Phuket Town

Though many people pick Phuket, Thailand for their vacation destination, I will be the first person to tell you that if they're in Phuket Town they've probably done it by mistake... like me.  However, it's probably one of the best mistakes I've ever made.  I loved my time there, and by the end of my week and a half, I didn't want to leave.  I was seriously contemplating cancelling my life and staying there to continuing studying Muay Thai (another post entirely).  I made some friends, and even had restaurant owners who knew my order and about what time I'd be by.  It's a small town, but I - surprisingly - fell quite in love with it.

These little guys lived right next to my favorite restaurant, so we became good friends.

Too cool for school.

Big Buddhas seem to be a global phenomenon.

The bay

This man and boy were too cute, out fishing.  The man was happy to bait the line and pass it off to the boy to real in a fish.  Between the two of them, they had a pretty good system going.  The man also was more than willing to teach some other young men who looked like they were on a tour of the area.  He was incredibly friendly about letting me take photos, too.

Flags in front of a temple at the bay

 

Behind the gym where I had my Muay Thai classes, there was a fair going on every night, so I usually ate my dinner there and people-watched.  One thing I realized: kids are kids all over the world.

Me and the motorbike I rented.  Let me tell you, nothing keeps your prayer life in tact better than renting a vehicle you've never before driven and trying to drive on the other side of the road.

Some friends from the hostel and I went to a party at a beach in the woods.  (Actually, the hostel manager went too...)  We had a lot of fun, dancing quite literally all night.

Food.  So good.

And we're back!

School is back on... for two weeks.  And then I'm done teaching (at least in Korea... for now).   Crazy.

The child standing on the chair was the sweet baby who
had to spend the rest of the day with plastic in his ear.
We weren't allowed to send the poor kid home, but that's
how it falls sometimes.

Vacation was pretty straight-forward.  I stayed in Cheonan after the unfortunate need to cancel Italy, and taught a week of extra classes at my old Saturday School.  The kids were cute, but - oh man - I'm so glad I normally teach middle school.  I had one first grader (American kindergartner) shove a straw wrapper so far down his ear that I couldn't see it anymore by the time I got to him to try and stop him.  Those little babies cannot and should not sit still for two hours.  Good grief, planning team.  I promptly disregarded my instructions to give them lots of worksheets and planned a lot of games and songs.  We also read some books, which I borrowed from my first school, and made some great projects, like our very own Big, Green Monsters.  (I really like this book for teaching.  It's good with the littles for

The kids bigger than her were allowed to
use scissors to cut out their body parts.

body parts and colors, and it's made even better, because you revive it when they get older to teach other adjectives.  Every page follows this form: He has [adjective], [color] body part.  Each series is stated twice in the book; the reinforcement is really nice.)

Hanging around Cheonan turned out to be a better break than I expected.  It was nice to not have to deal with the stress of planning everything and getting to the airport on time.  I also got to sleep in without worrying about wasting my time in the country... Since this is the country I live in (Wow... I just started typing this is my country) and all.  I do have a couple more places I think I should see before I leave, but I won't be too fussed if I don't.

One of the perks of greatly preferring running with her over running alone.  She makes me wish I had a dog of my own, though I know that's not feasible right now, what will all the moving around I'm getting ready to do.  (Also, I feel really irresponsible saying this, but it's awfully nice being able to sleep in on my non-running mornings, and I couldn't really do that if I had a dog... So I'll just borrow them for now.  Hehe)

Uma

staying home is that I could pet sit for my friend.  I've felt bad having people pet sit for Bunny, but never being able to return the favor for them, but now I've at least been able to pay it forward.  Not to mention, I loved getting to spend time with sweet Uma.  Uma has proved very helpful in my recent endeavor into running.  She only has three legs, but she has managed to keep up with me pretty decently.  I'm not sure if that's more of a testament to her running ability or my lack thereof, but I do know that I

