Adventures in Citrus...

A parcel arrived today from my sister. Included in the wonder-box were some things I didn't have room for in my suitcase at Christmas. While I was in Canada, I was fascinated by all the new and exciting items filling the shelves at Shopper's Drug Mart*. One of the the things I picked up was some Crest Citrus Splash*. Today was the first time I tasted it, and now I have a dilemma. On one hand, I love the taste of it. It tastes like an orange Creamsicle*, so after dinner if I'm feeling like some dessert, I can just brush my teeth instead. Same taste, fewer calories and fights cavities! On the other hand, since I'm a fan of citrus, I also use Febreeze* citrus air freshener...so my new toothpaste also tastes like the smell of my bathroom when I'm trying to make it not smell like my bathroom. Korea has a pine flavoured toothpaste, which I simply can't use because it tastes like Pinsol* bathroom floor cleaner. I think I'll be okay if I don't brush my teeth immediately after using the air freshener, or I could keep my toothpaste in my fridge, so that when I brush my teeth I'll really feel like I'm having a snack. See, I told you it was a dilemma.

*Good Heavens, that's a lot of name brands in one Blog post!

Adventures in Livestock...

This morning as I was rushing down the hallway in the Agricultural College building, I was acosted by, and nearly tripped over, a chicken. It darted out of a supply cupboard, clucking and squaking like...well, like a chicken. (No surprise there really.) While all the other buildings on campus are generally wildlife free, it's not unusual to be visited by cats, birds, rabbits, or puppies in this particular building. I wonder what it was doing in the cupboard? Maybe I'll look for some fresh farm eggs next time I'm going by.

Adventures in Tree Climbing...

I was thrilled when my niece showed a proclivity for climbing trees. I felt that perhaps it was time for me to give up climbing trees, and be content to leave the height-defying arboreal acrobatics to the young. Then, I read this article about Keith Richards (guitarist for The Rolling Stones) climbing a tree at the age of 62. Okay, he eventually fell out of the tree and got a concussion, but the fact remains that he was climbing. I think I should be on the safe side if I stop climbing at ... oh, maybe ... 60. That still leaves me 30 good tree-climbing years. Maybe K and I can climb together next time I'm home. Wait a minute, now that I think of it, my great-grandmother fell out of a tree at a nearly great-grandmotherly age. Mom, how old was she?

Adventures in Quick Naps...

I got home yesterday shortly before 1pm, and since my pottery class doesn't start until 2pm, I changed into my potting clothes, and flaked out on my bed for a quick 5-minute rest (I can't really fall asleep in 5 minutes, so these rests don't usually turn into naps). The cat curled up next to me, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up with the residue of some kind of Mermaid and Potato dream clearing itself from my brain. I stretched and looked at my watch, thinking I'd better hurry if I was going to make it to pottery on time. Wasn't I more than a little surprised to realize that 3.5 hours had passed! I'd missed pottery AND 1/2 of Oprah. On the other hand, I'm really glad to have a job where a 3 hour mid-afternoon snooze doesn't get me fired! I'll enjoy it while I can.

Adventures in Mischief Perpetrated upon William Blake...

(If you've never read William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, you should take a look at "The Lamb" and "The Tiger" before reading this post. It won't take long; you can Google 'em.)

I was curled up with my l'il cat this morning, and found myself quoting William Blake. Sadly, my cat is neither a lamb, nor a tiger, so my renditions needed to be altered. This was the result, with prolific apologies to Mr.Blake:

On Good Days ~
(From 'The Lamb')

Little kitty, who made thee?
Does thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee purr
Coating all my pants with fur;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender meow,
Sounding better than a cow?
Little kitty, who made thee?
Does thou know who made thee?

On Bad Days ~
(From 'The Tiger')

Kitty, kitty, taking flight
In the kitchen at midnight,
What imaginary fly
will you chase ‘til dawn is nigh?

Kitty, kitty, sharp'ning claws
On the furniture at all hours, (If you say this bit with a fake accent, it rhymes)
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? (Just like Blake himself expected these last two lines to rhyme)

Happy 80th Birthday!

Yup, Her Majesty is celebrating her 80th Birthday. I don't really have much to say about it, I just figured I would mention it. I've always been a fan of the monarchy, although I think is has more to do with a fascination for the gowns and glitter than for the job itself. Either way, I think the Queen has managed to hold on to a tough job with poise and dignity for a really long time. Having said all that, I honestly don't know the lady very well. Oh, sure, we've had tea together a few times, and there was that time in '99 that I lent her five bucks, because she 'forgot her purse at the palace', but beyond that, we're not all that close.

When I was a kid and had to clean the bathroom, I used to imagine that the Queen was going to stop by. It was on those days that I actually scrubbed all the nooks and crannies I could find...until I got bored and switched to pretending I was a TV commercial and I'd try to sell myself some shampoo instead. Once in a while, I'd imagine the Queen stopped by and I would try to sell her some shampoo. It never occured to me that she might not be in the market for 1/2 a bottle of Pert Plus. Maybe I should have sent her some for her birthday. It's got to make a better gift than the two black beavers Canada gave her once. At least shampoo is practical. What was my country thinking??

Adventures in Yellow Dust...
Spring is such a conflicted time here in Korea. On one hand, the cherry blossoms are fluttering to the ground like pink snow and the lilacs are starting to produce their gentle purple fragrance. On the other hand, China has started exporting it's noxious yellow dust. Every spring, wind picks it up from the Gobi Desert and hurls it across the Yellow Sea directly into the lungs, eyes, teeth and icecream cones of the residents of South Korea. From the picture above, you can see one of the storms that passed over the Korean peninsula recently. (It's the big dusty looking swoosh to the right of the picture...yup, there it is. You've found it now. The big mass of yuck that's not clouds, water or land.) From my perspective (ie, not one from a satelite) it just looks like a hazy, hazy day. However, don't let those tiny particles fool you into thinking they're harmless. The icky bits (particles) in today's dust were 2-3x higher than what US officials consider a 'hazardous' health concern. That's in Daegu. Seoul had twice as many icky bits. We usually get several dust storms a season, and hopefully we'll get rain tomorrow to dampen the spirits of this latest one before either my lungs or my icecream become permanently damaged.

Adventures in Pottery...

Tomorrow is Thursday ~ my favourite day of the week. Even though I have an early class, I finish teaching at noon, then head off to pottery class. The picture on the left is the largest/least wobbly piece I've made in the past 3 years. (And yes, since the flowers in it are green and blossoming, you can be sure they are fake.) I'm thrilled that so far this semester, none of my pottery has cracked, wobbled, toppled, warped or contracted a horrible case of the uglies. There are still many weeks to go before the semester is over at which point the pieces will face unforseen traumas lurking in the glazing/firing process. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though. So far, so good.

Adventures in New Furniture...

I've had my eye on this little table for a few months now, and finally decided to pick it up. I figured it would be a nice Korean souvenir when I (eventually) go back to Canada.

As you can see, there are 20 tiny little drawers filling the top 1/2 of the table. A word of advice, if you ever find yourself with 20 little drawers in a table in your foyer...don't put anything personal in any of them. Almost every person through my door has said "Ooooh, what cute drawers. Is there anything in them?" and they start opening the drawers at random.
I keep some spare keys, decks of playing cards and some gum in some of the drawers. I think I'll put a door prize in one drawer, and everyone who comes to visit gets to choose a drawer and try and find the prize. That'll be fun. Furniture and Fun all in one ~ what a buy.

Adventures in weather forcasts...

I checked the weather forcast tonight before heading off to bed. Next week is just not looking good:

Today	Tomorrow	Tue	Wed	Thu	6-10 Day
Rain Late High: 18° Low: 11°	Rain High: 16° Low: 10°	Light Rain High: 20° Low: 10°	AM Showers High: 22° Low: 10°	Showers High: 15° Low: 7°

Adventures in blossoms...

Cherry blossoms have finally erupted all over campus. I took my camera to class today, and the battery died before I even took my first picture, so the lovely photo on the left isn't mine.

