recently i was informed by many different people about something in Korea called "fan death". what is "fan death" you ask? allow me to explain.
it is a widely help belief and gigantic misconception, that if one is to keep a electric fan running inside a closed room (so my apartment with my windows closed) that you will die. yes you read that correctly, an electric fan running in your closed apartment can cause you to die.
my co-teachers recently asked me if i had a fan, i told them no, and they said good that i wouldn't have to worry about fan death. i made the mistake of asking what fan death was, and so began the ridiculousness of the explanation of fan death. my co-teachers, along with many of my friend's co-teachers are so set that "fan death" exists and real. it's rather entertaining. they state, "it says so on the news, and the news wouldn't lie to me"... yeah okay.
so the other night jennie, dolly and i were talking about it and we decided to google it to see what we could come up with. when you google "fan death" the first page that pops up is of course wikipedia. listed on there page are these reasons as to why "fan death" does exist and what can happen.
1. An electric fan creates a vortex, which sucks the oxygen from the enclosed and sealed room and creates a partial vacuum inside.
2. An electric fan chops up all of the air particles in the air leaving none to breathe and suffocation to occur.
3. The fan uses up the oxygen in the room and creates fatal levels of carbon dioxide.
4. If the fan is put directly in front of the face of the sleeping person, it will suck all the air away, preventing one from breathing.
5. Fans contribute to hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperatures. If the fan is left on all night in a sealed and enclosed room, they suppose that it will lower the temperature of the room to the point that it can cause hypothermia.
6. The fan overheats after it has been left on for too long, and ceases to cool the room, instead causing the already sweltering heat to increase uncontrollably until the person dies.
7. The fan contributes to prolonged asphyxiation due to environmental oxygen displacement or carbon dioxide intoxication.
while not all koreans agree with this ridiculous notion of "fan death", because of the media there are many that do actually believe that it is true. when i was discussing this with my co-teachers, i brought up the idea of the air conditioner doing the same thing a fan does. because it basically does, it's putting out air and usually when you run your AC, you keep your windows closed so you don't let the cool air out. they insisted it was different and it was only with a fan. which doesn't make any sense.
so there you have it folks... the ridiculousness of "fan death" in Korea. i hope you got as good of a laugh out of it as i did.
edit: dani has informed me that her AC does not work and there is a mess that involves her not getting a new one. so she plans to use "fan death" as a perfect excuse as to why she should get a new one STAT! we'll see how that goes.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
it ain't ever gonna stop
this past weekend turned out to be pretty awesome.
friday=payday! ii love with friday and payday fall on the same day. it was also a very good thing because i was running a lot lower in my bank account than i really like to. so that was good. it also meant i could actually go shopping for things i needed.
saturday jennie and i had planned on going into seoul to do the much needed shopping. though friday, jennie got her medical packet for peace corps, so that meant she was going down the the hospital in seoul to get all the medical stuff out of the way. this meant i was on my own for the first part of my day. which totally meant i slept in. sort of. i wake up automatically between 5:30 and 6:30 because that is around the time i get up during the week. and also because i have an entire wall that is nothing but windows and the sun shines right in bright and early every morning. it's rather annoying. once i got up and ready for the day i made my way to seoul in hunt for my dad's father's day/birthday/christmas present. (for fear he might read this, i won't say what i got him) i will say that i got lost at some point trying to find it as i got off the subway. we all know how good i am with directions, i ended up walking the other direction for a good mile or so before i realized i went the wrong way. after a ton of digging and searching i found exactly what i was looking for!
met jennie for lunch in itaewon and after she managed to talk down a store owner from 85,000won to 60,000won for a backpack for me. so now i will be set for busan (if we go), mudfest, and thailand. and i'm sure for a bunch of other trips i will probably take. once that was done, it was time to head to myeongdong to do some much needed shopping for essentials. forever 21 and H&M are basically the only two stores in all of korea that are going to carry clothes that are going to fit me. because i have curves, unlike basically 95% of korea. scored on finding a skirt and i FINALLY found plain shirts. i swear everything over here is sparkly, frilly, fluffy, or something along those lines. H&M was having some sort of sale and they had plain shirts and tank tops, so both jennie and i stocked up. after wearing one today, i am tempted to go back at some point and get some more, cause they are awesome. by the time we got home we were exhausted.
one of my goals while i was out shopping was to find an external hard drive because i am afraid i am going to run out of room on my computer. i checked it the other day and had a small panic attack. i have one external hard drive, but it is used for my TimeMachine, which backs up my computer, so i can't use it as a regular external hard drive. i want to be able to move a bunch of stuff i don't currently need on my laptop to there, so i can save some space, but there are a few things i want to download that are going to take up quite a bit of room. well i didn't end up going to yongsan, cause we were exhausted, so i'm still on a hunt for that.
so once i got home i went through the things on my computer already to see if there was anything i could get rid of. what did i find on there... THREE copies of both my 2nd and 6th grade work samples. why i have 3 in different spots on my laptop i have no idea. so i was able to get rid of 4 giant files. and a bunch of other random stuff that i forgot was on there. i went through and completely organized things, cause we all know i am OCD like that. it's not that they were unorganized, i just made it better. or at least that's what i tell myself. ;)
sunday jennie and i went into seoul and met amy at a soccer game. we went at saw the national olympic korean team play jordan. now i have been to my fair share of soccer games over the last 23 years of my life. but never have i ever been to a soccer game where the fans were out of control. throughout the whole entire game, they were constantly booing the other team, yelling profanity at them, telling them they suck, and just being all around assholes.
