n.o.e.s.i.s.

Sannakji - Things that Wiggle in Your Mouth

2012-01-16T17:18:00.002-05:00

this dish gives a whole new meaning to live dinner.
it is living and wiggling.

here's what we did.

Line 9 - Tan Line Noryangjin Station (노량진역)

make sure it's the tan line, because the blue line only has one exit, as it's a very old station.
so, going straight out exit 6 of Noryangjin Station will nearly lead you straight to the Noryangjin Fish Market, one of the biggest and oldest in Seoul.

after going out Exit 6 look for the Familymart on the left, cross the street there. If you look closely enough you'll see a blue gateway to go under that will take you down through a tunnel and out right next to the market.

We stopped at one of the fish stalls selling baby squid, bought one and then asked the lady which restaurant to take it to. I'm pretty sure anyone of them will do it so you can just pick whichever... she pointed us back to the front of the market and said to go there.

Enjoyable, maybe for some. For the most part tasteless depending more or less which sauce you use. If you ask them they can cook what you don't eat up for you, which is also good.

Personally, I'm mostly only a sushi or sashimi eater when it comes to raw food. So while this whole wiggling in your mouth thing was new to me it was do-able. I wouldn't say that I'd just go out and eat it for a nice dinner though.

If you go, enjoy! It's fun!

myself giving it a go

mr. murphy was braver than i was, being the one to take the first bite!

path to the underpass and noryangjin fish market

"blue sign" - noryangjin fish market

this is our baby octopus

with-in moments of being placed on the table, the look of disbelief across stephen's face is priceless!

first taste

Gooooooood Luck!

home for christmas

2012-01-03T17:29:00.001-05:00

i'll make this short and sweet since it's been done and gone now for nearly a month!

flights. layovers and dealing with LAX, finally 18+ hours later. i arrive back in the good state of michigan. driving up telegraph with my dad and brother, home to lake orion. what a strange feeling to still recognize something that really isn't familiar anymore on a daily basis. something like deja-vu, but more dream-like. although that feeling could have been the very weird jet-lag i experienced.

the eight days were packed full. literally, way, way to much food, albeit good stuff. always good food to be had at home, so much i can't even begin to list the things i missed that i ate, even now, knowing i hadn't even dipped into my intentional list of things to eat!!!

the first night i arrived i visited my old place of employment... moosejaw. a happier than ever i natalee greeted me with a few mutual happy-tears and we got to hangout for the entire evening. and the next week flew by in a blur. i acquired a new down jacket, hats and gloves, two new cameras (both thanks to my very loving boyfriend realizing my need for a decent point-and-shoot, and my amazing sister for doing the same as well), a couple of books and four lbs of fantastic coffee and teas! i saw friends, family and unexpected old friends.

it was strange to be back. see those who haven't left. those who have and came back to stay, and those who have left and like me are just coming back for the first time in a while to visit. the area hadn't changed much. a few shops moved around, stuff closed, re-opened and shuffled around. the mall as busy and skanky as ever. trips to different places seemed to take forever as i had to drive everywhere myself, and even driving itself was a new experience. no traffic... none comparatively, and the space! dear lord, i nearly had a panic attack with all the space that surrounded me the first time i got off the plane. no people, no buses, no taxis, no tall buildings... quiet in its own weird way. it felt strange and great simultaneously, and didn't take long to get used to, but certainly has left me wishing for more space now that i'm back alongside the giant monoliths, sounds and LED screens of constant consumerism.

thanks mom. thanks dad. see you soon shannon, brendan and reagan.
to all my family i miss and love you all. xoxo

the christmas tree

the village

blondie

a trip to the DIA

home

the somerset decor

reagan

just one more week

2011-12-11T11:00:00.001-05:00

so it's the count down week here in lily class. yep christmas vacation is just around the corner and i've got everything all decorated. the hallway outside has been changed. all the kids have made ornaments for our tree, colored candy canes for the door, and we've even made a hand wreath to go around our window! they're really excited for the christmas party. santa is visiting. of course what child at the age of six doesn't get excited about christmas?! you forget that level of excitement after the 'long hard years' (giggle) without santa, and being around children only makes it more important keeping the secret... now i understand what conflicts my parents went through!!!
anyways, we've read the polar express, watched the movie, and even wrote to santa telling him what we wanted. i explained to them that if we didn't mail letters santa, wouldn't know what to get them, they each even made santa a shopping card (essentially a tiny pocket sized picture of what they wanted so he'd be able to find it or make it! something my mom had us do as children)... so, i sent a copy of each 'child's' letter home to the parents. then i encouraged the parents to put their own 'santa' letters in the gifts that they would open during the christmas party.
almost everyday after 'mailing' the letters, the friday week before the party, many of the kids would come up to me asking if santa got the letter. i kept telling them they would find out soon enough!!! i was thrilled when each parent hand wrote on a card or paper a reply letter to each of their children. it made the day just that much more thrilling for the kids who were really looking forward to it. a great classroom christmas' i've seen here in korea.

letters to santa, complete with colored envelopes and addresses

candy-cane door and wreath

no standing tree, but we had to have something!!! so i made one and then they made ornaments for it and on the day of the party we sang carols and put a star on the top!

our hallway wall

so with just a few days to go before i board the airplane home for my first christmas in a couple years, i have reminisced the childhood excitement of preparing for that day, but this time with a little bit of the bitter-sweetness an adult has of knowing the truth and for myself knowing that stephen will be here by himself though the holidays.

family is just around the corner, and sure we'll see how things are there. it's been a while, and it's bound to be difficult going back for just a short time. it'll be worth it and i think for me it's bringing back that feeling of excitement that christmas misses once you realize magic doesn't exist. as grown-up my magic has become airplanes and skype. hopefully i can close the gap between childhood and adulthood for just a little while.

merry christmas and happy holidays. x

a recipe: carrot-pumpkin bisque

2011-11-25T20:00:00.002-05:00

i love making, eating and giving this away. maybe you'll enjoy it too

Chelsea's (butter-free-as-healthy-as-you-can-get-a-bisque-Vegetarian-friendly) Pumpkin Bisque

3-4 carrots, washed, peeled and sliced and diced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (more for personal taste)
1 tbsp ginger powder, or 1 tsp fresh crushed/minced ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne or Cajun (usually i use cayenne only if i want it REALLY spicy, Cajun will bring a nice flavor with the ginger and onion)
4-6 cup veggie stock (this is where steaming all the veggies comes handy. I put 4-5 cups of water in a big steamer and steam all the veggies, ginger and garlic together and then use the steaming water as my stock)
1 med sweet pumpkin (de-skinned and diced)

(optional) 2-3 small sweet potatoes diced (makes it thicker)

your choice (adding this is not vegan friendly, but delicious): heavy whipping cream, yogurt, 2% milk

In a large, heavy stockpot, steam all the veggies until soft. [Until the pumpkin and potato fall off the fork or knife.] Very Important... Don't dump out the water at the bottom!!!

Then, puree the veggies together in a blender or food processor. (I only own a blender, but sometimes the veggies get soft enough i can just hand mash them for a slightly chunkier bisque)

Add the mashed/ blended veggies to the 'steaming' water. Lower heat, adding a pinch of salt and pepper with the cajun. Cover pot and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Mashing again if you did it by hand.

Here's where i differ from most bisque recipes, i don't usually use heavy whipping cream. Sometimes I'll use a 1/4 - 1/2 cup of my homemade yogurt or sometimes just 2% milk till it gets to the creaminess I like... and sometimes I don't use anything at all. so maybe that takes away from its bisque-ness, but whatever.

