Koozmac in Costa Rica

Ometepe Island

2012-02-01T09:38:00.002+09:00

Left San Juan Del Sur this morning and took a VERY wavy ferry over to Ometepe island.

Very slow, laid back and beautiful as island life usually is.

Here we've met up with our good Alaskan buddies and will go on a 7-8 hour hike
up Maderas volcano tomorrow.
Should be a fun and challenging day!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maderas

2012-01-29T04:48:00.006+09:00

2012-01-29T04:41:00.002+09:00

Walking along the beach today I enjoyed watching those around meactually looking like they are enjoying life.

Playing a game on the beach, swimming, walking or just soaking upthe sun on their blanket and reading.Calm, peaceful, truly enjoying themselves in this moment.

Is it just because they are on vacation? Packing it all in in the alloted 2 week vacation they have from work, or maybe, like us, theyare more fortunate to have a bit more time to explore, play, learn about other cultures and avoid winter.
In any case, why is it only on 'vacation' that we seem to allowourselves this relaxation or time for doing the things that we REALLYwant to do.How, why and when do we get caught up in this lie that we NEEDto work 40, 50, 60 hours a week, have a mortgage, 2 cars, 2 kids,work till we're 60 and THEN we can do the things that we really want to do.

How about instead of working all of those years in preparation for doing all of the things that you really want to do, you just do them? If you're a ski bum and just want to ski all day every day, then move to a place where you can do that. If you want to be a hermit and live in the woods and write all day, then do it. Go off and build a log cabin or something and just do it.

Now people say, "Well, no, no, no, it's not that easy, you can't just pick up and do that sort of stuff" blah blah blah. Bullshit I say. If you REALLY, truly in your heart want to do something, you will find a way to do it. Tons of people live on little to no money and are doing just fine and are probably happier than those with the boats, cars and big houses. Go tribal, back to basics. Farm, trade, walk, ride a bike, build your own stuff.

What holds us back is our fears me thinks.

It's scary to just pack up your shit and go off somewhere in search of your dream. You could fail, have zero money but at least you would have tried. And with that,you would find glorious adventure, people and experiences and learn a lot about yourself. What's scarier to me is plugging away day to day doing something we don't LOVE making plans for things that we MIGHT do and completely living in the future.

On the bus in Costa Rica we met this lovely older retired couple from Ontario. Where ya from, whatcha doing here, how long you staying etc etc are the standard traveler to traveler questions it seems. They were so surprised when we said that we were going to be in Central America for 3 months. "Ohhh wow, how?" they asked. "Ummmm, we worked our asses off since summer and saved our money" (and some of us are lucky to have the support of those around us that allow us to live rent free).

"Yeah, that's what we did..... for the past 45 years" They said. Worked their asses off.

Holy shit I thought in my head, 45 years. Ugh. Randy and I looked at each other in disgust, him having the exact same thought.

"Now all we do is travel", the woman said.
That's cool I thought, good for you guys. But. I don't WANT to work for 45 years and THEN travel and live life the way I want to. I want to do it now. Live now.

Don't get me wrong, if you are one of the fortunate ones who actually enjoy what they do and fully own your house, car etc etc, that IS awesome too. I would like to own a house or something one day too.

Be present. Live the kind of life that you dream of NOW. "Once I do this, get this, lose this, buy this, sell this, fix this" It goes on and on. It has to stop. Just get off your ass and do it. Do something. If you don't know how to do it. Find out how. If you're too lazy to find out how, hire someone to find out for you, ask others. There is no reason that all of us should not be doing the things we love.
Imagine the energy that would produce. People doing things they enjoy, they feel better, healthier, thus they are happier and have better relationships with those around them.

Accepting each day as it is, living it and not working, working working towards the future for something that MIGHT happen. Make it happen.

You could get hit by a bus tomorrow! And for what! Living a life thatis just ok, comfortable, doesn't challenge you.

Do better. Be better. Be ther person that you truly want to be and live it.
Every day. Right now.

2012-01-29T04:18:00.007+09:00

A proper post

2012-01-29T04:10:00.002+09:00

Ok, so, Nicaragua.

After a smooth day of traveling and almost hassle free border crossing, we arrived in Nicaragua. Although beautiful and full of things I have never seen before, we were anxious to get out of Costa Ricafor the sake of our bank accounts.

Although CR and Nica are neighbours, they are much different.

Nicaragua has a more genuine feel to it. Almost immediately when we entered this country you can feel it. Calm, less busy, ox carts, people riding horses b/c that is their mode of transportation, pigs, stray dogs etc.
I love the vibe that this country and people ooze.

We share a taxi ride into San Juan Del Sur (where we will attend Spanish school for a week and wheremi amiga Heather has spent a significant amount of time. I was really looking forward to finally seeing allof the places she has talked about for years and to meet some of her friends) with this dude from the UKwho turns out had his passport stamped with ENTRY instead of EXIT as we were leaving Costa Ricawhich caused us to wait about an hour and a half at this grundgy waiting area.

We find what is probably one of the nicest places we've stayed in so far for a good price and meetanother traveling couple. They are from Alaska and quit their jobs and are traveling for a year. Very cool and super awesome people. Annnnnnnnnnd, they play Scrabble!!! They brought the travel board with them. We spent several nights looking for the best word we could make with the 7 tiles we had while practicing Spanish and swapping stories.

The next day we had to leave our sweet little hotel and moved to what was suppossed to be a homestay. I had this romantic idea of what it would be like to stay with a homestay family for a week in my mind. We would share meals together where we could only speak in Spanish, the parents would teach us about their culture while I practiced English with their young kids etc etc.
Haha, yeah. That is definitely not what we got. Our school picks us up at our hotel and drives us over a few blocks. We meet Marta, I thought of her kind of as the Madam of the house, and are taken to our room. We're not in a sweet, typical local style home, we're in some big 2 story boarding house kinda place that can sleep about 20 people at least. There are noisy kids running around and you know those guys who attach big speakers to the top of their trucks and advertise or promote their business throughout the streets while playing crappy music? Yeah, Disco Movil lived at our place. One day he was just parked in the lot right beside our room playing his crappy music nice and loud.

We were SO sad to see the flat tire on his truck one day. Disco Movil was all Disco and no Movil for a few days.
So yeah, not exactly the romantic image I had in mind. In any case, we met some cool people and Marta was a bad ass cook. I loved every meal she prepared, even if it was rice and beans 95% of the time. Randy grew a little tired of it but I loved it.
Spanish school was good. 4 hours a day for 5 days. 4 hours a day is a lot but overall I learned a lot. I want to study more.
Aside from studying and playing Scrabble with Laura and Max we checked out a few nice beaches, had an afternoon of photography, some great pizza, yoga, sunsets, stars, lots of ice cream and got familiar with Ron, Flor de Cana, the local rum.

Since finishing our week at school, we spent a few days at a muy tranquillo hotel on Maderas beach. The beach is literally out the door. Amazing. I have always dreamed of staying in a place like this. The area is beautiful and when there are actually waves (which there hasn't been the past couple of days) there is good surf here. We are practicing. Lots of cool rock formations and tide pools to explore, yoga and running on the beach, reading, napping, playing games, sunsets, stars, NO ice cream unfortunately, howler monkeys and just doing whatever it is you want to do.

So this is where we're at. Loving Nicaragua and planning to spend a lot more time here. Next week we will meet up with our Alaskan buddies on the island of Ometepe where 2 volcanoes exist. 1 is active. We'll hike and play Scrabble.
After that we'll either move onto one of the historic colonial cities of Granada or Leon or hit another small beach town.

2012-01-29T04:05:00.001+09:00

Things that Sloane has noticed in Nicaragua so far:

* People are quite chubby here.
* Very religious.
* Girls are not dressed as slutty as they were in Costa Rica. (See above point)
* Girls at a very young age are having babies. (Again, see point #2)
* Ox carts
* Horses
* Lots of dogs
* Mucho diferencia in price compared to CR.
* Noisy birds. Noisy in a good way though. I could listen to them sing all day.
* Colorful buildings. They look happy.
* No iguanas.
* LOTS of rain. Not typical for this time of year.

Things that Randy has noticed:

* The streets are much cleaner than they were in Costa Rica.
* Very windy.
* Strange rain for it being the dry season.
* Nice, colorful buildings.
* Folks are chubby.

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

2012-01-25T23:36:00.006+09:00

Mucho rapido blog entry here. Arrived safely with no problems to SJDS from Costa Rica.

Really like it here.

Will write more later! haha

Yes, lame entry. Will have more time later.

Trits

2012-01-17T11:31:00.002+09:00

TRITS = Crack.

The other night at dinner, we were told about this sweet ice cream treat called TRITS.

It is vanilla ice cream sandwiched between 2 graham cracker cookies laced with a ribbon of chocolate. Delicioso.

We've definitely incorporated them into our daily diet.

2012-01-17T11:04:00.008+09:00

On to the next

2012-01-17T10:23:00.002+09:00

Our time in Costa Rica is coming to an end. For now.
Tomorrow morning, very early, we will start our trek to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

6am bus to Puntarenus - Liberia - to the border - to SJDS.

We will study at a Spanish school for a week and stay with a homestay family.
Our schedule will be surfing in the morning and study in the afternoon.
Everything is set up through the school so it's perfect. Really looking forward to it!

Costa Rica has been good to us aside from being so expensive.

Lately we've been wondering exactly how the locals survive.

Prices here are basically the same as prices in Canada.
The minimum wage here is from $2-5 bucks an hour.
Apparently rent is cheaper here but that's about it.

It's not like what I've experienced in other countries where the locals are living a very different
life than us.
Sometimes we feel that the locals have MORE money than we do.
We haven't found many local restaurants serving good, local food for cheap. Like in Thailand, where you can eat a meal for $1 with the locals.

Locals are eating at the same restaurants that we are. Expensive restaurants.

So aside from being muy caro, Costa Rica is lovely.

The sounds of all of the different kinds of birds, bugs, lush flora and of course the beautiful ocean but I am very much looking forward to a more 3rd world kind of experience in Nicaragua.
Costa Rica is a little touristy.
I am curious to see the differences between all of these small countries within the area.

Until next time, adios!

Manuel Antonio National Park

2012-01-13T10:36:00.018+09:00

Today we hiked in the park in hopes of seeing sloths and toucans.

We saw neither but saw some other good stuff.

On the trail we saw a bunch of monkeys and raccoons. They were really funny and cute.

At the end of the trail you come to 2 amazing beaches.
We snorkeled at one. It was pretty good.

When we came back to the beach to our stuff I noticed that my bag was open.
I thought, oh man, someone stole my money but thought that if they wanted to steal something, why wouldn't they just take the whole bag.
Everything was inside when I looked.
Randy's bag had been opened to.

Then Randy notices little paw prints near our bags. Raccoons.
They actually unzipped our bags, snooped inside for food and left.

Hilarious.

Then we head over to the other beach and they try to get into our bags again but we were able to shoo them away.
Another couple wasn't so lucky and the little bugger opened her bag right in front of her (because she was too scared to shoo the raccoon away) and took a bag of cookies.
I was in the water watching the whole thing. It was hilarious.

