Last Day in Hong Kong. So I Got My Palm Read.

Actually both palms. I normally don't hold much by fortune tellers, but this guy had a great opener.
"You have four brothers and sisters? You are one of five children?"

I'm still looking at my hand trying to see what he was looking at. Did I have the family tree hanging out of my back pocket? Creepy.

So my right hand says I'm going to be a rich, successful, mother of four. Two boys, two girls and two of those are supposed to be twins. I'm supposed to be starting a good relationship in October of this year, but my year of beauty is still four years away (after the birth of my first son).

My left hand says that I'm going to be lucky and should start working out when I'm 70 if I expect to live to 90. It also says that I will have more money than I need and that's the time to give some away. Interesting enough, it also says I need to be buying more property.

After leaving the stand I realized I was missing some key information:

Will this October man be the father of ALL of my children?
Will I even be getting married?
When will I meet this good man?
When does the money start rolling in?
How will I get this money?
Where should I be buying this land?

Yeah. Guess it wasn't so detailed after all.

The fortune telling was at the Wan Tai Sin temple- which was awesome and full of turtles. It had fountains and incense and dragon statues. The sun finally came out, so it was even better.

Before the temple and telling, though, we started the day in Aberdeen, the fishiest part of the city. It smelled. Not sure what the appeal should have been, but a half hour was more than enough.

After the future stuff, we hit up a tea house hoping to find some moon cakes, but couldn't seem to find any place that sold them. So we just relaxed and had a cup of tea. We're starting to wind down this vacation.

And as part of the winding down, we finished off the night with a boat cruise, the Aqualuna for "The Symphony of Lights." It takes you out onto the water to watch the city light up. The lights up the buildings are synced to the music they play on the boat. The effect is pretty nice.

And that's the end of my vacation right there. It's time to pack and get to bed. Our flight's an early one. Yuck.

"This is Your First Time in Macau? Macau Has Been Waiting 400 Years for You."

Just because we're in Hong Kong is no excuse to stay in Hong Kong. We decided to do a day trip to Macau and it was awesome.








Macau's So Close, Why Not?

Caught the ferry to Macau this morning and spent the day being driven around and seeing the sights. The ferry took about an hour and after we went through immigration, we were approached by a tour guide. We got a private tour around the city and our guide dropped us off at regular intervals for photo ops and even let us pause in the middle for a lunch break.

We saw a temple, a burnt out church and a whole slew of casinos. Macau is the place for gambling, to be sure. There was a bunch of other stuff, but these were definitely the best parts. Good pics, too.

After a most excellent day of foreign fun, we caught the ferry back home. Only one more day in Hong Kong and so much to do...

I Can't Claim It Was Our Smartest Idea.

But checking out the giant Buddha during a mega thunderstorm was pretty great. Sure, it's probably not super safe to be that high up with an umbrella and sure it may have been a bit dangerous to climb all those steps-turned-waterfall, but I got some really great pictures.

We rode the crystal car up the mountain to see the Buddha. This cable car has a glass bottom so that you can look down while going up. It's awesome for the first five minutes, but you quickly get bored with looking down. It took about 20 minutes to make the trip up and our cable car was bookin'.

The rain had let up by the time we got to the top so we stood to watch the tutorial on wushu before checking out the shops before the wushu performance. While in the shops, the rain had become a torrential downpour. Wushu cancelled. So we decided to head on up the Buddha. Yeah it was raining a lot, but there are only so many giant Buddhas. By the time we bought the ponchos, we were already mostly soaked. The ponchos still helped on the walk up the stairs.





























And by stairs I mean waterfall. I was reminded of last nights episode of Man v. Wild where Bear gets out of the river just before the river overflows due to a flash flood. These were definitely flash flood conditions. Where was all the drainage? How can mountains flood?

By the time I got to the top of the mountain, I was soaked from the waist down. Good times. We hung out in the Buddha for a while to dry off, but it didn't have much of an effect. Back on down we go. Halfway down, the stairs had really started shooting out water. I was swimming in my shoes.




The adventure wasn't over at the bottom, though. We still had to find the Tea House. There was a lake in front of us. Not a problem. We're already wet. We cross the lake and head on into the woods following this little trail. Halfway in there was a spot where the water ran over the walkway and we were basically fording a river. This water was knee deep. Not deep enough to turn back.

