THIS is the country that I live in?

North Korea to kids: Candy is good for you
Impoverished state claims new candy boosts children’s IQ

SEOUL, South Korea - Candy is dandy for North Korean children trying to grow tall, strong and smart in a country battling chronic food shortages.

North Korea has developed a candy it claims is good for children and will help them increase their height, weight and IQ, a pro-North Korea newspaper published in Japan said on Friday.

“Unlike medications that help growth by clinical methods or hormonal effects, the growth nutritional candy has no negative side effects,” the Choson Sinbo said, based on an interview with the head of a nutritional research center in the North.

Unlike sugar-packed and chocolate-covered sweets, North Korea is hoping that children in the reclusive state will enjoy munching on their nutritional candy made of seaweed, beans, carrots and sesame seeds, the newspaper said.

The candy report comes on the same day a top U.N. agency official said the food shortage crisis in North Korea is growing more severe by the day and the state is dispensing “starvation rations” to its population.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8000632/

I'm not completely sure how to use it but I got it!

Where's my cot?

I give up I think I'm just going to sleep here at school tonight. I have a crap load of papers to grade and lessons to mail to people and awards to vote for and lessons to get to a point of viability and I have no reason to go back to the apt except to feed the cats. Frankly I don't think they are in any danger of starving.

Friday night and Revenge of the Sith just aren't enough of a motivation to get things done right now. Summer is too far away. God help us!

What I'm good at.....

Today I have spent somewhere near 3 hours planning flights to hither and yon. ICN to MCI, MCI to YYZ, MCI to OAK. (And I will waste NO more time with this post by creating a really cool map that links to these locations so figure out where they are yourself!) What am I thinking? I'm thinking I'm not getting any work done. Oh and did I mention the loss of a $150 united voucher? Yeah oops! So I hoped and I have thus far failed to use today in a manner pleasing to my plan book.

Maybe I can salvage this afternoon.

Physical Science Today

This is the content I will be teaching for the next three weeks in my physical science class and the speed at which I will be teaching. God I love the end of the year!

http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html

What can I get sick with??

First of all I am MAJORLY craving a good beefy burger with some happy french fries lightly dusted with seasoning salt. How late is Applebee's open 'cuz we can pick up my luggage AFTER we go there.

Secondly I got whiff of some interesting news it seems that once in a while the wheel gets reinvented, Pepsi changes their logos and the twenty gets a new face. But then there are the things you never get expect to change for example, prescription bottles. I must say I like this new face, it's going to make Target a killing. I would soooo take my prescriptions there to get this little gem.

On a related note are we suppose to be making drugs look LESS like candy? I mean seriously who wouldn't want to play with this bad boy. I'm TOTALLY making up some fake illness to get ahold of a Rx of amoxicillin or viagra or lithium just so they can put it in THAT bottle. God Bless America's art students, what will they tinker with next.

Everyone wants to get BRANDED

Reality Check: Korea's Clothes Suck

The folks here in Korea seem to be all about dressing fancy. But really they do it like a blind, amputee in a dark closet of left over 80's clothes. I think in my time here (9 months) I have bought 2 t-shirts and a pair of pants. I'm a shopper, I am wasting away.

So internet shopping has been my saving grace. Problem is that I don't want to wear something blazoned with the company that has clawed their way through the masses of candy coated teenage girls and is now presented as "the best" of their time.

It's clothes people! You wear them to cover your bad tan lines, the celluloid and the hairy legs that haven't been shaved since you went out on New Year's.

But for real we all want to wear something with a little bit of recognition. We also want something that makes a statement about us, what we do and how we live.

• Most people want there cloths to say, "Look how much disposable income I have." Which is easy with every sock, earring and pair of pants with some designers name on it.
• Others would rather scream, "I'm comfortable!" their clothes usually say "100% cotton, jersey knit."
• Often ex-pats like, "Look where IIII'VE been." (A fav of mine when things haven't reached their expiry date.)
• And then of course we must have our counter culture folks with the, "A friend of mine who you would never talk to in a dark alley made this after a really great hash party."

So in reality we are all branded it's just a matter of what you want to say and whether you have to say it or you if your gonna let Eddie Bauer say it for you.

All of this to support some really cool "Non-Brands" that I have found out on the net. Neighborhoodies has some way fun stuff. Think NYC Urban Outfitters. Need to get me a gift? Just grab me a GC and I'll be all up on a "Tenderloin Dist." Hoodie. Not to mention they do this Free MP3 a day thing, it's good stuff and they have an archive you can stream while you shop their site. Ni-ce!

