what with it being superbowl sunday ...

why not combine a little k-pop with football fandom? here i present girls' generation's (or, 소녀시대) latest catchy pop hit, oh!:



this is likely the closest i will get to celebrating the superbowl (ie, not very close at all). it doesn't help that being 14 hours ahead of hometime makes for a monday-morning-8am-broadcast. and while there was an invite to go into seoul during rush hour tomorrow for bloody marys, american breakfast, and football watching, i'll have to decline. who's playing, anyway?

on the other hand, this sports fan passivity should take a different turn when it comes to the winter olympics next week, just so you know. i can't say i'll be joining mark in his 5am viewing plans for the gold cup game, but i will do my best to be a proud canadian in another time zone.

cute overload

i really want a korean child. with dance moves.



(via buncha banchan)

elf yourself has reached new levels

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

ah, it's that time of year again! this, of course, had me in hysterics. i would've posted the "disco" themed one, but there were far too many choreographed elf pelvic thrusts involved ...

happy december from your favourite christmas elves, like woah!

it's the most wonderful time of the year

while the weirdness of being away from home at christmastime deserves a blog post all of its own, i did want to share the exciting news that we're jet-setting to japan in one month today.

iiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !!!!!!!!!!!! (that's a high-pitched squeal of excitement.)

i also kind of love using exciting terms like "jet-setting." it makes me feel really glamorous.

mark's mom, klara, is coming to visit us for 9 days, and we're booked to fly to tokyo on christmas day. so yes, notwithstanding being out of canada and absent from family gatherings, flying to japan for the holidays will make 2009 officially the most bizarre christmas in the history of alex.

on a totally separate note, hopefully we'll get to experience the wonders of the subway while we're there:



or, not? oh dear god. that sort of puts the TTC fair hike and subsequent drama to shame. i wonder how much the subway in japan is?

halloween's a-coming

and this may or may not be my inspiration for this year's costume:



mark vetoed wayne & garth (boo!). and for whatever reason, i'm really drawn to wearing a feather-y headdress.

still brainstorming ...

oh, and as PROMISED

it's 3 weeks-a month later than expected, but here's the tour of the luxury pad.

gee gee gee gee baby baby baby

so my adoration of this song puts me a season behind in the kpop top-of-the-charts, but i can't help having a small crush on this girls' generation sensation. and this vid even has english subtitles! bonus. when a song is a hit in korea it is played, and played, and played andplayedandplayed. i didn't think it'd be possible to grow sick of a tune when i don't listen to korean radio or watch korean music stations. youtube super junior's "sorry, sorry" to have a listen to this country's current most unbelieveably overplayed and ubiquitous track - it also doesn't help that my students will constantly hum this, break into it whenever they hear the word "sorry," or imitate the video's dance moves ...

meanwhile, we've been simultaneously busy ... and not busy. our trip to seoul this weekend turned into an unplanned overnighter (or rather, an early morning crawl home). mark's birthday is quickly approaching this friday, so this upcoming weekend will likely be something to write home about, both literally and figuratively!

miss you, loove you - and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIANA!!! xoxo

before apartment tours...

... come tours of the love shack motel.