keiki o ka kai

34 things to do while i'm 34 - only 4 months left!!!

2011-01-24T20:27:00.000-08:00

x 1. attend 2 new (to me) utah temples
x 2. pay off credit card
3. get a facial
x 4. complete a painting
5. ride another single track
6. draw 2011's Christmas card
7. see the Joseph Smith movie
8. try snowboarding again or go skiing again
9. organize closet
10. bake bread for my staff
x 11. update my poor blog at least once
12. kiss in the rain
13. visit teach every month
14. attend the temple at least monthly
15. make my temple skirt
16. embroider apron
17. sew a new apron from that super cute pattern i bought a year ago!
18. call friend weekly
x 19. get a pedicure
x 20. cook something new
21. don't get another cold (already lost this one, blast it all)
x 22. go to the hot tub!
x 23. shoot hoops with danae
24. have a monthly sister-sister date with danae
25. practice the ukulele
26. organize korea and china pics
x 27. dye hair
28. forgive myself daily
29. read the gospels
30. make a bday calendar
31. start paying down student loan in a huge way
x 32. start another journal book with suz
x 33. organize my bookcase
x 34. make photo cards

something i really want to focus on too, as cheesy as it may sound, is to work diligently at being mrs. right, because yes, then i can be ready for mr. right. :) told you it was cheesy, but well worth my time...

ha, and this post counts as completing #11. :)

in other news, i am again, for real, single. i have had such a great learning experience - i'm seriously amazed at how much i learned. i hope that in the relationships realm i matured from around 13 years old to hopefully somewhere in the 20s. :) i am already dating other men which is fun! i'm happy to be set up with a tall, good man, keep your eyes open for me!

update

2010-04-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

there are several things to inform you of:

my car is paid off and i'm doing dave ramsey gazelle intensity, which means that next is my credit card (racked up for alivia's favorite kind of therapies - retail, eating out, and hawai'i :))
last sunday on an old fashioned liv-like impulse, i cut my bangs, had mom cut my hair, and then tuesday before pottery i colored it with a box color from the grocery store. i've lost so much of it and cutting it takes off the poor weak ends, and makes it seem so much thicker. i miss my long hair and am definitely growing it back, but it's fun to have a change and for it to feel a little like my hair used to feel like. luckily i have new growth coming in from the loss i've had.
i broke up with cory this week. it just didn't feel right. i love him dearly, and he does indeed have a heart of gold. maybe it's just a timing thing, maybe we're only ever supposed to be great friends. i don't know, but i'm back to being single. i do want to get married to a good man and servant of the Lord, so if any of you know any good men who are single, divorced, or widowed, hook a girl up! :) thanks. i'm doing really well with the break up. i feel much calmer now that we are not together any longer. luckily we are both mature and fabulous people, so we are still able to be friends.
just as a side note, elder hales attended our sacrament meeting today! wonderful! i was able to sit up close and it's so awe inspiring to be close to an apostle. amazing. the church is true!

happy spring!

pottery and the bf

2010-03-20T15:43:00.001-07:00

i never post anymore. i know. i just usually don't feel like it. but, i have two post-worthy things to discuss.

1. the bf and i are taking a pottery class together. this is my first time EVER throwing pottery and it is such a kick in the pants! these are all my finished pieces from pottery round 1. round 2 starts on tuesday and i'm so excited! i wish i could take it 2-3 times a week. it's so fun.

2. this is the bf. he's a doll and a gem. those aren't very masculine sounding, huh. he's a ... hmmm ... i can't think of anything that won't sound inappropriate. :) he's way cool and fun and we have a great time together. here we are with his two dogs out at the salt lake one cold day. can you believe i actually have a real boyfriend? pinch me, i know. don't worry, it's not all peachy and dandy. i've never had a serious boyfriend, EVER, so i'm doing plenty of freaking out. the good thing is that, as my friend sarah pointed out, he handles me well. this does not mean you can start asking when we are getting married, unless you really want me to freak out and run away from boyfriends for a long time. :)

he drew this in the sand for us, cute, huh...

happy spring weekend!!

heya

2010-01-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

i just gotta say that i'm sooo happy. i haven't been this happy in years, literally. life is so good and i'm so grateful for an amazing father in heaven and for this gospel that i so fully believe in. happy! here's the haps...

i got the job at davis behavioral health which is the first place i worked after grad school. crazy! i've been there three weeks now and it has been better than i thought it would be, thank heavens. i really like my office because it's roomy and the walls are a beautiful shade of green, my favorite color. i bought a little love seat from d.i. and some lamps and it's a cozy little place now. i've already started seeing clients and have a done a bunch of intakes. it's fun getting back into the field; i love the feeling of helping others. i'm definitely rusty though, sheesh! it feels like a good and right place to be. woo-hoo!

i continue to date, but am not dating as many different guys as i was. i haven't really been looking because there's one bloke that i like a lot and we've been doing a lot together. i still accept dates and stuff, but you know. the boy and i aren't exclusive yet, but he's a good, good man with a heart of pure gold. i don't know if he's "the one" or anything, but we're having a great time together and are taking it slow, which is fun.

i'm now taking a pottery class every tuesday, wahoo! the boy took me to it a couple times last round and taught me how to throw a pot and it was such a blast. we're taking this round together and hopefully i'll get at least one good pot out of it. it'll also be great for preventing burn out.

so, that's that. i'm sure there's more i could talk about, but i'm just plain ol' tired, it's almost midnight and i think i'm an old woman now cause i just wanna go to bed! chau...

good news

2009-12-13T18:03:00.001-08:00

so, when i sent out that email to all the guys i was talking to, that said that i wasn't a skinny minny most responded that it didn't matter. that was fabulous and gave me a little more faith. i've been dating a handful of guys and it's definitely been interesting. i've never really dated like this before. i'm a late bloomer. :) so, anyhoo. i'm too tired to go into any details about them. we'll just leave it at - it's fun.

my real purpose in this post is to ask this: when you think of the phrase, "a chosen servant", what do you think of? what kinds of qualities and characteristics does a chosen servant have? what kind of life does he/she lead? i've been thinking about that a lot lately.

happy winter! the snow is pretty but not fun to walk in with sunday shoes on. and that's all for this random and hard-to-follow post! :) (picture was taken from the dining room window)

she's aliiiive!!!

2009-11-19T22:20:00.000-08:00

Well hello there; fancy meeting you here. I know I’ve been derelict in my duties and have neglected to write for many moons. The reason? Who knows. I’ve felt very little desire to blog since before I left Korea. There are even still things I should write about and show you from Korea (like the north Korean border). But, alas, it may never happen. Hopefully you’re on facebook so that you can see pictures (but still not all of them) from China.

So anyhoo, I’ll catch you up. I finished teaching in Korea at the end of June. July was awesome in that I was able to spend 2 weeks in china, 5 days in Hawai’i, and two weeks in San Diego where I was re-united with the fam. Then I was finally back in Utah in august. I still haven’t seen everyone I’d like to see, and I haven’t gone down to Vegas to visit friends, which I really want to do, but I am back and have seen a lot of you. I’ve been up to Idaho a couple of times and was so happy to see my family again!! I love you!!!

As you know, I went to Korea in part due to burn out with the job. Coming back, I knew I had to be careful on how I re-entered the field. I don’t want to go through burn-out again, and I don’t want to sink down into the rut I previously inhabited. Yuck. You may also remember that I swore I’d never live in Utah again, and would never work at my old jobs again. I think the fates took that as a triple-dog-dare. I feel good about being here! What the??? I was hoping to re-locate to San Diego or somewhere warmer, outside of Utah, and close to my beloved ocean. However, the financial state of the world and my pocketbook made that a little difficult, not to mention the whole feeling-good-about-being-in-utah thing. Bother. So, here I am. I’m living at home to pay off more debt since I wasn’t able to pay off much in Korea. That part of the plan took a nose-dive along with the world economy and exchange rate. No worries. Living at home also allows me to examine my life, my next step in my life, and to do all that carefully. It’s fun to live at home anyway, I’ve been gone for so long and my family ended up missing me the whole time I was there.

To get some cash flowing in, I went to sos temporary staffing services and was lucky enough to get a position with the office of the medical examiner. It’s more blessing than luck; even jobs through a temp agency are hard to come by in this climate. It’s a Monday through Friday 8-5 job and it pays next to nothing, but it gets my bills taken care of. I do see dead bodies, and I have seen some crazy pictures and read some crazy stories. If you want me to tell you how NOT to die, just ask. I should be observing an autopsy soon and I’m a little nervous and excited for that. Today the doctor told me to eat a lot of breakfast so that they could take plenty of pictures of me losing it. :) he’s a fun one.

So back in my field – mental health therapy for children, teens, and families – I still want to specialize in PCIT and I’ve added TF-CBT to the specialty list. PCIT is parent child interaction therapy and is great, intensive therapy with parents and their kids. TF-CBT is trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Both are my style of therapy, being behavioral and backed by research that says they’re effective. The first place I worked at when I finished grad school has undergone some pretty good structural changes and they are now practicing both of these therapies. This has led me to apply for an open position with them, and today I interviewed for it. I don’t know if I’ll get offered the job since so many applied. The agency that serves Salt Lake County recently laid off somewhere between 100 and 200 employees, so they’re out there looking for work too. We’ll see. I trust that the right and best thing will happen. I am also doing the research and ground work to start up my own private practice. Since that will take time, and since I’m not married and so don’t have a hubs with benefits that cover me, I feel it’s wisest to accept the position if they offer it to me, and still build up the private practice on the side. My eventual goal is to be able to live just off the private, and to be highly specialized and a leading expert in my specialties. Pray for me!

On to the love front. I’ve been blessed to know from my loving Heavenly Father that I would have a desire to become an expert in a certain field, and that I would bless many lives. Thank heavens I know that a career is in my future/present and that it’s ok. It makes this whole single thing easier, at least a little bit, to handle. Today has actually been a doosy of a day and I’ve shed buckets of tears. I’ve been doing my best to be attractive when I venture out of the house, go to church, talk to the boys, and I’m online again. After the initial slew of grandpas and shorties that flirted with me online, I finally started getting some guys talk to me that I could handle looking into. If you’re married, go and kiss and hug your loved one now and thank him for taking you out of the game! It’s still a mess. I think the biggest problem I’m facing is the physical one. I’m a beautiful woman, but I’m not a skinny one. I am going to be such a good wife and mother, but not a skinny one. I’m intelligent, hard working, fun, adventurous, a goofball, but not skinny. I’ve had guys totally into me until they meet me and see that I’m not skinny. This is what I’ve decided to do, and most of you are going to gasp in horror. I had a series of email exchanges today with a new bloke and decided to be honest with him about me not being a size 2. He was kind enough to let me know that I was not for him. J yes, I did flip off his email. I hope he felt it. J just kidding. I didn’t flip him off. But I did curse and cry on the drive home, and then while at home too. It’s excruciatingly bitter to not have wanted anything else in life but marriage and family, and yet at the same time to have my biggest trial in life be the biggest obstacle to attaining that goal. Not to mention that I’m wired as a mormon woman and extra wired as Alivia to desire these righteous things. So, I decided to email all the guys I’m talking to now to do a screening process. If having a certain size wife is of utmost importance to them, I’d rather know now, before I get to know them better, have my hopes lifted, and then dashed in person. I know! You are all shaking your head and groaning. But, oddly enough I felt at peace while writing to these gentlemen, and have gotten a couple emails back assuring me that it is not a problem. What a comfort, seriously. Maybe there are a few good men. Maybe. Even though this has been a particularly hard day, and this issue has been a hard one in my life, I do want you to know that I know, KNOW, that my Heavenly Father is aware of me and loves me. I know that it’ll happen in the right time. I know that I’ll be able to meet and marry a chosen servant. I went to a relief society retreat last month and sister Oaks spoke. She married Elder Oaks when she was in her early 50s. With power, she told us that if we were single, we were supposed to be. There is a reason I’m single, and it’s the Lord’s reason. I’m doing my darndest to trust his timing while also improve myself. I really believe that the man I marry is going to be lucky to have me. I can’t wait to be able to adore someone and to be adored. Maybe it’ll happen in this life, maybe in the next, but I’m trusting the Lord’s timing and his missions for me here. I know I am in some of your prayers, and I appreciate it. I love ya!

Well, again I’ve been open and honest in that raw and probably uncomfortable way. Mom tells me I’m too open and honest. I’m still on the fence about that. J I’m me and here I am. So, that’s the update! I’m doing great, I’m happy, I’m looking forward to the future in my career, I’m looking forward to meeting some cool guys and maybe the guy for me. I continue to get healthier and I love my Lord dearly. We’ll hope that I don’t take so long to write again. Loves to you all………liv.