Then there's American Apparel which is trying to fill the trendy-minus-the-name-niche. Little more sunsplashed, Cali, industrial look, but when you've got the tunes running from Neighborhoodies it's all icing. Check'em out shoppers and skip your local strip mall.

Today...

Today I will wear green pants and a khaki shirt. I will attempt to navigate "the system" without being noticed but the powers that be. I have 3 weeks and 4 days of teaching left (counting today) after that they finally let me get to the mindless babysitting I've been looking forward to since Christmas.

Oh and I seem to have misplaced an entire classes papers whoops!

Caught without my camera

So I saw the most beautiful thing today and I was without my camera. I'm hoping that it will all still be there tomorrow. Lately I find myself saying often "I gotta remember to take a picture of this next year." This was one of those along with the wisteria that had completely takeover a gazebo (as it should always be allowed to do). Being that today is Budda's Birthday, kinda like Christmas I suppose but not, the Buddhist's were all about the decorations today. As I was trudging my way to work today, yes on a Sunday, I walked past this house that usually has one lone, pink lotus lantern by the gate. I always take note of the happy lantern because it is the one of the few bright cheery things that I can count on on that walk. Today it had company. Strung around the outside of the house, inside the courtyard, on the second floor balcony and any other place a person could perch long enough to hang them there were lotus lanterns. Red ones, yellow ones, pink ones EVERYWHERE! I couldn't believe it the time and the patience to hang them so perfectly. I was awe struck. I hope it's still there tomorrow so that I can take a picture, if not it's on the list for next year.

The Pen Sluts Back in Town

Must be feeling down or out of control or something because I just spent $24.52, which I prefer to think about as 12.73 GBP, on three pens at the Anything Left Handed Shop.

Three. Pens.

• Will they make my life infinitely better?
• Will they get me into grad school?
• Will they bring me all the earth riches I desire?

Probably not but DANG their cool! Plus I can now be an elitist left-hander whenever anyone wants to borrow a pen. HAHA!

Two of them look like this....


Maria this is all about you I want you to know. I could hear your oooohhhs and ahhhhhs as I pressed the purchase button. Suppose I better put them to good use huh? Snail Mail anyone?

Holy Cow!

Man a lot has happened this last month. And I haven't written about any of it! Not to mention it's getting to that time of year when you look around and realize, "Crap I have to eat ALL that stuff in the fridge in the next 5 weeks?!"

So I was trolling the many Blogs that I have links to and as usual it has given me the push I needed to share my inner monologue. That and the fact that I have 3 sets of Bogey's to correct and 2 labs that have to be given back to the kids tomorrow and the final chink in the chain, a good cup of coffee that I haven't indulged in since the last time I sat still long enough to post. Last time I posted I was in Seoul, sadly I posted to the wrong blog, so it looks like I'm an even bigger slacker. But I should get some props for all the photos I posted right?

Well in retrospect I haven't really dealt with the inner working of living in a Korean culture as much as I have dealt with living in a small Christian community. After being here for almost a year now (God is that possible?) I've realized that I am the fish in the tank.

I've given up on learning Korean, though I still feel a bit of a need to learn. I have stopped eating Korean food and have built up a stockpile of chicken breasts and salmon steaks in my fridge. Whenever a Korean assuming I too am Korean tries to speak to me I merely stare blankly, shrug my shoulders and say, "English?" And my all impressive ability to NOT play the 'Lets save face game.' Whatever happened to trying to integrate? My answer TCIS. We were never forced to try it on our own so now that we can we don't want to. Not to mention that I spend about 6.5 days a week working because, and I soooooo hate this, it's my duty. RAH! But enough of that let's talk about this last month. Let's see April, April, April....hmmmmmm.

*Almost for got to mention Twin Day. I asked Rita to be my twin originally since people are getting us mixed up pretty regularly. Well jokingly she mentioned that she was already going to be twins with Ryan Cordell. HA ha! didn't catch the joke so I asked Zach he was game for some silliness. At which point I find out that I have left Rita high and dry so we became triplets. Ni-ce!

TWIN DAY

Remind you of any Prof's you had?

Sometimes it's a little too easy to get into character.

Mmmmm, curry! This is WAY better then the stuff my Mom makes.

