The Masterchef Challenge

Near the beginning of the year I happened upon a book called ‘Jamie’s 30 minute meals’, where Jamie Oliver claims that following his recipes and methods, you can produce a 3-course meal in 30 minutes. “Really?” I thought. It seems too good to be true. And so began the idea of having a cooking challenge.

With some modifications to allow more people to be involved (thanks Marielle!), we had East London’s first Masterchef challenge on Friday night.

Marielle and I provided the basic ingredients (milk, flour, potatoes, spices) and everyone had to bring a mystery ingredient to the value of R30. Some were told to bring a dessert ingredient, and others savoury.

After a late start due to some illiteracy in reading e-mails, we drew out of a hat to split into teams and allocate the course. I drew and was in the starter team along with Juliet and Roelof. As mystery ingredients, we got puff pastry, peppadews and beef pieces.

Marielle, Pete, Rog and Craig were in charge of mains and they got chicken fillets, cashew nuts and peppers.

Finally, Simone, Lara and Jannes drew for the dessert. They also had puff pastry, as well as nutella and almond flakes.

Rolling out the puff pastry, we added cheese, diced peppadews and the beef, whivh had been cooked with wine, onions and garlic. Adding some herbs, we were ready to cook. Minor panic when our first choice baking dish didn’t actually fit into the oven. But ‘adapt, adopt, improve’ and after transferring and cooking them – ‘Et voila’. A delicious starter.

Marielle doing mains was sheer genius, and their team managed to produce mashed potato (don’t forget the cream!) with more onions and garlic cooked in wine and chicken crumbed with the cashew nuts. Gravy was red wine, cream and sweet chilli sauce – funny colour, but a delicious taste. Presentation, something we had overlooked in the interest of eating, was also great.

Dessert was more puff pastry encasing nutella, cinnamon-coated apple with pecan nuts and topped with grated chocolate. The coffee was also amazing.

Can’t wait for the next one.

Grahamstown Festival

Hello people!

It's been too long, but as promised, a review of Grahamstown and it's shows. Looking forward to having you in the country for a bit Zoo!

Early Saturday morning we all arrived to pile into cars for the trip to Grahamstown. The motivation to be on time was big, as out\r first show was at 10am and there had been only lightly veiled threats of being left behind if any of us dared to oversleep.

By the time we got to Grahamstown, the wind had picked up and would have made any Cape wind proud with its coldness and strength and any thought of wandering around the town had been abandoned.

Out first show was ‘Rocket Raiders’ – brilliant! A comedy featuring 2 actors and a heap of supporting crew, hand-picked from the audience and a ridiculous story line about a girl who tries to save her father’s tea-empire by importing his rocket-tea (its gives the men a lift when they need to most!) to Great Britain, all while finding true love and thwarting a plot against her life. Clever prop’s and hilariously awkward lines and audience members made it one of my favourite shows.

Most of the audience participation was from very shy non-acting types, but the guy they got to play Sherlock Holmes was ready. Ready to participate, ready to act and ready to speak, so thinking on her feet, the female lead gave him a bad case of laryngitis and he had to whisper all his findings into her ear.

After a short break, we headed onto our next show, called ‘The Table’, which a drama about a Jewish Shabbat meal a year after the Father’s death. Lots of talking, issues and revelations with symbolism about the table and a couple scenes of interpretive dance (which I didn’t really understand, but I think they were processing). While also a very good play with superb acting and a good story line, it was difficult to make the transition from watching a comedy to a drama. But as the week has gone on, certainly the one people have bought up in conversation the most, which I suppose shows that it was thought-provoking.

Lunch –oh my goodness! There were nine of us – nightmare. All I can say is we ended up at Spur. Seriously!

Our third show of the day (we really did pack the culture in!) was called ‘Big boys don’t dance’ and if you ever get the opportunity to watch it, go for it! On this tiny stage, 2 guys did a show, which while funny, was essentially a plot device for them to break out into dance. Hip-hop, contempory, even a bit of ballet. Excellent show!

Our final show for the day was called ‘Dekaf’, a stand-up comedy show produced by David Newton. While the comedian was funny, he reminded me a lot of Trevor Noah and his brand of humour – even some of the jokes were similar- which probably made it my least favourite show seeing as it was so unoriginal. For others, it was their favourite by far.

Supper was a t lovely place called the ‘Red Cafe’, delicious food and divine hot chocolate, and we eventually headed back to the res we were staying at, which while warm had fantastic acoustics, so when the people leaving for PE early the next morning started getting up. I knew. And when the guy upstairs started singing, I knew. And when anyone left their room, I knew.

We had a slow start to the morning, with rusks and coffee for breakfast, before stepping out into the marginally warmer, but much less windy Sunday. Our final show was ‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged’, which is where I discovered my school was adnormally fond of the bard, having studying 4 of them during high school. Everyone else only one or maybe two

The play was good, quite funny and prone to silliness, but covered all the works in record time, including doing Hamlet backwards – ‘Question the is that, be to not or be to.”

