Life's still good. Just don't feel like teaching today. Not much choice, so....

My face hurts from smiling. I am gonna be one wrinkled old lady someday.... BEST!

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE MY LIFE? Because I do. A lot.

A wise man once told me that when you're grateful for something, it's your duty to express that. And so I am.

I AM THE WINNER!

Baby Danger Photo Op

This really happened. Lizzie and I watched this scene from the second floor of a coffee shop and fortunately, I had my camera.

Also, lady near the bottom of the picture (mom?) is waving about a stick with a plastic poo on the end of it to make that baby in the street smile.

The poorly laid plans of mice on bicycles

My brain: If I ride my bike really fast in the rain with a hoodie on over my clothes, I won't even get wet.

Reality: If I ride my bike really fast in the rain with a hoodie on over my clothes, my pants still get wet and I'm a heavy, sopping disaster.


I will fight you, rainy season. You'll probably win though. Bopping about town, I'll just resign myself to getting soaked, then I'll throw on some dry shit at home and scoot to work real quick like on my bike.

We'll see how well that works out. Because I totally understand how things work.

James: Teacher, that's a special jacket you're wearing.
Me: It's not a jacket. It's a shirt.
James: Really?!
Me: Yes, it's a shirt with buttons.
James: So what is that?
Me: That's another shirt. I'm wearing two shirts.
James: Isn't it hot?
Me: A little.
James: Teacher, wear T-SHIRTS, not TWO SHIRTS.

My First Attempt to Bike from Lizzie's Apartment To Mine

It goes from right to left and the green bit is where I hopped on the subway.

Also, there was a tub of kimchi strapped to my bike during this trek.

My life is brilliant. ^_^

It's a Lespo, ㅋㅋㅋ.

I OWN A BICYCLE AND IT IS BADASS. I can get to work in like 5 minutes! Also, it's fun! WIN! (also, it's like secret exercise)

Thanks for helping me make up my mind, Sujin, Lacey, and Stephanie. Yeah!

Edit: Being an impulsive spaz, I thought I had made up my mind not long after making a blog post asking if I should get a scanner or a bicycle. I decided on the scanner and deleted the post. Well, votes came in anyway and Grandma Nat was on Team Bicycle, too! Yeah!

Also, on my ride home, I learned that I should carry my laptop in a backpack, not strapped to the rack on the back. ooops. Sir Stewart is a trooper, that's for sure.

'Tis the Season...for REALLY boring posts, apparently.

1. The kid who lived in America* (Jeong Hun) is ADORABLE and a fucking joy to teach. After my initial hissy fit, I felt really productive prepping and was getting pretty excited to meet this kid. AND THEN I DID AND IT WAS BRILLIANT. I am winner.

*He lived in Georgia for two years (he doesn't have a southern accent on top of his Korean accent, sadly).

2. I just made my first EXTRA PAYMENT on my loans!!! I looked at my pile of AES loans and singled out the one with the highest interest rate and highest remaining balance and straight up knocked some serious dollas off the principle.

Dear 08/24/2007 Federal Stafford Loan,

I will destroy you.

Kisses!

-Tamara

Ain't that the way?

"Special Camp" is cancelled! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

"oh, Korea" doesn't even begin to cover it.

However, a wise man once told me that "in Korea, nothing's really happening until 10 minutes after it's actually started." So, we'll see if this whole thing is really called off.

IT'S FRIDAY. YEAH.

Time to answer e-mails and read Tank Girl. For the next 5 hours. And get paid for it.

edit @ 4:16pm: Yeah, I know they're paying me and all, but they're REALLY determined to make me work while I'm here. Haha, I got lucky with the last test prep period in April when they mostly left me alone. 


So, 30 minutes after finding out that Campapalooza is off, there's suddenly a 9th grade boy who lived in the States that I've got to teach from 7 until 10pm. Man, I could have come in an hour later today. Ah, oh well. At least there are actually books (TODAY....if he's too advanced for the books we have, I've got to find him new ones) and some semblance of a plan for this, so I can deal. Still better than the schedule that was going. AND this isn't happening on top of those camps.


Alrighty. That's enough of the work updates. That's no fun for you.

Thank you, Crack Coffee

3 Words: PAPER MACHE SHARKS

Also this is cool:

Oh, Korea.

My job is ridiculous. More to the point, my school is a disorganized, chaotic clusterfuck that's hemorrhaging students.

And it's kind of cracking me up. It's my job right meow to think of as many exciting and fun activities as I can for the next three weeks, without paying teaching methodology any mind whatsoever. Learning English is not really the goal here....tricking kids into thinking this hagwon is fun is the goal.

They pay me for this.

The director has also made if very clear that my "freetalking" classes are supposed to rejuvenate the elementary student population. I'mado my best to make the classes fun, but I'm certainly not taking this monkey show's bottom line on as my responsibility. (Also, it's important to note that getting another foreign teacher is a colossal pain in the ass for a hagwon)

That's that for now. Time to scribble a million activities in this notebook and pretend I don't hear my name or "freetalking" about a bajillion times today.

p.s. CALLING ALL READERS: Please send along any kids' craft projects that you know of! Think I already thought of that? WRONG. I am daft and I did not think of that. Comment on this post or e-mail me!