And your little dog, too!

Run! Run! as fast as you can....
You know the story. I just thought it was too cute today when my students were writing to the prompt :" Imagine you are the runaway gingerbread man. Where would you run? Why?" and one little girl (granted, a future dumb blond, but that's just my opinion) kept saying GINGERHEAD. Dearie, it's BREAD, BREAD, like food! See how like the wicked witch I sound?!? "dearie" I'll get you, my pretty!!! Suppose it was a self-fulfilling prophesy that I played the wicked witch in a play when I was in high school, eh? In my defense, I'm a smart wicked witch. Why, just this week I've taught them the words sinister, and beholder. As in "Take off that ski mask, it looks sinister." And, "Don't call him weird...Weird is in the eye of the beholder." (of course they said, respectively, "I don't know what sinister means." and "What's a beholder?") Ok, enough about school.
Want to waste a few minutes with Christmas fun? Now, fetch me my broom!

Suffering Succotash

So, for Thanksgiving, you get a quiz and a recipe... no cheating! And remember that I teach second grade, so don't judge me if you think these are easy questions. Post your answers and I'll grade you. :)
1. What year was the first Thanksgiving? What month?
2. Name the Indian (yeah, yeah, Native American) chief that met the first Pilgrims.
3. How long did the first Thanksgiving feast last?
4. The Indians brought what food to the feast?
5. How many Indians attended that first Thanksgiving?
6. Can you tell I'm more Native American than Pilgrim?...what tribe am I?!

A Wampanoag Recipe
(a modern day succotash)
1 medium white onion, peeled and sliced
1 pound groud beef
3 tablespoons oil
1 can corn, drained
1 can red kidney beans, drained
salt and pepper

1. Cook the onion and beef in oil in a frying pan until the meat is browned.
2. Add the corn, beans, salt, and pepper to the mixture.
3. Cover the mixture.
4. Cook the succotash over low heat for about 30 minutes.
5. Serve and enjoy!

Accidentally Cool

Well, this really has nothing to do with the "theme" of my blog. But, who doesn't love a little randomness now and again? As I was perched anticipatorily on the edge of my seat, watching previews before the new Harry Potter movie (AKA, THE BEST ONE YET), a cute bunch of cartoon penguins appeared. All of them seem to be voiced by Robin Williams. But that is neither here nor there. One of them slipped off the 'cliff', sliding down the enormous snow-covered ravine Frosty style. The onlooking penguin commented "He is SO accidentally cool." You had to have been there, but at that moment, I adopted that as my new catch phrase. Except, can you be accidentally cool...on purpose?!? I'd like to think so...

Barbie crosses the DMZ

Ah, Barbie... she has appeared in almost every permutation possible, right? Well, now she's gone Korean! I'm strangely excited to see her in Hanbok. You can check her out here. Now she can make all those teeny weeny perfect Korean girls feel bad about their bodies. Well, I doubt that will really happen since every Korean lady I saw was thin and elegant. Curses on that healty Korean diet. I wanna go feed 'em all some Twinkies and Slim Jims. and Coke!! They never drink Coke!! Crazy.

The Clone Wars

Hey kiddies, I'm back. Well, it's been a while, but when I heard this South Korean news, I had to MAKE time to post!! I'm sure you've heard by now, but I wanted to post a quote and a link to the BBC (some well-balanced news, by George) about the clone puppy that S. Korea has made. I wonder if they're trying to find a way to reduce food costs...two for one? Just kidding. Ok, here it is:

S Korea unveils first dog clone

" Scientists in South Korea have produced the first dog clones, they report in Nature magazine this week.
One of the puppies died soon after birth but the other, an Afghan hound named Snuppy, is still doing well after 16 weeks, the researchers say.
Snuppy joins a host of other cloned animals including Dolly the sheep, CC the cat and Ralph the rat.
Scientists hope dog clones will help them understand and treat a range of serious human diseases.
Snuppy, whose name stands for Seoul National University puppy, was made from a cell taken from the ear of a three-year-old male Afghan hound.
Scientists took the genetic material from the ear cell and placed it into an empty egg cell. This egg was then stimulated to start dividing and develop into an embryo.
Once growing, it was transferred to Snuppy's surrogate mother, a yellow labrador. The Afghan pup was born by caesarean section after a full 60 days of pregnancy."

Ok, I won't even go into my own opinions on the cloning issue. I'll just say, how can a country that has the intelligence and resources to achieve cloning still be stupid enough to want to partner with a hostile country which has proved time and time again to be AGAINST them?!?

Leaving the ROK

In other news, I'm heading out early tomorrow for home. While I know I have tons to do when I get there, I honestly wish I could just stay here. It's been nice not doing any wedding stuff. I'm sure I'll regret taking the month off from the planning, but it has been good for my mental health. haha Well, I'll be landing with tons of trinkets and memories, alas, no evidence of me at the DMZ! (well, none that I have...I'm sure those North Korean guards took my pic. Maybe I'll be on some propaganda. "Look at the fat American. See how she mocks us with her painted lips and frizzy hair. Capitalist Pig.")

Crime Doesn't Pay

Nice guys always get caught. We were having this discussion the other day... some guys previously in his job royally screwed up, but just never reported mistakes or problems. So, they are view as wonderboys. On the other hand, being the honest guy that he is, he reports problems and oversights, etc. So, what does he get for working hard and being honest? Trouble. That's right. No pats on the back for noting the problems and working on them. He'd have been 'better off' just letting things slide, doing his one year here and heading on out. hail the conquering hero. Anyway, let me get to my point. ... There are some major thieves out there who live the high life. While, I , on the other hand, can't even get away with taking a paperclip from work (so to speak, but not really). On Saturday, I went to the DMZ. Uneasy fun was had by all, ending up at the tiniest souvenir shop ever. In the hubbub of 100 people trying to cram into this shop and get things purchased in "15 minutes everyone!!", I left my camera. I'm getting ahead of myself. In the store, they were selling coins. Not your ordinary coin, think more like a Chuckee Cheese token. These Air Force guys collect coins, though. It's a mystery to me. They have them from every deployment, division, etc. that they've ever been on. They like to display them... after four years in, he already has a few dozen! Anyway, so I thought I'd be nice and buy him a couple. So, I turn to the lady and hold up two fingers and say "coin." (That's how I talk to the Koreans who don't understand English..gestures and one or two word phrases. It seems to work.) Anyway, not until I was happily back on the bus did I realize she had given me THREE. Two of them were stuck together. The bus was leaving in a minute and I debated over whether to go back or just go with it. The guy next to me on the bus said "Guess you were the hundredth customer. Think of it as a prize." And, it's true, I paid $5 per coin that probably cost 50 cents to make. Long story short: I "STOLE" that coin. Yep. If I'd only rushed back in, elbowed through all the people and tried to explain to her what had happened (what's the hand signal for 'you gave me too many'?), maybe I'd realized that I'd left my camera in there! Thanks God, appreciate the lesson. But, why does Joe Drug Dealer get all the Benjamins and I get thumped for a five dollar trinket? Oh, the humanity.