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…
Monday, June 27, 2005
whiteboard art
deery-lou.
here's some artwork that found its way to my whiteboard last week. enjoy!
my ethan by chris
here's some artwork that found its way to my whiteboard last week. enjoy!
my ethan by chris
Sunday, June 26, 2005
daebudo
deery-lou.
YEAH! to snapfish for finally added a slideshow feature. its about time. i do like a good slide show when viewing photos. hope you do to. now onto business. my weekend has come and is slowly on its way out. boo hoo. friday night i got to spar with one of the kids in my taekwondo class. its wasn't my buddy cha-won. instead i had to spar with the tall kid. he was so not wanting to do it. they are alway so nervous to be paired up with me. i had to practice kicking earlier with one of the girls and she was nervous too. i know i'm tall and white with blue eyes and blonde hair but come on. me not that scary. after class i met up with my friend hyunsik in jungangdong. we went to my favorite bar which i call the "batcave". we got a pitcher of beer and some sidedishes. our sidedishes included: sausages and veggies [more like hotdogs cut into octopus shapes], sweet and sour pork [which was delicious], and hwa chae [which is cut off fruit in some kind of liquid served with ice]. i must say i was a bit septical of the hwa chae but it was very refreshing and good. who knew. the evening ended rather early which was good since i had to be up at 11am to meet bae jung-bae.
bae showed up at 10:45am. just as i was on my way to get a pepsi. damn. why do they have to be early. so he greets me with a hi mr. ethan and into the car i go. we head to his apartment to pick up his family. not sure why they didn't come in the first place. oh well more kl for you. when we get to his apartment his wife and two sons are standing outside. i get to greet them. the oldest son gets in the car while his wife and second son remained on the sidewalk. they weren't coming with. once the older son got into the car the younger one started to cry. i think i might have scared him. off we were. daebudo or bust. bae told me there was three stages to our trip. i love how they have stages. conversation was very minimal the whole day. my korean sucks and bae's english is limited. he did have a bunch of questions written out and prepared for the day. occasionally he'd grab his pad and ask me a question. it was cute.
stage 1: our first stop was on the shiwa embankment bridge. there i saw some boats and fishes. i love korea for the mere fact that even along a bridge there are snack tents everywhere. these people sure do like to eat. from there we went to gubondgo coast on daebudo. there we saw the tidelands which are all over the island. when it's low tide its low tide. i couldn't even seen the sea water at some places. its all in the tidelands that people are out digging clams and and crabs. its very mudding. there were people all along the shore with a tent set up with their stuff while they were out in the mud. it's so great because its alot of families out doing this. digging in the mud and getting all dirty. i really wanted to get all in the mud but i didn't. we strolled along the beach. at one area there were all these tents with women eating. at the end was a little restaurant. a little farther we came across a barb wire fence and a road. the gate was opened for people to walk through and the sign gave warning to let you know it was a military area. thats one of the strangest things about being here. all the military posts. at the end of the road there's more rocky beach and off to the left was gubongiseondol, two large rocks. this is the site for daebudo sunset sight 4. hee hee. i love how they have names for this stuff. the smaller rock is called halmaebawi and the larger one is harabaebawi. you can see a picture of them in my link. even though it was far from sunset they were still cool to see. the muddy tidelands, rocks and boats out in the distance was amazing. its really kind of hard to explain how i felt. there was something about it that felt calming, almost mystical. i don't know. after walking around gubongdo we got back into the car and continued our journey. next stop was lunch. we had noodles and seafood soup. not sure what its really called. it was filled with clams, squid, and some other sealife that i have no idea. i sat next to bae's son. which i should mention that a couple of times throughout the day he grabbed my hand when walking. little kids are so cute. he's about 7, the same age as some of my students. he was adorable. after lunch we walked over to this island. apparently when the tide is low you can get out there. the first part of the journey was through the squishy mud. it was like going through the mud walk at john stevens planetarium in florida. while on the little island bae caught a crab and gave it to his son. he carried it around for awhile as if it was his pet. there wer so many hermit crabs there. big ones, little ones it was cool to see them all. there are also these strange water bug that look like roaches. i don't like them so much. beofre heading back to the car bae's son left his new friend behind. i guess he didn't want to bring him back to ansan.
stage 2: stage 2 consisted of a brief stop at the english village ansan camp. english camps are where students go for a week or two and speak nothing but english. they have various scenarios set up to make the students feel like they are in america. we didn't get out of the car it was more of a drive by. it was kind of set up like a university campus. i saw a basketball court, soccer field, and a swimming pool. at the front entrance in giant letters is ENGLISH. i wanted to ask some questions but bae couldn't really understand me. oh well. we also saw the famous yeongeon bridge. hee hee
stage 3: stage 3 took us to nueseom island lighthouse lookout. it was a pretty far walk to the lighthouse. bae's son and i both had a pepsi before we began our long walk. i think he got one because i did. we're like brothers now. the strangest thing is that bae is 36. we're basically around the same age yet he seems so much older than me. i'm i that immature. i think a lot of that has to do with the fact that korean want to look after you. i mean he paid for everything. i tried to offer money several times and he wouldn't take it. i think thats partially when i felt like a child. well that and the fact that bae's son and were playing. anyway once we got to the lighthouse there was a very steep incline we had to climb. by now my sandals had completely dug into my feet and it was very painful to walk. the view from the light was good. although it was a bit foggy out so you couldn't see all these tiny islands that were out in the water. inside they had a simulated boat driving game. both bae's son and myself gave it a try. i almost made to the lighthouse but struck a rock beforehand. oh well. i guess i'm not made to drive a boat. that was the end of stage three. it was now time to head home.