I heard from one of my co-workers that some folks in Korea are trying to discourage cherry blossom festivals (very popular events this time of year!) because when the Japanese occupied Korea, they uprooted all traces of Korea's national flower, the Rose-of-Sharon. In an effort to demoralize Koreans, the Japanese replaced the Rose-of-Sharon with cherry trees. As a result, some Koreans equate the blossoms with the Japanese occupation, and don't think it's a cause for celebration. I tried to find some information about the story in the English newspaper here, but haven't found anything of that nature yet. No matter what the origins of the trees in this country, they are still lovely and I'll continue to enjoy them as long as they're in bloom.

Adventures in Template Changes...

After nearly 2.5 years of blogging bliss, I decided it was time for a change. (At this point, an observant reader will be thinking "Hmmm, baked cookies yesterday, washed all the dishes, and chose to change Blog settings... sounds like procrastination to me!" ) Such an astute observation would be quite accurate. I've got a stack of marking to tackle.

In the process of changing the template, I deleted some links to people that haven't updated their blogs in months (ahem!) and I added a link to a Pucca website. Pucca is the adorable l'il animated character above. Her website has some interesting little cartoons on it.

I hope you like the new look. If not, I'm sure you'll either get used to it, or stop reading. I hope you get used to it. I would be awfully sad to lose your readership.

Adventures in the Perils of Cookie Cooking...

Cookies are lovely
warm moist delicious velvet
breathe taste devour

There, that's my Cookie Haiku. I've jotted down that poetic nightmare (I think I can here the gasps of horror coming from Japan as I write) to illustrate the point that people don't usually discuss the perils of cookie making. My hips know the danger all too well, but by the time they realize what's going on, it's too late.

This evening after dinner, I decided to bake cookies. Tracy was at my house, so she did the stirring and mixing, I did the sifting and measuring. It's now well after 10:00pm and getting closer to bedtime...Tracy has gone home, the dishes have been washed and over 1/2 the batter is still left waiting for the oven. You see, the major problem is that I only have a toaster oven. The recipe that comes on the back of the econo-bag of Chipits is not meant to be baked six small cookies at a time. Even after doing our best to decrease the amount of cookie dough that would need to be baked (yum), we didn't even make a dent. I'm also feeling a little sick from all the sugary buttery batter in my belly. (Say that last bit out loud. It's fun.) So here I am, quite literally sick and tired, and my hips are just saying "I told you so."

Adventures in Odd Places to Stick Your Head...

This is a picuture of Catticus' latest favourite spot. When I'm working (or playing) at the computer, she'll leap up ontop of the CPU (?), turn her back on me, and stick her head down between the wall and the back of the computer. She'll stay that way for up to an hour. I can't tell if she's looking at something or sleeping. Whenever I try to peek, she turns her head and meows at me. Occasionally, she'll sit up and lick the pictures of my niece and nephew, then stick her noggin back down the crevice. Do you think I should start looking for a cat psychologist?

Adventures in biking...

Since spring has (sort of) arrived, I've been riding my bike to and from classes. It's nice to be out on the road with the wind in my face. It's not nice to be wearing sticky lip gloss and winding up with a swarm of little flies stuck to my lips when I get to the bottom of the hill.

Adventures in (ahem!) Spring...

After a few days of warm breezes, warm sun, and warm yellow dust I was convinced that Spring was making its way across the Korean peninsula.

Today, a gentle rain shower greeted me at 7:35 a.m. as I headed out the door. I took a large umbrella, but didn't throw on a jacket over my business suit. I figured I would be warm enough. I spent the next three hours staring out the window of my classroom wishing my classes a "Merry Christmas!" as impossibly huge snowflakes filled the air. Unbelievable. I think I might postpone the scavenger hunt I was going to do with my classes next week.

On a brighter note, today was my first day back at pottery class since last semester. It was nice to get my hands dirty again.

Adventures in Acupuncture Part II...

So here's the scoop. A friend of mine here is going to an acupuncturist on a regular basis to relieve some pains she's having. I went with her earlier this week, mostly because I was curious. I had a little crick in my neck and thought I'd see what could be done about it. (Since then I've learned that you can also get 'diet acupuncture' which might be worth a shot!) Anyway, the doctor speaks as much English as I do Korean, but I managed to tell him what the trouble was. He recomended hot packs and massages (what a nice treatment plan!) then led me into the treatment room.

My friend's procedure was already underway as I positioned myself face-down on a vacant treatment cot. The doctor then stuck me with pins; I didn't feel them go in at all. It was entirely painless. Then they put a nice heat lamp on me; similar to the ones they use to keep chicken burgers warm at fast food restaurants. After about 20 minutes, the nurse took the pins out and pulled over an octopusesque contraption with little suction cups all over it. She stuck the cups to my shoulders and I twitched and spasmed merrily for several minutes. Finally, the doctor came back and pinched and tweaked and karate chopped all the sore spots. That was the end of my acupuncture adventure. I'm going back tomorrow to see if he can do something about the pain in my feet (stupid work shoes).

Adventures in Acupuncture...

Part I:

I went for my very first acupuncture treatment! I'd tell you more, but it's bedtime. More details will follow in Part II.

Adventures in Dreams Coming True...

2 Years ago, at the beginning of the semester, I had a dream that my class started in 5 minutes; however, I was in a gas station in Saskatchewan and was a little frantic that I might be late.

1 1/2 years ago, at the beginning of the semester, I had a dream that my class started in 5 minutes; however, the Art building had been remodelled to resemble the catacombs. I couldn't find my class in the warren of wet stone walls lit with torches.

Last semester I had a dream that I showed up on time for my class, but was expected to teach Phys. Ed. (right.)

This morning at 11:40 as I was preparing to head to my 12:00 class I got a phone call from my boss...my 12:00 class actually starts at 11:00. Oops. It turned out to be a scheduling error (my schedule said 12:00, the student schedule said 11:00). Nonetheless, after 2 years of dreaming about it, I finally missed a class.

And so the semester begins.

Adventures in 3000 readers...

I just noticed that the next person to visit my Blog will be my 3000th visitor. Congratulations to you!!! Leave me a comment and tell me who you are ~ maybe I'll send you a postcard to commemorate the occassion. (Yes, I know I have way too many m's and c's and s's in the 3 words before my bracketed aside began. Even though recognizing my poor spelling in no way justifies it.)

Adventures in the demise of a Vacation...

Yup, tomorrow the intrepid and courageous teachers of DaeguDae start another semester. Last night we had our staff orientation dinner (fabulous buffet) and everyone got caught up on everyone else's vacations. Today Mike Peacock came to visit and we hung out downtown. After he left, I treated myself to a great manicure (with little white flowers painted on the ring-finger nails.) Then, to top off the evening, a group of us gathered around for Jen's Bacardi Rum Cake and Bahama Mama's ~ directly from Nassau iteself. We also looked at her pictures from the Bahamas and Karin and Angelika's pictures of Cambodia and Vietnam. Everything looked so warm and tropical and sunny. Now, I'm wondering why on earth I'm in Korea. It snowed here this morning. Anyway, we all bid adieu to our vacations and are gearing up to start classes tomorrow morning. I can't believe I've been at this job for 2 years already.

So, farewell Winter Vacation, and hello Spring Semester.

Adventures in Stupid Dreams...

Last night, I had a lovely sleep. When I woke up (yes, again at 7:30 even though it's Saturday) I remember thinking to myself "Hey, that was a great dream. I should write that down." Instead of opening my eyes and grabbing for a pencil, I instead chose to wrestle my blankets back from the cats and go back to sleep for an hour.

When I woke up again, I could only remember parts of my dream, and boy oh boy are they really NOT worth writing down. You know me though, I'm going to write 'em anyway!

Part 1: I accidentally flushed someone else's clothes down the toilet. The clothes were sitting on the toilet (not in it) and I had to pee, so I flushed the toilet first and WHOOOSH!! the toilet just sucked the pile of clothes right down. Next thing I know, I'm trying to explain via limited Korean and complicated Charades just exactly what happened. Go ahead - you try it! I dare you. Try to explain to someone that you flushed their clothes down the toilet BY ACCIDENT, but the only words you can say are 'water' and 'bathroom' and every time you try and say 'clothes', the word 'flower' comes out. HA! It's not so easy now, is it???

