its not quite the same..

I’ve discovered a new side to Seoul which isn’t quite the same as the rest of South Korea.

This photo was taken somewhere in Seoul when we drifted away from Myeongdong (the crazy shopping district).. I’m really into architecture like this building, and sadly, there aren’t many of them here..

I just like this photo because it is symmetrically interesting and the colours are very bright… and also, when I was taking this photo, that BMW came out of nowhere and tried to run me over..

This photo was taken in Hongdae - the club scene in Seoul. However, during the day, it is a whole new story. I really liked it too! It was a much needed diversion away from the usual tackiness of Korea…

So graffiti exists in Korea! What a pleasant surprise!! The walls near Hongik  University are covered in graffiti and some of them are really artistic.. This is probably one of the first real trash cans I’ve seen in Korea..

I came across this Lounge/Bar called Circus. The doors were like the metal ones you see at a horse stable, and on the top were objects stuck on it: a rocking-horse, a vintage TV, a stool… and you know my obsession with rocking-horses and weird-looking things! This is absolutely my kind of scene!

A Star Wars Cafe. What more need I say?

These are just a few photos from my weekend roamings. Seriously, I did just roam around in Seoul all weekend. But it was so much fun! I saw so many interesting things and people and pretty alleyways. Maybe you don’t think the same way as I do, but I often find beauty in the most unexpected places. I like places that are old, and rich and lived. New things often don’t appeal to me as much because I like to wonder what the story  was behind that…

It's a Funny Little Frog on a Mansard Roof.

Why is it that every other school gets a summer vacation except mine? What is wrong with you?!? For the past 12 months, I have not complained about the lack of holidays…not even when we had to work on Christmas day or even New Year’s Day… BUT THIS TIME?????

There is a music Festival going on for three days. And you know I love music. I love dancing. I love being filthy and covered in sweat. I love being with millions of other people all filthy and covered with sweat. But most importantly, Vampire Weekend is playing. And so is Corinne Bailey Rae. And Kula Shaker. And Belle and Sebastian.

Why? Why? WHY????? WHHHHYYYY?????

Almost in tears.

And there’s a church retreat too…except they leave Friday at 6:30 PM. WHAT? I’m not even through my first class of the day yet!

ARGH.

So I think I am entitled to complain right now.

GAHHHH…..

Vampire Weekend! Belle and Sebastian. I LOVE THEM!!! ARGHHH….

the final word is out

August 20th. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? I like the way it rolls off my tongue…August 20th 2010. Ahh…. but maybe the reason why I like that date so much is because that’s the day I get to leave that horrendous building and can really vow never to step foot in it ever again. That horrendous building is the thing which calls itself a school. Yes, it’s that soul-sucking place which I unfortunately happen to work.

Okay…I was just being overly dramatic. I actually don’t hate my work place (yes, as hard to believe as it is). I love the kids, and I kinda love my co-workers too. *Nicole, if you’re reading this, you’re the one that I love…so you balance the rest out into a “kinda-love” situation). I don’t particularly like nor dislike my boss, but I do enjoy imitating him with his voice and his chalk - the glorious chalk…that calls for another story for another day. I don’t think my classroom looks nice, but I did try to decorate it a bit - okay, I went overboard and now it looks a lot like a kindergarten art class. The airconditioning is too cold, but it starts to smell like teenagers and body odours and socks if it’s off. It’s just a no-win situation with kids that age… The materials that we teach could be a little bit more interesting and fun, but hey, it could be a lot worse.

All in all, I don’t mind my school. It’s okay. I always tell myself..It could be worse. And I have heard many horror stories about hagwons (the Korean term for Academies).

But yes, August 20th 2010. I get to walk out of those doors and finally say, I don’t have to work on Monday!

Well, that’s the upside…

And like everything else in life…there’s always a down-side..

an ape, a bird, and a baby

Today in class, we learnt about Creation Myths and for the project, my students had to write their own version of their Creation Myth.

