Much ado about nothing

What do you suppose this sign means?

No, I didn't take this picture myself. I wish I had seen this sign in person, then it would have been even funnier, but alas, I received it in an email. I thought it was so hilarious. What on Earth could this be trying to tell it's citizens? "No peeing and p.s. don't cut eggs?" What? How should this make since to anyone? I wonder if the people in city hall were tired of being uber serious all the time and one day up and decided that rather than spend the tax payers money on better education or beautifying the city, that instead they needed to make people laugh and bring joy into their extremely dull lives by creating the most hilarious and confusing sign ever made. It would certainly bring a smile to my lips if I passed by this sign everyday to work. I might even say, that making me smile is worth my taxpaying dollars, I don't really know if that is true or not, but I do love to smile!
I have been pondering, since receiving this email, about how to turn this funny sign into a post with substance. I sometimes feel like I am jipping my readers by posting silly things like this so I typically try and add a little extra to spice it up. But my pondering has puttered out and is now out of commission after several attempts to regain composure. It is on the side of the road broken down as I walk to the nearest pondering shop for a re-load on deep thoughts. That's what happens when it is nearly Friday, which means it is nearly the weekend, the deep thoughts one by one fall out of the hole in the pocket they are held in the brain. Monday morning, typically we are crawling on the floor on our hands and knees searching them out and dropping them back in only to have them fall out again by Friday. Oh the vicious circle.
So there you go, a pointless post, with no substance, about absolutely nothing, completely revolving around a funny sign that has nothing to do with me, Kyle, nor our lives, sent to me in an email. Enjoy!

Something I don't miss from Texas

Look closely at the center of this picture. These pictures were taken at Palo Dura Canyon in west Texas. I am glad we never ran into these fellows on our vacations here.

These pictures make my skin crawl. Just one of these guys is scary but a herd of them all together, crawling all over one another. Run screaming!

Palo Dura Canyon was one of our favorite family vacationing spots. You can't tell by these photos, but it is really a beautiful place to visit. I loved exploring the different caves, swimming in the river (there is a river right fam? Is my memory correct?) and generally climbing all over anything that I could get my hands on. I received my worst sunburn at Palo Dura Canyon, the only time my burn bubbled into excruciatingly painful blisters. I re-apply my sunscreen more often now.

What do you see?

Sometimes looking into space makes me feel as tiny as ant, as insignificant as a mosquito. I realize that the world without me would be virtually the same as it is with me. And that in the whole scheme of things, my life is meaningless to the world.

However, when I look into the universe, I don't always have those negative feelings. Sometimes the thought of the universe fills my soul with liquid hope. It enters through my belly button until every limp is dancing with joy at the beauty of mother nature. The infinteness ( I don't know the word here) of the universe makes the possibilities in the world seem less finite and some how more possible.

I can choose to look at the same sky and have two drastically different thoughts. How I think will affect my outcome in life. If I decide that it is true that my life is basically worthless, and as important as malaria carrying mosquito, than I don't have much to look forward to. However if I decide that the sky is proof that our possibilities are limitless, and that with so much beauty in the world, it is ridiculous to wallow in my own sorrow of what may or may not be going wrong or right in my life, I can live for a better tomorrow. Our thoughts dictate so much more than we assume. If I think that I will be successful, whatever my definition of successful is, then I will more likely attain my goal of success than had I assumed that life is what it is, and we get what we get handed to us and success will elude me anyways so why reach for what is unattainable. I believe that life deals us a both good hands and bad hands. Some people have better hands than others, but it is what we wager and how we play those hands that determine the outcome of the game, not necessarily the cards we were dealt. Right now, I feel like I have been dealt a pretty lame hand, but I am not folding. I am choosing to take things as they come. I am choosing to look at the glass as half full rather than half empty. Focusing on the positive is not naive, it is what will put me ahead of the race in the end.

What got me thinking about this topic were these pictures that my dad's family sent through email. They were the top ten best photos taken through the Hubble telescope in the past 16 years. As I was talking on the phone with my darling hubby he mentioned that he saw a face in one of the photos. (one of his favorite games is the "what shape do you see in the clouds" game) He tried to talk me through it over the phone but after several minutes of me not understanding he finally sent me a paintbursh version with arrows and wording of the "angry ugly face". (sorry the pic is so small, I am not sure why that happened) And then I showed him what I thought looked like a who from whoville from the Dr. Sues books.
Kyle also saw the back of a vampire with a unicorn horn coming out of his forehead.

Don't mistake what I am saying. This is not a inkblot test to see who sees positive pictures must be the positive thinkers, but after playing this game, which is always harder over the phone and/or internet, it got me thinking about the power of our thoughts and how they determine our lives. We should be mindful or our thoughts, we never know where they could lead.

What do you see when you look in the universe? What do you see in these photos?

The photo that started my thoughts
Can you see the Who?
There are two bright neon orange lines. His belt is the bottom orange line with the pink dot which might be his belly button. His head starts at the line in between the bright orange lines, and the little bump is his nose. Something is coming out of his mouth.

Kyles small drawing to show me "the angry face" (You can click on it to enlarge it)

Another cool photo
And another

If you are interested in seeing more of the top photos, you can view them here

Random thoughts

Each week at my school we rotate classes. We teach one class in the morning and a different class in the afternoon. This past week I taught yoga in the morning. I really enjoyed it. It was relaxing and I haven't stretched so much since I was seven years old in gymnastics. Of course then, I could do the splits, where as now... well lets just say I cannot, not even close. Most of the classes we teach, we stress games, activities and laughter, however it was nice to get away from the craziness and attempt to harness calmness. The kids were not as flexible as I would have assumed, surprisingly. Evidently, sports aren't encouraged until later in life, so maybe they gain their flexibility later, or maybe they didn't care enough to try in class. One part of the class that they loved was the balancing contest. Who could stand in tree position the longest. Many of the students wouldn't last a minute, and there was always a boy who would throw himself on the ground after tiring in attempts to get attention, but there were always a few students who would be able to hold the position for long periods of time without faltering. I have never been a balanced person, some even might call me a klutz, so I am always impressed with those who have that mysterious balance that alludes me.
After the first few classes, I came away thinking, if I were more flexible, I could soo see myself being a yoga instructor. And I could be more flexible, but that would require stretching on my own time. My To-Do list has so many things on it, I just don't know if stretching is going to make the cut, but I might try. (Not because I really want to be a yoya instructor, it was a fleeting thought)

The other class I taught was sign language, which was lots of fun. The kids love learning how to spell their name in sign language.

