I made Q take me out for dinner on account that he showed up late, with no cake and really didn't remember what today was. Call me a harsh girlfriend, I don't think I am, but whatever. Upon realizing the significance of today, he suggested we go to Mainz to eat. What a coincidence, that just so happens to be my favorite restaurant... hmmm...

I don't know what's worse, the fact that Q picked this cake out cause he said the purple looked "so pretty", or the fact that his professional boxing license is literally a part of his table setting (it's under a sheet of glass)... hehehe.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, December 31

1. First day of the first week of my official holiday and how did I celebrate it?!... I slept in til noon, and it felt great. My first carefree Monday, not to mention, my last Monday of 2007!

2. Changed fabric softeners and so I spent all day trying to not embarrassing myself as I scratch away at my under arms... so dang itchy!!!

3. I've got big plans for my holidays and, for the most part, they all center around my training. And so, on that note, I loaded up on some health juices for my team mates and some hot packs for my coach, Junior Mint, and headed to the boxing gym.

4. I took last week off training cause of being swamped with marking. A week is the longest I've ever been away from training and so arriving today, wow, it felt like we were reuniting after numerous years. Junior Mint greeted me with tons of smiles, Milk Dud was all curious as to what I've been up to, some of the regular amateurs greeted me with a "Merry Christmas", and who else should be there but the notoriously known, ever-so-impressive, and super talented Hye Min.

5. They all knew I was coming into training today and so Junior Mint had relayed the message to Hye Min, who then traveled from Seoul to come today to talk. She wants to set up some more practices with me... wicked.

6. And if seeing one of my favorite Korean female boxers wasn't amazing enough, Junior Mint drop word today that he's trying to get me to be the opening match for Black Skinny's next match in February!!! How awesome is that?!!! Opening for him would be such an incredible experience, not to mention a huge honor. Mind ya, I know there's lots of people pushing to have that spot. Regardless of whether I get it or not, I'm still very flattered.

7. So things are definitely going full strength now with my training. I laced up, geared up, strapped on my ankle weights, wrapped up my hands, and then went full force with my training. Junior Mint totally pushed me on our ab workout and then, as I was just about to leave, he told me that come Wednesday, he wants me to up my heavy bag rounds to 10... right now it's only at 5.
8. Met up with Q. Although it's New Year's Eve, we had no real plan. I convinced him to stop the truck so that we could buy a cake. We needed to celebrate the New Year some how. Come to realize it though, that's the 4th cake I've indulged in this month... yikes! There was our couple cake, Q's birthday, the Christmas cake, and now the New Year's Eve cake. Q's fridge is now looking like the local Paris Baguette Bakery. He urged me to take some home but I refuse to touch beyond the 5 minutes I already gave it that I really shouldn't have.

9. Beyond the cake and making Q close his eyes to make a wish for 2008, we didn't really have a celebration. I miss my Canadian New Year's celebrations.... the expensive dresses, taking hours to get ready, the huge scene, the fancy parties, all the noise makers, and the big countdown.

10. We sat there on the floor talking when I all of a sudden looked up and low and behold, it was 12:00!!! Q looked at me, giggled and then, as he leaned in to kiss me, I stopped him. I told him that this would be the first kiss of 2008, so make it a good one... hehehe... and it was.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Could this possibly be the best year yet?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
We learn something every day, and lots of times it's that what we learned the day before was wrong.
-- Bill Vaughan

Rambling... and for the record here, I gave him that brutal new nickname cause he thinks he can fight me... hehehe

...wicked!!!

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, December 30

1. Booted my butt off to the bus terminal with just enough time to grab my ticket and a tea before the bus left, with less than a minute to spare.... am I good, or am I goooooood?! Hehehee.

2. Today’s grammar in my Korean lesson was brutal and my head hurt. Mind ya, cause of school being over and done with, my teaching that is, I’m really excited to be able to just focus on my Korean studies and training.

3. I had promised to meet up with my soldier friend around 5pm but my class finished at 1pm and so I had 4 hours to kill. Spent about 30 minutes people watching before boredom set in and so I went off looking for some thing to preoccupy my time.

4. Browsed the underground mall for about an hour and now I’m sure that shoe guy is hating me. I must have literally tried on every shoe he had and I didn’t even end up buying any.

5. Finally 5pm came around…. And so did my soldier friend. His name’s Kyoung Hyoung. We thought that we’d go grab some dinner and so I thought it’d be a good idea, which it wasn’t after all, to venture outside of the KTX station to find a restaurant. All we ended up finding though was that it was brutally cold, there were no restaurants,… oh, and Kyoung Hyoung found some dog poop… hehehe

6. I thought I was literally going to pee my pants, seriously. I mean, there we were, walking, I saw the massive mound of poop and I thought he did too… nope! He thought it was so nasty but I laughed my butt off as he eagerly tried to scrap it off his shoe by using every and any surface available. He ended up running into some bathroom and washing his shoe… hehehe.

7. Ended up at some random restaurant in the KTX station. I’m sure with my 4 spare hours I could have found a better place but, well, I thought of that too late. Anyway, we had a good time… making fun of each other, acting like fools, and talking about fitness stuff. What was most interesting was his some what sad, some what not finished, love story between him and his ex-girlfriend, a Canadian gal.

8. He’s got this idea in his head that he thinks he can beat me at boxing… hehehe. What he doesn’t know though is that he definitely wouldn’t be the first guy I fought. And so on that note, I renamed him “Diarrhea of the Mouth”, claiming that he talks more poop than he actually poops… hehehe!!!

9. When we finally parted, some 4 hours later, I jumped on the express bus and headed to Cheonan.

10. Arrived home and was greeted by an overly-hyper Mi Nam, a dozen or so emails from students, and then later on, one lonely Q… very cute.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Have you made your New Year's resolutions yet?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.
-- Eckhart Tolle

Mi Nam slept for most of the day cause of the meds he's on but I'm happy to announce that he's doing much better. He was up and playing today... and eating everything he could possibly jam into his mouth... hehehe.

My soldier friend, Hyoung Kyoung, is finally on holidays, but only for 9 days though :(

Tomorrow we're meeting up in Seoul for dinner after my Korean studies.

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, December 29

1. Ever since yesterday, when Hannah joked around about Q and I and said, “Yes, you next year marry!”, I can’t seem to get that out of my head. Today I found myself getting all wrapped up in her comment and it kind of freaked me out.

2. The older and older I get, the more expected it is becoming of me to get married. I can’t really say my parents are pushing me to get married, cause they’re not, but I can’t help but feel like I somehow fell of the marriage bandwagon. So many of my friends are already married with kids. One of my friends commented once, saying that I seem to be traveling backwards. She said that I appear to have “a commitment phobia” and that’s why I never stick with one guy for very long.

3. That’s not true… I’m committed to many things. I’m committed to Mi Nam, my boxing and weight training. So what if those are the only real things I’ve totally committed to.

