Walk and Talk Group

• Work has been a bit isolating, so I decided to begin a “walk and talk” group. I sent out at email to all of the cool people I have met at work letting them know about it. Basically, it’s a walking group that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays before lunch to go walking in Olympic park. They get to practice speaking conversational English, and I get to feel a little less isolated at work. So far, the weather has made it difficult to meet consistently. Just when I thought it was the beginning of spring, and perfect for the group to start meeting, it decided to snow again!
• Squirrel!!!!!! Where? Lotte Mart!!! That’s right; they sell pet squirrels at the Lotte Mart!!!!! They cost around 100 dollars. Next time I will remember to take a picture, or maybe come home with another roommate / friend for Tokey Pokey!
• I am shocked by the Korean’s ability to multitask. I went to the restroom at work, and one of the girls was using the toilet, talking on her cell phone, and brushing her teeth all at the same time!!! Talk about using your break time efficiently!
• I am also shocked by the advice Korean doctors give to the Koreans. One of my friends went to a doctor for acne and said it gets worse after she works out. The doctor told her not to workout so hard, and that she shouldn’t sweat. Not, wash your face before and after you work out, not use this cream to clear it up, just avoid working out too hard.
I had another friend who hurt her shoulder and the doctor took an x-ray and gave her some medicine for it. Three weeks later and that x-ray and medicine has done nothing for the pain. Do you think the doctor recommended icing it daily, or any stretches for her to do; no, of course not. I keep telling her to ice it, like Angela would tell her to do, but since I’m not a doctor she won’t listen to me. She just keeps refilling the medicine that isn’t doing anything to help. Oh if only Angela was here to force her to use ice on her shoulder.
• Ok, this next sorry involves poop, so you can skip this story if you think it’s gross to talk about pooping. Everyday at work I get to take a break at around 3:30 so I can talk to my family on skype for 10 minutes. Before I talk to them, I take a quick trip to the restroom. And everyday, there is a girl in their taking her break too. She is in their reading a newspaper and pooping! Korean girls poop like guys!!!!! It’s so different from at home. Girls here actually poop in the public restroom, and not just during cases of extreme emergencies. The toilets at work are bidets so people actually save their poops till they come to work so they can use the bidet to clean their butts properly. I know, it’s really had to wrap my head around it too, girls just don’t poop in public like that, but apparently in Korea they do!
• I went hiking this weekend with the hiking club from work. Because it snowed the other day, the hiking club is still a skeleton crew, just 3 people went. Myself, one guy, and for the first time…. another girl! Hooray! I am amazed that every hike I go on is so different. This hike was different, not only because it offered a breathtaking panoramic view of Seoul, but the people I encountered on the tail were different as well. We passed people that had radios blaring. I have never come across this before on any other trail, but on this mountain, people don’t want to listen to the sounds of nature, or hold a conversation with the people they are with; no, they want to listen to their favorite radio programs or songs, and share them with all the other hikes on the tail. Another thing that sets this mountain apart was that near the peak, they have all this exercise equipment set up. Because hiking to the top of a mountain just isn’t enough for this old people, once you get up there you need to lift some weights, do some pull ups, and hula hoop with the world largest hula hoop.
After we finished our hike we went to Costco for some authentic Costco cheese pizza. It’s just like the Costco pizza back home! And, I got to take the left over slices home. They give you cardboard triangle boxes to put the slices in, and then I tied them all together and gave it a handle, creating a one of a kind Costco pizza purse. Man, I got some strange looks on the subway ride home. I mean, I already get looks because I’m a foreigner, but then I was also dressed for hiking, which is something that young people don’t really do here, let alone foreigners. Plus, I was toting a hiking pole in one hand, and a pizza purse in the other.

Get Out Of the Military Free Card

* Ok, I'm sorry for not writing sooner. I had to get a book produced before my deadline Friday so basically every waking moment was dedicated to getting that book written. Thanks again Melissa for trying to give me some book ideas. I had a book written by the deadline, thanks to Melissa and Shannon's help when they were here working in January. Problem was, it was too difficult. The jump from the writing patterns in the book they worked on to the level just prior to it was too great. So I had to take that book they worked on and push it to a higher level and write a whole new book for that level by myself by the same deadline! So needless to say, didn't have time to write my blog, nor was I doing anything that would be worth writing about. But this weekend was a holiday so I have today off from work and a weekend to relax so I will fill you in on my holiday weekend.
