Robin

Halloween

2011-11-03T20:54:00.000+09:00

I suppose I can write about my kids now. It has been long enough. Because it was Halloween on Monday, we had a party and all the kids dressed up. In my classroom there were only two costume choices; princess or superhero. Does Buzz Lightyear count as a superhero? I suppose he does to little kids. Anyway, there was Buzz, Batman, Superman, 6 princesses, and two Spidermans. Should that be Spidermen? Hmmm. Two dressed up as Spiderman. There was a little more variety for the school as a whole. For the girls there were a few witches, a gorgeous Monarch butterfly, one homemade owl, which was really cool but she cried because she thought she looked stupdid, one leprechaun, and a bunch of princesses. for the boys there were a bunch of superheroes. One of the costumes even said Superhero on it. The rest of the costume looked like Superman, but said superhero where the s goes. There were also several Transformers, one Musketeer, a Woody, and one boy was Jack Sparrow. That was a really cool costume.The teachers also dressed up. Most of the Korean teachers don't really get the whole idea of costumes, and just wear something that they think is Halloweeny, like black and orange, or jack-o-lantern antennae. I didn't go all out. I just wore a big rainbow clown wig. It is pretty cool. One teacher was Snow White. She matched several of the children. There was also a witch, a butterfly, a monster mask, devil horns, a mad scientist, and Batman. The kids had a really good time at the party. We did face painting and watched a movie. There was a really bad magician. He was entertaining, but not very good. I could hear two little girls say "I saw how he did that!" They seemed to enjoy watching to see him mess up, which he did a few times. I felt sorry for his pigeon. He did a few tricks with it, but really should have skipped those ones. After that we got to go trick-or-treating around the school. All the kids had a wonderful time, and were really excited about all of the candy they got. I don't really like Halloween, okay, I think the whole thing is stupid, but the costumes were cute.

Thoughts from a teacher

2011-10-22T21:46:00.000+09:00

Sometimes I read parenting blogs. I teach five-year-olds. They're not mine, but I am parenting them. I'm sure I see some of them more than their parents do. I like to get parenting information from time to time to see if it helps with my students. Sometimes it does. Sometimes the advice is stupid. The other day I came across one that talked about how to talk to your kids. It said something like we often talk to our kids in ways that we would never talk to our friends, and we would never allow someone to talk to us like that. I thought, "That is so true. I'm going to try to talk to my students how I would like to be talked to." That lasted for about 10 minutes. Then one kid climbs on the table. One pulls another's hair. Two start fighting. One is using her spit to draw pictures on the table. The rest are all running to look out the window because someone saw a really cool car. It's very true, I would never speak to my husband the way I speak to my students. I never speak to my friends or family the way I speak to my students. You know why? They are adults. They don't paint on the table with their saliva. They leave their clothes on in public, usually. They don't start wrestling in the middle of a lesson. They don't start crying because someone is copying everything they say. They don't say poo every other word. I never raise my voice to adults because I don't have to. They know how to behave.

Kindergarten teachers are very special people. There are frequently days when I think that I am not special enough to be one. Okay, really, teachers are special people. All you with kids, go show your kids' teachers some appreciation. They put up with a lot. And, yes, some of it is from your kid.

Did I mention that I went to Tanzania?

2011-10-13T21:45:00.000+09:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-10-10T09:22:00.002+09:00

Today is Thanksgiving. I'm at work. For some reason Canadian holidays are not observed in Korea. Weird. My coworkers and I decided that we had to do something, so we made Thanksgiving dinner at my house. There were nine people (two were American, and one British, but we let them in anyway) in my little, tiny apartment, way too much food, and two gigantic pumpkin pies. We didn't have turkey, but apparently we can buy them here now, so we are planning for Christmas. We had roast chicken, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetables. To make it Korean we had a Korean chicken stew and a bowl of glass noodles. The pies were from Costco. What a wonderful place. I also made brownies with peanut butter glaze. They were wonderful. I like Thanksgiving. I hope all of you enjoy your Thanksgiving and your turkey and football. Go Riders!

I hate computers

2011-10-05T14:52:00.006+09:00

Okay, I know you're all thinking, "What? This is the first Saturday, and no blog post. Robin promised that she would update every Saturday. Where's the post Robin?" Well, I did write one. I really did. I wrote it and then I pushed the publish button, and nothing happened. I pushed it again. Nothing happened. I pushed the save button. That worked. I pushed the publish button again. Nothing. I yelled and screamed and said mean things to my computer about how it's worthless. Just because it's four years old does not mean that it's ready for retirement. I pushed the publish button. Nothing. I asked nicely. Nothing. I gave up on my stupid computer and went to Samuel's. I pushed the publish button. Nothing. So, no post on Saturday. Now it's Monday morning at work. I will push the publish button at work.

Here is the post I wrote on Saturday:

My Class

I got a new class of 6 year-olds way back in March. Last year by this time I had posted about my class twice. This year I haven't posted about my class at all. Not even once. You want to know why I didn't? Of course you do. You are dying to know. It's because I didn't like them. Not even a little bit. They drove my up the wall. I didn't like them at all. They were loud. They didn't listen. They couldn't stand in line, or sit in their chairs. They were terrible. I would go home and cry and tell Samuel that we were never having kids because the kids in my classes didn't listen to me. I couldn't write about them. Six months later, I don't cry anymore, but I still don't really like them. Sometimes I think that they're cute, but mostly I think that they are loud and don't know how to listen. They listen a lot better than they did at the start of the year, but I still don't like them. They are so bad. And it's not just me. They other teachers all have trouble with my class. I think I would like my kids if I weren't their teacher. I have one student who, no matter what I say we are going to do, says, "I don't want to." To absolutely everything. She is adorable, but I don't think she's adorable when she's being a brat, which is a lot of the time. I don't know how kindergarten teachers at home do it. I have 12 students in my class, and I think I'm going to go crazy. I can't imagine having more than that. Kindergarten teachers are very special people. I am not cut out to be a kindergarten teacher. Bring on the high school math. I'll teach calculus. That's easier than 6 year-olds. And I wouldn't have to wipe anybody's nose.

Okay, I'm not good at this

2011-10-05T11:28:00.002+09:00

So I haven't blogged in a long time, did anyone notice? I did, but didn't care too much. Sometimes it's hard to think of things to write about, and sometimes I have things to write about but can't find the time to write, or just don't want to. It's mostly that I don't want to. I work a lot. When I get home I just want to sit and watch television, I don't want to have to think anymore. But, I realize that I have been very bad at communicating with people from home. It has been a long time since I have talked to most of you. I feel very disconnected from everyone. I need to fix that. I will try to blog more often. My goal is every Saturday. I may blog more often, but I won't promise that. Expect Saturdays. You have permission to nag me if I don't post something. Feel free to comment the rest of the time too. I would appreciate that. You could also email, or facebook, or write letters. Those methods of communication would also be appreciated.

I Ate Bacon

2011-05-19T09:38:00.003+09:00

So? What's the big deal about that? Well, here's the thing; about 6 weeks ago, maybe a little longer, I decided to become vegetarian. Mostly for the heck of it. Why not? I have been enjoying researching new recipes and then cooking them. One good thing about being vegetarian in Korea is that tofu is easy to find. I can get it at the 7-11 downstairs. I found a really good sweet and sour tofu recipe. I really like that one. I have cooked lentils and chick peas and barley soup and other yummy stuff. I have the best recipe for brocolli that is so good no one cares about the rest of the meal. It really is that good. It's even better than brocolli with cheese sauce. Samuel doesn't appreciate being vegetarian so much. He's not home for dinner very often though, so I cook whatever I want. Yesterday it was tacos with refried beans, corn and black bean salad, and fresh salsa.

So where does the bacon come into the picture? Well, since I am vegetarian for the heck of it, and because I live in the land of galbi, and because my husband likes to eat a lot of meat, I will eat meat occasionally. Like, on weekends sometimes. Last week I had a pizza pretzel. It had pepperoni on it. Anyway, back to the bacon. After church on Sunday my friend and I decided that we should have breakfast for lunch. I ordered an omlette. It came with bacon, so I ate it. And you know what? It wasn't even that good. I could have skipped it. My omlette was delicious though. I really have to learn how to make omlettes. Whenever I try I end up with scrambled eggs.

I haven't really eaten meat in quite a while. I don't miss it at all. I really like lentils. I love eating just fruit for breakfast. There is a vegan restaurant a block from my apartment that has the best food ever. The lady makes a great mushroom salad, and the sauce she puts on her tofu burger is so good I want to lick the plate. She also makes the best caramel nut tart ever. It's a great restaurant. Who needs meat anyway?

Day 30 - A Dream for the Future

2011-03-18T18:50:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-18T09:29:00.002+09:00

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?

2011-03-16T21:57:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-16T09:17:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-15T22:37:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-14T09:26:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-13T15:41:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-11T13:37:00.001+09:00

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

Day 22 - A Website

2011-03-11T10:35:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-10T09:21:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-09T09:24:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-08T14:56:00.003+09:00

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

2011-03-08T09:26:00.003+09:00

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

2011-03-07T11:29:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-07T09:47:00.003+09:00

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

2011-03-04T19:05:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-03T17:05:00.002+09:00

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

2011-03-02T19:02:00.004+09:00

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.

Day 12 - Something I am OCD About

2011-02-28T16:29:00.003+09:00

I couldn't blog on Saturday, so I'm posting twice today. I don't know if I will be able to post tomorrow either. I'm moving.

I could go with the same thing that my siblings all said, but I'm not anal about the closet doors. For one thing, I can't ever leave the closet doors open since the closets are in the entrance and I can't get out if the closet doors are open. I always close the doors as soon as I am finished taking something out.

Something I am OCD about though is fluffing my pillow. Joyce always mocked me. I always fluff my pillow before I go to bed. It's more comfortable that way. And more fluffy.

I also always knock four times. I think three times is unfinished and more than four is just superfluous. Four is sufficient. I always count knocks. When someone knocks on the door, or an a table or something on television or on a movie I always count. They often knock three times. That's really annoying.

Day 11- A Photo of Me Recently

2011-02-28T14:21:00.003+09:00

I took this picture of myself on October 30. It was our Halloween party at school. I wore a big clown wig. It was pretty awesome. The kids kept asking me if I dyed my hair. I almost had them convinced.

Day 9 - A Photo That I Took

2011-02-27T15:39:00.001+09:00

I bought myself flowers one day. They were pretty so I took a picture.

Day 10 - A Photo of Me Taken More Than 10 Years Ago

2011-02-25T09:16:00.003+09:00

I'm skipping Day 9 for now. I'm at work and the picture I want is at home. I'll do it later.

Sorry that these pictures are small. Let's blame Roy. He scanned them and sent them to me. I don't know how to make them bigger and keep the quality. Again, blame Roy.
I like this picture of me and Joyce. I think it's funny that Joyce is smiling and I'm trying to be a grouch. We can't both of us be good. We can both be really cute though.

This was taken the day of graduation. Mom made my dress and Aunt Alice made my corsage. Grandma Taylor said that I looked like her mother. She said that Joyce looked like Great-Grandma Taylor. That day seems like a very long time ago.

Day 8 - A Photo That Makes Me Sad

2011-02-24T09:28:00.003+09:00

I'm posting this at work and so I don't have any pictures to add, but I wasn't going to post one picture anyway. This is more of a theme of pictures that makes me sad.

I love my family and nieces and nephews and I miss them all. I like pictures of them, but seeing the pictures makes me sad. I don't get to see them grow up. I used to babysit Xavier and Niles every day. I lived with Gloria. Now I don't see them at all. All nine of my nieces and nephews are growing up without me. It makes me sad that I don't get to see it. Living in Korea is nice. I really like it, but sometimes it would be nice if life on the other side of the world would wait for me.

Day 7 - A Photo That Makes Me Happy

2011-02-23T10:35:00.002+09:00

I know, you were expecting a wedding picture, weren't you? I'm saving that for the wedding blog.

I took this picture one summer day when we went for a walk in the park. We got to spend the whole day doing nothing except what we wanted to do. It was a good day, and we look good together.

Day 6 - 20 of My Favorite Things

2011-02-22T09:23:00.004+09:00

In no particular order;

1. new notebooks
2. colouring books
3. going to the movies and eating popcorn
4. fresh strawberries
5. coming home after a long day of work to discover that Samuel had washed the dishes
6. spending hours in a coffee shop
7. being able to sleep until I'm finished; I get to do that sometimes.
8. big, fluffy clouds
9. band; I really miss it.
10. singing; I joined a choir.
11. knitting
12. traveling to new places and seeing new things
13. reading
14. cooking for other people, but not for me
15. the smell on spring mornings when you know that it really is spring because it smells like it
16. crunchy leaves in the fall
17. sitting around and giggling with my sisters
18. days off of work
19. teaching
20. realizing that I actually taught my students something

And, since I don't seem to be able to only blog about what I'm supposed to blog about, here is a list of things that aren't my favorite things, but might as well be because I am totally craving them;

1. tacos
2. Chinese food. Not the kind I can get here. That's real Chinese food. I want Chinese food from home.
3. Slurpees
4. Food Network
5. driving
6. Co-op breakfast
7. I really want tacos, okay, really I want a bean burrito from Taco Time. I crave that all the time.
I can't think of anything else at the moment. I'm sure I will think of more later.

My Kids a Year Later

2011-02-21T21:32:00.004+09:00

This is not part of the 30-day blog challenge, but I have other things to talk about.

I have been in Korea for a little more than a year now. This is the last week of our school year. Next week I will get a new class of 6-year olds. I have to blog about my kids and how they have changed over the year.

Starting at the top left there is Cathy. Cathy has always been a smart girl. Over the last few months she has shown herself to be very determined and opinionated. She loves to dance. Every time I play a song she gets up to dance. I think she likes to show off in front of her friends. I also teach her older brother. They are a lot alike. Thomas doesn't dance, but he likes to show off.

