New Blog/Website

Hey all.

Thanks everyone for reading at my blogger site. I now have my own webpage, bonniespawprints.com up and running, so please stop by and check out everything I have there. Its a work in progress, but please leave comments and give support.

Thanks again for reading and looking forward to seeing you at the new site!!!

xoxoxox

Bonnie's Pawprints

Gyeongju Escape

Plenty of history and foreigner friendly Gyeongju

  A couple of weekends ago, myself and 3 other girlfriends went on a weekend escape to Gyeongju, which is located in Gyeongsangbuk-do province, South Korea. We caught the KTX down on the Friday night and stayed at a cute hostel for the Friday and Sat nights, returning via KTX on Sunday morning. All things considered the trip was great - brilliant weather, great company and fun things to see and do. Let me break it down a bit more...

Gyeongju

  Gyeongju is old, and has a heap of UNESCO sites all over the place, as it was the capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC - 935 AD) and so has a heap of well preserved ruins and tombs of old kings and generals. This period in Korean history is special and important as during this time its people went from small tribes into a large Kingdom taking up much of the Korean Peninsula. Buddhism was the practiced religion during this time, and it is reflected in the temples and artefacts that are from this period. In Gyeongju there are a shit tonne of Buddhist temples around, the most famous in the area being Bulguksa Temple, about a 40 minute bus ride out of town. 

   This temple was beautiful, and I honestly think we went at the best time of the year. The autumn/fall colours were to die for, and everywhere we looked there were people taking pics of the beautiful trees. This temple is a UNESCO site, unfortunately basically the whole thing is a reconstruction. From what I could gather from the scanty information available, the original temple was destroyed during Japanese occupation of Korea (the first time) and they have been kinda rebuilding it ever since. They are doing a great job though, the inside looks great as well as the outside. In the courtyard they were doing more restoration work of some of the stone carvings. Entry to the temple was 2,500 won.

 

   At the bottom of the temple, where you catch the bus from is a huge eating area, where there are many different resteraunts. We ate at a place pretty much at the front, the lady didn't speak a lick of English but there was an English menu. The whole area had really great signs, in many different languages. The bus timetable was easy to read as well once we figured out where to go.
  At the bus terminal in the city there is an information booth with maps, and also English speaking staff.

  That evening we ate an awesome meal with other guests from the hostel, made more fun because the power kept going out and we were sitting in the dark. The food was traditional, being basically a million side dishes. I cannot remember for the life of me what it was called (karma for not keeping an updated blog) but it was fun to share with so many people.

Sideways pic, but you can see how much food there was!

Anapji at night

   After dinner we wandered up to visit Anapji pond. We were told to visit this place at night, and I am so glad we did. It was amazing. The area was originally one of the detached palaces for the royal family, and had exotic gardens and exotic animals housed there. The structures there now are again reconstructions, but you can still get a true sense of what the place must have looked like originally. There are plaques all over the place saying what they believe was originally in a certain area (based on scanty written records) and there is kinda a mini museum there too with some relics and cool royal things. To enter Anapji was 2,500 won for adults, and they stop letting people enter at 9:30pm. Like I said, I would say go at night to see the beautiful reflections, but if you wanted to go during the day it would also be beautiful because of the gardens.

  Also dotted all over downtown Gyeongju are the royal tombs. These are literally everywhere, you cannot catch a bus into town without looking out the window and seeing them. They are park of large park areas, and are free to go wandering around. Unfortunately all the plaques are in Korean so I didn't have any idea which person was in what tomb, but it was still amazing to see. Actually, surreal was more like it. Korea itself never ceases to amaze me, but these were something different. Its like, this amazing bit of history just hanging out opposite the 7-11. Even thinking about it now I can't wrap my head around it. If this was Australia, and these mounds were some ancient Aboriginal burial ground there is no way people would be able to just wander around all over them. I guess it comes down to people in Korea generally following rules and having respect form what culture and history they have left. Anyway out of everything we got the chance to see these tombs were my fave, mainly because of this weird vibe I got from them... Just hanging out in a park. BIZARRE!!!! 

Thats me, standing about 5 feet in front of the base of a large mound.

    There is a tomb somewhere near by that you can actually go into, but these ones you can't. Inside, both Kings and Queens were buried, and in the smaller ones other high status people and members of the royal families were buried. Inside were places things like crowns, jewels, horse equipment and paintings. And bodies of course. There is a room type thing in the middle where everything is placed, and then the whole thing was covered in dirt and made into a mini mountain. Amazing huh?? There guys are also UNESCO sites^^

Getting there

  We took the KTX, but foolishly didn't book in advance. When travelling south ALWAYS BOOK IN ADVANCE or you will be stuck standing the whole way. It happened to us there AND back again. We caught the fast train from Cheonan-Asan KTX station to Singyeongju KTX station. It was I think 28,000 won there the same back again. So all up under 60,000 to travel across the country on the fast train. From the station we got a cab into town to the hostel, with the night tariff it was just over 16,000. 

  KTX doesn't run as often as the normal trains so make sure you are early to the station. You can always stand on the next one of you miss it but like I said, its a long way to stand. In my experience KTX is always late but don't risk it. 

Where to stay?

  We stayed at the Santa Guesthouse in downtown Gyeongju, and they were great. Nice and warm, a good location and they have free breakfast. As with most places in Korea the wifi was also free. There are 2 bathrooms, but they are unisex, so if you are funny about boy germs then this isn't the place for you. There are 3 rooms, all of them are bunk beds and shared. You can request a whole room if you have enough people. There are stairs to get there and no wheelchair access, so please bare that in mind. For travellers like us, 4 adorable young women, we felt totally safe there and had a good sleep. I would stay there again. The price is around 18-20,000 won per night. TOTALLY GOOD DEAL we booked through one of those online booking places and had no problem. 

To sum it up...

  I don't know what else to say really. I want to go back again in Spring and see some of the other sites, we didn't really plan the day too well and I underestimated how long it would take to get out to the temple and it ended up taking the whole day. 

  I have been told that in spring the flowers are amazing, and they have cherry blossoms and other pretty things. The best way to see everything would be to just hire a bike, which you can totally do. There were bike rental places everywhere. 

  For people who don't speak any Korean, this was pretty easy to navigate so you should be fine. As with all of the country, the taxi drivers don't really speak English so have where you want to go written in Korean, or an address they can plug into their GPS. They do know all the touristy areas though :)

  If you have any specific questions, hit me up.

xoxox

Reasonably Well-Dressed Korea Guy (and other tales)

Does everyone recall Mysterious Stranger???

