13 posts tagged “funny”
Last night I didn't have any dinner plans, so I asked my coworkers what they were doing. The conversation went something like this: (Korean is in italics)
Me: Pansy-teacher, what are you doing for dinner?
Pansy-teacher: What?
Me: Dinner. Let's eat dinner together.
Pansy-teacher: Ah. ... Hmm... No dinner. My younger brother.... (to another teacher) How do you say 'hospital' in English?
Joon, one of our 6 year-olds: Hospital!
Me: Good job, Joon! (to Pansy) Hospital? Why?
Pansy-teacher: Umm... my younger brother, go to hospital... um...-waves her hands, thinking- baby... baby open!
Me: -blinks- Huh? Your brother baby open? -trying to wrap my mind around this-
At this point i just burst out laughing, and was like, alright then. So I went to find Donald and Violet-teacher, to tell them that Pansy-teacher couldn't have dinner with us because her brother was 'baby open.'
She did end up going out to eat with us, and for the rest of the evening we teased her about it, until she put up her hands and waved them, saying, "No, no, stop, stop, stop!" Actually, we teased her after that too, and will probably continue to do so. Even the other Korean teachers thought it was funny.
Just thought I'd share. I really wish I could videotape/take pictures with my mind sometimes, and this was one of those.
I didn't have tutoring tonight, cause Jihyun was going to be late at school, so we decided to do it some other time. So I took a nap when I came home, though I briefly considered going out to get ice cream or going to Gangnam anyway. I have yet to eat dinner, cause I was asleep and then have been surfing the tubes reading random things. I found this hilarious, Jon sent it to me.
Why men look for any excuse to get away
I know, just the title, right? I clicked thru and read some of the articles on the parent site, and they weren't too great either. or confidence-inspiring. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with their advice, just that they ... were slightly off. Perhaps because I don't share the view that men are supposed to be an accessory to child-rearing, and not the other half of it. It seems like most articles you read that talk about Dads are all like, "well, it's normal for him to want his space..." Um, HELLO? Women want their space too - they just probably feel less inclined to ask for it, since society tells them that they are the one primarily responsible for the child.
A lot of the stuff in this article and others, I wonder about. People talk about how they no longer had time to go out (understandable) and how they lost some friends as a consequence of having kids. But when one guy says, his conversations with childless friends were "stilted" because they "weren't impressed by good bowel movements" - well fuck no, they probably weren't. why the hell would you want to hang out with one of your friends you haven't seen in a while, and then have them start talking about their kid's bathroom habits? I think that if that's all you can find to talk about with your friends after not having seen them for a bit... that's an issue with your friendship.
Other than that, there were just little things - the guy in the article above talks about how he has become "a less interesting person" since he had children. That seems odd to me - I would think that being interesting or not is an integral part of your personality. One guy in another article said that he "no longer thinks about his ambitions or dreams" or doesn't really take them seriously, and another that he doesn't talk about things like that with his wife like he used to. And to all of this I'm like, wtf? Really?
And all of my reaction to this sort of thing probably just really shows how not ready I am for children. I love my kids here, but I am glad that I don't have to deal with them constantly. I enjoy my freedom, enjoy being an 'interesting' person, having friends that I can talk about my goals with, and HAVING ambitions that I do take seriously.
Yep. Totally not ready. But if parenting is the way these articles show, then I'm not sure I will ever be ready.
Less than a week, since I posted here, but it still feels like a long time. Possibly cause it's been a strange last few weeks, with the New Year's holiday and then this week getting ready for the play, which is on Saturday. Need to charge my camera and such.
I've been spending a lot of time on Ravelry lately, amid watching Firefly over again. I'm working on a cowl now, and I am not kidding when I say I have had to frog and redo it 3 FRICKING TIMES. It's annoying, to say the least. I think I have everything straight now, and I'm getting the hang of the whole, 'working on two circs' thing. To be fair, it's also my first time working inthe round AND I'm modifying the pattern from another cowl. But I still want to learn dpns, because most of my circs are cheap bamboo ones, that, while awesome in their own right because they only cost a dollar, are also not amazingly flexible cause the cables are too think. Oh well.
I've realized a couple of things lately - one, that I need to learn how to make socks. Perhaps when I finish the sweater. Sock yarns are beautiful, and all the time I've been spending on Ravelry has led me to some beautiful sock yarn shops. Here's one I came across today - Yarn Chef. Not only is her shop name completely awesome, but she has divided her yarns based on food stuffs!! Sweetness abounds. Beautiful colors (there's one I like called Violent Sneeze - not kidding) and hello! She has a merino/silk laceweight yarn in a color called Frosted Mint.... my fingers tingle a little bit just thinking about it, and not in the "Sio, your carpal tunnel onset is looming in the future" kind of way. That yarn is very sexy.
