Vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the last week has brightened up for me rather unexpectedly. Time with friends might be helping. Maybe it was my hormones? Maybe my birth control is making me insane? Maybe I am actually insane? One day I'll go to a doctor to figure that out, but YAY! VACAAAAAY!

DUH, Monkey Park! *Stole this from travelpanda.org*

Friday, I will be flying into Japan in the evening for the start of a 4day/5night trip and I am more than ecstatic. I'll arrive in Osaka in the evening and stay for the night. The next day, I'll be taking a train to Kyoto where I will be doing everything I possibly can without dying of exhaustion. I can't wait to see the temples and the geishas and the monkey park! THEY HAVE A MONKEY PARK! Seriously, I couldn't be more excited. I don't care if people think my reaction to a monkey park is over the top. Fuck those guys. Monkeys.


Late Sunday night I'll be returning to Osaka for the remainder of my trip (sorta). I haven't entirely worked out the details, but early in the day on Monday I plan to take a mini-trip to Nara. I'll check out Nara Park which is apparently full of deer begging for food handouts. I can't wait to have my fingers nibbled at! I may also check out the attractions located right around the park. There's a temple and a museum pretty much right on top of the park. After that I'll return to Osaka for some nightlife and shopping Monday evening into Tuesday afternoon. I found out there's a manga/anime paraphernalia store right in Osaka. I will make a point to get to that one of the days I'm there. It's imperative.

I'll be back in Korea Tuesday night and ready to enjoy my final day of vacation RELAXING. I didn't know that I'd have next Wednesday off when I booked my trip, but I am thankful for it. Saved me money on hotels and provides me with an extra day home to do laundry/sit on my butt/get back on track with my diet I don't plan on following while in Japan.

The Neverending Blergh

I think I'm a really great actress. Every day of my life lately seems like I'm putting on a show while the inside of me is screaming "I HATE EVERYTHING. NOTHING MATTERS. WHY AM I HERE? I WANT TO GO HOME! I'LL JUST HATE EVERYTHING AT HOME, TOO. THERE IS NO POINT TO ANYTHING!" Whenever I try to find some sort of meaning, purpose, or enjoyment, I immediately find that there's no point to it. Dating? Why? I'll just move away. He'll just think I'm crazy. He'll think I'm too fat. Dieting? Why? I'll just fall off the wagon for the 800th time in my life. Reading? Why? I have no friends to talk about what I'm reading. Playing games? Why? I have no one to share my accomplishments. I feel like I'm constantly looking for things to waste time so I can go to sleep, wake up, and start the whole cycle over again. Seriously, what the fuck is the point of doing anything?

I have these dual voices in my head: This unceasingly negative voice and this upbeat positiveness that fights and fights and fights a losing battle. The negativity does not give up. It's always there. So instead of going out and playing the part of the person who is totally ok with absolutely no problems that can definitely handle being social, I find myself more and more staying home, avoiding people, thinking of excuses not to be around anyone (or around as few people as possible). Even when I think I want someone to be there, I'm immediately regretting having made plans.

I had a dream last night that I woke up on a plane that had just landed in San Francisco with some friends with absolutely no recollection of HOW I made it there. I was so happy though. I love San Francisco and it meant I could see my dad and my stepmom. Then I had this feeling of overwhelming dread. If I didn't remember making the decision of coming to San Francisco, did I tell my boss I was leaving Korea? Would I be gone through the workweek leaving the school without its foreign teacher that they absolutely depend on to carry the brunt of the class load? Would I lose my job? Even my dreams are just absolutely full of anxiety. I can't catch a break.

Korean Sauna Day!

