Wed - April 7, 2004
The Passion...
Hi All
Well, it's been a while, and unfortunately I have
nothing much to report.
Went to "The Passion" (which is what I call it, mainly to annoy others, and Cartman refers to it that way), and was not impressed. The movie suffered from the "Dances With Wolves Syndrome", which basically means that the Korean movie industry decided to eliminate all ENGLISH subtitles in the movie. Painful to watch, but I can see how it would be "reaffirming" to those that need reaffirmation. As a reward for sitting through "The Passion", Sunny and i went to "Along Came Polly" (is that right??) the next morning... MUCH better movie IMHO.
If you don't understand IMHO, I am ROTFLMAO!
I'm a nerd.
Work has been pretty good recently - many classes have been cancelled due to the "sports festival". Actually. it's kind of interesting - the boys play soccer and basketball, and the girls play dodgeball and kickball. Bragging rights are strongly upheld, and I am proud to say that I teach the University CHAMPION kickball team.
Again, I am a nerd.
Ummm... *thinking of clever things to say*
The cat is fine.
The store is fine, but I haven't been there in at least 6 months...
Currently listening to: Yin And Yang The Flowerpot Man - Love And Rockets
Went to Costco with Tim last weekend. Bought a LOT of cheese. I don't want to eat it, I just want to HAVE it. Comfort food, as Tim calls it. It's a BIG commitment to open a 1kg block of cheese. I have to have plans for it. You can't just open that much cheese and expect it to NOT to turn green... I wish Sunny ate cheese. I was thinking about making tacos, but Cookie Plaza just won't bring in the soft shells, and I don't trust the Korean ones since the "soft taco shell scandal" from last year.
Anyone have any ideas for a recipe that will use up a large amount of cheese?
My brother is not updating his blog either... maybe he is waiting for me to do it first.
I'm going home in August - who wants to cat-sit for a month? (I don't pay much, but I can almost assure you that you will have all the cheese you can eat)... no promises about the colour of the cheese tho...
Must go - time to watch OZ
Later,
Scott
Went to "The Passion" (which is what I call it, mainly to annoy others, and Cartman refers to it that way), and was not impressed. The movie suffered from the "Dances With Wolves Syndrome", which basically means that the Korean movie industry decided to eliminate all ENGLISH subtitles in the movie. Painful to watch, but I can see how it would be "reaffirming" to those that need reaffirmation. As a reward for sitting through "The Passion", Sunny and i went to "Along Came Polly" (is that right??) the next morning... MUCH better movie IMHO.
If you don't understand IMHO, I am ROTFLMAO!
I'm a nerd.
Work has been pretty good recently - many classes have been cancelled due to the "sports festival". Actually. it's kind of interesting - the boys play soccer and basketball, and the girls play dodgeball and kickball. Bragging rights are strongly upheld, and I am proud to say that I teach the University CHAMPION kickball team.
Again, I am a nerd.
Ummm... *thinking of clever things to say*
The cat is fine.
The store is fine, but I haven't been there in at least 6 months...
Currently listening to: Yin And Yang The Flowerpot Man - Love And Rockets
Went to Costco with Tim last weekend. Bought a LOT of cheese. I don't want to eat it, I just want to HAVE it. Comfort food, as Tim calls it. It's a BIG commitment to open a 1kg block of cheese. I have to have plans for it. You can't just open that much cheese and expect it to NOT to turn green... I wish Sunny ate cheese. I was thinking about making tacos, but Cookie Plaza just won't bring in the soft shells, and I don't trust the Korean ones since the "soft taco shell scandal" from last year.
Anyone have any ideas for a recipe that will use up a large amount of cheese?
My brother is not updating his blog either... maybe he is waiting for me to do it first.
I'm going home in August - who wants to cat-sit for a month? (I don't pay much, but I can almost assure you that you will have all the cheese you can eat)... no promises about the colour of the cheese tho...
Must go - time to watch OZ
Later,
Scott
Posted at 11:44 PM Read More
Sun - March 28, 2004
Been pretty quiet around here...
Not much
Well, it has been over a week since I last posted
anything, and upon reflection, that was more of a token "I'm still here"
post.
Work has been mixed - although Mondays are still hellacious (which my dictionary claims is NOT a word), the rest of the week is pretty good. Classes are all progressing, the cherry blossoms are out and everything is pink in the neighborhood.
I have been thinking about it, and have decided that my life is dominated by the letter "S". This might sound strange, but I was sitting on the toilet one day last week and suddenly I realized that everything important (almost everything) starts with the letter S.
It all started as I thought about the various crap that I have been downloading from the net: The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Sex And The City, The Sopranos, Six feet Under, Survivor etc... Then I started a list (as I sat there) - Sony, South Korea, Saskatchewan (though it's uses are limited), Sun-hee (not meaning to put her name this low on the list - it just happened that way... don't tell her), snow (not the singer), sandwiches, soju, slurpees (though I never liked them, they fit), sports (the viewing of), Somyon (my favorite part of Pusan), Sakers (see last post), sex (figured someone would send me a message if I didn't mention it) and countless other "S" words.
I am sure that I have forgotten many of the things that I thought of that fine morning, but I had no pen with me at the time.
This is about as clever as I can be this week - classes have drained the humor from me.
I managed to get a copy of "Bubba Ho-tep" last week, not bad, but certainly no "Evil Dead". Bruce Campbell was great, the story was interesting, but the direction and camera-work (is that a hyphenated phrase?) were not what they could have been.
South Park - how could I forget South Park....
People at work look at me like I'm crazy when I mention "Bubba..." - clearly I am not working with people like you's all.
The president of Korea has apparently been impeached, and it's a fairly big deal here. Most people who have knowledge of the law say that there was no proper reason for him to have been impeached, but the same people say that it will probably be upheld by the constitutional court that will decide whether or not to uphold the impeachment, due mainly to the current political situation here.
Hakwons are also being threatened by a new law that makes middle school students stay in school for 2 hours longer than before... many institutes rely on having middle school students, and rumors are that some hakwons will be closing very soon. Rumors are just that though, and personally I think they'll just move classes to the morning.
