25 days until Christmas

I can't believe it's December tommorow! That means I'm going into my 6th month at LCI Kids Club. Time certainly flies!!! Before I know it my contract will be up and I'll be heading home for a few weeks of R&R in Ottawa and I get to see my family and friends!! I'm going to resign if they'll have me because I want to stay in Korea for 3 years but it will be nice to see my family! Some of my mom's cooking would be sooo awesome right about now! I took the subway with Cam and Saejin today and we were talking about Christmas Eve and they invited me to a night of fondue and hopefully Christmas morning there will be a big breakfast at some point :) I think Christmas will be the hardest day of the year for me in Korea because I love having Christmas with my family and I'll miss the opening of presents and our morning rituals we have at the Reid house. I guess at some point in our lives we have to start new traditions. It is too bad Christmas is on a Sunday because that means work the very next day but one week back at work and then I'm off for a week so that is something to look forward to!

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I just received a very thoughtful Christmas gift from the awesome Rachel-Lynn. She has been trying to help me out in reading Korean and she got me an excellent learning tool. It is a poster with all the Korean vowels and consonants and their combinations so I can learn to read Korean. Thanks RL I really appreciate it :) I'll have this language mastered before long!

GO SENS! GO!

I'd just like to mention that the totally amazing OTTAWA SENATORS are number 1 in the Northeast Division!!!!! 3 cheers for the hometown boys!

Here I am.....rock me like a hurricane!!!

Another Tuesday on the job. We've started to decorate for Christmas because it is only like 3 weeks away and with no snow I need all the decorations I can get to put me in the spirit :) I've discovered my kids really enjoy Mariah Carrey "All I want for Christmas". Unfortunatly this song causes a slight pang of pain in my heart because this is the first Christmas I've been without a man friend in a long time. However I deal with this....We played it and then the kids were like..Again teacher! again! again!!!! They are going to crash and burn on the song before long! I finished off the day with dinner with RL at the little kimbap restaurant in our neighbourhood where I had the usual, spicey pork stir fry with rice. I think I am going to vegitate for the evening because I'm freakin sleepy.


On a happier note (for me personally I'm not sure about the other Canadians out there) to quote Yahoo! News..

"Canada's three opposition parties, which control a majority in Parliament, voted against Martin's government, claiming his Liberal Party no longer has the moral authority to lead the nation."

"Martin is expected to dissolve the House of Commons on Tuesday and set a firm date for the elections. Under Canadian law, elections must be held on a Monday — unless it falls on a holiday — and the campaign period is sharply restricted."

"The vote in the House of Commons did not go our way," Martin said. "But the decision of the future of our government will be made by Canadians. They will judge us."



DOWN WITH


THE LIBERALS!!!!!!

Ehhhh gawd immigration is far

All of the teachers at LCI Kids Club are required to bring their degrees to immigration to be inspected (if you are a teacher in Korea you will have to do the same thing). The school wanted us to be at immigration for 9am so we wouldn't miss to much of our morning classes. So I got up in the dark at 6am which truly should be an illegal hour of the day to be awake. I met Shane at 730am and we hopped the subway and took the longggggg ride to Mok-Dong. The process turned out to take a total of 2 minutes. For those of you who have to go it is the 3rd floor of the immigration office and just follow the signs (and bring the telephone number of your University with you!). I left Shane at immigration because he needed to register for his alien card. I headed back for the subway listening to The Cure (did I mention that I love that band!) and tried to enjoy the dismal grey morning. On the subway back there was this guy selling lint removers. It was weird he kept covering himself with lint and rubbing it off, so I tried not to look. So I played my favorite subway game of all time What Were You Thinking When You Woke Up This Morning?? Some Koreans have a strange sense of fashion, matching in any form does not seem to matter. So I saw this girl with brown cowboy boots, a purple velvet skirt, a red plaid shirt, a green silk scarf, and an acid washed jean jacket with a grey fur lined collar. Um what was she thinking when she woke up this morning???? That's how you play :)


