MRT Trains, Local Trains, Express Trains....oh the Timing of all the Trains....

MRT Trains, Local Trains, Express Trains....oh the Timing of all the Trains... So I'm traveling to Hulien so that I can finally visit Toroku gorge and I actually end up falling asleep on the train.  Now I made three mistakes in this little adventure. First, I was so tired and I fell asleep, second, I woke up and read my clock wrong,  and third, I got off the train thinking that I would just have to re-route back for 10 minutes or so based on the time that I'd overslept.   As I was stepping off the train, I had a thought flash across my mind that maybe this wasn't the best stop to get off due to the lack of other passengers exiting and the darkened station.  But I did get off and I found the station manager who was so sweet to help me and seemed especially confused about why I was at that particular station.  Using monkey talk (basic charades), I managed to convey that I had been sleeping when the train had stopped at Hualien and so I had decided to get off at the next nearest location to try and correct my error.  After discovering that the only other person at the station could speak a little bit of english, we were able to translate what I needed to do and where to go.  So, with ticket in hand, I made my way back up the platform where I waited for a local train to take me to Saaoxin station where I would re-board another Express train to Hulien City. After all of this hooplah, I sat in my seat and re-looked at my map and realized that yes, I had fallen asleep but that I shouldn't have gotten off the train in the first place!  I had still had an hour left of my trip!  It turns out that my ipod hadn't synced up with the local time and instead of adjusting for that hour ahead, I took it as the real time and thought that I'd missed my stop by a mere 10 minutes.  No wonder the train manager was so confused about why I had gotten off at his station when all I had to do was stay on the train!!!!!  And so, here I am feeling foolish and wide alert and waiting for my next stop, hopefully in Hulien City!  Update:  I am here in Hulien and safe and sound and going to bed to get a good night's rest for tomorrow's adventures!

Angels in my Asian Outfield

Angels in my Asian Outfield As a member of the Murphy's Law team, I've always found myself in the strangest, most random, and, at times, the most frustrating of predicaments.  As a result, I've learned to always have what some would like to refer to as a backup plan. I'd rather refer to the strategy of being a problem-solver becuse even the back-up plan to the back-up plan rarely gets carried out in a linear fashion as was pre-arranged.  And so, while it usually works out in the end, I cannot fully take credit for my successful adventures in the midst of traveling chaos.  My best friend once said that I was the type of person where one angel was insufficient, the angels must have had a meeting where it was decided that I would have a whole team of angels on duty for me.  There have definitely been times where I would agree one hundred percent with this!  This trip has been spectacular and though I attribute a large percentage of it to my "dynamic" personality (and I've had so many taiwanese and korean people so sweetly tell me this) but in my moments of gone with the wind attitude and when my plans have gone belly-up, those angels have stepped into high gear and saved the day.  If I think about them in terms of angel office policy I cringe when I think of the paperwork that has been submitted due to my behaviour :p  On the other hand, my journey has been wonderful, random, and full of positive experiences; everything that I was hoping that this traveling adventure would be....

Traveling Souls....

It seems like every time I sit down and get started writing that I'm always  wonderfully interrupted by someone!  I keep meeting the kindest, most interesting, and most generous individuals.  Of course they always apologize for how "poor" their english is even though they seem to keep up with our conversation and my wacky expressions just fine (with a little bit of an explanation about my humour).  It seems like the written story of my asian journey may never be written about sequentially or written accurately at least in terms of the emotions and the various and random combination of choices and details that led to these special meetings.   I believe that everything happens for a reason and that stumbling upon these people brings something special to my life and, I would hope, their lives too.  My journey is not so much about the places that I visit and the statues and landscapes that I pose with (though they will be plentiful and posted accordingly) but rather, the tiny happenings and thoughts that are along the way and are too numerous to even attempt in documenting.  These momentary occurences may not be the most memorable of my trip if I try to recollect them as an individual but if I think about them as a whole then the are given a collective identity within my mind as a guiding positive force.  I feel my energy rising as I talk with these people and I can see the other people responding in a physically and energy-reviving way.  It creates a circular path as we connect on a deeper level than mere words.  Separate of the language and culture barriers, we are part of a soul-coupling that allows us to be authentic with one another.  For that moment, even though I will probably never see them again (although nowadays with facebook I am quickly gathering up the number of internet friends as I go along) I have taken part in the pure essence of what it is to be a person; to be full of positivity, to reach out, to ascend beyond the restrictions of norms and pleasantries, and to be consciously ignorant of the pressures to form a good impression.  As a result of this soul-coupling, I have willingly accepted this natural and positive friendship and can move forward with a greater sense of self.    ` `