Part 2: Someone played a practical joke on our office, and turned all our office furniture into chocolate. The computers, phones and everything still worked but were made of yummy cocoa. I was getting frustrated because the person I shared an office with kept eating the phone cord and the computer keys. Why s/he couldn't eat something like the potted plants or the pencils I don't know. They had to go straight for the stuff I was trying to use.

See - it wasn't nearly as exciting as it had seemed to me earlier this morning.

Notice: I've added a link on the sidebar to The Mealey Blog. Please use it if you want to keep up-to-date on those Marvelous Mealeys!

Adventures in Octopi...

Well, after 3 years in Korea, I've finally done it.

Justin and I went out for dinner with one of our classes - for octopus. Some of the dishes were tasty and harmless. We had a tofu & kimchi dish, a seafood and noodle soup, and a rice,vegetable,spicy sauce and octopus stir-fry. Then, there was the 'Fear Factor' dish I thought I would be too squeamish to try: live octopus. They put the plate down on the table and all the little tentacles were still squirming. I watched as the students tried to pry the pieces off the plate, while the little tentacle suckers were clinging to the plate. By the time I worked up the nerve to try a piece, I was able to get a tiny little piece that had stopped wriggling. It was dead, but raw. I dipped it in some sesame oil and munched away. All I could taste was the sesame oil, so it was actually pretty good! Next time I'm invited to an Octopus restaurant, I won't be so hesitant to accept. It was actually a really tasty meal.

Adventures in Internal Monologues...

Me: Unggghhg. What time is it?

Also Me: It's 7:30 a.m.

Me: Unggghhg. .... What day is it?

Also Me: It's Saturday.

Me: So why am I awake?

Also Me: I'd guess it's either a result of the sun streaming in your window, or a cat breathing in your face.

Me: Mmmmm, the bed's still cozy. Let's roll over and go back to sleep.

Also Me: Too late. You've let this dialogue continue for too long, and now I'm awake. Let's get up and scrub the bathroom!!!

Me: Who ARE you?? This is not some crazy 'clean-the-bathroom-at-the-break-of-day' holiday. It's Saturday you addle-brained nincompoop.

Also Me: Haven't years of experience taught you that name calling isn't going to work? All you've managed to do is irritate yourself and now you're awake too. Let's go make some baklava.

Me: No. I don't care what you say. I'm rolling over, snuggling under the blankets and staying in bed whether I'm sleeping or not!

Also Me: You can't. Now you have to pee too.

Me: Cheater.

Adventures in Busses...

Since today was Graduation Day here at the university, I only had 2 students show up for my afternoon class. We opted to go to the coffee shop for the 2nd hour of class, which created a nice, casual atmosphere. Both students had spent some time in Canada, and we began talking about a variety of culture shock issues between Canada and Korea.

While a journey on (or near) a Korean bus has often caused me a great deal of stress, I never imagined that a Canadian bus could do the same. Busses here travel well above the speed limit, resulting in a rather precarious balancing act as it careens around a corner. Furthermore, upon aproaching a string of cars waiting at a stop light, the bus will 'jump the queue' and cut infront of the first car in line ~ usually well into the intersection. These are the two major complaints I have against Korean busses.

It came as a shock to me then, when one of my students said he hated Canadian busses! He hated that if the speed limit was 60 km/h, the bus never exceeded 60 km/h. He also hated that a bus would actually stop at the indicated stop line at an intersection! He said that it was frustrating, because the bus was so slow and pokey, he felt like he wouldn't get to his destination on time! Wow. It had really, truly never occured to me that a quiet, orderly, safe, methodical transportation system could possibly prove to be frustrating for someone from a different culture. It made me realize that when it comes to Korean transportation, I've fallen into that horrible traveller's trap of thinking "Oh, they only do it the way they do because they don't know any better." Gotta love Cultural Diversity!

Adventures in Functional Grammar...

Yup, my books have arrived and I've embarked on another semester of Linguistics. Today's highlight (and I mean that literally, I've attacked it with a flourescent yellow wand and adorned it with a gargantuan "?") declares:

Dependent clauses of the second type are the kinds of messages that are full clause projections from projecting processes realised by verbal groups that express saying, thinking, reporting, believing and so on. ~Using Functional Grammar. Butt, Fahey, et al. p.167

I can tell you what verbal group I'm thinking about reporting right now, and it's certainly not fit for Moms or Sailors to read!

Perhaps I should have chosen to study Children's Literature, Plant Destroying, or Pudding Making. Those things I think I could do well. It's going to take me a full semester to de-code the above quote, much less apply it to the looming assignments.

However, the activities I've tried in the textbook so far have been fun. I'm just worried that they're fun the same way Calculus was fun until I realized that there really was a right answer, and I couldn't just choose the numbers that were pretty or felt right. Time (and my professor) will tell.

Enjoy your day, I'm heading back to the books.

Adventures in Odd Couples...

My morning class is quite energetic, gregarious and not the least bit shy about discussing any topic. Today, while discussing fears and phobias, we watched a few clips from a recent Fear Factor episode. The conversation then wandered onto the topic of a recently married Thai couple; The Queen of Scorpions married the King of Centepides. The Queen spent 32 days incased in a box with 3,400 scorpions, while the King spent 28 days snuggled up to 1,000 centipedes. The Queen's wedding dress was adorned with a number of live scorpions. And here I've been thinking that the Fear Factor contestants are nuts for spending 2 or 3 minutes with the l'il critters.

Adventures in ellipses.

I realize I haven't posted in quite a while...oopsie daisy. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I was home for the holidays, and enjoyed every day in Ottawa. Sadly the canal wasn't frozen, so there wasn't any skating ~ but we did get some tobogganing in.

Last night, I finished reading a collection of ghost stories by M.R.James, written sometime prior to 1931. In his epilogue, he expounded on ideas for ghost stories he had had, but had never materialized. His second last paragraph contained this digression maligning the elipsis - "It may not be alone ... (Dots are believed by many writers of our day to be a good substitute for effective writing. They are certainly an easy one. Let us have a few more ...)."

As much as I like using ellipses (although not as much as I like saying 'ellipsis') he does have a point. Imagine a literary world inwhich the ellipsis runs rampant. One would be left with only a title, and perhaps a few verbs to help the narrative along.

Hmmm, perhaps by now you've guessed that I'm back at work, since the only thing I've found to write about today is punctuation. My apologies.

Adventures in Mid-December

First of all, I should say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! I can't remember how many years she's been around, but I know it's more than me and less than Grandma. She was born somewhere in between.

Second of all, I should mention what I've been doing lately. Mostly, I've been marking final exams and projects. As usual, the monotony has been broken by a few smile-producing responses, none of which I can remember at the moment since I just woke up. Maybe once this cup of coffee starts to work it's magic, I'll remember that in response to the questions "Is your best friend the smartest person in the world?" most of my students answered "Yes, s/he is". One of my loyal, but oh-so-honest students wrote "No, she isn't. but she's a very nice person."

Finally, I've been counting the days until I head home for Christmas. Only 3 days and 2 nights until I have to make sure my seat back and chair table are in their fully upright and locked position in preparation for take-off. WooHoo!

Adventures in American Justice

I suppose I could have called this entry 'Adventures in Capital Punishment', but that just didn't seem right.

This afternoon, I caught Larry King Live as he covered the impending execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Half an hour later, I caught The Green Mile. Together, they got me thinking about capital punishment, justice, retribution and restorative justice. I'm not going to go into a great long diatribe at the moment, as I'm reluctant to just blurt out my 'top-o-the-head' opinions when it comes to important things. (I've got no problem blurting out opinions about non-dairy whipped topping, sport sock/dress pants combinations or the west-coast penchant for socks with sandals, but the death penalty is an entirely different matter).

I will however mention that I was greatly pleased to see Mike Farrell speaking on Larry King as chairman of Death Penalty Focus. You may remember him as B.J. Hunnicut on M*A*S*H. He was articulate, passionate and polite. I was impressed, and was glad to hear him say:

"And it seems to me that when this society begins to realize the damages being done us by the damage we do others, only then, perhaps, will we begin to realize that we can reach out to be representative of the values that we hold dear."

