Well, it's been a hectic two weeks getting my new schedule set, but it's pretty much done. So far, my classes have been fantastic this semester except for one. This class is located in the Shinbiga building. Let's just say when I hear that word I immediately start twitching. This building houses our more exceptional programs, such as gemology and cosmotology and as I would soon find out- pet care. The fact that pet care is a major threw me off to begin with. I mean for one, most people in Korea don't even like animals. They buy puppies not realizing that one day they will be big dogs and then when that day comes they find a farm to send them to. Second, they eat dogs here. That should really say it all. As far as cats go, I have never met one Korean that claims to like cats. Anyway, I'm rambling, back to the story. So, the first morning of class I show up at 9:00 not really knowing what to expect. Sure enough, there's nearly forty students shuffling around outside and inside the class. There are 5 dogs randomly strewn throughout the room and the one thing I don't see are any English Books. Instantly, my attitude changes. Me ego kicks in and all these little voices start screaming at me inside my head. "Who the hell do they think they are bringing dogs to my class?"(Aparently in this department, it is a-ok to bring your pet to class), "I would have never done this in one of my college classes back home." The voices in my head get louder as the students continue their activities when I begin class. "Why is that boy still having a conversation with his friend when he sees me up here trying to teach?" "Does that girl really have to be texting right now?" "Did everyone but me have 5 cups of coffee this morning?" As I was standing there in dismay, another English Professor stepped into my room. His first comment was, "Damn you have a bunch of rude and rowdy kids." His comment validated my feelings of frustration and pushed me over the edge. I abruptly ended class (an hour and a half early) telling the students to go buy a book and I'd see them next week. I shuffled home in defeat, determined to pass that class on to someone else. After meditating on how I should handle this class and failing to get anyone else to take this group, I returned this week for a second attempt. I was determined to be professional and do my job. I entered the class with a smile on my face and a Korean hello. To my pleasant surprise, my class of 40 was now a class of 20 and there were only 3 dogs present. I repeated the mantra, "Accept what is" a few times in my head before we started. We redid introductions and I eagerly met the pooches and added them to the roster. I explained the major english dog commands (Sit, shake, stay...) and had the owners squealing with delight. I decided not to be distracted by Ms. Kim alternating between grooming herself and grooming April and instead focused on the student staring at my chest (At least they were looking in my direction). When SungMin decided to chase the 6 inch long millipede around the room, we discussed "Fetch." And on the break, when Girune squatted on the desk and peed all over another students' purse as her mother looked on, I chose to go with the "flow" and comment that dogs do the darndest things (even though there is a yard 3 feet from the classroom door and these are pet care majors who should know that dogs NEED A WALKING NOW AND THEN OR AN ACCIDENT WILL HAPPEN.) Oh, am I shouting. Sorry. Lastly, I reminded myself as I was running from the building, a large dog with a gruff bark running down the hall in my direction, that acceptance is the key to a successful and happy life. I must say, a little meditation can really do wonders.

Well, I finally made it back yesterday. I got stuck in Kathmandu for a few days, but it all worked out in the end. Five weeks on the road is a long time, but well worth it. Highlights of my trip were: Horseback riding in China with nomads, Rafting in Tibet (I did a class 4 rapid), Biking on the city wall in Xi'an, Seeing the panda's in Chengdu, Hiking to the base camp at Everest and making 8 new amazing friends. It was definitely a summer I'll never forget. Now it's back to work. My schedule looks pretty hectic this next semester, which is excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing everybody in February. Anybody up for a trip to Thailand in December?

Hey, it's been a couple of months since I've blogged. So here's a quick catch up session. I am very happy living in Daegu. It really was the best thing I could have done. I love the college and the students. I am always getting candy and flowers from the students. Yes, they are trying to buy an A from me, but that's ok. It's a polytech college, not Princeton. I have several private classes. It's really interesting getting an inside look at Korean homelife. I am enjoying that a lot and the money rocks. My roommate is great! She is a Korean English teacher. She's 33 years old and has been separated from her husband for a year. She was a Seventh Day Adventist for 7 years and plans on going back to the church someday. It's pretty amazing how much we have in common. I really could not have asked for a better roommate. She's one of the few Koreans that really enjoys eating a lot and will even eat western food with me. She likes my spaghetti (Actually it's just Prego, but she doesn't need to know that). We got locked out of our bathroom last night and at midnight went walking the streets in search of an open locksmith to help us. The great part about Korea is that at midnight, we were able find someone who came back home with us and picked the lock. Yes, he smelled of soju and it took him 30 minutes but hey, the cost was only $20! We laughed all the way there and back. Sue thought someone had come through the window and locked the door (OK, she does buy some pretty expensive shampoo, but come on now). The window is only about ten by ten inches and we are on the 4th floor. There are a lot of Shamanists here and Sue is very afraid of ghosts and evil spirits (She has no problem with violence though and loves "Fight Club"). She is a really unique person. In two weeks I'll be headed to California for 5 weeks. After that I will go to China, Tibet and Nepal for a month. I will start teaching here again in September. I really can't express the freedom I feel here. With so much time off, I can go and do as I please. Travel and new experiences are really what I've been missing. The more that I can experience, the more that I can understand around me. Hopefully, this will make me a more caring and knowledgable person.