Makes a whole bunch... i've never been good at keeping track of exactly the amount i make or how many servings i doll out.

so once I'm tired of eating soup for a couple days I add turmeric, coriander, and cumin to taste and then i have a re-heated curry for rice! I'll add shredded coconut if I have it as well for entertainment value :)

Enjoy!!!

november brings on Mo-vember

2011-11-10T16:48:00.000-05:00

a simple enough statement, as murphy shaves a stash to fight cancer

Halloween School Vs. Halloween Weekend

2011-11-01T21:28:00.001-04:00

equally as tough. grueling. fun filled... but with different scales.

halloween at school was an interesting time. as foreign teachers we were requested (i say requested meaning 'told') to decorate the library as a haunted house to incite fear and terrorize little children. the day was filled with kiddies running around dressed up to the 9's in all sorts of outfits you could imagine. it seems the traditional make-your-own-using-your-imagination costume has mostly been forgone in the speediness at being able to run to the store and just buy one. but, there were some good ones.

a scary mouth to duck under in the beginning

the work in progress

bloody signs

the 'gates' of the library

talking wall painting

our alien

haunted forest, complete with alien, grave stones, and random bugs flying around

pumpkin carving

lily class 2011

vampire and bumblebee

my favorite - the astronaut

to cute

howdy partner

twin brothers as buzz and woody!!!

after struggling myself to come up with a costume idea. i landed on frogger. however, it turned into just being a dead frog because after multiple attempts as explaining the meaning behind frogger itself and even showing my kids youtube videos... i decided it was just easier to explain that i was a dead frog, and not a video game they know nothing about. they thought it was funny enough though.

soon enough the weekend came and as all halloween weekends end up. it's worth a couple pictures of reminiscing at least.

woodstock - gangnam

so wait, that's a squid ring, are you sure?

let's just settle this now. yes, you ate a squid ring

kids dig it, parents love it, teachers dread it... you guessed it! PARENTS night

2011-10-20T22:55:00.001-04:00

two months in the making. hundreds of hours spent teaching and preparing for a 2 hour program. a performance you may ask? something like that. more like tying 20 screaming kindergartners to strings and making them dance and sing to random english songs while their parents snap pictures and you put on an incredibly good fake smile in hopes that your panic doesn't seep through, cause you're sure someone's going to forget something or burst into tears. inevitably it all happens. kids cry, parents laugh and take pictures, i fumble the words and try to make stupid jokes on the fly to cover up being nervous in front of 40 odd adults some of whom can speak my language just as well as i can. and in the end what do you get....

a lovely fall hallway

filled with family pictures

children's writing

a tastefully decorated classroom. 1 part halloween, 2 parts parents night

your kids in matching outfits

trying to sit nicely

happy moms, dads, kids, and teachers

your guess is as good as mine. an enigma i'll probably never understand till i go to my own child's

Meet Patricia

2011-10-18T03:36:00.001-04:00

one day, patricia woke up to find her house unbearably warm. she had no idea what happened or what was going on. you see, patricia is a penguin and her house was now... melting! she herself didn't know what to do. with sweat dripping from her oily flippers she slipped and slid her way her way out of the now collapsing front door. what?!! what's this?!! it's... it's green? a confused patricia thought to herself. soon after escaping her home, just barely passing the front door as it collapsed, she realized her home was indeed (according to her own thoughts) no longer in the same place in which it was, just the evening past. i guess that's what you get with one to many sherries and sardines she pondered. somehow, someway her cozy home had managed to lodge itself directly between two immensely large 'trees' bearing fuzzy round ball-like objects. well of course, she had no idea what to call these giants now surrounding her home, but she supposed 'tree' would reach a proper effect, not even knowing where the words themselves came from she realized these 'trees' were maliciously throwing their round balls down in the direction of her house. well now! hey there!! she exclaimed. as one plunged straight through her melting roof. the collapse of her roof sent her shuddering to the ground into a pile of hot, gritty, yellow stuff. shouting and waving her flippers in protest, she soon realized her futility as the brown, fuzzy bombs continued to fall on her house... ruining it to a pile of quickly melting ice and snow. what sort of inhospitable place is this?! she frowned to herself. twisting around she brought herself up and resigned herself to begin the exploration of this... place... she had been so rudely thrown into.

TAY~! Where's my TAY!!

World DJ Fest ... $0$

2011-10-10T17:04:00.002-04:00

pre-game affair. ireland lost

minor upset. no tickets

not a problem

got in for free

ingenuity ftw

nate-dawg

digitalism

katlyn, spinning some magic

world stage

open grassy knoll? i dunno i only ever saw it late at night

happiness, doesn't cost a thing... you just need to see it

Occupy Wall Street - Musings over Apple Crisp and Coffee

2011-10-03T03:04:00.001-04:00

I've seen to many videos where stupid people who don't know what to say are getting interviewed and making the whole thing look like a bunch of hippies.

We've got too much technology and resources for everyone to NOT know exactly what to say when the media attacks them... and it will be an attack. There needs to be a standardized rhetoric that we can mantra off of...
I know I've read the statements, but I think it needs to be condensed into something people can rattle off to the press whenever they're asked. That way we're all saying the same "correct" things.

Honestly, we can have our own words cause everyone needs to have a voice, but we need to have a solid statement in which we can all say to be heard individually, but with one voice.
You can't just have idiots like the people in DC representing what we're supposed to be saying...

if they had known what to say or had at least informed themselves that wouldn't have happened, and it was a set back for the DC group and it needs to be addressed.
Kinda like a 'mad-lib' if you will, or a fill in the blank you can personalize for yourself and repeat it over and over into the press, that way the meaning doesn't get lost and it stays focused and on track... but most importantly with the facts!
A solid statement that will provide the solid ground. If everyone begins to say and act upon the same statement, solidarity will emerge from that.

If there's ANYTHING I've learned from being in Asian countries it's a ton about solidarity. [kkkkkk^^]

The thing is, is that stupid people who aren't on the message, aren't watching the site posts and aren't informing themselves are being hand-picked by the media because they WILL misrepresent and using that WILL be to the advantage of the corporations, government and media. It's what the media does to protect it's invested interests.

Teach ALL the people and you'll have the media and corporations by the neck or at least running around like headless chickens...

The only way to beat the media is to undermine the game. Make it a point to always have your statement consistent and accurate and they won't be able to break apart the solidarity across the nation.
The people of Korea are great with this when you try and talk to them about N. Korea. They have a solid rhetoric of either saying "i don't talk about that" or the solid opinion that the US needs to be here and S. Korea isn't strong enough yet... they're brainwashed, yes... but they have a solid rhetoric that stands against everything.
It's so hard to get any other thing through to them, and that's what this movement needs. Solid rhetoric.. a repeatable mantra for the press. Not just a chant for the street... those can be whatever solidarity chants you think you need for rallying, but a repetitive message will make a whole world of difference to unite the whole.

Then you can have speakers and opinions and details brought out once the media is unable to get through the cracks... I'm not saying brainwash yourselves to this rhetoric, but immerse yourselves in the facts and commit to a statement so as not to undermine the whole.

Read the OWS released statements. Do knowledgeable research... fixate yourself and believe that there can be a change made.

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/first_official_statement_from_the_occupy_wall_street_movement/

Hoo-Ray for Han-Bok Day!

2011-09-10T11:47:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again... Chuseok! The kids love it, I enjoy it... everyone gets to eat a lot of snacks and wear funny clothing. We also get our pictures taken and practice bowing. That way when the kids see their grandparents later they'll be able to properly address them for the holidays.

This year at my new school they weren't as extravagant as the last one. YBM PSA took pictures and we bowed, but no one showed us a tea ceremony or how to hold our hands. My co-teacher brought in her mother's hanbok for me to wear. Pretty nice. Very Yellow. The kids were adorable as always. Not to mention insanely excited to be showing off their traditional clothing. They found it really silly that I was in a Hanbok, and wanted to know if I brought it from home. Explaining my borrowing it and not knowing that much about it because it's only my second time in one wasn't as easy as i thought, haha. No big deal, we all found each other insanely hilarious!

kevin, aaron, and lina (l to r)

studying mushrooms before his big adventure on the mountain

can't look right now chelsea teacher, i'm working!

sarah, with the cutest hair piece ever!

amy...adorable and daft

Jiho, in his natural state... my co-teacher, also in her natural state.... looking into the mirror

ahhh, that's better. work finished, smiling tony!

Though the day can be stressful, trying to manage twenty kids in outfits their parents pay a lot of money for. They're not supposed to get them dirty, play in them, or just in general be rowdy (yeah you try telling that to twenty 6 year olds!)
Needless to say Stephen and I paid a much needed visit to Bob @Echo Point later that evening for a few rounds of pool. So, with our friends June and Kyu we passed the night in relative ease and laziness.

Rumicube!!!!

June

Kyu and I

Stephen, Bob and myself arguing over music

Temporary DJs

Paper On Edge - Insadong Seoul

2011-09-08T10:05:00.004-04:00

I went and saw my co-worker's art show in Central Seoul just the other day. I rode my bike up from Gangnam... a good effort, barely thought I was going to make it on time!

- Jay Gallery -

Really the only requirement for the show was that the artwork needed to be on paper or about paper in someway. With the very limited space of the galley all artists did exceptionally well with representing themselves in their many avenues. A few are worth mentioning.

Liz Groeschen, interested in yoga and travel, delved into personal application of the zen like poses people try and twist themselves and the idea of mapping. The application of the maps turn the lines of roads into vein-like structures or quite possibly even the chi of someone twisting into some unbelievable form. While the idea could have been ascetically pushed through more abstraction or more personal design, it is a concept we can all "align" to and feel similarly about.

This image (above), taken with an iPod, is from Seo Jeong-hak. An artist who compresses pieces of "hanji," traditional Korean paper, into tight rolls that he then cuts into sections and arranges on a wood support in a hybrid of painting and sculpture. Using this combination he was able to create an abstract analysis of flowing color and form with the application of making traditional Korean paper. With a lovely undulating surface the very stiff and ridged paper of traditional processes seems to flow between itself and create a surface of rapidly changing colors in the lighting and shadow.

