Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, October 31

1. Congratulations to my father, Mr. Happy Retiree!!! It was on this day 5 years ago that my father retired after many years of dedicated work at Imperial Oil as an accountant. I remember that day... I got into a messy petition over a test I was suppose to write that day because I wanted to go see my father. My university professor wasn't impressed to say the least, but he ended up letting me go. You are well deserving of your retirement dad! Congrats!
2. Yet another staff meeting. After various students being harassed, a teacher being sued, classes being interrupted, staff being super stressed out and parents flooding the schools,… apparently they're reached a decision. They've decided to make The Bully and her sidekick do community service for two days. WHAT?!!! I can't respect this decision and totally feel it doesn't even come close to be justifiable in regards to what has occurred. This is a joke. My first period was cancelled as they pulled a student/staff meeting in the gym for a massive meeting. So much for this being over.
3. While sitting in the teacher's room I was in complete shock as one teacher punched a student in the head! Oh my gosh. What was more shocking was the fact that I was the only one disturbed by it!!!
4. Surprisingly enough, the only ones from class 2-1 who dressed up for my class Halloween party was The Bully and her sidekicks. The six of them dressed up as dead Korean girls and had painted on blood dripping from their eyes. It was actually quite real looking too. Freaky!
5. It's obvious that the mood in my school has been tense lately and so I tried to cheer the WHOLE school up by getting dressed up in my Halloween costume and running around the school at lunchtime. I ran into the cafeteria and threw candy at the students. They loved it. Some didn't know what my costume was suppose to be but they loved my enthusiasim and the candy…ㅋㅋㅋ. I was a superhero/boxer.
6. My mummy game was a HUGE hit with both classes, 2-1 and 1-1. The purpose of the game was to be the first one to wrap your partner (the staged mummy) in the toilet paper. The funniest was when Lyndia was all wrapped up. She stood there giggling uncontrollably and then lost her balance...ㅋㅋㅋ.
7. Played "Pin the hat on the dog" (similar to "Pin the tail on the donkey"). Class 1-1 got carried away and ended up letting their blindfolded peers walk out of the classroom clueless to the fact that they were NO where close to the target…ㅋㅋㅋ.
8. Halloween isn't very big in Korea and so my students were all curious as to what Canadian kids do on Halloween. I told them the obvious stuff (costumes, school party,humoredt then I humoured them with the real details... pumpkin smashing, egg throwing, and other pranks. Had to laugh cause me telling them the rebellous side of things reminded me of my dad's stories. I am my father...ㅋㅋㅋ!
9. What I thought was a simple bump on the head, ended up leaving me making friends with the toilet (yup, I got sick). So all plans for tonight were cancelled and instead I took a trip to the hospital.
10. As they say about Koreans, once you're a friend with a Korean, you're now like family. Tonight I told Kim Tae that I was going to smoke (it was me using blackmail to get him to stop smoking). Twenty minutes later he showed up to lecture me about not smoking...ㅋㅋㅋ. He's such a good friend. So cute...ㅋㅋㅋ.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What are we really teaching our students?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Actions speak louder than words.
-- Author Unknown

Say "hi" to my new friend. This is Dong-Su.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, October 30

1. The drama is still continuing strong at school as the story of The Bully and The New Girl brings parents flooding into the school today for yet another meeting.
2. Turns out there’s another victim in our bully school story. She’s in level 1 and in the same class as The New Girl.
3. Tension and stress among us staff reaches yet another new and totally unexpected level as the second victim’s mother comes to the school to announce she is suing one of the teachers.
4. My parent/teachers' class was cancelled to day and I was so incrediably grateful. I got to escape the stress of the staffroom as they lectured more students and instead was able to spend some quiet time in my classroom.
5. Mom you’re right, some things you just have to leave to God. As I said grace today at the lunch table, I prayed for my school. I just want this all to be over with.
6. Despite the massive situation that engulfed us all here at Eumbong, I tried to lighten the mood and cheer my students up by surprising them with tomorrow’s plans. I’m going to throw them a Halloween party!
7. He’s alive! At training tonight Byung Hyuk showed up after two weeks of hibernating due to his exam period. So all three of us were at training tonight, Kim Tae, Byung Hyuk and me… back to the good old days. I really missed you!
8. Plans are to go out for dinner on Friday, just the three of us. I really missed hanging out with my friends and so I super excited about dinner on Friday.
9. Played badminton in my courtyard with some random neighbour of mine. She let me use her extra racket and so I let her win… ㅋㅋㅋ.
10. Late night chats with my new friend Dong-Su cheered me up and distracted me from thinking more about the situation at school. It was good.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
When is this going to end?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.
-- Roy Disney

Nothing felt better than finally arriving home in Cheonan after a super long evening stuck in Seoul!

Highlights of my Day.. Sunday, October 29

1. Considering I came home after 7am today, my day was pretty much shot. I literally slept all day and woke up after 4pm.
2. Woke up and my body felt so used and abused. Once again I’ve killed my sleeping patterns. Ahhhhh!!!
3. With Oberon is Seoul, Kim Tae at home sick, and Byung Hyuk busy (probably with his girlfriend), I was left home alone and bored out of my skull.
4. Resorted to studying Korean.
5. Watched the movie “The Lake House” for probably the 100th time. It’s not even that good of a movie.
6. Realized I’m turning into my mom with my fascination with books. However, my mom loves reading books and I love writing books. I’ve got an on-going children’s poetry book that I’ve been working on but today I started writing another novel.
7. It’s silly I know, but I’ve also started a book of lists… I seem to be amused with making random lists. I got the idea off the movie “The Interpreter” and just went with it.
8. Left my house to go on a walk. Visited my favourite fruit man who always winks at me and gives me extra fruit. However, while standing there talking to him I was unsuspectedly greeted by Ms. Friendly Neighbour (you know… my neighbour who thinks it’s funny to always hit me). Well, like always, she hit me. Mr. Fruit Man wasn’t amused. ㅋㅋㅋ.
9. Treated myself to a bubble bath overflowing with bubbles. This is heaven!
10. Useless fact of the day… In order to sell his sets of Shakespeare door-to-door, David McConnell offered free perfume to his customers. He realized the perfume was more popular and began selling cosmetics door-to-door. This began the company that grew into Avon. Personally I prefer Shakespeare.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Kim Tae did you keep your promise or are you still smoking?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.
-- Anais Nin

Ahhh... Shin Ho and his cute fiance. Thank goodness they had NO idea what they were really singing!

