As Madonna approaches her 50th birthday this August, I can't help but be amazed by not only her talent and continual stardom but look at her body... yikes!!! Her age may be doing circles around us younger gals, but so is her body! Dang!!! Monday, March 31, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Monday, March 31
1. My pro. rugby students showed up today and what a joke that was. There were three of them. Not only did they not show up with even so much a pen or piece of paper to write on, but they chatted in class, one decided to take a call during class, and another one got up and left for the bathroom, I'm assuming that's where he went. The rest of the students all saw this go down and were quite amused when I locked the door, locking two of them out in the hall. I don't care if their English level is low, I tell them this all the time, that's why they're taking my class. But what I do care for is manners. Bad manners are not tolerated in my class and so I guess today those boys learned that pretty quickly.
2. How ironic, turns out one of the boys isn't even registered in my class. We discovered this after he sat out in the hall, waiting for me to let him back in again.
3. Lectured my students about the fact that being a student is their job. Do the work, show up on time, bring your books, study, and you'll get paid a sweet mark. Don't do your job and well, I'll fire ya. It's as simple as that. I am their boss, I am not their mother, I'm not their buddy or the person who'll give them a free ride. Most of them are already getting a free ride as it is, I'm not about to jump in on that.
4. I've been emailing my students every week, religiously and now we are on week 5 but still I'm having students approach me in class to tell me that they couldn't do the homework cause they didn't get my email... nice. It made for a very frustrating homework check today.
5. Sometimes I think some of my students would seriously either A., go crazy, or B., die if they had to be a university student in Canada or at least fend for themselves here in Korea. I think many of my students are incredibly awesome and I always love talking to them, but seriously, their life here in Korea isn't exactly hard but they complain about homework. Dealing with the pressure and stress of homework was just one of my concerns when I was a university student. My stress came from having to pay for my tuition with my job that, during the first year of school required me to commute back to my hometown, but then I scored my bartending job. I was working about 35 hours within 3-4 nights. I made great money but in addition to paying for school, I also was paying for my own clothes, food, training, and 2-story apartment. Geez Louise... I'm seriously starting to sound like my father... "When I was your age.." Mind ya, having sad that, my stories can't compete with his "I had to walk 5 miles in shoulder-height snow to get to school"... not too sure why you'd be doing that. I guess they didn't have snow days back then... hehehe.
6. Gave 6 girls in my one class a big goose egg (a zero) for their homework check and then they stayed after class to plead with me.
7. After a full day of walking around in stelletto heels and feeling like I had become the mother to some 90 students or so, I felt so tired and so warn-out. The fact that my weekend was packed to the max definitely played a role here in my exhustion. Weekends are meant for relaxing but this past weekend was anything and everything but relaxing. I need a break from my break.
8. And on that note, it was lights out for me at 6pm.
9. Woke up around 9pm to Q calling me, asking me a million and one questions that I can't quite remember cause well, I wasn't exactly conscious.
10. Woke up again around 10pm to Young Chan texting me. He's so over dramatic. I had agreed to meet up with him tonight and I know I blew it by crashing early but I really had no energy left to deal with him. Something is ALWAYS up with him. Whether it's food poisoning, getting lost on some random road, or what not, it just never ends with him. He always seems to have some kind of drama going on in his life and I am beginning to see a pattern here. Maybe I should tell him of the boy who called wolf, or maybe I should introduce him to Pinocchio.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why does drama always supposedly happen to him?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
-- Lenin
2. How ironic, turns out one of the boys isn't even registered in my class. We discovered this after he sat out in the hall, waiting for me to let him back in again.
3. Lectured my students about the fact that being a student is their job. Do the work, show up on time, bring your books, study, and you'll get paid a sweet mark. Don't do your job and well, I'll fire ya. It's as simple as that. I am their boss, I am not their mother, I'm not their buddy or the person who'll give them a free ride. Most of them are already getting a free ride as it is, I'm not about to jump in on that.
4. I've been emailing my students every week, religiously and now we are on week 5 but still I'm having students approach me in class to tell me that they couldn't do the homework cause they didn't get my email... nice. It made for a very frustrating homework check today.
5. Sometimes I think some of my students would seriously either A., go crazy, or B., die if they had to be a university student in Canada or at least fend for themselves here in Korea. I think many of my students are incredibly awesome and I always love talking to them, but seriously, their life here in Korea isn't exactly hard but they complain about homework. Dealing with the pressure and stress of homework was just one of my concerns when I was a university student. My stress came from having to pay for my tuition with my job that, during the first year of school required me to commute back to my hometown, but then I scored my bartending job. I was working about 35 hours within 3-4 nights. I made great money but in addition to paying for school, I also was paying for my own clothes, food, training, and 2-story apartment. Geez Louise... I'm seriously starting to sound like my father... "When I was your age.." Mind ya, having sad that, my stories can't compete with his "I had to walk 5 miles in shoulder-height snow to get to school"... not too sure why you'd be doing that. I guess they didn't have snow days back then... hehehe.
6. Gave 6 girls in my one class a big goose egg (a zero) for their homework check and then they stayed after class to plead with me.
7. After a full day of walking around in stelletto heels and feeling like I had become the mother to some 90 students or so, I felt so tired and so warn-out. The fact that my weekend was packed to the max definitely played a role here in my exhustion. Weekends are meant for relaxing but this past weekend was anything and everything but relaxing. I need a break from my break.
8. And on that note, it was lights out for me at 6pm.
9. Woke up around 9pm to Q calling me, asking me a million and one questions that I can't quite remember cause well, I wasn't exactly conscious.
10. Woke up again around 10pm to Young Chan texting me. He's so over dramatic. I had agreed to meet up with him tonight and I know I blew it by crashing early but I really had no energy left to deal with him. Something is ALWAYS up with him. Whether it's food poisoning, getting lost on some random road, or what not, it just never ends with him. He always seems to have some kind of drama going on in his life and I am beginning to see a pattern here. Maybe I should tell him of the boy who called wolf, or maybe I should introduce him to Pinocchio.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why does drama always supposedly happen to him?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
-- Lenin
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Sunday, March 30
1. With my eyes even puffier than yesterday, I woke up in Daejon feeling like I hadn't quite slept and then had to deal with Q distracting me from getting ready.
2. Q's middle school friends have created their own official soccer team, equipped with uniforms and everything. Today I was supposed to me
rely be a fan in the crowd and so I showed up with milk and morning biscuits for everyone. Turns out the other team was a no-show and so they ended up splitting up the team in two... and guess who got called in to play?! Me.
3. Q calls me "Sports Girl" but I am by no means a good soccer player. Running (cross country and track) was my thing in high school, as was field hockey and wrestling, but soccer... hmmm. Black Horse tried to help me out by yelling at the opposing team players whenever they rushed me for the ball. We did a lot of yelling, body checking and, oddly enough, sitting on the ball. Needless to say, the game wasn't a serious match and we had lots of fun.
4. As for the other ladies who came to watch their men play soccer... well, all I can say is "L-A-Z-Y!!!" Gotta "love" how they let the one 2 year-old run on the field, how they ate my bread but sat in their cars watching and didn't even offer to take our team picture at the end of the game. At first I was freaking out cause this crying and screaming little 2 year-old kept on running on the field. But no sooner did the other team score a point cause of my distraction did I decide to ignore her. She's not my kid and I'm not here to babysit. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but I don't like lazy mothers who let their kids go buck-style and do whatever, whenever. There were 3 other women
there, I was busy. And on that note, the little girl took a hard ball to the bum.
5. After the game, Q and I parted from the group and went in search of some lunch. Q ended up taking me to this restaurant that was tucked away on a dirty old side street where kids were playing on the side of the road and some old woman was selling fruit.
6. Our main course for lunch was duck. It was drowned in red pepper paste, loaded with different spices and herbs, and was slapped on a bed of veggies and greens. It was kind of expensive but was super delicious.
7. Finally it was time for us to head back to good old Cheonan. I had to plan my weekly lesson and Q was going to attempt to study... key word being attempted. He failed after a few tries and then ended up passing out on the floor.
8. I think the last time I liked Sundays was back when I was in high school. For the most part, Sundays consisted of heading off to church with the family, followed by lunch out at Swiss Chalet or Teddys, an afternoon of lounging around the house and listening to my father play the piano. Sunday nights we use to attend a second service in the evening, followed by either a good movie on the television or "Life Goes On". Now days though, my Sundays consist of sleeping in and then stressing over my weekly lesson. Sure I may only have to plan one lesson for the week but it seems to take forever. There's of course the looking over of the textbook, listening to the accompanying CD, checking out the teacher textbook aid, making the PowerPoint file, searching the web for various pictures and extra info to use. Then, last but not least, I repeatedly go over the lesson to estimate the timing and see where to change it.
9. This week's lesson planning, from start to finish, took me just a little over 4 hours.
10. I ended my Sunday night by sitting around with Q and eating pizza. I haven't eaten pizza in such a long time but tonight I was craving it. It must have had a million and one toppings on it, my favorite being the corn and sweet potato. Sorry mom, but Pizza Pizza in Canada has NOTHING on Korean pizza.. hehehe!!!
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How do my coworkers teach?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
There is never enough time, unless you're serving it.
-- Malcolm Forbes
2. Q's middle school friends have created their own official soccer team, equipped with uniforms and everything. Today I was supposed to me
rely be a fan in the crowd and so I showed up with milk and morning biscuits for everyone. Turns out the other team was a no-show and so they ended up splitting up the team in two... and guess who got called in to play?! Me.3. Q calls me "Sports Girl" but I am by no means a good soccer player. Running (cross country and track) was my thing in high school, as was field hockey and wrestling, but soccer... hmmm. Black Horse tried to help me out by yelling at the opposing team players whenever they rushed me for the ball. We did a lot of yelling, body checking and, oddly enough, sitting on the ball. Needless to say, the game wasn't a serious match and we had lots of fun.
4. As for the other ladies who came to watch their men play soccer... well, all I can say is "L-A-Z-Y!!!" Gotta "love" how they let the one 2 year-old run on the field, how they ate my bread but sat in their cars watching and didn't even offer to take our team picture at the end of the game. At first I was freaking out cause this crying and screaming little 2 year-old kept on running on the field. But no sooner did the other team score a point cause of my distraction did I decide to ignore her. She's not my kid and I'm not here to babysit. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but I don't like lazy mothers who let their kids go buck-style and do whatever, whenever. There were 3 other women
there, I was busy. And on that note, the little girl took a hard ball to the bum.5. After the game, Q and I parted from the group and went in search of some lunch. Q ended up taking me to this restaurant that was tucked away on a dirty old side street where kids were playing on the side of the road and some old woman was selling fruit.
6. Our main course for lunch was duck. It was drowned in red pepper paste, loaded with different spices and herbs, and was slapped on a bed of veggies and greens. It was kind of expensive but was super delicious.
7. Finally it was time for us to head back to good old Cheonan. I had to plan my weekly lesson and Q was going to attempt to study... key word being attempted. He failed after a few tries and then ended up passing out on the floor.
8. I think the last time I liked Sundays was back when I was in high school. For the most part, Sundays consisted of heading off to church with the family, followed by lunch out at Swiss Chalet or Teddys, an afternoon of lounging around the house and listening to my father play the piano. Sunday nights we use to attend a second service in the evening, followed by either a good movie on the television or "Life Goes On". Now days though, my Sundays consist of sleeping in and then stressing over my weekly lesson. Sure I may only have to plan one lesson for the week but it seems to take forever. There's of course the looking over of the textbook, listening to the accompanying CD, checking out the teacher textbook aid, making the PowerPoint file, searching the web for various pictures and extra info to use. Then, last but not least, I repeatedly go over the lesson to estimate the timing and see where to change it.
