There Goes the Neighbourhood

Hard to imagine that a year has passed. Here are some new pictures of the neighbourhood that I snapped up on Saturday. I have a new appreciation for it now. It's beautiful and strange and well, home.

My gym...

Local plant life (not bad for $12)...

McDonald's delivery...

Fabulous (looking) cakes (conversely, they taste rather lard-ridden: ew)...

Close up of the apple...

Close up of the ladybug...

Ahh...and Starbucks, Korea Styles (read: it takes 10 minutes to get a drip coffee with soy milk. No joke. They also open at 10:30 am. Clearly they don't need a kick of caffeine to start a Korean day)...

Hope you had a great Saturday!

My Exam Questions

Part of my job is to create 5 questions for the final exam.

I was away for a bit a few weeks back (as you may recall), and so to avoid any hassle, I submitted my questions to Black Dress on June 7. That was two weeks ago.

The exam in it's totality was due to be handed in on Friday. I didn't see it, didn't check it over, had no part in it's creation, aside from the five questions I wrote (out of 30...it is a fairly significant amount).

Today, my head English co-teacher (the Burper) told me that because I didn't submit my questions (due, more than likely, to illness), the test was created by only the three Korean English teachers.

Hold on a red hot second, bob-a-louie.

I submitted those questions in AMPLE time for them to be included on the test.

"Oh," said the head co-teacher. "[Black Dress] didn't tell me you gave them to her."

Ohhhhh...so I'm the douchebag who didn't do her work.

Let me tell you, I set him straight.

I'll have to have a little chat with her once her class is finished.

One thing is for sure: no banana bread for her.

Road Work

Canadians do road work at night.



Because in the day, there is traffic.



That can kill the workers.



And one more or one less back home, matters. Apparently not here.



Just how busy are these roads? Let's put it this way...three lanes of traffic going in four different directions converge at this intersection.



This was a fairly death-defying feat ;)

And so the weekend begins...

Bruno

image courtesy of edibleapple.com

I beseech you to watch Bruno. Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius. I mean, the movie is disgusting and totally over the top, but what it lacks in class it radiates in astute social commentary.

In one scene, Bruno is interviewing parents for a photo shoot for their babies. The questions he asks are appalling, but so incredibly revealing:

"Is your baby comfortable operating heavy, antiquated machinery?"

The parent's response? "Yes!"

"Is she okay with rapid acceleration?"

"Oh of course (laughing)."

"Do we have to keep her in a car seat? Because it's better if we just keep her in the car with no car seat."

"Oh no, you can just put her in the car or in a car seat...whatever. Whatever works."

When at long last he announced who got the part, he told her mother, "She will play a Nazi soldier, pushing a wheelbarrow." (I can't type the rest...it's too gruesome)

The mother was thrilled. Because the child got the part.

What the f*ck? How are people allowed to have children? No...that's not the real question. The actual question is how are they allowed to keep their children?

It pushed every envelope of social courtesy, but the point is clear: people will do almost anything for money and/or fame.

Later...

"So if someone comes up to me on the street and is very nice, he is probably gay?"

"Yes, more than likely."

It's worth a watch.

Oh, be forewarned: there is a LOT of inappropriate nudity.
It's pretty hilarious.

Monsoons

Dear Monsoon Season in Korea,

Get a life.

I have 11 days left in this country and I would like to spend some of those days lounging at the infamous Hamilton Hotel Pool. But nooooo...it's all overcast skies and rain patches.

Let's call a truce. Give me a sunny day today and I'll stop complaining.

With kind regards,
Alexis

The Invitation

image courtesy of citizenofthemonth.com

This sounds like a Seinfeld episode...I'm feeling it.

A few weeks ago, I had this notion that I'd have an open house to celebrate my time here. I'd invite all my peers and superiors from school and organize it right after school on a Friday: my last Friday. Why not? This way, they get to see how I live, where I live, and they get to see how much I appreciate being ... I don't know...their peer?

I hurried through an invite, gave it to my kids to translate into Korean and Voila Done! we had an invitation.

