Your love is like a river...

Does anyone remember that song? Wasn't it Backstreet Boys? *looking up in Google* Oops, no, it was 'N Sync, "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You." Crap, that's a long song title. And the line is, "Your love is like a river, peaceful and deep..."



Anyway, I was saying that I remember I used to change the line to say "Your love is like a river, murky and contaminated..." because 'N Sync was pure crap. Duh. Except that they were my guilty pleasure and I loved singing their songs really loud when I was alone. Them and Britney Spears, man. Of course, I eventually managed to find like-minded closet teeny boppers who listened to the same music in private. (It would have totally ruined our dork/hipster images if word got out that we listened to that crap.)

(Hey, remember when Britney was all cute and sweet and a positive role model for young girls? That lasted all of what, 20 seconds?)

Yippee!

Hm. My new tattoo looks kind of disgusting right now. It's scabbed over and the scabs are starting to come off (totally normal, I swear) in big chunks. It's just not pretty at the moment.

My new job is going well. I really like my Korean co-teacher; maybe in another life, we could be friends. However, I've not yet mastered the art of making long-term Korean friends so I think we will just remain friendly coworkers.

I have roughly 200 students now. I teach 6 classes every day, with the same students on M/Th, T/F, and then different students on Wednesdays. Some of them are good, some of them are not so good. I've got one student who's like 15 and has absolutely no motivation. Luckily he just sits there and does nothing, so he doesn't give me any problems. When I give out a test, he doesn't even try. He just writes his name, then turns it over and doodles on the back. Then there's another student who's maybe 9 years old... his attitude came across as really rude and disrespectful, but I talked to my co-teacher and she said she thinks he might be a little bit "retarded". Of course, after that I really felt bad because I was getting on to him and he probably just didn't even have a clue as to what I was saying. Oh well. He'll get over it. I hope.

I still haven't used the squat toilets at work. I try not to drink too much, and I try to eat "normal" food before work so I won't have any "problems" (if you know what I mean) while I'm at work. Only 50 more weeks, right? I can make it.

I'm going to talk my husband into going out tonight. It's Saturday night, y'all, time to party!!!! (or so they say.)

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?

What's that you said? Oh, right. Nothing.

After I left the gym today, I was waiting for a taxi (I didn't feel like walking 30 minutes in the cold rain) when I saw an ambulance and 2 fire trucks with sirens wailing coming down the road. Then they just stopped in the middle of the road, no apparent reason. Then I saw it... someone trying to cross the road in front of 3 emergency vehicles ON A BICYCLE, not even at a crosswalk! Not to mention they already had to wait in line behind cars at a stoplight because nobody would get out of their way.

Anyway.

I was going to post a video that I made, but I'll have to work on it. I tried posting to YouTube first, but I can't because I haven't verified my real name in Korea yet. Or something like that. Then I looked up how to post directly to Blogger and supposedly I should have a little video icon on this editing toolbar to do so, but alas I do not. Maybe it's because I'm using Safari or something like that. I'll figure it out, don't worry. 

I hate doing squats.

Hm, first day of the new job came and went. I have to be there by 3:55pm (I know, it annoys me too), and I finish at 10:00. Not terrible hours, but I do have to stand the whole time. By the time the last class rolls around, my feet are aching but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

The one big negative about the job? There is not a single Western-style toilet in my building. Six floors of squatters (I have not yet checked this out personally, but my coworker shared this info with me). For those of you NOT in Asia, this is what I'm talking about:

God help you when you have sudden diarrhea in a restaurant and the last thing on your mind is grabbing napkins from the table, because in Korea you typically should always keep some toilet paper with you. Often times, there's a toilet paper vending machine just OUTSIDE the restroom. I heard from one poor fellow that the first time he used the vending machine, he ended up with a maxi pad. Luckily, Koreans also don't flush their toilet paper--it goes in the garbage can conveniently placed next to the toilet. However, I'm a rebel and flush the paper anyway because I refuse to touch that thing. Apparently, I am not the only one.

I'm happy to say I've only had to use a squatter 3 times since coming to Korea, but I fear that number may be increasing. So far I've successfully managed to just hold it until I got home, but I'm sure that at some point in the next year I will not be able to just hold it for 6 hours. It's just such an ordeal--I'm so paranoid about peeing on my pants that I have to take them off every time, which usually means the shoes have to come off too. (However, it was recently suggested that as a woman, I should try keeping my knees together--it forces the pee straight down or something like that.) Also, there's no way to support yourself in these little hell dungeons, so you really just have to either have really good balance or hold on to the wall to keep from falling in. 