in america, if someone is injured, usually you kneel, and when they get up you usually clap. not over here, they shout awful things at them and tell them to get the hell off the field and tell them they suck. it's awful. so at one point when the jordan goalie went down, and was obviously in serious pain, the fans went wild with the booing and it was awful. by the end of the game i was rooting for jordan, just because korean fans her absolutely awful. korea ended up winning 3-1. damn.
another thing that was annoying about the game... the high school girls sitting behind us. i swear to god i was going to strangle them. korean girls already have sort of a whiny voice and it's worse when they scream. so imagine that, then take it and multiple it by a hundred and you have the screaming girls that were behind us at the game. they were awful. the whole time. at one point i was going to turn around and hit one of them. amy nicely turned around and asked them to be quiet, they just glared at here and giggled. they were quiet for a bit and then started up again. so what did jennie and i do, we were mature and completely blocked their view by standing back up. they were trying to take pictures and we kept standing there right in front of them. at this point i didn't care. nothing we said was going to get them to shut up, so we fought back. jerks.
overall the weekend was good. i am ready for the weekend again. i can't believe it's only monday. boo...
friday=payday! ii love with friday and payday fall on the same day. it was also a very good thing because i was running a lot lower in my bank account than i really like to. so that was good. it also meant i could actually go shopping for things i needed.
saturday jennie and i had planned on going into seoul to do the much needed shopping. though friday, jennie got her medical packet for peace corps, so that meant she was going down the the hospital in seoul to get all the medical stuff out of the way. this meant i was on my own for the first part of my day. which totally meant i slept in. sort of. i wake up automatically between 5:30 and 6:30 because that is around the time i get up during the week. and also because i have an entire wall that is nothing but windows and the sun shines right in bright and early every morning. it's rather annoying. once i got up and ready for the day i made my way to seoul in hunt for my dad's father's day/birthday/christmas present. (for fear he might read this, i won't say what i got him) i will say that i got lost at some point trying to find it as i got off the subway. we all know how good i am with directions, i ended up walking the other direction for a good mile or so before i realized i went the wrong way. after a ton of digging and searching i found exactly what i was looking for!
met jennie for lunch in itaewon and after she managed to talk down a store owner from 85,000won to 60,000won for a backpack for me. so now i will be set for busan (if we go), mudfest, and thailand. and i'm sure for a bunch of other trips i will probably take. once that was done, it was time to head to myeongdong to do some much needed shopping for essentials. forever 21 and H&M are basically the only two stores in all of korea that are going to carry clothes that are going to fit me. because i have curves, unlike basically 95% of korea. scored on finding a skirt and i FINALLY found plain shirts. i swear everything over here is sparkly, frilly, fluffy, or something along those lines. H&M was having some sort of sale and they had plain shirts and tank tops, so both jennie and i stocked up. after wearing one today, i am tempted to go back at some point and get some more, cause they are awesome. by the time we got home we were exhausted.
one of my goals while i was out shopping was to find an external hard drive because i am afraid i am going to run out of room on my computer. i checked it the other day and had a small panic attack. i have one external hard drive, but it is used for my TimeMachine, which backs up my computer, so i can't use it as a regular external hard drive. i want to be able to move a bunch of stuff i don't currently need on my laptop to there, so i can save some space, but there are a few things i want to download that are going to take up quite a bit of room. well i didn't end up going to yongsan, cause we were exhausted, so i'm still on a hunt for that.
so once i got home i went through the things on my computer already to see if there was anything i could get rid of. what did i find on there... THREE copies of both my 2nd and 6th grade work samples. why i have 3 in different spots on my laptop i have no idea. so i was able to get rid of 4 giant files. and a bunch of other random stuff that i forgot was on there. i went through and completely organized things, cause we all know i am OCD like that. it's not that they were unorganized, i just made it better. or at least that's what i tell myself. ;)
sunday jennie and i went into seoul and met amy at a soccer game. we went at saw the national olympic korean team play jordan. now i have been to my fair share of soccer games over the last 23 years of my life. but never have i ever been to a soccer game where the fans were out of control. throughout the whole entire game, they were constantly booing the other team, yelling profanity at them, telling them they suck, and just being all around assholes.
in america, if someone is injured, usually you kneel, and when they get up you usually clap. not over here, they shout awful things at them and tell them to get the hell off the field and tell them they suck. it's awful. so at one point when the jordan goalie went down, and was obviously in serious pain, the fans went wild with the booing and it was awful. by the end of the game i was rooting for jordan, just because korean fans her absolutely awful. korea ended up winning 3-1. damn.
another thing that was annoying about the game... the high school girls sitting behind us. i swear to god i was going to strangle them. korean girls already have sort of a whiny voice and it's worse when they scream. so imagine that, then take it and multiple it by a hundred and you have the screaming girls that were behind us at the game. they were awful. the whole time. at one point i was going to turn around and hit one of them. amy nicely turned around and asked them to be quiet, they just glared at here and giggled. they were quiet for a bit and then started up again. so what did jennie and i do, we were mature and completely blocked their view by standing back up. they were trying to take pictures and we kept standing there right in front of them. at this point i didn't care. nothing we said was going to get them to shut up, so we fought back. jerks.
overall the weekend was good. i am ready for the weekend again. i can't believe it's only monday. boo...
