Pictures

The links are to the connecting blog posts. I know you can scroll down but still...

Pictures from graduation and last week stuff.

Pics from Boseong

Randomness

The won is getting weaker; it's now at more than 1,500 won for $1 US. Ick. The reason is that apparently people here are worried that when the Japanese fiscal year begins (in March) that some of the Japanese companies are going to pull out of Korea. So things might get even worse in March. I really hope not. But Lord knows. Thankfully I already have a job for the summer. Joshua being on disability now that he's 18, I can get paid to do what I've done just about my whole life. It's about time that kid started being useful. (= Hopefully, even with the exchange rate killing me I can still be debt free by August. I was hoping by my birthday but thats probably not going to happen now. Oh well. Lord knows. Still, if I am outta debt in August I will have paid off about $20,000 in about 4 years.

One of the things I miss about the US is apple sauce. I love love love apple sauce. I'm not sure why it never occoured to me to make some here but it did not until I noticed Jessica eating some. After my inquiry she said she made it. So now I buy cheap-y apples, cut out the bad spots, cut into quarters, boil for about 20 min then toss into teh blender. Life is happier for it. I usually make 4 pints at a time. 2 "plain" pints (I add cinnamon) and two with something added. The first time I added waslnuts and cinnamon, the second I added strawberries and this last time I added an asian pear. Wonderful each time tho the strawberry kind was the best. I also like to leave the skins on. I'm never buying apple sauce again. Even in the US.

Happy New Year! (almost)

Time for the traditional wishing of the Lunar New Year! We are leaving the Year of the Rat and entering the Year of the Ox so if you are turning a multiple of 12 this year you are an Ox. The actual LNY is Sunday I think, but we have Monday and Tuesday off which makes for a happy me. The teachers actually don't really have plans this year. I'm good with that; I need to clean.

Not too much to report; exams are FINALLY over and graded and all that. The week of exams (second week of Jan) was the coldest week of the year; well below freezing all week, tho not as cold as my parents had it; -25*F!!! The first two days of the week the heat was broken in both my apartment and on the High School floor. The students and teachers wore their jackets and stuff in an attempt to thaw. I would go home and sit in front of my space heater with many clothing layers, blankets and tea and watch movies. I also lived on eggs that week; I had picked some up on the weekend meaning to get more groceries later but it was too cold to go out!! So eggs it was. I'm glad I like eggs. Wednesday the HS was working on Thursday my heat was as well so I was fine. Good thing I don't mind the cold. It had gotten warmer this past week but today it's cold again, but not as bad as it had been.

I made a decision/leap of faith to stay one more year. I do want to see my boys through their last year. They were thrilled. Max suggested that I teach them one class and spend the rest of the day making food for them. I told him Mrs. J might have something to say about that. I think teacher-wise next year's gonna be fun; a friend is most likely going to come teach and she and I will live together if she does. Jessica is staying too which I am happy about. Other than staying for the boys I don't know really how I feel about being here one more year. I mean, something about being here one more year is a little depressing. It's difficult to explain.

OH! I'm down another kilogram! I have a denim jacket that zipped but was a tidge snug; not anymore!!! It's not too big yet but maybe next season...

That's really it. Nothing too exciting. More later maybe after the weekend's over.

Things that are delicious

First: Crustless apple pie.

For a 9" pie
Innards:

• 6 cups apples - peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk baking mix
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened

Topping:

• 1 cup buttermilk baking mix
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons margarine, chilled

DIRECTIONS
~Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
~In a large bowl, combine apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, white sugar and 1/2 cup baking mix. Stir together the milk and eggs and mix into apple mixture, Pour filling into pie plate and dot with butter.
~To make the Topping: In a large bowl, combine 1 cup baking mix, walnuts, brown sugar and margarine. Mix until crumbly and sprinkle over top of apples.
~Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until apples are cooked and topping is golden brown.

Second: Salmon (this came from Rebecca)

Obtain:
2 lbs. salmon (this can be fresh or frozen, but thaw before you start)
4 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 Tbs. shallots (I actually like red onion)
3/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbs. lemon juice

Assemble:
Mix bottom 4 ingredients. If you have the time marinate the salmon in the goo but it's good just poured and cooked. How to cook: broil for about 10 min, or grill. I made this for my family and they now expect culinary miracles every time I cook.

