Wonderful weekend Monday

Oh. My. God.

My body now hates me.

You know how I said how when some people stop eating wheat and sugar and then after some time they eat it again and get sick, but that didn't happen to me? Well, guess what? It happened to me. I ate almost nothing but sugar yesterday, and it was awfully amazing. I kept getting all energized and feeling like I wanted to run around, and then I'd crash and just want to sleep, then eat, and repeat. Then, last night, after my day of sugar, I couldn't sleep. It took me hours to fall asleep, then finally fell asleep at maybe 12.30, 1am. Then, I woke up at 4.45am with both my hands gone totally numb (little finger on my right hand was scary numb), and couldn't go back to sleep. So, I got maybe five hours sleep last night, max. Also, this morning, my digestive system hates me and I've got an upset tummy. I'm going to try my best NOT to do that again. But, and interesting experiment.

And now, the events leading up to the Ultimate Sunday of Sugar!

Friday night I met up with Andy for dinner. Yet another things my stupid brain wanted me to weasel out of but I didn't. (Seriously, what's up with that? That's three things I've not wanted to do but made myself and they've all been great. Lesson = learned!). Anywho, Andy is a Korean guy I met on the horse racing/Seoul Zoo meetup I did. He lives about 10 minutes drive away from Osan. So, he came and picked me up and we went for dinner. We didn't end up having Korean food, but we did have some rather delicious steak. Then we went for a walk in the park and he took me home. Nice night out :)

On Saturday I spent the day just playing StarWars, cleaning, shopping, etc. Then, in the evening, Courtney and I were meeting up for Shabu-shabu, and I invited Andy along to meet Courtney. Again, good food and good company. After dinner we went to an awesome park for a walk. It had a little river, and all these lights that changed colour, and frogs! While we were at the park, Courtney brought up the idea of having a picnic the next day, so we decided to do that.

Sunday morning I had a chat to Mum and Brook, which was great. Then, in the afternoon, Andy came and picked up Courtney and I and we went to the American Air-force Base where Andy works. Neither Court nor I had ever been anywhere like it. You can't just go there, as a civilian, but Andy was allowed to have us a s guests. He showed us around and we had lunch at an American restaurant. 

The air base was pretty interesting. It's just like a little town, but walled off and there's the odd person in army fatigues with a massive gun wandering around :D It's all very orderly, and very beige! I got the feeling that the air force people could probably be on a base just about anywhere in the world and it'd look pretty much the same.

We went to this American chain restaurant called 'Chillis' for lunch. Quite funny because I've just been reading about that same restaurant in the book about food manufacturing. I was keen to see what it was like. Well, all the prices were in American dollars, and we had to tip - which Court had to work out for me because I've never done it. I ordered apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream, which was about the most American thing ever :) And a total sugar overload. It was very nice, though. Haha, but both Court and Andy were a bit confused at me ordering dessert for lunch, and kept offering me their food too. The flavours in my apple thing were all really intense, and while it was nice, I don't want it again. It was sweet, creamy, salty, cinnamon, vanilla, and a tiny hint of apple. And so much sugar it burned!

After lunch we went to a buddhist temple up in the hills and had a walk and a look around. I don't know how they do it, but Buddhists make their areas so peaceful and calming. I went inside the temple, and the sense of peace was almost overwhelming. I just wanted to sit there, smell the incense and take it in. But, Court was waiting outside, so I didn't. Maybe another time. It was really nice up there, though.

Then we went down to the river and had an afternoon/evening picnic. Which just means we sat on a blanket on the ground for hours talking, and C managed to drink an entire bottle of wine herself. So, by the evening she was pretty happy :D

So, to finish off the evening, C and A had a small dinner (I was too full to eat anything!), and then about 10pm we called it a night and all went home. It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday. Both Courtney and Andy were a lot of fun and are such nice people. I'm super glad I've met both of them.

And that is all for the weekend. And no more sugar for me for a day or two. I'll have to be better socially - I can't go sugar overdosing every time I'm out with friends!

OK, Monday - Today!
Again, no teaching for me at all. I'm going to have to start writing another article or something, before I go crazy. Well, summer holidays are coming, so I do need to start planning summer camp in the next few weeks. Although, it makes it a bit tricky when no one knows what level or how many kids will be in the classes, but I can deal with it.