Gotta go, hopefully I'll get some VIDEO on the website soon (new memory stick came in :)
Later all
Work has been mixed - although Mondays are still hellacious (which my dictionary claims is NOT a word), the rest of the week is pretty good. Classes are all progressing, the cherry blossoms are out and everything is pink in the neighborhood.
I have been thinking about it, and have decided that my life is dominated by the letter "S". This might sound strange, but I was sitting on the toilet one day last week and suddenly I realized that everything important (almost everything) starts with the letter S.
It all started as I thought about the various crap that I have been downloading from the net: The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Sex And The City, The Sopranos, Six feet Under, Survivor etc... Then I started a list (as I sat there) - Sony, South Korea, Saskatchewan (though it's uses are limited), Sun-hee (not meaning to put her name this low on the list - it just happened that way... don't tell her), snow (not the singer), sandwiches, soju, slurpees (though I never liked them, they fit), sports (the viewing of), Somyon (my favorite part of Pusan), Sakers (see last post), sex (figured someone would send me a message if I didn't mention it) and countless other "S" words.
I am sure that I have forgotten many of the things that I thought of that fine morning, but I had no pen with me at the time.
This is about as clever as I can be this week - classes have drained the humor from me.
I managed to get a copy of "Bubba Ho-tep" last week, not bad, but certainly no "Evil Dead". Bruce Campbell was great, the story was interesting, but the direction and camera-work (is that a hyphenated phrase?) were not what they could have been.
South Park - how could I forget South Park....
People at work look at me like I'm crazy when I mention "Bubba..." - clearly I am not working with people like you's all.
The president of Korea has apparently been impeached, and it's a fairly big deal here. Most people who have knowledge of the law say that there was no proper reason for him to have been impeached, but the same people say that it will probably be upheld by the constitutional court that will decide whether or not to uphold the impeachment, due mainly to the current political situation here.
Hakwons are also being threatened by a new law that makes middle school students stay in school for 2 hours longer than before... many institutes rely on having middle school students, and rumors are that some hakwons will be closing very soon. Rumors are just that though, and personally I think they'll just move classes to the morning.
Gotta go, hopefully I'll get some VIDEO on the website soon (new memory stick came in :)
Later all
Posted at 01:20 AM Read More
Thu - March 18, 2004
Sakers Win!!!
Look it up if you don't know what a "Saker"
is
Well, I just watched the Changwon LG Sakers win
their playoff game against the Taegu Orions - good game, decided in OT. I had
to keep Sunny outside, as she is a HUGE Saker fan, and was just coming home as
the overtime period started. She will find out in 5 hours (replay on TV)...
she'll be happy...
I have not posted much this week because I have been busy downloading "The Simpsons" episodes... and burning then to CD. I have managed to collect seasons 4-15 this week, and have burned my way through 40 CDs. Also managed to get my hands on the Laffs/Canadiens game from last Saturday night. Starsky and Hutch is funny, but not worth it in my opinion. Too much predictability in that movie.
Finished my week's work, not too bad (Monday's excluded), and my classes are all quite good.
It is Thursday night here - where is everybody????
That's all for now,
Later
I have not posted much this week because I have been busy downloading "The Simpsons" episodes... and burning then to CD. I have managed to collect seasons 4-15 this week, and have burned my way through 40 CDs. Also managed to get my hands on the Laffs/Canadiens game from last Saturday night. Starsky and Hutch is funny, but not worth it in my opinion. Too much predictability in that movie.
Finished my week's work, not too bad (Monday's excluded), and my classes are all quite good.
It is Thursday night here - where is everybody????
That's all for now,
Later
Posted at 09:32 PM Read More
Thu - March 11, 2004
Working again...
Fixed the problem
Apparently, if the weblog is not updating itself,
you just have to get both hands and pound on the keyboard really hard, spin
around three times and click your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Will update
right away.
Got a new picture of Rick today - he was unhappy with the one that I had of him (ancient pic.), so here is the new one, and my first with the new camera. Don't know how it will compare, but the picture seems good anyway.
Looks good I think (camera has only 1 megapixel for stills)
I am currently downloading a file, but I can't remember what it is. It's called AVP2, and I have no idea what that might be. It's a HUGE file though, and it's coming in really fast, so I'll cross my fingers and hope for porn.
Later again all
Got a new picture of Rick today - he was unhappy with the one that I had of him (ancient pic.), so here is the new one, and my first with the new camera. Don't know how it will compare, but the picture seems good anyway.
Looks good I think (camera has only 1 megapixel for stills)
I am currently downloading a file, but I can't remember what it is. It's called AVP2, and I have no idea what that might be. It's a HUGE file though, and it's coming in really fast, so I'll cross my fingers and hope for porn.
Later again all
Posted at 01:21 AM Read More
NOW what's going on??
Blog not updating.
Well, you think you have all of the problems worked
out, and a new one pokes it's head out. The weblog is no longer updating as I
write these things... very
annoying.
Work was fine today.
Tried to buy a new memory stick for the camera, and it turns out that they are so "new" in Korea that you can only buy the 32 Mb ones. What is the point??? They go up to 256 Megs, and I at LEAST want a 64. Very annoying. Longer-life batteries are also so expensive that even *I* didn't buy one. I'll have to deal with what I have for a few months... stupid cameras...
Currently
Listening to: Motorcrash - The Sugarcubes
Feeling: Tired
Vow to: NOT check the stupid hockey scores every morning, as I have no chance anymore
Drinking: HITE "From Naturally Fresh Water"
Playing: Tiger Woods 2003, KOTOR, ESPN NHL 2K4
Hoping: my parents move to Guam (permanently), so it is closer and cheaper to go back home. Also has easy access to large snails and many snakes.
Am: disgusted at the state of western morality (Janet, Cherry and Triumph to name a few reasons)
Now listening to: Political - SOTW... and remembering the night that Dan thought he was DIEING because he had consumed too much "shit mix". Did we miss the concert that night???
Other than the above - life is same-same.
Later all
Work was fine today.
