politics is scary: especially in korea...

not only is the government corrupted, but so are businessmen. since the hyundai guy died, people are worried that the hyundai company might go down. other car companies are scrambling to sell more cars since the hyundai crisis. and the price for hyundais are slowly going up. my uncle said, "if hyundai goes down, so will korea." scary!

oh and yesterday on my way to the hagwon, i saw a huge group of demostrators around this company. then i saw a bunch of riot police getting ready with riot gear and stuff. it was kinda unreal. good thing i was on the bus and quickly passed it. -.-

right now i'm watching this show where high schoolers come out and tell their crush that they like them. so funny. i always wonder what if i was raised in korea, what would i be like in the korean school system. i wonder if i would be smart. i wonder if i would be popular. haha. ;)

okie, well it's getting hot in herre and i'm going to watch some tv. i'll be "home alone" tonight again. but tomorrow, i'm going with my cousin, ji yun, to buy some teaching aids. i'll be teaching college students first thing monday morning. i'll let you know how that goes.

those of you going on the EM camping trip...have fun~! take lots of pics and post 'em up!

maybe i'll write again later...

Squirted 2:33 AM by E-J Yi

welcome to the wonderful world of bratty korean kids!: ok, i'm exaggerating. it wasn't bad at all. but first...

yesterday i met up with alley & meeryoung unnie~! it was mucho fun. first we met at the subway station and then took the subway to TechnoMart. where you can buy all the illegal electronic stuff such as gameboy packs and you can buy regular legal stuff there, too. ya know, like cell phones, cd players, pump!, etc. we watched "bruce almighty" first. they hadn't seen it, but i was willing to watch it again. dang, that anchorman scene was freakin' funny even the second time. i laughed till i cried. T.T so hilarious. i could watch that over & over again. what was funnier is that on the subtitles for the korean people, it said, "#$%$#^%" over & over again. hehe. then we looked around for a cell phone for me. about $150 for the phone and $30 for activation. that's for a pcs phone. if you wanna get a regular "handphone" (maybe it's digital) it's gonna cost you $400~! anyways, i didn't buy one yet, but probably will...very soon. :) then we ate at pizza hut. pizza in korea is less greasier and thus, not as good. but it was pretty good i guess since i was starving. (oh they just opened papa john's here.) anyways, afterwards, we headed to Apkujung (my 'hood). we took sticker pics and then went to a nohraebang! my first since i got here. i sang eminem's "without me" and "lose yourself" although the words appear way too slowly. that and other k-pop stuff. oh and "DROWNING" or as they write "DROWING". argh. alley & meeryoung unnie sang so well! :) if i EVER get access to a scanner, i'll scan the sticker pics and pics from nrb. until then...hold ya horses. then we had to part. =*( but i'll be seeing meeryoung unnie again. she applied to be a personal trainer at bally's here and it's closeby. and that way i can get a DISCOUNT working out! whoo hoo~! please pray that she gets this job. >.<

so that was yesterday.

today i left extra early and took the subway. "all by myself"! (ya know the song!) i even gave up my seat to a halahbuhgee (grandpa), but then he pushes me out of the way when he's exiting the subway. some gratitude he shows! hmph! i was sweating like crazy, but i was beaming that i made it there with 10 minutes to spare. then came the hard part...

the wonjangnim (teacher-in-charge) hands me all these lesson books. it was kinda complicated at first, but i "got it". :) i have 6 40-min classes each monday, wednesday, and friday. from 3-7:30 with 5 minutes in between. it's not too bad. just when you think you've run out of stuff, it's time to go. met all kinds of cute kids. some of them are a lil bratty, but i think i can handle them. ;) what was funny was that i'm supposed to be the "foreign teacher" which means i can only speak english. so that's what i did the entire class time. but right when time runs out, i busted out with some korean and all their eyes got WIDE as saucers! "teacher, you can speak korean!" and i'd leave for my next class. it was so fun to do that. ;) i was more hungry than tired and quite happy from my experience. i know it's not going to be as fun as today all the time, but i think i really got a good place.

as for the commute home...i was going to take the subway, but my feet couldn't take it any longer. my shoe straps were ripping my skin apart. it hurt so bad. so i (kinda) took a chance. i took a bus that i know where it stops, but it's a lil past where i live. but it turns out that it stops infront of my other cousin's place (near coex) and found it stopped perfectly where i need to transfer buses. i think i'm going to take the bus from now on. i think it's better than the subway. it stops closer and i can learn landmarks and stuff. unfortunately, i have to pay an extra 700 won (about $.60) to get to where i am now. and when i got home...

