Va-

gina.


That's right, vagina. I just signed up to do the Vagina Monologues here in Jinju. I was honestly surprised when my friend Jess asked me if I would want to do it. If you don't know what it is let me tell you a little story, in 1996 a lady named Eve Ensler wrote the monologues which became a play to support women's anti-violence groups. They raise money.. obviously all over the world between February 1st and April 30th to celebrate V-day!


JMU held the VMs every year I went there, but I was always working or something and couldn't go. NOW, I have the chance to be in it and act/read a script from the monologue. Especially after living in Korea (even if only for a couple of weeks now) I realize more than ever, that women still need to support each other to gain equality. I still cannot believe how I have felt around my boss and co-workers, it is like you can just feel when someone doubts women. And it is really sad. I've heard things like 'American women are SO difficult to be with, they always have to wear the pants and you have to do what they want to do'.. if that doesn't sound selfish and idiotic, I don't know what does. I think some of the older people that teach ESL around here are out to find easy vaginas that they don't have to work as hard for as in America. I know that is pretty blunt, but not sure how else to say it without eluding the point.

My boss, who was trying to be nice.. and I realize that.. came up to me the other day because he wants us to get to know each other better. He said that he has plenty of opportunities to get to know the TWO other ESL teachers (American MALES, in their mid to late 30s.. yes there are 3 teachers total at my Hagwon) because they play sports together (which yes, I believe because I own a vagina, I have not been invited, therefore I have not been able to decline due to my lack of coordination). And he said, "we wouldn't be able to do things together, because it would be like a date" "SO.. I've been thinking, and I think the only way that we can get to know each other is at church, I know you have your own church and thats ok with me, but the children's service is at 9AM.. do you like to sing"... and PLEASE, please tell me how I can get to know someone at church.. in a service?! It was just hard for me to wrap my hands around. I was very polite, and said I would try to be there at NINE AM on Sunday, but no promises for commitment, I just don't understand the whole concept of men and women here at all. I am very happy that I have been able to experience a new culture, and I am soaking it all in, but I think being a part of the VMS will help me be more confident! My boss is not a bad guy at all, and he lived in America for 4 years, I think it is just the culture here in Korea.

It makes me feel all angry inside, and I really don't like that. I am lacking a peace with equality, and I am normally not feministic or anything of the sort. I have loved Korea so far, and I can't wait to see all of the cool opportunities I will have, but there are just some things that need to be left in the 1920's.

I'm done with my rant. Period (for lack of better words :) )

E-Mart-a

I decided that after 2 1/2 weeks, it was time to go grocery shopping! I ventured to E-Mart-a (<- Konglish) .. it is really E-Mart .. which is about a 15 minute bus ride. It is HUGE. The main floor is all clothing and shoes, the second floor is all homegoods, and the bottom floor is all groceries. I found the wine section, the only one that I had recognized was a J.W. Morris white wine... I'm trying to figure out where I have bought that before. Originally, I thought I had bought it at Trader Joe's, but maybe not? That would be totally random if they had that at a store in Jinju, South Korea! Anyways, I bought bread, peanut butter, jelly, more bread (I've missed it :), some ground pork (I think beef is pretty rare here), no cheese (for the first time in my life! I'm really going to miss it!), fish, and lettuce! I would have bought more, but I had to take a bus and I'm running out of Korean won (I haven't exchanged all of my American yet).

Nothing too intensely odd happened at the store. Although, I'm sure it did, I'm starting to turn a blind eye to things! The seafood area was out of this world though, its very weird for me to see squid in a grocery store still. I mean I absolutely love it, but these people adore it! At the Kindergarten, I ate lunch yesterday there, and they served a squid soup.. even to the little kids! I was pretty amazed, it was a broth with cut up pieces of squid. I miss it being deep fried though :( Thats the best, and not really done here. Can you even imagine feeding squid to 4 year olds in America!? it just doesn't really happen!

The main thing I thought was A-WESOME were the escalators. They're flat, so that the carts can go uuup and dooown... pretty nifty!

Then I Saw Will Ferrell...

