My Birthday...

Is nowhere near over yet, but I just have to share how amazing it has been so far.

Last night at 11:45 I sent a message to Hoon, basically just that I was going to sleep.

His response: ㅋㅋㅋ 잘 수 있을까?? ㅋㅋㅋ Which is basically hahaha Will you be able to sleep? hahaha

I thought what?? Then like 5 minutes later I got bombarded with text messages from all of his friends who he told to message me for my birthday. So far I've received something like 40 text messages from his friends, and they keep coming. I actually had to turn my phone to vibrate so i could sleep. SO CUTE.

Then, this morning, he sent me a message and said, "There is a mission! Check your door before you leave."

As I was leaving my house, I checked my door to discover that at some point between late last night and 7:30 a.m., he had traveled the hour and 20 minutes to Incheon and put Hello Kitty Stickers on my door, with th sticker message Allison's House written out. Plus, he left a little post it note:

던킨도넛츠 = Dunkin Donuts.

베스키 라빈슨 31 (there shouldn't be a ㄴ at the end... idk why it's there) = Baskin Robbins.

So off I went to Dunkin Donuts where I discovered he had also visited and preordered my standard bagel and ice americano. SO CUTE. Then, when the girl gave me the iced Americano, she also gave me a bag and said that Hoon had come in earlier and prepared this for them to give me.

Inside the bag? This amazing birthday card that he drew himself!:

This is the cutest card Ever. I love giraffes. That's me as Hello Kitty skydiving on the left, and Hoon (he's a bearwolf... it's a joke between us...) is on the left. LOVE IT.

And so now, I've just been getting tons of amazing messages from Hoon's friends and family, enjoying a delicious birthday breakfast, looking in amazement at my adorable card, thinking about Baskin Robbins after school, and being really thankful for having a boyfriend who is so amazing and sweet.

I might cry I'm so happy.

Picture Post 2.0

So I'll be doing a few picture posts in the next few days. I don't want to overload anyone with pictures from like a whole hodge-podge of things, so I'll do it in sections. Up first: my birthday.

Me, Kim Gil Sook (L) and Kim Hyo-Jin (R), two of my English teachers

Hamming it up

 

So they really take their cakes seriously here. That's from Baskin Robbings, and the flowers are chocolate, and the pink around the outside is a cookie cake. Also, that cola can is actually at 35mm film camera. Oh, and to the right I'm just rockin' my b-day present to myself-- DUMBFOUNDEAD t-shirt.

Up next will be some pictures from Jeju (and by some, I naturally mean like 2). Then, Melina's visit, which includes drunken fun with Makkeoli, Namsan Tower, Hongdae Free Market and Chonggyecheon Stream.

My Birthday

It's my birthday soon. I can't wait.  I started writing this blog on the 28th. I was going to talk about how it's my birthday soon and I was a little nervous about being alone but really happy to go to Jeju and blah blah blah.

Instead, I will talk about how completely kick-ass my birthday was.

I didn't eat these but my god, if I had, my birthday would have been effing perfect. Credit: Cupcakes Take the Cake

Anyways, my birthday really was fantastic. I could spend the time listing all the kick ass gifts I got, but I won't (although my new Hello Kitty watch, Red Riding Hood planner, Coke can camera, hair pins, kitty cosmetic case, skinny jeans, Milano cookies, steve madden gold oxfords, mix cd, rubber stamps, hello kitty pillow, and big bang stickers galore were all pretty tight^^)

Instead, I just want to say I am so thankful to my friends both back home and here in Korea. Usually, all my posts are about how wonderful Korea is and how much I love it here. It's true, I freakin' love Korea. Probably more than the United States. I love the food, I love my job, I love my students, I love the public transportation. But, even though I love it, sometimes life here is a little bit difficult. Whether it's communication issues or just the occasional bout of homesickness, sometimes I wish I were in the States.

I was very concerned about being lonely on my birthday, but I have been so well taken care of here, that I have hardly had a moment this week to think about home. All week I have been receiving cards and packages and little reminders about how loved I am back home. Then, on Wednesday/Thursday/today, my school co-workers and students have been so kind and fun and cheerful and celebratory that I can't help but be thrilled.

