Gyming

Why yes, I did just use gym as a verb. That's my favorite way to describe the act of going to the gym and actually doing things there. In all honesty, I've never been one to partake in physical activities. When I was in school PE was always my least favorite class. I mean who really enjoys participating in group sports when it's demanded of you, especially when you're not good at them. Anything that I actually needed to put forth any effort in I wasn't really a fan. I mean Avon and I (she's always been my number one gym partner) would walk to the line in dodge ball so we could be tapped out and walk around the gym instead of actually participating. Plus having a ball thrown at you when you know the intentions are for it to actually hit you is not something I'm ok with, those things hurt. Don't get me wrong, I loved going to the park and swinging on the swing sets, and playing on the little merry go round thing. I mean I still like to swing now, and I'm not ashamed. These are the types of activities I could get behind, not this whole running mess.


However, you can stick my butt on an elliptical and as long as I have something to look at and listen to I'm good to go. That's probably part of the reason why I don't mind going to the gym here so much, the ellipticals and treadmills all have tv screens attached to them and they're brand new. That's probably the reason behind a little incident that took place at the gym today. I had been on the elliptical for fifteen minutes and I felt like I was going to die. The whole time all I could think about was how not going for a week really must have slowed me down, or how I must be ridiculously out of shape even though I had no issues two weeks ago. Then my lovely husband looks over at me and starts to tell me to stop being lazy and to suck it up for four more minutes (thanks J), when he notices that my elliptical is set to a level 13 resistance. Apparently instead of turning up the volume on the tv I was slowly killing myself, but I didn't notice because I was listening to my iPod while watching Wheel of Fortune. At least I know I can still solve the puzzles before the contestants, even if I'm about to pass out. 

The Hair Salon

There are few things I enjoy more than getting my hair done. To me, there's nothing like going in looking one way and coming out looking slightly improved. I love to change it up with different color combinations and back home I would just set up an appointment and let my stylist just play as she would put it. Before I would know it I would look like a walking antenna, I would have so much foil in my hair, but it was great. And I was worried that I wouldn't be able to have that here.  I mean 1) I don't know where to go and 2) there's that whole language barrier thing.


Ok, so the not knowing where to go issue is kind of silly when it comes down to it. There's at least ten hair salons between our house and the base, and some of them even have signs written in English. Unfortunately, one of the first things we found out is that if a place speaks English or advertises in English they'll usually charge you an arm and a leg for whatever their services are. Plus you have to be extra careful about how many barber polls are spinning outside a shop because apparently those things indicate the "extra" services a shop or salon includes, and quite a few of those things are of the illegal nature. 

So, it was with this knowledge that I made the decision to just hit up the beauty shop in the BX. The fact that I was going here somewhat saddened me. I'm not really sure why. I mean I guess it has something to do with the fact that I've only gone to stand alone establishments, or that I was somewhat frightened that  they might not actually do a good job but people only go there because it's convenient. Either way, I was being completely ridiculous. The lady that did my hair was amazing. Her name was Ms Kim and her name alone immediately made me think of Lane's mom on Gilmore Girls. Not to mention she wasn't nearly as heavy handed as most Asians when it comes to brushing someone's hair. When I was a kid I always thought I was going to get whiplash when my mom would fix my hair. Plus, I finally got to experience that Curly Sue moment, where you have two people drying your hair at the same time. It was heavenly. And my hair came out even better than I expected. 


Ignore J looking blind in this one, but you can really see the blonde in it.

And in this one you can see the lowlights.

New Addition

As almost anyone on Facebook can tell, this post is going to be about our new bunny, Theodore. I've always wanted a rabbit for as long as I can remember, but when I was a kid my parents always said no. So I never really thought that I would be able to have, or know how to take care of one. But, he's so cute and sweet, and potty trained, I don't think we could've asked for a better rabbit.


