Japan's fertility rate

Found this article... very interesting.
No sex please, we're Japanese
I think that the fact that Japanese women are working more, and are better educated now, might be a reason that I'd more likely believe. Or the fact that it is just very expensive to raise children.

TGIF

I am supposed to go to the stadium again to watch the Korean/Swiss game... but might not make it due to a pounding headache. :(
The game is once again at 4am. I'm not sure I'd make it that long, even if I did go. This morning, I woke up exhausted!!

more photos from the last game (very early Monday morning)

a quick nap before the (4 am) game

Korea's team cheering for the team
Jae-Sun (elephant teacher) and I Kelly (English teacher at kindy and LCC) and I

More photos from the World Cup Stadium June 18th/19th.

today

By the time the game was over, it was already daylight. I got home about 2 hours before I had to work. Kelly had to go straight to another teaching job that she has before the kindy school, and the others all headed to the school (they had a change of clothes there) to get ready for the day. They start a little earlier than I do, as they have to watch the kids as they are arriving.

It was a LONG day. It is not easy dealing with so many little kids (around 350 of them) without getting a good night's sleep. At the kindy it wasn't so bad, as I only spend 15 minutes in each class, and it was workbook day. LCC was a bit more difficult, as I have each class 20 to 30 minutes, and then I have 2 breaks, during which I kept dozing off, while the kids were playing in the room.

Seoul World Cup Stadium

I watched the Korea/France World Cup match at the Seoul World Cup Stadium (Seongsan). We arrived there at 10pm on Sunday, when it became free to enter (before then, you had to have tickets). I went with 8 of my friends (all co-workers at the kindy school). One of them, Kelly, is the other English teacher at the after kindy hagwon. The others speak little or no English. Of course, we were all dressed up for the occasion: red shirts, devil's horns, bandannas, and what ever else we could put together (red earrings, hair bands, etc).

Being that the Korea game wasn't until 4am, we had plenty of time to waste. They showed two matches before our game started: Brazil vs Australia, and Japan vs Croatia. The entertainment between matches, and during half times, was interesting. They had several famous Korean singers performing, each only about 5 minutes. People were still pouring into the stadium right up to 4am when the match started. The place was packed full.

Well... it was a 1:1 draw between Korea and France. Now I am VERY tired, but have to go to work. Yay for me. That's okay. It was worth it.

the local beggar :P

It isn't the only one... there are a few of them that stick around waiting for the food to fall out (or be tossed out) of the cage. Many people here are scared of the pigeons... they think of them as flying rats. That isn't unique to Korea, though, as I know many people that are afraid of the birds.
When ever I see them... all I think is that if they were in Egypt... they would be food.

Dae Han Min Guk

FIFA World Cup Germany 2006
Korea played Togo on the 13th and won, 2 to 1. They will be playing again, against France, on the 18th at 9pm Germany time, which means on the 19th AT 4AM KOREAN TIME!!!! You can pretty much guarantee the entire country will be VERY tired on Monday!! I will be doing an all nighter with some of the other teachers from the kindy school. We will go downtown Seoul to watch the game on big screens that will be set up. The plan is to meet at 10pm on Sunday to head in, but I am hearing that we might be going in as early as 6pm, because of the crowds that are expected. For the game against Togo, every stadium was full of Koreans all wearing red, watching the game on big screens. I think all of the parks in Korea were also full of red, with big screens set up to watch the game.
In Korea, it is as if the World Cup 2002 is happening all over again. They have the same attitude now, as they did when the games were held here. Everyone is dressed up in their red T-shirts and their devil horns and anything else related the the Red Devils. The Red Devils are all of the fans of Korea's team.
Summer 2002 was an amazing time to be in Korea.

(my dad's creation, 2002)

(Cindy and I during the 2002 World Cup in Korea)

freebies

Korea is great for getting things for free. I remember my first year here, I bought a pair of jeans and got a towel set as a gift. "Service" is what they call it. If you buy nail polish, you often get cotton pads as a service gift. If you buy make-up, you get little sample bottles of skin creams and serums. If you buy a box of cereal, often times there are things taped to the box, such as little bowls, spoons, mini boxes of cereal, toys, Korea "Fighting" banners for the World Cup, and any number of other things. I have bought frozen mandu (dumplings) with big plastic spoons or a second bag stuck to the bag. I have a little kitchen magnet towel and an oven mitt that were attached to a bottle of lotion.
Tonight I had a free facial. Every Tuesday in the parking lot of the apartments, in front of my kindy school, there is a bit of a market set up. This past Tuesday, some ladies were handing out flyers and had surveys to fill out. My co-worker, Kelly and I filled out the surveys and signed up for the free facials. Yes, it was a full facial. I guess Kelly does that fairly often... finds cosmetics companies that are advertising, and get free facials. Of course, you can't keep going back to the same one. Then we went for some pizza a Pizza Hut. We had a potato pizza, with a sweet potato cheese bite crust (around the outside of the crust). Not bad.
Then I bought a pair of earrings and got a hair clip as a service gift. And I got a pair of football/soccer ball earrings for half-off because I am a foreigner. Yay.
Yet another person asked if I am Russian. I had actually just been telling Kelly about people thinking I am Russian in Korea. She didn't quite believe me, I think. And then she heard it for herself. Why do people here think I am Russian???

which one doesn't belong???

the sheesha and I