Early last week we were invited to go to a sleepover/group excursion on Friday night. It was going to be at a building that Mrs. Oh (the director/owner of Jayeon) owns and uses for English camps. Throughout the week it was extremely difficult to come by details regarding this trip. I was told it's either on the west coast or the east coast of Korea, and that we might go to the beach (despite the cold?). It was going to take between 2 and 4 hours to get there. I asked around about who was going to be going? Was it just Bojeong (where I teach) teachers? Are the Korean teachers coming? What are we going to do once we get there? I received various conflicting answers backed by various degrees of confidence.
So on Friday morning I packed an overnight bag and Friday after school we headed for the bus that was going to be taking us there. I quickly realized that this was going to be a larger scale affair than I had imagined. All of the Korean staff was coming. And people from all three of the schools (Bojeong, Jukjeon, and Suji) were coming. So that was pretty exciting.
It ended up taking about 2 hours and when we got there I was informed that we were on the West coast of Korea somewhere in the general vicinity of Boryeong (where the huge mud festival takes place). It was a really cool place - we were actually out in the country and free from light pollution so we could see a lot of stars. And the air just had a nice crispness to it. The building was really big and nice too. Mrs. Oh has a house right next to the building. She uses it as a sort of summer/lake house thing apparently. It was this monstrous boxy modern looking thing. I'm not sure how I felt about it, but it looked like it cost a lot of money. The point is - these Jayeon schools are making Mrs. Oh a nice amount of money.
So there are a bunch of "bedrooms" for us to choose from. I use the quotes because there isn't any furniture. I mean, they are really nice - each suite has two bedrooms and a living area with a dining room table and four chairs and a kitchen. But there are no couches, no beds. Oh well. My plan at this point was to get drunk enough that I didn't mind sleeping on the floor. Little did I know what the rest of the night had in store...
We were all gathered in a big gymnasium type room with a stage in front. Once we were all in there I started to really appreciate how many people were there. There were maybe around 15 foreign teachers (not all of them came), and then there were about 4 times as many Korean teachers. So we start getting spoken to by one of the Korean teachers, and she starts doing some introductions. It's really weird listening to people speak to a group of people in a different language. I was sitting by a bi-lingual foreign teacher and he was telling me bits of what they were saying. Basically the point of this night was for everyone to have a lot of fun and to get to know all of the other teachers. Since the new year was just starting there are a lot of new teachers so they want everyone to be friends.
The atmosphere in the gym quickly started getting ridiculous. People were coming up to the front and introducing themselves and all of the Korean girls would start doing claps and chants and cheering them on. It seemed like a competition was developing to see which of the three schools could be loudest. So, most of the Korean teachers are probably somewhere in their 20's, but you get a bunch of them on an overnight trip and they all kind of started acting 15. They were all wearing the orange and yellow pajama uniforms (you might have seen some of the kids wearing them in earlier pictures). Oh yeah, and the only guys on this entire trip are me, three other foreign teachers and Mr. Shin (Mrs. Oh's husband). So it's starting to sound like cheerleading camp or something to that effect in this room.
So that was kind of crazy. But then the craziness got cranked up like eleventy billion notches. They had a karaoke machine and the gym was quickly transformed into our own little noraebang. Apparently different groups of girls had all choreographed their own little dances to various songs. And they just let loose. I kept looking over at Mrs. Oh and Mr. Shin and at the principals to see how they were taking this, but they were all just smiling and having a blast. While one group of girls would be performing, all the others would be on their knees huddled around the stage waving their arms and basically losing their shit like they're watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show or something...
Meanwhile the other foreign teachers and I are just sitting around slack-jawed in amazement. Words cannot adequately describe the scene - it was kind of surreal. It was around 11pm by this point and we all quickly agreed that it was much too late for us to have not started drinking yet. I really have to give it up to the Koreans though. They definitely know how to have fun and party. It was really fun to see all of those Korean teachers up there having fun. All day at school they walk around in their all black business outfits and they're always busy and hard at work. It was cool to see them let loose. Same with Mr. Shin - he drives us to school every morning and I don't think I had ever seen him smile in my life. But now he was laughing and clapping and he even sang a song.
In fact, we quickly realized that EVERYONE was singing. Except for us. One of the teachers told us that it would be really rude if we didn't sing. So all of the foreign teachers got up on stage and kind of danced and clapped while one of the girls sang Dancing Queen. It was kind of fun - it was hard to consider it embarrassing because the Koreans were so supportive and happy to see us up there.
After that we ran off and broke in to our booze supply. By the time we came back dinner was beginning to be served. They had a bunch of little foot high tables set up and big plates of noodles, kimchi, pork, lettuce, sauces, etc. set up and it all looked delicious. And now the Koreans started drinking in earnest. We had a bunch of these little 6oz paper cups and they are all pouring them for each other and pounding them. It's very entertaining to see our 40 something year old ajumma principal pound some beer and then upend the cup over her head to prove it's empty. I finished off my poju that I brought and then moved on the the mekju(?) - beer and soju.
So it's getting pretty wild in there and the noraebang is getting more lively by the minute. I am constantly amazed by the Koreans ability to immediately synchronize their dance moves. I joined the other foreign teachers for "Africa" by Toto (a favorite of the South Africans of course) and "Bohemian Rhapsody". After awhile the noraebang kind of let up and we all went upstairs to play drinking games. Then some of the Korean teachers came in and challenged us to some Jenga. Let me tell you I haven't played Jenga in a long while (I'm not sure I had even discovered alcohol at that point), and drunk Jenga is rough, but I managed to hold my own. Those Korean girls are Jenga wizards though.
After awhile Mrs. Oh told all of the Korean girls to go to bed, and then some of them snuck back over to drink some more with us - so now it is totally feeling like some kind of high school field trip. And some of the Korean girls are really drunk which is just hilarious to me. I'm pretty sure I promised a few of them I would give them English lessons in exchange for Korean lessons, so we'll see if that actually happens.
The night wore on and pretty soon it was just me and one other teacher talking really really drunkly about life and philosophy and what-not. You know the type of stuff you talk about when the sun is coming up and you've been drinking heavily. I went to bed a little before 7. Apparently some people tried to wake me up at 8 to go on a bus tour of the area and I didn't even move. I woke up around 11 and was a bit foggy about where exactly I was. Turns out most of the teachers didn't go on the bus tour and the ones who did really wished they hadn't. I was glad to find out I wasn't the only one nursing a massive hangover. Soju is seriously evil the next morning. So we all scarfed Tylenols like Skittles and then sat down for lunch, which was actually really good and nourishing. Normally I can't take Korean food when I have a slightly unstable stomach, but they had this rice dumpling soup that hit the spot.
So I slept the whole bus ride home and we were back by around 2:30 Saturday afternoon. It was a really great time. I think it's really nice of Mrs. Oh to organize stuff like that because not only did I get to know a lot of the Korean teachers a lot better, it was a good time to bond with the other foreign teachers too. It was just a nice little moral boosting thing for the troops.
In other news... my washing machine is now fixed, so that is really nice. I've watched all the episodes of Californication now, and I really enjoyed it. It's basically like what would happen to the characters of a Bret Easton Ellis book 15 years later after they've started a family and stuff. It's also got the same kind of tenderness amidst a backdrop of morally depraved revelry that his books had. Even though the characters are drug abusing sex fiends, they're good people - and what choice do they have? They live in LA! That kind of seems to be the message. Recently my two favorite bands have been Glasvegas and Foals. I've been getting over my historical aversion to British bands, and these are two great examples of UK bands that I really like. Glasvegas kind of has this simple, but big sound. They're an indie stadium rock band like The Killers, or someone like that. Their song "Geraldine" is stuck in my head constantly. Foals are bit hard to explain. They're really groove and beat oriented. Their guitars sound like Minus the Bear - they're very light and very fast. They've also kind of got a dance punk sound. Anyway I can listen to it on repeat for hours and never get bored.
Tomorrow we start with the new kindy schedule. I'm excited to see what my kids are gonna be like. I'm really happy with my afternoon schedule, so hopefully the mornings are just as good.
Also, I can't forget to say happy birthday to Brett and Josh... as I write this it is Saturday night back in Chicago so I'm sure there is a celebration taking place right this moment and I really wish I could be taking part.
Later dudes!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Annyeong Haseyo
Hi everyone, I've got a little free time at work this morning, so I thought I'd check in. Haven't been writing as much because I feel like I haven't really been doing as much. Or maybe it's just that I'm doing the exact same things that I've been doing the entire time I've been here, and they don't seem as interesting anymore.
So things have been a bit crazy at work lately. We are beginning the new school year apparently (I don't know why they chose March, but it seems like a lot of English schools do the same). So all of the classes are different, and a bunch of teachers are getting moved around. No one really knows what's going on, it's pretty much been madness. My friend Hollis is now teaching at our Jukjeon school. He started there this Monday, and didn't find out until last Friday. I found out on Monday that I would be teaching themes from now on instead of phonics. So I had about 1 hour to prepare for my first theme class ever. Luckily the kindies don't start until next week, so we've had the mornings to do some preparing.