So, my longtime friend Jamie was in Thailand and decided to stop by for a visit. I was so happy to have him come. He arrived on Thursday. He immediately began to experience the joys of Korea when attempting to tell the driver where the college was. Fortunately, he had my number and there was a nice Korean woman in an elevator with me at the time who gave the cab driver directions. They speak even less English here than they do in Busan. We went wandering around town and figured out together where things are. We had some crazy experiences where women hid their faces from us, men turned around and walked the opposite direction and we were almost killed by a crazy taxi driver. This is what's great about being in a country that sees very few tourists and very few Koreans have traveled outside the country. We visited a few of the foreigner bars. On Saturday, my new roommate and colleague took us to a mountain with a huge temple on top. It was snowing! We were cold, but the view was great! Saturday night there was a hockey game. A group of foreigners (Mostly Canadians) have teams and play each other. It was very cold in the rink and we decided to start the St. Patty's Day celebration early. We headed downtown for a few drinks. I got to see all my old buddies from Busan and a few new friends here. Sunday we headed down to Busan to see Robyn and check out the town. We went to the beach and had fun with some fireworks. We ate galbi at a great little place by my old digs. After that we went to a soju bar and then headed back to Daegu. Jamie headed home on Tuesday. I had a great time and I was very sad to see him leave. Hopefully, he will be back for another visit in a few months!

Hey Everybody. Sorry it's been so long. I have been pulling my hair out for the last two weeks. I made the move to Daegu, went to Japan for a new visa, moved into my apartment and purchased furniture, started teaching, lost my wallet, got a roommate and my divorce became final. Yes, can we say emotional breakdown. It's been rough and I am happy that things are starting to settle down. I will take some pictures of my new pad and the school. I hope everyone is doing well. Love you guys!

Hay say bok mani pad eu say yo! My students taught me to say happy new year. I did try it on one unsuspecting Korean and he pointed towards the bathroom, so I may have a few words wrong, however I am sure You get the idea. So, I headed to Seoul for the Lunar New Year (Solleal). It's a big celebration here in Korea. It's a day to don that hanbok, do some bowing to the ole ancestors and play some games. I decided it my duty to join in on the festivities. I found out where the fun was and headed out. I ended up at one of the five royal palaces in Seoul. There were people making wish kites, paper craft boxes, musical instruments... They were also playing games like jump rope, hacky sack and, "Put Daddy on the cart and roll him around game." Very cute! I went to a couple of museums, they were very nice and I was even able to catch a short nap in one of the film viewing rooms. They kept alternating playing the movie twice in Korean and once in English. I could sleep during the Korean times, but when I heard my own language, I would wake up. I realize how much I can live in my own head when I don't have a clue what is being said. I tend to tune out the world around me. I can say I am becoming more visual because of it. Anyway, I went to a comedy production called "Jump." It was described as a cross between Jackie Chan and Charlie Chaplin. It was great. About eight actors doing martial arts and gymnastics. It was hysterical! I stayed near the Olympic Park, which was a bit out of the way, but the only available hostel. I got to watch an English television station that appeared to be sponsored by the U.S. Military. I couldn't get over the ads. One was saying that they had 141 military sexual assaults in Korea and it was their goal to have 0 this year. Another was asking everyone to report anything suspect to them and not to be afraid. It was just a little weird for my mind to switch from, "That 70's Show" to goals of sexual assaults. Moving on... So, this is a big year in Korea. Many couples got married last year in order to prepare for the year of the pig. Why? Well, seems that not only is this the year of the pig, it's the year of the GOLDEN pig. Ahhh, yes, the legend states that if you have a child this year, he/she will be rich, happy and successful. Seems this year doesn't come around often (I've been told everything from 50-300 years) and people really want to take advantage of it. So any of you considering another one, this could be the right time. You better hurry though. Well, I must go. Alien vs. Predator is on. Unfortunately, it looks like the predator is winning right now.

