Sat, Jun 10 2006
NOTE: THIS IS TAKEN FROM A GROUP EMAIL, BEFORE MY BLOG:
Hi hi hi, Really I will set up this blog so that you can just visit it at your own convenience, but really I am just too old-fashioned I suppose. I prefer to send out the classic group email so that some can feel like I am being impersonal and others can skip over it in a hurry to find more pressing messages in their inboxes. You who enjoy my messages and read with vigour- you are wonderful and you will lead a rich and fulfilled life. I promise. Blogging is still too advanced for me. baby steps, I guess. Good thing I don't have kids yet- I am not yet the focus of ridicule for not being up with the times. Although teaching 14 year old Korean techno-geeks on a daily basis is making me more unhip by the moment. I mean, come ON- who really knows who the hell 'Westlife' is?? Its not EVEN a Korean band! And I don't CARE about Starcraft, (or insert the most recent computer game that is the craze here). I go to the 'PC bang' to email my friends. Not to blast other warcraft carriers into oblivion (computer game rooms are probably the biggest source of entertainment for young Koreans over here). Sooooo, life is good. It is certainly heating up here. Apparently we are in the heat basin in a valley surrounded by mountains. So, some sort of meteorological occurrence makes this area intensely humid and hot in the summer months (mid June to end of Aug). I am starting to have nightmares in anticipation. I see my self melting in classes and getting super bitchy with everyone because I am too hot. We will see. For now, the sun is coming down strongly and at least we don't have to deal with smog or traffic from the city. yahoo! We've been training for my big 3-0 climb on my birthday. Did I mention? we're planning to climb the highest point in south korea so that I can be at the top on my b-day. We did a major climb last week. 14kms total; 1500m up. then down. it took just over 7hours, and we were tired when we got down. I personally lost the ability to walk and especially climb or go down stairs the next few days. not joking, it was a brutal awakening. I mean I'm not THAT out of shape. But I suppose we are doing more hiking than Ive done in a few years. Tomorrow we are attempting another similar climb that will be the first leg of our big trip. It will give us a good idea of the timing, and whether we'll do it. here's hoping. i'm still nursing my sore knee that I hurt playing basket ball on my first day in the walking world after the climb. speaking of balls, last Wednesday was TEacher's Sports day here in Gurye county. We all had the afternoon off. I had the morning off as well because I am on the volleyball team for our school (a recent induction), and we had to play an early game against the Agricultural High School. they killed us. I still blame it on the fact that they took me out of the second game so that the teacher who doesn't move could take my spot. Classic old school volleyball- where the men choose 3-4 guys who touch the ball 85 % of the time and the women are expected to fill the quota (there must be 2 women on each team), and not get in the way. Believe me, I am not spouting an unbalanced view here. I was in a 'set' position in the front of the court (usually a high-action spot back home) and the couple of times I actually touched the ball, the guy playing behind me told me not to touch the ball because it was his. I literally hadn't moved from my spot. the ball was coming right for me. see, the problem was that I didn't move out of the way so that he could (poorly) spike it over. The teams in Korean volleyball (for you sports fans out there) have 9 players instead of 6, and you don't move position the whole game. So, if you are stuck somewhere, you are stuck there. You serve by walking behind the court and running back to your spot. Anyway, despite the chauvinistic experience I will not give up the team and I will keep hitting the friggen ball over until they kick me off the team. Actually, they have been quite welcoming and have spread the word around Gurye that 'Nana' (as my name has been mistakenly passed around as) is a great volleyball player. sweeties. It was neat to see all of the schools together, and all the teachers that I work with from all the schools hanging out together and competing against each other like it was track and field day when we were back in 7th grade. Except for the cigaretttes, Korean beer and soju (Korean vodka-like spirit). These were being consumed at an alarming rate by all of the educators in the county in the town park in the middle of the day (unlike in 7th grade- we were hiding were'nt we? just kidding mom!) . aaahhh- work and travel. I love it. Anyway, my team came something