where did all the hair go?

i have undergone my first korean salon experience.  one of my students took me to a place near ewha women's uni.  i adore this student and reckon that we will become close friends very quickly.  i put my hair into her hands.  and it went surprisingly well.  it is a tad short, which will take a bit of getting used to, but it is hair and it will grow back.  the girls who colored and cut my hair certainly were no bradleys, but at 40,000 won for a cut and color (and no tip!  you don't tip for hair here, woohoo!), i mustn't complain.

rachel and i made our way around a freezing cold ewha, stopping for seafood dakpokki and then opting to forgo the chilly weather for hot chocolate and sweet potato lattes.  i adore rachel.  we walked along, arm-in-arm.  i am turning korean.  i would never walk arm-in-arm with my girlfriends in america, but here, everyone does it.  

i stopped by school on my way home.  ill be getting eight to ten hours of overtime during the week, and probably another four on saturdays.  that lancel bag will be mine come january.

(look, i actually found a show in korea that will fit me!)

one session down. about 23 or 35 to go.

pussycat is a real teacher.

don't tell her pops.

i began my day at starbucks.  i then moved on to mister donut.  i told my student jae mi that i really enjoyed the mister donut cups.  she told me that she had a large bag and could easily jack them.  i felt like i was back at the mecano bar in paris.

an hour after mister donut, i was at 'a twosome place.'  this seemingly konglish name for a coffee shop is actually quite appropriate, as it is a place for twosomes.  or in our case, a sixsome.  i went there with my intensive students, a class that i have grown to just adore.  i saw them for two hours a day, everyday, and i never left that class without a smile on my face.  i must say, though, after three coffee shops in a row, i was beginning to feel quite dehydrated and wondered if all the caffeine would cause me to get a lovely migraine later.

the coffee migraine was avoided, but i still had to pull through a two hour class that actually wanted to have real class, rather than a cruise-y last day in a cafe.  what began as a lesson devoted to discussing a future society turned into a lesson on korean stereotypes of america.  here goes...

when asked what my students thought about america, one student said that she thought america was a dangerous place.  i asked what she meant.  she said 'guns.'  i was then asked if my dad had a gun, a question to which i responded, 'well, he probably has about 50.'  that's america for you.  the land of freedom and lots-o-guns.  people don't really hunt in korea and the only reason they would need a gun is if they opted to kill someone.  so people just cant get guns too easily here.  the murder weapon of choice, of course, is the knife.  or, as i was informed, burning down peoples' houses while the owners are inside.

i find a gun to be a more humane way to murder someone.  but that is just my american opinion.

i was also told that old korean ladies would slap a teenage girl if she was smoking a cigarette in public.  teenage boys would not be slapped.  men can smoke in public.  women go to the tea rooms to smoke.  what the hell is the difference?

i was also informed that a western woman was slapped by an old korean person because she was wearing a slutty top that revealed her stomach.  this topic then turned into how korea is incredibly conservative and america is, er, not.  

drugs and booze were discussed.  thankfully the topic of sex was avoided.  i do believe that a couple heart attacks may have been caused if, gasp, sex and drugs and guns were discussed in the span of two hours.  i also believe that these three students will never be going to america, the land of the liberal gun-wielding, pot-smoking psychopaths.

at least we murder with guns more often than with knives.  or arson.  americans know how to be efficient.

j'adore mes etudiants.

thanksgiving, korean style

i went out for dinner with carla and one of my favorite students, mr. kim.  he is 64, about a foot shorter than me, and absolutely precious.  we went for a traditional korean feast, actually quite fitting for thanksgiving day.  i have no idea what the name of it was, but we each got a box with eight little dishes of food in it.  kimchi, rice, pancakes, all sorts of vegetables...it was delicious.  we each got a glass of red and i must say that there are certain things that i have not been doing in the last month.  one of them is drinking.  carla and i ended up skipping down insadong after parting from mr. kim, arm in arm, frolicking our drunk asses to her house to eat fish ice cream treats.  

