Note where my shoulders end and the shirt shoulders end.

When I asked him to give me a hand in the kitchen I didn't think he'd take it so literal and jump in my shirt... hahaha.

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, March 31

1. Trying to get creative with what feels like endless days has been tough because of the weather. Going outside to do weight training at the park, playing badminton, scooter adventures, “senior citizen” walks around downtown, and any other outdoor ideas were ditched because of the bad weather. Today it was ran that rained on our parade.

2. Turned Ggum Guum into a karaoke room and somehow convinced Snickers to sing “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton with me.

3. It’s a miracle, Snickers finally cracked open the English textbook and asked if I would study with him today. Today’s lesson was on eating – eating at home, table manners, and so on. Gotta give it to Snickers for being a good sport about me laughing at his poor pronunciation. He saying “I’m full” came out as “I’m fool” and I laughed so hard.

4. Not having my F2 visa yet killed a commercial opportunity I got offered today and may very well have killed a movie extra part too.

5. Discovered sweetener today – was quite happy with that! It’s called ‘Fine Sweet’.

6. Damn Daejon… seriously!!! One of my boxing sponsors so generously offered to buy me two plane tickets so that Snickers and I could fly off to Japan for Black Skinny’s fight on Saturday, but I can’t go. I can’t go because of Daejon taking it’s sweet time with my F2 visa!!! It’s one thing that I can’t legally work in this country because of having to wait but it’s another thing that I’m also trapped here for the time being. My old visa expired and because my F2 visa has yet to be processed, I have no visa. So, if I were to even attempt to cross the Korean border, there definitely would be a lot of questions asked, frowns thrown my way, and immigration officers pointing their fingers at me. It would certainly be a big scene.

7. Got to train with Black Skinny one more time before he heads out for his Japan fight. His Japanese opponent, Koji Sato, will be coming to the fight with quite an impressive ranking, as will Black Skinny, but he’ll have Japan’s ‘home advantage’ backing him up.

Koji Sato
OPBF Middleweight Champion
16 fights total: 15 wins (13 KO), 1 loss

Black Skinny
OPBF ranked #2 Middleweight
12 fights total: 11 wins (8 KO), 1 loss (= his Japan fight)

8. Tonight Black Skinny was super stressed at training, so I tried to break his tension by joking. Koreans are all about cheering each other on with their notorious “fighting!” words of encouragement but at UP Boxing Club, I’ve been quite successful with getting many of my teammates to replace “fighting” with “kill”… hahaha.

9. With tomorrow being April Fool’s Day, I tried to think of the perfect prank to pull on Snickers. He’s always trying to freak me out and scare me so I thought of using body paint and playing dead in the middle of the floor. Knowing me I’d probably start laughing, so that idea was a no-go. He prizes our scooter so I thought of moving it and then letting him believe that someone stole it. Mind ya, considering how loud that bad boy is when you start it up, I doubt I would get away with it. The only thing I thought would definitely get him would be telling him that I’m pregnant.

10. I was all set on fooling him into believing I was pregnant until I thought back on a TV show I once saw where they gave a friend a fake lottery ticket. Ya… as much as my simple prank would get him, I’m sure it’d upset him, not to mention he’d probably only take a couple of milliseconds to tell the world my news. Damage control would be uncontrollable.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What prank have you pulled on someone?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Laughter is by definition healthy.
-- Doris Lessing

They say, "Only fools fall in love."

So be it -- I love being in love, even if it means waking up to his silly face everyday... hahaha.

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, March 30

1. An early morning text message woke me up. It was my friend Cheeseball and he was downtown Cheonan. Met up with him and his buddy for a hot cup of lemon tea, a good chat, and some good laughs.

2. Waiting around for Daejon Immigration is driving me bonkers… bonkers I tell ya!!! It’s be 41 days since I applied. God created Heaven and Earth in six days, yet it’s taken immigration 41 days so far… and they’re still not done!!!

3. Waiting for Daejon is discouraging, being forced not to work is annoying, sleeping in late and going to bed even later is great but having my days solely consist of training and studying Korean is getting rather boring.

4. Nurse Goldilocks is sick, Cherry Pie is away on a trip, Lady Bug is studying art, and Calla Lily is busy with juggling school and work, so my Lovely Lady friends are all MIA.

5. I would have called up Mouse Doctor’s girlfriend but that was a definite no-go. The two of them broke up, which is rather ironic if you ask me. I mean, Snickers is always trying to get me to be all buddy-buddy with his friends’ girlfriends. And out of all the random girlfriends I’ve met, I only took a liking to Mouse Doctor’s girlfriend – ex-girlfriend. They had a bet going on and the bet was that if she (the ex-girlfriend) lost 5kgs in one month than he’d give $2000. If she lost, she’d have to give him $1000. With her lifestyle, poor eating habits, weekend drunk late-nights, and her anti-exercise mentality, she stood no chance on her own. I offered to personally kick her butt into winning the bet for a chip of the cash but then they broke up. She lost the guy, gave up the bet, and offered him half the cash promised so that they could go their separate ways.

6. Sat down and read all the copies of Oxygen Women’s Fitness Magazine I had on my shelf.

7. Did you know?!

Seaweed is used to thicken foods, including ice cream and yogurts.
Generally, the average Canadian will eat approximentely 7kgs of pasta in a year.
People with red hear require greater anesthesia prior to surgery than those with other coloured hair
Darker urine may occasionally be caused by, among other things, exercise, liver disorders and dehydration.
China is the leading producer of apples.
By skipping meals, you could actually find your waistline increasing.
Cashews are the only nut not sold in their shell, and this is because the resin inside the shell is poisonous.
A Brazil nut tree can take up to 30 years to produce its first crop.

8. I’ve been trying to push Snickers into eating healthier by writing down what he eats in a day. I’ve also been writing down what I’ve been eating. I eat a heck of a lot more than he does. However, because he was out of the house for most of the day, he ate ‘free-style’ today, meaning that he ate terribly!!!

What I ate today:
Meal #1: oatmeal pancake (oatmeal, 5 egg whites and 1 yoke, cinnamon, with a thin layer of natural peanut butter on top), followed by a lemon tea.
Meal #2: 1 apple (sliced up, with cinnamon sprinkled on it) and 1 frozen monkey banana (small)
Meal #3: Cesear salad with seasoned grilled chicken breast and light on the dressing)
Meal #4: 1 small yogurt with flax seed and a small handful of almonds and walnuts mixed into it and a cup of black coffee.
Meal #5: Omlette (4 egg whites, broccoli, garlic, parsley and oregano)
Meal #6: 1 large cucumber (light salad dressing for dipping) and a homemade milk chai tea.