Theodore is no pet store bunny, at least not for us. Someone that works in J's office had him, but was sent to a different base down south, and since pets aren't allowed in the barracks she had to leave him behind to find a new home. In all honesty I didn't want a pet while we were here, mainly because it would feel like I was cheating on Luna. My dear, sweet, kitty cat couldn't come with us since we would be unable to get her medication over here, and I was completely heartbroken to leave her behind. I'm pretty sure I cried harder over leaving her than anything else. I mean I've had her for almost twelve years, and she's the most amazing cat in the world. J wanted to get me a kitten but I wasn't having it, and that pretty much put an end to all talks of getting a pet.

All of that changed after seeing how cute this little bunny is, and hearing how if he didn't find a home soon he was going to be released into the wild the next night, I knew we had to take him. And it was instant love after that. He snuggles, and hops back and forth on the couch building up enough static to shock J. He eats treats and carrots right out of your hand (the carrots have to be room temperature). He's not a big fan of lettuce though, and last night J had to remind me that Theodore is in fact a bunny, and not a small dog. I can't help that I find the urge to feed him people food to see what he likes. I mean who doesn't like spaghetti? And he totally chased J around last night for the package of Teddy Grahams, but that might have more to do with the fact that the packaging resembles his treats bag, than the Teddy Grahams themselves. Ok, I'm gushing, but he's just so awesome and sweet, and I love him. =)

Wanna Go?

No, Songtan Sally, my husband would not like to "go" but thanks for asking.


You see, Songtan Sally is a local prostitute here, or rather a pimp. After being here for a month I find myself strangely saddened by the fact that I've only seen this woman twice, and at no time did J allow me to take a photo of her. If only I had a working Blackberry, or perhaps an iPhone so that I could be more conspicuous while trying to take a picture of a living legend. This woman has been around for years, well decades actually, and she goes around approaching men with two small words, "wanna go." 


I really have no idea why I find her so fascinating and well amusing, but I do. I mean I heard about her all the way in North Carolina, long before I ever moved here. Well, not too long before because J was already living here, but still. I'm not going to life though, the thought of standing too close to her does strike a fear in me. I'm terrified that whatever type of STD's she's carrying could mutate and become airborne. Maybe that's why every time I try to get J to go stand outside of Baskin Robbins so I can see her from the safety of the store window he won't do it. All I'm saying is, what's the point in having a husband if he won't lure a hooker close enough for you to see. Obviously, he wouldn't be leaving with her, and I wouldn't want him to get into any kind of trouble for being around her. I just wish I could hear her speak one good time. After all, the first time I really saw her we were at Baskin Robbins with a few friends and I found myself staring at her in amazement as she wandered back and forth looking for someone to take her up on her offer. It wasn't until she started staring back that I got a little creeped out. Can you tell the only place I've ever seen her was Baskin Robbins? 


Anyways, without further delay I'd like to present you with a picture of Ms Songtan Sally that I found on Google images. Yay Google!! This picture is from her myspace page. 

So after all this, I feel like I need to start a Sally watch, just to keep track of how often I see her.  I'll have to call it Sally Watch 2010. It sounds so catchy.

Nesting

Since I've been here all I've really felt is the urge to nest, and to have my own tv. Our apartment is great and it's way more than anything I could've imagined we would be living in, but it didn't really feel like home. I mean it was homey enough but it didn't feel like it was my home. It's amazing what a difference a few belongings will make. And when I say a few, I mean almost all. 

Yesterday all of our stuff finally made it here and after three hours of unpacking it actually looks like we're going to live here rather than just visit. I mean we finally have two tvs and our cabinets are full of pots and pans and various other cooking utensils that I have truly missed. We also have more than one comforter to fit our bed and more dishes and drinking glasses than we know what to do with. But, as is always the case with us things don't always go as smoothly as possible, and we always end up with a great story to tell. 

So, when the movers were bringing our stuff in one of the security guards from our apartment complex came in and was trying to talk to us, but since we don't know Korean we were having a hard time understanding him. He kept taking Jason's hand and smiling and walking him around the apartment. Finally the security guard said something to one of our movers and it turns out he wanted to check our bathroom for something. So he goes in, walks around looks in the toilet, pulls back the shower curtain, and leaves with an empty roll of toilet paper. Um..thanks, sir. I wonder what he was looking for.

