You Just got Punk'd

This morning I woke up to two (bad) surprises:

1.) There was a light dusting of snow on the ground

2.) The Style Channel was down

Common Mother Nature, get your act together. People in Michigan expect snow in March. It's perfectly normal to wear flip flops one day and Uggs the next. However, the words snow, March and Daejeon just don't go together. I quickly got over the weather and began my morning routine. I always turn on the Style channel in hopes of an episode of SATC or a cheesy chick flick to listen to while I get ready.

Well, I didn't get SATC or a movie. I got a blue TV screen. I tried the "turn the TV off, turn it back on" procedure (because that works every time), but it didn't work. It was still blue and there was still no sign of the Style channel. Sigh. Some people drink coffee to get their morning boost, I need TV. I settled on listening to music this morning, thank goodness for Glee, and headed to work... in the snow and deprived of the Style channel.

My day did get better and my morning really wasn't as bad as it may sound. I found out that I get to go into work later two days a week and leave early on Fridays all because I teach eight classes on Tuesdays. Not a bad deal.

P.S. After 48 hours of no Style channel, it's finally up and running again. Phew.

No Big Deal

News Flash:

:10 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k33DEEI-15c

Sorry, I had to post it and I'm procrastinating writing monthly reviews on all of my students.

Sunday Funday

Today was a perfect girls day out.

-Went window shopping at Lotte department store: The Korean economy is definitely not down. The high end department store was packed with people buying things. It's about six floors and I loved seeing the pastel colors of the spring collections on display. I didn't bring any (well not very many) spring or summer clothes so I can't wait to stalk up on cute sundresses.

-Had lunch at TGI Fridays: Typically this wouldn't be a big deal, but it was delicious and it was the first American restaurant I've been to in a while. I stared at the menu for quite some time debating between all of my options, but in the end I decided on a burger (even though the kimchi pilaf was quite tempting).

-Costco run: Yes, there is Costco in Korea and it's just a short cab ride away. The closest Costco on the west side of Michigan is 45 minutes away, so I feel quite lucky. It's all the same too. They have the Kirkland brand, plenty of samples, and the same food court menu with the enormous pizza for only $10.99. What a deal. Today, I got a lot of random items like a large jar of pickles, cheese (obviously), and some sausage. My diet is like it was back in college: lots of yogurt, eggs, and now pickles. Thank goodness I have wonderful friends who are a little more domestic than me and can cook. I'm their best customer.

-Sat at a coffee shop for two hours and reminisced about old school favorite movies including: Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, She's the Man, etc. Reciting lines from those movies just never gets old. We planned the ultimate movie marathon for the end of March.

-Saw Alice in Wonderland: It just came out this weekend and I was dying to see it so I'm glad I did! I didn't see it in 3-D, but I'm willing to go see it again in 3-D. I loved it! Obviously Alice in Wonderland is a classic tale and with the help of modern technology it really added a lot to the movie. The art direction was amazing and Johnny Depp was perfect for the Mad Hatter.

P.S. Happy Oscar Day!

Oops... I Did It Again

That's right. I did it again. I made another student cry. The majority of the crying incidents weren't because of me, but this one was. Today was the first day of spring term and in one of my Sprout 2 classes a boy started crying. I saw his lips quivering and the tears coming so I got down on my knees, handed him a tissue, and asked him what was wrong. You'll never guess his response.

"Teacher, you're too scary!"

ME?! Scary? He must have been joking.

I had had a few students in the class last term so they helped explain to him that I wasn't scary and was actually quite nice (I could tell they were hysterically laughing on the inside that this poor boy thought I was scary).

Anyways, we cleared things up and quickly got over the situation. To top it off, his name is Edgar.

Crying Total: Somewhere around 9

Pretty, Pretty Princess

This past Sunday I went to a Korean wedding. My old boss got married and unfortunately has to move to Japan now, but I'm glad I had the chance to know her and work with her long enough to be invited to her wedding. She was the one who picked me up from the bus station when I first arrived in Daejeon and was so welcoming and helpful that I'm sad to see her go.

The wedding festivities began around 10 a.m. on Sunday morning. A charter bus picked us up in Daejeon and took us to Seoul which is about a two hour bus ride (two and a half hours including the rest stop). We were treated like VIP on the bus. The whole trip people were offering us beverages, food- including fried squid which smelt up the whole bus, and the Olympic figure skating gala was even on!

