All I Want for Christmas is an Alabama Winter

Too cold here, you guys. Too cold.


Marc and I saw Ninja Assassin last night--don't worry, it wasn't our first choice (but it wasn't bad!);) We wanted to see Avatar, but both the IMAX 3D and regular 3D showing were sold out all night and we didn't want to see it on a regular screen. We did, however, buy tickets to see it tonight in IMAX 3D--SO excited! I've never seen a real movie in IMAX before, only those weird under the sea or in space type documentaries that always make me nauseous.


In case you haven't heard, I'll be home in Birmingham for about 2.5-3 weeks in March. Marc will not be able to come with me, due to lack of vacation time and we have those darned kitties, too.


There's a park downtown with lots of pretty Christmas lights, we're going to try to take some pictures there tonight. Hopefully I'll get some good ones that I can post later.

Oi!

Another weekend is over, folks. However, this week is a 4-day week, and next week is only 2 days! And Friday is Christmas! Woohoooo!


I've already gotten Marc his Christmas gifts: a new video game (Dragon Age: Origins), D&D stuff (miniatures and dungeon tiles), and something else that he supposedly doesn't know about (but it's going to replace something he's been using for like 10 years or something).


Christmas in Korea is not nearly is big as it is in the US (or Canada or England, etc). My students are so surprised to hear that I've bought 3 gifts for Marc for Christmas... most of them only give/get 1, if that. However, nearly every business has a little Christmas tree that they've put up and Christmas music is playing in a lot of places. The favorite holiday of most Koreans is Lunar New Year (seollal). It's a 3-day holiday for family and honoring ancestors. Children get money from their parents (which is why it's usually the favorite holiday).


Also, no work parties (at least for me):-( Strangely enough, Marc's old job (same company as me, different location) is providing a Christmas dinner at a hotel for the teachers; my location is doing zip. I'm not really sure why the 2 schools have such differences, but whatever. Marc's new job, Moonkkang, is having a big Christmas potluck. They've rented out a bar and everyone's bringing something; we're bringing good old fashioned mashed 'taters--Southern style!


Well, I'm out. Have to wake up at 5 for work :( Happy almost Christmas!

Walmart

You're probably thinking, "Why is she posting about Walmart?", either because it's your favorite store or because you hate it with such passion that you're not sure if you can associate with me after this.

I miss Walmart. Really! I mean, Korea has E-Mart and Home Plus, but they're not Walmart!

 First of all, we needed a new telephone. SOMEONE, I don't know who (and certainly not me!) plugged it in without a converter and it mysteriously stopped working.  We went to Home Plus to get a new phone, and the cheapest cordless phone was like $80. What??!? The cordless phone I got from Walmart was only $25! I even asked a sales girl, "Telephone? Cordless? Cheap?" She went to her manager and asked and she came back with, "Sorry, no telephone cordless cheap--only this" and pointed to the $80 phone. We ended up with the cord phone ($15, baby!), and now I feel like I'm living in the 1980's with my phone cord that reaches 5 meters.

Second, where's the cheap stuff? Sometimes it seems like E-Mart and Home Plus just put on a cheap face to suck people in and make them think they're getting a good deal.  With Walmart, everything is as it seems--CHEAP. 

Third, Christmas. Hello??!?!? It's CHRISTMAS! I went to Emart around the beginning of December to look for Christmas decorations, and there's just a little set-up in the middle of the floor with maybe 2-3 tables of stuff. Not even shelves! The few things they did have were so much more expensive than I would pay at Walmart! Oh well, thank goodness for Korean dollar stores--the only thing I had to buy from evil Emart was lights.

Finally, I would like to leave you with this little gem: People of Walmart

Korean Living

Like Southern Living, get it? Anyway.

I told you I'd update with pictures of our new place, so here I go. Marc is officially working at Moon Kkang English School now, "the most famous children's hagwon in Daegu!" my adult students tell me. They gave us a really nice apartment and right now we pay half the rent but when I start working there at the end of March, it will be free!

We used to live in Samdeok-dong, Jung-gu (a Dong [heehee] is a small section within a Gu, which is a larger small section within the city)--basically the downtown area. Now we live in Beomeo-dong, Suseong-gu--the affluent part of the city. (Does anyone else hear the Jefferson's theme?) I love our new apartment because it's like a REAL American apartment! With rooms and everything! Our other one had rooms too, but the living room area was more like a narrow hallway. Now we have a nice living room that opens up into the kitchen. And a laundry room. And a closet!

Okay, so, pictures...

Main bedroom

The closet!

Our miniscule bathroom

The kitty bathroom

The LAUNDRY ROOM!

Our awesome living room and kitchen

Of course, since it's Christmastime we have a cute little Christmas tree...

It's only about 3 feet high, but anything bigger was more that we wanted to pay. As you can see, there's a little angel under it, along with an Xbox controller and game--no mistaking this is the Marc & Christina Prados household ;-)

Okay well that's all for now--I'll update soon with some Christmas cheer!