It seems to me that vengance, revenge, and a refusal to forgive cause as much damage to those seeking vengance as to those at whom the anger is directed. (I'm sorry, if I weren't so sleepy, I'm sure I could have made that sentence readable.)

Before I paddle myself into waters I'm not ready to swim in, let me just plug in the link to the Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University. It's worth the read if you're interested in such things. http://www.sfu.ca/crj/about.html

I have a head cold. Wednesday was the sore throat, Thursday was the hoarse voice, Friday was the headache, today is the runny nose and sneezing. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Adventures in Christmas trees

Although my Dad will be mortified ("You don't decorate for Christmas before December!"), a group of festivity-minded folk helped me decorate my aparment last Friday night. Now my little tree is up and glittering (and occasionally assaulted by my cat), cutsie little snowmen and angels grin from shelves and walls, and Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby croon holiday medlies in the evenings... and I traipse about in the afternoons with no jacket. Methinks the weather matcheth not the season. Only 24 more sleeps 'til I fly home for the holidays ~ and hopefully some snow. But not when my plane is trying to land. Or take off. Or when I'm driving. Or if I have to shovel it. If I could have my way, we would have light little fluffy flurries from now until December 24th, at which point, once we're all snuggled together at home, there would be a massive blizzard that would coat the world with white until January 2nd, at which point everything would melt away and spring would arrive. If I ever build a climate-controlled bio-dome, that'll be the weather forcast for the holiday seaon. I hope you're enjoying the weather, and the Advent season wherever you may be.

Adventures in Nuclear Waste

Earlier this month, South Korea chose the historic city of Kyoungju to provide a home for a proposed nuclear waste dumpsite. While there are many things that worry me about this dumpsite, two things stick out in my mind.

1) My university students don't seem to care. I asked one of my classes what they thought about it. One student said she was happy that the dumpsite will be built in Kyoungju, because she is from another town that was in the running. My other 8 students all said they didn't really care one way or the other. Hmmmm.

2) Commerce-Industry-Energy Minister, Lee Hee-beom, said "By minimizing preparing procedures, the government will finish the building before the end of 2008." Why on earth would you minimize preparation procedures while building a nuclear dumpsite!?!? On the bright side, I don't really believe that it will be completed by 2008. The subway in Daejeon was supposed to be up and running for the World Cup (2002) and I still have to take the bus when I'm there. Even so, call me paranoid, but I really don't think that one should be skimping on preparation when it comes to building a nuclear facility. Again I say, "Hmmmm...."

Perhaps it's time to consider moving back to the other side of the globe.

Adventures in Cartoon Land

When I was a little girl, I was convinced I could draw a door on the back of my TV and enter my favourite cartoon, Battle of the Planets. One day, Mom found me poking around behind the TV with a pencil in my hand and shooed me away. I never got the chance to fight the intergallactic menace - Zoltar. Now that I'm all grown up, I realize I can't fit into my TV ~ but I'm sure I would have been able to when my body was smaller ~ if my plot hadn't been foiled. I'm not bitter.

I got thinking about that little snippet of my early years today, and came to the conclusion that even if we don't have a super-portal from the real world to cartoon land, I think that those who inhabit cartoon land actually do have a super-portal. My theory is based on 3 things: 1) Roger Rabbit. 2) The Simpson's episode where Homer gets stuck in a vortex and winds up in the real world. 3) As I walked out of the Student Union store today, I took a deep breath of fresh~ish Autumn air and surveyed my surroundings. The trees were a bright yellow, the sky was a clear blue, students were milling about as students do...and a large, fuzzy, white duck with a big yellow beak was walking by carrying a briefcase. No word of a lie. Not only was this "duck" strolling down the street, nobody else seemed to notice! I love this campus.

So there you have it. Even though I was never able to get to cartoon-land myself, I'm now content to wait for cartoon-land to come to me.

Adventures in Squirrelyness

The day has finally arrived when I've folded my summer clothes for the last time this season. All my t-shirts, tank tops and gauzy cotton shirts have been tucked away and vacuum packed in a space bag. Sigh.

I don't know what it is about Autumn that makes me feel like a squirrel stuffing my nest for the winter. I've been freezing soups and stews like a madwoman, I've been cleaning out closets and nooks and crannies and even that mysterious cupboard under my sink. I've started crotcheting a blanket, and the other day I thought "Hey, I wonder how you make pickles?"

OH - and it's Halloween today. I nearly forgot. So far the only Trick-ot-Treater I've had tonight is my neighbour, Tracy. She wasn't even looking for candy, she was bringing me soup. I think she's also feeling like a squirrel.

Adventures in Hiking

I went hiking yesterday with some friends from here, but there was a bit of a misunderstanding. I thought that a 1.5 hour hike was round-trip. Nope. It took just under 2 hours to get up the hill (becuase I'm a slow-poke) and another 1.5 hours to get back down the hill. Nonetheless, it was a gorgeous hike, the view from the peak was fantastic and the weather couldn't have been nicer. By the time we got back down to the bottom, we were tired and hungry and exhilerated. We stopped for one of the best Galbi dinners I've had here (Galbi = BBQ'd pork strips). So, one I finally crawled into bed last night, I had such a good sleep . Although today, I've been hobbling around like an arthritic duck; I've got blisters and my bum muscles are sore. We hope to go again once more of the autumn leaves start to show their colours. (And my legs become fully functional again!)

Adventures in Persimmons

Persimmon season is upon us here in Korea. They look so beautiful. The sky has been a deep clear blue lately, and the autumny-orange persimmons look so cozy surrounded by a few dark green leaves. Angelika and I walked into town yesterday via the rice paddy back roads, and the persimmon trees were my favourite view along the way. Then, this morning, the lady who cleans our building (you may remember her from the canned peaches enounter) knocked on my door and presented me with a HUGE persimmon. It's twice the size of any I've seen on the trees around here. I wonder if I like eating them? I guess I'll soon find out.

Adventures on Thanksgiving Weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I feel fortunate that I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with some moist turkey, sweet cranberry sauce, savory pumpkin soup and a slice of pie. I don't exactly know what the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea does, but I'm more than happy to eat the food at the dinner they host every year.

It also gave me a chance to get back to Seoul and see my travel agent there. Hooray!! I'm going home for Christmas this year!!! What a lovely Thanksgiving gift.

We stayed in a Yogwan in Seoul, which is like a small motel. Some of them are quite clean and cozy and comfortable. The one I managed to pick out was not. Ewwww. I woke up with 12 mosquito bites on my arms, and some of them are swelling up like red, puffy quarters, nickles and dimes.

The weekend went by super fast and now I can't believe it's Monday already. I think that since I've had 2 long weekends in the past three weeks, actually having to go to work on a Monday seems a little strange! Even so, I hope all of you reading this from Canadian soil will enjoy your holiday.

Adventures in Free Food!

Like many people I know, I grew up big and strong by eating Church Basement potluck dinners, (and I capitalized it, since I think someone should use it as a brand name for a line of microwave dinners~ wouldn't you buy something called Church Basement 3 Bean Salad, or Church Basement Baked Beans??). The point of all this ---well, to be honest, this is going to be the point-before-the-point, so if you're feeling overwhelmed already, you might want to bail out now--- The PRE-point is that I love free food. Think about it. I'd never make a Spinach Pie in my own kitchen, but if you serve it to me at your house, chances are I'll love it. Or, when I'm going through the supermarket, and there are free samples of stuff -stuff I KNOW I don't like and I'll never buy - I still take the free sample! And then I stand there with a thoughtful look on my face and murmur things like "Hmmm, it's not so bad. Maybe I'll add it to my list next time" but I know I won't. I just don't want to hurt the feelings of the nice lady who's handing out the Dixie cups full of free food. So that's my pre-point. I love free food. I think maybe judging by the size of the congregation on Church Basement pot-luck days, other people do too.

