60 percenta zen

deery-lou.
so this is my last post from korea. in a few hours i'll be heading to the airport on my way home. saying goodbye to the kids was much more emotional than i thought. it was hard to say goodbye to davis. he just stared at me. his eyes were all teary. i thought i was going to cry. sally did cry. she hung onto me for quite some time. i gave her my paper bag house which seemed to make her a little happier. i told her to think of me inside. i got cards and gifts from the kids. it was all very sweet. my last day was quite easy. we had a birthday party for paul. afterwards we took the children to the sunflower field. they had a great time running around. went out with all the teachers for dinner and drinks. it was a nice way to end my time here. the next time i post will be from san francisco.

photos from the birthday party here



stay gold & be well…

the heavens

deery-lou.
two days left. my students are clinging to me like saran wrap. they don't want me to go. if i think too much about it i get upset. there's a part of me that wants to stick around to watch them grow. its amazing how fast you can become attached. i've only been teaching them since march. but i feel closer to them then i did the kids at teh junior school. i'm definitely going to miss some of them. i know we aren't suppose to have our favorites but i do: davis, skye, andy, esther, joanna, & caleb. i keep telling davis i wantg to bring him back with me. wouldn't that be funny. i arrive at the airport with a child. hehe. we finished our paper bag house art project today. for those that have facebook you can see the picture there under the my art album. teaching the 6 years old art is always a challenge. they'd much rather play with all the supplies then actually make something. i had to yell at them a few times. andy's new passion this week is to suck on his fingers then he wipes it on his arms. not sure what that's all about but i keep telling him to stop. that boy is definitely in his own little world.

today's weather felt like being in san francisco. perhaps its a sign. on my way home i walked through the sunflower field that's across from our school. i noticed from our window that they had scarecrows and knew that i needed to see them up close and personal. as i was wondering through the fields some old ladies were sitting at a table. i heard them say "miguk" so i turned and said yes. then they proceeded to speak to me in korean. as usual i just smiled and continued on my way. some things never changes. here's a sample of what i encountered amongst the sunflowers:

sunflower&bees

the drunk

the movie star

well tomorrow is it. will have to say goodbye to all the kids. at least we will having a birthday party so the day should be pretty easy. then its off to dinner with the school. that should be interesting. my apartment is completely packed except for my computer and a few other random things. my suitcases weigh a ton. i'm hoping they'll pass the weight limit. these are the things keeping me up at night. hehe

check out the rest of the photos here

stay gold & be well…

all fired up

deery-lou.
four days left…

last week the kids made chocolate frozen bananas in their korean class. on monday someone had the bright idea to let them eat the bananas at snack time instead of having milk. it was 9:30 am. it took them my class the entire time to eat their bananas. we had 10 minutes of actual work time. there was chocolate all over the place. of course i took advantage of the time and took pictures of them.

trying to eat banana

stuffing it all in

sad banana face

we've also had a cootie outbreak this week. two students have shown up with lice. the koreans act as if its no big deal. meanwhile i'm telling the all the kids to stay clear of me. i ask them if they have the cooties. the all say no. but in truth they have no idea what i'm saying. thats the beauty of it all. the last thing i want to catch is cooties before i leave. our cootie victims both showed up at school on tuesday. i couldn't believe it. i spent the whole day feeling itchy and avoiding the two of them. i would not be surprised if we had an outbreak. especially since the use the same comb on all the kids. ummm hello. cootie breeding ground!!!

my weekend was spent in hongdae hanging out with chen, arleen, and ruth. it was good to see them all. we sat around drinking coffee and cocktails. it was definitely a nice way to end my final visit to seoul. while walking around the market i was asked to hold some sign for a video. they tried to tell me what it was for but i had no idea what they were talking about. i thought they were saying "tarot" but later when i went to search for the video i realized it was about the taliban. i must have be cut from the video. i saw my sign but didn't see me. figures. my one shot at stardom. you can view the video here.