I got back to class at about 1030am and it was so great to have all of my kids rush the door to give me a hug, it made me feel loved, which is nice sometimes. The morning went a little down hill from there. There are several sick kids in my class and they thought it would be soooo funny to blow their noses and show me their snot!!! Right before lunch too, I'm so lucky. After lunch we had gym class and when we got back to class my kids asked me if I could play Christmas music. I oblidged and put some on. They asked me what my favorite Christmas song is and I told them Feliz Navidad (which really is my favorite Christmas song and has been for as long as I can remember!). Luckily for me the kids loved it and asked me to play it a few times which made up for the pre-lunch snot! I've turned my kids into disco loving, mulit-lingual song lovers!!! After the Christmas music we rocked out to Rose Royce and the Village People which we are practicing for graduation. I really do love my kids!!!!

That was Monday in a nutshell!

Oh yeah...I'M GONNA BE FREAKIN 30 IN LESS THEN 2 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!! I'm a little freaked out by that right now.

I still think that all you can drink in dangerous...

Yesturday was productive and lazy at the same time. I have been dreading moving my fridge to clean under it because the girl who lived in this apartment before me was a dirty pig! I was already cleaning like mad so I decided that it was time to do the deed. So I moved the fridge and was slightly traumatized! The junk under there filled my dust pan 3 times!!!!! I scrubbed and disinfected and it is clean now but I can't believe nobody bothered to move it before and clean!! I spent the rest of the day cleaning and rocking out to my all time favorite band, The Cure. God I love them!!!!!!!! I'm still really sick but I decided to lay of the meds yesturday because I knew a night of drinking was going to take place.

Last night I headed out with Rachel-Lynn to Hongdae for Marcy's going away party. Marcy is a really great gal from Ontario, like myself, who is leaving Korea after a few years of enjoying the kimchi experience. I didn't have a chance to get to know Marcy extremely well but we shared the common bond of being in inter-racial, very difficult relationships so I liked her right away! So we met up with the rest of the gang at Carne Station. For those not familiar with Carne Station, it is the place to go if you are looking for all you can eat and drink for 22 thousand won. So we gourged ourselfs on meat, beer, more meat, beer, some yummy mandu, more beer and so on. I distinctly remember an ajuma telling me straight to my face, "You get out now?". The place closes at 1030pm but clearly nobody in the restaurant was leaving...I remember a few standing by the beer taps drinking as much as they could before we were forced out the door :) Then the night took a different turn. Marcy and Heidi left before the rest of us and said, "TinPan Alley!". So we all trickled out after to head over there. I ended up exploring back alleys of Hongdae with the Brits, James and his buddy Doc and two folks I don't know. We somehow ended up at TinPan first! This was strange since Heidi and Marcy clearly should have arrived long before we did. Finally everyone made it through the door. It was packed in there! A certain lady who's name I will not mention because she was dirty dirty drunk, made me realize that it was time to get her home. So we left the bar at around 1am and walked around a bit until we caught a cab. The cab driver promptly kicked us out after about 1 minute. We luckily were dropped off at a building with an awning or we could use the word of the day,bivouac. The sky exploded with rain shortly after we sat down and we chilled out for a bit, kicked some car tires, insulted passers by, and finally caught a cab home. It was an interesting evening and I think everyone had a good time! I wish you all the best Marcy and I hope you have nothing but success and happiness back in Canada!!


I'm into astrology, mysticism, and all things of the sort. I received my usual daily horoscope and they provided me with my intimacy reading today. Basically they described me and my personality and the kind of person it would take to have a successful relationship with me! They hit the nail on the head today!