* So I now know why Nicolas Cage movies are so popular here in Korea! I had a theory that his simple speech patterns are easy to subtitle. But nope, its because he is married to a Korean woman. Thats right, Koreans like the fact that he is a big Hollywood star married to a Korean. Now, if I can only figure out why they like Keanu Reeves so much. Because if its not a Nicolas Cage movie on tv then it is a Keanu Reeves movie, or a Harry Potter movie. But I'm not going to complain about the Harry Potter movies every weekend. I'm just grateful for www.tvgorge.com so I can watch the shows I am missing at home for free, without commercials. In fact, Lucas canceled our cable at home, we don't need it now that we can get tv online. So if you are not using it yet, its worth checking out.
* Because I was so busy with book writing for the past two weeks, I haven't been going to belly dance class. I finally went to class on Wednesday to take a break from writing day and night. I showed up with a new hair cut and the ladies went crazy. Truthfully, I got the hair cut a while ago but hadn't been to class in so long that it looked new to them. The ladies were saying that because I got a stylish new hair cut I needed to take them out for shots. What? Why on earth should my new hair cut result in me buying soju shots for everyone in class? The reasoning was not translated for me, just the requirement was translated. So I still haven't a clue. Fortunately, I didn't bring my purse with me to dance class so I couldn't take the ladies out for drinks.
* So I'm sure you are all wondering about how the Korean's handled Kim Yu Na winning the gold in figure skating. I heard a cheer go up from the floor below me at work because they were watching it live. I however work with one of the presidents (sah-jang-nim means president) of the company so no watching TV during work hours, on-line banking, instant messaging, or any of the other liberties that people not working with sah-jang-nim get to take. Anyways, the Olympics gave me the opportunity to learn more about the military service requirements here in Korea. I know it sounds strange but bear with me here. All Korean men must do 2 years in the military. Usually guys do their two years of service before they go to college because they can not go abroad without doing time in the military. If you are going to be a doctor or psychologist then you can go to college first, and then do two years as a military doctor or psychologist. Now, for the interesting part that involves the Olympics, if you win a gold or silver medal in the Olympics then you do not have to do any time in the military! If you only win bronze you still have to do your military service!!!!!!! WOW! Talk about motivation to win the gold medal!!!! Koreans can use a gold or silver medal as a get out of the military free card!
* I spent this weekend with Hye Jung and her husband. They recently bought a new condo and I was going to visit it for the first time. So with a little internet research on my dad's part, we figured out what a good house-warming gift would be. Number one house-warming gift to give a Korean is................(drum roll).......... laundry detergent! And here I was going to get a small potted plant for them. Apparently you give plants for new businesses, not new homes! Silly me, thanks dad for helping me avoid that faux pas. The second highest rated housewarming gift is toilet paper, and in third place are paper towels. So now you know what to bring, just in case you ever get invited to a Korean house-warming party.
* Hye Jung, her husband, a friend of theirs and I went hiking together. That was the first time I have gone hiking with another girl here in Korea. This was not with our work's hiking club so that was the difference. At the starting point for our hike was a camp ground. I was so impressed with the campground facility. It had platforms to put your tent on!!! No sleeping on the dirty ground here!!! No sleeping on rocks or on a slope!!! Amazing!
I was remarking to Hye Jung how I couldn't believe how some of the old ladies we passed when we were hiking had full make up on. I was sweating so I couldn't imagine how they kept they eye liner from running! She told me it was permanent make up. That is why they have perfect lip stick and eye liner on after a 4 hour hike, its tattooed to their face!!!! That also explains one of the ladies in my dance class!!! Flawless makeup every day, no matter how hard you sweat! Still, I think I'll pass on that one.
