Singing for Four Hours Straight has never been so invigorating!

Well, I've had another weekend of absolute fun.


I would like to especially thank Ruda for his invitation to "play." It was timely.


It's funny though, cause I started off my Friday evening just chilling at home for about 3 hours, doing nothing. Watching a movie.

But, then I went to Sinchon to meet up with Ruda and JB and Rachel and then the fun began.

Rachel is incredibly funny... that's all I'm going to say.

So, after a nice chat and a few drinks, we made our way to a Noribang or singing room.


Jess ROCKING it out... Ruda just looking like a goofball.



Now, at this point in the game (I've been here a full 10 months) my friends and I know what songs to sing in a noribang that will just rock out. And, we began the night with those songs... and we rocked out.


But then, an hour and a half later, we just didn't feel finished.... or at least Jess, Ruda and I didn't feel finished.... Rachel had fallen asleep halfway through our tormented and off-key warbles and was DONE for the night. We sent her on her way at around 1:30.


So, we kept going. And then, we discovered the songs that not only rock out, but would feed our lonely hearts and fulfill our need for.... head banging.

Oh yes.

I'm quite sure we became rock stars Friday night.

Thanks to my good buddy Jess, I have become reacquainted with the amazing song "Alone" by Heart. Now, for those of you who do not know this song, you must stop reading this blog, stop doing whatever you may be doing in this exact moment and go listen to it. It is an amazing song. I am not joking; STOP READING!


For those of you who DO know the song, I think you may understand why I was so excited about our time in the noribang.


Jess and I sang it three times.... and by round three... we rocked harder than the Wilson sisters EVER even attempted to ever rock... ever! Ok, this could be a slight exaggeration... but only a slight one.


For those of you who know me well, you may be surprised to hear that I am so willing to prostrate my vocals in such a way. But, with a co-star like Jess, one can hardly go wrong... Jess knows how to rock it out and she has NO inhibitions in the noribang... she is my noribang hero!


Our first round of "Alone" was amazing.... however, there was one slight hiccup with round one. Let me explain:


After the first and second verse and chorus, there is a short bridge and then Ann Wilson belts out a profound and heart-felt singing scream. This is an exiting moment in the song. It's the climax; the pinnacle of emotion and poetry. The rest of song follows that dramatic scream and without it, the song would only be half of the great rock ballad that it is.

As we were coming to this part in our noribang during round one of "Alone" it was understood that Jess would sing this scream by herself. Again, I am no vocalist and seeing as Jess was born to this song and loves this part, it was only right for her to take this singing scream by herself.


This is how the song goes:


"I hear the ticking of the clock, I'm lying here the rooms pitch dark.

I wonder where you are tonight. No answer on the telephone.

And the night goes by so very slow... oh I hope that it won't end, though... alone.

Till now, I always got by on my own. I never really cared till I met you. And now it chills me to the bone.

How do I get you alone?

How do I get you alone?

You don't know how long I have wanted to touch your lips and hold you tight.

You don't know how long I have waited and I was going to tell you tonight.

But the secret is still my own. And my love for you is still unknown. Alone......

AHHH AHHH"


And then there's the chorus again.


As, I said, Jess and I were doing great until we got to the scream. She was just too excited.





Here's my imitation...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHA"

I lost it after that. I could no longer sing because I was laughing too hard.

So yes. A few bumps along the way, but we ended the night with that song and we scored a 100!!!

YESSS!!!

Then we went to a DVD room. I feel asleep but it was still fun.

Then we went for coffee.

I had orange juice, but it was still good.

Then we went home.... at 6 in the morning. So yes, a long but terribly fun night.

And, I slept all day on Saturday. Amazing.

I recommend that you read Jess's version of this evening as well. You should find a post on her blog within a matter of days. http://www.jessinsokorea.blogspot.com/

For now, I'll just leave you with the amazing song itself.


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jxfdDrKO8uM

Ramblings and Musings

My body is retarded.



All I wanted to do all day was sleep. I finally get home, lay in bed and do you think I can sleep??

NO!

I hate being so lethargic through out the day that I can't focus on anything significant or meaningful. My only thoughts today where... "When can I go home so I can go to bed?"



And now I can't sleep. *SIGH*


ANYWAYS...



I have a busy few weeks coming up here. I have a few party's to attend. These include a couple of different **COUGH COUGH BIRTHDAY PARTY'S COUGH COUGH** a mud festival, and other assorted gatherings.


I also have to find time to go get a health check up, renew my visa, re-register as an alien (yes, I am an alien) and check out the prospects for getting a... puppy... maybe...



What do you think... good idea? Bad idea???

I WANT A PUPPY!!!



So, I'm gonna be busy. But, that's ok. I like it that way.


