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…

work is a four-letter word

deery-lou.
another month and another group of birthday. for july we had three birthday kids: jason, sally, and sarah. jason turned five, while the girls turned seven. even though jason is only five he's starting to get the attitude that he rules the schools. he's always sashaying into the room. i gave him a pair of sunglasses i was going to throw away. he wore them with pride. during the birthday present exchange he was busted licking at the cake. he had frosting all over his nose. the boy has got the biggest belly ever. he's definitely a cutie. the party went off like any other. i found myself stuffing my face with mini donuts. yum. at the end of the school day marc and i had to clean the playroom. i recruited a student to climb behind the jungle gym to get the balls stuck behind it. i couldn't squeeze behind it. during his ball removal he discovered a cell phone. i thought for sure we'd also discover some hidden bodies or something. we didn't. that night we had a company dinner. the group decided to go to a bar afterwards. i opted to go home to get ready for my trip. instead i ended up passing out waking up at 2:30 am.

caleb & ethan

bag head davis

jason

joanna & new friend

there will be no blogs for a week. don't cry. i shall be heading off to vietnam today. stay posted for pictures of my trip. i'll be back in korea on august 4, which just so happens to me my mom's birthday. if you're reading this mom, happy early birthday.

pictures from the birthday party are here

stay gold & be well…

you don't know me

alice, sweet alice

deery-lou.
what do get when 20 children show up at school at 8pm in their pajamas? a pajama party gone crazy. advise to parents: a pj party should have a max of 7 kids. well as you can see i survived my sleep over at school. from the minute the little rugrats entered there was mayhem. i secretly think their moms shot them up with sugar. the evening started off with them playing with flashlights. we tried to organize a game with the flashlights but it just ended up with them running around the playroom in the dark doing whatever they wanted with their flashlights. there was whining was the batteries died, crying when one was lost, and screaming for the hell of it. they seemed to enjoy themselves so thats all that really matters. following the flashlight free for all we played hide and seek. they've still yet to master the concept of the game. many of them hide together and a few forgot to turn off their flashlights. snack time followed hide and seek. obviously my definition of snacks and the korean moms version is different. when i was a children enjoying the pleasures of a sleep over snacks consisted of potato chips, pretzels, chocolate, dips, soda, popcorn, etc. the mom's served up snacks that would be perfect for a picnic: chicken wings, herb chicken with potatoes, salad, watermelon, and some strange toast cheese thing topped with cherries. for drinks they supplied orange and grape juice.

tv time

snacks by moms

esther & skye

don't get me wrong, i'm not complaining. the food was very good. it just wasn't what i had in mind. the children had a hard time managing their mouse plates. a few ended up on the floor with food going everywhere. fancy sundaes followed the snacks. i'm still wondering why the teachers didn't get any sundaes. hmmmm. we set up the library for the children to sleep in. we attempted for them to watch mary poppins but they seemed quite bored. luckily i brought some cartoons so i popped in a teen titans dvd. i love introducing them to superheroes. we watched three episodes before telling them they had to go to sleep. most of them went down without a problem. there were a few girls who got the case of chatter bugs. andy was a bit more difficult to get settled. he insisted on having his flashlight with him. after battling with him for 10 minutes we decided he could have it. he got quiet immediately. i didn't sleep much that night. the room got extremely warm and my body kept getting stuck on the mat i was sleeping on. i was up by 7:30am and went into my classroom where i could cool off. breakfast consisted of kimbab, noodles, cakes, and cookies. don't ask. after breakfast we played two more games. one where they tried to bite chips hanging off a string and the other where they throw plastic balls at handmade pinatas. they loved throwing the balls. i think most of them ending up hitting each other. around 10:30 they all headed home. i made my way home shortly after that and spent my day doing nothing.

