100 things about me: Part 3

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

1. the smell of the linen closet.
2. new sheet day
3. the snap of the taekwondo pads when you get the kick just right
4. the 'ding' of my oven timer. I just love it. It means the cookies are ready.
5. the sound of rain on the roof
6. the smell of rain. You know the smell. Kind of like wet sidewalks.
7. Big worms on the sidewalk after the rain. It rained this week okay.
8. a well stocked bookshelf.
9. the smell of tomato vines
10. raspberries
11. laundry fresh out of the dryer. I would really like to be thankful for this.
12. a glassy smooth lake with the sunsetting over it.
13. ham
14. pretty shoes
15. stepping on crunchy leaves
16. stepping on that cool ice with the air bubbles underneath
17. marching bands
18. playing in the flour container
19. new notebooks or stationery
20. chocolate
21. blankets to wrap up in when it's a little chilly
22. floor heat. Got to love it.
23. when the trees are starting to get leaves and there's a kind of green haze all over
24. hoar frost
25. the smell of snow when you get up early in the winter to go to Grandma's house.
26. the smell of fresh bread
27. eating fresh bread with butter and cheese
28. sitting around doing nothing with friends
29. nintendo night with slurpees and lots of giggles
30. licorice
31. the northern lights
32. loons on the lake at night
33. hot chocolate at camp
34. wild blueberries
35. stepping on grasshoppers
36. heavy blankets on you feet when you go to sleep
37. 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
38. flowers
39. bamboo windchimes
40. stained glass windows
41. old church buildings
42. church family
43. singing with everybody
44. potluck
45. small groups
46. sitting around after church and visiting for a long time
47. church in English
48. God's unfathomable love
49. when you can feel God's presence
50. 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!

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)