Kimchi, not for me

What's up with me and phrases-like-this?

Weird.

BTW, my new address:

Teresa Tucker
1434-305 Mokdong, Sinjeong 6 dong
Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, Korea 158-774

I do. I can't stand them. I'm a dog person through and through. I know of some people who are hybrids - equally dog and cat people. Not me. I like cats if they act like dogs. My cat, sadly, does not act like a dog. He used to. But in the two weeks he's been gone, someone schooled him in the art of cat-ness. And frankly, I can't stand him. I'm awake right now because he's been yowling for almost an entire hour. He's locked up in my bedroom with me because the apartment hasn't been cat-proofed yet. He has food (two kinds to choose from, dog and cat, even!), water, and a litterbox. There are countless places for him to hide and burrow and sleep, which is all he's done since he arrived slightly over 12 hours ago. Yet he has chosen to yowl at the door. Sometimes, just to mix things up, he comes and stands on top of my chest, with all 15 pounds-ish of his weight on the four tiny painful paws of his, and yowls in my face. I even was going to be nice. I let him out into the living room/kitchen area, took my blanket, and was going to sleep on the couch. But no. The yowling kept on. So now I'm at that already-was-angry-and-am-now-so-much-angrier-that-I-cannot-fall-back-asleep state. And I hate that state. Especially since any yawn or admission of weariness at my new job is greeted with the beyond irritating statement that I'm only tired because my brain needs oxygen, a problem that could be solved through exercise. Said exercise would consist of me walking in the far-too-cold outside to get fresh air. (Fresh Seoul air?! No such thing!) All in all, this is an event I try very hard to avoid because it's just not pleasant, and there's no arguing with them. Even when I state the case plainly, "If I don't get enough sleep, I will be tired no matter how much oxygen my brain has." they just do the little laugh-because-I-don't-understand-what-you-say -either-due-to-my-poor-English-or-due-to-the-fact-that-you-aren't-worth-the-brain-power.

So I just kind of hit the cat. That shut him up for a few minutes. But now he's hiding in my wardrobe and yowling into a pile of clothes. Stupid cat.

Now I have to go get all the pillows I threw at the cat and take them back to bed. Need to restock my ammo.

I hate cats.

And to illustrate my point, this is the inquiry I just sent to the American Lung Association:

I have owned dogs for all 25 years of my life. My current employer (Korean) has hinted that my respiratory problems are related to pet hair getting stuck in my lungs rather the pollution in Seoul. He "knows" someone who died because their lungs supposedly filled up with pet hair. He says once pet hair gets in the lungs, it can't get out. To get him to shut up about it, I am trying to prove him wrong, but as it seems rather ridiculous I can find no proof online. If anyone could help me, I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

I spent most of last week feeling sick. I was also quite productive in between the down times though. Unfortunately, I had no time for blogging. But here I am once again, to check in and give a brief update.

I started my new job this past Friday. It was very unusual in some aspects, but overall quite good. I spent the day there looking over/through some of the curriculum, trying to communicate with the Korean staff preparing said curriculum, and talking about the plans. I'll go in tomorrow for most of the day, then Tuesday I'm leaving for Japan. I have to leave the country to get my work visa (which I still find strange). They changed the process from a same-day thing to a one-day process since I went last year, and with the flight schedules I'm going to end up staying there two nights. I get back to Seoul Thursday night, then I think I go in to work on Friday.

Also, today I got my hair permed. And no, not the 80's kind of icky perm. It actually is a little icky now because of how the stylist fixed it - and that problem can't be fixed until tomorrow night, when is the earliest I'm allowed to wash it. I'll take pictures and post them later on.

Speaking of pictures, I took an amusing picture yesterday of the perdicament I got myself into - I decided to switch the huge wardrobe/closet thing in my room for a smaller one. I went to the same used furniture store as last week and found one for cheap. The wonderful owner April even said that her employees would take the old one downstairs to put in recycling for me. Upon arriving at my apartment, I was stricken with that WonderWoman vibe, and was quite convinced I could move the HUGE and MASSIVE wardrobe from my bedroom to the living room with no problem. I emptied it, and got it to the door of my room. It was too tall to get through the doorway, so I would need to turn it on it's side. That was difficult (it was quite heavy). Then I pushed it over to the door again, where I then realized I had trapped myself in my bedroom. I moved it, got out, pulled, yanked, and strained it half-way out of my doorway, and partway into Natalie's room. Then I was trapped in Natalie's room. Conveniently, I climbed out her window onto the porch in the back and walked over to the living room. But then I realized I had trapped myself out from both bedrooms and the bathroom. Long(er) story short, I finally got it out of my doorway and mostly in Natalie's doorway and then left it for the trained professional furniture movers. I did take a picture towards the end of just how it ended up. I'll be sure to share that later too. That's all for now. Night all.

