Friday, September 25, 2009

Behind the Scenes

This post will be short and sweet, as I am exhausted and we have some internet t.v. to catch up on.


I took some pictures this morning relating to our morning routine.  I thought it might help you imagine the bizarre balance our life strikes between monotony and the never ending string of surprises.

Obviously, you already know that I write the blog every night when I get home from work.  When I get up in the morning, I check the blog for comments, return emails and hang out on Skype to chat with you faraway folks.  After breakfast, Ian and I go jogging.  When we get back from being gawked at (we do it everyday, yet people still stare...) I do abs and some yoga.  Morning exercise is one of the ways we deal with stress here.  I try to channel any negative feelings into my run and then I use the yoga and stretching for "sort of" meditation.  To anyone working through a challenging time, I recommend finding your release.  If I didn't work out... Well, I'd probably have no patience with my students.  They can be trying as it is.




We've had a lot of morning fog here lately.  That's the view of the morning sun over the hills out our window.



I only recently achieved this yoga position (creatively named "tree").  I'm still pretty proud of it.  I couldn't pack my mat, so that's a quad-folded blanket under my feet.  Not very safe, but it works.





This is what Ian looks like after we jog.



Ian is not so great at yoga.  Or stretching in general...






So, he makes lunch instead.


When I finish my yoga, I start to clean up the apartment.  It's very difficult to clean while getting ready for work, but we do it everyday.





We do it everyday because this is what it looks like when we return from our jog.  Remember, our apartment is pretty much a room and a kitchen.  Easy to keep tidy, difficult to keep clean (because you are ALWAYS dirtying every inch of space).





The floors also have to be swept everyday.  All the dust bunnies end up next to the washing machine (which is in Korean).  Tomorrow is laundry day.  Yay!  We'll see if we can get it to start on the first try this time.


Tomorrow we are having dinner with a bunch of native English teachers (from places like the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.).  We're pretty excited.  I'll make sure to take the camera!

4 comments:

  1. Your tree pose is very good. Like, it should be on a poster in a yoga studio or something. I still can't get my foot up quite that high, it is more around the knee.
    And I can't wait to hear about your English speaking dinner!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Can't wait to hear about your dinner. Take lots of photos.Your apartment really is tiny.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looking forward to hearing about dinner.

    Isn't any job with a set routine monotonous? I've always found them so, anyway,

    Silly me...I thought to myself "what's so hard about the pose?" and then I tried it. I can get my foot up to my knee before starting to tip over. You look far more balanced, centered and graceful. (Note to self: work more on flexibility and balance issues.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. The pose takes practice. I had to work a lot on not sinking into my hip. It's tough for me to keep a straight line and not bend into it.

    Yeah, monotony is inevitable with a working life, but I was interested in making life in Korea tangible for the folks at home.

    I'm so excited for the dinner tonight!

    ReplyDelete