As for the running commitment, I know that many of you are probably checking outside for other signs of the apocalypse, but I promise you I'm serious.  I chased down a bus a couple of weeks ago and liked it so much that I thought I'd give it a serious go, using the 0-5K app my friend showed me for my iPhone.  Another friend recently turned me on to a site that helps people get serious about the goals they set for themselves.  I'm not sure this is actually the site she was meaning, but I ended up making a contract on stickK.com.  Basically, I and a sponsor report my progress each week, and if I miss my goal, I pay money to an anti-charity of my choosing.  Sadly, Westboro Baptist wasn't an option on that list.  I really wish it was, because I'm pretty sure every person I know would get on me to make sure I don't give them any money.  If you want to keep tabs on my progress and offer me encouragement along the way, please join my commitment as a Supporter by clicking here.  I'm already feeling so much better and confident because of this, and it's only been a week.  The program suggests taking break days from working out, but I hate the thought of that... partially because I have a hard time with gray zones and partially because I really like how I feel after the work-outs.  Sooooo I do what I want. Haha.

Finally, the heat wave through Korea has been so bad that my school is started 30 minutes earlier each day and classes are 5 minutes shorter.  People have been using so much air conditioning that the government is warning about impending national blackouts.  Now, personally, I think that turning the AC on at school, where a bunch of people are all in one room would use less electricity than sending everyone home and having them turn it on in their private homes, but perhaps I'm wrong.  Nevertheless, it's a very welcome change for me from the frigid winters here.  I'll take heatwave over ice storm any day of the year.

For now, I think that constitutes an adequate update.  I'll see you (America friends) in 72 days. :)

A video I made for you yesterday.

And by "yesterday," I mean Sunday.

Just a normal day, cooped up in my house...

August 18

Said goodbye to my family this morning, and I'm now at Dulles, waiting for my flight. :( But I've just decided that this will be a good year, and, suddenly, I feel ready to take on the world, even the stupid rabbit, waiting for me at my apartment.

In a totally unexpected turn of events

I've made a decision, and I'm sticking to it.

Tuna Queen

About this time (okay, plus 5 days)
a year ago, I was at my favorite theme
park ever: Busch Gardens.  I don't
think I'll get to visit this trip to the
States, but sometime... Sooner rather
than later, hopefully!

I think I have officially mastered tuna salad.  Granted, I'll probably still tell you that my grandmother makes the best (because, honestly, you're not going to beat opening up your backpack after walking into Busch Gardens, and finding that she's slipped a couple in there for you), and she may, but, tonight, I had an absolutely wonderful tuna salad sandwich, and I don't think I will ever make a better one as long as I live.

My secret, aside from always toasting the tuna salad with the bread, of course, was adding some Pace salsa.  So, there you have it: canned tuna, just enough miracle whip to lighten the color, half an onion (diced), one jalapeño (diced), and enough salsa to make everything look pink.  It was not really even hard enough to be that good, but, man, it was fabulous.  Go ahead, try it; see if I'm wrong.


PS. I was going to try out this Google Ad Affiliates thing and suggest some tuna for you to use, but, it seems like they're only advertising selling in bulk.  So, I guess if you really like tuna, or you have a large family or something, you can buy this 24-pack of tuna.  It's dolphin safe, which is pretty awesome.  So, if you have excessive tuna needs, I'd suggest checking this out:

Meanwhile, I'm going to continue on with my blog post.

The week is continuing to be better than it wanted to be, which I appreciate.  I did put in several extra hours at work today, which I'm not going to be paid for, but it needed to happen.  Last week, due to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to work on stuff for English Camp.  I had to make that time up somewhere, and today seemed like a feasible time to do it.  Perhaps the fact that I finally sat down to dinner at 10pm is what made the tuna so good... I don't know.  Try it and tell me.

This is why I love Busch Gardens.

Okay, I've got to go cage a bunny and convince her that there's a difference between imitation hard wood and dirt.  I'll catch you next time!

Right here for your very much wish-fulfillment.

Way back in my freshman year of college, I was in Covenant Choir, which took a trip to Orlando, Florida.  My friend Kara and I ended up being rooming partners, and we stayed with an absolutely amazing family (Andy, Lorri, Sydney, and Carter); I still think about them sometimes, actually.  We had so much fun.

For example, I think this is one of the most adorable dogs ever.

