deery-lou.
here it is day 6 of my vacation...and i've done absolutely nothing which feels great. most of the time when i come home to visit i feel like i have to be on the go nonstop. not so this time. my vacation started out last saturday, july 23 at 6am korean time. after a taxi ride, bus ride, 3 planes, and 7 hours of airport terminal waiting i arrived in miami at 10:35 pm. i had been up for a record 30 hours. i couldn't sleep much on the plane no matter how hard i tired. i kept being tempted by all the bad movies that were being shown. here's what i saw: sahara [boring], man of the house [kind of amusing in a bad way], ice princess [don't ask], and some stupid show where they switch lives for a day. on that show melissa rivers switched with some surf bum. why do i watch this crap? i know going into it they're not going to be any good but that doesn't stop me. i also got in a few rounds of solitaire and tried some other games. although i will confess it took me 20 minutes to figure out the controls. overall the flight was pretty uneventful. i thought being back in the states would feel strange but it really doesn't. it pretty much feels like i've never left. the only thing is that now when i'm out i can understand what people are saying. i think i like it better the other way. some people can be so damn obnoxious. on sunday morning i spent some time with my sister's family before heading off to orlando. davis, my nephew, wanted to watch me do everything from pea to shaving to showering. he'd come into my room point at everything and ask "what's that". at one point i had davis and paige listening to my "let's learn korean" tape. it was so cute watching them try to pronounce the words. they might actually learn it before me. both paige and davis are absolutely adorable. [footnote: davis is here now helping me type. he keeps saying "i messed it up again" as he hits random keys]. and baby morgan is the cutest ever. the drive to orlando was three long hours. trying to find a decent radio station was quite a challenge. the next two and half days was spent with my parents and grandma. my parents looked good, especially my dad. it was good to see that he didn't let his surgery get the best of him. my grandmother on the other hand looked old. she definitely not the same woman who's house i'd stop at on the way home from school. unfortunately thats life. at least she seemed in good spirits. my visit with my folks was good. we didn't really do much but hang at home but that was fine with me. mom and i did manage a target a run. we tend to do that every time i'm in town. it was a fun little outing and mom even bought me a t-shirt. how sweet is that. i even managed to see a few of my friends while i was in town. tracy, karen, hillary, and i all went out monday night for some beers. then on tuesday we were joined by teri. it felt like i was back in high school or something. it was really great seeing all of them. i had a great time. before leaving to go back to my sister's on wednesday i had the BIG talk with my parents. i wanted to do it on the first day but couldn't quite get the courage. on wednesday i felt it was now or another year from now and i felt that it was about time that knew. i always had a feeling that they knew but i still felt like i had to tell them myself. it was quite emotional as i started to tell them. i actually even started to cry when my dad hugged me. i didn't realize how hard it would be to get the words out. deep down i knew that nothing would change but one still can't help to think that they might be disappointed or look at you differently. my dad and i stood there for awhile just hugging. i was more scared of his reactions then my moms. i knew my mom would be fine. my dad was the wildcard. he told me that he loves me no matter what. it was good to hear. i gave my mom a hug and then we all walked outside. i hugged them both goodbye and then drove off. it felt like a great weight was lifted off my shoulders. the "coming out" and seeing the house at 386 new waterford place for the last time was like finishing a chapter of a book. there were a few times when i brought out and started crying as i drove donw the florida turnpike. but it was good cry because i finally feel like i can now be me. here's looking ahead to a new and exciting future. i can't wait to see what lies ahead.
be well...
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
news flash!
deery-lou.
apparently the slightly bigger apartments on the second floor are no longer available. curious. that leaves only one smaller one open and the entire third floor. after weighing all the pros and cons i decided to go with the bigger one on the third floor. hopefully i won't regret this choice. but space is space and as need as much as i can get. plus i had a better vibe from the bigger apartments. i'll make it work. i just work answer my door…EVER!!! also our moving date has moved from friday to thursday morning. its power cleaning time. oh yeah!!!
moving count down: 2 days
be well…
apparently the slightly bigger apartments on the second floor are no longer available. curious. that leaves only one smaller one open and the entire third floor. after weighing all the pros and cons i decided to go with the bigger one on the third floor. hopefully i won't regret this choice. but space is space and as need as much as i can get. plus i had a better vibe from the bigger apartments. i'll make it work. i just work answer my door…EVER!!! also our moving date has moved from friday to thursday morning. its power cleaning time. oh yeah!!!
moving count down: 2 days
be well…
Sunday, July 17, 2005
i've seen the future…
deery-lou.
