It's been a while!

Ok.... I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything and I am truly sorry about that! I need to make it a goal to blog at least 2 times a month!

Let's see.... Since the last time I wrote on here a lot has changed. Most of you already know this, but still I should reiterate what happened. I somehow managed to catch an eye infection known as pink eye from one of my students. I went to the doctor and they gave me medicine to take care of it. When I went to work that day, even though I shouldn't have, my boss thought that even though I had a serious and can I say very contagious infection I had to work. It all got a little out of hand and I finally quit! I'm so happy!

I found a new job the next week and since it didn't start until the end of July I went home for the summer. I had the best summer I've had in a long, long, long time! My time was spent between Enid, Stillwater, Shattuck and the city. I had a lot of drinks and food with family and friends. Most of my time was spent hanging with my mom at the lake near Stillwater. I will always remember this past summer! A lot has changed for me!

I've been in Sanbon, South Korea for a little over two months now. I have the best employeers and my co-workers are amazing! My work hours are very different from teaching at a Kindy school or in America. I work from 2-9. Most of my students are in middle school so they can already speak pretty good English which I like because we can carry on a converstaion easily. I have made amazing friends here in Sanbon and I've started to spend my time helping others out when I can. I am a member of a facebook organization called P.L.U.R. It stands for peace, love, unity and respect. There is something every week where you can donate your time and love to help the less fortunate out. I think it is very important to give back to the community and I am so glad I finally stepped up to the plate. I'm not a saint by any means, you all should know that! It is just an awesome feeling being able to help someone out and give them a little love.

I'll try to get on here in a couple of weeks and let you know how living in the ROK is :)

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from South Korea!!! Let's see... I don't remember what I wrote in my last blog. I guess I should have checked that out before I started writing.... Oh well :) Well a lot has been going on in the past month..... My boss went from kind of crazy to a full on PSYCHO!!!!! Seriously! I've managed to just ignore her and I have been getting along fine..... Although my mom said she mailed a package to me for St. Patty's day and I still haven't received it.....Hmmm.... I'm conviced that she has confiscated my mail. God knows and will take care of it for me :)

I went to the DMZ this past weekend and it was crazy! There was a lot of tension, but I felt happy and free at the same time. The men were on alert and we were not supposed to make any hand gestures or else they could possibly attack. I had to fight the urge not to wave at the guy standing in front of the North Korean building. It's crazy how the world is! I'm so glad that I am from America! I'm very very very thankful for everyone who has fought to make our country free. Back to North Korea. I'll post my pics on facebook for everyone to see. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted because of all the strict rules so please don't be disappointed! There was a briefing before we went on our tour and they showed some very brutal pictures. There was one where 3 American men were being axed down by the North Korean men. Such a tragedy..... There was also a picture of the two flags in the same shot where you could tell that North Korea's flag was taller. South Korea years ago built their flag to be taller and it stood at 100 km.... North Korea turned around and built theirs even taller to stand at 160 km. Damn communist!

I'm going to On the Border for dinner with co-workers tonight and then to DUBLIN.... an Irish bar in Gangnam. I'm excited and wearing my green to prove it! I hope you all have a fantastic St. Patrick's Day!

I love and miss you all! Cheers! Combaeo in Korean :)

February in a nut shell

Hello!!!!
What to say..... Well first let me apologize for not writing on a regular basis. It's just so hard, but you all know where to find me.... I'm always on MSN and Facebook. Also MOM you need to go help grandma set up an e-mail account so she can become part of facebook so she can look at my pics. Either that or take your laptop to her house and show her.
Recently as you have probably seen on facebook my friend Brittney(from OK/TX) and I went snowboarding. Let me tell you we were the ONLY foreigners there! We got there early not knowing what to expect and they told us we had to wait. So we went to the coffee shop and just lounged around for an hour or so. Then we went to try to get our boards and everything. We had a personal guide to help us!!! He barely even spoke English.... wait wait... he didn't speak ENGLISH! Somehow we managed to rent everything necessary ( including ski pants for myself) and we were asked to wait in this area. We felt like we were on lock down. I even asked the guide if we could leave and they said no no wait. Apparently we were waiting until it was closer to 6 p.m. so that we wouldn't ski early. Finally we got to go boarding. It was only my second time and Brittney had only been a couple of times so we had no idea what we were doing. It took us probably 20 minutes to figure out how to put the board on! Ha Ha! Once we got to the top and put our board on we just went with it. Surprisingly we weren't that bad. I only bit it a couple of times and that was when I was trying to turn. We went down the bunny slope about 3 times and then moved to the next slope. We were having so much fun and we ended up meeting these 4 Korean guys who just happened to used to be snowboard instructors. They were really cool and patient with us. We had a fantastic time and I'm so glad we finally went. I think we are going again in a couple of weeks before the season is over.
My friend Kristina left last Sunday and her boyfriend Ryan(who is also a co-worker and friend) is leaving this Sunday. I am truly sad because I LOVE both of them! They are great people. However I won't miss Ryan making me drink all the time haha! Actually we are going to play Edward 40 Hands tomorrow after work. For those of you who don't know Edward 40 Hands is when you tape 2 40's to your hands. Both hands have 1 40 in them and youcan't take them off until you have finished them. As you all know I have a bladder the size of a peanut so I am going to wear sweat pants so I can just pull them on and off. Hopefully! haha
This Saturday my friend and co-worker Sophia and I are going on a trip. I don't remember the name of it, but it's called "Museum without walls".... I'll take lots of pics so look for them on facebook.
Anyways that is it for right now!
I love you all!!!!!!!!

