bolaven schmolaven

The typhoon was a bust.  We actually did get to go home early around noon.  I went straight home during the heaviest rain of the day and locked myself in my room for the afternoon.  I kept peeping out the window to see if it was getting worse or not, but it seemed like nothing was happening except some heavy wind.

Overall, the whole typhoon was built up way bigger than what it was.  The door going to the roof of my building did shatter from the wind though.

bolaven is coming!

Typhoon Bolaven is on it's way to Seoul. Apparently, SMOE decided to close all public schools tomorrow, BUT teachers still have to come. Why, Korea, why?

"The Korea Meteorological Administration on Sunday predicted that Bolaven will bring the wind speed of over 50 m/s and more than 30 mm per hour of rainfall in Jeju and the south coast on Monday, with some parts of Jeju seeing up to 500 mm of downpours until Wednesday.

Bolaven is expected to be more powerful than Kompasu, which devastated Korea in 2010. The KMA said its winds will be stronger than Kompasu's in 2010 and Muifa's in 2011, making it the most devastating typhoon to come to Korea since 2000."

...still hoping to get a message in the morning saying not to bother coming in.

It's Friday, Friday!

First full week back at school is over in 4 hours!  Classes are going okay so far..hopefully the kids won't start getting devilish until at least November.  In other school news, the Japanese teacher at my school started talking to me after lunch.  On Monday, she came up to me and said she wanted to have a conversation and then proceeded to read me some sentences introducing herself.  Every day this week, she has said a few more sentences to me.  It seems like this is going to be a regular thing.  It's kinda funny because she really cannot speak English (Japanese is her first language and Korean is her second), but she has tried harder to communicate with me than any other teachers at my school who I am pretty sure CAN speak English better than they let on.  I really appreciate her effort.

[I know I need to learn Korean too..after all, I am living in Korea.  I just don't find it that easy to "pick up" (at least not in the way I know European languages would be).  For now, I know enough to get through everyday life.  The Japanese teacher told me that she studied Korean through a government program for Koreans who lived abroad- that's me!  So, maybe I will look into that.  She said she studied for 3 sessions of 3 months each so I think it will take a while.]

The weather this week has been pleasantly cool in the 70s/80s.  After returning from Japan, it was still pretty hot and humid, but around Tuesday or Wednesday, it got way better.  I can step outside without suffocating or sweating.  I actually wore pants twice this week without being uncomfortable!  I think this might be the last weekend pools are open so I'm hoping it won't rain on Sunday.

Also, this is the transition weekend where a lot of the teachers from my year will be going home and a new round of teachers will arrive.  Since one of my best friends recently left Korea, I will hopefully be on the prowl at the night spots for some new chingus in the coming weekends.  My group of friends is highly exclusive, but I feel like we really need to start expanding our horizons as our numbers are slowly dwindling.

Japan (pt.4) FOOD

Osaka is supposed to be a big foodie city and we certainly partook in trying many delicious Japanese foods!

Takoyaki- regional to Osaka- octopus balls

seared tuna

grilled vegetables

Curry

Udon

sushi lunch box

Sirloin Yakitori

Japanese style ramen

tuna roll

Mushroom Yakitori

Yakisoba noodles

another regional food- Okonamiyaki

Japan (pt.3) Nara

On our second full day in Osaka, we decided to get out of the city to visit the nearby town of Nara.  Nara is known for having many very friendly deer roaming around which obviously sounded great!  The pictures are self-explanatory.

one of my favorite things was watching the deer chase around frightened children

feeding the deer cookies..they would nod their head first and then expected to be fed

deer in the park

Bambi

sometimes we could pet them without feeding them cookies

temple in Nara

I couldn't get the cookies ready fast enough

Japan (pt.2) Osaka

From Kyoto to Osaka, it should have been about a 40 min train ride.  We must have messed up and bought the wrong tickets (or just followed what we had read about online) because after settling in for a nice little nap, we heard the announcement that we would soon be arriving at Shin-Osaka station.  It had only been 10 minutes since we boarded..talk about a bullet train.  The first night we just walked around the Amerimura/Dotonbori/Namba areas, and the next day we got up to visit Osaka Castle.