like last place in both volleyball and skipping- the other official event. But I did get to know my co-workers on a whole other level. Bryce and I had a fun weekend last weekend- we went out to a small island called Wido in a province next to ours. It was small and since it isn't quite summer weather here yet, it was pretty deserted by the beach-goers. So there wasn't really anything open. But we used the opportunity to get a bottle of Hite beer and walk over a pier to a smaller island of boulders and trees and just sat and talked about life, the universe, and everything. We stayed at a 'minbak' which is like a bed and breakfast, without the bed (sleeping on the floor, Korean style), and breakfast being spicy octopus soup, kimchi, rice and radish side dishes. We hitchhiked back to the ferry and took it back to the mainland early the next day. A fun adventure, but not the white sand, margarita dream I was thinking of. Still, a really great trek out. On the way home, we met an interesting guy, who is teaching at a university here and is an etymologist who has scoured all parts of korea in search of different bugs. He's actually identified 3 completely new species of a beetle here in Korea. He's been here 12? years and was fascinating to listen too and share stories with on the ferry. Then we stopped in a city and watched a movie- Poseidon. It was good, or maybe not? Its hard to say when you are living in a land of two english movies a month. But we had fun. I am sooooo excited for X-men, coming out in a few days here. Anyway, I'll end here. Thank you for your emails and for the forthcoming seeds!!We went on an adventure today to track down soil for our rooftop garden. After an hour of following different directions, it turns out they don't sell it at any store, since we live out in the country. Everyone just digs up the soil from the farms. d-uh lana! so, if you can imagine a scooter with me on the front, with a bag of soil the size of a very obese short person in the middle, and then bryce hanging off the back and holding a shovel to balance us all out, it was a blast! We couldn't actually carry the bag of soil, so we transported to our roof in various containers that we will eventually put plants in. Yup. Fun times. I miss you, I will look forward to the seeds. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
NOTE: THIS IS TAKEN FROM A GROUP EMAIL, BEFORE MY BLOG:
Hi hi hi, Really I will set up this blog so that you can just visit it at your own convenience, but really I am just too old-fashioned I suppose. I prefer to send out the classic group email so that some can feel like I am being impersonal and others can skip over it in a hurry to find more pressing messages in their inboxes. You who enjoy my messages and read with vigour- you are wonderful and you will lead a rich and fulfilled life. I promise. Blogging is still too advanced for me. baby steps, I guess. Good thing I don't have kids yet- I am not yet the focus of ridicule for not being up with the times. Although teaching 14 year old Korean techno-geeks on a daily basis is making me more unhip by the moment. I mean, come ON- who really knows who the hell 'Westlife' is?? Its not EVEN a Korean band! And I don't CARE about Starcraft, (or insert the most recent computer game that is the craze here). I go to the 'PC bang' to email my friends. Not to blast other warcraft carriers into oblivion (computer game rooms are probably the biggest source of entertainment for young Koreans over here). Sooooo, life is good. It is certainly heating up here. Apparently we are in the heat basin in a valley surrounded by mountains. So, some sort of meteorological occurrence makes this area intensely humid and hot in the summer months (mid June to end of Aug). I am starting to have nightmares in anticipation. I see my self melting in classes and getting super bitchy with everyone because I am too hot. We will see. For now, the sun is coming down strongly and at least we don't have to deal with smog or traffic from the city. yahoo! We've been training for my big 3-0 climb on my birthday. Did I mention? we're planning to climb the highest point in south korea so that I can be at the top on my b-day. We did a major climb last week. 14kms total; 1500m up. then down. it took just over 7hours, and we were tired when we got down. I personally lost the ability to walk and especially climb or go down stairs the next few days. not joking, it was a brutal awakening. I mean I'm not THAT out of shape. But I suppose we are doing more hiking than Ive done in a few years. Tomorrow we are attempting another similar climb that will be the first leg of our big trip. It will give us a good idea of the timing, and whether we'll do it. here's hoping. i'm still