We're Begging

The lost dog showed up again today. He parked himself just outside the doors despite the Taekwondo kids and our students surrounding him, shouting and poking him. I finally picked him up and taught my second to last class with him snuggled in my arms. I was happy he stopped shaking. I taught most of my last class with him sleeping on a knapsack in the centre of the table.


I'd like if he lived at our school and was safe and warm and was a lesson to our students on how to be kind, gentle and loving to dogs. That's not going to happen, though - because my co-workers hate animals. On the other hand,....


The local pet store came by and took him in for the night. I'm covering the ten dollar a day fee. I was hoping to reunite this dog with its owners, but from what I've been told chances are this dog has been "thrown away." I couldn't handle that, and wasn't able to teach the last ten minutes of my class because I was in tears. Who could get a dog (puppy) used to having a home and then turn him out to the street? This dog was great with kids, but wary of me (probably because I reek of cat) yet when I picked him up he snuggled into my neck like I was Disneyland - the happiest place on Earth. And he was so tired. No food or water would dissuade him from the sleep he fell into in the crook of my arms.


So what happens now? If I can't find owners who are missing him or find him a new home what am I going to do?

I completely identify with the theme of being LOST. Dogs follow me to work every day and I've dulled myself toward their homelessness because they've grown up outside. I'd love to take them in and show them what it's like to be an indoor dog, but I can't. I think they probably can't miss what they never knew. However, this groomed Maltese once had someone who loved him. It's not fair for him to be out in the cold now. I relate to his confusion and desperation.



So I'll continue to sponsor his boarding, but he needs a home. He needs to not be lost. (Me too, but that's another thing.) He needs you, or needs you to talk to your friends and find someone who needs him. Please? (I'm hanging by a thread; I just can't handle animal misfortune - help me.) We're begging.

Puppies

The new puppy I pass on my way to work gets bigger and bigger. Check him out from about a month and a half ago. Now he's a big boy, and he's STRONG! He's got sharp puppy teeth he uses to gnaw my mittened hand while I pet him. He loves attention. Last week I was surprised to find him off his leash! Here he is being a good boy.


Here he is jumping the hell all over me. Check him out putting his big muddy puppy paws everywhere.


Hello!


I tried to speak with his owners, letting them know he was loose. He's really spunky and has no notion of the idea of being flattened by cars. I stopped breathing as he bounded toward one while chasing a leaf or something. Dumb puppy. The next day he was back to being tied up.


Last week I threatened my uncle to bring this dog home with me if he hasn't gotten a dog by the time I leave. With a little training, this puppy would be a gorgeous pet. I also called the dog's owners some bad names in the e-mail to my uncle. As if the owners had somehow read it, the very next day the puppy had some new digs. I was impressed.


It's good he has a nice spacious house now, because I've caught Buddy and Circle Gay all snuggled in with the big puppy in his much smaller house on cold nights. Now, though, when I pass by the big puppy he squishes himself under the fence so he can jump the hell all over me with his dirty paws.


I think the neighbourhood dogs talk to one another, and I think Buddy and Circle Gay have been telling others to swing by my school because there's treats to be had. Last night and today this sad little guy turned up.


He is (was?) obviously some one's pet, because he's got a groomed poodle tail and paws. He's cold, wet and dirty, though. I'm going to try to snatch him up tomorrow and taxi him over to the pet store in town to keep him safe while I post some flyers around. I hope I can help him find his home. Poor little guy.

Age of Aquarius

When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars Venus,...then good stuff will surely happen, yes?
According to this article, three of the brightest objects in our night sky are going to collide into one another and explode in a massive fire-ball gather together for a conference.

Here's what's happening with Venus and Jupiter in the early morning sky from now through the end of January: "From now through the end of January, the gap between the two will noticeably close, until on Feb. 1 they'll be separated by just over one-half degree, which is roughly the apparent width of the moon (The width of your fist, held at arm's length roughly corresponds to 10 degrees). Jupiter will shine brilliantly at magnitude -1.9, yet it will appear only 1/7 as bright as Venus, which will gleam at magnitude -4.0."