We had a lovely dinner and a ice cream and then a nice sunset.

Wicked day.

Jaco surf

2012-01-12T11:50:00.002+09:00

I fulfilled a long, long time dream of surfing yesterday in Jaco.

Ever since I watched the movie North Shore when I was about 12 years old I have had a
slight obsession and desire to surf.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093648/

I've always loved the water and long to be near it.

We set up a lesson with the surfer boyfriend of the lovely woman who ran the hostel we were staying at.
We set out to the side of the beach that has a smaller swell.

Having watched almost every surf movie out there, I already have a pretty good idea of what to do, the tricky part is actually doing it!

I spent most of our time wiping out and getting spun but it was awesome.
I stood up a few times and just that small achievement was awesome.
I of course hoped that I would ride all the way into shore on my first wave but it didn't quite pan out that way. Haha
It was amazing nonetheless.
Randy did very well making it into shore a few times on a nice ride.

It is one of the most difficult things that I have ever tried and loved it, even while I drinking ocean and eating sand.

After a few hours of attempts, we drug ourselves bag to the hostel absolutely exhausted.
Slept good last night that's for sure!

We are now in Manuel Anotonio, another beach down 2 hours south of Jaco.
It is absolutely beautiful here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpGtpHXuNQ0

Tomorrow we will check out the national park where we will see some wildlife. Sloths I hope!
And then snorkel at the beach that is inside the park.

The day after, once our bodies recover from the pain of our surf attempts, we will take the boards out again.
Waves seem smaller and calmer than Jaco so here's hoping!

Pura Vida

More Montezuma

2012-01-09T14:04:00.017+09:00

So far Montezuma has been our favorite place. A small, relaxed hippy kinda town with beautiful beaches and nice people. The ugly room is the first place we stayed when we arrived there. It was pretty sketchy but the price was right.

We went on a hike up to a resort that our friend teaches yoga at. It's absolutely beautiful.

We hiked down to some waterfalls as well.

We had planned on snorkeling one day but visibility was so poor we ended up just playing the water and taking lots of pictures. Also fun.

2012-01-07T03:27:00.003+09:00

In Short

2012-01-07T03:26:00.001+09:00

In point form, here are some things that we've noticed
about Costa Rica after being here for a week:

Sloane says:

* Costa Rican girls are big. BIG.
* These big girls wear slutty clothes.
* Infrastructure is not good.
* Sweet 4x4's and lots of crappy cars.
* It's expensive.
* Wonderful bird sounds.
* Ants.
* Not a lot of smoking or spitting.
* Chickens.
* Cleaner than I had expected.
* Good recycling program.

Randy says:

* Geckos.
* Ocean is chillier than expected.
* Good beaches.
* Not getting a very good vibe from the
places we've been but is feelin Montezuma.
* More expensive than home.
* Locals are NOT poor. Maybe they even have more
money than us!

Quote of the day

2012-01-06T13:02:00.002+09:00

Yesterday's quote of the day comes from Randy.

We went out for dinner and he ordered nachos.

Accompanying his plato of LIGHTLY cheese dusted nacho chips were tiny ants.

We blew them off and continued eating.

"More cheese, less ants" wins the quote of the day award.

Techno Vacation

2012-01-06T12:59:00.000+09:00

I find myself struggling with my relationship to technology and staying connected to friends and family
via email and Facebook and just wanting to cut myself off completely and fully enjoy immerse myself in this
adventure that I am lucky enough to be able to take.

Any trip I have been on I always find myself thinking of the movie The Beach where Leonardo Dicaprio's character
is describing how we go abroad to these beautiful places that are full of culture and life and we find the local expat
restaurant or bar and watch North American movies and eat our North American food are not really allowing ourselves
to fully dive into the environment we are in.

Everywhere I've been, people are sitting in internet cafes or coffee shops surfing through Facebook. Myself included.
I will never deny the fact that Facebook is an amazing tool to reconnect with people and stay in touch. It definitely is that,
but do I need to know what Jimmy had for breakfast today and how good or bad it was?
Is this how I'm spending my vacation? In fact, do I EVER need to know this frivolous information?

So.

What I have decided is that I will check in with FB and email here and there to let people know
that we are safe and sound.
What is so wrong with staying connected with the people you love? Why am I getting spun about this??

(A cute little monkey just walked by on the power line just now. They are so sweet
but I'm sure would tear my eyes out).

I'm enjoying reconnecting with my blog for now and hope that you enjoy it too.

Tell me your thoughts on technology and what you have found on your own travels please.

2012

2012-01-06T12:51:00.003+09:00

Feliz Ano Nuevo 2012!

New Year's in Playa Del Coco was by far the craziest party I have ever seen.

After our 7km hike to and from the rocky beach of Ocotal, we treated ourselves to a few
bevvies and a nice pizza.

After dinner and With our own homemade concoction in hand, (an old favorite of coconut rum and juice) we wandered the
busy centro of Coco.

We weaved through people dancing and drinking and the cars trying to get down the road.
Some douche bag in a car ran into my leg and I wiped out a little. 20 points for hitting the tall white girl I guess.
It was all good though. No bumps or bruises.

After the eventful walk we headed down to the beach and walked the boardwalk.
Here we found families walking and a more chilled crowd. It was nice.
We ran into the Quebecois couple we had met at the Liberia bus terminal. Nice couple. We hung out with them for a while
and then headed back to the crazy centro in preparation for the countdown.

We stood in the middle of the road just taking all of the craziness around us in.

When midnight came people went nuts. I have never seen people get so excited for new years before.
Maybe not so much for the new year but just a reason to party hard. No se.

Screaming, kissing and beer being tossed everywhere all over everyone continued for quite some time.
Fireworks all around us and covered in alcohol we danced and laughed and enjoyed the craziest new years
any of us had seen before.

Playa Coco

2012-01-05T10:13:00.007+09:00

Unfortunately, due to the size of the photos on my camera and the slower internet connection here I am unable to upload as many photos as I would like.

I have since changed the setting on my camera!

So we spent 4 nights in Playa Coco the closest beach to the city of Liberia where we stayed our first 2 nights. This is the beach where most of the locals go to get away for the weekend.

It waas nice but nothing outstanding. It was great to get in the water of course.

One day we walked a total of 7km to check out a different beach which was a lot nicer and had great rocky formations. This reminded of Jeju island. (Especially the trip Heather and I took there).

Snorkeled a bit, tanned a bit.

On our last full day in Coco we got a ride from one of the owners at our hotel to a nearby beach called Pinca I believe.

Now this beach was the shit. What I had been hoping for from Coco but didn't find.

Down a bumpy dirt road we were taken to a little piece of heaven.

Clean, clear water on a smaller beach with few people. Ahhhhh

On the walk in we saw a monkey in the tree doing monkey things.

We named him Johnny in honor of our rock climbing friend John Shaw who has mad climbing skills just like this cute little monkey.

I dropped my bag immediately and ran into the water. Again, ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

Warm, welcoming, amazing.

We found some significantly better snorkeling here.

Snacks, tanning, exploring, yoga on the beach, re-applying of sunscreen filled our day.

Glorious. It was my favorite day of the trip so far.

Llegar (ed)

2011-12-30T12:15:00.005+09:00

We have arrived safe and sound in Liberia.

Keep this one short....

Plane from VAN to Houston smelled like fart and sweaty gym.

Houston airport was interesting. Colorful and full of accents.

Plane #2 from Houston to Liberia was FULL of kids. Good times.

If you can avoid flying UNITED/Continental airlines, DO SO!

You have to pay for EVERYTHING. No meals, no peanuts, no cookies and if you would like to sit in the emergency aisle you can, but for the bargain price of only $65 extra.

Bollocks!

The seats were tiny. NO media unless again, you wanted to pay $7.99 to watch tv/movies.

On the positive, we arrived safely and are staying at a lovely Tico house where the couple welcomed us with fresh fruit and then made us a delicious breakfast this morning.

(Insert food picture here!) I don't know how to move the pictures within the entry once you have uploaded them. Do you know??

Bummer today was that the water had been turned off at the house and in most of the town.

Soooooo, no bathroom which made the morning walk a little tricky and at times cranky.

I have never been so happy to be in a McDonald's as their water was working and we could use the bathroom. Ha.

Liberia is small and not that exciting. I had read that there was some nice architecture around here but we didn't find any.

Oh well.

Had a good walk in the warm weather. Had our first siesta and a nice dinner.

Tomorrow we are off to the coast. Playa Del Coco where we will stay for 1 week.

Can't wait to get in to the water!!!!

Buenos noches amigos y amigas

Merry Christmas and Happy new Year!

2011-12-27T08:30:00.002+09:00

Hello all,

A new adventure begins tomorrow with a 3 month trip to Central America with my sidekick Randy so I figured it's a good time to reconnect with the old blog.

We will be arriving in Costa Rica on December 28th and returning (possibly) on March 28th, 2012.

Stay tuned for blog posts!

Health, happiness and love,

Sloane

I went to Phuket, again.

2010-03-15T16:06:00.009+09:00

I love Phuket. I love the food, the massages, the people, riding a scooter, watching people train Muay Thai and of course, the beaches!

After a long overnight ferry ride from Koh Tao, I stayed in Phuket for 5 days.

I have a lovely Thai friend there and a friend that I had in Mokpo is living in Phuket for 6 months so I caught up with them and enjoyed many days on the beach, snorkeling, eating, shopping and getting massages.

Paradise.

I went to Koh Tao and now I can scuba dive

2010-03-15T15:38:00.009+09:00

My good friend Erin and I decided way back in September that we wanted to get our Open Water scuba diving certification. The long process of which dive school to choose begun.

We ended up heading to Koh Tao which is apparently THE place to go scuba diving in Thailand (aside from the Similan islands) and stayed at Asia Divers where our instructor was this very colorful hippy from a small town outside of London.

I started off in the pool ok but then when we started doing some skills involving taking off our masks I started to freak out a little.

I didn't think that I was going to make it through the rest of the course and was pretty down on myself.

Long story short, I made it through the course and am very happy that I did.

I knew that I would be a little scared but I got through it.

Erin and I went on 2 more dives when we got to the Philippines. One was absolutely beautiful and was the best dive I had been on (out of the whopping 6 that I've done haha) and the other was a night dive which wasn't as cool as I thought it was going to be and I got a little bit of vertigo which wasn't cool at all.

Anyway, I can now scuba dive, Koh Tao is awesome and I will check out some diving this summer here in Korea on Jeju-do island.

Studying Under a Desk in Seoul By Jason Lim

2010-03-15T14:24:00.002+09:00

In the 1970's, elementary schools in South Korea were called the ``National People's Schools" and the curriculum consisted of equal parts academic subjects and anti-communist propaganda.