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, October 28

1. It's been a super long and draining week and today I got a phone call concerning Kimmy. I think I know how he died. Needless to say, that phone call killed my day but I had promised Shin Ho that I'd meet his fiance and so tonight I hopped on the bus and headed out to Seoul.
2. The initial plan was for me to stay for dinner and then possibly stay the night but after about 3 hours of basically just sitting there and smiling, I wanted nothing more than to be back in my cozy home in Cheonan. I couldn't stop thinking of Kimmy.
3. I tried to concentrate on what they were saying in Korean but they spoke way too fast and used way too much slang. The dinner party consisted of me, Oberon (Ryan), Shin Ho and his fiancé, and some other dude. It was obvious that both me and Shin Ho’s fiancé felt awkward. The boys were all caught up in reminiscing and us girls just sat there and smiled. I amused myself with text messaging Byung Hyuk...ㅋㅋㅋ
4. As if dinner wasn’t awkward enough, they then asked me to go to a singing room. I was tired, bored out of my skull and super eager to get home. Oberon totally put me on the spot and didn’t help me out so I got dragged out to the singing room.
5. Was in total shock as I sat there and listened to Shin Ho’s fiancé sing “Barbie Girl” by Aqua. Thankfully this super innocent and sweet girl had no idea what the lyrics meant. Oh my gosh! I felt bad for not enjoying the evening but like I mentioned earlier, it's been a rough week and this was just not helping!
6. By the time they let me leave I was too late for the train. I arrived at Seoul station 9 minutes after the last train. All trains had finished and the first morning train was scheduled for 5:50am. Needless to say I wasn’t impressed.
7. With almost 6 hours to kill, I wasn’t exactly happy! I tried to preoccupy myself by going to a PC room, jumping on msn with some friends, listening to my MP3, roaming the streets, and testing out my Korean on random people (most of which were homeless or drunk).
8. I’m glad many of you were entertained with my mishap! Byung Hyuk tried to help me out, Kim Tae thought it was funny, Jyung Hyoi got all stressed out about it, my mom got all philosophical, Amiee showed concern, and a guy I met in the station, Choi Hyun, laughed at me and tried to entertain me with conversation as we both waited for the first train.
9. 5:50am finally arrived and so I started my journey home. I ended up falling asleep and waking up to some old man slapping my knee. Apparently he thought I was in his seat and as I went to check my ticket I happened to look out the train window. We were at Cheonan! Oh my gosh! I jumped up and ran towards the door just as the train started to move!!! Luckily, I was able to open the door. Out I jumped as the train continued to move! I sat there giggling at the situation.
10. I was dying for some coffee and so I got the taxi driver to drop me off near Starbucks. Just my luck... it was closed and as I turned to walk away, it started pouring buckets! My home was only a two minute walk away. I arrived home soaked to the bone and with no coffee but I was SO happy to be finally there!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Could it get any worse?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth or the only truth.
-- Charles Anderson Dana

My Halloween party was a huge success and the kids really loved it! Notice all the toilet paper?...ya, this is the after picture, you should have seen it before we cleaned! Ha, ha, ha!

Highlights of my Day... Friday, October 27

1. Finally decided on what I’d be for today grade 6’s Halloween party... a boxer! I guess my painted on black eye was pretty convincing because at my elementary school I was cautiously approached by many teachers... ㅋㅋㅋ.
2. As my students filed into class, some girls were frightened by the darkness of my classroom and the super scary sound effects I had blasting. I was so impressed and proud to see that all my students dressed up for today’s party! Although some quickly stripped down to their regular clothes (their costumes were too heavy or hot), I was so happy they were hyper about our party. Some of my students had even text messaged me in the morning to show their excitement! Awesome!
3. Various teachers came in to check out what all the commosion was in my classroom. Some took pictures of us with their cell phones while another teacher came in with his supped-up camera and took millions of pictures!
4. The best game by far was the mummy race. There was four teams and each team had to wrap up one member with the toilet paper. As you can imagine, it made for a super humorous but messy event. After we had this massive toilet paper fight... ㅋㅋㅋ.
5. At lunchtime I was approached by some grade 3 girls who eagerly wanted to show me something. I let them take me by the hand but was definitely shocked at what they showed me. There in the front lobby of the elementary school was a massive picture that took up half the wall. It was a picture of the school, some students and ME!!! Oh my gosh! There I was, in full view for everyone to see!
6. The party was such a huge success and so I returned to my middle school so super pumped and hyper. I showed everyone my pictures and they all joked about my black eye... ㅋㅋㅋ. Plan now is to treat some of middle school classes to a Halloween party on Tuesday. It’s going to rock!!!
7. Well, the water was scheduled to be shut off in Cheonan tonight and so I hit the road and headed out to Songtan knowing full well that I risked running into Yong Chan. And you know what, that’s EXACTLY what happened. There he was, standing there starring at me amongst the crowd. I of course am no fool and so I played sad and gave him a super quilt trip. Turns out he’s quite the “Bar boy” now… I don’t like him.
8. Good times with Gangster Boy, Greg. He had a good laugh at the fact that no sooner did I exit my taxi but there was Trouble Boy! Apparently Greg gets great amusement at how certain guys seem to smother me. Tonight’s “smothers” included Trouble Boy, Yong Chan, some older guy who wanted to play fight with me, and some little Spanish guy who claimed he was the best salsa dancer. I don’t even like salsa buddy!
9. Ventured over to the Road House and saw Choi... who, I should mention here, didn’t even remember my name. I was a bit insulted but I let it slide cause he’s... never mind. I know he's reading this!... ㅋㅋㅋ
10. Definitely had an action packed night hanging out with Gangster Boy and I was definitely impressed with how he smuggled me into the Young Chon Club. The waitresses believed his story that we were married. I can only imagine what they think of us and our supposed “marriage"...ㅋㅋㅋ. We entered together but chatted it up with other people…ㅋㅋㅋ. It’s the perfect marriage...ㅋㅋㅋ.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Common sense is not so common.
-- Voltaire

Say "kimchi" everyone! This is my after school drama club. They're sooooo cute!

Enough with the serious pictures... this is who they really are! Bryden and I are sending you love with our totally Korean heart hand sign... ha, ha, ha.

Chilling out after class with Jess. As you can tell, here at Eumbong, students and staff members are close. It makes for a super comfortable place and so I am so happy at Eumbong. I love you Eumbong!

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, October 26

1. My apartment security guard did it again! As I exited the elevator there he stood with an English newspaper for me! He’s got to be the sweetest and cutest old man I’ve ever met. After school I treated him to some oranges.
2. Curled my hair today in the morning and my students loved it! They humoured me by calling me “Sexy B” and “Sexy Teacher”… I’m so eager to get a perma. Straight hair is so boring!
3. Joke of the day... Mr. Ju is friends with the flies! As he humoured us female teachers by trying to pretend to throw live flies at us at the staff lunch table, we laughed and screamed. It caused quite a commotion among the curious students... ha, ha, ha. I had commented earlier that flies like smelly, dirty things and so we all had a good laugh at the numerous flies swarming Mr. Ju…ㅋㅋㅋ.
4. Tension rises definitely to a much higher level as the parents of various students storm into the school to discuss The Bully and The New Girl. Numerous relatives of The New Girl vented and expressed their disgust to The Bully and her sidekicks. I didn’t really understand all that was being said but wow, it was so intense it was almost choking me!
5. Sat at my desk during my prep and noticed a trend among us teachers… we’re all tired looking and skinner too! Apparently this whole Bully/New Girl issue is seriously effecting us.
6. My after school English drama club, F.S. Talents, performed the play I wrote for them, “The Dinner”. Mrs. Chung and I watched and posed as judges for the two groups. Somehow I came out of the meeting owing some kids pizza next week... How’d that happen?!
7. Came home and as I opened the door, I was totally taken off guard by the incrediably nasty and super strong stench that bombarded me and flooded my nostrils. Oh my gosh! Everything smelt like something had died.
8. Turns out Oberon (formerly named Ryan...ㅋㅋㅋ) forgot to take out the fish he used for the soup last night. I hadn’t noticed it in the morning but tonight, I definitely noticed it. I’m surprised my neighbours didn’t notice it!
9. Tomorrow I’m hosting a Halloween party for my grade 6 elementary students and I was still clueless as to what I’d wear for a costume. Spent a good part of my night preparing a powerpoint slideshow, group games, and prizes. It’s going to be great!
10. He’s alive... Hallelujah! Dudgeon the Curmudgeon is alive! After he hung up on me the other day I was clueless as to what really happened. Turns out his cell battery died.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's the solution?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
She was good, you know what I mean!
-- my student Rupie's favorite line from the class pop song

I've learned to expect the unexpected, deal with life as it comes, and keep on laughing... ㅋㅋㅋ.

