Hi. This picure doesn't have anything to do with todays post, but I was cleaning up my picture folders yesterday and thought it was pretty. It's just a door in Kyounju taken last fall. Today marks the 2nd anniversary of my arrival in Korea (Hooray!) and to celebrate, I wrote my exam for my Korean Language course. I got a 92.5% in the course (Hooray Hooray!!) Mind you, it was the beginner course, so it's not as though I'm fluent or anything. Although I can hold my own pretty well when it comes to restaurants... 

I don't often wear baseball caps, except on "Ugh, it's- raining- and- I- slept- in- and- I'm- going- to- be- late- for- class- and- don't- have- time- to- blowdry- my- hair, not- that- it- would- do- any- good- becuase- it's- still- raining" days. Today was one of those days. It's a good thing I don't wear caps often, as Catticus has decided that a baseball cap on my head is for lounging on. Which is fine, until she starts to lose her balance and digs in with a good grip. ouch.


In other news, my sister and brother-in-law sent me a link that you movie buffs might want to try. It's pretty difficult. Each 'quiz' shows you a scene from 8 different movies...but all the actors have been removed. You must try to guess the movie based on the set and costumes alone. My highest score is 5/8 on Invisibles #171 and #199: http://www.filmwise.com/invisibles/index.shtml

Snow(ouch)Board(ouch)ing...ouch.

Wednesday was Lunar New Year. So, since all folks Korean would likely be at home doing family things, we thought it would be a great day to head to the ski hill. It was. The hill wasn't very crowded, and we got a good deal on equipment rentals. Now, keep in mind, I haven't snowboarded since I was 17, and that was just down a toboggan hill ~ not a mountain. After spending the first 2 hours just trying to stand up, I got in a couple of good runs on the bunny hill. (Followed by a couple of good hours in the outdoor hotub). Thankfully, John had lent me knee pads and a butt pad, which means my only injury was a sprained wrist.

It's now been two days since the trip, and my muscles are still hollering. The biggest complainers are those little-known, and under appreciated muscles that hold your armpits to your shoulders. It was those little troopers who bore the strain of trying to hoist myself upright. And so, I say "Kudos to You little muscles!! May I never have to use you again!"

The traffic was terrible on the way home, but we did laugh at the 'temporary' construction signs permanently embedded in the guardrail ~ followed a few minutes later by a maniquin in a rain slicker and galoshes tied to a post. A mechanized rod made his arm wave up and down, holding one of those airport runway safety baton things. We wondered if that was the construction crew....?

A Korean Do It Yourself Kit...

People often assume that because I live in a distant country, my life is exciting and somehow exotic. It's just not true. You can recreate my Korean experience in your very own livingroom. Here's how:

1. Gather some friends about you. An even mixture of Canadians and Americans is best. Throw in a South African if one is available.
2. Haul out every board game in your closet. For an authentic re-creation experience, you'll need 'Boggle', 'Scattagories', 'Phase 10' and 'Scrabble'.
3. Proceed to play the above games for 8 hours straight.
(You may wish to pause at some point and have fried chicken delivered to your door by a guy on a scooter)
4. When you, or one of your companions has to ask "Is 'hi' a word?" you'll know you've played for too long, and it's now safe to go to bed.
<>If you wish, you may drink a cola of your choice while your friends drink beer until they're unable to spell properly, giving you an advantage. Although, you may still lose.

Yup. That was my weekend. ... or 8 hours of it at least. Sadly enough, it really was lots of fun, and we're planning to do it again soon. If any of you are scrabble players, and have a good stock of "Q" words that don't need a "u", let me know!!

School Days, School Days...

Yes indeed. I've started my holiday 'fun'. Since I don't teach again until March 3rd, I've chosen to study instead. For the next few weeks, I'll be brushing up on my Korean skills. Today was the first day and the 4 hours flew by quite quickly. It was all review for me, since I can already read Korean. However, once we move on to sentence structure and grammar junk, it'll get harder. As part of the course, we also get several 'activity' options during the week. I'll let you know more about those as they occur, and if I participate in them. Today's activity was a campus tour, and I chose to pass on that one. Next week though, there's a cooking class and a field trip. Tonight though, I must go study. We've got a test tomorrow, and I'm still getting "sea", "pants" and "butterfly" mixed up.

