a filipino christmas.

have you ever wondered why philippines is spelled with a "ph" but when you say filipino (like a filipino person or a filipino meal) it is spelled with an "f?" i have.

i have been in the philippines 10 days now and am preparing to head back to korea tomorrow morning. to avoid turning this post into a short novel, i will try to give a brief summary of the past week and a half:

i arrived in the philippines on saturday, dec. 22 and spent from then until dec. 26 at my cousin's apartment in manilla with his wife and 4 year old daughter. they live in an BEAUTIFUL apartment complex, with an amazing pool in the backyard, which is where i spent most of my time. it was nice being with a family for christmas since i wasn't with my own. the morning after christmas, i took a 3 hour bus ride to batangas pier, trying to pretend that i wasn't being stared at the entire time. (i was most definetely out of place as the only white girl and blonde on top of that.) i then hopped on a little boat that they call a "ferry" but i do not b/c when i think of a ferry i think of a big white ship with people hanging off the rails waving to their people on shore and places you can sit inside and a deck where you can stand outside and little men in boat uniforms saying "matey" and a big horn they toot as we sail away. the boat i took was about the size of two canoes put together run by 3 filipino boys who are younger than my little brother. and it rained the whole time.

so after a 2 hour "ferry" ride, i arrived on the shore of puerto galera, on the island of oriental mindoro. as i gathered my bags and made my way from boat to beach, i was bombarded with filipinos asking me if i had a place to stay or if i needed a ride, and i was led by a young man who said he could take me to my beach via trycicle. i was brought through very suspicious looking alleys and told to "wait here" and 10 minutes after standing in the rain being stared at by every passing filipino, just as the panick was starting to set in, my faithful ride came with his trycicle. i will put up pictures when i get back to korea, but the only way to describe this thing is a moped from the 1970s with a barrel attached to the side, which is where i was to sit as he took me on the worst, most pot-hole-filled, most up-hill down-hill, windy roads i have ever seen.. i'd like to say i was scared, and i was, but mostly, i was so full of adreneline and excitment that i was doing something that felt so appropraite to traveling in country like this, that i had a huge smile plasterd to my face the entire time. there was also a little sticker inside my little barrel that said "God bless our trip," which just made me smile more--the driver must realize the fear they often instill into their riders.

i got to talipan beach and the bamboo house that i was staying in and although i was relieved to be out of the rain, my little room i was staying in was much like camping. no frills, no toilet seat, a trickle of cold water coming out of the shower head, which completely soaks the entire bathroom everytime i use it, no air conditioning (and it was VERY humid--i woke up every morning bathing in my own sweat), and it looked liked i could get attacked by any number of bugs at any moment. but this, too, just made me smile, b/c it felt so appropriate to the experience. (and i was only paying 10 bucks a night so what do you expect, really?) but all the filipinos were so kind right away and did everything they could to make my stay unforgetable.

so the island. wow. i have seen many beautiful places, but this was the most exotic. have you ever seen the show "lost?" the island was so lost-ish i nearly started listening for big roars from the jungle and keeping my eye out for "the others." it was mountaineous and full of palm trees and rocks jutting out into the ocean and there were little huts made of straw everywhere and it felt slightly surreal. but there were no frills. the beach i was staying on was not the kind with resorts where you order pina colados from the middle of the pool, it was quiet, authentic, and restful.

what was maybe the best part of my trip was the people i met. i spent a lot of time with a couple from denmark who was staying at the bamboo house. we went out for dinner every night together (there was an italian place just at the end of the beach jutting into the ocean with AMAZING food that people come from all over puerto galera to eat at--seriously, how is there such a good italian chef in the middle of an island in the philippines?) and they were fantastic. i also spent some time with a family from manilla who are missionaries. we took a boat out to the reef and went snorkeling (which was really more like "dodge-the-jelly-fish" b/c they were EVERYWHERE--just little jelly fish floating around stinging us everywhere not enough to make a scar and did a little beach hopping. we also went hiking up to some waterfalls (guided by three 12 year old filipino boys who made us all look like fools as they climbed the rocks and hopped through the rivers with no shoes as we held onto the rope they had for us with dear life) and those were fantastic. on our way there we went through some areas where really poor filipinos were living--their "houses" were smaller than a kids' tree house and the kids running around were so skinney it made me want to cry.