Today's five:

1) Some Maroon 5 song was playing at lunch. It was Awesome with a capital 'A'. Some of lyrics went something like: "Those fairytales are full of shit. If I hear one more fucking love song, I'll be sick". Hehe, played at full volume throughout the school. Made me giggle, but no one else seems to notice.

2) The lovely not-all-there-kid (Not the always-says-hi-to-me-kid) loves soccer. Seriously loves it. He comes and talks to me about soccer in 99.9% Korean with the odd English word thrown in. Today he was standing on the field and the ball rolled over to him. The other boys asked him to kick it back, and then let him join in their game. Wow, he was so freakin' happy it makes me smile just to think about it. He kept looking over and giving me the thumbs up :)

3) Babies laughing are awesome.

4) I went for a lovely walk in the rain.

5) Life is good.

One class on a Friday

It's much cooler today than it has been for the past little while. I wonder if it's going to start raining soon. Apparently the really hot, wet, muggy weather should start soon and last through until August. Not really looking forward to that :)

Today has been just another normal day. I did get to teach one whole class this morning, though. Quite exciting. Sadly, lunch was not. Icky baby frankfurter sausages in sweet bbq sauce with smooshy noodles, seaweed, and some mushed gross spinach thing, along with spicy bony fish soup. My broccoli was nice,

Tonight I'm going out to dinner with a Korean friend I met at the meetup a few weeks ago. Don't know where we're going... mystery dinner! On the weekend I'm getting together with Laura to go to the rose festival at Seoul Grand Park. I'm quite looking forward to that, it should be really nice.

Today's five:

1) Got to teach a class, so for 45 minutes I was not stuck at my desk.

2) Going for dinner tonight - hopefully get to try some new Korean food.

3) I started reading a really interesting book about the food industry and all the things they do to design the 'food' they make so that people want to eat more of them. It's fascinating! The book is quite good in that it's not trying to vilify the industry, which I appreciate. I mean, I think what they're doing is disgustingly unhealthy, but people want it - badly. They're not evil, they are just working on such a different mental planet from someone trying to eat 'natural' foods.

4) Had a great bodyweight workout this morning.

5) I got a seat on the bus! Second to last one :)

Memorial Day Yesterday Thursday

Yesterday was a day off work, and I had an amazing day! Courtney invited me to come along with her and some Korean ladies she knows to go into Seoul. My first thought was "nah, how can I get out of that", and then, once again, I was like "Shut up Sam and tell her yes". So I did. 

I met up with her and the ladies (5 Korean ladies and 4 of their younger children) at Osan City Hall in the morning where we caught a bus and then the train into central Seoul. We went for an awesome walk around some traditional Korean neighbourhoods full of lovely architecture, greenery, and cute little shops and galleries. The sun was out and everyone was so nice and friendly. Some of the ladies spoke great English and others were more unsure, but all were funny and great company.

After walking for a few hours we went for lunch and I tried ice cold noodles. It's a common summer dish in Korea. It's a lot of noodle, as Courtney put it :) I enjoyed it, but it wasn't good enough to want again. After lunch we got some Hagen Daaz ice cream - I got dulce de leche flavour and it was amazing!

Then we walked over Insadong, a traditional shopping area of Seoul and looked at all the handmade fans, jewellery, art, and snacks. I got a bracelet that I love from an old Korean guy making them at his stall. The we were all knackered and sunburnt, so went back to Osan.

Nyasha called Courtney on our way home and wanted to have dinner, so we asked the Korean ladies for a recommendation. We ended up going to a shabu-shabu restaurant, which is so cool because I've been meaning to find one and go for ages! Nyasha, Courtney and I had a good catch up and at ALL the food!

Shabu-shabu comes in three courses here. First you eat the meat and vege boiled in the broth, then you get noodles and boil them in the broth and eat them, then you make a thick rice porridge out of all the leftovers and eat that. All for $11 a person. We were all stuffed!! It was very nice, too.

So, from start to finish, a lovely day!

Back to work today, though. Another day with no classes. I'll try for after school class AGAIN today :) I have been pretty busy at my desk though. Mr B. says we have another open class on Wednesday the 20th, so I've done all the lesson planning and materials prep for that. I just finished. But I'm not going to give it to Mr B. for a few days. He always seems a bit annoyed if I'm too quick to finish things for him. Maybe feels threatened or something.