Well, the amazing family came with their crazy dog, Ziggy, who just felt too much of a need to exert his dominance.  After watching him chase Kara's legs around the house for a half hour or so, I, half jokingly, half seriously, said I wanted a similarly awkward dog when I got older.  (Actually I want a more awkward dog, because not only do I want a dog that exerts his dominance, I want him to be so ugly it's cute.  It's okay.  You can go ahead and call the people with the jackets that help you hug yourself.  I won't hold it against you.)

For some reason, I feel like the more awkward a dog is, the more endearing it is.  I can't explain it.  Maybe I shouldn't think that absolutely awkward things are cute.  Maybe that will lead to uncomfortable situations.  Or... maybe it will make for excellent stories later.  I guess it just depends on how you see the glass.

So, yes, I challenged G-d and/or life to give me a dog with a need to exert its dominance. May I just throw it out there that you shouldn't put those kind of challenges out there without expecting them to happen.

Kara and Ziggy

Tonight, I had my friends Thomas and Bethany over for a long over-due dinner/hang-out time.  The food was delicious, thanks to The Awkward Chef.  (I made her veggie burgers again, and I finally got them all to turn out correctly!  It was a momentous occasion.)  Manila was out and running around when they came in.  (To be technical, she was the only one here to greet them; I had to run to the store for a second.)  They hit it off to begin with, but Manila must have felt threatened by Thomas' masculinity, because, by halfway through the evening, she had felt the need to mark a corner as her own.

Manila, trying to figure out her species

But that wasn't enough; she had to move on to his arm, and she didn't just chin it or something.  No, she had to go and exert her dominance.  But she wasn't too good at it, though, because he couldn't figure out what was going on.  It was pretty amusing, but I put her away anyway.  Poor, over-stimulated bunny.  We'll try again anyway.

Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

In spite of the weirdness of having a rabbit that thinks she's anything but a rabbit, we had a great night (and it's been good to see her acting fully healthy again - she's even eating her pellets... occasionally).  We had veggie burgers (yum).  We had watermelon (yum yum).  We had Oreos and peanut butter (yum yum yum!).  We found the faces of Mary, Jesus, and Satan in the peanut butter.  We played Fluxx until we were laughing so hard it hurt.  I don't think anyone can deny the quality of the night, and I can't wait to have Bethany and Thomas over again.  :)


PS. Identify the quote from the title of this post.  Why?  Because life it more fun when you realize how much of what I say is actually quoting something.

Blimey Cow photo-a-day 22. Your favorite superhero (AKA Batman).
Lucky for Blimey Cow, my favorite superhero generally is Batman, although he is occasionally challenged by Wolverine.  

More video updating

As promised, the Blimey Cow photo-a-day from yesterday (#13. eyebrows):
One of my students learned the word "eyebrow" from the recently implemented self-study advanced-student reading program at my school.  I'm crazy proud of how well she did on her checkup worksheet.

14. Your siblings.
I have one, and I used the last of my Skype money to call him tonight.  I now need to suck it up and reload my account.

The things I didn't tell you yesterday

I'm going to work my way backward, because that's the order that seems important to me.  Yesterday, I went to see Men in Black III.  Now, this is important to me, because I really like Will Smith, and THIS is why.  Yes, he's a good actor.  Yes, he's a good rapper.  But, holy cow, he's a fabulous role model.  I'm so glad that he has influenced my life.  So, I chose to take Lucy and her sister to go see this movie with me.  I'll forgive them for mistaking him for being his son (they starting trying to tell me he was in the Karate Kid), it's an easy mistake, I'm sure, when dealing with a language barrier.  

The three of us, waiting for the movie to start.
We got tickets for the premium theater, which comes with couches instead of seats
and your choice of coffee or iced tea.  I got some peach iced tea.  Yum yum!

I got the opportunity to talk to them about their middle school lives.  They both are loving it, but they're studying so hard.  Lucy's sister will take her high school entrance exams at the end of this year, so she's already got her nose to the grindstone, "Which is fine," I told them, "but only if you remember that if you work hard, you must play hard, too."  They nodded, and said, "Yes, Teacher."  I really hope that they were listening.  Lucy's going to swing by the school on Wednesday, so I hope to remind her of it then.