My students sang Happy Birthday to me maybe 15 times this week. Plus, gave me cards and letters and various little gifts. On student wrote the kindest note on her card: "Dear teacher: Because of you my English is developing. You are my best teacher. Please remember me." I almost cried.

Then yesterday, my co-teachers took me to dinner at a kamja tang restaurant (my favorite korean food) which is incidentally owned by the mother of one of my favorite grade 2 students, Minji. The kamja tang was FANTASTIC, and the conversation was good. Then, we went to a bar, where I got to open presents and eat cake and drink beer with people who are like my second family.

And now, it's a day of non-work work (although I should prepare for lessons next week), and them I'm off to Jeju for the 9s tournament. Sure, I haven't packed at all, and I work till 4:30, but it's all good.

God, I love it here.

Movies

So, yesterday, my co-teacher and I went to go see the G-Dragon Shine a Light Concert movie at the CGV Theater near Incheon City Hall. Believe it or not, this was my first movie theater experience in Korea. I know, I know, I've lived here for over 8 months and I'm only just now seeing my first movie? Yeah, well, some of you may know that I'm not really a movie person. The only reason I ever watched movies in high school/university is because of Craig. Craig was a total movie guy and I just went along. hah. I just don't really like movies. The plots and characters never really stick with me for any time at all. People always ask me if I've seen this movie or that movie, and frankly, I don't really know because I can't remember. It's a problem i have.

However, the GDragon concert movie was much easier to get behind because there is no plot to remember, and there is a very limited cast of characters. Granted, there were lots of special guests, including Teddy, CL, Dara, and ALL of BigBang (omgomgomgomgomg) but, I already know these people, almost intimately (they don't know me, but I know them... weird). GD had costume change galore, with two all-white outfits, an all red jacket and pants ensemble, a sweet jacket that was white orange and yellow (if memory serves), a ridiculous black outfit with a GIGANTIC BOW (omg, this was my favorite thing), and a black tee with a black vest with feathers. I love this man. He's so cute when he makes his little faces, but then so sexy and hard when he raps or gets really intense. Gaaaaaaah. Also, Taeyang was a special performer for Korean Dream and Look Only at Me (나만 바라봐) and it was wonderful.

Oh, and did I mention that I got a cool mini movie poster which I will be putting up in my room to continue the Big Bang shrine.

As far as movie theaters go, the CGV is by far the nicest I've been in. In addition to your standard movie theater fare, you could also eat at A Twosome Place or the foodcourt one floor below which has McDonalds, KFC, Baskin Robins, CanMore(<-- English!), or a number of Korean places with Mandu, Ramyeon (that's k-spelling of Ramen), Sundae (not ice cream), and a number of other things. Also, you can go to the arcade, which is about 5xs the size of a typical American Movie Theater arcade, and much better lit. Also, you can do a little shopping in the Movie Theater's gift shop (that's right, the movie theater has a a gift shop), which features toys, stuffed animals, trinkets and other chotchskies (thanks Ali!) that are typical from Japan, but occasionally from SK itself. We're talking Dragonball-Z figurines, stuffed Totoro dolls, phone charms galore, post-it notes shaped like dog bones, toast, fried eggs, or pineapples, and other various goodies. Plus, a Samsung Store, in case you want to indulge in a new Corby F that our beautiful 2ne1 girls promote during the movie previews, a video camera (because you were so inspired by the cinematography in the movie Kick Ass), or a new laptop to edit your future oscar-winner. Seriously, it's like a mini shopping center.

I almost purchased a stuffed version of this guy. He's so effing cute!!

Today is my birthday and mid-term exams for my students. They are stressing and I am relaxing. My co-teacher gave me a kick-ass Hello Kitty pillow thing for my chair for my birthday. This is the same co-teacher who loves BigBang and took me to go see GD's concert AND went to see Brian McKnight with me and Miranda. She is the best ever!

Vanity of vanities

So I just added a live traffic feed to my blog so that way I could look and see about how many hits my blog is getting on any one day in particular. I think I'm becoming more and more like Joe at www.joseph-gutierrez.com in that I am becoming more and more interested in becoming an internet superstar. Unfortunately I'm pretty certain that no one reads my blog. Bummer. But maybe one day I'll become popular, after extensive k-pop blogging and other meaningless drivel that the larger population usually deems interesting.

