message from thailand

hey everybody i wanted to let you all know that we are all fine. when the earthquake and tsunami struck we were in bangkok. we felt the aftershocks in our hotel but didn't really know how diastrous it was until today. i know many of you have sent emails and i really appreciate it you thinking of me. lucky for us vickie's friend told us about koh chang which didn't get hit. so far everything here is great. the island is beautiful and our hotel is very posh. this is a new experience for me cuz i'm so use to staying in average hotels. so far we've done nothing but sit on the beach and swim. tonight i had a young coconut and a pineapple curry which were both delicious. we ate at our new favorite bar we found along the beach called the porn bar. go figure. if it has to do with porn i'll find it. tomorrow we are going elephant treking and on thursday we are doing an all day snorkling trip. i can't wait. i'll write more when i return to korea. again thanks for all the messages. its so great to know that you guys are thinking of me. i'm going to take a walk on the beach now and then go to bed. thinking of you all...

noel

this morning as i was walking down the empty streets in ansan i heard faint music playing. it was kind of surreal since it was only 8:30 am and there was no one in sight. as i got closer to the corner i realized it was "the first noel" that was playing from the corner store. i felt like i was in a christmas special. as i was heading home i saw all these handmade posters for a christmas party written in korea. i knew i had to have one so i snagged one. now its hanging in my apartment. its time for me to head off to the airport. i'm taking a week hiatus from the blog writing so don't be alarmed. i'll return with new entries of my adventures in thailand on january 2, 2005. i hope you all have a great holiday season. see ya next year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
and a
HAPPY NEW YEAR
to all

christmas party

well folks its christmas eve here in korea. today we had a christmas party for the students which meant no classes. instead we had craft day. we made angels out of dixie cups and strofoam balls and decorated christmas hats. i made 5 angels the best being my goth goth angel which was all black including her face and she had blue and red hair. i also made a christmas hat. the students all seemed to have a great time. we passed out gifts to the teachers who all seemed very surprised. i'm glad we did that. i felt really good giving them presents. horace and i even got a card and money from jk and jane. that was so sweet of them. after school horace, christine, anna, and i went for some drinks. it ended up being a very nice evening. i'm glad we decided to go. all right i have to cut this short cuz i still have to pack for THAILAND. i can't believe i'm leaving tomorrow. i hope you all have as great of a christmas eve as i've had. see ya next year.

cry baby cry

it doesn't matter what throwing muses song pops up on the itunes party shuffle whether deeply depressing or suedo poppy it always puts me in a good mood. right now i'm listen to "cry baby cry" and all i can think about it is that tomorrows the last day before vacation. vacation. what a great feeling that is. i love having that one band that evokes such feeling for me. if i were to be stranded on a tropical island i would definitely have to have the entire discography of throwing muses. then i wouldn't care if i was ever rescue or not. speaking of tropical islands i saw online today how they had a gillian's island reality show. what in the hell will they think of next. i can't believe anyone watched that. what's next a "lost in space" reality show. i'm sitting here sipping some honey ginger tea while i'm typing. there's nothing better on a cold day some great tasting tea. i've turned into a major tea drinker since being here. a lot of that has to do with the fact that i'm trying to stay warm. the buildings here have a tendency to stay cold. i think the granite floor has a lot to do with that. its always ice cold. we had tae kwon do class again tonight because some of the students had plans for friday. of course the ones that wanted to change the day didn't show up. go figure. for awhile it was only the master, myself, and cg (canadian girl). it was a pretty decent class. we learned more of form 3 and practiced kicks. i really need to work on the kicks. thats the hardest for me. everytime i kick i want to completely turn my whole body. i must practice, practice, practice. perhaps i'll do some practicing while on the beach. that should be fun. tomorrow we are having a school party which means no classes. how excited are we. and the best news of all today is that satan aka brenda aka little brat will no longer be at our school. YEAH!! she might be back in march but if she does she has to attend a regular class. jk and lisa's mom are thinking about moving lisa into my green a class with sally. that should definitely be interesting. sally already expressed no interest in having another student in that class and lisa is a little princess. however i think it will be good for both of them. lisa is definitely one the youngest and smartest students at the school. i'm constanstly impressed by how much she understands and retains. that girl definitely has a bright future. time to motor. i got some stuff to do. two days and counting…

this little kitten…

this little kitten lost his mitten. actually i lost it about a couple of weeks ago. if memory serves correctly i think i mentioned this already. why do i bring it up now. besides the fact that its so cold i finally broke down and bought a new pair. i went into one of the numerous stationary/gift shops thats sells about everything. they had gloves there for 2,500 won which is less than $2.50. and they are actually thick and warm. this is why i love this country. some things are so damn cheap. so now this little kitten has new mittens and his is very happy and warm.

