Life is a mystery no more!

I was daydreaming and marking the other day and I had an epiphany. Those of you who know me well know that I have been having trouble deciding what I'd like to do with my life. I mean, in terms of a profession. Yesterday I was imagining my own classroom. It would be decorated to look and feel like a jungle and the kids would actually call it the jungle! hehehe.... I'd have plants and we'd do things a bit different in my class than in any other class. I have some vague ideas about what that might entail, but lets just say that my plot will be to foster free thinkers and world changers. :) We'll see how it goes, but when I snapped out of my daydream I had a warm tingly feeling all over. So yeah - grade school. Who knew?

WE WILL ROCK YOU!!!

They certainly did rock us!! C A M E G , MK and I went to a musical written around the music of Queen!!! It was amazing! It was the Australian cast and they were great. A couple years ago, Curtis and I were hooked on a T.V. show called Rockstar INXS. The lead for the musical tried out on that show!! He made it really far too - like 3rd place! It was amazing to see him doing live theater because when we watched the show - he was so dramatic that's exactly what we though he should do. It was also a little bit like we knew him because there were interviews on that show and it ran for 4 months in the summer. All in all Amazing!!

The Doctors Office

So the weekdays are still pretty much uneventful - but our weekends you have to admit have been chalk full of adventure and excitement! Well do I have a treat for you! I went to the doctor's office on Thursday! YAY!!! No it wasn't a field trip, I was actually feeling quite ill. In fact the doctor said I had a sinus infection and a pharynx (that's the top part of your throat) infection.

I had caught my little bug on Wednesday and began sniffling - by Thursday I was feeling like hell! At 6 pm I went to the doctors office. I was very impressed by the cleanliness and the atmosphere. It was really nice! I waited all of 30 seconds and the doctor saw me for about the same amount of time that a Canadian doctor does. The first thing he did was take a tongue depressor and as me to open my mouth. Normal enough I thought. While he was looking he reached for a nozzle on a stand behind him. It looks like the thing a dentist uses to give you a rinse with. He sprayed a mist into my mouth for about 5 seconds. I was shocked - I think I jumped. It was so weird for me. At first I thought it might be to take away my bad breath, but Rachel (who accompanied me there) told me it was medicine. The Dr. then looked in my nose. Once again he grabbed a different nozzle and sprayed in each of my nostrils! I think I actually recoiled a bit!! He pressed in my sinuses and then told me I had sinusitis and pangitis. When I left I got a prescription. Whatever the medication was it must have been strong because it was only 3 days worth.

Before I left the office I was lead over to a corner with three machines hooked to the wall. They all had tubes coming out of them and I had seen one patient with a tube in his mouth - inhaling the gas that was coming out of the machine. The nurse changed the mouth piece and put the timer on and motioned for me to have a seat and put it in my mouth. Rachel told me to breath in the gas, again she explained that it was medicine. I think it is actually an oxygen machine - the idea being that the oxygen will help speed up your healing. I think it's brilliant! There was also a mentholy kind of smell - so some other "medicine" could have been added as well.

Friday I was still feeling terrible and was actually having a bit of vertigo in my first 3 classes of the day. I was dizzy and sweating and felt like I wasn't actually present and that I was hallucinating. Weird huh? Saturday I laid low and took my meds and lots of liquids. Sunday I was feeling much better and by Monday I was nearly back to normal. Yay!!! I've survived a Korean cold!!! The Dr's bills and the medication was a total of 33,000 Korean won. That's about $36 Canadian buckaroos. They do a few things much better here!

Seollal - Lunar New Year!

Thursday and Friday of our vacation were relaxing and amazing days. We spent them with Matt and Amber playing board games, eating, and going to nore-bang. Thursday night I had a little bit to drink and so Nore-bang was especially fun - wink, wink! I sang bed of roses like a real rock star. It sounded terrible I'm sure but I really belted it out and Matt, Amber and Curtis couldn't stop laughing. As per usual, when you're drunk and people are laughing at you, you do it more and bigger... so they laughed more and more. Good times.

Saturday we went to Erin's house at noon for a traditional Korean meal. We were a bit nervous because we weren't sure how much English her family spoke and we also weren't sure about what kind of food they would serve. We took the bus most of the way and were picked up by her dad and herself. We met them at a very large gate. It turned out to be the entrance of the state university. It didn't have doors but was more like a archway. It was made of marble with white stone carvings on both sides and on top. I'll post a photo when I get my pics developed. I'm starting to think that a digital camera would suit my needs a bit better.... hmmmm......

Erin's family was so great! They spoke quite bit of English and were so hospitable. They also invited another Korean-Canadian family for super so we had lots of people to talk to and lots of questions to ask! The food was amazing! The main course for the New Years meal is a soup called Duk-gook. It's a hearty broth with rice cake in it. Rice cake is not the little crispy cracker things we have. It's the result of rice under pressure - you know - hitting it with a huge heavy mallet over and over again. It becomes very dense and starchy - think of wheat pasta but instead of thin strings - lumps. It's quite chewy too, but I really like it. It's so different from anything I've ever eaten.

