Cat Sleepover

Hamster's mom found herself a new job and so was moving this weekend. Actually, Hamster's name is now Kaiju. This meant that the third brother of the kitty-cat trio got to stay at my house with his brother Tom.

When I brought Kaiju home Friday evening at first Tom wasn't sure what thing was walking around his house. He followed Kaiju around and finally the two had at it. It wasn't aggressive fighting but more like brotherly love. However, their rumblings lasted all night which wasn't helpful for my already exhausted body.

Thankfully, by Saturday afternoon the two had grown use to each other, and were even caught licking one another.

I have to say it was really heart breaking to see them together again. I could tell Tom remembered him and was happy to have him in his domain. Kaiju seemed okay with being at my place and even started to make himself comfortable.

I just came back home from returning Kaiju to his mom and I can tell Tom is a little sad. He is outside now on his box and sleeping. I hope he isn't upset with me that he's alone again. I hope to get the two together again, as I will need cat sitting myself someday.

He really was a sweetheart, almost sweeter than Tom if you could imagine! This weekend was meant to be an artful one but due to my exhaustion from last week and this cat business, I rested at home. But I hope to get back out there and document the great life that is to be found in Korea.

Food Scraps Disposal in Korea

It's one of the first things you learn when living in Korea, and that is you must separate your trash down to every little piece. Food scraps can't be thrown in with your regular garbage and sometimes require a special bag. Often, though, buildings collect the food scraps in one large bin, which is then sent off to someplace to incinerate.

The real problem, I feel, comes down to how you personally collect your food scraps without stinking up the house. For my first few years in Korea I put my food scraps in a separate and bagged waste basket and threw it out every few days. This worked, but during the warmer seasons things would get stinky and buggy.

Finally, this year I came upon a miracle plastic device that seems to help do the trick.

I will have to call it the "food scraps dehydrator", because it does a good job from keeping your food scraps moist. However, it doesn't exactly dehydrate them and turn your stuff into corn flakes.  I found mine at a local Lotte Supermarket so I am sure you can get these pretty much anywhere that sells household goods.

It definitely makes the household chore of collecting and disposing of food scraps a heck of a lot easier. After it gets half-full or all the way full, I dump the contents into a bag and the wash the whole thing out. Never do I experience nasty smells wafting through the house or flies flying up in my face.

Thank you Korea.....and plastic!

Win Them With Your Smile

Open classes are over! All that stress and anticipation has left me like a deep drop in a waterfall. Anyways, I might be bad at making metaphors right now because I really can't believe the results.

I was praised by the parents and the principals. I was told they especially liked me and really liked my smile. Imagine! All I had to do was prop up a huge smile the whole time.

Actually, it is kind of a life-story of mine that I win people over with my smile but that I always forget this. During class even when awkward or bad things happened I just smiled at it and got the kids back on pace. There were a few mishaps, I finished a little early at the start and one kid cried in the afternoon.

But the end result seems all worth it and I finally feel like I have gotten real approval at one of my jobs here in Korea. I hope to take this win and carry it over in to the rest of my days. I've learned a lot teaching in Korea and know that all my experiences culminated to this day of doing it well. Now I know I just need to keep cool with the homeroom teachers and continue doing well in the classroom, and all should be good.

Tom is staring at me so I better go play with him. byeee

Patbingsu Quest: Cafe Ti-amo

As you know I am on the hunt to find this summer's most wonderful patbingsu. I recently visited another cafe and found one that nearly made the grade.

But to read the story you are going to have to head over to ZenKimchi, as I am honored to announce that I was allowed to cross-post at his site. While there check out his other posts and have a good time.
:)

Open Class Approaches

On Thursday I have four open classes, which means it is going on all day. The parent's will be within breathing distance from me, all the while observing and evaluating. Or maybe they will just be mesmerized by my kick-ass presentation!

Who knows?

All I know is that last week I stressed out about it and this week I am trying to hold on to some confidence. My plans use some good material and activities, but the bookwork is what I am concerned with.

Really, I just want Thursday to pass so that I can move on with my life and find out if I fit the bill or not.

Life of Tom

JH said it perfectly yesterday, "I wish I could trade lives with Tom and Tiger." Tom's life is pretty serene and well taken care of.

He is getting past his kittenness and sleeping a lot during the daytime, already having his favorite spots.

One of which is a propped up box on the balcony, which provides enough sunshine for a good mid-day nap.

When active he likes to roam around the house meowing for attention or runs around playing with his toy mice.

One of his favorite hobbies is scratching the hell out of his scratching boards.

Lately, he has become adventurous and likes to run out of the front door when it is opened and explore the front area of the apartment. This troubles me as he could jump off and well die. But he seems to have put two-and-two together. However, I can't really just let him be by himself out there as my neighbors leave their doors open, and he has already wondered into one person's place.

I'll have to stay out there with him, in the meantime, so he doesn't do too much exploring. Tom's life is pretty sweet for a house cat. Also I am really happy to have him as my companion as he is sweet and follows me around the house. He still wakes me up in the morning but I think he obliges when I am not interested.

Oh my little Tom!