Our Furry, Fashionable, Scooter Friendly Accessories

So now that I've seen almost every combination possible of scooter passengers, I was actually surprised to a couple drive by in matchy-match tan leather bomber jackets.  Now, if you live in Asia (especially in Korea) this matchy-match phenomena is no surprise and in many places you actually get discounts for these "couple sets" as well as bonus points for advertising your "coupleness."   Yet, this was my first time seeing a daschund and its owner paired up in such fashionable (and practical) attire.  How long do you think that this woman had to search for such an outfit?  Perhaps it was easier than the average westerner would assume, for if you make your way down to the market area, they have venders catering specifically to your doggie clothing needs.  Everything from faux leather to faux Gucci and ballerina tutus for your furry child surrogate.  Now, not to point fingers at the absurdity of this asian trend because thanks to Paris Hilton in the early 2000's, we also have a generation of mini poodle-toting fanatics who shove their animals into tiny carry-alongs and have them fluffed, manicured, and dressed to perfection.  Well, news update North America, Asia's got you beat in the market now that they are dressing their animals for all occasions and freedoms (at least these pets get to breath and wander rather than being encased on a daily basis) and have "organic" lines of make-up and hair dyes that can primp your puppy up to live up to the high maintenance lifestyle of their mistresses (although I have seen a few men at fault).   So ladies, if a man is too much work to primp, pamper, and mold to your liking then might I suggest that you throw your well-intended (but oh so wrong) need to mold a partner into a store-front couple into the realm of pet ownership.  Just remember, as cute as it is, that animal lives for at least 10 years, it eats, barks, needs love, and it definitely won't pick up after itself.  Well enjoy the trend while it lasts and get ready to pick up a second job to pay for that second wardrobe ;P

My Food Goes Down the Murphy Drain

Tonight I went to a cute European style restaurant here in Chaiyi with some of the "practice hotel's" occupants. While everyone else ordered delectable pastas and beef sauteed in wine sauce, I decided to try out the Kung Pao Chicken. Having eaten some chicken rice an hour or so beforehand, I wasn't particularly hungry but I figured that I could get it packed up and taken home (an easy feat in Korea). So while I'm picking away at my food with my mouth running a mile a minute discussing the differences between the education systems in Canada and the USA, everyone is getting their food packed up. So finally, the waitress comes back to the table where I've neatly arranged my side of ride in my barely-touched bowl and I make a motion to wrap it up and give her a positive response (Duay) to her question (I'm assuming that she was asking me a question). Well we sit and sit for about five minutes waiting for her return and peering around the table to see what on earth could be taking so long because half the restaurant's occupants (us)are about to leave and the other table seems to be quite content. We make a few cracks about how they probably didn't think that I wanted my food and they're probably chowing down on it in the back or have accidentally thrown it out but I start to get a little concerned about my food's whereabouts. Finally, we motioned to her to come back to the table and attempted to ask about my food and she made the universal "ooooh" sound and scurried off to the back room. Once again we start in about how they've probably thrown it out and are scraping it off the top of the trash and throwing it into a box just to please the crazy foreigner but as I'm laughing hysterically, I realize that my chances of getting my food back are waning as the seconds pass by. I couldn't even look her in the face when she returned to the table to quickly us that my food had indeed been thrown into the pit of no return. Only me! Everyone else had gotten their food wrapped up with no problems. Why on earth would she have assumed that I wanted my food taken away and discarded? I can only assume that as she was pulling my plate away she had been asking if I was fully finished with my food and I had stupidly answered with the only word I deemed suitable for the situation being played out as I perceived it...."correct, correct" or rather "Duay, Duay". My one word of chinese sealed my food's fate. Into the trash it went. My tasty and super pricey (by taiwanese standards) Kung Pao Chicken. I'm seriously considering taking a vow of Chinese silence and reverting back to the ignorant foreigner content to use monkey language and nothing else. It seems to have worked so far....especially at the tea stands....but that's another story.... Here's to you Murphy!!! You got me again!

