7 Month Mark - Seoul, Korean Opera, & Andong.

It's official. Today Korea & I are celebrating 7 months together!. Exactly 5 months from today I should be on a plane headed back to the states! I figured what better way to reflect on my time here than a blog update! As usual, lots has happened in the past few months, there never seems to be a dull moment here in Korea, or maybe that's just my life!

Korea and I have a special bond together, I allow it a certain cultural limit everyday and sometimes it cheats and my cultural limit for the day gets maxed out. I've had a few days like this here, full of cultural frustration, mostly things that I find annoying or needing proper help but not being able to get it because of language barriers and such. Here are some noteworthy things that I've observed or embraced recently..

• Jimjilbangs - Korean bath houses..I've learned that I really enjoy this aspect of Korean culture. Going to a bath house and soaking in all the different tubs with a gazillion naked Korean ladies with huge bushes never gets old. They take great pride in their furry muffs too, I've even seen some women blow dry them and fluff them out with combs in the locker room. 
• I learned how to read and write Korean sometime back in October, finally! 
• They live on war food. Plain and simple. Their diet consists of rice, soups, and pickled food like kimchi and radishes galore. It's time to step into the 21st century Korea and quit living like we are in the middle of WWII. The war ended 60 years ago. Let's eat some real food please.
• Korean work culture is very different from Western work culture. The employees are extremely devoted to the company even if they don't want to be, it's like they have to be. I've been told by my boss that they'd glady give up their only day off to attend a work function if it was for the good of the company. The workplace is to be treated like your family from what I can conclude. I don't view this as healthy, a bit to personal, but that's just my opinion!
• Brendan called in sick to work 1 day and he also took the next day off as well. The boss told us he was going to pay a house visit to Brendan's to make sure he was ok since he had to take 2 days off from work. What a psycho. I don't think your boss should ever drop by your house for any reason, another prime example of Korean's not understanding physical or emotional space among westerners. I think he just wanted to make sure he was actually at his house in Daegu, what a spy. I've begun to call him Russia at work bc he's a spy! All I could think was poor Brendan, then I immediately turned to Karissa and told her that if he ever gets another idea like this when I call in sick to send me a text so that I can make sure i'm home in bed looking like death.
• South Koreans are not violent people and live in fear of war with North Korea.
• I also think that they are brainwashed big time when it comes to the importance of education. I find myself taking pity on these poor, overworked, and young Korean students everyday. I'm not a huge fan of how serious they take EVERYTHING, not just education. Although, I find education to be the most serious of all things. Korean's need to lighten up and have some fun..no wonder the suicide rate here is so damn high, it's a miserable life.

Now, for an update of what I've been oh so busy with... :) 

October - The highlight of October was my first trip to Seoul for Global Gathering, another trip for shopping, and Korean Opera! 

Armin Van Buuren! <3

• Global Gathering was a blast, it's a huge dance music festival that travels around to different cities all over the world. When I found out that it was coming to Seoul and Armin Van Buuren was going to be there I immediately signed up! I love Armin Van Buuren and he has been voted the world's best DJ for 4 years in a row. It was blast, I took a bus up with some people from Daegu, first thing we did when we got there after getting our tickets was head to Itaewon (the little American area in seoul) for some taco bell! It was seriously heaven in my mouth, well worth the hassle on the subway with my foot still in a splint at the time! We spent the rest of the evening/night at the festival. There were 3 stages and a lot of Korean DJ's before the main acts came on. Justice & Fat Boy Slim were also there. The whole thing was awesome, dancing in a splint was hard but the alcohol that I consumed in large amounts helped with that for sure! Partied till about 4am and then headed back to Daegu around 5am. Great weekend! Great trip!
• After making it to Seoul once, I decided to brave the huge city by myself 2 weekends later, mostly because I was in desperate need of some clothes that fit. I made a trip on the KTX, korea's high speed train, and literally shopped till I dropped and then shopped some more! I enjoyed taco bell, subway, H&M, Forever 21, Mango, & Zara all to the fullest. It was an extremely successful weekend! Seoul has many different neighborhoods and I managed to see at least 5 while only shopping! Seoul is a huge city and is worthy of another trip for site seeing in the near future. 
• Karissa & I attended an opera here in Daegu as part of the "Daegu Opera festival." Honestly, it was disappointing. We thought, "oh it's opera, and if it's in German than we'll all be on the same page." WRONG! The Koreans, of course, cheated. They did all the singing in German but had subtitles in Korean! SUBTITLES!! I couldn't believe it, what kind of opera has subtitles? Korea always screws up cultural things like this...I don't understand it. Then, on top of that, any of the speaking parts were in Korean. Needless to say, it was not worth 20,000 won in my opinion.

Merry Wives of Windsor Opera

November - Work has been busy in November, lots of schedule changes and such right in the middle of the month. 

Turkey! 



Our Little Christmas Tree!

• Brendan left and has been replaced with a new girl named Emily from Denver, CO! She's great and I think she fits in perfectly here. Getting a new co-worker is always exciting!
• Jeremy & Karissa already have countdowns going for their departure dates and it's started to hit me recently that they'll be leaving soon! It's very sad because the group of people that I hang out with will all be gone around the first of february! :( Korea is very transient, I hate it and love it all at the same time, always new people coming but always good friends leaving too, or people I don't like! Making friends here is a full time job and requires a lot of work! We had a work party to celebrate her coming and four Korean teachers' leaving. Our staff room has definitely shrunk in size recently. 
• I went to Seoul in the middle of November again on a friday night after work. A trip made purely for the pleasure of clubbing! I went with 3 of my friends and we hit up a couple of clubs in seoul and then spent the night in a lovely jimjilbang and then headed back the next morning on the train! Good times with great tunes and great friends! Seoul is where the party's at! 
• Kim Jong Ill in North Korea decided to go crazy and attack a South Korean island..the media has got everyone in a panic about it but until the embassy tells me to evacuate or that there could be danger...I'll be here in Daegu. South Korean's aren't really violent people, so I'm not expecting much retaliation on their part as usual...
• Our little family, Jeremy, Karissa, Palmer, Joel, Emily, & I all celebrated thanksgiving together, we ordered a turkey dinner from this English magazine here and it turned out really nice, we each made something in addition to the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and pumpkin pie and drank wine all evening! We also decorated a little christmas tree together and drew names for secret santa! We have designated Jeremy's house the Christmas house and are all planning on sleeping over Christmas eve, making a big breakfast together the next day, ordering another turkey dinner, and hanging out all day together. I'm really grateful that I have my little Korean family here! :)

December - It's hard to believe that it's already december! Christmas is less than 20 days away! 

• The excitement this month began with bugs...yes that's right...bugs...I had rice in my cupboard that I hadn't used for months, took it out to make some the other night, poured the rice in the pan, added some water and noticed hundreds of bugs floating around! AH! Needless to say, I freaked out, it was very dramatic. I've never experienced anything like this and after calling up about 6 people, my nan was finally able to tell me what they were! Hah! I guess they were rice weevils and are actually pretty common in asia. I don't eat much rice but I've decided that when I do, from now on, I'm buying the pre made kind in the microwavable containers! No matter where I go, I don't seem to be able to escape bugs...Roaches in Barcelona and now Rice Weevils in Korea! Ah!
• For work we will be traveling to Gyeongju this friday. It's supposed to be this workshop for work or something but really they keep saying we are going to 'take a rest.' It's an overnight thing and would take up half my day on Saturday. I straight up told the boss, along with the other foreigners, that we are not staying the night, I said I had made other plans for my weekend, I'm not giving up half my weekend to spend the night sleeping on the floor in a room with 20 of my  Korean coworkers. That's just freaking weird. I could rant about this for hours but I'm just going to leave it at that...I'm not staying the night. Period. We, us 4 foreigners, are taking a bus back together friday night around 9. I think the Korean's are offended but they need to understand that is not what we view as OK in western work culture...another prime example of personal bubble space being lost in translation! haha
• Yesterday - a few of my coworkers and I traveled to Andong, a traditional Korean folk village. A reminder of their not so distant, rural past. Andong is famous for their jimduck, this rural village, and Andong soju which is 45% compared to the regular 18% soju. We first went to the mask museum near the village, we saw lots of Korean masks and other masks from all over the world, mostly Asia though. Some were really cool, some were a little creepy! The Hahoe village is famous for their masks. After the museum we had Andong jimduck for lunch and then headed over to the village and caught the end of a traditional Korean mask dance. It kinda creeped me out they way they were moving around all slow and weird, it's hard to describe, something you'd just have to see. After the mask dancing we wandered around the village, people still actually live in the village but most people have satellite tv and phones nowadays. Nevertheless, it was still cool to see what traditional Korean houses look like and the countryside was beautiful and revitalizing. It was nice to get out of the city for a change. We had a really fun day and headed back to Daegu around 6, had indian food for dinner, and then watched the Grinch back at Jeremy's house while sipping on some soju! 
• Today I picked up my own little xmas tree! They only had pink and black to choose from when I got there, at first I was disappointed, because I wanted a normal christmas tree but then I was like, "oh what the hell!" When and where else in time am I ever going to have a chance to have a pink xmas tree! I find it so fitting for here in Korea because everything is very cutesy! So I did it! I bought the pink tree and decorated it in silver and white! :) Picture below! 

Mask Dance.

Hahoe Folk Village.

Korean Traditional Mask! 

Group Photo! Justin, Emily, Me, and Jeremy!

Andong Mask Museum.