The events that led to me having a Korean sauna day are as follows:

Friday was Korea's Liberation/Independence Day from Japan, so when I awoke yesterday I was very, very pleased that I did not have to immediately start getting ready for work. Aren't 3-day weekends amazing? I had the whole day ahead of me. I could do nothing or I could do something; it didn't really matter. My first thought of the day was to clean up that giant pile of dishes. So, having an insanely ghetto plumbing system, I took my small tub into my bathroom to fill it up with hot water in the bath (the only tap with hot water in my apartment). After beginning to wash my dishes back in the kitchen, I noticed the water was rather... lukewarm. Normally, the water is scalding hot, so I was a bit concerned. I thought maybe I'd done something silly like not turn the tap all the way to the left for the hot water. The actual issue was that the electric outlet where both my washing machine and hot water heater are plugged in is not working. This meant cold showers and no clean clothes for the coming workweek. I immediately messaged my school director to inform her of this distressing situation. My apartment is in the same building as my school, and her husband manages it, so it's their responsibility to fix things. I was told that it was too bad, so sad. The holiday meant no one could come and fix it. I asked her, "What about tomorrow?" Meaning today now, which is Saturday, and she decided not to respond or acknowledge it. Thanks, lady.

Today is my friend Elaine's birthday party and I hadn't showered since Thursday. No one wants hugs from that. So I decided to pack up my shower stuff and go in search of a sauna. Luckily, I thought I'd spotted one directly around the corner from my house a couple months ago and this was the perfect time to verify and try it out.

Dongdo Sauna

I chose the one just behind the Daegu Grand Hotel (there were 2, but the other was down a smaller alley and didn't entirely look open). I was happy to see it was only 4000won, so not a terribly high price to just shower up. I walked inside and was a bit surprised at how little was between the naked areas and the public areas. One thin curtain that could be blown aside with the right breeze? Really? This was my first experience at a sauna on my own, so I felt so much pressure and intimidation.



After undressing (oh the discomfort of being stared at by Korean women), I walked into the bath area of the sauna. This was probably the smallest sauna I've been in yet. There were showers, both seated and standing, one cold bath, one hot bat, 2 sauna rooms, and 2 scrub down/spa tables. After showering, I decided to soak in the hot bath for a bit then make my attempt at scrubbing myself. I'd bought a scrubber from the Novotel sauna a couple months prior and I've been getting lots of mileage on this 1000won miracle. I've been told before that Koreans think foreigners are dirty. Not that we don't shower, but they don't really see us at the saunas scrubbing the life out of our skin. After 5 minutes of hot bath soaking, I began scrubbing my feet and my legs, and I realized why they have that opinion. I've never seen so much dead skin slough off my body like that. Just... ew. It's gross. I spent probably 20 minutes scrubbing everything and after a while an ajjuma, who probably felt bad for me not having a second person there to scrub me senseless, came over and started scrubbing my back and my arms, hard. It's an odd feeling having a complete stranger walk up to you and do something like that, but it felt good. I felt like I was being accepted, which isn't something you always feel here as a foreigner.

I'm clean and happy now, so bring on the rest of the day!

There used to be a time that people I considered my friends would reach out to me to talk to me or see me. That doesn't happen much anymore. Maybe my definition of friend needs to change.

I think something that frustrates me most in regards to that is when I finally see people, and only because I run into them at the same places, I get questions or statements like "Where have you been?" or "I haven't seen you in so long!" These are vexing things to say when I've just been home by myself trying to keep busy because no one has said they wanted or cared to see me in particular. My assumption in the matter is that people don't want to see me. I can only ask to see people or reach out to talk to people with little reciprocation aside from a polite party invitation before I decide that my company isn't actually wanted, but merely tolerated. I enjoy my company well enough, so it's fine. Whatever. Fuck it.

Let the good times roll...

I already miss this guy!

My friend Eric was le'tired
at the party.

So the last couple weekends have had some crazy eventful nights. My friend Alex was leaving, so he had something like 800 going away events. I made it to 3 of them and all of them were a bit more than I anticipated. That's A-OK though. Friday the 18th of July he had a house party in which he gave away all of his household things he wasn't taking with him, like food, cleaning supplies, etc, using the white elephant gift exchange method. This was insanely fun, but also exhausting for me. I ended up stealing my friend Rachel's bags... twice. She was less than thrilled, particularly when I came in for the second bag. Luckily for her, her husband was there with her, so she got him to steal her new bag so she could steal back the second bag I stole from her. Damn my luck! The next weekend we went out to MF bar to say goodbye again, and this time we ended up in a singing room until after 5AM. I didn't get home until nearly 6... that made sleeping in on Sunday and then attempting to sleep Sunday night SO much fun. I came to find out yesterday at work that he was having yet another gathering last night. So, of course, I had to go. We ate fried eggs and omelettes and drank bamboo wine far later than was planned. I am so happy I got to see him and give him one last hug before he shipped off. He always gives the best hugs!