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, October 25

1. I’ve been Yong Chan free for two days now and yet the thought of him still lingers in my head! As my co-teacher and I left Eumbong Middle School to go to Wollang, I sa a US army truck with older Korean man driving it. He had parked it at the end of the school driveway and was standing in the middle of the road. I was so convinced he was here because of Yong Chan and so I hid my face.
2. Returned to Eumbong super curious and nervous as to whether or not that Korean man was there for me. Turns out I’ve just got back nerves and he has bad directions… ㅋㅋㅋ. What a relief!
3. Today in my elementary classes we held a drama contest. Charlie’s group one due to Charlie’s for his role as the father and his prize-winning flip on the stage… oh my gosh. The flip was scripted but the aching back and the inability to get up wasn’t. Don’t worry, he’s ok.
4. Change of bus schedule... now the elementary students from my classes are on it and so I was so happy. My Wollang elementary kids have such positive energy and their energy is delicious food for my soul.
5. On my way home from school today I made an amazing discovery and was quite perplexed by it. I can't apply to Baekseck University... many of my grade 6 elementary kids are going to be Eumbong Middle School students next year and I don’t want our fun times to end! I really was curious about the university position but am very happy with the students I have now. I don’t want to have to keep meeting new students every year
6. No sign of Curmudgeon... hmm. Yesterday he surprised me by calling me from Canada. It was super sweet of him to do so but I was left super confused when he hung up. Did I miss something? Hmm...
7. Lately I've been trying to think of an English name for Kim Tae. So far, I like Tait, Jedrek, and Dakota. Tait means “cheerful”, Jedrek means “strong, manly” and Dakota means “friend”. I personally really favour the Polish name Tait.
8. Out of curiousity, I started to search out the meanings of various names of some of my friends. Turns out Jung Hyoi's English name, Koosy is short for "Koosalagoopagoop"… ㅋㅋㅋ. The name Koosalagoopagoop has no real meaning but was the name of a fictional creature on the animated series Dexter's Laboratory. Koosy was very large (but was capable of changing to any size), had wings, a heart on his stomach, and a rainbow-colored nose and Koosy also wore glasses and liked to assist Dee Dee in annoying Dexter. Hmm… I don’t see any connection.
9. I have unofficially changed Ryan's name to Oberon, or so I’m trying to make him accept it. After continually struggling with his Korean name and being frustrated with his mainstream English name, I picked a new one...Oberon… ㅋㅋㅋ. So far he's hesitant to respond to it cause he doesn't like the meaning of the name. I on the other hand think the meaning is funny and so appropriate.
10. Due to my last name, Berezowski, I’m quite familiar with all the nicknames involving “bear”. Let’s see, there’s Baby Bear, Little Bear, Yorky Bear (my university was York), Bear Cub, and my most notorious nickname… Bere-Bum, which, when I was young, was more appropriately Bare-Bum… ㅋㅋㅋ. Now in regards to the name Oberon, it is the English variant of the French name Auberon, meaning "elf bear"... ㅋㅋㅋ. Ryan's a bear now too... an elf bear…ㅋㅋㅋ In Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Oberon was the name of the king of the fairies.... I like it and if you saw his dance moves, you’d understand…ㅋㅋㅋ

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What does your name mean?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them.
-- Albert Einstein

They're back!!! Ahhh... my buddy Andi and her cute hubby are back from their trip to Europe... it's about time! Didn't want you to have too much fun without me... ha, ha, ha.

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, October 26

1. No classes today and so I had the whole day to make my 2 posters for the English festival. Sounded simple enough right? Wrong. I never did finish that second poster.
2. Recently I've been pondering where I want to work next year. As it stands, I have the option of either changing schools within the Asan Education Board, renewing my contract here at Eumbong, or searching out something new. I love my position here at Eumbong but lately I've been distracted due to a job position that caught my eye. It's a university professor position at a university here in Cheonan.
3. Mrs. Chung thought she'd be a total sweety and so she assigned two helpers to help me make the posters. I think they mistook "help" for "social" though and so it became this big social for these girls. By mid-morning relief came when my other student Lyndia voluntered to help them. I felt bad for her though cause she was doing all the work.
4. There's definitely a sense of tension and stress among us teachers at school due to The Bully and The New Girl. Today the students had a sports day and so I didn't have to deal with The Bully. Instead I sat in my classroom, put my head down and pondered what all us as teachers can really do to resolve this situation. I feel somewhat responsible. Maybe there was something I could have done to stop this or should have seen this developing. I know we all feel like this though.
5. I'm always amused at the reaction of my middle school students when Ryan picks me up from school. They treat him like he's a pop star... the girls shout and the boys all want to stare at him. Tony from my 2-1 class ran up and started yelling "I love you Ms. B" in attempt to get a reaction from Ryan. Trust me Tony, Ryan's too shy to react to that.
6. Admit I've been slacking off with regards to going to the gym. My excuse is justifiable! I'm not officially not allowed to do anything too demanding because of my eye surgery. It's been like that since October 9th and he ordered me to stay low-key till November 9th. However, I did head out to the gym tonight and pumped some iron... ㅋㅋㅋ
7. My intentions were to hit the gym and then come back to work on an essay I'm writing, it's for a university professor position at a local school. So I had high hopes of spending my evening writing. However, I came home and Ryan was sleeping on my floor. I sat beside him to talk to him but ended up putting my head down and that was it for the rest of my night. I was out like a light.
8. Happy 7th year wedding anniversary to Amiee and her husband! Side note here... I met Amiee through her homepage. She's an American beauty who came to Korea as a single teacher, 6 years later she left Korea as a married woman. Her lucky man, a beautiful Korean man.
9. Yaaaaaa... Andi's back! Andi and Mark returned from their Europe trip. I know coming back to reality is rough Andi but I really missed our girl chats and hey, you can always come to Korea. Life is sweeter here on the flipside!
10. Woke up at 2am in pure shock when I realized that it was so late, I was still on the floor and hadn't written anything. I had wasted my whole evening. Ahhhh!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Did we see this coming?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Change QuoteThere are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.
-- Dr. Denis Waitley

Highlights of my Day... Monday, October 23

1. Walked into the staff room and totally sensed the tension... great and to think it's only Monday. Turns out one of our level 2 girls (we'll call her "The Bully") has been totally harassing one of our new students (we'll call her "The New Girl") since she arrived at our school two months ago. I'll spare you the disguistingly shocking details of what's been going on but can tell you that all were in shock today as we got word of what's been happening. Both girls are very much loved by their peers and are in fact quite popular too!
2. Today we had a huge student festival and so students and staff were so busy in the morning preparing last minute details. The school was flooded with guests and so there was a lot going on. Apparently my first period class was so busy that they forgot to show up to my English class...ㅋㅋㅋ. Only Conner showed up (he's the boy on the bottom in the above picture) and so we chatted Konglish and shared lots of laughs. 3. The student festival started off with a chocolate pie eating contest starring one of our school's set of twins, Cole and Sam. These boys are notoriously known as the school's comedians. I don't think Sam enjoyed that last chocolate pie though.. oh my gosh!4. Every class presented their talents but I was particularly shocked when some of my level 1 girls got up and busted out their dance moves! In class they're super shy and don't say a word but yet there they were, busting some somewhat provacative dance moves as if they were the next Brittney Spears!
5. A part of the festival was designated for the English pop song contest. Each class got up and performed but class 3-1 stole the show with their rendition of "Summer Nights" from the movie Grease. As Brad and Rachael sung the ending solos, all listened. It sounded so pretty! Awesome job!
6. At one point we stoped the festival for a break and as I opened the door to step outside, there stood our former principle, Mr. Ahn! He's a much loved man at Eumbong and so his surprise visit was welcomed by lots of cheering and smiling students! I miss having him here! This picture is of him (on the left) and our current principle.