more banana photos here

stay gold & be well…

reach for the stars

deery-lou.
eight more days left in korea. on the ninth i'll be flying the friendly skies with all my crap i seemed to have accumulated over the past 3 years. it's hard for me to imagine life outside of korea. i've grown accustom to things here. i just hope sf is ready for me. there will be plenty of things i'm gonna miss about korea and plenty i won't. today was my last day having to go to the swimming pool with the kids. it was mayhem. so many children. they were all wearing swim caps which made it dificult to tell which ones belonged to us. we got so use to being at the pool with no one else there that none of us imagined it would be this crowded. sadly i didn't get any me time at the pool. the day was spent keeping track of the little ones. at least no one drowned. the only causalities of the day were amber falling and cutting her chin, and then there was her brother mick who threw up from stuffing m&ms down his mouth. mick has thing about throwing up. just the other day during lunch he puked onto his lunch tray. of course this all happened in my classroom. not a pretty sight. he is a cutey though.

we're making puppets this week in art class. i've decided that we need two days for art since 40 minutes is not alot of time. especially when i'm doing most of the work. i finished mine yesterday and i must say i'm quite pleased with it. hehe. i'll be sure to take a photo and post it later. so while cleaning up my apartment and getting ready for my big move, i came across some sayings i wrote down that were taken from pencil cases. here they are:

story of… yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow a vision of hope, look to this day for it is life

cutie bisquit friends

feeling love of my life and missing friend of my train

alcohol is my soulmate

classics. these are the kinds of things i'll miss about this place. i've spent the last couple of days strolling around my k-hood that i've grown to love. made a few purchases here and there. although i'm getting worried that everything isn't going to fit into my suitcases. there are so many things that i want to get but since i'll be homeless i don't see the point. i'm sitting here now staring at the pile of stuff on my floor. why is packing so H.A.R.D.

i took some photos of my students last week. click here to see them.

stay gold & be well…

shim sham

deery-lou.
"so pretty, so pretty, so pretty oh oh oh…"
i've found my new theme song to end out 2007.

camp has come and gone. i survived. and i'm happy to say that this is my final camp here in korea. i had the option to spend the night but i chose not to and headed back with the kindergarten kids. although the places change from year to year its basically the same old tiring thing. ride a bus there for at least 2 hours, check into room with no beds, eat lunch, change into the swimsuits, make crafts, play with blocks, swim for 3 hours, dinner, shower, sleep, and the next day repeat. this was our largest camp outing yet. a mixture of kindergarten and junior level kids. i thought that we were all going to be together but we weren't until pool time. while the junior kids got to ride a giant alpine slid the k-kids made candles and played with blocks. the gel candle making was fun to a point. the kids basically lost interest half way through. they seemed to have more fun building large standing structures with the blocks. as me myself i was bored through out all of it. however, i did make a candle. i picked out all white stones. a tedious task but at least it wasted a lot of time. once arts and crafts were over we headed for the pool. there were two pools: a regular one and a kiddie one. guess where we spent out time. at the kiddie pool. good times. i did manage to sneak away and spent some quality time in the big kids pool. it was nice and cold. quite unlike the kiddie pool which was a bit warm. don't even want to think about how much piss was in that pool. i spent my day getting splashed by children and having random children say hi to me. for fun i spoke to them in what little spanish i knew. hehe. there was some nice eye candy at the pool in way of the lifeguards. i almost wanted to fake drowning so that they'd save me. we rushed through dinner so that we could wash the kids going home. it was marathon bathing. one person showing, one drying, one dressing, and the other packing their bag. the best part was listening to mark tell two of the boys to stop touching their penises together. gotta love it. they so don't care about anything at that age. the bus ride back was somewhat uneventful. we did have one student who had to pee. lucky me got to help him out by holding onto a water bottle so he could pee in it. i prayed that we'd both be able to maintain our balance while the bus was moving. thankfully we did. at one point davis, caleb, and linc were all asleep together. davis had his leg linked around linc's leg. it was so cute. i wanted to take a picture but didn't want to wake them. we got back to ansan around 8:30 pm. exhausted i made my way home and into bed.

save me!

