짐질방 = Jim-Jill-Bahng

Last week I went to a 짐질방 (jim jil bang) for the first time. A jimjil bang is basically a public bathhouse in Korea. I tried to find some pictures but there aer very few... I even searched Korean websites and in Korean, not English, still I got only a little... But here's how it works
First you put your shoes in a locker by the entrance, then you pay and get another locker key and some clothes. It costs 10,000 won which is less than $10... but if you go during the daytime its only 7,000 won, but my pals and I went at night.

Then, if you came with a mixed gender group its time to split up. The girls go to the 여탕 ("yuh tang" women's bath) and guys go to the 남탕("nam tang" men's bath)... so now you know how to say: woman, man, and bath in Korean... and the funny thing is 탕 also means a type of soup... so When I first saw the 여탕 sign I thought it was pretty funny cause it looks like they want to cook us... I went with three foreign girls, one Korean girl and one foreign guy... us girls thought the sign was pretty funny.

Anyway, after splitting up we went to the women's locker room and that's where this becomes rather undoable in America... In Korea public showers are common, so most Korean people have no issue with being naked with friends and family... but in America... well I guess it would be strange. But you undress and go to the shower/bath room.

I really tried to find a pic of this room, cause its almost indescribable... I might have to draw something... well... there are all of these small little shower areas... its low to the floor cause you sit on a stool as you wash. Of course, wash the stool before you sit on it... you have no idea who was sitting there before! Then I sat there with three of my friends just scrubbing away and chatting. The room is really warm and humid, so its not uncomfortable at all that your not constantly showered with water.

Also, if you are feeling lazy or stressed you can pay an 아주마 ("a-ju-ma" a word that means a woman over 35ish, and generally married) to scrub you. HAHA, it was really funny. There is this area in the huge shower room with some beds and naked ladies laying on it and old women in black bras and underpants scrubbing away. I think if I had seen this when I first came to Korea I would have really experienced culture shock... but at this point I am ready to expect the unexpected. According to the guy who came with us, in the men's shower they have the same thing but the 아저시("ah-juh-she" a man over 35ish, generally married) who scrubs the customers is naked as well... I wonder why the difference?

After scrubbing there are several huge baths you can sit in. They all have a big electric sign showing the temperature in Celsius... the hot ones were always between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius... which is 107 to 111 degrees Fahrenheit!!! YIKES There was one pool that had a sign saying 일본탕 I was so happy that I could understand the sign! 일본 "ill-bone" means Japan, and as you already know 탕 means bath... so this was supposed to be a Japanese style bath... I think that just means it has plain hot water. There was also a gold bath and the water was the color of yellow Gatorade and a mud bath that was slightly brown and smelled like green tea... Those were all hot baths, and there was another hot bath, but I never went to check it out... I think it was just a regular one cause it was the biggest. And then there was a HUGE cold water pool 22 C... 71F... I know that doesn't sound very cold, but trust me it was cold!

I have a picture of the pools at home, but I'm at work now so I will have to upload it later. Then after you scrub and soak you go back to the locker room and get dressed in the clothes they gave you. Girls get pink and boys get blue or gray... depending on the 짐질방. We got pink shorts and a pink shirt... I wish we took a picture of this... I didn't even think about it. Then we went exploring...

There are little sleeping nooks all over the place. Private rooms, and public rooms, and little hidey holes where you have to crawl to get into them. You can grab a blanket and pillow and sleep there over night if you want. A lot of people do... you sleep on the floor, on top of some blankets (Korean style) but a Korean floor is much more comfortable than an American one... in Korea the floors are all heated, and in a 짐질방 they are REALLY warm... I think your muscles would melt into nothing after spending a night in a place like this. There was also a TV room where you can hang out and watch TV... they have one for just girls, and just boys and also a co-ed room. In the single sex rooms you always find people in varying degrees of undress. Strange, but oddly comforting that people can relax like this.

Then, after exploring... oh and there are also saunas (duh!) but we didn't use one... personally I don't like saunas.... and I was getting really dizzy from the heat. Extremes of hot and cold are not good for me.

After exploring we went to the co-ed area to eat. There is a restaurant and a juice bar. We ordered some yummy Korean food ... some pork thing which I know nothing about and we also got 떡볶기 ("duck-bo-gi" rice cake in spicy sauce) and lots of WONDERFUL side dishes... I think side dishes are my favorite thing about Korea... they are bottomless!!! And filled with veggie goodness :) We also had 식혜 ("she-keh" sweet rice drink) which is really strange, but I really like it... a little too sweet to have on a regular basis.

After eating we went back and changed. Two of us stayed over and I took a taxi back with the other two. The first taxi we tried to catch wouldn't take us... we were about a 20 min walk from home, and it was 12:30AM so most taxis wont pick you up at that time unless you are going far away... sigh... but the next guy picked us up and so I let him keep some of the change... not common in Korea, but he was a nice guy.


Ok well here are some pictures to try and explain the stuff I was talking about....



This is a picture of one of the rooms where you can hang out with guys and gals. You can see some people are ordering drinks, chatting, sleeping, probably watching TV too... its very warm in here and quite cozy... when I went there weren't any where near this many people... but I guess these places are pretty popular
Here is a sleeping room... this one actually has some mattresses... but you can just sleep on the floor if you like. Not all the rooms are lit up either, so you can sleep in a dark room or a bright room

This is "she-gay" the sweet rice drink... in this picture they put some pine nuts in it, but the one I had was sans pine nuts... good thing too cause I'm not a huge fan of the nuts!

Finally we end with yummy 떡볶기... its spicy, but chewy and has veggies too. good stuff and filling... though I don't think it is particularly nutritious.

I'm not dead!