And then starting on February 3rd the moon is joining in on the fun. By February 4th, "the show will reach its peak when, about 45 minutes before sunrise, Venus, Jupiter and the moon — the three brightest objects of the night sky — will form a striking isosceles triangle, with the two planets 3 degrees apart and the moon marking the vertex of the triangle just over 5 degrees below the "dynamic duo."

I've got a great view from my bed of Venus rising every morning, so I'm looking forward to the upcoming show! Eyes up, everyone!

Here Comes a Wizard

I've got to go in early tomorrow to interview some kid. His mother thinks he is a genius with the English language and says he has the mad grammar skillz of a high school student, even though the kid is in grade 5. The mom asked my boss how long I would spend interviewing him, and I hoped she would say ZERO minutes, but instead she offered ten. The mom sniffed with disapproval. Apparently another English school, our competition, interviewed her Little Prince for an hour and a half.

Yahhhhhh, right.

Saturday

It turned out really well! I met up with my students a half hour later than we planned because one of them was at the "hair shop." She turned up looking all cute in a new bob with a Minnie Mouse bow. I'd show you a picture, but every time I pointed my camera in the girl's direction they all went into hand-shield mode. Ah well. We jumped on a bus and headed downtown. I'd already told the girls I didn't think seeing "The Mist" was a good idea. Too scary. They didn't protest. When we finally arrived at the theatre we found out that Cloverfield wasn't even playing there! It was at the other theatre in town. So our choices were Alien vs Predator (Seriously, I'd rather jam forks into my eyes.) or Sweeny Todd, which wasn't even an option as it's got an 18 rating here. I don't know why the girls were so reluctant to check out a DVD Room, maybe because they'd never been to one before and had no idea what they're like, but I finally convinced them to at least come along and see what movies they had to offer. On the way, we stopped to eat some lunch.

When the students told me they wanted to eat fried rice for lunch, I wasn't very thrilled. But, this restaurant turned out to be quite good. I think it was called "Yu-Ga-Ne" or "Yu-Gee-Na" or something like that. I'll ask again tomorrow. I kept asking and then would forget the moment after I'd been told. Anyhow, we had some spicy chicken bokkum bap. You start off with a pile of spicy chicken and some sliced leeks in a big frypan sort of thing.


One of the staff comes over and prepares your meal at the table. They stir everything up with big wooden paddles. Every time I pointed the camera at our waiter/cook he got all shy, though. Sheesh. Where are my Vee Signs? Here's the rice and spicy sauce that will be added to the pot.

You can see a bowl of cabbage in cold broth in the foreground. Each of us got a bowl of that, and to share there was a little plate of cabbage with ketchup/mayonnaise and a small plate of kimchi. This place isn't fancy with the panchan.

Here's the chicken and leeks all spread out.


And in goes the rice!

Voila!

Let's have a closer look.

Now that's some spicy bokkum bap. I think we went through about five litres of water! (I drank about four of them! Ha!) But it was very good! You could spoon potions out onto the plate provided, but we just ended shovelling it directly into our mouths from the pan. I'm going to have to go back there and try some of the other dishes. The couple at the table next to us were enjoying cheese fried rice and that looked very interesting. Mmmm. Stringy!

So all full up, we headed to the DVD Room which was very swank and run by a nice mom and her teenage daughter. We picked out "Ratatouille," and went to our private screening room with big sound and big screen and kicked off our shoes and stretched out on these comfy couches. Sweet! The girls said it was better than being at the movie theatre, and I wasn't going to disagree. I usually end up with some jerk kicking the back of my chair, which drives me mental. The kids laughed through the film and asked to watch another one at the end of it. I almost agreed, but I had thought of something else to do. So we left there and stopped for some ice cream. We all had what I think is the current flavour of the month at Baskin Robbins - some espresso-biscotti thing - and it sucked. What I think was meant to be biscotti tasted more like hunks of wax. I kept sucking the ice cream and spitting out the offending chunks before finally giving two thirds of my scoop to the girls. Blech.

Then I took the girls to get manicures, which was awesome. That was a first for all of us, but I think I'm going to treat myself every month or two. I loved the mini hand massage I got, but at one point the woman snapped the ends of all my fingers which was unpleasant. Ouch. Otherwise I can't say a bad thing about it.

What a nice day we had. I was very pleased my students enjoyed themselves so much, and they made me promise we'd do it again. How was your weekend?