Getting Home!

So there isn't really an official countdown for my return home for vacation :(  The reason for this is that after pulling in tons of favours and sweet-talking my boss(and basically setting it up so she couldn't say no), I finally managed to get 3 weeks of vacation time.  Now, between travelling time, jet lag and whatnot, this will probably translate into only 2 weeks...still more than most people get for their vacation time.  How did I do it?  By being brilliant ;)

Actually, I decided to take a chance and see ask my boss if it was legit to get a substitute for extra time that I wanted off.  I started off small and reminded her the terms of my contract and that I wanted to get my entire ten days (unfortunately, this included weekends) off but that I was hoping to get some extra time so I could make it to an additional wedding while home.  She said that if I could find a foreign teacher that was Canadian or American (there's so many South Africans and Brits around here that I wish she hadn't put those conditions on it)then it would be ok. Awesome right?  Vacation time here I come!  All I have to do is dangle money and the hours in front of a few people, right? Easier said than done.  Apparently, this is the absolute worst time to take a vacation!!!  EVERYONE is going on vacation!  Public is finished and teachers have a week of vacation during that time and all of the university students get out around that time!  UGH!!!  Ok, so after talking to dozens of people and pulling in some major favours, I managed to find a girl who knew a guy who knew a girl who miraculously was able to take the position...but only for evenings...darn.

Now, I have a crappy schedule and unfortunately that is the curse of anyone who works at a hagwon, especially one that caters to adults as well as the usual clientele of children.  So I had to sweet-talk my morning class into attending my evening class and get my coworkers to pick up my kiddie evening classes and voila!  Nope, if only it were that simple.  So I decided to become a little greedy and get a second teacher for an extra week in August.  As long as they were a warm-bodied-foreigner capable of carrying on a conversation who cares, right?  Wrong once again!  So my boss is shocked that I've managed to be so self-sufficient in arranging all of this (not that she has the time or the energy to do so herself) and although she admits that it seems all fine and dandy, I can't possibly take that much time off.  And why, she asks, do I want all this time off?  Well I couldn't just come out and say, "because I'm rundown and exhausted and I want out of this place just for a little while and have conversations with people where grammar and vocabulary aren't continuously running through my head while I speak!"  So instead, I mentioned that I wasn't sure if I would make it back home for Christmas and that I wanted to make this time with my family and friends as good as possible. 

Well she was sympathetic but then she decided to drop the hammer on me and tell me that the reason for these vacation restrictions was that the hagwon had recently signed a new 3-month long company contract and that restricts the teachers vacations...translation...no one gets vacation time during this contract.  Ummm, I don't think I'm going to roll with that :)  So, I've managed to get my time covered but I do feel so bad for my coworkers especially because we are also picking up extra hours because one of our korean teachers just finished up and moved to Seoul.  

Okay, so long story short (rather than tell you about the many aggravating hours that I spent on the phone), I'm going to reaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllly enjoy my vacation this month!  Now, to finish booking my flight and get home.  Note to self: never leave bookings until the last minute especially when you are depending on the permission of your workplace.  Next time, I'm just going to book it and let them know and find a way around the system...it's what I do best...especially with all of my experiences dealing with Mr. Murphy :)

Teacher, What's Your Name???

