First I had my listening class students just simply listen to the song. I asked them to think about what they think the song is about, what words they heard repeated a lot, and what feeling they got from it.

And then I played them this little animated version of the song and we discussed what they thought the story behind the song was.

And for BRBKorea, here are my course homepage links:

My Reading Class

My Listening and Pronunciation Class

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, March 31

1. Apparently my first period class are all jokers cause when I arrived to class today they all were sitting at the back of them room… as far away from me as possible. This all stemmed from a comment I made last week when they sat at the back and asked them, “Why don’t you move up? I smell good.”

2. Couldn't help but feel like I had just adopted 33 kids today in my first period class. Students showed up late, some were sleeping, that one particular girl came hung-over again (or sick... maybe both), and I walked in to catch a bunch of them copying each other's homework. I really didn't want to lecture them about manners, and lack there of theirs, and so instead I decided to do a surprise homework book check. Out of 33 students only 7 of them had brought their homework books.... ouch. Tough lesson to learn... tough lesson to give, too.

3. Two more weeks, that's how long I'm giving this one student before she fails. It's brutal but it's true. We've only had five classes together but 3 out of the 5 of them she's shown up hung-over and slept through most of my class. I've of course have marked her absent but each time I've tried to approach her with concern and talk to her. Today I learned, she just doesn't care. She doesn't care about my class, about me, about her classmates... about anything but herself. I know you can't change people, you can only hope and try to make them want to change. If she sleeps through one more class though, she'll automatically fail my class. One more week isn't enough time to help her change her ways.

4. One of the two students that totally are my "life-line" in my first class was absent today and so I tried my best to stay afloat with just one life-line student. I don't know what it is about this class but their energy levels are in the minus levels. They're good students but just so quiet... so quiet!

5. As if teaching a class full of students who don't even say "boo" wasn't hard enough, the university has given me a drier than dry textbook to teach from. I would have used it as a coaster on my table if it weren't for the fact that I'm embarrassed and can't believe someone actually picked this textbook for us to teach. It's pages are jam-packed with words and so it's visually very discouraging but it isn't until you read what's written that you see the true brutality of the text. So, today I decided to scrap any hope of teaching from the book and instead I taught them a song, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando.

6. While talking about the song, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree”, I mentioned that the ending was so incredibly sweet and romantic and so one student asked me, “Is your boyfriend romantic?” Come to think of it though, I don’t think I’ve ever dated a romantic guy. There was Byung Ryang who’s idea of romance was waiting till White Day to finally tell me “I love you”. Pretty Boy’s idea of romance came with a price tag, a bill, that I often more than not had to pick up and pay. Busan Boy’s idea of romance was calling me a trillion-billion times on my cell phone, which only annoyed me because I can’t stand talking on the phone and, as a result, I placed his name in the “stalker-style” list on my phone. My ex-fiance’s idea of romance was proposing to me in the basement of his house two days before I left for Korea and so ya… kind of a problem for me. I use to like this one guy though, back when I was 18. We had met at a Christan Resort where I was working as a children’s Sunday school teacher. After he and his family left the camp, he started to write love letters to me. I ended up leaving him though to date a bad boy, but I still have his love letters that oozed with sappiness. Speaking of which, just last week he came across me on Facebook and messaged me. He’s now engaged, as anyone who can write such heart-pounding love letters would likely be. But as for Q, hmm…. his idea of romance is more practical, like walking Mi Nam, giving me boxing tips, and doing my dishes. I’ve tried to be romantic with him by lighting the house with candles and writing random notes that I’d hide in his shoes or whatnot, but he showed up too late and I almost burnt my house down as a result. And as for the letters, some he didn’t see and so he walked around with them in his shoe. I once told him that I thought it was romantic when a guy gives me the last bit of whatever we’re eating together, like the last scoop of ice cream or the last sip of coffee. Of course I don’t eat ice cream or drink coffee these days but the idea still applies to other foods and drinks, and let me tell you, Q has definitely been pushing this idea… hahaha. Tonight he shared yogurt with me and upon offering me the last little bit, he said “here you have the last… because it’s romantic.”… hahahaha.

7. I think the most romantic guy I’ve ever encountered was Drama Boy but we weren’t even a couple. We were more or less testing the waters at a most inappropriate time for me (while I was heartbroken because of Byung Ryang). At the time I had injuried my leg and so every day he use to rub medicated lotion on it. He tucked me into bed before he went home, often picked me up from school and brought banana milk to surprise me, he even once kissed Mi Nam for me… hahaha. But what I thought was the most romantic was the notes he use to leave for me to discover in the morning. After tucking me in bed, he’d turn on my computer, type a couple of Konglish sentences and then leave. His English at the time wasn’t very good but what he wrote was from his heart and it was his attempt at being very open and honest with me. I know he loved me, as did I to him but not in the way that he wanted, deserved, nor I wanted, and so we stayed friends. I still have many of his morning messages saved on my computer, here is my favourite:

To amy
Ahh……….
What about your leg…?
괜찬아? Today is hospital promise and pet-store promise (total 2 promise)
Too busy day….
……
……..
……….
……..ahh……. amy….. honestly….i felt sad last night
Do you see boy about me? I am not boy…. Age is big problem? I don’t think so….
… when u said me I am a student and boy….. I don’t like this sentence…
Please…….don’t say student and boy about me.... please………..
If other people say about me…me is student and boy … its ok.. but I wish …
I want…..i am MAN in front of YOU….
I can promise you THIS….. I love you more than anyone in the world
…..
………….this is my perfect moment with you…

8. Psychologically speaking, tonight I brought my students to boxing. It was quite clear I did so, too. I just couldn't focus and, with everything I do wrong at boxing, out came good ol' faithful... the four-foot beating stick.

9. Got quite the double-dirty looks tonight at the end of training when Junior Mint told me to weigh-in. I always wear several layers while training and so I peeled down to my pants and white tank top. It's no surprise at how much one sweats during training and so, needless to say, my white tank top had become somewhat see-though, thus making it quite obvious that I was wearing a hot pink sports bra underneath. I didn't think anything of it but I instantly felt like a pervert, a kind of freak, when I got a dirty look by a particular amateur boxer (age = 34).

10. OK, so I'm not so shy with my body, nor can I really be at boxing, a sport that constantly makes us strip down to our bare necessities for weigh-in. I weigh-in 6 days a week. Moreover, I've seen all my teammates in their skimpy panties and, on any given day pretty much, I can tell you what colour and what style of undies my teammates are wearing. So, I thought his reaction was quite immature and he had made me out to feel rather insecure and definitely uncomfortable. Now had I not had been wearing a bra, OK, then there'd be reason for a reaction... hahaha. Q’s back from Busan and let me tell you this, he may not call me beautiful and he may not often flatter me, but he definitely didn’t complain when I opened the door wearing what I had wore to training… he did however note that I really needed to shower... hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Is romance dead?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Having someone wonder where you are when you don't come home at night is a very old human need.
-- Margaret Mead

Proudest day of my boxing career: November 5th, 2007.