Last week my dad said that once a blog has had no new posts for one month it's officially dead! EEEEK! It's been exactly one month since my last post, but I can assure you, neither I, nor my blog, have shuffled off the mortal coil. I'm still here... just exceedingly lazy! Sorry about that.

Anyway, I have some pictures I would like to share :)


Above and below you can see two perspectives of what I thought was a really neat way to display those stupid advertisements restaurants always feel compelled to clutter up your table with. I found this bread stand much less irksome than the garden variety metal stand that typically graces the table. It was rock solid though, and part of the back had already chipped away, so not all the papers were held securely... Nonetheless, I liked it.



A giant pink bus.... and its not just a bus, it's also a clothing shop! Amazing! There are hangers all over the inside with dresses and whatnot hanging from them. Its really cute and I have no idea why it is in a bus since it always seems to be in the same place. I assume it has something to do with evading the local gang when the protection money goes unpaid.


Unfortunately I still do not own a real camera... when will I get off my lazy cheapskate butt and buy something with more than half a megapixle? (Actually I have no idea what the resolution of my cellphone camera is, but I know it sucks!) This is a store in the only mall in Seoul. If you click on the image perhaps in the larger version you can read the caption under the name of the store. It reads "BONGZI & Bongzi-in Apgujeong Made by Jesus" .... kekekeke (thats how Korean girls type the kind of laughter they are trying to stifle, something akin to a snicker.)


This is the aftermath of a very delicious lunchdate with four of my chicas (girl power!) hehe. We went to a 보리밥집 and ordered 보리밥. The first word reads "bolibap jeep" and the second is just "bolibap" again. Bolibap means barley, but when you order it at a restaraunt you get everything you see before you... Korean restaraunts rock... and all this for a mere 7,000 won, which, thanks to the sad state of both the dollar and the won translates to $4.70. Amazing, isn't it? I really should have taken a picture before digestion commenced, but just imagine all those dishes spilling over with scrumptious food and you'll get the picture. It was quite yummy. oh and that word "jeep" means house... its just another way to say restaraunt... they have like, 60 different ways to say restaraunt... that may be just a tad of a hyperbole, but I can think of at least three ways to say restaraunt and I don't even speak the language... Korean people love food :)

OOPS! I cheered in error...

When I wrote in the previous post that I have posted three days in a row (YAY!) I was actually only posting two days in a row... I guess I just didn't realise that it was so late... or maybe the time was off on my computer... I dunno... But that last post was certainly made yesterday, not today... So this, I think, is the real post for three days in a row... hehe

So, I had my first attempt at a healthy day. Since I was completely unprepared for breakfast, I skipped it!!! Yikes!! You say "But Amanda, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" Yes, you are correct, but... more importantly (at least to my addicted to food brain) breakfast is my FAVORITE meal of the day. So, my plan is, if I haven't planned a healthy meal for breakfast then I cant have anything until lunch!!!! I know its crazy, but you know what? it worked! Its 19F outside right now (feels like 8F) and instead of going straight home I made the short walk to the mart at the top of the hill to buy some food. MAN it was a cold walk that I didn't want to do, but I did it.

I got some new eggs (and threw out the old ones for those of you who keep up with me on Facebook as well) and some bread and butter. I still need to find a place that has wheat bread, and if I cant find it by next week then I can't have bread in the morning.. this is the last time I'm buying unhealthy bread for myself. I bought the butter cause I have margerine, and I don't know what is better for health, so I have both and I will do some reading. I don't even know if the margerine has trans fats... but I assume it does, it was just normal margerine... however it looks just like butter... but it doesnt act like butter...

So, I am boiling three eggs, and I will have one egg white, and toss the yolk and a slice of toast with butter... but I need something else. I have some strawberry yogurt, I hope thats enough... its a thick slice of bread... but I might need two of them. but if I could make it through today without breakfast (and today was a lovely day regardless) then I can make it through tomorrow on a small breakfast until I iron out the details.

The point is, no Mcdonalds or donuts or coca-cola or cookies or what ever else I have been eating for breakfast... there isn't any rice milk here and I really don't like cows milk, so no cereal... but I have other options, and one of my co-workers just got a really interesting cookbook, and he says it has some great breakfast ideas, so I am going to borrow it when he is finished.

Well, Ive been boiling the eggs, and I have no idea for how long... oops again... I think at least 13 min... it should be 15 min right? Its ok if I over do these a little, I will get better at this.

Oh, and I still can't stop thinking about Twilight... one of my students owns the next book and she is bringing it to me tomorrow!!! I think its hard cover though, much harder to carry around in my purse, but I will still try, or just lock myself at home for the next few days and read! I really hope its similar to the first book.

Tomorrow I think I will update my 101 things list, tonight I want to read. Night

Where have I been?

Hello 2009. In 10 days Bush will be 'gone' and in 17 days I will be 29. This is a month of new beginnings! At least I hope so :)

I haven't been too terribly busy this month, but I am a little disappointed with myself because I am not doing much about my resolutions. Here they are:
1. Eat Healthier
2. Finish my thesis for grad school

Now, I have contacted my grad school advisor for the first time in MONTHS, but I haven't done much more than that. As for eating healthy I haven't made any changes what so ever. But I am hoping to go to Costco sometime soon, and I can at least get Fiber-1 bars... I don't know if they have oatmeal there, but if they do that would solve my breakfast problem.

I have been eating an eggmcmuffin meal at Mcdonald's 3-5 times a week for the last couple of months... its not good... I'm not getting extremely fat or anything, its a lot of cholesterol though, and I don't like that... Its 570 calories, which isn't terrible, but it doesn't really fill me up most days... and its about 250 mg of cholesterol, which is like 80% of my daily value. About 2 years ago I had my cholesterol checked, and it wasn't good... it wasn't terrible either and I don't have any risk factors (At least I don't think so) and the Dr. told me not to worry... but that was 2 years ago, I was 26... Now I'm turning 29, soon things will change... I have to take better care of myself as I get older, I cant eat as much as I used to... something that I am desperately trying to change... but MAN! I just love eating... I'm not even hungry right now and I cant stop thinking about eating.

