Happy Birthday Saejin!

Happy 31st Saejin! I love you!

This song is for you

So happy together

I'm so happy that Beaker is back in Seoul. He hadn't shown up at Kids Club when we were off work and I was worried I wouldn't get to see him. However, he was waiting outside the Dream EZ when I got home. It was great to be reunited with him! Everyone came and drank at the Family Mart just like he wanted. When it started to pour buckets we went to Justin's. I was already three sheets to the wind and Raymond decided to make me a rum and coke with 151 (and ALOT of it). Perhaps it was all the beer, or not eating dinner, but the rum didn't agree with me and I had to put myself in the elevator and go home. I am soooo happy Beaker is back though. This will be a GOOD year.

Your Birthdate: January 23

You're not good at any one thing, and that's the problem. You're good at so much - you never know what to do. Change is in your blood, and you don't stick to much for long. You are destined for a life of travel and fun. Your strength: Your likeability Your weakness: You never feel satisfied Your power color: Bright yellow Your power symbol: Asterisk Your power month: May

My Beaker..

My Beaker is arriving in Seoul today for another fun filled year...I'm so excited!!!

Dear Jes..

Dear Jes,

Wentworth Miller was in Seoul LAST WEEK!!!!! Not arriving this week..booooooo and I was ready to call in sick and everything!

A lovely evening with the Baird family.

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Rachel Lynn's parents. I didn't have much of an opportunity to chat up RL's mom because of where we were sitting but her father and I had a nice chat and he's a pretty funny man. After they headed back to their hotel we kids hit Pulse. It led to another morning of rolling in just as the sun is rising. I'm too old to do that two nights in a row. I feel like poo today.




This is for Cammy..



This is for Saejin..Sugababes Push the Button


Here is our new favorite video from last night. It is probably the best video ever!!! It helps I love Bob Sinclar! ROCK THIS PARTY!

Animal Cruelty

Yesturday I was walking upstairs to make some photo copies when I heard a very loud chirping siren sound. I turned to see Ben in the office holding a plastic container with a baby chick inside. He told me one of his students had brought it to class and it wouldn't stop chirping and the kids were doing a test and he needed it out of the class. I love animals so I took the bird with me back to my class for an hour. It was pretty much in shock so I held it in my hand close to my chest and it calmed down and became quiet. My kids all wanted to touch it, just like all kids do.

My class is fluent so I asked them where on earth this kid would have got a baby chick. They told me old ladies stand outside their elementary schools with boxes of them and sell them for 50cents. I was mortified. The kids continued to tell me what some of the kids do to these poor baby chicks. I was less then thrilled to return this one back to it's owner who then put it in a paper bag.

I've always been bothered by the way animals get treated in this country. You walk past pet stores and see new born puppies in the window. They don't keep the babies with their moms after birth like they should. They take them away and sell them. I've had so many kids tell me they buy puppies and they die quickly. No wonder! If you teach kids, please encourage your students not to buy these baby chicks.

For some reason one of our special activities at school is making sandwiches. I am going to be safe to assume this is just a photo op but the kids enjoy it. We got a tray with slices of bread, cheese,lettuce, tomato, and ham. There was also some strawberry jelly thrown in too. The kids got to create their own sandwiches. I don't think jam and ham make a tasty combination but they certainly did!

I hope they don't use this for facial recognition in cop shops

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Ok seriously..enough Facebook for one day.

Moving Captain Underpants..

Today I was a good friend and I woke up and got ready and headed over to Itaewon to help Joel move into his new apartment. I was so happy to meet him in Itaewon and have him buy me lunch right away! We went to his new place and ate with Ted and waited for RL to show up from wherever she was. I don't think I was mentally prepared for the amount of junk and dirt we had to sift through. Rachel Lynn and I found some hidden gems in the laundry room.

Ted was stoked about the cutting board he found!
I found a new wardrobe all the way down to the shoes!

I'm not sure who these beauties belong to...


After we were covered with dust and filth we headed over to the new pad to unpack and scrub. Joel's new place is so great. I hope we have many baking parties and "fast forward" parties in the near future!

It's Sunday..I want to be sleeping..but I'm getting ready to go and help Joel move. There better be beer there.

