3 posts tagged “tea”
Well I thought I would get here and write a blog post whilst waiting for my steak to finish cooking in the oven, and post some pics of stuff that I thought would be fun to share and have been meaning to post, but then I realized my camera battery is mysteriously dead, so it’s charging now. Breaking things into categories is easiest, I suppose.
Plans for next year (and by that I mean, after September): I looked up CELTA courses last night for a few hours, and Thailand and Vietnam seem to be the main places to go. Vietnam sounds cool (and is $100 cheaper), but I have no huge desire to go there, and I would love to see Thailand. Unfortunately none of the schedules for the classes look super-amazing – the earliest one that I could do without getting out of my contract early starts in late September. The others start the first week or so of October. This is good if I want to work here a few extra weeks/go travel around Thailand a bit before starting. But it does also mean I will get home later in the year.
A couple of friends have mentioned they would possibly be able to look after Gizmo for me, so that should be fine. My project for this week, I think, will be to dive into the wonderful world of recruiting again and see what jobs are available in … hmm. How long will I be home for? I don’t want to inconvenience the cat-sitter for longer than necessary, so maybe 3 weeks? Anyway, need to look into getting another contract, as well as decide for certain which CELTA course to take (almost certain it will be Thailand, probably Bangkok. The Chiang Mai one is out in the wilderness, although there is a package where you have room and board for $2400 provided. Still think I might like Bangkok better, me being a city girl.
So yeah – looking for a job again. Should be easier this time around, since I’m already here. I think. Here’s hoping.
Knitting: So here’s where my camera would have come in. Never fear, pictures will be posted, as they are necessary (and I have to put some on Rav too.) I have … 3 projects I’m working on right now. (I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s only 3.)
-- The Shawl: It’s
about 50 cm deep now. Yay. I just
started the 3rd ball of the sparkly stuff, and my plan for the moment
is to finish all the sparkle stuff, and crochet or knit on a lace border with
the rest of the non-sparkly stuff.
-- The Shirt: Well, I did a fair bit of knitting the other
night at Feast to keep my hands busy and stop me from just walking out (they
were talking till 10:15 PM OMG and I wanted to get home before midnight. Didn’t happen.-sigh-) I’m on my third set of skeins, and have
realized omg I have a ton of this stuff.
(I bought 20balls just to be sure I would have enough.) The last time I checked, the shirt was about
25cm done, but I can’t remember if I’ve done more on it since then. Oh well.
The point is, it’s getting there!! Soon I will be able to start the
ribbing for the bodice, and if there’s anything more stimulating than
stockinette, it’s 1x1 ribbing. Woohoo, good times.
I’m trying not to think how bored I got with the ribbed scarf I made. It's SOOO SOFT, tho. Silk/cotton, gotta love it.
-- My most recent project, the ‘Tank Top Enabler’: This is a lace shrug I found on Knitty.com, ‘cause
I like my tank tops and I want to be able to wear them without having people stare
at me. So I’m making this shawl, and we’ll
see how it goes. I was working on it tonight for a bit before cooking dinner –
it’s marked as a ‘piquant’ (difficult) pattern in Knitty’s archive, but I did
the Argosy scarf, and that was too, so I think I shall be okay. I’ve only gotten about 15 rows into it, ‘cause
I’ve had to pull it out, restart, figure out the decreases, etc. I think I am going to be okay for the moment,
though. This will def. need to be blocked when finished.
And there was a huge sale at yarn.com so I went shopping for stuff for projects next year. I think I have at least 4 things planned, not counting whatever I just decide to do with the stash I already have. That will be my last yarn purchase for a while, I think - I probably want a new computer before September, so I should be saving for that.
Stuff I do while knitting: I can’t work on anything too complex while I’m knitting, especially if I have to read subtitles- I still haven’t quite gotten the habit of not looking at what I’m doing, probably cause I’m working with double-stranded stuff and don’t want to accidentally split it. Anyway – I’ve finished the drama I’d been watching recently, Romantic Princess. Despite the usual annoyances with plot holes, it was pretty fun. I totally was wrong about the main guy not really being attractive – he definitely grew on me (especially after that swimming scene). One thing that surprised me about this drama – actual kissing. Srsly. After watching Hana Yori Dango and Devil Beside You, this show was way more explicit (though not to be compared the Korean HYD where there’s a ‘bedroom aftermath’ scene.) Once I got into the show, I really enjoyed both lead characters, and they’re interesting strong characters, especially Xiao Mai.