So, many of you may know about the Polar Bear Club. It's a bunch of crazy people around the world that go jump in the ocean on January 1st every year. In Korea it is held at the end of January. I decided that it would be a good idea for me to go. After all I hate the cold and this would be confronting it head on. If I can handle being on the beach and in the water in January, I can handle anything. Sunday morning Bronwyn and I headed down to the beach. Bronwyn was still drunk from her night out and seemed to think that was a good strategy. Little did I know how much a swig or two of that juice could have helped me withstand the mornings events. We arrived just in time for the pre-swim activities. We hadn't paid, so we decided to just jump the rope. I mean, we could blend in with everyone else. Right? We fell into columns and were led by a Korean Man on stage. We jumped in place, ran forward and back. Massaged each others shoulders, beat each others' backs... We then sat down in the sand for some onstage entertainment. The Emcee acknowledged us and asked us up onto stage. We shook our heads no, but the people began actually pushing us to the front. I figured, hey this can't be so bad. Yes, I'm in a swimsuit in front of hundreds of Koreans, but I will just stand there and smile and all will be ok. Not to be. The man continued calling up people from the audience. I saw our fellow stagies were acting a little crazy, jumping around and making strange motions with their arms, but I still didn't catch onto what was going on. It finally hit me like a brick. We had been entered in a dance contest! Yes, it was a horrible revelation. Like when you dream that you are grocery shopping and you suddenly discover your in your underwear. I laid out the situation to Bronwyn and we decided we would do a sprinkler type move. Well, when the time came, the stage was much longer than it had looked and that sprinkler move could only take us so far. I panicked. I was wearing a towel and started to do a stripper like action with it. Unfortunately, I forgot I was in Korea, where even kissing in public is a no-no. We finally made it across and were met with mediocre applause. After what seemed like an hour, (about 3 minutes later) we were given an envelope with a small piece of paper in it with something in Hangul written on it. It wasn't until Monday we were able to learn it was two tickets for a dinner cruise. I guess it was worth my public humiliation. So onto the big event itself. At the signal, we all started running into the water. It was a bit shocking at first, but after a few minutes, I just went numb and was able to have a good time. I stayed in for about 20 minutes. It was just like you hear about. When I got out, I couldn't feel my arms or the towel drying me off. When I did start getting feeling back again, it was like little stings. Yes, the good part is, it only took a few hours to warm up, oh and we were on the news! I would definitely do it again!

I was in a coffee shop recently writing speeches for my students' graduation when I happened along something that I had written years ago while living in Buford, Georgia. I got a kick out of it and thought I would post it. You may find it offensive or may rally with me. It's just where I was at the time. Hopefully, I have become less judgemental since those days. Here goes. "I’ve been struggling lately with my total intolerance for anyone who is at all different from myself. At times though I must confess that there are certain people that one should get a free pass to loathe. I found this group, when my supervisor informed me that she had an opening at her bunko group due to an alternate not being able to come. So thus, I was bestowed the honor of being the alternates’ alternate for Bunko night. Having only lived in the suburbs for a short while, I really had no clue what this Bunko thing was. She told me that there were 12 regular players each with an alternate and you had to be invited to join. It was held at a different members house each night and once a year the husbands were invited to come. Was this the new Stepford? I was soon to find out. I arrived with a snack and $10 in hand to a two-story house amid many other two story houses with a community pool in a gated community. This community sat among many other communities and if not for the large sign out front touting their community name I fear I would have missed my Bunko experience. Once inside the community, it was even more difficult finding the house. All of them looked exactly the same. A dyslexic would have never found it. Anyway, I fearfully knocked on the door not knowing what was in-store . The hostess answered and I entered the foyer noting the smell of pledge heavy in the air. I was ushered back to the kitchen and introduced to 11 other women. The women were all very similar. Thin, tall, long hair, high voices and of course quite attractive. The conversation consisted of what their children were achieving at school and what after school enrichment activities they were involved in. Once in a while someone would complain about their husband and the others would crack a joke and they would all giggle. Eventually, the Bunko master assigned us a partner and the fun began. There were 3 tables set up with 4 chairs at each. I am ashamed to admit it, but I really never caught on to the object of the game. It involved throwing the dice and time limits, but I was so intrigued by the screeching and hollering that I couldn’t focus. The women seemed so wild and uninhibited, I thought for sure they were going to remove their clothes and hold a ritual sacrificing of the cat on the George Foreman grill. Sometime in the middle of all this excitement a break was called and drinks were poured. The topic of conversation now that the food was being consumed strayed to weight and their constant inability to lose that last 5 pounds. Then of course there were more complaints about their husbands lack of attention towards them. At last the final round began. This time the shrieks were louder. Some even began doing cheers. I began having flashbacks of high school and the hot cheerleaders shunning me and my Korean friend. Sometime near the end of it all, the hostess’ husband arrived. The women, quite intoxicated by this time, eagerly greeted him with wide open smiles and cat calls. For the first time in my life I actually was able to witness a man in discomfort over being objectified. The poor guy quickly excused himself and shot up the stairs like deathrow escapee. At the end of the game, the winners were announced and the money was split. Much to my dismay, I received nothing. My partner was cordial about our loss. But the disapproval of my lack of beginners luck was obvious. I made my cordial exit regards and headed home. Am I a snobby bitch? Perhaps.