St. Patrck's Day

I find St.Patrick's Day a funny holiday, because you see mainly non-Irish people dressed in green and getting loaded off of green beer. I don't really feel the need to celebrate it. Raymond and I decided a few days ago that we really wanted to eat Egyptian food and we went this afternoon to Pharaoh's for a lovely lunch. Afterwards we walked over to Geckos for a few St.Paddy's Day drinks. Everyone is going to this hotel party tonight but I couldn't be bothered. I did have a token green beer though and found myself slightly tipsy at 5 in the afternoon. I was a little sick of the LARGE Guiness hats and green glasses I saw in Geckos. Now I'm home after leaving Raymond with his Irish pals. Can't say I'm sad not going out tonight.


Raymond laughing his butt off after a few Korean guys told us to stay away from the gay bars..DANGER they said. If only they knew!


Rachel Lynn found us at Pharaoh's and dropped in to give Raymond a lesson on womanly ways..


On the streets of Itaewon. Pig snout anyone?


In Geckos.

photos from my cell phone..


Chlaymydia ate Rachel Lynn's head

Joe being his most awesome self

Fuck you white trash. Seriously!

What to do..

Should I mix my pineapple juice with the Malibu I bought yesturday or crack open a new Cass Red? I hate making decisions.

Hump Day in E class

The peak of the week is now over and hopefully it will be a nice slide into the weekend! Today was a pretty great day. We had science this morning and we had to make these "tanks" which rolled forward on the floor when you turned the crank enough. The kids had tons of fun with them. I did too actually :)


In the afternoon I had my older kids. They are ALL fluent in English and they make me laugh so hard sometimes with the stuff that comes out of their mouths. Over half the class have just returned from homestays in Nova Scotia. One of the girls picked up the NS accent and she cracks me up when she talks. We had science too and had a good time talking about bones and joints. The boys were asking me how long their hockey sticks should be because they want to start a street team. Unfortunately Charlie is in love with the WRONG team!

I have never felt this tired in my entire life please someone hand me a pillow!

Girl's night

Last night Heidi and Rachel Lynn came over for some pizza and getting ready before our night on the town. Rachel Lynn even let me lady her up with my flat iron which I think was a big step for her. We were joined by Jayme Lee and Raegen for some pre-drinking before heading to Hongdae.

First we hit the "bed bar" a snazzy little joint where you can take off your shoes and stretch out while you enjoy a cocktail or two.


After a few drinks we headed to Tin Pan where we proceeded to make fun of everyone in the bar. Rachel Lynn and I sadly realized that we had lost our magic touch for self portraits and came to the understanding that we truly were the most unfortunate looking girls in the place. After some dancing and good times...


We took Jayme Lee to the Luxary Noraebang to de-virginize her. She tried singing but we still sang louder than her without microphones. Next time I'm sure she'll belt them out. I have realized that I play a mean tambourine!

I like to bite.

I look good in helmets!

The view from my window right now..

and I am not happy about it!

This author clearly has not been in Seoul the last few days!

S.Korea's warmest winter in century

SEOUL (AFP) -
South Korea had the warmest winter in more than a century due to global warming and the El Nino weather system, officials said Monday.


The country's average temperature during the three-month winter season to February was 2.46 degrees Celsius (36.4 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest since such records began in 1904, they said.

The average winter temperature between 1971 and 2000 was 0.43 degrees Celsius, according to officials at the Korea Meteorological Administration.

It attributed the unusually mild winter to "global warming and the influence of El Nino," which refers to the abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the eastern tropical Pacific.

The administration said the February average was 4.09 degrees Celsius, 3.34 degrees higher than the average between 1971 and 2000.

I was thinking of my brother and this song reminds me of him so it is my song of the day..

Chaotic shit show

Chaotic shit show is the only way I can describe the day at LCI. Luckily for me I had kindergartens that were not new to the school and my other students were not new either. My new kindergartens are pretty great and we had a good day together. They aren't at the point where my kids were when they were 7 years old last year but I have a year to whip them into shape. Here is E class..