Two, I need to learn to crochet. I mean, yeah, when I first found out that people have made crocheted Doctor Who dolls, I totally flipped out, but that died down after a while. Lately though, especially this week (when I discovered the amazing and friendly yarn studio that is a 5 minute walk from my house!!!) when I have been flipping thru magazines like Keitodama (Japanese magazine of knitting/crochet awesomeness), I realize that I really like the look of crocheted things. It occurs to me that I most likely cannot get away with wearing tank tops to work when it gets warmer (the kids tend to freak about stuff like that), but I don't want to wear T-shirts all the time. If I could make a couple light cardigans or something that would be a good thing, so I started looking around for cute patterns. (The Knitting Tree - studio near me - also sells awesome cotton for supercheap) And the latest issue of Keitodama has so many adorable things that are crochet, and there are several on Rav too. -sigh- Add that to my interminable list of things to do at some point.
Third, I really, really need to learn Korean. Not that I can't get by with the bits and pieces that I know, and I learn new words all the time, but my verb repertoire is sadly lacking. I need to work on that - I have repeatedly been frustrated lately by my inability to hold a conversation. When I was hanging at Knitting Tree the other night, I had lots of fun chatting with them, even though I didn't always understand exactly what everyone was saying. There was one woman there who spoke English, but she's just a student and might not always be there. But everyone I met was really friendly, and I would love to go there more often. They taught me how to read charts in the Korean/Japanese way, and also showed me a cute scarf pattern that I need to try with some striping yarn, and even though I don't want to pay to take lessons there (don't really think I need them) I was glad to just chill and chat and knit. The other teachers think it's a little bit odd when I stay after work to just sit in the office, but I enjoy being there and listening to them, even if I don't really understand what they are saying. And it would be nice to have a place to knit with friends that doesn't require a trip on the subway.
Okay, now that I have written pretty much an entire post about knitting and you've fallen asleep, I'm off to bed. I'm tired and have been having crazy dreams lately, so tonight is an earl(ier) night. here's a pic I found a while back, which pretty well describes my mood at the moment.
Or, Part 3 of my catchups: Belated Presents and souvenirs!
Do these count as presents? i mean, i bought them myself. they were waiting for me when I got back from Japan.
Yay for new shirts. Who doesn't love my little ponies?
So I really REALLY meant to get things done tonight, like editing and such but I didn't get to it cause I got distracted reading cake wrecks. (-shakes fist at neechan-) Some of them were so ... hilarious, is the only word. any cake wrecks fans here?
In relation to my parable shirt (I think it's misnamed for the sake of alliteration, but really), here's some more presents! Thanks Nick!
What else? Gizmo is a boy, I have discovered.
I leave you with this comic, which I found awesome and quote-worthy.
And then i really need to be knitting for the rest of the evening. Christmas is a week away, and i have a scarf to finish. I'm listening to Twilight as I knit, since I have to pay attention to the stitches, so i cant watch tv at the same time. I'm realizing more than when i read it that Meyer REALLY needed a good editor. When I'm reading, I can kinda skim through the meaningless description without much trouble, but having to listen to all of it is hilarious and frustrating at times. Also, I'm realizing how ridiculous it is all over again. -sigh- it's going to be great. I wonder how much scarf it will take me to get through the book, or vice versa.
Also, I read a funny article the other day, and thought I would share. All you Twilight fans who realize how bad the books are will enjoy this, I imagine...
If Twilight was 10 times shorter and 100 times more honest...
And now, korean words of the day! these from pansy/lily class
Worm = chidori
Watermelon = tsubak
I'm teaching the letter 'W', hence the words.
I have spent the evening discovering the wonders of ihasatardis and found some wonderful stuff which i feel the need to share/re-post for posterity/to look at later when I want to laugh. A lot of these are NSFW, don't say I didn't warn you. And I've credited the author, but if you want the original post you'll have to find it yourself (it's somewhere in Nov/Dec.2008).
Firstly - A rather tame S3 piece from Jack, Martha, and the Doctor... By Firestorm172001
And because I love this video, even though I found it a long time ago. There are others, (including some of my favorite Internet songs), but this one is the best...
The best one for last, cause I can't copy the whole thing here. But here's the link below, and my favorite pic from it.