for pictures of the pj party click here

stay gold & be well…

scale

I have a sequin for an eye
Pick a rose and hide my face
This is a bandit's life
It comes and goes and mends the breaks
Under a molten sky, beyond the road, we lie in wait
You think they know us now?
Wait 'til the stars come out
You'll see that…

deery lou.
youth. there are days when i sometimes yearn to return to my youth. to a time when things are so new. a time when you have the whole world at your feet. just waiting for you to take a piece of it. we had our monthly visit to the swimming pool today. of course it was raining, not that it really matters since its indoors. however, it seems to rain every pool day. i met a friend today at the pool while i was sitting on the stairs watching my students go around and around the circular pool. we got to talking. his english was good. most likely the result of having lived in canada since he was 8 years old. i found out he is spending his summer in korea with his family. he told me his dad lives in korea while the rest of his family lives in canada. at first i thought he was a college student but later found out he was in high school. fifteen to be precise. that's what got me thinking about when i was 15. he seemed completely bored. the result of having no friends in korea. we chatted for a bit, then i had to go round up students who were wildly running around the pool.

there was a lot more action at the pool this time. i didn't wear my contacts or glasses so it was kind of hard to keep track of the kids. for a while i had to play boat with joanna, who just so happens to be the biggest girl in our school. we were chasing sea monsters. we managed to kill at least 7 of them. i did manage to squeeze in a little break by sneaking off to the pool area that has the massaging jets. it felt so good. there was also a group of "special" needs adults at the pool. one of them kept bobbing up and down the whole time they went around. every time he passed someone he would splash them. i'm not sure if he was aware of the strength he had. it made me nervous every time he got near one of the children. on one of his passes he stopped in front of my as i sat on the edge of the pool. he held out his hand as if he wanted to shake. i returned the gesture. before i knew what had happened he had pulled me into the water. i had be right. he was quite strong. i managed to break his grip. he went on bobbing down the pool. one of the people watching them came over and bowed and said sorry. so while most of the teachers were watching the students, anna teacher [the head teacher] spent the pool time sleeping in a lounge chair. i still can't believe it. if only i had my camera to capture that kodak moment. her laziness has gotten out of control. and now that she claims to be pregnant it's only gotten worse. she's not married so i'm not exactly sure what the school's is going to be about that. and the dad happens to be one of the bus drivers. its like i'm living in my own personal korean drama.

tomorrow night is our pajama party. the kindergarten classes are going to be spending the night at school. i'm actually dreading the sleep over. i mean who the hell wants to spend the night at school. not me. it has the makings of pure chaos. i just hope they get good snacks. after all snacks can make or break a party.

stay gold & be well…

paint's peeling

deery-lou.
so the picture you see above was drawn by andy. andy's one of those "special" children. he's definitely in his own little world but often times his art is so expressive. not sure what it is about his stick figures but they speak volumes to me. lately he's been on a kick where he is fixated on his pink watch. every five seconds he's checking the time. i have to tell him 3 or 4 times to stop looking at the watch. now when i call his name he says "yes, no watch." love that little guy.

on friday night i met up with some my fellow foreign co-workers for some beers. i ended up at some underground russian bar in the middle of an apartment complex. it was like walking into a completely different world. a world where korean was the language of choice. even the asians spoke russian. they didn't know a word of korean. it was some girl's birthday which meant vodka shots were happening all night long. i finally had to drag myself out of there around 3 am. this body just can't handle vodka shots.

on saturday i went to itaewon to get a visa for vietnam. yes, i'm going to vietnam for vacation. i decided at the last minute that i should take advantage of going to one more place before heding back to the states. i'm going with no set agenda. i sort of just want to experience what happens when ni get there. it should be exciting.

heading off to hongdae to meet up with a friend for lunch. i'm starting to get in my final goodbyes before the big day on sept 1. i'm really looking forward to getting back home. its been too long.

stay gold & be well…

sundrops [strings version]

deery-lou.
a little post script to my "hardy boys mystery". on friday sticky fingers brought me a present. most likely a peace offering from her mother. could it be money?a watch?something expensive and flashy? all of these thoughts were running through my mind. i waited until the end of day to open it. to my horror it was two packs of STICKERS. nothing like the ones her thieving daughter took. instead i was subjected to smiley faces and mushrooms. MUSHROOMS! my thoughts exactly. on the package of stickers was a post-it written in korea. i took the liberty of translating it myself. in my mind it read: "dear ethan teacher. i'm so sorry for the actions of my thieving daughter. she has brought great shame to our family name. please accept these stickers on her behalf. if she is caught stealing again we will cut off her hands. sincerely sticky fingers mom."
in actuality the note said something like these: "i couldn't find the exact stickers skye took. i hope these will be ok. i'm truly sorry for her actions."sticky fingers has now taken up to being my nbf. she's always sitting next to me. i heard through the grapevine that she is becoming quite the naughty little girl outside of class. saying rude things to other students. of course i'd never know since its all said in korean. however, as long as she stays a little angel in my class i'll forgive her.

