And here's the money shot... everyone looked so beautiful. The whole day was beautiful! Congrats to Andi and Mark on their third year anniversary!

Oh the good old times! Here is a picture of us girls from Andi's wedding.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, July 31

1. I was fully aware that today would be awkward due to the big argument I got into with my Korean co-teacher at the camp. Turns out our argument made quite the discussion piece on Friday after I left. Dreaded having to go to work today.
2. Figured there was no way around avoiding the awkwardness and so I walked straight up to her and asked, “Do you hate me cause if you don’t, can we talk?” She was totally thrown of guard and we both had a good laugh. That was a relief!
3. Had elementary for most of the day minus one class and so it made for a really loud and active day.
4. So much for having a productive class with my middle school students. I taught them Andrew’s game called “Mafia” and now that’s all they want to play.
5. Tutored Vanessa today and had a good laugh at how I sounded just like my grade 9 English teacher, Mrs. Quinlan. Totally used Mrs. Quinlan’s idea on an essay being a hamburger…. ha, ha, ha!
6. Ryan made fun of my singing but I told him that I use to sing solos at my church… mind you I also don’t go to that church anymore… coincidence? Ouch.
7. Thanks Andi for all the pictures… reminders of the past! Andi flooded my email account today with pictures from her wedding and Jack & Jill party.
8. Still discovering injuries from last week’s scooter accident. Every time I lift my left arm towards my face and flex a bit, it pinches a nerve and causes such pain. I know I’m getting old and all but this isn’t the norm.
9. Won the award for “Worst Weekend Ever” on Andi’s homepage for the brutal weekend I had two weeks ago… let’s never talk about it again!
10. Ryan’s clued into the fact that if I know what I’m eating then I’m more likely to not try it. Today I ended up eating orange fish eggs…. dang!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's the worst thing you've ever ate?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.
-- Jacques Barzun

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, July 30

1. Ventured out to Asan with Ryan to pick up his daddy’s van from his brother (and yes, Ryan says daddy). So, this meant I got to meet Ryan’s brother, Byung-Hyun. He was so sweet and so I felt kind of silly after for being so nervous to meet him.

2. Went to the zoo at Seoul Grand Park with Ryan and saw lions and tigers and bears… oh my!

3. Did lots of “ohhhing” and “ahhhhing” at the dolphin water show. It was pretty cool and I was really impressed!
4. Found it interesting to note just how different the zoo is to me now that I'm older. Started to really think about animal rights issues... wow, too deep I know. Really wish they had built bigger cages though. And as for the dude who was spraying the crocodile with water, he'd be the first person I'd give the animals rights to eat! Ha, ha, ha.

5. Was really excited to see all the monkeys... they were everywhere! Didn't think Mr. Cranky Pants Monkey was too cool though. I approached his cage and said hi, apparently he thought it was funny to shake the cage suddenly and so it spooked me.

6. Ryan and I got rather frustrated with the numerous ignorant zoo goers who feed junk food to various animals. I found it interesting to note how so many people thought patotoe chips and cookies were apart of the animals' diets. Seriously thought this one dude was going to learn a hard lesson when he insisted on teasing the raccoons with some crackers. Had they been Canadian raccoons, he'd be missing some fingers as a result!

7. Caught an extra animal show for free... mind ya, I now feel like a pervert. While standing looking at the lions I clued in to what the one lion was doing to the other. So much for being the King of the Jungle, I felt sorry for him. Get a room!

8. Went for a romantic ride on the sky lift carts. It was just me, Ryan, a beautiful scenic view and no one to bother us as we traveled along the cable.

9. Well, we didn't get around to see all that Seoul Grand Park has but we'll be back. We came for the zoo today but we'll definitely have to come back to see the amusement park and petting zoo.
10. A quick stop into Costco for a view things left us with very little money for the highway toll booths. Stocked up on granula, granula bars, peanut butter and other goodies. Yummy!

QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Do you think us humans really evolved from that silly monkey?

QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
-- George Eliot

Can you see the lady in the jeans and pink shirt?... she's the one totally loving the "jiggle-butt" machine. I had to get a picture cause it was just too funny.

