I want the day off too! Friday.

Today is 'work experience day' at school (I only know this because I just google-translated the Korean written on the board in the staffroom). There are no students and it looks like I'm the only teacher who has to come in. It's just me and the admin staff. First of all, thanks for telling me (read with extreme sarcasm), and secondly - why make me come to work? It's not like I have work to do. Mr B., you cancelled my after school class, and I gave you the entire summer camp lesson plan yesterday... why? WHY?! All the other teachers get the day off... I guess I'm special.

Shit - this means there's no school lunch today. And I obviously didn't bring any food with me... so it's overpriced fruit from the supermarket down the road, or unhealthy disgusting junk food. Oh, woe is me.

At least it's Friday, right?

Very wet Thursday

Apparently there's a typhoon on the way! I'm not too sure what this means, but I think there's going to be lots of wind and rain. It's already pretty wet, and also really humid. I'm so sticky! But it's not so bad, so far :) 

Japan is very close now - only 5 days to go :) and only three of those are work days, so really only three days to go.

Interestingly, Mr B. has not requested a plan for summer camp, which starts the same day I get back to work from being on holiday. I have the whole thing done, planned, and prepped, but he doesn't know that. There is a lot of discussion around the office about English Camp (but that's all I can understand of it, it's in Korean), and I saw Mr B. making some sort of lesson plan on his computer that had the same dates as camp. So, either he's teaching a camp at the same time - which is totally possible and likely - OR he's making a camp plan that I'll have to follow. Which would be weird. I've never heard of that happening before, and I'm not sure why he'd do that other than he's a control freak or my lessons weren't acceptable. Rather than try to talk to him about it (frustration central, seriously this man misinterprets just about everything I say unless I'm asking for money or time off - that he understands), I'm just going to leave it well alone. I'm doing the best I can in this weird system!

Not much is going on this week. It's hot and wet, overcast, and I'm getting some teaching time in but nothing amazing. Oh, I did have an open class yesterday though, that I thought went really well. When I tried to ask Mr B. for some feedback he just gave me a round of applause, which was nice but not helpful :) Also, no sign of the promised info about whether the school can keep me for another year. Maybe tomorrow.

Today's five things:

1) Rain storms are a bit exciting - as long as they're short lived!

2) Lunch today was good - I have no idea what any of it was called, but it was tasty.

3) I've decided to try and get a university job. When I get back from Japan I'll start things moving in that direction and see what I can get. Korea has a crap-ton of universities, so hopefully I can find one in this area. If not, I'll stay at this school, or get a hagwon job until I can move on up to a uni position.

4) Japan soon!

5) I have no plans for the weekend. Maybe a walk, maybe go out, but I want to spend a big chunk just relaxing.

Good day (touch wood) Monday

Right so, the weekend.

Friday night Andy and I went and had Korean BBQ for dinner, which is pretty normal, but this time we went to a duck restaurant and at a whole heap of BBQ duck meat! It was yum! But, mum's duck is still the best :)

On Saturday I caught the train into Seoul and met up with Amy and we went to the 63 building. It was an ok trip. Not really very 'Korean', but really touristy. We went up the the 59th floor, I think, and saw the view, which was good. We got quite a clear patch, and it was only after went came back to ground level that it started raining. As well as going up so high, we also went to a boring 3D dinosaur IMAX movie, and ok aquarium, and a pretty funny wax museum. None of the attractions were actually that wonderful, but put them all together and it was a pretty fun day. 

On Sunday Andy and I went to Dongtan for lunch. We ended up having sushi again, and it was really yummy. Then we went to a coffee shop by central park and I had a hot chocolate and Andy had some weird Turkish ice cream. It was weird because it was all kind of gooey - I wasn't very impressed by it. Then we had a walk in the park, and it once again stopped raining just long enough for a walk, which was nice. Andy also ordered me some memory cards and stuff that I'd been wanting, using a Korean website - which worked out to be about a million times cheaper than buying them regularly, so that was awesome. I'll finally be able to back up my photos and this blog! And take pictures on my phone - which I think will be convenient since I don't carry my camera 100% of the time.

Sunday night we went to a BBQ place I've been to a couple of times, but actually hadn't eaten their BBQ food. Turns out it was amazing! Seriously good galbi. Andy liked it too, so I guess we'll be going back. Well, I hope so anyway! It was super tasty.