I force myself to eat something in the morning cause I am terrified of being hungry in the middle of a class... today I am working 6 hours straight without a break... and actually its longer than that cause I am going to teach my kids after work. so from 10:30 AM to 7PM I will not be able to eat... that's kinda scary to me, so I have to eat something now or else I will be hungry!

I don't know why being hungry worries me so much. I'm convinced that I cant concentrate on am empty stomach and that I get grouchy and moody... I don't want to be that way, so I eat... but I don't really know if being hungry can truly have that effect on me... I mean seriously, I'm an adult... I should be able to resist a little hunger for a few hours... so why can't I?

So, here is my plan:
1. go to Costco
2. buy: fiber1 bars, almonds, oatmeal (I hope) and something else that is healthy and filling that I can use for snacks
3. If I get oatmeal: have two packets of oatmeal in the morn for breakfast and a yogurt (maybe)
4. If I can't get oatmeal: Have a hard boiled egg sans yolk, toast (with butter or margarine??? one slice or two??? Can I find wheat bread???) yogurt and maybe some fruit... this option is less appealing cause it is more work...
5. Plan one at home lunch/dinner a week... probably pasta... and try to do it more than once a week as time goes by.
6. eat almonds and fiber one bars for snacks instead of cookies and waffles... (good luck)

I don't know how well that will work... my schedule only really allows for two meals a day... breakfast and then one during my break... my break starts at 11AM and ends at 5:30PM... so I can eat at 11 and then again at 4:30, which I sometimes do... but those are just too close together... and I have a tendency to eat a dinner style meal for both lunch and dinner... I think that's not so good. So I need a plan for a third meal... I will do what ever for that big lunch at 11. But I need something healthy at 4:30... preferably homemade, and not the same as breakfast... but if I can get oatmeal, then I think I could do the oatmeal breakfast in the morn and the toast and egg white one in the evening... then I also need a bedtime snack... maybe a fiber one bar? Gosh I hope Costco still has those.

Wish me luck! I'm feeling better about this plan that I have before, I've really been fleshing it out lately!

BTW. I finished reading Good Omens and I will add it too my book list soon, but I am already halfway thought Twilight... I have heard the movie is not good, but let me tell you the book is irresistible! I would call it an emotional thriller! I think you should all pick it up! Its great, makes your heart race like when you were in 10th grade trying to sneak a peak at that boy you liked and trying not to get caught by your friends cause you didn't want to get teased by them!!! I hope I'm not the only one with that kind of experience in my past!

Love you all... when is someone gonna come visit me!!!!!!!

Thinking about the New Year

So Im thinking about me resolutions... since I have the 101 list Im not so eager to make another commitment... but I really want to do something about the way I eat... I mean I eat SO much fast food it isnt funny, especially for breakfast. So I need ideas... how can I eat better? I want to make my new year's resolution about eating healthy but I need it to be concrete or else I will ignore it right fast!

I need ideas that will keep me away from mcdonald's and BK breakfast, and away from coca cola and cheese... eating at home would be better, but I love eating with John and its hard to cook anything he would like... so I don't know... I think I have to eat out at least one meal a day to eat with him... but maybe not..

Now, since I am a vegetarian I have had a love hate relationship with food for a while... when I ate meat I felt guilty and when I was quitting I was depressed, and now Im frustrated that there arnt enough meat free options.

So, does anyone have any stress free ideas?

PICTURES, AGAIN!!!

So, I saw this at my local mart... its the place I buy most of my food... and they had this here for the first time... dried fish... I have no idea what people even do with that... I mean, do I just grab one and bring it to the register? Do they weigh it or do I pay by the fish? There was no sign with a price and it totally creeped me out... I thought you would enjoy a look at some more weird stuff from Asia! Update: I just asked someone, and apparently they use that dried fish to make a tasty soup... what a surprise!! soup.... Korean people LOVE soup... It had to be soup huh?

Long live the Lich King! WoW is REALLY popular here in Korea... they just LOVE online gaming... Starcraft... a 10 year old strategy game is SUPER popular here... they have competitions with spectators and everything... I've watched a live match here that was also televised! Its nuts! This we a display window on the staircase to the subway entrance by my house... There are about 10 of these little windows all with a different guy. I though this guy was pretty cool looking... but there were so many people going to the subway I couldn't get a good pic... I think I'll steal Johns camera and go on a Sunday morn to get a good shot :)

If I was a lawyer I would totally move to Asia! There is SOOO much copyright infringement going on here its not even funny (well... ok its still kinda funny) Here is a nice example... This is a individually wrapped apple I bought (which is pretty interesting on its own...) but the best part is farmer Micky Mouse gracing the packaging... now, I'm sure its possible that the apple company paid for Micky's likeness... but I would bet against it... I mean its a 800 won apple, which is about 60 cents... and its not like you normally see Micky on apples... strange right? Yeah, its totally just a ploy to get kids to want that instead of a Twix! So, all you American lawyers, come to Korea, and make LOADS of money on suing people for copyright infringement... Korea is in the process of Americanising its legal system (I don't know why... currently they follow the German system which doesn't allow for precedent... very strange) so it will be easy for you to pop over and get some work done... True its not a very litigious society, but I'm sure you can change that (and leave America alone for a bit!)

I have got to nab a Korean person so they can tell me what this sign means... but in English it reads (and if you click on it you can get a bigger pic I think) "The easiest way to be born again" Update : Ok, I found out this is a sign for a plastic surgery place!!! HAHAH.... its called Bustium... and they specialise in breast enlargments, liposuction, face lifts, face shaping (jaw line) eyes and nose jobs.... HAHA be born again with a scaple! Korea is so crazy about plastic surgery, its quite funny.