now the best part of our meal was mr. kim's gifts.  he works for a company called daesung.  i'm not really sure what they do, but we each got goody bags with face masks, dish soap, toilet bowl cleaner, and korean tea sets.  i have never been given cleaning supplies as a gift, especially toilet bowl cleaner.  we agreed to go to lunch or dinner with mr. kim once a month.  that means that i will never have to buy dish soap or toilet cleaner for the rest of the time i live in korea.

we stopped at a 7/11 to buy some, er, treats for me, and i saw that the beaujolais nouveau had arrived!  a bit pricey at 23,000 won, i bit it and opted to buy a bottle of this heavenly goodness.  i will drink it next wednesday to celebrate a friend's return.  carla and i mowed down our fishes and i made my way home.  in my drunken stupor, listening to rihanna, i realized that this is the first time in a long time that i feel really in control of my life.  i know i discuss this sort of thing on here a lot, but i think it is because i am constantly shocked at how i let myself live so unhappily for so damn long.  like a bottle of 2008 beaujolais nouveau, my life is fresh and delicious again.

field trip!

the last time i took a field trip, i believe that i was in 8th grade.  and frankly, i had forgotten how wonderful they are!  today was the last meeting of my monday/wednesday class, and as it is two hours, i opted to take advantage of the length and take my class out for an adventure.  the students decided that they wanted to go to a traditional dumpling place in insadong.  i love going out with real korean people because they speak korean and, therefore, i do not have to do anything.  after dumplings (and free korean wine, because the owner of the restaurant was a former classmate of one of my students...and because he thought her teacher was just beautiful), we made our way to a tea room.  i had a delicious cup of sweet citron tea, along with more laughs than one could have anticipated.  my students always come up with something new to make me laugh.  my stomach felt as thought i had done 100 crunches, i was laughing so hard.  and once you get the giggles, it is hard to stop.

i ended up being out with my students for 3 1/2 hours.  it was incredibly fun and i hope to see them again soon.  they are a great bunch of people and i will miss being their teacher.  

i made my way back to school to finish some things up, and then off to lotte mart i went.  after picking up lots of fruits and vegetables, i came home to find my landlord in my apartment.  before i left for work this morning, i left a note on his door.  my heat and water heater are in one unit.  you have to push a button in order to turn on the heat and the hot water.  every time i turned this button on last night, it sounded like niagara falls was in my kitchen.  i opted to not sleep with heat last night, preferring to actually sleep than feel like i was drowning.  i also wrote on my note that my the blinds covering my living room window was falling down and that i hoped it could be fixed.  

the heater thing was fixed and the overhead light in the living room was fixed (even though i had not requested this repair, nor did i know it needed to be accomplished).  the window shade, now that was another story.  good lord.  it is good to know that men are incredibly stubborn when it comes to home improvement, regardless of where they are geographically in the world.  my short little korean landlord began jacking around with this window shade around 5 pm.  jacking around continued until 6 pm.  in the meantime, he managed to knock things over, make loud noises (which i constantly feared were my computer being shattered), and break the front part of my exercise bike.  he switched from jacking around with the window shade to jacking around with the exercise bike, trying to repair what he had, er, jacked up.  he got out his roll of black electricians tape, repaired the bike, and then told me his daughter would come down around 8.  and sure enough, around 8, daughter and father came back to jack around with window shade.  

i was somewhat interrogated by daughter while father was jacking around with a piece of metal outside my apartment.  i would estimate that he made about six solid attempts to get this window shade working, but every time, i heard a loud clunk, followed by my seeing this piece of metal on the floor.  i began pacing and started to get really annoyed, just wanting to take a shower and go to bed.  daughter works at 1:30 pm.  kendra works at 7 am, getting up before 5 am.  she is tired now and wants to be alone.

father finally gave up after another hour of jacking around.  i told the girl several times that i really did not care about the window shade and that i just didn't want the bloody thing hanging halfway down the window.  it looked tacky and i didn't use it anyway.  get rid of the damn thing.  i do hope this saga has come to an end.  

something that i just discovered that i hate.

the smell of milk.

have you ever smelled milk?  i never noticed it before...i never thought that milk smelled like anything.  now every time i smell milk, i think it smells sour, even if it has a week to go before expiring.  i smell my milk every morning before i pour it on my cereal and every morning, i want to gag.  i pour a little milk in a cup and taste it before i pour it on my cereal.  is this normal?  i have this weird paranoia of pouring sour milk on my cereal, and therefore, i have to test it on a daily basis.

oh goody, the weird psychoses have begun.

konglish

i could write posts on a daily basis about funny moments in my classes.  these moments all revolve around a wonderful concept esl teachers like to call 'konglish.'  a mix of korean and english, konglish does not really make sense, yet it makes perfect sense.  once one gets behind the logic, it is possible to understand where a korean speaker is coming from.  language learning is tricky, and highly entertaining for the teacher.  for example...