Blue, hot pink, neon green eye shadows,
and fake lashes. Rock star!

This past weekend was my friend Jarrod's birthday. It was a glam rock themed birthday, so I needed to do a lot of work on my hair and my make-up in order to fit the theme. I borrowed the best pallette of eye shadow colors from my friend Elvie and went to town with my eye makeup. I even wore false eyelashes for the first time. I need more practice with those and better glue next time I wear them.

The party itself was a lot of fun. We were blessed with a typhoon and insane amounts of humidity, so our teased hair kept falling flat, but we made the best of it. First we ended up at Bunny's for drinks and final touch-ups. The main party was at MF Bar (two weekends in a row here). We had a lot of fun here and I had to sit through several insanely disturbing versions of the Aristocrats joke. At one point a foreskin version of Cthulu was summoned. I worry about my friends sometimes. Next we moved on to see my friend's band perform at Urban. We didn't stay too long though. At that point the party split up into several smaller groups, as often happens around these parts. All-in-all a great night!

Jarrod & I. SO glam.

We look like hair band groupies.

I miss things.

Friends

I really miss my friends in Florida. I miss being in middle and high school and always having someone (or multiple someones) that wanted to see me and easily made the effort to do so. Even as we got older and our intimate lives got a bit more complicated, I never felt unsure or hesitant about reaching out and calling them when I needed to talk or get out, and I was always open to them reaching out to me any time. I know when I'm finally home they'll accept me into their homes with open arms. They are more like my family than my friends.

I really miss my friends in Buffalo. I initially had a really tough time getting out and making friends when I moved to NY. It's easy to make superficial friends, but really hard to find the ones that actually want to get to know you. I didn't make many close friends, but the ones I did make were wonderful. They accepted me quickly and easily and I miss them dearly.

I miss my foreign coteachers. Not the ones that were douchey or loners, but the ones that would have movie nights or binge-show watching nights with me. Now that I work alone, I feel alone most of the time. Sometimes it's not so bad or I need the time alone, but other times it's really bad and I no longer know who I can reach out to anymore. I'm really stupid about how to be social.

Family

I miss my mom.
I miss my dad.
I miss my stepmom.
I miss my grandparents.
I miss big family dinners and people saying things about politics or social issues to royally irritate me.

Food

I miss restaurants that served food I could always rely on.
I miss grocery stores that were decent and had what I needed so I didn't have to order things online from halfway around the world to stock my pantry.

Work

I miss sick days. I haven't had one in over 2 years, and trust me, I've been ill.
I miss having a supervisor that was even remotely sympathetic to loss.

The "I Guess I'm on a Diet" Update

So the last few weeks have been terrible for me as far as food is concerned. I've been making poor food choice after poor food choice after poor food choice. Before this week, it'd probably been months since I had more than a piece of watermelon a day to classify as fruit intake. I've been lazy. I haven't wanted to cook. God forbid, if I did cook, that I make any effort to include vegetables in the mix. Just meat and starches, loaded with fats. So healthy. I can see and feel the results of my poor choices as well. I don't want to go back down this road of unhappiness.

I have always been a yo-yo dieter. I lose a bunch of weight, then I gain it all back, and put more on. I don't really know what to do to change my mindset about food. It's always there for me! Bored? Food! Tired? Food! Drunk? Food! Hungry? Food! Give me your burgers, your pizza, your chicken wings, and your french fries. If it's unhealthy, I probably love it, and eat it to an insanely unhealthy degree. I don't even want to think about the kind of money I have spent on junk food.