Also an interesting part of our hike was watching a very special ceremony take place on one of the lower peaks of the mountain we were climbing. The ceremony was to ask for good fortune for a new business. At least that is what Hye Jung said it was for. All I know for sure is that one guy hiked up the mountain with a pig's head in a box on his back. The actual ceremony involved lighting incense and candles around the pigs head. Then they used their hiking polls to hang up a rope to attach flags to. Next, a guy said some stuff and all the other guys listened. Then I left, but I'm assuming that they drank all the bottles of soju they brought up with them and the pig's head. I heard eating the pig's cheeks is the best part.
I had a real hard time figuring out which picture to post with this blog. Should I show the tent platforms or the pig head ceremony? But strangers having a pig head ceremony won because its harder to imagine. If you would like to see more hiking pictures please check them out on my facebook.

Lunar New Year Part 2

* After going hiking with the hiking club we went out to dinner. We went to the coolest restaurant ever! It was a fancy upscale seafood restaurant. Complete with a game room / arcade to entertain the kids, and a closed screen TV showing the dining parents what their kids are up to in the game room! How smart is that! You get to leave the kids in an arcade and watch them on TV as you enjoy a meal without them! Amazing! This restaurant also provided complementary mouth wash, tooth paste, and tooth brushes in the bathroom. I was so impressed!
* Speaking of impressive restaurants, I also went to my first ever sushi restaurant featuring a conveyor belt of food. I have been out for sushi before, but not one with a conveyor belt food delivery system; I had only seen this in movies. There are different colored plates on the belt indicating the prices. Red plates are $2, blue plates $1.50, and white plates $1.00. There were always two samples on a plate so Miea, another manager on the 7th floor, and I would share each plate. I had some rather interesting dishes. Some were really good like the crab roll, and others like the seaweed with apple slices and crab eggs, well, that was just um, interesting.
* Before going to dinner, Miea and I went for facials and massages.(We did not go to the massage place with a red and blue spinning barber pole out front!) Legitimate massage shops exist and each one features a different brand of beauty products that they exclusively use. We stripped down to just our leggings and a robe and hopped into our sleeping bags on the massage tables. We got our faces scrubbed, acupressure to our scalps, and massages to our backs and arms. We also both got masks applied that felt like thick frosting on a cupcake, and while we waited 15 mins or 20 mins for the masks to take effect, we both fell asleep. Thats how relaxed I was! I have gone for facials back home, and in Palm Springs, Costa Rica, and Mexico, and never have I been relaxed enough to fall asleep!
Since people do not tip here I hope that falling asleep was a nice way of showing how much I enjoyed the treatment. I guess if people really like it they show it by buying what is known as a "10 ticket." This gives you 10 pre-paid visits. I just might get a 10 ticket next time I go. An hour and a half facial and massage only cost $30!!! And if you get a 10 ticket its discounted and around 20$ a visit! Still, thats a lot of money to pay up front, but it is just around the corner from my home and I probably will go back. We shall see, I might treat myself, it would help me deal with all the stress at work.
* The stress at work is really high right now. My first book went out to the publisher last week, and the next three need to go out to the publisher this week. And I am also building the next books in the series. Because of this, Lucas will not be able to come out and visit me this week like we had planned. Boooooo! But its ok, I've come up we a better plan! Next month we will meet in Fiji instead. That way it will be a vacation for both of us!
* I went to a Nori Bang after work this week with Hui Kung and Dasom. A Nori Bang is a private karaoke room; Nori means singing and Bang means room. We had so much fun, they sang Korean love songs and I sung songs in English. Apparently I totally rocked Nora Jones' "Don't Know Why." I also taught the girls a few belly dancing moves to some of the Korean pop songs we dance to in class.
* I went to another great restaurant with Sunny and Hye Jung. They make all their own fresh breads daily at this restaurant. When we walked inside they had a table with different breads displayed and I got really excited because I thought the black bread was pumpernickel. Nope! Not even close! The girls explained to me that its black because of when the octopus is angry. Thats right, not black from rye seeds, but black from octopus ink. They said it was good for your health. So what else can I do but order it? "Try a little something new, try a little something different." I got the black bread pizza, which was more like a really large black tortilla with melted Gorgonzola cheese and pine nuts on top. Oh, and did I mention it was served with a bowl of honey for dipping? It was amazing! The flavors were great! I would definitely order it again, I loved it! And the honey really complemented the Gorgonzola well.