There was no tea house at the other end of the trail. It was just a restaurant. That was closed.
So back across the river, down the trail and through the lake. The lifts were shut down due to the heavy lightning so we had to bus it back down. There was no need for the air conditioner that the driver was blasting and by the end I'm pretty sure I was halfway to hypothermia. The ride down took an hour.

We went to get our refunds and were given complimentary tickets to ride the lift again any time before the end of the year and $100HK only good in the gift shop. So I got a free shirt. Guess who's getting that one, Dad.

We got in some more shopping before heading back home to dry out. It may not have been the best day for the Buddha, but rain or no, we were going to make sure to see it all.

Oh Man. So Much for Budgets.

We started with a jewelry appreciation class about pearls and diamonds and it didn't take long for me to realize how much I didn't know about these two things. I never imagined there were so many questions I should be asking before buying pearls and diamonds. I am resolved to never buy either of these items ever. For my whole life. Never.

I found out that the jade that you find out in the markets isn't real jade. I don't know what makes jade real or fake, so I bought a piece of real jade for myself at the respectable jewelers and bought fake jade for everyone else. No need for anyone to know it's not "real." Oops. Guess the secret's out.


Where does one find fake jade? At the markets of course.

We began our tour of the markets with the flower market and wrapped things up with the night market.


Flower Market:
There were tons of orchids and it was really beautiful. Everything (except the death flowers (lilies)) smelled wonderful and it was a shame we couldn't buy anything. No way it'd get through customs. We also saw some funky tube things I think I recognise from a venus fly trap book I used to read when I was younger.

Bird Market:
Some of the birds were really pretty, but the place smelled. A lot.

Street Market:
This was the coolest place ever. You could buy souvenirs in the form of clothes or knick knacks, silk or knock-offs. They had things that were unique to Hong Kong and things from around the world. And, of course, Fake Jade. I bought a purse here and the newest addition to the seahorse game. I'm pleased with all of my purchases.

Goldfish Market:
This was just a street of pet stores. Some fluffy, some fishy. Tons of awesome fish and tiny turtles. This is where you can buy a whole bag of fish for 1 dollar. So any time all the fish in the fish tank die, Justin can just come here and fill it back up again. Super cheap.

Ladies' Market:
More souvenirs. Starting to get tired.

Missed Jade Market and all the Fake Jade. It closes at 6pm. Lame. We'll try again another day. Bought Fake Jade at the other markets, anyway.

Night Market:
I'm tired. And I spent too much money. I tried dragon fruit juice. Not a fan.

Souvenir shopping almost done. Only person left now is Dad.

And me, of course. Never too many for me.

"Are There Girl Concierges? I Didn't See Those."

Some concierges are nicer and cuter and way more helpful than others. Jason was a good one. He helped us sign up for our tour and reserved us some spots for a jewelry appreciation class. Then he gave us directions and maps and offered to help us figure out how to take a boat tour later this week.

So we hopped on a tour bus this morning to head out and see Hong Kong. We got to sit on the top of the bus and view the whole city. We got off and hit up some stores for a bit of souvenir shopping. Got some good stuff. For serious.

Some Hong Konguins (Hong Kongians?) are beautiful, but not bright. Bus driver number two was neither. Our first bus driver was excellent, but we had to switch a few minutes into the trip. Not a fan of the second one. Two thumbs down, bus driver man, two thumbs dooown.

Then we entered this weird market place. It enticed me with smells of fruits both identifiable and not, but all mouth-watering. Then turn the corner and turn on the gag reflex. The fish smell was overpowering. Every where I looked there were fish sliced open with their guts spilling out. Their oozy air bladders were just placed next to them. The smell... yuck.
I had turkey today for the first time in 7 months. It was wonderful. We found a sandwich shop that did a soup and sandwich combo. I miss turkey.



After lunch we went to hang out on this basketball court to watch a soccer game. There were tons of attractive men running around on one side of the court, but for some reason we were on the not hot side. There were shirtless men on our side, but they were all pushing 70.

For dinner we hit up Soho and grabbed some Mexican food. Teresa saw a bug and we discovered that our unfriendly waiter was just shy. The place was crawling with waygook, and I am reminded how much I hate them. Their loud, dumb, glass breaking smelly heads. They need to go vacation somewhere else.