What Snickers ate today:
Meal #1: 2 large bananas and a bowl of rice with kim (seaweed)
Meal #2: beef (cooked Korean BBQ style and oddly enough he ate no side dishes!!!)
Meal #3: seaweed soup and a cup of coffee (loaded with cream and sugar)
Meal #4: dried squid, pineapple soda and some popcorn
Meal #6: a cup of milk coffee (with some Balieys and extra sugar in it)

9. Snickers argues that despite his poor – very poor is more like it – eating choices and eating habits, that his body is still so very strong and does sport six-pack abs that most could only dream of. Appearance is nothing though. Appearance doesn’t show what’s going on in the inside of one’s body and let me tell you, I’m sure there are days when Snickers body is cursing his name! It’s true. He, like so many other people, believe that eating less is better. Eating less of junk food is better yes, but generally speaking, eating less is so bad for your body. If I don’t get in a good hearty breakfast in the morning but went running the night before, look out. Not only am I minus in the energy level but I am like a walking, no-thinking zombie. “Must.. have… my… protein pancake!!!” is all I can think of.

10. Bribing Snickers to eat some of my Ceasar salad or eggs has been a lot of work on my part. Today I spent a good chunk of my day running around buying groceries, cooking various styles of chicken, boiling eggs, and making alternative snacks – like jello, popsicles, and trail mix. He thought it sweet to reward my efforts and concern by taking me out to the movies, so I let it slide when he bought a box of popcorn, dried squid and a pineapple soda for the movie. Checked out "Yes Men Project" --- awesome!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's you best healthy-eating piece of advice?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Never take the advice of someone who has not had your kind of trouble.
-- Sidney J. Harris

Some random shots...

My favorite thing to put my feet into... my Adidas boxing boots.

And my favorite person to surround myself with... my beautiful hubby.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, March 29

1. Headed out for a morning run and ended up doing what felt like a half marathon!!! Ran 11.2kms in 5kgs of clothing.

2. Honesty, the thought of going to town on a 6 egg-white, protein-packed cinnamon and banana oatmeal pancake was what kept my legs moving and me from giving up. I’m okay with running long, it use to be my thing back in high school, but I hate running in the sun when I’m wearing excess layers of clothing. I knew I was in for a hard run when I felt myself breaking a sweat during simple stretching.

3. Scooted over to Mouse Doctor’s house today to say hi and was greeted by a very sore half-naked Mouse Doctor. Word has it he got into a brutal fight this morning and won, but by the massive 5inch gash in his back and the apparent bruises around his neck where he was grabbed, I’m not too sure if he won or if anyone did for that matter. Mouse Doctor weighs in at about 60kgs dripping wet and my arms are thicker than his legs, so I told him, “Leave the fighting to us professionals!”

4. In all seriousness though, he really shouldn’t be fighting, after all, that’s what landed him a spot in the big house, just like Snickers.

5. Meet up with one of my Lovely Lady Friends, Lady Bug, for a good chat.

6. Horse-playing at Ggum Guum has officially added a whole new level of injuries. Today I took an accidental knee to my mouth and scored a split lip… ouch. It hurts to smile now.

7. This afternoon the brother of a well-known female celebrity who committed suicide about a year and a half ago killed himself today. Snickers and I were glued to the news channel because of it. Not so long ago the ashes of the sister’s cremated body were stolen, so this followed by the initial suicide and now the suicide of the brother means there is one over devastated mother in Korea today. I was once told that the worst feeling in the world is the lost of your child, this Korean mother lost two. My heart definitely goes out to this particular mother.

8. Had a particular proposal proposed to me today. A photographer in Seoul contacted me to ask me to come in for a photo shoot. It’ll be boxing-inspired but with an added twist for sex appeal. I gasped when he told me the details of his idea, then immediately thought of Snickers having a fit at the idea. He urged me to consider the offer, said he would consider changing the plan if needs be, and then asked if I could come in for a chat.

9. With Black Skinny just days away until he heads off to fight in Japan, Snickers and I went into boxing late tonight so that the two guys could having yet another sparring practice.

10. My unexpectedly long morning run left me treading in the minus energy numbers, so I stood around to watch them spar and then stuck to doing weight training. I did a bit of shadow boxing but there was no pad work or heavy bag work for me today.

QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What’s in your history books?

QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Well behaved women rarely make history.
-- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

A 9:30am Sunday morning meeting first.

"Ok, let's pretend to be studying for the camera" I blurted out.

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, March 28

1. My university psychology teacher was well known for her “If you want – you will” speal that she would often go off on a tanget about in lectures. “If you really want to be something, do something, be somewhere – you will.” I remember once when this professor, in front of about 250 students, totally ratted out these two girls who had arrived twenty minutes late for lecture. “If you really wanted to be here, you would” she yelled out, and from then on she made it a routine to lock the lecture hall doors five minutes before class, claiming that those that really wanted to learn would be here early, and those that didn’t wouldn’t be allowed in. She had a good point and it kind of stuck with me because I too have a pet peeve with peoples’ tardiness.

2. Having said that, the main organizer and his buddy, who I should note arrived and immediately stepped out for a smoke break, showed up thirty minutes late for an introduction meeting I spent my Saturday night planning, kind of annoyed me.

3. Somehow this issue came up later on when I was talking to Panty Boy (the original… not Jr., my teammate). He didn’t buy my psychology professor’s “If you want – you will” speal but instead noted that he believes in kharma. He then asked me whether or not those that were late were good-looking. I said “no” and he responded with “my point exactly – kharma!” I laughed at the silliness that this conversation had reached and added, “However, in their defense, those that were late were foreign guys and, with the exception of Yanky, I haven’t been attracted to any foreign guy since my university days.” “Yes, yes… that’s right” Panty Boy noted. “The only white meat action you like is cooking chicken… You have yellow fever!!!” I got to give it to Panty Boy for his silly jokes but note to self, taking advice from a male underwear model whose bum size is in the minus numbers shouldn’t be taken so seriously. I’m still confused on how a guy with no bum gets a job doing something that is so bum-focused?!... hahaha .

4. Back to the issue of today’s meeting… one of the good points was that two Koreans came out and one was exceptionally eager to help me improve my Korean. “I want to be your tutor!” he repeatedly said. He came earlier than the others, so it was nice to sit and chat. Another great point was the fact that two foreigners who showed up today haven’t even been in Korea for a month (one having only been in Korea for 5 days now). They showed up with lots of questions, interest, and it was refreshing to hear their ‘fresh off the plane’ impressions of Korea.

5. The number of foreigners outnumbered that of the Koreans, so we’ll have to attract more Koreans to our next meeting.

6. Later in the day I headed out to Seoul to pick up a new purse at my one of two favorite Seoul stores. The girls there know me by name and occasionally text message me when new items they think I would be interested in come in.

7. Despite my lack of homepage comments… hint, hint… I continue to get public reconition, very cool. I was standing at the Gangnam Express Bus Terminal in Seoul when two foreign guys approached me. “Hey you’re Amy from Cheonan!” one called out to me. “Well yes, yes I am” I answered back. Usually it’s my media coverage from my boxing and the TV shows that I’ve done that get me recognized, but thanks to Jay and Marc in Seoul for labeling themselves ‘faithful homepage readers’.

8. I thought it rather cute to walk by Snickers at the kitchen table wearing a pair of his boxer briefs. Definitely not quite the same effect though when he did the same but with a pair of my panties… oh gosh. Way to not only kill the vibe but also any hopes of being able to even have a baby… hahaha.