Hi Kids, I hope everyone had great fun over the holidays and are surviving the winter blues. It has almost been 3 months that I've been in Korea now and I have adjusted pretty well. Although, I am really enjoying myself here, I have less people to bitch to on a daily basis, so please indulge me just a bit. One social adjustment I have made is learning to becoming aggressive. Let me explain. In Korea pushing, shoving and cutting lines are the norm. I had a very hard time with this when I first arrived. I told myself, "What's the big deal, if these people need to cut me, it must be for a good reason. You must find peace with this." As time passed though, these words became less soothing. I would feel my blood pressure rising and would begin staring at the person like I was going to skin them and eat them for lunch. I finally could hold my tongue no longer. One day in MegaMart, I was attempting to order a coffee when I was cut twice. I really could not see how I could get any closer to the woman in front of me without crawling up onto her shoulders. It was at this moment of bewilderment, that a fully costumed, shaved headed, Monk decided he would edge in from the side. He was trying to be sly about it, nonchalantly talking to the woman next to him and acting like he wasn't up to anything. But, I knew better. I was no Waygook Newbie anymore. I decided that if I couldn't stand up to a monk, I could stand up to know one. I stared him down and said, "LINE!!!!" Well, he got the idea quite quickly and even decided that he didn't want that cappucino after all. I now approach a line the same way I would defend a goalie net. You have to keep an eye out for other approaching consumers. If they get close, you have to do a lot of stretching out of your arms and legs, swaying quickly back and forth as to not let an inch of them get by. They are small and fast and once a hand or foot is in, consider it a GOAL! I think in a year I'll be able to play for the MLS. As I said, the Koreans are full of energy and seem to feel that everything must move quickly. It can be quite exhausting at work watching them run, yes run, to and fro completing simple tasks as if the fate of the world was at stake. I'm not sure how they keep up that energy level. After much thought on this subject, I am convinced it must be one of two things. Either there is a secret room in the back in which there is an endless supply of speed. They go there on coffee and lunch breaks, snorting and popping and shooting as much as they can get. The other possibility is a room like the one in the movie "Cat's Eye", where if the man doesn't stop smoking his wife gets taken to the room and shocked. Perhaps they are being timed by the school director and if they are late on their assignment, an unpleasant event awaits them. Either way it keeps them thin, which in Korea stands out as the most important aspect of a woman's life. Which brings me to my final observation of the night. The Koreans seem to feel that it is their obligation to let you know if you have too much fat on your body. Fortunately, I have not had to personally endure this humiliation yet, but the majority of the teachers I work with have. They will shake their head and say they are glad to see you but, it is such a shame you gained so much weight on your vacation (They must have x-ray vision, because I wasn't aware one week was long enough to visibly gain that much weight). A Korean Colleague just the other night showed a fellow teacher just how much fat she needed to lose. She basically motioned to half of the girl's body. The teacher is a normal size. I feel very sorry for any Koreans that are overweight. Any size beyond an 8 is virtually impossible to find. Some friends will go home to Canada and buy their entire wardrobe for the next year. So anyway, on to other topics. As some of you know, I have accepted a position with a college here in Korea. I will be starting in March. I will move about an hour north of where I am. Yes, it will extend my time here however, I will have 5 months paid vacation to travel. Half in the summer and half in the winter. I will also be teaching only 12 hours a week. "Professor" will look awesome on my resume. So, I think it's a very good move. I will be the first foreign female professor to work at this college. I love this idea (For more reasons than one). I am really looking forward to getting back to that June, July and August aspect of teaching. Th-th-th-that's all folks!!!