... as Jesus. He said "It is time [to go to the hospital]".

On Monday night, as we were driving home from Tongyeong (yes, where I ate the raw oyster from the sea) I began to feel extremely tired, achey and my throat was beginning to hurt. I knew these were not signs of anything good to come. As soon as I got out of the car to walk to my apartment, I could feel that I might possibly have a fever. And that might possibly feeling.. was right! It started off pretty low grade, but miserable. I called Mista Lee to warn him, and he said we could go to the doctor in the morning. I woke up the next morning to a 102 and got it down before I had to leave to go to the doctor and school. By this time on Tuesday, my throat hadn't totally given out on me, but how soon would it ever! The Doctor, who is supposed to be good and the mother of a student from the school, sucked! To say the least. It took all of two minutes for her to take my temperature, look at my throat and say 'tonsilitis'. I was dumbfounded, you aren't going to listen to my lungs, take my blood pressure, heartrate, height, weight?! Whatever, she gave me about 4 pills to take 3 times a day. So I prayed it would get better!

Tuesday night, fever again and this time of 103.6, this actually happened directly after my last class of the night. I knew I needed to eat a decent meal, so I got take-out from my normal restaurant, and was SO miserable I sat in the corner and balled my eyes out! I had a huge scarf and hat on, so I don't think anyone noticed. But it was just painful to sit up let alone function! Of course, I freaked out. I don't normally get fevers, and I wasn't too sure about what to do. My director says that he thinks fevers are good for you, and I'm thinking not if it kills my brain cells!! I don't have very many to spare!!

On Wednesday, I felt 80% better, I was like 'phew, i'm gonna get through this!!' ... BUT then I woke up at 5AM with a 102.6 and I decided it was time for me to go to the hospital. I called Mista Lee's cell phone, it was turned off. I called his house phone, and his wife told me he was at church. CHURCH?! At 5AM, you aren't Catholic! I was flipping out at this point, miserable, not having a clue what was wrong with me. I called my parents while I waited for him to call me back, and flipped out at them because I was trying to get them to ask any doctor we know what they THINK could be wrong with me, so at least I have somewhere to start off with, with these Korean 'doctors'.

Anyways, Emergency Room, worst time of my life. I got there and had a high temperature. They gave me a shot in my butt, I still have no clue to this day what it was. They took this super long swab, and shoved down my nose to swab my throat.. the worst thing I've ever felt. And then they hooked me up to an IV. Still, never checking my lungs, nothing. They wound up giving me SIX pills to take THREE times a day, plus TamiFlu twice a day.



No fever last night, but this is still SO miserable! I haven't been blogging/facebooking/Skyping very much because I have literally been sleeping allll day long! I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support, their helping!

This video is just a snippit of what Tongyeong is all about. This place was breath taking! Sorry it moves around so fast, I wanted to make sure it was short so the video would load this time!! We took a cable car to the top of the mountain, and then climbed up about 15 minutes further. It was gorgeous! It was the battle site of The Great Battle of Hansan between Japan and Korea. I was amazed! For more pictures, visit my facebook!

You Could Call it Being a Social Butterfly...

... but I like to call it a Communications Graduate!

I have met SO many more people than I would have assumed I would being here for a week and three days! Jinju is a LOT smaller than the capitol of Korea, Seoul. I have never seen a foreigner in my area walking down the street, yet I have managed to hang out with around 15 people on 4 seperate occasions. So far, I am enjoying my company. I have been hanging out with a lot of Englishmen, New Zealanders, Americans, Scottish, and Koreans! It is A LOT of guys here too, I think each time the group went out there were make 4 foreign girls at a time? I'm not going to lie, it is nice! And it has been a lot of laughs, I love it! I knew I would meet weird people like me who would move to a foreign country for a year+ and love it! I feel so at ease here. Good times!

Last night was New Years Eve for many Asian countries, I had a good time. Met a couple more people and laughed a lot. I.. and everyone I have met, have come to realize that I am the youngest foreigner teaching ESL in Jinju. Maybe there is another one out there? But so far, everyone has been at least 23, and I am the lovely age of 21! And there I was feeling OLD about being a college graduate, and now I feel young again! OH youthfulness!

