December 1, 2008

I can't believe how fast this year went by! I have been here just about 5 months and wonder why it's going so fast...This month I start paying on my school loans!! woohoo! lol NOT!

Hey, this weekend was AMAZING! If you didn't know about it, I cooked thanksgiving dinner for my friends in korea. I had some help with cooking and cleaning. About 30 people ended up coming by and hanging out! It was good times! It was kind of crowded at times, but it was a lot of fun! I would do it again in a heartbeat! Thanks to all of you who came, and sorry for those of you who couldn't!

Well, I'm gonna get started watchin some shows I missed last week! Talk to ya later!!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Hey guys! today was so busy. i woke up and went to a lady's house from my bible study, on camp walker. there, me and 2 other ladies watched some little ones while the mommies were able to spend the afternoon at the korean opera (woohoo...) oh how i missed watching kids! i totally miss my nephews and niece, but especially the Newberry family back home!! It was so much fun to play with the little ones and goof off with the older ones. this wed for bible study i volunteered to help with the little ones cuz they were short handed this week. i can't wait!

after this i went to work. then after work i met RJ (nerida's son) and Nerida for dinner. tonight was RJ's last night in daegu. He's leaving tomorrow to go back to Austraila. dinner was goooood, but too exensive for my taste, but delish, nontheless...

so just for the record...i bought some really warm and comfortable shoes on base!!! there's a pic of them on here!! i'll wear them with pants once i get my pants taken in!!! i've lost 13 lbs since i've been here!!!! woohoo!! they got little brown furry spheres on the tops!!! lol CUTE!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Today, i woke up with my tonsils huge golfballs. my fever kicked in during bible study, which made me have chills. i went to the doctor earlier and he gave me antibiotics for tonsillitis.. we'll see if it works! who know... this is what the pack looks like..i wonder if it's really only vitamins.. lol the doctor visit only cost 3,500 Won (about 3 bucks) and then the same price for the pills...

going to get some rest. love you guys. g'night

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

When all ELSE fails and you're totally broke... one thing is always clear....MAC n CHEESE time!! payday is friday!!! i can just taste the base food i'll be purchasing soon!! yay for having gracious friends on base that will help me survive while i'm in korea!!! love you!

Nothing is new in my life. Work is fine. My sheets are amazing! (thanks mom)

I still need a jacket, but since I had to pay for my computer to be repaired, I had to wait to buy a jacket till the coming paycheck... So lookout for my new korean jacket when I get home! I'll be sporting the korean style!! ye-uh!

As you are "celebrating" Veterans Day in the States, we are "celebrating" Pepero Day in Korea. A pepero is a cookie stick dipped in chocolate (some are also dipped in chocolate AND nuts!!). On November 11 each year, young people share pepero sticks with people they like. It is a lot like Valentine's day, but just with this one kind of snack. Basically, it meant I had a room full of kids on sugar-highs from eating peperos all day. A couple of my students brought me peperos. (DALENE...i stole this from ur blog. it's exactly what I would have typed... :) love you! thanks)

I'm tired. I got Bible study in the morning! g'night

love you guys!!!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

so i thought i should tell you guys a story about what happened on my home one night. i was hanging out with jiyoung and we were taking a cab back to my apt. we paid, got out and got to my stairs. well, i reached in my purse to get my keys, but realized my purse was STILL in the cab. i immediately took off down the street to TRY to catch the cab in case there was a red light. well, i had on my huge brown flipflops and couldn't run appropriately, so i took them off while running and booked it even faster! i got around the curve and there he was at the end of the street about to pick up another passenger. i finally yelled enough for them to hear me and he had my purse already in the front seat. i don't know what i would have done if he had really left. omg. that would have been so tragic! i wouldn't have had make-up or anything! lol BUT he didn't take off and i caught him... i just thought i'd share my huffin and puffin story to brighten ur day! i bet none of you have left ur purse in a cab and got it back! lol love you guys!

Monday, Novemeber 3, 2008

I can't believe that it's already the first Monday in November! I have almost been here for four months! It has gone by slow, but fast...if that makes ANY sense! I am currently at work on break for an hour and a half. I ordered some food from across the street and waiting on them to bring it to me! it's really good. it's called cheese donkkasa, which is pretty much a cheese pork cutlet, and also comes with some macaroni salad and some rice! It's delish. When they bring it, I'll add a pic.

So as most of you know, my computer crashed recently. Macs are not that easy to buy or get repaired here. I had to go downtown to find the store and it cost me 400,000Won to get it repaired...With today's exchange rate, it was about 285 USD (they just brought my food....so i'll put up a pic!). 285USD isn't bad i guess when you get a brand new hard drive and a new cd/dvd drive. I was fortunate enough to get the NEWER hard drive. It's like i bought the new version of the Macbook for 285bucks! I can do all the stuff the new Macbooks can do! Yay! What really stinks is that ALL the files/songs/pics on my computer are gone. so i have to start from scratch. So, be patient with pics. I'll be copying friends' albums and putting them on my comp! AND I needed a new key board, cuz mine was falling apart from the same when I dropped the comp. and I now have a keyboard that has Hangul (korean characters) on it! good times!

Another addition to my life is a Bible Study on Camp Walker (an army base in daegu). It's actually called PWOC. I heard about it through a friend and thought I'd check it out. I loved it! The women there are fantastic! They love the Lord and want to bring others closer to him! We picked the books/groups in which we wanted to study and I chose the book on "Discerning the Voice of God". I really didn't want to hear the voice of God at the time and I wanted to do the Beth Moore study, but at that moment I realized I HAD to do the Discerning the voice of God because I knew I NEEDED to do it. Did I make that confusing or did you understand? lol Since I didn't want to do it, I chose it, cuz I knew I needed to do it! :D I was suppose to go help at an orphanage today, but I overslept...poo. So I'll catch it next time. Our Bible study meets every Wed morning at 930 and we stop around 1145! My friend Dalene goes with me, and we're actually in the same group, so we can keep each other accountable! (Dalene is from Oklahoma and she works accross the street from me and we met through Alpha)

Halloween was amazing! I don't have many pics cuz I wasn't ready when all my friends were snapping pics, but oh well. Maybe I'll find some more on my friends' facebook pages! I dressed up as the "baby one more time" britney spears! THAT was a lot of fun! Needless to say, I didn't look QUITE as good as britney did, but i pulled off the catholic school girl look at least! :D My friends and I went downtown and hung out with all the other foreigners dressed up! I saw: Tommy Lee, the Hulk, a toilet, a dead fairy, gum on a shoe (alpha lol), MANY angels (dalene's was the best), ladybugs, bees, and TONS of other things! WE had fun!

