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| Courtesy of Albie, I had the wonderful privilege of watching another Zach Braff movie, "The Last Kiss." I absolutely loved it. I loved how everyone in the movie had their own personal dilemma and they acted upon it differently which ended up being the perfect decision afterall. I love Zach Braff in Scrubs, so there were times when I couldn't stand hearing him curse so much in the movie, but I was still in awe of his acting skills. Brother got some mad writing and acting skills. Seriously, when does he find time to write and direct while doing Scrubs (which I'm addicted to thanks to Albie and Isaac and Julie. Joe and I were talking about how much we enjoyed the movie and he mentioned how he really likes watching "coming of age" movies because he felt like he could relate to them. I guess I could agree, because sometimes, I do feel the pressure of "acting my age," or being interested in things people my age are interested in, doing the things people my age do, wearing clothes that people my age wear, blah blah blah. Just because I'm in my early twenties, I'm getting asked left and right if I have met Mr. Right and why I don't have marriage in my plans for the near future. I'm not going to rush things in life, like marriage, even though people think there is a general age when people are supposed to get hitched. If I find that person when I'm fifty, more power to me. If I never do, I won't complain. Many people I know who are around my age have full-time jobs or they're pretty sure what they want to do with their lives later on. For me, I thought I was completely sure, but now, I'm not so sure at all. What if, after my second year of teaching, I realize that I really hate teaching after all? What if, I realize that I don't want to be around children anymore? What if, I want a complete career change? What if, I don't want to get my master's and just jump into the working world? Right now, I wish I could do whatever it takes to get rid of this unsettling feeling deep inside. I don't even know why it's there in the first place. Sometimes, I wish I can just express everything I want to express to someone, but I don't even know what that is. I hate that feeling of uncertainty. Maybe I just feel a tad bit lonely in this huge 3-story house with no one else around me, but a puppy and an obese rabbit to keep me company. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. | | |
| Wow, it\'s April! I only have 2 more months to go before I hit HOME! \"Home is where the heart is.\" Amen to that.
This week flew by so quickly! Thankfully, I\'ve been keeping a journal everyday this week because if I had to remember all of the events that happened, I would draw a blank.
I had to give an opening class this week again for the English teachers. Before going into my lesson and the funny happenings that took place, how annoying is it to have people come in and out of my class taking pictures of me and filming my lesson? Fortunately, I was able to tune them out as well as the other English teachers sitting in the back. I was so thankful that the weather was really cold, because I hate teaching when it\'s hot so sweat is dripping down my back. No fun at all.
I decided to take Michelle\'s idea on cities and build on it by adding more vocabulary words to teach the students. I personally requested to teach Junior 1, Class 10 because they\'re one of the smartest and best-behaved group of students. They are so cute and always put me in a good mood after teaching them. To give a brief summary, I talked about how cities provide specific things to meet people\'s needs, such as, shelther (houses, apartments), protection (police and fire departments), hygiene (sewage treatment plants, garbage trucks), punishment (prisons), justice (courts), etc. After that, I showed them examples of cities that are known to have a theme. The cities were Las Vegas (money, casinos), Paris (fashion, food, art), San Francisco (culture, bridges), and Tokyo (technology and innovation). In the end, I broke the students up into groups of 4 and they had to make up their own city complete with a name, population, location and theme. After 10 minutes was up, I called on each group to share their cities with the entire class. Here is where the fun begins...
One group had a boy whose head is way too big for his scrawny body and wears glasses that magnify his eyes at least 10 times. =) I think he is so adorable. He said, \"Teacher Grace, I decided not to go with the group and make up my own city.\" I gave him the go and he made his presentation in a \"loud, clear and confident voice.\"
His city\'s called Military City. It has a population of 10 million and it is located in the middle of North America. The city is known for producing military artillery. The city gains its size by conquering nearby cities. Military City is owned by China and one day, it will take over entire North America. He ended by stating quite boldly, \"Military City will own North America one day because you are not number one. China is number one!\" I thought it was hilarious, but I couldn\'t burst out laughing in front of the English teachers and directors, so I said, \"Very creative!\" And moved on.
