Pre-school clips

A while a go our preschool was videoed for an advertisement for the website. This is that preschool video.  It's adorable.  The first class is mine.  I'm super proud of my kids, but not of my hair in this video.  Don't look at it!  Hope you enjoy!

Introducing love motels

When we travel on our own, as opposed to in an organized trip with "meet up" we often have the pleasure, or displeasure of using "love motels." Love motels are primarily a result of young people living with their parents until they are married, but also, the extramarital activities that are common within Korean culture.  Love motels can be very nice, or they can be as close to a roach motel I've ever experienced and hope to experience.  To give you a closer look into "love motels," we've created a little video.

Enjoy!

Scavenger hunt

For Kyle's anniversary present, I didn't just hand him his gift of a music video.  I was concerned that because it was a virtual gift, it would be lackluster in its presentation.  So I devised a plan, a scavenger hunt. Our anniversary was on a Friday, which meant he was meant to be working, but as anniversaries are much more important than complaining middle school children, he searched for his gift instead.  This scavenger hunt included riddles, secret codes, and picture clues which led him across the campus, and eventually back to his computer where the video lay hidden in files.  Armed with a video camera, this is Kyle's search for his present.
Here's the video on YOUTUBE

Bloopers Reel

At the beginning of the year, when I was still in the Education department (not in preschool) I was asked to make a culture class.  I searched the internet for hours for a video about gestures that ESL students would understand.  Coming up empty handed, I decided to try and make my own. An easy enough endeavor, I thought to myself. WRONG!! I spent over 20 hours putting that little seven minute film together.  The wonderful thing about that video, is that its not used at our school.  The cultural class, I was specifically requested to design was not employed.  Hours upon hours, seriously, I spent weeks on this powerpoint that currently just sits on the Intranet drive taking up space.  Maybe one day, it will be put to good use, but honestly, I'm not optimistic.

After my eyes regained their ability to look beyond a computer screen, I promised to those involved, that I'd make a bloopers reel.  We had a lot of fun in the filming process of this video, as you can clearly see from the video.  Hope you enjoy it!

Link for the Bloopers REEL 

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!

Discovering New Music

Because we live in an international community, we're not only learning and picking up many new phrases, but we're also being introduced to new movies and music.  I haven't always had a love of music.  My family, because of how they were raised, actually many times prefer silence to song.  My mom, even in the car, drives in complete silence.  I think there is something to silence.  It allows your mind to wander, and frees your mind from the girdle and constraints of noise.  Being able to sit with yourself in complete silence commodiously is a skill in itself, something that I continue to struggle with, even to this day, as do most people in industrialized nations. So because I was raised in a family without much music, I was never up to date with the latest musicians.  My music education came in the form of my next door neighbor, who introduced me to the sounds of the radio.  She was appalled when I informed her, I'd only ever heard soft rock.  Today, I mostly listen to music while cooking, eating dinner or cleaning, and occasionally working out, although I've almost completely switched to podcasts.  One evening, as our international gang lounged on our couch, we began discussing musicians.  The lethargic mood lifted to an elevated one, as each of us shared music that the others had likely not heard.  Many European musicians do not make it to America because of the competitiveness of the industry, so it was exciting discovering new candy for our ears.  Below, I have listed a few of the bands we've recently discovered:

The frames are an Irish band.  If you've seen the movie, "Once" you've heard this song.  And although I'd downloaded the album from this movie, I did not discover that THE FRAMES were a band before and after the movie. I LOVE THIS SONG!


Adele is an English singer that has made it in America.  She is actually a grammy award winner so I'm most likely just behind the times in my music knowledge.  Her voice is amazing.


Paolo Nutini is a Scotish musician.  I love his sound.


Save the World is a song by Swedish House Mafia which is as far as I can tell an electronica band, but this new song, which I discovered from a friend on facebook has such a great sound, and the video is HILARIOUS!



Rubberbandits: The Rubberbandits are the award winning comedy hip hop duo from Ireland.  They've won awards for both their music and COMEDY.  They disguise their faces with plastic bags because part of their act is to remain anonymous.
 **WARNING*** DO NOT watch this song if you dislike CURSE WORDS.  DO NOT, because it has A LOT of curse words.  However, if they don't bother you- this song is HILARIOUS.  There is a clean version they played on the radio, but I couldn't find it in video form.


This song is about "knackers"- basically an Irish word for "white trash" but refers to a group of people who travel in caravans (which is why he says he has a horse outside) around Ireland. These people actually even have their own language, but are poor, and have reputations for drinking and poor societal behavior.

