frustrated... again.

The Korean embassy here in Cambodia really sucks. When you phone them, they will answer your questions. But when you actually go there, the answers that they gave you on the phone were not true. They will say it is easy to get the VISA and all you need it the VISA issuance number. But no. They actually want the official blue document from the Immigration Office in Korea. They will then say that it only takes a couple of days to process the VISA. But no. Then they say it will take more than a week. WHAT?
STRESS!!!
My school sent the document with FedEx. It was supposed to arrive at my hotel here in Phnom Penh on the 16th, and I would be here on the 19th to pick it up and go to the embassy. I arrived here and the hotel said the document didn't come. Several people there said it didn't come (it's a very small hotel with not many people... I think almost all from one family). I talked to my school, they contacted FedEx, who said that the document was delivered to my hotel on the 15th! So back to the hotel to ask again. It turns out it was delivered, but the woman that signed for it locked it under the counter and forgot who it was for and then forgot about it. She also didn't tell anyone else that it had arrived. SHE is the first one that told me that it had not arrived! So one more day wasted.
Then, document in hand, I went to the embassy and applied. Fine. No problem. BUT, the date that the woman wrote on the receipt as to when I could pick it up was the 28th! More than a week! I told her I have to fly out on Friday. I have to phone today to see if they can rush it. ARGH!
This weekend is a huge All of the hotels are booked for the weekend, and everyone is busy getting ready for the boat races and other such festivities.
So this week is a write off. I should have just come here for the 15 day flight sale that the airline was offering and then gone to Japan for the over night VISA run. It would have cost the same, I would have been able to see more here, and wouldn't have all of this crap to deal with. Who knew?

VISA problems

Vacation should NOT be this stressful!!!!! I am in Cambodia now. I had decided to take a vacation from Korea while waiting for my new job to start. I decided to get my new work VISA here rather than doing a VISA run to Japan. I know people who have done VISA runs in Thailand and other such countries. The process seems to be the same everywhere. BUT, in Cambodia, unlike almost every other Korean Embassy, they require the actual VISA issuance document and not just the number. I found this out TODAY when I went to the embassy to apply for my passport, all set with my application form, photo, money, and VISA issuance NUMBER written on a little piece of paper that my school gave to me on Monday. So now what???

The embassy says I should get the school to send the document to me at my hotel. WHAT hotel? When? I'm here on vacation. I don't want to sit around waiting for a stupid piece of paper. I checked the various couriers on the net. I think the EARLIEST it would come, IF the school sends it tomorrow, is next week Monday. Not that bad, I suppose. I think the easiest/best way is for the school to send it as a pick-up rather than having it delivered to a hotel. That way I can pick it up and take it to the embassy in the same day (when I am in the city). I think that is the only way that I can actually still do some traveling while waiting. Also, I am still waiting to hear back from my school. I sent them an email this afternoon after I found out, and then again after I checked out the couriers on the net and such. Waiting sucks.

No matter what, I have to re-think my planning on when I am doing things here. I want to spend more than a week in the Siem Reap area, but now I'm not sure how, unless I do it in two halves. That kind a sucks. I can't put it off to the end, as I'm not sure how long I'll be waiting here. And I can't just go up there now and stay and then leave the VISA stuff to the end, as I'm not sure how long it will take for them to actually PROCESS the VISA. As they the website for the Korean Embassy here isn't very informative, I have NO information.

What to do.

jobless and homeless

Well... This sucks.
For now I am jobless and homeless. My life here is all in boxes stacked up in a friend's home in Seoul. As her home is only one small room, my stuff is taking up about half of it. : I'm sleeping on the floor space that is left.
I'm applying for many jobs and going on a few interviews here and there. I'm sticking to those I can find within Seoul.
Some offers are for starting ASAP, some don't start until anywhere from early to late November. Anything after that is way too late for me.
I'll let you know when I do finally get a job and new home.
It is depressing having to live out of a suitcase.

why do i worry so much?

I worry all the time about too many things. Maybe this is why.??