Saturday Plans

A couple weeks ago in a moment of insanity weakness, I gave in to a group of girls who have been bugging me for months to come over to my house. Then I fretted about it because the thing is I don't WANT them to come over to my house. I'd actually prefer if NOBODY came to my house EVER.

Of course, people have come over to my place, and probably others will come in the future - but I don't usually feel like playing hostess and I pretty much never feel like tidying up enough for guests - and certainly not for a group of loud giggling girls who are going to sift through my belongings and freak Kamikaze out. I've been here quite long enough to get used to my apartment, but it still feels strange to have company come over and have nowhere to go, except for the bathroom, to escape their view.

I have had students over only once before. It was for the first birthday I celebrated here, and I'd only been living in my apartment for about three months at that time. It was still clutter free then. (Even still, back then after we hung out awhile and ate pizza, the students started to clean my place - which I protested briefly and then settled on supervising. "Hey. Come on! You missed a spot!") I've been here three years and three months more - and let me tell you, my place is absolutely lived in by now. Also, I've turned into Hugh Hefner, and only wear pajamas at home. It feels weird to be wearing "outside" clothes inside my apartment. So the idea of hosting these curious outgoing girls wasn't sitting well with me. I also risk every other student hearing about it and demanding to swing by my place for an afternoon of shouting and snooping. Um, no thanks.

So I offered, instead, to take the girls out on Saturday, telling them that hanging out at my apartment was "chamie-opseyo" (no fun) which is a total lie. My place is super fun! Cozy PJs, piles of books, satellite TV, computer, comfy bed. Cupboards full of ramen. Furry cat. My place rocks. I was thinking maybe I could get away with lunch at Lotteria with the girls and, uh, I don't know,...a walk around town? There's nothing fun to do here. I can't take twelve year olds to a soju ban,...can I? No, that would be wrong. (Though many parents do have their kids running around in the bars here.)

"Can we go to a movie?" the girls asked after excitedly conferring with one another.
"Sure!" I, Mayor of the County of "Sucker!" replied.
So I gave them homework to look up what's playing downtown at the cinemas. English movies, please. They came back the next day and spelt out our choices: Cloverfield, Alien vs Predator - Requiem, or Stephen King's The Mist. Christ. Monsters, monsters, or - uhhhhh - monsters. We settled on "The Mist," which I have really no interest in seeing. I'm not a big fan of the horror movie - and really knew nothing much about this film. I looked it up online today, though, and told my boss maybe it's a bad idea to take the girls to see it. It's rated R for "violence, terror and gore, and language." She told me it's fiiiiine. (It's only got a "15" rating here, and the girls are 13 in Korea.) "If we abide by the movie rules," my boss explained, "no one would go."
"Yah," I said, "But I don't want them to have psychological damage from a movie I took them to see."
"It's fiiiiiiiine," Karen assured me.

By the way, why would a movie theater have these three films on offer on a Saturday afternoon, and save screening the far more girl-friendly movie Enchanted for the 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock slots?

So anyhow, I'm going to switch the plan to Cloverfield. Better yet, I'm hoping the show will be sold-out because we didn't make reservations which you're supposed to do here. (And sit your ass down in your pre-assigned seats! You can't be trusted to choose where you'd like to park yourself. That would be chaotic.)

So then I'll treat the girls to lunch and maybe we could find a DVD room - though I don't know if that's strange - I think they're usually frequented by couples - if you know what I mean. We'll see how it goes.

Poor Bunny

This is the most depressing thing I saw today.

Sad Saddle Bunny.

This is the second most.


That's the sink in the washroom at school which is still all plugged up, and still gnarls me out. You know what that crap is in the water? MOULD! Is it normal for tap water to go all mouldy like that? Whenever I go into the bathroom and there's someone else there I offer them a drink of it. So far I haven't had any takers.

The third most depressing thing I saw today was Brokeback Mountain, which I rented and viewed again. It was never the happiest of films, but it's made even more sad now that Heath Ledger, who was brilliant in it, has passed away.

Oh, cruel world.