Clearly the vernacular of a high-schooler isn't exactly the type of language one wants to use when one delivers an invite to one's work mates, so I asked Beautiful Girl if she'd take a peek at it. After a few changes, she typed it up (in Korean, that's pretty vital), and I went to town copying and cutting the little invites out. Today I distributed them to every single teacher here. There are more than 80 of them.

When I talked to Beautiful Girl about this a few weeks back, she said it was a fine idea, but that hardly anyone would come. They would feel awkward (not as awkward as I've felt for the last 355 days, let me tell you) and that it's not customary for a superior to visit a subordinate's house. I expected that Beautiful Girl, Black Dress, the Burper, The Little Guy, My Korean Mum, and her friends would all be there, but that's it.

Think again, Johnny.

Those little slips of white paper may as well have been Wonka's Golden Tickets, the way they reacted. The "oohs" and "aahs" abounded, as did the hearty pats on the back and shaking of my hands. This doesn't bode well for the budget.

The piece de resistance? My principal called me and Mrs. Lim into his office. We haven't spoken since I gave my notice to the school about my leaving. I gulped. This could just be about the Golden Ticket...I mean invitation I left on his desk. Or it could be a lecture about leaving. Either way, I was a little freaked out.

Turns out it was a praise session. He told me how wonderful I was and I was oh-so-happy to hear it. After the abuse I took after taking time off for my back, I was eager to hear that they still thought I was an asset to the teaching team. Anyway, he's coming.

He laughed at me though (what else is new?) because he reminded me just how small my apartment is. I explained the definition of the open house, but he remained adamant: they would all be there and they would all stay the full three hours. And that's that. I joked that he might make it mandatory that everyone show up...then I realized that wasn't funny.

I ensured that Matt knew he had to be there. I told him it was karmic retribution: surely they would feel quite awkward on my turf. Call it payback for my 12 months of awkward living. I'm excited though...I'm sure it will be an interesting experiment to have all these humans looking at my little shoe box of a home.

Maybe I'll invite my man? It's Friday...Mrs. Lim is taking me out for Italian Dinner on the romantic lake. I'm starving, so this is perfect. After physio, it's off to Katie's for her second party in two weeks. Great day to be alive.

Have a good one.

The Korean Flag

In case you were wondering, here is a little explanation (from my favourite student, Jae Young) about what the Korean flag means.

Is she not the sweetest kid you've ever seen?

I was at her house last night and her family had an impromptu party to celebrate and watch the World Cup game against Argentina. I regretfully had to go to see the physiotherapist. I really did want to stay.

Anyway, as I was stepping onto the elevator, I saw Suki running from the clinic.

"Doctor said to close early today because of the game!"

She was pretty hyped up. Boooo!

I watched a bit of it (how much soccer can one person handle? Not much, says I), and heard the rest of it from open windows and projected screen crowds all over my neighbourhood. They're World Cup crazy here and though it's not my cup of (green) tea, it certainly is nice to see a united front, getting all silly about something physical. Korea lost, so all the kids are downtrodden today (they actually are!). I'm feeling pretty darn good though ;)

Over the Line

I think Facebook has gone too far. Here is my daily recommendation.

"The Bible"

Many people who like Starbucks like this. Like?

Come on.

I think it's high time to erase the old Facebook profile, non?

Who?

You need to just click this. The website is called Who Is The Cutest .com

You'll like it...I promise

(Thanks, Matt!)

A Little Ice on a Hot Day

I thought this was fate-ual (yup, made that one up a few years back...LOVE it).

I found a cheap flight to England. It stops in Iceland at 6 am and doesn't leave until dinner time. I thought, "Hmm..what is there to do in Iceland when one has all day?" Because hey, when will I ever be back to Iceland?

And then, on my daily perusal of all things blog-tastic, I stumbled upon this video. I'm totally in love with everything about it. Looks like I'll be doing some sightseeing in Iceland. Wow...again, if if my Past Self read this, she would not believe the adventures. Life's cool.

Inspired by Iceland Video from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

Video found on A Cup of Jo, who thanks A Goddess in the Making, who attributes it back to Vimeo. There's lots more there (on Vimeo) if you like to giggle a bit.

Good day!

Oh, P.S. My package arrived in Canada with all my winter clothes (and your books, Laur). Good stuff travels fast! Thanks for keeping that safe, A-LEASH and Dave ;)