THANKS ADAM!!
The Koala and the Little Lizard
A koala is sitting up a gumtree smoking a joint when a little lizard walks past and looks up and says "HeyKoala ! what are you doing?"The koala says: "Smoking a joint, come up and have some."So the little lizard climbs up and sits next to the koala and they have a few joints.
After a while the little lizard says his mouth is 'dry' and is going to get a drink from the river. But the little lizard is so stoned that he leans too far over and falls into the river. A crocodile sees this and swims over to the little lizard and helps him to the side, then asks the little lizard: "What's the matter with you?" The little lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting smoking a joint with the koala in the tree, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink.The crocodile says he has to check this out and walks into the rainforest, finds the tree where the koala is sitting finishing a joint, and he looks up and says "Hey you!" So the koala looks down at him and says:"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuk dude.......how much water did you drink?!!"
Girls Day!!
My school went on a field trip today! We took the kids to the Museum of Natural History. All week I've been terrified to go because I thought I would be in charge of my kindergarten class, who are absolute monsters sometimes. But I totally lucked out and got to spend the day with my preschoolers, who are the cutest, huggablest (new word..you like?) things on the entire planet. There are usually 2 boys in the class as well, but unfortunately they're both sick so it was just us girls! Most of the stuff we saw was way too advanced for their tiny little selves, and the 3D movie about dinosaurs scared the crap out of them, but they were still so good. We had a blast!
Just Throwin' It Out There...
Not sure how many of you are heading to Chiang Mai in October (World Interhash, people. Come on, keep up...), but wouldn't hashing with one (or all) of the Seoul H3 kennels be a good start or end to the trip?
I've always suspected I was most like Carrie, but the whole time I was taking the quiz I was thinking "
Please don't turn out to be the slutty one!!"| You Are Most Like Carrie! |
You're quirky, flirty, and every guy's perfect first date.
But can the guy in question live up to your romantic ideal?
It's tough for you to find the right match - you're more than a little picky.
Never fear... You've got a great group of friends and a
great closet of clothes, no matter what!
Romantic prediction: You'll fall for someone this year...
Totally different from any guy you've dated. |
A FEW OF MY KIDS
This is Leo, who is now known as "The Boy Who Puked All Over Me." When he's not sick he's very active and super smart. He's always the first in the class to memorize flashcards and new songs, but he hates coloring/art class and when he's bored he can be a bit of a terror. Every morning all the girls fight over who gets to sit next to him, which is probably something I should put an end to but it really amuses me to no end to watch them.
This is David, who's in the same kindergarten class as Leo. He's the youngest and smallest in the class, and he's so cute!! He might be moving in on Leo's territory because he brought me and all the female students candy for White Day! See how he's laughing in this picture? That's what he does everytime I have to discipline him for something, which so far is averaging about 50 times per class.
This is Irene, who is in one of my afternoon classes. She's an absolute doll, but she
never shuts up. The other day the entire class was out of control and had to stand facing the wall for a few minutes and she actually
talked to the wall!!
WOULD YOU LET YOUR KIDS GET ON THIS THING?!?!?
This is Kim, who I basically forced to become my friend after I discovered that he speaks very decent english. You may notice that he is cleaning my glasses in this picture, and that is because it was he who gave me my eye exam, convinced me to go with the shiny red plastic frames that I never would have even tried on in the states, and then made my lenses for me. After getting my new specs I left to wander around Namdaemun, looking for an adaptor for my computer. Hours later, totally lost, I accidentally wandered past his store and he came outside to check on the glasses. "Not dizzy? No headache?" I asked him for directions to someplace where I could get an adaptor, and he pointed to the store directly next to his. "But closed for Holiday." Of course. "I know another place," and before I know it he leaves his store and takes me on a personal tour of Namdaemun, explaining all kinds of historical things that I've since forgotten. After a 10 minute walk we get to the place and it is, of course, closed for the Holiday. BUT, he knows another place and so somehow I end up in the back of a cab with him heading towards Yonsan. It was a fairly short ride which consisted mainly of me saying, "Aren't you going to get fired? Shouldn't you go back to work?" He walked me around Yonsan until I found the adaptor I needed, then made sure I knew how to get back home before jumping in a cab to head back to work. It might not sound like much, but it was a super kind thing for him to do and it came at a time when I was lonely and homesick and really needed someone to be kind to me. I doubt he's ever worked so hard on the sale of a pair of glasses!
