work a second year just to justify it all.

And on top of that the available flights now are like 25 hours one way which means I would be spending two full days in the air and I know I'm amusing, but even I get annoyed with myself after that much time...

And come on, if I am going to spend that much money on a vacation, it seems a little bit silly to spend it on a vacation to Canada when I am so close to many other amazing countries. So right now it just doesn't seem like it would be the most sensible thing to do, tho I will be sad about missing another Christmas with the family. And turkey. And cranberry sauce. And grandma's apple pie ;)

But this does open up opportunity for another exciting adventure:

Bali: Bali bombers, drug trafficking, and the police mafia

Thailand: bird flu, tsunamis, and a political coup

Vietnam: typhoid, hepatitis A and B, and pickpockets

China: communism, SARS, and the urge to adopt Chinese babies (okay I'm pretty sure I'm immune to that one)

Singapore: prostitution, gangs, and blood beetles

So many decisions...how is a girl to choose??

Anyhow right now nothing is definite but I figured I should share this new development with people before plans got too far underway. Will keep you posted!

My Seoulo Excursion

I finally did it. I took a trip out to Seoul by myself. I just went for the day and wandered around like a real tourist. It was great.

The first thing I would like to point out is that I am the girl that gets confused on the Toronto TTC and usually has to get off and change directions at least once each time I travel.


Surely you can see how I could easily be confused. *dripping with sarcasm*

Yesterday I was left to brave the Seoul subway system all on my own. And I'm not gonna pretend I didn't have to backtrack one or two (or 4) times, but I am still pretty impressed with myself cause I managed to get to all the places I wanted to go.



My first stop was Itaewon which is near an army base cause apparently it has good shopping. I was less than impressed and didn't stay very long. I was looking for a book store called, What the Book, which is supposed to have a ton of English books to choose from. I ended up finding a second hand book store and tho the selection wasn't great I found a lonely planet guide to Seoul, which is fantastic. Now I was in full tourist mode.

I hopped back on the subway to go to Insadong, which was where Megan and Lauren and I had been before. I didn't really need anything there but I wanted to wander through the streets and check out the shopping again. Also tomorrow is Megan's birthday and because she used to work at Starbucks I wanted to get her one of those mugs with the Korean writing. Only problem was they don't actually sell them. So I bought a chai latte, drank it, and took the mug with me. (Koreans can steal my bath products therefore I can steal their heritage mugs. Deal with it). Besides if they don't want people to take them then they should sell them.

I went into a tea shop and bought some ginseng tea to see what all the fuss is about. Then I bought some ginseng losanges because Koreans seem to think that ginseng is the end all be all, so I figure I might as well get into full Korean mode.

I ended up finding a different bookstore with an English selection so I went in and wandered around. There were no books that really caught my interest but they also had a French section (if you can call 4 titles a section), I decided I need to be working on my French more so I bought Harry Potter. I've never read the series before and I figure if I can't understand half the things that are going on I might hav more tolerance for it.

Other than that not much happened. There is a French Cultural Museum in Seoul which I meant to check out but figure I will save it for another day. Got to the train station and all the normal tickets were sold back to Daejeon because of the holidays so I paid extra and rode first class, which is just a little more spacious, and I don't know if I've mentioned it before but the KTX train travels 300 km/hour which sounds so fast but really doesn't feel like it when you're on it.

So all in all it was a good day, no crazy stories but it was the most touristy day I've had yet and made me feel more like a traveller again which is nice.

Look What I Bought!

Blond Moments

From the day I first arrived in Korea I knew that at some point I would lock myself out of my apartment because my door can lock from the inside, so out of habit I always hit the lock on the way out. Normally I shut the door halfway and have a minor panic attack about where my keys are before realizing they are in my pocket or purse.

