frustration.

many people say to me, "gosh you are so organized." i know that i am good at keeping stuff in piles and being somewhat chaotically organized, but times like this one are the ones that frustrate me. i can keep up with all sorts of miscellaneous stuff, but when it comes to major papers (2006 tax stuff) i cannot seem to do it. is the right side of my brain selective in what it keeps up with? at the end of january i had the same issue as i had to finally file the stinkin' thing. i searched the apartment up and down. i finally found it after many hours and papers gone through. i took the time then to organize and purge, clean and sort. now, here i am just mere months later back in square one. i am looking furiously for the tax papers. i know for a fact that i copied them before mailing them to austin. i vividly remember standing at the machine making all the copies of the multiple pages i had to complete since i am overseas. the question now is what did i do with them after that? i feel certain that i jammed them into my bag to come home, but did i? are they lost in the wild abyss of school papers that i never seem to get to the bottom of? are they hiding somewhere in the apartment amongst the now organized papers that i have already been through at least four times? ugh........how can i appear organized to the folks around me? i was thinking today how i do seem to be a little ampidexterious when it comes to my brain....boy, was i a little ahead of myself. ugh.......the endless battle with me.

my husband is a rock star!!!

paul performs at the green scene coffee house...

he was awesome!!!

my hubby and me

us at the green scene coffee house for st. patrick's day

spring break....

the holiday is coming to its final days. i sit here and reflect on the time off that i have had and what i have done. i stretched myself out of my comfort zone to try live octopus and really fresh raw fish. the experience was good and yes, i would do it again. i rested and relaxed. i also got a massage and a pedicure for some personal pampering. i spent time with friends and slept in a lot. i ate lunch with paul and explored insadong. we had dumplings with friends and then explored a new area. i tried some really good doughnuts. i also found a new art store. i went shopping and laughed. i stayed home all day in my pajamas and made crock pot lasagna. we watched batttlestar and i bought some new movies. i sampled beer while shopping in the store and did some people watching. i cuddled with the kitties and ate cornbread with butter and honey.

all in all the break has been a good mixture of many things. i am rested and relaxed.

summer plans...

the flight is booked and we are coming to the states...
we would love to hang out with everyone while we are there.

here is the plan--

june 29th--leave for the states & arrive in san francisco--i will stay here for the week and paul will be working.

july 6th-11th--i am in new york city for a teacher workshop on teaching writing

july 11th-15th--paul and i celebrate our first wedding anniversary in new york city

july 15th--we fly back to san francisco

july 16th--i fly to houston :) with paul soon to follow when work is complete

august 5th--we fly back to korea for another exciting year living overseas

coffee art....

not only is this in my top three of favorite coffees, but it is also so beautiful.......

the canadian maple latte from the flying pan blue

fans of toto watch out.....

when i was younger my brother listened to all this crazy 80's music. i remember looking through his tapes and wondering who all these people were that he liked. i remember seeing the police, toto and others i now cannot remember. as i walking through sinchon yesterday i saw this poster and thought of my brother.

seattle fish market eat your heart out

it's spring break for the teachers at sfs and we were out to have an adventure. paul, vicki, and i went to the seoul fish market across town. paul had been doing some research on eating fresh fish and other seafood at this market. basically, you pick out what fish you want, they kill it, fillet and clean it, and then the restaurant lady comes to take you to lunch. crazy! it was so fun to walk around and see all the crazy seafood. we chose to have some fish (not sure what kind), octopus, and some sting ray. all not cooked.....yes, raw. at first i was going to just take pictures and document the experience for vicki and paul, but i changed my mind. have a look.....

we had no idea what these are, but lots of people were "shelling" them and cleaning them

giant crabs waiting to be bought

medium octopi swimming in their bucket

very large octopi

this guy is trying to put the live octopus in a plastic bag and it was not being cooperative at all

sharks....i was surprised their skin was so dull looking

this huge tree trunk that they use as a cutting board....i thought they were cool

here i am for some size reference

octopus head

the fish guy showing vicki his goods of live octopus

our lunch is the one on the left which the guy hit over the head with his stick

lunch being prepared......

paul and vicki surpervising our fish

he is filleting and taking off the skin

the tank with the octopus we had for lunch

the lady getting out our three octopi for lunch

our fish prepared for lunch---raw

fresh raw sting ray....not as good as they thought it would be

our octopi for lunch----cut up, raw, and in sesame oil

vicki eating her bit of octopus

paul enjoying his raw fish

yep! i did it! i ate live octopus!

World Race

our friend Vicki is leaving SFS at the end of this school year and she has signed up to go on a year long mission trip around the world with an organization called Adventures In Missions. paul and i have really had a blast spending time with her and getting to know her. she is such a fun person and makes us both laugh. she also has a huge heart for God and his plan for her.

check out her mission site---
http://victoriaskyvalidas.theworldrace.org/

mayan mochas are alive!!!

christmas in 2006 paul bought me two bags of the mayan mocha mix from diedrich's coffee. the mayan mocha at diedrich's is my favorite drink and he wanted me to be able to have them here in korea. he and the man who sold it to him went round and round as they do not sell the mix. paul did his magic and the guy finally said yes to him.

after arriving back in korea i tried mixing the mix with coffee from my coffee maker, but it was not the same. no matter what combination i tried. so i put the mayan mocha ideas on the shelf for then.

this school year we got a new cafeteria that also has a coffee shop in it. wow! after getting coffees there for a while.....i had an idea. basically the mayan mocha is a latte with this "magic" mix added to it. so one friday morning i put a tablespoon on mix into a container and took it to school. before going down for coffee i put the mix into my starbucks reuseable mug. my insides were twisting and turning with excitement. will it work? down the stairs i went and into the coffee shop. i ordered a lowfat latte and handed the cup over to the sweet lady who works there. she mixed in the shots and then the milk. i paid and walked through the cafeteria. i was nervous........was it going to work? was the mayan mocha going to have a "rebirth" in my little world here in korea? i took a sip and down the hatch it went..............................WOW! it worked. i smiled ear to ear as i made my way back to my classroom that friday morning. it was the happiest moment of the day. i could not believe it. i sipped the coffee and came into my happy place. it was the best moment!

since that inaugural day i have a "mayan mocha" each morning. i take the one tablespoon of mix to school in a container for my cup. usually when my kids go off to the their first special or during first recess, i make my way down to the coffee shop to get my cup of happiness. the lady behind the counter knows me now and we greet and smile at each other. then she makes my drink and i am grinning when complete. it is just a small part of my day that makes me so happy.

mmmmmm..........mayan mochas are my favorite!

Lunar Holiday in Beijing, China

we were off again---this time to china. we left tuesday night and returned on sunday mid-day. it was a great trip and we saw many of the things to see in China.

we went to tianamen square, wangfujing street (famous for crazy snack foods), the forbidden city, walked around an area called houhai, went chair skating on an iced over pond, attempted to shop with no luch b.c many places were closed, walked on the great wall at mutianyu, took the toboggin sled down from the top of the wall, and ate lots of food at many different places. it was awesome!

foods paul tried---scorpions on a stick, two different meats from an ox, goose tongue, ginger coke (served hot in a teapot) and random meats on a stick.

we both tried candied fruit on a stick--first one was strawberries and the second one was crab apples.

the fireworks in china are crazy loud. if i would not have known i thought we were holidaying in a war torn country. it was scary at times. really scary and loud.

the bed in our hotel was REALLY hard and had occasional bumps from the frame. it was strange.

bejing was under construction in many places in preparation for the olympics. it was also a major holiday too which made many places closed. we had a good time and were able to check off the things we wanted to see on the list.