7. The after school music club performed some traditional Korean music and so that was pretty interesting for me. Having studied Korean culture in university I'm always fasniated and eager to experience various aspects of their rich culture. My student Helena braved the crowd of students and sung a traditional Korean song. She stood so beautifully dressed in her humbok and her singing was just as beautiful. Unfortunetly, not all appreciated the beauty of performance and so she cried. 8. Well it wouldn't be complete unless the teachers participated! I joined Mr. Ju on stage for a magic show and then the vice principle (the man wearing the wig) joined Mr. Ju. They humored us all with their super funny rendition of a popular Korean TV show that even I am familiar with.
9. It's a miracle... our principle smiled and even giggled! He's notoriously known for his strict guidelines and expectations, and how his face never seems to show any emotion. However, today he was loving the spotlight as he sung for all of us. It sounded really good too!
10. Seeing some of my boys dressed as the ugliest girls I've ever seen was quite disturbing but funny. Tony (the one in the black and white skirt) really was loving it as the crowd clapped and laughed so he flashed us some leg... too much leg though... ㅋㅋㅋ. The festival was a huge success but it ended at 8pm!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...

What are we going to do with her?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

-- Author Unknown

Today I met Jenny for the first time and 5 minutes later she was already holding my hand. She's so sweet!
1...2...3... kimchi!

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, October 22

1. Had a dream that I was watching a football game and the team was desparate for a substitute player. I volunteered . Woke up right at the part when he threw the ball to me.
2. Met my co-worker's daughter, Jenny. She's a 15 year old girl that is as cute as a button, taller than me, and has traveled to more places that I probably will ever be able to! Among the many places she's been, she's visited Thailand, Hawaii, China, Japan, and various parts of the States too. Her dream is to go to Canada. Her English is great and I thought it was so cute how she refused to call me Amy and instead called me teacher and held my hand.
3. Jenny and I spent a good part of the afternoon together. We went shopping, ate ice cream, talked about boys, tried on jewelery and then headed to the photo booth shop to get our pictures taken and for more giggles. She's awesome!
4. Well, up until 4pm, my day had been perfect. However, at 4pm my mood came crashing down due to stupid text messages from Yong Chan. This boy just won't leave me alone!!! Today I recieved over 40 text messages from him. He is taking things too far!
5. For a guy who claims he's head over heels about me and promises to be the best friend ever, you Yong Chan are officially the most annoying, hot-tempered, immature, boring, totally pathetic, idiotic, superficial, self-absorbed person I've ever met and will ever meet in my WHOLE life!!! Not only do you bore me to death with your lame golfing stories and drive me mental with your make-believe drama, but now you're threatening to kick me to Canada and are threatening to fight me?! Your insults only serve to prove your stupidity and desparation! Two words for you... ANGER MANAGEMENT!
6. One last note Yong Chan, no, I don't need to get my boys to kick your butt. Not only do they not want to ever meet you but they think you're not a real Korean man in the first place. Go to the military like the rest of REAL KOREAN MEN instead of using your daddy's money to pay off the qovernment. But more importantly, I am fully capable of kicking your butt MYSELF.... you know that, I know that, they know that! You tell me when, I'd be there with bells on.
7. I refused to retaliate his pathetic and somewhat "creative" text messages. Instead, I called him and yelled at him. The call lasted 2 minutes. The rest of the evening I resisted replying to his loser messages. Greg, you were totally right. Yong Chan stinuks of danger and should be approached with EXTREME caution... mind ya, not approaching him at all is the best advice ever!
8. Tried hard not to think of the drama with Yong Chan and so I headed out with Kim Tae. We went for dinner and a movie. It was nice and Kim Tae really helped to calm my nerves.
9. We watched "Lady of the Water" and although it wasn't a really scary movie, I have really bad nerves and so I'm sure Kim Tae was really amused by the fact that I was jumping in my seat at numerous parts. My favorite character was the Korean girl who was totally Westernized but still talked like a typical Korean girl... ㅋㅋㅋ.
10. Despite the whole stupid Yong Chan stalking messages and harassment, I had a wicked day. I met an awesome girl, Jenny, and then had lots of fun with Kim Tae. I refuse to let Yong Chan spoil my love of Korea.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Can you teach me how to catch a football?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Amy is beautiful.
-- Kim Tae's friend 남상준

Oh my gosh... I feel like a pervert with this silly looking ice cream cone... come on, we're all adults. Don't be so silly. I'm not the only one that thought this.

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, October 21

1. Ah the weekend. I looooooooooooooooove the weekend! Nothing is quite like throwing open the blinds and seeing the whole city waiting for you. Good morning Cheonan!
2. Ventured over to Myong-Dong, my favorite hot spot in Seoul for shopping and people watching. I took a taxi from the bus terminal to the area and was greatly entertained and flattered by the taxi driver who tried eagerly to ask me as many Konglish questions as possible.
3. The taxi driver showed me a picture of a girl and instantly with saying "Ohhh... she is pretty" I somehow became a pervert in his eyes... I sensed his odd reaction. Turns out she's his daughter. Honestly, I didn't look at the picture closely but still, why the strange reaction. I suppose I should have said she is cute.
4. Myong-Dong is a super infested shopping hot spot. It's small streets are packed with hundreds of shoppers, street vendors and the occasional stupid car or truck driver who tries to drive through the massive crowd. As I stepped aside to let this one young truck driver though, I noticed he almost drove over this shopper's foot. The shopper was furious and ended up pulling the driver out of his truck. They didn't fight. Instead they argued, the truck driver got back in to drive away and the shopper walked behind the truck. Everyone was watching! It was like a scene out of a gangster movie.
5. I did it! I did the impossible! I found the perfect jacket! Not only was it way cheaper than expected but it looks perfect AND makes me look like a skinny posh little gal... mission completed! I felt so pretty... ㅋㅋㅋ.
6. Along with the pefect jacket, I also picked up some more pieces of clothing to further Koreanize my wardrobe... ㅋㅋㅋ
7. Apparently the biggest craze in Myong-Dong among the shoppers is an ice cream shop that sells a 30cm ice cream cone!!! I tested it out. If it wasn't for the fact that I love ice cream, it wasn't that great. Mind ya, it was definitely amusing watching all these people eat their super tall ice cream cones... ㅋㅋㅋ.
8. The super tall ice cream reminded me of Sunday drives my father use to take us on. We use to go to this ice cream shop out in the country where when the wind blew the wrong way all you smelt was the cows but we loved that store. The small size ice cream they served was always freakishly big and I remember us all laughing at those ladies as they spoke of just how big and how shocked they were over the size! Do you remember Dad? I remember it like it was yesterday.
9. Driving in Seoul on a Saturday night... not exactly my cup of tea or my definition of a good time. Not only is traffic stop-and-go, but people totally disregard using headlights and stop lights too for that matter. Buses are notorious for hoarding the roads, motorcylists and scooters drive on the sidewalks, and people step into traffic like they're invisible.
10. Like I've always said, and will always say, Seoul is nice to visit but nothing beats being back in Cheonan and spending time with friends. Takes Kim Tae for the late night visit. You are a true friend to me, thank you.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What ever happened to that ice cream store?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same.
-- Author Unknown

I may be still young but, as many of you know, I've got the worse memory! Some of my students bought me this little guy, he's a purse for my cell phone so now I always know where it is... ㅋㅋㅋ. So cute!

