surfing mishaps

surfing has been great! i had an awesome surfing day yesterday and i got up and rode waves in and had a ball. luke, however got nailed in his bicep from some choadhead who let his surfboard go and it hit him in the arm and cut him and left a big bruise. and then today, luke was going to film me, so he stayed on the beach while i paddled out. i tried for a couple waves, but needed to paddle out a little further, so there i went. well, there i go, i'm heading towards some incoming waves. let me just let you in on some surfing etiquitte.... you ALWAYS hold on to your board, even if waves are coming for you, and you apologize if you did something that causes others pain (that's just life etiquitte though). well, apparently this one guy didn't know this stuff. we were both paddling over an incoming wave, but he let go of his board and it went soaring through the air and the edge of it landed SMACK on my nose. i, who was holding on to my board, fell over and went underwater. i remember having to tell myself to swim back up and not stay under. and when i cam up, i felt my nose, and looked at my hand, and saw it. the blood was GUSHING everywhere. and i was in some serious pain. so, i grab my board, and turn to the guy who's board hit me, and he just grabs his board, looks at me, and paddles away. jerk! and this other guy out there says "hey, he just hit her with his board" and then all kinds of people are looking at me , asking if i'm okay, telling me to go in, etc. so i start in, and of course i'm crying, and i finally get to shore and this guy who runs a surf school sees me and takes immediate care of me. he puts my board in the holding area with his school boards, and he finds me some ice and a bag. and then he watches my stuff while i go find luke.
luke missed the whole fiasco though, he lost me in the crowd of surfers out in the ocean. but i found him on shore and we got my board and the surf school guy told me melekelikimakka and told me i was a tough girl and kissed my arm, he was very nice, and luke took me back to the car.
let me just tell you what a huge freak i looked like. walking down waikiki with an ice bag on my nose, and all kinds of people asking if i was okay and saying "oh, what a christmas". yeah, thanks!!!
so, i finally got to see it back at the car and its a bruise across the bridge of my nose, and big ol gash in the bridge. no stitches needed though, yay! and it hurts like a mother, and it has bruised a little over onto my eye, but i'll survive. i don't think its broken or anything, but i can't feel the end of my nose at all. kinda creepy. i can breathe through both nostrils, can feel the edges of the nose, but the tip feels numb like when you get novacaine from the dentist. its really weird and i hope it goes away. what if i never feel my nose again???? ooh, too creepy! but, the bleeding in the nose stopped, and the bleeding on the top starts and stops on and off. i'm getting some neosporin tomorrow, but for now i have some first aid creme to put on it. i just don't want some nasty scar forever.
but this is a funny first christmas memory of our hawaii vacation. i certainly will never forget it. merry christmas, everyone!!!

leaving on a jet plane

yay! today is the day we leave for hawaii!!!
luke is all packed (he has been for days) and i have my last load of laundry in. i always leave everything to the last minute. :)
the plane ride is pretty cool too... we get back this whole day. we leave korea tonight (saturday) at like 8:00 and arrive in hawaii saturday morning at 8:00. awesome, huh! and we are going to try to find surf right away when we get there. our swim suits are in our carry on bags for easy access. :)
and, i'll have my laptop, so i'll be updating, and i want updates from you all too..... liane and mom, especially. it's been forever. :)
okay, gotta run, a few more things to pack!!!
love you all lots!

snowflakes

so, luke subbed for the art teacher at our school yesterday. how perfect! he had fun, and one of the projects the kids were doing was making ornaments and snowflakes. so, he made us a bunch of snowflakes to decorate with in hawaii! so cute!

last night was the winter concert for school also. it was awesome! all of the kids did such a fantastic job. really, i love middle schoolers. they are at such an age where they actually change things and learn so well. i ask them to try new things musically, and they do it! it has totally helped their sound and they were awesome! i am so pleased with all 3 of my groups. and the place was packed! we performed in the auditorium at the high school, which is quite large, and there weren't enough seats! people were standing in the back!! what a great problem to have!
seriously, the support here between staff, administration, and families is just outstanding. so great.

and our countdown to hawaii is in it's final week now! yay! we are so excited. i still have to do all my laundry, but luke packed his stuff last wednesday. isn't he the cutest. he is so looking forward to this, as am i!
love you all lots! gotta go.... luke made us yummy breakfast!!