Lastly, Loren Rudisuela whose work looks both at historical representations of Asian art and it's new modern and post-modern counter part. Using several styles of art including digital design and painting Loren creates landscapes and still life pieces that reminiscent of old style Asian paintings, comic books, and modern Asian advertising.

a comic by stephen

2011-09-08T04:29:00.015-04:00

he's a riot

Bultanan Saram - Korea's Burning Man

2011-09-03T18:50:00.002-04:00

katlyn's my hero. she'd been to burning man in the states (proclaiming and preaching it's wonders) and when the time rolled around she sorted everything out and started korea's first ever burning man celebration. a fantastic concept. if you've never heard of it or seen anything about it, i suggest you look into it here. the week long event is where it's at, but because this is korea, and week long holidays just don't happen we chose a weekend and did our best.

1) be open to life

2) be honest with yourself

3) bring something to share...

doesn't matter... sharing is caring

4) be yourself, no judgement.

silly, serious,

manic, nutters and crazies -

all are welcome

as long as you come in peace

\m/ ^^ \m/

bread crumbs

meet up - check point #1

after a good deal had gathered at the main subway change before gimpo airport we headed further on along the airport railway through incheon and to the ferry, picking up many followers as we progress. a lotta looks, questions and giggles

bus stop outside the airport... soju syringe shots

meeting place - check point #2

a duck... walking backwards :p

convicing irish cricketeers to join the fun!

hair prep and overall absurdity on the ferry

covered mudflats

the thing about muuido beach/island is their impressive mudflats. a spectacular sight to see while you're in korea. the go on for miles when the tide is out, and come all the way in right up to the tide marking and suddenly you're in hip deep water. it was really amazing to watch the tides coming in over the mudflats. a gentle constant surge of water, no crashing ocean waves. very unique and quieting.

tide coming in over the mudflats

burning man bar... the vomiting seagulls

body painting

tents

our man

the group

more soju... food too

oh anointed ones, for 'ye are blessed and welcomed by the plya into burning man

party on!!!!

luna!! so glad you came out :)

sunset... burn baby burn

he's lit... the burn begins

thank you for everyone who contributed to the planning and good times of the weekend! unforgettable!

technologies

2011-08-29T10:42:00.001-04:00

wow, great job!
please welcome me into the world of modern technology.
i can't guarantee how well this will take off, but we'll see.
i'm sure it will be useful.

first captures, in celebration of the big leap

psa playground

walk home from work

walk home

mmmmhhhmmm

a few days out, chiaksan

2011-08-27T18:09:00.001-04:00

great to get out. the weather finally has decided that raining for an entire summer is not the proper attitude. or maybe is was the sun dance i did last night along the river. hmmmm...

either way we're off to visit Wonju, a fairly local National Park. local being only a two hour bus journey and 9,000w from seoul. catch was that the luxury bus drops off at the new terminal which doesn't have a bus stop for the bus that goes out to chiaksan. we had to hop in a cab to get to the local bus stop. nbd, it's all good. we made it. with only a few minor upsets
the local bus we got on really did go all the way up to the entrance of the park, however we were unsure of what exactly this looked like (being as we had never been before) so when we asked the bus driver if we should get off at a certain stop (nearly 3 miles away from the national park entrance) he told us it was the correct one.. pfht. as we are with time the day was already half over, haha.. night hiking is our thing i guess (not really though). however late we were we made it to our waterfall, the temple and even got to jump in the water really quick to rinse off stickiness!

walking...

still walking......

omg! yus!!!

maps. hur, hur.

hmmm....

dragons

here we go!

hundreds... thousands? paper cranes, many many many jars full

grab your latte visit buddah

pretty water #1

me with pretty water

stephen with pretty water

bali bali, chusaeyo!

pretty water #2 and waterfalls!

after a dip

night hike down

fare-thee-well

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=217968682542802012230.0004b0d1e6060c54ef440&msa=0&ll=37.399074,128.052864&spn=0.116461,0.199471

we made it though, and saw waterfalls (the main goal) and pretty water to swim in (secondary goal)
i've heard going all the way to the top of the mountain there is actually quite beautiful, had we not had to walk 3 miles just to the entrance of the park we might have been able to make it, but what we made it to was really lovely, if infested by moggies cause of the summer weather

A Long Weekend in Busan

2011-08-20T12:00:00.002-04:00

Stephen and I had an opportunity to go down to Busan and rent a pension house for a weekend with friends. The boys were playing a friendly with down there and it was a good excuse to let loose for a long weekend!

Fortunately we got to stay right on the Hyundai Beach. Since I had never been to Busan before this point I think it was a good introduction, and through out other parts of the trip we made to other areas of Busan, but most of our time was spent on one of the busiest beaches in Korea, and really there's a lot going on.

All of the bars are just off the boardwalk, restaurants, and noraebongs! there were even mini concerts and promotions going on everywhere cause of the holiday.

A good time was had by all.

2 min rainstorm... roll in roll out

oh sunshine! how nice it was after 3 solid weeks of rain in seoul

ahoy!

sky-scrape'n

game face

all tuckered out roof-top rest

the view

watch out!!

from the bar

found matty!

waddya expect!

rain showers on the beach

a messy monday... but just hours from a KTX ride home...

bye bye Busan. I'll be back!

Night Shopping

2011-08-20T05:53:00.001-04:00

dear dongdaemun,

thank you... but

your faux Louis Vuitton puses, shoes and accessories... the shop stalls filled with crap, shoes for 10,000w, bargains if you're willing to haggle, to much food and neon lights... just didn't make the cut.

i enjoyed you for one evening. i'm sure i'll be back, you just didn't have what i was searching for. i needed chess boards and lovely gifts to take home. i needed cheesy things for people who have never walked the back alleys of seoul. souvenirs and charming knick-knacks.

regards
chelsea.

We went here

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=217968682542802012230.0004b0d1af6ffb434bcac&msa=0&ll=37.569719,127.008734&spn=0.014524,0.024934

Another Canavan in Korea

2011-08-02T09:20:00.001-04:00

on arrival - already on the pictures

first dinner - chicken galbi... mmmmhhhh

first "sisterly" korean beer - cass/hite

gwangbok palace - the girls

my sister shannon

sandy, myself, stephen

my sister and i

knock, knock?

peek a boo!

Anguk! Insadong!

Kim-bop-cheong-gu

Shannon and Alana got to meet some girls doing a university survey...

and dance with the koreans!

SO..... Here it goes:

i did it. i convinced family members into an asian country. i'm not proud of it. i don't know if they liked it, but they were here, and it was a great time to have them. you know how it can get with family though. especially when you're on your vacation and with them nearly all the time. it really took some getting used to and even at that i can't say i was used to it. it's been nearly two years since i had been even remotely close to my family members, okay okay.. i know for some of you that's a crime in and of itself, but honestly... it was okay for us. really. i'm being honest. we do better with a bit of distance.
anywho, distance aside. my aunt, her daughter and my sister came. i made two massive mistakes. 1) getting my aunt and her daughter a korean business hotel room. you know like those mini apartments you can rent out? yep. they didn't like that much. my second mistake 2) was not having a back-up plan. they really didn't like the korean version of showering (over the toilet, whole bathroom wet, foggy mirror... those things i've become incredibly accustomed to!) and they didn't really like the space.. maybe that was the biggest thing cause they ended up going to the park hyatt over by coex. hey, whatever, they loved it. put a damper on my dreams of taking them outside the city cause they expenditure was a bit over the top, but hey it made them a bit more comfortable. i was put on edge though. i felt like i was put on the spotlight of entertainer, and trust me... if there's something i'm probably not good at, it's playing tour guide for a city i do mostly free and cheap things in. hmmmm... well. i was incredibly happy to see them. close to tears in fact... can't let them see that though, then they'd know how important it was for them to come! ugh i can be such and idiot sometimes. but, ya know, i took them around. showed them my favorite places. we got out to suwon and over into the northern parts of seoul... and low and behold!!!! I made it into Gwangbok Palace!! I know can you believe it? honestly I'm not quite sure how it happened because Stephen actually made it as well?! I'd have to say it was mostly my sister's doing.. I give her the credit of alarm clock. this girl did not want to miss a thing! she was all over that bulgogi and bibimbop! haha!

