Announcement

I would like to take this time to make this announcement.

As of today, Saturday, February 12, 2011 (Korea time... Friday February 11, 2011 EST), this blogger is officially 100% debt-free. I have no debt whatsoever. I have no credit card bills to pay (at the moment) and my 11,000 USD loan from undergrad university studies has been completely paid off exactly 649 days after my graduation (Also know as  about 9 weeks shy of 2 years).

I would consider this my single greatest accomplishment since graduation. I can't decide if that's a little depressing that I consider that my greatest (when I take into consideration all the dope things I've done in the last 649 days: traveled to 6 countries on three continents, lived abroad for a year and a half, essentially taught myself Korean, taught English [mostly] successfully to over 900 students, etc) or it's really that great.

Anyways, CONGRATULATIONS TO ME

Oh, and this week seems to be full of exciting events for both me and my friends. My dear friend Kel had her first beautiful baby girl, Elorah earlier this week, and another dear friend, K-T will be married in less than 24 hours.

Congratulations to my wonderful friends half way across the world. I love you!

xoxo
A

Jeju Savage 9s Tournament

So instead of posting only the two terrible pictures I took at Jeju, I decided to steal some other people pictures and practice my iMovie techniques. So, below is he short video I made using pictures from Jihoon Choi (a great photographer who also plays for KUPA, the Seoul Mixed Team), Youn Park (official tourney photographer, check his site out: http://www.younpark.com/), and Gina Phillips, the girl in the picture getting the nasty lay-out d on some other girl in the tournament semi-finals.

Additionally, the music for the video at the beginning and end is Super Junior (슈퍼주니어)- Bonanama (미인아), and then for the wedding pictures, Taeyang (태양)- Wedding Dress (웨딩드레스).

Oh, and yeah, Tori and Dre really did get married on the fields. The ceremony was presided over by Mr. Clay Thomas, one of KUPA's fearless captains, who got his certificate of "reverend-ship" (the official name escapes me) (ordination, but I like reverend-ship better) specifically in order to marry these two wonderful peope.

Enjoy!

A Korean Wedding

So I had mentioned that last weekend I was headed to a Korean wedding. Well, I went and this is my description. I didn't know what to expect, but it certainly is different from an American wedding.

In very traditional Korean weddings, the bride will wear hanbok, which is traditional korean clothing (on the site, click the side tabs for various pictures and such). This wedding was not super traditional, but the mothers of the bride and groon each wore hanbok, and some other people did as well. The ceremony was held on the third floor of a rather large building that is connected both to Shinsegae (a huge up-scale department store) and the Incheon Express Bus Terminal. In terms of romantic wedding-like locations, this was not one. Incidentally, this type of place is the most common location for a marriage (big huge hall). The second and third floors are the wedding hall (2nd floor for the "reception" and 3rd for the ceremony).

When we first got to the wedding hall (I initially inadvertently typed hell, hahahah), we went to the bride's room. Now, American weddings usually have a bride's room, but they are for wedding party members and the photographer only. The bridal room at the wedding hall in Korea is pretty much just a chair and a pretty backdrop so you can take a million and one pictures with the bride. This, of course is exactly what I did. In the picture, it's me, my main co-teacher Yang Hye-sun (in the middle back), another English co-teacher (who is like my Korean mother, and whom I ADORE) Oh Yoon Kyung, and the bride, Cho Hye-jeong.

Then, you go around a corner to where the ceremony will be held. Basically, the hall is really really big, so there may be 3 or 4 weddings going on simultaneously (which is a sight to behold--so many people, so many brides!)

The parents of the bride and groom and greeting guests and shaking hands. The usual. You go up to a hotel lobby type registration desk (there is one for the groom and one for the bride), and you give someone who works there your cash envelope. In Korea, the traditional wedding gift is cash, which is easy but super impersonal. There was recently this article in the NYTimes which addresses precisely this issue. Interesting enough. Anyways, so you give them your cash envelope (my co-teacher and I put our money in the same envelope since I don't know what a wedding cash envelope looks like in comparison to a funeral cash envelope which could be problematic) and then the person working the cashier's desk writes your name down and gives you a food ticket. Yes, you read that right, a food ticket. More on this soon.