JohnSarah Andrew AmyClara Harry (my favorite) Alice Cohen Sally (my other favorite) Sophia Eddie
My afternooon was a HEADACHE. Today was the day I realized what a damn good teacher I was. When my old kindergartens came back in the afternoon there were two kids from D class that joined in our class. We all found out that the D class kids knew pretty much nothing that they knew. They couldn't tell me singular and plural, noun, adjective, verb, tenses..NOTHING! My kids felt like hot shots because they knew all that stuff a longgg time ago. I'm worried for the new kids because I don't have time to go and re-teach all of that and frankly they should know it already. I already gave those kids a HUGE pile of homework and they are going to have to learn all that stuff at home.

My class after that rocked so hard. They are perfectly fluent in English and are so freakin hilarious I almost fell outta my chair laughing. Most of them have just returned from homestays in Nova Scotia and they wanted to talk hockey and the beauty of Kraft Dinner. I was DOWN with that!

Tomorrow is another day...we'll see how that goes!

It's windy, cold, and blowing snow that won't land or stick..IT SUCKS.

Tomorrow is a new day

Today I woke up unusually late for me, and looked outside and saw nothing but gloom and rain. I had missed a lunch invitation from Heidi and didn't feel like sitting at home so Raymond and I went to Itaewon for lunch. We also did a little shopping and I got some basmati rice which seriously makes me so happy.

Tomorrow is my first day as E class teacher. I am teaching new subjects that I have never taught before to my afternoon class which I'm a little nervous about (though I'm sure I'll be fine). I also have my new kindergarten students. Scott let them get away with a lot more then I ever will so I have to go in there tomorrow and lay down the law and let them know who's boss. It should be an interesting and EXAUSTING day I'm sure.

Intimidating?

Hey boys how would you feel peeing in this bathroom?

How come Al Gore didn't mention anything about this in his documentary?

A former Canadian defense minister is demanding governments worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change, a local paper said Wednesday.


"I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation ... that could be a way to save our planet," Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen.

Alien spacecrafts would have traveled vast distances to reach Earth, and so must be equipped with advanced propulsion systems or used exceptional fuels, he told the newspaper.

Such alien technologies could offer humanity alternatives to fossil fuels, he said, pointing to the enigmatic 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico -- which has become a shrine for UFO believers -- as an example of alien contact.

"We need to persuade governments to come clean on what they know. Some of us suspect they know quite a lot, and it might be enough to save our planet if applied quickly enough," he said.

Hellyer became defense minister in former prime minister Lester Pearson's cabinet in 1963, and oversaw the controversial integration and unification of Canada's army, air force and navy into the Canadian Forces.

He shocked Canadians in September 2005 by announcing he once saw a UFO.

Just got back from the gym with Raymond (seriously Raegen I haven't seen you there all week where are you??). He gave me the lowdown on the love in at Justin's place last night. I stopped in for a quick drink but clearly missed alll the good stuff. For those that I work with who may read this blog..the new guy's official nickname is Paris (as in Hilton). Raymond does a much better job at telling why than I ever could.

Thank goodness this week is finally over! All the stress from graduation and orientation and moving classrooms has got me exausted! Yesturday I finally moved into E class. I can honestly say if I ever have to move classrooms again I will seriously quit. I never thought I would get finished because I was ankle deep in dirt and piles of old books it was grosse. I don't know how those kids learned in all that dirt and nasty! After five hours of disinfecting and cleaning and 9 garbage bags I had it cleared out and had my stuff in there. It looks great now. I'll have to bring my camera on Monday and take pictures of my new class and my new kids!

I got another e-mail from Raydon's mom and she sent me a few pictures of my kids after graduation.


After everything yesturday I hit the gym with Raymond then met up with Raegen to go meet Heidi, RL, SJ, Cam, and Joel the birthday boy for some birthday festivities. I don't have any pictures but I have plenty in my head :)

I just got off the phone with Jes and I have officially decided that her new name is Decks. I am imagining her doing this in my head right now..

When you are drunk this can be very intimidating!

Graduation

My kids showed me they could almost sit still for five hours (and I love them for it). They did such an amazing job and I am sure when I walk into work on Friday and realize they are no longer coming in the morning, it will hit me that our time together is really over. After graduation the staff went out to a sushi place for dinner, which I didn't enjoy because I don't eat slabs of raw fish in the way it was served, and we all drank and laughed which was needed because we were all stressed OUT the past week. Sunny passed out on a few people, we realized that Christie is COOL, we still remembered JAY was not cool (can I just say this..who the heck invited him?), and all had a good time. Here's to another good year!