dinosaurio’s Neighborhood

Ok, funny story.  Today during my winter camp, my 5th graders were going over their past tense verbs.  Right now we're dealing with irregular verbs and using the sentence form, "What did you eat this morning?, Where did you go last night?, Who did you see yesterday?, etc..."  So they were practicing their verbs and also practicing which "W" word would you use, who, what, or where.  So we were going through the vocab and the verb was "ride, rode".  So I wrote the sentence, "______ did you ride yesterday?" and I asked them which word was appropriate, who, what, or where.  One of my boys yelled out, "Who did you ride yesterday?!"  And I immediately started laughing because I have a dirty mind and it struck me as rather humorous and I couldn't stop laughing.  Naturally, none of them understood why I thought it was so funny and I wasn't about to tell them that "riding" can mean other things.  But it totally made my day.

Children...you love them and you hate them.  I'm surrounded by them 24/7 and so these days...how shall we say this...my patience with them is wearing thin.  This past Sunday I was taking care of a group of children while their parents had a bible study.  The bible study is right after church and they buy lunch for everyone, but because I'm the only person with around 15 children, I didn't have any time to eat my food.  I ended up taking maybe 3 bites of my burrito and then throwing it away an hour later when it had gone stone cold.  So, anyway, we finished up at around 3:30 and the mass exodus of children and parents began until there was only one family and me left.  This family is the nicest family ever.  These parents are a real blessing to me and others.  Sometimes I wonder if they are real because they are SO nice and giving and generous.  They have two kids who are both in my Sunday School class; they are 3 and 5 years old.  They were running around while we finished up our conversation.  When I went back to the classroom where my things were so we could head out, I reached for the door handle and found it to be locked.  That's right, their 3 year old son had locked the door from the inside and then had come out and shut it behind him, locking my purse, coat, and other crappola in the room.  Like I wasn't already having a crappy enough day.  I was starving and tired and so ready to go home.  I had been at church since 9 which meant I had been up since 6:30.  So, the father had to go find someone with the key.  I waited by the room for 20 minutes before he came back with the guy.  This guy pulls out a huge ring of keys and starts trying them in the keyhole.  Here I am, expecting him to know what he's doing and to just find the key that goes to that classroom and open the door.  I mean, how hard can it be?  Isn't this his job?  Shouldn't he know what goes where?  All those keys, and not one of them fit the lock.  So the two of them start blabbing away in Korean until finally the father turns and says to me, "I'm afraid that the man who has the key to this room isn't here on the weekends, only on the weekdays.  So they don't have a key.  We'll have to call the locksmith."  Are you kidding me!!!  By now it's past 4:00 and I'm ready to start busting some heads.  But I smiled and nodded and said, "Ok, let's call the locksmith" and so we did.  So, yeah, I ended up leaving the church about 40 min. later.  Boy, did I want to smack their son around, not that he really knew much better, but still, there has to be someone to blame.  It's just annoying.  I tried not to be angry about it because this family is so nice and they felt really bad that their son had done this, but still...I was annoyed.  Sigh...that was several days ago and I'm still a bit peeved about it.  Though, naturally, all my friends find it to be highly amusing.  Jerks, making fun of my suffering. =)

As those who live overseas in Asian countries may have noticed, Asia has its very own unique sense of style.  Korea is not excluded from this in any way, shape, or form.  When I first arrived last year, I was immediately stricken by the crazy combinations of clothing, colors, and patterns that Koreans believe look nice together.  It hasn't gotten any better in the year that I've been here.  More and more, the horrific style of the 80's and early 90's are becoming more prevalent in the clothing here.  As I'm sure it has in the States as well.  Leg-warmers are back in style which never ceases to amaze me.  Not only do they do nothing for your figure (like adding a few inches to your calves will make them look better) but they do nothing for fashion either.  But I do believe that leg-warmer fashion has hit the bottommost rung.  This past weekend, while on the subway, I happened to glance up and, behold, there standing in front of me was a girl with dark gray leg-warmers on.  Why is this so strange you may ask?  Well, these weren't your ordinary run-of-the-mill leg-warmers.  These were leg-warmers specifically made to go over your boots.  In case you missed that the first time, they were boot-warmers.  This girl had on knee length high-heel boots and over-top of them were leg-warmers that were designed to fit over-top of the boot.  They had a hole in them for the heel to go through and everything.  Now, I'm not really all that smart, but I'm pretty sure that boots are outerwear in and of themselves.  I had no idea that boots needed to protected from the elements in such a fashion.  Who knew that cold winter winds could affect your boots and that they needed to be covered up with leg-warmers to keep them safe and toasty warm.  You have to wonder how far fashion can go until it reaches absolute rock bottom.  I'm beginning to think that a fashion apocalypse will soon be upon us.