Back from the dead... maybe

Sorry for ignoring you all for so long. I keep making such empty promises that I'll update, and I never follow through. I hope you can forgive me.

My last post was June 19--honestly, not much has happened. We went to Japan, we moved into a new apartment, Marc started his new editing job (it's going really well, by the way), and we hosted a housewarming party!

In other news, it's COLD! Since it's so cold, I've been taking a taxi to work rather than walk (it's about a 20 minute walk, and the taxi is only about $2).

I had the unfortunate experience of seeing a dead accident victim in the road on my way to work yesterday... police and ambulance were there, but they were making no effort to cover the body. I'd like to think it was because it had JUST happened, but that really didn't seem the case and I've heard stories of how they don't really rush to hide bodies in accidents. It looked like the guy was either walking or riding a bike and was hit while starting to cross the road. I didn't see another car either, so I think it was a hit and run. I was highly disturbed and almost immediately burst into tears, especially when my taxi driver STOPPED TO STARE at the poor guy! I yelled at him to go, and thankfully he listened.

Ah well. Sorry to be such a downer. I'll put up pics of the apartment and our Christmas tree later :)

Doctors and Beards and Other Musings

Ah, so, I got bitten by MORE mosquitos last week; 4 on one leg, 3 on the other. They got really huge and gross and bubbly and leaky so I went to the pharmacy to see if they had some magic cream for my disgusting bites--3 of them got especially bad. The pharmacist said they weren't mosquito bites and I should go to the dermatologist next door immediately. I went to "Dr. Lee's Urology and Dermatology Clinic" (a lot of the clinics have these odd combos) and was taken to the doctor immediately. He looked at my bites for about 30 seconds, and gave me a shot (I'm assuming it was a cortizone shot) and a prescription for some cream and pills (2-day supply), and told me to come back the next day. That trip cost me about $5 and I don't know what the prescriptions cost because one of the Korean teachers that I work with went with me and she took care of it (so nice, right?). 

I returned to Dr. Lee the next day (my bites were already 93847948 times better), and same drill--shot and prescription for pills (3-day supply this time), and come back Monday (this was Friday)--and this trip was about $4, and the pills were $3. Oh, and they also redressed my wounds for me, complete with painful antiseptic; the blisters had all broken and I just had exposed dermis (that's below the epidermis, right?)--I bought gauze and tape myself, but I was changing the dressings every couple of hours because they were leaking right through the bandages. I told you it was gross!

On a side note, I giggled a little when they called my name over the loudspeaker--most (if not all) Korean names are 3 syllables, but my name in Korean pronunciation is "Kuh-ree-suh-tee-nuh"--and they don't bother with the last name. It's quite amusing to me :) Sometimes when Marc and I are feeling silly we call each other our Korean names--Mah-kuh and Kuh-ree-suh-tee-nuh.

So Monday I went to Dr. Lee AGAIN and received--you guessed it--a shot and more pills! However, he said I didn't have to go back again unless I didn't get better. So now it's Friday and I'm pretty much healed except there's one that's still a little red so I'm keeping it covered because I've been wearing skirts and nobody wants to see the giant hole on my leg.

Oh, that's another thing--each of the blistered/broken skin places was about an inch in diameter. I looked like a leper (still do, kind of). 

Alright, enough about my leprosy. Big news--Marc shaved off his beard! Apparently his face was hot (like sweaty hot) or something. It's taken me a while to get used to it, but it's growing on me. He looks like he's about 18 now. With his beard, several students said he looked like Tom Cruise; now they say he looks like Tom Hanks. Someone also told him he looks more approachable. Koreans have this idea that men with beards are dirty and mean; I think it's beard envy because the majority of Korean men can't grow a full beard.

Also, for those of you who are interested, I'm still losing weight--more slowly that before, but still losing. I don't have a scale, but I can tell with how my clothes are fitting. I'm about 3 sizes smaller than in December (probably more--my clothes were pretty ill-fitting) and today I'm wearing a shirt that I haven't been able to fit into in over a year! Here are some comparison pictures...

December 18, 2008

5 Minutes Ago 

I found a great store on eBay to get clothes; their international shipping price is one of the most reasonable I've found, and it's all brand-new clothes from Macy's (I know the brands). The best part is that for $100 I basically got a brand-new wardrobe for work. Just wanted to brag a little :) 

Alright, that's all for now. I'm waiting at Starbucks for Marc to get off work so we can get some lunch. Take care!

Long Day

Ah, many apologies for being a bit slow on the updating. Truth is, there's not much to tell. However, some things are developing so there may be much news in the next month or so. 

I got my first mani/pedi in Korea today, and it was a success! I went outside of Camp Walker, which is one of the American military bases here, to a shop called Magic Nails. The owner speaks English (I'm pretty sure her husband's military) and all of the technicians speak pretty good English too. I actually thought I could be back in the USA--all of the employees are Asian, all of the customers were American (except my friend that went with me, she's from the UK). They even took US dollars, so I saw a $20 bill and almost crapped my pants (not really. But I did see the $20 bill!). 

There really isn't much else to report. I'll try to take some pictures this week and post them.