I've finished the first round of postcards and I already know where to find the post office. Anyone who said thank you can expect one from Hong Kong next.

Oh yeah, why the h are we on the top floor? We got moved this morning and this upgrade sucks. Our room makes weird noises and our ears pop on the elevator. It's smaller and the view's not so good, but we got q-tips and 1 robe. "Upgrade my a**" - Teresa quote. End quote.

I Was 20ft From 2PM's Jun Ho at the Dragon Boat Festival. I Think.

It's not really a harbor view on both sides. It's a nice view on one side, and a very convincing reflective surface on the other. At night we get the illusion of water on both sides. It's still nice.

We headed out this morning to hang out at the Dragon Boat Festival and on the way I bought a new wallet. $10 Hong Kong money is not even $2 US. I'm gonna go crazy here. All kinds of souvenirs. And all of them are for me. I brought the big suitcase with a suitcase inside. It's gonna be awesome.

But for now, I'm just window shopping. I don't want to get stuck with a whole bunch of expensive souvenirs when I discover during the course of the week that there are cheaper options out there. Gotta be smart about this.

We made it to the Dragon Boat thing with the help of a very friendly enthusiastic old man. He knew the way and we arrived with enough time to watch a couple races and load up on free stuff. We got temporary tattoos, free braid pieces, and a bunch of fans. I got a keychain later tonight, too. It was pretty awesome. They even sprayed us down with some complimentary sunscreen trials.
Then we headed over to the beer garden to watch the breakdancing and music shows and got a free Hong Kong pin for filling out the survey. I like it. It's my favorite free thing so far. Then onto Chinese food.

More real Chinese food. Crazy.

We walked through Kowloon Park and saw the aviary and the "maze." It's really hot here, but it doesn't feel as bad as in Korea. I don't get it. Maybe there's a breeze or something.

We got home and discovered that these tattoos are halfway to being permanent. They did not want to come off. They're so bizarre. They smudge like crazy so we thought it would be no problem to get them off. But they don't do much more than smudge. They're sticky and greasy at the same time so they just stay on your arm and become an unidentifiable mess. It took more than 15 minutes to slowly peel them off. Oops.

Lord Save Me from Dean's Mom.

This woman has been buggin me since I first opened this school. If she wasn't sitting in on my interviews telling me what to do then she was cornering me in the teacher's lounge trying to convince me in her super loud super fast Korean that I understand her.

MineGirl is back. I have interviewed this tiny child 3 times now and each time I have placed her in a beginner level. Her mother is not happy with that. I guess she figures if she comes in often enough and continues to invade my personal space that I'll finally see things her way and put her kid in an advanced class.

I won't.

I put my foot down today. I usually try to just lead her to Ruby's office and let the boss go ahead and be her bossy self, but today I just said "no." She kept pointing and finally reverted to slow Korean, but I just kept shaking the head and saying my "Ahn nee yoh" 's. Your kids not advanced. Accept it.

I'll see you next month when you bring your kid back and try again.

I Think Some Things Just Get Lost In Translation.

I can't think of any other way to explain this kind of thing.


When asked about Johnny Tremain and his fellow apprentices:
"With what did Dove return?"
The correct answer? Dove returned with bad coal.

What I got?
"He went to the coal house and returned with a queer."

I can't really connect the dots on this one. And it's not just happening to me. Kid1 and Shadow have been over a few things as well.

When asked about the end of The Giver when Jonas and Gabriel ride the sled down the hill toward the lights in the window:
"What do you think happened to Jonas and Gabriel when they got to the bottom of the hill?"

It's an opinion. Always dangerous territory with Kid1.
"I think Jonas and Gabriel got to the bottom of the hill and were killed by North Korea."

I'm so glad I don't have that one anymore. He's a little sketch.

I Think I Might Have Pink Eye...

But I know I have mud everywhere.

I Got Lost at Mudfest. A Bunch of Times.

I got up early today to get myself to Daecheon Beach for the famous Boryeong Mud Festival- a festival that involves wrestling in the mud pools, getting completely gross, getting painted with more mud before washing off in the ocean to get back in the mud pools and begin it all again. An excellent adventure, to be sure.

