hi readers

hey!
ok i know it's been a LOONG time since i've blogged, but for some reason i've had a hard time signing into this thang. it's all fixed now. clearly... so yeah! not a awhole lot is new... sad i know. as of yesterday afternoon i'm officially on holidays!! so exciting! me and Ji Hye are going to Shanghai for two weeks-ish. it's oging to be SO nice to be a tourist and not a teacher, for a short time at least. i'm sure i'll miss the classroom by the end of the break. i had some before-summer-vacation partied with my classes so the last week was so relaxing! today i went to a korean production play at one of the theatrical theaters in this city. it was fun! of course i didn't understand what they were saying, but i think i got the point of the story. mainly because it was a comedic production of romeo and juliet. asian style. it was really interesting. the costumes were so authentic! it looked like i was watching Mulan. i love this culture! and then after we all went out for dinner. tomorrow we might go to the beach. just because we can. haha.. so nice to be in a weekend and able to sleep in! i wish we were leaving a little sooner for Shanghai, but Ji Hye has her final exam at university on tuesday, but right after she's done we're OUTTA HERE!!! i'll have LOTS to say after i get back. we're going to do EVERYTHING! we're staying in a hostel.. creepy.. but i'll get over it. and we're taking a 15 hour bus trip there :) :) :) nothing new to me haha. well thanks for being patient with me, and i'll have a FULL long update in two weeks!!!! bye bye!

hey it's been a few days since i blogged! a couple random things have happened. neither were particularly great. first... this weekend i suddenly got reallly sick. it was something like the flu, but i was in so much pain i couldn't sleep. and i had to work at 9 the next morning! so after dragging myself through that day of work (pretty much every class was major free time! haha.. lucky kids!) i went to my first chinese "hospital." it was more like a hostel! it had two rooms.. one where the two doctors sat and ate watermelon, and another that had three beds in it. they layed me on a bed and hooked me up to an IV and drained three bottles of mysterious chinese medicine into me. it seriously works like magic! i went in there feeling like i might die and walked out three hours later feeling like i had never been sick! i love china!
today me and Ji Hye were planning on getting up early to take a bus to Yentai.. a nearby city.. just to satisfy our anxiousness for some time off to travel. buuuuuut getting up at 6 just wasn't happening. we opted for a local japanese restaurant and the amusement park. i rode the viking! she made me do it alone though! she was too scared. it's this big ship that swings really high in both directions... we have them at home. i sat in the middle like a chicken.... next time i'll brave a backseat. and tonight... me and Ji Hye had our first pervert attack on the way home from shopping tonight. it was nothing serious.. but i just can't help but wonder what could have happened is Ji Hye wasn't with me. hopefully that's the only thing of that nature that happens while i'm here. tomorrow the first thing i'm doing is getting a keychain pepperspray haha. i'm ok. just a little shaken up. well i should try to get some sleep. have a good day everyone!!! :)

GOODBYE TEENAGER-HOOD!

hey!
so my birthday was SO fun! it was the best one i've had in a couple years i think! my students had a huge surprise party for me when i got to school. there was a cake, and chicken, and lots of candles, and they wrote WE LOVE YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY! all over the whiteboard. it was so sweet. it of course escalated into an all-out cake fight! initiated by.. me. oops! haha. it was so fun. and then after work i went home and Ji Hye and our friend Mariah were there because we were planning on going out to our favourite club that night. and they had surprise presents for me! it was so sweet! and then we went to the club (it's called 2046... easy to remember.. and pronounce!) and last week me and Ji Hye had made friends with some of the bartenders there, and when we got to 2046 they had a surprise party waiting for me tehre too! they bought this HIGE embarrassing display of flowers, and a cake (which also turned into another minor cake fight) and they got the DJ to say happy birthday to me, and sing an english birthday song! it was so sweet. it really was a great time. i can't believe i'm 20! bring it on! haha. i think these are going to be the best years of my life so far. young. single. travelling. i'm excited!
so i have some EXCELLENT news for all of you who witnessed my really devestating grad performance. yesterday me and Ji Hye and Jerry went to karaoke in the middle of the day, and i saw THAT Celine Dion song.... so i figured today is the day i put that song in it's place! and i did! i nailed it! haha.. so if i died tomorrow i could rest in total peace! well i have some teaching to do pretty soon.. but have a fantastic day!

