Halloween video #2

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/i5jNDKlzZbylotmJ?cmpid=hw_fb_self

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Fun Halloween videos!

I made these two Jibjab Halloween videos for some of our friends here at the Village. Here is the first one...

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/KVdKZewcwQ4Vag9h?cmpid=hw_fb_self

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

I've discovered the secret

To cutting onions...

yep, I'm wearing googles, cuz I'm cool like that!

No more tears boys and girls.  No more tears!

Simon's cat

The rain that is desperately needed in Texas (and other parts of the USA) this 3rd of July is instead precipitating south Korea with it's wet tears.  Sadly, our Fourth of July BBQ by the pool now is postponed until the clouds surrender exposing blue skies once again.  Our pool has finally opened, and ironically so have the doors of the clouds, and they seem to be jammed open allowing the clouds to flow freely all its liquid. Although yesterday, there was no rain, a first in several days, it was wet outside enough from the 80% humidity that one didn't need a pool to be drenched.  But eventually the showers will cease, and the pool, as it does every summer, will elicit the greatest joy in my soul. What is it about water that makes humans (at least humans unafraid of water) zealous with exuberance. I love summer, and I love swimming.  We're truly lucky to have a pool in Korea, but not just any pool;  a gorgeous, outside, and free pool!

On to the topic of this post however, the newly discovered, hilarious series, introduced to us by the Russian students- Simon's cat.

These videos are funny to both classes of people, those who love cats and those who despise them. I'm in the adoration category despite my many early childhood horror stories involving household cats which led to an eventual dog coup in high school which threw out the previous cat regime with threats of slobbering.  I've posted one particularly funny episode, although I have yet to watch all of them.  Enjoy!

Keeping Japan in mind

It's surprising how little information I hear about Japan considering our  close proximity, but the only news I hear is from the US news I watch in the morning.  Japan not only suffered from a devastatingly enormous earthquake but also a tsunami and now the threat of a nuclear fall out. In light of all of this catastrophe, I thought I would bring you some humor via Japan.  Korea, like Japan enjoys VERY silly humor, but in all honesty Japan does a better than does Korea.  They entertain their masses in the form of silly game shows. And here are two classic examples.  The first one is a game show in which the goal is fr the contestants is to try and eat marshmallows while being held back by contraptions which distort their face.  The second show is a group of men who play games in a library and must remain quite while having to do tasks that one might see on the "fear factor."  Both are hilarious. Enjoy the pleasures of Japanese culture, while you keep the people within the country in your prayers and thoughts.
Japanese show

Japanese silent library

Kyle's Icebreaker and a super cool vid!

A while ago Vanessa put a post up of a game called 2 truths and a lie. For those of you who saw it and never got the answer, the lie was that she met Cher while working at Disney. Cher winked at ME one day while on a private tour of Animal Kingdom.

So here's my 2 truths and a lie for you guys to guess at.
1. I have eaten Monkey Brains!
2. I'm a Gleek!
3. I've been to every continent except Antarctica!

We got a very limited amount of comments on the last one, so we are gonna try this one more time, I think this could be fun if we had a lot of participation. So comment on which you think is the lie and post your own 2 truths and a lie, ESPECIALLY YOU FAMILY!

And here's a cool vid Vanessa's aunt Pam sent to us that we thought was just awesome!
The story is that this is a real instrument assembled mostly from irrigation and agricultural machinery and equipment! Unfortunately, that was a hoax, it's computer animation but still, that's some pretty awesome animation!

I should actually be doing something productive right now

It's a lazy Saturday.  I have a "To do" list, but as soon as we made this list, my hubby fell asleep.  We slept over 10 hours last night, but he was still sleepy.  I think he's feeling stressed out from the job right now.  Anyways, while my baby (husband is synonymous with baby) sleeps, I should actually do something like write. I still have 1,000 words to write on my project for the week, but instead, I've been catching up on my blog reading and I came across a post that inspired me.  Bekah, from Country Mouse Tales has an adorable blog about her hubby and baby.  Her posts are clever and fun, but this post, ice breakers, intrigued me to the point that I decided to blatantly copy her idea. 
It's a get to know my readers post.  Yep, that's right.  This post is not about me, but about you. I want to know about you guys.  All of you stalkers out there, come on out and say hi.  I promise I wont bite, unless you spam me.  Then I might bite you.

