Another tag

My cousin Marlita tagged me. I am supposed to post the 4th picture in my 4th photo album and talk about it. Here it is:


So exciting...I know. The story is this... For those of you who don't know, my family lives in a constant "fixer-upper" house. A few summers ago, Becca had her jaw broken and wired back together. She was in the hospital for about a week. While she was in the hospital, we tried to remodel her room. I think it was mostly done by the time she got it. She was so cranky though I am not sure she fully appreciated it. And she was wired shut so all she could ever say was, "uuuuuhhhh."

Funny Kids

Me: What does "homogeneous" mean?
14-year-old Jesse: A homo who is a genius.
(Uncontrollable laughter from the class, restrained laughter from me)

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Me: What would you do if you only have a year left to live?
10-year-old William: I would get married, make a baby and then kill someone.
(Confused and uncomfortable looks from everyone in the class.)

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11-year-old Harry: Teacher, do you know what Dakota means?
Me: (thinking and trying to make up something) I think it means "land of the people or something like that."
Harry: No. It means "friend."
Me: How do you know that?
Harry: I read it in an encyclopedia.
Me: Then why did you ask?
Harry: To see if you knew.
Me: Thanks Harry.

I am finally finished.

That's not completely true. I still have to finish covering a footstool, but I don't know what fabric I am going to use. The couch took me the longest, but mostly because I never worked on it. I am glad it's finished! It was really nasty before. Here's a close-up of the holes that covered it. Yuck!


And the final product...

A Conversation with Alpha

Alpha: Celina, I thought I was your favorite teacher!

Celina: (long pause) No, you are number two now. Kay is number three. Rosanna is number four, and Felix is number five.

Alpha: Who is number one?

Celina: Dalene!

(And she's not even my regular student! I love her!!!)

I've Been Tagged...Seven Random Facts

1. My favorite Gospel is Luke (thanks to Dr. Tashjian).

2. In the 6th grade my family got AOL. My dad was setting up emails for the whole family. A girl had spilled nachos on me that day, so I did something like "nachorovie." I had that for about a week when I realized it was stupid. I changed it to leneonme. It started out aol, went to sbc, then cox and now gmail, but it's always been the same. I still use leneonme as an AOL screenname also.

3. When I was little, a drunk man tried to get into our house. I woke up to him leaning in the window over my bed. I think this is the reason I'm scared of the dark and so jumpy. It could be just because I'm a Hemstock though.

4. I have been to five continents and lived in four. Everyone thinks I'm "adventerous," but I'm really just too scared to have a normal life.

5. I am unusually talented at finding anything on the website. Seriously, google should hire me. I could be just as fast as their search engines.

6. I don't believe in "the one," but I love romantic movies...and I always cry at them. Although, it would be hard to find a movie that I haven't cried at.

7. The only website that works in my classroom is wikipedia. I have become a wealth of useless information because of that. For instance, did you know they recently found a new pyramid? Sometimes I even get so bored I read the Dutch wiki pages.

Now I'm tagging Nikki, Roxie and Cara. Have fun! :)

If you don't like feet, don't look!

As promised, here is my weekend in Seoul told through pictures.

Ariella was in Seoul, which was my main reason for visiting. Since I was already going, James, Rachael, Alpha and Jack decided to come also. They got to take part in our little Peace Corps reunion. It was my first time seeing Ariella and Levi since I left Suriname.

Since I was already in Seoul, I got to go to one of my favorite places...and I got in trouble for taking this picture. Apparently, it's not allowed. Oops!

We also went to Insadong. It's a touristy area with lots of traditional gifts, artwork, food, etc. There was a lot going on there this weekend though. Koreans love a man with a guitar!

Alpha asked if he could take his picture up there. It is the cart that a little girl was being pulled in during the parade. I was surprised they were so nice about it.

They were doing a public punishment and torture reenactment. It was fun to watch even though we had no clue what was going on.

I loved this couple. They were pounding rice to make some kind of rice cake. Alpha also asked if he could do this. They said yes. People are so nice in Korea!

Private karoake rooms, called noraebangs, are very popular in Korea. I've gone a few times, but this was the first time I actually sang. They had the new Jessica Simpson song though. I couldn't pass it up!


We also went to a restaurant that has a pool full of fish that eat your feet. They are called doctor fish. We accidentally took a family photo while we were there. This wasn't planned...I promise.

PREPARE FOR THE FEET PICTURE.
I am actually grossed out by feet (so I apologize), but I wanted you to get a good feel of what it's like. You can actually see them sucking on my feet. It felt really weird for the first five minutes, but then you get used to it. My feet were SO soft when I got out.

