Ricki in Korea

Obsession # 2

2009-10-16T00:34:00.012-04:00

Brown and gold Two different looks cause I was bored Brown and gold look Gold and turquoise Leopard print eyes Green I didn't take a picture of It was meant to be a smokey green but it turned into blue two different eyes two different eyes green smokey arab eye green smokey arab eye green smokey arab eye peacock arab eye peacock arab eye peacock arab eye peacock arab eye gold and brown gold and brown gold and turquoise leopard print blueish but mean to be green

My other obsession is make-up. My mother can tell you that I am not one to wear alot of make-up. It was a fight to get me to wear powder and chap stick. But living in Korea that has changed. Sure I only do make up every once in awhile for going out and such. In Korea alot of people (men and women) are very vain. There are mirrors everywhere and if not mirrors they use whatever shiny surface they can see themselves in. Most women walk around in mini skirts and stilettos. No matter how short your skirt if your wearing tights it's acceptable. Another thing is skin color. Apparently the sun gives you a "bad" complexion so many people walk around with umbrellas. One silly women even opened her umbrella within a bus. With that said there is alot of make-up but not always good for my complexion. But I've found a bunch of make-up tutorials on youtube that are useful. Now my make-up....

Obsession # 1

2009-10-15T23:40:00.011-04:00

Scroll to the bottom and read before viewing the pics or just look at the pictures whatever.

Nail polish colors

My nail box

Nail box all decorated

Brow and gold done with stamp

Brown and gold done with stamp

Gold and navy blue/black done with stamp ( creativity me)

French Manicure (stamp)

French Manicure with polka dots ( free hand)

French Manicure with polka dots (free hand)

Zebra print ( freestyle me)

Zebra print (freestyle me)

I have a confession to make... I am obsessed with doing my nails. When I was hone in the U.S. I did my own nails in Florida because it was alot cheaper to do my nails at home then go to a salon. Plus I've still got a scar on my foot from 2005, where a so called manicurist was doing my foot and cut it with the razor scrap thingy. It's safer and cheaper for me to do it at home. In Korea I thought I would get a mani and pedi every weekend. Not the case. There aren't as many nail places here as in America. So I've taken to the do it yourself method. Sure at first it was a nail polish here and there because it's cheap one dollar or two. But as many of you know I love colors. All kinds of color and I love having choices. One small box expanded into a small box and a medium box. Then I discovered nail art stamps. You paint your nails and put a fast drying polish on this mold, scrape away the excess, transfer the design with a rubber thingy. It's cool for people who can't draw tiny intricate figures or have airbrushing at home. A little before my discovery of this I was at Tina's boyfriends bar CLUB PSYCHO a great place to relax and have a cheap drink (gotta help out with promotion) I met a girl named Inae who is going to school to be a manicurist. She's a really sweet girl and she even did Tina's nails there at the bar. Her and I chatted about nail things and a couple weeks later we met at CLUB PSYCHO again. She gave me some crazy long tips and a nail file for them to play around with. She had learned how to do tips in class and had an abundance of tips. Yay for me. Sooo Inae has this box for her nail supplies. I thought I should get one also to be organized. I tried to order one but the order didn't go through. So this time I ordered an art box and would design in myself. Needless to say I got the box put my stuff in annnd I have one big box and a smaller box for the cotton squares and nail polish remover and some other items. Without further ado my obsession ladies and gents.

Moving

2009-10-15T22:46:00.009-04:00

Other front closet I thought I got the inside but I didn't

One front closet

From the entrance

The shower

The bathroom

The fridge

The kitchen area

The living area and my window

Clothes closet

Another view from the entrance

Moving was pretty much easy. I was almost all packed up by the day of the move. I had a few stray items out but the moving guys brought extra crates and boxes so that was good. The day I moved there were 4 other people moving out so the elevators were busy but I would say I was moved out of my place in about 40 minutes. The broke down the bed and took down the curtains and such. Ji-Hye and I took care of all the administration stuff and we're just waiting on the moving men to pack the truck and get going. But there was a small problem. They gave the school office one account number but it should have been deposited in another, add to that the chief of administrations phone battery dying and we were waiting for 40 minutes. Finally everything was all ready for me to move. We arrive at the new place rent the moving elevator and I'm unloaded quicker than I was loaded. Yay!!! After I was all finished and everything was taken care of I treated Ji-Hye to lunch for helping me out with everything. Annnd now pics of my apartment.

My new apartment

2009-10-15T22:24:00.003-04:00

I know I haven't posted in awhile but I was busy with school stuff. Also I've been reading alot and I haven't wanted to be on the computer. Anyway for those of you who don't know, when I renewed my contract for another year, I negotiated a new and bigger place. YAY because my old place was sort of a closet and I felt like I was in a dungeon because it was facing another building so I had no sunlight. My school hired a real estate agent and one day we went looking. That day I saw many apartments in the building where almost all my friends live. Though the apartments are nice and it would be nice to live in the same building as my friends, I know this building. Their building has many different business in them including a bar, norebongs (singing rooms), live bar (where a band plays live music and you or the band sings and they charge a ridiculous amount of money), and a fried chicken place. As tempting and fun a place as it seems to be to live, not always. There are drunk business mean milling around always and there's noise at all hours of the night. I've known enough hearing my friends complain. If I hadn't known we might have stopped there. But we went one train station away to Pyongchon. Right across the street from where the train stop is and a store called E-mart (like a wal-mart) is my apartment building. There is a door man so I can order all the packages I want. There are 3 elevators in the lobby. I was impressed already. But the best part of course was seeing my apartment. It;s much bigger than my old one and it's bigger than some of my friends. Ha Ha!! That's not all. My apartment has an almost real kitchen it has plenty of cabinets (I think 9), a fancy fridge, a breakfast bar, annnnnnd a window Woohoooo!!!!. The bathroom has a sink and a shower separately unlike the combination sink/ shower I used to have and the cabinet space is bigger. My apartment over looks the city and an office building. The clothes closet is smaller than my old one but the front closets are a plus. Also I have loads of storage space above my bed and in form of cabinets in front of my window. I was so excited that my co-teacher and the chief of administration we're like she'll take it. Day one and I found a new place.

Some pictures I've decided to upload

2009-09-10T23:44:00.005-04:00

This is my new net book. I found it online and it was used. My current laptop is acting funky so I bought this one as a back up. It's like a baby laptop and I love it so far. I paid less than I would in the states for it and def. less than Korea. For some reason electronics are super expensive in Korea. But the best part about the laptop is it's an English version of the computer from America. Sweeeet!!!

These are this weeks nails. Don't ask me to do your nails cause for some reason I am terrible at doing other peoples nails I can only do my own.

Another thing I've picked up while in Korea(the other thing will have a post all it's own) is painting my nails and decorating them. I did these a couple weeks ago.

Our friend Justin with her hat and fan.

Tina with her hat and fan

I have some fun interesting friends in Korea Tina whom you see in alot of my pictures is part Thai and she like me has her own fashion sense. Some of which involves some hats. A couple weekends ago she came to visit with Justin and we all modeled her hat and fan that the boys brought her from China.

Last weekend

2009-09-10T01:34:00.004-04:00

Last weekend was very interesting. It started with me heading to Ansan to say goodbye to a friend who was going back home. While on the train a Korean guy touched me inappropriately a few times. Normally a person like this would walk away without a hand... but I didn't realize what was happening till he was getting off the train. The train was very crowded and he had a bag in his hand. He was holding onto on of the straps as was I. I felt his hand brush up against my leg but i thought he was maybe adjusting his grip on his bag. But alas no. As more people got on I felt it again. So I moved away from him. But then more people got on and we were pushed closer together. Finally there were less people on the train and I felt it again. This time I thought it was my headphones because the chord was long. But no. When I felt it higher up and towards my inner thigh I knew it was no mistake. I yelled "Excuse me !" at him and thankfully it was his stop he ran off the train never to be seen from again. I was shocked and livid never have I had an experience like this. Ughhh. I met my friends and we went for Indian food which was really good and spicy in Ansan. Then I met another friend to go dancing in Itaewon. Itaewon is known for having a certain type of people I am not fond of. And they would not leave me alone. My friend Dani is used to it. She gives the shut-down before they even approach. But I guess I was fresh meat, having never hung out in Itaewon at night before. At first I was nice but then I did start getting rude. At one point I was hanging out with a guy friend and a man came up to me and asked me to dance while I was talking. I hugged my friend and said "Oh. No I'm with my boyfriend sorry." That still did not deter him. Another man even after getting the brush off continued to talk to me in between trying to pursue another woman!. But the most annoying was outside. We were eating street food and talking to other foreigners when this man got out of a car and came up to me saying his friend in the car liked me and wanted to talk to me. I told him I was not interested and he should move on. He said "He's been waiting a long time to speak to you." to which i replied "And he'll keep waiting because I'm not going to speak to him sorry." With that he got back into the car. Finally when we were about to go home we went to flag down a cab he gets out of the car. As soon as he started walking to me I held out my hand and said "You need to go." "My friend will take you home." "I'm not getting in your car." (The car was black with dark tinted windows) Then his friend rolls down the window as I am getting into the cab and says "I just want to talk to you." "I'm sorry but I don't want to talk to you and trying to scare me into talk to you is not going to work either." While my friend was getting into the cab, 1st guy comes and is trying to close the door so we can't get in the cab. "Oh we will take you don't worry." My friend says. "There are plenty of other girls in that club right there go get one of them." 1st guy looks at her like she's crazy and says. "What makes you think I want another girl?" Fed up I threatened to call the police just for him to leave me alone. Ugh that was Friday. Saturday was a BBQ it was fun but I got there late cause Dani couldn't decide what to wear. It was great to see everyone and talk about my new sewing endeavor and baking, then I discovered I just sat down in tar. Alllll on the back half of my butt. Great. The only thing to make that better was Krispy Kremes. The solution to all life's problems (unless your diabetic). So I went to anyang with Tina to visit her bf at the bar. While there we met this really nice Korean girl. She's studying to be a manicurist. So she did Tina's nails and she gave me an amazing hand massage. We exchanged numbers and told her is she ever needs someone to practice giving manicures to I was all for it. Yay for free manicures. After that I danced a little then went home. Ohhhhh I forgot ok so while I was getting dressed for the bbq. Right out the shower the real estate agent came by. He knocked once and started unlocking the door despite my protest. i flew into the bathroom and locked the door just in time.