When Shelly was born, the Sun was in the Sign Aquarius, the Rebel, the Genius, or the Exile. Shelly's basic sanity and vitality depend on a constant diet of experiences that many people might consider strange, eccentric, or at least grossly impractical. The key here lies in the realization that every culture, society, and family is inherently conservative, an observation which typically applies even more stringently to sub-cultures -- try being a hippie with a crew-cut, a New Ager who doesn't think "organic is better," or a rapper with the brim of her cap facing forward! Add one more point: for Shelly, the experiences that are inherently invigorating and meaningful happen to be ones that are culturally encoded as "a little weird." So: the saner she becomes, the more unusual she will look! It's as simple -- and as complicated -- as that. There is so much potential for questioning and doubting all the "received wisdom" of the world in Shelly that she will either trust that path no matter where it leads her -- or wind up releasing that defiant energy in pointless ways: various symbolic rebellions, icy emotional detachment, and general contrariness. Naturally, anyone who is wired to understand her is not going to be someone of a militantly, nervously conventional character! No such person could follow Shelly very far down the road of her free-spirited, independent destiny.-


I am a true blue Aquarius no doubt about it! I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend and a wonderful work week! xoxox

poor little Owen......

There is a kid in my kindy class named Owen. He's a good kid with a big heart but for some reason he seems to be aliented from the rest of the class. The boys pick on him and torment him constantly. This doesn't go on when I'm around of course, usually on my lunch break when they are in the class with their Korean lunch teacher. Almost everyday I come back from lunch and he is crying and looking for some comfort because they've physically harmed him or hurt his feelings with nasty words. This KILLS me!! I know as a teacher you aren't supposed to develop attachments to your students but I'm with these kids everyday and I am quite fond of all them. Owen is so kind to others and always shares but they still pick on him anyway. He is also one of the smallest kids in the class which makes it harder for him to defend himself against the other kids. Today May, my partner teacher, came and pulled Owen and another boy Dany out of class. She told me that Dany had told Owen to bring 5 dollars to school. If he gave Dany money he would stop picking on him or something to that effect. GEEEEEEEEZ....these kids are six years old! The issue was delt with but I feel at a loss as to what to do for Owen other then praise him when he does well (he is really smart) and give him hugs of comfort when he's sad. I hope he doesn't turn out to be a sad young man :(


Then there is Christina the bully. I don't like to say mean things about my students but I really do not like this kid. She is part of my 410pm class which consists of all 10 year olds. The class is actually great as a whole but Christina is a nasty little girl. In that class there is a girl named Trinity. Trinity is very smart and exceeds at almost everything she does. She is very sensitive and her feelings get hurt easily. Christina likes to push her buttons and in the last week she has made Trinity cry about 4 times. Yesturday before class the girls were in the bathroom and they all went into a stall (don't ask me why) but they wouldn't let Trinity in and they were saying nasty nasty things about her behind the door. Trinity came back to class in tears and tried to explain to me what had happened. When Christina came back to class I LOST IT! I don't get angry with my students often and rarely raise my voice so they know when I do that I mean business. Christina was sent straight to the office. After about a half hour and an interigation by May of all the girls Christina returned sobbing (Good!). She now has to sit at a desk seperate from the rest of the group and I will no longer put up with any of her shit. She even wrote May a note in Korean begging her not to tell her mom. I guess Christina's mom doesn't take any of her shit either! Trinity's mom came to the school today and asked to have her pulled out of the class and placed somewhere else. Trinity really likes me so she wanted to see if she could move to one of my other classes. So in a week she'll be moved up a level to one of my higher classes.

Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to deal with classroom bullies? I guess I'm super senstive but it breaks my heart to see kids rejected and alienated by their peers. No kid deserves that treatment.

One final thought for the day

From time to time I get an e-mail from someone who is looking to come to Korea but has a few questions about taking the plunge. I received an e-mail today from someone who wants to come to Korea but has read so many negative things on blacklists and on blogs that they are a little leary of coming. It got me to thinking about why I am in Korea and here are some of my thoughts...