The day I got my professional boxing license in Seoul, South Korea and became the first and only foreign female to become a professional boxer while residing in Korea.

Most heartbreaking day in my boxing career: February 23rd, 2008.

It was my first fight and I lost... lost more than the fight. My heart broke and it took me a good couple of months to even bring myself to look at these pictures.

They say what doesn't break you, makes you and it's true. This day left me very broken for some time but now I am much stronger because of it.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, March 30

1. Great, now not only does Italiano call me “Mrs. Robinson” but now so does one of my coworkers… hahaha. In my defence, I’ll say this, just because I’m older and am a teacher now doesn’t mean I can’t do it all in style. I love my jewelery and clothes, and yes, 9 out of 10 times I’ll pick style over comfort.

Acquired Nicknames of my Past & Present (that I remember):
Baby Bear
Henryetta
Mercedes
Blondie
Spaz-owski
Poo
Chameleon
Bere-Bum
Flipside Girl
Su Hyun

2. It’s been pretty cool and very self-rewarding to have taught some of the same Dankook students for a couple of semesters now and there’s one particular student that continually fascinates me. He went from being this bad boy, MP3-listening student who sat at the back of my class and who tried every means possible to get out of volunteering, participating and doing work. This semester marks our third class (maybe even our fourth class) together and now he won’t stop talking… how ironic, I love it!

3. During silent reading class, I approached this very same student… let’s call him “Golden Boy”. When I asked Golden Boy what he was reading for my class he showed me his article. It was clearly beyond his level so I suggested he use one of my extra articles. As it turns out, however, he’s been studying this article everyday for the past week and he’s set it in his mind that he’ll conquer it… wow, mad, mad props to him for that; that’s awesome!!! I tell ya, at that very moment I couldn’t have been more proud of him.

4. Today’s class article was titled “I Cut the Cheese” and yup, it was about tooting and yup, I felt rather silly talking to a room packed with university students about tooting.

5. When I asked for a volunteer in class, a student responded with “a volunteer to toot?”… hahaha. Gotta love Korean students… kids may say the darnest things but my Korean students say the funniest things… hahaha.

6. Tang is convinced that the label “Trouble Maker” should be added to my list of acquired nicknames after Little Miss I-Deserve-A-Kick-To-My-Head showed up for boxing tonight. Note, I keep on changing her name and I apologize. She’s the girl that some months ago wiped my dirty gym sock on Junior Mint’s face… ya, now you remember her. Anyways, my means of dealing with her lately has been to ignore her despite a couple of teammates of mine who are quite consistent with egging me on, insisting I just punch her. I can’t just punch her though… gosh no.

7. Maybe I am a trouble maker though. I’ve been thinking about it lately and yes, I think I am somewhat a troublemaker. I’ve been raised by two parents who are quite opposites when dealing with situations. My father is the calm, cool, collective one but my mother, God bless her soul, she’s a strong-headed Polish/Austrian who’s not shy with expressing her self. Both my parents have a strong and very definite set of beliefs but they both go defending them in opposing ways. I use to be more like my mother in how I reacted to situations but now I’m more of a balanced mix of both. Living in a country where I didn’t originally speak (and am still learning) the native language, where everything is really not what life use to be like for me in Canada, has taught me a great deal of patience. But I still have those “invisible do-not-touch buttons” on me that if pushed, will and do bring out the more aggressive, very open, very honest side of me.

8. What I said to that Leechard Hair Shop girl the other day was my brutally honest opinion of her and some may think it was inappropriate of me to say it, I think it was somewhat inappropriate too to a bit, but sometimes people need to hear the brutal truth and need to be put in their place. OK, fair enough, I definitely put her in her place but maybe I should have placed her there more gently. I know that now though, but at the time I was too preoccupied with trying to relax myself and refrain from literally knocking her into her place, like with my fist.

9. Guess what?! Boxing rankings in Korea came out today and guess who is number four?!!!... ME! Yup, I am ranked fourth in the Korean female flyweight boxing weight class! This is awesome news for me in that my sponsors are going to be all over this like white on rice but bear in mind that it also brings up the fact that there are so few currently active female boxers in Korea. My opponent this past February is in 2nd place. Mind you, they don’t even have a current female flyweight champion in Korea which only proves how tough it is to score a scheduled fight…. Damn. Both exciting but frustrating. Never the less though, I’ll happily take fourth place and gladly reap the royalties of it.

10. Despite my ranking however, it didn’t get me out of getting my daily beats from Junior Mint and his four-foot long beat stick that apparently seems to be my new training “partner”… ouch!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What do YOU do with the past?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him.
-- Aldous Leonard Huxley

I am anti-social, pro-dog... hahaha.

Couldn't resist taking some pictures of Mi Nam. I'm a proud mommy.

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, March 29

1. My mom sent me a box of Lucky Charms as a part of my Western goodies Christmas gift back in December but I’ve been rationing them. They’re still magically delicious but they kind of crunchy now and the marsh mellows are rather chewy, almost painfully chewy… hahaha.

2. Am not a big fan of Sundays considering I don’t train on Sundays but instead spend it planning my weekly lecture Power Point file.

3. Soooo…. when Junior Mint texted me, asking where I was, I knew that meant he was at the boxing club and so off I went. He asked me to pick him up some lunch and so we had lunch together at the club. With Black Skinny’s fight coming up soon, he’s training seven days a week and so I sat around watching him train.

4. This week’s focused reading in my reading class is titled “I Cut the Cheese!” and yes, just like the title implies, it’s about tooting. Am sure it’s going to be rather humorous but embarrassing standing in front of university students talked about strange facts regarding tooting. Did you know that the average person toots 14 times a day?! I once told Junior Mint that foreign girls can’t toot but Mi Nam, oh gosh Mi Nam, he definitely makes up for that… hahaha.

5. I’ve been successful with switching Mi Nam to afternoon walks but nothing is quite as embarrassing as doing poop-duty and discovering too late that there’s a hole in the bag… nasty!

6. Spent a good part of my day distracting myself from working on my Power Point and lesson planning by playing with Mi Nam. You know what, honestly, the more and more I am with this little guy, the more and more I prefer dogs over people. Laugh as you may but at least with Mi Nam, well dog’s in general, he’s so completely honest and loyal. I can’t stand those fake-smile-wearing people. You know who I’m talking about, the people that go around with that oh-so fake life-is-peachy-perfect smile. I can’t stand it. I don’t consider myself to be a pessimist, instead, I think I’m borderline optimist/realist. I wish more people were real though, I mean really-real. It’s OK to have bad days and it’s OK to step on poop and complain about it, so do it because people and their life-is-peachy-perfect smiles have no place in my life except for at Walmart. (Hence why I don’t shop there even when I’m in Canada… hahaha). I don’t really have a set reason as to why I’m stating this comment except for the fact that… ya,… I just wish more people would be real; real with me, real with others, real with themselves.

7. Tang promised to take me out for dinner some time ago and so tonight I took him up on his offer. We headed out to Mainz together, of course… I went for the good stuff considering it was his treat.

