welcome to korea

korean women don't sweat and there is such a thing as hiking pumps! hahaha. well, not really but every korean woman can hike in stilettos. i am not joking either. more on that in a minute, but i have a LOT to update.

i arrived in korea about 3 weeks ago. did a 1 week orientation in seoul that reminded me of frosh week. lots of getting to know yous and some drinking and nore-bang (karaoke). it was fun times indeed.

then the honeymoon was over. my one-room was pretty crumby at first but now i'm used to it. i just go there to sleep and when the TV is on, everything is alright. i have the discovery channel which is brilliant. it's also the only channel in english that i get. i still haven't uploaded songs into my ipod. i need to get on that.

i started school on the 1st of september and met all the kiddies. they are very cute and call me "miss sina-joung" hahaha. it's cute. there are a few kids that are low level and a few that are fluent. it's hard to teach them because of the divide but they're all pretty enthusiastic...for now. then they'll find out teacher's boring. hahaha. i need to figure out better lesson plans. my principal wants me to have them ready a month in advance. oh and my classroom isn't built yet. when it's complete it'll be the "english library". it's ridonkulously huge. it's the size of 2 classrooms. i'll try to post pictures when i can bring my camera in. i'll also try to post pictures of korea itself when i have time. right now, the gr. 3 homeroom teachers have been inviting me for tea everyday.

my voice is gone too from shouting (not at the kids, but yelling expressions). honestly, i'm like a whole different person when i'm in the classroom. i'm like a dancing monkey; i'm sure you'd all pay to see it. it's a show for sure.

now on to the meaning of the title. they don't sweat. like they don't. that's why deodorant is like super-expensive IF you can find it here. my co-teacher (and every other native koren woman i've seen) can hike up hills with stilletos in 45 degree weather and not break a sweat. you think i'm kidding but i'm not. they dress like they're strutting down a runway to the grocery store also. it's quite amusing but it makes me feel a little inadequite sometimes. hahaha. i'm determined to be able to hike in stilletos after this.

there's lik a butt-load of stairs and hills in this country as well. and no such thing as a public trash can. it's weird. the stairs and hills...honestly...you'll grow calves like a horse after this.

anyways, i have a 5-day holiday for cheusuk (korean thanksgiving) so it's pretty good. i just went to the aquarium today and it was pretty cool. looking forward to more sight-seeing soon. went to the beach, did some shopping, went to my share of bars/clubs and starting to learn hangeul (korean).

so i wrote a book. don't know when i'll update again. soon hopefully....when i get internet (which wont be until october!). cheers for now.

p.s. there's nothing on rotation...well there's some korean pop songs playing at the pc bang i'm in but who knows what it is...

gotta run, run, run

little bit more of an update...

i finally bought a laptop. bit the bullet and bought a mac. and it is glorious!!! i'm still sort of learning my way around it, but it's so much more efficient than a pc. anyways, more about the awesomeness of the macbook in another post. it's to late for superlatives.

i'm actually packing right now. sort of. well, putting stuff in ziplock bags so that sort of counts as packing; pesudo-packing, the packing before the packing, etc. well, my room looks like my closet exploded and the couch in the living room is covered in ziplocks filled with miscellaneous stuff.

i need to start crack-a-lacking now because there's family coming this weekend from the states (not related to me going to korea. kind of like good/bad timing 'cause i'd love to see them, but i have nothing, abosulutely nothing done!). i'm also super-busy this week and weekend seeing family/friends, buying more junk i forgot, yada-ya, blah-blah-blah, etc. so i really have to get my shit organized by/before the weekend.

i'm going to leave it at this. it's scary thinking about what i haven't got done yet. haven't got done yet. it sounds wrong...and i don't know if it is. and here i am going to another country to teach english to children. haha. i'm awesome!

nothing on rotation tonight. it's late and i don't even know why i'm still updating when my shit's not going to pack themselves.

oh yes, and i also got my visa. hoorah!

the beginning is the end is the beginning

[ on rotation ] :: "your woman" - white town


i'm on/off with this blog. i can't really get used to it.

