December 2008
79 posts
1 tag
Happy New Year’s from the future!!! And it’s already five hours in here.  You guys are so behind.
Dec 31st
1 tag
holler
I just got a ton of medicine and a doctor’s visit for less than $6.  Hopefully it works [by tomorrow].
Dec 30th
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i'm sick
so I have barely been able to stay awake much less post on the bloggy. Gotta get better because I might be meeting some famous Korean actors on New Year’s Eve now that I got the hook up at Hard Rock.
Dec 29th
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i'm pretty sure i just had the weirdest night of...
It’s almost noon and I just got home.  I have been awake for 24 hours.  I just norebanged with the whole staff of Hard Rock.  I have to work tomorrow D: More later…
Dec 28th
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Dec 27th
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fan death →
In Korea, it is believed that sleeping in a closed room with a fan on could be deadly.
Dec 27th
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saddest thing ever
Koreans who haven’t lived in the Americas somewhere don’t know what Mexican food is.  Like, at all.  In class we read a story about tacos, and I told them Mexican food was my absolute favorite.  They were so confused.  I was trying to explain to them what tacos and burritos were, but they had no idea.  On Tuesday, the b-boy asked me what my favorite food was.  Of course I said...
Dec 25th
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3 tags
Dec 24th
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Dec 24th
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눈 !!!
It’s snowing in Seoul right now, and I am so beyond happy.   I got a text from the b-boy saying it was snowing in Suwon, and I got super jealous.  Then I left to go to Eva’s place to watch a movie and saw this little snow drizzle.  Yay!  I wasn’t expecting it to stick since the one other time it snowed it didn’t, but… it did!  Eva and I watched this movie called...
Dec 22nd
1 note
3 tags
seoul tower
Today I met up with a Korean friend, planning to go to one of the palaces in Seoul… but come to find out it’s closed on Mondays.  Of course.  So we got hot chocolate (it was the first actual cold day here—in the 20s, which would be a heat wave in Illinois right now ha), and we wandered around the City Hall area until we were frozen.  We decided to go up to Seoul Tower because...
Dec 22nd
3 tags
apparently...
Someone got stabbed at Gogo’s last night??? Agatha knew someone who was there and he told her that, but I can’t find it anywhere on the news.  If it did happen, there is probably a 100% chance that it was a GI.  Seoul is seriously the safest city I’ve ever been in, and I hate to think that this would happen.  T-T Good thing I already decided to stop going there, though.  
Dec 21st
2 tags
“Boondoggle.”
– I think this is probably the most arbitrary word I have taught my Korean kids.  But damn, they will have an extensive(ly useless) vocabulary when I’m done with them.
Dec 20th
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2 tags
some of my older kids
On Friday, we finished early and I gave my 2nd semester kids a Christmas word search.  They were actually not being psychos for once, so I took some pics.  See how many of the ubiquitous Korean pencil cases you can find! Herald and Kevin.  If you look closely, you might see the devil in Herald’s eyes. Sally and Tina. These girls did not want their picture taken.  What kind of...
Dec 20th
2 tags
WatchWatch
Here are my Alligators singing “Silent Night.”  My camera sucks and only takes 30 second clips.  You can barely hear them because we were second to last, which meant all the other kids were about to go crazy since the whole thing was so boring.  
Dec 20th
2 tags
WatchWatch
At my Kindergarten, there is EK (English Kindergarten) and BK (Bilingual Kindergarten).  Most of us teach EK, which is when the kids stay with us all day and only learn English.  The BK classes are actual Kindergarten classes, and they learn about regular Kindergarten stuff for most of the day with Korean teachers, then they have English for an hour a day with one of the foreign teachers. This is...
Dec 20th
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Dec 20th
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Dec 19th
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ListenLast Friday, a lot of the girls from work hung out...
Dec 18th
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stupid things that i miss, part 2
Shopping online.  I was determined to find my Secret Santa an amazing gift and I had a specific book in mind.  It was literally no where in Seoul, so luckily I found another one that I think will be good.  I guess not being able to buy stuff online with the credit card number I had memorized from doing this so much at home will allow me to actually save all this money I’m making! FRUIT...
Dec 18th
2 tags
i wrote a book
In my 2nd semester class yesterday, we made books.  We have been learning about daily rituals and so I had them make a cover then do one page for something they do in the morning, afternoon, and night.  I was jealous that they got to play with crayons, so I made one too.  They were like “Oh, teacher!!!!  Beautiful!!!!” until I got to dinner and failed at drawing bibimbap.  Oh well.