Now, onto my main point. Even better than getting free food, is giving free food...so other people can have it for free. And there are no dishes for you to wash!! I've added a link on my sidebar for The Hunger Site. It's a website that allows you to click the box that says "Give Free Food". You can click every day, and each click donates 1.1 cups of staple food to folks who need it via The Mercy Corps and America's Second Harvest. (There is info about these organizations on the site). I've known about, and frequented this website for a long time now (Thanks to Melanie for pointing me in its direction). There is also an on-line gift shop associated with it. Every item purchased (and there are some really nice ones!! ) results in more free food for somebody! When you look at the stuff in the shop, along with the price and product description, it also tells you how many cups of food will be donated if you purchase that item. Christmas is getting closer, and if you tend to do some of your shopping online anyway, you might want to check out The Hunger Site. The only sad part is that while folks will get good healthy food, nobody's going to be lucky enough to get a "Church Basement Jell-O and Olive Salad".

Adventures in Teaching

Over the holidays, I seem to have forgotten some important classroom tips. The other day I leaned against the board during my lecture. It wasn't until after I got home that I realized the words "I have the flu" could clearly be seen scrawled backwards across my back. Lovely.

Adventures in Chuseok

This weekend was what's known in Korea as Chuseok, and is often described as the Korean Thanksgiving. It's a time when everyone travels to their hometown, the women cook monsterous quantities of food and people tend to their ancestors tombs. It's also a time when English teachers at Daegu University gather for a fantastic BBQ - since we have 3 birthdays in September that need to be celebrated in style. We had tons of food, some guitar music, some singing, and of course, a pinata. It's so much fun to watch grown adults scrimmaging for a fun-size Snickers bar. Although, come to think of it, when the weather's nice like this, we have a BBQ almost every weekend, whether there are any birthdays or not!

So, since I've been finished work since 9am last Friday, I've had plenty of time to clean, shop, make some pottery thingies, BBQ, watch some movies and play cards with my friends. Now, it's 2:30 on a Monday afternoon and I'm thinking that after I wash up all the brunch dishes I'll just curl up with my cat, a good book and a cup of tea for a little while...or re-decorate my bedroom. We'll see how energetic I'm feeling after the dishes are done. Also, since it's only been 2 weeks since the semester started, and now we're enjoying a long weekend, it feels like summer again. I really hope I don't forget to get up and go to work tomorrow morning!

Adventures in Writing.

Even though it may not be apparent from the hastily concocted literary belches on my Blog, I really can write. It's one of my skills. It's not one of those 'cool' skills like precision spitting or being able to burp the alphabet, but over the years it has served me well. I like writing. I like to read other peoples writing, and I figured I'd like to teach writing too. So, this semester I'm teaching a 3rd year Writing Composition class. My problem, as I discovered last class, is that although I'm confident in my own writing skills, I don't know WHY it's good writing. It just sounds right. After reviewing a few examples of a particular sentence structure in class, some students asked the dreaded question 'why?'. I blurted out an answer that made sense to me, but I wasn't really sure it was true. (I found out later that I hadn't led them astray ~ whew!) Keep in mind, these students are sharp. They've been studying English Grammar since middle school. I don't know if I ever studied grammar. I know that about 1/2 - 2/3 of my Freshman Linguistics class failed a 7th grade English Grammar test circa. 1950, and I know that many of our Korean students have a better grasp of grammatical principles than their native English speaking teachers. It's a little intimidating. Here's hoping I don't make a complete chowder-head of myself in this course!

In other news, my cat is currently trying to crawl inside my printer.

So here are a few pictures from Thailand. The one on the top is a great shot of my toes enjoying the view during our lunch break on 'snorkle day'. In fact, once again the heat had struck me down, and I spent most of the afternoon in that pose. The shot below is the view I had if I flopped my head to the right. (The view to my left was a tree trunk, so I didn't take a shot of that one). Gorgeous, eh? I'm going to look at these when winter rolls around and I'm shivering in wool socks and drinking hot chocolate.

Adventures in Thailand

What a way to spend the final 10 vacation days of summer! Shopping at the markets in Bangkok was the most relaxing market experience ever. I'm used to vendors loudly hawking their wares, or shoving pink ruffled hair clips under your nose while you're trying to examine the lizard-shaped belly rings. (How do they think those things go together?!). In Bangkok, it was completely different. Vendors greeted you with a friendly smile, then let you look around, and eventually engage in good natured bargaining "Good for Me...Good for you. You give me a price now". It was delightful.

On our 2nd day in Bangkok, 3 of us went on a river cruise up the river on a tour boat, then back down again on a converted rice barge. It was really stunning to see the wooden houses propped up on stilts all along the waters edge. Once in a while, a sprawling old home looking like a cross between a Souther Plantation and an old English Estate home with boarded up windows would loom along the waters edges, sagging at the gutters. As Anne of Green Gables would say, there was 'lots of scope for the imagination'.

Soon, we were off to Koh Samui with it's white powder beaches, sparkling clear aqua waves, swaying palms and coral reefs. The island was gorgeous. However, by this time, I discovered Thailand was like a sad, sad romance. As much as I loved Thailand, it wasn't lovin' me back. I spent a great deal of time taking tiny nibbles of delicious food I would have loved to devour, all the while hoping my churning inards and pounding headache would wash out to sea. As a result, I didn't enjoy the island as much as I should have.

Even so, I had a great time. The 4 of us travelled well together. We got along well and enjoyed similar interests, so we weren't at cross-purposes the whole time.

Now however, I'm home again and started back to work yesterday. It looks like it's going to be a good semester, and I'm looking forward to teaching a Writing Composition class in addition to my regular Freshman courses.

Adventures in Sunburns

I'll fill you in on all my Thai adventures later. For now, I just wanted to say I'm home safe, sound, and only a tiny bit sunburned. (On my last day at the beach, I fell asleep under a palm tree - I got a few little weirdo splotchy burns as the sun peeked through the fronds.) So, yes, I've retuned from a tropical adventure with a sunburn on my left ankle, the inside of my right knee, and my right armpit. Lovely. Tonight is our semi-formal start-of-semester gathering for the teachers...and my dress exposes-you guessed it- my left ankle, my right knee, and my right armpit.

Adventures in packing...

34 more hours, and I'll be on a plane bound for Thailand. Well, actually I'll be on a plane bound for Seoul, so I can connect to the plane bound for Thailand. Even so, I've just finished packing and am ready to go! It's not as though Thailand will be any cooler, or less humid than Korea, but somehow it seems more bearable when there's a white sandy beach under you, and salty aqua surf infront of you. So, I may not be posting for a while, but hopefully will have some pictures for you early in September. I've also never been snorkling or windsurfing before, but I figure if my Gramma could go snorkling last year, maybe I'll be able to manage it too. (Does snorkling have an 'e' in it?) What a fun word...snorkle, snorkl, snork. snork. HA! I love words. No, I haven't been drinking. I just like the sound of 'snorkle'. It ranks right up there with 'duck' and 'barnacle' and 'macadamia'.

...I've just read the above post. I really think it's time for a vacation. Snorkle.

Adventures in Golf...

Yup, I did something today I've never done before. I went to a driving range. There were 5 of us all together, and I think I hit around 300 balls (taking about 600 swings, of course). My arms are a bit sore, but it was more fun than I thought it was going to be. Most of us are pretty inexperienced, so I think some of the skilled Korean golfers were a bit amused (bemused?) by us. Nevertheless, we had a good time. We also plan to hit the batting cages and the bowling alley in the near future - just to make absolutely certain that our skills really and truly don't lie in the world of sport.

Adventures in Toilet Seats...

Some of you may recall from past posts that many washrooms in Korea are equipped with what I call 'space toilets', because they look a little bit like Captain Kirk's chair aboard the Enterprise. There are a bunch of buttons on the side that control the bidet, the post-bidet blow dryer, and the temperature guage for the heated seat. They are so common here that I don't even think twice about them anymore. So, when I was watching Las Vegas tonight, I didn't even notice the seat on the toilet in the episode. Lo and Behold, the seat played an important role in the show! During the discussion about the toilet seat which was imported from Korea, the guy mentioned that they would soon be a hot item in the USA. I had to shake my head in wonder. The seats cost over $250 each. I can't imagine anyone I know paying that much money for a toilet seat. I'm guessing the same folks that would spend that much on their toilet seat are the same ones that would spend over $300 on 'doggie stairs' to make it easier for their pooches to climb up on the sofa. I know that personal spending is all a matter of priorities, but people, please, lets have some perspective! No one should be able to rationalize paying $250 for a heated toilet seat...unless they've committed themselves to reading the collected works of Hemmingway whilst perched on the potty in the middle of winter. Even so, I have no doubt that the guy on Las Vegas was right. Heated toilet seats will indeed be a hot item in North America pretty soon.