i got my first christmas card today from lisa, satan's friend, who i teach every day for 3 hours. taped to the front of the card were three little charms [two drums and one with jade pigs). i was completely surprised. after reading the card i felt really good about myself. its amazing what a little card can do. anyway i thought i'd share with you all what lisa wrote to me. i'm going to type it exactly as she has written it. well at least try to here goes:
Happy christmas.
What do you want
for presents? Wishes
Chirstmas and Take
a much thing
Happy intering christma
s! Happy new year.
I Love you teacher.
lisa
how cute is that. she's totally scored major brownie points and made up for all those days she's given attitude. 3 more days…

last minute shopping

during our break between classes horace and i set out to do last minute christmas shopping for the folks at work. we realized that we should probably get them a little something. nothing like waiting til the last minute. we hit all the places possible in ansan and finally after an hour of non-stop running around in the freezing cold we found some gifts for them all. now i can honestly say christmas shopping is done. next on my plate is to start packing for my trip. i still can't believe we leave this saturday. nor can i believe that it will be christmas. it seems strange not to be going to florida this year. it'll be my first time not going home. but i'm looking forward to this trip. to be able to do nothing for a week but sip cocktails and soak in the sun. it can't get much better than that. lets just hope i don't get burned on the first day. with each passing day it gets colder and colder. i feel like i'm back in boston. the minute you walk outside the cold rips right through you. feeling a bit lazy tonight horace and i decided to go to pizza hut for dinner. yes, there's a pizza hut right next door to our apartment. when the pizza was brought to our table we couldn't believe have tiny it was. immediately i though this is never going to be enough. nevertheless it was and i must say it tasted so good. this had to be the cleanest pizza hut i've ever been in. i must say this for korea their resturants are always spotless. i picked up a new obsession here. lately i find myself spending hours on tvtome reading synposis of old tv shows. i recently finished reading through all nine seasons of "dynasty" and before that it was "beverely hills 90210". its amazing what one does with no television. now if i could only focus that energy into doing something productive i'd actually acomplish something. but until then i guess i'll relive all those old shows i use to watch.

pretty persuasion

have i mentioned how cold it has gotten here. well it has. walking home from school today i realized that i might as well have not worn pants since the cold went right through them. i haven't been this cold since my days in boston. it looks like i'm gonna have to do some sweater shopping soon. can't wait to see what kind of fabulous korean fashions i can find. the day passed very slowly. how come it always seems that before you're about to go on vacation the days linger. in five more days i'll be boarding a plane for a tropical paradise. of course this weekend horace and i watched "lost", the tv show where the plane crashes and these people are stranded. i'll have to pack sensibly in case i find myself stranded on an island. speaking of tv i know i've mentioned "desparate housewives" before but how good is that show. i think horace and i are finally caught up. i'm so enjoying nicolette sheridian's character. every suburb needs the hot slutty divorcee to spice things up. it great to see the primetime soap making a come back. i use to love watching "dynasty, knots landing, and dallas" back in the day. although now a days the writing is a lot smarter. kudos to abc for taking a change on this show. and you would have thought that the guy who gave us "golden girls" could produce such quality drama. go figure. lets just hope bea arthur doesn't make a guest appearance. now for some exciting news. i traded in my yellow belt for a green one. yes, i passed yet another test in tae kwon do. GO ETHAN, GO ETHAN, I'M A GREEN BELT, I'M A GREEN BELT. i'm getting closer and closer to that black belt.

busted in carrefour

this morning while trying to get a few things from carrefour i got a phone call from master shin. what can only be thought as a moment of lack of judgement i answered the phone. mistake number one. apparently the master was sitting in mcdonalds and saw me come in. he asked me to come join him. i told him i was in the middle of getting some stuff and would stop by on my way out. i tried to prolong my shopping but inside i felt kind of guilty because i knew he'd probably wait there until i showed up. i got the few things i needed then headed to the pharmacy counter since that is where the contact solution is. one of my students parents work there and she gave me a 2005 day planner. that was so sweet. i love these random gifts. i met the master at mcdonalds and after several attempts of telling him i wasn't thirsty i finally caved and let him buy me a coffee. mmm. coffee from mcdonals. theres nothing better. i sat there as the master was telling me how i can improve my life here in korea. his main point being that i need to meet more people and not stay in ansan the whole time. i tried to explain to him that he really doesn't know that much about me and that i was meeting people no problem. then i started realizing it doesn't really matter what i say because he's still going to give me his opinion. i'm not sure why he feels that he has to help every foreigner he meets. part of me is starting to think that it bothers him that i don't give him many details about myself. mainly thats because i don't care to. everything he has to say is either about meeting korean women, money, money, or money. at one point he offered to teach me korean to which i replied politely no thanks. i told him that 3 nights a week of his insults were enough for me. then he had the nerve to tell me i needed to be more open minded. the man is crazy and needs a life. and just because i don't feel like becoming a part of their little rat pack crrew doesn't mean i'm not open minded. then he told me he was worried about my finances. when does it end i tell you. i already have parents i don't need any more thank you. i can't wait to see what monday's class is going to bring. all i know is 6 more days and then i'm beach bond. thank gawd.