My tree after 2

Yeah, it's Christmastime!!  My parents are wicked cool and they mailed me this cute little tree along with some Christmas ornaments (and Christmas cookies) so I could decorate my tree.  They also sent me this ridiculously old nativity scene that we've put up at our house ever since I can remember.  It made my day to be able to decorate for Christmas.  I thought that my house would be Christmasless, but not so!  Yeah for cool parents.  So I invited my Korean friends over and they helped me decorate and then we had a little snack with cookies, chocolate pudding, and peach champagne.  Yeah, I know...odd combo, but they brought the champagne, I wasn't quite expecting that.  But we had a good time and they got to enjoy some Christmas music and I got to have a new Christmas memory.  My first Christmas away from home...it blows, but it'll be ok.  I have a tree! 

Fuzzy sheep

And my parents even sent along some fun ornaments like my fuzzy sheep which I don't remember where it came from, probably like summer school back in the day or something.  But my dad started a tradition a few years ago where we all stand back and throw our sheep at the tree and wherever they land is where they stay.  So I threw my sheep onto my tree. =)  So here's a close up of my totally awesome fuzzy sheep.  Ok, it just looks like a furry ball of nothing, but I swear it's a sheep.  So yeah, it was a pretty good day.  And to make it even better, on OCN they are showing all 6 Star Wars movies over the next week and tonight is the first one.  Well, I guess I should say chapter 4, A New Hope.  Gosh, I forget how much I love these movies until I watch them again.  Ok, so I know that was kind of random, but I'm watching the movie as I'm typing this so it's on my mind.  Ok, here's one more picture to finish up with. 

Christmas cookies and pudding

This is Ah Reum and Eun Hae enjoying my mom's cookies and their first taste of chocolate pudding.  Yeah, that's right, they don't have chocolate pudding here.  Well, you can find it at the foreign market but that's about it.  So, here's to a wonderful holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

I'm currently watching Celebrity Jeopardy (not Will Ferrel's version) and Susan Lucci is one of the guests.  Good Lord!!  The woman is entirely made of plastic!!  She must be.  There can't be any other way she looks as good as she does.  She's 60 freaking years old and she looks like she's in her late 40's if not younger.  Insanity!  She's fake fake fake!  Why would you want to do that to yourself?  She's been on All My Children for like 36 years.  Susan, don't you think it's probably time to let Erica Kane die?  I say kill Erica off and for the love of God, eat a peanut butter sandwich, let your hair go gray, and enjoy your life!!!!!  Allow your skin to exude all the hideous toxins that you've injected yourself with and go back to enjoying a normal life with a normal 60 year old face.  Otherwise, the next time you make an ugly face, it really is going to stay that way.

Today is a very special day in Korea.  Today is the day that every single highschool senior in Korea takes their college entrance exam.  That's right, every single highschool senior took their Korean equivelent of the SAT today.  Because Korea is a bit crazy when it comes to the education of their children, they don't just send their kids off with a kiss and a hug and a "good luck on the test".  No way, they go one (or two) steps further than that.  Everything is put on hold in the morning.  Schools start an hour late or are closed completely.  Businesses open late.  Traffic is kept to a low minimum (which for Korea is an amazing feat).  Airplanes are put on hold and are not allowed to fly over Seoul.  No landings or departures are allowed.  Why, do you ask?  Well, because these students must be free from all distractions.  No unnecessary noises are allowed.  They must concentrate completely on their tests!  And they must be sure to arrive on time, so they clear the roads to allow the students to get to their tests.  And it's happened before that late students have been police escorted to their exams!!  No lie!  Oh the insanity of Korea.  They only do it one day a year to avoid cheating and they take tests all day!  They start early in the morning and usually don't leave until after 6 at night.  Can you imagine if we had to that for the SAT!  America would riot!!  And The States shutting down just to let kids get to their tests!!  Oh my gosh, I'm laughing so hard I'm peeing myself.  Like the States would ever do anything like that.  But, hey, you gotta admit.  The fact that Koreans are so dedicated to their kids and their education that they would organize and work together in such a way...it's pretty admirable.  Not that their obsession with their kids' education is necessarily good, but still.  All this to say, God Bless America...land that I love.