Tried to buy a new memory stick for the camera, and it turns out that they are so "new" in Korea that you can only buy the 32 Mb ones. What is the point??? They go up to 256 Megs, and I at LEAST want a 64. Very annoying. Longer-life batteries are also so expensive that even *I* didn't buy one. I'll have to deal with what I have for a few months... stupid cameras...
Currently
Listening to: Motorcrash - The Sugarcubes
Feeling: Tired
Vow to: NOT check the stupid hockey scores every morning, as I have no chance anymore
Drinking: HITE "From Naturally Fresh Water"
Playing: Tiger Woods 2003, KOTOR, ESPN NHL 2K4
Hoping: my parents move to Guam (permanently), so it is closer and cheaper to go back home. Also has easy access to large snails and many snakes.
Am: disgusted at the state of western morality (Janet, Cherry and Triumph to name a few reasons)
Now listening to: Political - SOTW... and remembering the night that Dan thought he was DIEING because he had consumed too much "shit mix". Did we miss the concert that night???
Other than the above - life is same-same.
Later all
Posted at 01:06 AM Read More
Wed - March 10, 2004
Video... and noise
Just to annoy people...
... I went out yesterday and bought a new video
camera - it is very small, and so far no real complaints. Sony HC40 for those
of you who look up this stuff. It is rather annoying transferring the video to
my Mac, as the instructions are all in Korean (the camera is multi-language, but
the booklet is in Korean). I will soon be adding a video section to my
homepage, but I have NO idea what will capture people's attention, so that may
take a while to set up. I also realized that my software is out of date, so I
downloaded the new iLife package and installed it (3 Gigs... very large - thanks
to suprnova for that one:) I find it stupid that Apple has decided to stop
letting everyone get updates for their software. Hopefully having installed
iLife will give me the ability to update
again.
I am also trying out Sim City 4, and Age Of Mythology - both are pretty good, but the Sim City game is FAR too complex for my simple little mind.
NOISE. Apparently the city has decided to tear up the street in front of my house. Half of the street is now missing. Perhaps that is what I will use my camera for: keeping a video record of Korean building practices. I think I could build better houses (than Koreans do) by myself... out of LEGO...
The song in the last post is (obviously) Bill Murray in "Lost In Translation". How many of you got that?
Must go - the drilling has stopped, maybe I can get 20 minutes of sleep before class :)
Later
I am also trying out Sim City 4, and Age Of Mythology - both are pretty good, but the Sim City game is FAR too complex for my simple little mind.
NOISE. Apparently the city has decided to tear up the street in front of my house. Half of the street is now missing. Perhaps that is what I will use my camera for: keeping a video record of Korean building practices. I think I could build better houses (than Koreans do) by myself... out of LEGO...
The song in the last post is (obviously) Bill Murray in "Lost In Translation". How many of you got that?
Must go - the drilling has stopped, maybe I can get 20 minutes of sleep before class :)
Later
Posted at 03:02 PM Read More
Mon - March 8, 2004
The Old Grind
Work work work
Well true
believers, I am officially back at work, and I am
actually impressed with the students so far - a rarity for me. Classes have
been a bit longer than last week, and students seem eager to be there. 2 of my
classes consist of students that I have taught before, so they will be fun. The
other 2 are freshmen classes, and they have yet to be tainted with soju and
constant MTs ("membership training"). Can't complain...
yet.
I have filled up my computer's HD with various crap, all downloaded at suprnova.org, and I am amazed at the stuff they have there. Who in their right mind would bother downloading old "Family Ties" episodes. Maybe the question should be "who would bother UPLOADING it in the first place?".
We went to a Korean movie last night, can't remember the name right now - "Tae-guk-ee something something". It was pretty good, and even though there were no English subtitles, I understood the whole thing. I guess I should at this point. It was all about 2 brothers going off to fight during the Korean war, and was pretty sad - most people were fighting back the tears audibly throughout. Not me though - I was just trying to follow the conversations. Typical Korean movie - sad at the end - the antithesis of Hollywood flicks.
I was reading through some other people's blogs last weekend (just random ones that I discovered), and saw that most people have a little list of things that they are currently doing or feeling. Maybe I will adopt this...
Listening to: U2 - Beautiful Day
Feel: Fine
Am currently thinking about: work, and if I have time to take a nap before I have to go
Hanging: shade to the right
Perhaps I should think about who reads this before I continue...
You might notice that I tend to write in full sentences, and kinda shy away from the more "controversial" issues - this is mainly because I have a BUNCH of students and parents of students who read this, so I cannot exactly write as freely as some others do in their blogs.
I believe Shawn recently wrote that I came to Korea for money. This is completely untrue. I had much more income in Canada, and I was completely BROKE for the first 2 years here. It is true that I am now here for the money, but only because I can make more here than I can in Canada, due to the "connections" that I have here. People coming here would have a tough time making as much money as some people that have been here for a while do. That being said, I came here for the experience, and the fear of being trapped in Regina with a job and a family - no chance to get out ever, except maybe a once a year trip to Calgary or Vancouver. I have never regretted leaving when I did, and KNOW that I made the right choice. I would NOT work in Chinhae again, and I also would NEVER work in Seoul. It's just not the "Korea" that I want to experience in my day-to-day life.
Forgot to mention that our store made more than 500,000 won in one day last week - the highest amount yet.
Dan's (and Connie's and Jim's) school is open in Canada, and I believe they are in the process of advertising on the 'net and in Edmonton. Check out their homepage here or on my links page.
I'm going to throw caution to the wind and try to put a song here... I anticipate that it won't work - if there is a blank spot below this sentence, it hasn't worked again...
Later
I have filled up my computer's HD with various crap, all downloaded at suprnova.org, and I am amazed at the stuff they have there. Who in their right mind would bother downloading old "Family Ties" episodes. Maybe the question should be "who would bother UPLOADING it in the first place?".
We went to a Korean movie last night, can't remember the name right now - "Tae-guk-ee something something". It was pretty good, and even though there were no English subtitles, I understood the whole thing. I guess I should at this point. It was all about 2 brothers going off to fight during the Korean war, and was pretty sad - most people were fighting back the tears audibly throughout. Not me though - I was just trying to follow the conversations. Typical Korean movie - sad at the end - the antithesis of Hollywood flicks.