Talk about youthfulness, Koreans, women especially, age SO well. It is absolutely dumbfounding how gorgeously young these women look for their age! I love it, I'll drink what they're drinking!

I went to church this morning (a different one from the last time) and I enjoyed it a lot. The pastor is absolutely awesome, loved his sermon. And the people were fabulous! I met a couple of foreigners, and the Koreans were great, they didn't hover over me this time and make me feel uncomfortable. Another crazy thing is that, an older Korean man named Kevin (his English name) introduced himself and found out I was from Virginia. And he was a graduate from Virginia Tech, which is about an hours drive from my house!! Crazy huh?! I never knew Roanoke could be so well known, most people have never even heard of it back in the states! The picture below is of the Pastor, Brandon and I ( he is the pastor talked about in the 'what a ca-winky-dink' post! )













Tomorrow morning I will be heading out at 9AM to visit a coastal area called Kon Yong. It is supposed to be beautiful, and we'll take a cable car that will take us somewhere, and if the weather is nice we should be able to see a lot of islands! Yippee! Although it will still be cold :(

Jinju is becoming more and more like home to me. I am extremely happy with the direction my life is headed and can't wait for the ride I have just begun!

Proof....

Here is proof I am over jetlag:

6:00pmMitchell
Do you not sleep?

6:00pmPaula
I live in Korea, it's 6PM here.

6:00pmMitchell
lol i see you on all the time at like the oddest hours in the morning

6:01pmPaula
thanks for the curiosity

6:01pmMitchell
oh well thanks for the explination
haha




Haaaaleluia!

Happy New Years Eve, I'm going out to celebrate tonight! Toot Toot!

What I've Learned About Korea in 1 Week

As of 1:30AM this morning I have been living in Korea for officially a week! Crazy huh?

What I've Learned About Korea in 1 Week:
1.) KOREANS HAVE AN ISSUE WITH SPACE. They live ontop of one another in apartments. They hover over you in church. They stand an inch away from you on the sidewalk. Yet, they do not like public displays of affection.

2.) KOREAN CULTURE IS BIPOLAR. Koreans are either super strict about culture by always taking their shoes off and following conditions based on past beliefs, so you would think they would be super caring people. THEN, you become a pedestrian, pedestrians have absolutely no say and no rights in Korea. I can't tell you how many times I thought I could have gotten ran over by that car/bus, or even the moped that was driving on the sidewalk!!

3.) KOREANS HAVE MOUTHS OF STEEL. I have now eaten about 4 hardcore traditional Korean meals with fellow Koreans, and I have been to other Korean restaurants by myself/with foreigners and noticed that Koreans hardly ever drink when they eat! I have yet to see one have even a cup of water for them if something gets too spicy. And then there is me having to refill the tiny tiny little cups they give you for water and refilling them over and over and over. Then at the end of the meal they are like, tea or coffee?! And I'm thinking, it is a little late for that don't ya think?!

4.) BUS DRIVERS WANT YOU TO DIE. They have no clue how to drive. You get on the bus, and after you pay your 1,000 won you are basically immediately hurled towards the back of the bus because they just LOVE the gas pedal. AND then they slam on the breaks anytime they need to stop. I pray I don't fall flat on my back, because I can hardcore see that happening. Crazy asian drivers!

5.) ASIANS CAN HAVE ATTITUDES. I taught my mini asians today the word fierce (because it was in their book, but it didn't really explain what it meant). I told them that it was basically an extreme, and since it was a class of 6 girls and one boy. I taught them some Tyra Banks sass, because she always says FIERCE super sassy and and snaps her finger while doing the head bob. I did it a couple of times for them before they actually let loose and did it. And it was HILARIOUS!

6.) BATHING NAKED IS A-OK HERE. I learned this while showering with grandmas and moms and my directors wife. You would think it would be awkward, but the bath houses were wicked relaxing!

