Quest for Cuteness

Snowman pillow

2011-11-30T22:44:00.003+09:00

I've been making this pillow forever. The knitting was not that enjoyable, so after the knitting part was done, I put it down for a long time while I got around to getting buttons and sewing on the various parts. As usual, now that it's done, I like it a lot. Some projects are just all about the finished product, and this is one of those patterns. Here is the pattern link.

Now I'm working on another pillow, some legwarmers for Grace, and a huge doily that I've been working on and off for a couple of years. I'd really like to make some Christmas gifts, but I'm running out of time.

This is what i mean!

2011-11-22T12:24:00.005+09:00

Becky, the Constant Crafter, did this great post featuring a budaechigae restaurant and even included a video. THAT is something I miss and I didn't really appreciate while I was in Korea....the energy, the life, the FOOD. I lived in Uijeongbu, the home of budaechigae, and it was so great! I believe I'm going to have to track down a Korean supermarket very soon! Nice post, Becky! I think my mouth started watering....

LINK

4 Months Later

2011-11-22T11:53:00.003+09:00

Well, I don't even know what to say here. I don't think I've ever gone this long between posting. I'm sure I've lost more than a few readers, but that's all right. I'm just waiting for my daughter, Grace, to fall asleep again and was thinking that I really should do this.

A lot has happened in 4 months of life in Canada. Besides not having my husband, Sejin, around, adjusting to life here hasn't been that bad. I heard many stories about reverse culture shock, and I'm happy to report that I've suffered none of that. I think after nine+ years in Korea, I was ready for a real change. I certainly miss a lot of things about Korea. I miss shopping at the yarn wholesalers. I miss being able to order just about anything delivered to my door, at any time, for next to nothing. 1500 won rolls of kimbap. Doejangchigae. Galbi with kimchi on the grill. Hoe deopbap (raw fish mixed with red pepper paste, greens, and rice). Seeing totally random things when out and about, like funny signs and Tshirts, cultural performances, dogs with neon hair dye...stuff like that. Things are very...ordinary here in my town, but that's not a bad thing. Grace has been loving getting outdoors more often. We have a car and she loves car rides.

I'm disappointed that Grace isn't speaking Korean anymore. I suppose that's natural because no one around her is speaking Korean. Although I'm disappointed, I'm not worried about it because she's at an age when she can remember it and pick up more easily (once Sejin gets here). I even have to watch what I say around her now because she repeats everything. Sejin will have to be pretty diligent about only speaking Korean with her.

I'm still working on a contract with a publishing house in Korea. I'm almost done, and then everything is up in the air. In the back of my mind, I have this wee dream about making a living, maybe even just part-time, with photography. Having a photo published in Time Magazine gave me a good confidence boost. And someone bought a photo of mine a few weeks ago for $300 (through Getty Images). I assisted a wedding photographer a month ago and it went well. He loved the few photos I showed him and would like me to help him again next wedding season. Not sure if I will or not, but it feels good to have others like your stuff. But I still feel like I have a long way to go. I just want to know the craft as well as I can before charging people money, or even calling myself a "photographer." I don't feel that I am there yet. I have considered seeking out a mentor and attending a workshop, but these things aren't cheap, so I'm just kind of waiting and seeing right now. I'm really still a newbie, and it does bother me to see new "photographers" that set up shop and hardly know the basics. But although I am doing well at trying to be realistic and critical of my work, I have a feeling that with some hard work and diligence, I can get a lot better. Time will tell!

I'm not even going to bother updating with my knitting and crochet projects that I have finished in the last several months. I'll start updating again once I'm posting here regularly. I am really lucky to have found a great knitting group in my area. There are about 5 or 6 of us who meet once a week at our local coffee shop and just stitch away and talk fibre. It makes you feel really good to get out of the house and talk to other people after playing dolls and stressing about your life all day. I really look forward to knit nights.

I guess my major stress right now is not knowing when Sejin is going to receive his permanent residency papers and will be able to finally come here. The embassy in Seoul explicitly tells you not to contact them about the status of your application unless the estimated waiting period has expired (it says 7 months right now). If I had a rough time frame to work with, I wouldn't worry so much, but not knowing is hard. Grace misses him, and I could use a hand. Luckily, Grace is usually a pretty good girl, but she has days where I reach the end of my rope and it would be so great to have him take her off my hands. I have a feeling life is going to improve a lot once he gets here.

Unfortunately, I have not been keeping up with my friend's blogs, but I plan to do so again soon. I've been mostly keeping up with people through facebook, which isn't always the best way. I miss reading my blogger friends' posts.

Anyway, I'm back! I plan to post regularly now, so stay tuned!!

One month later

2011-08-22T12:47:00.004+09:00

It's hard to believe we've been here for almost a month. It seems like much less. Life has been busy and it's been a bit difficult at times adapting to a new routine and environment. For example, I was used to sending Grace off to daycare every morning, after which I would unwind a bit, tidy up, have lunch, work on the books, etc. Now with no daycare, I don't have a fraction of the time during the day to work. I could work at night, but I am terribly unproductive these days at night. Tonight it was taken me nearly three hours to write this unit and during the day it would take me half that time.

Grace has adapted very well and is really enjoying it here. For her it's great because I'm around all the time, the weather is great, we try to do fun stuff during the day, and so on. It's me who is struggling a little bit with time management. I do wish I didn't have this final book project to do, but it is that which will allow me to buy a vehicle in the fall.

I wish I had a more interesting 'update' post, but I'm very tired after writing a unit and am about to head off to bed. I will do a post soon with some of my finished knitting/crochet projects and some thoughts about what might be in our future.

Annyoung

2011-07-24T21:40:00.002+09:00

Leaving Korea in around 12 hours from now after over nine years living here. It feels very surreal. In the last few days, I have not sat down to rest until after Grace is sleeping. There was more I wanted to do before I left, but obviously there is no time left. I even forgot to make a few phone calls to friends today to say good-bye. I was literally going non-stop. At one point, I even had to send Sejin out to the store with Grace so that I could pack a few things. Grace kept getting in my business, taking things out of boxes and suitcase, and driving me mad. As I type this, it is 9:45 pm and she is still awake, singing in her bedroom, and we have to be up at 5am. What a journey it's going to be.

I likely will not get to post here for a little while, but I will be back. I'm going to give this blog a facelift and will hopefully have some fun stories to tell as we settle into a whole new life. Wish us luck!

Breaking down

2011-07-01T16:17:00.002+09:00

Both me and everything in my house. Last night I slept a grand total of 2 hours...from 7am-9am. I have so much on my mind that it is preventing me from sleeping. At around 6am this morning I decided that something has to give -- I cannot possibly crank out nearly 200 pages of workbook material for P publisher and a student book for D publisher, plus pack up my apartment, tend to last minute things, see friends, etc, in 20 days. Not physically possible. So I emailed D publisher and apologized and recommended a friend. I felt relieved enough to sleep for two hours. When I got up, I had received an email back saying basically 'No, you can do it! We can do it together!' It's nice that they want to work with me, but they don't seem to understand that I cannot clone myself to get to the work done. (Side note: I originally turned down this contract because I knew I would be too busy at this time, but received several emails begging me to accept. Lesson learned: obey your first instincts. I'm so easy pressured into things.)

Anyway, I got up, had a bite of pastry that husband had picked up at a local bakery and got a long dark hair in my mouth (definitely not mine or SJs...long, dark, Asian, probably female). That was nice. Opened the freezer to find that everything is thawed out -- chicken, pork, shrimp, all the soups I had separated and froze. Freezer's broken. It seems things have been breaking down all the time around here. Our lamp is making really weird noises, our oven doesn't work propery, and Grace broke her bedroom lamp/nightlight. I'm really trying hard not to buy much before we go. Freezer guy is coming tomorrow, and I really hope I don't have to pay much for 20 days more worth of usage.

So it's been a bit of a rough week as I realized I have waaaay more to do than I thought I did. I'm waiting for a reply back from D publisher since I emailed her again and explained that this project probably won't work out. Usually she is very prompt, so I bet she is discussing the matter with her boss to see about moving the deadlines.
____

Just received email back as I was typing this, and I was right, she was talking with her boss, and they have agreed to delay the deadline by a month. This might be for the best, as the paycheck might be very welcome come fall.
____

So that's all with me. I'm feeling stressed and sluggish from not sleeping well. I'm upset with P publisher for dragging this project out so long, but I must buckle down and finish it, hopefully within a week and a half.

Also important to me is seeing my friends before I leave Korea, which is proving more difficult than I thought. Everyone has busy schedules, most not quite as flexible as mine. I hope to see some people this week between writing.

Grace has been very happy since recovering from her illness. She was excited to go to daycare today to celebrate two of her friends' birthdays. She has been very well-behaved in general these days (in contrast to about a month ago). It seems everything comes and goes in phases with children.

Happy Canada Day!

Yep, still here

2011-06-26T21:50:00.003+09:00

I do have online time in the evenings after Grace goes to bed, but I have not had the energy to post here. I think that will change once work gets done and we actually make the move. I'm a little overwhelmed right now with all that needs to be done. I've been trying to see as many friends as possible before I go, keep up with work, pack, and devote some time to planning my future. I also set aside a little bit of time for reading/crafting...but lately I have no time at all for that.

On top of all this craziness, last week Grace came down sick with hand, foot, and mouth disease...a bit of a tough case, too. She was in a lot of pain and couldn't eat for several days. I had to feed her liquids with a medicine syringe, and even that was painful for her. The week was tough. It was all the more stressful because during the week I received emails from two publishers requesting materials, that I admit, were overdue. I had no way of catching up on this work while nursing Grace to health, so just had to do some deep breathing and finally, the week came to an end. Grace has recovered and is making up for lost time by acting sillier than ever. I'm happy to see her so happy, but I'm itching to get to work tomorrow and get caught up with things.

That's where we stand. Departure is July 21 and I am very nervous. I have an incredibly long list of things to do before we go including finishing entire books, packing and shipping our belongings, and wrapping up countless last minute things. It would help if husband were around more to help, but unfortunately he's a slave to his job and has been working 7 days a week. This leaves me almost like a single mom at times and is pretty frustrating. But we keep positive and remind ourselves that that's what this move is all about.

Grace is recovered and back to making a mess.

In the Know Mom giveaway

2011-05-20T14:24:00.004+09:00

In the Know Mom is giving away two huge gallery wraps from Mpix.com. My chances are slim, but why not? I won a giveaway recently (some Sarah Gardner textures), so who knows, maybe my luck is changing. I get an extra entry by blogging about it here, so sorry if you're disappointed in this post. Maybe you should head over and enter....

Still around

2011-05-20T00:10:00.005+09:00

CedarBough was kind enough to nudge me the other day on facebook about not blogging in a long time. I haven't felt much like blogging, probably because I'm kind of busy. This is what I've been up to these days.We finally mailed SJ's immigration application and now I've moved on to packing, which inevitably involves cleaning and organizing. I'm trying to get as much packing and shipping done in the next couple of weeks before work starts up again.

Grace has been doing well. I can't believe how much she's growing and maturing. It's fun to watch. Today she went number one on the potty at daycare, and number two on the potty at home. To other moms reading this, you know how exciting this is. I swore the last time I ordered diapers that it would be the last delivery. I hope that's the truth! We also found out through a blood test that she is allergic to dust mites, so she was on medication for a while, and now I'm trying to keep the house as dust free as possible (which is difficult here).

I doubt I'll be posting too much in the next couple of months, but I plan to give the blog an overhaul soon and regular posting will resume, hopefully with more exciting updates as we basically start new lives in Canada. So don't delete me from your blog list just yet!

2011-04-22T16:50:00.003+09:00

I just spent all afternoon cooking healthy foods to get me through the weekend. Something snapped in me yesterday and I realized how unhealthy I am getting. I excercised and I'm incredibly sore today. But the pain will pass and I'm pretty confident that I am finally in the right state of mind to work towards bcoming healthier through exercise and healthier eating. Hopefully I can shed a few pounds before heading home.

Speaking of heading home, we are finally done translating documents. All that is left to do is for SJ to get his medical exam, I will edit all the applications and documents once more, I need some photos (proof of our relationship) developed, and then we can stick it in the mail along with a money order of $1000. That will hurt. But it will still be a good day. At that point I will also start looking at plane tickets. It's very exciting, although I think it will turn scary once we land in Canada and think... now what?

Thank you, Uniqlo

2011-04-12T23:37:00.002+09:00

If you don't know, Uniqlo is a Japanese clothing brand with several stores across Korea. There just happens to be one in Uijeongbu of all places. I went there today on a mission, in search of some new clothing for myself. I've been wearing the same two pairs of jeans forever because they are the only ones that fit me. I thought Uniqlo must have something.

Well, I was wrong. 99% of the pants did not fit me, and the pairs that did fit sure did not accentuate what should have been accentuated. In the fitting room, I saw myself for the first time up close in a full length mirror in about three years.

So, thank you, Uniqlo... You have truly motivated me to get off my butt and finally lose 20 pounds.

Grace thanks Uniqlo, too, because she got some awfully cute dresses, leggings, and a skirt. We all came away with something today.

Ever feel like

2011-03-31T22:47:00.002+09:00

Ever feel like people think of you at the same time? I was thinking some time last week, gosh, I guess those Korean publishers I used to work with found other good writers. They used to be knocking down my door and they haven't contacted me in months now. I am not joking, but the next day I got emails from two publishers proposing projects. Plus an old Korean friend called me. Weird. Anyway, the good news is these publishers are willing to work with me even if I'm in Canada. I'm so relieved to hear that because that means I will have some sort of income, although small and sporadic, while I'm getting settled. I have a feeling this move is going to cost much much more than I'm anticipating.

Speaking of the move, the applications are officially DONE. Documents are a problem because SJ needs to gather them all from the gov't offices/police station/hospital and then he must translate them (I was very happy to hear that he was allowed to translate them!).

In other news, I've been coke-free for over a week now. I'm also trying to cut down on the junk I eat in general, so I guess I can call it a diet. I'm going to weigh myself every Monday and record it on the calendar. I would really love to get to pre-Grace weight one day.

I'm two days behind in the knit/crochet blogging week, but I'm going to catch up. I just don't have to energy to think of much, look for photos, etc right now. I had a very long day with my Grace today and just need to rest.

A Tale of Two Yarns

2011-03-28T22:29:00.009+09:00

I totally forgot that knitting and crochet blog week started today! If you want to participate, see Eskimimi's site. It is appropriate that this event starts today, because I just entered my 100th project into Ravelry, and I'm pretty proud about that.

So now I have to throw together a post without much thought. The prompt is to write about two yarns you've used or want to use and what you love or hate about them.

Unfortunately for my readers, I mainly use yarns available to me at the wholesalers in Korea, so you will not have heard of them. Well, that's not entirely true. Once in a while you can find recognizable brands at the wholesalers. If you want imported yarn brands, you can try My Knit Studio in Insa-dong. She has gorgeous yarns that I simply can't afford right now. She also carries a wide range of English knitting books and magazines. It's a fun place to check out!