Our final stop was the market! Wonderful, so many things to buy that were beautiful, different and lovely. It was probably a good thing that had already spent most of my money.

A wonderful weekend, I had so much fun, and too little sleep and almost caught pneumonia, but completely worth it!

7 may 2011

Hello my favourite friends J

It’s been too long again but lots has been happening this side so brace yourself for a ridiculously long update J  last night I played softball, Tarryn et al play and they knew about a rival team who needed an extra player so I joined, (last night was only my second game and I am pretty bad, hahahah). And my team is SO random.  I don’t even know if I like them or not. They’re so competitive and serious about the game and I’m so not. The guys all want to be the captain and it’s definitely a case of too many cooks in the kitchen.  They ordered me to play keeper which might not have been the best idea because I have quite a bit of difficulty actually catching the ball. They were getting quite fierce with me and it was a very emotional match cos one of the guys on the other team ran into one of the girls from my team and there were tears and arguments and all that.  While some of the guys were shouting at each other and getting seriously intense I just canned myself and don’t think that made me very popular. It was just very funny that these guys were getting so upset about a SOCIAL softball game on a Friday night where everyone drinks booze instead of water.

This morning the Tanj and I got an early start and went to 2 garage sales before we went to the auction which was a real whale. We got there just in time (after the JOJO tanks and carpets but before the household appliances) it was an experience. To get a number you need to fill out a form and pay R500, once we had done that it was just about time for our stuff. The Tanj started with a R50 bid on a lilo which no-one else wanted so she got that. Then we got to the blow up mattresses (for camping) they were in quite serious demand but the Tanj managed to secure a Queen size for R120 and a Double for R100. Then she tried to buy a pressure cooker for her sis but was outbidded.  Then we got onto the dustbuster that I wanted which I had to bid for against a ponytailed Mautitian guy but when it got to R70 he dropped out and I got it – woohoo. We were on such a high by this stage!  So I made a quick decision to bid for a fancy looking electronic scale (again against the poor Mauritian who again came out the loser). [although it must be noted that he does have very good taste J]  and then the Tanj got the bargain of the day in a very cool pop up 2man tent (that she outbid a nice coloured man and his kid for – and then had to ask for his help to take the tent down and pack it away, awkward)  And that was that. We had a whale of a time at the auction and spent a massive R650 on a tent, 2 blow up mattresses, a lilo, a dustbuster and a scale.  J

The bad news is that since I’ve got home I’ve noticed that the scale doesn’t work (hope it’s just the battery) and the dustbuster that I’ve been charging all afternoon, also doesn’t appear work. Ahh the pitfalls of buying at auction hahahaha

So work has been going really well. I spend alot of time writing preliminary reports, design reports, progress reports etc. It’s great tho. Bongi and Roguey are also well. Haven’t seen the cat recently tho so no idea whether it’s ok.

My parents are off in Italy (got a call from them today they were whaling around at the leaning tower of Pisa)  so I’m home alone. It was weird at first but now I’m really enjoying, it’s gonna be weird when I have to share it again J

Tomoro I’m going to watch Tarryn and the Tanj play hockey and am also planning to go to the beach with the dogs which means I have to get up super early so that there are no other dogs around!!

Next weekend is Bridg’s big day – very exciting and Lise is getting here during the week which is also great.  Wish you could be here Zo but August’s not too far away J

Hope you’re all happy and healthy!!!! J  

of glass throwing and blossoms

I have been a terrible communicator recently. I apologise. Here is a little update on my life.

I went to the zoo yesterday with our pre-school classes. It was hilarious and more of a petting zoo/touch farm than a zoo. But fun nonetheless. here are a few pics

Jae Yeon not so excited on a sheep

very excited on a tree.

Last night I went to a pub with Danielle to have some chill time. I was rather tipsy and feeling merry only to have this guy sit next to us and start chatting. When he found out I was from South Africa he began to tell me about his trip to JHB. The next part is a bit fuzzy, but he managed to start laying into South Africa and say how all the white people are racists and such things. So I quite calmly told him to stop talking about things he didn't know and asked him to leave our table. I was angry and in no mood to rationalise with a dick. He proceeded to try and get Danielle, a fellow Canadian, to agree with him that South Africa was full of racists and Canada had no racism. at this point I was raging, so I threw a drink at him in my frustration at being drunk and unable to articulate all my anger through words. She then told him to leave. So he stands up, turns around and calls me a South African racist, loudly for the whole expat pub to hear. I then threw a beer mug at him. I know I know, not the wisest thing to to, but by now I would have gladly torn his tongue out I was so angry. Now I was close to tears, having been insulted like this, by a person who has no idea who I am or what South Africa is actually like, Danielle is trying to calm me down, and the pub is trying to pretend like nothing happened. Then one of his mates comes up to our table and sits down, then he says "Thank you, that guys is an asshole and no one actually likes him, he offends everyone he comes across and doesn't care, he does it for the reactions." yikes. I was fuming, but that did make me a feel better. So that is my experience of ignorance, I am a bit ashamed I didn't handle myself very well, but I reckon he deserved it.