In other news, I got my hair cut. Yes, it looks slightly different from normal.... I have significant bangs now and drastic layerage going on... now, of course, my hair is so... silky (I say "silky" with utmost humility and modesty... I'm just being honest here) that you can hardly tell about the layers. But, I notice the difference. Mainly because the darn bangs keep getting in my eyes all the time!



Also, one of my co-teachers, Mikyeong came to Bible study with me last week. She had a fantastic time and wants to continue coming and studying the Bible. She really likes all of my friends (I told her that, yes, they were ok) and I think this whole thing will be really good for her. She told me she's been reading more of the Bible and it's helping her to settle down more and rest better. I'm so excited. I really pray that God moves in her and opens her heart!

You know, I was on a walk yesterday in my "back yard." I was listening to some Shawn McDonald (who is my favorite Christian artist) and his song "Have You Ever" was playing. It's a powerful song and it just struck me how... no matter how unsatisfied we may be with our lives; no matter what we think we want or need; the only thing that's really going to fill us, is Him. I'm sure that's why I think I want a puppy... to fill me up in some way.

I mean... I don't think owning a puppy is a bad thing... really... I'm still going to look into it... but I think the bigger issue for me; the bigger issue for us all, is that we need to be filled by Him. How often do we do that in our lives? How often do we seek Him to fulfill us instead of the world around us? I think about my day today and I can tell you, the only thing I did other than teach was stare at a computer screen or a TV screen. No wonder I'm so restless at night.

I think He's trying to get my attention!



I still want a puppy..


Ok, picture time.


Oh goodness.... this is me and Myeongsook, one of my co-teachers. She wanted my face to be closer to the camera's so that her face wouldn't look so big! Having a "big face" is a really unattractive to many Koreans and lots of people are really aware of their face size. I think Myeongsook is beautiful, but her culture doesn't like some of her attributes. So, this is me, laughing at her self-consciousness... I think I should be self-conscious now! LOOK AT THAT FACE!!!








Ok, this one's a lot better... and you can see the new hair cut too!




Alright. That's all for now. I'll write again when I have something more interesting to say! For now, thanks for listening to a bunch of rambles and musings.

Peace.


Hil

Who knew Simon and Garfunkel were amazing????

I didn't, but I do now.

But anyways!

One of the things that has been most consistent in my life here in Korea has been the inconsistency.

One day it's a good day, the next it's terrible.
One day it's easy, the next day I don't know if I can do it anymore.
One day my students respect me, the next I can't even get them to sit down.
One day everything seems stable and secure, the next there's so much confusion and turmoil I don't even know what to hang onto.

My earthly forms of stability are all in America... sometimes I feel like I'll fly apart if I don't have someone to hang onto. Someone older than me... like a parent.

But, today was a good day. I was able to manage my classes fairly well and I had some nice conversations with my co-workers.

Kyeongmi, the Korean teacher who sits right next to me, was putting lipstick on after lunch. When she does this it cracks me up because she has to use a paint brush to apply it. Apparently one of her daughters got into her makeup bag and smeared the lipstick all over her face leaving just a mangled blob inside the tube. Kyeongmi didn't want to throw it out because that lipstick is expensive, so she uses a little paintbrush to apply it to her lips.

Today, just as she was finishing this after-lunch routine, I leaned over to ask her a question and before I could even get a word out, she grabbed my head and started trying to put that lipstick on me.

UGGHH!!! She's like my SISTER!!! I kept swiveling my head around trying to get away from her, but she was insistent! I felt pretty sure that she was about to sit on me... just like my sister used to do when she thought my face needed an adjustment in some way!

So, I had lipstick on for about a minute today. She was pinning my hands down, but as she was trying to get the music teachers' attention, I managed to wipe it off.

YES! SHE WAS PINNING MY HANDS DOWN!! Holy cow! It's like sitting next to a weird combination of Haley and Mom.... in Korean form!


But, then we were talking some more and she invited me to stay at her place every Friday night next semester.

I think she wants to adopt me.

But, I also thinks there's this weird, unspoken kind of battle going on between her and Mikyeong, my co-teacher who's recovering from cancer.

They battling for me. Like, trying to see who I like the best or who has the biggest claim on me.... I'm not sure how to deal with that one. I like them both. Why can't we all just be friends???


Here is a picture of Kyeongmi, my neighbor.


I called her cute today and she didn't like that. She said that in Korea, you can only be cute if you're young. So, I said she was adorable...which, to me is almost the same thing, if not a word that I would more readily associate with younger people... but she liked that better.

Talk about stability. If I let her, she'll try to be that stability for me.... if I let her.

There's also Mikyeong. She wants to be that too... if I let her.

"So what are you complaining about, Hil?" That's your question, right?

No matter what I do or who I go to here, there will always be inconsistency. I can't avoid it. They can't avoid it either. I love them... really! And, I know they love me too. For crying out loud, Kyeongmi hugged me like 8 times today! WHAT AM I A TEDDY BEAR??

But, maybe my life is supposed to be led alone... for this year. Maybe my life is supposed to be inconsistent.