'owing the government ten million dollars' was written on a worksheet about stress.  one of my students read this, looked up at me with wide and very serious eyes, and said, 'owing...is that what an american pig says?'  i looked at him, somewhat confused, and said, 'oink, that is what american pigs say.'  he said 'owing, owing,' over and over.  i died laughing.  he made certain to clarify that korean pigs say something else.

in that same class, a bit earlier, we were reading a dialogue that used pronouns that start with 'h.'  in english, we often do not say the 'h' sound, leading non-native speakers to a confused state, wondering what "give it to 'im" really means.  the first statement read, 'where is your brother?' to be followed by, 'he is in bed.'  after the entire dialogue was read, aforementioned student looked at me (again with wide and very serious eyes) and said, 'what!  he is dead?'  'no, he is in bed.'

i completely lost my composure for two or three minutes.  i tried to begin teaching again, not able to completely pull myself together.  i am not one to say that i was 'in stitches,' as i think that is a rather lame idiom, but dear lord, i was in stitches.  i thought it was my job to make my students laugh and feel comfortable.  instead, i was the one really laughing (which, in turn, made my students go crazy laughing).

a bit later, the topic of having children arose.  i said that i didn't ever want children because it would be too difficult.  one of my other students looked at me and said, 'you are young.  he is vegetable.'  (korean speakers often say 'he' instead of 'she.')  the 'he,' in reference to yours truly, combined with my being a vegetable, left me absolutely speechless, gasping for breath between holding my red face in my hands.  

this class certainly is not uncomfortable with me as a teacher.  

and i certainly will miss this class.

botox and dope.

my students are so funny.  i find them all just adorable and their little korean accents when speaking english is too precious.  and the things they say.  oh the things they say.

we were discussing body parts in one class.  'buttocks' was in the teacher book, so i explained that this is a more formal way of saying 'butt.'  one of my favorites said, 'botox, botox,' and i said, 'yes, yes,' not realizing that his meaning was different, as his pronunciation was the same as my 'buttocks.'  then he made his finger look like a needle and started shooting into the space between his eyebrows.  

at the end of another class, one of my students (a male) asked, 'kendra, how do you find my appearance?'  said student is somewhat attractive, but i do prefer to not tell my students if i find them overly attractive.  another student helped to delay the response by saying, 'you need plastic surgery.'  (how kind)  then he asked, 'how old do i look?'  (whew, they're all concerned with looking younger than they really are.)  i said he looked about 24.  he got a big smile on his face, started bowing, and thanked me.  he then proceeded to tell me that i look older than i am.  thanks.  i said it was the business clothes i had to wear and that he would think i looked incredibly young if he saw me in my jeans and dope kicks.

i was told by another student that i had a good appearance today.  this student is single and very much on the prowl for a girlfriend.  he is an interesting character.  i have oftentimes gotten the vibe that he wants a pussycat to be said girlfriend.  pussycats dont really dig desperation.  

just smart arses.  

oh and i mustn't forget this comment.  if you know me relatively well, you know my feelings (or lack thereof) on religion.  well, friends, korea is a very very christian place.  (funny, i didn't realize christians ate dog....bad, kendra, bad.)  a question came up about goals or life or something, i dont really remember.  a student said that his life was complete because of jesus christ.  (hm ok)  later in the class, during a mingle activity in which the students asked each other random questions about future plans, i was asked by aforementioned student if 'i would ever take drugs.'  'oh no, of course not.  but i do drink alcohol.'  'that is not drug.'  'well, some people in america consider it a drug, just wanted to get that out there.  and i hope that i never have to take drugs when i get old because my health gets bad.'  i then asked him if he would ever do drugs.  'no, because i believe in jesus christ.'  