Over the past few months, I've really toned it down on the drinking front, I've made it a point to only have drinks on the weekends, helps me to save money, and keeps me in good shape, I'm taking a break from the rockstar party life that I was living in September! I've also noticed that as I start doing more things and make more friends it becomes harder and harder for me to save money! I'm still saving but could probably do better at it....shopping has become my guilty habit. I've also started to consider a 2nd year here recently. The benefits that this job/lifestyle offers are just too good to walk away from easily, especially with the job market looking the way that it does back home...If I decided to stay another year though, I'd prefer to do it in Seoul or thereabouts. Seoul is definitely a city that I could live in for a year no problem. Daegu is too conservative for my style! I also recently committed to 3 months at the gym, go me! 

Future highlights! - On another note, the new girl that will replace Jeremy, Leslie is scheduled to arrive on December 27th/28th and I will be hosting her in my apartment for 2 weeks until she can move into Jeremy's. I'm not sure what I'll be doing to bring in the New Year yet besides working on New Year's Eve, whatever happens after work though must be massive. I have a feeling 2011 is going to be my year and I need to bring it in nicely! haha .............aaaaaand on another VERY exciting note...my friend Heather from my Greece study abroad trip is living in Australia right now and will be traveling to South Korea on January 26th to stay with me for a little over a week! She's coming here to visit me and I couldn't be more excited!! After her week here we will travel together to Hong Kong, China for lunar new year because I just so happen to be on vacation then! I got an awesome deal on a plane ticket and I'm very excited to travel with her again! I can't wait till she arrives! It's going to be grand! I will be doing winter intensive classes from Jan. 3rd-29th so Hong Kong will be a sweeeeet reward for working crazy 10 hour days again! :D  

Merry Christmas everyone & Happy New Year! Stay tuned for Heather & Annie do Hong Kong, should be a good one! <3 xoxoxo 

The Philippines

34 hours of travel + 6 islands + $150 over budget = An adventure in Paradise!

Our trip started after work Tuesday night around 2:00 am Wednesday morning technically. We caught the 2:20 bus to seoul, in which they employ a crazy bus driver that can get you there in 3 1/2 hours and that's including a 30 min. stop! Usually a solid 4 hour trip. Once we arrived at Incheon we got all checked in and before we knew it I was drugged on my oriental medicine and we were flying through the air! That oriental medicine is some beautiful stuff! We arrived in Manila around 11:30, paid an entrance fee into the country - 200 pesos and proceeded to the domestic terminal where we took a short flight to Cebu in the southern part of the Philippines called the Visayas. From there we had to take a ferry to the island of Bohol where we would be staying for the 1st night. As soon as we arrived we started looking for the same tour guide that our friends recently had on their trip to the Philippines. Luckily, the taxi driver that we had knew him! Must be a small island! He let us use his phone to call and set up a tour time for the next day! The first night we were supposed to stay at this place called Nuts Huts. It's in the Lonely Planet travel guide book but there wasn't really a lot of information about the place. However, when our taxi driver asked us if we had a flashlight and I replied with "for what?" I started to get a little nervous. He said, "Well for the path in case there's a snake or something." Right then and there I was ready to turn back to the port city we landed at and get a hotel room! My 3 biggest fears are: Flying in airplanes, spiders, and then snakes. I don't enjoy any of these things in the least bit! After 17 hours of travel I was exhausted and walking through the jungle in the pitch black dark with just a flashlight was the last thing I wanted to do with a sprained ankle. However, that's exactly what happened.

The guy dropped us off near a wooden sign with some paint that said "Nuts Huts" ---> That way 750m. It was a dirt path that was muddy, with lots of rocks, not a path I wanted to walk with a sprained ankle by any means. Our little flashlight was barely enough light for both of us so I had to resort to using my iphone. Once again, thank god for that little piece of technology that has saved me in so many situations. We walked for what seemed like 30 mins. when in all reality it was probably 15. We finally saw a sign and the longest staircase I've ever personally witnessed. We started our descend and before we knew it we had arrived. As we were checking in I saw the biggest lizard that I've ever seen and I snapped a photo of it at the exact time that it decided to consume a large grasshopper for dinner! Very cool picture! After we got checked in we went about ordering some food and this strange guy showed us to our "hut" and when I say "hut", I literally mean "hut". This place was like something out of adventure land in the magic kingdom at disneyworld. Closely resembling something out of Swiss Family Robinson treehouse - RUGGED! I was not in the least bit thrilled. We climbed up this bamboo thing to our hut and once inside the reality set in that I was going to have to sleep here, there was no going back, we were in the freaking Jungle! I've never actually been in a jungle so it was pretty interesting and scary all at the same time. I saw these yellow things hanging from the ceiling and asked Karissa what that was all about, she of course replied with, "those are our mosquito nets silly!" EEK! We threw our stuff down, and headed back to the main hut for our dinner. I will say that whatever they made for us was probably the freshest food I've had since being in Asia. Fresh picked green beans, carrots, and beef with rice. I'm not sure if I was just starving or what but, I ate every little speckle of food on my plate and I've never been so happy to have white rice in my life! After dinner we headed back to our hut, which was surprisingly named the "baghdad hut." I'm not sure if she put us in that one cause we were American or what, seems kinda racist to me though! haha Even though I was tired, there was no way I was going to be able to sleep without a drink or two so Karissa and I cracked open our first bottle of Rum. I was enjoying a drink when Karissa yells from the bathroom, "Annie! There is no handle on the toilet, how do I flush the toilet?" I go over to survey the scene and quickly realize that there is no handle and then I notice the bucket of water beside the toilet with a huge dipping pan. I put two and two together and combined with my experiences of being without electricity many, many times in WV due to god only knows what, I showed Karissa how to flush a toilet without electricity! She was impressed to say the least and wanted to know how I knew that! My only response was, 'I grew up in West Virginia, would you expect any less!?" After a good laugh I explained to her that you just have to fill a toilet up with enough water, quickly, to make whatever is in it go down, and after losing power in the middle of nowhere at least 3 times a winter,  I know all tricks of the trade when it comes to this kinda crap.

Chocolate Hills

Me with the Tarsier!

I probably got a good 3 hours of shut eye that night in the jungle and when the sun rose at 5:50 am the next morning, I jumped out of bed ready to start the day if it meant leaving the jungle and all of the bugs that came with it behind! It was interesting to see this place in the day light, I mean we literally stayed in a tiki hut in the jungle. Brutal. We had to climb that terrible staircase that we came down the night before which was not enjoyable. Who wants to do a stair-master at 6 am? After we made it back out to the main ride our tour guide picked us up and chauffeured us around in his car all day showing us everything there was to see on the island of Bohol. Our first stop was the man made forest. This is where, 750 years ago, a nearby town planted all these mahogany trees in one area. It has since then become a protected area with the tallest trees I've ever seen! Next, we headed to the hanging bridge made entirely out of bamboo. We walked across the river and back and sipped fresh coconut juice and ate coconuts! Quite the island experience. Then we headed to the Chocolate Hills, one of the natural wonders of the world, and Asia. There were over 1000 of these little mound-like hills that turn a brown color May-August and resemble little hershey kisses! They were mostly all green when we were there but there were still 1 or 2 that had some brown patches.  After that, we visited a butterfly sanctuary where we learned about butterflies and moths and the followed that up with a friendly visit to the smallest primate in the world, the tarsier! I thought he was the cutest thing in the world, very strange looking, but still cute just because they are so small! I was excited because I got to hold him and let him crawl all over me but, Karissa felt differently, she held him for 30 seconds and was done! (pictures on FB) Next we headed for a river cruise, it was pretty much exactly like the jungle cruise at disneyworld except there was a buffet with food on the boat!  I felt like I was sailing down the Amazon at one point. The jungle is a very mystic place. Next we saw the oldest Catholic church on the island and then the Blood Compact Statue where hundreds of years ago the Spanish and the Filipinos made peace. There is still a very heavy Spanish influence in the Philippines.  Their language has many spanish words and the fact that the majority of the population is still Roman Catholic speaks volumes when you think about the scary Muslim influence there. Our entire tour was awesome, we saw so many things but around 2 pm, Jojo drove us over to Panglao island where we would spend the next 3 days of our vacation on the beautiful, white sand, clear water, Alona Beach!

When we arrived at the hotel, the didn't have our reservation. Right then and there I was regretting our decision to stay there. They finally gave us our room, thank goodness I made a print out of the confirmation page! The staff was extremely rude to us and Karissa and I refused to eat at the hotel restaurant because we were afraid they would spit in our food. We got into our room and just wanted to shower and relax before having dinner. Well, we couldn't get the shower to work and that was when we realized that there was no telephone in our hotel room. What kind of hotel room doesn't have a telephone!?! They also didn't have a hair dryer on property. Like, hello? I didn't know we were paying hotel prices to stay at a hostel! Even hostels have hair dryers to borrow! No blankets either, just sheets, the safe didn't come with clear instructions, and the beds were literally like rocks. Being a hotel person, I was pissed to say the least but whatever, we decided we weren't going to let it ruin anything. We headed out and hand picked our dinner, rabbit fish, fresh from the ocean! It was a great end to our day! We enjoyed some rum and coke while looking out onto the beach and then called it a night because we had a boat tour at 5:45 am the next morning.

I've chosen to title this day of the trip Island Hopping on the Holy Family with Captain Johnny!