Here is one which I found particularly interesting, and I want to share it with you all:

One day many many years ago, one ape walked around. He walked and walked and he saw one bird surrounded by 50 other birds. The 50 birds were being bad to that one bird. So the ape was very angry. Then he rescued the bird, and the bird say to him “You are very kind, you will be very lucky.”

The ape goes home and thinks “What a crazy bird! If what she says is true, I will marry her. HAHAHAHAHA!”
He goes to sleep and he dreams. He hears somebody calling his name. “Hey ape! Hey ape!” The ape shouts “Go away!” And the voice says, “I am god!” The ape screams, “Oh my God!!” And the voice says, I am the bird and I am GOD. You say you will marry me, so do that.”

So the ape married the bird and they are very happy. Then one day, a loud crash and an egg falls into their house. The egg cracks and a baby comes out. “Hello, I am the first human!”

The end.

Case Study: John 2

As I am preparing for my Doctorate of Clinical Psychology interview (yes, did I tell you that I made it to the interview round? I am so excited but nervous all the same!!); I began thinking of all the different types of people I encountered here in South Korea. Considering only the kids, I interact with a vast range of 9 year olds through to 17 year olds. Even within the same age group, we have some crazy kids, some super smart kids, some regular kids, and did I mention the crazy ones?

Today, we’re going to examine a case study of one of my students, John 2. It is his name, since there were two John’s in the class and neither was willing to change. There was a bit of a fight over who would be 1 and who would be 2 and in the end I settled it with a game of good old-fashioned rock, paper, scissors.

Okay.

Are you ready?

Picture in your head a chubby (but not fat) 11 year old boy who is super tanned by Korean standards. He has small eyes which curve upwards like an inverted U hiding behind emerald-green rectangular frames, with Harry Potter printed on the side. He sports a bowl cut with copper highlights which is usually sweaty and matted onto his forehead and neck. He often comes to class, or rather, bounces into the classroom, or runs into the classroom, or screams whilst running into the classroom, wearing a sleeveless bright orange tee and lime green Fila slippers. He is probably the most energetic 5th grader I have ever seen, let alone taught.

John 2 has a habit of calling me Tamie (pronounced Tayy-meeeee), because on the first day of class, he thought my J looked a lot like a T. Oh, and he often remarks that I’m from “Zombie-land” (pronounced juumbi-laen) because he thinks I look scary. He has a way of sneaking those comments in everything we do. Let’s make sentences! “Tayymee is from juuumbi-laen.” The best method I have found to calm him down is to say, or rather, shout, exasperatedly, “John TWO! Chair! NOWW!!! Minus 50 points!” And then he will clumsily but quickly clamber over all the desks and push all the squealing girls aside and plonk down on his chair with a heaving sigh and then look at me innocently, like he’s been sitting down all day long. Then he gives a little shrug and protests, “What? Me nooo~ I sit!”

You might think he is a horrible kid and I am always angered by him. Quite the opposite actually. Yes, there are times when he does pushes my limits, but more often than not, he amuses me. It is often that I will look at him, ready to punish him or tell him off, but then I see his face and I just can’t help but laugh. Something about this kid gets to me and I always let him off the hook. He is just so cute!

Am I a bad teacher? I seem to favour the bad kids way more than the good ones….. the naughty kids usually are funnier and just much more curious and amusing than the goody-goody ones. Maybe it’s just me, but I really don’t like kids who try too hard to please me. What is wrong with me? 

3 reasons cougers are cougers and why I am not a couger

I guess it’s not really a new trend or anything, but it has come to my attention that there are a lot of cougers out there! If you don’t know what a couger is, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Older women dating younger boys. I recently found out a couple of girls I know are dating younger men too! So that got me thinking (yea, lots of things get me thinking).. what are some of the reasons why some women diverge away from the conventional older men and go for the younger boys? Here’s my list:

1. Younger boys are more romantic and cuter. Usually, it’s guys in their first few relationships that would make a heart shape out of candles and play you a song on their guitar on the beach. I guess some girls like that no matter how old they become. I personally don’t appreciate those corny, romantic gestures - and that’s probably why most sensitive guys really get crushed by me *unintentionally, really, I’m sorry*

2. Younger boys are more innocent and therefore easier to manipulate. I’m not saying cougers are manipulative bitches, but maybe they prefer to hold the reins and call the shots. They probably can wear the pants easier when the guy is younger. For me, (yes, maybe it’s sadistic) but I prefer the guy to call the shots. I want someone who is more practical and organized and steadier than me. I sometimes am like a crazy cockcroach running around in all directions until somebody slaps their shoe on me and squishes me to death. And that’s when I stop. Yea, like I said, sadistic but true.