I managed to catch the bus with no problems, but discovered that I had run down the minutes on my phone. I was transported back to the days of arriving in a strange city with a plan to meet up with people and having no way to add detail to that plan. The days before my cellphone were full of pay phones, wandering, waiting and luck. Daecheon beach isn't exactly overflowing with the pay phones.

Teresa knew what to do. Minutes don't matter if someone calls you, so I was wandering around waiting for her next call. Success. We headed on into the mud pools.

The mud pools are chaotic. Just standing near one can be hazardous to your health. The first time, I went in willingly. It's crazy. People grab your wrists and waist with the sole intention of tackling you into the mud. Once you're down, you become a target. People will throw mud, nudge you and try and keep you down. I was covered in mud, with mud in my eyes trying to clean myself up with even muddier hands and loving every second of it. I fought my way back out. I was nearly dragged, thrown, and knocked into this pit several times. People were crafty. "Hello, it's nice to meet you!" You go in for the handshake and they grab you above the elbow and tug.

But you're slippery, so you can escape.

Then we headed over to get painted. They cover you in colored mud and you walk around as a messy rainbow of fun. We waited in line for two hours before getting to the front. We got there and they took the mud off the table and tried to tell the people in line to come back later.

You can't do that. You can't just shut the line down. These are dumb foreigners. They'll riot.

Luckily, we were the last people painted.

So we headed on over to the convenient store. Which was right next to a jewelry table and I got lost. I was separated from my party with no idea how to get to the meet up point (the hotel). The festival wasn't really that big. I thought it would be super easy to just stumble on them.

I was lost for 3 hours. Met a lot of new people, some more sketchy than others, but after a while I threw in the towel and made the attempt to find my way back. I thought I'd start by walking up the beach and seeing of anything sparked.

I found a tank full of what Jenn likes to call "sea [expletive deleted]." I remembered Chad (Teresa's former co-worker) making some inappropriate comment about the animals in the tank and I turned left. So far so good. I wandered around the back streets of this perfectly safe terribly muddy town for another half hour and ran into Chad. No Teresa, but at least Chad knew what to do. I made it back.

Went to dinner with Teresa and passed out back at the hotel. Missed the concert and fireworks, but I'm not that upset about it. I was really tired and being lost had taken a lot out of me. The bands weren't that stellar anyways.

Now if it had been 2PM or SS501 maybe I'd have made more effort to make it work...

"Teacher, America Has Fifty One States, Not Fifty."

That's interesting. 'Cause when I left we only had 50... America hasn't changed that much in 7 months, right?

51 states. Why do my kids say that? All of their teachers are telling them that we have 51, but you can just count the stars on the flag, right? Did we add another one? I'll admit, the first time it was kinda funny. But now they share this look among themselves which seems to say "Erin Teacher sure doesn't know too much about America..." Please. It's not like our highschools teach history about a whole lot of other countries...

We couldn't get too deep into this discussion, though, 'cause Cherry interrupted with an "Erin Teacher! Yesterday Lucy cry."

Turns out Narky dropped the ball again. My Red Teddy Bears invited me to a piano recital this weekend and a beef dinner with the family afterwards. I tried to explain that I wasn't available, but wasn't sure the message took. So I brought the issue to our acting director last friday.

"Oh yes, I will call. Don't worry, I will tell them that you already have been make plans." Okay, maybe Nark's not so bad after all.

Narky's a real jerk. He made my teddy bears cry. He never got around to calling. He didn't even connect the dots until one of his students told him how excited her sisters were that they were going to have a teacher come to their house for dinner. Then he broke the news. He still never called.

What a jerk.

I'm Pretty Sure Tooly Was Just Fake-Fired.

That conversation with Ruby never took place on Monday and she has been MIA since then. She looked pretty unhealthy on Monday so I wasn't surprised to see Narky sitting in her office chair on Tuesday.

So Tooly's been sitting in Fake-Firing Limbo since last Thursday and will continue to do so until Ruby recovers enough to share her grand plan with someone else. That, or just comes back to work. It's incredible isn't it? She was well enough to convince her husband to fire him, but not well enough to bother someone to do the re-hiring.

Usually I wouldn't care if she never came back, but I've finished Fahrenheit with PandPGirl and I'm just not sure what our next step is. I'm supposed to be getting ahead on all of my classes this week so that I can skip town week after next, but I just don't have a game plan for PandPGirl. She's only taking classes every other week these days and Hong Kong just happens to fall on one of those weeks. Do I have to prepare something or is ivleague going to be taking over my PandPGirl class?