i hate to break it to him, but i have a lot of very religious stoner friends back in the states.

this job has taught me to bite my tongue on several occasions, especially when the subject of religion comes up.  and illicit substances.  i await the day that someone asks me about my sex life.  (what sex life?  pussycat is, of course, a conservative virgin.)

as friday is my last day for four of my classes, i have a 7 - 8 date at starbucks, an 8 - 9 date at mister donut, possibly a 9 - 10 brunch with my 8 - 9 class (9 - 10 is normally my break time), a 10 - 12 date at another coffee shop, and i have yet to discover what my 12 - 2 class has in store for me.  i will be incredibly caffeinated on friday.  i will probably walk home that afternoon, in order to get rid of some energy.  wednesday afternoon is the last session i have with another class, so we will go out for korean food.  this will be a fantastic diversion from my 9 - 10 am pb and j, followed by take-away chamchi kimbap consumed after i get home.

one of my classes was discussing goals and dreams and the happiness of one's life.  a question in the book was, 'are you happy with your life?'  there was an awkwardness in the class when this was asked, even when they were discussing it in small groups.  instead of answering with a yes or no, i was told 60 or 50%.  i've never really thought of happiness as a percentage, just yes or no.  they all agreed that korea is a really stressful society in which people are constantly trying to be better, smarter, richer, and do more. 

i opted to not tell them that their american teacher had escaped this type of life in order to seek a simpler society.  perhaps if they went to america, they would deem it their paradise, never really understanding what makes americans tick.  maybe what everyone needs to do is to just go somewhere they don't understand and attempt to understand it.  you never will fully understand it, no matter how hard you try, so you opt to just say 'fuck it' and have a good time.  you let the baggage and bullshit go and just learn to live.  your life becomes uncluttered and simple.  i feel very removed from most everything american, yet it is quite a refreshing feeling, just to be alive, going through the lovely little motions of my days.  ive only felt this way when i am out of the country.  a feeling of true release is hard to come by, but when it comes, damn.

où j'habite

rando pics...

english...oh my god!

i woke up at 6 today.  this may seem quite early, but it really felt like sleeping in for me, as im used to getting up at 4:42 everyday.  i got my laundry, ironing, and lesson plans all done by 9:30.  i felt incredibly productive.  worked out, showered, and made my way towards my school to meet up with carla.  it was a really lovely day, perfect for walking, nice and sunny, a bit brisk.  as i neared insadong, where i had agreed to meet carla, i saw a western-looking couple, in matching red and white striped shirts.  i think they really have a where's waldo fetish.  as i waited to cross a street, i opted to pull out my camera and take a couple quick snaps.

carla and i decided that today was made for being a tourist.  we wandered through insadong, stopping to pick up a few christmas presents.  there is this korean candy made from pulled honey and filled with nuts.  i've seen these guys demonstrate how they make it and they are always a real treat to watch.  so i took a video.  i believe that the only english they know is that which is in their demonstration.  it is precious.  

oh my god!

carla and i decided that we should actually buy some of their candies today, as we both took videos.  the candy is quite nice.  i dont really eat much honey and dont really love honey, so i think it is something i might have to get used to.  but the texture is like biting into a frosted mini wheat, except that the whole thing is made of honey.  

carla and i continued our walk, wandering into a tent that said something about free drinks.  we walked in for the free hot choco, as both of us were a tad cold.  about 40 korean people sat in a tent, watching an orchestra on tv.  carla and i stayed for a couple minutes and then headed for the bathroom.  on our way back, we noticed that the people working the hot choco stand were new, so we decided to get another free drink.  we got our cups of hot choco powder and went to the hot water table.  and then i saw one of my students, mr. kim!  he is the cutest little old man (64) and i just adore him.  his company puts on these little 'orchestra in the tent' things, so he was supervising the event (aka making sure the hot choco scoopers only give us one scoop of powder per cup).  he was very excited to see his young foreign english teacher, and he rushed out, somewhat flustered.  he ended up showing me and carla his office, where he gave us each a gift.  i got a set of chopsticks and spoons, while carla got two cartons of tea.  (we ended up splitting the booty at dinner.)  we have a dinner date with mr. kim this thursday.  