I got off track. For me, it's the wholesalers. I like being overwhelmed by the sheer variety literally towering over me. And part of me likes the hunt for a good yarn that no one else has heard about. But then there is also that part of me that gets frustrated that I can't just go out and get the yarn others are using for a pattern I'm considering. At the end of the day, I like the hunt and using unknown brands has probably improved my understanding of yarn qualities and guage and that sort of thing. Check out this picture taken on Saturday at the wholesalers. There are hundreds of vendors crammed into the basement of a huge textiles complex. I love it!Anyway, a yarn that comes to mind that most knitters have heard of is Noro Silk Garden, actually one of the most popular yarns on Ravelry. I had really wanted to try this yarn and saw it at My Knit Studio for around 15,000 won per ball at the time (here it is in her store for 19,000 won! Holy smokes!). That's expensive. One day while leisurely strolling through the wholesalers in Dongdaemun I came across a vendor near the back of the complex selling that very yarn. Out of curiousity, I asked how much. The man thought to himself and said 70,000 won. He was holding a bag of 10 balls. I said I'd buy it for 65,000 won and the deal was done. So, each ball ran me only 6,500 won (currently, that's around $5.83) -- possibly the deal of the century. I still have not knit up that bag... it's kind of precious to me since I know the amazing deal I got. I knit my sister a scarf with it, and I crocheted myself a skinny scarf and I still have 5 or 6 balls left. It's lovely to knit or crochet with, and who can resist those slow colour changes?Recently I bought a novelty yarn. Don't judge. My idea was to knit a sort of mini blanket with it for a photographer to use in a newborn shoot. I see these types of props used all the time. Only thing is, now that I've finished the wee blanket, I don't want to part with it. I found the bag of 8 balls (for 10,000 won) in a cardboard box at the wholesalers. Talk about great deals. Regarding the quality of the yarn, it's ... different. I haven't used a novelty yarn in a long, long time. Actually, it is difficult to knit with, but it knits up so fast that you get over that. I knit up all 8 balls in two evenings. The finished blanket feels like a fluffy sheep, and it should since it's almost pure wool.I have one other memorable experience down in the depths of the giant textiles complex. I was looking for laceweight wool for shawl knitting. Koreans don't seem to be big on laceweight so I couldn't find much. I found some 100% cobweb wool on a huge spool which is actually supposed to be used on a machine. The seller got quite a kick out of my interest in a 2 pound spool of wool. Anyway, I got the thing for 20,000 won and it should take me about 15 years to knit this up. I think I've said this several times in this blog, but I love Dongdaemun!So, that was actually a tale of three yarns, so shoot me. And it was more about shopping than yarn qualities, but perhaps that part appeals to me more. Hopefully my other posts won't be as garbled as this one.

There will be six more fibre-related posts coming your way, so stay tuned.

On our way, sort of

2011-03-28T22:06:00.003+09:00

Still doing immigration paperwork stuff. Filling in applications is mostly done. But now comes the really crappy part...the document gathering phase. There is a long list of documents we have to gather, and some must be translated. This will suck.

But at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Before the task seemed so huge and daunting. Now I see that we will be finished all this sooner than later, and then I can actually look at plane tickets and escape here before the summer heat arrives.

Puzzling behaviour

2011-03-28T17:46:00.003+09:00

My daughter is addicted to puzzles. I have about 10 little puzzles that I got out recently and she has been doing them nonstop. For the first couple of days, she demanded that I sit with her, while she handed me pieces one by one and watched me do the puzzle. Yesterday, she began doing doing them herself and can now do most of them with little to no assistance. I'm constantly amazed at how fast she learns. And she's addicted. She does them over and over and over. I was determined not to buy her anything else until we leave Korea, but she seems so thirsty for intellectual stimulation. I may have to get her some more puzzles and books and ship her old favourites. Sorry for the cheesy image, but I couldn't resist!

It's my New Years

2011-03-22T16:30:00.002+09:00

When you think about it, making New Year's resolutions in January is so stupid. Why then? It's so freaking cold outside, no wonder most people don't stick to their resolutions. Everything feels dead and cold. In my New Year's post for this year, I basically said I didn't have any major resolutions to make. I think I just didn't feel like it. I just wanted to get through the winter. Now that spring is approaching, I'm feeling much more motivated to get out there, get things done, and make some changes. Makes more sense... spring... changes... improvements... yeah...

This is a big year for us and there is a list about a kilometre long of things I've got to get done. I'm on my way right now and my brain is feeling a little less mushy than when I last posted. A major thing I'd like to improve this year is my health. Over the last year, my diet has gotten worse and worse. A lot of this is from working at home. Trust me, it's not as easy as it sounds. There are so many distractions and the kitchen is about 10 feet away in case you really really need a choco pie. I've gotten lazy when it comes to food preparation and by the time lunch rolls around, I usually don't have anything in mind to eat. So I have something quick and easy, which isn't always the healthiest option. Also, I used to be a fairly active person, but I haven't made an effort to exercise in a long, long time. Last week, SJ suggested we start running together. I thought it was a great idea, since we have a nice path along the river behind our building. I'm not the type of person who can work out in a gym. I had a gym membership once and I wasted it, like so many others. Walking on a treadmill is the most boring thing I can think of doing. But getting outdoors appeals to me. I'll update with how this is coming along. Hopefully I can start dropping the baby weight, finally.

As far as other resolutions go, there are some other projects I'm working on. I don't like sharing ideas when they're still just little seeds, so if they begin to grow, I will share what I've been working on.

What I'm thinking today is, make changes when you feel motivated enough to follow through.

Headband headache

2011-03-18T23:11:00.002+09:00

It sucks when you make something and the recipient doesn't like it. I'll give her a break because she's two.

Done...for now

2011-03-04T16:56:00.002+09:00

I'm just breathing a sigh of relief as I have finally finished the student book part of my writing project. It was more work than I thought it would be, but it's done, and it's Friday. I still have a bit more to go (workbooks), but the student books are the hard part because you're coming up with with the raw material. The workbook is just excercises based on that material which I've already thunk up. :D

According to the project manager, he will not have the workbook prototype done 'til Wednesday, which leaves me work-free until then! Imagine! So I'm sitting here thinking of all the thinks I can and should do, but I'm overwhelmed by the piles of paper and junk surrounding me -- such a mess! It's 5:00, there is no dinner prepared, and I have to pick up Grace now. Pizza night?

Come on, spring!

2011-03-02T17:16:00.000+09:00

Amazing

2011-03-02T11:35:00.005+09:00

On Monday I did something truly amazing. I went to Dongdaemun and I did NOT go in the basement of Dongdaemun Shopping Town to buy yarn. I don't know why I ended up in Dongdaemun. I was out with the intention of getting some work done, but I made an impulsive decision to jump on the train and head south (a whole 35 min). I ended up in a new fashion mall which was mostly empty but was having an amazing sale. I picked up two new suit jackets for 10,000 won each. They are seriously cute. Not boxy boring western style, but cute feminine Korean style. One was missing a button, so I headed over to the textiles complex, bought new buttons (total of 1000 won/$1) and there we go. Let's get this straight: these are not cheap jackets. They all had price tags on them of several hundred dollars.

Anyway, at one point I was peering down into the depths of the basement of the textiles complex, seriously tempted to head down there and fondle yarn, but I'm being hard on myself and forcing myself to knit what I've got. It's tough, but I'm slowly working away at it.

A picture of Dongdaemun gate. God I'm going to miss this place one day.

Everything Changes

2011-02-23T21:46:00.003+09:00

This is the only thing I've found to be true when it comes to raising my daughter. Just when you think something is going well or "working," she changes her mind. For the longest time (well, since birth), I was the preferred parent. Suddenly, in the last month or so, she has become very attached to SJ. It is a combination, I think, of genuinely loving her father, but she also knows that he is much softer than me. He will give her that cookie that she wants, and he will let her fall asleep on the floor at bedtime. Since he is only home at bedtime on weekends, he is now doing bedtimes then. When I announce it's bedtime, she clings to him like a cat saying "Young-ee appa! Young-ee appa!" and shoos me away. Then, she insists that he lay with her on the floor until she falls asleep. Then we move her to her crib. I really don't care anymore. I have spent so much energy worrying about her sleep that on weekends I gladly make my way to the computer room and let him handle it.

On weeknights it's my duty since SJ is not home. She usually knows better than to bother getting dramatic with me, but the last few weeks have been trying. She kicks up quite a fuss at bedtime, wanting hugs, water, books, more hugs, basically anything to put off going to sleep. I tried everything from getting angry, to staying really calm, singing Twinkle Twinkle so many times... drama every night. Drawn out stressful bedtimes. Then, about a week ago during one bedtime battle, I just threw my hands up in the hair, exasperated. She was crying and overtired. I didn't say anything. I just turned and silently walked out of the room. Then, all noise ceased and she went to sleep. I thought it was a fluke, but the next night it worked again. I sang Twinkle Twinkle, she protested a little, but I turned around and left without saying anything. Sleep. So I've been doing this for around a week and it's really weird. If I say anything, like "night night" or "go to sleep," she freaks out crying. If I am silent, she happily goes off to sleep. That's what works for now.

So I was just sitting here thinking, wow, this is all like a guessing game. She can't talk well enough to say, "Hey, mom, can you just get the heck out of here and let me sleep?" So until we are communicating more efficiently, the guessing game will continue! I wonder what her preference will be next month.

What's up?

2011-02-18T23:06:00.001+09:00

Hey blogging friends, what's up? Hardly anyone is posting these days. I thought I was bad! Even though I don't leave comments all the time, I'm still reading!

By the way, my brain is still mushy.

Brain = mush

2011-02-16T18:17:00.004+09:00

Here is a very honest post from me. I've had a great deal of trouble doing the work I have been assigned to do. It's really weird. The work is not that hard. It's boring, yes, but I could have been done it by now. Luckily the project manager is also behind schedule, or I'd be in deep poop by now.

So, yes, I'm having a hard time just buckling down and focusing. I've been wondering why this is. I didn't have this much of a problem in the past. Yes, we all have a tendency to procrastinate, but I have reached extreme levels now. At first I thought it was because I am sick and tired of ESL, and that could be a part of it, but I think it's something else (a lot of people hate their jobs but still do them!).

I was reading an article the other day about the physical effects of the Internet on our brains. Using the Internet only five hours a week significantly changes the way your brain works. The part responsible for short term memory is very active and the brain seems to seek more constant stimulation, and as a result, has a hard time focusing on larger chunks of information (sorry for the vague explanation. I'm no physicist.). This really got me thinking about the way my brain has been behaving lately. Something feels off. I am quite jittery these days and can't seem to relax, and of course, I cannot focus on tasks that need to be completed - and they've got to get done -- like, by the end of this week!

I was comparing my habits at present to those a few years ago. A few years ago, I used the Internet, but not nearly as much as I do now. I used to be an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, and was a regular customer at the great What the Book used bookstore. I have not read a book in the past two years (beyond baby-related books and various magazines and articles). That's embarrassing to admit, but it's true. I also used to love watching documentaries and even started a very active group on Ravelry for documentary addicts. Again, I haven't watched a documentary in around two years.

So I was thinking that perhaps my poor brain is just in need of some exercise. Surely, like our bodies, our brains must need to be active to stay in shape. I think my brain has become kind of like a couch potato...a pile of mush.

There may be other factors involved in why I'm having such a hard time concentrating on my current projects, but I think I need to make some changes in my habits. I really don't want to become a lazy person, physically or mentally.

Vibroy Portable Speaker System

2011-02-16T14:44:00.008+09:00

Okay, another product review. This is the last one too, since I only applied to test two products.

This little thing is pretty cool. It's by a Korean company called Xenics and it's called the Vibroy. I'm not sold on the name choice, but oh well, it's a neat product. It's very simple. Plug it into your mp3 player, phone, or computer, stick the sticky end on any surface and you've got instant speakers. Naturally, some surfaces sound better than others. I think half the fun in this product is testing out different objects to see which give the best sound. To me, a board book standing up up gives the best sound. The company, Xenics, claims a cardboard box to be best, but sometimes I find that sound a little too hollow. It probably depends on the box. Anyway, that's a matter of personal preference.
This takes two AAA batteries and the sticky pad can be cleaned with a damp cloth if it starts to get unsticky. It's very small. It can easily fit in your pocket or purse, so it's much easier to take out with you rather than speakers. I uploaded a video review to youtube, so check it out. Sorry if you don't like my music choice. All I've got on that little mp3 player is jazz, blues, some old pop, and knitting podcasts. Call me a geek, I don't care.

Anyway, check out the Vibroy. I heard they are officially launching the product very soon.

Elephant

2011-02-09T17:05:00.004+09:00

I haven't been posting much, I know. But I'm not abandoning the blog. It's just been a bad time to post. I've had to focus on other things and with the amount of time I spend at the computer because of work, I don't really feel like updating my blog at the end of the day.

That should change soon because I am approaching the deadline for this project. I'm a bit worried, though, as I don't believe the project manager has looked at any of the material I have written. If he really hasn't, there could be lots and lots of revisions to do. I could have emailed or called him to push him to read my stuff, but I think I was subconsciously avoiding the stress of having to deal wtih revisions. It's too late now. The last student book will be submitted early next week and then it's on to the workbooks -- if everything is okayed. Like I said, though...I don't have a good feeling. I have a feeling this guy is bogged down with several projects and has been avoiding dealing with mine.

Other than this, everything is the same. Grace is getting cleverer by the day (it's scary) and I'm just focusing on work. I'm really looking forward to a bit of freedom in March. I plan to go through all my belongings and decide on shipping, finally finish Sejin's immigration application, knit, take photos, and see my friends.

Speaking of knitting, this is the first thing I've finished in quite a while. It was a fairly quick knit but the sewing up was really annoying, as it always is with knitted toys. I really like him. Grace slept with him the first night after he was finished, but she has since rejected him. She seems to have a new favourite soft toy every week. Her trusty bear is the king -- he goes most places with her these days -- but she usually chooses a second softie favourite. This week it's "bunny."
Anyway, here he is. (BTW, yes, she's wearing boys pajamas. These are the ones she picked out at Homeplus at the sale table. I thought for sure she'd go for the Pororo or Cocomong ones, or even the Disney Princesses, but she liked something about the duck and guinea pig on these ones and cried for them. Toddlers.)

Hmmm

2011-01-31T22:40:00.002+09:00

I haven't posted much lately. I'm not sure why. I've signed in a few times with the purpose of making a post, but I don't have anything to say. I've just been trying to get by these days. You know, when there's just too much going on and your head kind of spins when you think of everything that needs to be done? Pretty stressed. My photo class on Sundays has been great for stress relief. It got me out of the house and got my mind off of life. Riding the train is great. Chatting with friends is great. Sadly, the class wrapped up yesterday. I have to go to immigration tomorrow. Grace's passport expires this month. I'm sure there are other things.