Thankfully all of this unpacking business was on trash day, which has to be a whole post of its own. But here are some pics of our boxes as they were bringing them in.

Dance in the Dark

Maybe it wasn't so much a dance as it was a trip, a stumble, and a slip across the cold wood floor. All of these things can only add up to one thing..I woke up to my first power outage. I'll be the first one to admit that it's quite entertaining when you wake up and have no idea what's going on. I was sleeping so peacefully when I heard the shower turn off and my favorite four letter expletive being yelled from the other side of the bathroom door, followed by an unfamiliar light shining in the living room. I'm sure my first thought was probably something along the lines of alien invasion, I mean I don't even believe in aliens so that would've been really crazy. But lucky for me J was yelling something about getting a flash light so I pulled it together enough to make that happen. 


After stumbling around and pulling J's uniform out of the closet we found out it wasn't just us without power, apparently it was the whole complex. Or that the very least the people right around us, because you could see their emergency lights from our laundry room. Who knew we had emergency lights? I mean the thought is kind of exciting, I've never lived in a place with emergency lights before. And the whole time we've lived here J had been trying to find the light switch to this light that sits right above our intercom display. We do have about a million light switches, so it was possible that he never hit the right one.


While we were waiting for J's cab to come the I started to wonder how the door was going to open since you have to push a button for it to work. I mean what would've happened if we were locked in the apartment with no heat (the floors are heated and run off gas, but it has a thermostat which I'm guessing is electric), no internet, and no tv. I'm pretty sure I would be bored and crazy by the end of the day, how could I miss Sex and the City. I mean I have a daily routine now. The sad part is, the main thing I was worried about was how I was going to talk to Avon with no internet. We are on the same schedule, after all, and I no longer have a phone with the greatness of instant messaging programs or the ability to text internationally. And you better believe I took this golden opportunity to remind my wonderful husband of this fact. Lucky for him the door was working just fine, so I'm not really sure how that whole push the button to open it thing works, but shortly after he left the power was back on as I was telling the story to Avon (of course I had to call her and let her know I wasn't abducted by aliens.) 


Here are some pictures from the power outage this morning.

The flash was really bright so I had to turn it off.

And there's out little emergency light. I wish we had two so one could be on the other side of the wall and they would be matching.

Lessons Learned

Well, I've been in Korea for about three weeks now, maybe it's been two, I'm not really sure. But, what I do know, is that in Korea size really does matter, among other things.


Now, before you let your mind wander too far, I'm talking about the fact that I couldn't find a blanket to fit my bed outside of the BX, or that they don't make curtains long enough to cover the whole window, and don't let me forget that my oven is super tiny. I mean Sylvia Plath wouldn't have been able to shove her head in this oven. It's like an Easy Bake Oven but bigger (and not by much).


So the whole blanket situation brought on a full breakdown which had me sitting in bed crying because every time I would move the blanket would fall on the floor, or J would move and take the whole thing with him. Night after night, it was so frustrating having to wake up and search for  the comforter, but at least I had plenty of light because there's definitely a light post outside our bedroom window and since our blinds are only so thick and we didn't have any curtains it was nearly impossible to sleep. Thankfully, the next day we went and got a down comforter, and it covers the whole bed (Yay!!) and curtains with the black out panels. The downside these curtains are about four inches too short and don't cover the whole sliding glass door, and they're the longest length curtains come in. But, I'm not going to complain about it anymore, it's now super dark in my room, and I can snuggle underneath the blankets without them falling on the floor.


So here are a few of the other things I've learned since being here:


Dunkin Donuts in Korea is just as tasty as back home, only they don't have Dunkaccinos.


McDonald's breakfast is super exciting here, too.


Bread that has Hello Kitty's face on the packaging tastes so much better than regular bread.


Winter in North Carolina has not provided me with an accurate perception of cold weather, or snow for that matter. Apparently we had a "dusting" yesterday morning, but my ass was so excited that there was actually snow on the ground I couldn't stop jumping up and down and acting like a five year old, even if it did melt by the end of the day.