Tuesday, November 30, 2010

10th Day of Christmas

Happy December!!!!!

So close to being home, the countdown is now in days!!!

Speaking of countdowns, song #10 is here, a song about a major countdown, New Year's Eve!


#10- Fey's "Un Ano Mas"

Sunday, November 28, 2010

11th Day of Christmas

The countdown continues. My 11th favorite Christmas song is coincidentally titled "12 Days of Christmas."

I think everyone in the existence of ever should watch this video, especially what comes after 1:55.

#11- Straight No Chaser's "12 Days of Christmas"

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

12th Day of Christmas

It's Thanksgiving today, which means that the Christmas music is going on full blast on ye ol' iPod. To honor the time leading to Christmas I have decided to share my 12 favorite Christmas songs, sharing one a time during the period leading up to Christmas.

At #12 is Destiny's Child's "Opera of the Bells"


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

"Kim Jong Not-So-ILL" -Amy Poehler

So yes, North Korea has launched artillery fire onto South Korea. The dispute is mostly over an island which has a border that has been debated for some time. Right now it's just a small attack, but because it's the North versus the South (sounds like the Civil War), it's a big hoopla. I don't know, maybe I'm just jaded or maybe the 9/11 attacks put world issues into minor perspectives for me. The killing of 2 soldiers just doesn't quite equate to me the loss of 2 towers that were attacked via airplane.
~20 soldiers were injured in this back and forth exchange. My country has lost over 4,000 lives in Iraq alone (not including Afghanistan), so again, I'm just looking at it through that perspective. To give you a visual of the geography of the situation, I have illustrated so on this map:

Because this is the most heavily guarded border in the world, and an issue of world security, I find it that the matter will be resolved soon as many counties would have much to lose from anything remotely war-like.

Quoted from an earlier tweet of mine: "Everything is okay on my end. It's not near me, and remember, the US is in 2 wars."

Now for the video portion of our blog, which sums up the 2 biggest event happening this week:


Sunday, November 21, 2010

"We never thought that we'd get caught up stuck in a teenage waste" -N. Furtado

So being a teenager should stop when you’re….geez, I don’t know, A TEENAGER?!!
It’s so funny because people still act like they did when they were in high school, people treat you like you’re still in high school, and high school just has a way of creeping in on you when you least expect it (for instance, halfway across the world, just as a hypothetical situation of course).

So a couple of things have happened to bring this topic to my attention (obviously). First one happened with the only two people that I REALLY still talk to from high school. Granted, I have friends from high school on my Facebook friends list, but aside from and occasional comment back and forth, I don’t ever plan to see them. So these 2 friends of mine and I, along with other involved individuals had altercations with 2 other people during our senior year of high school. Seems like those 2 people just got a Facebook (side note: barely?) and have decided to add us, but not both at the same time. One requested me, while the other requested my other 2 friends. Comprende? Well this led to a big can of teenage worms to open up and even an exchange of countless messages as well as a wall post that hit the 50+ comment mark (I think that’s some kind of record). After talking and evaluating the situation with one another, no action has yet to be taken.

