Cute kids

I was on a bus last weekend, and I saw some nice photos outside a portrait studio.


Oh! Korean babies are so cute! So much hair! Let's get a closer look!





Oh. Oh my.

40 lashes with a wet noodle.

What is an eyelash studio, anyhow?!
This is in Osaka, Japan, where I went on vacation a few weeks ago. I tried to loiter inconspicuously, to see somebody come out so I could get a look at their lashes, but the place didn't seem too popular.

Bathrooms!

The toilets at my school all look like this- no Western toilets, only squatters. Actually, there is at least one Western toilet at my school, but it's used as the storage closet for the mops and stuff. It doesn't work. There isn't any toilet paper in the bathrooms, everyone has to bring their own. The students do the cleaning. I think it's like this in all public schools in Korea- students take a half hour or so each day to clean up the school- mop, clean the bathrooms, take out the trash, etc. You might be surprised by this, but they aren't very dedicated cleaners, and the bathrooms usually are a bit gross. The wastepaper basket in the picture is for the toilet paper- people in Korea throw the paper away instead of flushing it so as not to clog the pipes. I'm a rebel, though, and I always flush my paper. I don't know, I guess I just like life on the edge.
It's funny, because Korea either has the most basic toilets (well... I guess a hole in the ground would be more basic. Whatever. Don't try to use your crazy logic on me.), or the fanciest toilets. There are no etiquette bells in our school bathrooms, either. It's pretty barbaric. People might actually know I'm peeing in there, which disgusts me.

Chic dogs

A lot of people have little dogs as pets here. Not too many big dogs, since most people live in apartments here in and around Seoul. Often, the dogs' ears, feet, and tail are dyed, like the poodle here. I've seen orange, green, pink, and blue dogs. This sign is from Everland, a Korean amusement park where they have a zoo section. This was part of the dog exhibit, right across from the tigers. Dogs at a zoo?! That's just crazy! & none of the dogs were even dyed. Stylish dogs at a zoo- I can accept that. Plain old dogs... not so much.

Take me out to the ball game

I went to a baseball game a few weeks ago with Johan and his coworkers Frida, Yacir, and Mattias. The Hyundai Unicorns vs. the Lotte Giants. We wanted to cheer for the unicorns, because who DOESN'T love unicorns?! But we bought tickets for the wrong part and ended up in the Giants section. They won, but man was it boring! The Unicorns had drummers and dancers and a mascot (I got to meet the Unicorn and shake his hoof when I went to the bathroom!!) and a guy leading cheers, and all the Giants had was a guy with a plastic bag and a newspaper pompom.


The worst part (well... the worst part was that it was a baseball game, and baseball is boring. But besides that.) was that they didn't have any hot dogs!! What's the point of a baseball game if there aren't any hot dogs?! Al they had was ramen and fried chicken. Phooey.


Mattias did catch a ball, though! I don't think it was a homerun ball, just a ball a player threw into the stands. But STILL! Definitely the most exciting part of the game! Besides me meeting the unicorn, of course!

(a reenactment of the famous catch)

Pears!Pears!Pears!Pears!Pears!Pears!

I have a lot of pears. I got a big box of pears from my school for Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving holiday. The Korean teachers got money as a bonus, and I got pears. Suckers!! Fruit is expensive here! I totally got the better deal! Look at how big they are! Almost as big as my face! Although, of course my face IS very small... Don't be fooled by their resemblance to apples- that's how pears look in Korea.

Dog!

I was showing pictures from my California vacation to my students, and I showed a picture of my dog. "Ooooh, delicious!" said one of the students. We all had a good laugh. Because of course, they do eat dog here sometimes. It's illegal, but the law is absolutely not enforced, and it's very easy to get. I don't think most people eat Boshintang (dog stew) regularly, but I think most people have had it at least once, and some people eat it regularly. I went on a hike with the teachers from my school a few months ago, and afterwards most of the men had boshintang. It's supposed to give you "stamina." I had a bite, just so I could say I've eaten dog. It was diiiiiisgusting. I don't like most meat besides chicken anyhow. People who like it say it tastes like lamb. I just thought it tasted tough and fatty and gross. I was gagging trying to swallow it. Yuck!
In the pot:

About to go in my mouth:

The most exciting thing since sliced bread!

I know I haven't posted in ages, and that's because nothing exciting has happened. Seriously, NOTHING. Sure, I went to California and Vietnam, but nothing worth blogging about. Until yesterday, that is. Yesterday we met Dr. Fish.



There is a cafe in Gangnam where you can get the Dr. Fish treatment for only 2,000 won (about $2). First you wash off your feet, then you stick them in the tank with lots of tiny fish that eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickles horribly the first few minutes until you get used to it.



It was a surprise for me from Johan. Awwwww, what a sweetie pie! He knows just what I like! We were talking about getting some Dr. Fish of our own, because how cool would it be to have them eat the dead skin off your whole body?!

Lanterns.

Sunday was the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul, to celebrate Buddhas Birthday.
Happy Birthday, Budds!




There were a lot of lanterns, as you might expect at a Lantern Festival.




I dare you to name a religion with a cuter mascot:

I'm totally converting. Buddhists are cool.

Pig headed

There was a cermony a few weeks ago at my school to give an auspicious start to the new greenhouses and welcome the new animals at the school. We had a sports day for the teachers, and then there was the ceremony. There were offerings on the table of fruit and a pig's head, and people lit incense, bowed, and waved bowls of maccoli around (Maccoli is Korean alcohol).

And then the teachers put money in the pig's mouth (or in his nose sometimes). I don't know what they use the money for. I don't really care, either, because I put in 10,000 won that somebody else gave me, since I didn't have my wallet with me. They can do whatever they want with the money in that case.



The bigger the smile on the pig's face, the more expensive the head is!!