(a couple of housekeeping items: 1. here are most of the pics from china - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155321&id=795438834&l=683f7672dd
2. We’ll be in Idaho for thanksgiving and Christmas, wahoo! 3. I’m writing this very late at night after a long and emotional day, so it’s ok to be gentle in your reactions)

long time no see

2009-06-25T06:18:00.000-07:00

sorry folks. for some reason i haven't felt like blogging. or even posting pics on facebook. i'm not sure why. when i think about sorting through my last groups of pictures it just seems tiring.

i come home so soon! i'm feeling multiple ways about this. excited, anxious, nervous, sad, lots of things. i'm really excited to see my family again, and there are some things i've missed that will be fun to do/see/use again. here's the haps: last day of teaching is 6/30, move out 7/1, fly to china 7/2, fly back to seoul 7/13, fly to honolulu 7/14, fly to san diego 7/19, drive to utah 8/1 or thereabouts. so, i'll see y'all in august! wish me luck in china - that i don't get food poisoning, kidnapped and stolen into the sex slave trade, or drugged and get my kidney stolen from me. :)

you can see pictures of my birthday and trip to seoraksan here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=125420&id=795438834&l=46b4a2394f.

i went to the dmz/north korean border a couple weekends ago and need to post pics of that too. who knows when that will happen!

love ya! see you soon!

boseong

2009-05-22T16:00:00.001-07:00

last weekend i took a two-day trip to the southern part of south korea to visit boseong, home of the green tea fields. 70% of the country's green tea is grown in this area. my trip was full of small, hmmm, mishaps? it made for an interesting little adventure! again, if you can't see these pics, here's the link to the facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115569&id=795438834&l=092a3b10e6

i set my alarm for 6pm instead of 6am, so by the time i got to the bus terminal i had missed the morning bus so bought a ticket for the 3pm bus. it was a 5 hour bus ride, and when i arrived at the first bus terminal the lady who didn't speak english tried to help me get to my final destination - a seaside town called yulpo. long story shorter, i took another bus then a taxi and finally got to a motel in yulpo where 3 doors down from me there was a yelling couple (luckily i couldn't actually hear them in my room), and a lady out on the street that was lividly irate and screaming who woke me up 3 times. fun! seriously though, i don't mind experiences like that because it makes it all more memorable. and this lady, wow. i've never heard anyone scream at someone like that.

i woke up in the morning and went walking down to the sea. it was pretty and i found 3 shells that are keepers. all the things in the water are docks, or something similar. obviously seafood is a big cuisine item here.

whenever i go into the country i see cranes in the rice fields and would love to catch a picture of one. imagine the white against the green, it would make for a beautiful photo. this guy is on the shore and will have to do for now.

i took a bus back to boseong and on the way got so excited by this sneak peak. i've really been looking forward to seeing these green tea fields.

waiting at the boseong bus terminal were dozens of elderly people, mostly women. when i got onto my bus i snapped this pic from inside the bus so as not to be so obvious. so many of these ladies are about my half my height, literally. several of them have big packages, and when they're walking they carry them on their heads.

on both of my buses 99% of the riders were elderly. they were going to or coming from flea and farmer's markets. so cute.

ta-da! i finally arrived and the path going up to the main fields was lined with these pine trees. oh my land, i was in such heaven. living in seoul i'm always sucking in pollution and car exhaust and the wonderful smell of sewage. oh and of course cigarette smoke. walking on this path smelled so good i couldn't take enough deep breaths. i was in heaven!

this is one of the first fields and kept my excitement rising. i love the trees, tea field, bamboo fence with roots hanging out from something, moss covered rocks, and the pine tree borders on the sides of the pic.

laaaaaa! imagine the angels singing. breathtaking in real life and still makes me so tickled happy when i look at the pictures.

the three mounds in the middle of the picture are burial sites, graves. they also dot the country side and i actually really like how they look. i've decided that i want to be buried under a small mound too.

don't you love the curving?

i like the small contrast of the red leaf trees in the back left.

this is the second set of steep millions of stairs. i was the only white gal around, but i wasn't totally white - my face was plenty red. :)

at the top of the stairs when i could finally tear my eyes away from the fields, i looked up and realized that there were layers of mountains and water out there! must be the sea. oh my goodness, so gorgeous. you know a picture can't accurately capture these kinds of things, but this gives you an idea.

kimchi pots!! i love them and would love to have one in my home when i grow up. but instead, i opted to buy a mini one at the gift shop.

"i heart noke cha" "i heart green tea"

the last mishap was the scariest. i got back to the bus terminal with the strong feeling that i should go early, just in case. well, following the feeling paid off. i tried to pay for my ticket with a card, but out in the country i guess they don't use card machines, only cash. i didn't have enough cash, by half, to pay for the ticket and no one spoke english! i know the word for bank, so i said, "bank?" now imagine lots of korean talking and motioning out the door. not helpful. after a while i came back to the bus depot and asked again, and a guy was there that knew enough english to draw me a map to a bank that would hopefully have an open atm and would accept my card. i booked it down the street (i had an hour to find cash and get back) and luckily and amazingly found an atm in a grocery store. phew! i was supremely relieved. if i didn't get cash in time i would have missed the only bus going back to seoul that afternoon and would have missed a day of work. man! i also would have had to sleep in the dirty old bus depot because i didn't have enough cash to get a motel either. now that it's all done and everything's ok, i think it was a great experience! adventure!

today i'm off to the northeast part of the country. i have to use every weekend now that it's warmer again because i leave so soon! goodbye! have a beautiful day and fabulous weekend!

busan

2009-05-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

and finally, here are the last 2 days of the 4 day trip i took back at the end of april. this is busan, the second largest city in seoul - about 4 million people - and the biggest port of south korea. i really liked it. if i can't find a job in the states i would consider coming back here to teach english. so again, if it takes too long to load these pictures you can look at the facebook album here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112866&id=795438834&l=3ab76023c5

the subways were so great because they were far less busier than in seoul. we usually got seats which is a rare occurence in seoul. this little guy was having so much fun trying to grab the rings. he finally got them! cutie.

this is gwangalli beach with a view of gwangan bridge, just beautiful.

peace.

the guidebooks say that you have to eat jeon while in busan, which is like a korean pancake. it has onions, carrots, and squid in it. it's really good, but i didn't have any of the squid.

classic - plastic surgery is a big thing here, and small faces are important. ?? i think that means a narrow face and narrow jaw?

this is on the street close to our motel, i love street food!

and finally! this is what i was most looking forward to with this whole trip. haedong yonggungsa is a buddhist temple on sea cliffs. just wait, it's gorgeous!

it was buddha's birthday weekend, hence the hundreds of lanterns. love them.

i love the shadows of the lanterns on the ground here.

his belly is black because so many have rubbed it. lucky buddha belly.

this is the most popular beach in south korea. i collected my sand from here. in summer this place is packed with umbrellas. there are so many that it has won a guinness book of world record.

i like the cliffs, rocks, and lighthouse in this picture.

this is the ktx we took home. it's a super speedy train. bus takes about 5 hours, this train takes about 3.

these two entertained us for the beginning of our journey home. the guy in the black jacket was still drunk from, whenever. and the guy on the left was working very hard on seeming suave.

lauara and i, homeward bound.

gyeongju

2009-05-12T19:43:00.001-07:00

**i'm remembering now that korea has super speedy internet (something i'll miss so much when i get back to the states); so, i hope you have a good internet connection. this is a lot of pictures! if it takes forever to load, you can view my album on facebook witht his link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112852&id=795438834&l=388b8b46a5

this is day one and two of a recent four day weekend i had. my co-worker laura and i went to the other side of the country - gyeongju and busan. these are pictures from gyeongju, which is the historical heart of korea. a long time ago, long, long, long, like 7th century, the silla kingdom united korea and ruled for a couple of centuries. many things have been destroyed over the years, but a lot of things in this area survived and/or were re-constructed.

this first set of pictures is from the seokgoram grotto. it's a mound on a mountain that houses an incredible statue of buddha along with other statues. we couldn't go into the grotto, but we were able to view it from the entrance. so, this is the park:

because this area is so important, students from all over the country come here for field trips. we would pass groups of children and very often they would say, "hi!" "how are you?" and would be in awe when we would answer, especially if we said something in korean to them. so fun!

this is the building outside of the grotto, the inside of the grotto is under the mound.

this is the buddha in the grotto, i found this and the previous pic online, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

laura and i - she loves the middle aged women, called ajummas, who wear these massive visors. she calls them darth vador visors. they're actually quite effective! they swivel up and down, and are see through.

outside the grotto. these guys were some of the many that talked to us and they wanted their picture taken. cute.

at the bottom we bought some traditional bread. delicious!

the inside is filled with a red bean paste that is a little sweet.

these ladies were also selling a number of things, most of which i'm not familiar with.

as i walked by though, this little one pointed at these nuts with her lips, indicating i should buy them. so, i decided she was so cute that i bought some.

then we went to the national museum, and while i was looking at the big bell, some girls started to say hello. when i responded, many others came to talk too.

i love these guys gathering around to see how hot they are in the picture they just took of themselves.

then we went to anapji pond. beautiful area.

laura and i decided to buy theses cool hats. of course we looked quite foolish as we were the only ones wearing them. i was ok buying and wearing it, because farmers do wear hats like these still. ours were the basic equivalent of $5 and had stickers on them that sad, "made in vietnam". we got lots of looks. one guy was waking towards me, not looking at me, and then when he looked up at me he did a double take and stared for a second. i don't know if it was just that i'm foreign, or wearing a crazy hat, or because i'm so strikingly beautiful that he was stunned for a second. but, because he was just looking at me i said hello in korean and that too caught him off guard and he started laughing, quoted me saying hello in korean, and then kept laughing and walked away. ? funny.

these little-bitty kids are so cute and so tiny! i don't think they'll remember anything from this trip because they're so young, but man are they darling! i love the matching outfits. you gotta keep track of them somehow!

a really old observatory. wikipedia says this: Cheomseongdae, one of the oldest surviving astronomical observatories in East Asia.

this is an ancient ice storage facility. even the kings had ice back in the day.

then we headed back down the mountain to bulgugksa, a famous buddhist temple. these guys greeted us at the entrance.

you walk over this gorgeous bridge to get to the temple. actually, we entered through the rear and almost missed all this gorgeousness. i'm glad we didn't, i love this picture.

buddha's birthday was the next day, so these ladies are working hard to get all the lanterns set up. i will miss the lanterns, as you know, i absolutely love them! say "kimchi!"

this is one lucky hog, apparently. he was getting all kinds of rubs and pics taken of him. i love the girl in the back not caring at all about the temple. she's just happy to have a lovely new orange umbrella.

behind one of the buildings i found this big rock pagoda garden. hundreds of little rock pagodas have been built here.

preparing more lanterns, these gals are inside the temple grounds.

something of a birds eye view. this stone pagoda is very old and is a national treasure, along with the temple and the seokoram grotto. i'm standing on a platform that allows us to view another national treasure that's being worked on right now.

special water of some sort, i guess. maybe it's coming from the mountain? i don't know. there were no english signs that i noticed.

all right, back into the town of gyeongju. laura and i rented bikes for an hour and went to see these old burial mounds. amazing. my hometown is such an infant compared to these places, just amazing. there are burial mounds all over this area of south korea. there's one person under each mound, and when you see a double mound like this, then it's a king and queen buried together. they are buried with thousands of relics to keep them comfortable.

they've opened one to allow the public to see inside. inside the kings were buried in wooden caskets.

this is a replica of the king's crown.

then we went and got some grub. while walking i had to snap a picture of these two. it's something to be proud of when you have a special someone, and so we see couple shirts fairly often. couples also wear matching rings that they call couplings. and, if a couple meets and starts dating when they're in college, then they're called "cc", which stands for campus couple. in shops matching couple underwear are also proudly displayed in storefront windows. i wonder if my future husband would like to wear matching pink boxer briefs??

this is a typical meal. sit on the ground, meat and stuff cooked on a flame in the middle of the table with lots of side dishes and stuff to eat with the meat.

on our way back to the hostel we walked through a park and sat for a minute. these darling 3 middle schoolers, 15 years old in korean age, started talking to us. they were great! they couldn't say much, but really tried and even sang and danced for us with music from their phones. only in a country as safe as korea would girls stop and talk to strangers in a dark park at night, and laura had a beer in her hand. in america, even as an adult, i would never stop to talk to strangers in a park.

and finally we reach the end of our 2-day journey. this was my first time staying in a hostel. i was going to take a pic of the bathroom and shower area, but forgot to. it was a beauty. the place was dirty, but not filthy, and the best part is that it was cheap. for 2 nights i forked out 30,000won which i guess you could say is about $30.

this is the "dorm room" we stayed in. it had 4 beds, 2 off the ground and 2 on. the first night we were alone and the second night 2 silent men joined us. seriously. they didn't say even hello. all right, better than being raped in my sleep. :)

this rosebush in the courtyard was visible from our "dorm room" window. the owners said that it is 32 years old. my age! it was more like a rose tree than a rose bush.

that's all folks! well, until the next post of our final 2 days...

i'm coming home!!!!!

2009-05-11T19:07:00.001-07:00

i'm so excited!! i just bought my plane tickets home. upon a little browsing i discovered that i can stop off in hawaii for a couple of days on my way home for just a little more money. hello! so. i fly from seoul to hawaii and then hawaii to san diego to join my family for our family vacation and danae's birthday celebration. then i'll be back in utah in august and will be going to idaho sometime in august for a trip to be with my beloved idaho relatives! i'm coming home!!

i'm really nervous!!

2009-05-11T15:50:00.001-07:00

i leave soon. i have to start thinking about packing and need to start packing to decide what stays, what goes, and if i should mail anything home. (mailing packages to the u.s. from here is apparently quite cheap.) but i'm scared!! my luggage has been in storage this whole year. remember that gargantuan black spider in my shower? well, i think i found his abode. look at that web!! i admit i'm intrigued by spider webs; they're awfully intricate and pretty amazing. but, i'm only intrigued from a distance. there are so many pockets in my 2 big duffle suitcases, i'm so freaked out about opening each pocket. eewww!! wish i had a man around that didn't care and wanted to save me from this feat. argh. if i'm attacked and eaten alive by a swarm of spiders, please tell my family often that i love them...

i do have pics to share from a great trip i took a couple of weekends ago. they're up on facebook, but i promise i'll get them up here soon...

oh mama!!!