8. Dinner with Tang turned into a three and a half hour chat/chow-fest. Mainz is delish and my company wasn’t so bad either… hahaha. After dinner he walked me home... I love that. Props to those Korean mothers who taught their sons what it means to be a gentleman. And as the elevator door closed, I texted him “I hope you appreciated that I washed my hair for you”… hahaha.

9. Got back to business with my Power Point planning. School is already in week five, which is crazy considering how fast time has flew. It seems like just yesterday I was bored out of my skull, desperately trying to fill up my two month holiday with as much training as possible and now my days are so busy with work… well, OK, not so busy with work. Never the less, I’m much busier now these days.

10. Midterms are in week eight and so tonight I sat down and started to plan my midterm for the two courses I’m teaching.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Where did you lose your backbone?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
If you don't stick up for something you'll fall for everything.
-- Author Unknown

OK, so my Korean isn't the best but in the heat of the moment at a downtown hair shop where I was getting royally punked off by a Little Miss Attitude, I scrambled together some sentences in my defence... after which, mind you, I laughed my butt off thinking of how big of a scene me, a foreigner, raising my voice in Korean ended up becoming... oh gosh.

I tried to take a picture of my new hair cut but then I noticed Mi Nam's silly legs in the shot.

So I had to take another shot and change locations... hahaha.

Maybe you can't really tell, but I got tons of layers adding, meaning that over 4 inches of hair in some areas had to be chopped off.

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, March 28

1. No sooner had I fallen asleep last night but today I was waking up. It was 5:40 on a Saturday morning and I had to get up, walk Mi Nam, eat breakfast, and then grab the 7am bus for my 8am tutoring class.

2. My favourite jeans are no longer my favourite considering they don’t fit so snug because of my weight change. I wore them to Seoul but they were too loose. A women stepped on the cuff of them and down they came, forcing my Hello Kitty's to peek out and say “Hello”…. Hahaha.

3. Remember I told you about my Korean teacher’s wallet getting stolen last week? Well, today I got word of what really happened. So here’s the scene, last week while we were studying together a man past by our table and unknown to us no sooner had he walked by our table but he had scooped up her wallet. Yup, that’s right. He stole her wallet while we sat there. We all had thought it happened before I had arrived to tutoring and so my teacher and the cops couldn’t figure it out until they walked the whole surveillance tape. But here’s the freakish twist in the story. Once the dude got the wallet, he then proceeded to the main sitting area in the mall where his “team mates”, if you want to call them that, were waiting with their computers. They hacked into various websites that she had used, in search of the password for her credit/bank card password. Bingo, they found it and then off they went on a shopping spree. How freaky is that?! I mean, I was right there. These dudes were clearly professionals and it makes me sick how some people can totally disregard others and do such cruel things with no conscience. The police apparently know the person leading this whole operation that has been popping up a lot at the Gangnam bus terminal shopping mall but obviously they haven’t caught him yet.

4. Can’t help but feel somewhat responsible for my teacher’s situation considering she sits beside her purse and I always sit across from it. Needless to say though, when she told me the news today, I was super alert of those around me.

5. Did the daring jump and chopped my hair. Am now sporting a very Japanese-like shag-a-delish do and I love it!!!

6. It’s no big secret anymore that I have a tattoo on the back of my neck. It’s a combo of a Biblical scripture reference and a Korean word. Well apparently it was a bit too much for the hair stylist at the Leechard hair shop I stepped into today. I sat there and bit my lip while she and her pudgy little assistant went on and on about my tattoo and talked randomly and rudely about foreigners in Korea. Some of her coworkers exchanged strange glances with her, which only confirmed to me what was going on. I figured though that I’d keep quiet until she was done my hair and so that’s exactly what I did. After my hair cut, she went to help me put on my coat (after she dropped it) but I blurted out in Korean, “Don’t touch me”. I was so ticked and my hands shook a bit because I was afraid that I’d punch her. Obviously I couldn’t punch her. Because of my professional boxing license, one punch would score me a night in jail, for sure. But you know when you’re so fuming mad and you just want to knock some sense into someone?! (both literally and not). Anyways, I may not be Korean but I’m not ignorant to the Korean language and I sure as hell am not ignorant to manners, and the lack of hers.

7. Needless to say my comment was a bit loud so it quickly grabbed the attention of the packed downtown hair shop. I’d say there were over forty people there and more than half of them stopped to hear what I had to say. The stylist waved her hand at me and mumbled some swear words… that was where I just couldn’t bit my lip anymore. It was game on, baby. “No scrawny chick punks me off and gets away with it!” I told myself. I guess you could label me a troublemaker in that I refuse to let some things go but this chick had definitely pushed the wrong button with me and so I called out to her and spoke my mind for all to hear. I had told her to hurry home so that her mother could teach her some manners and although I may have stumbled with a couple of my words, the fact that I said it all in Korean really proved definitely effective.

8. And with that, I slapped down some coins for bus money and left without paying for my hair cut. The manager came to apologize to me when I was walking down the stairs but I kept on walking. I was just so shocked. 98% of Koreans in Korea are super nice but today I had the luck of the draw of running into the two percent of sour duds. The only other time I have ever been treated like this in Korea was a couple of years ago when a car full of guys at a local stop light insisted that I was a Russian prostitute... hence why I now have black hair.

9. Had the joy of escorting some random Korean lady to a restaurant today and by random I mean I’ve never met her prior to her asking me where a good restaurant was. And I say “had the joy” because I love it when Koreans come up to me and ask me questions in Korean like I should understand because the fact of the matter is I should understand. After living in Korea for over 4 years my Korean should be great, and at times (like earlier on today) I think it is. But my point is, I love it when I don’t get that Oh-don’t-ask-her-she’s-a-foreigner look. For the most part, Koreans don’t expect foreigners to speak Korean but they always love it when we throw some Korean words into a conversation. I particularly love it though when I’m not talked to like a foreigner and instead are simply talked to like a person, like I might understand what they’re saying so they give me a shot.

10. As if I didn’t have enough practice with my Korean today, today I trained alone at the boxing club but two young guys came by to check it out. Their first reaction was to apologize and turn back down the stairs but I insisted they come in. They gave me one of those I-don’t-speak-English-so-this-is-awkward looks and so I started to explain to them the rules and whatnot about the club, in Korean. Must admit, I was rather proud of myself. All my hard work and slaving away every single day at my Korean studies definitely paid of today and it felt great. And so, because of it, I spent my whole evening studying Korean.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why do some people have to spoil things for the rest of us?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it's good for ones self-respect to be a punching bag.
-- Edward Koch

Trying to catch a shot of him on camera is quite the tricky task.

He grabs at my camera,

kicks the table I'm leaning on...

and the only shots I'm left with are odd ones like this. His neck looks broken... hahaha

Highlights of my Day... Friday, March 27

1. I hate golf and so spending an hour of my morning working on my putt while I waited for a “certain someone” to show up at his office didn’t impress me.

2. Spent most of my day doing absolutely nothing and then spent the other part of the day kicking my own butt over it. The whole point of waking up early today was to get my long list of things done. Today was definitely unproductive.