It didn't turn out really great. probably cause i have been thawing the chicken in the fridge for like 4 days. -cringe- Don't throw anything at me, neechan. I stopped eating when it started tasting funny. Other than that - less soy sauce/garlic, more onion. and probably cook the rice with the rest for longer as well. Considering I've never used a recipe, just some vague instructions from my okaasan, and it's only the second time I've made it, it could have been worse.
Other than that, tonight has been occupied with planning my japan trip. -sigh- So boring. This is why I usually don't plan trips. i prefer to chill and wander my way through. But I have got most of the details down, just have to actually buy the tix and work up a budget and I'm good to go. I'm thinking half of my paycheck should be fine. I'm going to try to pack really lightly, but I'm debating exactly what to take. I think I could manage with just my backpack and my brown bag for a week. My laptop will most likely stay here, cause I don't want to haul it everywhere, despite that I have no clue how I will charge my ipod without it. The most annoying part at the moment is trying to think in yen as opposed to won.
I found this while looking for things on ESL cafe. It's crazy and awesome. It's this cat named Maru, who's very popular in Japan. He likes boxes.
I am going to take a shower now, then go to bed I think. Or maybe do more email. Still have things to catch up on. (When don't i?)
This is not it.
I would take the pics and stuff that I wanted to post, and it was going to be cute and such, but right now I am too sick to do anything more than sit comforter-wrapped in my chair with my humidifier turned all the way up and wish my fucking heater worked while I type this. I'm thinking about knitting, but my head is killing me and I keep coughing, and I'm so thirsty. The meds the doc gave me made my throat go away, but I'm still not completely better. I tried listening to music, but that makes my head hurt more, so I think I don't need to stare at my computer for too long either.
Today was a normal day, sortof.. I didn't get to go for waffles with Tulip-teacher cause she had to go to her mother's, but I came home and took a nap. Classes were normal - I brought some stuff home with me to work on my planning of my time unit. My afternoon class was observed for a few minutes by Debbie and wong jam nim, and of course Clara wasn't paying attention and the others were nervous because they were being watched. They did much better when no one else was there, and I loosened up, cause I didn't feel awkward about playing with them or letting them get off topic. I try to discourage it, but as long as they are speaking English, I don't really care too much.
Which leads me to the point of my post. I like having long hair but it tends to get in my way, so I usually put it up in my clip. The way I do it, it usually fans out a little the the side. Today for some reason a few skeins decided to stand straight up, but I didn't really bother about it. Until I was in English Land, and Jennifer was asking me about my hair, something to the effect of commenting that it wasn't blonde on top anymore. So in the midst of this discussion about hair, James pipes up,
"Siobhain-teacher hair, 12 o'clock!"
I was a bit confused for a second, and then I realized what he was saying. I'd been teaching them time, and while James is not the smartest kid I have, he likes to use English in creative ways and make connections if it will help him express himself. In another instance of this, I was teaching them 'hay house' for the performance of The Three Little Pigs, and since I had recently taught them "Hey!" as a greeting, James immediately started waving and saying, "Hey house!" Then I had to explain that the two weren't the same, but I was still impressed by that. And his comment today made me laugh, even though my voice was still a bit shot.
And lastly, though I have been a bit lax with these lately, Korean word of the day!
Today's word is
sudu = chicken pox
Lately a lot of kids have been absent because of chicken pox, so when I asked the other children, "Where is everybody?" they explained to me that the other kids have sudu. Debbie had explained to Douglas and I about it earlier, but it was still interesting to learn the word, and to teach them the English, which they thought was funny.
Oddly, chicken pox is treated very differently here than in the West. Debbie was worried about Douglas and I, and told us, "Be careful if you haven't gotten the chicken pox shot."
"Shot? What shot?" Apparently here people get vaccinated against chicken pox, so she was worried about us catchin it. We explained to her that at home, doctors encourage children to get chicken pox when they are younger since it's dangerous when you are an adult. She seemed very surprised by this, and especially by Douglas' description of 'chicken pox parties' (which might be a British thing, but I was by myself when I got it) where parents invite other parents to bring their children so that they all get the disease at the same time. Another interesting tidbit of Korean life.
I think I'm going back to bed now. I'm hungry, but too tired to eat.
I didn’t exactly plan on all this stuff happening today but since it did and I needed to blog anyway, might as well write it all down.
I just finished eating my quiznos sandwich @ Jamsil and since my feet are protesting doing much else for the time being, might as well write, although eventually I should get home cause gizmo’s probably freaking out cause I’m not home yet.