Also, this week I've been getting Birthday things! Last Friday I got my first card. Then, yesterday, stuffed in my little mailbox which, by the way, is perhaps the least secure way of sorting and providing mail that I have ever seen, was a package from Paigey! I haven't opened it yet, and I haven't even cheated and read the customs form yet so I can be surprised by the package on my birthday. I did notice however that there was some strange tape job on the envelope that seemed pretty uncharacteristic of my meticulous, if not somewhat obsessive-compulsive friend, Paige, so I looked and that and discovered that this package had the honor of being the first package sent to me that was opened and searched by customs agents. Paige assures me that there is nothing in that package search-worthy, but I suspect it was probably the crack pipe she sent me along with the hash she packed into a stuffed teddy bear. I told her it wasn't worth it, but people just don't seem to listen to me...

Then today at lunch, a lady who works in our main office came up to one of the Korean English teachers and whispered somethings and my co-teacher told me that I had a package in the office. In fact, I had TWO packages: one from Sar-bear and the other from the 'rents. The package from Mom & Dad was big, but not too heavy, which is a relief because when they shipped Christmas stuff, it was so heavy. I cheated and opened a couple of things, but I won't say what because my parents read this (I think) so I don't want them too know too much.

Anyways, my apartment is a wasteland right now. So much laundry to do before I jet off to Jeju this weekend.

Yep that's right, I'm headed off to Jeju this weekend, suckers! The Hawai'i of Korea, as it's so famously called, where I will get to kick back and relax and enjoy my time... oh, no, wait, that's right, I'm going to play in a savage nines tournament and get my ass kicked by the weather and the exercise and the work and the drinking. Perfect.

This is the part of Jeju I won't see.

This is what I will see.

xoxo

A

April is filled to the brim with celebrations

This month not only has the birthdays of myself, three of my best friends back home, three other people who teach English in Incheon, three other people who play frisbee with me in Seoul, and four other people who I played frisbee with back in Gainesville, but also contains the birthdays of one of my favorite 교포, singer Jay Park, or in Korean, 박재범 (yesterday, April 25), and the funniest jokester of them all and member of my all-time favorite k-pop idol group, BigBang, Daesung, or more formally, 강대성 (today, April 26).

생일축하합니다! Happy birthday! Feliz cumple! rah rah rah.

And to celebrate, I figured I would include some pictures of my two birthday boys, plus the newest release from my boy Dumbfoundead, collabo with Clara Chung (winner of Kollaboration 10) and Jay Park himself. Called Clouds, the song is absolutely beautiful and dfd kills it, as usual. Clara's voice is also impeccable. Enjoy!

p.s. Daesung is the first three pictures, and Jaebeom is the smokin hot bod in the last two. *melts*

Word.

xoxo
A

SPRING

This past week has been exceptionally warm prompting me to wear only a light cardigan and my peacoat in lieu of my down coat. This is very exciting because I haven't been able to consistently not wear my down coat for so long before. Anyhow, it got to about 60 degrees today which was amazing. I mean, it's not Florida April weather, but you know what? I think I might like this better. Now if we can just work on getting some consistent sun. Oh, and a pool or two near me to lay out at. *^^*

Anyways, my ipod still won't sync up to my itunes but next week I don't have frisbee practice, so I will be doing three things:
1. going to myeongdong to have the genius bar look at my ipod/laptop and try to figure out what's going on
2. going to yeouido (여의도) to see the Cherry Blossoms and maybe bike ride. I saw some of my friends rode bikes, and I want to ride a bike again really bad. *^^*
3. going to Sinchon (신촌) to celebrate the April birthdays in Incheon by eating a fuckton of nachos and cheeseburger.

Hopefully, I'll also get to work on some moooooooovies on imovie. teehee. That would be awesome! *^^*

Embarassment

Today I embarrassed myself. I won't include all the miserable, pathetic details, but I embarrassed myself at Family Mart today. Let me say this, friends, don't go out on a limb. It's a silly waste of time. Korean people are too shy, too uncomfortable, too everything. So that's that. Now I will go wallow in self-pity.

Plus, I have no date to Natalie's & Drew's birthday party tomorrow night. Woe is me.