Still in One Piece.

Skiing was great. We got off to a dubious start, as we had another blizzard the night before departure. However, the weather was warming up even by 4am, and all the snow was melting. Due to our early start, we all slept on the bus ride to the hill. (5:30am - 9:30am) and were awake and ready to ski upon arrival. First, we checked into our hotel, then rented out skis, had some lunch, and finally hit the hill. I only fell once, but it wasn't until the last two runs of the day that I felt comfortable on my skis.

We had a fantastic meal of rice (of course!), Barbequed pork, marinated quail eggs, bean paste soup, kimchi, tofu, and a variety of veggies. Afterwards, we were so exhausted, we watched a little bit of TV then hit the sack.

Early the next morning we were back at the hill, and having a marvelous time. Around 12:30, three of us called it quits, while the other two kept snowboarding. The three of us returned our equipement and headed off to the sauna. The sauna's in Korea are usually seperated by gender, and include 2 or 3 (or more) different sauna rooms (steam, red clay, charcoal, etc.) and 2 or 3 (ore more) communal baths (hot, warm, cold, green tea, etc.) plus little shower alcoves. By the time we were done, we were so clean and relaxed and warm, it felt as though we hadn't exercised at all.

On the bus ride home, I had one of those "Canadians and Korean are really different" sort of moments. There were lots of kids on the bus, yet somehow, in Korea, is wasn't innapropriate to show the movie "Blade 3". No one (except us foreigners) seemed upset that these kids were watching Vampires gnawing at people's throats. I was grossed out, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Anyway, we're all home safe and sound, and are planning to to it again for Lunar New Year. Next time though, I think I'm going to tackle a snowboard.

Skiing!

Yes indeed. Tomorrow morning at 4:30am (UGH!) five of us are heading out to catch a bus to the ski hill. I haven't worn skis for ages, and have never been terribly adept at the sport. Nonetheless, it should be a good time. We've also rented a 'chalet' (read dorm-room) for the night, but have access to the pool and sauna at the nearby condos. So even if the skiing is awful, I'm sure we'll still have a great time. We'll be back on Thursday, but them I'm off to Seoul for the weekend so it might be a few days before you hear all about the ski trip.

Did you know they sell breath fresheners for cats? It's true.

It looks a little blustery. 

oops, wrong caption. The little red umbrella in a blizzard was the view from my window. The giant snowman is a prime example of your western 3-ball snowman. The other snowpile with a head is a prime example of an Asian style snowman. Both were tons of fun to build. 

The view from my window around 10:30am 

SNOW DAY!!!!

Yes, I can hardly believe those words myself. After the first tiny dusting of flakes that didn't even linger for a moment on Christmas Eve, we've been bereft of the white stuff. Our days have been sunny, clear and chilly. Until today ~

I woke up around 9am and peeked out the window. The day was cloudy, but bare. I could see some students playing soccer out on the field. I made myself some coffee and wandered into my office to check my e-mail and scratch my cat. 'Round about 10:30 a took a load of laundry out to my balcony (where my washing machine is) ... and what did I see?!?!?!? Yes, that's right!! A BLIZZARD!! Snow everywhere! It was the biggest snowstorm Daegu has seen in well over 4 years. Immediately, I started phoning or text-messaging all my friends. I rustled up some breakfast, bundled up, and sat on my (unheated) balcony to watch the amazing event. As I finished my last bite, my phone rang. John and Hee-Jin were heading out to build a snowman. Would I join them? OF COURSE!! So, bundled up like woolen sausages, we joined others already outdoors. Together, we constructed the largest snowman I've ever been a part of making. (I'll post pictures tomorrow). It was great. After our snow folks were completed, and dressed, we headed around to the back of the building where there's a steep hill. Armed with heavy plastic bags and a snowboard, we proceeded to create and enjoy the best toboggan hill this side of Seoul. For the Canadians, it was a typical and welcome winter day. For the South Africans, it was a unique experience. Tracy was apprehensive about going down a hill on her bottom, but after the first run, she was hooked.