9. Snickers can’t seem to shake this “let’s-have-a-baby-now” mentality but thankfully the number of people asking about it has started to dwindle. He always seems to find some way on how to bring every conversation back to the baby-want issue. Like today, for example, at Lotte Mart I saw this pink New York Yankies baseball cap that I really liked and when I made it known that I liked it he said “Give me a baby and I’ll buy you that hat.” “One baby for one hat?! Forget that. Get me the whole New York Yankies team and I might consider!!!” I noted.

10. Snickers is convinced that inside of me is a very nurturing, motherly side of me. Don’t get me wrong, I like kids but I like kids because they go home to someone else at the end of the day.

QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Why do people want kids?

QUOTE OF THE DAY…
The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children.
-- Clarence Darrow

A 'Wellness Hospital' for your grocery cart.

I doubt it's the shopping carts that I need to look out for, instead I think it's those little ankle biters with their runny noses that always seem to head butt me in the isles.

And motivation to keep you on track.
If this is what Tosca looks like a 50 than dang, I definitely need to pick up the slack! She's such an inspiration to me.

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, March 27

1. Snickers headed off to Suwon today to help his best bud move back into his parents’ house. For awhile there he had been living with his money-demanding girlfriend. I know he loves her but Snickers and I seriously question whether or not she loves him or his wallet. The other day he decided that living together wasn’t the best thing after all, so he got rid of their apartment and moved back home. However, in doing so, he gave her the massive TV and larger-than-life refrigerator he had bought for their apartment. Ya, ok… like I really get the point he’s trying to prove there! I take it the TV and the fridge were the runner-up prizes for the grand prize of getting to live with him. “Forget her!” I told Snickers. “Give us the TV and fridge. After all, it’s us that have to listen about this sad one-sided puppy love story. Where’s our consolation prize?!”

2. Anyways, not too sure on if he’ll continue feeding her questionable $3000 a month money demanding but both Snickers and I agree that the only thing left that he should even consider giving her is a good kick to the curb and a good old “don’t let the door hit you on the way out” holler. Sure, I too am financially supporting my other half but I’m also now married, so our situation is much different. Snickers will be around for the long haul but she may only be around until his bank account goes dry or he goes crazy from working like a slave to support her. And unlike Snickers, she’s going out and spending loads of his hard earned money on pointless things and on other people – possibly other guys.

3. With Snickers out of the house, I was able to catch up on some emailing, study Korean without being distracted by Snickers insisting on ‘kiss breaks’, and plan for tomorrow’s language exchange morning meeting.

4. Met up with Cherry Pie for jokes, good times, an honest friend's ear.

5. With Black Skinny’s fight being a week away, many of us from UP Boxing Club have been pulled into helping him train. I’m all for encouraging him at boxing and showing my support and respect but he getting Snickers to go run the path up the mountain at 7:30am on a Sunday and then Snickers asking me to do so is where I drew the line. Sorry boys. I can stay up till 7:30am but ask me to wake up, be alert and be able to hustle my Polish tush up a mountain is brutal. It’s bad enough I have to wake up and be ready for my 9:30am language exchange meeting! Sorry boys, but to your early morning request I’ll have to use Snickers’ favorite answer here, “Helllllllll no!”… hahahah.

6. Printed off some stuff for tomorrow’s first weekend language exchange meeting at a local PC room where I was mistaken for a university student… sweet! His ‘bait’, as Snickers would call it, was asking me if I used msn messenger. But when I didn’t fall for his first bait, he threw me another piece of bait by telling me my print outs (16 pages) were free. I took his second bait as a compliment and ignored answering the first bait by pretending I didn’t hear him.

7. Oddly enough, I am looking forward to tomorrow’s first weekend language exchange meeting. Unlike the Monday night meeting I attended, I’ve got big plans for my weekend meetings, including a distinct meeting outline plan, weekly discussion topics, suggested textbooks for both those learning Korean and those learning English, and weekly homework for both groups.

8. I’ll be the first to admit that Snickers and I are one of those attached-at-the-hips couples and consequently we have our daily routine is bombarded with ‘couple things’. For example, Snickers always waits for me with my house coat in hand while I shower. When one leaves the house, the other walks them to the door to kiss them goodbye and then they stand by the balcony window to wave goodbye. I never make my something to eat or drink without making something for Snickers, we always have coffee-snack time together every day, afternoon nap time, and we occasionally have showers together.

9. But, we’ve taken things a bit further by making up some cute but silly house rules. Such rules include a no-more-than-2-nights a week policy that means neither of us can sleep without the other for more than 2 nights a week. This is easy for me because most of my Korean friends live in Cheonan but for Snickers who use to live in Icheon and whose best friend lives in Suwon, this isn’t so easy at times. Another rule we have is a no clothes sleeping rule, that’s pretty self explanatory.

10. By the time 12:30am hit me I had accepted the fact that I was by no means able to sleep because I had no Snickers to cuddle up to and wasn’t even remotely tired, so I laced up and went running. On my way back to Ggum Guum, up ahead of me on the path I spotted what appeared to be a drunk man staggering home. I moved to the right side of the path in anticipation of running past him but then he moved to the right side too. And when I moved to the left side, he did too. We were still a couple of meters away when all of a sudden this supposedly drunk man took off his hood and revealed his face. I was shocked, it was Snickers!!! As soon as I saw his gorgeous smile I jumped up on him, wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. I definitely hadn’t expected him home until the morning and so I was so incredibly and pleasantly shocked to see him. He had arrived home apparently just as I had left Ggum Guum to go running, so he sat on the curb and waited half an hour out in the chilly weather for me to return.

QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What tickles your fancy?

QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age.
-- Christopher Morley

"Jump on baby... hahaha!!!"

"Don't jump... hahaha!!!"

Highlights of my Day... Friday, March 26

1. If I had any ‘nuts’ I definitely would have froze them off today on a little scooter adventure that Snickers spontaneously presented me with. He wanted to take me on a little day date scooter ride, so we rode out to a folk village in Asan.

2. Leave it to Snickers to totally ignore the “NO SCOOTERS” signs and drive on the highway, and leave it to Snickers to do about 60 over the speed bumps and well over 100 for the rest of the ride. We didn’t ride, we flew!!!

3. The weather was super windy today and although our scooter is rather large and heavy, we definitely felt the tug of the wind, making our scooter ride feel more like a roller coaster ride.

4. Finally we arrived in Asan. I’ve been living in Korea for over five years now, meaning I’ve been to many of the tourist places, especially those around Cheonan. He was a bit disappointed to hear that I’ve been to this folk village before but the only other time I had been there was when I was teaching kindergarten. Regardless, it was fun to go again because I always love my time with Snickers and nothing is ever the same as when I do something or go somewhere with him.

Yes, we're not normal but that's part of our beauty.

Freezing my Polish butt off for the shot.

Play time ;)

Check out the tree, beautiful, and check out that guy... very beautiful!