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, July 29

1. Well today was a really unproductive day!!! Slept in, did nothing and even went to bed early too… basically that summed up my day!
2. Plans are in motion for Ryan and my official first trip together. Plans are to go to Jeju Island to do lots of swimming, tanning, four-wheeling, and other fun stuff.
3. Played “storm dodgers” on the scooter today as Ryan and I tried to drive around a raining storm cloud that was in our way.
4. Went shopping with Ryan to LotteMart and discovered that although Korea has developed in many ways, they’re still into the old fashion exercise machines. Got a huge kick out of the “jiggle-butt” machine, as I like to call it, and how the middle aged women were totally loving it!
5. The drama continues right where it left off three years ago with my close friend from back home. Some people just can’t let things go. Buddy, I love you dearly but get over it please, for the sake of our friendship!!!
6. Movie night. Tonight’s feature film was “Don’t Say a Word”. I give it four stars.
7. I admit it…. I have an addiction. I’m addicted to green tea ice cream! Must… have… another… fix!!! Ha, ha, ha.
8. Working on convincing Ryan to help me buy a cheap scooter so that I can jump back on the road and practice.
9. I don’t know who’s been talking to Trouble-Boy but he freaked out to here that I was still in Korea. Apparently my scooter accident story has been exaggerated among my friends here and so he thought I had returned to Canada cause of major injuries I supposedly had endured. I know my mom is known for her magic healing kisses but come on, get a grip!
10. I think I liked it better when Trouble-Boy thought I wasn’t here cause at least it meant I got a good night’s sleep. Text messages from him stopped around 2:30am. So much for going to sleep early tonight!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's your addiction?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Conversation is the slowest form of human communication.
-- Author Unknown

Spent way too much time making some silly picture for my myspace profile online... you know you're bored when. Ha, ha, ha.

Highlights of my Day... Friday, July 25

1. Rainy season continues and today parts of Asan City started to get flooded.
2. Holy attitude problems with my Eumbong middle school boy Robert. I got a surprising complaint about him today and didn’t think it was true until he freaked out on me large about shining a laser pointer on his chest during lunch. He use to be such a relaxed kid but he’s been a bit of a spaz here at the camp.
3. Came out looking like a total bully after a frustrating argument with a fellow co-worker over next week’s presentation. I don’t know how many more times I could have made myself more clearer but she just wasn’t getting it and I got the impression language wasn’t the issue, if you know what I mean.
4. Finally put my foot down and told her that she had all day to talk to me, now wasn’t the time. I really wanted to tell her what I really thought but I don’t think she would had understand and plus my student Vanessa (who’s English is awesome) was standing beside me.
5. Already dreading having to go back to the camp on Monday and facing her.
6. Today I started tutoring Vanessa today and I’m really optimistic about her entering the big English contest.
7. Took the bus home today but apparently I took the wrong bus. I stayed on thinking it’d take me to On-young terminal in Asan but it didn’t. I knew I was in trouble when the bus driver parked the bus literally in the middle of no-where beside three houses and walked out of the bus leaving me in it! Who leaves a rider on the bus? Apparently he didn’t realize it and so I had to bang on the window to get him to open the door.
8. Thankfully the bus driver was this young cutie who had a good laugh at my expense instead of getting mad. He definitely thought I, the lost foreigner, was funny. He let me off the bus and there I stood, surrounded by rice fields. After 20mins of wondering, I reached a main road and caught a taxi.
9. The bruises on my legs have now turned a lime green.
10. Ryan tried to get me hooked on his silly toy car racing game.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What don't you understand?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Stupid is as stupid does.
-- from the movie "Forrest Gump"

Here's looking at you cutie..... Judy! She's one of my top students from my elementary school. It's so much fun with her here at English camp.... she's so cool!

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, July 27

1. More work… got asked to tutor one of my middle school students who is here with me at the camp, Vanessa. She won 1st place in this past English contest and so now she’ll be representing our area and competing on a much higher scale. Cool, I’m all for more money and another victory!
2. Turns out my students really like my half-done hair job! Ha, ha, ha.
3. Still up in the air about whether or not I should still go to the Philippines. I suggested that we, Ryan and I, go camping cause I love camping. Turns out he hates camping. Hmmmm….
4. With Ryan now out of work, I now have my own personal driver… cool!
5. Admit that I’ve been slacking off with my Korean studying. It’s summertime and it’s bad enough I spend most of my day at summer camp as oppose to relaxing.
6. Leave it to Jae Ho to send multiple text messages. He’s so cute. As soon as he wakes up he sends me messages saying “Good morning Amy teacher”, throughout the day he sends messages and then right before he goes to sleep he wishes me sweet dreams. This kid is so cool but I get the feeling he’s a bit too bored!
7. Ryan decided to buy a computer racing game to occupy his free time… great, like he needs more reasons why to be on the computer. I’m convinced, in my own private world, there’d be no TVs or computers!
8. Still discovering more bruises on me from my scooter accident. Turns out I’ve got quite the collection of colorful bruises on my inner leg.
9. Ryan’s 1 hour lunch out with Darren turned into more like 5 hours and so it left me here bored and not impressed. Why us women constantly wait around for the men is beyond me!
10. Treated myself to an early bedtime.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What was your favorite place to visit when you were a kid?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
-- Albert Einstein

Gotta love the green slim camp shirts! Here's most of my foriegn crew here at camp...Ariel and Andrew.