Also here is the cutest little video ever. It warms my heart every time I watch it. I hope you enjoy. p.s. don't expect it to be funny because I showed it to one girl and she was disappointed because she thought it was supposed to be hilarious. It is just sweet and short)

The interesting culture that is Korea

I am going to start a little series of posts about Korea, it's history and culture. Some of it I may be able to explain, some of it may be just as much a mystery to me as it will be to you. When living in different society, it is important to understand it's heritage to understand their way of life. There is much history in Korea as it is thousands of years old.

Korean age vs. Western age:
When a Korean individual whether it be child or adult tells you his or her age, there is almost a solid guarantee that the age they give will be one to two years different than what we would say their age to be. We had a student in eighth grade, when asked his age said that he was 16 years old. An eighth grader in western or International age would typically be 13 to 14 years of age and he probably was 14 in Western age. So what is the difference and how is it calculated you might be asking? The first time this birthday system was explained to me, I just didn't get it. Granted a Korean lady whose English was not the greatest was doing the explaining, but after examining it closer, I think I have a better understanding.

The Korean aging system differs from the Western aging system in two ways. Firstly when a Korean baby is born, they are considered to have already lived for one year. In Western society we begin the counting at the day of birth at zero while Koreans start at one. Secondly, everyone ages as a society one year at the Lunar New Year (The Chinese New Year) which we celebrated several weeks ago. In Korean homes, the New Year is celebrated with eating a rice cake soup. Once the soup is eaten, you have aged one year. So that means if a new born baby was born in December 2008, by February 2009 the baby is considered two years old in Korean age while in Western society the baby would only be considered 2 months old.

The first birthday is a very important event in Korea. The mortality rate for babies as recently as fifty years ago was very high so for a child to live to it's first birthday was a large milestone. The baby is dressed in a traditional Korean costume amidst cake, fruits and other goodies. A platter of object is placed in front of the child and depending on which object the child chooses will fortell his future. Examples of objects:
pen: will be a writer
microphone: a singer
string: for long life
money: will be wealthy
etc.

Black and White car mystery
One morning I woke up as usual, got ready for work, and as I was going down the stairs I noticed that the parking lot was full of cars. The interesting thing however was there was not one car that was a color besides white, silver or black. No one has been able to give me a definite answer for why this is, however a couple of people told me their guesses. One person suggested they thought it was because Korean society likes uniformity. One person suggested that it was because black, white and silver cars are less expensive. I do not know the answer. If someone out there does have the answer I would be glad to hear it. Regardless, I find it funny and strange to say the least.

This Valetines Day

Love is...
sharing one heart

This was our first Valentines Day apart. I consider myself to be an emotionally strong woman, but I have to admit, I cried. There was no heaving or gasping for breath, but quite tears as I wallowed in my loneliness. I cried every time I looked in the mirror and every time I looked at a picture of the two of us. I missed the love of my life. I missed the man who makes my heart flutter with happiness.

For Valentine's Day, a group of teachers, those with either loved ones abroad or those without decided to go out on a group date to drown our sorrows away in good food and company. Throughout the evening I was deep in thought about Kyle. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him. I take that back, there probably isn't an hour that goes by that I don't wish he were here with me. But life isn't always easy. Relationships aren't always easy. Like life, they have their mountains and their valleys. The valleys, although painful, make the mountains, their views and fresh air that much more amazing.

I read a quote recently, "The cavity which suffering carves into our souls will one day also be the receptacle of joy." Neil A. Maxwell (The quote is kind of working against my current metaphor, but go with it)

Kyle and I chose a life that may not have been the easiest road to have taken, but through our journey over the mountains and through the valleys it is important to remember our love, and where it began. And although we feel sometimes as if we hit impenetrable walls our love will endure and life will go on.

Many people argue that Valentine's Day is a stupid day; a day taken over by corporate America and turned into a commercial day. To some degree, I agree. I agree that the pressures on Valentine's Day are often unrealistic. Some couples feel that every year the gift that they give must be more expensive and more impressive than the year before. But that is not what Valentine's Day has to be about nor should be about. It started out as a day to remember love and loved ones, not to prove it by the worth of an object. Valentine's Day is what we make it, not what commercial society tells us it should be. I personally love Valentine's day. Sometimes we need a little reminder of the importance of not only our romantic love but of love in our other relationships such as friendship and family. Just as we celebrate our birth once a year on our birthdays, rejoicing in the fact that we were blessed enough to join this beautiful earth, we should use Valentine's Day as a day to rejoice in the blessing of love. But not through gifts necessarily. Gifts don't define love. Our actions define love.

I like to be reminded of my blessings and even though Kyle is far far away, I am still blessed to have had his love for eight wonderful years. And not only am I blessed with his love, I am blessed to have such a loving family and loving friends.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 is a bible verse that is shared at nearly every Christian wedding and even weddings of other religions because of the simple fact that this may be one of the greatest descriptions of love and it's importance in our lives that ever was. Read it slowly, carefully and if you can out loud. You may find it holds more meanings the more you read it.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
¹If I speak in the tongues^a]">[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^b]">[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Love is..

contagious.

What is she saying?

