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.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Class Video
Ok, here's a video of my class. I found out the reason that it didn't work last night was because the video I took was way too large to upload. So I found some video trimming software, and cut it down to just the Go Fish game. This is one of my smallest classes, just five boys: 2 Billy's (Billy A and Billy B), 2 Andy's (Andy A and Andy B), and Ben.
Now that I know it's really easy to take videos with my camera, I'll try to get more going in the future.
Now that I know it's really easy to take videos with my camera, I'll try to get more going in the future.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Kids, Laundry, Food, etc...
So I'm starting my third week here, and it kind of feels like I've been here forever already. People keep telling me that my time here will fly by, but it really doesn't feel like it so far. I've got a normal 5 day week this week, and then next weekend is the Lunar New Year. We get next Monday and Tuesday off for that. Then the following Friday is a training day, so next week I only have to teach on Wednesday and Thursday. It is waaaay too early for me to already be this desperate for a short week, but I really can't wait. Last week was rough because I didn't have many lessons prepared, and I was kind of winging it, and it made for some stressful classes. Today went much better though. The day goes a lot faster when you know what you're doing.
I've gathered that 2009 is a bad year for getting days off for national holidays, and it's kind of a shame that this really long weekend came up so fast, because it is really expensive to get tickets to go anywhere this late. A few people from the school are going to China, but they booked the trip long ago. I got invited to take the train and then the ferry to Japan, but I haven't even gotten paid yet, and I feel like I haven't been here long enough to already start taking trips, so I passed. But apparently a lot of holidays fall on weekends, so we're not getting as many 3 day weekends as we normally would. Chusok, the Korean version of Thanksgiving, is on a Saturday. I've heard that if it would've been on a Wednesday we probably would have gotten three or four days off, but now we will probably only get the Friday.
So far I've only gone to the gym that first morning, which is no surprise at all. I'll try to go a couple times this week though. It's pretty nice in there though, they give you a locker, and you get a little gym uniform to wear (I'll take a picture of myself in the mirror next time I go, it's a dead sexy outfit), so you don't have to worry about sweating in your clothes. You're supposed to bring your own gym shoes since you can't wear your outside shoes into the gym. Since I didn't bring an extra pair of tennis shoes, that means I worked out in my socks. They have a couple of funny machines there, like the one that is just a belt that wraps around you and goes back and forth and jiggles your fat, and the one that you lay on and it turns you completely upside down so all of the blood rushes to your head. Then there are a few others that I couldn't figure out what they did at all. The best thing about the Korean gym is that there aren't a bunch of intimidating buff dudes walking around. In fact there were a few times when I put MORE weight on the machine I was using, which is much different than my standard method of assuming that I can do about half of whatever the person before me was doing.
Below I've got some pictures of some of my classes. The first three are all kindy classes, so they are 6 or 7. Then the last two are of my Kiwi 3 class, which is one of the classes I've had since the beginning. They are probably my favorite class, they're the oldest (maybe 8 or 9?), so I can talk with them more easily. They also drive me the most insane, but I enjoy it. The younger ones took to getting their picture taken much better. I just told them to smile and they started popping peace signs like crazy (the national Korean photographee's pastime). The older kids were a bit more bashful, but eventually came around. Little Sunny even progressed from crouched in the fetal position facing the wall to facing the camera with her hands covering her face. The girl in the middle in the black and white sweatshirt is Angel, and she is the really smart girl I mentioned before. She is probably my favorite student, but man, is she bossy. I just end up letting her have her way a lot because she complains more than everyone else combined.
Here is a shot of my laundry machine. I couldn't find ANY instructions online that gave me a clue how to use it, so I just started pushing buttons. And it eventually washed my clothes. So, awesome.
Some of them were easy enough. The one on the far left that looks like a faucet is just hot or cold water, and I actually had a few "in between" options. The next one to the right is just how large of a load is it. The two that look like a finger and a play/fast-forward button totally stumped me, so I just kept pressing them until the timer on the left went as high as possible, which was 92 minutes I think. On the first try it started going for about 15 minutes, and then just stopped with 70 something left on the timer. Nothing was happening. So I pressed a bunch of buttons again, which ended with me turning it off and turning it back on again and starting the whole process again. That time it went the whole way though, so, whatever. After the laundry is done, the clothes gotta dry, so thank you whoever left me an enormous drying rack. Here is what a full load of laundry looks like hanging out on a drying rack (taking up my entire kitchen/dining room/living room/foyer.)