4. As for the guys, I was committed to Byung Ryang but things turned sour, Kobie and I parted cause I returned to Korea, Pretty Boy went loopy, Yanky flew the coup, and Busan Boy turned into a kind of stalker. Now I’m with Q. He’s totally 100% committed to me but I still have hesitations, and I know it’s not because of him. Maybe it is me. Maybe the problem has been with me all along. Maybe I just am not the marrying type. Maybe my real soul mate is a four-legged creature that sits on my lap and snores into my ear at night; Mi Nam.

5. Scored some mad sore calves after I booted it on the treadmill. I thought I’d do an uphill run and well, apparently that caused me to run on my toes… ouch!!!

6. Plans with Buff Boy flopped on account that he forgot and had made other plans. He always is doing this. Mind ya, he totally made up for it by swinging by my apartment building with his friend. I’ve talked to this particular friend of his a couple of times on the phone but today we finally met. No sooner had I finished eating after training but Buff Boy called me and told me to come downstairs.

7. I came flying out of the elevator and saw Buff Boy getting out of a car parked outside. Then the driver’s door opened and out came this massive 6-foot-something brute of a man. With his fair skin, flushed cheeks and freckles, this gorgeous Wonder Boy looked like he had just stepped out of a magazine. Call me brutal for admiring one of God’s “finer creatures”, and call me terrible for saying this cause ya, I have a boyfriend, but yikes…. He was definitely a walking piece of art! Even my building's security officer who, I should mention is an older man pushing 60, checked him out.

8. We stood in the building front talking for a bit. They were on their way to Chunju but they wanted to say hi. Buff Boy has apparently hyped me up to Wonder Boy and so he wanted to meet me. I told him that I take Korean classes in Gangnam (Seoul) and so he asked me for my number, urging me to let him take me out for lunch.

9. Not knowing what it meant, I gave him my number. Later on in the evening he texted me.

10. With Q out in Daejon, Hannah out with friends, Jae Min at work, and my other friends doing whatever, I decided to spend the rest of my evening chilling out on the couch with Mi Nam and studying my Korean.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do you still believe in soul mates?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
-- Henry Miller

Still plugging away at work. Knowing that finishing up the semester means I'll get two months to seriously dedicate myself, time and efforts to my boxing is my means of motivation at this point.

Hannah sporting her new bling-bling... hehehe. I bought her two bracelets for Christmas, one of which I also have. Couple bracelets... hehehe.

Highlights of my Day... Friday, December 28

1. Finally got around to taking Mi Nam to the vet’s for a check-up and what was suppose to be a 10 minute appointment with simple routine procedures, turned into an hour and half appointment.

2. The other day I had adjusted Mi Nam’s walking harness, making it a bit looser for him. Everything was fine and dandy until we were waiting at the lights downtown, literally 20 steps away from the vet’s door. Some delivery scooter went flying by on the sidewalk, spooking both Mi Nam and I. Mi Nam squirmed and out he jumped from his harness. Instantly the sight of Mi Nam being driven over flashed before my eyes. There I was, at a massive intersection with my dog running right into ongoing traffic. Naturally, I chased after him. He was running all over the place and so I quickly lost sight of him with all the cars, buses, scooter and what not. Mi Nam’s never been off his leash downtown and so I was sure he was gone.

3. After a good 10 minutes of pure panic and feeling my stomach in my throat, I noticed Mi Nam a good block away. He was walking slow. I slowly approached him, not wanting to get him excited and then run away again. But he just stopped and waited for me. With his ears down, he looked so sad… and was acting so strange. I picked him up and kissed every inch of his face. I honestly don't know what I'd do with out my four-legged baby.

4. My fear was that he had been clipped by a car or something and so the vet checked him over, even did an x-ray, but nothing seemed wrong. For the rest of the day though, he refused to eat and then he ended up vomiting later on in the evening.

5. Day 2 of student interviews about final grades. More students showed up today compared to yesterday and so that was good. I was pleased to see that at least some of my students cared enough about their marks to come talk to me.

6. One of my students who came to talk to me was a male student who I’ve taught for two semesters now. He sat down beside me at my desk, presented me with a box of chocolates and then a card addressed to me. I opened up the card and inside he had written a letter to me. Apparently he wants to serve in the R.O.T.C. Korean army (special army) but he needs to have high grades to get accepted, including a B+ in English. I had given him a B. After much discussion, we concluded that I couldn’t give him a B+. He was 4 points to low. I felt so bad about it but he thanked me and seemed quite pleased with our meeting despite not getting a B+.

7. Two of the boys from my dance class on Friday came by today. After a two hour train ride, they showed up at my office. They’re both Taekwondo majors but one of them is on a scholarship and so he begged me to change his C to a C+. We talked for about 40 minutes and concluded that I couldn’t change his mark. Changing marks isn’t a matter of do I like them or not, it’s just a matter of math. His figures didn’t add up to a C+. I thought it super cute though when his friend offered to give him some of his own marks… very cute but you can’t do that.

8. These same two boys are friends/classmates of my student In Sun, the student who got into a car crash the other week. They informed me today that In Sun’s swelling had gone down and so the doctor was finally able to operate on In Sun’s nose and face. From what the boys told me, the doctor cut In Sun’s face and literally peeled back the skin to work on In Sun’s nose and face…. Ouch!!!!

9. After a gruelling session of weight training, I came home, passed out for a couple of hours, and then met up with Hannah at Khan. We did our Christmas gift exchange and then joked the hours away.

10. Hannah’s ex-boyfriend dropped by. He’s always so curious about my training. I joked around with him and told him to bring his dirty clothes to my house in the summer, I’ll wash them on my abs…. hehehe. I’m sporting a freakish little two-pack and the side lines, the full pack with be here, don’t you worry. I’ll wash your clothes too… hehehe.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What happened to Mi Nam?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The more people I meet the more I like my dog.
-- Unknown

Who says Asian women don't understand real weight training?

Thanks to Andy for posting this on his CyWorld.

I don't know whether she's Korean or what but wow... she's incredibly beautiful!

And here's another Asian muslemaniac.... Korea's very own 7 foot tall K1 fighter, Choi Hong Man.

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, December 27

1. Waking up to find another day. The moon I lost again last night. But now the sun has finally had it's say, I guess I feel alright.... hhhhhhhell ya! I feel great! Thanks Gwen for the great song; I'm addicted to it. Lovin' my discovery of the oh so beautiful Gwen Stefani's new song titled "4 in the Morning".

2. Blasted off to Dankook University in some random taxi with an ever-so-happy and giggly taxi driver, very cool. Scored a free candy, a fast ride and jumped out only to be greeted at the university by one of my cute students.

3. Punched in, pumped out, printed and signed the final grades.... and oh, it felt so good, baby! Hehehe.

4. Wasn't expecting many students to come in today despite having told them that they only have today and tomorrow to bark about their marks. Today only 10 student visited me and so it meant I had lots of free time to chat it up with Ki Dong, Sunny, and Sue, lots of study time for my Korean, and plenty of time to watch lots of National Geography on YouTube. I love National Geography! Today I watched some pretty cool videos. One about bone-stretching in China... wild!