my apartment is in chaos. i have crap all over the place. i've been trying to pack some stuff up to ship. i did manage to get one box sent but the rest of the stuff is on my floor. i had good intentions of doing some packing yesterday but that dam internet stopped my. somehow i got sucked into d-list and facebook. then i decided to watch two episodes of charlies angels to finish off the box set so that i could pack them away. i'm also doing some marathon reading for all the books i don't want to keep. i sure am busy doing nothing.

stay gold & be well…

i'm the only one

deery-lou.
tonight the hardy boys in the mystery of the stolen stickers. the part of frank hardy will be played by yours truly.hehe. a couple of weeks ago i noticed that a stack of stickers were missing from my drawer at school. then a few days later some candy was gone. my first thought was to install a baby cam to catch the culprit but i knew the koreans wouldn't go for it. then i thought perhaps i'll set up a sting operation but that required too much work. i spoke to my students about going through my stuff hoping that the guilty one would confess. then i realized that they probably had no clue as to what i was saying. as the days passed i sat thinking about you could have taken them. the prime suspects would be the kindergarten kids since they spend the most time at school. but which one of those cuties could be behind such an act. they all look so innocent. i asked the korean teachers to speak to the students. it seemed that i was the only one who thought this was a big deal. it finally took some stickers missing from a korean teachers room for them to finally speak to them. unfortunately the guilty one still didn't confess. i tried snooping in their backpacks but didn't turn up anything. by now i figured the case would forever go unsolved. my luck would soon change when the other day i was looking at their daily report journals. sweet innocent skye's journal was decorated with stickers. stickers that happened to look exactly like the ones missing from my desk. coincidence, i think not. i mentioned it to the korean teachers. they all seemed surprised. it seems like syke has a case of sticky fingers which has now become her nickname. it makes perfect sense since sticky fingers guards her backpack as if it were gold. so yesterday in between classes elizabeth teacher told me that sticky fingers had something to say to me. i could see tears forming in her eyes. it took a few minutes but she was finally able to say sorry for taking my stickers. i immediately wanted to call the police but they felt that would be a bit harsh. i'm a firm believer that they are never too young for strict punishment. according to elizabeth who had asked sticky fingers about all her stickers, she first said that she found them stuck to her shoe in the playroom. not only does she steal but she's a mastermind at lying too. when elizabeth said she was going to call her mom the story changed. sticky fingers admitted that she wanted the stickers so while everyone was in the playroom she went into my classroom to get them. BUSTED!!! i tried to get her to confess to the candy but she didn't. i'm keeping a close eye on sticky fingers these days. she's a crafty one.

another case solved!

stay gold & be well…

of the bull

deery-lou.
it's the end of yet another month which meant birthday time at school. we had one birthday boy for the month, brian. the day included singing, eating cake, and playing games. once again the children were hopped up on sugar and ran around like crazy. parties always seem much longer than normal days. i had to stop a few children from eating too much cake. they were overdosing on sugar icing.

esther & me

happy jason

jazz hands

on a different note, i've decided to bid farewell to korea on september 1. yes, i will be returning to home. its been a great three years living here but this past year i found myself truly missing friends and family. i'm quite excited and nervous to return to san francisco. i can't wait to once again hang with peeps that mean so much to me. it appears my social calendar is already filling up with concerts, weekends away, and a wedding. its a return to the living.