silliness

today has been absolutely crazy! the copy machine at school hates me. i was trying to do a simple two sided thing and it kept resetting the margins (which i did not ask it to do) and it took like 20 minutes just to get one sheet made. so frustrating. then, i forgot to sigh our progress report sheets for grade verification after school yesterday and the guy came into my room this morning asking about them and i had a totally blond moment. i'm losing my mind.
on a happier note..... i had a full rehearsal after school today with my entire beginning band which is 66 people and they barely fit in the band room. it was really great though. i think they will do a great job at the concert tomorrow night. i really like middle schoolers now.... as long as i don't have the 6th graders :)
and, ta-da, our blender works again. here's the story..... luke was making a milkshake and tried to start it and the whole thing was leaking all over the place which inevitably got the motor a little wet, which is bad, but i cleaned it up and tried to dry it. so we took it apart and noticed the blade was cracked so i called cuisinart since it's brand new and they sent me a free replacement blade and then the food processor attachment wasn't working for some reason and we thought we fried the motor, but we hooked it up again the other day and it works! yay!! milkshakes all around! both the blender and processor work now. i think they are tempermental. i hope they stay working. :)
and we went to the post office today.......... LONG lines!
and, finally, they lit up the lights all over the base today. they have been working on them for so long and i've seen them up, but never on. but tonight was the tree lighting ceremony. yay! i love christmas lights!
and luke is the bestestest ever! he made us a cardboard cutout christmas tree that we can take to hawaii with us since i won't have a real tree there! he worked hard on it all day and painted it green and painted decorations on it and everything! it is so cute! i love him! so now we'll have a tree over our christmas vacation! :)
okay, gotta go.... love you all lots!

okelydokely

hey all!
so, last night luke and i went to the seoul symphony. i got the tickets from another teacher at school. it was so awesome! the musicians were great, and the featured performer was a flutist from belgium. he was really good.... a little weird, but good. during his concerto he kept turning around and facing the orchestra while he was playing. it was strange. but it was really fun for us. and we got all dressed up and cute too. very fun date night. and free, even better!
saturday it rained a lot here. and it turned pretty cold, so maybe there might be some snow on the mountains soon. we hope so. we are so envious of all the snow in reno/tahoe. i bet the mountains are wonderful! mmmmmmmmmmmm
and....... i went out with some of my school friends on sunday and we found a REAL mall. you may not think that is a big deal at all, but here in the ROK (republic of korea) it is the only one. all the others are just big stores with a bunch of random crap, but not in any particular order, and no separation of brands or anything. but this place had individual stores, food court, movie theatres, an aquarium, the works! it was so normal to what i am used to. so, so , so happy! i guess you have to see the weird "mall" places to appreciate the excitement of the real mall. :)
my school winter concert is this week, so its a busy one for me. i'm excited though. the beginning band is so funny, and they are already getting nervous and asking silly things like "what if i get too nervous and pass out" it is really cute. it should be a good concert though.
and hey, jess... tell rick to blog! or at least comment. his comments are funny and he needs to share his random thoughts in his head with us all. especially me, since i live across the world! :)
oh, and sorry about the jeopardy thing. i really thought you all had seen it already. oops poops. :)
love you, love you too! bye bye

the ken show

so, i just worte this whole blog about jeopardy and dumbass sphincter blog deleted it. grrrrrrrrr..........
anyways, ken's last show was tonight. perhaps in the states it happened earlier, but in korea it happened tonight. he was stumped on final jeopardy and lost. it was a little sad, but i could see the secret relief in his eyes. could you imagine..... 75 days on the show, months of taping, 2.5 million dollars! crazy! i bet he'll be glad to go back to his normal life.
i think elan shold go on jeopardy and beat ken's streak! wouldn't that be outrageous! so insane!
so, thanks for not telling me about ken's fall. i'm glad i got to see it myself!
(i'm a cornball!)
love you guys!

thanksgiving successes

we did it! we survived our first thanksgiving without burning anything or breaking anything! we made the pies last night... i made the pumpkin pie and luke made the raspberry and blackberry pie. and he made the pie crusts too! then, this morning, after a couple of early morning phone calls (much appreciated though! love you, liane and kel!) we started on cooking "the big stuff".
the turkey was fantastic (we didn't do the salt-thing, we did the beer can inside the bird thing) the rice was almost as good as mom's, the mashed potatoes were fluffy and good, made with our cute orange kitchenaid, the pies were outstanding, yummy corn and green beans, crescent rolls, such good food!!! and all in all, it was a wonderful day. i am sooooooo stuffed though! i haven't been this full in a long time. i was in some serious food-coma after eating! :) and we even did the dishes after eating! we are so grown-up..... hahahaha!
we took pictures of our table. i set it very nicely with our dishes and wine glasses and serving trays and bowls. it looked really great. the funniest part was that after we had finally gotten everything done and on the table and had the pictures taken, we realized that neither of us knew how to carve a turkey. :) but we figured it out. so silly!
we both missed our families, though! we hope all of you have just as wonderful a turkey day! and we'll be thinking of you! :) love you all!

hmmmmmm........