and its very small with a yellow floor that looks like wallpaper. its my new mini-apartment. the korean fantasy lifestyle is coming to a close. i'll soon be living like most other teachers in on big room. on saturday jk took us to see this lovely new abode. can we say almost on the other side of town. instead of being 5 minutes away from school i'm now 30 mins away. to top it all off i've lost my separte shower space. my new shower is basically the entire bathroom. the shower nozzle is above the bathroom sink. its definitely going to be interesting. gone is all the neon building. its almost like i'm going to me in a little neighborhood of sorts. i'm definitely trying to be optimistic about the whole thing. on the bright side i believe i'm getting an apartment on the second floor. at least i won't be living right next door to my boss. i spent all day sunday packing. its amazing how much crap i accumulated over this past year. and i'm kind of worried about how i'm going to fit it all. i can't believe i'll be heading to florida on saturday. its crazy. i'm still not sure whats up with my return flight. at this point i think i have a seat leaving miami on july 30 arriving in japan on the 31st but no flight to korea. it would have been much easier for them to say "take an extra day". but no. my apartment now looks like carrefour throw up in it seeing that most of my stuff is packed into carrefour shopping bags. my taekwondo schedule is changing slightly for august. since its summer vacation time they have a different schedule. unfortunately i'm not able to make any of the classes since my schedules changes in august too. so now i have to meet my master on saturdays from 2-3 until the end of august for one on one training. i definitely think i'm improving somewhat. still working on the kicks though. most of this week is going to be spent cleaning my now bare apartment. on good thing is that i'm already packed for my trip so at least i don't have to worry about that. little does my sister know but most of the stuff i'm bringing with me is going to stay in florida. hee hee. thats what family is for though…storing things.
be well…
and its very small with a yellow floor that looks like wallpaper. its my new mini-apartment. the korean fantasy lifestyle is coming to a close. i'll soon be living like most other teachers in on big room. on saturday jk took us to see this lovely new abode. can we say almost on the other side of town. instead of being 5 minutes away from school i'm now 30 mins away. to top it all off i've lost my separte shower space. my new shower is basically the entire bathroom. the shower nozzle is above the bathroom sink. its definitely going to be interesting. gone is all the neon building. its almost like i'm going to me in a little neighborhood of sorts. i'm definitely trying to be optimistic about the whole thing. on the bright side i believe i'm getting an apartment on the second floor. at least i won't be living right next door to my boss. i spent all day sunday packing. its amazing how much crap i accumulated over this past year. and i'm kind of worried about how i'm going to fit it all. i can't believe i'll be heading to florida on saturday. its crazy. i'm still not sure whats up with my return flight. at this point i think i have a seat leaving miami on july 30 arriving in japan on the 31st but no flight to korea. it would have been much easier for them to say "take an extra day". but no. my apartment now looks like carrefour throw up in it seeing that most of my stuff is packed into carrefour shopping bags. my taekwondo schedule is changing slightly for august. since its summer vacation time they have a different schedule. unfortunately i'm not able to make any of the classes since my schedules changes in august too. so now i have to meet my master on saturdays from 2-3 until the end of august for one on one training. i definitely think i'm improving somewhat. still working on the kicks though. most of this week is going to be spent cleaning my now bare apartment. on good thing is that i'm already packed for my trip so at least i don't have to worry about that. little does my sister know but most of the stuff i'm bringing with me is going to stay in florida. hee hee. thats what family is for though…storing things.
be well…
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
ugh! i have to move
deery-lou.
yes its true. i must leave my lovely office-tel that i've come to know and love and called home for the last year. why you ask? i think its too expensive for my school plus my boss keeps saying the management is terrible. the new apartment is going to be a lot smaller and on the other side of ansan. goodbye carrefour, goodbye! how will i cope being so far from my favorite shopping spot. moving was the last thing i wanted to do especially before my vacation. now according to "kl" i'll be moving july 22 the day before i leave for miami. which means i have to move in the morning so i can be at school by 1pm. at least i should be thankful that i don't have a lot of crap to move. to make matters even worse my boss and christine are both moving into the same apartments building and all of our apartments are next to each other. hi lack of privacy. i'm not sure why this bothers me so much but it does. i don't care if we are all in the same building but neighbors. come on! i have to seen them all day do i really want to be living right next door. NO!! my biggest fear is that they are going to what to hang out all the time. it kind of feels like i'm moving into a dorm. i'm going to ask jk if its possible to get an apartment on a different floor. i want to feel like i have a "safe" place to go. kind of like i'm away from the others.
not sure if i mentioned this or not but i'm heading to miami/fort lauderdale for my vacation to visit family. its going to be a short 6 days but i'm definitely looking forward to it. i didn't even get to say goodbye to my family in person before leaving for korea so it will be nice to see them. and i'm excited to see my new niece morgan. i've only seen photos of her so far. its definitely going to be strange stepping foot in the u.s. my parents are also moving to arkansas so this is always like my final farewell to orlando and my home. i'm going to try to see some friends in o-town while i'm there which will be good. its so strange to think that i won't be going to o-town anymore for the holidays. i always just figured my parents would be there forever. guess i was wrong. at least when i'm in fort lauderdale in the future its semi-close to o-town so i can make a trip to visit friends. i still have a couple of great friends there who i enjoy seeing when i'm in town. anyway…so i'll be on u.s. soil from july 23 to july 30/31. i'm still not sure when i'm leaving since i screwed up my return flight. i was suppose to fly back on july 30 but instead i booked it for july 31. oops. that means i wouldn't get back to korea until aug 1 and miss all my classes. another oops! we're trying to get them to change the dates but so far no luck. not like i really care cuz i'd love to have that extra day. i was going to try to get to sf while i'm in the u.s. but it didn't work out. not enough unfortunately which is probably for the best. i'm sure if i went back to sf i wouldn't want to leave again. i have a sinking feeling that year 2 in korea is going to be a bit more difficult than year 1.