2009-05-10T02:45:00.001-07:00

my mother is absolutely gorgeous and absolutely wonderful. here are some reasons i love and adore my mama:

she loves and adores me. she's been so supportive throughout my entire life.
she misses me, but she is so excited for the experiences i'm having.
i can call her anytime and she's tickled pink to talk to me. i rattle on and on about whatever random things, and she listens and engages.
she's an amazing cook.
she's in tune with Heavenly Father.
i've always been able to talk to her. as a kid, teenager, young adult, and adult i've spent countless hours talking to her about things ranging from mundane and boring to life changing. i can tell her anything, and i've told her everything. she loves me!
when i was in high school she sewed my senior choir dress. it was a pain and she spent so long on it. when i went to dress rehearsals we found out we were given the wrong batch of cloth, so the shade was slightly off. she stayed up the entire night and worked all day the next day to have that dress ready for our first concert. wow.
when i was in college i was having a particularly stressful finals time. she drove to provo and helped me by making study cards and stuff.
she's moved me countless times. well, i can count. i've moved 54 times and she's been there for 99% of them.
she's as goofy, silly, and weird as i am. we go well together.
we can laugh and laugh and laugh. at each other as well as ourselves. she taught me to laugh at myself and to laugh at things that are distressing, i highly recommend it. it's a great coping tool.
when i have something good or bad happen, my first thought is "i've gotta tell mom." if it's not my first thought, then it comes some time.
she's been extremely validating throughout my life. when i've been stressed i've called her, sometimes in tears and not able to breathe. she listens and then tells me that it's going to be ok, and that it's normal to feel the way i do. just having her listen, and not try to fix, is often all i need.
she has taught me how to sew, to cook, to garden, to be with children, to love others, to turn to Heavenly Father, so so so many things.
she loves her girls and has always been there for us. always.

happy mother's day mom! i love you so much! can't wait to see you in 70 days in sunny san diego!!

oh, and by the way. friday here was parent's day in korea. these little flower street vendors bloomed all over the streets on friday.

a couple of years ago i went with mom to a plant nursery right before mother's day. i saw this beautiful flowering bush and so bought it for her for mother's day. well, as it turned out it flowers every year just in time for mother's day, beautiful! it died a while ago, so i told her and dad to go buy a new one this year. they also learned how to maintain it, so this time it'll stick around for a looong time. here are some example pictures below - it's a scottish broom. love ya mama!

i showered with what?!!?!!!

2009-05-07T15:48:00.001-07:00

so, AFTER my shower this morning i was pulling the curtain across the tub again so that it could dry out, and this little, i mean massively huge, fella scurried out from somewhere. i almost had a heart attack!! i'm so scared of spiders. i used to be really scared, like a little bit of arachnophobia (sp?) scared. i had to take a picture for two reasons: 1. that meant running away from the gigantic beast, not towards 2. so that you could see how big he really is. there will be NO comments about him being small or, you should see the spiders where i live, or anything like that! i will not be invalidated on this point. i'm still scared and angry. :) jill - i somehow blame you. this morning while i was waiting for my water to heat up so that i could take the shower i was reading updated blog posts on google reader. i'm reading jill's post and she has lovely pictures - sunrise, wild animals, then BAM! a massive dead sand colored spider! it's a spidery day i guess. don't worry, i will recover, in 7-10 days.

i don't want to take a shower ever again because that means i have to remove my shoe and clean him up. i really hate this part, as anyone who has lived with me can attest to. my shoe's going to be there for a while. maybe i'll start showering at the gym again...

may you have a spider-less day.

acupuncture - check

2009-04-24T05:10:00.001-07:00

holy kamoly. yups, it has been done. i have now experienced acupuncture. the acupuncture itself wasn't painful at all, but the other techniques afterwards were definitely for the sci-fi books for a little utah girl. it was great! the pictures are just from a google search. i didn't take pics of myself, maybe i will if i go in for another treatment.

this first picture shows a similar method of inserting the needles that my acupuncturist did. she inserted 3 rows of 4 needles into my belly, so i had 12 in total. it didn't hurt at all. then she put 4 or 5 super short needles on the back of little squares of bandaid things on my left ear. ouch. that hurt.

ahem. and then they attached these wires and sent electricity into my belly, to break up the fat. weird. at first it hurt a little, but just a little, and then i just got used to it. ahem. then they took 4 squaty plastic cups and suctioned them to my belly. these plastic cups were attached to a machine and again electric shocks were sent into my belly.

ahem and ahem! then, they took some plastic or glass cups similar to the ones seen above, and they suctioned them onto my belly. i probably had over 20 suctioned on. wha?! and at the same time they put really long cuffs on my legs, from my feet to my mid-thigh that were like blood pressure cuffs. the cuffs filled with air at different times and in different areas giving me an intense massage - this is because in the past 2-3 weeks i've been having swelling in my feet.

whoa!! it was very interesting to say the least. it all cost 9,700 won, which is less than $10. crazy. i don't know if i'll do it again. i think things like this are kind of fun, but who knows. anyway, i'm so happy that i have done acupuncture now! check!

just a little hodge podge of thoughts

2009-04-18T17:35:00.001-07:00

on the agenda for today: 1. susan boyle 2. carrie prejean 3. the beginning of painting 4. more street performers

1. so by now you have probably all heard of susan boyle - the gal on britain's got talent. she blew away the audience. but, what's bothering me is that it's not really because she is such a great singer. she is a great singer, but it's because everyone thought she was so horrible to begin with. is anyone else struck by the thought that she's being repeatedly insulted as people keep talking about how astonished they are by her? are we saying that only beautiful people have talent? yes. and of course that's what happened, she was very much pre-judged, we are a very critical people. sad.

2. something i'm really impressed by is this, which is a video of carrie prejean responding to a question on the miss usa pageant. she was very courageous in expressing her views on gay marriage. wow, so difficult in that situation with so many watching, and knowing that there would be a terrible backlash. i'm an instant fan.

3. here's my little tiny set-up for my painting. it's difficult! i'm supposed to copy the picture standing up on the right. it looks easy, right? just 3 lines and 3 blots. but i did it so many times in the studio with him and there was always something wrong - too fast, too slow, don't push the brush, too thick, too thin, not close enough, too vertical, not vertical enough. it's a lot to be thinking about. love it!

4. my poor students. sometimes i look out the window during class and notice things and get completely distracted. (luckily they think it's cute) today, it was this dude. i have no idea what he's doing out there. while i was at it i thought i'd snap a shot of our friendly neighborhood advertisement bear. i don't know what she's selling. living in a big city - it's quite an experience!

i think she's sad that no one's talking to her or buying her stuffs. *sniff, sniff*

saturday

2009-04-18T05:35:00.000-07:00

super saturday. well, technically the first two pics are from thursday i think. maybe friday. doesn't matter. these colorful folk were dancing out in front of my office building. not sure why. but they did add interest to my day!

i haven't had any sushi since i've been in korea. many of you will think that sushi automatically means raw fish, but it doesn't. sashimi means raw fish. these are sushi rolls and in the first picture there is no raw fish. in the picture below you see a gift of extra sushi given to us by the chef. cute. the sushi in front does have raw fish wrapped around the bottom, and the little shiny beads on top of the back ones are fish eggs. probably flying fish eggs. this is japanese style, i believe. koreans have their own version of raw fish called hwae - not sure how to spell it - but i haven't had any yet. i'll let you know if and when i do.

all right, then next is the really fun part!! when i came out a year ago i was told about these cafes that have little pools where fish eat the dead skin off your feet. i've mentioned it before, and my friend/co-worker took me to one. it was the craziest feeling!! so strange, creepy, interesting, weird!! anyway. below is the face of the cafe.

inside.

the girls on the back of the picture are sitting up on the little deck area, they have their legs and feet in the pool and one of them was squealing a lot. it made me nervously excited!

it's called dr. fish.

my tootsies, about to embark on this exciting adventure!

i couldn't dunk my feet in all at once, too scary and the feeling was so strange that i couldn't handle it at first.

they'll nibble at any skin, even my fingertips.

laura's finger gettin' cleaned up.

these are my feet in the pool. you can kind of see the pink of my big toenails. all the brown are dozens of fish eating away! go fish go! i like the little guy up in the top left corner. he's like, "huh? what's goin' on?" he doesn't realize his dinner is already below.

seriously, the craziest feeling. it didn't hurt, but was so bizarre. i'd do it again. it was cool.

on another note, i started oriental painting lessons today. the man doesn't speak much english, i speak even less korean. it was interesting! and difficult. i didn't take any pictures yet, of course, it's just too soon. i went to his house and that'll be about an hour each way every saturday morning. i have to learn a lot in 3 short months!! practice, practice, practice! i'm really excited. i hope i can make something worth keeping. it was hard!

happy black day!

2009-04-14T03:02:00.000-07:00

so. in korea, valentine's day is on february 14th and girlfriends give their boyfriends chocolate. white day is on march 14th and boyfriends give their girlfriends candy. black day is on april 14th and singles eat jjajangmyeon - 짜장면, wheat noodles with black bean sauce on top. they're delicious! the noodles are freshly made by a guy in a window. it's fantastic! wikipedia says this: "In Korea, singles eat jjajangmyeon on Black Day. The noodles are a comfort food for those who have no significant others."

cherry blossoms!!!

2009-04-13T02:34:00.001-07:00

ah conference

2009-04-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

today at church we watched the sunday sessions of general conference with a potluck inbetween. conference, wow, huh? i know all the rest of you went through this all last week, but we're a little behind the times out here in the far east. the first session in particular really got me good. i was streaming with tears when elder holland spoke, and then again when they sang "we thank oh God for a prophet" and showed the pics of president monson. you see, i really feel a closeness and fondness for president hinckley. he was our prophet for so many years, and formative years of my life. i love his voice so much. i miss him. i didn't watch the past several conferences as devotedly as i could have, and while i did always listen to our new prophet's messages, and of course i absolutely believe that he is called of God and is our prophet, i still missed president hinckley and didn't feel connected to president monson, as a prophet. this sounds weird, huh! i have always loved president monson too; i don't know, i just really missed president hinckley. but, today, finally i felt my heart strings connect with his heart strings. i cried then and am crying now. he's my prophet. i know he is called of God. i know that he leads and guides us, that he loves us so much. i know God talks to us and guides us through him. i always have, but now i feel the connection. i love conference!!

i have attached the easter message from elder holland's talk to the top of the blog; if you want to watch it and are reading this through google reader, or some other way, you can come to the actual blog to watch. happy easter! i forgot it was easter today. holidays are a bit different living in such a foreign land.

and, on a side note. one of the speakers today spoke of having a sense of humor - something i completely agree with!! here's my sharing of some humor for today. i was just on facebook and looking at a friends posted pics. this is her cat, and he actually sits like this - all four legs dangling; they did not stage it. and she said that sometimes the cat will then put his chin down too. so cute! i was laughing so hard when i saw this. have a chuckle and a great day!!

i want your opinion!!! (------>>)

2009-04-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

all righty folks. it's time for you to cast your vote. here's the situation. i'm seriously considering a perm for the following reasons:

you know i've lost some hair since i've been here, so while my hair is fairly long (at last) it's now thinner than it used to be. sometimes big changes/moves do that to a person. i do have hair growing in, so i'm not worried about it being a serious problem. but, i would like it to look thicker and fuller.

i love change!! i think it would be really fun to have curly hair.

the best reason - korea is more advanced than america in a number of ways, one of them being in their perms. the looks like the girls in the pictures have are usually accomplished with lots of product and curling with a large barrel curling iron. takes a long time, hair is crunchy, doesn't last. BUT! in korea, they have special perms that create this look. you get hooked up to these machines that make you look like you're a creature from a sci-fi movie. awesome. the curl starts lower on the head so it looks more natural, and the curls can be big, so they look like the sexy beach waves the celebrities flaunt. what's more, they have developed this particular perm so that it curls your hair in a healthier way than our traditional perms, plus they do extra things to strengthen and nourish your hair during the process. and finally, with this type of perm your hair gets curlier when it dries, so you don't have to do the whole adding product and styling when it's wet so that it stays curly when it dries bit.

on the off chance it turns out horribly, i'm not the kind of person to cry over hair. i'd probably chop it and go with an afro perm and awesome highlights - something i've wanted to do for years.

huh, well, after the extensive explaining of the reasoning, i think my feelings have become clear. i want to do it. i still hesitate, it is a fairly big choice, and i do want your opinion! i can't wait to wake up in the morning and hear what you have to say! mahalos!

(poll is in the right column --->)

oh magnolias

2009-04-08T02:44:00.000-07:00

i was walking to work this morning when i looked over to my side and saw this splendid beauty. i'm in love with the mustard background as well. i simply love flowers. love.

i like the contrast in this, of city life in the background - little shops, bottles of coke, cardboard, air conditioner...

welcome to life!