This is one page of the menu from Papa Johns, and then the delicious Spicy Chicken Ranch pizza that I got. Unfortunately I think the glare totally whited out my selection from the menu, whoops. Also you get 15-20% off for takeout, so the prices aren't as outrageous as they might seem. (About $15 for a large Spicy Chicken Ranch).
Tonight I actually got crazy and ate something besides pizza though! I went to this Japanese place and got a wonderful fried pork thing that came with mucho side dishes (which, to the best of my understanding, is the Korean side of this Japanese place showing.) I got a few nigiri style sushi pieces and a couple of maki rolls, some kind of cabbagey thing with thousand island dressing(?) on it that tasted like cole slaw, some crazy thick noodles, and a huge clear POUCH of liquid, that I'm thinking was tea, but I did not open. I've eaten a lot of new things over here, and while most of it is all right, I really miss burritos. I don't think I've gone over the crazy stuff they serve at lunch yet. I've had rabbit and squid multiple times. Sometimes they have these little tiny fish, that you just eat whole. It's just a tiny 1.5-2 inch fish. And you just chew it - eyes, scales, bones and all. It's weird. All of the meat has bones. Ugh. I hate school lunch so bad. At this point my lunch is 90% rice. I stopped trying to like kimchi about 3 days after I got here. Worst food ever. (Editors note: Korean food in general should not be judged by the quality of food served at the cafeteria at Mike's school.)
This weekend was thankfully a bit more low-key than the last. On Friday night I went to Exit again and once again had a grand time. It was a lot of the same people again, but I also met quite a few new people, including the group I accompanied to a noraebang at about 3am. This is actually a great way to do karaoke, because people are much more likely to make complete idiots out of themselves if they know everyone in the room's name. I didn't even have to sing, in fact I wasn't even asked once if I wanted to.
That night I once again couldn't remember the word for Suji Middle School (I now have it etched in my memory (until I'm drunk again) - Suji Jung Hakyo (probably spelled wrong (who is digging all of these parentheses within parentheses?))) - so I went to a group of cabs, said it in English, and one of them waved me in. He then dropped me off in some area I had never seen before. I said "Suji Middle School?" and he nodded, so I got out. Nevermind the fact that this was not the Suji Middle School. So I started walking and it took me a good hour to get home, luckily I eventually saw a church that is on the bus route from our school to our apartment. It was pretty fantastic considering I started off about a 15 minute walk from home.
Oh yeah, and before going to Exit I went with a bunch of the teachers to this breakfast place called Butterfinger's that was kind of like Korea's take on a Denny's. It was very good - I got eggs, hash browns, ham, sausage, pancakes, the whole deal. As I mentioned before, breakfast is apparently a big deal for the other teachers, so everyone was pretty excited about it.
On Saturday night I just stayed in the Villa (which our apt. complex is commonly referred to as) and went next door and played poker and hung out with some of the other teachers. And I was in bed by midnight or so, which I wasn't sure was possible on a weekend in Korea.
This website is great for humorous Korean shirts: http://www.baboshirts.com/. A lot of them are spot on.
1) The kids LOVE scissors, rock, paper. At first I thought, "aw, that's cute, he said them out of order." Then I realized that everyone here says scissors, rock, paper, and I'm the one who sounds like a jackass when I say rock, paper, scissors.
2) The kids have all been trained to say "I'm fine, thank you, and you?" when you say "How are you?" And they just yell it in this ridiculous 1-2 cadence that leads me to believe they have no idea what they're saying. And yes, it sounds like they're saying "pine" when they say "fine". I just about lost it the other day when I was playing memory with one of my classes. Each vocab word had a card with a picture of the object, and then a card with the actual word. One of the kids who had been closely monitoring what the other kids had been turning over pounced on the cards when it was his turn. First he turns over the word "rock" and yells "Rock!" and then confidently flips over a picture of a lock and yells "Rock!" It broke my heart telling him that those did not match, because his memory was spot on.