Dotonbori

Lamp posts in Amerimura

Dotonbori

Dotonbori Canal

Osaka Castle

view from the top of Osaka Castle

Dotonbori

Later in the week, we checked out the Umeda area of the city which is around the main Osaka Station.  This seemed like the biz-district with a lot of high-rises and department stores..so many department stores.  The man reason we went here was because my friend really wanted to visit the Pokemon Center.  It was beyond crowded with not only thousands of children but grown men/women standing around playing their DS.  We also took a ride in the ferris wheel at the top of the Hep5 Building.

buildings around Umeda

Osaka Station

Osaka Station

Hep5 Ferris Wheel

Osaka from the Hep5 Ferris Wheel

Pokemon Center

people hangin out playing the DS at the Pokemon Center

Japan (pt. 1) Kyoto

I'm back from vacation and back at school.  Luckily, I don't have class today or tomorrow!  So, plenty of time to update about Japan.

We left last Sunday afternoon straight from Gimpo to Kansai (only 1hr and 15min!).  The flight itself takes less time than it does to travel to and from the airport.  From Kansai, we took a direct train to Kyoto which was a little more than an hour.  We spent the next 2 days there sightseeing.  The 2 main points of interest were the Kinkakuji Temple with the Golden Pavilion and the Fushimi Inari Shrine.  If you have to choose between the 2, I would definitely recommend Fushimi Inari first.  There was just more to see and do, plus, it was closer.

lots of women wearing the yukata in Kyoto's streets

Kinkakuji Golden Pavilion

little wooden plaques at the small shrine at Kinkakuji

Fushimi Inari Shrine

Fushimi Inari

Fushimi Inari

Other than these things, we just spent our time walking around the Kyoto shopping arcades and through the streets of Gion.  Gion is known as the Geisha district in Kyoto, but to me, it seemed very much a touristy area.  I guess it is possible to spot a Geisha along one of the back streets but not very many and not very likely.  My friend saw one pass by with a body guard but wasn't fast enough to get a photo.

Gion

Gion

Kamagawo River

On our last morning in Kyoto, we wandered through the Nishiki Food Market.  We didn't have enough time to go out to the bars around Kiyamachi Street, but it was lovely during the day.  It is supposed to be really beautiful when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

Japanese photo booth

Nishiki Market

Nishiki Market

Kiyamachi Street

an alley near Kiyamachi Street

last day of camp!

It's the last day of summer camp FINALLY!  Not that the past 3 weeks have been that stressful.  I left school everyday around 12:20, went home, ate lunch, watched internet TV, and took a nap pretty much every single day.  It's been awesome.

2 shows that I've watched the entire seasons in the past month include Revenge and Once Upon a Time.  Ohh yeah, that's like 44 episodes!  Now, I'm excited for them to return next month!

I leave for Japan on Sunday!  I'm scared for how hot this vacation is going to be.  The forecast is 80's and 90's with scattered thunderstorms every day..which is actually good.  I would so much prefer cloudy and a little rain over super sunny skies and 90 degree weather aka sweating like a dog everywhere we go.  Wish us luck!

Digital Perm Update

I think I got my last perm during the first week of August last year so it's been almost exactly a year!  My hair is still curly!

My first perm only lasted for like 4 months and one hair cut before it started to die.  I don't know if the first perm I got didn't last as long because 1. I washed my hair the next day 2. I had never had any chemicals in my hair except some black dye or 3. it was a setting perm and not a digital perm.  In any case, this perm is still here, 2 hair cuts and 1 year later!

I ran out of all my "curling" hair products so these days, I've just been using leave-in conditioners and argan oil and it seems to be doing the trick.  Enjoy this nice selca, decorated by LINE camera.

HOT

I got to school today to find that the AIR CON is BROKEN.  It will turn on for a few minutes and then shut off.  I'm not complaining about coming into school for 4 hours every day and getting paid to do nothing, but it is HOT!  I'm just sitting at my desk with a fan blowing on me and still covered in sweat..not even moving or doing anything.  It's already 90 degrees outside BEFORE noon.  How will I make it 2 more hours?!