Why Women Worry So Much
By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer 28 September 2007 10:15 am ET
Scientists have known that on the whole, females of all ages tend to worry more and have more intense worries than males. Women also tend to perceive more risk in situations and grow more anxious than men.
Now we know why.
Women are more likely than men to believe that past experiences accurately forecast the future, according to two new studies.
The research, involving both 3- to 6-year-olds and adults of both genders, tested the extent to which participants' thought that worry can be caused by thinking that a bad event that happened in the past could happen again in the future. (This skill, in its simplest form, is critical to social understanding as it is important to making decisions and assessing risk.)
For the first study, subjects listened to six stories that featured characters harmed by another person or animal in the story. Many days later, the character felt worried or changed their behavior when confronted with the same wrongdoer who had hurt them before. (For example, if one little boy stole a toy from another, the child might be worried when he saw that boy again and hide the new toy he was playing with.)
The second study was the same, except that the person or animal the character ran across later only looked similar to the one that had harmed them before.
At the end of each story, the participants were asked to explain why the character was worried or changed their behavior.
Females, both children and adults, were more likely to use uncertainty to explain the character's reaction, that is, they tended to explain the reaction in terms of events that might happen versus those that will happen, the researcher reported. They also tended, more than males, to predict that the characters who encountered the new character who looked similar to the wrongdoer would feel worried because they thought the new character would also do them harm.
The studies, detailed in the Sept./Oct. issue of the journal Child Development, also found that children increasingly made these kinds of past-to-future connections as they got older, which yields insight into their cognitive development.
"These results are significant because they reveal that knowledge about the impact of past-to-future thinking on emotions and behaviors develops during the preschool years," said study author Kristin Lagattuta of the University of California, Davis.

An older but related article:

Men and Women Really Do Think Differently
By Bjorn Carey, LiveScience Staff Writer 20 January 2005 02:12 pm ET
Men and women do think differently, at least where the anatomy of the brain is concerned, according to a new study.
The brain is made primarily of two different types of tissue, called gray matter and white matter. This new research reveals that men think more with their gray matter, and women think more with white. Researchers stressed that just because the two sexes think differently, this does not affect intellectual performance.
Psychology professor Richard Haier of the University of California, Irvine led the research along with colleagues from the University of New Mexico. Their findings show that in general, men have nearly 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence compared with women, whereas women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence compared to men.
"These findings suggest that human evolution has created two different types of brains designed for equally intelligent behavior," said Haier, adding that, "by pinpointing these gender-based intelligence areas, the study has the potential to aid research on dementia and other cognitive-impairment diseases in the brain."
The results are detailed in the online version of the journal NeuroImage.
In human brains, gray matter represents information processing centers, whereas white matter works to network these processing centers.
The results from this study may help explain why men and women excel at different types of tasks, said co-author and neuropsychologist Rex Jung of the University of New Mexico. For example, men tend to do better with tasks requiring more localized processing, such as mathematics, Jung said, while women are better at integrating and assimilating information from distributed gray-matter regions of the brain, which aids language skills.
Scientists find it very interesting that while men and women use two very different activity centers and neurological pathways, men and women perform equally well on broad measures of cognitive ability, such as intelligence tests.
This research also gives insight to why different types of head injuries are more disastrous to one sex or the other. For example, in women 84 percent of gray matter regions and 86 percent of white matter regions involved in intellectual performance were located in the frontal lobes, whereas the percentages of these regions in a man's frontal lobes are 45 percent and zero, respectively. This matches up well with clinical data that shows frontal lobe damage in women to be much more destructive than the same type of damage in men.
Both Haier and Jung hope that this research will someday help doctors diagnose brain disorders in men and women earlier, as well as provide help designing more effective and precise treatments for brain damage.

X-rays etc

I'm getting so tired of this. I changed hospitals to be closer to where I work (and so that I could actually make appointments without having mess around with the school schedule, which doesnt' really work anyway). The new doctor seems very nice, and a bit more concerned about things than the other one. But it meant more X-rays. He said a few, only to help make a diagnosis. 20 X-rays is a bit more than a few. And I go in on Saturday for a full body bone scan. This is getting so expensive. I mentioned how much I was paying (since this whole problem started) and he is trying to help me as much as he can. He is a specialist, which means to see him it costs about about twice as much (or more) than a regular doctor. Well, he made it so that I am only paying the fees for a regular doctor. Nice. I also asked if he could suggest a good multivitamin. He reached into his own bag and pulled out a new box of vitamins and gave them to me, saying that his pharmacist had just dropped them for HIM. Many of the things that I mentioned that the other doctor had just shrugged his shoulders at, this one shook his head and said it was not good.
So, in the last year, I've had, I think, around 45 X-rays. YIKES!!! That includes the ones at the previous hospital and the X-rays at the dentists' offices that I've been to. I had one X-ray taken yesterday at the dentist, and then again today, as the machine malfunctioned and squished the picture up a bit so that you couldn't clearly see what was what (computer image xray). They had to readjust the machine and retake the X-ray.
It is getting quite expensive. The dentist is quite cheap here compared to back home. At least, some things are. To get a wisdom tooth pulled, it cost me less than $10, including the X-ray and medicine; about $25 when it was a bit more intensive and I had to have a couple of stitches. The problem I have now, is a bit more extensive. The dentist says it is probably due to the medication I've been taking, that my immune system is down and so I am more susceptible to things (which is what I had already thought of). Anyway, it is some sort of gingivitis or such. I needed a teeth cleaning anyway, so he is doing that at the same time. He is also doing a bit extra for me because he feels bad, he is charging me for the regular type of scaling, but using the laser scaling. It will cost me a total of $400, being done in 4 sessions - one quarter of my mouth at a time. Each takes about 30 minutes. He used the laser to clean my teeth and I think he was cauterizing my gums a bit, as I have been having a bit of problems with them bleeding. With my mouth numbed and my face covered, all I could do was smell the burning what ever. not nice. 3 more times I have to deal with that.
So anyway, this hasn't been the best day. 2 hours at the hospital and almost an hour at the dentist's office.