I really enjoy living in Korea. There are several things I like about my life here and I definitely am not one of the disenchanted folks who are not having a good time here. Unfortunately things aren't always a bowl of cherries especially if you are unhappy at your job. I have had this experience before, the last time I was in Korea almost five years ago. I was employed at hagwon that was disorganized and there were always disputes between the Korean and foreign staff and there was little support from management for the foreigners. Even though my work life was less then enjoyable, I still liked Korea and I am happy I learned some valuable lessons from my previous experience. Luckily, this time around, I am very satisfied with my employment as well as my living conditions. I was speaking with a co-worker over lunch about this very issue and some collected thoughts we agreed upon were this...If you understand that hagwons are businesses and not educational institutes as such then that is one step in the right direction. The owners of hagwons are looking to make money, not to say they don't give a hoot about education but at the end of the day it is a business. If you understand this and can except this fact then you should have no troubles getting along.

What do I like about living in Korea? Many things. I really like the people, yes they have their quirks but doesn't every society? The food is delicious ( I don't enjoy kimchi so much but it is because of the texture. If I could lick off all the yummy spices and leave the cabbage in the bowl I would!). The money is great, I just can't deny that. I am very lucky to have a good job that pays well and also have my rent paid. I could never find a job that had such great perks back home! I love teaching. I don't wake up in the morning and think..darn I have to go into work again?! I actually look forward to seeing my students each morning. Getting around in this country is so easy and convenient. The public transportation here is great and taxis are very cheap. I can't say I've made a ton of friends but the ones I've made seem to have the same mindset about Korea as I do. I have a hard time being good friends with people who do nothing but complain about Korea because I don't share their sentiments. The nightlife, if you enjoy that sort of thing, is great! There are lots of great areas in Seoul to go out and let your hair down after a long work week! At the end of the day when I take a subway over the Han River and see Seoul in all its glory..I'm really happy to be here. I'm trying to learn the language and hopefully that will make integrating into society a little easier. The choice really is yours and life is what you make of it. You should make the most of any life experience and for anyone looking to come to Korea and are hesitating...do it for you and if you feel like it would be something you'd like, make your own choice. Don't let others experiences be your guiding light.

I feel so much more educated...NOT

Today school was the usual. We made some really great candle holders out of clay and painted them in art class (mom if you're lucky you'll get mine for christmas!). After school we had someone from Scholastic come and give a talk about our Literacy Place text books. The presentation was definitely lacking a certain je ne c'est quoi. I was left feeling un-informed. I came straight home and I just finished doing over an hour of telephone talk!! It's 830pm and I need to eat some food before I fall asleep (these meds I'm on make me feel doped up!). Only thing new really is some great Halloween photos of the kids and all of the classes at LCI and their teachers! Enjoy :)

The verdict is in....

I just finished up at the Yongsei Family Hospital and it turns out I really am sick!
The doctor was a really nice man who is completely fluent in English! He'd even been to Ottawa, so we chatted about it :) It is so nice to be completely understood sometimes. He told me that the doctor I had previously seen when I had laryngitis, should have given me medication. I have tonsilitis and sinusitis. Double whammy lucky me! The doctor had this cool machine and I guess there are cameras attached to all of his tools. I got to see the inside of my ears (which looked very clean :) ) and your eardrums look pretty cool upclose and personal! He asked me if I wanted to see up my nose but I thought I'd pass on that one! So I am on medicatons for the next two weeks and have to return to see him again next Wednesday for a follow up. The good news is, is that I will finally get better and I miss being healthy. I almost forget what it feels like!


- The craziest thing just happened! The pharmacy just called me to tell me they gave me the wrong medication!!!! Imagine if I had of taken it??? I love Korea :)

- Good news! They didn't give me the wrong medication the gentleman from the pharmacy just didn't speak English well. They charged me the wrong price, I thought it seemed cheap! So I had to fork out another 20 to cover it. As long as it works I'll pay whatever!

I saw the strangest thing today!