3. Yup, that 4-foot long beating stick is definitely a part of my training regimen and I’ve got the bruises to prove it.

4. Added a big bump on my head to my already throbbing butt bruises when Junior Mint accidentally head-butted me during pad work. As a result, my teeth bit down hard and so I spent the rest of training trying to choke down the blood from my poor innocent tongue that got the brutal end of the head butt.

5. Proved to Buff Boy the Original I was quite the girl when I met up with him wearing a mini-mini jean skirt with my tall brown leather boots, a cute black t-shirt ,and my posh ¾ length black pea coat. “See, I AM a girl. No guy wears a skirt like this!” I told him.

6. Plan for the evening was dinner and a movie. We headed out for cheese tak galibi (chicken) at one of my favorite restaurants. Leave it to Buff Boy the Original to come up with the most bizarre dinner conversations. He and I have always been brutally open and honest about things but I’m sure our conversations would disturb many. I’m not too sure why he talks the way he does to me and not to others, he even admitted that he talks to me different.

7. Our dinner conversation ended with a couple of strange and deranged conclusions:

- Mi Nam would be a gay man if he were human.
- Someone should forewarn western men about the personal grooming practices of most Korean women here (and lack there of them)
- Note to self: it’s better to go home with wet hair from the gym than to risk finding out what the “hair” dryer is really used for.
- Apparently most Korean women don’t really grow leg hair… lucky ducks!!!

8. While we were walking over to the movie theater, some woman crashed right into me and so my small cup of coffee he and I were sharing splashed all onto her jacket. She turned to yell at me but upon noticing that I wasn’t Korean she stopped her speech. I, however, told her in Korean “Hey, you have to be careful!” Buff Boy the Original got a good kick out of this and noted that it was only because of my nationality that she didn’t give me an earful. Note the ironic twist though with me commenting to her in Korean… hahaha.

9. Checked out the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”… it was awesome!!! I really loved a lot of the various techniques they used in it, the flashbacks, subtitles that weren’t presented in the usual bottom-of-the-screen fashion, and how they used the whole underdog coming out on top idea. My favorite part by far was when the kid got stuck in the outhouse and was faced with possibly not meeting his most admired celebrity. That was hilarious… hahaha.

10. I had Korean class the next day, scheduled for 8am and so I after the movie I had to call it a night. He walked me home and then we said our goodbyes. Mi Nam, of course, was waiting at the door for me when I came home so I scooped him up and off to beddy-bye we went. No sooner did we hit the sack but I got a text message. It was Pro Star asking me if he and his girlfriend look after Mi Nam some day this weekend. He had told me last time we met about how his girlfriend lets her dog go ape style and run the house. "Her dog just needs a friend" he texted me. I told him I could help but didn't think that it meant lending them Mi Nam. A "friend" isn't what his girlfriend's dog needs, that's not the problem. The problem isn't even the dog either, it's the girlfriend. She may control Pro Star but apparently the dog is much smarter than to let her control it... hahaha. Anyways, I'm not going to agree to Mi Nam being "friends" with her wild child dog. First and foremost, Mi Nam pukes his brains out every time I try to put him in a car so getting him out to Suwon would definitely be a problem. Moreover, he lacks in social experiences and so he doesn't do well with other dogs or people for that matter and he's not a brave dog but is rather sensitive, so any kind of yelling at him or picking him up freaks him out. Pro Star tried to reassure me that he'd be extra careful but I still refused to agree on account that if anything ever happened to Mi Nam while he was in his care I'd kill him.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's your question?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.
-- Bernard Baruch

Us "boys" of UP Boxing Club, Cheonan, South Korea.

Highlights of my Day... Thursday, March 26

1. If I walk to work it takes me 40 minutes, 15 minutes by bus, and 7 if I take a taxi. My point here being that walking is the slowest, taxi is the fastest. Well, today a walker beat me to school. It took me 43 minutes to get to school today by taxi because of the brutal morning traffic mixed with the continual construction scene that’s creating pure traffic mayhem.

2. Blazed if off to class and was greeted by only 4 students, the rest of the class was on MT… great. My little Hongik buddy, who’s now my student and let me tell you it’s a tad uncomfortable standing in front of him teaching, knowing full well that he’s seen me pretty much half naked sweating it out at Hongik fitness… showed up today. (Talk about a grammatically incorrect strange and deranged English sentence there… hahaha)

3. One of my coworkers is a mini project for me in the making after he questioned me about my boxing, training and dieting. He’s looking to get buffed-up and so he eagerly picked my brain about it today. I ended up printing off a copy of the fitness book I wrote and so he told me he’ll come back on Monday with questions… cool. I’m all for people taking control of their health and stepping up to the responsibility of it. I am definitely not the fittest person by any means but there’s a continual satisfaction I feel with knowing I’m doing my body good.

4. Had some annoying “peepers” outside one of my classrooms today who insisted that it was funny to continually jump up and peek into the classroom windows. Needless to say it was quite distracting and so I whipped open the classroom door and yelled at them in Korean. The looks on their face was priceless. I got a somewhat standing ovation from my students for it, too… hahaha.

5. Just as God brought life into this world with Black Skinny’s baby boy, today he took life. Today my coworker got word that his wife in Canada lost their unborn baby. I don’t know what to say except that this is terrible and watching my coworker, a full-grown man, struggle to fight off the emotions as he sat beside me, made me feel helpless and frustrated. I can’t even being to imagine, nor do I want to, the pain and frustration he’s feeling with being more than a plane ride away from her. My prayers and deepest condolences go to them.

6. With exactly a week and two days till one of my brother’s birthday, tonight I went looking for a gift. His birthday is April 4 which, if you haven’t already heard, is the exact day North Korea will be testing a long-range Taepodong-2 missile. A missile that is reportedly able to reach the States. Japan has warned North Korea, telling them that if needs be they will use interceptor missiles to shoot it down if any North Korean missiles threatened its’ territory. I take it next weekend I’ll be staying in.

7. But seriously, all jokes aside, after visiting the DMZ some couple of years ago where my every moment was controlled, restricted, and intensely watched by heavily armed soldiers, I have a whole new perspective on North Korea; a fear of it. There is no other country quite like North Korea. A country that so unconsciously and so easily starves it’s people so that they can put up another government monument, that brainwashes it’s population and has absolutely no care for its’ population except for the gain of its’ government as a means of strength and power.

8. The other day Buff Boy the Original said something along the lines of me having to wear more lace, flowers and pink, to “be more like a girl” and what he said has kind of stuck with me these past couple days. Today I found myself buying a long dress unlike anything I’d normally wear but because it had flowers on it and screamed “I am a girl”.

9. Almost everyone from my boxing K-crew was out at boxing tonight: Panty Boy Jr., S-line-Wanna-Be-Girl, Daejon-D, Little Miss Sunshine, Motor Cross, Black Skinny, and of course Junior Mint and Milk Dud. It’s nights like this at training that I live for here in Korea, when everyone I love at my boxing club comes out and trains together. It makes for a very distracting time however because we’re all a bunch of jokers. In between Little Miss Sunshine acting like a paparazzi with my camera, Panty Boy Jr. trying to steal my focus away by breaking out into random rap sessions while Milk Dud added some strange dance moves to the equation, and Motor Cross trying to kick my skipping robe while I skipped, I did manage to get in a good training session… hahaha.

