I can't believe 김옥빈 is 1986. A December 29, 1986. How can someone so young do something so intense like 박쥐?
Days Remaining: 0

Thought of the Day: Seoulland or Lotte World?
Song of the Day: Taru-Bling Bling

I just woke up after 5 hours of Go Stop. Hold'em seriously has nothing on this game.

Days Remaining: 2

Thought of the Day: Godori!
Song of the Day: Fly To The Sky-Day By Bay

I ate 삼겹살 again last night.
I had another dream that Dinko came again last night.

Days Remaining: 5

Thought of the Day: 윤희 누나
Song of the Day: Hamasaki Ayumi-Bridge To The Sky

HOLY COW!

Dude, I've been eating so well lately...especially meat!

Fri-소고기
Sat-삼겹살
Sun-삼겹살과 LA 갈비
Mon-소고기
Tues-소고기
Wed-삼겹살
Tonight-닭갈비

Pig, cow, and chicken. My kinda trinity.

I visited Sharon in 안산 today. Her friend introduced us to 돈까스 waffle, and I immediately thought of Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles. Totally not the same. I also learned that Roscoe's isn't an LA thing. It's a southern thing!
Nevertheless, it was pretty good...kinda like my favorite pork sandwich in China. You can even ask for two pieces of 돈까스! Big Mac, baby!

Days Remaining: 7

Thought of the Day: Captain Korea
Song of the Day: Super Junior-Sorry Sorry

Today...
I left the house 10 seconds too late.
So I missed that last second subway.
So I missed that last minute bus.
So I was 15 minutes late to EVERY single appointment...

...and the taxi didn't hit Phil, and his leg wasn't crushed.

There are no accidents.

Days Remaining: 10

Thought of the Day: Saguaro.
Song of the Day: H.O.T-환희

I know I shouldn't have played, but passion works in mysterious ways. My game totally sucked today, and now so do my feet. The ironic thing is that the sock in the picture happens to be the same exact sock that I bled in the first time. Smells like a curse to me.

But one curse I was finally able to break was my insomnia. I finally fell asleep! It was crazy cause apparently, there had been these young shekis outside being loud all night until like 5 in the morning. I didn't hear a peep while my dad couldn't sleep a wink.

During today's sermon while Mike was talking about The Karate Kid, I was daydreaming about one of my most favorite movie scenes of all time:

"You're like a big bear, man!"

Days Remaining: 11

Thought of the Day: MnK
Song of the Day: Younha-Peace Love & Ice Cream

Student: English is so hard!
Me: That's why you have to study that much harder.
Student: That's why I hate it that much more.

"counting sheep but running out..."

I've had insomnia for two days in a row. I think I'm developing a fear of going to bed because I might have another insomniac night. For those of you who can fall asleep in a snap, be sure to thank the Lord for His blessing (and to ask Him to give some to Phil too). Third time's a charm.

Thought of the Day: 불만
Song of the Day: Montell Jordan-This Is How We Do It

Remember Easter Sunday's performance by the high school group? If you were like me, I was thinking more about SNSD than the resurrection of our Lord. These days, I'm reading THE GAME. On the back of the book, it says that it "is guaranteed to change the lives of men and transform the way women understand the opposite sex forever." The beginning of the book starts off with...

IS THIS TRUE?

DID IT REALLY HAPPEN?

ARE THESE GUYS FOR REAL?

THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE STORY.
IT REALLY HAPPPENED.

Men will deny it,
Women will doubt it.
But I present it to you here,
Naked, vulnerable, and
disturbingly real.
I beg you for your forgiveness in advance.

DON'T HATE THE PLAYER...HATE THE GAME.

It's over 400 pages, but you can imagine how fast the read is. So far, I'm not convinced.

Thought of the Day: Mongolia.
Song of the Day: Epik High-Let It Rain

Natalie from Thailand came to Korea with eight of her friends. On Saturday night, I met them in 명동. Last night, I took them to 홍대. At first, they were really reluctant to go to 노래방, especially since there weren't any Thai songs. But as soon as I got back from the bathroom, they were busting out Big Bang and Wonder Girls the whole night. I was so amazed that they even knew songs like "Lollipop" and "Gee"! It was so funny seeing them mumble through the Korean words and then singing the English chorus all loudly. Thai people are hilarious. They love Korea! They love me!

Thought of the Day: LOST
Song of the Day: Sara Groves-He's Always Been Faithful

Spring is here!

Spring cleaning #1
The weather was so nice today that it convinced me to make my room look nice too. So after several months of neglecting maintenance, I finally busted out the spray and toilet paper. After tutoring, I even came home with an air freshener for my room! My room and I feel great!

Spring cleaning #2
Monthly haircut.

Spring cleaning #3
Finished watching 꽃남. Started Lost Season 3. Gotta start Jae's inspiring documentaries.

Spring cleaning #4Daniel had his own form of spring cleaning today. From time to time, he has an itchy belly button. SO, he'll use his color pencil(s) to get the job done. Yeah, it ruined my day too.

Thought of the Day: Thanko!
Song of the Day: S.O.S. Band-Just Be Good To Me

"So when are you coming back home?" "Everyone always asks when you're coming back home." "When's the next time you're going to visit home?"

