Friday, May 26, 2017

Take the garbage out, honey, not in.


Korea recycles all (almost all) of her food waste. Every school, apartment building and office is required to put food waste in specific bins. CCTV makes sure you do that. Guess whose building does not have a food recycling bin? 

Guess who has to bring her food waste in a small, plastic bag to school three times a week to avoid getting fined? Yup, me. I bring my food garbage to school then try to remember to throw it away in the cafeteria's waste bin at lunchee time. You can only laugh at it.



Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Wrong bus


I got on the wrong bus today after leaving my 3rd school. Bought a ticket at Jungma bus terminal, thought I read the front of the bus correctly and twenty minutes later ended back at the bus terminal, in front of the same ticket clerk. LOL.

All I could do was laugh with her. Thank God, it was not a four hour trip. 



My bus driver, taking a smoke, before taking me right back to my initial stop.
Gotta love it.

Shrimp fries? Chicken fries? Really, BK?


Shrimp fries?
Chicken fries?
I had to try it. They were calling out my name.
What can I say? It was crunchy and almost tasted like shrimp and chicken.
And the boxes are too cute!








Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Multi-sectional moving coffin


Korea's charter bus game is strong. But...I cannot be the only one who feels like I am inside of a well-decorated multi-sectional coffin every time I travel to another city.

Seriously. There is glitter, colorful shades, neon lights and (of course) plenty of leg room. A perfect coffin, right? Now all we need is a preacher saying how much of an anger we were when we walked the earth. 





Korea, you need National Proofreaders, fa real.


Do you know how much money I could make if I worked for one of these companies that created all of these misspelled shirts? I would be rich and could quit my teacher's job.

Yo, if you know someone who knows someone who knows someone...hook a sista up.



Shake and shake


So I picked up this Kenya black tea from Homeplus. I have been looking for black tea bags for two weeks so I was happy to find this one. On Monday I made the mistake of drinking a cup before going to school then I left the bag in my cup. Just kept adding cool water and drinking from it for hours. Well, after a couple of hours, my hands were shaking, tears of laughter and sorrow wanted to flow and I could not keep still. 

Such a light weight, LOL. 
p.s. this tea is delicious. It is has a deep, rich taste. 



Monday, May 15, 2017

Take off that shirt!


That bus stop moment when you catch a quick glance at a brown face and words on a Korean teenager's shirt. You close your eyes and say a quick prayer. "God, please don't make me lose my job today. I only have five more loan payments. 
Please don't let that shirt say 

"#1 N@GGA" or 
"IN@GGAS" or 
"N@GGAS!N@GGAS!N@GGAS!" or 
"Dis my favorite N@GGA" or 
"I love chocolate, kimchi & N@GGAS". 
Opened my eyes, read the shirt with a sigh of relief. Whew! I get to keep my job today, thank you, God.



Sunday, May 14, 2017

Stood up again...yup


Stood up again by another Korean, same one in less than one week. 
It is to the point now that when they say we will do something together, I automatically make another plan since I know they will stand me up.

Can someone please tell me why they are so fuckin' flaky here?
My list of Koreans friends is down to like two people now. GTFOH

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Are you done packing yet?


I am spending my alone time packing up my stuff and throwing things away. The boxes are being organized by season and reason. I want this place to be ready in case sh@t jumps off and a quick exit is necessary. It never hurts to be prepared, right?



Did you vote today?

Korea had their new election yesterday. This was after getting rid of President Park after several months of protesting in Seoul.
I pray the next politican has the country's best interest at heart.





Sunday, May 7, 2017

My soju and cigarettes


It is 4 pm on a Sunday afternoon and I spent the last two day running around so today I stayed in.

I packed two boxes of clothes and will go to the post office tomorrow to get more boxes. I want to organize my clothes and items, box  and label them. It is my goal to start getting ready for whatever the next step is in my life and I will feel better if my stuff is already packed when, and if, that times comes. So to add to my recent bad habit of eating junk food, I ate the rest of the Goo Goo ice cream that was in my freezer. Sigh. How does something that taste so good be bad for the body? The bad effects of ice cream should be outlawed. It makes me smile. How can that be bad?