the ride back was pretty much the same as on the way there. very little conversation. although bae did consult his pad a couple of times. and one point he said "let's have a heart to heart". he also told me to call him anytime i had a problem. and then he asked for my clothes size. bizarre. it was definitely cool that he made an effort. there were a couple of times throughout the day that i busted out my korean phrase book too. that thing defintiely comes in handy. bae's son slept the whole way home. when we were approaching my building i told bae where to stop but he said that we were going to dunkin donuts first. so now the three of us were in dd. i tried to get away with only having one donut but bae put a second one on my tray and then a caprisun. thats why i feel so young. its like i'm a son to him. its so strange. outside we parted ways. i thanked him for the day and told him that i really appreciated it. he said it was a fun day and next time we'd go somewhere else. i said ok. i said bye to bae's son and then went home.
i spent most of today [sunday] doing nothing. i read a little. i'm still trying to finish house of leaves. its been two years so far. i'm definitely determined to finish this book. hopefully this will be the year.
watched some tv: korean drama, and big momma's house. took a little nap. did some laundry, wrote some emails, and ate. talk about exciting. it rained most of the day anyway so no worries. sometimes you need to do nothing.
be well…
snaps from daebudo…
Links
YEAH! to snapfish for finally added a slideshow feature. its about time. i do like a good slide show when viewing photos. hope you do to. now onto business. my weekend has come and is slowly on its way out. boo hoo. friday night i got to spar with one of the kids in my taekwondo class. its wasn't my buddy cha-won. instead i had to spar with the tall kid. he was so not wanting to do it. they are alway so nervous to be paired up with me. i had to practice kicking earlier with one of the girls and she was nervous too. i know i'm tall and white with blue eyes and blonde hair but come on. me not that scary. after class i met up with my friend hyunsik in jungangdong. we went to my favorite bar which i call the "batcave". we got a pitcher of beer and some sidedishes. our sidedishes included: sausages and veggies [more like hotdogs cut into octopus shapes], sweet and sour pork [which was delicious], and hwa chae [which is cut off fruit in some kind of liquid served with ice]. i must say i was a bit septical of the hwa chae but it was very refreshing and good. who knew. the evening ended rather early which was good since i had to be up at 11am to meet bae jung-bae.
bae showed up at 10:45am. just as i was on my way to get a pepsi. damn. why do they have to be early. so he greets me with a hi mr. ethan and into the car i go. we head to his apartment to pick up his family. not sure why they didn't come in the first place. oh well more kl for you. when we get to his apartment his wife and two sons are standing outside. i get to greet them. the oldest son gets in the car while his wife and second son remained on the sidewalk. they weren't coming with. once the older son got into the car the younger one started to cry. i think i might have scared him. off we were. daebudo or bust. bae told me there was three stages to our trip. i love how they have stages. conversation was very minimal the whole day. my korean sucks and bae's english is limited. he did have a bunch of questions written out and prepared for the day. occasionally he'd grab his pad and ask me a question. it was cute.
stage 1: our first stop was on the shiwa embankment bridge. there i saw some boats and fishes. i love korea for the mere fact that even along a bridge there are snack tents everywhere. these people sure do like to eat. from there we went to gubondgo coast on daebudo. there we saw the tidelands which are all over the island. when it's low tide its low tide. i couldn't even seen the sea water at some places. its all in the tidelands that people are out digging clams and and crabs. its very mudding. there were people all along the shore with a tent set up with their stuff while they were out in the mud. it's so great because its alot of families out doing this. digging in the mud and getting all dirty. i really wanted to get all in the mud but i didn't. we strolled along the beach. at one area there were all these tents with women eating. at the end was a little restaurant. a little farther we came across a barb wire fence and a road. the gate was opened for people to walk through and the sign gave warning to let you know it was a military area. thats one of the strangest things about being here. all the military posts. at the end of the road there's more rocky beach and off to the left was gubongiseondol, two large rocks. this is the site for daebudo sunset sight 4. hee hee. i love how they have names for this stuff. the smaller rock is called halmaebawi and the larger one is harabaebawi. you can see a picture of them in my link. even though it was far from sunset they were still cool to see. the muddy tidelands, rocks and boats out in the distance was amazing. its really kind of hard to explain how i felt. there was something about it that felt calming, almost mystical. i don't know. after walking around gubongdo we got back into the car and continued our journey. next stop was lunch. we had noodles and seafood soup. not sure what its really called. it was filled with clams, squid, and some other sealife that i have no idea. i sat next to bae's son. which i should mention that a couple of times throughout the day he grabbed my hand when walking. little kids are so cute. he's about 7, the same age as some of my students. he was adorable. after lunch we walked over to this island. apparently when the tide is low you can get out there. the first part of the journey was through the squishy mud. it was like going through the mud walk at john stevens planetarium in florida. while on the little island bae caught a crab and gave it to his son. he carried it around for awhile as if it was his pet. there wer so many hermit crabs there. big ones, little ones it was cool to see them all. there are also these strange water bug that look like roaches. i don't like them so much. beofre heading back to the car bae's son left his new friend behind. i guess he didn't want to bring him back to ansan.
