Bali!

Another week gone by, not much interesting happening around here so I'll summarize in short blurbs....

Got my Christmas plans booked! For six glorious days I will be living it up in Bali, Indonesia! Woo hoo! Going with a girl from work, Chandrie, and so far we've just got our flights arranged and are currently looking into hotels and hostels. The front runner so far is a place called Swastika Hotel... pictures look nice so trying not to be too judgmental about the name.

Had snack parties in class today because classes switch next week as kids are placed in classes that reflect the marks of their past level test. Snack parties are pretty much an excuse for teachers to download a movie, bring the kids a treat, and chill out during class. The kids also bring in their own treats to share and it is disgusting the amount of food that gets brought in. Two of my classes had pizza, one kid's mom sent a dozen krispy kreme donuts for the class, and an additional box for me, which is just what I needed so I tried to pawn off as many as I could on the other teachers, but it was a little more difficult than usual as everyone else was loaded down with cookies, cakes, sodas, and chocolates. Plus I watched Mr. Bean's Christmas special, some Tom and Jerry and Shrek 3... so it was a pretty productive day.

Not got much planned for the weekend so far. I haven't been drinking since before I started my cleanse three weeks ago so on one hand I'm tempted to keep it up until the tenth of December to make it a month, but we're doing a girl's day tomorrow, started off with the gym, some shopping, then some girly facials and whatnot, and finally we're getting glammed up and heading out for the night so I have a feeling I might fall off one wagon and jump on the bandwagon for partying it up!

Other than that not much is going on around here, if things keep going this slow I'm gonna start making stuff up.

Everland!

I think this video contains all the proof that Everland is awesome! Well, it made me feel Christmasy at least...on the ride front I think Wonderland kicks it's ass. Apparently it is the 4th best amusement park in the world based only on attendance, and attendance rate is helped by the fact that it's really the only amusement park in the country. But the roller coasters (all two of them) were pretty scary, but I think that's partly cause I wasn't all together confident in Korea's safety measures. But it was a fun day out and despite the cold we managed to stay there until 9 at night and then had a three hour trek home by buses, trains and taxis.

Yesterday I played poker with some guys from the neighbourhood and won $70, which is the first tournament I've won since being back so it was loooonnnngggg overdue.

Also got my hair highlighted yesterday cause my kids have been pointing out lately that, "Teacher, hair here...yellow...hair there...brown," unfortunately I don't think the hairdresser actually knew what I meant by highlights and other than a few extra strands of blond it looks no different. I had a moment of sheer terror when the hairdresser was mixing the dye, looked at me and said, "Ivory!" and I almost bolted.... so I guess at the end of the day I am happy the difference in my hair is not noticeable, verses sporting ivory hair. But on that note, anybody who wants to send me a few boxes of dye I would be very appreciative, cause the roots have got to go.

Everland!

So I'm off to Everland today, which is Korea's Disneyland and is apparently the fourth greatest amusement park in the world! Yay!

It's not too cold out today which is good, and there is a Christmas lights display at night! I'm hoping there is Christmas music playing throughout the day as well! This is my third Christmas away from North America, which is apparently the amount of time it takes somebody to miss the overplaying of Christmas cheer throughout the malls, on the radio, and anywhere else you go.

Anyhow will probably post some pictures later tonight when I get home or tomorrow morning.

1 month and 1 day until Christmas!!!!

Prolly Not Gonna Happen....

So I get to school this morning and one of kinder kids comes bouncing into the teacher's room with a brochure for a ballet recital that she is in. Seems the thing to do around Korea is invite everyone and their brother when you are participating in any kind of performance.

Seriously? I'm getting invited to a student's ballet recital? Part of the reason I don't want kids is cause I don't wanna have to fake interest in the stupid things they do, and somebody thinks I wanna go watch their kid prance around a stage??

I think someone needs to set these parents straight about why I'm in in Korea cause enriching the minds of young children is NOT at the top of the list....

Brrrrrr!

It's too cold....so cold it kinda makes me wanna quit my job and go teach English in Barcelona... but you know, that's just a thought ;) (damn you for putting ideas in my head, mom!)

My open class went well on Monday, there was no crying, peeing or name calling (by the children or their mothers) and the comments by the mothers afterwards were fairly positive; they seem to think I'm trustworthy with their children and not warping their minds too much. I was a little bit worried during the class cause the kids were out of control with excitement and trying to show off for their moms, so much that I turned the lights off on them and told them they were gonna get a time out...which the other teachers thought was a gutsy move to do during an open class.

