Homeownership Pride

I have to tell you how incredibly impressed I am with my friend, Joelle. The pictures below are from her house. Her own house. She has literally transformed nearly every room in the house to make it her own and it looks amazing. I'm LOVING it and just can't wait to see it! In the spirit of how much I can't stand it when someone takes me on a tour and announces what room we're in ("And this is the kitchen." Well, no sh*t Sherlock...the oven and fridge tipped me off. Ahem.),

this is the bathroom... ;)

The backyard ...

...after some mulch...



and her very own rose! Awesome!



Don't forget the amazing patio furniture!

The kitchen breakfast nook...

...and the view if you turn around.

And here she is...our happy homeowner! I'm SO proud of you!

Note: I thought pics of the boudoir were a bit too personal to share here.
You're welcome ;)

The English Interview

I had my interview with the school in England last night. The interview went remarkably well and they offered me a position right away.

I had to put on my very best interview face because we were via Skype and struggled HARD with the "you are strictly prohibited from crossing your legs...always" rule my doctor has implemented. But the 45 minutes whizzed by and the principal and headmaster (headmistress? That sounds wrong...) were really on point.

I loved their philosophies about assessment and evaluation, a modular school year, and the two main foci of the school: the environment and business. I was really happy with them.

So here is the debate, folks. Do I live in the quaint suburb of London called Dartford, or do I commute everyday from London proper? Rent is about $400 a month less in the town and I'd save on the tube pass (about $250 a month). That's big bucks over a whole year. BUT, (whining) I really want to live in the city.

Hmmm...thoughts?

Food for Thought

Byte on this...

But the computer can only manage things that can be expressed in binary code. It can play music, but it cannot write it (not well at least), or explain its beauty. It can store poetry but cannot explain its meaning. It can allow you to search every book imaginable, yet it cannot distinguish good and bad grammar, at least not well. It is superb at what it can do, but it excludes a great deal of what the human mind is capable of doing. It is a tool.

It is a powerful and seductive tool. Yet it operates using a logic that lacks other, more complex, elements of reason. The computer focuses ruthlessly on things that can be represented in numbers. By doing so, it also seduces people into thinking that other aspects of knowledge are either unreal or unimportant. The computer treats reason as an instrument for achieving things, not for contemplating things. It narrows dramatically what we mean and intend by reason. But within that narrow realm, the computer can do extraordinary things.

page 62

The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century

Written by George Friedman

It certainly is an interesting read, if you like that sort of thing. Dad, Dave, Leanne, I think you'd all enjoy it.

Have a great day...just think...
you're smarter than your computer:
you can interpret poetry :)

$30 later...

My physiotherapist ordered me to buy this back brace. How hot is that?

No seriously, it's over 30 degrees at 8 am here. I'm going to boil.

But really, what are you doing to do?

I'm trying to look awesome in it now.

I've resolved that for my last few weeks here, I will do as the doctor says and wear this...atrocity...but I will garner as much sympathy as possible and take all free gifts when offered, because I look positively ridiculous.

Perhaps I'll just start wearing Korean clothes and wear this under my clothes. And sweat my ass off. Literally.

Note: the doctor put this on me in the waiting room, in front of giggling staff, agog patients, and a critically injured man who had just been wheeled in on a gurney. I'm like Lady Gaga here.

Aside from all this though, let it be said I'm feeling a LOT better. All this resting actually has helped. I'm glad.

Oh! And I've resolved to quit saying the word, "glad". I overuse it and it isn't that effective a word anyway. I won't miss it. I hope you won't either.

Awesome Workspace

Thanks again to the Bedlam of Beefy for splaying this image on your blog. I love it. In fact, the instant I saw it, I was reminded of the book Laura lent me, Alienist. She and I agree that we have to find a place just like the workspace described in Manhatten, circa...um, the 1800's, early 1900's? I can't remember. Here is the manifestation of what I thought it would look like...

Photographer is Douglas Friedman and his work can be seen here. He's remarkable.

In the spirit of wanting to try things I've read about, I think we'll head to Delmonico's when we're in NYC. Talk about tantalizing steak dinners!

What ARE you doing?