Another group called their city Game City. It has a population of 4 (consisting of all of the members in their group). It is located in the North Pole because they all like the cold weather. The city is known for the game CounterStrike. The reason why they made this city is because everyone, such as, parents and teachers, prevent them from playing the game to their hearts\' desire, so they decided to break lose and be as far away from those people as possible so they can play CS day and night. Some of their teachers were actually sitting in the back of the room listening to every single word they were saying. I wonder if the teachers set up a parent-teacher conference after that. =)
One group made a city called Grace City. The population is ONE - me, yes, you read correctly, I\'m the only one living in that city. They didn\'t get so far as to explain why they made that particular city, but they got an A for effort. Haha!
Enough about school.
I ate dog meat yesterday with several colleagues at a Korean Restaurant. They took me to that particular restaurant because they knew that I loved Korean food and probably missed eating dog (which I have never eaten previously). I\'ve always wanted to try it even though I love dogs...well, I love cows too, but I also happen to love steak as well. It tasted quite good. The texture was similar to shredded chicken meat. I\'ve also tried the lips of the dog and it had a texture like the cartilage of a pig\'s ear. Oh my, that just sounds gross, but the sauce they had to dip the meat into was absolutely delicious. Now, I can proudly say that I tried dog meat. I\'ve become Isaac\'s new hero. Haha!
This is totally random, but I\'ve developed an obsession with Deborah Cox\'s song lyrics. Something about her lyrics just seem to stand out even when I compare them to some of my favorite singers, like Mariah and Whitney. For some reason, some of her lyrics speak straight to the heart and I find myself putting those songs on playback all day. Woman has got soul and her husky voice is so compelling and beautiful. I can\'t sing anymore and that makes me sad. | | |
| 1) The late Steve Irwin\'s dog is named \"Sui.\" 2) Korean is closely related to Cantonese. (Ex) The numbers six and nine in Korean are = yook and gu, respectively. In Cantonese, they are = lok and kow. I\'ve recently learned that the Cantonese language has a longer history than Mandarin language especially because the southern part of China, where Cantonese is widely spoken, rarely experienced war and invasions from other countries. Dang Genghis Khan and the Huns. Hehe. Therefore, the Cantonese language did not undergo great change in language structure, pronounciation and tones whereas the Mandarin I hear around me today has gone through countless transformations like that of Cher\'s facial structure. Just had to throw that in. 3) Who needs a car in China when you have trusty and reliable public transportation? I literally can go ANYWHERE I want in Shenzhen for just a few kuai. It\'s amazing. That\'s how I found where the zoo was so Jane and I can pet pandas, feed tigers and play with a tiger cub. 4) Regular Chinese people don\'t know what Hoisin sauce is. I cooked Hoisin Pork Stir-fry and people didn\'t know what kind of sauce that was. They assumed it was a Cantonese-style dish. Who knows? 5) If your throat is sore or hurting, mix Coca Cola and hot chili peppers together, bring them to a boil and drink it. It should soothe your throat and help you lose weight while you battle the runs for days. I haven\'t tried it, but a teacher suggested it to me when I almost lost my voice for a week. Good stuff. This isn\'t random, but it\'s for Jane\'s journal entry. Where did we go in HK? What did we do? What did we see? What methods of transporation did we take? Jane is a stickler for details. Hehe. 1) We took the KCR to Mongkok. And once we got off, headed to Ladies Street. After shopping for hours and bargaining like a pro, we hopped on the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui East station. From there, we went to Harbor City Shopping Center. Before we went shopping, we sipped frappuccinos - I, a green tea frap and you, a mocha frap. We bought make-up from Lane Crawford. Afterwards, we took the Star Ferry to Central, the financial district of HK. We took the mid-level escalators to Soho. We ate dinner at Jaspas and enjoyed tasty dishes, such as, Caribbean chicken, Green Papaya salad, stuffed bread? for appetizers and an assortment of cheese and fruits for dessert. We power-walked to the tram station to tour around Victoria\'s Peak and took the cable car up the steep 