When we were all tuckered out, Tracy, Jen, and Annelie joined me at my apartment for hot chocolate and movies. (When I got back upstairs, I peeked out the back window and saw a slew of neighbourhood children already screaming and sliding down our hill on scraps of cardboard). It was the perfect snow day. I know that all of you who have been shoveling, slipping and shivering for the past 3 months may not be as excited as I am, but even though we were all around the 30 year mark, it really felt like we were 7 years old again enjoying the first big snowfall of the year. It was wonderful.

Ummm... Happy New Year!

Hi, yes, I know. I haven't updated my Blog recently. But hey, after the thrilling tales of my talented feline, it's been hard to find something to say of equal calibre. To be honest, I still don't have anything to say... Maybe I can make something up....

... nope.

Back to the truth. Yesterday I went to see Ocean's Twelve with my afternoon conversation class. (Their idea, not mine). It was nice ~ and a pretty easy class to teach! The movie was good, but I think something was lost in the subtitles. (The movie was in English, but the subtitles were in Korean). After the movie, we went for dinner, and I asked my students what they thought of the movie. The girls all liked it (Brad Pitt, George Clooney) and the guys all liked it (Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta Jones) but after a few moments, they all started to say "I didn't really understand it. It was confusing. What happened?"

Oh, and I've just remembered. I plugged my name into the Super Hero Name Generator (which can be found on Ben's Blog). I was rather distraught to find that my official super hero name is The Green Philosopher. I don't think I'll be getting my own comic book with that one anytime soon. Everyone else in my family has cool names. sigh.

There, the proof is in the pudding...well, actually, the proof is in the toilet. I don't think I'd want it in my pudding. 

Mission Accomplished.

Hooray! My cat is now toilet trained!!! Not litter trained, toliet trained. She does her business in the toilet (but she can't flush). No more litter boxes for me (well, not that I used the litter box, so it's not really for me...) Three Cheers for Catticus!!

Christmas Eve at the Police Station

So, how did you spend Christmas Eve this year? I spent mine in the local Police Station. Here's the story:

I caught a ride with my friend Justin to Costco to pick up some food for Christmas. On the way there, a delivery truck was doing some severe tailgaiting (Not uncommon in this part of the world). Justin braked slightly a few times to get the guy to back off... but he didn't. Finally, Justin put his hand out the window and motioned for the guy to go around us.

The truck driver though that Justin had given him the finger, so he pulled up beside us, looked down into my window, then drove his truck into our lane (while we were still there!) He swiped the side of Justin's car, scratching the paint and denting the side a bit, but nobody was hurt at all. Then the guy stopped his truck right infront of us, and as Justin got out of the car, he got out of his truck and started pushing Justin. He refused to give us his lisence #, insurance or phone numbers (all of which drivers are required by law to exchange after an accident). As it happened, a Korean friend of ours was driving by and saw us all standing around in the middle of the road, so he stopped and translated for us and called the police.

The cops came, took our statements, then escorted us all to the police station. We sat around while the cops gave the truck driver a lecture on recklessness. Then, the police asked where we were from. We said "Canada", which then prompted the cop to give the driver a lecture on being kind and showing a good face to foreigners. Finally, after some discussion, the police suggested that it would save everyone a lot of trouble if we didn't engage the insurance companies, and agreed to let the guy pay us in cash for the damage(!?). So then we had to wait for a guy from a local autobody shop to come in and estimate the cost of the damage. (about $100) Then we had to wait for the guy to go to the bank machine and get the money. We were a little skeptical of a cash transactio, but the the cops mentioned that this was really the best way ~ it would save them paperwork, it would save us the time and trouble of engaging translators to help us process the paperwork, and Justin wouldn't actually have to get his car fixed he could just pocket the money! lovely.