On a lighter note, the cherry blossoms are in full force and it is a sight for very sore eyes that were so used to bare trees and cold icy days. It is truly breath taking seeing these trees with thousands of little blossoms all over them. It is almost as if they are covered in flower snow. and when there is a breeze or the wind blows then the petals gently fall off and swirl around you. i.love.it. I have been known to stand for ages just letting petals fall around me. I am going to a cherry blossom festival on Easter Sunday. i am rather excited. It is a two hour bus ride from Seoul, the place is Chungju-ho Lake and it is the lake that supplies Seoul with water. The lake is surrounded by mountains and caves. So we are going hiking and cave exploring and ferry boat riding. I can barely contain myself I am so excited.

talking of excitement I went to Varekai last Sunday. the Cirque du Soleil show. IT.WAS.PHENOMENAL. I simply cannot explain the magic they create and they visual stimulation that makes you want to never leave your seat. I want to join the circus and live in bright costumes and have wondrous make up all the time. Life seems so dull after that. I was transported into this magical world of tricks and laughing and bendy people. sheesh. words are so inadequate to describe such an awesome experience.

Love you all and sending many hugs and wonderful Easter peace to everyone

Zoo

Out into the deep blue

Sunday was a whale. (as Cheri would say) The Tanj, Cheri, her add an I went fishing. And not just fishing off the dock, but on a mission to point 60 (according to the GPS), about a 40minute boat trip from East London.

Cheryl and Tania were not such happy campers floating about on the ocean, in fact Cheri spent most of the trip curled up in the foetal position. But we did get a pod of dolphins swimming with us – looks like you're going to hit them, but you never do, and I managed to catch a Miss Lucy (looks like an oversized stripy goldfish), which became my supper on Monday night. And it was delicious. The muscles in my arm were sore the next day from all that reeling I had to do. My slowness in reeling was not due to a lacking in enthusiasm, but rather having no upper-body strength.

Lovely day. And my hands smelt like fish for ages afterwards.

Cheri driving the boat. That life-jacket never left her side.

My fish :)

The compulsory "me and my fish" photo. And 2 on one line nogal!

Tania focusing on the fishing in the background.

Forever Young

Hello hello!

Time for an update!

Saturday was the wedding of Grant Young and Gail Miles. Both are in my Biblestudy and Cheri and Zoo were at school with Gail. Being my first East London wedding, I was quite excited, and slightly in awe of the fact that I've been living here long enough to crack the wedding nod.

The ceremony was at the Ann Bryant Art Gallery, set to start at 3.30pm. I arrived precisely on time and had the momentary panic that I was late when I saw a Mercedes Benz stopped in the road with the emergency lights flashing. Trying to look elegant and unflustered (imagining scenes of awkwardness that would rival "4 Weddings and a funeral"), I moved with all speed towards the entrance and then breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when I saw it was just some random parked in the road.

The garden had been set-out beautifully, with the long walkway up to the main entrance serving as the aisle and the guests were seated on either side. Note 1 for attending an outdoors wedding: arrive early to secure a spot in the shade, or bring a hat. Most of us were sitting with the sun in our eyes. Sunburn can ruin the photo's.

I managed to find a seat that was in the shade for all of 10 minutes and took a moment to admire the flowers they had planted along the aisle (pink and white - it could only be Gail) and waited for the bride.

Arriving fashionably late, we were finally told to stand as the "Wedding March" began. Gail entered at the gate and began probably one of the longest walks down the aisle that I've ever seen. Of course she looked beautiful in her dress which a photo will describe more aptly than I ever could.

When she got to the front, we were all welcomed by Matt (the pastor), prayed and we sang. Note 2 for outdoor weddings: Lovely as they are, save the heels for the firmer ground. Being pegged to the ground is completely over-rated and if anything, makes it more difficult to stay upright. Then the Miles and Young family lit a candle to signify their families that Grant and Gail were leaving.

From there Matt performed the wedding ceremony, the registry was signed and then he gave a very short talk highlighting some passages from the Bible that speak about marriage. They then lit the candle to signify that they are a new family and we then formed an arch to throw confetti as they walked back down the aisle a married couple.

From there they had laid on a tea, where the 4-tier chocolate wedding cake extravaganza was eaten. Delicious. It was made by her younger sister Sandy and tasted amazing! While Grant and Gail disappeared off for photo's, we milled about in the usual pre-reception wait. Note 3 about outdoor weddings: Mosquitoes. Many of them. And hungry.

The reception was at the Osner Hotel on the beachfront. As the bridal couple arrived (to the song "Forever Young"), we all lit sparklers, which was a fantastic effect, until Gail bumped into one and flames appeared on her dress. Momentary panic. The fire was quickly extinguished and thankfully there was enough dress to easily hide the holes in the top layer.