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, July 26

1. Must admit that my middle school class M2 at this English camp is the most boring class I’ve ever taught. The theme for this week was accidents. I thought it’d be a lot of fun and so I started to share some of my more interesting accidents I’ve got into, like my recent scooter accident and the time when I fought a black-belt bouncer at the club I use to work at (broke my hand as a result). NO REACTION! Even after I totally acted it out, they sat there and starred at me as if I had just told them how slow paint dries on the wall!
2. Was quite relieved when I taught the other middle school class, M1. They’re doing the same theme but they totally loved my lesson! I couldn’t even get through half of the lesson cause they were laughing so much and so eager to share their stories.
3. Called a meeting at lunch for all the Korean and foreign teachers because no one really is informed on what’s going on. Had a good laugh though when I heard that the Korean teachers taught I called the meeting cause I was upset. I wasn’t upset, just curious how us foreign teachers are the only ones who notice the total lack of communication!
4. Meeting was pointless and if anything, it just caused more confusion.
5. Much thanks to Ariel for giving me that wicked hook-up with finding a plane ticket. Emailed his buddy at 2pm and by 3pm the guy had booked and confirmed a flight for me to the Philippines for August 7th! Awesome! Beautiful beaches here I come!
6. In a country infested with cell phone users, apparently Ryan’s is the only one that doesn’t work! I was at the hair dressers when this all went down. The lady had already started on my hair but she didn’t understand what I wanted done. So she stopped to deal with another customer after she had already started to dye my hair. I quickly called Ryan. He said he’d talk to the lady but when she returned I tried and tried to Ryan’s number and had no luck.
7. After numerous calls and text messages I gave up. No word from Ryan and so by then I was already embarrassed and frustrated. I convinced her to wash it out and let me go home. I had gone there for a hair cut, dye and highlights and returned home with only highlights. I wasn’t impressed.
8. Well it seems like Ryan and his boss (a.k.a. The Slave Driver) have come to a mutual understanding and so today Ryan walked out of work a free man… no longer a victim to slavery! Congratulations to you and your new found freedom!
9. Celebrated Ryan’s victory by dishing out the cash and buying the huge mother of all cheesecakes!
10. Oh no! With Ryan now having lots of extra time to spend with me, how can I go to the Philippines?! I thought about bringing him but the guy doesn’t have a passport. He’s going to be bored out of his skull for one week alone.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do you even hear yourself?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
If you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it.
-- Author Unknown

On route to English camp I couldn't help but notice the unusually strange buildings. I was particularly interested in the helicopter restaurant.

Here's some snapshots of my E1 (Elementary One) class. It's pretty cool teaching a bunch of kids that really love English and are so well-behaved.

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, July 25

1. Ryan was a super sweetie by waking up super early and driving me to English camp today. Pay attention guys… THIS is how you treat a woman!!! Show her that you support her and she’ll always be by your side.
2. Korean confusion 101 at the English camp. I love how there’s one simple question, numerous opposing answers and only us foreigners who actually considered gathering everyone together for a meeting to collect our thoughts. Andrew was right, don’t ask questions. That was my mistake for today, I asked a question.
3. Figure cause I’ve been working like a slave that I’ll spend the extra money and live like a Queen for a week. Looks like I’m going to the Philippines!
4. Definitely the funniest moment of the day was with my E2 Blue Sharks class. We’re studying shopping (money, stores, etc) and so I opened up a discussion with talking about what things we buy at different stores. I asked, “What do you buy at a grocery store?” and some boy yelled out “tampons”. I asked him to repeat himself and he said, “My dad buys tampons at grocery store”. Of course I couldn’t help but burst out into laughter. The students were super confused as to what a tampon was and so they started to ask me questions like if it was a fruit or vegetable. I think he meant to say his mom buys them but I don’t think he even knew what it meant. One word… HILARIOUS!!!
5. Amused all my kids with my retarded way of sitting on the corner of the desk. With what feels like half a right butt check, I had such an uncomfortable and painful day. Besides the scratches on my back, elbows, my twisted wrist and bruised legs,
6. While on the bus home the driver turned around and yelled out, “You! Shut-up!”… and of course, a comment like that only served to make us talk even more! Edil claims that Korean’s don’t know that it’s impolite but I don’t agree with that cause I’ve said “shut-up” before in class and the students react as if I’ve just killed someone! Apparently only the Koreans are allowed to talk on this bus. I was definitely tempted to get creative with my Korean language and tell him what I really thought but I stopped myself cause he’s not worth it.
7. Finally met my second little sister. Her name is Grace and she's a super tiny, super hyper mini-Korean. When I was finally able to leave her house, her little sister stood in the doorway crying, waving, and then... peeing! Yup... she stod there peeing and I tried so hard not to laugh. She's a baby though so it's natural.
8. Possible cancellation with my trip cause it seems like finding a plane ticket back from the Philippines is next to impossible! Korean Air has tickets but they’re going to cost me an arm and a leg!
9. Am convinced Jae Ho misses me more than I thought he’d even like me in the first place. He’s the little guy I met at last week’s English camp and he’s such a cool mini-Korean. Today he bombarded me with text messages on my phone… so funny.
10. After numerous attempts to sleep, I woke up and changed into shorts, only to discover yet more bruises on my body from the accident.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How sweet are you?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Remedy it, or welcome it: a wise man's only two choices.
-- Terri Guillemets