3) Soju is already one of my favorite things about Korea, and it definitely makes me "not afraid of the cops" or talking to girls in the bar.
4) The shirt with the two hands making a point with the index fingers really made me laugh, because that is a reference to the fact the kids for some reason love sticking their fingers up your butt. Not making that up - people who have worked with kids in America - is this common for kids all over? I rarely yell at the kids, but that is just crossing the line.
5) The "I'm a Englishee Teecher" one is funny because Koreans hate ending words with consonants. I'm constantly having to correct kids for calling me Teacher Mikuh. That is when they're not calling me Teacher Mariki (their former teacher (female)), Teacher Cola (they saw me drink a Coke once), or Teacher something in Korean (I'm assuming these are not complimentary endearing nicknames.)
Speaking of funny things the kids do, last Friday we were playing games a lot and I let them pick team names in four of the classes. These were the four resulting match-ups:
1) White Dragon vs. White Dinosaur
2) Dangerous Snake vs. Super Power Monkey
3) Jet vs. Fire Dragon
4) Snake vs. Spider
I <3 those kids.
Also I had an incident last Friday where a few of the girls were suddenly alarmed and yelling at me that one of the boys was "bad speaking". Then they told me that he made the "F finger." I just told them I had no idea what they were talking about.
Oh, and for those requesting Engrish (Tim) - I found a great little bit right in my own apartment! The other day I just happened to glance at the teapot that had been sitting on my stove the whole time I've been here. It says Sweetberry Bear on it, but below that, in very small writing, it says: "With incredible magic of the pretty bear, you too will be the best friend like a lot of many people all over the world." Poignant, no? I tried to take a picture but the writing is really small and it wouldn't turn out right. I tried to google for it and interestingly enough the first few results for "sweetberry bear" (in quotes) are nsfw. Gotta love the internet.
That reminds me... the other night a few of the teachers were exchanging stories about all the porn that turns up when they look up (seemingly) totally innocent things in front of the kids. One lady said that she tried to look up country music and porn came up - I'm not really sure how that happened. (I asked her if she forgot the "o" in country, got a few laughs, and did NOT credit Family Guy.) Some of them make a little more sense - snake, box, fox. Anyway, the moral of the story is - do all of your internet searching before class.
Finally, I was going to upload a video that I took of class. I tried to do it last night but it was taking forever to upload, so I let it go over-night. This morning, it was still not uploaded, so I'll have to try again tonight.
I've gathered that 2009 is a bad year for getting days off for national holidays, and it's kind of a shame that this really long weekend came up so fast, because it is really expensive to get tickets to go anywhere this late. A few people from the school are going to China, but they booked the trip long ago. I got invited to take the train and then the ferry to Japan, but I haven't even gotten paid yet, and I feel like I haven't been here long enough to already start taking trips, so I passed. But apparently a lot of holidays fall on weekends, so we're not getting as many 3 day weekends as we normally would. Chusok, the Korean version of Thanksgiving, is on a Saturday. I've heard that if it would've been on a Wednesday we probably would have gotten three or four days off, but now we will probably only get the Friday.
So far I've only gone to the gym that first morning, which is no surprise at all. I'll try to go a couple times this week though. It's pretty nice in there though, they give you a locker, and you get a little gym uniform to wear (I'll take a picture of myself in the mirror next time I go, it's a dead sexy outfit), so you don't have to worry about sweating in your clothes. You're supposed to bring your own gym shoes since you can't wear your outside shoes into the gym. Since I didn't bring an extra pair of tennis shoes, that means I worked out in my socks. They have a couple of funny machines there, like the one that is just a belt that wraps around you and goes back and forth and jiggles your fat, and the one that you lay on and it turns you completely upside down so all of the blood rushes to your head. Then there are a few others that I couldn't figure out what they did at all. The best thing about the Korean gym is that there aren't a bunch of intimidating buff dudes walking around. In fact there were a few times when I put MORE weight on the machine I was using, which is much different than my standard method of assuming that I can do about half of whatever the person before me was doing.