OK, today's 5:

1) fantastic day yesterday

2)Lots of sun!

3) Had some good work to do today.

4) I finally remembered to tell Mr B. my aircon doesn't work. He made a phone call, don't know what'll happen now.

5) I've got bacon, letuce, and avocado in my fridge! Bring on the breadless BLA for dinner.

*       *        *

So, one kid turned up for class (and then another one after about 25 minutes). Mr B said to just finish at 5:30, so she spent a good 20+ minutes writing this message on the board. It was a really good effort for her!

And here's the cute beagle puppy: 

"Oh shit" Tuesday

I've been having a lovely day today. It's a 10-6 day for me today, so I stayed in bed until nearly 7am - quite a sleep in for me. Then I had some left over hamburger patties and half an avocado for breakfast and played some StarWars. Work has been me reading health books (I'm on to the 'Paleo Solution' by Robb Wolf, now. It's pretty good - so far it's the one I'd recommend to people because of its ease of reading and simple concepts.) and surfing the internet. I do have after school class today, though. Assuming any students turn up. I hope they do, I've still got the fun music lesson I planned last week.

So, Mr B has been doing all the teaching today, but I've moved my computer into the English classroom instead of the teacher's room. The teacher's room is just too hot and stuffy. I can at least open the windows, turn of the fans, and even the aircon in the classroom. Mr B. was just 10 minutes late to class, though.. He told me as he was leaving the room that he would teach alone, and I said ok. But he was so late and the kids were actually like "Sam teacher - we learn English now", so I started a game of hangman. They a pretty good class, and were participating well. Anyway, we got halfway through the first word, and Mr B turns up and is like "Oh, no, I said I'd teach alone now". Yeah dude, I know. I was just entertaining them :)

1) The cute kid who always says 'hi' was doing Kpop dances for me at lunch. He's a pretty good dancer, but one weird as little kid.

2) I've decided to try going out for dinner by myself tonight. There's a soup restaurant just down the road from my building that I want to try. 

3) I'm about 1/4 of a level from 50 on StarWars.

4) Day off tomorrow.

5) Ahaha, turns out there is no after school class today. I'm waiting for my students to show up, waiting, waiting (they're often late), then I go in search of Mr B, but can't find him, so wait a few more minutes. I've set up the classroom, etc. Then these boys are like "Sam teacher, what are you doing?". I said I was waiting for my class. They said there was no class today. I mimed strangling Mr B for not telling me. They laughed and one of the boys goes "Oh shit!". Good call, kid.

Crazy T-Shirt Monday

Haha, devine retribution from the lunch god - today's lunch was bony fish and huge lumps of crumbed fried tofu with shiny bbq sauce (which had little lumps of corn and peas in it). Ew. I ate it though, but the best bit of the meal was the boiled broccoli I brought to eat instead of rice. Not a winning lunch day.

Not much to report today. I got to be in one and a half classes, though the one I was told I'd 'teach alone' consisted of Mr B talking at the students for half and hour and me doing read and repeat of their new vocab words for 15 minutes. Then, the next class I got through all the vocab words and Mr B tells he'll teach the rest of the class alone and that I can 'go take a rest' (which is Mr B speak for hang out in the teacher's room). Only as I'm leaving he follows me outside and tells me... well, it wasn't this straight forward, but the general gist was that a naughty student was sitting at my desk so I should find somewhere else to sit. Ooookay - why is the naughty kid at my desk, and not at the coffee table or something? But ok. So, I went and grabbed my laptop and sat at the staff coffee table while the kid sat at my desk. Then, after about 10 minutes another teacher walks in. He's a very nice guy who is always pleasant to me. He sees me and sees the kid at my desk and is like "Sam teacher... what? Why?". I started to explain that Mr B had said.. blah, blah, blah, saw he wasn't following and was just like "Mr. B? I don't know." THIS he got. He made the kid move and gave me my desk back. It was like he thought it was really disrespectful to make me move... and actually it probably was, but I've not got my panties in a twist about it. We all know by know that Mr B is borderline retarded but seems basically harmless. Unless he is just the most passive-aggressive person I've ever met. Which I choose not to believe. Retarded is better than evil. 

