36 hours

I'll be on a plane in 36 hours. We are now down to the HOUR, folks. I have been counting down the time until I go home since there were 158 days left. Don't get me wrong: I happen to love counting (so what), so it was more of a desire to count something, than a desire to get out of here. Truth be told, I would love to stay just a little longer :(

The knot in my stomach is pronounced. I'm very excited. I feel nervous, but who the hell knows how I feel. I do know this: in a matter of two months, I will not only visit, but live in THREE continents. That's enough to send anyone into a bit of a frenzy, non?

So I have some things to post to wrap up about Korea, but I've left them at home. I'll do it later.

As for now, I was late coming to school because I woke up late. Oh, I was out with Beautiful Girl quite late last night. Matt then dropped the bomb: yesterday was our last walk to school together. Today he's headed to immigration to give Seoul his soul for yet another year. So I walked alone. And doesn't Mother Nature give us a downpour this morning? Nice-uh. NOT.

I'm cleaning out my desk, deciding what suitcase to pack what into, and freaking out a little this morning. That's the plan. I have all of this afternoon to get ready, I have a pedicure at 4, then we're headed to Shabu for one last dinner :(

35 hours, 45 minutes.

Now for the random email of the day. It's from the Mother Hen and I love love loved it.

I am so excited I am having difficulty focusing. All I can think of is seeing you again!!!!!!!!!

Love Mom

PS- say hi to Joelle for me!

(so random, right? I love it!)

Also, Leanne posted this on Facebook. Love love love it too...

Making a lasagna in my wedding shoes - gotta break them in some time!

Almost everyone is off on Friday for the big barbecue, so I'll have plenty of time with all the girls. I'm SOOO excited.

See you all very, very soon.

When Korea Plays Soccer

When Korea plays soccer, the red horns come out...

...the group posing commences in underground tunnels as we search for a spot to watch...

...three-legged puppies come out to play...

...people get right pissed at a losing score...

...while others get pretty darn happy to be together...

...and maybe a little downtrodden that soon we'll be apart...

...but all in all, we're in the spirit. And that's what it's all about, right?

Because they are certainly caught up in the moment...

...and we got swept up right along with them. Please note that at this particular gathering, there were about 100 human beings. Making that much noise. It was pretty powerful.

I hope your World Cup Weekend was great.

And yes, I know...my camera is taking purple pictures.
More full colour ones as soon as possible.

The Parties ...

On our way to Katie's on Friday night, wearing our sunglasses just as we did in our first week here, Matt was looking a little sad, where as Yours Truly was just glowing from excitement. Adventures really do abound :)

The staff party went better than expected. Everyone had a great time and many a picture was taken. Beautiful Girl is prepping them for me as we speak. I'll post when I've got them.

Whether You're High or Low

Let's party!



I'm outta here in a half hour to get ready for my party. Sometimes this country is great :)

Have a great day!!!

Last Days...

I am edging ever closer to the end of my tenure here in the Wild Wild East. As a result, there are many a meal and many a celebration to mark my passage back to the Great White North. Calling these countries strange nicknames is a play on Korean tradition. I do have to poke fun at them while I still can.

The country is flanked with two seas, each with their own internationally known names. Korea, however, has taken matters into her own hands, and actually teaches children in school that these seas are called (wait for it...) the West Sea (since the Yellow Sea is on the west side of the country...are you shaking your head yet?) and the East Sea (aptly named, since calling it the Sea of Japan, which is situated on it's easterly border, would conjure up far too many bad memories about the Japanese occupation). It's so bad that a teacher who will remain nameless was dumbfounded when I asked her a question about the properly-named sea. As in, she had no idea what the Yellow Sea was. Oh dear.

I digress.

We had an impromptu English Teachers lunch yesterday at Noboo. It was the first restaurant I was taken to in this country, so they felt it fitting to return. I have to agree. (I tried just now to find a post about that first lunch, but I guess I wasn't as into photographically documenting my life as I am now. C'est la vie.)