Exercise can't possibly be the answer for me either. I love exercising when I want to exercise and only if I can go to the gym or ride my bike when it's not raining or 800 degrees outside. I have a specific regimen that I like to follow and has always given me the best results (along with smarter food choices). Fourty-five minutes of cardio and thirty minutes of strength training, in that order. I ONLY like to do this at the gym. Exercise at home? Home is where I relax! I miss free weights and ellipticals. Those are impossible to find in Korea unless I want to spend $150 a month for a membership at a semi-decent gym, or $50 at a mediocre gym with no AC. I may be a glutton for punishment, but I will not exercise in a place that exceeds 20 degrees Celsius. No, thank you.

I'm still up in the air about what I'll do with exercising, but I have begun making better food choices. Cutting out the junk and adding in more fruits and veggies while reducing carbs. I bought a blender so I can make smoothies. I bought protein bars so I can eat something healthy and quick that'll keep me from starving by the end of my work shift, which always leads to the worst decisions. I'm counting my calories too. So far it has been pretty easy. I am allowing myself a cheat day on the weekend with the bank of calories I haven't been eating so as not to feel entirely deprived. I do want to avoid key foods as much as possible, such as sugary drinks. Those always seem to be the most addictive things for me and such a waste of calories that could be put towards food. Delicious food.

Right now I'm trying to focus on the little steps I'm taking. Smarter food choices, check. Now to figure out an exercise regimen that I can stick to until I can return to the glorious gyms of the USA.

Is it Friday yet?

I woke up Monday morning with a message from my friend Callie telling me that Orange is the New Black would be cancelled, even after renewing for a third season! I was distraught, to say the least, and infuriated by the article she attached. It took me until I googled the TV show to find that it was a hoax, and an easily believable one at that. Apparently many people were outraged and confused about why the show would be cancelled especially based on the reasons given. Empire News posted the original story that started all the hullabaloo, but that particular news site is full of satire. I think I've seen a post on there before about President Obama forgiving all federal student loans. Haha, as if Congress would ever let that happen in our lifetime! Anyway, I was able to set the record straight for her and avoid saying anything stupid in a public realm in regards to the article. Must remember: fact check everything I read on the internet. Nothing is sacred!

My weekend was pretty decent. I was dreading the art concert most of Saturday, but I'm happy it's over and done with. I don't know how well I did and, at this point, I don't care. My personal assessment is that I have a lot of work to do on improving nerves and not getting distracted by instrumentals, but oh well. I think everyone else did wonderfully, though. On Sunday I ended up staying home all day. I was so grateful for time to myself. I avoided the theater meeting that was happening like the plague because, as I suspected, it was full of nonsense drama I no longer want to be involved in. I'm leaving in December. If I decide to be involved in the theater while in Daegu any further I'll audition for parts when an opportunity arises and leave it at that. I am no longer interested in being involved in the politics. I have better things to put my stress and worry towards right now.

I HATE TUESDAYS. Tuesdays are the absolute devil at my school. Middle school exams are done, so my schedule is back to normal. Seven straight classes in a row. OH boy! I have seven classes on Fridays as well, but somehow it's better. I think I dislike my students on Tuesdays so much more than my Friday students. Days like Tuesday really make me wonder why I continue putting up with the garbage nonsense here. Seriously, 7 classes without a break? In what world is that ever ok? I have one class on Tuesday that is absolutely terrible. The last class I taught with them before exams started, I kicked one of the students out for being repeatedly rude and disrespectful to a point where I was going to do something really bad if he didn't GTFO. His Korean teacher had to babysit him for the rest of the class. GOOD. Once he left the classroom, balance and order was restored. It shouldn't have been that simple, but it was. He's the ringleader of chaos and disorder in my class. It's not ok. I try to go into my classes with a fresh outlook that things will be better this time, and I am not always successful. I just need to stop caring about everything. When I get into those mindsets the class or day is usually better.

Tuesday's classes are just about to begin... say a little prayer for me.

Summer! Vacation! Excitement! Engrish!