Me with the English camps BEST students... my students of course! Ha, ha, ha. Here is me with my Eumbong Middle School students (Vanessa is missing from picture though). The big guy, Chloe, is one of my all-time favorite students but they are all awesome!

Highlights of my Day... Monday, July 24

1. Interesting to note that I live in a country infested with mountains and yet today I discovered what appears to be a man-made mountain made-up of boulder chunks.
2. First day of the Yoengin English camp and so I woke up early and rushed to meet up with my fellow co-workers, Andy, Edil, and Ariel. Turns out the bus doesn’t go pass the school and so we kind of got stranded at this massive spa in the middle of no where.
3. Experienced the expected first day kiaos but it was us foreign teachers who pulled together and forced the Korean teachers to help sort out the schedule and course material issues.
4. Met my new students and they’re great but I’m convinced my Eumbong and Wollang students (who I teach outside of the camp) are the best ones here! As I stood in front of all the students at the opening ceremony, I couldn’t help but be so proud that some of my students were there.
5. Lots of hugs and smiles from my regular students. Even my middle school boys hugged me. I think we were all relieved to see each other and maybe even missed each other too.
6. My homeroom class, E2 (now called “The Blue Sharks”) consist of a cool bunch of super cute and super sweet grade 5/6 elementary kids from various schools in the surrounding area.
7. Had my first scooter lesson tonight and it was awesome! Ryan took me to a big parking lot and taught me how to drive and I was so excited that I could do it. I tried really hard and paid attention.
8. Had my first scooter accident tonight… yes, you read correctly. We were on a main street (8 laner I think). Ryan was on one scooter and I was behind him. I thought something was wrong with the blinker, I looked down and within a matter of seconds I went crashing into him and then flying into the air. I don’t remember landing but I remember not hearing the scooter and so I moved. I thought it was going to land on me. Stood up with my bruised ego, shattered nerves, disappointment in my heart, and tears in my eyes and picked up the trashed scooter while everyone watched me.
9. Must have said “I’m sorry” a million times to Ryan. I was surprised to see how well he took the fact that I just scratched the heck out of his scooter. He said crashing was a part of learning but dang, that lesson almost cost me more than the expense of fixing the bike.
10. Had to drive back home on the scooter. I started thinking about how I almost died (car behind me had slammed on it’s breaks but stopped close to my head) and so I squeezed the handles so hard my knuckles went white and I could feel my whole body shaking. It wasn’t until later, when the adrenaline calmed down, that my whole body started to ache.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What happened?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Once bitten, twice shy.
-- Author Unknown (but Ryan's favorite quote from now on I'm sure)

Came across this older picture of me and thought it was so fitting for today's turn of events.

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, July 23

1. Yes, I know… I’m delayed with my postings but give me a break. I worked like a slave last week and haven’t even relaxed yet this weekend!
2. Became “Blow Fish Girl” after a rough night’s sleep. I woke up looking like I had had a bad reaction to something. My body is so tired that apparently it seems it’s forgotten what sleep is and how to do it. Thanks to Ryan for the name calling… you big bully. Ha, ha, ha.
3. Met up with Sue today for pie and milk and then cruised around with her and her mom for a bit in their pimped out car.
4. Ya, ummm… got into a fight tonight and I really don’t care to comment on it but I will say that we both ended up losing and so we’ll just leave it at that.
5. Finally regained my ability to breathe and headed home.
6. Trying desperately to figure out this whole trip that I’ve been contemplating in my head but it’s not looking to go. Seems like everyone is giving me the run-around.
7. Much thanks to “Trouble Boy” who promised to help me plan my trip but bailed on me after he came to the realization that Ryan really isn’t a figment of my imagination, he’s just a bit anti-social.
8. Started an official blacklist… “Trouble Boy” being of course the first one on this list. Not too sure yet what the rules and regulations are for this, I mean, should I let people work their way off of the list?! Hmmm.
9. Tomorrow my second English camp starts. I’m optimistic about it cause I get to see some of my students who I miss but I’m hesitant about it due to the strain of last week’s camp.
10. No sooner was “Trouble Boy” blacklisted then he started sending me random text messages of encouraging words… I’m convinced it’s all a scam. He’s like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I’m on to his tricks. Ha, ha, ha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do I smell trouble?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.
-- Leo Tolstoy