Note: I hope Kodak has an awesome return policy. The old film-n-flasher is taking and keeping purple pictures. It wasn't a fluke when it happened last week in Itaewon. Dangnabbit.

Korean food is wrought with side dishes, as seen here, and they are shared among all at the table. Gross when you're sitting with a person with a whopper of a cold sore on his or her top lip, but pretty intimate when you aren't grossed out ;)

We all got a small plate with a few slices of boiled (braised? Maybe) pork and kimchi. I can't wait to get away from the kimchi odour, let me tell you.

This is my place. Rice, soup, chopsticks and a spoon. Thankfully for newcomers, eating rice with the spoon is expected. I, however, could practically now eat liquid with chopsticks. I guess that's what a year of living forkless will do to you. I should rename the blog, "A Year of Living Forkless." haahaha

Today, I was given some goodbye gifts. Nice-uh. The postcard in the background was painted by one of our own teachers. Awesome job...and she gave me 5 of them. Maybe I'll send one back one day when I'm in England.

And one of Mrs. Lim's best (sister) friends gave me this adorable card that reads, "To Fresh Alexis"...

...with an adorable English message inside

Side note: I wonder exactly what, "Sound as a roach" means. Does it mean I could survive nuclear holocaust? Because if that is what she thinks of me, I'm pretty tough!

Unpacking the gift...

...how very Korean!

Nice-uh.

Up close of the beautiful artwork...

And Mrs. Lim's other (sister) friend bought me this cosmetics pouch, traditionally given on Lunar New Year to bring good luck.

Off to prep now for the par-tay. Wish me luck!

By the Way...

...I'm in the midst of writing something I hope will bring a little closure to my experience in Korea. Not just observations or comments about the people and culture here, but a deeper look into why these traditions are observed and maintained. I hope it will bask Korea in a more positive light than I have shed on her in the past.

After all, she has become my home, so I feel at liberty to bitch about her as much as I want. This post though will be a deeper social commentary, written after careful interviews and research conducted during my time here. I think it's important and I hope you'll enjoy it.

This may help to explain the lack of posting as of late. I do appreciate that you keep reading.

More to come...

Colour Me Happy

One of my favourite parts about living in Korea is the vast availability of (often ridiculous) fashion accessories. Here, and sometimes only here, one can get away with nearly anything, provided they strut hard enough.

So I present two very vivid OPI nail polish colours that I will be sporting in Canada to celebrate my time in Koooorea. It's my nail homage. Hey, at least it's some sort of homage ;)

The "It" Color...




image courtesy of nailpolishdiva.com

Melon of Troy...


image courtesy of thecosmeticmarket.com

Have a colourful day!

Good Hair

I'm watching Good Hair, a documentary by Chris Rock.

It's golden. Give it a peek.

Amazing what we do to look good.

Rolling Paper

The students in one of my classes all signed two pieces of paper as a farewell card to me. The English Captain of the class just came up to me and said,

"Teachah! We have rolling paper for you."

ROLLING PAPER?!

As it turns out, the kids roll up greeting pages like this into logs and pass them to each other like batons in a relay race so the pages don't get ruined.

But honestly, the Konglish is quite hilarious sometimes, non?

I'll take some pics of the rolling papers so you can have a peek at 'em!

Daul Kim

Daul Kim was a dark, often twisted model who, sadly, took her own life late in 2009. She was Korean: grew up here and spent most of her life here before making it big and doing shows and shoots all over the world. Here is what she had to say about Koreans on her blog in regards to her fashion career. I thought it was pretty poignant. She starts all her posts on I Like to Fork Myself with, "say hi to...", so don't think she's using Konglish grammar.