nursing my sore knee that I hurt playing basket ball on my first day in the walking world after the climb. speaking of balls, last Wednesday was TEacher's Sports day here in Gurye county. We all had the afternoon off. I had the morning off as well because I am on the volleyball team for our school (a recent induction), and we had to play an early game against the Agricultural High School. they killed us. I still blame it on the fact that they took me out of the second game so that the teacher who doesn't move could take my spot. Classic old school volleyball- where the men choose 3-4 guys who touch the ball 85 % of the time and the women are expected to fill the quota (there must be 2 women on each team), and not get in the way. Believe me, I am not spouting an unbalanced view here. I was in a 'set' position in the front of the court (usually a high-action spot back home) and the couple of times I actually touched the ball, the guy playing behind me told me not to touch the ball because it was his. I literally hadn't moved from my spot. the ball was coming right for me. see, the problem was that I didn't move out of the way so that he could (poorly) spike it over. The teams in Korean volleyball (for you sports fans out there) have 9 players instead of 6, and you don't move position the whole game. So, if you are stuck somewhere, you are stuck there. You serve by walking behind the court and running back to your spot. Anyway, despite the chauvinistic experience I will not give up the team and I will keep hitting the friggen ball over until they kick me off the team. Actually, they have been quite welcoming and have spread the word around Gurye that 'Nana' (as my name has been mistakenly passed around as) is a great volleyball player. sweeties. It was neat to see all of the schools together, and all the teachers that I work with from all the schools hanging out together and competing against each other like it was track and field day when we were back in 7th grade. Except for the cigaretttes, Korean beer and soju (Korean vodka-like spirit). These were being consumed at an alarming rate by all of the educators in the county in the town park in the middle of the day (unlike in 7th grade- we were hiding were'nt we? just kidding mom!) . aaahhh- work and travel. I love it. Anyway, my team came something like last place in both volleyball and skipping- the other official event. But I did get to know my co-workers on a whole other level. Bryce and I had a fun weekend last weekend- we went out to a small island called Wido in a province next to ours. It was small and since it isn't quite summer weather here yet, it was pretty deserted by the beach-goers. So there wasn't really anything open. But we used the opportunity to get a bottle of Hite beer and walk over a pier to a smaller island of boulders and trees and just sat and talked about life, the universe, and everything. We stayed at a 'minbak' which is like a bed and breakfast, without the bed (sleeping on the floor, Korean style), and breakfast being spicy octopus soup, kimchi, rice and radish side dishes. We hitchhiked back to the ferry and took it back to the mainland early the next day. A fun adventure, but not the white sand, margarita dream I was thinking of. Still, a really great trek out. On the way home, we met an interesting guy, who is teaching at a university here and is an etymologist who has scoured all parts of korea in search of different bugs. He's actually identified 3 completely new species of a beetle here in Korea. He's been here 12? years and was fascinating to listen too and share stories with on the ferry. Then we stopped in a city and watched a movie- Poseidon. It was good, or maybe not? Its hard to say when you are living in a land of two english movies a month. But we had fun. I am sooooo excited for X-men, coming out in a few days here. Anyway, I'll end here. Thank you for your emails and for the forthcoming seeds!!We went on an adventure today to track down soil for our rooftop garden. After an hour of following different directions, it turns out they don't sell it at any store, since we live out in the country. Everyone just digs up the soil from the farms. d-uh lana! so, if you can imagine a scooter with me on the front, with a bag of soil the size of a very obese short person in the middle, and then bryce hanging off the back and holding a shovel to balance us all out, it was a blast! We couldn't actually carry the bag of soil, so we transported to our roof in various containers that we will eventually put plants in. Yup. Fun times. I miss you, I will look forward to the seeds. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
posted by Lana at 1:59 p.m.
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