Just a cute sign from one of my favorite stores, Artbox, They make lots of cute stationary and dolls and other stuff, especially with that Panda in the pic. This sign says "Falling in fall, Looking at the beautiful maple leave, Begin to love" hehe, I wonder if that makes sense in Korean :)

PICTURES Part Deux!

Yup, more pictures....

oooohhhh, Valet parking... how exclusive... not really... right now 1,000 won is about 75 cents... but this kinda deal is every where, not just upscale places like California Pizza kitchen (if my students read this I doubt they could glean the sarcasm!) At a nice place you might have to pay a whopping 2,000 won... or a buck fifty... Of course some people tip the guy, but I don't think I would, there isn't much of a tipping culture here in Korea... but its almost impossible to park your car so valet parking as an absolute necessity.

Yay! A real American Breakfast... kinda. John found about about this place... it was called "I'm Fresh!" isn't that just so cute? Well they make everything from scratch, right when you order it, so it takes like 25 min to get your food, but they make a nice breakfast. I got an omelet with cheese and veggies and a side of TERRIBLE pancakes (I should have gotten the toast) and the syrup was not syrup... and they put it in a container with a tiny tiny hole, so it took FOREVER to get enough syrup on the pancakes to cover the taste of too much baking soda!

John got french toast... yes thats what thats a picture of... french toast... it was like they took the bread, dipped it in egg, folded it in half and then fried/baked it... Im not sure, but it was strange, but tasty! He also got some yummy homemade fries... definitely someplace I would like to visit again (I wonder if John reads my blog...)

Please ignore my beautiful friend Grace in the foreground there... she's married! The interesting part of this picture is the two gentle men in the background... can you see them?

Maybe this picture shows it better, again, ignore my buddy Daniel drinking his beer (however he is on the market ladies!) Can you see the men better here? What does it look like they are doing? Arm wrestling maybe? So... whats the big deal about that? I mean dudes are always trying to show how tough they are at a bar!... yeah, except this is Korea... guys really aren't that tough here... and those two older gentlemen are certainly NOT arm wrestling... they are in fact, holding hands... Nope, I'm not in a gay bar! Korean people are a lot more touchy-feely than westerners... women walk around holding hands ALL the time. Men even hold hands (especially when drunk) at the bar you can see one man put his hand on another man's thigh, and thats totally normal... its a friendly gesture here... These two guys kept shouting "FIGHTING" which is the Korean way to say "stay strong, chin up, don't give up, you can do it!" So I guess something bad happened with one of the guys and the other is trying to make him feel better (Im not so sure the alcohol is so helpful though... just a cute note on Korean culture.

More airline food and random Korea pics

I've been collecting a lot of pics I want to blog about, so Im going to try to upload 5 of them a day... this is the second batch!


Don't fly JAL (Japan airlines)... I was so unimpressed with the food they had to offer... this was what they gave everyone... there was no vegetarian option. Im pretty sure that stuff on the left was rice... I can't really remember... and the stuff on top of it... I have no idea what that was, but it was some kind of fish... maybe like a shell fish or shrimp... I don't know, but it had a REALLY strong smell to it! On the right were some Japanese style veggies, some were really watery like the stuff I talked about in the previous post. And there was some fruit cocktail. It wasn't really good... but maybe this is one of those low cost airlines... but for the price I didn't expect a cold meal.
This is my building the day after a fire brunt out the whole 7th floor! I was actually on my way to grab some breakfast (I wasn't working on this day) when I saw it... no one called me or anything to let me know... I was kinda shocked! But needless to say we had a few days off of work! And for the next few months the whole building reeked of toxic fumes! It was not cool... I had to throw out most of the stuff on my walls because it was covered in soot! I work on the 10th floor so nothing was burned, but the smoke got up there. And some cleaning people came through and threw away a lot of stuff that belonged to people... including me, and a lot of it was stuff that could have been cleaned and used again! I couldn't understand this. Anyway, Its all back to "normal" now and they rebuilt the 7th floor (which looks much nicer now) but there is still evidence of soot everywhere... I moved some furniture today and had to wash my hands cause they were black.


I just thought this was a funny sign... I took this picture a while ago so I cant remember where I saw it, but thats Korean above the English there so I know it had to be Korea... Kinda looks like you are washing your hands with sound waves :)
This was my alien resident card last time around... I had to return it :( so sad... If I fill out a police report and claim mine as lost then I can get a new one... but I guess thats a tad unethical... so I took a picture... its a lot easier to keep anyway.

sigh... Korea... The most interesting thing about Korea is Koreans. Here we have a group of Korean travelers (and yes I know they were Korean cause they were speaking Korean... not Japanese or Chinese or some other language) And if you look you can see they are all wearing bright yellow vests. I can only assume that is because they are part of a group and want to stick together and make it easy to find each other. This is a perfect example of Confucian traditions in action. Do not burden the group by trying to be a stylist individual when you can simplify things and sacrifice your appearance for the good of the group... hehe, this place rocks.

On a sad note... I have always said "I would love to be a published writer"... not that that means much cause I have also always said things like: "I wish I were a mermaid" "I wish I had a Pegasus" "I wish I could read minds" etc. But for some reason I feel like the idea of being a writer is slightly more attainable that those other aspirations. The other night, when I was falling asleep, I had an absolutely wonderful idea for a book.. probably more like a teen age type book... and I thought to myself "this is awesome, I will totally remember this in the morn and I can start to develop the idea on my breaks at work" Sometimes I wonder if I know myself at all... of course I have completely forgotten the idea... Its kinda like the song Tribute by Tenacious D (GOD I love them!) But, its a sad loss... perhaps someday I will come up with another great idea.. and that time I will start taking notes right away... I promise!