45 degree incline past posh apartments. You got distracted by the wholesale gifts at the peak and when we took a gazillion escalators up to the rooftop terrace, we couldn\'t see any of the view due to the heavy fog. We got back down to civilization and caught the 15C bus, which took us to Central MTR, but we missed it, so we had to take the Public Light Bus back, which delayed us from arriving at Hung Hom KCR stop by 9:45 PM. We ran from the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR to the KCR stop barely making the final 11:05 PM train back to Luohu. We arrived at Luohu and took the taxi back to my place. We fell asleep around 2:30 AM and woke up 6:30 AM the same day. We left my place at 8 AM and you made it to the airport no later than 10 AM. I left with one of your bags, but once I realized it, ran after your bus and fortunately, the bus driver pulled over and opened the door for me. =) Good times. Thanks for coming Jane! I had so much fun with you! | | |
| I was really shocked to hear the death of a childhood friend. I spent years hanging out with Ryan since elementary through middle school and would see him occasionally at praise nights during high school and college. This is the guy I spent hours swimming and having picnics with. He and I used to race every single time because we were both really competitive when it came to swimming free-style. After swimming, we would stuff our faces with food that our moms made for the occasion and then just sit there making fun of each other. He was such a great buddy and he entrusted me with secrets of the girls he was attracted to. Several times, he called me and asked for advice on how he should ask a girl out (like I had any clue) or what kind of gifts girls liked best (I always recommended Nike shoes and boxing gloves...). He called me "nuna" even though he was a month older than me. And one summer, he shot up like a weed and stood towering over me. Our "caps" always ended with him picking me up and flinging me onto his shoulder, while I would scream at him to put me down. I can't believe that he's gone. Strangely enough, it hasn't hit me as hard as I thought it would. I feel so disconnected with what is going on back home. I still feel numb and in disbelief. And now, I can't help but continue to see images of us laughing our heads off, trying to beat each other up, swimming, chasing ducks and geese and being chased by them, roller-blading through the park, skiing together at Heavenly...He couldn't have gone. Not in that way. Not now. Thinking back of the good times we had, I had to remind myself of how vulnerable life is. I could be dead tomorrow. Everything could be going peachy-king one day but the next, it could just shatter into pieces. Just like Job's life. Rereading Job during February was so eye-opening for me. I've never had so many passages just scream out at me, prompting me to stop reading and just meditate on how big, powerful and glorious God is; that while He gives so freely and lovingly, He also takes away, but nonetheless, blessed be His name. It got me thinking that no matter what I go through, whether they be uplifting, degrading or humiliating, I will go through it with the One who never leaves my side. I miss you, Ryan. | | |
| Okay, so blogging takes a lot more work than I thought. It has been awhile since I've updated, but I never like to update while I'm vacation. So...since I'm back in school that has Internet, I thought I would get it done and over with before I put together my lesson plans for this week.
Where do I start?
Annie's trip to China:
The fact that Annie made it to China and survived the trip still blows my mind. Haha! That was big step for my good ol' friend of 11 or so years, so I was immensely proud of her. ^_^
We had lots of fun catching up on life, shopping, hanging out with friends and EATING! Geez, what's new?
Cuisines, we had Egyptian, Muslim (from Xinjiang Province) , Buddhist vegetarian, all-you-can-eat sushi, Italian from Fat Angelo's in Hong Kong, dumplings from Northern Anterim and noodles at 4 am in the morning from a street vendor.
Shopping. Wow, we did a heck of a lot of shopping. I took her to Shenzhen's bargain paradise - Dong Men. She went on a DVD spree and bought a butt-load of great quality films. =) Whitey guided us through dark alleyways and hidden back doors. I was temporarily married with a white husband and Annie had a good laugh while sipping on real authentic Chinese boba. In Hong Kong, she bought the cutest pair of black, low-heeled pumps at her new favorite shoe store - Staccato (which also happens to be one of my favorites, too).