2009-04-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

i lived in helena montana for the tail end of 6th grade, then 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. for a while i lived on a street called graham street. it was on that street that we met some of the most incredible people in the world. the ames. i was their babysitter and instantly fell in love with the boys. my first night with them they were wearing batman pajamas and we had so much fun flying around the house. a while later a little girl was born and she was my first baby. man i loved those kids and i loved their parents. years have passed and the two boys have served honorable missions, the oldest is now married, and my baby girl is an amazing and beautiful athlete. there's now a fourth little girl who's an adorable spit fire. well, the oldest little boy had his first child over the weekend. wow! the really cool thing is that they named her alivia noel. the really crazy coincidence is that my korean name is noeul. remember my post from a while back? when some of my korean friends gave me my korean name? yeah. well, how crazy is that? very cool. anyway, these guys are going to be amazing parents, i'm always incredibly impressed with the whole family, seriously gems. congratulations!

gyeongbokgung - 경복궁 - gyeongbok palace

2009-04-05T02:40:00.000-07:00

i spent my saturday looking for the possibilities of cherry blossoms and visiting the main palace, gyeongbok. didn't find many cherry blossoms yet, but that means i should have a blossom-ful weekend this weekend!

on my journey i saw this gigantic mosaic fish. i love mosaics. wish i had taken a close up.

i took 421 pictures on this day. gotta love digital, but how do you decide which ones to share?? the palace was originally constructed in 1394 by king taejo.

entrance to gyeongbokgung.

they have reenactments, i love the wind billowing thru the different colorful fabrics.

main entrance

some cherry blossoms!!

a throne in the main building.

ceiling in the main building. i'm bad at reading the details of the places i see. i'm a lot more visual - i just want to see and take pics.

view from the throne. i love the contrast against the old city.

cherry blossoms!!!

did you notice the flower reflected in the drop of water? wow, i love that! (this is why i go alone and take 421 pictures. :) )

reenactment of something with the king.

chinese zodiac! i'm a dragon, rar. i love being a dragon, and there are many of them here. this is outside the museum on the grounds.

the museum.

me and some buggy eyed thing.

on my walk to find a bus i walked past a quaint place looking like italy. cute.

this is on insadong street, you've seen insadong several times. this week my student told me that starbucks really wanted to be included on this very popular traditional street, but in order to set up shop they had to have their sign in hangeul, not roman letters. so, this says starbucks coffee, in hangeul. it's pronounced like this: suh-ta-buk-suh ku-pi.

i really love watching artists creating art. it's amazing to me. and he was fast and elegant.

the big characters i chinese, i think. those little ones are korean and say sa-rang, which means love. then he wrote hang-bok, which means happy.

i took 421 pictures! it's so hard to choose only a couple to share. i love many of them. :)

namhansanseong/남한산성 and the qualifying soccer match between north and south korea

2009-04-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

so, on wednesday april 1st we had the day off of work. a co-worker and i went to namhansanseong to get out in nature and so that i could fulfill one of my before i leave goals - see the wall! there is a wall in the mountains of korea, and i cal it the great wall of korea. i've wanted to see it up close, and this day i got to! then, that evening my friend diana invited me to go to the qualifying soccer match between north and south korea - thank you!!! here are the pics...

we took the subway there, and then stopped first for a korean breakfast of champions. this is my soon dubu jjigae, which you've heard me rave about before.

the middle little place is where we ate, sitting on the heated floor. gotta love it.

the beginning of our trek. this cute korean couple look very typical. all the hikers i've ever seen are always decked out in outdoor gear. cute.

before we got too far we found this large rock garden area. outside of it was a sign highlighting different parts of the body and feet. you are to walk on these stones and it's healthy for you. i did, but it hurt and i didn't feel healthier. :)

i often see older men and women, women especially who are forever hunched over in half. this is the kind of work they do that cripples their backs forever. i'm very grateful for their hard work, but am very sad about the physical tolls.

there were a number of areas that had these little rock towers. i'm not sure what they're called, or what the meaning is, but i've seen them in the states before too. however, there are so many here, and they are pretty big. it's amazing that they stay balanced.

spring!! i love love love green!!

details on one of the buildings along the way, i still love the colors and designs on the palaces and temples here.

when i go hiking here, i usually see stairs that have been built for the ease of the hikers. i saw these stairs and figured they were meant for us to take. none of the signs in this park were in english. so, we climbed all 22,000. BUT! when we got to the top it was just a road! it was a connector to the road and a bus stop. bother. my poor co-worker. so, we took the bus the rest of the way up.

i glimpse the wall and a gate! too bad it's all brown and gray still.

one of the gates on the wall!

spring and the wall.

me 'n' the wall.

one of the views from the gate. they said that this tree is 375 years old. that's pretty old.

my co-worker, laura, and i.

and now for the soccer match!! i think soccer is the most impressive sport of them all. i'm amazed by their skills and abilities, and that they can run and run and run and run. whoa.

diana and casey from the branch.

i love the sounds of huge crowds. this stadium was massive, and it wasn't all the way full, but the sounds of the cheering were amazing! koreans are very expressive and cheer a lot, which i love too.

at half time they brought out the recent ice skating world champion, kim yu-na, to speak to the crowd. i'm so proud of korea!

(i stole this pic from diana)

there are so many crowd control/riot police guys here - they like things to be safe! i was too embarrassed to take their picture, but really wanted to get a shot of them. so, diana went up and took this pic for me. thanks! i call them police boys. they look so young!

diana went down towards the end of the game to get pictures of the field up close and just happened to be down there when south korea scored the only goal of the game. she got this shot! incredible! the stadium erupted, it was so exciting!! however, i really have a hard time with sports and people losing. and with this game being against north korea, i actually had pretty conflicting feelings and ended up cheering for both, but a little more for south korea. i really wanted the game to be even, i was hoping the north could score a goal too. i hope that kim jeong-il doesn't punish them for losing. there were also a lot of injuries during this game. they brought out stretchers at least 5 times. they were playing their hearts out. it was an awesome experience!

and then we have the crowds going home! i'm not sure why they closed off the stairs and only let us use the escalators, probably so that no drunk people fall down and cause injuries.

we were all going to the subway, and surprisingly we only had to wait once to get on a train. but it was the fullest train i've ever been on!!

these folks are completely squished against the doors.

another shot stolen from diana. trying to cram as many people into the train as possible. i'm shocked! the door closed though.

another shot stolen from diana - we were crushed in there.

usually you hold onto handles when you ride the subway so that you don't fall. i didn't have to hold onto anything because i was seriously a sardine - i wasn't going to move anywhere, let alone fall down.

a couple of shots of how packed our train was. crazy fun!

drawing show - seoul

2009-04-03T07:56:00.001-07:00

(ahem...did you notice their arms? wow.)

my friend diana invited me to a one-of-a-kind art show tonight. it was incredible. it was funny, ingenious, touching, amazing, gave me goosebumps multiple times. the group of 3 men created art for us through several different mediums - right in front of our eyes. it was beautiful.

(from a korean website: Main artist: Kim Jin-gyu. The show is based on paintings and also adopts various art techniques such as carving, stamping, frottage, marbling and other new techniques invented by the art director. The show introduces flower drawing, light drawing and luminous drawing.) i don't want to go into a lot of explanation about what they did, because it just won't give you an accurate idea. but, it was an incredible show.

sometimes i'm such a girl!

2009-04-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

tonight:

sparkly sage-y/mint-y green nail polish

moisture hair treatment

pore minimizing facial peel

love it!

one more happy note

2009-03-30T04:47:00.000-07:00

my hair is growing back! i have this little halo and sometimes have little fluffs sticking out when my hair is pulled back. happy am i! that's all. oh, and one of my lifetime goals is to be able to shop at anthropologie, hello darling clothes!!

oh, and!!

one of my adorable cousin-families sent me homemade drawings and pictures!! i got them today, thank you!! it totally made my week! (i stole this pic from your blog - let me know if you want it off, hee-hee)

randoms

2009-03-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

here are the random thoughts in my head today:

~i'm really excited for conference!! we'll be seeing it a week later, but i'll still watch some online before we get together as a branch to watch. and is it weird that i still miss president hinckley? i do, i really miss him. of course i love president monson too, don't worry.

~i love love love water. it's my favorite drink. and when i'm thirsty and i finally get to have some, i feel so grateful and satisfied. i love water.

~i also love pedicures!! i think the sole purpose of the creation of toenails is so that they can be painted. (for those squeamish of feet, i apologize)

~it's been cold again here in seoul. very chilly, but, green is starting to show up here and there, and the cherry blossoms should be coming soon. i'm very excited for that.

~i have 3 months til i come home. i'm very good at not living in the moment. :) i look forward to things a little too much. i have to remind myself to stop thinking about what i'm excited to do and see when i get back. i still have a lot to see here too! it'll be a fabulous last 3 months!

~oh, and one last thing - i'm going to make real mashed potatoes today for my sunday dinner - yummy!!

~have a great week!

sad, we lost

2009-03-24T01:27:00.000-07:00

today was the final game of some baseball championship - the world baseball classic? anyway, it was korea vs. japan and was the 5th game - they were two and two. it was the 8th or 9th inning when i came down to the main floor where the teacher's lounge is. out in front of the big screen tv was this massive crowd - the score was 3 to 2 for japan and we were up to bat, and we scored! the entire room erupted with screaming, shouting, and jumpong up and down. it was great. but, alas, we lost - 5-3. they did better than expected though, which is good. my classroom was right next to the tv area and i only had two students show, late, and they wanted to watch the game for a while. cool with me, fun!

yes, i did take a hiatus...

2009-03-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

you may have noted my absence from the dailies - turns out they were the weekday dailies this time. but, now i'm back!! however, today i'm not exercising because last nite i only got 3 hours of sleep (and then 12 hours at work), which means i'm dead exhausted and going to bed way early. i'm also now going to just add the dailies to the sidebar because it's a little annoying to have it be a post every day.

saturday evenin'

2009-03-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

this is my friend yun-oh. you've seen him before as an "october hottie". he's literally one of the nicest guys i know, has biceps of solid steel, and gorgeous lips; the picture doesn't do him justice. he's been a great friend to me and came with me tonight to karyn's final seoul concert. she is a fabulous singer/songwriter. it was a great night.

elizabeth, karyn, geoffrey

hello, my name is tallivia

2009-03-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

two of my students from a couple months ago took me to a super cool street here in seoul called karosu/가로수길 that is fabulous! it's like a little soho and it's so close to where i live! unfortunately, i didn't take any pics of the street itself. the actual street isn't pretty yet because it's still winter, but it's lined with trees so when spring comes it should be really pretty. i'll go back again and will take plenty of pics, but it'll have to be when it's warmer and greener. anyway, there were lots of cool restaurants, cafes, galleries, book stores, small clothing and knick knack shops, just great. i love those kinds of places. the girls took me to a restaurant called buchella - it's this tiny little place that has the greatest sandwiches on freshly made ciabatta bread. mm-mmm good. afterwards we went to this great coffee shopped and giggled like school girls. they're so cute!

the gal on the left asked me to give her an english name. that's quite the task! i think names are super important, mostly because i adore my name so much. so, i was thinking of names and started listing off my cousin's children's names because they're what's popular right now. we decided on jeneive - kip's girl's name - it totally fits her and she's tickled pink. well, one thing lead to another and after lots of giggling and tinkering with our names, my new nickname became "tallivia". these gals are typically short korean gals, and i'm monstrous next to them. tallivia is very apropos.

ok, and as a final side note, look at this great translation!! it's a sample i got from a make-up facial/skin/hair care store - they are very sample happy here. i have a whole bag full of samples. anyway, i was reading it trying to figure out what it's for. ahem...horny?? i think that "horny substance" is referring to zits, so funny! (and that marvelous purple is the color of my marvelous manicure last week.)

luxury evening at the w hotel

2009-03-11T04:23:00.000-07:00

a couple weekends ago a couple gals and i went to the w hotel here in seoul. it was a grand experience. it was karyn's last luxury night in seoul since she's leaving soon, which is why it is so close to the last one we had (new years eve). she found a great deal on rooms, so we were set! i definitely prefer the other room, but the view and sauna experience in this hotel were fabulous!

(pic courtesy of their website)

one of the elevators was dark and had these green rings hanging from the ceiling, interesting, and i really had an urge to grab and hang. we were escorted to our rooms by a bell girl, and then proceeded down to dinner in the restaurant. the restaurant was nice, but so expensive! i ordered a mushroom risotto for 26,000won (if the exchange rate was even it would be about $26). is the rice in risotto supposed to be crunchy? i was disappointed.

so! on the menu they had a gourmet burger. just guess how much this hummer cost! you'll never guess it. 150,000won ($150). oh my crazy. it had special australian beef, lobster tail, foie gras, truffles, and other things. i don't think i could ever spend that kind of money on one entree. (photos courtesy of fatmanseoul)

after dinner we proceeded to the super duper relaxing pampering portion of the evening. so, these pools are in the sauna area. it is common in korea to go to a jjimjilbang (sp?), or public bath house. right, some of you will be freaked out by being nekked in front of your friends and strangers, but really, once you get there you realize that you're all females and it really doesn't matter. it's great! the red pools are very hot, too hot for me, the blue ones are cold, too cold for me (i was kind of a wimp this time), and the green ones were warm, nice and warm. some were bubbly, some were flat. there was also a dry sauna, steam room, and hammam - turkish bath. (pics courtesy of their website)

and then there was the balcony. heavenly. the two stone hottubs pictured above were divine. you can see the view of the river and the city from this open air balcony and when we were there we only had the foot lighting - it wasn't so bright. this picture is for their website, so we also didn't have the candles and rolled towels and teapot sitting on the steps. but, it was heavenly nonetheless. on the other side of the deck was a green, bubbly, hottub, but rectangular, like the one inside. so, after soaking and talking in the different tubs and rooms, we proceeded to the scrubbing area where we scrubbed ourselves clean. then to the lotioning area, then to the vanities - they provided skin care, hair care, hair dryers, etc. i could so easily live the life of a rich person. no problemo.

then off to beddybye. these beds were amazing. i'm used to sleeping on my concrete-feeling bed. it was like laying on a heavenly cloud. i really can't express how happy i was to sleep on feathers, with my head on feathers, and my body being covered by feathers (feather comforter - i miss mine!!)

this is my good morning view from my soft bed and soft pillow and soft comforter. aaaaahhhh....

good morning view from the window, the sun rising over the city. it's all weird looking because there was some kind of film over the windows - decorative for the outside appearance.

the lobby...view from the lobby, same view as our room and the nekked sauna balcony...

afterwards, jill and i went back to gangnam for a delicious, delicious, delicious american breakfast. we also found this little mani/pedi shop in the subway station. this gal was incredible!! my manicure took an hour! she was so meticulous on my cuticles, gave me a hand massage, and then painted my nails this beautiful, bright purple color. she had opi! my favorite. i love being a girl and doing these girly pampering things. i also love that i am at a place that i can splurge and have fun like this. it keeps me sane and makes life grand. (oh yeah, and before i went to the hotel i spent the afternoon having lunch and going to a museum with a very handsome korean friend who is one of the kindest people i know. a seriously good weekend was had!)

photo album tag

2009-03-07T05:49:00.000-08:00

i cheated. i was supposed to choose the sixth pic from the sixth folder in my pictures, but there's no way in bleep i'm posting that one!! so, i chose the sixth folder from the bottom. i love and adore my sister and cherish the time we spent together on our trip to england, scotland, and wales (2004). it was her first big trip, mom's too, and i was so excited that they got to go somewhere far away. being the big sister, i also was in charge of danae for this trip. she had to be in a wheelchair the vast majority of the time because she fell and injured herself just before we left. so, i wheeled her around. the day of this pic we were in scotland stopping to see some golfing place. puh-lease. like danae and i were interested. so, instead, we went down to the beach, just the two of us. we sometimes go on sister/sister dates and inevitabley we end up having several all-out laughing fits. we're talking tears. on this outing we were laughing really hard too. i don't remember why now, but she can barely breathe, was crying cause she was laughing so hard, and so i had to capture it. i just love her!! and for good measure i'm adding this other photo of her. it's one of my all-time favorite photos of my darling danae - my baby 'nae.