The Weather

It's been so grey and damp and cold for the last two and a half days. I can't seem to get the chill out o' me bones. At work, each classroom has a little wheelie electric radiator sort of thing, and I have to crank it and practically drape myself over top. My feet were cold all day long yesterday, so today I'm bringing an extra pair of socks. Usually the classrooms warm up enough by the end of the day that the kids could take off their coats if they wanted to, but at the start of the day it was only 11 degrees Celsius (about 52F) in the lobby. Brrrrrrr!

WCB -137 Hiya!

Do you know what's better than a nice pitt scratch?

Nooooottthhhiiinnnggg!

WCB's being hosted by my buddy Sher this weekend over at What Did You Eat? You should head on over there and check out all the cool cats!

You know what I ate today? A sausage McMuffin. Mmmmmm. I wish they sold English muffins in the stores here. I crave them. And cottage cheese. So every once in awhile (usually after I've stayed up all night hanging out downtown) I gets me some muffins (with sausage and cheese.) I'm glad there's no McDees in my town, though. I'd be tempted to eat breakfast there all the time!

Alrighty then. Carry on wit'cher bad selves. I'm going to go scratch some Kami pitts.

Joyful English

Kevin's not going on any walk across America. He's opened up an English school where he will continue to teach the Korean masses to speak English.


Joyfully, like.

It's hard to see, but his slogan is "Studying is a Marathon. Not a 100m dash!"

Placenta

Mmmmmm, placenta soap.

I thought it was just another case of strange brand names, but turns out this soap is actually made of cow placenta. Googling "placenta soap" makes me realize this isn't that uncommon. Still, ugh!

My best friend Joanie's father was an esthetician and owned a beauty salon and supply store. He used to have all sorts of supplies around the house. When we were in high school, Joanie threw a crazy party while her dad and step-mom were away. It turned out being a very expensive party for her, as she had to pony up for a stereo, some jewellery, and a fur coat that were stolen, as well as paying to have the floors sand blasted and re-done after the house got totally trashed.

She also had to pay to replace a bunch of beauty supplies that had been liberated from the freezer. Joanie stumbled into the kitchen at some point to find a table full of stoners sucking on "placenta popsicles."
"You have anything good to eat?" one of them complained. "This shit tastes weird, man."

I'm Just Saying

I spent the day wanting to smack someone.
Actually, that's not true.
I spent the day wanting to smack just about everyone.

I'm weary.
And wary.
It's scary.

I had to call my mother the other night, and I didn't want to because I had an idea that the conversation wasn't going to go well. Sure enough, I was right. Since then I've been considering that it's a wonder I have any capacity whatsoever to feel joy; I'm so full of "Misery Genes" from both sides of my family. Lawd knows I love the woman, but she is definitely a "glass half empty" sort of person. In fact, her glass isn't just half empty, it's full of vinegar. I find it hard to talk to her sometimes because the negativity seeps through the phone and clenches at my throat. I'd like her to believe it when I tell her, "Everything's going to be okay." I believe it, even if things just manage to get shittier. It's supposedly at times like these - the crappy weeks days moments (whatever) where we have the most potential for growth. For character building.
Or wallowing and flailing.

I find it really difficult when I'm spend the day wanting to kick everyone in the shins. I'm good at hiding it, though, and had you been with me you wouldn't have realized I was seething inside. My brain was busy trying to pinpoint what was bothering me, and it just pissed me off even more to realize that everything is bugging me.

You want to know something that's bugging me? I sent out Christmas presents to a few friends and family. (Mostly to the kids of my friends and family. Christmas is for kids. Blah, blah, blah.) I spent hours shopping and wrapping gifts and then went to the post office and blew over two hundred bucks shipping them. Do you know how many people have contacted me to say thanks?
None.
What is UP with that?
Next year I'm going to send out parcels of grass clippings and fur I brush out of my cat and tell everyone to SUCK IT.
And I musn't have been very good last year, because I got nothing for Christmas. Which is alright - I don't need anything. But, still. We're over half way through January already, so I'm over it. I suppose. I'm just saying, is all.

So there's that.

My manager's absence is probably going to ruin my chance for a week's vacation at the Lunar New Year. This bugs me. I haven't been anywhere for a year, which is pathetic.