9. This week's lesson planning, from start to finish, took me just a little over 4 hours.
10. I ended my Sunday night by sitting around with Q and eating pizza. I haven't eaten pizza in such a long time but tonight I was craving it. It must have had a million and one toppings on it, my favorite being the corn and sweet potato. Sorry mom, but Pizza Pizza in Canada has NOTHING on Korean pizza.. hehehe!!!
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How do my coworkers teach?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
There is never enough time, unless you're serving it.
-- Malcolm Forbes
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Saturday, March 29
1. Discovering that my puffy eyes were here to stay for the morning frustrated me and so I eagerly and desperately searched for a means of getting rid of them. Today was the day of my TV interview and it seemed like nothing was going right. Not only did I show up 5 minutes late for my interview, but my eyes were still puffy, I was having a bad hair day, and I had forgot
ten to wash my hand wraps.
2. First thing on our list for today's events was meeting up with the reporter and heading to a coffee shop for a quick interview before training. Q got interviewed first and then me. She asked him varying questions and then told me his translated answers. One of the questions she had asked Q was, "When did you first fall in love with Amy?" He told her he fell in love with me the first time he saw me. I remember that day too. I was so nervous and no one really knew how to approach me so no one but Q talked to me. I was just known as that foreign girl who trained in the corner of the gym. Q walked up to me and started to try to explain the routine they have at training. At the time, Q's English was really bad and so
honestly, I really didn't understand him but considering he was the only one brave enough to try to extend any kind of friendship, I wasn't about to tell him I didn't understand. But hearing him tell the reporter that he loved me from first sight did and didn't really surprise me. After all, it was Q who said "I love you" first and it was Q who, just 2 weeks after dating, he introduced me to his family. Q may be a simple guy but he is very much in tune with his feelings. Things are very black and white to him, I wish I were more like that, so exact on things.
3. Q's answer to the reporter's question lingered in my head for the rest of the day and so from then on I really didn't care what happened with my interview. I forgot all about my
puffy eyes, my bad hair day, and my smelly hand wraps. I had discovered something so sweet.
4. Off we headed to the boxing gym wear I geared up for training and then had to train, acting like the large stalking camera wasn't bothering me... hehehe.
5. For the sake of adding some extra interest to my interview, Junior Mint got me to match box with Q. We had originally tried this some months ago but it wasn't so successful but today it was good. The thing with match boxing (or pronounced as "mass boxing" by some) is that it is really an exercise meant for one person but involves two. In this case, it was meant for me. I was allowed to go full force on
Q but he is only merely allowed to defend himself.
6. We ended our training with some grueling ab work... ouch! The reporter said it looked painful, I told her it wasn't so bad. Mind ya, I know I'll be feeling it tomorrow!
7. After we concluded our interview, Q and I showered up, got dressed and then headed off to Daejon to meet up with his friends. Once a month Q meets up with his middle school buddies for a weekend packed with excessive eating, good times, loud laughing and continual joking, and a good game of soccer-volleyball, or two. I wasn't able to go last month but this time I came along with him.
8. Dinner consisted of 14 of us sitting around a large table and chowing down on some very delicious sushi... Korean style sushi, which basically meant that it's pieces raw fish minus the rice like Japanese sushi.
9. One of Q's friend is having a baby very soon and so everyone eagerly tried their hand at feeling the baby kick. Her tummy felt rock solid but underneath, you could feel the baby moving around. I've never felt a pregnant woman's tummy before and so it was so fascinating to hear them talk about the baby moving. Had I had the chance to touch her tummy, I would have been even more fascinated but I was too shy to reach out a
nd do it.
10. Dinner was followed by hanging out at a bar, which was then followed by excessively loud singing at a singing room, random baseball hitting practice at a local baseball coin machine, and walking in the rain. Q and I then headed back to his parent's house.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why don't mornings usually agree with me?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Some days you're the bug. Some days you're the windshield.
--Price Cobb
ten to wash my hand wraps.2. First thing on our list for today's events was meeting up with the reporter and heading to a coffee shop for a quick interview before training. Q got interviewed first and then me. She asked him varying questions and then told me his translated answers. One of the questions she had asked Q was, "When did you first fall in love with Amy?" He told her he fell in love with me the first time he saw me. I remember that day too. I was so nervous and no one really knew how to approach me so no one but Q talked to me. I was just known as that foreign girl who trained in the corner of the gym. Q walked up to me and started to try to explain the routine they have at training. At the time, Q's English was really bad and so
honestly, I really didn't understand him but considering he was the only one brave enough to try to extend any kind of friendship, I wasn't about to tell him I didn't understand. But hearing him tell the reporter that he loved me from first sight did and didn't really surprise me. After all, it was Q who said "I love you" first and it was Q who, just 2 weeks after dating, he introduced me to his family. Q may be a simple guy but he is very much in tune with his feelings. Things are very black and white to him, I wish I were more like that, so exact on things. 3. Q's answer to the reporter's question lingered in my head for the rest of the day and so from then on I really didn't care what happened with my interview. I forgot all about my
puffy eyes, my bad hair day, and my smelly hand wraps. I had discovered something so sweet.4. Off we headed to the boxing gym wear I geared up for training and then had to train, acting like the large stalking camera wasn't bothering me... hehehe.
5. For the sake of adding some extra interest to my interview, Junior Mint got me to match box with Q. We had originally tried this some months ago but it wasn't so successful but today it was good. The thing with match boxing (or pronounced as "mass boxing" by some) is that it is really an exercise meant for one person but involves two. In this case, it was meant for me. I was allowed to go full force on
Q but he is only merely allowed to defend himself. 6. We ended our training with some grueling ab work... ouch! The reporter said it looked painful, I told her it wasn't so bad. Mind ya, I know I'll be feeling it tomorrow!
7. After we concluded our interview, Q and I showered up, got dressed and then headed off to Daejon to meet up with his friends. Once a month Q meets up with his middle school buddies for a weekend packed with excessive eating, good times, loud laughing and continual joking, and a good game of soccer-volleyball, or two. I wasn't able to go last month but this time I came along with him.
8. Dinner consisted of 14 of us sitting around a large table and chowing down on some very delicious sushi... Korean style sushi, which basically meant that it's pieces raw fish minus the rice like Japanese sushi.
9. One of Q's friend is having a baby very soon and so everyone eagerly tried their hand at feeling the baby kick. Her tummy felt rock solid but underneath, you could feel the baby moving around. I've never felt a pregnant woman's tummy before and so it was so fascinating to hear them talk about the baby moving. Had I had the chance to touch her tummy, I would have been even more fascinated but I was too shy to reach out a
nd do it. 10. Dinner was followed by hanging out at a bar, which was then followed by excessively loud singing at a singing room, random baseball hitting practice at a local baseball coin machine, and walking in the rain. Q and I then headed back to his parent's house.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why don't mornings usually agree with me?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Some days you're the bug. Some days you're the windshield.
--Price Cobb
Friday, March 28, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Friday, March 28
1. Am I smart, or am I smart?... that's what I want to know... hehehe. Last week I scrambled around trying to figure out how to switch my classes and convincing students to come to other classes. The result, one class to teach today instead of three. Sweet!
2. Started work at 9:20am and was finished by 11am... less than 2 hours of work for today!
3. With a totally free afternoon, I made my way home and treated myself out to lunch out.
4. A coworker of mine told me about a new clothing shop at Yawoori and so I went to check it out, big mistake there. Ten minutes later, I walked out with a shopping bag stuffed of new clothes... hehehe. I couldn't resist. The owner is Korean but she imports in clothing from her friend in America and so unlike the other neighbouring shops that seem to circulate the same clothes amongst themselves, these clothes feel more unique, not to mention the pants have room in the back for a bum... hehehe. The fact that they were super cheap definitely was a bonus too.
5. Gave in and bought a pair of black skinny pants that I'm now addicted to. I never really thought the style would work on me cause of my "kangaroo legs", as someone once called them. I have runner's legs, definitely not super skinny legs but I like them. Anyways, turns out the skinny pants look great. I wore them tonight when I met up with Q for our movie date and he said I looked sexy... wow, I think I'll be wearing these more often... hehehe.
6. Before Q an I headed out for our movie date, we headed both went to training. Q thought he'd be a sweetheart by buying some of us sandwiches. I thought I'd be polite by eating half of a bulgogi sandwich despite having just ate... bad idea. No sooner had I eaten half of the sandwich but then I started training and no sooner had I started training but then the sandwich started to come back up.
7. Puking during training is never a good thing but that was the scene tonight. Thankfully I had just enough warning time to race up to the bathroom.
8. For the past month or so, Q and I have been waiting for the movie "Awake" to hit the theaters. Finally tonight it came out and so Q and I went to go see it.
9. I've been trying really hard to get in at least one hour of studying everyday and so tonight after the movie, we headed back to Q's house to relax and study. He worked on his business report for work and I laid on the floor with my eyes glued to my self-made dictionary.
10. Tomorrow I have my TV interview and so I was hoping to get in a good night's sleep... that definitely didn't happen. Around 4am I woke up soaking in sweat. I had fallen asleep on Q's super hot floor and on my book. Sporting lines on my face looked funny but discovering my puffy eyes wasn't so cool.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What is a quick remedy for puffy eyes?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.
-- Havelock Ellis
2. Started work at 9:20am and was finished by 11am... less than 2 hours of work for today!
3. With a totally free afternoon, I made my way home and treated myself out to lunch out.
4. A coworker of mine told me about a new clothing shop at Yawoori and so I went to check it out, big mistake there. Ten minutes later, I walked out with a shopping bag stuffed of new clothes... hehehe. I couldn't resist. The owner is Korean but she imports in clothing from her friend in America and so unlike the other neighbouring shops that seem to circulate the same clothes amongst themselves, these clothes feel more unique, not to mention the pants have room in the back for a bum... hehehe. The fact that they were super cheap definitely was a bonus too.
5. Gave in and bought a pair of black skinny pants that I'm now addicted to. I never really thought the style would work on me cause of my "kangaroo legs", as someone once called them. I have runner's legs, definitely not super skinny legs but I like them. Anyways, turns out the skinny pants look great. I wore them tonight when I met up with Q for our movie date and he said I looked sexy... wow, I think I'll be wearing these more often... hehehe.
6. Before Q an I headed out for our movie date, we headed both went to training. Q thought he'd be a sweetheart by buying some of us sandwiches. I thought I'd be polite by eating half of a bulgogi sandwich despite having just ate... bad idea. No sooner had I eaten half of the sandwich but then I started training and no sooner had I started training but then the sandwich started to come back up.
7. Puking during training is never a good thing but that was the scene tonight. Thankfully I had just enough warning time to race up to the bathroom.
8. For the past month or so, Q and I have been waiting for the movie "Awake" to hit the theaters. Finally tonight it came out and so Q and I went to go see it.
9. I've been trying really hard to get in at least one hour of studying everyday and so tonight after the movie, we headed back to Q's house to relax and study. He worked on his business report for work and I laid on the floor with my eyes glued to my self-made dictionary.