Teaching in Korea

2009-09-10T01:30:00.002-04:00

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/09/08/200909080009.asp I read this article and thought how awful it would be to be in that position. I'm glad that things worked out for me but for those applying be careful. I guess nothing is really set in stone. I didn't have much problem with my recruiting company or the board of education. When I applied I was told one school but then was switched to another. I'm happy for that switch. I love my school and my students and wouldn't trade it for the world. My advice would just be to be cautious and try and speak to as many people as you can before coming or applying for a job here.

Apartment

2009-09-06T06:35:00.003-04:00

Yay I got the apartment I wanted. Now if I could just get the stove I want I'll be one happy black girl. The stove I want has a real oven. oh that would make me so happy. To be able to cook normally in the oven. Broil things like steak. It would be awesome. It will be in a nicer part of town. I am across the street from E-mart a division of Walmart. It has a 24 hour door man (I think) but there is a doorman. I have keyless entry. I also have a video peep hole. I will post pictures when I move. Yay for new places.

updates

2009-08-31T23:54:00.003-04:00

I haven't forgotten about my blog. I have one more day in China with pictures to post. I am back in school now and I am going to be moving in a few weeks, to a bigger apartment. Hopefully it's the nice one I saw a couple of days back. Also I will begin sewing. I have been in Korea for almost a year now and haven't done anything really productive. Sure I inform new foreigners about places to be and bring love, sunlight, and happiness to everyone I meet (which is a hard job) but I want to do more (what can I say I'm a giving person). So I will be posting my projects on here so you can see my progress. Also comment so it'll give me a kick in the pants to write more frequently.

Day 3 in Shang-hai pictures

2009-08-23T17:40:00.026-04:00

I thought I had a video of the sheer amount of koi in the water but I didn't so I just put these 2

Night out with our friends from Korea

Night out

Random red building

There were a lot of bikes in China

And there he is again

Another rickshaw we didn't ride in one =(

It's a rickshaw and some dude that followed me. Different one from before.

Obama is in China

The entrance to the gardens

So many koi

Now the bird and I are the main attraction

The bird was the main attraction

Awww me trying to take pictures on the bridge

Person that keeps the water clean of debris

More people looking at us

Garden tea house

Around the garden tea house

At the food court sounds yummy

Thought it was cool it's a store that sells tea pots and tea

More temple

How cute is this ? It's a hand

Charlie and I

More water for our tea

Our tea pots

At the tea house

Praying

At the temple

Oh look they're point at me

Closer to the gardens

Outside in the bazaar

More pretty paintings

Beautiful painting wish i could take it home

The bazaar

Guard dog outside yuyuan

Year of the bull

Friday's outfit

Video 1 i think is the bazaar Video 2 is in the temple Video 3 is the poor baby with his bottom out. I was mistaken babies in China have slits because it make it easier to go potty and no clean up. But they are trying to change that Video 4 is the teapot Video 4 is by the Yuyuan tea house and in the end a man is trying to sell us things. Video 5 is by the tea garden also. This lady came up to Charlie and asked if her hair was fake and was trying to touch it. Then she was trying to move onto me. There were people looking as you can see. This was on the bridge more people looking I wish I had videoed when they were taking out pictures.

Day 3 in Shang-hai

2009-08-23T15:43:00.012-04:00

On Friday day 3 Yay more sightseeing. But not without our free delicious breakfast. They use some kind of spices in China I have yet to find but I will. That makes any dish taste amazing. I was eating snap peas and cauliflower like it was going out of style. Today we decided to do some more shopping for souvenirs. We were going to a place a lady had suggested. It turned out to be a mall and it turned out to be a mall ! Where you couldn't bargain! We promptly walked out. Not knowing where we were going we just followed the crowd of Chinese people. We were led out to a residential area. We saw real Shang-hai which was kind of cool. Little kids running around. While walking around I heard this loud constant noise. Cicadas. I haven't heard them in forever. My goodness they are so loud. We walked around to look for a bank because we wanted to buy more things. Unfortunately our cards didn't work. So we went to Yuyuan Gardens. As soon as we got there people were looking at us. Like stopping and staring. It was very strange. We walked around the outside which is the bazaar. There were lots of little stores, selling a great variety of souvenirs. While heading for the garden Charlie stopped to get film for her camera. I was taking pictures and videos. While taking pictures I saw a man walking around me. I held my bag tighter because apparently in large crowds in China there are pickpockets. The man came up to me and said "Wow. Beautiful. I love you" I replied, "Thank you." and walked away from him. I walked over to Charlie who was oblivious. But he had followed me over apparently. Charlie said he fluffed up my ponytail, but I didn't feel it. He came around saying I love you again and started touching my arm. He asked me where I was from, and I told him I was from Korea. He looked at me like I was crazy and he said "Africa ?" Finally realizing what he meant I told him I was from America. I think he said something about liking Obama. Then after a few more I love yous he left me alone. Since some places con tourists the people in the Bazaar did not take 100's and make change. So we had to go make change. There was a Starbucks near by so we went to get change. I had an amazing passion fruit lemon tea. Soooo good thank you Starbucks. Charlie choose seats in front of a big picture window. While Charlie went to buy the film I noticed people outside were staring at me. Then came the cameras. By this time Charlie had come back. People were taking pictures of us sitting there in the window. I kept my head down, but Charlie got very upset and yelled not to take pictures. We were inside so I think the picture was pretty funny of her waving her arms around. While in Starbucks Charlie saw smoke and said there was a temple and we should visit. While in the temple we discovered a tea house and we had had tea together in China. After that I discovered that my monthly visitor was here. =( I had cramps. We sped through the Yuyan gardens tea house. But we didn't go to the gardens. We were trying to save money cause I wanted to get souvenirs. All the while we were getting our pictures taken. Only one group of girls asked us. Everyone else just positioned themselves around us so we would be in the picture. One time after I figured out what they were doing I turned my back. They kept moving around me trying to get my face in the picture and I just kept turning my back. I felt like I was being followed by the paparazzi. Finally Charlie started snapping pictures of the people taking our picture. They didn't like that too much. One picture that unfortunately did not come out was a man who was taking a picture of himself but was trying to get me in the picture and Charlie is taking a picture of him. We walked around got deals on souvenirs and headed home. I was happy to be going because the cramps were kicking in hardcore. Plus we were gonna get Peking duck yay finally Chinese food. But by the time we got home, found out where there was duck, and started getting ready. Our friends from Korea who were in China wanted to go out for drinks. So it was either that or duck. *Sigh* No Chinese food =(. We went early to see if we could find some food. We found street food mmm lamb on a stick. The seasoning was amazing Charlie and I were licking the skewers. Our friends showed up and we went for drinks and wandered around. After all the wondering we went back to Zapatas and had a great time. Trying to get a taxi ride home. Outside the club were cabs. We got into a cab and handed the driver the hotel card. He started talking to himself. Then he tried to make a u-turn in the middle of this tiny street. Other cabs were blocking him in. The security at the club were yelling at him. So we got out the cab and promptly got into another cab. Charlie warned other people that were about to get into his cab about him and being a bit off. Yay for night 3 in China

Day 2 in Shang-Hai

2009-08-20T13:39:00.009-04:00

Yummy

Mangosteen

The market oh boy !

A world expo building

Cool building

T.V. tower

Hotel I think it was the riverside hotel

It's good to be the boss.

Going to get his boss I assume with a table umbrella.