Some of you don't know, so I will tell you...My Uncle, Timbo, was killed Friday in a hit n run. He was walking to work (which he does everyday), and someone hit him and they didn't find his body till after midnight. He had nothing but a phone # in his pocket so the police called it. It was his son's #. My cousin went down to see if he could identify the body since they didn't know who it was. They could only use a tatoo to identify him with. That's how bad his body was mangled. My cousin said that's my dad. So here I am separated from my family by thousands of miles...wishing I was there with them at a time like this. I didn't cry when I found out, although I teared up. I was just in shock. Well, yesterday my friend had said something about "if anything happens to me...patrick can have my ..., jiyoung can have my..., and roxie can have my..." it WAS really funny cuz of what he was talking about, but as soon as he said it, I started balling... I'm doing ok now. I called my dad's side of the family and talked with several of them through Skype, but it's just not the same. I wish I had the chump change to fly home.. lol but I don't. So I you guys back home and abroad to please pray for the healing of my family. My dad had the opportunity to lead my uncle to the Lord a thousand years ago, but he didn't live a God-fearing life. So our hope is to see him in heaven one day. Pray that God grabs the rest of my family!

i love you guys! talk to you soon!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I feel so disconnected from America. I didn’t even realize that 9-11 was the other day until almost the whole day had gone by… Things are still going well here, except for the cut from American reality. I can’t believe I have been for 2 full months! It’s crazy!

So I’ll back track to last Friday, the 12th… I worked as usual till about 835 then went to home to pack. Then got a call from my boss telling nerida and I to come eat with them. So we did and then we went straight to downtown afterwards to walk around and hangout with people! Then it came time for me to go home so I could finish packing and leave for the train station at 3:15AM. My train left on time at 4am. It was the longest 3 hrs of my life… I fell asleep a few times, but got woken up by the announcements and/or the person beside me getting up and out (diff people came in/out at diff stations). So finally got to Pyeongtaek and took a cab to Songtan which is where my hotel was (the one nerida and I stayed at last time we were there…very nice and cheap!). Took a nap till about 11:30 till I got a call from Erik asking where I was! Lol I should have been with him by then, not just waking up!! Ugh. I would. So finally made it to the subway station and headed to Suwon. When I got on the tube, a group of really cute airforce boys got on too! I didn’t talk to them cuz they were standing a little too far to make conversation, but not too far to make eye contact! Lol eventually they got off and the REALLY hott one gave me the “nod”!! ugh. Why do I have to go back to TX?? Lol jk During this time of me scoping out these soldiers, my friends hopped on the subway so that we didn’t have to wait for the next one. They finally found me after getting on the subway 10 cars behind the car I was at! :o) suckers.. so an hour and 15 min later we arrive in seoul only to change subway lines a couple more times to actually get to where we were going, Itaewon!!! We got there and shopped all day! I made some good purchases. Before we decided to leave Itaewon, we wanted to grab some cold stone. While we were in cold stone, I felt something on my ankle. I reached down to brush it off and realized it was this HUGE bug!! I screamed, spilled my powerade, and jumped REALLY high and jumped around! Lol needless to say EVERYONE was looking at me and laughing after realizing it was only a bug… but this bug was HUGE!!!! Omg. I couldn’t believe I did that, but if you know me, you probly CAN believe that! Lol well, we left there and headed back down to the subway station. After erik and april got off in Suwon, I snoozed here and there. During a couple stations I would look up at the marque to see what the next stop was. I guess I was sleeping when mine went off, cuz I had to get off at the next stop and take a cab back to Songtan. I can’t believe I missed it. That happened a lot this weekend… hahaha So finally made it back to the hotel just long enough to wash my face and change clothes to meet up with some other friends! We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant down the street from the airforce base and then met up with some other friends around that area. Well, we were playing darts and one of my friends was being stupid and wanted someone to throw a METAL dart through his hand..well 3 of his other friends took one dart. The first 2 missed, but the 3rd guy nailed it right through his left ring finger. It went straight through without any problem.. it was sick! Someone pulled it out for him and it was dripping blood everywhere, but it shortly stopped and he was fine. After this eventful night I went back to my hotel and slept in till about noon the next day! Yes!! It feels soo good to sleep in while everyone else is up and getting ready for their day! Lol (not like I wake up early anyways!!!) Eventually I headed back to Suwon to meet erik and april again. We had subway for lunch. Suwon was deserted…. It felt like a ghost town cuz it was a national holiday, called Chuseok. It’s pretty similar to our Thanksgiving. So typically everything is closed and everyone is in their home with their family. So we had the city to ourselves pretty much! So we ate lunch then walked around Home Plus (a Korean walmart) and bought tons of stuff there! Then headed back to the train station…just barely giving me enough time to get there without being late. Good thing…my train was delayed a few minutes. On my way home, I watched two of the three movies I bought. 3 and a ½ hrs later, it’s time for me to get off the train…I forgot one DVD on the train in the case…and my new little Korean fan I had bought. Sad day. Ugh. Oh well.

So on my way home, I totally forgot that I didn’t have any cash on me. So when I got out, I realized that I needed the cab driver to go to a bank so I could get some out. So he drove me to about 20 atm machines, but guess what?? They were ALL closed. Cuz it was after midnight…so, finally about 20 min and 15 dollars later I called nerida and went by her house and borrowed some money. Geez. I was soooooo lucky she answered. Idk what I would have done…

So MONDAY!!! I woke up a lil late cuz I was suppose to meet my friends and go to another friends’ house for Chuseok lunch. Well, I finally got there an hour and a half late cuz I woke up late and my eye was sore cuz of a stupid stye… anywho, we had the BEST Korean lunch I have ever had!! We had a little bit of everything:
Bibimbop
Barbeque Chicken
Shark
Cooked Bacon (it might have been beef, but not sure)
Egg fried fish
Beef and potato soup
Lightly fried sweet potatoes
Lightly fried greens
And a couple other things I can’t remember
Doesn’t this sound amazing!!? Mmmm. There was kimchi too, but I didn’t eat any…yuck! We also had fruit for dessert with icecream!! Yummy!! After that we played some Korean games and then I taught them how to play phase 10 and they loved it! There was about 15 people at lunch and about 8 of us kids playing the games!

