This is Rain (or Bee in Korean). He is a famous pop singer from Korea who is quite famous all over Asia, even people in Cambodia were telling us about Rain. Stephen Colbert did a great piece about him on his show and it made me laugh a lot. I thought I would pass it along to you all thinking it may provide a little entertainment and insight into my life in Korea. So here's the link check it out if you have time and nothing better to do. Kieth and Mel I think you guys will really appreciate this...

http://quarterlifeparty.blogspot.com/2007/06/stephen-colbert-rain-parady.html

Some of favorite things in Korea....
Sometimes I feel as though I have been away from home for so long that life in Asia feels normal. I am not sure I remember what it is like to live in the States; be able to understand all the signs, understand what everyone around you is saying, and go to the grocery store and know what things are. However, whenever I start to get this feeling I see something strange, bizzare, or just downright illogical and am reminded that I have to be away from home a lot longer for some things to really be normal.

Ok first off, picture number 1 (sorry it would not rotate, not sure why). Walking to work the other day I noticed that all of the trees had IVs hanging from them. I am not really sure what the purpose of them is, but apparently all trees in Korea have full health insurance coverage...meanwhile back home most of my friends particpate in hazardous activites with no health insurance. If only we could all be a tree in Korea and not have to worry about healthcare.

Second picture: This is a fish truck comes out every night and parks about a block from my apartment. Unlike the trees in Korea, the fish don't have it so well. When someone orders some fishies, the man reaches into the fish tank that makes up the back of his pickup truck. He pulls out a handful of unfortunate victims and with scissors decapitates them right there. Thats right he uses scissors to cut off the heads of these live fish, and I get the joy of witnessing it every night when I walk home from work. I am not sure why it is only out at night, but apparently if you want decapitiated fish, that is the time to buy them.

Lastly, Koreans like to buy new things and throw their perfectly good old things away. They skip the whole Goodwill/second hand store step and put things directly in the garbage. I mentioned earlier about finding orchids in the garbage; throwing perfectly good things away is a totally normal thing to do, and I am a fan of it because I get to aquire lots of good free stuff . Outside of our friends apartment is a dump of sorts where people throw away the stuff they don't want anymore....and you can always find nice furniture there...like this chair in the picture (which I am currently sitting on). Unliike throwing things away, picking them out of the garbage, like we do, does not seem to be as socially acceptable...and even less so if you take your loot home in a taxi. Oh well, at least I am reminded that I have not become totally Asianised...even if I have started to dress like it.

I have a Korean"mom"

One day I was at the gym, sitting in the sauna, minding my own buisness (because its filled with Korean housewives laughing a joking and I don't understand anything they say). A woman sitting next to me asked me where I was from and we got to talking. Sun Hi is now one of my favorite people, she feels like a mom to Rachel and I. She teaches us Korean every Tuesday, and then shows us how to cook a Korean meal. We invited her and her friend Mrs. Im over for cake to celebrate Rachel's birthday. Since I do not ave very much silverwear or many plates I ate my cake off a tupperwear top with chopsticks. Ghetto fabulous I know. Have you ever tried to eat cake with chopsticks? The key is to cube it first I think....

It is not OK to stick your finger up my butthole!!!!

It is a new term at EG school and all of my classes have been changed. My last schedule was about as good as it gets, my youngest kids were 2nd graders and they were about the most perfect class of 12 kids you could ask for. Oh how I miss that class. They were all so smart and well behaved, but at the same time bursting with fantastic personalities. This term they have decided that since I am a woman, I should teach the very little kids (because that's what moms want). Those of you who know me well can imagine how this went over with me, minor panic and a decent sized freak out. They refused to change my schedule, so I go to class everyday not really sure what to do with all of these 6-7 year olds who are on crazy pills. The problem is that they go to school all day (and in Korean school they do not get recess like in the States) and then come to English school for almost 3 hours...yeah right, that goes over real well. I turn around for 5 seconds and all of the following are happening: Andy is licking someone or something, at least 4 kids are out of their seats doing something ridiculous, Soobin and Heidi are standing on their chairs and Tim has rolled his word list up and is using it at a telescope, and at least one kid is trying to poke me in the butthole...yes you read that correctly. In Korea it is a very popular children's game to try and stick your finger up people's butts. It is quite unfortunate when you are trying to teach kids the parts of a plant and instead you get violated by a grubby little hand. So, how you control little kids who just need to play, and explain to them in limited English why it is not OK to stick their finger up your butt I am yet to figure out. In the meantime I will do my best to maintian my sanity.
The pictures above are of some of my great kiddos from last term
Also a comic rach found in Japan...apparently they play the game there also....

A little bit of Northwest love!!!

My love for the Northwest seems to be shared by many Asian people (or maybe they just like things written in English and don't know what they mean...more probable) . All throughout my trip I have come across random Northwest things. These are just a few of the ones that I actually stopped to take pictures of.
1. An Oregon t-shirt in China
2. A University of Oregon sticker in Thailand
3. A Mt. Rainier brand Latte in Japan