The other dishes we ordered were all wonderful as well. We also shared an Alfredo sauce pasta with ya-che (vegetables)served in a sour dough bread bowl. And they served it with an extra side of Alfredo sauce for dipping the pieces of bread bowl in. MMMmmmmmmmm! The only complaint about this restaurant was that it was kinda cold inside. But they did however provide complementary blankets to snuggle with so I was warm enough.
* I have been having a problem with my contact lens irritating my eye so I have been wearing my glasses this week. The down side to this is that my glasses are an older prescription. There are better than nothing though. I told my friend at work about this and she told me just to go to any eye glasses shop and they will fix it for cheap.
I went to the eye glasses shop I had seen by my house. I took with me a box of my contacts and a photographed copy of my prescription. I set my glasses on the counter there and pointed to the lenses and then my prescription. They showed me on a chart how much it would cost, only $30 to have the lenses replaced! I told him that was fine and then he told me 10 minutes. I waited 5 mins, didn't even get half way through the magazine I was reading before he came back out with my new and improved glasses. He also ordered my contacts for me, I will get a phone call when they arrive, at least I think that is what he was trying to tell me. All I can say is Lens Crafters can learn a thing or two from these Koreans!
* This week I received a special visitor in the mail from Ms. Kapp. Her name is Stacy and she is a paper doll from Colorado and is traveling around the word via the post. It is an activity based on the children's book "Flat Stanley." One night Stanley is squished by a bulletin board that falls on him. His family decides the best way for Stanley to travel around and learn about new places is by sending him in the mail. So now I have a second grade girl's version of Stanley visiting me for two weeks. During this time she will pose for photos and participate in various Korean traditions.
* Speaking of various Korean traditions, today is the lunar New Year. So yesterday I went with Bonyun to her husband's parents' house to prepare traditional foods for the feast today. We were suppose to spend the night yesterday and I was to go with to her father-in-law's oldest brother's house for the ancestor veneration and feast but Bonyun's husband had a fever so we had to cancel those plans. Normally, all daughter-in-laws go to the parents-in-laws house to make food. Then everyone takes the foods they made to the in-law's eldest brother's house for a feast. Many woman will not get to see their own parents or family on New Years day, they are required to be with their in-law's. But things are apparently changing, and some woman can now go to their parents after they spend time at their in-laws house.
Despite Bonyun's husband being sick, she was still required to be a good daughter-in-law which means going to her parents-in-law's house to prepare food. So we went to their house and made different kinds of Jan. To make Jan we chopped up zucchinis, eggplants, sweet potatoes, and lotus root. We also had oyster, tofu, and some kind of fish Jan. We rolled the different ingredients in flour and then dipped them in egg. Then we fried the ingredients in either olive or grape seed oil. Very tasty! Though probably not the healthiest food in the world.
We also dressed up in the Hanboks we would have worn today if we were going to the feast. I got to wear Bonyun's wedding day Hanbok and we made her brother-in-law dress up too and pose in a picture with the paper Stacy doll. What a good sport! You can tell he didn't want to be in the photo! Bonyon's mother-in-law also wore a Hanbok and posed for pictures with me and the paper Stacy. Her family was so nice to me. I really appreciated that they let me join their family for a day!

Lunar New Years Part 1

* I finally got to see Sherlock Holmes! After 3 unsuccessful tries to see it in the theater, see previous posts for explanation, I got to see it on my computer. I got a downloaded copy of it from someone at work. They were passing it around on a flash drive. I was so scared that I was cursed and destined not to see this movie. As I sat down to watch it on my computer I kept repeating, "please don't crash, please don't crash." It didn't; I got to watch it all the way through without a problem. I enjoyed it, don't know if it was worth all the trouble I went though to see it, but I liked it.
* I was so surprised! I saw a Dora the Explorer sticker on someone's car. When I sound out the words underneath it, it does not say Dora the Explorer, so maybe it say a phrase like, "yes we can," or something like that. I'm just so impressed that Dora is tri-lingual! So she can speak Spanish, English, and Korean. She is a great role model for me.