hey!
so i know it's been a few days.. but it's been a BUSY week! i'm getting tired! haha... but even being tired is NO excuse for an EMBARRASSING mistake i made in the classroom the other day! so.. i took Karen's advice about playing review X's and O's (great idea by the way!) and i thought i would throw in a question that would leave them stumped because they were doing so well. so i asked... "what is the capitol of Canada?" they were quiet for awhile and then a girl shouted "Toronto!" i was like "Wow! that's incredible! you get a huge O for that! i'm impressed!" then this 11 year old boy in the class stood up and said "that's not the capital of Canada! Ottawa is!" so me being the stubborn person that i can...sometimes... be, i tried to argue my point (more trying to save my face than wanting to be right!) haha.. but he was right. we all had a relaly good laugh about it after. so sorry canada! i suck! haha.
ok.. so tonight i tried THE ULTIMATE in food. .. after work Jenny took me and her family out for dinner to this beautiful restaurant in a popular hotel here. so we were eating our sushi.. it was good.. then the Fu Yuen (waitress) brought in these plates and suddenly everyone looked at me. i was like.. huh? then i looked at the plate, and there was a heaping pile of writhing squid tentacles. i can only imagine how my face looked but everyone just started laughing. this is a korean delicacy i guess... and as previously mentioned it's rude to not try EVERYTHING. so... i picked up my chopstick and chased down a crawling tentacle. i accidentally dropped it on my plate and it was twirling around and suctioning itself to my plate. haha.. it was hard to convince it to come off of there! it was like a leech! but eventually my chopsticks got the best of it, and i help it up to look at it. it's suction cups were flaring furiously, and it was wiggling around like a worm. it was so unsettling, but again everyone was waiting for me to put it in my mouth. so put it in my mouth i did. i chewed it as fast as i coul dbefore it could wiggle around in there. then Ji Hye took one and was letting it crawl in and out of her mouth.. haha.. it was disgusting! so now.. having tried that... i think i can handle anything! even the sea cucumber would be nothing in comparison! haha. well anyway.. that's all that's new here right now. if anyone comes to visit they are definately going to be initiated with those things... mwahahahahaha...

KOREAN SAUNA

i just had the best night of my chinese life! me, mariah, nancy, and ji hye went to a korean sauna. i have never felt so good, (or so exposed.) These sauna's however are not for the faint of heart, the weak of stomach, and MOST DEFINATELY not for the shy!
so as soon as we got to the sauna, we removed our shoes, got a key and went up a carpeted staircase to the locker room. (that carpet by the way is the only carpet i have seen since i've been here so it only made the stay all the more luxurious) as soon as you get to the locker room, you leave your inhabitions at the door and strip down. haha. i feel really close with my new friends now. they know more about me than some friends i've had all my life! when you're 'prepared' you step into the shower roomand bath room. there is a wall lines with open showers, and opposite that wall is three large square pools. one is really hot, one is mediocre, and one is verrry cold. when you're showered and clean you go into the first hot pool, then proceed your way to the cold one. when you're finished with that you dry off, and go back to the locker room. there you're given funny little outfits to wear. then wen you have your funny little outfits on you go out into a little restaurant and sit on the floor indian style. then you have some dinner! i was soooo hungry by this time. we went straight to the sauna after school. when you're done eating you go into a large room, and the floor is covered in straw mats and there are people lying around on them. there area few small tables that you sit indian style at again, and some people were playing some chinese board games, and others were watching the huge screened tv's. all were wearing this weird robe-out fit things we were given. this was the only co-ed room... for obvious reasons. it was the only room people weren't naked! then at the back of the room there are caves. yup.. those are the saunas. when you get inside, you sit on the straw mats, and use sandbags as pillows if you want to lay down. it felt sooo good to sit in there and just sweat. it reminded me a little of the crazy heat in guatemala! when it gets too hot to stand you go and sit on the sloor at one of the little tables. when we sat down , one of the waiters brought a plate with four eggs - shells and all- to our table and a plate of salt. i guess they burn the eggs in the shells on the same stones they use for the sauna. when you open the egg it's either dark brown or black. it looked gross but it was good! smoked egg.. yummy. then they bring you this AMAZING ice cream thing. it's literally ice and cream. crushed ice with beans, and rice cake on top of sweet cream. it was sooooo good. and then you get some bubble tea. felt so nice after that hot sweaty sauna. then we played a chinese board game. it was similar to x's and o's, but you use coloured stones. (i'll show you when i get back!) then after that we went back to the locker room, gave back our robes and went back into the shower room. after dipping in the three pools again you go and lay down on a massage table. but instead of a massage a woman with a pumice mitt on comes and scrubs alllll of the dead skin off allllllll of your body. i really think i lost a pound there! haha. that took about half an hour. they oil you all up then just go to town on you. we all got to lay in the same room together so that was fun. less awkward. then after that you go and shower for a final time, and then you're done. and you even get to keep the pumice mitt!! wa hoo! at least that way you know they use a new one on you every time! i have never felt this good ever i don't think. i feel so smooth and so relaxed. i've never been to a spa before, but this really felt like it! i will most definately be going again!