  It was maybe October last year that I first spotted a Mysterious Stranger. I won't go into too much detail, but basically it was an attractive foreign guy who had no business being in Songtan. I say this, because he clearly wasn't military, and I try and make it my business to know all the teachers in my immediate area. And he was off my radar. Stealth mode. Mysterious. 

  I would give daily reports whenever I saw him (always headed towards the station in the morning, I never saw him any other time), things like what he was wearing and what level of interaction we had. He vanished from my life after winter, maybe when it started to get warm again. I remember this because he had gone back to wearing the black trench coat rather than his thick snow jacket. So I am guessing it was maybe March he disappeared, never to be seen again. 

  I pass many people in the mornings, they have become fixtures in my daily life. I give some of them weird back stories, and personalities and all that, but I never really thought anyone was quite as interesting as MS. And I still think this. But as the weather gets colder, I feel the need to add more excitement into my morning ritual of people spotting/watching. I need to start blog-stalking again. I need to write about a person in the morning. And the person I have chosen in Reasonably well-dressed Korean Guy. 

  Let me tell you a bit about our new, unlikely hero. He is approx. 5'5, and had more of a heavy build (which is a bit different from the skinny Korean norm) but I wouldn't exactly describe him as fat. I would put his age at around 30, but you can never tell with Asians. He could easily be just in uni and only 21. He has short hair and small eyes. I would not say he was especially attractive, more just general looking... In fact you wouldn't give him a second glance except the fact he is generally pretty well dressed. For a slightly chunkier guy he wears pretty cool threads. 

  For example, this morning he was wearing a tan blazer over a woolen jumper (sweater for our North American readers), black pants and brown shoes. I know, black pants with brown!!! Most would say its a faux par, but he pulled it off nicely. He looked suave. And here in lies his interest factor - he makes weird fashion choices that work. 

  And so, from here forward, I will keep you all updated as to what RKG is wearing.

Changes to this blog

  I have been doing some reading of other peoples blogs, and just stalking of people in general and I can kinda see a trend... The blogs that are popular and get many hits have more structure, or at least more structured content. You know if you hit up "Jimmy's" blog its a travel blog... Or "Sally's" blog is a cooking blog. I know I have mentioned that mine if more of a random life blog but still, I will try and give it a bit more of a frame by adding in sections. This hopefully will increase traffic to my blog and make more people like me... My life in an endless struggle to get people to like me. I acknowledge this and reaslise this is not what life is about. 

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. And I have one. 

  So I will put different content under School, Life and Thoughts. Hopefully I can still keep a running theme but if not oh well. Shit happens. 

  I have had some questions coming in lately about life in Korea from people reading all over the place. Please, keep them coming to either my email or in the comments section. I am more than happy to help out where I can, and give you my honest opinion. I love getting comments and emails (unless they are mean, keep it to yourself then) its like getting a hug from afar. 

  Some feedback that I have received (regarding content) that I will start adding into the blog is overwhelming regarding my sex life and dating in Korea. I thought about it for a long while and decided that yes, I will share some things with you... Not gonna name any names, and if the story involves someone I know directly don't worry I will ask you first. But I have some mega funny stories that can only happen in another country and at just wouldn't be right to keep these gems locked up for myself. 

- Mum, and the rest of my family, please consider this fair warning. 

 

 

 I also plan on adding more information about places I visit. I have seen some amazing places while I have been here, but you wouldn't know because I never finish what I start. I noticed the other day I never even finished telling the story of when Mum visited and we went to Busan, and I hardly even mentioned Gyeongju the weekend before last. Korea has a rich and colourful history that I talk nothing about, so I want to enlighten you. 

  So I hope you enjoy the future posts, the snow has started here in Korea so photos are on their way! Here is a summary of things I got internet shopping last week to keep you entertained until then:

• hooded short coat (in a lovely blue colour) - Gmarket
• Adidas hoodie for Milky (to match my coat, but it's too small so I will bring it home for Peach) - Gmarket
• black long jacket - Gmarket
• black leggings with fluff on the inside for added warmth - Gmarket
• brown long warm coat - from the recycle group on stalkbook... 35,000 won bargain!
• curry - iHerb
• weight loss pills - iHerb (and useless... took them for like 3 days and didn't get skinny at all)

xoxoxox

  

Deliciously Dangerous

Who doesn't like a slab of meat?

Unless of course, you are a vegetarian :s

In that case you are NOT gonna appreciate this post.

  One doesn't have to go far in a Google search to find out about the etiquette and occurrences for school dinners with your co workers. There are sooo many ESL blogs out there with people's stories of their dinners, what they ate, the shenanigans that they all got up to, instagramed pics of their food etc. In fact, I think I might have even posted one myself. My most memorial school dinner to date was my first one (you always remember your first time, right??) where we went to some fishing village and ate freshly caught prawns. Me, who doesn't eat seafood, was force fed prawns by the head teacher who was drunk on soju. Since then I have come to see that this is entirely normal behavior and I just kinda "go with it" now. 

  Last night was another one of these dinners. It was a little spur of the moment, all the schools in out local area have been participating in volleyball competitions for the teachers and it just so happened that this weeks game was being hosted at our school. So teachers from schools around out immediate area came and played volleyball. It was actually kinda fun to watch, they were so competitive!  

  Anyway, afterwards the participating teachers and some extras (like myself) went out for dinner. We went pretty local, to a samgyeopsal place (삼겹살 - barbecued fat pork slabs) and gobbled it down... I parked myself with 2 of the young girl teachers who are super nice and cute. So it was kinda the three of us and then the rest of the group.All the male teachers got drunk, which is standard, and then around 6:00 the principal called it a night and we all headed home. I quite like that these school dinners don't go late - you get a free meal and get home reasonably early. Usually. 

  There are 4 of us teachers that live literally around the corner from each other - myself, one of the young girls and 2 young guy teachers. We are all under 30, I actually think I am the oldest out of us at the ripe old age of 27. Im just gonna acronym names for ease, and for privacy... PSN is kinda religious, she doesn't drink and she usually heads off to church a few times a week around 6pm. So she doesn't tend to get a cab back to our area. But the 2 boys, who were already well into their beer and soju, are always keen for round 2 after a dinner. So the three of us headed off for fried chicken and more booze. Funny how they are sooo much more chatty and able to speak English when they are inebriated. Regardless, it always ends up making the night for me. They are hilarious, and both speak pretty good English but not to the point where they don't make hilarious slip ups. And the topics of conversation always floor me. Things like - 

- which teacher is prettier, A or B?