Soul Searching

I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately as my future looms in front of me.  What do I want with my life?  What do I want to be known for?  What is my destiny?  These are the questions that parade daily through my head. A boisterous marching band sings songs of hope and vision. Protestors, in turn, shout out slogans contradicting that of the band.  The gaudy floats have an even different message.  The answers aren't simple, and they're far from clear, in fact, their closer to convoluted and murky.  I'm a little tired of watching the parade to be honest.  I'm tired of not knowing, but sometimes, the not knowing is the fun part.  The dreaming can be just as exciting as the destination. I plan to continue listening to the crazy rants, songs, tirades, and dreams of the parade and  if nothing else, I hope to see fireworks, if not  a push in some type of direction.  A friend of mine sent me this  speech recently which pertains to this soul search.
 It's a great speech.  I hope your inspired by it as I was.

Don't forget to smile

Recently, a friend of mine turned me on to TED talks.  Basically, this is a non-profit with the mission to "spread ideas worth spreading."  They're quite addictive once you start watching.  The list of speakers include everyone from an elementary home schooled boy speaking about the environment, to inventors, to doctors with new research, to authors, to philosophers. The array of guests is far stretching, and just about every speech is inspirational or motivational. They make me want to get up off the couch and make a difference, that or watch another speech comfortably curled into my couch. This particular speech, a friend of mine, who loves to share media clips, sent to me.  This speech is about the power of a smile.  The power it has not only your life, but on others lives.  Its really interesting, and encourages you to smile, for the sake of your health.  I really enjoyed it, and I hope you do too.
Watch it here.

Pottery Festival from JULY 2010

I found this video I made months ago. Yes, months ago, like as in July of last year.  And I forgot to show it to you.  I certainly don't spend hours of my time filming and editing these videos just for my entertainment.  Our county for some reason paid for us to go on this incredibly unorganized, but rather fun trip to a pottery festival.  Had I paid for it, I might have been a little put off by the lack of organization, but as it was free, I was able to go with the flow. I plan to show you pictures that never made it to the blog either soon with more explanation for what you will see in the video.  Click here to see the video in Youtube.

The Girl Effect

  This Thanksgiving, I have so much to be thankful for.  In preschool, everyday, we have something that is called circle time.  In my opinion, it is probably the most important aspect of the day, as it is when we practice vocabulary, questions and answers.  This week, I have chosen the topic of Thanksgiving despite the fact that this is once again uniquely a North American thing. (Canadians have their Thanksgiving in October) The question of the week, therefore is, "What are you thankful for?"  The children give a myriad of answers ranging from dolls, moms, sisters, TV to individual friends in the class.  I sometimes get a shout out of appreciation as well.  But it has made me reflect quite a bit on what am I thankful for in my life , as I have had to answer this question twice everyday this week.  I have come to realize  that people as blessed as we are, as Americans are, as the industrialized world is, that we don't really appreciate the gifts we have until they have been taken away.  It's difficult to express my gratitude, as just about every aspect of my life is a blessing.

 I am thankful for my parents (and rest of my family for that matter) who have always, and I mean always supported me.  The basic purpose of a parent is to make sure their child survives, lives to adulthood.  To many parents, this can mean different things, this can mean providing financially, it can be in the form of food in the gullet and a roof overhead.  If my parents had provided nothing more than this, they would have been doing their required duty, but they didn't stop there.  They loved me.  They loved me unconditionally even when I threw screaming impassioned temper-tantrums (and you better believe that someone as dramatic as I am could throw a proper temper-tantrum), even when I barked like a dog as a two year old in a restaurant and embarrassed them beyond measure, and even when I made decisions they disapproved of, they loved me for being me, for just being their daughter.  And I haven't just had the support of my parents but my amazingly supportive family, and friends who I consider as important as family.  When I first suggested living abroad, my family didn't say, "no, that isn't possible." Instead they said, "When can we come visit you?" But I haven't just been emotionally blessed beyond measure, but in every other aspect of my life as well.  I have never gone without food.  I have never slept outside unless it was intentional.  I have had electricity and running water for almost every single moment of my life.  But you know what hadn't occurred to me to be thankful for until just a few days ago with thanks to the attention-deprived action of our insane neighbor, was peace.  Although our country has been technically "at war" for almost ten years, I have never seen war. I have never lost someone to a landmine or a car bomb.   I have never been afraid for my life.  I have never not known peace.  I have never felt hopeless about my future because as an American we are told that dreams are possible.  Now we can debate over the veracity of the latter statement, but the truth is that being American automatically puts us strides ahead of other human beings in other parts of the world.  We are born with possibilities beyond what so many in this world are able to achieve.  But a future of love and laughter is available to us with commitment.  If we only lasso our future with sheer strength and determination and refuse to let go anything is really possible for us.  I could go on and on about my many blessings, but what I want to talk about at this moment are those who on this Thanksgiving day are hungry or ailing.  Those individuals, in parts of the world, who are born into cyclical poverty and see no outreaching hand to pull them out.  Those who don't have the possibility of education.  Those who don't have hope, don't even understand the concept of the word as it has never applied to their lives. Without possibility these people, whom are our brothers and sisters of the Earth live a life I can't even begin to pretend to fathom.
My aunt recently introduced me to nonprofit  called "The Girl Effect."   This nonprofit is throwing its support behind girls.  They believe that if they can help girls in poverty become educated, they can break the cycle for the next generation. The video below is their campaign.  I urge you to watch it and when you are going around the table numbering off your many blessings in front of the turkey feast, you can consider ways to help these girls better their lives and communities to become as blessed as we are.
 Click here to see on Youtube