Last night I watched a movie I’d never seen but have been hearing about for a while – 10 Things I Hate About You. I’ve been on a bit of a 90s teen movie kick anyway, but this was surprisingly good. I felt like it could have been a lil more fleshed out, story-wise. But it was a great, witty movie with lots of quirks (guidance counselor who’s writing a romance novel? White rastas?), and I’m a fan of Julia Stiles (Save the Last Dance – need to watch that again…) and of course, Heath Ledger is just yummy. I hadn’t heard his accent before, but it’s adorable.
What next? Hmm... have several TV shows I need to catch up on – have yet to see the new Who special cause I haven’t watched S4 yet. Maybe I will get started on that. Or all those like 5 other shows. We’ll see.
I’ve been reading here and there lately – some vampire novels and started (finally) Oku no Hosomichi the other day. I think I’m about halfway through it, but it’s one of those books that will probably bear re-reading. I especially want to go back and write down some of my thoughts on the haiku. And Anand reminded me, I really should write that post about why I chose this name for my blog. I need to get started on that translation too, before I forget all the Japanese I ever knew. At least I have the stuff printed out and in my house – that’s a step. I’d like to get enough into it to see if I should bring one of my dictionaries back with me – my grammar ones especially.
The rest of the time: there’s work. Which is fine as usual. I made one of my 7-year old boys cry the other day, on accident (not that I was sorry about it, mind you. ) Before you think I’m a horrible person – Korean children have this annoying habit of molesting foreign teachers. It’s not just my kids – it seems to be some sort of epidemic. It’s really annoying, because it stems from rudeness/disrespect – many Korean children are not taught that it’s rude to stare or point at foreigners, and several of my kids seem to think it’s funny to be disrespectful to me, not only verbally, but also touching me. I always get onto them about it, cause they wouldn’t dare do it to a Korean teacher, but it’s still really annoying. Anyway – I was in my afternoon class on Friday, and one of the boys, Reo, grabbed my ass with both hands. He only comes up to a bit higher than my waist, and my first response when someone does something like that is to backhand them. Thankfully I didn’t, but I spun around and grabbed his wrist so fast that one of my nails caught the side of his next and scratched him a bit. I don’t think it hurt him very much, probably just mostly surprised him, and he started crying a bit. Hopefully he won’t do that again.
Friday was also Teacher’s Day, a pretty important holiday here. Well, for us it was anyway. We didn’t get the day off, but we did get lots of flowers and chocolate. A couple parents brought cake, so we had 2 cakes, and 2 large boxes of fruit as well. And we got a bonus, which was nice. Donald and I went to Costco with Debbie and her kids that night, and I have stocked my freezer with meat, so I will almost def. not need anymore till I leave, I think, unless I start eating a lot more of it. Of course, I will have to go back for cheese, but that’s understandable. Next year I really need to get my own card. That reminds me – I need to go grocery shopping for normal-ish stuff tomorrow. I didn’t find maple syrup there, sadly (add that to my list of stuff to bring back with me), but I did get chicken broth, so I can try to make risotto again. Sweetness!
Like my awesome vase for the flowers? Yes, you too can own this awesome 1.5liter coke bottle vase....
Maybe I’ve not mentioned this before, but I like making (iced) tea, and since I have like 8 different kinds, I usually mix 2 together and see how it goes. Tonight’s mix is some Ahmad Black Mango and some Celestial Seasonings Peppermint. I like it. It’s a very light mix, and the mango comes after the peppermint but doesn’t get overwhelmed by it. I think I might do that again sometime. That mango is amazing! I’m running out tho – might have to traipse back to Itaewon.