oh sooo niiiice

well today was Jenny's birthday!! wa hoo!... it was fun. we all went out for dinner.. ate WAYYYY too much again..(story of my recent life).... and then all of the girls (me, nancy, Ji Hye, and Jenny) went out for massages. wow it was sooo goood. i put some pictures up on my facebook. it was hilarious... me and ji hye got girl massagers and then in walks this young handsome chinese guy to massage her mom. it really was her special day! they were intense foot massages (next time we're doing the whole body thang!) and ji hye is really ticklish so she just laughed through the whooole thing. my feet have never felt so happy. it was so fun. tomorrow night me and mariah, and ji hye and nancy are going to a korean sauna. i guess they're really neat. although it's the bare all type.. o well! i'm here for the experience! haha. i'll be sure to have a full detailed report tomorrow ;) alright... i'm going to bed.. keep smilin :)

yeahhhhhhhhh

SOOO as it turns out i don't think i'll be up for winning the "most clever of the human race" award anytime soon... haha.. i managed the other night to give myself a little concussion. most people would consider climbing on seaweed covered steps at night wearin only sandals as maybe not being a super fantastic idea. well... tried and true. you're right! i thought i was being ohhhh sooo careful.. but i slipped and smashed my head on a higher step. i was still a little woozy today in class and my arms are all scraped up.. but it was pretty hilarious at the time. i swear.. i'll be more careful... i don't REALLY enjoy looking like the product of someone's fury.
so, karen remember when we gorged ourselves on cherries at Gary and Rene's that one time in Regina? well... i've been making that a lifestyle these days! there are always people with wagons filled with cherries all over the place, and you pay 10 RMB for a bag full.. and so easily eat the whole thing while your walking around. so far that's been an everyday occurance. you think i'd be sick of them by now! o well.. better a bag of them than a bag of chocolate.. although that does sound pretty good right now...it's so nice!
tonight me and Ji Hye went to the government building... you walk up a million steps and it's surrounded by a huge park and a waterfountain. and you can just sit there and watch the whole city. and people crowd around there to play hackey sack... leap frog... have a waterfight in the fountain.. you know whatever youre into... and i can't believe how many couples there are here!!! especially at night! that's when they all come out. it's like bible college.
i tried some weird things lately... some little snail things... i've always wanted to try escargot.. that's the closest thing i've come to so far. and i ate some sea cucumber... it was gross. but it was given to me when we went for dinner with the government people, and it's rude to not try everything.. so i had to choke it down. yummmmy. another strange thing was jellyfish. i thought it would have the texture of a squid.. but it was really gritty. those clams are still the best seafood i've EVER had. it would seriously be worth the flight here just to try them! so i can expect you all for dinner?
classes are still going good...i'm getting to know my students and my colleagues better so that always makes things more easy-going. i'm teaching my high school class how to write a business letter though ... HOW do you make that interesting!!?? the only way i can think of is to just skip that unit altogether! o well.. i'll think of something...
One of the teachers who finised teaching at little fox about a year ago is coming to visit tomorrow. he's 24 and from the states so it'll be cool to meet him. oh yeah! haha.. i met an italian foreigner the other day! i was pretty excited because foreigners are so rare around here.. but it was kind of ruined because he thought he was a pretty smooth guy... sorry! not interested! well anyway i should get to bed.. it's 1am here... i've had a hard time sleeping this week to i'll take what i can get!
well see you later! hope you're amazing!