I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday. What's after Friday? 2 days of doing whatever I like without a single thought towards school work. Phew. I simply can't wait to sit around, knit, read, and just lounge about without a care. But first, Friday. Commas, Tense Consistency, Golgi Apparatus, 1895, Jameson Raid. All these things are floating around my head and making it burst. I quite like school and learning new things but I hardly ever get time to do the things I enjoy. "You have a test tomorrow on why tests are important" or " You have an assignment on the origin of soap". Boring with a capital B. Anyway...something on the more interesting side.
A phase is going round in our family which is called 'Tickley under the armpit' . No explanation needed. But for those with no idea what I am talking about: When mom are dad are sitting at the table having an intense and important conversation about some world crisis,you sneak behind them and when the stretch or if they are relaxing with their arms stretched out you go up tickle them under the armpits screaming "tickleyunderthearmpits!". We just love it because they always get such a fright and vow to get you back. So no one stretches while the two little ones are on the prowl. The days are gone where you can relax on the couch with your arms above your head because you are bound to get "Tickled under the armpit". Kids these days.
Otherwise, days here have been long and inactive. Nothing exciting happening here. Nope.
Sigh.......
Thursday 27 October 2011
Sunday 23 October 2011
Post number the 5
I can't believe that one week has gone past already ! Well it seems as though it has gone by lightnening fast which is definetely a good thing. I think. The weekend has been full of laughs, sleeping in, lounging about and merry moments so I was not looking forward to the waking up before the sun is up
and starting school today. Saturday has rainy, wet, miserable and cold. Everyone tried to sleep in but for some reason your brain only wants to sleep in on the week days, the days you have to get up early. But when it is confronted with the oppertunity of sleeping in on the weekends it decides to get up at the crack of dawn and will not reason with you. So at some point we all get up and crawl to the couch, curl up in our sleeping bags and switch on T.V, hopes high for something good to watch. As it's Saturday, we are treated to a breakfast which is not the usual cereal-soymilk but delicious, warm, milky oats.
Once Dad arrives home for lunch and laughs at us because we are still in our pijamas, we go on about how we watched silly, random youtube videos of talking cats ( HILARIOUS) lay on the couch and just did nothing. He then convinced us all to get off our buts and go to Okpo ( a little town just 30mis from our apartment) and browse around the shops. I have been meaning to make some slippers for my mom and so i convinced everyone into the fish market where the lady sells fake wool for exorbitant prices. The fish markets are quite sad but very interseting at the same time. There's lot of culture in a fish market. Local people bustling about, trying to get the best price for a bag of squid or a large octopus. There's people shouting into microphones, people pushing others out the way to get there first. It's all very amusing to watch but also fascinating . I mean, what meal can you make with a fish head and an octopus?The sad thing is all of sea creatures that the old woman sell in their red buckets. There's squid and octopus and 50 million types of fish and sea urchins and clams and mussels. There is also a Korean sea squirt that is orange and people here love it. Don't ask me what they use it for because I really don't know.
We are walking past all these stores, fish, fish, fish socks!! There will be about 5 different fish shops and then a shop selling only socks, socks that you have to wash at least 4 times before you get the fish smell out of them. But finally we come to the shop we are here for, I chose my wool carefully and take Dad with me when I ask how much they cost to show I mean business. It still costs an arm and a leg but I am happy and skip away carrying my bag of goodies.For dinner it was spaghetti while watching Gnomeo and Juliet. Life's good.
On Sunday we went out to Teong -Yeong to go up the cable car. Last time we went up, it was pouring and our cable car was making a weird 'beep, beep' sound which we had no idea what it meant. It was extremely busy and we we at the back of the line trying to get our tickets. Suddenly a big group of Koreans came up and stood so close to us we could fell them breathing on us. It's those awkward moments when you can't move forwards or backwards without smooshing the people surrounding you. We finally bought our tickets and then moved to another extraordinary long line which was right next to the stage and it seemed to be an open mic, so people were just coming up and singing. It wouldn't be so bad if we weren't standing right next to the speakers which must have been on ' high' because it felt like we were at a rock concert. A Korean singer comes up and starts screaming into the microphone and we are very glad when the cable car security man comes and calls us up the get in our car. The ride up the mountain is about 7-8 minutes long but seems longer to those who have a fear of it crashing down 7 kilometers to the ground. Thankfully I only have a very acute fear of heights but my mom was not impressed. ' I want to get off now' 'This can't be over soon enough' ' Stop wiggling around!! Your make the car sway'. The rest of us were having the time of our lives, laughing and pretending to sway the car side to side, and making jokes about how high we are above ground.