Then you go into the ceremony hall. It's quite pretty, looking not terribly different than a ceremony hall. It is decorated with flowers and an alter and there was a little orchestra off to the side. They also had this adorable slideshow of photos of the bride and groom running before the ceremony began. I guess before the wedding, most couples get elaborate engagement photos done, with dozens of different outfits and sets or locations. The pictures at this weddng were ADORABLE.

When I said you go into the ceremony hall, I really just mean that some people go into the ceremony hall. Let me clarify. Before we went in, one of my coteachers, Oh YoonKyung asked me, "Are you going to watch the wedding?" And I initially though that this was merely a Korean phrase lost in translation somewhere. So I just said, yeah, of course, and left it at that. Oh Teacher had to run an errand at Shinsegae or something before the wedding so she left, and my other co-teacher, Yang Hye-sun told me, "The reason she asked that is because most people don't watch the wedding. We said hello to the bride, so we don't really have to watch, but we can if you want." I hate to be a bother, but, yeah, I did want to watch the wedding.

So we took a seat and chatted a bit before the bride and groom took center stage. The wedding began and the parents walked down the aisle (mothers together and father together bowing to each other at the end of aisle). The song playing was a variation on "Someday my Prince will Come" which I thought was adorable. Then the wedding began. My co-teacher explained that they pretty much immediately do the I do's. Then this random guy off to the side started talking for a long time, and I was asking my co-teacher some questions about the wedding, and then I asked her what the guy was saying because he was talking for an awfully long time. My co-teacher just replied, "Um, I think he's praying" ooops. A minor faux pas. haha. Everyone in the whole place except my co-teacher and I were silent and had their heads bowed.

Also, I saw some students from my school who were not invited but came for foooood. SO korean.

We left a bit early because I didn't understand what was going on (obviously) and my co-teacher was clearly bored. We headed downstairs to the reception hall. And by reception hall, I really mean huge buffet room where all the guests from all the weddings in the hall congregate and eat together without any personal touch for one wedding. In fact, my co-teacher and I sat at a table with people that were not from the same wedding we saw. When we entered, we saw a couple tables full of other teachers, who had clearly never even stepped foot in the reception hall, which was hilarious. There was a TON of food (naturally, there were hundreds of people eating) and everying to choose from. They even had spaghetti, and some chinese food. Plus four soups, sushi, and a billion appetizers and salads. So we ate food for about an hour, and I never saw the bride again after we left from the ceremony.

It was very different and mostly just seemed highly impersonal. The bride did look positively stunning, and the ceremony, or at least what I saw of it, was very nice. Plus after the wedding, we were able to go down to Shinsegae and pick up some starbucks and relax in the food court. haha.

That's all for now!
A

Good Morning Korea

Just woke up here. It was supposed to maybe snow last night, but it didn't. It DID snow a couple nights ago, though. I didn't see the snow falling, but I saw snow on the ground, which was awesomely cool! I am up early for no apparent reason except that my body has clearly adjusted to getting up at 6:45 a.m. everyday. So, yeah.

I've been cutting out feathers this morning. It's been a busy day already. So, this week is Thanksgiving, obviously. In Korea, of course, they don't celebrate this holiday and so I wanted to introduce it to my students. And I though, gee, what better way than to make hand turkeys? It's the classic Thanksgiving art project and my students LOVE to do arts and crafts. So, I'm going to do a powerpoint about Thanksgiving for 10 minutes, and dedicate the other 35 minutes to hand turkeys. I figure it will take 10-15 minutes to make five I'm thankful for ___________ sentences, and then 20 minutes for everything else, the assembly of hand turkeys. I had considered having the students cut out their own feathers, but I assure, that would have taken 20 minutes of the class just to draw and cut so they would never be finished at the end of class. So, I thought, I'll just cut out feathers. I printed out several pages of feathers (I'm not good enough to free hand them) and started cutting. After about 72 feathers (I printed 72 of each color in the first round) I did the calculations, and it suddenly struck me that I have to cut out roughly 3000 feathers. Now here I am at just over 300, 10% done, and I think I'm going to kill myself. haha. My over-ambition is biting in the butt yet again.

