Rick Shaw

If I had known these were going to be at the bodypainting festival I might have been more inclined to attend.

A little boy unintentionally flashed me today on the subway. He hiked his feet up on the seat so his knees were by his shoulders and BAM! the full monty. The astonishment was overshadowed by the question, why wasn't he wearing underwear?

I need more grapes...

Grape Attack

I ate far too many grapes today. Korean grapes are the most delicious, I think, but a hassle to eat. You must suck the insides out and what you have left is a wrinkled little grape skin. Additionally, they're full of seeds! All I need now is a big piece of crusty chewy bread...*v*

감자 (Potato)

A woman fed Louie a boiled potato today. I had him outside our building to try to get him to go to the bathroom (but since his surgery he doesn't do anything, just stands there) and a woman walks up eating a skinned potato. What kind of person walks around carrying boiled potatoes, much less feeding it to another person's pet? Mind you, it was only a potato so I didn't feel like it would do too much harm, but still...it's the principal of the whole thing. You don't go traipsing around feeding other people's dogs. Everyone knows that. Well, at least I do. I think she felt bad because he was out there with that cone on his head. She kept saying something like, where are you sick or why are you sick, something about being sick.
We're two peas in a pod.

Hard Knock Life

The deed is done. Now he looks all sad and keeps running into things. He's not too amused with me, as perhaps you can tell from our photoshoot.

It's the weekend! This week was rough. The first week back from summer vacation for the kids and I can tell they'd rather be out than in class. They were actually better behaved when I had them in the morning when they had no school.

I keep thinking about all the food I'd like to eat. Korean food is delicious and all, but nothing beats American food....except maybe Italian food. My list so far for when I go back is as follows:
We start with a good ole' Chipotle burrito as fast as my little feet can carry me once I step off the plane. Next, I'd like a big bowl of Mac and Cheese with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy. After I feel fully loaded with carbs, I'll make my way over to a Dunn Bros. or Caribou and sip myself back into consciousness with a nice big French Roast. Somewhere in there I'll round up a few fruit snacks, Cub brand of course, lick a Jimmy Johns, pack my little pink cheeks full of baby dill pickles, and then pass out in a state of pure joy.

Thunder and Lightening

A girl in my class was seriously frightened of the thunderstorm. She was having quite a fit, crying turned to sobbing, and sobbing turned to bawling. She was so overcome she'd start screaming if there was any loud noise like a chair scraping on the floor or a bottle dropping. It was the most insane thing I've ever seen. Finally her dad came to pick her up because the whole class was stalled since no one could hear me talk over her wailing.

I need to start bringing a camera to my classes. Some of the kids are so darn cute I can't even stand it! Although, others I could easily toss out the window without a morsel of regret.

Plum tuckered

This is how I spend my evenings lately.

Dragonfly Swarm

Harmless, yet deadly when flying at your head. I find myself going against my better judgment and shutting my eyes while riding my bike to work whenever I encounter these dragonfly fogs. It's like they all hover in one spot and then don't know what to do when someone has to go through them. I know they don't sting, but they're so huge I can't stand to feel them bouncing off my head. Heaven forbid if one actually touched my mouth or something! They're still insects after all.

Louis has his "castration" date set. That's what the vet calls it. His English isn't that great, but you'd think as a vet you'd know the term "neuter." I'm not looking forward to the surgery because the poor thing will have to wear one of those cone collars, but after he supposedly will be calmer which will be great! He's not too much of a terror as long as he gets his walks, but a calmer dog is always better.

These two little girls were making noise while they were doing their workbooks today. It was the cutest thing, I wish I had had a video camera to capture it all. One would say, "boop" and right away the next one said, "boop." They kept making noises one right after the other for like, 10 minutes. Soooooo cutee ^^

Toe Fingers

I was looking at a girl's feet on the subway today because I have little else to do on my way home from work. Anyway, she was fairly tall and amazonian-like, so her feet were quite a bit larger than what I'm used to, but what really caught my eye were her long almost finger-like toes creeping out of her sandals. Here is my artistic interpretation.

I myself have fairly long toes, but these blew my mind. I like to spread mine real wide and put them in J's face. Like so.


I felt a bit ill at ease while watching the BBC classic, Persuasion. The main actress has all these shots of her looking straight at the camera...right into my soul. But this man made it all worth my while.

His name is Rupert Penry-Jones. When I saw it in the opening credits I thought it was some sort of misspelling because I see misspelled words here all the time and NO WAY could someone's name have a "Penry" amidst it. But turns out I was wrong. He's just British so I guess they have weird names.

J was recently injured. This is the icepack holder I fashioned out of some old cloth so he could play his computer games. I'm a regular Macgyver.


I also had quite a harrowing experience this week as Louie and I were attacked by a neighbor's dog. Everyone's ok, but it was crazy. This dog is usually locked up behind a gate, but yesterday the owner was driving into his compound so the gates were open. Louie and I walked by and all of a sudden this dog was biting at little Louie. I started yelling "NO! NO! NO!" but he kept at it, so I scooped Louie up and ran away. By that time the owner had gotten out of his car and chased the dog away from me, but while I was rescuing my puppy the dog bit my leg. I remember saying, "Ow" and then felt silly because who says "ow" these days? Luckily the skin wasn't broken, but I do have a huge pulsing bruise. J was really upset and yelled at the owner. Also, earlier that day I scraped my toe on the sidewalk.

Vacation hours end this week and my favorite co-teacher got a new job. Changes!

Poop-A-Scoop

The kids here love poop. At least, they love to say "ddong" which is basically just poop in Korean. They draw it on practically everything. Probably once a week I have a student ask me, "Teacher, do you like ddong?" I can't remember being so obsessed with poop as a child. In fact, I don't think I was even allowed to use the word poop. I had to use the much less enjoyable "bowel movement" to convey my needs. Perhaps it's just a cultural thing. Here, poop is something to be treasured whereas back home it is something to be flushed.
I give you the poop hat.

The poop gift pillow.

Words cannot even explain what is going on here. This little guy just loves poop.

And, of course, a picture from the play, based on the film, Doggy Poo.

An Ode to Dairy

Oh cottage cheese, how I long for thee!
Colby Jack, when will your sweet caress ever again touch my lips?
Smoked Cheddar, your musky scent haunts my dreams.

Confessions

I feel that now I am not working at Half Price Books and I can say this freely....I like Anne Geddes. As a young girl I'd accompany my parents to various stores, Sam's Club for instance, and browse through all the Anne Geddes photo books. I bought Anne Geddes calenders and books. I know this picture is not from any in her collection, but it's a cute baby in a yoda hat nevertheless.
I'd really like to wear this costume. Yo Gabba Gabba is genius.

I just watched Savion Glover on the Colbert Report and it reminded me of the time when I longed to wear these.

The much coveted high heel tap shoes that all the older girls in dance class wore. Alas, I never made it that long to experience such a thrill.

Times like these I wish I had a tv. My beloved reality show, 2NE1 TV is returning next week and here I sit with no way to watch it.

I've been thinking about trying my hand at some Korean cooking. I've spent the last day watching cooking videos online and the woman makes it look so easy! We'll see if I can pull it off though. First I must acquire a pot and some ingredients. Blurg, I want to go back to bed, but I was having a really weird dream this morning where I was winning a bunch of prizes with my high school friends. For some reason it felt really odd.