What did you eat when you were in Japan?

So, in October I went to Japan, and took some pictures (check out John's facebook for all the other pics... if you dont know how to do that then ask me at my facebook or comment) especially of the food.
Above is the first meal John had in Japan, it was two little steak pieces and some potatoes and broccoli, he said it was really good. We also got a side of french fries with it.


I ordered some strange noodles with a half cooked egg and some sauce on it... it came with some fried meat, but I took it off, John said it was not so good... I have no idea what it was. On the right is whats left of a veggie side dish I got... some fried green stuff, kinda like bok choi and it was pretty spicy. The noodles were good, but not knowing what was in them was a little creepy. This was an EXPENSIVE place to eat... but it totally didn't look like it... the brought food out for us to eat that we didn't even order and charged us for it... I wish my Japanese wasn't so bad. The coolest thing about it was you could order your food from a touch screen right at the table... I don't know why I didn't take a picture of that. We didn't have our camera so I had to use the camera in my phone.



Here is my yummy vegetarian meal from Asiana Airlines on the way to Japan. I have to say I was pretty impressed. Non-veggies got similar stuff, but they had a noodle dish with some meat and a sweet sauce. I didn't get to sit next to John on this flight :( So I couldn't get a picture of his food. The four quadrants of food are fruit, Japanese veggies, regular cooked veggies and rice. The Japanese veggies were a little strange, the two orange things are yummy pumpkin, but the brown thing was really watery, like water melon... I have no idea what it was. There was a little potato and some snap peas in there too.Here's a closeup of the rice. It was sectioned of into three rectangles for easy eating. I don't know what the yellow thing in the middle was, but I think it must be some kind of nut or bean... it kinda tasted like cheese, but this was a vegan meal so I know it cant be cheese. Notice how awesome the soy sauce container is!!! I stole it! hehe. it dispensed the soy sauce in little drops so you could control how much got on the rice really easily. As far as Airplane food goes this was quite good. WAY better than Korean Air (who wouldn't give me vegetarian food!) and Continental... my Favs are still Thai Air, Delta and United. Good veggie options.
This was our "Western" breakfast. Each morning we had a choice between western and Japanese breakfast. The Japanese breakfast came with a fish, some soup, rice, and side dishes... like pickled vegetables... maybe something else too, but we never ordered it so I don't really know. For the western breakfast each day the bread and meat and eggs and macaroni salad were a little different, but mostly the same. It was pretty good though... I wish it had potatoes. The bread was actually REALLY good. Japanese bakers are way better than Korean bakers... and this was by no means a 5 star hotel... maybe 3 stars at best! The OJ was tang, and the macaroni salad was strange, but I was always hungry cause I never knew what to eat, so I ate mine and John's. He said the meat was strange so mine went to waste.

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!

10 More Days!

Yup, in 10 days (9 not counting today, and since today will be over in 95 min I can say 9!) I will be on a plane celebrating my vacation! WOOHOO! I shall not shirk my blogging duties though. I actually think I am starting to get good at this... it only took me one year! Well I have another year abroad to post even better stuff, so next year will be a much better read.

Today I fell on some stairs and banged my ankle bone on the edge of the cement stairs really hard, so I am walking funny. But I took some aspirin and I have ice on it now so I think I can do yoga tomorrow. If I get any cool black and blue marks I will post them, but if not it will just be another lame injury that I can not show off... only talk about... which is not as much fun as showing off wounds!

Here is a takeout box from Saboten. If they have one of these in your neighborhood you should go. They make amazing (according to John) fried pork cutlet filled with mozzarella. I get a kimchi udon soup... which has kimchi (fermented, spicy cabbage) and really thick Japanese noodles in some kind of broth ... I think its fish broth. But in this box is some smaller boxes... and I lost the pic of the inside :( but its all separated out and really cute. Since John loves this place so much I'm sure we will get it again so I will take another picture.

One of my sweet sweet students brought this for me. Actually, her mom made it. Its a little snack, Korean style. On the top you see hobak sandwiches. Hobak is a type of pumpkin, they call it sweet pumpkin and its pretty popular here. Its really good... its a small green, bumpy pumpkin and its bright orange inside, so its a little different than our pumpkin. My student's mom spread the mashed hobak on the bread, rolled it up and cut it into bit size pieces. And on the bottom is dduck-go-chi ... I think I spelled it wrong. It stands for "rice cake on a stick." Rice cake is made from gelatinous rice and its REALLY chewy. These rice cakes are on a stick and covered in a sticky sweet-spicy sauce and fried. They were a little too chewy, but the sauce was awesome.


So, I had this for breakfast one day at my desk, and in true Korean style I took a picture of it (on my desk at work.) Korean people love taking pictures of their meals... it happens all the time at the restaurant. Well, my breakfast consisted of a hard boiled egg, a banana, three Hobnobs and a fiber drink (almost 3 grams in that little bottle) No reason except that I am trying to avoid Burger King and McDonald's... I don't drink milk, so cereal isn't an option... so I have to be creative... I don't have a Korean house wife, so there is no one too cook me rice and soup in the morning... so I can't eat Korean style either... I'm getting really sick of bananas.


This is a really cute notebook I bought. It says "ticket journal" on the front. It has 80 pages on the inside to load with tickets from every function you go to. I love saving tickets, and now I have a nice place to put them.


Here is the inside. You tape in your ticket, fill out some info and write your memories. I like this a lot. It only cost $2, so if anyone wants one let me know and I will bring it back to you. Well, I am laying in bed right now cause of my leg, and typing isn't very comfortable so I am gunna chill now. Night night. See ya all soon!!

It Rains in Korea... A LOT!