Hee, Hee. Look! I'm not sitting alone at lunch, I DO have friends!

HA HA HA can you believe they want THAT much for a cathode ray tube? Really.

Ohhhh hope we don't get caught!

PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES

Well we had parent teacher conferences, which were when I posted all the pictures, all in all it was good. We did "arena style" conferences which meant that you heard all the parents and teachers in to the gym and let loose. Have to say I like this style for many reasons which you could easily guess, easy access to all parents, not a lot of waiting for traveling people, you can see other teachers in your downtime and as the science dept does things its a chance to impress everyone with your creativity. You can thank Rita for getting that ball going she brought some flowers to keep herself sane, completely understandable as I have done this myself, to which Charley latched onto and flew with adding scarfs to the tables and beanie babies too.



And this would be the little bouquet that started a maelstrom of activity over the next two days.

"And so you see, if we changed the won to dollar one time a year...." Charley and his captive audience. When the conversation started we didn't even know that Lisa was pregnant!

"Ugh, 2 more days of this? I've only been here 5 minutes and I'm loosing my mind."

"Go ahead I DARE you..."

And this is what it looks like when the social studies department works.

PROM

The Saturday of that weekend was Prom. Now as I am still recovering from not being able to attend my own Senior prom I often have an unnecessary desire to attend said dances. Yes Mom this is still a Christian school even with some booty shakin’. So when Rita FINALLY asked me to be her plus one I was ecstatic, couldn't have been better if it had been Josh Cinq-Mars. Well we got all dolled up and had quite a night there was food, flowers, friends and a fresh squeezed juice nightcap. What more could a girl ask for?



And this is the setting for a night to remember.

Could I get any luckier? I got to be her plus one!

"I dare you! Just try to get to that chocolate cake." "You don't stand a chance."

Yessss you know you want some of this, don't you?

"Luv you dahling"

I C U!

"Tonight, Tomorrow and Forever" Awwwww..

MEANWHILE BACK IN KC...

Now while all of this was happening there as a bit of personal upheaval going on across the Pacific that I just got tuned into. It seems that leaving a questionable relationship undefined whilst a person leaves the country for a year allows all sorts of things open for interpretation.

"Chris if your reading this your still a dirty dog, this is merely the
'I've-given-it-a-month-to-simmer-reflection' know that you still rank pretty low in the books for this."

So I left to come to Korea and things were crazy but I was sorta dating Chris, 'The Book Pimp', but things were a bit edgy when I left. For me sometime around March or April I realized that soon we would be back on common ground and I was quite looking forward to seeming what things would be like between us. Sadly being the person I am I still put off talking directly to Chris about this and instead left for sunny Thailand. Well when I get back I decide that it's time to talk to the man and call him. Only to find him evasive and noncommittal about everything. So I ask, "Chris honestly, what's REALLY happening with you?" And that's when he spills it, he's been dating someone else since February.

In my head: "WHAT!?"
Out of my mouth: "Oh."

After going around in circles and exchanging pithy sayings we both learned a few things.

• I find out that He didn't think he was cheating since things had drifted off between us. And that being evasive about an answer is as good as giving one.
• He found out that yes it did hurt a bit to find out something like this had been happening for months and he didn't have the guts to say something about it, even if it wasn't cheating. GRRRRR!

Moral

HONESTY PEOPLE HONESTY!

Chris I hope you and Lauren are happy and that this long distance thing works better for you than ours did. But if I see you on the side of the road on my way to visit Erica with a flat tire or your transmission somewhere behind your car I will merely be stopping to take a picture NOT to give you a ride. That's what you get for buying American!

SEOUL N THE GANG

Which safely brings me to the weekend trip to Seoul. A good time to get out and away but all in all not terribly fulfilling. There's just something about paying 14 dollars for 2 tacos that just makes it a little less enjoyable. But hey there was shopping (I bought my first piece of Abercrombie), coffee (half caf, lowfat milk, low foam please), friends and funny hats.



Just getting snazzy for a day out.

NO really we drive it ALL the time...

"Ah Rita what would Korea be like without you?" "I don't know but I think everyone thinks were gay! Hee Hee!"

Ahhhhhh! My hat!!

Yes dahling its a WONDERFUL day for a tan.

Yeah I know that's how it felt paying the bill too!

Nope sir's I have no intention of messing with you. But Drew here REALLY wants to take your picture.