Or maybe I'll get a puppy.



Peace out, Ya'll!


H

Fuel Prices

I've decided a good alternative form of transportation would be a horse.


I'm not settling for anything else....


A horse...

or a car.

My Weekend.... and Today

I have just had one of the most fantastic weekends I have had for a long time!

Let me share:

Friday, after school (which wasn't really school; most of the students and most of the teachers were away on a field trip for 3 days.... so a couple of other teachers and I just sat around and chat) I went out to lunch with a couple of teachers. We ate galbi, so it was really good!


Then, I went and met with Changok, my favorite co-teacher! I was a complete dork. I don't know why, but I was feeling really fat and awkward around her and so I was a complete nincompoop. But, she was helpful and gracious as usual and talking with her helped me to process a lot of different things. Namely, school. She told me that I shouldn't feel inadequate because of the language barrier, but that the discipline system in the public schools don't support even the Korean teachers.

It was good to talk about how; because we spend half of our time disciplining the students, we quickly run out of creative ways to teach and then, therefore become boring, strict and cranky teachers.

I'd like to think that I still have some spark left. We're singing songs this week... I think that's slightly fun....

Theeeeeeen, I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie with JB (JB is Jessica Becker for those of you who aren't aware of the group nick-names). I wasn't conscious of just how concerned I was that Harrison Ford preserve his dignity and uphold the integrity of the name INDIANA JONES until I saw the opening scene of that movie!

My goodness. For about the first 20 minutes or so, I was almost horrified! But, then after the movie got going a little bit, I forgot about how potentially ridiculous it was that they were making another Indiana Jones while Harrison Ford is an 80 year old man.

Ok, I know he's not that old, but still! I think they did an "ok" job with the movie.... there were a couple of good points in the movie... I guess.

Saturday, I met a couple of my adult students for lunch and a hike. I haven't seen my adult students in a while, so it was really great to see them and... the hike was amazing!


I also learned my colors in Korean! Just so you all know; my favorite color is paran. AND, while I was on the hike, I was wearing a bolgan colored shirt! I'll send a picture along to give you a clue!




This place that we hiked is like the great wall of Korea! Amazing!

After my hike, I went home and took a shower, grabbed my guitar and then went to Trevor and Rachel's. It's always fun to hang out with friends and play my guitar.... and eat... I like to eat.

Then I spent the night there. And, then everyone came back and we all had breakfast. It was glorious. I had bacon. It hurt my stomach but who cares!

THEN; we went to church where Eddy preached. He had a fantastic sermon. He took a spin on the parable of the prodigal son that I've never heard or thought about before. Good stuff.

After church, Ruda helped me change the strings on my guitar. It was pretty sweet, we were all sitting outside on the steps on this beautiful sunny Sunday and nobody seemed to want to leave. It was glorious.... but then.... Ruda and I discovered I only had 5 strings new strings for my guitar!!!!

I was missing my G STRING!!

So we went out to buy me a G string.... Yeah.

My guitar is amazing again! I have blisters on my fingers I've been playing so much!

And that was my weekend! Good, good, good!


ToDAY, Monday, was also a good day.

I wore a skirt to school today... I was ordered to do so by my neighbor at school. I wowed everyone. Apparently I'm a hottie and I match with my skirt better than I match with pants. It's just cause everything I own is brown!

I made my kids sing today. They're really cute. They did awful!

My impression of them:
"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" (pat, drop paper)
"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" (smack, slap)
"If you're happy and you know... mumblemumblemumblemumble it, if you're happy and you know it clap you're hands" (drop paper, smack, pick nose)

They're a little rough around the edges, but... whatever.

Yu Mikyeong, my co-teacher who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, is back. It's SO good to see her and have her back. She looks fantastic for having had cancer and surgery. She said her day was a little rough though... I can't imagine!

Also, I sat and chat with a couple of the women from my row of desks. Kyeongmi, my neighbor, was commenting on my toenails. She said that she would paint my toenails for me. I told her that it was quite alright, I like my toenails just the way they are, thank you! But, she said that it's against proper etiquette to have unpainted toenails. It's against the "decorum" of the day, I guess just like it's against the "decorum" of the day not to wear heels or make up. I told her I didn't care.

More and more lately I've been pulling out the "I'm an American... I don't care what you're culture does! Leave my toenails ALONE!"

I told her that I would run away if she tried to paint my toenails. She said she'd dump the paint on my feet. Oh goodness. I like her so much! They also want to take me on a trip somewhere in Korea. I'm excited!

Then, Mikyeong drove me home. She's such a sweetie. We talked about boobs; it was hilarious!

And now, I'm sitting at home, full of watermelon and tomato's, enjoying my evening. These days, I'm just full... of more than just fruit!

Thank you, God, for filling me.

And, thank you all for listening to me ramble!

Blessings and prayers.

Hil