5. I love Ki Dong's strange character. He's a super cute Korean who proudly talks about being in a fountain pen club, spends his hours stalking a notorious library girl, and is always up for giving the strangest of strange advice. He's awesome. Today he visited us in the office. He turned to me and asked, "So, when are you going to break up with your boyfriend. It's been too long."... hehehe. I take it Ki Dong is all too familiar with my brutal luck with dating... hehehe. Mind ya, when I told him that we're already approaching 4 weeks, he blurted out, "Wow.. it's going to last a year."

6. I love it... students who occupy my time and fill my ears with their argument about why they MUST deserve an A. Ya, thanks.... had your argument been in ENGLISH, I would have considered thinking about it instead of letting it stream from one ear to the other ear. Don't get me wrong, I admire their passion for mark fighting but I think they forgot that this is an English class... key word being "English".

7. Obviously many students clearly don't understand relative grading. They thought that it meant the top 30% get As, the next top 40% get Bs and then the rest get Cs, Ds, or Fs.... wrong! Some of my dance students came in today and had it out with me and the two assistants, Sunny and Sue. If this were the case, that'd mean that my D students in my dance class would get As... ummm.... how about no.

8. Today I didn't met up with Q. Instead I stayed home and planned out a vigorous training and studying schedule for myself, consisting of early morning running, afternoon boxing and two study periods a day for my Korean studies.

9. Cause I didn't see Q today, he insisted that I see him tomorrow before I meet up with Hannah. Q is going home to Daejon on Saturday for his monthly meet-up with his middle school buddies. He technically didn't invite me and so I had made plans. Saturday I'm hanging out with Buff Boy. Apparently Q assumed I knew I was invited and so he was a bit upset that I wasn't able to go. Nonetheless, he says we should meet up tomorrow, even if it's only for a couple of hours.

10. The other day I had sent out a mass text message on my cell phone to numerous people. Tons of them responded. One of them answered the other day but honestly, I had no recollection of who he was. He kept on messaging me and so Q and I decided to have a little fun with it by asking him to send a picture. I didn't want to come right out and say I didn't remember who he was, that'd be a bit rude, after all, I did text him Merry Christmas. Well, all giggles from Q stopped when the dude texted his picture. Apparently he had gone into a public bathroom, stripped down to his undies, snapped a picture of his washboard abs, and then texted me this picture. Q didn't really say much but I'm sure it must of bothered him, it's only natural. This all went down the other day but now this dude won't leave me alone. Even after I texted him a picture of me kissing Q, he still continues.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why do I get stuck with all the stalkers and freaks?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can.
-- Elsa Maxwell

This was the scene outside my window today as tons of cars filed off the highway and headed straight downtown... yikes. Talk about brutal traffic!

Hehehe... look, Mi Nam is smiling for the camera!!!

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, December 26

1. No such thing as Boxing Day in Korea and so hitting the stores for it was a no-go. Sure, they've got sales on right now but they're really no different than the ones they had before Christmas, unless that is, you're looking to buy cheap Christmas cards... no thanks.

2. Headed to the notorious soonda-bo jigga restaurant for their famous dish that always hits the spot... I love it! It's a toss-up between soonda-bo jigga and cheese tak galbi as to what is my favorite Korean dish.

3. I'm convinced that Korean food is a dieters dream, especially at this restaurant, for the very fact that they bombard you and overload your table with so many veggies. Veggies I've never even seen before! Today's veggie side dish count was 10. And then, of course, there's all those veggies in the soonda-bo jigga (tofu soup)! Delicious.

4. Q and I headed over to the bank. I had to wire money to FedEx. Ended up getting stuck sitting beside a super smelly dude. He smelt like either a dead cow or a rotting pig. We couldn't quite pin-point the animal but it was nasty. Q thought it was funny... that is, until I pretended to start to vomit on his pant leg... hehehe.

5. With one day left to finish my marks before my students will be eagerly signing online to check them, today I was definitely feeling the pressure. I came home, worked on them a bit and then met up with Q again... Suk Jae Party #3.

6. Q cooked up a feast for us and so we fueled ourselves up with some good eating.

7. Then, we got down to business.... marking... SOOOO much fun, ya right.

8. Dankook University uses relative grading and I can't stand it, seriously! According to their relative grading system, a maximum of 30% students in one class can get an A and only 40% can get a B. You don't have to give any As or Bs though and, in two of my classes, no one got an A and only a couple got a B. However, the complication comes when you take a class, like my Monday 3:20pm class, where more than half of the students rocked and earned Bs. In that class of 35 students, only 14 can get Bs but, according to their earned marks, 18 of them got a B. So... what do I do?! Do I bump up some to an A or do what Dankook expects me and push down some of them to a C?!... quite the dilemma, as I'm sure you can imagine. Regardless, it's not fair. A B-student should get a B, a C-student should get a C.

9. Being put in this awkward hot spot with having to make a call on what to do with my marks and the relative grading, was definitely not comfortable... to say the very least. And, in the end, it took me a big chunk of my evening to decide on what I thought was the best judgement call. I don't feel right tampering with the marks but I don't really approve of Dankook University's marking system. Finally, I decided that if some students were one or two points away from getting an A, I gave them that A cause giving them that A meant I could give another student a B, instead of having to bump them down to a C.

10. Tonight Q's "point" definitely was raised after he WILLINGLY spent 2 1/2 hours counting up ALL my student marks while I figured out some of the "details" of certain student marks.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's the point of relative grading?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
-- Duke Ellington

... and a happy New Year, too.

My Christmas with Q.

And yes... Q and I refer to him as my "girlfriend"... hehehe.

Highlights of my Day... Christmas 2007

1. Last year it was Kim Tae who saved Christmas, this year it was Mi Nam and Q. I was really hoping to sleep through Christmas this year but on account that it'd mean I'd be risking getting peed on by Mi Nam and called non-stop by Q on my cell phone, I had to get up. Mind ya, I'm sure the million and one text messages from my friends, co-workers and students would have eventually got me up... thanks.

2. Now I know Mi Nam ain't exactly the smartest of dogs, nor is he remotely even close to the top of the list... that is, unless the list is the top cutest dogs.... but anyway, I think he knew something was up today. He just seemed so excited. I carried him down the stairs and, upon putting him down, I asked him where his presents were. He then went running straight for the little pile of presents I had bought him. I bought him a retractable leash, a t-shirt (that's too small.. oops), a new bone, a ball (which within an hour he fully ate), and one massive bag of treats.

3. I treated Byung Hyuk to a Christmas lunch together and so that was nice. It's always an "interesting" time with him, to say the least... hehehe!!! Our Christmas meal was cheese tak galbi... my favorite!!!

4. After lunch, Byung Hyuk and I walked around a bit. I had to buy a cake for tonight and he had to kill time before he had to do the ever-so-uncomfortable meeting of the ex "cause it's the holidays". Ended up buying an overly priced cake on account that it came with a ever-so-cute free polar bear hat, which, considering the price, wasn't so free after all.

5. Later on, Q swung by my apartment to pick me up. His brother came along with him to say hi and to wish me a Merry Christmas. Then Q and I went to the grocery store to pick out our Christmas dinner.

6. On our way to the grocery store though, I started getting kind of upset. It just didn't feel like Christmas. It was like 10 degrees outside, the only Christmas tree I saw this year was the one at MBar, and it just felt wrong being so far away from my family. I hid my tears from Q though. I knew he was really excited about spending the holiday together. I didn't want him to think I was a sap or a suck. Mind ya, HE is the one who cried through a cooking movie so what am I talking about here?!!!