the moment of truth

i'm almost afraid to admit to what i did today. although its not extremely bad i'm sure some of you will be grossed out. please don't hold anything against me. afterall i am in a foreign country experiencing a completely different culture. whats that saying "when in rome. well, when in korea…" now to begin the story. after months and months of horace and jk talking about going to a dog meat resturant that day finally arrived. we met jk, jane, and their daughter rosa [she gave up on kelly] at the subway station. that in its own right turned into a comedy of errors. when we arrived we exited the same side where jk dropped us off after chusok. we were standing around for 5 minutes or so when he called to tell us he was running late. he asked where we were and he side to go to the other side. up the stairs we went. we walked through the station and departed through the other side. while we were waiting down there all these school kids were walking by yelling "hello. welcome to korea. nice to meet you." etc. its always the same with them. there was no sign of jk though. he called again asking horace where we were. when horace told him he said to go to the other side. this is korean logic at it finest. back up the stairs we went, crossing through the station, and back out the original exit. thats when we saw them on the other side of the street. apparently thats what he meant. the other side of the street and not the other side of the station. we drove to jk's in-laws to pick of mr. oh [jane's father] and danny her brother. mr. oh is the one who wanted to take us to the resturant. we went up to apartment and had some tea before heading out. i had this lemon honey tea with pieces of lemon in it. it was great. supposedely like everything in korea it was good for your health. we sat there talking. mr. oh would ask us questions in korean and then danny or jk translated for us. after the tea was done it was time to go to the resturant. before leaving they asked if i wanted dog meat too and i said i'd stick to the chicken soup. i tried to explain that having grown up with dogs i didn't think i could eat them. in turn they explained that like cows and chickens these dogs are raised to be eaten and not as pets. still i didn't like i could do it. it was a nice walk to the resturant. the oh family live in a very nice area. it feels very residential. at the resturant the dog meat eaters [mr. oh, jk, and horace] sat at one end of the table and the chicken soupers [me, jane, and danny] sat at the other end. before the food came out they brought out various sidedishes of kimchi, radishes, hot peppers. all of which were very good. then the waitress brought out the dog meat. i watched her as she cut it off the bone. i thought i was going to gag. mr. oh kept asking me if i wanted some so finally i caved and said i would try a little. i handed him my plate. as i watched he started to pile meat onto it. i told danny to tell to stop. i only wanted a little. i asked danny if he ever tried it and he said no. later he confessed that he liked american food better than korean. i'm sure that makes his dad happy. by this time the chicken soup was brought out. however this wasn't the chicken soup your grandma makes. it comes in a giant steel bowl and there's a whole chicken stuffed with rice, gingers, and a prune [at least i think it was a prune]. it was kind of odd looking at my soup seeing a whole chicken in it and then looking at the utensils i had to eat it with: a spoon and chopsticks. this was definitely going to be interesting. before i dove into the whole chicken i decided to actually try the dog meat. it actually looked like lamb which is not one of my favorite things. not wanting to insult anyone and seeing that even jane decided to tyr it for her first time i figured why not. so in it went. it really didn't have much of a taste to it. then again i didn't really chew it. i kind of just swallowed it. they asked me what i thought and i politely said its all right but there was no way i could eat a lot of it. i think if i didn't know what it was it wouldn't be so bad. its more of a psychological thing then anything else. now it was time to dig into the chicken. i had a little bit of trouble at first trying to pull the legs off with the chopsticks but soon i was tearing into it like an old pro. the soup was actually quite good. it definitely needed salt so i added a whole bunch of it. after lunch we went back to mr. oh's apartment for some fruit. mrs. oh brought out some homemade pumpkin soup for us to try. it totally rocked. mrs. oh is a great cook. we sat around for a little then jk drove us back.

i really enjoy spending time with the oh family. they are such nice people and are so concerned with our well being. telling us to keep warm, eat good, etc. like any parents would. danny has two months off from college so once we get back from thailand he wants to show us around seoul. that will be fun. i also told him i'd help him with his interview. it seems that he's going to be interviewing in march to attend a school in the states. last time he was in los angeles. this time it looks like he'll be trying to go to a school in the bay area. he's a really nice kid. so to all my friends in the bay area if he ends up going there i might ask you to show him around and make him feel welcomed for me. i know i can count on some of you to do that for me.