What a nice evening. Most of the day was cloudy and full of showers. However, just after dinner, the clouds were sent packing, and scuttled across the sky dragging their feet on the tops of the mountains as they went. The air was scrubbed clean and the whole of the outside world looked as though its windows had been freshly washed. The rice fields shone a bright bright green, and I sipped a glass of iced tea and watched the pretty world.

The times they are a changin'...

Ahhh, Bob Dylan. Seems to me that some of the (best?) singers that came out of the 60's had the worst voices. Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Mick Jagger certainly lack the melodic and dulcet tones usually appreciated in singers. This observation is an aside however. The real reasons for using Dylan's lyric as my introduction today are as follows:

1) I'm working my way through the Anne of Green Gables books for some light summer reading. I have always felt a kinship with the impetuous, quick-tempered Anne of the original book. This summer however, it's taken me all the way to book #4 "Anne of Windy Poplars" before I found myself nodding my head thinking "yup, I know how that feels".

2) I discovered it now costs $185 to be a Young Interpreter at Upper Canada Village. I held that much beloved role for 2 summer as a volunteer (this was before I got a job there that actually paid me to dress up).

3) My favourite treat during the summers I worked at Upper Canada Village was when my campers made and brought back "Butterscotch Squares" for dessert. I was thinking of them the other day, and hunted down the recepie. My first thought was "Ooooh, but they have alot of sugar - and all that butter can't be good for you". That never used to be my first thought when it came to yummy food.

4) During a quiet lull in the afternoon, a time when I would usually daydream, or read or try to give myself 1940's era hairstyles, I did none of those things. Instead I thought "I think my bathroom drains need a good scrubbing". How responsible of me. (In Korea, our bathrooms have drain holes in the floor. Every once in a while, the little hair-muck-grime-scum filters get clogged up with hair, muck, grime and scum and need to be cleaned out with rubber gloves, chopsticks, a toothbrush and some determination.)

5) I've been using my air conditioner lately. Up until this summer, I haven't had any use for the things. Winter is long enough as it is without blowing it into your livingroom during the summer too. And yet, here I am sneaking it on for an hour here and there, feeling guilty all the while. Like I've committed a crime against my own convictions.

There. Those are just little things, but since they've all jumped upon my concious mind today, they seem to have conspired en mass to remind me that the times, indeed, are changin'.

Huh,

I've just logged on to write a new post and have realized I'm at a loss for words. Let's see what I can dredge up...

1-The cats are no longer fighting, they're 'playing' instead. The only difference is that there's now no hissing.
2-I'm back at work now. If you can call it that. Today I sang songs and drew and coloured aliens with 6 sweet kids for a few hours, then was home by 2pm. Not bad for a days work. I'm teaching the children's summer program here at the university, afterwhich I still have 10 more days of holiday. I've got my sights set on Thailand.
3-I finally read the newest Harry Potter book. I was quite surprised, but I didn't cry (like some people I know!)
4-Oh! Oh! Oh! I thought of one that will come as a surprise to all ... I went to the gym! 2 day in row! Okay, that was last week, and I haven't been back since, but I was on a roll there for a little bit.
5- It's been Kids Week, and now Teen Week on Jeopardy. I'm feeling quite smart these days. However, it's also got me thinking that perhaps my academic knowlege base has been deteriorating for the last decade. (Especially considering my reading material is no longer Jane Austin or Joseph Heller but J.K. Rowling instead) Hmmm, alot of good authors start with the letter "J". I'll have to keep that in mind.

Alrighty folks. Sorry you've had to read all that. You may now resume your daily activities with a fresh sense of purpose - since you'll be secure in the knowledge that whatever you're doing today is probably a little more exciting that what I'm doing. If not, at least you know you're in good company.

Feuding Felines...

It looks like a picture of domestic bliss at the moment ~ one cat sprawled out on the bed, eyes half closed, one paw draped over the edge. One cat curled up between my typing arms, head resting in the crook of my arm, rear end agravatingly close to the space b ar. Aging spinster (oops, I mean lovely young teacher) sipping some iced tea as she types.

Yup, I'm kitty-sitting. Actually, more like the "Flying Fur Intervention Service". Mike went home for a few weeks and had nobody close by to take care of Venus, so yesterday I brought her home with me on the train. Catticus was not pleased. There's been a lot of hissing and growling, but no all out brawling. For the moment they've agreed to give each other their space. (I think it might be to hot to fight.) 54rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr6555555 (That was Venus strolling across the keyboard ~ sorry, it's even too hot to bother with the BackSpace key.)

In other news, ... well, there really is no other news. Mom and Dad have gone home, and I miss 'em. The cats are quiet for the time being, I had Spinich/Mozzarella pasta for lunch, I'm going to curl up infront of the fan with a good book for the afternoon, and I haven't killed any plants for at least 3 weeks (thanks mom!). See, I told you - there really is no other news.

Mom and Dad are now safely home, but evidence suggests they adapted to Korea quite well.  

(1) 

(2) 

Sorry, I still haven't learned how to get more than one picture on a post. I thought I had it, but I was wrong. Blah. 

Here are Mom and Dad (1) at the Emille Bell in Kyoungju, (2) infront of a pond at the Bulguksa temple, (3) near a big drum at the Bulguksa temple, and (4) with a soldier in the North Korea/South Korea meeting room in the DMZ. 

Mom and Dad are having a good time. Monsoon season has started, but so far we've only had one really rainy day. They brought a Reader's Digest from Canada for me to read, which is where I found the GEOGRAPHY CHALLENGE at www.geographyzone.com You have 200 seconds to locate 10 countries selected at random. When you start the quiz, you also enter your home Country ~ for someone who's had a world map on their wall since University, I got a dismal score! I'm sad to say I've decreased Canada's score by 0.003% Sorry!

Hooray!!! Mom & Dad arrive in Korea tomorrow!!! I might not have time to write much while they are here. I hope they'll get along well with the cat....

Not much has been happening lately in my awake hours, but I've been keeping a 'dream journal' since February. Here are some exerpts:

March 5.
I was in prison ~ Martha Stewart style. However, I couldn't find my name on any of the team activity lists (which were written in English and Korean), so I always felt I was late for something, but I didn't know what.

March 6.
I ate a sea-cucumber, and it was gross. I tried to spit it out, but one little piece in the middle of my tongue kept growing back. I'd wipe it off, but it would grow back and keep wiggling.

April 3.
Toilet plungers and potted plants. That's what last nights dreams were made of.

April 12.
I was supposed to be getting married at a roadside diner/gas station. When we arrived to set up, the army had comandeered the area. Luckily, I had my own Stealth Helicopter, and while I distracted the soldiers with tours of the helicopter, my friends set up the wedding in the woods behind the diner.

May 22
Queen Elizabeth was getting married again (I don't know what happened to Prince Philip, but I seem to think he was invited to the wedding) and I was invited to the wedding too, because Prince Charles was my professor. I arrived a few days prior to the nuptuals and helped the groom make mincemeat, while my Mom and Dad helped the Queen roll candied fruit in marzipan.

What a day.

7:14am. I get a text-message from my student, wondering why I'm not at the office. I politely clarified for him that his make-up exam was supposed to be at 11:00am, NOT 7:00am.

9:00am. Still sleeping. I'm dreaming of a sweaty mechanic (don't ask, and no, it wasn't that type of dream). I wake up with my arm wrapped around my head, and realize it's me that needs a shower, not my dream.

11:00am. I meet my student for his make-up exam, and intend to go to the bank downstairs afterwards. My bankbook and wallet are both still at home. drat.