Beside Cathy is Daniel. Daniel has always been slow. It took him a very long time to learn the alphabet and what sounds each letter says. He has improved so much lately. He can spell some words, and he can read a little now. He has the alphabet down.

Next is Clara. She started out strong and then seemed to take a mental break for a bit. She was definately one of the lowest in the class for a long time. Nothing seemed to click for her. In the last two months everything has started to click. She read me a book in the library the other day. She is definately the most improved student this year.

Beside Clara is Alice. Alice is the perfect student. She is always happy and smiling. She listens to everything and is always nice to the other students. She is perfect, but somehow it's the ones who aren't perfect who are our favorites.

Next is Amy. Oh, Amy. She is so smart. I think she's bored a lot of the time and so she makes up things to do. She does things like pulling apart her hair ribbons or ripping pages in her book. Of course, she doesn't like to do the things that I have planned. She likes to do everything her own way and when she wants to do it.

Jamie has amazed me. When I started teaching her she wouldn't ever talk. She would only go to the bathroom if I told her to. If I didn't tell her to she would hold it all day because she would never ask to go. She did everything very slowly and never, ever said a word. Now she is incredibly different. I have to tell her to be quiet sometimes. It makes me very happy every time I have to do that. She asks to go the bathroom. She answers questions. She plays with the other kids. I love seeing it.

Sienna is very sweet. She is also pretty slow, but she is getting it at her own pace. She read part of a book today with only a little help. Her diary today said, "I ate pork. Pork comes from pig. I will enjoy. Sorry pig." I thought it was really funny.

Wyatt is still one of my favorites. He is one of the smartest kids I have ever seen. He is five years old and he is reading at a grade three level. He is always very worried to get everything done quickly. He loves reading, but hates writing and drawing. He doesn't say hi as much as he used to. I kind of miss that.

Molly is still as determined as ever that she is big. She can do everything. She told me today that she wants to be a dentist when she grows up. Molly is the one who told me that I have big nostrils. She is very curious and wants to know how to say everything. She's a great kid.

Brian is new. He came when a space opened up after Rex left. Rex moved to Japan in November. Brian is not the smartest kid. He is very happy but doesn't ever seem to know what is going on. Ask that kid about dinosaurs though, and he will talk your ear off.

The last picture is of Eric and Roy. When I started teaching here Eric was probably my least favorite student. He didn't listen to anything I said and liked to make me mad. Now he has decided that I'm okay and he can listen to me. He knows so much and he tries to talk all the time. He doesn't know enough English words to say everything, so he stops and thinks for a minute and then uses the words he knows to explain the word he doesn't know and then he tells me what he wants. He is one of my favorites. I think I will miss teaching him. Roy has had some challenges lately. He was diagnosed with diabetes in January. He just turned five in November, and so he doesn't understand at all what is going on. He know that he has to leave class three times every day so someone can poke his finger and write a number in his book. He has gotten used to it now. He reminds me when it is time for him to go. He's doing really well now. He looks much healthier than he did in January.

That was my Blue Jay Class. Next week they will move up into the kindergarten classes and I won't teach them anymore. I will get a new class. I named then Flamingo Class. I will miss my blue jays though.

Day 5 - Quote

2011-02-21T09:23:00.002+09:00

"I would rather regret the things I have done than the things that I haven't." Lucille Ball

Day 4 - My Favorite Book

2011-02-20T10:58:00.002+09:00

Well, this is an easy one. My favorite book is The Blue Castle By L.M. Montgomery. I blogged about it a long time ago, but I will tell you about it again. It's about a girl who decides that she doesn't like her life. She is unhappy and is tired of it. She decides that she wants to be happy so she stops living for other people and starts living for herself. She stops hiding who she really is, starts saying what she really thinks, and starts doing what she wants to do instead of what her family expects her to do. She starts to love life and she is finally happy. Every time I read this book I thought, "maybe someday I can do that too." I use the past tense because I haven't read this book in a few years. I don't need to anymore. I somehow found the courage to live my life and be the real me, and now I found my blue castle. I don't need to read the book to give me the hope of someday anymore. I am sure that I will read it again someday, but just for fun, not for inspiration.

When I moved to Korea the first time I brought two books with me, The Blue Castle and As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer. Both are books that I can read over and over and over again and never get tired of. If you haven't read As the Crow Flies you really should. Every time I read it I discover something new. As the Crow Flies tells the life story of a man starting from when he was a child until he retires. Sometimes the story is told from his perspective and sometimes it is told from the perspectives of other people involved in his life. It is interesting to see the thoughts of the other people. The characters in the story are all well developed and you feel like you really know them. As in any life there are trials, sorrow, joy, and everything else that goes with life. It is a truly excellent book. You really should read it.

Day 3 - Favorite Television Show

2011-02-19T12:46:00.002+09:00

Okay, I have to do this by category.

Favorite drama; NCIS. I haven't seen the new version of it yet. I have heard it's good so I will have to start watching it.

Favorite comedy; The Big Bang Theory. If you haven't seen it you really need to. It will make your life better.

Favorite talk show; Ellen. She is so funny. It is always a good show to watch. There are times when you laugh so much it hurts. Ellen gets so much joy out of life. It's great.

Favorite game show; The Price is Right.

Favorite reality show; I really like Top Chef. I used to like Hell's Kitchen but now I'm tired of Gordon Ramsey. I think he yells too much. That is one man who doesn't get much joy out of life. I always thinks that he's about a second away from a coronary. Top Chef is better. Much less yelling. I also like Project Runway.

Other good shows; Sex and the City, Star Gate (any of them), House, Glee, Lingo, and anything on Food Network. I sure miss that station. It would be nice to get it here. Oh well. I already watch too much television without it.

Day 2 - My Favorite Movie

2011-02-18T09:16:00.003+09:00

Hmmmm. I like movies, but I find it hard to narrow it down. I like Dave. It's great. It's funny and not in a crude way. I actually like the characters. If you haven't seen it you really should. It's about a man who impersonates the president and then has to be the president after the real president has a stroke. I also like The Italian Job. It has a great car-chase scene and the characters are funny. Lately I watch Sister Act, either of them, when I want to watch a movie but not really pay attention. I like the music. Ooooh. I just thought of A League of Their Own. That movie is so good. It always makes me cry. Ya, I like movies.

Now to give you the flip side, movies I don't like. I don't like the Harry Potter movies. I have watched all of them but the newest one. Maybe I would have like them if I hadn't read the books, but I have read the books, and I actually liked the books. The movie strays from the book too much. It just annoys me. I understand that they can't include everything, but they don't have to change things, they could just leave out things. I will watch the newest movie since I have watched all of the other ones, but I can't see how that movie will be good. The last book wasn't the most interesting. They spent most of it not doing anything. There were good parts in the book, but there was a lot of nothing too. Oh well. I also didn't like The Matrix. I think I just don't get it.

I want to go watch movies now. It's too bad that I have to work instead.

30 Day Blog Challenge

2011-02-17T09:19:00.003+09:00

So Joyce decided that we needed to do the 30 day blog thingie. Maybe because she thinks people don't update their blogs enough. She nags me all the time. Now that she has made it a competition I have to update my blog everyday. I want to win the bragging rights.

Day 1- Favorite song

Well, I can't really say that I have a favorite song. It depends on my mood. A few years ago in one of my education classes my professor decided that we should make a mixer CD of everyone's favorite songs as a kind of bonding exercise or something. I couldn't decide what my favorite song was then either. I looked in my CD player and chose a song off of the CD that was in there. I think it may have been The Penny Merchants. That's a good group. This time I am going to look on my iPod and chose the song that I have listened to the most.

And it is . . .

"Words of Love" by the Beatles. Okay, that's not mine. Samuel loves that song and he plays it over and over again. I never actually play that song. The next song is "Quando, Quando, Quando" by Michael Buble. How do you make the little accent thingie over the e? There should be one on the e in 'Buble'. Pretend it's there. Samuel also chooses that song frequently, but so do I. It's pretty good. The next song is "Nobody" by The Wonder Girls, a Korean girl band. I learned it so I could sing it for a Norae Bang competition. That's like karaoke, but with a private room. It's a good song. If you want to watch me sing it there is a video on my facebook. I can't believe I just told you that. Don't watch it. It's not that good.

I still don't have a favorite song. Right now I have an alphabet song stuck in my head. I teach kindergarten. It happens. You should hear the song. It's pretty great, but not when it's been stuck in my head all day. Enjoy.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LouqqCDpA8

Getting Married in Korea

2011-02-06T18:16:00.003+09:00

So the next step after getting engaged was to go get married. We couldn't leave it for long since we thought it would be better if we were married when Samuel applied for his visa to Canada. The Canadian government doesn't care if you're engaged. The previous times Samuel had applied for a visa the consulate people told him that it would be so much easier if we were married. Okay, we'll get married then.

At that time at work we were short a teacher which made it rather difficult to take a day off to go to Seoul. I asked my boss and he said it would be better to wait until October when we would have another teacher and it would be easier to fill in for me. I wanted to have the visa paperwork done by then. We decided that I could take the next Thursday off since it was a field trip day to watch a musical so it would be easier to have someone else supervise my kids. But, I couldn't have the whole day off, just the kindergarden part. I would still have to come back to teach my afternoon classes if possible. Okay then.

Thursday, September 9 came around and I got up really early so I could be at the embassy when it opened. I met Samuel at the subway station closest to the embassy and we walked over. When we got there we were given two different forms to fill out in triplicate. An hour later, once we had finished filling out the forms, we were given a number so we could wait. So we waited. Eventually our number was called and we went into this little closet-sized room with a woman sitting behind bullet-proof glass. We gave her our paper work, passports, and the forms Samuel needed from Tanzania. She stamped the forms, asked for money, and then told us to go to the Korean government office. We eventually found the Korean Government office which is not as easy as it could be. There are no street addresses in Korea. Usually there are maps, but they aren't always very easy to follow. The Canadian embassy is really difficult to find. Anyway, we found the government office. We took our number so we could wait. We waited. When our number was called we went to the desk and gave the woman there our paper work. She gave us another form to fill out. We filled it out and gave it back to her. She stamped everything and said, "You're done here." Um, that's it? Apparently it was. We were now married. It was not the most exciting event in my life.

After getting married you have to have some sort of reception, so Samuel and I went out for lunch at an Indian restaurant. Then Samuel had to go to class and I had to go to work. We didn't even see each other again until the next evening.

I haven't done this in a long time

2011-01-26T22:01:00.003+09:00

So, it's been a while, like four or five months, but who's counting? Some stuff has happened since I last wrote. You could even say it was important stuff. I got engaged, went to a Rufus Wainwright concert, got married in Seoul, turned 30, Samuel got his visa to go to Canada, we went to Canada and got married, we came back to Korea, and I signed a new contract to keep working in Korea. Wow, that was quite the list. Thinking about it though, I got engaged before I wrote the last posts, I just didn't blog about it. Well, I suppose I will now.

Let's call this story "Robin's Really Bossy".

Samuel and I had talked about getting married many times. In fact, we had only been dating about a month the first time he asked me to marry him. That time I told him he wasn't allowed to ask me yet. He waited about one more month before he asked again. I changed the subject. The next time he asked I told him I couldn't marry someone my family had never met. After that there was the understanding that we would get married sometime, but we would figure out when later. Then I went to Canada and he couldn't, which made it really hard for him to meet my family. Once I came back to Korea the conversation about getting married continued. I was still pretty determined that I couldn't marry him until he met my family, even though Joyce and Jackie had given me permission. Samuel was pretty sure we should just go do the paper work so we could be married on paper and really get married later. I seem to recall that the week before we got engaged Samuel brought it up again and I cried because it wasn't just paper work to me; it was actually getting married. The next week I was sitting at home by myself, thinking about Samuel, and I thought about what was holding me back from marrying him. I wanted to marry him. I was going to marry him, we just hadn't figured out when. I knew that we were going to Canada for Christmas, as long as Samuel's visa worked out, and then he could meet everyone. Okay, then I could marry him. But when? The next time I could be in Canada would be the next summer. I didn't want to wait that long to get married when I knew that I wanted to marry him. I decided that we were going to get married at Christmas. So then I decided that I would have to prepare my family for that, so I emailed my parents and siblings to tell them that Samuel and I were engaged. Then I called Samuel and told him that I just told my family that we were engaged. He was thrilled. No, really, he was. About a month later we went to Seoul to sign all the paper work. I will save that for the next blog post though. Stay tuned.

Why do we do complain?

2010-08-30T21:20:00.002+09:00

Okay, one more. Why stop at two posts when there can be three?

I was thinking today. I know, dangerous situation. Why do we complain so much? Is there any reason for it? Does it actually make us feel better? I'm getting really tired of hearing complaints. The most common things to complain about are the weather and work. The weather is never good enough. If it's hot out we want it to be cooler. If it's cool we want it to be hotter. If it's warm we complain because in a few weeks it's going to snow and then it will be cold. It's never good enough. I frequently complain about the weather here. It's really humid and I hate it. It's often so humid the air feels thick and it's hard to breathe. I really could do without that humidity. I do know that the humidity will end, and I will get through it. For now I will spend a lot of time in my apartment where I have air conditioning.

People complain about work a lot. We got our schedules for the new semester a few days ago. People have complained nonstop since we got them. They don't like the classes they are going to teach, or they don't like when their breaks are, or something. They don't like our boss or the way he decides things. I'll admit it. I have complained about my job. Who wouldn't after teaching for ten hours with no breaks? But, you know what? I realized that I actually like my job, and I like my boss. When people complain about the job or the boss it makes me feel like I shouldn't like my job or my boss. I like my new schedule. I have a break every day. I get to teach interesting classes. Yes, I have to teach a few classes that I don't like, but sometimes you have to do things that you don't really like. I think I can teach a few classes that aren't that interesting. I have a job. I live in a cool place. I have air conditioning. What is there to complain about?