stage 2: stage 2 consisted of a brief stop at the english village ansan camp. english camps are where students go for a week or two and speak nothing but english. they have various scenarios set up to make the students feel like they are in america. we didn't get out of the car it was more of a drive by. it was kind of set up like a university campus. i saw a basketball court, soccer field, and a swimming pool. at the front entrance in giant letters is ENGLISH. i wanted to ask some questions but bae couldn't really understand me. oh well. we also saw the famous yeongeon bridge. hee hee
stage 3: stage 3 took us to nueseom island lighthouse lookout. it was a pretty far walk to the lighthouse. bae's son and i both had a pepsi before we began our long walk. i think he got one because i did. we're like brothers now. the strangest thing is that bae is 36. we're basically around the same age yet he seems so much older than me. i'm i that immature. i think a lot of that has to do with the fact that korean want to look after you. i mean he paid for everything. i tried to offer money several times and he wouldn't take it. i think thats partially when i felt like a child. well that and the fact that bae's son and were playing. anyway once we got to the lighthouse there was a very steep incline we had to climb. by now my sandals had completely dug into my feet and it was very painful to walk. the view from the light was good. although it was a bit foggy out so you couldn't see all these tiny islands that were out in the water. inside they had a simulated boat driving game. both bae's son and myself gave it a try. i almost made to the lighthouse but struck a rock beforehand. oh well. i guess i'm not made to drive a boat. that was the end of stage three. it was now time to head home.
the ride back was pretty much the same as on the way there. very little conversation. although bae did consult his pad a couple of times. and one point he said "let's have a heart to heart". he also told me to call him anytime i had a problem. and then he asked for my clothes size. bizarre. it was definitely cool that he made an effort. there were a couple of times throughout the day that i busted out my korean phrase book too. that thing defintiely comes in handy. bae's son slept the whole way home. when we were approaching my building i told bae where to stop but he said that we were going to dunkin donuts first. so now the three of us were in dd. i tried to get away with only having one donut but bae put a second one on my tray and then a caprisun. thats why i feel so young. its like i'm a son to him. its so strange. outside we parted ways. i thanked him for the day and told him that i really appreciated it. he said it was a fun day and next time we'd go somewhere else. i said ok. i said bye to bae's son and then went home.
i spent most of today [sunday] doing nothing. i read a little. i'm still trying to finish house of leaves. its been two years so far. i'm definitely determined to finish this book. hopefully this will be the year.
watched some tv: korean drama, and big momma's house. took a little nap. did some laundry, wrote some emails, and ate. talk about exciting. it rained most of the day anyway so no worries. sometimes you need to do nothing.
be well…
snaps from daebudo…
Thursday, June 23, 2005
how do i get myself into these situations
deery-lou.
i think i joined a korean cult. these members of the ansan sisterhood program or just too much. tonight before heading to taekwondo do i get a call from paul who is in charge of the sisterhood program. he was calling on behalf of jung-bae, the man who wants to take me to daebudo. paul was calling to make arrangements. he wanted to know if i was available on saturday. not really thinking i said i had no plans. which is partly true because my previous plans haven't been finalized. he asked what time i would be available to go to daebudo because jung-bae wanted to take me there. realizing there was no way out of it and being the nice guy i am i told him anytime as long as it wasn't early in the morning. ten minutes later i got a text message and then a phone call from paul. it looks like i'll be heading to the island at 11am with jung-bae and his family. how did this happen. i never really expected him to follow through with the plans. perhaps i got too use to people in america saying we should do this or that and it never happens. not the case here. this people are determined. they always go out of their way to make people welcome. it'll definitely be an adventure. jung-bae, his wife, two son, and i spending the day together. jung-bae's english is not that great so i can only imagine the conversations we'll be having. i guess i'll just have to wait and see.
on other news. things at school have been a bit strange. there's some weird vibe going on that horace and i can't really seem to figure out. it all started around when i declined to teach some extra classes. they want me to work an extra 15 hours a week plus 2 hours on saturday for $4 an hour. i told them that i couldn't manage that. the pay was just too low especially since they were getting half of it. haf anyone. so anyway things have been a strained. the other day horace had a blowout with jk who actually yelled at horace. we tried to ask one of the teachers what was going on and she responded to horace by saying she doesn't want to get involved anymore and just wants to do her job. horace kind of blew up and said some things. in return she went to jk and told him. so much for not getting involved on her part. we now call her judas. to make a long story short jk and horace ended up in the elevator together this morning and seemed to work things out. according to horace he thinks that jk is having some family problems and thats why he's been a bit distance. which is kind of relief. at least we now know he's not mad at us for the extra teaching stuff. we still haven't signed contracts yet and i'm hoping this won't affect that. i really don't want to have to look for another job. although i don't think it'd be too difficult. there are plenty of jobs out there. i'll keep you posted.
i have a little buddy in taekwondo class. his name is tong cha-won. he's always saying hi to me and sitting next to me. its so cute. he tries to talk to me but i only understand a little of what he's saying. the other day he looked at me and said, "ethan, i'm so tired." my response, "me too." then he smiled. i love him. i've been trying to learn poomse 6 which is quite challenging since they actually haven't shown me the moves. i'm trying to copy them as the whole class is doing it. hello. i'm a foreign and don't understand korean please help. hopefully they'll show me some pity and take me through it step by step. the other day my kwanjangnim told me that my black belt test would be october. yikes! he also said that i need to start training really hard. he had me kicking the other day for 20 minutes straight. i was so freaking tired afterwards. i think they're trying to kill me. seriously, i do. tonight the kwanjangnim was sparring with some of the students. it was so funny to watch. he was totally kicking their ass. thankfully time ran out before it was my turn. next time he said i'd have to spar him. he just wants to kick my ass. why can't i spar with the little ones. oh, wait. they'd probably kick my ass too. its a lose lose situation for me.
approx. 32 hours until the island trip. wish me luck!!