It was the usual organized chaos this morning while the kids were coming in off the buses. I usually get coat duty because the kids have a hard time hanging up their jackets. When Kaylee handed me her new orange jacket I noticed something quite odd. There was a patch on the hood with a bright green potleaf! No joke! I know that sometimes in Korea things are printed on t-shirts without people realizing exactly what it says. For example, I saw an ajuma (probably around 60) wearing a black t-shirt with the words "Eat Shit" in bright pink letters. Gaurenteed she had no clue what it meant. The funny thing about the patch on Kaylee's jacket was the fact that around the potleaf it said," Kids can do it!". It cracked me up so hard she thought I was laughing at her coat but I explained to her that the plant was very common in Canada :)

So I've decided not to take this sick stuff anymore and tommorow on my break I'm heading to the Yongsei Family Hospital. RL has been there before and the English spoken there is very good so I know that I will not have any problems with them understanding me. My throat ailment is back and I'm finding it hard to swallow. I noticed back when I lost my voice that one of my tonsils had black marks on it which I have had before and had treated back home. The specialist I saw here said it was nothing. Bloody hell it was nothing! My throat was killing and really hasn't recovered and the last few days the pain has been increasingly worse. Now the black marks have turned to bright crimson red. I hope I don't need to get my tonsils out over here because that would not be enjoyable in the slightest.


Back to more LCI news. I have a new kid in one of my classes and lucky me he seems to be suffering from some extreme A.D.D. I finally have this class at a good level and I'm worried he will ruin the dynamic I have created between the kids. He does random weird things and makes weird noises and falls out of his chair and can't sit still and shakes the desk and the other kids are clearly not happy with his behavior. Even in the teacher's meeting today Jin mentioned that she noticed his random weirdness in the library the other day because he was walking around knocking all the books onto the floor. I feel for this kid because he really needs some sort of help but I'm not trained in special education or how to deal with his needs. I will try and play God for awhile but I'm not sure I can make miracles happen with this one. I'm in the midst now of doing telephone talk which is a bi-monthly ritual at Kid's Club. I call all of my students and have a 5 minute coversation with them on the telephone. It is tedious but makes the parents happy so I do it with a smile. I have two left to call then the evening is mine. Hopefully tommorow I can post a possitive prognosis from the doctor!

Also if anyone sees this man could you please send him to Dream EZ Office Tell cause I think I need an examination ;)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Two Thumbs Up!

So I've been geeking out ever since I got my computer and I've been downloading stuff like mad. Catching up on my favorite TV shows and such. I've been dying to see the latest Harry Potter flick since I heard about it last year. Unfortunately it does not come into theatres in Korea until December. I just couldn't wait knowing that people back home get to go to a theatre and see it now!!! I found a DVD screener copy of it and it finally downloaded by this morning. I couldn't wait to get finished with school today so I could come home and watch it! RL- I really am a geek..it's obvious :) I just finished watching it and it was AWESOME! By far the scariest yet and they stayed true to the book which was good. Definitely not one for the kiddies but I will certainly have to go to the theatre to see it on the big screen because it was just sooo good!

Got an e-mail from Joel and he is doing well and arrived back to Washington State in one piece. I must thank him again for loaning me his comp for a while, I feel reconnected with the world! Nighty Nite all!

I've decided that being healthy is a luxury

I'm not sure what it is that's causing it, but I always seem to be sick! It has been ongoing since the begining of October but the symptoms are always different. First it was a fever, then I lost my voice, now I have what I believe is a sinus infection. Why? My guess is because 80% of my class (kindergarten) is infected with something at the moment. Kids are coming in every morning and giving me medication they have to take at lunch time. I take vitamins, I eat fruit and veggies often, I drink juice and lots of water, what am I doing wrong?? So this weekend was another complete bust. I have not even stepped out of my apartment since I got home Friday night. I had to cancel plans I had with the Suji girls cause I just felt too retched to go anywhere. I'm tired of being sick! Okay that is my venting and I won't complain anymore about it!

