Breakup Sunday

That's right, folks. Who saw that one coming? Well, I did, but I convinced myself it was my crazy hormones. Turns out Andy wants to get married and have babies more than he wants to get to know me. Well, turns out his parents want him to and he 'has' to do what they want. In any case, here's a picture I made to express myself.

I'm pretty sure that in four weeks I'll be quite fine.

To Andy's parents (who wanted to send him on blind dates even though they knew we were dating and I just spent all of last weekend with them): I made you guys cheesecake. For special. To try and communicate with you because we don't speak the same language. And you try to encourage your son to cheat on me? You suck.

To Andy: You also suck. In a kind and considerate way. You're lovely, but grow some balls.

Red skirt Friday

Yesterday was my first attempt at wearing leggings, and today I'm being daring (for me) again and wearing a bright red almost-mini-skirt. It's not really mini (wikipedia says that to be a miniskirt it has to end 10cm or less from my buttocks, and I'm pretty sure my skirt is a bit longer than that), but anyway. It's awesome and it's red. And really comfy!

I had a really great Skype chat to Jen last night. She just broke up with her boyfriend, and while she is heartbroken and upset, she's is being so mature and together about the whole thing. I'm really proud of her for being so introspective and calm. I feel like, while I know she's unhappy about it, she is learning so, so much about who she is and what she wants in her life. It's kind of awesome. Sucks, but awesome. We talked for a good hour, and I'm not sure it helped her any (she seems to be doing fine on her own), it felt really good to be there for her as much as I could. I am really looking forward to hanging out while I'm home.

So, only 5.5 days of work to go. It's like the closer I get to never having to deal with him again, the more my frustrations with Mr B. are coming to the surface. I mean, I've always been frustrated (lol, check out my entries from when I started work here a year ago - nothing has changed!!), but it's like now that I know I only have a little bit to go, I've got permission to REALLY feel pissed off. For example, mid-term exams start on Monday. I wrote the listening portion of the English exam maybe a month ago (or more?), but have we recorded it yet? No. Friday is halfway over, he's had the material for over 4 weeks, and we haven't done a thing. This means it will either be done in a panic later this afternoon, or like last time, he will try to get me to meet up and do on the weekend (haha, nah. I'm not giving up my weekend to fix your disorganisation) and I'll come in to work 'early' on Monday and do it before school. It's kind of a lucky-dip as to what will happen. I'm toying with the idea of politely asking why he leaves recording until the VERY last minute, but it might be more trouble than it's worth. I'm pretty sure he caught the tale end of one of my 'you're a fucktard' faces yesterday, and I don't want to piss him off. The school owes me lots of money and I want it quickly and without fuss.

For some reason, Mr. B. is doing all the teaching today, even though some of the classes are doing the parts of the textbook I always teach. Not sure what the deal with that is. But anyway, it allowed me to spend all morning on Pinterest. I was actually pinning ESL related stuff, so it was kind of work related. I do have another article for Busy Teacher than I'm about 1/4 through writing, but I'm just not in the mood right now. I'll probably finish it next week. Also on the agenda for next week is getting a class photo taken with all the different grades at school, and getting a pic of Mr B for mum (I haven't forgotten!). Next Friday I might be showing the new teacher around, though not a single thing has been said to me about this. Actually, now that I think about it, I might need accommodation for Thursday night - I'm not sleeping on the floor for the night if I have to share for one night with the new teacher like I had to with Rosie. But, then again, My last day is a Friday and their first day is a Monday, so maybe they'll arrive on the weekend and I'll never meet them. I'll ask next week. And be all packed and ready to go on Wednesday, just in case.

Today's five things:

1) I had a rockin' smoothie for breakfast. Key ingredient? Pureed pumpkin! Yum!

2) Today's lunch was bony fish carefully disguised to look like chicken. I was 100% disappointed. The upside of this? Only 5 school lunches to go!

3) I love my new red skirt!