7.) KOREANS LOVE PENISES. They consider statues of them to be good for fertility. I have seen plenty of pictures of random giant penises people have seen during various journeys in Korea. PLUS I saw my first one that had to be about 2 1/2 stories tall, that was all lit up with different colored lights in the MIDDLE of a highway on the way to Seoul from the airport the night I arrived! I can't wait to explore Korea, it will be like where's waldo.. except.. well, you know!

8.) KOREANS CARE A LOT ABOUT HOW THINGS ARE WRAPPED. No pun intended with number 8. But they care so much, that not only gifts are immaculately wrapped, but so is take-out. And this was after we had eaten most of it.. the box has three pieces of pizza in it and the bag has two pieces that they wrapped in alluminum and put in a cute gift bag. P.S. Korea obviously loves women, you see 'love for women' everywhere!!

9.) I AM SO VERY IN LOVE WITH THIS CITY! This is going to be a great year!

Chum-Chummy-Tummy..Tum-Hum-Chubby-Chubby

Chum-Chummy-Tummy..Tum-Hum-Chubby-Chubby:
I normally LOVE listening to Koreans speak. However when on the bus and hearing a voice recording over the intercom, ALL I can think of are TellyTubbies, and then I get the voice in my head all day long. It in no way sounds like Korean, and I cannot wait to get a translation for what this TellyTubby Korean is saying!! Even right now, I have the voice stuck in my head and it is replaying over and over and over!



Today, I walked into Kinder (it is a seperate school from my Hagwon, Oxford, and is for kids 4-7, I teach them English by year and they are super smart!) and went to the kitchen to get a cup of tea. The cute little lady that slapped me on the butt the day before, handed me this mini little appetizer fork and opened a cardboard box... that was filled with the things in the picture. They looked like giant versions of Gushers, BUT when piercing it with a fork, I could tell it was super gushy-ish soft, and it was kind of wet on the outside. Well, the lady doesn't speak English and was just motioning me to eat one... SO of course I didn't want to break her poor littl ole heart, and I popped one in my mouth..what was running through my mind was 'pleeeease please don't make me do this :(' BUT of course crap squirted out of it. I must have had a petrified look on my face because it took everything I had to finish eating that sucker and swallow it. I find out later from Michelle that it is a rice cake, which is very popular in Korea and it comes in many different forms. I realized I had had it at a traditional Korean restaurant, but in a different style.. a much better style. I mean Holy Cow, even the memories are giving me goose bumps! They look completely innocent, but they ARE NOT! Beware



My teaching skills are apparently better than I had thought. My director told me he thinks I was born to be a teacher! And I told him, my mom has always said that. He said he can just tell by my personality that I love the kids (even the bratty hellians)! I swear I put together a million valentine cards today for the kids, I'm going to give it to them next week along with some Sweethearts I brought here from the states. His comments made me happy and more confident! I definitely feel like I am doing the right thing here, this was definitely a logical next step to my life. I am unsure of what the next step is, but if I keep an open mind there is a world of possibilities! Literally. I have been so happy here so far, and cannot imagine being seriously sad and upset with my decision. There are so many places to go and people to meet (from all around the world), I couldn't have asked for more! Mista Lee is also amazing, it could have been a hit or miss, but I definitely made a home run with him on my team!!




P.S. I ate this crazy fruit today... look at the picture, if anyone knows what it is. I would love to know what I shoved in my face! :)

WHAT A Ca-Winky-Dink!?!

Coincidence #1: The Director of my school, Mista Lee, went to Ferrum College which is 1 1/2 hours away from where I live in Roanoke, VA!! I didn't even believe him, and he said 'Roanoke, STAR!'... my jaw about dropped to the ground. Well, he had kept asking me about what city I was from, and we would get on another subject. I couldn't figure out why he would even ask, because it is Virginia not California! Anyways, I finally said from.. Roanoke? With a questioned voice, because most people have no clue what I am talking about. He went there when I was about 14 years old :) This still surprises the heck out of me, not only because I am in South Korea and came from a small city in Virginia.. but because FERRUM?! Who goes to Ferrum college?! WHO? It is so tiny, I have no clue how that happened!