I've got to clean my house. Some suggest that your home environment is indicative of your mental and emotional state. If that's the case, I'm feeling dusty and cluttered. I've got piles of stuff everywhere, and most of the stuff should get tossed in the bin.
My god, I want bookshelves.
I want to know someone with a power drill who will install bookshelves.

I feel like I have to pee, but I can't pee. Someone suggested it sounds like a kidney stone. I suggested he may have just created a kidney stone in me by saying so. I told him if it's a kidney stone I'm going to punch him in the head. I'm going to pass the kidney stone and then get on a plane go to Canada and open him up with an exacto knife and put my kidney stone in HIS kidney. Let's see how he likes those apples.

I was thinking today about Carrie Bradshaw on Sex in the City complaining to her friends that her loneliness "was palpable." I want to crawl into that sitcom and punch her in the head. What, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte aren't enough? Lady, you don't know lonely. And I feel guilty. What are there, over 6.6 billion people on Earth? How can it be that I feel so isolated?

I'm going to call it a night round here. Thursday kicked my ass. I've got to be well rested to punch Friday in the head.
Nooo. I would never do that. I love Friday. Friday and I are going to make out starting around 8pm.

There's stormy weather around here. It's best to (duck, and) take cover.

The Visitor

An interesting visitor showed up at school today. I was just going to start a class when Sunny called me over and pointed down the hallway. I ran to get my camera while Sunny beckoned to a bunch of students to come have a look.


Pigeon!
Just after I took this picture, the kids advanced - shrieking - down the hall toward Mr. Pigeon, who flew straight up into the uncovered fluorescent tubes in the ceiling. Twice. Hard.
I muttered, "Ouch!" and then bellowed, "YA!" which stopped the kids. "Back to school!" I said, gesturing behind me at the door. They sort of listened for a moment or two, long enough for me to be the only one following the bird, who headed to the men's washroom. I was trying to capture the bird when the kids caught up again and were shouting and ducking as the bird flew around trying to find a way out. I was shouting back at the kids to go away, worried that the pigeon was really going to injure itself in its panic.

I finally got Sunny's attention and she corralled the protesting students back into the school while Mister Pigeon hobbled over to the Lady's Room. While he flew up and perched atop a stall, I took another picture.


Damn! He knocked his head on backwards!



Oh, no. Wait. I guess he's got that rotating Exorcist-head thing going on. Ok. I slipped my camera into my back pocket and extended my hands slowly toward the bird, who regarded me with his cool bird eyes. He didn't fuss too much as I got ahold of him and brought him over to the window, put him through, and then just opened my hands. He flew away with a flash of white and grey feathers.


See why he couldn't get through the window on his own? These windows are always open, but they only open so much.

I'm glad Mister Pigeon didn't have to spend too much time trapped in the bathroom. It's not a pleasant place to be. (Plus the kids from our school, taekwondo, and the music academy would have surely played "Screaming Pigeon Pinyata" with him until he was dead.) The bathroom's freezing, what with the open windows and all, and after you've done your bid'ness you're treated to a hand wash in ice cold water. (Soap provided by moi.) There's only one sink available as well.
These


and this

have been all plugged up since before the New Year. And it's a good thing I took the picture in the daylight, since the lights have been broken since before Christmas. I try to make sure I visit the loo before sundown because I freak myself out imagining some swamp hand jerking out of that poo-black sink and grabbing my wrist as I wash my hands in the dark.
I've asked the boss a couple times a week to fix things, and am assured she'll get right on it, but nothing's happening.
I've been here long enough to not be surprised.

I Am the Lunch Queen

Are you my Cookie Man?
Ahhhhhh, queendom! It's a good thing.

That's a weird lunch though, eh? Some milk, a gingerbread cookie, and a pickle? Oh well. I am the Queen. EAT IT!

Drop Outs

Ah, another weekend is coming to an end. *Sob. I have to head back to work in a few hours. I don't know, though, if I'll have a job to go to for much longer!

I can't believe the number of students who are dropping out. We've lost about twenty since Christmas! There's always some flux in our numbers throughout the year. We usually lose quite a few kids who are going to start middle school; their parents opt to send them to academies that cover all subjects - instead of just English. It's a bit early this year, though, to be losing so many students - and I don't know what the deal is. Could Jane's absence have something to do with it? Maybe some students went home and told their parents we had to combine classes last Tuesday with only two of us scrambling to cover for Sunny and Jane. I just don't know!