sorry for the lame title, it really is the hardest part. especially since this blog is just a smorgasbord of crazy info! enjoy! :)
its getting pretty cold here, but, as luke pointed out, we spend much more time outside than we used to since we ride the bus and walk a lot, so maybe its not really that much colder than we're used to, but before we were guarded from it better. and the wind...... it is strong! friday it woke me up several times through the night howling outside and rattling the windows. seriously, it dropped about 15 degrees from thursday to friday. but as the people here say, "that's korea weather for you."
we saw the movie "ray" and i HIGHLY recommend it to everyone! it was amazing and so inspiring! its 2 1/2 hours long, and it didn't drag and it kept me interested the entire time. fabulous music, wonderful storyline, all around remarkable! go see it! too bad you won't get it free like us! haha. but your money will be well spent, so do it! :)
the countdown is still running! only 34 more days until hawaii! warm air, nice waves, relaxation! we're so excited!
oh, and we're getting excited for our first thanksgiving too! we already bought our cute little 9 pound turkey and the potatoes to mash and we have a list of all the other good stuff too! rice pilaf (no stuffing for us), green beans, corn, rolls, salad, cranberry sauce, berry pie, and pumpkin pie! yummy! we'll have lots of leftovers, but thats okay. it'll be so fun!
it'll definitely be sad without our families around though.
i hope luke's pumpkin pie is as good as uncle bill's! and our turkey is going to be this crazy rock salt thing that luke has some recipe for. it sounds interesting...and good! :) all his food is always fantastic so i seriously won't go hungry! and i'm hoping to make the rice pilaf as good as mom's... no one can quite match her fantastic taste! i'm sure it'll all be great! :)

speeding

i got a speeding ticket. lame. the whole thing is written in korean, so i don't really know where, but they sent a picture ticket of me driving down the road. woohoo.
here's the deal........
it says the 23rd of october, which is the day we went surfing. but the picture on the ticket shows no surfboards on top of the car. weird #1.
also, when i asked the other music teacher to help decipher it since he speaks korean, i asked why it says "BMW545i" on one part of it. apparently that shows what make of car i have. rad! i got a new car i guess! :) weird #2.
clearly the picture shows the mimba-mobile. its all very strange. and funny at the same time, except that now i have to pay. yucky. seriously, i've driven like 5 total times since we've been here.... and i get a freakin' ticket! what is up!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
yeah, that's the story. enjoy! :)

burnin' down the house

i almost burned the house down. i have that tendency (mom, remember the popcorn incident with sommer buhecker!).
here's the story......
halloween night, i carved the cutest pumpkin. luke helped me figure out how to make the idea i wanted and i carved it out. it was a very happy pumpkin. and i gutted it and kept all the seeds so i could soak them in my garlic solution and roast them the next day. yay!
soooooooo, the next night, i lay them all ou and start up the oven and i'm ready! i put the timer on 15 minutes, and when it buzzes i go check them out and stir them. they look great! but they aren't quite done, so i put them in for 10 minutes. yeah, bad idea. i go check them and there is smoke billowing out the oven and they are BLACK! grrrrrrr...... all my wonderful seeds are burned to a crisp! it was so sad! so, alas, no pumpkin seeds for me. so luke and i went back to the store to get another one yesterday, but there were no more. it just wasn't meant to be. :)
at least i have a cute pumpkin! :)

double birthdays

i love that, in my head, everyone gets two days worth of birthdays. all day yesterday, i was thinking about mom and her birthday and hoping she was having a fabulous day since it was already the 27th here, and then today i'm still thinking about her birthday since its now the 27th there. that's pretty cool. double birthdays rule! :) i called her early this morning,(my late last night) and was her birthday wake up call. so fun!
funny story..... this morning on the bus, they were actually playing music in english, which was very appreciated. the song "november rain" by guns & roses came on, and for some reason i think of liane everytime i hear that song. why? should i remember and i just don't??? guns & roses has that effect on my sisters, i guess. "take me down to the paradise city..." reminds me of jess; and "welcome to the jungle" aka "bienvenidos a la jungle" reminds me of both and our puerto rican adventures. (remember the walkie talkies in the cars and driving mom and dad crazy??? ahhh, fun times!!) anyways, it was funny and i was singing along and the koreans were looking at me strange. but it made me happy and think of my little sister mokerhead, so it was all good! :)
and i finally figured out the verizon hogwash..... they suck, they can kiss the cell phone sphincter. so hopefully they won't be calling mom and dad anymore. seriously, i tell them eveytime i talk to them that i live in KOREA and its long distance to call their 800 number for me and i just want to get things settled and they need to stop charging me when i faxed my travel orders to them proving that i live here. so hopefully today it got settled. grrrrrrrrr...........................
oh, and luke is the crocheting master! he's made me all kinds of things before, but just yesterday he made me the coolest beanie!!!! it is the thick yarn and it has this little lip that goes over the back of my head and covers the ears and it is so warm! it's gotten pretty chilly here, especially when we leave in the morning, so his little beanie has been so great! :) he really is quite crafty!!!! i just love him so much, he's a keeper! :)
so, all in all, things have been going well. love you lots!