i read 3 books--prep by curtis sittenfield (or her last name is something like that), into the wild by jon krauker (his last name is something like that) and a spot of bother by mark haddon. loved all of them and they were all very very different. i also got a killer tan. i look like a chocolate bar. milk chocolate not dark chocolate. that would just be an exageration.

and now i'm back in manilla and tomorrow i leave for korea. i'm eager to get home and get back to my normal life. it will be very interesting to see what school is like when we get back. hannah and raquel aren't coming back, which all came about the day before i left for vacation, so my apartment is absolutely covered in stuff that they couldn't take back to canada with them--dishes, food, pans, detergent, fans, drying racks. and we have gone from 4 teachers to 2, and my guess is they haven't found anyone in the time that we were gone, but i could be wrong. vacations are wonderful, but coming home and getting on with normal life is wonderful as well.

we're leaving early tomorrow morning for the hospital where asli (my cousin chad's wife) is having her baby (a c-section). i may even get to see her before i have to leave for the airpot. cool. :)

happy new years everyone!!! whoop whoop for 2008!

a doozy of a week.

this is going to be short and sweet, but i just wanted to post before leaving. what? leaving? yes, i'm heading to the philippines in about 8 hours to spend 11 days soaking in the sun and celebrating christmas on the beach. i'll be flying into manilla and spending a few days with my cousin, chad, on his pregnant wife and 5-year-old daughter. i'm hoping to do a lot of day trips--there's a famous volcano thing not too far away, some famous mountain thing not too far away, and also just check out manilla. (i really don't have a set itinerary, i'm just gonna go with the flow like they do down there. i don't really know if they do down there, but it just seems like they would since it's hot all year round. there's really no logic in that but whatever.) and then i'm heading to an island called puerto galera and staying in a little bamboo hut right off the ocean that you can check out here. (that will take you to some pictures of it, but if you look further down the page you can click on something called amenities that shows what the rooms and such look like.) i'll be staying there for most of my trip, hopefully waking up every morning, walking out my front door, and laying on the beach for the entire day.

i really cannot express how excited i am to be out of the country for awhile, see a new place, spend some time with family, and lay on a beach for an entire week all by myself and completely refresh my spirit and rejuvinate my soul. it has been a horrible week that i don't even want to begin explaining, but 2 out of the 4 of us teachers got fired, leaving 2 of us to do double the work that we are capable of, and dumping a pile of stress from both our co-workers' end (who are also our friends) and also from the administrative end. i don't think i've been this stressed out for awhile, so this vacation comes at a perfect time.

i've also never had a christmas away from home before, so it will be a new experience for me. i'm quite excited actually to see what it's like and so far i have felt ok about it. i think it will be hard when my sisters get home and my whole family is together without me there. i really can't imagine my family doing christmas without me. i like to think i'm the glue that holds it together, but that's what every member of the family likes to think. :) i'm sure they'll get along fine without me and i'm sure i'll get along fine without them, but it will be different and sad as well. i will miss them. :( merry christmas family.

happy birthday, merry christmas.

friday night, we had a big tango pango work party hosted by the four of us teachers. we introduced korean to a progressive dinner (we did appetizers at mary's, main course at my place, and dessert and hannah and raquel's) and to mexican food. i made fajitas and they were all very much impressed.


i was also given the "employee of the month" award by my fellow teachers. before you all start thinking i'm the greatest little teacher there ever was, i feel the need to explain that it was a joke. i also got a stocking full of presents to open on christmas. as if i'm waiting till then.





it was our last weekend before everyone takes off for the holidays. so, needless to say, there was many a party taking place in the city saturday night. conveniently, both parties i was suppose to be at ended up at my favorite bar, bricxx (i may have had a hand in the planning...) and it was a really fantastic night. party #1: hannah's birthday. 20 people. started at mad garlic (pictures on your left) for dinner and moved onto bricxx (pictures below).