Coincidence #2: I get a message from my cousin who lives in Ohio, but was a youth pastor at a Korean Church in Chicago for a while about a girl named Jamie. His email was like a page long! Well, turns out Jamie had seen a post I had written on a Jinju group on Facebook about how I was looking for things to do around Jinju because I am so new here. AND she looked at my profile, and saw we had a mutual friend.. James Ferguson.. MY COUSIN!!! Ironic?! Ironic! Anyways, turns out that her and her husband moved to Jinju after taking my cousin's position at the Korean Church (and he and his wife moved back to Ohio) in Chicago. The pastor loved the new youth pastor and his wife (Jamie) so much, that when he decided to move back to Korea to be a pastor, he invited them along. BUT not to any old place in Korea, JINJU! MY NEW HOME FOR A YEAR!!! OK, so I met them out to dinner last night along with about 6 other foreigners (Americans/New Zealander) and it was just too funny to be true! Anyways, they are absolute sweethearts. And I'm super happy I met them! CRAZY WORLD!



OK, well that is about all of the coincidences, so I will continue the story from the Dinner. I saw a couple of recognized faces, two I had seen at the church I went to (they don't like the church either), one I had seen from Zio Riccos the Italian (ironic!) restaurant, and then two other guys named John, and... ALAS, the New Zealand boy named PAUL that someone told me I should meet. <3 let me tell you. Anyways, enough about my crush.. honestly, his voice makes me melt!.. yea, ok I'll stop! We ate at a burger place called 'Kraze Burger', it was good, overpriced because it is 'american' style food, and I was thinking 'what is this NEW YORK!'?! Anyways, food good, conversation great, people awesome. Well, five of us decided to go to Bar West, a bar that is actually super close to my apartment.. which sadly enough isn't really in the mega exciting area of the city! We went there, and I started talking to a table of three guys.. 2 from England and 1 from Texas (which is basically its own country)! We had awesome conversation, the Englishmen definitely have the same crude humor as I, so we were just merry ole chaps and had a good time. I pushed the line on Korean beer, and went home at about 11:30PM (I walked actually, the city is super safe). Lets just say my stomach ulcer hates me, I can't wait to have health insurance in 2 weeks. Yea, not a good idea. I payed for it today, leeet me tell ya. But the friends I made were well worth it. Until next time!

Making plans with ROSEE my old roomie and we are planning on the Great Wall/China for the last week of July. Yay, can't wait to research things to do! Bed time.
Me tired-a teacha!

Many-any Firsts....

These past two days, I have maaany firsts:

1.) First time taking a shower in my apartment... I know, sounds disgusting seeing as I got here on the 3rd. BUT I stayed clean, and went to bath houses. But until Dave showed me how the whole shower thing works here in Korea, I was terrified!!! If you look at the picture below.. there is a shower head, but no.. shower, and the hose for water is connected to the sink's faucet!! I didn't understand the concept, I didn't want to get everything wet, I didn't want to die!! But I finally got the balls up to do it, and.. it was.. interesting? It got everything wet, the toilet seat.. everything, but the water pressure was awesome.. almost too good, and the temperature was great. But I can't say I'm looking forward to doing it again!




2.) First time seeing someone use chopsticks with their left hand. Haleluia!

3.) First time feeling seriously uncomfortable in a church. They found out I play piano, because my director goes to the same church (which is biig, so I don't know how they figured me out). And basically were asking me/telling me to play for the little kids at 9AM every Sunday. I had to try to be super nice, but explain that I hadn't tried any other churches yet, and I didn't want to make any promises... PLUS I told them I had only been living in Korea for 3 days, so I had no idea what my name was almost. It was really ackward there, just because they hoovered over me and even while I was eating I didn't even want to look to my left because I knew someone would be just lurking over me! BUT I found out that, it is very normal for that church and others to be pushy. Dave and Lynn let me know, sometimes you do just have to say no. And that they learned it the hard way the first time. It is super easy to get burnt out here. SO I will be looking into other places for now. They WERE really nice, but if it is like that every Sunday, It was just stressful.