that about sums up my saturday. again i hope none of you hold the dog meat against me. and dad i promise when i'm home i won't be looking at bando, coco, or kayla as a tastey meal.

the annoying one…

of course it was too good to be true. after weeks of a nonannoying master the annoying one has returned. the master was in rare form tonight. from the minute he walked in it was nonstop ragging. first he went on and on about how there were no girls in class tonight and he didn't feel like teacher because he was tired and the people next door were too noisey. then he moved on to me. you know that feeling of when you are trying to sleep and you keep getting woken up by a mosquito. thats what it felt like again tonight. its like you try to concentrate on what you're doing but you has the bug buzzing in your eye non-stop. the master went on and on about heather liking me. it like he's never known a guy and girl to be just friends. he kept asking me over and over why heather likes me. according to the master i'm "soft" and "a sissy man" to which i made no comment. i realized its best to ignore him otherwise he's going to completely piss me off. its getting harder though. at one point i felt like leaving class because he just wouldn't shut up. there is nothing more annoying then when you are trying to exercise and he's complaining about women. finally i told him its probably because he tries to hard. of course this didn't shut him up. finally scrappy showed up for class and the masters attention was focused on him. i swear i actually want to kill this man. he's driving me crazy. as if the master isn't bad enough than i have on of the brown belts constanstly giving me pointers. it wouldn't bug me so much but it reminds me of my childhood when we had the one older kid you kept telling us younger kids what to do. i tried my best to block every thing. it was tough. this was the longest hour and a half of my life. thank god christmas break is coming. it'll be nice to get over from everything for awhile. i'm starting to realize that i have a hard time listening to people other than the instructor give me feedback. the only good thing is that know that i realize this maybe i can work on it. after class i was walking home with scrappy and he asked me if the master said something about scrappy not liking me. i told him no. and that i could really care less. i guess heather told him the master was insinuating that he didn't like me. can anyone say high school much. i'm there to learn one thing and one thing only tae kwon do. i don't really care about making friends, or listening to who's getting laid and who's not. i don't want to know about any of their sex lives or lack of. is it too much to ask. i think not. the master is so obsessed with meeting a woman and getting laid that its affecting his mental being. i want to shake him and say "get a life you freakin troll". is that mean. it felt good getting all that out. i'm starting to feel much more relaxed. i'm also having a cocktail which probably helps too. anyway thats my rant for this evening. i had something else in mind to write about before class but i'll save that for another day. tomorrow horace and i have to meet jk, his father -in-law, and his brother-in-law for lunch. they're taking us to a dog meat restuarant. i can only hope that there's something else on the menu because i really don't feel like eating dog meat. i'll let you know how it goes.

short but sweet

its thursday and i'm super tired. the winter weather makes me want to cuddle up under the covers so i think thats what i'm going to do. i'll write more tomorrow. goodnight…

cookies for e!

what started out as a drab day for me turned into a day of happiness. my day took a dramatic turn for the better when a package from misty arrived at the school. yeah!! christmas stuff!! its amazing how getting a package from back home can make ones day. this package was like no other cuz it was filled with lots of cookies!! homemade cookies at that. i'm not sure how they made it through customs but they did. they are usually strict about letting unpackaged goods into korea. perhaps the christmas spirit was with the customs checkers. whatever it was i'm glad they made it. there were loads of sugar cookies with thick icing, molaasses cookies, and my favorite peanutbutter rice krispy treats with milk chocolate and butterscotch frosting. these are the treats that misty insists that i eat when ever nancy sends them to her. and you know what…she's right. YUMMY!! of course horace and i immediately sampled all the goodies. i even shared with the others. inside the package misty included polaroids of kate, ted, derek, and herself making cookies. and pictures of the cookies. derek made superhero cookies. there was wonder woman, aguaman, batman, and catwoman all ready for me to eat. how great it that. you guys totally rocked. and of course there were presents which i haven't opened yet. i'm saving those for christmas eve. the best though was a dvd that was labeled "cookies for e! a very special christmas dvd". to be honest i was afraid to play it at work because i wasn't sure what was on it. was it a naughty or nice kind of video? i didn't want to take the change so i waited until i got home to play it. once home i popped the dvd into my computer. i was quite anxious to see what this was. it opened up to a theater curtain scene with the words "cookies for e!" i immediately hit play. then it begin. it was a homemovie starring misty, kate, ted, derek, craig, natalie, jojo and special guest star aikea. i had to hold back tears when i heard my little princess meow. watching her walk around, meowing and looking so healthy and happy made me happy. it was so great seeing her and all my friends. this is THE BEST present i could have ever gotten. these guys are so thoughtful and its stuff like this that makes me realize how great my friends are. i haven't even had a change to finish watching it yet. i'm only 40 minutes into it. they gang has just now started to make the cowboy molasas cookies. i can't wait to see what happens next. will kate keep her apron clean? will misty burn more chocolate? will jojo get egg shells into the dough? will ted run out of batteries? will derek ever stop washing dishes? all these questions and more. i actually feel like i'm there making cookies with them. and to tie it all together theres christmas music playing throughout. one of the many highlights besides kate, misty, and derek doing the various dances from the peanuts characters is that misty showed me her new boots. by the way very nice. this is why i love these guys because you never know what to expect. i continue to go on and on about this dvd but i won't. i just want to say thanks to all you. i love and miss you all. thanks for making this one of the best holidays ever. i will forever cherish this dvd.