4) Biggest problem at the moment? Deciding what to wear on the plane. (touch wood).

5) Some days I love working with kids.

Updates on a Thursday

But, it feels like a Monday because I've had all week off! My 5 day break felt so gloriously long! (My new favourite word is 'glorious'). It was the perfect mix of relaxing, eating, sleeping, shopping, and crafting. I feel like a new woman! Partly this is because I had such a lovely break, partly because one 'chapter', so to speak, of my life is about to close, and partly because I am wearing leggings for the first time ever. Yeah, it's a big step for me. Leggings and a dress covered in a small gemstone pattern - super daring outfit for me. But anyway, lets start with the weekend.

I made a baked pumpkin cheesecake on Friday evening. I did end up getting to go home early, got home about 3.30pm, in fact. The cheesecake worked incredibly well, baked just like it should, and tasted amazing! I took it to Andy's house as a gift for his family for thanksgiving. And then ended up spending three days at his house hanging out with his parents, him, and one of his sisters (+ husband +2 kids). I slept at my house, but spent each day at his. He and I sometimes hung out alone, going for walks to the river, or setting up lawn chairs in the sun, and sometimes with his family having BBQs, cooking, and eating. It was all really lovely and very relaxing. The weather was perfect, and I had a great time.

On Tuesday Andy had to work, but I had the day off. I went shopping in Seoul. The original aim was to buy something really different from what I normally wear, but I didn't end up achieving that. I did try on some purple pants, which didn't fit, and a zebra striped dress - which was amazingly comfy but hideous. I bought some nice things like a couple of work skirts, a grey knit jersey, and my trial leggings. They're actually pretty comfy, and let me wear a dress on a cooler kind of day, so we'll see how it goes.

Then, yesterday Andy and I spent the morning at home - him studying and me doing some craft/art. Then we went to Dongtan for lunch, had a delicious lunch buffet, and came home. Then Andy left for his place and I did some more craft, read my book, watched an episode of Bones, and went to bed. Awesome weekend! And I'm not even bummed to be back at work today because the end is nigh! Only 6.3 days left to go!!!

Here's 5 awesome things right now:

1) I've been doing 20+ minutes of yoga 4 times a week for the past two weeks and I am REALLY enjoying it. There's this website 'doyogawithme.com' that has free yoga videos, and it is good. It's making me feel really nice.

2) Only two weeks until I'm back in NZ! And mum and dad got my dog back! I am so crazy excited to see everyone! More exclamation marks!!!

3) Only 6 days of work left after today. I have checked out mentally. Not on the kids, they still deserve my full attention, but Mr B can go eat a bucket of eyeballs for all I care. Old eyeballs.

4) This weekend is 'pack and clean' weekend. I'm looking forward to throwing a bunch of stuff away, simplifying, and sorting everything. I honestly don't think I have that much. I definitely have more clothes than I came with, but not too much else.

5) I finished my Baskin Robbins challenge! Official end date was yesterday - one year since my first BR ice cream in Korea. I had my 31st flavour on Tuesday - Walnut ice cream in a choco-parfait to celebrate the completion of this epic goal. Now, what should my goal be for my next year in Korea??

Long weekend Friday

The kids have a half day today because f the long weekend. Well, they get off school early, but they had to start school early to get in the same amount of classes, and have a shorter lunch time. So, they had the same amount of work, but finish school about half an hour earlier, for whatever reason. I don't think the teachers get to go early, but maybe by a little bit. Maybe. Haha, or maybe everyone else will, but I'll have to stay. In saying that, though, Mr B told me to go home at 4.30 yesterday, After all the bother of me wanting to leave at 4 on Wednesday to go to the bank, and offering to come in early, and him saying I strictly had to work 9-5, he came up to me yesterday, tells me after school class is cancelled (which he already told me on Tuesday), and says I can go. At 4.30. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I hot legged it outta there! But I do not understand how anything in this school works. But, only 7 work days left to go.