I actually had another idea, a few months back, that I intend to initiate sometime soon, about creating more of a community here on the "yellow brick road" but this will be a good start.  We're gonna do an ice breaker.  A good old fashioned ice breaker.  Bekah, said she disliked school icebreakers, but I always found them fun.  They were a way to make all those strangers in the room into possible friends. 
One of my favorite ice breakers was one called, "Two truths and a lie." Most people are familiar with this ice breaker but for those of you who aren't, this is how you play.  You list three statements about yourself, in no particular order.  Two of them are truthful, and one of them is a lie.  And everyone in the room tries to guess the lie.  Lets all play.  It will be fun.  Even if you're not a regular reader.  Even if you just happen to accidentally glance at the blog, we want to hear from you.

I'll go first:  This will be easy for those of you who know me.

My nickname was Screamer as a child.
I met Cher when I worked for Disney World

I can't stand ketchup.

So take a guess, and then list your two truths and a lie.  You can either wait to post the truth or you can just list it at the bottom of your post. If you read these posts on facebook, feel free to post your comment on facebook.

Why I love being home

My friends don't just oblige when I insist on silly photos, but they encourage them!

Our annual mother daughter gathering (with Kyle )

More somber (notice there isn't another somber picture, but that was the title of this pic, "more somber")

Smiling

Shock and awe

Something smells.  I LOVE my moms face in this picture!

If I had time to write a post, a real post, I might write a real list, but I feel as if these pics sum it up perfectly!!

My first Igloo

All in hats, ready to play in the snow.

Saturday morning, the day before our official Thanksgiving feast, we pulled back the current to a waterfall of snow. It was 9 am, way too early for actually moving out of bed that cold winter morning, but when we finally did grudgingly get out from underneath the warmth of our covers, there was at least two inches sticking to the ground.  The first snow of the season is magical.  The white dust miraculously turns anything into a scene from a fairy princess story.   When it snows, that first snow, I throw off my "I hate winter" scrooge into the dumpster for a day, and I pull on my "life is an adventure" attitude.  We went door to door, trying to find people to pelt with snowballs.  Only one poor sucker opened their door to have a cold white ball thrown at her un-jacketed chest.

Our other friends had already begun to build an igloo.
"An igloo!?" I asked, "I've never built an igloo."
It was honestly the first time I kinda wished we had grown up somewhere colder.  I still hate the cold, but snow, fresh, soft, lickable snow is a source of endless activities for as long as one can stand the cold. I built my first snowman in college far away from my home town.  It was really the first snow I had seen since I was two years old.  I had never been skiing or sledding or for that matter, built an igloo.
How does one build an igloo?  Well, first you start by rolling really big snowballs.  I even had to be taught how to roll a proper snowball, as my first attempt tragically died.  I couldn't keep it together.  You have to start with a smallish-medium snowball and roll it over nice snow.  My mistake was starting too large.  Baby steps, always with the baby steps!  But boy oh boy, rolling snowballs is quite the workout.  And although they look as light as a cloud, snowballs, actually weigh much more than they let on.  I felt like a heavyweight champion carrying my frosty prize to throw on top of the ever growing wall of ice.

Then you build up the walls.  We built ours a little high.  I'm not really sure what igloo standards consist of, but our expert igloo foreman informed us that this was indeed a TALL igloo.  When building up the walls, snowballs can't stand on their own, they need support, so snow has to be packed in between the crevices like mortar and bricks.  I kind of felt like a snow construction worker as I patted away at my snowy brick wall.

The roof is the trickiest part because obviously you don't want it to fall in on you and somehow gravity has to be tricked.  Gradually the wall is curved, with extremely determined packing. This is continued  until the roof is closed.

The whole process took over three hours.  Saturday is considered the sabbath to SDA folks, so after church, many of the families were playing in the snow.  We had considerable help from a few adults, but mostly children.  Their attention weened and waned however as children's attentions tend to wiggle and squirm with their body so their help was quite sporadic.  I was glad of the help though, as I can't imagine how long it would have taken us without it.

Lots of helpers

 the building of the walls

What a Haus

adding a snowball to the wall

You can shovel snow even in heels!

making a snowball

working hard!

It takes more work when one hand is in a cast, but this kid was a snowball pro!