p.s. love the shirt you gave jojo. classic. and the wife-beater shirt you mentioned…you know i want that.

school girl crush

today begins the countdown for vacation. only 11 more days and then i'm off to a tropical paradise. i've never looked forward to a vacation more than this one. it will will be good to get away from the kids and the cold. to sit back in the sun and do nothing but relax. i had a new student added to one of my classes today. of course she was totally shy and when i had her read i could barely understand her. just when you think you have a handle on your class and things are going well a new one appears a throws a curve in the whole thing. hopefully since there are two other girls in the class she'll break out of her shell quickly. we also had three other students take tests and will most likely be joining. even with the new school that opened on the third floor we are still continuing to grow which is good. although it means more work for us. there are some days when you look out on these faces and you wonder if they understanding anything. i'll like to think that i'm making some progress with them. olivia told me today that joy, one of horace's students, has a crush on me. aren't i lucky. joy hasn't been in school this month and hopefully she won't find out the others told me. i don't want to be embarassed. i seem to be making points with the girls since i know a lot of the pop bands. after school emily was asking me about all these different bands. it was kind of cute talking music with them. i'm hoping by doing this it will increase their conversational skills. make them feel a little more comfortable when speaking english. we'll see how that goes.

and so the battle begins…

we have a new battle starting at our school. surprisingly enough its has nothing to do with the children. instead this battle is over heating. every time jane comes to school she's constanstly going into our classrooms and turning off the heat. you can leave the room for 5 minutes to pee and come back and its off. well today she come into the school earlier than usual. she's actually been at the school a lot lately since the university she teaches at is on vacation. anyway so as soon as she comes the main heat gets shut off. its 15 degrees outside. do you think we could have some heat. just because all of them keep their coats on i don't feel like it. at one point i look over at horace and he's all bundled up. this is ridiculous. i ate my lunch wearing a scarf and finished it so fast because the room was like ice. and to top it off there's no hot water in the building so when you wash your hands the water is ice cold. i spent the entire day locked in my classroom with the heat cranked to 30. all day my students were complaining about being too hot. i looked at them and said "sorry" teacher cold. it will be very interesting to see how this no heat when jane is there pans out. i don't think the university starts back until february. this should be interesting.

just another sunday

today i awake in a much better space than yesterday. it still so weird how one day you can be totally down for no reason and the next day you're perfectly fine. i think spending some alone time on saturday was good. like saturday i begin my morning with episode 31 of "love's pinwheel". its getting good. afterwards i went with horace to carrefour were we got groceries and finished off at mcdonalds. its starting to become a habit which is bad. on the plus side the do give vitamin drinks with your meal. around 4pm i went down to horace's apartment where we had a tv marathon. one episode of "popular", one episode of "strangers with candy", and six episodes of "desparate housewives". ok. how good is that show. i'm loving it. we couldn't stop watching. the characters are great. the actors are good. the writing is great. what more could you want: sex, drama, camp, and a dark comedy all roled into one. there is definitely a lot of eye candy on that show. finally something worthwhile to watch besides reality shows. i can't wait to watch episode 7 and 8.

a spotless home is a happy home

today just seemed to have escaped me. i'm in the middle of month 3. the time was homesickens stricks the hardest. i was in a funk all day for no apparent reason. i spent the morning watching my favorite korean soap opera "love's pinwheel". managed to throw a load of laundry in and then found myself in bed again. this time watching "braveheart". what in the hell was i thinking. thankfully my laundry ended and i forced myself to get up and turn off the awlful movie. i was only like 40 minutes into it. mel gibson sucks. my question is what was up with the mullet-esque hair styles. especially when he was younger. he had two rat tails on either side of his head and was wearing a burlap sack. i've seen better costumes at a high school play. i'm just glad i didn't watch the whole thing. the other night i watched the unaired pilot of "buffy the vampire slayer". it was pretty interesting. they had a completely different willow. this one was fat and couldn't act. its a good thing they booted that actress. it was definitely a trip seeing some of the things they changed from the pilot to the actual series. i definitely recommend any buffy fans to find this pilot and watch it. after breaking away from the bad mel gibson movie i threw myself into cleaning my apartment. i must say its amazing how messy one person can be. i guess it would help if i kept up on the cleanning but i don't. it looked like a small tornado came whirling through my pad. nevertheless after a couple hours of cleaning it is not spotless. lets see how long i can keep it this way. i give it one day. i really do hate cleanning. i should look into getting a maid. wouldn't that be something.