10. Tomorrow I have my TV interview and so I was hoping to get in a good night's sleep... that definitely didn't happen. Around 4am I woke up soaking in sweat. I had fallen asleep on Q's super hot floor and on my book. Sporting lines on my face looked funny but discovering my puffy eyes wasn't so cool.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What is a quick remedy for puffy eyes?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.
-- Havelock Ellis
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Thursday, March 27
1. Rushing off to school and swinging open the classroom door only to be greeted by a cold, empty and dark classroom wasn't really a surprise. I knew that they'd be away on their M.T. but I showed up just to make sure there was no one left behind.
2. And so on that note, I headed back to the office for some warm coffee and 2 hours to kill.
3. Just the other week we ran out of gas for our office heater and so lately it's been a wee bit chilly, to say the least. Actually, it's been down-right cold and we're all convinced it's way warmer outside. Happy-Go-Lucky and I hung out in the office and as a means of trying to warm ourselves up, we resorted to watching some of my silly YouTube videos... hehehe.
4. My second class of the day actually showed up and so we had a full class.
5. After school I had a couple of hours to do my errands (grocery shopping, banking, etc.) before I had to head out and meet up with the Arirang representative and writer. I had purposely dressed my best today at school, knowing full well that I wouldn't have much time in between doing my errands and my big meeting. It's a good thing too. Mind ya, I ended up taking my interviewers over to the club for a quick visit and so having to walk in while dressed to the max made me feel rather shy. Besides the occasional boxing "jeans and t-shirt" dinner party, my fellow team mates and the others have never seen me outside of my usual Adidas attire.
6. The three of us, the Arirang representative, the writer, and I decided to slip into a small coffee shop nearby. They asked me like a million and one questions and I rambled on a lot. It felt so good to have a nice long ENGLISH conversation but at times I had to laugh cause I found myself slipping in a couple of Korean words here and there. At one point I even told them, "Ah.. I don't know the English word for it but the Korean word is.... "
7. They asked me a lot of questions about my boxing but a good chunk of the interview was focused on my current relationship with Q. At one point in the interview, one of the girls stopped me and said, "Wow, when you talk about your boxing and boyfriend, your face really lites up and your voice changes!"
8. Some of the questions they asked:
Why is boxing important to you?
Now that I am in Korea, boxing means much more to me because what it has given me. It has given me a sense of family here in Korea; a connection to a country beyond that of a paycheck or a bill to pay. A connection that I didn't expect but have earned, now prize, and definitely respect.
What are your plans for the future?
Right now, honestly, I have no plan. When I first came to Korea, I had my life all mapped out. I had a 5 year plan and I was engaged. But then things changed, I changed, and in changing I realized that I rather live without my life all mapped out than stick to a predictable plan that's only bound to change and cause me to miss out on numerous experiences. I live in the now. I know I should probably be more concerned about my future but I'm not, and I like that. My future will come soon enough.
What was the most difficult thing you had to deal with when you moved to Korea?
Despite having studied Korean culture in university, I knew to expect feelings of loneliness and discomfort. I never really got lonely though and my discomforts came not cause of the language differences but because of people's ignorance. You see, my hair isn't naturally dark brown. My natural hair colour is light brown, almost blond. When I came to Korea, I thought that my light hair would be quite the conversation piece, but what I didn't expect is what kind of conversations it was starting. To me, there's nothing quite like the feeling as standing on a beautiful sunny day at the crosswalk of a busy street and having some people yell obscenities at you cause of my hair colour. Two ignorant guys thought they had the right to yell at me and call me Russian. Ignorance had lead them to associate light hair with Russian, Russian with being a prostitute. So there I was, standing with students all around me as they called me a prostitute. I was shocked. Twenty minutes later, I was a shocked dark-haired girl with tears streaming down and a lot of bitterness in my heart. Since then though, I'm over it but have decided to keep my dark hair cause I've always loved black hair.
What is one thing that you learned living here that you didn't learn in your Korean culture class?
Just one thing?! Oh... there are many things. I think the biggest thing I learned about Korean culture was just how family oriented they are. Korea really prizes family and so it's a very communal culture. Most children live with their family until marriage, families eat together, yearly ceremonies are held for deceased ancestors, etc., etc., etc... they really respect the family unit and so I really admire that. Having come here solo, it's been amazing to see just how many of my Korean friends have really adopted me as a kind of family member.
Why were you so interested in studying Korean culture?
I first started studying Korean culture at university because I had to take a humanities course but upon attending class, my interest was sparked. Unlike Korea, Canada is so multi-cultural and so it's identity is based on what other countries have brought to it. But then there is Korea, a country so uniquely different. A country that is so proud and tries so hard to maintain it's own separate identity. If you look at the Korean culture, you'll note that there's a lot of things that are very much the same across the Korean map... kimchi, Chusok, hambok (traditional dress), even the game "kye-bye-bo" (rock-scissors-paper). There are many things that are really special to Korea's culture and so this was very intriguing to me cause, for the most part, I don't really know what is really "Canadian"... maybe our snow and hockey. But even those, other countries get snow and hockey, well, didn't they go on strike a couple years back?!
9. After my interview concluded, we all parted our separate ways. I raced home in my heels and got geared up for boxing. Junior Mint wasn't there when I went earlier on but he had heard all about my silk skirt and fancy high heels... hehehe. Sometimes, I think they seriously forget that I am a female... hehehe.
10. After training, I pretty much stuck to hanging around the house. Did dishes, some studying, and then killed too many hours on the computer.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What do you think about Korea?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living, the other helps you make a life.
-- Sandra Carey
2. And so on that note, I headed back to the office for some warm coffee and 2 hours to kill.
3. Just the other week we ran out of gas for our office heater and so lately it's been a wee bit chilly, to say the least. Actually, it's been down-right cold and we're all convinced it's way warmer outside. Happy-Go-Lucky and I hung out in the office and as a means of trying to warm ourselves up, we resorted to watching some of my silly YouTube videos... hehehe.
4. My second class of the day actually showed up and so we had a full class.
5. After school I had a couple of hours to do my errands (grocery shopping, banking, etc.) before I had to head out and meet up with the Arirang representative and writer. I had purposely dressed my best today at school, knowing full well that I wouldn't have much time in between doing my errands and my big meeting. It's a good thing too. Mind ya, I ended up taking my interviewers over to the club for a quick visit and so having to walk in while dressed to the max made me feel rather shy. Besides the occasional boxing "jeans and t-shirt" dinner party, my fellow team mates and the others have never seen me outside of my usual Adidas attire.
6. The three of us, the Arirang representative, the writer, and I decided to slip into a small coffee shop nearby. They asked me like a million and one questions and I rambled on a lot. It felt so good to have a nice long ENGLISH conversation but at times I had to laugh cause I found myself slipping in a couple of Korean words here and there. At one point I even told them, "Ah.. I don't know the English word for it but the Korean word is.... "
7. They asked me a lot of questions about my boxing but a good chunk of the interview was focused on my current relationship with Q. At one point in the interview, one of the girls stopped me and said, "Wow, when you talk about your boxing and boyfriend, your face really lites up and your voice changes!"
8. Some of the questions they asked:
Why is boxing important to you?
Now that I am in Korea, boxing means much more to me because what it has given me. It has given me a sense of family here in Korea; a connection to a country beyond that of a paycheck or a bill to pay. A connection that I didn't expect but have earned, now prize, and definitely respect.
What are your plans for the future?
Right now, honestly, I have no plan. When I first came to Korea, I had my life all mapped out. I had a 5 year plan and I was engaged. But then things changed, I changed, and in changing I realized that I rather live without my life all mapped out than stick to a predictable plan that's only bound to change and cause me to miss out on numerous experiences. I live in the now. I know I should probably be more concerned about my future but I'm not, and I like that. My future will come soon enough.
What was the most difficult thing you had to deal with when you moved to Korea?
Despite having studied Korean culture in university, I knew to expect feelings of loneliness and discomfort. I never really got lonely though and my discomforts came not cause of the language differences but because of people's ignorance. You see, my hair isn't naturally dark brown. My natural hair colour is light brown, almost blond. When I came to Korea, I thought that my light hair would be quite the conversation piece, but what I didn't expect is what kind of conversations it was starting. To me, there's nothing quite like the feeling as standing on a beautiful sunny day at the crosswalk of a busy street and having some people yell obscenities at you cause of my hair colour. Two ignorant guys thought they had the right to yell at me and call me Russian. Ignorance had lead them to associate light hair with Russian, Russian with being a prostitute. So there I was, standing with students all around me as they called me a prostitute. I was shocked. Twenty minutes later, I was a shocked dark-haired girl with tears streaming down and a lot of bitterness in my heart. Since then though, I'm over it but have decided to keep my dark hair cause I've always loved black hair.
What is one thing that you learned living here that you didn't learn in your Korean culture class?
Just one thing?! Oh... there are many things. I think the biggest thing I learned about Korean culture was just how family oriented they are. Korea really prizes family and so it's a very communal culture. Most children live with their family until marriage, families eat together, yearly ceremonies are held for deceased ancestors, etc., etc., etc... they really respect the family unit and so I really admire that. Having come here solo, it's been amazing to see just how many of my Korean friends have really adopted me as a kind of family member.
Why were you so interested in studying Korean culture?
I first started studying Korean culture at university because I had to take a humanities course but upon attending class, my interest was sparked. Unlike Korea, Canada is so multi-cultural and so it's identity is based on what other countries have brought to it. But then there is Korea, a country so uniquely different. A country that is so proud and tries so hard to maintain it's own separate identity. If you look at the Korean culture, you'll note that there's a lot of things that are very much the same across the Korean map... kimchi, Chusok, hambok (traditional dress), even the game "kye-bye-bo" (rock-scissors-paper). There are many things that are really special to Korea's culture and so this was very intriguing to me cause, for the most part, I don't really know what is really "Canadian"... maybe our snow and hockey. But even those, other countries get snow and hockey, well, didn't they go on strike a couple years back?!
9. After my interview concluded, we all parted our separate ways. I raced home in my heels and got geared up for boxing. Junior Mint wasn't there when I went earlier on but he had heard all about my silk skirt and fancy high heels... hehehe. Sometimes, I think they seriously forget that I am a female... hehehe.
10. After training, I pretty much stuck to hanging around the house. Did dishes, some studying, and then killed too many hours on the computer.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What do you think about Korea?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living, the other helps you make a life.
-- Sandra Carey
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, March 26
1. Raced off to Korean class in record timing and was super pumped about class. Having seriously studied this week and having made my own personal pocket dictionary/grammar rule book, I was totally ready.
2. After a successful class that proved my studying to be very productive, I did what most girls would do in a time like this... I treated myself. I know I should treat myself ever now and then but lately it's been becoming a habit, hmmm. I couldn't resist though. I treated myself to a whole whack of MAC cosmetics. Didn't I do this last though?!
3. Caught a glimpse of my butt in my reflection on the bus terminal door.. I didn't like what I saw. I use to have a "bubble butt", or "ghetto butt" as my customers at the club where I worked used to call it. I thought I had officially parted with it when I started boxing. Bubble bums are not exactly the in thing here in Korea and given the fact that Korean pants seriously are missing room in the back, my butt had a hard time here... hehehe. Apparently my butt has come back. Time to get back to running.