Thursday, June 9, 2011
you be my honeysuckle, i’ll be your honey bee
all i want at the moment is to get a new Epi-Pen before i got to thailand. is that really to much to ask? in Korea, it is!
my current Epi-Pen i have is expired and it is not useful if it's expired. since i am going to thailand and because it's summer now, there are going to be bees everywhere. while it would be fun to get stung, swell like a balloon everywhere and have to be rushed to a hospital where i don't speak the language, i think i will pass. sine i have health insurance here in Korea, I figured i should just get it now and not have to worry about it at home. so after having to show my Epi-Pen to my coteachers and describe my allergy to them, we found a post on Dave's ESL Cafe about this specific issue.
In the past apparently foreigners have been told it is illegal for people to carry them around. Well scrolling down I found a post from 2 weeks ago describing exactly what i had to do.
1. make an appointment at Samsung Medical Center. (which is only opened M-F, so i would have to miss work and take time off)
2. bring my old Epi-Pen and insurance information.
3. after the doctor asks a bunch of questions, i would get the prescription.
4. i then have to go to apparently the only drug center in the ENTIRE country that provides Epi-Pens.
the price is a little ridiculous. 70,000won for the consultation with the doctor alone and then the Epi-Pen would be around 100,000won. (so basically $70 to see the doctor and $100 for the pen)
So i go to the hospital website to make an appointment. I then get an email with a phone number to call and a woman to ask for. This is where everything went to hell. Something that should be so simple has turned into a gigantic pain in my butt.
Not only was the woman so incredibly hard to understand, but she did not listen to me at all. Here's a little of our conversation:
Woman: "What are your symptoms?"
Me: "I don't have symptoms. I need a prescription for an Epi-Pen because of my allergy to bees.
Woman: " Bee sting? When did that happen?"
Me: "No, I don't have a bee sting. I need a new Epi-Pen cause the one I have from the US is expired."
Woman: "Epi-Pen? Please spell it.
Me: "E-P-I dash P-E-N"
Woman: "Please hold" (and this is where i got hung up on the first time.)
After getting a phone call back and an apology, she informs me that i have to have a prescription to get an Epi-Pen and i need to see a doctor in order to get the prescription. ummm.... HELLO! THIS IS WHY I CALLED! she finally understood, has be pick a date and puts me on hold again. this time someone else gets on the line, doesn't speak English and hangs up on me again. by this time i'm angry. she calls me back again and then tells me that instead of coming there i have to do something different.
Woman: "You have to go to your area doctor to get prescription for Epi-Pen."
Me: "No i already called my area doctor and they said they don't do it and I have to come to the Samsung Medical Center to do it."
(THIS SAME CONVERSATION OVER AND OVER FOR ALMOST 10 MINUTES!!)
After i hung up, because there was no getting through to this woman, i was furious. You would think it would not be this hard to get an Epi-Pen if i have an allergy that requires me to carry one. my coteachers were very confused as to why the woman was useless. so my 5th grade coteacher called them back only to find they were closed. so i went home completely frustrated and extremely annoyed.
today i came into my office and my coteacher said the hospital finally called her back and they informed her there are two ways to get the prescription. go to my local doctor or go to the International clinic at the hospital. not exactly what i was told yesterday, but i was getting somewhere. Then she informs me she talked to another native teacher yesterday that knew about Epi-Pens. He recommened Yonsei University Hospital because it is cheaper than Samsung Medical Center.
so now i have to start the process over again. i don't have to make an appointment as it's walk-in hours on saturday. i would still have to go the the drug center to get my prescription though. since they are the only place. that just means a long subway ride. on the things i have to do to stay alive and healthy. yeesh!
my current Epi-Pen i have is expired and it is not useful if it's expired. since i am going to thailand and because it's summer now, there are going to be bees everywhere. while it would be fun to get stung, swell like a balloon everywhere and have to be rushed to a hospital where i don't speak the language, i think i will pass. sine i have health insurance here in Korea, I figured i should just get it now and not have to worry about it at home. so after having to show my Epi-Pen to my coteachers and describe my allergy to them, we found a post on Dave's ESL Cafe about this specific issue.
In the past apparently foreigners have been told it is illegal for people to carry them around. Well scrolling down I found a post from 2 weeks ago describing exactly what i had to do.
1. make an appointment at Samsung Medical Center. (which is only opened M-F, so i would have to miss work and take time off)
2. bring my old Epi-Pen and insurance information.
3. after the doctor asks a bunch of questions, i would get the prescription.
4. i then have to go to apparently the only drug center in the ENTIRE country that provides Epi-Pens.
the price is a little ridiculous. 70,000won for the consultation with the doctor alone and then the Epi-Pen would be around 100,000won. (so basically $70 to see the doctor and $100 for the pen)
So i go to the hospital website to make an appointment. I then get an email with a phone number to call and a woman to ask for. This is where everything went to hell. Something that should be so simple has turned into a gigantic pain in my butt.