We arrived at a huge banquet facility in Seoul and the first thing we did was take pictures with the bride. In a typical American wedding, the bride is kept hidden from everyone until she walks down the aisle, but here everyone was welcome to take pictures with her. Her dress was gorgeous. It reminded me of a princess and she was even wearing a tiara. There was a lace bodice and it was cinched in the back. The vail and train were huge and had rhinestones all over them. After a few work pictures, we headed inside the banquet hall. The room had a string quartet, neutral colored floral arrangements, gold bows around the chairs, and my favorite part, the aisle. The aisle was a raised clear platform that had flowers underneath and rhinestones in the middle of each flower so when she walked down it, it looked like she was walking on water. It was so pretty!

Most American weddings have a bridal party, but there wasn't one here. There was a lady, I'm assuming some kind of wedding planner, that was strictly in charge of fluffing her vail and train since there wasn't a maid of honor. Both of the mothers and fathers were dressed in traditional Korean hanbok dresses. They were first down the aisle, followed by the groom, and finally the bride. I thought it was interesting that the same western "wedding songs" were played at the beginning and end of the ceremony.

Instead of a priest or judge to marry them, it's common for an important professor or teacher to do the honor. One of the brides professors conducted the ceremony. I felt like the service was very short and rushed. They said a few words, cut the cake, poured some champaign and that was it. Overall, it was very casual. I saw people in jeans and people were talking the whole time. Also in the middle of the service the groom had to yell out how much he loved her and had to do push ups in front of everyone to express the strength of their love. It was a little odd and later I found out that that's not common to do at Korean weddings. The service I went to was for family and friends which tends to be more laid back than the later one. Later in the day they have a traditional service where everyone wears a hanbok and is for family only. At that service they exchange the rings and say their vows.

After the ceremony there were more pictures with family and friends and then a buffet luncheon. The food was delicious and ranged from traditional Korean dishes to a variety of sushi and mini desserts. After I was in sushi-coma we headed straight back to Daejeon and stopped at a rest area along the way (is that really necessary?). I'm glad I had the opportunity to attend a Korean wedding and I promise to post pictures later!

Home Sweet Home

After three months of living in Korea I finally have the internet and drum roll please... furniture!

This past weekend a few people moved out and had going away sales. I had first dibs on a bunch of stuff and came away with some great deals.

-table for my TV
-yoga mat and weights
-some dishes
-huge coffee/craft/computer table- it's the perfect height to kneel under, like traditional Korean tables
-two other side tables
-full length mirror (not the easiest thing to carry four blocks)
-a bunch of cushions to sit on
-futon that folds out into a bed (well, the guys still need to carry it to my place, but it will be mine soon)

So my apartment finally looks a little nicer than a shelter on Survivor (don't forget to vote for Whit: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/casting_call/video_player.php?vid=3889&vs=Default&play=true§ion=videos)!

My microwave is still broken and will probably stay that way. I figure I haven't had one the past three months so why would I need one now? Korea doesn't have Lean Cuisines or else I would've had it fixed stat. I need to find some things to spruce up my walls, but other than that it's perfect! My episode of Daejeon Cribs is coming up so stay tuned.

An Unsolved Mystery

For some reason my students are always asking me about my age. A day doesn't go by without hearing the phase, "Teachaaa, how old?!", and my response is always the same, "How old do you think I am?" Their responses are always a little different ranging from extremely young (16 to 18) to really old (35 to 42*). Last week was the end of winter term so with a little extra time in class we started playing the "guess the teacher's age" game. I made the mistake and said if they guessed it, I would tell them. English may be their second language, but they are definitely smart. They started at one and named every number until the time class ended. I, of course, denied every number. Then I confessed and said "Ok, I'll tell you"... their faces lit up until I said my answer... "I'm 101." I excused them for the day hoping the next day they would forget about the unsolved mystery of how old I am.

The next day rolled around and of course they didn't forget. During class they were filling out these packets so I said I'd give them a clue to my age for every page they completed.
Clue #1- It's between 1 and 100
Clue #2- I gave them this HUGE math equation (which I actually figured out) to find out my age. Like I said, they're pretty smart so they all wrote down the equation and told me they'd have their parents figure it out (uh, oh) I haven't had any guesses yet...
Clue #3- The sum of my age is an odd number

After a few clues, I said, "Ok, ok, I'll tell you for real this time. I'm... seven."
Xavier said, "You're not seven! I'm seven! and you're tall and have big feet!"
I was actually quite flattered he called me tall and I suppose my size six feet are considered big in Korea.
Then another student, Lily, stood up at her desk, stomped her feet to the front of the class, stood next to me and said, "You're not seven, you have thoooseee...!" You can assume what she was pointing to while she said that and I had a permanent stomachache the rest of the day from laughing so hard.

My age is still an unsolved mystery and it will remain that way.

*I'm not saying that's really old (ha)