7. Anyway, I spent the evening at Q's place, watching him cook and trying to make the most of the holiday. He ended up cooking up bulgogi and it tasted awesome! I know it doesn't come close to mom's cabbage rolls and stuffing but it was a pretty yummy Korean version. He keeps on telling me that I have to learn how to make kimchi jigga (kimchi soup). My friends laugh and say that they think he's trying to see if I'm "wife" material but I already know that answer. I think I make one awesome girlfriend but a rotten wife. I can cook a whack of different meals, mind ya, they're all either consisting of eggs or chicken... hehehe. I can clean, but that involves a good afternoon or loud music and "dance-cleaning" as I call it. I eat 5 meals a day, exercise and box, and so if he (whoever he should be) is expecting a typical 9-5er, see ya at dinner kind of gal..... well, that ain't me. My dinner is at 6pm and 9pm... pick one.

8. I had promised Q that no mentioning of my student marking that awaited me at home would be made and so tonight we had a beautiful evening, just the two of us. After dinner we enjoyed some cake and laid around on the floor chatting. Later on I ended up getting a huge tummy ache though. My body physically was rejecting the cake; it was way too sweet and, given my retarded diet, I haven't eaten any sweets in such a long time.

9. I had wished to buy a more sentimental gift for Q but shopping for him was next to impossible. I ended up buying him a handsome looking white Adidas sweater and well, he was super thrilled, so I was happy.

10. Much later in the evening, I ended up calling my parents in Canada. Convincing Q to say hi to them was like pulling teeth. He was so nervous and so he sat there sweating it out while I dialed their number. He had practiced a couple of things to say to them but in the end, all he said was "hi"... hehehe... so cute.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
When will we be all together again?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.
-- Oren Arnold

I know I'm quilty too ... I haven't responded to his birthday invite yet.

I'd like to dedicate this song by Mariah Carey to all my friends and family in Canada... I miss you.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, December 24

1. Woke up today only to do more marking. Byung Hyuk says I'm living in the stone age cause I'm doing ALL marks by hand, but to retype it all over again on Excel... the 300 some Korean names and student ID numbers... no thanks. Mind ya, this is taking me forever!

2. Decided today that maybe I should get into the season spirit and buy some Christmas presents for my friends. Up until today, the only one I bought a present for was Hanna.

3. Surprisingly enough, the mall wasn't so packed. Yesterday it was much worse actually. And so, I did some Christmas shopping. I loaded up on lots of goodies for Mi Nam, spent way too long looking for a present for Q, and I bought Hanna's daughter a gift too.

4. Apparently the new manager at the KB Bank was definitely in the festive spirit today cause when I walked in, he greeted me with a candy, took all my bags and escorted me over to the VIP room where he then helped me do my banking... wow!!! I use to get this special treatment from the old manager cause he was friends with the Cheonan Trump and he knew I was too. But this new manager, wow, so nice! I was expecting to wait about an hour or so but surprisingly enough, I was in and out of there within 10 minutes. That's a new record!

5. It's been pretty hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year cause I know I won't be seeing my family till the summer and, oddly enough, as much as I really don't like snow unless I'm playing in it, no snow during the Christmas season just really doesn't sit well with me. I think I've only seen about an hour of snow this year. No sooner did the snow fall but then it went away.

6. Today I went shopping wearing a pair of jeans, my cute brown boots, and a sweater... jacket definitely not required for the weather we've been having here.

7. I know, I know... it's Christmas Eve and I really should be spending it with my boyfriend, but instead, I stayed home. I just don't really feel like celebrating right now. Last year I had Kim Tae to cheer me up at Christmas, this year he's in Australia and so I thought about him a lot today. I wonder if someone is there to help him through Christmas like he was there for me last year. I tried to message him on msn but his status was set to "away".

8. Later in the evening, Q called me and practically begged me to come see him. His brother had come in from out of town and so I thought it best that they spend time together, just the two of them.

9. I was almost convinced to come over when Q got his brother to call me. He's so cute. I think he's a year younger than me but he's way more sweeter than me. We've only talked once prior to him calling me today but it felt so nice to talk to him. He told me that his "heart so happy feeling" because his brother's "heart is warmed" by me.... so cute.

10. I really miss my family right now. Staying in Korea this year for Christmas was the dumbest decision I've made all year... seriously. I should have gone to visit. I tried to catch my parents on msn tonight but had no luck and so I called it a night and curled up with Mi Nam on the floor.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do they know?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
-- George Moore

A video I made a couple of days ago... enjoy.

I love it how despite the fact that Ki Dong doesn't work with me anymore but I still see so much of him... even when I'm out in Seoul!

Highlights of my Sunday, December 23

1. Woke up and rushed off to Seoul for my Korean language tutoring. I spent Wednesday with Giggle Girl Jr. and so that class got moved to today.

2. Got totally drilled at tutoring today and, I admit it, I wasn't so prepared for class today having just spent the week interviewing almost 300 students for their final exam. This week was definitely a week of low motivation and even lower spare energy.

3. No sooner had I boarded my bus for my ride back to Cheonan but someone called out my name... it was Ki Dong!!! Wow, cool. I love talking with Ki Dong. He's always got some far-fetched strange idea to talk about and well, he's not exactly the average Korean guy nor is he very secretive about things... really!

4. There's a new wine/candy shop that's opened up recently in the Yawoori Shopping Mall and so today I went to go check it out. And what should my little eyes see but candy canes!!! I love candy canes. I don't know really why, after all, it's just a stick of candy with strips and shaped into a cane.

5. In my attempt to find Q a good Christmas present, I must have spent 2 hours at the mall with no real success. What do you buy a guy who's made a life out of living as simple as possible?! I mean, he doesn't wear jewelery or cologne, he doesn't collect anything, he prefers sweats and t-shirts over jeans and dressier shirts, he's not really into name clothing, his house interior is super simple... he's got drawers with nothing in them and doesn't even have a couch! He spends his time either working, playing soccer, boxing, eating, or hanging out with friends or his grandma.

6. Lately Q's been hinting at the fact that he thinks I should learn how to cook. It's not that I don't know how to cook though, first of all, I don't even have an oven and secondly, his referring to Korean dishes as suppose to the western dishes I can cook. Tonight I thought I'd show him that I can cook some foods Koreans like and so I made him boiled eggs and steamed sweet potatoes. I know that's not exactly what he was implying but none the less, he loved the unexpected treat I made him!

7. I on the other hand have some how convinced Q to cook us a Korean Christmas meal. Not too sure what it'll consist of cause the only "cooking" (if you'd even call it that) has been making me cheese kiwi cracker sandwiches and popping mandu in the microwave.

8. Had a post-Suk Jae Party tonight... hehehe. Q worked on learning Excel on the computer while I continued working on my student marks.