4. I admit it, my diet crashed and burned after my game but I was happy for that. I seriously wanted to binge and overdose on all the nasty food I could and then get back on track again. Mind ya, I have recovered from my binge session. I thought that all that nasty food and whatnot was behind me... apparently it literally was. For some reason my butt doesn't want to let go.
5. Literally kicked my own butt at training today. I couldn't stop staring at my butt... hehehe.
6. Lately Junior Mint has been acting really silly. I told him the other day that I asked Q, "How much do you love me?" Q replied with "500 won"... that's about 50 cents Canadian. It was so funny and so that's now our inside joke. Junior Mint jumped all over that joke tonight when he blurted out "I love you Amy!" during pad work. I laughed and then asked him, "How much?" He replied with "500,000!" ($500) ... wow, that's some expensive love!!! Hehehe.... gotta love a coach who hits ya on the head for messing up a punch and sends ya home with bruises, but then yells out "I love you" at the top of his lungs... so funny!!!
7. One of my little buddies came to boxing tonight, Ju Hyun. She's a tiny elementary student who comes with her brother. My gloves are like the size of her head and she always is eager to show me some new flip or cartwheel she's learned. Not sure where she picks these strange skills up from but tonight she tried to walk upside down on her hands. She wasn't so successful but everyone stopped to watch her and we all had a great giggle.
8. I think Junior Mint has glued into the fact that my sparring partner and Sung Min always "coincidentally'' show up for training at the same time. I thought I'd throw him off these thoughts by walking to the stairwell with my sparring partner when Sung Min left and acting like a look-out as they said good-bye to each other. They are so cute!!!
9. Sweet... not only does $14 get me 4 shirts, 2 skirts and a pair of short-pants dry cleaned and ironed, but tonight my dry cleaning man even brought them to my apartment door and threw in "Here pretty" for bonus... nice!
10. Mi Nam thought he'd help me with my load of dry cleaning by eating the plastic... thanks but no thanks.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What much do you love?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.
-- Charles Caleb Colton
2. After a successful class that proved my studying to be very productive, I did what most girls would do in a time like this... I treated myself. I know I should treat myself ever now and then but lately it's been becoming a habit, hmmm. I couldn't resist though. I treated myself to a whole whack of MAC cosmetics. Didn't I do this last though?!
3. Caught a glimpse of my butt in my reflection on the bus terminal door.. I didn't like what I saw. I use to have a "bubble butt", or "ghetto butt" as my customers at the club where I worked used to call it. I thought I had officially parted with it when I started boxing. Bubble bums are not exactly the in thing here in Korea and given the fact that Korean pants seriously are missing room in the back, my butt had a hard time here... hehehe. Apparently my butt has come back. Time to get back to running.
4. I admit it, my diet crashed and burned after my game but I was happy for that. I seriously wanted to binge and overdose on all the nasty food I could and then get back on track again. Mind ya, I have recovered from my binge session. I thought that all that nasty food and whatnot was behind me... apparently it literally was. For some reason my butt doesn't want to let go.
5. Literally kicked my own butt at training today. I couldn't stop staring at my butt... hehehe.
6. Lately Junior Mint has been acting really silly. I told him the other day that I asked Q, "How much do you love me?" Q replied with "500 won"... that's about 50 cents Canadian. It was so funny and so that's now our inside joke. Junior Mint jumped all over that joke tonight when he blurted out "I love you Amy!" during pad work. I laughed and then asked him, "How much?" He replied with "500,000!" ($500) ... wow, that's some expensive love!!! Hehehe.... gotta love a coach who hits ya on the head for messing up a punch and sends ya home with bruises, but then yells out "I love you" at the top of his lungs... so funny!!!
7. One of my little buddies came to boxing tonight, Ju Hyun. She's a tiny elementary student who comes with her brother. My gloves are like the size of her head and she always is eager to show me some new flip or cartwheel she's learned. Not sure where she picks these strange skills up from but tonight she tried to walk upside down on her hands. She wasn't so successful but everyone stopped to watch her and we all had a great giggle.
8. I think Junior Mint has glued into the fact that my sparring partner and Sung Min always "coincidentally'' show up for training at the same time. I thought I'd throw him off these thoughts by walking to the stairwell with my sparring partner when Sung Min left and acting like a look-out as they said good-bye to each other. They are so cute!!!
9. Sweet... not only does $14 get me 4 shirts, 2 skirts and a pair of short-pants dry cleaned and ironed, but tonight my dry cleaning man even brought them to my apartment door and threw in "Here pretty" for bonus... nice!
10. Mi Nam thought he'd help me with my load of dry cleaning by eating the plastic... thanks but no thanks.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What much do you love?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.
-- Charles Caleb Colton
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, March 25
1. Wow, talk about a drop in the temperature!!! Last week I could simply sport a light sweater, if that, but today I had to wear my winter jacket... burrrr!!! Still warmer than Canada though... hehehe.
2. At exactly 12:50pm, all but 4 students in my class got up and left, just 40 minutes after the class had started. They left for their M.T. As for the remaining 4 students, they were visiting from another class.
3. Sometimes I feel more like an older sister to many of my students. Today's first class for me is just that, me being an older sister. There's the girl who chats to me about her first date with a Dankook senior, the boy who emails me all about what he's up to, another who always asks for random advice, a girl that sticks around after class to have "girl talk", and a whole wack of them who scream my name whenever they see me... hehehe. And so, when they all left and filed outside to await the bus, I kept on glancing down at them during my next class. Every time one of them spotted me, they'd jump up and wave at me. They're so cute, seriously!!!
4. Tuesdays are always high energy days at school for me... the students, being able to sleep in, no morning traffic, the big windows in my classroom... I guess it's not just one thing that does it for me on Tuesdays but a whole colleague of things. Tuesdays always feel great.
5. My high energy for the day ended pretty much when my class did and so I headed to training knowing full well that I was slowly slipping into lazy mode.
6. And yup, sure enough, my energy source ran dry by the time pad work had finished. I had skipped breakfast today and well, in my world of excess training and running around like a chicken with her head cut off in stiletto shoes, skipping one of my meals is definitely a n0-no.
7. Junior Mint thought he'd help me out by giving me a mean, mean shoulder and neck massage but it only served to leave me feeling like I was jello and ready to pass out.
8. Always hate getting my hair cut and dyed for the very fact that given the language barrier that restricts me from really explaining what I want, I have come to turns with letting my hair dresser to do as she pleases with my head of hair. And so I, with eyes closed and hands clasped together, I hope for the best and then open my eyes to see the results. Today's result, dark chocolate coloured hair with shorter bangs and my layers fixed up. Looks good!
9. Finished up my Korean language homework and then surfed the web for way too long. Today I read about people suffering from an addiction called "webaholic" and so it got me thinking, could they be talking about me?! Let's see, I use to be a "chickenaholic" until I developed a freakishly weird allergy to chicken that only affects my nose. I was an "ice creamaholic" growing up but it killing my waistline and killing my training made me successfully recover from that. I also was a "MacIntosh toffeeholic" but got over that addiction when I moved to a country (Korea) that had no MacIntosh toffee and so that was rough going cold turkey.
10. As for my present day addictions, I'd have to say that I am a "banana milkaholic". I usually have one banana milk a day. I'm also a "lip gloss junkie" in that I probably buy one lip gloss a week. Unfortunately I am also turning into a "name brand junkie" and so my lip gloss addiction has gone from the $3 Misha lip glosses to the $20 MAC and $30 Doir lip glosses. I think my mom is to blame... hehehe. She use to sell Avon and so I had easy access. She was my "hook up" and still to this day she hooks me up... she mails it to me... hehehe!!!
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.
-- Clifford Stoll
2. At exactly 12:50pm, all but 4 students in my class got up and left, just 40 minutes after the class had started. They left for their M.T. As for the remaining 4 students, they were visiting from another class.
3. Sometimes I feel more like an older sister to many of my students. Today's first class for me is just that, me being an older sister. There's the girl who chats to me about her first date with a Dankook senior, the boy who emails me all about what he's up to, another who always asks for random advice, a girl that sticks around after class to have "girl talk", and a whole wack of them who scream my name whenever they see me... hehehe. And so, when they all left and filed outside to await the bus, I kept on glancing down at them during my next class. Every time one of them spotted me, they'd jump up and wave at me. They're so cute, seriously!!!
4. Tuesdays are always high energy days at school for me... the students, being able to sleep in, no morning traffic, the big windows in my classroom... I guess it's not just one thing that does it for me on Tuesdays but a whole colleague of things. Tuesdays always feel great.
5. My high energy for the day ended pretty much when my class did and so I headed to training knowing full well that I was slowly slipping into lazy mode.
6. And yup, sure enough, my energy source ran dry by the time pad work had finished. I had skipped breakfast today and well, in my world of excess training and running around like a chicken with her head cut off in stiletto shoes, skipping one of my meals is definitely a n0-no.
7. Junior Mint thought he'd help me out by giving me a mean, mean shoulder and neck massage but it only served to leave me feeling like I was jello and ready to pass out.
8. Always hate getting my hair cut and dyed for the very fact that given the language barrier that restricts me from really explaining what I want, I have come to turns with letting my hair dresser to do as she pleases with my head of hair. And so I, with eyes closed and hands clasped together, I hope for the best and then open my eyes to see the results. Today's result, dark chocolate coloured hair with shorter bangs and my layers fixed up. Looks good!
9. Finished up my Korean language homework and then surfed the web for way too long. Today I read about people suffering from an addiction called "webaholic" and so it got me thinking, could they be talking about me?! Let's see, I use to be a "chickenaholic" until I developed a freakishly weird allergy to chicken that only affects my nose. I was an "ice creamaholic" growing up but it killing my waistline and killing my training made me successfully recover from that. I also was a "MacIntosh toffeeholic" but got over that addiction when I moved to a country (Korea) that had no MacIntosh toffee and so that was rough going cold turkey.
10. As for my present day addictions, I'd have to say that I am a "banana milkaholic". I usually have one banana milk a day. I'm also a "lip gloss junkie" in that I probably buy one lip gloss a week. Unfortunately I am also turning into a "name brand junkie" and so my lip gloss addiction has gone from the $3 Misha lip glosses to the $20 MAC and $30 Doir lip glosses. I think my mom is to blame... hehehe. She use to sell Avon and so I had easy access. She was my "hook up" and still to this day she hooks me up... she mails it to me... hehehe!!!
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.
-- Clifford Stoll
Monday, March 24, 2008
Funny story here. This is one of my new coworkers who, upon first briefly (very briefly) meeting him outside, I turned to another coworker and said, "Wow, that student's English is great!" I vouch that had I looked at him, I would have noticed that he's Filipino. Mind ya, my coworker never corrected me so for a good week I thought he was a student helper... hehehe.
Highlights of my Day... Monday, March 24
1. My spy cam on Mi Nam was officially put up and running today. I figured out how to extend the cabling, set it up, and then jetted off to school. During the day I couldn’t help but log in to uStream.tv to check up on the little “Man of the House”… hehehe. Apparently, others were also checking up on him to… hehehe.
2. From what I saw, apparently when I am not home, Mi Nam does absolutely nothing besides exploring different sleeping positions… hehehe. Apparently others watched him doing this.
3. Apparently I use the word “apparently” too much… hehehe.
4. Nice, we’re in the fourth week now of lectures at the university and today I finally met two of my absent students from my sports major class today. As all the students filed out of class, two big boys came walking in and asked, “You Professor Michelle?”, and that was where their English stopped. Turns out they’re professional rugby players who’ll basically miss all my classes but will score a passing grade… don’t ask me about that one, school makes BIG exceptions for such students like these two.