Only because Christie asked me to...

Three names you go by:
1. Teresa
2. Resa (only by my family, a modified "Aunt Sa" by my neice and nephew)
3. Teacher/Songsangnim (to my students)

Three things that scare you:
1. Heights
2. Accidents (of any sort)
3. Settling

Three of your everyday essentials:
1. Lotion (a bit compulsive about it, to be honest)
2. Glasses
3. Lip gloss

Three things you are wearing right now:
1. FBTC sweatshirt (old school)
2. Jeans
3. Fuzzy socks so comfortable they could nearly become an idol

Three of Your Favorite Drinks:
1. Diet Coke
2. Water
3. Ultimate Mudslide from Fridays

Three of your favorite songs - at the moment:
1. "Our God Reigns" from Delirious' new CD
2. "Mission Flame" from Passion 2005 CD (I'm not sure if that's the name of it, it's track #9 though)
3. "She thinks my tractor's sexy"

Three things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
1. Loves Jesus more than me
2. Missionary heart
3. Brave but gentle

Two truths and a lie:
1. I miss my cat.
2. Wet socks are on my top 5 list of most hated things.
3. I love shopping for shoes in Korea.

Three of your favorite hobbies:
1. Reading
2. Surfing the web
3. Talking about God or dogs (interesting that those are my two favorite subjects, is it not?)

Three things you want to do really badly right now:
1. Pay off my student loans (amen, Christie!)
2. Watch Sweet Home Alabama (the Army channel said it was coming on tonight but they lied!)
3. Order the exercise machine from TV (I tried but they don't speak any English...ah well)

Three places you want to go on vacation:
1. India
2. Afghanistan
3. Florida

Three things you want to do before you die:
1. Serve as a missionary for at least 2 years somewhere
2. Get married and have kids
3. Follow God's plan for my life


Three ways that you are stereotypically a chick/guy:
1. I cry more when an animal dies in a movie than when a person does
2. I like sparkley things.
3. Puppies and small animals always make me go "awwww!"

Three people I would like to see take this quiz:
1. JoAnna
2. Bethany
3. Jen (my sis)
4. And MOST IMPORTANT of all, (drumroll please) Val!

I got internet in my new apartment today. It's the first time in awhile I've gone days without checking my email. Reminds me of Mike and his fast, although his was voluntary. I was getting all twitchy and cold sweat-ish about day 2. But now all is well.

I got everything moved in Friday afternoon. It was also my last day at work. I cried when I said goodbye to my class of four-year olds. They're just too young to understand. Correction: I cried after they left. This one, my favorite, hugged me quite a few times and just kept on looking at me with this wounded puppy dog look. It was heart-breaking. But he's Korean, and he'll soon adjust to the teachers coming and going through somewhat of a revolving door.

I start my new job Friday - not teaching, and not officially working (as I'm visa-less and that would be illegal) just familiarizing myself with the curriculum and giving some input and ideas based on my experiences. Should be interesting.

I was going to take pictures of my new place today to post, but it was super cloudy, gloomy, and misty/foggy all day, so it just didn't work out. Perhaps tomorrow. I've been feeling pretty sick lately as well, unfortunately. I went to the doctor yesterday and he is running a few tests to see if there's any problem. It's just this icky, achey, dizzy, gross, space cadet kind of thing. No fun.

Overall though, life is great. I love living with Natalie, and that Christine is less than five minutes away. They both love my dog, which is rather important. Daive and I are both missing the cat a lot, but I expect I'll be eating those words come Feb. 26 when I have him back and realize I don't really want him anymore. :) (Kidding.) Daive does lover the new place though. She gets lots of exercise and people over here aren't as afraid of her as people around my old place.