surfing

yes, we went surfing! yay!
our adventure started at 3:30 am saturday morning when the alarm went off. so sleepy. the car was already all packed, so we just got up, ate some breakfast and hit the road. it was actually quite nice, since there were very few cars on the road. we bought a good road map, and didn't get lost at all! :)
about halfway through the drive, luke and i switched because i was getting tired and couldn't drive anymore. the scenery was actually really cool. there were some rad tunnels, VERY long. and everything was really green and pretty.
we finally hit this town called Donghae and then went south from there (north is baaaaad, remember!) and went along the coast to find the waves. all along the coast there are these HUGE fences with these barbed wires along the top. no bueno!so, for the first few stops we could only look at the waves from afar. i guess it was left over from the war or something, because there was all this camo painted stuff too. very weird. and all these rocks were stuck into the fence along the way, we couldn't figure out what for.
we drove along and found a few spots, not deciding where to go, and finally, when we got about as far south as we wanted to go, we decided that a place that we saw about 3rd in our adventure was the best one to try. so, we headed back north.
we had heard rumors about the korean military not being too pleased with surfers, so when we got htere we moved as fast as we could to get our wetsuits on and get the boards ready. the air temp was pretty cold and it was a little windy, but surprisingly the water temp wasn't too bad. it was about the same as santa cruz in the winter so we were kinda used to it. the waves weren't that great, but hey, they were waves. the water was way shallow and then immediately got deep, and there was a sand bar out a ways that i will speak more about later. so, we caught some waves and were having fun. luke was doing great, as usual. it took a little bit to get back used to surfing, but he got it way faster than i did. :) and then some bigger waves started coming in. so, i decided that i'm going to try to get one, but only the foam part of it, which is usually a litle nicer than the actual wave. so, here i go, i'm ready, and, i swear, the wave doubled in size right before it hit me and it pummeled me into the water. well, remember the sand bar i told you about... i collided my head into it. seriously, where the sand bar hits it is only about 3 feet deep. good thing it was soft, because i hit it pretty hard and it drug my head along it. nice. so, i got a headache from that. right as i was recovering from the mayhem, i saw them...... the korean military guys coming our way. oh no!!!! were we in trouble, would we be told to leave???? they blew their whistles, and of course luke was thinking that if he was being kicked out then at least he would catch a wave on the way in. they blew their whistles about 5 zillion times at him, it was actually quite funny. so, when we got to them, they started speaking korean, shich of course we don't understand. eventually they drew a pictue in the sand and pointed to this little bar sticking out and we understood that we couldn't be on one side of the bar, we had to stay towards to other side. so, we weren't in trouble after all! :) we moved down the beach, but my head was hurting from the sand collision, so luke went out again and i stayed in and video taped him and took some pictures. the wind picked up more and the waves were getting choppier, so we eventually left. luke did really great though. he rode his longboard and his shortboard. even though the waves weren't that great, it made us happy just to be able to surf. :) while we were out there, people kept driving by and just staring at us. they probably hadn't ever seen surfers on their beach before. some waved and said hi, but i think most were just amazed. it was funny. when we were changing at the car, we got some very strange looks. haha.
we originally had planned on staying overnight and surfing again sunday, but we both had headaches adn were pretty pooped, so we decided to make the drive back. it really wasn't that bad on the way there, so we figured we could make it. the only problem..... gas. (in the car, haha) when we fill up on base, it is only about $1.95 a gallon, but out on the economy, they go by liters (i hate liters) and its about $1.50 a liter. so, when we were done filling up, it ended up costing us.... are you ready...... you really should sit down for this......... $65!!!!!!! OMG! i almost freaked out! but now i know that we can get a map from the military gas station here on post of all the military stations along the way so we can fill up there. i will never pay that much again! we also went through 2 toll booths, for a total of about $18 round trip. not too bad, we can handle that. :)
we got home around 5:30 pm. we did hit some traffic on the way back, but not too bad.
all in all, it was a good trip. it would have been nice to find better waves, but the waves we found were alright. we are so looking forward to hawaii at christmas time. real waves, warm water. ahhhh, the good life! :)