* So I mentioned that Chin Kim was on that list posted at work, this means she is now officially in charge of the 6th and 7th floors of our office building. So that also means we needed to move offices, since we were living on the 8th floor. At first I was going to go to the 7th floor, because this is where the the team I manage is located. But the only desk they could find for me was up front next to Hye Jung. So I was excited at the prospect of sitting with my friend, but Chin said no. And she didn't say no for the reason I thought she did. Apparently, when people are new to the company they are seated in the front desks. Since Hye Jung is new to the company she is sitting up front. Since I am suppose to be a manager, Chin thought it was unexpectable for me to be sitting up front, although I am also new to the company. The further you are from the front, and the closer you are to the windows, the higher up you are in the company. So now I live on the 6th floor, next to a window, in the same office space as Chin Kim.
On moving day, at exactly 4pm, employees from the 5th and 6th floors showed up to help us move. They brought boxes and labels with either my or Chin Kim's name on them. They just started sticking labels on everything and taking it away. I was shocked, they had our offices moved from the 8th floor to the 6th floor is 10 minutes!!!! It reminded me of Loribeth's wedding reception where all of a sudden the dinner was over and waiters started grabbing people's plates and drinks. They could clear a party out like a fire alarm!
* Please excuse the foul language in this next paragraph (especially you Gary because I know you hate this word) but I feel it is necessary to describe exactly what I see. So apparently showing cleavage is incredibly scandalous, but its okay to wear cootchy cutter shorts. Well, if you were nylons with the cootchy cutter shorts it is completely acceptable. But if you don't wear nylons, or you show cleavage, well then your a whore. I think it comes from a history of woman here not really having much cleavage, well until recently when western diets were introduced like Cold Stone and McDonalds. So to make up for not having boobs to show off, woman here wear the most revealing shorts imaginable. So now when I see a woman wearing this style shorts I make reference to her ovaries showing.
* Bonyun's grandfather died last week. It is customary to give an envelope of money to someone when their family member passes away. Friends give $30 and managers give $50. So I thought this was a just a range in which you give money so I gave $40. Nope, Bonyun and Sunny were laughing at me because I give the amount between what people give. Silly English! But its the thought that counted and Bonyun and her family appreciated it. Plus they got a chuckle out of my faux pas.
* So I was excited to learn that there is a milk delivery service at work. Every Tuesday and Thursday is cereal day so I have to stop at the convenient story and pick up a jar of soy milk. At work they only offer cow's milk on cereal day, which I am allergic to, so I have to provide my own. But I could have had soy milk delivered to the front desk every Tuesday and Thursday, and it would have been 30 cents cheaper a bottle!
A manager from the 6th floor called the company for me and they sent a sample of their soy milk for me to try before I signed up for their service. Good thing they did because I couldn't drink it. It wasn't true soy milk, it was 70% cows milk and 30% soy milk. I was so pissed! It was just regular milk but instead of being fortified with calcium, it was fortified with soy beans!!!! So once again, I have to go to the convenient store on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get my soy milk for cereal day.
* They have a Korean Project Runway. Its actually in its second season and its just like the American program but no Heidi Klum or Tim Gunn. They have a Korean version of Heidi and Tim though. And this week they had Austin from season 1 of the American show. You remember him, he once wore his own dress he designed because his model didn't show up. Well, they had him on this show and I was so grateful because he spoke in English to all of the designers and judges so I actually understood a little of what was being said during the program.
* Melissa, we do need to be old ladies in Korea when we grow up. They get to go hiking every day and bully people around. They get to cut people off in line, and they get to ride the subway for free! This is definitely the place to be when we are elderly!
* I went hiking with the hiking club from work. Once again, I was the only female hiker, my companions were the same two from last time, plus one of the guys I manage from the 7th floor. We hiked the highest mountain near Seoul, 836 meters. It took 4 hours and we had to use crampons (ice cleats) to climb down the mountain because it was so icy. There were frozen waterfall everywhere. In fact, when I stopped to take a picture of one of these beautiful sites I was able to save 2 peoples lives! The first one was a woman walking up the water fall without crampons. She started to slip and I grabbed her and walked her across the ice to the other side. If I didn't she would have slid and fell off the cliff.