My view

2010-08-30T21:08:00.004+09:00

Okay, I wrote that last post and then decided that I should show you the view from my apartment. I don't think the pictures do it justice. The is really nice, both during the day and at night. Across the street out one window there are many, many apartment buildings. Out the other window there is a mountain. I like the view. It makes my tiny apartment really nice.

My apartment

2010-08-30T20:45:00.003+09:00

This was what you used to see when you came into my apartment. Yep, that's pretty much it. I have a little apartment. About ten steps from the door to the window. The only furniture by job supplied was a bed, so that's all I had. You walked in and you could see my bed and my laundry. I didn't have anywhere to sit except my bed or the floor. There was no place to go in the apartment where you couldn't see my laundry or my dishes. Not all that cozy. The upside is that I like in a corner apartment on the 11th floor, and I have 15ft ceilings. I have two walls of windows. So there was nothing to see in the apartment, but outside was great. Another great thing about my apartment, it is only two blocks from work.

Then I bought a sofa. It took almost six months to choose one, but I finally found one that I liked. Some teachers who were leaving gave me the mirror. Now I have somewhere to sit, but I sit on the floor. It's easier to type that way.

I moved the bed to the other corner, and bought a set of drawers. It's actually a television stand, but I don't have a television. And really, it's drawers. Now, when I sit on the bed, I can't see my dishes. The book shelf makes a wall. Now I have two rooms in my apartment.

This is the book shelf. It is a very good book shelf, and a very good wall. It looks empty in this picture, but now there are a few more things on it, and it looks wonderful.

Now this is what you see when you come into my apartment. There are still only about ten steps from the front door to the window, but now it looks so much cosier and homey. I really like my apartment. I will probably only live here for another few months though. My boss said that after I get married he will find me a bigger apartment. It won't be two blocks from work, but I am willing to take the bus to work if it means that I will get to live with my husband.

Awww

2010-07-12T21:47:00.003+09:00

Awww. Aren't we cute? And isn't he incredibly good looking? I sure think so.

I like living in Korea. I get to see Samuel every weekend. I like that. It's like the year and a half in Canada never happened. It feels like we were never apart.

We are planning to go to Jeju Island at the end of July with some friends for a few days. We're going fishing on the ocean! I'm super excited. No one else seems to think this is nearly as exciting as I do. They are all from places that are close to the ocean. Samuel's family lives right next to the beach. I am from Saskatchewan okay. I think fishing on the ocean is pretty exciting. I will have to show you all the fish I catch.

We are starting to get the paper work together so Samuel can come visit at Christmas. I hope you all can meet him then. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.

New shoes

2010-05-09T08:37:00.003+09:00

Samuel went shoe shopping with me yesterday. He told me to take my time and he suggested other stores to look at. He even helped me pick out shoes. Then he carried the bag.

More kids

2010-05-01T23:40:00.005+09:00

This is Amy. She is the newest addition to my class. She came about three weeks ago. She is very smart and she can sound out some words already. She is always the first to finish her work. The nice part of that is she will sit quietly when she is finished instead of bothering the kids around her like the other students will do.

This is Rex. He is usually very serious, except during art time when he gets very silly and turns everything we are doing into monsters. Last week I handed out pictures of teddy bears to colour and cut out. He cut off the arms and legs and drew on more eyes to make his a monster. When they were drawing pictures of their classmates he drew a monster. He is very concerned with getting things right. He very much wants to be the leader of the class, but so does Eric, so they don't get along very well at all.

This is Sienna. She is quiet and very sweet. She is always watching the other kids so she can help when they need help. She is always worried about the others' feelings.

Wyatt is a funny kid. He says hi to everyone he sees all day. "Hi Robin Teacher! Hi" Seriously. All day. At least 20 times. It's pretty funny. Last week he was sick and missed two days. It was really quiet. We all missed him.

Cathy is the newest addition to the class. The day she came she pretended that she didn't want to come. She wouldn't go into the classroom without her father and she cried when he left. The next day she had absolutely no problem coming to class. She talks a lot and likes to tease the other kids. She is probably the smartest kid in class.

Jamie is so painfully shy. When I started teaching her she wouldn't ever make eye contact with anyone and you couldn't hear what she said, if she said anything at all. Now she plays with some of the other students and she is much louder. If she is answering a question about phonics or the story she is loud enough to hear from a few people away. If the question is about her or what she wants, then you still have to be right beside her to hear her answer. She won't ask to go to the bathroom. I have to tell her to go. She does the "need to pee" dance, so I can tell when she needs to go, but it would be so much easier if she just asked. She has gotten much braver in the last few months. I'm interested to see what changes the next few months bring.

A few of my students

2010-03-13T22:35:00.004+09:00

These are a few of my preschool kids. They are six years old in Korea, which means they
are four or five. They are at school from 9:50 until 2:30 everyday.

This is Molly. She is determined that she is big because she is in the six-year-old class. She has a lot of attitude to match her determination. The other day I wouldn't let her sit where she wanted to so she cried and then sat and glared at me. She will be angry for about two minutes and then forgets that she is angry. She likes to pretend that she is a princess. She is very smart and tries very hard to learn all the words she can in English, probably so she can yell at me better when she is angry. She is pretty cute, don't you think?

Next is Eric. He tries very hard to be good, but it is not easy to be good for that long. He wants to be good so he can get stickers, but he can't seem to be good for more than about 15 minutes at a time, which I think is pretty good for a five-year-old. He likes to talk and tries very hard to always speak English to me. He doesn't always know the right words, but he does very well to get the message across. Last week one of the other teachers was teaching the class and Eric told him "Eric...no good boy." He didn't know the word for naughty, but Brian sure understood what Eric meant. Eric used to be the one that drove me crazy, but now he is one of my favourites. He has a lot of personality. I'm pretty sure he is going to be a ladies man. He likes to sit next to the girls and help them. One day I had him sitting at the next table over from his current interest. He wanted to sit next to Sienna, but the table legs were between them, so he moved his chair over so he could sit closer to her. It is really very cute.

This is Roy. He started out as my favourite, and has pretty much remained there. He has got to be one of the cutest kids I have ever seen. He is the youngest kid in my class. He doesn't know as many words as the other kids, and he knows it, but he speaks louder to make up for it. He tends to yell a lot. He definately knows his name and can spell it and he won't ever let me write his name for him. He will do it himself thank you. He can't say the s sound at the end of words. It always comes out as a t. Absolutely adorable. He really likes busses.

This is Clara. She is going to be a comedian, I'm sure. She loves making the other students laugh. She also likes reading books and will entertain herself for a long time with a few books. This picture was taken after we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to go with the song. Something that you would definately not be able to do in Canada. For that matter, I wouldn't be able to blog about my students and put their pictures up in Canada either. But this is Korea and it's okay. The parents would be thrilled. Anyway, you can see the sandwich on her face. Strawberry jam.

This is Daniel. He has no clue. They all know the alphabet, and we have been working on phonics, so they know the sound that each letter makes. I will ask for words that start with a certain sound, m, for example. He will say dinosaur. No clue. He likes to ignore the teachers and do whatever he wants, which is usually something he shouldn't do. He definately has selective hearing loss. At least he's cute. He likes dinosaurs and books about Thomas the Tank Engine. Unfortuately, there are only two in the library and I am tired of them now.

Well, that was half of my preschool class. I will introduce you to the others another time.

New Year

2010-02-24T21:17:00.004+09:00

For Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year to the rest of the world, the kids all dressed up in their hanbok and we took the afternoon to play games instead of studying. They were all very cute. The pictures are from the game I was running. It's a traditional Korean game where they throw arrows into a tall container. It's a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed themselves, but later when I asked my class if they had fun one girl said she had no fun at all. She hadn't won the prizes so she didn't have fun. The girl who had won a prize said she had a great time.

School

2010-02-02T20:36:00.002+09:00

Oops. That wasn't a good start to getting back into a weekly blog. Oh well. I'll try again.

I said I would tell you about the school, so I should probably do that. First of all, it is two blocks away from my apartment so I leave at 8:50 so I can get breakfast on my way to school and still be there by 9:00. If I leave a little earlier I have time to go to Dunkin Donuts. I would much rather go to Tim Horton's but sadly, this country is rather lacking in the finer donut establishments. Anyway, we have to be at work at 9, but don't start teaching until 9:50. We take turns doing bus duty at 9:30. The school is on the 9th floor of the building so we have to make sure the little kids get to the right spot. We teach preschool, prekindergarten and kindergarten in the morning and right after lunch until 2:40. Right now I am teaching a class of five-year olds. They have been going to English school for about a month. They know the alphabet and colours and they can count fairly high. They can read their names and some of them can even colour in the lines. What they can't do is sit down for very long. They try, some of them, but it gets very difficult. This one kid, Eric, is really darn cute, but just cannot sit for more than five minutes at a time. He tries, you can see it, he just can't do it. Another boy, Roy, is possibly the cutest kid I have ever taught. He doesn't speak very clearly, but it is so adorable it's almost better that way. I will have to take a video for you so you all can see how cute he is. Today we learned "my favorite...". They told me their favorite colours and animals. Molly, who always pretends to be a princess when the others are being monsters or dinosaurs tells me her favorite animal is a snake. A big snake. Very princess like. Rex says his favorite is people, because people are animals. We do phonics and reading and lots of colouring and songs. Then I get to send them home, which is probably the best part of the day.

After the little kids go home the elementary school kids come. I teach one class for two hours. I was told today that they are 7 and they will be starting elementary school in March. They speak amazingly well for being that young. With this class we read stories and study vocabulary and spelling. We talk a lot. I really like this class.

For now I am finished work at 4:30. Starting in March I will work until 7:30. That's a long day, but I think that will be okay as I will also get a raise. I walked by a purse store the other day and saw about five purses that I think I need, so I could use that raise. I also saw the most perfect shoes ever. I will try to control myself. I have a small apartment and don't have a lot of room for purses and shoes. Who am I kidding? There is always room for shoes and purses.

Physical

2010-01-19T20:36:00.002+09:00

So part of the requirements in order to get an alien card for Korea is a physical. They want to make sure all of us foreigners aren't polluting the country with our drugs and STIs. I thought it was just a blood test, but no. I was in for a real treat.
The director of my school decided that I should go for the physical on Saturday morning. Remember that I only got to Korea Thursday evening. He thought it would be a good idea to get the tests over as quickly as possible so I can get my alien card right away. So I had to meet him at 8:00 on Saturday. I wasn't allowed to eat breakfast, not that I would have that early anyway, or drink anything other than water. The director picks me up and drives me to the hospital which is in the next city over. Fortunately the place where we were going for this only opened at 8:00 so we were second in line. It started with the nurse giving my director the bill and telling him to go pay. So he leaves me with these people who don't speak English to do a buch of tests. Allright. I can handle that I suppose. The first test was height and weight. Not sure what that has to do with drugs or AIDS, but it seemed important. Next was blood pressure, then colour blindness test and vision test. Then there was a hearing test. Then the nurse takes me to a new room and tells me to take off my clothes and put on a robe, then go to the next room for an x-ray. Okay. So I change into the robe and walk out of the room. At this point the director comes back. Oh good. I'm standing in front of my boss in a hospital gown. Nice. So I go to the next room where the x-ray technician positions me for the chest x-ray. There's a flat panel machine that you have to get as close to as you possible can. That means I had to squish up to it and wrap my arms around it like I'm giving it a big hug. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not flat. I don't fit to a flat panel screen very well. Who am I kidding? Of course you noticed. Ya, not so comfortable. At least I got to go put my clothes back on after that. Next I went to see the doctor who was a little old man. He looked at my paper, asked if I felt sick, smiled and said, okay good. Apparently I was lucky. He didn't even speak to the last teacher, just stuck his hand down her shirt to listen to her heart. The last room was the blood test. I go in and the nurse hands me a paper cup. Go pee. Oh goody. All right. I go find the bathroom, aim for the cup, and pee on my hand. I did manage to get some in the cup, but I'm a girl okay. I don't aim. That's why I sit to pee. I don't have to aim that way. I clean up and go back to the room to hand over the cup. Then the nurse needs to take a blood test. He wraps the rubber band thingie around my arm and starts poking at my arm. Now I'm starting to tense up because I know that I have very deep veins and no one can ever seem to find them on the first try. Tensing up does not help this at all. Fortunately, he got it first poke. I could feel it the entire time though. I don't like that at all. He had to take three vials, and I could feel everytime he changed vials, and I bleed fairly slowly so it seemed to take forever, and again, I am tensing up which doesn't help. Finally he gets enough blood and the whole thing is over. It took forever, or ten minutes if you care about the real time. Then the director took me out for McDonald's breakfast which made everything better. McDonald's does some pretty good pancakes I must say.
The next adventure is actually getting my alien card. Then I can get my own phone, a bank account, and internet at my house. I'll keep you updated.

Return to Korea

2010-01-15T21:37:00.003+09:00

Well, I'm back. I landed in Korea yesterday afternoon at 4:15. That's 1:15am for those of you from Saskatchewan. It took me an hour to get through customs and to find my luggage, but I made it through and so did my luggage. The driver from the recruiting company I used met me at the airport and drove me to my apartment. I had forgotten how scary driving in Korea is. I finally decided it would just be better if I closed my eyes and didn't watch where we were going. Much less scary that way. The director of the school met me and showed me my apartment and then we went over to the school, which is all of a minute away. Convenient. My apartment, or as I like to call it, my hotel room, is pretty tiny. About the size of a hotel room. No kidding. Not a big hotel room either. The bathroom is pretty snazzy and the appliances are new, but it is really small. The one nice thing about it, and this is why they decided to buy this apartment, is that it is a corner apartment, so the two outside walls are almost all window. The view is pretty cool. It's a little chilly but should be okay once I get the hang of the heat. Not speaking Korean has its disadvantages, but I can still push buttons until something happens in any language. The school is really nice. The kids are pretty darn cute, the director is nice and really helpful and friendly, and the other teachers seem like they will be pretty fun. So far I have been too tired to actually find out. I didn't sleep on the plane to Korea then I stayed up until 11 last night and woke up at 1, 2, and 5. I was awake for about an hour at 5. I'm pretty sure I will fall asleep as soon as I stop typing. There seems to be everything right around my apartment. There's a grocery store next door, Dunkin Donuts down the street, tons of restaurants and stores. I haven't looked around much yet, but I will do some exploring next week. I think I will tell you about the school later. Need to save something to talk about later.