For those of you back home interested in looking at some pics I have a new photo album of my kiddies and other stuff. I hope everyone had a good weekend and have a great week! xoxoxo

I can't believe I've made contact.....I'm so happy right now

One of my dearest and most bestest friends is Samaa. We met on a cold rainy September morning during our second week of first year University. We pretty much either saw or talked to each other once a day for the next three years, until she moved home to Cairo and I moved to Seoul. For the last 4 months we've been missing each other's phone calls and missing each other on messenger..but tonight..we made contact! On the phone! I called her in Cairo after chatting with her on messenger and we finally caught up and stuff. Sometimes a good friend's voice can be like a warm blanket...and Sam is definitely my warm blanket. :)

I'm finally online....and lovin it!

I'm sad that Joel is gone but it is sooooo nice to have a computer and internet in my apartment!! Downloading music again..I love it! I'm super sick today and the internet guy came and set up everything and when he was leaving he told me I was beautiful..HA! I had not brushed my hair and was in my pj's feeling like poo..but I like the compliment anyway :) So hopefully I start running into some of my peeps online! :) Mark thanks for the sabre-toothin baby I miss you!!!!!

I'm gonna miss Joel

Today is Joel teacher's last day here at LCI Kids Club. I'm very sad that he is leaving because he is one of my favorite people at this school. Today at hometime for the kindergarten students his had a complete breakdown, as did he. It was heartbreaking to see the little kids crying their eyes out, I also think his replacement teacher, Shane, felt a little uncomfortable. I shed a few tears as well because he has been super awesome to me :( No other guys here will look at hot naked man photos with me till weee hours of the morning!!! Damn Joel..I'll miss dude.

Burr it's cold in here!!!!

It is soooooo cold here...especially in our school. The heat gets turned on a few times throughout the day but it doesn't really do much except for in the classrooms. It is sooo freeeezing I hate it!! I'm not a winter person and when I have my bills paid I'm heading to Fiji or some place hot..this is crazy! Not much on the menu for the weekend. Suji babes are heading up tommorow so dancing dancing...so much for weekend at home but I haven't seen them in a while! Online tommorow yeeeaaahhhaaa! And I'm craving Burger King. I've been craving it actually since I arrived in Korea and I can honestly I've had no fast food except for the Subway RL and I had last weekend. So I think I might just need to get a juicy bacon cheeseburger at some point this weekend as well. MMMMMM bacon I'm hungry time for lunch! Have a great weekend xoxoxox

Salavation Army old folks home....that was our field trip today.

We just returned to school after a morning with older folks at the Salavation Army home. The kids brought them gifts and we all sang songs, the grandmas and grandpas seemed to enjoy it. The kids were great and they sang the song we practiced well and clear! Anyway just a quicky today but I'll post more tommorow!

Finally my packages have arrived!

Mom you'll be happy to know that the packages arrived safely and unopened at the school right before lunch! I'm shocked actually after all we went through with immigration and customs in the past 2 days that they didn't actually open anything! For those of you who aren't aware of that situation...my dear moms sent me two parcels from Canada. One containing most of my winter sweaters and the other with Christmas presents. I received a call from UPS on Monday that my parcels were in customs and that they wanted to know what "used clothing" meant. I explained but I guess they thought I was importing goods for resale I'm not sure. After faxing copies of different pages of my passport, 2 letters from my school, and other things to immigration my parcels were released and sent to me this morning! So I'm excited to open them when I get home today :)

Nothing else new except..what do ya know..I'm sick AGAIN! Geeez this place takes a toll on my health! Sinus infection yeeehaaa! But there is a procedure you can have done for 10 dollars where they stick a tube up your nose and completely drain your sinus cavity. I think I'll be getting that done after work tommorow night!