this is bricxx.








on left, hannah and annie. (aren't the walls rockin'?) on the right...hookah anyone?









lydia, bruce, raquel, and mary.









trees! with lights! in an underground bar! so cool.







this is party #2 that was quite literally a 2 steps from the other party. we eventually just combined them b/c we were so close. i love it when things work out like that! this was a christmas party with a gift exchange and everything--like my new scarf???




debbie and i.

tis the season to post funny links.

so here's some things to brighten your day. they sure brightened mine. you must, oh must, listen to them. you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cringe, you'll cheer:

from andrew:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

from kristin...Messiah organist on crack:
http://www.btinternet.com/~tim.johnson77/rambler/Messiahorganistoncrack.mp3

the ladies' man.

the latest drama at tango pango: who will doyoon chose? subin or hee won? here's the scoop. we've been noticing that doyoon (english name donald, which i'll use from here on out) has his little 4 year old heart set on subin (english name rachel, which i'll use from here on out). she has long flowing hair, short choppy bangs, and wears big purple dresses with lots of fur. what's not to love? so the two have been spotted getting cozy during lullaby time in my music class--snuggling their faces together, donald pushing rachel's hair out of her eyes--and always leave the school walking hand in hand. last week thursday, donald came to school with a love letter, complete with a very "is this contemporary art or is this the work of a 5 year old?" picture on front, and some very messy korean scribbles on the inside that said something like "i think you a very pretty. love, doyoon." cute right? a letter for the love of his life in the purple fury dress, rachel. WRONG! the love letter was in fact made out to hee won (english name, monica, which i'll use from here on out). donald then proceeded to shower all his love and affection and hand holding and hair stroking on the much surprised monica, to the utter dismay of the much heart-broken rachel. but alas! rachel would not be forgotten so easily. the next day, she came wearing her finest and furriest dress and won back the coveted spot next to donald during the lullaby in music class, leaving poor monica confused, betrayed, and alone. in a last attempt to fight for her brief love affair with donald, monica stood up just as i was ending our lullaby, "By 'n' By," and made a brave dive between the happy couple, positioning herself face to face with a very-much-enjoying-himself donald. but her seeming victory was brief, as rachel quickly shoved her out of the way, grabbed donald's hand, and turned his attention back to her bright purple fury dress and short choppy bangs. in a grand gesture of defeat, monica cuddled on donald's back side, wrapped her arms around his waist, and burried her head into his shoulder blades. i don't even think he noticed. rachel and donald have been spotted leaving tango pango hand in hand ever since. HOWEVER, today, much to rachel's dissapointment and frustration, donald was caught snuggling up to min gyu (english name, charlie--the naughty one who's picture i've put on here that has the mischevious look in his eyes but is, ofcourse, one of my favorites)!!! i think donald is one confused little boy. the kicker? out of the little korean boys at our school, donald is NOT the cutest. and that's putting it lightly. in fact, i'd dare say he looks sort of like a weeble wobble with his giant head that's too large for his body and his now permed hair making it look even larger. (why or why do parents perm their little boys' hair here???) what do the girls (and boys) see in him?



here's some pics from my saturday night out with the girls. amelia (my yoga instructor), is on my left, and debbie (the only other person as unflexible and ungraceful as me in my yoga class) is on my right.





turns out my friend josh was playing a show across the street. how convenient. it was cool. he did well.





it also turns out that i rock at pool. who knew. well, let's be honest, i rocked at first. it was one of those blissful moment where i getting every ball in and everyone was like "what do you mean you never play pool!" and i thought "my hidden talent my hidden talent my hidden talent! it's finally here!" and then i got too excited and starting doing things like missing the ball with my stick and i realized that very rarely can you be amazing at something you never do. i have that with bowling sometimes where i think i'm amazing for the first 10 minutes. but i'm not.

mmmmm...butter...sugar...more butter...