5. Kimchi pizza… delish!!!

6. Despite us holding on for dear life on our scooter, we did arrive safe and sound back to Cheonan. Next on our schedule was to head out to do some grocery shopping. While shopping Snickers peeped up when he oversaw some Korean ajjumas (old married women) pushing me out of the way so that they could snatch up some free sample food. “You’re married. You’re an ajjuma … act like ajjuma! Push, pusssshhh… PUSH!!!” Snickers lectured me. So, on that note, I raised my voice and pushed my way through the crowd with the rest of the ajjumas.

7. Returned to Ggum Guum and then my phone started ringing. It was a job offering. I mentioned to them that I’m still waiting for my F2 visa to be processed and when I commented about that they offered to call immigration on my behalf. “There’s no record of your application” was what they told me when they called me back. I couldn’t believe my ears so I both Snickers and I jumped on the phone and had a long chat with Daejon Immigration. Not sure on who or why “there’s no record of your application” was said because, like always, Daejon Immigration never has any answer but a thousand and one answers on how to avoid the actual question.

8. Today’s suicidal scooter drive out to Asan left Snickers feeling under the weather, so I headed off to boxing tonight by myself. Turns out Snickers wasn’t the only one feeling out of it, the stress, crazy dieting and insane training for next week’s fight showed in Black Skinny tonight. He showed up, changed into his training wear and then changed back into his regular clothes to leave.

9. I'M GOING TO CANADA AUGUST 5th TO AUGUST 24th!!!

It's official, I bought two plane tickets to Canada tonight. It was a painful but happy event, standing at the lonely bank machine and transfering that lump sum of money to the travel agent. It's been two years since I've been to Canada and this trip will mark Snickers' first step on the Great White North's soil and him meeting my family and friends for the first time. It's going to be nothing short of awesome!!! I am looking forward to a home-cooked birthday meal, a wedding dinner party with friends, a big family BBQ at my uncle’s house, and doing and going to a whole whack of places in between.

10. In 132 days I’ll be going to Canada. It’s been 37 days since I’ve applied for my F2 visa, 25 days since I technically retired from teaching, 316 days since my first kiss with Snickers, and I’ve been married for 60 days.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What days do you count?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it.
-- Christopher Morley

I stick to my 10oz gloves when I do pad work but I like to wear these smaller gloves when I pound away at the sand bag.

And with Snickers scoring a scratched up face from the head gear, little attention is given to the messy hair that I always wear at training... hahaha.

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, March 25

1. With Snickers on standby, waiting to hear whether or not he’s got a fight in April, he’s started to diet in anticipation of scoring a fight. I’ve been trying hard to help him out. Anyone that knows me or knows Snickers knows that his game diet gets pretty brutal near the end, consisting of cola, ice cream, and mini yogurt drinks. This time, however, he’s given the reins of his game dieting to me. I’ve loaded the fridge up with lots of veggies and eggs and have put him on a protein-carb cycling diet. On most days he’ll be eating low carbs and high protein, fruit in the morning and veggies at night. He’s good to go with getting his protein but he doesn’t really like veggies unless there a side dish and are accompanied by a small country’s worth of rice.

2. Snickers’ veggie of choice = mushrooms. I’ve got quite the stock of salad dressings to try to tempt him into eating salads or at least cut raw veggies but so far all he likes is the Caesar salad dressing. Now in regards to fruit, he loves fruit but the problem is he eats way too much fruit. And by way too much fruit I’m really only referring to bananas. On average, he eats about four bananas a day. Last night he woke up spontaneously at 3am, ate a banana and then went back to bed. Fruits are great but you really should only eat them in the morning because they’ve got natural sugar and a lot of carbs, and too much of a good thing isn’t so good. I guess in all fairness though, he did eat that last banana in the morning… hahaha.

3. So much for riding the house of any kind of editable temptation, Snickers returned to Ggum Guum with a bag full of baked goods from Paris Baguette. The Paris Baguette nearby Ggum Guum just reopened and apparently they had a massive sale.

4. Got my butt publicly kicked when I decided to go running around the Dankook lake at 2pm. I usually go running really early in the morning or really late in the evening, so I wasn’t expecting to have such difficulties breathing because of my clothes. Like usual, I loaded up on the layers – my ‘second skin’ shirt and pants, a hooded sweater, a pair of training pants, and then my outer Adidas training jacket and pants (both are lined and serve kind of like a snowsuit).

5. Snickers had joined me for my run. He wanted to drive over to Dankook, get out and then run the track around the lake three times, totaling 6.9kms (2.3kms a lap). Into the third lap I had had enough. I couldn’t breathe. I seriously felt like I was in some kind of sauna with the heat cranked up. The weather wasn’t particularly warm today but underneath all those layers of clothes it was boiling.

6. Went home a disappointed runner. No more ‘heavy-layered runs’ for me. Time to peel off the layers for spring!!!

7. During the week, 5pm marks ‘nap time’ at Ggum Guum and it usually lasts until 6:50pm when we then wake up and head off to boxing.

8. Junior Mint is always trying to get any new girl training at our boxing club to become buddy-buddy with me. I, on the other hand, am not as accepting of new people as he’d like. Tonight I was introduced to a new girl. My teammates were all overlooking the situation go down and were obviously waiting for Junior Mint to pull out the ‘friend-test question’, as they call it. Junior Mint knows me well, too well sometimes, and so he knows what kind of person I am drawn to. “Do you want to spar with Amy?” is the so-called ‘friend-test question’ . Based on the girls’ response, I’ll either become friends with them or then and there will basically be the first and last conversation I’ll have with them. For the most part, the new girls all give the same over-exaggerated ‘no’, hence why I only consider two girls at my boxing club friends, Bella Punch and S-line Wanna-Be. I really don’t care whether or not I’ll actually spar with whatever new girl gets asked the question, that’s not the point. The point is that I don’t particularly like weak girls, especially weak girls who act all girly at a boxing club. Anyways, Black Skinny shook his head at her and Panty Boy Jr. whispered to me in Korean, “You’d kill that chopstick.”

9. Yet again Snickers and Black Skinny had sparring practice. I envy Snickers, and the other guys too for that matter, for being able to get so much sparring experience. Tonight they both wore full protective gear but Snickers was left with scratches all over his face from the head gear.

10. After boxing I cooked up some veggies and eggs for Snickers before he headed off to the sauna with Mouse Doctor. “Go get naked. Go have fun, and don’t come home unless you’ve scrubbed all 2000 and 1 body parts!” I yelled out the window. I’ll never get the idea of heading off with my friend to a public sauna where all can see me scrubbing my naked body. Moreover, I like my friends but there’s no way on God’s green Earth that I’ll ever let them scrub me down.

QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What is your body to you?

QUOTE OF THE DAY…
The body is a sacred garment.
-- Martha Graham

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman?!... No, no, no.

It's my husband!!!

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, March 24

1. Snickers headed off to Granny-Kim’s house today with K-Gere and I opted out on the day trip. Not too sure on why I did but no sooner did he leave Ggum Guum but I was regretting it.

