Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, November 20

1. Met up with Byung Hyuk to help him edit his English homework and just to hang out on campus. Today he brought me a piece of his writing to edit it was titled "Why you are single". I had a good laugh at this cause it totally seemed like he had directed his writing towards me. He brought up an interesting point and that is that many people think there's always something better around the corner and so they hold off, when in fact, maybe that "better" is the person right in front of them. I love the pot shot he took when he wrote, "You're not getting younger, you're going to get wrinkles on your face and so don't waste your time" and on that note, I held up my cell phone and checked out my own face.... one wrinkle, mind ya, it's a laugh line and I like it.

2. Our humorous discussion however was interrupted when I got a phone call from an unknown number. On the other end of the line there was a husky man's voice... a Korean man. He asked me if I was Amy and then... guess who?!... It was Mook!!! Instantly my eyes widened, my smile stretched from ear to ear and my ears perked up. You see, Mook use to work at the gym where I first lived in Korea but when the gym closed, he moved back to Chunju. The last time I saw him was about a year ago, if not more. I use to workout with him 5-6 days a week, eat my dinner with him and then on the weekends he, me and some of the other gym dudes use to hang out. Mook spoke very little English... verrrrry little, but we always managed to have a good time.

3. The turning point with our friendship though came one night when I cried in front of him. I was planning on breaking my engagement with my fiance at the time who was back in Canada. I knew breaking this would bring me hard times and much opposition. I really wanted to tell Mook all about my stress but we both didn't know each other's language and so I broke out in tears. Later on that night, the drama escalated and things took a turn for the worse. We ended up getting into a fight. The next day I hid my puffy eyes under the rim of my ball cap and went to the gym. Mook approached me and we both said sorry. It's strange to note though that it took us to have such a bad misunderstanding to realize that we both really care about each other. It's like that's what bonded us and from that day on, I totally adored Mook and was quite defensive if I heard anyone talking about him.

4. Today on the phone, Mook spoke in English. I was incredibly amazed. I sat there and listened as my adorable Mook with the pudgy cheeks said, "Amy, I miss you. Me come next week or next month yes to see you. I wish we together again." Ok, so it was broken English but considering his total lack of English before, this was a miracle. As it turns out, he's no longer a fitness trainer but instead is a regular 9-5 office worker. My cute Mook... all grown up!!!

5. Got a letter from my boxing coach in Canada, Egerton Marcus (proud to note here that he's a silver Olympian!!!). Out of all the things that one would expect to miss about Canada, I'd definitely have to say that at the top section of my list is Egerton and EMBA boxing gym. I practically lived there. We've kept in touch since I moved here but today I was quite thrown off guard by what he wrote. Here's his letter... note how he calls me "Miss B"... hehehe, so cute.

Hey Miss B ? whats shaking.. I still cant get over the fact that you want to take boxing to the professional level! whats in it for you? what do you want to achieve as a boxer? Have you thought of maybe fighting as an amateur first? Do you have the time to prepare yourself for the ring with your added responsibilities as a teacher? Miss B you know I'm always in your corner. I want you to really think about what you want out of this game. One point to remember its only a game when you are training, when you're in the ring its a fight. I really believe you have the ability to achieve anything you put your mind to...god knows how stubborn you can be when you got something on your mind. But I want you to be safe so please think about it a little more, i miss you and i care about you, I don't like the idea of someone hitting you when I'm not there to protect you. Miss B i don't mean to rain on your parade but that's the way i feel. .....please assure me that you would think about this further........Bye 4 now love EMBA

6. Oh gosh.... got word today that Hye Jin is coming to Cheonan. Apparently she's changing coaches and so she'll be training at my gym. I sense some trouble if she finds out I'm friends with Kim Jin!!! Oh gosh.. hard times are coming my way... I can smell it!

7. Word on the street is that despite the Korean government's anticipation of changing the rules for us foreign teachers, because I'm renewing my visa at my current school, I apparently am not affected.... how cool is that?! Great... no Canada for me! Sorry but as much as I'd love to see my family and friends, January is going to be a huge month for me with my boxing and I really don't care to see all that snow like last year... disgusting!!!

8. In between classes today, I studied my Korean and managed to get two of my students to check my homework... hehehe. Later on I took my homework to boxing and Junior Mint went over some of the sentences with me. He thought it was so cute that I was studying Korean but honestly, I really should have started tutoring lessons long time ago. Just think, had I started these when I first got here, maybe I'd be fluent by now!!!

9. Fell asleep on the floor before hitting the gym and apparently when I was sleeping I must have been rubbing the heck out of my eye. When I woke up, not only was my eye swollen but the white part, the actual eye itself was swollen... freaky, definitely freaky. Ran into my coworker Amy at the gym and so she was my hero of the day with her eye drops... thanks Amy!

10. Cool... within 6 days my A.D.I.D.A.S. video on YouTube has been watched by almost 2,000 viewers... wow! I'm now up to 40 subscribers... thanks everyone!!! Mind ya, I am curious as to why that silly video of me picking up Kim Tae is so popular. Almost 25,000 people have viewed that specific video!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What should I do for my next video?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.
-- Benjamin Disraeli