I was reading through some other people's blogs last weekend (just random ones that I discovered), and saw that most people have a little list of things that they are currently doing or feeling. Maybe I will adopt this...
Listening to: U2 - Beautiful Day
Feel: Fine
Am currently thinking about: work, and if I have time to take a nap before I have to go
Hanging: shade to the right
Perhaps I should think about who reads this before I continue...
You might notice that I tend to write in full sentences, and kinda shy away from the more "controversial" issues - this is mainly because I have a BUNCH of students and parents of students who read this, so I cannot exactly write as freely as some others do in their blogs.
I believe Shawn recently wrote that I came to Korea for money. This is completely untrue. I had much more income in Canada, and I was completely BROKE for the first 2 years here. It is true that I am now here for the money, but only because I can make more here than I can in Canada, due to the "connections" that I have here. People coming here would have a tough time making as much money as some people that have been here for a while do. That being said, I came here for the experience, and the fear of being trapped in Regina with a job and a family - no chance to get out ever, except maybe a once a year trip to Calgary or Vancouver. I have never regretted leaving when I did, and KNOW that I made the right choice. I would NOT work in Chinhae again, and I also would NEVER work in Seoul. It's just not the "Korea" that I want to experience in my day-to-day life.
Forgot to mention that our store made more than 500,000 won in one day last week - the highest amount yet.
Dan's (and Connie's and Jim's) school is open in Canada, and I believe they are in the process of advertising on the 'net and in Edmonton. Check out their homepage here or on my links page.
I'm going to throw caution to the wind and try to put a song here... I anticipate that it won't work - if there is a blank spot below this sentence, it hasn't worked again...
Later
Posted at 03:24 PM Read More
Thu - March 4, 2004
Back at it
Work Sucks
The sunburn is fading, and I have realized that we
didn't really buy all that much while we were on vacation... it's kind of like
we never went. It has been a depressing day, and i get more depressed when I
look at my schedule for the next semester. With some clever schedule creation,
I have not left myself with time to eat. Literally. I guess that I CAN
actually eat on Friday mornings, but only if I eat quickly. It is MY fault, but
as this is MY blog, I can complain all I want. It sucks to be back at work so
soon after finishing the winter vacation program so recently. Without question
I will be working the BK (mmm... Burger King) program this summer, and getting
the month of August off. What I do during that time remains undecided, but I'm
sure I'll be getting my ass out of the typhoon season/humidity. Canada is a
leading option at this point, but the last time I went home in August, we had
snow, and it was above 20 only ONCE... that sucked - do I take the risk
again??
I have to go to work soon - walk all the way across campus (building 51 for those of you who know) and say "Hi, this is your book. Have one when we meet here next week. Any questions? OK - Go home." Actually, it will be a bit more in-depth, as I might tell them my name if they look interested. Perhaps my E-mail/website address (I like to see the "hits" on the page go up, even though most of them are me checking to see if it is getting updated correctly).
One funny note about THIS blog program. Updated to 1.3.5 yesterday, and now a message pops up telling me that there is an update - 1.3.4 - something's not working right. I think I'll call home and see if everyone is still around... after a brief flurry of iSight conversations, no-one has their iChat active these days - except my sister, but she is always "away".
Sunny bought an underwater (disposable) camera in Guam, and we took some pictures of the fish - when we get them developed, I'll see if I can get them put on CD and maybe post some here. She also took a picture of a girl who, without exaggerating, may have had the largest... chest... that either of us have EVER seen. Didn't have the digital camera, and don't think it would have been a good idea if I had gone over and asked her to pose for us... Sunny took the picture, but used the underwater camera ABOVE the surface, so it won't be great. I am pretty sure that the girl has had her picture taken a LOT in the past...
Gotta go - later all
I have to go to work soon - walk all the way across campus (building 51 for those of you who know) and say "Hi, this is your book. Have one when we meet here next week. Any questions? OK - Go home." Actually, it will be a bit more in-depth, as I might tell them my name if they look interested. Perhaps my E-mail/website address (I like to see the "hits" on the page go up, even though most of them are me checking to see if it is getting updated correctly).
One funny note about THIS blog program. Updated to 1.3.5 yesterday, and now a message pops up telling me that there is an update - 1.3.4 - something's not working right. I think I'll call home and see if everyone is still around... after a brief flurry of iSight conversations, no-one has their iChat active these days - except my sister, but she is always "away".
Sunny bought an underwater (disposable) camera in Guam, and we took some pictures of the fish - when we get them developed, I'll see if I can get them put on CD and maybe post some here. She also took a picture of a girl who, without exaggerating, may have had the largest... chest... that either of us have EVER seen. Didn't have the digital camera, and don't think it would have been a good idea if I had gone over and asked her to pose for us... Sunny took the picture, but used the underwater camera ABOVE the surface, so it won't be great. I am pretty sure that the girl has had her picture taken a LOT in the past...
Gotta go - later all
Posted at 11:33 AM Read More
Wed - March 3, 2004
Guam
Should be called Guapan...
Well everyone, we made it back from Guam in one
piece, and I think both of us are regretting coming back at all. Just LOOK at
the weather
difference:
Yes, that's right, I came back to Korea this morning wearing shorts and a new ugly shirt, and it was -2 in Seoul, and only +2 in Changwon.
Enough about the weather - here's what we did, as I remember.
Flew into Guam at about 2:15, got to the immigration line with an entire plane full of people in front of us - I knew it would be bad, but what I didn't know was that there was another plane that had just landed, and so we were behind about 800 (mostly Japanese) people... somehow we managed to be the last people through. It was especially frustrating because, as a Canadian, they don't require anything from me, and it takes about 3 seconds for them to stamp the visa and say "stay as long as you like". One humorous thing was that the couple in front of us could not understand "left index finger" and "right index finger" (some kind of fingerprint scan and photos are taken right at the desk), and so I had a good chuckle with the people beside us in line. We got out of the immigration line at 4:15.
Managed to get a taxi to the hotel, it was NOT where we thought it was, and our first impressions were not good, but got better as time went on. Here are a couple of pics:
The room, from the window/balcony.