If all goes well, I should be feeling a lot better after Valentine's Day. By then, the Seollal holiday will be over, and one deadline passed. But there will still be more to do. What I really need is a vacation, but there are none in our near future. I don't think Sejin would mind spending the money on a vacation now, but he would have to quit his job in order to get vacation time. That sounds extreme, but if you're familiar with Korean work culture, you'll know it's true. Last year he got four days vacation (yes, not even a full week). So, no fun for us. Honestly, I can't even look through friends' vacation albums on facebook, I burn with envy.

Hopefully I will return next post in a better mood!

Ynnos Funnypaper

2011-01-18T10:37:00.006+09:00

I applied to test a Korean product. The condition was that I have to do a review in as many places as possible. So, I put an album on Facebook, and I'll do a little review here. I will be totally honest in my review.

The product is "Funny Paper" by a Korean company called Ynnos. They make paper furniture for kids. There are many types of furniture available, from desks and chairs, to playhouses and bookshelves. I was given the chair and desk set to try out. I gave it to Grace as a gift on Christmas Day since it had come in the mail just a couple days earlier.

The product was a bit fiddly to put together, but by the time I finished putting the pieces together, I was doing it faster. I think if I were to buy another paper product, I could put it together easier. Anyway, once it was put together, I let Grace do the testing. She really liked it. She doesn't have a table and chair set. I was thinking of getting her one, but since we are leaving Korea soon, I didn't want to spend the money on one, and have to throw out a huge hunk of plastic. The paper furniture is perfect in this regard because when we finally move, I can just recycle it.

Grace is only two years old and she can easily sit on the chair and use the desk. She sometimes sits there to read books, play with her blocks, make phone calles, etc. She gave it a good strength test by trying to climb on it. There is no danger of this set collapsing. The design makes it really sturdy.I think this is a fun product for little ones. It's so different from the same old plastic table and chairs set, and of course, it is more environmentally friendly. This would make a great gift for a little kid, too. I am kind of interested in the bookshelves and might look into purchasing one or two before going back to Canada.

I said this would be an honest review, so here are the cons. There are only two cons I can think of. First, since the table top is made of strips of folded cardboard, if a child is drawing or colouring on a single sheet of paper, the pencil or crayon might punch through since the top is not even. This is easily solved by laying down a large book for the child to put the paper on. The second problem is that it cannot be wiped clean. I do not give Grace any milk or snacks at her desk because if there was a spill, it would soak in and leave a giant stain and probably make the surface wrinkled. Even if your child has slightly dirty hands, touching the cardboard will leave fingermarks. The answer here, of course, is to simply not use it for serving food.

That's it. I think it's a great product and recommend it to anyone with small children. Check it out!

Freezing Fotographers

2011-01-17T23:08:00.006+09:00

Yesterday was our second photography class this month and it was scheduled to be our "outside" class. I think we were all secretly hoping our instructor would reschedule class or do something indoors, but no such luck. We were out there shooting away on probably the coldest day this winter. I'm not sure what the temperature was. Around -15. A couple of times my fingers would not funtion to press the shutter button and once I think my brain froze and I was trying to open the aperture with the wrong dial for the longest time. Nonetheless, it was fun, and we really weren't outside for that long. We tried our hand at fill flash for while, went inside for a coffee, and then went out to do some street photography.

Make it stop

2011-01-13T11:01:00.003+09:00

I had no idea when I got my camera what an obsession it would become. The worst part about it has been wanting all kinds of extras for it. When I first got it with the 35mm 1.8 lens, I thought that it would be all I ever needed, but that idea faded pretty quickly. I fear I am at the height of the "gearfaggotry" stage seen in the all-too-true graph below. I had a good laugh when I saw this because it is somewhat accurate when it comes to my progress. I am obsessed with thinking about photo gear, I may get a tripod sometime soon, and I have considered trying HDR. Lately I've been doing a lot of research about special effects filters. And I've even been thinking about getting into film! Ugh.

Happy 2nd Birthday

2011-01-07T23:43:00.004+09:00

to my little Grace.

The time certainly has flown.

The first year was hard for me. It was hard adjusting to having someone who depended on me every waking moment (even all night long).

The second year was easier as we learned how to communicate. These days she's talking up a storm in two languages. It definitely makes things easier, and more fun.

I look forward to many more years together.

We didn't do anything special today. I had to work, so she went to daycare. I picked her up earlier and we went to the bakery. Then we ate dinner and had some chocolate cake. She had a chocolate lollipop after that, which probably wasn't the best idea, as she was still up at 9:30pm. Sejin is home on Sunday, so we'll celebrate properly then.

Obsessive

2011-01-06T11:23:00.002+09:00

I think I have some kind of weird personality disorder. Whenever I start a new hobby, I get completely obsessed...like thinking about it all the time and abandoning all my responsibilities to do it. When I started knitting five or six years ago, I knit around the clock, watched knitting videos on youtube constantly, brought my knitting to work, etc. I even dreamed about knitting. Eventually the craziness wore off, but I kept with knitting and gained skills slowly and steadily like you're supposed to, and now I'd say I'm a pretty confident knitter (and crocheter).

This same thing is happening with photography. I spend way too much time browsing flickr, reading photoshop tutorials, researching camera and lighting equipment. I'm having lots of photography related dreams as well. I have no idea what is wrong with my brain. I just hope the obsession phase wears off soon so I can regain some normalcy in my life. It's going to take many years for me to develop enough skill to take good pictures, so I need to calm down and relax. Sejin says he wishes I was so obsessive about my work. I do, too. January is going to be a long tough month as I have several books to write. Time to log off here and get started with some writing.

K-pop

2011-01-06T11:20:00.002+09:00

My friend CedarBough does a good K-Pop review every once in a while. I'm not into K-Pop at all, but I know some of my readers are, so check out her blog for some really interesting reviews.
Here is the latest.

Thoughts on 2011

2010-12-31T22:29:00.002+09:00

The new year is less than 1.5 hours away, so why not write a post about what I hope to get done in 2011?

2011 is going to be HUGE for my family. I'm leaving Korea after being here about 9 years. I don't know what I'm going back to. I haven't driven a car in years, I haven't done banking there in years, I've never owned a car or a home...It's going to be a big change, but a change I'm looking forward to.

Since I'll be going through this big move, I'm not going to make a lot of hard-to-achieve resolutions. I am simply resolved to get through the move with grace (ha!) and begin the process of settling in Canada. But of course, there are a few things I would like to do.

- finish my current writing contract by deadline. I really must do this. I'm way behind, but I want to complete this project well and leave Korea feeling proud of this achievement.

- treat myself better. Over the last two years, I have let myself go a bit. Simply getting a haircut regularly and going to sleep an hour earlier would help a lot.

- improve my knitting and photography. Yesterday I crocheted a hat using no pattern. I'd like to do more of this, and if possible, write at least one pattern for publication (even if only on this blog). As for photography, I'd like to continue to see myself improve. I'm really enjoying this new hobby.

- get photos printed regularly. This is really embarrassing to admit, but I haven't had photos printed in about two years. It's so easy to get them printed, so I really have no excuse. I need to make a book of Grace's baby photos.

- spend less time on the computer. This is the hardest one. I do enjoy my Internet time after Grace goes to sleep. I love editing photos while checking facebook, flickr, and ravelry occassionally. But I really spend too much time online.

That's it! Happy New Year!

New projects

2010-12-31T22:12:00.007+09:00

I have been in with Grace for the past four days. As I wrote about previously, she's been sick. I love spending time with her, but after the third day in sitting around, fetching her milk and warming up her miyokguk, I start to get bored (and stressed -- my work isn't doing itself). So yesterday I decided she needed a new hat. The one she's been wearing has been giving her a rash on her forehead. It's a tad too tight, and a really cheap acrylic yarn, so I think it's got to go... into a box, I mean. I keep all the stuff I make for her. It was good for a few photos, anyway. This is the one. I don't think I did a post on it.

Grace doesn't allow me to use the computer, so I couldn't look up a pattern. So I got out some old yarn and started crocheting, trying the hat on her as I went. It's definitely not perfect, but I think it's cute, and it's very soft, so I'm sure it won't irritate her skin.

I'm now working on a knitted stuffed elephant. My mom brought me a Knit Simple magazine when she visited me over two years ago. I was expecting Grace at the time and we both agreed the elephant was the cutest pattern in the magazine. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear I'm finally getting around to knitting it. It will be really cool if I can still read the pattern by the end of it, because Grace likes scribbling in it as I knit.

Sick of sickness

2010-12-30T23:12:00.003+09:00

Grace is sick again. Ear infection and mild tonsilitis. I'm starting to get really tired of this. Last winter I endured with the thought that she is building up a strong immune system. However, I thought the illnesses would have tapered off by now. It seems she is rarely well for more than a week at a time and then she's coming down with something else. Not only do I hate seeing her sick, but it really messes with my work schedule. I am so far behind, I'm not sure what to do. Let's just say January is going to be a pretty messy month. And then there will be February. And I will buy myself a nice gift. I'm thinking a new lens. But really, why is she sick so much? She does not seem to be unhealthy. She eats and sleeps well. I posted about my frustration in my Facebook status update and a friend had an interesting story to tell. She said that her son was also constantly sick from being at daycare. Then she switched daycares and her son was well for four months straight. So that got me thinking. Anyway, I think I might take her out of daycare in February, a little earlier than planned.Speaking of lenses, I've fallen back in love with my 35mm prime lens. After shooting with my Tamron 17-50 for a few weeks straight and then switching back, the quality is very much noticeable. So much so, that I'm considering selling the Tamron to add another prime to my collection. I'm thinking a 50 1.4 or 85 1.8... or who knows? I think I'm a prime person, that's all I know.

Thoughtful Christmas

2010-12-26T14:46:00.002+09:00

We had a really nice Christmas out in Uijeongbu. It was Grace's second Christmas, but the first she could appreciate a little. I suppose next year will be the first Christmas when she can understand more of what it's about (what's it about again?).

We got up, opened gifts and sat around a long time. I talked to my parents, my brother, my grandmother (who is a whopping 93 years old!), and my sister. Grace refused a nap due to the excitement, so we got cleaned up and went to a nearby meat restaurant. We followed that up with a snowman cake and "Follow that Bird" (maybe the tenth viewing this week). I was exhausted and went to bed at 9:00. I'll probably post some pictures later.

But for the last few days, I have been deep in thought about everything: the meaning of Christmas, my life thus far, the changes to come in the new year, what and who is important to me and why, and what I'm all about. I've been thinking way too much maybe, but I am looking forward to making some changes in my life in 2011. It think it's going to be a very important year for me and my family.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T21:55:00.002+09:00

I had a reasonably productive day today. I finished a book last night (had to stay up very late to do so), and decided to take today to get the place cleaned up for Christmas. Sejin and I went to Costco this morning. It was a zoo, but we got what we needed (mostly cheese and deli meats) and got out. It was ridiculously cold! But at least we have good stuff to eat this weekend.

After Sejin went to work I cleaned the place up, so I am free to kick back and relax now. I think I might work on the stuffed elephant I am making for Grace. It doesn't feel like Christmas Eve at all.

No words

2010-12-23T23:21:00.002+09:00

It's been another weird holiday season for me. Christmas in Korea is always a bit strange. I try not to get too excited about Christmas here because then I'm let down.

The winter has been hectic so far with lots of book writing and Grace has been sick a few times. I'm just barely staying on top of things. Well, to be honest, I'm pretty stressed out. And when I get stressed out, I don't sleep well, and I tend to put off doing the important things and waste my time doing stupid things. So I've been in a kind of "poor me" slump for a few weeks. I'm tired.

I found out yesterday that a friend of mine's fiance passed away. I don't know her well anymore. She lives down in Suwon. We didn't keep in touch, but remained facebook friends. The last time I saw her was at a bbq when I was expecting Grace. Apparently, her fiance died suddenly, and I'm not sure of the circumstances yet. One of the last posts on her facebook wall before J's death was about being so excited for their wedding in the Dominican Republic in January. They'd been together years and had traveled the world together. They were inseparable, really, and very nice people. Anyway, I just can't stop thinking about how she must be feeling right now, with J passing away so suddenly a week before Christmas and a month before their wedding. It makes all my stress and problems seem so silly. I really feel terrible for her. Her mom is on her way to Korea. I just can't get this out of my head.

Sejin's grandfather is also in the hospital. I'm not sure what happened, but he injured himself somehow. Sejin might have to go to the countryside to see him this weekend.

My uncle is also spending Christmas in the hospital fighting cancer, after having had many exhausting treatments, including stem cell transplant.

I've been thinking of these people lately and try to remember to tell myself to shut up whenever I think I have it so bad.

Please pray for them.

That hurt

2010-12-19T20:58:00.003+09:00

It really hurt having to cancel my Christmas party we had planned for today. Grace came down with the flu Thursday night and I thought it might be through by today, but it dragged on a bit longer than usual. I ended up canceling the party yesterday and luckily I was able to cancel the big roast beef dinner I had ordered for the event. It was really sad. I have no other Christmas fun planned. Grace and I had matching snowman shirts for the party (really cute) and I was looking forward to seeing my friends and their little ones. *sigh* These things happen, I suppose.

So we spent today lolling around the apartment. Grace watched Christmas Eve on Sesame Street for the 18th time and I started knitting her a stuffed elephant. I'm glad she's getting better. Back to the grind tomorrow. I'm behind on my book writing and really need to catch up.

Exciting

2010-12-16T14:11:00.002+09:00

I just looked into our little spare bathroom (which we don't use) at a small pile of Christmas presents in there for Grace. I'm so excited for Christmas morning when she can open them up. Really looking forward to that. I have no idea what else we're doing on Christmas Day. It's not a big holiday in Korea. It's more like Valentine's Day -- a day for couples to go out for dinner and a movie and exchange a gift. The popular restaurants and shopping areas are usually jam packed. Two years ago, SJ and I and another couple went to VIPs steakhouse on Christmas Day. Myself and Seyoung were nearly 40 weeks pregnant and we had to wait a while for a table. I'm not sure if we'll venture out this Christmas Day, but it would be nice to get outdoors to do something.

Must wrap those gifts before she finds them.

Ah, one of those days

2010-12-14T21:55:00.003+09:00

Nothing really bad happened, but you know those days when little things happen and add up to make you really ticked off? I must have been giving off a "look at me" vibe today because every group of middle school students that passed me felt a need to say "hello" and giggle to their friends. Seriously, what is the big deal? Finally, as I was on my way home from working at the cafe tonight, a high school boy said hello and laughed quietly as I walked by and I stopped, turned to him, and said in Korean, "Do you know me?" He replied, "No." Me: "Shut up." It's not like me to do that. I'm a very mild person, but sometimes you've just had enough. Just to be clear, I'm happy to chat with Koreans who approach me respectfully to have a conversation, which happens often. But the mocking I don't like.

Speaking of cafes...I felt a really strong need for a scone today, but Starbucks was packed -- no empty seats at all. There's not too many options around here. No Coffee Bean. I've been served many terrible coffees at Dunkin Donuts. Mister Donut, not comfy enough. So I decided to go to Kyamos, a nice little roastery in a back street in downtown Uijeongbu. They had no food available on their menu. Everything sold out. I was disappointed. So I ordered a cup of today's brew (smaller than average cup of coffee for 4500 won) with milk, to look at the receipt and see they were charging me 5000 won -- an extra 500 won for the milk! So disappointing.