I'm a haus too!

building the front arch, no roof yet

closing in the roof

the official snowball guard of the igloo.  He didn't do a great job guarding the igloo tho, as it was knocked down three days later.

evening out the roof

This makes me think of that famous picture except with a few minor differences.

looking in the igloo

making snow angles, mine wasn't very good tho

Abigail was an expert

beautiful

The igloo construction workers

After making an igloo, we decided to go sledding.  I don't suggest using a shovel as a sled however.

I borrowed a kids sled, and man did I go FAST!!

Maru and the too small box

One of my friends shared this video on facebook.  Evidently, this is not this cat's first debut.  In fact, Maru is pretty darn famous.  Why is a cat famous, you may ask? This cat likes boxes. Nay, this cat has infatuation, an obsession, a compulsion if you will, with anything box like.  Most cats like boxes, it's pretty much in their genetic make-up.  Somewhere in their DNA there is a box gene along with the queen of Sheba gene, which can be found right next to the catnip gene.  But this cat has taken that gene, mutated it a few hundred times and has now exploits what some might consider an obsessive compulsive disorder to entertain thousands of followers.
His first video is classically entertaining as the boxes are of normal size.  However, the owner, using his cat as a willing participant in his research project, has set out boxes of extremely small sizes to see how small is too small for Maru.  Turns out, there isn't a box too small for Maru.  You can go to Youtube and  Watch here. 
Also, check out some of his other videos. There are lots of them. (The owner isn't a native English speaker so the title is not exactly perfect, grammatically speaking, hence the blog title)

In case I didn't understand it in English

I recently got an apology email from Kodak. They don't usually send me mail unless it is a promotion telling me to buy more of their products. I am starting to realize however, that I don't like their prices in comparison to other places but that is besides the point. What is the point then?

This is the message they sent. Nothing too unusual.

Dear Vanessa,

Due to technical problems over the weekend, we accidentally sent out an expired offer by email. This was not a spam email, but an old KODAK Gallery email sent out in error. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Starting this Friday, the 8th of October we have a new promotional offer for you. Again our apologies.

Sincerely,

KODAK Gallery

I hadn't even noticed the "spam email" as I had deleted it before reading it.

What was unusual however was the length of the email considering it's lack of photos. The next paragraph down was the same message but in French, and the next in German. In total there were 6 paragraphs all in a different language just in case the apology wasn't understood in English. They have never sent me anything but in English. I'm not sure why they are covering their bases so thoroughly NOW, but at the very least I got a good laugh out of it.

Who can name all 6 languages?

her/Chère Vanessa,

En raison de problèmes techniques survenus pendant le week-end, nous avons envoyé par erreur le 3 octobre une offre ayant déjà expiré. Il ne s'agissait pas d'un spam, mais d'un ancien courrier KODAK Gallery envoyé par erreur. Nous vous prions de nous excuser pour la gêne occasionnée.

Dès le vendredi 8 octobre prochain, nous vous ferons parvenir une nouvelle offre promotionnelle. Encore une fois nos excuses.

Cordialement,

KODAK Gallery

Sehr geehrte(r) Vanessa,

wegen am Wochenende aufgetretener technischer Probleme haben wir Ihnen am 3. Oktober versehentlich ein abgelaufenes Angebot per E-Mail geschickt. Dabei handelte es sich nicht um eine Spam-E-Mail, sondern um eine versehentlich gesendete alte Kodak Gallery-E-Mail. Wir möchten uns für dadurch eventuell entstehende Unannehmlichkeiten entschuldigen.

Ab diesem Freitag, dem 8. Oktober haben wir ein neues Promotion-Angebot für Sie. Nochmals unsere Entschuldigung.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

KODAK Gallery

Beste Vanessa,

Door technische problemen tijdens het weekeinde, hebben we 3 oktober per ongeluk een e-mail verzonden met een verlopen aanbieding. Het was geen spambericht, maar een oud KODAK Gallery-bericht dat per ongeluk is verzonden. We bieden onze excuses aan voor het eventuele ongemak dat hierdoor is veroorzaakt.

Vanaf aanstaande vrijdag 8 oktober hebben we een nieuwe aanbieding voor je. Nogmaals onze excuses.