I think I'm really going to enjoy teaching themes. It's a bit less dry than phonics. I started with the "4 Seasons" theme, but there are some pretty fun ones coming up in the future. I can't wait for the Sports theme and the Music theme, I think those will be the best. Also, every theme has this big packet of materials already prepared for it, so my lesson planning and class preparation are going to be a lot easier.
Every MWF I have my "Free Talking" class again. You might remember that I was teaching this awhile back, but it ended after about 4 classes. Now I have 7 students and I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with them. On Monday I thought we would just chat about whatever and we would kind of get to know each other, but they were kind of bratty. I'd ask them what they want to talk about - "Nothing". What do you like to do? "Sleep". What do you like to do with your friends? "Speak in Korean". (One of the girls actually said that. Clever, that one.) So I'm going to have to come up with actual topics for us to discuss.
I still don't know what my kindy schedule is going to be. Probably won't find out until Monday morning 15 minutes before we have to teach. Good times! These first few classes you spend a lot of time just learning their names though. We play this name game where you slap your knees, clap your hands, left hand snap, right hand snap over and over and over to a 1-2-3-4 beat. On the 4th beat I say my name, then on the next 4th beat I say a kid's name. Then they say their name and then someone else's name. And it keeps going around, if the kid screws up they're out. The pads of my middle fingers are sore from snapping so much - I didn't even know that could happen.
I still don't have my alien registration card, which is starting to get really frustrating. I can't get a phone without it, and I'm starting to encounter a lot of situations where I'd like a phone. I was supposed to get it last week, and we did get a package from immigration, but it had my paperwork and my passport, but no alien card. Apparently since I am contracted to be working in Incheon and I'm living in Suji they rejected it. So we have to fill out the paperwork again. My principal just made me sign in a couple of places and said she would fill out the rest. Hopefully she gets it right this time. She said I'll get it in about 2 weeks. And my washing machine is hopefully going to get fixed tomorrow morning (the repairman is coming at 9am). Hopefully it's an easy fix.
There is a kid getting trained this week at our school and he is living in the villa with us. He brought his Xbox 360, so we played some college football last night. He was telling me how he had played in all kinds of Madden tournaments and was ranked pretty high on Xbox Live, so I knew what I was getting into, but it was fun nonetheless. He's from Alabama and a big Auburn fan, so it was #16 Auburn vs. #18 Illinois. I probably should have picked Florida or OSU to give myself a bit more of a chance, but I had to represent. He jumped out 14-0, but I came back and it was 14-14 at half. He pulled away though at the end - final score 35-21. Anyway, it was a lot of fun playing video games again. And I got to do some tests and figure out what was wrong with my 360. The box is fine, but I apparently fried the power source when I plugged it in. I'm still not sure why, because I had it plugged into a voltage converter. But I have some ideas, and once I get a new power source I should be able to get it up and running.
I haven't been doing a whole lot on the weekends lately. This last weekend we went to Exit on Friday night and it was weird because a lot of the people I'm used to seeing there weren't there. And there were a ton of people there who had only been in Korea for a couple days or 1 week. Since a lot of schools are starting their new year, this is a big time for new teachers to come. On Saturday night we celebrated Hollis's birthday. We went to TGIFridays for dinner. I got fajitas, and they were good, but it was really expensive. I guess people will over pay for their food in order to get the American experience.
After that we took a 20 minute bus ride to a city called Suwon. Suwon has over a million people and is closer than Seoul, so I imagine that we will go over there a fair amount. We went to some club and it was your typical club experience. The people I went out with were a lot of fun, but eventually I got bored with the loudness and dancing and left before everyone else did. Which was at about 5:00. So I got a cab back to Suji and made him stop at the McDonalds on the way home so I could get an Egg McMuffin.
SPEAKING OF CAB RIDES. I had a wild one the weekend before last on the way back from Samsung Plaza. It was about 3:30am and I got in and told him "Suji Middle School" in flawless Korean. And he starts jibber-jabbering in Korean and holding up money. I was a bit confused, but I reached in my pockets to see how much I had left - 7000 won, which is about $4.50 or so these days. I had never taken a cab home from Samsung Plaza before, but I was figuring this should be enough to at least get me close to home. (It turns out I was right, the next day I asked some friends and they said it should be about 7 or 8000). Anyway, he starts shaking his head and holding up 10,000 won notes. I just figured I was underestimating the distance, and I didn't really care at that point so I held up my card. He took me to a GS25 (there is a GS25 on almost every corner in Korea) and I got some cash. So then I get back in and he holds up two 10,000 won notes. At this point I'm thinking, this guy is totally trying to rip me off. So I start pointing at the meter, but he doesn't want to use the meter. At this point I just really don't care so I give him 20,000 won, and then swipe a 5000 note out of his hand. So then he starts yelling for me to give it back and I just kept saying "NO - YOU BAD MAN!" He thought that was pretty funny, and I did too, so he gave up. And that is how we agreed on 15,000 won - like gentlemen. So the mood was pretty light in the cab now, because we were laughing at me calling him a bad man - and I suppose it didn't hurt that I had been drinking for about 7 hours. I made him crank up the music and we started heading home. He started asking me the 5 English questions he had memorized and we were making some friendly conversation when all of a sudden he starts slowing down. We're on a three lane highway and cars are going about 60-70mph. Now he's slowing WAY down. And now we're stopped. And he puts his flashers on. I'm not really sure what to say so I just say "What? What? What?" over and over again. He starts looking out the back window, so I start looking out the back window too. Cars are frantically merging out of our lane. He waits for a break in the traffic and floors it in reverse. So now we are flying backwards at about 20mph down the highway. Luckily it's pretty flat, and not too congested, so cars are able to see our flashers and reverse lights in time to get over. Finally I realize what he's doing. He missed his exit. So we went backwards for about 150 yards so he could take the exit he wanted. Ridiculous. But I got home safe. Honestly it's a lot more scary in the retelling. At the time I thought it was pretty cool and we were celebrating and laughing once he got off of the highway.
I'm now completely caught up on LOST and waiting for new episodes really sucks. I think I can honestly say that it is my favorite television drama ever. I'm watching Californication right now, but there aren't very many episodes so I'll probably be done with that by the weekend. I'm also currently watching a few animes completely in order so I can finally figure what the hell is actually going on in them. Right now I'm going through Cowboy Bebop and The Big O. Next is probably Ghost in the Shell. As for movies, I've watched the following recently: Doubt, Barton Fink, The Wrestler, The Reader. The other thing I've been finding really fun lately is listening to Beethoven. It started with me looking for the Moonlight Sonata (walking down a dark street listening to that first movement is so intense), and it turned into me downloading all of his symphonies and a bunch of his piano sonatas. It's really interesting how similar Beethoven is to some of my favorite crazy chaotic experimental hardcore bands. The technicality and changes of pace remind me of listening to The Fall of Troy or The Number 12 Looks Like You. Good stuff. It's also made me search out other good classical music. I'm also enjoying Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich who are both Russian guys who make really dramatic intense music.
Ok that's it for now. Honestly things have been somewhat uneventful for the last couple of weeks. I'm actually finding quite a bit of enjoyment in being a bit secluded. It's fun getting lost in tv shows and movies. I've been able to read a lot more too. I'm currently reading "Water For Elephants", which is ok. I'm about halfway through and a lot of people have recommended it, so I'm assuming the second half is pretty interesting. When I'm not in the mood for fiction I've been reading either "Godel, Escher, Bach" (for when I want to think) or "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" (for when I want to laugh). I'm sure eventually I'll get bored and break out of my shell a bit. Probably when the warm weather comes around.
Talk to you later!
So things have been a bit crazy at work lately. We are beginning the new school year apparently (I don't know why they chose March, but it seems like a lot of English schools do the same). So all of the classes are different, and a bunch of teachers are getting moved around. No one really knows what's going on, it's pretty much been madness. My friend Hollis is now teaching at our Jukjeon school. He started there this Monday, and didn't find out until last Friday. I found out on Monday that I would be teaching themes from now on instead of phonics. So I had about 1 hour to prepare for my first theme class ever. Luckily the kindies don't start until next week, so we've had the mornings to do some preparing.
I think I'm really going to enjoy teaching themes. It's a bit less dry than phonics. I started with the "4 Seasons" theme, but there are some pretty fun ones coming up in the future. I can't wait for the Sports theme and the Music theme, I think those will be the best. Also, every theme has this big packet of materials already prepared for it, so my lesson planning and class preparation are going to be a lot easier.
Every MWF I have my "Free Talking" class again. You might remember that I was teaching this awhile back, but it ended after about 4 classes. Now I have 7 students and I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with them. On Monday I thought we would just chat about whatever and we would kind of get to know each other, but they were kind of bratty. I'd ask them what they want to talk about - "Nothing". What do you like to do? "Sleep". What do you like to do with your friends? "Speak in Korean". (One of the girls actually said that. Clever, that one.) So I'm going to have to come up with actual topics for us to discuss.
I still don't know what my kindy schedule is going to be. Probably won't find out until Monday morning 15 minutes before we have to teach. Good times! These first few classes you spend a lot of time just learning their names though. We play this name game where you slap your knees, clap your hands, left hand snap, right hand snap over and over and over to a 1-2-3-4 beat. On the 4th beat I say my name, then on the next 4th beat I say a kid's name. Then they say their name and then someone else's name. And it keeps going around, if the kid screws up they're out. The pads of my middle fingers are sore from snapping so much - I didn't even know that could happen.