I went back to try to take the picture again and a guy coming down the mountain without crampons actually slid off the cliff! He was able to grab on to the metal rope railing and was holding on for dear life. I dropped my backpack and went over to the guy and basically bear hugged him back over the cliff to safety. The guys from my hiking club were so impress with me. They had already passed the waterfall and were waiting for me to finish taking a picture, so they got to watch the whole show. The guy I had saved was either too shook up about almost dieing, or was too embarrassed about being rescued by a girl, that he didn't even say thank you to me; he just ran off. That's okay, I did my good dead for the day and felt really proud of myself.

The David Blaine of Avocados

* I signed up for an on-line Korean class. The class consists of 12 videos for the price or 27,000 won / $25 and half of the tuition money goes to Haiti earthquake relief. Since the money is going towards a good cause I thought I would try it out. So far so good, I completed the first class, and will probably do another class tonight. The teacher is Canadian and has been living in Korea for 6 years. He learned the language and knows exactly what challenges an English only speaker faces. Its pretty good. The videos are of him teaching westerners in a classroom. I can e-mail him questions but basically I am free to go at my own pace, there are no assignments or grades.
* Speaking of grades, on Friday at work everyone was gathered around the bulletin boards looking at lists of peoples names. I visited the floors 8-6 and it was the same scene on each floor. Apparently, these were the lists of everyone in the company who received a promotion. It reminded me of going to school back before teachers began posting grades on-line..... One-pon time, when the man in the moon was just a little boy, and ducks walked with webbed feet, much as they do today, teachers use to post your grade publicly. They would use the last four digits of your social security number and then put your grades up out side of the classroom. Well seeing everyone crowded around the lists at work gossiping about who got promoted and who didn't reminded me of this. But in this situation, your full name is posted, along with your new title; no attempt at privacy at all!
* Today I went to Costco with Chin. (Coincidentally, Chin's name is on the promotion list.) I bought all the western treats I have been missing. I got a huge box of Ritz crackers, a thing of frozen hash browns, Parmesan shake cheese, spinach and cheese raviolis, feta cheese, and a big bag of avocados! Total comfort foods that remind me of home! I also bought a box of those tinny paper towels that you just add water and they grow like a marshmallow in a camp fire (Shereen and Henry know what I mean, P.S. congrats again on the baby!)Way better than carrying a big pack of baby wipes, I always have water with me anyways so its perfect!
* On Thursday I came in to work and there was a ripe avocado on my desk! It was the first avocado I've had since I moved out here! And no Allie, it was not the avocado fairy, though I do believe they exist, it was actually Chin. She had gotten them at Costco last week. Since it was ripe I had to take it home to eat, I couldn't leave it another day; it would have gone bad. But, after work I was meeting Hui Kung and Sayheung to see the movie Abata - Avatar so I put the avocado in my coat pocket; I didn't want it getting all smashed up in my purse. Sayheung pre-ordered us sandwiches from Cafe Comeon(Melissa's favorite place for pumpkin lattes)and Hui Kung and I went to pick them up. I realized that if I cut up the avocado we could all put pieces of it on our sandwiches. So I showed the avocado to Hui Kung and told her my idea and she was really excited, she had never even seen one before! In fact, ah-ba-ka-doe was her new English word for the day.
I asked the girls working at the cafe if they could cut the avocado for me. They took it to the sink and washed it first, not a good sign, and then tried to cut it in the middle. I thought oh crap, they don't know how to cut the avocado. They too had never seen an avocado before. So I motioned to them to cut the avocado around the side but they were trying to cut through the seed. I asked them to hand it over to me so I could show them how a girl from California would cut an avocado.
I twisted the top half of it reveling the seed inside. All three girls made a gasp, they were surprised by the size of the seed. Then I held the half with the seed in it in the palm of my hand and hit the seed with the knife. Next, I gave a little twist and the seed popped out still attached to the knife. You would have thought I was David Blaine performing street magic! The girls were amazed by my avocado cutting skills! Next, I showed them how to hit the knife on the trashcan so the seed would pop off, another round of gasps. Lastly, I cut the avocado around the shell, made long vertical cuts, and then squeezed the shell so that the piece I cut fanned out, cheers and clapping ensued. I am officially the David Blaine of avocados!