Ah! Music! Well, I’ve
been feeling a little bored with my music lately – I haven’t gotten anything
new for a while. So I found a torrent
from November, some ranking list, and picked a bunch of songs I thought looked
interesting, as well as the new Fray and Three Days Grace albums. Haven’t listened to the latter yet, but the
former is… well. The Fray takes some
sinking in. I’ve been enjoying quite a
few of the others though – Rihanna’s ‘Disturbia’ which sounds like it could be
the theme for some upbeat version of the Silent Hill movies or something… well,
maybe more Resident Evil? Something set in a city. More towards psychothriller
and such. I was intrigued to see a new
OAR song, ‘Shattered’, which I like.
Always enjoy Nickelback’s singles – stop cringing, okay? There’s a few more, but I think my favorite
one is by someone I’d never heard of before.
It’s called ‘Shake it’ by Metro Station.
Dance-poppy, and addictive like whoa.
And on the other end of the scale is ‘Addicted’ by a band called Saving
Abel. The latter two are below for your
listening pleasure, but be warned that ‘Addicted’ is probably NSFW.
Hmm. 12:30 am. I should… go to bed, I guess? Wanna try out the camera first. And damn, I was going to finish that email to Julie tonight. -sigh-
I'm so beat right now, probably cause i just got home from tutoring jihyun a bit ago. Got free dinner out of it, though. She's opened up a lot, and I think things will go well. Her grandmother laughed at me a lot during dinner, but they said it was because she liked me. They were worried cause we had curry for dinner and it was very spicy - Koreans are always concerned that their food will be too spicy, in my experience. I explained that I liked spicy food, and that it was okay. Jihyun's mom is some sort of nutritionist, I think - she's very concerned with eating healthy. So we had curry, and spareribs, (and of course, kimchi) and then we have this thing that's good for your digestion - kind of like persian tahdig, but with hot water over it. It wasn't actually that bad. And then we had yuzu tea, which definitely takes some getting used to - It's sweet and sour and bitter all at the same time. I like Korean food much better when I'm not eating it at school...
I talked to Julie and Jon some tonight before I left- Jules wants me to move to DC, and Jon wants me to come visit when I come back thru there. DC doesn't sound bad, and it was a place I was thinking of going anyway, so we'll see. I'll have to take some time during the next few weeks and start looking for jobs/schools.
AND!! I finished an icon for the etsy shop. I still have some tweaks to do on it, and have to do the banner, but I should be able to finish those - hopefully this week. Though I am super-busy this week. -sigh- Oh well. I enjoy being busy. Kind of. Tho parts of me also misses coming home and passing out.
Speaking of passing out - it's that time for me.
Ah, here we are again. After Christmas I went to Japan for New Year's. I had lots of fun and took about 400 pictures and some videos as well. Don't expect to see them all - most will probably die a quiet death. Perhaps I will get around to slogging through them at some point, though with my past record... yeah. We'll see. I'm going to try to be more productive this year. Try being the key word there. Anyway.
Things I missed about Japan.
--Actual houses.
--Being able to talk to people.
--ramen!!
--Caffe Veloce Iced Cocoa.
Yeah, food is clearly associative for me.
Before Christmas, I decorated my apartment. And then, when I went to Japan, I got some other thingys. So now my place looks thoroughly lived in, cute, and boasts a random collection of art, Christmas cards, and small figurines.
First up, my puzzles. Which, I might add, were a pain in the butt. Had to get mr. lee to come drill holes in my cinderblock walls. Hope they aren't going to charge me for that when i leave...
Anyone who has ever visited a room I have lived in for a significant period of time has probably noticed that I like small figurines, usually animals. Especially cats. I kind of collect things like that. When I was in Japan I discovered hashi-oki (chopstick rests) are great for that sort of thing. They are invariably small and usually cute. I had two already, a tiger and a dragon from a series on the Juunishi (Zodiac Animals). This time while I was in Kyoto, I picked up a few more.
Found these in Kiyomizudera at a handmade family-run shop and thought they were adorable. No dragons, unfortunately. They did have lots of cows though, since that's this year. Next year is my year!! I hope I will get to visit Japan at some point during the year of the Tiger. These two are very different styles, but both cute.