Field Trip day!!! Our trip to the folk village was very educational... I learned how to make rice cake by pounding the heck out the rice and my students learned how they use to punish misbehaviour (notice the top right pic...ha, ha, ha)

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, July 22

1. Hurray for my last early, early morning! This is killing me!
2. Impressed all the boys with my baseball skills (i.e. throwing/catching). Mind ya, I think I took out a few students as I fought to catch the ball… ha, ha, ha. Thanks to my dad and two brothers for those skills!
3. Today was the last day of English camp and so we finally ventured out of the classroom. The camp took them to a traditional folk village where we walked around for an hour in the blazing heat.
4. Folk village wasn’t bad actually. In addition to getting to beat the heck out of rice with large wooden mallets (rice cake making), we got to chitchat with the students as we leisurely walked around.
5. As the kids piled on the buses to go home, we all were sad to see them leave but relieved that it was over. Somehow Jae Ho got a hold of my cell number and so no sooner had his bus left then he was already sending me “I miss you” text messages. So cute.
6. After leaving the camp, I rushed over to Songtan to talk to the travel agent but I arrived just as she was literally locking the door. “Hmmm… come back on Monday” was the only form of sympathy she could give me.
7. Just when I thought the day was getting bad, it got worse. Had to sit through about 30mins of some creep eyeing me up and down. When the train finally approached my stop, he approached me and did a full-fledge, one-handed, wrap-around and squeezed a “particular part” of my body and ran away.
8. Reached the peek of my frustration with this whole pervert situation when I was then forced by some fellow subway riders to try to explain what happened to a Korean security guard. So instead I pushed them away and hid in the bathroom stall for a bit while the hype over the whole situation lowered.
9. Arrived home in a mess and called it a night… unfortunately it didn’t end there though. Had it had ended, I would had seriously called myself blessed but no, a weekend isn’t a weekend without an episode of “War of the Worlds”, starring Ryan and I. Still working out these silly clashes of culture.
10. Am a true believer in tough love. What doesn’t break you, makes you stronger.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How far can love go?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
He who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.
-- Japanese proverb

Here's me with my faithful sidekick... Jeremy! He and I tried hard to amuse a crowd but it was so hard considering the language barrier! Turns out they really liked us though. Cool!

Didn't really get any pictures considering my designated camera man didn't really help me out. But, I did get some interesting shots of one of the last performances... what's up with the makeup on the boys?!

Highlights of my Day... Friday, July 21

1. Big news story for today, besides everyone freaking out about tonight’s performance, was the sneaking around that happened in the dorms last night. Apparently some of the boys snuck into the girl’s dorm and well, obviously got caught. Their punishment included sitting in a room for an hour with their arms up while listening to a scolding lecture. Come on.. they’re kids. What’s the worst they can do, honestly!
2. Image, image, image… that’s what it comes down to. Last night’s freak out on the kids was done to uphold the camp’s image and we’ve been practicing all week for this silly presentation when, in reality, almost 80% of our crowd (parents and education board members) don’t even understand English!
3. Well they did it and I’m not too sure how they did it. With the great lack of communication and organization that this camp appears to be based on, I honestly didn’t think they’d be able to come up with some kind of plan for tonight’s presentation, but they did. Have to admit, I’m pretty impressed with how they finally all got together for it!
4. Tonight was the night of the big final presentation and Jeremy and I got stuck being the MCs. Considering more than half of our audience doesn’t know any English, we had a hard time trying to think up of any jokes. As a last resort we planned for Nerio to call my cell. We said that if we were dying up there, I’d scratch my nose and he’d call me. I’d yell something funny on the phone in Korean and they’d laugh… or so was the plan.
5. Jeremy and I opened the ceremony with me hiding and then a quick game of “rock-scissors-paper” to start it all. They loved it! Turns out our cell phone joke wasn’t so funny to them and with that, we were desperately trying to not sink any further. Ceremony lasted three LONG hours.
6. The kids were all awesome but I was really disappointed with all the loud talking from the parents that went on while the students preformed. Big props to all the students. I was really entertained and amazed at how funny many were. Not too sure what was up with the boys who wore make-up in their presentation though!!!
7. Really wasn’t impressed when half way through the concert I spotted my camera on some random chair. I had asked a fellow teacher to take pictures for me but apparently he didn’t. Tried really hard to shake it off but it really ticked me off the more I thought about it.
8. Had the pleasure of meeting my student Ester’s parents. Her father is a missionary and all family members speak English, Korean and Chinese. Had to laugh when they said they loved my accent… what accent?!
9. Ryan came and picked me up and so the sight of him was a huge sigh of relief. Get me out of here! I was so exhausted and so I had to fight the urge to close my eyes while on the back of the scooter.
10. Finally got home at 12:35am!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Are they even listening?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Ugly should hurt.
-- Author Unknown

Golden Bell time!!! Nerio and Michael hosted it and were assisted by "Mr. Tight Pants" (ha, ha, ha). The kids fun it fun but us English speakers and it was my first time experiencing this game.... cool stuff.