Later that night I went to eat dinner in downtown at PAPA JOHNS with a new friend I met in downtown Friday night! We had fun! Her name is Izzy and she teaches 8yr olds on one of the army bases here in Daegu. She only lives about 15 min from me (bus ride), so I think we’ll hang out often! Anywho, we had fun and today was just a regular ol’ day at work!

BUT I BOUGHT A BIKE TODAY!!!! It’s cute! It’s white with big tires and black and hot pink writing and décor on it!! I can’t wait to take a couple pics so I can show you! I’ll do that soon! It’s gonna be so much easier to get to work and faster. It’s hopefully gonna work out my legs! Yay! I can’t wait to take it around the lake too!! Yay! Well, its’ 3:30 am…I’ll talk to ya another day!! Peace out!!!

SNACKS i eat in korea!!!

and this is the fish cake that's mixed in with the dukboki!!! it's actually quite tasty if you like fish. (yes, it's cooked) so that's it! i love it!!!!! i love the snacks here!


this is the actual piece of dukboki.. tasty!


this my friends is dukboki... mmmm... it's prnounced duck bow key... tasty!!! but spicy. see the red stuff. yea, that's not bbq sauce! lol


these are korean snacks! you can pick them up at the grocery store or they serve them in bars to make you more thirsty....clever.. hmmm. anywho, the white ones are candy covered peanuts.. really tasty and the other ones are green thingys that i don't know what they taste like, but they're grrrrreeeeat!!! :o)



my boss and i being crazy at work!!

Sunday, August 31, 2008

This weekend was fun! I met some co-workers downtown, Friday, for a fun night out of dancing and singing!! Yay for Norebang’s (spelling??)!! That same night I met this group of guys: 2 from Finland and 1 from Holland. They go to college at one of the Universities here. They just got here and will be here for 4 months. It’s very interesting to learn things from other cultures! Finnish people are different from the kind of people I know… very interesting. Anywho, then Saturday I slept in a bit and went to get a phone, but the place was closing when we got there so I didn’t get a phone…ugh. I’m tired of not being able to call people when I need to… very much annoying! So my friend that was giving me their phone allowed me to take the phone and get to know it! Since it’ll be mine! Yay! So I have a phone, but no service! Good times.
Well, later sat night, I went back out to downtown to have dinner with some friends, as his mother and sister came to visit from America. We hung out for a looong time! Then we went to a Norebang again and then went to dance! I love dancing! It’s a lot of fun! Then I met this really nice (and handsome :o)) guy, Todd… he’s in the army here and from Florida! Good times. I went to the base today, Sunday, and had TACO BELL!!!! Thanks Todd! It was really yummy!!
You know, I thought we got off all the holidays that America gets off, but we don’t get aLL of them…because tomorrow is Labor Day, but I have to work. No good… but I guess I can’t expect to get EVERYTHING off for Korean and American holidays…
I still don’t have any complaints about Korea yet. So that’s good, right? I think my face is getting use to all the greasy food. It’s not breaking out AS MUCH AS it did last month. Not everything is greasy, but lots of stuff ARE! Yuck. But it’s still so tasty! I absolutely love Korean food! What am I going to do without Doekboki (sp?)?? It’s a spicy rice cake and fish cake!! Sooooo tasty. Im pretty much obsessed with it! Omg and I tried something new SATURDAY!! It’s called hodoek (sp?)…I think it’s pronounced something like hoe-duh…lol it’s a pancake with pieces of peanut and melted sugar in it…mmmm tasty. You should try some! It’s to die for… How did I get on a rant about food? Idk. Anyways, so I’m hoping to get a phone tomorrow…I’ll let you know if I do!! Lata!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Last night was so much fun! I spent my first birthday in Korea! I can’t believe that I’m 26 yrs old now! I am soooo old! Lol I don’t think I would feel this old if I were married or even had a significant other, but I am not and I don’t… I thought I was just going out with alpha and a couple of other people, but when we got in the cab, Alpha told me that there were several people waiting on us to be at the Retro bar. Yes, it’s a bar, but it’s much more than that… It has huge booths that are separated by these tassels (fun) and it’s a cozy place. We had a couple drinks, some cake, some smoked chicken, opened some presents, and also played darts! Did I mention I suck at playing darts!!! Lol We have been here so many times that I am starting to get a lil better at throwing them…but I’m still not very good… I am so thankful for all the gifts that I received…even after I told everyone to seriously not get me anything… I got a potpourri rabbit that lets off smelly good stuff after you spray it with a little water, some lil pillows, a huge scrapbook album, a sweet party hat, a much needed trashcan filled with all kind of toys and knick knacks, and some Neutrogena stuff for my face! After Retro (several hours later), we headed to a sam gyup sal restaurant around the corner from where we were. We spent a lot of time there watching Alpha get drunk and make a fool of himself… After that we headed to a Norebang, which is karaoke. They have the rooms where your party can go and hang out with just yourselves. You don’t have to worry about other people hearing you or seeing anyone else. It’s just you and your crew! It was fun! Alpha would be sleeping for a while and then all of a sudden wake up and join in on the singing, and then go back to sleep… lol good times. After that, it was 5am and time to go home. We took a cab home and crashed! I was ready…although I couldn’t fall asleep till 6. But it’s all good. I know it seems late when I say I stay up till 6am all the time, but you have to realize, that I don’t wake up till about 1230 every day give or take and work only till 835 4 out of the 5 days of the week. So I am getting enough sleep. It’s just like me being in TX and waking up at 6am and getting home around 5 or 7 and staying up till midnight. I GET enough sleep here… so quit worrying… ☺ I love you guys… talk to ya later gator!!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

