Dancing Through 24 Years of Life

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!

My birthday weekend started off with cake at work. It was funny because I left to grab some coffee so everyone was waiting for me. I had no idea until Gretchen texted me that we were having a meeting. I really thought we had a meeting, but then everyone surprised me with cake and champaign (well, sparkling cider). It was really thoughtful and the cake was delicious!

I had two friends visit from Incheon on Saturday. We had dinner, made the bar rounds and ended up at norebang. A few of my students gave me little stickers, a planner and even some of their pens and pencils! Once they'd see one student give me something, they'd dig through their pencil cases to find something to give me. It was so cute. Overall, I had a wonderful birthday and it reminded me how lucky I am to have such great friends and family!

A princess carriage for a princess party!

Sequins, glitter and sparkles, oh my!

So pretty!

One of my classes even decorated my board.

Long Overdue

Despite a short amount of time, a level 3 typhoon, and not being able to see pink dolphins, Gretchen and I made the most out of our time in Hong Kong. Here's a quick list of everything we did.

Cruise room? Nope, just a standard hostel room. It was my first time staying in a hostel and I survived!

Crystal Bottom Cable Car: The bottom was clear so you could see everything underneath and it made for some fun pictures.

Giant Buddha: It's actually the largest bronze, sitting Buddha in the world. It was very large and we made it there before the typhoon hit HK.

Trolley Car to The Peak: Because of the bad weather, we didn't actually go to The Peak, but we still had a great view of Victoria Harbour.

Madame Tussauds: This was my first time in a wax museum. There was even a special Halloween exhibit, but I was too scared to go through it.

Fire Dragon Parade: The so-called Fire Dragon was the talk around town. However, after waiting in a crowd of people for nearly two hours and no sight of any fire or dragon, we gave up.

Lantern Festival: We were actually in HK at the perfect time because they were celebrating their Fall Festival. There were a variety of lanterns, lights, and tons of people.

Wong Tai Sin Temple

Landau Island: Disneyland and the airport were both on the island. It reminded me of Jurassic Park because of all of the trees and I felt like I was somewhere really tropical.

Markets and Streets: We went to the popular Ladies Market (shopping), Flower Market, Fish Market, and Bird Street. Everything was bunched together so each area was like a one stop shop.

Star Ferry: It was a nice little boat ride around Victoria Harbour. We were able to see other famous landmarks in HK such as the Clock Tower, 1881 Heritage, and the Space Museum.

Science Museum: It was a pretty standard science museum, but it had a cool mirror exhibit.

I can finally cross Hong Kong off of my list of things to blog about. Peace.

Go Green!

Green, as in environmentally friendly (and Michigan State, of course).

• Escalators- They don't start until someone passes through the sensors and steps onto the escalator. If no one is there, it won't move.
• Recycling- At Costco, Starbucks, and fast food places the trash is divided into separate categories such as waste, straws, cups, lids, etc.
• Color Coordinated Bags- Each type of trash and recycling has a different color bag. You also have to pay for your trash bags to help reduce waste.
• Electricity- At hotels, in order to turn on the electricity you have to stick your key in a slot near the door. Not only does this help save energy, but it also minimizes your risk of losing your key.
• Paperless Bills- I know this is common now, but it's very convenient to have your bills automatically taken out of your account or paying them online or through an ATM.
• Paper or Plastic- I noticed a sign at Home Plus the other day that said, "As of :::date::: we will no longer sell plastic bags." Many places charge you for a bag, but now it's a thing of the past. Anyways, it's so much more fun to have a cute grocery bag than a brown bag.

These are a few of my Favorite Things Pt. 2

I finally watched "The Sound of Music" reunion on Oprah and absolutely loved it. In honor of celebrating 45 years of this classic musical, here are a few (more) of my favorite things about Korea.

• Umbrella Bags- You know when it rains and your umbrella gets all wet and then you go inside and it drips all over?! Well, Korea has this problem solved. At the entrance of all buildings they have umbrella sized plastic bags. You just have to put your umbrella in a bag and wahlah... no water. It's a lot more convenient than it might sound.
• Cell Phone Charms- If you are a frequent The Real World: Korea reader, then you know about my love for cell phone charms.
• Keyless Doors- You don't have to worry about carrying or losing your keys ever again. I have a nifty (yes, I just used the word nifty) key pad that opens and locks my door. It even talks back. Thanks to my advanced translating skills I'm guessing it says: locked, unlocked, wrong code, and when the battery is low.
• Call Buttons at Restaurants- Wrong order? More water? Ketchup? Just press the button and someone will be at your service.
• Elevator Buttons- Have you ever been in an elevator and a kid (or yourself) pushes ALL of the buttons and then you have to stop on every floor? In Korea, if you mis-push a button, just push it again and it comes undone. Also, the close door button actually works. If you push it, the door really does close!
• K-Pop- Perez Hilton recently posted 2NE1's latest video on his blog. Love it.

Rumor Has It

There was this silly rumor going around that there's a shortage of kimchi in Korea. I guess because of the typhoon that hit awhile back, many kimchi farms (?) got destroyed and weren't able to grow kimchi. Let me set the record straight. The rumor is false. I have yet to experience any kind of kimchi shortage. Until then, bon appetite.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

I miss having Music Bank in my class because I feel like no other student offers blog worthy stories.

However, a handful of students still manage to say the most ridiculous things.

Quotes of the Day:

"Teacher, do you think you're pretty?"

-This comment literally came out of nowhere. Think? Kid, I know I'm pretty. Just kidding (ha).

"It's my birthday. Oh, we're not having a party? That's ok."

-His tone of voice was as if he was surprised I didn't throw him a birthday party in class.

Happy Hump Day!

When I Grow Up

Thinking Project Question of the Day:

"What do you want to be when you are older?"

Best Answer:

"I want to be a gangster."