I got to the mall a bit earlier than I needed to be there to meet them, so I took some time, wandering around H&M, and do you know what I found?  YES.  I found shoes that FIT ME.  I don't know if they run the sizes big in that store, or if it just happened to be the style, or maybe my feet have lost weight, but I fit into a European 40 (US 9) size shoe, when I normall wear in the 44 region (10).  I'm so excited, because they're insanely cute.  Just putting them on and walking around made me feel so much more womanly.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed my heels.

Also, the bunny is eating and drinking on her own again.  It's not the way I'd like it to be, but at least it's happening some.

 Lastly, some Blimey Cow photo-a-day challenge update:

Day 10: Mom.  I thought that was stupid, because it was Father's Day, so I took a picture of me calling him.

Day 11: Messy (as in Mondays).
Somehow today, my flipflop's partner got lost in the 5 minutes it took to leave them alone at home.  I'm not sure how to deal with it.  I think the bunny may have used some of her telepathy powers as revenge for me force-feeding her?

Restraint and the preference against it

I love my students so stinking much.  I just thought you should know that.  It's really been hitting me the past couple of weeks, ever since I started thinking more about them and less about me.  Yes, there are times that I raise my voice.  Yes, there are times that I yell at them (because that seems to be all they respond to).  Yes, there are times that I make them feel ashamed of themselves.  But it's occurred to me that I would fight to the death for these kids.

This instinct has become so strong in me that I'm often having to check myself: "'Venegeance is mine; I will repay,' saith the L-RD."  It's hard for me, because one of my strongest desires in this world is to do to child abusers exactly what they do to their victims.  I honestly and truly think I could tear someone limb-from-limb if I saw them lay a hand on a child, especially one of my students (Luckily, this has not yet been put to the test.  I'm a little scared of it, because I don't know for sure that I could control myself.), but that is not right; that is not holy.  Sometimes it's so so hard to do the right thing.

But G-d loves all people.  Yes, He especially loves children, but that does not take away from His love for their abusers, neglecters, and destroyers.  G-d is amazing, unfathomable, and perfect.  I, clearly, am not, and I praise Him for that.  "You are so high among the highest, and I am low among the lowest, a mean thing."

Blimey Cow photo-a-day 09. Make it a milkshake, baby.
I'm a freak.  I hate milkshakes.  So, I walked into the 7-11 downstairs, and shook some milk.  I had a rabbit in the bag on my shoulder to distract anyone who noticed.


No... I'm not crazy...

Round 2

It was round 2 with the wart at the doctor's today.  I must say, this round was much less exciting.  Whether it was a fluke thing, or because the doctors reapplies the numbing cream after there was a ton of blood everywhere, after the first few hits with the lazer, I felt pretty much everything.  Actually, it didn't even take that long on my left hand (they decided to go ahead and hit the baby wart again).  I tried my best to not flinch or make noise, because I didn't want them to stop, but eventually it got so bad that I thought I was going to vomit, and I broke poker face.  They stopped.  I'm going to have to go back for round 3 next week.

I'm turning into a Korean with my doctoring habits.  Oh well, I supposed this is how they get their money on universal healthcare, but, honestly, I'm still going to end up lower than a lot of people would pay in a co-pay for one visit in the States, and they, too, would have to go back month after month to get the procedure redone.  At least this is only week after week.

The rabbit eagerly was licking water off the floor today, and gratefully was licking some ice cubes, so I think I have a new plan of attack for getting her back to normal.  She's starting to do all of her normal bunny things again, too (Note that this is censored for decent society, and read between the lines).  It's such a big relief.

This is unrelated to this post, except for being the Blimey Cow photo-a-day 08. #summerofblimeycow
(Which is a Twitter reference that I'm pretty much ignoring.)
This may be the only cow-related thing that I own.  It's a patch on a quilt that my mother HAND-SEWED for me, back when I graduated from high school.  We'll go ahead and say that the cars above the cows represent summer road-trips.