I never went to mission Baptist church because I overslept, but I had good intentions… Nerida and I went to Seoul station to put our bags in lockers so we wouldn’t have to carry them everywhere with us. After that, we hoped in the subway and went to Itaewon. That place was PACKED with people. There is just one main road where all the shops (on three floors) are. And of course they also had street vendors. I felt like I was in New York again! I don’t think we took pics, first of all, because I don’t have a camera, but because we didn’t really think about it. And sometimes I think Nerida gets annoyed when I keep asking her to borrow her camera. So really, I’ll just eventually have to get one, but I just can’t afford it right now. Anywho, we spent all day in Itaewon and didn’t go back to the subway station till just before our KTX train was leaving. We made our journey home in just about 2 hrs. From the station, we got this cab home and HE WAS CRAZY… I literally think he just watched the FAST AND FURIOUS, because he was aaaaalllllllll over the road. It was absolutely ridiculous. And I think there was something wrong with his meter, because it usually only takes about 7 bucks to get to/from the station from our work and it def was more than that… So I jumped out (not while it was moving…) and took a bus home. It was much cheaper than having that crazy man take me FURTHER home (as I live further than Nerida from work). Anywho, we just buckled up and got scared but laughed it off! Good times!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Well, today was yet another rainy day in Korea. I woke up early and tried to get breakfast from the hotel, but I was too late for it. So I went to 7-Eleven and got junk food! I spent the day with Brian and partially Nerida. We walked around town and had burgers for lunch. Then we went to Brian’s freedom musical (a tribute to American Military)…it was from 7-9pm. It was VERY good! We got some pics…I’ll put them up asap! Now im just chillin at the hotel, alone. Nerida went on a date and Brian went to dinner with all his cast friends. (in case you didn’t know…Brian is a good friend from DBU. He came out here with a group from TX to put on the musical in Seoul this week). Anywho, I’m going to Mission Baptist Church in the morning. It’s down the street from the hotel. Then Brian and the rest of TX people are leaving around 2pm. Nerida and I will be going to seoul for the remainder of the day to shop and wait for our train!!! Fill in the rest later!!! Peace!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Well, Nerida and I started out on our journey to Seoul tonight. We hoped in a cab leaving work and headed to Dong-Daegu Station. From there we rode almost 2 hrs to Seoul on a train! We needed to go about an hour away by car to Osan, so we headed down stairs to the tube (the subway). Realized we had chosen the wrong time to arrive to seoul cuz the tube was about to close for the night. This was at 11:37pm…so we realized we had to take a cab. We got in the cab and the man was telling us it was gonna be about an hour away and that it was gonna cost 80,000 won, which is about 80 bucks… I was shocked! Lol So we called our boss and we had her speak with the driver. Since it’s after midnight and we had to drive so long on the highway and what not, it was gonna cost that much. So here we are in the cab driving there…im jamming to some Christina Aguilera while I’m typing this! We are debating on whether to get a hotel or wait till the morning and get one for tomorrow night. Hmm. Well, I’ll try to talk the guy at the counter cuz he knows we were coming from Daegu and it would be awhile. Maybe I can work out a discount! :o) Sometimes I’m good like that! Well, we’re almost there so I’ll talk to ya later, party people!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

I got paid for the first time in Korea yesterday! That feeling is wonderful…to know that you have money and don’t have to be broke! Ugh. I can’t tell you have great it feels. I am working on a budget so this doesn’t happen again. It was just so hard to come here with barely anything and then it all be gone the first 2 ½ wks.
Today is the last day before another holiday! Man, I love how Korea has so many holidays! Tomorrow is Korea’s Independence Day (from who, I don’t know, but I’ll find out!). Mostly all the teachers are off, but there are a few schools who like to keep their teachers working ALL the time…like my friend Alpha. They’re school only gives them off for Thanksgiving and Christmas (on the American holidays) and makes them work pretty much all the other days of the year, except for Sundays… I can’t believe how God blessed me here with awesome things! I’m still realizing little things that have fallen into place when I came here! Teachers from here keep asking me why I chose the school that I’m at now, and I just tell them because I liked how the Director spoke to me on the phone and how easy-going he seemed to be! I liked the things he had to say about the school and the current teachers! It felt so good to be thought of as continuing to better the school!! So, since I’ve been here a month, I have heard MANY stories about how foreign teachers hate their job or just little stories about their bosses and whatnot. But all I can say is that I love my: director, his wife, the other teachers at ILE, my apartment they provided, the pay, the location of my apt and school and where we are in south Korea, the new friends I’ve made, and the food! Can you see why I love it here! I have been thinking about whether or not I will stay here for another year… the cons are somehow not that much…so, if you think of a con that I don’t already have then I’ll add it to my list…
PROs for staying in South Korea:
No apt fees (except gas, electricity, and internet)
Walk to work everyday
Traveling countries I haven’t seen
Learning/Using a new language
Having a secured job
Meeting different people
I love what I do
The people here are mostly sweet and caring
Paying on my school loans on time
Paying off my credit cards and still have money

CONs for staying in South Korea:
Won’t get to see my family
Won’t get to see my friends
Won't get to babysit the 2nd best kids in the world, Newberry's
Won’t get to see the Garners on my way back to TX
Taking the Taxi places can get expensive
I have to eat out most of the time, since it’s so expensive to cook your own food
Have to wire money home which costs a lot

