so goood.

Why will E.T. have a lasso around my heart FOREVER??!

voldeburn

i think the casting agent for harry potter was watching The English Patient, and was like WE HAVE OUR VOLDEMORT!!!

in other news...break me off a piece a dattt

also, where did the phrase "all that and a bag of chips" come from?? and where did it run off to?
like...was it a Subway term...i'll have that sandwich, drink annnnd a bag a chips?

the hillz are alive!!

Okay, so don't judge me but i think i need to watch the last season of the hills. I could give a crap about the relationship/party drama...but the lure of Heidi Montag's freak surgery is too much to resist.

mostly interested in 1:50 and beyond:

EW, PS- why does Ryan Cabrera keep popping up on every reality show i watch?? Who gives a FUCK?? I don't recall any of his hits?? He's gross, and he tried to steal my seat with a bunch of bimbos at a Russell Brand show once...so i forever don't like him!

She STRAIGHT UP RUINED HER FACE for fame and press!! I mean, that takes some devotion to the cause. Like...i understand everyone getting plastic surgery to fit in, Hollywood's a tough town. But A. most people would take that secret to the grave and B. SHES 23 YEARS OLD!!! SHE WAS BORN IN 1986. Not only did she not hide the surgeries...she did a before and after spread for People Magazine...which i looked inside. They had an EXCLUSIVE with the president and his family...but Heidi got the cover-ha ha ha.

I know this is all pretty old news...but i find it pretty interesting what people are willing to do...and also entertaining. 

jeeez

Seriously, i knew this guy couldn't be trusted. When Sandra was thanking him at the oscars, i was like ohh well maybe i had him wrong, maybe i stereotype these sorta guys unfairly. WRONG!

My response to this picture can be summed up in the last 3 seconds of this video:

dun dun dun dunnnn

NEW MAS BURRITOS HEADQUARTERS//

im sooo exciteddddd. i love getting new gadgets. it has an SD reader and all kinds of goodies. even though i had to be on the line with verizon allllll day because our phone jack is like falling out of the wall. JUST SHOOT ME! (copyright NBC)

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Losing It

I have a black jacket made out of a material quite similar to that of a garbage bag. Yeah, it looks as cool as it sounds. The material is slippery and the jacket pockets have no zippers. Despite this, I just love putting things in those pockets. On Sunday I decided to put my camera in my jacket pocket and then fall asleep on the bus home from the Jamsil Home Plus. When I got home I decided I'd upload my booze cruise photos and write a blog post, but guess what? My camera had disappeared. I briefly looked for it, but I knew what happened. I'd obviously learned nothing from losing my wallet in Taiwan.

After a bit of searching online I found a lost and found line for the Seoul City bus system. It's (02) 415-4101 and they only speak Korean so if you lose some shiz, get a Korean friend to call for you. My assistant teacher/all-around-awesome-person, Mindy called on my behalf and guess what? Someone had actually found and turned in my camera. I am so lucky! Mindy told them I was coming, wrote me a letter in Korean explaining why I was there just in case my charades skills didn't work and wrote down all the directions for me.

The lost and found center is at a bus terminal right outside Namtaeryeong station. And now I can take more pictures like this to share with the world:

It's a good news day for all of us!

Traffic Jams And Booze Cruises

On Saturday afternoon we decided to make a quick stop at Costco to pick up some coffee before going to meet everyone for our much-anticipated *booze cruise*. Please note, there is no such thing as a "quick stop" at Costco. At least not in Seoul. We're lucky enough to live about a 10 minute bus ride from Costco but that's not taking into account the lame traffic jam that forms on the street leading up to Coscto parking lot every weekend. There must have been 50 cars lined up the street just waiting to park, so our bus sat in traffic while we sat and worried about the time. We eventually got off the bus and walked the rest of the way, got our stupid Kirkland brand tin of coffee and raced home to drop off our coffee and go. We arrived home at exactly the same time we were supposed to have arrived at Shanda's. Screw you, Costco!!