Hwasong Fortress

best tea shop ever!

sisters on the way to seoul tower

say hello to russia!

the bungalow long islands!

spider arms

a visit to echo point... the local pub

korean boys... awwwww

June!

war memorial

the morning of the sister's trip to haiensa

temple

really old tree

up the mountain in inclement weather?

doesn't look any better higher up...

no worries, we'll make it

chelsea... we're in the middle of really thick rain clouds. i think we should go now.

anyways, heart to hearts with shannon, drinking fun with my aunt and all over good sightseeing EVEN though it rained... and rained... and thundered.. and rained. they toughed out the summer vaca here and we got on each others nerves for 10days, but it was well worth it to see those that i love and care about.
so Shannon, Sandy, and Alana... thank you for coming... and here are some of the best photos.

Inter - Suwon Champions Deux

2011-06-15T11:29:00.002-04:00

Stephen A Murphy and Inter-Suwon Football Club have had the immense pleasure of becoming Reigning Champions for the Second time here on the Sunday League in Seoul. Congratulations Boyos Enjoy the pictures!

CONGRATULATIONS BOYS!!!! JOB WELL DONE!!!!

6-11 a Good Day for Reflection: Seoul Palaces Plaza

2011-06-11T20:14:00.002-04:00

just a general musing that i had never been to any of the palaces yet in seoul! how long had i been here? what in the world have i been doing... crap!
here's the problem. it's the weekend. and by the time of this being my second year, weekends now are pretty sacred. and if i don't feel like doing much, well... let's be honest there's not much that's going to get me out of the space-time warp call our apartment! now. i'll be completely honest. we looked at the weather and braced ourselves for waking up and not being lazy.
it's just lack of discipline? i'm not sure. but 10am the alarm went off and somehow we weren't traveling to "gwangbok" - "seoul plaza" area until 4pm? that's the epitome of laziness there. honestly how that happens, clearly you're asking the wrong person.

so after clearly failing to see the palaces (which close at 5) we still made the effort to be in that area of seoul and we hung out contemplating our lazy selves and just all around enjoying some green grass as we watched busy-ness go about.

moral of the story - shape up! don't be so lazy. i can't let the work week drag me down so much. because, truth be told i'm getting tired of day-in day-out children.

however, i do actually plan on going and whence i do, there will be a full and properly titled report!

the go to...

2011-06-06T11:22:00.002-04:00

seokcho seems to be a go to place for mr. murphy and myself. this'll be our third time going, and nothing was lost on this trip. the weather was fantastic enough for some beach sleeping, sunburning and pizza consuming.

it's quite hilarious to see the differences in which fireworks are treated here in this country as compared to home. quite literally there's no regulation and nearly everything is legally found off the street during celebratory holidays, haha.

there was a small family on the beach near us in the sand lighting off fireworks, and the parent's oblivion as to where their child was seemed so reckless. he was just wandering about.. the mother throwing her jacket, purse scarf quite near to where things were exploding... taking pictures instead of paying attention to where the fireworks are shooting (ie straight up and nearly lighting blankets on fire). allowing your 6 year old child to light them! aye yi yi! needless to say as distressing as it was, it did provide ample entertainment, as did the group of young drunk fathers and uncles who came to our other side doing something very similar, yet maintaining some level of composer telling them women to take the children away while they behaved like children themselves.

as always and forever shall be.. it was good to get away from seoul. I can't say how much I enjoy getting out of the city. as nice as it is to be in it. the extra effort it takes to go away means a lot more as the day goes out.

late arrival due to lazyness

hahaha... bad joke

watching irresponsible parenting, but good fireworks

dawn breaks...

beach sleeping

afternoon sun

no mountains this time, just beach... japan in the far distant horizon. you can see it can't you?

so maybe after this rainy season/summer fit thing whatever korea is going through is over a new go to will be established. this one might have run its course... not sure yet. it was lovely as ever

seoul forest picnic

2011-05-03T23:43:00.001-04:00

an adventure with the kiddies from lily class and psa
we ventured out into the sun on a fine spring day
into the forest we went with games
in single file we sang the names
of that which we saw and counted while we walked
with idle chatter we talked and talked
our blankets spread, our toys strewn about
the day was merry without a doubt
we had food, balloons, wind toys and bubbles
so much to do we forgot our troubles

running, laughing, singing and playing,
we didn't care and the absurdities we were displaying.

till it was time to go home
back to the school and the drone
but that day was ours and the rest of the troop
we went just north of the river and picnic'd in 서울숲!

the book slowly fills

2011-05-01T00:40:00.002-04:00

so sometimes i just write crap, but in color

once more ruin has befallen that which i hold dear, it would do well for me not to think much of it. this could be the last moments in this silent hour. why did i lay waste to that which i found so beautiful? i fell through my own devices, collapsed upon my own foundation. there is so much that i have ignored for so long. this beautiful landscape holds no light for me, there is to much now i know for doubt not to have taken hold and gripped its icy fingers into the slight passages of my heart. for now i will ever be wary and truth will always escape me.

the loss is continuing through trust and doubt combined as one, but paralyzing half the emotion. like a stroke victim unable to move my right side. the words spoken seem honest enough but oh how sadly we can be deterred and tricked by own own imaginations.

like an epic sand castle on the beach. topped with the beauty of the ocean and in ignorance of the crashing waves pounding into the shore, the moment you leave it to admire... swamping come the current and the waves, the madness and chaos of the forces of nature consuming the work and demolishing the beauty to leave ruin.

the only way is forward, you can't go backward on a forward only track leaving behind that which you saw as beauty to forage anew something else. dive deeper than before, find a more truthful landscape to build upon. the step after is always the hardest to take.

going down so deep, proves that darkness is consuming and release becomes harder.

color so bright and vivid will fade, longing so hard and true will disappear, beauty so fair and fine will grow out and wither and the wind and empty echos will always be waiting just below the fall of expectation.

a favorite quote:

"Expectation leads to disappointment. if you don't expect something big huge and exciting... " - the books.

blossom go the cherry trees and youido suddenly has people

2011-04-17T00:22:00.002-04:00

hibernation. everything does it. it's done and over with though. the cherry blossoms have called people out of their seoulite apartments and grudgingly dragged them out of dingy bars and skanky clubs to witness the beauty of spring unfurling day by day.
youido is one of the more popular places to go and see the blossoms. the tiny island in the middle of the han supports streets lined with the trees making the scenic boardwalks look like it's snowing, with every breath of air that stirs the branches white swirls come down and enclose you in some of the most lovely smells... unless of course the breeze is mixing with the copious amounts of food vendors, but where can you not find them, eh?
so you can bike around the island in just a couple hours (slowly), watch people fly kites (fly your own), play in the water fountain/man made river next to the river or just relax with friends and a blanket on the grass with some 소주 and 막걸리 and pass the day in idle bliss.... unfortunately i couldn't really pass in idle bliss. stephen was back at home in ireland for his brother's wedding leaving me a bit sad and out of sorts, so i, just keeping busy and rode through it and onto other things, but i did stop for a while to take in the atmosphere
and sights.

fountain park... you can see the 63 building in the far left. it big (when you're near it) and gold... oooo shiny

the open plan fountain spills off on to steps all the way down to the river

ajjuma

peacock kites are where it's at

not that it was a particularly hot day, but you could feel the heat in the sun... finally

ode to mrs. c

2011-04-10T23:58:00.002-04:00

NOW! bar, in yeongtong, suwon.. just off the 5100 bus from gangnam.
we seem to have alotta time for this place. mostly because inter suwon is sponsored by them, so the boys are always there to have a beer, some pool and homemade dinner by mrs. c the owner. this lady, the sweetest little woman in the world, she looks after these boys as if she they were 15 children of her own! granted they do come every sunday and thursday during the season, but still.. it's a great place with a good atmosphere and handsome soccer players, including my own (as he would say) "acting the maggot".
the pool is good, the beer is cass (you can make your own call on the quality of that), mrs.c's cooking (i can attest to this myself having both eaten and helped her cook) is fantastic, there are darts and even some 노래 to be had! on this particular day suwon's game was cancelled due to rain/ field flooding, so the next logical step was of course ingest a few pints... which ultimately always leads to something going on till the sun comes up the next day... it's hard to just have a few...

but we began that fateful afternoon... by calling mrs.c at three pm wondering why the bar was closed... needless to say she probably gave an earful to her backie, and he came running (still horrendously hungover from the night before) to open up for us. poor guy, lucky mrs. c loves us enough.

it's april. it's still cold.