Not only was the woman so incredibly hard to understand, but she did not listen to me at all. Here's a little of our conversation:
Woman: "What are your symptoms?"
Me: "I don't have symptoms. I need a prescription for an Epi-Pen because of my allergy to bees.
Woman: " Bee sting? When did that happen?"
Me: "No, I don't have a bee sting. I need a new Epi-Pen cause the one I have from the US is expired."
Woman: "Epi-Pen? Please spell it.
Me: "E-P-I dash P-E-N"
Woman: "Please hold" (and this is where i got hung up on the first time.)
After getting a phone call back and an apology, she informs me that i have to have a prescription to get an Epi-Pen and i need to see a doctor in order to get the prescription. ummm.... HELLO! THIS IS WHY I CALLED! she finally understood, has be pick a date and puts me on hold again. this time someone else gets on the line, doesn't speak English and hangs up on me again. by this time i'm angry. she calls me back again and then tells me that instead of coming there i have to do something different.
Woman: "You have to go to your area doctor to get prescription for Epi-Pen."
Me: "No i already called my area doctor and they said they don't do it and I have to come to the Samsung Medical Center to do it."
(THIS SAME CONVERSATION OVER AND OVER FOR ALMOST 10 MINUTES!!)
After i hung up, because there was no getting through to this woman, i was furious. You would think it would not be this hard to get an Epi-Pen if i have an allergy that requires me to carry one. my coteachers were very confused as to why the woman was useless. so my 5th grade coteacher called them back only to find they were closed. so i went home completely frustrated and extremely annoyed.
today i came into my office and my coteacher said the hospital finally called her back and they informed her there are two ways to get the prescription. go to my local doctor or go to the International clinic at the hospital. not exactly what i was told yesterday, but i was getting somewhere. Then she informs me she talked to another native teacher yesterday that knew about Epi-Pens. He recommened Yonsei University Hospital because it is cheaper than Samsung Medical Center.
so now i have to start the process over again. i don't have to make an appointment as it's walk-in hours on saturday. i would still have to go the the drug center to get my prescription though. since they are the only place. that just means a long subway ride. on the things i have to do to stay alive and healthy. yeesh!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
we break fast, cause we are glass
"What are you going to do after you are done in Korea?"
That is the question I am asked the most only second to "Are you going to stay a second year in Korea?" If I haven't expressed it before, I am doing it now... I hate both of these questions. I have been in Korea now for 3 months, so I honestly have no idea if I am going to stay or go home at the end of my contract. The thought doesn't really cross my mind unless someone asks me. Right now i am still enjoying being in Korea and a new culture. I still learn new things all the time and right now I am fine with this. I am working on getting the hang of the alphabet, so hopefully I will be able to read if I need to. Not that I am going to understand what I am reading...
Going back to the original question... I honestly have no idea what I am going to do when I am done in Korea. Looking at the people around me, I have a friend looking into the PeaceCorps, others who are going to be starting graduate school, others who are looking into graduate schools and other who have no idea, just like me, what they are going to do after their time in Korea. While I know I have only been here for 3 months and I have plenty of time to figure things out, I don't want to suddenly realize down the road that I have run out of tie and have no plan at the end of my contract.
Some people come to Korea because they want the adventure and chance to travel. Others come because they aren't sure what they want to do post college. So they come to Korea to grow, think about what they want out of life and to figure out exactly what they want to do with their life. That was/is my plan. Korea is giving me time to gain some experience in a new culture, get a chance to do some traveling and give me time to figure out what to do next. This is definitely not someplace I want to stay forever. While this is an awesome opportunity that I have been given I don't see it as a life-long job for me. I want something more.
I was looking at my teaching certificate the other day and I realized I have until my birthday of 2012 to take at least 3 semester hours of classes towards my Master's degree in order to keep my license in the State of Oregon. Reading this I starting freaking out. So I emailed Mike Charles at Pacific. I was then sent around and finally ended up getting an email from someone in the Education department who has answered most of my questions. While Pacific was find for my undergrad and with a few minor bumps in the road (awful 6th grade mentor teacher) I was able to get my degree and teaching credentials; I don't really see myself going back there to get my Master's degree. Which brings up the question... where am I going to go to get my Master's. I'm going to have to figure something out. Looks like I need to start doing my research. Oh joy.... if anyone has any ideas, feel free to share them with me. The more the better.
In other news... my baby sister is graduating from high school on Saturday!! When did she get to be old enough for that?! This makes me feel incredibly old.
That is the question I am asked the most only second to "Are you going to stay a second year in Korea?" If I haven't expressed it before, I am doing it now... I hate both of these questions. I have been in Korea now for 3 months, so I honestly have no idea if I am going to stay or go home at the end of my contract. The thought doesn't really cross my mind unless someone asks me. Right now i am still enjoying being in Korea and a new culture. I still learn new things all the time and right now I am fine with this. I am working on getting the hang of the alphabet, so hopefully I will be able to read if I need to. Not that I am going to understand what I am reading...
