A winter hat to keep warm.

I know I'm going to sound lame but I have to share this story with you since I'm still giddy and excited. Here's the thing-- there is a Baskin Robbins next to my workplace and they're having a promo in which upon a purchase of a cake, you get a free winter hat (see photo). I wasn't too keen on the idea of purchasing the cake but was REALLY excited about the hat so I asked if I could purchase the hat separately. To my dismay, the owner of the store informed me he could not offer me the hat because each hat comes with a cake (WTF, I know, even after I begged and pleaded... LOL). I was so tempted to steal a hat just outside the store (a blue one perched on the head of a penguin doll) but feared deportation so I stopped myself last minute. *pat on the back* In any event, I went back yesterday (three days after my initial inquiry) and asked if there were any spare hats. Well... GUESS WHAT? He gave me a hat (my choice of colour, it being PINK) and yeah, I'm looking at it right now as we speak. It's on my office desk. ^_*

Another thing-- I have been desperate for a while to go see the Phantom of the Opera in live action. I'm sort of in the middle of searching for good seats. I'm planning on taking my auntie as my date and I'm crossing my fingers there are still tickets available for New Year's Day... =D

Kazakh Hour

I vaguely recall one of my teachers (probably a highschool one) mentioning something about organization being key when it comes to teaching. Back in grade 7, my peers nominated me for the "Most Organized" Student Award. Oh gosh. My desk is so damn messy right now-- chaotic as hell. Almost want to take a picture of it. All you can see are a bunch of scattered books, student essays, numerous post-it notes... my colleagues must think I'm all over the place, which is SORTA true. But guess what? I told them that they are allowed to use my "T^3 6 Antiseptic" (sanitizer designed specifically to kill the swine flu virsus sold separately at London Drugs, at least when I got it in Vancouver at the time) so they should overlook this tendency. The sheepish grin on my face right now is priceless. Haaaaar.

Over the weekend, I watched my very first movie in Korea in Gangnam area. I watched Avatar with a couple friends (unfortunately, I did not watch it in 3-D) and went to eat gogi and drink makgeolli afterwards (makgeolli is a traditional alcoholic beverage made from rice). Oh yeah, it's also nasty. Ugh. If anyone heard me say that out loud, Koreans here would probably lash me to death. LOL. Anyways, Avatar is SO AWESOME. I loved the sexyass Avatar chick in the film. Cameron hasn't made a film in what..? 8 or 12 years? He fucking nailed it. If you haven't watched the film already, I SUGGEST YOU GO DO THAT ASAP. In any event, we hit up a bar after that (American vibes, I dare say) and you would never guess who I saw... a friend from my alma mater (she's a poli sci major as well)! I was extremely hyper because you know, she's from Vancouver and I met her at the most random place EVAAAAA. How cool is that, eh? Goodness, I thought Vancouver was a microcosm-- don't tell me Seoul is categorized the same.

And, Christmas is almost here... I wonder what I'll be doing this year...

Oh, and I really like this font. Gonna stick with it for good. :)

Okay, back to work.

Questions suggest inquiry.

I teach a total of 18 classes per week. These 18 classes are a rotation of 7 different classes. Every M, W, F, I teach four classes and every T, T, I teach three. Some classes focus on grammar and writing structure while this other class I have puts emphasis on debating. OoooH-- debate classes are my absolute favourite (because I can choose which topic the class will be debating on!) Also, keep in mind that all my classes are taught in English and usage of Korean during class time is strongly discouraged.

Since this past Monday was the start of a brand new semester, I started each class with an introduction of myself (where I'm from, what my interests are, a little about Vancouver, Canada, etc.) Here's the drill: I write my name REALLY big on the whiteboard and then I get every little rascal to do their own little introduction. After this, I always ask them if they have any questions for me in particular. If I'm lucky, I'll get some interesting questions about my family, life in Vancouver, Canada... but if not, I'll only be asked two "essential" questions:

a.) "How old are you?" and...
b.) "Are you married?"

HAAH. *sigh* My students are such a trip. Honest to gawd, I adore my students. I love coming into my office. I LOVE work. A friend of mine recently told me the only reason why I love work so much is because I am "young and fresh". Okaaaay. Perhaps he has a point. But these days, I have so much energy I don't know what the hell to do with it all.

It's brutal outside today. I have never been so fucking cold, I'll tell you right now. No snow yet. Vancouver cold is NOTHING compared to how cold it gets in Korea. But the fact is, I love Korea and I love what I'm doing at the moment. I literally dance and sing on the streets of Seoul (wearing my big parka and earmuffs and mittens with swine flu mask around my face. YUUUUP!) XP Yes, I know I sound really lame... LOL.

Maybe kids are my passion. WHO KNOWS. But this is what I sincerely believe: There is no better investment than children. Plus, they're cute as hell and they gimme tangerines and chocolates and Korean crackers (because they love me back-- HOHOHO ^-^). What more can one ask for?!

"We all think of ourselves first and foremost..."