3. Younger boys are more spontaneous and physically fitter. Of course, there are lots of men who are healthy and fit and love spontaneity but sometimes, guys can get jaded or too comfortable. Girls probably get that feeling of puppy love more from younger boys. This is one thing I agree with. Maybe because I just have this incredible endless source of energy. I never have to sleep and I never get tired. Or rather, no matter how tired I am, I will always jump at the chance to be doing something fun. But like I said above, I need somebody to hold me and shake me and scream “look at me” like the way I do to my ADHD students in a bid to calm them down.

As from my title of this post, I have many more reasons why I would not date a guy my junior. I know, I know, I often say I hate conventionalism and have an inner desire to break all sorts of rules…BUT… here are a random select out of my 1,438,620,274,629 reasons:

1. I have a younger brother and I have spent a large part of my life looking after him. I don’t want to do that again.

28. I find guys my age to be immature already. I think I might go crazy with a boy who’s so young.

99. If I were dating someone who was less mature, less sensible and more gullible than I am…..oh dear, God knows what sorts of trouble we’d be getting into. You see, I often have these crazy ideas in my head which I am too embarrassed to voice. However, when I am dating someone, I feel comfortable enough to share them. Usually, they just end in a wide-eyed, “are you crazy?” sort of stare or a “hahaha you’re so funny” kind of reaction. But, if someone were stupid like me to do those things……. I can’t even continue the sentence.

306. I admire guys who have done a lot in life, say travel, life experience and those sorts. Dreams don’t appeal as much to me these days as actually having done things. And not to be biased, but really, how much stuff can you fit into your 20 years of life?

1200. I prefer guys who are independent. And this includes being financially independent (doesn’t mean rich, but that he doesn’t get pocket money from his mum), physically independent (that is, he does his own laundry and lives preferably a mile away from his parents). I just don’t think many young guys are independent, as much as they claim they are.

520485. I really, really, REALLY do NOT want to be with someone who looks physically younger than me. I just cannot handle that. I am 23, and I think I look 23. But if somebody ever asks, “Hey, you the older sis?” I think I might just die. *I actually secretly take pride in my brother’s friends thinking I look younger than my bro SHhhh Vanity, yes*

6037563. I can’t stand colourful boys. Guys sometimes go through that phase in life where they like colourful sneakers, spend 20 minutes fixing their hair, spend another 10 minutes admiring their biceps, walk around with a smirk on their face like “yo, ain’t I cool.” Sorry, honey, but you might be decent 10 years later.

I have more reasons but then I don’t want to be a young-boy-hater (yea, even though I have 1,438,620,274,629 reasons) Okay, one more.

730562826. I teach English and sometimes my students are 17 year olds. 17, 19, 20. Same thing. It literally disgusts me to date somebody who is around my students’ ages…..oh dear goodness.

Okay. So all you cougers out there, or would-be cougers, I’m not against you dating younger boys. I just am against myself dating younger boys. But I will say that Jacob from Twilight is pretty hot. But seriously, 18? Nuh-uh……

is this a red flag?

I am officially in a food coma.

Yep. To the point where I don’t feel hungry anymore and I feel super stuffed every single minute.

Is this a red flag?

Should I stop eating?

Hm… decisions, decisions!

Well, my mum and auntie left today.. so maybe I can go back to my strict diet of veggies and fruits (yea, the diet which yielded no results).

I want to learn Spanish now!!