Dec 18th
1 tag
Dec 17th
2 tags
10-year-old koreans, in a nutshell
Me: If you could go ANYWHERE in the world, where would you go?
Calvin: PC room!
Dec 17th
1 tag
ListenAlmost Friday!  The weeks fly by so fast. Dizzee...
Dec 17th
2 tags
teachin' them to talk real good
(Someone asked me a question)
Me: Uh-huhhh
Sally: Teacher, uh-huh what?
Me: It means yes.
Sally and Winnie: Uh-huuuhhhhhh!!!
Dec 16th
1 tag
ListenThey played this song at Gogo’s on Saturday...
Dec 16th
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I went to a bookstore at COEX today and was drooling over all the advertising and design books.  I didn’t realize how much I missed all that stuff, and it’s weird not having any projects or anything to work on.  I’ll probably start posting stuff on lauralikes again to keep myself inspired and my brain working.
Dec 14th
2 tags
Dec 14th
ListenCalvin Harris is coming to a new club in Gangnam...
Dec 14th
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“Salsa” means diarrhea in Korean.
Dec 14th
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1 tag
Dec 13th
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Dec 12th
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Dec 12th
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Dec 11th
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Dec 11th
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Dec 11th
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things i learned today
Cereal is spelled “serear.” Umbrella is spelled “undellala.” Classroom has four syllables: kah-rass-uh-room. Paint has three syllables: pay-een-tuh.
Dec 11th
2 tags
“TEACHER! Andy this and a this and eraser and a here and box here and this...”
– This is what I hear daily.  The sounds of six year olds who can barely speak English getting angry at each other.
Dec 11th
3 tags
stupid things that i miss really, really bad
Duhh.  There is one Taco Bell in all of Korea and it’s on the Army Base in Seoul.  Maybe I should have feigned interest in that GI on Saturday so I could get my hands on some bean burritos. I have pretty much lost interest in celeb gossip while living in Korea.  I think it’s because there’s not enough (or any) Joel McHale here. I realized yesterday that I miss doing power...
Dec 10th
1 tag
Dec 10th
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the glass is half full
Less than seven hours left of my day… then it’s almost Thursday, which means it’s almost Friday !!!
Dec 10th
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Dec 10th
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survival phrases
I don’t think I’ll be able to get a Korean boyfriend without knowing at least some Korean.  I’ve decided to actually listen to some of the million Korean 101 podcasts I downloaded before I got here (and never listened to).  Of course, I’m focusing on the essentials. 저는 미국 사람입니다.  I am American. 종숭 는 여자친구가 있어?  Jong Sung, do you have a girlfriend?   전화 번호가 뭐야?  What is...
Dec 9th
1 note
1 tag
Dec 9th
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i'm not sure what to think
We were learning about the five senses in my 2nd semester class today.
Me: So what is something that you like to touch?
Heidi: My brother!
Dec 9th
1 tag
Must ... find ... link
surawesome: sidewalkbagatelle: Since I don’t have TV, I have to resist going on Tumblr immediately after Gossip Girl airs for fear that anyone out in the tumblverse will post about the show, and it will be spoiled for me. So I’m off to find the episode, obsessively.  Why can’t this shit just be on Hulu like every other show that I love? I missed the episode tonight!!! Did you find a link at...
Dec 9th
2 notes
2 tags
disappointing
As I was just about asleep last night, my phone rang.  It was a number I didn’t know, so I just let it ring.  I didn’t want to answer it in case it was the creeper trying to trick me into talking to him, or if it had actually been someone I wanted to talk to, they probably don’t speak English well enough to hold a phone conversation, so I just texted them a few minutes later...
Dec 9th
3 tags
today in class
Ann: Teacher, did you know Big Bang was at Lotte World* today?
Me: Whaaaaat?! Why?
Ann (terrible at English): I don't know... dancing?
Me: What time?
Ann: Five o'clock. (It's six right now.)
Me: Why did you come to class?!
*Lotte World is "one of the largest indoor amusement parks in the world" (Wikipedia) that can be found at Jamsil, and is connected to Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart, and Lotte Hotel. If you haven't guessed... Lotte is a huge conglomerate that owns everything from fancy department stores to burger places to candy manufacturers.
I have no idea if they were really there, but ... I wish I had been.
Dec 8th
4 tags
I have been craving sharp cheddar like no other considering I ate it like crazy in America before I left, so I decided to check out HomePlus in Jamsil (a big shopping area two stops away).  It’s basically like Meijer… but with six floors.  I found a small thing of Kraft sharp cheddar for $6 :/ as well as some brie.  I also found some things that I haven’t seen in the dong like...
Dec 8th
2 tags
Dec 8th
1 note