At the top of the mountain, there is a bunch of food and drink stalls and then a trail of stairs leading to the summit of the mountain. We try to walk up quickly but are caught behind a group of old people struggling up the stairs. With no way to squeeze around them we are forced to follow behind at their slow pace, stopping every now and then while they take 50 pictures in front of a particular flower. The top finally came , with a beautiful view of all the mountains, and little islands around us. We tried to found our home but it was too far around the corner for us to see. Dodging many Koreans trying to take pictures we were able to spot the route we took to came here. After looking around for a while we made our way back to the cable cars. We arrived at the shops and were allowed to get a Churro ( dough covered in cinnamon sugar) each. Munching on those and waiting for the cable car we discussed how lucky we were it didn't rain and how beautiful it was.
and starting school today. Saturday has rainy, wet, miserable and cold. Everyone tried to sleep in but for some reason your brain only wants to sleep in on the week days, the days you have to get up early. But when it is confronted with the oppertunity of sleeping in on the weekends it decides to get up at the crack of dawn and will not reason with you. So at some point we all get up and crawl to the couch, curl up in our sleeping bags and switch on T.V, hopes high for something good to watch. As it's Saturday, we are treated to a breakfast which is not the usual cereal-soymilk but delicious, warm, milky oats.
Once Dad arrives home for lunch and laughs at us because we are still in our pijamas, we go on about how we watched silly, random youtube videos of talking cats ( HILARIOUS) lay on the couch and just did nothing. He then convinced us all to get off our buts and go to Okpo ( a little town just 30mis from our apartment) and browse around the shops. I have been meaning to make some slippers for my mom and so i convinced everyone into the fish market where the lady sells fake wool for exorbitant prices. The fish markets are quite sad but very interseting at the same time. There's lot of culture in a fish market. Local people bustling about, trying to get the best price for a bag of squid or a large octopus. There's people shouting into microphones, people pushing others out the way to get there first. It's all very amusing to watch but also fascinating . I mean, what meal can you make with a fish head and an octopus?The sad thing is all of sea creatures that the old woman sell in their red buckets. There's squid and octopus and 50 million types of fish and sea urchins and clams and mussels. There is also a Korean sea squirt that is orange and people here love it. Don't ask me what they use it for because I really don't know.
We are walking past all these stores, fish, fish, fish socks!! There will be about 5 different fish shops and then a shop selling only socks, socks that you have to wash at least 4 times before you get the fish smell out of them. But finally we come to the shop we are here for, I chose my wool carefully and take Dad with me when I ask how much they cost to show I mean business. It still costs an arm and a leg but I am happy and skip away carrying my bag of goodies.For dinner it was spaghetti while watching Gnomeo and Juliet. Life's good.
On Sunday we went out to Teong -Yeong to go up the cable car. Last time we went up, it was pouring and our cable car was making a weird 'beep, beep' sound which we had no idea what it meant. It was extremely busy and we we at the back of the line trying to get our tickets. Suddenly a big group of Koreans came up and stood so close to us we could fell them breathing on us. It's those awkward moments when you can't move forwards or backwards without smooshing the people surrounding you. We finally bought our tickets and then moved to another extraordinary long line which was right next to the stage and it seemed to be an open mic, so people were just coming up and singing. It wouldn't be so bad if we weren't standing right next to the speakers which must have been on ' high' because it felt like we were at a rock concert. A Korean singer comes up and starts screaming into the microphone and we are very glad when the cable car security man comes and calls us up the get in our car. The ride up the mountain is about 7-8 minutes long but seems longer to those who have a fear of it crashing down 7 kilometers to the ground. Thankfully I only have a very acute fear of heights but my mom was not impressed. ' I want to get off now' 'This can't be over soon enough' ' Stop wiggling around!! Your make the car sway'. The rest of us were having the time of our lives, laughing and pretending to sway the car side to side, and making jokes about how high we are above ground.
At the top of the mountain, there is a bunch of food and drink stalls and then a trail of stairs leading to the summit of the mountain. We try to walk up quickly but are caught behind a group of old people struggling up the stairs. With no way to squeeze around them we are forced to follow behind at their slow pace, stopping every now and then while they take 50 pictures in front of a particular flower. The top finally came , with a beautiful view of all the mountains, and little islands around us. We tried to found our home but it was too far around the corner for us to see. Dodging many Koreans trying to take pictures we were able to spot the route we took to came here. After looking around for a while we made our way back to the cable cars. We arrived at the shops and were allowed to get a Churro ( dough covered in cinnamon sugar) each. Munching on those and waiting for the cable car we discussed how lucky we were it didn't rain and how beautiful it was.
Thursday 20 October 2011
The soilders
The soilders stand on the hot red sand
And wait for their final orders
Knowing they will not survive this attack
Never again see their wives, sons or daughters
Never see the brilliant sun
Nor see the silver moon
Never bump into an old friend and then
Have tea until the afternoon.