2011-04-02T05:13:00.002-04:00

so the days keep rolling by. psa is still holding up and it's still a nine to five. for some reason working it for the first year didn't seem so bad, i suppose though it wears on you.

to beat some of the funky weather blues stephen and i decided to visit seoul grand park and it's zoo. really though, april isn't the best time of year to be heading out to the zoo... but! the spring rain held off, though it threatened all day and the weather was cool but surprisingly not cold.

we just hopped on the 3000 bus right by gangnam station and the park is one of the stops on the way to suwon, though we ended up taking the subway home because looking and waiting for a bus didn't really appeal.

but here, enjoy the pictures. it was the cheapest zoo i've ever been to (besides in the free one in chicago), and the animals were at least out and about... as much as animals caged up in a zoo like to be out and about.

the park had and interesting balcony where you could feed the giraffes yummy leaves and get licked by their black tongues

desert foxes... too cute

pretty neat positive negative space animal sculptures...

father ape

tarry forth at my bidding, young baboons

rafikki

the rhinos looked pretty sad and cooped up, but maybe it's cause the separated boys and girls

elephant trunk slide in the childrens park

alligator slide

weeeeee!

elephants steps like bombs dropping

2011-03-06T04:33:00.003-05:00

the Korean War Memorial, right off Samgajki station, blue bus 421 from Sinonhyeon.

i'm sure this brings back a few memories, if those of you whom i know have been here before (my grandmother, mostly) and have seen this place or the area around it, but it's not far from itaewon just a short walk north of the river, and a decent walk south of city hall/dongdaemun area... it was a great day for being outside, even if we didn't actually make it out till the afternoon.

caked in layers of paint fresh and peeling,hundreds of thousands names, painted bullet holes, red stars, nations flags, emblems of glory and destruction simultaneously mix with the sounds of children running and laughing with their parents combined with the uneasy feeling in my stomach as i looked at all the 'artifacts' of wars past, present and future. this is what the memorial brought to me. a feeling that hit much too close to home considering the circumstances we're all living in today. the tribulations every nation is facing as revolt is spreading like wildfire across nations and countries.

in the beginning: Korea 이년

2011-03-05T03:56:00.003-05:00

life. it's here. it's now and it's going. here's the new place. it's swank, hip, it's lovely.. and in a pretty nice area. i'm happy, i'm loving what i do, where i am and who i'm with. there's not much to say past that. i can't get over the fact that life here has really taken off and i'm pulling a second year. i left behind so much and it was hard to do (i love and miss you all, more than i let on in my blog), but beyond that i have a huge expanse of what is now, and a winding road with lots of trees, bushes, flowers, birds, butterflies and dirt (hypothetically speaking, really it's a bunch of concrete) that keeps me guessing of what's around the corner, but enjoying every moment of it. my sky is blue (well not really, more like a grayish overcast smog), my air is warm (but not quite because it's still chilly here), and my belly full (this one's true)...

from the kitchen doors

from the living space

from the laundry room doors

from the window

the kitchen from the front door

from the front door through to the living space

from the front door to the bathroom

from the entry way/kitchen to the bathroom

from the living space doors to the kitchen/front door

they made it. i made it. my first graduated kinder class

2011-02-28T03:31:00.001-05:00

i can't believe my first contract as a teacher is already up... and i'm writing this as a second year teacher. granted it's at a different school and it's completely different, but wow! i was really a teacher for a year... funny thing, i liked it. maybe you could actually say, enjoyed? it was life, and to be fair to all aspects of the year, it gave a good run and was pretty decent. so here's to life in korea, and the beginning of 이년$#@!!!

dragonfly muscial... picture op.. bahahahaaa

ummmm.... yup

crazy hair, colorful clothes fashion show. BAM!

koreans make sandwiches... with.. spam :/

market day... lalalalala.. it's market day!

p.i.z.z.a.

halloween

christmas

graduation day: feb 25 2011

a warm breeze blows through my lunar new year, and spectacular viaducts support the systematic flow of the inner diety

2011-02-05T22:46:00.005-05:00

january was a stranger to me this year. maybe even a newly reasoned foe, i can't say i recognized the month. it seemed lightening fast, a calm and silent rage, ice cold... a chilling but not exhausting encounter this year. essentially not a joyous meeting, because lets all be serious, january (in certain hemispheres) can't been seen as a joyous month really. but february has spat itself out into the open with a warm front and a vacation that i had known about for nearly a year... did i plan, no not really.
my best friend-world-traveler-great job!-awesome-guy, colin landed on a very dreary semi-mild 4am february 3rd, first morning of the vacation, good stuff there. an enjoyable presence, even if i was stressed because of the eminent new job/moving date only weeks away. we had a day before the great vacation, the epic journey, the c.o.a.s.t.

the day was upon us. stephen arrived that morning.. err afternoon... early evening? either way.. we traveled. first by subway, then by the stink-bus (this title given with no pleasure thanks to my seat partner on the bus... hehe). so we took the entire evening to get to seokcho. the hostel presented itself to us in the normal way that only benefits those who never plan (ahem!). without the swaying of the bus lulling us to sleep, hunger claimed us as did some 탕수욕 and 짜짜명. there wasn't even a question of what we were eating that evening after i spied the resturant. no hesitation about walking the steps to the chinese restaurant, which is something stephen and i laughed about. when you want 탕수욕 and 짜짜명, you want it.

the next morning was lovely. a vault of blue, the diamond speckled east sea bay, towering mountains. 5am wake up breakfast and go.

[note] a good amount of these pictures are scrounged from colin's flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dieselsilvia/sets/72157626042353310/, i'm almost certain he won't mind at all.

n.a.v.i.g.a.t.e?

the wobbling rock... uuugggghhhh!

hermi-tage

(last five) - so many stairs

windy

of course i'm in a hole where else would you keep warm on the top of a mountain?

how's that work?! #@^%$&??!!

huurrr..

mountain temple

after a day of hiking, the next thing you need to do is have your visitation with the resident giant octopus. i touched it. oh my, i touched it. it was big. it had it's own tank, but with all the food below and around it i don't see why it stayed there... hmmm.

lunar roman candles.

keep those northies away

i think i see it.. yes, that's it! NORTH! HEY-O!!!

meh

these shore borders are guarded, fenced and stationed. no northies. plz. kthx. what??!!!@#$%^%$#*@())&*$%! That's insane! How is that normal or even reasonable. gave me chills.

thus concludes the end of january and the start of february with a vacation much needed.

Not Your Average Run-of-the-Mill-Ultra-Mod BauHause Cafe, dogs anyone?

2011-01-21T19:21:00.002-05:00

What a awesomely-bizarre concept! The doggy cafe, of which many, are popping up all over Seoul. I think by now I've read at least four or five signs in major areas advertising these very lovely, entertaining "cafes".

~ ~

A Mid-January pick up is definitely needed at this point. Three weeks in and the snow on the ground is a promising sign that things might be okay. January is always better with a little (or even better, lots of it) snow on the ground. this 'cafe' (if you could even use the sacred frappe-mocha-non-fat-sugar-free-latte word to describe it) is a great place to just enjoy the company of man's best friend. This is Hongdae's version of the doggy cafe. a simple three step process!!! one) wait for a table. two) sit down, order something to drink (most of them being priced above 4,000w). three) sit back and relax as pups, dogs and beasts roam the cafe coming over to say hello and be loved. bring your own dog for a dog-sitting service or just to hang out. everyone gets along here and there's plenty of love to go around for the whole bunch! big dogs, little dogs, matching dogs, tye-dyed dogs, hyper dogs, and calm dogs... they're all there... enjoy!

he was a beast. taller than me if i was kneeling!!

curious puppy

this one really wanted to go outside, but it wasn't her turn yet, so she proceeded to place herself on top of the leads till they took her outside, haha

matching scared-y cats

on the table, in your lap, sprawled on the floor, in their kennel, on your chair... anywhere they want to go

what's red, white and black? a sunburned zebra!

2011-01-02T11:34:00.001-05:00

it's funny. to break a cork.
you really have only two ways out of your predicament.
get a cork-screw or you have to shove the remaining bit into your bottle. i suppose it's an even sillier predicament to have to complete this task on a moving subway. the eyes... wondering. the bottle convulsing as the car wobbles on the tracks as the train hurtles from one station to the next. well there isn't much wobbling comparatively, but as you could imagine the wobbling whilst you try to punch a cork into its bottle because you don't have a cork-screw... hmmm. ahh. drinking on a wintry subway - - - -

you know me. really. it's minus 13 out. finally i've traded in my mini-skirt and hot shorts for a woolly scarf and two pairs of pants... not to mention the three shirts i'm wearing, plus my jacket. it's not that the stations are cold... it's walking around that is. and it's the shear evil-ness of the winter here. at least by now at home i'd have a consistent three inches on the ground. insulation from the chill. something to warm my bones with.

here the wind bites around the sky scrapers and shoots down the sides of buildings to crawl under your skin and scrape at the back of your spine. making your eyeballs hurt and your nose freeze. possibly even in your own damn apartment! under the blankets when you don't wanna wake up in the morning because the floor heating is still to far away from your warm body between the sheets and duvet. and the cold morning tile in your bathroom makes you doubt the validity of showers for a week or two at a time.