be well…
yes its true. i must leave my lovely office-tel that i've come to know and love and called home for the last year. why you ask? i think its too expensive for my school plus my boss keeps saying the management is terrible. the new apartment is going to be a lot smaller and on the other side of ansan. goodbye carrefour, goodbye! how will i cope being so far from my favorite shopping spot. moving was the last thing i wanted to do especially before my vacation. now according to "kl" i'll be moving july 22 the day before i leave for miami. which means i have to move in the morning so i can be at school by 1pm. at least i should be thankful that i don't have a lot of crap to move. to make matters even worse my boss and christine are both moving into the same apartments building and all of our apartments are next to each other. hi lack of privacy. i'm not sure why this bothers me so much but it does. i don't care if we are all in the same building but neighbors. come on! i have to seen them all day do i really want to be living right next door. NO!! my biggest fear is that they are going to what to hang out all the time. it kind of feels like i'm moving into a dorm. i'm going to ask jk if its possible to get an apartment on a different floor. i want to feel like i have a "safe" place to go. kind of like i'm away from the others.
not sure if i mentioned this or not but i'm heading to miami/fort lauderdale for my vacation to visit family. its going to be a short 6 days but i'm definitely looking forward to it. i didn't even get to say goodbye to my family in person before leaving for korea so it will be nice to see them. and i'm excited to see my new niece morgan. i've only seen photos of her so far. its definitely going to be strange stepping foot in the u.s. my parents are also moving to arkansas so this is always like my final farewell to orlando and my home. i'm going to try to see some friends in o-town while i'm there which will be good. its so strange to think that i won't be going to o-town anymore for the holidays. i always just figured my parents would be there forever. guess i was wrong. at least when i'm in fort lauderdale in the future its semi-close to o-town so i can make a trip to visit friends. i still have a couple of great friends there who i enjoy seeing when i'm in town. anyway…so i'll be on u.s. soil from july 23 to july 30/31. i'm still not sure when i'm leaving since i screwed up my return flight. i was suppose to fly back on july 30 but instead i booked it for july 31. oops. that means i wouldn't get back to korea until aug 1 and miss all my classes. another oops! we're trying to get them to change the dates but so far no luck. not like i really care cuz i'd love to have that extra day. i was going to try to get to sf while i'm in the u.s. but it didn't work out. not enough unfortunately which is probably for the best. i'm sure if i went back to sf i wouldn't want to leave again. i have a sinking feeling that year 2 in korea is going to be a bit more difficult than year 1.
be well…
Saturday, July 09, 2005
las vegaas a go-go
deery-lou.
where do i even begin? thursday night was our big school dinner where i thought we were going to talk about the "problems" that some people have been having. earlier in the day my boss told us that we were going to meet two surprise guests. whats that all about? i love how they throw things like this in at the last minute. "kl" never fails. after school horace, christine, and i met the others at my favorite bbq place. madame kalbi wasn't there which was too bad. i always love seeing her. anyway we found the others and joined them. i was so hungry that it felt like the meat was taking forever to cook. once we were seated jk wanted to tell us about the mystery guests. what it comes down to is this. jk's wife doesn't want the school anymore and he was thinking about selling it. instead he found two investors. his best friend and that guy's friend. so as of friday jk signed papers turning the school over to himself. jane is no longer part owner of the school. and now we have two investors who are going to be hands off. their initial investment is just for a year and after that who knows what is going to happen. jk seems happy about this new situation. i could tell he didn't want to give up the school. hopefully things will work out. for now it looks like things are going back on schedule. jk also told me that night that he got divorced. this was something that i suspected but didn't really know for sure. now i do. shortly there after the two guys showed up and we were all introduced. they spoke a little english which was good. once they arrived the soju bottles started coming full force. i did good at first nursing the soju but shortly it turned into doing shot after shot with these two guys. jk's best friend, mr. kim, wanted to go disco dancing. so off we went to find a club. so much for a quiet thursday night. we ended up at las vegas club where mr. kim was a vip. this club was similar to that of the kiss club i went to awhile ago. a bunch of tables, a stage for performers and djs, and dancing go-go girls. this had disaster written all over. we settled into a table that was right in front of the go-go dancer. within a matter of minutes there was a fruit plate, bottles of beer, and whiskey on our table. it didn't take long until we were doing shots of whiskey. someone help me! i don't even like whiskey but there was doing shot after shot and chasing it strawberry milk. don't ask. it seemed odd to me too but hey i'm in korea so why not. mr. kim and his friend are uber friendly. kind of like octopuses since there hands were all over us. i think he patted my ass at least 4 times. drag me out on the dance floor 3 times where he proceded to dance with me. yet another odd korean thing. these guys definitely like to have a good time. at one point the woman who was serving us brought over two girls. was i being set up? i really wasn't sure. i quickly made my way to the restroom and when i returned the girls were gone. our new investors were both amazed at my age saying i looked so long. then they asked if i was married. now that they know i'm not they want me to get married. i tried to tell them that none of my friends at home were married but that wasn't good enough for them. then mr. kim told me that he wanted to go hiking and camping next time. ok. that was all i could really say. the bands that played were pretty awful but i made the best of it. the drinks kept coming and coming too. good thing dancing was involved because i think i danced off a good majority of the drink. at one point everyone was gone except for me, young, christine, anna, and jean. horace went home and jk and his two