Epic Story

So my last post was a little of a dud, mainly because I was really tired at the time and I really didn't want to do anything at the time, so I will make this post nice and epic for you all or at least I will try.

Once upon a time, in a strange and far away land there was a Cyndil. This hermit was used to a quiet life of study when all of a sudden her studies were over and she realized she wanted more adventure in her life. She had a brief sojourn in the happiest place on earth and found it lacking in the joyful part of life that it so promised; So she took upon herself a quest to venture forth to Korealand in hopes to discover the flighty mistress called Adventure.


The Hermit agreed upon a contract with a witch (unaware of the witch's alignment of evil when first contracted) to teach her natural ability of speech. She would teach a language that would allow the speaker to travel anywhere and hold a place of power over others, a most coveted skill in this land. All her students were of a young age but driven, many would be at their studies from eight when the sun rises until ten at the night. Something so foreign to the Hermit, for her own childhood was filled with free time and fleeing to imaginary lands. All the students had promise but the task was daunting and many lost heart and fled the school. The number of the exodus caused the witch to show her true colors and she started to steal the soul of the Hermit by criticizing and placing unmerited  blame on the new arrivals, for there were others she had lured into her crypt. These other were two males, one large the other small, both hailing from the land of Canadia. After,  the first few months of torture from the witch, the Hermit discovered a way to combat the witch's destructive attitude and that was basically ignore half of the things she said. If she harkened to those diseased words the Hermit would lose faith and hope. That time of desperation didn't last long, there was a turn around at the Hagwon (school) and many young scholars with bright eyes and dark hair turned up asking to be taught the magic language. Everyday the students surprise the Hermit and teach her as much as or more than what she teaches them.

The Hermit is only chained to the institution during the weekday, so during the weekends she is out and having as many adventures as she can possible have.  The Korealand is a world of mountains and sea and so far they have called to the Hermit to explore them both. From the mountains she climbed to great heights, seeing as far as the pervading smog of the land would allow her, still a breathtaking sight. While the sea has yielded up its most fishiest of fruit, the strangest dish of all was the live octopus. Many bizarre cuisines are to be had in this land and because of the rare but necessary company of other teachers of magic speech the Hermit hangs out with, there is always ale at the feasts. An odd and opposing thing for the Hermit but it is something to be tolerated because who else is she going to hang out with. Along with the food, the Hermit has adopted the fighting style of locals of the land named Hopkido. Already, the Hermit has achieved the status of blue belt and she finds her favorite trick is throwing her opponents over her head.

In her religious order, the Hermit has been called to help preside over a group of Young Women. They are all very sweet and though there is little that can be communicated from one to the other because of the language barrier, actions speak louder than words and they all have the greatest smiles. While at church the Hermit is still hounded by the marriage discussion despite the change of location except here it is more awkward where most of the conversation is about how the Hermit is a woman and therefore is only good for having children and feeding them.... yeah. There are a few beaus chasing after the Hermit at the moment but none have peaked her interest, more like turned her off courting completely. One male is so juvenile in manner that it surprises the Hermit each time she reminds herself that he is thirty. Now the task is discovering a way to thwart the old yet young pursuer in the most empathetic way. Apologies, but that is all the Hermit will expound in this subject.


The time is now almost half way through the Hermit's contract and much has surpassed here in Korealand. Everyday produces a new task or quest, but life is always that crazy. The Hermit has found a bit of joy and continues to strive to maintain that happiness. And like all good stories there is no end to this tale of adventure, till next week.

PING PONG!!!!

Good afternoon and happy Monday everyone, sorry for the tardiness but I don't think it matters for most of you.
This week wasn't as adventure-filled as the other weekends have been. I think the most exciting things I have done was going to play ping pong with my friends:

I was walking back from a youth activity when I ran into a few of my fellow english teachers. I stopped and together we found a cool little ping pong gym.

Yeah that was pretty fun. Surprisingly even though I haven't played in like a year, I was able to hold my own. I even started to try out some spin hits. Watch out Dad and Dayne, I am going to take you on when I get back :)







That is about all I can think of this week.

Sorry, I promise next week I will have an epic story for you all.

Burning Down

Unexpected adventures seem to happen all the time and this weekend was no exception. In truth besides the unexpected fire my weekend was quite boring and non-adventurous.