I don't worry about losing any of my classes to that guy anymore. He's gone in another 5 weeks anyways. And my girls think he's weird.

My Red Teddy Bears Gave Me a Green Polo Shirt.

...What am I supposed to do with it? Wear it? I love green, but it looks bad on me. Should I go for it anyway?

No, I just tried it on.

It's bad. And really short.

I think I'm gonna have to come up with a way to make it work somehow. Maybe some kind of layering...?

The Counter Teacher Runs When She Gets to the Hallway, too.

She rounds the corner and takes off at a sprint. It's amazing. I can't even walk all that quickly until my shoes are all the way tied and she takes off like her 4 inch heels are on fire. So it's customary then, eh? Nothing like a good run after work to really start the night off on a high note.

Cause you know that if you try walking they're gonna chase you down and remember something they forgot to tell you. Nothing ends a tolerable work day like being handed an assignment they may not even remember in the morning.

I shouldn't say "tolerable." I still love my job. My classes are all going well and I enjoy the little shots of self esteem my kids deliver throughout the day. I love hearing my kids work their butts off for Walmart stickers. I was worried today that Ruby would overhear and misunderstand what was happening in my classroom. It would be hard to figure out what was going on if you weren't hanging out at the school for the last 3 weeks.

"Erin Teacher is very beautiful."
"Erin Teacher is very beautiful and very smart."
"Erin Teacher is very beautiful and very smart and very skinny."
"Erin Teacher is very beautiful and very smart and very very skinny and very... tall."

See? You can't really figure out what's going on, can you? Well. My kids get one sticker for every 5 perfect sentences they make. They also know that sometimes I let grammar mistakes slide if they are using their vocab in their sentences. The last couple of weeks have been adjective weeks.

Today we learned comparisons.

"Erin Teacher is taller than Ruby Teacher."
"Erin Teacher is smarter than Tooly Teacher."
"Erin Teacher is nicer than Shadow Teacher."

Not all of their sentences start with me, but they hope that flattery will get them that much closer to the stickers. They love the ones that have English on them.

I wonder if American students would be as enthusiastic about EMart stickers with Korean characters on them...

Did I Call It or What.

I have been thinking for the past few days about my unusual class schedule and realized that something bad is about to happen. There's a lot of free time in our schedules and a new teacher's coming this month. Remember the pattern? Someone's going home. This morning I tried to figure out who it would be. Here's what I had:


Tooly: fraternizing w/ the counter teacher
~ He's been dating the receptionist at our school. That stuff is usually frowned on.

Shadow: got email from recruiter
~ Whenever someone's recruiter emails to check up on them, it means the school has been complaining about them. They emailed Shadow to tell him that the school is unhappy with something.

California: been fired twice already
~ Says it all.

New Guy: on vacation so not available to defend himself.
~ ALSO: ivleague has been teaching all of his classes this week and trash talking his kids.

Erin: has the fewest classes right now.


Turns out I'm psychic or something, because Tooly got the boot tonight. Mr. Kim called him into Ruby's office and told him that the school has too many teachers and is losing money. They can't afford to have 3 teachers for 15 students. They're thinning the herd and he has been voted off the island.

Sure sounds like a fake firing to me. It's a ridiculous reason and we all know it. They really do think we're all stupid. The woman has just opened a new school and is trying to open one in the Philippines. They don't have enough money? Whatever. And the message was delivered by a guy that does not work for this school in any capacity. It's the director's job to fire her employees. Not her husband's job to pass on bad news. He can't actually fire anyone.


I know that everyone was really stressed today, but I have been mad about that whole display nonsense since yesterday. I went up to Narky before I headed home and told him what was up. He was incredibly embarrassed and then told me I could use it. Oh really? Thanks.

Of course I can use it, dumdum. I just told you it's mine. Yeah. Try that again and I'm taking it home.

So another one got fired. Not surprised. I told you back when Tooly arrived that he wouldn't last 3 months. That was April 9th. So. Did I call it or what?

Just for Display.

MiniKim sucks. I saw him for the first time this week and was trying to find something to say in greeting. I have always struggled with the small talk with miniKim. He just has this superior way of speaking that makes me want to punch him in the mouth.