My students caught me one day and they realized that I didn't know all of their names...fair enough.  But tell me, in the land of Kim's, Lee's, and Cho's, how is one supposed to remember every student's Korean name?  At least I try to!  Most foreign teachers just give them English names and go from there.  I've done pretty well and I even shock some of the adult students when they spell it out for me Hangul-style and I'm able to pronounce it.  But seriously, when you have a Chong Man, Choong Man, and Ji Man it's kind of difficult to keep them straight.  So I spent a little time going over the registry and memorizing their names.  If only they could remember mine...

After 3 months, I asked my students what my name was and none of them could remember so we played a little game of hang man.  I guess it took awhile for them to figure out...

My First Teacher's Mug!

We all got cute little mugs so that we can be all caffeined-up to greet the day...and our students.  For a mere 100 won, I can get half a cup of instant coffee from the machine. Yay!!! Actually, more like yuck. Also, though the packaging is super cute, the coffee from the Paris Baguette is not only bitter but watered down at the same time...how is that possible???  So, I vowed that I would never drink from there again.  Thankfully, I finally got my hands on a coffee-grinder and french press so I can have a decent cup of caffeine in this city of instant caffeine.

Being Oh Soju Naughty..

So I went out with my new friend, Rona, who also happens to be my language exchange partner.  We decided to go for dinner and party it up this Saturday and after a lovely italian dinner (complete with Kimchi and pickles, lol) we went for a pitcher of Soju (similar to vodka) at a local place.  Unfortunately, Korea doesn't really work like Canada in the idea of just going out for a few drinks.  A group is usually required to order food as well. It's kind of a reversal of us going for wing night back home, you can have the cheap wings but you have to order the pricey drinks.  In Korea, you have to order the pricey food to get the cheap drinks.  However, we had just eaten and were absolutely stuffed so when I ordered our drinks (in somewhat decent Korean) I didn't think there would be a problem.  Happy with our order, I made my way to the ladies room and when I returned, poor Rona informed me that because it was a weekend we would be required to order food so we made the decision to leave. Easily done right???  Nope.  The manager stood in our way and informed us that because our pitcher was mixed that we would have to stay and also order food.  He was incredibly rude, to the point that even I, as a foreigner, could pick up on the fact that he was failing to use a formal and respectful manner of speaking.  After ten minutes of haggling, he finally agreed to poor our drink into a "to-go" cup and let us be on our way.  Now, I am not very good at insulting people in Korean except to tell them that they are either crazy, ugly, boring, or a dog-baby (yes, that is a huge insult) so I gave him the evil eye, pointed my finger (very rude in Korea because that is how you talk to dogs) and told him that he was a very rude man in a very rude tone, gave a flip of my hair and stomped out.

Poor Rona, she's never been spoken to like that and it was incredibly embarrassing for her especially since they poured our drink into an empty soju bottle.  Drinking on the street is perfectly acceptable but not for women and especially not if you're drinking soju so Rona was incredibly hesitant to do so.  My solution???  Go buy 2 "to-go" coffee cups from a convenience store and transfer our drinks into them for a secretive way for us to sneak them into the bar.  She loved it!  I told her that this is what teenagers do in America and she had a blast after I hyped it up as our way to bond as a Soju Adventure!!!

So, note to self: order food no matter where you go so that you can have cheap drinks and if the management is rude then feel free to be rude back because in Korea...rudeness is unacceptable and the man was either racist against me or just plain crazy with poor customer service.  Either way, I feel like we won that battle in the end, we had a fantastic night...!!!

Nom Nom Nom Nachos!!!!

Yes, I admit it...nachos are the love of my life!  I absolutely can't live without them and their cheesy, spicy, crunchy goodness!  It's not like I haven't tried but everytime life gets me down it's the salt and spice that have given me my strength back.  Unfortunately, I knew that our time together as the food lover and beloved would eventually come an end and so I took it upon myself to mentally and physically prepare myself.  Everyone informed me that nachos would be a no-go in Korea and after going through the five stages of grief, I finally came up with a brilliant plan to part from my favourite food without having a mental breakdown and resorting to setting up a salsa and chip creation-station in my Korean apartment where I would use anything that I could find to mimic my mexican goodness!