64 days and counting…

pictures from the birthday party can be found here

stay gold & be well…

international dateline

deery-lou.
i posted a new entry in the poetry section of shot&scrawled.
check it out if you got the time.

stay gold & be well…

balloon flower

deery-lou.
last night i went to see stone jazz with young and her friend. now keep in mind i'm not a huge jazz fan so when young first asked me to go i was somewhat reluctant. but seeing that life is all about new experiences i decided to go. i must say the show was amazing. they group incorporated jazz standards using the [contra bass, drum, piano] with traditional korean instruments [gayageum, haegm, and piri]. it was quite breathe taking. i love the sounds of the traditional korean instruments especially the haegm. surprisingly enough i actually knew a lot of the songs. and to hear them composed in such a way truly an experience. the band members are all korean and they had such a presence on stage. during some of the songs they had shadow dancers which were fun to watch. after the show i bought two of their cds on eastern angle, which included most of the songs they played that night and crossover korean soul, where they arranged korean folk songs to jazz. if you ever have a chance to check them out you should. take for a non-jazz fan, its well worth it.

lee wonsoo, composer/arrangements

on our way home home young and i got to witness some college kid throwing up on the subway. the best part was how his friend busted out the tissues and starting to clean it up. now thats true friendship. if such a thing happened back at home the mess would have be left for someone else to clean it. i will say this though, it was sans chunks so it really just looked like water. it sure was funny though to see all these people run away. i also noticed something else a bit more disturbing as i left young's apartment around 1:30 am. as i was coming down the stairs i ran into a woman. as i passed her she called out to someone. when i got to the front door of the apartment building there was a man with his penis out taking a piss right there in the entry way. come on. couldn't he have held it for the few flights up the stairs.

yesterday was also a good day for t-shirts. there were four that stood out among the crowd all worn by guys. the first was a pink shirt that said "every jack and gill". um, hi. gill is spelled with a "j". next there was the the "i have the money" with giant gold dollar signs. then was the boy were the justin timberlake shirt. however the best was the strip polo shirt i saw on this guy on the subway. he was standing a few feet away and i noticed on the breast of his shirt the letters "botto". i couldn't see the last letter because the strap of his bag was covering it. it was killing me. i kept staring hoping that he would move his bag but he didn't. by the time my stop came i still hadn't seen that last letter. when i got off i notice that he had too. he was leaning on the railing with his back exposed. knowing how all korean shirts have crap on the back i though here's my chance. sure enough in giant letters on the back of his stripy polo was the word "BOTTOM". oh if he only knew. you got to love korea for shit like that.

stay gold & be well…

p.s. i forgot to mention in yesterday's post that when i was showering one of the 5 year olds he decided to take a piss in the shower. i kept looking around as i was hosing it away hoping that no one noticed. no one did.

biological

deery-lou.
another day at the pool with the kids has come and gone. this time around we only golfed and swam. no dancing. sigh… alot of the kids were complaining about blisters they got from swinging the golf clubs. a couple of the kids are actually quite good at it. andy was having an off day. he didn't want to do anything and most of the time i spent keeping an eye on him. he was running around like a mad man. pool time was pretty uneventful. they are pretty good at entertaining themselves in the water so all we really have to do is watch them. i took some time for myself and went into the massaging pool. i met an old korean woman there who kept telling me what to do. she didn't speak english but i did my best to figure out what she was saying. the massaging pool felt great. still haven't mastered the shower time with the boys. they still manage to run around like crazy graping the shower nozzles and shooting water all over the place. its hard not to laugh when they are doing it. not sure how parents deal on a regular basis.

the another day during art class i was sitting at my desk while the children were working on their project. i caught wind of this conversation where sarah kept looking for her pencil and eventually found it.

sarah: hey jon.
jon: what?
sarah: it fun. my pencil here. [points to the floor]. it fun.
irene: what fun?
sarah: my pencil here. [points to the floor]. it fun.
irene: it fun.
jon: it fun.

stay gold & be well…

p.s. i scored some homemade pickles from sarah's mom. yummy

joshua

andy, the map reader

deery-lou.
this was quite a week for me to say the least. a lot has been going which i'm not quite ready to discuss here yet. hence my week long absence from posting. at school we had three days of sex education videos. one about where babies come from, another about it being ok to be yourself, and the last one about sex crimes. going into this i felt the children were too young for such films. however, the korean teachers said that its usually taught at this age so who am i to disagree. the films were in korean with english subtitles which made for some interesting translations. the animation was pretty good. there were a couple of times i tried not to laugh. not really sure the children completely understood the messages but they all seemed to love the anime. they were watching it again for a second time on friday for fun. the films were far different than the jimmy cricket film i saw about puberty in 5th grade.