Below I've got some pictures of some of my classes. The first three are all kindy classes, so they are 6 or 7. Then the last two are of my Kiwi 3 class, which is one of the classes I've had since the beginning. They are probably my favorite class, they're the oldest (maybe 8 or 9?), so I can talk with them more easily. They also drive me the most insane, but I enjoy it. The younger ones took to getting their picture taken much better. I just told them to smile and they started popping peace signs like crazy (the national Korean photographee's pastime). The older kids were a bit more bashful, but eventually came around. Little Sunny even progressed from crouched in the fetal position facing the wall to facing the camera with her hands covering her face. The girl in the middle in the black and white sweatshirt is Angel, and she is the really smart girl I mentioned before. She is probably my favorite student, but man, is she bossy. I just end up letting her have her way a lot because she complains more than everyone else combined.
Here is a shot of my laundry machine. I couldn't find ANY instructions online that gave me a clue how to use it, so I just started pushing buttons. And it eventually washed my clothes. So, awesome.
Some of them were easy enough. The one on the far left that looks like a faucet is just hot or cold water, and I actually had a few "in between" options. The next one to the right is just how large of a load is it. The two that look like a finger and a play/fast-forward button totally stumped me, so I just kept pressing them until the timer on the left went as high as possible, which was 92 minutes I think. On the first try it started going for about 15 minutes, and then just stopped with 70 something left on the timer. Nothing was happening. So I pressed a bunch of buttons again, which ended with me turning it off and turning it back on again and starting the whole process again. That time it went the whole way though, so, whatever. After the laundry is done, the clothes gotta dry, so thank you whoever left me an enormous drying rack. Here is what a full load of laundry looks like hanging out on a drying rack (taking up my entire kitchen/dining room/living room/foyer.)
This is one page of the menu from Papa Johns, and then the delicious Spicy Chicken Ranch pizza that I got. Unfortunately I think the glare totally whited out my selection from the menu, whoops. Also you get 15-20% off for takeout, so the prices aren't as outrageous as they might seem. (About $15 for a large Spicy Chicken Ranch).
Tonight I actually got crazy and ate something besides pizza though! I went to this Japanese place and got a wonderful fried pork thing that came with mucho side dishes (which, to the best of my understanding, is the Korean side of this Japanese place showing.) I got a few nigiri style sushi pieces and a couple of maki rolls, some kind of cabbagey thing with thousand island dressing(?) on it that tasted like cole slaw, some crazy thick noodles, and a huge clear POUCH of liquid, that I'm thinking was tea, but I did not open. I've eaten a lot of new things over here, and while most of it is all right, I really miss burritos. I don't think I've gone over the crazy stuff they serve at lunch yet. I've had rabbit and squid multiple times. Sometimes they have these little tiny fish, that you just eat whole. It's just a tiny 1.5-2 inch fish. And you just chew it - eyes, scales, bones and all. It's weird. All of the meat has bones. Ugh. I hate school lunch so bad. At this point my lunch is 90% rice. I stopped trying to like kimchi about 3 days after I got here. Worst food ever. (Editors note: Korean food in general should not be judged by the quality of food served at the cafeteria at Mike's school.)
This weekend was thankfully a bit more low-key than the last. On Friday night I went to Exit again and once again had a grand time. It was a lot of the same people again, but I also met quite a few new people, including the group I accompanied to a noraebang at about 3am. This is actually a great way to do karaoke, because people are much more likely to make complete idiots out of themselves if they know everyone in the room's name. I didn't even have to sing, in fact I wasn't even asked once if I wanted to.
That night I once again couldn't remember the word for Suji Middle School (I now have it etched in my memory (until I'm drunk again) - Suji Jung Hakyo (probably spelled wrong (who is digging all of these parentheses within parentheses?))) - so I went to a group of cabs, said it in English, and one of them waved me in. He then dropped me off in some area I had never seen before. I said "Suji Middle School?" and he nodded, so I got out. Nevermind the fact that this was not the Suji Middle School. So I started walking and it took me a good hour to get home, luckily I eventually saw a church that is on the bus route from our school to our apartment. It was pretty fantastic considering I started off about a 15 minute walk from home.
Oh yeah, and before going to Exit I went with a bunch of the teachers to this breakfast place called Butterfinger's that was kind of like Korea's take on a Denny's. It was very good - I got eggs, hash browns, ham, sausage, pancakes, the whole deal. As I mentioned before, breakfast is apparently a big deal for the other teachers, so everyone was pretty excited about it.