Met vriendelijke groet,

KODAK Gallery

Estimado/a Vanessa,

debido a problemas técnicos durante el fin de semana, el 3 de octubre se envió accidentalmente por correo electrónico una oferta ya expirada. No se trató de spam si no de un antiguo mensaje de KODAK Gallery enviado por error. Deseamos pedir disculpas por cualquier inconveniente que esto pueda haber causado.

A partir de este viernes, 8 de octubre, pondremos a su disposición una nueva oferta promocional. Una vez más, nuestras disculpas

Atentamente,

KODAK Gallery

Gentile Vanessa,

a causa di problemi tecnici verificatisi durante il fine settimana, il 3 ottobre abbiamo involontariamente inviato tramite e-mail un'offerta scaduta. Non si è trattato di un messaggio spam ma di un vecchio messaggio e-mail di Kodak Gallery inviato per errore. Desideriamo scusarci per eventuali inconvenienti causati da tale messaggio.

A partire da venerdì 8 ottobre sarà disponibile una nuova offerta promozionale. Ancora una volta, le nostre scuse.

Cordiali saluti,

KODAK Gallery

When we are old

I hope this is us when we are elderly. This is just plain adorable! Watch here

Lost in translation

Walking to the morning meeting last week, all I could think about was swimming in the school pool after work. Swimming laps certainly beats hitting the treadmill in the non-air conditioned gym, but I had a problem, I didn't have goggles. No goggles, don't be a baby, you might say... and for most people it isn't, but someone who is infamous for swimming across all four lanes in a swim team contest the summer before high school needs goggles. I am significantly stronger in my right side, and without the use of my eyes can never tell if I have started swimming off in the wrong direction. In our neighborhood pool a few years ago, I was swimming laps with Kyle and once again, predictably, I veered. I grabbed onto who I thought was Kyle's hairy arm, but once opened after wiping the chlorine from my eyes, I found that instead in my grip was a random strangers arm. I am not afraid to be silly or make a fool of myself, but swimming into strangers is just plain embarrassing. And doing it more than once, well... I don't even know the word for it.

To combat this predictably embarrassing moment, I asked a fellow Korean co-worker if she had goggles.
"yes" she said
"Do you think Kyle and I could borrow them?" I asked sweetly
She stopped for a moment and thought. Her face was one of consternation. Thinking I had made a culture faux pa I quickly added,
"If you aren't comfortable lending them to us, it is perfectly fine. I really don't mind if you say no."
"No, no" she said, "I will bring it after lunch"
"Are you sure?" I asked. Asians often will not say "No" even when they desire to, so I wanted to make sure that this was not something that she really didn't want to let us borrow.
After lunch I walked into the office to speak with the hubs. Kelly, the co-worker, sits across from Kyle's desk.
"What you asked for is right there." Kelly said pointing to Kyle's desk.
I glanced and saw a container filled with blue liquid, but as I was in a hurry and didn't have time for chatting, I thanked her and ran back to class.
After work, however, I was able to get a second glance at it. I had thought maybe these were special goggles kept in liquid but as I stared into the blue, I could see nothing.
Smiling, Kyle explained, "She thought you said 'gargle'."
"That's why she looked at me so strangely?" I asked
"She said she thought it was a strange thing to ask for but she brought it anyways."
It has become the current office joke. "gargle!"

Lost in translation round 2

We have had 6 weeks of Russian students. Four of the six of those weeks, I have been their teacher. The way our programs work is that morning time is grammar and nitty gritty study time, while the afternoon is typically all theme classes. One of the theme classes is called INSECTS. It sounds boring or gross depending on your reaction to insects, but it is a favorite because the activity involves drawing on a plastic film, melting and shrinking said film in a toaster over to a small hardened key chain. The kids love it. However as we were going through the names of the different insects, a picture of a lady bug came up. One kid yelled out "flying cow!"
"Seriously?" I asked "This looks like a flying cow?"
"No!" another kid corrected him "God cow."
It turns out, that is the direct translation for ladybug in Russian.

Another strange and rather fitting translation is "flying rat," which I would have assumed referred to a pigeon, but it is actually the name for "bat" in Russian.

Living in Korea certainly provides for many mis-communications and mis-translations, but never a dull moment.