we made our way to our favorite cheap little restaurant for bibimbap and some boy talk.  and then it was home for me.  time to do my nails and toes and get my life together for this week.  one more week of this session.  it's gone soooo quickly, i cant believe it!

im the nerdy smiley emoticon...

what is the plural of octopus?

is it octopusses?

i dont think it is, but i wish it was!!!

octopusses.  thats great.  if that was the correct spelling, this blog would be called 'the seoul of octopussycat.'

when one gets sick, always remember youtube.

everyone, do me a favor and go to youtube.  type in 'kanye west' and scroll down to the video titled, 'bush doesn't care about black people.'  wait until 1:33 and then prepare to die laughing.  watch mike myers' face.  priceless.  not a funny topic, but this tape is great.  this is me watching kanye.  

i still feel like rubbish.  bloody fucking rubbish.  i was feeling okie this morning and actually felt like i had a lot of energy.  i wanted to explore.  i had a list.  i needed to get things checked off that list.

i made some phone calls.  people, i love you, but please download skype or get a calling card.  call my cell.  as much as i love my computer and my apartment, i would prefer to be talking to you whilst on my cell phone whilst strolling around seoul.  please and thank you.  :)

the first thing i wanted to check off my list was 'dry cleaning.'  there is a dry cleaning place across the street, so i took three shirts and a pair of pants in.  the woman spoke no english.  she was on her cell pretty much the entire time (maybe she has friends that have skype...).  i didn't have a clue what she was saying, but she pointed at her calendar to monday's date.  i received no ticket to pick my things up.  perhaps the token foreign chick doesn't need a ticket because she will be remembered as 'the one who brought in clothes that are too big and long for any female in korea.'

let's hope.  four of my favorite pieces of work clothing are being held hostage.

i then made my way towards the american apparel i have been mentioning repeatedly since i spotted it last weekend.  it appeared to be a big store, so i was ready to shop.  i wanted comfy clothes.  i always neglect to bring comfy sweats when i move overseas, always opting for my so-called more important items (i.e. shoes).  i was appalled when i walked inside the store.  and happily surprised.  besides three employees and myself, the place was completely empty.  i say that i was appalled because this never is the case at an am app in america.  they are packed full of jappy bitches and annoying wannabe hipster guys.  and i say that i was happily surprised because i was able to shop in peace, sans the jappy bitches and hipster guys.  just me, a bunch of good old american-made products, and the roots and common filling the place with sound and soul.  they played some korean hip-hop.  it was rubbish.  

i bought a zip-up hoodie and left.  

did you know that they sell aprons at american apparel?  i didn't either.

(aforementioned hoodie is in 'george bush doesn't care about black people' photo above...it is heaven)

i was feeling somewhat alive, so i opted to walk towards my school and see what new sights i could see.  i saw a whole slew of annoying children standing in my way.  i thought about punching a child.  but they are korean, so i practiced some restrain.  no foreign children will be hurt in my presence.  i save the violence for the little american bastards. 

(relax, im a jokster.)

i got on the subway at jongno samga and made my way back to lotte mart.  entering lotte mart on saturday afternoon is like trying to make your way through a mob of pre-pubescent teenage boys (or grown men, for that matter) at a pamela anderson signing.  it is just something that should never be done, and if done, done with extreme caution.  i needed to go to lotte mart to search for a coat rack.  andy gave his away and as i have too many clothes hanging in my closet, room is needed to hang my coats.  no such luck to be had at lotte mart.  i bought two cartons of orange juice and came home.  lotte mart: 500.  kendra: 0.

on the subway ride home, i believe that i saw what is possibly the ugliest couple on the earth.  (i am sick and therefore allowed to be somewhat bitchy.)  but at least they were both quite homely, for they found each other.  im not sure it is love, though, because real love would come if one of them was attractive and actually did love the homely one.  the girl had this long scraggly dyed hair.  she attempted to be fashionable by putting a big ribbon bow barrette into this strange snarl of hair.  clearly it did not help.  she hit every branch when she fell out of the ugly tree.  severely unfortunate looking.