- who is more handsome, me or him? (pointing to each other)

- Bonnie why don't you invite us out anywhere? We want to meet foreign girls... (particularly KDA, who has told me that he isn't so concerned on what said foreign girl looks like, but he wants a curvy girl with big breasts)

- Bonnie you haven't had a boyfriend in over 3 years, we have plenty of special Korean words for girls like you

- Do you want to be set up with my friend? 

- Don't you think KYJ has funny eyes?? Like a clock?

  And I always get good gossip out of them too, like who is arguing with who in the staff room and what teachers hang out etc. The more we all drink, the more the conversation flows... Next thing you know we are teaching each other new swear words and using them in practice sentences. The owner of the fried chicken shop was laughing along with us... But my favorite part of hanging out with the boys?? Its a MASSIVE ego boost for me... The more drunk they get, the more they tell me how beautiful I am, how I am the perfect woman, how they can't believe I am not in a relationship, I have a perfect "S" line etc etc. I always walk away feeling awesome. Not gonna lie, I was a little hung over this morning but totally worth it to hear compliments. 

  So, boys reading, if you take anything away from this read, don't think about school dinners and delicious meat. Say something nice to a girl you know, complement anything. Even something like "wow, that is a nice shirt you are wearing today". It will help cheer her all day. I mean, don't be drunk and go overboard so you come across like a creep, but just a kind word here and there can really brighten someones day^^

Sorry kids classes are cancelled today - WE MUST PLAY VOLLEYBALL

xoxox

What do I have in my pocketssssss

Did you used to have weird things in your pencil case when you were in school?

  By school I more mean elementary/primary school, but I guess in general. I think for me, the strangest thing I used to have were things I found outside, like interesting rocks or sticks. There were other more "normal" things like tazos or other collectible cards, and kinder surprise toys. 

I am sure there are other people out there who had more interesting things in their bags and pencil cases. 

  Kids doing and having weird shit is not Korea specific, I have come to believe that children are, in general terms, the same globally. They all tend to like cute fluffy things like puppies, boys tend to also like gross things like squished bugs, and girls like pretty pens. They tease each other, and draw all over their things. They hit each other, cry, and then make up within 10 minutes. Some are sleepy during class, others are full of beans and won't shut up (and different kids fill these sleepy and rowdy roles every day). 

  Some kids like blue, others green, some can't speak properly in their own language, let alone a second one. Some have a heap of friends, some a few. Some have none. You can generally tell a child comes from an unsupportive home, or a bad environment by their behavior or the way they dress. Or the way they associate with other kids. 

All children, all over the world, are strange. 

  I guess some things they will grow out of (like, at some point little Kang Joo Min is going to stop crying when he doesn't get to sit with his friend, and eventually Hye Jin is not going to try to sit in her partners lap during class... 

  Anyway, this isn't Korea specific, as I said, but I want to tell you some of the things I have seen the kids carrying around. Let me know if yours do the same, where ever you are...

• a frog in a jar
• Stanley knives in pencil cases (they don't tend to use a normal pencil sharpener here)
• a watch face, no band on it
• Pokemon cards
• smartphones with cases so big they need to carry them in little shoulder bags
• fluffy pencil cases shaped as various animals (the best was the fluffy blue whale that one of my gr 6 boys had)
• dead bugs - usually dragonflies
• candies
• vitamins (which they eat like candies)
• passes to get them on to the Air Base - I am constantly telling the kids to keep these in a safer place than their jacket pockets. Its like, a national security risk or something
• hot packs
• k pop memorabilia 
• mini slinkies
• play dough and clay
• nail polish
• spare phone batteries
• sand from the sports field
• a hamster

In other news...

  We had first snow yesterday for the season... and its totally early. Last year it didn't snow until December. But, I have been told by a semi-reliable source (yes, that's right, you know who you are...) that early snow can mean new love is on the horizon! So that, coupled with my new found interest in feng shui love charms means that any day now my milkshake should bring all the boys to the yard. I am still the most unlucky in love person I know, so maybe the snow will bring in some romance. Don't think I don't know that you are all waiting for some smutty stories...

  But the snow is beautiful. I mean, it was really just a fly by blizzard of sorts, and although it snowed a little again today its still not quite cold enough for it to settle and stick. I am a crazy person who actually loves this time of year, when the snow starts and its all exciting. If only they would let me have a heater on at school... But this is old news, everyone surely remembers me complaining last year about the cold?? No??? Rest assured, cold fb status updates are coming. 

  Countdown is on for heading home for 3 weeks. We are down to under 40 days... So I best get started on my Gillian Michaels 30 day shred. Which I was supposed to start this morning but unfortunately due to a mistake on my part my alarm didn't go off. I was late for work AND I didn't get shredded. Was so stupid too, I have like, a million cables under my side table at home, and I plugged my phone into one of them over night to charge and the stupid thing wasn't even connected to the wall. I plugged the phone into the camera charger or something... It amazing I woke up in time for classes at all.

Anyway, that's all for now... I want to do a write up of my touristy trip to Gyeongju soon, so stay tuned. It was a great weekend and pics turned out amazing. 

xoxox

Exploring Songtan

  I have lived in this town for more than a year now, and I regret to say I actually haven't explored it much. I just walk the some tried and measured tracks and don't really try anything new. I eat at the same places and order the same things.... Until recently. It's all part of my "see Korea" mentality, and what better way to see Korea than to start with my own town? I have wandered around Seoul more than Songtan!!!