Highlights of my Day... Friday, October 20

1. On my way over to the elementary school I got my co-teacher to drop by the GS 25 store. I had forgotten to buy my grade 5 students juice for the big game today. She questioned me why I'd spend my money on the students and so I explained to her. However, in my explaining, I think she started to feel bad, I sensed it. Her homeroom class is my bad-boy class!
2. WOW! I was in pure shock as my bad-boy class (Eumbong Elementary School grade 6) filed into my classroom and, in the best of manners, said "Hello Ms. B. Good morning." She (their teacher) obviously had lectured them. This is my roughest class usually but today they were sooooo good! So in my pure shock and pure happiness, I agreed to help them throw an English Halloween party for next week.
3. As I had promised them, I played soccer with my grade 5 class today. Thankfully this time the injury count only included bad-boy Bryan and me who had collided head first into each other... ㅋㅋㅋ. My team, Team Fighting, won 1-0 against Team No-Die.
4. Bad boy Bryan was on my soccer team today and I think this soccer game really bonded us, seriously. I won't go into the details of Bryan's broken family (and lack there of it) but it's obviously causing trouble for him. He never wants to do anything but break rules and make his classmates cry. We only got one goal but that was all we needed to win. I had set him up for the goal and so when he scored, he ran up to me and gave me a huge high-five. He was all smiles.
5. Opted out of sitting with the teachers for lunch today. They don't speak much English and personally, I think they're boring... 심심해!!! Instead I sat with bad-boy Bryan. He had saved a set for me. I was surprised, he's never done that. He was still so pumped about our soccer victory! Team Fighting!!!
6. Spent my afternoon planning my English Halloween party.. brainstorming costume ideas, choosing games, and making costume awards. Oh baby... it's going to be fun! Bryan says I should be Park Ji Sung... ㅋㅋㅋ.
7. My co-teacher, Mrs. Jung, is convinced I am the master of lipgloss. I've got 3 in my purse, 2 in my desk drawer, and another 2 in my desk drawer in my classroom. I won't even mention how many lipglosses I have in total though... so bad! ㅋㅋㅋ
8. Spent time with little Ms. Wild Child... oh gosh! Not only did she try to molest my chest, but she also hit me in the head with her pencil and then bit my toe! After what seemed like hours, I finally went home. I jumped into the taxi and noticed my toe was still bleeding.
9. Ms. Wild Child's sister is apparently quite the expeditionist!!! Her mom and her were playing in the other room when she decided to strip down to her birthday suit and attack me. Her new name is the "Naked Tickle Monster". She's only 2 years old and so it was super funny but I felt uncomfortable picking up this nude child as she tried to tickle me. Crazy kids!!!
10. As a treat, Ryan surprised me by cooking me pumpkin. Since I've come to Korea, I've picked up some new favorites... and pumpkin is definitely one of my favorites! I just can't get enough pumpkin! I eat pumpkin soup, pumpkin ice cream, and I love pumpkin with syrup!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What is that child thinking?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
-- Albert Einstein

Stop the presses... she's back! Little Ms. Trouble Narae is my little "Korean" princess (wink-wink... no, she's not Korean) and she's returned from her reality TV show.

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, October 19

1. Final day of having to give those annoying and super repetitious English conversation tests. Since I've been in Korea, my English has really deteriated so much that I started to wonder how I'd do if I was given the same tests... ㅋㅋㅋ.
2. Among my middle school students, there's definitely some students I feel more obligated to reach out to and have bonded with. Logan is definitely one of those students. He's been bouncing in and out of the lower and upper level 2 English class (due to his various test marks). Today he struggled on his test and he ended up running away from me and down the hall to the boy's bathroom.
3. I waited 5 minutes outside of the bathroom for Logan. He didn't come out and so I went in. He was sitting on the toilet lid with the door open and tears in his eyes. I knelt down beside him. I didn't know what to say and so I just rubbed his back.
4. Total awkward moment... another student walked in and saw me in the boy's bathroom with Logan.
5. Oh my gosh... she IS alive! Narae, it's so good to see that you really didn't drop off the face of this earth. One word of advice for you cutie, stay away from Jacob. He's a freak and apparently isn't afraid to say he's borderline stalker! Seriously!
6. Yes, Jacob. I don't like you... and it's not because you're not Korean (very funny, cheap excuse but no). You totally feed the American stereotype over here in Korea... not good!
7. Taught Sue's mom the "wink-wink" code. Sue got her hair permed, or should I say "digital dried... wink-wink", according to her mom. Ha, ha, ha. Sue is convinced she doesn't have a perma and it was so amusing to hear her argue it.
8. Played Transformers and Power Rangers with Sue. I love this mini Korean...ㅋㅋㅋ.
9. A little eager are we?! As I arrived home there sat Kim Tae. What's that you say Kim Tae? Did you just call me pretty AND beautiful?.. mind ya, he killed it when he also called me a pig but hey, that's what friends are for, good laughs!
10. Spooked myself a bit by taking a late night walk in "Pervert's Park" to find Ryan. Stumbled across three young police officers celebrating a birthday and eating birthday cake... it was so cute!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Does he love me, I want to know. How can I tell if he loves me so?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
If you want to know if he loves you so, it's in his kiss.
-- Betty Everett's song "It's in his Kiss"

If you look carefully, you'll be able to see us two girls among all these Wollang Elementary boys... ㅋㅋㅋ

My dream house!

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, October 18

1. With only 2 & 1/2 hours of sleep, I showed up for work ready to go home and pass out!
2. In my grade 5 class today we focused on homes (house rooms and furniture) and so I thought it'd be fun to design "dream homes". They loved my sports dream house and so that kind of was the common theme among many students. I was especially humored by Brent who made a cookie room, Joe who made a room for all his money, and Bryan who made a room for his mom's make-up! Awesome!
3. After teaching my elementary classes, they called me a taxi and I headed home. Turns out I've met this taxi driver before and so it made for a very interesting taxi ride home. He practically begged me to teach him English. It was amusing but I really didn't respect his comment about trading his wife in for me. Oh my gosh!!! If I ever had a husband who said that to some other girl, well, let's just say he'd be "out of commision" for a long time!!! That's terrible!
4. Lunch at TGIF never tasted so good! This sure beats the nasty slop they throw on our plates at school!
5. I tried so hard to stay awake but I ended up crashing at 1pm and then again at 3pm. Woke up at 6pm. Ended up calling it a night at 11pm.
6. In between drifting in and out of conscieniness, I caught myself daydreaming about Canada.

7. Top Ten people I miss in Canada

1. My family
2. My best friend, Andi
3. My boxing trainer, Egerton Marcus
4. My good childhood friend, Lee
5. My former flame, Curmudgeon
6. My big buddy, Pete
7. My homeboy, Iain
8. My Bloor West Village boys ... Andy, Mark, Brett, Danny, Blancher, and Mikey.
9. My partner in crime, Moranio
10. My old roomate, Alisha

8. Top Ten Things I miss about Canada:

1. Saturday morning breakfast at Maggies (the hotspot of all breakfast restaurants in Toronto!!!) and all the Spanish cuties who work there.
2. Going to church with my parents and then heading to Teddy's for brocolli soup and to see our favorite waitresses.
3. Sparring with Egerton and laughing at his silly jokes as I get my butt kicked with those suicide side-of-the-ring push-ups.. and his hilarious "originally Egerton" dance moves.
4. Riding my BMX bike and doing silly bike tricks for laughs.Training with the big boys at System Fitness.
5. All the downtown street festivals and cultural events... Taste of the Danforth, Shakespeare in the Park, etc.
6. Getting into trouble with Moranio. Whether it was spontaniously jumping into the city fountain, dodging various "fans" of mine, or getting totally dolled up for a social event, we always had fun.
7. Late night talks with my former boss Rooster. I worked at his rough club for 3 years and he always took care of me, amused me, and taught me many things about life. Thank you!
8. Bubble baths in a real bathtub!
9. The lake... walks on the boardwalk, boardwalk restaurants, sitting in the sand or at the end of the dock, and heart-to-heart talks with friends!!!