It's raining =(

On the other side of the tunnel

Sightseeing tunnel

Pearl oriental TV tower

Day 2 in Shang-Hai part 2

2009-08-20T12:36:00.012-04:00

Not sure how long the rain would stay off we decided to visit the famous Xing-yang market, they are known for their replica merchandise. We asked around to find the subway. Then we bought tickets all by ourselves. We figured out everything because we're city girls if you've been on one subway system you've been on them all. Once we got to the market we had to use the restroom. Being accosted by a person selling watches we told her we wanted to find bags and the restroom. Lucky for her and us she had a friend who's store was near the restroom. We went into the store and they lead us to a back room. Oh boy here we go. Charlie was looking at some bags and watches. I was interested in some bags until they told me the price. Now I have to pause here and say the RMB is very tricky. It's not one to one or two to one like some money systems. I believe 10 RMB=2.50, 100=15.00 and 400=60.00 about I'm rounding up. Ok now I don't know what Charlie was thinking when they were telling her these prices. 2100 for 2 watches and 8100 for her 2 watches 4 purses. She was really ready to buy these bags. I was trying to give her hints that it was too much and we should get out of there, but I guess she was in a shopping zen, she even kicked me and told me to buy a bag because it was a great deal. Finally, as they were about to re size a watch for her, I said can I speak to you outside. We went outside and I told her I only brought a certain amount of money and she said" Oh you can't buy that purse, you don't have enough." to which I replied " Noooo, you don't have enough either. You have enough maybe for one watch." Finalllllly it clicked and she told me to call our friend Ming ( A friend of ours middle name who is of Chinese descent but I'm more Chinese than he is.) also my phone didn't work in China. So I was like oh my goodness what am I gonna do ? So I told her I left my phone in the hotel. Unfortunately she said " No, you have it in your bag". I didn't like being put on the spot, but I turned on the phone and pretended to make a phone call. While on the phone Charlie kept interrupting me, till she asked to speak on the phone. While she was on the phone I started making my way toward the door. The people in the store started getting scared while all of this was happening they resized the watch and had it on Charlie's wrist in record time, they started buzzing around Charlie while she was on the phone. She started sounding shocked and said "Oh no! They are trying to rip us off ?" With that I was out the door and she started making her way out as well. They began to follow us saying "No lady don't go. We give you good price. We give you half of what your friend say. How much you wanna pay ?" Which means they tried to take the tourists for a ride. We were excited and drained we got out of there. (Story sounds much better on the phone so if you wanna hear it callll me. Lol) We did end up getting bags while there using the walkout method. By the time we got back on the train and by our hotel my feet were throbbing. We tried a new fruit (Mangosteen sooooo delicious) and went home. After an hour or so of resting we got ready to go eat dinner. But all restaurants close around 9:30-10:00. So we walked some more looking for food. I threatened to tell my mom on Charlie if she didn't step up her game and find me some food. Finally we stumbled upon a hotel with a bar/ restaurant that was open . We went in and guess what ? They said they only had noodles. (I'm thinking ramen noodles.) But yay !!!! it was pasta. So i got to eat on Thursday.

Day 2 in Shang-Hai part 1

2009-08-20T12:14:00.008-04:00

On Thursday I woke up to Charlie knocking on the door of our room. After we had switched rooms she thought the bed was too hard and small. Since she had her key she went back to our old room to sleep and I slept in our new room (I was too tired to go back and forth). We got dressed and went to breakfast. Breakfast was great food rice, noodles, veggies, sausages, eggs, juice. The hotel Carolina in Shang-hai has the best buffet breakfast. We didn't eat or feel hungry again till dinnerish time. After breakfast we went sightseeing. The sky was cloudy but we figured it would be ok. We took a cab to The Peace hotel. From there we went down to the Bund sightseeing tunnel. Ir was an interesting attraction. There are only 2 ways to get to the other side of the city under or over it. We went under it. When we got to the other side to go outside it was raining, lightening, and thundering =( boooo. We went to the restroom and while in there I was approached by a woman selling Rolex's. She went from 150 RMB to 10 RMB lol and all I said was no and walked out. In a break from the rain we ran out to a beautiful store. The things were sooo cheap but bulky so shipping them would have cost way more than buying them. We then went for tea and a very nice hotel. The rain finally let up and we went sight seeing briefly. The things to be done were not very expensive but didn't seem worth the money.

Pictures from day 1

2009-08-07T02:26:00.005-04:00

Bathroom

1st hotel room

Charlie and I at the airport in Korea

I'm in Shanghai !!!!

At Zapata's food was soooo good

Charlie and I before going out

I've perfected pictures in the mirror

1ST ROOM

Day 1 in Shang-hai

2009-08-03T10:41:00.002-04:00

So being in an Asian country it's cheap to bounce around to other Asian countries. My friend and I decided to go to Shang-hai, China. We are both shoppers and that's what Shang-hai's got in spades. We'd been talking about this trip since May and finallllly it was time to go. Wednesday we left on an 8:55 flight bound for Shang-hai. Can we say excited !!!!!!!! It's only a 2 hour plane ride to a whole other country! Once arriving in Shang-hai we went through customs and immigration. We grabbed our luggage and headed for the door. Yay whole new country here we come. We procure a cab and are headed to our hotel. We look around and.... it reminds me of every other city I've been to =( . Cars and tall buildings. Not sure what I was expecting, perhaps people walking around in rice paddies with hats on and those balance baskets on their shoulders. I noticed in China all the taxis are Volkswagen's which I thought was pretty funny. There are more variety of cars there from everywhere. The cab ride was an hour and our driver got lost but we reached our destination Hotel Carolina. We checked in and went to our room. As soon as we got there I tested out the bed. Oh so comfortable. Koreans used to and still do sleep on floors, so hence their beds are not so comfortable. The bed are down right uncomfortable. I wake up some days feeling like I got into a fight and the bed won. But the beds at the Carolina soooooo comfy. I told Charlene about the bed and she sunk into the luxuriousness 2. Needless to say little sleep and a very comfortable bed makes for 2 sleepy people, that wake up 5 hours later. After that refreshing nap (or what my sister would call a sleep) we looked in our info about Shanghai for some place to go. We decided on Zapata's. It's a restaurant/ bar that is popular among Chinese and expats alike. We had the hotel call us a cab and write the name of the place we wanted to go and we were on our way. While on the way there I noticed the amazing architecture and the bright lights of Shang-hai also referred to as the Paris of Asia. Once at Zapata's we walked around a little exploring and then went in. As you can tell Zapata's is Spanish, not Chinese. Soooo my first night in Shanghai no Chinese food. I had pork burritos that were so unbelievably good. The seasoning was excellent. While there lo and behold. Wednesday is ladies night and you know what that means FREEE MARGARITA'S!!!!!!!!! How fortunate for us. After dinner and letting it settle for a few we hit the dance floor. We had soo much fun dancing, my friend even got up and danced on the bar. There were so many different people there I met a guy from France who compared my dancing to Shakira and said I was the best dancer in the whole restaurant. *blush* There was a Chinese girl who grew up in France, people from New York, and , Australia. It was a pleasant mix. Though I don't understand why ex-pats can be so rude to one another. While walking around we saw a few foreigners and they looked right through us or gave us dirty looks. That happens here in Korea a lot. I don't see why we can't be nice to each other, because when it comes down to it, we're all each others got, whatever but I digress. Zapata's was awesome. Around 2 we made our way home. When we got back to the hotel we had to change rooms because our room had a problem with the toilet. The room we were moved into seemed a little smaller but after all that dancing I didn't care and fell right into bed. Charlene on the other hand did not like the room at all. She decided the beds were too hard and since she still had her key to the other room went to sleep there for the night. So our first in Shang-hai was a success we navigated well around the city and we had a great time. This was only the beginning of our trip.

I got soooo Muddy at Mudfest

2009-07-13T10:01:00.011-04:00

the next day people were gonna get muddy come rain or shine

Korean girls wear heels everywhere even to Mudfest at the beach

After very little sleep

We welcomed the sun or the day since there was no sun

Idiots

New Guy, Coo coo, and Tina

Reppin Hawaii

Korean pilots McGuyver and Stallion

Yummy seafood

Great pizza

It rained.. alot

Fire works were bad

Potter

Night of and we look cute

Got lots of pictures taken

Painted our faces

We got colored mud

Send bail

Help in Jail !!