These soilders know their going to die
Yet they fight for something with no value
You just simply cannot deny
That these soilders can't be thinking straight!
To see your friend crumpling to the ground
Like a piece of dampened paper
Simply cannot be mentally sound
For these men who cannot have hearts.
Are they simply toofull of pride?
To say " Mom look I've killed these men and have not died '
What are they trying to prove?
I have a bigger gun than you so I cannot lose?
Whenever I try to figure these things out
My head and stomach starts to hurt
To picture a boy in a shiny green uniform and a gun full of sadness and doubt
That he will never see his mom again
The blood and screaming, cries of pain
Is enough to make anyone go insane
But this one only seems to be me
Can no one else really see?
How pointless war can be?
How made up victory really sounds?
And this is just one of the tall mounds
The soliders will have to face
It really is a big disgrace
Of what mankind has become.
Monday 17 October 2011
The Days Finds
The Days Finds
 |
| This is what you get if you search in a 1000 won store. Horror movie in its self. |
 |
| NOOOO!! It has an evil, ugly looking brother too!! We all had a laugh when Ruby (my sister) said that they we actually quite cute. |
 |
| One think I love about South Korea is the socks. You get whole vans bursting with them, they are pretty cheap and have the coolest and funniest designs. |
 |
| Just a little slogan that I though was cute.Nothing says love more than a slogan which makes no sense. |
Saturday 15 October 2011
Weekend!
Aaaaahhhh.... Nothing beats just lounging on the couch, reading a really fantastic book, still in your P.Js. This is why I love Saturdays and Sundays. There is no rush to get dressed and shove down food only to be greeted with a science test and 50 algebra worksheets. But, Saturdays are my favourite because you still get the pleasure of knowing that tomorrow shall be the same. On Saturday I only woke up at 8 and then just lay on the couch reading until creature 1 and creature 2 got up and demanded that the T.V be on. The T.V here is all in korean apart from the Cebeebies and the Kids-Talk-Talk which is teaching korean children how to speak english. The Disney Channel is also in korean so all you can do is mute it and try to make out what they are saying by the way they talk. Not that fun. So I am stuck watching little people in odd costumes flying and singing songs that always get stuck in your head for the next two weeks. At least the creatures aren't annoying me.
Once mom gets up we have a leisurely breakfast and then make plans for the day. There are not that many things to do on the small island of Geojie, especially without a car, so our choices are narrowed down to the park (3.5 kms away), or we could wait until dad got here and he could take us somewhere but this was hard because he only got a tiny amount of lunch break so as soon as you arrive at the chosen destination and unpacked everything you have to repack everything and go home.
We decide to walk to the park and bring along the scooter and my "new" bike to make it all the more fun.So we pack our bags and get ready for the expedition.It's quite a drama to get the little ones ready because they never want to listen and are always forgetting everything but soon we are outside the apartment and setting off. Down the round, past the homplus and we walk by the waters edge, I am ahead riding my bike but suddenly my mother screams and when i turn around to see what has hapened I see my sister tumbling onto the floor and a korean man on a scooter riding past her. My mother again screams and so do I, tears already falling even though I hardly know what has happened. I push down my bike and sprint towards the scene where mother already has my sister in her lap and the korean man is saying something we really can't understand. I feel like hitting him and even though I don't get along with my sister that well sometimes I was not impressed. Fortunatley she got by with only a few scrapes but iff she was permanently damadged i don't think any of us would have forgiven ourselves.We soon had a whole crowd gatheres around us, all on the their phones and talking to each other. It's times like these when I wish I had some sort of button that I could push that would allow me to instantly understand what they are saying. The police arrive and try to question us but hand actions don't really get the point across. All we know is that this same dude will probably wake up tomorrow, get on his scotter and ride down the same pavement again, not al all worried about hitting some poor child again. We call dad and he takes us home where we all pamper my sister and try to forget about the days adventures.
Once mom gets up we have a leisurely breakfast and then make plans for the day. There are not that many things to do on the small island of Geojie, especially without a car, so our choices are narrowed down to the park (3.5 kms away), or we could wait until dad got here and he could take us somewhere but this was hard because he only got a tiny amount of lunch break so as soon as you arrive at the chosen destination and unpacked everything you have to repack everything and go home.