On Saturday night I just stayed in the Villa (which our apt. complex is commonly referred to as) and went next door and played poker and hung out with some of the other teachers. And I was in bed by midnight or so, which I wasn't sure was possible on a weekend in Korea.
This website is great for humorous Korean shirts: http://www.baboshirts.com/. A lot of them are spot on.
1) The kids LOVE scissors, rock, paper. At first I thought, "aw, that's cute, he said them out of order." Then I realized that everyone here says scissors, rock, paper, and I'm the one who sounds like a jackass when I say rock, paper, scissors.
2) The kids have all been trained to say "I'm fine, thank you, and you?" when you say "How are you?" And they just yell it in this ridiculous 1-2 cadence that leads me to believe they have no idea what they're saying. And yes, it sounds like they're saying "pine" when they say "fine". I just about lost it the other day when I was playing memory with one of my classes. Each vocab word had a card with a picture of the object, and then a card with the actual word. One of the kids who had been closely monitoring what the other kids had been turning over pounced on the cards when it was his turn. First he turns over the word "rock" and yells "Rock!" and then confidently flips over a picture of a lock and yells "Rock!" It broke my heart telling him that those did not match, because his memory was spot on.
3) Soju is already one of my favorite things about Korea, and it definitely makes me "not afraid of the cops" or talking to girls in the bar.
4) The shirt with the two hands making a point with the index fingers really made me laugh, because that is a reference to the fact the kids for some reason love sticking their fingers up your butt. Not making that up - people who have worked with kids in America - is this common for kids all over? I rarely yell at the kids, but that is just crossing the line.
5) The "I'm a Englishee Teecher" one is funny because Koreans hate ending words with consonants. I'm constantly having to correct kids for calling me Teacher Mikuh. That is when they're not calling me Teacher Mariki (their former teacher (female)), Teacher Cola (they saw me drink a Coke once), or Teacher something in Korean (I'm assuming these are not complimentary endearing nicknames.)
Speaking of funny things the kids do, last Friday we were playing games a lot and I let them pick team names in four of the classes. These were the four resulting match-ups:
1) White Dragon vs. White Dinosaur
2) Dangerous Snake vs. Super Power Monkey
3) Jet vs. Fire Dragon
4) Snake vs. Spider
I <3 those kids.
Also I had an incident last Friday where a few of the girls were suddenly alarmed and yelling at me that one of the boys was "bad speaking". Then they told me that he made the "F finger." I just told them I had no idea what they were talking about.
Oh, and for those requesting Engrish (Tim) - I found a great little bit right in my own apartment! The other day I just happened to glance at the teapot that had been sitting on my stove the whole time I've been here. It says Sweetberry Bear on it, but below that, in very small writing, it says: "With incredible magic of the pretty bear, you too will be the best friend like a lot of many people all over the world." Poignant, no? I tried to take a picture but the writing is really small and it wouldn't turn out right. I tried to google for it and interestingly enough the first few results for "sweetberry bear" (in quotes) are nsfw. Gotta love the internet.
That reminds me... the other night a few of the teachers were exchanging stories about all the porn that turns up when they look up (seemingly) totally innocent things in front of the kids. One lady said that she tried to look up country music and porn came up - I'm not really sure how that happened. (I asked her if she forgot the "o" in country, got a few laughs, and did NOT credit Family Guy.) Some of them make a little more sense - snake, box, fox. Anyway, the moral of the story is - do all of your internet searching before class.
Finally, I was going to upload a video that I took of class. I tried to do it last night but it was taking forever to upload, so I let it go over-night. This morning, it was still not uploaded, so I'll have to try again tonight.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Totally forgot about caffeine
I'm ridiculously tired today. I had a half hour lunch, and a break from 3-4, other than that it was straight teaching from 9-6. During my break I was trying to find material for my future lesson plans, but was unable to keep my eyes open. After work I was thinking about how it's weird how tired I've been the whole time I'm here. I thought maybe it was because I went to the gym this morning, but normally running or doing push-ups or sit-ups in the morning gives me more energy if anything. Finally I remembered that while working in Chicago I went out for lunch every day and it normally included a massive soda. When I went to Subway (which was 3 or 4 times a week), I would get a 32oz Vault, which I think has more caffeine than Mountain Dew. So I bought a 12oz coke to take to work tomorrow in case I feel like I'm dying again. It's good that I'm doing something about this crippling caffeine addiction, but I don't think cold turkey is the way to go, so I'll try to ween myself.
