4.24.2010

What a wife thinks about when her husband leaves her

So Austin has been on a men's retreat this weekend for our church here in Busan and I have pathetically missed him more than I imagined. I guess since this is really the first time that we have been away from one another for a few days since being married it was particularly hard. So as I've gone through my days, I have realized all the little and wonderful things that he does every day that I really love:

10. He sets the alarm AND gets up to turn it off in the morning

9. He looks both ways for us and then tells me when it is safe to cross the street

8. He pays for everything

7. He cooks breakfast

6. He starts the coffee

5. He tells me to hurry up so that we are semi on-time to things

4. He turns the lights off at night

3. He motivates me to bathe and look semi-attractive

2. He locks the doors and checks the windows

1. He makes me laugh and smile a lot


Thank you to my amazing hubs that does so many little things that I appreciate every day. I love you.

Now everyone who was wanting to puke through that post, you can do so now.

4.15.2010

Meet the Mold...Yuck

Our apartment in Korea has not only been inhabited by the 2 of us, but also gross, hairy, white, black, green and all sorts of disgusting variations of mold, for the past 8 months.

Why has this not been taken care of yet, you ask?
Well, we contacted our landlord and he sent his wife to solve the problem....Korea solution to mold: wallpaper over it! Taaaa Daaaa...because that is for sure the smartest way to handle this multiplying, sickifying and creepy creature that grows on our walls.

Sooo, after Austin and I both got sick a few weeks ago and have still not fully gotten over it, I decided to take matters into my own hands and have researched the best ways to kill mold. Some say bleach. Some say call the experts. But some also say all-natural, supermarket-shelved vinegar works just as good. Supposedly vinegar kills 82% of mold, which is up there with the stat for hiring an expert (Mold seems to be that awful evil that will never die).

I ventured up into our little loft (the mold's home) to tackle it this afternoon and all I could think about are those cleaning product commercials with the living mold people, with their own faces and determination to live. I sprayed 2 full spray bottles worth of vinegar and then remembered to snap a "before" shot because I am determined that before going to bed tonight our walls will look much different!


Austin being the fabulous hubs that he is (wearing my ear warmer around his head!!)


4.06.2010

One, Two, Three...Pee!

It has been absolutely FOREVER since I have last blogged. Most days in my free time I stalk other people's blogs (mainly Jen Dillender, Kim Davis and Katie Davis) and then after reading their witty and super awesome blogging abilities I feel defeated and decide to not blog myself. C'est la vie, today's a new day!

I felt the need to share with the blogging world the hilariousness of Koreans' potty habits...and I do not mean to categorize all Koreans in this post (just the ones who I, myself, have witnessed having very amusing pees).

Story one (I'll start with the least funny): Austin and I live in a developing area of Yangsan City where on a typical day there are workers around our apartment building other "villas (pronounced 'beellas')," or 4-ish story apartment buildings. In the Fall, especially, it was a normal day to look out of our window and see a worker relieving himself right on the side of the road. I know, I know...men "get" to pee outside...it's just a right that they have...BUT my question is why not choose a more discrete location than on the side of a busy road and right underneath the windows of innocent foreigners. I just don't get it.

Story two: The other day Austin and I were going on with our usual coffee date at Dunkin' Donuts, which I might add is on one of the busiest roads in our part of the city smack dab on the corner of a well-traveled intersection. As I'm sipping my coffee I look out the floor-to-ceiling window next to me and see a Grandma ('adjuma') with her 2 grandkids, one being a little boy about the age of 4. As I am watching them thinking how cute the kids are, I see the grandma reach down around the waist area of the boy, tug "something" out of his pants and proceed to hold his teeny weeny for him while he straight up pees into a flower bed. Reasons why this is sooo not okay and totally hilarious at the same time:
A. It is a super busy intersection, with rows of cars stopped right next to them for a red light.
B. Dunkin' Donuts is enclosed with large glass windows...so after my outburst of laughter the entire store was watching the poor child pee.
C. I don't care how old the little boy is, he can hold his OWN penis.
D. The poor tree that was trying to grow and make the street pretty is now drinking urine.

Story three: On my walk home from school each day I pass by a large field where adjumas (old Korean women) farm and grow crops. Most days there are several groups of adjumas working together to produce anything from flowers to green onions. This field is also on a fairly well-traveled road and these particular adjumas were right next to the street. Yesterday as I was walking home from school and passing this familiar field I looked to my right just in time to see an adjuma fiddle with the string of her floral colored adjuma airplane pants and yank them down, giving me a shiny, white FULL MOON. I was startled enough just to see her butt, but she then turns toward me (with her pants around her ankles) and moves closer to the street to select the proper pee spot. She then proceeds to squat down right next to me and pee...yano, because that's normal. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt...she had probably been farming all day, was tired and didn't want to walk to the nearby restroom. BUT, benefit or no benefit.....

Not a day goes by that we don't pinch ourselves and realize, "Oh! We're in a foreign country!" Sadly, most of the time it is not us doing it but instead hiliarious Korean-isms such as these that make us know that we are no longer in the U.S. of A. Heck, we have laws against this!