im hungry.  i wish i could speak korean so i could order korean food and have it delivered.  i wonder if they have an online order form for some restaurant.  i wonder if insomnia cookies would deliver to hansungdae...or ians...or potbelly...mmmmm.

this is how much kitties like fishies.

have nice day!

one more week in the books and almost in the bank.  im sick.  i have a fucking sinus infection.  it is whiggity whack.  i went to lotte mart after work to buy a lot of fruit.  and i came home and ate a lot of it.  i am going to make popcorn and watch a movie.  i have my space heater going, making me toasty.  i am in ugg boots, grampa sweats, and an oversized fleece that the previous owner left behind at the apt.  i like the previous owner so therefore his old clothes are fine.  (relax, i washed it.)

i was talking to some work people and they said its completely normal to get sick around this time.  the amount of stress my body has been under the last month is incredible and it was only a matter of time b

efore it got to be too much.  so i got sick.  at least i have some drugs for it.

i bought rosehip/hibiscus yogurt tonight.  i wonder what it will taste like.

my students think that my hair should be long and blonde.  im not sure my students would pay attention if they had a leggy blonde as their teacher.  i will go next weekend to get it short and dark.  i will take a student with to make sure it does not end up red.  hair color need not get lost in translation.

teaching is a humbling experience.  i love teaching pronunciation and i like to think that im decent at it, at least the little bit ive taught.  i found some good materials last night to teach f and v sounds.  i didn't really go over it.  i didnt really think about how the mouth is shaped when producing the f and v sounds.  in class today, i had to think rather quickly to cover my ass and make myself look like i wasnt completely unprepared.  teaching is humbling and it teaches you to be creative on the spot.  i cant even tell you how many times in the last week i have pulled random topics out of my ass.  it is necessary to wing this gig every now and again.  one of my students left class during the break to go buy snacks.  he came back with banana milk and choco pies for everyone.  we toasted our banana milks and he said, 'cheers to kendra findin

g a boyfriend in korea.'  

oh sung, if only you knew...

we had student evals today.  i wonder what my students said about me. 

im becoming a bit of a celebrity in my neighborhood.  the lg telecom boys always say hello and smile as i walk past.  the dakpoki girl and her coworkers will always be my favorites, though, as they give me two

-handed waves and loudly and happily say, 'HELLLOOOOOOO HAVE NICE DAY!!!!'  they always make me smile.  i will invite them to any parties i may have.  anyone who wears a red 'have nice day' apron, makes fried rice cake and chili sauce concoctions, and waves at the foreign girl is a friend i want to have.  more to come on rice cake girl.  she will be like my boulanger friends and cheese mongers in france.  i already have my kimbap friend.  score.

i really love my coworkers.  i really enjoy going to work.  i have fun with my students and i have fun with the other teachers.  and then i can come home and enjoy my me-time.  life is good.

and now for my big bowl of popcorn and some mad men.  i have two seasons to get through.  it will be the perfect cold-cure.

and tomorrow, american apparel should take care of the rest of this infection!

and this is what a sick pussycat looks like.  blahhhh!!!!!!

all the stars and boulevards aint close enough for you

i download the nbc nightly news everyday via itunes podcasts.  and i watch the nbc nightly news every night after i get out of the shower.  it is my daily dose of american reality.  if you know me well, you know that this is the one and only show i actually make it a point to tune into.  i adore brian williams.  i have loved tom brokaw since i was in third grade.  i want to marry richard engel.  

but damn, i gotta say, the news is fucking depressing.  the dow is under 8000.  WHAT?  i ran away to korea, i will admit this.  i did it because i knew i could get work here and make a decent amount of money and live very comfortably.  id be shit poor in america right now, probably only able to keep the job ive had for the last four years at the bloody bar.  i did it because i needed a change.  i needed to save my sanity, to make myself happy again.  and here i am, thousands of miles away, reminded by an itunes podcast why i decided to move my life to korea.  but shit, man, i am feeling for you who are still in america.  all i can say is, escape if you can.