Totally Literal

A friend of ours showed this to us recently and it is not short of drop on the floor hilarious. At least that is what Kyle and I think. Just take a minute to imagine Kyle going through one of his laughing fits. I love how he laughs. It is the most contagious laugh. It infuses joy in any room.

The premise of how this project started was that 80's music videos make no sense. They don't seem to go along with the lyrics at all. So some guy or team decided to make a video with totally literal lyrics depending on what was happening in the video and in my opinion it is a masterpiece. There are several of these out there but the best one is the "Total Eclipse of the Heart" which is an awesome song with a crazy video. Enjoy!

Cute kid

I just saw this on my friends blog and I just had to share it. It is so cute! And that is exactly how I sing songs when I don't know the words either, but unfortunately, I can't play a ukelele or any other instrument for that matter so already this kid who should be on the next reality TV show "The world's most adorable children" is way cooler than me. It is rumored that he is Japanese, but the Korean kids look just like him. This video might help to explain if I happen to smuggle adorable little Korean children home with me, why they are occasionally too cute not to kidnap.

What Kyle found at our local grocery store!

We have shopping trips every Monday evening for our weekly groceries. I can't go however, because I have taken some overtime work which keeps me teaching until 7:00 pm Monday- Thursday. So Kyle goes in my stead, which he doesn't seem to mind since he actually enjoys grocery shopping. I know! You can pick your jaws off the floor now. A husband who enjoys going to the grocery store, I am one lucky gal. And this week he brought home an extra special treat.
Yes, that does say Thai texas BBQ sauce. We have NO IDEA how they combined the flavors of Thai food and Texas BBQ, but there was no way any husband of mine would pass up a bottle like that with his two favorite meals being a toss up between Texas BBQ and pad thai. We will let you know how it turns out. Korea always has surprises up her sleeve! What'll it be next!?

Late night shopping in Dongdamun

When I taught in Korea last year, one of my primary activities was shopping. Myeong-dung is the heart of the shopping district in Seoul catering not only to the effeminate girly, bordering on doll like Korean style, but also to some Western styles, if you are small enough to fit in the clothing. My favorite store in Myeongdong is Forever 21. It is an American store, but here it has four fabulous stories. What I love about Forever 21 is its low low prices. Of course the quality of the clothing generally runs abreast the price, but the clothing is often very fashionable.

This year, my first shopping spree didn't occur until five months into our time here. This may have transpired because of the distance we have to travel in order to go shopping, but my reasoning is that last year I worked with over ten girls. These girls loved to shop and loved to dress nice. My work environment was one in which, what you wore was not overlooked. On the flip side however, here at our new school, the only female teachers I work with are Korean staff, and it isn't that they don't matter, but generally we have different fashion anyways, so what I think is stylish and what they find attractive are seldomly the same. In turn, that means, I don't really care what I look like. The guys certainly don't notice if I am sporting a new headband, or found a new eyeshadow so shopping holds much less importance this year than last year. (What an argument for being the product of your environment)

However my male counterpart, the love of my life has been begging me for a shopping trip. I tried explaining to him that there wasn't much for him to enjoy, but I finally gave in last weekend. Another shopping area in Seoul is Dongdamun. However, Dongdamun is an entirely different shopping experience than Myeongdong; reason being that the great shopping is supposed to take place in the wee hours of the morning. And by wee hours, I am refering to the hours between midnight and three am. A group of us decided this three day weekend would be the perfect opportunity for such a shopping spree because that extra day to recuperate was entirely necessary. Commiting to shopping past midnight meant that we were committed to staying up all night as the subways stop running before midnight and don't start up again until 5:30am the next morning.

What we found, was an entirely surreal affair. It reminded me of tax free weekend back in the US. It was insane the number of people shopping at this hour, not to mention the number of parents with children. I am surprised we didn't see one sleepy tempertantrum. The shopping took place inside and outside. We were told that prices dropped considerably after midnight as that is when the wholesalers come, but I barely bought anything. I couldn't find these deals of which legend had told. Maybe we were in the wrong place which is entirely possible since there seemed to be endless amounts of shopping. But my main complaint was that nothing I was interested in purchasing was I allowed to sample. I could not try a stitch of clothing on. It seems to be policy in Korea that you buy directly off the hanger and just assume everything will fit perfectly. It is true, many of them have the same figures; bird like bones, long legs and no hips but with the introduction of fast food, curves are beginning to appear in this country. How is one truly to know if something is worth purchasing unless they can try it on. It is so frustrating. So I didn't buy anything. I couldn't be sure that anything I liked would fit.