Of course, I had to wait 10 minutes outdoors freezing for my train home. Picked up Grace at daycare and was told she bit one of the babies. Nice.

Not a terrible day, but not a good one. I did order the food for the get-together I'm having this weekend, and I mailed my Christmas cards. I wrote a unit for the book I'm working on.

Scary Santa

2010-12-14T11:49:00.003+09:00

We took Grace to a Christmas event put on by the German Embassy in Seoul on Sunday. I knew it wasn't going to be that great, but seriously, we had nothing to do. Grace had been indoors the entire day on Saturday and wanted to get out. Costco and Homeplus are zoos on Sundays, and I've become disappointed in my local kids cafe, so what else is there? So I bundled up little Grace (it was really really cold) and we headed for Seoul on subway.When we arrived, we took a quick tour of the entire set up, which stretched an amazing 20 meters. There was German food, beer, and wine, and some Christmas crafts. I would have taken more pictures, but Grace had a meltdown after meeting Santa. She clung to me like a cat and actually did not respond to us for a little while after. She was very deep in thought. Since Sunday she has repeatedly told us (in Korean), "I don't like Ho-ho." We ended up leaving the event after about 15 minutes and had lunch at a Japanese restaurant. Since Grace enjoys eating above all else, this was the perfect way to put the encounter behind us.

Afternoon in Seoul

2010-12-06T22:12:00.002+09:00

We went out today to meet friends for lunch in Seoul today. Actually, I had not met Violaine in person before. She was introduced to me on Facebook by another friend. She, her Korean husband, and two children (3 and 7 months) had been living in China for several years. They are stopping briefly in Korea to visit with her husband's family before moving to France, where she's from. She seemed very excited to be moving home, and it was nice to see our current situation reflected in theirs. Violaine did not like living in small town China. She said it was very difficult starting a family there. According to her, the birth options are even more bleak than in Korea, and she ended up having her second son at home, unassisted. She said the hospitals were that bad. And she's one to do her research. She visited Korea and met with Dr. Chung and liked the idea, but decided against it due to overbearing in-laws. I think she's pretty brave for staying in China to have her baby... I think I would have gone back to my home country had I been in her situation. Luckily, everything turned out for the best. Then, she had a lot of trouble with finding reliable childcare. Apparently in small towns there, authorities turn a blind eye to many things, including sexual abuse, which actually happened in her town, and at her son's school. When her husband's employer cut their family's health insurance off, they decided it was time to leave. I'm glad I have no terrible stories like that to take with me as I leave Korea. In general, I have been treated very well here and while starting a family here has been challenging, it hasn't been all that bad. There are certainly many things I will miss about living in Korea. I will share them in another post.

It will be interesting to see how Vio does as she adjusts to life in France after so long away from home. She and her husband have been submitting resumes online for some time, but zero responses. I asked her if she had considered living in Korea, but no...the over-bearing in-laws.

As for our move to Canada, it's still in the works, but I am not focusing on it at the moment. I want to complete my writing contract to the best of my ability. Applications are easy in comparison.

Christmas Decs

2010-12-04T14:59:00.003+09:00

These are so easy they don't really even deserve a post, but here they are anyway.

What I've learned from Flickr

2010-12-03T22:15:00.002+09:00

Flickr is a site for photographers to upload and share their photos. It's been invaluable to me in learning about cameras, lenses, and photography in general. Every camera, lens, and photographic style out there has its own group where members discuss related issues and post photos to the pool. There are some really good photographers hanging out over there willing to give sound advice.

But you can also see some funny stuff. People (especially guys) love talking about gear. They love discussing what they have, why it's better than what other people have, and what they want to have. They also love talking about complex lighting setups. It seems the more lights you can put on sticks, the more you can impress people. And the more numbers you can throw in your description, the better. I love it when I see a plain bad photo, and the photographer has gone through the trouble of detailing his lighting set up below the picture (50mm f2, one YN-460II 1/2 power shoot-through umbrella camera left, one SB600 3/4 power .... bla bla bla....).

What I love most is when someone posts to a group and says something like this (and this happens just about every day): I'm thinking of starting a portrait photography business out of my home. Can someone tell me what kind of lighting setup I need? This is my budget: $XXXX. Hmmm. Don't you think it would be a good idea to learn about studio photography and lighting on your own or through a class before you start up that business? I find it hilarious.

What I've found since I started reading flickr a few months ago is that a lot of people out there consider themselves good enough to be professional photographers right about after they take their camera out of the box -- and they're not. Just 'cause you have a fancy new camera doesn't mean you know enough or are good enough to start a photography business. I read the most hilarious post yesterday. A woman made a "HELP!" post to a child photography group explaining this nutty situation. She's trying to fill a client's order of a 11X16 of her favourite shot -- only thing is, it's printing blurry all the time. Her file is only 72dpi and she's wondering why it's blurry! She's shooting JPEG, obviously not even on the highest quality settings (chances are she doesn't even know her camera's menus) and she's charging people. Naturally, there are no photos available to be seen in her photostream.

I don't know why I'm posting about this. I guess because I was just browsing flickr for a while as Grace was falling asleep and saw some funny stuff. The Seoul Photo Club group is great because it has a "post one pic, critique two pics" policy. I often get sound critiques which is what I'm looking for.

Fingerless Mitts

2010-12-02T11:15:00.004+09:00

Finished these up a couple of weeks ago. They are so simple, fast, and functional. I wore them out to the cosplay event and found them handy for keeping my hands warm while still allowing me to take photos. This would be a good pattern for a beginner because they are knit flat and then sewn up the side. If I made them again, I would knit them in the round to avoid seaming. Here is the pattern.
By the way, that's a Starbucks toffee nut latte in the cup on the table -- don't get it. I like sweet things and this was even too sweet for me. And it cost more than my bowl of dolsot bibimbap I'd had ten minutes earlier.

I started a Christmas hat for Grace last night, but am still unsure how it will turn out. I have issues with sizing hats. I'd like to get this done in time for a Christmas event we're going to on the 10th which involves German sausages, waffles, and pictures with Santa.

What I learned about photography II

2010-11-29T22:11:00.006+09:00

My friend Angela was kind enough to invite me along to a cosplay event in southern Seoul on Sunday. I'm not into Japanese animation at all, but the lure of taking interesting photos and getting out on my own for a day won me over. We had a wonderful chat all the way from Chang-dong to Yangjae about everthing from photography (we are both new but eager DSLRers) to the North Korea situation. It's so great to get out once a week on my own and do something fun.

Anyway, we finally made it to the event, ate some street food, and started shooting. I had no idea how many people are so into this animation...to the point that they dress up like this once a month for these events. Some of the costumes and makeup were very elaborate. We eventually tracked down the members of the Seoul Photo Club. For me, this was good and bad. Good because they're nice guys, some with a lot of experience in photography. Also, due to their experience they are a little more bold when it comes to asking people permission to photograph them. We followed them around a bit and jumped in on their shoots.That's why it was bad, too. With so many people swarming around the subject, it's hard to get in there to get a good, clear shot. You're shooting in a hurry, sometimes with people walking in front of you. But it was great to watch them as well. They were not afraid to direct the cosplayers in how to pose or where to stand. So I picked up a few things from them.

Here's what I learned on Sunday:

1. I shouldn't shoot wide open all the time. For some reason I'm always shooting at the largest available aperature. I guess sometimes this is good, but you don't have to all the time. I think I would have had some sharper photos had I stopped down a bit more.

2. Don't be afraid to ask people to take their photos if you want to. The worst they can say is 'no.' Sunday was a good exercise for me, being a shy person. By the end of the afternoon, I was walking up to people and asking them to pose for me. Don't be afraid to tell people, especially at such an event, how to pose.

3. Look for more interesting angles. Angela is pretty good and seeing different, more interesting angles. I need to work on this.

4. Look for good light. The light was hard to work with on Sunday. It was so bright and there were harsh shadows everwhere. In some of my photos you can see the shadows of other photographers and other things. Not pretty. When trying to find a good angle, you have to look at how the shadows are falling.

5. Use flash. I brought my external flash on Sunday, yet I did not take it out until the last 1/2 hour or so. I don't know why. It was stupid. I should be experimenting and testing it out. When I finally took it out and used it, I was so pleasantly surprised by the results, I was kicking myself all the way home for not using it more. One of the last photos I took and I used the flash to even out the light, and I I think the results were good:6. Don't be so hard on yourself. Often I go out expecting to bring home jaw-dropping photos, and it just doesn't happen. But so what? As long as I learn something, it doesn't matter. I'm always so hard on myself, in all areas.

7. I need to start shooting in RAW. Angela took the plunge on Sunday and switched over from JPEG to RAW. I need to start doing this so that I can work more with my photos in the editing phase.

8. I'd like to get a good portrait lens next year. Both my lenses are great, but I want something a little longer and portrait-specific. I'm borrowing someone's 85mm 1.8 lens right now, which is supposed to be a good portrait lens, but I haven't had a chance to get out and use it yet. It's too long to use indoors and I didn't want to bring it on Sunday because the owner doesn't have a filter on it, so I didn't want to risk it.

That's all that I can think of right now. I really enjoy photography as a hobby. Whenever I take a bunch of photos, I can't wait to get home and upload them and see if I got any keepers. Since I started uploading photos with my new camera to facebook, people have been asking me what kind of camera I have and what to do... Just get one! Best decision I ever made.

Weekend plans

2010-11-25T23:55:00.003+09:00

I have none. I rarely do. Whenever the weekend rolls around, I think to myself, "I should have made plans to do something fun earlier." I'll often call a friend to see what's up, but usually it's too short notice, understandably. Grace has been coughing today, so I think we're in for a quiet weekend. I might try to do some Christmas decorating. Should be interesting.

The glass is 1/8 full

2010-11-24T21:02:00.002+09:00

...instead of 7/8 empty. I finished book 1 of 8 today, although I still have to type it out. That will be an all-afternoon job for tomorrow.

I'm really glad I made the decision NOT to buy a laptop to do this project. I go to the cafe with only my paper, pens, and reference materials and I have nothing to distract me at all. I don't bring my knitting or mp3 player. I sometimes bring my camera, but only take the odd shot on my way to and from the cafe. I'm kind of proud of myself for being so hard on myself. I am getting to know my strengths and weaknesses and how to deal with them. I'm far too distracted by the internet these days, so it's best not to have that available to me at all when it's time to work.

Why is it so hard for me to focus on this work? My theory is that I'm thoroughly sick of anything ESL related. A career in ESL is definitely not in my future.

Project P&S Photo Rescue

2010-11-24T11:29:00.014+09:00

I've been learning a lot about photo editing, mostly by reading online and good old trial and error. I'm starting to know what I like, and what I don't like. Before, like many people, I'd look at overdone photos and say, "Oh, that's cool" ... "How neat" ... "I love that." But these days I'm looking at photos with a more critical eye....and I'm comfortable with saying, "I don't like that" ... "This photo is way overdone"... or... "This is a bad photo." Of course, a lot is just a matter of taste, but I'm happy to at least to be developing my taste, and hopefully one day, my own style of photography.

I've been thinking about finally getting a baby book for Grace done. At least her first year. I bought a baby book when I was expecting and of course, it's still sitting on the shelf, empty. Well, I think I added some ultrasound photos. Anyway, it's looking less and less likely that I'll ever complete that book. I heard that a lot of people these days do their baby books online and have them printed by companies like shutterfly. I recently got a coupon from a Korean company www.phototo.co.kr. I think this is the route I'm going to go.

In preparation, I have to sort through her first year photos and pick my favourites. I got some decent shots considering the limited abilities of my point and shoot camera. But the quality is low in a lot of the indoors photos. They are really dark and full of noise. Since I've been practicing my photo editing, I thought I would try to fix some up. This little project will take quite a while since I have a lot of photos to go through and rescue, but it will be fun. I'm going to make a photo book for us, my parents, and Sejin's parents.

Here are a couple of samples of what I've done so far. It's hard to see the difference in these small size photos, but in the larger files, you can see that a lot of the noise has been removed from the skin at least, which I think will make a difference when printed.
Actually, these two might be different photos...I guess I decided to go with another one.

What I learned about photography

2010-11-21T13:26:00.002+09:00

So, a friend asked me to take some pictures of her family. I was flattered, because really, I am a far cry from a photographer. It's a growing hobby of mine, but that's about it. I got my DSLR camera to capture great memories of my family and maybe a few neat shots in between. Anyway, I agreed because she's my friend, and because I thought it would be a good experience for me and teach me a few things. I was right. I learned quite a lot.

1. Backgrounds are KEY. The background in a portrait or family shot can really make or break the photo. We went to a place called Herb Island, which is actually quite nice, but it was not an appropriate setting for the pictures. There were too many people around to take wide open shots, and the backgrounds were sometimes tacky and WAY too busy. The lighting in the green houses was difficult for me, an inexperienced photographer, to work with. It was a little chilly outside for little Logan who is only three months old. I should have went to their house and took photos near a window with his blankies and toys...something more traditional. Outdoors would have been nice in the warmer weather in a quieter location.

2. I need to learn about the autofocus settings on my camera. For some stupid reason, I left my focus settings on 3D tracking, which is actually for moving subjects, but my subjects weren't moving. Should have gone with plain old single point. I switched over since then and I have more keepers now.
3. I need to learn how to use my flash and reflector. I love my external flash. I use a mini softbox and bounce it off the ceilings at home. This makes amazing light with no shadows. But I am still unsure about how to use the flash as fill light. I tried a few times, and the photos came out with an orangey cast. As for my reflector, I tried using it to reflect light, but it created even hotter light on their faces. I think I was using it incorrectly, or just in an inappropriate situation. However, it did work quite well for blocking out some harsh light. Must practice some more with it.

4. If I were to do such a thing again, I would have to do some research and compile a list of possible poses. Nearly all of my pictures are of the family sitting on various photo-op benches, chest-up pictures, looking at the camera. I was not nearly daring or creative enough. Some candid photos would have been great. I think this would have turned out a bit differently had we been in a secluded area outdoors, but still, a variety of poses to draw from is always good.

5. I understand why professional photographers charge so much. You really spend most of a day doing something like this, and then you've got hundreds of pictures to go through, choose the best from, and then edit. Editing takes time...many hours...days.

6. My 35mm 1.8 lens is great. More keepers from that lens than the Tamron 17-50. The Tamron is great...it give me more flexibility and I love the wide angle at 17mm, but for quality, the 35mm wins.

This all being said, we got a few good pictures out of it. I'm happy that she has a family picture she likes enough to put on a Christmas card. I just wish there were more shots of baby Logan alone basking in his own cuteness. This would have been possible if we were in his home. Some diaper shots would have been awesome. I'm not really happy with the photos, mostly because of the venue, but I am inexperienced and didn't know any better. At least I learned a lot from the experience.

Christmas with Gmarket

2010-11-19T00:19:00.004+09:00

I recently ordered a few things from gmarket for Christmas. Nothing major, as I'm moving home early next year. Just some cheap, fun stuff I can decorate with and give away or throw out later.