Yoga

My friend invited me to join a free trial yoga class. The floors were cushioned, the room a comfortable temperature with inviting decorations of classic Asian style and the quite of the room stilled my fluttering heart. My relationship with yoga as with my body is filled with a battling feelings. In western society I am inflexible, however in Asian society I might as well be the branch off of a tree as far malleability goes. Our teacher spoke only in Korean and bent her body as she willed it while I struggled to touch my toes or to split my legs further than a thirty degree angle. For the most part I find yoga relaxing, it is an exercise that puts one in touch with their body and if one allows it helps to release stress like balloons into the blue sky. But yoga in Korean wasn't so relaxing. Rather, I found myself in moments that were designed to be relaxing stressful as I understood nothing of what she was saying therefore I never knew when my eyes should be opened nor when we were starting a new pose. Rather than sinking into the floor and tucking away my thoughts, I nervously awaited the next movement, always alert and on watch. Ten minutes were instructions on breathing, however I sat listening to her soothing voice wondering what I was supposed to do. Was I supposed to breath in through my nose and out through my mouth like while doing cardio? I thought I remembered breathing technique in yoga to be different my my memories escaped me. I knew I should sit still, lower my shoulders from their positions directly under my ears, but I kept thinking. I was imprisoned in my thoughts and her words couldn't release me.

If the classes were free or cheaper, I might join, however they are far from free, not my cheapskate idea of cheap and not as relaxing as I would prefer therefore unfortunately I will keep my yoga to that one free trial class. I will have to find other ways to relax... just remember to breath.

Finishing strong

Today is not a good day... but we will finish strong, and be all the stronger for it.



I love you Kyle!

Winter at WAR

Many people complain about winter, but I suspect that I am at the top of the totem pole of complainers. Santa Claus and Rudolf are at the bottom, Alaskans who really have no right to complain about winter since they live in the freaking tundra are probably in the middle, the hypothetical wining old man that lives across the street and complains about everything including the growing size of his earlobes is close second, but I, Vanessa Yvonne Rogers am at the top.

I HATE winter. I hate everything about it. I hate the cold weather, I hate the bulkiness of the clothing, I hate being cooped up because I am afraid of leaving the house to face it, I hate the overeating; I hate winter. The only thing I don't hate about winter is that it leads into Spring. Not only do I hate winter, but I believe the feeling is mutual between me and that frigid, scowling, cold season. Winter hates me right back and I believe that he is is out to get me. Now, I am not sure exactly what winter's motivation or ultimate goal is. I can't even give a reason as to why he's got beef with me in the first place, but I have drawn what some might claim preposterous conclusions from very logical (probably only in my head) reasonings.

Winter's methods of attack: (**Note** When I say winter, I do not mean the light breeze that brushes through central Texas, or the any other warm climate areas, I mean the winter that never rises above freezing)

Strangulation
Have you ever noticed the amount of clothing needed to properly battle winter? First there is the undershirt and the longjohns. Then the overshirt and jeans. Sweater, jacket, scarf, hat and gloves. It takes me an hour (ok, not really an hour but way tooo long) just to put on all these clothes and once inside my tent of clothing, I am unable to move, perfect for a sneak attack. Arms sticking straight out similar to Frankenstein, the neck is in a perfectly designed noose and the periphial vision is limited to nearly zero. But not only that, when one walks into a bus or restaurant, any heated area, the layers must come off or else heat stroke is enivitable. There have been many times when I have sat on my scarf and litterally strangled myself. The purse that I carry is one that is worn across the body since I can never seem to keep a shoulder purse to stay on my shoulder when wearing a bulky jacket. As I was re-layering when leaving a restaurant the other day with some friends, not only did I strangle myself with my scarf while trying to untangle the strap from the scarf, but I also tied my purse strap into the tie that goes around the waist of the jacket. I was a walking catasrophe! Winter almost had me, but he didn't when the battle.

Blocking resources
When I say blocking resources, the main resource I speak of is air. It does this by ensuring that we weak humans with vulnerable immunity systems, especially those humans surrounded by snotty kids all day, are sure to catch cold, strep, the flu or what have you. Almost every winter I come down with some ailment that sends my head spinning into the outer relms of this galaxy, and my nose first on a marathon snot course followed by elephant sized blockages preventing breathing. I never can decide if it is worse to have a nose rubbed completly raw from run away snot or the inability to breath properly. Do you see where this is going? First is strangulation with a scarf, purse and other winterly layers and when that fails, winter can even turn your own head and nose against us.

Mood depressant
Winter's last stand is typically a battle with our happiness. A method some might consider ungentelmenly yet winter seems unphased by the use of the dirtier tactics. First he hides the sun behind clouds, mist haze or darkness, removing our dosage of the much needed Vitamen D. Once the globe of light, warmth and happiness is hidden with his cruel, laughing face, he sucks out any last bit of warmth and with his icy fingers he picks every last green leaf, every last sign of nature's life and throws it to the ground for trampling. So not only does he take away the sun, fill the world with shards of icy glass, but to top it off, he makes everything hideously bare and frightening. Often times in winter, I behave as an animal in hibernation. Sleeping and laziness are my best friends, overeating feels necessary to protect against the bitter winds and I avoid the outside like the plague. Once all of these habits and factors have been jumbled around to one giant, tangled, strangulating mess, depression is nearly unavoidable. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that Spring, wonderful, refreshing spring is only a jump, hop and a skip away. Spring is my saving grace from Winter's icy gasp on my throat, nose and mood. Winter may put up a feirce few battles, but it only has a few months before I once again am champion warrior. I may leave with a few bruises and scratches but winter never wins the war!

But not to worry, with the onset of Global Warming, winter wont be something we will have to contend with much longer. Sure half of the planet's animals will die off causing catosprophic results for the natural balance of the world. Sure the polar ice caps will melt into our oceans covering half of the land masses and drowning millions of people, but hey we wont have to deal with winter ever again! :)

Ok, so I do like snowball fights!