I've just been kicked out of my classroom so I am currently in the teacher's room frantically trying to come up with stuff to keep me occupied.  I am ridiculously bored.  I mean, headache, achy, tired, cranky, just want to go home bored.  Bleh...  Apparently some special people are coming to the school next Monday so today and Friday they are decorating my room for this event.  I am lucky enough to have the biggest classroom around so that means it gets to be used for school meetings and special events and whatever else they throw my way.  So, today I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.  With the help of some students and some teachers we washed down everything and vacuumed and, finally, thank God, cleaned my heaters.  Ugh.  You do not even want to imagine the thick dust that I pulled off my heater vents.  Just imagine the lint catcher in dryers when you haven't checked it in weeks and the lint is on there so thick you can just pull it off in one strip.  And now imagine that's all dust and dirt and that's what I pulled off my heating vents.  Disgusting.  Who knows how long it's been since they've been cleaned. 

So, because of this event, I can't teach in my classroom.  So, for the first time since I've been here, I'm going to be teaching in the homerooms.  Oh Lord.  Let's hope I make it through the next two days.  It could be a death-trap waiting to happen.  But on the upside, this means that all my classes will start on time for once because I get to go to them and don't have to wait for them to come down to me.  I'm not sure that's a plus though.  Some days it's nice to have a shorter class.  Especially Thursdays cause it's my longest day.  Oh well, I'm gonna go help set up tripods for something or other.  Later

Ok, I really have nothing to say, I'm just bored out of my gourd.  Well, there's always something to talk about I guess.  I'm watching American Idol 5 at the moment.  It's just not very exciting watching it when I already know who the winner is.  Takes a lot of the suspence out of it.  I don't know who it was who just sang but, eek, he has horrible teeth.  Maybe he's from Britain.  Ok, that was an racist joke, not funny at all.  Well, maybe a little funny.  Anyway, today after church I went bowling with some church members.  (From racist jokes to church...hmm...)  We actually had quite a lot of fun and I tied for first place on the first game with 121 points.  Yeah, yeah, you don't have to tell me that score sucks, I know.  But I was still in first place.  But then we played a second game and I blew!  I mean, really bad.  I got a 96.  Ouch.  But, for some reason we all sucked the second game.  So that made me feel a little better. =)  For the second game we decided that the team with the lowest score would have to buy the team with the highest score ice cream.  And guess who was on the winning team?  Yeah, that's right, me. =)  I was rocking it today.  So I got a McFlurry which I have not had in ages!  It was quite tasty and was just the right treat for after bowling.  So, it's been a fun day and the people at my church are a great crowd.  Well, I'm going to finish watching American Idol and cheer Simon on.  He's so dreamy and mean. =)  Just my kind of guy.

Dave and Karen for Halloween

Happy Halloween to everyone!  Halloween in Seoul is not very exciting.  But still, I was able to purchase some fun things to make my apartment seem a little more Halloweeny.  Ok, not stuff for my apartment but stuff for me and my friends.  I got myself a pumpkin headband and wore it to school yesterday.  I also got some fun things for my married friends Dave and Karen, you know, things like a ball and chain and pitchfork.  We'll let them decide what to do with them (wink).  Ok, here's a pic of Dave and Karen with their stuff at my apartment last night.  Karen got a pic of all three of us, I'll make her send me a copy and I'll post it up here for everyone to see.  We had a good time last night.  We didn't do anything big, just ate tacos, munched on precious Doritos that I found at the foreign market and watched The Birds.  I don't know if any of you have seen The Birds, but what is up?  Most of the time it's so strange it's just funny and the rest of the time it's creepy.  They really need to remake that movie cause it needs some desperate help.  But we had a good time making fun of it and laughing at old cinematography.  Ok, that's all for now.  Enjoy your holidays!

Ok, awhile back I wrote about the new bathrooms at our school and how happy I am about them.  They really are wonderful.  Anyway, I may have forgot to mention that they also put in a motion activated music thingy.  When you walk into the bathroom music starts to play.  For some reason or other they feel the need to have soft romantic Kenny G style music playing to make it easier.  There may be research out there that proves that poo comes out easier with a little Kenny G helping it along.  Mayhap the soothing lullaby of an instrumental loosens your muscles enough that bathroom goers all over the world will soon be humming along to "Celtic Dreams" or one of those other cheesy instrumental cds you can buy in every gift shop in America.  Who knows.  Anyway, most of the time I ignore it or at least don't pay much attention to it.  But today, I walked in and I immeditely recognized the song that was playing...Whiney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".  Yes, I just got to tinkle to a delightful saxophone rendition of the song.  I'm sure Whitney would be thrilled to know that her music is helping Korean people everywhere pee a little easier.