Must...Keep...Smiling....

Hello, from South Korea!

Things are going horribly, but I don't want to talk about it.

Instead, look at the pretty fishies:




And some sharks:




And some eels:




And eels:




And EELS:




Some dead fish bibimbap:




And my sexy beach dance:




There, see how much fun I'm having?

Everything is going fine...

My fellow teachers

Some of you ask me about my fellow teachers.

I am the only girl out of the foreign teachers. There is one Korean woman teacher, but I never see her. So basically, I only interact/teach with the 3 male teachers, pictured below.

There is British guy and American guy. Can you guess which is which?!



But, since South African guy had to take that picture and therefore could not be in it, I took a separate picture of him on the bus.



They don't know about this blog.

Nobody tell them!

:D

Lantern Festival

I never showed you lanterns.

Now, see the lanterns:




Lantern Tunnel 1:




Lantern Restaurant:




Lantern Tunnel 2:




Bird Lanterns:




Bunny Lantern:




Some British guy and the only picture of ME and a lantern:

Amazing weekend pictures!

Fun weekend time!!!!

My friend, after reading my sarcastic blogs about how Korea has no nature, attempted to take me to see nature.

The only catch was I had to wear a hat.



We climbed a tower and saw some rice fields. Nature!




But, as you can see, Korea's version of nature is filled with paved paths, museums and rest stops, and neatly planted rows of trees. And park benches.




However, if you look straight up and try to ignore the roar of traffic, it almost looked like real nature!




Then we found a zoo! There were strange animals, like these things.




I also saw the most disturbing thing of my life (click to make bigger):


What the heck?!!!


Finally, we went to dinner, where a group of Koreans forced me to eat silkworms, live octopus, and chicken feet. I don't have pictures of all of that, but you can see the silkworms and the live shellfish (we cooked them!) below.



Korean food is beginning to grow on me.

Although it will never take the place of tacos in my heart.

Happy Birthday to Me~

Yeah, it was my birthday!

If you didn't know that, I'm sure you're heading out to buy me a birthday card right now.


My birthday was uneventful, as always. I worked my regular schedule, 3 children's classes and 2 adult classes.

Some of my kids were giving me a hard time, so I told them it was my birthday so PLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSE finish your work today.

They didn't believe me until I showed them my birth date on my driver's license. Then they sang, and one of them gave me a Duel Masters card. It was cute. They even finished their work. It's days like that that I really love children.


But as much as I loved my children that day, my hatred for men was as strong as ever.

If any of you want to know more details, you must Skype me. It is a story that cannot be put into typed words.

I spontaneously decided to discuss the differences between men and women in my adult class. It not only confirmed my suspicions, but enlightened me on the behaviors of both Western and Korean men. (Again, if you want to know what I'm talking about, set up a Skype date with me.)


Fortunately, my birthday was not ruined. An amazing person found cheddar cheese, sour cream, AND cilantro in Seoul and brought them to me.

Right now I am spending Friday night by myself making refried beans from scratch...I don't really think I could be happier.

Unless I had a puppy, or something.




TACOS!!




Hat picture next, I promise.

Congratulations. You called my bluff.

Fine. I see how it is.


I will continue to post about my life in Korea, and you all continue to lurk on my blog without actually making interactions with me.

I've decided to develop a point system for interacting with me. This point system will determine how much I love you.



The points will be distributed as follows:


Taren Interaction Points

Blog lurking: .1 points
Blog comment: 1 point
Short email: 1.5 point
Long email: 2 points
Facebook post or comment: 1 point
Online chat conversation: 2 points
Skype video chat: 5 points
Written letter: 10 points
Visiting Taren in Korea: 50 points
Sending Taren tacos/taco ingredients: 100 points



That's right, I would rather receive taco ingredients than have you visit me.

Kaylee has the most points right now. She has posted a couple times, and has apparently sent me a letter. I love her more than you.

Just kidding. My mother sent me taco ingredients. Sorry, Kaylee.


But I do really like letters. Hint. Hint. HINTTTTTTTTT.



Next post will be pictures of lanterns. And me in a hat.

AMAZING WEEKEND

I went to some really cool places!

I even have pictures!

But none of you are emailing me, so you don't get to see them.

I hope you're happy.



:)



Update:

I also ate strange food.

That moves.