* So I was warned early on not to ever sit in the front seat of a cab. Driving a cab is one of the few jobs available to people with criminal records, so I figured this was a precautionary measure. I have heard stories about women who sit in the front of cabs are just asking a driver to make sexual advances. So, I never sit up front. Well when Hui Kung and I came out of the cafe with our sandwiches Sayheung was waiting in his car. I told Hui Kung that she could ride shot gun. She said "No, I will sit in the back with you." I thought this was really strange, I mean, Sayheung is driving us to the movies but he is not a cab driver! It seemed rude to me. But then Hui Kung said that she didn't want to sit up front because then she would be his girlfriend. I was so surprised! I guess the passenger seat is reserved for the significant other and even if that person is not there, you don't take their seat. No wonder you don't ever sit up front with a cab driver!
* Tokey Pokey is no longer a free-range rabbit. He got in trouble when I came home one day to find shreds of wall paper on the floor. That's right, he decided to start ripping off the wall paper. I was so freaked out! I thought I was going to get in trouble because of what he did! But then I looked at the pieces of wall paper and found that there was mold all over the wall behind the wall paper!!! It was in the kitchen, not near a wet area so I am really worried that there is mold behind the wall paper everywhere in my house! No wonder there is even wall paper on the ceiling!
So I told some people at work, and brought in a sample that Tokey Pokey had taken down, so there would be no misunderstanding what I was talking about. (I put the sample in one of the princess baggys you gave me Sophia.) Hopefully they will be able to find me a new place to live. So maybe Tokey Pokey was helping me after all; but he certainly wasn't helping when he jumped up on the shelf and ate 3 library books!!!! Like I said, no more free-range rabbit! He now lives in a large gated community out in the laundry room.

Melissa is gone, booooooo!

* They have these hand towels that are perfect for traveling! Just add water and they unravel from dinner mint size to a washcloth. I love them, I grabbed a whole handful before I left the restaurant.
* Melissa got the best hat ever! It came free with a purchase of 20,000won at the bakery. Anyone who knows Melissa knows that she can spend 20,000 won at a bakery no problem! It was amazing, we ate nothing but donuts, cupcakes, and muffins and we both managed to lose weight over the 3 weeks she was here! Anyways, the hat was a wolf in sheep's clothing! Its reversible, but makes the most sense to have the sheep on the outside and the wolf underneath. I hope it is large enough for her to wear over her snowboarding helmet.
* Speaking of snowboarding helmets, Melissa, Hye Jung, Hye Jung's husband, and I all went snowboarding together. Hye Jung won a weekend at the company's resort condo. It was beautiful! The view looked out directly over the ski slopes. It also had a jacuzzi tub and full kitchen. Melissa and I got to sleep in the traditional Korean bed rolls on the floor. It was so much more comfortable then I thought it would be. I sleep on my sides so I thought it might pose a problem but I slept soundly through the night.
Staying at the condo also allowed us discounted prices on lift tickets and gear. The lift tickets are really neat, they don't attach to the outside of your jacket like the ones back home. They are basically like plastic hotel keys and you step though an automated turn style which opens for you if the key is in your pocket. Anyways, we were able to get the lift tickets and rent all the gear for a really great price, although they did not rent helmets. Which really isn't a problem for me as long as I do the falling leaf thing all the way down the mountain. Which I did for a while but then realized that since I hadn't fallen once I was ready for the next step which is making 's' lines down the mountain. And since I had my original snowboarding instructor with me, Melissa, I though this would be a good opportunity for me to take the next step. Big mistake. I fell a bunch, but one fall in particular took me out of commission. I fell backwards and hit my head really hard. I should have known better than to try something new without a helmet. Sure taught me as I completed the walk of shame down the mountain.