We decide to walk to the park and bring along the scooter and my "new" bike to make it all the more fun.So we pack our bags and get ready for the expedition.It's quite a drama to get the little ones ready because they never want to listen and are always forgetting everything but soon we are outside the apartment and setting off. Down the round, past the homplus and we walk by the waters edge, I am ahead riding my bike but suddenly my mother screams and when i turn around to see what has hapened I see my sister tumbling onto the floor and a korean man on a scooter riding past her. My mother again screams and so do I, tears already falling even though I hardly know what has happened. I push down my bike and sprint towards the scene where mother already has my sister in her lap and the korean man is saying something we really can't understand. I feel like hitting him and even though I don't get along with my sister that well sometimes I was not impressed. Fortunatley she got by with only a few scrapes but iff she was permanently damadged i don't think any of us would have forgiven ourselves.We soon had a whole crowd gatheres around us, all on the their phones and talking to each other. It's times like these when I wish I had some sort of button that I could push that would allow me to instantly understand what they are saying. The police arrive and try to question us but hand actions don't really get the point across. All we know is that this same dude will probably wake up tomorrow, get on his scotter and ride down the same pavement again, not al all worried about hitting some poor child again. We call dad and he takes us home where we all pamper my sister and try to forget about the days adventures.
Friday 14 October 2011
Post number the one
How come, whenever you are in the midst of the best, most exciting, dream you can ever have, you are woken up by some little creature who has decided to get up early instead of the usual 7:30?? Well this seems to be happening more than usual and happend just last night when I was in the middle of what I thought was my favourite dream yet. The worst part is, all the creatures want to do is watch the kids channel on T.V before mom comes home and starts the long 5 hours of "tough", "grueling" school ( notice my apostropheres here). This is , of course, not my favourite way to start any day. Especially a Friday. Cereal and milk alternative for breakfast followed by my math project and severeal other subjects. Then, what we excitment starved people think, the best part of the day. Shopping at the big store. I actually enjoy looking at all the notebooks, stationary and little odd and random things. The things that make you laugh the most here in South Korea are the english translations and the little splurbs they put on the front of notenooks and shops. Like the bakery shop across from my dentist, on the front where they put the name it says "don't bite me or you will love me" I thought it was hilarious at first and couldn't make sense of it at all. I shall post some more quotes and funny little doodads that you get in the little side shops here later on. There are the 1000 won shops which sell pretty much everything you could possibly need. Toothbrush? Aisle 3. Instant noodles? Right over there. Restraunt signs? Round the corner. Each 1000 won shop has a different combanation of things. It is quite a blast exploring each one and making a mental note to save up your money to buy the really cool clip with dots on next time.
Today however we were here to get the weekly shopping. This is a task of enormous proportion. As a family of five we usually get a whole shopping trolley full of food, juice, milk,bread and all of that and it only lasts 4 or 5 days. Then we have to carry about 6-7 bags full of heavy food all the way up the hill, around the corner and up the stairs. We try to drag all the food out as long as possible so we don't have to go back for at least a week. It wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't the blasting music, usually some sort of popular k-pop, and korean people shouting at the top of their voices '"Try this sausage!" "Try the cheese!! Buy one get one free!". And then every half an hour there is the one Homplus theme song in which all the Homeplus employees have to dance to this song. If you ask me this is the best part of the whole trip. Some really get into it, maybe they are the newbies so they aren't tired of it. Yet. Thankfully we don't have to lug all the shopping home today because we have a ride. Who is late. So we stand there in the rain, staring longingly at all the people eating warm noodles and chatting inside.We don't wait long fortunatley and we are soon back home, preparing dinner, well I am trying to help but spilling oil everywhere and alomost chopping my finger off while trying to chop the carrots, isn't what I call a success. it tasted great though and watching a movie while eating was also a bonus. Then bed time, try to get back to that dream.........
Today however we were here to get the weekly shopping. This is a task of enormous proportion. As a family of five we usually get a whole shopping trolley full of food, juice, milk,bread and all of that and it only lasts 4 or 5 days. Then we have to carry about 6-7 bags full of heavy food all the way up the hill, around the corner and up the stairs. We try to drag all the food out as long as possible so we don't have to go back for at least a week. It wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't the blasting music, usually some sort of popular k-pop, and korean people shouting at the top of their voices '"Try this sausage!" "Try the cheese!! Buy one get one free!". And then every half an hour there is the one Homplus theme song in which all the Homeplus employees have to dance to this song. If you ask me this is the best part of the whole trip. Some really get into it, maybe they are the newbies so they aren't tired of it. Yet. Thankfully we don't have to lug all the shopping home today because we have a ride. Who is late. So we stand there in the rain, staring longingly at all the people eating warm noodles and chatting inside.We don't wait long fortunatley and we are soon back home, preparing dinner, well I am trying to help but spilling oil everywhere and alomost chopping my finger off while trying to chop the carrots, isn't what I call a success. it tasted great though and watching a movie while eating was also a bonus. Then bed time, try to get back to that dream.........
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