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The attack of the Evil Garlic

Garlic is like the expensive shoe. It is wonderful and it is in the moment. But when you get home, you regret. You remorse over the indulgence. You wince at your credit card debt. Just like garlic. It is wonderfully aromatic and delicious to eat. But later you regret. When you brush your teeth and you have a disgusting garlicy taste mixed with your toothpaste. When you wake up the next morning and you still smell garlic lingering in your breath. Then you tell yourself, this is the last time. Never again. But when you see that beautiful shoe in the window calling your name. You can’t but resist not buying it home. Just like garlic. It just makes things taste that much better.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Hippo Singer

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Where's the gold?

Today, my youngest class read a story about a man who finds a cave full of gold. Their task was to write a diary entry documenting what they’d do with all that gold.

That got me thinking… what would I do if I had so much gold? The logical answer would probably be to invest or put it somewhere and earn interest. Many students said they’d buy a big house and a nice car. How about boring and conventional? That’s just not my style.

The top 37 things I’d do with a lot of gold:
(I chose 37 because that’s how old I’d be in 15 years. OMG!)

1. Travel to every corner of the world and seek out the finest coffee beans and indulge in aromatic coffee all day every day.
2. Buy Jay Chou as my personal iPod - he’d sing and dance and play piano and cello and guitar and drums to any song I wanted. Even if it was Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave for You”.
3. Buy a TV Hat - yea, because I’d be so rich that whatever I did would be alright. Never seen the TV Hat? Check it out here…TV HAT - Pure Awesome-ness
4. Get a custom made walk-in wadrobe filled with Jimmy Choos and Louboutin.
5. Get a custom made walk-in refrigerator filled with the world’s best beers.
6. Make my own cellar and fill it with the best shiraz in the world.
7. Heck. I’d just buy my own winery and make my own awesome wine. And call it something crazy like naming it after myself.
8. Hire a personal chef. He must be tall, dark, handsome, sexy, and of course, must know how to cook just about anything and everything in the world ranging from cupcakes, to steak, to hand-made dumplings, to peking duck, to roasting a whole lamb.
9. Then buy a machine that makes me lose weight (not a treadmill) but more along the lines of where I don’t have to exert any energy and end up looking super sexy. Wahaha!
10. Take all my friends on a cruise around the world and then when they bug me or annoy me, I’ll just throw them off the side and then call my assistant to take them safely back to shore.
11. That was just a joke. I wouldn’t waste my money like that..
12. Open my own little coffee shop. And fill it with trinkets from my travels.

13. Buy pens in every colour ever known to man. Because I love coloured pens!
14. Open my own store which sells vintage robots! Yea. Because I’d be so rich that I can buy vintage robot toys and still have buck loads left.
15. Go climb Mt. Everest. But then I’ll have a whole crew go with me just to ensure my safety. And to carry me when I’m too tired to climb anymore. And then I’ll stick a flag with my face on it right at the top. Hell yea!
16. Eat ice cream and fries until I feel sick. Then stay in the most expensive hotel and hire my own personal medical crew. And watch free cable tv.
17. Order room service. Order for two people but eat it all by myself. The trick is to make the bell boy think there’s another person eating with you (turning the shower on and shouting, “Honey, the dinner is here” should do the trick.)
18. Buy a zoo. And make sure its odour-free.
19. Go scuba diving and swim with fishes.
20. But first, I have to save the coral reefs. I don’t know how…but I think I can do it.
21. Make a law that prohibits Korean men to wear skinny jeans and have permed hair. HAHAHAHA
22. I want to meet superman. I don’t care! I just want to.

That’s all I can think of right now. But really, I have millions of things that I want to do. It’s not all about money, sometimes it’s time, but mostly, it’s to do with practicality. I admit, I do have alot of random thoughts in my head……

So the million dollar question here is…

and so it begins....

A 10 day full-on eating schedule. 

It happens every time my mother comes to visit me. 

We eat.


Eating isn’t a bad thing in itself… however, consider the fact that my previous attempt at weight loss was not exactly successful (I unfortunately did not look 17 pounds lighter on Monday morning). To make matters worse, my mother swears that my mirror makes people look taller and slimmer. What?! I’ve been looking into it for 11 months now and I think that is how I look - Tall AND slim! WHAT? You telling me I’m NOT?


