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!!!