so sick of being sick.

Well, my tonsillitis is all of a sudden back. I started to feel feverish Monday night. The gums around my last wisdom started to bother me again, so I began to wonder (last time I had it, it really affected my gums there). Then yesterday, my throat was killing me, as were my gums. My tonsils are inflamed again, with the white guck on them. Yuck. I went to the doctor and got medicine for 3 days. I'm crossing my fingers. Recurring tonsillitis is definitely not a good thing. He was already starting to talk about surgery the last time I had it, as it was taking so long to go away (I had it for over 2 weeks!). Today all of my gums are a bit swollen. My throat hurts, and is irritating (it feels like there is something stuck in my throat) and my gums are killing me. My whole mouth feels strange. This sucks.

skinny

For the first time in my life, I am being called skinny.

On Monday, one of my students, Annie, came up to me and said, "Miss Laura, you are kinda skinny." Followed by, "My mom is a little bit fat." She just turned 5 years old (6 in Korean age). Usually, Koreans think that all foreigners are fat. I've had some very thin foreign friends complaining about their students calling them fat. Kids just say what they think, what they see. They don't sugar coat things. While I've been in Korea, I've always been told I have a small face, and the odd time I got some sort of reference to me being big.

I've always felt that being big boned is a curse. Since I was little I was generally referred to as being fat, even though it wasn't always so. My friends have often said I am not fat, but big.

Since last June, I've lost around 11 or 12 kg. I haven't tried to lose weight. I suppose the meds I'm on have something to do with it. Since I got sick and started taking anti-inflammatories and pain killers and such, I've lost a lot of my appetite. I do eat, but sometimes just plain forget to eat, as I don't often feel hungry. If I don't make myself eat, I forget. I eat way too much junk food, though. Choco pies and chocolates and sometimes chips. I'm not much of a cook. I guess I feel it is sort of a waste of time and energy to cook for only one person - in terms of time and the mess it makes. Not to mention the fact that everything is sold in large amounts, which is NOT good for one person. I am constantly having to throw food out. I hate it. It is so wasteful. As a result, I am often just eating things that take little or no effort. Cut up vegetables, peanut butter sandwiches, sometimes rice, etc. What ever.This is what losing 11 or so kg looks like. I bought these jeans in February last year, right before I came back to Korea. I set the belt at what I wore it at then. I have had to tighten it by 4 holes. I don't even undo the button or zipper on anything anymore. I don't need to. It is quite a problem really. Almost all of my clothes are so big on me that they look funny. And this is a bad country for that to happen in, as NOTHING fits. Korean clothes are small. The pants, if they do come in a big enough size, are always way too short (usually 30 inches long... I generally need 34 inches length). Shirts are too small in the chest area and long sleeves are about 3/4 length on me. Getting dressed is sometimes a chore as I get so stressed out about it. Almost everything in my closet now looks like crap on me.

sick :(

I am still very sick. My throat is KILLING me. I've been going to the doctor almost every day for a shot in the 'hip' and some other treatments. I found out that the stuff he sprays in my mouth and the gas that I am inhaling from a machine are both some sort of anti-inflammatory or such (or so he said). The other day he prescribed me a new type of antibiotic as that other one wasn't working. The new one is MUCH stronger than the other one, he said. Well, the inflammation is very slowly going down. The pain, however, has not changed. That might be affected by my work. I am talking almost all day, in a very upbeat way. I have to. That is my job. My job is to speak as cheerfully as I possibly can, and as much as I possibly can. For my throat to heal quickly, I probably shouldn't be talking much at all.
Eating hurts sooooo much. Especially things like oranges or kimchi. OUCH!!! But I have been eating them anyway. Really, anything I eat or drink hurts, as it hurts to swallow. It hurts to breath.
WHEN will it go away?????
TGIF!!!!!