friends were last seen walking outside. what we found out the next day was that they went outside to talk and ended up getting into a fight we some people outside. that's why they didn't come back. mr. kim's friend got hit so they went home. sometime during the evening christine and anna were talking to me about school or something but i couldn't really understand what they were saying. hopefully it wasn't too important. we continued to drink more. both anna and young left so it was just the three of us. shots of whiskey still being consumed. at one point i started to pour my shots into an empty glass when they weren't looking. there was no way i was drinking more. by this time both girls were passing out on the couch. workers from the bar kept coming over to us. jean disappeared into the restroom. and christine laid there passed out. one of the bar workers was trying to get me to take her to a hotel room. we really didn't understand one another and he brought over some customer who tried to play interpretor. talk about chaos. eventually jean returned and we managed to get christine up. it was time to leave. i made sure that they both got into a cab and then i headed home. it was 4am by the time i reached my apartment.
needless to say friday was a very long day. i was exhausted all day long and i also had taekwondo to attend that night. jk told us that his two friends had a great time and that they want to do this at least twice a month. i just stared at him. i don't know if i can handle another night like this. and if so we should do it on a friday night instead. i barely made it through tkd and when i got home i went immediately to bed. so now its almost 6pm on saturday and i've done absolutely nothing. its actually been raining today so i don't really feel like i wasted my day. anyway thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
be well…
where do i even begin? thursday night was our big school dinner where i thought we were going to talk about the "problems" that some people have been having. earlier in the day my boss told us that we were going to meet two surprise guests. whats that all about? i love how they throw things like this in at the last minute. "kl" never fails. after school horace, christine, and i met the others at my favorite bbq place. madame kalbi wasn't there which was too bad. i always love seeing her. anyway we found the others and joined them. i was so hungry that it felt like the meat was taking forever to cook. once we were seated jk wanted to tell us about the mystery guests. what it comes down to is this. jk's wife doesn't want the school anymore and he was thinking about selling it. instead he found two investors. his best friend and that guy's friend. so as of friday jk signed papers turning the school over to himself. jane is no longer part owner of the school. and now we have two investors who are going to be hands off. their initial investment is just for a year and after that who knows what is going to happen. jk seems happy about this new situation. i could tell he didn't want to give up the school. hopefully things will work out. for now it looks like things are going back on schedule. jk also told me that night that he got divorced. this was something that i suspected but didn't really know for sure. now i do. shortly there after the two guys showed up and we were all introduced. they spoke a little english which was good. once they arrived the soju bottles started coming full force. i did good at first nursing the soju but shortly it turned into doing shot after shot with these two guys. jk's best friend, mr. kim, wanted to go disco dancing. so off we went to find a club. so much for a quiet thursday night. we ended up at las vegas club where mr. kim was a vip. this club was similar to that of the kiss club i went to awhile ago. a bunch of tables, a stage for performers and djs, and dancing go-go girls. this had disaster written all over. we settled into a table that was right in front of the go-go dancer. within a matter of minutes there was a fruit plate, bottles of beer, and whiskey on our table. it didn't take long until we were doing shots of whiskey. someone help me! i don't even like whiskey but there was doing shot after shot and chasing it strawberry milk. don't ask. it seemed odd to me too but hey i'm in korea so why not. mr. kim and his friend are uber friendly. kind of like octopuses since there hands were all over us. i think he patted my ass at least 4 times. drag me out on the dance floor 3 times where he proceded to dance with me. yet another odd korean thing. these guys definitely like to have a good time. at one point the woman who was serving us brought over two girls. was i being set up? i really wasn't sure. i quickly made my way to the restroom and when i returned the girls were gone. our new investors were both amazed at my age saying i looked so long. then they asked if i was married. now that they know i'm not they want me to get married. i tried to tell them that none of my friends at home were married but that wasn't good enough for them. then mr. kim told me that he wanted to go hiking and camping next time. ok. that was all i could really say. the bands that played were pretty awful but i made the best of it. the drinks kept coming and coming too. good thing dancing was involved because i think i danced off a good majority of the drink. at one point everyone was gone except for me, young, christine, anna, and jean. horace went home and jk and his two friends were last seen walking outside. what we found out the next day was that they went outside to talk and ended up getting into a fight we some people outside. that's why they didn't come back. mr. kim's friend got hit so they went home. sometime during the evening christine and anna were talking to me about school or something but i couldn't really understand what they were saying. hopefully it wasn't too important. we continued to drink more. both anna and young left so it was just the three of us. shots of whiskey still being consumed. at one point i started to pour my shots into an empty glass when they weren't looking. there was no way i was drinking more. by this time both girls were passing out on the couch. workers from the bar kept coming over to us. jean disappeared into the restroom. and christine laid there passed out. one of the bar workers was trying to get me to take her to a hotel room. we really didn't understand one another and he brought over some customer who tried to play interpretor. talk about chaos. eventually jean returned and we managed to get christine up. it was time to leave. i made sure that they both got into a cab and then i headed home. it was 4am by the time i reached my apartment.