I still don't have my alien registration card, which is starting to get really frustrating. I can't get a phone without it, and I'm starting to encounter a lot of situations where I'd like a phone. I was supposed to get it last week, and we did get a package from immigration, but it had my paperwork and my passport, but no alien card. Apparently since I am contracted to be working in Incheon and I'm living in Suji they rejected it. So we have to fill out the paperwork again. My principal just made me sign in a couple of places and said she would fill out the rest. Hopefully she gets it right this time. She said I'll get it in about 2 weeks. And my washing machine is hopefully going to get fixed tomorrow morning (the repairman is coming at 9am). Hopefully it's an easy fix.
There is a kid getting trained this week at our school and he is living in the villa with us. He brought his Xbox 360, so we played some college football last night. He was telling me how he had played in all kinds of Madden tournaments and was ranked pretty high on Xbox Live, so I knew what I was getting into, but it was fun nonetheless. He's from Alabama and a big Auburn fan, so it was #16 Auburn vs. #18 Illinois. I probably should have picked Florida or OSU to give myself a bit more of a chance, but I had to represent. He jumped out 14-0, but I came back and it was 14-14 at half. He pulled away though at the end - final score 35-21. Anyway, it was a lot of fun playing video games again. And I got to do some tests and figure out what was wrong with my 360. The box is fine, but I apparently fried the power source when I plugged it in. I'm still not sure why, because I had it plugged into a voltage converter. But I have some ideas, and once I get a new power source I should be able to get it up and running.
I haven't been doing a whole lot on the weekends lately. This last weekend we went to Exit on Friday night and it was weird because a lot of the people I'm used to seeing there weren't there. And there were a ton of people there who had only been in Korea for a couple days or 1 week. Since a lot of schools are starting their new year, this is a big time for new teachers to come. On Saturday night we celebrated Hollis's birthday. We went to TGIFridays for dinner. I got fajitas, and they were good, but it was really expensive. I guess people will over pay for their food in order to get the American experience.
After that we took a 20 minute bus ride to a city called Suwon. Suwon has over a million people and is closer than Seoul, so I imagine that we will go over there a fair amount. We went to some club and it was your typical club experience. The people I went out with were a lot of fun, but eventually I got bored with the loudness and dancing and left before everyone else did. Which was at about 5:00. So I got a cab back to Suji and made him stop at the McDonalds on the way home so I could get an Egg McMuffin.
SPEAKING OF CAB RIDES. I had a wild one the weekend before last on the way back from Samsung Plaza. It was about 3:30am and I got in and told him "Suji Middle School" in flawless Korean. And he starts jibber-jabbering in Korean and holding up money. I was a bit confused, but I reached in my pockets to see how much I had left - 7000 won, which is about $4.50 or so these days. I had never taken a cab home from Samsung Plaza before, but I was figuring this should be enough to at least get me close to home. (It turns out I was right, the next day I asked some friends and they said it should be about 7 or 8000). Anyway, he starts shaking his head and holding up 10,000 won notes. I just figured I was underestimating the distance, and I didn't really care at that point so I held up my card. He took me to a GS25 (there is a GS25 on almost every corner in Korea) and I got some cash. So then I get back in and he holds up two 10,000 won notes. At this point I'm thinking, this guy is totally trying to rip me off. So I start pointing at the meter, but he doesn't want to use the meter. At this point I just really don't care so I give him 20,000 won, and then swipe a 5000 note out of his hand. So then he starts yelling for me to give it back and I just kept saying "NO - YOU BAD MAN!" He thought that was pretty funny, and I did too, so he gave up. And that is how we agreed on 15,000 won - like gentlemen. So the mood was pretty light in the cab now, because we were laughing at me calling him a bad man - and I suppose it didn't hurt that I had been drinking for about 7 hours. I made him crank up the music and we started heading home. He started asking me the 5 English questions he had memorized and we were making some friendly conversation when all of a sudden he starts slowing down. We're on a three lane highway and cars are going about 60-70mph. Now he's slowing WAY down. And now we're stopped. And he puts his flashers on. I'm not really sure what to say so I just say "What? What? What?" over and over again. He starts looking out the back window, so I start looking out the back window too. Cars are frantically merging out of our lane. He waits for a break in the traffic and floors it in reverse. So now we are flying backwards at about 20mph down the highway. Luckily it's pretty flat, and not too congested, so cars are able to see our flashers and reverse lights in time to get over. Finally I realize what he's doing. He missed his exit. So we went backwards for about 150 yards so he could take the exit he wanted. Ridiculous. But I got home safe. Honestly it's a lot more scary in the retelling. At the time I thought it was pretty cool and we were celebrating and laughing once he got off of the highway.
I'm now completely caught up on LOST and waiting for new episodes really sucks. I think I can honestly say that it is my favorite television drama ever. I'm watching Californication right now, but there aren't very many episodes so I'll probably be done with that by the weekend. I'm also currently watching a few animes completely in order so I can finally figure what the hell is actually going on in them. Right now I'm going through Cowboy Bebop and The Big O. Next is probably Ghost in the Shell. As for movies, I've watched the following recently: Doubt, Barton Fink, The Wrestler, The Reader. The other thing I've been finding really fun lately is listening to Beethoven. It started with me looking for the Moonlight Sonata (walking down a dark street listening to that first movement is so intense), and it turned into me downloading all of his symphonies and a bunch of his piano sonatas. It's really interesting how similar Beethoven is to some of my favorite crazy chaotic experimental hardcore bands. The technicality and changes of pace remind me of listening to The Fall of Troy or The Number 12 Looks Like You. Good stuff. It's also made me search out other good classical music. I'm also enjoying Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich who are both Russian guys who make really dramatic intense music.
Ok that's it for now. Honestly things have been somewhat uneventful for the last couple of weeks. I'm actually finding quite a bit of enjoyment in being a bit secluded. It's fun getting lost in tv shows and movies. I've been able to read a lot more too. I'm currently reading "Water For Elephants", which is ok. I'm about halfway through and a lot of people have recommended it, so I'm assuming the second half is pretty interesting. When I'm not in the mood for fiction I've been reading either "Godel, Escher, Bach" (for when I want to think) or "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" (for when I want to laugh). I'm sure eventually I'll get bored and break out of my shell a bit. Probably when the warm weather comes around.
Talk to you later!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Videos
So I videotaped most of my "cola zombie" class today so you could kind of see how it goes start from finish. The camera got disrupted before class ended, but you'll get the idea.
These guys are one of my 6 year old classes (remember - that is Korean age, so they are all about 5). I'm not exactly sure how they divide the classes, some of it depends on the kid's schedule, but also they are divided by ability. My other afternoon 6 year old class only has 6 kids (the one with Billy A and Billy B from the Go Fish game video) and they are all really smart. I think that was done intentionally. So my point is: this is one of my lowest level classes, and also my most rambunctious, so we don't always accomplish a lot... but I do my best. For all of their craziness, this is probably my cutest class too, which I guess is why I chose to make the video of them.
Videos can only be 100Mb on this blog, so I split it up into five clips.
In the beginning, we are finishing up our "conversation" portion. After watching this I realized that I talk and act like a complete idiot around the kids... I almost didn't recognize myself. I guess I just end up falling into whatever role the kids respond best to. Your entertainment comes before my embarrassment though... I'd like to think they taught me that.
In the second part the kids get REALLY excited about writing W's on the board. You just never know what is going to be really fun for them. Then they rattle off a bunch of W words, I was actually pretty impressed. (Their vocabulary is decent, they just don't know how to string words together properly.) After that a game of Simon Says breaks out.
In this clip we play the "blowing game". There are many varieties of the blowing game, but they all involve blowing something across the floor. In this version, there are two teams and they are each trying to blow their piece (a plastic coin) through their respective set of glue sticks. I say a bunch of words and the first person to slap my hand when I say a "W" word gets to blow. If they slap my hand and it's not a "W" word, the other team blows. Fun stuff!
This clip is just a second round of the blowing game, and then setting up for musical chairs. Also, Kelly commandeers the camera for awhile.
The last clip starts off with musical chairs (played to "Do the Whirlwind" by Architecture in Helsinki). After that we start going over our current PM+ book. Every two weeks there is a new PM+ book that goes over a different theme. This theme was "Up and Down". So we talk about things that go up and down. Towards the end Jake knocks the camera down. Thanks a lot Jake.
Ok, this last clip is a real gem. This is one of my 7 year old classes, and they are definitely my smartest bunch. And they are graduating on Saturday! *tear* I'll definitely miss them (but not my other 7 year class, I hate them - seriously.) So I basically decided to pretty much give this class the week off. They've been really good to me, and they're really smart, so we're just gonna have fun this week. Today we watched some Tom and Jerry and also the "Kill Da Wabbit" Bugs Bunny opera in between Go Fish games. I also found out that a few of them are learning Japanese - they started speaking Japanese to each other! These kids are 7 and are tri-lingual! It's nuts!