And that was my weekend. Pretty good overall :) Next weekend I want to do a bit of walking/hiking, and also pack for Japan. Only 8ish days to go!

*     *     *

Ok, so today is Monday again. So far, so good. I totally did not want my nice relaxing weekend to end, but oh well. With my summer holidays just around the corner, it makes getting to work easier. Haha, not sure what I'm going to do when they're gone, but I'll worry about that when I get there. Plan a weekend away or something, I guess. Jeju, anyone?

Today's been good. I've taught 3 classes, and one's been cancelled, so that's me done for the day. Lunch was tasty, and I'm pretty happy. Touch wood, I can keep it up.

Today's 5:

1) Good classes today.

2) Mr B says he'll find out about me renewing this week. I'm not sure which outcome I'm hoping for :-D

3) Andy is going to buy us money for Japan from the bank so it's cheaper than the airport. As if he wasn't awesome enough already?

4) I fancy cooking something this week. I didn't cook dinner at all last week. I'm thinking some chicken satay would be nice.

5) It's quite cool today, a nice break from the intense heat and humidity. I'm all about the variety.

Super Sunday

Had a lovely day with Andy today. it rained nearly all day, but that didn't stop going out for lunch, or a walk in the park.

1) Sushi for lunch.

2) Nice walk in the park.

3) hot chocolate

4) I saw a cute guinea pig.

5) REALLY yummy BBQ for dinner :)

Quick Five things Saturday

Phew, I'm exhausted! I made it to the 63 building with Amy, and only got home at about 6.40pm. So, here's five things and some photos of Seoul. I'll write about it all on Monday :)

1) I have yummy salmon sushi for lunch

2) I got a seat on the train on the way in.

3) I didn't rain most of the time I was outside.

4) The 63 building was fun.

5) Amy was good fun too :)

The outside of the 63 building

Seal at the aquarium

Lunch

Han River

Sharing is caring Friday

Not sure why, but I think it's because I like to at least try to be a nice person, I've brought a cake to work to share with all the teachers this afternoon. Oh no, I know why. Because it was cluttering up my freezer, and I didn't want to eat it all and the easiest way to get rid of it, while collecting work brownie points, is to share it with the sugar crazed teachers at work. I'm hoping for a double win of getting rid of the cake AND making myself look good. Altruism is SO overrated :)

Anyway, today's five things:

1) No student was turned upside down, hit, or even picked up by Mr B during class today. Yesterday he straddled a boys head to demonstrate 'riding a bike'. I am 100% not kidding or exaggerating. He straddled a kids head. Even more amazing, the kid wasn't bothered at all. Totally normal.

2) Only 1 hour and 45 minutes until it's officially the weekend! 63 building, here I come!

3) I have spent the last hour and a half trying not to snort-laugh too loudly at the hilarious reviews of what sounds like a truly awful romance novel. I'd never heard of it, but apparently it's taking the world by storm.. well, it's taking women who want to read sexy books by storm. Only, I've read a lot of extract now and the books is written so badly I don't think I could even read it if I wanted to. Just because it's sexy doesn't mean the quality of the writing should suffer. The book is called '50 Shades of Grey', and while I haven't read it, so can't comment, this website can. Serious snort-laugh material.

4) There was a thunder storm last night and it was fun.

5) I slept well.

I will not complain about work Thursday

I will not complain about work. I will not complain about work. I will not complain about work. I will not complain about work. I will not complain about work. I will not complain about work. I will not complain about work. I will not complain about work.

I will not complain about work.

I will instead shut up and either work to fix the problem, or bear with it until the situation can be changed.

Step one: I have decided that I'm not chasing these stupid men around to get my stupid book signed every day. I will sign it and then I'll leave it on their desk and they can give it back to me when they're done. Minor problem = solved.

In other news, lunch today was roast pork! Awesome!

And I'm planning on cleaning my apartment this afternoon.

And I had one kick-ass home made fruit salad for breakfast.

And I ate delicious pizza for dinner last night (my first bread in over three months!).

Four different types of topping - and there was A LOT of topping, but I actually really enjoyed it!

And it turns out if I freeze a particular type of Korean rice cake, it turns out a little similar to ice cream mochi.

And it's now under two weeks until Andy and I go to Japan.

And Andy is awesome. He's also extremely good looking, which is a total bonus.