10. Almost convinced myself that on the weekend, when the club is closed, I’m going to steal that 4-foot-beating stick that Junior Mint has been using on me in training. That thing definitely hurts and leaves my skin stinging for way too long… and I have quite the bruised butt to prove it (not that you want to see it… hahaha.)

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What is tough love to you?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.
-- Mark Overby

Don't try this at home kids and if you do, at least wear some protection (ie. mouth guard, a cup, chest protector for us girls).

Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, March 25

1. Using my nose as an example in class got a lot of laughs but I hate that I have some totally uninvited teeny-bopper pimple forming on my nose. It’s now red, agitated, and a bit angry at me trash-taking it… hahaha.

2. My White Day letter-writing student showed up for class today and I resisted the urge to hug him and overly thank him for the sweet letter that totally hit the spot. He’s been suffering from a stomach problem for awhile now apparently but he showed up wide-eyed and eager to work in class.

3. Both classes I teach today are in the Agricultural Building, a building dreaded by all professors because it’s notoriously known for it’s slow Internet connection, questionable rooms, and brutal computers that work just as much as they don’t work. But like last week, the young tech assistant dropped by my class to check up on my equipment. He’s become a familiar face in class and so the students tease me, telling me that I’m going to have to hand over part of my paycheck if this continues… hahaha.

4. This week various faculties are having their MT field trip and so today a large group from one of my Thursday classes joined one of my classes. Attendance jumped from 45 students to a little over 65. Surprisingly, it was pretty cool to teach such a large group of students and I somewhat prefer it.

5. After class I booted my Polish butt off to the immigration office to finalize my work visa stuff. They were at number 90 when I showed up and it took them a good five minutes to go from 90 to 91. I was number 212.

6. Sitting and waiting bored out of my mind didn’t really interest me and so I headed over to LotteMart beside Immigration. I was hungry and so I popped myself up at the sushi stand in the grocery store, licked my lips and eyed the sushi as it passed before me on the little revolving display.

7. Turns out the sushi master there is a fan of boxing and recognized me. He recognized me from a newspaper interview I did and so he ended up making me a whole whack of tuna sushi because in the article I had mentioned about my diet and how it’s loaded with protein. No sooner did I finish my meal but he then placed down more plates in front of me, insisting that I accept his “service” (aka complimentary sushi). I couldn’t resist. He asked me for my autograph and well, I couldn’t resist that either. I don’t really get asked for my autograph a lot, I tend to get more people asking me to pose for pictures though and so that’s always very cool.

8. As of 3:20pm I became officially legal in Korea for another year… sweet!!!

9. Black Skinny’s baby remains nameless but tonight I set up a sweet joke. I knew everyone would be eagerly asking him questions about his baby at training and so prior to coming, I told everyone to address Black Skinny’s baby as “Hogan” when they talk to him… hahaha. I counted four people who threw the name Hogan into their discussions with him within a time frame of about twenty minutes and so it was hilarious. Scored a good clip across the head for that one but it was well worth it… hahaha.

10. Apparently that 4-foot long beating stick is now as much a part of my training routine as hitting the pads with Junior Mint is. Many watched as Junior Mint stood beside me holding the stick, eagerly ready to hit me with it while I pounded away at the heavy bag and with every left guard I dropped or every minor mistake I made, slap went the stick on my body. I wasn’t the only one who got a beating tonight though. S-line-Wannabe-Girl stepped in the ring with Milk Dud but what started off with them just joking around ended with her scoring a bad body shot that ended it all… ouch!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What drives you?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
-- Harold Whitman

OK, so you can't really see it in this picture but what I'm pointing at is a pimple smack dab on the tip of my nose that is indecisive as to whether or not it wants to grow up or go back into hiding. Either way I'm not impressed. I'm all for teaching my students but being a living-walking-breathing example for tomorrow's "Myths about Pimples" reading wasn't exactly what I had planned... hahaha.

Ya... definitely not liking it... hahaha.

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, March 24

1. Thank you God… thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for the front row boys in my first period class who never fail to bring excess energy and jokes to class. Their English isn't the greatest but they really try hard fun and it's obvious they're having fun doing so. The rest of the class isn’t so bad actually but they’re my shyest bunch of students this semester. But these couple of guys, I tell ya, they’re awesome. They love the spotlight of the class when I ask them to volunteer and so it’s kind of come assumed that they’ll be my weekly volunteers. Good for them too; they’re bound to score a really sweet grade in my class if they keep this up!!!

2. I apparently scored major points with many of my students when one spotted me on Friday with Buff Boy the Original and that photography student doing a project on me (who’ll now be referred to as Pixel from here on in). Upon entering my classroom he was very quick to tell me that he spotted me with two guys and his initial “Who were they?” questioned turned into random questions, like whether or not I’ve ever dated a Korean guy. I thought the questions were somewhat inappropriate for him to ask but I’m not quite so shy with my students and so I answered them. “I love Korean men [and most Asian men for that matter]... and am currently spoken for by a Korean man” I told them. He gave me a kind of I’m-proud-of-you look… hahaha. Telling Koreans that I date Korean men always scores me mad points. The numerous times this very point has come up in random questions is uncountable. Everyone from students, to taxi drivers, the Kimbab Chunkuk lady, and my former director has raised this issue and they’ve all given me the same seal of approval look that is a mix of shock, pride, and curiosity.

3. Got a sweet surprise today when one of my freshmen students approached to tell me that no one in her class will be showing up for my English lecture because they have a school meeting to attend. I love that class but come on, calling it an early day and only having clocked in two hours today was pretty sweet and who was I to complain?!... hahaha.

4. Took quite a beating at boxing today… quite a public beating, too. A beating that literally left me unable to sit for a good couple of hours afterward. Junior Mint has really been toughing up on me with training and so today he kicked it up a notch by threatening to hit me if I repeatedly make the same mistake, my mistake being me continually dropping my left guard.

5. Out came the stick and smack it went on my butt… oh gosh. It’s definitely an embarrassing and humbling experience to stand there as a 28-year-old female and repeatedly get smacked on the rear with a 4-foot long stick in front of a bunch of middle school and high school boys. I got a lot of pity looks from them but none of them dared to ask me if I was OK for fear of getting beat themselves.

6. Had agreed to meet up with Pixel but wasn’t quite too sure on what we’d be doing but I had cleared my whole evening for him. What started off as small talk turned into a downtown photo shoot. So there I was, being asked to randomly pose while the crowded downtown continued going about its’ way. Many stopped to watch and so I felt rather shy. I am by no means a model, oh gosh no. I’m too short and I eat… I eat all day and I eat a lot (clean eating mind ya). We walked all around downtown and randomly Pixel would run ahead of me and take shoots of me walking.