on thursday we went to seoul land zoo. it was hot! the children were broken up into age groups [7 years old and 5-6 years old]. i was with the 7 years old. we weren't even at the zoo 10 minutes when some of them starting complaining. it was definitely going to be a long day. i was partnered up with andy. he is quite hard to control at times. although he was actually pretty good that day. i made him in charge of the map and that seemed to make him happy. until he kept asking me where the bus was over and over again. he wanted to go home but i told him we couldn't go home until after the dolphin show. during snack time i watched alice literally stuff chip after chip into her mouth. almost as if she was afraid she wouldn't get enough. kids sure are cute that way.

the dolphin show

fountain fun

snack time

as for zoos go it was pretty standard. nothing really unique about it. by far the best zoo i've seen has been in singapore. my favorite of the day were the otters. they are so peaceful. i could spend hours just watching them play around in the water. i want to come back as an otter. that way i can swim, play, and sleep all day long. although every time i see otters it makes be think of this sad movie we saw in grade school. what's up with all these movies from my past haunting me? its another hot and beautiful weekend here. i should really try to do something besides going out to get my haircut. hehe.

my otter video


zoo pictures here

stay gold & be well…

rock bottom

deery-lou.
yesterday the kindergarten school took a field trip to a farm to plant sweet potatoes and to pick plums. now when one says "farm" back home we think of tractors, animals, barns, etc. farms in korea aren't quite the same. there were no tractors, no animals, and no barns to speak of. instead there was a small house sort of like a mobile home, a small field, some dogs in cages, and it was right off the main road. i'm not sure i'd say it was one of the better field trips but the children did seem to enjoy themselves. then again children can have fun almost anywhere. the drive to the farm took almost two hours due to traffic. and let's just say it was anything but uneventful. we had two girls with stomach aches, 3 girls who peed on the bus in a plastic bag, and one girl who threw up. the fun never stops. at the farm the children planted sweet potato stalks, picked some sort of plum they use to made wine and other stuff with, and learned about different kinds of crops. i spent most of my time lifting children up to pick the plums off the high branches. thankfully the trip back only took an hour.

today is a holiday. not sure how i'm gonna spend my day. perhaps a little reading and relaxing is what the doctor ordered. it's amazing how exhausting the field trips can be. the weather has been getting warmer and warmer. it feels like its going to be another hot summer here. i hope everyone is doing well. take care.

check out the farm pictures here

stay gold & be well…

23

deery-lou.
on thursday we took a trip to the pool with the kindergarten class. this place was huge. it had a sauna floor, pool area, exercise room, and a driving range. the day started off with the kids learning how to golf at the indoor driving range. clubs were swinging erratically and balls were flying everywhere. they had a blast. then it was to the gym for the kids to unwind. they ran around like wild animals. andy kept calling me "ethan monster" the whole time. next the kids set off to learn a jazz routine. it was so funny watching them. a few just stood there not able to follow the moves. the best was skye who was totally getting into it. she was bumping and grinding with the best of them. a future star in the making. once the jazz class was finished we headed outside to the park for some lunch. after lunch it was pool time. this is were the madness set in. marc and i were in search of getting the boys ready. it was definitely a chore. we had to undress them, give them their bathing suits, and then pack of their old clothes. we tried doing it in groups of two. andy kept trying to take off his clothes before it was his time. i guess he was a bit anxious to get to the pool. it felt like it took hours. once they were dressed and ready to go we heading down to the pool area to await the girls arrival. we spent the next two hours swimming. there was one pool with slides that the kids loved. there was also a current pool where you went around in a circle and a few other pools. there was also a hot tube which was lovely. after swimming we had to take the boys back to the showers and wash their hair. this was chaos. the boys were running around like wild men. they also decided to have water fights with the shower nozzles. they were shooting water over to the area where people were having massages. it was definitely a workout keeping them in line. overall i think we did a good job managing them. hopefully next time marc and i will have our routine done with the dressing and washing. i found out that it only cost $10 for the aquatic package which includes the pool, men's hot tub room, and co-ed sauna. i know where i'll be spending my free time this summer.