VISA Run to Fukuoka, Japan... part I: March 10th

I went to Japan last week for 3.5 days (I left on the 10th and came back on the 13th). It is the most common place for foreigners in Korea to go for a VISA run.
Leaving on the 10th was quite stressful, as I didn't know that I was leaving then, until the afternoon of the 9th. My VISA expired on the 9th. Everyone (my boss, my friends, my recruiter, etc) had heard/said that I had a 2 weeks grace period after my VISA expiry date in which to leave the country. I had no choice in the matter, as my school didn't get my VISA confirmation letter until, I thiink, the 8th or 9th, and I wasn't the one that was booking tickets and such. The original plan, thinking about the 2 weeks grace, had me leaving on the 23rd to spend an entire weekend in Japan and then doing the run. Then on the 9th, they were informed that my last school handed in my release forms to immigration on February 28th, which would mean that my VISA probably ended on that day (so they were thinking), and so the 2 weeks grace would end on the 14th. The other teacher was going then, so I had to go ASAP.

And, they emailed me my e-ticket and such the evening of the 9th, but I don't have a printer. I was busy from other plans on the 9th so that only left the Saturday morning to get everything done (find somewhere to print out my tickets and such, pack, etc). Luckily Revo was able to come to feed Tokki while I was away. If not, I would have been even busier that morning, as I would have had to take Tokki to the vet for "hotelling", IF they had space, that is. I got to the airport around 2 hours ahead of time. I checked in in an express lane for those that aren't checking bags, and then went and had some lunch (I hadn't even had breakfast that morning from all that I had to do). My flight was to leave at 6:10 PM. At a little before 5, I went through security without any problems... they had to check my bag, though, and put all of my 'liquids' and such into a small ziplock bag (you are allowed what will fit into a sealable 1L bag). Then at Immigration I had a problem. My VISA expired on the 9th and it was the 10th. BIG PROBLEM. There is a bit of a grace period in terms of not having to pay any fines, but it is still a problem, and paperwork and such still had to be done. I had to sit around and wait for them to do who knows what. Then, a girl working at the airport literally ran with me to the little immigration office out in the public area (before security) where I had to draw a number and wait some more. Then, we had to sprint all the way back across the airport, where I had to go through security once again. I had to wait for a couple of people go to through infront of me, before they let me go. It was already take-off time for my flight!!!! And then they stopped me and wanted to check in my bag, to see the liquids. They said one of my containers was too big. It was 115 mL but they only allow a maximum size of 100mL. It was ONE OF THEM that took it from my other bag and PUT IT IN THE PLASTIC BAG BEFORE!!!!! The airport girl that was with me had gone though to take my passport to the immigration past security to get the rest of the stuff done there. She came back and told security that I had already gone through and such, so then they said they would let the extra 115 mL pass that time only. Then I had to go to get my passport stamped and run to the gate, which was, luckily, straight ahead. I was exhausted from running with my pack on my back, and my feet and legs were killing me (I've been having other problems and the doctor has told me several times I shouldn't even be walking much, let alone running with extra weight).

They had held the flight for me, and so they welcomed me by name when I finally got on. I only wanted to sit down in my seat. When I finally got there, I could do nothing to prevent a few tears from going running down my cheeks (if I weren't in such a public place it would have been a lot more). So much stress.

The food on the flight was disappointing. No choice. Just a dish of rice with some sort of seafood and slices of ginger and some sort of strange shredded fluorescent pink stuff all over it.

Once I was actually in Japan, everything was fine. I didn't have a hotel booked for that night, only for my last night (my school was only paying for one night and so would only book one for me). My plan was to go to that hotel and hope they had rooms available when I got there. The hotel was easy to find. The subway system goes right to the airport, and my hotel was right beside the main train station, only 2 stops from the airport. That night all I did was relax and go go sleep early, as I hadn't slept much the night before and had an extremely stressful day.

or not...