5. Anyways, I gave these two the benefit of a doubt and arranged for them to come in next week so that I can catch them up to speed… or at least try. I thanked them for visiting me and then sent them on their way. Last semester I also had a couple of professional athletes in one of my classes but, unlike these two guys, they never showed up. And I must say, if your university is going to make HUGE exceptions cause you’re a professional athlete and will toss you a passing grade regardless, the least you could do is go and meet the professor. I mean, you’re totally getting a free ride as it is, at least do it with some manners and in style. I’m a professional athlete; you don’t see me getting any free rides… oh wait.. I kind of do.
6. As for my other two classes for the day, attendance was in the single digits as most of my students had left for their M.T.
7. Amused what students did show up with my one-man-show of Avril Lavigne’s song “Skater Boy”. My students had told me last week that they liked that song and so cause this week’s lesson is on music, I thought it’d be fun to focus on it. Mind ya, most of them didn’t understand the song and so after I popped up my Power Point file, I did a one-man re-enactment/synopsis of the song.
8. I may not work long hours, I know that, but I don’t sit down in class and well, pacing in the classroom in high heels that make me feel one step away from feeling like a ballet dancer, means I come home exhausted on Mondays and Fridays when I teach 3 classes (1 class being 2 hours) and have 2 in-office hours.
9. Crashed after work. Curled up on the couch with Mi Nam and then it was lights-out for a good couple of hours. Mind ya, I forgot to turn off the spy cam and so people tuned in and watched me sleep… how bored are they?! Hehehe…
10. For the love of good God, may God have mercy on us all and not let me eat as much kimchi as I did yesterday. Found out the hard and uncomfortable way today that kimchi gives me… mad… “bongo”… gas… hehehe. Seriously!!! Tonight at boxing I was all over the place as I tried to avoid revealing my “situation”. Q was there and he was the one to discover why the heck I was acting so strange today. Upon his realization, he bursted out laughing. Junior Mint was doing pad work in the ring but stopped to ask what was so funny. At the risk of being totally embarrassed, I made up a quick lie and told him that Q had bad gas… hehehe. I couldn't tell him it was me, we had that discussion the other week and I had told Junior Mint that Polish girls never have gas, "Polish girls' bodies are different" was what I told him... hehehe. Not too sure if he believed it but I said it with a pretty convincing poker face on.
QUESION OF THE DAY...
If nothing is free in life then who is paying for my students' "free ride"?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Better bend than break.
-- Carl W. Buechner
2. From what I saw, apparently when I am not home, Mi Nam does absolutely nothing besides exploring different sleeping positions… hehehe. Apparently others watched him doing this.
3. Apparently I use the word “apparently” too much… hehehe.
4. Nice, we’re in the fourth week now of lectures at the university and today I finally met two of my absent students from my sports major class today. As all the students filed out of class, two big boys came walking in and asked, “You Professor Michelle?”, and that was where their English stopped. Turns out they’re professional rugby players who’ll basically miss all my classes but will score a passing grade… don’t ask me about that one, school makes BIG exceptions for such students like these two.
5. Anyways, I gave these two the benefit of a doubt and arranged for them to come in next week so that I can catch them up to speed… or at least try. I thanked them for visiting me and then sent them on their way. Last semester I also had a couple of professional athletes in one of my classes but, unlike these two guys, they never showed up. And I must say, if your university is going to make HUGE exceptions cause you’re a professional athlete and will toss you a passing grade regardless, the least you could do is go and meet the professor. I mean, you’re totally getting a free ride as it is, at least do it with some manners and in style. I’m a professional athlete; you don’t see me getting any free rides… oh wait.. I kind of do.
6. As for my other two classes for the day, attendance was in the single digits as most of my students had left for their M.T.
7. Amused what students did show up with my one-man-show of Avril Lavigne’s song “Skater Boy”. My students had told me last week that they liked that song and so cause this week’s lesson is on music, I thought it’d be fun to focus on it. Mind ya, most of them didn’t understand the song and so after I popped up my Power Point file, I did a one-man re-enactment/synopsis of the song.
8. I may not work long hours, I know that, but I don’t sit down in class and well, pacing in the classroom in high heels that make me feel one step away from feeling like a ballet dancer, means I come home exhausted on Mondays and Fridays when I teach 3 classes (1 class being 2 hours) and have 2 in-office hours.
9. Crashed after work. Curled up on the couch with Mi Nam and then it was lights-out for a good couple of hours. Mind ya, I forgot to turn off the spy cam and so people tuned in and watched me sleep… how bored are they?! Hehehe…
10. For the love of good God, may God have mercy on us all and not let me eat as much kimchi as I did yesterday. Found out the hard and uncomfortable way today that kimchi gives me… mad… “bongo”… gas… hehehe. Seriously!!! Tonight at boxing I was all over the place as I tried to avoid revealing my “situation”. Q was there and he was the one to discover why the heck I was acting so strange today. Upon his realization, he bursted out laughing. Junior Mint was doing pad work in the ring but stopped to ask what was so funny. At the risk of being totally embarrassed, I made up a quick lie and told him that Q had bad gas… hehehe. I couldn't tell him it was me, we had that discussion the other week and I had told Junior Mint that Polish girls never have gas, "Polish girls' bodies are different" was what I told him... hehehe. Not too sure if he believed it but I said it with a pretty convincing poker face on.
QUESION OF THE DAY...
If nothing is free in life then who is paying for my students' "free ride"?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Better bend than break.
-- Carl W. Buechner
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Sunday, March 23
1. Shower time for Mi Nam turned into quite the hilarious situation as he sat on the bathroom floor trying to slurp up the shampoo and soap suds. After the shower we cuddled up on the couch in our towels... hehehe. Now he's super clean... silky smooth.
2. Q had a pretty important English test this morning and so he joined 300 some other Koreans at one of the local middle schools to sweat away two hours over a grueling listening and writing test. After the test Q showed up all exhausted and discouraged from the test and so I took my baby out for lunch.
3. Today it was drizzling outside, which was perfect. Nothing ever quite feels as relaxing as a rainy weekend, especially a rainy Sunday. I love a rainy day.
4. Q and I are quite the movie buffs and we're been waiting for the longest time for the movie "Awake" to come out. We thought it came out today. Apparently we were wrong.
No worries. We ended up buying tickets to go see "Step Up 2" which, I must note, could have been as good as "Step Up 1" had they picked a more believable and more attractive leading lady. Her accompanying female actors weren't so pretty either. The least they could have done was made the leading lady do some sit-ups, or heaven forbid, given her some acting lessons. Make-up lessons would have done wonders with the accompany female actors who apparently think more is better... sweety, ultra shinny eye shadow only works on transvestites and circus freaks... hehehe.
5. I had my weekly lesson to plan and so I worked on my lesson while Q read his book... correction... while he slept on his book... hehehe.
6. Apparently the theme of the day was kimchi. We had kimchi jjigga for lunch and then another kind of kimchi jjigga for dinner and you know, you're always bombarded with kimchi side dishes and so it was like a kimchi eating marathon today.
7. In what started off as a casual conversation between Q and I about how we first met, turned into definitely a heavy, heavy conversation... surprisingly enough, Q was the one who kept it going for as long as it did. I had asked him if he wished I was Korean, not cause we'd speak the same language but because we'd share the same culture and thus understand each other more. He answered no.
8. I curled up to him, the tears started up, and the discussion continued... a discussion that I had once vouched to stay relaxed on but knew would eventually surface again. Just didn't expect it to resurface this soon.
9. Our discussion revealed many things. It revealed to me that Q has been thinking about a future "us". I know there's a big
difference between being a girlfriend and being a wife, and I know there's a super big difference between being a Canadian wife and being a Korean wife. I've mentioned before on my homepage here that I don't think I would make a good Korean wife. I'm not about to quit my job, spit out some babies, and then drive them off to school while I make a feast for my husband and his parents. My job is better than Q's, I'm not physically able to have kids and even if by chance I could, I don't know if I would want to cause stepping away from my boxing would kill me. Moreover, I don't have a license and I don't really like cooking, let along having a constant packed house. I like my space. I like walking around my house in my bare necessities and I'm sure my in-laws wouldn't enjoy that.
10. But on that note, couldn't we find some kind of middle ground between being a Canadian wife and being a Korean wife? I mean, I think that I've adapted. I've taken from the Korean culture that that I think is good and so my mannerisms and what not as a girlfriend shows both Canadian (Western)traits and Korean traits... I'm one of many "fusion girlfriends", but how do the "fusion wives" do it?
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What is it like being a "fusion wife"?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Promise yourself to live your life as a revolution and not just a process of evolution.
-- Anthony J. D'Angelo
2. Q had a pretty important English test this morning and so he joined 300 some other Koreans at one of the local middle schools to sweat away two hours over a grueling listening and writing test. After the test Q showed up all exhausted and discouraged from the test and so I took my baby out for lunch.
3. Today it was drizzling outside, which was perfect. Nothing ever quite feels as relaxing as a rainy weekend, especially a rainy Sunday. I love a rainy day.
4. Q and I are quite the movie buffs and we're been waiting for the longest time for the movie "Awake" to come out. We thought it came out today. Apparently we were wrong.
No worries. We ended up buying tickets to go see "Step Up 2" which, I must note, could have been as good as "Step Up 1" had they picked a more believable and more attractive leading lady. Her accompanying female actors weren't so pretty either. The least they could have done was made the leading lady do some sit-ups, or heaven forbid, given her some acting lessons. Make-up lessons would have done wonders with the accompany female actors who apparently think more is better... sweety, ultra shinny eye shadow only works on transvestites and circus freaks... hehehe.5. I had my weekly lesson to plan and so I worked on my lesson while Q read his book... correction... while he slept on his book... hehehe.
6. Apparently the theme of the day was kimchi. We had kimchi jjigga for lunch and then another kind of kimchi jjigga for dinner and you know, you're always bombarded with kimchi side dishes and so it was like a kimchi eating marathon today.
7. In what started off as a casual conversation between Q and I about how we first met, turned into definitely a heavy, heavy conversation... surprisingly enough, Q was the one who kept it going for as long as it did. I had asked him if he wished I was Korean, not cause we'd speak the same language but because we'd share the same culture and thus understand each other more. He answered no.
8. I curled up to him, the tears started up, and the discussion continued... a discussion that I had once vouched to stay relaxed on but knew would eventually surface again. Just didn't expect it to resurface this soon.
9. Our discussion revealed many things. It revealed to me that Q has been thinking about a future "us". I know there's a big
difference between being a girlfriend and being a wife, and I know there's a super big difference between being a Canadian wife and being a Korean wife. I've mentioned before on my homepage here that I don't think I would make a good Korean wife. I'm not about to quit my job, spit out some babies, and then drive them off to school while I make a feast for my husband and his parents. My job is better than Q's, I'm not physically able to have kids and even if by chance I could, I don't know if I would want to cause stepping away from my boxing would kill me. Moreover, I don't have a license and I don't really like cooking, let along having a constant packed house. I like my space. I like walking around my house in my bare necessities and I'm sure my in-laws wouldn't enjoy that.10. But on that note, couldn't we find some kind of middle ground between being a Canadian wife and being a Korean wife? I mean, I think that I've adapted. I've taken from the Korean culture that that I think is good and so my mannerisms and what not as a girlfriend shows both Canadian (Western)traits and Korean traits... I'm one of many "fusion girlfriends", but how do the "fusion wives" do it?