And I have great friends, even if most of them live in a different hemisphere.

And it's Thursday, which means tomorrow is... Friday, which is basically the weekend :)

And I bought a random dress from the market hoping it would fit, and it totally does.

And it's only two and a half hours until I can go home, clean my room, eat delicious Korean watermelon (seriously, it's amazing), and read my book on my comfy bed.

Bed makeover :)

Excellent :)

Born in the USA Wednesday

So yesterday took a turn for the weird after I'd finished blogging about nothing special happening. Mr B. was really frustrating me yesterday. Every time it was my turn to teach, he'd start talking. He'd talk over me, while the kids were doing activities, and then even while the listening exercises were playing. Obviously, the kid can't listen to the activity and to him. It was so rude and just bad teaching! What's more, he doesn't just talk while I'm teaching, he messes with the students. He hits them, throws things at them, makes them sit on the floor - all while I'm in the middle of speaking. I understand he feels he needs to discipline them, but could he at least wait until I've finished my sentence? The absolute worst one yesterday was while I was explaining a new activity, he walked over to a boy, dragged him out of his chair, picked him up, turned him over and hung him upside down and shook him. The kid didn't seem all that bothered, but it was so incredibly disruptive. I almost walked out of the classroom. It's like I need to send Mr B out into the corridor - he is WAY more disruptive than the kids.

Possibly even more annoying (though not quite) was that when I tried to tell Andy about my frustrations he started talking about how that's how it's done in Korea, and power hierarchies and stuff. I was just like "I don't care why! Sympathise with me!". Lesson learned: don't discuss frustrations with Korea with Koreans.

Anyway! Today is a new day. I had to sit through three classes of Mr B talking to the students in Korean. Again. I'm starting to think that even if this school can keep me, I might change jobs. I'm not sure the extra money and vacation time is worth my slowly fading will to live.

But! Something sort of exciting happened today! And, wonder of wonders, I knew about it before Mr B! A new boy is at school for two weeks, and he's from New York. This is his dad's old middle school, but the Kid was born and raised in America, so he's a native English speaker. We had a brief chat this morning, and he's over here with his family on holiday. He can speak Korean, but I think not SUPER fluently. Anyway, the poor kid has to come here to school for two weeks during his holiday, mix with a bunch of Korean kids and take part in this education system, which has got to look really strange to someone fully educated in the American system. What's more, he has to come to English class - which is just stupid! Anyway, Mr B. didn't know he was there or who he was, but the rest of the class told him. So, Mr B makes him get up and introduce himself in both English and Korean, only in true Mr B style, the instructions he gave were hopeless, so the kid didn't know what he wanted. He stumbled through it in the end, but I really felt for him. Also, resulted in this classic dialogue:

Me: So, how many students are in your school back home?

Mr B: 13? Yeah. 13?

Me: No, how many students...

Mr B: Oh, two days?

Me: No, this school has 160 students, how many does your's have, Josh?

Josh: Hmm, about 600.

Mr B. Oh.

Also, there's a sheet I now have to sign EVERY DAY to say I'm at work. I used to just have to fill it in and get it signed a couple of times a week, but the VP has decided I have to do it every day now. So he has to sign it and Mr B has to sign it. So I now have to chase them both down every fucking day. Today, the VP was in the office and not Mr B. The VP is harder to pin down, so I went to get him to sign off on today before getting Mr B's signature. Well, he would only sign it after Mr B had. Seriously, dude? It's to say I'm at work today. I'm standing right in front of you. At work. Why does it matter who signs first? Sign my sheet! But no. 

We must remember:

Anyway, I'm going for a big run/walk after work today - this frustration needs to go somewhere!

Today's five:

1) I brought one of my favourite movies to work today. Everyone is gone from the office (it's 2pm), so I'm going to watch it!

2) Curried chicken drumsticks for lunch. At last - real, recognisable meat! From a real animal!

3) Wednesday is nearly done (work-wise), so I'm over half way to the weekend!

4) I got a bunch of new pillows for my bed and reading is now ridiculously comfortable. 

5) That picture of the hyena on the t-shirt always makes me smile.

'recording' is a noun Tuesday

Pretty normal day today. I've been in three classes, but haven't taught at all. Mr B. has just talked to the class in Korean. I think he's doing something to do with some sort of homework project, but I don't know. I just sat there for the first two lots of 45 minutes, but this last one I brought my laptop to class, so I can at least have something to do. It's a change of scenery at least :)

Yeah, nothing very exciting or interesting to report today.