The nice part of all this is that as we were in the police station, a gentle snowfall (the first of the year here) made it look a little bit like Christmas Eve afterall.

Just a Superstar kind of day...

In grand Korean style, my univeristy is hosting a number of recruitment events for highschool students. As part of the program, the English teachers have been asked to participate. "No problem", thought I. ...

My task was simple. I had to go up on stage; introduce myself; and give a quick, fun quiz. Reality was a little less unobtrusive. I found myself standing at the back of a dark, crowded auditorium, waiting (along with a Chinese exchange student) for our names to be called. When our names were finally called, the lights dimmed, a popular rock song started booming, and a spotlight followed us down the long aisle as hundreds of highschool students cheered. I felt like The Ultimate Warrior and Oprah all at the same time. Once we'd finished the proscribed quiz show (and the MC co-erced me into singing a few bars of Yesterday by the Beatles), we made our way back down the aisle as students reached out their arms to touch us/shake our hands. Afterwards, some of them approached us to get their pictures taken.

Just another day in the life of a foreigner.

4:42 pm Office. Have spent most of afternoon reading sequel to Briget Jone's Diary (Briget Jones: Edge of Reason). As a result, have spent remainder of afternoon, and most likey evening, with disjointed (almost)30-something single woman dialogue running through my head. Even worse, it's coming bereft of modifiers and aritcles AND in an unconvincing British accent. Next time, must remember to read something intelligent, containing properly constructed sentences.

4:58 pm. Still narrating own life with botched accent. Must stop, as am now starting to fear opening my mouth in case horrid mental narration becomes audible.

Well, I guess it's time for an update...

... My plants are all still alive. None have been voted off yet. I've discarded the idea of plastic ones as that removes the challenge...and I'd have to dust them.

... I'm still going to Yoga class 2~3 times a week, and I like it even though my instructor tries to coax my limbs into the proper position then gives up muttering "impossible. impossible."

... I got accepted for the Master's of Applied Linguistics program at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia. I can do most (all?) of the coursework while I'm still living and working in Korea. I start next semester with "Grammar: Meaning and Discourse". fun, eh?

... I wanted to spend the day taking pictures around campus (our leaves are still lovely colours) but of course, since it's the weekend, it's cloudy and gross.

That's all.

STRETCH......

Since finding myself to be just around the corner from old age, I have joined a Yoga class. The martial arts offered on every corner here seemed to be too daunting for my limited physical capabilities, (I was afraid I'd fall over), so I opted for a more sedate form of exercise. It was harder than I expected, but I feel pretty good now. However I must confess that even in yoga I fell over...while laying on my back. Yes, it's true.

In other news, my plant died from the rampant epidemic of "Drought --oops! -- then drown" in my home. The good news is that I got 6 new plants for my birthday. It'll be like a giant game of horticultural Survivor in my place. They're just waiting to see which plant will be 'voted off' next.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Just thought you'de like a look at my 'new hair'. Actually, it's just a wig for a birthday/dress-up party on Friday night. We had a good time, but a I had to wrestle a fierce pineapple on the fruit-plate to get the little mini-umbrella. (It looks better on me)

I've picked up a couple of quotes lately (okay, okay, my brother-in-law e-mailed 2/3rds of them to me ) and I thought that I'd better write down before I forget them, and now you get to read them too!

1) (Thanks, Walter) This one seems to sum up at least my style of Journal writing pretty well.

"People don't keep journals for themselves. They keep them for other people. Like a secret they don't want to tell but they want everyone to know." -Marilyn Manson ~ I never would have thought I'd be quoting Marilyn Manson, but there you have it.

2) I was a little tired coming home from Seoul a few weeks ago, and bust up laughing when I overheard this from a guy trying to impress the girl he was with...

"Oh, don't read that. That book is absolute garbage. It's not worth your time. Of course, I've never read it myself" (He was referring to the best selling novel Tuesdays With Morrie)

3) My 4 year old niece is a genius, and has managed to discern my hitherto most well kept secret....

"Does Auntie Janice live on that planet"? - Kaitlyn (while pointing to the Moon)