Birthday Month!!!!!!!

Hellooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went to Sanbon yesterday to visit my friend April who is in the hospital after having back surgery. I was only there for about an hour and she fell asleep. I feel so sorry for her because she is in a large room that she has to share with about 8 other people. It was kind of funny because everyone in there would speak Korean and then look over at us. Then they started saying "Ice Cream" mixed in with their Korean and soon there was a "Pink Lady" (they are the ones who help the sick people like my friend April)with ice cream bars. It was kind of nice, but in the same sense like "Hey! Do you think Americans are fat so we want MORE ice cream!?!?" ha ha. After April went to sleep my friend Kristina and I went to some Indian fod place and had an amazing dinner!

As you all know my birthday is coming up! I know that you all have already sent my presents ahead of time becuase you wanted me to get them on my birthday and I just want to say "THANKS"!!!!! HA HA! On a serious note thank you for thinking of me. Now Brandi don't forget that you are going to take g-ma out to celebrate! This is her second birthday without me and I think it's still hard for her. :) Kasie, Brandy, Brandi, Tara, Jen, Moo-Moo and Stana and anyone else that I am forgetting to mention please go out and celebrate for me! Kasie .... only 2 shots of tequila! ha ha! I know that everyone is probably glad I'm in another country so you don't have to participate in my birthday month shenanigans!!!! Ha! Ha!

As for me.... I think that my friends and I are going to eat at Hooters at 6:00, hit "HAPPY TIME" at 7:30-8:00, go and eat again to soak up the mounds of alcohol involved at "HAPPY TIME" and then go out clubbing. Last time we went to Monkey Beach which is where "HAPPY TIME" is I along with everyone else only remember about an hour of being there..... so believe me the second round of food is neccessary! Ha Ha!

I promise I will take lots of pics of my birthday to show you!!!! I love and miss you all!!! I really wish you could be here in this AWESOME country to celebrat my birthday with me! Toodles!!!

Sorry Friends!

I apologize for my lack of blogging in the past month. I have been trying to adjust to life, work, and new friends in Korea. Have I said that I love it here yet???? Well I do!

I'm getting used to the way people act around here and settling into my new job. I was on the subway the other day and this little old lady just rammed right into me. I wanted to yell at her, but quickly realized that this is just how it is in South Korea. I laughed about it after I looked to see who pushed me and saw a little old lady smaller than my own grandma looking at me like "What?" Ha Ha!!!

I've been exploring my area a lot and trying out the korean food. I try to keep a positive attitude, but it's hard when you can't even read the dang menu! I think some of the girls I work with are going to take a class in Gangnam I might join! If I'm going to be here I either A) need to take classes or B)hook up with a Korean guy... HAHaHAHA!!!

Well I'm getting ready to get off work so I'll try posting something when I get home..... I love you all and miss you terribly!

Annyong Haseyo.............. Means hello/goodbye :)

First Week of work

My first 3 days of work have been very different from anything I expected..... I am teaching one kindergarten class that hardly speaks or understands English. I do my best and we play a lot of name matching games. I say dog and they have to find the picture of the dog on the desk. Crazy fun! Oh and I found out that when you say "You're crazy" you are basically calling them retarded...... Who knew... I already called some of my students retarded! Go me! I also a very cute group of kindergarteners that speak very well. I have just been teaching them the months and things like that. I have one super smart class. We always finish our work within like 20 minutes and they want to play games for the rest of the hour. That would not fly with my director. My director, Ms. Lee, has told me several times "More Detail!" for the lesson plans. Does she remember that this is my 3rd day??? Probably not! Anyways I think in a couple of weeks I will have a handle on things and be able to teach without having someone looking over my shoulder. :) I'll keep you posted!

As for non work stuff... I tried to act like a Korean the other night.... I flagged a taxi down at like 5 something in the morning and drunkingly stumbled to my apartment. It's a lot different over here staying up until 5 or 6 as it is back home. Plus the drinking is more intense. I did do the sprinkler in the middle of this big circle of koreans! Go Me! My friends and I are going to go to this bar called Jane's Groove on Saturday. I can't wait it supposed to be a ubber good time!
Last night I went and ate with some co workers Ryan and Christina. They took me to a fast food Korean place. I didn't think it was fast food, but it was really not tasty! The owner was laughing at me and trying to tell me how to eat my food. I guess I was supposed to mix it all together. Sounds not good to me! Plus I still can't use chop sticks! I'm so LAME!!!!!

I'll update you on how I'm doing in a week or so! Until then I love and miss you all.

It's been a week!

Hi Friends! It's been a week since I left Oklahoma and I have to say I'm having an amazing time! I've made some friends which is great and they are all really fun and interesting. A couple of days ago I met with my friend Mike and we went out drinking... Again we went to the noribong to sing. Tons of fun. We tried to find another bar after that, but no one understood us so we called it a night. A FUN NIGHT! Yesterday I went and met my new friend April in Sanbon. We went to a Korean Folk Village which was really interesting. You guys can see my pictures on facebook and myspace. On the subway I met two Korean men who both speak very good English and helped me find my way. We've exchanged information and I'm looking forward to hanging out with my new Korean friends :). Don't worry.... I'll only hang out with them in public places to make sure they aren't weird :) Colin has asked me to come to Kunsan for New Years Eve. Don't know if I'll go or not. We'll see. Anyways.... I will keep you posted!!! Have a Happy New Year! Can you believe it's almost 2009! Where has the time gone?