Besides Dok-gook there are a few different salads. One is iceberg lettuce with a creamy white dressing. Curtis and I love that one! One salad has clear noodles in it that are cold. The noodles are long and thin like spaghetti. There is sesame oil and spinach in it too. One other dish was these little cold pumpkin pancakes. You wrap fresh veggies in them and pop them in your mouth - delicious! Curtis' favorite were these little pork patties that were fried with an egg batter. They also had mushroom and fish ones. Needless to say we were fed like royalty.

After the meal, I helped Erin fold some of her wedding invitations. We got through 200 and then decided it was time to take a break. She's been pretty stressed out lately with all of the wedding plans so I wanted to help in any way I could. We took Erin's puppy, Money, for a walk. It was the cutest little dog I had ever seen. It was a Yorkshire terrier but not with wiry hair. They had a little dress on her. She had such huge eyes and they got bigger when you patted her under the chin.

We got back home at about 5 pm and relaxed around home for the rest of the night. We wanted to talk to some people back home so we decided to go to bed early and get up early on Sunday. We ended up only sleeping for 3 hrs and then after a couple hours of restlessness, got up and decided to see who was online. We had an early morning nap from 9:00 am to 12:00 and got up to a fairly normal day.

Jinny invited us to go out for supper with herself and her husband, Sup. We had tried to make plans at other times, but it didn't end up, so it was great to finally meet him. He's a really nice guy and we had a great time chatting through dinner. After dinner they wanted to show us a really neat area with shops and cafes all around a lake that was fairly close. We got there and couldn't really see the lake because it was dark, but the area looked really neat. The coffee shop had a really casual, rustic feeling. They served our tea in really nice pottery mugs. It was great.

Once again the evening finished with a round of Nore-bang. Geez... we're getting pretty predictable! Jinny has an amazing voice though so it was a treat to hear her sing some Korean songs for us. She also sang the song from the Mulan soundtrack "Reflection". I think it was sung by Christina Aguilera.

Monday rolled around and it seemed as if it was a regular weekend! Back to book reports, question words, and reading! Yay!

Shuperman!

Ahhh... the first day of holidays! Nope it's not Saturday, not even Sunday... heck.. it's not Friday or Monday! It's WEDNESDAY!!! We have five days off in a row!!! WOOT!!! We didn't even book it and we don't have to use vacation days to cover it. Sigh, holidays are beautiful things. So you may be asking yourself, what kind of holiday is it? Do they really love Valentine's Day that much in Korea? NO! They celebrate Seoullal, Lunar New Year. It's technically Friday, I think. For this holiday families travel to their ancestral home (where their parents live) and prepare special meals to offer to their ancestors. Many of our students were going to their grandma's houses and were really excited about it. A couple even said "Happy New Years" as they left school on Tuesday evening.

For us, Seoullal means less crowds to wade through in Seoul. Amber, Matt, Curtis and I (that's becoming a mouthful... I'm going to change it to the AMCI and AMEGCI when Eddie and Gisela come too) went to see a movie called "The Man Who Was Superman". It was so excellent. I expect all of you to check it out in your local video store. It should be in the international section. ;) Anyway - it is about a man who goes around the city helping people. Staving them from traffic, chasing thieves, walking elderly ladies accross the street etc. He even tells people he has a small piece of kyptonite in his head which deminishes his powers so that's why he can't fly or lift cars. It's so funny at times and touching at times.

After that we headed to the COEX mall to browse at the CD store and see what there is to be seen there. We have a few more plans for this week, but mostly we're keeping a low profile. I'll keep you posted!

Our First Church Sunday

A month ago, I found a website for a church that I thought Curtis and I would enjoy. It looked pretty liberal and focused on the main ideas rather than the details. Afterall the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. I e-mailed the church for directions and the pastor gave my e-mail to a person from our area who attends. Her name was Naomi and we spent a couple of weeks making plans to meet her on Sunday and then breaking them. We decided to meet on a non-church day so she could tell us how to get there and there wouldn't be as much pressure on Sunday morning.

We had coffee on Wednesday Jan 30th and I really liked her right away. I wanted to make it a priorty to get to church the following Sunday as we had already missed two opportunities to go. We met Naomi at a bus stop and then walked a block and a bit to catch the next bus. It was about 35 min on the bus and a 20 min walk. We found out that the church is held in an international school. Basically, lessons in English for children of foreigners.

The main pastor was actually on holiday in Thailand so we heard the youth pastor preach. His message was about unlocking your calling. He translated alot of greek for us and really did a great job all in all. The music was really good too. In short we were really impressed and felt really comfortable. Somethings seem a bit weird sometimes though. I always find myself really analyzing everything on my first visit to a church. I note the songs that are really repetative (thanks Sharon!), the gender pronouns the speaker uses for God, or even the way the people in the church pray. This over critical view makes it hard for me to relax and enjoy church on any first visit, but incredibly enough I still felt renewed after this service. I think that's special.