Finally, the exciting news, is that grades 3-6 are now all level-split for their English classes.  Third and fourth grades are split by simply separating out the low-level students, while I teach everyone else.  Fifth grade will soon be taught by separating the low-level students and allowing the high-level students to do some personalized guided-reading activities, while I teach the on-level students.  Sixth grade is following a similar model, but on a less regular basis.  I'm very excited about sixth grade, because, unlike the fifth grade (where each student is going to be given a book based on personal ability), the advanced sixth graders will all be reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  It will be so good for them, because, on the surface-level, it's an easy read, but it will be easy for me to slip in ideas about religion to get them thinking, asking questions, and so forth.  I'm currently opening channels of communication with HarperCollins Publishing about maybe getting some really cheap or maybe permission to photocopy my version?  If not, I'm going to be calling on you, friends, to hit your used bookstores and buy them out, so I can bring them back in August.  So, let's all cross our fingers, shall we?   (Because I'd really prefer to be bringing back new clothes and/or my own books, rather than books for my students.)

Today, I'm stressed.

06. I really like seeing my rabbit
be willing to drink her water.

My rabbit hasn't been eating like normal for the past couple of days.  In fact, the only thing she's choosing to eat is paper.  She'll drink water if I put it in her face, and she'll eat some hay and pellets, because she knows I'm stressed.  I've got a couple more tricks up my sleeve, but it may involve breaking the budget for this week.  I'm just trying to focus on my mother's words: "Money is a tool.  It's not worth anything if you don't use it."


Today, I ended up watching the entire Venus Transit online, because it was too cloudy to see it well in real life. I woke far earlier than I meant, resulting in me being extremely tired, and just zombie-ing all day.  The dream that woke me was rather interesting, though.  Arnold Schwarzenegger was trying to bring me in to be a a part of Jack Black's "Crincess" - Corpse Princess, made up of many different body parts of dead people. Billy Dee Williams sold me out in exchange for the two of them returning his six children to him.  I couldn't blame him, but it was rather disappointing that I was going to have to die, since you can't be part of a "corpse princess" while you're alive, of course.  The strangest part was, I haven't watched a movie with any of them in it in years.

My epic fail of an attempt of a transit picture.

Watching NASA's broadcast of the transit.
My computer screen makes an excellent mirror, apparently.
I was rather annoyed with the telescope they were using that turned the sun purple.
It made it really hard to view Venus.

My friend Curran's picture of the transit.
He did a GREAT job capturing it!

Finally, I got an email today, informing me that I had misunderstood how much tuition was at the Law School I was researching.  Instead of being $30,000/year, it's $30,000 total.  I'm now considering it much more strongly, especially since they still uphold the Socratic Method (of which I am a HUGE fan), by offering live classroom chat sessions with other students and the professor, but I don't think that program offers even any introduction to International Law nor Juvenile Law, which is a big minus, as that's what I'd be interested in doing.  So, most likely, this program is still going to be a "no," but they've perked my interest again, so I'm definitely going to be praying about it and finding what G-d's will is, and I would appreciate it if you would, too.

The email

Speaking of prayer, I'd be really grateful if you participated in the prayer vigil I'm trying to put together for my Compassion Kid, Enock and his family.  His sister is living in the hospital, and it's putting a lot of strain on his family.  Thanks!

Today, I proved I am persuadable.

I know, you thought it couldn't be done.  But, you would be wrong in that thinking.

Day 2 of the Blimey Cow photo-a-day challenge: Grilled Cheese with Cheddar, cucumbers, onions, honey, mustard, and ketchup.

PS.  I'm adding this five minutes after the fact.  My rabbit really likes cooked tomatoes, I think, which is bad, since I was told she's allergic to tomatoes.  Last night, she kept trying to steal my pizza.  I mean, hunting down my hiding spots, opening the lid, and trying to grab the pizza - STEALING.  Tonight, she's been doing the same with the black beans and pasta (I put salsa on top of it).  Can anyone explain this nonsense to me?!

Just a little life update... for once.

I don't think I've given you an actual life update since I got to Korea... maybe some snarky pretend life updates, but I'm going to buckle down and give you an actual one.  Why?  Because my other option is lesson planning.

My trip to Thailand really opened my eyes to
how mixed  Buddhism and Hinduism have become.