You may question what I'm doing with ALL this time off. Sometimes I wonder where nearly a week has gone myself. However, I find the day is FULL most of the time. From going to physio for three hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, to making a good lunch to doing my laundry and organizing my summer schedule, I stay quite busy. Yeah yeah...I'm a slacker. I know. But today I ventured out to the Pension Refund Office. I was there about ten seconds, filled out a teeny bit of paper work, and was sent on my way. So simple. Sometimes I'm amazed at the efficiency of these governmental offices in Korea. Being that the consulate made the visa process nearly painful, it's hard to believe that once one comes to Korea, the systems are simplistic and FAST. I think that's the hardest thing to accept: you are in and out of these places in less than a half an hour. Ever been to the OHIP office without an appointment? Ha!


Anyway, aside from mailing home my winter clothes (not yet completed only because I fear carrying all that stuff to the post office and throwing my back out further), I have everything ready to go for my departure. Amazing how quickly a year has gone by and how unremarkable my leaving this country really is. We are all important to someone, to a group of someones if we are lucky, but really, we're just a blip.

This experience (the move to Korea, not the injury) has solidified a few things for me:

First, I like responsibility. For my career, my well being, paying my mortgage, visiting my grandparents and knowing that once I'm there I'll have to make about 8 phone calls on their behalf, for nurturing my friendships. I miss all that stuff...a lot. I thought, when I first arrived, that a life without responsibility for a year would be GREAT. And, for the most part, it HAS been. But I'm ready now to move on to a place where I actually have to think about...well, everything (or at least important things).

Second, I will never, EVER take the beauty, cleanliness, freedom, and liberalism of my country for granted again. It's the best place on earth.

Third, a year is really not that long.

Forth, reading a book every two weeks shouldn't be an accomplishment: it should be an enjoyable past time for an educated mind.

Fifth, simple food is best. I have been without the things I love most: good wine, cheese, baked goods. Though it is POSSIBLE to have them here, they are expensive and far away. A good grocer is going to be my best friend this summer. However, I have subsisted on foods I know and trust: food that nurtures me and keeps me feeling good. They sell them in every country in the world (correction: most countries. I'm reading a book about an exile from Sudan...I don't think they sell tofu and broccoli there)...finding food that makes you feel good is easier than it at first seemed.

Sixth, one can get by in the kitchen with one wooden spatula, one pasta scooper, two knives (one big, one little), one spoon, a set of chopsticks, two mugs, and two bowls, Even WITH company, as long as this same person has three wine bottle openers. One has to keep one's priorities straight.

Seventh, winters in Korea are brutal. Summers in Korea are equally toxic. If I had to choose one, it would be one of the hardest decisions I'd ever had to make...all kidding aside. Again, I love you, Canada.

Lastly, health comes first. You have to put your own oxygen mask on first or else you'll pass out before you can help those around you. It's paramount, then, to ensure mental and physical stability in order to not be a total leech on society.

Enjoy your day!

May Vogue 2010

Apparently May 2010's Vogue features our beloved Sarah Jessica Parker. And since the girls in Korea and I are having a rooftop soiree with bevvies to commemorate the movie debut here before heading out to see it, I thought it appropriate to show you a few shots I found just fabulous.

images courtesy of ecstasy-lover.livejournal.com

Affirmations

The Bedlam of Beefy is one of my oft-read, not-widely-enough-praised blogs that I will mention today. He's not only brought my attention to Kevyn Aucoin, but also dots his memoir with just gorgeous photographs, usually taken himself.

Since hurting myself and talking to the Mother Hen about what I need to do to get better, I'm on the hunt to find positive affirmations that will help me heal faster. I like Aucoin's notion that you can't let anyone else have a more important opinion of yourself than you. What's that quote?...

"What everybody else thinks of you
is none of your business."

I like that. Let's adopt that one as I venture into 23 days left in Korea and a whole summer of living ahead of me.

Kevyn Aucoin was the first makeup artist to design and launch makeup for women of ethnicity. Up until the 80's, makeup was only made for white people...black and Asian people just had to make it work, Tim Gunn styles. After doing the makeup for all Vogue covers for two years in the late 80's, he charged upwards of $6000 per session. Nice. He also wrote Face Forward and Making Faces,

image thanks to and books available here

virtual bibles for many tweens figuring out how to wear make up for the first time. Sadly, he died in 2002.