So anyway, last week one of the kids in this class bumped his shin on something and ended up on the floor clutching his leg and wincing in pain. He was totally doing the Peter Griffin "Ahhhhh" and then the sharp intake of breath through the teeth. So then I showed them a clip of Peter doing that (once again, thank you youtube) and they loved it. (Video below for those who are not well versed in Family Guy lore - fast forward to 1 minute in).
So ever since they saw that, they will spontaneously break out into a wincing fit. They were doing it for a little while today and I ran and grabbed my camera to try and catch some of it.
These guys are one of my 6 year old classes (remember - that is Korean age, so they are all about 5). I'm not exactly sure how they divide the classes, some of it depends on the kid's schedule, but also they are divided by ability. My other afternoon 6 year old class only has 6 kids (the one with Billy A and Billy B from the Go Fish game video) and they are all really smart. I think that was done intentionally. So my point is: this is one of my lowest level classes, and also my most rambunctious, so we don't always accomplish a lot... but I do my best. For all of their craziness, this is probably my cutest class too, which I guess is why I chose to make the video of them.
Videos can only be 100Mb on this blog, so I split it up into five clips.
In the beginning, we are finishing up our "conversation" portion. After watching this I realized that I talk and act like a complete idiot around the kids... I almost didn't recognize myself. I guess I just end up falling into whatever role the kids respond best to. Your entertainment comes before my embarrassment though... I'd like to think they taught me that.
In the second part the kids get REALLY excited about writing W's on the board. You just never know what is going to be really fun for them. Then they rattle off a bunch of W words, I was actually pretty impressed. (Their vocabulary is decent, they just don't know how to string words together properly.) After that a game of Simon Says breaks out.
In this clip we play the "blowing game". There are many varieties of the blowing game, but they all involve blowing something across the floor. In this version, there are two teams and they are each trying to blow their piece (a plastic coin) through their respective set of glue sticks. I say a bunch of words and the first person to slap my hand when I say a "W" word gets to blow. If they slap my hand and it's not a "W" word, the other team blows. Fun stuff!
This clip is just a second round of the blowing game, and then setting up for musical chairs. Also, Kelly commandeers the camera for awhile.
The last clip starts off with musical chairs (played to "Do the Whirlwind" by Architecture in Helsinki). After that we start going over our current PM+ book. Every two weeks there is a new PM+ book that goes over a different theme. This theme was "Up and Down". So we talk about things that go up and down. Towards the end Jake knocks the camera down. Thanks a lot Jake.
Ok, this last clip is a real gem. This is one of my 7 year old classes, and they are definitely my smartest bunch. And they are graduating on Saturday! *tear* I'll definitely miss them (but not my other 7 year class, I hate them - seriously.) So I basically decided to pretty much give this class the week off. They've been really good to me, and they're really smart, so we're just gonna have fun this week. Today we watched some Tom and Jerry and also the "Kill Da Wabbit" Bugs Bunny opera in between Go Fish games. I also found out that a few of them are learning Japanese - they started speaking Japanese to each other! These kids are 7 and are tri-lingual! It's nuts!
So anyway, last week one of the kids in this class bumped his shin on something and ended up on the floor clutching his leg and wincing in pain. He was totally doing the Peter Griffin "Ahhhhh" and then the sharp intake of breath through the teeth. So then I showed them a clip of Peter doing that (once again, thank you youtube) and they loved it. (Video below for those who are not well versed in Family Guy lore - fast forward to 1 minute in).
So ever since they saw that, they will spontaneously break out into a wincing fit. They were doing it for a little while today and I ran and grabbed my camera to try and catch some of it.
Friday, February 13, 2009
I'm a millionaire.
Last Wednesday was payday, so I now have millions of won in my name. One of the Korean teachers was able to go to the bank and get me a debit card today too. I'm a little confused about how that worked - I just assumed that in order to open a bank account and get a debit card I would have had to go to the bank at some point. But apparently, "he works with me" was enough identification for her to do everything for me, and I made a successful withdrawal a few minutes ago.
This morning was slightly hellish. I woke up at about 8:45, and the van that takes us all to school leaves at 8:30. My first class starts at 9:10. I was out of my apartment by 8:50, and began running around in the rain searching for a cab. BTW, this is the first time I have seen it rain in Korea, so... great timing. I didn't really know where the best place to catch a cab was so I just started heading towards the school. The school is about a 7 minute drive away, but it is mostly down a stretch of road where you go about 60mph, so it would have taken a long time to walk/run. So I'm running down the sidewalk, even though wherever I'm running towards is no more likely to have a cab than the place I was was currently standing. At least, for all I know it isn't. But, I was late, and I just needed to run. I didn't know of any buses that way, and I certainly wasn't going to risk guessing and getting on one.
At about 8:58 I got to the major road that heads south to my school. It would be pointless to start walking down it, because there were no more intersections, and even if I saw a cab it wouldn't stop. So I waited at this major intersection (both roads were 3-4 lanes). The first cab I saw said no, because I don't think he understood when I said "Bojeong Jayeon". I saw a few cabs heading south but they just flew through the green light without stopping.
Finally I saw one stopped about 15 cars back at the red light. Just as I ran out into the middle of the road, cutting across lanes, trying to get his attention - the light turns green. So now people are honking at the crazy white guy who is running through the middle of this major road. And just as I'm getting to the cab, an ambulance comes up behind him blaring his sirens. Now everyone is trying to get out the ambulance's way, and I am frantically waving my arms at the cab. I just dove in and told him Bojeong Jayeon. Thankfully he understood me and started driving, because he would have been totally justified in throwing me out. I must have looked like a lunatic - I'm sure I had a pretty crazy look in my eyes as I was bearing down on him. I was desperate at that point though, and I was not going to let another cab get by. The whole way there he was laughing and talking in Korean, and miming me waving my arms and yelling at him. So I'm glad he got a laugh out of it.
I got to school at 9:20 and one of the teachers was watching Madagascar 2 with my class. I think I kind of scared the kids because I was soaking wet, and also sweaty (it was ridiculously humid today, and about 50 something degrees - and I was still dressed like it was about 30), I was out of breath, hadn't showered that morning. I was just a bit of a mess. And then I got to be the one to tell them they had to stop watching the movie and learn about the letter A. So they pretty much hated me. As I was asking them what day it was and what the date was it suddenly dawned on me that it's Friday the 13th. Of course it is.
So since I haven't written at all this week I'll briefly go over last weekend. It was pretty good times. On Friday we played Sojuno (which is pretty self-explanatory) before heading to Exit. Somehow it ended up that I was drinking a double jaeger-bomb with every beer. It made sense at the time (or not?). I think that was the drunkest I've been in Korea. I know that I was on fire at pool though. It was great - I knew I was drunk, and I was surprising myself. Also I almost got in a fight (like my friend had to drag me away) with a guy about how to rack (he was trying to say that you put a solid in the 1 spot and then stripes in the 2 and 3 spots.) I think we ended up hugging and doing shots after we played though, which is the way 100% of my bar fights end.
At the end of that night a couple of my friends and I were talking to a group of Korean guys. There was nothing particularly memorable about the conversation; however, I found out some very interesting info about those Koreans later in the week. My friend had to go back to the bar because she left her credit card, and the bartender told her that the guys we were talking to were all on a Korean tv show, and were pretty famous actors. They told the bartender they had a good time and that they were going to come back again next Friday (tonight). Before I heard that I was going to take it easy tonight, and save myself to do some crazy shopping with my millions of won tomorrow, but now I think I'm going to go out and try to make some famous friends.
On Saturday I went up to Seoul to hang out with my friends Heather and Lindsey, whom I had met in Chicago. They are awesome people, and we had a ton of fun. First we went to a Mexican restaurant in Itaewon (the foreignerburg). We were entertained by some Korean mariachi's playing CCR and other classic rock hits.
Then we went to a bar called Mike's Cabin for the rest of the night. It was a good bar - very small, very quaint. It was actually like a cabin on the inside. There were even bunk beds. We brought about 15 people there and we were about half the crowd. The dj basically let us pick what songs he played all night.
All of the Seoul people were amazed that we were able to make it out in the boonies of Suji. We were trying to tell them that it is actually quite nice, but things are a lot different in Seoul. I prefer my situation in Suji though. It's cheaper, easier to meet people, you make more money, everything you need is here, but it's also easy to get to Seoul to do whatever you want up there. However I'm quite optimistic, so I'm sure I'd come up with tons of reasons why it's better to live in Seoul if I lived there. (Logic trap: did I just say that I'm happier in Suji but I'm sure I'd be happier in Seoul? Probably not, and it's best not to dwell on it Mike.)
As far as school issues, things are going pretty well. I've pretty much hit my stride with the curriculum, and it's already starting to get boring and repetitive. It's a little more fun now that I really know all of the kids and have my own certain relationship with all of them. It's nice having little inside jokes with kids, or knowing what will make each one laugh. And they never get tired of anything! So you don't have to vary your schtick.