I posted on the SnB list asking about knitting looms, and someone has some that they were not just getting rid of, so I went to get them after work. She lives in a traditional part of Seoul, right down the street from the largest medicine market in the country, which means it’s probably the largest in Korea. Than sounded kinda interesting so I walked that way, past lots of street vendors selling fruit, but I realized I was on the wrong side of the street. I crossed and walked down and there were lots of medicine shops, by which I mean, lots of shops with huge barrels of powders, stacks and bundles of woods and flowers and seeds and other miscellaneous plant-y goodness. I recognized some things – flowers, rose wood, ginger. It all smelled very good, though I have no idea how it’s used. It was around 630, and people were starting to close up because it was dark.
I was a little late getting off cause I was talking to Douglas and then Joseph decided to call me Siobhain-poop-teacher, so I had to set him straight. As Douglas said, nothing like bullying a 5-year-old.
At this point I’m going to interrupt myself to note that Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping” is playing here in Quiznos. Also that the sign in front of me is advertising a flatbread sandwich that’s “served with lanch dressing.”
Anyway – I reached the end of the medicine stores and the market kept going – lots of produce stalls and some butchers. Once again, I was on the wrong side. When I got over there I turned down a side alley and then had to take another one to get back to the main route. All the stalls in this part were closed, and there were only some ajuma peeling veggies. One of them said something that sounded rather annoyed at me, but I just glanced at her and kept on my merry way.
I got more stares than usual as I walked past – even though Songpa is a quiet place, it was built for the Olympics, and they ae mostly used to foreigners here. I get the occasional kid whispering to her mom about the weigukin (foreigner) and sometimes people say hello to me in the street (both of which happened to me today). But rarely do I get blatant double-takes. It must be what I’m wearing. I have on my brown boots, which make me about 2 inches taller – I realized while on the subway that I was taller than pretty much everyone. And with that is my brown fuzzy sweater and my long skirt with the orange flowers. Maybe it’s the skirt. As much as Koreans tend to not wear long skirts like mine, I always get comments about them. SohJin and a bunch of the kids commented on it today. But other than that I had at least 4 people call me pretty today, that I heard.
The first was a group of vendors who stopped me as I walked past. They offered me a drink, some kind of milky rice alcohol, and when I told them I couldn’t drink it the game me some dried squid and anchovies instead. They were very friendly, and I guess surprised to see me.
I kept going and when I came out, I saw what I was looking for – pomegranates! A few places had them and they seem to go far $3. Altho when I got here I saw them for 2380 won a piece, and also that I was pronouncing them wrong, which would explain why people didn’t know what I was asking for.
I kept walking past another vendor who called me pretty and a drunk salaryman who tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hello I love you” as he staggered by with his cohorts. Eventually, I got to the next station, which connects to my subway line.
Another Q-music update – A remix of “Get Down On It.”
In the train station was another unexpected thing – a woman selling baked goods. And she had chocolate chip cookies! I’d been craving those – I keep not buying them at the grocery store. Of course, they aren’t as good as the ones Bethany and Fareen and I make, but they’re still yummy.
I got on the train, but had to transfer at a place I’d never been before, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t get on the wrong train. So I stopped to look for a sign, and an ajushi asked me where I was going. When I told him, he said he was going to the same train. He was very nice and repeatedly told me I was beautiful. I still find such things creepy, esp. when, say, my principal does it, but I just smile and say thank you.
Q-music update – Ace of Base, “The Sign”
He asked me if I was a student, and when I told him I was a teacher, he told me a joke. Apparently the English teachers are called ET. Yes, like extra-terrestrial. I guess it makes sense – we are technically aliens. We talked about Japanese literature until he got off. When I got here I decided to come to Quiznos for dinner and it took me a few minutes to decipher which exit to take, but I figured it out and ended up near the bookstore, which was having a sale on puzzles. I got one of Starry Night. Hopefully it will be good – I haven’t done a puzzle in a long time. I missed them.
Today was such an acquisitionary day, and I met lots of people. Dried fish, pomegranates, knitting looms, cookies, puzzle… I need to go home and do my nails and some emails.
Okay, yeah, I didn't need to buy anymore shirts. But I saw this, and it had cute flowers and was $5. And then I looked at the text, and realized, yes, I really did need to buy it.
Please note the lyrics from the Pink song, "Get This Party Started". Although, I'm wondering if, because they spelled 'up' as 'yp', does it really count as a violation? If I had Pink's address, I would totally send her this shirt. As it is, I will enjoy wearing it on my own...
Also! Before I forget! Today's Korean Word of the Day is
sadari = ladder
This from Lily Class
Neechan, another video is on the way. Stop freaking. If all else fails, there's always CuteOverload. She's not really being cute right now - more annoying. She's trying to climb on my computer, even though I keep repeatedly putting her back on the floor. here's a pic for you though.