Little girl is too adorable

Super muddy people

Mud people

It got in my eye stupid mud

Before the mud

Beach

Waiting to go to our motel building

On the bus

Lesson Plans

2009-07-09T22:59:00.003-04:00

For the past couple of weeks I've been dealing with a crappy situation for a summer camp I have to teach at another school. I was asked if I wanted to teach at a camp at another school. I said I didn't really want to but if the school wanted to I would. I was told the Korean co-teachers would speak perfect English and I would just have to show up and teach. WRONG !! Well the school thought it was a good idea for me to go so I said sure why not. I had a choice to teach in the morning or the afternoon. I choose the morning. I was supposed to teach near my school, and teaching in the morning afforded me to have the rest of the day free. Alas my co-teacher got a phone cal saying if I taught all day I would get an extra 400 dollars. DONE ! I like extra money. I thought it was going to be easy. But nothing in this life is easy. A week later my Camp Co-teacher or CCT as I will call her emailed and text me we need to pick a topic, once the topic was chosen I had to write a lesson plan within the same parameters as the lesson plan she sent as a sample. So i spoke to her on the phone she said she was new so picking the topic was up to me. I said "how about songs? " "No." "Well what can we do?" "Cooking, or storytelling things like that." "Ok Let's do cooking." "No someone else is doing that." "What do you want to do ?" "How about book making?" "Ok." Since I have been known to do many different arts and crafts I was like cool. I can make books. Not really a topic but I can make something. I am still unsure of what is going on with the camp and how the classes will be run so I send her an email and text. Nothing till Wednesday. She only contacted me on Wednesday to sort or answer my questions and to tell me now I needed 2 different topics. So now I'm up to 2 topics for a presumably 5 day lesson plan due Friday and it's Wednesday. She's pushing it but I can get it done. Then Thursday she calls and says I will be working with 2 levels of students. So i need a low and high level plans for the 2 topics so right now I'm looking at 4 lesson plans but since she knew it was a lot I could send it to her Saturday. I was like yeah no I can send it to you Monday the earliest. I finish the plans and send them Monday afternoon. Tuesday afternoon I get a call. The lesson plans were wrong. After unsuccessfully trying to explain in English what was needed, she explained to my co-teacher in Korean. My co-teacher had trouble understanding her but basically I just needed four 80 minute lesson plans. Not four 5 day lesson plans. Why she didn't just say that instead of saying we have to teach 8 teams in a week I'll never know. Soooo I had to do that by Wednesday because Thursday we were having a meeting. I get it to her on Wednesday after spending a few extra hours at work cutting down and redoing the lesson plans. At 4:30 she calls (I leave at 4:40) Oh you need more detail in the lesson plan because it's going to be published I need it by 3:00 tomorrow. THAT'S IT I HAD IT! I emailed her and said I didn't want to be published. I didn't want to do the camp and It won't be to her by 3:00 tomorrow. After a good frustrated cry. I did put in some detail. I sent it to her. The heifer didn't even read it. I went to the meeting and she had the old one, she didn't check her email. Ugh !! So she checks it, tells me I need even more detail. I was like what's even more detail ? Basically I have to write a script not a lesson plan. What I will say what the kids should say and so on. I was like that's ridiculous. I don't know what they will say. But she said I had extra time. Then I was really upset. If I had all this time why were you rushing me in the first place. Ugh!!! Then to top it off we are in a classroom with stoves and she goes. "Oh I wanted to cook" "Well I told you I could make a lesson about cooking." "Well it's too late now isn't it ?" Ugh !!!!!! I wanted to deck her. I have finally finished with it and I can't wait for this unpleasantness to be over.

My birthday 1

2009-07-01T08:37:00.007-04:00

So Saturday was my birthday. It was a long and hard week before my birthday and I was happy for the weekend. I went to Caribbean Bay a water park here in Korea. It was so much fun. We left from Beomgaye station near my house and the bus cost 8.00 round trip. We left kind of late because there were some people who were late. I thought for sure there would be a long line and alot of people when we got there. But when we got there we got our tickets in less than 5 minutes. Not only that but since Samsung is the company behind the park and I had a Samsung card my ticket was only 20 as opposed to the 55. I was very happy. My friends and I went to go get ready to swim. While Dan, Justin, Iris, and Kammy went to get on rides. Tina, Dani, and I went to the lazy river. They should really ban kids from this they are a nuisance. Splashing and kicking. After an hour or so in the river. We got hungry and went in search of the Island food we were promised. We never found it. There was a restaurant called Bahamian Mama but it was Korean food. =( That's when we met up with everyone and we went to the Lazy River. Where this time around the inner tube didn't like me. I fell 3 times and got carried away!!! So I got out of the river at the next exit. It was getting late so everyone went to the wave pool. Tina and I stayed behind. She wanted a pizza roll, it was so gross. I think she threw it out. I wanted to go to the wave pool for a little bit. So she stayed behind and I went to the wave pool. I took some pictures and video of the wave pool. While I was there I made a friend. She was an adorable little Korean girl. I was standing there when she came up and was like "That was a close one." I looked over to see who she was talking to and she was looking up at me. Then as wave after wave came she got closer then she was holding my hand and jumping in the waves with me. It was cute the Koreans coming out of the water thought so too and smiled at us. After getting out of the wave pool. Tina and I wondered around the interior taking pictures. We got dressed before anyone else and were waiting. There was a close call and the bus was almost missed. But we got there in time. At night I went out with my friends to eat dinner and we got ice cream. While at Coldstone I convinced the guys to let me behind the counter to take a picture with them. We also had silly picture time. Then we went to a bar and club I hadn't been to in forever. At the bar the bartender who we are friends with had a cake and candles for me and they played Happy Birthday. I had a really good time for my birthday and I'm glad my friends were able to share it with me.

My birthday

2009-07-01T07:32:00.020-04:00

Flowers from Tina There was even a Korean with an Afro Love the name of this place Two hands one heart Awww Yay another cake at Psycho Lol only Tina knows what's going on. Furniture Add or Coldstone add ? Ha ha but I got behind the counter I think he liked Tina 4 3 2 Silly picture time 1 I love Ice Cream Ice Cream for dessert Yummy beef and pork it's what's for dinner Let's eat alreadyGimmmmie presents Karen and KevinDinnner time Michigan and Illinoisians lol Lol they should have spell check here no? Asian Pose Tina and I Dani and I Dani, Izzy and I Birthday girl at night I wonder what a Relex room is exactly ? My audience awaits Awwww birthday girl Tina on the rocks lol should be the name of a drink Then he got comfy He was so tired he feel asleep Lifeguard posed and I had no idea till Tina pointed it out This is around the time Tina and I started taking random pictures. Happy for island food. Disappointed it was just Korean food My friend from the wave pool Wave pool Cheez Tina with the awful Trying to catch up Not succeding Trying to get on the inner tube Kammy and I In the tower Surfing ride Kammy and I C bay again Iris, Kammy, Me, Dan, Justin, and Dani Dan, Iris, and Kammy Me enjoying my "island food" Danni and Tina Korea's idea of Caribbean food lol grilled chicken fries and a hot dog. I was born to live in a caption Lazy river We're ready to go swimming Tina put on my sunblock Peace pirates Caribbean Bay Entrance Caribbean Bay YAY ! Tina, Danni, and Justin My cake from Tina

english eduaction in korea

2009-06-19T01:11:00.002-04:00

Some of the videos and songs the province has outfitted us to teach the students english. It's a wonder they learn what they do sometimes.

Asian poses and Anime eyes

2009-06-19T00:00:00.012-04:00

Tiny cat claws

Adjusting glasses

Sssshhh

I did 2 knocked in the face and surprised

Thinking and knocked in the face 2 fer again

I attempted 3 here hand on the face, puffy face, and surprised.

Nyan Nyan and puffy face

Confused

Puffy face and sssshhhh

Hand under face and cute smile

Punched in the face a surprised. I think this is the 2nd one.

Knock to the face and looking up

Adjusting glasses

Ssssh and puffy face and sad

The peace sign of course

Fight face

Hands on the side of the face and surprised

Kitty claws

Ok and pufy cheeks

Pointing and puffy face

Hands under chin, puffy face, and sad

Nyan Nyan

Regular one

Praying

Happy i'm gonna go to sleep

Picture perfect

cute

closed pre fake lashes

closed after fake eyelashes

open after false lashes

Ope before lashes

Since my foot still hurts a bit I don't venture out as much still. So this Sunday while home and on facebook and saw a post my friend made. It was a link to a website about the various poses asian women do. (http://asianposes.com/). Being bored and wanting to do something I decided to take the asian pose challenge and take pictures of me doing various poses. I took them with my webcam, camera no flash, camera with flash. I even did my make up to resemble and anime character thanks to a youtube video. Here are my pictures

Updates

2009-06-18T23:39:00.002-04:00

So as most of you know I am bad about keeping in touch with people. Actually I suck at it. But I've gotten better (slightly). I don't know why I don't do it honestly. Maybe my keep in touch switch was not turned on from birth. Cause I am technically an only child ? Who knows. Enough about that. I'm here to report that nothing significantly major has happened in my life. The only thing of interest was I sprained my ankle a few weeks ago. I was starting a diet and i went to the store to get food and while walking out of the store I missteped and sprained my ankle. No big deal I've done it tons of times. When I got home I wrapped up my ankle and was ok, or so I thought. As the night went on my foot started to hurt more and more. In the middle of the night I was thinking of even calling out of work so I could go to the doctor. But by morning it was feeling a little better and I went to work but told my co-teacher that I wanted to go to the podiatrist and have my foot checked out. After school I hobbled to the doctor where he told me..... "You have a sprained ankle." Uhhhh no duh Doctor. X-rays were taken and then he said ..... "You have a lot of trauma to your foot, so you'll have to put your foot in a splint." "A what ?" "A cast, you'll have to wear a cast." "For how long ?" "About 3 weeks." I breathed a sigh of relief thankfully it was going to be off before my birthday. So they put a semi hard cast( cast in the back wrapped with ace bandage) on my right foot. Now here's the kicker (tee hee). I had to use crutches. Yes that's right. CRUTCHES! The school was generous enough to give me the rest of the week off from school to get adjusted to life on crutches. I spent the next 3 days bored out of my mind at home. Most of you probably know how much i hate cleaning (I think I'd rather die). Well I spent most of my days cleaning my house and doing laundry. The next couple of weeks I went to work. My co-teacher and her husband picked me up everyday and dropped me off at school. I am forever thankful for their generosity. Some teachers at the school drove to school for the specific purpose to drop me off at home. I was so happy when my friends would come by for a visit and we'd hang out and watch movies. We didn't need to go out to have a good time. I started feeling like i had something in my cast and when i put my hand inside i felt like i had bumps on my feet. I went to the doctor and he yay took of the cast. But said for another week I had to use the crutches and have some Physical Therapy. Hurray cast off !!!!

Update

2009-06-14T06:33:00.001-04:00

Sorrrrrry I haven't written in a long time. I have been busy with school and such. But I will be posting soon enough. Thanks for reading.