The Korean War was still fresh in our parents' minds who had suffered through it when they were teenagers, and everyone had several uncles or cousins who had been killed by the dreaded North Korean People's Army.
The South Korean government told us constantly that the big bad North Korean bear would soon come down to devour us once and for all and subject us to the dreaded Red Communism, which was the closest you could get to hell on earth. Therefore, going to elementary school in South Korea in the 1970s had inevitable consequences. Not only were we subject to anti-communist diatribes and over-the-top signs warning against North Korean spies, but we also had to practice escaping the school grounds and forming cadres of Homeland Defense Youth Corps in case of a communist invasion; our homeroom teachers were also our Homeland Defense Corp captains, giving a whole new meaning to classroom discipline.

But the most fun was when we had the weekly air raid warnings. The piercing siren would go off and the race would begin. Like Olympic finalists for the 100-meter dash, we would all bolt from our seats and run down stairs into the basement as quickly as we could and crawl under the wooden desks that lay in neat rows. Under the desks, we would squat with our heads hunched over and our hands holding one another tightly, as we were taught.

Although the teachers always yelled at us frantically to be quiet and calm, these exercises always involved a lot of giggling and outright shouts of joy. This was our chance to break the monotony of the classroom and temporarily escape from the suffocating despotism of the teachers. Even better, this was our chance to crawl next to that pretty girl from the class that you had the big crush on and hold her hand for a while until the all-clear siren sounded, which you couldn't hear because of the delightful pounding in your head.
You almost wished that the air raid was for real because you could get to hold on to her hand a little longer and even become her knight in shining armor against the invading communist hordes. I still remember the name of my air-drill princess in the third grade at Kyungbok Elementary School: Kim Ji-hye. Boy, was she pretty!Then reality intruded and it was time to go back to class. But we always made a stop at the school bank after these air raid warnings.

Every kid had a personal bank account and we had to deposit 10 won every week after the air raid warnings, beaming with youthful pride at the sight of the growing balance while our ears still rang with the echoes of the siren. Our teachers told us that we were the future heroes of South Korea, entrusted with the sacred mission to pull South Korea out of its miserable poverty and surpass North Korea at all costs.
Armed with such exhortations and driven by paranoid fear and manic industry, South Korea went from the second poorest country in the world to becoming the 11th largest economy in the world today, leaving North Korea in the dust heaps of history. But I guess we can never really leave the past behind, even when we were raised in such an atmosphere of hate and fear.

Certainly not when you are connected by a bond of blood and 5,000 years of history. So, we will soon mark the beginning of the second summit between the leaders of South and North Korea. The situation in Northeast Asia is as complicated as they have ever been, with the six-party talks trying to move forward amidst existing geopolitical dynamics and nuclear technological complexities.But behind the present complexity seems to lay the inevitability of the brotherhood that connects the two Koreas, a connection that will ultimately define the future of the Korean people, despite the current obstacles and past hatreds that seem intractable at times.
And that's where the hope springs eternal. Best wishes to the leaders of South and North Korea in healing this division that continues to echo in our collective soul so powerfully. Hopefully, our children won't have to hold hands crouched under their desks.

Movie Reviews

2009-11-16T21:58:00.001+09:00

Inglorious Basterds: Amazing. Will go see it again.

2012: A piece of Hollywood shit. Don't waste your time or money. You won't get either of them back!

Can I be a BIGGER pussy??

2009-11-16T21:56:00.002+09:00

Every winter I seem to become less and less tolerant of the cold weather.

It was 7 degrees today, which would be balmy if I was still in Winnipeg for November, but I was freezing.
2 pairs or socks, tuque, hood, scarf and mitts.

So, I'm thinking that I am just becoming a bigger and bigger pussy each year and that I should stop talking about moving and living somewhere warm and just do it already!

Pussy.

2009-11-05T23:41:00.001+09:00

The funniest answer today from a grade 5er when asked "What did you do yesterday" (Lesson title)
"I watched CNN".

Haha!

Are you serious!?
You're in grade 5!

Boo

2009-11-01T17:46:00.006+09:00

Last night's Halloween party was great.

Lots of people came out and had great costumes. The money that was raised at the party is donated to the Mokpo orphanage where some waygooks volunteer. Last night, 750,000 won was raised! So great.

I rarely get drunk but I did last night. Not loser pissed though so that was good.

I tried my first gin and tonic. Not bad.

Unfortunately with the change of the month seemed to have brought a change in the weather as well.

Yesterday I wore shorts and a t-shirt on my run and came home with tan lines but today I was wearing jeans, a big sweater and shoes and socks.

I think our beautiful warm fall weather has maybe come to an end.

The countdown to Christmas now begins!

October 31st

2009-10-31T17:52:00.003+09:00

Today is halloween and I went for a run this afternoon in shorts and a t-shirt and came home with some faint tan lines.
I love Korea.

Had the annual viewing of The Exorcist last night with some friends and that movie still scares the shit out of me. Which movie still scares you??

Happy Halloween!

You know what that means! Christmas is on its way!!

Garbage?

2009-10-29T17:42:00.002+09:00

Yesterday I came home for lunch.

On my way back to school, I took out my garbage.
I know, very exciting.

When I came home from school, I noticed that the garbage bag I had thrown out at lunch was gone but all of the other garbage that was there before was still there.

Hmmmmm weird I thought. WHY would that specific bag that I had thrown out be gone.

And WHERE would it go? WHO would take it!? What in the world would you want with it?

So this morning on my way to school, what do I see up the path near the sidewalk, yep, my bag of garbage.

What the hell I thought!?

Where did my garbage go yesterday? What happened to it and why was it here now!??!

I took it back to my apartment garbage area.

Stay tuned to find out what happens to the garbage next!

Muay Thai

2009-10-26T22:09:00.006+09:00

Yesterday the local Muay Thai kickboxing club held an International tournament with Japan.

It was cool.

Aphae-do

2009-10-26T21:54:00.009+09:00

My friend Moon Sook took me and my friend Melissa to her home island, Aphae-do for the day.

The weather was amazing. Sunny and hot. Shorts and a tank top.

And we were lucky enough (insert sarcasm here) to catch the 2nd annual Octopus festival where if you want to, you can eat a live octopus. Mmmmmmmm.

Moon Sook actually really likes to eat that but she said that it's too expensive at the festival.

Darn!

2009-10-26T21:41:00.009+09:00

Halloween is approaching and I'm excited. I will go back to my roots and dress up as an Indian this year.

Last night some friends came over and we carved pumpkins. Erin was a loser and just hollowed hers out so she could make soup. ??? I was angry.

But this was Moon Sook's first time ever carving a pumpkin from scratch. Meaning having to gut it and clean it etc.

No one lost a finger so that was good.

I brought my pumpkin to school today and the kids loved it!

Fall

2009-10-26T21:21:00.009+09:00

So I've realized that I'm as good at blogging regularly as I am at writing in my journal.

I always mean to, but never seem to get around to it.

So year 4 in Korea. I definitely never thought that I would be starting my fourth year when I first came here.

I LOVE elementary school. The kids are great, my coworkers are great and my school loves volleyball. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

I also love my apartment. I really have the dream job right now. My apartment is close to my workplace (RIGHT across the street) so I don't have to waste money on traveling or pollute, I can sleep in later, I can come home for lunch, I'm home AT 5 etc etc.

I love my kids and everyone at my school.

Being at this school is such a different experience for me this year and I'm really enjoying it.

Fall in Korea has been amazing. Actually, some days you wouldn't even call fall at home, they would be summer. It's great and the trees are looking beautiful.

Last weekend I went to Jiri mountain which is about 2.5 hours away with my new friend Levi. It was so beautiful.

Last Tour of Duty

2009-08-30T20:10:00.003+09:00

This is gonna be short as I thought I was motivated to write but I'm not.

I'm back in Korea. I start school this week at an elementary school. They love to play volleyball so I'm happy. I have a new apartment. I also love it.

I was in Penticton for just over 2 weeks. It was awesome but SO expensive. It made me appreciate Korea.

More to come...

July

2009-07-17T13:03:00.013+09:00

Another school year is over. I am happy.

I enjoyed this contract for the most part but due to my laziness, I am always happy when I DON'T have to work. Especially when I get paid for it.

My next contract will be with an elementary school and I am planning for this to be my last year in Korea. For now.

I am ready for a different culture, environment, people and a different job.

The most exciting thing that has happened this month, aside from school ending, is that Darren finally completed an Ironman race.

He has trained his ass off and it definitely paid off as he had a graet race and finished the grueling 226km in 12 hours and 9 mins.

The weather was perfect for the athletes. Warm with no sun. Not so good for me as I was planning on working on my tan. haha

It was a foggy, misty, rainy ferry ride over.

Swim site: Jungmun beach.

Waves big enough to surf. It was a TOUGH swim.

New Canadian friend Teran. Her boyfriend was racing as well.

Back track

2009-07-17T12:53:00.004+09:00

June.

June was pretty fun.

* I ran a half marathon with some friends.

* Went to a BBQ put on by some friends that volunteer at the local orphanage. The BBQ was for the kids at they organized a tug of war, super soakers, water balloons etc. for the kids.

It was a great day and the kids are awesome.

* Went to a KIA Tigers baseball game which was a lot of fun even though they got their asses kicked.

* A friend had her baby shower which was actually a lot of fun.

And the best part of June is that it's really close to July which means the end of school!

Weekend in Jeju

2009-07-17T12:34:00.002+09:00

Mom, you will appreciate this one.

So this past weekend I joined Darren and his Korean friend Mr. Pak to cheer them on in the Ironman triathlon race.

I'll get to that later but this funny story happened on the monday after the race.
We had just come back from the beautiful beach, swimming and playing in the waves and I go to my room to find the door open.

Ok. Didn't think too much of it as yesterday the cleaning lady opened my door and was ready to come in and clean while I was taking a nap (while Darren and Mr. Pak are biking for 6 hours) not knowing that we weren't checking out until Monday.

Back to Monday. My door is open BUT, the bathroom door is closed. I'm praying that the unthinkable is NOT taking place. I say 'hello?' and then hear the bathroom door lock.

ha ha ha

The adjuma comes out. We converse for a minute and I say that we will be leaving at noon.
All of my stuff is still in the room. WHY would you come in?
Anyway. I had to quickly shower and get ready as we were going to the athletes banquet soon.
When I go into the bathroom, I notice that the adjuma had left me a nice stinky present for me to endure during my shower.

I couldn't believe it!
She took a dump in my bathroom, full knowing that someone was staying there!
She couldn't take a dump in a different room!? One that wasn't occupied!?

So I sprayed my body spray all over to somewhat cover up her shit smell so I could take a shower.

It was gross but really funny too.

2PM

2009-05-29T22:49:00.001+09:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GxeOulHgyY

Another one I like right now

I was enjoying a lovely evening until....

2009-05-29T22:31:00.002+09:00

I heard this outrageous screech from a woman outside of the store I was shopping inside of.

Yep, right in the middle of the road, there was a woman being hit by her husband/boyfriend/piece of shit of a man and pulling her by the hair and yelling "Stop it" to her.

It was fucking brutal.

My instinct (when seeing another human in distress and being assualted by someone they supposedly care for) is to go and help and I found myself moving toward the door to go out but then stopped.
Wait, I'm in Korea.
People don't care that this man is beating his woman. In the middle of the fucking street no less.
What the hell am I, a waygook going to do.
Nothing.