here i am

okay, okay, i know its been a while..... but i was seriously busy. but here is a way funny story of today's adventures:
this morning on the bus, we are driving through this crazy intersection where 3 lanes of traffic instantly merge into like 1 1/2 (seriously, the driving here is insane an dthe people drive like shiite, even the bus drivers and police) and it is around this left hand turn. usually, no big deal. today, however, the people who are going straight in the far right lane on the road we are merging on to decide that stopping is apparently not necessary and keep going, which makes all of us with the green arrow who are turning have to veer left a bit. well, some (most) drivers are way dumb and don't pay attention and there was this little tiny car on our left and a big trash truck in front of us, and they merged into each other. so then the tiny car was kinda stuck to the side of the big truck and we are all just holding up traffic in the middle of the intersection. oh, and by the way, korean drivers are OBSESSED with honking their horns, so you can just imagine the noise. but wait, it gets better.... while we are sitting there waiting for the truck and little car to move, the bus driver opens the door and starts yelling at a policeman who is standing right there on the sidewalk. hello!!! yelling! what?!?!?!?! of course we have no idea what he was saying, but it was definitely not nice. and would so not be allowed anywhere but crazy korea.
so, then this evening luke and i were looking through this newspaper type thing and it had an ad for all you can eat sushi on thursdays, and you know we can't resist, so we decided to check it out. it was at this place on base, right near my school. so, we go inside, and it is a buffet type thing, and a little fancier place then we expected, but we were okay compared to the rest of the crowd. the sushi was pretty good, but i've had better. but, the best and funniest part was the "live entertainment" provided. a man and a woman with a keyboard, drum machine, shaker, mics, and computerized background music. they sang some WAY funny songs. my favorite was "sweet home alabama" which, with a korean accent is the silliest thing i've ever heard. also, some spanish song (spanish words sounding korean), can't help falling in love, and some others. luke and i were trying so hard not to laugh, especially since we were right in front of them. it was hilarious! it was very lounge singer-esque and made us feel like we were right at home. :) bu then i bit my tongue really hard, while eating pineapple (which i shouldn't be eating anyway since i swell up) and it stung. ouchy. but still, it was a great date night. always an adventure. :)
the house is still not clean, sorry. but, we are going driving this weekend to the east coast to check out the ocean and hopefully surf. yay!we'll take lots of pics and send them soon. i really want to show you all what the house looks like! :)
and, as always, please keep your thoughts and prayers with jeanine and jared and their little baby simone. i love you all!
goodnight!

promise

i only have a second right now.... i have been SOOOOOO busy the last few days. but i promise i will blog a new post later tonight.
i am praying for little simone and keeping my thoughts with everyone. i love you all and will write more tonight! :)

merry christmas!!!

no, i am not calendar challenged..... we got our household goods! it was like an early christmas! let me just tell you how fun it was to open up all the boxes and find our old stuff, as well as all the new wedding gifts! SO FUN!!!!!!!!!! and we now have a bed to sleep in! yay! but, we are not yet finished with cleaning and setting up. we had some problems with hanging stuff on the walls at first. our walls are cement cinder clocks covered with this cloth wall-paper. so, hanging stuff was not going well and we thought we would need a masonry drill bit (like i even know what these things are--good thing i married a guy who knows about these things) but we found these weird nail things that are made especialy for cinder blocks. so, problem solved! :) and our goal was to get all the stuff out of the boxes so that we could get them all picked up and taken away, so there is a bunch of stuff all over the floor. but, none of our stuff was broken or anything (so far) and we only can't find a couple things. but we haven't gone through all the boxes all the way to the bottom, so the trinkets may stil be there. but the surfboards made it, the surf box made it, and the computer made it. seriously, i had heard horror stories from people here about how there stuff was damaged adn broken and couches were ripped.... luke and i must just be lucky, great people, because none of that crap happened to us. besides those few trinkets missing (which i'm thinking positively that we will find) everything is intact and great.
yay for us! pictures to be sent soon.... but we have to clean and finish arranging first. i will not send pictures of the house all messy... it is too cool a place and luke and i are vowing to keep it clean! :)

fireworks

can i just say i LOVE fireworks! they are always so pretty and cool and loud and awesome. and they remind me of my wedding! :)
last night when luke and i came out of the movies (around the world in 80 days-- way funny!) there were these huge noises outside. we could even hear them inside the theater, but we had no idea what they were.... with the current curfew we thought something crazy migt be going on. as soon as we got outside though, we could see them! they were lighting them right at the fire station on post, less than a block from the theatres! it was amazing! they were right on top of us!

it reminded me of when we were little in the the old house and the tripodis were there and we caught the desert on fire and cousin mark had to put it out. what a good boy scout! :)

but seriously, it was just awesome! and the booms were SO loud! and we could also see some going off on the river, off post, so we were surrounded! man, it was great! i guess its all part of the october harvest celebration going on around seoul this weekend.
i loved it! they need more of that! :)

