you've got to be kind

how could you falter when you the rock of gibraltar?

hellobabies — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:45:56 +0000

day 3… brought to you by Jay Z. He’s my running buddy when the ladies aren’t available. Along with T.I. and Nelly. My workout music varies greatly from my normal listening tastes… but whatever works right?

Day 3 went well. Ran 2 miler (on the treadmill to save time due to night lessons). Wasn’t much fun but I ran fast at the end. Just under 20 minutes… 19:20 or something? Followed up with a little walking, then abs and a couple weight machines. Followed by EPIC GYM SHOWER. Love it.

Food was ok today… ate 1/2 apple for breakfast w/ cinnamon on top, had the second half of it for lunch along w/ the rest of my bibimbap from yesterday and some strawberries. Attempted to eat the green peppers I cut up but they tasted like dirt. Weird. Slight misstep with a muffin at 3pm (something about the time those kids leave…) and am planning another french toast dinner. Wellll it’ll be a weekend away so this is no time to stock the cupboards.

Will have a hiatus until Monday due to out of towning! It’s Ollie’s birthday in Gangneung and she has requested we re-create the Olympics. With alcohol. I’ll be representing Norway with some handmade costume action. Kindy teacher whatttt. Hoping the Olympics results in some running (but more likely along the lines of… DRINK THAT BEER. NOW RUN!) but if not, might be a training free weekend. Will pick back up champion style on Monday!

Day 2

hellobabies — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:00:22 +0000

Exercise win! Diet loss. Details below.

Exercise: 3 mile run with coworker/partner in 10k crime Steph. It went well despite bad weather and bad moods. Ended up admiring the blue sky at 1.5miles complete and realized that there IS something to that whole “exercise for happiness” thing. Gym immediately following run for 5 min stairmaster, 15 min bike ride (slow pace, only 6k completed), and stretching and handful of crunches. Workout followed by EPIC shower in the gym shower… it makes it all worth it!

Food….

Breakfast: 1 egg w/ chopped up spicy green pepper (not sure what it is) and a handful of dark green leaves resembling spinach but not really? (thanks Korea!)

Lunch: 1/2 serving of bibimbap (rice, vegetables and spicy red pepper paste), small bowl of miso-ish soup

3pm snack: cake from the staff room. damn you mommies!!!

5pm snack: a handful of peanuts

Dinner: 2 pieces french toast and strawberries. not incredibly healthy but incredibly delicious! (also the only thing I had in my house and you better believe I wasn’t grocery shopping after that run!!!)

Water: 2 liters at school, 1 liter after school/workout time … nice!

Good effort! More tomorrow!

Resurrection

hellobabies — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:39:13 +0000

Back as a way to get me on track to do a 10k in 8 weeks… it can be done! Apologies for being boring, but I’ll be far more accountable if I track food/exercise on the internets for actual real people to look at. Not that they’d want to… but that they COULD.

Today, official start to 10k training. We scoured the internet at work and came up with a simple and seemingly easy to follow training program. It gave a Monday as a rest day (although I’ll likely be changing that to Saturday… because honestly.) and had a Tuesday easy 2 mile start.

While the day was nothing but easy (field trip! chaos! night lesson! sleep deprivation! overheated gym!) I still made the first goal. Pretty poor effort, with 10:40 first mile and slightly under 10:00 mile 2 (not precise, treadmill is in km) but since it’s “Day 1″ it can be forgiven.

Food was as follows:

Breakfast: 1 banana, since I ran out of yogurt. hmm.

Lunch (teacher’s lunch courtesy of Leo’s mom!): golf ball sized portions of potato salad, and curry chicken salad (AMAZING!), 3 tiny cookies, tupperware full of fruit pieces, various snacks fed by kindy children.Ahem. Will make better effort not to eat what the children feed me.

Dinner: leftover sandwich from lunch (Leo’s mom rocked the lunch packing situation)

Waters: 1 liter for sure…. possibly closer to 2.

Not a totally poor effort food wise, but less snacks and it’ll be golden.

Here’s to the 10k!!!

The New Doogie Howser(s)?

hellobabies — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:44:47 +0000

My students all dressed and ready to administer check-ups for our hospital project.

Foreign Policy as explained by Star Wars

hellobabies — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:27:35 +0000

“If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy” -Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker

“Only Siths deal in absolutes!” -Obi Won Kenobi

I’ve finally figured it out… GW Bush was a Sith Lord!!!

(yeah I really need to rein back in that inner nerd and stop watching the ongoing Star Wars marathon)

Vinyl

hellobabies — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:21:12 +0000

Oh it’s love. Vinyl, a little stand in Hongdae, Seoul that sells juice bags with an adult twist. Sit inside in the tiny cozy space or enjoy the comfort and freedom that comes with Korea’s open alcohol policies. Lovelovelove Asia.

postcards from home

hellobabies — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:16:52 +0000

some visual excerpts of my recent trip to the United States. More to come as I edit them…. These are some of my favorites from my hometown in Michigan

Summer evenings

hellobabies — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:32:58 +0000

My recent bicycle purchase coincided with my decision to stay another year in Seoul. I’m loving the change of perspective. Seeing the city from a bicycle makes me feel so much more a part of it. The Han River has a very well developed bike trail along either side of it, which has made for lovely summer evening rides, and some great photo opportunities as well!

Teaching kindergarten is funny.

hellobabies — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:07:33 +0000

I came in from lunch today to find my co-teacher scotch taped to a chair with her hands and feet taped together. It seems as though she allowed the joke to happen for a minute, then found herself incapacitated.

…I had to cut the tape off of her to free her. Moral of the story? We have the best students ever.

Also, managed to dye my hands pink today while trying to dye clay into various colors. Alicia Teacher : 0, Kindergarten : 1.

In other news, the ink is dry on my contract renewal. Korea and I are lined up for one last dance.

Viewing Abroad

hellobabies — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:27:24 +0000

I’ve always been funny about tv. I don’t tend to watch too much of it (in fact don’t even know how to work the one I’ve got now) but I do get stuck on a few shows, and I love being able to chill out in my apartment and watch my favorites. It’s a constant source of frustration to me, though, to see the message on the screen “This Video Is Not Available In Your Region”. Gahhh. If there was one thing I’d change about all the lovely new online programming, it’d be that damn message. I want to watch me some good ol’ American television online in Korea! It’s a global world, let’s make that happen!

Anyway, that started as a rant but will end with a rave, because I have discovered online PBS broadcasts that work in Korea. Rejoice! Not only television, but EDUCATIONAL television. Will let you know how many hours I spend in my apartment since this discovery, it’s sure to be a bit pathetic.

I’m currently watching “Jesus in China” about underground Christian churches trying to worship freely without the Communist government telling them how to do it. Pretty interesting I must say.

Anyway, watch and love. http://www.pbs.org/video