2. Boredom hit me like a ton of bricks.

3. I eat when I am bored, so I tried everything to distract myself from not giving into boredom and eating.

4. I could have, should have, and would have left the house but laziness, the best friend of boredom but no friend of mine, had also joined me at Ggum Guum. I was way too comfortable wearing a simple long t-shirt and no make-up to leave Ggum Guum. Venturing outside only meant me wondering around downtown bored and then killing time by spending money.

5. Tried to preoccupy myself by planning the wedding dinner party I’ll be having this summer in Canada. Well, one thing led to another and next thing I knew it I was on the phone with the travel agent asking about plane ticket prices and planning places to visit and things to do while in Canada. How weird is it going to be stepping off that plane, turning to my parents and introducing them to my husband for the very first time?!

6. Snickers and I will only be in Canada for just over two weeks but the plan is to have a wedding dinner party with friends, a family BBQ packed with all my relatives, and an at-home home-cooked birthday celebration with my parents and brother. My oldest brother has had another daughter, I’ve yet to meet her, so I am looking forward to seeing her for the first time.

7. Most of all, I really want to see my mom and dad – Mama and Papa Bere.

8. This past year has been extremely hard on my family because of a crazy but miraculously resolved health situation that came and left, all in one year. I’m really curious as to what my mom looks like, now that she’s 63kgs smaller. It’s not a good 63kgs smaller though. My dad wrote me, telling me that long time friends don’t even recognize her anymore. Oddly enough, I’m both eager but scared to see what she looks like. I like the mom I saw two years ago… two years ago, wow. It’s been two years since I’ve seen my family. Like I said, I like the mom I saw two years ago. I am nervous to see the new version of her and be reminded of all the times and life I missed out on.

9. Soooo… not only did boredom and its’ best friend laziness join me at Ggum Guum but so did homesickness.

10. By the time Snickers returned from Granny Kim’s house, I had had enough of homesickness bothering me. He sat on the floor in front of me, pulled me up on his crossed legs, wrapped my legs around his waist, and hugged me. My husband never fails to be the hero when I need a picker-upper.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Who's life do you play the hero role?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Our heroes are people and people are flawed. Don't let that taint the thing you love.
-- Randy K. Milholland

There's no way he'd return it but he's trying his best to 'bring it back', if you know what I mean... hahaha.

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, March 23

1. Am pretty sure it’s Wonder Bread who’s been calling me at random retarded times these past couple of days. I like his use of “block number” but it’s really unnecessary considering 9 out of 10 times I don’t even answer my phone.

2. Turns out I’m not as flexible as I use to be... hahaha. Found this out the hard way today when boredom hit. It pushed me into silliness and I thought it’d be funny to put my ankle behind my head. It got stuck there. And what did Snickers do?... he laughed and watched as I squirmed like an ant under a magnifying glass!!!

3. Cherry Pie forewarned me yesterday that today she wanted to see “Shutter Island”, a scary movie that Snickers, and I’ll quote him here, said I should “take an extra pair of panties to”… great… hahaha.

4. And no, I didn’t need to “take an extra pair of panties”, like Snickers insisted. I only screamed at one part, actually, it was more like a scream and an automatic throw of my fists to my side. Sorry Cherry Pie, didn’t mean to hit ya there… hahaha.

5. Cherry Pie was sweet enough to surprise me with pre-bought movie tickets. I scored a free coffee at Coffee Bean with my card and Cherry Pie was full from lunch. I bought a small bag of nuts for the movie, bringing today’s total of money spent to $2 for a day out on the town… nice!

6. The strange, but apparently ever-so-common, male problem with peeing that floods my TV with strange commercials showing male children statues peeing like a race horse, has hit Cheonan. Milk Dud is off doing army duty but took a break to visit Cheonan because he too, like so many Korean man supposedly, has been plagued with the ‘pee problem’.

7. Am I the only one that finds these ‘pee problem’ commercials annoyingly disturbing?!

8. Ran into a bunch of my boy-buddies at boxing tonight – Motor Cross, Black Skinny and Panty Boy Jr.

9. Snickers tried to stir the pot, so to speak, by telling me that a lot of girls like him. Not too sure why or how this came up because we were at boxing but I tried to ignore him and continue training. “If you want to meet pretty girls, that’s ok. They won’t be pretty after I meet them”, I said, hinting that I’d punch them. I’m sure Snickers occasionally gets jealous at times. He’s pretty good at not showing it but he brings the issue up at the strangest of times and in the strangest of ways. I know it’s bothering him that Wonder Bread has been calling me and hanging up but it’s been bothering me too. Anyways, Panty Boy Jr. jumped in on the conversation and randomly said, “I’m bringing sexy back – you be careful!” I’m not too sure on what he meant but he pointed his finger at Snickers and then winked at me… hahaha.

10. Totally came off as a naughty neighbor when I decided to throw down my recycling instead of walking it down. I just had too many water bottles and empty milk cartons to take down so out my third floor window they went. I was going to go downstairs and then place them neatly by the side of the curb but when I accidently hit someone rooting through the garbage, I thought it best to wait. How was I to know someone would be standing in amongst the bags of garbage?!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How are you bringing sexy back?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
I'm bringing sexy back.
-- Panty Boy Jr. but originally said in Justin Timberlake's song

The flyer for the language exchange group... notice anyone in particular?!

The beautiful Dojeungdong library in Cheonan, that I've yet to have seen, where the Monday night group members usually meet up.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, March 22

1. We’ve got the ‘purple nurple’, ‘double chop’, ‘knuckle punch’, ‘leg pin’, and a few other moves but today Snickers introduced me to another move, the ‘trick chop’. I thought he was going in for a rough but romantic kiss when he firmly grabbed me by the back of the neck but I learnt quickly that I was wrong. No sooner had he grabbed the back of my neck but then he took his other hand and gave a quick chop to the front of my neck. It hurt but I laughed… and why is that?! Moreover, why the heck do we think this is so hilarious?!

2. Strapped for cash?! Strapped for cash AND hungry… no problem. Visit your local Lotte Mart, seriously! Snickers and I went there today to do some grocery shopping and ended up leaving feeling somewhat stuffed. They bombarded us with samples galore and oh boy, talk about testing your temptation levels!!!

3. My one-veggie-addiction for the last week and a bit has been mushrooms. Stir fried mushrooms with a bit of a mixed soya-sauce paste is delish. As for protein, I’ve been sticking to mainly eggs. My tuna makes the house too stinky and I can’t seem to find tuna packed in water and I keep on forgetting about packs of chicken at the back of the fridge, so eggs it is.

4. Today I ate 15 eggs.

5. As for Snickers and what he eats, I’ve been really trying hard to encourage him to pick better food choices. He’s all about his rice which is loaded with carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are good and are needed but when you eat a small country’s worth of rice in one sitting and the only kind of side dish is kim (dried seaweed) and pickled garlic, that’s hardly nutritious. I tried to load up on healthy choices at Lotte Mart but he’s just so stubborn.

