Long Awaited Book Pictures

I understand the point of this book, I really do. I read the whole thing, and it's not like any of it is incorrect. I'm just not sure if it's appropriate for children, and I'm quite certain it's not appropriate for ESL kids. I didn't even say anything to the Korean staff about it. It's just one of those things. This so isn't the strangest book I've ever seen. There's this book about the birds and the bees, written in Korean (with the English title "Mummy Laid An Egg!") that was stunningly inappropriate. I'll try to dig it out sometime and scan the really atrocious pages. I'll leave you with this teaser though, when I was referring to it in conversation with Beth and Adam and I called it the "Kama Sutra for kids." Seriously SO inappropriate.

Life through my eyes

I took my camera to work with me one day last week in order to take a picture of that book (those pictures to follow these, I promise). Then I had my camera out, and took a few pictures that capture a pretty good part of my life here.

Here we have an adorable little Korean girl reaching for what I had in my hands. (In this case, it was my camera. Sometimes it's my basket, a flashcard, a book, my smiley stamp used for motivation, or sometimes she wants me to fly her so it's just my arms.) I then captured the action shot of her jumping to get what I foolishly and stubbornly refused to give her. I cannot even begin to tell you how used I am to having kids literally hanging all over me. And I know that's a kid thing, it's just complicated by the language barrier. Like the time I had eight 4 year olds piled on top of me because I had stupidly pretended to be sleeping to illustrate a point. I was literally stuck underneath them, only being able to remove one or two from on top of me, and then one started tickling my feet. Honestly, I thought I was going to wet my pants. I don't even remember how I got them off me...I think I cried "Candy!" (I am so not joking.) Or the time I had four of the same four year olds hanging on from different positions on my neck. I couldn't breathe and couldn't tell them (as air is kind of necessary for speech). Luckily one of the Korean teachers came in and saw my red-turning-blue face and saved me.

Template change

I changed my template (I know, duh). Embarrassing as this is to admit, given that the only coworker who is a native English speaker reads this, I did it today at work. I am actually always quite busy at work, but had a lull today for a whole handful of reasons. So I spent the last 35 minutes before my class tweaking the template. I was quite proud that I did it all myself. The picture of Daive still looks a little stretched, but I'm okay with it.

Now for a new installment in the land of "You've got to be kidding me." For the sake of time spent typing, I'm going to remove all the cumbersome details that made the whole ordeal so frustrating and awkward, so please understand it was actually much worse than I'm making it out to be. :) Our downstairs neighbor called and ended up coming to our apartment, and looking on our back porch for a refrigerator. The language barrier was quite a problem here, and had me worried that this complete stranger (however nice he was) was looking for a non-existent refrigerator on my back porch. Said kind-but-potentially-insane stranger then asks me to go to his apartment for five minutes. *sigh* Okay. Now we'll skip by the massive awkwardness, the shock at how nice his family's apartment was compared to mine, and the extreme difficulties in communication to say that our air conditioner was keeping them awake at night. First of all, I have only had it on all night once. That would have been the night before this uncomfortable interaction. And it kept them awake?! The buses that pass by our building are louder than our air conditioner. They didn't ask me not to use it ever, but asked me to call the owner and have him fix it. The problem with that is that we're moving out in roughly three weeks. We have no idea if the owner is going to rent or sell the apartment. If he's selling it, there's NO way he'll fix/replace the A/C unit. And I'm honestly thrilled to death that it's June 29 and I just now really *need* the A/C. But at the same time, it's June 29 and I really *need* the A/C. Know what I mean?

Then there's the whole issue of moving in roughly three weeks to an as-of-yet undetermined location. I know that'll get worked out, but it just makes me feel very...unsettled. And PS - I hate moving.

Anyway, I have more I could say, but I'm going to go play with the template a little more and see what I can do. Good night!

I really would like to change my template on here, but I know it's a project that takes this HTML-challenged girl a lot of time, and it's too late to start tonight.

