my cat does not like bigbang~~

as you may [or may not] know, i've had a cat since october. [her name is 채린-->chae lin.] she's super cute, occasionally sweet, and she loves watching TV.

she also hates bigbang. which is rather unfortunate because i love them so much.

she especially hates T.O.P~~which is also quite unfortunate. and very disappointing.

one day, i came home from school only to discover that she had not only [somehow] ripped my T.O.P poster off the wall, but she was also trying to eat it. and tear it apart with her claws. and i'm not talking about just the corners or edges of the poster...she was viciously attacking his face. she also really hates his voice [probably because it's so deep]. whenever i listen to bigbang music, she'll scrunch up in the corner and hiss every time he has a solo part. [i realize that she's not smart enough to put his face with his voice, so it's kind of ironic that she would hate that voice so much and that face...without realizing that they belong to the same person...]

anyways, yesterday, i was watching MNet Countdown [it's exactly what it sounds like...artists perform their new songs, and at the end they'll announce the winner who had the number one single for that week]. 채린 really enjoys TV, so she was just sitting on the edge of my bed watching...but then she did something unusual...

the second C.N.Blue started performing, she jumped up, right next to the TV, and she sat there completely immobile until their performace was over. [she especially seemed to like 정용화-->jung yong hwa, the guy in the picture.]

immediately after C.N.Blue, BIGBANG performed. 채린 was absolutely not happy about this. the second T.O.P started singing, she literally ran away from the TV...as fast as her little legs could carry her.

despite my best efforts, i could not get her to come back to the TV again. and i tried everything. i put treats in front of the screen. i put her favorite toy next to the TV. and i even dangled her ribbon from the top of the TV. but to no avail. she would have none of it.
however, ever since she was a tiny baby cat, i had noticed that she really likes taeyang's voice. i guess it's soothing for her, because she'd always stop and listen to him singing, until his part was over, and then she'd go hiss in the corner again.

so yesterday, when taeyang had his solo part, she went racing back to the TV...and then she started licking his face on the screen.

so, i guess she has a little crush...

PRAY for japan~

doctor webmd

yesterday, while i was sleeping in the office, the 6th grade head teacher came in, asked why i looked like i was dying, and then told me to go home early. [this was at 4:15.] so i got to leave a whole twenty minutes early--yay??

i decided to go to the doctor near my school. [the reason i had been wanting to leave school early to go there is because this particular clinic closes around 5-ish. i normally can't leave work until 4:40, so depending on how many people are waiting in front of me, i can't be guaranteed to get in to see the doctor before closing time. also, since i've been to that doctor twice before, they already have all of my information which makes it a lot easier since i'd have to go alone without a korean speaker.]

i managed to handle the entire ordeal in korean. i'm assuming it was successful because i now have some sort of medicine which may or may not be helping anything.

since this is the only doctor i've been too since arriving in korea, i'm not sure what other korean doctors are like. but after talking to my friends, i feel like he may not be the most legit doctor on the planet.

i like to call him "dr. webmd".

i've seen this doctor on three separate occasions, but every time, the visit goes the exact same. it has never taken more than three minutes. first, he will look at my throat. next, he checks my breathing [only one time] with a stethoscope. finally, he asks me to list my symptoms, which he types into a computer. after i've told him all of the symptoms that i think i have, he'll click a button on his computer which then shows a bunch of various random diseases in list form. [ever used the webmd symptom checker?? it's exactly like that...] everytime, he's had me look at the list of diseases, and he'll point to a few things and ask me which one i think i have. [umm...who's the doctor, here??]

i don't think it really matters which one we select as the final answer, because every single time, i've gotten the same pills from the pharmacy. every time. regardless of the diagnosis. and every time, i've been "diagnosed" with completely different things. [including one illness that i can only assume was either a typo or a make-believe disease called "pharylyngitis". ok, so i've heard of "pharyngitis" and i've heard of "laryngitis". but i'm pretty sure that a weird combination of the 2 doesn't exist. i googled it.]

but, i'm pretty sure that all pharmacies are like that, because even my friends have gotten the same 6 pills that come in little plastic packets. it's kind of sketchy, but since i haven't died yet, i'm gonna go ahead and assume that it's legit.

in other news: yesterday while i was sleeping, my coteacher decided to switch offices, for some reason. [so, i have no idea where she is now...]
operation: FLU GERMS was an epic fail.

sick

this week i've been really sick, and with each passing day i've gotten progressively worse. according to webmd, i've been stricken with either: a.) certain death, or b.) the flu.

i feel [and look] like i've been run over by a bus, dragged for a couple of miles by the aforementioned bus, and then hit by several very large trucks. my entire body aches [especially my head], i have chills, a fever, and i'm pretty sure there's enough pressure built up in my face that an explosion will almost certainly occur in the very near future.

somehow, i've been able to muster enough energy and strength to drag myself to school and teach my classes as enthusiastically as possible. i've never asked my school for anything, aside from permission to sleep in peace at my desk in the afternoon [this week, i don't have any classes after lunch time].