Virgin Island

 We got up around 5:30! Please don't ask why I was rising so early on vacation. I haven't seen these kind of times since last spring when I was still attending university and working a full time job and I'm still trying to figure out why I wanted to put myself through that agony. Anywho, we boarded this small boat called the holy family, (the main seat  had "Jesus Christ" in red paint all over it) with our captain for the day named Johnny. We had me his cousin the day before at the restaurant we ate at and he volunteered his cousin to take us out for the day on an tour. Our first stop was dolphin watching. I've never seen dolphin's in their natural habitat, only in aquariums, so the first time I saw a dolphin leap out of the water I was amazed! Just watching them swim around the boats full of people who had come to watch them have their breakfast was an experience in itself! After that we proceeded to the first island on our tour where we jumped off the side of the boat and snorkeled over the most amazing coral reef! I've only seen coral reef like this in aquariums and seeing it up close and personal and actually touching it and getting close to the fish was just unbelievable! It was one of the prettiest things! Coral reef is so colorful and alive, who knew such real beauty lurked so close to the surface! I wish I could do more stuff like that on a regular basis back home. Close to the end of snorkeling I think I got stung by a jelly fish and then not even 1 minute later, Karissa did too! We were finished anyways so we boarded the boat again and headed to inland to the island where we Karissa shared a beer with Johnny and I tried some cocnut wine! The next island was called the virgin island, they call this because it's hard to get to, and hard to get out of! (At least that's what captain johnny told us!) haha It was basically just like a sandbar out in the middle of the ocean, it's obviously a newer island and you could tell that it's still forming, it had maybe 1 or 2 little tiny trees and some grass growing in some of the sand. It's pretty cool seeing something like that that you know is still in the process of developing. 10 years from now, I wonder how much bigger it will be? The small little island was full of starfish galore! I had a blast with them and decided at one point it would be a good idea to spell out all of our initials in starfish! Captain Johnny also gathered some sea urchins from the water for us to try. He did the dirty work cracking them open and I had the disgusting pleasure of eating one. I'm not a fan of slimy fish like mussles, clams, oysters, etc. So the sea urchin didn't settle well with my tastes. Nonetheless, it was an experience and took me straight back to my greece days of eating fresh clams with lemon juice fished out of the ocean by the sexy swedish intern. haha Those were the days! After all that excitment, we headed back to the main island, grabbed a quick lunch, and took a much deserved nap before showering and enjoying a bottle of rum and coke before dinner!

 We had another great dinner that night, fish again, this time white snapper and parrot fish, I also had the traditional Filipino dessert called Halo Halo, it was like ice cream in a bowl of corn-flakes with jellies, it was strange but parts of it were enjoyable. Some sexy guys also sent over a tequila shot that i took like a champ even though I hate tequila! The terrible downpour of rain prevented our night from getting much wilder, we were in bed again by 9:30 like 80 year old grandma's!

The next morning we slept in till about 9 o'clock then had a lovely breakfast before embarking on our scuba diving adventure! We met our scuba instructors at the dive shop around 10:30 and then headed out on the boat to the same small island that we went snorkeling at. It's supposedly some of the best coral reef in the area. We dove on the other side of the island though. The oceans were really rough on the way out and we were worried about diving in the conditions but our guide said that it would be fine. Once we arrived we immediately got into the water and started our lesson. I'm not sure if I thought there would be a minute to gain my composure or what? All I knew is that this was really happening and I was nervous! We learned how to do a mask clearing, which is scary, and our airway clearing as well as a few other necessary things. Before I knew it, we were going down! I was nervous that I would need to come up for something? I'm not sure why but the thought of being 10 meters under and not being able to just go up to the surface for some air is a little unsettling for me! As soon as it started though I was so distracted by the beautiful things that I was seeing that I didn't even notice what was going on, grass on the sea floor, so many bright and colorful fish, I saw Nemo and all of his friends! The ocean is just full of life! It was awesome seeing these things in their natural habitat as opposed to in an aquarium, you can practically reach your hand out and touch them without them being too scared! Being our first dive and all, our instructors went with us of course and held on to us and sort of guided us, really nice of them honestly because I could have easily gotten lost! I was a little claustrophobic at some points but I managed to stay calm. Karissa and I had purchased an underwater camera but it's hard to take pictures when you are trying to think about breathing! The pictures that came out are on facebook if you'd like to see more! We went down 10 meters (30 feet) and were under for about 30 mins. It's the most amazing world under the sea and I can't wait to do it again! I'm going to put it up there on my list of "the coolest things I've ever done!" If you ever have the chance to go diving, it's worth every penny, luckily, we didn't have to pay that much compared to what it would cost in most places because everything is cheap in the Philippines! Great experience! After we dove we had to wait for these annoying chinese people to go, they spoke hardly any English, I can't imagine being a diving instructor for people who barely speak English! Scary! So, in the meantime, Karissa and I snorkeled a little bit and went inland and sat on the beach for a while, it was fun! The boat ride back was equally as exciting and rough, at one point I thought we were going to capsize, it was like something off deadliest catch! I've never been out in the ocean on a boat when the waters are rough like that! Thrilling! After we returned we got 9 dollar hour long body massages on the beach! They were fabulous!! :) So cheap and probably better than some professional massages I've had done in the states.  After that we did some shell searching on the beach, had a light snack and then went for showers before dinner. Our food that night was not the best, we wanted tuna like Ahi Tuna, instead we got grilled tuna and it tasted like something out of a can! We had some drinks at a bar that night and started a conversation with some Swedish lady that spends her winters there as a diving instructor, she eventually started to bore us and  the nightlife was not huge on this small island so we headed to bed around 12.

Our final morning was spent lounging on the beach, but not without some fruit pancakes and eggs first! I had mango, pineapple and banana pancakes for breakfast! Delicious! We relaxed on our beautiful white sand beach complete with crystal clear blue waters and starfish all around! Next we showered, checked out and waited for our tour guide from the first day, JoJo, to pick us up! He arrived and took us back into the jungle for our last adventure....zip lining! Basically what happens is they harness you all up and send you flying across this river gorge on a tiny little cable! Scary to say the least! Being so adventuress the past few days though, I actually found it quite fun, almost like a roller coaster! On the way back to the port JoJo stopped in this small town and we got to witness a Filipino cockfight. A HUGE tradition in the Philippines on a Sunday. JoJo said it's what all the men in the town do and I believe it because the place was chocked full of nothing but men, the only women I saw were the ones outside cooking the dead chickens! It was sweaty and stinky but we stuck around for at least 20 mins. to see some action, it's quite a brutal sporting event. They tie knives around the chickens' legs, get them mad at each other, and then let them fight to the death! I posted a lovely video on facebook if you dare to have a look. After all that excitement we headed to the port where our 17 hours of travel began again! We didn't have much money left so when we got to the airport I thought to ask about having to pay an exit fee since we had to pay an entrance fee...turns out...we did and it just so happened that we had no more cash, and between us an American Express card that wouldn't work in any machine and my Mastercard which i didn't know the pin number for and our Korean bank cards. It was not a pretty situation. We scrounged up enough Korean won between the two of us to pay the fee to get out of Cebu and agreed that when we got to Manila we would have to come up with a different plan. Well, when we arrived we tried every ATM machine with no luck, we were in a panic and explained out situation to the foreign officers but to no avail. They were actually kind of rude to us so we had to go over and talk to our airline, they suggested we ask fellow passengers on the same flight to loan us some money until we could pay them back in Korea!! She wanted us to be beggars!? Karissa and I were at the mercy of Koreans!! NEVER a good thing in our opinion! However, they brought up a translator, thank god, because lord knows any Korean over the age of 16 does not speak hardly any English, all they know is hello and make it a point to let you know every time you pass one of them on the street. Luckily the translator woman worked her magic and these nice business guys just handed us the money like it was pocket change. We promised to pay them back but just looked at us with this confused look, I'm guessing it was because they didn't understand us but whatever. So, we board the plane, I have some oriental medicine and the next thing I know, our red eye flight has landed and it is 6 am Seoul time! We get off the plane, took forever to get through passport control because of the stupid Chinese people not having their paperwork in order. **PEOPLE** If you are traveling to another country, make sure you have the correct documentation upon arrival, after a 4-5 hour flight you'd think they'd have this shit together, but then again, it is China. Anywho...after we made it through we couldn't find our generous Korean friends! We looked everywhere and waited forever and eventually we just gave up! Thank god for their kindness though or I'd probably still be stranded on that island!!

What a great vacay! Seoul is next! Stay Tuned! :)

Chuseok

In Korea, they celebrate this holiday called Chuseok, it's a 3 day holiday in which they pray to their ancestors for a good harvest. It always falls right in the middle of the week - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Whoever is planning out the holiday calendar is an idiot. Who wants 3 days off in the middle of the week and then have to work Monday and Friday!? This prevents further travel around this time period. DISLIKE. So Monday, after the work day was complete, our boss gave us all a Chuseok present - 4 cans of tuna in oil and 3 BOXES of seaweed! - Mmmmmm, my favorite! NOT! What the hell am I going to do with 3 boxes of seaweed? 3 Boxes!! The tuna, in oil not water, I could stomach if I was poor and starving. 

It was nice gesture though. With 3 days off ahead of me, I wasn't sure what to do. 

Tuesday I went for a run to the river and walked around the park but my ankle was hurting pretty bad so I decided to go back home. I noticed Monday that my ankle was swollen but didn't really think too much of it. Wednesday I didn't leave my house all day! I was so lazy! I stayed home, iced and elevated my swollen ankle and watched season 1 of Gossip Girl! It was cold and rainy all day so I probably wouldn't have gone outside anyways. 

