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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

desert island adventure


last weekend was an epic adventure to a deserted island off the west coast called sa seung bong do. i had been looking forward to the trip for a couple of weeks, while experiencing lots of bright & sunny weather... but the forecast for this specific weekend was 100% chance of rain. whatever. it's a deserted island...will be fun, no matter. so friday evening, after school, i take off w/ a friend to pick up my friend, mike, from the airport. he flew in from hawaii & we took him straight to a jimjilbang (bathhouse) to spend the night. we had some good, oldfashioned, naked fun at the bathhouse, but we didn't get much sleep, thanks to wooden pillows and a bunch of noisy koreans. up at 7am the next morning to catch a ferry out to the islands. when we arrived to deok jeok do (a different island), our group boarded two smallish private boats to what has now been dubbed "LOST island". everyone was laden w/ more than enough stuff to survive for the short weekend. drinking water, soju, makgeoli, food, stoves, tents, blankets, etc, beach sports gear, stringed instruments... almost instantly as we disembarked w/ all our stuff, the rain starts to fall. a little bit, then a lot. so we frantically set up camp and took shelter inside our then wet & sandy tents. time to crack open the first bottle of makgeoli and the guitars! i don't know just for how long we played, sang, and drank, but it was long enough for us to get a nice buzz and for the rain to stop. YAY! when we emerged, the pirate flag had been hoisted and someone was starting a fire, which everyone was bee lining for w/ wet clothes & sleeping bags for drying. it was a dreary, yet fabulous day of music, volleyball, football, barbecuing, campfire songs, toasting marshmallows, etc...and the most amazing bioluminescent plankton that i have ever seen that night. we ran around like toddlers on acid in the sparky shore break until we were completely spent. during the night, i could hear the waves crashing closer and closer to the tent, but was surprised to find that we were still in the same spot when i awoke the next day.
early morning on that island was ethereal. bands of mist hung in rings around the islands in view. no sound, but the sea and the sandpipers, which seemed to be plotting their revenge. the sand was smooth and perfect. yoga, then a walk, then breakfast upon my return to camp. aah.
another day, similar to the last. no rain, though ... and the sun even teased us a little bit. i must say that it was too soon when the boats came back to rescue us from our little "lost" paradise. work tomorrow? man....

pet day

last wednesday was pet day at school... it's funny, they just make up any old excuse to celebrate at our school, which is fine by me...and the kids, of course, love it. so basically, on this day, a few of the teachers brought in their pets (a few dogs, a rabbit, some turtles), i got to do face painting, the kids made animal face sandwiches & some pet-themed crafts and then we watched madagascar 2. work is pretty fun most of the time. :)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

the BEET is on!

jonna and i out in the garden yesterday....time to eat some beets!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

the quality of my life just went up...

thanks to my new blender!! man, on the island trip, there was so much talk of hummus (initiated by myself, i believe) that i couldn't bear to live another day without it, knowing that all i needed was a blender. and i wasn't the only one....on the way back home, trisha (coworker friend) and i made 2 stops: one for a blender and another for chickpeas. the both of us soaked our chickpeas over night and went straight home after work to make the hummus....and voila! i even made my own tahini w/ the blender. it was an awesome meal, to say the least....and i guess that's why i'm sharing such a silly story.
tomorrow morning...fruit smoothie. it's amazing how one little appliance can affect your life.... =P

island weekend...muui-do!

headed out of seoul to nearby muuido island for the weekend. an amazing time...when we first got there, we were invited to play soccer by a bunch of korean guys. they told us that we could have free beer if we played, so of course we did! we played out in the ocean at low tide (the tide goes WAY down and everyone goes and digs for clams), so there was standing saltwater everywhere, which made it more fun when kicking the ball. somehow, i scored a goal pretty soon in the game, only to find out that they tackle you and smear mud all over you if you score. anyway, it was impossible to stay clean out there. at one point, a coupla guys wheeled a cart full of beer & watermelon out onto the "field". was perfect timing. we played hard & most of us came out w/ bruised shins and one guy had a purple toe, but it was way worth the fun. and i had 2 goals!?
after the game, we all went hiking to a nice peak w/ an amazing view for the sunset, to be followed by a beach bonfire- jam session- freestyling about eskimos and ladles-too much soju & honey water - good time. the following day was spent lounging at the beach...guitar jamming...watching horses run along the sea... hair of the dog.... sunburning...goodness. also met some cool new people. life is oh so good.



wonder girls

molly and karen...a coupla hams....singing "nobody" by the wondergirls. you don't even know how sick i am of this song...

Friday, June 12, 2009

the garden never sleeps...

man...jonna and i left our garden plot alone for one full week, and what a surprise when we finally made it back out there... our lettuces are becoming trees! everything has a stalk growing out of it and is going to seed. aaah! the head lettuces got completely grown over and they started disintegrating back into the soil to feed the taller, more dominant plants. so much culling, pruning, weeding and EATING to do! among the many happy discoveries that day were oodles of green baby tomatoes, the first little eggplant fruit, gobs of peas, huge beets bursting from the soil, celery going crazy, cilantro and bell peppers finally sprouted, and the tiny herb cuttings that i planted are living large. we have two varieties of mint, lemon thyme, rosemary, chives and french lavender. our tomato and pea plants definitely need some love, as they are now too laden w/ fruit to stay up w/ the support of our current, shoddy staking system.... and we can't eat our greens fast enough! we've had some requests to buy lettuce, so we've now started selling bags of it & we are putting the money toward a garden dinner party....complete w/ juleps &/or mojitos! can't wait!