be well…
i think i joined a korean cult. these members of the ansan sisterhood program or just too much. tonight before heading to taekwondo do i get a call from paul who is in charge of the sisterhood program. he was calling on behalf of jung-bae, the man who wants to take me to daebudo. paul was calling to make arrangements. he wanted to know if i was available on saturday. not really thinking i said i had no plans. which is partly true because my previous plans haven't been finalized. he asked what time i would be available to go to daebudo because jung-bae wanted to take me there. realizing there was no way out of it and being the nice guy i am i told him anytime as long as it wasn't early in the morning. ten minutes later i got a text message and then a phone call from paul. it looks like i'll be heading to the island at 11am with jung-bae and his family. how did this happen. i never really expected him to follow through with the plans. perhaps i got too use to people in america saying we should do this or that and it never happens. not the case here. this people are determined. they always go out of their way to make people welcome. it'll definitely be an adventure. jung-bae, his wife, two son, and i spending the day together. jung-bae's english is not that great so i can only imagine the conversations we'll be having. i guess i'll just have to wait and see.
on other news. things at school have been a bit strange. there's some weird vibe going on that horace and i can't really seem to figure out. it all started around when i declined to teach some extra classes. they want me to work an extra 15 hours a week plus 2 hours on saturday for $4 an hour. i told them that i couldn't manage that. the pay was just too low especially since they were getting half of it. haf anyone. so anyway things have been a strained. the other day horace had a blowout with jk who actually yelled at horace. we tried to ask one of the teachers what was going on and she responded to horace by saying she doesn't want to get involved anymore and just wants to do her job. horace kind of blew up and said some things. in return she went to jk and told him. so much for not getting involved on her part. we now call her judas. to make a long story short jk and horace ended up in the elevator together this morning and seemed to work things out. according to horace he thinks that jk is having some family problems and thats why he's been a bit distance. which is kind of relief. at least we now know he's not mad at us for the extra teaching stuff. we still haven't signed contracts yet and i'm hoping this won't affect that. i really don't want to have to look for another job. although i don't think it'd be too difficult. there are plenty of jobs out there. i'll keep you posted.
i have a little buddy in taekwondo class. his name is tong cha-won. he's always saying hi to me and sitting next to me. its so cute. he tries to talk to me but i only understand a little of what he's saying. the other day he looked at me and said, "ethan, i'm so tired." my response, "me too." then he smiled. i love him. i've been trying to learn poomse 6 which is quite challenging since they actually haven't shown me the moves. i'm trying to copy them as the whole class is doing it. hello. i'm a foreign and don't understand korean please help. hopefully they'll show me some pity and take me through it step by step. the other day my kwanjangnim told me that my black belt test would be october. yikes! he also said that i need to start training really hard. he had me kicking the other day for 20 minutes straight. i was so freaking tired afterwards. i think they're trying to kill me. seriously, i do. tonight the kwanjangnim was sparring with some of the students. it was so funny to watch. he was totally kicking their ass. thankfully time ran out before it was my turn. next time he said i'd have to spar him. he just wants to kick my ass. why can't i spar with the little ones. oh, wait. they'd probably kick my ass too. its a lose lose situation for me.
approx. 32 hours until the island trip. wish me luck!!
be well…
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
vcds and more
deery-lou.
i can't believe its thursday already. where is the time going? it seems to be flying by. keeping up with my writing has now become a task. what am i doing in my spare time you ask? good question. i have no idea. oh wait yes i do. i'm getting sucked into korean dramas. i've also discovered a new passion vcds [video cds]. i've mentioned them before and now that i know they work on my computer i can't stop buying them. i watched one last night that had my favorite actor from love's pinwheel cha in-pyo. the movie was called iron palm. overall not the best movie i've seen but it was entertaining to say the least. it also had the korean actress from lost kim yoon-jin. i like her too. she's so good on lost. i've got 4 more vcd to watch and am sure that i will continue to buy them. hee hee.
on saturday i finally met up with jean. we've been trying to connect for the last 6 months or so. but due to our schedules it never really happened until now. we met up for coffee around 5ish. it was really great to meet her. we have a mutual friend in common jane, who i worked with at the jewish times. talking with jean was almost like talking to a long lost friend. it felt really comfortable. after coffee we went to grab a bite to eat. the food was quite yummy [as my students would say]. jean is a photographer so it was great to talk to her about stuff like that. she also knows alot about the publishing biz here in korea so i was asking her about that. who know perhaps i'll be able to find a job in my field. its too bad we didn't hook up sooner. we got along really now and now i think she's leaving at the end of the month for work again. oh well. at least i know she'll be back since korea is her home. on sunday i met up with my friend hyunksik. we went to gangnam area and had lunch at the pasta place. i was amazed at how good pasta and garlic bread tasted. see what happens when you don't have something in a long time. it taste fantastic. it was really hot on sunday. we walked around gangnam browsing in a bookstore where i bought even more vcds. then we went to get some coffee and air conditioning. when i got back to ansan i was craving pork cutlets so i went to my new favorite pork cutlet place van gogh [i think thats the name]. anyway i went up the stairs to the restaurant only to find it was now a bbq place. sadness. at the bottom of the stairs is another restaurant and i peeked it and noticed that it was van gogh. they had downsized but at least they were still in business. i had the pork cutlet stuffed with cheese. so delicious.
last night i meet up with my ansan city team members. we went out to dinner then went to a bar for some drinks. of course the other foreigner who is suppose to be in our group didn't come. it was a little uncomfortable at first but as time went on it got easier. i did realize that when i'm nervous i talk a lot faster than normal. a couple of times they had to ask me to slow down. i think i understand about 35% of the conversation and vice versa. there's one guy in the group who wants me to teach him english. a couple of times through out the evening chang mo asked if certain words were correct or konglish. i thought that was kind of funny. jung bae wants to take me to daebudo on saturday with his family. i'm not sure if thats definitely going to happen but it will definitely be interesting. at the end of the evening jung bae walked me home because he was the designated escort. he wanted to buy me some doughnuts for breakfast but dunkin donuts was fresh out. imagine that. a dd out of doughnuts. only in korea!