Nor are the Korean people. Nothing.

So my question is how did people come to be this way?
To have it a part of their culture, society, normal part of life that hitting another person has become OK.
It's in their schools, their home and apparently in the middle of the street.

Not just Korea. I know this kind of stuff must go on everywhere and I said to Darren as we were walking home that people must see a hell of a lot worse in other countires. Children who are taken by rebels, war, bombs, gangs, murder etc etc.

Then I thought, man what a shitty place we live in!
HOW can people treat others this way.

Fuck.

Anyway. It was sad to see and very frustrating.
This is a depressing entry but I had to blab.

If you're gonna beat each other, do it in your own home next time please!

On the positive I had a great week and am looking forward to the beautiful weather and activities of this weekend.

Wolchul Mountain

2009-05-13T22:07:00.019+09:00

Last Saturday a friend of mine held the first ever 'King of the Mountain' race up, across and down the 809foot high Wolchul mountain.
I have only hiked this mountain once before and I remember it being VERY difficult.
I invited my friend Jocelyn and my new Korea friend from work Moon Sook.
Jocelyn impressed while poor Moon Sook had to turn back.
We had all decided NOT to race this bitch of a mountain as hiking it is hard enough!
After several hours we made it back to 'base' and then found the closet store that sold ice cream.
This mountain and the area in which it lies is absolutely beautiful.
I hope to do it again this summer but would love to have proper hiking shoes to do it in!

BoA (Eat you up)

2009-05-13T22:05:00.000+09:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUbiK8zl5BU

Oh, another good one

After School (Ah)

2009-05-13T22:03:00.001+09:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u04F4lDWxmQ

This is a good one too.

Girls Generation (Gee)

2009-05-13T21:40:00.001+09:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eodFU4b237s

Check out this song if you have time.

It's my favorite at the moment

2009-05-13T21:28:00.002+09:00

Yikes!

It's been much too longsince I've written on you blog and for that I am sorry.
I have been busy but have been thinking of you lots.

I have been busy with school, if you can believe it, and busy finishing up my TEFL course.
I am 2 units away from being done. Aren't you happy for me and can understand why I haven't written to you!?

Since I last wrote to you I have changed my mind about something.
You will still be called Koozmacinkorea as I have decided to come back for one more year.
I am definitely ready for a change of scenery but the thought of actually having a pay cheque ALL to myself is too good to pass up.
I will change to an elementary school next year and then my plan is to move to beautiful, warm Phuket where others with SAD live. Happily.

Upcoming events are a half marathon on June 7th in beautiful Jeju island and a sprint triathlon on July 11th which will also be in Jeju.
Darren will be doing his first FULL Ironman race on July 12th so that will be an exciting weekend.
I am trying to attend more events around Mokpo and nearby cities as this is my 3rd year and I need to keep learning and seeing new things to keep me interested in Korea.

One exciting thing in my life right now is the new Nepalise restaurant in Gwangju. Yes, this IS the excitement in my life.
Now that samosa's, dal and nan bread are close to me, I am very happy.

what else. Ummmmmm
I am planning on going to Barcelona in the summer for about a week to visit some old high school friends. It will be so great to see them and ever since the Olympics were in Barcelona, I have wanted to go there.
I look forward to laying topless on the beach along with the other sun worshippers.

I will then be in BC for just under a month visiting mom and dad and friends and family.
I love BC and can't wait to be there. And also lie in the sun. Unfortunately not topless though. Damn tan lines.

Tanning is a big part of my life apparently.

One of my main motivations for running is to work on my tan.
really.

Is this bad? I figure whatever gets you out there doing it is good!
I wear sunscreen. Now.

ok, I'm babbeling.

I will try to write to you more blog as I know how you like it.

talk soon and take care!

xo

PEE

2009-04-05T13:28:00.002+09:00

WHY why why does the elevator in my apartment block smell like urine constantly.

I don't understand.

There are adjuma's that clean the elevators and hallways all the time so WHY does it smell?

Does someone pee in there everyday to ensure the smell?

I often take the other elevators just so I don't have to smell it.

Ohhhhhh pee.

SAD

2009-04-02T18:26:00.002+09:00

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder
What should I do?

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder
How about you?

When winter comes, I'm a bum.
I'm blue, I'm sad and complain to my mom.

She thinks I'm a sissy and yes I am
Even though I'm Canadian

Born in the wrong country
I can't stand the cold

I need the beach
where I can grow wrinkly and old

And wrinkly I will
Whilst tanning away

One day I will live there
One day I say!

2009-03-22T12:58:00.001+09:00

In case you were wondering, soy milk in your coffee is not that delicious.

Funny

2009-03-21T10:44:00.001+09:00

Enjoying my music and the nice weather on my way to the gym this morning I just glanced at the apartment block to the left of me to see something I found so funny.

Everyone hangs their laundry and other things outside on their balconies to dry, if you already didn't know that, and I saw a child's teddy bear hanging outside who had been freshly washed and right beside the little bear was 3 big squid things being hung out to dry in order to be enjoyed as a snack later.

HAhahhaa, I laughed and laughed.

Nothing like hanging your kids' teddy bear outside to dry and your fish thing right beside it.

I wish I had my camera.

It doens't sound as funny when I type it but just picture it in your mind.

Teddy bear, squid, teddy bear, squid

5 months

2009-03-19T17:05:00.002+09:00

So that's roughly the amount of time I have left here in Korea until I head back to Canada.

I think that because I know that I will be leaving relatively soon, things that would normally REALLY get under my skin are now laughable.

Some crazy adjuma yelling "HELLO!" "HELLO!" at me the other day, people cutting me off or getting in my way, silly things at school, people talking with food in their mouths or slurping etc etc, now are all funny to me.
Yes, still annoying but I feel now that I have to just absorb every moment that I have here as I may never be back and I want to remember all of the smells, the faces everything.

Maybe I will be back and I am just taking a break. Who knows.

Now that I have NO plan in my life, I can do anything I want to. So I guess the plan is to do whatever I want!

I'm hoping that being at home for a little while will put just a little more detail into that plan because as of now it is wiiiiiiiiiide open.

Which I guess isn't really a bad thing.

Anyway, things are good.

The weather is great which makes me happy Sloane again.
Winter is the end of happy Sloane and I am SO happy to have her back again. I am feeling normal, like me again.
Winter Sloane is evil. No. WINTER is the evil one!

School is going well, running is going well, la la la.

Oh Happy Day

Just a few

2009-03-11T20:59:00.002+09:00

So I've lost a few pounds.

Only 5 or 6 but apparently this had made, what seems, all the difference in the world as to how my clothes fit.
Normally, I would be exstatic that I had lost a few but when you live in country where you only have a set amount of clothes and can't just run out to the mall and pick up a pair of kacki's, it really sucks.

REALLY!

I have already gotten rid of a few pairs of pants because they were REALLY big and now I'm down to about 2 pairs of pants that are acceptable to wear to work.
They used to fit great, look great and be comfortable and now they just don't hang the same way and I'm like the kid who is always pulling up his pants.

I know this is a trivial problem when people are starving in the world but this is what's going on in my world right now. haha

I NEED PANTS!

My only saving grace is that spring is on its way and I can break out the capri pants and skirts that will get me through to the end of the year.

Note to self: only lose weight if you can buy some new clothes to go with it!

Sawatdee Kha

2009-03-08T20:19:00.016+09:00

Thailand was beautiful.

There are scooters everywhere and dogs roam free and mostly lie on the side of the road.

You think you are going to hit them but they are just relaxing. It was a nice change to see dogs roaming free as opposed to being chained to a horrible life like they are in Korea.

Gecko's are also everywhere but I didn't mind because they are cute.

I got bit by some type of jelly thing in the water a few times. It hurt.

The food was absolutely amazing. I ate it everyday.

The temples were beautiful.

The air was clean.

The bugs are incredibly loud but really nice to listen to.

The beaches were great.

Massages were great.

I hurt my skin really bad. The worst ever I think. But my tan looks really good and that's all that matters really. ha ha

I wore SPF 50 for the first time in my life.

I went through 3 bottles of sun block and 2 bottles of after sun lotion.

Ladyboys are really pretty.

I want to go back.

Quick Update

2009-03-08T20:15:00.002+09:00

* I am back at school until July.

* I will leave Korea when I am finished this contract.

* I don't know where I will go!

* Darren and I are no longer together.

* But it's ok.

* Thailand was AMAZING and I didn't want to leave and all I can think of is going back.

* I am anxiously waiting for the warm weather to arrive.

Sleep Much?

2009-02-08T10:48:00.003+09:00

I think that Koreans are vampires.

They come alive at night and keep their neighbours (me) from sleeping.

The kids that live above me are up running around until midnight, sometimes past, and it seems that everyone is still up fairly early in the morning.

I think that I am cursed to have noisy neighbours that live above me.

On Spence St. in the ghetto of Winnipeg, I was told to "Fuck off" by my stick thin neighbour that lived above me who you would have thought was 300 pounds.
She always seemed to be dragging or banging furniture or something like that while wearing heels and stomping on the hardwood floor.

What bothers me the most, is wondering WHAT THE HELL ARE PEOPLE DOING up there!

Really. WHAT are you doing that is SO noisy.

I know what I do in my apartment and it's not much.

sit on the couch or at the computer, walk softly to the kitchen or to the bathroom. Repeat.

Seriously, what do people do that can make so much noise?

It doesn't help that for some reason I've been blessed/cursed with super-hero hearing and even with ear plugs in, I can still hear things pretty clearly.

Also, I understand that this building was probably built pretty fast and sound proofing was not at the top of their work list.

From side to side, the place is great. Can't hear a thing. It's just above and on occasion the tv below.
I know a lot about my neighbours above me just through the thinness of the ceiling.

I know that the man has a severe hacking problem and it's usually the worst in the morning either after a night of being "heavy drunken" or whatever.

I get to listen to them go to the bathroom, and recently have heard them have sex which was pretty interesting as it was the FIRST time that I have heard them in the past 2 years of living here.

Darren and I were thinking that maybe the wife is banging someone else while her old man was out but nope, cause after, he started hacking away as usual.

Guess it was too much activity for his smoke filled lungs.

It also seems that the couple fights a lot and they have some good screaming matches.
I get to listen to their alarm clock or whatever the hell it is that is making this irritating sound.
There are 2 kids and they like to run around.

If you have any ideas as to what it is that people actually do in their apartments, please fill me in!
I would love to know.

Japan Day 1

2009-02-07T10:58:00.005+09:00

After being dropped off at the wrong ferry terminal and having to walk about 10 mins. to the correct one with our big bags, we boarded the super fast ferry to Fukuoka.

The ship kind of props up on 3 leg type things and shreds through the water getting us Fukuoka in 3 hours.

We head to our hotel, which was about the equivilant of $18 bucks, dropped our stuff and headed out.

We didn't make it that far this day as this large department store caught our I so we went in.

The store has 7 floors.

2 were stationary, household stuff, bags, Valentine's Day stuff and spa/bathroom type stuff.

We only made it through the 2 stationary floors which took over an hour.

We then needed to refuel so we walked around and found a Subway.