9. While I was working away on my student marks, Q interrupted me by presenting a bag to me. Inside the bag was a box... my Christmas present. My reaction wasn't what he expected though, I could tell. He was expecting me to be happy that he wanted me to open it up early but, if anything, it just really killed my Christmas spirit. If I opened it up now, so early, it'd mean on Christmas morning I'd have nothing to open.... that's rough. That's really rough.

10. And so on that note, I pushed the present aside and continued my work. I really should have gone to Canada for Christmas cause Christmas in Korea just ain't the same.... no snow (I've only seen snow for about an hour this winter), I have Christmas ornaments but I can't find the tree my mom sent me, no cabbage rolls or turkey, no sneaking of mom's Christmas cookies, no Jesus' birthday cake, no sound of mom in the kitchen, no playing of the piano from my dad, no brothers telling me to come help them with something, and no tree or fire place to decorate. Having said all that though, the one thing that I AM excited about this year is it'll be Mi Nam and my first Christmas together... that's pretty cool. It doesn't beat mom's cabbage rolls but it means I'll celebrate it for Mi Nam.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Will someone sit in my seat at the table this year?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Desire, ask, believe, receive.
-- Stella Terrill Mann

... ok, now I love chicken but this is a bit too far. Chicken poop lip balm?! That's just wrong

... in so many ways!

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, December 22

1. Spent my morning trying to search out a little gift for my student In Sun. Today I was going to visit him but I didn't want to arrive empty handed. I can't bring him any kind of goodies, like snacks, cause they told me he can't exactly use his jaw. I couldn't pick out a book cause well, my Korean is good but it's not hardcore awesome and so searched out some magazines, a book bag and some health juices.

2. It took me a good hour to convince myself that I was ready to see him. Given the picture I had seen yesterday though, I was really nervous to see him. Finally I arrived at the hospital and made my way to his room. He wasn't there. The older man in the next bed said In Sun would be back soon and so I walked around the halls for a bit. Upon arriving back in his room I was approached by a young guy and a young girl. They looked about university age. I asked him if he knew In Sun. He gave a little giggle and said, "Me In Sun... Professor Michelle, hi!" I was shocked!!! He didn't look like the same handsome student who sat at the back of my classroom. He didn't look like In Sun but it was him. The girl was his sister.

3. From what I understand of his Korean, he was driving on campus when someone crashed full speed into him, sending his head crashing into the steering wheel. He claims his body is ok but everything from the shoulders up is swollen, bruised, and sore. He sat there talking to me with his bulging and swollen bloodshot eyes redder than red starring at me. The skin around his eyes were a mix of dark purples and black... it looked like he was wearing a mask. His face was completely swollen, making his mouth look incredibly small and making it almost impossible for him to move his jaw. I felt so terrible for him. I knew he must be in so much pain cause even when he laughed, he braced his face and squinted his eyes. It hurt for him to laugh.

4. I tried to joke with him, not only to make him feel better but because I could feel myself getting all choked up inside. I told him that he looked like he was wearing poorly done-up make-up... he thought that was so funny.

5. He and his sister were super sweet by walking me to the elevator where upon he turned to me and told me that he promises to visit me next year at school. I joked and told him that I look forward to seeing my handsome but not to wear that awful eye shadow.

6. My mom always says that God works in mysterious ways and today I totally felt that when no sooner had I exited the hospital in tears but someone called out my name. It was my friend Young Eun from my old neighborhood. I haven't seen him in so long. He greeted me with a huge smile and then we stood reminiscing about our old crew... he, me, Woo, and Mook. We're planning to meet up again, the old crew, in about two weeks. So great!

7. Tonight I had a party... a "Suk Jae Party", which translates into a "Homework Party"... hehehe. With tons of marking and a due date quickly approaching, Q offered to help me with my marking. Our party started off with a trip to the local chicken restaurant where we got way more than what we bargained for. We got dinner AND a "show"!!!

8. Yup, a show... live theater. At the next table sat three overly drunk ajumma's (old women) talking loudly. They then started to argue with the waitress about supposedly being overcharged, which they weren't... overly drunk yes, but not over charged. Anyways, the one ajumma (I named her "Moon Jae Ah"... it means "trouble maker") decided to pick a fight with the head waitress, who Q and I named "The Pit Bull". There was a lot of yelling and swearing but then the Pit Bull unexpectedly and forcibly grabbed Moon Jae Ah by her jacket, sending her flying to the floor. She then literally dragged Moon Jae Ah out of the restaurant, all the while about 15 guys from a local team sat and watched. I was shocked, no one tried to help. Mind ya, the Pit Bull looked like she could handle it.

9. So outside she took her and the two had it out. Lots of slapping, pushing, pulling and yelling. Two grown women who I'm sure go home every night to their husband and kids. A second waitress got called out by Moon Jae Ah's friend and so then the fight escalated to four people. Four grown women. Now that's what I call drama!!! The Pit Bull returned and so I called her over to my table to talk to her. Made sure she was alright and then offered her a drink. 15 minutes later, Moon Jae Ah and her crew of two drunk ladies returned for a rematch. It was no real rematch though. The Pitbull really couldn't be bothered to deal with some 50-year-old's drunkenness and so she immediately escorted her out and then returned working. Wow... what a woman! I was so shocked to see a Korean woman to take such control like that!

10. Needless to say, our Suk Jae Party got off to a late start cause of the unexpected live show. But once our party started, if you'd even call it that, it was all business. Two hours of marking, followed by about an hour and a half of studying Korean.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why didn't anyone call the police?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.
-- Aristotle

And I thought I had expensive taste... here is what's left of Mi Nam's $200 chew toy... dang!!! Notice Mi Nam giving me the "drop the toy or die" look... hehehe.

Today I put to rest my old faithful Shox shoes. They were my first Shoxs. My mom had bought them. I still have my black/pink Shoxs but today I added a new pair to my collection of shoes. They're a pearly white with orange accents. Very stylish and oh-so comfortable. A must have for any fitness guru.

Highlights of my Day... Friday, December 21

1. Final day of exams and so needless to say, I woke up eagerly ready to finish the exams off.

2. I've had a week to deal with the whole saying good-bye to my students issue but today I was totally caught off guard when one of my Seoul students, who wakes up at 6am to make it in time for my 9:20am class, got all teary-eyed. Usually she's all giggly though. Her, her friends and I have this hilarious on-going joke cause one day she told me that she loved my "hip" (meaning bum) and so her nickname is "Pretty Byun Tae" ("Pretty Pervert").

3. After she finished her last interview question, she got up but then sat back down. She looked me straight in the eye and, in her best English ever, she told me that she always loved class and really will miss me.... and that she loves my "hip"... hehehe. And on that note, she got up, shoke my hand and then left the class in tears. I felt so proud... wow. To have such an effect like that totally justified all the dang long hours I've put in and all my effort.

4. Got the same deal with her little sitting partner who also travels in from Seoul. After her exam, she recited a couple of sentences that she had written, memorized and mastered.

5. Exams ran smoothly, as planned, but in my second class, it was almost painful. In addition to students showing up late and then begging for an extra chance, I had to deal with extra noisy students of mine in the hall and a group of them who got in trouble for using a computer in the next room.