here's a video from jazz class


check out the photos i took here

stay gold & be well…

alone together

deery-lou.
last friday we had a birthday party for caleb which lasted half the day. the other half was spent going over the "no tv week" activity book that the students had to do at home. i had to head the "no tv week" show and tell. needless to say it consisted of me doing all the talking. at least i got them to give me one word answers like "yes", "bike", etc. all in all it was pretty slack day. gotta love it.

here's a video of the kids


to see photos of the celebration click here!

stay gold & be well…

scatterbrain

deery-lou.
i've added an new entry to the poetry section of shot&scrawled. check it out & tell me your thoughts.

it's a holiday today. buddha's birthday. which means no school. yeah! but why was i up at 6:30 am. sob! happy birthday buddha.

stay gold & be well…

fine time

deery-lou.
fashion hurts! my new shoes finally arrived last week. i so love them. on the bottom they have a picture of a dragon. hehe. although i forgot how much it sucks breaking in new shoes. both of my heels have major blisters. however, that's the price one pays for looking good. and they so make me stylish. hopefully the process of breaking them in won't take to long. they are such a departure from my big ass platforms. here's a picture of them:


my sunday was spent running around all the beauty shops of ansan looking for a particular hair wax. the place that i originally got it from didn't have it any longer. i must have hit about 10 different shops. all of them a bust. during my jaunt across ansan i did manage to take some photos for my current photo series i'm working on. so at least the entire day wasn't a bust. i sent a text to the x-bf on saturday. as of 9:25 pm on tuesday still no word. hmm. perhaps he really didn't want to talk and just sent the message for the hell of it. thursday is a holiday. yeah! i love having short weeks and then on friday we have an all day party in kindergarten. can work get any better than that. all righty, time to watch the season finale of heroes.

stay gold & be well…

life is but a dream

deery-lou.
life has a funny way of throwing you curves. just as i've started to put the whole ordeal with the "x-bf" behind me he sent me a text last night.
hey sorry about not getting back to u sooner. was out of town for awhile. if u wanna catch up for your stuff and a chat let me know. sorry i took longer then i said. i understand if its to late but i'd still love to talk to you.
which of course brought back all these emotions. i had just gotten off the phone earlier with a friend where i told her i was over. honestly i never really expected to hear back from him. there's a big part of me that just wants to blow it off and continue with the way my life is going. and then there's the part that needs closure. needs to hear what he has to say. the whole "being away" excuse is simply that—an excuse. and a weak one at that. it's at these times that i miss being home the most. not having my closest friends nearby to talk about it. misty and i use to spend many evenings eating ice cream, pie, etc. talking about our boy problems while bad tv played in the background. god, how i miss that. thankfully i caught misty online before she had to work. it wasn't the same but at least it was something. i feel alot better having spoken to her and now know what i need to do. i've decided to go ahead and meet him. although as of this post i have yet to send him a text telling him so. i'm struggling with the words. there's alot i need to say to him and i believe that having a face to face will give me that opportunity. plus i'm curious as to what he has to say. i'm hoping that after we talk i'll finally be able to put it all behind him and move on. i'll be sure to let you know how it all turns out. boys suck! wish me luck.

stay gold & be well…

deck the boy

the e-bat

deery-lou.
what does pole dancing bears, paint it black, and 5:30 am all have in common? my friday night out. more on that in a minute.

friday started off with a trip to the children's museum with the kindergarten class. it was pretty standard as children's museums go. lots of interactive stuff for the children to get their hands on. lots of children running around. lots of tired adults. there was one part of the museum that i found quite odd. in the "family" section they had a doctor office with a pregnant patient. it was set up so that you could give her a sonogram and see the fetus on the scene above her. to the right was a light table display that had various images of the fetus. it just seemed to be a bit much for a children's museum. whatever happened to the good old stork theory.