I've had a busy week. Every night it was something different... and my home is still not arranged, as the closet that my school got for me is about 2cm bigger than the space I told them it had to fit in. So, I have to rearrange my entire room in order for it to fit somewhere; anywhere. The table they got me is also too big. I asked for a little Korean style fold up table, as my home is so small. They got me a normal height table.... with only one chair.
Word itself is good. I am enjoying it, and I love my kids. I think my class is the best in the school (and not just because they are my class).
SO.... TODAY I am flying to Japan. I found that out only YESTERDAY!!!!! I was supposed to go in 2 weeks, but they found out yesterday that because my other school sent in my release forms on February 28th, my VISA actually finished then, instead of the 9th, as my actual VISA says. There is a 2 week grace period after the VISA ends, which would put it at the 14th.
I am going to Fukouka. I'm not exactly sure where it is... somewhere in the south of Japan. The other times I have gone on VISA runs, I've gone to Osaka. I don't know where anything is in Fukouka. I had told them right from the beginning that I wanted to go on a weekend so that I could actually do something there, or see something while I am there, rather than just going and getting the VISA. I hate going to a country and not seeing anything while there. It seems like a waste (I did that the last 2 times, as I had no money then).
AND... they booked my tickets yesterday afternoon and only booked my hotel for Monday night, as I have to pay the others (the VISA run now takes 2 days). I had asked them to just add the other two nights but they said they couldn't as it was too late. AND... I asked my boss to print out my e-ticket for me. He said okay, went and printed out a page and handed it to me. I assumed that it was my e-ticket. It was only my itinerary. I HAVE NO PRINTER. I would have done it myself, but I didn't get the email until later that evening. So NOW I have to go find some place that will print it out for me. I also didn't have a chance to figure out what I can do when I am there. I was going to use the next couple of weeks to look it up. Now I am going to a place that I know nothing about. AND I don't yet have a hotel for tonight. I am hoping that if I go to the hotel that they booked me in for Monday, that maybe they will have a room available. And I haven't yet checked what I am allowed to take on the plane. I haven't yet packed anything and I have to leave my home less than 4 hours.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

I FINALLY got my net and phone line installed. After more than a week of waiting. Now I just have to wait for my closet and book shelf, pots and pans and other such things. I was told to expect them today/this evening sometime (my boss told me before I left work today). Hopefully that won't be postponed yet again. My home is still a mess, as I can't really organize anything without the shelves and closet and such. I need to know how much will fit before I do anything else.

Today was the second day of classes. It went fairly well, I suppose. I am still not yet into the hang of it, as it is very different from the other schools I have worked in.
The schedule isn't very strict. It is basically:
9:00-9:40 welcoming students, getting coats and bags put away, etc.
9:40-10:40 class time with 6 year old Milky Way A class (my homeroom class)
10:40-11:00 snack time (with my homeroom class)

11:00-11:30 class time with 5 year old Moon class (younger 3 year olds)
11:30-12:00 class time with 5 year old Rainbow class (older 3 year olds)
12:00-1:10 lunch time (with my homeroom class)
1:10-2:10 class time with 6 year old Milky Way B class
2:10-2:30 circle time with my class and getting kids organized to leave (getting coats, etc)
We don't have to follow that schedule exactly... It depends on the kids, really. Today I didn't start the Moon class until around 10:10 and then finished the Rainbow class at around 11:45. I basically let Stephanie (a Kyopo: Korean that grew up overseas - she is from New Zealand), the Milky Way B class teacher decide, as I do things the same time as her, only opposite.
I am surprised at how much work it takes to fill an hour of class time with a bunch of 4 year olds (the Korean 6 year olds are Western age 4).
I love my class. They are all so sweet and relatively well behaved. I have 12 now. Almost the entire time I am with my class, my Korean partner (she doesn't speak much English) is there. The Milky Way B class is a bit more problematic. There are a few boys in there that are very obnoxious and overbearing. So far, the Korean teacher that is in that room has not done much to stop such behaviour. If it continues much longer, I will complain about it. It can get a bit stressful trying to deal with things like that without neglecting the other students that actually want to learn and pay attention. Ignoring them is not an option, as they are extremely loud. Both days so far, they were shouting "Panties" instead of every word in the songs we were singing. I asked them if they were babies. That stopped it for a little while, as they didn't like being called babies, but then they got over that and started again.

Today's snack was not milk and cookies or anything like that... it was milk and little dried fish that the kids here seem to love.Yuck.

busy

Well, I am now moved into my new home. I don't yet have my telephone or net set up. I'm hoping to get that done this week, but I'm not sure if that will happen or not. Moving is sooooo stressful. I didn't really sleep all weekend, due to packing and such. Now I have to figure out where to put everything. My new home only has one small wardrobe that is only shelves. Maybe 1/4 of my clothes fit in it. There is no where to actually hang up clothes. I have to ask my new school to get me a closet or dresser or something like that. I am still waiting for my water cooler, too.
It will take me a while to figure out the area. Where my home is, it is like a maze of little streets, some too small for cars to go down. It is in the hills, almost at the top of a hill. There are two entrances to my building. One on the first floor, where my home is, and another on the 3rd floor. Once I am settled in I will post some pictures. It is really an interesting area. It is almost right below Namsan Tower (Seoul Tower).