Out the window, beach is to the right, 2-3 blocks away.
This is the back of the hotel, very steep rock wall, full of newts (or are they skinks?).
Sunny in front of the hotel - the "Ohana Bayview" for those of you studying at home.
Umm - went to 7-11 at 4:30 to get something to eat and drink. It was FULL of drunk Japanese teenagers. Just a preview of the days to come. Bought some A&W Root Beer, it's been a long time. *sniff* I miss it already...
The next morning we got up and decided to try to walk to K-mart (remarkably far in retrospect). We made it there, and did some shopping. Got snorkel equipment for Sunny, some tomato soup so I can make Chili some time in the future, and not much else. Oh yeah - I bought some "Simpsons" UNO cards. All English teachers should have UNO cards. Lots of English to be learned with that game.
The highlight for Sunny was that she could once again try the lasagna at Little Caesars (in the K-mart). I am ashamed to say that we went back 4 times during the 3 days we were there. I rationalize those decisions by saying that it is very cheap, and there is no tipping. It is also the best lasagna I have ever had. (I mean BOUGHT - sorry Mom). Here's the (uninteresting) pics of one of our trips - these are actually from the last trip, but just imagine it's the first. Better yet, imagine that each picture if from a different day.
So excited!
Not satisfied with only lasagna, Sunny goes all out and gets the buffalo wings as well...
Later, after buying bus tickets to get around the city easier, we went down to the beach, swam, saw lots of young, single Japanese girls, and went back home.
The next day was pretty much a repeat of the first - lots of shopping at the duty free stores (are they ALL duty free stores?).
The final day (yesterday, and still today for me... jeez it's been a long day!) we got to the beach early, went out snorkeling for a LONG time, and went to one of the hotel pools. Went shopping again. At this point, we had become masters of the Guam public transportation system, so we went to 3 malls and K-mart of course. I started to notice that my back was a bit sore, and Sunny complained of sore legs... the two areas that we had overlooked when putting on the sunscreen. My back hurts, and Sunny's legs are pretty red too... a very uncomfortable flight home.
We flew home at 4:05 A.M., and got back home at about 11:45. Tim helped me out with a 3 minute intro. class that I should have had at noon, so I haven't had to do anything today. Couldn't find Tim's taco stuff either, but got him something cool anyway. The cat has gone crazy in our absence, and is still acting pretty goofy as I sit here now.
Here are a few more pics that are "interesting to only me":
New b/f
The "good" hotels, from our window - the Outrigger has an amazing pool, and luckily the same company owns the "Ohana", so we had access to their pool.
HUGE MONSTER SNAIL - probably 5 inches long... maybe that isn't really a "monster", but it was gross when I stepped on one of them in my bare feet.
Didn't eat here, but bought a shirt. I am a consumer.
I'll bet you didn't know that the creator of "Spider Man" lived in Guam (and runs a wine shop)
What we came back to.
Oh yeah - the other news that may interest only me, or perhaps a middle school girl, is that when we went through the security gates last night, we were followed by S.E.S.'s Yoo-jin (I refuse to spell her name Eugene"). She was right behind us for 20 minutes or so, and was with a group of her friends who sang songs and they all cried and there were video cameras pointing right at (the three of) us. I hope I do not end up on some Korean TV show. No, I did not get her autograph. For those of you NOT in Korea - this is her, although she seemed really short and had bad skin. Spoke very good English though.
If only it had been Hyo-ri... :)
Later all,
Yes, that's right, I came back to Korea this morning wearing shorts and a new ugly shirt, and it was -2 in Seoul, and only +2 in Changwon.
Enough about the weather - here's what we did, as I remember.
Flew into Guam at about 2:15, got to the immigration line with an entire plane full of people in front of us - I knew it would be bad, but what I didn't know was that there was another plane that had just landed, and so we were behind about 800 (mostly Japanese) people... somehow we managed to be the last people through. It was especially frustrating because, as a Canadian, they don't require anything from me, and it takes about 3 seconds for them to stamp the visa and say "stay as long as you like". One humorous thing was that the couple in front of us could not understand "left index finger" and "right index finger" (some kind of fingerprint scan and photos are taken right at the desk), and so I had a good chuckle with the people beside us in line. We got out of the immigration line at 4:15.
Managed to get a taxi to the hotel, it was NOT where we thought it was, and our first impressions were not good, but got better as time went on. Here are a couple of pics:
The room, from the window/balcony.
Out the window, beach is to the right, 2-3 blocks away.
This is the back of the hotel, very steep rock wall, full of newts (or are they skinks?).
Sunny in front of the hotel - the "Ohana Bayview" for those of you studying at home.
Umm - went to 7-11 at 4:30 to get something to eat and drink. It was FULL of drunk Japanese teenagers. Just a preview of the days to come. Bought some A&W Root Beer, it's been a long time. *sniff* I miss it already...
The next morning we got up and decided to try to walk to K-mart (remarkably far in retrospect). We made it there, and did some shopping. Got snorkel equipment for Sunny, some tomato soup so I can make Chili some time in the future, and not much else. Oh yeah - I bought some "Simpsons" UNO cards. All English teachers should have UNO cards. Lots of English to be learned with that game.
The highlight for Sunny was that she could once again try the lasagna at Little Caesars (in the K-mart). I am ashamed to say that we went back 4 times during the 3 days we were there. I rationalize those decisions by saying that it is very cheap, and there is no tipping. It is also the best lasagna I have ever had. (I mean BOUGHT - sorry Mom). Here's the (uninteresting) pics of one of our trips - these are actually from the last trip, but just imagine it's the first. Better yet, imagine that each picture if from a different day.
So excited!
Not satisfied with only lasagna, Sunny goes all out and gets the buffalo wings as well...
Later, after buying bus tickets to get around the city easier, we went down to the beach, swam, saw lots of young, single Japanese girls, and went back home.
The next day was pretty much a repeat of the first - lots of shopping at the duty free stores (are they ALL duty free stores?).