Hi Everyone, I got back from Bali on Sunday and slept for the next day. There is so much to tell, but I will just hit some highlights and ask for questions. Bali is 90% Hindu and it is apparent throughout the island. There are small offering flowers that are put out each morning and evening. These are seen all over the street, on car dashboards, on motorbikes... You have to step over them. Being Hindu, the people seem to believe in a kind of Karma, that being said I felt extremely safe. The only thing to fear are the crazy dogs. B-T-W, cats are given respect there and dogs are not (Sorry dog lovers). So, my first highlight was an eco-tour I arranged. Robyn and I were picked up at 6 am and taken to the bay where we caught a boat. The boat was a bit tattered and filled with men returning to their island after work or supply shopping. We had to wade out to the boat. The boat took us over to Nusa Ceningan where we took motorbikes to the family's house we stayed at. The islanders are supported by seaweed production. We got to see the whole process of seaweed planting and harvesting. We later went snorkeling where we observed a large Manta Ray swimming about 10 feet ahead of us. We quickly swam back to the boat and that ended our snorkeling outing. That night we had dinner and played a card game called 41. It was pretty surreal sitting around with these people who have such very different lives from us, yet being able to connect through a card game. We headed back to Bali the next morning. My second highlight happened on a bike tour we took. The bike tour was arranged for only the two of us with the guide, but at the last minute the plans were changed and a family was added. The path was all down hill and lacking what we had requested. Robyn stated she wanted to go the opposite direction back. I wasn't so sure about that idea but, went along. So, the guide was obliging as he should have been and took the two of us to his village where we went to a waterfall where the locals bathe. We swam back through the caves and as I was swimming I looked up on the cave wall and saw a small python. We quickly swam back to shore once again. I liked the idea that this guide was showing us things off the beaten track and made arrangements with him as our guide the next day. I asked that he take us where there were no foreigners only Balinese. He never did completely get the meaning of this and took us to a restaurant overdriven with foreigners and told us we could sit in the restaurant next door where there was no one. Anyway, I asked him to take us to a cockfight. They are illegal in Bali except twice a year at the temple. Let me set the stage. It was burning hot and humid. We were in a large circle of approximately 400 sweating men. They were all in sarongs. We were skin on sweating skin and I don't think I've ever sweated that much in my life. It looked really native and wild. There was a forest behind the area, where people seemed to be coming and going. Apparently women don't participate in these activities. The men with the cocks walked around showing them and then strapped a blade on one leg of each cock. Bets were taken, which consisted of a lot of screaming and no writing. Beats me how they remember all of them. Then, the two men on the ground with the cocks started pulling some feathers out and then hitting the cocks to make them angry. Then they plopped them down and let them go at it. Each round is 1 minute. Sometimes it goes to the death, but mostly it seems they just determine which one is most beaten up. Surprisingly, the people there weren't too distracted by us. A few spoke and wanted to know which cock to bet on and where we were from of course. It was very exciting. Aside from the spirituality of Bali, I was most impressed with the people. Although living in poverty, they were so friendly. Children would run out to the street to scream hello or hold out their hands to be slapped while riding by. They had a great sense of humor and were very engaging. Bali is still based on a caste system and you can't hide who you are. The children are named according to order of birth, region and caste. I can't tell you how many Gede's, Wayan's and Putu's we met. The experience of looking poverty in the face was something that I will need to process. We met an artist (Woodcarver) there that after 5 years at a gallery and providing security at night makes only $60 US a month. The people talk a lot about the terrorist attacks of 2002 and 2005 and about how much it has hurt them. Tourism is slow and therefore, they are having a hard time getting by. This also affects their feelings for the Muslims which claimed responsiblilty for it. Java, which is the island closest has a high percentage of Muslims and it was interesting to hear the negativity about Java. The Balinese are very proud of their island and religion. I can see why!

Hi Everyone, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I miss you guys all so much! I started to feel emotional today, thinking about Christmas and all the great shopping, eating and gifts that I am missing. No but seriously, I could have really lost it had I allowed myself to go there. I will be headed to Bali tomorrow and won't be able to make any calls on Christmas. I will be back on the 31st or the 1st. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I will be thinking of all you guys on Christmas and hoping Santa treated everyone well. Love, Jody