9. Top Ten things I want to do when I go to Canada:

1. Visit Tim Horton's!!!
2. Hit the gym with the big boys!
3. Sit at Starbucks with my Bloor West boys and catch up on old times.
4. Spend one whole day getting to know my little niece, Elizabeth.
5. Dinner date with Curmudgeon.
6. Have a home-cooked meal with my whole family.
7. Experience one more 911 Wednesday with Moranio.
8. Bra shopping... hahaha! (Hey, you live in Korea for 2 years and you'll experience the same desparation!)
9. Go ice skating with big boy Pete and push him into a snow bank.. ha, ha, ha.

10. Shhh.. it's a secret. I'll tell you on December 6th!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What have I learned?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the present; and if we think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end. So we never live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so,
-- Pascal, Pensees

Who's this Korean dude sleeping on my floor? ㅋㅋㅋ. Get back in the kitchen slave boy... ㅋㅋㅋ. Turns out Ryan is quite the amazing cook. You should have seen the magic he performed in the kitchen today with sausages, spam and onions... wow!

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, October 17

1. Yet another morning with only 3 hours sleep. This is brutal!!!
2. I am in jail, or so my eating habits at school suggest. Fish seems to be the theme at my middle school and well, I'm not a fan of cooked fish, sushi and raw fish yes, but not cooked fish.
3. Princess (the music teacher) thought she had this brillant idea when she gave all 148 students recorders (you know, that annoying musical instrument that sounds like a mix between a dying cat and a flute). So now, it's the newest obsession among my middle school students and instead of having chatty kids in class I now have to deal with noisy recorders.
4. By lunch time it was obvious that I wasn't the only staff member annoyed by these recorders... ㅋㅋㅋ
5. Lyndia, a student who everyone was sure would ace my English conversation test, bombed! She was so nervous and I tried to cut her some slack but it did not help. She was devistated!
6. My level 3 students are learning about fables and fairy tales so today we focused on "The Ugly Duckling". Lee, you can attest to this, I was the ugly duckling in high school and so today I humored my middle school students with my early year pictures. Oh my gosh.... don't remind me!!! Now, I don't consider myself a breath-taking beauty but I definitely don't cry over guys anymore. I use to think I'd never get a boyfriend cause I wasn't pretty and now I just wish my various "fans" would leave me alone... ㅋㅋㅋ.
7. Caught two of my middle school boys smoking behind the staff bathroom building. Now I know I'm regarded as one of the more easy-going and laid back teachers but I was so disappointed with them. There are some issues I just don't take lightly. I hate smoking (hint, hint... you). The boys were sure I'd let them off easy but instead, I made them put out their smokes and eat the nasty stepped on, half-smoked cigarettes.
8. Thank you to all those who sent emails and words of comfort with regards to Kimmy. Those of you he knew him understood just how blessed we were having him. Those of you who didn't know him, I am sorry. He was awesome.
9. He's back.... dang! Tonight someone kept on calling me on a restricted number. Finally I picked it up, it was Yong Chan. Then his text messages started up too. He seems to think we're destined to be together. I, on the other hand, know his destiny... a good kick in the butt if he doesn't leave me alone.
10. My numerous attempts to go to bed just weren't working and so I went to bed late again! Next time Kim Tae, just visit me instead of texting till 3:27am... ha, ha, ha. Looks like I'm not the only one having a rough week.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What is the point of smoking?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
It's never too late to become what you might have been
-- John Pasco

Hi Helena and Nancy... so cute... ㅋㅋㅋ These two girls are two new students and I like them so much already. Today they were especially all smiles cause I had to postpone the big English conversation test... ㅋㅋㅋ

My online shopping has expanded to finding a new jacket. Which one do you like?

Highlights of my Day... Monday, October 16

1. With only 3 hours sleep I really had to struggle to stay awake in Mr. PE Teacher's car on the way to school. At one point I fell asleep only to wake up to him looking at me and laughing. What's that all about?
2. I was sure a cup of coffee would help me but to my horror, there was no coffee in the school. This is impossible! Horrible... even scary! I tried not to make it obvious that I was scoping out whether or not my co-workers had coffee but I think they sensed my desparation. No one drank coffee today!
3. Dang, it's going to be a long week. I've already started my week off on a super sad note and with Kim Tae and Byung Hyuk entering their test week, I know it's bound to be a long, boring week. And if that wasn't bad enough, Andi's gone AWOL. She and Mark have gone on their trip and so now I can't even look forward to my evening girl talks (via email).
4. Honestly, I know I didn't fall asleep but I definitely zoned out in the teacher's room while standing looking at the time table board. Snapped out of it only to turn around and no one was there. Everyone had left. Turns out the whole school filed down to the gym for an assembly. Took advantage of the situation and searched again for coffee.. no luck.
5. Next week all the students are hosting a student festival and so each class is presenting a pop song. So far the selections of songs have been, well, interesting to say the least. My class 3-2 are singing "Summer Love" from the movie "Grease" and so I got a good laugh out of their obvious ignorance of the lyrics.
6. After giving a brief explaination of what they're really singing, Rupie's favorite English saying now is "She was good, you know what I mean!" Oh my gosh... ha, ha, ha. I had asked the class what they thought about the new female co-teacher and Rupie loudly sang out "She was good, you know what I mean!"
7. Well the school timetable was all flip-flopped, turned-around, turned upside down, and chopped up due to another assembly in the afternoon. The assembly ended much later than expected and so with only 10 minutes left to school I had no choice but to postpone their test till tomorrow... this caused them to switch into super hyper, jumping up and down, high-five mode. Wow!
8. In anticipation of a larger parent/teacher English class, I planned this super hype powerpoint lesson on occupations, complete with discussion questions and a role play activity. Well, only Mr. PE Teacher showed up and so that totally shot down my plans. Instead I ended up confusing by calling him a PE teacher and so that took 10 minutes to explain that it meant 'physical education'.
9. Got a ride home from Mrs. Math Teacher and, like always, she finds great amusement in stoping at this particular gas station where the dudes seem to flock our car. I guess I'm the only white skin they've seen... ha, ha, ha. She thinks it's super funny but it's rather uncomfortable sitting there while two strange dudes stand at my car window and stare at me. Thanks!
10. Ryan is officially my online personal-shopper... ha, ha, ha. Yesterday he picked out shoes for me, tonight it was pants. He took my measurements, made some calls, weighted out the choices, and then placed an order for some pants. My Victoria Secret pants should arrive in a week, great!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Will my butt look like that?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Abbracadabra
-- Sugar Ray

My dear Kimmy... you never were good at sports but you always laughed the most! I remember this race. You fell at the finish line and scratched your nose so badly. You were so cute. You were the one who initially sparked my curiousity in Korea. Thank you. I will forever miss you. Much love to you.