Made a big pot of chicken ginseng soup last night and it is sooooo good, especially with this crazy weather. I don't know how I'm ever gonna survive another Canadian winter because it's only November and I already feel like it's too cold.

Haven't finalized any Christmas plans yet but hopefully I'm headed to Bali with a girl from work. We are on a waiting list right now and if it doesn't pan out by the end of the week it will be time to find a plan B because I am not wasting a week off stuck in Daejeon. Chandrie suggested India as our plan B but I'm not too sure about that...

I should be going to poker tonight but so far there has been no text which means I could be stuck inside all night playing Facebook poker which is not nearly as much fun :S

Case of the Mondays (on Sunday night, nonetheless!)

Why must weekends be so short???

So the cleanse is done. Made it seven days and though I kinda wish I'd stuck it out the full ten days I'm still pretty happy I managed to do it for seven.

Yesterday we had a little bit of a late start to Seoul. By the time we got our bus and everything we didn't actually get to Seoul until mid-afternoon, and despite having beautiful weather in Dajeeon, we were greeted by rain there. The first thing we saw when we got to Myeondong, which is a huge shopping area, was a Stone Creamery, which is apparently the "best" ice cream ever and as we walked by, the aroma of waffle cone and chocolately goodness came drifting out the door. We looked longingly through the window and contemplated how our stomachs would feel if we ended a 7 day fast with rich, creamy ice-cream....then we went to Starbucks and begrudgingly ordered peppermint teas, which were the only things we were allowed to drink other than the lemonade concoction. After that we darted from store to store, in and out of the rain, we checked out The Gap and Roots and other ridiculously over priced stores and couldn't find anything to spend our money on. Finally we ended up at a good store and I got some sweaters and shirts and was happy the day wasn't a total wash out. As the day wore on both of us started to feel pretty drained and we decided that maybe it was time to incorporate some fruit into our diets so we finished the day with some banana smoothies, which tasted fabulous!
After that we grabbed the bus home and I settled in for the night with some tv and fell asleep pretty quickly.

Today Heidi and I headed to Costco to stock up on some healthy foods so that we stay on track with our good eating and then after that I met Richard downtown for a coffee and then we went for a hike, then for dinner and then a movie. Now I should be getting ready for bed so that I can hit the gym in the morning but I'm not ready to accept the fact that the weekend is over because tomorrow is open class which means all my kinder moms are coming in to watch my science class and I have a feeling it might be somewhat disastrous...

Half Way

So day five and I'm still holding strong. I'm not even hungry which is bizarre, and I thought I would be going crazy for coffee by this point but I'm not missing it at all. I miss chewing food though, I love smelling the food people are eating, but the urge to eat it isn't that overwhelming.

And I'm in a good mood. Like a really good mood, even with my students. The things I had read before starting this said that you would not be hungry and would be happier on it, but I thought it was all bullshit, turns out the people knew what they were talking about.

I have been going to sleep fairly early lately, mainly cause I'm bored at night and don't have much to do...poker was cancelled this week, I don't have any reason to go to the grocery store and it's not much to meet up for people with dinner, so I guess what I'm missing the most is having a social life.

I think Heidi and I are going to go to Seoul on the weekend and do some shopping so that we aren't stuck around here being bored and lame. I never got packages in the mail this week so that's another thing on my checklist to do...but don't hold your breath...

Day 3

Day three of the cleanse and so far it is going pretty well. Hasn't been as difficult as I expected, although other people's lunches were looking especially good today as I sipped my lemonade concoction. Yesterday had a bit of a head ache and was less than impressed with my drink, but last night I used Heidi's juicer for squeezing the lemons and it improved the taste of the juice 100%. Heather bailed on it before we started and Chandrie quit after day one so it is only Heidi and me left now. Heidi is convinced she is making it the full ten days... I'm a little unsure about myself..we will see. It is making me "slightly" crabby with my students and today my legs felt like jelly on the treadmill and I couldn't even muster the energy for the stepper. But they say day three and four are the hardest so once I get over the hump, who knows? I just think the weekend might be especially long and boring if I have no energy for anything and can't really go out and socialize.

Anyhow just on my lunch break now so gonna relax a little before heading back to work.

Weekend!

Another week has flown by around here. It's crazy how fast time goes, I've been back for over three months now!