These shorts are supposed to improve the curves on the average slender Korean woman.

I did purchase one thing last year that looked amazing on the hanger. I took it home, tried it on and I was the spitting image of Peter Pan. It was hideous. Had I been able to try it on, I would have known to also look for a tinkerbell costume, but as it was, I was left playing dress up rather than dressing nice. I wasn't going to make that mistake this year.

The shops began to close around 3am so because we still had a few hours to kill before the subway re-opened we went to a movie. Side note: Military time goes from 0:00 to 24:00. At this movie theater, our movie showed at 27:15. When I asked what that meant she told us that it was 3:15 am. Why would they complicate such a simple time scale? Who knows. Our movie (the new Robinhood) was over at 5:30 am, however we didn't arrive back in our beds until 8:30 am because the train going all the way to Youngmun, where we live, didn't come for about one hour. I was grateful for the warmth of the evening, but grumpy at having to wait for such an absurd amount of time.

All in all it was a fun evening. Now if only I could get my sleeping schedule back to normal!

Point and case as to why I didn't think Kyle would enjoy shopping. These shoes are men shoes. They are gold displayed on gold flooring.
Guy clothing in Korea is often very effeminate as well. With this shirt, you could even have a strange linx cat to wear on your shoulder in case the shirt wasn't girly enough.

Who wants some boxers that look like the 50,000 won bill?

Corndogs covered in frenchfries. Kyle bought one. And with his mouth full exclaimed "delich!"

Matching outfits are all the rage for couples in Korea. Want to show that you care? Wear the same outfit. So far, I haven't convinced Kyle ;)

Another example of the matching couple shirts.

Obviously not a Korean shopper. Koreans all look the same, and this fella stood out! By the sound of his speech, we are guessing Chinese.

I got in trouble for taking this photo. Maybe they knew that it didn't make since.

Another one that belongs on Engrish.com. (Braised chicken, falls in love with sea scent) A truly odd chicken who falls head over heals for the scent of the sea. I can just imagine the chicken wandering the shores of the ocean wishing for just one tangible moment with the sea scent.

The monk mantis

Teaching ESL students is always an interesting experience. Sometimes I am surprised when looking down at my hands that I don't have clumps of my hair tightly gripped within them. Each strand tightly wound around my finger tips cutting off the circulation. Other times however, my stomach hurts from laughing so hard at their comments, cleverness and/or silliness.

Here are some fun examples of comments that caused tremendous laughter!

Koreans have a difficult time pronouncing my name because the "V" sound does not exist in this language. So instead it comes out "paneso" or "banessa" which they generally think is identical sounding to banana. Almost every school has at least one class that insists on calling me banana teacher. However this week, one class decided that "Kyle's wife" was the best choice for my name. Explaining that I had my own name was futile and from that point on, the entire class referred to me as the second part to Kyle instead of addressing me as an individual.

I was teaching a theme class this week called "Insects." The students goal was to name the insect. Depending on their level, the students knew at least a few, but when they didn't know they would sometimes make up names that might seem to fit.

Did you know that the Horse bee is otherwise known as a WASP? I didn't either. Probably because it isn't true. But that is what the Korean children suggested as its name.

The previous slide was a honey bee, the obvious guess for the wasp was a hose bee, clearly. I thought this was a very clever guess. Especially since an over-sized fly in English is called a horse fly.

The Monk mantis aka: Praying mantis
The students all know mantis. I don't know if it is a Konglish word or if they are just taught it in school, but regardless "mantis" is the word they yell out when the picture fades in. We were prompting them with our hands in the prayer position to help them come up with the beginning word when one boy shouts: "Monk mantis!" I love when the kids actually try as opposed to the usual blank stares and although his guess wasn't EXACTLY correct, I was very grateful for his effort.

I would say it is pretty typical of students not to pay much attention to classes they don't see much value in, even in the states. So either the students this week really didn't pay attention, they got confused or their teacher taught them wrong. But more than one class told me that mosquitoes drink pee. Yep, pee. They're so funny!

Did you know that fireflies have a fire on their HIP?