Well, after six weeks I have adjusted to my new job of teaching English to Korean boys and girls. Aren't they cute little boogers! Yes, as you can see they are quite a handful. Teaching here is just like teaching at home, except this major thing called COMMUNICATION. They easily understand the words candy, break and free time, but can't seem to get the words; sit down, be quiet and clean up your mess. Fortunate for me though, I have the smartest class in the school. Now this is not because I am special in any way, shape or form. I was just the lucky bastard that got to take over the class due to their teacher moving back to Canada. The class is called "Wish Class" and they are all seven (Korean Age). Most have been at the Hagwon for 2 years. They had a hard time understanding me at first, but now that I've learned to talk like this "Please........open...... your.... book......" and it's all good. I have been told that when I return to the states, recovery time for normal speech, should only be about 6 months. As I said, Wish Class is very smart and I am learning a lot. The first thing one learns in a situation like this is to let the ego go. Yes, they read and speak fluently in two languages, have traveled extensively, awe me by the creativity of their art, oh yeah and are only 6 U.S. but that doesn't make me any less of a person. Right? Tell me I'm right! Secondly, so they know more about dinosaurs, plants, animals, well pretty much everything I teach, it's O.k. I've seen every episode of Seinfeld. Bet they can't say that! Lastly, they can wrap their legs around their necks like they are rubber bands, I bet they didn't get to enjoy lots of time on the couch with a big bag of nachos! Nothing beats that Lay's Chili Con Queso Sauce. Poor things, at least they don't know what they are missing. So, once I was able to focus on all of my advantages, the job got so much easier. Another aspect of working one has to deal with is co-workers. I have some very nice Canadian Colleagues, and aside from the occasional comments they make to each other like, what was that one the other day, oh yea, "f-you ___", and then, "Eat shit", things go pretty smoothly around there. They are all very hard workers and just great with the kids. So, let's talk administration. The directors are Mac and Nellie. They are married. There is an assistant director Jay and his wife Helen. Then a lead teacher Jenny. Now you are probably saying, "Those names don't sound very Korean"(And, what the heck do I care what the names are of the people you work for). You are right. Every teacher and student that comes to school here has to adopt an English name. The first week I met so many Jenny's and Kelly's I thought I'd never even left home. What's fun is, if the parents don't give them a name, we get to name them. I named the first one Michelle (She asked me first, sorry). Oh yes, I was talking about administration, they seem alright and I don't ever hear a negative thing from them. Which brings me to my last point for the evening. One of the interesting things about living in Korea is that when you can't speak the language, you are pretty oblivious to a lot of things going on around you. I have found this "ignorance is bliss" thing to be pretty nice!

I wanted to do a temple stay while I was here to get a real idea of how the monks live. So, Saturday morning myself and Robin headed to the Golgul Temple. It took about 3 hours and 2 buses and a subway, but we arrived around 4 pm. The place is really breath taking. There are many buildings with classrooms and housing. We checked in, then checked out our room. It was empty of course. A floor covered with vinyl and shelves on one side with blankets and pillows. We walked around and checked out the place before dinner. The place seemed pretty authentic with monks with shaved heads and appropriate attire. Dinner was uneventful, with the typical kimchi, cabbage soup, rice, mung beans and water. We sat on the floor around low tables. Men and women were seated at separate tables. (We were told that the men and women could not hang out) The next activity was evening chanting. We went to a building that looked like a school gym on the inside. There were mats to sit on. The chanting began and I just basically made an uhhhhhh sound for the next half-hour. There were numerous full-bows. Standing up then going all the way to the floor with your head on the floor and palms up. What a workout. Then it was time for Sunmudo training. This is a form of martial arts, special for Buddhism. I attempted to find a mat at the rear of the building but, one of the monks insisted I move up. Now I was a bit nervous about it because I had a bit too many mung beans for dinner and wasn't sure what the activities could stir in me. What's worse is the cute monk ended up sitting in front of me and to the side facing my direction. Well, sure enough the activity was less than ladylike and one may even go as far as to say quite provocative. At one point we were laying back with our legs over our head in a V, swinging up and down. Geez, Luiz! That same monk did a presentation after, but my mind was on other thoughts and the only thing I caught was that if you don't show up to morning chanting, you have to do 3,000 bows and the whole monk team along with the visitors would have to fast for the day. No pressure or anything. Sure enough at 4 am there was a drum pounding outside that got louder and louder. Eventually, it was right outside our door. With two choices facing me 1) attempt to sleep with what sounded like native games outside or 2) drag myself off the floor and be able to eat that day, I chose the latter. We headed to the temple for morning chanting. After 20 minutes of the uhhhh stuff again we did some sitting meditation. There are 3 dogs that live on sight and one decided to join us in the temple for meditation. Where did he end up? Laying on a meditation pillow snoring like a baby. No enlightenment for him! He's comin' back as a cat! After that, we did some walking meditation around a stone pillar. This was shorter than I had actually hoped for. It's pretty amazing circling a pole when it's pitch black with 15 other people. All I could imagine was that movie where the people go camping in Salem and they disappear one by one. Yes, the Blair Witch Project. I could imagine people disappearing one by one till it was only me and the cute monk. What am I here for again? Oh yea. So, then they sent us on a walk to the front gates. I think this was a ploy to keep us from going back to our rooms and missing the delicious kimchi breakfast. Perhaps someone searched my bag and found the half eaten chocolate bar just waiting to be finished off. Well, breakfast arrived and it was the same as dinner as far as food goes but very different as far as how it was structured. We were given four bowls with chopsticks, a spoon, placemat and cloth napkin. We were sat down with instructions on how to do it all before hand. The main idea was that each bowl held a certain food that would be given to us. We were supposed to cover our mouths with our bowls while eating and keep pace with the head monk dude. It was very interesting. I am not sure why they do this. I forgot some things like touching my soup bowl to my forehead and how to pour the water from bowl to bowl, but it all worked out. After that we had tea with the head Buddhist Master Monk (I'm not sure of his official name, but this sounds impressive enough) Seems he's been a monk for 32 years and is a Taekwondo master and Sunmudo Master. He was curious about how we liked the stay and where we were from. It was very interesting. We then went around to some other temples in the area. It was rainy and cold and really, "Seen one temple, Seen em all." We got back and had a very tasty lunch with tofu and a few other things I can't name. We then headed home. I will definitely do it again!