wet japan

yes, japan was VERY wet. it rained continuously from the moment our plane landed until wednesday morning. POURING rain, not just drizzle.
so, we got in sunday evening and had a little reception at the hotel, with great food, which was nice since i didn't eat anything for dinner. the hotel was very nice, but i wish my room was on the opposite side. i faced the street, while the rooms on the other side faced the tokyo tower. very cool! so then, monday and tuesday were full of meetings about music teacher stuff. i learned some awesome new things, it was really cool. and i met some wonderful teachers and we exchanged ideas on all sorts of things. monday night, i went with these 2 teachers i met who are from yokosuka (pronounced yokoska) in japan to this great little restaurant with all sorts of different foods. we took the subway and a train, and the stop where we got off was the intersection that you always see on ads for tokyo with all the big lights advertisements and the huge walkways with masses of people. it was pretty cool, and from the station, you could look down on the intersection and just see a mass of umbrellas. it looked pretty neat. but i got pretty wet, even with my umbrella, and we opted to take a cab back after dinner. we didn't want to deal with walking in the rain anymore. :) on tuesday, i was going to find a sushi place, but it was still raining, and there wasn't one close enough for me to find. so i ate in the hotel with some other teachers. it was fun, and i really got to know them well. i like most of them a lot.... there are a few who i wouldn't mind not ever being around again. ;)
so, on wednesday, it finally cleared up........ but we had meetings in the morning, and then the bus ride to the airport was about 2 hours long, so we didn't get much time to se a lot of things. along the ride however, we saw tokyo tower, the bay, a beautiful scene of the city, and some other cool stuff. so, i got to see a little of it. next year, we have another training session, so hopefully luke will come with me, since it's longer, and i'll get to see more sights, since we'll have a few more days with hopefully better weather. wednesday was such a long day, though! by the time i finally got home to luke, it was 11:45 pm and i had to go to work thursday! i was so tired, but the kids were really great, because i think they missed me a little :) and they were really good for me.
then........ thursday luke and i passed our drivers tests! YAY!!!!!!! so, after school, we picked up the mimba mobile! i was so happy to see her! and the car people here had even washed her and made her all clean for me! so nice! so, we took her to the gas station and filled up, and drove home. let me tell you, i was not a very good driver at first. apparently i was a little crazy with the clutch, cuz the car jumped a little. hahaha. (but not as bad as when i tried to teach liane the stick shift!! i love you, teehan!) but i was fine by the time we started home. oh, and to get to our house, you have to go up this big hill, so that was a little scary, but we made it! even though we still plan on walking as much as possible, it is so nice to finally have the car available when we need it!
and...... our household goods are coming on tuesday! yay! we finally get our bed, and our furniture, and we FINALLY get to open the wedding presents! it's christmas in october! :) we'll finally get to decorate the house and put up pictures, and sleep in a bed!
this weekend we may be going to see a korean drum festival, some fireworks along the river, and some other cultural things. this weekend is full of activities in korea because it is the start of the autumn harvest. i learn new cool things about this place every day!
okay, gotta run, luke is making us spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread for dinner. he is the best cook! yummy!

infections

so, apparently i was pretty sick. i went to the doctor today, at this international clinic off base, and he diagnosed the following: tonsillitis, ear infection, and sinus infection. wow, great! i'm glad i finally went though, cuz this no hearing thing in my right ear is about to drive me nuts. i got 3 medicines and a nose spray to get me all better.
now, here is my current problem.... i was feeling much better on monday-wednesday. then the green stuff started up again, which is why i finally went to the doctor. and now, the sinus pressure is so intense that it is hurting my teeth and my gums. which leads to the problem... i have to fly on an airplane tomorrow morning to japan. so, i just know i'm going to get that crazy pain during takeoff and landing from the pressure on my sinuses (jess, i know you know what i'm talking about) where your tooth feels like its about to explode. yay! i wish dad was here to do that face pressure thing he does to me, it really makes me feel much better. :)
so, yeah, i'm going to japan in the morning! i'll take lots of pictures and stuff! even though i'll be at meetings most of the day, i'll still try to get out and see the city and stuff. i'm so excited! and, the best part is, its free for me! rad! but i'm really sad because luke isn't coming with me. so i have to be without him for 3 whole nights! no bueno! we are saving the money we would have spent on his plane ticket and getting him a new surfboard! :) he is so excited! and i'll scope out the place and see if it's worth going back there for one of our surf trips.
okay, i have to pack for the morning.... i'm not going to stay up all night packing like i usually do! nighty night! love you all!

mimba-mobile

so apparently luke and i are not meant to be driving in this country for a while. :)
here's the story.....
so, we didn't pass our tests last week, so they told us to come back in a week to re-take the parts. so, to correlate with my prep-period schedule (they only give the test between 8-10 am) we planned on going on wednesday. we studied th new book, with the CORRECT information this time, and got all set to go wednesday morning. when we got to the testing office, the door was closed... bad sign. since tuesday was the chusok korean holiday, the office was STILL closed on wednesday. great. so, we decide that we'll just take it friday (today) no problem. NOT! today, when we walked over there, we signed in, and we were all ready....... but apparently they don't give the test on fridays. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
so now, we have to wait until thursday, because i'll be in japan for a teacher's conference until wednesday night. no car for us.
oh well, we'll live. but i miss the mimba-mobile. i hope she's alright after her long journey over the ocean to get here. :) but since i have to get the korean license plate, she won't really be the mimba-mobile anymore. sadness! i still have the old plates though, so she will always be the mimba-mobile at heart!
hopefully next week we take the test, pass it, and get to pick her up. i am a little scared to drive here, the hills are steeeeeeep and the other drivers are crazy! i'm sure that first drive will be an adventure that i'll be posting about! :)

