Aim For The Head

2005-10-25T22:39:00.000+09:00

heres the link to multiply Aimforthehead ...go nuts..

Movin' on up

2005-09-27T14:50:00.000+09:00

Hey ya'll ....if you haven't already gotten the email, I've moved all the junk to another site... aimforthehead.multiply.com ...no www. ....So ya... N' Stuff

Norlmani ni konecs.....uh huh...THAT'S MY JAX! ...mung mung bark bark! REEE BEC KA!!

2005-09-11T19:38:00.000+09:00

I just wanted to put a little blurb in before to let everyone know that I'm alive and kickin' however I didn't mention a couple of very important events that occurred recently..MY JAX HAS LEFT ME!! *Sniff* and then a month later...Rebecca headed out...It won't be goodbye though, only see ya later...Miss ya Jackie and Bex...See you both soon....Yessem Tevoje Kochichka!

The Bigger the Bigger, Drunk....DRUNK....I'm living in a cuckoo clock....

2005-09-10T17:27:00.000+09:00

Sooooooo....To further explain the title (as if it's NOT self - explanatory)..my life has become one large melting pot of quotes..entire conversations can consist of oh-so-witty one liners...MAAAAANNN...what a sad life for an english teacher...mono syllabic banter..UNG!

Now who wouldn't want to wake up next to this in the morning!

Let me see here, my last post was MONTHS ago, so you'd think that I would have tons of things to say, but truthfully it's all gone right out of my brain! I'm currently only doing privates now , and I've got a WHACK of 'em , I'm working my cute little fanny off!! HAHAHA AND THE BEST THING IS THAT IT'S ONLY 35 hours a WEEK! Are you kidding me? Another day in paradise..

Like how cute is this picture??!!?? And in case you're wondering..the shirt says "I AM YOUR OWN PERSONAL JESUS" ....dont' make me have to tell ya twice..

Made a trip down to the beach at the beginning of July, pre-birthday partyin' I guess you could say, a hell of a day..drove down after work on the Saturday and spent the day sleeping and drinking on the beach...Kim Han (my boss and good friend ..obviously Korean) earned the new nickname "Papa Han" ..but only because Jax and I spent the day collecting seashells and playing in the sand/water with our ass cracks hanging out..the Coppertone baby didn't have anything on us!

"Look at this seashell Kim Han!!"

"What the FUCK!!, you're a FUCKING 4 year old"

Rena proceeding to DIE LAUGHING...."Thanks Papa Han! You Love it!!"
K I lied, this picture is WAY cuter!

So what else...Konaka came up to visit me for 3 days or so (no pics as we got blazin' drunk the couple of times that we went out)...BETH IS HERE!! It was her one week anniversary last night.yesss new roomie..and as for me..it's my one year on the 31rst..one whole FRICKING YEAR!!

Anyways, I'm not entirely sure what else to write...I will try and keep this updated now that I have internet @ home..NEW HOME...love it..pics later...and speaking of..check 'em out..there's really no explanation needed...they speak for themselves..no sense in my babbling..

2005-07-25T20:35:00.000+09:00

This is what my and my students do when we get bored with the lesson!... I love my life... Pics soon (I hope)...just waiting on the internet people..

Sorry Sorry Sorry (Mianhamnida)

2005-06-23T00:40:00.000+09:00

MMMMM YA, haven't posted in a while...AGAIN...my bad...I'm just lazy and don't feel like posting without pictures...All PC Bang (room) and no internet connection make Rena lazy lazy...Ah well..Not much to update anyways...still waitin' on the dough to get a place (hopefully @ the end of the month) , still working , still alive...just wanted everyone to know that...I have a whackload of pics that will eventually be posted...until then cancel the mob meeting to beat me down (hahaha ya right)..I'm not dead, I promise...just a procrastinator..

"Are you gonna miss me??" "Only until I go to the store and get a Hustler...."

2005-05-08T20:09:00.000+09:00

Thankfully this washed off

Well there we go, bye bye Luke. First of the people in Ilsan that I've met to leave. Shed a tear, and give a smack for not taking me golfing.....Hopefully he enjoyed the sendoff, a group of us surprised him @ the airport before his flight...

Seanna I tried, but I still look like a Barney/Gumby reject when I try to do this....

Other than drinking, working and drinking some more everything else has pretty much been the same..Still up to no good I'm afraid..But I'm loving every second of it. Work's going good and I'm up to 6 private lessons now..SCORE...

I love having holidays in the middle of the week....

We had a holiday on Thursday so Wednesday night became quite the gong show. Then again on Friday for Luke's going away party..THEN beers were cracked again in the cab on the way to the airport.

My dear Kevin has made the cabbie stop not once but TWICE now and this is OFFICIALLY "Best Pee Picture EVER"...Way 2 go Ted, showing off mad camera skills....

Konax and I hit the DMZ on Sunday, neither one of us got shot. Pretty basic stuff. There's the North , this is the South...No pictures please. I also got shot down by one of the soldiers..I totally rock.

"Kisu juseyo??"....I got a "Hell NO"

I really don't have much else to report. Elliott leaves next Monday and I'm moving in with Jackie...Then it'll only be a little longer 'till I get my own pad..

I don't care if it's blurry, I love this pic....As usual we were laughing too damn hard...

I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Regardless all the pics are posted and my new # is .....That's right you guessed it (010) 2349-RENA. Really I just wanted to show off my dazzling pictures..And say.....

1.....
2.....
3.....
4.....

and Goodnite Luke!

UH OH

2005-04-27T00:47:00.000+09:00

HA! Turns out I'm moving...Like in a couple of hours....Stay tuned for updates...Like Hell....Look out new school, here I come..

2005-04-25T11:32:00.000+09:00

Taken from the bus leaving the resort...

A'ight y'all, I'm back..After 2 months of complete inactivity I hope I haven't lost too many people to this site...Where to start...I guess I'll work my way up to present times. I've included a lot of pics and uploaded even more to the other sites I have linked so check those out too... For those who didn't know, I spent a week in Toronto before heading to Cuba for Tiffany Heard's wedding (Congrats Tiff and Jay again)..If I didn't get to see you I'm sorry, I'm an ass I was just super swamped that whole week, I was very grateful to spend the second week in Cuba, I needed it. The wedding was gorgeous, the pics are posted on the sites (look along the side bar, and the booze flowed freely for the week...LOVE IT..

Thinking I'm cool in Cuba....

Kev,Bonnie and I went snorkeling the last day there, and as soon as Seanna has some pics from underwater I'll post them if they turn out.

Seanna Me and Tiff on Seanna's Bday

Things haven't changed much here in good ol' Korea work-wise for me, I'm currently looking for a new position with another company, my boss is gonna get my foot up his ass soon enough and I've decided I'm doing too much work for the pay that I'm getting. I've also decided to stay longer. This decision came from years of tedious soul-searching (haha ya right) and coming to the conclusion that I would really really like to have my own little piece of beach paradise. So I've given myself until 30 to get the deposit for a loan to buy a small hotel or B&B..wish me luck.To give you an idea of what I'm looking at, I posted the site here..We'll see how it goes, I'm in a good position here to save some serious coin if I don't drink it all away...

I sucked it up and went out and made myself some new buddies in the last couple of weeks. I had the epiphany that it's like starting at a new public school all over again..I love being the "new kid"..Like hell I do..But everyone that I've met here is SUPER SUPER awesome, really decent people....

Elliott and I boozing on a street corner .....

It does suck meeting people here because you only really get a little time to spend with most of them, they come for their year and are gone again, but it's ok, you take what you can get...

Jackie and I @ "Don't Go" ..The night deteriorated not too long after this pic was taken...

I went hiking on Sunday with the crew from "Don't Go" (the local watering hole where we all hang out) and cleaned up Bukhansan, I can barely lift my arms today, but I figure it ain't too bad for an 8 hour hike.

We split into 2 groups at the beginning of the trek, this was the Kill Kevin group...

Our crew got the most garbage out of anyone, we were totally impressed with ourselves I have to say. 6 of us in the group, this is our team here....
Ryan, Eric, Kyle, Kevin , Jackie and myself all managed to get 10 bags of garbage, and still have enough energy for a couple beers and some fried chicken afterwards, I slept like a damn baby last night....

Like how friggin' cute are Jackie and I?...

I can't remember exactly how high we got but I do recall a sign saying 630 meters, but don't quote me on that. It was a good day all in all, lots of walking and climbing...I've never gotten the chance to do something like that before...

Ryan napping on one of our many breaks...

For those of you who have a fairly retarded sense of humor, I recommend downloading some Mitch Hedberg, he was mine and Kev's fav comedian and he passed away this month, such sad sad news.

In a more upbeat note, Happy Birthday Will, Marra, Ave, Ash , Hayden, Teena and Kyle! Sorry I don't get the chance to buy you a drink (with the exception of Hayden) but maybe next year...And Congrats to my dear bro Gerry and his way WAY better half Tanya (just kidding big bro), they'll soon be the proud owners of a rugrat...

I'll try and keep up with the updating as much as possible, I'm going on another hiking trip this Sunday in Inje, and I get to go swimming! Totally stoked about that, I'm also trying to get someone to go with me to Japan at the end of May for a Jack Johnson concert, so lot's of goodies coming soon....

Kev and I

2005-04-21T00:12:00.000+09:00

I will be updating soon, I PROMISE!!!

2005-02-01T23:16:00.000+09:00

Wow life is Fun! Can ya note the sarcasm? I'm layin' on pretty thick. Ahh , let's see here, the Asian New Year is coming up next week (Feb 8,9,10) and so far I have ZERO plans. I tried to get a ticket home for Superbowl but no dice. And somehow, JUST SOMEHOW, I went from having tons O' dough flowing to having SQUAT. Note to self, 500$ phone bills are NOT an economical way to save money. CRAP, I can't even go out and buy myself some happiness.

I'm not going to get into my usual rant of crap that nobody actually listens to, I'm actually posting this to say a goodbye to my cousin Brad. I'm not overly crafty with words when it counts but bear with me. Brad was my cousin by marriage, but I spent most of my childhood with him, his younger bro Michael and sister Danni, on account of thier father (Doug) being my Dad's brother in law AND best friend. Because of the separated family and the distance I haven't seen Brad or his siblings for a long time now. However, Brad passed away last Friday from a heart attack, he had been on life support for a week. It's sad when know that someone who was part of your life is gone, especially when you didn't get the chance to spend more time with them. Brad wasn't that much older than me. Rest in Peace Brad.

