My school is doing some major renovations right now. Everything is being redone; the offices, teacher's room, classrooms. Its going to be really, really nice when its all finished. I will take pictures. I am horrified, as a level 2 occupational first aid attendant, however by the danger that all the construction workers are constantly in while they are working. No steel-toe boots, no safety glasses, no face-masks. Heaven forbid they shut down the school for a week to get everything done and not risk the students' or teachers' health. There is a giant band saw running in the hallway when the students arrive everyday, flinging sawdust into the air. Yesterday, the walls were freshly painted with toxic-smelling paint (way worse than at home), but several kids got paint on their clothes, because they are kids and that is what they do. Garbage bags are PILED in front of the stairs, one of the fire exits. The door to the teachers' room was blocked the other day while a guy with a blow torch was firming up the plastic coating on one of the new walls. Just picture a large ball of fire from the hall, while we are stuck in the corner of the building with one door. Worksafe BC would have a field day in this country. The conditions are right up there with having a propane heater on full blast within an enclosed space for the whole winter, which we had.

All middle school students in Korea are studying for their midterms right now too. The exams in middle school are more important than high school exams. The marks students' get in middle school determine ultimately what university they get into, by determining what high school they get into. Right now they are studying 20 hours a day, no joke. Sucks to be them. Awesome for me! I teach 4 classes on Tuesday and Thursdays normally and two of the classes are middle school students. They still come to the school, but they are studying with a different teacher, only for midterm prep. Now I only teach two classes (for the next 2 weeks anyway) and the rest of the time is planning/free time/working in the research room. My planning is all done for the semester, so by planning I mean wasting time on the internet, writing blog postings (like this one. Yep I'm at work), or reading my book in the teachers room by disguising it behind a novel that I'm teaching. So clever, Sam Teacher.

As my contribution to the research room work, I am plagiarizing storybooks by changing the words so that the school doesn't have to buy the books and then make their own, I'm guessing. They are all pretty common normal books for young kids. How to get dressed, food, my parents still love me even though they don't love each other, friends, school, the playground, don't be mean to the kid in the wheelchair, girls can do anything boys can do, blah blah blah. I thought it would be funny to submit a book with a less commonly-published theme, such as "Daddy hasn't been home in three nights and mommy is mad" or "Mommy likes to drink gin for breakfast." Wouldn't that be awesome? I mostly just want to do it to see if they would do anything. The girl in the research, affectionately known as Skeletore (she's skinny), that gives us the work doesn't have the greatest English so I don't know if she would get it. But I get it and I think its hilarious.

Once the plane ticket is booked...

Its the easiest and most expensive part of the trip: the plane ticket. But once it is done, the trip is actually happening and planning can continue!

I just reserved my flight to Nepal on September 7. I have to spend one night in Bangkok and then I will meet Denise and Dale in Kathmandu. I also just booked and paid for a weekend in North Korea. It sounds a little strange, a weekend in a communist nuclear weapon-wielding country with a tiny man for a boss. There is a tour group that runs the trip to a National Park in the Southeast corner of the country. I'm going with Romi and some of the people she works with. There is a long list of rules to abide by, such as the max length of a telephoto lens, the print material allowed (nothing basically), what we can't talk to the locals about (mostly about the economy, politics, the world) and on and on and on.

Last week was a big week: new camera, new runners, new haircut. I chopped 7 inches of my hair off. It was time for a change but I love it.

New photos from the new camera on Flickr. Betty, no couch photo yet but soon!

I just made a sandwich. I spent more time taking photos of the avocado then it took to make the whole sandwich.

My new toy

I finally did it, I bought a Canon DSLR camera today. In street speak, a fancy digital camera with a big lens. I have wanted one for a long long time. Last year, I did buy a small PowersShot camera, which was ideal for starting out and learning, and is an awesome camera. Being here, and taking over 5000 photos in 7 months, I learned the limitations of the camera, and going to the next step will enable learning and better photos. Since this morning's purchase, I have taken 354 pictures. Not are all good, of course, but I've tested settings, lighting, subjects, everything. I am so pleased and I'm very happy to have taken the next step.