1:00pm - 3:00pm. I'm in class listening to my students speaking exams. The first 3 pairs came in with absolutely nothing prepared, and stared at me in silence until I told them to come back on Friday.

4:00pm. I'm cutting a piece of cheese, with my hand carefully placed on the back edge of the knife. My hand slips and I manage to stab myself in the thumb anyway. As I'm rinsing off the blood, the phone starts ringing, and stops as soon as I've grabbed a paper towel.

5:25pm. I didn't know the answer to Final Jeopardy

8:00pm - 10:00pm. Grading exams. Question: How many children do you want to have? Answer: Yes. I am will going swim yesterday. Did I teach them anything??

10:22pm. I think I have a sty in my eye.

I'm going to bed, and will try again tomorrow!

Today was Exam Day! All the freshman English students wrote their exams, which makes for a very long day for the teachers. (well, hour wise it's not that bad...but hour after hour of listening to the script, and then watching students write is quite dull).

Luckily, our friend Eva was the recipient of a surprise bridal shower this evening, which put a nice cap on the day.

I'm also including a link here for "Store Wars". If you haven't yet seen it, and you are either a Star Wars fan, or a responsible shopper, you should watch it. I laughed and laughed. Then I went about my day. Then I watched it again, and I laughed and laughed. Enjoy. http://www.storewars.org/flash/

WHEW!! I've finally finished my last essay for my Linguistics course. I'm free until September, and may even go outside tomorrow to remind myself what the sun looks like. I seem to recall a big warm ball in the sky...

I approached this essay differently than the essays that got me through University:

1) I actually read the articles I used as references. I didn't just grab a few quotes and build a paragraph around them.
2) I wrote this essay during daylight hours, and was not sleep deprived, nor had I replaced all my natural bodily fluids with Tim Horton's coffee.
3) I didn't just grab the closest theory and run with it, showing a complete disregard for my own opinions and those held by actually credible scholars.
4) "Spellcheck" was not synonymous with "proofreading".

Having made these changes, and in so doing deviated from my tried, tested & true essay methods which served me well in my undergrad days, I hope I pass!

I read in the news this morning that North Korea has developed a candy to help make it's kids grow up big and strong. It sounds like a great idea. Then, later on in the article I read "Unlike sugar-packed and chocolate-covered sweets, the North is hoping that children in the reclusive state will enjoy munching on their nutritional candy made of seaweed, beans, carrots and sesame seeds, the newspaper said." Ummm, maybe it's just me, but SEAWEED, BEANS, and CARROTS are not candy!!! I'm trying to imagine all the Twix lovin' kids back home throwing a temper tantrum in the grocery store because they want some of that 'seaweed and carrot' candy.

Sometimes, my students worry my with their observations. I've never been one to wear a lot of makeup, and my eyeshadow is usually barely noticeable. I tried a new shade the other day, still barely visible. (kind of like my mom paints the house, then tells me "this white wall is green. this white wall is yellow, and this white wall is peach") Like I said, barely noticable. Anyway, I walked into my Education class yesterday and the first thing they said was "OH! Teacher! Eyeshadow! Colour Change!" Just like that. exclamation marks and all. They can't remember to use a verb in their sentences, but they notice I've changed my eyeshadow. They're a great class.

It's Festival time again here on campus, which is always lots of fun outside, but not so fun in class. All my students are either absent because of fatigue, and/or hangovers or else they're in class suffering from fatigue and/or hangovers. So I've dedicated this week to a review games day and a take-home assignment day. So far it seems to be working well.

Tracy and I went for a walk around campus after dinner to say 'hello' to our students and take in the festivities. In the process we wound up at the pottery sale table. Now, it's not enough that tomorrow we're taking a semesters worth of our own pottery to the kiln, and that in 2 weeks we'll have a house bursting with new wobbly bits of clay that are supposed to resemble flower pots and soup bowls. No, we had to buy some more wobbly bits of clay that other people made too! I got a little spoon rest for $1 and a piece that's shaped like a bag that hangs on the wall for $12. I think when I grow up, I'll probably see if I can make my whole house out of clay.

We had one of our World Famous Birthday Barbeque Bash's tonight. (3 birthdays were being celebrated together) As usual, we sang 'Happy Birthday" in as many laguages as we could, which means I think we sang 7 versions tonight. As you can see from the picture, it was a quasi-costume party (meaning costumes were optional). AND I am excited to say that the birthday pinata has been added to the fun. I hope it becomes a regular tradition. It was tremendous fun for us, and provided just as much amusement to the Korean onlookers with whom we shared the BBQ pit. So, after many hours of fun and frolic, I'm going to go to sleep.  

It's 5am. I'm awake.

It's 5:30am. I'm still awake, I'm hungry and I need to pee. I get up and make some coffee, put on a sweater and go sit on my balcony. It rained last night, and the ground is still wet, and the air has been washed clean. It's overcast, so there's no sunrise, but the sky is as light as it's going to get today. I think about going for a bike ride (at this point, the thought does occur to me that I was abducted by aliens in my sleep and it's the implanted microchip that's doing the thinking). It's still a full 3 hours before my usual time to rise & shine. I read a couple of journal articles about differences between German and English rhetorical style....and I'm STILL awake by the end of the 2nd article. A bird lands with a splash in the pond, and from where I'm sitting I can see a black and white cat trotting along with something orange hanging from it's mouth. Then I look at the orange and black and white cat curled up sleeping on my lap. I think about how different the cat's lives are. Catticus is clean and cozy and well fed and plays and sleeps a lot. The black and white cat (I've seen it many times before) lives down the hill in a garbage heap. It's dirty and skittish and also well fed, but judging from what in the garbage pile, I doubt it's nutritious. Then I think about the news lately, and picture the people in Darfour, Bosnia, Bagdhad, Afganistan, and I know I'm missing many more. - and I think about me curled up on my balcony sipping a hot cup of coffee. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get it settled in my head that we all get one life, and while I"m living mine as it is, so many others spend their lives so differently. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, but it's like trying to eat a rubber grape. No matter how much you chew on it, it still looks the same when you spit it out again. (I know this, because we used to have rubber grapes when I was a kid. I chewed on 'em a lot, and they still looked the same when I spit 'em out again. If you've ever bought rubber grapes at a garage sale at our house, you might want to give 'em a wash).

And that's what happens in my head at 5:30am when I'm awake, hungry, and need to pee.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Roses are Red,
My mom's hair's turning Gray,
And I love her more,
Then this lousy poem can say.

I love you Mom! Thank you for loving me, and praying for me, and for letting me eat raw cookie dough, and making me vanilla milkshakes when I had chickenpox, and reminding me to slow down 'cuz I have to pay my own speeding tickets. (I think there might be a metaphor somewhere in there.)

If you're not my mom (and, well, let's face it ~ most of you aren't), but you're sombody else's mom, then Happy Mother's Day to you too.

My friend Mike also has a Blog (see the link on the sidebar). His Blog is titled "Something About Nothing", and each entry begins with "Something About...." and then his topic for the day. I think it's a great idea. Now, everytime I sit down to write an entry, I want to start it with "Something About...." It's catchy.

If I were to follow Mike's example, todays post would be titled "Something About Yellow Puddles". Those of us who were raised in the snowier parts of the world understand the wisdom behind the admonition "Don't eat yellow snow", so I'm familiar with the existence of yellow snow. Until moving to Korea though, I was never familiar with yellow puddles. Now I am. As I've mentioned before, we've been covered in Yellow Dust for weeks now. Even after new clouds of the stuff stopped moving in, we hadn't had any rain yet to wash it away. Cars, streets, tables, desks, bikes, etc. were all covered with a heavy layer of yellow dust. Last night, the rain finally came by the bucketful. (Hooray!) We watched bright yellow rivulets of water flow past our apartments. This morning, puddles rimmed with bright yellow rings were everywhere. But if you step in 'em, you wind up with bright yellowness clinging to your shoes. So, they're pretty, but not much fun to play in.