Saturday, May 6, 2017

Just ate, yup, still hungry.


I just had lunch in the cafeteria and I am still hungry. Lunch was rice, rice balls, kimchi, noodles, stuff to put on the noodles, and some other stuff. No meat. Nothing that even looked appetizing. Usually I can trick my mind into liking it but today my efforts were in vain. I just could not. I ate for two minutes then just got up and put my tray away. As I write this my tummy is half full with rice ball, rice and a few strings of noodles.
Man, I miss my own food. 
On the bright side this is a great way to lose weight, right?


Fan death


Getting warm again.
The fan that I bought last summer was a mess. I put it together myself and did not do a good job. Whenever I plugged it in it sounded like a helicopter was about to crash. So I took off the head, put it in a large bag and dragged it up the mountain at 8 am this past Friday. I asked the school maintenance man, nicely, to please fix it for me. Fixed in fifteen minutes. He is very good with his hands. He is responsible for the gardening and fixing everything at my main school.Oh, no! I just remembered that I have to pick up a rice cake snack for him to say "thank you". Ugh, I was not planning on leaving the house but gotta run out now. Gotta say thanks.




I got spoons, forks, knives, you name it!


I finally broke down and purchased cutlery. Got tired of using chopsticks and plastic forks. There was a guy selling pots and pans on market day downtown yesterday.  He talked me into buying a set of four then took twelve dollars from me. A few minutes later he runs after me because he had made a mistake and undercharged me. His English was low so he just yelled out a random English word to get my attention. LOL. It was actually funny. I was imagining if he only knew a curse word.  He would be chasing me down the street yelling "Fuck! FUCK!" LOL.

I also bought apples and bananas in an effort to balance out all the junk food in my house. The bag of apples was three bucks. I have never, ever tasted tasteless apples in my life. It is like chewing crunchy air. No lie. 



Lovely Daegu


Daegu is the 4th largest city in South Korea. Large population, heavy traffic and lots of activities are available. It is also the place I go to get my braids done. Wooohoooo!! US military base means lots of businesses that cater to the needs of the soldiers. There is even an authentic Philly cheese steak restaurant there. The guy lived in Philadelphia for a few decades and decided to share that delicious, mouth-watering sandwich in Daegu. Mmmmmm...


Who ate my ear?


So...guess who is stressing eating right now? 
This cute cookie was almost too cute to eat. 
Almost. LOL.
Chocolate and junk food are my only vices here.
Too bad there is no chocolate flavored soju with nuts and almonds in it.




Rice planting season


It is that time again. Time to plant the rice (and lots of other stuff) into the fields. God bless the farmers of the world. It is such a back-breaking job bringing food from soil to the table. Blessings to all the farmers out there, breaking their backs to bring us healthy food. I applaud you. 





Wednesday, May 3, 2017

That time again...


It is 3pm on Thursday, May 4th. I am in my office waiting for my office mate to leave for the day so I can start taking my braids out. I don't want to scare the living daylights outta her so...LOL.
Once she hits the other side of this door, it. Is. On.
Tomorrow is Children's Day in South Korea and there is no school..
Wooohoooo!!!!

I will go to Daegu tomorrow to get my hair braided by the Liberian woman, Terry.

Wait a minute...
She just left...whew!!
Time to start taking out my braids!
Yay!

$5 per pic with foreigner


As you know. by now, the more "exotic" you look in Korea, the more you stand out. Because I look so different from the locals, strangers often ask to take a picture with me. If I am in an okay mood, I comply but always take my own selfie, too. Somehow, I want them to feel the same sense of intrusion...but they NEVER do. LOL.

These pics were taken at the 2017 Jindo sea parting festival. The sea parts and you are able to walk on the ocean floor from one island to another. It is an amazing experience.