Day 30 - A Dream for the Future

Samuel asks me this all the time. He has all kinds of plans and dreams for the future. All I want is to be happy. I don't care where we live. I don't even care about my job. I want to be happy. That's all I want.

Day 29 - Hopes/Dreams for the Next Year

I'm going to start even smaller than that. I hope that in the next week or two I remember how to like my job. I really wish that parents would discipline their children at home. I am so tired of spoiled princesses crying whenever I tell them no.

Samuel and I are planning to go to Tanzania this summer. I hope to see many giraffes and elephants not in a zoo. Real ones.

I hope that Samuel does well in his classes so he can get a good job after his degree is finished. Then we can have some adorable babies. That's my rule. Samuel has to have a job first.

I don't like to make plans. Somehow they never work out as I planned. When I make plans then I am always disappointed. When I don't make plans then I'm not. Well, I am disappointed but not because my plans didn't work. Disappointed in a different way.

I sure hope my Tanzania plan works.

Day 28 - What's in My Purse?

Well, there is my gorgeous wallet. It's orange eel skin. Very soft and pretty. There is also hand lotion, makeup, a pen, my iPod, gum, and chapstick. I think that I may have put some paper so I can write a letter but I may have just thought about it and didn't actually do it. I'm not actually looking in my purse right now. I'm doing this from memory. On Sundays I put my score for Requiem and a bottle of water in my purse. That's it. It's not very exciting.

Day 27 - A Bad Habit of Mine

I agree with Joyce: potato chips. I love potato chips. I eat them for dinner sometimes. Not right now though since I gave them up for Lent. If I have potato chips in my house I will eat them. If I walk past them in the store I will buy them and then I will take them home at eat them. Often I even walk past them on purpose so I will buy them.

I also have a bad habit of mocking people in my head for being stupid. I'm a total bitch in my head. Especially if people make grammar mistakes. Sometimes it escapes. Mostly I try to keep it in. I can't be mean outloud. Okay, sometimes I can. Sometimes I block people on Facebook so I don't have to see their terrible grammar on their status updates.

Day 26 - My Week

Monday; Get up at 7:30. Leave my house at 8:45. Get to work just before 9. Okay, I usually leave my house at 8:52 and get to work just after 9. Bus duty is at 9:30. That's when we get the kids from the bus and into the elevators to get up to the school. Classes start at 9:50. Classes are over at 7:30. Go home. Eat dinner. Sit. Go to bed.

Tuesday-Friday; exactly the same thing.

We usually go out after work on Friday. Last week we went to a new buffet restaurant. The food was okay. The best part of the restaurant was that the buffet included all the wine you wanted to drink.

I sleep in on Saturday. Then I sit around in my pajamas and knit or watch tv. Go hang out with people in the evening. I generally stay up way too late.

I sleep in a little on Sunday too. Not usually for as long as I do on Saturday though. I sit around in my pajamas for a bit and then I get ready for choir. Choir practice is in Seoul and it takes almost an hour and a half to get there. Choir is from 3 to 7. Then I eat dinner and head home. I try to go to bed early so I'm not tired for work on Monday.

That's my week. There's a lot of working in there.

Day 25 - My Day in Detail

Well, it's only Monday morning here, so I will tell you about yesterday.

I woke up when Joyce called me at 8:30. That call didn't work. I tried to call Joyce but she wasn't at home. I woke up again when Joyce called me about 15 minutes later. That call didn't work either. I woke up again when Joyce called me. That one worked. I talked to Joyce for an hour or so. I got out of bed and showered. Then I dried my hair and did my makeup. I watched an episode of NCIS while doing my makeup. Then I knit while watching another episode. I washed the dishes. I decided that I should leave my apartment so I took my computer and went to a coffee shop. My goal of the day was to make brownies so after the coffee shop I went shopping for all of the stuff I needed to make the brownies. I went home and made yummy soup and then brownies. Samuel came home and we ate dinner. Then it was bed time. It was a good day.

Usually I have choir practice on Sunday but the director was at a conference in the States so I had the day off. Choir will resume next week.

Day 24- Where I Live

Sorry, you don't get any pictures ofr this post. I will talk about this again later and I will make sure to take pictures to show you.