be well…
i can't believe its thursday already. where is the time going? it seems to be flying by. keeping up with my writing has now become a task. what am i doing in my spare time you ask? good question. i have no idea. oh wait yes i do. i'm getting sucked into korean dramas. i've also discovered a new passion vcds [video cds]. i've mentioned them before and now that i know they work on my computer i can't stop buying them. i watched one last night that had my favorite actor from love's pinwheel cha in-pyo. the movie was called iron palm. overall not the best movie i've seen but it was entertaining to say the least. it also had the korean actress from lost kim yoon-jin. i like her too. she's so good on lost. i've got 4 more vcd to watch and am sure that i will continue to buy them. hee hee.
on saturday i finally met up with jean. we've been trying to connect for the last 6 months or so. but due to our schedules it never really happened until now. we met up for coffee around 5ish. it was really great to meet her. we have a mutual friend in common jane, who i worked with at the jewish times. talking with jean was almost like talking to a long lost friend. it felt really comfortable. after coffee we went to grab a bite to eat. the food was quite yummy [as my students would say]. jean is a photographer so it was great to talk to her about stuff like that. she also knows alot about the publishing biz here in korea so i was asking her about that. who know perhaps i'll be able to find a job in my field. its too bad we didn't hook up sooner. we got along really now and now i think she's leaving at the end of the month for work again. oh well. at least i know she'll be back since korea is her home. on sunday i met up with my friend hyunksik. we went to gangnam area and had lunch at the pasta place. i was amazed at how good pasta and garlic bread tasted. see what happens when you don't have something in a long time. it taste fantastic. it was really hot on sunday. we walked around gangnam browsing in a bookstore where i bought even more vcds. then we went to get some coffee and air conditioning. when i got back to ansan i was craving pork cutlets so i went to my new favorite pork cutlet place van gogh [i think thats the name]. anyway i went up the stairs to the restaurant only to find it was now a bbq place. sadness. at the bottom of the stairs is another restaurant and i peeked it and noticed that it was van gogh. they had downsized but at least they were still in business. i had the pork cutlet stuffed with cheese. so delicious.
last night i meet up with my ansan city team members. we went out to dinner then went to a bar for some drinks. of course the other foreigner who is suppose to be in our group didn't come. it was a little uncomfortable at first but as time went on it got easier. i did realize that when i'm nervous i talk a lot faster than normal. a couple of times they had to ask me to slow down. i think i understand about 35% of the conversation and vice versa. there's one guy in the group who wants me to teach him english. a couple of times through out the evening chang mo asked if certain words were correct or konglish. i thought that was kind of funny. jung bae wants to take me to daebudo on saturday with his family. i'm not sure if thats definitely going to happen but it will definitely be interesting. at the end of the evening jung bae walked me home because he was the designated escort. he wanted to buy me some doughnuts for breakfast but dunkin donuts was fresh out. imagine that. a dd out of doughnuts. only in korea!
be well…
Friday, June 17, 2005
the sisterhood of ansan
deery-lou.
this week has been pretty uneventful. its been hot and i've been tired. on wednesday i met my friend heather and her boyfriend chris for dinner. since leaving taekwondo class i don't get to see them as much. they're leaving in july so i went down to the oido station to meet up with them. after dinner we went for a pitcher of beer. which in turn ended of being 3 pitchers. it was great to sit outside in the nice weather and kick back with cold beer. i ended up taking a cab home which i barely remember. needless to say the next at school i was worthless. i even skipped my taekwondo class. oops. when i showed up on friday my kwanjangnim asked where i was. he thought that i had gotten hurt. i lied and said i had to work late. i have a new favortie in my class. its this chubby boy with a mullet. he's always saying hi to me and smiling. he makes me laugh cuz he's always getting in trouble. he's told me his name twice but i can never remember it. i'll have to ask him again on monday. i was up early on friday because i have a meeting to go to. i signed up for the ansan sisterhood program which is about establishing friendly relationships with foreigners in ansan. i figured why not. what could it hurt. so i had to be at the healthcare center at 9:30. when i got there it was quite empty. i went in and they gave me my name tag and showed me to my table. i was at english team 1 and according to the sign there was going to be one other foreigner at my table and 8 korean city workers. this was definitely going to be interesting. as the time went on more people started coming in but they were all mostly the city workers. there were maybe 10 foreigners tops. the other foreigner at my table never showed. so it was me and my new found city worker friends. they were asking questions and vice versa. at one point we were all passing out our "name cards" [business cards] as they call them. it was quite comical. i did get a map of ansan which is a lot bigger than i thought. there's even a little island about an hour or so away. my new friends were pointing out different things to me and one even said he'd take me to daebudo, the island. how nice is that. they've also recently built a race track in ansan. in october they're having their first event there…champansan. i just might check it out. it seems like the city is really pushing it. they're hoping it will bring lots of tourists. seeing that i never made to the daytona 500 i should definitely check out the racing in korea. goodtimes. during the meeting we had to listening to some several speakers, get pictures taken, and watch a movie on ansan. i did get to meet the mayor you gave all the foreigners a certificate and a present. then we all had our pictures taken with him. hee hee. then i found out that my team would have to meet up a couple a times a month. what? yeah. they're taking this pretty seriously. so we had to come up with a team name. the leader kim chang-ma decided to call our group team duran-duran. once that was decided they all yelled out "team duran-duran" and clapped. they get very excited. our first meeting is next wednesday at 8:30pm. here are the events we have planned for future meetings: talking, conversation, eating, drinking, sightseeing, playing sports, etc. one of the guys on my team is a member of the basketball team. they actually all seem pretty cool. they have a sense of humor especially kim chang-ma who kept making fun of how koreans always have to have so many speakers at events. once we turned in our form listing our plans we had to have a team photo taken. they certainly love taking pictures. that was when they all noticed the big shoes. "oh what big shoes", they said. i told them i needed them to be taller. they laughed. before we left for the day they all told me to call if i had any problems or questions. people hear are so nice. i can't wait to see what happens on wednesday. at home i opened up my present which was a clock with korean painting on it. very grandmaish and kitschy. i like it. today i'm planning to meet a friend of a friend. my friend jane who i worked with at the jewish times went to grad school with a girl from korea and thats who i'm meeting. we've tried to get together for the last 6 months and now finally we both have time. its always cool to meet new peeps. thats about it for now.