Well, I need to get ready for work seeing that I have to be there in an hour and a half…
Tonight, my friend, James (from London), and I are gonna go out and meet some new people. We’ll see how well we do! Then tomorrow him and I are going to downtown to look around at all the great places to shop and dream about. Then at 3 I am meeting a friend from work, Carrie. She wanted to take me shopping when I got paid! I won’t spend too much, seeing as I don’t really need anything…but it’ll be good to see what people have and where I can go if I DO need something! After Carrie and I are done, I am going to meet back up with all my friends and we’re going to take stuff to our friend who is under house arrest (not really but I can’t explain right now because I’ll be late for work so I’ll tell you about it next time…just know she’s not really in trouble with the law…just with her parents! Lol). After that I think we’re going out to downtown to see my asian crush (a guard at one of the clubs…he’s so hott!!) lol and then just chillin somewhere. Saturday will be a day of relaxation and then when Alpha gets off work I think we’ll be going out of town to Suncheon (spelling?)…maybe. We might wait till Sunday to go, so we don’t have to pay for a hotel. Which I’m sure we’ll do instead! So that’s what I have planned…we’ll see if it goes as well as I wrote it! Talk to ya soon peeps!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Obviously I didn’t die from water rafting!!! I’m here now! I’m currently in the process of uploading pics from our sat night and Sunday white water rafting experience! In the mean time, here’s what happened: Well, Saturday was crazy. It was POURING all morning and then just as I was leaving my apartment it cleared up. I headed to Dong A department store (on the basement 1 and basement 2 they have a grocery store), next to my work, to buy some groceries for Saturday night. While I was searching the noodles, meat, and sauce I stumbled on some surprising things… small container of chocolate powder for milk 8 or 9 bucks, one little box of swiss miss 7 bucks, knock off brand of peanut butter 6 bucks, some kind of American spaghetti sauce 5 bucks…and I saw more, but I can’t remember… anywho, I bought the cheapest, but best things I needed. While I was looking for the meat, I realized that they don’t use American beef because they’re afraid of getting mad cow disease. People won’t shop at a place if there is American beef there. So it brings down the business. So guess how much PER POUND the Korean beef was… 20 bucks…ugh. So thankfully, Alpha bought it cuz I was just gonna get pork (6 bucks) and make meatballs out of that… we all met and got to my home by taxi cuz we all had tons of stuff to carry. I had bought a watermelon the night before so it would be sweet…(and it was!). We had a grand ol’ time hangin out. Night came and some of us fell asleep and some of the others went to Alpha’s house. Woke up and it was time to go rafting! We met in front of Dong A again to meet our ride! We rented a 11seater van and we had just enough butts to fit in there. Good thing we didn’t take more of our friends. We wouldn’t have fit. Lol well, the ride was 2 hours long and we went south of Daegu. The time passed by quickly cuz we were all being silly and talking… we got there and ate lunch. Then changed clothes in a NASTY bathroom/shower room…yuck! We WAITED for a long time in the sun to go paintballing. We did three rounds of that. Then came back to the original spot to wait forever again to go rafting! While we were waiting we played with some puppies as you can see in some pics! The rafting was a blast! The rapids weren’t that great, but WE made it a lot of fun! All of us went in one boat. Our leader of the boat was one of our friends’ boyfriend. He was awesome! He totally showed us up on the muscle side of things; made us all look like wimps. ☺ after about 2 ½ hrs of rowing, jumping, rolling, and whatnot, we took a 3o min break on a beach type place. It was fun! All the other people who were tubing during our 3 hrs tour were there. So there was about 100 people on the beach. We were the only ½ Korean ½ white ones! Lol we piled 3 boats on top of each other and had one on each side of the pile. One would run up one end and slide down the other end into the water! We also turned two rafts upside down and tied them together and were running off them into the water. TO ME, IT FELT LIKE I WAS ON THAT JAPANESE TV SHOW MXC. CUZ WHEN WE WERE RUNNING OFF THINGS, THE PEOPLE WHO WERE HOLDING THE BOATS IN PLACE WOULD TRY TO MAKE YOU FALL BEFORE YOU HIT THE WATER! LOL GOOD TIMES! After that we headed back and jumped in the showers. People in korea don’t mind who they shower with. They shower naked and with whoever. Girls shower with girls and vice versa. I showered with my suit on. I didn’t feel brave enough to do that yet! Lol maybe in a year… lol (but probly not!) We all ate some watermelon and then headed back to Suseong-gu… Byeong and I slept on each others shoulders cuz we were tired. And others took pics of us and talked the whole time. We got back and ate some sam gyup sal…mmm it’s soo tasty!! Then I went home! I woke up REALLY sore and in just enough time to get ready and get to work. I was almost late for my first time! Lol Today was long…I didn’t have any breaks between my classes. And when I got off Ned pulled me away just as fast as I could get my purse off the ground… She told me we were going to a movie… we got there and she told me that we were meeting someone there. Come to find out, she’s been trying to hook my friend Byeong and I up for a while now. That’s who she invited. She didn’t tell him that I didn’t know… so it wasn’t awkward in the sense that I didn’t want him there, but it was awkward cuz I knew what she was doing…lol trying to hook us up. She’s so crazy! I love hanging out with Byeong, but we’re just friends!! You guys might have noticed on facebook that I went from being single to being a relationship to being single… well, I was playing a joke on Byeong cuz he left his facebook logged into my computer and Sumin and I thought it would be funny! But im still single…so no worries!! Anywho, that’s all for now! Talk to ya later alligator!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Hey people! I know it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted a blog… It’s just that I was really busy as soon as I got back from Busan, I just didn’t make the time. I’m sorry. Forgive me? Ok… moving on…
Busan!! We left for Busan last wed. The trip there EARLY wed morning was peaceful. We didn’t have any trouble finding things once we got there. We got in the taxi from the train station and realized our hotel was like forever away! Lol we weren’t sure if we were going the right way because we had never been, but we stuck with it and had a little faith that he wasn’t taking us for a ride. Well, 11 bucks later of a cab ride, we arrive at the hotel. It seemed really nice. The beach was right across the street and we were only on the 9th floor of the hotel out of 18… We sat everything down and went walking around and got a cab ride to this little place called rodeo outlet (it’s pronounced like rodeo dr. in Beverly Hills). It was way too expensive even for being an outlet. So we eventually left after Ned looked in almost every store. Ugh. I complained cuz it was hot outside. I went back and took a MUCH needed nap, cuz I stayed up late washing clothes and packing! She took a walk while I was napping. Then I woke up and we went to dinner. Well, during the first day we realized our toilet was leaking. Yuck! Thursday we switched rooms after we slept in till about 12. Thursday was HOTTT.. I didn’t feel like doing much, but we did some stuff. I watched her swim at a hotel that cost us 8 bucks to get in. I didn’t swim cuz I didn’t want to wear a swim cap, which was mandatory. So while I was watching her I totally was sweating like crazy cuz it was really humid (indoor pool). That night we went to dinner and walked along the shore. THAT was nice cuz it wasn’t that hot and the water cooled me off a bit. On our walk we met 2 guys. One from Canada and one from Korea. We all talked for about 30 min. Ned and I then went home and slept. By the way, our newer room was also leaking too. Friday morning we slept in and checked out around 1. We headed to downtown Busan. We got a locker at the train station to keep our luggage so we could walk around. That was fun, but geeeeez, it was HOT! I KNOW I was making Ned miserable with all my complaining, but who would I be if I wasn’t true to myself! Lol You all know I complain when I’m hot and sweating! Lol While we were trying to find out how to get to the actual downtown where there were stores and whatnot, a Korean girl approached Ned and asked if she could help us. Well, she ended up hanging out with us the rest of the day cuz she was just gonna shop all day! She wanted to show us around the area. So we did. Good times. Well, before we knew it, it was time to go home. We hopped on the train and rode home. We were both tired, but couldn’t sleep cuz we didn’t want to miss our stop (as the train was really bound for seoul and was the last train to our city that day!) Oh, I forgot to mention that guys are the same as they are in Texas…I was walking on the beach and this huge group of Korean guys were talking and they were all like “HI” as we walked by. Well, as we were walking by, one GRABBED my boob. Didn’t graze it, GRABBED it. Can we say awkward…I acted like it didn’t bother me, but it did. Lol How rude! Those are mine I shouted as we kept walking! Lol (of course they didn’t understand cuz they don’t speak English) One thing I think is hilarious…people will walk up and say “HI” but not say anything else cuz that’s all they know how to say in English! Lol It cracks me up every time! Well, I am having a get-together tomorrow night and we’re going white water rafting on Sunday! So, if I die, just know that I had fun in Korea and I love all of you! Talk to you soon!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Tomorrow morning, Ned and I are going to Busan, South Korea!! It's about one and a half hours from Daegu, by train! We are leaving at the butt-crack of dawn! At least we'll be ready for breakfast when we get there! We're staying in this super sweet hotel with an awesome olympic sized swimming pool!!! We can't wait to dive in..since Daegu has been soooo hott! We will be laying on the beach while you guys are working! lol suckers! Anywho, I need to get going to finish washing clothes and packing! I'm sure I'll have lots to tell you once I return!! Peace, love, and chicken grease!!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Last night I stayed up really late, decorating my apt with all my mavs memorabilia! It looks like roxie lives here now! I’ll take some pics of it now that it’s decorated! Here’s something that will make you laugh… while I was decorating, the chair I was standing on was on top of one of my shoes and I didn’t realize it…well I leaned to one side and in slow motion, I fell! I bruised the inside of my foot! lol. After I was done decorating, I was hanging up some clothes. I was sitting on the edge of my bed and all of a sudden I was on the floor. Ugh. I just love love love falling and hurting myself! I swear it’s a curse! Lol I don’t know what’s wrong with me! Lol anyways, I finally went to bed really late! Woke up this morning pretty late! Luckily, I had remembered that I was suppose to go to this language exchange thing at 2pm. What is this language exchange thing I am talking about? Well, it’s a group of people that meet other people that speak another language! So I was placed with Korean speaking girls and one American guy from Virginia (really handsome!). Their names are Sue (her American name), Yvette (her American name), and Robbie, an ESL teacher from Virginia! We had so much fun talking about things here and things in America, things about teaching ESL, where cool places were to visit here…etc. The program really only lasted till 4, but there was still a bunch of us there, so our groups kind of merged. There was about 10 of us still talking til about 530. After our groups merged, I met some other fun people: Byeong (Korean guy with an irish accent-taught English by irish teachers), James (ESL teacher from London), Betty (a student from Vietnam), Kyle (ESL teacher from Maine), and Alpha (ESL teacher from L.A.) So after a while we decided to go see a movie, the strangers! It was stupid, but it scared me a couple times! Lol I think I scared the girl next to me more than the movie because I screamed a couple times! Lol cheap thrills… lol Then we went to eat at a Korean restaurant (the kind where you sit on the floor! Good times) Then we sang karaoke for an hour, after changing our minds a hundred times about what we wanted to do… Then we went to club Frog! This was a REALLY small club with tons of people in it, a bar, and a DJ. Some people really knew how to dance, but then others (like me) sucked! Lol We went to the balcony first and chilled for a while watching every one dance and sing the songs, then we moved to the bottom where all the people were! Lol it was soooo loud! Some old guy asked me my name and how old I was, I told him Roxie and that I was 16. Lol So he left me alone! By this time of the night, it was just me, alpha, james, and byeong… 1 girl, 3 boys! We were all dancing with each other and laughing and goofing off. It was really close quarters. Anywho, while we were dancing this army boy came up to the bar and grabbed a drink and started talking to me. So my male friends left me all alone “to go outside and get some air” yea right. Lol Anywho, Matt and I started talking. He asked me if I always came out AFTER all the GI’s curfew. Lol I laughed and told him I had only been here for 2 wks. Anywho, I won’t tell you EVERYTHING we talked about cuz that would be a 15 min conversation, but we were screaming into each others’ ears! Lol his name was Matt, 21 yrs old, from Boston, REALLY thick accent, cute smile, my height, and really handsome! But anyway, we were all gonna meet up at another place, but it was almost curfew time and they had to go. So the four of us went to another club, Bubble, and danced to techno music! THAT was fun! It was way less crowded and better music, but then we went back to Frog cuz it had more people. After a while we left and went back to Suseong-gu. We ate at Kimpasa and then I went home. (yes alone! I can’t believe some of you ACTUALLY think that I would bring a guy home. Shame shame) I was suppose to get directions from Byeong (the korean one with the irish accent) but he fell asleep before I got home, so I am not going to church Sunday morning. I really want to go to DFIC- Daegu Faith International Church. I’ll try again next week. Tomorrow night im just gonna hangout with Ned and chill!!!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Today I was suppose to meet one of my co-workers at our office at 1pm so that we could go together to the immigration office, but we both got there late and didn’t leave till 1:30pm. So we had to pay extra money getting a cab which costs us 7 bucks to go about 20 mins away. It’s not much, but it’s a lot when you don’t have any money! So we headed to the immigration office… We took a number and then realized we didn’t need to wait in line. Lol well, the lady told the Korean girl that was with me something about HIV… I was like, what?!?! I have HIV? How?! Lol I was kind of freaking out. How would I have gotten HIV? Lol but it turned out that the hospital left off the results from my HIV test! Lol So we had to go all the way back to our side of the town and get the correct paper work from the hospital. By that time, it was almost time for my first class at 3:40. So I had to head back to ILE on a bus, which only costs a buck fifty. It only took about 12 min to get there from the hospital, but there were tons of lights. I have noticed by the way that if you clocked your wait at a stop light, im sure you’ll find that most of the lights take about 3 min. it’s pretty ridiculous. That was a side note. After work tonight, Ned and I went to this restaurant that had the meal I had been waiting to have…Sam gyup sal. Mmmmmm…it’s very tasty! Its now my favorite meal, but I can’t have it everyday like I can have the bulgogi, cuz it’s twice as much. It cost 6 bucks instead of 3 ½ …lol after dinner we treated ourselves to baskin robbins (first time to go there since I’ve been here). mmm. Tastes just like back home! I forgot to mention that earlier this morning while I was ironing my skirt for work, I burnt the bottom of my foot on it. So it hurts to walk on my foot right now. And since I had been allllllll around town, literally today, my toes and feet have blisters on them from sweating and walking in flip flops…sad day. So my feet aren’t the cutest thing right now…but what’s new. Im always hurting myself in some way or another! Well, tomorrow’s a new day and it’s FRIDAY!!!! We only have two days of work next week because our company takes a half week vaca August 1st thru the august 4th!! I think Ned and I are gonna go somewhere and wander around. She offered to pay for me and then me pay her back when I get paid. I just might take her up on that offer…although if you know me I HATE asking or receiving money from people! I think we’re planning a trip to seoul for my birthday weekend! August 23rd…yay! That’s gonna be sooo much fun! Hopefully my DBU friends will be here already since they will be living in that area! Ok, well, im off! Talk to ya later!!!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Well, today went by too fast. I think I’m living in the twilight zone or something. It’s like I wake up just in time to get ready for work, then head to work, then get off and come home, only to get ready for the next day. Lol I think this is going to be one loooong year! So I finally think im going to record my apt. lol I probly should do it like right this second so I don’t forget…ok. Hold please! Ok done! You’ll have to check out facebook to see the video! Well, I feel that I must tell you a little something that happened last night. I was on my way home from Ned’s house and I was crossing a main street. This main street would be comparable to Cooper Street for those of you that know where that is. Anywho, at this particular time, my hands were full with a tall, new, fan (from cost-co…they have those here too!!) Keep in mind that I live about 12 min walking distance from my school. So I was on my way across the street when all of a sudden, for whatever reason, my feet gave out underneath my body!! I totally bit the dust and my new fan broke…so I was just sitting there, hoping no one saw me (cuz it was dark, but there were lots of cars still out). I’m not sure on how long I sat there, but I was for quite a while. Sweat beading down my face from the heat, embarrassment, and from trying to fix the fan. Anywho, so I kind of rigged it and went straight home as fast as I could! When I woke up this morning, I realized my knee was hurting… Trying to remember why it would hurt, it came to me! Lol I was a klutz and fell. That’s why it’s hurting! So today it’s been really sore. But nothing I can’t suck up! After work tonight I walked home with one of the Korean teachers from my academy (he lives just around the corner from me). He went to the little grocery store with me trying to help me find what I was looking for. Korean guys are extremely nice! They know how to treat women and are very courteous (when they know you). Sung U (you’d have to hear me say his name to get it right) carried all my bags from the grocery store tonight and helped me figure out what my washing machine said in Korean. Lol I totally washed clothes Sunday, but I’m sure I did it wrong cuz it took over an hour to wash them. So I tried to get some help from Sung U. He isn’t fluent in English, so he had a hard time telling me what everything meant, but I think I know what’s up now with it. I even put stickie notes over the buttons in English so I knew what I was doing! Good times! I just found out that on Thursday I am going to go to the Immigration Offie and pay probly more money that I don’t have. I have to get my alien registration stuff and an id. Then I have to go by a bank and open an account with practically no money, just so I can pay bills. Geez. Oh well, t already know that I’m gonna be pooped tomorrow, cuz it’s 2:31am and I need to be up around 10… until next time…