  Milky and myself went for a walk yesterday, and can I just say, Fall is such a nice time to explore. The weather is pretty cool here, but the place looks amazing with all the colours. Some trees are still holding onto their leaves with a death grip, and some are even still green! So in my area I have a lovely mix of leaf colours - green, brown, yellow, orange, red and all colours in between. No purple or anything like that, which is unfortunate.
  Anyway we walked up the street and I decided to go to the park off to the right instead of the left where we usually walk. I like to go to the left because there are a shit load of stairs on that side, and I tend to walk that path with intent (my idea of exercise). Seeing as we were just strolling on Sunday, I figured we may as well check out a new route. And I am so glad we did.
  The park on the right has the same things as on the left, in terms of exercise equipment strategically placed around, but the thing I right away preferred about it was the distinct lack of path. Its as if this mini park/hill/forested place is trying to be a mountain and you can trek and hike it. We trekked in and followed the track up to the top, past all the oldies doing their routines in the bars and leg swingie thing (it can't possibly working any muscles, I have no idea what the deal is) and up to the top. I saw a clearing through the trees and came across some burial mounds.
  WTF BURIAL MOUNDS IN THE MIDDLE OF SONGTAN??? Yes, thats what they were, complete with little grave markers and trimmed grass. It was weird, I never knew that it was up there... On one side was the park/forest and then a clearing with graves,

and then a house! And a bathroom :s TOTALLY WEIRD! I am not sure what the deal is with taking pics, so I quickly snapped one and went on my way. We continued strolling through the park and I decided to take us down a slope which opened up into another clearing. Ahead were new buildings, apartments and a new road. To the right of me was another grave, but this one was bigger, like a full on shrine. And it was recently tended to, there were fresh flowers there. And to the left was a cleared hill with more grave mounds at the top. Now, I have so many questions about this so I need to get asking, but are people just allowed to buy their family members anywhere they like? Are there people in there? Or cremated people? In jars??? And, the land around here is pretty hard to get at the moment I would think. There is always a new building or something going up... So do the families own these plots? Or does the council? With so many people living in Korea it seems unlikely that everyone would have their own little park for graves, so is it only rich people??? Sooo many questions!
  Either way it was a peaceful place, out of the way of other houses and the road, and away from the park too. I want to include the area in my walks now...

  The next place I want to talk about is the new cafe that has opened basically across the road from my apartment. Me and Jess went there the other day for coffee and decided it was the best, and then I went with Ben on Saturday and we ate. The food was amazing, its all organic and they cook it all there and you can tell that it tastes better than the usual fare. The price kinda reflected that, Ben's salad was something like 13,000 and my pasta was 15,000 but it was sooo tasty. AND YOU GET FREE BREAD so bargain!!!
  Its also a gallery, and whoever the owner is has put pics up from around Songtan, and I liked trying top guess where the photos were taken. The photographer has also been to Paris and taken some fab photos there, and the Paris pics are all on display upstairs. Its really trendy and looks like the whole place would fit in better in one of the trendy Seoul areas, not in Songtan. But I am glad it is there and I am totally gonna eat there again!!!

The free bread (eaten lol) and Ben's huge
salad.
And the cool coffee :)

 
It makes being in Songtan more fun, going and finding new things to do and see... I a few weeks I am planning a mini trip to another province to see some more interesting things. To be honest I was feeling a bit stuck in a rut of late, and I needed to get myself out. I mean, I have great and fun friends so they are always handy but you need to be able to get yourself out of a slump too. I think it was the initial change in weather - it is getting really chilly. And I felt like I didn't do enough with my Summer... I spend too much time doing the same things. So first I started planning other things to do. And then decided to explore my area. And I plan to continue my adventuring! Time is going by soooo quickly and I don't want to look back on my year and feel like I have wasted it.

  So I am mega saving... After I get back from Aus I want to put cash aside for a trip to Hong Kong, and of course I want to see more of Korea.

The cheesy pasta - 15,000 won

  Hope everyone is having a stellar day, and not freezing. Even though outside it isn't too bad I am in my classroom with a blanket wrapped around my legs. No lie. And I forgot my lunch. And looking at my food pics is killing me.

Sigh.

xoxox

It's a trap!

I know I have mentioned this before, but I want to expand on something...

Coffee

  I was told that the coffee in Korea wasn't great, and at the time I honestly didn't really give a shit as I wasn't much of a coffee drinker. For starters, I think the coffee is pretty good. For someone who arrived in Korea as a non-coffee drinker, I now have at least 2 cups a day. The coffee in Korea has lead me into a trap. 

I also drink various teas, but that is another tale.

  I have 2 different types of coffee that I keep in my house. One is just the normal, run-of-the-mill instant coffee from Emart or something. The other is a box of coffee sticks. My previous brand of choice was French Cafe, but actually they are a little sweet so the next box I buy will be Maxim sticks. These coffee sticks are hardly any coffee, all sugar and instant milk. They must be SO bad for me but I can't help but love how convenient they are. 

  Basically, you rip the end off the stick and tip the contents into a cup and add hot water. Amaze. And they also have an iced coffee stick for the warmer days... These are also the type of thing they have at school in the tea room, which is where I first discovered their sugary goodness. I used to LOVE the sugar, because I wasn't a massive fan of coffee but drank it to be social. Now, however, I tend to make my coffee at home with less than half what has got to be in these things. Still, they are tasty and easy. AND MAKING ME FAT I HATE YOU.

  The other coffee, the best coffee, is what they make at the cafe's. You can get any flavour you can think of, from lattes to caramel macchiattos, to sweet potato lattes. Whatever you want! My fave is just a regular vanilla latte, and I will have one pretty much every time I go out to meet people. Which is almost every day :s so that leads me to realise I am also spending a fair bit of money on coffee. 

  Your average cup of coffee in Korea will cost between 2400 - 5000 won depending on how fancy you wanna go. You can get to go coffee at all cafes.

  Another stupid phenomena that is the norm here is drinking your coffee (or whatever hot drink you are sipping) out of the stirring straw. If you look at this pic here, you can see the stupid stirring straw is sticking out of the drinking part. Yes, that is what I sip my boiling hot coffee through. and often I forget that the liquid is hot, and I will suck on the freaking thing and send a stream of scalding coffee down my throat and giving my tongue third degree burns. I do it every time, and yet I still get the stirring straw and use it to drink. Why? Because thats what everyone else does and we know I am all about conforming (awkward...).

  There are coffee shops absolutely everywhere near me, and only once you get into more rural areas do they start to drop off. In Seoul you can hardly walk 10 steps without finding another one (or a Paris Baguette which also have coffee), and each is about as good as the next. They have all the big brand coffee places, so if you are craving your soy milk skinny frappe from Starbucks then you can find it here too. I have seen Tom and Toms, Gloria Jean's and The Coffee Bean just to name a few. Dunkin' Donuts is huge here also, and they actually have pretty good coffee and its cheap. And they sell hash browns for like, $1.50 for 6. 

  My big beef with the non-chain coffee stores, therefore basically all of them near my place, is that they don't open until around 10am. So if you are a morning coffee person you would like to hope that there is a Starbucks around, or a McDonalds or something. Even some of the name chains don't open until a bit later, so wanting to stop and grab a coffee on your way to school is out of the question. 

