i caved.

...i cleaned our kitchen today. the apartment i live in here is not exactly four star quality. previous tenants *really* did not take care of it. i do not like living in grossness. but we rarely use the kitchen here, so i have just done my best to ignore that portion of the house. but this morning i walked into the laundry room to take out the recycling (for the first time in almost 4 months.. there were bottles in there that were from the previous folks, too) and had to walk through a bunch of fruit flies. that did it for me. i spent an hour cleaning and only got through the sink, counters and stove top. i have yet to tackle the table or the floor. thankfully the table isn't too bad. but the floor.. is going to take some work. i set a fruit fly trap.. hopefully it will work.

seems silly to do so much work when i've only got a couple weeks left here (woah), but i think things like that are really rather good for my sanity. my mind always feels very clear after doing that kind of elbow grease work. maybe that's what mr. miyagi was trying to get at with the whole car waxing thing..? do some work, clear your mind. maybe today's kitchen endeavor will help me defend myself against my tae kwon do genius students. probably not. :P

good news weekend..
i do not, in fact, have pink eye! it appears that my eye was just really irritated.. enough to last for a few days. but it's back to normal and i can get back to juggling tomorrow! hooray!

i got some wonderful souvenirs this weekend in insadon (a shopping area in seoul). spent a lot of money, but it was totally fun.

this is a little bit silly, but it made me excited: for the first time in as long as i can remember, i weigh less than my older brother. may not sound like a big deal, but being bigger than him was the cause of a lot of stress when we were younger. so this now is just kind-of humorous to me. now that i'm completely ok with my 'weight'. funny how things work.

i borrowed the first season of Lost from a friend and have been losing myself in that in my free hours this weekend. sometimes it is nice to just sit and relax for a while, instead of spending all my weekend time going around doing things. :)

korea has a soccer game at 4am monday. gonna try to get up to see it, as that is *all* i will hear about at school on monday, and my kids will give me endless amounts of crap if i haven't seen it. also.. it's really amazing how much national pride and team spirit there is here. during the last game, the cheering in neighboring apartment buildings was so loud that it seemed like people were right outside our windows. i can't wait to hear what it is like for this game. should be interesting to see how many people are actually up at that time for the game!

re: the many questions about how to get glasses in korea.
it's really fairly simple!
to get glasses in korea:
1) enlist the services of a friend who speaks both korean and english
2) wander around being amazed at the cheapness of frames, and resist the urge to buy 3 or 4 pairs
3) enjoy the glory of a completely *free* eye exam that does not involve a puff of air in your eyeball
4) try not to trip over yourself as you adjust to having new glasses for the first time in ages
5) be very very happy about the glasses, as pink eye may be in your near future :P

also.. i have not been online for the last few days, b/c our internet went 'out' again.. hah. next time we should make sure the modem has not come disconnected from the wall before getting up in arms about having no internet. we are all brilliant people in apartment 106.

ok. so. it's been a while. let's start with HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYLAN!! holy *crap* my little brother is 15! technically it's still his birthday where all y'all are.. wow. funny how i still think of my lil bros as being so small, when in reality they're both bigger than me.

we went to busan a week and a half ago. i spent saturday wandering around youngsan university and then other places in busan with a professor/student affairs guy from the university, then hooked up with my bro and our friend michelle (who is from busan) for some fun on sunday. i don't have any good pictures of myself from that weekend, so you only get to see other people ;)

this is a picture of a little corner of the university that i enjoyed finding. the school is pretty much in the middle of the mountains, so everywhere you look there are lots of trees, and the hill it's on pretty much kicks bascom hill's butt.


on sunday we started the day by wandering around the international market in busan, as well as the fish market there. busan is the biggest port in korea, so a lot of things come through there. including these darlings that greeted us upon entering the fish market


this is michelle with two of her best friends from growing up. they were adorable. she calls them pancake and BB (big boobs). you can guess which is which. BB didn't speak any english, but did speak japanese, so i had an enjoyable afternoon chatting with her and translating bits of english conversation into japanese for her. was super fun to practice!


cute picture of tim and michelle. happened to catch it just at the right moment. love it when that happens!


obligatory picture of adorable students.. this is another one of my favorite classes. they're crazy all over the place, but they're super fun, and seem to relish in teaching me korean words.


and this... drum roll please.. is me in my new uber geeky super cute glasses, on our fabulous orange couch :)


and that. that, my friends, is an update.

i have amazing friends. they know who i am, and what i need. they know when to listen and when to offer things to help. they respond to who and how i am in the most amazing ways.. jacob sent me this today. it is a reminder of something i tend to have trouble with..

Trying to Catch the Wind

Smiling into tired eyes a cup of tea is passed. It appears that something has gone wrong, and yet there are no words to convey just what that might be. Just the silence of two who have found that sometimes words are unnecessary, that words will come on their own when it is time, that nothing need be forced.

Sitting in the backyard tea cups are set aside, as one smiles into the breeze and the other looks upon that smile in wonder. A deep sigh as a hand is raised and the invisible breeze plays between outstretched fingers. Sensing the wondering eyes, the glance is returned, a smile still upon the face, but the eyes much more direct now. Hand still held aloft turning this way and that as the breeze gently tickles the palm, the inner wrist, raising goose-bumps.

A quiet little laugh as fingers suddenly close in on themselves, fingertips pressing firmly into the palm. Quizzical look as a question is asked. ìDo you think I caught it?î

ìCaught what?î is the reply.

Opening of the hand, held out as in offering, ìThe wind of course.î

Laughter now in the eyes that had looked so tired. ìYou canít catch the wind.î

Looking away and leaning over a dandelion blossom, ìAnd why canít I?î

A bit more seriously the reply comes, ìThere is nothing to catch.î

Face turning up from the dandelion, ìIf you know that, then why do you look so tired my friend?î

How often do we find ourselves hurrying through our day trying to catch something that is elusive to us? We tell ourselves that if only this happens we will be ok, that if only that happens things will even themselves out and we can finally sit back and relax. We wear ourselves out trying to catch something that is as unobtainable as the wind, when all along it is flowing, ebbing, and rising all around us. We get so caught up in our endeavors that we miss the gentle tickling on our palms.

..my goal in korea has been to notice the tickling on my palm.. to take the time to appreciate it, and stop grasping at nothing. recently this has been a little more difficult as i have tried to regain more sense of people and things that i will perhaps never understand again. as difficult as it may be, maybe it is time to let some things flow away and be gone like it seems they were meant to. as it seems they want to. i don't like seeing tired eyes in the mirror.

as promised.. some pictures of my absolutely ridiculously adorable students!
the first is one of my favorite classes. they're just starting to learn english.. from left to right it's max, rusa, julie and mint. max never stops moving. that's why it looks like he crashed into the girls. i'm pretty sure he actually did. :P

next is tim and two of his favorite students.

and last is another one of my crazy fun classes. the girl on the far right likes to hang on me.. and in the picture is doing a ballerina pose because we had just been playing simon says and she thought that it was hysterical when i made the boys spin like ballerinas.