Thursday I decided to be somewhat productive. Karissa and I got up early and went for a hike! We hiked up Palgongsan mountain to see this huge statue of Buddha balancing a book on his head, called Gatbawi. It was carved out of this mountain rock in the 7th century?? It was quite the hike if I do say so myself. It was like doing the stairmaster for a good 1 hour. It was also crowded. I think hiking is the most popular hobby among Koreans. The get all dressed up in these hiking outfits, climb the mountain without sweating, and then sit down for a full out meal on a hot plate and drink booze. It's insane. Chaos is the best word to describe the scene at the top of the mountain. There were probably at least 100 people praying on these little mats and lighting candles and such. It was quite the sight to see. Legend has it that if you pray for one wish whole heartedly at this statue, and if you really, really mean it, it will come true. I was tired but I tried to pray for my one wish meaningfully. Still hasn't come true yet thought...so I'm doubting the powers of this mountain Buddha. After we descended the mountain we proceeded to the next stop on the tour - this beautiful temple. It was under construction but still lovely nonetheless. After the temple we headed to the hot spring spa in this same area. Karissa had never been to a jinjabong (Korean bathhouse) before so this was her first go around with the naked Korean ladies! haha It wasn't what we expected it to be but it was still nice. They had many different pools but only 3 outdoor pools feed by the hot spring. It definitely wasn't as nice as the hot springs we visited in Taiwan, but it was still nice, just very crowded. We ended the day with a chicken club sandwich to celebrate all that we had accomplished and were home by 6! 

Next day it was time to go back to work...boo! My ankle was even worse the next day so I decided to go to the doctor before work. His english is not the best, but long story short I have a sprained ankle! I can't believe that I ran tuesday and then hiked on it thursday! No wonder it was hurting so bad! He gave me some meds to help with the swelling and told me to stay off of it, which is almost impossible. It was still hurting Tuesday, the day before we were supposed to leave for the Philippines, so I went back to the doctor and now I have to wear a splint on my foot for 2-3 weeks until all the tenderness is gone! Hopefully it heals itself soon because I want to get back to the gym! 

Taiwan

Taiwan, Taiwan, where to begin! An amazing trip to say the least! This vacation came at a much needed time, right in the middle of my summer intensive courses. This was my first trip out of Korea since arriving and I was excited to get the hell outta here for a few days! Karissa and I wanted to go somewhere for vacation and we both agreed that we wanted to be on a beach somewhere with a drink in our hands....and that is how our trip to Taiwan was born. The theme of this vacation you ask?...well that's easy.. Bikini's and Booze! A girls getaway!

Day 1 - Karissa and I caught the 5:00 am bus out of Daegu for Incheon, aka Seoul's main airport. We arrived ahead of schedule so we went up to the ticket counter to get our boarding passes and the nice lady working the ticket counter upgraded us to first class!! AHH!! We were soo excited! I've always wanted to fly in first class and I've always dreamed about the day that I would get an upgrade! Needless to say, this vacation was already off to an amazing start! We stopped by the pharmacy to pick up some anti-anxiety something or another for my fear of flying. They gave me some oriental medicine or something that is supposed to help you relax! We made our way to the gate and before we knew it, it was time to get onto the plane! Now, this medicine came in two parts, one part was this little round container full of a bunch of brown balls that looked like BB gun pellets or something - probably like 10 or 12 and then it came with a bottle of liquid that you are supposed to chug after you take the little balls! When it came time to actually take it,  I started to feel a little nervous because who really knows what it was! I took all the little balls down in one gulp and then proceeded to chase it with the liquid stuff but it was the nastiest taste that I have ever had in my mouth! UGH! I could barely finish it! It was potent! We got to board the plane first because we were first class and just stepping into the first class cabin was like walking into luxury! We flew with Asian Airlines which is a nice airline and the plane we were on looked pretty new. We took our seats, and the flight attendants began waiting on us hand and foot! It was amazing! We got english newspapers, so many magazines to choose from, fresh squeezed orange juice, slippers...and that was only the beginning! As soon as we got in the air, Karissa and I decided that we were going to drink free booze until we couldn't drink anymore! They came around the cabin with the first round of drinks and we of course ordered champagne! After that they came around with the menu for the flight.. We had scallops and a salad for an appetizer, filet mignon for the main course, and tiramasu for dessert! Then they came around with a white linen service and actual silverware, it was great! The whole flight was just amazing, after lunch(breakfast for us), we continued with the drinking, we probably each had a bottle of white wine, then some baileys and coffee and some other special teas and such. It was only a 2 1/2 hour flight and we were sad to see it end but, I will say this, there was no fear on my part during the flight! Either the oriental drugs or the booze did the trick, or maybe it was a combination of both!!! After we got through immigration and such we caught a bus into Taipei and began to locate our hostel. It was in a great location, right in the middle of everything. After we dropped our stuff off, we were still on a luxury/booze high, we began to explore the city.

First things first...we visited this lovely peace park and then from there we saw the most amazing temples and gardens! Taiwan is so drastically different from Korea in such a good way. The temples and the details put into the gardens were just phenomenal! Each time we went from one site to the next, we were even more amazed at the beauty this city had to offer. This was also my first time actually visiting a temple. I've seen one here in Korea but couldn't go inside at the time so this was my first up close and personal Buddhist experience. We walked soooo much that day and it was unbearably hot outside! We were so sweaty! After visiting many temples and experiencing some Taiwan culture we decided to hit up the night markets - what Taiwan is really known for! Night markets are a huge part of their culture. It's basically like a night festival or fair with tons of food vendors, people selling junk, with a few other crazy things in the mix. We had scoped out this one night market where we heard you could drink snake blood and eat snake! We decided to check it out and the rumors were true! We didn't eat or drink snake anything but, I took some pictures and it was an unbelievable site to see! We saw some real freakshows that night. Here in Korea they don't really have freak-shows or crazy people, they keep them locked up and on the down-low, so it's rare that you'll have an encounter with a crazy. We also tried all sorts of excellent food. There was so much to choose from and we didn't really know what everything was but we just kept trying stuff until we were so full we thought we were going to burst! We also got bubble tea drinks because that's another thing Taiwan is known for and they were delicious! We kept seeing these massage places everywhere and this one guy named David, that was wearing this gaudy USA shiny shirt, drew us into his establishment where we had the best leg/foot massages ever! Considering the fact that we were already really tired and our feet were killing us, it was like heaven on earth! This lady beat the crap out of my legs, feet, shoulders, and neck! The entire 45 min massage only set me back $9 USD! CRAZY! After that we set about to find this drink called Whisby that we had read about in our lonely planet. We went into this one liquor store assuming it would be there and this nice guy that didn't speak much english took us out of his shop and all around the night market to help us find it! He went out of his way to make sure that we found what we were looking for! Taiwanese people are so hospitable! I had heard they were some of the nicest people but I wasn't really sure what to believe but, on more than one occasion on this trip people just wanted to help us and make sure we were having a good time! Something like that would NEVER happen in Korea! So anyways, we find the whisby at a pharmacy, purchase it, and being to indulge. It's a strange drink, like an energy drink packed with some vitamins and with a little extra boost of some liquor! It tasted almost like bubble gum and we thoroughly enjoyed it! After the whisby we tried some other liquor that was supposed to be Taiwan's main liquor - it was like drinking gasoline! We had maybe 2 sips each before we decided we couldn't drink it because it was THAT strong! I mean literally - like gasoline! Probably just as deadly too! We were a little buzzed throughout the whole day so the walk back to the hostel was an interesting one, at one point we had to stop and pee in a desolate parking lot...haha...Karissa had to stop midstream because someone was coming! Hilarious times! When we made it back to the hostel we were beyond exhausted!! We crashed and slept for a good 9 hours!

Day 2 -We got off to an early start around 9. The first thing on our list to see was Taipei 101. It was officially ranked as the tallest building in the world since 2004, BUT since the Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened last year, it can no longer claim that glory to fame. It's the tallest building I've ever been in so that has to count for something! When we first arrived we checked out the amazing food court that we had heard about in the basement level. It was literally one of the best food court's I've been in. They had everything to choose from and Karissa and I had the hardest time trying to decide what to eat! We finally settled on sushi and mandu. After that we bought our tickets and rode the fastest elevator in the world to the top of the building! It was pretty cool if I do say so myself! Once atop, we took pictures, looked out all the windows, and browsed around the gift shop where I bought my first pencil since being in Asia! :) What an accomplishment, right!? We then took the elevator back down and walked around the huge mall that comprises the first 5 stories of the building. It was similar to walking around  Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, designer stores everywhere filled with nothing that I could afford. Fun to window shop nonetheless. After Taipei 101 we headed over to the Jade and flower markets! Two semi-indoor markets one filled with tons of Jade, (some real, some fake I'm sure) and then the Flower market which was just lovely and colorful! We spent a good amount of time here and then proceeded to do some shopping. We were pretty unsuccessful because we kept getting lost and eventually we gave up and headed back to the hostel for showers before hitting up another night market!
After regrouping, we decided to go to Taiwan's most famous night market, Shilin Night Market. We spent the evening here stuffing our faces with the most amazing food I've ever tasted! We had beef noodle soup, tons of delicious fresh fruit, dumplings, shrimp, so many different kinds of meat on a stick, stinky tofu, and so much more! The food was by far the best at this night market! We also did a little bit of shopping. This market was more of a free for all whereas the other one had some structure to how it was set up, including actual buildings and a designated area. We also enjoyed the younger crowd at this market as compared to the night before. It wasn't long until we were exhausted and took the subway back to the hostel and passed out.