  Another thing that is kinda annoying is that the coffee places usually have a pretty shit food selection. They don't really do sandwiches here, and the cakes are, well, Korean. So don't expect awesome snacks with your coffee. 

  This is all just my opinion, so if you find or know of something that goes against this please tell me! I am always excited to hear of a decent place to find coffee :) So you can see how I fell into the coffee trap, huh?

Till next time, citizens

xoxoxo

It's Cool in Fall

What is this?

  What type of blog is this?? 

I read on some page somewhere that all blogs should fall into some sort of category... Which got me thinking. Is this a travel blog?? I certainly talk about my travels, but I don't know if the whole content falls here. It's def not a cooking blog, although I do post what I am eating and have been known to add a recipe here and there...

Lifestyle blog? Maybe... But I feel that implies I need to either have kids or talk more about my sex life (gotta have one to talk about it I spose...)

So what will I call this? I think it is a "life experiences/conversational/mind dump" blog. Hope this title is ok with everyone...

*mental note to change the blog description*

#wantsmoretraffic

#missuseofhashtags

#hashtags4lyf

What really happens in Johto...

  Myself and a friend got chatting the other day, and for whatever reason our conversation turned to one of my favourite topics - pokemon. He raised some disturbing points that I want to flesh out here on my life experiences/conversational/mind dump (henceforth called ECMD blog). 

  First, I want to say that these are questions that can be applied to all Pokemon regions, not just Johto, but as I am playing Pokemon Ruby on my phone atm, note that I am referring to the Johto region and all Pokemon I mention will be from there. 

  Ok. So, you get given a Pokemon by the good Profession Littleroot, and you start catching Pokemon. You battle with them, and end up a champ. Let's apply this to a real life situation. You capture an animal and train it to battle until it passes out. Some of them you keep in the back of a van in the dark, others are sent to a warehouse where they are kept in dark cages and never seen again. The ones in your van you train to fight, and regularly challenge people and are challenged in return. You right your animals for money. You force them to grow up with growth hormones (yeah, "rare candy" my arse) or prevent them from growing. You do this repeatedly for your own personal gain. And yet people tell you that your animals like to battle. 

  Let's now look at what is happening in the world of Pokemon. I used to watch the show. It was good. Here are some interesting observations - 

You never see any farm animals, or see any regular fish or birds. 

You see Ash and his friends eating burgers and pizza and other things.

Sometimes you see Pokemon doing hard labour. 

Here is what I think:

They are eating pokemon. They need meat, and there are no cows or whatever so they have, as my friend put it, "pikachu steaks"... And for sport, do they hunt the deer Pokemon? And shoot the bird Pokemon? 

Is there illegal fishing of the sea Pokemon? WHO MANAGES THESE THINGS?

Do people keep goldeens in a bowl like a normal goldfish?

What about that Pokemon that kinda looks like a giraffe? I wonder if someone out there has pelts hanging on their wall of that one... 

  And we who are playing are like sick hunters... we look for the most rare pokemon, the ones where there is only ONE LEFT IN THE WORLD and we try to catch it. And then we force it to fight. What the hell are we turning our children into??

  As you probably know I am eagerly awaiting the next Pokemon game to be released. I will be all over that like Asians on rice. 

In other news...

  I was mega emo last Friday, just missing people who have left Korea and also home... I have had so many dreams lately where I am in Australia. Its prob cos of all the planning for my trip back in January. I will be home for about 3 weeks before heading back to the land of kimchi, so hit me up if you wanna hang. Anyway I had too many drinks and ended up yelling at some poor guy I know (overwhelmed him with English and girl tears. He was suitably freaked out), and then went and had a cry to Steve, Jinsook and Shanda. Sorry everyone... I am not usually a teary drunk, but I was feeling kinda overwhelmed. And lonely. I miss my old friends sooo much. Korea isn't the same without them. 

  I want to buy a new camera. I have pretty much decided to get the Sony NEX 5T, it seems to have all the cool features I want. I don't know much about cameras and stuff so this is a decision based of recommendations by friends. I will let you know when I get it and start posting stupid pics and hopefully doing some new videos. 

Ok, I think thats all I have for now. Let's talk again later, ok??

xoxox

ESL Teaching

  This blog is not really an ESL blog... It is more just ramblings and mind vomit. In saying this, we have to remember that I AM actually an ESL teacher, and occasionally I do some work. I also occasionally get asked by other people about my work, and what I actually do. I can't remember if I have done this before, but I will give you a brief run down of my average day. Let's pick Friday because it is one of my longer days, and also a more varied day in terms of the classes I take.

ESL on a Friday

  I leave my house/cell at 8:15. Get to school by 8:30 where I sit at my desk for 15 odd minutes, checking FB and reading the Herald Sun online. At about 8:45 I go into the classroom and turn on the comp in there and play cookie run on my phone until the kids arrive. Friday I have Grade 6 for the first 3 classes. Generally Co does not turn up to the first class, and I take it alone. Luckily, I love Gr 6-3 and we usually have a fun lesson. Lots of chatting and maybe watching something stupid on YouTube, as well as following the book. Then Co will come for the next few classes and they will be bored and not paying much attention unless they are called on. Then Gr 5, which is usually ok. Lunch is at 12:10 where I do exactly what I did in the morning, but this time with food. Then there is one class after lunch, on Friday's its Gr 4 who are awful and I usually take this class alone. Then, for the rest of the afternoon, I derp around online. If I am feeling especially motivated I might blog like I am now, or I might do some Korean study. And that, my friends, is my day.  At 4:30 I head home.

  Let's briefly go back to the point I made about me being an actual ESL teacher...
Here are a few tips I have thought about for teaching -  

 If you are teaching any grade, but specifically Gr 6, find some common ground. It's a pretty shitty age group, unless you can find something they all like. They all have their favorite songs, and like certain things on TV. If you can connect witht hem then you are half way there. It isnt about speaking their language fluently, its about understanding them on a more basic level. 

  Get to know who their fave k-pop stars are - the girls will love you and the boys will tease you. Personally I like Infinite and B.A.P (curtesy of the girls in Gr 6-1). Also get to know Larva, this stupid animated show they all love. Paint your nails a cute colour, or if you are a guy get a cool hair cut. It doesnt seem like much but little things will go a long way. 

  USE THE HAGWON KIDS THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS IN CLASS.