R.I.P Johnny Carson

2005-01-26T21:28:00.000+09:00

Alrighty then..Been awhile..Miss me? ..UH HUH YA.I've officially hit that slump 3-4 months into my Korea experience where I'm starting to HATE it..I was warned that this would happen. Grrreeeaat..The last week and a bit has been a hectic, emotional battery of never-ending CRAP ..With some ups in between. I had my last lesson with the kindergarten last Friday. WOO HOO! We drove the usual hour and a half drive to find out the kids were rehearsing at an unheated church for their end of the year (or something) performance thingy. So I got to sit and watch a whole bunch of 5 year olds sing irritatingly jolly English songs. I only have video from the little pageant so if anyone knows a server I can post the clips on that would be wonderful. The goodbye I was dreading ended up lacking in the fan-fare..And somehow leaving me a little sad. It didn't help when one of the teachers waved goodbye at me and just turned to the kids and told them they were never gonna see me again. I can still see the looks of horror. I swear the look wouldn't have been different if she had said "Oh by the way, that lady who's leaving with no real goodbye is actually Santa in disguise and you will NEVER see her again."

Now on to a not so innocent anecdote. I have a 5 year old girl I teach on Wednesdays..Speaks almost perfect English (as well as any 5 year old), but I noticed something different about this girl the second time I had a lesson with her. She had a exercise to write about things in a fridge, and then draw them. Now we all know my mind strays to the gutter but bear with me now. So Hannah writes about some bananas and pickles..I say "What about something to drink?". Her immediately reply was "WINE!"..MMMMM Ok...She then proceeds to write about wine, but Oh NO she's not done there, she wants MORE. "I think we need to have some beer and soju"..At this point I had to stop for a second and REALLY think about what I was gonna say next. I managed to clear that one ok. HOWEVER..She then starts to draw all of the aforementioned items, and I can't help but notice that ALL of them have a wieeerd phallic background to them. I won't go into detail but I left the lesson scratching my head. Now I should also mention that I know you're all thinking "Well yes Rena, if you're a PIG you would think that pickles and bananas usually have sexual innuendo that can be attached to them", but what if the banana is STRAIGHT up in between 2 oranges? NEXT LESSON, I'm teaching my young pupil about the word "AS" and she kind of looks at me funny, I try to give examples and of course am told that I'm wrong. An "AS" is the thing that you sit on, I'm told with a completely innocent look. "It's like your BUTT". I think that Disney has started to really cut costs in the editing department.

I digress however, I'm using this enchanting little narrative to distract from the fact that I have nothing new going on except that I had a minor meltdown this weekend and Kevin, OH SO TOLERANT Kevin was at the receiving end of my loud dramatic mouth. GOOD FOR HIM. But whatever, life still goes on, the world keeps spinning (in a downward spiral I might add). And I made a choice to be WAY too far away from someone who I'm considering to be my own personal Valium. Suck it up, make the money and drink until you can't feel pain. That's my advice..No wait, that's my mantra..That and CHUG!

Float like a butterfly, Sting like a .... ahh whatever

2005-01-17T20:15:00.000+09:00

Alisha after moving and unpacking all day, the very essence of what we've all felt like....

Ya that's right..Sting's comin to town..And for the low low price of 100$ you can see him live, along with a couple thousand screaming Koreans. I'll probably cave to the outrageous price and go. Whatever. I promised more interesting content on this website. Boy am I ever a letdown. One notch on Rena's halo of disillusion please ...I really could just mooch off other peoples sites for interesting info (Mr. Burrons Page and Myopic ) but that would just be ignorant and EXTREMELY LAZY..O wait..However one cool thing I have stumbled upon in the last little while was this goody Little Ruler..for friends or that "label whore to be "..Moving on..As I am greedy and taken on extra private lessons EVERY morning, I have little time for anything else other than staring at the walls wondering why Kevin isn't here irritating me :). I did find the energy this weekend however to turn my computer into a GIANT paper weight, a situation that took me 3 tries to fix and had me seriously debating on locking myself in the bathroom for fear of either beating the CRAP out of this machine or snapping and just hopping on a plane back home. It was just one of those days..Or weekends, whichever way you wanna look at it. I am approximately 2 weeks from my 4 month anniversary of Korea, 1/3 of the way through. I ain't dead yet, thank God..Speaking of dead people , everyone failed to mention to me that Rodney Dangerfield AND Christopher Reeves died, shocking news on my part, YA! I didn't know..jeez...How out of it am I??. I spent hours daydreaming today (while I should have been teaching), thinking up interesting content for this post. Once again my brain has failed to produce. Sorry! Truth is, I can still manage to be boring on another continent. As soon as my computer is done RE-loading all the crap it needs I'm gonna post my schedule, so you all can have an idea of what my days are like, that's all you're gonna get. On other notes, Alisha and Ryan have moved into their new apartment (which I LOVE..Well I LOOOVE the pictures..see Myopic), and I got the NICEST email from Buns the today. For those of you that don't know, Buns used to be a cook @ Sneakers and has since moved away for school. I adore the guy and I am totally flattered when people consider me close enough to tell me about what's going on in their lives. I encourage everyone who reads this to do the same. Bitch, whine, scream..Whatever you wanna do. I'm a million miles away with an unbiased opinion about whatever you need to talk about and I PROMISE I will write back. AMUSE ME PLEASE..Especially if it's anything like the email I got Allyn. Rant all ya want baby, I'm all ears. On my side of things, bitching seems to be in my repetoire, as well as nastiness and just plain evil. But I will eventually work on getting those out of my system..If anyone can recommend a good patch or gum for that , I'd greatly appreciate it..Stu gave me a copy of the teachings of Buddha, but as I seek to "enlighten" myself, my abounding sense of cynicism makes me put the book down. Although I figure if I can put up with the Pres HUMMING for at least an hour STRAIGHT every day then I have to believe I've reached a certain level of Nirvana in my life.. Ah well, like I said nothing to report..EXCEPT KEVIN IS NOT HERE, little SOB..Somebody smack him for me...

** Post edit notes - My computer crashed AGAIN last night immediately after writing the above post, so I have since had to wipe my computer for the fourth time. Yay for me..On the way to work today some teenage boys decided to yell "Fuck you" while I was walking , I'm sure not actually in a derogatory way, they just picked it up from some western movie. Note to parents: To have a child, follow these directions : Mix equal parts Southern Comfort and Coke, shake until conception. Place newborn ankle-biter in front of television or shiny thing for appox 15 - 20 years, or until removal. Rinse, Repeat if desired.....At an interview last night the mother was chattin' away while her 4 year old played with the stove.."Oops, there goes Timmy again..All on fire and shit"..I can't keep up with this stuff...

Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.

2005-01-10T23:24:00.000+09:00

The apartment, this is 24 hours AFTER we cleaned it and an HOUR after I started cleaning AGAIN

I figure I'll throw a quick post in despite Kevin's incessant bitching. It is our last night together here in Korea but I know I won't feel like posting for a while as I wallow in my own self pity so he can suck it up. I stupidly picked up extra lessons for the next 2 months and of course they started on the 3rd. I love SCREWING myself over so I barely have time to spend with Kev while he's spent a small fortune to come and see me for the holidays. He's a big boy though, he amused himself by basically buying out the DVD supply in Yongsan and wandering around Seoul. On a more amusing note, I went toe to toe with the boss on Friday. Kevin got the brunt of that by me kicking my show at his head when I walked in the door. Basically the boss told me that I CANNOT deny any requests or ORDERS that he gives me and I told him in no uncertain terms to go screw himself. I HOPE I GET FIRED!! Keep your fingers crossed , I can make way more dough here if I'm doing private lessons...MAMMA.. We have both caught colds (AWESOME) and have pretty much spent the last week in bed....

*** Dictated note from Kevin: I (Rena) caught a cold and being the cruel HARPY that I am, I purposely passed the stuffy nose, headaches and coughs on to him...***

ANYHOW, I've felt like I kinda jipped Kev out of some cool tourist spots here in Korea so despite the bitching, I dragged him out of bed and into InsaDong and Dondaemun. Nevermind the colds, the -10 deg weather and snow..We had a good time..At least that's what I told Kev he had to believe. Insadong is the "Traditional Korean Market" meaning it's UN-traditional, modern stores selling TRADITIONAL Korean wares at marked up prices. Dondaemun is a cheaper market (or was it Namdaemun, I dunno..It was a market).The guys that took the pic below only did it so we would fill out a survey on the legalization of pot. Cracking funnies left, right and center and not a one got a good response.

"Would you fill out this survey, it's about the legalization of pot..We're.."

" ...Potheads? "

"Uh... (then the look at each other)..This is for university study..Where are you from?"

"Canada..Toronto"

"Ahhh , we lived in Vancouver"

"Gotcha, that explains the whole legalization thing..."

"What?"

And so it ensued, me flashing that razor sharp wit and Kev only laughing because he saw I was getting no feedback..Amusingly enough we didn't buy anything Korean..But I got Kev some Bruce Lee stickers in a REALLY cool toy shop that the market in Insadong (the same one which I located with the help of my friend JBurrons travel page on Virtual Tourist)..Cool stuff I tells ya, even though it was "Don't touch and you ain't gonna buy this".

Insadong, the only other pic of us, not TAKEN by us...

Kev wanted to hurt me... This is his "get me home , I'm bloody sick you RAVING LUNATIC" look...He loooooves ME!

I'm wasting time writing this, I should be neck deep in the covers watching some Indie Kung Fu movie that Kev bought so I'll just fast track..Everything is good..Blah Blah Blah..We're both still sick and we both got really drunk on Saturday and lounged around all day Sunday (of COURSE)...On other notes..Alisha is finally back in Canada with Ryan..And they move into their new apartment this week. Stu is also back in Canada, on the West coast. Both are on the job market right now so if anyone has some leads for law in B.C and nursing in Barrie it would be much appreciated. As well as some day work for Angie my dear co-worker/pseudo sis @ Sneakers. Connections and networking people, it's all about favors. Help me out and I'll buy you a car after I take over the Korean economy. This website will be taking a different turn in the next little while. I will continue to update about the goin' on's of Korea but I've decided that it's ignorant of ME to bitch about stupid people if I'm not doing my part to enlighten myself and those around me. It's not as dramatic as it sounds, it's just with Kev, Ryan, Alisha and other friends I have a variable wealth of INTERESTING knowledge that others might enjoy too...I leave you with a nice pic that Kev took of me @ 4 Am after walking around all day with a cold then drinking...

How many people have seen this look on my face? Hmmmm? Raise your hand...

Quote; See, there's three kinds of people: dicks, pussies, and assholes. Pussies think everyone can get along, and dicks just want to fuck all the time without thinking it through. But then you got your assholes, Chuck. And all the assholes want us to shit all over everything! So, pussies may get mad at dicks once in a while because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes, Chuck. And if they didn't fuck the assholes, you know what you'd get? You'd get your dick and your pussy all covered in shit!
"Team America - The movie"

And a new year has descended upon us....

2005-01-02T01:42:00.000+09:00

*** Edited notes*** 1. As my friend James pointed out, Kevin and I were eating Samgyupsal which is THREE (3) Layer not 4...Too much Kevin make Rena go stupid and 2. I have not expressed my deepest well-wishes to those devastated by the recent natural disasters. We are all very lucky and blessed to be safe and with our families over this holiday season. Redcross and WaveofDestruction.org are some sites that everyone should check out...