Day 3 - Beach and Spa day! We really wanted to have a day at the beach so we picked one of the many beaches out of our book and got on a bus! A bus to Jinshan to be exact. When we arrived in the town, we had to ask for directions at a  7/11 and this nice guy told us how to get there, so we started walking and then next thing we know, he is picking us up in his elementary school bus van! He drove us down to the beach and after we realized what a trek it could have been we were relieved! Such a nice guy! Like I said, the people in Taiwan were all so nice like this! So helpful! So anyways, we get to the beach and there is literally not a soul in sight! It was kinda nice! We assumed that most kids were in school because it was a Monday but still, we were the only ones there! The beach was ok, not exactly what we were expecting, but nonetheless it was still nice to be relaxing on the sand staring out at the ocean.. After the beach we changed and decided to find the hot springs that were supposed to be nearby. We wanted to visit this resort that we had read about in our book so we went to the main tourist building and they called us a cab and he took us to this GORGEOUS 5 start resort in the mountains! It was unbelievable! We paid maybe $20 USD to use the facilities all afternoon and evening! It was basically a hot spring resort and they had at least 20-30 different hot spring pools for us to relax in. They came in all flavors and temperatures - hot, scalding hot, cold, coffee flavored, lavender, green tea, you name it they had it! They also had an infinity pool looking out over the mountains with water massage chairs which were fabulous! It was such a relaxing day and by far one of the best spa experiences I've had! We were sad to leave. After lounging around all afternoon though we were starving and sat down for what turned into a 10 course meal at the resort! 10 courses and all you could drink draft beer for like $15 USD! Amazing! The food was great and shortly after that we had this sexy guy working the hotel front desk call us a cab so we could get back to the bus station! The bus ride back was an adventure in itself. SCARY! We were going really fast around these hairpin turns, it seemed very dangerous. We crashed pretty early after talking to a girl at our hostel about what we should do the next day...

Day 4 - We decided to go to the very end of the subway line towards the north to a town called Danshui? Something like that maybe. We really weren't that impressed because nothing was open! We contributed this to the fact that it was too early.. around 10 - not early by western standards but in Asia - this is early. All we wanted was some breakfast for once! We walked around forever and it was already so hot! We finally found this little cafe with actual american style breakfast food, we had never been so thankful! We stuffed our faces and got back on the train to see this temple. The temple was quite a sight to see, very lavishly decorated and we saw so many different buddhist statues at this place of all these different gods. There were just hallways packed with them! They looked pretty cool though so I snapped some photos! hehe After the temple we attempted to find the Beitou hot springs. We took the train to the stop, walked all around the area, finally found them and then they were closed for the next 45 mins! UGH! We were so mad and hot and thirsty that we just gave up and headed back to the hostel because it was almost time to leave! I think we were overheated and just wanted cold showers honestly. We got just that and then caught the bus back to the airport. We didn't get to fly first class on the way back, but we still got to booze it up in economy for free! We threw back some wine with our in-flight meal, which was actually good and in combination with my other dose of oriental medicine, it was a smooth ride. We made it back to Daegu around 2 in the morning because the first bus from Incheon was booked so we had to wait another hour.

A few things to note about Taiwan: I really enjoyed this country, the people are very hospitable, always willing to lend a helping hand and we really appreciated that! What a great country for tourism! Also, I noticed almost everyone spoke some amount of English and most people, spoke it very well. Their subway or metro system called the MRT, is very cheap and efficient and they even had these special waiting areas for females after dark with cameras and help buttons. Seriously, what a great idea! They also have these lines on the floor for people who are going to enter the subway to line up on, then when the train comes, people exit in one direction and you board almost single file onto the train in the other direction! So efficient! All metros need this system. Even though Taipei is a huge city the air quality there, compared to the air quality here in Daegu, was drastically different, much cleaner and it actually felt like a city as composed to a large suburb full of apartment buildings. We also noticed that we didn't get as many stares as we do here on a daily basis! Not very many people stared at us at all actually, it was quite nice not being noticed for a change! One thing that we loved about Taiwan was the amount of mopeds or scooters! They are everywhere and there are so many! We decided to call them scooter gangs! Overall it was a great trip and I would love to go back to Taiwan for the food, the people, and the beautiful scenery (handsome men included!).



On a side note - Karissa and I discussed the weight limit issue for airlines and how they make fat people buy two seats now and blah blah blah....we came to the decision that for every one person you should be allowed 250 lbs. of weight. Including yourself! This means that if you weigh 200 lbs. than you are only allowed 50 lbs. of luggage. Therefore, if you weight 150 lbs. you are allowed 100 lbs. of luggage. Etc. This is such a grand idea! It might also help American's think about the next big mac they are about to shove down their throat's....do you wanna take those jeans on vacay next week or do you wanna eat this sandwich bitch!? hahahahaha Brilliant - a new way to a skinny America! :D


Up next... the Philippines! Stay tuned!

Summer's Brutality

It's been a while to say the least...almost 2 1/2 months to be exact. I had an excuse there for a while but recently I've just been boycotting this blog. I'm not exactly sure why that is, I seem to just keep putting everything off until another day...this is a terrible attitude to have about things...so I'm no longer going to procrastinate because like they say, there's no time like the present! Here it goes...brace yourself..