be well…
this week has been pretty uneventful. its been hot and i've been tired. on wednesday i met my friend heather and her boyfriend chris for dinner. since leaving taekwondo class i don't get to see them as much. they're leaving in july so i went down to the oido station to meet up with them. after dinner we went for a pitcher of beer. which in turn ended of being 3 pitchers. it was great to sit outside in the nice weather and kick back with cold beer. i ended up taking a cab home which i barely remember. needless to say the next at school i was worthless. i even skipped my taekwondo class. oops. when i showed up on friday my kwanjangnim asked where i was. he thought that i had gotten hurt. i lied and said i had to work late. i have a new favortie in my class. its this chubby boy with a mullet. he's always saying hi to me and smiling. he makes me laugh cuz he's always getting in trouble. he's told me his name twice but i can never remember it. i'll have to ask him again on monday. i was up early on friday because i have a meeting to go to. i signed up for the ansan sisterhood program which is about establishing friendly relationships with foreigners in ansan. i figured why not. what could it hurt. so i had to be at the healthcare center at 9:30. when i got there it was quite empty. i went in and they gave me my name tag and showed me to my table. i was at english team 1 and according to the sign there was going to be one other foreigner at my table and 8 korean city workers. this was definitely going to be interesting. as the time went on more people started coming in but they were all mostly the city workers. there were maybe 10 foreigners tops. the other foreigner at my table never showed. so it was me and my new found city worker friends. they were asking questions and vice versa. at one point we were all passing out our "name cards" [business cards] as they call them. it was quite comical. i did get a map of ansan which is a lot bigger than i thought. there's even a little island about an hour or so away. my new friends were pointing out different things to me and one even said he'd take me to daebudo, the island. how nice is that. they've also recently built a race track in ansan. in october they're having their first event there…champansan. i just might check it out. it seems like the city is really pushing it. they're hoping it will bring lots of tourists. seeing that i never made to the daytona 500 i should definitely check out the racing in korea. goodtimes. during the meeting we had to listening to some several speakers, get pictures taken, and watch a movie on ansan. i did get to meet the mayor you gave all the foreigners a certificate and a present. then we all had our pictures taken with him. hee hee. then i found out that my team would have to meet up a couple a times a month. what? yeah. they're taking this pretty seriously. so we had to come up with a team name. the leader kim chang-ma decided to call our group team duran-duran. once that was decided they all yelled out "team duran-duran" and clapped. they get very excited. our first meeting is next wednesday at 8:30pm. here are the events we have planned for future meetings: talking, conversation, eating, drinking, sightseeing, playing sports, etc. one of the guys on my team is a member of the basketball team. they actually all seem pretty cool. they have a sense of humor especially kim chang-ma who kept making fun of how koreans always have to have so many speakers at events. once we turned in our form listing our plans we had to have a team photo taken. they certainly love taking pictures. that was when they all noticed the big shoes. "oh what big shoes", they said. i told them i needed them to be taller. they laughed. before we left for the day they all told me to call if i had any problems or questions. people hear are so nice. i can't wait to see what happens on wednesday. at home i opened up my present which was a clock with korean painting on it. very grandmaish and kitschy. i like it. today i'm planning to meet a friend of a friend. my friend jane who i worked with at the jewish times went to grad school with a girl from korea and thats who i'm meeting. we've tried to get together for the last 6 months and now finally we both have time. its always cool to meet new peeps. thats about it for now.
be well…
oh thank heaven for 7-eleven
deery-lou.
so i was poking around on the internet and i found this article about summer and slurpees. i miss my 7-eleven. appartently they are celebrating slurpee 40th anniversary. hopefully one of my friends out there we get a retro slurpee in my honor. i [heart] slurpees!!!
here the article:
The beverage (I guess you'd call it a beverage...) is celebrating its 40th anniversary says this press release:
7-Eleven, Inc. has launched a month-long celebration of Slurpee's 40th birthday on July 11, 2005. To celebrate this iconic brand, 7-Eleven is introducing retro Slurpee cups and flavors in participating 7-Eleven® stores nationwide, airing original Slurpee radio spots from the 1960s, and offering prizes and promotions as part of the Slurpee Summer Prize Fest, including free music downloads and the chance to win one of four MINI Cooper convertibles.
Today, Slurpee is one of America's most recognized brands, but when Slurpee was introduced in 1965 it was a groundbreaking concept that took America by storm. Still served at a chilling 28 degrees, Slurpee enjoys worldwide popularity and is available in 14 countries and U.S. territories.
"A lot has changed since 1965, but not Slurpee. It's the ultimate retro drink, still cool even after 40 years," said Kevin Cooper, 7-Eleven category manager for Slurpee and fountain. "That's why we decided to have some fun this summer with some of the crazy '60s Slurpee flavors like Blue Blunder Berry and Gully Washer."