The Seoul Tower was behind us, but the person cropped that part of the picture out. Oh, well. It's a nice group shot. (It was SO cold in Seoul!)

Pimp My Taxi

While we were in Seoul, Rachael, Alpha and I got into an incredible taxi. Alpha wanted the driver to adopt him because they could "go buy gadgets together." His exact words were, "He would be a great father for me." I have to admit--it takes a pretty awesome taxi driver to have a car this cool.

Happy Pepero Day!

As you are "celebrating" Veterans Day in the States, we are "celebrating" Pepero Day in Korea. A pepero is a cookie stick dipped in chocolate. On November 11 each year, young people share pepero sticks with people they like. It is a lot like Valentine's day, but just with this one kind of snack. Basically, it meant I had a room full of kids on sugar-highs from eating peperos all day. A couple of my students brought me peperos.


Lynn brought me a box of 100 calorie pack peperos. Such a sweet student looking out for her large American teacher. Helen Kim just wanted to get in the picture, but I think she's precious so I didn't mind.

And Tae Yon brought me a homemade pepero. I was very impressed. It was decorated with little candy hearts.

Just a preview...

This weekend I went to Seoul again. It was a very eventful weekend. I will blog more about it when I get all the pictures together, but here is a small preview of all the cool things we saw in Seoul (and yes--we are easily amused).



Has anyone seen these in the States? They are so cool!

A Very Prepared Student

This is Karen. She is one of my favorite students. I know I am not supposed to have favorites, so don't tell on me! She is one of my youngest students also, but she is so self sufficient. Every day before class she goes to the bakery or convenient store and buys snacks for herself, her friends and usually me. One day she bought two giant candy bars--one for herself and one for me. She is so thoughtful. Yesterday she brought a bag of cookie/bread snacks and put one on everyone's desk. I saw that she walked in with this mug also, but I didn't think much about it. Halfway through class I realized it was hot green tea. Occasionally she would fill up the little cup and sip on her tea. How precious is she?

A Sad Day...

Those who know me well know that I have an absurd obsession with the movie Jurassic Park. I think it's one of the best movies...ever. I could watch it every day and never get sick of it. Although I've never read the book (I have heard it is a lot different and I don't want it to ruin my image of the movie), I was very sad to receive this news from my mom.

And completely unrelated from that--I got a Chinese massage yesterday. It is my second attempt to fix my hip. The masseuse told my Korean friend he could tell it was messed up. He worked on me for over two hours, and it only cost 60,000 won! I think it will help me, but so far I'm thinking I could have just let someone run me over and it would have about the same affect.

I finally have a working camera!

Yesterday I bought my new camera! Because the dollar is doing really well in Korea, I got a very good deal. It's usually not good for me because I get paid in won, but in this case I don't mind. I saved about $200 USD. Plus, the camera takes great pictures!

This is Rachael. (I have talked about her a couple times.) She came a couple months after I did. She also bought the same camera as me. We were waiting for the bus and playing with our new cameras.
I'm loving the fall colors, but hating the cold. I don't think my body is handling the adjustment well either.

"O" is for Opera and Orthopedic

This morning Rachael and I went to an Opera Brunch with a group of women. It was a shortened version of Rigoletto held at the Daegu Opera House. It was nice, but 9 am is very early! My classes don't start until 4 pm, so I'm usually not awake that early. I felt bad because I kept falling asleep, but I looked around and a lot of people were sleeping also. Sure...say that I don't enjoy the arts...but you try staying awake through a two hour opera during your regular sleeping hours!
This afternoon I went to the doctor with one of the CDI staff members. She came to translate for me, but the doctor understood English pretty well. I have been having problems with my hips and neck. I wanted to see a chiropractor, but I was told it is a lot different here. Everyone kept telling me to go to an acupuncturist, but I wanted someone who could actually work on my spine. I ended up at the orthopedic doctor. He x-rayed my back only (not the neck or hips--the areas which I actually have problems). He told me I have scoliosis--I don't.
Then his treatment--"I recommend streches...maybe yoga."
My translator--"Can you give her some pictures?"
The doctor--"No, she can find some online."
He also prescribed Tylenol to me. Waste of time and money! I still have to visit the chiropractor and maybe even the acupuncturist. I haven't missed home very much, but I sure do miss my chiropractor right now!

I am SO jealous!

TGI Friday's toilets have seat warmers. You won't understand how nice it is until you try it...trust me. I am still impressed with hot showers after a year of icy ones, so this pretty much blows my mind! I want to get one put into my apartment.