worry

The other day, I was a bit worried all day. In the morning, I got a text message from M in Egypt, saying:
"Sabah el asel habibi im now in police ofice i stil i dont know what can i do? Dont wory i will be okay"
It would have been 2 AM in Egypt, and he should have been at work, still (he normally works from 3 PM until sometimes 6 AM!!!). I tried phoning him then, but his phone was turned off. He had just sent the message!!! I phoning him several times during the day. He was then supposed to meet me on the Net that evening at 9:00 (2 PM in Egypt, an hour before he had to be at work). He didn't show up on the Net, and I could do nothing but wait...
A couple of days before, a man entered the cafe and started a bit of an arguement over prices. He said that he was Egyptian, so he didn't have to pay full price. M said no, everything was the same price, no matter where the customer was from. The man then said he was a police officer, and he didn't have to pay full price. After arguing a bit, the man demanded to talk to the manager, and then said he would be back.
I've been reading a lot of Egyptian blogs and such, and so I have been hearing a lot of bad things about the way that the police in Egypt work. Of course, I know that they aren't all bad (M's father was a police officer, as are two of his brothers), but the stories I am reading/hearing are VERY bad, and are increasing in number.
I got a text message from him a couple of hours after he was supposed to start working and phoned him right away. He had just gotten to work. Apparently, the man returned and I'm not exactly sure what happened, but M had to go to the police office. When he got there, they just told him to sit down. He sat down and sent me the text message. Then they saw he was using his phone and demanded that he give it to them. He said he had to phone his manager, as he was supposed to be at work. They told him that if he didn't give him the phone, they would break it. So there went his phone. That is why it was turned off so suddenly. After working for almost 12 hours, he sat in the police office for over 12 hours. They kept asking him all sorts of questions to do with why he was in Sharm, what he was doing, when he got his passport, etc... Then they let him go, an hour after he was supposed to start work. So he got no sleep, and then had to go back to work. He was able to go home to get a few hours of sleep, though.

ack!!

Don't you just love it when you are sitting there typing away on the computer and you feel an ant crawling up your arm?

AAAAAAAAAAAAANTS!!!!!!

I came home today to find my living room crawling with ants. They are EVERYWHERE!!!!! on the wall, all over the floor, on my desk... They were all over Tokki's cage. :( That is only the second time that they have been near her cage. I HATE ANTS!!!
Last week, one of the school's drivers came here during the day to paint an insecticide around the edges of the room. It obviously does not work. I have moved Tokki to the hall for the night and will spray the living room before I go to bed. I only sprayed it a couple of weeks ago. I HATE ANTS!!! I HATE ANTS!!!! They just won't leave me alone.
I had job interview after work today. The school is an English kindergarten (NOT a English hagwon kindy) in Dongbu-Ichon-Dong (Ichon station). It is a very rich area with a lot of returnee families (families that have lived overseas). Many of the parents in the area speak English very well, as do many of the kids. I worked in a hagwon in that area for around 6 months the last time I was in Korea. One of my Korean friends that I made while working there lives almost right across the street from the kindy school.
If I take the job, I will work from 9 to 5. The kindy students are there from 9:50 until 2:30. Then I would have about an hour of teaching elementary kids, or something like that. The kindy has a very set schedule. The school seems to be very organized. There are 5 teachers (of which I would be one) and around 100 students. I would be the only foreign teacher. 2 of the teachers are Kyopos (Koreans that grew up overseas) and the other 2 are English speaking Koreans. I would like to work with other foreigners, but since I have friends in the area, and it is a smaller scale school, it might be okay. Where I am now, I sort of feel like an outsider, and I don't know anyone in the area.
The school doesn't have housing for a teacher right now, as all of the teachers they have had before had been army wives or such, that just took a housing allowance instead. So they would have to find me a home. It would not be in the area, though, as for the most part, it is all very expensive, big apartments. It would probably be near Samgakji Station, which is 2 stops away. They said I would be able to help choose my home (it would be a one room, most likely... which is standard for foreign teachers living here) and such. The thing I care the most about is that it is ANT FREE!!!!! They would also have to get all new furniture and such.
They are offering the same salary as what I am making now. They really seem to want me to work there.
I think I might take it. I would like an easy job, like the one I have now (in a different location), but it does get to me sometimes. Sometimes I wish that I could be more involved in what is going on in the school, rather than just some "celebrity" (the Korean kindy teachers have said I am sort of like a celebrity in the way that the kids look up to me, react to me, etc) that pops into the class once a day for a few minutes.