6. In between interviewing, I rushed out of the room for a tea break but ran into the boys from my second class, well, 3 of the 4 boys. They all looked so stressed. I assumed it was from it being exam but then one of them passed me a letter addressed to me that he had asked someone to write for him. It was a letter about the 4th boy, In Sun. Turns out In Sun had had a terrible car accident and so he couldn't make it to school. Instead, he was lying in the Dankook University campus hospital.

7. Then they showed me a picture on their cell phone. Honestly, at first I didn't know what I was looking at. Then they told me; I was looking at In Sun's face.... oh gosh. I couldn't tell his nose from his ear. I ended up sitting down on the stairs. I felt so sick. Tomorrow I will go visit him.

8. After a full day of interviewing, it was nice to wrap up exams and leave. Swung by my house, changed into my training gear and then headed off to boxing. Junior Mint killed me at training cause I took almost all of this week off. I've been just so busy with work... ahhhh!!! Straining myself at training ended up causing an injury and I'm kind of freaking out over it. By the time training was over (about 2 hours later), I unwrapped my hands only to discover that my pinky finger knuckle was throbbing and was completely purple. I thought it was just cause I was hitting the sand bag with no gloves on but now I don't know. It hurts so much to touch it and it feels as if there's a bump under the skin. I didn't show Junior Mint though. He's pretty protective of me and kind of baby's me whenever I injure myself... which is like every day cause I like hitting the sand bag with no gloves. Black Skinny says it'll make my hands stronger. So far though, it's only really cut up my knuckles and left me with "leather knuckles".

9. Ended up heading over to Yawoori with Ki Dong. Our mission: buy new runners for me. Mission accomplished.... viola, beautiful new Nikes. Cool!

10. Had a mini movie night with my boy Mi Nam. I cooked up some eggs and chicken... even cooked a plate for him two. Then, we curled up on the couch and watched some random Korean movie my student downloaded for me. Our movie night was cut short though by Q who insisted he sweep me away for a midnight talk. I don't know whether it's cause it's Christmas soon, or if it's cause classes just ended, or the stress of marking... or what, but today things just really got to me tonight and so I really wasn't feeling so peachy keen. I just needed a hug. Q came by and gave me plenty. He's caught on quickly that sometimes not talking and just hugging me is all I really need. I didn't need him to understand me, just to be there... and he was.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Am I the only person who really is celebrating what today is?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
-- Thomas Szasz

Gotta love the fact that most of my students are bigger than me... hehehe.

Here is me with my student Young Ha.

... and here's me with my student Jae Myoung.

I'm seriously convinced that I have the coolest students at Dankook.. for sure!

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, December 20

1. Started off my day with our end of the year staff meeting at Dankook in which we talked about the next year's curriculum and student reports. Next semester they're going to kill us with the huge expectations they're pushing for student grading. Oh my gosh... I don't even want to think about that right now!!!

2. One of my coworkers made a pretty big announcement today during our staff meeting; he's leaving us soon. I consider myself extremely blessed for the staff that I work with, they're all really great and everyone definitely brings something different to the table. But "him", he's definitely one of my favorite co-workers. He's the only Korean prof. I work with and I love his attitude. He's a small Korean man who kind of acts like a gangsta... hehehe. He's always pinching and pushing me in the staff room. He always comments when I change my hair or make-up, and just a really cool mellow dude. He didn't say why he's leaving, he just mentioned that it's "for personal reasons".... dang. I'm going to miss him. He was my little Korean gangsta man.

3. Student interviews continue today for the fourth day this week but surprisingly I'm really having fun with it. Sure it leaves my brain feeling totally fried at the end of the day, but it's been really interesting to hear their answers and see just how different they become when they're put in the "hot seat", as I called it.

4. This week many of my students have been acting like paparazzis, taking random and multiple photos of me... hehehe. Today two of my students, Jae Myoung and Young Ha, turned our exam time into a kind of impromptu photo shoot. I had my simple digital camera with me but Young Ha had brought this super-duper, totally high-tech camera that I'm sure captured every single detail... oh gosh... hehehe.

5. Got the third degree at weight training from Buff Boy who argued that me punching Mr. Dong was an unfair fight. He argued that because I am a professional boxer and thus obviously know how to fight, that it's equivalent to one man using a weapon and another using only one hand; it's already a guaranteed unfair fight. I suppose he's right. Mr. Dong is around 35 years of age and doesn't exactly work-out. I'm sure he probably spells gym "j-i-m". Hehehe... sorry, I really shouldn't say that. I know it's kind of mean of me.... so what. The guy was a total jerk.

6. It's not that I enjoyed hitting Mr. Dong though, that's not the case. I really didn't want it to get to that point but I had tried numerous measures to try to stop him. Punching him was not cool. Feeling like I was totally ready for that moment, a fight, and being able to control myself from not continue punching him, that was cool.

7. Did some grocery shopping. I didn't realize that they had already closed when I walked in but I thought something was strange when I noticed that I was the only one walking around... hehehe. One of the workers approached me and motioned that I have to go to check-out now. I wasn't really done getting my stuff though and so as we walked to the check-out, I was grabbing food left, right and center... hehehe. I felt like I was on some kind of old skool shopping spree game show.

8. My weekly grocery bill:
9 packages of chicken breast
7 cans of tuna
7 cartons of eggs
3 packages of cherry tomatoes
1 lettuce head
2 large cucumbers
3 packages of peppers
3 large green peppers
9 sweet potatoes
2 packages of jello
7 yogurts
2 cartons of milk

9. If you think this is a lot of food, maybe I really shouldn't tell you that I eat out a lot too but still manage to gobble all this food up... hehehe. I've really tried to monitor what I eat when I do eat out though. Korean food is awesome for dieters though considering the fact that they serve like a million and one veggie side dishes with their meals and Korean street vendors sell such foods like boiled eggs and sweet potatoes. It's those bakeries, like Paris Baguette, that kill me though. I tried to totally rule out grain products but oh how I love those soft warm pastries. I walk by Paris Baguette everyday and the aroma seems to so conveniently seep through the store doors and flood my senses.... ohhhhh... ahhhh. So delicious!

10. Cracked under pressure today... I bought a bag of butter dinner rolls at Paris Baguette! I returned home and between the time I bought them and arriving home, I had convinced myself that I shouldn't have bought them. Gave them ALL to Mi Nam. He loved them.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why does it have to taste so good?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
A minute on the lips, forever on the hips.
-- Author Unknown

... play time!!!

(I totally appologize for the bunk quality... YouTube ain't exactly the best provider, mind ya, it is a free site so I guess I can't really complain :(

Today was my last official play day with Giggle Girl Jr. before her big move to Seoul.

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, December 19

1. On account that today would be my last chance to visit Giggle Girl Jr. before her big move to Seoul, I canceled my Korean language studies and headed over for one last play day with her.

2. I brought along with me my two gifts I had bought; one for her mom and one for her. They were both super thrilled and their eyes lite up when they ripped open my packages.

3. I couldn't help but be distracted while playing with Giggle Girl Jr. I mean, I was having fun but I kept on thinking that this would be our last play day together. I really wanted to enjoy the moment but it was hard because I kept on thinking about her leaving Cheonan.