This vendor has cute Christmas card mobiles and some cheesy headbands and earmuffs. I will be taking cute pictures of Grace in snowman earmuffs at some point over the holidays.

This vendor had some of the only good garland I could find. I ordered the green stuff with the white ends, as well as some silver and gold starry stuff.

I'm a fan of gold ribbon at Christmas time. This vendor has some nice sparkly gold ribbon, not to mention lots of other nice embellishments.

Get your cheesy Christmas headbands here. Actually, he's sold out of a lot of things.

That's all I got. Of course I have stuff from previous years to put up, like my sad little tree. Here is my loot:Not really Christmas related, but today I am ordering Grace a winter coat. She's still wearing hers from last year. It's a bit tight and the buttons keep popping open. I had a heck of a time finding a winter coat that looks warm. Most of the coats for little girls that I saw were ultra cute, but didn't look very thick. Anyway, this vendor has some nice stuff that actually looks warm.

I may or may not order a Christmas dress for Grace. I have a hand-me-down dress for her that is cute enough, so I should just stick with that. Perhaps a cute little vest and some leggings to go with it. I most definitely will be ordering her a birthday dress.

Anwyay, thought I would provide some links to some fun Christmas stuff that can be found on gmarket. These days I don't have time to scour Seoul for little things like this, so gmarket does the trick.

Back online

2010-11-17T12:55:00.002+09:00

And that's not necessarily a good thing.

In a previous post I talked about possibly buying a laptop to help me work on my current ESL writing project. While my computer was in the shop, I reflected on my own habits, and decided that buying one would not help me at all. In fact, it would be counterproductive. When I'm in front of a computer, I can't seem to resist checking my email, Facebook, Ravelry, etc. It eats up time, and I don't have much time to spare.

It was amazing, not having a computer around to lure me in. I knitted a pair of mitts and worked at sewing up my cardigan. I did my work on paper at the cafe. I did more laundry than usual.Yesterday, the comptuer came back, and I literally spent an entire day reorganizing (repairman installed Windows 7), reinstalling programs, uploading photos, and wasting time online. If I were to take a laptop out to do work, there's no doubt in my mind I would waste time there, too -- not to mention waste money on a 5000 won coffee.

Geez, I feel so weak just reading this. I wonder if other people are a slave to the internet, like I am.

Well, I'm going to grab my notebook and pencil case and leave the house while I still have a few hours to work until I pick up little Grace.

Computer-less

2010-11-15T16:23:00.002+09:00

My computer totally broke down on Thursday morning. The guy said it was in bad shape, but the information was not lost. It's in the shop.

So I've been without a computer for almost five days now. It's been strange. I used to spend so much time online...too much. I will admit, there have been times in the last few days I have felt lost, but in general, it's nice not to have the internet sucking away my time. For the last two nights, I've been sewing up my cardigan, which should have been done a long time ago. If I didn't need a computer for my work, I'd be tempted to cut off the Internet all together.

I'm in a PC room feeling my health deteriorate by the second. It's dark, smoky, and the worker just served me the most disgusting cup of coffee I've ever tasted. The worst part is there's some dad in here with his little kid. Why would you do that to your child?

I have several posts to make when my computer is back up and running, so you'll see me again soon.

Shutterfly Holiday Photo Cards

2010-11-10T11:46:00.008+09:00

I first heard about Shutterfly about five years ago from my best friend, Meg. After our trip to Australia, she sent me a beautiful magnet featuring us petting a koala at a sanctuary. It's still on my fridge. I'm not sure why I didn't check out Shutterfly then. Maybe it was because I live in Korea, and I always tend to think shipping will be a pain in the neck. But now I know that Shutterfly has convenient shipping to international customers.

Fast forward five years and I'm still living abroad, but now with a beautiful 22-month-old little girl. I do send out cards every holiday season, but this year I really want to share some memories we have made over the past year. I'm thinking holiday photo card. Actually, I was thinking the same thing last year, but I was extremely busy this time 2009 with writing an ESL book, caring for an infant who wouldn't sleep at night, and worrying about a husband in the hospital. So I've decided this is the year to send out a beautiful Christmas card to our friends and family. This is made even more exciting by the fact that I recently purchased a DSLR camera and actually have good quality photos to share.

The problem is: which photo layout to choose?! There are hundreds to choose from! I kind of like the simple single photo style, but then you're limited to one photo, so it'd better be a good one. Since I have so many photos of Grace that I love, I'll probably choose a multi-photo layout. Here are some of my top picks. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know which one you like best.Some things to keep in mind when creating a card on Shutterfly. Once you're a member, you can create and save several photo cards. I've already been in there fooling around with possible layouts and photos. I just save the project and then I can return to it at any time, or compare it to another card. Also, you can do some minor editing of photos when you're working on the card. For example, you can change the crop on a photo, change it to black and white or sepia, boost the saturation, or add slight blurriness (more like a glow). So don't worry about preparing your photos to perfection before you start making your card. Just upload your photos to a Shutterfly album first, and then you can add them to a card and alter them there.

I'm really excited about getting and sending out my personalized Christmas cards. Time is ticking and it's getting a little late to order and send out holiday cards internationally, but I think that my friends and family back home would rather get a beautiful Christmas card with photos in January than get a store-bought card in December. Anyway, I suspect if I order soon and send them out right away, they will arrive in time for Christmas.

One final note: I think these types of cards are even more relevant to expat families, since their families back home are missing out on so many beautiful memories. This way, you can share memories in such an elegant way. And in this digital age when so few people actually get their photos printed, it's so nice to have a tangible keepsake from friends and family. For the past two years, Karen has given me a photo card of her family and they are now in my photo album. People will not toss out these cards in January!

Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source. This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly.

More changes

2010-11-09T16:39:00.003+09:00

Here is an update post on little Grace, who is getting bigger every day. What prompted me to make this post is seeing all kinds of changes in her recently.

This may seem hard to believe, but she went to bed Friday night and woke up Saturday a really different little girl. She definitely hit some kind of big development leap. Starting Saturday, she has had really high energy and has been really interested in everything. She suddenly wants to do everything herself, and says so. She has been eating like a trucker. She is putting more words together, in both languages. She gets frustrated really easily and has thrown some tantrums over silly things. For example, she spent a long time "helping" me hang up wet clothes, and when there was no more to hang, she threw a giant tantrum. She sat on the swing by herself for the first time on Saturday (usually she sits on my lap). She fell off twice (thud) and didn't cry. She likes to talk about people and experiences that have happened in the past. She keeps talking about how she fell off the swing. She talks about her uncle who brought a cake over on Sunday. She'll tell me what she ate for breakfast. She doesn't seem as keen on TV and has been taking more interest in her books again. She is saying hello/annyonghaseyo to random people on the street. She also likes to tell them that I made her hat. She is allowing me to shampoo her hair again, as long as we talk about all the animals that also shampoo their hair.

Quite seriously, a lot of this has just happened since this past weekend. She has been really happy, on a high almost, but at the same time she has a short temper, so watch out. I suppose she is just getting to know herself and is excited about all the things she can do by herself now. I suspect it's also a little growth spurt. It's been really cool, but exhausting. I guess this is what having a toddler is like.

Time for some changes

2010-11-05T16:15:00.004+09:00

I had my heart set on going home, and now I am not. However, I've been offered a great opportunity, so I have to try to focus on the good. I'm getting jobs that thousands of other ESLers would love to have a shot at. Yes, some of it is because of my visa status, but I have spent the last few years slaving away on writing and editing contracts that don't pay very much. Finally, my hard work has paid off and I have the chance to work with a more prestigious company. That is good.

Problem is, my morale is down. I've been looking forward to a change of scenery, lifestyle, career...everything. So instead of moping about it, I'm going to have to suck it up and start appreciating what I have right now: a fantastic job, a beautiful family, and life in a dynamic country like Korea (it's not always "good" dynamic, but it certainly is dynamic). I need to get my morale up in order to stay on top of the demanding workload I have ahead of me for the next two months.

Working from home is not as great as it sounds. You get lazy, you get distracted, and then you get down because you got lazy and distracted. Then you stay up really late doing the work you should have done during the day. I consider myself a fairly self-disciplined person, but over the last few years, my productivity has gone way down. I'm going to have to fix that, pronto. In reality, although the workload is great, I should be able to get my work done during the day so that I can recover in the evening.

My plan is to make a very detailed work schedule with many tiny deadlines. I also plan to buy a laptop computer so I can do work outside the home (thank goodness for the 10% pay advance on contract signing!). My ultimate goal is to do my work Monday to Friday, during the day, leaving my evenings and weekends free for relaxation and early bedtimes. I would also like to take a weekend trip out of town with Grace to see a friend. Think I can pull all this off? Stay tuned...

Life is strange

2010-11-05T00:30:00.003+09:00

It is. I'm not superstitious or religious, but sometimes things happen that make me go, "huh?"

I had decided 100% that I was going to leave Korea by November or December. I had finally, after many years, made up my mind. Then, today, I'm in Seoul talking over a contract with a major international publisher for fantastic money (think about 5 times what Korean publishers have paid me). So I'll be here 'til February.

And then what? I know that I definitely want to live in Canada. But what if there is more incredible work with that or other publishers? Head home to tough it out, or stay longer and make the wons in hopes of someday getting in at a Canadian office?

One thing at a time. This project I'm taking on is quite a lot of work, and I have to do it well. I get down to work on Monday.

In contrast to my complicated life:Oh, to be a kid again!

Halloween

2010-11-05T00:25:00.004+09:00

I didn't do a post for Halloween.

We had a nice time out at Children's Grand Park. It wasn't very Halloween-y though. Grace had fun looking at the animals and of course, collecting the candy, which is still being rationed at one per day after dinner. Although this morning she managed to find her candy bag while I wasn't looking and got a mouth full of candy corn.

Happy Birthday to me

2010-11-03T12:18:00.007+09:00

I really didn't see this birthday coming. I'm not doing too much. I'm going to go and get my haircut and meet Sejin at Outback for a late lunch (he got a gift certificate on his birthday in September). I have to write a teacher's guide unit tonight, and I really don't want to. I'd love to goof off and do some knitting. So many unfinished projects.And if I'm still in Korea for my next birthday (not a high probability), I will be requesting that Gerry make me this cake I saw here.

Hectic-ness

2010-10-30T21:14:00.004+09:00

One of those days.

I hate how Sejin has to work Saturdays. It just seems so wrong when he goes to work at noon, I look at Grace and say, So now what? What to do to amuse ourselves in Uijeongbu on a Saturday afternoon with no car?

We started our day at the doctor's. It was beyond packed...as in no seats available and people waiting outside. Somehow, we got in fairly quickly. Sejin suspects they sent us in early. The nurses and receptionists dote on Grace, bring her behind the reception desk, give her candy, take her picture, all that. So we got in quickly and got Grace her flu shot. I have no idea what technique the doctor is using to administer these shots, but the last two times, she has not cried at all -- not even a whine. She gets her Pororo bandaid and lollipop (this seems to be her main concern), says good-bye to the doctor, and off we go. It's really unbelievable. She did realize it happened because shortly after she pointed at her arm and said something. I asked if it hurt and she said yeah. I guess she's just a tough one.

Then Sejin left for work (that's when Grace did cry) and we went home for lunch and naptime. After she finally went down, she slept for 2.5 hours, which is a bit strange. She got up and I realized that tomorrow is the big Halloween get-together at Children's Grand Park. I could have easily picked up a bag of mini chocolate bars to hand out, but I wanted to put in more effort, so I loaded Grace in the stroller and off we went to Lucky Mart. It's almost impossible to find Halloween goods in Korea unless you're in Itaewon or a party goods store in Namdaemun, so I knew there would be nothing in Uijeongbu. I managed to find some cellophane bags and orange ribbon, and of course, candy. It was after I got home that I realized I had left the cellophane at the store.

I didn't give up. I cut up some hanji paper and taped it together into bags. They look so ghetto, but I don't think the kids will mind. It's more fun to open a little bag of treats than just get a candy, I think. We'll see.

The house is a disaster and Grace has been giving me trouble sleeping this past week or two. She wants me to sing song after song and gives me every excuse in the book for getting up. I'm just exhausted. I try not to get worked up about it because she tends to have a little sleep upset every month or so and then goes back to normal. Who knows what goes on in their minds. When I just went into her room she seemed to be telling me something about a bug flying around. Or maybe she was talking about the praying mantis we saw at the playground today. I'll be happy when she can express herself better.

That is quite an incoherent blog post, but I'm going to leave it as it is and get some work done while I can. Big day tomorrow.

By the way, does anyone know what these berries are? I know embarrassingly little about plant life. I thought this tree was so pretty, so I parked Grace in front of it and took a picture.

Following Through

2010-10-27T21:46:00.003+09:00

I've been procrastinating worse than ever these days, and with the amount of things I have to do, I really can't afford to. So I've been listening to quite a lot of self-help audio books in an attempt to get myself pumped up in order to do what I've got to do. Problem is, they work for a very limited amount of time. I turn off my mp3 player resolved to do everything I need to do right now, feeling like I can take on anything and succeed. Later that night, I'm eating Pringles and Facebooking rather than working on the book I should be writing (Sejin: do not get chips in the Homeplus order ever again).

The most recent selection I've been listening to is a one hour interview with psychologist Steve Levinson who wrote "Following Through." I really like his ideas. The premise of his book (which I haven't read yet) is that we are simply flawed as human beings when it comes to following through. We are really good at creating good intentions. We know what is best for us and what we should do. But it is a design flaw that prevents us from actually doing. Unlike the squirrel who frantically gathers and stores nuts in preparation for winter without wasting any time, we almost always choose to do what feels good right now, until there is a compelling reason to do otherwise. Since we are flawed and have this natural tendency to procrastinate, we have to find ways to trick ourselves into getting things done. I haven't finished listening to the whole interview yet, but I thought this was an interesting and funny story:

He describes a man he knew who decided he needed to get up a half-hour earlier (at 5:30 a.m.) every morning in order to do some studying he could not fit into his day. He tried, but of course, he could not get up earlier. So he set an alarm clock in his room for 5:30 a.m., and set another clock in his children's room for 5:35 a.m.. Every morning, he knew that if he did not get up at 5:30 and rush to his children's room to turn off their alarm, they would wake up cranky and his wife would be furious. This worked.

I like this guy's approach better than the typical self-help books out there because he does not appeal to your emotions like they do. It's comforting to think that this is a problem we all share. I'm not perfect and I can't do anything I set my mind to, like Tony Robins says I can. But I can take calculated measures to improve my productivity, which will feel rewarding in itself and lead to more productivity.

I can do something like, for example, end this blog post.

Last Class

2010-10-27T21:14:00.004+09:00

I finished teaching my last ESL class at 6:40 p.m. I really do not enjoy teaching ESL, so I was happy to be done. But at the same time, I was a bit sad to leave my students. I have these protective feelings about them because they've come so far with me. I'm not the best ESL teacher in town, but I was able to help each of them improve in some way. The teacher they had before me was terrible, and many of the kids were confused about the basics. Now I feel that they each have a much firmer grasp of English conversation and grammar. Some of them had really low confidence about speaking English, and now nearly jump out of their seats to answer each question. So, I had mixed feelings about leaving them. But I must move on. I have an entire teacher's guide to write in the next week and then I have to decide on what to do with eight years worth of stuff. Oh yes, and the application.
A few of my favourite pics of my students.