and here all i'm doing on the subway now, on a not even Very cold day is catching a bus to suwon, and wait.. what's happening now. my ass is burning? quite literally. the seat in the subway has my cheeks alight and sweaty, this doesn't bode well for the trip out into the cold soon, better to stand in discomfort than cause my pants to freeze to my skin because of a slight bond of moisture.

mmmm,.. ahhh big-gulp. wine. oh 7-11 why don't you have them? big-gulps, no never been interested in those, but the idea of them reminds me of slur-pees. so no, not the big gulp, the slur-pees. they're non-existent. *sigh* worthless space if you ask me, no not slur-pees... 7-11. what's the point.

some silly aspects of my product driven life. i've come to terms with no slur-pees, though they're still wastes of space.. 7-11's. but yeah, no slur-pees, no car, no personal space... wait that's more environment than product. or maybe i was a product of that view now slowly becoming a product of this view.
thrown into the the crunch-n-bunch, shuffling-bustling life... a new environment a new product? could it be. god no. please. it could mean so much more than just an adjustment to shuffle and bustle. i wouldn't allow myself to spend an additional three hours each day checking my clothes and make-up (wait, i'd be wearing make-up... ahh!)
have i accustomed myself to the aujimas shouldering me to get past only to stop in front of me? or the constant coughing into the air i breathe? or the looking in the subway as i squeeze my non-korean ass onto a korean-ass sized seat? pfht. i dun-no. maybe it's the wine this time around?
ahh... gangnam exit. here we go.. bum bum bum

exit three, buses 3000, 8001 both will take me where i want to go. see yaas.
ahhh pushing. so much pushing
off the train, in the station, mini skirt asians with blonde hair flash past on the way to fanciful nights out on the town. gangnam. beauty. primal. savage. carnal.... wait mini skirts... hot shorts, in winter?!
well at least they have nice legs right now. i can't tell if exposing them to prolonged nights of harsh cold would be beneficial to their youthful appearance. maybe i'll think about the article i just read about cold water swimming and how it's supposed to be good every so often, as i walk outside...
nope.nope.nope.nope.nope.nope.nope.nope.nope.nope.
it's warm on here though. maybe they know something about youth and cold that i don't but the bitter wind stresses me. i can feel my wrist stiffen and my body protest. i was raised in four seasons but that doesn't mean i can consider this a season. toll bridge. i'll stay seated on the stairs with a good view of the door window and drink my wine watching snow piles go by. i'll pass the twenty minute ride in pseudo mi-gook korean style. by the door. i like it here. it's my winter break.

enjoy the captures

lazy lean. tired kids. shabby santa

andy's face. a+

happy carolers, prize hats, time to go home

olympic peace gate skate rink! the helmets make people look stupid so i'm not posting any pictures of myself on here skating... i'll thank myself when i'm 30 that they only ever stayed on old blue

Zoo Coffee. yes there are large animals there. confirmation, no they are not real... a little disappointed chimps weren't trained to serve me coffee.

SEOUL TOWER... finally. right?!

yes. i am. right here.

make a wish on a tree at the top of the tower. i mean, cause if it doesn't come true there, where else do you expect it to work?

be korean kute, hang a lock.

space. hur.

destination city

no... stephen.... no.

doing the awkward face, c'mon. pictures. seriously? again?

not so far. could be worse.

Chi-town!

hello colin! hello alexis!

it means more if a bug on a tile tells me how much you love me.

love tiles.

the mini's. so cute. wanna puke

ahhh symmetry

how to spend 3 weeks till christmas

2010-12-20T10:08:00.001-05:00

it's really very simple. there are

three and a half weeks before christmas
twenty-four days
five hundred seventy-six hours
thirty-four thousand five hundred sixty minutes

simply put..
out of those i will devote
18 days to working
roughly 8 hours a day i am in my work building
7 hours are spent in bed
and the other 8 or 9 are mostly spent doing jack... who knows. i've never asked myself or answered to anyone about it

here's the predicament. christmas, 24 days..
shopping
shipping
cards
posting

biggest problem shipping.
what to do when you have to do these these but all you really want to do is (and I quote murphy here) "faf" about and do your own things cause you can't really be bothered getting all these things together because it's fairly difficult, the post office is difficult, far away, open only during my lunch break (my love for food is hard to break) and even if i go during my break i practically have to run, who wants that burden.. bah!

okay. get it done quickly.

numero uno project, complete. i did send things out, got it done.. heh. from what i gather it'll even make it there before chrsitmas. i'm on it, like white on rice. wha!

what now. ah yes... a trip. because climbing mountains at the start of december is fun, and it's spectacular when you go south and the weather is perfect even though you never bothered to check the weather because you were to lazy. great job!

haeinsa, an old temple. peace, serenity, and free water abound to those who can spot it. otherwise some might only see it as a lot of stairs plopped onto the side of the mountain with some fancy brick work.

don't let this mash-up of words fool you, i may seem a bit jaded about the haeinsa movement, nope not a bit. i found my peace there. i realized my serenity and even tried the fresh spring water. attempted and succeeded a climb i was actually unaware i was doing at the time.
[note]: when you pick a mountain you can see the top of note it on a map.. it'll give perspective.
i enjoyed the soothing company of a good friend and had great food.
i discovered the great feeling of traveling and arriving by bus and train.

if the peace of land didn't drive home the feeling of calm i'm sure seeing the incredible scope of buddhist text written on tablets. it fascinated and astounded my scholarly mind and surely would have dumbfound those who didn't know such things existed. or maybe it was the mountain river running through the midst of the path in some spots, that took away my existing cares and for a moment made me forget the threats that are rising and the shadow of danger that has been cast across the country, and as i looked from the top of the mountain over a very consuming and vast mountain range near this utterly gorgeous temple i could maybe see a portion of survival, feel the tug of the wind against me and the call of the wilderness in my blood.

but really don't take my word for it. i wouldn't even bother reading anything actually, but by now if you've read this it's much to late for you my friend. i'm sorry.

The KTX... first time ever.. fast train. classy, we rode it backwards, i took window. nana

my mess... always

view from the room

aunt sandy... does this wall paper look familiar? hehe

i said steps. step

winter is coming

the temple grounds

prayer rooms

steven decided to switch a monks walking stick with another's umbrella.. bahahahaha

it still felt like fall, nothing like december

the 1,200 year old tree, planted by a buddhist

haeinsa day 1: over...

Food Time!!! and What a spread!

BibimBop and Bulgogi and like twenty thousand different sides

seriously? we're hiking.

at the tippy top

koreans and their personal space concepts. or maybe it was the cold wind?

to the west

to the south

the fiesty wind nearly blew me off the north face

the feet that took us to the top

thank you mr. korean man

check it!

much love... that was a lot higher than i thought originally. 4k hike.. eh why not. 5,000 ft. oh, really?

the mt. from the parking lot.

i also again went to the aquarium, this time with stephen. it really is nice. we tried to save a horseshoe crab that was (excuse the pun) stuck between a rock and a hard place (glass)... BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

oh yes, they would certainly eat you if the glass broke. sharks, watch out.

"homeless mi-gook steals starfish from local aquarium and sets them free"

wait... what? stephen? noooooooo....

you need to look happy to be in there.

jelly fish...

o.m.g. so many pictures.

k.thanks.

november was eaten by a lion and a elephant

2010-11-30T10:59:00.002-05:00

i have no idea where it went really. november, huh... well.

it.
got.
cold.

don't worry. i'm taking my vitamins and teaching my children too not cough into their desk partners face, but instead at least their hand... only time will tell if they'll ever understand why i'd like them to use their elbows. so never mind learning polite public manners, lets teach kindergarten children about past, present and future tense verbs. sentences please. also could you read that 5 chapter book with them and complete their 2nd grade math books... oh and while you're at that, explain the way the piston in a pneumatic grabbing arm works and how the moon causes the tides, waxes, and wanes...uh, oh yes excuse me, hello there... i'm sorry i didn't realize that when i signed up for this i'd have to teach ALL subjects! couldn't we just color pictures and play with toys? talk about silly kid things...
shit. i hope...! ah nah, of course i can teach it, but what in the world.. what if i wasn't able. i think there'd be some pretty messed up kids out there thinking apples weighed less than strawberries, and 15-9 = 24, pink was green, and the gat kat that sat on the lat ... well, it was really the fat cat sat on the mat... ugh, phonics.
ballz, why didn't i think of teaching them silliness earlier, would have been a good laugh. honestly though, i've been amazed at what these children learn.

i digress.... the cold. it's addled my brains. all scrambled and frozen up. i would mention something here tying it together about the vomit i see while walking through the streets to work, but it'd just be too much to handle through the blog.