Well my friends in a land that is now very distant to me, another holiday season has passed without so much a blip on the radar...Well excluding the fact that Kevin is here! I hope that everyone was as happy as I was. Kev and I have destroyed my apartment beyond all recognition, only venturing out of bed to hunt for nourishment and a little bit of outside amusement here and there. We've been going out for dinner a lot actually, trying to best each other in the game of "I'll eat that, if you eat that" ...The most recent one being the Samgyupsal we had on Monday. Samgyupsal means 4 Layer Pork, and it's like huge slabs of bacon cooked on the table in front of you with the usual medley of vegetables and other odd concoctions. Very good, but not as good as the Shabu..Anyways back to our little game..If you see below the plate and all the little dishes, I would like to re-direct your attention to the little white dish on the right hand side with the red squishy looking things in it, beside the dish with the yellowy stuff..All of these terms are the "technical" terms by the way, that's how you say it in Korean..Give me a dish of your finest yellowy stuff...

Samgyupsal

ANYWAYS, Kev played the game and I followed suit, even though as he is telling me to try one his face is displaying the most amusing look, a cross breed of horror and disgust..With a dash of panic because he can't spit it out..Needless to say I was not going to be bested by my counterpart..I ate the damn thing..Long story short..It was squid tentacles...FABULOUS...At least I ain't goin' down alone.

The week has been a mash pretty much, we ventured into Yongsan (Electronics Market), only to discover that it was closed and then spend 20 min taking pictures of the stairs infront of the E-Mart..Then got drunk instead! What a trade-off!

Kev in front of the stairs all lit up at E-Mart..The lights started at the top of about 5 flights and then cascaded down..."Take the picture NOW, no NOW!!".."SHUT UP KEVIN!"..Ahh the happy couple....

Me showing Kevin how much I love him taking pictures of me the morning after boozing our faces off..You can't see the middle finger beneath my mitten..

We were going to go to the casino on Thurs night then discovered that neither one of us owned a pair of decent footwear. Our answer to this solution was to go to La Festa, buy KEVIN a pair of RUNNING shoes (instead of nice ones) and then proceed to pound back Budweiser's at a local pub as if it were our last night on the planet. Not good if you are planning to party the next evening for New Year's..Needless to say Kevin and I didn't CRAWL out of bed until 9pm the next evening, neither one of us looking forward to drinking again.

Kev posing in front of one of the "shops" on Hooker Hill, I don't think any further explanation is necessary...

New Year's wasn't a huge gong show, but Kevin and I did wake up a bit after having our first beers. We went to a local pub down in Itaewon, and then bar-crawled for the remainder of the evening.

Kev is starting to get the color back in his face here, it took him 2 beers to get normal again

That same rule applies to me here as well, I had the benefit of make-up..It can do wonders to make you look more human after a devastating hangover...

New Years came and went as it always did, the world didn't end and there was no great revelation. I had Kevin and he had me though, and truthfully (On a cheesy note for you Allyn), the world could have stopped turning at that moment and I wouldn't even have noticed. I think I'm having an emotional day today, at least that's what I told Kev..Because even as I think of that countdown, and being beside him right now, I get tears in my eyes..He leaves in just over a week, he says it's plenty of time, but I have no clue how I will manage without him. We had so long to be good friends, and so much more time ahead of us, but it still doesn't seem like enough...I'm a million and a half miles away from what I've ever known and whenever I look at or touch Kev, I have never felt more at home.

Me and Kev at 12:00:01 Jan 1 2005

ANYWAYS! Kev and I tried calling people, but nobody answered, so we made ourselves feel better by vegging all day in bed ..What a productive New Years day..But I won't think about that now, I'll think about it tomorrow..Happy New Years!!

2004-12-27T22:51:00.001+09:00

Okay Okay, here we go...I've had some comments thrown my way on the lack of posts in the last little while. I apologies. Obviously I've been spending "some time" with my boyfriend (in only the most G-Rated sense of course). Anyways! Where were we..Let's see here..Kev here..Beer..OK..Let me see here..We were very graciously invited for dinner on Thursday by one of the mothers ( I teach her son on mom and Thurs). I knew that it would be kinda hectic, plus I did want to take Kevin out for his B-Day but it was a nice invitation. Dinner turned out awesome, this woman must have some Italian in her, she just kept on feeding us till we both felt like rolling out of there. Kev said it was the best broccoli he's ever had (which I kept sneaking onto his plate so I didn't seem rude). On Friday Kevin got to be SANTA!! Woo hoo, I tell ya, he was a happy camper..See below..

The happiest Santa ever....

This man deserves to me martyred, he dealt with screaming kids pummeling him for more candy while pulling on his beard, and an excrutiatingly hot Santa suit. It made for me laughing my ASS off all day "Ho ho ho little girl, what's your name? Would you like some candy?" ..."Why is teacher laughing so hard when Santa says would you like some candy?"..Ahh well..We came home and lounged like carrots in bed for a couple of hours, which might I add has become the norm around here. Then we made ourselves pretty and headed down to Itaewon for some boozing. We spent Xmas eve talking our faces off and bar hopping. It turned out to be a VERY good Christmas Eve, we chatted..I almost cried a couple of times..too much beer and holidays make Rena go retarded. Regardless, I was very happy. On Christmas day I dragged Kev out if only to make me feel like we were celebrating a holiday..The true spirit was lacking here. We walked around town for a bit and I got to show him the coolest sculptures I've seen in Korea yet..They're so baddass looking..And we went to about a million different places looking for a decent dinner, all we ended up with was the Korean version of a Denny's ..I tell ya, it's funny swallowing the pasta version of a BRICK. We compensated with a kickass pizza a couple of hours later. Yesterday I dragged Kevin (again) down to Myeong Dong for some window shopping, I bought a coat that makes me feel like Paddington the Bear..It was cold and I had the bright idea to not wear a jacket that night..So back off!

Me N Kev in the subway, Kev does NOT like having his picture taken..Can you tell?

It was a good night, we had dinner at a really nice restaurant there..That charged 70$ for two SMALL slabs of meat..Our own damn fault for not thinking but they did give us 2 necklaces as souvenirs, and I stole an ashtray (which we needed).Kev gave me shit but I said for that price we should be taking home a bloody waiter with us. I went back to routine today, which SUCKED..I did not like leaving Kev, if even for a couple of hours. But we found time in between classes to visit Lake Park and get Kev a new jacket @ La Festa.

Me on the bridge on the way to Lake Park

The walkway into Lake Park

Kev in front of a huge stone with Hangul engravings..My hot hot boy..MAMMA

We went for dinner tonight @ Shabuzen, a little restaurant across the street, Kev was a little sketchy about it 'cuz we were the only ones in there, but it was a meal fit for a king.

Kev SERIOUSLY concentrating on using Korean chopsticks.."I am going to starve here" , were the words spoken on first attempt..

Shabu Shabu was utilized by the army in the old days for a cheap and quick way for providing sustenance. You're served vegetables and a couple of side dishes, then you get a plate of thinly sliced raw meat that you cook in a big boiling pot. You add the vegetables and the meat to the pot ( the meat cooks in seconds) and eat up..After all the food is cooked you eat the soup, which is AWESOME after everything being cooked in the water and the pepper paste is added. MAMMA, so good.

Me looking impressed and FULL after our Shabu Shabu meal..

And that's about it so far, I've been trying to entertain my guest as any good host should, but we end up just wanting to stay in bed most of the time. For those of you who are concerned or care, I'm happier, and more settled than I have ever felt in my life. I sit here and try to find the words to amuse my devoted public while Kev reads a newspaper. I try just as hard to make all of you laugh as I do to hold back the tears these last couple of days. I am so happy I feel like I could burst right now, it doesn't get better than this. I hope that all of you got to have the Christmas that I did. There has been none better..And on the mushy note I leave you with pictures of Kevin, Me and a whole WHACK of Korean kids..And ignore my hair..I sacrificed grooming for more sleep beside Kev that day..Merry Xmas everyone..Renard

At Laaaaast.....

2004-12-23T14:15:00.000+09:00

Jay, pre head shave.. a decision to cut his locks was made halfway through the night. Silly Boy...

Oh Mamma, have these last couple of days been hectic. While my love snoozes Oh so gracefully in bed, let me start off from the beginning. Ventured into Icheon again this past weekend to send off my buddy Stu. Possibly one of the best going away parties (and meals) I've ever had. Matt, Mike and Jay were gracious enough to stage this event at their apartment as well as cook up some FANTASTIC food. Greek salad, curry, rice and a UNBELIEVABLE pasta (can't remember the name, but it had a sauce made with capers and anchovies I think). As well, Marianne and Erin made cabbage rolls and perogies which were equally delicious. All in all it would have made for a fine last meal in Korea. The festivities went on into the night, with lot's of enjoyable moments wedged in between the hardcore drinking. A going away "song" recited to Stu about his ambiguously gay relationship with a former friend (to the tune of "American Pie") , a very entertaining jam session , and a game of poker ending around 6 AM (I won 5 $).

The full on jam session we had while everyone was still mildly coherent

Me N Erin.. The fact that I've lost weight (confirmed by Kevin) and cut my hair only serves to accentuate my large melon...