however, this morning [due to the fact that i felt particularly crap-tastic, and incredibly dizzy] i asked my coteacher [who shall remain nameless] if i could leave for only 30 minutes after lunch to go to the doctor. i didn't think it was asking for much. i mean, i wasn't asking her or anyone else to come with me. my intention was to struggle through the doctors visit using my limited korean skills + my bangin' charade skills. [i'm pretty much left to fend for myself anyways...so i'm used to it...] also, the doctor's office is literally a 2 minute walk down the street from my school. the entire trip could not possibly take more than half and hour. [i planned to return to school after the doctor visit, which i told her.]

when i asked her on tuesday, she told me [in no uncertain terms] that "suffering builds character". [although, i think that whoever said this quote originally intended it to mean suffering from persecution, not illness. whatevs.] but today, i suppose she lost all of her patience with me. about 5 minutes after what i thought was a perfectly legitimate and innocent request, she got all up in my face and said the following: "i have a real problem with you being sick. if you're going to keep being sick, then i'm going to write you a negative performance review."

seriously, what the heck. i mean, it's not like i can really help being sick [aside from living in one of those plastic bubbles so that i never come in contact with the outside world]. also, it's not like i wanted to be sick, or purposely became sick. i wasn't even asking to take a sick day. i wasn't asking to sleep during my classes instead of teaching. i'm obviously legitimately very sick. i mean, you can pretty much tell by looking at me. so i don't know what her problem is.

additionally, it should be noted that during the past [almost] 2 years of teaching at this school, i have only ever taken ONE FREAKING SICK DAY. why?? becuase i had the SWINE FLU. i had a note from the doctor and everything, that explicitly said [in korean, to avoid any language confusion] that i was to have a full week off of school, to avoid contaminating students and teachers with the swine flu. however, this same coteacher only allowed me to take one day off of work. ohh yeah, and to prove that i was dying and needed the day off, i had to walk all the way to school so that she could watch the nurse take my temperature. the thermometer reading? 104 degrees. and after seeing that i had a super high fever, she still had the audacity to ask the nurse if i could teach. the nurse looked at her like she was a crazy person. so guess who inadvertently started the swine flu epidemic at my school?!? yeah, it was me. [i should add that, during that hellish week of teaching with a 104 degree fever, i cried every afternoon while sleeping at my desk, and i passed out while teaching a class of 3rd graders, who have now probably all been scarred for life.]

the thing that makes me the most frustrated is that whenever this same coteacher even has a slight headache, she leaves school. but she won't even allow the same consideration for me. i mean, i can work with headaches. but fever and chills?? a little bit harder to put up with. also, according to my contract, i'm supposed to get 9 sick days. [i've taken a grand total of ZERO since renewing my contract.]

so, for the duration of my illness i have come up with a brilliant plan for revenge. she forgets that i have one thing that she doesn't have: FLU GERMS!! therefore, in between teaching and sleeping, i plan to use my free time coughing on her//her stuff as much as possible, as well as blowing my nose//sneezing and touching her things. mwahahaha.

happy white day^^

today is white day in korea. which is [yet another] lovey-dovey blahhhh holiday. it's so nice being a single girl and living in a country that's obsessed with coupley-mushy-disgustingly-romantical things.

and i don't even care that this post is going to reek of cynicism. meh.

basically, white day is the opposite of valentine's day, which in korea, is when the girl should give candy//flowers//random tokens of affection to her boyfriend//crush//whatever.

so on white day, it's the boy's job to display disgusting tokens of affection and love.

candy, chocolates, flowers, stuffed animals, etc. are literally EVERYWHERE in the days leading up to white day. so thank you, korea. thank you for rubbing my singleness into my face.

so here's to hoping that someday...maybe someday...i'll get disgusting white day flowers from a guy like this:

i'm just hoping that he won't eat the flowers first...

llama face?!?

since last week was the 1st week of the new school year, i had monday and tuesday off. then, i had to spend the rest of the week...desk-warming.

desk-warming is the horrible phenomenon that occurs when foreign english teachers in korea [like myself] find themselves with no classes to teach, due to a variety of outside circumstances [usually tests or school trips]. despite having no classes to teach, no lessons to plan, and no real work to do, the schools and coteachers don't know what to do with the foreign english teachers. therefore, these teachers are forced to come in to work anyways, and sit at their desk all day long. with absolutely nothing to do.

having no real work to do [aside from tefl and korean homework], i found myself with an overabundance of free time last week. so, i did what i usually do in my spare time: look at pictures of bigbang.

during my search, i came across this picture:

T.O.P's facial expression looked too ridiculous to be true, so i had to zoom in for closer inspection...and that's when i uncovered the horrifying truth...my boy totally looks like a llama!!

to be clear, T.O.P is the one on the left. or maybe it's the right...

however, i also came across this picture during my search, which totally redeems him, as it's one of the most supersmokinghott pictures ever:

also, i totally have that hoodie. and it's pretty much the greatest//most comfortable thing ever.

good news!!

the good news for you, dear readers, is that this post has absolutely nothing to do with bigbang^^

the good news for me is that i don't have to teach with yzma-englishee-no. this morning, as soon as i arrived at school, this amazing news was delivered to me.

the woman is afraid of me...that's what she told me coteacher. sooo, apparently i'm truly terrifying. [it's gotta be because my eyes are abnormally large. that must be it. ohh, or maybe i'm intimidatingly cute...??] seriously though, i have no idea what i did to scare her away...but, CONGRATULATIONS, ME!!

maybe this new school year will be pretty great, after all^^