there's something about the cold here, that kicks on all survival instincts just by walking outside. everything else evaporates from your mind with a kick in the ass from a bone-dry, ice-cold wind. brrrrrr!
nothin' like the crisp pierce of ice to the brain on a morning walk to work.

november went by in a blur. seems like these months have been doing that, can't say that i mind. i would say cold is fun in small snowy doses, otherwise it can just roil around in siberia. they've been dealing with it ages longer than i have.

november saw:
friends leave, cakes being baked (finally a mini oven), thanksgiving being ate, and a trip to a far off temple (pictures in a separate blog).
enjoy the captures

the first mess to emerge from the mini oven... halloween hangover pie!

the good-bye night for megan and terrence.. first icing - desma and clara (res)

the crew (l-r): david, terrence, muzney, desma

the crew (l-r): desma, stephanie, clara, megan

as the night was clearly drawing to a close, david couldn't resist the urge to give terrence one last ice before his time was over. great job!

no thanksgiving is complete with out the enjoyment of pumpkin pie, even from costco

happy thanksgiving mr. ireland, how's it feel to participate in american tradition. bahahaha.

no gathering is complete without cass and soju, claaaarrraaaa!!!! there she goes.

clara<------>desma

in all honesty what good host doesn't cut herself on thanksgiving? no gravy is complete without a little love and blood. that's how we roll

relaxing after maxing out on food.

david teacher lookin snappy

the thanksgiving spread. mmmmmhhh

Next stop Haeinsa... ding-ding-ding

oh,... that night

2010-10-31T20:18:00.001-04:00

i don't think that chelsea's cocktail hour needs anymore explanation than:
lci-ers
free costumes
drinks
salad bowl
whatmadness.

oh my an ajumma

race horses

couple costumes: dominoes... snaaaaake eyesssss

dos pirates

a mouse-y (oh 'ello there adeline!!)

greece in all it's glory

cRaaaaCk plAYA

uhh my bed somehow turned noraebong

david's nipple. tarzan has nothin

the women of lci?

cute

getting better

okay... it's there, it's awesome

over and out. the rest of my night is lost to the history books of clubs and the 'twon.

Thanks Guys. It was a good night.

hell-o hall-o-ween

2010-10-29T19:09:00.001-04:00

oh the extravagance! lci couldn't have possibly been more completely covered in the colors orange, black, green and purple. wah!
of course megan led the school in an all out decorating competition. i came no where near what she pulled off (her teacher and mom skills were turned up to the max for this, it's her thing). but i was able to decorate my classroom quite nicely, and my kids got a real kick out of making all sorts of things halloween-ific (as i called it for a sarcastic fun that my kids completely understood as they now add -rific onto everything they think is dumb. haha, oh the things children pick up on.)... we had silly ghosts (these being my favorite part because one child turned his into the ghost of a unicorn, hysterical), dangling spiders, falling leaves and paper chains. i mean... it was near close to a perfectly haunted forest in l-room.
we were informed the we got to rent costumes through the school, which did turn into a big fiasco, but that can come later so as not to get side tracked now from the really good stuff... so we got 30,000w to get whatever we wanted from a korean rental site on the interwebs... (we could pay the difference for something more if we wanted)... glories of all glories though the perfect costume of mine fell far below the limit at a mere 20,000w. how many of you know me well enough that i would be unable to pass up the opportunity of being a fully suited dinosaur, top to bottom. you can't deny it. it's who i am. it was that or a spandex frog suit. bahahaha... me in spandex is just such a funny thought. anyways, theres no wai i was going for the spandex, it's to cold here already and i had, had weekend plans formulating since the first of october here it was just neigh a week and a half into the month though and things were still flying. anyways. dinosaur i was, and it was a painfully happy experience, especially with the kids.
it was a different but fully gratifying halloween. nothing like home, but still it hit the spot and brought a tear to my eye more than once
psht, don't laugh, seeing snickers bars being handed out to children along with peanut m&ms, is enough to make any grown-up cry, never mind the jack-o-lntern carving, haunted playhouse or the quiznos we got catered for lunch... heaven for everyone (tag 'queen' here)
chronicled, recorded and posted. done and done.

there are never many pictures of these boys, but they're an older class of mine... yey they dressed up!!

a dinosaur needs to still grade tests

tired, hungry, low on candy, sugar -100000000

two girls i used to teach, they're in different classes but had matching outfits... cuties!

everyone wanted a piece of the dinosaur, sugar high number three

a moments respite and a new pair of shoes

2010-10-05T18:29:00.001-04:00

i took a moment out of a busy and hectic week to go bowling with some friends.
my neighbor matt introduced me to a great korean girl named boae, a great girl who showed me how to make a mean steamed egg.. yummy!!!! but thats not the end of our adventures. she called us up not to long ago and really wanted to go bowling, what no wai?? i had really been wanting to go since i had been with the lci-ers. we rocked it out. we went out for some pre-bowling bbq and hit the lanes for a few games. bowling is cheaper and just as nice here in korea as it is in the states. 3,000w gets you a round and shoes... it really was quite the experience to bowl along korean ajummas in their sporty mismatched outfits, cheering at nearly every pin they knocked down. we stayed for a few games and ended up bowling near some pretty fun younger gentlemen who cheered for matt every time he striked (it was often, matt... well, he's good/ boae and myself probably wouldnt be able to bowl to save our own lives). it was neat stuff, handshakes, claps and cheers to go around. happy people bowling makes a silly sport fun. there was nothing about it silly as soon as we realized matt was part pro. feeling pretty bad i did attempt my best shot. i think i only got to 100pts maybe once. there's no gift for me there, no matter how hard i try i can't make it happen. but on the up side i left with the shoes, an accident of course. heh. oh well. enjoi the shots.

boae starts us off

the turn of pathetic

probably a strike

winnar!!!! with the majik ball

a little bit of give and take

2010-10-02T23:40:00.003-04:00

as part of our deal for chuseok, we, the teachers of lci got our friday off... the one that went with the chuseok vacation. as part of this deal we relinquished one saturday to the school for a field trip. originally it was planned to be a day out in the park having grand games and epic water balloon battles complete with children screaming korean war cries. however, as circumstances go in hagwons we had a change of plans for the outcome of our saturday field trip. they one upped it. we went to a school for making cheese and it's lovely bi-products. with the amazing power of our noraebong and party buses we loaded up all the morning kinder students, teachers, and even our director (who rode on my bus... woot) and headed to the countryside of seoul. where we proceeded to do the following: make pizza and spaghetti, play silly games, feed baby milk cows, feed the hungriest goats and rabbits i've ever seen, pause and wait for picture opps, wash our hands about a million zillion times, eat pizza, and finally after a little more playtime outside make mozzarella cheese, fresh and stretchy.. mmmmMMMHhhhh.

vacation comes and goes

2010-09-27T10:06:00.001-04:00

chuseok vacation went by remarkably fast, as are all my weeks recently. i can't believe it's already been 7+ months. i'll be going home soon, on to other things, but for now i have mountain top views and lovely buddhist gardens i can enjoy.

morning view from the campsite

hiking up the first san

markers

i was told this is was europe resembles

we got to climb large boulders

the second peak was an awesome green sea

a good cliff

the field grass was high and the sun beat down searing hot.

i could feel

sweat. it was brillant.

after the hiking adventure we stopped over in jeonju, for some awesome bibimbop that is said to come with the most side dishes. we walked in to a hanok village welcoming party. some neighbors were just moving in. so we were invited to sit, enjoy songpyeon, dubu, kimchi, and makkoli with some live music and dancing. what a party.

you've been creeped

rob rides a bronze cow

it went by quickly and some things have happened now even after all this fun. my bike has been stolen and everyone at work is getting sick. i honestly can't even imagine what will happen next in this city. something seems to be coming my way every hour. it will stop at nothing.

till my next adventure.

a fun monday

2010-09-20T21:46:00.000-04:00

so the monday of chuseok vacation we had a little fun day for our morning classes. it was pretty cute. we did fun things like learning traditional korean games, making songpyeon (and eating it...), and we even got to play "korean pogs"
overall it was much more fun than bustin out the books and hittin'em hard before the vacation, and the teachers got gifts... yeeaaah!

