Just a quick update

So, I have been neglecting my blog recently... I haven't got too much to say but...

I finished reading Hope's Wish, it was a sad but fulfilling book, I haven't written a review yet, but I will... I am starting to run out of books! I never thought that would happen... I still have several to go, but at this rate I might actually read everything I own! At least the stuff I own in Korea.

I went to a volunteer dinner party thing for the organization I work with to teach poor kids here in Seoul. It was nice, I met a few other volunteers and the operators of the org. The WHOLE spread was vegetarian, I was so shocked at that. It was at an Italian restaurant in Itaewon, Seoul's foreigner district. The food was decent, but not as good as what my mom makes... She could open a totally kick ass Italian join here and she isn't even Italian!

My right knee cracked!! :) This is a good thing. I hurt my knees several years ago in tae kwon do. It caused me to go through months of PT and I couldn't even use the stairs for weeks... I wasnt supposed to use them for months, but since my classroom was on the 3rd floor... well that wasn't really going to work... But finally my right knee is loosening up... it has been SUPER tight for the last few years, but after almost a year of yoga things are improving. After only 2 months of yoga I had almost no pain in either of my knees, which was a wonderful thing! I figure at this rate my right knee will be completely healed in another year or two!

I am testing a way to make my blog posts show up on Facebook... I don't know how well it will work, or if anyone will even click on them, but if you did then leave a comment :) I am also testing out this cyworld thing that my students use... so far it seems pretty stupid and I like facebook better... but I've only tried one day.

Well, life is pretty dull at the moment, I'm sure I will come up with more soon... and I have a TON of pictures to upload, just too lazy to get around to it!

Success!!

Two great things (and Im sure many more) were accomplished today!

#1 I finally called a dentist and scheduled and appointment. I am going at 11:30AM on monday... so for those of you in EST think of me at 9:30PM this coming Sunday... if your the type who prays then pray for me... I'll take what I can get. I haven't been to the dentist in ages, and Im going to one who speaks English, so I am betting it wont be cheap (at least not by Korea standards, but cheap by American standards)... So the last time I went to a dentist (back in America like 3 years ago) I was told I had 12 cavities, and after several visits it turned out I also needed a root canal... So I am going to get my teeth cleaned and then find out what other terrible thing I need to endure... since its so much cheaper in Korea and the drs are just as good as America I figure I should get most of my work done here... since I don't know what kinds of insurance (if any) I will get when I return to working in America... if my parent's companies are any indication, then I dont think I will have much of an insurance package when I return... SO, I will be keeping you updated on the terrifying status of my teeth... Im sure you will want to know all about the pain I will be enduring!

#2 I have completed one of my 101 things to do today... I haven't done much of that lately, so this is big... and this is also something I didn't even think I would accomplish so Im pretty excited. As of today, for the last 4 weeks I went to yoga class 5 days a week! I worked 3 of those Saturdays and there is no yoga on Sunday so the only day I skipped was one Saturday that I really felt the urge to rest. So, why did I want to go so often? Well, I think that yoga is good for all people and I like it a lot in particular.

Well I have been doing some type of yoga somewhat regularly since February. I did Bikram yoga for about 2 months, I saw GREAT weight loss and toning results from that class... then I did Ashtanga yoga for 3 months. Then I started at the place Im at now doing hot yoga in July, took August off while I was in the US and went back in September. 4 weeks ago my friend Hillary started going to yoga with me, and we made a pact to go everyday that we weren't working... I skipped one day, she skipped a few more. But ever since I started going everyday I have felt a lot better in many ways.

You have probably read suggestions about exercising everyday... well I whole-heartedly agree with exercising at least 5-6 times a week... I dunno but I think everyone deserves a lazy day... especially if they work out for the rest of the week... and that makes the lazy day much more enjoyable. Well...for the first 2 weeks I was pretty tired... and hyper... the endorphins make me hyper... then in week 3 I was in a lot of pain, and also in the beginning of week 4 there was a lot of pain, but at the end of week four the pain is starting to go away... I think my body is finally adjusting to exercising so intensely... and really if I compare myself to some other people I know what I do is a walk in the park! Of course I also use this as an excuse to eat what ever I want :) but I guess this is good cause I never really enjoyed restricting my eating... I really love eating... I even do it when Im not hungry!!!