Yes, I'm in Japan and should be eating Japanese food but we don't have a Subway or anything Western in my city of Mokpo so I was VERY happy to eat there.

While walking we stumbled upon a shrine and passerbys (sp?) were showing their respects while on their way to work or wherever.

It was cute.

Then it was back to LOFT to conquer the other 5 floors.

I spent ALL of the money I had exchanged that morning at the ferry terminal which was suppossed to last me the entire trip.

Opps.

We had a great time in that store and by the time we were done were ready for the sauna at the hotel and a good sleep.

Things I liked about Japan

2009-02-02T18:30:00.002+09:00

It's clean

It has lots of trees

It doesn't stink

People aren't pushing and shoving, yelling, spitting or staring at you

No garbage piles on the street and it has garbage cans!

It's quiet. Horns aren't constantly honking and people aren't yelling

It's organized

It's warmer than Korea

People are attractive

Hello Kitty

People were walking their dogs not eating them

No tied up dogs

Trip to Fukuoka, Japan

2009-02-02T11:03:00.010+09:00

We spent the night in Busan before heading out to take the ship the next day to Fukuoka, Japan.

January

2009-01-27T11:11:00.009+09:00

For being on vacation, I sure feel like I'm busy!

January has flown by and I can't believe that soon it will be February.

Which is good I suppose as it means that we're one month closer to warmer weather and I'm getting closer to leaving on my trip to Thailand.

Still keeping me busy this month is trying to study Korean and my TEFL course and banging my head at spin class.

Stephanie, Darren and I rented a car last week and drove across the country to see the old historical temples and things of Korea. Driving in Korea is always an adventure and even more so this time, as I completely forgot to ask for a GPS system.

So the atlas was cracked for the whole trip and we all had to work on our navigating skills.

On our way East we stopped at nearby Wolchulsan National park and the Boseong green tea plantation.

The first night we decided to bypass the city we had planned to stay in and head to beautiful Busan. The coastal city which was once one of the largest port cities in the world.

We wanted to head to the Haeundae area which is right on the coast and has a great Indian restaurant that I definitely wanted to get to that night.

Being only another 109 km away, I figured it wouldn't take us all that long to get there not including the time to figure our way around the city and get to Haeundae.

Well, it definitely took longer than expected but we made it and got to see quite a bit of Busan while driving around and made it to the Indian restaurant before it closed!

The next day we took a lovely walk along the water and made our way to Gyeongju, the historical area where we went to Bulguksa, the largest temple in Korea and saw some huge tombs.

We were excited to get back to our 5 star hotel (which I got for $70 online) where we could enjoy the hot springs, the lovely view and just relaxing.

I spent quite a bit of time in the sauna and got an amazing massage from an adjumma.

It was a fabulous way to end the day.

The next day we fueled ourselves for the long drive home with these amazing buns from this bakery. Oh my goodness, they are amazing!

Darren took the morning shift as he is a morning person and I am definitely not.

After a while we arrived at a tool gate. We were hoping that it was one where you take your ticket and not a toll gate where you give them a ticket and pay as we did not have any recent toll gate tickets in the car.

Sure enough, it's a give your ticket and pay type gate. Oh man.

So we had to pull over to this little booth thing and wait for this other couple to finish their dealings with the boothe lady.

We had to fill out some paperwork and the couple was nice enough to help us but we still ended up waiting about 10-15 minutes to finally figure out how much we were going to owe for not having out toll gate ticket.

Turns out it was only 3 bucks and we were standing there for that whole time wondering what our punishment was going to be.

A whole 3 bucks!

Like you couldn't have said that 10 minutes ago. hahaha

So we were on our way.

After missing a higway turn off and finally making our way back on course we noticed that the weather was drastically different from the weather we had that morning.

We were welcomed back to Mokpo with a lovely blizzard.

We think we are cursed as when we returned to Mokpo with Stephanie the first time, it was also a blizzard.

I hope this is the last one of the season!

Tomorrow Stephanie and I are heading back to Busan to spend the night and then take the "Beetle" ship to Fukuoka, Japan where we will spend 2 nights.

After that, we will spend one day in Mokpo and then head to Seoul again to send Steph on her way to Sydney, AUS.

Pepsi and Ring Dings ( Seinfeld)

2009-01-18T21:52:00.002+09:00

Guest Blogger 2
So I was invited t o what I thought was a house warming party. The traditional gift is toilet paper or paper towel. I double checked with my Korean friend who was giving me a ride to the party- "what should I bring --wine? or TP?" --I was reassured that TP was ok. A party pack of Tp and paper towels in a very trendy Nike bag-- to my surprise it was a dinner party very traditional dinner , sitting on the floor and Korean bbq . Thanks for dinner --here is your TP -- my place next weekend?

Dear Owner

2009-01-18T20:22:00.002+09:00

This is your stomach speaking.

Regarding last night and the amount of work you gave me.

It was a little too much to handle and I'm sorry I had to do what I did to you during the night.

But it was too much! I had to send some back!

Last night was a friend's birthday and we were going to a restaurant that I had never been to before and I didn't want to chance it, that I wouldn't be able to eat much there b/c of the meat situation so I had a huge, delicious, plate of pasta before we went.

So we get to the restaurant and I notice all of this deliciousness in front of me and I totally could have eaten a great meal there.

So, already being full, I decide to try just 'a couple' of things. Deep fried sweet potato, deep friend dough with sugar on top.
And that was basically it I think.

Feeling VERY full and quite gross while we went bowling, I got home and immediately popped some TUMS as I was feeling sick.

My stomach went on strike, and I don't blame it, and I ended up puking.
Of course it was gross but at least the after taste was of sugary dough! hahaha
Not like the last time I puked which was just in December which tasted like spicy Korean food.
THAT was terrible.

Yum.

Burning Flesh

2009-01-18T19:58:00.002+09:00

Mmmmhmmm, nothing like the smell of a little bit of burning flesh.

Why is my flesh burning?

After several years of relentless sun worshipping, my face has developed several new spots.

Turns out, a student of mine that I have developed a relationsip with, her father is a skin Dr. guy.
Soooo, my friend Jocelyn and I went down to the clinic yesterday to talk skin.

The Dr. asked me which dots I wanted taken off and there was so many to choose from I didn't know which ones to pick under the pressure!
I ended up picking out 10 spots that irritate me and on went the topical cream to freeze the area a little.
I didn't know that I was actually gonna get them taken off today!

Jocelyn got a prescription for some magical acne pills and was told to eat more. Ha ha ha.

Meanwhile I sat with 10 spots of cream on my face for 30 minutes before the burning procedure could start.
When the time was up, we went into the burning room.

I layed (correct word?) on the bed and was a little nervous and then the burning began. Not painful except for the one that is very close to my eye which required a lot of burning and REALLY stunk!

So it all went well and now I'm walking around with 10 band-aid squares on my face.

My favorite part of the whole procedure though, is when we are putting our jackets on and Jocelyn says, "Imagine what it must have smelled like in a concentration camp with all of those burning bodies".

Hahhahahaha!!!! No, I can't imagine actually.

Dong Chim

2009-01-13T19:39:00.002+09:00

Just a random funny story I thought of.

Here in Korea, kids and maybe even adults seem to enjoy poking at each other's asshole.

You can do it too.

1. Put your palms together
2. Interlock your fingers except for your index fingers
3. Your index fingers should now be making a point, almost like a gun
4. When your friend isn't looking, shove those index fingers up into their pants
5. You have successfully executed a Dong Chim

Anyway, the story is, Darren was at his swimming lesson practicing away when he felt something violate him from behind.
He turns and it's his swim coach giving him a Dong Chim for not doing something properly in the drill or whatever.

hahahha

now go practice!

December Update and Stuff

2009-01-13T19:06:00.010+09:00

Decemeber is great for many reasons.

School is coming to an end which means the beginning of a 2 month paid vacation for many public school teachers including myself, Christmas, my favorite holiday, is coming and with any luck, some snow will grace the ground.

Christmas was really nice, except for REALLY wanting to be with my family.

Darren and I exchanged gifts and had yummy Christmas pancakes and then a really nice dinner with some friends.

We unfortuntaley had to go to school on boxing day which might actually be the first time that I have had to work on that day!

If you can even call it work. I showed movies and played games for almost all of December.

As of the 30th, we have both started our winter vacation which I welcomed very much after having a less than fabulous first term at my new school.

New year's was pretty mellow. It was bitch cold that day as I remember it being last year as well so we ordered pizza and surprise! watched a movie and then went over to some friends' place for some wine and games.

They wanted to celebrate the new year at a bar so Darren and I decided to actually GO to a movie in the theater. It was good.

Since being on vacation I have started to study Korean with a student of mine and am taking Tesol online in hopes of being armed with some new tricks for the new term in March.

I am also hittin the gym hard in order to look good in my bikini when I go to Thailand next month!

I am SO excited. I plan to see many beautiful things, swim and snorkel and maybe surf in the ocean, burn my skin while also getting many massages and just pampering myself.

Also, Darren's sister has just arrived to Korea for a month long visit here on the peninsula.

Although this is not her first time travelling abroad, this is her first time to Asia and to a country where YOU are the minority and everything you know from comfortable Canada is different.

We plan on renting a car and driving around visiting some temples and stuff and seeing how many gross foods we can convince Stephanie to try.

She's already one upped me in that today she ate cow stomach with Darren and his principal!!!!

GROSS!

That's about it for now.

Will be in touch more often. I promise!

Hope everyone, everywhere is fabulous and WARM!

Kernels and Friends

2009-01-13T18:54:00.003+09:00

Apparently even when I'm on vacation and have LOTS of time on my hands, I still find it difficult to update this damn thing!

First thing I have wanted to note was something that happened a few Saturday nights ago.

To preface, Darren and I love to watch movies and eat popcorn. I know, exciting, but it's great to us.
UNLESS, we go to make popcorn and the container is empty.

So, I briskly ran to the mart across the street where we usually buy our kernels and excitedly came home to make our blessed corn.

When I opened the bag I thought that I noticed a little something extra in there but I wasn't sure.
Part of thought, don't worry, don't look again, it's nothing, just make the popcorn and enjoy!

But I had to look and good thing I did.
The little something extra was a little larvae of some sort that had attached itself to the inside of the bag.
Oh fuck is what I'm pretty sure I said.

It was SO disgusting AND now I don't get to have my popcorn!

damn it.

A few days later Darren went to the same mart to check out the popcorn situation and carefully studied the bag of kernels.
Again, there was another larvae in the other bags at the store.

We now go to another store across town to get our poprcorn kernels and thouroughly inspect the bags before we buy them!

Guest Blogger

2008-11-25T20:55:00.002+09:00

Just before I was ready to sit down to enjoy my lunch , I asked one of my co-teachers if they wanted me to help out with co-ordinating my lesson plans to compliment what they do in their weekly plans.I was told "that as you know" - one of the more common phrases I hear- I am an English-EE major and that I have been educated in how to teach English-EE to people".

Pretty much all I'm good for is, I was told, is to practice speaking english with people--I was just asking if I could help. Yes I know I dont have a Masters in English , but perhaps its in grad school that you learn that it is indeed English-EE.