doctor's office

builder jon

on golden skye

steven in mazeland

that night in my attempt to be more social i went out with some of the teachers from school. we went to junco, your standard hof joint that serves up loads of side dishes, has cheap beer, and by far the tasty chicken ever. for food industry workers they had to be the happiest servers i have ever seen. they were running around smiling, joking with one another, and extremely friendly. something you rarely see in the states. whenever they had to perform the birthday celebration song they all got into it. besides singing they had people wearing a giant bear and wolf head who pole danced. it was definitely a trip to watch. at some point "tee" brought back some koreans she met in the bathroom who joined us. more soju and beer was consumed. the korean guy kept telling us over and over that the girl he was with was his girlfriend. as if he was afraid any of us were trying to hook up with her. not sure he had anything to worry about there. for one thing i'm not into girls and the other is was far from being attractive. meanwhile his so called girlfriend kept telling me she wasn't dating him while she flirted with one of my co-workers. having enough of that we left and went to a noraebang. "c" met a hagwon owner in the bathroom who bought us a round of drinks. we convinced him to sing a song for us. then we had some random korean guy come into our room and ask us to sing a song for his girlfriend. before i realized what was happeing he grabbed me by my hand and dragged me to the singing room where his girlfriend and friends were. he couldn't speak any english so it was quite difficult to figure out what he was saying. i'm not quite sure but i believe he's an eminem fan. at least that's what it sounded like. he wanted me to sing a pop song for his girlfriend and i kept saying i don't do pop song. before i had a chance to sing his girlfriend got up and left. i told him his girlfriend no here, so me no sing. he brought me back to where young and "c" were so that young could translate for him. thats when i found out that he translated what i said earlier about his girlfriend as me telling him to break up with her. the whole time he kept hugging and grabbing me which was making me somewhat uncomfortable. he was definitely putting off a g-vibe. our time ended so we said goodbye to our new friend and headed off. we at bagels at young's place then i made my way home. i got to bed by 5:30 am.

on saturday i treked into seoul to meet up with betsy for her farewell dinner. yes, yet another friend is leaving "the land of the morning calm". it was hard motivating myself. not only was i tired but it was rainy out. a perfect day for laying in bed. dinner was nice. afterwards i bagged out on going to a bar and made my way home.

to view photos from the children's museum go here

stay gold & be well…

when jokers attack

deery-lou.
it's official. i have a new website for my photography & writing. it's called shot&scrawled. i will continue to use this blog for my personal rants. shot&scrawled is strictly for my creative outbursts. i'll be sure to post here any updates made to shot&scrawled. there's a permanent link to the right under the about me section. you can't miss the ever so fabulous photo of me that butterbean took. she's awesome. so far i have one photo series & one poetry entry on the site. if you have some time go take a gander. there's more to come.

stay gold & be well…

something beautiful

deery-lou.
i've been thinking about setting up a new blog for my writing and art. the idea is to have a separate space that doesn't consist of my regular rants of everyday life. i want to create a place were i can showcase my writing [short stories, poetry, etc] as well as some photography series i'm working on that don't involve your typical snapshots. not sure if having two blogs is necessary. so i'm asking you my readers to give me some import. let me know your thoughts. in the meantime, i've finally gotten around to upload the photos from my exhibition in july 2006. enjoy.

stay gold & be well…

white sweater

deery-lou.
for children's day which is may 5 here in korea, we took the kiddies to see spiderman 3. by the time the movie ended only half of them remained. most of them had gotten scared or bored. going to see a movie with a bunch of children is always a chore. i can only imagine how they felt watching a film in english and having to read subtitles. i know if i was their age i'd probably been bored too. overall i thought the movie was pretty decent. don't know if i'd say it was the best of the bunch but it was definitely entertaining. and that's just what movies should be. i could go into depth of what i liked and didn't like about the film but don't want to bore you with with that. i love superheroes films, however, i feel like they never quite come through like i hope they would. by far my favorite has got to be batman returns which is most likely due to michelle pfeiffer's portrayal of catwoman. meow! she kicked ass in that role.

andy, who was sitting in front of me, was quite fidgety throughout the film. numerous times i had to tell him to get off the floor. he also kept asking for popcorn. i had to tell him there was no popcorn today. the film was a bit too much for the children. those that lasted, however, ended up enjoying it so all wasn't lost. after the film we meant up with the other children who left at the park where we had lunch. after lunch they ran around blowing bubbles. i think i had more bubble liquid on me then actual bubbles blown.

stay gold & be well…