So I think Im going to update my 101 things list... maybe not tonight... but who knows, and I cant wait to make this one blue and the dentist one yellow!! However I'm not done going to yoga everyday... I plan to go everyday they are open and I'm not working (hopefully on Saturdays too!) Hopefully I will find another Bikram yoga place someday and go there... I really like Bikram a lot cause its really intense, yet at the same time its quite doable! Hot yoga is only 70 min and Bikram is 90 min... the poses are almost exactly the same, there are some modifications in Hot yoga to make it a little easier and we only do two of the poses twice whereas in Bikram yoga we do almost all of the 26 (?) poses twice... so more work time less down time...

And another one of my list items has to do with yoga... its about the standing bow pose... I can report that my pose is moving along pretty well when standing on my right foot and pulling up my left... but it is nothing like in the picture on my blog! I am hoping to get my pal Hillary to take some yoga pose pictures of me after class one day... I would really like to see what I look like and let you guys see too.

Happy Thanksgiving

Its been 2 weeks since my last post, and I have thought of tons of things I wanted to write, but at the time I was no where near a computer or just really tired... I think I should get one of those voice recorder things so I can always make a note of what I want to say online!

I have recently dragged one of my friends into hot yoga with me! And two more seem rather interested in joining... seriously... if you haven't tried hot yoga for a couple of weeks you really should give it a go... even if you think you are in good shape you will find out how wrong you are... and if you are in terrible shape you will see how easy it is to improve your body! I went to class three times so far this week. Unfortunately I think it will take more than 1001 days to do a standing bow pose :( But I guess that's why we can make another list when this one is completed! On the up side I was able to do the toe stand pose on my left side for the first time yesterday... I didn't do it perfectly or anything, but I was able to take my hands off the floor for the first time ever! My knee is still too messed up on my right side to be able to have proper posture on the right side, but at least I can balance! And I Tuesday we did some really strange, but awesome poses, they were really hard, but totally rewarding! Of course I was no good at it, but I tried! Like they say at Bikram yoga "If you can, you must, if you can't, try!" Unarguably one of my favorite motivational sayings.

I have met with my weekend students three times so far, and I REALLY like them. Maybe I just really like kids in general, I dunno, but its so refreshing to spend some time with kids again. They are just so cute and sweet and try so hard. Its not easy to learn another language, and they have a hard time understanding me, but they haven't quit yet, which I think is comendable! We did a lot of listening stuff last week. I wish I could see them every day, I think I could really help them if I could see th that often... I think a group of more than 10 kids would be too much... I think the magic number is somewhere between 6 and 9 students. Maybe someday the people of the world will cherish kids appropriatly and give them what they need to thrive... small, supportive classrooms where the kids can take risks and grow to their full potential... but until that time I guess I will stay on damage control and try my best to help where I can... I am so going to end up home schooling my kids! hahah... poor kids!

I really need to get more organized... my office, home and inbox are a mess! I just don't "feel" like being on top of things these days... I just wanna let stuff go where it wants to go, I don't feel like orchestrating all the minor aspects of my day, and because of that things are getting out of control and super messy... sigh, but at least on Tuesday I cooked some food... when I was in America a few weeks ago I picked up some curry powder so I made curried lentils with barley and baked tofu. I really had no idea how the tofu would turn out since I have only recently began experimenting with actually cooking it (I used to just mix it in with stuff raw) but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome... definitely something I will make again. The barley took twice as long to cook as I anticipated... and I wish I had seasoned it with something, but I don't know what... and the lentils were a complete disaster! They turned into lentil mush since I don't know how to cook them... so it looked like I had green mashed potatoes with my barley and tofu... better luck next time. And I made WAY too much for one person (this food isn't really John's style) so I packed it for little snacks to heat up at work, since my microwave has been broken for months. I took pictures of the food after packing it, bento style!