Sights. My school sponsored a trip to a "farm" in Bao'An and there, I experienced grass skiing and being hung by cable which enable me to do flips in the air. We saw people catching live fish with their bare hands and little kids trapped in huge, see-through balls rolling around on the surface of the lake. Annie ate her first chicken with the head still attached to it. She loved it. I'm sure she would want to eat it again if she had the chance. Other sights that I'll briefly mention - Victoria's Peak in HK, Shekou's Western Ghetto, Shatin's shopping extravaganza, my extremely huge CHRISTIAN church. LOL.
After a week of experiencing the glory of China, we headed to HK airport for...Korea!!! But before I go into great detail about my adventures in the motherland, I must confess something.
I almost got arrested in Hong Kong for carrying illegal weapons. Even though I cleared customs with my "weapon" aka pepper-spray, it didn't make it through airport security. I thought it would be smart to just leave it with them, but they wouldn't have any of it. Because it was "procedure," they escorted me to the far corner, with Annie peering through the clear glass window that separated us for a moment, and told me to wait until the police-officers come to pound me with questions. While I was waiting, my poor and innocent pepper-spray was being measured, photographed and placed in a plastic baggie. The entire time, I was being very calm, although I only had 30 minutes before my flight takes off for Incheon. I reminded them that I got a plane to catch and they didn't seem to care. Finally, in what seemed like eternity, not one officer, but 5 of them came and started drilling me with questions: "what are you doing here in China?" "where are you from?" "what is your nationality?" (they didn't believe me when I said American), "what's your ethnicity?" "did you know that carrying this is illegal in HK?" (hmm, well, no , otherwise, I would have left it at home). In the end, the head officer stood over me and barked in my face, "This time, you've been given a warning. Next time, you will be arrested." No need to remind me twice. =)
This story has a happy-ending. Annie and I made it to our flight! We were escorted by two people wearing long black trench-coats with walkie-talkies. Hehe...I'm such a trouble-maker.
Korea.
The last time I've been to Korea was summer of 7th grade, so it has been about 10 years since. Things sure have changed. I'm not going to go into major details, but I had the absolute BEST time with my grandmama, relatives and friends. My grandmama wouldn't let me lift a finger the entire time I stayed with her and she would literally shove me across the room if I made an attempt to do the dishes. Therefore, I lived life in luxury and pure laziness. I woke up everyday around 11:30 AM, just in time for lunch; with the exception of Sundays for church. I ate just about every single Korean dish I could think of. I sang karaoke on so many occasions and with so many people, but my singing voice is just not the same anymore. I lost it. It's gone. However, I can still manage to score 100 because my voice is dang loud and I can stay on beat. Hallelujah! I spent many hours at the jjim-jil-bang (steam/sauna/bath/rest place). Hung out with my wonderful cousins and spoiled my adorable nieces Chae-Hyun and So-Yun. I was spoiled by my relatives - aunts, uncles and even by Annie's aunt and uncle. Met up with friends in Seoul, namely Josh and Jin Young, shopped up a storm at Doo-Ta with my stupendous shopping buddy Annie and laughed our hearts out at a Gag concert. Cried on many occasions while watching sappy Korean soap operas and shows (especially the ones where famous people go out to help those in need or ones where famous people search for people they've known in the past). Spent hours in smoke-filled PC Bangs next to pre-pubescent teenagers playing God-knows-what crazy games. I had to keep telling people that I'm not 24, but 22, but they wouldn't have any of it. I had to deflect wishes from people that I need to get married soon so I can bring my future husband to Korea so we can have a drink together. LOL.
That, my friends, is pretty much what I did in the motherland. No regrets. Only beautiful memories to take away.
Hey, what do you know? It's lunchtime! =) http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137889&l=f01dd&id=1218373 | | |
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