Sadly though, it's not all fun times. In fact, a lot of the kids are complete fucking brats. Sorry, really no other way to phrase that. And I hate myself for it, but sometimes I yell at them, and they get sad. Oh well, I guess it's all part of it. Also, they are kind of gross. They're always wiping snot on me or putting their hands in their mouth and then touching my face. On an unrelated note, I've been sick for the past two weeks. I NEVER used to get sick, but this cold is just unrelenting. I've got the worst sinus headache right now. Thankfully I'm also drinking a beer, so I'm starting to feel better already. (Speaking of beer - need an idea for what to send me? How about a case of Fat Tire?)
I'm starting to experiment with new songs to play during musical chairs. Musical chairs is now played at least once in all seven of my classes. To justify this I have started placing vocab words on the chairs, and the person who sits on the word I yell out when I stop the music is out. Recently I've been playing the Duck Tales theme a lot. The kids seem to really like it, although not as much as I do. I played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme a few times and the kids seemed pretty confused. I kind of forgot how intense that song is. In one of my classes one kid just said "wow" when it started playing. I really enjoyed that reaction.
Weirdly though, the favorite seems to be "Heart it Races" by Architecture in Helsinki (video below). I just put it on on a whim, but the kids really enjoyed it and are now requesting it (they call it the boom dadadada song). It really is quite an enjoyable video, and Architecture definitely have a childish fun-times sound, so I guess I can see it. I'm going to continue to experiment and by the end of the year I'll publish a report on what kind of the music the Korean 6-9 age demographic enjoys the most.
Also, when the kids are good, I'll let them watch a little Tom and Jerry. (Having a tv connected to a computer with youtube is the greatest teaching tool of all time). They go freakin nuts for Tom and Jerry. It's hilarious. And I feel really really dumb for admitting this, but I had a startling revelation the other day. Itchy and Scratchy are a direct parody of Tom and Jerry! How had I never put that together before? It dawned on me when I was watching it with the kids and they were laughing their ass off at Tom getting wailed on and I was thinking "Man, this is really violent. It's kind of like Itchy and Scratchy. Actually... oh."
I'm going to try to start keeping track of all of the times the kids say unintentionally funny stuff and I can't tell them why I'm laughing. Today I was having them make complete sentences with certain words, and one of the words was "crab". One of the girls said "I am catching crabs" and I laughed out loud. They were all pretty confused. I was like, "You are catching crabs right now? In class?" And she said "Yes!" Hilarious.
Tomorrow I'm going to Myong-dong to do some shopping. I've heard from a variety of sources that it's the best place to go for clothes shopping. I'm really starting to realize what a small percentage of my clothes I brought here, so I'm excited about getting some new stuff.
This morning was slightly hellish. I woke up at about 8:45, and the van that takes us all to school leaves at 8:30. My first class starts at 9:10. I was out of my apartment by 8:50, and began running around in the rain searching for a cab. BTW, this is the first time I have seen it rain in Korea, so... great timing. I didn't really know where the best place to catch a cab was so I just started heading towards the school. The school is about a 7 minute drive away, but it is mostly down a stretch of road where you go about 60mph, so it would have taken a long time to walk/run. So I'm running down the sidewalk, even though wherever I'm running towards is no more likely to have a cab than the place I was was currently standing. At least, for all I know it isn't. But, I was late, and I just needed to run. I didn't know of any buses that way, and I certainly wasn't going to risk guessing and getting on one.
At about 8:58 I got to the major road that heads south to my school. It would be pointless to start walking down it, because there were no more intersections, and even if I saw a cab it wouldn't stop. So I waited at this major intersection (both roads were 3-4 lanes). The first cab I saw said no, because I don't think he understood when I said "Bojeong Jayeon". I saw a few cabs heading south but they just flew through the green light without stopping.
Finally I saw one stopped about 15 cars back at the red light. Just as I ran out into the middle of the road, cutting across lanes, trying to get his attention - the light turns green. So now people are honking at the crazy white guy who is running through the middle of this major road. And just as I'm getting to the cab, an ambulance comes up behind him blaring his sirens. Now everyone is trying to get out the ambulance's way, and I am frantically waving my arms at the cab. I just dove in and told him Bojeong Jayeon. Thankfully he understood me and started driving, because he would have been totally justified in throwing me out. I must have looked like a lunatic - I'm sure I had a pretty crazy look in my eyes as I was bearing down on him. I was desperate at that point though, and I was not going to let another cab get by. The whole way there he was laughing and talking in Korean, and miming me waving my arms and yelling at him. So I'm glad he got a laugh out of it.
I got to school at 9:20 and one of the teachers was watching Madagascar 2 with my class. I think I kind of scared the kids because I was soaking wet, and also sweaty (it was ridiculously humid today, and about 50 something degrees - and I was still dressed like it was about 30), I was out of breath, hadn't showered that morning. I was just a bit of a mess. And then I got to be the one to tell them they had to stop watching the movie and learn about the letter A. So they pretty much hated me. As I was asking them what day it was and what the date was it suddenly dawned on me that it's Friday the 13th. Of course it is.
So since I haven't written at all this week I'll briefly go over last weekend. It was pretty good times. On Friday we played Sojuno (which is pretty self-explanatory) before heading to Exit. Somehow it ended up that I was drinking a double jaeger-bomb with every beer. It made sense at the time (or not?). I think that was the drunkest I've been in Korea. I know that I was on fire at pool though. It was great - I knew I was drunk, and I was surprising myself. Also I almost got in a fight (like my friend had to drag me away) with a guy about how to rack (he was trying to say that you put a solid in the 1 spot and then stripes in the 2 and 3 spots.) I think we ended up hugging and doing shots after we played though, which is the way 100% of my bar fights end.
At the end of that night a couple of my friends and I were talking to a group of Korean guys. There was nothing particularly memorable about the conversation; however, I found out some very interesting info about those Koreans later in the week. My friend had to go back to the bar because she left her credit card, and the bartender told her that the guys we were talking to were all on a Korean tv show, and were pretty famous actors. They told the bartender they had a good time and that they were going to come back again next Friday (tonight). Before I heard that I was going to take it easy tonight, and save myself to do some crazy shopping with my millions of won tomorrow, but now I think I'm going to go out and try to make some famous friends.
On Saturday I went up to Seoul to hang out with my friends Heather and Lindsey, whom I had met in Chicago. They are awesome people, and we had a ton of fun. First we went to a Mexican restaurant in Itaewon (the foreignerburg). We were entertained by some Korean mariachi's playing CCR and other classic rock hits.
Then we went to a bar called Mike's Cabin for the rest of the night. It was a good bar - very small, very quaint. It was actually like a cabin on the inside. There were even bunk beds. We brought about 15 people there and we were about half the crowd. The dj basically let us pick what songs he played all night.
All of the Seoul people were amazed that we were able to make it out in the boonies of Suji. We were trying to tell them that it is actually quite nice, but things are a lot different in Seoul. I prefer my situation in Suji though. It's cheaper, easier to meet people, you make more money, everything you need is here, but it's also easy to get to Seoul to do whatever you want up there. However I'm quite optimistic, so I'm sure I'd come up with tons of reasons why it's better to live in Seoul if I lived there. (Logic trap: did I just say that I'm happier in Suji but I'm sure I'd be happier in Seoul? Probably not, and it's best not to dwell on it Mike.)
As far as school issues, things are going pretty well. I've pretty much hit my stride with the curriculum, and it's already starting to get boring and repetitive. It's a little more fun now that I really know all of the kids and have my own certain relationship with all of them. It's nice having little inside jokes with kids, or knowing what will make each one laugh. And they never get tired of anything! So you don't have to vary your schtick.
Sadly though, it's not all fun times. In fact, a lot of the kids are complete fucking brats. Sorry, really no other way to phrase that. And I hate myself for it, but sometimes I yell at them, and they get sad. Oh well, I guess it's all part of it. Also, they are kind of gross. They're always wiping snot on me or putting their hands in their mouth and then touching my face. On an unrelated note, I've been sick for the past two weeks. I NEVER used to get sick, but this cold is just unrelenting. I've got the worst sinus headache right now. Thankfully I'm also drinking a beer, so I'm starting to feel better already. (Speaking of beer - need an idea for what to send me? How about a case of Fat Tire?)
I'm starting to experiment with new songs to play during musical chairs. Musical chairs is now played at least once in all seven of my classes. To justify this I have started placing vocab words on the chairs, and the person who sits on the word I yell out when I stop the music is out. Recently I've been playing the Duck Tales theme a lot. The kids seem to really like it, although not as much as I do. I played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme a few times and the kids seemed pretty confused. I kind of forgot how intense that song is. In one of my classes one kid just said "wow" when it started playing. I really enjoyed that reaction.
Weirdly though, the favorite seems to be "Heart it Races" by Architecture in Helsinki (video below). I just put it on on a whim, but the kids really enjoyed it and are now requesting it (they call it the boom dadadada song). It really is quite an enjoyable video, and Architecture definitely have a childish fun-times sound, so I guess I can see it. I'm going to continue to experiment and by the end of the year I'll publish a report on what kind of the music the Korean 6-9 age demographic enjoys the most.