the news ended on a positive note, though.  ann curry is climbing mount kilimanjaro.  for the last few years of my life, ive tried to do something unusual, something crazy, each year.  my sophomore year, i jumped out of two planes.  my junior year, i ran a marathon and a half marathon.  went to france (and morocco...alone) my senior year, and then again my super senior year.  and now im in korea, which i could consider to be my crazy thing.  but i think i want to climb a mountain.  that sounds fun.  cold, but fun.  

and finally, i gotta say, you always hear people say, 'you don't know what you've got til its gone.'  but i like to say, 'you dont know what you were missing until you get it.'  ive left things behind in america, most of which i really don't miss.  and ive gained things in korea, things that i didnt know i needed until i got them.  it makes me wonder why i spent so much time and energy caring about things that, in the end, dont really matter.  its the big changes in life that put stuff into perspective, make you realize what you're capable of, what you can life without, and what you really need in your life.  things get so cluttered up with the things we should do that we forget to live, to really live in the moment, to take it all in and just be, experiencing life for what it is, not what we've decided that it should be.  

'should' is a modal.  sentences do not need modals.  they add details to the sentence, giving it a specific feel.

fuck the modal.  keep it simple.

when pussycats get cold, this is what they look like.

hello, my name is kendra, and i am a masochist.

i came home quickly after my last class.  i was beginning to feel ill and wanted out of my work clothes and into jeans and uggs.  (haha, the koreans dont call me a coastie.)  after changing, i went to a local place for kimbap and soondooboo.  i have no idea how to correctly spell soondooboo and as that is how it sounds, that is how i will continue to spell it.  soondooboo is spicy tofu stew.  it is full of red pepper paste and whenever i eat it, it makes my pores sweat and my nose run.  disgusting, i know, but quite potent to the immune system.  i needed soondooboo.  i hate getting sick and when i feel a cold coming on, i have my own alternative remedies.  soondooboo is a newer one.

garlic is an older one.

after my soondooboo lunch, i came home for some lesson planning.  i needed to wait a bit before i tackled whole garlic cloves.  i waited about 90 minutes and then forced myself to do it.  i toasted a piece of bread, got my camembert, and sliced up four cloves of garlic.  we are not talking thin slices, we are talking two cuts per clove.  i put some cheese on a piece of bread, put in a garlic chunk, rolled the bread around it, and chewed.  it is the most disgusting thing one can do, aside from eating poop.  my eyes water, my pores sweat, my nose runs, i feel as though i will begin to hallucinate.  it is bloody hell.

i better not feel like shit tomorrow.  if i do, we're going for the dwin jung jiggae.  its the korean equivalent of chicken noodle soup.  soybean paste stew.  hungry, anyone?

this is family business and this is for the family that cant be wit us.

this post is dedicated to my mother.  because pussycats do not fall far from the nancy tree...

i buy korean lottery tickets.  i won 5000 won.  (haha i won won)  i put my 5000 won back into 5000 won worth of tickets for this weekend.  i think i may invest 5000 won on a weekly basis and develop a slight gambling habit.  i would like to be the american who won the korean jackpot.  i wonder if i would continue to teach if i won the lotto.

i finally have real internet set up at my apartment!  it took the kt man about 90 minutes to set it up.  it was rather entertaining watching him scurry about, pulling cables and wires through my window, stripping wires on my living room floor, trying to explain the internet in korean to a silly american.  but we got it working and i think i know what i need to do when i enter my code tomorrow.

i must pause to say that my kt id consists of my initials and the last four digits of my ER phone number.  and my password, well, i cannot post that online, but it is close to my heart, too.  i love being able to pick my own codes.

my workout tonight consisted of some major getting down to the college dropout.  i became a ghetto ho.  someone needs to sneak in when i am doing this little dance parties.  it is brilliant.

seoul is getting chilly!  my dear friend oah texted me last night, right as i was about to go to sleep.  'tomorrow is going to be cold, dress warm!'  how darling!  i love my korean friends.  and my korean students, too.  the only reason i knew what to do with my lotto ticket today was cuz i had one of my intensive students check the numbers on our break.  

i love korea.  consider me chuffed.

so long overdue...