I post so many things about food I need to start a blog just for food.

Many Happy Things

1. These are the best peanut-butter cookies ever:

For 36 tookies:

• 2 cups crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups chocolate chips (optional)
  

DIRECTIONS
~Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
~In a medium bowl, stir peanut butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Add chocolate chips. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
~Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

2. I'm going to be in the Chicago area for New Years!! This totally happened last-minute. For the last several months every time I spoke to Rebecca she mentioned me going to see her. Today I was just looking to see about prices and realized I had enough airline miles to go see her. So I'm going!!! EEEEEE!!!

3. My ipod's pretty much dead. So that means I get to get a new one!! I think I want a nano. I just have to do some price shopping.

4. Being home is fun. I've not really had jet-lag. YAY. Also: there's LOTS 'n' LOTS of SNOW!! Just not packing snow...but that'll come.

Ok, thats it. I'm about to go to bed.

Singapore

Ok. I've been a slacker not posting this and as its the weekend I have no excuse.

So our flight was 7:30 from Seoul and we landed at 1 am. And it was raining. We got through the airport stuff and caught a cab to our hostel. It was pouring rain and our cabbie told us that it was the start of monsoon season (everyone in Singapore speaks English). Both Jessica and I were thinking "Oh great! it's gonna rain the whole time we're here!" It actually did not thankfully! We eventually got to our hostel and slept. We got up around 9 that morning and left about 11 (Jessica takes a while...). Not knowing the area, nor having a map we wandered to a grocery store that for the life of me I can't remember the name. (In short, I called it "Fresh Face" once, cuz I had forgotten the name. That annoyed Jessica, so for the rest of the time I called it "Fresh Face." So now that's all I know it as.) Anyway, we got breakfast and directions to the nearest bus stop and made our way, via double-decker bus, to Orchard Road. Apparently Orchard Road is the place to go in Singapore. I saw nothing too special about it; it was a road with lots of malls on it. Let me say now that there is nothing to see in Singapore. I mean, Korea has palaces and gajuhbillions of years of history and stuff, China has a Wall etc...Singapore has...merlions (more on those later) thats the only thing to see. Apparently the main draw to Singapore is shopping. Now, it does have some cool archeticture....Ok...back to Orchard Rd, which had a bunch of malls on it. I was not too impressed. Jessica and I are cheap shoppers so we got nothing other than a cup of "Devil's Brew Coffee" which was lovely and strong (it stood up and saluted in the cup as Rebecca would put it). Starbucks was $7.00 SD. Um, no thanks. Then we decided on Little India.

Taking a quick subway ride we wandered around Little India mainly looking at the saris and punjabi suits and enjoying the smells. We found a shop and I immediately was spoken to by a beautiful punjabi suit. It was a purply-bluey colour and I bought it almost instantly. It needed to be taken in a little so we left to find lunch. Jessica found herself a punjabi suit while we were out then we found a place to eat. We got chicken masala which was lovely except that I'm pretty sure that there was a chicken head in the food. It was covered in sauce and I was alerted to the possibility of it being a head when I bit down on what I think was the beak, Needless to say I did not examine it closely to see if my suspicions were confirmed and put that aside. Apart from that the meal was excellent. Then some more wandering where I found a sari ($10 SD) and a few "Indian Slips" (light cotton skirts you wear under the sari) to wear as regular skirts. Then back to the shop to get my suit. There was no one in the shop and Linda (the Indian lady working there) wanted to know what we had gotten. She was impressed with my sari and even showed me how to tie it going so far as to sew the pleats.

After Little India we decided to go to Chinatown. Which was just like China. Only the people were less pushy when you were in their stalls. I saw nothing in particular but Jessica eventually got a few of the Chinese-style dresses. They have a temple there "The Temple of the Tooth Relic". It's Buddhist and we did not get to see the relic, that area had already closed. We never did figure out what exactly the tooth relic was. It was interesting because it was the first time I had been in a non "Christian" place of worship. There had to have been hundreds of thousands of Buddha's there. One room alone had 10,000 of them. Was very sad. We ate dinner in Chinatown at a random little place where the guy was very talkative. He wanted to talk about the presidential election but it was clear he knew nothing about it other than the fact that there was a new president in America and that it was something more to it than America getting a new president. He also knew that "no one" liked the current president. (Note about Singaporeans: They are all very nice and everyone wants to know where you are from. I mean Koreans do to but everyone asked us. I'm sure the fact that there was a common language had something to do with it and if the Koreans spoke more English they would be asking more too.) By that time it was late so we took the bus back to our hostel. I had very very dirty "urchin" feet at the end of the day. They were also sore. I had worn flip-flops (like a moron) so my feet hated me. I remember thinking "I should not wear these." as I was putting them on then thinking "Naaa. I'll be ok" HA! Wrong.