1) I've been using my time today to put together maps, money info, train info, and so on for Japan. I'm totally hoping they have some ice cream mochi over there. I asked Andy and he said it was really popular here a few years ago, but we can't find any now. I'm going to try freezing some of my favourite tteok from the market and see if that turns out in any way similar.

2) I want some spicy pork soup for dinner tonight!

3) I bought some bedding off a girl in my building who's going home. It's really nice, and I'm sort of relieved to get away from the fluro-green colour of my original sheets. Soft pink is much more calming. I'll put up a photo of my 'new' bed if I can remember.

4) The following dialogue (the word in question had no context, it was just a word on the page)
Mr B to the class: "is 'recording' a noun or a verb?"
Class: ".....?..."
Mr B: "Sam teacher - noun or verb?"
Me: "Well, it depen-"
Mr B "It's a noun"

In the choice between laughing and screaming, I'll choose to be amused.

5) Apparently it's going to rain tonight. I like variety :)

Monday update

Ok, I'm back!

Right, so Friday night Andy and I went to see the new Spider Man movie. I thought it was a continuation of the series, but it was actually kind of a remake of the original movie, but the characters were all in high school. I'm totally not sure why they did this, but it was an ok film. I thought Spider Man was a bit cocky and full of himself, but it wasn't too bad.

On Saturday we went into Seoul. We caught the bus to Gangnam and had lunch at a sushi train place. It was really good. They had heaps of sushi on a conveyor belt, but you could also order stuff using a touch screen at you table and they made it in the kitchen and then delivered it to you on a little electric train - haha, it was awesome. We ordered most of our stuff on the train - Andy because he thought it was fresher and he didn't really want food that had been going round and round passed all the little kids, and me because I just wanted my food to come on a train :-D

Andy with the sushi screen and conveyor belt

Sushi (below) and train (above)

Then, as we were walking there was a big building with a display/open home type thing for this new apartment complex that's being built, so we went in and looked at the open home. They had two apartments made up to look at - both 23 square meters. Man, that is SMALL! They were really cute, and very nicely displayed, but wow, so small! And Andy said they were at least $160,000.

After that we went to COEX and had a wander around. We spent ages in the book store looking at Japan travel guides, which was nice. Then we caught the bus home and went to a Chinese restaurant in Dongtan for dinner. I didn't really like the food - Korean-Chinese food is not really very good, in my opinion. It seems to consist of noodles with black sauce and a selection of deep fried stuff with sweet and spicy sauce all over it. Blegh. Anyway, after that we went to the park and Andy took me to see a music and light fountain show thingie. It was awesome! We sat on the edge of the fountain and got sprayed with water :) Here's a little video of it. It lasted 20 minutes and was really beautiful - the video doesn't really do it justice.

Dongtan Central Park

The fountain area

And then I didn't do too much on Sunday. Big walk and sunburn, like I said. Trip to the market for fruit and lunch. Then Andy cam over in the evening and we went for BBQ for dinner. Pretty good weekend!

Now, it's Monday again. Only just over two weeks until Japan :)

And maybe I'll get to teach today!

*        *          *
Yup, I did get to attend four whole classes, and read some stuff that the kids had to repeat. Some days this job sucks. I don't even get the opportunity to be a teacher.

1) I did some planning for Japan

2) I had a Baskin Robbins ice cream after work

3) My work day went quickly

4) I got some dark chocolate

5) Monday's done for another week!

Sunburn Sunday

I went for a big walk this morning and explored the other side of the Osan river. It was awesome over there! My side of the river is a big ugly and scrubby, but that side is all landscaped with flower gardens and stuff. What's more, I found a lovely new (to me) exercise park totally shaded by trees. So, I stopped for a while and did some bodyweight exercises before continuing my walk. I walked for well over an hour and managed to totally sunburn my shoulders. Doh! After my walk I stopped in at a coffee shop and picked up a peppermint iced tea, which was so nice because I was ridiculously hot!

Also, today I went to the Osan market and picked up some lunch (kimchi pancakes) and some delicious plums and apricots.

Ok, to tired to update further. More weekend update tomorrow!