Plunged

2010-10-25T21:56:00.002+09:00

The temperature has plunged. It's freezing.

Well, I guess the first really cold day always feels freezing. I really wish Grace didn't have an aversion to blankets. So much as drape one over her and she goes nuts. She'll be wearing multi-layer pajamas to bed this winter, Korean style.

It feels like fall just got here and it's already on the way out!

Finished project

2010-10-24T00:07:00.004+09:00

A very short and sweet project. I love Grace's fall jacket, but it has a wide open neckline (something I didn't consider when I purchased it at Mesa in Dongdaemun). The temperature is supposed to take a plunge next week, so I thought I'd better hurry up and make her a scarf. If it drops that much, I may have to dig out her old winter jacket to see if it still fits (I bought it big last year).We've really been enjoying the lovely, comfortable fall weather these days... cool enough for a jacket, but no need for hats, mitts, etc. It's easy to take my camera out in this weather too, because I'm not lugging around extra weight in clothing. I took lots of photos of Grace today. I think I've said this before, but child photography is really tough. Over a few hours of outside play today, I can count the times on one hand she looked at the camera. Of course, "looking at camera" shots are not always necessary or the best, but it seems as if most of my shots are of her back, or a motion blur. Oh, and I lost my lens hood somewhere down by the river. *sigh*

Aaaah

2010-10-18T22:11:00.002+09:00

That's a sigh of relief that Grace is recovering from a very intense illness. I still cannot believe she had a high fever for over 5 days. I didn't even think that was possible. Her fever came down on Saturday and she developed a bad runny nose and her lungs were clogged, but she is looking a lot better today. The doctor was pleased with her recovery when we saw him this morning. Grace even went to bed happily tonight. She can breathe! We can both breathe!

Dealing with a sick child of Grace's age is very difficult. She cannot express herself effectively and does not understand why she is so uncomfortable. She does not understand why I torture her with by going to the doctor and taking medicine. She does not understand when I say, don't sleep like that because it's harder to breathe that way (she sleeps with her bum up in the air with her head on her pillow).

So, life is almost back to normal. Now I just have to write a book in a week!

Write-off week

2010-10-13T21:51:00.003+09:00

Grace has tonsillitis. She's had a fever for exactly three days now. Surprisingly, she's not in such a bad mood. A little clingy and sleepy, but when she's up she's not that grumpy. I've been letting her lay on my pillow on the floor and watch her favourite show, "Boong boong ee." I just can't refuse when she looks at me and says in a hoarse little voice "poong poong." I've been taking her out for walks in the stroller because she enjoys looking around even though she does not have much energy to play. I really hope she starts coming around tomorrow. Not only do I want her back on her feet, but I have the publisher breathing down my neck right now, needing more material. There's not much I can do, though. I have this time after Grace goes to bed, but she's waking up so often coughing and feverish, every time I start writing I get interrupted and it just seems pointless. Plus, I'm so tired, because she's up countless times during the night. My brain is foggy. I'm just going to have to work extra hard once she's better to get back on track.

I finished a knitting project last night. I worked on it mostly on the bus and train, and just finished up the decreases and stem and leaf last night. I think it's really cute. I was worried Grace wouldn't like it because she refused to put it on at first, but she actually let me put it on her when we went out today. It's really not cold enough for it, but I just wanted a few pictures. Now that I got that little project out of my system, I really should finish up some works in progress.Remember Flora Dress? It took me a couple months to knit it, so I thought I'd better not leave it sitting in the dresser. I layered it over a long sleeve T-shirt with some tights and it still looks cute. After those works in progress are done, I'd really like to knit Grace a little sweater vest or something quick. And another hat I have in mind.Some people have asked about our plans to move to Canada. It's still on, but I've had to focus on priorities for the time being. Grace is sick, book to write, teaching 'til the end of the month. Application work is slow going for now, but will hopefully pick up again next week when Grace is well again. I have a feeling this is going to be a week-long kind of sickness.

Balancing the Hobbies

2010-10-09T20:12:00.003+09:00

I seem to have added photography to my list of hobbies. I'm having a lot of fun with it. But I have not knitted or crocheted since I started reading about photography in August. Even Sejin commented to me the other night, "I haven't seen you knitting lately." So last night I decided I'd better get back on track with my stitching. I'm about 99% done my cardigan and bag, and there are countless things I want to knit. This is the time to do it, too, since the cold weather will be here soon. So last night I cast on a Halloween knit for Grace.

I went to a lighting seminar in Seoul today put on by the Seoul Photo Club. It was really informative, although I was disappointed to have to leave early. The meeting was 2pm, but some people came late, and then the initial introduction to off-camera flash took a long time to get through. By the time we started the practical part, it was just about time for me to go. The sun was setting and I had an hour trip back to Uijeongbu. But it was worth going to, and it was nice to meet other hobbyists of varying experience.

What I'm finding is the only downside to photography as a hobby is that it can get fairly expensive. I think my best bet is to keep working with what I have until I find I actually have the opportunity or need to work with a lighting set up. I get the feeling that some people get all kinds of equipment but don't necessarily need it. Seriously, how often do you have the time to set up a flash on a stand with umbrella? If you're doing someone's portrait, sure, but day-to-day, no.

One thing I am feeling the need for is a zoom lens. The 35mm prime is fantastic, but there have been times when I've had to back up pretty far to get in a scene, or I really wanted to zoom in to catch something. Yesterday, I went to Children's Grand Park with Grace's daycare (I'm still recovering). I was taking a photo of her whole group and I had to back up pretty far to get them all in. Then, we went to the seal show in an auditorium. I couldn't zoom in to get any action. Not a tragedy, but it felt so weird after having a point and shoot for so long to not be able to zoom.

New confidence

2010-10-06T21:02:00.003+09:00

I've been very self-absorbed these days, not hanging out with anyone. If I do have free time, I just feel like being by myself so I can be with my thoughts. I feel weird, like my life is on the brink of a major change. Change is definitely coming, but it may be bigger than I had anticipated. I'm also feeling very confident. In the spring and early summer, I was really beating myself up about time and opportunities wasted. It's just recently that I realized that I'm only 30 and I have many talents and abilities that can be used to secure me a comfortable and enjoyable future. Also, Grace is getting older and therefore it's a bit easier for me to think about things like working, starting a business, taking classes, etc. I actually feel like learning again. It's great.

Sejin and I have a date tomorrow morning to see how his end of the application work is coming. Of course, the damned applications are taking longer than I thought they would. No surprise there. But at least they're getting done.

I'm still obsessed with my camera. Can't wait for the flash seminar on Saturday. Here is a little crocheted thing-a-ma-bob I made about a month ago. I stiffened it with glue. I might stick in on a cell phone charm clasp.

Oops

2010-10-04T23:47:00.002+09:00

This is what happens when you set your laptop on the floor before you go to sleep and don't pick it up in the morning. Trust me, I warned Sejin about this. I think he learned his lesson.

It arrived

2010-10-03T23:20:00.004+09:00

Fittingly, this is the last photo taken with my point-and-shoot:I forgot to post about this, but the much awaited DSLR camera has arrived. It came on Friday, while I was taking a hike with friend G, who came all the way from Suwon. She had an excuse to come to the area because she was buying an item from another expat. We had a lovely time. We ate outside at a restaurant with rickety tables and chairs, and climbed as far as we could before G decided she'd better head back to make the two hour train ride back to Suwon. I haven't had much time to play with the camera yet since we've been busy. I took it out on Saturday morning to a kids cafe, but I was still using it on "auto" mode. Grace was sick last night and today, so we've been stuck indoors. I've been dying to take it outside to give it a whirl in good light. But I am fairly impressed with myself, as I have made the jump to understanding how to set aperature and shutter speeds on "manual" mode, and just tonight figured out how to do the metering (have to test that though). I've been using it inside with an external flash and the photos are beyond acceptable. The same photos in low light indoors on my point and shoot are either barely visible with flash off, or washed out with flash on. Problem no longer!

CedarBough's photography and more of my thoughts

2010-09-30T15:32:00.008+09:00

In August, my friend CedarBough Saeji was kind enough to come all the way to Uijeongbu to do a photo shoot of Grace. Well, I ended up in more shots that I thought I would due to Grace wanting to jump in the river and climb massive and incredibly dangerous stairs. The pictures turned out fantastic. I couldn't be happier. The only thing I regret is that I look so bad. My hair gets ridiculously frizzy in humid weather and I was suffering from insomnia at the time. I look horrible. Anyway, the focus is on Grace and the she looks so cute. Here are few of my faves. By the way, she's wearing Flora Dress, which I knitted. I think it was perfect for the photos.

She can be reached at cedarbough AT gmail DOT com. I'm not sure if she's into doing more family photos or not, but she can let you know.

I think I mentioned this before, but seeing her do this shoot also inspired me to learn more about photography. She's given me so much valuable advice which I'm thankful for. Also, I've been on flickr nearly every night, poking around in groups and photostreams, finding photos I like and don't like. I'm addicted to looking at the exif info on good photos to see what settings the photographer used. The Seoul Photo Club group has been extremely helpful to me. I've posted questions and received great detailed answers from experienced photographers.

One thing I've seen on flickr that I'm very surprised about is that there are an awful lot of "professional" photographers, like wedding photographers and child portrait photographers that are not very good at all. I've been amazed to see all the poor wedding photos that some photographers post...photos full of shadows, distracting backgrounds, underexposed photos, overexposed photos, etc. I'm definitely not the best critic, but I have to say that if some of those photographers shot my wedding, I'd be pretty upset. It seems to me that some people jump into professional photography too soon, or they get a big head because someone asks them to take photos.

Another thing of great interest to me these days is flash photography. I never thought I would say that. The built-in flash on point-and-shoot cameras is awful, but the on-board flash on DSLRs is much better, and better still are speedlights that can be used on or off camera. I have a cheapie Yongnuo flash right now. I'm looking forward to playing with it and I would eventually like to try to use it off camera. I've been reading strobist.com here and there, and I'm going to try to go to a lighting seminar by the Seoul Photo Club next week. Since I'm such a newbie, I'll probably just watch and take notes. It should be interesting.

It's so exciting to start a new hobby, especially one that will give you long lasting memories like great photos. My camera is still not here. It will arrive tomorrow. As of now I have a lens, a flash, a bag, and other random things, but no body!

Soon enough

2010-09-28T22:29:00.004+09:00

Soon enough I will have my new DSLR. I think Sejin got sick of me asking when we could order it (only he can do all the online stuff in Korean, especially when dealing with large amounts of money). This is what I bought:

Nikon D90 body
Nikkor 35mm f1.8 lens
8GB class 10 memory card
Lowepro sling DSLR bag

I think I made smart decisions. I'm glad Sejin made me wait so long to make the purchase, because over the last month and a half, I changed my mind many times about what to get. I was going to go with a D5000 body. I changed my mind several times about lenses. I settled on the 35mm after thinking hard about my needs and shooting conditions. Most likely, I will be taking lot of pictures of Grace, possibly indoors. This lens is supposed to be fast and performs great in low light. I am not too worried about feeling limited by the lack of zoom right now. First I'm going to focus on getting to know the camera. I will probably purchase another lens next year. I still have my heart set on that Tamron 17-50 with VC, but that's nearly double the price of the 35mm.

Another good thing about waiting is that I've had a chance to fool around with some photoediting. I've learned a lot just by using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. Someday I will learn Photoshop proper, but I'm afraid my time is too limited right now. Photoshop Elements is very new-photographer friendly and still has great results.

One thing I've been doing is practicing using some old photos. It's amazing what some bump in saturation, contrast, sharpness, and a bit of retouching can do!

Strange compromise

2010-09-23T21:57:00.003+09:00

Yesterday was Chuseok, the biggest holiday in Korea. We had to go to Sejin's parents for the celebration. I can't lie. I do not enjoy the Korean holidays. Sejin's parents' apartment is very small and all of his relatives squish in there for the festivities. Me, Sejin, Grace, his parents, brother, grandparents, two sets of aunts and uncles and four cousins. The atmosphere, although lighthearted, is not the same as a western holiday, like Thanksgiving or Christmas. There are huge expectations placed on the women of the family to make massive amounts of food (keep in mind tiny apartment). They are bent over portable hot plates on the floor, frying away. Of course, women also do the cleaning up. The men and children often just sit around watching TV and snacking on fruit and rice cakes. Luckily, I get out of a lot of things. Sejin's mother and aunts operate like a well-oiled machine in the kitchen, and I would just get in the way. There is also a language barrier, and the fact that I have a very young child who even has to follow me into the bathroom these days. Even though I take delight in getting out of these duties, sometimes it really bothers me to see the aunts sweating away (although they seem cheerful doing it) while the men lounge about. Anyway, I just went off on a tangent.

Where was I? Oh, yes. We got through the holidays. Grace had a lot of fun, actually. She has a thing for dressing up these days, so she really enjoyed putting on her hanbok. She was a little entertainer, and no one could get enough of her. But I was very glad to get us back home for a late, but much needed nap yesterday afternoon. We had a nice dinner of Chuseok leftovers and Grace went to sleep easily after blowing me a few kisses from her crib. It was great.
I was looking forward to spending today with just Sejin and Grace, but Sejin had another idea. He wanted to invite his parents for dinner. The conversation went something like this:

Sejin: I was thinking of inviting my parents for dinner.

Me: Uh, no. This is your only day off for quite a while. (He's working seven days a week due to intensive classes)

Sejin: Come on. You're leaving Korea soon. I want my parents to see Grace as much as possible.

Sarah: I understand that. Okay, they come over, I get my new camera next week.

Sejin: It's a deal.

Is that weird? I don't want it to sound like I don't like his parents. It's just that one full day was enough yesterday and I really didn't want them to come over today. We had already been out at Homeplus, I was sleepy, and just wanted a low-key afternoon...maybe a stroll and a light dinner and some TV before bed. Anyway, we came to an agreement.

It just rained

2010-09-23T00:03:00.002+09:00

Yesterday was a really weird day here in Korea. It rained all day long. Of course you've experienced those days when it rains all day, with bouts of pouring with sprinkling in between. But yesterday -- no joke -- it rained torrentially from morning 'til night. The result was over 11 inches of rain. This is even more shocking when you remember that last month was supposedly the wettest August in one hundred years. I've certainly had my fill of rain for this year!

I lied. There was a brief time yesterday, some time around noon when it let up a wee bit and we jumped on the opportunity to take Grace out for a bit of a walk. Yes, it sounds crazy, but when she wants to go out, she really wants to go out. She will make you suffer if you don't take her. We were out for about 20 minutes and it started coming down hard again, so we headed back indoors.

Hat tip to CedarBough for the link to this blog with tonnes of impressive photos of the rain in Seoul yesterday! Wow!