Beware of the doghouse!

My father and law sent this to the family. Hilarious! So funny! This should be watched by all males as a warning of what could happen if they aren't careful with our hearts. (I thought about writing a serious note here regarding keeping love sacred and always remembering why you are with your loved one in the first place, but this video says it all but with humor) Watch and learn boys. Be afraid, be very afraid!


Beware of the Doghouse- Hilarious! - The funniest home videos are here

I will post more blogs with more substance soon. But at least I am keep ya entertained!

Has it really been a year?

When Kyle and I returned from Chile we got jobs as segway tour guides. It was a terrific job which consisted of riding around on a segway, talking about San Antonio and Texas History and chatting it up with the guests.

I was going through and organizing photos on my computer today and I came across three short videos that Kyle took when we took the Grojeans out on a complimentary tour of San Antonio. We had a blast, but it is hard to believe it has been an entire year since then. Time seems to fly by quicker and quicker as we get older. Anyways if you haven't seen a segway, or you don't even know what a segway is, watch this video. Segway tours are great ways to see a new city.









Answers to geography quiz from last post
1. Largest country in the world: Russia
2. Smallest country in the world: Vatican city (yes it is a country within Rome)
3. Tallest Mountain in the world: Mt. Everest in Nepal
4. Tallest Building in the world: this is debatable but currently it is the 112 building in Taiwan but a Dubai is under construction and will be the tallest in the world once it is completed.
5. The country with the largest population is: China

Still not patient

I think I have mentioned before how I am not a very patient person... no change, I am still incredibly impatient... we are still waiting for Kyle's paperwork to arrive so they can start the visa. My biggest fear is that somehow it won't arrive and will go back to the USA and we will have to start over all again! (which is what happened with the last package he sent here, but luckily it only contained his background check and passport photos, things easily attainable) Let's hope for my sanity's sake, it arrives within the next two days.

Good news: I moved into a new room. My last room was right outside of the commons lounge area meaning I heard EVERYTHING that happened outside my door and I could never escape. With my new room, I am now 20 feet from the lounge and although I can still hear most of what goes on, I feel like I actually can get away when I need which is very necessary after a long day of teaching kids and repeating "Do you understand? Do you understand? Nod your head..."

Randomness:

1. This video is SOOOOOO adorable! It made me want to cry, laugh and prance around in the woods all at the same time!


2. For a quiz question in our travel agency class, I asked the kids how many states the United States of America has. One team said 10, the other team said 300,000,000. I couldn't help it, I had to laugh. I think they were trying to answer the population of the country rather than how many states, but it was still a hilarious answer!

Geography quiz for you: (Answer in the comment box)
1. What is the largest country in the world?
2. What is the smallest country in the world?
3. What is the tallest mountain and where is it located?
4. What is the tallest building in the world?
5. What country has the largest population?

(Some of my smart classes can answer these questions without even a blink of an eye)

Seolnal week

-Seolnal is the Chinese New Year which is much more celebrated than the Western calendar New Year. Because we are an English camp, kids come here regardless if it is a holiday, therefore instead of receiving regular holidays such as Christmas, we have two weeks off during the year when the camp is closed. This past week was the first week of the year so I thought I would give you a brief overview of what I did for my week off! Enjoy, I sure did!

Saturday and Sunday: Shop, shop shop till ya drop- except I didn't buy much. Oh well...

Monday: Our Korean boss (I think she is our boss, but I don't actually know) took the girls out for a day of touristyness! It was a brilliant idea in principle, but the weather didn't play well, in fact I would say he was plain mean-hearted.
The plan:

• Several Korean palaces
• Folk villages
• shopping in a cute market
• dinner at a Korean restaurant
• The Hyatt for some music and drinks

We made it to one, count them, ONE palace before we realized that standing outside might result in frost bite. I cannot even describe how bitter and cruel the wind was. Like shards of glass being shoved into every exposed area. So we ran into the museum nearby and learned some interesting facts about Korea, but not as much as I would have liked.A demonstration of how cold it was that day!! Oh the agony!
But of course the Korean women have to dress to impress no matter how cold the weather is. Seriously, it must have been in the teens or below. How she survived the day without turning into a human icicle, I will never know.
The palace ( I don't know it's name, bad tourist)

The soldiers weren't allowed to make facial expressions just like the famous royal British guards. In fact the flag kept blowing into his face and he wouldn't even move it away.
We had fun taking photos.

It is tradition for the children to wear the traditional dress, the hanbok. But it was so cold, no one could admire the outfits since they were covered up with their coats. But aren't Korean children so adorable. I just want to eat them up!

Here is an example off the internet of what it should look like.

We did have an amazing traditional meal. Did I mention it was amazing!! Oh so wonderful!

This is me and Aimee, chopsticks ready for the next kill, trying to choose what yumminess we would next stuff into our mouth!

We also ate yummy cinnamon treats from a street vendor to battle the fierce cold.

Another food picture, but none that I ate, this is just so you can see some of the strange food options.

Thursday and Friday: To celebrate Aimee's birthday and also just to get out of Bundang for a couple of days, the girls (the ones who didn't leave the country to go on a real vacation) decided to get a hotel room for a couple of nights in the party/shopping district in Seoul. And fun we had!
During the day, two of the five girls went to get a massage, while the other three of us decided to test out the local jjimjilbang a Korean bath house/sauna. Jjimjilbangs are a truly unique aspect to Korea. These are large, gender-segregated public bathhouses complete with hot tubs, showers, Swedish-style saunas and massage tables, similar to what you might find in a sauna but one major differences everyone, and I mean everyone is naked from head to toe, nothing is covered up, not an ounce of clothing. Originally, I was very self-conscious being completely and utterly exposed in my birthday suite but after the initial 15 minutes in the hot tub, I became accustomed both being naked and seeing other naked women. Before going into any of the various hot tubs of differing temperatures, it was necessary to take a shower. Around the tubs were lines of vanity tables where women scrubbed each other and with great detail cleaned themselves. There were two steam rooms, one of which was tolerable, the other which was like Houston in Hell. It was 76 degrees CELCIUS. (168 F) One step in and I couldn't breath, but some how, there were live Koreans sweating and breathing inside. How, I don't know, it is a true enigma.