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Well, I can’t believe how fast my first week has flown by! I can’t believe I survived my first week in a foreign country! Lol I realized today that I don’t have much money to spend until I get my first paycheck. Why must everything be so expensive? Why can’t we just live off of a couple bucks a week. Why do our bodies HAVE to eat? Lol I would save so much money and time if I didn’t have to eat. Well, last night Neridia (Ned) and I went out to a couple of clubs so we could try to meet new people. (no cover charge so we went to about four different ones lol) The reason why we went to clubs is because that’s where all the westerners go on the weekends to meet other westerners. And I really want to meet some! I’m getting tired of not having anyone (besides Ned) to hang out with that I can relate with! I have to wake up early and get to work at 1230pm so I can plan for all my classes tomorrow. For the rest of the month of july and a week or so in august, the kids are out of public school. Which only changes the fact that we have kids at our school taking extra classes. The classes aren’t about structuring sentences or whatnot. They’re classes on science things…lol which I really have no idea about. So this month will be very interesting cuz of that. Oh. I met a young man last night from Toronto, Ontario. He was really nice. We just talked for about ten min cuz me and ned were ready to go! I didn’t catch his age, but he wasn’t far behind or ahead me. He had been here for 5 months and was only gonna stay 6mo. So his time is almost up before he leaves. I asked him if he was on facebook, but I couldn’t find him when I got home. Anywho, he was really nice. Ned met a Korean man and hit it off straight away. I think we’re gonna try to hang out with him soon and I think he might show us around a bit. Oh this is good…while I was chillin, watching others dance…this Mexican guy is standing beside me being silly and we started talked. I found out that he was here (from Houston) visiting a friend that was a teacher. We were talking about our last names and of course he knew I was Mexican. So just as this conversation was taking place, they started playing a Hispanic tune. So he was like, let’s go dance. So we did and I sucked it up, just like I knew I would. I told him I would, but that didn’t stop him! Lol we had fun. Omg and I feel the need to tell you that all four clubs we went to had unisex bathrooms. So guys AND girls were in there at the same time! Crazy! It was kind of awkward, but they had stalls just like any normal bathroom. Mostly squatty potty’s but I managed. Anywho. I have to get up early, so g’night! (it’s 3:26am here, Monday morning). I swear I’m gonna get some pics on here. It’s on my to-do list, just as decorating my apt is there too! Kbye