(jane) throwing her 'spears' into a 'small opening'

john prepares himself for making songpyeon

they put beans and raisins in their glutenous rice balls (songpeyon)

(left to right) jane and annie were really excited to make these

we basically had a free day in which to play with the kids and hang out and eat yummy food stuffs that had been brought in. in l-room we made gopher crowns for the boys and bunnie crowns for the girls. everyone put their own unique twist on their crown parts. i especially liked this. i can't wait till we start doing fall decorations and things like that!

jane in her bunny crown

andy: teacher... take my picture

(left to right) eric and leo in their gopher crowns making swords

john and jin in their gopher crowns... jin wanted his to be both bunnie and gopher so he added bunnie ears to his gopher when he cut it out... LOVE IT!

a little bit of korean pogs, i got my butt kicked by these pros. i was out in no time

all together it was a pretty nice way to spend a day especially since the older kids later in the day were really relaxed because everyone was just about to have a week off. yes... my school gave us from tuesday till friday off. its great!!!!

free-bike-a-day

2010-09-18T00:58:00.002-04:00

to hangang we go. on bikes that were free (of course mine being the exception because i bought it), but we found sites all around seoul that give out free bikes for a day in exchange for valuable information. thus we ventured out on a fine day in seoul during the early beginnings of fall. on bikes. on the river. on our way to no where.

that about sums it up really. you couldn't have asked for a better day. and the free bike place was so close to my gangdong apartment we could walk to it and pick up the bikes. we rode into itwaeon and then took the subway back because unfortunately the 'freebike' has a curfew. back by 6pm. i guess that was the only catch, but by then we were tired and hungry i suppose. well... i was. i think. it seems fuzzy to remember now.

teaching picnic

2010-09-13T23:36:00.002-04:00

i find it really silly how the simplest form of an american school field trip, the picnic, is turned into an extravagant fusion of museum visiting and festival type activities. its funny, i remember being handed a frisbee or a jump-rope and told to go play on the grass in the sunshine. but now there is a requirement to functionally entertain, amuse and captivate. no longer can two hours of four leaf-clovering exist. 15 min increments are blocked and planned providing activity and constant bombardment of stimulation.

earlymorningbeontimebalibaliwaitwaitbalibalibusridelineupnametagslineupholdhandswalkingwalkingwalkingstandingmuseumfigureinepicturesgrassyfieldpicturesbathroombreakposedpicturetimelunchtimedrinktimecleanupplaytimebathroomroundrobingamesfacepaintingduckduckgooseredroverredrovercleanuplineupstandstillfollowinlinebalibaligetonthebusbuckleupscreamingexcitementcausetheirenergywasntexpendedbackatschoolwithwondermentbecausewhatdidthosethreehoursdotheend.

apartment update

2010-08-29T11:24:00.001-04:00

my apartment is steadily becoming more and more homey with collected things and hand-me-downs from other folk. here's a recent add.
brian, david and allison are here to stay. here's a recollection\ documentation of the new goings on in four-oh-seven

brian helps allison relax

david is brought in off the streets

acquisition of places

le table

allison gets comfortable

the jungle is born

shelving is acquired

couldn't have been better timing

2010-07-30T10:48:00.006-04:00

the day after my arm breaking we went on a field trip.
where did we go?
oh the COEX aquarium. so fun. there was more than i expected there, and even a hands on selection of starfish for the kids to pick up and play with.
i mean, this was by far, the least actual 'learning' experience you could possibly have in an aquarium. you probably needed a good half-a-day to go through this place and talk about fish, habitats, preservation, salt water vs. fresh water and the ecology of aquatic life... we went through it in two hours. it was rushed albeit, but still fun. i tried as hard as i could to just let them be kids while they were there... mostly just tried not to lose them in the crowd...

persistent thought of the day, 'hold hands dammit!'

birthday blog

2010-07-29T23:20:00.001-04:00

just a collection of morning kinder's birthday cakes, silly hats, victory signs (yes another 'fake' year older) and classroom shinaningans. we'll see how many i remember to take pictures of...

jin

andy

what's next

2010-07-27T09:57:00.000-04:00

[i'm going back in time to write this 5.....4....3...2..1.]

there are only a few things that could have possibly made me really upset here in korea.
one) dying. obviously, i haven't died yet, there's just the constant fear of death via getting hit by insane taxi drivers, eating bad kimchi, or starvation/malnutrition.
two) would be getting terribly ill far away from anyone who actually cared that i was getting ill... well we all know how this turned out. i survived. okay so, i got sick... really sick, and i was really sad and depressed about it because it took a huge chunk of my 'getting-to-know-people' time, going out and doing things and just in general feeling more comfortable in a place that wasn't being particularly comforting.
three) hurting myself, badly. again, far away from comfort or care/help from anyone i know. wow. waddya know? i'm at a two/three... this does not sit well.

so you may be asking, how does this occur? well, let me explain. i have a simple equation you can follow:
hair rinse (conditioner) plus a clean tile floor plus water equals a crushed radius bone, detached wrist and nearly 7.5 weeks of wearing a crooked splint in the hottest and wettest part of a korean summer.
oh not to mention it happened just a few days before the ten day summer vacation for our school. and i had just bought a new bike. both of which i couldn't enjoy because of pain, heat and the stupidness of broken limbs.
i felt so restricted. so limited. it was so hot out and my arm was bound in a cast from finger tips to up and around my elbow. i felt like i was trapped in a horrible horrible nightmare.
so if you want here's a few of the details from my arm breaking experience, start to finish
oh the horrors... of horrors

- i opted out of the million won surgery, come to find out, you're then given medieval treatment of bone alignment. i had one man pulling in each direction whilst another squeezed them into place. yabba.
- the pain killer that they gave me wasn't nearly enough to even stifle the pain for the first couple weeks. every bump and accidental wiggle made me want to chop off my arm. or at least detach it and put it on a regrowth stand in some high tech hospital... wait we don't have those yet. ugh, where's the adamantium when you need it?
- insurance in korean is kinda a pain in the butt. avoid getting sick or hurt. it just makes everyone's life easier. i'm still not sure yet what or when i will get back money for my arm, but for my previous hospital bills i spent a little over a grand and received back nearly half. a good return, here's to hoping for another.
- prescription cocktails. this is probably my least favorite, but at the same time favorite part of the whole sha-bang. i didn't get proper painkillers, however i did have a regimented 4 pills three times a day with an extra pills for the morning and evening. forget getting them in english. that was hard to pull off... luckily i had a ton of help from my korean staff, otherwise i would have been completely clueless.
- i'm glad through all of this i had at least one person willing to bug me and dig me out of a depressive hole i was curling into. porter came around often... played chess with me and talked about books and things of enlightenment.
- going places for the most part was out of the question. i had every intention to go on an extravagant backpacking trip through the northeastern mountains... nope. i had plans to ride my bike to other cities... nope. i had the want to just step out of doors and enjoy blazing hot summer weather... nope. it just sucked all around. i'll never do it again.

here's the good news. (fast forward from that last sentence) it's been almost nine weeks. i'm out of my cast, and it's fall.

w.h.a.t.s.n.e.x.t.

hongdae | heat

2010-07-25T23:27:00.001-04:00

had an afternoon of walking with desma a new teacher at LCI. she wanted to see a little bit of hongdae and i happened to be going there for the open art fair anyways.

what was most interesting was walking into the festival there. i had no recollection of hearing about the seoul international 'create and art park' festival. it involved suspended dancing, world/prog music, belly dancing, interpretive dancing and some live body painting. really very interesting to walk in on.

it would be hard to actually re-tell how this day went. i just remember walking around hazily because of the heat. it was almost as if i drifted through this entire day:

one of the big inner-road crossings of hongdae

around this point you need to ask yourself what kinda of drink you need, the answer should always be... one that's in a pouch sir.

visit vinyl

while enjoying your pouch drink, feel free to walk anywhere through the artists markets on the weekends and observe the latest trendz

in the evening catch some suspended dancing-lazer show extravaganza

some suspended Yoga

what progressive art fest wouldn't have a prog-rock line-up along with performance pieces

and what would the whole thing be if you didn't have an interpretive dance while being body painted?

and get washed clean by water

and then we saw "it" just as we were walking to the subway. not as extravagant as i was hoping given its name, but korea is a very conservative country. we were shocked to even find this.

unfortunately our side visit to condomania cost us a subway ride (doh!) so we had to finagle the bus system. congrats to me for being able to read hangul and get us home without having to pay for a 30,000W taxi.

elle room

2010-07-20T21:56:00.000-04:00

andy has been very excited recently. he tells me he is going to america over break.

ANDY: teacher, i am going to LA (thug hand motions involved), we will see the beach and many people.

ME: well that's great andy, do you think you'll like it, will you see family?

ANDY: (shrugs) it will be cool yo (throws me a high five and makes a telescope)

i see youuuu

jin has been developing himself into a little class leader. when he makes plans to make or build big things at playtime, he can usually get everyone to help him, and distribute labor

this jacket was to adorable to pass up

teacher... phone call!!

우리 집

2010-07-20T20:14:00.001-04:00

[from the entry way]

[from the corner]

[from the wardrobe]

[lespo b.o.u.n.c.e.]

[fred, butters and marty]

[unknown, beans and basil] respectively

hair and joy and juice

2010-07-17T11:46:00.002-04:00

i found it

a korean named lucy from hair and love in hongik cut my hair

i like it.