I can still tell you about where I live though. I live in Dongtan, South Korea. That probably doesn't mean anything to you. Dongtan is a new addition to the city of Hwaseong. It's a brand new city in the greater metrapolitan area of Seoul. I can take a bus from close to my house to Seoul in about 30 minutes. Dongtan is a new city so everything here is brand new. Really, really new. The entire city is only three years old. Before that this area was wilderness. Now there are high-rise apartments everywhere. Not far from my house is the Metapolis aparment complex. Right now it has four towers that are each about 60 stories. There will be one more tower that will have more than 70 stories. I have heard that this is the tallest living structure in the world. I haven't checked on that at all. Feel free to check it out for yourself. Those towers are only apartments. No offices or stores or anything. Just apartments. Next to the giant apartments is a mall. We were all excited when the mall opened. There is an ice rink, several coffee shops, a few hamburger restaurants as well as all of the clothng stores and shoe stores. Krispy Kreme Donuts opened yesterday. It also has a store called Home Plus. It's kind of like Walmart. It's very convenient.

I love this city. Everything is beautiful. The people who planned this city are very smart people. They built the city around a park. Central Park goes through the entire city. There are walking trails all over. I love that I'm so close to Seoul. There is beauty in all of the towers. My home is so different than Saskatchewan and I love it.

Day 23 - A YouTube Video

I teach pre-kindergarten. Some days it feels like this.

Day 22 - A Website

I don't spend a lot of time playing around on the internet. I read my siblings' blogs. I read some friends' blogs if they ever update them. I watch television. I check Facebook once or twice a day. I'm pretty much constantly logged on to my work website.

I have discovered a blog or two that I like to read. One is called notalwaysright.com. It is stories about stupid customers. It is pretty darn hilarious. I also check out peopleofwalmart.com. That is a photo blog of the weird/horrible things you see people wear at Walmart. Sometimes I feel bad for laughing at those people but really, what were they thinking? Do they have any friends? Why would their friends let them out looking like that? You should check it out for a laugh or two.

Day 21 - A Recipe

I was going to tell you a recipe for Korean food, but usually when I eat Korean food I go to a restaurant and say "참치김밥 주ㅅㅒ요," and then someone brings my yummy food.

So, I will tell you my recipe for the best brownies ever.

Mix together 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup cocoa, 1/4 cup oil, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla (I never add vanilla but you can if you want to), 3/4 cup flour, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp salt.

Spread it in a greased 8' pan. Bake for 45 min at 200 C. (I think that's 350 F but my toaster oven is in Celcius and so I know it in Celcius).

Now, what makes these so good is the peanut butter glaze. Melt 2Tbsp smooth peanut butter with 1 Tbsp butter. Stir in 3/4 cup icing sugar and then add 2 Tbsp very hot water. Pour the glaze over cooled brownies. Then lick out the bowl. Don't waste any glaze.

Enjoy.

I want to go make brownies now. I don't have any of the ingredients or a pan to cook them in but I do have the toaster oven. Maybe tomorrow then.

Day 20 - A Hobby of Mine

I like to knit. Right now I'm knitting a baby blanket for friends of mine. It's taking a long time since I don't have a lot of time to work on it, but eventually I will finish it. Probably not before their baby is born. Oh well.

I also like to read. Again, I don't have a lot of time for that. Too bad. Books are fun. I always feel smarter after I read. It's too bad most of what I read doesn't stick.

Day 19 - A Talent of Mine

Um....well...this is a hard one.

Well, I can read Fox and Socks in less than three minutes. That's got to count as a talent.

Day 18 - My Wedding

My wedding was just a little while ago. I liked it. It was fun. Of course, there are some things that I would have changed.

I would have liked to plan my wedding. Okay, not all of it. I kind of like that I got to Canada and a wedding had been planned and I didn't have to decide on all of the details myself, but I would have liked to have done some things that I didn't get to do. Like dress shopping. I loved my dress, but I didn't get to go to the store and try on lots of dresses until I found the right one. I didn't get to go dress shopping with Joyce and Jackie. The dresses they chose were perfect, but a shopping day would have been fun. A honeymoon would have been nice. Really, getting up the next morning to have breakfast at Mom and Dad's house is not a normal honeymoon activity.