i went into suwon today to met up with christine and kwanjangnim. it was good to see them. we had a nice dinner and kwanjangnim mentioned he was going to come to sf for a visit next year. we'll see. before meeting up with them i did some window shopping in the mall. i stumbled upon a white shoulder bag. its actually more like a cross between a shoulder bag and a carry on. its much bigger than my shoulder bags now. i contemplated buying it but didn't. i couldn't justify buying yet another bag unless i ditch one of the ones i have. ]i figured i got a week to decided. if only misty was here. for now one when i'm in this situation i'm just going to ask myself, "what would misty do?"

summer camp pictures are here

stay gold & be well…

handle with care

deery-lou.
will the rain ever stop! i'm beginning to feel like a drowned cat. the only good thing about it is that everything is so green and the sunflowers are in full bloom. one would think that the rain would have cold down the temp a bit but no. its like being in a sauna. my hair is having a hell of a time. it wants to curl so badly yet theres hardly any hair to curl. what's a boy to do? hide inside and watch "my life on the d-list". if you haven't watched it, you must. that shit is funny. i spent the weekend bopping around seoul meeting up with friends and shopping for all those last minute things i can't live without. thought about getting some more sight seeing in but i think i'm over that. i can't believe i'll be back in the states in 17 days. tomorrow is a holiday. its korea's independence day. once again i'll be heading into seoul to meet up with some peeps and for some shopping. i think i've gone mad! today was anna's last day of work. it was pretty uneventful. she basically checked out two months ago. of course while i'm trying to get my lessons plans done for my replacement she did nothing for hers. sometimes i wonder why i work so hard. the kids have been grating my nerves this week. i got two new additions to my 6 year olds bringing the number up to 9. these two new ones don't listen at all. they are too busy talking to each. i have to yell at them every 5 minutes. the other day the girl, debbie, fell asleep in class. i think she suffers from narcolepsy. the girl can sleep in a moments noticed. then there's linc. the boy who scratches his head everytime i ask him a question as if he's thinking of an answer. he never has one. he can barely remember his own name. his new thing this week is to grunt and point. so now i'm telling cavemen. oh the joy of it all. on the plus side my favorite student davis return this week from his vacation in the philippines. i love him. i keep telling him i'm bringing him back with me. hehe. i will definitely miss that little guy. friday is summer camp day. this should be interesting. thankfully the kindergarten kids don't have to spend the night. not really sure where we are going cuz no one told us. i'm sure where ever it is it will involve a pool. here's hoping it doesn't rain.

stay gold & be well…

rock candy brains

deery-lou.
and now for the final chapter…

vietnam, part 3
august 02, thursday
today i set off for a 1/2 tour of the cu chu tunnels. before catching the bus at 8:15 am, i stocked up on drinks and an avocado sandwich. have i mentioned how good the french bread is here. its amazing how the small things in life make me happy. i spent the trip staring out the window. there was so much to see. our first stop was at a handicap crafts market. most of the people working there were victims of the war. they actually make all the crafts there. it was quite fascinating watching them make all the goodies. there's also a shop where you can buy the merchandise. it was fairly inexpensive, however, i didn't buy anything. the cu chu tunnels were amazing. its so hard to fathom that they actually built these dwellings and lived there. tunnel entrances were all over the ground. most of them were quite tiny, so my fat ass couldn't fit in them. the did renovate one of the tunnels so that tourist could experience them. before heading into the tunnel the couple in front of me chickened out. by the time i entered there was no one in front of me which made it even scarier. the tunnel was quite small. you either had to crawl on your hands and knees or do a sort of squat walk through it. i opted for the squat walk since i was using my camera to light my way. did i mention it was freaking dark and hot. i broke out in a sweat within minutes of being in there. a couple of times i turned down a dead end. there was one point where i had a minor freak out. i kept thinking what if i get stuck, or lost, or trapped. i started sweating more. the only comforting thing was knowing that there were people behind me. eventually i heard the tour guide calling out "this way". i followed the sound of his voice and found my way to the ladder. i'm amazed that the vc were able to sustain such conditions of the tunnels. being in the tunnel made me think of the china beach episode where mcmurphy and kc were kidnapped by the vc and taken underground. don't you love how i relate everything to tv shows. hehe. i wanted to buy a pair of vc sandals that are made of rubber but they didn't have my size. the tour itself felt kind of rushed. we didn't even have time to check out the gift shop.