Goodnight.

I'm leaving

2010-01-12T00:48:00.002+09:00

Now it really is official. I don't have to say "I don't know" now when you ask "when are you leaving?" Now I can say that I'm leaving Wednesday morning. That means I will get to Korea Thursday afternoon. Wow. Yep. That's pretty quick. I have a lot to do in the next two days. I don't want to do it. Does anyone want to pack for me? Can't it just transport itself there? It would be so much easier. Then I wouldn't have to worry about weight limits. You try putting all the stuff you need for a year in two suitcases with a weight limit of 22kg each. Not easy to do.

I hate Canada Post

2010-01-01T03:49:00.002+09:00

I already have an update. So, after getting all of my stuff together to mail to the consulate in Vancouver, I went to the post office in Warman to mail it. I sent it Priority next morning. Thinking that it would get there the next morning. Silly me. Why would I think that just because all the posters on the walls in every post office say it will get there the next morning, and the web site says it will get there the next morning that it would have actually gotten there the next morning? I tracked it this morning, Thursday, I send it Tuesday, only to find that it is in Richmond BC, not in Vancouver where it should be. I called customer service, waited for 10 minutes listening to some really annoying Canada Post commercials, only to be told that because I mailed it from a rural location, next morning really means two business days. Never mind that the package was in Saskatoon that afternoon. It is not a major center so Canada Post couldn't possibly get it to Vancouver the next day. It's not like Saskatoon has an airport with direct flights to Vancouver everyday or anything. Oh wait. Yes we do. There are flights everyday to Vancouver. But according to Canada Post, we are some hick town and they can't do anything useful. So now, my stuff is not at the consulate in Vancouver where it should be. I don't know when it will get there. The consulate is closed this afternoon and tomorrow. So they will probably get it on Monday. Then it takes five days to process. Then they have to mail it back. I included a priority next morning envelope for them to return it in, but I live in a rural location, so it really means two business days. So, if I am lucky, I will get my stuff back two weeks after I mailed it. Isn't it good I sent it priority post?

Korea update

2010-01-01T01:11:00.003+09:00

Okay, here's the deal. I am leaving. Probably next week. After some major dealings with the consulate in Vancouver, I finally got all my stuff together to send to Korea. I got my visa number on Tuesday and send a whole bunch of stuff back to the consulate in Vancouver to get the visa processed and put in my passport. Hopefully it all works the first time. My job starts next Tuesday, but I won't be there. I will be a few days late. My time left in Canada is very short. I am very excited to leave, but very worried about what I will find when I get to Korea. I am my father afterall, and I have to worry about things that aren't even going to happen. I am sure everything will be fine, and I will have worried for nothing, but it gives me something to do instead of packing. I really need to pack, but I only have a few episodes of Stargate SG-1 left, so I'm going to do that instead. Way more fun.

I will keep posting while in Korea. I will try to make it a weekly post again. Feel free to comment. I like to know that people read this.

Yay!

2009-12-10T05:55:00.002+09:00

I am very happy to say that I am leaving. I have found a job in Korea that starts in early January. I don't know exactly when I will leave, but it will be soon. I will be living in a city not far from Seoul. The school is pre-school, kindergarten and early elementary. It is a school, not a language academy like the last place I worked. This means that I will be teaching curriculum, not conversational English. It will be quite a change from the last school I was at. I'm very excited about it. I am also very excited that I will get to finally be in the same country as Samuel. It has been a very long time since I last saw him. I kind of feel like I am moving half way around the planet to go on a blind date. But not a blind date. Hmmm. Anyway, I'm leaving. It's a good thing.

Seriously people?

2009-11-02T12:25:00.003+09:00

I noticed something recently. It seems that I am quite frequently stuck behind a stupid driver. You know the kind that takes the ramp to get on to the freeway but doesn't bother accelerating to get up to the speed of the other cars on the freeway, or the kind that slows down on the highway before they move over into the turning lane when the turning lane is more that sufficient space to slow down, or the kind that goes ten under the speed limit until you get into city limits and then they go ten above. Why am I so lucky so often? Today I almost got sideswiped by a stupid woman who changed three lanes at once without bothering to look, and then she looked insulted when I honked at her. I was behind a van today getting off of the freeway. Instead of merging into traffic like a normal person, he stopped. Yep. Really. Does anyone other than me actually know how to drive? Some days I really doubt it.

CBC thought-train of the week

2009-10-23T13:42:00.003+09:00

Okay, I listen to a lot of CBC podcasts, but I like them, and then I don't have to listen to my own thoughts as I clean toilets and mop floors. Much of the time the podcasts direct my thoughts toward certain things. Sometimes I tell you about my thoughts, sometimes I keep them to myself. I will share this one.

DNTO this week was about repetition. One woman talked about a book she read over, and over, and over again, and why she liked to read that book. I have a book that I have read many, many times; The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I don't even know how many times I have read this book, but I am on my third copy. This is one of the few books I brought with me when I went to Korea, and I think I read it three or four times in the time I was there. I think I like this book so much because I identified with Valancy. There was the Valancy that everyone knew, and there was the Valancy that she knew was there, but was too afraid to let out. One day she decided to stop hiding the real Valancy, and she started to say the things she always thought, and she did what she wanted to do no matter what her family thought. She started living life instead of watching it. She had fun. And she found her blue castle, the place where she knew she belonged, the thing she had been looking for her whole life but couldn't find. She was finally happy. I love this book. The thing is though, I haven't read it in quite a while. Almost two years in fact. I don't think I need to. I found my blue castle. I'm not there right now, I left it, but I know it's there and I will find it again. My blue castle is waiting for me.

Changing

2009-10-10T06:00:00.003+09:00

I was listening to a DNTO podcast recently. As if often the case, it got me thinking. This probably isn't the goal of DNTO, it is a comedic program after all, but it got me thinking anyway. The question they asked that episode was whether it is posible for people to change. My initial response was, of course it's possible for people to change, look at me. Most of you would say that I am definately different now than I was before I went to Korea. I would have said that too. But I'm not so sure now. I certainly behave differently than I did before. There are things I do now that I never would have done before. But am I really that different? I think the core of who I am has not changed at all. I think this person that I am now has always been there, waiting inside, for me to let her out. I just didn't know how to let her out. Now that I have let her out, I am so much happier than I was before. Robin now is the true me. I never really was the real Robin before, and I wasn't very happy. I don't think it is possible to be happy while not being true to who you are. I think I was just pretending to be happy before. Certainly, there were happy moments, but I don't think I was truly happy. Sometimes I feel the old Robin coming back to the forefront, and I don't like that. It scares me because I know what being old Robin was like, and I didn't like that at all. New Robin is so much better. But are old Robin and new Robin really different or does old Robin hold new Robin prisoner until she can escape? I know old Robin isn't completely winning because I wrote this. Old Robin never would have let other people into her thoughts.

I will stop refering to myself in third person now. I know it's been a long time since my last post, and then I have to go and post something overly serious like this. I will be more trivial and funny next time. Unless, of course, I listen to DNTO again. Those CBC programs are deep sometimes.

Did I miss something?

2009-08-28T07:33:00.002+09:00

Okay, I thought the whole point of having a convertible was to look cool. You know, driving around in your way cool sports car with the top down. Showing that you have enough money to have an extra car that you can only drive for about two months of the year. Chick magnets. I think I missed something, or that guy totally did. The other day I saw a convertible and I was confused. It was a Smart Car convertible. Okay, it is absolutely imposible to look cool while driving a Smart Car. It just is. There is no way. Making it a convertible does not change that fact. You still look dumb. Only now maybe more so than you would have if you had stuck to the original. It's like pimping out the mini-van. Doesn't help at all. Makes you look pathetic. I don't think this convertible could in any way be called a chick magnet. Unless it gets the girls to go "awww, it's so cute. Like a little baby car." Size matters guys. It really does.

Boys are gross

2009-07-28T14:23:00.004+09:00

The other day I forgot to take my Ipod with me when I went to clean. I always bring my Ipod with me. That way I don't have to think for myself. This time I had to do my own thinking. As I was cleaning, I was thinking about cleaning. More specifically, I was thinking about cleaning bathrooms. I have cleaned many bathrooms, and I have reached this conclusion: boys are gross. I don't mind cleaning bathrooms, but I am continually grossed out by what I see when I go into the men's bathroom. Mostly because of urinals. Apparently aiming is difficult. I constantly find puddles on the floor. One time I found a puddle on the top of the urinal. That takes some talent I must say. I always have to wash the walls around the urinals. Standing up to pee is messy work. Why do boys brag about it? I often find gum in the urinals. Surprise! Gum doesn't flush, if they had even bothered to try to flush. You know what else doesn't flush? Paper towel. Neither do pennies. They do cause the urinal to overflow though. Boys don't seem to flush urinals very often. Urinals drain anyway, why flush? Sometimes they don't flush the toilets. Boys pee standing up, so you know what's in the toilet. It often seems that they don't flush because they thought they had something to be proud of and wanted to show it off. It's like the redneck joke, you know you're a redneck when you leave the bathroom and say "ya'll better come see this before I flush it." I didn't want to see it.
The women's bathroom is not all roses either. There is always paper towel on the floor, and soap on the counter and hair in the sink. Occasionally I have to pick up a tampon wrapper from off the floor. Sometimes even pee on the seat. But never pee on the walls or puddles on the floor. Girls pee sitting down. Not bragging; fact.

Bunny in the park

2009-07-08T14:20:00.003+09:00

I really didn't intend to write another fashion blog this soon. I really didn't, but the event of the Canada Day celebration in the park left me with no choice. I had to write another fashion blog. What's a girl to do when she sees something that atrocious? Well, write about it obviously.

I was not aware that Canada Day was an occasion for costumes. Not costumes like wearing Canada t-shirts or hats with a flag cape. That doesn't count; that's just being patriotic at an appropriate time. No, I mean costumes with ears. Let me set the scene: we're standing in line waiting to get caramel apples and cotton candy. What's a day in the park without sugar? The line was at a stand still, so I did what I always do when I am in a crowd of people; I looked for things about other people to criticize. I realize that it's small and petty of me, but there are so many people that need to be criticized and I am willing to do it. Anyway, there I was looking around, not seeing much to mock, but then it appeared. Well, she appeared. In a costume. I'll start at the top. The very top. With the bunny ears. Yes, she was wearing bunny ears. Pink ones. I'm really not sure how bunny ears go with celebrating the day our country became a country, but she saw the connection. The bunny ears were not the end of the costume, no there was more. Unfortunately, not a lot more. The rest of the costume consisted of a skimpy pink tank top and very short shorts. Very, very short. I think she must have altered them herself. You don't normally see shorts that short. Yes people, there was cheek. Quite a lot. Definately not in a good way. She was going for the whole Playboy bunny look and failed. She most definately did not have the figure to attempt the Playboy bunny look. Most of us don't, and I'm not faulting her for that, but most of us know better than to try to work the bunny look with figures that would be more suited for the, um, well, a larger, rounder animal look. I really didn't need to see that much of her, but it did give me something to write about, and for that, girl with the rabbit ears, I thank you.

The rights of thongs

2009-07-01T03:14:00.004+09:00

There has been a request for the topic of this blog. I am happy to oblige. Feel free to make requests in the future.

I have to start this rant by revisiting the yoga pant issue. I believe I said something along the lines of yoga pants are really tight. Wedged right up there tight. So tight you can't wear a g-string tight. Ya. I remember saying that. Apparently the word has not gotten out yet. I saw this girl the other day wearing yoga pants. It was in the park, so was excusable. The issue was not that she was wearing yoga pants. The issue was what she was wearing with the yoga pants, or to be more precise, under the yoga pants. No, she was not wearing a g-string, she should have been, but she wasn't. She was wearing bikini briefs. I know. I could see every line. Now I realize that people wear panties, I have been known to wear them on occasion myself, but I don't have to see that you wear them. That brings me to the topic of this blog; thongs. A thong is an important item of lingerie. Every woman should own several. Here's why; VPL (visible panty line) is bad. It ruins the line of your pants. It draws the wrong kind of attention to your ass. It looks so much better if your pants lie smoothly with no interruption. Hence the thong, or g-string if you would rather. You can wear underwear, your ass looks amazing, and you don't have to declare to the world "look, I'm wearing panties!" I suppose for some people it would be an unusual event and they would want to declare it. Anyway, the thing about wearing a thong is that it is very definately possible to wear one incorrectly. Let's say there is a girl wearing a rather tight outfit. It's not a far stretch for the imagination, is it? Let's also say she decided that morning to wear a thong. Unfortunately, that thong is two sizes too small. Now the line of her outfit is ruined at her hips because there are indentations where her too-tight thong is digging into her flesh. Not attractive in any way. Now she's declaring to the world "look, I'm wearing a thong!" Not a good declaration. Now, instead of the tight outfit, let's say this girl is wearing well-fitting jeans and a t-shirt. She drops something and bends over to pick it up, and, pow! You get a full view of her thong. You look around to see if you were the only one who noticed. No, everyone around noticed too, and you see the looks of horror and disgust on their faces. They weren't ready for that at this time of day. They feel their senses have been assaulted. She could have prevented this ungodly view by wearing her thong properly. Keep it in your pants people! I don't need to know what colour your thong is. I really don't. You probably don't want to know what colour mine is either. I keep it in my pants. I'll tell you if you really feel that you need to know, but I won't force it on you. I wear it properly.