Ball, rolling

2010-09-17T13:57:00.003+09:00

I finally called the woman who owns the business I am interested in. I kept putting it off because the time difference is so great, and whenever I'd think of calling, it was late (or at least late for someone in their 80s). In short, the conversation was good, and we kept things pretty general. I wanted to introduce myself and express my interest over the phone because up until now my sister has been doing the talking for me. Phone conversation is not my strong point, but I think it went pretty well.

Now, not only do I have the urge to throw out everything I own and cut my hair, but I also have the urge to get on the next flight to Toronto so that I can start making things happen. Of course, this is just not possible. I even explained to the woman that I have immigration paperwork to finish for my husband and an apartment to unload. She seemed understanding, but naturally, she would probably like to get things moving sooner than later. I can understand that.

What I really can't wait for is to get there and sit down with a lawyer, accountant, or both and go over her books and see if this is really a good opportunity for us. I'm so helpless over here on the other side of the planet. And when you have this many things going on in your life, it is often hard to set priorities and get things done because you feel overwhelmed. So, here I am writing a pointless blog post.

First thing is first: immigration papers.

I end with a picture of Grace, who just can't wait to get going to daycare every morning. Thank goodness we have that place, somewhere she is safe, secure, and she gets to have fun and socialize. I'm so happy I stuck with the daycare decision.

The urge to purge

2010-09-16T16:19:00.002+09:00

Yesterday evening when I got home from a long afternoon of teaching and Grace was finally asleep, I retired to the computer room, which is slowly being taken over by junk. I hardly had any room to put my sandwich and drink, and had to move stuff off the chair in order to sit down. The printer has been broken for months. I could not find a pen that worked.

Later, when folding and hanging laundry in the bedroom, I realized that most of my clothes in my wardrobes don't fit me. I have a stack of about seven pairs of jeans and pants that I can't even pull up. Looking to the piano, which has become my yarn storage shelf, I saw yarn that I would never knit up -- stuff I had purchased about five or six years ago when I started knitting.

Suddenly, I had this overwhelming urge to throw out about fifty percent of everything in my apartment: the broken old stroller, old bedding, all of my clothes that don't fit, ESL teaching materials I'll never use, toys of Grace's she hasn't looked at in months, cosmetic products I hardly ever use. This stuff adds up and piles up and you don't really notice it until it's overtaking you. Then I had another strange feeling, and that was the urge to cut off my hair, but I thought I'd wait and let a professional help me with that.

I'm very busy these days with book writing, teaching, and application work, but I think I'll have to start clearing out the junk one thing at a time, probably while Sejin's at work since he hates throwing things out.

Sleep.

2010-09-13T21:36:00.003+09:00

I wish I could get more. But these days, I can't blame it on Grace, even if she is giving me a bit of a fight before bed. What happens is, I go to bed too late because I'm up writing the stupid coursebook and doing the stupid applications. Being on the computer for hours has me wired. I try to wind down for bed, but I just can't. I end up tossing and turning for hours, thinking about the silliest little details, like, I must email so-and-so to see if they have an address for that place, or I should check out baggage allowances for such-and-such airline. Stuff that doesn't matter right now, but it still keeps me awake. Sejin has been really great, and has been getting up with Grace in the morning and letting me sleep because he knows I'm not getting much during the night. This move is huge, and it's getting to me.

Tomorrow morning I'm calling the woman who owns the business I am interested in. My sister has been lovely and has been talking to her on my behalf. But it's time I introduced myself to really get the ball rolling. Are you curious yet? Well, I'm not going to give up many details because it may not work out anyway. This business would be great for me, but there's so much involved in taking it over, and this woman is a little on the eccentric side. She kindly wrote out all the financial details of the business in handwriting on a scrap piece of paper and gave it to my sister. Yes...no spreadsheets. She doesn't even do email. The up side is that she's been in business 35 years, so she must be doing something right.

In the event that this does not work out, I've decided that I'm going to go to Canada anyway. It's just time. I think I can make something else work. I'm feeling much more optimistic that I was in the spring.

I'm Learning!

2010-09-10T22:01:00.004+09:00

I've been so frustrated with not having my DSLR camera yet. I really want to try out all these things I've been reading about. Today as I was doing some application work, I spied my Canon Powershot sitting just a couple feet away. Why not? I know that it has some manual settings, and a conversation CedarBough and I had yesterday popped into my head. She was talking about how her husband wants to learn about photography and has a slightly-better-than-average point and shoot camera, but doesn't use it on manual. Well, I have not done much with my camera, either! So I put it into manual and started fooling around. Lo and behold, I can do some cool stuff with it! I didn't even know I could adjust the flash strength, use manual focus, adjust the ISO, adjust the colouring for the type of lighting, and more. Of course, there are still a lot of limitations. I could not use a low f-stop in the dark room I was in, so the shutter speed was so long. I had to hold my breath and hope for minimal shaking. I guess this where a tripod comes in useful. Anyway, I took some practice pics of things on my desk using various settings. I suppose I'll have to learn what I can on my point and shoot until I can get my D5000. (The pictures below are by no means good pictures. Just the results of fooling around with different settings)

Finally...photos taken!

2010-09-09T16:50:00.003+09:00

I finally had someone other than ME take photos of my dear Grace. We would have loved to have gotten studio photos done when she was a baby, but they are not cheap. And to tell you the truth, the bulky knit hats (as much as I love knits), oversized teddy bears, and bad English on the walls doesn't get me excited anymore. I wanted some nice outdoor photos with her (and a few of us) looking natural.

It was almost a disaster, as it started to rain as CedarBough was arriving. But luckily, it did not pour. I think it worked out really well, actually, because it kept people away and the lighting was good. We didn't see many other people as we were taking photos down on the walking path. But I did see how difficult it is to take photos of really young children. They don't understand what you are trying to do, and they certainly don't care what background works better. Kids a little bit older would be easier to photograph because they could follow directions, even if only for a limited time. Anyway, I think it went well and I'm sure my friend got some good shots in. I will share a couple of my faves after she gets me the photos. I'm very, very excited.

After the shoot I took Grace to daycare. I planned on keeping her home today, but she was near total meltdown at 12:30 (nearing nap time) and asking for her friends using signs. As CedarBough said, it's nice that she actually enjoys going there. I was able to go and have a leisurely lunch with my friend and then return home to do some work. I'll have to go and pick her up soon.

The one and only bad thing about today is that it made me yearn even more to get my own DSLR (I will be purchasing the Nikon D5000, and lens choice is still up in the air). Sejin wants me to wait until next month, but I just want to get my hands on my camera so I can test out all these things I've been reading about. I really can't wait.

Application Hell

2010-09-06T10:40:00.002+09:00

That's where I am these days. The stuff is getting done very slowly. It's a big job. The application I'm working on now is taking quite a while because they want start and end dates of the jobs I've worked in the last five years with addresses, phone numbers, and income. For the average ESL teacher, that might be okay, but I've done countless contracts with publishing companies, with teaching on top of that.

On the same application they want the addresses of everywhere I have lived in Korea. This is a tough one. I finally figured out I have had eight addresses here, but I no longer have the first four. I lived in Anyang for only one month, in Icheon Gyeonggi-do for four months, in Mapo-gu near Daeheung Station for one year, and in Ilsan Gyeonggi-do for one year. The first two I definitely cannot get. I could go to Daeheung and Ilsan to get the addresses, but I really don't have the time...and would they really refuse Sejin residency for the lack of a few addresses from over five years ago?

I think I'll have a small party on the day I mail the package to Mississauga.

Another storm?

2010-09-05T14:45:00.004+09:00

I heard a couple of days ago that another tropical storm is headed for Seoul. Unfortunately, it's true. It's supposed to hit Tuesday. It probably won't be as big as Kompasu, but still, I'm sick of the rain. It's raining and thundering right now as a matter of fact. Good thing we took Grace on a little outing this morning because we might be stuck inside this afternoon.

Speaking of Kompasu, I did not realize how many trees it uprooted along our little walking path here. Yesterday I took Grace out for grocery shopping and a walk, and saw lots of debris scattered eveywhere, and quite a few toppled trees. I've never been exposed to any really severe weather, like hurricanes, and I hope I never am. Wee little Kompasu is enough for me.Grace is just adorable these days, but she really has a mind of her own now. She wants to do whatever she wants and doesn't really care if I try to persuade her otherwise. We stopped to look at the river for a while and she couldn't understand why she couldn't just jump in. Then, trying to take her away from the river was even harder. The last straw when when we passed the playground to get to our apartment building. A perfectly nice outing ended in a full-blown tantrum. I guess no one said the toddler years were easy.

See ya, Kompasu

2010-09-02T11:04:00.006+09:00

Violently rattling windows woke all of us up at 5:30am this morning. Grace was scared, and was rolling around in bed with us. Every time the wind picked up she would wimper, jump on me, and say "naning!" (raining). Important to note here is that it was our inside windows that were rattling. The veranda window was closed and the wind was still strong enough to shake them really good. Several car alarms were going the whole time, too. That was annoying. The power went out twice, but luckily it came back on pretty quickly both times.

The best part about it all is that it passed very quickly. A couple of hours and it was calm again. But there is debris all over the ground outside and I saw some men with a large piece of apartment roof in the parking lot. When Sejin took Grace to daycare (yes, after it died down, she just wanted to get the heck out of here) he said there was debris all over, some broken windows, trees, etc.

This was supposed to be a category 2 typhoon. I'd hate to be around for a category three. Right now the news on TV is filled with images of the destruction. Read more here.
I found this video on youtube. Some people cruising around the city streets during the typhoon. Whover the guy is driving should take up storm chasing. He sounds so excited.

Geared up for fall

2010-08-31T22:05:00.005+09:00

I have been looking forward to the fall for months. The summers in Korea are unbearable to me. I'm hoping to have a few cozy knits ready for October. I already have my Swallowtail Shawl ready to go. My vintage cardigan is nearly finished. I'm working on the very last piece. There will be a lot of sewing up to do on this project, though. I haven't taken any photos of it lately because it just looks like a heap of yarn. I was looking at the pattern and trying to find a date, but I just can't find it. Anyone want to take a guess? This is the cover of the book and the pattern photo is below.
A few posts back I mentioned I needed a bus/subway project. I finally found it. I have never crocheted a blanket before. I thought I would not be able to stay interested in it long enough to finish it. But I bought a bunch of yarn at a tent sale at Mary Maxim in Paris, Ontario last time I was home. I'm not sure why I even bought it. I think I did have an afghan in mind because I also bought a Terry Kimbrough book. Anyway, I have maybe twelve balls of this blue stuff I don't even like that much. What else to do with it that make an afghan? In order to keep it small enough to keep in my purse, I chose a squares pattern. This way I only have to carry around a hook and a ball of yarn, rather than half a blanket. I settled on a Drops pattern that was easily memorizable and very "holey." I want this thing to work up fast so that it's done for the first cool day. The pattern calls for twenty squares, but I'm going to keep making them until I'm nearly out of yarn. I'm on square fourteen now.

A lot on my plate

2010-08-31T17:03:00.003+09:00

Things have taken an interesting turn regarding a business opportunity I was looking into in my hometown in Canada. If it works out, this opportunity would be perfect for me. It would be a lot of work, but I'm totally up for it. My biggest problem right now is that I feel so stuck and helpless here on another continent. My sister has been talking on my behalf to the owner of the business I am interested in, and it looks like I am going to be making some phone calls very soon.

I feel very overwhelmed by everything I must do to try to put my plan into motion. First and foremost, I have to get in SJ's application for permanent residence. Otherwise, we cannot send our money to Canada to acquire said business. And even once we get his residency papers, then we have to find new tenants for our apartment, which could take a couple of days, or months. If we succeed in getting his residence, getting rid of our apartment, and getting to Canada, then we have lots of talking with banks and lawyers to see if it if all feasible in the end. And what if it all falls apart before we even get to Canada. That is a possibility as well.

So I am trying to wrap my head around all this while also trying teach, write books, care for Grace, and do all those other little things that come up day to day. I spent over an hour this morning trying to figure out how to save a fillable pdf form. I only wrote one unit when my goal was two. The house is a mess and it's just about time to pick up Grace from daycare. I know it's cliche to say this, but I really wish there were more hours in a day.

Oh yes, and I have several requests for cupcakes and teddy bears since I posted the pics on facebook. Something to fall back on, I guess.

New friend

2010-08-26T15:27:00.002+09:00

I finally made a friend here in Uijeongbu. He has a really cool blog. Lots of great info on Korean culture and great pictures, too. It's nice to know someone else close by. I have lots of great friends in Seoul, but don't see them as much as I would like because the trip in is too far with a toddler. I've been thinking it would be nice to have some friends in town, so here's a start. He, Sejin, and I had sam gyup sal for lunch near Uijeongbu Station. Nice to be out and about with new people even on a dreary, rainy day!

Doilies for inspiration

2010-08-25T20:56:00.004+09:00

I'm afraid I feel another doily kick coming on. I go in spurts with my projects. Sometimes I'm so focused on knitting, then crocheted toys, then baby stuff, etc. Since starting my Jane Austen filet crochet doily I've been feeling the urge to do more doilies. Then I came across a discussion on the Doily Heads board on Ravelry about creative uses for doilies. A lot of good ideas. I love these:

Here is the photos source and the blog post about them. A guy is using his mom's doilies to decorate his pottery. I think they're very pretty.Then there's this artist who is actually using the doilies to imprint designs on her pottery. These are beautiful.I love wasting time at night looking at this stuff.

I thought I would let you all know what my doilies are up to these days. Since Grace has a fondness for them (she calls them "flowers"), I had them put away for the longest time. I started to miss them. I saw a post on another hooker's blog where she had pinned her doilies to the fence outside for a summer barbecue. I thought, I should pin up my doilies, too. So one night I just pinned them to the wall. I think Sejin thought I was losing my mind.

Just amazing

2010-08-24T13:00:00.002+09:00

Was dreading taking Grace for her DPT shot today. As a baby she hardly cried after needles. I'm not sure if she noticed them. As she got older and more aware, she would kick up more a fuss. So, yes, needles are not fun.

So we went in, they got the Pororo band-aid ready and the doctor gave her the needle. She was silent. It was kind of like a scene from a TV show. Me, Sejin, the doctors, nurses, all sitting here looking at her and at each other. No reaction. Waiting. No reaction. She looks at the doctor and says, "Bye-bye!"

So that was that. I guess I put in my time this weekend and she went easy on me today.

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I'm so tired from not getting any sleep at night. I've been waking up in pain due to my injury. Then I can't fall asleep again because I can't get comfortable. Very painful. I think I will take a nap and relax today because tomorrow I teach, and then Thursday I start a new writing project. I'm calling it "Project DSLR" because that's what I might just buy when I'm done.

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I'm working on a filet crochet piece. It's my first filet crochet. I've been wanting to try it for a long time, because I think the larger pieces are beautiful. The one I'm working on is small and just a project I chose to introduce me to the techniques. It's a silhouette of Jane Austen. My other projects are coming along all right. I finished the second sleeve on my cardigan and have to start the collar pieces next. Sadly, I am now without a bus/subway stitching project. To work on something on a bus or train, it has to be a simple so that you don't have to consult a pattern all the time or do a lot of counting or complicated stitches. Mindless stitching. I'll have to choose a project today.