cu chi grounds

inside cu chi tunnel

vc sandals

altar at church, saigon

girl in doorway, saigon

when i got back to saigon i met up with jacky. we had coffee then went off to get something to eat. the restaurant we went to was really good. they had food from the different regions of vietnam. everything was quite tasty although i avoided the blood clot that was in the soup. been there done that. met up with joey later on in the evening. jumped on the motorbike and headed off to yet another cafe. there seems to be an abundance of giant cafes. at least it wasn't raining so we got to sit outside. they gave us some popcorn to nibble on. from there we went to the night market to grab a bit to eat. i only had some spring rolls. did i a little shopping afterwards. i got a white belt since my old one was completely trashed. rode around a little then headed back to the hotel.

august 03, friday
my last day in saigon. i was a bit sad seeing this day arrive. it felt like i had just arrived. it was still lots of things that i wanted to do. spent most of the morning being lazy. joey and i went to the market for food. then it was off to a cafe for my morning fix. we stayed at the cafe for two coffees. i'm telling you i can't get enough of that stuff. the rest of the day was spent shopping. there are benefits to having a motorbike. it definitely lets you get to all the different places. i ended up buying a pair of jeans that i tried on in the dark. for some reason the shop didn't have have power. since getting home i've tried them on again and they are a bit tight. oops. then again i'm so use to my jeans being too big that perhaps they actually fit. i also found a shirt that i liked. joey bought it for me. how sweet is that. we checked out the chinatown market but it was pretty dead. a lot of vacant shops. grabbed some refreshments at an outside cafe. i went for a lemonade. while sitting there a poor came by with his baby sister trying to get me to give him money. was very tempted but didn't. we spent hours riding around to various areas to shop. i was getting a bit tired. before heading back to the hotel we stopped at one final cafe. the place was smaller than the others and it was set up for live music. when we got to the hotel it was still too early to head to the airport. so we sat out on the front stoop chatting with the girls who work there. then it started to rain. it was a heavy rain. like the ones we got in florida during the summer. when the rain settled down we gathered my stuff and hailed a taxi. it poured the entire way to the airport. i said goodbye to joey then made my way inside. at 10 am on saturday morning i arrived in seoul. my vacation was officially over.

final thoughts
what can i really say except that i had a great time. i went on this trip with no expectations and was completely surprised. the people were friendly, the food was good, the coffee was out of this world, and i met someone. someone who means a lot to me. its these unexpected things in life that makes it all worth it. i feel like i left a small part of me there. hopefully i'll get that part back one of these days.

photos from cu chu tunnels are here
photos of saigon are here

stay gold & be well…

how could anybody possibly know how i feel?

deery-lou.
and now for part 2 of my story…

vietnam, part 2
july 31, tuesday
lunch with joey at the cafe i stumbled upon the other day. had two ice coffees, spring rolls, and some kind of beef and cauliflower dish. the food was quite good. jumped on the back of joey's motorbike and spent the rest of the day shopping and sight seeing. cruising around the city on a motorbike is quite fun. once you get use to it. you can literally hold out your hand and touch the person next to you. i kept thinking that it would be very easy to stab someone. not really sure why i kept thinking that but i did. we headed to saigon center for a little shopping. i got some calvin klein underwear for dirt cheap. joey got a shirt and a pair of jeans. we then stopped at diamond department store. this was the place i went bowling the other night. did some window shopping inside to avoid the heat of the day. from there we made our first stop of the day for the sight seeing part of our outing. the destination: reunification palace [independent palace].