(if you click on it, itll get bigger and you'll be able to see her brilliant smile up close!)

february, a minor review

2009-02-27T02:00:00.000-08:00

so, as you know, it was a short, cold, busy month. many great things occurred, however! for valentine's a couple of us from the branch went to a dog cafe in a very cool university area called hong-dae. i love that there are lights, and i'm not sure that if they're still up, or are always up. pretty nonetheless.

when i told my parents i was going to a dog cafe, they thought i meant a place to eat dog. dog stew is still eaten here (apparently it's very healthy, especially for women), and no, i still haven't tried it. no dogs were eaten in the making of this evening. addendum: many of you have apparently thought that this cafe serves food. nope - just dog snacks, and human drinks with lids - it's just a cafe. :)

had to include the spooky green eyes

this red guy was oddly possessive of our table. he'd start to growl at other dogs sometimes, when they were close to us. it was a fun experience, something i've never done, but i won't be instigating another trip back. i was too aware of germs and drool and stuff. i've heard there's a cat cafe there too, i'll have to check it out.

now this picture is a completely different night and a different place. this is not the dog cafe! :) this is what many korean meals look like. there are lots of side dishes and several main dishes. each person gets their own rice, in this healthy case we chose barley, and then everything else is eaten family style. of course, they don't call it family style because it's just the way it is here.

one sunday after church, jill cooked for us, trimmed my locks, and then we had some fun with the camera. rebecca is in the middle and is a doll!

good morning!!

2009-02-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

this should be an interesting day. i've been tired due to waking up at 5 or 5:30 every morning for the last 2 months, and the last two nights i went to bed at 8pm. yes, that is not a typo, 8pm. well, last night it was closer to 8:30. awesome! well, this morning i woke up at 2am. i went back to sleep, but was up by 4 without being able to go back to sleep. so i got out of bed around 4:30, took a shower, and started my day. maybe there's something to this early to bed, early to rise thing. then again, maybe i'll be crashing at 6pm. this week is the last week of my teaching month, i requested a later start next month, since we won't be so busy (the university students have to go back in march).

i also want to put a plug in for lds.org. i am able to put conference, the joseph smith relief society manual lessons, and more onto my ipod. how cool is that? i can listen to this week's lesson while i'm walking to work, and i can prepare for my lesson and listen to conference any time. wow. now, this is not a new thing, i just figured out how to do it for myself.

friday evening in my hood. did i really just say hood?

2009-02-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

this is my fabulous busy city!! it's on the street of my work as i'm walking home.

update, this is gonna be one gigantic post!

2009-02-06T19:06:00.001-08:00

so, apparently i did have a lot to say to y'all. i had just forgotten. here is what's gonna happen in this post: 1-pic of my church building 2-second day of lunar new year holiday including the seoul temple in the daylight 3-january classes pics 4-thoughts on my future (please read and comment!!) 5-thank you for visiting. :)

1-so, this is where i go to church on sundays. it's located in the seodaemun area of seoul and luckily i can catch a bus there that only takes maybe 30 minutes. then i have to walk another 10 minutes or so. when i'm running late i take a taxi and that's about ₩8,000. when i first arrived i went by subway which was at least 1.5 hours. crazy!

2-you've already seen day 1 of my lunar new year holiday and below is day two. i went with some folks from church to eat at a yummy lebanese restaurant called petra's and had falafel, hummus, and other greatnesses. man do i love that kind of food! then we did a session at the temple.

when i came out of the temple i thought i heard children crying. then i realized it was just a feral cat in heat, sitting right next to the temple. after a couple of minutes another cat joined him and man, are they loud!! there are a lot of feral cats here, and right now it must be that time of the year, or whatever, because i hear them from outside the temple, from inside my office, and from inside my home.

it is tradition to eat ddeok guk/떡국 and it passes a year for you. but, don't eat two, or you'll be two years older!! i only had one bowl. i'm ok with turning another year older, although, now it means that i'm 34 korean age and 32 american age. everyone turns another year older at the new year. below are the ddeok/떡 slices that you hear me rave about. i seriously love this ddeok stuff. it's a little weird because it really has no flavor and is really chewy. so then why? why do i love it so much? we may never know.

3-classes. january, february, july, and august are very busy months for english academies because the universities are on break. i am at work 12 hours a day during both months, and in january i also did extra interviews and so was working 9-11 hours a day. i need the money, but i'll be glad when it's march! so, here are some of my classes on the last day and each class is missing some people. as always, some skip out on the last day since we just hang out.

cold stone creamery!!

this is one of two traditional games my class tried to teach me. it's pretty complicated but also pretty popular and is called 'go stop'. they only showed it to me once, so i still have no idea how to play it.

4-thoughts on my future. ok. so. bear with me, i have a gazillion thoughts in my head, and they may not come out in an orderly fashion. i'll be 33 in may. i'm still a 13 year old, if that, when it comes to guys. maybe i'm an 11 year old. we may never be sure. when it comes to love and love relationships i was given no gifts, we could even say i was given a gag gift or a white elephant gift. seriously. i may be single my entire earth life because i really am backwards in this area. (in which case i just want heavenly father to know that i have dibs on rachmaninoff for marriage after i die.) i think that i have to stop thinking about it. i have to stop working for it. wait a minute, hear me out. if i choose where i live and what i do next based on the hope of marriage (i.e., "i should move to arizona or idaho where there are a lot of single lds men"), i think i'll just continue to disable myself. i really can't explain what my mind does when i think or hope or try to work on dating and marriage, but honestly, it's one for the psychology books. i'm absolutely nutty, and i don't want to go back to the dark ravine i was in when i was in utah. i'm still not even fully out of that place. i simply have to hand that entire section of my life over to God, because i simply cannot do it or even think about it. my only goal and wish for my life has been to marry and have children, but honestly, i'm just broken in that area. God's going to have to do it for me, and i honestly feel that if i do anything for my future with that as a deciding factor, i'll just continue to be paralyzed. so, i fully know that God is aware of me, listens to me, and cares about me. my experiences with Him have made it so clear that He is right here next to me. i'm profoundly thankful and have to believe that if i just try to live my life without worrying about the marriage part, he'll guide my path and it'll happen when it's right. if it's right in this lifetime. i also "fully accept" that it may not happen in this lifetime. i don't have the required faith to fix myself to the point of being a wonderful flirt and confident enough woman to 'grab my man'.

so, that leads me to think about other single older women. they have pursued their fields and have become experts of sorts. i have been instructed in some detail about my career, and know concretely that it's not only ok, but part of my mission to pursue being an expert in my field. so, here are my thoughts. i'll return to utah in july, unless something major intervenes and i return earlier or later.

a. if i can't get the right kind of job somewhere in the us i'll look into getting a celta (english teaching certification) and returning to asia to teach english, but i'll go to a country that's not being hit so hard by this world recession. right now the middle east is paying the most, but my mom would have a heart attack and die if i even entertained the idea. :)

b. my first choice is to return to hawai'i. i've talked before about my desire to go into the parent child interaction therapy (pcit) niche. if i can find a position in hawai'i in which i can use pcit, i'll snatch it up. i talked to a woman today who helps agencies in hawai'i get trained in pcit. she said that there are 2 on oahu, one in hilo on the big island, and that tripler is looking into getting trained within the next 6 months. however, she also said that her agency is not doing any kind of hiring right now because of the recession. so, i'll get in touch with the other companies and see what i can find out. she also said that sometime in the kind of near future they're going to train private practice therapists who want to add pcit to their practices. maybe there's some way i can get in touch with them and see if they want someone else to be in their office. i also am trying to get in touch with a woman i met on the flight here to korea, who was on her way to hawai'i to set up another therapy office on oahu. we'll see.

c1. if i can't go to hawai'i then i want to try for san diego. i've been there a lot, my family goes there a couple of times a year, it's next to my ocean, warm, and just sounds nice to me. there are several agencies in san diego that do pcit, and i'll be contacting them as well. if anyone in hawai'i or san diego wants to hire me before my contract is up here, i'll break my contract and go back sooner.

c2. if i go to san diego it would be extremely beneficial to be fluent in spanish. one of my life long goals is to be fluent in spanish too, so it just kind of matches. with the recession it may be not only beneficial, but necesssary to have spanish to ensure that i get hired for the kind of job i want. i feel like i've already spent enough years in a difficult part of the field, so while i could find a social work job somewhere, i don't want to just settle for anything. maybe spanish would be just the thing to help me get an edge up. becoming fluent in spanish from a program like rosetta stone is not that realistic; it'd be better to learn it immersion style. i can't move to south america and teach english while i learn spanish, because i still have monthly bills, and south america can't pay it's english teachers more than a couple dollars and hour. i can't go to spain and teach english because you have to have european citizenship to teach there, and even then, they also don't pay enough to be able to send anything home for monthly bills. so, last tuesday on the way to the temple i was talking to my friend who recommended that i look into the peace corps. she was in paraguay and while it was difficult, she loved it and it has been so valuable for her. if i was to join the peace corps, i could wait for a position somewhere in mexico, central, or south america and could wait for a position that would allow me to work with youth or mothers and young children. i'd be doing social work there which would be incredible. they pay for everything - medical check up, visa stuff, flights to and from, and then train you in the language and whatever else you need for 3 months before you go. they put you up with a family and you have no monthly bills and get fed for free. they give you a monthly stipend that allows you to live similarly to the local people, and then when you finish your commitment they give you $6,000 to help you re-locate. they want you to commit to doing it for 2 years, but if you need or want to leave early you can with no penalty. if you want to be tutored in the language after you arrive they set you up with that too. so, the peace corps. it's an exciting and daunting idea.

c3. i've also thought about doing another masters degree in san diego. my masters degree in social work from hawai'i is useful in that it has allowed me to receive my lcsw, so that i can get hired for jobs. however, as far as actual information that i can use, it was pretty useless. i know many single women who have doctorate degrees or multiple masters degrees. i don't have any interest in doing a doctorate, because in my field it would mean going into research and teaching, which i don't want to do. but, i think that doing a masters degree in child development would be really interesting and would give me a great knowledge base from which to understand and help my clientele.

doing 2 years in the peace corps or in another graduate program may sound like a long time, but really, haven't we seen how time flies? i've already been in korea for 7 months, and i think that to most of you it feels like i'm not really gone. it feels like that to me a lot of the time. and, when i am 72 years old, living in my house on the beach in hawai'i, and look back at my life, 1 year in korea, 2 years in ecuador, and 2 masters degrees is not going to seem like a waste of time, or that it took a long time.

but, in all honestly, i just don't know what the future holds for me. these are my thoughts, and if you made it this far in this post, then i'd love to hear what thoughts and ideas you have about this. it's exciting for me to think about, and i'm also getting a bit ancy. i'm very much a list-maker and goal-setter, so i want to know what's next. whew!

5-thank you for visiting!! loves to you all!!

korean orphanage

2009-02-04T04:10:00.000-08:00

i have so many things to tell you, well, maybe just one post, finally, showing my church and the temple in daylight. oh, and my current thoughts on my future. but, i have a very full schedule again this month, so i'll just post this little tidbit for now. i went to an orphanage/infant hospital/adoption agency last sunday instead of going to church. i thought it was a good reason not to go. i was trained and spent three hours holding, feeding, burping, and changing diapers of tiny 2-3 kg babies. they were so darling and so cute! oh, bless them. wow. i'll hopefully be able to go back again, we gotta get my paperwork and medical records all set up. anyway, it was a pretty cool experience.

25 random things - carried over from facebook

2009-01-31T01:59:00.000-08:00

this tag is traveling like wildfire on facebook and has been really fun. for those of you not on facebook, i thought i'd post it. for those of you on facebook, sorry you have to see it again. :)

1. i have a crooked pinky finger, a gap between my two front teeth, and can plug my nose with my lips.

2. i have a very tender heart and feel things strongly- i always feel terrible when the losing team is shown on tv, i almost get teary when i see homeless or very disabled people, and there's a guy at work right now who is terribly backwards socially that i feel very badly for. i imagine myself in their situation so easily, and then my heart hurts.

3. i have moved 54 times and have lived in utah, california, idaho, montana, arizona, washington, hawai'i, on guam, and in seoul, south korea. i also lived in israel, jordan, and egypt for a little over 2 months for a study abroad program (the bulk of the time was in israel). oh, and i have driven from seattle to long island, incredible.

4. one day i'll visit every state and will visit many more countries.