scary

I just had a drunk crazy man attack me on the subway... very scary............
I've had drunk Korean men make eyes at me, follow me, etc. I've even had one grab my ass at one point (he thought I was Russian). But THIS was different. He wasn't just a drunk Korean... he really was crazy. He was drunk and dirty and smelly. His clothes were too big, and very dirty. He had shoes but no socks.
He was making a scene... making all sorts of noise, stumbling around... All of the Koreans were avoiding him... One got up from where he was sitting to sit somewhere else, and walked past me, at which point the drunk crazy man noticed me...
It was before my transfer stop so I was standing in line at the door... At first I thought he was following the guy that went past me... but then he stopped. He got in front of me and stood there looking at me... I went to move around him, at which point he grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back...
I said "don't touch me" and he repeated "touch me??"
He started to move towards me again, and wouldn't let me pass him, so I quickly went to the next door... where there was a large group waiting....
I went through the group but he grabbed the back of my jacket and started pulling me with him.... Then the Korean guys around me stepped in to help me. They had to literally rip him off of me... I'm not sure what happened. I think one pulled my jacket and the other pulled him... He ended up sprawled on the floor on the other side...
I was in such a hurry to get out of there when the doors opened (right then) that I didn't even say thank you... I was so frazzled that I didn't know which way I was going and kept having to turn around... I went the wrong way twice (trying to transfer). I am still shaking.

have I mentioned how much I HATE ANTS!!!?

The ants are back...
This morning I woke up when a friend called. We talked for a short time and then I was going to go back to sleep, only I noticed something moving... ON MY BED. There was a little ant wandering. I squished it and then decided to see if there were any more. There were. There was an ant highway going around on my bed. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from or where they were going; they were just there. ACK!!!!! I have no more spray. I'll have to get some tomorrow. Today was shot as I was sick. I've been throwing up almost every hour. I felt fine when I got up, but then I just kept feeling worse and worse.
The owner lady was here earlier to collect some money for my water/electric bill. I mentioned the ants in my bedroom. There is now a dish of her special concoction under my bed. I think I might be sleeping on my living room floor tonight!!!

I HATE ANTS!! I HATE ANTS!!!

I HATE ANTS!!!
The other day there was a highway going between the ceiling and the floor in my kitchen. They were all over inside my cupboards... where my clean dishes are... where there is NO FOOD!!! They were crawling up my water cooler... where there is NO FOOD!!! Are these ants stupid or something? I'm not sure which direction they were going... up or down. They are in the walls. They are in the ceiling. They are in the floor. ARGH!!!
So, anyway, I sprayed all over the kitchen, over and under the cupboards (I didn't want to spray all of my dishes in the cupboards). There were a few stragglers in the cupboards the next morning, but they too were gone by the end of the day.
Then today when I came home, I walked into my living room to find a highway going across the middle of the floor, between the dresser [where I keep miscellaneous stuff for Tokki (newspapers to line her cage, wood shavings, sealed bags of rabbit food (the ants were NOT on the rabbit food) and for my computer (cables, travel case, etc)] and my clothes rack, where I hang CLEAN CLOTHES... where there is NO FOOD!!! They were going up the clothes rack, they were in the bottom drawer, and they were swarming all over (an IN) the big CD case that I had sitting on the floor leaning against the dresser. WHY??? I spent a long time sitting there squishing every little ant I could find. I killed hundreds of them. No exaggerating!!! I have the crawlies now. I'll spray the room before I go to bed. I'll have to move Tokki out into the hall. I'm glad they weren't going around her cage. I would have sprayed right away, but my TV (not so important, or much used), my computer (which I use ALL THE TIME), and Tokki were in here. I spend a lot of time in this room when I am home. I'm pretty tempted to bomb the whole place (a 'bug bomb' that smokes the entire home), but that leaves everything smelling bad for days/weeks. The last (and only) time that I used one was my last time in Korea, in a one room home. I set it off in the morning and didn't return until fairly late that evening. I had trouble breathing in there. I had the door and windows open, the fan and air conditioner going to circulate and in an attempt to bring in fresh air. I didn't sleep much that night and ended up going out for short walks to get fresh air. It wouldn't be as bad in this place, as it is several rooms. I'll have to make sure the windows are open. If/when I do the bomb, I'll have to move Tokki out to the balcony area. I'll try spraying the whole place first, though. What a hassle.
Winter is here. The bugs are supposed to be gone!! Why aren't they? For some reason, I have seen more mosquitos in the past couple of weeks than I did all summer!!!! And the ants just won't go away!!!
Did I mention I HATE ANTS!!!???

Ahhhhhhhhh! My eye!!!