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, July 20

1. Earned Ryan’s pity with these brutal slave hours and so today he surprised me by driving me to school…. awesome!
2. I’m really loving the whole dictatorship here and all the weak links in that chain (note the sarcasm)! I got asked to be tomorrow’s MC for the final presentation but they kept on passing me off to other people for instructions on what to do. Finally put my foot down and said they had till 3pm tomorrow to produce a list of presenters and names I am required to mention…. let’s see if they do it now.
3. Taught my little paparazzi buddy Jae Ho’s class. His partner wasn’t feeling good today and so I was his partner for the shopping game and he was loving it!!! I never taught his class the terms “shoplifting” or “shoplifter” but I did teach him about how to make more money with his store… overpricing baby! Together we ran the stationary store. Our prices were ridiculously high but we won them over with claiming out pens were magic pens and praying on the youngest boy in class who had no idea on buying low, selling high. It was so hilarious!
4. Must admit that although the camp itself is not particularly impressing me, the grounds of this university are great and the food they’ve been serving is awesome! Definitely a five star cafeteria!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. Awkward moment at the lunch table when I said, “I love this meat. It’s so delicious” and Mr. Cranky Pants teacher freaked on me for saying I loved meat in front of two vegetarians. Mind ya, the two vegetarians could care less but he made a big stink about it. This comment coming from a much older dude who makes his 3 month old puppy live in his small van (aka the purple OVEN) while he teaches…. and he says I’m not smart. Hmmmm.
6. Tonight we had the grand “Golden Bell” quiz game with all the elementary kids. They really liked it but some of the questions were so bogus! For example… Q: What’s the most spoken language? A: American. What?! They really need to hire someone to edit their brutal English or they should at least utilize us teachers and have us edit them!
7. Admitted that I didn’t know some of the answers to a couple of the Golden Bell questions and this totally shocked my students. They gave me the whole “I’ve just seen a ghost” look. Yikes!
8. Totally impressed the socks of some cute Korean dude who had asked to sit beside me on the long bus ride home. He was playing with an almost completed rubix-cube (so old school!) and joked that it’s impossible. So, I told him to close his eyes. After about a couple of minutes I let him open his eyes and he was so shocked that I had figured it out. Little does he know, I pulled the oldest trick in the book on him and had switched the stickers around! Ha, ha, ha!
9. Ran into “Rubix Cube Boy” a little later that evening as I sat down at Kimbop Nara. He said he’d pay for my meal if I could do it again but show him this time. He mixed it up a bit, I took it and then I started peeling off the stickers. Not only was he not impressed but he also didn’t finish his meal, nor pay for mine. Hey… that’s not fair. I could have done it again so he owes me!
10. Finally reached home at 10:15pm… not cool!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's the most spoken language?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Truth is the safest lie.
-- Jewish Proverb

Today we shopped till we dropped! Ha, ha, ha!

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, July 19

1. Day two of getting up super early only to rush to the bus and then have an hour and a half journey to school. The bus ride really kills me. Sitting for so long makes me tired but I’m nervous about missing my spot and so my head is bobbing the whole ride!
2. Turns out we teach the same classes (material) to all three elementary classes and so today was a total repeat of yesterday’s lesson. Oh gosh, this is going to get real boring for me on the third round.
3. Day two of teaching the “How much is it? – Shopping” lesson and I’m already feeling the boredom setting in. Decided to get more creative with it and so as a part of their shopping vocabulary, I taught them the terms “shoplifter”, “shoplifting”, “bargain shopping”, and “over-pricing”. They’re only grade 5/6 kids but they sure had a lot of fun putting into practice those new terms when it came to playing our shopping game. I think we had more shoplifters than legate customers!
4. Today the middle school classes hosted a massive market day to show off their shopping lesson. They thought they were know-it-alls until some of my students exercised their new shopping vocabulary…. oops!!! Thankfully the shoplifting stopped after one teacher freaked on one of them. That was a harsh lesson!
5. Not too sure what the heck they’re thinking but in a matter of 3 hours we had fed the kids FOUR TIMES!!! Lunch, market day snacks, snack time, and then supper! Not only did they get in trouble for not finishing their supper (teacher lectured them… it was embarrassing) but they’re also going to go to sleep tonight with stomachaches from all that food and candy!
6. Got asked about what impression I had about the English camp so far. So, I told her that I found it ironic that the students are more aware of what’s going on than the teachers. We’ve been totally left out of the loop since day one when we first got asked to come. Turns out she was the head organizer for the camp. I guess I really put my foot in my mouth this time!
7. Looks like I got a little paparazzi! His name is Jae Ho and he’s always taking pictures of me on his cell phone. He’ll be in my class tomorrow so that should be interesting.
8. Just as we were leaving, us teachers got told we have to stay longer. It’s been a super long day!
9. Ryan’s been definitely trying hard to discourage me from driving his Veno scooter but tonight I did it… FINALLY! He’s latest excuse as to why it wouldn’t work was cause Veno is a girl. Get with the times sweetie… girls like girls too! So, after numerous frustrating attempts, I gave it lots of gas and it started!!! Showtime baby!
10. Seeing the look on Ryan’s face as he drove down the parking garage ramp and saw me on his Veno was totally priceless!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Is this a trick question?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Simply the thing I am Shall make me live.
-- Auther Unknown