All in all it was a very good weekend and helped to make the time more bearable as I wait ever so patiently for Kevin to arrive. Tuesday and Wednesday at work were complete gong shows. I was busier in those last 2 days than I have been since I got here. Which doesn't work out well for the completion of the "Kevin Preparations". However, I did manage to get him a birthday cake and work on the picture I'm painting him. I'm debating working on it now, but I don't want him to wake up and see it. The girls in my class today (Thursday) want to give me presents and meet Kevin. So I told them I'd bring the cake and they can sing "Happy Birthday". So on to the amusing (at least to me) stuff. John dropped me off at the airport around 11 PM. We had a very good ride to the airport. While we were on a bridge, he HAPPILY pointed out for me that we were ON A BRIDGE. Apparently we don't have bridges in Canada. "Rena, this is a BRIDGE" ..NO SHIT. But I digress, the man was gracious enough to drive me the 45 min to the airport and even offered to pick us up @ 4. So! Let me tell you, as some people probably already know, 5 hours in an airport was no day at the picnic. I tried to pass the time by reading and walking around but the closer it got to Kevin's 4:23 AM arrival time, the farther away it seemed. No, I'm not kidding. His arrival time went from 4:23 to 4:47, but the BEST part about that is, every minute that ticked brought the arrival time up a minute. I.E "K it's 4:15, Kev arrives in 8 minutes at 4:23, K..It's 4:16, Kev arrives @ 4:24" , and so on and so forth. Basically this continued all the way until quarter to 5 when I decided I either had a smoke or had a MAJOR anxiety attack in the middle of Incheon airport. But it gets even better, it took him just over an hour to clear customs. Do you know what that can do to a person who's already LOSING IT?? I almost made myself puke standing there waiting for him. Mentally cursing at every person that came out those doors "You asshole, you were in line in front of Kevin..I haaaate you"..That actually served as some amusement for a while. I can't explain the feeling when I finally saw that mess of a hair walking out from the luggage claim. We probably had one of the most awkward hellos in history. It was like neither one of us believed what we were seeing (we still haven't let that settle in yet). We paused for a second then basically pounced on each other, not knowing whether to hug or kiss or what. The same thing happened with our conversation following the 10 min embrace. Do we talk all mushy? Or do we have normal conversation? We both got a good laugh at our uselessness. We made it home in one piece, got a couple of beers (Hey why not, it's 7 AM in Korea..No biggie), watched a movie and chatted and tried to comprehend that we're laying beside each other. It still hasn't sunk in..At least I can relax now, it's 2:30 in the afternoon, and I want to wake him up to look at him but I'll let him sleep. He's here ok, and sleeping peacefully. That's all that matters. Oh ya, and I didn't bawl my eyes out!! I'm so proud of myself. I did get a little teary-eyed. But I made it through the ordeal without gushing (it may have to do with the fact that I cried while waiting for him)..Why the hell I would cry VISUALIZING seeing him instead of when I actually saw him I don't know, but it's not like I was gonna win an award for best looking chick at the airport at that point and crying was NOT going to help matters. I apologise for the lackluster of this post however, I haven't gotten much sleep. So shut up. I will write more on Xmas Eve and what not, but for now I'm just hoping that the phone DOESN'T ring again (It's been ringing since 10 AM..Why the bosses would call at that time is COMPLETELY beyond me..Kill Kill Kill)..Cheers Y'all..And Merry Ho Ho

Not the best picture of the 2 of us, but Kev's been on a plane for 15 hours and I've been in an airport for 7...Just keepin' it "real" folks..

2004-12-22T09:14:00.000+09:00

I apologise for the lack of posts, however it seems I have a million things to do and one hour to do them before Kevin arrives. This also includes ninja fighting my bosses. Merry Ho Ho.

Oh Lordy

2004-12-17T22:16:00.000+09:00

A kid spontaneously puked today, for no reason whatsoever, my sock narrowly escaped inpending doom. The kids also thought it would be fun today to grab my nipples at whatever chance they could get. EVERY SINGLE CLASS did it, it's like they had a messenger running ahead or something. I love my life. Be amused.....

I will probably get attacked by dolphins for this.....

2004-12-14T19:04:00.000+09:00

So, I don't really have much to post..however I've included a pretty email that I recieved from my buddy Will, who will hunt me down and kill me with his antlers for this. However, I find it interesting to see the paths that people go down and maybe some of you will too. Or just to hear what Bermuda is like, I don't really care which..Read on my friends, read on..AND ONE MORE THING...I'm very happy and flattered to receive such a good response from this website..HOWEVER..was I incredibly BORING before I left for Korea? I get such comments as "Rena, your website is really cool..I didn't realize you were so funny" and "Wow, it's actually really interesting" . I'm starting to wonder if I was viewed as a couple brain cells above DROOLING or something. Ah well..just wondering..Duuuuuh :) ..Konbae my friends..

Will is totally gonna kick my ass for this...

Season's Greetings!

This is both a holiday and an update email. Holiday in the sense that I'm attaching an extremely cheesy picture of me with a dolphin, and an update in the sense that I'm going to take some time to give a quick update on where I'm at.

Lets see, where to begin...

Well, about four months ago I decided that my job at the Royal Gazette (Bermuda's daily newspaper) was not for me. I felt as though my learning curve had plummeted, and that I was in a position to take a risk (my Bermudian citizenship had just been approved...about two weeks before my work permit expired!). One day I saw an ad in the paper for a company called Dolphin Quest. With scenes from Ace Ventura running
through my head, and not knowing that being a dolphin trainer requires a degree in psychology, I drove all the way to Dolphin Quest on my lunch break (it's about a 40 min. moped ride from the Gazette). The people were very friendly and gave me a 'behind the scenes' tour of the facility. I got on really well with the head trainer and she suggested I send my resume to the General Manager. It turns out they were looking for an Operations Manager and I fit the bill. After the interviewing
process, I accepted the position and handed in my notice to the Gazette. My new job is very different to anything I've done in the past...I basically manage the "front end" of the business (reservations, guest services, marketing etc.). The position has just been created, so I've been thrown into the mix to see if I can swim...so far, so good. It turns out I'm the youngest manager in the company's history, which makes me proud...and nervous :) The company itself is great, they really put a focus on developing the internal customer. You can check out our website at www.dolphinquest.org.

At the time of my job change I lived closer to the East end of the Island. Dolphin Quest is located on the most Western tip... so I decided to move towards the middle of the Island in a parish called 'Paget'. The only bad part is I had recently bought a ton of Eastside gang colours...just kidding, Bermuda doesn't have gangs...well it does, but they wouldn't let me join (no matter how many times I asked!). I now live about 20 kms from Dolphin Quest (a 30 min. moped ride). My new place is great...only 5 min. from my Grandmother's house, 10 min. to Hamilton (the capital) and 2 min. from Elbow Beach (my favorite beach on the Island, where I play Ultimate Frisbee every Thursday).

Bermuda becomes rather quiet in the winter, but there is still a lot to do. I keep busy during the week by playing ultimate Frisbee (twice/week) and have started to go to the gym. As for the weekends...although more calm over the last few months, there is still fun to be had at night. The weather in December has been pleasant, not
too hot...around 25 C, with a little rain now and again. I'm still wearing shorts to work.

I've met some great friends out here and have had some great friends come out and visit me from Canada (KC, DL, RF, BA, ST). Of course, the invitation is always open to anyone who wants a Bermudian vacation (and doesn't mind smuggling in goods...you know, the hard stuff...Tim Hortons coffee).

Unfortunately, I won't be home for Xmas...but I'm flying into TO on Dec. 29 and will be in Holland Landing from Jan. 2 - 9 (I'll be in Montreal over New Years). I'm going to be very busy over that week, but make sure to email me if you'd like to catch up in person.

Please forward this on to anyone I missed...especially my YRNG friends!

Wishing you all a joyful and safe holiday season,

Will

PS. Let's keep the antler pic between us, shall we?

I got to have Coney Fries!!!!

2004-12-13T22:46:00.000+09:00

Korean scientists have made a breakthrough in DNA testing. Blending Estrogen and barley, a superwoman has emerged...The BEER GIRL. What will us normal females do now?

Ahh Lordy, where to start....Well first off the bat, this post is gonna be chockfull of visual tidbits..Pictures...So MOM and Sara, when you scroll over a word and the little hand thing pops up or if the word is purple, if you click on it a picture will appear. It's the voodoo magic of HTML. Love you guys. So I went into Dongdaemun Market on Saturday conveniently located right beside Dongdaemun Gate. Which it turns out is a HELL of a lot easier to find during the day. This section of town was UNBELIEVABLE. If you can't find what you're looking for here, it doesn't exist. I wandered around for at least 3 hours and I didn't see the same street twice. Truthfully I was certain that I was lost a couple of times.

Not only is there about 50 different streets in the market, there is also buildings with stalls in them, all connected by bridges, this is where I took these pics from

Ahh what would a Korean market be if you couldn't get various pig appendages? Twaeji YUM!

I decided to head back home around 4, and I made sure that I detoured in the wrong direction for at least an hour of my trip, just to make me hate myself a little more. Actually I got to snap a couple of good pics, one of a dude on what I would basically describe as a motorized broom . The best part was that I think I was kinda pissing him off trying to take his picture, so he was going all nutty trying to get away from me, but trying not to stray from the task at hand. I'd like all of you to sit and think about that for a second. Rena chasing a tiny Korean man on a motorized broom around a subway station. Yes, be amused.
Anyways, headed into Itaewon for a little bit more shopping and a stop off at what has become a regular watering hole for me. About two beers in and I run into some of the people that I hung out with last weekend. This isn't looking good. They invite me to go buy some hockey jerseys, which apparently are only 20$ here. And NO I can't send any, they have an advertisement about shipping jerseys here on the T.V about every 10 min. It's VERY illegal, go figure. Well after we found out that the store was closed we headed into a restaurant called Nashvilles, and I GOT CONEY FRIES, I almost cried. It was no poutine, but what's poutine without vinegar right? Downed the fries and a couple of pints there, and headed up to another bar, but not before everyone stopped to dance with the Korean Mexicana band playing on the street for a couple of minutes.

But that was not the end of our harmonious delights, Oh no..Not by a LONG SHOT. I don't remember the name of the bar, it was a hole in the wall (like all Korean bars are). But I figured it couldn't be that bad if they had Sublime playing as we walked in. WELL! No sooner did we sit down did the music stop and THE BAND took the stage. I state "THE BAND" in capitals because let me tell you this was THE....BAND. See picture below.

This chick was ROCKING OUT, how could you not with an outfit like that

Lead by what I can only assume was the first, last and only Korean hard core rock chick, this band regaled us with such musical delights as "What's going on here" (10,000 Maniacs) , "Teenage Wasteland" (The Who)..And various other choices circa "I was too young when these songs came out" . Bloody hilarious. I was singing along though I will admit it. And the BEST part about "THE BAND" was that they had a GROUPIE..I repeat, a GROUPIE..Some 40-something dude with shoulder length hair and beer on his shirt, HEADBANGING to the music..Occasionally getting up and falling down. FABULOUS. But it doesn't just stop there folks, again see picture below....

yah that's right, the dude with the guitar AND the ponytail is standing ON a table

The guitarist, Oh where to begin. As I've stated, he hopped up on to a couple of tables while playing. Actually to ADD to that, he hopped up on the table and the groupie poured beer into his mouth. THEN...Oh this is awesome..He went off on a riff walking around the bar with the guitar behind his neck. I miss acid wash...The worst thing is, I have sneaky suspicion that Kevin is going to drag me back to this bar when he comes here in 10 days, dear LORD..10 days.

Me and the guys

I've made a conscious decision to keep myself as busy as possible this week. I don't remember even being this excited for Christmas. It's gonna be a good 17 days. Still unsure of what the plan is for New Years Eve, I'm sure that there is TONS of stuff to do in Seoul. And as a bonus it turns out that the kindergarten is closed so I told Kevin that if we win enough $ at the casino we might have a pretty rocking New Years. As for Christmas Day, there's a dinner at one of the restaurants in Itaewon, it's 35$ and they hook you up with a smorgasboard of food. Including turkey. If we don't go that route, it turns out you can buy a COOKED turkey for like 200$ or something like that. I figure if we grab a couple of people it might not be too bad, like 10 people with 50$ each can make for good food and a couple bottles of wine. But we'll see.