Anyways, back to my eating. The worst part is probably the fact that eating is just oh-so-enjoyable. Who wants to ever give that up?? Not me. Nope. I love eating. 


First dish worth mentioning is… *drum roll please* …


LIVE OCTOPUS~~~ woot! 

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That was the first bite…after I got over the fear factor, it actually was quite a delicacy! Yum!

Stay posted for more food adventures!! =D

DON'T .. *twitch twitch*... TOUCH....*hiss hiss*... HER .. *twitch some more, hiss a little more*

I am supposed to be cleaning my apartment. Maybe I should eat some bananas to get me started.. 

Unrelated, you think? Nu-uh.. I swear (and I have google to back me up) BANANAS MAKE YOU SUPER ENERGETIC, HAPPY AND BASICALLY HIGH. One night, I ate alot of bananas and I ended up vacuuming, doing 2 loads of laundry, washed all my dishes, prepared lunch-box for the next day and then still had all this energy in me that I just danced alone in my apartment. Yea, sounds kinda sad, but it was kinda fun. Anyways, why was I eating all these bananas in one day? Well, I’ll have to rewind back to a couple weeks back.

This was how it all started:

Nicole and I decided to go on a diet. *yep* It was a diet she found off the internet which supposedly cleanses you and flushes out all toxins. Which probably isn’t true because you can drink coffee and eat meat. Anyways, we began the diet on Monday. The diet also claims that you will lose 10-17 pounds in 7 days. And today is day 6 and supposedly I should be visibly slimmer. Which didn’t really happen. So this diet sucks. Okay, maybe I cheated a little. Once. Okay….a few times. But who doesn’t?? Everybody cheats. But that’s besides the point.

The point I was trying to make before you interrupted with all that guilt-tripping and accusations is that, Day 4 was banana and milk day. We could eat up to 8 bananas, 4 glasses of milk and as much vegetables as you like. So I ate alot of bananas. Partly also the bananas sitting in my apartment were attracting fruitflies like crazy so I had no choice but to eat them. 

So back to now. I should be cleaning my apartment because my mother is coming tomorrow. But I’m tired. I’m tired because today we went to Suwon to see a fortress. And when we finally got there, we realize the fortress is closed. OOPS. I guess nobody decided to check that. And then we came back and I was starving and Day 6 of diet is all you can eat beef and vegetables. So we went to an all you can eat korean BBQ where I ate lots of beef and also pork. Ooops. 

Maybe this diet really does work but I’ve just cheated too many times. Last night I drank alcohol. It just started with once innocent glass of wine and I told myself, one glass won’t hurt. I didn’t eat much for dinner. We’re not supposed to drink alcohol on the diet…. gosh! 7 days and I couldn’t even do it! Am I an alcoholic? But I didn’t have any alcohol last week……

These things all contribute to my tiredness but the major culprit was the Eclipse movie. Yep, Jamie the Edward/Bella/Twilight hating fan watched Eclipse. I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself. It’s almost as if I enjoy putting myself through misery. I know I don’t like it. I know I can’t stand it. Yet I’ve seen all three of them movies. And I’ve even read two of the books. WHY? Maybe I’m mentally twisted.

The whole movie, I could not help noticing how Edward’s lips twitch and he hisses alot. Bella’s hairline is all screwed up. Edward has a big butt and a gut. Ew. Jacob was the closest thing to acting I saw. He’s also always half naked. Bella is also a mega slut. Oh and Edward believes if you have sex before you’re married, you lose your soul. And then Victoria died so easily there was no point in making a movie out of it. 

But worst of all, there were more men in the cinema theatre than there were women. WHAT?!? 

A random fact to make this post even more random : Today, I saw a bra shop called Body Pops. Lingerie for places that pop. HAHA And they sold training bras. I found that amusing and proceeded to take a photo only to realize I didn’t have my memory card in it. And I actually charged my camera too. Oops.