K-os is deep

2009-05-26T14:03:00.003+09:00

I was listening to a CBC podcast today, DNTO as a matter of fact, and K-os was the guest. He said something that I thought was profound. He said "if you follow in someone else's footsteps, you can only go as far as they did." I have never thought about it that way before, but I think I like it. Isn't stepping off the beaten path what makes life exciting and fulfilling? Making your own decisions, making your life yours. Yah. Thanks K-os.

More fashion no-nos

2009-05-26T01:33:00.004+09:00

I dedicate this episode to one of the most important inventions in the world today. Without this invention we would have no separation or lift. Gravity would win. Yes, this post is dedicated to the bra.I like bras. I think they are very important. I think every woman should wear one. At all times. Okay, at least in public. What you do in your own home is up to you.

I like bras enough that I have been known to show mine off. Only to a few people. Like when I bought my blue lace bra with the corset lacing, I had to show it off. It's gorgeous, it really is. Here's the thing though, I don't show my bra off in public. It's one thing if the strap slips, which happens on occasion. That's not so bad. Easily fixed. It's an entirely different thing if there is no possible way to not see your bra. For example, a tube top does not go with a normal bra such as the one pictured. It goes with a strapless bra. Halter tops, again, strapless bra. I didn't think this was a very difficult concept, but I see it all the time. Apparently people haven't figured this one out yet. There is another thing that some people don't seem to understand. Let me explain; even if your bra is the "nude" colour, I can still see it. It is very important to have a nude bra, you can wear it under a white t-shirt for example. White bras don't work with white t-shirts, really. Anyway, I was talking about nude bras. This came up when I went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. The hostess was wearing a little black dress. It was a nice dress. The kind that you would wear to a cocktail party or something. Low cut, spaghetti straps. Not work appropriate. There is a limit on how much cleavage should be shown. Back to the bra. She was wearing a regular bra with the little black dress. I could see quite a lot of it. The back, the straps, the sides. Ya, it was disturbing. It was a nude coloured bra though, so maybe I wasn't supposed to be able to see it. It blended in so well. Nude is the new camouflage.

Fashion Crimes

2009-04-08T09:56:00.003+09:00

Sometimes I just don't understand. I don't understand sweat pants. Sure, they're comfortable, but ugly. Especially when they have elastic at the ankles and are too short, or when you're a guy, or when they are really baggy. Okay, they're just always ugly, I don't care how comfortable they are. Be comfortable in your own home, look presentable when you go out in public. Just in case you don't know what I think about sweat pants yet, let me enlighten you; sweat pants should never be worn in public. Ever.

Today I saw something that I was so horribly shocked by, it actually hurt. I saw this girl wearing the nicest shoes. These were gorgeous shoes. I totally want them. Open-toe pumps with pink detailing. Really, really nice. I want those shoes. These ones actually. They are from Fixation Shoes and Accessories. Aren't they beautiful? Just gaze upon their beauty. I am.SHE WAS WEARING THOSE GORGEOUS SHOES WITH YOGA CAPRI PANTS AND A HOODIE! She ruined the shoes. She made them look cheap. She doesn't deserve to have those shoes if she is going to wear them without the respect they are due. Is there some kind of shoe social services she could be reported to? How could she do that to those shoes? Why? What is wrong with her? The week before the same girl was wearing ankle boots with yoga pants. I didn't like the boots anyway, but they definately didn't go with yoga pants. You should all know this, but I will tell you anyway; yoga pants don't go with heels. They just don't. If you must wear yoga pants, and I think yoga pants are only marginally better than sweat pants, wear running shoes or flip-flops. Ankle boots go with jeans. Gorgeous open-toed perfection goes with so many things, but work out clothes are definately not one of the things. Little black dress, black dress pants, dark wash jeans, nice pencil skirt, but most definately not yoga pants.

While I'm on the topic of yoga pants, let me rant a bit. I think yoga pants are only marginally better than sweat pants. Only because yoga pants don't look scruffy and messy as do sweat pants. I still think they should never be worn in public. They are work out clothes. You may wear them at the gym, on your way to the gym or on the way home from the gym. You may wear them as casual, comfy pants at home. Don't wear them in public. Often the people who do wear them in public have the body to do so and are understandably proud of their body and want to show it off. Fine. Do you have to show it off that much? Have you ever noticed that yoga pants are really tight? Really tight. Like, painted on tight. Wedged right up there tight. Can't even wear a g-string because you would have VPL tight. That's a little to much showing off. Seriously, I can see everything. Dimple on the left cheek? Yep, I know. I can see. That's just wrong. Can it really be that comfortable with a perma-wedgie?

One more fashion crime of the day, it was a busy day; summer wear. Not a problem in the summer. It's not summer right now, it's April. It was only 9 degrees today. Don't wear a jacket. Wear sandles. Capris are almost acceptable, but still pushing it a little. Shorts with a three-inch inseam, a tank top and flip-flops are definately pushing it a lot. Okay, we have had a long winter and it may seem like a heat wave right now, but there is still snow. There at least should be some green outside before the shorts come out. Good optimism though.

Coincidence? I think not.

2009-03-22T12:56:00.003+09:00

I wonder if you have noticed the same thing I have. I listen to pop radio in the morning as I get ready for school. Usually I would listen to CBC but my alarm clock won't pick it up for some reason, the AM or the FM stations. I can get pop music though, and I actually like the commentary in the morning, so I stick with it. Anyway, I was listening to the music and noticed a theme. Well, two themes. Guy songs are about sex, girl songs are about how stupid guys are. Here are a few examples of some of the lyrics; "I wanna make love right now, now, now. I wanna make love right now, now, now." "I wanna make love in this club, in this club, in this club, in this club. I wanna make love in this club, in this club, in this club." "You spin my head right round, right round when you go down, when you go down, down." I kid you not, those are the actual lyrics. Here are some girl song lyrics; "Good-bye, you suck, never really liked you." "and now that we're done I'm gonna show you tonight, I'm alright, I'm just fine, and you're a fool, so, so what..."and the next time that he cheats you know it won't be on me." Does anyone else see the correlation there?

episode 1

2009-03-05T14:02:00.002+09:00

When I had been in Korea for about six months one of the Korean teachers asked me if I had a boyfriend. I didn't, so I said no. She said, oh, you must be lonely. I thought about that for a bit. I didn't realize that I needed a boyfriend to be happy. I thought I was happy. I didn't have a boyfriend, and I wasn't lonely. Is that weird? It was to her. I didn't think it was weird. I had never had a boyfriend, and I had managed. I didn't need a boyfriend to complete my life. Then I met Samuel. Now I understand what Sook-Jin meant. Now I would say that I am lonely. I can't go visit my boyfriend after work. I don't get to see him this weekend, or next week or even next month. I'll talk to him, but it's not the same. Before I met Samuel I didn't know what it was that I was missing out on. I had never experienced it so I didn't miss it. Now that I have experienced love I don't want to live without it. So now I'm lonely. You all are great, but you aren't Samuel. I'm lonely for him. I never want to have a long distance relationship ever again. I suppose I haven't not been in a long distance relationship. Samuel and I lived in different cities so I only saw him on weekends and we talked during the week. At least we got to see each other sometimes. It has now been seven months since I last saw him. Now we talk on weekends and email during the week. I love talking to him, I love reading his emails, but it just isn't the same as actually talking to him, when I can see him. I would really like to have a not long distance relationship. I could try that. See if I like it.

So want to know what I think?

2009-03-04T14:05:00.002+09:00

I had this cool idea for a blog post today. It requires your participation, so you will have to comment. You know how I said I want to write a book? Well, this is my idea for a book. Kind of self-help, kind of auto-biography, kind of "Dear Abby", kind of my thought of the day type thing. I will write about whatever particulary annoyed me, or excited me, or whatever I have been thinking about. I could write about pretty much anything. News items are good. Did you know that President Obama is adopting a Portuguese Water Dog for his daughters? Do you really care? Does it really matter what kind of dog he gets? Personally I think that he should get a black lab, because it's the best kind of dog ever. I don't know what a Portuguese water dog is. Do you? I suppose I could look it up, but I don't actually care, so I won't. Probably.
Now it's bugging me so I have to. It turns out that Portuguese Water Dogs were originally bred as working dogs for Portuguese fishermen who used them to retrieve nets and buoys from the water. They are the 62nd most popular breed in the United States, and apparently are rather high maintenance dogs. Who knew? Who cares? Well the Portuguese fishermen probably, but very few others most likely.
Anyway. Back to my book/blog. You have now had a taste of how it will go. Here's your part; you need to give me suggestions of what to write about. If no one gives me suggestions I will have to make up something for myself.
I should be writing papers, but this is way more fun.

When did a rodent learn to predict the weather?

2009-02-03T12:29:00.003+09:00

Does anyone else think that Groundhog's day is stupid? Who had the stupid idea that a rodent could predict the end of winter? Apparently both Wireton Willie and the other one, whose name I can't spell, and died several years ago but won't let that stop him, predicted six more weeks of winter. No kidding! I don't need a rodent to tell me that. This is Saskatchewan people! Of course there are six more weeks of winter. If we're lucky. If we're not so lucky there will be more.

Here are my predictions. No, I didn't check out my shadow to make these predictions, I just made them up, just now. I'll bet my predictions are just as accurate as the groundhogs'.
It will snow four more times. One of those times will be toward the end of April.
We will continue to complain about the cold for at least two more moths. Then we will complain about puddles. Then we will complain about mosquitoes. Then the cold again.
Some stupid teenager will wear shorts to school in early March. He will be cold, but will be determined that it is spring. The groundhog said so.

Don't let a rodent make your decisions. Think for yourself.

100 things about me: the finale

2009-01-20T04:39:00.007+09:00

I was going to finish this before the new year started, but that didn't happen. Obviously.

81) I think about Samuel pretty much constantly. Chances are pretty good that if I am not speaking, I am thinking about him. I'm pathetic, I know, but I'm okay with that right now. I wouldn't say that I'm proud of it or anything, or even that it's a good thing, but that's how it goes right now. I even think about him in class. Usually my thoughts are way more interesting than the class. Doesn't take much to be more interesting than some of my classes. The thoughts don't always make sense though. The other day I was thinking about donuts, trying to decide what kind I wanted, and then the next second I was thinking about Samuel. I don't see the correlation between Samuel and donuts... they're both yummy? That could be it.
82) I really don't want to be at school right now. I want to be finished. I don't even care a little bit about my classes. I realize that I have a terrible attitude about it, but I don't care. So there. I'll go, because it would be stupid not to. I have less than three months left. I'll go, but I won't enjoy it.
83) What is it about girls who think they have to be blond? I don't get it. Everyone seems to want blond hair. Why? It just looks stupid. Okay, the first few days are fine, but then you get dark roots and it looks ridiculous. Maybe what I hate is the dark roots. Why would you let yourself look like that?
84) I wore sweat pants out of the house the other day. I had to run to the store to get eggs. I didn't want to change. I know. I am embarrassed for me too. I wore ugly pants. In public. How wrong.
85) I have a tendency to pull out my arm hair when I'm bored. I hate it when my arm hair sticks up, so I pull it out. It's weird, I know, but I do it anyway. Weird is acceptable.
86) I don't care how long you were in labor for. I really don't. Not even a little bit. I don't see myself ever caring.
87) I get tired of people, and it's almost always women, talking about weight. Can't we be obsessed with something else? Politics, environmental issues, the state of the economy, the stupid neighbor's stupid dog. Anything but weight. Fine, you gained a few pounds. Get over it.
88) I could spend all day watching television. I would feel yucky by the end of the day, and get absolutely nothing accomplished, but I would do it anyway. And I have done that. I will do it again too.
89) I feel bad about starting every item with "I". However, this blog is about me, so it is perfectly acceptable, but I could at least attempt to be more creative. I am incredibly lazy so I will probably not put in the effort required to think of another way to begin a sentence.
90) I really, really like hamburgers. I must be related to my father or something. Hamburgers are great. Especially with mustard and barbecue sauce. I thought barbecue had a q in it, but this is how the computer tells me I should spell it. And yes, I will let the computer dictate how I must spell. I think it looks funny. Mind you, it looked funny with a q too. Maybe it's just a funny looking word. Good sauce though.
91) I shock myself every time I talk in class. That's not something I do. But I do it now. I'll probably blog about that at another time.
92) I really don't want to go to class now. But I should be good and go. I didn't do the reading. It's hard to when you don't have the textbook. I probably wouldn't have done the reading even if I had bought the textbook. I'll go to class now, and try to pay attention. I'll go, but I don't have to like it. Yep. Bad attitude.

93) I don't know anything about cars. Wait. I know that you have to put in gas and oil to make it go. I know how to put in the gas. You go to Co-op and get them to do it for you. I could do it myself, but that would just be silly. For getting oil put in the car you tell Dad, and he does it. That's all I know. I don't know how to change a tire. If I ever get a flat tire when I'm driving I'll have to stand on the side of the road and look like a girl. I'm okay with that. I can look like a girl.

94) I like knitting. It's relaxing. I have to have a purpose for it, like baby blankets or something. Right now I'm knitting a blanket for Gianna. It's pretty.

95) It really bothers me when people mix up you're and your, and their, they're and there. Really, how hard is it? If someone uses the wrong one I have to reread the sentence to try to figure out what they actually meant, because the sentence doesn't actually say what it should. It hurts me. Look! I started a sentence with a new word.

96) I have never been one of those girls who has had every detail of her wedding planned since she was 10. The details don't seem all that important to me. Okay, I already have the paper for invitations and programs, but that's just because I was in Korea and the hanji paper is pretty, not because I have to have all the right details. Really.