Today's five:

1) Fresh plums and apricots

2) Lovely walk in the sun

3) Flower gardens

4) Yummy bbq dinner

5) Today is my 7th day with no sugar! Goal complete :)

Quick Five on Saturday

1) Gorgeous weather!

2) Sushi train for lunch (photos to come)

3) Great company

4) Slept in

5) One more day of weekend, still :)

Look on the bright side Friday

It's only 11am, and already today is awful!

This morning at 1am, my buildings fire alarm went off for 15 minutes. Again, no one paid any attention, but it's still worrying and stressful. I didn't get back to sleep for over an hour.

Which meant I over-slept this morning, so had to catch the later bus to work. So, I got in at 9am, which means I have to work until 5 :(

It's also steadily pouring with rain, so my feet are wet. But, it's warm, so I'm wet and sticky.

Also, on the walk up the hill from the bus to school, my skirt felt loose. When I checked, it had come apart at the seam right up the back. Not quite to my undies, but pretty darn close. So, goodness knows how many Korean people have seen more of me than I bargained for. Luckily, one of the admin ladies had a needle and thread, so I went into the bathroom and sewed my skirt back together.

Then, Mr. B tells me he'll teach alone today, so I have yet another day of nothing to do.

And he also informed me that he thought it was unlikely that the school would have the funding to re-new my contract for another year. He said the office would call him sometime. I asked when, he said "I dunno, maybe next week?". I take this to mean he's just waiting for a general phone call and is going to make no effort to find out what's going on for me. Super.

So: tired, hot, wet, broken skirt, bored, and now a little stressed about next year.

Not cool.

I was doing ok and laughing it off until Mr B got in on the game too. Now I'm just grumpy. And hungry. If lunch is bony fish, I might cry.

Going to have to dig deep for five things today:

1) If I don't get to re-sign at my school, it'll be an opportunity to try something new and expand my teaching skills (Look on the bright side, right?). I could teach kindergarten - apparently they're adorable. And little kids like doing art, and I love class art projects.

2) It's really lucky that the admin lady had a sewing kit. And that I know how to sew. Ok, the whole 'flashing my bum to a bus load of Koreans' is kind of funny :)

3) It is very rainy and wet, but at least it's not rainy and wet and cold, right?

4) Cute animal photos with funny captions make my day better. Thank you, Lolcats.

5) The weather forecast for tomorrow is 'mostly sunny', so hopefully I can finally make it to the Garden of the Morning Calm.

And yeah, I'm sure you've already guessed - lunch was indeed bony fish. Sucks.

But, I found a bright side to the whole fire alarm thing. Because I was awake from the alarm, I slept in and had to catch the 8.30 bus instead of the 7.30 bus. So, none of the kids or teachers from school were on the bus with me, so no one I actually know saw my ripped skirt and probably undie exposure. So, maybe the alarm was a good thing? In a roundabout way.

It was surprisingly easy Thursday

So, I mentioned to Mr. B this morning that I might want to stay at the school for another year. He seemed mildly surprised and *possibly* pleased. He said just to think about it and let him know next week or the week after and that in the meantime he'd contact the provincial office to find out if they'd have the funding to keep me. I was dreading this conversation, and no doubt there is much confusing dialogue to come, but for now it was suspiciously simple.

 I had to sit through one class today before Mr B decided he'd just do it alone, but during that time I made a pro/con/fix list for staying in Korea. All of the pros are good, and all of the cons can be easily fixed, so I'll tell Mr B tomorrow that I do want to stay and now I just have to wait and see if they have the money. Haha, bummer if they don't! I have a few options if that happens, but I'll just wait and see before really looking into any of them.

Here's my list:

Also, my quality of life here in Korea is awesome! So, hoping this goes my way. Otherwise it'll be either a hagwon job (which will remove probably two of the 'pros') or go somewhere else entirely. But, we'll see.

Anyway, I just organised to go to the 63 building in Seoul with my friend Amy next weekend, so that will be fun. She's really nice and although I haven't spent much time with her, we seem to get on really well.

I was going to go for a big walk this afternoon after work. I'm feeling pretty cranky again, and I thought it might help. But, it's pouring with rain. It's a bit hard to tell how bad it is from inside the teacher's room. I might be able to use and umbrella and be fine, or it might just be disgusting. Maybe I'll just crawl into bed and try to sleep it off - kind of a more tempting option that slogging through the rain, but probably not as effective.