Next day was Malaysia. We took a subway to a bus stop and the bus took us right through the border. We were just planning on wandering about and seeing what we saw but a guy came up to us and said he would show us around. He found us a cab and went with us to a mausoleum, mosque, palace and an area where the houses were up on stilts. I could tell Jessica was a bit nervous about it but for whatever reason I was not worried. The ride ended up costing me about $180 SD (I did not make Jessica pay). I'm almost positive I got ripped off but I don't really care. Otherwise I'd not have been able to see the things I did. Jessica was very nice to put up with me. I could tell she was not exactly impressed with the cab ride. I bought a large scarf and a mumu-dress thing that I can wear with a belt and it won't look so baggy. If I decide to wear it in public. Once we were back in Singapore we decided to go back to Little India and Chinatown. Jess got some more saris and I another punjabi suit (this one black and white. more casual than the first). This time Linda showed Jess how to tie her sari. Then in Chinatown I got a Singapore-batik mumu thing similar to what I got in Malaysia. Jessica got a few other things but I can't recall what other than a white embroidered dress. Again back to the hostel where my feet were again hating me. I wore crocks that day but as they had holes my feet still got dirty. And they were still very sore.

For our last day we had made facial appointments at a spa thing. There had been a promotion in the subway and for $20 SD you could choose one of three services. Jessica and I chose the most expensive one (worth $250 SD) and dragging our stuff with we found our way to the spa. We still had some time once we got there so we did more shopping and when it was time we headed back. The facial was lovely. We both fell asleep (it took about an hour). Then we dragged our stuff to the river area and found the merlions. Everywhere you go in Singapore there are merlions...merloins merlions merlions. And once you see the actual merlions: there are two. One ginormous one and one "baby" one (like 6 feet?). I mean, they are cool. Don't get me wrong. But I was expecting something a tad more. Oh well. As we were walking we got some cool pics. Then more walking and picture taking and finally we decided to head to the airport. We had about two hours at the airport and we putzed about and finally left Singapore about 11:30 and landed in Seoul at 7 am on Sunday. It was 9:30 when we got home and I promptly went to bed and slept till 12:30. When I got up I did nothing but sit at the compy until 6 when I went back to bed till 6:30 on Monday morning.

All in all it was a fun trip. The weather was hot and sticky (it was the tropics after all) and the hostel very bare-bones. But when all you need is a bed and shower who cares? It had airconn too!! A perk!

I took over 350 pics. And someday I might get them on here...

The Tooking of Tookies

For some time now several of the girls have been bugging me about a cooking club. I finally got around to getting it up and running, and today was the first day. We'll meet every Tuesday for the next six weeks and every week will make cookies for the Christmas Program and something meal-ish. Today we made sugar cookies, fried chicken (grumzies recipie!) and mashed potatoes. I have 9 girls. All but one of them are in grade 9. There is one seventh grader. I was not sure how things were going to go what with having so many girls but with making so much stuff there was work for all. I'm not really teaching them how to cook; I can tell several girls know their way around the kitchen. It's more like showing them some "American" food they can make at home. It was insanity for two hours but I can't wait for next week! Next week I'm planning on making Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup and no-bake cookies.

And a few other "non-slide" pics.A total photo-op. And the only time he did not instantly get chastised for using the compy as a butt warmer.

The worlds greatest coffee cup. If only it were real.

Every weekend is a busy weekend

And if you're familiar with my weekend Facebook stati (is that a word??? oh well, it is now) you might have noticed that most weekends I indicate my need to clean or some such activity. This weekend is no exception: Canadian Thanksgiving is Monday and I'm having people over on Sunday. I need to make chili, fudge, pies, cornbread muffins and something else that I have forgotten, I need to clean and decorate. I also need to get off the computer. But before I do, this is a wonderful article I got from Dave Mathues (a college friend).

