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.
Sunday, February 20
Saturday, February 19
Day 3 - Favorite Television Show
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.
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.
Friday, February 18
Day 2 - My Favorite Movie
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.
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.
Thursday, February 17
30 Day Blog Challenge
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
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
Sunday, February 6
Getting Married in Korea
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 26
I haven't done this in a long time
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.
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.
Monday, August 30
Why do we do complain?
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?
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?
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