Ok. today's five things:

1) There is a game called 'Creationary', it's like 'Pictionary' only you play it with Lego. I love pictionary and I love Lego, so I can only imagine that this game would be Amazing with a capital 'A'.

2) I've made it nearly 4 days with absolutely no sugar.

3) The Osan sports center does offer Kpop dance classes, but this months class is full. I'll go back later in the month to find out about classes for August.

4) I've decided to try and stay another year at my school in Korea.

5) It's raining and I like it :)

No, not really Wednesday

As I was walking into school this morning, Mr B passed me on the driveway in his car. He stopped long enough to say "Hi. Are you ok?", because I took the day off 'sick' yesterday. Just to see what would happen I replied, "No, not really". He just goes "Oh, ok" and drove off. Seriously, what is the point of asking if you're not even going to listen? I think it's possible for me to have less respect for him, but not by too much.

It's wicked humid today, and I'm pretty grumpy! I've got a headache, I'm hot, I'm sticky, and I'm bored. Not really a winning combination. All I want to do is go home and shower and watch a funny movie. Well, only two and a bit hours to go... I can make it.

Today's five things:

1) Andy brought over some cheesecake last night when I cooked him dinner. I managed not to eat it (I'm going 7 days totally sugar free). Also, this morning another teacher made me take a biscuit, which I almost ate without thinking about it, but at the last moment I stopped and hid it in my draw until I could get rid of it without anyone seeing. It was one of my favourite Korean biscuits, too.

2) I cooked Andy dinner last night - I made salad, mushrooms, and walnut crusted pork loin (I know, a bit flash, right?). It was yummy.

3) Tonight I'm going to go to the Osan Sports Centre to find out about their dance classes. I want to start learning something new.

4) Might finally make it to the Garden of the Morning Calm this weekend.

5) I learned to make Korean steamed egg yesterday. I bought the cutest little dish to make it in. It's like a mini ceramic Dutch oven. I made it with salmon in it this morning for breakfast, and it was so good!

Mental health day Tuesday

So partly because I slept pretty badly and mostly because I couldn't face another day of sitting at my desk doing nothing, I called in sick today. I did spend the morning sleeping, then worked out, and I'm feeling much better now. My work out was actually great - I think it really helped pick me up.

Anyway, I have some more photos from my weekend by the sea as well as a few shots of the food at Andy's dad's birthday lunch. Andy took them on his phone, so the quality isn't amazing, but you get the idea.
(note to mum - if you click on a picture, you can cycle through them bigger so you can save them to you computer if you want).

Saturday's breakfast - mussel soup and octopus pancakes

Me on the edge of the mountain

look, a squirrel!

Me by a little pond.

Ok, birthday lunch - l-r: pork belly, gross bean paste thing, spring roll thing, salad with VERY purple dressing that just tasted a bit fruity.

Selection of salads, tempura fish, pumpkin mash, and prawns with caviare.

Ttteok, chicken soup, buckwheat noodles, chilli squid, beef salad, abalone with caviare.

Last course: spicy soup, whole fish, kimchi (assorted), and this rice in a stone bowl that you take out into a regular bowl (bottom) and then pour water into the stone bowl and all the burnt rice comes off into the water and you eat it like a soup. It tastes like watery burnt rice and I don't really understand it.

And now, today's five things:

1) It's been nearly two days without sugar. I'm feeling better already.

2) I got a work out in.

3) It's my brother's birthday today! Happy birthday, Bro!!

4) I'm going to cook something nice for dinner. I'm not sure what yet, but it will be good.

5) Bacon.

Friday through to Monday

Right, another update spanning a few days. This likely will not be a long update, as I forgot to bring my glasses to work today, and staring at the computer is giving me a headache.

Friday:

Mr B. comes to me second period and tells me we have to record the listening section of the English exam that I wrote weeks ago. Exams start on Monday and this is his last free period of the week. Why he left it so late, I don't know, but needless to say, we did not get finished. He said we could finish up after school, so I waited around for him, but he never showed up, so I went home at 4pm. 