Going back to the original question... I honestly have no idea what I am going to do when I am done in Korea. Looking at the people around me, I have a friend looking into the PeaceCorps, others who are going to be starting graduate school, others who are looking into graduate schools and other who have no idea, just like me, what they are going to do after their time in Korea. While I know I have only been here for 3 months and I have plenty of time to figure things out, I don't want to suddenly realize down the road that I have run out of tie and have no plan at the end of my contract.
Some people come to Korea because they want the adventure and chance to travel. Others come because they aren't sure what they want to do post college. So they come to Korea to grow, think about what they want out of life and to figure out exactly what they want to do with their life. That was/is my plan. Korea is giving me time to gain some experience in a new culture, get a chance to do some traveling and give me time to figure out what to do next. This is definitely not someplace I want to stay forever. While this is an awesome opportunity that I have been given I don't see it as a life-long job for me. I want something more.
I was looking at my teaching certificate the other day and I realized I have until my birthday of 2012 to take at least 3 semester hours of classes towards my Master's degree in order to keep my license in the State of Oregon. Reading this I starting freaking out. So I emailed Mike Charles at Pacific. I was then sent around and finally ended up getting an email from someone in the Education department who has answered most of my questions. While Pacific was find for my undergrad and with a few minor bumps in the road (awful 6th grade mentor teacher) I was able to get my degree and teaching credentials; I don't really see myself going back there to get my Master's degree. Which brings up the question... where am I going to go to get my Master's. I'm going to have to figure something out. Looks like I need to start doing my research. Oh joy.... if anyone has any ideas, feel free to share them with me. The more the better.
In other news... my baby sister is graduating from high school on Saturday!! When did she get to be old enough for that?! This makes me feel incredibly old.
Monday, May 30, 2011
let the rain come down tonight
Iain came to visit from China. (which eventually will be a blog in itself) His reasons... it was his birthday present to himself, to see Dani and me, and to use the Sara Bareilles ticket we bought for him for his birthday present! Here are some of the live videos from the concert.
Let the Rain
King of Anything
Many the Miles
Uncharted
After the amazingness that was the show, Iain went on a hunt to find Sara. He really wanted her autograph. He is a video of his outcome...
Let the Rain
King of Anything
Many the Miles
Uncharted
After the amazingness that was the show, Iain went on a hunt to find Sara. He really wanted her autograph. He is a video of his outcome...
Thursday, May 26, 2011
close our eyes and just enjoy the ride
"mychaela, you are sort of a train wreck"
kid you not, i have heard this saying on three different occasions from three different people. this makes me feel loved.... though there is a perfectly good reason for me being called a train wreck. i have had a week of accident after accident.
monday:
while straightening my hair, i managed to catch part of my ear in the heated part and burn it. i have done this before, multiple times actually. and every time the same thing happens. i jump, drop my straightener, go find something cold for my ear and start cussing. it's getting ridiculous.
tuesday:
i realized that since being in korea i haven't worn heels. now this doesn't seem like that big of a deal except i went from having MANY heels and wearing heels ALL the time to now only have 2 pairs of heels wth me and never wearing them. so i decided i would wear them to work. not that it would really matter because we wear our inside shoes and not the shoes we actually wear to school. BIG mistake. i walk to work everyday. i didn't think this would be a big deal since i wore them all the time at home. by the time i got to work i had a huge blister on my right pinky toe. so much pain. i have never had a blister from shoes before.
my coteacher informed me we were going to take my tax paperwork to the tax office after school. so i reluctantly put my heels back on (with my blister covered with bandaids) this did nothing. my blister only grew. i ended up stopping at a friends apt on the way home and she thankfully gave me flip flops to wear the rest of the way home.
also on tuesday i managed to give myself the largest bruise i have had since i was nailed with a softball by a line drive hit my junior year of college. here's what happened: my co-teacher and i were walking back to the classroom from the office and we were both trying to jump and touch the ceiling. i came close and my teacher wanted me to try one more time. so i ran and went to jump, lost my footing and landed directly on my hip. i was wearing my TOMS (which have no traction) and the floors are very dusty which makes them slick. thankfully the only other person to see this was my co-teacher. she felt awful for making me try one more time. i got an instant bruise that has only grown and darkened over time.
what a wonderful bruise i have given myself.
kid you not, i have heard this saying on three different occasions from three different people. this makes me feel loved.... though there is a perfectly good reason for me being called a train wreck. i have had a week of accident after accident.
monday:
while straightening my hair, i managed to catch part of my ear in the heated part and burn it. i have done this before, multiple times actually. and every time the same thing happens. i jump, drop my straightener, go find something cold for my ear and start cussing. it's getting ridiculous.
tuesday:
i realized that since being in korea i haven't worn heels. now this doesn't seem like that big of a deal except i went from having MANY heels and wearing heels ALL the time to now only have 2 pairs of heels wth me and never wearing them. so i decided i would wear them to work. not that it would really matter because we wear our inside shoes and not the shoes we actually wear to school. BIG mistake. i walk to work everyday. i didn't think this would be a big deal since i wore them all the time at home. by the time i got to work i had a huge blister on my right pinky toe. so much pain. i have never had a blister from shoes before.