The final day (yesterday, and still today for me... jeez it's been a long day!) we got to the beach early, went out snorkeling for a LONG time, and went to one of the hotel pools. Went shopping again. At this point, we had become masters of the Guam public transportation system, so we went to 3 malls and K-mart of course. I started to notice that my back was a bit sore, and Sunny complained of sore legs... the two areas that we had overlooked when putting on the sunscreen. My back hurts, and Sunny's legs are pretty red too... a very uncomfortable flight home.
We flew home at 4:05 A.M., and got back home at about 11:45. Tim helped me out with a 3 minute intro. class that I should have had at noon, so I haven't had to do anything today. Couldn't find Tim's taco stuff either, but got him something cool anyway. The cat has gone crazy in our absence, and is still acting pretty goofy as I sit here now.
Here are a few more pics that are "interesting to only me":
New b/f
The "good" hotels, from our window - the Outrigger has an amazing pool, and luckily the same company owns the "Ohana", so we had access to their pool.
HUGE MONSTER SNAIL - probably 5 inches long... maybe that isn't really a "monster", but it was gross when I stepped on one of them in my bare feet.
Didn't eat here, but bought a shirt. I am a consumer.
I'll bet you didn't know that the creator of "Spider Man" lived in Guam (and runs a wine shop)
What we came back to.
Oh yeah - the other news that may interest only me, or perhaps a middle school girl, is that when we went through the security gates last night, we were followed by S.E.S.'s Yoo-jin (I refuse to spell her name Eugene"). She was right behind us for 20 minutes or so, and was with a group of her friends who sang songs and they all cried and there were video cameras pointing right at (the three of) us. I hope I do not end up on some Korean TV show. No, I did not get her autograph. For those of you NOT in Korea - this is her, although she seemed really short and had bad skin. Spoke very good English though.
If only it had been Hyo-ri... :)
Later all,
Posted at 09:35 PM Read More
Sat - February 28, 2004
I'm gone!
It's raining in Guam right now
I'm off in 20 minutes, and we have managed to fill
the suitcases already. Loks like I'll be abandoning some clothes there, and
probably my old sandals. Maybe I could sell my clothes to that old woman who
lives on the beach in front of the Holiday Inn... I'll approach her and see what
she thinks.
No updates for a few days - see ya'll next week!
(Is that how you spell ya'll???)
Later
No updates for a few days - see ya'll next week!
(Is that how you spell ya'll???)
Later
Posted at 02:18 PM Read More
Old Friends
Chance Meetings...
This afternoon, as I was taking a cab to one of my
"classes", I met a couple of old friends and co-workers. My days at E2 Foreign
Language Institute were good, and I certainly met my share of unique individuals
while I worked there. This afternoon I ran into 2 of my former co-workers, and
was quite surprised to hear that they are still both working in Korea. In
retrospect, I am sure that I was a goof most of the time (while I was working as
"head teacher"), as most of my energy was taken up outside the institute, mainly
trying to keep my relationship(s) "healthy". After a while, the days blended
together, and I found myself without much to say, and no real desire to break
free from the routine. Classes were always easy, and life was simple - wake up
- teach - sleep, with a bit of drinking somewhere on the weekends. I have
always regretted staying as long as I did, as I seemed to lose more touch with
reality the longer I stayed. (try teaching 8 year-olds phonics for 6 hours a
day and you'll know what I
mean).
Either way, it was good to run into Sandra and Vicky today - they both seemed happy to be back visiting Changwon (they are working in Seoul now ), and I wish that I had had more time to spend talking to them. Regardless, now that I know that they are back in Korea (and have been for a year and a half - shows how much I keep up with events), perhaps I'll keep in touch with them a bit more.
I have 1 pic of Sandra and another co-worker Nikki (I hope that I have spelled that name correctly):
... and another that I might as well include now, as she might want to see it:
I apologize for not having a pic of Vicky (sorry) - I have no excuse. However I will NEVER forget the day that I was trying to explain how my hometown - Regina - got it's name (I knew it had something to do with the queen), and after I had invented some story about the queen finding a pile of bones under a moose's jaw or something (again I mention that I was only PRETENDING to know everything at the time), Vicky gave the proper explanation of the name... damn these smart girls - I had everyone going there for a minute (just kidding Vicky... but you were correct - I looked it up).
24 hours 'till we land in Guam... not much to add except we had a fight about luggage tonight. I am thinking that we need to take BIG suitcases in case we find neat stuff to bring back, while Sunny thinks that a little space will be fine. Apparently, I haven't shown her what a fan I am of Campbell's tomato soup and root beer. Of course, she won the fight, and I have seen the error in my thinking.
A shout goes out to Connie who has (most likely) arrived back in Korea, and who is (most likely) celebrating her birthday tomorrow night with (what appears to be) a HUGE party - perhaps rivaling Rick's birthday bash from last year :) Perhaps Jim will see fit to answer YOUR calls :)
Tim - you rock.
Ian, sorry about the hockey pool, but if I lose this month, I am going to kill everyone involved (except myself), and claim the money. If I win, I WILL gloat, and gloat BIG TIME :)
Later true believers,
Either way, it was good to run into Sandra and Vicky today - they both seemed happy to be back visiting Changwon (they are working in Seoul now ), and I wish that I had had more time to spend talking to them. Regardless, now that I know that they are back in Korea (and have been for a year and a half - shows how much I keep up with events), perhaps I'll keep in touch with them a bit more.
I have 1 pic of Sandra and another co-worker Nikki (I hope that I have spelled that name correctly):
... and another that I might as well include now, as she might want to see it:
I apologize for not having a pic of Vicky (sorry) - I have no excuse. However I will NEVER forget the day that I was trying to explain how my hometown - Regina - got it's name (I knew it had something to do with the queen), and after I had invented some story about the queen finding a pile of bones under a moose's jaw or something (again I mention that I was only PRETENDING to know everything at the time), Vicky gave the proper explanation of the name... damn these smart girls - I had everyone going there for a minute (just kidding Vicky... but you were correct - I looked it up).
24 hours 'till we land in Guam... not much to add except we had a fight about luggage tonight. I am thinking that we need to take BIG suitcases in case we find neat stuff to bring back, while Sunny thinks that a little space will be fine. Apparently, I haven't shown her what a fan I am of Campbell's tomato soup and root beer. Of course, she won the fight, and I have seen the error in my thinking.