needless to say friday was a very long day. i was exhausted all day long and i also had taekwondo to attend that night. jk told us that his two friends had a great time and that they want to do this at least twice a month. i just stared at him. i don't know if i can handle another night like this. and if so we should do it on a friday night instead. i barely made it through tkd and when i got home i went immediately to bed. so now its almost 6pm on saturday and i've done absolutely nothing. its actually been raining today so i don't really feel like i wasted my day. anyway thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
be well…
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
summer of…tvs?
deery-lou.
picture if you will your average city neighborhood conveince store. image that in front of every 7-11, white hen, 24-7, handy way, wawa, etc. there are plastic chairs and a table with an umbrella. places for you to sit an savor whatever beverage you so desire and perhaps have a smoke or tv. now picture as you look at the store window there's a giant flat screen tv for you too watch. thats what summer is like here. however, the tvs don't stop at the conveince stores. the electronic shops and others all have tvs for you to view as you are walking by. this country is definitely focused on one thing…televisions. the other morning on my way to carrefour there were two men sitting as such a table having rice drinks. when i walked by one of them said hello. then asked me to join them for a drink. unfortunately i didn't have much time since i had to run to the store and then get ready for work. so i had to politely decline. summer…brings us the friendliness is one and all. that that same day as i'm in the elevator on my way to taekwondo a man got on at the 5th floor. he said hi and asked where i was from. we had a lite conversation. he handed me a magnet for the dry cleaners he works at. as we were exiting the building he asked my name. he then pulled out his "name card" told me his name was sun and to call him. hello random. thats what my days have been like lately. filled with random folks wanting to chat.
i'm sure you are all wondering "how did i do on my test?" well, i don't know. my kwanjangnim hasn't said anything about it. this week the kids in my class are all at camp so its just been me and the two sabomnims. the one that wanted me to teach him english is no longer at my school. we now have a new girl sabomnim who started this week. i realized tonight that i need to work on my kicking. i can't seem to get as high as they want me too. "practice makes perfect", thats what my kwanjangnim said tonight. as of today the magic straight look is now gone for good. i couldn't handle it anymore. or actually should i said i really didn't know what to do with it. no matter how much product went into my hair it always managed to just go limp. i guess i'm just not meant to have straight hair. plus as the guy who cut my hair today said, "magic straight has no volume." he did tell me that i was handsome and that i also had a handsome head which worked well with short hair. i'm now sporting a psuedo-ethan cut with a korean military twist. everyone from the teachers at school to my kwanjangnim remarked on my new military cut. they just don't like change here. most of my students screamed and freaked out. one said i looked like a monster, another called me gorilla ethan, and one said i looked like brad pitt. their answers are all so random it kills me. thursday night i have to miss taekwondo to go to a school dinner meeting. we have to discuss some ill well that has been floating around. luckily it doesn't really concern me but i still have to attend. should be interesting. hopefully there will be lots of soju to consume. i think i might need a bottle or two.
there's a need to celebrate too! after two plus years i have finally finished house of leaves. I KNOW!…i can't believe i've actually finished that book. it has haunted me for so long now that i didn't think i'd ever be done with it. although i must confess i really have no idea what really happened in that book. i'm still like…uh what? i even went to the website to read some of the discussion boards but it was all too much. books that make me think hurt my brain. i think i'll stay with the likes of the hardy boys instead. thats more my speed. actually i would love to take about house of leaves so if any of you out there have read it send me your thoughts. i'm sure theres a lot more to the book but i don't feel like reading the vast amount of posts about it. i've now moved onto the kelly slater autobiography. its not the best written book i've ever read but its still somewhat interesting. especially considering a surfer from florida was a six time world champion. plus he was on baywatch and dated pam anderson. it also seems to fit in with my favorite movie blue crush but in written form. i loved that movie. since i mentioned pam i must say did anyone else watch stacked. i must say i kind of liked it. it was no v.i.p but i sure do enjoy watching pam on tv. there's just something about her. now if they'd only release v.i.p on dvd. here's to wishful thinking. i hope everyone had a great 4th of july.