I think I should make that into a t-shirt.

Pahah, a quick google and some simple design work later, and I give you my masterpiece:

So, today's five:

1) This one actually belongs to yesterday, but it fits in nicely with today's t-shirt theme:

It reads: "Hamberger friend

I feel happiness when I eat a him".

Good stuff. I guess I should have bought it. They had a range of colours.

2) I had to stand up on the bus to work. I treated it as a whole body workout. Just imagine if in the movie 'Speed' they not only had to keep the bus going at a certain speed, but all the passengers had to play 'twister' the entire time. That's what it's like when I have to stand up on the way to work. 

3) I sent my article away to the editor of an ESL magazine! I'm not rating my chances very highly, as I think it's too academic in tone for them, but at least I did it :)

4) Designing that silly t-shirt was fun!

5) I sat outside under the tress at lunchtime and the sound of the leaves in the wind was lovely.

Lots of interesting things Sunday

Baseball yesterday was a lot of fun! I'm in the process of making a video/slideshow of the day, so I'll post that in a few days.

Courtney and I met for lunch and had a delicious Korean soup. I'll be going back there again! Then we caught the bus into Seoul and met up with the group to watch the game. I'd never seen baseball before, but Courtney had, so she told me all the rules and stuff. Baseball is an ok sport, but they don't hit the ball enough! The most interesting part of the day was the crowd. They were SO loud and had all these chants and songs. I think they were 75% of the entertainment! The other expats we were with were really nice, and it was a beautiful sunny day, to boot. The game lasted a long time, about 3 hours, and the team I'd randomly picked to support lost :(

Courtney and I got the bus back to Osan, had some dinner, and went home.

On the subject of dinner, we went to the same BBQ restaurant we went to on Friday night. We picked a new one to try on Friday, close to my place, and they had such nice food! We had beef bbq, and the meat was excellent. They also have this thing where they pour egg and onion around the outside of the bbq grill, in a trench kind of thing, and it makes fresh omelette as you eat. It was so nice! So we've been there twice now. However, both times, I've had a bit of an upset stomach the next morning. Suspicious.

Today has been another wonderful day, weather wise. I went for a big walk this morning and saw mountains of garlic for sale! And, as I was crossing the road, so huge fireworks went off, and trailed coloured smoke after them. In the middle of the morning. I didn't get my camera out fast enough to photograph it. They looked a bit like this, though:

Then I walked through the market, and found that in some of the less visited back streets of the market, they're selling dogs to eat. They had them cut open and displayed in glass cases. The didn't have the head on, but you could tell they were dogs. Plus, they had paws. Not sure if you buy the whole dog or a particular cut. Again, I didn't take a photo, I didn't think that many people would want to see a butchered dog.

Also at the market I bought a beautiful skirt and a cute pair of really liget polka-dot shorts, both for $5 each. Score!

Other than that, just a nice, relaxing weekend :)

1) Mid day fireworks

2) New skirt and shorts

3) As a special treat I bought two avocados at the supermarket. They were cheaper than usual at $6 for two.

4) Baseball was fun.

5) Hamburgers for dinner!

Friday's 5

1) I get to go home 'early' again. Mr B really doesn't realise I come in at 8am every day, so 4pm is my normal finish time. I should learn to come in at 9 on Fridays. Though, the minute I do that, the VP will be here every Friday.

2) I gave the cute little boy who likes to say 'hi' to me some chewing gum. He was so happy!

3) Dinner with Courtney tonight, and two skype dates plus baseball tomorrow.

4) I'm still marking student writing. There's work ranging from
"Ah, so bored. What perform? I'm forget homework. I'm do quickly preparation homework. Okay, this is speak homework, but not exist other men". ~ I think the kid is trying to write about how they need to get their homework done, but it's speaking homework and they have no one to practice with. Maybe.

to:

"A: This t-shirt is dirt cheap! I'll take it.
B: Cash or credit card?
A: I'll pay cash. Here you are.
B: Here is your change. Thank you.
(outside)
A: I'm as happy as a king!"
~ This one cracked me up! It was great! Hahaha, 'dirt cheap', 'happy as a king', where did she get that?

5) We didn't have bony fish for lunch all week! Every lunch time I said to the lunch god "please, I don't ask for much, just don't make it bony fish again". Thank you lunch god.