Nothing very exciting yesterday evening or today so far. Yesterday I went with Andy to buy some presents for his bosses at work for Chuseok. He was such a boy about the whole thing - totally disorganised, and had no clue how to make a present special or look nice. So, I helped him :) The super special gift over here is SUPER huge SPAM sets. I kid you not - spam. Andy decided on a classier option of NZ Airborn Manuka honey - which I totally approved of :) It's over $40 a jar here.

Today's five things:

1) I've spent lots of time setting this up and preparing the material for it (Though I'll be changing the picture on the front page once I have a suitable one of me with students or something). I have no idea why, or what I'm going to use it for, but it might come in handy, if I can keep it up to date, when I'm looking for better jobs where they actually care about teacher quality.

2) I have a can of emergency tuna in my handbag. School lunches have been so bad lately that I actually can't bring myself to eat much. The best stuff we only ever get a tiny bit of, so I've started bringing emergency rations to school. I'll probably eat the tuna if I'm still here by 4pm.

3) On Tuesday, Andy has work and I have the day off. I think I'll go shopping in Seoul. I want to buy one piece of clothing that is something I'd never normally buy. You know, kinda spice things up a bit - a new colour, or animal print, or something. All my clothes look so much the same sometimes. It's pretty fun to be young, debt free, earning my own money, and be able to do whatever I want with it. Haha, I mostly do nothing except buy food, though!

4) Crap - it's raining and I didn't bring an umbrella. Why is that a good thing for today? For some reason I find getting rained on really fun and funny. Dunno.

5) I got a cake tin last night. Operation: Pumpkin Cheesecake will commence this evening. Woohoo!

More publishing Thursday

Things here at work are.... blegh! I only have just over eight days of work left, thank goodness. Things aren't bad exactly, but the environment is getting more and more negative. For example, on Tuesday all the teachers were given a big box of chestnuts for Chuseok (Big Korean harvest holiday - reason for my upcoming 5 day weekend). I was given one too, which was nice. But then when I went to get it off my desk at home time, it was gone! I'm pretty sure they took it to give to someone else. Then, today all the teachers were given HUGE gift sets of stuff by the VP. Except me, who got nothing. Mr B told me the other day that the principal had talked to him because he noticed I had come late to work, and now everyone is watching me like a hawk. And it's not even true! I am never, ever late for work. When Mr B. told me, I was like "What!? When? What day was I late, do you know?", and he just hummed and harred and said it was 'some day last week' - totally not true! I've been late for work once in the past year, and that was when the bus got stuck in the three hour snow-traffic jam and everyone was late. So, I've be accused of lateness when I wasn't, not given any presents, and now, Mr. is even checking my photocopying (I have no idea why - all I'm printing is the tests for the open class today). So weird, and pretty crappy.

Yeah, so what with no lessons for me this week, none next week, and the first three days of the following week being exam days, I only have two other days left at school! But, this afternoon I have an open class. Mr B. just made the students clean the classroom all special, and went to the trouble of telling me that the Korean teacher and the VP would be coming to watch. I was kinda like "...and I should care why?". My job ends in eight working days... it's not like this lesson is going to benefit me any (nor have they ever). Of course I'll do my best, but jeez guys, don't expect me to respect you.

Ok, now that I've got all that out, some good news :) I got another article published online, and another one in with a different magazine that they say 'looks very interesting' and I'm waiting for a reply on it. Yay! Time to do some more writing. And I'm in the process of setting up a website for myself to act as a kind of online resume with links to my articles and stuff. I'm not totally sure why, but it looks cool, and I wanted to. That's a good enough reason. I've been so busy working on it, I haven't been on pinterest all day - shocking!

Thursday's five things:

1) I got another article published online.

2) I have left over steak for breakfast. Not much beats steak for breakfast.

3) I'm making a pumpkin cheesecake for the Korean thanksgiving holiday (from Pinterest).