E: "Hey what's going on? How's Ruby doing? Is she up and about yet or still having problems getting up."
m: "She got up a long time ago."
E: "Oh, that's great, is she ready to come back to work?"
m: "She isn't ready to, but she really needs to. This place needs her."
E: "Huh. So her recovery is going well."
m: "Yeah. That's what I said."

Look here, kid. I treat you like a human and I'd appreciate you doing the same. I'm not obligated to ask after the health of your mother. I personally don't care if she ever comes back. Just as long as she takes you with her. 'Cause you suck. And so do your people skills. Fight me.


Later that night he came into the lounge to tell us about the hand sanitizer at the front desk. Narky had seen Shadow using the hand sanitizer before he walked out of school and sent miniKim to deliver a message to Tooly and I so that we could pass the message along.

m: "So guys, actually the hand sanitizer at the front desk is just for display."
T: "What?"
E: "Display?"
m: "Yeah. Display. It's not for use."
E: "So I can't use the hand sanitizer at the front desk?"
T: "It's not for teachers?"
m: "No. It's not for the foreign teachers. It's just in case we get inspected. Actually it's the law in Korea that you have sanitizer on the counter. After the swine flu thing, you know... Every academy has to have a bottle. It's the law."
E: "So we can't use the hand sanitizer at the front desk."
m: "Haha. No."
E: "Because it's only for display."
m: "Yes. Display."

Then he defined "display" for me. That's cute.

'Cause actually that hand sanitizer is mine. Jenn bought a 15$ bottle of hand sanitizer back in March when all of the kids were spewing germs everywhere and when she left she gave it to me. Being a good human, I was sharing it with the other teachers in the lounge. Back before I liked the tools, they would hover around my desk to use the stuff, so I moved it into the middle of the room. One day, it disappeared from the lounge and I found it on the front counter. That's fine. I don't mind sharing it. Ruby knew where it came from, so I thought she had a lot of nerve taking it, but not nearly as much nerve as her son and brother. Can't use my own hand sanitizer? Please.

Narky was in class at the time, so I have to wait til tomorrow to correct this misunderstanding. No use talking to miniKim about it. I'd rather he not talk to me. Ever.

So There IS a Silver Lining to These Class Notes.

I had an excellent day today. All of my classes were cancelled save the Red Teddy Bears so I had a lot of time to just chill out in the Teacher's Lounge all day. Since I had time to kill, I thought I'd check out the other teachers' class notes. There isn't really a set standard with these notes. They're supposed to be written for the parents and students and talk about how the class went and how/what the kids did. You should also mention any problems the kids had with the work or behavior. Here's an example of one of mine:

July 6, 2010

Let's Go: "When do he does gymnastics," "He play tennis." We spent some extra time working on verbs today. We did the exercises very slowly, and they understood by the end.

Students in Space: The homework last night was very difficult. The assignment was to unscramble the words and make a sentence and the girls had a lot of trouble doing this. They will be doing the homework again tonight for practice.

"Where does from come wind?" ---> "Where does wind come from?"
"Why sea salty is water?" ---> "Why is sea water salty?"
"Do snakes ears have?" ---> "Do snakes have ears?"

Words:
guitar
salty
wind
gymnastics


Everyone's notes are little different, but they all follow the same basic guidelines. Reading ivleague's has become one of my favorite past times. I'd like to share a couple of my favorites with you right now.


July 5
The class did not go very well because of two disruptive students and another student who went along with them. Laura and Brian were disruptive, and Lilly did not help matters. Within minutes, Brian was asking if he could go to California's class, not giving himself a chance to benefit from the instruction I could offer. Laura told me she hated me as a joke but did not appear to understand that it was inappropriate to say something like that. Sue and Beth, on the other hand, were conscientious students. I will focus more of my energy on the two committed students next time.

Later that day:

This was not a normal class, as only two students arrived and they were both extremely late. We had a general discussion until I thought they had had enough.


July 6
There were two students, Laura and Dragon. Dragon was playful but surprisingly accurate when he chose to participate. Laura was again disrespectful, striking me and Dragon without cause and telling me that I was ugly and dirty. She does not appear to understand where I am from or what I could do for her if she started listening to me.