7. The downtown photo shoot was followed by more questions and more chatting at a coffee shop, Rome On Holiday. Rome on Holiday is use to be my favorite place in Korea, mind ya, it use to be called Roman Holiday before they renovated and changed management. Back then it was this smokey dive/coffee shop that had questionable couches and dirty windows. It’s where I use to meet my Ex before he became my boyfriend… and then my Ex. All day I use to look forward to our flirtatious chats here. I remember I use to always lean forward, to catch a whiff of whether or not he was wearing cologne. I love a great smelling man. Anyways… going a bit off topic here…. I’ve been here twice since our long ago break-up, one time being last week when I came here with Buff Boy the Original and Pixel. It felt different tonight though.

8. Am sure my entire body instantly went through all shades of pink and red when Pixel informed me that he’s watched all my YouTube videos!!! He very well may be reading this exact sentence, too. So as it turns out, Pixel has definitely done his research about me… wow. Found out some things about him, too. Besides the fact that he dresses like he's stepped out of a GQ magazine with his trendy clothes, pierce ears, and his perfectly styled hair, he's only a couple of years younger than me, has finished his military service, loves photography... but he doesn't appear to wear cologne despite me assuming he would.

9. It is with my pleasure and my pride to announce that I survived a three and a half hour interview/photo shoot in Korean!!! Don’t get me wrong though, it was hard and I felt half brain dead and brain-drained after cause of the demand of it on my Korean language skills but it was a lot of fun and I really was happy to have pulled it off regardless of not having someone act as a translator. Pixel was a very sweet, very considerate guy to work with tonight and major props to him for baring the chilly weather and walking me home like a proper gentleman.

10. Despite the interview/photo shoot leaving me feeling quite good, my brain felt too tired to study Korean tonight and so instead, Mi Nam and I snuggled on the couch and listened to some mellow music for the rest of the evening.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do you date Korean men?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.
-- Oscar Wilde

Never mind the fact that this blue-eyed blondie is gorgous to start off with and any hair style would look good on her, check out her cut. I love the whole short shag bob.

And I love this girl's cut too. It's kind of a chunky punk style but it looks great. The bangs would mean my hair wouldn't be all in my eyes while I train and I could put the longer layers in a ponytail.

Highlights of my Day... Monday, March 2

1. Must admit that considering how dry most English school textbooks tend to be, the articles in the textbook my classes are using are quite interesting. So far we have only covered three articles but they’ve been pretty cool actually. Doing anything really in another language is hard enough and can be very discouraging and so I am definitely very relieved that although English may is very challenging for many of my students, that at least we’re studying some fun articles together.

“In the Name of Beauty”
Deals with dangerous things people in history use to do to look beautiful, like Queen Elizabeth the First’s hair dye that eventually made her bald.

“Who Took the Tooth?”
Focuses on various cultural myths about what happens and what people do when their children lose a tooth.

This week’s reading: “The Myths of Pimples”
As the title implies, it talks about false ideas concerning the causes and solutions for pimples. The students thought it funny that I use to put toothpaste on random pimples prior to going to sleep. It helped dry the pimple area but it sometimes got messy... hahaha.

2. Students joked with me today, asking me if I had invited Canada to Korea. Last week the weather was very warm and delightfully beautiful but today a chill came to Cheonan. “Canada is visiting” many joked.

3. So Canada was joked about today but the joking didn’t stop there. I was quick to become a joke in class upon pulling out a yogurt drink during class break time. I didn’t know why some were all giggly but the more I drank of my drink, the more they giggled. “That’s a dong [poo] problem drink” one boy finally told me. Great… there I was, standing in front of some 40 students downing down a laxative-type drink which goes to show you how effective advertising is. I had bought in on a sudden whim because I liked the label was colorful and it was two-for-one.

4. My listening and pronunciation class is next to impossible to plan for despite the fact that I’ve already taught this class a couple of semesters ago. This semester I’m not a big fan of the new textbook we’re using and I’m trying to take a different stab at it because the speakers in the classrooms are for the birds. My first listening and pronunciation class of the week is tomorrow morning and they’re a tough, tough crowd.

5. Spent a big, big chunk of my evening planning my Power Point lecture file for my listening class.

6. That university student who I did a photo shoot for and had an interview with the other day texted me tonight. One text turned into a couple and a couple of texts turned into a full-fledge text message conversation. It all started when I ignored his phone call. Talking in Korean, or any second language for that matter, is so hard on the phone and so I answered his call by texting him.

7. Plans are to meet up with him again tomorrow. I didn’t asked Buff Boy the Original to assist me again but instead decided that I’ll rough it out alone.

8. Despite just having had my hair cut this past week, I’m already contemplating changing it. I was initially trying to grow it out but considering my patience with it is wearing thin, I was thinking that maybe I’ll go for a drastic cut or a drastic change in colour. Hmmm….

9. Watched the movie “Changeling” featuring Angelina Jolie, not particularly fond of her but the movie was great. Loved the whole corrupted police theme and the taking-words-out-of-context idea.

10. Gotta love Korea for the fact that you can hold hands with your friends, grandma’s (regardless of if they’re yours are not) feel free to pat you on the bum, you can eat off your friend’s plate, and getting a “I love you” text message from your coach isn’t regarded as something to be concerned about… hahaha . Some days I feel so in love with Korea and all it’s quirks, today was one of those days.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How can I control my life if I can't control my hair?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
I'm not offended by all the dumb-blonde jokes because I know that I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde.
-- Dolly Parton

My buddy Satoshi in Japan sent me links to these videos. Check out the Japanese fighter, Black Skinny will be fighting him next month in Japan.

In Satoshi's email to me, he wrote "I really hope his [Black Skinny] win. He is my Gymmate." It's nice to know that despite the fact that Black Skinny will be stepping into a ring surrounded by Japanese all hoping he'll lose that one of their people is cheering for him.

Highlights of my Day... Sunday, March 22

1. Three things I almost always do when I’m in Little America, besides shaking my head at all the wanna-bes, involve indulging in late-night mandu, waking up to a Western breakfast (bacon, eggs… all the fixings) at Blue Rodeo, and buying a bunch of pirated movies from my little Korean cutie.

2. My little Korean cutie at the movie store apparently doesn’t sell Korean movies on Sundays, or so I was told, I think he just misplaced the Korean movie list book because that's a pretty bogus excuse and I know not they haven't exactly been selling in Little America. Anyway, so I wasn’t too happy about that but it didn’t stop me from picking up some movies and, because he didn’t have his Korean movie list, I scored two free movies… nice!

3. Opted out of the Western breakfast on account that Little America just isn’t the same and I just wanted to leave. Maybe I’m getting too old for night like last night, I don’t think so. Italiano in Canada is older than me but when I’m with him it’s like a competition to see who can keep up with who. Our energy is unstoppable. But here, here it’s different. Maybe it’s me who’s different now; maybe it’s both. I don’t know but what I do know is that Little America has lost it’s spark and is no longer the little bubble world I use to escape to when I craved English and wanted a piece of western life.