As an aside, I'm going to a wedding this afternoon for one of my coworkers. I'm really looking forward to it, even though my co-teacher has warned me that it's not very interesting and it's really really short (30 minutes + eating and you go home)

Also, yesterday sucked. Well, yesterday was awesome, but the after school hours SUCKED.I got out of school early (my coteacher wanted to go somewhere, and I had a bill to pay, so I was cool with her using me as an excuse to get out early). Last time I had this bill to pay, I went to work on a day off (founders day of my school) and paid. This time, however, I got to the bank too close to closing time and they wouldn't do it. Luckily, my bill can be paid at other places, like the SHOW store. Show is the company that provides my phone service, and they are a subsidiary of the company that provides my internet service, which is what my bill was for. So I go to the Show store about 10 minute walk from the bank and give them my bill and my debit card. She asked for my Alien Registration Card, which is normal. I give it to her, and then after some typing, she says to me (in Korean) something along the lines of, your ARC card doesn't match you account information. Do you have another id number? At which point I realized I needed my passport because it is what I used to open my bank account, not my ARC. Unfortunately I didn't have my passport, and could only remember the first half of the numbers. So, I couldn't pay my bill. This was really frustrating. Supposedly I can pay it at the convenience store, which I will try today, but if that doesn't work, I'm going to rip my hair out and scream. And probably cry.

So yeah. That's that. Now it's time to focus on cutting out more paper feathers.

xoxo
A

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.

My sleeping schedule has gone to hell. I am wide awake right now, at 12:30, but I have to be up by 9 a.m. to prep tutoring, go to meetings, maybe hit the pool (wishful thinking?), go to tutoring, play at summer league, grab some dinner, go to Pavalicious's birthday party, and then get ready to hit the road for home for Kelly's wedding.

Which leads me to my next topic: Kelly's wedding. Besides my brother, which was crazy enough as it was, Kelly is the first person around my age to be getting married. It's pretty mind-boggling, thinking to myself, hey, that could have been me. I mean I never, at any point, expected to be getting married a mere two weeks after my college graduation, but for quite some time, I was hoping for within the year. And now here I am, single as can be, with not a care in the world about marriage or families or any of that domesticated "lady-like" stuff.

Instead, I'm fretting about how much I'm (not) getting paid, taking care of the building mountain of mail I must respond to, figuring out exactly what my weekly drinking limits are, scraping by on minimal preparation for tutoring, and eating way way too much McDonalds for my own liking (no joke, I had McDonalds twice last night alone. I was disgusted by myself, much as you should be too).

In other news, I'm very excited for the upcoming couple weeks. Obviously, Kelly's wedding, and a much needed, albeit very brief, visit home this weekend. Next weekend goes like this: Lake Wauberg for work (yes, I will get paid $8.25/hour to hang out at lake wauberg), Irish Car Bomb cupcakes with Teen, Min-Gu's 21st birthday party, Busch Gardens with Melly! The following weekend: Hotlanta!

Now, the real problems are: I have no clean clothing. Literally, I am wearing the last pair of clean underwear I own. My room (and quickly, the apartment as a whole) is being taken over with my crap. I just vacuumed my room, and it's already in a shambles. My rapidly depleting bank account matched with RecSports inability to actually reimburse me the ~500 I am owed for Centex and Regionals.

Well, this post basically turned out to be a train wreck of slap-dash thoughts and haphazard concerns. Story of my life these days.

xoxo,
A