be well…
picture if you will your average city neighborhood conveince store. image that in front of every 7-11, white hen, 24-7, handy way, wawa, etc. there are plastic chairs and a table with an umbrella. places for you to sit an savor whatever beverage you so desire and perhaps have a smoke or tv. now picture as you look at the store window there's a giant flat screen tv for you too watch. thats what summer is like here. however, the tvs don't stop at the conveince stores. the electronic shops and others all have tvs for you to view as you are walking by. this country is definitely focused on one thing…televisions. the other morning on my way to carrefour there were two men sitting as such a table having rice drinks. when i walked by one of them said hello. then asked me to join them for a drink. unfortunately i didn't have much time since i had to run to the store and then get ready for work. so i had to politely decline. summer…brings us the friendliness is one and all. that that same day as i'm in the elevator on my way to taekwondo a man got on at the 5th floor. he said hi and asked where i was from. we had a lite conversation. he handed me a magnet for the dry cleaners he works at. as we were exiting the building he asked my name. he then pulled out his "name card" told me his name was sun and to call him. hello random. thats what my days have been like lately. filled with random folks wanting to chat.
i'm sure you are all wondering "how did i do on my test?" well, i don't know. my kwanjangnim hasn't said anything about it. this week the kids in my class are all at camp so its just been me and the two sabomnims. the one that wanted me to teach him english is no longer at my school. we now have a new girl sabomnim who started this week. i realized tonight that i need to work on my kicking. i can't seem to get as high as they want me too. "practice makes perfect", thats what my kwanjangnim said tonight. as of today the magic straight look is now gone for good. i couldn't handle it anymore. or actually should i said i really didn't know what to do with it. no matter how much product went into my hair it always managed to just go limp. i guess i'm just not meant to have straight hair. plus as the guy who cut my hair today said, "magic straight has no volume." he did tell me that i was handsome and that i also had a handsome head which worked well with short hair. i'm now sporting a psuedo-ethan cut with a korean military twist. everyone from the teachers at school to my kwanjangnim remarked on my new military cut. they just don't like change here. most of my students screamed and freaked out. one said i looked like a monster, another called me gorilla ethan, and one said i looked like brad pitt. their answers are all so random it kills me. thursday night i have to miss taekwondo to go to a school dinner meeting. we have to discuss some ill well that has been floating around. luckily it doesn't really concern me but i still have to attend. should be interesting. hopefully there will be lots of soju to consume. i think i might need a bottle or two.
there's a need to celebrate too! after two plus years i have finally finished house of leaves. I KNOW!…i can't believe i've actually finished that book. it has haunted me for so long now that i didn't think i'd ever be done with it. although i must confess i really have no idea what really happened in that book. i'm still like…uh what? i even went to the website to read some of the discussion boards but it was all too much. books that make me think hurt my brain. i think i'll stay with the likes of the hardy boys instead. thats more my speed. actually i would love to take about house of leaves so if any of you out there have read it send me your thoughts. i'm sure theres a lot more to the book but i don't feel like reading the vast amount of posts about it. i've now moved onto the kelly slater autobiography. its not the best written book i've ever read but its still somewhat interesting. especially considering a surfer from florida was a six time world champion. plus he was on baywatch and dated pam anderson. it also seems to fit in with my favorite movie blue crush but in written form. i loved that movie. since i mentioned pam i must say did anyone else watch stacked. i must say i kind of liked it. it was no v.i.p but i sure do enjoy watching pam on tv. there's just something about her. now if they'd only release v.i.p on dvd. here's to wishful thinking. i hope everyone had a great 4th of july.
be well…
Saturday, July 02, 2005
p.s.
deer-lou.
it's amazing how the simpliest action can make one happy. i went to carrefour to buy a big umbrella since the rainy season is upon us. as i entered one of my classmates from taekwondo was there. he came running up to me and said hello. i chatted with him for a bit, said hi to his mom and brother then went on my way. it made be feel good. the kids here are so great.
be well…
it's amazing how the simpliest action can make one happy. i went to carrefour to buy a big umbrella since the rainy season is upon us. as i entered one of my classmates from taekwondo was there. he came running up to me and said hello. i chatted with him for a bit, said hi to his mom and brother then went on my way. it made be feel good. the kids here are so great.
be well…
il, e, sam, sa, o
deery-lou.
i've been meaning write ever since tuesday but for some reason never quite did it. perhaps its the muggy heat that reminds me of my youth in florida. the days when one would step out of their house and immediately be drenched in sweat. the goodtimes are here. its probably a good thing that i didn't write because i was a little stressed out this week. at tuesday's taekwondo class my kwanjangnim told me that on saturday there would be a test to determine whether or not i'd be ready to take my black belt test in october. it seems kind of strange since its 3 months away but what do i know. the test saturday would consist of doing kicks and random poomse from 1-5. this meant i really needed to learn the names of these poomses. every since i can remember i've hated having to do things in front of people. speech class always freaked me out and this was no different. especially since my master's master and another man were going to be doing the judging. of course during the week i'm thinking up all of these reasons to stop doing taekwondo: i'm not motivated, i can't kick that high, etc. they're all basically crappy excuses. on thursday we had a practice test i messed up on poomse 3 which really made me mad since i do know it. sometimes i think i psych myself out to mess up. i left class that night feeling mad at myself. came home and made a soju cocktail but that didn't really seem to help too much. friday's class we practiced some more and did lots of kicking too. friday is when they told me we'd get to break boards too on saturday. fun.fun.fun. i kept imagining all the little kids around me breaking theirs while mine stays intact. friday night i met horace for some beer who needed to vent about school. this week they told us we had to plan out our teaching schedule two weeks in advanced. what sucks is that horace and i use to give the students weekly spelling tests. now they're taking the spelling tests away from us and having the korean teachers give it to them. we have to read these stupid decodable books. so things were a bit crazy there because had to come up with a completely new plan.