It's Thursday. I peak out from my building door, cautious before I enter the street. Thursday's are dangerous for foreigners at the Twin Bill building in Namchun Dong. Why? It's trash day. Yes, I never thought I had to fear the garbage collectors, but not so here. Seems that some foreigners don't know the correct process of managing their trash and will deservedly, be acosted. Not so for this white girl. After four weeks in Korea, I have it down. First let's discuss compost. Yes, it is very important that compost be separated from the regular trash. What to do with it? Put it down the garbage disposal of course. One can dream. There are two options: A little red bucket (I thought I was being provided with a mop bucket) with a tight lid or freeze it and take it to my school building where it can be disposed of there. I opted for the second choice. Easy enough right. Just scrape your plate into the plastic bag and stuff it in the freezer. Next, there is the concern of bags. We all know that in the states you just call the Waste Management and they bring you one of those handy dandy green cans (or you take your garbage to your sisters' house and dump it there). Not so here. It took me a week but I finally found the garbage bags at MegaMart. They were tightly rolled at the front of the store, coming in a variety of sizes. This is how garbage is paid for here. The bags cost about 75 cents US. I then needed to separate my trash. Now this is key, cardboard does not have to go in a bag and can be placed directly in a wooden cart in front of my building. Plastic containers may be put in any type of bag and placed to the side of my building. Glass may be put in a special white bag in the garage of my building. So, that leaves us with paper and plastic wrapping and so forth. This is separated into two garbage bags and placed to the side of my building. I must admit it makes a lot of sense, but for a person who preached recycling but always found an excuse not to, I found it a bit, o.k. a lot annoying. My Canadian neighbors took to this idea with no problem proclaiming it far more strict in their country. Seems they are responsible for disposal of all recycling and allowed only one bag, per family, per week. I guess I can count my blessings!

I want to feature the way things are done here, so that everyone can share the experience (and a few of you may be convinced to come visit me while I'm here). So, the first one will be the subway since I take it all the time. It is extremely easy to use and goes most of the places I need to get to. See the pictures for detailed explanations.