Actually as a sidenote here, I should mention some interesting facts. Kevin mentioned that he wouldn't mind going to the casino while he's here so I checked it out, there's only like 4 casinos in South Korea and 2 of them are like four hours away. So I checked out the one in Seoul. I debated booking a night at the hotel but the cheapest rate was like 400$ or something ridiculous. Ya sorry Kev, you're not THAT special. Anyways, as it turns out..Koreans are NOT allowed to gamble in casinos here. Only foreigners. AND, most casinos will only accept foreign cash which you can convert at the door when you pay your entrance fee. It's not so bad though, all the drinks and food are free. Wish me luck. At least we'll look good losing all of our money, the casinos also have a semi formal dress code.

Well like I said, I'm gonna try to keep myself busy this week. That also includes creating a test for my students to write, and scanning and printing some pictures while doing it..hee hee..So now I can add a nice little picture of how CUTE I was as a kid. I also printed off some more pictures of Kevin to put up on my walls, just in case he's not COMPLETELY freaked out by the 20 odd one's I have up already..Yes I know..I'm a freak..I'm going to bed now , quit making fun of me...KONBAE!! RENA

Other than the GIGANTIC head, I was damn cute!

HOCKEY!!

2004-12-07T19:27:00.000+09:00

I really have nothing to post. Truthfully I'm just checking out my hockey news, and now I'm angry, so for those who have no interest in the sport of hockey, I suggest you stop reading. Wait, not yet..Check this out first click HERE. Truthfully it's just me F'N with everybody, because I know that some of you worry about me and it drives me NUTS. As my good friend Stacy Jones once stated "Rena, I know that I SHOULD worry about you but I can't..I know somehow that you're going to be ok".. Regardless let it be known that if your browser security settings are set to HIGH, then your SOL, the page won't load for some reason ... ANYWAYS!!!!!!!! Angry Rena ( as Terron would say)... Like I've stated before, this hockey lockout is driving me nuts, and after reading (not listening on account of NO TV) both sides of the story I'm even MORE ANGRY...I may be totally confused, but Ted Saskin does have a point when he talks about the NFL and NBA and MBL salary caps do have their advantages, however it's not what's right for the NHL. And it is true, it's a matter of apples and oranges.He's right but I still feel like revenue is revenue, a business owner is NOT going to give his employees 75% of his profit. HOWEVER, let me be a dreamer here, let me think for one minute that playing a professional sport, that being part of a phenom that you've dreamed about since you were a child, is the HIGHEST HONOR that an athlete can achieve. I've played soccer, I'm no Mia Hamm, but truthfully.. I kept playing and trying to BE a Mia Hamm..Someone even better. There is so many stances taken on this lockout and I really do feel like a child trying to understand grown-up talk because my only answer is "Aren't you doing what you and every sports fan AROUND you DREAMED of doing since childhood"???.. It's sad, skeezebag was telling me today (I swear he thinks he's some sort of perverted Buddha)..About how money makes the world go round. But really, wouldn't it restore a little bit of human faith if maybe, just maybe the players said "I don't need that Lotus this year, I'm one of the best hockey players in the world"...Why does talent have to be synonymous with cash flow? We watch sports and movies, read books and look at art because WE as a collective for the most part are not GOOD enough to produce results like talent can. I will never be able to produce beautiful things in this world, but I'll be DAMNED if I can't appreciate it. Alas, there is another side to this story and I would be unfaithful to myself if I did not state that. The owners are making a great deal of money and that is what the players are looking at.. And this is where the fine line is drawn...Why charge so much for ticket pricing? Stadium rental? EVERYTHING? Players are really not unjustified in saying, "You're making a truckload of money, and I want a piece of that action." ..But this is where I start to get muddled. What if the Government ( and this is just Renard talk) decided to make all pro sports Gov regulated? Who would do the bitching then? Would the players decide to shut up and play because all their bosses were now back coaching junior hockey for 1/16 of their salary? Would anyone lament? It's a horrible circle for those who just want that little bit of relief from day to day monotony? As a sidenote, just for those inquiring, I would feel the EXACT same way if the NFL or many other sports did the same thing, ...With the exception of baseball.. But I thank you,for those who have kept on reading, I thank you for listening to my rant and would GREATLY appreciate feedback. Cheers, Rena

Soju Bad

2004-12-06T01:32:00.000+09:00

Hee hee...

Ahhhh what a weekend... I LOVE feeling like I should be hospitalized the day after going out for a couple of pints. Ha.."Couple"...That's funny. Where should I start? Let's see here. I found out on Friday that the winners that run this company are planning on hiring another teacher at some point. High hopes for business I guess. The best part about it is that they actually think that this teacher they hire is going to live in this sardine can with me. I will tell you all right now that if that does happen I will most definitely quit. There is no way in hell I'm living in this ROOM with another person. At least now I know what to look for when I apply for another job out here. Plus I'll already be here for the school won't have to fly me out. We'll see what happens though. SO! I went into Itaewon with my friends from Busan on Saturday night. What a gong show. We started out the evening by having some margaritas, daiquiris and tacos at a local restaurant called "Ponchos". It was actually surprisingly good and Laura and Alison picked up some interesting glassware which I can't post for some reason, but I will later. The atmosphere in the place was awesome too. After grub we headed down to "Geckos", a local pub/restaurant that felt a little too much like the high school bars I used to frequent back in Newmarket.

Laura, Kristen, Alison and Me at Gecko's

We hung out there for a couple of hours, squished in between the foreigners and GI's, trying out damnedest not to let our beers spill over as we were being herded in various directions. Later on in the evening we went to Polly's Kettle (for those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning, you'll remember my description of the Soju Kettle). At this point the night got fairly blurry. Alison and I decided to call our buddy Bill, I'm pretty sure that he couldn't understand a word that we were saying. But the thought was there. We made our way to another club downtown at some ungodly hour of the morning and I decided to lose my wallet as we were leaving.

Me and Alison in the cab ride downtown

Ahhh I definitely EARNED the nickname Renard, it was not an unjustified moniker. Turns out that one of the guys that we were with had it in his jacket pocket. Go figure. It was a good weekend though, I went shopping with my Tuesday and Thursday lesson (Four 13 year old girls), and other than the language barrier it was fun.

Min Kyung Moon, Ji Hyun Lee, Sunghee Jung and Ye Gun Park, my Tuesday and Thursday lesson, little brats

I especially enjoyed the look on their faces when I explained to them why I was buying a barbell. It's an earring...For my tongue. It was hilarious. We went and got our pictures taken so now I have like 10 picture sticker stuck all over my agenda. I figure it'll be funny watching Kevin look on in horror as I drag him into one of these booths in the shopping mall.

Me N the Girls (minus 1)

Actually there's a lot of things that Kevin will be forced into doing here. I.E the dance video game where you stomp on the pads to the beat of the music. You're going down honey. :) ...Anywhoo, the days are slowly winding down to the arrival of the Anti Christ here in South Korea and the closer it gets to (ugh) Christmas, the more I'm grateful that Kevin is coming. It's been raining here all week, and it doesn't just RAIN, it POURS ALL DAY. Merry F'N Xmas. But like I said, I'm grateful that Kevin is coming, now I won't be sitting in a bar on Xmas Eve by myself singing "O come all ye faithful" into my pint glass of OB. I hope that everyone is getting into the Xmas spirit, and that you all miss me TONS, cuz I miss you! Oh ya, I almost forgot. I mentioned in a previous post that I should get some suggestions on what to write about in this blog. I mulled it over and I decided that it's a damn good idea. A lot of people have told me that they've given the website to friends and what not, so it could actually get really interesting. Here's my theory, if you've gotten this far through my recent post, you're actually listening to what I write. So why not make it interactive? Anyone can post on the tag board, just put in what you want to write and your name. Think of something or somewhere in South Korea that you've heard about and let me know, I'll research it first hand, live vicariously through my tiny little brain. Either that or I'll ignore it completely, but whatever.I don't know, I like the idea..We'll see how it turns out. IT'S UP TO YOU, MY DEVOTED READERS..However for all my friends (more specifically the ones of the MALE gender), keep it clean k? No hooker hill or massages..My family reads this s**t. :) ..Konbae! (Cheers) Renard

I have found a new use for heated floors...

2004-12-01T22:09:00.000+09:00

If some of you don't already know, floors are heated in Korea with hot water, instead of using vents..this comes in handy on the cold evenings. Leave your pj's on the floor and by bedtime they are nice and toasty! I am most definately a happy (and messy) camper. Well, It would seem as if I have ALREADY apologized for my lack of interesting material, but after talking to a couple of people over the course of the week and getting the stats for the site, it would seem that I really am failing in my duties here. Easy now people, I don't work well under pressure. Alright let's see here. I had the usual Friday drive to Gwangju Province for my Kindergarten class. I have now figured out that the easiest way to make the Pres of the company STOP humming is to tap my fingers against the window for as long as it possibly takes. Being Passive Aggressive is FUN. I really have no idea what else to do, I'm sure a lot of you have actually heard me say " Can you PLEASE stop that " but I don't think I can do it with these guys, they wouldn't understand. I DID stay true to my little vow in my previous post, I went wandering around looking for Nandaemun Market (Nandaemun and Dongnimmun are the gates that surrounded and protected Seoul) , I did in fact find it, but at that point I was talking to Kevin on the phone and I was cold and wanted to go home. I'd like to mention that as well as walking around looking for interesting things for Kevin and I to see and chatting with him, I was also hungry. EXTREMELY HUNGRY... I would also like to include that I bought and ATTEMPTED to eat what I thought was a hot dog. Kevin laughed for the remainder of the phone conversation when I discovered that it was NOT a hot dog. As I made my way back home some friends in Icheon called and told me I didn't have a choice, I was partying with them for the night. I caved and made the trip by way of bus and subway. Almost 2 hours later I was sitting on the floor of Jay's apartment drinking Hite out of the 1 litre plastic bottle.

Jayan, my new buddy who yells at me all the time :)

The night went by as any other Saturday night would. I lost all my money in cards and took pictures that made no sense in the morning. I can't help it, I still like to play with my camera. The Sunday was by far more fun. Jay and Matt had convinced me to stay a little longer in the day, even though I had just met them the previous day. A friend of theirs had been talking about BLT's CONTINUOUSLY the night before and I couldn't figure out what the big deal was...Until we made them..

These were the actual size of our sandwiches, Hungry anyone?

The meat alone cost 50$ for these things, and what you see here is what we ate, it was nutty and I was laughing my ass off. We lounged around for the most part of the day, then the guys wandered down to the store to pick up beer and fireworks. Korea is the only place in the world where it's fun to be a redneck. We spent some of the afternoon and some of the evening setting the LEGAL fireworks off on the roof. I honestly had a blast. I'm not sure if it was the fireworks , the pitcher of beer in my hand or the 13 BLAZING neon crosses you could see atop of the churches in Icheon, but I truly had a blast. We spent most of the night figuring out if swear words could be used in other literary contexts (i.e verbs, nouns, past participles)..Is this what it's like when ALL English teachers get drunk?