I also will officially be online from my own apartment this weekend!!! Joel is moving to the US and pretty much his entire apartment has moved into mine. Computer, Micro, Toaster, DVD player, and other assorted goodies! He may come back to Korea which means I have to relenquish possesion of the computer but in the mean time I'll be online :) Talk to you all soon! xoxoxo

I'm not sticking my tongue out at you!! :)

Just to clear things up for my mom...the pic of me sticking my tongue out posts everywhere I post..I'm not sticking my tongue out at anyone in particular!! I got slack for the previous photo of me in my boob top and now slack for this photo...so Any suggestions on a photo that you like??? I personally like that one but if it offends you then you suggest a better one okay? :)

Had a super time at RL's party. We went to a nice restaurant that was bring your own wine...I drank more wine then I've ever drank in my life (cause I don't drink wine EVER) then the usual dancing and hooplah of Hongdae! Sunday I recovered alllll day :)
Back at school and all is well it's cold as cold can be here in Seoul thank goodness for warm stuff (can't wait for customs to release my packages so I can get more sweaters!!). Hope everyone is good! xoxox

11 11

Well this day is filled with many meanings for me. One, being a Canadian, I take time to remember the veterans who fought and lost their lives for my freedom. Sadly there are no poppies in Korea or else I would be wearing it with pride today. In Korea, today is Peppero day? I think this is bizarre and cool at the same time. For those who don't know Peppero are sticks with chocolate coating or filling..they come in all sizes. I really like them and it is nice to have a day devoted to chocolate how cool!!

And to those who know me the best... 11 11 enough said. There is someone out there with my number tatooed on his hand...whatever happened to him??? Have a good weekend all!

I hate to be poor...

Around this time every month, I am scrounging through my change to pay for things like food. Finally pay day has come around and I'm going to Costco tonight to treat myself to some yummy food because I have been living off crackers and pickles and cheese for the last week! Nothing new to report but it is Rachel-Lynn's birthday this weekend so I am sure there will be some drunken fun and good times to be had. That is something I am looking forward to! School is fine, I'm fine, my kids are fine....life is good I tell ya! I just want to send a shout out to my bro whom I miss and love! Thanks to his GF for this lovely photo of him and his pussy ;)

Some hooplah and shananigans...

This past Friday night turned out to be one of sad displays of drunkeness, too much beer, taxi rides and blank spots. It was the LCI staff goodbye party for Jamie and Joel. We all got together after class Friday night and went for some Korean dinner and by the end of the 2 hours we had spent there the majority of the group was in the bag and one guest of honour was falling down drunk. That didn't stop us from wandering across the street to a bar where the drinking continued. While there, one of the guests of honour and another teacher left their marks in vomit all over the bar! It didn't stop there! Oh no...we ended up in Itaewon at 2am (the strong ones that can handle their drink!) and the drinking continued and we lost the new guy somewhere..but he made it home we found out Monday. I can't say I had a horrible time but I can't say that I would ever do it again either. Best of Luck Joel and Jamie! Joel I'll miss you dude!

Now to show off some fine folks from back home in good o'l Ottawa. First up one of my lovely best gals, Andree. She and I are both HUGE fans of the horror genre of films and she recently attended a Halloween costume party as one of our favs....Samara from the Ring. Andree you look hot girl! :) She even won a prize..hehe. Damn I miss her!



Next a shot of my favorite man in the world my dear o'l dad and my favorite uncle Nick. This was taken up in Gatineau park this past weekend. I love seeing photos of my family cause it reminds me of just how damn special and wonderful they are. My dad is the cute bald man on the left! Anyway I miss you all and thank you for the photos I love to see em! I hope everyone back home and wherever else you may be had a super weekend and have a great work week :) xoxox

Some sillyness I feel is necessary to share....

As I previously mentioned my Father's Day was a success, and over the last two days the fathers have had their chance to speak with my partner teacher May about it. The biggest complaint about my class was that the kid's pencils were not the same length!! Are you freaking joking me?? Nope dead serious. Anyway one of the kid's dads was mad that he didn't get the chance to talk with me. Well I was open for interviews but he did not come on over and chat but most of the other dads did, not my problem really. He has decided he wants a one on one meeting with me and he also wants a meeting with Mr.Oh to discuss our teaching phylosophies. Oh gawd...just what I need but anyway I'm starting to tutor his kid every Wednesday on my break. She isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. On to other things I guess...