Deathly ill with the travel bug

The plans are ever changing. This week, Denise convinced me to meet her and Dale in Nepal in September. Of course, I'm freakin going to! The issue for them was that none of the treks start until September-ish and they were going to do that while I finished my contract. So instead they will go to India, then we will all meet in Kathmandu. I need to start training for it now because with all the hiking and aclimatizing, it will take a lot of work. I want to go now!

After that we'll go to SE Asia and meet Leesa who will be done her contract by then. I have been looking at photos on the internet of all these places and they look amazing. I feel so lucky that I am able to do this trip. It makes the work worth it, but I don't want to talk about work. Its Sunday.

Yesterday, a new friend and I went to this small island resort thing about 60km outside of Seoul. Romi works with Dale, is from Toronto and we totally hit it off from the start. We're the same age and sort of had the same reasons to come to Korea (a nice change). We took the train out there, then a small ferry and then walked around this awesome island for a few hours. There are cabins people can rent so they can stay overnight. There are boat rides, bike rentals, tons of restaurants. We had chicken galbi (bbq style) for lunch and sat on the patio drinking soju and talking. We took lots of pictures and just had an awesome time exploring. I have a thing for ferries, not sure why. Maybe its being from BC. It was also great people watching. All the Korean women were dressed in their best, heels and all, for all the gravel paths. So many families were there playing games. We saw some Thai women, but then we looked closer and weren't sure if they were men or women. Regardless, they were stunning. We took the train back to Seoul at about 8.30 last night. We both kept saying how awesome traveling within Korea is because it is so cheap. The train was $4 each way, the ferry was $8 round trip per person, we spent $23 on lunch in total and had tons of food. The same kind of day trip in Vancouver or Toronto would have been around $100 or something. The day also inspired me to suck it up and buy a new camera. I ponder it everyday, and I need to just get it over with.

I scored a sweet couch from the trash/"good furniture that no one wants" pile. I was riding home from work the other night. Denise helped me carry it home. Here's some advice: if you want the craziest looks form locals, carry a couch home. Its beige leather with wood ends. There are some jiffy marker marks on it, but its comfy, clean and does not smell weird. Its nice to have another place to hang other that my bed, or the floor.

The cherry blossoms and magnolias are in bloom in the city and everything looks so pretty. Its nice that Spring is finally here. There is a big cherry blossom festival this month too in Seoul. Its getting really warm and humid too, a nice reminder of the sweating that my body does to keep cool.

Namaste

Only something a Vancouverite can like

Many of you will curse my name after saying this, but I miss the rain in Vancouver. It does not rain very often here, although it is raining now. Maybe because I grew up in Van, but there is something about the rain. The smell of the air, the greenery everywhere you turn, the grayness of the sky, the mist rising off the mountains, the cleanliness of the streets after a good wash. I REALLY miss that. When it has rained here on the weekends, I almost cherish the moment to stay inside without guilt, curl up with a blanket and read a book. Of course, its not fun when driving, having to do errands, to work, to walk the dog, take out the garbage, and many other things. The alternative to that kind of rain is dusty, dirty streets and dried bushes. I guess since spending most of my life in Vancouver, I have spent about half my life in the rain. Its not until I've left that I realize how much I love it.

I just bought new glasses. They were $85 for the frames, lenses and an eye test. Yes, $85. God bless Korea and its proximity to China. The men who worked there spoke as much English as I speak Korean. One guy was actually better than that. So the transaction involved a lot of miming and me walking around and pointing. (Mom, it was that place that you went near my house that adjusted your glasses). Anyway, I really wanted to $485 ones, Gucci I believe they were, but alas I would rather spend that on a plane ticket.

Last night I finished my latest book, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (thanks Jacqueline!). I read it in 5 days and it was SOOO GOOD. I was sobbing like a friggin little girl who doesn't get her way at the end of it. Right when I finished, Denise told me to go on Skype. I show up on my webcam with tears and mascara running down my face. It was as if I had just been dumped by man of my dreams. I was heaving and everything. SO go read that book because it is fantastic.

Now I am inspired to study my Korean. Off to the books I go.