Pirating in Action

2008-11-23T20:44:00.002+09:00

So the other weekend we went to see the new James Bond movie and I look over and I see this guy has something in his hand and is pointing it towards the screen.

Hmmmm. His cell phone? It's very possible that he could be on it in the movie theater like the other guy was having a full conversation.

OR, could it be his hand held video camera. Yep.

He was video taping the movie!

Just right out in the open! Wasn't sitting at the back crouched in his seat or anything, just right out there for everyone to see.

It was hilarious.

What's funnier is that Darren will probably be buying that copy on the street somewhere in Mokpo.

haha

Fall Rules

2008-11-23T20:30:00.007+09:00

In Korea it does anyway. If I was back home in Winnipeg, I would be freezing my ass off about now!

Not in Korea. We are enjoying lovely fall days with sunshine and sweaters.

There definitely has been a few days of ugliness but the nice days definitely out weigh those ugly ones.

A few weeks ago I went to a beautiful mountain a few hours away for a hike.

We only had an hour which sucked as I had never been to this mountain before and it was really beautiful.

What goes better together than sausages and coconuts!

Reluctant Poo

2008-11-22T07:51:00.003+09:00

So these bathrooms is what I imagine prison bathrooms to look like except that they are in my school.

They are SO disgusting. They smell, there is NEVER any toilet paper and they are freezing, much like the rest of the school.

This is why I feel that my poo is reluctant to come out when I am at this school which is Mon-Fri.

My poo is scared of these bathrooms. He feels that he can't perform under these conditions and can only do so when he's back in the comfort of his own home which can be really frustrating.

As you already know, I like to talk about poo. Also farts and any other kind of gross bodily function.

Everyone can relate to a poo story. We've either had the same experience or can empathize (sp?) with the story being told.

Now my other school is the total opposite of this school. The bathroom is clean, welcoming and always stocked with toilet paper.

My poo feels at home here and doesn't get stage fright.

But at this school, because the bathroom is small, sometimes bathroom games are played with others that are visiting the bathroom as well.

We all know these games. We've all played them.

You have to fart or poo so you flush the toilet, cough or start rolling the toilet paper really loud.

Or, sometimes, if you're a Korean woman, you just fart away at will and don't give a shit (no pun intended) about anyone else in the bathroom. This is awesome at times.

Other games include out-waiting another person in the bathroom that also has to go poo. I don't like this game.

You both have to go poo but you are both thinking that the other is going to leave and you can poo in peace. No. The other person is playing the same game and is going to out-wait you!

damn it!

Just leave you're saying.

we've all been there.

Can you think of any other games??

NEW WORLD ORDER

2008-10-20T16:17:00.002+09:00

If you don't know about this, you SHOULD!

and you NEED to start your research and take action!

If you haven't already watched these movies, get your hands on them:

* Wake Up call
* Loose Change
* Zeitgeist
* Prison Planet
* Endgame
* Infowars
* Big Brother Big Business

also check out:

alexjones.com

infowars.com

prisonplanet.com

15 Again

2008-10-19T15:59:00.004+09:00

Last night, 4 of my former students from the small island of Docho, where I teach twice a month, came to Mokpo for a sleepover.

We were both very excited to see each other again and of course, they were VERY excited to finally meet Darren after seeing many pictures of him.

Like everyone else's response, he is very handsome and I should marry him.

"Why not married?" is a very popular question both Darren and I receive and the girls did not hesitate to ask as well.

So the night was filled with lots of pizza, the girls wearing high heels for the first time and having blisters, trying to pet me cat Pabo, eating nachos, going to the boardwalk and renting a 3 seater peddle bike, playing shooting games (where I won 2 teddy bears) and seeing a movie.

After all of this, everyone was pretty tired. We got home just before 2am and the girls had to wake up at 5am to catch the 6am ferry so they could be back on the island for church!

They were so thankful and lovely and they are the best kids I've ever met.

It was a great night.

2008-10-18T17:20:00.007+09:00

Ok,

Sorry mom for not blogging more.

I would like to blog at school where I have lots of downtime but the 2 computers I have won't seem to let me access my Blogger account. Damn!

I'm expected to do this on my OWN time!

Things have been good here in Korea.

School is school. I am forever walking around clueless as to what's going on in the school.

There have been festivals which I have been expected to perform in, exam days, cancelled classes, classes that just don't show up, physical testing days and on and on.

Hey, if that means I have less classes, I'm all for it.

Yes, mom, you raised a lazy bastard. haha

So last month Darren and I went up to Seoul to se his mom and take part in the Peace Marathon.

It was great and we both had personal bests in our runs.

We ate lots of delicious food and my American friend took us out for breakfast on the base. It was really neat.

A real restaurant and a real breakfast.

She was also able to get us a lot of goodies from home at the grocery store, which is like walking into a grocery store in the States, like whole wheat bread, Luna bars and other deliciousness.

This is the costume I had to wear in yesterday's fashion show at my school.

This was all news to me and I had people frantically dressing me as if I was the next to go on stage.

Turned out I ended up waiting almost 2 hours with that thing on my head which was not very comfortable.

Next weekend we will go to Suncheon for another run.

I will write more when I have time but things have been really good here and the weather has been absolutely amazing leaving Darren and I with tan lines on October 18th.

It's great.

Until next time, which I hope is very soon!

Quit your Bitching

2008-09-06T17:40:00.002+09:00

So the dinner I had to go to the other night turned out to be quite nice.

I was in such a funk about not wanting to go and of course it turned out to be a really nice time.

My co-teachers picked me up and offered to buy me a sandwich from Paris Baquette because we were going to duck restaurant.
Just for them to offer, was SO nice and was a first for me.

When we arrived, my co-teachers made sure that I had plenty of rice and tons of side dishes.
It was delicious and nice.

So stop your bitchin!

Teacher Dinners

2008-09-04T16:33:00.002+09:00

Tis that time of year again. Starting the 2nd term of school, starting at a new school, teachers leaving and new teachers coming.

Last week Darren and I had the pleasure of attending the farewell dinner at Jeil. My former school.
Normally these dinners have us waygooks staring at the wallpaper or out the window or in extreme cases, actually breaking out a book or magazine.

The one at Jeil last week was an exception though. I had a great time with the teachers and it was nice to see everyone again and say good luck for the upcoming year.
It was also nice to not be by myself at one of these dinners!
It's SO much more fun when you have someone along side of you.

We ate, laughed and then watched the men get totally hammered and then sang some noraebong.
yes, the noraebong is INSIDE the restaurant. Now isn't this a concept that North America shoudl adopt.
It's pretty awesome actually.

The men got smashed and then belt out a few tunes.
This was very entertaining.

One of the male teachers, Mr. Kim, that I would try to speak with in my poor Korean and his poor English asked Darren and I to sing Surfin U.S.A.

uhhh, ok. Definitely not my first choice of songs to sing but because he was drunk and asked so nicely we sang it with Mr. Kim jumping in and singing the chorus.
I think he said Surfin U.S.A. hhaaha

So that was a good dinner.
Tonight I have another one.

A welcome dinner at my new home school.

I really don't want to go. It will be me and all of the staff from school scarfing down some raw fish in order to welcome the new teachers. Me being one of them.

I feel as if tonight's dinner will involve a lot of fake smiles and counting the tiles on the floor and explaining why I don't eat meat and trying to be fed Soju.

good times!

Must find my happy place for this one

I Love Hugs

2008-07-14T13:37:00.002+09:00

I've learned that many Koreans are not very big on hugging like many of us waygooks are.

I found this out last year when I had come back from a nice 6 week vacation in Canada and when I gave my co-teachers hugs after not seeing them for so long, it was like hugging a lamp post.

Nothing.

They were very uncomfortable. This big waygook leaning in towards them going for the hug.
Ahhhhhhhhh

But, last Thursday, which was my last day at that school, my co-teachers and I went out for a nice lunch and chatted and I gave them some little gifts.

When we got back to school and parting ways to our offices, I got hugs from both of the teachers.

Genuine, real hugs! It was such a nice surprise and felt so nice.

Everyone loves a good hug!

Tae Kwon Do

2008-07-13T11:54:00.006+09:00

My Master's husband is the TKD coach at a sports middle and high school just out of Mokpo.

These kids train allllll day and find time for school. They have devoted their lives to the sport and will hopefully compete for their country one day.

The schooling is paid for as many of the kids cannot afford to go to school otherwise. Hence the reason to train so much, to get better, to keep having your education paid for.

A few Saturday's ago, we drove out to their school to train with them. They have come to our club in Mokpo a few times to train with us so now it was our turn.

Their gym is a full size gym with padded flooring on top and 2 sparring rings.

It was great. We trained for a little over and hour which is nothing to these kids but something for us slow waygooks. These kids are AMAZING. So fast and so strong.

We took lots of pictures and had a great time.

We took a tour of their school and they were so excited that we came to see them.

Then we ate lots of pizza.

It was a good day!

There are some better pics on my facebook account.

Wall of Ass

2008-07-13T11:45:00.002+09:00

This is what us waygooks call the random street smells that, well, smell like ass.

You can't quite describe it. You'll just be walking along, la la la, and BAM!

Like a punch in the face it hits you. Ohhhhhhhhh! God, what IS that!?

It's terrible. It's like rotting garbage, compost, sewage and I don't know what all rolled into one and it's terrible.

Now that it's summer time with temps constantly in the 30's and almost 100% humidity, you can just imagine how this adds to it.

The other day I walked home from school. I encountered many smells. Some were of the beautiful green trees everywhere, some were of flowers and many times I ran into the wall of ass.
Going for a run yesterday, I was attacked. Breathing through the mouth is not recommended. It's like eating the wall of ass.

This Friday I will arrive in Canada where I can breathe FRESH AIR and escape the ass. For a month anyway.

Say No!

2008-07-13T11:38:00.004+09:00

After ranting about the smoking situation in Korea, I noticed a commercial on tv to "Say No!" to smoking.

I was amazed.

Has Korea finally realized how bad smoking is for you and that it's not cool. That it's disgusting and that not everyone wants to be around it!?

I sure hope so.

It was refreshing to at least see that the wheels are turning and awareness is being put out there.

Even if it's just one commercial. It's something!

Coming to an End

2008-06-26T12:04:00.002+09:00

Yep. The school year will come to an end on July 18th. My last day will be the 16th.

This will also end my 2 years with my 2 schools and I must say that I am VERY excited for the change.

After being at an all boys school for 2 years, I have had enough of listening to "Sekshi" and "Baby" along with other various swear words and will go to 2 all girls middle schools. Ahhhhh, bliss!
I'm hoping so anyway.

I know that girls will pose their own challenge as well but at least they won't be trying to look down my shirt and ask me what a vulva is.
Well, hopefully not.

I will be changing apartments and Darren will hopefully be taking my job and can just move right into my old place.
I will just be moving down the street to the 300 block of my complex into an apt. that is exactly the same as mine.

I am really looking forward to the change of schools and a new year.
Having Darren here will be a completely different experience then what the past 2 years have been and I have made some really good friends here in Mokpo.