saturday morning i woke up at 7am. panic struck me. today was the day. i had to take my test in front of these grandmasters. am i going to have to do it myself? what if i mess up? all these questions kept popping up. it was driving me crazy. its amazing how worked up one can get. i watched a little bit of tv. that helped for awhile. tried reading too. i actually stayed in bed until noon. around 1pm i started to exercise and practice my poomses. calling them by the korean cardinal numbers [il, e, sam, sa, o]. nothing like cramming at the last minute. i had to be at school by 3pm. my kwanjangnim wanted me to watch the younger kids do there test. my test group wasn't scheduled until 5pm. the practice space was crammed with children waiting to take their test and parents watching. noone said there'd be parents! i sat in the corner with the students. with so many people in there it was hot, hot, hot. when the tow judges came in one looked really really mean. just like in the tv shows. the tested the kids in groups according to their level. as i sat there the kids around me kept asking me question after question. the main one being how old are you? whats your name. and of course throughout the testing they all kept staring. hey look at me i'm a circus freak!!! after the testing was done they came up in groups again to break the boards. it was actually a cute little ceremony. the kids would line up and then their mom or dad would stand in front of them. they'd hug. then the child would get down and bow. the child would then stand up the parent would grab the board and they'd get in position. the kwangjangnim would give the command and then the child would punch the board. followed by more hugging. all very cute. i should mention that there was one little girl there you had princess lea hair. she was sooo cute. especially watching her do her poomses. kids are great. when that was done we had to listen to the grandmaster give a speech. for me it was like 20 mins of listening to charlie brown's teacher talk. some awards were given and then the two grandmasters stepped out. thats when the kwangjangnim busted out the giant jump rope. it was now time for the parent/child jump roping contest. it was quite funny watching these moms and dads holding their childs hand and jump roping. everyone was getting into it. the whole event lasted 1 hour and 40 mins. and now it was time for my group.
so there i am sitting through this whole process for a second time. the opening exercises, the opening speech, etc. by this time i wasn't really nervous anymore. instead i was tired. i was part of the second group to test. there were three of us. we started off doing punches. the only problem with that was i had no idea what the other two kids were saying so i said nothing. then we did kicking. after that i had to do poomse 5 while the other two did a different number. i think i did all right. afterwards i had to sit while the other two did another poomse. when they were done my kwanjangnim told me to stand. then the mean judge looked at me and told me to sit down. apparently he wanted the two kids to do it again. when they were done for the second time he went off for about 10mins. i have no idea what he said. when he was finished we joined the rest of the kids against the wall. there two more groups after ours. one of the judges had to leave so we skipped the boards and jump rope for the time being. the mean judge who had to leave gave out the awards, said soemthing and then left. the other judge before leaving gave a 20 min. speech which we had to lsten to while standing. when he left the kids who had parents there got to break boards. the rest of us didn't. not fair. noone told me i had to have a parent there to participate in the breaking of boards. when that was done the jump rope was busted out again. our testing lasted under an hour. my the time i left i felt completely exhausted. thats what happens when you get yourself all worked up. looking back it really wasn't as bad as i thought. at least this will prepare me for when i eventually do go for my black belt. i still have no idea how i did. hopefully we'll find out on monday. the sabomnim shook my hand on the way out. not sure if that meant you did a good job or just being friendly. for dinner horace and i went to see madame kalbi [bbq lady] who we haven't seen in forever. as usual it was an awesome meal. she has the best and freshest sidedishes ever! it never fails that every time we are there she gives us something free. last night it was a bottle of coke and some cold noodle soup which was delicious. i so heart her.
its raining today. i spent my morning doing some cleaning. nothing too exciting. i'm going to meet my friend hyun sik later. this is definitely a weekend of no cooking at home. i love that. especailly since its so inexpensive to go out. that's it for now.