Most of the kids I teach are low level English. I speak more Korean than some of them speak English (and this is a disaster, let me tell you). So if you have a kid in your classroom that has a decent grasp on the language make them your friend. Give them candy, pat them on the head whatever. You need him/her to help you out. I am lucky, I get along well with most of the kids, but the ones who fucl around all the time really grind my gears. I have the hagwon kids tell them off all the time. Works a treat.

  Threats don't work if you never follow through on them. I used to say things like "i'm gonna get Co if you guys don't shut up" but naturally he was no where to be found, so this turned into a hollow threat. Now I say "if you don't shut up I am leaving this class" and I leave. Ain't nobody got time fo dat.

  Teaching tools I love include:
- any online game. Obvs if its an English one that's cool, if you can turn it into a team activity even better.
- YouTube... I have soooo many videos I could recommend. And basically all of them you can turn into a lesson if you have a bit of time. And the kids love watching things.
- fluffy dice... we have these fluffy dice thingies in the classroom that you can use. Couple this with a deck of cards and you have hours of fun at your fingertips. Again, teams.

  If possible, ALWAYS DO TEAMS. They are stupidly competitive here. And you can use this competitiveness as a way to discipline too. For my little kids (Gr 3 and 4's) I give the teams points. If they are bad they lose points. The winning team gets stickers. Very basic stuff... and it generally means they will police themselves. If their friend sucks and it talking the whole team gets mad at them. This also works for the older kids but you need a better bribe than stickers. Leaving class 5 mins early is a good bribe item :)

  These are just things I have picked up as I have gone along. And most I have stolen from other teaching sites. It got to the point about 2 months ago where Co was hardly coming to any classes and I was like "Fuck, I actually have to teach these kids something" but I hate preparing lessons. And the other issue was that Co would never tell me if he was coming or not, so I didn't want to go to all this effort and prepare something only for him to turn up and make them study the book. So all my plans are based on something that I can pretty much pull out my ass at the last minute. 

Is this normal?

  For me? Yes. For everyone else in Korea? No. 

I am not required to do lesson plans, and I do not teach with Co. Either he teaches and I stand there or I teach while he is... well... wherever he is. The time in the afternoon is for lesson planning, and I actually have heaps and heaps of plans that I have made but will never use. So at least I have emergency plans if I need them.  As camp approaches I plan for camp. This is the extent of my planning. I also have a word doc of games I want to play, and activities. So I do plan, but there just isn't really anyone to plan for. Are my planned lessons very good? No idea, Co seems to think they are shit so I just leave it. 

  If you are coming to teach in South Korea, you will have a different experience to me. A different one to all my friends, and different to their friends. All schools and situations are different and you will come into this world with no idea what to expect, regardless of what research you do. All I can say is that I hope you get a good co teacher, and that you have at least one kid in every class that speaks some English. 

Field Trip

  I went on my first ever field trip with Gr 3 yesterday. I love these kids, they are still cute and they crack me uyp. We went to some Independence Park in Cheonan which was interesting. Let's just say if every single elementary student visits this park, I can understand why they all hate Japan. Not gonna lie, some of it came across as propaganda (not taking away from what happened, I also agree that occupation was awful) but the wording of some of it was... interesting. I wonder what the translation was like. Anyway here are some pics from the day - 

I took a heap more photos, I just think these kids are adorable. And for the most part they were very well behaved, until the very end where they decided it would be a good idea to run fully clothed through the fountain... We teachers were off having a coffee while the kids were running wild (something that would never happen at home I am sure) when one of the girls came screaming up to us to say that - 

- One boy has slipped and cut his head (bleeding very badly... just above his eyebrow)

- Kids from another school are yelling at our students for splashing them

- Some of the boys are taking their clothes off

We went running back over to the kids and yes, they were bleeding, dripping wet and getting naked. So the other teachers yelled at them a bit, the boys put their shirts back on and fixed the bleeding kid. They had stopped splashing the other school at this point so no harm no foul. We ushered them all back onto the bus and headed back to school. It was a fun day, and I got to go home at 4pm. 

  And this week our school has given us both Thursday (a national holiday) and Friday off, so LONG WEEKEND. 

I am sure there will be something fun to report next week!

xoxo

Vomit Berries, Bin Juice and Other Tales

  I have had such an incredible last few months, I can't even begin to write about it. Both good and bad things have happened, but as I am feeling reasonably joyful tonight I will touch on only nice things... And Other Tales.

Vomit Berries

  What the hell? 

Its amazing to me how smells can trigger memories you forgot you had. 

  Here in Korea they have these trees, and the look a little bit like mini-oak trees. No idea what they are called... Anyway there are a heap of them living in the side street right near my building. There are also a heap of them in Pyeongtaek, but not many in Seoul that I have seen. They are green for all of Spring and Summer, then fade off in Autumn and look completely dead in Winter. Pretty standard for a tree in this part of the world. the weird thing about these trees are the fruit they drop at the end of Summer - when they open the smell dead set like fresh vomit. Total spew stench. I remember when I first smelt that awful stench... It was a weekend, one of my first in Korea I would imagine, and I thought that there must be fresh spew somewhere. But the smell was everywhere!!! It wasn't until a friend pointed out to me that these small orange fruits were squished everywhere, and maybe it was this I could smell. 

I said to her "Can you not smell the puke smell?" 

She said no, not really, it was just a sort of off fruit smell. Nope, I replied, I can smell spew. So basically I think I must be the only one who can smell them this way. Strange but whatever.

  I got back from Malaysia on Sunday around 11:30, and I am strolling down the road with my bags in tow and I smell this vom smell. Its a Sunday morning so this is def not out of the ordinary in my area. I start paying closer attention, as I don't fancy rolling my bags through someones old dinner and drinks regurgitated. Of course, as you probably guessed, there was no spew to be seen. And then, as I near my building, walking down the street with the weird mini-oaks I see all these squashed fruits littering the road. And I remember. Its the Vomit Berries. Almost instantly I remember the feeling of being excited, fresh and alive. It was just over a year ago I first caught scent of this gross fruit, and now when I smell it, to me the fruit smells like freedom and adventure. Its strange that a sniff of vomit can create this sense. Yet here I am, remembering. I walked around the corner back to my house and thought about it a bit. Not much, because I was so fucking tired from the plane/bus ride, but thought enough to know that I actually quite like the smell of Vomit Berries. Not because I want to turn them into a perfume and wear it, but because it makes me re-live those first few weeks I came to this strange country. I remember being nervous, excited, grossed out and lonely. And I love it. 

Speaking of bad smells...