Well I guess there is no reason for me to tell you that... perhaps you already knew that Korea is one of the monsoon countries. Sigh, I have been stuck indoors for the last three days, and I just checked the weather... It will rain, every single day, until I fly out on September 1st. I was really hoping to do something nice outside, like hike in a mountain, or along the Han river, or something! sigh, oh well. At least I am able to update my blog a lot now! YAY for documentation!


So, I love Kiva. I think everyone should know about Kiva. With Kiva you can lend money to people in developing countries. I think this is a lot better than donating money for several reasons. The obvious reason being... the selfish one... you can get your money back. Now of course there is no guarantee you will get your money back... and you don't make any interest, BUT, when you donate money it disappears forever. And you don't even know if it got to a real person, or did any actual good. Well, with Kiva you pick the person you want to lend to, so you know exactly what your money is being used for. Another reason I think Kiva is better than donating money is this is not a hand-out. They say "Give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach the man to fish and he eats for ever" And probably teaches his kids how to fish too. Well, when you lend money to people with Kiva, they use it to build their future, and pay back what you gave them... so they make profit... they don't just get by. I heard about this from an interview with Bill Clinton, I checked it out, and I have lent money to people via Kiva. Four of my loans are currently being repaid, and another 4 are still in the fund-raising state. I only lend $25 to each person, this way if they default I only loose $25. But hey, if they default then I guess I have still donated money to a good cause, a person in a developing country trying to improve his or her situation... so what if they couldn't pay me back... I'm sure they wanted to, and next time they will try harder. But anyway, I added my Kiva Lender page to the links list on the right. You can check out the people I'm lending money to. Maybe you would want to lend some money to them too. I think they look like nice people. Let me know what you think about it.

This is the street I live on. You cant see my little apartment building, but its off to the right. I might not live here next year cause my landlord wants to raise the rent. I will talk to her this week I hope and try to figure something out. I really like this place. The room is really nice and clean and big, the street is relatively quiet and clean (considering the area I live in) and I actually think my landlord is a nice person.


This is a sign from the subway. It has an interesting cartoon. In the picture you can see some of the common subway peddlers. Selling stuff like this is illegal, and most people tell me it is also controlled by the gangsters. Well, one of the characters is a well dressed man pulling a small cart and shouting about something he is holding in his hand. These guys go from subway car to subway car with a little cart full of: umbrellas, socks, shoe shiners, underwear, pens, or other interesting items that they sell for less than $5. The other character is a rather sad looking old woman. She is generally sitting on the floor somewhere in the station selling things like gum, kimbap (a roll or rice and veggies contained in seaweed), rice cakes, or vegetables for $1-2. Your not supposed to buy things from them, but everyone does. Its hard not to, I feel sorry for them... especially the old men and women... I mean where is their family? I hope they aren't alone in the world. They shouldn't be working, they should be playing with their grand kids or doing needlepoint or something relaxing... oh well.


So, we went to Outback Steakhouse. I have to say, of all the western restaurants in Korea Outback is by far the best. It is really pricey (I have pasta for those of you who wonder what a vegetarian eats at Outback) But SO worth it. John gets their ribs, which he says are really good. They have a nice potato soup, good veggies, tasty bread, etc. They also have this wonderful thing called ade. Most of the restaurants have at least a couple flavors of ade. Orange and grapefruit ade are pretty prevalent. This time I got Kiwi-ade... which ROCKED. I have also tried Strawberry-ade, that was awesome too... you have got to get this over in America! They make it with real fruit and I think seltzer water... not sure though.


Not just bbang (the Korean word for bread... and yes the two 'b's is intentional... its a really hard b sound, they also have a soft b sound... 'bang' means 'room' in Korean... so the different 'b's matter quite a deal) This wonderful waiter gave us chocolate sauce to dip our bread in. The servers at Outback in Korea are AWESOME. Some of them even speak pretty passable English! Totally American style service, but I still don't have to leave a time! I bet your wondering why you haven't come for a visit yet!!! hehe :)

On a final note, I added something new at the very bottom of the page. Its a work in progress and much more for me than you. I am posting it to add a small degree of accountability on my part. On one of the links from my dads blog I read about this "101 goals in 1001 days" idea. Make a list of 101 concrete things you want to accomplish in 1001 days. Then tick them off as you complete them. I still have a lot of things to add... and Im sure some of the things will be a little unrealistic, but I guess its good to have a plan, even if it fails :)

YAY! Absence!

So I have a student who is absent (who totally said she would be here when I called, but called back and said she wouldn't!) anyway... I have decided to write in my blog every day.... APRIL FOOLS! Hehe... this way if I succeed or fail it doesn't matter :)

Anyway, I am quite happy today. I got to see two friends who I haven't seen in a while and we had lunch, then I hung out with my sweetie for a bit and then off to yoga. I also had one of my nicest students come back from a two month break today and he got into med school in the USA! YAY! So its all good :)

I didn't do well in yoga today and I had an egg mcmuffin meal and a HUGE plate of bibimbap. Here is a pic (not mine) of bibimbap when it comes out. Its rice with vegetables and a fried egg. Really yummy. There is also a spicy sauce called gochujang in it. They tend to put too much for me so I remove some before mixing.

And after to mix the bibimbap it looks like this... yummy Korean mushrooms! I have never really liked mushrooms in the states, but they have two kinds of mushrooms here that I really like, and fortuatly they are really common! I will have to find a Korean supermarket in America when I move back.