my coteacher informed me we were going to take my tax paperwork to the tax office after school. so i reluctantly put my heels back on (with my blister covered with bandaids) this did nothing. my blister only grew. i ended up stopping at a friends apt on the way home and she thankfully gave me flip flops to wear the rest of the way home.
also on tuesday i managed to give myself the largest bruise i have had since i was nailed with a softball by a line drive hit my junior year of college. here's what happened: my co-teacher and i were walking back to the classroom from the office and we were both trying to jump and touch the ceiling. i came close and my teacher wanted me to try one more time. so i ran and went to jump, lost my footing and landed directly on my hip. i was wearing my TOMS (which have no traction) and the floors are very dusty which makes them slick. thankfully the only other person to see this was my co-teacher. she felt awful for making me try one more time. i got an instant bruise that has only grown and darkened over time.
what a wonderful bruise i have given myself.wednesday:
wednesday i was doing good until about 4pm. then i managed to slam my finger in one of my desks drawers. there was definitely a very loud "dammit" that came out before i could catch myself. a few of the teachers jumped and turned to look what was wrong. needless to say the last 30 minutes of work was spent with my hand under an ice pack unable to do anything.
thursday:
at this point in the week i didn't give myself much hope for making it through the next 12 hours without doing something. the only thing that bothered me all day was my hip. i kept bumping it (and still do) i was wearing flip flops until my blister was healed so that was fine.
after work dani and i met up in myeongdong to do some shopping. with summer coming we are both in need of some summer clothes. we made it the whole shopping trip and were on our way to dinner when i got this shooting pain from my left leg down around my shin. the more we walked, the more it hurt. sitting down during dinner helped, but as soon as we walked, it was shooting pain again. by the time i got home i had to limp from the subway to my apt cause it hurt so bad.
what did i do this time? i have a shin splint. i walk everywhere i go, which wouldn't be a bad thing except i have been wearing old navy flip flops all week, which mean no support. so now when i walk there is a shooting pain all the way up my shin.
the conclusion i have come to... i'm falling apart. so yes i guess you could say i am a train wreck.
wednesday i was doing good until about 4pm. then i managed to slam my finger in one of my desks drawers. there was definitely a very loud "dammit" that came out before i could catch myself. a few of the teachers jumped and turned to look what was wrong. needless to say the last 30 minutes of work was spent with my hand under an ice pack unable to do anything.
thursday:
at this point in the week i didn't give myself much hope for making it through the next 12 hours without doing something. the only thing that bothered me all day was my hip. i kept bumping it (and still do) i was wearing flip flops until my blister was healed so that was fine.
after work dani and i met up in myeongdong to do some shopping. with summer coming we are both in need of some summer clothes. we made it the whole shopping trip and were on our way to dinner when i got this shooting pain from my left leg down around my shin. the more we walked, the more it hurt. sitting down during dinner helped, but as soon as we walked, it was shooting pain again. by the time i got home i had to limp from the subway to my apt cause it hurt so bad.
what did i do this time? i have a shin splint. i walk everywhere i go, which wouldn't be a bad thing except i have been wearing old navy flip flops all week, which mean no support. so now when i walk there is a shooting pain all the way up my shin.
the conclusion i have come to... i'm falling apart. so yes i guess you could say i am a train wreck.
Monday, May 23, 2011
and i won't lie, let's call this what it is, an impatient girl waiting on an empty wish
Warning: this blog will be extremely long... 4 days of vacation crammed into one blog.
Day 1: Saturday (including Friday night)
Friday night we left the Gimpo Airport and arrived on Jeju around 8pm or so. Once we got off the plane, we made our way to the main area where there were maps and brochures galore. We proceeded to start taking all the brochures we could grab, got a map for the island and was pointed in the direction to find a taxi to take us to our mimbak (hostel). By the time we arrived it was pitch black and around 9pm or so. Once we got settled we laid out all of our brochures and tried to make up a plan of what we were going to do over the next 3 full days. After coming to some sort of agreement on a plan, we decided we needed to get something to eat. and i needed to find shampoo/conditioner. We made our way down the road and found a 7-11 (they are everywhere in Korea) and managed to find some food, drinks and i found shampoo/conditioner. After making it back to the room, we all managed to fall asleep at some point.
Our "dinner" the first night
our cute place the first night :)
The next morning we all woke up, showered and were ready for the day. We managed to pack up our bags as we were staying at a different place for the next two nights on a different part of the island. We left our bags in the office and set off to explore. Since Bree booked the plane tickets and the ferry tickets and Misty booked the train tickets back, I was dubbed "Map girl" for the trip. Somehow the girl with the worst sense of direction was made map girl. Luckily I only had to hold the maps, not necessarily direct us by using them. Our first stop was the Glass Castle.
After the Glass Castle, we figured we should head back in the direction of our room to pick up our stuff and head south to find our next place. On the way there we decided that it had finally turned out to be a super nice day, with the clouds and sprinkles finally gone, the sun was out and it was warm. So we headed to the beach! I have never seen water so blue before! It was gorgeous. We spent a good amount of time there.
After the beach we made our way back to our room, picked up our bags and made our way to the bus stop to head toward our next destination. Along the way, we were able to get some nice views of the water. Once we made it to Seogwipo(ish)(we were close to there) we found a tourist information office and managed to get pointed in the right direction towards our second place of sleep for the next two nights. Once we finally found it, we unpacked a little, did some changing and headed out again. We decided we would head the the World Sex Museum.