In less than a month I will be back in Winnipeg, packing up the apartment and visiting.
Then it's off to Penticton to relax with mom and dad and enjoy the beach and beautiful B.C.
I can't wait!

That's the update here in the Po.

On an unrelated note,

it's friggin hot here now. Even though it is technically the rainy season, the humidity is crazy. It makes my skin look like I'm 14 again which is just awesome!
Pabo doesn't even want to play b/c it's so warm.

My toilet paper is moist due to the air in the apt., the edges of my passport have curled and laundry takes forever to dry.

The scary thing is, is that this is nothing compared to the heat and humidity that you feel come July, August and Sept. where you just want to die basically. haha

anyone wanna come for a visit!?

Everyone Smoke!

2008-06-19T15:53:00.003+09:00

Everyone in Korea smokes.

So it seems anyway. Kids are getting busted for smoking, only to be scolded by teachers who smoke AT school. Women smoke in the bathroom stalls like teenagers in order to not be seen as a "slut" or a "bad girl" by others.

You can barely walk down the street without having someone bellow out a big puff of smoke near you for you to breathe in. It's lovely.

My beef is with the smoking rooms that exist in schools. Yes, IN SCHOOLS!
This blows my mind.

At my boys school, the photocopy room, where the crusty old man makes photocopies for you, is also where the male teachers smoke. I have posted a picture of the huge jar that serves as their ashtray before.
You go in to get your copies and get slapped in the face by smoke. Disgusting.

What's worse, is that those same teachers are the ones beating the students and making them write lines b/c they were caught smoking!!!!

Well. What a GREAT example you are setting for them when they see you smoking at school! And see every other male in the country smoking.

It also doesn't help that cigarettes are super cheap here. About $2 dollars.

At my second school which is nice and new, there is also a smoking room. This one at least has windows but you can smell the smoke as you walk by the room.

Again, disgusting.

This is my rant about smoking.

I hate it. It's gross.

Another one I like is how the soccer coaches smoke AT practice. This is a good example.

Jeju Marathon

2008-06-10T23:02:00.012+09:00

On June 1st, our running group took part in what looks like to be our last run together. Monique is heading to Masadonia to study and then do her Masters and Jessica will head back to the States and get a real job and life!

We went to Jeju island to take part in the 10k. We had all originaly planned to do the half marathon but then realised that none of us had put in enough training to do so.

Sooooo, we did the 10. It was a lovely day. Not too hot, but hot enough. The course is still along the coastline and is beautiful.

We had rented a car which is always interesting in Korea. We drove around Jeju with the help of our friend who took us to see some cool spots.

We caught the Jeju woman divers who wear these old school wet suits and dive down to the bottom and fish for whatever crustations lie at the bottom. I have always wanted to see them so it was great to finally catch them in action.

Then we checked out some lava tubes. Apparently this is one of the largest lava caves in the world??

I might be wrong but the lava column is definitely the largest in the world which formed by lava dripping down from the top and then just gradually making it's way to the bottom forming this big column thing. It basically looks like a big pile of poo but was pretty damn cool.

I imagined lava flowing through this huge tunnel years and years ago. It must have been amazing.

The hotel we were staying at is the kind of hotels that rents rooms by the hour we think as we saw many "working girls" coming through.

My roomate Vanessa and I, who ran her first 10k and kicked ass, woke up to little red bites on us.

At first she thought mosquito bites but I had searched and destroyed the one mos. the night before we went to bed and there is no way we could have had that many mos's. in the room and not realise it!

Soooo, we had bed bugs I'm guessing. yum. What do you want for 30 bucks a night I guess.

Other activities included an ANTM like photo shoot on the beach and eating lots and lots of delicious Indian food.

It was a fantastic weekend. What made it even more fantastic is that we splurged for the more expensive ferry tickets which gives you your own private room with a bed, tv and a sink and separates you from the scads of people beyond the doors who are drinking beer and soju and getting right pissed!

On a Sunday night of course.
We felt all uppity in our private room, separated from the commoners.

There's no going back!

MAY

2008-05-30T13:20:00.006+09:00

May has been filled with lots of fun and little work.

I like both of those things.

I'll keep it short.

Boseong:

Some friends and I made a trip to Boseong to see the green tea fields which produce most of the tea in Korea, take part in another 10km run and go to a Tibetan-Buddhist temple on Buddha's birthday.

It was a great weekend with fresh air and great friends.

Gwangju:

The next weekend I met up with my friend Jocelyn in Gwangju for a night out. We had a yummy dinner to carb ourselves up for the night of dancing ahead.

I have missed going out dancing and we had been told about a great club that played hop hop.

It was awesome and we danced for hours. It felt like we were in the live version of the movie Step Up. Some people had actual routines to certain songs. Koreans can dance!

The next day we did some shopping and then caught a baseball game.

Ultimate in Mokpo:

The next weekend was spent in Mokpo. A friend had put on an Ultimate Tournament for the weekend which turned out really well.

Before this weekend, I had only played one pick up game of Ultimate. So many friends had said how awesome it was but I never really had much of an interest in it.

Until now. After that weekend, I am definitely a fan of the game and hope to play it as much as I can.

After the 3 games we played on Saturday my body was finished. Having not played hard like that in quite some time and with SO MUCH RUNNING! uhhhhh

I took an ice bath that night!

Then it was back at it on Sunday. I slathered on the A535 and hoped my legs would move as fast as my brain was telling them to!

We ended up leading in the final only to let it slip away.

It was a great weekend.

Jindo Moses Festival

2008-05-09T16:19:00.008+09:00

The Moses Parting of the Sea Festival happens every year in May where the sea parts far enough between 2 islands that you can walk across.

It's super neat and since it fell on a holiday, many were able to make the short trip to Jindo and enjoy this phenomenom.

There was lots of drumming, sea weed, fish, performances and booze. I tried the local alcohol called Hongju which is 40%. Whoa!

I went with my friends Joan and Jocelyn. Joan has a car so it was lovely to not be crammed in a smelly bus with lots of other people.

We walked around, ran into friends, drank Hongju, took lots of pictures and finally walked across the water to the other island.

Well, we didn't quite make it to the other island as the water was starting to come back in but we were pretty close.

It was super cool and great time.

Beer and Stuff

2008-05-09T14:58:00.003+09:00

So this week, I have drank more beer than I have in the entire time I have been in Korea!

In total, it only amounted to about 1 full can of beer but for me, that's a lot!

As I already mentioned, I had a beer with my principal on sports day and the other beer I consumed was today, with my masters father.

A side story to the beer is the heavy bag at our do-jang. Initially, we had it bolted to the wall with this big contraption and it was great.
But, the people upstairs were complaining and that there are now cracks in the wall from our awesome kicking power!

Soooooo, master's dad, the handy man, and who also looks like a Korean version of Morgan Freeman, my favorite actor, had to come up with another way to put up the sand bag.
Let's call her dad Morgan from now on.

He has 4 steel pieces about knee height placed in a square and plans to pour concrete into it and this will be the base for the other contraption to be placed on and then bolted to the wall again!!?

We're all not sure and are very curious as to how this is going to pan out.

I have never seen such a procedure just to hang a sand bag. At other clubs and gyms I've been to, the bags have just been bolted to a beam or whatever and are hanging nicely from the ceiling. No cracked walls and no angry neighbours. Hmmmm

Anyway, today I went to lunch class with fellow waygooks Glen and Erin and of course, Morgan is hard at work planning his structure.

Master decided to actually take care of her new born baby and was unable to make it to class so we did our own thing and then had to help Morgan carry up a bunch of 40kg bags of cement!!!

Definitely not something I saw myself doing when I woke up this morning.

The guys were able to carry them up the 3 flights of stairs on their shoulder so I decided to do the same.
Yeah, no. I made it up one time and one time only. It nearly killed me!

So Erin and I had to be sissy girls and carry one bag up together.

Soooo after the cement carrying and quick vaccuuming afterwards, Morgan brings up a bunch of beer.
Having just trained, beer is not really what I want right now.

Erin and Glen had to leave so I was left with Morgan who also went out and bought some Pringles. Again, not exactly what I want to eat after a workout! Where's my foofy protein shake a fruit!

So he calls me over and opens a bottle and we had some beer and Pringles together.
Morgan shot his glass of beer immediately and I nursed mine. The Pringles however, were surprisingly delicious after a workout!
salt salt salt.

So yeah, these little things are what make me laugh and are moments that I will remember always.
Having a beer with my principal at 1130 in the morning and having a beer with Masters dad after carrying cement up 3 flights of stairs!

good times.

Busted

2008-05-06T13:10:00.002+09:00

The other day my friends Carol-Ann and Vanessa came to Mokpo in a car they rented and we had a great saturday together which included a nice run along the sea wall, (even nicer that it was +30!), went for Vietnamese food, then some ice cream, some norae-bonging, some pool and then home. It was great.

Sunday included strong coffee with breakfast and watching America's Next Top Model.

On their way to their next destination, I asked Carol if she could drop me off at Homeplus so I could pick up some more tortilla wraps.
After getting out of the car, I had to wait a while to J-walk across the street. Instead of walking the whole 150 meters to the overpass crosswalk.

When I finally crossed, there were these 2 cops blowing their whistles for the entire time it took me to cross.

Opps. Busted for J-walking in Korea.

I played dumb foreigner and just kept walking and didn't even look at them.

What am I going to do? stop in the middle of the very busy road I was illegally crossing and go over to them?

Then what? We can look at each other and not understand what the other one is saying?

Note to self, don't J-walk. Not when there are cops around anyway!

Sports Day

2008-05-06T13:06:00.003+09:00

After a great long weekend, we have sports days at my boys school.
They play soccer, Tee ball, traditional Korean wrestling which is similar to Sumo wrestiling and other games.
For me, this means I get to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful day and work on my ever so important tan for the summer.

While wondering around the grounds, I pass my principal who is sitting underneath the tent at the front of the school eating dried squid, chicken wings and drinking beer.

He waves me over and offers me a beer.
It's 11:30 in the morning.

ok. I sat down and had a Hite (uh) with my principal and had a tiny conversation.

It was nice.

Funny Kids

2008-04-23T15:39:00.002+09:00

Yesterday while I was waiting at the light with all the rest of the munchkins from my school, this one little grade 1 boy (grade 7) was just staring at me like he does in class too.

I really wonder what is going through his mind when he is in stare at the waygook mode.

So I'm waiting. He's staring. I say hi. And he musters up "are you my English teacher?"

Inside I'm thinking, DUH I'm your English teacher! but just tell him yes I am. He's so little and cute.

Just now, the boy who is on garbage can duty in our teachers office gave me a "don't mention it" when I said thank you to him.

Asa!

Don't mention it!? Where did you learn that!?

I'm pretty sure you didn't learn it from the grade one teacher because I'm pretty sure HE doesn't even know that.

They are SO funny sometimes.

Gross

2008-04-22T22:38:00.002+09:00

In the elevator tonight with my bike, coming home from work I smelled a foul, foul odour.

It was aweful.

There was another dude in the elevator with me but it was bigger than body odour.