be well…
i've been meaning write ever since tuesday but for some reason never quite did it. perhaps its the muggy heat that reminds me of my youth in florida. the days when one would step out of their house and immediately be drenched in sweat. the goodtimes are here. its probably a good thing that i didn't write because i was a little stressed out this week. at tuesday's taekwondo class my kwanjangnim told me that on saturday there would be a test to determine whether or not i'd be ready to take my black belt test in october. it seems kind of strange since its 3 months away but what do i know. the test saturday would consist of doing kicks and random poomse from 1-5. this meant i really needed to learn the names of these poomses. every since i can remember i've hated having to do things in front of people. speech class always freaked me out and this was no different. especially since my master's master and another man were going to be doing the judging. of course during the week i'm thinking up all of these reasons to stop doing taekwondo: i'm not motivated, i can't kick that high, etc. they're all basically crappy excuses. on thursday we had a practice test i messed up on poomse 3 which really made me mad since i do know it. sometimes i think i psych myself out to mess up. i left class that night feeling mad at myself. came home and made a soju cocktail but that didn't really seem to help too much. friday's class we practiced some more and did lots of kicking too. friday is when they told me we'd get to break boards too on saturday. fun.fun.fun. i kept imagining all the little kids around me breaking theirs while mine stays intact. friday night i met horace for some beer who needed to vent about school. this week they told us we had to plan out our teaching schedule two weeks in advanced. what sucks is that horace and i use to give the students weekly spelling tests. now they're taking the spelling tests away from us and having the korean teachers give it to them. we have to read these stupid decodable books. so things were a bit crazy there because had to come up with a completely new plan.
saturday morning i woke up at 7am. panic struck me. today was the day. i had to take my test in front of these grandmasters. am i going to have to do it myself? what if i mess up? all these questions kept popping up. it was driving me crazy. its amazing how worked up one can get. i watched a little bit of tv. that helped for awhile. tried reading too. i actually stayed in bed until noon. around 1pm i started to exercise and practice my poomses. calling them by the korean cardinal numbers [il, e, sam, sa, o]. nothing like cramming at the last minute. i had to be at school by 3pm. my kwanjangnim wanted me to watch the younger kids do there test. my test group wasn't scheduled until 5pm. the practice space was crammed with children waiting to take their test and parents watching. noone said there'd be parents! i sat in the corner with the students. with so many people in there it was hot, hot, hot. when the tow judges came in one looked really really mean. just like in the tv shows. the tested the kids in groups according to their level. as i sat there the kids around me kept asking me question after question. the main one being how old are you? whats your name. and of course throughout the testing they all kept staring. hey look at me i'm a circus freak!!! after the testing was done they came up in groups again to break the boards. it was actually a cute little ceremony. the kids would line up and then their mom or dad would stand in front of them. they'd hug. then the child would get down and bow. the child would then stand up the parent would grab the board and they'd get in position. the kwangjangnim would give the command and then the child would punch the board. followed by more hugging. all very cute. i should mention that there was one little girl there you had princess lea hair. she was sooo cute. especially watching her do her poomses. kids are great. when that was done we had to listen to the grandmaster give a speech. for me it was like 20 mins of listening to charlie brown's teacher talk. some awards were given and then the two grandmasters stepped out. thats when the kwangjangnim busted out the giant jump rope. it was now time for the parent/child jump roping contest. it was quite funny watching these moms and dads holding their childs hand and jump roping. everyone was getting into it. the whole event lasted 1 hour and 40 mins. and now it was time for my group.
so there i am sitting through this whole process for a second time. the opening exercises, the opening speech, etc. by this time i wasn't really nervous anymore. instead i was tired. i was part of the second group to test. there were three of us. we started off doing punches. the only problem with that was i had no idea what the other two kids were saying so i said nothing. then we did kicking. after that i had to do poomse 5 while the other two did a different number. i think i did all right. afterwards i had to sit while the other two did another poomse. when they were done my kwanjangnim told me to stand. then the mean judge looked at me and told me to sit down. apparently he wanted the two kids to do it again. when they were done for the second time he went off for about 10mins. i have no idea what he said. when he was finished we joined the rest of the kids against the wall. there two more groups after ours. one of the judges had to leave so we skipped the boards and jump rope for the time being. the mean judge who had to leave gave out the awards, said soemthing and then left. the other judge before leaving gave a 20 min. speech which we had to lsten to while standing. when he left the kids who had parents there got to break boards. the rest of us didn't. not fair. noone told me i had to have a parent there to participate in the breaking of boards. when that was done the jump rope was busted out again. our testing lasted under an hour. my the time i left i felt completely exhausted. thats what happens when you get yourself all worked up. looking back it really wasn't as bad as i thought. at least this will prepare me for when i eventually do go for my black belt. i still have no idea how i did. hopefully we'll find out on monday. the sabomnim shook my hand on the way out. not sure if that meant you did a good job or just being friendly. for dinner horace and i went to see madame kalbi [bbq lady] who we haven't seen in forever. as usual it was an awesome meal. she has the best and freshest sidedishes ever! it never fails that every time we are there she gives us something free. last night it was a bottle of coke and some cold noodle soup which was delicious. i so heart her.
its raining today. i spent my morning doing some cleaning. nothing too exciting. i'm going to meet my friend hyun sik later. this is definitely a weekend of no cooking at home. i love that. especailly since its so inexpensive to go out. that's it for now.
be well…
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