  Some asshole has left what smells like bin juice in the elevator. It fully reeks, even Milky didn't want to go in there. Its like someone has had fish or something, and binned it and dripped it everywhere. Or something equally rotten. My other big issue (apart from the smell) with this is that I am worried someone is gonna blame it on Milky, and suggest that he peed in the elevator. Which he NEVER has done. So someone better get rid of it. This is probably the reason why we have bugs in our building... If I discover who the jerk is who is not properly managing their wastes I am gonna go all Hulk on them and pitch them off the building. Actually, its going on my list of things that annoy me... #6 for sure (if thats what I am up to). End rant.

Travels

  In the last 2 months I was lucky enough to visit Japan, see new parts of Korea and also visit Malaysia. Let me sum up these places briefly:

Japan

  The Land of the Rising Sun was not what I expected. To be fair to Japan I was sick the whole time I was there - my wisdom teeth were killing me so I couldn't really sample the yummy food. My sinuses were blocked to the point I couldn't breath through my nose, and my head felt like it was full of painful cotton wool. I was feverish and on pain killers the entire time. And to top it off we were there in probably the worst time to visit - high summer. It was so humid and sticky we could hardly be bothered doing the sightseeing we did let alone adding on more things. Coupled with one hectic night in Kyoto where we got shitfaced and consequently hungover the next day, I think we did the best with what we had. BUT Japan did not leave a lasting impression on me. 

  

 

Osaka Castle

  I didn't really like Osaka (at least the parts I saw), I thought it was dirty and the stations grossed me out. The best part about it was the fact that everyone there seemed to ride pushbikes. It was adorable. 

  I liked Kyoto much more, it had a sense of history that I had not experienced anywhere else. Asian castles are something else all together, and although we saw one in Osaka (Osaka Castle) I still preferred the shrines we saw in Kyoto area. I would have liked to have spent at least another full day there. Night life was also funnnnn.

Deer selfie in Nara

Some Shrine... Can't remember its name but its famous (I am hopeless)

Me, Jess and Nay -
high school sweethearts!

  Tokyo was all over the place. It was huge, and we def needed mroe time to explore. But I felt disconnected from the city, in a way that I haven't felt in other cities. It felt kind of... unfriendly and false. Like it was lying to me about its intentions. I don't know how else to explain it... Anyway I would like to go back and see Tokyo and Kyoto, and also maybe go up to Sapporo one day.

  In all, the best part of Japan was seeing my friends from Australia. They made the trip. Oh, and also discovering my new favorite author Haruki Marukami. Read his books, please. They have kinda changed my life.

One of the temples

Penang

  I went to Penang, Malaysia over Chuseok with mum. It was totally uneventful, which was just what we both wanted. Sun, pool and good food. Penang has it all in large doses. We both we looking forward to the break, and also catching up after nearly 12 months of not seeing each other. I mean, we Skype all the time but its not the same. So it was so great to just hang out and do nothing but chat and catch up. I am already excited to see her again at Christmas!!!

Hotel was amazing - Hard Rock Hotel, Penang

Beach right outside. Water was beautiful

I love temples... Mum doesn't share my enthusiasm for them :s

Wow. I really didn't mean to go on like I did. It's nearly 12am and I need to sleep, but I am feeling all reflective... I could go on all night the way my mind is ticking right now. I won't though, cos lets be honest - most of what comes out my mouth is nonsense anyway. And its always worse when it's late night rambles.

Sleep well, citizens

xoxoxo

Give him a smack

How do you punish your students?

What do you do when the little shits are so naughty you want to throw them out the window? How the hell do parents deal with their children day and day out??? 

My "situation" at school has changed somewhat dramatically over the last few months, where I have gone from teaching basically no classes, to me teaching 85% of classes WITHOUT a co-teacher. How and why this happened I still have no idea, but it is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because the kids don't enjoy his classes, but a curse because suddenly discipline has become an issue and so has their comprehension of the topics. Unfortunately the kids are missing important points because there is no one to translate what I say. But that's another issue. For now, I am mainly concerned about how to keep them from making me want to do a midnight run. 

What exactly are they doing wrong?

  Are they just talking or are they being violent with each other? Most of the time, in my classroom, the kids are just being rowdy. They know I don't speak Korean and they take advantage of that by ignoring me. I mean, what am I gonna do? Go mime to their parents or homeroom teacher? No, I need a strategy.

  When they are talking, I tend to just stand at the front and look angry. This works most of the time. Eventually at least 1 student will see that I am pissed and start telling the others to shut up. With 4-1 the other day I made them sit in silence at the end of the class rather than race out the door to show them who is boss (its clearly not me, but they don't fully know that yet). Sometimes one loud "HEY" will get their attention long enough to start the next activity too. 

  The next stage in my annoyed teacher phase is to single out the trouble makers. I point, or go up to the kids responsible for pissing me off and get them to stand up while I tell them off. The kids don't know exactly what I am saying of course, generally there is at least one kid that understands enough to know what I am harping on about. But even if they don't, the message is clear - Bonnie Teacher is angry and its my fault. 

  If they keep it up, I send them out. I did this a few times earlier this year and the kids were going back to their homerooms. Eventually my co teacher asked me why I was doing it. I told him straight up I don't have the language to tell them off for being naughty, so I make them leave. He seemed on board so I kept doing it. They have cleaned up their acts a bit so I haven't had to boot anyone in a while.

  Today I took it to the next level and booted the whole of 5-3 out of the room. There was only 5 mins to go so I didn't care much but they were driving me crazy so I told them all to piss off. They were super confused and knew I was mad, and I could tell they were afraid to go back to their homeroom. They loitered outside the English room until the bell went. And they were quiet as mice. 

  Now, I have had kids beat each other up too, or bully another kid and that sort of thing. I will not tolerate this in my class. Any kid punching or slapping another kid (in a non-playful manner I mean, the kids are forever hitting each other here) have to leave. I drag them to Co and let him deal with them. When I can't find him I drag them to their homeroom teacher and say "tell her/him what you did" and they tell their teacher what they did. Without fail they tell the truth. 

  Once, one of my Gr 4 kids picked up a chair and threw it at another boy. It missed, but the violence of it was cray. He was so upset, the chair thrower, that he was in tears. He was so frustrated and mad at this other boy he expressed it like Hulk. Even though he was upset I dragged both him and the boy who was upsetting him to their teacher. They came back 15 minutes later and both apologized. 

What does Co do?