Here are some words of wisdom from a guy who felt very little in the way of support as a kid. He believed in himself...something we all need to be reminded to do every now and again.

Have a great day.

Teaser

I know some of you aren't Glee fans (why we have anything in common then, is beyond me), but for those of you who can't get enough, here's a teaser from the season finale.

Enjoy your day!!

Updates

image courtesy of wordboner.com

I think we are in need of an update. Since my father doesn't even know what I'm doing come September, I figure we need to post a wee status update. Can I use the word, "update" anymore? ;)

Alright, let's start with my getting out of here. There is question at this point about whether or not I should take medical leave for the 11 days of instructional time I have after utilizing all my sick days. After some careful research about what actually happened to me, and after talking to my own orthopedic surgeon friend back home, I have reason to think that this Korean doc isn't taking this serious enough. And since I'm such a youngster, it would behoove me to reconcile my health issues promptly to avoid the risk of re-injury. I'll see how I feel at the end of this (excruciatingly boring bed-rest-ridden) week.

The Mother Hen says running is out for life. I say, "not on your life." But that issue can be dealt with later.

My flight is officially booked for July 1. I will be home at 9 pm on Canada Day. How fitting. Actually, I leave at 9 pm on the first from Korea, and I arrive at almost exactly the same time 13 hours later. Freaky right? It's like I'm crossing the street instead of flying 10,000 kilometres home. Love that.

Picture of an actual Korean Air plane, courtesy of techtreak.com

I have a thousand and five plans for the summer. This will be one for the books, certainly. We are headed to several cottages, one road trip (NYC, baby!), and there will obviously be many a party for the bride-to-be, Leanne.

I'm sorry...it's just too cute.

And since I'm on a VERY reduced diet (since my physical activity has been reduced to walking to the ladies room), there will be a lot of eating. And may I say there are a lot of foods I've been without for the last year. It's time to revitalize my tastebuds!

image courtesy of Ryan Szulc for Toronto Life Magazine

I've made an extensive list of all the things I want to do while I'm home. Here are just a few...

• eat dinner at Terroni
• tour the CN tower (because it never gets old)

image courtesy of Leanne Pieroni and Mark Jackson

• eat far too much gnocchi at Nonna's
  
• see the Canadian side of Niagara Falls
• lake swimming and dock tanning here...

thanks again, Leanne!

• eat dinner at Frank's Kitchen (see reviews from Coco and Lowe and The Best Life Ever). Let's face it...I'll go for dinner anywhere. Bring it. Oh, I haven't forgotten the Lynn Crawfords' prix fixe at Ruby Watchco, either (review from Toronto Life Magazine).
  
• sit poolside for countless days (this might not seem that luxurious, but after a year in Asia, believe me, it's heaven)
• get my hands dirty in a garden (hopefully it's yours, Joelle!)
• visit as many relatives as I possibly can
• cook. Cook cook cook cook cook. And bake. I can't wait to get back into a full-sized kitchen!
  

After spending a languid, yet simultaneously exhilarating 2 months at home, I'm bound for England. I'm interviewing this week (the schools were on vacay last week...I hope this speaks for my endless weeks of vacation once I move there!) for two schools in London. I would be their high school math teacher. I will only go abroad now if I can teach any of my three subject areas: math, science, or biology. The advantage to being able to teach in England is they are giving me my own classroom in which to teach mathematics: a subject I have never taught before. I have the accreditation, but no experience. What a thrill to be able to put this opportunity of formal teaching on the old resume! I'm pumped!

And finally, I will tour Europe. I won't backpack and I won't stay in hostels unless I absolutely need to. I will see what there is to see in any of the countries that pique my interest during my tenure in the UK. It will be a thrill. I, of course, want to head back to Italy and France (who knows...they might just approve my application for citizenship so I can teach in the EU...miracles have been known to happen!), but I also want to see Austria, Switzerland, and Spain. If my grandfather has his wish, my cousins will join me at some point and we will tour together. Awesome!

So that's what's new in my life. I'm feeling remarkably better after only three days of therapy, but I'm taking this injury as serious as I should. I'm off this week (much to the chagrin of the school), and I intend to do as much reading an relaxing as I can.

I might need a holiday before my holiday, the way this summer is shaping up :)

How was your weekend?