Squeak, Squeak

Have you ever seen these before?!

http://www.squeakersneakers.net/

They are shoes for babies and toddlers and with every step they make, they squeak. I think it's more of a tool for keeping track of where your child might be running off to, but I've seen so many kids wearing them. Every squeak sounds like a dog toy and makes me cringe. Whatever happened LA Gear light up shoes? They are much more appealing to the senses and just as affective.

Stage Mom in Training

There's this new tool at April called the Creative Cafe. Every other week I upload my students acting videos to this website and all of the branches in Korea are able to see the videos, make comments and rate their performances. Depending on the ratings, number of comments, and number of views the best videos get points, prizes, and recognition. As of this past Saturday, one of my classes was in third place! Today, the video dropped to sixth, but I know they'll get back to the top three again. If they move up to the number one spot, I'll even get a special, Best Director, award! I better start preparing my acceptance speech now.

Instead of acting, my youngest class performs a song. I really wish I could show you the video because it is quite possibly the.cutest.thing.ever. Even though their actual singing was only mediocre aka silent, their motions and dancing that went with it were adorable. To top it off, the whole time my students were on stage, I was standing in front of them performing the motions full out and mouthing the words as big as I could. I definitely felt like a stage mom.

I Wanna be on the Cover of Forbes Magazine

I'm always trying to come up with new ideas that will eventually make me my millions. One of my many genius ideas were moppers, slipper-mops. Why hurt your back, bent over mopping the floor when you can do it standing up?! I already had visions of my infomercial and my "but wait, order within the next ten minutes and receive an extra pair of moppers!" line, however, that bubble was burst when I realized they already existed. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve, but they're top secret.

Anyways, my next mission is to bring cell phone charms back to the US. They are so popular here, very versatile, and it just makes sense. It's a great way to showcase your interests on your phone, have everything in one place, and they can even double as subway cards! I hope this trend catches on internationally and I hope I can have a piece of the profit.

There's a First Time for Everything

For the first time in ten months a cab driver actual understood where I wanted to go without:

• Asking me to repeat it
• Kicking me out of the cab
• Showing him a piece of paper with the Korean written on it
• Showing him my ARC card with my address on it
• Having someone else say it

Unfortunately, my Korean is not improving. I attempted to learn how to say "I do not speak Korean," but I failed miserably. Instead I have learned how to say "meguk" which means "American" and "molayo" which means "I don't know."

I enjoy pretending to speak and understand Korean. For example, at Home Plus when I check out they always ask "Do you have a point card?" along with 100 other questions. I always just shake my head no and for all I know I could've been the one millionth customer and just turned down $5,000.

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Last week at dinner, I noticed a cute, little boy sitting in a high chair next to me. Suddenly, his mother rushed over, pulled him out of his seat, set him on the floor, and pulled down his pants. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that not only his pants were pulled down, but also his underwear. His mother grabbed a cup off of the table and literally had the little boy go to the bathroom into it. The father kind of stood behind them to block everything that was going on, but I happened to be sitting right next to all of the action. I literally turned the other way and asked myself out loud if this was really happening. It was. It was the oddest situation and let me tell you, I did not drink out of the cups for the rest of the night.

Songnisan National Park

Gretchen and I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather on Sunday and took a day trip to Songnisan National Park. We were a little worried about getting there, but it was only an hour and a half bus ride away and we figured it out like pros. After wandering around the cute little town, we ended up having to follow people who looked like they were going hiking to find the actual park. We were able to see a bunch of different temples, a giant standing Buddha, and a drum and dance performance. There was some kind of ceremony going on, but we were never able to figure out what it was for.

After conquering the summit at Seoraksan National Park aka Mount Everest, I figured I could handle any other hiking I ever planned to do again. Luckily, the trail I went hiking on this time was all paved and it had a gradual incline. It's so funny because Koreans take hiking so seriously. While Gretchen and I were sporting tank tops and leggings, everyone else (literally) was in full on hiking gear from top to bottom. This included hiking boots, hiking pants, windbreakers, gloves, bandanas, visors, hats, backpacks and the best part... hiking sticks. I mean I understand using them for rocky mountains, but the trail we were on was paved. Anyways, it was nice to get some fresh air and explore another part of Korea.

So cute!

I love the details and colors of temples.

One of the many temples there.

This was the first standing Buddha I've seen.

Here's the entrance to the park. The little boy in front is making the funniest face.

I'm in a Spartan State of Mind

Go right through for MSU... let's kick some major UM boo-tay.

Here's a funny video of a very smart baby... she cries every time she hears the UM fight song. So cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-fc5os23mI

Woohoo! Go State!