At 5:00 we left our place and we decided to take a taxi to the boat... we figured a taxi would be the only way we would get there before the boat left at 6:00. But guess what happened? We got stuck in traffic. 40 minutes into our taxi drive we had only driven as far as we could have walked in about 25 minutes. Tears were setting in and we were sure that we were going to miss the boat, until Shanda texted us to let us know the boat opened at 6:00 but didn't leave until 7:00. All said, it took over an hour for us to go 10km in that taxi. Good thing we're in Korea where such a taxi drive costs less than $15.

After almost stumbling onto some tour boat full of ajummas we finally met up with our peeps and got on our special boat. Mom, you would have loved it. The main floor looked like a 1950's prom complete with some def oldies songs being pumped in. The booze cruise was all-you-can-drink and there was a variety of microbrew beers to choose from and the lines were pretty quick. All of this free liquid resulted in long lines at the bathroom, people peeing into the Han River and into the sink too. All of these adventures in urination are fine when you're on a boat in Asia.

Three bands played, one of them I remember seeing the last time we lived in Korea, though I'm pretty sure the last time we saw them they played while being dressed up as scientists.

There were nice views along the water as we went along.

Good times!

Of course, someone had to bring a hula hoop. The next day I got an e-mail from the event organizers thanking me for attending and wondering "if anybody knows who the hula hoop girl
was please let us know because we want to offer her free tickets to our next event".

We got on a shuttle bus headed to the Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon and Pip and Shanda led the bus in a round of "There Was A Great Big Moose" and "You say Jesse, I say James... Jesse JAMES, Jesse JAMES". I think they made a lot of new friends. All I have to say is that the bus took was really damn slow and I'm sorry for what I did to the floor.

After our complimentary shot at the Rocky Mountain and some street kebabs, Mel and I decided to head home. We are *thisclose* to getting our first paycheques so we had to leave while we could still take public transportation back home instead of a pricier taxi. We cut it pretty close, so close in fact, that although we got our first train out of Itaewon, when we tried to transfer to the next train we were given a big X by the arms of a subway worker. We missed the train and had to take a taxi anyway. Above is a shot of the driver going 91 in an 80 zone, but I wish I had taken the picture when he was going 91 in the 60 zone. But really, after our experience with traffic that day, it was just nice to be in a car that wasn't going slower than I can walk.

Here's to booze cruises and Jesse James!

what you need is a little TLC

I'm beginning to fear that LA Ink will eventually convince me that cat tattoos are a good idea...

also...i am greatly anticipating the season premiere of Little People Big World-as they will be in Europe. Matt and Amy's relationship will be put to the test! (and hopefully their cute tall son takes his shirt off). 

and in case you didn't know, the Roloffs have a sick family farm with a bunch of disney like attractions:

It is my theory that TLC, not only stands for The Learning Channel but also The Little Channel. They have quite a bit of little people related programming, and they have begun to cross categories.

There are the OG's- Little People, Big World, followed by The Little Couple...AND NOW as if to combine Ace of Cakes and little people...The Little Chocolatiers. I think next there will definitely be a show called "The Little Big Family" about a Jon and Kate Plus 8esque family of dwarfs. (seriously TLC you owe me money if you actually do it.)

Disturbia

Okay so this might be the most terrifying thing i've ever seen.


if i walk into the room, and my cat is looking at me 
this way...i might shoot it. just saying.
annnd this is maybe scarier...but kinda funny too.

My girlzz

Of the actresses i adore, two of them would definitely be Laura Linney and Gabourey Sidibe...which is why i am stoked about this new show "The C Word" (cancer not cunt). Its seemingly VERY Showtime; maybe a hint annoying but overall it looks pretty fun and pleasant to watch. Perhaps with touching moments sprinkled into each episode? I'm down to watch Gabz act more like herself and less like Precious. Check out the trailer!!

i am a member of the internet

This past week, something miraculous happened.