There were parts I really liked. I liked the cake. It was really good. Especially the white cake with the chocolate icing. The Aunts made extra delicious buns for dinner. The hot chocolate bar was great. Dad sure was thinking when he decided that we needed Shirley Temples. Joyce made superb shortbread, and Jay made way too many dainties that all required sampling. I think I sampled them all and they were really good. It was in Canada. Samuel got a visa so he could be there. I really liked that part. Oh, I didn't mention my shoes. My shoes were gorgeous, even if they weren't very comfortable. I also really liked our vows. You know how I chose the vows? They were the ones that made me cry when I read them. I found a website with modern vows on it and read through them until I found the one that said all the right things. They were good vows and I said them to a pretty great man.

Day 17- A Work of Art

Everyone else posted art by real artists. I'm not going to follow the crowd. I'm doing my own thing.

I made this. It's hanji paper on canvas. I wanted art for my wall so I made some. I wrapped a canvas in the dark green hanji paper and then ripped strips of light green and pale yellow to put on top. I think it looks cool.

Day 16 - A Song That Makes Me Cry

Who cries?

Okay, I do get teary eyed at times, but not usually because of a song. There have been times that songs have made me tear up, but it depends on the surrounding circumstances and my emotions at the time. There isn't one song that will make me cry every time I hear it. I don't often cry because of something that I have heard in a song. If I cry it's usually because I have spent too much time by myself and then I feel sorry for myself and I think too much, but not because of a song. Usually.

Day 15 - My Dream House

Yes it is. It's only a dream. I live in an apartment. Before that I lived in an apartment. Before that I lived in my parents' house. I'm 30. Yes, it's sad. For me a house is a dream. But that's not what this post is supposed to be about.

I used to want a big house. A house with a wrap around porch and an upstairs and the attic as my bedroom. A house with several bedrooms so nobody had to share. That's when I was little. When I was in university I wanted a house with a kick-ass kitchen. Lots of space, marble counter tops, the works. It still needed an upstairs. Then I moved to Korea. I lived in a little apartment. I saw how other people lived in Korea. Houses in Canada are such a waste. They take up so much space. They are all so far away from everything. It's like we're afraid of space so we have to take it up by making giant houses that we don't need. But we also put them as far away from any other house as we can so we don't have to speak to strangers because they might be weird or scary. We have to drive gas sucking vehicles to get anywhere. My last apartment in Korea was about the same size and my parents' living room. I wouldn't want to raise a family there, but it was good for us. My new apartment is twice the size and has walls so we don't always have to be in the same room. It's not big, but it's big enough. You know what my dream house is now? It's a house where I can live with Samuel, and we can have babies, and we can afford it. A mango tree or two outside. The house doesn't have to be big or have marble counter tops. Just a house and my husband. One day.

Day 14 - A Non-fiction Book

This is the book that I'm reading now. In case you can't read it, the whole title is; The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When it Gets God Wrong (and Why Inerrancy Tries to Hide it).

It's about whether accepting the doctrine of biblical inspiration necessitates belief in biblical inerrancy. Is the Bible without error in all historical details and ethical teachings? So far it's pretty interesting. I will have to find it again so I can keep reading it. I moved this week so everything is all over the place. My, excuse me, our new apartment will be another blog post when we finally finish unpacking everything.

Day 13 - A Fictional Book

The title of this annoys me. Fictional means not real. This book is real. It actually exists. I have read it lots. It happens to be a work of fiction.

Anyway, I haven't read fiction that isn't for kids in quite a while. I have been into non-fiction lately. But, really, are kids' books just for kids? We can all enjoy them. I enjoy story time. Who doesn't?

I will tell you about one of my favourite books in the school library right now.

The book is called Mean Soup. I think it's wonderful. It starts like this;

"It had been a bad day for Horace. He forgot the answer to question three. Zelda gave him a love note. And Lulu, the show-and-tell cow, stepped on his foot." He's in a very bad mood by the time he gets home. His mother cheers him up by making a pot of mean soup.

It's a great book. The kid's name is Horace for one thing. It's really fun to read because it involves a lot of screaming. The kids all love it. You should read it.