Long time no post

I'm sorry I've been a posting slacker. But maybe this post will make up for it? There are lots of pictures at the end!!

School has been going quite well. The most interesting thing has been Pirate Day (which was Friday). High School does not do too much but we had the kids playing a game during times between classes. They had to steal gold coins from each other. Each of the three was worth fifty points at the end of the day. We also gave points for dressing up and best-dressed boy and girl. The winning homeroom gets Krispy Kreme doughnuts on Monday. Linda's homeroom (grades 10 and 12) won, having 150 points. My homeroom was on my naughty list. We had zero points. There was also supposed to be some "kidnapping" of students during two hours but it only happened once. Over all it was a fun day. If nothing else, I got to wear pants to school. (=

Classes are going well. We've gotten a few more students. We're running out of lockers. Which is a good thing I guess. I think the number of students lurks around 120. Chemistry is plugging along. The second test had more of a point spread (only one student got more than 100% this time). Many students though have more than 100% in the class; I've given many opportunities for bonus. The kids are doing a pretty good job of paying attention but the sound from the projector we use is terrible, even with the addition of speakers.

Next week I start tutoring two students. It's four days a week for any general tutoring they might need. I'm planning on using that money for traveling. The teachers are wanting to go several places this year. Tentative plans include Singapore, Malaysia, North Korea, Australia, China and maybe India. Not sure how many of those I'm going to do but it will be as many as possible.

Last weekend was Chuseok. We had Monday and Tuesday off. Chuseok (if you cannot recall) is roughly equivalent to Thanksgiving but with more of a pagan connection (ancestor worship and the like). Because it's a heavily traveled time we teachers don't do too much. The biggest event was Linda, Jess myself and two others going to a Brazilian churriascaria restaurant. Second time I've been to one. Luuurrve those places. Pics are at the end of the post.

Friday night I went to Jessica and Linda's place for brownies and a movie. After, Linda wanted to know if anyone wanted to go to Dongdaemun. Dongdaemun is known for it's 24 hour shopping. It gets its name from a gate that is close to the area. Not to be confused with Namdaemun which burned down this past February. We got to Dongdaemun around 11 p.m., met up with a girl from church, and left around 2 a.m. There is nothing special there regarding merchandise but it's still fun just to wander around knowing it's so late. I got a pedi-egg. Again, pics at the end of the post.

Mac is still sick. He's had the sniffles and some other troubles for a while so I finally took him to the vet. He has a bit of a fever. I was thankful, the total cost ought to have been 25,000 won but the vet did one of the exams for free so it was only 15,000 won. Today I had to take him back and he gave me another discount, so it was only 12,000 won this time.

Pics from recently are below.

Shopping at Insadong

Dinner at TGIF

Brazilian Food

Late night shopping

Some Awesomeness

So when my debts are paid off I wanna go on a cruise. I'm thinking one of these sound cool, more specifically the Shakespeare one one one of the music ones.

Another fun art-y web site. I ran my toast post through it and got this (untweaked).



Sorry it's small but hopefully you get the idea. To see it bigger go here.

Mmmmm, toast

I'm a bit of a toast freak. When in the US, I often have toast (usually with peanut butter) before bed. It was looking like I was going to be toast-less this year as small appliances are quite costly (I saw one toaster here for 57,000 [about $50] and it was nothing special). I finally found one for 18,000 won (about $15). And it is your most basic level of toaster. But whatever, I'll get my money out of it.

Koreans have a different version of toast which I like just as much as American toast. Korean toast is basically an egg sandwich, though sometimes they add other things to it. My favourite version is "Ham/cheese toast" where they add a slice of cheese and ham. It also does not have the brown sugar on it but instead they have this kiwi-sauce-goo that is quite good. And no mayo. Glancing at the initial recipe it seems to be strange if not gross but I assure you, it's quite good. My first year here I posted about a place called "People Baking Toast" that was down the street from me. They had the best toast but alas, they closed last year.

