Thursday, December 4, 2008

Getting Tired

Oh boy. I was beginning to think that I wouldn't get tired over here. But, now that I'm getting more comfortable, the sleepiness is beginning to creep back into my life. I have incorporated going to the gym into my daily routine and it is taking its toll on me. But this is good, right?

I have finally figured out how to use the wiz website and have access to many pictures of the kids and myself. I must say, Korean food does not agree with me! I will post a few pictures for the fam, of course, but only a few--most of them are monstrous! Hopefully having access to such revealing pictures of myself will motivate me to continue going to the gym. I'm also going to cut a lot of certain Korean foods out of my diet (or at least limit the amount of it that I eat).

In other news, yesterday morning I dropped my mascara wand into the toilet mid application. It actually happened in slow motion. But, my poor out of shape body could not save it before it met its tragic demise. I've heard that events like this must happen before a person can really undergo change. I will stick to the gym routine for the sake of future mascara wands.

Alright, here are some photos:

I swear I'm not actually as excited as I seem about Teddy Bear Match^

Actually, that's a lie. I love it!


This is the kiki class, my homeroom kiddies ^

These are some more of the little kikis. On the right is Aaron, the little boy who gave me the 'gift' ^

Monday, December 1, 2008

No Longer Scared of the Subway/ Once You Go Bidet, You Never Go Back

When I first got here, I was absolutely terrified to use the subway. Not necessarily because it's confusing--it's actually quite simple--but because I've never used any other form of public transportation than the bus. But this weekend, I used the subway three separate times (twice by myself).

On Friday night I went to visit my friend Alyssa in Gangnam. This was the first time I've seen her since I've been in Korea. I met Alyssa back at UVic through our mutual friend, Jayne. Alyssa and I get along very well. And, since she lives relatively close to me, I think we will be able to hang out a lot. Gangnam was far busier than Gangdong, where I live. There were never ending streams of people entering and exiting the subway. I've never seen that many people on a street in my entire life, I swear. Apparently that is the norm for Friday nights in downtown Seoul. It was pretty crazy. Alyssa and I went for dinner at a really nice Vietnamese place (Did I mention that I LOVE Vietnamese food). We also went to this really neat underground bookstore. I was able to pick up the best English-Korean dictionary and phrase book. Now, maybe, I will be able to pick up more of the language. My current knowledge of the Korean language consists of around there words (which I try to avoid using because people laugh at me when I do).

On Saturday night I went to Itaewon with Laura. Itaewon is the foreigner area in Seoul. We went to a Canadian bar called Rocky Mountain. I actually really liked this bar because they played the best music! It reminded me of back home. Then, on Sunday, I met up with Alyssa again in Bundang, where she lives. This area was so neat! It is a very new area in Seoul so all of the buildings were new and very commercial. But you could see that it was surrounded by mountains. It was like someone just decided to drop a bunch of huge buildings with neon signs in between a bunch of remote mountains.

The weekend was really great overall. I also found out that my toilet has a really neat perk! I noticed as soon as I moved in that my toilet had a bunch of buttons on the the side of it. It's a really nice toilet that is plugged into the wall with a button control pad on the side. I've always wondered what the buttons did but never had the nerve to test them out. So, the other night I asked Laura. It turns out that my toilet has bidet capabilities!!! There are different options for the kind of spray that you want, and you can control the temperature and length of time that you are being bum-bathed. I am hooked! Once you go bidet, you never go back!