5. i love collecting little things from nature – i have 5 or 6 whole sand dollars, a starfish, and 3 urchin shells that i have found on the beach or in the ocean (no animal was harmed in my collecting), i have collected sand from hawai’i (white, black, and green), scotland, california, and oregon, and have lots of shells and leaves and stuff. i love the ocean.

6. i love experiencing new things and am scared of being or looking the same as i used to. i don't want to see people after a lot of time has passed and have them think or say- wow, you're just the same as i remember you. silly but true. one consequence of this is that my hair has been very light orange (i was going for blonde though - don't do it yourself!), many shades of red from orang-ish to burgundy-purplish, and almost black. it's also been so short that it was shaved in the back.

7. i don't know anyone who loves potatoes, chocolate, or ice cream more than i do. as a young child i had my own name for ice cream and to this day none of us have any idea where i got it from - "hockaway" is what the word sounds like.

8. i love making lists, even though i rarely accomplish everything on them. i'll also make lists and include things i've already accomplished so that i can cross them off. i seem to always need some kind of plans or goals to look forward to.

9. i love, love, love green. it's the color of nature, new life, and has many fabulous shades. i love moss because of it's gorgeous green. i prefer bold colors to light colors.

10. some of my life goals are to be fluent in spanish and american sign language. i know a little of both, but i'm nowhere near being fluent.

11. i own an ukelele but don't know how to play it yet. other life goals are to be very good at piano, guitar, and the uke.

12. i've been hit by a car twice - once when i was in first grade and i flew 12 feet through the air but didn't receive even a bruise or scratch. the second time was at byu when i borrowed my friend jana's bike and some lady hit me as she was leaving a parking lot on campus. i was more embarrassed than hurt, but jana's bike was a little banged up. i've also had 3 layers of over 40 stitches in my chin from busting it on the ice at my grandparent's cabin. but, i've never broken a bone!

13. i'm terribly horrible with numbers. even counting my score after a card game is difficult for me.

14. i used to have a bit of arachnophobia, seriously. (i cried when i first saw the jmr tarantula from the hallway of the mall when i was in high school). but, i held a tarantula at byu during a drawing class. i still can't touch spiders though. i have to kill them with an object not just a tissue.

15. once i owned a chinchilla and my roommate owned a 6-foot red-tailed boa constrictor, among other reptiles. we only let chinchilla and snake (those were their names) meet each other through two layers of glass. both were cute, i like reptiles and love animals. throughout my life i've had 5 cats (at different times), a dog that had 12 puppies, 3 rabbits, 2 rats, and a goldfish.

16. i like being alone, it doesn't bother me, but don't like it to be quiet, at least not indoors. i have to have a book playing, the tv on, or music playing.

17. i really, really want to become really good at some kind of sport- surfing, snowboarding, running, raquetball, something. and one day i'll be a great swing dancer.

18. i've always thought it'd be fun to be a hair stylist, masseuse, and a personal trainer.

19. laughing and laughs are wonderful. i love listening to and watching people laugh. i used to laugh on purpose in weird ways to cheer myself up. i also used to laugh really big by myself driving my car in the hopes of making someone else laugh. in 6th grade though, i was embarrassed of my laugh and so would hold my laugh in and would make a horrible in-suck-of-air noise when i finally had to breathe again.

20. when i was growing up i thought my voice was too monotone, so i purposely changed my pitch and intonations until i talk the way i do now.

21. i usually prefer water over any other drink, but my favorite soda is definitely a&w root beer.

22. one of my greatest weaknesses, if not my greatest weakness, is that i often let fear and guilt take over my thoughts. i often feel guilty about things that i have absolutely no need to feel guilty about.

23. i love the smell of campfires, even after i'm finished camping. i'm enchanted by both fires and nature.

24. i compulsively pick at my split ends.

25. i love spicy foods and ethnic foods - korean, indian, thai, vietnamese, lebanese, greek, middle eastern, peruvian, mexican, etc, etc, etc. i also love trying new foods. i'm currently addicted to korma curry that i can buy in little packets and make meals out of. of course i add plenty of potatoes.

may you receive many blessings of the new year/새해 복 많이 받으세요

2009-01-26T05:38:00.000-08:00

sunday, today (monday), and tomorrow are days that make up seollal/설날, the lunar new year here in korea. it's the most important holiday of the year with lots of traditions. korean people travel home for food and ceremonies honoring ancestors and elders. they bow and young people - adults and children bow to their seniors and receive money and advice for the new year. it is common to wear hanbok/한복, and today out on the streets i did see some women and girls wearing hanbok. they're beautiful dresses.

it's traditional to eat ddeok guk/떡국 during this holiday, but i forgot to do that today. it's a soup that is mild broth with sliced rice cake. i'll make sure to have some tomorrow night. but, since it's a new year, and i don't have to go to work, and i'm most likely coming home in june, i ate some new things today. very fun.

these are fish made out of lightly sweetened batter with red bean paste inside. the red bean paste is lightly sweetened as well. they don't taste fishy, it's just the shape. yummy.

one of jill's favorite street foods are these - roasted hazelnuts. they were pretty good.

another new thing i tried today, was this one black contact. jill bought them for halloween and i wanted to have a go. i have never worn contacts before, and actually am a complete dunce when it comes to eye drops. i really cannot do it myself, and it's difficult for anyone to do it for me because my eyes flinch non-stop. so, after laboring for at least 5 minutes i got this one in. after laboring further, i gave up with the other eye - it hurt too much!! so, this is me sans make-up (whoa!) with one big black eye. taking it out was harder than i thought it'd be and i ended up scratching my eye. so, now there's this big red dot on my eyeball, down on the lower left side of my left eye. i'm praying that it doesn't get infected. and now, please gently ignore the beautiful circles and wrinkles under my eyes. i think it's amazing that my eyelashes are so light and thin. you can't even see them, but they are fairly long. mascara is my friend.

on saturday i hooked up with rebecca and she indulged me. one of my "to-dos" while it is winter is to eat more street food, ddeokbokki in particular. you guys have seen this before when i made it, but i didn't want to eat it from a street stand until it was winter, and hopefully very safe to eat. it was really good!! i'll make it for ya when i come back.

i so love my family

2009-01-23T17:26:00.000-08:00

look at how cute they are!! so cute. i get to talk to them at least once a week, and i am so grateful for skype that makes it possible in living color for free!! fabulous! this is friday evening for them, saturday morning for me. they told me how it is a balmy 40degrees there, while it's a frigid 9degrees here. i don't want to go outside! the sunshine is very deceiving. anway, it's so fun to be able to talk with them. i love you guys!!

피곤 해...

2009-01-20T01:28:00.001-08:00

피곤 해 this is pronounced pee-gōn-hay; it is the casual form of "i'm tired"

today:
6:40 - pip 200 second (speaking, reading, writing, listening)
8:30 - break for 30 minutes
9:00 - opic speaking test prep
10:00 - opic speaking test prep
11:00 - pip 100 first (reading)
12:00 - pip interviews
1:00 - opic speaking test prep
2:00 - opic speaking test prep
3:00 - opic presentation for prospective students
4:00 - sle advanced speaking
5:50 - walk home and fall into bed

yes, that was today's schedule, which explains the glazed look in my eyes. mind you, i'm not complaining. not quite. i'm super glad to have so many hours this month. i only have two days like this. the other one is the last day of the month. for the next two weeks i have a break at 3:00 for an hour, and the past week and a half i had a break at 12:00 for an hour too. but, to add to it, yesterday i caught a cold again. are you kidding me? luckily it seems to be much milder than the christmas cold. bother. and yeah. about the income i mean. :)

a little entertainment i'm not too proud to admit i love

2009-01-17T03:51:00.000-08:00

monk.

i seriously love this show. i'm a huge fan of crime dramas, but the episodic kind. i don't have the patience for shows like 24 and lost, i get a little bored and i think they get a little hokey. but shows like law & order, the closer, without a trace, bones, and monk i love. i love monk because of the over the top ocd he has. i just think he's funny. it's a clean show too, which is awesome. so, finally there was a new episode on surfthechannel the other night. when i watched it i got another lovely surprise too!

steve zahn.

i love this guy! he's a hoot and a half in sahara, was great in rescue dawn, and is in a load of other movies as well. i simply love him and got to have him in monk this week too. awesome.

snow

2009-01-17T03:13:00.000-08:00

it finally snowed for real here in seoul. it's snowed a couple times before, but it was really just dustings of snow. again, i admit that snow is very pretty when it's falling and i'm indoors. but, i dread walking in it and i still hate the cold!

this is a staple of mine for good eats. it's called sinpo woori mandu/신포우리만두 and is there on the street level. it's nice and bright and orange and green inside. it was one of the first places i went to when i arrived clear back in july because the prices are good, the food is delish, and the menus are in english as well. very helpful when you don't know korean yet. they sell mandu/만두, which are dumplings as well as soups, stews, and rice dishes. so delicious/맛있는!the other day i was there and the cute older woman who usually is the cashier told me my ring was pretty (the turqoise i bought with you in seattle, anne!), beckoned for me to take it off, tried it on, patted my hands a couple of times and kept saying pretty, about my hands. in korean of course. we always want what we don't have. she loves my white hands, most korean women want whiter skin, while i love their olive skin tone. beautiful. anyway, she's a darling.

for all you pro-lifers

2009-01-15T03:47:00.000-08:00

when i was in middle school in montana i was the most out spoken pro-life middle schooler there was. we had debates in social studies with mr. campbell, and mike and i would spend hours arguing it. i've been on the news once, when i went to a pro-life rally and a woman asked me to help her hold a massive banner on the balcony in the capitol that said something like youth for life. or something. anyways, i still believe that the choice comes before the sex, not afterwards. tonight i signed a petition against the freedom of choice act (foca) that president obama will sign in if possible. it would raise all restrictions and make abortion a right, like the right to free speech. if you also want to sign against it you can do so here. happy signing and happy democracy!

blast

2009-01-11T03:01:00.000-08:00

blast, i took my camera with me today to church with the intention of taking pics of our building. i don't think i've shown you where i go to church, right? but i forgot to. next sunday. also, today during sunday school i thought of a funny story that illustrates what a geek i was in my younger years. i thought of this because i offered to read twice. i love reading and have been an avid reader from a very young age. in 7th grade in particular, i remember faking my teacher out just so that i could have a chance to read out loud. she'd choose students at random, and i knew that she'd target students who weren't paying attention. so i'd follow along sneakily, but spend time "daydreaming" to make her call on me so that i could read out loud. hello!? who does that? i know, geek. and proud of it! now, who wants me to read to them??

americano week

2009-01-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

i have had several american experiences more than usual this week. i had mcdonalds for the first time since i've been here - big mac n fries. surprisingly it tasted the same. they had other menu items that were unique - corn salad, bulgogi burger. bulgolgi is a very popular beef with a special sauce.

yesterday was payday and since in my fridge i literally only had 3 eggs and 2 half jars of jam, i went to costco. yay! beef, cheese, and chocolate, what else can an american want? have you guys had these french truffles (pictured)? they just melt in your mouth, divine. now, let me explain what going to costco is like here. busy, busy, busy. as jill says, your body belongs to korea. you get bumped, jostled and cut in front of all the time. usually no one says excuse me or sorry because it's just a busy place, it just happens. at the food court they sell the same things as in the states, including a bulgogi bake in addition to the chicken bake. i had the hotdog set which is 2,000won, cheap! it was soo busy that i ate it standing next to the wall in between the soda and napkins. koreans eat their pizzas and hotdogs with forks and knives so i always get looked at for eating with my hands. they also create an onion side dish. have i already told you this?? they get a huge pile of the chopped hot dog onions, like a third of a plate, add mustard and ketchup, and mix it for a side dish. i've never seen anything like it! every time i see it i'm a little astounded.

i also had pizza again, sbarros this time. i went late though, so i only had two choices - pepperoni with sweet potato puree in a circle around the middle and then cheese with potato wedges and corn kernals. interesting, eh? most pizza places also give a bottle of tobasco and a side of sweet pickles.

remember no judgments though - it's just different, and every country personalizes foods - think mexican in the form of taco bell, chinese as panda express, and italian as olive garden. ya gotta love it!

one of my 32 things...

2009-01-08T02:19:00.000-08:00

top o' the mornin' to yas... one of my things to accompish while i'm 32 is to learn how to link. this is it ladies and gents. let's see if i learned!

i've been able to watch some favorite american tv shows like monk and the closer by using this website. hulu and the network websites don't work here in korean, but this one does! phew.

well, turns out this goal was a piece of cake! i only have 4.5 months to finish the rest! fun!

happy new year!