4.) First time feeling like my personal bubble was encroached upon when no one was around but a couple. This almost goes along with number three, because I am learning that Koreans do not have a sense of personal space like Americans do. I was standing at a large open corner of side walk, waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green... and a couple who had ample space all around me came and stood literally an inch away from me. I looked around, seeing ALL of the space they had... and took a giant side step to the right. I was dumbfounded by it, and it made me almost mad everytime I thought about it. Until I talked with Dave and others about how here, personal space doesn't exist.

5.) First time teaching mini-asians. They were great, there wasn't anything too strange about it. Except for getting called 'new teacha' or 'teacha' a million times in one day. The kids behaved so-so, I had to get mad at some of the boys a couple of times. But it was mostly difficult because I didn't even know where they were in their books, I was basically thrown in a river without paddles. BUT I spent about an hour and a half making lesson plans after class and feel MUCH better.

6.) First time drinking tea that smelt like peanut butter :) I really liked it too!


All in all, the new experiences were good. I LOVE Korea, Korean Food, etc. And can't wait to learn more about their culture and past!

Taster's Choice

This is a day not to be forgotten! Mista Lee took us to an AMAZING international style buffet today.. Nicest one I’ve ever been to. It was like $25 dollars a person I think. AND the cute little French Fries were drizzled in some sort of sesame honey, to die for! Tons of fruit, shrimp, scallops, check out the pictures below! They even had a fruit my Rosie loves that I decided to try.. And me no like-y! I think it’s from the Philipines! They were also playing some Lady GaGa, Jay-Z, Fitttty Cent, among others. Loved it!
































BEST PART!
After lunch, Mista Lee took Arthur and I (another new teacher at Oxford) to the hospital for our health check to get our Alien Registration Card (ARC). I THOUGHT that I was only getting an HIV and drug test, however, I was utterly wrong… wrong… wrong… wrong!

The things that were done to me:
#1- paperwork. easy

#2- teeth check.. Scary, I saw this ginormo syringe, and thought they were going to be taking my blood with it, since I thought I was only getting an HIV and drug test… plus I thought the place looked funny, and the seat looked like a dental office chair.. Well I was right, they have a dentist in the hospital!

#3- blood pressure check. Ok, seems normal

#4- they measured my chest. I mean.. I know they look fake and all, but measuring? That is a little un-called for!

#5- Hearing check. Left, right, right, right.

#6- Eyesight. E? F? 2? 4? S? Shouldn’t have worn contacts!

#7- EKG- dude.. This was my all time favorite! OK, so the lady motions for me to lie down, and lift my shirt and bra up (basically just a long flash), then she clamps something to both ankles, clamps thingsto both wrists, and suctions these funny little things like 6 time on my boobs… my face must have described what I was thinking, because she was finally like EKG EKG… I was terrified that they were going to shock me and say could you feel that? Ok… can you feel this? How about NOW?! And cackle BAHAHAHA!

#8- X-Ray- walk in… he pokes me in the back “BRAZIER BRAZIER”. I’m thinking, ‘right here? Right now?’ and then he points to a corner.. I do my thing.. And get my chest or whatever x-rayed…. I hope I don’t get some weird poisoning here that doesn’t let me have babies!!


#9- Pee Test- this is my favorite part!!! I mean, I had read on other blogs about how when you take a urine test you pee in a cup and they don’t give you a lid. BUT I never expected a PAPER cup that had on it ‘TASTER’S CHOICE’?!? I almost peed myself as I carried it DOWN the hallway to a Korean bathroom (squatter toilet). Then I carried my half empty (or half full, whichever you prefer) cup to back down the hallway sat it down on a chair.. And took a picture! For you non-believers! Mista Lee about died laughing when he saw me do it!

#8- Blood sucking. Reminded me of Twilight, which I just started reading and love it!
THE END. For now.. Then again it is only 2PM here… the internet guy is here, and life is good!