Lighting festival and Buddha's Birthday pictures

2009-05-06T04:07:00.014-04:00

This Saturday I went to a lantern lighting festival for Buddha's birthday at a temple in Seoul. We also went to a creek in Seoul to see lanterns and floats. It was a very spiritual and fun night.

The lanterns and I Outside the temple At the entrance People gathering Praying to Buddha Lanterns Outside the Buddhist museum Inside the museum Big drums Lit lanterns By the creek My birth year Lantern float in the creek I got a lantern Man made waterfall Lanterns at the creek Lantern Ribbon Buddha In k print from the museum Up close ink print

Field day at school pictures and videos

2009-05-06T03:29:00.010-04:00

Friday was field day at school it was fun and cute. Parents participated

Cool down Parents and kids doing a relay race 3rds graders relay race 6th graders Students 5th graders

Jindo pictures and a video

2009-05-06T02:42:00.019-04:00

Lost a part of the bumper Statue at night On the walk picture from my friends Lunch Plate dancers Legend Dancers from the next day Tina and I were so tired lol Mmmmm snails Mmmm silk worm larve It's us minus Tina Singer Back of the motel The motel we stay at 7 people fit in that room Was a long night The next morning The bathroom The path was there a minuter ago Families at the water fountain Kids saying hi He wanted his picture taken Shells I got a shell Playing drums In front of the part The parting of the sea Statue messing around taking pictures Floats People walking the part Legend lantern Doggie and diapers Melissa and I People are walking cool

Jindo Miracle Moses festival

2009-05-06T02:21:00.003-04:00

A couple weekends ago I went on my first trip to southern south Korea. I went to Jindo with a few of my friends. I came back with one less friend due to some drama and differences, but who wants a friend who brings negativity. I had fun with my friends and regret nothing. We went to Jindo because once a year they have a festival celebrating the Moses Miracle sea parting. The story goes that Jindo was invaded by tigers and all the inhabitants left and went to another island. As they were leaving they left one woman behind. Grandma Ppyong. She prayed to the dragon to reunite her with her family day and night. Finally the dragon heard her prayers and parted the sea so she could rejoin her family. As she was walking toward her family and they were walking to her she became so overwhelmed with happiness she had a heart attack and died in their arms. Sad but happy cause she spent her last moments with them. It took alot of traveling to get to Jindo and a bus accident. We stayed overnight. Thanks to the wonderful teachers at my school we stayed in a little hotel that was right next to the sea right behind the main festival road. When we got there finally, we put our stuff in the room and went to have lunch (we were starved). Then the boys went to walk the sea part and my friends (Tina and Melissa) walked around and walked on the beach not participating in the walking. The shoes you had to buy to walk on the sea floor looked to small and people were limping cause there were jagged rocks and such on the ocean floor. I'm not into pain so we forwent the walk and opted to take pictures instead. There wasn't much of a festival unfortunately. Most of the festivities were going to happen on Sunday and we were leaving early Sunday to get back and be responsible teachers. The boys got to stay longer because they work in private schools and start work later in the day than us girls do. All day it had been getting colder and colder. The boys had a room but it was back on the mainland almost an hour and a half away. They decided they would sleep on the beach or try and find a place to stay while at Jindo. There were no places left so we told them they could stay with us. So we fit 7 people into a room meant for maybe 3. Fun huh ? After a long day we all were relaxing and talking and Non-friend flipped out because we were all talking and he wanted to go to sleep. He not only cursed me out he knocked on the door of Koreans who were also being loud next door ( the boys were not supposed to be there so he put every ones sleeping arrangements in jeopardy). Then he walked out and went off on his own (we don't know why he decided it by himself it was freezing outside at least in the 20's or 30's that night). We left the next day alittle rested mostly feeling like a mac truck hit us all. But it was a fun weekend away.

Cherry Blossoms

2009-05-06T02:08:00.002-04:00

I went to the Cherry Blossom festival in Youido(an island) a few weeks ago. I was very excited to see the Cherry Blossom and I love going to festivals. But I was very disappointed. After church on Easter sunday I was very excited to go and see flowers and a festival. I went with my recruiting agency so I could meet some new people. We took a ferry to Youido Island where the festival was to be held. When we got to the island there were soo many people there. There were many vendors and flowers everywhere. I just wanted to go to the festival but since it was promised that we would end up at the festival after the tour of the island my friend Tina and I followed the group. We did not end up at the festival. We walked the whole island and ended up in a park where I saw this ghostly or ghastly looking woman. I was very upset I wanted to see things and take pictures with the flowers. So Tina and I hiked back to where the festival was being held (more than a mile away from where we were). We took pictures with some flowers and returned home not seeing any of the festival. I have problems with my feet so I'm not able to walk long distances but in Korea all you do is walk. So I was exhausted and sweaty to top it allll off I had blisters on my feet. It was time to go home. Which we had to walk alot and up and down stairs. But the flowers were beautiful and being out in the sun was great.

Easter and Cherry blossom

2009-04-18T05:55:00.013-04:00

I WANT THIS CARRRRR !!!!

I don't know why but i loved this piece I think it was the blues and purples They were practicing but we left cause we had been walking all day Tina looks silly Pretty sky Flower art Yay Finally Entrance to the festival finallyThis one had an evening dress on lol Awwww so cute together Me and Tina's Sean Hey that's me and one of the people in our group taking my picture why can't the paprazzi just leave me alone lol Global Campus teachers National Assembly Lol another example Korean girls love their mini skirts and heels even to go to walk long miles in the park The cherry blossoms My friend Kevin and his friend Sylvia her laugh was sooo adorable Tallest building in Korea Building 63 So many blossoms Awww I like this picture Tina and I Awwwww my friends Tina and Sean Ferry terminal Pretty flowers Han river Just for you pops I think it kind of looks like a snail Myendong Cathedral Myendong Cathedral altar for Easter not decorated like back at home

School pictures

2009-04-10T01:24:00.005-04:00

He made this it's almost like an Iroomba cleaning brush he's in 3rd grade

Lunch

3rd graders game

She is soo adorable

3rd grade memory game

Bookcase in my office

Cafeteria

Ji-Hye and I

I'm teaching

Gifts from my students

2009-04-10T01:19:00.001-04:00

My students

2009-03-19T23:32:00.002-04:00

Sooo after about a month of school starting I am so very happy with my 6th graders and my 3rd graders. My 6th graders I had them before as 5th graders. I wanted to continue teaching and planning lessons for them. I also wanted to try something new with the curriculum. Teaching grammar instead of the boring Lets write situation they have in the book. When students get to middle school they do grammar, and unless they go to a hagwon ( after school language study) they are at a loss for what grammar is. I am introducing it to them as simple as I can. They are doing 7th grade work (my co teacher thought they couldn't handle it). What I am learning is that co-teachers in public schools don't think the students are capable of harder things. Kids like to think and prove people wrong. Take my 3rd grade for instance I never taught them before. This is their first time at formal English education in the public school ( almost all of them go to hagwons). My co-teacher wanted to have them go over their ABC's and sounds at the first class of every lesson. The first day I planned for them was all about their ABC's. I get a really slow version of the ABC's. What happens ? They know their ABC's in fact in all the classes at least one student told me the song was too slow. LOL. Then at the end of the video it says super simple songs, and what do my geniuses do? They read "Super simple songs" " Ooooo Ricki Teacher super simple songs." Lol I just have to laugh and say "Yes that's right." Soooo from now on I will push the envelope a little. Like today I introduced the characters in the book to the students. Then we were going to play hangman. My co teacher thought they wouldn't know how to spell the simple names soo we were going to do an activity where they learned the spelling of the names. Only one did they get confused on and it was not an easy one. I must say I love my 3rd grade already. They are well behaved nd they really like me in class. Out of class they are still a little scared to approach me. One of my students wrote me a note last week saying they couldn't wait for English class and they loved me. Awwwww. Also this week was parent teacher conferences. Although I did not have any conferences, some parents spoke to my co-teacher and said their child liked English so much they wished they had it everyday. YAY !!!!! My students love me. Woohoo. They are just so smart and adorable though. They know English so well better than alot of my 4Th graders.

School, Learning Korean, and Yellow dust

2009-03-19T00:59:00.007-04:00

I have finally moved into my new classroom. Yay it has like wooden laminate floors. It echos and when the children make alot of noise it gets really noisy. Oy vey. I am not a fan of this yellow dust nonsense that's floating around the air. Apparently it is sand from the Gobi desert and pollution. YAY !!!! So people walk around with surgeon masks on their faces. I have yet to get my mask but I will. It causes allergy like symptoms to me. It's horrible. I don't like it. I have been taking Korean lessons the past few weeks. I am learning to read but it is difficult to remember the characters. My dad (Hi Papi I miss you ) has expressed interest in learning Korean sooo I figured why not put it up on my blog so anyone who wants to learn korean.