Such a crappy pic but I love it, I just wanted to see how hard it was to take pictures of fireworks

I do like the fact that people that I know are farther away from me though, it makes it easier on my liver during the week and I can avoid people if I want to. I have 2 girlfriends from Newmarket that are coming to Seoul this weekend (they live in Busan, about 4 hours away) and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with some girls. It should make for an interesting report on Monday. But we'll see what happens. Kevin comes in 22 days, I can't bloody believe it. The time has just flown by. I'm so excited, I wish I could explain how stoked I am. I talk to the guy everyday and I know my knees are going to give out on me when I see him for the first time (again :) )...Ahh well, I'll try to be more interesting next week :) , or rather next post. Maybe people should start posting suggestions :) . Cheers all. Renard... AWWWW F**K a Duck, I totally forgot, I got my first piece of stolen bar paraphenalia. It's an OB (Oriental Brewery) beer mug from the restaurant that we went to on Sunday night. From the same restaurant that I had the SPICIEST CHICKEN that I have EVER EVER EVER had in my life..Come to think of it, it was the spiciest ANYTHING that I've ever had..MAMMA....

Sorry Sorry Sorry

2004-11-24T22:52:00.000+09:00

To all of those people who were expecting my blog to be interesting, I apologize. Unfortunately now that winter is descending upon the "Land of Morning Calm" , I only get so many hours of daylight, and due to my random teaching schedule, I am usually getting home when it is pitch black. This does not leave me much time to go out and site see. On top of that, I've developed a rip-roaring cold which has only left me laying in bed whining to Kevin for the last 4 days or so..What can I say, I'm a suck. Regardless, an excuse is still an excuse no matter how diplomatically you put it.

My BOYS, at Prom!! L to R Adam, Tom, Ryan, Mark, Will, Derek

Now that the REAL countdown has started for Kevin's arrival, I've decided that instead of just sitting around and thinking about things to do and see, that I will go forth and actually research them, leaving less room for error when Kev comes AND giving me some material to entertain the masses.

I have no pictures of Joff on my comp, Thank you Heather, this is priceless, I have no idea who made it

On to another note. I haven't really told A LOT of people about this but now that Kevin and I are actually getting work done, I'd like to propose my ideas to the collective mass. I've started working on a children's book. After about 2 weeks, I have the characters and the basis for the first 2 pages down. This children's book is especially for ESL / EFL teachers. After teaching the kindergarten classes for about 3 weeks now, I've found it hard to show them the meanings of certain words in the books that I'm reading to them. A lot of the children actually have a good idea of the English vocabulary (I'm usually stuck calming down the children after I say "Spider" , they all start SCREAMING "Spiderman Spiderman")..Anywho a lot of verbs are still foreign as well as a lot of emotions (mad, happy)..So! This book is going to be written in English but with the key words written (In Hangeul and Phonetically) below their English counterparts. That way, a teacher who isn't familiar with the Korean language can point to the article in question and say the Korean word for it. Out of the handful of people that I've told, I've only gotten positive feedback, except for the President of the company but he's a humming idiot. But I would like some ideas, and feedback if anyone has any. I've sent the sketches to Kev and he's working on them, all this while I work on his projects that he forms on a daily basis (much like myself). I get the feeling that Kevin and I are gonna make our lives extremely stressful (but only on a "deadline" basis). Basically, out of the million and one ideas that we have for things to do, I'm not entirely sure where we're gonna find the time..Oh well, keep pluggin' I guess.

Heather sent me these 3 pictures posted, this is from my FIRST going away party, when I left for NB..How long did I go for? Like an HOUR..Maann I'm indecisive.

I've started working on my Korean written skills. A friend of mine here in SK (Stuart), has been here 15 months and is fairly proficient in his Korean skills (almost everyone here has told me it will take a couple of years), and he attributes it to just a little bit of studying during the week, so here I go. I can already pick out words, it's just the word endings that mess me up. Each word changes in the context that they are used. I.E eat , I eat = I eatun, We eat = eatan , I ate = eayun..obviously this is just an English example for the actual Korean, but hopefully you get the idea. Everything (including pronunciation) changes with context. The only thing is that there is a lot of English, Japanese and Chinese mixed into the Korean language. I'm starting to call it Mutt Language now. At least the English helps. That's about all I've got to say for now, except for bitching about the employers (still), each day brings me closer and closer to a good head butting. But I digress, I'm gonna get off my butt and get outside this weekend, if only to have something a little more interesting to write. XOXOXOXO Renard

I'm shaving my head

2004-11-19T20:07:00.000+09:00

I'm sure you'll be able to judge by the length of this post EXACTLY how interesting my week was.... I found another gray hair...Kevin choked on his pop when I told him from laughing so hard...Hooray for me....

What Am I Thinking ??!!?!??!?!

2004-11-15T21:04:00.000+09:00

This was the mantra of my weekend. Friday and Saturday came and went with the usual lack of flair. I had my usual MSN date with Kevin on Saturday night (i.e I sit and stare at the computer screen while he lets me keep him amused between customers at Honda) and then Sunday I decided to have a brain fart.

I took this pic for Kevin and decided to post it, my parents must be so proud

Let me state what might seem to you to be fairly uninteresting but I think the world stopped spinning for a minute..Wait..Even just the thought is making it hard for me to function..Ok..Whew..I ..Found..A GRAY HAIR!!! Laugh, scoff if you will ..But let me tell you I FOUND A FREAKIN GRAY HAIR (for those of you who know me well, I'm screaming that at the top of my lungs). I wouldn't have been more surprised if North Korea had dropped and A-Bomb at my front door that minute. Actually I probably wouldn't have even noticed, I was staring too intently at the follicle culprit in my hand. I've gotten over it now..And have confined the hair in a safe place to remind me to conduct regular scalp checks. I tell ya, after I found it I went through my scalp more thoroughly than a public school nurse during Lice Week..Anyway I hope everyone gets as much of a laugh out of it as Kevin did. Heartless bastard :) ..On to brain fart number two.

Japanese Maple, I just love the color of these trees

I decided to climb a mountain! Go frickin figure. I spent the day wondering if I had fell outta bed and hit my head. Now I'm not entirely sure, but I think that hiking (other than being a national Korean pastime) has it's own "Members Only" club going on here. It took me almost an hour to trek up a 45 degree trail and I think that more than once somebody over 80 passed me, shooting me dirty looks in the process. "I'm sorry, is the fact that I'm wheezing AND sweating like a prostitute in confessional upsetting you?" .. MAN. I actually saw a woman at the top who had her purse, this mountain was not a PURSE mountain.It was a hiking boots and a prayer mountain. And this is the best part..I love this..There was 3 summit kinda thingys, at the second summit there was a spot for EXERCISING..Are you bloody kidding me??? I don't just mean like an area cleared or anything, I mean like chin-up bars and those sit-up bench thingys.

This was the SECOND summit that I hit, the last one is that tiny thing in the far top right of the pic

Seriously here people, if I'm climbing a mountain, there is NO way in hell that I am gonna stop and do 100 push-ups. Nutty bloody Koreans. I'm really glad that most of them couldn't speak English because that was seriously I all was saying to myself the whole time, that and reciting all the witty things that I'm gonna put in this blog, all of which are now forgotten. I became more concerned with my heart exploding than this blog by the time I reached the top..Sorry.

This is a pic from the top of Mt.Ansan looking down on Seoul, unfortunately it was hazy again so you can't see the city on the right...This is taken with a function my camera has that allows me to "stitch" consecutive shots together, which is why the top left piece is missing, apparently I suck at lining things up

On the way back down they even had soccer fields, badminton courts and a couple of more workout spots..Like I said. Nutty bloody Koreans.I don't get them. This is also amusing, I haven't mentioned this before, the tap water is not ok to drink HOWEVER, you can go to any park and fill up water jugs from the taps there. THAT water is ok. Now how the hell does that work? I constantly see people going to the park beside my house and filling up their water jugs. Just doesn't make any sense. I saw that they had water fountain thingys on the way down the mountain, but there was a rack of ladles to use to drink the water and that just threw me off. The amazing thing was though, is that by the time I had trekked back down the other side to the bottom I felt amazing..I was in such a good mood and my head felt totally clear. I even found the Buddha that I had heard about but didn't think that I was gonna find. I couldn't stop smiling, I decided to top all this off with picking up leaves (which I've now decided are good for the constitution)..SO! Made it home, had dinner and bitched at Kevin for about an hour FOR NO REASON what so ever. Turns out that even at 23 I get cranky without nappy time. Surprisingly enough my muscles aren't screaming in agony today and my knees made it in one piece (even though at one point to climb UP I had to hold my knee caps). That's about it for my weekend, I think I'm gonna find somewhere else to hike next Sunday.

For those of you making plans for YOUR weekend, Gerry's (my bro) band is playing @ Clintons this weekend. Clintons is on Bloor St. W just West of Bathurst. Sweet F A has a website running but it's apparently under construction, I'll post it when it's ready. But seriously It's a blast if you're looking for a night out and a couple of shots of Tequila with one of my family members while listening to rock. I'm telling ya, just buy one of them a shot and you've replaced me in the family tree :) ..That's about it for this little girl, I'm sure I'll have more to say as the week progresses and the VP pisses me off enough. As well, for all those computer illiterate people out there (..MOM..) to see the pic of Buddha, just click on the word "Buddha" , highlighted in purple, the rest of the pics are in " My Pictures, as per usual. Love you all!! The Sherpa in training.

I'm not entirely sure what this was, it was in the public washroom, but you push the button and it makes a flushing sound.....