97) I think it's embarassing that we, as in Canadians, associate our national identity with a donut place. I like Tim Horton's and all, but I'm pretty sure I can be Canadian and not have a Tim Horton's mug. I can be Canadian and not watch hockey or say "eh". Pretty sure. I don't have to own a Tim Horton's mug. I will eat the donuts. Mmmm. Donuts.

98) Baseball is boring. Both to watch and to play.

99) I want to go everywhere. There's probably lots of cool stuff to see, and I want to see all of it.

100) I still find my cleavage distracting.

In case you haven't heard yet...

2008-12-18T11:46:00.002+09:00

I found out on Saturday morning that the embassy rejected Samuel's visa application again. That means he will not be coming here for Christmas. I have no idea when he will be able to come. I'm not really anxious to apply again; I don't want to be rejected again. I guess we'll just have to wait until I go back to Korea, and then decide what to do. I'm trying not to concentrate on the disappointment. Sometimes it's hard to think about anything else, but I try. I have one more semester of classes, and then I will be finished my degree, and then I can go back to Korea. Then I will finally get to see Samuel again. It's only five-ish months. Five-ish isn't that long. Right? I'll just keep reminding myself that.

Pray this for someone today

2008-12-09T09:26:00.003+09:00

This was part of my bible reading from yesterday. I thought I should share it.

Ephesians 1:16-19
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparable great power for us who believe.

Isn't that amazing? Don't you want someone to pray that for you? I know I do. I want the spirit of wisdom and revelation. I want to know God better. I'm sure you all do.

Here's what I want you to do. Pick someone, or several someones and pray this for them. Pray it for yourself while you're at it. Let's find out what kind of difference it makes.

Give this a listen

2008-11-27T09:15:00.001+09:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPeVIuRjUi4

It gives me shivers.

Yep, it's been a while

2008-11-27T09:05:00.002+09:00

I know. I haven't said anything for a long time. I haven't felt like saying anything. Everything is still the same. I'm still waiting. I'm still teaching. That's about it.

Let me give you a better update though. Samuel reapplied for a visitors visa. We decided to get the visa guy that Joyce knew to help. Thanks to Mom and Dad, and the other people who contributed to this. Now we just have to wait. I hope I don't have to wait long. I promise I will let you all know when I know something more.

I have only two weeks and two days left of my internship. I'm teaching full time right now. Most days I even like it. I'm glad I had the opportunity to work in Korea before I did this. I have changed so much and gained so much confidence in myself. Some days I am surprised with myself. I was sitting in class today, my students were all working, and I thought that there was no way I could have done this two years ago, but look at me now! I have to say that I am quite proud of myself.

2008-10-24T08:45:00.001+09:00

It's Samuel's birthday on Friday.

Bah Humbug!

2008-10-23T11:21:00.002+09:00

I really wanted my next blog to be something nice. I was kind of depressing on the last post. Oh well. I'll be even more depressing this time. My countdown has increased indefinately. I don't know when Samuel can come. The embassy rejected Samuel's visa application. They said that there was not enough evidence showing ties to Korea, and that he didn't show that he had sufficient funds, and that I didn't show I had sufficient funds. So, in other words, they don't believe that he will return to Korea, they think he doesn't have enough money, and they think I don't have enough money. There was no place where they asked me to show that I had money. I don't have enough money, but they never asked. There is no place where they say how much money is enough, so it's a guessing game.

I was looking forward to Christmas, but now I don't care. I would rather it never came. Christmas was the end. I could stop waiting. Now I don't know when the end is. When can I stop waiting? My first Christmas in Canada in two years, and I'm going to spend it crying. It was supposed to be the best Christmas ever. Not anymore.

71 days

2008-10-15T09:57:00.002+09:00

Well, I have been back in Canada for 71 days. Yep, I've counted. It's been okay. I like Canada. I like living here. I like the food, even if I find Dortitos disappointing. I think I would like it better if I were getting paid to work, but I suppose that will come later. While I do love Canada, there is something that is missing. Okay, not really something, more like someone. I have been in Canada for 71 days. That means that I haven't seen Samuel for 71 days. It seems like forever. Sometimes I think I will go crazy. I didn't know it was possible to miss someone so much. I know some of you did the whole long-distance relationship thing. How did you handle it? Sometimes I think, it's only been 71 days, how can it be this bad already? I have 67 more days until Samuel comes at Christmas. If I'm this crazy already, how bad am I going to be by then? I refuse to think about after Christmas right now because I know I'll just have to go through all of this again. For now I am only thinking up to Christmas. After that isn't important right now. 67 days seems like a long time. I think I'll go crazy.

Prayers please

2008-10-07T09:02:00.002+09:00

I am asking all of you for your prayers on behalf of Samuel. His older brother died this week. He can't go home for the funeral. Please keep him in your prayers. Thank you.

100 things about me: Part 4

2008-09-22T06:24:00.003+09:00

Wow. It has been way too long since I talked about me. I'm sure that there is lots more I can tell you, so here goes.

61) I think about every other sentence I have said since I got back from Korea has started with "In Korea", or "When I was in Korea", so something like that. I don't know how else to talk yet. It was my life for the last two years. If it annoys you, let me know. I probably won't care, but at least I would know if I am annoying you. I understand, sort of, why women only seem to talk about their babies. They don't know what else to talk about. You talk about your life. My life was Korea, now I have to learn something else. Could be fun. Maybe.
62) Stepping on crunchy leaves makes me giggle. It doesn't matter how grouchy I am or how bad my day was, if I step on leaves, I am instantly happy. That is partly why I really like fall. I love stepping on the leaves. The colours are nice, too.
63) Diane's keyboard drives me crazy. She set it up for Canadian English, so now when I push the apostrophe button, I get this è. To get an apostrophe I have to press shift and the comma button. I don't know what I would have to push to get a less than sign. Fortunately I don't need it very often. The question mark is shift 6. Weird. Interestingly, the computer told me I spelled colours wrong. It thinks it should be colors. How annoying.
64) I am updating this now as a way to procrastinate from doing the work I actually should be doing. I am really good at finding anything else to do than the work I need to do. I should be marking tests and making lesson plans. Later.
65) I like to go back to bed for a little bit after I take a shower in the morning. I get out of the shower, and get back into bed. I have to get up earlier than necessary so I can do this. I suppose I could just sleep a little longer, but I would still want to go back to bed, so this works for me.
66) I don,t like talking on the phone that much. I can never think of something to say. I find small talk difficult anyway, but it is way harder on the phone.
67) My dislike of talking on the phone is not conducive to a long distance relationship. I'm working on it. I suppose it's okay not to talk every second. I don't always talk every second when I'm actually face to face with someone, so it's okay on the phone, but it seems like a waste. There is something about the phone that makes me feel like there needs to be conversation every second. I'll have to get over that. (The computer also tells me that okay is spelled wrong.)
68) I don't like having a long distance relationship. Who does, really? I knew that it wouldn't be very much fun, but what did I know? I decided that I had to come back to finish my degree. It's my fault. I'll just have to put up with it for now. I plan to go back to Korea when I'm finished my degree so I don't have to have a long distance relationship. It's only for a little while longer. I'll just keep telling myself that.
69) I can't wait for Christmas. Samuel is going to visit, if all the visa stuff works out, and I will be finished interning. I haven't been home for Christmas in two years, so it will be great for many reasons.
70) I worry that my students don't take my seriously because I look like I should be in their class, not teaching it. One of students asked me how old I am because she said I didn't look old enough to be an intern. I am six years older than the other intern at the school. I'm sure that when I am older I will appreciate looking younger than I really am, but right now I would be very happy to look 27. I would be okay with that.
71) I'm really bad with money. If I have money I spend it. I am really bad at saving any. I need to learn how to save money. It's a life skill I haven't learned yet.
72) I used to think that I needed to be married before I was 25. That's the way life works, right? Now I think people are stupid to get married before they are 25. I don't think you have enough time to know who you really are before then.
73) My personal space has gotten smaller since going to Korea. I get annoyed at people for leaving three feet of space after the person in front of them in line. Is that really necessary? Why do we have so much personal space anyway? Do we think that if we get within arms reach of someone that something bad will happen to us? Is it an invasion of privacy? I don't get it. Think about it. I know it's what we're used to, but why?
74) I really like reality T.V. Not shows like Survivor, but shows like Restaurant Makeover, Hell's Kitchen, and So You Think You Can Dance. Reality that actually is reality. Game shows are also good. Lingo and Wipe Out. Does Wipe Out count as a game show?
75) I wish I actually spoke multiple languages. I know words in several languages, but I would actually like to have a conversation in one of them other than English. I can swear quite well in Korean, but I only know three sentences, one of which is "I am not a pervert." Surprisingly, that is not a sentence you need very often.
76) I hate studying. That is probably why I don't speak multiple languages. I have started to study languages. I studied French in high school, Spanish for two years in university. I studied Korean for long enough to learn the alphabet and a little more. I think part of it is that I never had to study in school, so I never learned how to study, and now I don't know how to make myself do it. How do you learn how to study?
77) I am so not a natural leader. If there is anyone who shows any interest in being the leader, or who has a dominant personality, I will almost always let them take over. I'm sort of a push over this way. I can be bossy. I can be the leader if I have to, but I don't like to.
78) I like living by myself. I get lots of time by myself, and I can walk around with no pants on. It's great. On the other hand, I have to do my own dishes. Maybe I should get disposable dishes.
79) I have found Doritos disappointing. I know. I was surprised too. I love Doritos. I craved them. Then I came back to Canada, and I don't want them anymore. I think it's because they don't have the black pepper jack flavour anymore. That was so good. Cool ranch is good, but I liked black pepper jack more. What happened to it? I want it back.
80) I really miss Samuel. I have conversations with him in my head. Okay, sometimes out loud while I'm driving. He doesn't answer, so I fill in his part too. I wish he could fill in his part.

2008-09-08T10:07:00.002+09:00

I know I haven't updated this in a bit. I don't have internet at home yet, and the school blocks a whole bunch of stuff. I can read blogs, but I can't read any comments or add comments. I can't check facebook at all. I'm doing this at Diane's house right now. I should be driving back now. Oh well.

So, for those of you who don't know, I just started my internship at a high school in a small town. It's quite a change from Korea. I'm trying to get used to it. It's going okay so far. I'm counting down already. 14 more weeks. I can do that. I actually do like teaching. I just don't like the paper work that the university expects to go with it. They make up silly stuff. Right now I am teaching a grade 11 math class, and a general math class that has all the students who need to be constantly prodded to do any work. I will get another class to teach in about three weeks. I think it will be grade 12 math. Maybe physics. I got a phone today. You can ask Dad for my number if you want it.

That's all for now. I will try to say more next week.

Why does a number make such a difference?

2008-08-23T08:06:00.003+09:00

Okay, as most of you know, I lost weight while I was in Korea. I look good. I know it. At least I thought I did. For some stupid reason I decided to weigh myself so I could see how much I had lost. Apparently I didn't lose very much. What is it about that number on the scale that seems so important? Before I saw that number I felt great. I knew I looked great, and I was happy with myself. Then I saw the number. All I could think was that number was too high. I was no longer happy with the way I looked because of that stupid number. Before I looked good. Now I'm just fat. All because of a number. Why does a number dictate how I feel about myself? It's stupid.
I think that as a society, we would be better off if we stopped being weight obsessed. Stop going by numbers. The numbers really don't matter. What matters is how we feel about ourselves. The number makes us feel bad about ourselves. So why do we look at it? Why do we have to know what that number is? The number will never be what we think it should be. Knowing it will only make us hate ourselves.
From now on I will refuse to let a number control me. I don't want to know what it is. I will not give a number control. I will go by how good my ass looks in these jeans. It looks good you know.

Come on people!

2008-08-14T13:02:00.002+09:00

Okay, how has the message not gotten out? I'm sure there has been a memo or something. Just in case some people missed it, I will reiterate; sweat pants are not to be worn in public. Ever.

I saw this guy today. He was wearing sweat pants. Going comando. Not only that, the elastic in the waist, or the drawstring, was not tight enough, so the pants were low riding. Lots of hairy butt crack was visible. Ewww. Oh, and his hands were full so he couldn't pull his pants up. Why? Why did he think it was acceptable to go out like that? Because it isn't! Sweat pants are only to be worn in your house when there is no posibility that anyone will see you. Okay, you can also wear them when you are sick, but you should still be in your house. There is nothing attractive about sweat pants. Especially on guys. Get real clothes. Comfort is no excuse for ugly.

That is my rant for today.

Oh ya. I'm back in Canada. It's cold. But the food is good.

Coming home

2008-08-01T12:49:00.002+09:00

My plane arrives Monday, at 6:58 pm. I expect to eat hamburgers soon after. Well, maybe a shower first, and then hamburgers.

See you all soon.

Black Belt

2008-07-30T20:51:00.002+09:00

It's official. I can beat you up. All of you. I won't though. That wouldn't be nice. I wouldn't want to hurt you. I found out last week that I passed the test. I actually got the belt the week before, but found out the results of the test after that. Isn't that weird? Korea doesn't always make sense. Anyway, after we got our belts, but before the official results, we had a photo shoot in our uniforms. The Korean guy is our master. He was very nervous before our test, but we did him proud, and he wasn't so nervous after. We all did really well.

This is my name on my black belt. We wanted them to write our names in Korean. They put Craig's in English and spelled it wrong. We figured they couldn't get it wrong in Korean, and it's cooler that way.

Think happy thoughts

2008-07-14T11:47:00.002+09:00

Okay, I had my moment. Now I will think happy thoughts. I want to go home. I'm tired of Korea. On Saturday I yelled at a little girl for staring at me. I think it's time to leave now.

