Is It January Yet?

Is there anything more exciting than buying a Lonely Planet and starting the trip-planning process? I think not!

The plan to go to New Zealand has been scrapped because its just too ding dang expensive down there and I want to have some scrilla left over after. Instead, I will be going to...South America! (Cue Pink Martini's song "Brazil" right here.)

It was slightly surreal to be in the middle of Seoul, flipping through "South America on a Shoestring" and it makes me wonder if I'm becoming one of those travel people who is never going to come home for any long period of time. It definitely made me pause and think but I'm itching to come home and start working towards saving the world again. I just want to have a little fun before I do that.

So far, the rough idea for the trip is to spend January in Argentina, February in Brazil, and March in Chile. I think this is going to change but I know I want to stay along the coasts and I really really want to go to Easter Island because seriously? How cool would that be? Man, I am so excited about this and I have 7 months to go. I know I should slow my roll but this is going to get me through teaching the little a-holes and dealing with the every day stress of being in Korea. Knowing my reward is 3 months of chilling on beaches will be a huge help!

People are more than welcome to join me on this trip...the more, the merrier!

Springtime in Seoul

I freaking love Wednesdays. I'm done teaching at 8:30 am and then I have the rest of the day free. Yesterday was one of those rare days off when the weather is just amazing so I took advantage and went rambling around Namsan for a few hours, soaking up the sun and nature. I put some Beethoven piano sonatas on the old iPod and I felt like a character in a Merchant-Ivory film, traipsing through the vernal mountain (I know, I know, I need to put down the Jane Austen).


Seoul through the trees


Nice encouragement


Claude and I are hitting a rough patch right now. I have to remember that our relationship is still pretty new and that he doesn't puke on the bathroom floor on purpose. I think he may be bulimic because of Justin saying he was going to be over the airline weight restriction when I go home. Poor little guy.

I <3 the 80s

Oh man. The Rocky Mountain Tavern, the local Canadian bar, had an 80s night party and it was so much fun. Some people got really really into it, like Magnum. Paige and I were a wee bit disturbed that neither of us had to buy anything to be in character.


Flash Dance Nicole


Claire, Jen (future roommate), Paige (current roommate), and me before going out


Where's Higgins?


Claude had a play date today. Paige is moving in with her boo so Jennefer is moving in. Jennefer has a wee dog named Cuba and we wanted to see if they'd get along. Turns out Claude is terrified of a dog 1/4 his size and hid under my desk all night. We left them alone to go eat at RMT and when we got back, Claude was rght where we left him. As a matter of fact, he's there right now. Oh, Claude.

A Recent Email Exchange

On 4/20/07, Nicole Fox wrote:

Remember that part in Legally Blonde where Elle was watching a soap opera after her break up and a male character was telling a female character that he'll always love her and Elle screams "LIES!!" and throws a box of chocolates at the screen?

That's what I'd imagine Cameron Diaz did when she first listened to "My Love" post-break up with Justin Timberlake. Deep thoughts.


On 22/04/07, Julia Schoellenbach wrote:

Are you stoned?


For the record, I was not.

How Could I Forget?!

I am so ashamed of myself. I forgot to tell everyone about the best damn part of Shana's visit...

I was going to take her to my class of Korean businessmen (oh, man...that's a whole other kettle of fish...) that I teach at 7:30 am. We had to leave the house by 6:40 and we hadn't had coffee so we're both a little groggy. We take one bus to the Seoul Express Bus terminal and get off to catch the 360 to Gangnam.

Here's where it got tricky. And it must be stated again that neither of us had had any coffee.

I see the 360 pull up behind another bus and I said to Shana, "Here it is, let's go." She thought I meant the first bus while I went to the bus behind it. I was about to get on when I looked behind me to tell her something and I noticed she wasn't there. I started calling her name and looking all over the bus stop for her but she was gone. I started to mildly freak out because I had no phone on me and no way of getting a hold of her. I became convinced she was going to end up in North Korea, talking to Kim Jong-Il about shoes and hair care.

Just as I'm imagining having to call Chuck Robinson to tell him his daughter is lost in Korea, I see the funniest thing I had seen in at least a week...Shana Robinson, RUNNING down the street, waving to me.

(Anyone who knows Shana knows that her personal motto is "Jews don't run unless they're being chased.)

Turns out Shana realized I wasn't on the bus and got off at the next stop, which was thankfully only down the street, and started hauling ass towards me. I was so relieved that I nearly died laughing from the sight of her sprinting towards me. Ahh, good times.

Fatty Patty

Apparently...my cat has been gaining weight. This is tragic, being as he's been on diet food for a while now and has been exercising more. Oh, poor Claude. My insensitive housemate Justin has been mocking him and saying he has love handles (hehehe). WHen I said his comments are going to lead to me paying thousands of dollars in kitty therapy when Claude develops an eating disorder, Justin replied "The only eating disorder Claude has is forgetting he ate 15 minutes ago and begging for more food."

Take a look at this face and tell me this isn't the most perfect cat ever!

(By the way, for the people writing me "wah! more blog entries!" leave some freaking comments!)

Tour of the Apartment

Here's where I live!

Two Weeks of Madness

Before I say anything, I have to let y'all know that I am typing from Tyrone, my new black Mac Book. He's amazing! Blog posts should now be a lot more frequent since I have no excuses any more. Here's a picture of my new workspace:



So yeah...Shana left exactly one week ago. We had many, many good times. The night she got here, we went straight to the wood hof and got accidentally wasted (as Shana and I tend to do when we're together) off the dongdongju.

Incidentally, "ju" is the Korean way of indicating alcoholic content. Hmm.

We spend a lot of her time here eating and shopping. Shana fell hard core for dolsot bimbambop, which is veggies, rice, and an egg mixed in a sizzling hot stone bowl. I also introduced her to the joy that is kimchi mandu (dumplings). Her life will never be the same.

Highlights of the trip:
Taking pictures with an Elvis statue outside a "Texan" bar
The old dude hitting on Shana saying "Don't worry, my wife's in jail."
The nachos at the Rocky Mountain Tavern
Day boozin' on a Sunday
Oh, the shopping we did...major damage...
Teaching Shana GoStop
Drunk eating
Watching the entire series of Weeds
Shana hooking up with the 46 year old

And the biggest highlight of them all...Shana bringing us a six pack of Pacifico Clara. God bless her.


Shana and nachos


They're glorious