the tofu house

tonight jk and jane took us all out to dinner. it was such a nice gesture especially after a long week. we went to the tofu house which was an old-style korean resturant. the meal started off with two different types of tofu. one was a blend of white and grey tofu and the the other was a warm pudding-like tofu. both were very good. next we had some pork that tasted like it was cooked in brown sugar. that was followed by various types of side dishes: sweet potato noodles in seasame sauce [my favorite], some kind of cole slaw, various types of kimchee, potato pancakes, and radishes. next came three different types of soup: one white tofu soup [bege], a redish kimchee tofu soup, and soy bean soup. all of which were very tastey. it was a very low key dinner. which means no alcohol which was actually nice. just good conversation. its moments like these that make being here a the more better. although at one point they were laughing at my stomach. yes i know i don't have 6 pack abs but do you have to rub it in. surprisingly enough it didn't really bother me. it was all in good fun. they were actually laughing at the fact that i looked completely full which i did. it was pretty great evening. i'm really lucky to have landed a job with such caring people.

on a different note i got business cards today. i'm still in shock that i actually have korean business. its pretty cool. one side english one side korean. unlike my previous job where we had to constanstly ask for cards they just made them for us. no fuse about money, no complaining about, they just did it. now thats the way a company should be. perhaps "they who i won't mention" should take a few pointers from them. now its time to retire to the old bedroom in the sky. this boy is tired.

strange occurrence #33

the other day i was chatting with d via yahoo messenger before heading off to school. i was downstairs sitting at my little table where my laptop is. i had music playing through itunes. bascially my typical morning. while chatting with d i suddenly heard some korean guys voice. the sound was coming from my apartment. to be more specific it sounded like the was the person was upstairs. they've be doing some construction or something upstairs so i thought that maybe they had accidentally busted through the wall. then i realized i hadn't heard any commotion so that couldn't be it. thats when i came up with the idea that the tv turned it self on. as i climbed the stairs the voice got louder and louder. when i reached the top i noticed that the tv was still off. i started to look around the room. as i looked up at the ceiling i noticed a litte yellow speaker thing. upon closer inspection i realized that the voice was coming out of that. yes people, i had some voice like a morning announcement at school talking to me through the ceiling. my phone starting ringing. it was horace. i started laughing before i answered it because i immediately knew why he was calling. he heard the voice too. of course the two of us are coming up with all these different scenarios for what he was saying, the main one being that everyone needs to evacuate the building. it was kind of creepy having this random voice come out of nowhere. i've never heard of nor lived anywhere that had such a thing. apparently all of the apartments must have them. of course there was no evacuation. i realized if there was we would have heard people running through the halls. at school we told jk about the incidient. he said they were probably making an announcement about some function or something happening in the building. thats kind of a bizarre thing to do but then again we are in korean after all. still it was weird. and the fact the jk made it seem like such a common experience made it all the weirder. now it makes me wonder if there are little hidden cameras throughout the apartment. perhaps there is some crazy old korean guy in the basement watching and listening to everything we say or do. didn't this happen on melrose on time. someone was hiding in the ceiling spying on amanda. it makes you think huh. so far i haven't heard anything else come out of the speaker. hopefully that will be the last. and if its not maybe next time i'll be prepare but i doubt that.

the korean way

as i've mentioned numerous times the simplest task in korea is never that simple. case in point. a few weeks ago i need to get toothpaste. one would think that you could simply walk into the grocery store and pick of a tube. right. wrong. first you have to figure out which brand to get. none of them looked like menta dent or crest. all they all seemed to come in bundles of four or more. seeing that toothpaste can vary in flavor and effectiveness i didn't want to buy a bundle for fear that i might hate that particular brand. after searching for over twenty minutest i found one brand that was sold in singles. that brand happened to be 2080 where the slogan was "keep the 20 healthy teeth til 80 years old". now my question is what happens after 80. do they expect people to start dying off around then. or perhaps around 80 people start losing their teeth. i'm not quite sure. all i do know is that 2080 is not as good as crest. however, i'm stuck with it until the tube is done and hopefully the next time i venture out for toothpaste there will be more of a selection for single brands.