things were getting on my nerves. not going to be real specific, but just certain things. i'm okay now, but it kinda spoiled the good mood i was in. anyways, i'm hanging out with my cousin, ji yun, on Sunday. we're going to shop for teacher supplies. i'm teaching 2 classes next week to college-aged students! 8-9am! >.< i gotta find some games to play.

all in all, things are going pretty well. all i need is a cell phone and perhaps, a digital camera? i want to show u guys what i'm up to. gosh darn. i think i better save up first. :)

ah, the weekend. some relaxation. some shopping perhaps...

have a good day guys! (^.^)v

Squirted 8:17 AM by E-J Yi

havin' some fun: finally. today. i'm meeting up with alley & miryung unnie. i'm looking forward to that. will take some pics and (somehow find a scanner) post them up...

had yet another interview last night. this time, it seems a lil more promising. i like the place better, but unfortunately, i'll be having to travel about 25 minutes by bus or subway. ugh. but of course, let's not...OMG! i just got a phone call from the place! i got the job~! whoo hoo~! :D it will be part-time for a while, but they pay pretty well and that way, i can kinda ease into things. yay!

gosh dang. i wish i was at my other cousin's place. i'm tired of living here. my aunt makes things very uncomfortable for me. aish. >.<

van exel making rap music? he seems pretty serious about it. hope it goes well for him.

aite. gotta make some phone calls. oh and i gotta buy a new cell phone! :D

Squirted 8:31 PM by E-J Yi

awww...

rain.

i used to hate it. but being in korea, i BEG for it. it takes away the humidity. it relieves me of my sweat. it's been raining all day now. even tho i can't really go out b/c of it. rain in korea is weird. there's no thunder or lightening here! and the rain comes down straight and not at an angle like in america (b/c of the wind). in america, you'd have to close your windows and stuff, but here, you can leave the windows open. very nice.

the other night, i heard screaming. like ear-shattering screaming. at first, i thought there might be some pojangmahcha (lil tent where u can eat noodles & drink soju), but it continued. it started to scare me. my cousin came home and i asked her where the screaming was coming from. she said that there was an austistic boy who lived nearby. his screams are so scary. it's like somebody's trying to skin him alive. gives me chills when i hear them. i have woken up a couple of times from it. it's very sad and the whole neighborhood tolerates it, but dang. austism is a very sad thing.

ok, onto OTHER, more pleasant stuff.

more job offers have been coming in. mostly part time stuff. i think i'm going to do a couple, but i'm still waiting around for the magical full-time job at a hahgwon.

yesterday i ate at krazy burgers. basically the closest thing to the "american hamburger" besides fast-food chains. very good, i must say. :)

i wanted to buy a cell phone and digital camera, but i realized that i don't have enough money for both. maybe not for even 1 right now. i wanted to get a cell phone once i secure my job. not really sure what digital camera to get since julie has bought the one i had wanted. sony's not really known for its quality here and my cousin says i can buy other ones for cheap here. she has a samsung 4.0 that's super nice. hmmm. we'll see.

i guess that's all for now. maybe i can borrow her digital camera and start posting some pics up. we'll see...

Squirted 12:56 AM by E-J Yi

yeah!!

the internet works now~! :D i'm at my cousin's.

things i've learned or observed about korea:

1. if you (an american-born citizen) want to compete with native koreans, speak in english. then they can't take advantage of you. this is related to getting a job. if you speak in korean, they tend to stiff you. btw, this hasn't happened to me. people just told me.

2. it's freakin' humid here (duh). i have YET to be COLD. at times, it's been refreshing, but only for a moment. i almost always sweating a lil bit. ugh.

3. mosquitoes love me. i've been bit 10 times. guess how many my cousin has? big fat egg.

4. korean grocery stores are awesome. free samples everywhere!

5. seoul girls are so image-conscious. everybody dresses up. what i hate the most is wearing uncomfortable shoes. since i'm with my cousin, dong hye, who almost always wears a skirt, i can't go around wearing jeans. i've gotten numerous blisters on my feet. if i'm with my other cousin, ji yeun, i can wear blue jeans cuz that's what she wears, too.