Enlightenment from a Honda Employee

2004-11-11T18:28:00.000+09:00

Ahhh where to start, where to start... So I guess after all this babbling about my irritating boss, I should go into more detail. I don't want to seem like I'm bitching for no reason. I would like some advice, because herein lies my problem with this man, I can handle our personal relationship, but it's the business aspect that's really starting to ruffle my feathers. I have obviously never taught before, let alone spend more than a couple of consecutive hours with kids. However, I do know a little bit about reading, I was a reading buddy when I was a kid and other things like that, living in Newmarket when I was younger I was assigned to a Spanish girl to help her with her English speaking and reading. Anyways, those with kids can help me here. I believe, that when teaching anyone ANYTHING that you shouldn't give them answers, that you should lead them to the correct solution. Example, when reading the best thing ( I think) is to break down a word and sound it out, that way when similiar words come along, or ones that you've never read before you can break it down in your head. This is the problem, when teaching John (skeezebag) will come and stand over my shoulder and tell the kids the words, OR when I'm explaining things he'll start to talk in Korean. The talking in Korean isn't a huge problem, it does help..however I would rather him explain the words in English and use the Korean term only when it needs explaining. FURTHERMORE, he tells me what, how and where to teach..Obviously he's the boss, but he HIMSELF hasn't ever taught English, So I don't think he is the most qualified to tell me what page I have to start on in a book. He slows me down when kids already know what I'm teaching them (which just makes the lesson BRUTAL for both of us) and he speeds me up to teaching prepositions and what-not when kids are still learning basic vocabulary..ARRGGH, I just needed to vent. But like I said I would like some advice on that, or someone to tell me I'm right :) . The man ruffles my feathers, plain and simple and I'll have to learn to deal with him. On a better note, today was Pepero (Pepelon?) Day, ..or Rememberance Day for everyone else. Here today is "Give a friend a chocolate covered wafer stick Day" ( actually 4 of them..i.e 11/11) ..so my class of 4 teenage girls gave me lots o' chocolate, I'm a happy camper. For everyone else, I hope you're wearing your poppies. In regards to the title of this latest post, I'm referring to my boyfriends' need to find the most INTERESTING things possible..this time it's a book about a Hungarian Alcoholic Hockey Goalie Bank Robber..and the best thing is that it's a true story..like I said Kev just likes to find cool music, websites and books and this book, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives and Broken Hearts is definately one of the cooler things that he's found, for those of you who like to read :) .. Speaking of reading, I was chatting with the Skeezebag yesterday and somehow Genghis Khan came up ( I really have no idea why)..Now after we chatted, I thought about the things that he said, he had quite a reverence for the Khan Dynasty. I couldn't figure out why, since I always believed he was a blood thirsty cutthroat. Turns out I was way wrong, Genghis Khan did kill over 700,000 people in his brief conquering of most of East Asia and some of Europe, but he's pretty much the reason for the structure of Asian culture today..Obviously for most people it's pretty boring stuff, but I found it pretty cool. Will finally got internet @ his place in Bermuda, so I've gotten to chat with him. He gets to play with dolphins all day, no seriously he's working at a place called Dolphin Quest..now I know that many of you don't know my friend Mr.Card, but that's a pretty cool job, the guys a total nutbar..there's also some pics of him in My Pictures , Various Album for those of you who do know him. I apologise for the lack of pictures (again) but it's been pretty much raining since last Saturday, and if it hasn't been raining, it's been completely overcast. Excuses, excuses I know , but it's not the most optimum shooting conditions. Nothing much else to report. Hope that everyone is doing good. Or if not good than dealing, (i.e the LACK OF HOCKEY @ Sneakers)..Love you all.xo

Quote - "I had an antfarm once, those F**kers didn't grow S**T."
Mitch Hedburg, Comedian

New Toy, New Toy!

2004-11-09T19:59:00.000+09:00

So I finally went out and got myself a new camera, which I went out tonight and played around with.

View from the roof of my apartment building, that haze you see is smog, SWEET

Same view, but taken at night

This was me goofing around with shutter speeds on a bridge down the street

It's a Canon Powershot A95. And it's FUN. I'll add some pics that I've taken and you can view the rest at the Webshot's page ("My Pictures"). Soooo where to start since the last post. Well, I had my first LONG day on Friday, I left my apartment around 8:30 to drive for an hour and a half. Of course it only gets better from here. I have five different classes at a Kindergarten, each class lasting 20 minutes. It really wasn't that bad, but seriously entertaining 25 five year olds can get exhausting. Then we drove to a day care where I had three 30 minute classes. This was worse, these children were just NUTTY, complete and utter chaos. Kids were getting up and walking away while I was telling them stories, and the supervisors couldn't have cared less. A couple of the kids in each class just kept on coming up and poking me and trying to climb all over me. Sticky little ankle-biters. Cute as hell though. I found one thing extremely amusing, and un-nerving actually. At least 10 kids out of every class had their hair, either DYED, or highlighted. I'm not just talking about throwing some lemon juice in their hair to lighten it, one of the kids had candy apple red hair. Who does that? Seriously now. I didn't get home till around 4pm so I basically cleaned the apartment and crashed hard. I went into Yongsan on Saturday afternoon, the geeks Candyland, anything electronic you want, they got. Yongsan is unreal. I'll skip over the details (that I can remember) from Saturday night as it got pretty messy, all I know is that it's incredibly stupid for me to think that drinking Tequila internationally is any different from drinking it at home. There's a reason why I swore off that devil's juice.

This is around 4 AM Saturday Night, maybe..

I dunno, I still have nothing major to report, I usually just wander down to the Lotte Mart. I'm starting to feel like I'm just waiting for something to happen. Maybe it's from everyone asking me what it's like here. It's like any city or any town..except nobody understands a bloody thing I say. Hang out it Chinatown, in Toronto for a day, that is what my life is like. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking it. The need for Koreans to have a bar, restaurant AND street vendor every 3 feet never fails to amuse me, man I'd be surprised if Koreans have a word for "restraint" or "excess". I guess it's just that sometimes I really do feel super isolated here. I have nobody to share the actual moments with, so I get jaded when I have to relate them to other people. The teaching is AWESOME (with the exception that the VP is gonna get an "English Level 1 book upside the head ANY DAY NOW). My apartment is actually clean, the weather is mild, and my health couldn't be better (Rena - beer + vegetables = Unknown Speciman). I guess that's really what everyone wants to hear so I should stop bitching and figure out what I'm gonna do with this awesome experience I've been given (other than write a comic book and script with Kev :) )..44 MORE DAYS!! XOXOXO

I just had to add these 2, these are my favorite pictures of all time

ARGH Finally!!

2004-11-04T10:52:00.000+09:00

Money Money Money Monaaaaaay..So I finally got paid. About bloody time. They took off 210$ for bills (internet, cell phone and utilities), and I'm gonna ask them for copies of the bills. I have a feeling that I'm starting to be a massive pain in their necks, but I'm ok with that. It just goes to show that Korea hasn't changed me a bit (haha). I'm going out looking for a digital camera after my lesson today, I'll probably go down to Insa Dong (I said Itaewon before, I was wrong). I haven't hit the other markets yet (i.e with the fish heads), but I promised Kevin McCabe that I would take pictures of the hanging animal corpses and my expressions when I do. Not much else to report, I have two lessons with kindergarten kids tomorrow morning @ 8, which is my earliest lesson to report. So the first thing I'm buying today will be an alarm clock. It's still fairly warm here, and the leaves are just starting to turn, making a fantastic display for the eyes. I hope to get some hiking down sometime this weekend. Either around here or down in Cholla, I don't think I'll be up for the 4 hour bus ride @ 6 AM so I'll probably be somewhere else. In other news, I haven't been really keeping up with the election, but I would like to include an excerpt from an American friend of mine. She's living in Wisconsin(?) right now and sends out some of the most interesting emails about her life and going ons. This is one of them....

"I know this is a garbled string of emotions, but I guess that's what I am now. I'm devastated. This is so sad and infuriating. We (volunteers) worked SO hard to have people make positive choices this year... "progressive choices"... and the election was still a failure. Another collosal embarassment for the US of A. We got 91% of the city of Madison to vote, but obviously that wasn't enough. I was so hopeful. Then hopeful turned into nervous... nervous became worried... and worried became terrified.

I think a lot of people want Bush to "finish what he started." Which is really a nice thought... but I can't understand why so many people can't see that this war is the perfect way for GWB to get his own personal endeavors exactly where he wants them. This is a power-trip of cataclysmic proportions. The war his a huge distraction. A big, bloody, expensive distraction.

Why can't we have a leader who has the interests of actualy people in mind. Someone with a sense of reality. Republican voters were feeling... not thinking. And that is going to cost us so much. Even more than we've lost already. We've given up our dignity in the eyes of the rest of the world... at least before they just diagreed with our president and knew that there was a horrible mistake... now that they know the people CHOSE this guy... they're going to hate us. They're going to turn their backs and let us rot in our own filth.

I, for one, don't blame them.

Love, Alisha"

Alisha is 20 years old. Correction she's 19, and wiser and more active than most of us years older (myself definitely included) but I don't think anyone could have captured what alot of Americans and Canadians are feeling any better. I don't have much more to add today, but I would definately like to hear some other peoples thoughts on this past election, because no matter what it affects us all. Love you all!

GWB

G2 and Corn Pizza Toppings

2004-10-31T13:14:00.000+09:00

So I made the mistake (once again) of going out on a Friday and drinking myself stupid. Korean beer has some sort of nutty ingredient that not only makes me completely retarded while I'm drinking it, but also makes sure that I feel so crappy that blinking is a drawn out process the next morning. Of course the Soju Kettles don't help either (Soju is a very light Korean Vodka, a Soju kettle is a litre bottle of Soju mixed with the flavor of choice). The night was a complete bust however, I met a FABULOUS gay guy, who immediately made me his fag hag, and I got the chance to sample some fine Korean street vendor food @ around 3 am. I spent the rest of the weekend lazing around in my room, with the exception of a lesson @ 2 on Saturday. Now this brings me to describing my boss, I've mentioned to some of you how much of a skeezebag he is, I can't stand the man.. this is an example of a conversation that we had when I called him Saturday evening and asked him to order me a PEPPERONI pizza to my apartment, this is AFTER the pizza has arrived.

" Hi Rena, It's John..you get your pizza?"

Now at this point I'm looking at the pizza and I know he's got something to do with the problem I'm having. I am doing my best to be diplomatic (haha ya right).

"Yes John, but it seems they sent me the wrong pizza. This one has onions, black olives, green peppers, and CORN on it. I just asked you to order me JUST pepperoni"

"Oh, you don't like it Rena. I thought this one would be better"

There are times I wonder if there is a language barrier, this is not one of these times. The man is completely RETARDED. He grabs things out of my hands, he's almost fallen over before from me moving away as he's trying to lean into me, he walks behind me so he can stare at my ass. He's GONNA GET MY ELBOW IN THE KISSER! ARRRRGH, enough of that, no need to get angry on a Sunday morning, it's too early. Some other things that did make my weekend a wee bit more enjoyable. I got emails from Seanna, Heather AND Seyward.

St. Patricks Day 2004

All are doing well I'm happy to hear, and HEATHER got her license!! Congratulations Heather, I'm very proud of you.

Mt.Albert Sports Day 2004

That about sums up the details of the weekend. My lesson on Saturday went well, but do I ever feel bad for these kids. I teach 2 boys and 1 girl on Saturdays, all of them have lived in an English speaking country for at least 2 years. These kids have so much pressure on them to succeed in the Western world. They each have classes from Monday to Friday, then more classes with a different school on Saturdays and Sundays, PLUS a lesson with me on Saturdays. THEN, they have tutors after school for 4 hours EVERYDAY. No kid should be in school 20 hours a day. It's hard not to let them slack when I'm with them, but this is why they're paying me. I just try to make it a little bit more fun. I might go hiking next weekend, now that I'll have some dough I might head down to

South Cholla

the link I have there is for the festival that went on this past weekend, so it won't be too busy (hopefully). Since I'm now working Saturdays I'm just going to reschedule my appt with the company's president on Monday. They don't get a bloody choice. I have to leave for the bus around 4:30 AM as the bus leaves @ 6 and I'm an hour or so away. It's a 4 hour bus ride to get there. We'll see how ambitious I'm feeling on Saturday night :). Hope that everyone is doing well! Kisses!!