I hate summer in Korea. It is just the worst. It's overly muggy, it rains too much with no give, and it's Korea. Another thing is Koreans are all about energy saving (God forbid they turn off all those damn neon signs littering the country) and thinking air conditioning makes you sick (see here), so they use air conditioning sparingly, or leave it at such a high temperature that it does nothing to kill the humidity. Humidity is always the worst part about the summer. Pretty much as soon as I leave my apartment I am either drenched in sweat, water, or both. I would hate to live here forever. Five more months to go!

So I have taken the plunge and started planning my trip to Japan. I am going from September 5th through September 9th. I will be in Osaka for the first day, Kyoto on the weekend of the 6th and 7th, and then back to Osaka the night of the 7th through the 9th. I was advised it would be worth my time to take a trip to Nara to see the awesome deer. I plan on going there for the day on the 8th. I cannot express how excited I am to see Japan. The night I am in Kyoto I will be staying in a traditional ryokan, so I am pretty psyched. I've heard there are places in Kyoto where you can try on traditional kimonos. I think they even do your hair. I'll have to do more research about those options. AAAAAAH!!! SO EXCITED! Now that I know I will have the 5th off, I need to get my flight booked quickly. Update: Flights are booked! Woohoo!

This week one of my students came to school wearing a shirt with English all over the front. I stopped her so I could read it, knowing full well it would say something wonderful. She did not disappoint...

Are what?! The suspense is killing me!

To see other amazing grammar, spelling, intent mistakes with English on Asian clothing, check this out.

Love 146 Photo Scavenger Hunt

So this past Saturday I took part in a photo scavenger hunt for a fundraising event for Love 146 and its local chapter in Daegu. My team was comprised of my friends Anna, Rachel, Lene, and Olivia. We didn't go into the scavenger hunt with high hopes; there were so many teams to compete with (I think maybe 15 or 16 that made it to the end).

Before the scavenger hunt started, each participating group was given packets with the hunt list, a laminated card asking Koreans to help us with the game (in Korean), and a printed paper logo for one of the sponsors. We began at about 2PM and were told we needed to be back in Traveler's absolutely no later than 4PM or we would be disqualified.

First things first, we opened our packet and gawked at this list of 115 things to do. How, oh how, were we ever going to get through all of these? Rachel had the brilliant idea to start reading through them and pick out the easy ones we knew we could get done first. As we started to read through the extensive list, the group became anxious as other groups were passing by us getting things done, so we decided to get started.

One thing on the list was playing Rock, Scissors, Paper with as many Koreans as possible. We took that challenge too literally and probably played the game with 10 different Koreans.

Take a picture of the entire group jumping, mid-air. Check!

We ended up stopping by Buy the Book because we had to find an English newspaper and take a picture on a roof. We were a bit surprised to find they didn't have a newspaper, but we took a picture of a Newsweek magazine and hoped it would be enough. We got a great group shot on the roof.
Another thing we were able to accomplish, that I was quick enough to remember (of course), was taking a picture of washing dishes in the restaurant and standing behind the counter (with some members of staff for bonus points). My friend Elvie was ever so gracious and let us grab the shots, so we scored ourselves an extra 4 points we hadn't expected to be able to get! Yes!

Later on we had to take a picture of the entire group crammed into a phone booth. We made that happen without any issue.

I'm such a ham.

In the end, and much to our amazement, we managed to score 3rd place! I honestly have no idea how we made that happen. Maybe it was all those Rock, Scissors, Paper pictures? Haha, who knows! The 3rd place prize was a 60,000won gift certificate to a local restaurant in Daegu and a few waxing coupons. The hunt was a ton of fun, and I'm ever-so-thankful to have had such a great team with which to play. If I ever get more pictures, I'll post them as well!

Random Presents!

One thing I love about my students is their ability and occasional desire to express gratitude for what I do for them. Even if you don't think you've done much, being appreciated is the nicest thing and such a wonderful feeling.

Last Friday, I received an adorable pink patterned cloth with puppies and bubbled English words all over it. Of course I got this from one of my more adorable students. I love her to pieces.

The box reads "Especially for you. Please know that I love you more than anything else in the world."