A shout goes out to Connie who has (most likely) arrived back in Korea, and who is (most likely) celebrating her birthday tomorrow night with (what appears to be) a HUGE party - perhaps rivaling Rick's birthday bash from last year :) Perhaps Jim will see fit to answer YOUR calls :)
Tim - you rock.
Ian, sorry about the hockey pool, but if I lose this month, I am going to kill everyone involved (except myself), and claim the money. If I win, I WILL gloat, and gloat BIG TIME :)
Later true believers,
Posted at 04:25 AM Read More
Thu - February 26, 2004
News
An all new (for me) file "sharing"
method
That's right boys and girls, I have discovered a new
way to gain access to American TV shows. I have discovered BitTorrent - and
have been using it in combination with this
site to download and watch all kinds of neat stuff. Top download
speeds of 350 kb/s!!!!! So far I have watched/downloaded "50 First dates",
"Miracle", "School Of Rock", and all of Season 2 "Survivor"...all in the past 24
hours. Right now Seinfeld is on it's way here, or at least the first 5 seasons
are. You might be able to download the program in my "Downloads" section, but
at this point I have no trust in the iDisk to actually accept the files. It is
only for Panther, but all versions can be downloaded at the site I linked to
above.
That is all for now :)
48 hours until Guam.
Later
That is all for now :)
48 hours until Guam.
Later
Posted at 08:35 PM Read More
Wed - February 25, 2004
A quick note before I sleep
Expiration dates
Watched "Lost In Translation" tonight, and it was
awesome. Having been to Japan 6 times, it was very neat to see a lot of things
depicted that are very difficult to try to explain to someone who hasn't been
there. Very realistic, and the outtakes on the DVD were great. Bill Murray was
great - loved the Karaoke scene, loved the
music.
The song he sang, a/p Elvis Costello:
(...is refusing to show up here, so you'll have to use another method to hear (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding)
Decided to clean out the medicine cabinet tonight - found some contact C and Tylenol that dated back to when Dan and I first came to the country - some of it expired in the 90's. I now have NO medicine save one bottle of Tylenol that I bought 2 years ago... finally room for all the deodorant that my mom has sent over the years. It seems to be a fact that eating Korean food over a long period of time actually lessens the need for deodorant (a fact that Dan will back me up on). I think that it is the lack of cheese in the diet that makes people not stink as much. I have no sense of smell, but have been told (repeatedly) that my feet would make a skunk run and hide. Maybe people just focus on the feet smell and leave my other various bodily stenches unmentioned. Either way, it looks as if a trip to the pharmaceutical section of the Guam K-mart will be in order.
Later, true believers
The song he sang, a/p Elvis Costello:
(...is refusing to show up here, so you'll have to use another method to hear (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding)
Decided to clean out the medicine cabinet tonight - found some contact C and Tylenol that dated back to when Dan and I first came to the country - some of it expired in the 90's. I now have NO medicine save one bottle of Tylenol that I bought 2 years ago... finally room for all the deodorant that my mom has sent over the years. It seems to be a fact that eating Korean food over a long period of time actually lessens the need for deodorant (a fact that Dan will back me up on). I think that it is the lack of cheese in the diet that makes people not stink as much. I have no sense of smell, but have been told (repeatedly) that my feet would make a skunk run and hide. Maybe people just focus on the feet smell and leave my other various bodily stenches unmentioned. Either way, it looks as if a trip to the pharmaceutical section of the Guam K-mart will be in order.
Later, true believers
Posted at 03:13 AM Read More
Tue - February 24, 2004
An easy day
I was bored, so I went
shopping.
Well, having only 1 hour of work a day may sound
nice, but it leaves me with nothing to do at all. This was my
day:
9:30 Got up - looked around, went back to bed
11:00 Got up again, checked the hockey scores - Ian did well today - thank god I have Koivu or my day would have been sickly bad for my chances this month.
12:00 Made some KD, ate it from the pot - just as you are supposed to. Found no ketchup. Was sad. Found 1 little McDonald's ketchup packet in the fridge - used it, but wondered why it was in the fridge in the first place.
1:00 Sunny went to work, I went back to bed, after cursing Luc Robitaille for being a loser.
2:50 Got up, went to class.
4:15 (Class over) went to Lotte department store, examined their MiniDV Camcorders, they only have the Sony (blahblah)22 model, and it is overpriced, and I'm only interested in the 33. Experienced the usual ambivalence by the staff in dealing with a foreigner - "maybe if I don't look at him, he'll just go away".
4:40 Went to the DVD shop on the 3rd floor - bought "Tremors" for about $9, "Lost In Translation" for $15, and "The Essential Clash" for some amount... (as I type, "Tommy Gun" is playing).
5:30 Came home, hung up the laundry.
6:00 Am currently cooking ramyen, to which I will add a huge can of red pepper tuna. Yum.
As you can see - not a very exciting day.
Think I'll got inline skating tomorrow - it's warm, and I can FINALLY try out the new stick that I got too late in the season last fall. It's a Koho, just like Mats Naslund used to use... I think.
"Career Opportunities" now playing - sounds crappy live.
Yesterday, I forgot to mention that Bill Murray rocks. Except in "Mad Dog and Glory". And I didn't really like "Rushmore". "The Man Who New Too Little" was poor, and I am being generous. Oh yeah "Quick Change" was horrible. "Ed Wood" is a Tim Burton movie, and those give me headaches, even though the stories are interesting. Just don't like his style. (Sam Raimi is a god). OK - except for all of those movies, Bill Murray rocks (and don't even get me started on "The Royal Tenenbaums"
Clash disk is over. Must go put something else in. If someone is looking to buy me a gift for when I come home in JUNE, buy me this ... unless I buy it first (which would be extremely unwise, or so my financial planner Sun-hee tells me). I think I'll include a random picture every day from now on. Here is the first one:
This was the first time another cat came over to visit - think it was the second day she was here. I promise that this will be the LAST picture of the cat :P
9:30 Got up - looked around, went back to bed
11:00 Got up again, checked the hockey scores - Ian did well today - thank god I have Koivu or my day would have been sickly bad for my chances this month.