In the evening we ate at a Proper (as the English here say) English pub, with pool, darts and real western food. A coldstone ice cream cake was in order for Aimee's birthday- I always seem to be talking about food- I just love it so much! Then out for drinks and dancing- and dance we did- all night long, but the best part was, we could walk a few blocks to our hotel and not even have to worry about taking a thirty minute taxi ride home.

Our last event was to visit the famous Seoul tower. I wasn't very impressed actually especially since I paid $14 to see it, but the view was pretty cool.

We were trying to get a picture with the tower in the background, but they didn't understand our English and we couldn't speak Korean.

I don't know what this was about, but there were several flying men hanging around.

It was a fabulous week off! It would have been wonderful had Kyle been here, but it was very relaxing and great having some girl bonding time!

Korean Proverbs

I've had a wonderful, relaxing week off, running around Seoul, looking at Palaces in the bitter bitter cold, warming up with a Korean dessert filled with warm gooey cinnamon, staying in a hotel with the girls just for the hell of it, going to the Korean sauna (bath house), and in general having a grand old time. I will share more with you about this week of craziness a little later, but now for a Korean cultural lesson: Korean Proverbs (taken from Lonely Planet)

Traditional sayings provide an uncensored insight into a nation's psyche.

• Koreans' strong belief in the importance of education is reflected in this proverb: "Teaching your child one book is better than leaving him a fortune" (That was illustrated to me in my Korean consulate interview, when my interviewer asked numerous times if I was appreciative of my parents for paying for my college. You also see how important education is with just the amount of time children spend in school, often times not finishing till 10 o'clock at night)
• The hope of all Koreans of humble origins is to improve their lifestyle and be "a dragon that rises from a ditch."
• The blunt, peasant humour of the Korean character is expressed by this poor man's lament: "I have nothing but my testicles"
• Koreans distrust lawyers and governments and prefer to settle disputes in their own way: "The law is far but the fist is near." (In Korea you hardly ever see a cop car, and it is common for drivers and taxi drivers to run stale red lights if they don't see any other cars. This has happened in our taxi's numerous times. I assume this is because either they don't have strict punishments or there is just no one there to catch them)
• An unblemished character is a Korean's most treasured possession. To avoid any suspicion of being a thief. "Do not tie your shoelaces in a melon patch or touch your hat under a pear tree." (Korea is actually one of the safest countries in the world. After traveling in so many countries such as Italy where thievery is expected and valuables should be guarded with the utmost care, it is strange to let go of that fear that someone is always looking to steal from an unknowing tourist. Forgotten valuables are often returned to their owners and the crime rate is extremely low)
• Koreans have often needed guts and determination to overcome defeats and disasters: "After the house is burnt, pick up the nails." (Which they have done time and time again. After the Korean war, they used the left over metal to make chopsticks, which is why many places in Korea have metal chopsticks which is even harder to use than regular wooden ones making me look even more like an idiot)
  

Update!

Well gang, things are finally on the move. It's been a very long road but I can finally see the Emerald City. I thought I might take a little time to fill you guys in on how things are going.

As I said before, I am a graduate woohooo! But now it's really official. I have an "unofficial" diploma which is more than official for me and for S. Korea apparently. All necessary papers have been submitted to the necessary persons and I am now awaiting my meeting with the Korean consulate to acquire my Visa. Vanessa is currently finding out if it's possible for me to head on over with a tourist Visa and wait for all the paperwork to go through before I begin my employment. I am finally getting excited. Don't get me wrong, I've been excited for a long time but now I am actually starting to feel the thrill of it! Can't wait to join my amazing wife and finally get started on this adventure.

P.S. Vanessa has updated the videos that we were having problems with so try em again, they're worth it!

End of camp talent show!

My homeroom class for this past two week camp were walking zombies, lifeless, and without spirit. Having a discussion with them was like banging your head against a brick wall, dull and painful. One of the little girls Sally would continually chat with her friends in Korean but when spoken to in English she wouldn't respond even if spoken to directly with clear body language in case she didn't understand the English words, which I know she did.
Me: Sally, you need to pay attention
( she would nod her head and five seconds later would continue to talk as if I were not in the room)
Me: Sally, mouth closed (squeezing my lips in a duckbill position)
Sally: (blank stare, no smile, no deviousness, no reaction just blankness)
....
Me: Sally, you need to move closer to the computer screen. ( motioning with my hands)
Sally: shakes her head
Me: yes Sally. Please move now. (gesturing with a hand to the location I wanted her to sit)
Sally: (no sounds come from her mouth, but she continues to shake her head in refusal)
Me: Yes Sally, 5, 4, 3, 2...
Sally: (She would get up at the sound of my counting. I will never understand the power of counting. I haven't said what will happen if I reach 1 and in fact I don't know myself, but counting always works with kids, it is really ingenious!)

In the mornings we taught rotating classes about South Africa. Other classes being taught were India, Wales and USA. The first day we had our homeroom class whom were named debonair, the next day, Terrific class- the lowest of the sixth grade classes, the next day lovely and so on and so on.

Terrific class was Tyler's class next door to us, who made our class of deadpan sixth graders look like a bunch of rowdy geniuses and just happened to be the class we were always paired up with.

Terrific class had girls who liked to giggle and whose favorite response was "I don't know" in a high pitched voice with a flick of the head in an attempt to avoid a confrontation by being cute. One boy Dahoe, always had a mischievous look in his eye, while John, a small and continually confused boy, who we are sure didn't have all of his marbles in the right order was also an added addition to this motley crew. After two weeks he still couldn't answer, what my name was. The Korean boys said he had a bad memory.