The next thing that has happened came upon and observation made by one of those people from high school I only comment back and forth sporadically as mentioned earlier. (WARNING: this portion of the post gets pretty nostalgic) He went to our high school, which is currently under reconstruction, and mentioned how none of our magnet teachers, except for Mr. Aldrich, are there anymore. Well it seemed weird that his first visit came 8 years after our graduation. But yes, many of the teachers we had are long gone. Ms. Hurst (my Algebra 2 and AP Calculus teacher) left right after I actually interviewed her for a paper during my first semester of college. I can’t remember what quite happened to her. Mr. Cook (Chem and AP Physics) was fired for obvious reasons…..***cough**** rum ***cough***. Mr. Aldrich (World History and AP US History) is still there, Lizzy and I talked to him a great deal when we visited a few times together. Now the English teachers, they hold a special place. Mr. Odegaard (who taught me English in grades 9, 11, and 12th) was an awesome teacher. In retrospect, we probably had too much freedom, but I read a lot of my favorite books in his class. During my undergrad and credential classes I would visit him often to get my observation hours signed off. It was at that time that he was starting a business with his wife to sell a hemp-based fashion line at Fred Seigel’s, not too shabby. So that’s probably why he’s gone, to start that venture. Ms. Pilon, one of the most passionate people for English and my 10th grade teacher, is the one teacher I’ve actually had a strong rapport with. Aside from being my teacher, I was also her service student, and she hired my friend and I for the summer to help her move into the Department Chair classroom because she had been moved up. After high school, I also went to her class for observations during my undergrad and credential classes. THEN, I actually had a graduate course with her while working on my Master’s. She was getting a library concentration in her degree because she wanted to be a librarian (much like her sister). But now she is teaching at another school, and really enjoys it. I’m happy for her.

But there was always one teacher who had a special place in everyone’s backpack in high school. Mr. Footlick, my Bio teacher, and the one teacher who pushed his students, used to tell it like it is, and would joke around with everyone. I used to hear about his retirement when I was 15, and when I recently heard he no longer works there, I wondered if he finally went through with it. Good for him, he’s earned it.

Thirdly and lastly, another event that has tapped into the teenage me has happened with my family. It’s nothing major but it was one of those moments when I always end up saying, “I may still look like a high school student, but you guys do know I’m 26, have 2 degrees, and live in another country because of my job……right?!” In retrospect, this is also pretty hilarious.

Well to the teenage me, I hope to bid you ado, but know that’s impossible.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Ho Ho Holy Los Angeles


So here's the deal for my coming to Los Angeles during the holidays. If you are friends, PLEASE feel free to join me in partaking in these events, I want to see your faces!!!!! I'm an A-type control freak so I've gone ahead and decided to give you a quick itinerary:

12/24- I come to LA that morning, it's Christmas Eve, so yeah....I'm going to spending that time with the family.

12/25- This is Christmas Day, which means more face time with the family. From what I hear I'll be in Victorville during this time.

12/26- I'm free to see your faces!!!! Dinner at Ra at Del Amo in Torrance perhaps (??)

12/27- I'm hauling my butt, rain or shine, to DISNEYLAND!!!!!!

12/31 to 1/2- New Year's! I will be in Vegas for this weekend. Family and friends are all welcome. I have a reservation at the La Quinta Inn & Suites Las Vegas Airport & Conv Hotel, approx. 2 blocks from Cesar's Palace.

1/3 to 1/7- TBA (Still brewing, stay tuned)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Going to Holland

So it was about a week ago that I posted a blog about the "Night of Too Many Stars" show download, a show meant to raise funds for autism education programs. I also have an array of books here that I got from a teacher who used to live in Korea but moved back home to Canada with her husband. I started looking through these books for something new to read. Amongst these books was one called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a book which has a familiar cover as I'm sure I've seen it at a Barnes & Noble somewhere. I'm sure it would look familiar to you too. Well after reading the back cover's description I was intrigued to find out that it's a story about a teenage boy with autism told through his perspective. The purpose is to allow people into the mindset of someone with the disability.

Having both personally and professionally dealt with people who have autism, a related form of it, and other disorders that impede learning, little did I know that the last blog, the show download, and the book I am currently reading were going to serve as a prophecy of sorts for the events that were to transpire thereafter.

So it turned out that some time ago, lets say about a month since I really can't remember, that I was walking to the air base with my neighbor and we were talking about learning disabilities. The conversation went on to say that a friend of their family is suspect that their son may have autism. I mentioned my experiences with autism and it made the conversation go into a deep discussion.