Tonight we are having a double goodbye party for Jamie and Joel who are both returning to the U.S. of A next week. We are going for the usual Korean fare in Isu. Fun times! That's about it! If you would like to see some good photos of our animal show and tell and other good things check out Rachel-Lynn's Blog . Have a great weekend everyone! xoxox

The Korean Dream Team

I was watching the news this morning as part of my usual routine while I have my coffee. The had a segment about North and South Korea uniting for the 2008 Olympic Games. I personally think this is a wonderful idea. I think the segregation between the two countries is a horrible thing and it would be great to see the two nations come together as one unified team! Should you be interested in reading up about this story..


"North and South Korea agreed on Tuesday to compete as a single team for the first time at the 2006 Asian Games, and at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a South Korean official said.........." What do others think about this issue? It is time the great Korea comes together!

Cheongdeok Palace

This past Saturday, I went to visit Cheongdeok Palace with Rachel-Lynn and her good friend Tom, who was visiting from Norway. It was a great opportunity to see the leaves changing colour and get away from the city, in the city. This particular palace requires you to be on a guided tour which they offer in a bunch of languages, we opted for the English version. The tour guide tried to crack jokes but she was a little on the lame side. The grounds of the palace were lovely and I was not aware of how large the area actually is. Here are some PHOTOS for you to check out from our day. Enjoy :) Also please note how hot Rachel-Lynn and I look in our hot matching sweaters. Surprisingly when we went out later nobody noticed that we were wearing the same thing :)

Photos Photos I love it! Thank you Cam :)

I finally had my Father's Day last night and I have to say it was a smashing success! All of the dads were sweet as pie and the kids were on their absolute best behavior!!! I couldn't have asked for more :) I'm really glad that it is over with though and I can relax and focus on getting my kids prepared for their graduation performance. H class will be singing 'Respect' 'War (what is it good for)' and 'Stop in the name of love' and they will be sporting big black afros and sparkley black costumes. Too bad the folks at home won't be able to see this one it should be one to remember! Cam was kind enough to send me some photos that have been taken over the last little while so lets take a look shall we? I can't claim sobriety in all of them though! The first shot is of myself and Saejin who is my absolute favorite Korean person of all time. Things were rocky between us in the begining (well for him because Saejin took my shyness as me not liking him! When I actually thought he was cool shit!) but now it looks like we are on the cusp of a lovely friendship :) This photo was taken on a night of some serious drinking. At this point in the evening we were at Tin Pan Alley where we did some serious dancing and drinking and I think some more dancing and drinking. Hongdae will do that to ya! And here Saejin and I are again at a bar that RL's gang likes to frequent called the "Hole in the Wall Bar" I'm not sure the actual Korean name but I think that this is a perfect translation :) The second photo we look more drunk now that I look at it, perhaps the first one was at the Cock Bar (no joke that is the name of it!) anyway he's awsome!


Next is some photo action of myself, Rachel-Lynn, Saejin, and Bohan (hope I spelled his name right!). This was the day that RL and myself contracted food poisoning. We called it an early night on this one. Here we are in a random WA bar in Seoul somewhere.
The next photo should be an obvious one. It is RL, Cam, and myself getting ready for a hot night on the town! Naa..this was Halloween last Thursday (I'm the old lady!). Don't we all look soooo awsome?? It was so fun scaring the crap out of all the kiddies!!And next a shot from back home in Canada. My amazing mom in the cutie pie clown costume and my Uncle Harry and my Aunt Fran (can you believe they are in their 80's and still dressing up!!) You go you two!!!! Now Halloween is over and we are going to get going on the Christmas stuff!!! My kids are already talking about it! It has become quite cold so I brought in hot chocolate today and after lunch we are all going to have some and make birthday cards for one of the cuties in my class! I hope everyone back home is great and talk to you all soon! XOXOXO