Also, when the kids are good, I'll let them watch a little Tom and Jerry. (Having a tv connected to a computer with youtube is the greatest teaching tool of all time). They go freakin nuts for Tom and Jerry. It's hilarious. And I feel really really dumb for admitting this, but I had a startling revelation the other day. Itchy and Scratchy are a direct parody of Tom and Jerry! How had I never put that together before? It dawned on me when I was watching it with the kids and they were laughing their ass off at Tom getting wailed on and I was thinking "Man, this is really violent. It's kind of like Itchy and Scratchy. Actually... oh."
I'm going to try to start keeping track of all of the times the kids say unintentionally funny stuff and I can't tell them why I'm laughing. Today I was having them make complete sentences with certain words, and one of the words was "crab". One of the girls said "I am catching crabs" and I laughed out loud. They were all pretty confused. I was like, "You are catching crabs right now? In class?" And she said "Yes!" Hilarious.
Tomorrow I'm going to Myong-dong to do some shopping. I've heard from a variety of sources that it's the best place to go for clothes shopping. I'm really starting to realize what a small percentage of my clothes I brought here, so I'm excited about getting some new stuff.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Easy Week
I've only had one class a day the last three days because all of our kindy's were at an English Camp Wednesday through Friday. To keep us busy we all had to make some worksheets, but that took about 2 hours of total work. That means I've had about 22 hours of free time. On Wednesday I had grand plans of completely preparing myself for the upcoming weeks of teaching, but it turned into a lot internet surfing and watching tv online. Oh well. It's been pretty fun.
Next week we have another "open week". This is when the students' parents are invited to come observe the classes. It was kind of upsetting to the teachers because just last week we were told that we were going to make DVD's of our classes to replace the open days. We had a camera man come in and tape our classes, and they were going to distribute it to all of the teachers. Well at some point during the last week that idea went out the window. I didn't really mind having the camera guy in the classroom though. The kids all turn into little angels when there's a camera on them.
So I don't have much time until my next class starts, but I wanted to let all of you guys know that if you would like to spend some time actually talking to me, I downloaded Skype. It works really well, and I even have a webcam so I can make faces and do dances for you. In the case that I am not the only Mike Fitzgerald in South Korea, my user handle is mikefitzge.
Also, a few people have asked for my address, and I have it now, so if you'd like it, let me know and I'll email it to you. If you send me something I will try to send you a little Korean trinket in return.
Next week we have another "open week". This is when the students' parents are invited to come observe the classes. It was kind of upsetting to the teachers because just last week we were told that we were going to make DVD's of our classes to replace the open days. We had a camera man come in and tape our classes, and they were going to distribute it to all of the teachers. Well at some point during the last week that idea went out the window. I didn't really mind having the camera guy in the classroom though. The kids all turn into little angels when there's a camera on them.
So I don't have much time until my next class starts, but I wanted to let all of you guys know that if you would like to spend some time actually talking to me, I downloaded Skype. It works really well, and I even have a webcam so I can make faces and do dances for you. In the case that I am not the only Mike Fitzgerald in South Korea, my user handle is mikefitzge.
Also, a few people have asked for my address, and I have it now, so if you'd like it, let me know and I'll email it to you. If you send me something I will try to send you a little Korean trinket in return.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Cola Zombies
Ok, so I've got another video for you guys, taken by Hollis today. My first class after lunch goes absolutely insane whenever they see a Coke. Something just snaps, and they all start chanting "COLA... COLA... COLA...", it's really pretty adorable. I have to spend the first 5 minutes of that class just getting them to settle down and sit in their chairs. Lately I've learned to hide the Coke if I get one, but today we kind of set them up, because we wanted to get some video of it.
Haha, I love that class. They may be crazy, but they're always in a good mood. And I need their energy after lunch, because big bowls of rice and fish oil make me sleepy. I was kind of dreading starting work again today because, hey, it's work, and everyone hates work. But the kids were all really well behaved today, and I feel like this week is going to be just fine.
This weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday night I attended two birthday celebrations, which were both quite fun (we actually determined that there were at least THREE foreign teachers from Suji all with the same birthday). Friday turned into kind of a late night at Exit, and because of that I unfortunately was unable to go on my planned trip to the DMZ. They were meeting to catch the bus at 6am, and I got there at about 6:07. And then I didn't know what bus to take, or where to go, or anyone's cell phone number. You just can't make mistakes like that and expect to get places in Korea.
Looking at the situation optimistically, I'm actually kind of glad I didn't go though. I've got a pretty bad cold right now, and travelling to the DMZ on two hours sleep probably wasn't going to help it. Instead I ended up travelling around to a few different places in the area with a friend of mine, and learning a bit more about my surroundings. I can now walk from my place to downtown Suji (takes about 15 mins). I can also walk from downtown Suji to the Jukjeon Subway stop, but I still haven't figured out to walk from my place to the Subway closest to me. Everyone out there - hear these words - everytime you ever need to know how to get somewhere and simply type it into Google and immediately know what to do - know that I am out
there somewhere, hating you. I really need to find a map of Suji. Even if it's all in Korean, I'd take it.
So we went to Shinsaegae mall (picture to the right) and looked around for a little while. Everything was really fancy and expensive. I was worried I was going to be tempted to buy stuff, but once I looked at some prices I realized I would be able to easily refrain. The top floor has a movie theater. They were playing about 10 movies, 5 of them were in English.
1) Valkyrie - I am not sending any of my won, even indirectly, to Xenu.
2) The Flock - Ok, so I am about 99.9% sure this movie was called "Trap", but I just googled it, and unless there are multiple thrillers with Richard Gere, Claire Danes, and Avril Lavigne, it's called The Flock. Why were they showing this? It came out in 2007. It was directed by a Chinese guy, so maybe he's popular over here. But why did they change the name to "Trap"? Crazy Koreans. Or maybe I'm crazy. Whatever.
3) Changeling - I just felt like this has been out too long for me to justify seeing it in the theaters.
4) Madagascar 2 - This comes HIGHLY recommended by nearly all of my students, and I considered it simply because it would earn me enormous points with them, and probably improve my conversation making ability about tenfold. You would not believe how much they love this movie. You would also not believe how badly they pronounce Madagascar. Ok, you probably can believe that pretty easily. Anyway, during my first week or so here I remember being quite bemused when I heard a bunch of kids outside singing "I like to move it, move it. She like to move it, move it" in their Korean/Jamaican accented English. But hey, it's Korea, and the fact that a bunch of kids were singing some early 90's rap song was nowhere near the top of my WTF moments. When it kept happening I finally asked another teacher about it and they told me that it's from Madagascar 2. So now I play that song during musical chairs, because everytime I hear "Nobody" by Wondergirls I go a little more insane. I played "Nobody" about 17 times one day, and thought it was pretty cute. Then I realized you can't go anywhere without hearing that song.
5) I can't remember what the fifth movie was, but this little story ends with us deciding not to see a movie.
Instead we went to Samsung Plaza (picture below is one of the entrances to the Subway station) which is just a couple of stops further north on the Subway line. There's a lot of nice shopping around there. In fact there's a lot of nice shopping everywhere. It's really weird getting off of the subway and seeing a Gucci on your right and a
Prada on your left. I'm not talking about outside, you don't even leave the subway station, and you are immediately doing some high end shopping. I mean, can you imagine taking the red line to State and Lake, and picking up a pair of $800 jeans before you even saw the light of day?
So the main reason we went down there was because there is a real deal Mexican restaurant. And it was so delicious. The margaritas were a little weak, and the chips and salsa were anything but endless, but the burrito was cheesetastic. For an extra 1000 won you could get your burrito "enchilado" style, which meant that you got lettuce, sour cream, mole, and extra layer of cheese on top. I asked him to put the mole on the side, since I'm not really a fan, and ended up getting my guacamole on the side. Even doused in mole, that burrito was top notch though.
After that we headed back to the Jukjeon station and did some shopping for food and other household items at E-Mart. I had been hearing about E-Mart a lot because it's one of those places that you can buy anything you can imagine at. It was good to finally get there because I got of lot things I had been needing. I also got to see these lovely mannequins. From there we could walk back to Suji.
By looking at the Bundang line you can kind of see where a lot of the places I've been talking about are. Apparently the closest subway stop to where I live is Ori, but I know how to get to Migeum via a 4 minute bus ride, so that's the one I normally go to. Jukjeon is the closest one to downtown Suji. And then my school is near the Bojeong stop. The Seohyeon stop is in Samsung Plaza.
On Sunday I cleaned and reorganized my apartment (new discovery: hangover-less Sundays are awesome!). Below are two pics of my current setup. That now-empty space used to be taken by the table on the left in my bedroom. But now I have a super wall-long desk area. And on top of that, I totally have room for some furniture in my outer room now (I'm not going as far as calling it a living room). But I could theoretically entertain if I found some places to sit.
Also on Sunday I learned how to use my rice cooker and attempted to make some fried rice. I wasn't entirely successful, but I learned some good lessons, and feel like I came out on the positive. That night I went to a Vietnamese restaurant and had fried pho and fried rice served in a pineapple. Besides the burrito, I think it was the best meal I've had in Korea. I even drank half a pot of tea with the meal. My mouth is so used to weird tastes right now, that I'm starting to come around on tastes I've always disliked. I think my taste buds are getting "good" and "familiar" confused. Works for me though. Recently I have actually been actively looking for tea, because it makes my throat and sinuses feel better.