Fast forward to this week. Well it turned out that my neighbor's friend's child has been diagnosed with autism just a couple of days ago. Just after that, I got a call from my neighbor inviting me to dinner next week over at their friend's house to discuss autism and whatever advice I could offer. Of course I said that I would be more than willing to offer any advice/suggestions that I could. However, the people I am dealing with here are parents, something I clearly have no experience with. So I then decided to go straight to the source and ask the moms in my family who have experience with this. After taking careful notes over our Skype phone conversations, I must say that now I feel like I have a wealth of information to provide this family, as well as what I hope is comfort.

With what I know and with what I have gathered I hope that they are able to take it, apply it, know that they are not alone, and someday be able to be a viable wealth of information themselves for families dealing with this for the first time.

With that said, I want to end this portion of a hopeful note. There is a short story I read once in one of my teaching credential classes, one geared to teach teachers about working with students with different types of disabilities and when the we studied autism this short story came about. It's called "Welcome to Holland." I think it gives people who both have to deal with autism and those that are not familiar with what autism is a sense of what it can be like.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This Thursday (November 11th) was Pepero (빼빼로) Day! What is Pepero Day? It is a day dedicated to that candy that is comprised of thin toasted breadsticks covered in chocolate. I hope I described
the candy well so you can sort of know what I'm talking about here. In wanting to inform myself about this holiday I found out it was created by the Lotte company as a way to push the product. It functions as a somewhat version of Valentine's Day in which
young couples give one another boxes of Pepero. It also functions as students giving chocolate sticks to their parents, neighbors, teachers, and friends. I scored four boxes. Go me! I'm still working on them, they're in the fridge awaiting my inevitable attacks.

Note: the reason Pepero day falls on November 11th is because the lines that make the ones on this day, 11/11, resemble sticks of Pepero. When I told my mom about this she said that she wonders what SK is going to do next year where Pepero day falls on 11/11/11. I hadn't though about that and when I passed along my mother's insight to the people in my school they had never thought about it either. Oh that mother of mine.

So excited that payday is almost here. That plane ticket home sure tapped into the osc funds. I eat like a damn king on payday, like a king I say!

Also, I've been having trouble once again with my stupid fridge and my even more astronomically stupid washing machine. Fridge got fixed and my washing machine got replaced. This is my third washing machine since my moving here. And let's just say three is not the damn charm. It's even less functional than the last one. It shoots water out like a eye dropper, one little drop of water at a time. Just called my coteacher to call my landlord to get that fixed, and pronto I hope.

Aside from that, all is good, I'm good, hope you're good too!


Sunday, November 7, 2010

The Sarah Silverman Legends of Autism Award

One of my favorite parts of the "Night of Too Many Stars" event is posted above.

The "Night of Too Many Stars" show is to raise funds for Autism education programs, which are gravely needed.

For a $3 iTunes dowload you can have the two-hour comedy show special in its entirety and the proceeds go to fund programs to help children with autism. Autism is something that is near and dear to me, so seeing a program like this is very encouraging. The show alone is worth the three bucks. You get to see things like:

  • Steve Carell's outdated song
  • Chris Rock cursing out a bidder's ex-boyfriend
  • Tina Fey's exotic calendar
  • Jimmy Kimmel's bobble head
  • Conan O'Brien's masturbating bear act
  • Jimmy Fallon singing a song to Mr. Tommy Hilfiger himself while sitting on Thalia's lap
  • and of course, the Sarah Silverman Legends of Autism Award

Please Support!

iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=394995472&s=143441

More About the Show: http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/night_of_too_many_stars/index.jhtml

Thursday, November 4, 2010

“We’re so weird.” – Sag Dong Min

This quote came from one of my favorite students; in fact he reminds me a lot of my brother. This week the class lesson has been about appearance, which according to my sister’s Facebook reply, “the order of importance is: Hair, Shoes, Clothes and then whatever we're dressing for.” She makes me so proud. The conversation at the time was about skin tones and how people can change their skin tones with things like tanning and make-up. At that point that student pointed out a common thing in the Korean language. For those who don’t know, words in Korean HAVE TO end with a vowel sound, usually some variation of the A or E sound. For example, Burger King would be Burger Kinga in Hangeul (Korean language). So the conversation went like this:

Me: People change their skin color sometimes by using tanning or make-up.
Sag Dong Min: Make-up, make-upa, make-up
Me: Make-upa, are you saying it in Korean?
Sag: Yes, we’re so weird.
(In my head bursting and bursting in laughter)
Me (realistically speaking): No you’re not, it’s just the language

And no, this doesn’t mean the Korean language is weird, I really laughed at his reaction of how he pointed out this difference. Come on, when haven’t you heard the joke about the guy ordering a Yumbo Yack from Yack in the Box? Exactly. We can’t be docking language points here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week has also been about perspective to me. I’ve thought a lot about the expectations people have of one another. We expect people, based on circumstantial evidence, upbringing, background, or even socio-economic class to achieve and to do a limited array of things. This goes from the kid in the projects who is expected to drop out of high school and try to maintain a menial paying job to the trust-fund kid expected to live off of mommy and daddy’s bank account forever and ever. In either scenario, people should not expect anything from people. Many people who come from low-income upbringing use that to motivate their goals of wanting to become something grand. Many people in the trust-fund situation usually feel ashamed of being privileged and want to make their own name for themselves. The point is, don’t expect anything from anyone.

I’ve seen the person who went to the good school say things like “conversate” and “aks (instead of “ask”)” and I’ve seen the person from the slums be on the verge from being a Mensa genius. Things that I’ve personally done in my life, no one ever pressured or expected them from me, I really just expected them from myself. Whatever things I ever put myself through it’s really been because I expected them from myself, and I still do. I admire people who take those expectations others have of them, and instead are empowered by their own expectations, throwing the others into the crapper.
That’s why I surround myself in the company that I do. Many of my friends and family members have become people who have not let their environments faze them, but instead they do what they do because they want to do better and bigger things for themselves, beyond the expectations. I also love the company I’m in because it seems that my friends and family always have an “itch.” They’re either too comfortable or too uneasy about their current positions that they wish to do more. Where most people would have settled, I look at the people around me (figuratively considering that I live on the other side of the world from LA) and see that they always want to do more. They want get a better job, get a better education, travel more, learn more…all in all, have a better life. I like that. I admire that, and chances are that I admire you.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Time Shifts

Today marks 5 months since my arrival to South Korea.



Well Halloween has come and it has now gone. It was a lot of fun. It was fun and mellow. Went to Josh & Audrey’s place for a get-together, headed to the Osan Lounge, then went home. Spent the day with some cool people as the “boy who lived” aka Harry Potter. The day before I was watching Repo: A Genetic Opera, a great movie, and the best thing Paris Hilton has done in her career.

Now it’s November, which means my dad’s birthday will be in some weeks as well as Thanksgiving. I’m considering a Thanksgiving lesson for some of my classes since the Halloween one went so well.

I’ve also gone ahead and have allowed my iPod to now play Christmas music, music that always cheers me up and at the same time is parallel to the weather here. In terms of health, I am so much better now.

I’ve been listening a lot to Shakira’s new CD also, it’s great, that “Gordita” song with Calle 13 is still on repeat. Speaking of music, it was weird because I had a dream the other day, but it was more like a movie. I say this in the sense that it had a soundtrack to it. The song? It was the theme song to “California Dreams.” I thought the dream where I was driving down the road yelled LA, but this one just spelled it out for me in block letters.

So the question keeps coming up, whether or not I’ll renew my contract. I think this week reached a new high at the count of four times, and it’s only Wednesday. IDK. IDK. IDK. I need to go to LA for the holidays first, then when I come back to SK then MAYBE I can make an informed decision. That’s all that’s on my mind for now. Also, I found out my niece got Student of the Month at her school, congratulations!