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Well today, as I was walking to work, I went and explored some of the shops. I went to the dollar store and bought a couple things I could use. I went into the little convenient store and got some water. When I got to work I had to meet one of the Korean teachers so she could take me to get my physical. So we took a taxi, which cost five bucks to get us there. At the small, small hospital, I gave blood, gave up some urine, did an eye/hearing test, proved that I was American by a scale and height machine, and last but not least, I had my breasts examined! Lol they had to do an xray of them! Yippee! So, that was pretty much my day. Oh yea!... it was my first day of teaching the kids alone! I didn’t have much time to plan since I was at the hospital, but oh well. I just winged it.. it was fun! I got through my first day! Yay! Tomorrow I’ll have more time to plan since I don’t have anything to do! I walked around some more with Ned (Neridia) and sweat to death.. lol but anywho… until tomorrow.. peace love and joy!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Man, last night was fun! My director and his wife took me out for a welcome dinner, another person out for a goodbye dinner, and another person out for a birthday dinner, and then the rest of the staff at ILE went as well. It was so much fun! We went to this Korean restaurant where they serve tons of stuff family style. We had about 3 tables full of food! We had pork and beef, noodles, fish eggs (which I didn’t eat…yuck), kimchi, soups, etc… it was fun! After that we went and sang karaoke…which was good times… Neridia, the other English speaking person, had a REALLY good time! Lol it was her birthday and she knew how to have a good time, if you know what I mean! Lol I think she might have had a little too much to drink! Lol other than that, today, Wednesday was nothing special. It was Felix’s last day at ILE. It was my last day of observing! Yay! Tomorrow I have to go to the Doctor for a check up. Yippee.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Well, this morning I woke up around 630am (by the traffic outside my window). I have been doing little things around the house. I finally got my computer recharged (thanks Felix!). He left me several things: computer speakers, an iron, and an American outlet converter. It’s this huge box that converts the wattage. Lol it’s huge! I promise I will get pictures online soon. I have really been too busy to take the pictures! It’s now 740am and im thinking im gonna go back to bed! If you want a somewhat overview of this coming week: I’ll be going to get my physical, blood tested, chest exam, immigration trip, and observation of more classes!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Well, last night I got in and I was one of the last people off the plane and one of the last to meet Elizabeth and Jake from ILE! I fell sleep on the plane cuz I was EXTREMELY tired! I hadn’t been asleep since the night before when I really only got a couple of hours anyway. I couldn’t really sleep because I was too anxious!! So for some strange reason I remember kind of waking up when one of the flight attendants runs to my seat and asks for my boarding pass and when I gave it to him, he ran back to the front. I never asked why cuz they woke me up lol. Oh well, everything must have been fine cuz I had all my stuff when I got there! So as I met Jake and Eliz, I could tell that they thought I had brought too much from America! Lol Jake is American and Elizabeth is Korean. They are soooo cute together! But they argue all the time! It’s funny. They pick on each other a little bit, but they have only been married since 2000. They took me to a place called New York New York. It was a mix of American food and Korean food. I had dagalbi (spelling?) which was in the form of a steak, some cream soup that was DELICIOUS, a baked potato with some kind of sweet sour cream or topping, and mountain dew, and bread! Mmm, it was soooooo good! I ate almost, literally everything on my plate since I hadn’t eaten since 1pm and it was them 9pm. So after that I went back home and unpacked half a bag then crashed on a sheet-less bed with my pillow and my blanket. The AC was on only in my room and I had a little fan next to my bed. I woke up refreshed around 730 am. So I got on with the day. My shower isn’t bad at all. There are no curtains, but I could put one up if I wanted, but it’s not necessary. Mine doesn’t hit anything else except the wall and my body! You have to hold it while rinsing though, cuz it’s too short to lean back! Lol my bathroom was really cleaned and I can tell, so that’s good. Hopefully I’ll be able to find some cleaner and keep it clean. My apt is actually pretty cute. I was very thankful and impressed! It’s WAY better than the one I was gonna get. The one that was newer and nicer and more expensive…I can definitely say that I got the better end of the stick on that one too! Well, today was my first day of work! All I really did was observe Felix and Neridia’s classes. Felix is the one from Arizona and I’m taking over all his classes. I’m so excited! All the kids are adorable and fun, but the little ones are sooo cute! We had fun yesterday! They didn’t really show too much emotion when they found out that it was Felix’s last day! Lol oh well. I won’t get my hopes up for when they don’t care about me leaving! Lol I ate lunch again with Jake and his wife, Elizabeth, at a Korean little place! I need to find out what I ate so I can write it down. It was really good. A little spicy, but I could handle it and it was only 5 bucks, even... no change. After work I was REALLY tired! I had already been out before work walking around town, which I have come to find out takes a lot out of you! Lol so I was ready for bed after grabbing some milk, butter, and eggs. I think I fell asleep around 11

