national museum of contemporary art

this past wednesday, my friend nami and i went to the national museum of contemporary art. we had a blast looking at beautiful contemporary korean prints, parts of the permanent collection and having a ball at the "jump, jump!" interactive exhibit for children--the only place where we could take photographs.

happy time indeed! in the form of a disposable water cup.

nami and me, smiles!


furry puzzle pieces:






seriously emo:

combos in effect

i have always been a fan of combination words. for example, fantabulous and deluscious. you can imagine my delight when my "happy maker" student, won joon, created a combo word spontaneously in class. i had to explain the meaning of compromise to my students and i created a situation where my brother wanted to eat vanilla ice cream but i wanted chocolate. so our compromise, was to have one scoop of both: chocolate and vanilla. won joon held up his hand and said, "teacher! cho-nilla!" what a hoot!

january

the school system in korea is wicked overwhelming for children. where do they have time to be KIDS, i wonder? while the month of january is supposed to be a "break," (i.e. vacation from regular school) it's actually a busier time for students. (my students have actually told me that they want regular school to begin again!) they enroll in even more academy (specialized) classes. i'm now teaching one more additional class where i get to read and discuss the book, the eye, the ear and the arm with my two students, jane and sally. we meet three times a week, tuesday, thursday and saturday mornings from 9:30-12:30. it's a bit tiring to get up so early, but, i don't so much mind it and shoot! i better get used to it...

this month of teaching extra classes is called intensives. while i'm working only 6 additional hours to my work week, others have added as much as 18! however, the hard work will certainly pay off in february when the paycheck enters the bank, as we are paid by the hour. speaking of getting p-p-p-paid! my bank account will be replenished today and i'm looking forward to treating myself to a few goodies: 1) korean classes 2) a new canon camera (oh my, oh my! i'm so excited!!!) 3) clothes.

i've been thinking about my korean class options and i've decided i'm going to go all out. be bold, right? be bad. be a rockstar. i might suffer from a bit (or a lot!) of fatigue, but, it's one of those things that just has to be done. so, for february, i'm enrolling in a class at the korean language academy. i'll be in class from 10-12, but it takes about an hour to commute there...2 hours roundtrip. (meh.) starting in march and going til may, i'll be enrolled in an intensive course that meets m-f, 9-1. since the commute will be 45 minutes, i'll be leaving my house at 8am. and after class, heading straight to work. (double meh...) oh snap! but after 10 weeks of intense classwork and homework, i hope to have the confidence to bust out stories and jokes in korean. fo'sho!

i'm finally, finally (finally!!!) just about over my sickness. i'm still coughing a little bit, but, i'm feeling and sounding sooooo much better than before. i'm telling you, those herbal drugs hit the mothereffin spot.

no. 707

i love my apt. (and it's dorky of me to admit it, but sometimes, i even greet my home. "hellooooo house!" i say!) it's cozy, it's inviting, it's clean--most of the time!, it's spacious, it's quality. it's my space to be anything and everything in. i breathe in calmness when i do yoga, i cry out my sadness and insecurities, i cook my eggs over easy and butter my toast, while rocking out to my music, sometimes repeating one song over and over to exhaustion. i prep. i study. i read. i knit. i dream. i think about what i want to do be doing more of. i putz around. and finally, i take photos! please come on in! you are all invited!

hello house!

from the living room to the door:

my bumblebee toothbrush holder:

my bedroom, mini-foyer:

from where i sit while on the computer:

the shower:

monkey tries his hand at knitting:

postal love

i feel incredible! i cannot believe my sweet fortune! last week, my girrrrl, heidi, surprised me with a fabulous package of goodies! i gasped when i saw the size of the package and tore it open in seconds! i was wowed by her generosity, thoughtfulness, and loooooove! she gave me a stove top espresso maker, (the momma jomma, no joke! 6 cups!) a gold plated photo album that says, "my bitches," semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 (two!!!) bags of brownie mix, and a diy set of nesting russian dolls that i can decorate however i wish. heidi, thank you, thank you bunches and bunches!!!!!


just last night, my friend amber (she and i live in the same building, same floor!) and i walked home from dinner out with the co-workers and as we were passing the mailboxes, i glanced at mine, #707 and realized that it was full! WHAT?!?! i grabbed the letters and squealed with delight and giggled like a school girl in a candy shop! i think i may have even skipped in place, did a little dance of happiness! i received 7 letters, 6 from friends (5 from the states, 1 from austrailia!), and 1 in the form of korean junk mail, from my cell, aka, handphone provider, sk. i rushed home and greedily devoured the written words of holiday celebrations and new year wishes! thank you to angie, amber, andrew, beth, brenda and jana and heidi for thinking of me, for making me feel special, for making me smile and shoot! for being SUCH good friends! there will be mail coming back your way for sure, keep your eyes open!

cultural notes

since i've been sick recently, i've been snots mcsnotterson, aka, can't stop won't stop blowing my nose. last night, during one of my classes, my students rebelled in disgust. apparently, in korea, if you have to blow your nose, you should excuse yourself, go to the washroom and blow your nose (i say as loudly as you want!) in "private." i definitely sit in please-blow-your-nose-so-you-don't-have-to-sniff-sniff-all-day camp--i find the sniffles ten times more annoying a 30 second somewhat noisy nose blow. so then, being a wiseass, i asked my students, what do you do if your nose keeps running? do you excuse yourself every 3-4-5 minutes? my students laughed at me and said, 1) stuff tissues up your nose or 2) say you have a bloody nose and stay in the bathroom for a while. wha?!?!

the next time i had to blow my nose, i followed the cultural norm and stepped in the hallway. (i'd never leave my kids unsupervised! shoot! all hell would break loose!) and even when i was being sincere, my kids still laughed at me. it's actually quite endearing. i'd rather have them be laughing than be stone silent. won joon, mr. funny "happy maker" man, told me that i was funny! another student, jane, agreed and asked me if i want to be a comedian. hmm, maybe they're onto something...

language exchange

say kimchi!

monkeying around!

too cute!

steamed chicken with potatoes, rice noodles and peppers:

mmmm, mmmm, hot chocolate!

at work, there are korean staff members who administer the smooth operations of an english language academy. while most of the staff are friendly, i've made a particular connection with two girls named laura and chelsea. they are young, bright, easy to laugh with and fantastic language exchange buddies. this past sunday, amber and i met up with chelsea and laura for eats and hot chocolate afterwards. we smiled and giggled as we practiced our korean and english skills. we had a howling good time when i asked them for korean phrases shared between couples! i may be vulgar at times, but, no worries, these are pg-13 phrases only. very cute and sweet.