I'm having a bit of a blah weekend. I'm going to be visiting the States for two weeks either mid-August or end of August/beginning of September. I'm getting really really really excited about it. But I've found myself really struggling with homesickness for the past few days. This is quite strange for me. I haven't been homesick for a long time. I know it's only normal, but it's been difficult. I also got my hair cut really short again. I love having really short hair, and I think it totally fits my personality, but it's just kind of shocking. Then I colored it black, which I also love, but was also a bit shocking. I'm just having a hard time adjusting. Then one of my friends here is being a little weird, and I'm finding it more frustrating than I normally would.

Anyway, I'm going to go read myself to sleep. Night all.

&$(@#!#@# $@*#@#)%#*$#@&!

I have inherited a rather unfortunate trait from my father. It's the panic curse. And I don't mean the curse of panic. I mean the act (art?) of cursing while panicked. It's like selective Turret's, and I'm not making fun of the handicap. I'm being serious. Just now my cat and my legs got in a terrible tangle which I thought was going to end with serious pain for one or both of us. It seems like my brain should be directing all available energy towards keeping me upright, or at least in a safe falling position, while also keeping the safety of the cat somewhat in view. Such is not the case. In mid-stumble the most awful and yet morbidly creative string of profanity came out of my mouth that it shocked me. Once I landed safely, smacked the cat on his rather large retreating hind end, and sat down, I actually started to laugh. As a rule, I try not to curse. I will confess that a well-placed expletive can make me laugh till I cry, but I try to stay away from them. (It's one thing to curse at the animals when you work at a vet but when you're a teacher....yeah, entirely different.)

Anyway, my ankle is twisted and I have a potty mouth. That's pretty much all I had to share.

This is what I do at work...looking up tongue twisters on the internet is actually job-related for me. Of course, I would never dream of giving this one to my students. The ones I wrote down for them were like "Six sick sheep" and "Toy boat toy boat toy boat." (That last one is trickier than it seems like it would be.) The one below cracked me up. It was also one of the few ones with words starting in S that didn't end up with me accidentally cursing.


Ned Nott was shot
and Sam Shott was not.
So it is better to be Shott
than Nott.
Some say Nott
was not shot.
But Shott says
he shot Nott.
Either the shot Shott shot at Nott
was not shot,
or
Nott was shot.
If the shot Shott shot shot Nott,
Nott was shot.
But if the shot Shott shot shot Shott,
then Shott was shot,
not Nott.
However,
the shot Shott shot shot not Shott --
but Nott.

PS - While looking in the little library at my job today I found a book so bizarre and hilarious, I'm going to take a picture of it and post it later on. I removed it from the library, amid head-shaking and the thought, "This is what happens when non-English speakers buy the books for the library." So there's something for you to look forward to.

Six Weird Things about Me

The last thing anyone here needs is more proof that I'm strange. However, as my dear sister required me to join in this weirdness sharing fest...here goes.

1. I have to have socks on while I sleep.

2. The word "jambalaya" alone induces gagging, and on occasion, actual vomit.

3. For the pet Halloween costume contest I dressed one dog as Martin Luther (the white dog) and the black dog as the door of the chapel at Wittenburg where he nailed the 95 Theses.

4. I passed my dog off as a service dog so she could fly from Pensacola to Tel Aviv with me on my lap (no cage) for free. (And when pressed about it in Amsterdam I started to exaggerate and strayed from my set speech due to nervousness and ended up telling these wide-eyed flight attendents that she could dial 911 if the phone's buttons were big enough.)

5. I cannot make myself use a soft-bristled toothbrush. I think they're for wimps. I want either Medium or Hard.

6. I have to sleep with a sleep mask (Tempur-Pedic even, the BEST ever made) to block out all light and a fan on near my head to block out as much sound as possible.

I'm supposed to tag people, but most people don't pay attention to that anyway. I'll say Bethany, Val, JoAnna (if she's ever online again), my GA Mom (do it in the comment section if you wish), and Haley should do it....if you want. :)

But now, off to bed.

PS - Just as I was typing "off to bed" my idiot cat (language has been severely censored) knocked over an entire glass of water from my bedside table ONTO my bed, soaking half of my mattress, a very good portion of my bedding, the book I was reading, my SOCKS (weird thing #7 I think wet socks are one of the most unpleasant things that can be experienced in everyday hum-drum life), and then when said uncoordinated obese kitty was trying to run for his LIFE out of my room, he got caught on the cord and knocked over the fan and a stack of books. I hate the cat right now. That is all.