Nuthin' like a few hundred riot police blocking the subway entrance to make you feel safe.

K-So what your point is....

"So now what do we do?" Its the same conversation world wide. PS checkout thes shop in the background. Makes me laugh EVERYTIME!

Everybody should match their moles you know. It makes the diet salads better!

This was in a second story window in Seoul. Yes you can see straight up her dress. Guess they don't have someone to double check this kind of stuff huh?

Man I'm not sure we should eat here guys?

"Its not so bad over here!"

"No really we're fine! This is really comfy!"

Spring is in the air...AH AH-CHOO!

Mixed in with all of this Spring has been coming. With it's unpredictable weather, yellow dust and flowers blooming, I have watched cherry blossoms, azaleas, forsythia, wisteria, acacias, mustard flowers, peonies, magnolias, camellias and many other harbingers of spring come and go. I have enjoyed everyone and have been saddened when it was time for them to pass. I LOVE watching life bloom around me even when it is badly pruned by the Koreans around me. I wish I was in a place were something was always green or in bloom but maybe then I wouldn't appreciate it as much right? I even planted some marigolds to get into the spirit of things since I'm not around to help Dana out with her little plot.


Just like KC it's spring when the road construction starts.

The best view on campus, and it's out my classroom window!

They remind me of Kansas City.

Tadpoles!

Yellow dust haze at dusk.

Magnolias outside the aptment (apa-tu for u koreans)

MAY-KING IT REAL

This last week had to be one of the hardest I've had since coming here. At some point before the P/T Conferences and Prom week and after Seoul I began to feel like I had a real life again. You know the kind where you go to work and being thinking about the things that you have to get done AFTER work not the work you will still have to accomplish after work. Which for me is the catalyst necessary to get work done and get out the door.

What brought this on you ask? Well I started making friends outside of work and outside of Deajon. Okay so there are only 2 said friends but you know me I go for quality not quantity. Roberta in Changwon and Josh over in Doonsun Dong.

And how did this make the last week hard? Well when you have something to look forward to after leaving work, thus making it your work and not your life a finite distinction, staying around it pretty painful. So here's how things played out.

• Monday: Heavy teaching day AND rocket launch day. This means lots of running around and telling kids to pay attention and stop doing THAT and do THIS. Then we had meetings until 5. YeAh! >:/
• Tuesday: Light day. Should have got the planning and grading done. Instead got a lot of talking and a little bit of working done since there were so many odds and ends to pick up. Did I mention at this point I had only been sleeping about 5 hours a night for the last 3 days? Uh-huh.
• Wednesday: Normal day. At this point in the week a few things dawn on me. 1. At 12:00 I find out that a meeting with the Headmaster has been called for 4:30 this afternoon for the Science Dept. Meaning we won't get in to the meeting until 5:00 and we won't be done until 6:00. Which is when I am suppose to be home to get a phone call that was slotted to happen before I had guest over for dinner at 8:00. 2. I-fest is tomorrow. A half day of school and then festivities until 8PM. But wait here's the kicker the holiday which is celebrated in both Korea and Japan means that everyone else related to kids DOESN'T have to work that day. 3. Not only do I have to work but I will be at the festival until 8PM since I am a sponsor and not merely working a booth. DAMN!
• Thursday: D-Day. Light day with the kids since I give up imparting new information in lieu of a paperwork day for all. Lost keys, not a event since I misplace my brain daily. Noon leave to find keys and return to Jesse, President of above mentioned club, in a panic and having a heated discussion with an 8 year old. I-fest begins and things are great and then it rains and things are not so great. We finally call it quits (7 PM) when we have chase kids away from the Helium Tank and are dripping wet. I however realize the day is shot and go back up to my room and work for another few hours in an attempt to salvage the weekend.

We took the festive out of festival and got this...

But as kids are know to do give them rain and they will find a way to make it fun.

Smile Sasha smile.

Just an average day for your dorm staff. Only now we have proof that you're "all wet!"

• Friday: I SWEAR it feels like it took a month to get to the REAL Friday but its here and as with the kids we all want it over as quickly as possible. It goes with no major maiming or losses of sanity and the weekend arrives! I also learned that ducklings are really cute and smelly.

And here I sit feeling infinitely better about spending the last 4 hours filling you in on what's up in my world. Well almost. There are some things that will just have to wait till later if you want to see picture that go with all that I have been talking about. But hey that's what you keep coming back for, right?