He probably thought he had gotten rid of me but (being desperate for friends and all) I tracked him down at his store and called to thank him for helping me. We met for dinner/drinks (Bailey's...yum!!)/coffee Saturday night, and you can imagine how mortified he was to discover that my glasses mainly serve as a hairband for me. He cleaned them off and made me wear them because in his words "Eyes...very bad." Apparently it's not the Korean way to sugarcoat things.
I think Kim must find me totally helpless (probably due to the totally helpless state I was in when we met), because he's adopted the habit of constantly looking out for me. I even get daily updates on the weather (cold) and air quality (sucks - no one told me about all the smog in Seoul) which he gives me in the form of a recommendation as to whether I should run outside or at the gym. He totally rocks.
I'm not sure why, but I have always wanted to be met at the airport by someone holding a sign with my name on it. It just seemed like it would be the coolest thing ever. Unfortunately for me, when this finally happened the coolness of seeing my name on the little sign was completely overshadowed by the ultra SUPERFLYCOOLNESS of the woman holding the sign. This is Jiyeon, and she's awesome.
It was Jiyeon's job to work with me while I was still in the states to get my visa, flights, contract, etc. straightened out. Then she met me at the airport and delivered me to the school I'm working at. She was even nice enough to help me with my super heavy luggage, which probably weighed more than she does. Since coolness recognizes coolness, we kept in touch and Friday night I met her in Apgujeong where she took me to eat my new favorite food Shabu Shabu. After dinner we hung out at a quiet but really great bar called Obladi, and then we met up with some of her friends at a very cool live jazz bar called Once in a Blue Moon. I have to admit I wasn't too sure what to expect from Korean jazz, but the music was great. When the bands were done everyone headed out to another bar for food and soju. We left there around 2:30 and some decided to head to a club nearby but I was beat so I hopped into a cab and headed home to continue my new habit of drunk dialing everyone back in the states!
NORAEBANG!! NORAEBANG!!
During my first weekend in Korea one of the other teachers at my school was nice enough to let me tag along with him and his friends. We went to some restaurant in Yaksu and ate tons of galbi and drank way too much soju and beer (let me apologize again for the drunken phone calls I made to Andy and Stof later that night!!).
Since no one really knew each other, the conversation was pretty standard...movies, music, etc. And naturally once music was mentioned, talk of a noraebang couldn't be too far behind! For those of you who don't know, a noraebang is like a private karaoke room you rent for any length of time. To say there's one on every block in Seoul would be lying, because there's literally at least 2 or 3 on every block. Seriously, they love this shit. After drinking alot it was decided that we would go to one. I tried to warn everyone that I don't exactly have the voice of an angel, but they insisted I sing anyway so I belted out Duran Duran's 'Hungry Like The Wolf' as if my life depended on it.
It was a really great night, but I definitely paid for it the next day!!
First few days in Seoul...
These are some pictures from the staff dinner the school had for us. It was sort of a combination "good-bye old teachers, hello new teachers" kind of thing. So far the staff at the school have been really great.
The next day I went with Holly and Tim (2 teachers who were leaving) to Insadong so they could pick up some traditional Korean gifts for their family and friends. At the time it seemed really crowded to me, but now it seems normal to always be elbowing my way through crowds of people.
I'M BACK...
...and better than ever!! Thanks to those of you that took care of/fed Spot for me while I was gone. I totally expected to have to clean up a dead llama once I finally got internet!
So far Seoul is great, though admittedly I haven't done much because I haven't met many people yet. I've visited a few touristy areas, like Insadong (loved it) and Itaewon (hated it), but mostly it's just been work, work, work. The kids are great, but alot of them are really bad and since I don't speak Korean and they don't speak English maintaining any kind of classroom discipline is difficult. I'll post some pictures of my school, coworkers, and kids soon. My apartment is in Yaksu and it's only a 5 minute walk from the school. There aren't many people who speak english in my area (or maybe they just don't speak to me...hmmm...) so everything is kind of a hassle. It took forever to get a simple 3 month gym membership, and I've been looking for a flourescent bulb for the light in my living room since I got here. Nobody has the right size, and once they finally get me to understand that they don't have it they blab nonstop in Korean. I don't know if they're telling me where to go to get one or offering to order one for me or, for all I know, telling me to fuck off. I just nod and smile, and leave.
Gotta run...I'll get some pics and better posts up soon, I promise! I miss all of you back home!! Send chocolate...good chocolate, not the crap they have here!! Address is on Brownie's site!