Here are the letters Consonants

ᄀ- gee yok (g) ᄂ- nee un (n) ᄃ- dee gut (d) ᄅ- ree ul (r or l) ᄆ- mee um (m) ᄇ- bee up (b) ᄉ- see ot (s) ᄋ- ee ung (ng only when it's at the bottom) ᄌ- jhee ut (j) ᄎ- chee ut (ch) ᄏ- kee ut (k) ᄐ- tee ut (t) ᄑ- pee up (p) ᄒ- hee ut (h)

Vowels

ᅡ- a ᅣ- ya ᅥ- uh ᅧ- yeo ᅩ- o ᅭ- yo ᅮ- oo ᅲ- yoo ᅳ- eu ( like ewww) ᅵ- ee ᄈ- strong b ᄍ- strong j ᄄ- strong d ᄁ- strong g ᄊ- strong s ᅢ- ae ᅤ- ya ( like the ya in yay) ᅦ- e ᅨ- ya ( like the ya in yay) There is no alphabet song unfortunately. The only song I know is combining the consonants with the first vowel a.

가 - ga 나 -na 다 -da 라 - ra 마 - ma 바 - ba 사 - sa 아 - a 자 - ja 차 - cha 카 - ka 타 - ta 파 - pa 하 - ha

Now when you are confident with knowing how to say your letters or singing the song please call me and recite said song. I wll continue with my lesson next time.

School Happenings

2009-03-12T22:59:00.003-04:00

So at school this year the principals focus is going to be on English. I was never asked about anything that's been going on. I was alittle upset about that especially since if it's wrong it makes me look bad not the school. My classroom is moving because I will use to teach Korean games in English and tell Korean fairy tales in English in my old classroom. I think not sure what's going on with that. Then there will be an English experience room. No idea what that is either. They've put in these LCD TVs that scroll words in English and then sentences. I have not seen all the sentences but the first time I saw the screen the word was "of late". The sentence was" Don't be of late to school." This concerns me. Lol I was told last week I will do a broadcast for 10 minutes every Wednesday for the whole school. Hurray ? TV star once again. Lol I will also have special classes which I knew. But I won't necessarily teach what I want. I will be teaching science and social studies in English. I ixnayed the math bit cause lets face it I'm not good at math.

Korean Lessons

2009-03-12T22:37:00.003-04:00

I started taking Korean lessons a couple of weeks ago. I have been trying to learn off and on since I got here. My pronunciation of the words are good (so says my co workers). I've got the food words I like down, so much in fact that I can order at restaurants that have no English in them at all. Anyway so my first class was fun. Classes take place in this cafe that is too adorable. It has little rooms that have different themes and there is art everywhere. In this class your expected to know how to read Korean. So I went in expecting the teacher to be all mean and serious, cause Jillian told me that's how he was, but he was friendly and warmed up to us. By the end of class he was teaching us pick up lines. He then called in one of the waiters and we practiced it on them. Last weeks class I was with another teacher named Kammy. She lived in America for 6 months working in a hospital. Her English is really good and she was a good teacher she broke down the Korean letters for me to make easier to learn. Then during our break she asked me if I heard of Toby Keith. I responded yes and after that it was a music exchange. I suggested songs off my I-Pod and she suggested songs off her mp3 and we listened to them writing down which one we liked. It was alot of fun. We're supposed to hang out together sometime because she is about my age. It will be like a language exchange I will practice my Korean and she can practice her English though her English is really good. This week I missed class because I was getting my TV fixed but excited to go back next week. I am already reading slowly but surely.

new posts

2009-03-08T20:41:00.002-04:00

Don't give up on me I say. I will post soon. I just have to get into the rhythm of blogging again. I promise. It'll be fabulous.

A picture post- read from the bottom up

2009-02-16T23:11:00.008-05:00

My coke at allo resturant. It's so cute I took 2 picturesCoffee at allo. I thought it was soo cool..... Fondue at baskin robbins You can dip if you want but the onions were greatKimchi, water, and sal the veggies you put the kalbi in to eat it Kalbi cooking yummy looks soooo goodOut to eat at a galbi resturant This was on a tube of tooth paste. I hate math too. They give you pagers so you know when your food is done. It's the Korean version of Burger king Yummy It comes with side menu which is like veggies and of course Kimchi How it comes when they deliver it Do sol Bibimpap that stuff is gooooood this is korean take out btw no plastic here 3 and 4th graders making sentences Pizza making before I don't have an after Kyoung Ja the music teacher Ji Hye my co teacher

This weekend

2009-02-16T22:32:00.002-05:00

Nothing really exciting has happened since Jackie T. That was enough excitement and drama the weeks prior( that I can't talk about) that made me stay in for a couple weekends. One Sunday I went to church with my friends Jillian and Kelly. Then we went shopping. Well they went shopping. They only have big sizes in Itaewon and those clothes are not too cute from the stores I've been in. Even shoes my passion and they have such cute ones here are hard for me to buy. In a couple of stores the largest shoe size in women they had was an 8 and in other a 7 1/2 . This weekend I decided I wanted to do something fun to help me feel better and exercise at the same time. I did my favorite activity Belly dancing. I had found out there were classes going on in Itaewon. Class was so much fun one of my friends Adriane joined with her friend. The walk to get there was ridiculous there were stairs that were broken down with hardly any incline and after that there was a hill. I worked out before I even got to class. The teacher was awesome she made it really fun and comfortable. After class Adriane, her friend and I went to meet another friend of hers for lunch. We went to Copy Cat Richards it's like an American diner. The food was ok but the biscuits were horrible. Adriane told me they've been better and they must have a new cook. After lunch I found a place to get my hair did. They do perms, wash and set, cuts, and BRAIDS !!! yay. They sell hair downstairs. But when you braid it there the hair is included. A black woman works there as well as a Korean lady. She was up there braiding hair I was impressed. Then I went to go get measured for some custom made shoes (pics to come) and then I went home. I was going to stay home on Saturday but all my friends were going out so I decided I'm goin too. We went to Club Psycho where they had speed dating. That was interesting to watch. While I was watching this man came in and gave me a box of chocolates. I was apprehensive (never take candy from strangers is what i was taught) but after he ate a piece and all my friends at one and they were fine I ate a piece as well. Then came this band from hell. They drummer banged loudly on his drums and the guitar was loud. I thought my ear drums had burst and blood was pouring out of my ears. I left immediately with my friend Arti and we waited for everyone outside. I started to get hungry so we went on a trip to McDonald's playing a mean trick and ditching our drunk friend on the way. While at McDonald's two people came in and ate our leftovers in a whirlwind and they were gone. After Casa de Renaldo's as Arti calls it, we went to MC bar where Jillian got her wallet stolen. So on Sunday we had to go file a police report because her ARC was in the wallet. Then we had yummy Italian food. All in all it was a good weekend.

Slang and Jackie T

2009-02-16T22:03:00.003-05:00

So a couple of weekends ago my friends and I went out. Friday we went to the Wa bar near Beomgye. I had a peach crush and that thing was so sour my face almost imploded. I'm used to the Wa Bar near me where it's a little tart but mostly sweet. After the Wa Bar we went to this new Hip Hop club that was close by named SLANG. It's a nice place. The staff is very nice. It's set up where there are tables with couches and stools and they seat you like you were in a restaurant and the best part about it is they have lockers so you can put your stuff at the front. I don't know how many times I've gone out and wished there was somewhere I could put my things and not have to worry about them (in light of this weekend I wish more places had them more about that in another post).The music at SLANG is better than MC Bar(another hip hop club). They play a variety and never let the K-pop play too long. Also there were a lot of foreigners there, I would say about half the club. It was really fun on Friday that we came back again for round deuce Saturday. Saturday was fun as well, the owner was still giving us free drinks and the music was good. Even the co-owner of MC bar was there, he came up to us and chatted (we're kind of regulars there). Now here comes the Jackie T. part of the story. His name is Jackie T because he was Korean but very muscular like Jackie Chan and he was wearing a tight tank top and yelling like Mr. T. Sooo I being the only black person in the club was center of Jackie's attention. He kept coming up and yelling in my face (as if i would be interested) and trying to dance with me. He spoke really good English with very little accent but his phrases were from the early to mid 90's. One point I was sitting down and he was trying to dance on me. There was a song playing with 'Where you at ?' in it. He yelled at me "Where you at Mama where you at ?" I replied "I'm over there can't you see me ?" He looked in that direction and then about 30 seconds later as if it just dawned on him he yelled "You not over there. Your right here girl I got my peepers on." Finally after him dancing on me and me pushing him away ( " Why you pushin me away girl? I charge for this and I'm givin it to you for free.") I told him I was dating someone. "He's black right ? awww snap." was the response. "No he's white" to which he responded to my shock and delight. "Traitor" he walked away put on his coat and left. Have you ever heard of such insanity ? lol