So I ended up not watching the Super Bowl. Today at work I couldn't resist the temptation and read an article about it. Once I knew how it ended I couldn't justify expending the energy it would take to go somewhere and watch it. Apparently they replay it during prime time in some places. I know a few people who said they were going to Hooters in Seoul tonight to watch it. It sounds like it was a really exciting game, although I wish the Cardinals would've won.
I watched Revolutionary Road yesterday. It was pretty good, kind of sad. I like Leo and Kate Winslett though, they were both really good. It's kind of about deciding whether it's best to make your life decisions based on what is smart and logical or to go with what is exciting and will make you happy. The whole theme of the movie was pretty applicable to my situation, minus the love story part. I mean, the thought has crossed my mind that I could have knuckled down in Chicago, worked a bunch of hours, made good money, and been well on my way to being successful(rich?). I know there are a lot of people out there saying "blah blah blah money doesn't buy happiness blah blah blah". But money makes me pretty happy! Seriously! I am really into money and would marry it, if it meant I could have an unlimited supply of it. Anyway, jokes aside, I don't think the comfort of stability should be discounted in favor of flights of fancy. And this is coming from the guy who quit his job to move to Korea. So, sometimes in my head, I weigh the pros and cons. And I'm really glad I came to Korea, but I hope it's only for a year. I still want to have a career. And I'm not sure if I want my career to be teaching. Or engineering. One thing I do know though - and I didn't factor this in before I got here - there is something psychologically therapeutic about working with kids. And I'm really glad that I'm getting a chance to do it, because I think that a year spent with little kids is going to have almost as big of an effect on me as spending a year in a foreign country. Anyway, some of that is kind of what Revolutionary Road is about.
I love the new Animal Collective cd "Merriweather Post Pavilion" so so so much. It's so light and airy and happy and is perfect for wandering around lost in a strange city. The harmonies around 1:30 in "Bluish" (video below) sound a lot like the Beach Boys to me. I recommend it to everyone from ages 8-80.
Ok, I could go on and on with the random thoughts, but I want to get in bed in time to make it to the gym tomorrow, and I also want to watch an episode or two of Lost. I'm planning on talking about more school-related topics soon. Also I REALLY need to tell you guys about Korean tv... I know I keep saying that, but it's just such a massive topic that I want it to get its due space.
Later dudes!
Haha, I love that class. They may be crazy, but they're always in a good mood. And I need their energy after lunch, because big bowls of rice and fish oil make me sleepy. I was kind of dreading starting work again today because, hey, it's work, and everyone hates work. But the kids were all really well behaved today, and I feel like this week is going to be just fine.
This weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday night I attended two birthday celebrations, which were both quite fun (we actually determined that there were at least THREE foreign teachers from Suji all with the same birthday). Friday turned into kind of a late night at Exit, and because of that I unfortunately was unable to go on my planned trip to the DMZ. They were meeting to catch the bus at 6am, and I got there at about 6:07. And then I didn't know what bus to take, or where to go, or anyone's cell phone number. You just can't make mistakes like that and expect to get places in Korea.
Looking at the situation optimistically, I'm actually kind of glad I didn't go though. I've got a pretty bad cold right now, and travelling to the DMZ on two hours sleep probably wasn't going to help it. Instead I ended up travelling around to a few different places in the area with a friend of mine, and learning a bit more about my surroundings. I can now walk from my place to downtown Suji (takes about 15 mins). I can also walk from downtown Suji to the Jukjeon Subway stop, but I still haven't figured out to walk from my place to the Subway closest to me. Everyone out there - hear these words - everytime you ever need to know how to get somewhere and simply type it into Google and immediately know what to do - know that I am out
there somewhere, hating you. I really need to find a map of Suji. Even if it's all in Korean, I'd take it.So we went to Shinsaegae mall (picture to the right) and looked around for a little while. Everything was really fancy and expensive. I was worried I was going to be tempted to buy stuff, but once I looked at some prices I realized I would be able to easily refrain. The top floor has a movie theater. They were playing about 10 movies, 5 of them were in English.
1) Valkyrie - I am not sending any of my won, even indirectly, to Xenu.
2) The Flock - Ok, so I am about 99.9% sure this movie was called "Trap", but I just googled it, and unless there are multiple thrillers with Richard Gere, Claire Danes, and Avril Lavigne, it's called The Flock. Why were they showing this? It came out in 2007. It was directed by a Chinese guy, so maybe he's popular over here. But why did they change the name to "Trap"? Crazy Koreans. Or maybe I'm crazy. Whatever.
3) Changeling - I just felt like this has been out too long for me to justify seeing it in the theaters.
4) Madagascar 2 - This comes HIGHLY recommended by nearly all of my students, and I considered it simply because it would earn me enormous points with them, and probably improve my conversation making ability about tenfold. You would not believe how much they love this movie. You would also not believe how badly they pronounce Madagascar. Ok, you probably can believe that pretty easily. Anyway, during my first week or so here I remember being quite bemused when I heard a bunch of kids outside singing "I like to move it, move it. She like to move it, move it" in their Korean/Jamaican accented English. But hey, it's Korea, and the fact that a bunch of kids were singing some early 90's rap song was nowhere near the top of my WTF moments. When it kept happening I finally asked another teacher about it and they told me that it's from Madagascar 2. So now I play that song during musical chairs, because everytime I hear "Nobody" by Wondergirls I go a little more insane. I played "Nobody" about 17 times one day, and thought it was pretty cute. Then I realized you can't go anywhere without hearing that song.
5) I can't remember what the fifth movie was, but this little story ends with us deciding not to see a movie.
Instead we went to Samsung Plaza (picture below is one of the entrances to the Subway station) which is just a couple of stops further north on the Subway line. There's a lot of nice shopping around there. In fact there's a lot of nice shopping everywhere. It's really weird getting off of the subway and seeing a Gucci on your right and a
Prada on your left. I'm not talking about outside, you don't even leave the subway station, and you are immediately doing some high end shopping. I mean, can you imagine taking the red line to State and Lake, and picking up a pair of $800 jeans before you even saw the light of day?So the main reason we went down there was because there is a real deal Mexican restaurant. And it was so delicious. The margaritas were a little weak, and the chips and salsa were anything but endless, but the burrito was cheesetastic. For an extra 1000 won you could get your burrito "enchilado" style, which meant that you got lettuce, sour cream, mole, and extra layer of cheese on top. I asked him to put the mole on the side, since I'm not really a fan, and ended up getting my guacamole on the side. Even doused in mole, that burrito was top notch though.
After that we headed back to the Jukjeon station and did some shopping for food and other household items at E-Mart. I had been hearing about E-Mart a lot because it's one of those places that you can buy anything you can imagine at. It was good to finally get there because I got of lot things I had been needing. I also got to see these lovely mannequins. From there we could walk back to Suji.
By looking at the Bundang line you can kind of see where a lot of the places I've been talking about are. Apparently the closest subway stop to where I live is Ori, but I know how to get to Migeum via a 4 minute bus ride, so that's the one I normally go to. Jukjeon is the closest one to downtown Suji. And then my school is near the Bojeong stop. The Seohyeon stop is in Samsung Plaza.
On Sunday I cleaned and reorganized my apartment (new discovery: hangover-less Sundays are awesome!). Below are two pics of my current setup. That now-empty space used to be taken by the table on the left in my bedroom. But now I have a super wall-long desk area. And on top of that, I totally have room for some furniture in my outer room now (I'm not going as far as calling it a living room). But I could theoretically entertain if I found some places to sit.
Also on Sunday I learned how to use my rice cooker and attempted to make some fried rice. I wasn't entirely successful, but I learned some good lessons, and feel like I came out on the positive. That night I went to a Vietnamese restaurant and had fried pho and fried rice served in a pineapple. Besides the burrito, I think it was the best meal I've had in Korea. I even drank half a pot of tea with the meal. My mouth is so used to weird tastes right now, that I'm starting to come around on tastes I've always disliked. I think my taste buds are getting "good" and "familiar" confused. Works for me though. Recently I have actually been actively looking for tea, because it makes my throat and sinuses feel better.
So I ended up not watching the Super Bowl. Today at work I couldn't resist the temptation and read an article about it. Once I knew how it ended I couldn't justify expending the energy it would take to go somewhere and watch it. Apparently they replay it during prime time in some places. I know a few people who said they were going to Hooters in Seoul tonight to watch it. It sounds like it was a really exciting game, although I wish the Cardinals would've won.
I watched Revolutionary Road yesterday. It was pretty good, kind of sad. I like Leo and Kate Winslett though, they were both really good. It's kind of about deciding whether it's best to make your life decisions based on what is smart and logical or to go with what is exciting and will make you happy. The whole theme of the movie was pretty applicable to my situation, minus the love story part. I mean, the thought has crossed my mind that I could have knuckled down in Chicago, worked a bunch of hours, made good money, and been well on my way to being successful(rich?). I know there are a lot of people out there saying "blah blah blah money doesn't buy happiness blah blah blah". But money makes me pretty happy! Seriously! I am really into money and would marry it, if it meant I could have an unlimited supply of it. Anyway, jokes aside, I don't think the comfort of stability should be discounted in favor of flights of fancy. And this is coming from the guy who quit his job to move to Korea. So, sometimes in my head, I weigh the pros and cons. And I'm really glad I came to Korea, but I hope it's only for a year. I still want to have a career. And I'm not sure if I want my career to be teaching. Or engineering. One thing I do know though - and I didn't factor this in before I got here - there is something psychologically therapeutic about working with kids. And I'm really glad that I'm getting a chance to do it, because I think that a year spent with little kids is going to have almost as big of an effect on me as spending a year in a foreign country. Anyway, some of that is kind of what Revolutionary Road is about.