2009-01-04T01:31:00.000-08:00

new years was way better than christmas, hallelujah!! also not hard to do. i went to dinner with one of my classes. the place had great ambience, we sat on the heated floor next to these private booths/mini rooms with beautiful drawn curtains. they brought us these little platters of meat. delicious. the place is called 꽃물 which means flower water.
then i joined some friends for dessert and more at a really nice hotel in seoul, close to where i live actually. each dessert item was 14,000 won, which just means expensive. more than $14. but, that was nuthin'. the room they reserved was on the 17th floor and was luxurious. the two side walls of the room were glass and we had a great view of the city. much to my delight there was a huge shower and tub room next to one of the glass walls. yes, i did. i took a major bubble bath with a view of seoul. maybe they had a view of me too, but come on, probably not. there were fireworks at midnight and i ended up staying and sleeping on the couch. i think i'll never have a problem sleeping anywhere again, since my current bed is so hard. anything will seem softer. although, jill and karyn literally do sleep on stone. "they" say it's healthy. anyway, it was gorgeous! and beautiful! and so luxurious! the shower had an extra head that was very large and on the ceiling. the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash they provided was aromatherapeutic. just beautiful.

next to the tub is the glass wall of the bedroom. there's a large flat screen tv there in the corner. while i took my bath, the other gals watched 30 rock. we were able to draw down a blind inbetween the two rooms. fabulous. when we went to sleep we were able to choose between having blinds covering all the windowed walls, or to go into black out mode. we chose black out. i got to sleep in, which is bliss!

those are my bubbly toes peeking out from the edge of the tub. **sigh**

lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of aromatherapy bubbles... it's gonna be a good year.

the most unchristmasiest christmas ever

2008-12-27T19:12:00.000-08:00

(we have our red noses in common this year)

well, hello from korea. this is my 3rd christmas without family and i'm still doing fine not being homesick. i'm really glad i don't have that affliction. my mom sent a package that miraculously got to me on christmas eve. how marvelous is that?! well, last sunday evening i went to a friends place for dinner and hangin' and i left feeling that my throat was oddly dry and weird feeling, but i thought maybe it was from the incense being burned in her studio. it's tight quarters for a whole stick of the stuff, maybe it was just that. but, monday i could feel that it was a cold. woke up coughing, ended the day trying not to breathe much because the coughs were so painful in my chest. seriously, ouch. next day i felt better and hoped that it was just a quicky, but that evening my body started aching and my head felt like it was going to explode. wednesday came with the continued headache, the major change to the voice starting, and the beginning of the sneezes and the faucet nose. christmas day i spent sneezing the roof off my apartment and using up a roll of tp. i have to tell you that you have to use cherry ice mentholatum chapstick for your nose when you're sick. it's amazing. it's cold and tingly and helps your nose skin to recover quickly after all the blowing and wiping. so christmas day was peak day for my cold and it's been downhill since. it's sunday, and currently i have the headache, throat is still slightly swollen, weird voice, and just leftover sniffles, etc. why in the land am i telling all of you all the gory details??? because i have no manners and because i was all alone, so i want you to feel sorry for me. :) i've been holed up in my apartment the entire week except for leaving for work and water. i did have one of my cute korean guy friends call me at least 3 times to check up on me though. cute. twice he was drunk with his friends, but still trying to give me advice on what kind of medicine to buy. cute. today i will attempt to do some cleaning of my little studio. it looks like it was hit by the toilet paper monster. on another happy note, i did have one student give me an ornament. happy! but, i was too sick to bother with hanging it. sad. yes, now you can be sad for me. i'm sure others out there had much worse christmases, but i'm too wrapped up in myself to consider them. :) here's to a happy new year!!

australia the movie - i will opine

2008-12-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

(you can see here that his arm is the same size as the boy's entire body. too big.)

so, my friend took me to see this flick and i wasn't so impressed. first of all, i haven't seen nicole in a while and she looks different! her lips are inflated and have changed the way her mouth moves now. it's weird and disappointing. then, i was really looking forward to seeing my hugh jackman. love him, but apparently he's working on his part as the wolverine because he's absolutely, massively huge. too much so for my taste. his body is so built that his head looks small! yuck. i was sad. then there's the movie itself. it was trying so, so hard to be an epic, was way too long, and there were so many different filming styles used that it was distracting. the little boy was cute, but his accent/way of speaking was a little annoying too. did i mention that it was long? so, if you haven't seen it, and are wondering if you should, i wouldn't bother. or at least wait and just redbox it. i haven't seen twilight yet. my friends went to see it on christmas, but i wasn't able to join them. that'll be part of the next post though...

a happy friday it was

2008-12-16T07:20:00.000-08:00

friday evening i took a happy christmas bus to meet jill at the dance studio. i had seen a christmas bus before, but hadn't ridden one yet. yes, some may think it looks cheesy and way over the top, but, i gotta tell ya, it was fabulous. i don't have any christmas decorations and it doesn't really feel like christmas to me here. christmas is celebrated here, but it's nothing like it is in the us. so, getting on this bus that evening was a bit of wonderful for my christmas month. when jill and the others were through rehearsing, we went to dinner. we had jok bal, and it was my first time having it. jok bal is pig's feet. and i think pig ankles and part of the leg too. it tasted fine, and of course, is supposed to be amazing for your health - lots of collagen. seriously, when are they going to say that snelgrove's chocolate mint spray ice cream is good for your health!! when i have my own world i'm totally flipping the rules. :) i couldn't eat the toe though. i put my teeth on it and gently bit the toe skin, but that's all i could do. (did i tell you that way back in july i ate jelly fish?) anyhoo, i can at least say i tried it, since i did eat the rest.

these are some of our friends from dance class. they're fabulous people and i'm especially fond of a couple of them. they asked jill and i if we had korean names yet. nope. so they gave us our korean names! it was a very happy night. the family name for both of us, they took from my family name, henrie: han. they didn't like jill's name bowen turned into bo, so they made us sisters, which is so apropos anyway. i explained that my name alivia comes from olivia which comes from olive which is a symbol of peace, so my name means peace maker. my name is also a conjugated spanish verb (aliviar) which means to soothe, relieve, comfort. doesn't my name completely fit me!! so, chansu said that when he thinks of something that makes him feels peace he thinks of the sunset. so, they decided my first name is noeul, which means sunset. when i get to my work computer i'll type it in hangeul for you, not that it helps you, but it does help me. so, my name is han noeul. it's pronounced no-ul, kind of. it'll be a little difficult for you foreigners to pronounce. :) what a great night!

the toe, well one of them...

and now, on to saturday. i got a great compliment at work, at a training, that i connect with my students really well. fabulous, raise please! actually, i'll be getting a raise next month, hallelujah. with the exchange rate the way it is, it's hard to hold on to what i'm earning. i've been thinking that i might not be able to stay another year, but thinking that i only have 6 months left, especially when this 6 months flew, is difficult. i want to stay another year! we'll see. anyway, that night at our dinner party for work (blah, hate those) i got another crack from the mormon hater. he's not really a hater, just a dude that wants to make me mad. not sure why. i got to the party on time, mistake number one, and was sitting at a table alone. he came up to me and said, "oh, look at the sad square sitting all alone." can you believe how infantile that is? truly shocking. i raised my eyebrown slightly and said, "look at the darling baby in the ladybug outfit." i had just been looking at the baby when he interrupted me. the baby really was the cutest thing ever, half korean, half caucasian and in a lady bug outfit. so cute!! and then today he asked me if i had seen some cartoon on cartoon network. when i told him my family didn't have cable, he said, "utah doesn't have cable, they think it's evil." there are other things about my work environment that are a little funky too. i have several co-workers who make it a point to say hello to everyone around me, but not me. i'm the one on the outside because i'm shy in big groups, and i don't go out drinking with them. i'm quiet, keep to myself, and already have my own set of friends both korean and american here, so i haven't needed to make friends with them. weird huh. this is probably the most difficult work environment i've worked in, and it happens to be in a foreign country, but it's because of the foreigners, not the koreans. sometimes it feels like some of us never left middle school. well, with all that said, i still am having a great time, and i love my friends that i have. tonight one took me to see australia. interesting movie. not sure that i really recommend it though. and as a final note, of importance, i had a really great experience on sunday that reminded me that God is absolutely in the details and so very aware of us here. just in case any of you were wondering about that lately. pretty incredible. it's good to be alive.

32 things, updated

2008-12-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

so, a new friend here read my entire blog, wow rebecca, and inspired me to do the same. i'd forgotten about my 32 things to do while i'm 32. it's fun to look and see how my life has been winding along it's path. so here's a little catch up. plus it's freezing and i'm not going to be taking many pics out there. i hate the cold!! dreaming of moving back to hawaii... :)

i really don't like the idea of resolutions, lame i know, but what can you do. however, my good friend lori has this great list she often makes of things to do in the year. for example, 31 things to do while i'm 31 or before i'm 32. well, this is my 32nd year of life, i turn 32 in may, and am making a list of 32 things i want to do this year. i'm too tired to make the entire list tonight, but i'll at least start it:

1~get a hot rock massage
2~get a facial
3~visit korea and mel and jill and mike and wifey ~done, to say the least
4~go to the st. george, logan, and monticello temples ~a little difficult now
5~engage in a ton of non-edible pampering/nurturing - started; massage membership in utah. moving to a new country totally counts
6~join and work out at curves for sanity and energy - 1st half done ~the gym here counts
7~do a massive painting - i already have the canvas and it's monstrous ~a little difficult now, but i'm working on starting korean painting classes
8~visit suzannah and fam in virginia ~a little difficult now
9~sail the san juan islands ~a little difficult now
10~learn how to skateboard - started , ~a little difficult now
11~begin a specialization in my field ~pcit, done
12~make botanical rubbing birthday calendar - started
13~camp at zions ~camping at flaming gorge counts
14~sew something
15~cook a new dish and/or bake bread ~i've made 4 korean dishes
16~learn how to make a link on this blog like my cool friends do
17~make mosaic mirror
18~visit mae and baby ~done
19~read entire new joseph smith manual ~started
20~read les miserables
21~get lime green pedicure ~done
22~start private practice ~a little difficult now
23~grow/plant hanging tomatoes ~a little difficult now
24~make homemade pesto - 3rd year in a row!
25~finish organizing extra room ~done
26~swim in the ocean
27~visit an art gallery/show ~done
28~attend something artsy-fartsy, like the symphony, ballet, opera, shakespeare festival, etc. ~done
29~read the pcit book - started, still working on it
30~celebrate danae's 30th in a major way, she's a major sister ~i moved to korea so couldn't, but she got to go to georgia
31~add permanent 'learn about my faith' section to the blog ~done
32~add a new gathering of sand to my collection from my travels

thanks lori for the great idea!

2 minutes of fame

2008-11-23T05:43:00.000-08:00

mike sprunger took me to a traditional/modern performance tonight. it was by a famous art director named kim duk soo 김덕수, a founder of samulnori 사물놀이, which is the playing of four traditional drums. at least, i think. it's a little confusing, but was great. i really love drums, and there were two drum pieces that were incredible. they both had over 8 drums in them, powerful. i was the token white girl that they picked from the audience to participate. lucky me! it was fun and they took and gave me this top picture. it's really hard to see, because it's tiny, and then i took a pic of it. i'm the floating head holding a flying saucer towards the right of the pic. i was wearing all black.

the second two pictures are after the performance. they performed up the aisles and out into the lobby to let us take pictures. it was great. i can still feel the drums and would love to see them again.

gamjatang 감자탕

2008-11-22T18:31:00.000-08:00

another new dish i had this week was gamjatang/감자탕. it is spicy and made of pig spine. my friend jinyoung took me, thanks! it also had potatoes, mushrooms, greens, onions. it was really delicious. sadly, we had to leave early - i had to get back to teaching my night class, so we didn't get to have the rice mixed in at the end. the next day i had a student tell me that is the best part. i was already planning on going again because it's yummy, but now i have to because i didn't enjoy the entire experience. so, the cultural difference in this dish is that you have the pieces of spine in your soup. they bring a big pan out and put it on the burner at your table. ours was piled high with everything. as it cooks it all shrinks down. there were probably 6-8 pieces of spine in our soup with meat attached. it was really good meat and good soup. it sounds weird, i know! but it was great!

i didn't think to take pics when i was there, so found these pics thanks to google. 3 are from the daily kimchi blog and one is from wikipedia.

octopus heads

2008-11-21T04:28:00.000-08:00

this is just for you alex! i circled the heads so you can see them.

this is really only gross for us because we grew up in the mountains of america. the closest thing to seafood for us is rainbow trout. :)

my darling and dear friend took me to a little restaurant where her mom works. she is darling and dear. don't forget that. she also forgot that i told her a while ago that i don't do seafood. fish yes, i love fish. seafood no. yes, i did eat it. several bodies and several heads because i love my darling and dear friend and her efforts to make me feel loved. i literally almost lost it though. literally. close. almost. can we stop talking about it now?

In God We Trust

2008-11-18T22:25:00.001-08:00

a bit of fun with some good meaning behind it. msnbc is conducting a poll on whether or not we should keep these words on our currency. because i hate email forwards, yes, hate, i'm just posting about it. looks like the majority of those voting like these four little words on our money. if you wanna vote, here ya go!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

interesting...bring it

2008-11-17T05:11:00.001-08:00

a co-worker joined me on my walk home on this freezing night in seoul and began a conversation with me on mormons and our beliefs. it started with telling me to tell his student about mormons; she was asking if we're christians. he had several positive things to say - we have good teeth and we are polite and clean cut. he also knows a fair bit about some deeper things too. so, as we're walking he keeps saying things like, "yeah, mormons believe in some crazy *&^(." after a while he told me that i'm the first real mormon he's ever talked to, and somehow mentions that he was trying to bait me. he also said our conversation would be more fun if i actually took the bait. :) how great is that? i told him it'd be hard to get me mad, i've had hours of conversations with people who are against me, and as christians we try not to get mad at people who disagree with us. as we parted he said, to be continued. i hope so. i kind of feel like i'll be having more conversations about mormons and mormonism, because i've kind of declared a war on satan. bring it. :)

shocked

2008-11-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

i have been stunned this week to read and watch accounts of what is happening back home in the states. i can't believe the attacks that are happening against lds individuals and their property, our churches and temples. it's so very ironic that people who are crying out for love and acceptance are treating us with such violence and hate. i'm amazed, but not really amazed i guess, at how many lies are out there about us and what we do.

elder hales' talk in conference is particularly pertinent this week. as i read comments after news articles and on facebook groups, and as i receive comments myself, i'm reminded of how important our presentation of our opinion is. it is imperative that we remain objective and calm; that we treat those we disagree with, with the utmost respect. i do not want my beliefs and opinions to be discounted merely because they are conservative or because i'm a mormon; likewise, i cannot discount another's views because they are liberal or different from mine.

elder hales spoke of having christian courage. he taught us again that sometimes the right thing is not to retaliate, and "That is Christian courage." He reminded us of the First Presidency's message in 1983, that opposition can be an opportunity; meekness is courage.