12:00 Made some KD, ate it from the pot - just as you are supposed to. Found no ketchup. Was sad. Found 1 little McDonald's ketchup packet in the fridge - used it, but wondered why it was in the fridge in the first place.
1:00 Sunny went to work, I went back to bed, after cursing Luc Robitaille for being a loser.
2:50 Got up, went to class.
4:15 (Class over) went to Lotte department store, examined their MiniDV Camcorders, they only have the Sony (blahblah)22 model, and it is overpriced, and I'm only interested in the 33. Experienced the usual ambivalence by the staff in dealing with a foreigner - "maybe if I don't look at him, he'll just go away".
4:40 Went to the DVD shop on the 3rd floor - bought "Tremors" for about $9, "Lost In Translation" for $15, and "The Essential Clash" for some amount... (as I type, "Tommy Gun" is playing).
5:30 Came home, hung up the laundry.
6:00 Am currently cooking ramyen, to which I will add a huge can of red pepper tuna. Yum.
As you can see - not a very exciting day.
Think I'll got inline skating tomorrow - it's warm, and I can FINALLY try out the new stick that I got too late in the season last fall. It's a Koho, just like Mats Naslund used to use... I think.
"Career Opportunities" now playing - sounds crappy live.
Yesterday, I forgot to mention that Bill Murray rocks. Except in "Mad Dog and Glory". And I didn't really like "Rushmore". "The Man Who New Too Little" was poor, and I am being generous. Oh yeah "Quick Change" was horrible. "Ed Wood" is a Tim Burton movie, and those give me headaches, even though the stories are interesting. Just don't like his style. (Sam Raimi is a god). OK - except for all of those movies, Bill Murray rocks (and don't even get me started on "The Royal Tenenbaums"
Clash disk is over. Must go put something else in. If someone is looking to buy me a gift for when I come home in JUNE, buy me this ... unless I buy it first (which would be extremely unwise, or so my financial planner Sun-hee tells me). I think I'll include a random picture every day from now on. Here is the first one:
This was the first time another cat came over to visit - think it was the second day she was here. I promise that this will be the LAST picture of the cat :P
Posted at 06:24 PM Read More
Mon - February 23, 2004
Pics of stuff
We'll just call this "Ode to Shawn"
I don't feel like creating yet ANOTHER gallery until
I get a good amount of new pics to share, so I'm going to put some up here for
the 3 of you to look at (you know who you are - Tim, Mom, Sis. I have stolen
these from my brother's website, which you can find here . I recommend taking him up
on his offer - $50 for a free shirt and access to the "member's only" section -
quite a deal. I know that I have certainly got my money's worth already, and he
hasn't even posted the pics of the now infamous "scouring
episode".
These are all recent - from the blizzard that hit Halifax last week(end?).
I will do my best at coming up with creative captions... please keep in mind that I am NOT as creative as my brother.
In no particular order:
A lot of
snow.
Not really
sure
Cars... in
the snow.
Man with
shovel.
I'm sure he'll be
happy that I included this
one.
.
I see "the Rock's" eyebrow... combined with Bubba Ray Dudley's specs... Look
at all that hair though :(
Think I'll throw some random thoughts out to you true believers:
I still say that Val Kilmer's portrayal (thanks Tim) of Doc Holliday was the best acting performance that I have ever seen. (which has nothing to do with these pics, but does to my brother's blog).
I have to mention that Sean Penn did an amazing job in "I Am Sam" too - maybe my second all-time fav.
Bruce Campbell rocks too, but not for his "acting" - he just has very cool characters.
Kiefer Sutherland does not rock, but 24 is an awesome show.
Am I the only one who is annoyed by 50cent and most of today's "hot" new bands?
Fast and the Furious - tolerable. Fast and the Furious 2 - OMG NO!
Ashton Kutcher - idiot, and without a lick of talent!
American Idol - where Jerry Springer's guests go after the show - who are these idiots?
Whatever happened to David Lee Roth - last I saw he was doing some kind of cabaret on Letterman (well, OK - 6 years ago)
On a final note - Northern Exposure is finally coming to DVD (at least season 1 is) so order yours now! It even comes with a little parka - your dog could wear it (or maybe a rat as the case may be).
Later
These are all recent - from the blizzard that hit Halifax last week(end?).
I will do my best at coming up with creative captions... please keep in mind that I am NOT as creative as my brother.
In no particular order:
A lot of
snow. Not really
sure Cars... in
the snow. Man with
shovel. I'm sure he'll be
happy that I included this
one..
I see "the Rock's" eyebrow... combined with Bubba Ray Dudley's specs... Look
at all that hair though :(Think I'll throw some random thoughts out to you true believers:
I still say that Val Kilmer's portrayal (thanks Tim) of Doc Holliday was the best acting performance that I have ever seen. (which has nothing to do with these pics, but does to my brother's blog).
I have to mention that Sean Penn did an amazing job in "I Am Sam" too - maybe my second all-time fav.
Bruce Campbell rocks too, but not for his "acting" - he just has very cool characters.
Kiefer Sutherland does not rock, but 24 is an awesome show.
Am I the only one who is annoyed by 50cent and most of today's "hot" new bands?
Fast and the Furious - tolerable. Fast and the Furious 2 - OMG NO!
Ashton Kutcher - idiot, and without a lick of talent!
American Idol - where Jerry Springer's guests go after the show - who are these idiots?
Whatever happened to David Lee Roth - last I saw he was doing some kind of cabaret on Letterman (well, OK - 6 years ago)
On a final note - Northern Exposure is finally coming to DVD (at least season 1 is) so order yours now! It even comes with a little parka - your dog could wear it (or maybe a rat as the case may be).
Later
Posted at 02:35 PM Read More
Beware the curse of CNU!!
New Download
My First Rant
Ahh - we're in double digit temps now!
All is well
Homepage link
Now I'm just testing out some stuff
Taa-daa!!
OK
Maybe...(!!!)
Still going...
Fun fun
YESSS!
Lazy
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Published On: Apr 07, 2004 11:44 PM
Published On: Apr 07, 2004 11:44 PM