last night, i got together with some girls for a christmas cookie extravaganza. you know how exciting it is to make christmas cookies. the anticipation, putting the food coloring in the frosting, listening to christmas music, so much christmas cheer. by the 9th batch, the christmas cd has long stopped playing, and your good spirits have been gone since batch #4. you feel sick from eating too much cookie dough made of 10 pounds of butter and licking the knife of the frosting too many times, you're covered in powdered sugar b/c you put the blender on too high, there's dirty dishes everywhere, and all you can think is..."seriously? there's more? i never want to frost another cookie again in my life." and usually you don't until the next christmas, when you forget the bitter ending from the year before and get just excited as you always do and think it's going to be the greatest event of the christmas season. so that's basically what happened.

the top picture is laura, stephanie, and debbie making the dough in debbie's little kitchen. the next picture down is laura and i...uh...eating.


"um...have you ever heard of a wise man christmas cookie shape? it looks like a pointy headed backpacker."







the finished product. it almost makes it look worth it.

korea kindergarteners.

much is new here in the land of tomorrow. (it's called that b/c we're a day ahead of all you people if you weren't sure what i meant. ) the most exciting news is that yesterday we started a kindergarten at tango pango. before, we were only what they call a "hogwans," which is a term they use for all schools that are privately owned and provide english classes. so as of yesterday, we have a kindergarten in the morning and hogwans in the afternoon. the kindergarten lasts for 2 hours (it will extend to 4 hours starting in march) and consists of an hour and half of classroom and 30 minutes of music for each class. it makes my mornings much busier, but i'm having loads of fun so far. the kids are ages 4-7 korean age, which means about 3-6 american age. most of the students have been going to the hogwans for awhile, including 4 of the naughtiest boys in the school, which, let's be honest, just makes things a lot more fun. the kids come every day, so i'm going to have to start being more creative with my class--i'm open to suggestions.

the weekend was really nice. friday night we took elly out for her birthday, complete with thai food, cake, and nuribong (in case you've forgotten or didn't read my last post--this is korean style karaoke). i think my voice is still a bit hoarse. which is just never good when you're the music teacher. saturday was restful--watched movies, painted something for matt and mary's wall as per their request. i've never painted for anyone before and i was stressed b/c i don't think people understand that i'm actually not a painter. but it turned out really cool and they love it. and then sunday i went to a little english worship service at a church some of my friends go to and ended the day meeting amelia (my yoga instructor) for a movie and a glass of wine at a really cool wine and coffee bar. we saw the movie "august rush" and i really loved it. sometimes i just get so emotional in movies and the whole time i wonder "do i really love this movie as much as i think i do? the next time i watch this am i going to think it's lame?" and then i just stop wondering and let myself bawl my eyes out. it's all about music and how it lives inside of you and i had so many moments where i wanted to stand up and shout "I LOVE MUSIC!" and i even had a moment through my tears where i cried out in my head, "God! all i ever wanted was to be a famous musician! to be really really really good at music and play it for thousands of people at a time! was that so much to ask?" i used to think i should be doing something greater than teaching kids, but then when i'm in my classroom and all of their squinty eyes are looking at me with their empty little heads(actually big--koreans have really big heads) just waiting to be filled with whatever i give them, i think God is just smiling and saying "sorry, carolyn, but you are not going to be famous. you are going to be a teacher. deal with it." it's a good thing those kids are so cute and i love my job. most days.

this morning my alarm went off at 7:20. i hit snooze. it went off again at 7:25. snooze. 7:30. what to do what to do what to do... snooze. 7:35 do i really have to get...snooze. 7:40. alarm off. lay down. don't fall asleep don't fall asleep don't fall asleep. sit up. lay back down. sit up. snuggle back under the covers. finally, i sat up and had a 5 minute conversation about why i needed to go running this morning.
"self, you're already up. you've been doing so well. it's not a big deal."
"oh, but i'm so tired and cold and hungry. that's like the triple threat reason not to go running." "self, you've been doing really well. if you don't go today, then what's making you go tomorrow or the next day?"
"oh, but it's colder today. it's not good for my lungs."
"self, your lungs will be fine. you'll feel better when you're done."
"fine. but i'm not going very far. only a 5k."
"fine you big baby."
"don't call me a baby."
and the conversation went on until i was dressed in all my layers and out the door. i've turned my heat off in my apartment to try to save money and it's getting colder and colder outside and i just wonder if i can do another winter with no gym. i felt like the air was going to bite my face off this morning.