The rest of the evening was great, a brief speech by her dad, Grant's brother and then his bestman also gave nice speeches. The dj interrupted and made an awkward joke about cattle from Bloemfontein, we ate, more speeches. Unusually,the bride also gave a speech, mainly thank-you's, but my tea-habit came up. Who knew addiction could make you semi-famous.

The rest of the evening was great, a brief speech by her dad, Grant's brother and then his bestman also gave nice speeches. The dj interrupted and made an awkward joke about cattle from Bloemfontein, we ate, more speeches. Unusually,the bride also gave a speech, mainly thank-you's, but my tea-habit came up. Who knew addiction could make you semi-famous.

Grant also made a speech, and the dj played havoc with the sound, making him sound like a chip monk at the start of his speech an other small things (apparently it's an Afrikaans thing?!), but he managed to redeem himself somewhat by getting everyone onto the very small dancefloor.

Around 11pm, Grant and Gail left, we all made an arch for them, and then, quite unexpectedly, the music stopped, the lights came on and it was time to go home.

But a good evening, an awesome wedding, and lots of fun.

random asides

I have had a rather random few days and I thought it was a good time to send an update from Korea.

Since the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent radiation issues we should no longer buy Japanese produce or meat...which was casually told to us by our Korean collegues. However, country of origin is not always listed AND if it is, it's listed in Korean - so it may as well not be listed when it comes to me. Good thing I don't eat meat at all now and spinach was never really a big deal in my life. I am also a bit paranoid now about the yellow dust and radiation rain. We had a random flurry of snow the other day (winter REFUSES to let go, it is still so cold here, lighter for longer, but icy icy still, it is getting to me, I am developing SADS, I am horribly grumpy and sad at the moment and I am almost positive it's the weather) sheesh, sorry for the distraction there, right where was I? Ok, so random snow fall last week, despite being cross about the cold I do still get disproportionately excited about snow. So as a class we all rushed to the window and watched the snow for a bit. Then when I was in the staff room I was merrily babbling away about the joys of snow when one of our Korean teachers, Lynn, said: 'oh no, it could be radiation rain. Make sure you don't get too wet. Be careful.'

Now that squashed any snow joy I was experiencing. We took a taxi home and tried not to get too wet with potentially cancer causing snow rain. Once we were in the taxi I had a paranoid hyperchondriac moment and thought my skin was burning slightly. Danielle swiftly informed me it was all in my head and I was to stop it immediately. 2 minutes away from home I tried to get some money out of my pocket and felt a tug. I thought I was just sitting on my mitten (witch is niftly attached to a string so I never lose them;) so I tried to move it only to discover that in my haste to get out of the possibly toxic rain I had closed the door on my mitten. Thus, not only was it randomly snowing in March there was also a white taxi driving along Pyeongchon with a red mitten frantically flapping in the door. It took a long time to dry and now I am a bit suspicious of it...it was exposed for a long time to the rain snow.

Gretel is now a rather large hedgehog (by hedgehog standards that is) and I have taken to letting her run lose in my apartment in the mornings while I am getting ready for work. Then I find her and put her back into her cage. But on Friday morning I forgot she was out and went off to work just being excited that it was Friday. I got home at about 7:30ish and recalled that she was on the lose. Now, my apartment is essentially a room, and there is no escape from this room if you are a hedgehog, which is why I wasn't too concerned about her being out. However, after a quick look in her usual haunts I could not find her. So I tried some other potential areas and still no Gretel. At this point was a big alarmed, she could only be under the bed...but I put up like a little fence around my bed so that I didn't have to worry about that when I fist got her. With not much enthusiasm I checked under my bed, but she was not there. At this stage I was really alarmed. But I was meeting friends for dinner and reckoned that I would leave some food out for her and go and when I came home and switched off the lights she would make a noise and I would locate her, hedgehogs are most active at night and they dont like bright lights, so I thought this was the best idea having looked everywhere she could have been.

Now, in Korean homes and some restaurants, you take your shoes off at the door and walk around with her socks on or slippers. I do this in my apartment too, so all my shoes are in my little entrance. As I was putting on my one boot I happened to lean over and look down, and what do I see, but a little prickly bundle squeezed tightly in my red leather boot. She was wedged right in there and try as I might I could not get her out. I skyped Danielle straight away and showed her the boot with Gretel inside, it was hilarious. But I was concerned that she was actually stuck in there and that I was going to have to cut my boot to get her out. I left my red boot sideways on the floor with a bowl of food at the opening and went to dinner. She had extracted herself by the time I came home, thankfully she had not poohed in my shoe (which was another concern) and I only had to extract 9 quills from the sheep skin...those quills hurt like something else when you stand on them.