And so, it began...I ate nachos every week for two months before I left.  I figured that if I saturated my taste buds with enough salsa, jalapenos, guacamole, and such then I would become so sick of them that I wouldn't want to see another chip for at least sic months.  Did it work?  Kind of...I did tire of them but only at the very end of that two months.  But here I was, three months into Korea and dying for a plate of nachos!  Leave it to me to hunt down the needed ingredients in a country where mexican food is practically unknown.  So, how did I manage to find all of this deliciousness?  Well I scoured the markets for whatever I could find and I did manage to find a TINY jar of Salsa...for $10.  Could I do it?  Well I did.  And it was delicious!  But I wanted more!  More dammit!  Thank goodness for the military base with all of that American food!  Cheap tortilla chips, salsa, and some Costco jalapeno havarti cheese (from the city of Daejon) made out meal complete!  Our?  Yes, I shared with a couple of friends and we ate our nachos ghetto style...on the floor using a box as a table and mason jars as glasses...that my friends, is how we roll in Korea!

WTF!  Who puts lettuce on nachos???  American friends that 's who!!!

Drag Queen

I went to the club last Thursday and even though it was an incredibly slow night, it was still a ton of fun.  I learned some more Korean, chitchatted with the staff who now absolutely adore me, and met the most adorable Korean guy who works there as a bartender.  He likes to dress up for fun and he decided to wear a lion costume that night. Upon sharing our costume stories, he disclosed that he likes to dress up as a woman, particularily as famous Kpop singers.  I was amazed.  There is apparently a drag community in Korea!  So that conversation quickly turned into an English lesson as I explained to him the meaning of the word Drag Queen.  I'm telling you, there are all sorts of crazy and fun people in this city.  Whoever said that Koreans are super conservative and stuffy might have been right about the general population but I'm always able to find the wild ones that like to have a good time!

Cafe Arista

Another fantastic little coffee shop.  I know that you folks are probably getting tired of me posting about them but here in Korea, the woman go out to coffee shops in droves.  This particular one is along "Bar Street" and is usually quiet and fairly unoccupied.  The cozy couches and english music creates the perfect atmosphere for writing and quiet contemplation.  It isn't quite as artsy inside as one would think but rather more old lady-style but it is still a nice place to check out.

Fat Korea!!!

Breads in all shapes and sizes!!!

Hot Dogs on Everything!!!

It is my personal opinion that globalization is going to be the end of good health in Asia, at least from what I’ve observed in Korea.  A trip to the market leaves me yearning for a good salad.  Back in Canada I went through phases of being a health nut and then I would fall into bad habits but I haven’t eaten like this in a very long time.  Even my month of noshing on taco chips (it was my plan to beat my crippling taco chip craving while in Korea: eat them until I never want to see them again) wasn’t as bad as how some people eat here. 

The stereotype of healthy Koreans no longer holds as much truth as it once did.  While some meals do include many veggies, many of them are lacking anything green whatsoever and are a combination of carbs, meat, and oil.  Still not that bad though.  What is going to kill the next Korean generation is their obsession over sweets.  Donut shops are rampant in this city. There is a Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins right across the street from one another.  You only have to walk a mere five minutes in almost any direction to find a Paris Baguette or Tous les Jours to get your crème puff, pizza bun, or cinnamon bun fix.  Oh wait, what about the weird tendency to slap hot dogs on anything from bread, pizza bread, and...donuts??? Chocolate sticks and chocolate bars (actually anything chocolate) causes these children to lose all rational. I could pour chocolate syrup on a piece of bread and they’d all be climbing on top of one another in their attempt to get the first bite as I wave it in front of them.  Now I know that I’m often an enthusiastic story teller but this is not an exaggeration.  Maybe I’ll test out this theory and tape it for you. 