T-3 weeks (I think)

I got some Crocs today. The ugly kind. And their Mary Jane style which is ok I guess. I wanted the Alice style but they did not have the colour I wanted in my size. Both styles I got in black. I considered getting the ugly ones in a lurid green but decided that they were ugly enough just black. But I know I'll wear them all the time so what can you do eh? I'd wanted some for teaching and "toss on shoes" for some time but was not too interested in spending the money. But my grandmother had sent some money and they were on sale soooo.... I also got some polo shirts for teaching. Most of my clothing I had in college and it's time to get some new things.

I think though my favourite purchase for the summer would be my used copy of CSI:NY season 1. I of course want all seasons but the first is a lovely start. I've also been able to stock up on coffee. Korean coffee is instant and not delicious.

Joshua's having his graduation party tomorrow and some of our family came for it. We have 9 people in the house at this present time. I'm sleeping on the couch in the sunroom. I made Korean food for dinner tonight: bulgogi, kalbi, japche, dakochi, and sesame spinach. I even found kimchi. Several of my family members really liked the kimchi which suprised me. Most Westerners don't like kimchi (I actually do). All the other dishes were quite well received though. Sunday night I am having people from Church over. We're gonna have s'mores.

Dad's in Greenville next week presenting a paper on the emergent church at the Bible Faculty Summit. When he gets back he and mum go to MI for a wedding. After that there is something that I cannot remember then back to Korea! I'm very excited about this coming year.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how to motivate 11th/12th graders to pay attention to a class taught via video? The class is Chemistry. I have some ideas but would love to hear others.

Travel Adventures

So after several days in China and two more days in Korea I'm back in the US. China was actually more fun than I thought it would be. Initially I was just along for the ride, mother being the person who wanted to go.

We hooked up in China with a friend whom we've known for several years. Kim has lived in China for about 5 years and she was a wonderful tour guide. After we checked into our hotel (and had issues with them allowing Kim to stay with us. She ended up staying with a friend about 10 min away) we went to Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City. We also ate Peking Duck in a restaurant that seemed like it was in the middle of rape-and-pillage-village but in reality was in an old part of the city. The duck was quite yummy. Between the Forbidden City and the duck we wandered and found this long street where people were selling various forms of street food. We tried starfish (not so yummy), snake and sea mushrooms. The snake was ok; just rather salty. We also went to Starbucks where I got two cool travel mugs. That was Tuesday.

Wednesday we went to the Great Wall (the Ba Da Ling section) and wandered for about three-ish hours. We went to Starbucks there as well and again I got another travel mug, this time with the Great Wall on it. Then we went to the Silk Market (so named because, though it sells many things the focus is silks) where I discovered that I rock at price bargaining. For instance: a guy wanted about 1,900RMB for a pair of pants (over $100). I got them for about 80RMB (less than $10). I think he was crying as I left. But here's the thing, they won't sell it to you if they won't make a profit so I did not feel badly.

Thursday we went to the Temple of Heaven and to the Pearl Market (similar to the Silk Market, only Pearls). At the Temple of Heaven there is a park where the Chinese people get together to hang out so you can basically see the Chinese in their daily social-ness. The Pearl Market was fun. I got some nice pearl sets. My other fun story happened here: there was a shirt with Korean writing on it at one stall. I liked it and just for fun asked what the writing was. "It is Chinese. It says the name of the girl and where she will eat dinner." I was like "No it's not. It's Korean. You lie." I walked away to the cries of "You are right! It is Korean! Come back: good price!" I did not go back but did eventually find the same shirt again. They got the language right that time and I got the shirt for 80RMB (they wanted more than 550RMB).

The Pearl and Silk markets are fun but you have to be pretty focused when you are there. There is tonnes of stuff and every vendor is shouting at you as you walk by "Lady! You want silk? Chinese shirt? Good price! Lady!" Some of them even pull on you and if you walk into their stall and don't buy anything they try to physically hold you in.