For some kids I'm almost relieved to hear they've dropped out. These are the ones who don't seem to enjoy learning and instead like to cause trouble and distract other students in class. Hearing that other students have quit, however - the ones that are really doing well, or even more troubling - really seem to like me, gets me really upset. We had a brother and sister quit on Thursday and I'm so curious as to what happened. I know the brother was having a harder time. His classmates teased him a lot. He has a huge amount of hair that grows out of his head, rather than down from his head. Kid looks like a mushroom. (I wondered why they don't have his hair cut short. It would be far less noticeable then, but instead it's pouffy and about four inches long.) Still, I liked the little guy very much and tried to encourage him and give him some extra support in class. His sister was progressing fabulously. She started out so shy but was really starting to shine in recent months. She was also very keen on my classes and loved to partner up with me when we had an odd number of students. But *Poof* they've now vanished. In two of the last classes of the day, we've gone from eleven students to FOUR. We're hemorrhaging, and I'm worried we're reaching a critical level.

I tried to pep up my final class on Thursday and three of the girls told me they're going to move to another school!
Nooooooo!
They said they really love me, but the other classes are "chamie-opseyo." (No fun.) One of the girls complained, "Jelly, Sunny teacher says Ah-oo-gushtuh!" I asked her what that meant and she translated, with perfect pronunciation, "August." These students had been given a dictation test earlier in the week and it frustrated them that they couldn't understand what Sunny was saying in English. I've heard that Sunny's sick of teaching and wants to quit. I think the boss gave her a pep talk on Friday. When I came in a note in red crayon had been taped to the wall over her desk. (A note to herself.) It translated to "Do your best."

Morale's down at work. I'm doing my best to keep a buoyant mood and not worry too much. I don't want the school to fold. At least not until my contract's up. Cross your fingers that this week will be better than the last.

WCB - 136 Poor Little Buttercup

First Kamikaze places himself like so, under the blankets via tunneling. Then he arranges his face thusly, too cute. My little Matchstick Man.

I'm just about to burrow under the covers with a book on this cold rainy Sunday afternoon. Perfect for cuddles and naps.

Slide on over to Chey's Place and check out the other kittycats in this weekend's WCB!

Literally Boggles My Mind

Some BubbleHead I saw on television just now said, "I mean, I was so nervous! I literally had butterflies flying in my stomach!"

Really? That's awesome!

And I wondered how they'd gotten there, those butterflies. Had she eaten caterpillars? Had they made cocoons in her? Had her nervousness caused the butterflies to emerge? Do I have butteflies in me? I don't think so. Where the hell are MY butterflies? BubbleHead's literally hogging all the butterflies.

The myriad of questions I have regarding this girl with butterflies inside her literally makes my head explode. I have to go. I literally have to clean up all the grey matter splattered around my apartment.

Cat Story

JUBARAGI!!!
It's SURREH DEY!!
I don't know what's up with this cat. This makeup wearing cat.
Furthermore, what's up with this T-shirt? It's so very busy!

See under the makeup wearing cat? It tells the "Cat Story!!" And the story is that "the white cat just smirked!!!!"
Okay, that cat seems to be smirking. But dat cat dere is NOT WHITE. Another T-shirt filled with lies about white cats. LIES, I tell you! LIIIIIEEEESSS!
JUBARAGI!!!

And so, are we to assume the rest of the T-shirt is a lie?

Holy fragmented sentence, Batman. If anyone acknowledges that jesus is the - what? And where da Capitals for J-man and he Daddy-G? Where da respect, mon?

Frickin non-white smirky cat. Frickin T-shirts of lies.
JUBARAGI!!!

Short Handed

My guts have been twisted in knots sort of since I got stood up for my work's Christmas/End of Year lunch. I worried about how it was going to be once I saw my manager Jane again. Would she apologize? (Probably not.) Would we just carry on with some icy silence enveloping us? (More likely.) Would work become some beast that I hated to visit because it left me feeling tense and uncared for? (?) Anyhow, so far all the worrying has been for naught. Jane hasn't been to work since Christmas Eve. I anticipated seeing her on the 26th, then the 3rd, and most recently yesterday - the 7th, and she hasn't come in. Apparently she had to have some surgery on something female which meant she'd be out the week after Christmas. The following week was shortened by a 3-day holiday, and I heard she could have come in, but decided to rest up and be all recovered to start fresh yesterday. Still, though, no Jane. From what I've been told, she's going to be gone for the whole month!

