Coulda Woulda Shoulda

It's been a long time since I've actually been excited about Halloween. They don't really DO the holiday in the UK, except of course to have people dress up and get drunk at parties but that can happen on any random weekend so it doesn't really count. I think more and more kids are getting used to trick or treating but not in the extravagant way it happens in North America. But this year, as last minute as any Korean event can be, we are gearing up for a big party and haunted house at the school...tomorrow. Too boring to explain why but the good news is that it gives us another day to prepare ourselves...since we only started planning YESTERDAY!!! Needless to say, although it's tuesday I probably won't have time for a longer blog and thought I better get something up here since I haven't updated since last week. Looking forward to getting dressed up, handing out candy and scaring the pants off little children. Also battling the bird flu virus of colds (which...

So, I attempted to update my blog last night AND this morning to find that there was something up with the site. It wouldn't have been SO bad if I hadn't just recently realised that I don't have a back up of the writing that goes on here and have only started to back it all up. What weird karma it would have been if it was all lost just days after I decided to keep. The universe really works in weird ways. So, I'm off to finish backing up all the content today, now that it's back up and running. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few things weirder than the blogger karma that was bestowed upon me. Lately I feel a bit spoiled for choice on what to write about here as I've got this energy back that keeps me observing things left right and centre. And of course, I'm not one to keep quiet about my observations! But since I just uploaded more pics I thought I would bring you the weird wacky world of English Signage in Korea. Call in konglish, call it gram...

I have never really been vain about my hair. I'm always quite confident that no matter what happens, I will like the cut and hey, if all else fails, it WILL grow back. When I was younger, I would go for months at at time without getting it cut. This is why in many of the photos of me in highschool you'll see a very Crystal Gayle looking figure. That's until I got the Jennifer Aniston, which sadly, after most cuts, my hair seems to still look like after all these years. (Ask my sister C about when I get my hair cut and I'm confident she will roll her eyes, smile and say, oh, so you're back to the Jennifer look again?) I went through a dying stage but it was VERY brief as I suddenly realised there was UPKEEP involved. C'mon people UPKEEP. You mean I have to SCHEDULE IN hair appointments to keep it looking like this? I've now decided no dying until I see a gray hair. Sadly, I can't go by when my mother first started going gray because she was a 'natural...

I have this annoying habit (okay I have many but this one of them) of simply trying to 'do things my own way'. I have never been good at direction and for some reason I have this part of my brain that when I take on a task, no one else has ever done it before. Or more importantly, they may have done it but I can figure it out myself, without assistance. Sans help. Uno. Just uno. Last night when we were out with a bunch of foreigners at this cheezy American style bar (which, we have discovered, has foreinger night not just on Friday but a good crowd comes on Wednesday and it so breaks up the week. Plus, D found not only dudes to play basketball with but their Canadian AND they walked in with hockey gear last night after some ice time at the local centre. And he wanted to go home after dinner....thank goodness for my rubber arm!) So we're out with these foreigners and this lovely lady L who is 60 and has been teaching for probably about 40 years starts telling me about all th...

Four jobs I’ve had: * Babysitter * Waitress * Reporter * Telemarketer (funny enough in that order) Four movies I can watch over and over: * Office Space * Dirty Dancing (of course I'm a girl from the 80s..or is it the 90s? Okay I'm just a Dirty Dancing girl) Four places I have lived: Ingersoll (okay, if people don't know my real identity now, I think I've just given it away) Toronto Leeds Belfast Four websites I visit daily: www.crazyauntpurl.com - cause she's so crazy www.dooce.com - cause Leta's just too cute www.canada.com - woo hoo! Canada rules!! www.bbc.co.uk - a bit o unbiased news...well, as unbiased as news can be... Four places I would rather be right now: With my family On a beach In a pub In my bed Four bloggers I am tagging: Umm...I'm not sure any bloggers acutally READ this site but hey, if you do, go for it..

How could you ever get angry at this one? (And um yes, I'm talking about the kindergarten student. The Korean one.)

Just thought I'd share with you all my most recent lowest of the low. You know you need to lose weight when...the bracelet that once slid with ease up and down your forearm is now stuck in its place. Oh dear. Too bad I all my fat pants are in a box on its way back to Canada.

The past week and a half have been so dramatically different than our 3 previous months here. We have been out pretty much every night, not exactly Belfast style, but just getting out of the house and enjoying adult English conversation. With our new teacher B and my new best friend K - she's a girl from Michigan who we met a few weeks back by chance and we clicked instantly. She's Korean American teaching here and lives right near our hogwan so it's easy to just meet up with her. Plus, she's a fellow Gemini and you know how us crazies get on - anyway, with their introduction into our lives it feels a bit like we now have some...lives that is. I suppose that was one of the biggest adjustments. Not having a social life and not being able to switch off from work. D and I did a good job on the weekends simply saying that on Friday night, no more school talk. But during the week, we couldn't help but moan a bit about our days. And we had holed ourselves up in our apartm...

Okay, my favorite crazy aunt posted her usual monthly horoscopes and I just couldn't resist posting mine. If you know me, it's not really that far off... GEMINI (May 21 - June 21)My most favorite Gemini recently turned 62, cashed out all his stock in a Big High-Tech Company, and bought himself a brand new Corvette. HE IS SUCH A GEMINI. Hi wife, a darling Cancer, probably had a near heart attack. Geminis are always being characterized as impulsive and selfish. But I'm going to teach ya'll a great Southernism you must embrace: ya'll are just particular. It's not that you fly by the seat of your pants, always running afoul of the boring signs with your hedonism and impracticality. Ya'll are just particular, see? You have needs, and while they may not mesh with anyone else's vision of reality, ya'll just keep on down the path to crazybones because you know, you KNOW, that when you find happiness you better damn well be driving a fun car. Amen. See? I...

Any of you who know me well, or perhaps have read this blog for awhile will know that I have recently (meaning in the past two years) become a fitness freak. Actually, FREAK maybe a bit harsh as i'm not the 5-hours-a-day type freak but I'm certainly one that feels my brain needs activity to function normally. Our school has finally hired one new foreign teacher which has a) lightened the workload and b) given me a social outlet - two things I was in dire need of at the end of September. A relaxing week of shopping, eating and drinking in Seoul didn't hurt my situation either. But now, after waking up last night about 4 different times, I realise that I need to become active again. Insomia is not a cool thing and mine stems mostly from anxiety which I seem to not have any of when I've got the good old seratonin going. In Belfast, the gym was right across the street from my house AND had all these amazing classes that kept me interested and well, fit. I'm not really t...

We welcomed another foreign teacher to the school on Sunday night. We went with our director to pick him up from the airport. And then in Korean style, we went out for food at 10pm. I already feel lighter. Things feel like they're coming together. To make matters even sweeter, he's from England, near Leeds and is everything I have missed about the old place. What a great reminder from the 'old country'. We have a break after today and I don't expect to be blogging much. We're off to Seoul and then maybe to Busan on the weekend - I never turn down an opportunity to get to the beach. Thanks to everyone for your emails, comments and maybe silent thoughts. Your karma and kind thoughts have lifted me just as much as the bloke from Yorkshire.