these happenings serve as a good reminder of how i should treat others when i disagree with them. i'm reminded to listen and try to understand them, to firmly express myself when necessary, and to remember that the majority of communication is non-verbal, which means my face, tone, and body language need to also be in check. it's so easy to feel anger flare up against these people who are persecuting my fellows; however, i then become the same and forget that they are also humans.

oh, and one more thing. i have friends and former colleagues/associates who are gay and are wonderful people. i think it's important to remember that not all people who are gay feel this hateful or act out in these ways. we have to be careful not to generalize and stereotype others, again because we don't want the same thing occurring to us. we know what it feels like.

wow, what times we live in! it is exciting and scary all at once. i'm glad i'm here and working on getting my "house in order". happy sabbath to all...

randomo fun

2008-11-10T06:38:00.000-08:00

so i've dropped my language exchange club and have picked up a dance class. the language exchange club meets at starbucks on sundays and while i don't have to buy anything, i ended up not feeling comfortable with it. dance class is saturdays so works great! i'm taking it with jill and aj joined this week too. we learned the rumba. fun!

jill and two of the girls. the gal in the back is yoonhee and is such a sweetie, already dear to my heart. i've hung out with her and a couple other of these folks several times before with jill. you'll always see bottles of soju and beer and glasses of soju and beer in these pics. it's great cause this crowd doesn't pressure us at all. and actually, the green bottle you see in this pic is of cider - which is just like sprite. they order that for us and we join the cheers with this or our water. jill has them well trained, but it took a while.

this is dance teacher. i didn't say the dance teacher, because jill and i actually call him just dance teacher, like it's his name. it's his birthday week and so we sang for him. i think it's cute that he's leaning away from the cake like he's scared of it. i really like the glowing asian doors in the background. yes, we are sitting on the ground which is killer for my legs. i always try to choose to sit against a wall so i can at least lean back on something.

more of the dancing gang. the guy in the middle is chansu and is super nice. i really like him.

a friend mel introduced me to before she left - soyeon. she's a darling and brought me fresh kimchi and other delights this night. oh how i love kimchi! i should write a poem to it. :)

cute honey boys in insadong, making the traditional honey sweets. the guy in the middle told us he loved us and wanted to marry us as we walked away. cute.

a new time

2008-11-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

blogger has been being a fruitcake lately, so while i have the chance i'll quickly post one of many thoughts, before it goes berzerko again and doesn't let me do anything. we now have a new president, and the day was momentous. i remain firmly against obama and am very worried about what will happen. however, all i can do now is hope. hope that he can do some good and create some positive differences (i can't stand to use the 'ch' word, i got so sick of it!:)). so, this is me. hoping. :)

halloween hottie

2008-11-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

this guy caught my eye at the beginning of the party and then he sang later on and had a voice that was like budduh (butter). he has my heart! rebecca and i thought he was so good looking that we had to have our picture taken with him. and he's tall! hopefully i'll get to see more of him...

spooky

2008-10-31T10:35:00.001-07:00

jill's dance studio had a halloween party tonight (last night). today for work and the party i tried my best to be an emo. it was a great day and a fun party!

last day of class - cafe day. another great month of students. this is a great job!!

the poor guy got caught with a bagel in his mouth. i didn't realize he was still chewing!

this was my first time going to this place - mr. pizza. their slogan is love for women. the experience eating pizza here was a bit different. their pizza was yummy and had a stuffed crust, however, instead of being stuffed with cheese it was stuffed with sweet potato. sounds weird, but it was good. also, for the salad bar, two of them took a bowl each, filled it with different items from the bar, and then we all munched from it. family style. it was a fun lunch.

these next pics are second to last day of class, yesterday. these guys are so great! so fun to work with.

wrapping up october

2008-10-28T06:05:00.000-07:00

my cute students doing a language game.

norae bang - with is a karaoke room. really fun. koreans love drinking and singing and they all seem to have good voices!

i love that men in this culture are not afraid of being affectionate with each other. and this is not just because they're drunk.

on the way to the norae bang we saw a drama being filmed.

aaah, making one of my current favorite foods, kimchi

at dinner, these two demonstrated the proper way to do some hand slap game/song thingy

the guy who took this pic tried to tell me that it is fuzzy because of my faulty camera setting. ha! i took all these pics with the same setting. i think it was the soju and beer. :)

a favorite meal is sam gyeop sal. this is my second time having it. i'm not really a fan because it's like really thick bacon so there's a lot of fat on it that i don't like to chew. but, i love putting kimchi on the grill - so delicious!

and finally. my splurge of the month is a dustbuster. i love it!! makes cleaning up so easy. especially because i have hard wood floors and long hair. i use it after i blow dry. nifty.

quirks, idiosyncrasies, or ocd?

2008-10-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

my good friend and roomie from seattle days (ammo) recently posted about her idiosyncrasies that are verging on being ocd. :) she then asked if she was the only one. hello?! no way. so, i'm posting too because i think quirks are fun to talk about. please comment and leave yours, or make a list on your blog too!

1. my biggest quirk is picking. i've discussed it in the past. i love plucking my eyebrows, have spent hours picking at my split ends, love biore nose strips because it gets all the stuff out of my nose. when there are pill-balls on sweaters or blankets i love picking them off. this seems harmless, but it can be truly distracting to me, such a time waster.

2. i hang all my clothes in the closet facing the same way. i have since college. i don't freak out if it's not the "right" way, but i will re-hang the item.

3. i hate mouth noises like hearing people breathe or hearing/watching people chew. hate is the correct word.

4. i also hate mouth junk, like the cake that forms in the corners of your lips, really chapped lips, or too much saliva on the lips or around the mouth. sick. consequently i'm often wiping my mouth or licking my lips, and then i have to put more chapstick on, so i go through a lot of chapstick. (my abfave chapstick is lipsmackers dr. pepper. i brought at least 10 with me to korea.)

5. on a related note, i have to always have chapstick on and with me. (yes, i do have a mouth pre-occupation. i also love full lips on men as any of my former roommates can attest.)

6. i also almost always have gum because i'm super sensitive to smells, including the smell of breath.

7. i always get my toothbrush wet before and after i add toothpaste.

8. living in the states i would only use tide for my laundry because of it's great smell.

9. i often find myself counting steps and stairs. even if i have counted those stairs 22.4 million times. hmm. thinking about this now i realize i don't do it as much here in korea.

10. when i eat candy that is colored or shaped i'll often organize it into colors or patterns. like with m&m's. i don't have to do it, but i often do. i'll also save my favorite colors for last some times. if it's flavored differently i definitely save my favorite flavors for last.

i know you love me for being a weirdo, it's endearing!!

october hotties

2008-10-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

every month there is at least one looker among my classes. this month i have two, and they're in the same class. today they were the only two that showed up; the girls didn't come, lucky me! so at the end i took their picture. i have a pretty sweet job. :) (for those of you who think this might mean that i'm abandoning mr. handsome, don't worry. he's still the number one looker of all time. maybe we should call him mr. july.)

funnies...

2008-10-20T03:28:00.000-07:00

don't get offended!! i'm obviously an avid blogger too!

"very suspicious supermarket"

and my favorite - if you're looking for a convenient way to off yourself...

le club

2008-10-20T02:52:00.000-07:00

i've joined a language exchange club, thanks to a co-worker, janet. my first visit was great. the first part was english, so it was boring. but learning korean, practicing it, and then going for dinner afterwards was great. at dinner and for ice cream afterwards i happened to be with all men. how great and rare is that?! now if i only had interest in one of them. oh well, there's that whole saying about having and eating cake, right? :)

we meet on the 4th floor of a starbucks and this is the group outside afterwards, deciding where to eat dinner.
i just had to take a picture of the store next to starbuck's. ooops. there's also a company around here called pms. it stands for something, but their signs always say pms. oh dear. :)

this place reminded me a little of the pie in slc. it had marker writing all over and thousands of stickies everywhere. i left my mark with a sharpie and on sticky note. immortalized in a cheap ice cream shop, can't get much better than that.

하늘 공원 haneul park

2008-10-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

안녕! (hello!) with this post i am finally up to date with my pics. yay! this is a holiday a week or two ago. i can't remember exactly, time always blurs together for me. it's called 하늘 공원 or haneul park. it's built on a landfill so is "green". because it was a holiday there were tons of families there. the next evening i went to fireworks at the han river where there were tons of couples. it was cool to see, but september was kind of a tough month for me. i only had 4 classes to teach and ended up being pretty lonely. my le partner couldn't meet me as much as in august either because september and october are the big hiring months, so, i just was lonely. don't worry, this month is already a lot better again. so, this is yet another beautiful place right here in seoul.

there were 291 wooden steps leading up towards the top. after climbing the stairs you still have to continue to walk up a ways.

and the great thing about it being a holiday was seeing the families together, especially the chillins. cute.

this is the world cup soccer stadium.

this grass was way over my head in most areas. i love how you can see the city peeking out above it.

lots of bee pictures, but believe me, i only posted some, not all!

i was standin among these flowers with dozens of bees buzzing around, trying to get good shots. i noticed out of the corner of my eye a korean standing close to me getting their picture taken next to the crazy foreigner standing amongst the bees. hee hee.

the vines are taking over and smothering everything! they were doing this in hawai'i too.

fun simple day

2008-10-18T05:31:00.000-07:00

moving here has been so easy for me. one of the things that makes it easy is the internet. i can keep in close touch with my family and friends through blogs, email, and facebook. i can also skype which is awesome. so, this morning started out with an hour and a half talk with my 아빠/pa. i'm so blessed that i can talk to my dad for so long! we've always been good talkers. when we drove from slc to nyc we talked for the majority of the time there and back. whenever we drive from utah to idaho, i always bring books, thinking that i'll have 6 hours to read, but, he and i usually end up talking the entire way. i love and adore him for this. so anyhoo, we talked for a while and then later i talked to one of my closest 친구들/friends, sarah. all this is for free, mind you, and they can both see me. today neither of them had webcams, so i couldn't see them, but 괜찮 아요/that's ok. then my co-worker took me to a new part of town called hyewha, very active and young scene. it was fun. we had dinner - 닭갈비/dalk kalbi - which is one of my favorite dishes here. but, they never have enough 떡/ddeok in it. it's a really spicy stirfry with cabbage, chicken, green onions, potato slices, onions, and 떡/ddeok. we got to serve ourself the 김치/kimchi, so of course i took a good sized mound. i seriously love the stuff. (on a related note, i found out that november is the month for making kimchi - i would love to make some, or at least watch someone make some. most homes have separate smaller fridges for kimchi. i think that when i grow up i'll have one. unless i have a big enough yard to bury a kimchi pot.) so, while we were waiting for our food to come, this young korean girl caught my eye from a couple tables away, smiled and waved. she did this several times and then came over to say hello and ask where we were from. so cute! she left and then she and her friend came back and took pics with us with their cell phones. darling. before we left the restaurant i wanted to get a pic of all 4 of us together. they were so excited. when we all stood up though, i was at least, literally, one foot taller than they were. funny, i felt like a giantess. then, on the bus ride home an older man got on who was obviously drunk. not a mean drunk, just a very loud and rambling drunk. i could understand only a couple of words that he said, one of which was 미국, pronounced me-gook, which means america. he looked back at my friend and i and talked to her for a little bit. then later he looked back at us again and asked me where i was from. i was a little taken aback and didn't answer right away. then he stretched out his arm, leaned towards me, pointed his finger, and said, "you are very beautiful. you have a very beautiful face." my friend speaks korean a lot better than i do and said that immediately after he said that he started to talk about a previous korean dictator, and that at other times he was talking about poor people in america, and current korean politics. weird! the people around us were embarrassed, and after he pointed at me the guy right in front of me looked back at me with a sorry look on his face. funny, but i was embarrassed too. makes for great stories! such a good day...

and here's just a bit of mistranslation/konglish for you that i couldn't help but take a picture of. they have one character that sounds like a combination of both r and l. consequently, it's hard for them to say r or l and to distinguish between the 2. but on the flip side, that character they have is a bugger for foreigners to say, myself included. it's so hard to say r and l at the same time!

창덕궁 changdeok palace

2008-10-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

창덕궁 changdeok palace is in the jongno area of seoul. the joseon dynasty built 5 grand palaces; this one is on the east of the largest palace and so is called the east palace. i've been wanting to visit a palace ever since i first came to seoul back in april, but i never wanted to go alone. it seems like it'd be more fun to visit a palace with someone. but, schedules never lined up so i finally decided to just go by myself. there happened to be some traditional performances on the day that i went, lucky me. so, 창덕궁 changdeok palace was originally built back in the early 1400's, but was burnt down by the japanese in the late 1500's. it was re-built and then attacked by others several other times as well, but they've always re-built it exactly the way it was. they say that this palace is unique because it is built to blend with the topography of the site instead of impose on nature. it covers 110 acres of land. in '97 it was added to the unesco world heritage list.

this tree is about 650 years old. no wonder it needs help standing up.

is it really a compliment?

2008-10-15T02:08:00.000-07:00

i just went to a staff meeting where there were a couple of awards given out. i was given the award for best opic teacher. um. i'm the ONLY opic teacher so i actually am not feeling that warm and fuzzy. i actually feel kind of weird. but, maybe i'm feeling weird from the bottle of wine they gave me. just kidding! i didn't drink it!

on another work note, i was asked if they could film me teaching tomorrow. whoa. there'll be a camera and a couple people in my class tomorrow for 2 hours. my poor students are nervous. they'll be using it to train new teachers. again, not really a compliment because the person who asked me has never actually seen me teach. i'm just a person who said yes.

and final note, i was told by a student that my side profile looks like angelina jolie. i'll take that one. :) now if i could just steal brad pitt too...