Kiss Lover pink lip gloss from Tony Moly. Fancy!

Today I received another present from another student in the same class. This time I got make-up! Score! Haha, Koreans love pink lip gloss, so that's exactly what I got. I don't know when/if I'll ever wear it, but I definitely appreciate the gesture. She also took the time to write me a cute little note and draw my picture. How sweet!

I look exactly like that.

Whirlwind

So the past 10 days have really blown by. I feel like I haven't been able to keep up with the time. I've been off Facebook for over 2 weeks now and I really don't miss it. I'm actually dreading returning to it... dreading it. However, there are some people I haven't been able to communicate with while being off of it and I miss them. Those jerks.

I've been really stressed out lately over when I'll take my vacation. I think I have about 4 days that are owed to me, but I don't know when I can take them. To make matters worse, I don't have money to travel anywhere right now as I'm trying to save up to go home in December (and maybe a mini trip to Japan during Chuseok in September), but I know everyone here will throw a shit-fit if I take a staycation, because I live upstairs. Koreans really don't understand relaxing at home on a day that isn't a weekend or holiday. "Vacation where you stay home?? You might as well come to work!" Honestly, this is something I was told by my previous director. I had to lie about my "vacation" when she tried to deny it to me. And people wonder why I'm so excited to leave Korea. I could hermit it out in my apartment for the 1pm-9pm time that people are here, but the risk of someone seeing me if I need to go out and do something even slightly out of that time frame is too high. Ugh, my life. Maybe I'll just take mini trips to places around and outside of Daegu like Spa Valley or Gyeongju. I really like Gyeongju.

My weekend was a lot of fun. I had another relaxing Friday of game playing and nothingness and then on Saturday I went to Angel's Aerial Dance Studio to see my good friend Una's aerial silk performance. It was wonderful! I took video with my phone and uploaded it to Youtube: Here (don't hate me for this Una). Later in the night, Una put some of her costume glitter all over my face. You can see a silly picture below. Sunday was mostly a lazy day, but I had to go practice for Opera Spoonful's Art Song Night in the afternoon. I'll be singing "Sebben Crudele" it's an aria from an Antonio Caldara opera titled La costanza in amor vince l'inganno. I sang this same aria waaaay back in my senior year of high school and totally butchered it in a competition. Yay, nerves! I think I'll do much better now. My nerves regarding singing have calmed significantly thanks to all the public speaking (teaching) and karaoke practice. Finally, Sunday night there was a local production of an original play titled "Glitch" written by a local foreign teacher in Daegu. The story was good, but it was a bit slow-moving for me. I'm easily distracted though, so... maybe I wasn't the right audience for it.

Glitter all over our faces! Thanks, Una.

Sunday night I had this dream that I was late for work. Basically, I missed the entire day of work. I was distraught. I'd probably be fired if that happened to me in reality. I worry everything will get me fired after the financial issues and being laid off mid-contract at my last school. So far, it's been a lot of useless worry here.. I hope. Anyway, I woke up from this terrible dream to find that it was 2:35. I normally go into the office at around 2PM. Classes start at 2:45PM. I was still in bed at 2:35PM. I literally flew out of bed and ran downstairs in a hurry. THIS is a moment where I am ever-so-grateful I work downstairs. Thankfully, I don't have a 2:45 class on Mondays and my director was nowhere to be seen. What a relief! That dream though and what actually happened, what the hell? I don't even know how I slept that long, really. It was at least 10 hours of sleep I had by the time I woke up. I've been setting an alarm the last couple days to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Last night I decided it was high time I make an actual meal for a change. I've had too much takeout and quick meals lately. I had some chicken defrosted in the fridge so I looked up an oven-baked chicken recipe and found this: Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken . It's a super simple recipe. I added a bit of Cayenne for some kick. I also made it gluten-free, not that I care about eating or not eating gluten, but the only bread crumbs I can buy off iHerb are gluten-free. I decided to pair the chicken with some risotto since I still had some arborio rice kicking around (another thank you to iHerb). I made a parmesan risotto, added broccoli and chopped mushrooms for color and health. Gotta counteract all that butter somehow. It all came out perfectly, as you can see here. However, it took me about 2 hours with prep and dishes and everything else that went into it. Thankfully, I have at least 3-4 more meals coming with all the leftovers. Worth it.