Every month our pre-school classes have a field trip or an activity day. This month we went to the fire station. Since my last pre-school classes graduated to the first grade I have not been teaching pre-school, but I get more excited about the field trips than most of the kids, so I was invited along. Woot! Now, this fire station has an entire area created for educating children about what to do in fire situations. So they have a giant wall that they project fire scenarios onto and the children are taught how to use a fire extinguisher and then they have to extinguish the fire by spraying it! If they don't aim right or start soon enough then the fire consumes the room. It was fantastic to watch! Interactive video game that teaches you how to use a fire extinguisher. Yes please.

They also have a smoke passage, where it is really dimly lit and there is loads of smoke and you have to walk really low to the ground so you get some air and then find the exit. Fun fun fun.

Then they have a room which has a maze made out of cages with doors that open or are dead ends...they switch off the lights and there is only a red emergency light that flashes periodically and you have to find your way out of the maze using touch and hearing and some vision. Awesome.

Finally, they have an earthquake simulation room!~!!!! oh yes. They have built an entire kitchen on a raised platform and you have to sit at the kitchen table, each person is assigned a task to do, so I had to turn off the gas for the stove, then the mains had to turned off, a kitchen closet had to opened and then we all had to get under the table. For the teacher run they let us experience a 3.0 tremble and they worked it up to an 8! It was hectic, I felt all wobbly for ages afterwards. It was possibly too soon after the Japanese quake, but still a cool experience in a contained environment. Not for real real.

So that is my random news. I was devastated by the Protea's loss, but the team still did well to get where they did. I am missing home so much that I actually found myself streaming Algoa FM...it was a low point, it did make me feel better though.

Lovelovelove to everyone!

:)

Hello Old Friends J

It has been FAR too long! Fortunately I can console myself with the fact that you are all just as bad as me!!! So this year started out pretty much the same as every year – with me not being sure what i was going to do with my life and pretty much up for anything! I had to let Ulrike know what I was doing by the end of Jan so on the 31^st I decided that I would look for a real job anywhere in the world (narrowing it down this much was a big achievement for me!!) So on the first of Feb I started the job search.  After a week of searching I got an interview at this really cool place in Pietermaritzburg so on the Wednesday I flew to Durban at the crack of dawn and then rented a car (for a CRAZY price) and drove to PMB. To say the interview went badly would be an understatement. They were asking all sorts of difficult questions like when last was I involved in a project that included hydraulics and what did I get for my Design thesis  3 years ago! I started off well but was a stumbling, stuttering IDIOT by the end – awful.

Anyway I shook it off and drove back to Durban to catch a flight to CT where I packed up my stuff and put my CV online over the wkend. On Monday morning this recruiter phoned me and asked if i could go to an interview in PE the next day. I was like SURE!  Packed up Marco at top speed and set off. Spent the night in Mosselbaai and left the next morning for PE. I was just in time for the interview due to an issue at the toll booth (I arrived and didn’t have the R32 (!!!) toll so had to go back down the road for 20km to find an ATM and then come back – nightmare) Anyway the interview went well except that twice I answered the wrong question cos I had to guess the question as the guy’s Afrikaans accent was so strong.

Then I carried on the EL and went to my next interview the following day at Goba Consulting Engineers and Project Managers (www.goba.co.za) It too went well and shortly ther after I got the offer. It’s been awesome so far – I’m really really enjoying it J

Adjusting to life in EL has been a bit of a challenge. Poor B caught me on a particularly bad day and I spent our whole coffee catch up bitching about how I hated East London. That phase has passed. Now I’m feeling very zen about the whole thing. I’m actually getting into it J

I have my powerplate class and sewing class and pilates classes and am a (semi) firm fixture on the fun run circuit J

The first one the Tanj and I did was the Buffs 5km trail run about a month ago. I almost died a few times. Seriously. My heart rate was through the roof, my lungs were on fire and I almost fell on an electric fence (who puts a run RIGHT next to an electric fence – seriously???) Halfway through I told the Tanj to abandon me and carry on – she replied that she couldn’t because there was no-one else behind us to help me if I collapsed! (which was a real possibility!)  hahaha

Since then we have also done the Cabbage Patch in Komga and were supposed to do the Jevon’s one tonight but it was raining and I was concerned about the possibility of flash floods.  Hahahahaha

Having completed a week and a half of work by the middle of last week I decided I needed a break and took two days off to go the Cape with my parents to collect my furniture. We left on the Thursday at 4am and arrived at 7pm. Crazy. We got lost in Oudshoorn, Ladysmith and Wostercer. Honestly. We also stopped on a wine farm and stocked up for the next decade or two.

I’m looking forward to hearing all of YOUR news (hint hint hint)

J

Latest News from Libya.........

نور اگر رفت سایه پیدا نیست نقش دیوار و چشم خیره ما نقش سایه دگر نمی دان نور اگر رفت سایه. ر رفت سایه پیدا نیست نقش دیوار و چشم خیره ما نقش سایه دگر نمی دان نور اگر رفت سایه پیدا نیست نقش دیوار و چشم خیره ما

If I hear anything else, I'll let you know.....