"She called me smelly and said she hates meee..." What a guy. I hope Ruby doesn't have a problem with these notes. I would hate for her to "encourage" ivleague to change anything. I'm sure they'll only get better.


After a pick me up like that, I was looking forward to a ChristinaCalifornia evening. New Guy's out of town on his vacation to Japan and those of us left behind decided to go out and celebrate New Guy's escape for the week. I never get to hang out with both Christina and Cali, because Christina does not like New Guy. And New Guy is reluctant to go out on his own. So I enjoyed this rare opportunity which involved Korean style nachos and fajitas also know as "fusion" food.

From dinner we hit up our soju place from the first friday celebration and partied hard. Then onto karaoke. I have never karaoked with Christina before, but she's pretty good. She found a few 2pm songs for us to sing and the machine gave us high scores. I again question what that machine grades us on, since I wasn't really singing the Korean parts.

I mean, I was singing them. But it wasn't in Korean.

I Like How All of My Kids Laugh in Class.

That pleases me. My kids know the rules to having a good time in class. We can laugh as often as we like as long as it doesn't last too long. Too much laughter brings Narky to the window and the surveillance spoils the fun for the rest of class.

Narky can be a real buzz kill. He's not too happy with me right now. I think the stress of running his own school is really getting to him.

He came to talk to me about changing the class time of my Steeler kids. When he mentioned the day it would come into effect, I pointed out that that was the first day of my vacation. He wasn't pleased.

N: "You're taking vacation?! Does Ruby know?"
E: "Yeah I spoke with her back in May. I mentioned it a few weeks ago, too."
N: "What did she say?"
E: "... She said yes." Otherwise I'd be working for another school. How ridiculous. Of course I'm gonna take a vacation. 52 consecutive weeks working with your family is enough to send me on down to Crazy Town.

He inhaled through his teeth creating the I'm- about- to- deliver- bad- news sucking sound that I've come to expect from that family.

N: "Oh no. What are you gonna do?"
"I'm going to Hong Kong," I cheerfully reply. I was excited as only the oblivious could be. And those getting ready for a vacation to Hong Kong, of course.

He looked surprised. I know what he was asking. What he meant was: "I dont know if you can go then, that's too bad..." but I have since come to love playing dumb. It's both fun and effective. I learned this little trick in Cyprus with Dr. Leigh. After getting caught zoning out in class, I asked a question that I thought would cover it. All I managed to do was reveal that I had no idea what he was talking about. Instead of realizing that his lesson was mega boring, the man just assumed I wasn't all that bright. I only got A's in that class. I'm sure he just thought he was being sensitive to the learning needs of one such as myself and lowering his expectations. You can't play too dumb, just mostly oblivious. Too dumb and they think you don't have anything to offer to the students.

As soon as I heard Narky's tone, I knew I'd need to play the dumb card. I was promised paid vacation and paid vacation I will have.

And if they tell me I can't go? I think 6 and a half months at one school is fairly respectable. I wouldn't turn down a chance to switch schools. I love my kids but her family makes it hard to be broken up about losing the job.

I'd pick a better part of town this time. Bongsundong has gotten old. Maybe if Koreans hung out here at all...

I Miss Cyprus.

Eating at the Greek place always brings me back to Cyprus and I get sad when the meal is done. I miss gyros with halloumi and hitting up beaches and being tan and "making parties." I miss my Maro House and my Mia and my orange juice in a box.

But having a gyro with a Cypriot chica helps. She gets it. Cyprus rocked.

After lunch, I headed on home to recover and rest up for the week. Not that a whole lot of resting is gonna be necessary, though. It's gonna be another 2 class a day week. It's like a mini vacation. I like it.

Dongdaemun Market. It's a Good Thing.

Teresa led me to Dongdaemun market today and it's wonderful. They have tons of stalls where you can buy charms and all of the supplies you need to make your own jewelry. This is my new favorite place in Seoul. I'm gonna go there every time I hit up the city. It's gonna be wonderful. Oh my. I wanna wear a different pair of earrings every day.


From Dondaemun we hit up all of the idol shops and I bought a cd and got a poster servis. I want to decorate my living room wall with korean boys. I started with Rain, the Ninja Assassin.

And after meeting the post office guard, I needed to buy more postcards. I have to pace myself. I have a lot of stuff to send and a lot of days I wanna hit up the post office. Oh post office guard...