So aside from the toilet situation, things are pretty good. Oh, and we joined a ridiculously expensive gym, but since there don't seem to be any other options we didn't really have a choice in the matter. I'm now going to make use of our ridiculously expensive gym membership.

Home Sweet Korea

Alright, I'm back. I've taken a long enough hiatus, I think, and it's time to get back on the blogging track. My trip home was very nice, very nice indeed. I spent way too much money on silly things like clothes and deodorant and taco seasoning mix, but it's all worth it. Unfortunately I was unable to fit my winter jackets into either of my suitcases, which was quite unfortunate--indeed--since it's still winter apparently in Korea.

(I like to say unfortunate[ly] and indeed. Indeed.)

I posted my pictures on Facebook, so I'm not going to post them all again here. Sorry, but I'm just that lazy.  You should just go look at Facebook. My profile name is Christina BlahBlah Prados, in case you forgot my name or something while I was gone. So anyway, while I was home I enjoyed such delicacies as J. Alexander's, The Melting Pot, Taco Bell (!!!!!!1!), Sol Azteca, Los Compadres, Iguana Grill, Superior Grill, Brio, Flip Burger, California Pizza Kitchen, Formaggio's, Bob Sykes' Barbeque, Jim 'n Nick's, Purple Onion, and Al's. I failed to eat at Five Guys and the Pita Cafe, sadly. I love Mexican food.

Oh, so Flip Burger is this pretentious place at the Summit that calls itself a "burger boutique". I went with Rachel and Adam; I got a chorizo burger, Rachel had a raw tuna burger, and I don't remember what  Adam got. In any case, here's a picture of the menu:

Do you SEE that abomination??? A "korean bbq" BURGER??!??!?!??? Are you SERIOUS???!?!?!??!!111! First of all, the thought of kimchi ketchup and "pickled veg. crispy tempura onion" just makes me want to hurl all over the menu, but then...What the hell is an "american wagyu beef patty"? (According to Wikipedia, it's Japanese Kobe beef. That just angers me more, since it's not even Korean. If they really wanted a korean bbq burger, they would have used bulgogi meat. Whatever. Pretentious.) Ugh. I'm horrified all over again just thinking about this "burger".

Here are our pretentious "burgers":

Right, so, everything else about the trip was great. Dad got married, and I got to see all of my homies. We ate a lot of food and drank lots of beer. Then I had to come back to Korea. The flight was torturous and I was totally exhausted when I finally made it to the apartment, but I was happy to see my husband and kitties again. Only like 365 days or something until we're back in America. Until then, we can look forward to a trip to Beijing, visits from Rachel (and Adam?), Dad and Darlene, and possibly Kelli (my sister). And then a trip around SE Asia or Thailand or maybe even India. I really want to see Thailand and India.

Oh, we went to see Alice in Wonderland last night with a friend of our, and lo and behold--

A sign in Korea advertising KEBAB! We searched, but could not find where this was being sold. It's probably better anyway, considering I'm pretty sure that's not actually kebab meat, but sausage. Sigh.

EPIC Journey, Part Three

Well my flight to Dallas was pretty comfortable, despite the window seat. I watched "Up in the Air" while waiting for dinner, then right after dinner my seatmate said, "Goodnight!" and I said, "Goodnight!" as I took 2 of my Equate Nighttime Sleep Aid pills--at that point there were about 9.5 hours left on the flight. Next thing I knew, I was smelling breakfast smells and woke up to find there were only 1.5 hours left! My seatmate was like, "Wow, I think I slept through the entire flight!" and I said, "Yeah, me too!" (We were really excited because it made the 11.5 hour flight feel like 3-4 hours.)

Got to Dallas, found my way to the gate, then jumped on the plane to Atlanta and slept on that flight. The guy in front of me was telling the people next to him how he started traveling 26 hours earlier, and I refrained from one-upping him with my 30-hour ordeal because he was returning from Air Force duty and it just didn't seem right ;)

Got to Atlanta, finally found Dad and Darlene and we ate some crappy (but delicious!) Chinese food at the airport, then piled into the hot rod Camaro and drove home. This guy driving an older Camaro kept trying to get Dad to race him, and Dad punched it one time and smoked him :) Ahh, men and their toys.

After we got home I ended up staying awake until like 4:30am because I was so wound up, and I woke up today at 12:37pm with a headache and puffy eyes. Now my headache's gone but I still have puffy eyes and stuffy nose. Oh well. Aw, and there was cake and a welcome home sign waiting when I got here--I'll take pictures later and post them. Feels good to be home.