Yesterday I was being all domestic and making peanut butter rice krispie squares to take into work and I thought how much better they would be if there was melted chocolate on them. Being that I only had half an hour before work I threw on my shoes and ran out the door. I got about half way down the street before it dawned on me that I had no keys. Then I tried to fool myself into believing that I probably hadn't locked the door on the way out. But I got back tried my door handle and it was, infact, locked. Shit.

Fortunately my landlord lives right beside me so I was able to knock on her door and point to my door and say "key?" and she understood and pulled out a key ring with about 50 keys on it. Fortunately they were all labeled otherwise it would have been a very trying ordeal.

She let me in and I got back to my Betty Crocker ways, when all of a sudden there was a knock on my door again. It was the landlady with a platter of grapes and apples, (maybe she thinks that will cure stupidity?), anyhow it was great because apples here are so expensive and it was just one of those nice Korean gestures that happen every so often and brighten my day. And now I know how to get free produce from time to time. Sweet.

*Shudder*

Oh I'm hungover....can someone get me an advil?

Have I Mentioned How Much I Love My Kindergartens?

Oh like you've never changed your mind or opinion about something.

Ok maybe I don't actually love teaching the kindergartens, and maybe everyday I try to bribe, blackmail, or proposition one of the other teachers into taking my class but somedays even I can be wrong about them. (me? wrong? shocking I know...)

As you might know the next week coming is Chusok (I get nine days off na na na na na!). Which from what I can gather is the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving but much higher regarded and is their main holiday. So because of Chusok one of the kindergarten moms, coincidently the mom whose child screamed bloody murder the other day, brought me a gift! (even better, tomorrow apparently I will get more gifts because it is common to give gifts to the whitey foreigners!)

It made my day, it is a gift box of coffee, and their gift boxes are kind of funny here because they just seem to use everyday products but give them in quantity (like a costco pack!) So I have like a year's supply of Maxim (which looks as close to Maxwell house as you can get without infringing on the copyright) instant coffee, coffee whitener and mugs!

It's like all those years I sucked up to my teachers with gifts is finally coming back to me!

I'm Never Having Kids (just in case you thought I'd been changing my mind)

I know I know, I keep posting about how cute kids are and how much I like them. BUT do not think that this means that I will be changing my mind on the kids front. In fact, I think after one of my classes today my tubes might have tied themselves all on their own out of pure terror...

So kindergartens. One kindergarten kid is cute and manageable. Two is okay as well although takes away your undivided attention. Three can be chaos and four is pretty much a write off. I did have four kids last week until one left to go to a full time kindergarten school, and the third one has been sick. Should be bliss right?

Well today my kindergarten class started off with the owner of the Hagwon watching me and taking notes (for what I'm not sure). Started off the class in the normal routine, and about ten minutes into it Brian must have gotten bored and decided to leave.

Lucy wanted a sticker that William had and he wouldn't give it to her. So she burst into tears. This prompted William to burst into tears as well. Some Korean words ensued which I didn't understand but I'm sure they went something like "you and me on the playground after this class." Lucy got her sticker back and William continued to bawl. Then he got angry and was screaming and trying to hit Lucy and Lucy tried to hit him back and it was about this time I gave up on trying to solve it myself and went to look in the hall where the mothers are always sitting, intently watching the video camera of what is happening in the room.

To my horror, they were gone. (this is the first time they've ever been gone) William also ran out into the hall and upon seeing his mother not there began to delve into even deeper hysterics with arms flailing and lying on the ground (Now I've heard rumours that this is the type of child that I was...but I'm sure you have just a hard of time believing that as I do!).

Thank god Lucy was content to sit down and colour and I spent the next 20 minutes alternating between pleading, threatening, and racking my brain for anything that would pacify the situation.

Fortunately for me the bell rang and it was left up to a newly arrived Korean mom to solve the problem. I can only hope that the notes Brian were taking prior to his leaving were assessing that maybe Lorne would be better at teaching ankle biters than I am...tho Lorne told me not to hold my breath...

3 days till Chusok! (9 days off!)