I kept getting emails alerting me that i was getting comments on my youtube video "Cat n' Kitten Wrestle". I thought this strange, as i had only received probably two comments in two years. But this week i was getting multiple alerts everyday. So, i decide to check on the video... low and behold i had like 5,000 views! Pretty good considering i only ever had about 200. I grew suspicious at this seemingly random turn of events and upon research found the culprit. I checked the Youtube homepage and one of the featured videos was "Baby and Cat Wrestle",  that peeked my interest (first as a viewer, then as a detective). So yeah my video was one of the suggested videos from this video-ta da! Things only snowballed from there, and now the video has 29,664 views which is fucking nuts since its not that great of a video anyway. AND NOW youtube says im eligible for "Ad Revenue" A.K.A i can make money by placing ads on the video ha ha ha so awesome.

checkkkk it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvOTf3aFGik

Kimchi Museum

On Saturday Mel and I visited the Kimchi Field Museum, which is conveniently located in the COEX Mall near Samseung Station. This is certainly the most interesting museum I've visited since the Museum Of Drinking Water in Taipei. Don't know what kimchi is? Well then, you've never smelled a Korean bathroom. It's spicy pickled cabbage, but as we learned at the museum there are many amazing varieties of kimchi to eat and enjoy.

Kimchi ferments in giant brown barrels for several months before it's ready to be eaten. Where else can you see these miracle barrels but in the Kimchi Museum? Or on the street outside of every apartment building on my block.

A series of models showed us how kimchi is made, step by step. My favorite part is her bloody looking hands. That's not blood, though... it's delicious red pepper paste!

Early kimchi-related scriptures from the 12th century.

Photo op!

There is a section about the health benefits of kimchi at the museum. This sign claims that kimchi prevents intestinal cancer, and I've recently read claims that kimchi cures H1N1 and is the reason the rate of HIV is so low in Korea. Surrrrre. And I bet that the Koreans' diet of eating the world's most pickled and over-spiced food 3 times a day has absolutely no relation to the fact that stomach cancer is the #2 killer in Korea. Just sayin'.

There was a huge kimchi library where I read a book about cordon bleu kimchi. The recipes looked... offensive.

There was a tasting room where (according to the sign) you could taste kimchi for up to 30 minutes. I don't do kimchi, but Mel tried one of each type. She likes kimchi, but as you can tell from the picture, this stuff had issues.

There was a kimchi fridge to look through. Guess what was inside? If you said kimchi, congratulations, you just earned a sticker for your sticker board.

Finally, there was a guest book where you could leave your thoughts about kimchi. One person very rudely wrote "I hate kimchi", though most of the other entries were along the lines of "at first I didn't like kimchi, but now I can kind of stomach it". We didn't write anything... save it for the blog, right?

If you like rooting through fridges and posing with mannequins, I highly recommend a visit to the Kimchi Field Museum. One of the nice employees there gave us a great guidebook to the museums of Seoul (there's a lot!) so expect a post about the Chicken Art Museum sooner rather than later! Peace!

Seoul In Sepia

The first yellow dust storm of the year arrived in Seoul yesterday afternoon and lasted for a few hours. The sand blows in from China a few times every spring and causes the sky to turn hazy, yellow and... kind of cool.

My orientation day

Yay!My first day in Sunway University College.Whoa~~Haha~I am too excited.Haha..I reached there at aabout 7.30 and damn my orientation only start at like about n9.30am.Aiks.I have to follow my fren Colin there because I don't have any transport.My mum had to use her car to fetch my brother.Aiks.Thou my father searching a car for me thou.Heheeeeee...^^Sweet Colin borrowed me 2 Mina magazines while waiting for Junrong.There,in the Foyer I met 2 new friends,one is taking MUFY and another ine taking A lvls.lalala..At nine we met and went to register.Whoa.The queue for Acoounting and Finance is soooooooo freaking long==while the other queue is empty..Obvoiusly there's really a lot of ppl taking this course.Its so popular..==We were told to gather at Auditorium 5 and is giving a speech by the board of directors.There,I met 2 girls who continue from FIA and one of them have a same bag with me too.Haha.We have same taste in bags.XP Later we went to Audi 5 then Photo Shop to take photo for our students card.