Highlights of my Day.. Sunday, October 15

1. Must admit that my weekend wasn't too exciting. Today was basically a repeat of yesterday minus all the cat naps.
2. Online chatting with my good old friend Errol. We originally met in Korea but he has since long gone and is now back in Canada. I wish you were still here. Things would be so different for me!
3. Sorry Ryan but... dang... you smell! Stop eating all that cheese! Ha, ha, ha... nasty boy!
4. Karaoke time with Ryan lead into a silly dance-off. I'm not too sure what the heck he was doing. At first I thought he was having a seizure (just joking) but apparently his squirming in his chair was actually him showing off his new dance move. Oh my gosh!!! With moves like that, you're going to hurt someone! I one the other hand pulled out some Michael Jackson moves... soooo funny!
5. After going through about 160 different Korean Nike seller sites online, not only did I definitely learn some new Korean words but I finally gave in and admitted that I will never find my perfect shox shoe! I found the style but no one has my size. Resorted to picking a different one.
6. Since I've been in Korea, I've really been curious as to where Kimmy is. He was an international student who I had met in university. I was his super protective friend who later turned into his girlfriend for a brief period until he had to return to Korea. He's always had a special place in my heart. Finally got word today from a friend about Kimmy's where abouts. Kimmy died two months ago.
7. I wanted to scream! Instead, I kept quiet and didn't say anything to Ryan who sat beside me as I read the email. Why did I procrastinate some much on trying to track down Kimmy?! I felt so sick and ended up being sick in the bathroom but never told Ryan. I am so shocked.
8. Looking into doing my Masters online. Got any suggestions or words of wisdom?
9. Oh my gosh... Byung Hyuk IS alive. He's had his nose buried into his books lately cause of his upcoming tests and so I haven't heard from him. I think I'll be happier than anyone when midterms are over and done with. Kim Tae on the other hand.... I know what YOU did last night. Ha, ha, ha. I always love your surprise visits but tonight was hard for me. I didn't want you to see how sad I was. It was my secret today.
10. My sleeping patterns are officially shot. I have no sleeping patterns! I went to bed but had such a frustrating time trying to fall asleep and so I got up and decided to grove to some music, hoping that it'd tire me out. It didn't work. Finally dozed off around 3am only to have the strangest dream about Kimmy. I woke up convinced he had shouted my name. I woke up so many times last night! It was brutal!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.
-- Samuel Butler

All these white dudes and one cute Korean... Lawrence. Hey, what's up with this picture and why are you holding your tummy? Butterflies.... ha, ha, ha.

HIghlights of my Day... Saturday, October 14

1. Dang... realized I forgot my camera at school! Spent about 30 minutes looking for it in hope that I was wrong.
2. My day consisted of hibernating in my apartment and being Queen Lazy-Bum for the day.
3. Day 3 of my insane ab routine. It's 9 minutes of pure pain and today it left me sick afterward.
4. Had a totally Canadian breakfast... French toast, bacon and eggs.
5. Well, my day basically consisted sleeping and so my original plans to go to Seoul Grand Park were killed. Instead, I woke up late, took an early afternoon nap, and then took an early evening nap. In between sleeping and doing some more sleeping, I did some computer stuff but ya... pretty lazy today.
6. Had a date tonight with one of Korea's cutest Koreans. He showed up looking perfect... in total Korean style: blue jeans, white shirt and a black blazer (one of those totally Korean velvet blazers... I love that style). Korean men are so beautiful!
7. We went out for super spicy, suicide hot chicken at one of my favorite downtown hotspots where the chicken is so hot you're left with a numb tongue and your mouth feels like it's got third degree burns! I love it!
8. Got hugs from Mr. Soju Man... some Korean dude dressed as a big soju bottle (some kind of advertising gimmik). We posed for a picture on my phone and then he did a super cute happy dance... ha, ha, ha.
9. Pumpkin pudding ice cream at Baskin Robins (thanks Kim Tae... you've got me hooked on this flavor!) and then we went for coffee at Cheonan's new Starbucks! Bad choice on the coffee though. I ended up being sick of the super sweet caramel mocha latte I drank. Oh gosh.
10. Capped the night off with a midnight movie, "World Trade Center". Wasn't as impressed with it as I had originally anticipated.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Wow... where did you come from?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
I saw Jesus and he had a water bottle in his hand.
-- from the movie "World Trade Center"

I'm addicted to this online Korean language lesson program so here's an introduction lesson for all of you... ha, ha, ha. Mind ya, I can't stand the two they have posing as "students". Not only are they rather mono tone and plain but I wish I had their job!

Highlights of the Day... Friday, October 13

1. Optimistic about today, I jumped into Mr PE Teacher's SUV and zoomed off to school. Well, my optimisim was crushed with my first period elementary class (grade 6 students). I'm use to some of the boys acting out but today the class consisted of 14 good students and 7 students from hell. I'm serious, they were so terrible!
2. I made the 7 bad boys sit on the window ledge with their arms up in the air but apparently they thought it was a joke. They were so distracting and so finally I stopped the whole class and asked the class what should I do. The students suggested various means of torture. They voted that I should either beat or kick them but I am always uneasy with the thought of touching them like that so instead I pinched their arms. They skwirmed and it was working for awhile until they turned it into a competition to see who could with stand the pinching.
3. Finally I gave up. I was so frustrated and so I sent a student to go get their homeroom teacher... Mrs. Beating Queen. She's super sweet to me but has a side of her that's pure evil! As soon as the seven bad boys saw her coming, they quickly straightened up and started getting nervous. She took them away and they returned red in the face and crying. I think I was more sorry than they were though. I felt so sad for them and wanted to hug them but I knew they wouldn't learn.
4. Thankfully my grade 5 class was super cool for me today. The girls all bombarded me with hugs and "I love you"s. At free time some of the girls gave me a much needed back massage and so I thanked them by promising them that I'd treat them to a game of soccer next class.
5. Bryan, the ring leader of the class, told me that he missed me and that was so sweet. I think he had a hard Chusuk. Both his mother and father have deserted him and I know that his grandparents are really rough with him. Thinking about him makes me sad though cause he has had a hard childhood. He's a bad student but is one of my favorite cause even though he gives me a hard time, I sense his desparation and so I wish I could take him away from his situation. I try to be like an older sister to him.
6. Returned to my middle school with 3 1/2 hours to kill! Dang! Spent most of my time with my eyes peeled to my computer screen as I did my online Korean language lessons.
7. Today the school had a PTA meeting and Mrs. Jung fled the scene and so I was put in the totally uncomfortable position of dealing with some of the questioning mothers.
8. Then, if that wasn't akward enough, one teacher was sent over to talk to Mrs. Jung about the set-up of our English classroom. But, with Mrs. Jung gone, I had to deal with her and so that was a headache.
9. After school I totally crashed. I woke up around 11pm to the sound of someone trying to unlock my door via the door code. I didn't know what to do. I frooze but my heart was beating so fast. Then the door opened... it was Ryan.
10. Totally didn't realize it was Friday the 13th. Turns out Ryan had a really rough Friday the 13th. Not only did his dad get into a car accident but some dude poured oil on his hat, his scooter died on his way home so he had to pay some truck driver to take it all the way back to Seoul. AND, if that wasn't bad enough, the driver scratched his scooter, he won't be able to get it back for a few days and later on in the evening he was sick!

QUESTION OF THE DAY....
Where are my students and who are these evil creatures?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
You're talking about him as if he were a human being. That part of him died years ago.
-- from the movie "Halloween 4"

Welcome to downtown Cheonan! This is our shopping mall. My apartment is just around the corner from it.

So where is Cheonan? Well, it's a 30min train ride on the KTX fast train (travels 300km/hr) from Seoul, the heart of Korea. It's my home. Sorry mom but Cheonan definitely kicks Whitby's butt! Ha, ha, ha!