Okay..I should clean my apartment. I don’t have anything more to tell. Well, I could, but I don’t think you’d want to read about all that boring stuff (I’m assuming you find whatever I write extremely exciting and interesting - because I do). And tomorrow is Day 7 of my diet. I’ll let you know if I wake up tomorrow miraculously 17 pounds skinnier. Which I wouldn’t even know anyway because I don’t own a weighing scale.. I don’t feel like anything’s changed but I like to hope for the best. Maybe it really will happen. I will wake up and look like a supermodel. Hell yea! 

Beautiful Sunday

It is Sunday morning and it is way to early for me to even be awake. Its…*gasp* 9:30am! What? I feel super efficient today as I’ve already made some coffee, did a load of laundry and washed my dishes. Mm..good. Good. Definitely the awesome housewife in the making.

Speaking of jobs (and housewife IS a real job), I recently got some feedback from some job applications which I’ve been hauling myself at. Finally, my determination and amazingly fancy vocabulary won them over. Muah-ha-ha. This makes me feel more confident and secure about leaving Korea (I should really say South Korea, since there’s also the North up there..). I want to say that I love change, but most people say that when they don’t really. Many people think they love change when they don’t. I want to embrace change because I think change is good for me. But sometimes I get scared.

I’m not much of a planner.. I think disorganization is me at its best. However, with at least a few promising prospects, I feel safer leaving this comfort zone that I’ve created here. Like my Sunday routines. Usually we’re sleeping until somebody calls us and cries “Oh no!! Wake up!!! Churchhhhhh!!!!! We’re LATEEEE” And then I scramble around and get ready and down some coffee to wake me up. With our crazy abnormal work schedule, Sunday is really hard for us to wake up early. Then we spend the rest of our day lazing around in cafes reminiscing about exotic foods like salami and cheese.

When I get home, I am going to cry when I see cheese. I am going to nurse it to bed at night and nibble it by day. This is how much I miss cheese. I also miss Chinese Brocolli, heck, ALL vegetables (aside from sweet potato and cabbage, which they have here by the cartons). I want to eat all sorts of vegetables, raw, right there in woolies. And then I’m going to go to a pub, even if it’s 1 in the afternoon and drink a pint of Cooper’s Pale Ale. Oh how much I miss thee, good beer. And then I am going to just walk up and down rundle mall. I will go over to the silver balls and hug everybody who’s waiting or meeting somebody “at the mall’s balls”. Just because I can. Then I will prance my way down to North Terrace and memorize the outline of the museum, library, Adelaide Uni. Because I never, never want to take for granted beautiful scenery ever again. Korea is just an ugly country. Then I will hop on the tram, maybe with a kick and burst into song, and head over to Glenelg. I will feed the seagulls, yes even though I dislike them. Just because I won’t get diseases from them. Then I will feast my eyes with all the cleavage I will be seeing. Oh..how good it is to be in a country where women have normal sized breasts. Then I will get a tan. Yes. The forbidden tan. And then drink a cup of sea water. Because I can. And then I will go to China town and eat some real chinese food. Maybe some dumplings. Heck, everything. I will strategically avoid every Korean store, every piece of kimchi and every korean person until I feel emotionally stable again to do so.

Ahh….. sounds good. But right now, I need to go to church because I’m going to be LAATEEEEEE!!!! Oh, not again!!

a new start. yet another post.

Hi all. I decided to switch from livejournal to blogger. It just seems right (not to mention, livejournal was too tech savvy for my inner blondie). My year in South Korea is coming to an end, and I feel like I need to prepare myself somehow. And ending my Korea blog seems like a good way to start. Taking baby steps. It will be very hard for me to leave. I’ve never been good at saying good-byes. I’m always the awkward girl who doesn’t really know whether to cry or hug or smile or hug once more. Sometimes I feel like a boy in that sense because I’d much rather just keep it all to myself. I guess I just don’t deal very well with emotions. Interestingly, I want to be a psychologist and deal with other people’s emotions. How does that even work? 


BUT LUCKY FOR Y’ALL…


I uploaded all my older posts… so it’s all here now =)