This is my new hair. I spent some time taking pictures of myself trying to get one that I liked enough to share with all of you. Not only can you see my new hair, my eyes look really blue in this picture. I really like my hair this colour. I'm already planning what I'm going to do next time I decide to dye my hair. I'm thinking all over honey-blond. I'll have to see. It will be exciting to find out.

In weather news, I was thinking about turning my heat on today. It seems to have skipped light sweater weather and gone straight to jacket weather. I had to wear socks today because my feet were freezing and I got out more blankets to put on my bed. I don't want to turn the heat on because October isn't over yet and I refuse to give in to the cold until November at the earliest, and possibly December if I can hold out that long. I'm cheap, what can I say. I can always wrap up in a blanket. The leaves finally started changing colours. They haven't really started falling off the trees yet, so I don't get to step on crunchy leaves yet, but maybe next week. I like crunchy leaves.

Go Riders!

In our lives we tend to take things for granted. It is so easy to think that something will always be there when we want or need it. Living in a foreign country has made me realize this even more. We went to Seoul this weekend and got to go to a Western restaurant for dinner on Saturday, and then Burger King and Starbucks on Sunday. These aren't things we normally get to do as none of these things exist in Iksan. Aside from family, food is one of the things I miss most. It can be really difficult to buy food from home. Finding celery is next to impossible, and finding Miracle Whip is impossible. Fortunately, there are some foreign food stores. It seems strange to call stores that have food from home "foreign", but in Korea, that is exactly what they are. Today we went to the foreign food market in Seoul. I was so excited to find salt and vinegar chips, and I was practically ecstatic to find a bag of dried chick peas and a box of graham wafers. None of these things would be even remotely exciting to me in Canada, but it's thrilling in Korea. Next time you're in the grocery store and you buy Cheese Whiz, whole wheat bread, or dill pickles, send up a little cheer for me.


We did stuff that didn't involve food this weekend too. I went to the salon and got low-lights put in my hair. My hair looks quite a bit darker now. I absolutely love it. I can't show you yet because I don't have a picture, but I will get one soon. I will let you wait impatiently.

Where to start? So much has happened since last update. No new bugs, thank the Lord, but stuff has happened anyway. Let's see...

I went to Canada for Joyce's wedding. I spend way too much time either in airports or on airplanes in the last two weeks. I did discover that I can sit around for a long time and not get too bored. I only finished one book in the 30 hours in airports or airplanes, and I had started that one before I left. On the way back to Korea I talked to the ladies next to me. One was a Buddhist nun, and the other was studying Buddhism. They were very interesting, which was good because my television screen didn't work for the entire flight back so I couldn't watch movies. I'm not sure what I did for the rest of the time, but I must have done something, because I made it back. Work this week was exhausting. I was always tired. I think I'm over it now, because I was okay today. Saturdays are good for that.

The wedding was good, by the way. I won't bore you with details, because I'm pretty sure that everyone who reads this was there, but if you weren't, leave a comment and I'll give you details. Suffice it to say, I looked hot, Joyce looked hot, and we all had nice shoes. There, you got all of the important details.

Today we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. There were six Canadians, three Americans, two South Africans, and two New Zealanders. It was multi-cultural thanksgiving. We had way too much food, but that seems to be a part of Thanksgiving. It isn't Thanksgiving unless you eat too much to move. After the food we all sat around and laughed at nothing in particular, and then we played Taboo. It was a good Thanksgiving, even if we don't get a long weekend and I didn't get to go to Lectureship.

That's all for today. I'll save stuff for the next update.

Jimminy Cricket!

I showed my students a picture of the bug and they told me that it was a cricket. Then they laughed at me because I freaked out about a cricket. "It's just a cricket, Teacher." It's not just a cricket! A cricket wears tails and a top hat and sings "when you wish upon a star". It doesn't freak me out in my bedroom. Stupid bug. I don't care if it was a cricket. It was still gross.

Yucky bug!

I went into my bedroom yesterday and I thought that there was a spider on the floor. That was bad enough, but then I looked closer. That is not a spider! I have no idea what it is. It totally freaked me out. It jumped!! I dropped a container on top of it and then had to leave the room and freak out for a bit before I came to my senses and thought that I should take pictures of it so you could see it too. If you look closely you can see that it spikey things on its bum and extra mouth parts. It had really long antenna too. When I started taking pictures it turned around and came to the edge and looked at me. Creepy. When I was finished with the photo shoot I took the container outside and dropped the bug out the window. A three floor drop probably did it good. I live on the third floor. That bug has no wings. How did it get into my apartment? I hope I never have to see anything like it again.

See, it's looking at you.

I was a tourist today

Today I went to the traditional village in Jeonju. I had already been there twice, but I'm always up for touristy stuff. I figured out how to put pictures on here so you get to see too.


This is the gate that goes into the garden at the palace grounds.

Isn't this a cool picture?

More moss covered trees.

Pretty trees. I like trees. Most of the pictures I take are of trees or some other kind of plant.

There is a big Catholic cathedral at the entrance to the traditional village. It doesn't really fit in with the Korean architecture. I didn't take any pictures of th exterior because they are restoring it so there was scaffolding all over. I'll take pictures of it next time.


When Nancy and Joyce were here we couldn't go into the cathedral, so I was excited that I could this time. There is something about churches that makes me want to go inside.

I think I've figured it out!

Okay, I know that the last post says I posted it over a month ago, but then I came back to Korea and everything was in Korean and I didn't know what buttons to push to make it do what I wanted. A friend came over today and I asked her to tell me what everything meant, so I think I have it figured out. Thanks Christen!


When I got back to Korea I had to get used to the heat again. I had forgotten just how hot it is here. Fortunately, it has now cooled off enough that I don't have to have my air conditioner on all the time. It has rained almost everyday for the last three weeks, but there was no rain today so we were all very happy. I even saw blue sky for a few minutes!

I look forward to seeing most of you soon, although I feel like I just saw you, but it will be nice anyway.

Get better soon Grandma.