Farewell Mikey Teacher

1/3 of the Seoul Posse will be leaving in a few weeks. Goin back to Texas. It was fun while it lasted and he will truly be missed.

Shoulda Been a Soju Bottle

So, the Winter Olympics are underway in Vancouver. I have never been one of those people who said, "The Winter Olympics! Woo hoo! Awesome! I'm so excited!" Actually I've never been one of those people ever when it comes to sporting events (I only like the Superbowl cuz I get to eat copious amounts of wings).

However, this year, while not really psyched about any event in particular, I have been keeping up with it more than usual. By this, I mean, I'll have the TV on in the background while I'm on the internet, and I watched half of the procession of Olympians.

As an expat, you are faced with a significant dilemma: Who should you root for in the Olympics? Well, my vote is for South Korea. I would be prouder (more proud?) to see SK win the gold over America. Why?
2 reasons:

1) Kim, Yuna (or Yuna Kim for everyone outside of the Peninsula) because she is Korea's darling right now.
2) Because the South Koreans are feisty and they say, "Homey don't play that" to other countries by throwing water bottles at their coaches. Lucky the Olympics aren't in Seoul, otherwise you'd be ducking from a flying green soju bottle

Koreans love ice skating and they love Lady Gaga... so they might be rooting for flamboyant Johnny Weir....

Baby J

This weekend is Lunar New Year. This means I get a 4 day vacation (yay!!!) and most Koreans flock to the country to be with their ancestors so it's less crowded (yay!!) but banks -including atms- and other establishments are closed (boo!)

After a good night in Hongdae, we woke up on Saturday to go visit the newest family, Rick, Joo, and Baby J.

Baby J aka Julianna was born last month, the day after all the crazy snow. She's precious, y'all. I couldn't believe that Rick is a daddy! You could tell that he loves every second of it and I couldn't be happier for him and Joo! I was a little scared when they asked me if I wanted to feed Baby J, and I still did it wrong, I literally had the bottle perpendicular to her... but I guess practice makes perfect.I look really gross in the picture but the baby makes up for it.

Who Dat Dog

Super Bowl Champs of MMX!!!!!!!!

I stayed away from all things internet today and drove myself crazy but it was sooo worth it when I was at Phillies watching the game "live."

Mosquito Poop

Yesterday morning I was grading homework and trying not to let my 4 hours of sleep get the best of me... I had already reprimanded my kids for not following directions (wait until AFTER I'm done grading papers to nag me about finishing your Circle Time work!!!) and the atmosphere of Yellow Class was a little on the tense side.

I called up Jasmin to get her homework and stickers when I saw her come up with a bit of trepidation. "OK, Jasmin, I'm not going to throw you out the window. Why are you so scared?" And she said, "Teacher. Blood."

Winter is a very dry time here in Korea. Students come in with cracked and bloody knuckles, peeling and scabby lips, the skin under their nose is flaky and dry. So when any of my kids say bloody I immediately point to Sophia's room where they get lotioned/Vaselined/moisturized up. I nodded my head towards the door and said, "Go." But I then followed Jasmin's eyes to the floor.

There on the white tiled floor was a small pool of blood. Pool is actually an overstatement. It was about the size of a dime (or a 50 won) but it was the unmistakable bright red of blood.

"Ewwww!" I scanned my students. "Everyone, check your nose!!" No culprit. "Everyone check your hands!" Silence.

"Who has an ouch?" I self consciously checked my own nose. Although I can say the only time I've ever had a nosebleed in my 26 years was when I went on Accutane.

"If no one is bleeding, where did this come from?"

Jack raised his hand. "Casey!! I know! Mosquito poop!"

Huh. Makes perfect sense.

Why I Need a Dish Washer

I'm so lazy, I haven't done my dishes in forever... I make sure mold doesn't accumulate by at least running fresh water over my dishes everyday. However, I always think, I'll do it "tomorrow" because I know I'll use another cup/dish/spoon/chopstick and it would suck to just have to wash one cup/dish/spoon/chopstick by itself.

Oh and I'm cheap too. I don't want to use dish soap on just one cup/dish/spoon chopstick.

Today, I wiped the Spam grease out of my frying pan with kleenex (I'm also too cheap and lazy to go buy paper towels at the 7-11 down the street) so that I could make ddokbokki. Now I have a caked frying pan with ddokbokki sauce.

I miss having my dishwasher in the Venue... at least I could hide the dirty dishes from sight.

Nabiya

Since I've been in Korea, I have been volunteering at Nabiya Cat Shelter a few hours a week. It really is a nice way to clear my head of work stress and also as I've mentioned before, I'm sure it helps to rack up some good karma points.

I'm doing some early spring cleaning on my hard drive and I took these pics before I left for Christmas Vacation.

Sunshine will literally give you a bear hug when you walk in.

This is Mong. He's still pretty feral but I really like how it looks like he is wearing a toupee.

Tagun is the Boss Man and puts the other kitties into their place when needed.

This sweet man is Donggri. He's blind in both eyes but is so patient and friendly. I always make sure to pay a few extra minutes to this guy!