I had quite an interesting day yesterday. I want to volunteer while in Korea, so I contacted a woman (Eunran) who took myself and another girl to an orphanage to check it out. Turns out Busan has 13 orphanages, 5 of which accept foreign volunteers. This particular one is Catholic and is called Boys Town. No affiliation with the Boys Town Organization in the states. We met with Sister Theresa who speaks pretty good english. There are 600 total children living there. They have babies all the way up to 18 years of age. There are numerous ways these children can end up there. Some girls are very young and get pregnant, come, stay, have the child, stay another 2 months and then leave, never seeing the child again. Another very interesting reason some of these children end up here is divorce. I guess that divorce is not too common here and it is difficult for either parent to continue with a child. We walked around and saw the accomodations, caretakers and children. It's sad because in Korea adoption is not a widely accepted thing to do. The government is trying to change this, but in the meanwhile has made it much more difficult for foreigners to adopt. Therefore, the majority of the children will be raised in these organizations. It was very clean and there were an adequate amount of caretakers working with the babies. In one room, there were 14 babies with 7 caretakers. Eunran said that the catholic orphanage is much better than the state run ones. We were about to leave when Eunran met one of her previous children in the hall. We met with him and his friend for coffee and conversation. They are 17 and both have lived in the orphanage their entire lives. They call each other brothers of course. They are applying to college and these two have a bright future. Most of the children at 18 go to work for a technology company. They were a bit shy and curious. One kept talking about his older brother Stefano and his college life. Seems Stefano is going to be a priest but, prior to taking the oath he is able to have girlfriends and is really taking to this idea. He has several. They are not allowed to date while in high school, so college is a real exciting time. There is also a Girls Town across the street and I asked about whether the boys want to date the girls over there. They explained that both the girls and the boys don't have interest in each other because they think they can do better. One said that the girls are a bit crazy and have a lot of issues. Joseph, one of the boys wants to be a social worker and the other boy, John wants to get an MBA. They seemed a lot like typical boys, except it was obvious that they were very sheltered. Joseph invited us to come and eat at the restaurant that he works at and so we went. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed spending time with them. Just a note on Eunran. She is quite a woman. She told me that she wants to open an orphanage in a few years. She would take 5 children to live with her. I asked if she was married, knowing that her idea would be one not too many Korean men would take she. She got a bit quiet and said that it would be very hard for her to find someone once she does this, but she loves the children and they are enough for her. She spends the majority of her time working with these kids. She visits them and takes them out to expose them to things they wouldn't otherwise see. She is a real inspiration!

So, Monday morning I was readying myself for work when the doorbell rang. I had heard about religous fanatics knocking on doors here and trying to save all the atheists of the world, so I must admit I was a bit was apprehensive to answer. I went to the door to find a lovely Korean women with a nice notepad standing there. I onced her over and didn't see any bibles or pamphlets with crosses hanging out of her bag so I felt a bit of relief. She began speaking in Korean and was obviously convinced that I was getting every word. I responded that I didn't know Korean. That didn't stop her. She proceeded to say (What sounded to me like) the exact same thing she had just said but just a little slower. This process repeated itself about 5 times and I became jealous that she was able to do all this talking with me just standing there saying, "I don't know Korean, Sorry." So I decided I wanted a piece of this action and started telling her the problems of my morning. I didn't sleep well, couldn't get the hot water to work... Anyway, she kept pointing at a sticker on my door. I thought it was some food delivery service. They put them all over your doors. I finally asked her in, thinking that she wasn't leaving and I could continue to get ready for work while she talked to herself. She led me back to a meter box behind my washing machine. There were numbers on it that she wrote down. She pointed a few more times at the pad and then led me to the front door and put a new sticker on my door. What a fiasco. Turns out, this lady comes every month on the 12th and reads the sticker on the door. It is my responsibility to fill in the numbers. That's all.

I have been in Korea for two weeks now although it seems like a lot longer. I think when you miss home it goes by slowly. I have found it to be a very exciting place with plenty to do. The last two weeks I have been struggling to figure out the simple things like how to work the washer, how the shower/bathroom areas work, what the heck do I do with my garbage (It really is a bit more complicated than it is in the states), the ettiquette when buying, eating, entering, leaving... Anyway, you get the point. The things that I really like so far are: the beach is minutes walk from my apt. with a great "health zone" for running and exercising, the food is really good and when I'm not in the mood for Korean there are a billion other choices, the subway is extremely simple and right down the street, I have a lunch hour for the first time in 5 years, and the people are very nice and eager to help. The Incredible India commercials are awesome and give me goosebumps. Things I'm having difficulty with: being in a different time zone than everyone I love, the fact that all my appliances are in korean and when you push the wrong buttons you can't get more hot water or your clothes wash for 3 hours and never go through the spin cycle, The whole process of getting to know EVERYONE from scratch sucks too. Oh, one more thing that makes me nervous are the people walking with their Michael Jackson mouth bib. No one gives me a straight answer on why they wear those things and I'm starting to think I may need one. The foreigners are somewhat of a novelty over here and the Koreans love to practice their english on us. We were walking the other night when a group of school boys started the "Herro, hi, nice to meet you, fine thank you". Apparently, these are the only words their english teachers teach. I was a bit annoyed at the time and decided to answer in spanish. They got a real kick out of it and pursued even more. Anyway, we all got a good laugh out of it. The Korean people I work with, and have interacted with, really have a great sense of humor. I am struggling to get some pictures posted. I will do my best. Love you all.