Today was the first day and so we got down and dirty (ha, ha, ha) with some good old finger painting. Soo-Jin is the girl in the middle and Soo-Ri is the little one in the pink.

Did some exploring on the university campus and came across this sign. I wonder what the penalty for abusing this rule is! Ha, ha, ha.

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, July 18

1. English camp started today and so at 7:30am I jumped on the bus and hoped it was going in my direction. Arrived at the university an hour and a half later after having to take one city bus and a taxi.
2. Despite giving them 3 weeks notice that I'll be staying over night, they failed to arrange a room for me. So, they stuck my stuff in a tiny room packed with 4 adult women and hoped I'd accept sleeping on the floor. Considered it all day but when they informed me that I'd be showering in one massive shower room with my female students, that pretty much cleared up any pondering on my behalf... no thanks!!!
3. There I stood, talking to this Korean guy for about 10mins until either of us asked for each other's name. Turns out he's the notorious Nerio. He use to teach at my school and I knew he'd be at camp. I was rather nervous having to meet him but when I found out that this dude was Nerio, I had a huge laugh and felt quite silly for being nervous.
4. Interesting selection of foreign teachers here. Canada was well represented... there was the city girl (me), the country hick (Jeremy from Edmonton), the farm woman (Edil from London, Ontario) and then the Newfie (Brad). I'm pretty sure there was another Canada too but I don't remember who.
5. Turns out I'm not really teaching any classes as oppose to being an assistant, or in some cases, am more of a student! My Korean co-teacher is awesome and I really lucked out with him but he's quite happy with running the whole show. Mind ya, it's rather boring and so I'm desparately seeking new ways to get involved and entertain myself.
6. As luck would have it, I got the best group of kids. There is 16 of them and they're in grade 5 elementary school. None of them have English names and so I'm trying hard to memorize their names but it's really challanging!
7. Turns out I've got quite the little shadow. Her name is Soo-Jin. Soo-Jin has a little shadow too, her best friend Soo-Ri. So that means everywhere I go these two go. It's so cute but kind of weird how so she's intreged by me and watches everything I do.
8. Taught my class a traditional Korean story in the form of a play. The two boys who were the "oger" were shy and so I thought I'd help them out and be an oger too. Turns out they thought it was impressed and now I'm refered to as either Amy or "Oger"... great.
9. Had sing-song time together with all the elementary students and it was awful. Not only did they pick the worst singer to sing it but the microphone was cranked up, she song the wrong words (in addition to having them spelt wrong on the overhead projection) and she was quite proud of all of this apparently. It was a really brutel way to cap off a really super long day!!!
10. Did the long trek home and pretty much crashed. Rumor has it I may have to stay later tomorrow night.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do you know anything about what's going on?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
This one time at bandcamp....
-- from the movie "American Pie"

My brother Bobby-B... I have no idea what he's doing in this picture but I find it rather interesting.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, July 17

1. Well today wasn’t really an exciting or productive day, that’s for sure!
2. It rained non stop today and so I never did venture outside my house.
3. With English camp starting tomorrow at the crack of dawn, I spent a good part of my day doing laundry and procrastinating with packing (it’s an overnight camp).
4. Realized I’m the master of procrastination when I went to pack up my toiletries and ended up scrubbing the toilet and washing down the bathroom walls. Didn’t end up packing up my toiletries till about ten hours after my initial attempt.
5. Still am clueless as to what I’m expected to teach or do at this English camp. Seems like that’s the going trend with these camps… and Korea too for the most part (lack of communication that is).
6. My afternoon consists of moving around my apartment and finding various places to have a cat nap… the couch, bed (well, in my case…. the mat), floor, and stairs. Don’t ask about the stairs, you’re really not interested… ha, ha, ha.
7. Decided to go all out for dinner and order in. Not too sure on what I’ll really be eating at camp and so we ordered in a feast and relaxed… like we hadn’t done enough of that today.
8. Okay… sending me four emails a day about basically nothing is really not cool. Between getting way too many text messages from “Trouble Boy” and too many emails from “Mr. Jump to Conclusions”, I don’t think I’ll ever go to Songtan again. That place reeks of trouble, drama and desperate men who definitely read too much into things!
9. Movie night! Haven’t had a movie night with Ryan in such a long time and so tonight we watched “Hide and Seek”. Awesome movie but it spooked me and I sat through most of the movie with goose bumps!
10. Finally at a little after midnight, I decided I better pack. I’ve outgrown sleepovers and so I’m really not looking forward to sleeping over at English camp. Knowing my luck, I’ll end up having to bunk with a whole clan of elementary girls who’ll only end up chatting all night.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How would you translate, "leave me alone"?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another.
-- James Matthew Barrie