Tech support

Hey guys!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend, hopefully something a little more extensive to come soon

Back Day

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Fun fact: In Korea and Japan on Valentines Day girls give boys chocolate/candy/gift (you get the idea)...and not boys to girls. Then they have White Day where boys give girls chocolate/sweets/gift...

AND THEN there is BLACK DAY...which is for single people to feel bad about themselves. Seriously though, there is black day and its for all the

single people to celebrate?? I dont know, but its for the lonely hearts column.

So now you know. Despite being a girl I got loads of chocolate from my students, which was delightful, but has resulted in a killer headache. lame.

Cath! I hope you are feeling better, Cheri and Tania informed me of the whole pilava. WOW. as traumatic as it is, it is also kinda cool having a medical emergency, especially since you are going to be ok.

love you all!

Included the random squirrel cos really thats how I feel about Valentines day.

108

Happy Korean Lunar New Year to One and All! it is now officially the year of the rabbit.

We celebrated the New Year by spending a night and two days doing what is called a Temple Stay. Myogaksa is the Buddhist temple we stayed at, it is in the centre of Seoul built on a mountain. Myogaksa is only 100 years old, which is really young in temple terms, but it radiates energy, peace and compassion.

Our leader is this wonderful quirky nun called Yeo Yeo. She is so inspiring and she led us through the initial stages of what it means to be a Buddhist and the life of a monk or nun in a temple. She also spoke about the 108 prostrations that every Buddhist should do every day. The prostrations are made up as follows (however I am open to correction), we have 6 senses (the five that we know plus thought) now those 6 sense can betray us and lead us astray in terms of leading a pure and compassionate life, and because we are not alone in this world we take our 6 senses and we multiply them by the 6 in another person that we may encounter in a day, so that gives us 36. Then, Buddha also speaks of time as being cyclical and continuous with their being no separation between past present and future (a linear (foolish) approach), so each time we restrict ourselves by the 3 tenses we are also limiting our capacity to open ourselves up to our inner Buddha mind. So 36x3 is 108. And there are your 108 prostrations...which convert to 108 bows that must be performed everyday. The bow has to include both your knees, your forehead and your palms touching the floor, a humble and low position to remind you that you are no more than the lowest person in the world. Make no mistake, the bows are strenuous and a killer on your knees and quad muscles.

When you arrive you are given orange trousers and a top to put on, this is your garb for the duration of the stay. We looked like we could have been on the set of prison break, while also looking kinda zen and cool. it was strange, but super comfy. Our first task was to learn about the basic tenents of Buddhism and the 3 minds one has to let go of before you can access your inner Buddha. Which was fascinating, the first layer is your Greedy mind, then your angry mind and finally your foolish mind. We have such an abundance of all three that it is a daunting task trying to let go of all of that...but one can only every try. So we have begun to acknowledge those 3 states of unhappiness. After this talk, we had the opportunity to go to the bell and help the nun gong the bell. The bell is rung twice every day, it is about 12 times at 5am (I say about because I tried to count this morning, but I was too caught up in the view and the sensation of it all that I lost count, my bad) and 7 times at 4:30pm It is a giant ancient bell that has a deep resonating sound that pulsates right to your bones. Like a heavy base speaker, only less aggressive on your senses, this just penetrated right into your body and then reverberated around your skin until the next gong. It was magnificant, and if I had to go after that I would not have felt cheated in any way. The nun chants while she is moving the giant wooden gong towards the bell, 3 at a time we got to place our hands on the wooden gong and swing it with her.

From the bell ringing we silently made our way into the actual temple, chanting room, for their evening service. No talking is allowed, so we duly copied everything the nun did and we have our first taste of doing multiple bows. It is heavy going, but so elevating at the same time. The temple is magical and painted in the Korean Buddhist style. The colours are the Korean national colours: blue, green (mainly), yellow, white, red and black. With a healthy dose of gold. The ceiling and walls were covered in lotus flowers, dragons and Buddha's. The Buddha statue was gold and mesmerising. Sadly that was the only time we were allowed in the temple.

From there we went back into the meditation room and began our own 108 prostrations, with a twist. Each time we lifted our heads from the floor (but not actually the floor, we had lovely mats) we strung a juniper wood bead onto thread. At first my pile of beads seemed to not dwindle at all, but my legs were stinging and I thought my knees were going to give out altogether. But then you get into it and you just relax into it and in no time (45 min) my beads were finished and I had done my first (and not my last) prostrations and I also had my own meditation beads to boot! They smell delicious and are soft to the touch, I never want to take them off. In a slightly stiff manner we all went to eat dinner, which was all vegetarian (my heart was so happy) and scrumptious.