I love the new Animal Collective cd "Merriweather Post Pavilion" so so so much. It's so light and airy and happy and is perfect for wandering around lost in a strange city. The harmonies around 1:30 in "Bluish" (video below) sound a lot like the Beach Boys to me. I recommend it to everyone from ages 8-80.
Ok, I could go on and on with the random thoughts, but I want to get in bed in time to make it to the gym tomorrow, and I also want to watch an episode or two of Lost. I'm planning on talking about more school-related topics soon. Also I REALLY need to tell you guys about Korean tv... I know I keep saying that, but it's just such a massive topic that I want it to get its due space.
Later dudes!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Checking In
I meant to make a nice long post tonight since it's been awhile since I've written, but it's probably not going to happen. My laundry machine is broken. I think. More than likely I'm just not pressing the right buttons, but I've tried everything I can think of. It filled up with water, started the washing process, and then stopped. I wasn't completely worried, because that happened last time too. This time though, I couldn't get it started again. I was out of ideas, so I had to pull all of my soaking wet clothes out, wring them out, and then hang them up on my drying rack. Luckily the rack fit in the bathroom. I've got the fan on them now, hopefully they are semi-dry by the morning (i.e. not dripping on the floor) and then wearable by tomorrow night. In case you are wondering - yes, I am deeming them "clean". They moved around in soapy water for awhile (actual time unknown) - they're clean.
So my lack of posting has been due to a combination of busyness, laziness, and watching about 30 episodes of Lost in about 3 days. Last weekend I went out to Exit again on Friday night, then on Saturday I spent all day in Seoul. I went with a few Suji people up to Yongsan to go shopping at the enormous electronics mart. I got some awesome speakers for my laptop for about $50, and my apartment is so much more fun for me now.
After that, I separated from those guys and met some people to do a wine making thing. It was pretty fun, we got to taste a bunch of wines, and decide which one we wanted to make. Then we actually got to toss the ingredients into a bucket of water, and in 6 weeks we get to come back and take our wine home. I feel like we cut about a billion corners on the wine making process (there were 5 ingredients: water, grape concentrate, clarifying agent, oak chips, and yeast), but we'll see how it turns out. For less than $30 bucks each we got to taste 10-12 wines, go through the wine making instruction, and then we each get 2 bottles of wine (we decided on a Shiraz and a Cab). Apparently we can also email a picture and they will put it on the label, so I'll take pictures of the bottles when I get them.
After that we all went to this cool little bar where the owner brews his own beer. For the first time in Korea I got to drink some decently priced dark beer. His stout was really good. While we there, I mentioned to one of the guys that I was planning on meeting some people from Suji to see Digitalism that night. Word started spreading around the table and after awhile about 6-8 people were down for going with me. I was pretty happy because I thought I was going to have to find the place by myself and I was worried I wouldn't be able to find my friends once I got there. However, the number severely dwindled when we found out it was 55,000 won.
Pretty soon everyone had made plans to go to a different bar, and I was just going to go with them - I wasn't even sure if I was still going to go to the show. But then 2 guys who I had never met and had barely spoken to that night said they were going to go, and they were just going to stay at that bar until the show started (Digitalism wasn't going on until 1am). So I hung out with them and had a really good time, they were really nice guys. Then we made our way over to the Ritz Carlton and went to the basement and entered Club Eden. The club was really nice, other than Vegas it's probably the swankiest place I've ever been to. And then Digitalism was ridiculous. It's a good thing I had been drinking all day, because I proceeded to dance for about 3 hours straight. Everyone who knows me knows that is a rarity, but hey, it happens every once in awhile, and I had a really good time. They played a lot of their own songs, but then also remixed a lot of popular songs. I can't remember all of them, but I know they played Bloc Party, and they also played the coolest version of "Kids" by MGMT I have ever heard in my life. I remember at the time thinking "omg how did they make this perfect song even perfecter?"
After I got out of there I went to a place to get something to eat because I had to kill time until the Subway started running again at 5:30am. I finally found a place that was open, and just pointed at something that cost 10,000 won on the menu. She gave me a really confused look and said "soup?" and I said "sure". She brought out 2 kinds of gross kimchi, and some other weird not-tasty stuff. Finally she brought out the soup, which was decent, but loaded with seafood that I did not recognize at all. I was really hungry though, so I finished it off. Korean food is about the worst drunk food ever. I was totally queasy after that. I got the bill and it was only 5,000, so I guess she was just looking out for me. I was probably trying to order an enormous 7 course meal originally. Too bad there's no tipping in Korea, or else I would have left her a good one.
So once the Subway started running, I had to go back to Apgujeong which was where I started the night at because I had left the previously mentioned speakers in a locker at the Subway up there. Then all the way back down home. It was about 7:30am Sunday morning when I got home, and I had the next two days off. I only left the house once between then and Wednesday morning, and it was to get pizza.
So I'm really stupid and I forgot to bring my camera that night, but I'll try to steal some pics from other people and post them. For now, I'm going to bed, and so glad this short week is already almost over.
So my lack of posting has been due to a combination of busyness, laziness, and watching about 30 episodes of Lost in about 3 days. Last weekend I went out to Exit again on Friday night, then on Saturday I spent all day in Seoul. I went with a few Suji people up to Yongsan to go shopping at the enormous electronics mart. I got some awesome speakers for my laptop for about $50, and my apartment is so much more fun for me now.
After that, I separated from those guys and met some people to do a wine making thing. It was pretty fun, we got to taste a bunch of wines, and decide which one we wanted to make. Then we actually got to toss the ingredients into a bucket of water, and in 6 weeks we get to come back and take our wine home. I feel like we cut about a billion corners on the wine making process (there were 5 ingredients: water, grape concentrate, clarifying agent, oak chips, and yeast), but we'll see how it turns out. For less than $30 bucks each we got to taste 10-12 wines, go through the wine making instruction, and then we each get 2 bottles of wine (we decided on a Shiraz and a Cab). Apparently we can also email a picture and they will put it on the label, so I'll take pictures of the bottles when I get them.
After that we all went to this cool little bar where the owner brews his own beer. For the first time in Korea I got to drink some decently priced dark beer. His stout was really good. While we there, I mentioned to one of the guys that I was planning on meeting some people from Suji to see Digitalism that night. Word started spreading around the table and after awhile about 6-8 people were down for going with me. I was pretty happy because I thought I was going to have to find the place by myself and I was worried I wouldn't be able to find my friends once I got there. However, the number severely dwindled when we found out it was 55,000 won.
Pretty soon everyone had made plans to go to a different bar, and I was just going to go with them - I wasn't even sure if I was still going to go to the show. But then 2 guys who I had never met and had barely spoken to that night said they were going to go, and they were just going to stay at that bar until the show started (Digitalism wasn't going on until 1am). So I hung out with them and had a really good time, they were really nice guys. Then we made our way over to the Ritz Carlton and went to the basement and entered Club Eden. The club was really nice, other than Vegas it's probably the swankiest place I've ever been to. And then Digitalism was ridiculous. It's a good thing I had been drinking all day, because I proceeded to dance for about 3 hours straight. Everyone who knows me knows that is a rarity, but hey, it happens every once in awhile, and I had a really good time. They played a lot of their own songs, but then also remixed a lot of popular songs. I can't remember all of them, but I know they played Bloc Party, and they also played the coolest version of "Kids" by MGMT I have ever heard in my life. I remember at the time thinking "omg how did they make this perfect song even perfecter?"
After I got out of there I went to a place to get something to eat because I had to kill time until the Subway started running again at 5:30am. I finally found a place that was open, and just pointed at something that cost 10,000 won on the menu. She gave me a really confused look and said "soup?" and I said "sure". She brought out 2 kinds of gross kimchi, and some other weird not-tasty stuff. Finally she brought out the soup, which was decent, but loaded with seafood that I did not recognize at all. I was really hungry though, so I finished it off. Korean food is about the worst drunk food ever. I was totally queasy after that. I got the bill and it was only 5,000, so I guess she was just looking out for me. I was probably trying to order an enormous 7 course meal originally. Too bad there's no tipping in Korea, or else I would have left her a good one.
So once the Subway started running, I had to go back to Apgujeong which was where I started the night at because I had left the previously mentioned speakers in a locker at the Subway up there. Then all the way back down home. It was about 7:30am Sunday morning when I got home, and I had the next two days off. I only left the house once between then and Wednesday morning, and it was to get pizza.
So I'm really stupid and I forgot to bring my camera that night, but I'll try to steal some pics from other people and post them. For now, I'm going to bed, and so glad this short week is already almost over.
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