Okay... so my day wasn't as bad as this dudes. It still sucked,

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, July 16

1. Spent my morning trying to dodge “Trouble Boy” in Songtan. He’s too much drama for me and I think last night’s drama, supplied by him of course, was enough to last me a few weeks. I’m flattered by the random text messages but am kind of freaked that you’re jealous of who knows what and by all the attention you’re giving me.
2. Finally got the grand tour of Songtan’s Air Force base and it was NOTHING like what I had imagined. They had huge buildings, a mall, a movie theater, and we even had to take a taxi to get around! One word…. massive!
3. My tour guide, Greg (new buddy), capped off the tour nicely with a champagne breakfast and a token of our tour… a necklace I had eyed intensively in the mall on base. Thanks big guy!
4. Found great amusement as “Mr. I’m too Cool of a Dude” slipped and almost landed on his butt! Everyone saw it, everyone pretended not to had seen it and there I stood laughing out loud and clapping. Next time you try to impress a girl there buddy by acting like you’re the next best thing since sliced bread, watch out for those curbs. Ha, ha, ha.
5. Stocked up on more totally legal (ha, ha, ha) DVDS. That dude there loves me. Ever since I practiced my shopping dialogue on him (learned it from my “Survival Korean” text) he’s been slipping me a free DVD. Cool!
6. It rained ALL day and it was perfect!
7. Relaxed and watched a movie while I waited for Ryan to come over.
8. Spent a good part of my afternoon responding to the many text messages from my student Victoria. She loves English but was going a little too far with it. Text message count for the day from her was 22!
9. Drama with the boy… I’ll just leave it at that. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment.
10. Opted out on more drama and escaped to the 14th floor patio where I made a surprise call to a close friend. He reassured me that yes, I probably am crazy but that there’s people who are crazier about me… and there’s those crazier than me too. Thanks. If I come back to Canada, it’ll definitely be for you!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do you believe in Karma?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Good luck in your next life as a dung beetle.
Phoebe off of "Friends"

Ya... you can try to hide it but you know you're "Trouble Boy"!!!

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, July 15

1. With Ryan out of the house I had lots of free time on my hands.
2. Regardless of what any "one" may say or think, I know I’ve met some really awesome people in Korea and if they were to be only so lucky, would they'd be blessed by meeting them too!
3. Decided that I wasn’t going to let some guy spoil my evening and so I showered up, got dolled up and headed out to Songtan.
4. I really can’t stand guys who insist on pushing themselves on me…. that’s YOU “Trouble Boy”. I’m not down with your silly games or cheesy lines. Apparently I was right all along. He is trouble!
5. Tried to shake it off and so I found myself at a club called “The Edge”. I was probably the only white person there and the only one that wasn’t dancing like a ghetto superstar.
6. If being white didn’t make me stand out enough already, when the DJ was giving shout outs to various states, I yelled out, “What? Nothing to Canada… the great white north?!” And just my luck, right when I yelled it the music had come to a break and so EVERYONE heard me. They all laughed and then I got huge shout outs to Canada by the DJ who even let me yell out my own shout outs on the microphone too! Ha, ha, ha.
7. Never did run into Darnell or the crew but I met some really funny people who tried to teach me some really weird dance moves.
8. I definitely was Ms. Social Butterfly tonight and had lots of laughs but there was this one dude who just wouldn’t leave me alone… some guy with bug sunglasses on. He even tried to follow me into the bathroom!
9. Oh, correction with #8. Another guy who wouldn’t leave me alone was “Trouble Boy”. After tonight, he’s definitely being black listed in my phone!
10. Found myself, like always when I visit Songtan, at the Subway sandwich restaurant trying out my Korean on the workers there. I’ve almost mastered my whole order in Korean.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's a six letter word for "stalker" that starts with the letter 'j'?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Poor little man, they made him out of lemon Jell-O and there he is. He's honest and hardworking but he's not great.
-- Adela Rogers St. John

Our little snack party turned into a huge fest! Here's Ethan and Jess. They ate way too much and the lunch bell just went.... oh no!