I haven’t eaten so many sweets and breads in a year as I have in the past month.  They also have a weird love for hot dogs here.  There’s a huge section in the market for hot dogs and each bakery has its share of hot dog sandwiches smeared with gobs of mayo.  Mayo is another favourite of this culture.  You can buy tubs of it at the Costco and oftentimes the “salad” at a restaurant is a half cup of mayo with a sprinkling of cabbage.  Ramen noodles and chip sticks are common snacks for children here and my students never seem to be without a good supply. 

America has come to Korea and it’s going to take its toll in the next decade.  After witnessing the effect of bad diet in the western world, I would have hoped that Korea would be more careful with what is on the daily menu.  Right now Korea has public health care and from what I hear it is a good system.  Just wait until all the children from this generation grow up, get fat, and become diabetic and have high blood pressure.  I’m pretty sure that it will drain the healthcare system.  To the people of Korea!  Stop eating cake, and donuts, and chips!!!!  You are making yourselves fat and now that I’m living in Korea…I’ve already started packing on the pounds…L

Uhhh....We Lost Him, Mack

Not exactly the words that I wanted to hear when inquiring about the whereabouts of my dinner partner who had yet to call me today.  I'm surprised that USA hasn't started tagging their military boys (and women, I suppose) with GPS tracking devices.  If I had a dollar for everytime I've heard that a story about one of the boys being MIA, I'd have enough money to buy a ticket someplace cool so that I could have the opportunity to be MIA too.  It's not fair that everyone else is having all the crazy fun in this country.  But seriously, what happened to the mantra of "never leave a man behind"?  How do all these military boys end up waking up in different cities than where they began or showing up looking dishevelled almost 24 hours later. Well, it should be interesting to hear the story this time around when A-Rod finally shows up.  I wonder what trouble he got himself into...

Like a Pro

As almost all of you know (or should know) Canada does have chopsticks.  Due to my fondness for Chinese takeout and sushi, I've become quite adept at using them over the years.  In fact, I can even use them fairly well ambidextrously.  Being the "chopsticks pro" that I am, I thought that it would be extremely easy to eat in Korea.  Hells no!  First of all, we have wood or plastic chopsticks back home.  This makes them lightweight and easy to maneuver.  Koreans have stainless steel chopsticks and they only use these and a long-handled spoon as table utensils.  You would think that transferring my skills over would be an easy task but these babies are slippery, awkward, and heavier to use.  In fact, my friend Kelly had to feed me ramen because I was having some difficulty picking up those slippery noodles. Thankfully (although it was annoying at first), all I had for eating utensils in my apartment (and all that I could find to buy) were pairs of metal chopsticks and spoons.  Well, I practiced and practiced and now I'm a complete pro at handling these bad boys!  My Korean students and friends always drop a jaw when we go out to eat and I'm not stumbling over how to hold them or continuously dropping food like other foreigners.  And now that I do have a set of western utensils in my house (all thanks to the American airbase shopping trip), I choose the chopsticks.  It's not until I'm washing my dishes that I look up and see my forks staring at me that I am weirded out by the fact that I've chosen the Korean way instead of the western way...is this the first step to becoming Korean...oh no!!!!!!

Fall Beauty

A long walk during a beautiful fall day!  

I feel a little more at home when I look at the Korean rendition of the maple leaf...

My Mini Korean Coffee Adventure

Well I'm back to writing and the only way to do that is by having as few distractions around myself as possible. My solution is to find a warm corner in a coffee shop and add the clattering sound of my keyboard to the chattering of the korean coffee-goers.  Unfortunately, my favourite internet-cafes are a bit of a distance from my apartment and I've been searching for a closer coffee shop.  In a country where coffee shops are scattered about like their competing with the Seattle Startbucks population, I hadn't found one on my street until the other night.  And wouldn't you know it, there was a cute little coffee shop lit up with twinkling Christmas lights on a sidestreet by my hagwon.  I've walked that street every single day for almost two months and had failed to see it until just now.  This seems to be the norm in Korea.  I'm always stumbling upon hidden restaurants and shops wherever I go.  It's like the "I Spy" kids books but the Korean version.  You're looking for something in particular but you see the strangest things on the page that you didn't notice the first 20 times that you read the book.  Anyways, back to my story...