one of these things is not like the others...

tonight after yoga, i hopped into the elevator and just as the doors were closing, there was a girl coming out of yoga ready to leave so i made a heroic dive in between the doors and just as they were about to squeeze the life out of me and turn me into a martyr, they re-opened and the girl walked in. "yikes! that was a close one!" i gasped with pride. her response? no thank you, no smile, not even eye contact. just as the doors were about to close again, two more people walked out of yoga and, despite the lack of appreciation from fellow yoga-er #1, i threw myself between the closing doors again, allowing for two more little korean women to join us on the elevator. again, no response. and let me tell me, it sucks when you just miss the elevator b/c yoga zen is on the 9th floor and it takes a long time to wait for the elevator to go down to the first floor and all the way back up. but despite their lack of expression, i maintained my good spirits and even told one of them that i liked her shoes. they were a leopard print stiletto type of thing and they were fabulous. i pointed, gave a thumbs up, and she looked at me in confusion and annoyance. come on, lady, every country knows what thumbs up means. so then i started looking around at the shoes of the other women. one pair of leather pointy toe boots, one pair of red and blue patterned heels with a little diamond thing. and then i looked at down at my own pair of black and white pumas that look like they're made for rock climbing and have been several times. suddenly i found myself whistling the tune to "one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong" from sesame street. my whistling turned into humming, my humming turned into full out singing. (well, not full out. i was singing the words loud enough for them to hear.) i thought it was hillarious, but i don't think they got it. apparently, they don't have sesame street here either. today, we also found a place with a tanning bed, which was shocking considering that every skin product and lotion in korea is purposed to whiten the skin. they want to be white, we want to be brown. but mary's going to thailand for christmas and i'm going to the philippines and both of us will be on the beach for a week and a half straight and i'm petrified of turning into a painful and peeling bright red tomato after day 1. i haven't been to a tanning bed since high school prom (with the exception of once) and i really hate them. they smell, they're claustrophobic, they make me all sweaty and hot and, the obvious reason--it's a box of cancer. but i figured a few times wouldn't hurt and would also make my transition into beautiful beaches much smoother. anyway, we went after school today and seriously, i think the bed was from 1979 and i don't think they've cleaned it since then. i felt like i had been slimed. or given an std. i'm taking some cleaning materials next time. gross.

hannah got some pictures from the website of the 10k we did. here is the start.





there's me! #1399 just about to cross the finish line. and just to clarify, the children who are about to beat me walked the 5k and sprinted the last 10 feet of it. so no jokes. they aren't beating me.

look at the sea of koreans! try to find us! it's like where's waldo.

the one who makes me bendy turned 28.

our thanksgiving meal turned out to just be the tip of the iceberg as far as as our celebration of thanksgiving was concerned. sunday afternoon, we all headed to annie and matt's, friends who have a beautiful apartment in the city, and spent the entire day, preparing (well, i did a lot of sitting on the couch--i'm not really the first to jump up and get all helpy helpy in the kitchen and there seemed to be enough of them crowded around the oven), anticipating, and enjoying a fantastic turkey dinner. they have a real oven so we could actually have turkey. it was super delicious and i think i'm still full.