On the day we spent three hours teaching Terrific class about South Africa, Tyler asked them once they arrived in homeroom what they had learned about South Africa. They stared at him blankly. Finally John said, "Africa?" After three hours of South Africa lessons, they didn't remember anything. After that day John loved to answer all questions with "Africa!" despite the fact that 90 percent of the questions he was answering had nothing to do with Africa. He could be answering the question, "What is a castle?" "Africa!" "No John, that is not the correct answer."

Can you imagine these two classes being paired up? Once combined it was as if a giant energy vacuum had come through the classroom and sucked out every last particle of energy from the room, creating a negative balance of energy. Silence and dead air hung in the room like a bad odor. After our experience with forcing them to sing "haru, haru" an all Korean song, our expectations of this week's talent show was low, very low, one might even say below zero. If they didn't perform anything we honestly wouldn't have been surprised.

So we told them that Friday was a talent show and they needed to figure out what they were going to do for the performance. As always they had broken into an all girls table and an all boys table. (Coming within three feet of a member of the opposite sex might infect one with a disease far beyond the reaches of cooties, far more contagious in fact that it is considered air born and they must stay far enough away as to not pass it through breath) Of course they insisted on having a boy act and a girl act. We, Tyler, Joy and I did not care, as long as they did something. The girls decided they would sing two songs. "Great!" we said. The boys however, came up with something even more creative, they would have a fashion show! "What a fantastic idea!" That means they didn't have to speak, all they would have to do was wear clothing and prance down an aisle. Of course the following day after speaking with their friends, it was a determined a stupid idea, but we told them it was too late to change. They insisted that they wanted to sing a song like the girls, but after they stood as straight as statues on the stage during the TV talent show, refusing to move their lips in a fake singing movement, we outright refused! Fashion show and that was final.

Here is the fashion show video!



You may notice that many of the boys are wearing my clothes and even some of Kyle's clothes that were packed in our combined suitcase.

John is the boy in orange dress number and he was probably the best runway model of the entire group. It was such a success, the girls in the audience screamed at the boys as if they were truly models. The girls in the class disappeared into the background while they sang a perfect fashion show song, while all the boys had to do was dress in silly outfits walk down an aisle and look cool. (Amigo by Shinee is the song in the video in case you are interested)

Here are some of the other videos from the talent show of other classes. Some of them were very talented.



A note about this video below: The first girl you see in this video was the alpha female. She took charge of this talent show performance, choreographing this entire dance. It was quite humerus seeing her in this role and watching the teachers sit back and let her.

Lights out

Bright florescent lights, illuminating everything including my blemishes, and then DARKNESS! Yep, we had a black out yesterday. Unfortunately it was NOT from a dark, electrifying thunderstorm, rather electricians trying to fix electrical things beyond my comprehension. Why they were working on it while classes were in session, I don't know, I am not Korean, but what I do know is that the kids went wild. It was as if an insane zoo keeper had decided to unlock the cages to the caged animals. Lions, zebras, polar bears rolling on the floor in a giant heap.

I remember when I was a child in school, it was the best day if the lights went out. Most of the time it was because of a thunderous storm overhead which made it all the more frightening and exciting. Classes were canceled and we were taken to the auditorium to wait it out. But because there was no storm and the weather was relatively pleasant, slightly above freezing, we took the kids out to the soccer field to run off their pent up energy. Kids race, even a teachers race, and then duck duck goose. And of course the children had to point out my red nose. I don't know why a red nose in the cold outdoors is such a novelty to them or why they feel the need to always point it out. Even complete strangers feel compelled to inform me about my red nose, but it never fails, if my nose is red, a Korean will tell me, be it child, adult, Korean consulate, or complete stranger.

The sun began to set, and after classes were finished, many teachers gathered in the lounge, no lights, no TV, no electronics, nothing but our own sparkling personalities. From the short time we spent discussing in the dark, I can understand why people used to rise and fall with the sun, light is important, we can't see without it. How is it that we forget such simplicities, or maybe it is just me? It was interesting to be left without a plugged in box flashing images to entertain us. I sometimes wish that we could travel back to simpler days, like in the time of Jane Eyre, when they danced, told stories and put on plays to entertain each other in the evening. It is a nice change of pace from our typical zombie position, mouths hanging open, eyes unblinking, as the TV tells us what to do and think. It would be nice if we were occasionally forced to use our imagination, like we were last night for a few short hours. Ironically, imagination is something we are always encouraging with our Korean students who don't normally get encouragement to use their imagination, is something we often forget to utilize ourselves unless left with few other options. Necessity breeds invention.

Egg Drop madness

I have mentioned in previous posts that we are in the middle of Winter camp here at SNET. Part of my job during this camp is conduct the science club class. This class by far has been my favorite class to teach during the camp session. The science project was an egg drop. We gave the kids specific materials, and told them that their goal was to save their egg from dying a cruel death from being thrown off the top of the 4 story building.

Day 1:
Materials:
paper cup
paper clips
two straws
6 pieces of string
tape
and on Day 1 and only day one, a trash bag. Not one egg cracked, which to some might seem a success, but we realized that providing a trash bag made the experiment full proof, too easy and provided no challenge to the children.

Day 2: We changed the trash bags out for smaller sandwich bags. This time the experiments were a FAILURE!!! Everyone of the eggs broke, and not one contraption floated to the ground, but rather crashed at top speeds. oops! Bad teachers :) (it was kind of funny though and definitely entertaining)

Day 3 and everyday after wards: We substituted for the trash bags/ sandwich bags, newspaper and a balloon. We decided to give the children both a balloon a newspaper to give them more opportunity to be creative and to see what they did with both materials.