4. Not much to say about the rest of my day besides the fact that I slipped into major lazy mode and almost watched three movies back-to-back.

5. The other day I picked up a children’s CD set in hopes of doing a new spin on studying Korean and so today listened to over 50 children’s songs in one sitting.

6. Boredom does one of three things to me, pushes me to go shopping, causes me to take super long naps, or kicks my butt into clean-freak cleaning mode. Today my mini movie-athon was a combination of movie watching and napping but later on in the day I headed out to go shopping.

7. Confused my manager-friend at her clothing shop when we started talking about marriage and kids. “Do you want kids?” she asked. “Why would I?” I responded. I guess my answer wasn’t the best considering her and her husband of three years have been trying to make a baby.

8. I still don’t see what’s all the fuss about having a kid and so I came home and gave myself five minutes only to write up a silly list of all the reasons why I don’t want a kid.

My List(...to humor you. Don't take it so serious)

1. They always complicate things… your life, your relationships, your schedule, everything.

2. Am convinced I may hug it too hard, causing it’s head to pop off.

3. It’s not like he or she would be carrying on my family name.

4. I like my current luxury, care-free way of life by which I am able to come and go as I please.

5. I’ve never felt the need to have someone in my life to complete me.

6. I’m somewhat alone now and so if I can deal with being alone now then I’m sure I’ll be able to master growing old alone before I get old.

7. Children’s Aid would have my number on speed dial considering I sometimes can’t even be bothered or forget to take Mi Nam out (the most low-maintenance dog in the world) once a day for bathroom duty.

8. I refuse to become one of those people who embarrassingly talk baby-gibberish and who's style consists of puke on their shirt for a good couple of years.

9. I don’t really like people touching or getting into my stuff.

10. While most parents would be scolding their kid for fighting in the play ground, I could so see myself scolding my kid because his form wasn’t correct… hahaha. “You have to lean into your hook… lean, I said”… hahaha.

11. Considering all that I’ve done and all that I’ve still yet to be caught for, I’m sure my kid would drive me mental, knowing that a mini-me is walking around.

12. I don’t find babies particularly cute, adorable, or interesting and while most would have fun parenting their baby, I’d be cursing every minute of it under my
breath.

13. A kid is quite a quick way to throw yourself into the poor house.

14. Thankfully the fact that I don’t drive (legally that is) gets me out of car pooling but it’d mean my time and money would be eaten up by doing errands for this little ankle bitter.

15. Mi Nam would never approve of another person stealing my attention away. It’s bad enough he won’t even let Q sit beside me on the couch!

16. Mi Nam is way cooler than any drooling ankle bitter and so why have a kid when I can just get another dog?!

17. I constantly have to clean up and pick up after Mi Nam and Q as it is, and I doubt Children’s Aid would approve of me giving birth to my own personal slave… hahaha.

18. Bulge out at all seams and go on an emotional, food-binging roller coaster for a year only to pop out a kid that will send me on a life-altering roller coaster for the
rest of my life… no thanks. The short two minute kiddie rides at Canada’s Wonderland are all I can handle.

19. Put my boxing on hold while I pop out a kid and then most likely not fight again because of “family” obligations…. Do you really want me to hate kids?! Please… put me out of my misery now.

20. I don’t want to become one of those of so-common parents who’s world revolves around their kid. Now if I could change kids ever so often, like how I change my shoes, than that would be a more interesting world.

21. I want to die old looking and feeling young, not die young looking and feeling old… stress kills and that’s exactly what a kid represents to me, stress.

22. I like coming home to a quiet house where everything is exactly where I left it. And I want to continue to do this. Come home, lay down on the couch and hear nothing but my own breathing.

23. I never bought into the whole “get married, have a kid” Canadian dream so many of my friends pursued. I was always more interested in getting that interesting job and jam-packing my brain with tid bits, lessons and experiences in life, none of which involved a child on my hip.

24. You can kiss your social life and personal space goodbye.

25. I can also kiss splurging on overly expensive make-up and brand name clothing… no thanks.

26. If my attention span with guys is pretty low, you can sure beat that my attention span with a dirty-diaper nagging child is in the minus numbers.

27. I don’t want the responsibility of having to bring up a child. It’s a bit too much for me and I really don’t care to make such a big investment.

28. With so many family-less children waiting to be adopt, why the heck would I want to have my own child. Bob Barker has it all wrong... don't get your pets spayed or neutered, get your neighbor done!

29. OK, so maybe I’d like my kid but it’s just like my dog. I like my dog but I don’t really like other people’s dogs. My kid would definitely have some social issues and I’d be the root of the problem. No sleepovers, no friends over to play…. no situations where I’d become a free babysitter and have to look after someone else’s brat.

9. Joined a friend at Coffee Bean to study Korean which the phrase “joined a friend” should already hint to you that the study wasn’t very productive. None the less, it was nice to get out of the house for a bit.

10. Returned home to slave away at my lecture Power Point file for tomorrow’s reading class.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Seriously, why are some people so set on having kids?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Families with babies and families without babies are sorry for each other.
-- Ed Howe

For the sake that I rather sport "fitness-skin" on my homepage than the skin (and the excess of it) that I saw tonight, my camera stayed in my purse pretty much the whole night. I did however snap a photo of the Air Force security making their rounds at the clubs and the one dude who talked to me.

Highlights of my Day... Saturday, March 21

1. Despite the boxing club now officially being closed on the weekends, I’ve got a key and so I went in for training. Black Skinny has a fight next month and so he showed up too, and with Junior Mint. Panty Boy Jr. dropped by, too.

2. Congrats to Black Skinny for the healthy birth of his “Mini-Skinny” baby boy yesterday who remained nameless up until me showing up at training today. “Your baby has no name?! No… no… no. We can’t have this” and so I officially nicknamed Black Skinny’s baby “Hogan”, as in Hulk Hogan… hahaha. Black Skinny didn’t quite appreciate my joke but Junior Mint and Panty Boy Jr. loved it… hahaha.

3. Turns out when Q said “see you later” to me today “later” meant “next month” as supposed to the assumed “tomorrow”. I knew he had to travel to Busan today for work but I thought he was returning tomorrow… yet another lost-in-translation situation. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that it totally leaves me high and dry for Wednesday when it was planned that Q would go to Immigration for me because I work on the one day immigration comes to Cheonan every week.

4. Pro Star has returned from his golfing tour in the States and so we agreed to meet up in Little America tonight.

5. Because I didn’t have cleavage inappropriately popping out of my shirt, bust out in any mad-grinding, dirtier-than-dirty dance moves, or drape myself over random dudes, it meant I was somewhat the “boring girl” in the crowd and so no one randomly approached me. OK, so maybe all guys aren’t into that, I know, but wow… it definitely was the theme being pushed tonight. Some gave me their double looks, gave me mad eye contact or purposely did a "oops, didn't mean to bump into like that" but that was about it. “Wow how ironic”, I thought. It’s no secret that many Western dudes here are guilty of cracking jokes regarding ‘male size’ in Korea (I pretty sure you know what I’m referring to here) but I found it rather ironic to find myself in an overly packed club full of testosterone-high Western dudes who apparently lack the very ‘parts’ they mock Korean men about… hahaha.

