Dumsor Dumsor! Hey where's the water?

"Dumsor" (lights-out) and having the water turned off during vacation is...um...challenging.
It takes a special sense of humor and positive outlook to continue to look on the bright side when both are turned off...for several days.

But once you fall in love with Africa, you fall in love with it and all of its faults.
It can break your heart but I still continue to love it, every day with all of my heart.

1 in a billion

Being in Africa feels so good.
Especially after being a (cute) "exotic giraffe" in SK.
I am one of more than a billion beautiful sun-kissed people... And I LOVE IT!!

Did the pilot just say he wants to restart the engine?

I am currently on my winter vacation and am taking a long flight to visit Africa via Hong Kong. Well, you know it is going to be an eventful trip when the pilot announces that he wants to restart the plane's engine to see if the plane will take off.

EXCUSE ME?

So...he turns off the ENTIRE PLANE and all 300 passengers sit in the dark, with our mouths hanging open, for several minutes while he attempts to jumpstart our plane's engine.

WOW.

It takes 4 hours for the mechanic to fix the problem. During that time I am trying to remember where I put the life insurance papers and also wonder if my house is clean enough for mourners. 

After the 4 hours on the Hong Kong tarmac, we travel over 6000 miles (11 hours) across land and sea. My eyes stayed open the ENTIRE time. I wanted to savor the last moments of my life.

Long story short, we missed the connecting flight and I am chillin' in a decent hotel room in Ethiopia. The airline housed and fed us and also gave us wifi. I did get a few grey hairs during this trip but it is ALL GOOD. I am sure the trip home will also be noteworthy, LOL.

Haenam pics - beautiful and vibrant RED energy

These are some of the pretty pictures we took while I was visiting my friends in Haenam.

Would you like an oyster?

The staff had an oyster roast behind the school recently. I was invited to eat fresh steamed oysters. I cannot remember the last time I had oysters especially this fresh. The oysters were delicious and I even learned how to open them up myself.
They look just like rocks which I guess they are, delicious sea rocks.

Hey, do NOT touch my @ss dude!

Do NOT touch me without permission!

My Principal at my travel school touched my butt before my 9am 5th grade class. It is customary here when a superior enters the room, you have to stand and greet them. Well, I was in the administrative office with 3 Korean members of the admin staff waiting for 1st period. As he entered the room, I stood up to greet him. He,very quickly, placed his hand on my waist and then slid it down my butt. It happened so quickly that I almost missed it! My eyes grew big and I stared at him. I was thinking 

" did this motherf@cker just touch my ass?!" He then greeted the other people in the room and started speaking with the Vice Principal. Just then the bell rang and I had to rush to my 1st class. I thought that I would have to process this incident later. Well, later almost never came because when we got to 1st period, the 5th graders were almost in a frenzy. The students told my co-teacher, who then relayed the story to me. The story was so crazy, it knocked the fact that I was sexually harrased right outta my head.

The students said that the VP had an argument with one of the younger female teachers and slapped the hell out of her in front of some parents. OMG! My Korea had lost its mind.  When I asked if he had been arrested, they looked at me in confusion. Why would he be arrested for slapping her? Turns out in Korea, ruining someone's reputation and having them pay a fine is MUCH worse than going to jail for a few minutes. Both were still in the school waiting for the court proceedings.

WOW!

Well, that decided it for me. No confrontation with the principal over my butt-swipe. I now avoid him like the bubonic plague.  Almost like he has a restraining order against me. I do not want to put myself in a situation where I would have to choose to defend myself against a school staff member.

This country is way behind when it comes to respect for women in the workplace and in

society in general. As a visitor, I will observe and minimize my interactions as much as possible.

But...LOL...if he tries it AGAIN...IT.WILL.BE.ON and POPPING.  LOL.

Kimchi dumplings?

Did you know there were kimchi dumplings? Yes, they exist and are delicious.