So I pack up all of my supplies and take an inventory (very important for little ms. forgetful).  And so, laptop...check...cord...check...power converter...check...wallet...check...okay, good to go.  Well I walked in and greeted the very surprised and excited owner. And mustering up my courage, I manage to ask her where I can plug in my computer by showing her my converter plug and throwing out a few hopeful Korean phrases while apologizing to her and trying to explain that my Korean is not very good.  Well our lines of communication were not exactly on par but I managed to express my need for a place to plug in my computer and to connect to the internet.  Or so I thought...

One of the ladies told me to follow the ahjuma (older lady) so that she could show me an alternative location.  Did I mention that they are super nice in Korea and always want to help me out!?! Such awesome and hospitable people.  Well we walked for a few blocks and she brings me to a Samsung store and marches me right up to the counter to tell them that I am need of sending an email via computer.  Not quite what I had in mind.  Once again, I attempted to ask where I could find an internet CAFE with wireless such as OLLEH (the internet supplier in Korea) and drink coffee at the same time but in my neighbourhood.  I then provided a few examples such as Tom 'n Toms and Cafe Bene.  Ping went the lightbulb as the store employees all started chattering away and pointing in different directions and off we went once again.  This woman was having such a ball with me as she escorted me to a Cafe Bene location.  I just didn't have the heart to tell her that I already knew where it was located.  I figured that it gave me a chance to practice my Korean and she'd have an awesome story to tell at the end of the day.  I felt like I was being led through a maze and when I inquired about it my ahjuma responded, "Bali Igeot," which I figured out (yay for me!) mean "this fast" or rather, a shortcut.

Well we finally made it to my location at which point I bowed respectfully and thanked her profusely for helping me.  And now here I am!  At Cafe Bene, one of my favourite coffee houses that has a warm interior, cute little wicker chairs, spacious booths with pillows, and they even have stuffed animals to cuddle with if you're drinking solo and are in need of a friend...

My Little Hiatus

Hello to all of my lovely readers!  I'm so sorry that I've fallen behind on my blogging duties!  This past month (December) flew by so fast that I barely even registered that I've been here for almost two months!!!  It's been a wonderfully busy yet draining month and I've had to deal with technological problems in Korea, not the easiest thing to do.

December was a great month.  I met some new acquaintances and one person that I feel confident in calling a friend.  I've been spending most of my spare time with this  new friend whom I shall call Clemintine and have been living life in a high speed manner that has left very little time to sit and share my stories with you.

My best friend once told me that I'm addicting to meeting people and I can now admit that this is one hundred percent true.  I go wild in social situations and fly from person to person like a social butterfly on crack.  My korean coworkers have discovered that it's impossible to keep track of me even in a small bar setting (stories of that to come later) but my pursuit of friendships has finally caught up to me.  My energy level  took a drastic dive after reaching its peak during my early December social binging.  And so, I've spent the past week or so acting like a grumpy walking zombie whose only desire is to sleep whenever the opportunity presents itself (I actually almost fell asleep in a taxi).

The technological factor is that my ancient computer is not only dying on the inside despite its many visits to the computer tech hospital, but it is starting to show signs of its old age and is losing keys at an alarming rate.  This makes typing rather difficult and I had to get really creative with trying to piece it back together.  I've finally given up and will soon dish out the money to buy a new mini notebook!  That being said, I'm baaaaaacccckk!

Please tell your friends about my blog!  Please make a follower's account!  And please send me questions and lots of comments!  I'm counting on you to keep me accountable for updating all of you folks about life in Korea!  I feel like time moves a little differently and that a week easily flashes by in a mere three days.   I'm afraid that if I don't write on a regular basis that you'll never hear about all of my adventures and that I'll forget about them!  So push me, prod me, and demand more of me!  Lots of love to all of my readers!