So, happy thoughts. I will get to see all you guys soon. 21 days. I will get to go shopping and find clothes that actually fit. I will get to play with those kids that are doing all of their growing up without me. I suppose I could even babysit Xavier and Niles just for old times' sake. I'm sure they would appreciate it. I can go to a Rider game. Play my trumpet. At the same time even. I can go to a restaurant and not have to sit on the floor, and not have the wait staff be afraid to speak to me. They might have to speak English you know. I still want a good hamburger. I can have one in three weeks.

I am excited to go home. I really am. I just don't want to leave. Oh well. I can always come back.

Mixed feelings

2008-07-06T23:33:00.002+09:00

I have four weeks left in Korea. That's 28 days. That's not very many. It's scary. I want to leave. I'm tired of living here right now. I'm tired of people looking at me, I'm tired of being a freak. I can't go anywhere without people staring at me, or trying to practice their English. I want to go home and see everyone. I want to go to church and have a church family again. I want to know what is going on. I want to drive. I want a hamburger. (Diane, I expect to have those yummy hamburgers. You know, the ones that have all that cheese on the inside so when you take a bite you get a mouthfull of cheese. Ya, those ones.) Yes, I am looking forward to going home. I do want to be there, but at the same time, I don't want to leave. I have changed since I came to Korea, and I like who I am. I'm scared that I will change back. I'm scared that I won't let myself be who I am. I'm scared about my internship. We all know how well it worked last time, and I'm scared that it will be the same this time. I want to go home. I really do. I don't want to leave. I don't want to go months without seeing Samuel. I know lots of people did the whole long distance relationship thing, but I don't want to. I like seeing him. I don't want to leave. I want to go home. I can't have both.

Black Belt Test!!!!!

2008-06-23T22:32:00.005+09:00

Yes, it deserves multiple exclamation marks. It was so cool! Sunday was my black belt test, and I DID AWSOME!!!!!!!!! (Don't comment on the grammar of that sentence. I know it's wrong, but I'm saying it anyway.) After waiting around for hours for it to finally be our turn, there was a group of 300 kids infront of our age group, it went by so quickly. It literally took ten minutes from when we walked into the gym until we were finished. It was the fastest ten minutes ever. I didn't have time to be nervous. First, we showed the judges three poomses (forms), and then we demonstrated some kicks, and then we had to spar twice.

Here we had just finished the first form and were waiting to move on to the next one. The judge was writing down our numbers, that's why we are all facing the side.
Demonstrating one of the forms. The uniform is not all that flattering, but it is surprisingly comfortable. I actually just got the red belt on Saturday because we don't actually have to wear them in class, so the master never bothered to give us belts. We needed them for the test, so we got them the day before. I didn't know how to tie it properly, so Master had to dress me.
Getting ready to spar. The equipment is not very comfortable and it makes it harder to move, but you can kick people and it doesn't hurt. Unfortunately, I kicked Sara in the elbow, where there is no padding, and really hurt my foot. Oh well. It was fun anyway.

After our test. We were all giddy with excitement.

This is one of the forms we had to show. There are eight forms required to get your black belt. We had to show three of them. We knew that we would have to do number eight, but the other two we found out just before we had to show them. I wanted to do numbers six and seven. I really didn't want to do numbers four and five. We got out there and found out that we were doing four, five, and eight. I was not very happy about that. I think I did okay, even if those ones were not my best.

I was going to put on more, but it won't work right now. I will put on more later.

Oooh. Pretty.

2008-06-11T12:35:00.003+09:00

Last weekend was a long weekend, so we took the opportunity to go somewhere else. We went to a city on the east coast and were tourists. We all took lots of pictures of pretty much everything. I think the best part was that everything was so pretty and relaxing. I thought I would share some of the beauty so you can have a relaxing time, too. Enjoy. This was in a small town close to a temple. It was in the mountains and everything was so green. It was also very quiet. We all thought we could stay there forever.
This is a rice field on the edge of a forest. The trees were pretty. There were lots and lots of tadpoles in the rice field. Rachel dropped her extra camera battery into the water. Oops.
I think this was at a temple in the mountains. I took lots of pictures of walls, so I don't remember for sure. I just like this picture, so it doesn't really matter where it is. Can't you just here the birds and the water?
We found a pond that was almost completely covered with lilly pads. Here is a lotus flower. We also saw a frog sitting on the lilly pad. We were sure that frogs do that, so we looked around until we found one. I'll show you a picture later.
A drop of water on a leaf. Isn't it pretty?

100 things about me: Part 3

2008-05-19T00:24:00.002+09:00

It has been a few months since I added to this list, so I thought I would continue with the list. I have no new adventures to talk about this week either, so you get to know a little more about me, instead of a little more about Korea.
41) I think I'm on the right number. Sometimes I forget things like that. I actually did look back on my previous posts so I would remember what I had already told you, but it didn't occur to me to see what the last number was. I'm also lazy, as well as forgetful, so I'm not going back to look. I'm sure one of you will check for me and let me know if I'm wrong. Thanks.
42) I think as I'm getting older, my springtime allergies are getting worse. I like to take pictures of trees and flowers, but at the moment I don't like the real ones so much. I am liking my antihistamines a lot though.
43) I think I must be getting old. Everytime I see, or hear a baby, I think, "aww. I want one of those." Then I tell myself "no, you don't." Stupid clocks. I'll just have to enjoy everybody else's babies. It's a good thing other people have babies for me to appreciate. Wow, how was that for not trivial?
44) I am getting much better at being myself with people. I think that's because now I know more of who myself is, did that make any sense? I am much more comfortable with who I am now, and that makes is easier to share me with other people. See, still not trivial. Good for me.
45) I like the "new Robin" way more than the "old Robin". This is how I describe me now and me before I came to Korea. "Old Robin" was boring. "New Robin" is way more fun. I like me more now. I hope you all will, too.
46) I really hate when people fight. Even when people are grouchy at each other. It makes me so uncomfortable and I want to go hide in a different room so I can escape the tension. I have a very sensitive tension sensor. I notice.
47) I don't do grouchy very well. Probably because of the previous entry. I don't like when people are grouchy at each other, so when I'm grouchy I tend to stay away from people. I don't want to create tension.
48) I'm getting grouchy a lot lately. People stare at me. It's annoying. I'm tired of being a freak. I'm tired of people thinking they need to talk to me. It must be time to leave.
49) I am procrastinating from packing. If I pack it means that I'm leaving. I don't want to leave, but I really do. It's confusing and frustrating and sad, all at the same time. I want to go home, but I don't want to leave. Does that make sense to anyone?
50) Okay, let's get trivial. Garlic makes me gassy. That's really unfortunate in a country where garlic is added to practically everything. Oh well. Everyone gets gas. It's nothing to be embarassed about.
51) I like to paint my toenails. I feel naked when I don't have colour on my toes. Right now my toenails are purple. They're pretty. I have to think about what colour my toes are when I decide what shoes to wear. My shoes can't clash with my toes. It's not a problem in the winter, as I don't show my toes, but now that it's summer, it's a major concern.
52) I like to have popcorn for breakfast, preferably air-popped. With orange juice. I see nothing wrong with that. I haven't actually had popcorn for breakfast in a long time because I don't have a popcorn popper, or a microwave. Makes it harder to make popcorn. I only have popcorn when I go to the movies. The popcorn at the movies is cheap here, so I always have popcorn at the movies.
53) I bought shoes today. I knew as I was paying for them that I really didn't need new shoes and that I had to pack and all the sensible things that I should have been thinking to talk myself out of it. And then I bought them anyway. Even when I am trying to be sensible I can find a reason to buy shoes. I didn't have black flip-flops with a heel. That's a good enough reason.
54) I don't like to wear pants. Who needs pants? I get home from work and take my pants off. I'm starting to think that a nuddist colony would be great. Maybe a little cold.
55) I'm quite excited about getting my black belt in taekwondo. This is totally not something I would have done before. I am definately not a sporty type person. Getting my black belt is so out of character for me. I love it. I'm just full of surprises. My test is in a month. Cool.
56) I can't actually admit that I'm excited about stuff. That would require, you know, showing emotions, whatever those are, and that is not something that I do. So, disregard that last comment. I never would have said anything like that.
57) I totally forgot what I was going to say. It was good too. Hmm. I wonder what it was. Oh well, I'll tell you something else. I can't sleep with my hair down. I have to braid it so Ican sleep. If my hair is loose it gets all over the place and I end up pulling my own hair when I roll over, and that's really annoying.
58) I hate when pictures are crooked on the wall. I am much to, well the best word is 'anal', to allow pictures to be crooked. There is a restaurant here where the pictures are intentionally hung crookedly on the wall, and screwed into place so they can't be moved. It drives me crazy. I have to very carefully not look at the walls. I get too distracted if I do. It's like Diane with mirrors.
59) I'm almost as obsessed with mirrors as Diane is. I like to look at myself in the mirror, provided, of course, that I have done my makeup. There is one mirror at taekwondo that I don't like to stand in front of because it's what I call a "fat mirror". You just can't look good in that mirror. The one next to it is so much better. It's a nice mirror. I'll stand in front of that one.
60) I don't like to look in the mirror in the bathroom in the dark. I think this goes way back to elemetary school where the girls at a sleep over would tell the story of "Bloody Mary" and tell you that if you said her name three times while turning around in the dark in front of the mirror she would show up behind you. I still don't look in the mirror in the dark. I know it's stupid, but that's how it goes. Oh, and there are alligators under the bed, too, so you have to jump. We weren't allowed to have monsters, so we had alligators instead.

Okay, that's your "learn about Robin" session for this month. I hope you enoyed it. Now it's late so I'm going to go to bed. Good night.

Yes, I am still alive.

2008-05-07T22:46:00.005+09:00

Okay, I'm sorry. I know it has been a while since I updated my blog. I have been lazy. What can I say? Right now I am procrastinating from cleaning, and also from making lesson plans, so updating my blog seems to be in order.

Last weekend was a long weekend. Monday was a national holiday. It was children's day. Any reason for a holiday is good for me. We crammed as much into the weekend as we could. On Saturday Rachel and Leah and I went to the Hanji Festival in Jeonju. Hanji is traditional paper made out of mulberry bark. The festival included a parade with costumes made out of paper and a marching band playing traditional Korean instruments.

Sunday was Buddha's birthday party. His actual birthday is next Monday, but the party was a little early. We went up to Seoul to join in the festivities. There were lanterns all over. There was another parade. It was very long, but had a lot of cool stuff like a military marching band and a group of unicyclers. There were also thousands of people walking in the parade carrying lanterns. This was the lantern festival celebrating Buddha's birthday after all.
This is a five story high poster of Buddah. We watched the parade standing right next to it.
As Monday was a holiday we had to put it to good use. There was a professional soccer game in Jeonju, so we headed on over to watch. It was really cool. It was also really hot. I think it was 30 degrees out and we had to sit in the sun. You have to separate the fans, you know, and the shady side of the stadium was for the away team's fans. We couldn't cheer for Suwon. Jeonbuk, our team, has Rider colours, so it was obvious who we had to cheer for.
This Monday coming up is another holiday, Buddha's birthday, so I'm sure we will find something to do. I'll let you know.

More flowers and trees

2008-04-22T23:07:00.002+09:00

I know. You're so surprised that I took pictures of flowers and trees. What can I say? I like plants. Last weekend we went on more adventures. We went to a city about an hour away that has Korea's equivalent of the Great Wall of China. It was an ancient fortress built to keep out invading armies. All the way around the wall was a row of those bright fuschia flowers. Very pretty.
After visiting the wall we went to a nearby temple. The temple was in a forest. We were rather excited to walk through a forest. We thought the entrance fee was worth it just for that part. There was a little river going through with some cool trees along it. I took many pictures of course.
This tree grows out of a rock. It's apparently a national monument. It is really cool, but I'm not sure it's national monument worthy.
Finally you get some happy spring flowers. Enjoy.

Cherry blossoms

2008-04-17T20:59:00.004+09:00

I'm a little late posting my weekly update, but I was busy procrastinating from making lesson plans for a new class I am going to teach next week. Then I was busy making lesson plans for that class. Now I am procrastinating again, so I thought I would give you an update.

Last Wednesday was election day here. To encourage everyone to go out and vote, it is a national holiday. Not wanting to waste a day off in the middle of the week we decided to go for a car trip to see the cherry blossoms in bloom. We went to a nearby national park called Naejansan.
Of course it rained on our mini-vacation, but we went anyway. There were fewer people in the park that way. The rain made the mountains look really cool because the tops were covered in mist.

There was a little babbling brook going through the park. I took lots of pictures because it was pretty.As the whole purpose of the trip was to see cherry blossoms, and to have a barbeque, I thought I would give you a few cherry blossom pictures. We didn't have the barbeque. The rain didn't let up all day. This is a close up of the cherry blossoms.

And now a road lined with cherry trees. I have to say that cherry trees are very photogenic so all the pictures I took look good even if some were fuzzy.
I think I have done enough procrastinating for now. I should make some more lesson plans so I will know what I am teaching next week.

High School

2008-04-06T23:22:00.004+09:00

Well, this weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. I couldn't go, as I'm in Korea and it would be a little expensive to go for a weekend. Instead, I did some thinking about high school. I don't have very many happy memories of high school. I never understood the people who thought that high school was wonderful. It sure wasn't wonderful for me. In Warman I was the quiet bookworm that nobody talked to. It wouldn't have mattered if they had talked to me, as I was too shy to talk back. I was determined that when I went to Western it would be different and I would do everything. I tried out for dinner theatre. Didn't make it. I tried out for Sonshine. Didn't make it. I tried out for traveling chorus. Didn't make it. I tried out for musical. Didn't make it. Do you see a trend here? I did play soccer, but I was not an integral part of the team and I knew it. How could I not have? The coach and other players never let me forget. The first few months at Western only served to push me further into my shell. That was not what I had planned. Why is it that our plans don't work so well? Grade 12 was a little better. I was student council president, I was an integral part of the soccer team and I made traveling chorus. I didn't make Sonshine, and yes, it still bugs me. That was something I had really wanted to do. I still didn't really talk to people and they didn't really talk to me. I remember at the end of the year when Mrs. Muller had us all write notes to each other and then she typed them up and gave them to us. The only thing that my class mates said to me was that I was smart. It made me sad that after two years with most of these people the only thing they could say about me was that I was smart. They didn't bother to try to learn any more than that, and I didn't have the courage to let them see any more than that.