So here is the story of my fire experience:

It was Saturday night and I had stayed up late because my beloved brother decided to show me an awesome site that I can buy and download old games that I was currently trying to figure out how to work on my computer. It was late, far later than I would normally be up because of my desire to get the programs to work (I think it was a blessing). Around 3:30am, I was fed up with my frustration and told myself it was time to get to bed but I kept smelling something like incense in the air. I remember think 'who on earth would be burning incense?' I needed to get to bed though, I had church in the morning, after all but I got the feeling that I should at least look out my door to check if something was out there.  It was weird because I also started hearing beeping from a few floors below. I went over to my door and opened it slightly and found a wall of smoke, so thick I could see three five feet in front of me. I quickly closed my door and started considering my options. The beeping downstairs were definitely fire alarms going off (they don't have our alarms go off probably because we are such a high floor that we're already doomed). I went over to my window and looked out, considering if I had the courage to jump if it became necessary, I live on the 11th floor, mind you. One look and I knew there was no way I was jumping. So I threw on some pants and grabbed my wallet and phone and my key. That is when I started hearing the airtanks of a firefighters outside in my hallway. They were banging on peoples doors trying to wake them up and get them out. As a last thought I grabbed one of my scarfs (used to cover my face) and went out my door. There I found two firefighters with axes still pounding on other peoples doors. They motioned me to get out, so like the responsible person I am I closed and locked my door and then motioned for them to tell me where the stairs were (I've never taken them before when I had an elevater and had no idea where they were) hehe.
I waded down through all eleven flights of smoke and nearly feighnted once but pushed through to the curb. The firehoses were going into the basement where the fire originated and was extinguished at. There was no cause for alarm at that point but the smoke was still pretty bad. A couple of english buddies who also live in the building were out on the curb as well and so I sat with them there until 5am when the firefighters told us that it was safe to go back in. The next few hours I slept next to the open window trying to breath fresh air. In the morning I cleaned black soot out of my nose, which was nasty but very informative of how much smoke I inhaled.

No worries though, I am still alive and now my building reminds me of a campfire. Oh and because I had my phone I was able to take photos :) and a video.

The next day I was exhausted but had a great story for everyone at church.

Bisides that nothing else is exciting enough to note, well if it as it has been out shown from my fire story. Um... school is good, I love the classes I teach. Hopkido testing is in a week. I am going to the temple this saturday.  The missionaries are trying to hint that I should marry a particular immature member of our singles group. I still go out to eat for most of my meals. And I'm happy.

till next week :)

The Quest for Happiness

Hello Everyone,

Well it is a new week and this week I tried something new! I decided to try my best and follow that old missionary lore of being 100% obedient in order to find this thing called happiness. Long and short of it is that I read my scriptures everyday and deleted all the sites that I could download or stream videos (remove the temptation). I am still not there yet but surprisingly life has deffinitely made a swing in the right direction.

I didn't go on any adventures this week..... well that isn't true. I did go on a date with someone and if you want all the details you have to skype me, just in case this blog falls into the wrong hands and I get blackmailed or something ;)

I spent all of sunday last with my french family and it was totally fun just spending time with those kids and keeping my friend sane. :) The kids were a bit crazy, randomly undressing and running around naked and then my friend pulled out a photo album which had a few pictures of her husband in the army. Apparently when you go swimming in the army, you wear a speedo... that was awkward but my friend being french, it didn't even phase her, that and it was her husband. Dinner was a quiche and I got some more recipes from her as well. Now all I need is an oven.

Hopkido has become fun with the addition of a few new people and a guy who everytime I am matched up with him he tells me he is going to kill me now. I laughed, then he attacked and I was on the ground before I knew it. He kept telling me to kill him but I couldn't (I'm not the violent sort...). The only time he said I did well was when I had put all my weight into my knee which was placed at the back of his neck, in truth I had fallen and that is how it all landed.
I also keep getting these massive bruises on my arms, I bruise like a peach! But I am having fun and that is what matters. We are getting tested in a few weeks and I hope I don't pass, that way if I screw up I can keep blaming my white belt and my ignorance :)

That is it for now, sorry no photos this week. My camera's battery died and I kept forgetting to charge it, yeah surprise surprise for those who know me and know how I am with charging batteries.

Smile hard everyone :)