but i did more than eat this weekend. saturday night, we celebrated amelia's (my yoga instructor who's the size of my leg) 28th birthday. about 7 of us headed to hongdae, a really hip and lively part of the city, to a bar called bricxx and it was sooooo cool. probably one of the coolest bars i've been to, and that says a lot cuz i lived in chicago for a year. it was dark and candle lit and underground and we sat on cushions on the floor and i think i may have said "seriously you guys, i just love this bar! seriously! it's so cool!" about 15 times over the course of the night. so we ate food that was too spicy and drank some german pinot grigio that was too delicious and had cake that was too small, and then we hit two other places and i danced my face off and didn't get home till 4 am. what am i, like, in college or something? i know. i haven't stayed out that late for a really, really long time. but i was having a genuinely great time and enjoying the people i was with so much. one of them, debbie, was a girl i met at church awhile back and she goes to yoga with me, and debbie's roommate rob came with his korean girlfriend mido (i don't know why i specify that she is korean, but i'm just trying to create a picture for my readers), and then amelia along with 2 more of their korean friends. i think one of the reasons i enjoyed the night so much (other than the fabulous atmospheric bar) was because it was with different people then i often find myself hanging out with. it was really nice to hang out with non-work people and not talk about work stuff (b/c that is what tends to happen when you're with work people). i can't swing those up-till-4-am nights like i used to (i don't know how the kids are doing it these days), but it was most definitely worth it.

so i found an old white head board in the trash and decided it would make a nice art project. so i spent a night last week painting it and had a blast. i'm no artist to say the last, but i enjoyed every stroke of the brush. :) i put it by my window b/c when i put it behind my bed, 3/4 of it was covered. (i just sleep on a mattress on the floor). so here is the finished project.

kimchi stuffing.

happy thanksgiving!!!! as the only american in a sea of koreans and canadians, i hosted the thanksgiving meal at my place last night and it was fabulous. here is what our menu looked like: mary and i both made chickens (we found turkey at costco but it was about 4 times the size of any of our little conventional ovens) and mary even made stuffing to keep the insides of our birds happy, and her and matt also provided the mashed potatoes and wine. i made a DELICIOUS pumpkin soup and broccoli, hannah and rocko brought sweet potatoe casserole and carrots, lucy (she's the korean teacher who helps us with all of our classes and is kind of like our korean mother figure) brought apple pie that we were all too full to eat anyway, and elly (our korean friend) was supposed to bring bread but she said she couldn't find any (couldn't find any bread? what?) so she brought two large pizzas. i don't think she really gets what we do at thanksgiving. but it was hillarious and thoughtful nonetheless. i totally made everyone go around and say what they were thankful for and there was much laughter and good cheer. to end the night, we headed across the street to nuribong--korean karaoke--and spent the remainding hours of thanksgiving day belting out christina aguilara's "beautiful" and kelly clarkson's "since you've been gone" and will smith's "gettin jiggy with it" (which i would not recommend nor ever do again--there's more words to that song other than "na na na na na na na gettin' jiggy with it." a lot more words in fact and lets face it i am a white girl who can't rap.) we met up with elly's mom and some of her friends who were there and i even got a lap dance from one of her mom's friends. not exactly what i would expect from a korean woman. i had never done nuribong yet and it was awesome. karaoke asian-style means you get your own private room that you pay for, complete with two microphones and tambourines. it was a memorable thanksgiving.

that didn't take long.

I'VE GRADUATED!!! I'VE GRADUATED!!!

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baby it's cold oustide.

so i've now officially been in korea for 3 seasons. summer, fall, and as of yesterday, winter. as i speak, the first snowfall of the season is making it's way down my window, and i'd just be lying if i tried to hold back my excitment. THE FIRST SNOW!!! it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! hannah and mary and raquel and i were all sending each other texts and calling and saying "can you BELIEVE how big those snow flakes are!?!?!?" and they were all groaning and i was so excited i wanted to hug them through the phone. it makes me feel like a little girl again!

it also makes me realize that i think this is the last time in my life i will live alone. if it's up to me. at first it was sort of a novelty, a rite of passage, i felt sort of carrie bradshaw from sex and the city-ish. and now i find myself talking to my plants and sharing my excitment about the first snow in my blog rather than grabbing the hand of a roommate and skipping outside and opening my arms and sticking out my tounge to catch as many of the season's first snowflakes as possible while making a beautiful memory with another person that we can talk about years down the road. i guess i could do it alone. or run over and grab one of the other girls, but it's just not the same. it'll be nice to come home to someone again.