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Today was the day that I left DFW and came to Korea! Things were so much more different than I expected. Lol once I got on the plane from DFW, I realized that there were only a couple Americans. Lol as soon as I deplaned and walked to customs, I saw this guy that had been in the same row, but the opposite side of the plane. I asked if he knew where he was going and he said yes and for me to follow him! Lol so I did and we hung out till I had to board my next plane to Daegu. His name is Jay and he travels for his work, selling things, I think... He was so nice and didn’t mind me sweating lol and walking a goofy girl around. While he took a smoke break, I tried to cool off. We then went to Bennigans and had some drinks and talked for a good long time. I was finally able to quit sweating and look presentable lol. I must admit, this was the first time I felt light-headed, in my ENTIRE life! I had a strawberry margarita and a long island ice tea. (did I mention that when I walked, it felt like I was walking on a conveyor belt…kinda like the ones in the airport. Lol) Jay paid for my stuff like a nice guy usually does! But non-the-less, I had to get my stuff and walk a lil bit to my next plane. Which by the way, when I checked my bags for this second flight, I walked off and the lady chased me down and said “bag opened”. So I thought it had busted and things went everywhere cuz I DID pack almost every bag to the brim! Lol so I went back and she showed me to a room. As I walked in, I saw my bags on the floor, unopened. I was confused. Lol I guess she meant they needed to be opened to be checked. So she checked them and I was on my way. Weird. However, it was nice being spoiled a little bit by Jay! So, here I am waiting for my next flight to board. It will be a short flight, but I wish I was already there! I can’t wait to see what my new apt looks like!!!! Yay!