• The highlight of July was Mudfest - this huge festival that I went to in Boryeong, South Korea. None of my co-workers seemed interested in going so I decided to join this tour group thing on facebook and I ended up meeting lots of foreigners living here in Daegu on the journey. Basically it was like spending a weekend in a frat house! We left really early on Saturday morning on 2 buses for the 4 hour drive up the eastern coast of Korea. Boryeong is known for it's mud and it's mud is known for it's healing properties! It's supposed to be amazing for your skin, and the city just happens to be on the beach, which was a definite plus! So on the bus ride, people are already drinking heavily at 9 in the morning. The bus ride was quite an adventure, it involved me having to pop a squat, in the pouring rain, along side the road at one point. Lesson learned here - never drink on a bus again! Our bus also happened to be a norebong bus! So we sang karaoke the whole way there! It was crazy! We arrived around noon to this huge party house with lots of rooms and floor mats to sleep on, very common in Korea. From there, the heavier drinking began along with playing in the mud! It was amazing! The best way to describe this experience would be - a HUGE mud party! They had everything, you could get painted in different color mud, mud massages, mud facials, mud baths, mud everything. They also had tons of the big blow up things that you see at fairs and such with the slides and instead of water, they were pumping out mud down these things! Mud was flowing a bounty! After you got muddy enough then you ran and jumped in the ocean to rinse off before going back at it again! It was a very unique experience and definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done! I posted pictures on facebook if you want to have a peek... After an exhausting day of drinking and playing in the mud everyone showered and got ready for the huge house party that our group threw! I did my first ever keg stand that night even though I hate beer and I met a lot of cool people.  It was like being at a frat house...the party went on into the wee hours of the night and then the next day I woke up, hung out at the beach a little bit, and then we headed home on the bus. This 4 hour ride was sooo peaceful and quiet! No drinking, no norebong..just silence because everyone was drained and hungover!
• Another highlight from July, we added two new teachers to the Hanvit family, Hayley from the US and Elspeth from Canada. Both arrived within one week of each other so we got to throw 2 welcome dinner parties at our favorite Galbi restaurant in Manchon! They teach at the Beomeo branch so I don't see them on a daily basis but we all hang out together after work, on the weekends, and such. 
• I finally moved in July also and what an interesting experience that was! My apartment finally sold so I only had to commute to work for 1 week luckily. The movers arrived at my house at 8:00 in the morning and although I had packed up most of my things, they came in with boxes and packed up everything else. It was chaos, they arrived and within 1 hour they had completely gutted my apartment. In Korea, they take EVERYTHING, the washer, the stove top, the refrigerator, and they even ripped the air conditioner off the wall! I'm surprised they didn't bring the toilet! Gina, the lady that handles all of our company's finances and living arrangements, arrived around 9 to pick me up and take me to my new place. When we arrived, I was surprised by how big and nice it was! We hung out for a while waiting for the movers. 20 mins. passed, then 45 mins. passed, then 1 hour 30 mins. passed before we both started to wonder where the movers were? It was also a little awkward sitting there with someone who doesn't really speak that much English. I was getting desperate. Gina called them and you're not going to believe this one...they STOPPED for BREAKFAST in the middle of my move! Holy shit! ONLY in Korea would something like this happen! WTF, who stops in the middle of a job? Not only that, but everything from my fridge was on the back of these two pick up trucks spoiling! I was livid! They eventually made it and when they found out that I was on the top floor they weren't so happy anymore...2 men carried everything up these stairs! It was quite the site to see! They put everything where I wanted it and before I knew it, I was all settled in to my new place. It was an interesting culture experience but moving sucks nonetheless, it's never a fun task. I do however enjoy my new neighborhood much more! I'm located close to the subway now, and I'm only two stops from downtown! It's very nice! The only thing my new apartment is missing is a bathtub! I've been missing my bathtub at my other apartment! 
• Also a highlight in July - more like lowlight - I taught summer intensive courses. It was brutal. They last for almost a month while the students were having their summer vacation. It consisted of me going to work at 10:30 every morning and working until 10:30 at night. 5 extra hours of work everyday! UGH, I was sooooo exhausted. I was relieved when it ended. I got paid extra for the work but when my paycheck finally came this month, it really didn't seem all that worthwhile. :-/ They last from like July 20th - August 18th. I did get a 4 day vacation during this time frame but I would blame the summer intensive courses for my lack of blogging. 
• The summer here was almost unbearable. I honestly don't know how these people can stand it. I've walked into so many shops without A/C and I just want to shake these people and be like "what the hell is wrong with you?" Thank goodness for air conditioning at my school. Being at work for 12 hours out of my day definitely kept me out of the brutal humidity of Daegu, which in the end, I'm thankful for. I'm so glad that fall has finally arrived. About 1 week ago it just cooled down over night and has finally leveled out to a normal temperature. Low 80's and sunny during the day with  cooler nights around 68. :) Heaven!
• We also had a summer vacation break when the students did, right in the middle of summer intensives. I went to Taiwan with Karissa! It was absolutely fabulous and I will have to write another blog post dedicated solely to that. 
• On the weekends we attempted to do stuff as a group, we tried to go zip- lining once but couldn't find the right bus. It was a failed day. We also tried to go to Busan to the beach one sunday but it started pouring the rain as soon as we got there and continued to rain the whole damn day! It was awful. We don't seem to be having much luck recently with day activities. 
• I joined a new gym in my neighborhood, it's alright. It's not as nice as my other gym but it's cheaper at only 50,000 won a month and it has everything that I need!
• My sister Chelsea left for Africa sometime recently...I wonder what how she's holding up?
• The guy scene here needs some serious work....it's pathetic...
• Also, did you know, that Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world!? If I can remember correctly, they are #2, Japan is #1. I can definitely see why though. The asian societies put too much pressure on themselves. Especially when it comes to personal image. The only thing my students ever worry about is "losing face" - aka being embarrassed or a disappointment. This cultural aspect definitely shows in the way my students behave on a daily basis. It's so interesting to see how culture shapes a person and how they view the world. 
• Karissa's parents visited recently. They came to Korea for a little over a week. We all had dinner together one night last week. We, of course, ate gabli, traditional Korea BBQ. It was really nice to have some new people around and especially two adult figures. 
• There is going to be a huge concert in Seoul Oct. 9th, called Global Gathering. I really want to go but I'm not sure if i'll be able to afford it. One of my favorite DJ's - Armin Van Buuren is going to be there along with Justice, Fat Boy Slim, and some other DJ's I've never heard of. It's going to be a like a big dance party! Eeck! I hope I have enough money at the end of the month to go! I would kill to see him play! 
• There has been 2 typhoons this summer. Pretty interesting.
• Also, there are many atheists here in South Korea, I've met so many people that don't believe in anything! It's kind of shocking actually...
• I took a bad fall about 2 weeks ago on the sidewalk. It was around 12 o'clock in the afternoon and sadly I hadn't been drinking when it happened! I'm just blind I guess! It was pretty bad though, skinned up both my knees really bad and my foot. I almost lost it there for a min. but after I had regained my composure I was laughing hysterically at my own stupidity! haha
• My student loan payments are starting in 10 days and they will slowly be the death of me....someone I know..PLEASE win the freaking lottery! I can't suffer in this misery of the greedy american civilization just for some education which hasn't done anything I was told it was going to do.  :(
• I have recently developed a new punishment for my students. One day I got the bright idea to make them write sentences! I remember having to do this in the 1st grade one time and it was the worst thing ever! So, when they do something bad or forget their book or something I make them write a sentences about whatever they did bad! For example: I will not forget my book - maybe 50 times! It works like a charm! :)
• One of my students asked me the other day randomly that if the world was going to be destroyed tomorrow, what would I do? This caught me off guard, they were probably asking just to get me off topic but nonetheless, I stopped so we could talk about it. It was interesting to hear their responses. I said that I would probably go to Disneyworld because that was about the most appropriate thing I could think of at the time! haha
• Another interesting thing I am going to try out this week is this activity called "Draw your Habitat," you ask your class to draw a picture of their house and then you ask them to draw a picture of what a house is supposed to look like and see if there is a difference. I find this to be mind boggling because for some reason we all think that the house WE live in is what a house is supposed to be like. It's hard to think outside the box sometimes. I wish we could all come to this realization about things in our life, that maybe our way isn't always the right way...
• One of the foreign teachers at our branch, Robin, finally left monday! AH! What a relief, I wasn't sure how much more of her bipolar self I could take! It's so much more quite at work now!
• Some other exciting news is that I only have to work 4 days in the next 2 weeks! Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving, is this week. We have to work Monday and Friday but then we have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off from work. Then I have to work Monday and Tuesday next week and then it's off for another vacation while the students take their exams! Karissa and I have booked tickets to the Philippines and are going to bask in the glory of white sand beaches and cheap rum for 5 days! :D It's going to be awesome! We hope to go diving or snorkeling while we are there too! We're sooo excited!! I'm really glad I have her to vacation with everywhere, we make a good team because we are so much alike, especially when it comes to traveling! 

That's the best update that I can give for now.... it's been an exhausting summer and I'm so glad fall has arrived. I vow to blog more! It WILL happen! Good news is.. I've been here for almost 4 1/2 months! Time seems to be flying recently! Before you know it I will be almost half way done with my contract and then just another 6 months to go! I can do it!! :D 

BTW, thanks to everyone who has sent me a care package at some time or another since I've been here. I truly appreciate it more than you'll ever know. It's nice to get things from home! :)

It's not wrong...it's just different..an inside look to Korean culture...

It’s been almost two months since I first arrived here in South Korea and I just want to start this post off with a look inside of the Korean culture. I haven’t quite fallen in love with this place yet unfortunately, but I also didn’t fall in love with Barcelona immediately either. I think a lot of that has to do with the culture here. Culture constantly fascinates me in ways that I can’t always describe. Korean values are pretty similar to American values; they surprisingly seem to come off as a very materialistic culture. Everyone must have nice things as a symbol of status like cars, clothes, and cell phones. They are also a very “wired” culture; it’s very rare that I see someone without a cell phone attached to their ear or hand (most of the time sending a text or even watching live tv). Appearance here is also very important and the hierarchy system is still very much in place. Men are in charge and it would be very rare for a woman to own a business. They are a very touchy feely culture and tend to be clingy sometimes. Koreans are some of the nicest and rudest people that I’ve ever met, all at the same time! They have no sense of personal space, enjoy silence on public transportation, love their spicy ass food, and refuse to let any sunlight penetrate their skin. They are a very active and physically fit culture with a huge emphasize put on being  “tall and skinny.” Education is the absolute most important thing. The language to me is confusing and every single word ends in a vowel and this is no exaggeration. Everywhere I go it’s, Yogi-yo, kam-sam-nee-daa, on hay seo…. everything ends in the vowels…nee da, ha-seo, or yo. The average size family includes 1 maybe 2 children. Koreans also don’t sweat and will wear turtle necks, long pants, gloves, and a huge hat to shade their whole face when it is 90 + degrees outside, and STILL – no sweat.  Koreans are also very big on national pride and take their country very seriously. The children are adorable but Koreans do not age well at all. The older they get, the worse they look I’ve noticed.

 I think that overall when it comes to cultural values here and the way of life, I’m not sure that this is a place that I would want to live forever. Korea is very nice and maybe I haven’t experienced enough of it yet to really form an overall opinion of this place, but these are my initial thoughts after 2 months. There are worse places on this earth to spend my days and Korea is certainly not one of them. 

Educational Culture – Here in Korea the students go to school during normal hours just like we would in the US. From about 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. everyday. In school they study a variety of subjects. After school almost all Korean students will attend some type of academy. For example, one student’s week could look like this: Monday & Thursday – English academy after school for 3-5 hours, Tuesday & Friday - Math and Science academy for 3-4 hours , and Wednesday & Saturday maybe a sports academy like Taekwondo or a Korean academy. Then after the kids go to academy, most of them get home around 8-10 p.m. every night and then have to do normally 2-3 hours of homework on top of all that. I’ve been told that 6 hours of sleep for a Korean student each night is a joy! The kids also go to school pretty much year round here, they get a month off during summer and a month during the winter but that’s about it. Education is the top priority here in Korea. Where we might see this as demanding and cruel, this just happens to be their culture. It’s not wrong, it’s just different…




That's about it for my cultural rant at the moment. At this point I think anyone who's reading probably has a grasp on my daily schedule at this point: Sleep in, wake up, gym, work, and then stay up late doing whatever. So I don't need to go through everyday...BUT, I will give you the highlights of the past 3 weeks...here are my random thoughts in no particular order...