  Well, when he is in class he has a few tricks up his sleeve... Some of his faves are:

- Standing at the back of the classroom with arms in the air

- Standing at the front of the room with the forehead on the whiteboard

- Hurling insults at them (e.g. you are so stupid, you are fat, your parents will be angry etc)

- Sending them out

- Grabbing their cheeks and shaking their face

- Make them grab each others cheeks and shake (when there are 2 students involved)

- Smacking them on the head with their workbooks

And the worst I saw - slapping them in the face (I am not suggesting that the little shit didn't deserve a smack, but shouldn't it come from a parent?? If at all???)

  I don't want to start a debate on the best way to punish kids, but I would be interested in how other people get their brats to STFU. And this list isn't exhaustive, other things I have tried include limiting game/movie time, bribery etc. 

Honestly, they are all generally pretty good, but sometimes I want to lock them all outside.

xoxoxo

Price of Beauty

  While Nay was in Korean we shopped up a storm at all my favorite cosmetics stores - Etude House, Missha (I have a loyalty card), Face Shop and Innisfree. All awesome places to get cool make up and other body products. Yet it makes me wonder... where is the line for buying beauty products?
Since I have been in Korea I know I both buy and wear more make up and other cosmetics. Is this because its so cheap, or is it something else?

  Not gonna lie, I have actually had a net gain of 2 kilos since arriving last year... So am I compensating my weight gain by wearing more make up? Possibly. There is pressure here to look good at all times, not so much because everyone else looks great (they don't) but I feel its more because of how we, as foreigners, react the the brutal honesty of Korean people. For example, I have been told multiple times by co-workers that my diet isn't working. I am also told that I look tired, that they don't like what I have done with my hair today, or that I have hairy arms. Geez, I can't help my arms!!!

  So, on a weekend, I will end up doing face masks to minimize blackheads and clear up my skin. I either wax or veet my arms, I make sure my hair roots don't get too dark, I wear my BB cream to school and always wear mascara. I keep my nails painted, and I am now addicted to the foot peels you get from Tony Moly, so I can have baby soft feet. I have also become OCD about suncream (not necessarily a bad thing) and no longer wear low cut tops. I am also about to get onto a serious lose weight kick - gonna get some gym time in and get back into walking and maybe start small hikes around the area.

WHO THE FUCK AM I DOING THIS FOR?

  In a way I am doing it for myself and my mental health. I know that I am being constantly watched, and I know I am being judged. No one knows me as a person, so they judge me in the only way possible - my appearance. If I am too fat they will think me lazy, so I must lose weight. If I have no make up on, then I will be perceived as tired. Bad hair? Dirty. If I take pride in my appearance I am thought to be a better person. I remember overhearing a discussion about me in the staff room between teachers from our school and 2 from another school - "Your foreign teacher is much prettier than ours" and me thinking woooo awesome! When I really should have thought omg that poor girl from whatever school they are from. How can her school tell other people this stuff, and why the hell should it matter???
  But it does.

  Something Nay thought was hilarious about the TV here was all the ads for products to make yourself more beautiful. I wish we had more of a chance to get the subway around Seoul so she could have seen all the deals for plastic surgery, all the before and after pics that line the walls. It makes for an interesting trip. And the advertising works! I buy the No. 1 selling BB cream in Asia, cos I saw it on TV. I copy nail designs that the starts are wearing. And I want my teeth whitened and to have dimples cosmetically put into my face to make me cuter.

BONNIE CAN YOU HEAR YOURSELF?

  Once I was finishing up a class with the grade 6 kids, and at the end one of the girls came up and asked me if I was wearing (contact) lenses. I said no, this is my real eye colour. She asked if she could take a picture, because she wants to get lenses the same colour as my eyes. I was like, sure why not? The one big thing they don't like are my freckles... They think its a shame my white skin has ugly brown spots. "Don't worry, teacher... doctor can fix it". Phew!

 I can hear myself, and I agree its not healthy... Yet I am still wearing my full face and looking at my arms thinking they are too hairy, and looking at my belly thinking its too big and trying to decide if I have the motivation to do anything about it yet. I guess the pressure is finally getting to me, because otherwise why blog about it???

Who's line is it anyway?

Another "charged" write up...

I need to stop reading the news.

Disclaimer! I honestly do not know much about these issues... this is simply an uneducated person's opinion. No offense is meant.

re-write!!! turns out i mean Syria all this time :D 

  Today I am confused about Syria. Exactly what is going on over there?? I mean, I guess we can never really know because we are not over there living it, but it seems to me that the following has happened (correct me if I am wrong, or feel free to enlighten me with more):

- The Assad (or whoever) let off poison gas that killed around 1300 innocent people, many of them children

- They did this for no apparent reason

- Although Syria does produce oil, there are other countries that produce a heap for

- Chemical people from the UN were shot at when they arrived in Syria to assess what actually happened with the chemical attack

- Libya are in the midst of a civil war... No idea about Syria

  Now I am unsure... Is this going to turn into a full on war? Like, where everyone else gets involved?? And, do these "involving" countries need to wait for the UN to decide what to do? Who's line is it anyway? Who is in charge?

Let me be more blunt.

  Is America going to wait for the UN to give them to go ahead to get into another war, or are they just gonna head on in there? What power does the UN actually have? 

  The sort of things I read today included the US asking to use 3 different military bases in Greece, France also wants in on the action, China and Russia are planning on supporting Libya and if America goes to war then more Australian troops will be sent out. Just great. I thought we were out of the Middle East for a while.

  And then I start to feel guilty for thinking this way... If I lived in a country where I was fearing for my life, and the lives of my family every day then I would want someone to step up too. It's almost an obligation of a stable country to come to the aid of people who are losing their lives and rights. I can understand wars starting for humanitarian reasons. For example - from what I know about Rwanda all those years ago, it was the right thing to do, to go in and finish that. People were being killed all over the place. But it makes me wonder... 

  Thousands of people die every day in places all over the world from starvation and disease, that would be prevented and also not tolerated in the western world. How come no one is marching in to save these people? I am always seeing people trying to raise money for people in Africa. There are millions of North Koreans living in shocking conditions with children dying of starvation and exposure every year, but no one has marched in there and saved them. And all the "boat people" that Australia turns away every year? They are fleeing for their lives. What countries are they from? How come no one is trying to save them?

  I agree that this issue in Syria needs to be addressed, I just really hope it is for the right reasons. I always worry when big power countries are so quick to go in and make a change. 

I will be taking more of an interest in this "event" as it unfolds...

xx