I don’t have a question but a recommendation. You said you had some major back pain issues so I thought I would give you an English speaking Korean oriental medical clinic. Accupuncture works on my bum knee and neck pain. Relatively non-evasive and no side effects. The clinic is named Hoo Clinic near the Hyundai department store downtown. The doctor is Audrey Shin and she’s fluent in English and can work wonders for every kind of aliment. Her number is 010-4614-2982.

Thanks for the recommendation!  I will check out Audrey this week!  Thanks again!

If you knew me before September 2010, you probably saw me with both curly and straight hair.  In the USA, I had looked into getting my curls relaxed, but it was too expensive and wouldn’t exactly give me the results I wanted.  What did I want?  I wanted straight hair.  Like straight straight.  Like the kind I can let air-dry and it will be perfect.  

(“Yes please!”)

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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/12/162_101309.html

Just wrote a controversial opinion article for The Korea Times.

Interested to see the response.  

No, I’m not talking about board games or stuffed animals.  I’m talking about the other kind of toys.  You know… the battery-operated ones, the ones you hide in your underwear drawer, the ones that keep you going through the lonely nights.

I find Korea in general to be a very sexually repressed country.  Even though prostitution is frequently (albeit illegally) practiced here, frank conversation about sex is rare and bringing up your late-night escapades will cause most Koreans to blush and giggle nervously.  

But hey, we all got needs, right?  And since it would probably be pretty awkward to ask your co-teacher where to get some battery-assisted help, I thought I would just help ya out.

While it is quite embarrassing to write this knowing that my parents will probably see this… I am not too ashamed because people are people and humans have biological needs.  (By the way — hi mom and dad! i love you!)  

ANYWAYS…

Where to go in Daegu to purchase a disease-free and low maintenance good time?

I shall tell you.  Obviously, there have to be numerous places around Daegu but since I am located in Suseong-gu, I shall recommend the following place:

Adult Department Store 25
성인 백화점 25 

HERE IS A MAP 

The store is not classy or shiny.  It is not high-end, nor does it try to be.  Located along a busy street, this hole-in-the-wall is unassuming.  I lived walked by it every day for almost 6 months before I realized what it was with the help of a Korea friend.  

The yellow banner and neon are not enough to distinguish it from any other Korean business… with the exception of the neon heart-and-arrow.  And the number 25 in the name… although that’s not even the age you need to be to enter.  The windows and doors are covered in paper/blacked out.  There is a small notice on the door to knock and/or call a phone number to be let in.  I would definitely knock on the door before entering… I’m assuming sometimes they lock it.  If no one answers, feel free to call the number on the door.

I have been there numerous times with different friends (male and female), and have never left disappointed.  The store is much smaller than you would expect, maybe half the size of your Korean one-room apartment.  The lighting isn’t great, the selection is random (sometimes hysterical), and the shopkeepers speak no English.  

However, what it lacks in aesthetics and English skills, it makes up for in novelty and customer service.  The shopkeepers are knowledgeable and can recommend popular choices or different options.  The shopkeepers have no qualms about showing off their latest import on the shelf.  They have no shame yet are very professional.  They will gladly take toys out of the package and put in batteries so you can feel (with your hands) the various speeds/strengths.

They have everything from bullets to rabbits to dildos to lube to lotions to male enhancers and male toys and extensions.  That’s right, extensions.  This place is definitely not just for female clientele.  For those men that are… ahem… lacking, there are a variety of extensions for you.

There are no price tags — everything is negotiable.  I once had a friend get a toy knocked down from $140 to $90!  (All it takes is some basic Korean, pouted lips and your best eye-batting.)  I believe that the place is cash only.  

So while the Adult Department Store 25 is nothing to write home about, it makes for an interesting visit and hopefully you find a new “friend.” 

On March 1st, I will leave Korea on a one-way ticket to Delhi, India.  

This scares the crap out of me.

Every single day I think about cancelling that plane ticket and just staying in Korea.   

I was a strange, strange little person.  Some might argue that I still am, but that’s not the point.

There are things throughout your life that you think you want or need.  Things that you think are cool.  Things that are cool until you have them and you experience a paradigm shift so severe that your outlook completely changes.

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Don’t do it.

Thank god I only have 3 more months left here.  

My friends in Korea and I have frequently commented that Korean students are more disciplined and generally more respectful.

GENERALLY.

Normally, my advanced classes are a breeze.  Some of these students have spent enormous amounts of time overseas either studying abroad, living with family, or traveling.  Some of these students are fluent in English.

However, this fluency in English makes them believe that they do not need English class.  It makes them believe that everything they say and write in English is perfect.  I can assure you, however, it is not.  The fluent students are remarkable and receive constant praise —- because they are in a country where being fluent in English is still relatively uncommon.  Put them in any western/northern European country or even southeast Asian country, and they are not so fluent.  They are far from being native speakers/writers.  Their papers are sometimes the hardest to grade and edit because of the glaring mistakes that come from improper word choice and wannabe complex sentences.  

Today, I had a young man in my class really, really piss me off.  

Their current chapter is about cultural differences, so I decided to re-use a successful lesson I did on the differences between middle school in America and Korea.  Most classes find it fascinating to learn the differences.  I walk them through a typical day in middle school, they write some comparative and contrasting sentences, followed by a newspaper article written by one of their own classmates.  It’s not exactly a thrilling lesson, but it’s relevant, current, and just actually a really decent lesson.

This young man, however, was not impressed.  Maybe it’s the fact that he just came back from a 2-week vacation in America.  Maybe it’s because most people praise his near-native English pronunciation.  Regardless, he raised his hand and asked, “Why do we even have to learn this?”  

And that was the moment that the rest of the class stopped caring.  As they ignored their reading assignment and comprehension questions, I grew frustrated.  About half of the class even attempted to read the article.  Despite various attempts to quiet them and focus them, the class grew noisier and noisier in defiance.  Even the students who sit right in front of my desk blatantly ignored my looks of disappointment and reminders to remain quiet and do their work.

I closed down the computer, collected my things, and sat down at an empty desk. 1 minute before class ended, I got back up and said, “If you guys do not give a shit, then I don’t give a shit.  You will never have a fun lesson again. You’re done. “    

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I was always a participating and sympathetic student.  I can’t even imagine treating my teachers in a disrespectful way.  Let alone blatant defiance.  They might as well have said “fuck you.”

I really wish I would’ve changed to elementary school.  

I’m often asked to recommend various doctors, businesses and motels here in Daegu.   Instead of repeating each time, I have pooled together my most frequently asked recommendations in this blog.   Most of my recommendations are located in Suseong-gu or downtown Daegu.

With all these places, I would really appreciate if you could tell them that I referred you (except the motel).  Just tell them that Amanda 아만다 recommended you. I’m not doing it for discounts or whatnot, just want to show them that the expat community has a lot of power in our word-of-mouth.

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