Friday Mum and I were pretty much out of money so we decided to go to the airport early and see about getting an earlier flight. We got there about 10 and were told no can do. Well, our flight was not till 6:45 that night so we just chilled at the airport and when we finally checked in and boarded we ended up sitting on the tarmac for three hours because of weather. So we finally landed around 1 in the morning. The ATMs were closed and all I had on me was 45,000 won (about $45) which was not enough to get us home (a 2 hour drive) but I finally found a cabbie who agreed to that price. I told him where I wanted to go and the guy next to him told him as well. I also pointed on a map just to be sure. Well, he did not take us there. He took us somewhere totally different and still made me pay. I was trying to communicate with him and he was being a jerk when a lady cam to help. She tried to get him to do what he agreed and he would not, then he tried to tell the people who at this time had gathered around that he had not been paid. (This is all going on in Korean but I cold understand most of it) I went to pull the money out of his pocket and when he realized that, showed that I had indeed paid. By this time I'm crying because I was so frustrated and tired and a guy came up who spoke English! He was able to find me an ATM and a nice taxi driver. He told the taxi driver to give me the day rate and he did! It was still another 40,000 won but whatever. We finally got home at 3 am.

Saturday we slept in (duh) and got more of my packing done. Then one of the sectaries from school took mum and I out for dinner. It was at this amazing buffet that had all sorts of fresh foods. So. Good.

Sunday was church again and our monthly church lunch. It was even more special because our pastor and his wife who had been gone for the past year were back. Then home for more packing and cleaning then off to meet a teacher from the school who took us out to eat again. This time it was a multi-course Korean meal that was (as just about all Korean food is) excellent!

Monday our flight was at 11:10 so we left Bongcheon at 7 am with Linda whose flight was at 11:30. After at stop in Japan we landed in Minneapolis at 11:30 in the afternoon. Not too much jet-lag yet but I've been back in the US just over 24 hours so we'll see how it goes.

I updated the pictures on my page if you want to go see!

Much goings on

So Mum got here last Tuesday night. Wednesday we went to the 63 Building and took a cruise on the Han River. Then dinner with the teachers and church. Thursday was a shopping day and we went to Insadong where you can get lots of distinctly Korean things (and several things that are not Korean yet sold to the foreigners because it looks slightly Asian and therefore most don't know the difference.) Friday we went to a jimjilbang (public bath). It was wonderful; very relaxing. I don't recommend you go if nudity bothers you. Yes, the genders are separated. Saturday we went to a palace, a park and a stream. The park we found by accident. Sunday was Church and some packing. Today (Monday) is more packing and some errands to get ready for China. We leave tomorrow.

I put some pictures together of what we've done so far. They are not in order (and I could not get them in order no matter how I tried) but I put the day the picture was taken under it.

Life Post

But this will most likely be rather disjointed because I'm watching The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe having just seen Prince Caspian last night (it was good. And may I say; the guys who play Peter, Edmund and Caspian are nice to look at). I want the soundtracks to both movies. I love fantasy. Always have. I've actually gotten into a new-ish series just this week. [WARNING: If you don't like Harry Potter you might want to skip down to the next paragraph. At the very least I'd not recommend clicking on the links.] I'm not sure what the name of the series is but, in short it's about "vegetarian" vampires (they've sworn off humans) and how one of them falls in love with a human. I read the first Friday and the second today. Both books are about 500+ pages. Reading that much in that small amount of time of course means I'm mentally living in Forks (the town in which the story takes place). Not on the level of Rowling and for sure not on the level of Tolkien but still a nice "fluff" bit of fantasy. I plan on obtaining the third book this week sometime. Book four comes out in August and the movie version of the first comes out in December.

So I finally decided to just get over it and go on the heart medication (I went to see the Dr. for allergy stuff and he still wanted me on the meds). So I went last week to get the prescription and when he took my bp it was down again! 130/90. I know thats still high but it was much higher in February when I first went (160/90). So he wants me to walk for an hour four times a week and come in every other week or so and get it checked. For now no heart medication. I can do that.

I got more Teachers Day presents the night of the concert; a face wash, some soap and the best of all: Chanel perfume. I love the scent (Coco Mademoiselle) but am not sure if I'll wear it. I already have a scent I wear that is quite nice. But it's Chanel for crying out loud! But I already have my scent! This is my latest "issue". Yes Sarah, I know you'd gladly rid me of that issue and take the perfume off my hands.

The school's music concert went well as far as I know. I was with the orchestra during the first half so missed the band part. Then when they went down to play I had to run make photocopies, so I only heard about three songs. But it was good what I did hear. The play is this Friday. It's gonna be so cute.

