Coulda Woulda Shoulda

During the first half of April, I had this terrible dream that my little sister C died. I sometimes have these dreams, as I'm sure everyone does about a loved one, that feels so real and intense in the moment, the first thing you want to do when you wake up is actually just give that person a great big hug. When I woke up, I remembered another dream I had had one time about my brother R, dying. It was C that had said to me: "Well, when someone dies in your dream it means that their going to start a new chapter, have some exciting, some new, happen to them. Essentially, they life will change so much it will become a 'new life'." So it's no surprise that I thought of this after the dream I had about her. Later that week, I heard that she had recieved very sad news about her best friend's father passing away. I knew this would affect her very much, as she has been close with the whole family for many years. Strangely, I came back to my dream, thinking that pe...

A couple of months ago, I decided one very important lesson I wanted to teach all my chicldren was how to actually GREET people properly. I would frequently arrive in class, ask individual students 'how are you' only to hear responses such as 'I'm fine', 'I'm happy' or my favorite Korean invention 'I'm so so', which I have learned should REALLY translate into 'I'm okay'. What stuck out the most, was the impoliteness of their responses. And so, I wrote 1, 2, 3 on the board and explained to them that when they are asked this question, there are THREE parts in the answer: 1 - your state of being (okay, well I didn't write THAT on the board as it would have really flew over their heads) 2 - a recognition that something nice was asked of you (ie THANK YOU. Or THANKS. or THANKS VERY MUCH. Or even the Korean THANKS VERY MUCHY) 3 - do unto others..(in other words, ASK THE QUESTION BACK. The variations included HOW ABOUT YOU? or repeti...

"...and so it goes, and so will you soon I suppose..." - Billy Joel I've heard that once you finally begin to 'get' Korea, you leave. I've heard that many people choose to stay another year because after the first 12 months are up, they suddenly begin to realise what it's all about here. On Sunday, I decided to head back to the sauna, filled with naked women and young girls, who scrub and sauna themselves to pure cleanliness. I haven't been for a couple of months because the weather has been so nice but it used to be my regular Sunday routine. And when I walked it, it just felt, well, dare I say a bit like home? Like home in the way it smells and the sounds and that feeling you get after being away too long and realising it's exactly like you never left? I suddenly just felt part of it. Part of something that I really enjoy about Korea. A relaxing couple of hours pampering myself. For only 5 bucks. There are so many things to get frustrated about h...

In an effort to will the sun back to Busan so we can all head to the beach this weekend, I decided to post some pictures of the Baseball/Soccer/Football/Beach Festival weekend we had a few weekends ago. On Saturday - we hit the benches Lotte Giants on the field. Crazy Mascot dressed in a traditional Korean hanbok - female dress. D and B enjoy the game. I was there...see?? Kiwi D sneaks a peek at the camera. K and E REALLY enjoyed themselves. On Sunday - we hit the beach: Korea E prepares herself for the long day and Sun Hat K give some encouragement to N. Magazines always help footballers wives pass the time. Action of their final game. Way to go waegooks! Sand, sun, soccer, some magazines, some footballer wives, such great craic. What a blast.

Does anyone else remember this bizarre children's gift that appeared in the 80s? I've recently been trying to get back on the fitness wagon and for some reason, the commerical theme song will not get out of my head. "Get in Shape Girl, it's so appealing, Get in Shape Girl, you know the feeling!" Looking back as an adult, how strange is it that this was a young girl's gift. "Here's some equipment!" "Look at all the skinny girls in the posters!" "With matching headbands!" "And leggings!" "AND LEG WARMERS!" "Surely, you want to look like them!" "You need to get in shape!" "You're not good enough the way you are!" I can just imagine my feminist's mother's face when I told her all I wanted for Christmas was a set of the Get in Shape barbells. Perhaps that's why I got so many books that year. To work out my brain instead.

Okay, incommunicado slightly solved. And now, after sweating it out all day, I think I should really join FA. Otherwise known as Facebook Annonymous. I wonder if they have an online group....

My email for some reason is letting me read, delete, and even draft messages but it will not let me send. My latest addiction Facebook seems to be undergoing 'technical upgrades' which if I remember correctly from my web days basically means WE'RE F**KED AND CAN'T FIGURE OUT THE PROBLEM considering it would be 'prime facebooking time' in North America and I can't imagine a 'scheduled update' would actually go on during peak hours. Hmmm. The girl with the gift of the gab has been silenced. Okay, which one of you jokers out there has had your wish come true?

For Teacher's Day, I was given a disgusting amount of money in gift certificates at various department stores here in Korea. One of the certifcates was for Lotte, quite a well known and prestigious place that has beautiful clothes, all far to small for me to squeeze into. D and I wandered up to the top floor to check out some of the electronics. It was kinda a fun home mission, for when, well, we actually HAVE home, looking at various TVs, dreaming of ridiculously huge entertainment systems and deciding which couches we could agree on. We also checked out the sports floor, which included shoes and mountain climbing gear. The matching outfits were certainly the hottest item there - you should have SEEN the Korean queuing to get the lastes polyester suits. Most of this browsing was quite normal, almost like a regular day in a department store anywhere. And it felt kinda nice to just be in a place that felt really like home. It didn't really last that long, however, before I was ...

When I was younger, I fell in love with a quote, that I'm not sure where it came from, so I've always posted it as anonymous: "Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think" I'm finding myself getting a little caught up in too many emotions right now. And so, in an effort to change my mind, I'm throwing this out there in hopes that the universe will come smack me up side the head and get me to snap out of it. Because really, feeling things is great. But isn't laughing better?

Although I've always got a lot of words bouncing around in my head, I can't always say that they make that much sense. So, in an effort to compile some information that might be a bit less scrambled, here is a snapshot (ha ha, i'm TOO funny) I've what we've been up to over the past couple of weeks. First, there was my birthday which included tacos some wishes a pinyata and many many MANY songs sung by me and others, when I finaly gave the mic away. And then there was my ACTUAL birthday, which I shared with Buddha, and also meant, I got the day off. Happy Birthday to us, big guy. Then, there was a trip to Pohang to see some cute kids at an orphanage my friend K used to work at which included some playing some measuring - of the length of noses that is.. and some hugs and then an ice hockey game.. in which two foreigner friends were playing! It included a bit of drama, when a player stormed off the ice, because he lost his glove. More likely, it was because the G-town...