the toothpaste was just one incident. i ran into the same problem when purchasing toilet paper. i couldn't believe how expensive it was. most of the brands ran around $10 or more for like 6 rolls. do koreans not wipe their ass. if you go into the public restrooms one would think not. there are never any toilet paper rolls nor is there sopa or hot water. what's up with that. after searching up and down the toilet paper isle i finally found a brand that was ultra cheap and you got 20 rolls. the catch was that it's herb fresh scented. how nice is that? finally after three months of using this stuff i realized today while blowing my nose that the smell reminding me of my great-grandmother. you know how some people have certain smells. well my great-grandmother smelled like the herb fresh tp i bought. now whenever i get a good wiff of it i'm thrown but in time at my great-grandmothers apartment. its actually a nice feeling. my great-grandmother has been dead for some time now and i haven't really thought of her much in the past. now i think about her daily. of the time we'd go visit her or when she'd come to florida to visit and our dog would chew the buttons off her night gown. or if he could find them chew her slippers. its weird have things can trigger memories like that. i guess being so far away from home opens your mind to events long ago. i look forward to finding more things that unleash such memories while living here. its such a nice feeling.

dinosaurs + fossils

as i mentioned in an earlier blog, i'm once again in the dinosaur and fossil unit. yesterday after reading the same dinosaur story twice i started to think. if dinosaurs extisted before man and either: 1. the were slowly killed off by volcanoes constanstly erupting and destroying plant life 2. a meteorite crashed to the earth added iridium to the soil which helped to off the dinosaurs, or 3. a combination of both; wouldn't all life forms in the world have been completely destroyed too. and if so just how did man come to exist. are we to believe that a supreme being healed the earth and started life again. what if dinosaurs never really existed but are only great fable created by man. sure we have dinosaur bones in museums but couldn't they have been manufactured? i'm not saying that i really think dinosaurs didn't existed but questioning what if? wouldn't that be interesting. if these theories are true and the atmosphere of the earth was changed in such a way the it was killing off species then how could anyone have live here. perhaps i should do some more reading. i don't really remember much from early education and i'm not the smartest when it comes to history. i probably should have paid attention more in school. its been a long time since i've even thought about any of this or even really cared for that matter. now that i'm in a school environment reading all these things i'm starting to think more about everything. perhaps teaching wasn't such a bad thing. afterall it is getting me interested in history and other things i brushed off before. go figure.

fahrenhiet vs. celsius

have i mentioned how cold it is here. in some areas it reached 0° celsius. it wouldn't surprise me if it snowed here at any time now. besides trying to figure out a new language i also have to contend with the converision from celsius to fahrenhiet. 34 years of nothing but fahrenhiet and now i'm in a nation of celsius. wouldn't it be great if the entire world could use the same measurement. actually if i'm not mistaken i think most of the world except america uses celsius. whenever i want to figure out want the temperature would be back home i now have to do math and use formulas. i knew i should have paid attention in science class. anyway i thought i'd share with you my friends the formula: Celsius = (Fahrenheit - 32) x 5/9; Fahrenheit = Celsius * 9/5 + 32. that's just too much math to remember. why oh why could we not just have one standard unit of measurement. is that too much to ask. perhaps i'll draft a note to our fine president and ask him this very question. i'm going to make it my mission to bring celsius to the states!! as if the temperature wasn't enough. they use the metric system here which means instead of being 5 feet 10 inches i'm 178 cm and my weight is not 165 lbs but 75 kg. i'd much rather say i'm 75kg than 165lbs. again why not have a standard world wide. these are the things that have filling my mind lately. my whole way of thinking about things and their relationship to one another is completely getting turned around. its as if i'm learning them all for the first time. which in a way is actually kind of fun. i can't wait to return to the u.s. and give the dmv my height and weight using the metric system. won't that just piss them off.

the bitter cold has made me think of my favorite christmas cartoon "the year without a santa claus" so i feel its only fitting to end with the snow miser's song. enjoy!

[Snow Miser]

I'm Mister White Christmas
I'm Mister Snow
I'm Mister Icicle
I'm Mister Ten Below
Friends call me Snow Miser,
What ever I touch
Turns to snow in my clutch
I'm too much!


[Chorus]

He's Mister White Christmas
He's Mister Snow


[Snow Miser]

That's right!


[Chorus]

He's Mister Icicle
He's Mister Ten Below


[Snow Miser]

Friends call me Snow Miser,
What ever I touch
Turns to snow in my clutch


[Chorus]

He's too much!


[Snow Miser]

I never want to see a day
That's over forty degrees
I'd rather have it thirty,
Twenty, ten, five and let it freeeeEEEEEEeeze!


[Chorus]

He's Mister White Christmas
He's Mister Snow


[Snow Miser]

That's right!


[Chorus]

He's Mister Icicle
He's Mister Ten Below


[Snow Miser]

Friends call me Snow Miser,
What ever I touch
Turns to snow in my clutch
... too much.