6. if you drive a nice car, watch out. my aunt's family drives around a jaguar which is both good and bad. good b/c it's a freakin' nice car. bad b/c it's a target for kidnappers. my cousin can never take this car out in the evening. a couple of rich daughters have been kidnapped for ransom money recently so she doesn't want us to take any chances.

7. korean tv is awesome. on the weekends, they re-broadcast the shows or dramas you might have missed during the week.

8. restaurants, cafes, pc bangs are either REALLY nice or REALLY crappy. there's hardly any between places. i've been to a really crappy place to eat noodles where the bathroom has a toilet in the ground. and i've been in a fancy schmancy restaurant that i had to watch my cousins to see what to do.

9. when women watch dramas, all they (we) do is talk about who fixed what on their face. haha.

10. i relish my alone times. like right now. :)

i dunno if what i'm writing makes korea look good or bad, but those are just my observations. i'm still having a pretty good time though. :)

my cousin, seo hwan, went to back to the army today. he's a few months younger than me and we get along great even though we haven't seen each other much. whenever we see each other, it's like time hasn't passed. he's very open & upfront with me. telling me things that he doesn't even tell his own family. he's so comfortable, in fact, that he farted while we were watching tv together last night. haha. but i didn't dare laugh. :) he's a driver for a commanding officer in the army. both good and bad. good that he gets out of doing extra chores and stuff, but bad that he's on call 24/7. i got him a gap shirt and when i gave it to him when he first came home, he immediately changed into it and wore it all day. then he wore it again going back. it fit perfectly. :) he gets stressed out alot b/c they make fun of him as being a rich boy and entering the army a little later than usual. he's got a pretty good temper, but the army has calmed him down a whole lot. anyways, i wrote him a few months ago while i was in america and he said that all the army guys were going crazy that i wrote in english. they couldn't believe that he got a letter in english. haha. i wrote him another letter last night and secretly snuck it in his bag so he could read on the bus ride back (like 5 hrs). when he was getting ready to leave, i almost felt a tear about to well up in my eye since i know he'd be going to "hell on earth" for another 2 months. but then he'll be back. he says alot of army guys have been getting killed these days; either suicide or doing something stupid by pointing his gun or loading the ammunition the wrong way. i'm glad that he's a driver so he's somewhat out of harm's way, but you never know. anyways, i hope he's safe and sound.

don't know if that paragraph made any sense or whatever, but i just felt like writing that. i'm sad that he's gone now. my other guy cousin is coming tomorrow so i hope he'll cheer me up. he always does. :*)

Squirted 2:25 AM by E-J Yi

mind boggling: too much thinking. argh, i hate it.

hey people. i've been away for a while, huh? cuz of my cousin, dong hye, who supposedly messed up the computer. so i'm at a PC bang right now. good thing that i'm not in the smoking section, thank goodness.

freakin' AOL sucks here in korea. i can hardly check my mail and what not. takes FOREVER to load the freakin' page and of course, the email itself. drives me nuts! >.< so if you're writing me, then i'm so sorry that i haven't been able to write you back. i can't even read my mail for goodness' sake!

another celeb sighting, but not a big name: kang boo jah. that famous halmuhnee. she lives next door to my aunt so i've seen her 2x already. her face is bigger in real life. haha.

anyways, things have been kinda blah lately. let's see...what have i done...

went shopping with my cousin at dongdehmoon, kind of like a marketplace for cheap clothes, shoes, and accessories. i bought a fake (of course) prada messenger bag, a pair of sweats, and a pair of sweat shorts. all for about $60. the prada was a really good fake. :) anyways, my cousin, ji yeun, got lost on her way home so we were driving around in the rain for about 20 minutes, but it was still alot of fun. i love hanging out with her. she understands me and makes me laugh. when i'm with her, i really feel like i'm at home. at my other cousin's (where i'm staying now), i feel like a visitor. does that make sense?

i had all these things i wanted to write about and i forgot them all. musta been not important. =
well, i'm hoping things will get even better soon. i'm meeting up with alley on thursday so i'm lookin' forward to that. :)

btw, i FINALLY ate a screw bar yesterday. heavenly~!

hope that all my lovely readers (YOU) are doing well. keep in touch.

until we meet again (that is, whenever we get the freakin' computer fixed or i visit another PC bang).

Squirted 11:14 PM by E-J Yi