out. On Your own.

totally irrelevant to what i want to talk about, but this scares/entertains/induces hunger for/disgusts me. tiwyf. there is stuff on there that defies all laws applicable to food construction and consumption. i want to try some though...

anyways! i'm finally settling down in hamyang and the elementary school where i will be teaching. my little studio apartment is nice and clean, yet void of real food and some appliances. it's homey. a little lonely sometimes (although i guess i can hang out with jeehyo) ...and i totally need to get more groceries.
so, my school. what to say? the majority of the staff (by which i mean "with the exception of one") is korean speaking/writing/etc. exclusive. that really makes me feel like the odd thing out and kinda makes me want to learn korean proficiently, more comprehension and speaking--grammar and vocabulary, methinks. the best parts, however, have been meeting another english teacher. she's filipina! and speaks korean rather well (another kick in the pants to get motivated for hangul learning)! but today is her last day.....no worries, though, a new one is arriving next week. i'm hoping/sensing she'll be nice too.

i'll be needing to take pictures. and since everyone has been hounding me with this--i'll be scouting out for possible boyfriends. i don't know, maybe my standards are too high...(i'm disappointed with news i've unearthed *routine sigh*)but i'mma keep looking.

YO WHERE MY Money, bitch? "₩ or $"

ohhhhhhhhm, disscussion! we met some korean scholars today, they are from jinju and some would be our helpers when teaching. i originally had one, but got another when we got to the millennium park place. hmmm, i got the same vibes as when i went to that castle with the weird mannequins staged like the 1800s or something...the one where i got my picture taken with a taxidermed, enraged bear. it was ok. it was nicer going to the temple, which seemed oddly familiar especially since i used to have postcards from my last trip to korea with this place on it. so nice that my scholars bought me 경주빵. it was good. went to a museum as the last real place of interest. i was worn out by then and given the fact we had two hours to explore the place...hmm. later this evening i went out for drinking and....i ended up being the only girl. i don't understand or know why this happened. at ALL. i had a good time, though. one awkward restroom experience. hmm. not blackout-worthy, but good tipsiness. looking forward to more in the future.

no expectations

it's ....kinda like what i anticipated. i'm not sure why i thought it wouldn't be otherwise. it's a dreadful feeling and it makes me a little sick. some of this is turning out to be a disappointment. also. it's really strange that now i'm meeting even more people or at least starting to recognize that people here, some of them, are actually quite nice. i have yet to find what i been looking for. or..to at least attain it.

♥ Owners of Loney Hearts }}

i am sick. i always seem to mention that whenever i get to blogging...anyway, i'm in seoul and i went to my uncle's place to celebrate the lunar new year. i haven't seen him in a very long time and i didn't know more than half of my extended family (seeing as most of my cousins are mostly ten or more years older than me on my mom's side), especially since most of them had spouses and children. the highlight of my time there, besides the food and money, was watching the olympics' speed skating and discovering J.R. CELSKI. OH SHE-IT. he is so adorable. i can't believe he's nineteen and half filipino (we have a commonality! i seriously think that's a major reason why he's so cute). i kinda totally forgot about him, but stuff on the facebook reminded me to look up this character.


ahhh!! don't you just want to hug and do other cutesy things i can't think of with him??!!?! i knows i does. i wonder if he'll show up more on the olympics..that thought really makes me want to watch more of it.

carrying on! i had a nice time with my relatives...my cousin is so nice!! he took me to eat at tasty places and to historical/interesting locales. i kinda feel so horrible that all the people in know there just fed me, bought me stuff, and gave me money...it makes me feel like such a freeloader. i have to plan to do some good payback when i have the time in the future.
lastly, happy valentine's day. this may be on the wrong date, but, whatever. it's around the time i normally post stupid stuff (sans the j.r. bit).

It's something like My First Time

i just had my first real teaching experience. it was a sorry attempt at best. i don't know if i'm cut out to teach, to deal with children to say the least since i am not particularly fond of every one. everything we did reminded me of my youth; going to camps for a few days, engaging in songs, being talked at in a language i don't know well or at all. ahh, the memories of those enjoyably forced times.

in another note: so shocked to hear alexander mcqueen is dead. not even trying to kid.

the evolutionary process of teddy bear to man.

check it:


only one of four pictures that i've taken. my favorite part is the "fo sho"-- that's the way to feel accomplished, eh?? it was nice going out into seoul in the daytime and seeing some places (teddy bear museum at the tower in myeong dong). it was also strange because i thought it would be someone else taking me, but it ended up being a good time. i did the lock-wish thing there, only later realizing that i had written the date incorrectly. .... it will never, ever come true.

in more ok-ish news, i heard from some people from the oxford trip last year! albeit the one person who underwent drastic plastic surgery, they are still recognizable and beckon me to conclude the damn book about them.

in the process of editing.
expect it to hit bookshelves this spring.

so, you be foreign

i've been sullen for most of the day, but i really think it started yesterday a little bit. i guess the person i thought to be my new best friend for this whole thing decided to hang out with another group..i can't blame her entirely since we were segregated into new groups (of course i was in the smallest one) to do a picture-scavenger hunt of sorts. it was japan '06 all over again. i'm not surprised, a little disappointed, though, that people here are sticking to their general cliques. for me it's annoying and disgusting and..maybe because i've been a loner for a while now (mostly by choice) and i find socializing an empty, fearful response. mm, terrible aren't i? well, i don't totally ignore people and depending on the situation (ie: someone or some subject is worth my words) i'll be more than willing to strike up that forced conversation.
this will probably sound ridiculous, but i had no idea there were koreans in new zealand. that's ignorance on my part isn't it? i mean, i was sure they/we are everywhere, but it's not the first place that comes to my mind. the funny thing is, i'm starting to develop a muddled accent of sorts. it changes whenever i'm around others who have one.