• Here in Korea, if you happen to be in a relationship, you can purchase matching clothing! Couples do this all the time and it's not rare to see couples in matching clothes just walking around! They also have an entire section dedicated to this fad or fashion trend at the large department store here called the Dong-A! Crazy! I will try to snap a photo if I can...
• There was company picnic June 20th- none of us went though, it included having to pay 25,000 Won for lunch in some remote outskirt of Daegu. Pssh, Maybe next time if they decided to do something not so boring and worth my weekend...
• There has recently been a crackdown at work concerning use of the internet, cell phones, too much chit-chatting, and electricity conservation....My thoughts on this = GAY! The boss has been watching our every move on the CCTV system, I think a lot of his stress has to do with one of our branches closing, I can imagine that the merger is a little stressful but one of the rules implemented included no talking in the staff room except for during the 5 mins. break period...I mean come on, seriously!?
• I almost got hit by some idiotic woman driver the other day. They drive on the sidewalks here and she just started coming up onto the sidewalk off of the main drag at probably 25 mph! She nearly hit me and when she saw how pissed off I was she started doing some weird arm motion that I'm assuming meant "I'm sorry!" Regardless...I hit her car a couple of times and gave her the bird just to let her know how pissed off I really was...!
• I recently started drinking Aloe, it's a big thing here in Korea. At some point in time I remember my grandma telling me about it's benefits because she had purchased some for my sickly aunt. I had some at work when we had snacks one day and it was delicious and now I'm drinking it all the time. It might be the single cause of me staying here - it's that good!
• Another piece of advice from my lovely grandma..and this is verbatim... "I think that you just need to get laid. It will stop all this nonsense talk about being in love." - HAHA! My grandma...the world's best right there folks! She literally knows everything there is to know. I miss having our Saturday work days together!
• Another note about work - we have treats all the time! I love it! One day last week, the big boss guy (Woon Jang Nim) brought us in a big tub of baskin robbins ice cream, another day, our team leader brought in ice cream cones for everyone, and then another day the big boss brought us some Korean goodies...some purple noodles and some rice cakes in some spicy - wait, you guessed it -RED sauce...not too bad, that's when I tried the Aloe. We have also had cake on many occasions as well.
• Terrorism is stupid. 
• The fruit here in Daegu truly is delicious. The apples are probably some of the best I've ever had and the pears here are to die for.
• The humidity has decided to kick itself up a notch and is slowly trying to suck the life out of me...along with this humidity have arrived our not so friendly blood sucking pests that we like to call mosquitoes. I have already been bit about 5 times and from what I hear, I'm lucky, it could be worse! I need some bug spray STAT!
• While I have been neglecting my blog we had a vacation from work. It was supposedly a 4 day vacation but turned out to only be a long weekend - we had Thursday and Friday off... I did nothing productive with myself, sad to say but totally true. I hung out with Chris and Joel all weekend because everyone else was away on vacation. I spent the majority of my time frequenting the downtown area and staying out until 8 & 7 a.m. respectively! I did locate a pool though and thus went for a swim. I also did some shopping and actually purchased a few things for a change. I met a lot of new people so overall it was a good weekend. I kinda wish I would have traveled somewhere but I decided to just be boring :-/
• Speaking of pool...I did locate a pool that I can swim laps at. I purchased myself a swimsuit, cap, and googles and decided to get back at it! I didn't realize how much I missed swimming until I did my first 50 meters! Ugh, I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to stop doing it in high school (wait, I recall the big shoulders paranoia) ...I miss the swim team, great exercise. The Koreans at the pool seemed to be pretty impressed with me and the lifeguard went so far as to complement me on my great swimming with the little english that he knew. I liked it so much that I decided to go back this weekend and ended up meeting another girl named Victoria from England. She signed up to take swim lessons and the lifeguard asked me if I could come and help him teach her because he doesn't speak any English and is having a hard time explaining things to her! I felt so flattered but I can't do it because I work during the time of her lesson. I told her that I could give her some advice on the weekends though if she wanted some help...
• I also received my first care package from Auntie Jo, loaded with peanut butter, nutella, popcorn, and English magazines..I'm only allowing myself to read 10 pages per day so that they last me for a while! lol Thanks again Auntie Jo!
• Here in Korea they have this terrible music called K-pop, which in short stands for Korean Pop. It's probably the worst music on the planet. I told my students this and they said, "No teacha, no!" I explained to them that if it was good music it would probably be recognized internationally or at least in one other country - AKA there's a reason for this - it's TERRIBLE! If you don't believe me - download some.
•  Common courtesy goes along with any job.
• What’s so scary about being human is the unknown….
•  The most beautiful Korean women are supposedly found right here in Daegu.
• Boys hold hands here and girls hold hands here but it’s not considered gay, just friendly.
• I love memory foam and desperately want some for my bed!
• It's pretty cool to be paid in millions!
• One recently cool experience that I had: Joel and I went to this place called Dr. Fish. This is how it works..you go in, pay like 2 dollars, put your feet in these little tub things that are full of these little fish and they eat all the dead skin off of your feet! It feels so crazy! I am extremely ticklish so it was hard for me to get used to it at first but it's like receiving a pedicure by little baby piranas! Very cool. I also read that Dr. Fish only exists in Korea and Malaysia but that could be false...interesting experience though, I can't wait to go back!
• Canada Day was this past Thursday and the Fourth of July is currently occuring...haha It's been a fun filled weekend that included a sloppy night at the bar yesterday. Special food was offered in honor of these holidays this weekend here in Daegu at this bar called the Holy Grill. Goooood Eats if I do say so myself! 
• The past two weeks we haven't had hardly any students at school because final exams are taking place in their regular schools so it's been extremely quiet at work. Relaxing, but I'm ready for my little darlings to return to school tomorrow because I'm bored and they keep me pretty entertained at times...
• I'm trying to plan what I'm going to do for our next vacation. Karissa wants to go to Taiwan...anyone know anything about Taiwan? I wouldn't mind going there or the Philippines.

Random thought for the week..

Whose to say where I'll be a year from now?? I honestly can't even begin to think about that right now. People keep asking me this but I just can't make plans anymore like I used to. If there is one thing that I've learned over the past 3 years it's that you gotta take this world ONE day at a time...and sometimes you even have to take it hour by hour, and minute by minute.... Make it count because you never know when you won't be with the one's you love anymore...

Question of the week...

Is it wrong to go out with someone even if you don’t see yourself dating them in the future? Is it still wrong even if you just see yourself having fun with them as a friend?

The World Cup has officially begun!!!..oh yeah..and another week in Korea..

Well, I'm two days late but its still exciting...this past week has been busy!

Monday - Hit the gym in the morning and made a new friend! I met a girl named Kelly that lives and teaches in this area too! Very nice! Then I headed to school...Back to work..ugh. I hate Monday's for the pure fact that the weekend joy has to come to an end. It's sad. Monday's are also my busy day at work so that's no fun at all. The day flew by with 5 classes and 2 phone calls at the end of my day. After work I headed home and did some Spanish stuff before I just passed out.

Tuesday - Gym in the morning and then off to work. Nothing too exciting at work this week except for the fact that some of our co-teachers have moved classes so I had some new teachers and that created a bit of extra work for me but nothing too bad. After work I didn't do anything. I live too far away from everyone else to do stuff, it sucks sometimes and other times I like it that way.

Wednesday - Gym in the morning and then work again. Wednesday's are my favorites because I only have 2 80 minute classes and so much free time that I don't even know what to do with myself. I also got my first pay stub on Wednesday! Yay! I must say, it's pretty cool to be paid in millions! haha. We also had to work 2 holiday's this month so I got an additional 100,000 won! Altogether it turned out to be a pretty nice pay check and I am going to try to save the majority of it.

Thursday - Gym in the morning and then I headed over to Susung branch for work. Thursday was the official payday when our money gets deposited into our accounts so everyone was in a fabulous mood. I was pretty lenient with my classes too. I like almost all of my students but there's one or two that I would love to just have kicked out of school! After work I decided to skip TND this week to hang out with one of my other friends named Jon. We grabbed pizza downtown and it was delicious!

Friday - I skipped the gym in the morning because I just couldn't pull myself out of bed! It was pitiful! I headed into work, the day seemed to creep by so slowly and right before it was over I got an email from our boss saying that he needed to talk to Brendan and I. So, at 10 we headed to his office only for him to be at the other branch so we had to call him up on the phone and that is when he told us that the Beommul branch that I live by and work at is closing down due to the fact that the lease is up on the building and they think it would just be best to move all the teachers over to Susung. So, I will also be moving. Now, this is obviously a little bit of an inconvenience to me considering the fact that I have been here for like a month and I will have had to move twice within two months! I'm a little annoyed but at the same time, I'm happy to be back on the subway line and closer to the other foreign teachers. I will no longer have to pay 10 dollars for a cab ride home every-time I want to go out after work! It's exciting.

The downside is this...They gave Brendan the option of staying in Jisan, where we live now, or finding him an apartment in Susung closer to the school and they just flat out told me that I would be moving back to Manchon. I was excited about the move until they told me this. I do not want to move back into Manchon. Compared to where I live now, Manchon is like living in a closet and I would still have to take the subway to work everyday! Plus it's like living in a college dorm with people that live in the same building always knocking on my door and what not. Ugh, annoying. So I decided, after talking to Karissa and the other foreign teachers, that I was going to ask them to find me a different place too! It's only fair, even if they do favor guys here. lol It was alot of excitment within a short amount of time. It has it's downsides and it's upsides. I'm sad that I will have to find another gym and the fact that i finally know my way around here and now I have to leave! The move will be official on the 17th of July but I will probably be moving sometime before that. After working I got invited to do a couple of different things but instead just decided to stay home because I had to be up early the next morning to go to Costco! BTW, the World Cup officially started on Friday! WOO HOO! I'm so freaking excited for this! I am backing Spain all the way because I think they have one of the best teams in the world. I am also in favor of Portugal, Brazil, and Germany....in that order! All have great teams and it's going to be interesting to see who ends up in the final together. I think that soccer players have the best bodies of all athletes and this is one of the main reasons that I have started following this sport, plus, it's so much better than American football and all the other professional sports that are out there these days...So yea, if your a fan, let's hear who you are supporting! I'd love to know!