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What is it like being a "fusion wife"?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Promise yourself to live your life as a revolution and not just a process of evolution.
-- Anthony J. D'Angelo
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Saturday, March 22
1. On account that Q and I stayed up super late last night and I had no real plans for today, doing anything productive or needing any kind of energy level over the rating of was out of the question.
2. And so on that note, I slept most of the day.
3. Hitting the heavy bag and working up a sweat today just didn’t fit in between lounging around the house like a piece of furniture and refusing to exert any energy above level 1… hehehe.
4. Vouch that I have definitely been one lazy bum girl lately with training. I go hard at boxing but I haven’t hit the weights in a week… feels more like months though. My original plan was to get myself pushing the weights and running 4 days a week and then boxing 4-5 nights a week. Lately I’ve been pretty consistent with my boxing, minus the toe episode that is.
5. Both Q and I were too lazy to cook, too lazy to go out and get a decent, and even too lazy to call food, and so, we reheated the nasty fried chicken we bought last night. I guess I really shouldn’t call it nasty, it was finger-licking good!!!
6. I’ve been feeling like a deprived child lately in regards to food. Eating fried chicken never tasted so good and I even gave Q the eye and “the look” when we reached the last piece of ultra fried, ozzing with grease, drowned in fat, piece of chicken that I swear gave me calories just looking at it.
7. No sooner did I eat the last piece but I realized just how much I miss my fight diet. And no sooner did I realize that I want my diet back but my soldier friend texted me. We have plans to hit the beach together this summer and so pressure is on… he was a pro bodybuilder before entering the Korean army.
8. Our evening plans consisted of me having my own plans (studying and playing on the computer) and Q having his own plans (work dinner party).
9. Had hoped to venture out and visit Jae Min but I was still going on this “I don’t want to do anything” mentality from earlier on today. And so, what did I do tonight?!.. I don’t know. I think I wasted too much time on uStream.tv.
10. Got in a good couple of hours of studying Korean. I played the CD so much that I’m sure even Mi Nam picked up some pointers… hehehe. The other day I had asked my Korean teacher about how long it takes the average person to finish this Korean language course and, based on what she said, I calculated that it'll take me about a year and a half. I've already been attending classes for about 4 months, which means I have a little over a year left.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Any pointers on how to memorize vocab faster?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Today is a smooth white seashell, hold it close and listen to the beauty of the hours.
-- Anon
2. And so on that note, I slept most of the day.
3. Hitting the heavy bag and working up a sweat today just didn’t fit in between lounging around the house like a piece of furniture and refusing to exert any energy above level 1… hehehe.
4. Vouch that I have definitely been one lazy bum girl lately with training. I go hard at boxing but I haven’t hit the weights in a week… feels more like months though. My original plan was to get myself pushing the weights and running 4 days a week and then boxing 4-5 nights a week. Lately I’ve been pretty consistent with my boxing, minus the toe episode that is.
5. Both Q and I were too lazy to cook, too lazy to go out and get a decent, and even too lazy to call food, and so, we reheated the nasty fried chicken we bought last night. I guess I really shouldn’t call it nasty, it was finger-licking good!!!
6. I’ve been feeling like a deprived child lately in regards to food. Eating fried chicken never tasted so good and I even gave Q the eye and “the look” when we reached the last piece of ultra fried, ozzing with grease, drowned in fat, piece of chicken that I swear gave me calories just looking at it.
7. No sooner did I eat the last piece but I realized just how much I miss my fight diet. And no sooner did I realize that I want my diet back but my soldier friend texted me. We have plans to hit the beach together this summer and so pressure is on… he was a pro bodybuilder before entering the Korean army.
8. Our evening plans consisted of me having my own plans (studying and playing on the computer) and Q having his own plans (work dinner party).
9. Had hoped to venture out and visit Jae Min but I was still going on this “I don’t want to do anything” mentality from earlier on today. And so, what did I do tonight?!.. I don’t know. I think I wasted too much time on uStream.tv.
10. Got in a good couple of hours of studying Korean. I played the CD so much that I’m sure even Mi Nam picked up some pointers… hehehe. The other day I had asked my Korean teacher about how long it takes the average person to finish this Korean language course and, based on what she said, I calculated that it'll take me about a year and a half. I've already been attending classes for about 4 months, which means I have a little over a year left.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Any pointers on how to memorize vocab faster?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Today is a smooth white seashell, hold it close and listen to the beauty of the hours.
-- Anon
Friday, March 21, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Friday, March 21
1. Next week almost all of my students are leaving on Wednesday for their M.T... it's basically a school overnight trip that isn't exactly academic based. They'll be staying up late, singing, acting like foolish students, and doing lots of drinking... and the school organizes it. Anyways, this meant that all this week I've had to deal with students begging and pleading to let them join my Monday and Tuesday classes, but, with about 120 students wanting to attend these classes, obviously I had to turn lots down.
2. Am expecting the attendance to be in the single digits for my Thursday classes but as for my Friday classes, I was able to convince those not going on the M.T. to attend my Friday morning class... I guess 'convince' isn't the correct word here, 'bribe' is. Promised them all I'd bring them banana milk... hehehe. Laugh as you may but I have you know it just turned my 8 hour Friday into 2 hours... sweet!!!
3. For the most part I am really enjoying my students this semester. Sure, I've got some sleepers and the occasional attention-lacking student, but they're pretty fun to teach. Having said this though, I have one student who really concerns me and he's in one of my Friday classes. He's a senior in the class and so, given the Korean culture and manners, he has a lot of say over his younger students. Throw in the fact that he's quite the joker and apparently seems to think that blurting out "interesting" comments and whatnot is appropriate, I sense he's going to be a hard one to crack. His English is pretty good but today he really got to me. He blurted out something that was definitely not called for in class and so I just stopped. I stopped and starred at him. Students all hushed and he stopped laughing. Everything stopped.
4. Class resumed and things were going good, real good, but then that one student spoke out again. I swung around and in Korean, I told him, "I don't like trouble makers. I like you but don't be a trouble maker or you will fail my class!" And on that note, everyone got super serious. I felt kind of bad for making it so serious and so, to lighten the mood, I threw out, "Don't you know I'm a boxer... be careful. I have a mean right hook!" and with that the class all laughed. I guess bouncing up to him and throwing jabs and hooks in the air like I was Rocky had something to do with breaking the ice too... hehehe.
5. We've got a new assistant in our office, I'll refer to him as Happy-Go-Lucky cause, well, he's quite the cheery guy. Today I got a chance to have lunch with him and chat, after which, I asked him if he wanted a coffee. He joked so much about the fact that I was the first professor to make him a coffee. I didn't think much of it at first but later I did.
6. Lately I've been noticing groups forming in our staff room. In one corner you've got the newly arrived teachers who are overly chatty and very sociable. In another corner you've got all the teachers from last semester who are chummy with each other. They chat at work and hang out after work. Then you've got the Korean assistants who mingle together and never seem to be invited or included in after school stuff, like birthdays or whatnot. Then you have those in the middle that don't really hang out with any particular group. So where do I fit in, you ask... hmm... right in the middle, well the not-so-middle that is. I don't really get invited out by my coworkers, maybe it's cause I always make excuses or am busy. If anything actually, I hang with the assistants. They're a hardworking group of people who always seem to be happy and I just really feel comfortable with them.
7. Later on in the evening I got a phone call from Arirang. This Thursday I'll be interviewed and then next Saturday their TV filming crew is going to come to Cheonan to film their mini showcase on me... cool.
8. Met up with Q and off we went to boxing where we were greeted by Junior Mint gearing up. Training along side him is always interesting cause I end up kind of making a competition out of it. He skips for 25 minutes, so I skip for 30. He shadow boxes for 6 rounds, so I do 7. Tonight we really got to compete though.. sparring. I laced up the head gear, popped in my mouth guard and then jumped in the ring for 6 rounds with him.
9. Junior Mint wasn't wearing any head gear. I guess he was thinking I couldn't pull a fast one on him... guess again. In the 4th round I gave him a brutal punch to the head. Everyone heard it and my hand definitely felt it, as did he. We continued on but it was so hard to concentrate cause he kept on sticking his tongue out at me. Once I caught his tongue though with a good jab. That was the last time he did that... hehehe.
10. With no real plans tonight cause of the fact that we didn't leave training till about 11:30pm, Q and I went back to his house. We tried to convince Junior Mint to go out with us but he was tired. Sometimes I feel sad leaving Junior Mint. I mean, he's at the gym from 10am to 11pm, 5 days a week and so it really doesn't mean much free time for meeting friends or his girlfriend. He pours everything he has into his gym and so sometimes when I leave, I turn back to look at him. He usually looks so drained, so lonely. I wonder how things are for him outside of boxing.
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
When he's not a coach, what is he?
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
A person's world is only as big as their heart.
-- Tanya A. Moore
2. Am expecting the attendance to be in the single digits for my Thursday classes but as for my Friday classes, I was able to convince those not going on the M.T. to attend my Friday morning class... I guess 'convince' isn't the correct word here, 'bribe' is. Promised them all I'd bring them banana milk... hehehe. Laugh as you may but I have you know it just turned my 8 hour Friday into 2 hours... sweet!!!
3. For the most part I am really enjoying my students this semester. Sure, I've got some sleepers and the occasional attention-lacking student, but they're pretty fun to teach. Having said this though, I have one student who really concerns me and he's in one of my Friday classes. He's a senior in the class and so, given the Korean culture and manners, he has a lot of say over his younger students. Throw in the fact that he's quite the joker and apparently seems to think that blurting out "interesting" comments and whatnot is appropriate, I sense he's going to be a hard one to crack. His English is pretty good but today he really got to me. He blurted out something that was definitely not called for in class and so I just stopped. I stopped and starred at him. Students all hushed and he stopped laughing. Everything stopped.
4. Class resumed and things were going good, real good, but then that one student spoke out again. I swung around and in Korean, I told him, "I don't like trouble makers. I like you but don't be a trouble maker or you will fail my class!" And on that note, everyone got super serious. I felt kind of bad for making it so serious and so, to lighten the mood, I threw out, "Don't you know I'm a boxer... be careful. I have a mean right hook!" and with that the class all laughed. I guess bouncing up to him and throwing jabs and hooks in the air like I was Rocky had something to do with breaking the ice too... hehehe.
5. We've got a new assistant in our office, I'll refer to him as Happy-Go-Lucky cause, well, he's quite the cheery guy. Today I got a chance to have lunch with him and chat, after which, I asked him if he wanted a coffee. He joked so much about the fact that I was the first professor to make him a coffee. I didn't think much of it at first but later I did.
6. Lately I've been noticing groups forming in our staff room. In one corner you've got the newly arrived teachers who are overly chatty and very sociable. In another corner you've got all the teachers from last semester who are chummy with each other. They chat at work and hang out after work. Then you've got the Korean assistants who mingle together and never seem to be invited or included in after school stuff, like birthdays or whatnot. Then you have those in the middle that don't really hang out with any particular group. So where do I fit in, you ask... hmm... right in the middle, well the not-so-middle that is. I don't really get invited out by my coworkers, maybe it's cause I always make excuses or am busy. If anything actually, I hang with the assistants. They're a hardworking group of people who always seem to be happy and I just really feel comfortable with them.