Hooligan (n.) : a cruel and brutal fellow

Newspapers all over the world have picked up the bickering going on between the American and North Korean presidents. I've skimmed through a number of them, and have noticed that while Australian, Indian and South African papers have included the word "Hooligan" as part of the name-calling. I've noticed though, and I admit I haven't done extensive research, that the American news agencies have left that word out. They carry pretty much the same content as the international papers, but they don't mention that Kim Jung Il called Bush a hooligan. Perhaps we've watered down the meaning of Hooligan in the west, and American journalists didn't think it would carry the same import as the other nasty names the two grown men have been calling each other. I'm sure I didn't know it meant "cruel and brutal" as the dictionary says it does. I thought it was more along the lines of rowdy and ill-mannered. Whatever the reason, it's always a little disheartening to hear kindergarten-style name calling from two world leaders. What's next? They'll break each others crayons and pee in the sandbox? Or, start in on the ever-popular "My nukes are bigger than your nukes" taunt. Whatever it is, it's not looking good for our respective neighbours.

Ben had this posted on his site, (Click on the link for "Ben" on the sidebar if you want to see his answers too). Since I FINALLY finished my essay tonight, and it's not quite bedtime yet, I figured I'd post my answers too.

Three Names You Go By: Janice. JanA** . Jan-iss-suh (Korean pronunciation!)

Three Screen Names You Have: I don't think I have screen names.

Three Things You Like About Yourself: My creativity, my sense of humour and my belly button.

Three Things You Dislike About Yourself: My selfishness, my laziness, and the chubbiness around my belly button.

Three Parts of Your Heritage: Scottish, German, Irish

Three Things That Scare You: Drunk Drivers, airplane turbulence and George W Bush.

Three Everyday Essentials: coffee, toothpaste, prayer. (not necessarily in that order. Although coffee after toothpaste is not recommended)

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now: a red plaid shirt, blue plaid PJ bottoms, and blue Pucca slippers.

Three Favorite Bands/Artists: Simon&Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Diana Krall.

Three Favorite Songs At Present: None stand out in particular.

Three Things You Want To Try And Do In The Next Twelve Months: Make it home for Christmas, lose 10 pounds, learn more Korean.

Three Things You Want In A Relationship: Humour, intelligence and a dishwasher. (I'll cook, but it'd be best if someone else washed up after.)

Two Truths And A Lie: I jumped out of an airplane. I threw up in an airplane. I flew an airplane.

Three Physical Things About The Opposite Sex That Appeal To You: collarbone, eyes, shoulders.

Three Things You Just Can't Do: yoga, eat chicken feet, tell a believable lie.

Three Favorite Hobbies: pottery, hiking, reading

Three Things I Want To Do Really Bad Right Now: brush my teeth, see my family, change into matching clothes, now that you've all read I'm wearing two different types of plaid.

Three Careers You Have Considered: Bible Translator, Museum Curator, teacher (oh! doing that one now!)

Three Places You Want To Go On Vacation: Thailand, Namibia, Italy

Three Kid's Names You Have Considered: Gregory, Samora, Victoria. (Keep in mind, I haven't thought about kids names since I was about 13, they are subject to change)

Three Things You Want To Do before You Die: I can't think of anything specific. I've done a lot of what I want to do. Everything else is a bonus. Hmm, maybe get married someday. Oh, and eat at that Lebanese restaurant in SoHo again.

There, that's all. Feel free to add your own answers!

No, it's not the Yellow Rose of Texas.

It's the Yellow Dust from China. Every spring, the sands of the Gobi Desert are whipped up into a massive dust cloud that sweeps over parts of Asia. Every spring, the cloud of dust settles on Korean cities for 2-3 days at a time before being blown or rained away. This year, the dust has come more often than any year since 1990. It makes your eyes water and burn, your throat itch and your nose sniffle. You can't really see it, but you feel as though you're covered in grime. The latest cloud arrived on Wednesday, and should blow away by the weekend. It's such a shame, because in every other respect, Korean springs are gorgeous.

Earthquake!?

Yes indeed. I woke up at 6:14 this morning because my bed was shaking. At first, I thought it was because of the cat scratching vigorously. However, when I looked, she was curled up beside me, with her head all perked up and attentive. Then I heard my dishes rattle a bit. Just a small tremor, but I can't remember the last time I felt an earthquake. I stayed awake for a few minutes and decided on the best "duck and cover" location in my apartment in the event of a stronger quake, then went back to sleep.

The tremor I felt was a result of a magnitude 5.7 earthquake in Fukuoka Japan at 6:11 this morning. I've been to Fukuoka before, it's a pleasant little city that also suffered a magnitude 7 earthquake about a month ago, which caused quite a bit of damage and 1 death. The only news article I could find on today's quake was 1 sentence long and didn't include any news of damage or injury.

The Royal Wedding.

I'm a sucker for Royal weddings ~ mostly because I like to watch the clothes. I remember sitting glued to the little TV in my Grandparents camper during a raging thunderstorm many many moons ago the last time Charles got married. Although I had made no specific plans to watch Charles and Camilla finally tie the knot, (or, as the narrator in the movie "Love in the Afternoon" says, they "came before the magistrate, and were stentenced to a life of Holy Matrimony.") However, a few of us were having dinner at a friends house, and coverage of the event started at 7pm (we left at midnight and it was still on). As we watched, I could think of only one word to describe what I was seeing. PLUMAGE. Never have I seen so many feathers stuck, stuffed, perched or spewing forth from, atop so many noggins. I was agog. Our after-dinner conversation was frequently interrupted with exclamations of utter disbelief at some of the creations people had chosen to leave their homes wearing. Big Bird, Sitting Bull, and the sprites from Midsummer Night's Dream would have blended in with ease. Although, to be fair, most of my head gear is knitted out of chunky wool, and has ear flaps. But somehow, that still seems better than feathers. Maybe.

A word from my toes:

Ahhhhh, freedom. After months of being hidden, swaddled and forgotten, we are free again. We knew something was up on Saturday when we were scrubbed and trimmed and painted pretty colours. Then, today, we were freed from our socks and dark shoes and spent the days out in the lovely warmth and sunshine. It's sandal season. Now, instead of being smothered in wool, we can see the sky, the cherry blossoms and sometimes, up Janice's nose. (We're at a bad angle, really). All the way to class today the 10 of us joined in singing gustily the ancient chorus all toes are taught: "This lit tle pee kee wentto mar ket. This lit tle pee kee stayed ho ome." Ahhh. What a lovely feeling. We would tell you more, but it seems like the job of typing is best left to the fingers. It's not our forte.

Happy Arbour Day!

Yes, here in Korea, it's Arbour Day. Which means that we get the day off, and 4 of us happily spent an hour picking out flowers at the local nursery, and another hour playing in the dirt re-potting them. I spent about $22 for a total of 11 plants, including a jasmine plant that's just about to bloom, and is a foot high. I also picked up some daisies, a daffodil, a blue hyacinth, and other pretty little things that I don't know.

It's also an absolutely gorgeous day for a holiday. I've opened all my windows and doors, and now my apartment has that gorgeous, warm, fresh spring smell. Aaahhhhh. The magnolia trees have started to blossom here too, but the grass is still brown, and most of the trees are still bare.

Yesterday was really beautiful too ~ and a good thing! I was locked out of my classroom in the Art building. Instead of trying to hunt down the key in the Administration office (picture the clutter and mess of an artists studio, then try to attach the term 'administration office' to it. Do you think the key would be easy to find??) I marched my class outside. We started class in the amphitheatre, which was perfect until the Korean drummers started to practice. What a day.

(No) Thanks to Leno...

I watched Jay Leno last night, so it was probably an episode that aired a few nights ago in Canada and it's large Southern province. He had this segment on "Googlewhacking". (http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=2680) Which, as some of you may not know, is the process of typing 2 random words into a Google search engine trying to come up with only a single hit on a related webpage. I gave it a stab this morning, and "diaphanous chamberpot" came back with 142 hits. I got closer with "paleontologist sousaphone" with only 43 hits. My best (before I needed to stop and eat) was "metalinguistics crud" with 8 hits. Which, wouldn't you know, included a Blog entry about Krispy Kreme donuts ~ written by a linguistics student!!! I think I'd have a much better chance of getting a Googlewhack if people didn't blog about weird things. (Yes, I'm aware of the irony).