Andy came and picked me up at 5 and we set off for Seoul. He had to deliver something to one of his sisters and then we were going for dinner in the city. Turns out his sister didn't want the thing (why someone didn't call and ask her before hand - again, don't know), but we did have a really nice dinner, and hung out for a while with Andy's nephew who was about 9ish and pretty cute. However, the kid then threw the biggest fit I've ever seen when his dad said something he didn't like, and we had to leave amid much screaming and crying. Haha, awkward. But, I didn't really mind. It was sort of interesting seeing the complete lack of discipline. I've read that Korean people are really lenient with younger kids and then as they get older discipline gets hardcore. I haven't asked Andy, but this seems true from what I've seen.

Anyway, while we're headed into Seoul, (about 7.30pm by now) Mr B started calling my cell frantically. I say 'frantic' because he called four or five times, one right after the other. I knew he was calling about recording the exams and would most likely want me to come to work on Saturday or something. So, I didn't answer. I didn't feel bad because it was totally his own fault for leaving things so late, and it's my weekend, and I'm busy. So, anyway, Friday was a nice night in Seoul.

On Saturday it was Andy's dad's birthday party (his actual birthday was Friday), and Andy invited me to his house to join in. It was cool and the whole family (Mum, dad, Andy, two of the four sisters, with their husbands and a few kids) went out for a fancy Korean lunch. We went to a traditional restaurant out in the countryside. There were lots of different dished served with just food for each person to have a mouth-full or two of each thing, and it was served in three or four courses. Some of it I loved, and some of it was just ok. I had some different salads, jellyfish, prawns, beef, pork, fish, and abalone (paua - which I'd never had before, it was  nice) among other things. It was great!

Then Andy took me and two of his nieces to choose an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins for his dad, which we went home and ate. It was really good! The girls chose a cake that had a different flavour of ice cream for each slice - it was like my idea of awesome in a cake!

After that, we just hung out at his house for a while, then went back to Osan for dinner.

On Sunday I talked to both mum and Jenni, which was great! Then, I was going into Seoul and Andy wanted to come too. Yeah, we spend a lot of time together. Maybe too much? I'm not sure what the rules are. Anyway, we caught the train in Hongdae and had a walk around, had Taco Bell for lunch, and visited the art market. There was a guy making the most amazingly detailed metal jewellery - it really was awesome, but I wasn't sure I'd ever wear it, so I didn't get any. It was so cool though, like really intricate birds and flowers and leaves.

After that we went over to Myeongdong, which wasn't as crazy busy as it normally is and just looked around. Nothing very exciting, but it was a nice day. Andy kept falling asleep on the train home, which was really funny to me :) Small things, you know. 

Anyway, I figured I'd better get in touch with Mr B and make sure he wasn't dying from stress, so I texted him. But, but the time he called me back, I was out at dinner. He wanted to come over to my house, with his wife, to finish recording for the exams! I was like "Ah, no. I'm out". YOU leave something until the last minute, and then don't show up to do it, and then you want to come to my house on a Sunday evening to finish work that should have been done a week ago? Nah, bro. Haha. So, I told him no, but I was happy to come into work early the next morning to get it done. He asked how early and I said I could be there by 7am, no worries. He was like "Um, how about 8 or 8.30?". HAHAHAHAHA... seriously!? SERIOUSLY??? That's not me getting to work early, that's what time I get to work EVERY DAY. So, yeah sure, I'll come in to work 'early' to finish the recording :) Retard.  So, I arrive at work at my usual time, we do the recording and all is well.

And that's all the work I have to do today. Exam are on, so all the students leave after lunch, so most of the teachers leave early too, but I have to sit here doing nothing like every other day. Ah well, I am researching things to see and do in Japan. Rather sweetly, Andy has been too, and has been showing me photos on Korean blogs of food and places to go in Osaka.

It's a good thing I like him so much as he seems to have sneakily obtained an entire drawer at my house. It started out when he bought a pair of swimming shorts to take to the East coast the other weekend. Somehow they ended up staying at my place, so I put them away in an empty drawer. Somehow this draw now holds a small assortment of Andy things. Better keep an eye on him, I still need my own house! Actually, I might tell him I need some 'Sam' time tomorrow. I have the first season of 'Revenge' to finish watching!

OK, today's five things:

1) I had a super awesome salmon mushroom omelette for breakfast.

2) I have resolve to eat absolutely NO sugar based food for seven days or suffer dire consequences. 

3) Japan is less than a month away!

4) No bony fish for lunch again. This is a great record, but also bad because it must be coming soon.

5) I'm going to read my book for the afternoon.