Why so much support for the female and not the male?  An unconnected non-profit group, called the Hunger Project, who gives women microloans explains much better than I ever could.

Women bear almost all responsibility for meeting basic needs of the family, yet are systematically denied the resources, information and freedom of action they need to fulfill this responsibility.
The vast majority of the world's poor are women. Two-thirds of the world's illiterates are female. Of the millions of school age children not in school, the majority are girls. And today, HIV/AIDS is rapidly becoming a woman's disease. In several southern African countries, more than three-quarters of all young people living with HIV are women.
The current world food price crisis is having a severe impact on women. Around the world, millions of people eat two or three times a day, but a significant percentage of women eat only once. And, now, many women are denying themselves even that one meal to ensure that their children are fed. These women are already suffering the effects of even more severe malnutrition, which inevitably will be their children's fate as well. The impact of this crisis will be with us for many years.
Studies show that when women are supported and empowered, all of society benefits. Their families are healthier, more children go to school, agricultural productivity improves and incomes increase. In short, communities become more resilient.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!  We can't wait to see you for CHRISTMAS!!!

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)

Scuba video

I've been slow about all of the Philippine posts.  Sorry.  We've been working on the videos, however, so for all of you visual folks out there, that should be fun!  If you didn't catch our scuba stories, click on the two links below for an exclusive retelling of our first diving experiences.  They are quite different renditions for the same exact event. Also, if you prefer to watch at youtube, click here.
Kyle's scuba story
Vanessa's scuba story

Enjoy!

When we are old

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

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!

Mudskipper vs crab

About a month ago we went to an area of Korea called Jellomnam-do. It is considered one of the most traditional areas of Korea. While we were there, we visited a National Reserve. The national reserve had bridges traversing long green blades of grass, some type of rice paddies. Within the inter-circles lived strange fish called mudskipper that have actually evolved to live amphibiously and walks on land. We spent hours just watching these bizarre creatures. Well... not hours, but we couldn't stop watching them. I had never seen a fish crawl with it's fins out of water. They were nothing short of fascinating. They lived amongst crabs, mostly in peace. If a passerby didn't but take a quick glance, they might see nothing but mud. A second glance demonstrated that the mud was moving. With further observation, one could see that it wasn't mud moving but these crabs and mud skippers habituating and caked in the wet dirt. At the bottom of the post, I have posted a short video of an interaction between the crab and mud skipper. The mud skipper who actually doesn't move a whole lot, flares his dorsal fin in aggression. It is quite exciting for nerds such as ourselves. I hope you enjoy. Also, if you want to learn more about the mud skippers, read below.

This info was taken from scienceray

The mudskipper holds water in its gills in order to “breathe” out of water. The fish’s pectoral fins act as arms that have well-developed muscles to carry the mudskipper’s body. Using the pectoral fins and tail, the mudskipper crawls and flaps its body across land in search of food. These fish eat spiders and insects – prey that is not usually found in the sea.

Not only can mudskippers walk on land, they can also leap in the air to heights of half a meter (around two feet), by bending and suddenly straightening their bodies. The mudskipper is also known for climbing mangrove trees in search of food. Because of these unusual actions, mudskippers have also been called kangaroo fish, climbing fish, mudhopper and johnny jumpers.

Part of the mudskipper courtship ritual takes place on land, with the male doing ‘push-ups’ to reveal his golden chest and chin to the female.

Mudskippers take in oxygen through the water stored in the gill cavities and through the skin. Because they also breathe through the skin, mudskippers need to remain moist and will often roll in puddles while on land. Their eyes are particularly sensitive to drying out and the mudskipper use a wet fin to dampen them. Another method that the mudskipper uses to moisten its eyes is to retract the eyes into the eye-sockets.

During the Devonian period of evolution, the first fish evolved legs and crawled onto land. This rapid evolution allowed the fish to search for new homes when their previous residence threatened to dry up.

To watch the video click here.

Beach trip video

We went on a beach trip a couple of weekends ago. I will be adding the story later, but for now, enjoy the video.
Click here