Uh! I can't stand it! It's aweful!

I get out of the elevator and it seems to be following me. What!?

I rode through a fresh pile of poo apparently on the way home and now it's sitting comfortably on my bike tire. Uh! GROSS!

So now, the entire hallway of the 5th floor smells like shit!
hahhahhaa

sorry neighbours

Weekend in Pusan

2008-04-22T15:54:00.004+09:00

Pusan is my new favorite place in Korea.

Since arriving here I have always wanted to go there. Why?

Because of Haeundae beach. Being a Pisces, a water sign, I crave

to be near water and feel so great when I am.

And I also heard it was a really neat city. Good food, good people, just good.

And it is.

The beach is amazing, the food was amazing, everything was just great.

I was there to participate in a 10k run with my friends, we call ourselves Waygooks on the Run, for breast cancer. Or as some like to call it, "running for titties". I'll stick with breast cancer.

Having not run a full 10k since our last race together which was in October I think, I was pretty nervous.

As were the rest of the girls.

But as per usual, we all did great and had a good run.

I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter whether or not I actually train for a 10k, I always seem to come in at the same time.

Aside from the 5 hour bus ride to get to Pusan, everything else was wicked.

I might have to move there.

I think this entry is boring. sorry

?

2008-04-22T15:51:00.002+09:00

So I'm sitting here at my desk watching other teachers try to print something, realize that there is no paper, go to the other room where there is a photocopying machine, take paper from it and then load the printer.

But the problem is, there is very little paper in the photocopier and we're going to need more very soon anyway so WHY NOT just go and get more bundles of paper!
Or ask a student!

These are the little things I just don't understand.

I have to go get some paper now.

Dr. Steve

2008-04-18T14:41:00.004+09:00

Steve-O!

I think you think that I lead an exciting life over here in Mokpo but really, I don't! hahaha

I admit, there are more stories I could post about crazy, random situations I encounter and I will work on that!

Just for you.

Well, and mom.

I am going to Pusan this weekend to run 10k on sunday. Pusan is the 2nd largest city in Korea and is supposed to be really cool and I've always wanted to go there.

With many bus rides and chances to be noticed, I'm sure I'll have a few stories to post next week.

I could really go for a massage right now from you too!! The adjuma's walking on my back just doesn't cut it!

A little Korean craziness

2008-04-04T15:37:00.003+09:00

Korean students run on VERY little sleep.

A friend posted a really interesting (peer reviewed) article on facebook about the "sleep/wake patterns among Korean teenagers".

Some facts:

In the higher grades, some students leave for school as early as 6:55am

71.1% of students attend additional classes in the evening. More than 1/3 of students attend night school until later than 10pm and 14.3% until past midnight.

Korean parents do not tend to impose sleep on their children if they are engaged in study-related activities. In fact, they often encourage their children to sacrifice sleep time for additional study until they are too sleepy to study.

There is even a widespread phrase advising 12th graders that they will pass (the college entrance exam) with 4 hours of sleep but fail with 5 hours of sleep.

Yikes!!

man, I was such a lazy bastard in school.

FINALLY!

2008-03-31T21:21:00.003+09:00

So I am finally a second degree black belt. After getting my black belt about 100 years ago in Winnipeg, I have finally moved up a level.

This really should have been done years ago but it just got pushed to the side so I am happy to have finally moved on and look forward to the next test, whenever that may be.

Guess my jerkstore old master didn't have a good enough arguement to fail me. yes!

Favorite comment of the day...

2008-03-28T20:37:00.002+09:00

Again, courtesy of Master Cheung:

"Ohhhhh condition, nooooo"

Basically, Sloane you're slow and out of shape. Tae Kwon Do shape anyway.

Uhhhhhh

School Washrooms

2008-03-28T16:09:00.003+09:00

Being a spoiled Westerner, and used to toilet paper IN the bathroom stall, locks on doors, hand soap and paper towels I was very disappointed with the bathroom situation at my second school.

Especially since it is only 3 years old but it looks about 10 years old on the inside.

WHY?

Because students "clean" the school. They clean the floors, they clean the bathrooms, they pick up garbage outside etc etc.

I'm sure we all remember what our work ethic was, or still is, when we were 12-16 years old and this is where the problem lies.

To clean the bathrooms the kids run water in the sinks and proceed to throw water on the floor and on the toilets. No smelly, disinfecting bathroom cleaner here. Nope. Who needs it! Isn't water good enough!!
So they just throw it all around and don't really wipe anything down or scrub any toilets.

Soooooo, the toilets themselves are absolutley disgusting. They are grey, no longer white.
Students throw their toilet paper and "other things" in the waste basket instead of the toilet like us whities do thus sometimes leaving the next person to use the bathroom to see what you have left in the waste basket. yum.

The doors MIGHT have a lock on it if you're lucky. Last week I was just undoing my pants as this boy kicked open the door to start his bathroom cleaning duty and there I was. Almost in my underwear.
I was just thankful that I wasn't already in action on the toilet!
That would have been a story for the good old Seventeen magazine most embarresing moments page.
What was it called again?

anyway. They are disgusting and sometimes I walk over to E-Mart and go to the bathroom instead. It is heavenly there. It's clean, paper towels and soap and TP in the stall. Ahhhhhhhh
Everything you need for your bathroom enjoyment.

One more thing that I think is funny.
Most of the bathrooms don't have doors on them so you can obviously see right in.
It's SO nice to walk down the hall and just turn your head at the right moment only to see your boy students standing at the urinal. Right there! I can SEE YOU!!!! And this doesn't bother you!?!?
It bothers me!!!!!

One of my favorite stories is from a friend of mine who works at an Elementary school and said that when he walks by the boys bathroom and of course everyone can see everyone else, that the kids release one hand and wave to him, "HI TEACHER" and then go back to peeing.

Hahhhahahaa!

That's my bathroom rant.

I know, it could be SO much worse, I'm just being a whiny Westerner.

At least it's not a hole in the ground with bugs coming out of it!
That was China!

happy bathrooming!

In Korea I am:

2008-03-28T16:08:00.002+09:00

"Berry tall"

"have yellow eyes"

"long body"

"S-line"

"nose big"

"head small"

"face small"

Test-uh

2008-03-27T21:34:00.006+09:00

So this past Saturday I tested for the next level of my black belt, second dan.

After many hours of practicing my poom se's, I felt ready! and nervous and excited.

So, Saturday came and we all met at the club to head out for the hour long drive to the test site. I swear the van ride there was more stressful, listening to the 3 boys screaming and beating each other in the back seat! man.

After stopping to ask many locals how to get to the high school where the test was being held, we finally arrived.

This is just me, but shouldn't you know before hand WHERE the site is before heading out? Minor detail, but still.

So everyone outta the van. We get in the gym and there are about 400 kids and some high school students running around in their do-boks getting ready for their test.

My fellow waygook friend Nate (who was along to take pictures and see what the test is all about for when he tests in May) and I were soon spotted and were pointed at many times.

Yes, we're tall. Yes, we're white. Yes, we can learn Tae Kwon Do in Canada. Yes, we learn from Koreans, not whities.

So anyway, we have a big group warm up and listen to many long winded speaches given by important Korean masters.

One master I recognize. It's my old master from the club I trained at for about 4 months when I first arrived in Korea. I ended up leaving his do-jang b/c I felt like I never left work when I went there. Kids everywhere, kicking balls around, screaming, shitty training, chaos, no respect.

It was very frustrating and was not what I was hoping my Tae Kwon Do experience was going to be. Training in the home country of where a sport originated, I expected to be so hard ass and serious. Like what one would expect if they were going to train hockey in Canada.

It turned out to be the complete opposite, at this club anyway, and it was so disappointing. So, I finally left.

The master called my house, he speaks no English and I speak VERY little Korea so this was useless.

He then called my co-teacher at school and asked why I wasn't there anymore.

Since then I have found my new club that I've been training at for the last 6 months and I love it. It's still not as hard ass as I had hoped for, but it's pretty awesome.

That was a long explanation. sorry.

Soooooooo, back to noticing my old master at the test.

La-la-la, I've been getting ready/antsy for my turn for about 2 and half hours now and it's finally my turn.

Ok, here it is. Do us waygooks proud and don't mess up! you can do it whitey!

The way the test is set up is that you go up with the others that are testing for the same level and you do 2 patterns in front of 3 judges and then go to the other side of the gym and do a kicking sequence and spar.

My old master, is judging the patterns. After we finish he, waves me over. Being the big dumb waygook, I'm thinking do I just go to the other side of the gym like I'm supposed to? do I go to him? So I go over to him and he jus starts blabbing in Korean, draws an X in the air at me and tells me NO in Korea. That I can understand. And I can definitely understand his body language. He is not happy.

So a little confused, I go to the other side and finish the rest of the test.

Our crew is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs ready to go but I just wanted to change first.

As I'm coming out of the bathroom, where someone had taken a big runny shit on the floor completely missing the squater, I notice old master yelling at my new master. Uh-oh.

This goes on for a few minutes. It was mostly the old master yelling and pointing at me and making dirty faces.

Turns out he is pissed that left his club and that he didn't know I was training somewhere else, that HE taught me all of my patterns blah blah blah.

Of course it just couldn't go smoothly, there had to be some drama.

So, hopefully he won't have enough power to actually fail me as I completed everything that was asked but I won't know for about a month.

As we're walking back to the van, I look up and of course! who's in my path, but old cranky master, I bowed to him and he just gave me a dirty look and drew another X in the air at me like he was performing an exorcism. "The power of christ compels you waygook!"

So that was my test. Overall, I was happy with my performance but just wish there could have been a bit less drama.

Worst case scenario is I fail and have to retest again in May and hopefully not get X'd!

2008-03-26T19:41:00.001+09:00

I found 5 bucks today. It was awesome.

It's Too Late to Apologize

2008-03-26T19:34:00.002+09:00

Just like the song says, it's definitely too late to apologize to the woman in the elevator who had to smell the fart I ripped (JUST as the door was closing and she came running in) all the way to the 13th floor.
Just when you thought it was safe to release some harmless gas from all of the healthy vegetables you've been eating!

Favorite quote of yesterday:

2008-03-25T13:00:00.002+09:00

So I'm in class with my co-teacher and she starts laughing a bit and says to me:

"That student doesn't think you're pretty, so I said that I would take points away from him for saying that".

Uhh grrrrreat. This falls under the category of things that you DON'T need to tell people!

hahaha

Happy First Day of Spring!

2008-03-20T20:52:00.004+09:00

Today was a good day.

The weather is changing and now the sun wakes me up in the morning instead of that evil alarm.

The best part of today was seeing the fat kid with braces at TKD get sacked in the nuts by his buddy who whipped a ball at him.
It was awesome.

Today was also good because I got to leave work at 1:30pm due to parent/teacher interviews and tomorrow will be the same. Yes!

I also LOVE all girls classes at my second school that I go to on Thursdays and Fridays. They rule.
I also loved teaching them the words: barf, vomit and puke instead of the Konglish term Obeit and had them repeat it over and over.

Also awesome.

Hope your first day of spring is good and awesome and full of love!