Winter Camp

2009-02-16T19:30:00.004-05:00

When I got back to Korea I had Winter Camp with my 5th graders. I love my 5th grade. They are truly smart kids. I think teachers in Korea don't give the students enough credit for what they are capable of. On Tuesday we did introductions and some American sayings and Slang. I loved some of the sentences they came up with, with the slang words they had. They sounded like American teenagers. Wednesday we did travel and childrens books that were turned into movies. Travel was fun because I exposed them to things that might not be learned or seen here. I even educated myself about a couple of different places. Childrens books that were turned into movies was another fun topic. We read parts of books and watched parts of the movie. Then we compared and contrasted the two. Then we read outloud Jumanji. Which if anyone has read Jumanji is quite different from the moive. Thursday we talked a little bit about food and whee different foods came from. Then we made pizza. It was so much fun and such a mess. We had one cheese and one sausage pizza. The first pizza came out ok. It was pretty burned at the bottom. I used a pizza pan and there were no instructions in the pizza pan. So it was trial and error. The next pizza came out better than the first. While making and eating the pizza we watched Jumanji the movie. This was my favorite day. Toward the end of class I gave my students the sausage I had bought for the pizza. This sausage was very strange. It was this like rose colored pink and it was very soft almost like clay. Then the smell was even worse. It smelled like tuna fish. It was strange and I wanted no part of it. I gave it to one of my student, after he bit into it he wanted no part of it either. I told him he'd have to cook it so we greased up the pizza pan and they cooked the sausage on it. It still tasted nasty. Sidenote- When I went to the store with my co-workers I asked them what kind of sausage it was. They told me there was pork and beef, squid and fish in it. Gross ... just gross. Friday was my second favorite day. We did writing. We did Venn diagrams about Jumanji. Then the had to choose which they liked better the book or the movie and give 3 reasons why. Some of the answers I got were awesome. Sure some of them used their dictionaries on their phone but they gave well written and thought out answers. Next I taught them the basics of writing a paragraph. Then gave them topics on which they had to write one paragraph. All in all I think it was a good camp. Then the next week I had 3rd and 4th graders. Ji-Hye planned this camp . It was fun I got a fun game out of it to play with the students. We also made pizza with them. This time it was cheese and bacon and pineapple. They turned out way better than the pizzas from the week before. I had perfected the dough and how to make more pizza and stretch it to the pan.

I'm baaaaaaaccck

2009-02-16T19:20:00.003-05:00

Ok so I'm back to blogging. I will try and be more diligent. We'll see how that works out. I will be posting pictures up soon. I was unable to post pictures before I got frustrated and stopped blogging. A lot has happened since I last blogged. I went back to Florida for vacation. It was amazing. I got the see my family and new addition Lucas who is so adorable. I didn't go anywhere or see anything. When you live somewhere you kind of take it for granted. When I came back I taught a winter camp and my students wanted to see pictures of where I went and what I saw. They were disappointed I didn't have any pictures to show them because I didn't go anywhere or see anything. If there's one thing I want to change when I get back home is to go and explore more. See different sights. I passed by under the bridge that connected the Twin Towers for along time when I took acting classes in the city. Never once visited them. I'm taking advantage of the tours set up by my recruiting company to explore Korea. Although I don't know about the temple stays. I have to walk up mountains and you feed me veggies and I have to sleep on the floor ? I'll have to train for that.

Sorry

2008-12-16T08:31:00.010-05:00

See-saw game in the Korean folk village Korean Folk Village Korean Folk Village Korean Folk Village Korean Folk Village War Museum (didn't see that either) Not sure what that is but it was cool earrings Snuck this picture no cameras allowed Seoul tower Outside of The National Korean Museum Outside of The National Korean Museum Changing of the guard ceremony at the palace we didn't get to see that one though Skating rink in Gwanghwaymun Mountain backdrop Sorry I haven't been updating I have been way behind. The pictures I posted before was of a night out at Kelly and I had the weekend before last. We went to our favorite place the wa bar with raisiny nachos. Then we ended up going to this place called U Live which turned out to be a Karaoke place that charged way too much for alcohol that we didn't want and we barely drank. 41,000 won for 3 Budweiser's. It was the worst experience ever. Never will we go back there. I hate beer and it took everything in me to keep down the small glass i had so i wouldn't seem impolite. Finally Ji-Hye came back on Friday. It was great to see her and talk to her again. I made a banner for her and had some teachers sign it for her and then bought breakfast for us to have and catch up together. Saturday I went on a tour with my recruiting company Global Campus. It was alot of fun and I met a few teachers some even near where I am. We went on a tour of the: National Museum of Korea Namsangol Hanok Village Changdeokgung Palace Christmas Party in Gangnam Then tragedy hit walking around in the cold on Saturday has given me a cold. I hate being sick. But thank goodness I am doing better. Everyone at school is commenting on the weight that I've lost. I don't see it. They have been saying oh your face got thinner or oh your body has changed since you've been here. I don't see it I feel it a little in my clothes so I guess. On Sunday Kelly took me to this Italian restaurant she discovered. It's my new favorite place. I think it's called Nino's. The waiter was amazingly nice. He noticed Kelly and I sniffling and coughing a bit so he was like do you mind if i move your seats. He moved us to another table away from the door that had a heater near it and brought us warm water ( sometimes Koreans drink just plain hot water with no tea or anything in it ) that he mixed for us. He also noticed that i had thrown my coat on cause I was getting cold and he brought us blankets. The service in Korea is so much better than in America and they don't even charge you or ask for tip here. Having Technical Difficulties will edit and post more pictures later

Update

2008-12-06T12:37:00.010-05:00

Sorry I haven't been updating like I usually do this past week has been hectic. Ji-Hye my co-teacher is out due to knee surgery. I've been teaching the kids by myself.

Here's my thanksgiving Ricki brings home a rabbit story

So last weekend I had "Thanksgiving" . I made chicken and macaroni Au gratin with gravy and corn. Kelly bought an ice cream cake and gin with lemonade(not the greatest tasting drink in the world I only had a little). On Saturday I went to the Lotte Mart to find some cooking thread to sew up the chicken's hiney. Kelly was also there and we went looking for the cooking thread and other various things to complete the dinner together. While there I discovered they had a pet are with mini rabbits. I went to E-Mart (Korean walmart) 2 weeks before and saw mini rabbits and was thinking about getting one. They are soo adorable. I wanted to get one but was still deciding. After going around the store we ended up by the pets again and I decided I wanted to get one right then and there. I picked the cutest and smallest rabbit there. It's pretty cold here so after we paid for all our stuff Kelly decides to pack the rabbit in a box and then we put the box in the cage and we carry him home that way. We got home and were playing with it (turns out it was a he) and petting him and we named him Snickerdoodles because he looked like a Snickerdoodle cookie and I was calling him Snickers for short. After we gave Snickers some food we went on a hunt for a pretty cake for dessert. We stopped at this french bakery and since we were the only ones in there and the workers were staring at us we ended up buying a piece of garlic bread or toast not really sure. The cakes there were expensive so we went to Baskin Robbins cause we thought their cakes were really pretty and we were sure they were open. We ended up getting the cake you see in the pictures somewhere in one of the other posts. I am just so fascinated with the packaging in Korea. Everything is so cute I love it. We got home and I started cooking the chicken. We never found the cooking thread by the way. It came out really good and we had a bootleg Thanksgiving but it was something. It made me sad and happy at the same time. I was home sick for my moms cooking but then my sister put things in perspective. Did I really miss the drama we have to go through every year on thanksgiving day... and I didn't so I was ok with that. lol.

Co-Worker and students party

The next day Sunday was the birthday party of one of my students who happened to be the daughter of one of the teachers in the school. The student was so cute and she wrote out this little invite for me and delivered it to my room. I thought it would have been weird for her but she didn't seem like she minded at all. I met her at the school playground and her and her friend walked me back to her house across the street. When we got to her house my co-worker put me to work making Kimpap it's almost like a sushi roll but it has ham and egg instead of fish. It's really good and easy to make. Then her eldest daughter bought home the pizza. Her eldest daughter is 20 and she apparently lives by me but we didn't get a chance to talk 2 much so i never found out exactly where. The chicken was delivered next in those nifty kid conscience cups. It was not chicken nuggets in soda it was soda in the bottom part of the cup and chicken nuggets in another compartment in the cup and i don't think the heat from the nuggets affected the soda either it I was fascinated by it. I got a box of fried chicken though I would have enjoyed the nuggets cup also. In Korea they cute the cake before they " start " the party I guess. Maybe the kids all get hopped up on sugar before they eat and then run around get tired so you kind of kill 2 birds with one stone. Kids run around at parties anyway and then after the cake they run some more but if you give them cake before hand they don't get that second wind. But that's just me being silly. But all in all it was a good party. The students who lived there and their parents were so surprised to see me. I guess church had just let out because there were at least 10 students I saw.

Snickers last days

So as you know by now if you've been reading the comments Snickers died on Tuesday night. I had him for like 3 days. He seemed fine the first 2 days and then on Tuesday he seemed a little off. He hadn't eaten alot and he was sniffling. I had put him on my bed like always and he was hopping around and first but when i sat down he sat with his butt toward my butt and just sat there. Then after I put him back in his cage he started having diarrhea. He looked so sad in his cage and he wouldn't eat or drink. Finally I took him out of his cage wrapped him in a towel and held him trying to make him eat or drink. I stayed up with him and he drank a little and I put him back in his cage. I woke up in a few hours and he was dead =( . I wonder if I stayed up with him would he have died ? This was the first animal that died in my care. I was really upset I had bonded with him and I had some numbers of vets that I would have taken him 2. I went to school upset and at lunch time I asked one of my co-workers to come with me to the store so I could take Snickers back. Kyoung Ja went with me to return Snickers cage and all to the store. Turns out Snickers had a stomach problem the person who worked in the pet dept. told Kyoung Ja. After 30 minutes of back and forth with the manager I got a refund on Snickers and the cage.