This is a quote from a book I'm currently reading, "DeNiro's Game" by Rawi Hage. I packed this book last minute because I imaged it would be hard to get access to English novels in Korea. Recently, I've been thinking... human beings are inherently selfish. I know this for a fact. I mean, we're human beings for crying out loud-- who can blame us?

It's been a while since I've updated this thing. That said, there may be some discrepencies. There are so many things I wanted to write at the TIME things happened but work has been busy lately (start of new semester) and I've been preoccupied with a couple of other things on my plate. For one, I spent this past weekend in the presence of family and friends. On Friday, I had dinner with a friend (free dinner if you go with the "all you can drink wine" option) and then we ended up in a karaoke bar. We both sang our hearts out and then I lost my voice. COMPLETELY. I was unable to speak for 2 days. How ridiculous of me-- hohoho. I should've been more careful because hell, I use my voice all the time at work. My voice is my gem. XP I think I know how the Little Mermaid felt when she sold her voice to Ursula in exchange for a pair of human legs. Haargh.

My harabuhjee on my dad's side is really ill. I went to Incheon to go see him on Saturday morning and realized he does not have too much time left. However, I do believe what Joseph said: "No one dies before his time comes". The old man will not die because he has to see my father one last time before he goes. My father, who is the only son of 8 daughters (well,10 actually but 2 died during infancy), is extra precious to my grandfather. Go figure.

On Sunday, I went to a Korean Church. You know, I don't particularly mind if the service is in Korean but I would rather attend a Gyopo Church. I think that would be best because it would be easier to understand the sermon and....









WHAT THE FUCK.

I just found out that the cleaning lady threw all my textbooks for this semester out in the trash... Must go take care of this... OMFG.

Winter Preparation = Kimchi Galore (apparently)

Believe it or not, I haven't taken a single photograph in Korea yet. I want to show everyone how geographically beautiful and breathtaking the country actually is. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to carry my camera and take pictures of EVERYTHING so ya'll can have a visual.

I went to Incheon last night to my grandma's place. I went with my aunt and little cousin because we had to help our halmonee out with "kimchi preparation for the winter season". Apparently, a lot of Koreans get into kimchi making mode around this time because... well, winter is fast-approaching and who the hell wants to make kimchi when it's bloody cold outside (during winter, Korea gets REALLY cold, btw... although with each passing winter, it's been getting warmer due to global heating). It was odd for me to digest at first but just think of it in a pragmatical sense-- a bear collecting its food ahead of time so that it can eat it while it hibernates in its cave. Lol. I wish I took some pictures of kimchi in its nascent stages. You see, it was quite the sight! It was like... something you might see happening at a kimchi factory if such a thing even exists. Kimchi KIMCHI Kiiiimchiiiiii sprawled allllll over the place!! The making of it all (from start to finish) is done so meticulously that it should be considered as a form of art. You know what else? Kimchi tastes so damn good.

On another note, the family ordered in Korean today. Our meal consisted of absolute gourmet-- jja-jjang-myun and jjam-pong... topping that off with fried mandoo and battered chicken. Hehehe. LOVE IT. <3 Where else can you get such luxury delivered to your own home for approximately $4 a dish? :) Honestly, screw pho. Haaargh.

Korean-Russian Majority

Today is the birthday of a dearest. I don't have a cell phone yet and was planning on purchasing a calling card but I still haven't been able to find one. ARGH. Well, I just got off the phone with her and upon her suggestion, checked out her blog. I would just like to wish her all the best in her future endeavours and I know great things will come her way because she deserves the very best.

I don't start work 'til Monday so I thought should have some little fun and adventure before then. I went out to Hongdae area (a huge entertainment district in Seoul; younger crowd usually) last night. I then met some interesting people in Gangnam (" "; more mature group) and had some drinks with them... I made sure to watch my consumption because I can be such a hyena after a couple of drinks. Including myself there were four of us-- two Korean-Russian corporate lawyers (male and female) and a Swedish man from Samsung Human Resources. Some entourage, eh?? LOL. While they were a tight-knit group, I was a complete stranger. The four of us got along smashingly well but there were a few awkward moments I had to endure... especially in the company of one particular person-- the Korean-Russian man.

This particular person was exceptionally eccentric. He tried to express his interest in me in peculiar ways. I don't know how they do it back in Russia per se but he tried to bite my ear. YES, you heard me. Obviously not like Mike Tyson-style bite but still like... BITE. Imagine MY reaction; my mouth was completely agape. What does one do when something like that happens..?!

Looking on the bright side, they were pretty cool and they introduced me to some good bars and eateries in the area. I'm beginning to discover that a lot of authenic Korean men (those born and raised on Korean soil) are fascinated by Korean women who can speak fluent English along with fluent Korean. Anywhoo, I'm not sure if I'm ever going to see them again. However, if I do, I will keep you posted. XP

Say WHAT?