Anyway, I was saying all this cause I wanted to point out the fact that I am eating pretty well AND losing weight! woo hoo! In the summer of 2006 I weighed almost 165lbs. I couldn't fit into a lot of my clothes and I started buying pants the next size up. Since I came to Korea a lot of my habits have changed. I walk everywhere (no car) I dont eat much cheese or bread (they arnt very good in Korea and not common) and I have been exercising 3-4 times a week. Well I am happy to announce that even after eating two big meals (one that is TOTALLY not healthy!) I weighed in at 143 lbs today!!! WOO HOO! When I went to college I weighed about 138-140 depending on the day. And I haven't grown an inch since then. So, the way I see it, I should get back to my previous weight. It took me about 7-8 years to put the lbs on and in almost 2 years I have taken them off! I think thats pretty good. I have learned a lot of good habits since I moved here, and I hope to keep them up.

I have to say that Hot Yoga has really helped accelerate my weight loss... I was averaging about 1 lb a month (which isn't bad for long term weight loss) and on top of that my knees (which I really messed up 3 years ago) feel SO much better! And I have more flexibility :)

Anyway, the moral of this story is... do yoga... preferably in a hot room! :) for 90 min

Love ya all!

D-War is worse than Family Guy

So, I just finished watching D-War, which was a movie I actually wanted to see... of course the only thing I knew about it was a cool poster with a huge snake climbing up a building, and then when I found out it was made by Koreans I figured I should watch it. Well ... hmmm... basically it sucked in a very big way. I think the only cool part was at the end... and don't worry this isn't a spoiler because there is no way you would waste your time seeing this film... when the good snake became the dragon... that was pretty cool CG. So, in short, don't watch this movie, it will make your eyes bleed... or worse.

So I had my first Saturday off in about a month... it felt good. I was supposed to go to the DMZ yesterday, unfortunately we slept in... The bus leaves at 8AM and is about 40 min from where we live, plus they say get there 30 min early, so ... we woke up at 7:50.. wasn't going to happen... so now we have to wait till January, and it will probably be to cold to go then... oh well... I went to pizza hut today, I am getting so sick of pizza hut, back in America we had so many different kinds of pizza to get, here in my neighborhood all we have is Pizza Hut and Mr. Pizza... both are sub par and over priced... One large cheese pizza and one coke cost us 18 bucks!

I get paid tomorrow and I have plans to save a lot of money this month... of course I still have some holiday shopping to do, but I think I have budgeted appropriately enough...

So I still have not sent off my families Christmas presents... I spent much of this week trying to find a Korean baseball cap for my dad... I could find NY Yankees, Dodgers, Angels and so on... but nothing Korean... apparently they only sell these hats during the season at the stadium and people only wear them to the game... Since all of the Korean teams are owned by big companies here... like Samsung, LG, and Lotte if you wear one people don't think you support the team, they just think you work for the company... I guess they only have team spirit when they are on the clock!

Any way, I just started taking Korean classes and I am SUPER happy about it. Its not easy but I love it. I love studying and it is really cool to spend 2 hrs in a room where the teacher speaks only Korean... with the exception of the odd English term for clarification. There are 5 people in my class, John and another teacher are taking the class with me... we can study together :) There is also Japanese housewife and a Turkish shop owner. Both of them married Korean people. The Japanese woman and her husband speak Japanese at home, but she is learning Korean so she can speak to his family. The Turkish guy sells hand made Turkish tiles and met his wife in Turkey when she was on vacation buying a carpet from his shop in Turkey... they just had a baby so he plans on staying in Korea long term so he wants to learn to speak well. I think these other two students are a lot more motivated than us three teachers, but I still think we can do a good job. We skipped the first level of the class, which wasn't the smartest thing, but we are catching up.

Ok, well I am going to sleep, too much caffeine and pizza hut always leaves me hungry... sigh... good night, and write me a comment to keep me company :)

I am the Luckiest Girl Alive!

How can I make such a blanket statement and believe in it so strongly you may ask? No, I have not met all people in the world, nor have they met me, but I still know that no one is as lucky as I am. (Note to self: read this post on bad days!) I do not just "feel" my luck, I know it to be true... In fact I have evidence, three words: My Parents ROCK! On top of that I have photographic evidence as well!These items were the contents of a box sent unknowingly to me by my parents through the harried international mail system! I was extremely happy to see that I had a package, I didn't even care what was inside it. As I was opening the box I surely did not think I could be any happier than I was at that moment. I mean, getting a package is always wonderful, and it is especially wonderful when you are so far away from home. I know it is not easy to send a package this far, and not cheap either, so I really relish the time spent opening the box! However, when I opened the box and saw, to my surprise, Reese's PB cups, Fiber1 bars and a whole host of healthy organic vegetarian food I felt near to tears!

In Korea I have to forget about my healthy a lot, and I really don't like that, but now I can eat like the healthy vegetarian I dream to be for at least a week. I haven't decided if I should just splurge and eat it all now, save it for Thanksgiving, or spread it out over the rest of the month, rationing it carefully... Thats what I did with the candy corn, I still have some, but unfortunately it has gone a tad bit stale, but its still good!

Anyway, this is a tribute to my amazing parents! I would call them now, but it is pretty late in America, so they might not appreciate it, but I think you all in America should hang with my parents, they are great friends to have! (PS... The "you all" is due to heavy Texan influence over here, three of my co-workers are from Texas, I can't help it, sorry)

Ok, I love you all, and nothing new has happened, except John is rather sick and losing his voice, so send him some e-love if you have time. Byee

So, I suck at keeping any type of journal or records in general... unless I am getting paid for it that is. I think the reason I don't edit this that much is I think no one is reading it, but I have heard for quite a few people that they wish I would update more often. So, I am going to try and update this every day, with what ever mundane things happen! And, I am going to send out an email to everyone I can think of and let them know I will do this. Also, I would like to ask that if you read a post can you please just post a quick comment, I am trying to see how many people read this. Thanks :)

Ok, so I had to go to a Foreign Teacher's Seminar yesterday at 9AM, which was a bit early considering the place was almost an hour from my place. Of course it didn't help that I made a mistake and made John and I get off at the wrong subway stop, but we just had to get back on, so it was ok. Anyway the lectures at the seminar were pretty dull, but at the end there was a really fun music deal. They had a Korean rock band play about 5 songs. They played, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, AC/DC, something British and something Korean. They weren't amazing or anything, but it was cool. Unfortunately a lot of the teachers in the audience took this as a sign to ditch, the lights were low and they were pretty apathetic. These people were also quite rude, they were laughing at the poor English of the Korean presenters, and talking all throughout their lectures, and of course leaving early. Well, I am not party pooper, and John isn't either.