Saturday - I had to get up at 8:30 in order to meet everyone at 10:00 to go to Costco. I was going to pick up a few things for Brendan so I met him around 9:20, took out some money and caught the bus to meet everyone else. We taxied it to Costco and I was so excited when we got there! We started out on the bottom level where all the stuff is that isn't food. I didn't really get to look around much because I was with 3 other people and I felt really rushed. I did get a normal size bath towel though so I was pretty stoked about that! Here in Korea they only use towels the size of hand towels back home to dry off with when they get out of the shower. It is beyond me why they do this, I think it's strange and I don't see the point in depriving yourself of a luxurious bath towel if you don't have to! I think it's silly. I need normal towels, I like to be able to wrap up in a towel when I'm done with my shower!
After looking around in the home goods area we headed upstairs to the food. It was sample day but I didn't have time to try much like I said, I felt rushed. Overall we were there for about an hour or two, we shopped and then we had lunch at the cafe which was really good. We all spent a total of 360 dollars and each time I spend money I get a certain percentage of that back at the end of the year. So anytime someone wants to go to Costco and use my card I'm okay with it! Everything comes in bulk at Costco so I ended up with a substantial amount of things...here's what I got: Egg-o waffles, honey nut cherrios, fiber one bars, pace salsa, slices of smoked salmon, slices of turkey breast, a huge block of colby jack cheese, 6lb. bag of veggies for my lunch, and a 4lb. bag of trail mix! I saw so much stuff that I wanted but I'm just going to have to go back another time when we aren't in such a rush.
After I got back from Costco I headed to the gym, I love going to the gym on Saturday's because I'm never on a time limit so I always get the best workout. Got home around 5, showered, and then headed over to meet up with everybody to go to Druyu park, the huge park here in Daegu, to watch the South Korea vs. Greece match! We arrived at the park about 30 minutes before the game started and it was absolutely packed! There had to be, and I'm not even exaggerating, at least 20,000-30,000 Koreans there! It was insane! We couldn't even get close enough to see the huge TV screens. Honestly, you would have thought that we were going to a live sporting event the way that people were acting. They are really backing their team here and I think that's great. It was very exciting just to be there in that crowd. The game was obviously in Korean so not only could we not see the TV's but we also couldn't even understand what was going on...haha it was a bit of a waste and we probably should have watched it in a bar but nonetheless, it was a good time. Afterwards we had Galbi, or Korean BBQ nearby before heading home and calling it a night. We were all too exhausted from getting up early to stay out late.

Sunday - I got up around 11 and realized that I had no reason to be up so I went back to bed and got up again around 1:30. lol Sunday is my day of rest. After I got up I decided that I was going to go downtown and do a little shopping before I had to meet up with everyone for dinner. I found this great store called Basic House and they actually had clothes that fit me! I've been having trouble finding things that fit right. Here in Korea, the women do not have boobs and a butt so everything is like a "one size fits all" kinda deal and it literally does. Unfortunately for me..this isn't going to cut it. I need clothes for curves and this store just happened to have normal stuff! I was pretty excited and I ended up finding a skirt that I really liked. I bought it and then I later bought a shirt to go with it! After my shopping adventure I met up with the majority of the other foreign teachers and one of our Korean co-teachers. (his name is Soo-jin and he went to school and lived in texas for 10 years so he's very Americanized, it's great) We had decided about 2 weeks ago that we were going to get together the first Sunday after payday and go to this western place where you can BBQ! So, we arrived, and we ordered this huge platter of meats and stuff and then had a cook-out! Each table is equipped with it's own grill, an actual grill. It was sweet. We had squid, steak, shrimp, duck, chicken, pork, sweet potatoes, smoked salmon, roasted chestnuts, veggies, and of course no meal would be complete without some Korean salad! Everything was delicious! We will definitely go back . After dinner us girls headed downtown to do a little more shopping, we also grabbed a Coldstone Creamery ice cream and then had bag drinks later. We called it an early night and headed home around 11:30.
So one thing about Korea is that they have TV's in almost all their cars AND buses here! Talk about a distraction! If you think cell phones in America are bad...try having a TV in your car! Haha, so all of the taxi's have them of course and on the way back in the cab I was watching the World Cup while sipping my bag drink! Life doesn't get any sweeter than this! Someone is chauffeuring you around while you drink a martini in a bag and watch the World Cup! Life at this moment was grand! It was ruined when I was exiting the cab and accidentally spilt more than half of my drink the floor of this guy's cab! AH! I felt so horrible because he didn't even try to rip me off! I tried to say I was sorry but it just wasn't happening in Korean, but the good news is that he just waved his hand and basically said no worries! I was so relieved! After getting home I of course checked all the updates on the World Cup for the day, made my predictions for the next round of games and headed to bed.

Monday - I went to the gym in the morning and then headed to work. Like I said earlier, mondays are always my busiest day at work so I don't enjoy them. I got most of my grading done quickly and I had sent an email to my boss about my new living situation. He eventually called me into his office and I calmly and rationally explained to him that I would like the same option as Brendan was given to move closer to Susung and explained to him my reasons and why I did not want to live at Manchon. Long story short he said that he would see what they could do....I'm not sure if this means they are going to look for a place for me or what? Hopefully they do though because if not then I'm going to keep complaining until I get my way! After that discussion I proceeded with my classes and as my day was coming to an end I learned that 2 of the teachers, Robin and Karissa, had gotten into trouble for using the internet for personal use. So then we all got an email telling us that we are not allowed to use the internet for personal use, we are not allowed to use the printers at work for personal use (even if it's to print out one thing), and we are not allowed to have our MP3 players out at work listening to them. lol I just laughed out loud when I got this email...seriously...that's the dumbest thing, but whatever...rules are rules I guess. I'll follow them because I'd like to keep my job.

Tuesday - Today I didn't do much before work, I went to the gym and bought some awesome whole grain oat bread at the Dong-A department store. Work was pretty boring...most of my classes were good except for the last one. It's been predicted that we are going to lose some of our students in the move and I honestly wouldn't mind losing my last class! Haha, they are a group of those stubborn teenagers that think that everything you do is "uncool and lame." How did I get stuck with this class? I hate them probably as much as they hate me! Whatever..I laid out the rules and they have to follow them...and if they don't..I'll enjoy every minute of punishing them..! After work I came home and actually turned on my TV for like the second time since I've been here! I finally located the World Cup on some sports channel and even though it's in Korean and I can't understand what they are saying..I can still tell what's going on in the game. So, my day was made whole by this. I probably won't turn the TV off now until July 11th! I love World Cup fever...I'm so into this year!

Side-notes:

• I have been diligently practicing my Spanish! I love it! 
• Did you know that Samsung makes cars? A NICE car at that however, they do not export them!
• I found the one place that you can buy English magazines here. I wanted to get Travel and Leisure but it was 17 dollars! No thank you! - Crazy! Someone mail me one please!
• I want to go to the Philippines and Thailand but I'm too poor, at least for this vacay..I hate student loans, they might be the death of me...I wonder what would happen if I just didn't repay them? Could they take me to jail? Will I have to hide out here forever?
• It is very quiet here on the trains and on the buses. I was told there's like this unwritten rule that you don't talk on the trains, subways, or buses. It's creepy..I don't like the silence...this makes me reflect back on my train rides in Spain...always conversation, always song, always dance..I miss it!
• I bought some spa stuff, like face masks and an under-eye treatment thing the other day...I tried them out..and they work! They are crazy about their skin care here, there are so many products to choose from, it may take me a year just to try them all!
• They drive with absolutely NO CAUTION here in Korea...they are crazy drivers...if anyone thinks Europe is bad..you should check out Korea...they drive without even thinking that someone might be around the corner..no possibility at all! I'm surprised there aren't more accidents. I know pedestrians get hit a lot and if someone even TRIES to run me down with their car I'm going to beat the hell out of them if I am still standing! haha
• Something else I've realized this week...We all stereotype..it's just what we do as humans...but, I discovered this week just from teaching that we actually learned how to stereotype in school. It's inevitable. 
• Most days here in Korea...I feel like I'm living in a world of gay men and high class women. All of the men here are extremely feminine...and I mean..to the extreme's worse than Europe..except here..being gay does not exist whereas, the majority of the flamboyant ones in Europe are 50/50, straight or gay. They carry nicer handbags than me, wear tighter pants than me, and use more products in their hair than I do! It's just gross..I am completely repulsed by the majority of Korean men...it's sad...The women here are equally as crazy. They all wear high heels everywhere they go..to the grocery store, in the pouring rain, to the SOCCER GAME at the PARK of all places where there are dirt paths! In fact, while hiking I do recall seeing a couple of girls in heels. They are also crazy about their sun umbrella's here. Koreans refuse to let any light penetrate their bodies. They will wear turtlenecks and pants and visors even when it's 90 outside and THEN, in addition to all that, they will also carry around their annoying sun umbrellas and they will just hit you in the face with them and then keep on walking. I'd like to slap these *****. Don't these people know that you NEED 15-20 minutes of direct sunlight a day to get enough Vitamin D? The sun can be good for you in moderation. In western culture..we think tan and golden is beautiful but here they think that being as white as a ghost is attractive. They even have moisturizers and skin creams to help bleach your skin and keep it it's whitest! Crazy! I wonder if that's what Michael Jackson was using? lol Just wondering...
• They also do not sell normal size brooms here. They only sell short brooms, you can't buy a normal one at the store. Trust me, I've checked 6 different stores. I'm just going to go ahead and throw something out here...I think that I'm putting two and two together when I say this... I've noticed that the majority of old women here are hunchbacked...like bent all the way over..and I'm just taking my best educated guess when I say this..I think this is because they have been sweeping their floors all these years with brooms that are too short for them! Maybe, if they would have thought to make the handle longer..they wouldn't be in this positon...literally! 

Oh Korea...this week you and I have not seen eye to eye on everything.....I hope this week is better so that I don't have to buy my own sun-umbrella to take people out with.....

Annie