After the museum, we headed to find food. Jeju is known for their Black Pig meat and their Horse meat. We all agreed there would be no eating of Horse, but we wanted to find a place for Black Pig. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a good dinner. We headed back to our room and planned for day number two in Jeju.
Day 2: Sunday
Once we were up and around in the morning, we realized our plan for the day wasn't going to work. We were going to head to the east side of the island and check out things over there. Well we made it to the tourist information center to figure out the bus route. Turns out it was going to be much harder to get to that side of the island than we had originally thought. So we went with plan B. We were going to head down to one of the ports and head down to Marado, one of the tiny islands a little south of Jeju. You are able to walk around the entire island in about 2 hours. Once we made it to the port, we saw the ticket office, and the line that looped around inside and all the way to the outside. Misty made her way in there and learned that there was engine failure so the ferry wasn't going to Marado that day. Well there went plan B. By this time it was already early afternoon and both of our plans were scraped.
Plan C it is then. We climbed back on the bus and stopped at a temple that we passed the day prior. We walked around the temple and then made the climb up to the cave that help a stone buddah. From the temple, we again got back on the bus and made our way further east to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were awesome! Very pretty.
After spending what was left of the day enjoying the waterfalls, we headed to find food. We found a pretty good Chinese food place down the road from where we were staying. And by Chinese food, I mean Korean Chinese food, which is different from Americanized Chinese food, which is what I am used to. But it was pretty good. From there we made our way back to our room to pack up and get ready for a trip up north for our final full day on Jeju. Our goal was to be out of the room early enough so we would have most of the day. We had to make the bus, make it to Jeju city and find a place to stay for the night. Which we weren't worried about.
Day 3: Monday
The next morning, we made it out the door, only to have to run down the street as we saw the bus pulling away. Thankfully the bus stopped a bit down the road and let us on. When we left it was raining. We were sort of disappointed because we really didn't want out last day on Jeju to be rainy. Thankfully once we made the 45 minute ride to Jeju city, it was sunny and pretty warm! We got off and luckily found another tourist information booth. The lady was able to give us a map and point us in the directions of some motels.
Motels in Korea are funny. Most of them are considered "Love Motels". And yes this basically means they are open so people can use the rooms for the night to do what they please. Upon walking into what would be our future place for the night we found an entire bookshelf in the lobby that was dedicated to a substantial amount of pornography. Once we made it to our room we found red lights in all four corners. And Misty managed to find a vending machine on the 4th floor of what.... yep that's right dildos. Talk about funny. Definitely wasn't expecting that, but apparently it's normal.
Once we were settled it was time to find Loveland. We arrived at Loveland and were pretty excited about it. Everyone we had talked to before our trip told us we had to go and see Loveland no matter what. Loveland in itself should be it's own blogpost, but I don't have the time.
sculpture entitled "Desire"
After Loveland, we wanted to find a beach. I read in one of the many books/maps I was carrying that there was a black sand beach somewhere on the island, so I wanted to find that. Gorgeous. The sand was super hot at first, but we adjusted and the water was wonderful. After being on the beach for a while, we walked around the area and came across a market. I have never seen so many oranges in one place. They were everywhere. Oranges and pig parts. Seriously. As you can see below they had giant whole pig heads, just sitting out to purchase. Yuck.
Day 4: Tuesday
This day was dedicated to taking the ferry from Jeju to the mainland and then the KTX (train) to Seoul and the subway home. Basically it was 12 hours of travel that could have been done in an hour on the plane. We took the ferry because all the flights were booked when we got around to going. Overall it was a great trip! As of right now the next trip in the works is over summer vacation... Thailand!
Day 1: Saturday (including Friday night)
Friday night we left the Gimpo Airport and arrived on Jeju around 8pm or so. Once we got off the plane, we made our way to the main area where there were maps and brochures galore. We proceeded to start taking all the brochures we could grab, got a map for the island and was pointed in the direction to find a taxi to take us to our mimbak (hostel). By the time we arrived it was pitch black and around 9pm or so. Once we got settled we laid out all of our brochures and tried to make up a plan of what we were going to do over the next 3 full days. After coming to some sort of agreement on a plan, we decided we needed to get something to eat. and i needed to find shampoo/conditioner. We made our way down the road and found a 7-11 (they are everywhere in Korea) and managed to find some food, drinks and i found shampoo/conditioner. After making it back to the room, we all managed to fall asleep at some point.
Our "dinner" the first night
our cute place the first night :)The next morning we all woke up, showered and were ready for the day. We managed to pack up our bags as we were staying at a different place for the next two nights on a different part of the island. We left our bags in the office and set off to explore. Since Bree booked the plane tickets and the ferry tickets and Misty booked the train tickets back, I was dubbed "Map girl" for the trip. Somehow the girl with the worst sense of direction was made map girl. Luckily I only had to hold the maps, not necessarily direct us by using them. Our first stop was the Glass Castle.