During the My Chemical Romance song John and I went up front and started dancing! It was really cool, one other guy we work with came up and danced too, and so did a woman I didn't know! And then there was a Korean drum and dance group with four members. They did a really cool drum peice and then they did a dance, only one guy danced but he also said a lot of stuff in Korea, like a chant. I don't know what he was saying but it sounded really cool. He taught the audience a sentence, and I don't remember it, but it was pretty strange! Then he said he would teach people to dance the way he did if they wanted to come up on stage, one of the guys who works in my building ran up, so I followed him! It was pretty fun, it really hurt my legs though! And the MC of the show gave us both 10,000 won gift certificates (around $9) when we walked off the stage, and the guy gave me a hug later on.

Anyway after the show we went to eat with two of our friends and walked around the department store. We went home and watched some TV and snacked on junk food. This morning we had French Toast and eggs (YUMMY) and watched some more TV. I skyped my mom for about 2 hrs. Then John and I went out for a walk, it is Pepero day, so there are lots of couples out. Pepero day is the day you are supposed to give pepero to your boyfriend or girlfriends. But friends also swap Pepero, one of my students even game me some. What is Pepero? It is a cookie in the shape of a stick covered in chocolate. They have many different flavors, but I like this chocolate covered chocolate ones and the chocolate filled ones the best. Here is a pic of Pepero.


And this is what the front of all the convenient stores looks like this weekend. They make lots of strange gift selections for suckers to spend TONS of money on... I just bought two boxes, I think thats good enough :)

So, I wonder if any American products will ever have a holiday named after themselves? Pepero day is only about 5 years old, so I figure American companies will figure out how cool this is and before you know it we will have M&M day... But Pepero Day is always on 11/11 because Pepero is in the shape of a 1, so the day with all ones is for Pepero.

Ok, Stargate is on (NERD) so I am going to go watch, I love you all, and comment please :)

Happy Weekend

So, after promising to blog even when nothing eventful happens I find myself, actually keeping my promise! So, I am finally free for a day... it was nice this week, only having to work three days, but it really put a dent in my paycheck. We have this deal where as long as we work 8 hours a day we get a guaranteed minimum pay... normally we can make much more than that since we get paid for each student we have, and its pretty easy to get OT... well with three days off I lose about $150 a day! So I am really close to the minimum pay now... sigh, Well there still is one more day, and I didn't add in the little extras (OT pay, interview pay etc.)

When a student is absent I only get paid half what I would make if they were there... so I have been sending my students text messages on their phones... it worked really well on Thursday and Friday... but today I had three absences and one of my hour students was a half an hour late! It was a pretty nice day out... but when the student doesn't show up to a class (or cancels with less than 48 hrs notice) they still have to pay the full amount.. I would love to know the reason I only get paid half... oh well... its better than nothing.

So, heres a sad story... one of the office managers brought her new puppy to work today cause her mom wants her to get rid of the puppy! Its a really cute little white dog, I cant remember what its called, but his name is Peppy, and he certainly is peppy! Well I guess her mom doesnt like the dog, but he is really cute, and he isnt as dumb as I thought a little dog would be... I was teaching him not to hump my foot... of course I was using Korean ("anee-o" instead of "no") and after about 3 min he started to figure it out... of course 20 min later he forgot it, but it only took about 1 min to retrain him... so I think he is pretty bright. He is so tiny! I really hope her mom has a change of heart, she has only had him for 4 days, and as anyone who has had a puppy knows they can be a pain in the neck for about 18-24 months. I hope to post some happy news about the situation on Monday. I didn't have a camera so I couldn't take a picture, but I think I will try and convince her to bring him back some day.

So, John and I went to this place called Kim's Club on Wednesday... it took us a while to find it, but fortunately Korean people are SUPER nice and even if they don't speak your language they will try to help you... I totally recommend coming here and you will have no problem as long as your not afraid of a little language barrier! Of course if you come here when I am here you will have an advantage (I have several Korean friends!) Anyway, Kim's club is like Walmart but looks more like Wegman's... its nice and clean, good prices, and there are food samples on every isle! It is also open 24 hrs a day! It was really crowed when we went there... which is typical in the country! So my students have recommended I go there at 10 PM... its really close, so I can take a taxi home... the subway stops running at midnight here. and a taxi ride is only a few bucks... less than 4... its really cheap here.

Well I got a cute binder and some food... we got cds, and cat food. Its really cheap cat food, we get paid on the 10th and I am going to order some food online and get it delivered to our house... They only deliver stuff when you are home, so they call you before they come over... if you arn't home they come back another day. And many places charge little or nothing for delivery, and the service is really good. I am told it is because there is a lot of competition between the delivery companies. In America we only have 4 companies... FedEx, UPS, USPS and DHL, but here there are more than 20... and thats just in Seoul!

Ok, well I love you all, and I am hoping to go see a movie tonight, but John is feeling a little sick from hanging out in a cafe where people were smoking like crazy... I guess that is one thing I can thank my parents for... I am immune to cigarette smoke... at least I feel immune, I'm sure it is still doing its fair share of damage. So, I wish there was a way to send out an automatic email to people who want to know when I update my blog... if anyone has any ideas let me know... right now I only have manual ideas... looking for something easy and automatic.

Good morning to you and Good evening to me! :)