So I hope she's alright, even though she's a witch for screwing me over at Christmas. Part of me wonders if we'll ever see her again. It's not the first time I've wondered this and I was right about the last co-worker to go AWOL permanently. Have you even gotten away from your life - or what was your life - either by your own choice or circumstance, and then realized you just can't (WON'T) go back. I've had jobs where I realized, in the midst of some time off, that I'd rather jam a chopstick up into my brain than go back. Sometimes you don't even realize how stressed and depressed you actually are until you're far enough away for some fresh perspective. I'm not saying this is how Jane's feeling, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that's the case. I imagine once I move on from my life here I'm going to feel a sense of relief.

Anyways, in a very ballsy move, my other co-worker (and co-Christmas-screwer-overer) Sunny called in sick today! She's very not Korean, as most Korean employees will drag themselves into work even if they're at death's door. The 1st K-teacher I worked with at my school hadn't missed a day of work in over three years. (Until she didn't show up one day because she'd lay overdosed on sleeping pills. Whoops!) Still, Sunny's been working at our school for about eight months and she's had more sick days than I've had in the three and a half years I've been there. Not too long ago she took a whole week off to have a mole removed from her boob. I heard she headed up to Seoul to visit with friends just after her "surgery," so you know she wasn't totally broke down.

I'm no super-hero, but I've been to work with numerous nasty colds and flus, after a sleepless night in hospital with food poisoning, a few minutes after armpit surgery, after a car wreck, and even looking like I'd gone ten rounds in a prizefight. I made a deal with myself that unless I couldn't - I mean unless I was physically unable to go to work, I'd be there. It's not as if there's a room full of substitute teachers to cover for me if I'm out sick.

But Sunny calls in sick with "a fever and body hurts." When we're already short staffed!
When Karen told me that I said, "Tell her to take a pill and get her ass in here!" That's mean, I know. I'd like to think that when I call in sick no one's questioning whether I'm really ill, but I think I've proven that I'm a trooper and if I'm saying I'm not able to come in, then I'm not playing around. Maybe Sunny is very gravely appayo, but I doubt it. She was fine at the end of Monday. Anyhoo.

So there were only TWO of us today, and we taught 14 classes over 5 periods.
Insane.

Sunny's lucky I'm not her boss, because I would have just told her to get the hell in to work, or to not bother coming in ever again. I'm sure I could find some other "English teacher" who doesn't speak English to come in and be useless. Even with the sniffles.

So Lazy

I wrote half a post last night. Maybe I'll finish it later on. I wish I could just smash my face into the keyboard and all the crap in my head would just assemble itself onto this screen. I'm going to go back to bed and hope I have a dream like yesterday's which was insaaaaaannne. Chowder!

Gun Mandu Crab Rangoon

I felt like something wontonny, but not mandooey. How about some crab rangoonie?


I mixed together some chopped fake-crab, onions, regular cream cheese and some other processed creamy cheese thing I found in a supermarket a couple weeks ago. Then I added some salt and pepper and garlic and a little parmesean, too. I mean why the hell not? And I put in just a bit of flour to bind it together in a gloppy heap. I mounded a nice pile in the centre of each wonton, sealed the edges with a bit of mixed egg, and tossed them in some hot oil.
I'd never had these before. They were pretty good!

So That was Christmas, Pt. 2

I forgot that I even took this picture.


Ohhhh, that's pretty heh?
You want more, yes?
Well, like my buddy Herb say to me, "Here ya go, Peaches."

Oh, Nomad

One of my favourite K-bloggers seems to be calling it quits. I can't even tell you how bummed this makes me feel. He's one of my sidebar sites I hit up first everytime I'm online, and I love reading his posts and comments. Oh, Nomad, say it ain't so. Say you won't go. I'm screaming "NO! NO! NO!" Like I've dropped something heavy on my toe.

This is not a good start to the New Year. I really hope we're just "on a break."