Now that I know everything about Jeanette..a wee bit about me

2004-10-28T23:17:00.000+09:00

I'm bored before bedtime, I figured I would fill out one of these stupid emails I got from Jeanette..just for fun. I'm such a nerd.

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Rena Bridget O'Brien

2. WHAT COLOUR TROUSERS ARE YOU WEARING? I'm not..I'm wearing Kev's boxers

3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Superunknown Soundgarden

4. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A really bad Burger King Hamburger, that took me twenty minutes to get, when I say I want COMBO # 3 that doesn't mean I WANT 3 JR. WHOPPERS!!! AND when I say I only want 1 it doesn't mean I want 2 more..how hard is it people??

5. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? I dunno, one of the discontinued colors I figure :)

6. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? A little nippley (no pun intended)

7. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My travel agent for Cuba in March

8. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? Shoes

9. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS? One of the funniest people I have ever met in my life (Jeanette Doig)

10. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? Hungry as per usual

11. FAVOURITE DRINK? MMM....Shirley Temple

12. FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? As long as it has more than 4% alcohol, I'm a happy camper

14. EYE COLOUR? Blue

15. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Don't remind me

16. SIBLINGS? Ken, Gerry, Anne, Shannon...Tanya, Angie,Kevin McCabe (Extended :) )

17. FAVOURITE MONTH? October

18. FAVOURITE FOOD? Does junk food count? Pizza.

19. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Man on Fire (Thanks Terron)

20. FAVOURITE DAY OF THE YEAR? All the ones ending in -ember

21. ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT? Hell no, but I am too shy to ask for directions, go figure

22. SUMMER OR WINTER? Neither, Fall

23. HUGS OR KISSES? Depends on the context in which they are given or recieved

24. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS? See above answer

25. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Depends

26. DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE BACK? No, these things SUCK

27. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? My mother, she has way too much time on her hands

28. WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Everyone else

30. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Wandered around downtown, looking at things that I can't afford, but should be able to, I'm way to fashionable to be poor

35. CAN YOU JUGGLE? IF YES HOW MANY? I can't walk without concentrating, juggling is completely out of the question

36. FAVOURITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Sundays with Kevin

37. RED OR WHITE WINE? Red, definately definately red, yep definately red, red

38. WHAT DID YOU DO FOR YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY? Got drunk by 7, passed out..woke up and drank till 5am

39. DO YOU OWN A DONOR CARD? Hell no, these are mine dammit..I ain't giving nothing away for free

40. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
If I owned a gun, they're would be alot more holes in my wall..

41. EVER BEEN IN LOVE? That has yet to be determined ( ;) )

I'm using this picture for filler, this is my buddy Brian who got on CBC for his lockout petition, this picture was also run with it

This is the link for the petition, it is the largest one running to date (way to go Crouch). And I think that everyone should sign and kill this lockout ASAP. The bar and restaurant industry is suffering, the people that work hard to make sure the players can play are suffering and the fans of hockey are suffering all for money. The world fights too much over money, the last thing we need is something that makes our lives a little bit easier and alot more interesting for a couple of hours taken away from us. All of this because of greed, it's ridiculous. You can also click on the title of this post (I know everything about Jeanette...) and it will take you to the website as well. SIGN IT!!

Brian Crouch's Lockout Petition

So I find it amusing....

2004-10-28T20:05:00.000+09:00

So I find more and more amusing things everyday...

I find it amusing that somebody my size can make a mess this big in 3 days..I find it amusing that the traffic lights in South Korea are just "suggestions" , I find it amusing that Koreans feel the need to make EVERY volatile sound in the book while I'm eating , as a sidenote to that; I also find it amusing that I have (to date) been able to keep my food down. Last but not least, I find it amusing that Koreans feel the need to dye their pets hair various colors of the rainbow. Did lassie sit you down and ask you do to that? Or was it just a whim? Ah well, I've included a subway map of Seoul for those who are curious, the names are kinda small but I've edited a little. I pointed out where I live (Daewha Stn. last one on the orange line), Central Downtown (where all the cool stuff is), Itaewon, which I go to for the English speaking people, lots of tourist stuff, but I'm ok with that..I'm a tourist..And some other places. Hopefully when you click on the picture you'll be able to read everything. I went into the fashion district today, didn't find any fashion but it was a VERY long subway ride. Good for me.

Subway Map

Like I said I don't have a digital camera yet, which I most definitely will after the 5th, so I've included the only known picture of me and my dad taken after uh...like 1996.

Me n' Pops, don't have any editing software to get rid of the red eye ..Ah well

Not too bad I don't think, it was taken about a week before I left. I seriously need a new digi though. I'll actually be going into Itaewon for that, they have a HUGE electronics market and it's supposed to be fairly cheap. I'll probably go to the COEX this weekend for some more window shopping, the COEX is a giant mall-slash-exhibition centre. I was gonna include the weblink for some of the stuff that the COEX has to offer, but I can't make it work, plus the pictures on the website aren't very good and it doesn't go into much description. But on top of the shopping, they have an aquarium, movie theatre and a...uh..KIMCHI museum for some odd reason..whatever..

I have another idea of what I might be doing next weekend but I'll leave that for another day..Don't forget you can post comments and read other peoples comments by clicking on the "COMMENTS" link at the bottom of each post that I write, and you can enlarge any of the pictures by clicking them, I also have a link for my webshots page in my profile. Hope everybody is doing good, Sara emailed me today for the first time ever. It's good to see she's joined the force of the technically literate (love ya Sara) and now my mom knows more than somebody else! Don't worry guys, you'll get the hang of it. :) . 55 more days 'til Kevin comes!! Cheers everyone!

Sara and I, New Years Eve 2002

Quote of ..uh right now: "Forgiveness is between them and God, It's my job to
arrange the meeting".
John Creazy, "Man on Fire"

Just a General Update for the masses!

2004-10-27T13:58:00.000+09:00

Alright, I seem to have the hang of this, hopefully. So for everyone who wants to know, everything is going fine. I'm waiting to get paid in the first week of November and I still get pretty bored at night, but I've made a deal with myself to go to a different subway stop and explore twice a week, that way I'll be able to learn the area and new things that you wouldn't find in a travel book..I'm up to about 20 hours a week now, and that just started today. I was teaching about 10 hours last week, so business is looking up! I figure by December I'll be making some killer over-time (25$/hour). The hours aren't too bad, I don't start till 10 everyday and the lastest I work (so far) is 8pm. That changes in December however, I work till 11pm on Fridays, but even that in itself is cool, the lessons are in Downtown Seoul so I can teach then go out for the night without commuting. To take the subway to dowtown Seoul takes me about 45 min to an hour.I don't really have much to say today, same ol' same ol' but here's some pretty pictures for you to peruse..ENJOY. And don't worry I'll have some way better pics as soon as I get a WAY better camera, I'm using the VP's right now. I apologise for not wanting to write every single family member the SAME email OVER AND OVER. But at this point it's pretty boring, and I'm doing fine, I would rather hear about your lives instead of talking about mine, all I've been doing for the last 4 months is TALK about Korea. There's no glamour in talking about it anymore, which is why I created this, you can leave comments for me and I will answer every question I can, that way everyone can see and I don't get asked the same question 40 times. As well it's a step by step process now, as I update the blog, you'll know exactly what I'm doing almost every day and I've included a link in my profile to my webshots address so people can look at ALL the pictures instead of the ones I have posted.Kisses!

My messy ass apartment

My bathroom, I'm actually standing in the shower for this

Standing at the doorway

Morning Calm? I am never calm in the morning...nutz

2004-10-26T21:31:00.000+09:00

Front of of Gyeongbokgung Palace

ARRRGH, I can't figure out how to make this damn thing work..AH WELL retyping it is I guess..So now you're getting the shortened version of what I wrote before, you can follow along with the pictures and their captions ( I apologize for the avant garde look to them, I was trying to cut out the people)..Actually speaking of people, it was "Every school in the world is invited" Day at Gyeongbokgung Palace the day I decided to absorb some culture.

Apparently Jongno-Gu (Gu = City) has decided on the Yellow Resevoir Tip Condom of Happiness as it's town mascot. This is where Gyeongbokgung is located

Culture? Don't bloody think so, all I got was a whole bunch of ankle-biters, tourists, and "restored" halls and rooms and what not.

I took this picture only for the little figurines on the corner of the building, it's actually an evolution timeline, dragon to man

Now here's a question I pose for you..If you put in the description of a place,"It was completely destroyed by the Japanese invasions, but restored in 1994" does that not imply that there was nothing there to RESTORE???

Just a question, askin..That's all.. AAAHH well, it wasn't a complete waste of my feet actually, the grounds were beautiful and there were some artifacts laid out around the grounds of the adjoining museum, which were pretty rad looking.

These little guys were put on ancestors graves to keep them company and to chat with in the afterlife, a lot of people underestimated their worth and were sold to foreign tourists, these two were returned in the early 90's

This is actually a sundial, the grid u see there @ the top is for the hour and the horizontal line that is cast by the shadow is the date

I actually started off my day wandering around instead of asking for directions to the palace and that ended up being my favorite part of the city, Ontario is fairly flat and as silly as it sounds people CAN build on uneven ground which in my wanderings I ended up finding. I walked through a reeeeaaally long 8 lane tunnel (which had the smallest walkways EEPS) ..There was railings to block cars from smoking you as your walking along, and I was amused to see footprints on them. I assume these said footprints are from drunken English teachers and Korean youth being tough and walking along them, proving they're NOT freaked out by the cars passing literally 2 inches from them..ANYWAY ..I'm drifting from the original point, so I end up at the end of the tunnel and figure I've gone far enough, no palaces on this side of the rainbow and take a quick right, I can't really tell you how steep this hill was but I can tell you I had to look DIRECTLY up to see the tops of the apartment building that were situated on it, either way onward I trek, stopping halfway up infront of somebody's house to catch my breath and start laughing hysterically about the thought of some poor kid living here and trying out rollerblading.

View from the hill

But man, I tell you the view was UNBELIEVABLE, the city and buildings with a mountain backdrop, I figure for a view in an apartment here the rent must be pretty steep (haha)..The streets I followed actually brought me back around to the main street I started on (before the tunnel) and the park that I had detoured through on my search for the palace, the park (actually) was the redeeming part of my trip, quiet and natural with lots of temples, trees and Koreans taking a lunch break or playing soccer.

The toilet @ Sajik Park..SWEET

Every city should have more parks like this. Korea is amazing I tell you, I give them credit..All this technology and smoke and people surrounding all this culture and nature. Good for them, I think the only thing natural left about me is my eye color :).

I love this picture, I had to be so nonchalant when I took it