The cafeteris food doesnt look good and taste not good too.Its bubble tea is like rm4 and their nasi lemak had to be rm5.==wth.My friend told me that the students here only bought food from there unless they are late or emergency.Or else they will go out to have lunch in the hawker centre.For sure.Whoa.Weird huh?What is the use for the cafeteria then?==Ugh..They should have improved the quality.==Lalala..And the hotness there is killing me.I had to tie up my hair like a maniac to eat properly.Hhaa..I want to try outside hawker centre food next time!I heard that the chicken rice is nice..XP

We get our timetables atlaS at 3 something.I bet most of the students will be going back early if they distribute our timetables earlier.Our most important motive to be there for the orientation is to take the timetables.Haha..They are kind of smart to allocating this session behind.We will be separated into 3 groups by aphabetical order.Aiks.I hate this.I am always behind as my surname is a "Y".Aikssssss!!Looking forward to Monday thou.Love the students there.Very friendly although you can see a few of them is a bit arrogant.Aiks..==I hope I will be studying with those kind ones.lol.And I will be joining the Ravelution Performance and Dancing Club.Haha..I am persuading few of my new frens and the old ones already.LOL.And there will be some activities next week.The clubs will be having some performance or watever to persuaded us,the new students to join them.CANT WAIT!HAPPY UNI LIFE!HURRAY!

Hopes for my future.

i want to live in this house:

buy coffee table books for this room:

have this fireplace in my bedroom:

oh yeah, and open my door to this hallway, and have this dog sitting there, and name him Poochinski

kthxbai

Happy little gathering

Went to one noodle yamcha on tuesday.Haha.Thinking of you two really make me wanna laugh.There's me and Sheyni and Weichong.We met there and play cards whole afternoon.Chodaidi,Speed,Snap,Donkey..haha..Sheyni kept cheating and she's fast in the game.When I shouted stop as I found something wrong she would not even bother to look at me and continue playing the game.She cheats a lot and kind of crazy when she's high.Haha.Noone can stop her.REALLY.I think I would not have seen her characteristic until that day.LOL.Weichong is a bit slow and he plays in a funny way.I cant stop laughing looking at him playing cause his reaction and facial expression is damn funny.Haha We wanted to cheat him telling we had put something awful inside his tea but turns out he's so clever and didnt believe in us.LOL He just drink his tea straight away.I wonder what if we really put something horrible indie.Who knows?LOL

I am bad in playing chodaidi so I tried very hard to convince them to play other games.And put the two set of cards together so they cant have chance to play chodaidi.lol Thou atlas I have to separate the two deck of cards again.Weichong also accidentally break sheyni's nail when playing snap.. Pity her.He wanted to give her rm1 to buy plaster but I insisted 20 sen is enough.Haha.Sheyni kind of poke my stomach when I said this.Haha..Bully me tim..XPNext time gonna yancha again.^^

Melodie's New School

So I've finally got around to posting about my new school. It's a regular public middle school (notice the lack of Jesuses as compared to my last school) located in a very nice part of Seoul. Considering the neighbourhood, I assumed that the school would be more on the modern/posh side, but actually, it isn't. The school itself is very much like the one I taught at in Taiwan- a big C shape with a field in the middle. On my first day of school, I introduced myself and met my liaison teacher. I was informed that in 20 minutes I was expected to teach four consecutive classes. One would think you would be taken on a tour, shown the facilities and curriculum, meet the staff..etc. But, well, this is Korea and from previous experience I've learned to always be prepared. I had already made an introductory lesson so my ass was covered.

At first, I was a little underwhelmed at the classrooms which were fully equipped with broken computers and a whiteboard with strange paint markers. I kept hearing rumors about a "special" English room that would be available the next week but I didn't get my hopes up. However, when I showed up to work on Monday of the next week, I was completely
shocked. The school had built a "special" English classroom (my office desk, above).


I couldn't believe what I saw. It is simply a dream room. There is a brand new Smartboard, DVD stereo system, whiteboard, computer, big desks for the kids, computers at the back of the room and even special blinds depicting famous Western places. Probably one of the best parts is that it's my classroom to use so the students come to me. I don't have to lug everything around to the next room.

Apart from that, my workday is 8:20-4:20pm and I teach 24 classes a week. I plan one lesson per week and then I teach it 24 times! The schedule, though early for me, is working out really well. I like having a solid routine leaving and getting home at the same time as Shawn.

For the most part, the students seem good, especially the grade 7s who still seem really little in comparison to the older ones. I have huge classes with, on average, 38 students per class. In total, I have over 900 students! I think learning names might go out the window.

But I have to say, so far so good!