missing

i'm homesick a little.
i miss everything. i don't know what it is right now, but i really miss everyone. i talked to jess on the phone today and it was so great! and violet got on and told me how she was excited about me being home for her birthday (silly girl!) and riles was drinking the nasty cleaning water in the background (yummy!) and i heard rick's voice for a second and i just miss everyone. and i woke mom and dad up sunday morning on their one sleep in day (oops) and silly mom went to mamma mia and is going again next weekend! i would too, just can't get enough. and elan and i im'd yesterday which was so fun. and kelly sent me funny "jingling" emails (gotta write you back!!). you know, i actually feel better now. just remembering all that good stuff makes me happier.
it's just hard being halfway around the world, i guess.
anyways, i'm better now. :)
i'm almost done being sick. but poor luke.... i have this dumb cough from some little tickle in the back of my throat and it kept us up almost all night last night. i tried everything, and then, when i was so fed up and just sitting up on the floor in anger, i realized... hey! i don't cough when i'm sitting up straight. so, at 2:30 in the morning, i had luke move the other way on our air mattress so i could prop the pillows up and sleep against the wall sitting up. not very comfortable, but at least i got to sleep. needless to say, we bought some cough suppressant so that we both can sleep tonight. luke is the greatest. he is so patient, even when i'm whiny and sick and cough all night long. he takes the best care of me. i love him. :)
okay, i love you all and miss you tons!
nighty night

long time...

....no post. sorry about that! anyways, things here are going alright. my head is starting to clear up. the boogies are almost all gone, and the throatache is much better, but now i can't hear. seriously!!! my ears feel as though i just came home from some loud rock concert. and every once in a while they *pop* like they are going to clear, but no, they stay clogged. oh well.
so, luke and i are having a pretty chill out weekend. we went to the free movies last night. yeah, the movies on base here are free, which totally rules! and the popcorn and soda doesn't cost $5 each, so it double rules! yeah, the movies come a little later here than in the states, but free is worth it. we saw resident evil apocalypse. it was pretty good, but a little scary, and somewhat greusome. but entertaining all the same. :) bourne supremacy starts tomorrow, so we will definitely be seeing that! woohoo!
this korean holiday called "chusok" started this weekend and lasts until wednesday. it is their thanksgiving. and all the people visit their families and their ancestor's graves, and since most of that is all in the more southern part of the country, seoul is really empty now. kinda strange. it's nice though, becasue usually there are WAY too many people driving and honking their horns and trying to run you over. so, on tuesday the kids have no school, but of course, the teachers have an inservice day. yeah, thanks! but today luke and i are going to this "palace" to see some of the chusok festivities and customs with some other teachers. it should be pretty fun.
still no word on the rest of our household goods.... i want my stuff now! (do i sound like veruca salt??) i really would love to send everyone pics of the house and korea and stuff, but all the cables for the camera to hook up to the computer are in the computer box that were were supposed to get already. whatever.
and today is sunday here, which means i'm missing the september birthday party in vegas! waaaaaaahhhhhh! hope you all are having loads of fun! love you!

boogers and other yuckies

so, i'm sick! great! and no, it's not just some little cold, it's pretty sick.
i'm re-enacting that commercial with the whiny little girl saying "it'll hurt if i swallow..." every five minutes. seriously, i hate being sick. the glands are swollen, my throat is killing me, snot keeps running everywhere, and my mouth gets SO dry! yuck!
i know, i know, i should go to a doctor, right? well, i don't have an insurance card yet. and, i can't go to any doctors on base, nooooooo, that would be too easy. teachers can't go there. we have to go off base. what? so, i don't really feel like trying to explain to someone that i am a new teacher and don't have my card yet when they don't speak very good english. so, i'll be stubborn.
i'm doing what my mom would tell me to do. i'm drinking lots of fluids, seriously, i'm peeing about every 5 minutes. i'm getting lots of rest. i'm taking advil, since it is an anti-inflammatory and it helps my throatache. i'm gargling saltwater. and yes, mom, i might even snarf it soon. just for you!
all of this would be solved if i could just go surfing. when i'm surfing i naturally gargle saltwater, and i naturally snarf it when it goes up my nose on a wipeout. :)
so yeah, sick. yucky.

go hawks!

okay, jess and liane, you have to check out what kelly did for me! go to hawkhugs.blogspot.com. it is so great!
yeah, so its POURING rain here! not a little rain, but POURING!!!! everything is wet, including me! luke and i walked to school from where the bus let us off, and subsequently got totally soaked. yeah, we have an umbrella, but only one. so luke was really nice and let me use it and he put his bag on top of his head! isn't he great! but yeah, still we both got soaked cuz its raining SO HARD!!!! we really need to invest in another umbrella! :)

where all they all.....