P.S. just got a call, Zio Riccos tonight for Jazz and ITALIAN where I am meeting a group of people lacking color… yes white!! I would still much rather hang out with Koreans, I love it here! Hollllla

Yes.. I Shower Naked

Alrighty, this is my dreadful attempt to keep myself awake for the next 2 hours.. although it will only be for part of that 2 hours! It is 5:52PM here... so 3:52AM at home... slackers... welcome to Friday! And, I want to go to sleep, BUT instead.. I am going to tell you about my night last night. And commence story time (p.s. I hadn't showered yet (not only because you know why) but because I do not have an adapter for my hair dryer and its COLD):

So, I went to a Bath House... most amazing, relaxing, incredible, can't wait to go back kind of things. I feel like most Americans would be SO incredibly creeped out by this experience because they do not appreciate and take advantage of the human body.. I think most would HATE the bath houses.
Well here is the deal, you go to the locker room, undress.. yess NAKED, you take the most amazing shower and scrub scrub scrub wash wash wash, then you pick what you want to do.. you can a.) sauna b.)water massage c.)spa hot tub d.)scalding hot tub e.) cold tub.. and possibly some more possibilities. You can stay as long as you want, but I prefer not to get too prune-y incase they somehow become permanent, ew gross.

Anyways, no one looks at you weird.. EVEN though I'm a white girl.. the body is just something all-us-women have! And by golly, we're going to bathe like that.. freakin together! Yea! It was just SO relaxing, and I felt extremely strong as a woman, I think it would really help with all of the weight issues, image issues and morale.. women need to stick together and not fall under the cruel eye of the man, where HE decide what is beautiful and scrutinizes our God given gorgeous bodies. We are beautiful as we are, and we need to write love on our arm!

Seaweed Has Heads?!

First full day in Korea yesterday... accidentally took a 'nap' for 6 1/2 hours... woke up and it was night time! My super fantastic supervisor, Mista Lee (as I have him in my cell phone), invited me to eat dinner in his home. His wife made beef stew, which was a semi-clear broth.. no beef.. very interesting! And I got to try Kimchi for the first time.. and something she called seaweed. I thought it looked different than what I would expect seaweed, but in my eagerness to try eeeverything Korean, I took a crunchy nibble. And ate some of the other things... and then I was like hmm.. I'll try the seaweed again... I took a BIG bite.. right when I realized the seaweed had heads... they were little crunchy fish... yea, I obviously have become dillusional.. it was.. interesting!

I ate a ginormo Korean meal today with my supervisor, his wife and a current teacher... ummm Hello! DELICIOUS! Never in my life have I ever seen so many bowls on one table, and THEN after I thought I had eaten enough for two days, they inform me that it was just the appetizer! BRING IT ON KOREA! I'm a bottomless pit :)

I seriously want Mista Lee's wife to be my best friend. Apparently, she is an amazing cook, and she is going to teach me how to make some yummy sweet potato rice noodle-ular things! To die for!

Maybe I'll start my own Korean cooking show on Food Network one day! Yea!

They're Laughing b/c You Are So Tall

Do you have any questions for the new teacher?
::Giggles::
"How tall are you?" :: as he blushes ::

I love it here already! Korea... land of potential white super models! That's me :)

The flight here wasn't too dreadfully bad, although I do not want to do it again... for another year! It took me over 27 hours! Yea..! Jinju is a cute little city, I haven't explored too much yet.. mainly because I SLEPT all day when I was taking a 'nap' until dark! But I did get a chance to go to a cafe.. which was French..?..that's what I thought... and got a chance to hear a Korean singing (in English) Sean Kingston's song "somebody call 9-1-1.. shawty's fire burnin' on the dance floor. WOAH-O-O".. and I loved every minute of it!

I am at the school now, we'll start calling it Oxford.. because that is its name.. prestigious, huh? And I LOVE it so far, it is a super nice building.. it took me all of 30 seconds to walk to, and I couldn't even finish my Starburst! Apartment.. glorious, super home-y, and extremely cute! Pictures coming, or maybe I'll debut it on video! Anyways.. life is good!

Back to school!