in honor of the first snowfall, i shall recite the song i've been teaching my korean rascals. (it's in 5/4 time which i love and it's supposed to just be a chant but i put music with it and it's sounds really jazzy and exciting now. so try to imagine that):

snowflakes, soft snowflakes, gently are falling, magically making everything white.
snowflakes, soft snowflakes, gently are falling, magically making everything white.

i found this site that rates your blog from one of larry's posts. here is what i got:

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larry got a genuis reading level. some of his other readers got high school or college. and i get junior high. maybe it's b/c of all of my mispellings. i just can't stop chuckling every time i think about it. i wonder if there's anything lower than junior high or if i got the bottom of the barrel. like is there a 3rd-6th grade level? or a kindergarten reading level? toddler? infant? i hated junior high. i'll never forget the day i had to come in early to scrap gum from the bottom of desks b/c i had been caught chewing during class. (chewing gum of course.) and i found the notebook that my two best friends wrote notes to each other in throughout the day which turned out to be a "why carolyn is a loser" notebook. (their main reason was b/c i got more playing time on our sioux center christian 8th grade volleyball team than they did. totally legitimate.) i wonder what their rating system is based on.

i'm going to work on upping my rating to high school level.

friday

i'm not sure i've ever been so happy to see friday afternoon. i've got exactly 4 hours left of trying to teach new christmas songs like a dentist tries to pull stubborn teeth out of a screaming 4-year-old's mouth. it's been one of the longest weeks since i've been here i think. i woke up monday morning, looked in the mirror, and knew i was in for an excrutiating 5 days. monday afternoon, i thought...is it possible that it's actually friday and the world is just playing a mean trick on me?



but alas, friday has come. there's no better feeling then 6:31 on friday night, unlocking my bike, throwing my legs over the seat and pedaling as fast as i can, not looking back as the multi-colored tango pango sign gets smaller and smaller behind me. whooping and hollering all the way home in an effort to squeeze all the cheezy kids songs i've been singing 137 times a day for the past week, tearing up the stairs to my second floor apartment, throwing open the door, tossing on sweatpants and fleece as fast as i possibly can, ripping the bobby pins out of my hair, off with the rings and earing and necklaces, and then the beautiful feeling of settling into the couch for a weekend of no makeup, no singing, no yelling at snotty kids to stop using their drumsticks as a weapon, no controlling directors and looking ahead to a weekend of good movies, long walks through the park, mary's grey's anatomy dvds she got in china, and lots of the delicious pumpkin soup i made over lunch hour. mmmmmm, the thought delicious pumpkin soup sitting in my belly just might be enough to get me through the next 4--no wait--now 3 3/4 hours of this wretched week.

i'm not so sure what made the week so bad. it felt like getting through each day was like swimming through mud. i was so tired and unenthusiastic and to top things off, our director told me today, after 3 months of not saying anything, that i had to take out my eyebrow ring. i almost cried. it was like he was asking me to stop wearing colors. or asking me to start being boring. or asking me to change my name from carolyn to blah-olyn. but i will fight this! you can't take away my interestingness so easily!

dogs, indian food, marathons. what could go wrong?

it's been another eventful weekend. mary and matt went to china this weekend, and i was nominated dog-sitter for their 4 month old apricot poodle, wicket. (who i have been calling wicked for the past 3 months...whoops.) we had a really bonding 3 days together. we laughed, we cried, we (he) broke my favorite little statue that i took from home, we (i) gave him the death glare of my life and yelled uncontrollably for about 3 seconds before just leaving the apartment for a few minutes, we (he) is not as potty trained as mary told me he was, we (i) never want to look at another doggy pee pad again in my life, but after all of the ups and downs, we spent a really nice afternoon today laying in our courtyard cuddling to keep warm, making friends with other korean dogs and their korean owners, and despite the frustrations, it makes me want a dog to call my own. someday.