anyways, i'm going to korea to teach english for a year. i guess that would be considered as a major update. i'm leaving in like 10 days. holy shit, 10 days! i just realized how much time i DON'T have after typing it out. but i'm still waiting for my visa. i can see this being super-uber crunch time. i also have to go to the dentist and i'm scared shitless.

i haven't had time to process much of this. i've been so busy with this and that that the only emotion going through me is stress. just watch, it will all unravel during take-off. i'll start clawing for that oxygen mask. i'm actually excited about going, but often forget the excited feeling i just had. then i'll get an email once in a while (like this one i got recently about the orientation plan) and realize it's for real. then i'll forget again and even after people tell me they can't believe i'm going i get reminded that i am going and then i can't believe i'm going. it's a really weird feeling actually. a little bit hard to describe. kind of like i'm indifferent but i'm not.

i still have a lot of stuff to do. i started cleaning out my closet today. i realized i own a lot of useless and ugly shit. i'm sure i would make the perfect candidate for 'what not to wear'. i own a lot of stupid t-shirts with stupid sayings.

quick 'things to do' list off the top of my head (for my purposes and yours if you care to read):
- pack
- buy laptop
- move files from old comp to new
- unlock phone
- get stuff drycleaned
- ....etc.

there's like so much more i have to do but i can't remember. i should really invest in a voice-recorder.


[ end rotation ] :: "storm and stress" - bloc party

it's a post about nothing

i'm not sure why i'm still awake. i had a moment of pseudo-inspiration (not really) and felt the need/want to post something. i don't even know what to write about.

i've got nothing, mang.

hm...doing that cn tower climb for wwf. that's about it. i want (need) to start running again. i tell myself that everyday but i never initiate anything. it gets addicting when you start getting into the groove of it. well, not at first. the first few times my lungs are burning like hell and my throat dries up really quickly. then after the first week or so, it really gets addicting. i like the pain and welcome more. i just wish the results would kick in just as fast. hahaha. yea yea, it's to keep healthy, blah blah blah, but really now, it'd be awesome if that washboard showed up anytime soon. ok maybe not a washboard, that's kinda gross on women. maybe like a slight 4-pack. oh hell, just losing that christmas gut would be nice. i think i plateau too quickly though. maybe i should go back to kendo to break that barrier (amongst other things).

that was a long paragraph. i think i could have broken it down. i'm thinking back to grammar class now with mrs. cournyea (i think i totally spelled her name wrong) and i think she'd shake her head in shame reading this (and at me). i've forgotten how to separate paragraphs. something about when you start a new idea, out comes a new paragraph. i think i've got that all wrong too.

anyways, new idea new paragraph (according to my grammar rules). here it is: i should go to sleep. :)

no music tonight, so nothing on rotation or to end rotation. just utter silence and the tack-tacking of my fingers pounding the keyboard.

cheers.

oh, p.s. there's opera playing in the background. i like opera.

i judge people

[ on rotation ] :: "bubbly" - colbie caillat


this post is coming months overdue, in my own classic timeline, however, i thought i'd share some thoughts because i felt like it.

sometimes, at work, when i'm talking to clients on the phone or if i'm looking at their names, if they have an unconventional name, i often wonder if they were teased about it as a child, or if they developed a reputation or nickname because of it. this happens often. i also try to picture how they look like when talking to them on the phone and wonder if the portrait in my head is accurate, and if i'd be disappointed if it looked nothing like how i envisioned. this is how i pass the time and entertain myself.

also, in my commute to and from work, i'll people-watch; especially those who are listening to a music player. i'll try to imagine what they're listening to solely based on what nationality, culture, and age, i assume, they are from. for example, there was this brown woman sitting by one of the windows on the subway and, in my judgmental mind, i imagined she was listening to some high-pitched indian music. then i played out in my head what the video to the song would have looked like: a lot of group dancing and wrist twisting. also, there was this old asian lady sitting next to me another day listening to music and all i could think of was that she was probably listening to chinese music and the music video looked something like a theme set in ancient china and a girl playing one of those chinese zithers and singing. kinda like something that looked like this:






















i have also learned a very important lesson today: i've learned, today, that you should not cut your own hair, little too late. i am slow.


[ end rotation ] :: "theme from a summer place" - percy faith