4. After we played about a million and one silly games, chowed down on chocolate, apples and tons of oranges, it was time for me to leave. They walked me down to the taxi, where I we then said our good-byes. Giggle Girl Jr's mom shook my hand, bowed and said thank you for always visiting. I smiled and then pulled her in to hug her. When I pulled away from her, her eyes swelled up with tears. I gave Giggle Girl Jr. one huge hug. We promised to meet up again and then I got into the cab.

5. Q had be forewarned that this would be a sad day for me and so he came by to take me out for lunch and a movie. I was so tired though. Last night I hadn't slept well cause the thought of saying good-bye to Giggle Girl Jr. weighted heavily on my mind.

6. By the time we finished lunch, I was ready to crash and call it a day. We thought we'd take a cat nap at Q's house and then come back in an hour for the next movie. Our cat nap turned into almost a whole afternoon nap... I was that tired!

7. In a moment of semi-unconsciousness, I did the unthinkable... I said those magical "three words" to Q... oh my gosh! I know he totally heard me too cause he responded but at the sound of hearing myself say those words, I kind of freaked myself out!!!

8. Q had to head off to English class at the local hagwan and so I walked him to class. It was the first time I had seen his English school. No sooner had I walked in the door but eyes were on me. Apparently the group of girls curiously starring at me were Dankook University students.

9. After his class, we met up again. We were both starving and so we decided to have dinner together. I, being the eating monster that I've apparently have become, I couldn't wait and so, while he was in class, I went and ate before dinner. No worries though, it's almost impossible for me to spoil my appetite. No sooner do I eat food but I'm hungry again.

10. Ended up catching a late night movie. We watched "The Golden Compass" with Nicole Kidman. I'm not one really for fantasy movies but it was pretty good. I especially liked the polar bear fight and the little "demons"... after which, it got me thinking. In the movie the people walk around with creatures following them. They say that in "that world", the peoples' souls walked beside them. And so, it got me thinking about Mi Nam and how he's kind of like a reflection of me in a way. The more and more I thought about it, the more and more I began to really see how Mi Nam and I aren't so different... and it kind of scared me... hehehe!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do you believe in nature or nurture?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Whoever said you can't buy love obviously never had a dog.
-- Author Unknown

My coworker Amy with her beautiful baby Maddie.

Tomorrow Amy's taking Maddie to Canada... wow, very exciting. Maddie is going to get her first experience of Canada. I wonder if the snow will freak her out!

I love Maddie's long nose... she's so pretty!

There's three of us girls in the office here that all have dogs and, oddly enough, we all got our dogs around the same time and so they're very close in age.

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, December 18

1. Day 2 of student interviews. They started around noon and carried on straight to about 7pm, leaving me feeling like I just experienced brain damage. My head was hurting.

2. Out of all the interviews so far, I must say that I am most impressed with my one level 1 class whom all did their interviews today. Wow... that class can really kick my level 2 students' butts!!!

3. And so, as interviews continued, so did the "I love you's", "I'll miss you", the hand shaking, and the goodies. Best bribe of the day: a pack of 4 banana milk light... cool!

4. Was quite relieved when I looked down the hall and saw my Monday morning student walking towards me. Yesterday, in her haste, she had got into a car accident while rushing to get to Dankook on time. She doesn't seem to be seriously injured, what a relief, but she told me that her car is still at the "car doctor"... cute.

5. My coworkers continue to punch in their final marks into the computer as I slave away with exams, which brings me to an interesting point... I thought we weren't allowed to cancel classes!? It really frustrates me to know that I'm busting my butt, trying to stick to the rules and do what I think is right when so many of my coworkers are already packed and ready to go for their holidays. Was there something I missed? Honestly, I don't know. What I do know is that it really bites stressing over marks and working on such a tight time limit when apparently I'm the only one.

6. Add my New York Yankies hat to the list of things Mi Nam ate the other day... ahhhh!!!! Apparently I didn't notice this the other day but my hat... ahhh, my poor, poor beautiful hat. Mi Nam thought that the button on the top of it, you know, the button the holds it all together in the center, well, Mi Nam thought that it looked delicious and so he ate it!

7. I couldn't be bothered to do any work after work, like marking, and so tonight I hit the gym and went hardcore on training, leaving myself totally exhausted and drenched from head to toe in sweat.

8. Ju Wan is convinced that I'm an animal at training cause when I run on the treadmill, I throw on a large thick sweater, put my hoodie on and then strap on my ankle weights. The other day I made her run with my ankle weights on but she said it just about killed her. "It's a 2 for 1 work-out!" I explained to her. That's my selling point with the ankle weights; they're awesome. The way I figure it, every time I run with the weights and sweater on, I'm training twice as hard... it's like 2 workouts but in the time it takes to do 1: 2 for 1... hehehe!

9. Tomorrow I'm heading to Giggle Girl Jr.s' house for one last visit before her big move to Seoul. I bought her a cute picture frame the other day and got one of my favorite pictures of us developed for it. Tonight I sat down to write a card for her... that's when I really realized it, she's leaving me. Giggle Girl Jr. and I have been meeting for a little over two years now and I've become so attached to her. She's a super cute, energetic 8 year old with the mind of someone way beyond her years. In the two years that we've been meeting, I've really felt like a real older sister to her and so I'm dreading having to say good-bye to her.

10. The cutie who works in the GS 25 store in my building surprised me today when he offered to buy me banana milk. At first I thought that it was just "service", like when you buy something and get a second thing free. But, it wasn't. Turns out he just wanted to buy it for me as a Christmas present.... wow, so cute! I visit his store almost everyday and so I usually see him everyday when he works the night shift after his classes. We've only talked a little but everyday I make some kind of comment to him, whether it's about the diamond earring he's sporting in his ear, his hair cut, or the music he's playing in the store.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Did I miss something?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Sometimes we do a thing in order to find out the reason for it. Sometimes our actions are questions not answers.
-- John Le Carre

One of our super cute, totally adorable, ever so funny assistants... Rory!

Ki Dong showing off his s-line... hehehe!!!

Highlights of my Day... Monday, December 17

1. I remember waking up several times and slapping the alarm clock but what I didn't realize was just how late it was getting. Woke up and freaked out. It was 7:10am and I was still at Q's house!!! In coming over to relax last night, I guess I was too relaxed. I ended up falling asleep.

2. Day 1 of student final exams... one-on-one interviews. Exams started nice and early for me. Right at the crack of dawn: 8:30am. Ok, so it's not really the crack of dawn but I'm not exactly a morning person.

3. With a tightly scheduled interview time sheet, I started interviews at 8:30am and continued straight till 5pm, making it almost impossible for me to have any free time. The only free time I got was when the occassional student didn't show up for their exam... not exactly a relaxing free time though considering the fact that a missed exam meant I then had to give them a zero.

4. Got a shocking phone call from one of my students. In her haste to rush to school for my exam, she ended up getting into a terrible car accident and was rushed to the hospital. I ended up texting her later on in the evening. Thankfully she's doing ok, considering.

5. I love exam time cause it's so cute and ultra funny to see how my fun-loving, super relaxed students turn into ultra nervous, shaking, totally serious studious students. Today I was bombarded with lots of "I love you"s, bowing students, and lots of gifts (aka bribery). My gifts ranged from flowers and chocolate to ID labels and even a free movie ticket... hehehe.