My kids never used the newspaper as a floating device. They always used the balloon regardless of my insisting that there was a reason we gave them the newspaper, after which they would often tear the newspaper up into shreds to cushion their egg. Not exactly what I had in mind, but ok, it was their experiment, not mine and their future broken egg, not mine. And hopefully they learned more from the failure and the success of others from the other classes.

Some of the kids were very inventive and some were... well... not.

This contraption used the balloon as a covering device, rather than the flotation device, and used nothing to help it float down to the bottom. Needless to say their egg was DESTROYED in the crash.

One of the cracked eggs after it's non successful fall.

The first video is an example of an inventive and successful egg drop


while the second one is a great example of how a balloon by itself will not help slow the fall of the egg enough to keep it from crashing.



It was a great class that both the teachers and the students enjoyed immensely. I hope we find an excuse to do this again another day. What would you have done to save your egg if you were in this class?

Patience isn't my virtue

I've never considered myself to be a patient person. I am not exactly impatient, just not patient. There is a difference between impatience and not being patient, but don't ask me to describe the difference, just take my word for it.

What has felt like an eternity but in reality has only been a year and a half, my patience has been tried, tested, punched, ripped, shot at, tortured and I am proud to say only once have I threatened to go on a shooting rampage. Overall, I would say that through everything we have been through, I have shown my colors to be on the patient spectrum. No one has left my clutches with bruises, scratches or life threatening wounds. The venom that has started to form at the back of my throat has not caused any deaths. And although, occasionally I turn into the HULK, green, gigantic, and uncontrollable in my rage, the world has yet to set out to imprison me.

We have not had a choice in our patience in reality. We have often discussed the possibility of hiring a lawyer, but in the end we decided that path would not necessarily quicken the process and would probably do more harm than good. Patience has not been a choice but a virtue that has been thrust upon us. But as the clock tick tocks, the days pass, and we hear nothing from UT except to be patient, I find myself falling into a deep dark hole of despair. Being away from Kyle was easy enough as long as I had a life line, hope, something to hold on to, to look forward to. And I still have hope, but my hope which was once as luminescent as the sun now shines as bright as a single candle in a cavern. Kyle's paper work has been accepted by the University which is a huge step towards success, but nearly two weeks later, no certificate of completion has been issued regardless of the fact that the paperwork had a rush order on it from his adviser, and regardless that he has called daily to check on the progress. They told him he would have it in a week, it has been two. When I arrived in Korea we had planned for Kyle to be out here by New Years. It is now the middle of January, and his paperwork for his visa has not even begun. I have begun to wish for Valentine's Day to be his date of arrival, but every time I set a date in my head, something to grasp onto as a life line, I am left thrashing in the ocean, swallowing water by the mouthfuls. The longer this waiting game continues the more I feel like I am drowning. I am trying to find a positive ending to this post, something uplifting, but my words have been saturated and are floating further away with every wave. Soon, very soon, I will find my voice of hope again, but until then I will leave you with this as it is. Patience is a virtue, it's just not my virtue.

p.s. sorry if many of my posts lately are down. I am sure that will change soon when we hear something more from the University .

Bizarre Talent Show

This week is once again camp week, which means that rather than the students being sent by their school for a week, they are sent by their parents. As teachers this is definitely a much welcomed change. The material and lesson plans have been changed, and the atmosphere is very relaxed and activity oriented. We still have our quite groups who never ever make a peep, and the ones that wont ever stop talking and seem not to notice that there is even a teacher in the room.

Tonight however we had a really special event to add to the FUN of camp, a camera crew from a local TV station. They came for the day to film some of the classes, interview students and requested that we put on a talent show for a finale of sorts. We were given two days notice to ask the kids, so to act as fillers, a few teachers signed up in case the recruitment of students was unfruitful. As the list remained quite short, Joy, my partner teacher, Tyler, the teacher next door and I decided that we would sign our two classes up to do a combined performance of Haru Haru, a song from one of their favorite bands, Big Bang. The children Idolize this band. Because we are at English camp almost every child chooses an English name for the week. Inevitably there is always several Tops and G-dragons (the two most popular guys from the band). Sometimes they choose even crazier names like Double cheese burger or this week we have a boy named bunny.

We signed up our classes knowing that they were all very shy and not really into the idea, but when we were called, they willing stood up on stage (meaning I did not physically have to drag them by the hair or threaten with the dreaded blue stickers), the girls sang, the boys stood uncomfortably and the audience went wild. Girls from the audience screamed as if we were the Beatles and hands flew threw the air as they practiced their choreographed dance moves all the while sitting in the audience. Tyler, Joy and I along with two other guys playing the guitar stood on the stage mouthing "Watermelon" for all of the Korean words, the majority of the song, for moral support and to catch any attempted runaways or a child dying of stage fright.

Here is the Haru Haru music video. I actually really like the song.


After all of the performances which ended up being around 11 in total, awards were given. But the award ceremony was the strangest part of the entire talent show since all but one prize was given to the teachers. We were performing not to compete but to help fill the show. The prizes obviously should have been given to the students and as I was handed my SNET umbrella, I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth. I plan to give my prize to one of the performers tomorrow, as I did nothing, deserved nothing for standing on the stage and mouthing "watermelon" and when the prizes should obviously have gone to the children who were more deserving of these prizes. Obviously this was another cultural issue that I have no understanding of. Hopefully we will be given more answers tomorrow as to this weird event....

The second most popular song in Korea. Fast forward to 2 min to actually hear the song. The first 2 minutes is a weird intro.

The evolution of my (our) blog

It all began simply enough. A father and son , bathing in their nerdiness, and glorifying the deity inside the computer decided to create a blog. (Kyle and his father if you hadn't guessed)

"What is a blog?" I naively asked said when they presented the idea to me. ( This was three years ago! How ignorant was I? When someone doesn't know what a blog is these days, my jaw falls from it's sockets onto the floor, similar to how a snake can unhinge his mouth to eat a hippo, yes a hippo. It is similar to how people stare at me open-mouthed when I admit that I don't know who Kylie Menogue is. Sorry people, that is why I keep Kyle around, I am completely useless when it comes to trivia. But I digress..)