"Slurpee is truly an iconic American brand," said Wendy Liebmann, founder and president, WSL Strategic Retail. "Slurpee was one of the defining icons of American pop culture in the 1960s. Forty years later, it still resonates with a broad base of consumers who see it as their big chilly drink of choice."
Starting today, 7-Eleven customers can slurp Blue Blunder Berry in June and Gully Washer during July, two retro flavors developed by The Coca- Cola Company. Four color-changing Slurpee mugs feature graphics representing the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Tinted bright blue, yellow, orange or green, the 38-ounce refillable mugs dramatically change colors when a cold Slurpee hits the mug, designed to fit any car cup holder. Retailing for $2.49, the price includes the mug, one Slurpee fill-up and free Wonka candy.
All Slurpee customers will be winners during the Slurpee Summer Prize Fest. Throughout June and July, 7-Eleven is giving away one free music download on all standard Slurpee cups. Last but not least, 7-Eleven is giving away four grand prize MINI Cooper convertibles, one for each decade of the Slurpee's 40 years of popularity and each painted a bright Slurpee color. Customers can register to win at participating 7-Eleven stores nationwide or online at http://www.slurpee.com .
"We decided to celebrate Slurpee's birthday by giving our customers a gift -- Slurpees, music and convertibles seemed like a natural fit," said Cooper. "Slurpee lovers can collect both music and cups during the celebration, and if they're really lucky, they might win a car!"
That's all very nice. But what we really want are Slurpee superhero cups!
i agree. bring on the superhero slurpees!!!
be well…
so i was poking around on the internet and i found this article about summer and slurpees. i miss my 7-eleven. appartently they are celebrating slurpee 40th anniversary. hopefully one of my friends out there we get a retro slurpee in my honor. i [heart] slurpees!!!
here the article:
The beverage (I guess you'd call it a beverage...) is celebrating its 40th anniversary says this press release:
7-Eleven, Inc. has launched a month-long celebration of Slurpee's 40th birthday on July 11, 2005. To celebrate this iconic brand, 7-Eleven is introducing retro Slurpee cups and flavors in participating 7-Eleven® stores nationwide, airing original Slurpee radio spots from the 1960s, and offering prizes and promotions as part of the Slurpee Summer Prize Fest, including free music downloads and the chance to win one of four MINI Cooper convertibles.
Today, Slurpee is one of America's most recognized brands, but when Slurpee was introduced in 1965 it was a groundbreaking concept that took America by storm. Still served at a chilling 28 degrees, Slurpee enjoys worldwide popularity and is available in 14 countries and U.S. territories.
"A lot has changed since 1965, but not Slurpee. It's the ultimate retro drink, still cool even after 40 years," said Kevin Cooper, 7-Eleven category manager for Slurpee and fountain. "That's why we decided to have some fun this summer with some of the crazy '60s Slurpee flavors like Blue Blunder Berry and Gully Washer."
"Slurpee is truly an iconic American brand," said Wendy Liebmann, founder and president, WSL Strategic Retail. "Slurpee was one of the defining icons of American pop culture in the 1960s. Forty years later, it still resonates with a broad base of consumers who see it as their big chilly drink of choice."
Starting today, 7-Eleven customers can slurp Blue Blunder Berry in June and Gully Washer during July, two retro flavors developed by The Coca- Cola Company. Four color-changing Slurpee mugs feature graphics representing the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Tinted bright blue, yellow, orange or green, the 38-ounce refillable mugs dramatically change colors when a cold Slurpee hits the mug, designed to fit any car cup holder. Retailing for $2.49, the price includes the mug, one Slurpee fill-up and free Wonka candy.
All Slurpee customers will be winners during the Slurpee Summer Prize Fest. Throughout June and July, 7-Eleven is giving away one free music download on all standard Slurpee cups. Last but not least, 7-Eleven is giving away four grand prize MINI Cooper convertibles, one for each decade of the Slurpee's 40 years of popularity and each painted a bright Slurpee color. Customers can register to win at participating 7-Eleven stores nationwide or online at http://www.slurpee.com .
"We decided to celebrate Slurpee's birthday by giving our customers a gift -- Slurpees, music and convertibles seemed like a natural fit," said Cooper. "Slurpee lovers can collect both music and cups during the celebration, and if they're really lucky, they might win a car!"
That's all very nice. But what we really want are Slurpee superhero cups!
i agree. bring on the superhero slurpees!!!
be well…
Monday, June 13, 2005
korean-havana nights
deery-lou.
its hot here. i finally caved in and turned on my air conditioning. during taekwondo i was completely drenched. the sabomnim made us jump so much. every time he looked over at me he said "jump, jump". for a minute i thought he was channeling kris kross.
no how much the tkd class pains me while i'm doing it, i aways seem to feel pretty good after. although tonight i ate a sausage sandwich, a chocolate snack, and peanut butter on a banana. not sure why so hungry.
friday night i spent my evening chatting with misty online and listening to bagel radio. ted was having a little summer theme going so i told misty to have him play bananarama's "cruel summer". not sure many people were fond of that song being played but i sure was. hee hee. we chatted until 3am my time and then i decidced i should be off to bed. my saturday was spent eating mcdonalds [i had a break down] and doing absolutely nothing. oh wait, i did manage to get a nap in. around 7pm i met a friend of mine in hongdae. we had dinner and then went to macondo latin bar. it was like stepping into my own korean-havana nights. yes i will admit that i saw havana nights. MISTY MADE ME GO!!! just kidding i actually wanted to see it for some obscure reason. perhaps it has something to do with my interest in latino culture [wink. wink.] it felt so forbidden being there. the dirty dancing of havana finding it's was into the converstive korean borders. actually there are quite a few latino clubs in korea. these koreans just want to dance. they actually served sangria too and it was pretty tastey. there were a lot of older korean men there waiting to ask the young pretty women to dance. some of them were actually pretty good. we stayed for an hour or so and then i called it a night and went back to lovely ansan.