This is typically how the conversation goes.
What insect is this?

"uhhhh.."

"Its a firefly. Why do you think it is called a firefly?"

"Fire... hip..."

I really don't understand this national misunderstanding, but for some strange reason, Korean children are taught that "the butt" is actually called "hip". They often giggle when they say "hip" as if it is a naughty word they might get in trouble for using. I continuously try and correct each class that comes in, however pointing at ones butt isn't always considered appropriate.

Despite "other issues" there are always fun times to be had in Korea!

Where'd the Pumpkin go?

HEB,
Super Walmart
Super Target

What do these stores have in common?

Empty pumpkin shelves!!

That's right folks, I have been to three stores, and zilch, nada, zip on the shelves for pumpkin! What is a girl to do when she has all of the ingredients to make a PUMPKIN blackbean soup, and NO pumpkin??

A while ago I heard on the news that this might happen because, of the small harvest farmers in the US had this year, heavy rains destroyed most of what had grown . Upon hearing this alarming news alert I said, "Kyle, we need to stock up on pumpkin!"

Evidently, I didn't take my advice. In fact, I lost that vital piece of information due to system overload. And now I have all the ingredients to make this delicious soup, except for pumpkin.

So I bought butternut squash as a substitute. Hope it tastes good. We'll let you know how it turns out!

Here is the recipe for you to try when the pumpkin returns to the shelves:

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cups canned or packaged vegetable stock, found on soup aisle
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained
• 2 cans (15 ounces) pumpkin puree (found often on the baking aisle)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon curry powder, 1 palm full
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1/2 palm full
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, eyeball it in the palm of your hand
• Coarse salt
• 20 blades fresh chives, chopped or snipped, for garnish

Directions

Heat a soup pot over medium heat. Add oil. When oil is hot, add onion. Saute onions 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, black beans and pumpkin puree. Stir to combine ingredients and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in cream, curry, cumin, cayenne and salt, to taste. Simmer 5 minutes, adjust seasonings and serve garnished with chopped chives.

P.S. I GOT MY VISA TODAY!!!

Kyle's left the building

As we speak, or more appropriately, as I type, Kyle is driving his petrified self to San Marcos to take his last Spanish test, the only thing standing between Kyle and graduation. (At least for now) When he awoke this morning at 8:00 am voluntarily he was shaking in his booties, like a puppy in his first snow storm. Calm had set in, however, as he headed out the door. He was like a gladiator prepared to face the lions, braced for any trickster Spanish tense or strange idiom that plunged towards his heart. The previous two tests he has received scores of 90 and 92 so I am not worried. I am really proud of him stepping up after so much time of hiding behind his shield of lies to face his demons. It hasn't been easy, but we are finally nearing the end of the journey. The finish line which has seemed so close and yet completely unreachable for eons, is now within our fingertips, and I for one may jump out of my skin with rapture at the end of today.

We will keep you updated as we are informed of his progress.

Interview update:

The interview was at a temp agency called adeco and from my vantage point, it went well. I wore a nice little number with my hair pulled back, and felt very professional so that was better than originally anticipated considering my limited options, ahem... middle school clothes.

The only hiccup, however has been the assessment tests, principally the one having to do with EXCEL! Yes, it wasn't very many days ago, in which I wrote about how EXCEL HATES ME , ironic how quickly, this mutual animosity has created such a thorn in my side. The first 10 questions I could muck through just fine, as they were simple things such as widening columns and deleting rows, however, when it came to using any feature that dealt with calculating, taking averages or using formulas, I might as well have been my mom, as computer savvy as the mice living in our attic.

And then there was the typing assessment, which I actually haven't taken as of yet, because quite frankly, I am timorous of what the results will be. You see, I am a quick typist, however, my fingers like to jiggy. They like to get down, turn around and boogie to whatever music they hear, which may or may not be what I should be typing. Basically, what I am trying to say is, I make mistakes, lots of them, and the more mistakes I make, the more my fingers loose control do whatever they like especially when my nerves get the better of me. I can only take the test once, and it is a full five minutes. Five minutes of reading, or having a conversation, is equivalent to a New York minute, but five minutes of speed/accuracy typing testing is equivalent to a millennium. It requires, non-stop intense concentration, and I would rather just hide under a rock and pretend it is already over and done with. Suggestions?