We kicked off this week with Buddha's birthday.  Now, a lot of my Christian friends have been pretty fired up about this, justifying celebrations as not being about Buddha and so forth.  Here's the thing, though.  Plenty of people who couldn't care less about Christ have no problem celebrating Christmas and Easter.  Not to mention, Buddhism had absolutely nothing to do with religion until it mixed with Hinduism.  Before then, it was just a lifestyle about peace and unity with the world and yourself.  This does not in any way, shape, or form negate Christianity.  Buddhism now?  Yes, it does.  What Buddhism was meant to be? No it doesn't.  And if you really want me to ruffle your feathers, I can take that a step further and say that Christianity now negates what Christianity was meant to be, too, so there's a whole lot of negation going on here.  Like I mentioned before, I didn't spend the holiday doing much of anything special.  I took the bunny to the animal hospital, then laid around on Monday, working on some editing for my story.  Pre-bunny adventures, the bun and I attended a cookout on the roof of our apartment building, which ended with a not-so-happy manager kicking us off the roof.  The general consensus is that, yes, fireworks are legal in Korea, but perhaps we should have taken them to a beach or something.

Writing writing, writing...
Also... I'd like to paint my nails that color again.

Tuesday was the usual post-long-weekend duldrum of wanting more vacation.  I need to hurry and get this "being a writer" thing moving... I think I'd really like that, to be honest.  It wouldn't matter where I lived or what else I did, so long as I met my deadlines.  How can you help me? (Because I KNOW you all want to help me... haha.)  Tell people about the blog, and watch for my name on a fiction series a couple years from now.  When you see it, buy it.  :) hahah.

Tuesday was also a flurry of preparations for the series of Skype calls that my 6th graders are doing.  Right now, they're studying how to hold phone calls in English, so I figured that this was a wonderful way to let them practice.  I had to make sure Skype was installed on all the computers, cameras and mics were working, and my callers were up-to-date and ready to go on info.  Even though I knew things would still glitch, I wanted it to be as glitch-free as possible.  What I didn't bank on were thunderstorms on the East Coast AND in Korea (no-thunderstorm central).  I guess that's how these things work, right?

The project that started it all: my fourth graders Skyping
with Jaimi and Sam.  (No, you didn't miss it.  I've just been bad
about keeping you updated.)

Today was the big kick off of the Skype calls.  It was definitely interesting.  The 6th grade girls couldn't get over having an American young man on the screen, so I'm a little tentative about how tomorrow is going to turn out on that front.  Of course, the men tomorrow won't have blonde hair, so it'll probably be a bit easier to handle.  Either way, I'm seriously considering a women-only policy for my higher grades.  I don't think that'll cause any stirs, since the boys aren't hormonally mature enough for that issue.  All-in-all, I think the kids did okay.  They certainly had some room for improvement, but my Thursday classes tend to be better than my Wednesday classes, so we'll see how that goes.  (Hopefully, I'll remember to snag some pictures on the sly tomorrow, too.  Maybe I'll ask someone to do some screen shots on their end for me?  We'll see.)

Today, lunch was incredibly good (and even came with cheese sticks!), except for this rice ball that made me nervous.

I ate this with my lunch today.  Look carefully.  Those little black dots are eyes...
apparently of fish that look exactly like worms.   I had to close my eyes to do it,
which one of my co-teachers noticed and may or may not be offended?
I don't know.  Either way, the fish/worms show up enough at school
that I should probably learn to eat them wide-eyed.

Today, I also got done at work early.  Apparently, on any month that has a fifth Wednesday, the teachers take off early to go hiking.  I was all set to go, but it was drizzling, so they opted against it, and everyone just went home.  Wouldn't you know it?  As soon as I got dropped off, the rain stopped.  Personally, I would have enjoyed either one, but they probably made the better call.  I'm too used to non-acidic rain.  But, I'll count it as a win for the home team.  You know what else I found out?  We don't have school on Friday; it's my school's "birthday."  I'll take it.

Day 01. Selfie.  No mirrors... just a fancy iPhone4.

Finally, I have opted to start the Summer of Blimey Cow Photo Challenge.  I'll be posting my shots on here, but I would love to see yours, too if you opt to do it, so find me on Twitter, where I will also be posting my shots.  (Or you can ALWAYS post links and things in my comments!)  We'll see how long I stay dedicated to this... and/or I'll just have some days that I'm posting a bunch of catch-up pictures. It is my blog, after all, so I can really just do whatever I want.

Have a lovely week, enjoy working on Friday, and pretend like I'm not actually mean enough to have just rubbed that in your face. ;)