6. I really am an older sister... wow. With every student that missed their exam and every student who got upset when the messed up an answer, I felt myself really empathisizing with them. One of my first period students missed his exam but I had spotted him in the hall and so I tried to get another student got track him down. No suck luck. I felt so disappointed. His English wasn't really good but I really tried to help him, giving him extra guidance and extra time on his assignment when he approached me for extra help. I was hoping that he'd come back to talk to me, or at least email me... but, no, he didn't.

7. After interviewing 79 students today, I came home totally mentally drained and just wanting to relax. I was looking forward to seeing Mi Nam but when I opened the door, he didn't come to greet me, strange.

8. Found out why Mi Nam never came to greet me... he didn't come cause he knew he had been a bad boy; a VERY bad boy!!! Apparently, while I was at work, Mi Nam went crazy and had a field day... a very expensive field day. He ate my old pair of Nike Shox shoes ($170), the mini boxing glove Milk Dud gave me the first day I met him, and my skipping rope that my training partner in Canada had given me. I was so mad I was speechless. I took one look at Mi Nam and said, "I don't want to talk to you. You go to the bad boy's room"... the "bad boy's room" being the bathroom and so that he did. He sat in the bathroom for a couple of hours while I cleaned up what was left of my shoes, boxing glove and skipping rope. He ended up puking it all up and so then I had to clean that up too... lovely, thanks.

9. Needless to say, I was feeling so frustrated. Q had just finished school and so I joined him outside in his truck. He instantly read that I was upset and so he offered to treat me to a movie. The movies were all starting too late and so he ended up just sitting and talking to me.

10. Lately I've been feeling so unmotivated and so discouraged lately. I just have so much work to do and so it's been leaving me so drained for training, which in turn makes me more discouraged. I am just really needing this winter vacation. Tonight, when I returned back home, I decided to go for a late night run and so I jumped into my training gear. But, when I put my Adidas training pants on, something felt off.... oh my gosh! Turns out Mi Nam also had a go at my pants. He had eaten the whole croch out of the pants. I only have two pairs of these pants ($60) and they get washed everyday cause I train twice a day. I don't know why Mi Nam did this! I mean, besides the plenty of chew toys he has, he's never really eaten any clothes of mine beyond the teething period when he was real young.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How come Mi Nam has such expensive taste?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
-- Benjamin Franklin

Ahhh... look at the cute birthday boy!!!

Who ya lookin' at there cutie?!

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, December 16

1. As if last night's drama wasn't enough, today my nice happy morning was interrupted by a totally uncalled for and extremely racist text message from Mr. Dong... you know, the disgustingly rude drunk that I punched last night. This is what he texted my phone:

"good luck with those f###ing slit eyed yellow dog eaters. u will never be happy"

2. Despite the million and one things I could say... should say... would say... and wanted to say, I decided that it best that I didn't text him back. I refuse to lower myself to his level. What he texted was incredibly racist and I don't stand for that kind of manner. It's just no manner. Moreover, I feel sorry for him. Does he mean I'll never be happy like him?! ... I sure hope not!!! He thinks he's happy?! How so? He's the racist living in a country full of the very people he apparently can't stand. And so, for him to say something like this, after the heat of the moment has died down and a good number of hours have past by, hints that either he's one very unhappy person or a bitter, bitter old man.

3. No sooner did I get his text but then I had to leave my house. I was meeting up with Hanna and her daughter for lunch. We haven't seen each other for awhile and so I missed her and getting that awful message made me really want to see her. She is a true friend... a person I respect. And so, when I saw her today, I greeted her with a big hug. It felt so good to see her again.

4. Off we went for tak galbi and shopping, just the three of us gals. This past month has been hard for Hanna and Seul. In addition to Hanna having exams at university, Seul (age 5) had her appendix removed and so she spent about a month in the hospital.

5. Today was Q's birthday and so we met up to celebrate it together. I had spent the past week or so embarrassing myself by asking random students of mine to edit my Korean birthday letter/card that I had been writing for him. It oozed with sappiness and was ultra sweet... I, on the other hand, was ultra foolish and ended up dropping it on our way to the movie theater. We went around looking for it but had no luck.

6. Q's all about bombarding me with as much Korean as possible and so tonight we went to go see the Korean movie called "Seven Days". It was a suspense murder mystery and wow... it was so hard for me to understand cause of it having a complicated plot and it being full of serious conversations. For the hour and a half that it played, I sat on the edge of my seat, seriously focusing on the language and trying to translate it all.... ahhhh... "head bing-bing"... hehehe.

7. After the movie, we headed over to Mainz for a nice and relaxing dinner. I was starving by this time and so feasting on some oh-so-good food at Mainz hit the spot perfectly, after which, we topped off the meal with the birthday cake I had bought. I had the "pleasure" of singing happy birthday by myself. Q told me to sing nice and loud and well, I did... hehehe.

8. We thought we'd simply go back to Q's house to relax. He still hadn't opened my gift at this point but when I went to the bathroom at his house, I opened the door and caught him opening up his present without me. I think he only meant to take a sneak peek but because the gift was all wrapped up inside the box, his curiosity took over... hehehe.

9. Q and I have this on-going joke about us giving each other a score out of 10. My original score was 8 apparently. But then I gained points. I gained mad points the other day when I proved that I had a high IQ the other day by retelling the main points of the last Korean movie we watched. He was impressed and so my point moved up to 9.5. Today I lost points when I lost his birthday card. Now I'm down to 9.

10. As for Q's score, I originally gave him a 9 but upon getting a low score, I moved him down to an 8.5. I gave him an 8.5 for the following reasons:
* he's got a very relaxed and carefree personality
* he's always giggling about something and smiling
* he enjoys his job (bonus points for scoring the "best employee of 2007" award)
* he is a university graduate
* he's not embarrassed to show that he's sensitive and to tell me that he misses me
* he always remembers and notices things -- even little things, my students' names, if I wear my hair a different way, buy new earrings... I love that
* sometimes he calls me in the morning when he knows I have to wake up early
* bonus points for the fact that he sleeps with a teddy bear on his bed... hehehe.
* his house is always clean and he takes pride in things he has
* he's a gentleman; opening doors for me and walks on the road side
* bonus points for having a huge apartment and truck
* he loves sports: is a professional boxer and is on a soccer team
* he's close with his family
* he's a walking teddy bear, very cuddly
* he likes studying and learning new things (currently studying Excel and English)
* he's super cute and I love it how his eyes almost totally disappear when he smiles or laughs
* he's a down-to-earth simple good guy
* he's a good listener and listens to my rambling, even when I know he doesn't understand
* he's just one of those "feel-good" people that, no matter what kind of day you've had, you just can't help but feel good when you're with him

BUT... lately he's been losing points because he hasn't been showing up at boxing as frequently as before, he's slacking off a bit with his English studies (I think it's cause I'm studying Korean and so he doesn't feel so obligated now), and he broke our promise (plans) twice now. So, his current score is 8.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked.
-- Katherine Anne Porter