[Everybody]

Too Much!

new day rising…

the heaviness that once comsumed my body has finally seemed to have left. all that remains is a bit of a sore throat. its a good thing i brought some meds with me. that plus the ginger honey tea i've been drinking like crazy. at carrefour i bought some ricola, which oddly enough they keep in the candy isle. go figure. i felt a little adventurous today and decided to make some homemade chicken soup with rice cakes. it was actually quite tastey if i do say so myself. its amazing what one can do with only a pot. now i have lunch for tomorrow. most of the end was spent finishing up with my christmas stuff that has been littering my floor for weeks. my apartment is actually starting to look normal again. i did a lot of tv watching this weekend. i'm halfway through season two of buffy, caught two episodes of "love's pinwheel", charlie's angels the movie, and the korean music video awards. i must say watching the kmv's was quite satisfing even if i could understand a word. i did manage to catch my favorite korean pop band perform their hit "tri-angle" with boa and my favorite korean rock band the trax. so good. if only my describing it could do it justice but it can't so i won't. everyone on the show was quite fashionable. my favorite by far was the korean guy with dreds. so now here i sit and type on sunday night. no 60 minutes to warn me of my approaching bedtime and the dawning of school. remember those days. i used to cringe when i heard the 60 minutes theme. its funny how some things just stay with you.

friday + saturday

last night [friday] i was completely wipe-out. have you ever felt like there were all these tiny wieghts attached to your body weighing you down? thats how i felt friday night. when i got home from school i just couldn't get warm and my body ached all over. i went into bed to rest before tae kwon do. around 8:30 pm i called master shin to let him know i wouldn't be there. i couldn't get out of bed. it looks as if i'll be spending this weekend in bed. i have managed to take a shower but i still feel exhasted. its a good thing that its a rainy saturday. a perfect day for bed and movies.

it seems that the drama with sammy has yet to end. even though she's no longer at the school she's still managing to cause problems. the latest is that she called the parents of two of our students. to make a long story short she told the mothers that students were leaving because she left and that the foreign teachers [horace and i] were complaining about teaching. i had a long talk with jk and reminded him who was the one that refused to teach in the morning…sammy. he kept saying how he felt bad and i tried to tell him that unfortunately in life you are going to run into people like this. the worst part is that sammy was so helpful to us and now here she is creating all these problems. i really just want to bury my head in the sand. i'm so tired of working in places with high drama. when will the madness end? when?

survivor

at school today i discovered little video snipets of "survivor". which meant during our breaks horace and i were glued to the the computer watching all 11 of them. now that was a productive day. i just couldn't pull myself away from the them. i'm beginning to feel the onset of a cold coming. not fun. i had all this stuff i wanted to do tonight, like wrap the rest of my christmas presents, but instead i think i'm going to curl up in my bed and watch tv. that sounds like more fun anyway. we started putting up christmas decorations. its starting to look all festive in school. i can't believe its december all ready. time seems to be going by much faster these days. i was trying to explain fossils, petrified, and preserved to my students today. talk about a challenge. finally after 30 minutes i think they started to get the hang of it. who really knows. this is my least favorite part of the book. that's really all i got to say tonight. i'm going to head off to bed now.

and a new era begins…

today was the start of a new beginning at ils with the new teachers. it was kind of strange not seeing sammy's smiley face when we walked through the doors. "the devil" child refused to go to horace's class so jk taught her for two classes. her last day will be december 21. jk told her mom that he thinks she needs a break. supposedely at her last institute she cried every day with the foreign teacher that she said. its apparent that her problem runs deep and there is not much we can do for her. her mother seemed very understanding about it. she'll probably return in march 2005 or even perhaps next january 2006. i couldn't really understand what jk was telling me. i just nodding that i understood. my classes are going well. the 3 boys are behaving a little better these days. i make them line up at the end of every class before leaving. i've become quite militant in that class. with all these classes i'm finding less and less time to prepare. and when i do have a break i'm drawn into the newspaper. although i'm getting a little tired of reading about nuke talks with north korea, the college test scandal, and iran. unfortunatley now that mr. bush is back in office i'm sure that news will continue forever. i did read something with the officials in north korea called bush and "ignoramus". you gotta love that.

we learned combo fake punches and kicks today in tae kwon do. that was fun. i was partnered up with dr. no until his glasses fell off and broke. then i got stuck with master shin. after practicing various combos we moved onto sparring. of course i got stuck with master shin. he was kicking my ass up and down the mat. i did manage to get a few good jabs and kicks in that made me feel good.

its been cold here lately. i find myself drinking more tea than i've ever have in my life. the best is this ginger honey tea that comes in a jar. it has chunks of ginger in it and is quite thick. a scoop of that in a cup mixed with water…so good. i'm definitely going to bring some of that home with me. its one of the best things i've discovered so far. i had strawberry milk today too. i'm such a child it kills me.