where? try to ask 'em where anything
(get it, jess???) silflay, hahahahaha
okay, back to the point.....
so, luke and i were all excited cuz our express shipment was here and it had the rest of my clothes and shoes, as well as 3 surfboards, the surf box (with the wetsuits, leashes, etc) and the computer! yay!
yeah, NO!
so, they drop off the stuff yesterday, and start opening the stuff up. well...... we have the 3 surfboards, and my clothes and shoes, but, hmmmmmmmmmm.................
where is the surf box? where is my brand new rad computer? huh? what are these 2 other boxes? oh wait, they are just random crap that i really didn't care to have early, but somehow they managed to get here, but the stuff we were really excited about didn't.
great! yay for us!
so, we are hoping that the surf box and computer are just on the slow boat to china (literally) and not completely lost forever. yeah, we would get reimbursed, but what a pain in the arse! so now we have to wait for the rest of our stuff to get here, which won't be until mid-october, to see if the missing items are accounted for.
i really can't wait for the rest of the stuff to get here. sleeping on the floor is getting a little old, and i want my own bed. the fun of "camping" is wearing off a little. not to mention the fact that i really want to start using my wedding gifts!!! hello!!!
so, pray that my stuff is all okay and makes it here in one piece! :)

hell has a name.....

and it's name is 6th graders! yeah, i'm in hell.
no, i don't teach them, but they are in my class with the other band teacher during my prep time. they never stop talking, they don't listen to anyone, and they are pretty much breaking all of the instruments. they walk around the room and blow as hard as they can, which only creates a loud, obnoxious squeak, and i pretty much can't concentrate on anything.
my prep period, which i use to relax and get ready peacefully for my other classes, is pretty much ruined.
instead of me "prepping" i am too busy making sure the instruments don't get destroyed. and instead of relaxing, i am too busy wondering where i can get some advil for the MAJOR headache these kids produce.
yeah...... hell.

be

in korean, the word for rain is "be" thus today's title.
it has pretty much been raining since about 9 last night, and it's about noon right now. yeah..... and i don't have an umbrella so i'm stuck in my classroom. nice. and the kids come in all wet and kinda musty smelling (not good) and wipe their little dirty shoes all over the floor. great!
and, it's not like nevada rain that smells good and freshens the air; the rain here just makes the smog stay down more and gets the trash wet. mmm, nice smell. yummy!
but, all in all, things are great around here.... wet, but great! :)

weirdness

i miss weird things about reno. i miss watching my teeny bopper shows on "the N" like degrassi and radio free roscoe. how are those crazy kids up in canada doing? i miss burritos from jimboys, which i didn't even like that much when i was there. i miss sushi pier.... the place we go to here needs to learn what a godzilla roll is. i miss my friend, kelly..... going to pottery, driving in the bug, thursday night fun, etc. i miss my students, even the crazy ones. :) i even miss doing marching band a little bit. WEIRD!!!!! and i miss the easiness (is that a word??) of talking to my family. verizon made me crazy, but that mobile to mobile plan was awesome.
the time difference here is so big that i end up talking to people either really early at their home or really late at mine. oh well, it's totally worth it.
so, people.... watch the N for me and fill me in on my fave shows! in the meantime, i'll watch all 4 seasons of saved by the bell that luke got me for my birthday! yay for me!!! and go eat sushi in my memory, and go to trivia thursdays and win big for me, and do all those things that i miss so that i know they'll still be around when i come back to visit!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Here in Korea, it's already my birthday! And it isn't a thousand degrees outside with 400% humidity, which is a great present to me from mother nature! :) Seriously, I nearly melt every day! I walk about 25 minutes to school everyday and am sweating just from the humidity by the time i get here. And my normally VERY straight hair now gets all fuzzy and wavy... no bueno!
Anyways, Luke and I are going to sushi tonight for birthday dinner, YAY! And we move into our house today too. What fun! But, we have no furniture yet.... oh well. It's like camping, I guess, only not outside, and we have a shower and kitchen and all the amenities. :)

ahhh, middle school

well, i've survived my first two days of school. i've decided that middle school kids are a far different breed than high schoolers. eighth graders are a far cry from freshmen.
they tried to trick me already! i was doing names and they tried to switch around on me. well, i am smarter than them and i caught them in their little game. hahahahahaha
i am just thankful i don't teach any 6th graders. the other music teacher has all of them, yay! they are SCARY! so immature. i have my prep period while he teaches them in my room, and i just know i couldn't handle them. they never stop fidgeting and talking! i don't think i would last.
my classes were pretty fun overall. although one smarty farty kid thought i was 37! i nearly fell out of my chair! i survived!
and they ALL want to play the clarinet! WHY!!!!!!! i have tried to assure them that low brass and bass clarinet are awesome instruments, but i'm not sure they are convinced. i'll keep working on it!
oh well...... the adventure continues.......

Thanks for playing!

Hey all, I've finally created it! See ya soon!