Since January I've been doing a choir thing on the US Army base. It's an international group of people and we meet on Tuesdays. Our concerts were the past two Sundays. They went pretty well. I was not too into some of the songs, but my favourite one more than made up for it; Allelua by...I can't remember. Students came to both concerts (yay bonus point bribery!). There are some fun people in the group. I've not entirely decided if I'm doing it again in the fall but I'm leaning toward yes.
~~
A lovely summer recpie that I came up with in my own head (I think):

1 bag of pasta
3 or 4 chicken breasts (more or less, depending on how much chicken you want, I go with how much is on the styrofoam tray)
Italian dressing (about 1/2 a bottle, again, depends on how much you want)

Cook pasta according to directions. Cook chicken however you desire (I chuck it in the oven with lemon pepper). Shred chicken, combine all ingredients. It's nice hot or cold but I prefer cold.
~~

I think thats it but I know I'm going to remember something later. Oh well. This is long enough.

EAT ME!!

Supplies:
Garlic infused olive oil (cut up some garlic cloves, stick in olive oil for at least 1 day. I keep this in an empty spice bottle.)
Jewish rye bread
Camembert cheese

Make as you would any other grilled cheese using the oil as the spread.

It needs something else but I can't decide what. But it's still yummy!

Stuff

1) The youngest sibling has a blog. Go annoy him!

2) When I grow up I'm going to visit Ganvie, Benin in Africa.

3) Spring break is officially over. Just the weekend. But next week is a 4 day teaching week! Three and a half actually; we are going to see the Dead Sea Scrolls on Thursday afternoon (to be honest, I'm prepared for much boredom).

4) It's hard to believe it's almost April. Which I'm actually very thankful for though. I get paid on Monday. I have $15 in my account and hardly any food. I'm going to have to be very creative over the next 2 days.

5) It's 1:05. I need to go to bed.

6) I hate doing dishes. I was terrible and let them pile up over the last ummmmm....month? It took about three hours to wash them. How Lisa (roommate) put up with it I have no idea.

7) I miss having a cat. I catsat over the break (Chicago, who I lived with/lived with me last year. Merilee took him when we all got new places) and it was nice having a furry thing at my feet when I slept. He still bites a lot though.

More camera fun

More pics with the new camera. The pottery was painted by me. The art teacher was doing pottery in art classes and the teachers could do it if they wanted. Obviously I did. It was fun. The bank pics were from when I last transferred money. It took a while. The final group of pics is from Friday when Chin (grade 4 teacher) took me out for dinner. Can't remember what it was called but it was good!

Sigh

I am currently teaching my favourite Earth Science area; minerals. I mean, hello! Gold. Silver. Diamonds. The guys laugh at me because I keep telling them random things I know about various gems, etc. Anyway, I thought it'd be fun to make rock candy as a class. It's the first major thing I've done that was class-wide in terms of involvement. Yeeeeeh. Never. Ever. Again. The kids were mostly behaved during 6th hour (which was actually the hour I was most concerned about) but during 7th hour one of the boys did not listen to a thing I said and continued to do pretty much whatever he wanted. I gave him an "F" and detention. He acted like he had done nothing wrong and like my frustration at him was unwarranted. It was the closest I've ever come to getting physical with a student. I literally wanted to wrap my hands around his neck and shake/squeeze.

On a happier note; it's strawberry season in Korea and I've been eating about a pint of the most wonderful strawberries, every other day or so. I am very picky about my fruit and these are perfect; large (2 bites min.), sweet and tart. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Going camera shopping Saturday. I think I've narrowed down the field to some form of Nikon Coolpix. Possibly though, a Cannon Powershot or Canon DMC. Final factor will be cost. If I could, I'd get a Samsung Vluu. But I'm thinking it'll be out of my price range and would just be a toy anyway. The idea of a camera/mp3 is lovely.

The student (John) I mentioned in a previous post did indeed get kicked out. This leaves me with just 2 students in newspaper. But I got another 10th grade student (again). David was here about two years ago and has returned. He seems like he'll be pretty cool.

Yummy

1 empty spice bottle (about .75 oz or so)

In the bottle:
1 tsp dill
1 tsp lemon pepper
Fill up with olive oil.

Shake every now and then.

Yummy on chicken and salmon especally. I put the oven on 200* C and coat the meat with the mixture. Then put the meat in foil and seal it. I also add a squirt of lemon juice occasionally. Quite moist and yummy.