7. Later on in the evening I got a phone call from Arirang. This Thursday I'll be interviewed and then next Saturday their TV filming crew is going to come to Cheonan to film their mini showcase on me... cool.
8. Met up with Q and off we went to boxing where we were greeted by Junior Mint gearing up. Training along side him is always interesting cause I end up kind of making a competition out of it. He skips for 25 minutes, so I skip for 30. He shadow boxes for 6 rounds, so I do 7. Tonight we really got to compete though.. sparring. I laced up the head gear, popped in my mouth guard and then jumped in the ring for 6 rounds with him.
9. Junior Mint wasn't wearing any head gear. I guess he was thinking I couldn't pull a fast one on him... guess again. In the 4th round I gave him a brutal punch to the head. Everyone heard it and my hand definitely felt it, as did he. We continued on but it was so hard to concentrate cause he kept on sticking his tongue out at me. Once I caught his tongue though with a good jab. That was the last time he did that... hehehe.
10. With no real plans tonight cause of the fact that we didn't leave training till about 11:30pm, Q and I went back to his house. We tried to convince Junior Mint to go out with us but he was tired. Sometimes I feel sad leaving Junior Mint. I mean, he's at the gym from 10am to 11pm, 5 days a week and so it really doesn't mean much free time for meeting friends or his girlfriend. He pours everything he has into his gym and so sometimes when I leave, I turn back to look at him. He usually looks so drained, so lonely. I wonder how things are for him outside of boxing.
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
When he's not a coach, what is he?
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
A person's world is only as big as their heart.
-- Tanya A. Moore
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Thursday, March 20
1. Woke up with yet just enough time to blaze it to school. I tell ya, I am not a morning person. My original plan of waking up early and hitting the weights has crashed and burned, but I refuse to give up. I will wake up and hit the weights... some day.
2. In class this week we're discussing family relationship titles and describing people. I did the mistake by letting my students describe me. Many flattered me by saying I had a s-line and was young, while other students were definitely cruising for a bruising by calling me middle-aged. I'm not middle-aged... am I?! Oh gosh. I always thought middle-aged was 30-50. Mind ya, when I reach 30, I supposed my middle-aged category will continually move up. I'll forever be young.
3. Had a phone conversation that lasted exactly six minutes and twelve seconds with a lady who works at Arirang Korea (media company) who didn't speak a word of English. I was quite impressed with myself for understanding and being able to answer her million questions in Korean. However, the conversation left me feeling rather drained. Wow... hehehe.
4. Turns out Arirang called my university here in Korea. They refuse to leave me alone. Mind ya, now Arirang in Canada (Arirang Korea's sister company) has jumped in on the picture and is hunting me down. Today I got word that some lady from Arirang Canada has been repeatedly calling around about me. Arirang Canada wants to showcase me in one of their episodes. They are doing a show about Canadians and exchanging culture, and apparently they think I'll make quite an interesting feature.
5. After a couple of phone calls and an email, I agreed to let Arirang interview me. Next week I'll be meeting a lady from Arirang Korea and then arranging a day when their camera crew can follow me around. Should be interesting.
6. Amused onliners today with my helmet-head, ultra big sunglasses wearing singing and my silly Korean girly dress fashion show... hehehe.
7. And just when you thought growing older meant maturing, today I found myself reading a children's story titled, "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon", on uStream.tv... and if that wasn't funny enough playing around with various voices and getting into narrating the story, people on the other end, watching me, apparently enjoyed my storytelling... hehehe.
8. And just when I thought I had exhausted all means of posting myself on the web (I'm on YouTube, uStream.tv, Blogger, Facebook, and BodyBuilding.com), some random perverted freak on the Internet has linked my uStream.tv to his pathetically sad, super lame, sleazy site. Needless to say, I was disgusted and ticked. Ended up writing a note on his message board, saying that if he didn't remove my link than maybe he should contact his lawyer and arrange for his lawyer to discuss things with mine. I may not have a lawyer but I'm no dumb cookie... I know people that know people who know people... hehehe. Seriously though, if he thinks this is the last he's heard of me, I got news for him!!! Moreover, I by NO MEANS fit in with those 2 cent "interesting" women, if you'd even call them that.
9. Q picked me up for training and so we headed to the club together. Training with Q is kind of distracting, not cause I watch him cause I don't, but because I think Junior Mint treats him different when I am present. I know Junior Mint can be quite a tough coach, he's known to hit us when we train but I really respect him and know he knows where the line is between tough teaching and abuse. Tonight Q took a lot of beatings during pad work and so I cringed every time I heard Junior Mint's pad smack Q.
10. After training, Q and I headed out for a light late night dinner... tuna/rice soup. It's more like porridge actually. So delicious.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Since when did growing up mean we have to stop being silly?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Age mellows some people; others it makes rotten.
-- Heard in Arkansas
2. In class this week we're discussing family relationship titles and describing people. I did the mistake by letting my students describe me. Many flattered me by saying I had a s-line and was young, while other students were definitely cruising for a bruising by calling me middle-aged. I'm not middle-aged... am I?! Oh gosh. I always thought middle-aged was 30-50. Mind ya, when I reach 30, I supposed my middle-aged category will continually move up. I'll forever be young.
3. Had a phone conversation that lasted exactly six minutes and twelve seconds with a lady who works at Arirang Korea (media company) who didn't speak a word of English. I was quite impressed with myself for understanding and being able to answer her million questions in Korean. However, the conversation left me feeling rather drained. Wow... hehehe.
4. Turns out Arirang called my university here in Korea. They refuse to leave me alone. Mind ya, now Arirang in Canada (Arirang Korea's sister company) has jumped in on the picture and is hunting me down. Today I got word that some lady from Arirang Canada has been repeatedly calling around about me. Arirang Canada wants to showcase me in one of their episodes. They are doing a show about Canadians and exchanging culture, and apparently they think I'll make quite an interesting feature.
5. After a couple of phone calls and an email, I agreed to let Arirang interview me. Next week I'll be meeting a lady from Arirang Korea and then arranging a day when their camera crew can follow me around. Should be interesting.
6. Amused onliners today with my helmet-head, ultra big sunglasses wearing singing and my silly Korean girly dress fashion show... hehehe.
7. And just when you thought growing older meant maturing, today I found myself reading a children's story titled, "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon", on uStream.tv... and if that wasn't funny enough playing around with various voices and getting into narrating the story, people on the other end, watching me, apparently enjoyed my storytelling... hehehe.
8. And just when I thought I had exhausted all means of posting myself on the web (I'm on YouTube, uStream.tv, Blogger, Facebook, and BodyBuilding.com), some random perverted freak on the Internet has linked my uStream.tv to his pathetically sad, super lame, sleazy site. Needless to say, I was disgusted and ticked. Ended up writing a note on his message board, saying that if he didn't remove my link than maybe he should contact his lawyer and arrange for his lawyer to discuss things with mine. I may not have a lawyer but I'm no dumb cookie... I know people that know people who know people... hehehe. Seriously though, if he thinks this is the last he's heard of me, I got news for him!!! Moreover, I by NO MEANS fit in with those 2 cent "interesting" women, if you'd even call them that.
9. Q picked me up for training and so we headed to the club together. Training with Q is kind of distracting, not cause I watch him cause I don't, but because I think Junior Mint treats him different when I am present. I know Junior Mint can be quite a tough coach, he's known to hit us when we train but I really respect him and know he knows where the line is between tough teaching and abuse. Tonight Q took a lot of beatings during pad work and so I cringed every time I heard Junior Mint's pad smack Q.
10. After training, Q and I headed out for a light late night dinner... tuna/rice soup. It's more like porridge actually. So delicious.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Since when did growing up mean we have to stop being silly?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Age mellows some people; others it makes rotten.
-- Heard in Arkansas
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, March 19
1. Frustrations at tutoring as I stumbled on remembering my vocabulary... ahhh, so hard. I study hard, really, I do. In the mornings I'm sure I drive my neighbour bonkers with playing my chapter dialogue over and over on my computer media player. Q and I have weekly study dates, I'm constantly practicing my Korean at boxing and with random students, and sometimes I get my friends to check my homework. But vocab... it's like brain surgery to me. I just can't seem to remember the words.
2. In my attempt to help myself remember my Korean vocab, I bought a mini book and wrote all my words in them. Since I started getting tutored, I've had about 500 new words thrown at me. I've already recorded them all but today I made a smaller book version of them. I figure if I carry this little book around everywhere with me I can read it and review my vocab.. at school, on the bus, in the taxi, etc.
3. My new morning "happy song"... "Brown Eyed-Girl". This song has got to be one of my ultimate favorite, feel-good songs. Today I blasted it in Q's truck. Ended up giving him the evil eye as I tried to sing at the top of my lungs but he kept on asking me, "Why eyed?"... hehehe. And so on that note, the song was played over and over again... and again... hehehe.
4. Spring is definitely here and I am loving it. Speaking of love, love has struck twice at my boxing club. Q and I use to be the only boxing couple at our club but tonight I found out a fresh new secret. Turns out my team mate Sung Min has a girlfriend now and who better for him to pick but none other than my club sparring partner... sweet!!! I was so excited when I got word of this. No sooner had I arrived at boxing but my sparring partner took me by the hand and whispered her secret in my ear.
5. If there's any gal in this country that I hold especially dear to me, it'd be my sparring partner. She's as cute as a button but trains hard and willingly steps in the ring to take my punches. I feel like an older sister to her and so I love that girl... really, she's awesome. And as for Sung Min, he's got a special place in my heart too cause of the fact that last we stood by each other last October to cheer each other on and to watch each other earn our professional license last year.
6. Side note, I am brutal with keeping secrets like this and so, no sooner had Q showed up at training but I blurted out the secret to him. He didn't seem too enthused though cause of the fact that Sung Min is a university student and she is a high school student and commented that if her father finds out, he'll be furious. So be it though, I say. If they are happy and think this is love, who are we to judge it.
7. I'm so not down with people putting restrictions or boundaries on love. I've got news for you, I'm a young white Christian woman who has dated a variety of me. I've dated men much older man, the oldest being my ex-fiance who was 10 years older than me, a Greek Orthodox, a man with no religion, a poor student, a professional soccer player, a CEO, and now I'm dating a man one year older than me who doesn't even really speak my language... and I don't regret any of it. Dating those men brought me to the man I am with now. Anyways, I am getting a bit off topic but my point is, if they are happy then I am happy for them. After all, isn't happiness the whole point. And if you ask me, I think the age gap is quite sexy.
8. The club was packed tonight. I can't stand it when it's packed. Mind ya, due to the club's size, it gets packed easily. Twenty people is a packed club! Despite not liking a crowded club training was great tonight. All my team mates but one, Handsome Boy, were in attendance tonight. Even Q surprised me by unexpectedly showing up.
9. Because of the fact that last week was White Day here in Korea but I missed some days of training cause of my retarded toe, tonight Junior Mint and Milk Dud surprised me with lots of chocolate... lots and lots of chocolate!!! The look on Q's face as both Junior Mint and Milk Dud handed me two massive boxes of chocolates was priceless. He seemed so proud. That's the thing with Q that just adds to his awesomeness, he's not a jealous guy by any means. If anything, he loves it when people give me attention. Tonight I definitely got attention and so I was so flattered. On Valentine's Day I had bought Junior Mint and Milk Dud chocolate cause they're like family to me. I didn't think, nor did I expect them to return the gesture but it definitely was super sweet.