2009/08/29

say hi to korean bullies read this

seriously korean ppl
stop bullying me
because
u know what

i have a life

i dont owe you anything
and you dont own me

i dont mean harm, and im just happy to share
my point of views or what i like, its not to offend or to be punk

i respect korean culture as much as possible
im proud to be korean

sometimes i can be ab noxious i know,

but nudity in fashion can't be considered ab noxious

ok did i ever have a dirty scandal? no
did i ever slut around ? no
is i-D porn? no


do you guys bitch when you see a Caucasian model nude?
a japanese girl nude? a black girl nude?
and when its korean girl nude, you guys get mad angry
and i can be blonde, red, pink haired if i want. im not trying to be anything else
i have every right to do what i want. if a white girl colours her hair black, do u say "oh shes trying to be asian"?

its so silly to restrict korean girl has to be a certain way
this is superiority complex and complex is not .... flattering

its 2009 , it aint the 70's we dont have 11pm curfew and skirt length regulations

Korea is Korea. its not the world...

and before im korean,

IM ME.

dont be sad or mad because i change
people change! and move on! i grew. and i wont ask you to change
but i AM going to ask for your understandings.

im not gonna say sorry for living my life...

I'm digging this chick. Big time.

Her blog is sad and twisted and, truly, just the ramblings of a very young girl thrust into a very adult world. She was 20 years old when she died. How tragic.

Well-Stocked Bar

Since all good homes have a well-stocked bar, here is a vision of one for Yours Truly's vision board.

image courtesy of The Inside Man

Bring on the Good Life!

Eating Guilt-Free

I'm in love with Bethenny Frankel. What can I say? Her no-nonsense sensibility and quick wit to go with her equally quick tongue, made me totally love her when I shamelessly watched The Real Housewives of New York. And she's Naturally Thin...and we all know how I feel about thinness. Alright, so she's gone and had a baby immediately after being married, but she's kept me happy with this website. Here is a snipit. One line will make you understand my adoration, "You're all going to want to have my baby when you taste this."



That's right...LOVE.

Have a great day.

Yet Another Zizzo Gem

"Don't let the critical push out the important."

~Ryan Zizzo (via Laura)

Pool Fail: Day Success

Here's where we were supposed to be on Sunday...

Unfortunately, the overcast skies made some of us feel like this...



Which, of course, thrilled Yours Truly...

However, after two pitchers of margaritas, all was good in Itaewon.



...very good.

The empties speak for themselves...



Alas, I still longed for that pool...

...but we settled for people watching over the balcony at Gecko's.



We were more than a little distraught about the caged animals in the scorching heat. I didn't even know rabbits could sweat :(



But the pup was the hardest to see...



...in fact, Katie almost went home with him.



ALMOST.

Some repetition...



...and more repetition...



...and infamous plastic shoes. My how I hate plastic shoes.

Then we just had to try on several random head accessories...

...like a mini cowboy hat...



...and an awesome widow's veil.

It makes you wonder about...

...all the amazing things you can stock up on here.



Now I do apologize for the purple mode...not sure what I was doing with the cam in these pictures. Here's What the Book...



...and Yours Truly, hiding a sweaty head of hair.



Speaking of HAIR, this woman followed us until we were nearly at the subway station. We were fairly certain that was a wig...of animal hair. In dreads.



The bright sunshine over the Han River (perfect day for a swim!)...

...and the day ended quite well.



Whether your weekend was joyful like Kara's face, surprising like Michelle's, or exasperating like Katie's expression, I hope you had a great time.

Recipe for Success

Take one teeny tiny toaster oven...



...combine some good old fashioned ingredients in your neighbour's loaf pan...



...and wind up with some delicious banana bread. Which you promptly cool on your dish rack.



Let 'em rest until they're nice and cool...



...locate some random gold twist ties that you knew you kept for a reason...



...and some $3 ribbon from ArtBox downtown.



Hand resultant beauties out to your principal, vice principal, and Korean Parent...



...and wind up with happy humans all around.

Love the $2 gift ;)