Now came the tricky part. Our first meditation. We were asked to sit in lotus position, which is so difficult, but thankfully I was able to sustain it for 2 out of 3 meditation sessions before my ankles protested too much and I though I was never going to be able to unfurl them ever again. This session lasted 10 min only, but it felt like an hour and throughout that period it was almost impossible to stop the thoughts from entering my mind. We were supposed to concentrate on our breathing and count every breath...so hard. It takes a training monk or nun 2 years to master the counting to 100 without having any other thoughts. Only then will your zen master give you a single word to recite over and over, often the word is 'nothing', because this is the state you want to achieve with your mind - a state of nothing where you can view your mind and actions as if from a distance. Sheesh. It is difficult. We did 2 more meditation sessions this morning, that nothing state is very far off for me.

Sleep time was tricky for me as all the women were in a single room on Korean style floor mattresses. One person snored loudly and I was finished for the rest of the night. I didnt get much sleep what with my own sinus pain and the other individuals loud nasal emissions. So 4:30 rolled around and I was only too eager to get off the floor and back into action. We were not allowed to talk at all when we woke up until after out meditation session. So all morning activities were done in silence, which was bliss. We assissted with the bell once again and then headed on down for our meditation. from there, with the sky still very much without a sun, we went up to learn about the life of the Buddha we all know, who really is only one of the Buddha's. They have a series of 8 paintings depicting the main elements of his life, so Yho Yho taught us about his life and teachings and then we were quizzed. Wonderfully my mom had taught me most of it just through our long chats lazing on her bed or from various films we watched, so I aced the quizz. woot! For our efforts we were each given another smaller set of meditation beads that go on our wrist, so we can have them on us always. Once our tummy grumblings became too loud Yho Yho released us into the dining hall where we ate tons of food to get ourselves ready for our hike up the mountain. So beautiful and punctuated with the history of Korea and how Seoul was built according to Feng Shui between 3 mountains. Korea has such a deep heritage, it is quite astounding.

Our hike included a brief swing on the highest swing in Seoul - hilarious and so much fun, we reckon we will go back to that swing.

Once back at the temple we had our final activity, which was a traditional Korean tea ceremony. Which is surprisingly complex and steeped in Korean Buddhist heritage, it was amazing being a part of that.

Sadly we had to derobe and gather in the main courtyard to say farewell...however we were given the opportunity to meet their zen master! who came out and greeted us and said that we were a special group as we had ushered in the new year with Myogaksa.

The whole experience was magical.

I miss you all and wish you would come visit me, I would take you straight to Myogaksa.

love you

Iron Girl

So.......... in an attempt to shed some kilo's and improve my fitness for the coming hockey season, I have decided to take up running! ;-)

Up to now I have done the PWC 5km, The Iron girl 9.2km last Saturday and the Pennypinchers 10km this past Saturday. Yeah for me!

Only problem is, my times are getting worse!

Anyway , here are some highly entertaining shots of me going over the finishing line. How was I to know that they were photographing this?

Hehehe, My winning time!! ( Not!)
The girls from the office who took part ( and Candice). Oh yes, did I mention that I got a fabulous medal?
P.s. I had to sleep for the rest of the day!

Bad Karma

What, two posts in two days...who would have thought. But this one is a tale of woe.

Yesterday on my way home after work I was rear-ended, but the guy hit me so hard I hit the car in front of me which in turn hit the car in front of it. My glasses flew off my face from the impact. Amazingly, no one except the cars were hurt.

I don't mess around, 5 years of bliss in my citi and I'm involved in a 4 car pile-up on Settlers Way. Miraculously, my car is still drivable, but badly damaged. It's off for the insurance assessment today. News to follow...

Prom night

So a couple of weeks ago I had a 30th birthday party to go to and the theme was 80's prom. Not owning clothes from the 80's, a trip to Chinatown, Spargs (where the 80's went to die?) and PEP was in order.

Here are some of the results...

Me, sporting a fabulous top from PEP and Mon with something that came from the sale rack at Spargs.

Cath (far left) in a 80-ified bridesmaids dress and Juliet (far right) in another gem from the kiddies section of PEP.
These were dresses that were borrowed. The owner grew up in the 80's made these dresses and wore the black one to her real Matric dance and the blue one to a wedding she attended. And although this isn't a good angle, those sleeves were pointy, but she won the title of Prom queen, complete with crown and sash.
Well, um... yes

I've got a feeling........

......that 2011 is going to be the year of gloom and doom for me.
I don't know why, I just know!

31 December 2010 - 5 January 2011: My gran is in hospital (anemic)
17 January 2011 - My uncle Vernon Died (My grans son, My fathers dad)

2 February 2011 - Fudge, my sisters gorgeous Labrador pup, dies of biliary at only 3 months old

December madness

Hi Guys

It’s been ages since my last update, I hope you’re all happy and healthy J

So in December I finally graduated – woohooooo I’m finally a graduate...it’s been long enough!! Here’s a pic of the happy day:

My Mom and I with Marco :)

Then the family went to the Kob for the holidays, twas great. We whaled in the river and paddled and four wheelered and fished and played cards J It was wonderful. And the Tanj came down for a week after a bit of persuading. FYI she is a TERRIBLE paddler and when she was on the four wheeler I could WALK faster than she was driving – frightening. But still alot of fun.