Put it in my mouth!

Oh, Korea.

While on my way to pick up my daily Dutch latte from my local Mass Coffee before classes, I ran into this issue. This is a moment where I say "Oh, Korea." People were ducking under this massive, potentially dangerous, piece of equipment because it was covering the entire sidewalk. Common sense is lacking in this country.

Oh, Korea.

Weekend Recap

The weekend has come and gone again and I am left in its wake. I had a really great weekend, which typically results in an immediate crash afterward. I must persevere through the workweek!

Friday night I stayed in and played video games and relaxed. It was perfect.

Saturday I had a date. I mean, I think it was a date? I met the guy on OKCupid, but I guess I never know what to expect with people I meet off of it. Is it just a meeting to test the waters for friends or more, or was there some interest ahead of time? I had a really good time with him. We went down to Suseong Lake and rode the paddle boats and walked around a bit. There's a really sweet coffee shop that's built inside of an airplane. Really bizarre, but neat! We sat in the "cockpit" and talked for a bit. After the airplane adventure, we had a berry bing-su dessert at a Korean dessert chain one of my friends had introduced me to. The shaved ice is more like snow, it's amazing! It was such a nice day on Saturday, but a little too sunny. We both ended up with a bit of a sunburn afterwards. Joy. Second weekend in a row of that for me. After our day date, we met up with some of my friends at Boccacio Brau for dinner and went to a singing room when we were done eating. He seems to have a really easy time talking to new people, which is fantastic for a friend or otherwise. Outgoing personalities are my favorite. I am not sure if I'm going to hear from him again or if he wants to see me as more than a friend. However, I'm in a good place right now. It wouldn't be the end of the world if it didn't work out.

Late Saturday night when I got home I noticed this rather large rash on the side of my calf. Immediately panicked a bit, then forced myself to calm down. Stress couldn't possibly help this rash. I did a little googling and I either am dying of meningitis, or it's a sun rash. Sun rashes can show up several hours after sun exposure, and I had plenty of that on Saturday afternoon. I imagine it's the most likely culprit as the rash is flat, has not spread since I noticed it, and doesn't even itch or bother me. I'll give it a week to go away and see a dermatologist if it doesn't diminish.

Last night I called my dad for Father's Day. I'd almost completely forgotten about it, but was reminded by a friend. I never look at a calendar on the weekends. I'd known it was coming up all last week, then once the weekend hit it completely slipped my mind. Thankfully, I managed to speak with him. I miss him so much! I can't wait to visit my dad and step-mom when I'm back in the States again. It's been too long.

Lately, I've been feeling a lot happier, generally speaking. I still have moments where I'm sad, but my bounce-back time is much shorter than before. Alcohol consumption seems to trigger it now, so I have been avoiding alcohol on the weekdays. There's the hope of returning to the US in just a few months that's keeping me going and happier than before.

I'm still sick! UGH. It's so annoying. I really would like to be able to hear out of my right ear and breathe through my nose without interference again. I told my dad about it, and being a worry wart he wants me to see a doctor sooner than later. I don't want to take antibiotics. I mean, I really, really, really hate them. I'm giving this illness until next weekend. If I still don't see any change in symptoms, I'll go. I feel like it is getting better, it's just painfully slow.

So this is day 7 of no Facebook. Most people don't even realize I'm off it right now, so it's easy to see how insignificant having a profile is in everyday life. I mean, I know people I'm closer with, especially some select people back home, are aware of the absence, but others see me so much in the real world that seeing my Facebook isn't a priority to them. That's ok. I found myself getting angry and calling a friend out for staring at Facebook while out at dinner with friends. It's one thing to pull Facebook up to show your friends something, and something entirely different to pull out your phone as a way of subconsciously avoiding interaction while in a real world social setting. It's not ok. My main worry now is that I'm going to miss out on events or happenings because it seems like it's really hard for people to send a text or call to invite you to things instead of just selecting your name in a list of friends to message on Facebook or send an event invite. Oh well, it's only two weeks, then the friends list will be cut down to size.