I. Don't. Know. But one thing that I do know is that it's not going to be easy whenever it is that I do go home. Little things like picking up 1,000won kimbab and eating it while walking to my next student. 삼겹살 노래방 nights. Supermarket ice cream bars on hot summer nights. Warm 순대 and 떡볶이 next to the bus stop on cold winter nights. Notice how everything involves food?

But it's funny seeing how far I've come in living in this country. You can totally tell the difference between the first years and the second years. The new ones are always happier and more excited about everything. So optimistic and full of energy. It's really similar to college when you contrast the freshmen vs. the sophomores. A lot happens in that one year gap.

One interesting thing that I notice though is that no one really gets homesick. Sure they want to see family and friends or eat that really good burger/burrito from back home, but I rarely hear of people really really wanting to go back home. I guess I feel the same way too. But one thing you often hear is people who do go home wanting to come back to Korea. What is it about this country?

One of my students didn't believe that I was still single until I insisted that he find someone for me. On my way out...

"Teacher, I have someone for you. They want to meet you. I showed them your picture. Her name is King Kong."

Thanks, Jimmy.

I finally watched Saturday Night Fever. Not that great but awesome dance scene.


Thought of the Day: No basketball.
Song of the Day: KC and the Sunshine Band-Boogie Shoes

This was the best birthday in Korea!

Thought of the Day: Giordano
Song of the Day: Verbal & Double-Summertime

Pas"sion\, n. [F., fr. L. passio, fr. pati, passus, to suffer. See Patient.]1. A suffering or enduring of imposed or inflicted pain.

Basketball. So tiring. So painful. So wonderful.

I finally had my first real 보신탕 meal. Although I didn't hear barking as I was chewing, I couldn't finish it. I'm not known for being a picky person, but dog meat is a NO-GO.


This boy always fools around while we're studying and begs his mom not to hit him after I leave. "한번만 더! 제발!" He knows exactly what he is not supposed to do during class time but lets loose and seeks his mother's mercy after the crimes have been committed. How ironic. I'm just like that with God.

Thought of the Day: F-word
Song of the Day: Jisun-어떡하죠

For all you old school KCPC kids, guess who's becoming an ordained pastor???
I finally found and bought a Rubik's Cube. I was so happy when I found it because it came in a little plastic coin jar (something that I really needed it as well). I haven't touched one of these things since I was a little kid, so I was surprised by how small the cube felt in, now, my adult hands. But yeah, this crap is still so very hard.
"I love this game." I balled last week with some church people. They caused me to invest in a basketball and some new shoes. Now we're gonna play every Saturday morning. But really, I'm definitely no Kobe. I'm more like an Iverson. Ha.

Last night, my student asked me what I wanted for my birthday. When I got home, my dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday. Unfortunately, I'm too embarrassed to tell them that I still want that yellow Lamborghini.

Thought of the Day: LG
Song of the Day: BoA-Universe

Every single bus had the radio on. Cell phone stores had workers watching the game on their phones. Students and teachers gathered around TVs during class time. I was even able to hear (and feel) everyone cheering during the 5th inning homerun from the floor below me while I was having conversation class with Angelo at LG. In the 9th inning after Korea tied 3-3, I literally almost cried. It was the first time I ever gave my dad a high-five.

And then we lost. To Ichiro. The perfect way to lose.

Our 10th inning pitcher won't be sleeping tonight.

Thought of the Day: 방분.
Song of the Day: Yoon Do Hyun Band-물고기와 자전거

A Muslim-born policeman recently decided to make his conversion to Christianity public and applied to have his religion changed from "Muslim" to "Christian" on his ID card. In Egypt no one has access to even basic needs without their ID card, but his brother and parents have threatened to kill him because they feel that he has dishonored them. The man has been in hiding and has a 14-year-old daughter who is officially considered Muslim and must study the Koran at school.

Romans 15:30-33-I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Today, 종성 was telling me how he had tried to find Life of Pi but realized that he couldn't find it because he had searched for "Pie" instead of "Pi." It reminded me of the time in college when Lisa Crawford was helping me with my online math homework problem for a long long time. No matter what, we'd keep getting the answer wrong until I finally realized that I had written in "pie" instead of "pi" in the answer box. Haha. Great memories and lessons...not for Crawford though.

Korea's going to the championship!

Thought of the Day: Psalm 73
Song of the Day: Hungry

MY BROTHER GOT INTO IRVINE!!!

Thought of the Day: Basketball
Song of the Day: Utada Hikaru-On And On

This week's persecuted church: Saudi Arabia
In September, a Saudi man associated with the religious police cut off his daughter's tongue and then killed her because she had become a believer through the Internet. Her conversion had been discovered after she had posted a blog a few days before her murder. The father used her killing as a warning to others. Saudi Arabia's educational curriculum teaches that is is permissible to kill an apostate.

"I'm not in here with you. You're in here with ME!"
Watchmen was pretty political and long. But it was fun. With Enoch. For his birthday.

Simon has the same birthday as Enoch. Although my brother is five years younger than me, he is five times heavier, five times uglier, and now, five times more mature. Ironically, he is the only person in my life who rebukes me these days. As everyone says, "Simon's a good boy."

Thought of the Day: 황사
Song of the Day: Ginny Owens-Be Thou My Vision

After watching this scene, I really wanted to play with a Rubics Cube. Anyone know where I can find one in Seoul?

This one's for you, Linda.

If only they had shown more of their tears and joys.

Thought of the Day: 멍
Song of the Day: Brown Eyed Girls-My Style