We went on a 4x4 trip one day with the Tanj and I in the little bakkie and the rest of the fam in the other bakkie. Everything was going well even tho it was raining a bit til we turned onto a black clay road and just saw the other bakkie  skidding and sliding all over the place, natch I slammed on the breaks and also started started sliding straight into the gutter. So Stace leaned out of the bakkie in front of us and indicated that we should reverse which we tried to do but we went no where so I switched on the hazards and the Tanj and I evacuated the bakkie which was easier said than done. The super slippery mud made walking quite tricky and the Tanj was going well until she over balanced and to save herself  she stuck out her thumb and somehow managed to support her entire body weight on just one thumb!! SKILL! But even more impressive was my Dad coming to rescue us. He has these massive slops that he was working in an ice skating type of motion which was super effective even if it did look a bit weird J

My Gran spent Christmas with us which was great. We played alot of cards. Our fav is a form of gin rummy which we have called Wild Coast Rummy which is so much fun and pretty addictive!  My Gran also tried to teach us Bridge which was really really difficult and we gave up eventually.

Mom, Gran and I having a whale of a time :)

One day the whole family went up the river; Tarryn and I in one canoe, Stace in another and my Mom, Dad and Gran in a tiny little boat with an engine which we call Titanic 2 (It’s really really small and almost looks like it’s sinking with 3 ppl in it!) Anyway we were going up this small side creek which the canoes were fine in but the motor of the boat was too deep so they lifted the motor up and when I looked back my Mom and Dad were sitting in the boat while my Gran tried to paddle towards us! Poor Gran. BTW the Tanj and my gran got on so well that the Tanj was calling her Gran by the end of the first day!! What a hoot J

After three weeks at the sea I was going insane and went home a few days earlier with Tarryn and made it home in time for Cathicles’  early birthday party which was a lot of fun. Saw Gail and chatted about her wedding and met the fiancé

And in other news which I think you all know I have semi decided what to do with my life; I am looking for a job in a Municipality  for the year but if I don’t find one by the end of the month I am gonna register for Masters and finish it off!!

I am also excited about my Korea trip in July which the Tanj has agreed to come along on...will keep you updated as the plans unfold J

 . 

At the moment I am back in the Cape, came here for Stu’s wedding on Sat which was great fun but I might have had slightly too much champagne and also might have behaved in a semi rowdy and unruly manner...oops.

BTW Bongs is happy and healthy (I’m sure you were all wondering)

Lots of Love

Moi

right, a few facts to update y'all.

A fringe/bangs are not easy to maintain if you have curly hair and are not disposed towards grooming endlessly. I had to buy a hairdryer and hair stuff to keep it looking good. blurgh.

I am purchasing a hedgehog tomorrow. It will be my pet/friend/family member. I am unbelievably excited about it! I learnt the Korean word for hedgehog so I could tell all my students. Actually, let me back track a moment. We have been learning about calendars, birthdays,and 'before and after' this week in my one pre-school class. So the one activity was writing down your birthday and everyone else's in the class and then saying what you wanted for your birthday. Now the teacher is expected to participate in these sessions and so I duly wrote my birthday on the board and when asked what I would like for my birthday I said a hedgehog. well. I just laughed and laughed. Jeong Min (pronounced Jong Min) gave me this baleful look and just said: I can't get you a hedgehog. It was the sweetest thing and so touching. I said she didnt have to I was going to get it myself, but I would really like a pen or something else small.Which made her happy again.

So there it is. As soon as it is all settled in my apartment i will begin photo taking and filming and will post them so you can all see the wonderfulness that is a hedgehog.

Today my one student, pre-school again, Eun Gyeol (this is a tricky one, and I still say it wrong sometimes, but it goes something like this: Oon Gi-ol), looked at me so strangely today when I was gleefully bouncing up and down over receiving a letter from Sarah from when she was in Vietnam (random aside, so it took about a month for that letter to get here, but it only takes 2 weeks for things from home to get here, and Vietnam is in Asia - confirm that that is weird.). Eun Gyoel duly asked me who the letter was from and I told her it was from a friend in South Africa. Then she said, 'teacher why?', and I said because she misses me. This brought about a look of utter confusion on her face and then she said, "But teacher, you go South Africa-Korea, Korea-South Africa (she repeated this many times with full body actions in tow)"...now it was my turn to be confused, and I said "Ummmm, no. I stay in Korea."

AMAZEMENT. JAW DROP.

She was like "You Korea live?!"

"Yes"

"Haa. Really?"

"Yes"

"You no go home everyday?"

"No silly"

stunned silence.

"All teachers?"

"Yes"

disbelieving look. and then: "Teachers all live same?"

which I deciphered as: so all the teachers live together?

"No"

Well this just about rocked her little 7 year old world. It was hilarious and lovely all at once.

Otherwise things are moving ahead fairly smoothly. Had a few hiccups, but feeling good again.

love and miss you all. Please send news.