6. Snickers is on standby for a fight in April, and his fight is scheduled for a 61kg weigh-in, meaning that he’s got about a month to lose 13kgs (28.6lbs). But at the rate he’s going with his “I-gotta-have-my-rice” mentality, it’s going to be a tough one. Training extra hard isn’t going to do it. Sure training is very important but diet is more important. Training is only 10% of the equation. Another 10% is genetics but 80% of it is diet. Diet IS key!!!

7. And as for my diet and my weight, I’ve incorporated weight training back into my daily routine but it’s upped my weight. I’m smaller, stronger and healthier, but I am also heavier. The number on the scale is irrelevant but when you’re in a sport like mine where the scale determines whether or not you can compete, it is important. Today I weighed in at 53.8kgs. I’ve put on almost 2kgs of muscle in the past month… sweet!!!

8. Despite my “I-don’t-like-new-people” mentality, I did manage to get out to the Cheonan Language Xchange meeting. I only went because Snickers told me to. I anticipated running into numerous Koreans who wouldn’t want to speak Korean to me but would instead be all about English. But considering yesterday’s first meeting with Goldilocks was certainly a success, I thought I’d play the odds again and head out to the meeting. After I said my introduction to the group in Korean, I knew my Korean level had smoked the other foreigners who had come out. The Koreans outnumbered the foreigners but so did the amount of English being spoken compared to Korean. I could have been more aggressive and I suppose I should have spoken up more but my hopes with improving my Korean at this meeting crashed and burned.

9. I had gone to boxing early so that I could come to this meeting. Snickers knows me… knows me too well in fact because he knew to only give me forty minutes before I’d need him to save me from this meeting. “Change your mind, change your life” is what he told me. I don’t feel I fit this group because unlike the other foreigners who are fresh off the plane, I’ve been here in Korea a long time so many things aren’t so fresh anymore. I was once in their shoes, so I can totally understand them just starting out with the language and whatnot, but I’m not there anymore. I JUST WANT TO SPEAK KOREAN. I don’t want to speak English and I definitely don’t want to teach English for free. I don’t have any bad feelings towards the group but I didn’t join the group for any other reason but to improve my Korean. I’m trying to “change my mind”, like Snickers said, but it’s hard.

10. Snickers had a good laugh at me and all jokes were on me tonight when later in the evening I got notice that I was just made the co-organizer of the language exchange group. So, as it stands, I am now apparently the weekend organizer. This should be interesting.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do you know what a 'jersey-move' is?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Change your mind, change your life.
-- Snickers

Say hello to my new friend...
isn't she so sweet looking?!

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, March 21

1. Word from KBC is that Snickers may be scheduled a fight next month, so I rolled over and caught some more zzz’s while he headed off to boxing.

2. Today I was excited to be heading off to Seoul to meet my new friend, Nurse Goldilocks. Snickers is always telling me that my Korean language skills are impressive but today I was definitely going to be put to the test. The two of us, Nurse Goldilocks and I, were going to meet up and head over to Insadong for some dinner and shopping.

3. I was nervous about the meet-up and thought it’d either be really good or really bad, so I got in a couple of extra hours of studying vocab before I headed out.

4. Snickers rushed home from boxing to see me off. He had scored a bloody bruised lip from sparring with Black Skinny. Call me crazy but I love his so-called ‘battle wounds’. I’m big into things like scars, obvious marks on the body that are sure to have some kind of interesting story attached to it. My favorite scar of Snickers is the three inch scar on his right hand from where he broke it in a bout and they replaced the bone with a metal plate. I remember the day I caught him sitting in the kitchen taking out the stitches with his teeth!!!

5. While on route to Seoul, Wonder Bread called me a half dozen times. Finally, I agreed to take his call. He heard through a common friend that I got married, so he repeatedly asked me if I was happy. Of course I am happy, I’d be crazy not to be. I’ve married my most favorite person, Snickers. Anyways, Wonder Bread insisted that he was only calling because he wanted to know if I knew any foreigners who he could be friends with. “I want to practice my English – a language practice friend” he said. I had a good laugh at that because the last time I met him English was definitely not what he was trying to practice and, if I stand correctly, he didn’t even want to talk – not Korean and definitely not English. He asked me if I could give him the number of my rugby playing female friend in Seoul. She’d chew him up and spit him out, but then again, maybe that’s what he needs. Regardless, I refused to help him out. I don’t really many foreign friends in Korean, none of which are deserving of the stress he’d surely give them either!

6. Well, my bus arrived and then I met up with Nurse Goldilocks. We had a bit of a mishap with the meeting location. I had told her to meet me outside of Dunkin Donuts at the terminal but I totally forgot that there were two of them. I didn’t really know how to initially great her, so there was a couple of seconds of awkwardness and then we hugged.

7. In Insadong we didn’t really do much window shopping, it was more or less just us two girls walking up and down the streets chatting and giggling the time away. Nurse Goldilocks took me to one of Insadong’s famous restaurants and then we headed to a coffee shop to get away from the insanely busy streets and the chilly chill of the outside weather.

8. Not too sure of what exactly it was we talked about but we talked a lot – for 5 hours! I was proud to note that I only had to depend on my cell phone dictionary a total of three times. I had a good time with her, correction, I had a great time with her. She’s a really sweet and a really smart girl. We texted each after we both went our own way home, so I have high hopes for this new found friendship.

9. The last bus back to Cheonan was scheduled for 11:20pm and I had a ticket for it. With ten minutes for me to wait, I decided to check out what food vendors were open. Stopped by a toast sandwich and got into a funny chat with the man running it. He was watching K1 fighting on TV and I mentioned to him that I love boxing. Well, one thing lead to another and next thing I knew it he was asking for my signature and offering me a free toast sandwich in exchange… hahaha.

10. It’s always nice to get out but it’s always nice to come back home. By the time I arrived it was quite late and Snickers was quite eager to see me, so eager in fact that when I got off the bus I spotted him running down the street towards me.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's a friend to you?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
-- Carl Jung

Baby Tae Hyun celebrating his first birthday... in style!!!

Okay, so although I am not into babies, I must admit that these pictures of Tae Hyun are adorable. Don't get any ideas though, I don't foresee any diaper-changing in my life any time soon.

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, March 20

1. Woke up and kicked my own Polish butt at running today. Note to self though, it’s about time I pack away my ‘heavy run winter layers’ for next winter unless I want to risk drowning in my own sweat!!!

2. I’ve switched to watching all Korean TV shows or putting the TV on mute and only reading the subtitles when I do watch the odd English-speaking show in attempts to take my Korean language studying to the next level. I no longer watch “Project Runway” the American version but instead have started to watch “Project Runway Korea”. The language level is pretty high on “Project Runway Korea” but I find watching the notorious Korean gag shows are relatively easy to follow along because they pop up the key words and phrases in Korean writing on the bottom of the screen. It’s definitely much easier to read the Korean than to try to follow along at their fast pace.