I'm glad high school is over. I am also glad that I am not the person I was then anymore. I have changed a lot since then. I talk to people, and I hope that most days I let them see that I am more than a smart person. In some ways I wish I could do high school again as the me I am now. Maybe it would have been a lot more fun. Maybe I would have had more friends. Maybe I would have more good memories. The thing about the past is that it is in the past. We can learn from it, but we don't get to do it over. We just have to live with it. I was who I was then, and I am who I am now. I like who I am now. I will make happy memories now and give up the sad memories from then. I am a different person now, and all that happened to someone else.

I'm not sure if I am disappointed that I had to miss my 10 year reunion. It would have been nice to be home and to see everyone, but I don't know how much I need to relive high school. Once was enough for me. I am disappointed about missing the alumni chorus. I really like that. Oh well. Next time.

14,000 things to be thankful for

2008-03-25T21:59:00.002+09:00

No, I'm not going to write 14,000 things to be thankful for. That was the title of a book I came across this weekend while in a bookstore. It was essentially a list of nice things. I don't remember the list, but I have been thinking about it, and I thought I would make my own list and see how many things I can be thankful for today, or just things I like and would like to be thankful for today. Really, it will end up being a list of stuff I like. This is a change from stuff about me, yet it will still give you insight into me.

the smell of the linen closet.
new sheet day
the snap of the taekwondo pads when you get the kick just right
the 'ding' of my oven timer. I just love it. It means the cookies are ready.
the sound of rain on the roof
the smell of rain. You know the smell. Kind of like wet sidewalks.
Big worms on the sidewalk after the rain. It rained this week okay.
a well stocked bookshelf.
the smell of tomato vines
raspberries
laundry fresh out of the dryer. I would really like to be thankful for this.
a glassy smooth lake with the sunsetting over it.
ham
pretty shoes
stepping on crunchy leaves
stepping on that cool ice with the air bubbles underneath
marching bands
playing in the flour container
new notebooks or stationery
chocolate
blankets to wrap up in when it's a little chilly
floor heat. Got to love it.
when the trees are starting to get leaves and there's a kind of green haze all over
hoar frost
the smell of snow when you get up early in the winter to go to Grandma's house.
the smell of fresh bread
eating fresh bread with butter and cheese
sitting around doing nothing with friends
nintendo night with slurpees and lots of giggles
licorice
the northern lights
loons on the lake at night
hot chocolate at camp
wild blueberries
stepping on grasshoppers
heavy blankets on you feet when you go to sleep
waking up to your alarm and then remembering that you don't have to get up so you can just turn it off and go back to sleep
flowers
bamboo windchimes
stained glass windows
old church buildings
church family
singing with everybody
potluck
small groups
sitting around after church and visiting for a long time
church in English
God's unfathomable love
when you can feel God's presence
hope

Okay, I think I will stop there. I'm sure I could think of more things to be thankful for, but I will let you continue the list.

He is risen!

2008-03-23T22:10:00.004+09:00

Praise the Lord! He is risen! We have so much hope because the tomb is empty. Jesus died so that we could have eternal life. I look forward to that. Eternal life with God will be wonderful. Praising God forever. Wow. Sounds great. I hope it's lots of singing. Singing with other believers always makes me happy, and I'm sure it will be even better when I don't worry about getting a note wrong. I am so thankful that Jesus took my sin so that I can be with God forever. What a wonderful gift. I should be thankful everyday, but sometimes I forget. Today is Easter, so it's easy to remember to thank God for the gift of his son. Easter is my favorite holiday. I always look forward to it. I could try harder to get that Easter feeling everyday. Imagine how cool that would be.
He is risen indeed! (C is for cookie)

A momentous event!

2008-03-11T22:16:00.003+09:00

It had to happen some day I suppose. I knew it would. I couldn't put it off forever. Saturday was the day. I bought shoes. Not just any shoes. Shoes with laces. Running shoes. Yes, it's true, I now own sneakers. Isn't it amazing? This is what they look like. They look a little out of place surrounded by all those pretty heels, but that doesn't seem to bother them too much.
I bought them because I had to borrow shoes from a friend when we went hiking, and then so I could go play Ultimate Frisbee. I decided that I could have my own shoes. Yay me!

I think I have procrastinated from my homework for long enough now, but I'm sure I can still think of something else to do. Some of you will probably get an email tonight. I can always think of something to do other than homework.

A mini vacation

2008-03-06T21:30:00.002+09:00

The residual happy effects of my vacation are fading, so I thought I would revisit it a little. These are some of my favorite pictures.
This is the beach we went to in Malaysia. I got a very bad sunburn at this beach, but I think it was worth it. We had the whole beach to ourselves for the whole afternoon. I could do that again. With a little more sunscreen. I did have sunscreen, but I wasn't careful enough applying it. My burn looked very funny because you could see exactly where I missed. I was striped.

When I came to my senses I went to sit in the shade. I found shade under this palm tree. That is not something you get to do in Saskatchewan, or Korea for that matter. I got to sit in the shade of a palm tree. I took a picture of the shade. You could see the shape of the leaves. It was cool.

This is another kind of palm tree. I thought it was very pretty. This was in Singapore. Singapore is absolutely beautiful. If you ever get the chance to go, you should. I would go again.

We got to go swimming with dolphins. Another thing you don't get to do in Saskatchewan. They were pink dolphins. After swimming with them we stuck around to watch the show so I got to take some cool pictures.

After the dolphin show and another stint on the beach we headed over to the aquarium. I love this picture. Jellyfish are pretty. We also saw sea dragons and unicorn fish.

This mini vacation was nice. I should do it more often.

Random ramblings

2008-03-02T19:53:00.003+09:00

Well, I was going to revisit my vacation and show you my favourite pictures and try to get back the vacation good mood, but for some reason I can't put pictures on today. I will try again later. For now I will just ramble on and give you some random thoughts. I had mashed potatoes today. It was very exciting. I know, who thinks mashed potatoes are exciting? I do. Last week I was teaching and there was a picture of a family eating dinner and they were eating mashed potatoes and all I could think of was ham with buttery mashed potates and peas. Unfortunately I can't get ham here, but I can get potatoes, so I made mashed potatoes for lunch today. They were really good too. Someone will have to eat ham for me and tell me all about it. I will be very jealous. I promise.
I called Diane's house today because I knew Joyce would be there so I thought I could talk to Diane and Joyce at the same time. I discovered that there was a baby shower. I got to talk to a lot more people than Joyce and Diane. It was a lot of fun. Xavier even let me talk to Patience. Nancy talked to me for a minute but then the baby started fussing so she either had to give up the baby or the phone. She gave up the phone. I got to talk to Monica then. Nancy did talk to me again later. If I didn't get to talk to you today, hi.
I have been very lazy today. I haven't really done more than making potatoes. I still haven't washed the dishes from making the potatoes. Or the dished from yesterday for that matter. I'll get to it, but as I said earlier, I hate washing dishes. When Samuel visited last weekend he washed the dishes for me. Wasn't that nice of him? He must like me or something. No, I didn't have dishes from several days sitting in the sink when he got here. I cooked. Real food. It was good too.
I'm listening to country music right now. Isn't that weird? I even like it. Carrie Underwood. I thought I should broaden my music collection.
I'm out of random thoughts for now. I will try to post again later this week.

100 things about me. Part 2

2008-02-24T23:26:00.004+09:00

So I can't think of anything more interesting to write about, so I will continue talking about myself. I'm interesting. Actually, writing about me is rather educational for me. I'm learning lots about myself.
21) one of my favourite books is As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer. I think I've read it at least 10 times. Everytime I read it I notice something new. I never get tired of reading it and althought I know how it ends I still can't put it down when I get close to the end because I have to keep reading to fnd out what happens next. It's a really good book. If you haven't read it you really should.
22) My favourite book of all times is The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I think I like it so much because I identify with Valancy. I see a lot of myself in her character. Everytime I read it I think that I should start saying exactly what I think and do whatever I want. You may not believe this, but I don't actually say everything I think. Really.
23) I read the Amityville Horror about 15 years ago and it still scares me. I think statues of lions are really creepy because of this book.
24) I like books. I know, shocking. I have a lot of them. I keep buying them even though I know I can't take them all home with me. I'm not sure how I will be able to part with my books here. It will be hard. I'll stop talking about books now.
25) It really bothers me when people point out to me that I got a sunburn. Do you think I didn't notice? Trust me, I know. You don't have to tell me. If I go outside I will get a sunburn, even with sunscreen. Side effect of being a pale red-head.
26) I am really disappointed that Skittles changed the green from lime to green apple. How does green apple go with orange and lemon? Why would I want green apple when I could have lime? I just don't understand.
27) When I was in elementary school I wanted to be an author. I still think I should write a book. I have ideas and one of these days I may get around to writing those ideas down. My life's ambition no longer is to be an author, but I think it would still be fun.
28) I don't like cashews. I think I must be the only person in the world who doesn't like them. I know, it's weird, but I think they kind of taste rotten.
29) One of my biggest fears is looking stupid. I think that's what holds me back a lot. I don't want to do things because I think I won't be good at it and I'll look dumb for trying so it's better to not try. I am getting over this a little, but I worry about it a lot.
30) I love to cook but I don't usually bother to cook for myself. I don't really see the point when I am the only one eating it so I usually end up eating salad or sandwiches. I like to cook when other people are going to eat it. I can't resist showing off.
31) I wish that I hadn't been so shy when I was in high school. I think I would have had way more fun. As it is, I don't have many good memories from school because I was too shy and quiet to actually do anything.
32) I'm really scared of ticks. I still remember the first time I saw one. I don't know how old I was, but I know I was young because I was sleeping in a crib at Grandma Taylor's house in the girls' room. A tick crawled across my pillow and freaked me out. I have been scared of them ever since.
33) I really need to dust. I can see a layer of dust on my bookshelves, but I probably won't get around to dusting for a very long time. Dusting goes with washing dishes as something I really don't like to do.
34) I hate the sound of swallowing. You know when you take a drink and swallow loudly? That sound. I can't even make that sound. I know Joyce can, and Xavier is really good at it. There was a commercial on TV here that had the sound. I drove me creazy.
35) Computers are a mystery to me. I don't know anything about them. When people start in with the computer talk I hear "blah blah blah". I don't understand anything they say. Sometimes it bothers me that I have absolutely no clue about computers, but mostly I just don't care.
36) When I was on vacation I went two whole days without wearing makeup. It was hard, but I managed. I have worn makeup everyday since.
37) I'm finding this very difficult today. I keep thinking of something I could say and then think that no one would care about that. The self-depricating attitude is not very helpful.
38) I love to look at the stars. I like to just sit outside and look. It's very relaxing.
39) I joined taekwondo last summer because Leah nagged me. I'm glad she did because I really like it. I have never been a sporty person, but I think I could be with the right kind of sports. Not basketball.
40) Sometimes I like to take a nap right before bedtime. I like to fall asleep on the couch and then get up and go to bed. I am so my father.

Okay, you can stop wondering. I'll talk.

2008-02-17T22:36:00.003+09:00

I know that many of you are curious about my boyfriend, so I thought I would try to satisfy that curiousity. This is my boyfriend. His name is Samuel. I first met him about a year ago when I went to church in Daejeon. We would talk whenever I went to church. I thought he was hot and that he was one of the nicest guys I had ever met. In September he called me and asked me out, but unfortunately someone had to get married so I couldn't go out with him then. After I got back from the wedding we talked more and then he came to visit for my birthday. I went to visit him two weeks later and that was when we officially started dating. Coincidentally, the next day the Riders won the Grey Cup, so it was a good week all around.

Now that you know how it happened, I'll give you some information about him. He is from Tanzania. He is studying social welfare and missions theology at a university in a city near Seoul. Right after we started dating was finals so I didn't see him for three weeks because he is very commited to his studies. Those three weeks sucked, but now that finals are over I get to see him more often. He's 34. Before he came to Korea he was a journalist in Tanzania. he decided that he wanted to help people and thought that social work and missions was a good way to do that, so that is why he is studying now. He has two sisters and three brothers. His older brother and sister are twins. He really likes hip-hop. Now, I am the whitest person I know, and hip-hop and I are rather ill-suited for each other, but I am trying, and it is growing on me. I actually like some of it now. He likes to exercise and read and watch the news. He also likes to go hunting. He shot a lion once. Isn't that cool? He told me on our first date that he loved me. It scared me at the time, but now it isn't scary. I like it. When I asked him if there was anything he wanted me to tell you on this blog, the only thing he said was to make sure I told you that he loves me. So I'm telling you. He loves me. I love you too Sam.

Now I'll tell you what I like about him. I like that he tells me I'm beautiful. When he says it I actually believe it. He makes me feel beautiful. I like how he gets shoes. The first time he came to visit me he saw my shoes and said, "wow Robin, you have a lot of shoes. It's so you can have a different pair for each outfit right?" Most people say something along the lines of "holy crap! You have a lot of shoes!" When I went to visit him we were walking around downtown and everytime we walk by a shoe store he would slow down so I could look at the shoes. I like that he listens when I talk and seems to be interested in what I say. I like that he wants to make the world a better place. I like that he seems to have infinite patience and that he is kind. I like the way he says my name. It sounds really nice with his accent. Not that he uses my name all that much because he calls me Honey, but I like that too.

And I said I was bad at girl talk. I hope this has helped to satisfy some of your curiousity.