I'm coming down with something. I thought it best to drink some NeoCitran and that's exactly what I did last night. I woke up today feeling a little drowsy and was flicking through channels when I came across little snippets of the movie, Tell Me Something. It's a really intense film, one of my favourites. Anyways, I wanted to download the full version on "Kongdisk.com" (you can download just about anything Korean) and discovered I was unable to access the site (yes, I was able to access it in Vancouver). I suspect the Korean government blocked access-- it's equivalent to the Chinese government blocking Wikipedia in the country. But la question du jour est: WHY??! Kongdisk is HARMLESS...

I also went into a video store near my place earlier. My little cousin and I were in there for hours looking and finally picked three to check out. The video store owner would NOT let us take the movies because the movies were Rated R. I explained to him that I was over 21 and then showed him my B.C. Driver's License for proof. He looked at it and laughed. He then looked me in the eye and said that he was scared shitless at the prospect of police busting his ass for letting minors borrow movies that were subject to parental guidance. What the hell..? Needless to say, we walked home flabbergasted.

Oh, and I'm going to go sign up for a cell phone plan later on. I will be giving all of you a ring soon... >=)

So far...

So. I'm here. Two days in motherland, to be exact.

At the moment, I'm sipping on a Papico (빠삐코) and just relaxing. I know, you're probably wondering what the hell I'm doing sippin' on something like this when it's winter. Believe me when I say this but for those of you who don't already know, I always prefer a cold beverage over a hot one, even when it's not an auspicious time to have one. Haaah.

Before I say anything else, I would like to give a BIG thank you to everyone who came out to our annual "Jicky" event. On that note, I'm so proud that we were all able to gather in unison and collect numerous pairs of socks to give out to the homeless shelter. It's all about taking little baby steps, right? ;)

On top of all this, I want to give a special thanks to my special friend who makes up the "cky" part of the Jicky epithet. The entire event would not have carried out smoothly if it wasn't for her dexterity and diligence. She literally picked the venue, created the invite, and was an excellent hostess throughout the party while I was stuffing my face in baked goat cheese (who would've guessed Jicky was actually going to be punctual and have the luxury of acting as hostesses this year??) In any event, I say this because I lack constant effort in the things I do (she helped me out a lot in this department) and I feel as though I'm going to have to learn that from scratch now that we're continents apart. :*(

Okay-- a few updates so far:

- I really tried to stay awake to watch some good movies on my flight (they have really good selection on Korean Air) but having had only 10 minutes of sleep the night before my flight, I spent most of the time passed out on the plane. Yeah, I'm infamous for passing out-- damn that hyperthyroidism. LOL.

- I tried looking for a long-distance calling card today and went into a couple of grocery stores. Upon my query, following a disdainful once-over, all the owners of the store looked at me if I was from Mars. Wow. How encouraging. And how homogenous I'm beginning to realize the country is. I suppose I shall go WAYY into downtown to find one. Hmph.

That's all for now. Yes, lameass updates but I will have exciting ones for all those blog junkies, I assure you. Hohohoho. ^-^

Anyways, I miss everyone dearly. I miss family, my friends. I miss James-- what the hell am I going to do without you?? I love you so much. Maybe I left too soon but I suppose we're never ready when leaving our dear ones. I wasn't going to mention this but I cried my ass off the night before and the day of my departure. I actually shed a vast ocean quantity of tears. Really.

Rice on Guantánamo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijEED_iviTA

I took a nap earlier today and can't seem to fall asleep. It's unfortunate because as a night owl, it's hard to get myself to bed at night time sometimes even without the nap. In any event, I turned to my usual source of amusement-- that being Youtube-- and found something interesting. It's almost 3 30 a.m. and I feel like a moron but the video is a MUST-SEE. It's Condoleezza Rice in a somewhat heated argument with a student on the controversial subject of torture at Gitmo (I say "somewhat" because it's more like Rice condescendingly lecturing the poor student. Whoever the guy is, I give him props because he has balls going against someone like her). Mind you, I've always admired Condoleezza and she's one extraordinary and brilliant woman, but the clip is rather disturbing, morbid. Honestly, do yourself a favour and check out the link in the title box.

I've been interested in Gitmo since its nascent stages. For some peculiar reason, all the issues surrounding Gitmo appealed to me because the concept of torture covers a wide spectrum of issues. Not only is it a political issue but it also spills into moral and legal grounds. What do YOU think?? I heard a while ago she signed a deal to write a book... I suppose I'll get it when it comes out...

Why a blog?

I am almost 22 and will soon be leaving my home in Vancouver (see image) to go back to my motherland, Korea for work and passion purposes. Contrary to popular belief, I tend to gravitate towards privacy and do not regularly divulge anything regarding my personal life. That said, I wouldn't have done this under normal circumstances but I created this blog so that I may share my experiences (for when I'm in Korea, that is) with my friends and family members. I don't know how long this blog is going to be around for but one thing is for sure: enjoy my posts to the fullest while you can. :)

In Preparation Mode

NoOOooooob.




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