independent palace

rec room, 70s style

me

joey in basement tunnel

the front gate

the reunification palace was the workplace for the south vietnamese president. its the place where the tanks crashed through the gate when saigon fell. nothing too spectacular about the place but it was interesting to walk around. there were several rooms to look at: the president's room, 1st lady meeting room, some bedrooms, a rec room, a cinema, basement tunnels, etc. the grounds were quite nice,too. the next stop was the ho chi minh city museum. a museum basically showcasing the growth of the city. many artifacts to see. they also had several photos comparing the city from the 50s to the present. we ended the tour at the war remnants museum. there were so many photo exhibits about the war that it was hard to take it all in. i spent my time walking around in silence by myself. didn't feel like a place where i wanted to have a conversation. it felt kind of strange walking around, especially since i'm american. not like that really matters, but knowing that we were part of the destruction there makes you think. the photos that do stand out in my mind were definitely powerful images. it had quite an impact on me. all those lives lost. many of them younger than i am. and the children. thats the saddest part of all. the innocent. the ones who didn't get to decided for themselves. and to think that this war was not so long ago and now we find ourselves engrossed in yet another war. will we ever learn.

ho chi minh city museum

sleeping quarters

tiger cages

for dinner, joey took me to a noodle spot he goes to. it was filled with locals only which was fine with me. i like being able to experience the parts of country you might not see as a normal tourists. the noodle soup was excellent. then again all of the food i've had has been great. after eating joey decided to take me on a motorbike night tour of saigon. we went to chinatown and various other parts of the city. i also got to see part of saigon river. it was all lite up and looked very inviting. the night breeze felt invigorating.

august 01, wednesday
got a late start to my day. it actually felt good to sleep in. its been forever. when i finally motivated myself to head out i decided to walk to ben thanh market. along my way i ran into one of the motorbikes guys i spoke to on sunday. he tried to get me to take a tour telling me how he's having an unlucky day. and if i go on a tour with him his day will become lucky. nice try but no. before heading into the market i grabbed an ice coffee. spent a few hours walking around the market. everybody wanted to make a deal with me. a boy carrying food through the market smiled at me. i bought some pictures. wasn't really in the mood for major souvenir shopping. most likely a result of me knowing i have to pack up in a few weeks. grabbed some noodles and an ice coffee for lunch. that night joey took me to another local spot for dinner. i order fried chicken and rice. the waiter brought out a fork. i guess they figured i didn't know how to handle chopsticks. i proved them wrong. it was raining when we left. since it wasn't a good idea to ride the bike in the rain we decided to hop in a cab and wait the rain out in a coffee shop. the coffee shop we ended up at was quite interesting. the chairs were giant. the tables small. and the music was so loud i couldn't hear myself think. for a second i thought i was back in badlands. all this place needed was some go-go boys. on our way out they gave us some ponchos. fortunately we didn't have to use them since the rain had stopped. we went back to pick up the motorbike and head back to the hotel. on the way home i kept my eye out for people pissing.

to be continued…

pictures from independent palace here
pictures from hcmc museum and war museum here

stay gold & be well…

vertigo

deery-lou.
my trip to saigon has come and gone. it doesn't even feel like i went away. six days is definitely not enough time but i sure did enjoy it no matter how short it was. vietnam is an amazing place. i fell in love with the country, its people, and its coffee. its the top of my list of places i've visited. and its one that i will be going back to again to experience more it has to offer.

fun facts
# of motorbikes = too many to count
# of people who wanted to clean my sneakers = 3
# of people pissing outside = 13
# of times i was asked to buy a book = 7
# of ice coffees consumed = 20
# of times asked if i wanted a motorbike ride = too many to count
# of times it rained = 6

vietnam, part 1
july 28, saturday
joey met me at the airport. grabbed a taxi and headed for the hotel. got there around midnight. the gate was locked so we had to buzz. the girl showed me up to my room. there were no more medium rooms so they gave me a large for the night. hung out on the balcony for a bit looking at the city. noticed many bats flying overhead. i don't like bats.