6. I’m not particularly a fan of Western boys (or Western girls for that matter) but one of the main things I use to enjoy about Little America was everyone’s carefree party-goer attitude. It use to be fun here. Talking to random strangers wasn’t read into and wasn’t a big deal; it was the social norm. Everyone wanted to have a good time, or at least they once did. Tonight it felt like I had seriously just walked into a cheap meat market that prized it’s self for having low grade meat because of it’s flashy advertisements in the window…. OK, so that was a strange analogy but whatever… hahaha.

7. Needless to say the whole happy-go-lucky feeling wasn’t there and so I pretty much stuck to my corner of the club, dancing beside the speaker. Just me and Pro Star. One girl talked to me but only because she wanted to know if I had an extra hair elastic and some dude talked to me after I overheard him and his girlfriend tell Pro Star I was pretty.

8. Regardless of the hoochies that continually made me shield my eyes and the fact that almost every guy there was a wanna-be gangster or poser, Pro Star and I had fun. He’s all about “face dancing” and by that I mean he seems to put more effort into his facial expressions than using the rest of his body to dance… it’s definitely hilarious but he loves it so that’s cool.

9. After all the Air Force people rushed off to meet curfew, Pro Star and I went for a light stroll downtown. Indulged in some deep fried mandu and sweet potato. It’s a kind of a traditional treat I allow myself went I come out to Little America well, that and picking up some cheap movies the next day.

10. English TV channels!!! I was like a little kid in a toy store; it was sensory overload. Watched CSI for the very first time; wasn't so impressed. I admit I don’t like watching TV but I’ll also admit that I don’t like watching TV because I get no English channels at my house in Cheonan. I haven’t watched anything in English on TV since last summer in Canada… hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
"What" is she?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Whatever you are be a good one.
-- Abraham Lincoln

Training tonight turned out to be quite exhausting... and expectantly, somewhat disturbingly educational... hahaha.

Highlights of my Day... Friday, March 20

1. Had my meeting at the Canadian Embassy to get my Police background record check notarized and so they asked me to crack open the sealed envelop from my hometown police. I don’t know what I was expecting but I held my breath when I did so. I got a clean slate from the police.

2. During Korean tutoring class my teacher’s cell phone went off. Usually she doesn’t accept phone calls when she’s teaching me but today she got a most important call. It was from her credit card company. Here in Korea you can set it up so that when your credit card is used a text message is sent to your phone. Today she got one of those text messages, one problem though, it wasn’t her who had used her credit card. You can imagine her and my shock when she called the credit company. I frantically searched through her purse while she talked to the company. “We just got word of a purchase of over two thousand dollars that has been made on your card” is what they told her. TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! And with that her hands started to shake and memories of my wallet getting stolen while visiting Canada resurfaced. I felt terrible for her and my immediate reaction was to inquire about the surveillance cameras in Coffee Bean. I remember the coffee shop in Canada where my brutal situation went down. They had cameras but informed me later that they don’t actually tape what the camera catches… it’s just for looks.

3. In between my teacher waiting for me and me arriving, she only stepped away from her purse once, to put something in the garbage. Once is all it takes but what you don’t understand is this is not Canada, this is not America. This is Korea. The sense of safety and security in Korea is incredible and I’ve never heard of anything remotely like this going down. I’ve lost plenty of things here and have left things on chairs and what not but I’ve always had them returned or I’ve gone back and it’s either still there or someone’s turned it into an employee.

4. Needless to say, tutoring ended early and for the rest of the day I felt so bad for my teacher. I would never wish this situation on anyone but my teacher is such a hard worker and I really like her.

5. What I thought was going to be a second photo shoot turned into an interview today with that university student. Buff Boy the Original grace our presence with fabulousness by graciously coming along to help me with translating and so the three of us headed to a coffee shop for the interview. For the most part the questions were pretty general; why did I come to Korea, what obstacles have I had in Korea, etc. At one point he asked Buff Boy the Original what he thought about me, his close friend, boxing and that’s when Buff Boy the Original turned to me and asked, “Do you want me to be honest?” “Yes” I answered. His voiced lowered a bit and so I couldn’t catch all he said but from what I caught and what Korean I understood, I take it Buff Boy the Original isn’t quite the fan of me boxing but I’m pretty sure he understands what it means to me and he respects that.

6. After the interview, Buff Boy the Original and I hit up a local Kimbab Chunkuk. I’m not one to eat Korean fast food so I tried to stick to the tuna kimbab. Tasting a bit of the ramin noodles in some kind of spicy hot sauce with fish left my stomach turning later on at boxing.

7. Leave it to Buff Boy the Original to ask me something like “If you were in a lesbian couple, would you be the man or the woman?”… hahaha. Now I consider him to be incredibly intelligent and completely adorable but some of the things that comes out his mouth, I tell ya, I don’t know whether to laugh or stick a bar of soap in it to wash it out… hahaha. “You’d be the man… I know it!” he added. I tried my best at avoiding the question and instead through a totally of-the-wall, totally not me question at him. I can’t even bring myself to write the question here but I’ll tell you this, it was pretty much the same question but with the word gay as a substitute and I was a bit more “colorful” with how I posed my question. I was hoping it’d throw him completely off guard and my bluntness about it would make him to shy to question… apparently not… hahaha. Conversation ended with him saying, “So if you’re the man and I’m the man, we can be a gay couple”... Hahaha. Oh gosh. It was an interestingly awkward but refreshingly funny dinner chat.

8. As if today wasn’t eventful enough with all these unexpected turn of events, tonight I saw a little too much of Panty Boy Jr. At boxing he had shown me some tattoo designs on the computer that he was pondering over and then he stood up. I seriously thought he was going to show me a secret tattoo on his hip and so I watched with curiosity. Turns out he was just “itching a scratch” but I had seen more than just a scratch… oh gosh. And just when I stepped back in shock, Milk Dud reached out to shake my hand so I yelled out, stepped back again, and crashed into the change room door. Upon realizing what had just happened, everyone burst into laughter but I still felt a bit off. The first time I met Panty Boy Jr. he was weighing-in and it was then that I learned that weighing-in meant dropping your pants and stripping down to your barely-there necessities… Hence why Panty Boy Jr. has his nickname… hahaha.

9. Sat around with Junior Mint watching K-1 fighting on TV after training and so a brutally vicious fight that involved one too many knees to the head for my stomach to handle. I think I’ll just stick to punches to the head and body thanks. No knees or legs for me, please.

10. Ended the evening off with some late night grocery shopping at Home Plus which, I must note, I’m losing my interest in. Not only have my whole wheat bread hook-ups dead and gone but now they don’t even sell my favourite pineapple and cheese yogurt, chestnut milk, or my favourite granola with strawberries cereal. I had to get the runner-up cereal… $12 a box, yikes!!!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
When is honest too honest?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Always tell the truth. Even if you have to make it up.
-- Author Unknown