To end this recap, I'll leave you with the most recent Celebrity Mean Tweets:

It's Friday

Praise be! It's Friday!

Today is a good day. I'm wearing a pretty new kimono top I bought from Asos and I got my daily latte. Things are looking good.

I'm still recovering from a cold I caught from a friend last weekend. Actually, at this point, it's probably a sinus infection. I'm not a doctor though, however I don't see a point in going to one for the sniffles and hacking cough. It'll pass with time. I might have accidentally given this bug to a couple people last Saturday night. Oops.

Since I've been sick, I haven't gone to Muay Thai all week. Oh yeah! I started Muay Thai training a few weeks ago. It's been a lot of fun learning the ropes, but Coach is relentless. I could never survive an hour session with a runny nose or hacking cough. No way. I hope I'm feeling better next week. I paid $100 for a month of classes, so I need to get my money's worth out of my last week of the month.

Another thing to celebrate: The middle school exams are coming up early next month. This means that 4 of my middle school scheduled classes are mostly cancelled until exams happen so the Korean teacher can prepare them. Yippee! That's 4 extra hours a week of doing whatever I want. It's been exceptional this week since I've been sick. I have more resting time, less talky time.

I was expecting it to be harder to take a break from Facebook, but it's day 4 now and I feel pretty good. I don't miss it too much. Actually, I feel a lot happier than when I am on Facebook 2 hours a day. Prior to deactivating my account, I had removed the Facebook app from my phone so I could focus on the here and now when I'm out and about, so I'd already adjusted to that. I still occasionally auto-type "www.facebook.com" when I first open Chrome, but I've started to catch myself or train myself out of it entirely. I'm thinking I might break straight through to July and limit my time on it severely. It is an epic waste of time. I feel worse about myself sitting on the computer facebooking for hours than gaming, so that's saying something.

By the way, I hope someone out there watched The Daily Show this week and saw Jason Jones rip his pants. I love him.

The Facebook Break - Blog Reawakening

I haven't posted in such a long time, but things have been so crazy in Korea. So crazy. I'm taking a break from Facebook right now. Ideally it would be permanent, but sadly I know society these days won't allow that and still let me be social and in-the-know. I was laid off from my previous school halfway through my second contract and put in the position of going home before my debt was paid off or find a new job - quickly. I found a new job hastily and am regretting my impatience, but only a little bit. I should have tried for an after school program job, not another hagwon, but such is life. I wound up with a new school that has me working many more classes per week than I had been previously, leaving me feeling exceptionally drained most days of the week. Some consolidation was done to lower me down to legal hour limits (oh yeah, they had me working illegal amounts of classes for the first two months), but I still feel overwhelmed at times teaching 7 classes straight without breaks two days of the week. I moved to Daegu. Daegu has a great -massive- foreigner base compared to Daejeon. I finally found a niche I truly fit in with, which is something I'd never experienced in Daejeon. I met a guy. I met a guy I really liked. I mean I really, really, really liked him. He was freshly out of a bad breakup and still hurting pretty intensely. I noticed it occasionally in faces he made when he thought no one was looking or when he sighed deeply, but he made an effort not to let it poison what we had. I only knew of the ex from others as a warning to be careful. I was, but I wasn't prepared for what was coming. He passed away exactly 4 weeks after I met him thanks to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think he might have ended things with me had he not died, but losing him entirely was - and still is - a very painful thing for me. He was a wonderful person and a wonderful friend. I hope to be so lucky as to meet someone just as sweet and caring as him again. I'm ready to go home. There have been some really great things in Korea and some really terrible things. I try not to let the terrible overshadow the wonderful, but it's hard sometimes. Maybe I won't stay home forever, maybe my sea legs will kick in again and I'll come back or go somewhere new. Only time will tell. Life is a scary thing for me right now, but I'm hoping to overcome that.