Glad that's over

2010-08-23T10:38:00.002+09:00

What a weekend it was. Not fun at all. I could hardly move my body and Grace had a sore throat and was very cranky. I could not wait for the weekend to end. I don't exactly want to go to work today, either, and it was hard dropping Grace off at daycare because she did not want to go. When she's not feeling 100% she wants to stay home, naturally. It's days like this I just want to quit that teaching job. But this is reality and I must work to put food on the table.

I hope we both recover this week and have an extended period of wellness.

Ouch

2010-08-21T13:12:00.002+09:00

Two days ago I got a grocery delivery from Homeplus. It's awesome having tonnes of heavy groceries delivered to your door for a mere $3. Anyway, on Thursday evening I was moving the groceries from the doorstep to the kitchen when I slipped and fell. There was water on the floor from where the frozen stuff had been sitting. Actually, I didn't fall right down. I grabbed the living room divider to balance myself, but my body ended up twisting in a very awkward way as I went down. I was okay. Then, yesterday, I had a slight pain in my chest. This morning, it hurts to breathe, cough, yawn...pretty much anything. I pulled a bunch of muscles in my torso pretty good. It really hurts. I've experienced this before when I played soccer.

Grace is napping now and Sejin just left for work. I'm kind of worried about the rest of the afternoon because I can't move very quickly, and it's way too hot to play outside anyway. I'm going to have to be creative and give Grace some independent activities. If she gets really bored I'll have to let her watch animal videos on youtube like she did once last month. I hate doing it, but I can't move a couple of inches without wincing. Why, why, why......

Productivity

2010-08-20T21:12:00.003+09:00

I have been procrastinating too much lately and many things are suffering for it. Now that I'm starting a new writing project next week, I'll be busier and have more to accomplish in a shorter time. I don't want to get overwhelmed like last time. In fact, I want to work faster so that I can take on more projects.

With this thought in mind this morning, I got out a brand new planner. I used to use planners (agendas?) a lot before I had a baby. I had one with me at all times. I used it to record meetings, things to remember, money in and out, to-do lists, etc. Now that I have so much on my plate with work, and housework, and caring for a toddler, I can easily feel overwhelmed and I forget things often. So, my planner is my new best friend again.After eating that jjajang rice and drinking that coffee (yes, the fake one, too), I cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the kitchen (including the entire fridge), and made Grace some soup for the weekend. I feel ready to take on this new writing project. Hopefully this feeling lasts more than a week.

I'll end this post with a recently finished project. It's a little teddy bear that I adore. But I am being careful not to get too attached to him as he's going to a new home. He was so quick to crochet up, you wouldn't believe it. It's the sewing together that is the annoying part. This little guy has yarn eyes, but I recently received a gmarket order with some snazzy new safety eyes for dolls like this. The vendor also has a website. I recommend going to that link. The stuff is really cute.I worked hard today. Time to relax with some knitting.

The nod

2010-08-19T21:23:00.003+09:00

I had to go into Seoul today for a meeting. Starting a new ESL book next week. I've been enjoying a bit of a break these days. I've been focusing on taking care of myself and Grace and resting my mind. But since we have financial goals to meet before we leave Korea, it's time I got back to work.

I haven't been into central Seoul for a long time, and boy, I picked quite a day to go. It was really hot. By the time I reached the office building in Seodaemun,which required me to take two trains and hike up quite a hill, I was dripping in sweat. The meeting was short and uneventful. I barely had time to cool down before I was back out in the unbearable heat (and I had more books in my bag). I think I am still recovering from the flu I had on Monday, because by the time I got down the hill near the subway station, I almost couldn't stand the sun any longer, and I took shelter in a very busy McDonald's restaurant. I knew at least they would have liquids and air-conditioning.

I did, however, manage to get a lot of knitting done on the train - a good couple of inches on the second sleeve of the cardigan I've been working on. As I was nearing home, an elderly woman with a shopping bag got on the train and came over and stood in front of me and caressed my knitting. She looked kind of unstable, so I was thinking, oh no, please don't try to start a conversation with me. It's not that I don't like talking to people. It's just that over the past eight years in Korea I've been asked the same few questions over and over and over, often while riding the train: How long have you been here? Do you like kimchi? What do you think of Korea?

Then, a seat freed up next to me and she sat down. Everything became crystal clear as she reached into her shopping bag and pulled out her crocheting. It was beautiful fine crochet. She was using a pretty small hook, maybe a 1.5mm. I think she was making a lacy vest. So we sat there knitting and crocheting away, occasionally admiring each other's work. She asked me if I could crochet, and I said yes, and showed her a hook I happened to have in my bag. We couldn't converse much past that due to the language barrier. As I got off the train we exchanged a nod. It's funny how a love for stitching can create unlikely meetings like these.

Flora Dress

2010-08-17T21:05:00.004+09:00

I've finally finished (sort of) Flora Dress. It was a great pattern. The only mistake I made was doing the shirring in the bodice too tight. It kind of looks cute without the straps, but Grace doesn't like the tightness around her torso and keeps pulling it down. In order for her to get any wear out of it, I'm going to have to take out the elastic (which took forever to weave in) and add some straps. No biggie. It'll still look cute. I'm glad I got some use out of this cotton yarn I've had in my stash for years. I have plenty more in different colours to use up, though.Oh, I forgot to post a picture of this cute little cup of coffee I made. The pattern is here, although I made some changes. I just love it. I think it would be fun to crochet a whole table setting.

Flu

2010-08-17T13:23:00.002+09:00

Mom and baby have just recovered from a nasty but quick stomach bug. The hardest thing about it was keeping her from eating too much. It's amazing how resilient kids are. You wouldn't even know she was sick between vomiting...singing, dancing, asking for "chee" (cheese) and bananas (with signs). I, on the other hand, felt as if I were dying yesterday morning. Luckily, Sejin convinced me to go to the doctor and I got some medicine. Thank goodness I did because it stopped the nausea and I was able to clean up after Grace all last evening. What a day yesterday was!

Ready to toilet train?

2010-08-14T21:19:00.002+09:00

This post prompted by several recent events and mamaseoul's post on EC (elimination communication).

I've been a bad mom. Grace has been giving me so many signs that she may be ready to start toilet training, but I've been too lazy to work with her. In fact, I've ignored her signals several times when I thought she wasn't serious. She knows the words (pooh and pee) and the sign for toilet and will use them, but she's often a bit too late, or I'm too slow getting her to the toilet. What I need to do is put her in underwear and let her go and make a few mistakes. But it's not easy, is it? Who wants to clean it up off the floor?

I felt so bad this afternoon. Grace notified me at the party when she had gone poop (pointing to diaper and saying it), so I changed her diaper. About an hour later she did the same thing, but I didn't think she was serious. Sometimes she'll say it just for attention, or for fun, or I'm not sure why. Anyway, lots going on, so I ignored her and carried on. A while later I checked and sure enough, she had gone. If she could talk, she would have said "Told you so." So I felt kind of guilty and like I may be causing some damage when it comes to training. She's so good at communicating, so she's not the problem. I'm going to have to start taking her more seriously and putting her on the toilet more often. I'll also have to talk to the daycare so that we're on the same page.

We didn't get home from Gerry's party until around 8:30 tonight and she was just zonked. She's so used to going to sleep around 8:00, so when that hour rolled around, she went kind of berserk in the taxi. I had to keep her calm with a lollipop and crackers, and even that didn't work that well. By the time we got home she was so tired and high on sugar she fell over doing this kind of psycho laugh that was really scary. I should have left a little earlier, but we ran into traffic. Thank goodness she's all cozy in her crib now and I can have some quiet time before going to sleep myself. I'm exhausted.

Blackout!

2010-08-10T21:29:00.003+09:00

Well, it wasn't as dramatic as it sounds. We had an interesting dinner tonight. I had just prepared dinner and was sitting down to cut it up for Grace when after a loud clap of thunder the power went out. It wasn't completely dark yet, but dark enough that I couldn't find a lighter. So I found some candles, used the gas range to light them, and sat down for a candlelit dinner. Grace thought it was all very interesting, and within a couple of minutes, the lights came back on. Phew! But that's when things did get dramatic. Naturally, Grace has not seen much of fire or candles -- except on birthday cakes. Her daycare has a birthday party once a month for the kids whose birthdays fall in that month. So as I prepared to help her eat, she started shouting, "Cake! Cake! Cake!" while pointing at the candles. This gradually turned into whining and fake crying and refusal to eat dinner. What's a mom to do? I ended up promising her a "coke-eh" (cookie) if she ate her broccoli (she actually likes broccoli). I'll have to keep this in mind if we ever need to get out candles again.

House Guest

2010-08-09T20:38:00.004+09:00

My photographer friend, CedarBough, needed a place to stay last minute when she came to Korea late Thursday night. I said "sure" for two reasons. First, she's my friend and is not the type to overstay her welcome, and second, I wanted to see how my little sensitive sleeper would react to a guest in the house. Grace's sleeping is fantastic now (approx 8pm-8am), but she is still a light sleeper and sensitive to the presence of strangers. CedarBough stayed here for four nights and just left today after finding an apartment and signing the contract in record time. Over those four nights Grace did lose some sleep. She wanted to stay up later and play with CedarBough, was woken up by noises, and woke up earlier than usual. She was getting a bit grumpy by Sunday morning. But overall, she did very well. She was not bothered by my friend's presence (in fact, she really liked her) and slept pretty well considering we live in a small apartment where she can hear every noise. Actually, I felt worse for CedarBough who was probably surprised about the lights going out at 8pm every night! Well, she was jetlagged and went to bed early every night anyway, so it worked out all right.

Since CedarBough is a good photographer, it was a great time to learn about DSLRs. I've been thinking about buying one for a while, but I want to know what I'm buying, and these cameras are not as simple as point-and-shoots -- or cheap! All those numbers on the lenses are so confusing... and there are just so many lenses to choose from. One day while Grace was napping I decided to do some studying and found this site very useful. I read for over an hour and by the end of it, I was feeling so much more confident. After CedarBough got back from apartment hunting, I went over the stuff with her and she filled in some gaps. She even showed me the lenses she had with her (four in her luggage and more back in America!). I feel so much more informed than I did before. I still don't know exactly what I'm going to buy, but at least I know what all those numbers mean.

She broke out her camera yesterday morning to take a few shots of Grace. I like this one best. She is going to come back sometime this month and do a proper photo shoot. I'm really excited.

It's hot

2010-08-05T14:17:00.004+09:00

It's been a very hot summer. I snicker to myself when my family in Canada talks about it being hot at home. Yes, it might be "hot" at times there, but it's not the heavy, choking, disgusting hot that it is here. And it's not hot around the clock there. Anyway, if I were without a baby, I would be quite content to stay in all day long with the a/c running. But since that's not the case, I have to suck it up a lot of the times when she wants to "Go, go, go!" These days she has a renewed interest in the baby carrier and often drags it from its hiding spot, says "back" while pointing to her shoulder, and she won't back down from there. Honestly, we could do ads for Pognae. Pognae....more on that later.
Today she got her wish and I put her on my back and lugged her all the way to Hyewha for lunch at Wild Wasabi with friends visiting from Canada. L is an elementary school teacher in Canada, but she met and married her husband, DB in Korea. They have two cute little girls. It was nice to meet with them since they have done what we're going through now: the paperwork, the move, the readjustment. They live in Calgary now, but they were lucky to get there just before the housing boom. They quite like living there.

We had nice sushi lunch. Sejin and I used to frequent Wild Wasabi a lot before we had Grace. All plates are 1000 won and it's good sushi. To get to the one in Hyehwa, go out exit 1, walk straight and it's above the Tom and Tom's Coffee on the second floor. Don't go on a weekend. Get there by 11:45. I took these photos back in May on our anniversary. Unfortunately, today I didn't get to eat a lot, as Grace was only interested in getting up and down from the chairs, dumping out water, and climbing all over me. Luckily she is pretty tired out now and is sleeping soundly. Maybe I should do the same.

Cute inspiration

2010-07-30T20:29:00.004+09:00

I whipped up a few cupcakes (knit and crocheted!) for a lunch gathering yesterday and they were a hit! It seems people love cute, fake food. About five years back I wanted to try felt food and made a cake. I can't believe I actually found this picture:I did not even embellish the ones I made yesterday and they were cute enough to impress, so I'm thinking with some bead sprinkles sewn on and a felt strawberry, they might be too tempting to resist. The absolute best thing about them is that they are unbelievably quick to make. I made 1.5 cupcakes on the train yesterday (and that was with ripping out a few times -- working without a pattern -- and standing up part of the way). Side note: crocheting on the train draws much unwanted attention. In my mind, if someone is engrossed in an activity, such as reading or stitching, that means they don't want to be bothered!There are so many blogs featuring cute fake food. I just love this little morsel by Lisajhoney:So, we're on "vacation" here now. Naturally, Grace is sick. Her fever went up last night to 104. Doctor this morning said throat infection. I thought for a while there that her illnesses were getting more infrequent, but July has been quite a month. Let's hope August is a bit more fun.

Crafting

2010-07-28T14:33:00.005+09:00

Been feeling a bit inspired these days, not having much time to craft, but trying to fit it in anyway. Grace has been good with me knitting around her. She doesn't try to touch my work very often, as long as I stop when needed to read her a book or get her some milk or something like that.

I found this very inspiring blog the other day and just fell in love with this woman's crocheted stones. She has done some really intricate ones using several types of thread and fabric, but she did a tutorial on how to do a simple one. I skimmed the tutorial and decided to do some free form on a seashell I picked up in Australia over five years ago. I think it's quite pretty. I wish I had some smooth stones to cover. Here is another really neat tutorial. I'm going to try to do some small jar covers next.A friend just started a custom cupcake business, so I thought I'd make her a little mascot. She also sews, so this could also be a pincushion (those pearly things in there are pins). It was fun to make, although I'm not totally happy with how it came out. There are several cupcake patterns on ravelry, so I might try my hand at another.Not too long ago, I bought about $60 worth of aran weight yarn in Dongdaemun, which I intended to knit/hook up into some small baby items and possibly try an Etsy store. Well, I still don't have a reliable pattern to use. I tried this little baby hat, and while it's cute enough, I'm not in love with it. I really need to think of the perfect pattern, otherwise, I can't do it. I can't fathom selling something that is less than perfect. Anyway, it's definitely back to the drawing board.Finally, I finished this little cropped shrug for Grace, only to find out it's too small. This was shocking, because I did the 7-8-year-old size. Of course, I was working with a much lighter yarn, but I thought I couldn't go wrong doing an older girl's size. Was wrong. Good part is, this only took me two or three days, so I'm going to do it again with a bigger hook and bigger size.There it is. I guess I've been feeling like doing some smaller projects since everything else I'm working on is so big. The sweater, the shawl...those take months. I needed something for some instant satisfaction.