On a positive note, today the teachers had a pizza party with Pizza Hut pizza (with peppers, onions, sausage, ham, black olives, and sweet potatoes. It was amazingly delicious. AND FREE.

Korean class also broke my heart and went way the fuck over my head. I hit a bit metaphorical language learning wall, and was completely flummoxed roughly 15 minutes into the class. That sucked.

That's it. Sorry this is so slapdash, but I'm kinda boring right now and disappointed with how many afternoon went.

Missing Things.

So I missed the season finale of Gossip Girl because I thought it was at 9. I never know what time t.v. shows actually start anymore because of TiVo. The really bad thing is that the TiVo wasn't working because the boys next door moved out and took their wireless adapter thingy with them, so we had no internet connection. Luckily, the TiVo is in the process of reconnecting. However, as such, I have no recording of the Gossip Girl episode either... :-( Anyone have it on their t.v. for me to watch? Also, can I watch it online?

So this weekend was more eventful than expected. Friday night was Pav's birthday party where I: had a 40 race (won via cheating), was desperate for loving (but got none, 'cept from teen and kate, but what else is new?), wanted to cut a girl because she was hatin' on Pav, went to checkers and had bacon cheddar cheese fries, hung out at tjs, and finally went home at 3 a.m.

Saturday morning I woke up, got ready to head home (packed bags, almost left dress, left a bunch of stuff), and hit the road. I got home around 12:30 or so, promptly changed into the bathing suit and laid out for an hour or so. Then fell asleep from 3-8 p.m. Woke up, felt bad because I was going to go to the movies with some of the girls. Went to five guys for dinner at 9:40, met up with the girls at Friday's, ate free spinach dip, and giggled and gossiped lots!

Sunday, woke up 9:30, went to the beach with Sarah and LB 10ish. I drove with Sarah. So, here's story #1: Driving down Southern, over the bridge onto Palm Beach. Coming down off the bridge I see a cop car. I say to Sarah, I hope he doesn't pull me over. Then we say, well, I'm only going 46, and the speed limit is 40, so he shouldn't. We pass him, he doesn't turn on his lights or pull out. Phew. Then, delayed reaction, he pulls out of his spot, and I'm like oh crap, he's gonna pull me over. Then, no lights on, go around roundabout next to Mar-a-lago/tennis courts with no problems no lights. Phew. Then, a few yards down the street, he's behind me, lights on. WTF? I pull over and he comes up and is like, you know it's 35 there? And I was like, uh, no, I had no idea. Then he asks for my license, registration, etc. I give him everything but realize oh shit, I don't have my registration because I threw it away (another story for another day). He ends up giving me a ticket for not having valid registration (although I do have the new sticker on my car so I'm obviously registered). $10 ticket if I can produced proof of registration (I have to order a new one for $3.50). Okay, no big deal, $13.50 total cost of my ticket.

Kelly's wedding is beautiful. Kelly is absolutely gorgeous. Danny is thrilled to pieces. Kelly is thrilled to pieces. See Efraim, blast from the past. Hang out with the girls, do the cupid shuffle, the macarena, the electric slide, the cha cha slide, and stomp to a little Kirk Franklin. Have amazing food. Take lots of pictures (See facebook). Do leg lift pose. The usual.

Monday morning, I wake up at 6:45 to drive home. Leave at 7:40. Driving, everything is fine and dandy. I get pulled over. For going 80. On the turnpike. Where the speed limit is 70. And everyone does 80. How the hell did that happen? I got so mad, because I had been passed like 10 minutes earlier by like five cars flying down the turnpike with no regard for the speed limit, and I have my cruise control set at 79. I actually started crying, I was so miffed. Anyways, cop's a jerk, and I get a $113 ticket for going 80 in a 70. Plus I have to do driving school online.

Then, drive through the worst rain imaginable in Orlando, not exceeding 50 mph for a full thirty minutes, and slowing to 35 mph for five minute intervals. Did I mention I missed work because I got in to late to get there...? Yeah, it was an awesome day.

So now, I'm back in Gainesville. I've been cranking out graduation thank you notes to people, trying to organize my room to some degree, uploading pics, etc.

Sorry this was so long, but it was an eventful weekend for me.

Oh, btw, Craig is coming down next week I think. Crazy.

xoxo,
A.