on sunday i had some cold noodle soup and this resturant near gojan station. i went to lunch with my korean friend chris. the soup was very tastey. although next time i need to have them cut my noodles. its very hard to eat noodles with chopsticks. and these sweet potato noodles are quite chewing. i had to break them with my fingers because i can't find the end of noodle. i had so much in my mouth that i thought i was going to gag. nevertheless i prevailed. it funny how the smallest things can make one feel like they accomplished something great. thats what eating chewy noodles with chopsticks is like for me. chris and i hung out for a bit. later i went to carrefour to get some supplies. while in there i brought down and bought two korean movies that are on video cds. they cost about $4 bucks each. hopefully they'll work in my computer. one definitely said it had english subtitles the other didn't. i'm taken a gamble but i wanted to get it because it had an actor from "love's pinwheel" in it. hee hee. i'm such a dork sometimes. i've also been watching this sitcom called "guys & girls" every friday morning at 10. i love korean shows.
anyway…after having some dinner mcdonalds again. i know bad. when i fall i fall hard. but i think its out of my system again. i really wanted a crepe but the crepe lady wasn't there. so i got the big mac. sadness. i spent the rest of the evening watching 4 episodes of "popular". I LOVE THAT SHOW!! i was laughing so much. it made me feel so good. there was even one episode that i hadn't seen pretty that was a riot. here are some quotes:
mary cherry: "the career test said that i'd be a serial killer."
mary cherry's t-shirt: "prada or death"
nicole juilian: "i've given her a blowout that would have straightened the pacific coast highway" [this was about april tuna's makeover]
mary cherry's response: "april tuna is the blackhole of beauty."
adam to brooke: "is mary cherry retarded?"
it makes me laugh now just reading them. i could go on and on. this show was way ahead of its time. its too bad it wasn't able to go a third season. i love finding a show that can watch over and over again and still continue to laugh. and even see things you didn't notice before. sigh…r.i.p. popular and especially you mary cherry.
be well…
its hot here. i finally caved in and turned on my air conditioning. during taekwondo i was completely drenched. the sabomnim made us jump so much. every time he looked over at me he said "jump, jump". for a minute i thought he was channeling kris kross.
no how much the tkd class pains me while i'm doing it, i aways seem to feel pretty good after. although tonight i ate a sausage sandwich, a chocolate snack, and peanut butter on a banana. not sure why so hungry.
friday night i spent my evening chatting with misty online and listening to bagel radio. ted was having a little summer theme going so i told misty to have him play bananarama's "cruel summer". not sure many people were fond of that song being played but i sure was. hee hee. we chatted until 3am my time and then i decidced i should be off to bed. my saturday was spent eating mcdonalds [i had a break down] and doing absolutely nothing. oh wait, i did manage to get a nap in. around 7pm i met a friend of mine in hongdae. we had dinner and then went to macondo latin bar. it was like stepping into my own korean-havana nights. yes i will admit that i saw havana nights. MISTY MADE ME GO!!! just kidding i actually wanted to see it for some obscure reason. perhaps it has something to do with my interest in latino culture [wink. wink.] it felt so forbidden being there. the dirty dancing of havana finding it's was into the converstive korean borders. actually there are quite a few latino clubs in korea. these koreans just want to dance. they actually served sangria too and it was pretty tastey. there were a lot of older korean men there waiting to ask the young pretty women to dance. some of them were actually pretty good. we stayed for an hour or so and then i called it a night and went back to lovely ansan.
on sunday i had some cold noodle soup and this resturant near gojan station. i went to lunch with my korean friend chris. the soup was very tastey. although next time i need to have them cut my noodles. its very hard to eat noodles with chopsticks. and these sweet potato noodles are quite chewing. i had to break them with my fingers because i can't find the end of noodle. i had so much in my mouth that i thought i was going to gag. nevertheless i prevailed. it funny how the smallest things can make one feel like they accomplished something great. thats what eating chewy noodles with chopsticks is like for me. chris and i hung out for a bit. later i went to carrefour to get some supplies. while in there i brought down and bought two korean movies that are on video cds. they cost about $4 bucks each. hopefully they'll work in my computer. one definitely said it had english subtitles the other didn't. i'm taken a gamble but i wanted to get it because it had an actor from "love's pinwheel" in it. hee hee. i'm such a dork sometimes. i've also been watching this sitcom called "guys & girls" every friday morning at 10. i love korean shows.
anyway…after having some dinner mcdonalds again. i know bad. when i fall i fall hard. but i think its out of my system again. i really wanted a crepe but the crepe lady wasn't there. so i got the big mac. sadness. i spent the rest of the evening watching 4 episodes of "popular". I LOVE THAT SHOW!! i was laughing so much. it made me feel so good. there was even one episode that i hadn't seen pretty that was a riot. here are some quotes:
mary cherry: "the career test said that i'd be a serial killer."
mary cherry's t-shirt: "prada or death"
nicole juilian: "i've given her a blowout that would have straightened the pacific coast highway" [this was about april tuna's makeover]
mary cherry's response: "april tuna is the blackhole of beauty."
adam to brooke: "is mary cherry retarded?"
it makes me laugh now just reading them. i could go on and on. this show was way ahead of its time. its too bad it wasn't able to go a third season. i love finding a show that can watch over and over again and still continue to laugh. and even see things you didn't notice before. sigh…r.i.p. popular and especially you mary cherry.
be well…
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