july 29, sunday
booked tour for the mekong delta. went for breakfast at the cafe next door. ordered fried eggs with cheese and french bread. also ordered my first ice coffee. this began the coffee addiction. it freakin rocked. i also forgot how good real french bread tasted like. i was in heaven. spent the morning and early afternoon walking around the city aimlessly. spoke to numerous motorbike operators all wanting to give me a tour. they all showed me their comment books and photo albums to try to seal the deal. sometimes i think i'm too nice. walked down several alleys. saw a man breaking ice, people playing games, cooking, etc. while walking down the street [it was around noon] a boy approached me and asked me if i wanted to fuck him. i kept walking. then he asked if he could fuck me. politely i declined. minutes later a man flashed a picture of a naked lady and asked if i wanted her. this never happens in seoul. welcome to saigon. passed by a church and decided to go in and check it out. the streets of saigon are like mini mazes. i got lost on my way back to the hotel. usually i'm quite good at finding my way around. but it took me several days to get use to it. stopped in a store to asked directions. he pointed me the direction i needed to go. i literally took two steps and then found myself engaged in a conversation with the a motorbike driver. there was a cafe on the corner so after i finished talking i went in and had an ice coffee with sweet milk. its tasted like chocolate milk. eventually i found my way back to the hotel. they hadn't finished with my new room so i sat in the lobby til they were done.

motorbikes

city hall

rundown amusement park

girl & doorway

buildings in alley

took a bit of rest until 3pm. i met up with huy, a tour guide i had spoken with. he gave me a mini tour of the city on his motorbike. at first i was a bit reluctant. they scare me. plus the traffic here is crazy. crossing the streets is like playing frogger. you basically close your eyes and hope for the best. i must say after i got use to being on the motorbike i found it quite enjoyable. i got to see norte dame cathedral, city hall, the opera house, etc. we rode around until the rain started coming. we barely made it to covered ground before it started pouring. we picked up his bf at their apartment then hopped into a cab to met two of their friends for some bowling. yes, i went bowling in saigon. how funny is that. its been years since i last bowled so my game was quite bad. we played two games and i never broke 100. after bowling we met up with a couple from japan and went out to dinner. there was a lot of fish to be eaten. i tried a little but it was a bit too fishy. i ate veggies instead. after dinner i headed back to my hotel [kim hotel].

july 30, monday
woke up early to catch the tour bus. got lost trying to find the sinh cafe, which is basically right around the corner from my hotel. its a good thing i left early. i love taking bus rides. it gives you a chance to see parts of the countries that you normally wouldn't see. it also gives you a glimpse into the everyday lives of the people there. the streets were littered with motorbikes. along the road were many ma and pa kind of shops and cafes. it was very much like thailand and bali. i found myself lost in thought. wondering what it would be like to life their life. it took three hours to get to the mekong delta. once we arrived we made our way on foot through a little town to get on a river boat. the boat ride along the river was quite nice. the one bad thing about group tours is that at times you feel really alone. at least in a city you are surrounding by other people and it doesn't seem so bad. the lives of the people in the mekong delta revolves around the river. there are many floating markets, although on this particular day there weren't many out most likely due to the rain that was coming. we went down the river a bit then got out to walk around. we saw the locals making coconut candy, rice chips, rice crispies, and other things. i was a little wet from the rain so it was nice to be able to walk around and dry off. they had some banana candy that was awesome.

boat on river

looking down the river

steam from rice paper

pink house along river

grounds at rest area

i met a family from la. i chatted with the mom. i ate lunch with a couple from holland, who were very nice. they had the same feeling as i did about group tours. during lunch we got to hear some traditional music. i also met a girl from north vietnam, who now lives in saigon. she was traveling alone, too. i sat with her on the boat ride. we chatted a bit. before getting back on the bus we had some time at the market. i took off and walked around. nothing too exciting. it was like any other market. i ran into the girl from north vietnam. she asked if i'd go with her to find the fruit section. i did. she kept asking me to wait for her. as if i would just leave her. funny thing is that she speaks the language not me. after she got her fruit we went to a coffee shop where i ordered an ice coffee. halfway to saigon we stopped at a rest area. as rest areas go it was quite fancy. they had coffee there so i got yet another ice coffee and walked the peaceful grounds. i met joey that night for dinner and some drinks. drinks actually meant ice coffee. had some fried wanton, too. they were delicious.


to be continued…

pictures from mekong delta here

stay gold & be well…