3. Tomorrow I will be heading out to Seoul to meet Nurse Goldilocks and as excited as I am to meet this girl who’s been nothing but super eager to meet me and ultra sweet, I am nervous. I’m nervous because although I’ve been studying Korean like a mad woman, averaging about 3 hours a day these past couple of weeks, and am confident with my Korean level being much higher than most people expect of me, or any foreigner actually, I am nervous I will forget all my Korean and be left with nothing to say. I don’t want it to be a frustrating experience and I really hope we click.

4. Honestly though, I know I shouldn’t think about it so much, after all I went through the same feelings of doubt when I first met Cherry Pie. But look at Cherry Pie and I now, we totally click.

5. My evening plans solely revolved around Black Skinny’s baby boy’s first birthday. In Korea, a child’s first birthday is especially important because back in the day the fatality rate among babies was very high, so many babies didn’t make it to their first birthday. Of course times have changed since then but the custom of going all out for a baby’s first birthday still remains. Tonight it was beautiful little Tae Hyun’s birthday party. It was set at a wedding banquet hall in Cheonan.

6. I love the fact that my husband has great style and I love the fact that he loves to dress me up. I must have thrown a couple dozen shirts, pants and whatnot onto the bed for him to pick from. The fact that we’d be taking the scooter eliminated the skirts and dresses. For my outfit, Snickers picked out a pair of tight brown dress pants, a body-hugging white collared dress shirt that had a low neckline, a cute little black leather jacket, and then he topped it off with a pair of brown open-toed suede heeled boots, a diamond butterfly necklace, chunky silver earrings, a trendy silver bracelet, and my black rose ring.

7. We arrived to a very packed banquet hall. There were pictures of Tae Hyun everywhere and I recognized quite a good number of people. Snickers and I were then greeted by Black Skinny, his wife, and a very cute Tae Hyun. The three of them wore matching hanbuks and they looked absolutely beautiful! I couldn’t help but get super giggly at the sight of Black Skinny being Papa Black Skinny. I’m so use to seeing him at the boxing club as a fun but hard training boxer, so seeing him act all mature felt so different. I was happy to note that along with Junior Mint, eleven other boxers from my club had come out to show their support to Black Skinny. We all giggled at the sight of each other dressed to impressed… hahaha.

8. One of the traditions at a Korean baby’s first birthday celebration consists of the birthday baby picking one item from an assortment of things on a table. It is believed that the baby’s future can be predicted based on what the baby picks. On Tae Hyun’s table of things to pick there was money, a pencil, one mini boxing glove, and a couple other things. Black Skinny tried to lure Tae Hyun into picking the boxing glove, while Black Skinny’s wife tried to get him to pick up the money. Tae Hyun, however, picked up the pencil… and wouldn’t let go of it… hahaha. Apparently a pencil means that he will become a scholar.

9. Ran into Q, marking tonight the second time in a just over a week, but unlike last time, this time he never said hi to me. He did say hi to Snickers but I think it was only because he practically fell into him. In addition to running into Q, there were a couple other out-of-the-blue people that popped back into my life tonight, the first of which was a student of mine from three years ago. He sent me a text message tonight and that turned into quite the text message marathon after Black Skinny’s party.

10. At 12:20am, when I had cuddled up to Snickers and was dozing off, I got a text message. “I miss you” was the message. Snickers hadn’t seen the message, nor does he care about what messages I get, but he questioned it because I had gasped and turned my phone off. It was from Wonder Bread. I haven’t spoken to him for about 6 months now not only because he had gone to New Zealand to study English but also because I was sick of his “but we are destiny” spiel he’s been giving me for over two years now. He had no regard for the fact that I was in a relationship when he first started his destiny spiel, so I want nothing to do with him because I am sure he still has no regard and no respect despite the fact that I am now married.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Have you found your Prince Charming yet?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Like anyone else, there are days I feel beautiful and days I don't, and when I don't, I do something about it.
-- Cheryl Tiegs

It was just one of those days a girl goes through.

Highlights of my Day... Friday, March 19

1. It was a bad day, for the most part that is, and I just couldn't shake some things. I hadn't slept well on account that I let some of yesterday's words and whatnot get too deep under my skin. However, today ended up being a day full of advice. It started off with a dream about my Korean culture professor from University. “Remember one thing, keep your mind open in Korea because Korea is the land of one people – Koreans” I’ll never forget him telling me this. It was on my last day of class, still some time before I would actually head out to Korea. I had told him that I needed to go get my head out of these books and experience Korea for myself. Another professor told me once, “Just because something is different doesn’t mean it is wrong”, this too has stuck in my head. Trying to use their words of wisdom in my life has been hard but I’m trying.

2. Another person who offered up advice was Junior Mint. He gave Snickers advice, telling him to take extra care with me.

3. It was just one of those days when I really wanted and really needed to be alone, so I jumped on an express bus to Seoul.

4. I went shopping.

5. Returned to Cheonan, headed to Coffee Bean for some peace and quiet and a good cup of strong coffee. My good cup of strong coffee was rudely interrupted by some random Korean guy peering over at me. I tried to ignore him but it was pretty hard to continue to do so when he invited himself to sit down at my table.

6. When he had the nerve to ask for a sip of my coffee, I didn’t say anything but instead held up my fist. It was pretty clear my answer was no.

7. Unknown to this uninvited stranger at my table, I figured out that he wasn’t quite a stranger after all. It’s been three years since I’ve seen him and I thought it rather ironic to note that back then I tried hard to talk to him but he ignored me. Yet here we were tonight, me trying to ignore him and he trying his hardest to get me to talk. Where I know him from is my boxing club. He’s part Japanese, part Korean, and I remember him because he use to be the “wanktta” (loner) at my boxing club. He trained really hard, had a super hard body, but just as hard as he trained he tried equally hard to remain anti-social and not talk.

8. Had to recruit help via text messages… hahaha. I had been sitting there for about 40 minutes trying to get this guy to get the drift to leave but was unsuccessful. I think the fact that I knew him from before was the only reason why I didn’t just come out and tell him off. He said he wanted to practice English conversation with me but I tried to stick to only speaking Korean.

9. Not only did Cherry Pie come to my rescue but so did her husband and so did Snickers.

10. Was back to feeling myself, so Snickers and I walked around downtown, got some street food and then enjoyed some of Baskin Robins’ good old loving ice cream in a dish.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do you ever have 'one-of-those-days'?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
-- William James

Note that they've attached the word "starvation" to the lesson about North Korea, very appropriate but so very sad.

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, March 18

1. Regardless of the beautiful but awful mounds of snow outside, today it was spring in Ggum Guum in that Snickers and I did a good spring cleaning. We got down and dirty, cleaning the house from top to bottom. Somehow I got stuck on bathroom duty, I wasn’t too thrilled with that, but Snickers had to deal with picking up all the furniture, so I guess it balanced out.

2. So much for Snickers studying English or helping me with my Korean studies. After we finished cleaning and finished eating lunch, it was lights out for him.

3. Despite technically not have met them yet, I have lost interest in the Cheonan English-Korean Language Exchange Group. My first attempt with catching up with them was a total bust, so I tried again – Snickers idea. I was hesitant but went along with it and tried to arrange a Sunday meet-up, no such luck again. Only one person wanted in on it, a guy.