Next order of business: Food. I haven't been to Kraze Burger since that first weekend we went out with the boys. I love this buzzer. Always good for a smile.

Then we headed off to catch our cruise boat along the Han River. For 40$ you get three bands and unlimited drinks on a boat for 3 hours. Worth it? I think so. The boat was full of foreigners, of course, since America is the only one that celebrates the fourth- or as the Brits were calling it "America Day." What were the British doing on our boat? Havin a good time, that's what.

I love boats.

Crap. I Forgot to Use Blank Stare.

"Erin, are you okay? You look pale and your hair is... is... and your lips are... you look sick."

I am. Of you. I can't believe you came in here at 9:30 on a friday night and expect us to type up class notes. It's not enough that I write them and then have to explain them to you. It's not enough that I already have them posted on my page is it? Why do they all need to be together on some crazy parent's page? Why do they have to be done right now? Not like I haven't been sitting here for the last 4 hours doing nothing.


"The parents want to know how their kids are doing."

Course they do. They always have. That's why we have the notebook system. We write down what happens in class and then you know what to tell the parents when they call. Why are we even handing the books over to you at all? Can't you just look these notes up on line? How irritating.

This has Ruby written all over it. Sounds like someone is trying to work from home and can't do it without our notebooks. The parents don't want to know. She's just getting bored with recovery.

She's gonna be so ridiculous when she gets back. She's had weeks to come up with all kinds of stuff to "fix."


It's been a slow day. I'm getting kind of tired of these. I'm almost ready for someone to show up and throw some crazy into the mix.

At least I'm in Seoul now. I will never let that family's crazy touch me on weekends. I had to endure a pretty terrible bus though. Hottest sauna bus ever. The driver would run the air conditioner every 3 minutes or so for 13-25 seconds. What a monster.

I'm Talking to the Furniture. I Think I Need to Get Another Plant or Something.

One of the side effects of living alone, I'm told. I don't mind. This living alone thing has been pretty awesome. I have no complaints with this place right now. Sure we have all manner of crazy bugs, but we don't have mosquitos. Scratch that. I don't have mosquitos. Everyone else in Korea is slapping the bloodsuckers away, but I'm not being bitten. They're not even trying. I don't know if it's me or the apartment, but one of us is a really awesome repellent.

I don't know when that new girl is supposed to be making an appearance, but I think I might have some trouble with that transition. I was never a very good roommate (selfish, loud, mean, etc.) but now that I have lived here for 6 months, I'll be even worse. I'm probably not gonna be all that understanding towards this interloper. I already get mad when I think about her touching my stuff or not washing the dishes (that I already don't wash) or leaving her junk all over the apartment. Never mind that I'll probably be the obnoxious one or that her room is really not big enough for all her junk, but when I think about how her clothes will be drying all over the living room floor this winter, I get mad. God help this girl, I'm gonna make her crazy. I think this school has made me into a crazy cake, too.

Speaking of school, Ruby is still recovering and is supposed to be out of commission for another week at least. We (me) sent her flowers and I wasn't surprised to hear Narky tell me he had no idea how much they were going to cost. "I've never sent flowers before." Yeah. I guessed that about you... He prides himself on being able to find the cheapest things online, but I have yet to benefit from this particular skill of his. Everything he's helped me with has ended up being 20-30$ more than what I have found and the flowers were no exception. We bought a $70 get well basket when what I really wanted was just a bouquet of daisies or carnations or something. Don't tell me there wasn't anything cheaper. I got all 3 of my houseplants for less than ten.

At least I get to enjoy life without Ruby. It is pretty sweet. The only thing that could make it better is if I didn't have to see miniKim everyday. That kid seriously irks me. I hate being talked down to. Especially when it's being done by a 17 year old high school dropout spy.

He's even given me a complex. Every time he comes into the teacher's lounge he turns off the air conditioner and opens all of the windows. He waits about 10 minutes and then closes the windows and turns the air conditioner back on. I can't tell if he's trying to test whether we need the air conditioner or if he's airing out some horrible smell.

Maybe I do smell. Maybe that's why there are no mosquitos flying around me. Maybe I'm better than mosquito repellent.

One thing is certain, though: miniKim definitely doesn't smell wonderful. He needs to be bathing regularly.