There were also many people who wanted to meet us and greet us. It was great that so many people were welcoming, but it felt a little bit overwhelming too. Curtis was antsy to get back home as he had plans to meet up with his brother online and so it made conversation a bit awkward for him. The bus ride home was a bit tense because Curtis knew he was going to miss Clint. We often have troubles with the expectations either one of us has about our schedule. Oh no, I hear a Oprah voice in my head - COMUNICATION!!! Yes, yes, we know, but in practice it's so difficult so we are relying on forgiveness for now. Of course we never let it build up - but that doesn't mean everything is always peaches and roses.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home - I think Andrew may have stopped in. Nothing too exciting. The next week we knew would only be two days long!! We were both looking forward to the break ahead.

The Day of Eating - Feb 2

Since my lovely head massage nothing too much happened at work. I do seem to be getting an influx of students though. It's nice to have a few more students in some of my rooms because then I can make teams for games and we can have a bit more fun. The problem is that I'm getting students in the classes that are already loud and require extra attention anyway, so it makes it a bit more difficult to get their attention and be effective. We'll see how it goes.

The best part of the week was Wednesday. I arrived at school to see a large box sitting on my desk!! I present!!! Well kind of. I ordered some clothes online from American Eagle about two weeks before we left Canada. Things happened so fast right before we left, I honestly thought they'd arrive at Curtis' parent's house before I left for Korea. They arrived two days after we left... argh!! Anyway- Curtis' mom being the sweet woman that she is sent them for me, but the most economical way was going to take 8 weeks! 8 weeks later to the day - here there were sitting on my desk! It's such a relief. I packed with those clothes in mind and have been living with less these past two months. I'm not really a clothes horse, but I definately like having options. :)

My second favorite part is that we were successful in getting tickets to "We Will Rock You!" I'm so excited! MK decided to come with too so on Sunday February 17th we will be dressing up to go out. I'll let you know how it all goes.

February 2nd, last Saturday, Matt, Amber, Joi (Matt and Ambers roomate from last year), Curtis and I made arrangements to go to Itaewon to see a hockey game at the Canadian pub there called Rocky Mountain Tavern. We wanted to get good seats for the 5 pm game so we decided that if we arrived at 3:30 pm that should give us time to nab good seats for all of us. We also wanted to look around Itaewon as it was Curtis first time there. The plan was to meet at the subway exit at 2:00. It takes about an hour and a half for Curtis and I to get there on the subway so we figured we should leave around 12:30.

Curtis and I stayed up late Friday night. I was playing fabulous Scrabulous on Facebook and Curtis was on Warcraft. We didn't think we'd have problems waking up at about 12:00 to leave by 12:30... We didn't actually wake up until 1 pm!! I woke up with a start remembering that I had forgotten something! Isn't that always the way a memory works??!! Anyway - we call Matt and Amber on Skype as my cell phone has no munites left on it. They are extremely disapointed and have to wait an hour wandering around Itaewon waiting for us.

Curtis and I find our way to the pub. While we're walking we are taking in some of the ambiance that is Itaewon. The closest way to describe it is that it's an excellent resource - but not an accurate view of Korea. I know this may seem a bit judgemental - but we saw so many people that we didn't ever picture leaving the comforts of home so to speak. B-boys with their hats twisted sideways, high maintenence girls who never leave home without their billions of beauty products, and other people we could tell weren't in Korea for more than a week. Another analogy that kinda works for this area is that it's like a seedy colledge campus where kids go more to party than to study.

So we get to the pub and order a burger and some drinks - just relaxing and waiting for the game to start. 5 pm rolls around and nothing is happening - nor has the place gotten any busier. Talk about the things that make you go Hmmmmm..... We decide to ask the waitress about it. She brings the question to who we think is the proprietor. They talk back and forth for a minute or two and then we approach him to ask what is going on. It turns out his sling box in Canada is down and he's been working on it for a week. He appologizes and says it should be good tomorrow. Grrrr... Oh well at least the burgers were good.

We wandered around Itaewon some more and then before long ended up feeling hungry again. We made plans to meet up with a girl that Amber met on the subway. They had chatted a little bit though Facebook and she wanted to meet some of Amber's friends. Her name is Hokunani and we also met her friend Leah. They were awesome! They are also foreign teachers but they teach at public schools. We had a great time together and couldn't believe how fast time slipped by.

Curtis and I had made a deal that we wouldn't push our luck with the trains again, so at about 10 pm when supper was wrapping up we decided that we'd head home. Hokunani and Leah were heading home as well so we didn't feel too much like party poopers. The only sad part is that Matt and Amber continued on to meet up with John and Jess and Jon and Julie to Nore-bang with them. These two couples are Augustana Alumni so it would have been great to catch up and sing a song or two with them. Curtis cried the whole way home because he missed out on Nore-bang... (hehehehe not really).