Today we had a kindergarten field trip to the zoo. Small children and animals. My two most favorite things in the world. It wasn't actually that bad, last year when we went it was so hot out that all the animals were hiding, at least this time on the safari bus ride there were actually animals roaming about. Unfortunately because I teach the babies of the school, after we got off the safari we had to take the kids over to the washroom and then get them sorted for lunch, which meant we had no time to walk around and look at any of the other animals. Then after lunch we had about twenty minutes before getting back on the bus so we were gonna take a wander around but one of my kids peed himself, so we were delayed again. So my trip to the zoo consisted of a safari bus ride and looking at 4 seals.

After work tonight a few of us went out to TGIF's and had hamburgers, which were delicious. On Sunday four of us are starting a cleanse, which involves not eating for ten days and drinking water, cayenne pepper, lemon and maple syrup. I'm kinda looking forward to it, yet terrified at the same time. I like that there is a group of us as I think it will make it easier to get through it. We are gearing for ten days, most likely we won't make it the full duration, but we're gonna try.

Tomorrow Heidi, Heather and I are gonna go around town and do some shopping and hopefully I will have a few packages in the mail for people by Monday! Bondaggi (silk worm larvae) and dried squid for all!!! Then at night I think we are going to have one last hurrah before we start the cleanse.

Right now I've just finished cleaning my apartment and am going to put a movie on I think. My next post will probably be bitter and cranky as I'm getting into the cleanse. I'm sure you are already looking forward to reading it ;)

Random

Well I managed to make it the rest of the weekend without burning my apartment down. Hurrah!

Richard's dinner was nice; we just hung out watching some movies, drinking some wine and eating food. Unfortunatley the movie Richard picked was Gremlin's and I was less than entertained by it to say the least. After the movie was over we had a discussion of what classified as good movies and the consensus of the group, after I'd voiced my opinions, was that I am a hateful person and don't like anything. Richard really wanted us to watch Jaws as well but after dinner was over I asked him if knew what would be fun, and he was less than impressed with my answer of, "Not watching Jaws." Heidi and I left shortly after that :)

One of the guys from work has been talking about this skin clinic downtown that he has been going to have a mole removed from his face, he broached the subject to four of us girls at dinner last week by starting out with, "Now I'm not saying that you need it, but you girls should really go to this skin clinic..." so Heidi and I decided to go and check it out. It is called Milk and Juicy, which is a bad name for a business, no matter what the business is, but we thought we'd see what the doctor had to say. Heidi had a mark on her face that she wanted to get rid of and I decided I wanted to get rid of the bump/mole on my lip. Thirty dollars later and ten minutes later I was being prodded with a needle and laser. Everything is so cheap here! Who knows, a year from now you might not recognize me, get rid of all my freckles and and bumps and whatever else!

Anyhow I just got a text to say that poker is starting soon so I gotta run but hope everyone's weekend was good!

Fire in the Hole

So today is Richard's birthday dinner night, and if the title is any indication, preparations for it are coming along nicely.

Woke up at 7:45 this morning and was out the door by eight so that I could hit up the grocery store before the crowds started. I was in front of Emart by about 8:20 and was quite disappointed to see that it didn't open until 10. I walked over the bridge and across the highway to Homever, only to find out that it too, did not open until 10. Refusing to admit defeat I walked back past Emart and headed towards the other Emart that is open 24 hours. By about 9:20 I had finally made it to the grocery store. Got the ingredients I needed to make spaghetti and broccoli salad and jumped in a taxi for home.

Spaghetti sauce came along nicely as did the salad. I decided to make use of some other ingredients I had kicking around and make some brownies for dessert. Brownies in a toaster oven, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, the first problem was that my teeny tiny kitchen was full of my other preparations, so I moved the toaster oven into my other room and set it on a chair. The brownies I made (from scratch) were meant to fill a 9 x 13 pan, but the pan didn't fit in my oven, so I put all the batter into a smaller pan. 30 minutes later the top and bottom of the brownies were smoking, batter was running over the side of the pan and my bedroom was filled with smoke.

I turned the oven off and headed out with Heidi for a bit.

Upon getting back I decided to see if I could salvage the brownies. I scraped off the crispy bits and turned the toaster oven back on, then jumped in the shower. Ten minutes later the room was filled with smoke, yet again.

I gave up.

After letting the mess cool, I managed to scrape the charred on the outside, gooey on the inside brownies into the garbage and finished cleaning up my apartment. I moved the toaster oven off the chair and discovered that the smoke had not been coming from the inside of the oven, but from the cushion of the chair that is now burnt beyond repair.

So other than dessert, dinner is ready to go, all I need to do is make a quick stop at the bake shop and we will be ready for birthday festivities!