"It's a public space for family and friends to read about our travels when we go to Italy." was Kyle's response to my silly question (We studied abroad there, and it was nothing short of amazing)

I have to admit, I was a bit put out when they created the site with kyle's name www.kyleprogers.blogspot.com . It was our blog together, why did it only have Kyle's name with no mention of mine. No, I don't hold onto unnecessary and pointless grudges. Don't look at me like that. And no I don't have a list in my head to pull out anytime I get angry with Kyle for grievances from years past. Nope, that wouldn't be me. Still digressing....

And although it was our travel blog, with his name as the website name, I was the main blogger. As I continued to write and improve, I found that I enjoyed the art from of writing that I had always abhorred in the past. It was still a difficult task, but it was one that I found I had a talent for, unlike the paintings and drawings I was attempting in my art classes, which my friends were always kind enough to compliment, even when I knew my pieces were crap.

After Italy, we discontinued the blog, as it's main purpose was to inform family and friends of our where-abouts and happenings while in Europe.

The next year however, after hubby and I were hitched, my fingers craved the sweet feeling of the keys dipping into the secret world of the keyboard once again. I needed an outlet for creation and blogging seemed to be the perfect solution. So I created this blog, with the name www.vanessayrogers.blogspot.com to allow my creativity to thrive, grow and sprout through words into a beautiful flourishing vine, always reaching higher and further into the sky towards the delicious tentacles of the sun. (There was only a little spite involved when I created the name to the web page) I wrote sporadically, with my readers consisting of mostly family and very few friends . Our Italy blog had mostly been mine except of course for the name and a few scattered posts from Kyle, so I needed to create a space for me. A blank page to express my feelings, and test the watering holes of the writing world. Some of my favorite posts to date were from my early days, because each post seemed like such an accomplishment, something I could feel proud of. Something I created, words, sentences, and poetry that came from my brain.

When we left for Chile, however, the blog once again evolved into our blog to help keep family and friends informed and up to date with our lives while we were in a far far away land. I have always loved blogging while away from the things I know, because inspiration is given freely while away; traveling is my muse. Everything looks, smells and feels different. The low flying birds, the grey sand, and the chickens, something once considered ordinary becomes extraordinary and something worth writing about.

When we returned to the states from South America, a body suite of issues the weight of a grand piano fell from the heavens onto our shoulders. Smaller bricks continued to be loaded on as the months wore on and we continued hearing worse and worse news concerning Kyle and his degree from the University. My fingers rather than craving the familiar keyboard had developed a repulsion, a reaction that two of the same side magnets create when they are attempted to be placed together, a refusal to unite. I was stunned into silence by our continual failures to follow our dream. Only when the brick load began to feel the possibility of being shedded, did my fingers find their way back to their disinherited home.

But not only has the timing and reasons for my blogging changed, but so has my outlook on how and why a blog should be conducted. As it started as a travelers blog, my focus was on the unique experiences that we encountered, such as the strange exploding toilets or my new love of gelato. Once the new Vanessa blog with a freshly hospital white palette was created, so did my writing subject change. I began to write about the ordinary with a twist, as my life was anything but exciting. The true evolution however began this past summer, when I discovered the secret world of blogging. Underneath our noses, like the underground railroad, or the organized crime during prohibition, there has been a thriving community of bloggers sharing their life stories, spilling their blood, guts and pure emotions for all to read and share. Once I discovered this underground community, I realized that there was a specific style unique to blogging which was different to my own. They wrote witty, creative stories, shorter and less pristine, more accepting of errors. Reading their blogs were more like talking with a friend, personal yet light and almost always humorous. While with my writing style, I strove for perfection, an attempt to mold words into a statue of David. In this world, I also found that it was perfectly acceptable to follow a perfect strangers blog. Bloggers who knew nothing of each other besides what they read on blogs became friends, created communities and had an entirely secret underworld from the rest of humanity. I began to imitate other bloggers styles as I waded through this new world. Before I incorporated myself into this blogging world, my only readers were my friends and family, however I soon strove to gain more readers, and more blogging buddies. In reality my motivation for this was for self-actualization, to feel important, to feel like my writing was special, but outwardly my reason was that I had and still have a goal of writing and publishing a book one day. I needed to find out if perfect strangers would take to my writing or if it was something not worth pursuing. (I realize that those who write blogs might not necessarily be the same audience for the book I plan to write one day so I don't worry too much about that.)

As a writer it is important to write what we know, and write what inspires us, but it is also important to know your audience and what inspires them. Before writing a blog, I often find myself asking, "why do people read my blog and why do people not read it? What is it that they find intriguing, what do they find boring? Are the stories too detailed, does it not create enough conversation?" So, my readers it is your turn, what is your opinion. What do you enjoy reading about? In your opinion, what makes a good blog? When you come to my web page what is it that you seek? (And I promise, I will talk much more about Korean culture because I assume many people are interested in the cultural differences here)

As a side note, mostly for other bloggers: Recently I have come across a blog who is hosting an event called Blogapalooza: What I learned in 2008. He is trying to get at least 100 bloggers who would like to share a post from each month of 2008 that expresses their feelings for the past year. If you would like to participate you must enter before January 25th. Check it out. It is pretty cool.

Flashback of the evolution of the blog for those interested
If you want to read some of our old posts from Italy: click here
The start of this blog for Vanessa only: A bamboozeld mess: Trials of marriage , The Yellow brick road (how the blog got it's name)
South America adventures blogs: A post by Kyle

Thank for taking the time to share with us. We really appreciate your encouragement, support and even criticisms as long as they are constructive. Have a blessed day.