Pictures

2008-12-06T12:09:00.010-05:00

Starbucks latte my student gave me. How cute is the packaging it actually looks like a cup of Starbucks it came complete with the green Starbucks straw. In America they have the bottle or the can here it's a cup too cute. Sneakers and leg warmers Me in the mirror Bottom of my mirror I decorated with this awesome sort of decorative wall paper stuff. Another of my homemade recycling box t My third recycling box One of my homemade recycling boxes This is my outfit tonight My outfit in the mirror My leggings, leg warmers, and new sneakers

This weekend

2008-11-30T00:47:00.007-05:00

Snickers sleeping

Snickers eating

The cake it was good.

The birthday girl to the left and mom in the middle

My Kimbap

Tomatoes in Korea are eaten like a fruit, since they technically are.

Ok I love this idea it's a cup with like chicken nuggets at the top and soda at the bottom. Awesome

The birthday cake

I made kimbap it's seaweed, rice, eggs,ham, and veggies yummy

Traditional korean pose lol

The girls at the birthday party some of my first grade students

Kelly doing the traditional Korean pose

Our dinner again

Our dinner corn, chicken, gravy, and mac and cheese augratin

The cake Strawberry Cheesecake

The box again

The cake Kelly bought at Baskin Robbins isn't the box the cutest ? complete with ribbon

Our chicken I roasted

Snickers with mommy

Snickers with Kelly

Introducing Snickerdoodles Alex Gracia isn't he cute ?

This weekend I had thanksgiving with Kelly and I had a birthday party yay !! More info to come.

I love online shopping in Korea

2008-11-23T11:08:00.001-05:00

I was having technical difficulties so I was not able to respond to emails or post booo. Ok so why I love Internet shopping in Korea. Most things are like super cheap. Which is awesome. For shipping within Korea it's free and or the most 2 bucks to ship. Yeah and sometimes they even include gifts like movie certificates and lotion. The only downside is even the English site is in mostly, if not all Korean. The first time I ordered on Thursday night technically Friday morning came on Saturday afternoon. Yay! Thing's I've ordered so far: Skirt (fit but since most Korean women are kind of short when I put it on hips it was super short. but lower it fit right.) Tights ( they fit like the skirt and barely cover my butt.) Turtle neck (I thought I was ordering tights but I was wrong.) Mini dresser ( To accommodate my soon to be pet.) Full length mirror (I had no mirror just in the bathroom which is not full length.) Wallet (for my bus card i have to tap every time i get off and on the bus.) Perfume Convection Oven ( Yay I finally have an oven albeit small. But i can roast a little chicken for my ghetto Thanksgiving I will have on Saturday.) Another little table ( to put my convection oven on so it can be out all the time.) USB Flash drive ( need it for school the whole emailing back and forth thing kind of messed up today so I told Ji-Hye I would get a Flash drive.) I-Pod plug. (Cause mine is no where to be found. ) I know I know. It's alot of things but most of them I needed to make my life here more comfortable. Plus the prices were amazingly cheap. Though I wouldn't order anything for international shipping it would probably be 2 much. Here is the site if you wanna check it out. You have to use internet explorer for it or netscape i think. (http://global.gmarket.co.kr/) Plus if you need or want anything you could send me the money and I would order it for you and send it regular mail it might be cheaper orr just bring it when I come home. December 30th- January 9th. Yay I get to see my family and friends !!!

Snowing and My thoughts on weight loss and diet

2008-11-20T00:19:00.003-05:00

It's snowing !!!! It's snowing !!! the first snow in Korea for the winter. Yay. I just found out they don't have snow days here. Sooo it blows and I hope I don't have to schelp to school when there is alot of snow on the ground. I' glad I stocked up on food. I forgot to mention in my post I went to the grocery store yesterday. I liked this store better than the Lotte Mart and it seems cheaper, It's called E-mart it's S Korea's walmart annnd I heart it. This place is so way better than walmart it has multi levels for goodness sakes. I bought alot of things and I was able to make something I have been craving for MAC and CHEESE !!!. Today I woke up late from staying up last night. Even though I woke up late I was stll early for work. When I got here I heard some exciting info. Apparently I'm losing weight. Ji-Hye told me that teachers have noticed I lost weight(YAY !!!) they think it has to do with the fact that I don't eat alot of food at lunch. I think it's because I am eating healthier sources of food. They have barely any frozen food here. Which at first I thought it was a pain, but realized that fresh is better. I was asking about frozen veggies and the other teachers looked at me like I was nuts lol. In america some people are so concerned with a low carb diet. In korea the staple is noodles and rice. I've had more noodles and rice here than I've had in a long time and am still losing weight. Interesting. No low carb fanatics? I don't think carbs have anything to do with it. I think it's the chemicals that are in our foods. Koreans have been eating rice and noodles for every meal since forever and they are on the whole thin people. But I digress. I lost weight YAY!!! Stairs o death here I come.

Meeting a fellow american

2008-11-19T23:57:00.002-05:00

This week has been pretty low key for the first time since I got here. Just been teaching and heading home after school nothing too fantastical. Until Tuesday. I was talking to Michael on the phone when a fellow American teacher sent me an im she had seen my post on Dave's esl cafe and she lived nearby( like she is across the street from me). We spoke about different things and she seems cool. We have a good amount of things in common( like turns out a few of my students go to the academy she works for). Yesterday she had a bad day at work and just needed to talk and grab something to drink and eat. We met up on the pedestrian bridge by my apartment and we went in search for a place that was open and looked like it had English speakers or would understand my very limited Korean. We found this restaurant/bar the owner was nice, and he spoke some English. In Korean when you go to a restaurant/bar some places make you buy like an appetizer. She's allergic to fish so we asked for and pointed to chicken. What we got was shrimp tempura. Lol. We just hung out and talked about everything and anything. It was fun to speak to someone where I didn't have to slow down orr explain what I meant. The owner gave us some extras like fried calamari and some like sauteed kimchi. He was interested in where we were from. It's cute in Korea when they see a foreigner the sop keepers who speak English want to "bond" or want to have share something in common with you. Like the owner of one of my favorite chicken places he's visited new york and he told me he's been there and wants to go back and talks about the different places to see there. Anyway we left off with plans for me to take her shopping at the Lottemart and to take her to Itaewon. I feel lucky to have been placed in my school. I have seen alot of things in a short time and learned how to do things that I can give my advice and opinion to others.

My apartment in case you haven't seen it

2008-11-18T18:35:00.003-05:00

walking around outside

dining room

closet

bed and window

entertainment center and dresser

kitchen

bathroom

entrance

New hairdo

2008-11-17T05:16:00.004-05:00

I just put my hair up in a pony tail today and when I got to school today everyone was all wow you look fancy or your hair looks so good. What's your opinion ?

Korea traditional dance

2008-11-13T07:57:00.003-05:00

Tonight the nurse at the school took me to see Korean Traditional dancing and a band playing traditional instruments. It was really beautiful and my dumb-ass forgot my camera. It was an interesting afternoon. After we left school we went to pick up her soon at kindergarten. I saw what a Korean kindergarten looks like. It's kind of like an American one but in a nice cozy house decked out with a lot of creative home made toys. The parents helped to make the toys like dolls and stuffed animals that are at the school. Her youngest son is cute but very talkative and you can tell he's the youngest. He tried to annoy me but I gave him a look that said "don't mess with me kid" and he left me alone. We walked around a park and then met her eldest son back at her house where she cooked. Her house is big to me since I live in a small place and she has an OVEN sigh !!!After dinner we went to the theater to see the dancers. We were a little late and had to wait to go in. The show was great and I am kicking myself I didn't bring my camera. I will try and find some videos to do the dancers and performers justice. I think the highlight were the dancers who played the ( I'm going to call them drums till i find their Korean names) and performers who played instruments and had hats on. A couple of the hats looked like a fishing pole with one of those rhythmic gymnasts ribbon on the end, but like the top part itself moved when they moved their head so they were spinning around and the hat was spinning and the ribbon was swirling it was nice. Then this one guy came out and started what looked like break dancing almost on the floor wile this ribbon was swirling around him. The women who had danced so beautifully before came out in these pretty bright dresses and played the drums beautifully it was really amazing. I was glad I was able to go to this show. I hope one day you get to experience what i did.

Now anyone can leave comments

2008-11-13T00:42:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone who's reading please leave comments so that this blogging experience can be more interactive. I hear folks are having trouble registering to leave a message so I have set it so you do not have to register. Just click on "anonymous" and "Publish your comments" and that's it! Can't wait to read your comments!!

Chonggye Sa (Temple)

2008-11-12T04:57:00.007-05:00

Dinner after the hike

The principal, vice principal, and other employees

Teachers sitting down for dinner

Restaurant in the style of traditional Korean house

Falls here

Comes from here

The principal and I

Coffee place on the mountain

Enjoying some tea

Ji-Hye and I under a pretty tree

The monks have ac and satellite t.v.

Statue's on the stairs

Down the stairs

Beautiful mountain view

Instruments where the Buddhists pray

Buddhas

Buddha on it's side

Used to carry people in (mostly women)

View from the temple

Ji-Hye, 1st grade teacher, me and Kyueng-Ja by the well at the temple

Making kimchi

Praying at the temple for the SAT's

Where the monks sleep

Ji-Hye in front of a part of the temple

Tombs at the Buddhist temple

Stairs to get to the temple did not climb them

Bong Hee before the hike

I damn neared choked watch all of it

2008-11-11T02:06:00.000-05:00