10. Nice... after training I cranked up my iPod, jumped into my flip flops, tied my sweater around my waist and walked home. The weather was so beautiful tonight and so I walked home in a light t-shirt and cut-off pants... sweet! Mind ya, I got a little ahead of myself by taking a new route and ended up getting lost in the back alleys that were bombarded with dead end streets. Walk home tonight took me almost 40 minutes, compared to the usual 10 minutes... hehehe. Me babo... hehehe.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What restriction do you put on love?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
-- Franklin P. Jones
2. In my attempt to help myself remember my Korean vocab, I bought a mini book and wrote all my words in them. Since I started getting tutored, I've had about 500 new words thrown at me. I've already recorded them all but today I made a smaller book version of them. I figure if I carry this little book around everywhere with me I can read it and review my vocab.. at school, on the bus, in the taxi, etc.
3. My new morning "happy song"... "Brown Eyed-Girl". This song has got to be one of my ultimate favorite, feel-good songs. Today I blasted it in Q's truck. Ended up giving him the evil eye as I tried to sing at the top of my lungs but he kept on asking me, "Why eyed?"... hehehe. And so on that note, the song was played over and over again... and again... hehehe.
4. Spring is definitely here and I am loving it. Speaking of love, love has struck twice at my boxing club. Q and I use to be the only boxing couple at our club but tonight I found out a fresh new secret. Turns out my team mate Sung Min has a girlfriend now and who better for him to pick but none other than my club sparring partner... sweet!!! I was so excited when I got word of this. No sooner had I arrived at boxing but my sparring partner took me by the hand and whispered her secret in my ear.
5. If there's any gal in this country that I hold especially dear to me, it'd be my sparring partner. She's as cute as a button but trains hard and willingly steps in the ring to take my punches. I feel like an older sister to her and so I love that girl... really, she's awesome. And as for Sung Min, he's got a special place in my heart too cause of the fact that last we stood by each other last October to cheer each other on and to watch each other earn our professional license last year.
6. Side note, I am brutal with keeping secrets like this and so, no sooner had Q showed up at training but I blurted out the secret to him. He didn't seem too enthused though cause of the fact that Sung Min is a university student and she is a high school student and commented that if her father finds out, he'll be furious. So be it though, I say. If they are happy and think this is love, who are we to judge it.
7. I'm so not down with people putting restrictions or boundaries on love. I've got news for you, I'm a young white Christian woman who has dated a variety of me. I've dated men much older man, the oldest being my ex-fiance who was 10 years older than me, a Greek Orthodox, a man with no religion, a poor student, a professional soccer player, a CEO, and now I'm dating a man one year older than me who doesn't even really speak my language... and I don't regret any of it. Dating those men brought me to the man I am with now. Anyways, I am getting a bit off topic but my point is, if they are happy then I am happy for them. After all, isn't happiness the whole point. And if you ask me, I think the age gap is quite sexy.
8. The club was packed tonight. I can't stand it when it's packed. Mind ya, due to the club's size, it gets packed easily. Twenty people is a packed club! Despite not liking a crowded club training was great tonight. All my team mates but one, Handsome Boy, were in attendance tonight. Even Q surprised me by unexpectedly showing up.
9. Because of the fact that last week was White Day here in Korea but I missed some days of training cause of my retarded toe, tonight Junior Mint and Milk Dud surprised me with lots of chocolate... lots and lots of chocolate!!! The look on Q's face as both Junior Mint and Milk Dud handed me two massive boxes of chocolates was priceless. He seemed so proud. That's the thing with Q that just adds to his awesomeness, he's not a jealous guy by any means. If anything, he loves it when people give me attention. Tonight I definitely got attention and so I was so flattered. On Valentine's Day I had bought Junior Mint and Milk Dud chocolate cause they're like family to me. I didn't think, nor did I expect them to return the gesture but it definitely was super sweet.
10. Nice... after training I cranked up my iPod, jumped into my flip flops, tied my sweater around my waist and walked home. The weather was so beautiful tonight and so I walked home in a light t-shirt and cut-off pants... sweet! Mind ya, I got a little ahead of myself by taking a new route and ended up getting lost in the back alleys that were bombarded with dead end streets. Walk home tonight took me almost 40 minutes, compared to the usual 10 minutes... hehehe. Me babo... hehehe.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What restriction do you put on love?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
-- Franklin P. Jones
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, March 18
1. Meant to set up my spy camera today, to see what Mi Nam does when I am at school, but ended up waking up too late. I guess I still haven't adjusted to my new schedule. Today my first class was at 11:20am... I woke up at 10:20am.
2. Tuesday classes seem to be my favorite so far. I think it's a psychological thing though, seriously. Last semester my Tuesday classes rocked and so I think I subconsciously connect that with this semesters' Tuesday classes... or not.
3. In class today I totally blushed... it was so embarrassing. And no sooner did I feel my face heating up but then I blushed even more at the idea that I never really thought of myself as a shy girl but there I was, in front of about 30 students all looking at me, all watching me blush and struggling to hide my face behind the book. At the time, I didn't think it funny but later I got a good laugh when students filed out of the classroom and bombarded me with comments, telling me that I was so super cute today. Shyness is definitely a trait I didn't think I had but a trait Korean girls are notorious for... have I adapted so much that now I too have this trait?!
7. Later on I met up with Q. I was craving soonda-boo jigga and so we headed off to our secret restaurant tucked away in the countryside where we eat till we felt bloated... hehehe.
8. Decided to go for a walk after eating and so we headed over to the Independence Hall where the grounds are quite pretty. For the most part, the grounds were empty. Anyone around was in the actual hall and so Q and I had the whole place to ourselves. Mind ya, Q got caught doing one of his famous "sneak squeezes" by some random Japanese tourist who was taking pictures... hehehe. What's a sneak squeeze you ask, well basically, Q has this thing with trying to secretly squeeze my butt in public... hehehe. He thinks it's so funny but more often than not, he gets caught. He does in public elevators, in the street, at the store, at the movie theater, and so on. Today he did it at the Independence Hall and was caught on film... hehehe.
9. Studying at Q's house was quite unproductive tonight when we both past out after dinner and woke up a few hours later. Finally when I did sit down to study, I realized I hadn't finished my homework. Instantly I felt so stressed. My body broke out into a sweat and I felt so uncomfortable. Struggling on the vocab is rough enough but not finishing my sentence translations was really stressful, it takes so long.
10. Ended up backing up my stuff and asking Q to drive me home. I was so frustrated. I study so hard but sometimes I seriously feel like my Korean is going no where. Memorizing vocab seems impossible. And if I wasn't stressed enough, Q threw out "I don't want serious girlfriend" on the ride home. I know him well enough to know that he meant he doesn't want a girlfriend who's character is serious, but honestly, it really got me thinking. Does he see anything for us beyond the now or am I just the back burner girl... the runner-up before he finds the real "winner"?!!! Sometimes when I am with him, I feel like everything to him but then he throws out comments like this and it confuses me. I really hope Q's thoughts aren't the same as Byung Ryang, the first true love of mine who shocked the socks off me when I realized he would never marry me cause I am not Korean. If that's how this is going to go down, again, then I'm done with love. Seriously. My break-up with Byung Ryang took me about a year to get over, and over Q, if it came down to that, would definitely crush me. I've been broken once, twice would shatter me. There'd be no third time for me. If what I have with Q never goes beyond the now, than I rather just live my life with Mi Nam by my side.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What does he really think?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
-- Jason Jordan
2. Tuesday classes seem to be my favorite so far. I think it's a psychological thing though, seriously. Last semester my Tuesday classes rocked and so I think I subconsciously connect that with this semesters' Tuesday classes... or not.
3. In class today I totally blushed... it was so embarrassing. And no sooner did I feel my face heating up but then I blushed even more at the idea that I never really thought of myself as a shy girl but there I was, in front of about 30 students all looking at me, all watching me blush and struggling to hide my face behind the book. At the time, I didn't think it funny but later I got a good laugh when students filed out of the classroom and bombarded me with comments, telling me that I was so super cute today. Shyness is definitely a trait I didn't think I had but a trait Korean girls are notorious for... have I adapted so much that now I too have this trait?!
4. Whenever I have a quiz in class, I have it at the start of the class and they all know that 2 minutes after the class has officially started, I lock the classroom doors. I don't like late students interrupting my quiz. Anyway, today one student was late. He sat outside in the hall and when the quiz was over, I told him that he could come back in. He never came in. Instead, he sat outside with his head peeking around the corner as he struggled to watch my class. Obviously he didn't understand my English. Turns out he doesn't understand any English, nor is he eager to learn or even try for that matter cause at break time my Korean was really tested when he approached me. He went on and on in Korean.
5. Ended up treating like half of my class to banana milk... we bought all the banana milk the campus store had... hehehe.
6. After class I stuck around to talk to one of my graduating students. She's a super sweet gal that absolutely glows and wears a perma-smile. We walked around campus chatting about relationships and traveling. Her once serious boyfriend has moved to Canada to study and so now she is stressed about the future of them. Her English is really good and so we got into quite the deep discussion. I love conversations like this with my students... so mature and so beyond the textbook... so real.7. Later on I met up with Q. I was craving soonda-boo jigga and so we headed off to our secret restaurant tucked away in the countryside where we eat till we felt bloated... hehehe.
8. Decided to go for a walk after eating and so we headed over to the Independence Hall where the grounds are quite pretty. For the most part, the grounds were empty. Anyone around was in the actual hall and so Q and I had the whole place to ourselves. Mind ya, Q got caught doing one of his famous "sneak squeezes" by some random Japanese tourist who was taking pictures... hehehe. What's a sneak squeeze you ask, well basically, Q has this thing with trying to secretly squeeze my butt in public... hehehe. He thinks it's so funny but more often than not, he gets caught. He does in public elevators, in the street, at the store, at the movie theater, and so on. Today he did it at the Independence Hall and was caught on film... hehehe.
9. Studying at Q's house was quite unproductive tonight when we both past out after dinner and woke up a few hours later. Finally when I did sit down to study, I realized I hadn't finished my homework. Instantly I felt so stressed. My body broke out into a sweat and I felt so uncomfortable. Struggling on the vocab is rough enough but not finishing my sentence translations was really stressful, it takes so long.
10. Ended up backing up my stuff and asking Q to drive me home. I was so frustrated. I study so hard but sometimes I seriously feel like my Korean is going no where. Memorizing vocab seems impossible. And if I wasn't stressed enough, Q threw out "I don't want serious girlfriend" on the ride home. I know him well enough to know that he meant he doesn't want a girlfriend who's character is serious, but honestly, it really got me thinking. Does he see anything for us beyond the now or am I just the back burner girl... the runner-up before he finds the real "winner"?!!! Sometimes when I am with him, I feel like everything to him but then he throws out comments like this and it confuses me. I really hope Q's thoughts aren't the same as Byung Ryang, the first true love of mine who shocked the socks off me when I realized he would never marry me cause I am not Korean. If that's how this is going to go down, again, then I'm done with love. Seriously. My break-up with Byung Ryang took me about a year to get over, and over Q, if it came down to that, would definitely crush me. I've been broken once, twice would shatter me. There'd be no third time for me. If what I have with Q never goes beyond the now, than I rather just live my life with Mi Nam by my side.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What does he really think?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
-- Jason Jordan
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