4. Plan on sticking to my two girls – Cherry Pie and Nurse Goldilocks – for improving my Korean. I asked Cherry Pie if she would be so kind as to correct my Korean diary writing and she said yes. And as for Nurse Goldilocks out in Seoul, she’s a mad text messager, text messaging me a couple of billion times a day, all of which are in Korean.

5. I’ve yet to meet Nurse Goldilocks face-to-face but we text message each other every day, she already calls me ‘Older Sister’, and I think she’s really sweet. She’s an operating nurse at a hospital in Seoul, so she works long hours during the week. The plan is to meet up this weekend in Seoul, do some window shopping and hit a café in Myoung-Dong.

6. Oh my gosh… tell me I didn’t just see that!!! Snickers used my hairspray as air freshener in the bathroom!!!

7. Snickers had promised Mama Kim we’d stop by for dinner, so that’s exactly what we did.

8. I’ve been using “.. but I’m not a Korean girl” somewhat as a crutch to get me out certain sticky situations and discussions. Consequently, I’ve been getting “but this is Korea” as a response to my crutch sentence, but when Mama Kim looked me straight in the eye and said “It’s Korean rule – women do the cooking”, I almost got out of it nearly choking to death on a piece of kimchi. I looked to Snickers to save me. I was drowning in Mama Kim’s invisibly-written-somewhere so-called Korean rules. By now I am use to random people asking me “when are you going to have a baby?” but tonight a new question got thrown at me, “Amy, how many babies are you going to have?” I thought it funny to say “one and a half”… hahahaha.

9. Killed the “Korean rules” conversation by adding my two Polish-Canadian cents. “Isn’t it Korean rule that men make the money?! But in our little family I make more money than him… and I don’t even work!!! “

10. Living in Korea, and now that I am married to a Korean man, is like a double-edge sword.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Where are these Korean rules written?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-- Albert Einstein

Holy shiny!!!

And holy snow!!!

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, March 17

1. With high hopes and anticipation for today being Snickers’ first day at his new job, I woke up early and prepared him breakfast. I didn’t really care so much that he was starting a job but I did care about how proud he seemed with now being able to financially contribute to us.

2. No sooner had he just finished breakfast but his phone rang. It was now 8:23am and it was Samsung calling him. They had called to tell him not to come to work today, or any day for that matter. Yesterday he had a great interview but in between yesterday’s great interview and today’s call, the fact that Snickers did ‘hard time’ got in the way. Snickers had told them up front his history and whatnot but I think what happened was as impressed as his interviewer was and as much as his interviewer wanted to help him out, someone higher up must have not approved. Snickers was told it was a ‘security rule’ that he had to have a clean record, and with that, Snickers’ big beautiful smile dropped from his face.

3. I felt terrible for him. He said it was ok and that it didn’t bother him but I knew there was no way that it didn’t upset him. I didn’t want to smother him with words or through him a pity party, so I hugged him and told him that I was proud regardless. Later on in the day he broke the news to his father on the phone. K-Gere felt so sad for Snickers, we all did. And regardless of what people may say or what people may think about Snickers have had done hard time in the slammer, I’m glad he went. After all, we can think of a million and one positive ‘maybe’ situations linked to if he hadn’t gone to jail but what about all the negative ‘maybe’ situations that would have happened had he not gone. Snickers is one of those people who needs a hard lesson to learn a point and him going to jail taught him more than one lesson that I’m sure had he not gone he definitely would not have learned. He’s still got a bit of a bad-boy streak in him but it has definitely been tamed down. Moreover, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if he hadn’t gone to jail he would have never started boxing and if he hadn’t started boxing he and I would never have met. Everything happens for a reason, but often more than not there are other reasons and definitely lessons to be learned.

4. I thought I’d leave Snickers alone for a bit and let him deal with the disappointment on his own terms, so I met up with Cherry Pie. We met up for coffee and then headed out to get our nails done.

5. Returned home to the Snickers I saw before 8:23 this morning – an overly happy and big smile-wearing man. He said he had good news waiting for me, so we headed back out to go see the good news he was talking about.

6. Turns out his good news was the fact that my new wedding ring came in a day early. The jewelers replaced my original ring that sported a flaw with a new super shiny one; it was beautiful!!! So with my nails so perfectly polished and painted, and my new ring ultra sparkly and shinny, Snickers and I headed to Mainz for dinner. I had promised him yesterday to take him out for a special celebration meal and insisted on continuing with the plans despite the whole Samsung situation.

7. Snickers practically ate his weight in meat… hahaha. Dinner was then followed by a movie. I figured I’d save Snickers the hassle of having to face all our questioning team mates at boxing tonight by continuing our little dinner date with a movie. No one was expecting us at boxing tonight because he had told them yesterday that he’d be starting a new job and would be working late on his first day.

8. We had about an hour to kill before the movie, so we checked out Kyobo Bookstore and then ended up running into his older sister and mom (Mama Kim). I’m pretty much over the whole ‘you-scare-me’ feeling with regards to Mama Kim so it felt fine seeing her. She’s all touchy-feely with me, which is fine, but I have to laugh at the fact that my favorite in-law is K-Gere and in between him teasing me and making faces at me, unlike Mama Kim who touches me softly, K-Gere likes slapping my hands and punching me in the shoulder… hahaha.

9. Scored $50 from Mama Kim… sweet!

10. By the time the evening was finally coming to a close, Snickers had forgotten all about this morning’s disappointing phone call and was back to being his cute, cuddly self. He sat down beside me and together we read the book I had bought today. It’s meant for Korean students learning English but it works just the same for me learning Korean. Today’s diary focus was on nicknames, so I took my crack at it and tried to write down some of my own ideas and sentences. Here’s some of what I wrote:

내 별명은 카멜레온이에요. 내 복싱 관장님이 자꾸 불러요. 관장님 나한테 에이미 복싱 클럽 밖에 있을때 예쁜 여자에요. 하지만 복싱할때 힘세고 공격적인 복싱선수에 … 여자 아닌것 같아다고 했어요!

나 고등 학생 있었을때 친구들 나한테 교회 여자 라고 했어요. 하지만 그 친구들하고 그 별명 정말 미워요. 그래서 그 별명은 듣기 싫아요.

내 엄마 이름은 아이로나에요 하지만 내 아버지 엄마한테 신디 라고 불려요. 왜 신디 사용한지 몰라요. 하지만 엄마 좋아해요…ㅋㅋㅋ.

Translation:
My nickname is Chameleon. That is what my boxing coach calls me. My boxing coach tells me, “Amy, when you are outside the boxing club you are a pretty girl but when you are boxing you become a strong and aggressive boxer... I don’t think you are a girl!”

When I was a high school student my friends called me Church Girl, but honestly I don’t really like those friends and that nickname. Therefore I hate to hear that nickname.

My mom’s name is Ilona but my dad calls my mom Cindy. I don’t know why he uses ‘Cindy’ but my mom likes it… hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Who invited the freakish snow fall?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
-- Kin Hubbard