"This theme park is all decorated with glass. It is amazing and fun to see polished glasses get softer like stretched bubble gum. Supersized works of art from all over the world made from glass are on exhibition and there is a glass garden and a place where you can experience glass crafts as well."This place was awesome! Everything was glass. sculptures, statues, trees, flowers, fish, frogs, everything. We went inside first and managed to end up in the gift shop area first. Which turned out to be great because each one of us ended up making our own glass necklaces. They had an area where you could pick you design and color of glass and with the help of a professional, we were able to make our own necklaces. They each turned out awesome! From there we made our way outside where we were greeted with an over abundance of glass. We walked through the park, following the signs and came across some amazing things. Here are some pictures:
After the Glass Castle, we figured we should head back in the direction of our room to pick up our stuff and head south to find our next place. On the way there we decided that it had finally turned out to be a super nice day, with the clouds and sprinkles finally gone, the sun was out and it was warm. So we headed to the beach! I have never seen water so blue before! It was gorgeous. We spent a good amount of time there.
After the beach we made our way back to our room, picked up our bags and made our way to the bus stop to head toward our next destination. Along the way, we were able to get some nice views of the water. Once we made it to Seogwipo(ish)(we were close to there) we found a tourist information office and managed to get pointed in the right direction towards our second place of sleep for the next two nights. Once we finally found it, we unpacked a little, did some changing and headed out again. We decided we would head the the World Sex Museum.
" In World Sex Museum, you can enjoy cheerful and humorous expressions regarding sexual matters from various cultures in different countries."This museum, was not as great as we had hoped. We had more fun taking pictures with the statues outside the building that with what was inside the building. It was just just a warm-up for what Loveland was going to bring us on Monday.
After the museum, we headed to find food. Jeju is known for their Black Pig meat and their Horse meat. We all agreed there would be no eating of Horse, but we wanted to find a place for Black Pig. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a good dinner. We headed back to our room and planned for day number two in Jeju.
Day 2: Sunday
Once we were up and around in the morning, we realized our plan for the day wasn't going to work. We were going to head to the east side of the island and check out things over there. Well we made it to the tourist information center to figure out the bus route. Turns out it was going to be much harder to get to that side of the island than we had originally thought. So we went with plan B. We were going to head down to one of the ports and head down to Marado, one of the tiny islands a little south of Jeju. You are able to walk around the entire island in about 2 hours. Once we made it to the port, we saw the ticket office, and the line that looped around inside and all the way to the outside. Misty made her way in there and learned that there was engine failure so the ferry wasn't going to Marado that day. Well there went plan B. By this time it was already early afternoon and both of our plans were scraped.
Plan C it is then. We climbed back on the bus and stopped at a temple that we passed the day prior. We walked around the temple and then made the climb up to the cave that help a stone buddah. From the temple, we again got back on the bus and made our way further east to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were awesome! Very pretty.
After spending what was left of the day enjoying the waterfalls, we headed to find food. We found a pretty good Chinese food place down the road from where we were staying. And by Chinese food, I mean Korean Chinese food, which is different from Americanized Chinese food, which is what I am used to. But it was pretty good. From there we made our way back to our room to pack up and get ready for a trip up north for our final full day on Jeju. Our goal was to be out of the room early enough so we would have most of the day. We had to make the bus, make it to Jeju city and find a place to stay for the night. Which we weren't worried about.
Day 3: Monday
The next morning, we made it out the door, only to have to run down the street as we saw the bus pulling away. Thankfully the bus stopped a bit down the road and let us on. When we left it was raining. We were sort of disappointed because we really didn't want out last day on Jeju to be rainy. Thankfully once we made the 45 minute ride to Jeju city, it was sunny and pretty warm! We got off and luckily found another tourist information booth. The lady was able to give us a map and point us in the directions of some motels.
Motels in Korea are funny. Most of them are considered "Love Motels". And yes this basically means they are open so people can use the rooms for the night to do what they please. Upon walking into what would be our future place for the night we found an entire bookshelf in the lobby that was dedicated to a substantial amount of pornography. Once we made it to our room we found red lights in all four corners. And Misty managed to find a vending machine on the 4th floor of what.... yep that's right dildos. Talk about funny. Definitely wasn't expecting that, but apparently it's normal.
Once we were settled it was time to find Loveland. We arrived at Loveland and were pretty excited about it. Everyone we had talked to before our trip told us we had to go and see Loveland no matter what. Loveland in itself should be it's own blogpost, but I don't have the time.
"As the only love theme park in Korea, Jeju Loveland is a place where love oriented art and eroticism meet. Jeju Loveland breaks the traditional taboos surrounding love, and is a place where the visitor can appreciate the natural beauty of love."If you have not seen my pictures on Facebook, then let me explain. Loveland is focused on a theme of sex, running sex education films and it features 140 sculptures representing humans in various sexual positions. There are also other parts such as large male and female parts statues. Needless to say it was a very entertaining park to walk through and take pictures.
sculpture entitled "Desire"
Day 4: Tuesday
This day was dedicated to taking the ferry from Jeju to the mainland and then the KTX (train) to Seoul and the subway home. Basically it was 12 hours of travel that could have been done in an hour on the plane. We took the ferry because all the flights were booked when we got around to going. Overall it was a great trip! As of right now the next trip in the works is over summer vacation... Thailand!
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