In my 5:00 class, we started out talking about traveling. I got out the globe and they were trying to find different countries. Paul then started obsessing about polar bears. He thought they were only in Russia. I said there were polar bears in Canada. He got all excited and asked if I had seen any. I said I had only seen polar bears in the zoo, but I had seen other bears. I took out my little photo album to show them some of my pictures (I have pictures of some bears at a garbage dump in Northern Mantoba).
Paul is, well, a big baby at times. He is the biggest student in the academy. He is, well, BIG. He is, I think, in grade 6. He is almost my height, but well, BIG. And he is also the biggest whiner. And he is VERY hyper; ALL THE TIME.
Anyway... the students were standing around me looking at my pictures, and Paul got excited about one of the pictures (I have no idea which one now) and up swung his arm and AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! MY EYE!!!!
The students all saw it happen so knew he accidentally hit me in the eye. I had to run (almost stumble, as I had my eyes mostly shut) out of the room and out of the hagwon to the bathroom down the hall. Tears were running down my face and I couldn't see anything. I could barely open my other eye, let alone the one that was hit. My boss saw me run past her desk, and I think the students said something to her about it, so she showed up a moment later. I wouldn't normally cry from getting hit... but when you are hit in the eye, you have no choice. My boss ran to get me some tissues. I had to stand there a few minutes until I could actually open my left eye to see what I was doing. Of course, I still had to finish teaching the classes. Only, I had to do it with one eye shut... and my face all red. After several minutes, I could open my right eye (not all the way, though), but it still hurts like hell, and there is a fuzzy spot.
Paul felt sooooooooooooooo bad the rest of the class. He was more like the rest of the students... NOT hyper.
It'll be better tomorrow, I'm sure. I'll put some drops in it before I go to sleep tonight.
At least it isn't as bad as the paper cut I had on my cornea many years ago. THAT hurt like a ...

stress II

Well... I have finished 2 days of my 2 weeks of hell at work. This week is the 7 year old classes, as I mentioned. It only actually lasts 30 minutes each day, as I teach each half of each class (one class a day) for only 15 minutes. Then it is back to the usual classes for the rest of the morning. I was given the week's schedule first thing Monday morning (other classes had to be moved around to accomodate both in time and in location), basically a few minutes before the first class. I was to start at 10:15. The first class on Monday got started a minute late. I had been told to finish the first group at 10:30. I finished at around 10:31. Jenny's activity took a bit long, and so she didn't finish until a couple minutes after I did. So my second class started almost 5 minutes late. I did the exactly same lesson as I had the first group, and so I finished 5 minutes later than I should have (I was supposed to be teaching another class after that, but figured that was more important as the parents were there). Later I was informed that my lesson was too short, and Jenny was told hers was too long. They said a 15 minute lesson. Mine was 15 minutes. What do they expect? Do they want me to count the seconds??? They also said that I should have the kids be a bit more active. Well, in a 15 minute class, there are only so many things I can do. And they specifically said, if I am playing a game, or have volunteers, I have to make sure that every student has a turn. Well, to do that it would take more than the time alloted. Argh.
Today I added one more little action song, to add a bit more time and to get the kids to be a bit more 'active'. Well, the first group went okay. Then I was with the second group. I had everything set up, we were going to start a song... and nothing happened. I pressed play again, and nothing happened. The numbers on the CD player blinked a bit, and then it just said "NO DISK". WTF???? And everyone was just sitting there/standing there watching me. I was just about ready to just start singing the song sans music (I would have had the same problem later, though, as one of the other activities also included a CD), one of the teachers ran out and grabbed a CD player from another room. I hate technical difficulties. And then at lunch time, Jenny told me that SHE tried to use the CD player, but it didn't work, but she had enough other stuff to do that she skipped that step. She TOLD the teacher that the CD player didn't work. So they KNEW that it didn't work, and they KNEW that my lesson plan included things that I needed the CD player for. I felt sabotaged.
Today I started planning my lesson for the 6 year old classes. I have it all figured out. I am planning on doing a practice of the book and chant and such with each class the day before their parents are to come in. I figure they already know the book very well (it was the last book that we did, and it is mostly just to do with counting to 10) so I don't need to over do the rehearsing. I am only giving the 7 year olds one practice class.
The kindy office phoned LCC today to have Kelly ask me if I have my lesson prepared. I said I was doing that today. They phoned back saying that I didn't because the teachers said I did normal things in the classes today. I said would practice the lesson before it was their turn. I was questioned about that. They think the kids need to practice all this week. There is no way I'm going to do that. These are 5 year old kids. They get bored of things easily. What better way to bore them than to make them do the same thing over and over and over. Most of them already know the book by heart, and the ones that don't, well, I'm not sure they ever will, as they are the ones that don't care and would rather sit there picking their noses (literally).
Oh... and... as there are 2 Korean English teachers, they each only have to do this for one week. Jenny this week and Kelly next week. On top of the half hour each day that they get to miss, Kelly gets a morning off this week, Jenny gets on off next week. I get NO mornings off for 2 weeks, and I had missed an extra morning last week due to sleeping in and feeling sick, so they office is saying that I should miss my morning off the week after next. WTF!!! Not fair. I WILL complain about that. Next week, maybe. Beginning of the week. I'll go on strike if they argue with me about it.