4) I did yoga this morning and it kicked my butt, in a good way.

5) I'm about to eat a banana. It is a wonderful thing.

Tuesday's Five things

Now it's time for five things on a Tuesday!

1) It is a beautiful day today! Warm, but cool, sunny, blue sky. Gorgeous!

2) It's disgusting behaviour, I know... but I ate whipped cream with chocolate in it for breakfast. I'm not sorry.

3) I've been pinning like a crazy lady on Pinterest. It's kind of my job now. I have so many new meals and crafts to try.

4) I've bought the stuff to make one of my pins. I'm making it as a present for Andy. I'll put up photos in a few days. I'm happy about it.

5) This makes me laugh EVERY time!!

Hurt myself hiking Tuesday

Sorry! It's been a few days. I've been busy!

On Friday Andy came over and went out for dinner. We had this really nice rice and fish egg thing that comes in a hot stone pot - it was yum!

Saturday was hiking! Andy and I woke up at 5am to get into Seoul in time to meet up with the group. We made it just fine, met everyone, and took the private bus a couple of hours to Seoraksan National Park. The group was pretty big - about 40 people in all - mostly Americans, but some Korean, and a few people from Europe too. We started hiking at about 10.30 and for about an hour it was pretty hard going. Very steep up, a lit of steps and rocks and stuff. I found it really difficult to appreciate the scenery because I was concentrating so hard on climbing and not falling over. At about 12 we reached the peak of our trail (the super easy trail). Andy went an extra 25 minutes up to the peak of the peak, but I wasn't having any of that! He got some nice photos, anyway. Then, we started the down part of the trek, which was much longer, but much easier. There were lots of rivers, caves, and waterfalls, and it was really beautiful. We stopped for lunch and saw some really tame chipmunks - very cute! More hiking, and we stopped at a spot in the river. Andy went swimming! Which I would have bet money against him doing - take off his shirt and swim in water that might have bugs, and dirt, and stuff in it? I'd have said no way, but there you go - in he went. I love that he surprises me like that.

Anyway, we got back to the bus at about 5pm, then went to a nearby restaurant for some dinner. Both Andy and I had bibimbap, which was mediocre. Then, back on the bus for the trip back to Seoul. Weirdly, after about 15 minutes on the bus, so maybe 2 hours after we finished hiking, my ankle got a bit achy.  Then it got really achy. Then it got swollen and really really achy. It was very painful. Andy took care of me though, and after I convinced him I didn't need to go to the hospital, he took me to his sisters house, which was very close to where the hiking bus dropped us off, and I put some ice on my ankle. His sister and brother-in-law weren't home, but his nephew was, so we played cards for about an hour while I iced my ankle. Then Andy's brother-in-law came home and offered to drive us back to Osan since he was going out that way anyway. At 11pm. I dunno. Anyway, got home with a minimum of fuss.

Sunday was spent sleeping, resting my ankle, and eating. Now my ankle is pretty much fine. I have a bandage on it for a bit of added support, but I don't think I'll need it by tomorrow. A bit weird, and very painful, but I'm glad it was so short lived. Andy was really wonderful and helpful, so I cooked him a special dinner of home made hamburgers followed by home made chocolate mousse. He seemed appropriately impressed :)

Now it's Tuesday and I have two weeks of no teaching to deal with, as mid-term tests are coming up. I only have just under three weeks of work to go, all up. AND! I just found out that this weekend is a 5 day weekend! I knew it was long, but Tuesday is not an official public holiday (Monday and Wednesday are), so I figured I'd have to come to work. I just asked about it this morning and there's no school that day - so 5 day weekend! Woohoo! What am I going to do? I need a project or something. No point in trying to go anywhere... the whole rest of Korea will be in all the good holiday spots. Plus, it's too late to book now. Hmm, shopping in Seoul, finally go to the garden of the morning calm? Do some art, craft, and cooking? Sounds pretty good.