* Melissa was not the only person Chin brought over to work for three weeks. She also brought two other guys, Shannon and Reed. Although Reed only stayed for one week, Shannon was living with Melissa at the abandoned apartment where I threw the Thanksgiving party. Shannon worked in the office with us doing the same writing projects that I have been working on for the past 4 months. Although Shannon was trying hard, his computer was really old and slow. So we would joke that he e-mailed files by carrier pigeon because it would take so long to get. So one day I printed out a life size photo of a pigeon and gave it to Melissa to cut out and attach a scroll to its leg. Melissa snuck into the office when he went to the bathroom and attached the pigeon to his window. Shannon didn't notice the pigeon was there for 3 hours! And then when he did notice it he though it was real and questioned why it wasn't moving. Melissa and I were dieing!!! I hope Shannon took his pigeon home with him as a reminder of how much fun it is to work with Melissa and me.
* I bought the best humidifier ever! Its a large frog and steam comes out of its eyes!!! Winters are very dry here so having a humidifier for the house is essential, but having it be a hypno-toad is a bonus! It was on sale for 12,000 won so I just couldn't say no!
* Before Melissa left we went with Bonyun to a place where you can dress up in traditional Korean clothes and take pictures. We had to pay 10,000 won to do it but that's ok, we had fun wearing the headdresses and outfits. The photographer allowed Bonyun to take pictures of us with her own camera and her pictures turned out way better than the photographers! I was really surprised but Bonyun was not. She said that "only someone who loves you can take a good picture of you." That seems so very true! Tempest you must love me a lot! Anyways, as soon as Bonyun sends those pictures to me I will share them. Hey Melissa, did you take both copies of the photo? If you did then just give it to Lucas or my folks with the rest of the x-mass gifts. Thanks lady!

The Island

* Hye Jung, Melissa, and I went to the island of magic and fairy tales! This is the island where they film a lot of Korean dramas. It was beautiful; we had to take a boat through icy filled waters while it was snowing big fluffy chunks! There were fire rings all around the island where we could stop and warm up our hands. There were also ostriches all around the island! They were just roaming free, pecking at people as they pleased. This was such a beautiful place that is wasn't hard to understand why we saw two different couples taking their wedding photos these. Although it was extremely hard to understand how the woman were surviving the photo shoots wearing strapless wedding gowns, berrrrrrrr!
* We took such great photos on the island that I wanted to email them to everyone! I sent them to Lucas, Angela, and my parents. Although when I sent them to my parents something went horribly wrong. I asked my parents what they thought of the photos and they said some of them were nice but others were riskee. I was totally perplexed! Their was one photo where I was sticking my tongue out trying to get it stuck to the ice but that's as riskee as it gets! So I called them on skype for further explanation. Turns out a virus attached itself to my photos so every time they tried to scroll back and forth between my photos it would show them porn. I was absolutely mortified!
* Melissa got to go with me to belly dance class! Hooray! Someone to share in the shame and embarrassment! I even let her wear my pink genie pants, and my teacher provided her with a beaded bra so she would fit in just fine. After class the teacher invited us out for drinks, food, and further uncomfortable moments. She took us to a restaurant down the street from class that serves mokoli, a tasty Korean rice wine. We were the only woman in the place; it was full of men smoking and drinking soju (Korean vodka). I ruined Melissa's reputation by taking her to this place, and also ruined her chances of marrying an upstanding Korean man (never mind that she is already married to Ray). At this seedy place the teacher ordered food for us. She knew that I didn't eat meat, but she wanted to know if sea food was ok to put in our pancake. I told her I was allergic to shrimp so I needed to be careful what they put in my food. Since she didn't know the English name for the sea creature in question she asked our server to bring a bowl of them to our table. It was some kind or bivalve, maybe a sea squirt or something so I said yes, if those creatures were cooked in the pancake then I could still eat the pancake safely without dieing. She said good, ordered the pancake, and then proceeded to make me eat the sea creature raw from the bowl. She ate if first, showing me that it wasn't a trick she was playing on me. I was so grossed out!!! I was trying so hard not to vomit while I ate it. Remember, it had been 7 years that I went without eating seafood. I only started eating it again because I was afraid I would starve to death in Korea if I didn't. Imagine how difficult it is for me to eat these creatures after so long, and then having to eat them raw! Also imagine how pissed I was when Melissa pointed out that there were two left in the bowl and that we should each eat one!