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, October 12

1. Day 1 of me giving the English conversation speaking tests. Today my level 3 middle school students did the test. It was so cute how nervous some of them were. Some students even got alittle emotional during the test.
2. I always find test days so interesting. It's great to see the kids show off their English skills, it's humorous to hear their Konglish and shocking answers, but it's especially entertaining to see how they all react to the test. Shine from my class 3-2 is the school president and so there's a lot of pressure on him to maintain popularity, academics, and so forth. Today, as he finished his test he turned around, grabbed my hand and said, "Ms. B I love you!"... then ran back into class. Ha, ha, ha!
3. Was in a state of total shock when I asked one class to sing their pop song they'll be presenting at the school festival. I'm not too sure of the name of the song but I it definitely was not a kid's song!!! Oh my gosh! Turns out their teacher picked the song and, obviously, didn't run it by the English department (Mrs. Jung and me) first. If only they knew what they were singing, their young ears would bleed!!! Thankfully I was sucessful with convincing them to switch songs.
4. Had a club meeting with my English drama afterschool club, F.S. Talents. I humored them by acting out a 7 person by myself and so that really got them excited about today's activity. I had written a play for them and so next week they're going to present it.
5. I always love checking out the street vendors on the way home. Not only am I curious about their stuff but I get to practice my Korean and socialize. As I walked by this one fruit truck, the guy called out to me. I use to always buy my fruit off him but lately I've been simply picking it up whenever I'm at LotteMart. I was really flattered that he remembered me and by all his questions. Apparently he's been trying to remember some English sentences and so it was rather amusing.
6. Turns out Mr. Fruit Man knows my weekly routine down to an art and who I hang out with. I take it he's there a lot cause I do pass by his area everyday at least once. Turns out my apartment security guard also knows way more about me than I thought he did. Tonight he approached me and asked me a million questions...where is Ryan, why don't you get letters (mail), why didn't you go to the gym today, etc.
7. Talked to Sue's mom tonight. She is thnking about hiring more private teachers to come to her house and school Sue. Bare in mind, Sue is ONLY 7 years old and, as it stands, she gets privately tutored in Chinese letters, Chinese talking, English, mind games, violin, swimming, reading time, math, and in Korean. Wow.. only in Korea, that's all I have to say!
8. I'm started to feel spoiled by Kim Tae always visiting... ha, ha, ha. Don't get me wrong, I always love the company of my friends but I know he should really be at home studying. Kim Tae's new phrase of the day "Buttaface". Ha, ha, ha.
9. Started this wickedly evil new ab-crunch routine that I read about online. It only takes about 6 minutes but it leaves you huddled over for hours... or so they claim. Wow.. what a burn!
10. Had a brief but interesting chat about the whole North Korea nuc. issue with my friend Steve on msn. Last year when I first dealt with this issue, I had packed up and was living out of a suitcase for about a month. This year however, my reaction is much different. Sure South Korea may be sleeping with the enemy but this is my home and it would break my heart to leave Kim Tae, Byung Hyuk, Ryan and my students here. My heart is in Korea and so I can not leave.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What would you do?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Surely, when a guy has a bazooka, the safest place to stand is right next to him? Unless, of course, the bazooka is untested and being weilded by someone who want to show off. No plane tickets yet, but I've been practicing my running and swimming.
-- the Scottish Idiot (yes... he's back!)

My personal body guard... Byung Hyuk. Ha, ha, ha! He may look tough but he's all jokes!
Next week is midterms for Byung Hyuk and Kim Tae and so they're busy studying while I try to amuse myself at home and wait till next week is over. I miss you!

Who's that roaming around in the bushes?
Ha, ha, ha... just joking. Here's a picture of Kim Tae with some of his army buddies. I think they're trying to look tough but I think they look rather cute!

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, October 11

1. WOW! As my elementary kids filed into the class I was bombarded with lots of hugs and high-fives! This is our first class back from the holiday. Today I had planned a super-hype competitions day and so we played games and had this hilarious singing contest! The competition for the singing contest was tough but Kevin won for his loud voice, huge effort, and the funny dance moves he sported. I was particularly impressed with his Michael Jackson move (I taught him that... SO funny!)! Kevin, you're awesome!
2. Luck hit me today and so it's been decided that I will not be teaching one extra class after my elementary classes today. It's just too much of a hassel for me having to rush back for class at the middle school. However, and this is our little secret, my fourth class was canceled today at the elementary school and so they offered to drive me back to the middle school. I'm no fool. I knew I'd get stuck with that extra class and so instead I stayed and killed time.
3. I caught little Fiesty-Pants-Boy (a grade one student who tries to fight with everyone, including teachers) in a fight today. His weapon today was a broom twice his size. As I comfronted the two boys and grabbed Fiesty-Pants-Boys' broom, he looked at me and I knew he was sizing me up for a fight. Something is definitely wrong with this little guy, it's scary.
4. As I sat eating lunch at the elementary school, I, along with pratically everyone else, stopped and listened to the super strict principle yell at my student for accidently dropping his chopstick into the food scraps bin. We then all watched in horror as he then was forced to sift through the nasty food scraps and see if more chopsticks were there. He was up to his elbows in food scraps! Soooooo nasty! So, when I got up to empty my lunch tray I was a bit nervous walking by the principle. I hadn't eaten a lot of my food and so I thought he'd freak on me. Well he didn't freak but then... oh my gosh... I dropped my bowl into the food bin! Two little girls saw it happened. We all looked at each other and as the one girl started to rat me out, I gave her a quick slap on the shoulder. Ohhhhh my gosh! Needless to say I was quick to leave the cafeteria before the principle was able to clue in!
5. As always, I got stuck supervising the elementary school bus and that's always interesting. Today my attention was on Fiesty-Pants-Boy who lashed out at a little girl cause she wouldn't share her snack. Fiesty-Pants-Boy tried to sqwirm away from me and so I physically had to restrain him! I sat him on my lap and wrapped my arms around his tiny body. After a few minutes he had definitely calmed down and was even smiling. I get the impression that no one has hugged this little guy in such a long time.
6. With too much time on my hands at work, I decided to search the internet for more random Korean words and phrases... voila! Much to my surprise and total fasination, I discovered a free web site that offers video Korean lessons. The lesson is formatted in a fashion that is very similar to the English lessons I see on TV... awesome! I'm hooked!
7. Despite my computer's fresh new start, it's having problems again. This time it's my multimedia player! As luck would have it, the school's computer doctor just happen to stop in today and so he fixed it. Thanks!
8. I'm notoriously known for changing my hair and so today I changed it again. I dyed it dark brown and added some highlights... well my salon stylist did. Hung out at the hair salon for a couple of hours while the stylist's neighbor (who always coincidently shows up when I drop by) and I amused each other. I braided his somewhat short hair and he gave me a foot massage. See boys... some guys DO love my feet. Having my feet rubbed by a handsome Korean man was a bit too erotic for a Wednesday night. Ha, ha, ha.
9. Got approached in the elevator by some strange young, drunk Korean woman. It was so weird. She grabbed my hand and started whinning about something. I don't know what the heck I was thinking but I ended up having to help her back outside and into a taxi. I was so embarrassed!
10. Jumped on msn and had a cool talk with my cousin Timmy (ah, sorry... "Tim". You're definitely not a child but you're still so cute). When I lived in Canada we never really talked but now that I'm way over here, we keep in touch. So, it's rather ironic because although I'm now so much farther away from him, it's actually brought us closer. Cool... or as Timmy says, "Kewl!"

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Did you just say that I am pretty?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Where you find true friendship, you find true love.
-- Author Unknown

Check out the melon on Mr. PE Teacher, so funny. He's an awesome, simple man. And there's Princess... I think she's laughing at me cause I like Mr. PE Teacher's big head... ha, ha, ha!