Seasons may come, and seasons may go...

But humidity lasts forever!


Well, some things have changed since my last post. Marc got a new job! His editing job just wasn't what he expected, so he made the switch from editing to good ol' teaching (same company). He was actually quite lucky because usually the teaching jobs are filled 3 months in advance, but one new hire's paperwork didn't come through or something so there just *happened* to be an available position. Now we both work 4-10pm every day--not too bad. 


I started Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred. It's a fate worse than death. At one point, Jillian actually says, "I want you to feel like you are going to die." When she started the final exercise on the video, I shouted some not-so-nice words at her and just did regular crunches. Ugh. On the bright side, I now have a yoga mat and hand weights, so I can exercise all proper-like. 


I guess that's all. Josh and Kate will be here in just over 2 weeks, and Marc and I both managed to get 2 days off to spend with them! Since it's summertime, lots of teachers are taking vacations and we were on a waiting list to see if we'd be able to get the days off. Luckily, I guess some vacations cancelled because we found out Friday that we were able to get them. Now we will be able to show them all the wonders of Daegu (and the surrounding cities). Hahaha. 

Excuse me, is that a sun on your foot?

Last weekend, I decided to get a(nother) tattoo. I've been thinking about it pretty much since I got my last one, so I finally caved. I thought about doing it while I was at home, but there just wasn't enough time. I managed to find a good quality tattoo studio here in Daegu, so that kind of cinched it for me. Anyway, without further ado...

In case you were wondering, it did, in fact, hurt like a you-know-what. I came close to tears one time, when he was filling in the sun. The writing on the side didn't really hurt, but that sun, man. Wow. Most of the swelling and redness is gone now, but it still hurts sometimes (like after I've been standing at work for 6 hours). 

Why did I get this tattoo, you say? My mom used to sing that song, a lot. Not so much when I was younger, but when I was older she started singing it--mainly to our dog Fremont (he died in May 2007) and then after. Anyway, it's one of my more recent memories of her. I like it.

Why did I get it on my foot, you say? Because your foot doesn't really age like the rest of your body. Feet don't sag or get wrinkled. Duh.

Oh, check out this photo of Daegu I took last weekend. Isn't it a pretty day?

Daegu? Daewoo? Day WHO?

Okay, so I had intended on posting more last week, but I was so frustrated with the computer in my motel room that I decided just to wait until I got to the apartment in Daegu and could use my super duper MacBook. In any case, I'll try to cover as much as I can while keeping it somewhat entertaining (shouldn't be too difficult considering how awesome I am.)

First of all, I think it's worth mentioning that my first real meal in the great city of Seoul, South Korea, came from this place: 

It is EXACTLY like it is in the States. My only complaint was the price--definitely more expensive than back home. I think it's the same for Outback, TGIFriday's--it seems like the American chains are way overpriced here. Any ideas as to why?

Oh, I wanted to show you a picture of the amenity pouch from Korean Air that I mentioned in the last post:

Isn't it cute? I thought so. I didn't actually use anything though, because I actually brought my own toothbrush, toothpaste, and slipper socks in my carry-on bag. However, if I didn't have those things--DEFINITELY would have used them!

(I would just like to let you all know, by the way, that I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get these pictures to go where I want. Apparently you can't just insert a picture wherever you want--when you upload it, it automatically goes to the top of the page, and from there you drag and drop it. Not so hard once I figured it out, but geez, it was a pain the ass!)

All in all, Seoul was pretty nice. Here are some of my favorite moments:

This one, I think, for obvious reasons. I have an amazing camera that I bought myself right after Marc left (hey, he got an iMac!) and the display screen flips out so you can actually see yourself when you take self-portraits *gasp*. 

This is Motel Touch, across the alley from my motel. I'm assuming it is what Koreans call a "love motel"--a cheap place for Koreans who still live with their parents to get it on. Dirty? yes. Necessary? Apparently--they're all over the place.

Starbucks! There was seriously one on every corner in Seoul. This one, however, is unique because the sign is actually in Korean (I was told that it actually says "Starbucks Coffee"--it's just written in the Korean script [hanguel]) and Starbucks, no matter where in the world, is always "Starbucks". Marc says it was a big to-do because Seoul had to really fight with Starbucks on this one; everything on this particular street is in Korean--I've been told this is the only Starbucks in the WORLD that does not have the traditional sign in English!

I just like this bathroom sign, especially the artwork. Okay, so I'm not really sure why the girl has whiskers, or why the handicapped person is pooing in their chair, but it's funny! You can't NOT laugh at this.

 

On Thursday night I went out with the other trainees to a "foreigner bar" called Mike's Cabin (even though Mike has since returned to Canada). We found this neat-o alien mask in the corner by our table.

Ooh! We also met the Korean rep for Jagermeister. He bought us all Jager bombs (a shot of Jager with Red Bull--ugh), so I took his picture.

I figure I don't really need to go into detail about our apartment since Marc already did that. I will tell you that for my Christmas/Valentine's Day gifts, Marc bought me a bed, vanity table, dresser, and stand-up mirror. How awesome is that? The beds here are as hard as a rock; seriously, they're about as comfy as sleeping on the floor--but at least with the bed frame, it's like an elevated floor :) 

The cats are getting along well--Mewster likes to clean Elliot's hard-to-reach areas, like the top of his head, back of his neck, and inside his ears.

Here they are doing what they do best:

Oh, what's that? You only see one cat? Well, let's take a closer look, shall we?

See? You just have to know where to look.

Oh, one more thing to add to my incredibly long post--we have a washer, but no dryer, so we have to hang up all of our clothes to dry. Unfortunately it's been a little humid here, so it's taken TWO DAYS for my pants to dry! TWO! DAYS! And the waistbands were still damp! That's my only real complaint so far. All in all, I'm enjoying it--just trying to learn my way around. Since they don't really use street names, it's a little difficult--especially when you try to tell a taxi driver where you want to go. 

That's all I've got for now. I'll hopefully post more often now that I have my computer and the wireless internet's all set up, and my future posts will not be 9384a934 lines long :)