saturday hannah, raquel, and i went to insadong, which is a big artsy market, and then met bruce and lydia (some friends from the other side of seoul) for indian. yum. bruce and lydia came up to ilsan to spend the night, and then this morning, we all did the ilsan lake marathon together!!! well, that is what they called it. it was actually a 10k and a 5k, but the shirts say marathon, so if, at some point, i'm wearing the shirt and someone says something like, "wow, a marathon. that's so awesome. i've always admired people who can do stuff like that. you are my hero...", i may not correct them. hannah, lydia, and i did the 10k. and raquel and elly (elly is our korean friend that works at tango pango) did the 5k. here's some photos from the weekend:

at the insadong market, some koreans making some korean food. it's sort of a nut/seaweed/honey/rice krispie barish sort of thing. we think it's sketchy. well, actually, i didn't think it was sketchy until after a korean dude sampled one to me and as i put it in my mouth i heard gasps of horror and moans of disgust. i didn't know i was supposed to be weary of things like that, but apparently i am.


on the street by the market.








raquel, hannah, and i.











mmmmmm...... earl grey tea......mmmmmm....







doing some pre-"marathon" stretching.







check out our awesome race shirts. (they were all too smal. go figure. stupid tiny little asians.) from wunjuk (left) to oranjuk (right): elly, rocko, me, hannah, lydia. (lydia is dutch too! as if the height and blonde hair doesn't give it away...)





my first place medal! just kidding, everyone gets a medal. but again, if i'm every wearing it around, just, you know, as an accessory, and someone says to me "wow, a first place marathon medal! i can't believe you got first place in a marathon! beat everyone! wowzers! if only i could be more like you...", i may not correct them.

i am the potter...

this weekend, a group of us traveled outside of the city to a little korean village placed in the mountains to the korean version of pottery barn. it was a tiny little family-run pottery making place, where, for 15,ooo won (about 15 US dollars) you can spend a day learning the ins and outs of this beautiful art. we got a little time on the wheel, then spent the next couple of hours in a dingy room re-living the days of 6th grade art class. they brought out the long coils of clay and away we went. actually, not we, they. i opted instead to paint the bowl i had made on the wheel (well, actually a replica of the bowl that had already but put through the kiln.) i remember the horrible feeling of trying to do coil pots in the 6th grade and watching it turn into a misshapen lumpy looking blob that resembled the cookies i used to make out of mud that me and my sisters let "bake" in the sun on the ledge of the tree house when i was 5...) and i didn't really want to re-visit those feelings of disspointment and insecurity. so i painted and it was super fun! they will put them through the kiln and will glaze them for us and send them in the mail in a few weeks. what an exciting day that will be! "special delivery! one beautiful piece of art for a ms. carolyn sybesma. wow, you are some artist, mam." i
can't wait.

so anyway, this is me on the wheel being shown what to do by the korean instructor.





look at the bowl i made! look at my clay-ey hands! look at hannah in the background sneaking in on the picture! look how many sentances i can write with exclamation points!





it was a really beautiful place we were in. this was some of the scenery surrounding us as the sun was setting. i love korea.

a tango pango holloween.

our holloween extravaganza at tango pango. a WILD and crazy day. spent the whole morning decorating, hanging spider webs, covering windows with black paper, covering the lights with aluminum foil, taping pumpking all over the wall. and then the kids came in the afternoon for face painting, learning about holloween (they don't really celebrate it here), showing off their costumes, and trick-or-treating. this picture is of me and chung whan (aka power ranger pink--that's his english name he makes us call him.)


one of my favorite students yae chan.







the kids sitting and learning about holloween.







on the left, one of our naughtiest kids--min gyu. (but he's one of my favorites...i've always like the naughty boys the best...)











watching the crazy teachers do a crazy skit to the book "the old lady who wasn't afraid of anything." (i did sound effects on the piano.)










we had mummy wrap races where we each picked a kid and raced to see who could wrap their entire roll of toilet paper around them quickest. i definetely lost. turns out it's a lot harder than it looks. next year i'm practicing before hand...




the tang pango teachers! me as a cat. hannah in the back as a pirate. raquel in front as sporty. and mary on the right as an old lady.





...don't forget to check out my pics from last weekend on the post below here...