ESL Adventures

Teaching in South Korea

Archive for June, 2007

Quick note

I’m at one of the internet terminals in the airport in Gimpo.  So I’m safely in Korea.  Ony one more stage to go.  My flight to Ulsan leaves in about an hour.

I have no luggage as the flight from Cleveland to Las Vegas was delayed almost 2 hours.  Thus, I made it to the terminal, but my luggage didn’t make it onto the airplane.  I guess they are going to send it out on the next flight (whenever that is).

 I’ll update as soon as I get internet access in Ulsan.

Laters!

posted by Kathryn in Moving and have No Comments

Finally

I love the US Postal Service. Really I do.

When I sent in the form to have my mail forwarded while I was gone, I put June 15th as the start date. Apparently, June 15th really means June 1st.

My visa and passport ended up being forwarded to the other address. It takes four days to send a Priority Mail envelope from Chicago to Maple Heights. And then it takes another two days for it to go from Maple Heights to Maple Heights. Oh wait. It didn’t have to go anyplace else. It takes 2 days to get a change of address sticker slapped on it and sent out.

So the good news is I have my passport and visa in hand. I’m now just waiting for my travel agent to rebook the flight.

I’ll keep you posted.

posted by Kathryn in Moving and have No Comments

Why English is the Hardest Language

If you’ve learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius!

Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:
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1.) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2.) The farm was used to produce produce.
3.) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4.) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5.) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6.) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7.) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8.) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9.) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10.) I did not object to the object.
11.) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12.) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13.) They were too close to the door to close it.
14.) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15.) A seam stress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16.) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17.) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18.) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19.) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20.) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21.) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France (Surprise!). Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.

Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beet? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why dint preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. – Why doesn’t “Buick” rhyme with “quick”?

 

Source: Unknown

Spotted: TrentAdams.com

posted by Kathryn in Fun things and have No Comments

Just wonderful – NOT!

Well. It’s 10:00 pm on Tuesday. I’m sitting in front of my computer at home writing this. I’m not on an airplane on my way to Korea. And I’m pissed.

Yes. The visa that should have been in my hands on Saturday… it’s somewhere between Chicago and Cleveland.

I could scream.

When I checked the mail this afternoon and it wasn’t there, I flipped out. Once I got myself calm enough to think rationally, I called the post office and got no help. Then I did something I rarely do (and by rarely, I mean I did it maybe 3 times in the last 18 months). I took an Ativan and went to sleep.

I was having a horrible time coping with the stress and uncertainty. Talking to a friend wasn’t helping. So I did the only thing I could think of. I took the meds.

I’m calmer now. So the only thing left to do is wait for the visa to come. The travel agent won’t rebook the flight until I have those documents in my hands. And I can’t say I blame him.

*sigh*

posted by Kathryn in Moving and have No Comments

It’s in the mail

I just got off the phone with the Korean Consulate in Chicago. My visa is in the mail!

I supplied them with a priority envelope for return postage, so it should arrive tomorrow.

That means that the travel agent can finally finalize my flight.

And I guess I should start packing…

*gives the suitcases the evil eye*

posted by Kathryn in Moving and have No Comments