One more thing, then I'm finished. Christine took me to this used/recycled furniture store on Saturday afternoon, as I couldn't finish unpacking without a narrow bookshelf and a few other things. She actually knows the owner of this store, who is an absolutely wonderful and amazing woman. My only experience with furniture stores in Korea are the outrageously priced ones near my old apartment, where a couch is around 300 US dollars. Ridiculous. (And not even a very nice couch, at that.) When I saw that the pricetag on the bookshelf I found was only 15 US (15,000 Korean Won) I got a little buying-happy. I ended up getting a bookcase, a corner shelf thingy, a rocking chair, a small chair for Daive to put on the porch, and a vanity (for the drawer space and so I can use the mirror to get ready in my room in the mornings). All for 120 US dollars. And they delivered it the same day for free. Nice!

That's about it. I'm exhausted and it's only 10 PM. I'm old, maybe. Gonna go to bed now. Good night all. And by the way, happy Valentine's day!

I have been incredibly busy. Last week I had a meeting with my boss to iron out some details - when I woudl be leaving my current apartment, when they would be giving me my severence pay, etc. Long (and I do mean L-O-N-G) story short, I ended up having to move 99% of my possessions yesterday, because I have to be out of my apartment Friday evening. This was rather frustrating, not to mention short-notice, but flexibility and adaptability are two major things I am continuing to learn. My friend had to call and reschedule the movers for me, and then I thought maybe she had reserved a vehicle too small for me to take the bookshelf and chair I wanted to take. But that was okay...she was doing SO much to help me, and really it's just furniture. Not a big deal. Thanks to Kylie, I got nearly everything packed Wednesday night. I had to keep back a few pairs of clothes, the dog's kennel, and a few other small things. So the movers were to come Saturday at 11:00. At 10:15 my friend called and said that I had to have all my stuff downstairs and outside at 11:00. It would cost more for the guy to actually help me carry stuff downstairs. And so began the trips up and down the stairs. I live on the fourth floor. I had maybe six boxes (most of them small-ish, full of books, and heavy), one of my suitcases (the other one died), two Costco bags of loose stuff too bulky for boxes, and four kitchen-sized garbage bags full of clothes. (I know, ghetto packing.) I dunno exactly how many trips it took, but I had to stop in the middle and eat some tuna, as I hadn't eaten anything and my body had no fuel and I was starting to become shaky. The guy arrived right at 11:00, we loaded up, and headed out. Christine and Natalie were there to help unload and (miracle of miracles!) there's an elevator at the new apartment, so we just put everything in the elevator and then dumped it all out on the third floor and carried it into the apartment.

And so my new apartment...first of all, it has a bathtub. (And there was much rejoicing.) There's a real chance that that is where I'll spend the next two weeks and start my new job looking like an overgrown white raisin.

Anyway, the apartment is great. I'm really excited about living there. It's a much more residential area than where I currently live. The actual area is impossible to explain, so you'll just have to wait until I finish moving everything over (this coming Friday) and I'll take some pics and upload them. Of course...I don't know exactly when I'll be getting internet at the new place. I need to find out about that soon.

So my old job is finishing up. This is my last week. I got a two-page letter from my favorite student on Friday that made me cry a little. I'll maybe either take a picture of it, or type it on here later. I still have a lot of work to do (as in paperwork). And this week is so busy. I have to go over to my new job in the morning to sign something, and it takes an hour to get there and back. Then go to my old job. Tuesday I'm going to go to the amusement park about five minutes from my house that I've somehow not gone to up to this point. Wednesday night I was supposed to go to the airport with my boss to pick up my replacement teacher, but I had to change that because the cat-sitters have to come over to pick up the cat, and Wednesday night is the only time I can do it. So we're going to have dinner and talk, then they'll take Claude and all his necessary belongings home with them where he'll live for two weeks. (My future roommate's sister is coming to visit during the next two weeks and she is severely allergic to cats.) Thursday night is a combination goodbye party for me and welcome party for the new teacher. Then Friday, as soon as my K-7 class is finished at 3, I come here, finish packing, and head out around 3:45 to the new place.

Meanwhile, I only got THREE hours of sleep last night, due in part to the pain in my neck and shoulders because of the muscles I pulled moving, and partly because my mind was going a million miles a minute. I'm exhausted right now, but trying to keep myself awake until 8:00, when I'm going to sleep. I'll have to leave my house between 6:30-7:00 tomorrow to get on the subway to go to the new job, and plus I just need the rest. Also the pastor of my church asked me to share a little bit about how the small group I am in has affected my life. There are quite a few people that attend the English ministry I go to, definitely in the multiple hundreds. I was nervous, but did okay. I made people laugh (with me, not at me...I swear).

And that's it for now. I probably won't be able to post again until after I'm moved, but look forward to pictures of the new place!