I did laundry tonight, which was interesting. Also I got some pictures of the kids, and the gym is definitely worth talking about. So I'll try to get a post in over the weekend.
Sounds like the Illini were pretty awesome last night, I think we'll give MSU all they can handle. If my calculations are correct it'll be on at 6am Sunday morning for me, so who knows, maybe I'll be able to find a live stream.
I did laundry tonight, which was interesting. Also I got some pictures of the kids, and the gym is definitely worth talking about. So I'll try to get a post in over the weekend.
Sounds like the Illini were pretty awesome last night, I think we'll give MSU all they can handle. If my calculations are correct it'll be on at 6am Sunday morning for me, so who knows, maybe I'll be able to find a live stream.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
First Gym Membership
So I guess this as good of a time as any for me to start turning new leaves. I just paid 120,000W for a 3 month gym membership. That's a bit cheaper than any gym membership I ever heard of in Chicago, so I figured what the hell? Well, at least I think I joined. I went up there and someone said "Can I help you?" (at least I think that's what he said). I said "3 month membership?" and he thought for a little bit and said "12?" Luckily I knew that it was going to cost 120,000W (my friend just joined last night) so I figured that he was struggling with telling me how much it cost. I got out the money and gave it to him and he seemed happy. Then he pulled out some paperwork, pointed to a few places, and said "Name, address, phone". Well I knew my name, so I guess 1 out of 3 is... well, 1 out of 3 is pretty bad. I wrote my name and pointed to the other spaces, shrugged, and said "Address, phone - tomorrow."
Then he started saying other stuff that was mostly Korean and gestures, and I had no idea what he was saying. Finally he said "Gym today? Gym tomorrow?" I think he was asking when I wanted my membership to start, so I said tomorrow. Then he took my picture with a webcam. So on my page on the computer they had my name and my picture. I thought for sure there had to be more. Don't I get a card? Something to prove I just paid you 120,000 in cash? I said "Card?" "No card," he says. So I say "Tomorrow. I just walk in?" I'm not sure he understood me because he just said, "You very handsome." Nothing like a compliment to ease my worries I guess, because I just bowed, said "Kam sa hamnida" and headed towards the exit. He smiled and bowed, so I guess I did everything I need to do. We'll see tomorrow. Maybe really handsome people don't need identification?
I had a great meal today with the principal and a brand new teacher from America. We knew we were having dinner with her, but didn't know where we were going. And the principal speaks pretty much no English at all. The car ride was weird because I felt bad talking to the other guy, I mean, I know what it's like when you are standing there while two other people are having a conversation in another language. So it was mostly silence. Every once in awhile she would ask a really simple question, or make a very simple statement about the school. Mostly it didn't make sense and we would just smile and say yes.
Once we parked she said "Hot dog? Chinese? Spaghetti?" We looked around and those three options were indeed all around us. It's kind of funny because I have noticed that Korean people seem to think that Americans hate Korean food. I mean, they are right for most part, but hey we're in Korea, you should be forcing it on us. So we asked for Korean food. She took us to a samgyeopsal place, which falls in the Ko
rean bbq family. I just read the link I provided and it pretty much exactly describes our meal, except we didn't have soju. The picture is one I found on the internet, but it looks fairly similar to our meal. You just pick up a piece of lettuce, throw in pork, rice, kim chi, greens, onions, garlic, and whatever else is in front of you. It was really good! The table was filled with bowls of random stuff, which is how most Korean meals go down. Double dipping is not an issue. I have heard that sometimes people will use the opposite end of their chopsticks to pick up food, and then eat with the other end. However, I've never seen anyone do that. So it's pretty much chopsticks in the bowl, chopsticks in your mouth, chopsticks right back in the bowl. There was also hot and cold soup, some kind of egg soup/paste thing, and these really strange little rectangles that had the texture of cheese but tasted like something in gelatin family. Not really sure at all, but it's pretty good with pork inside of it. Oh and also when we were walking in she said "Samgyeopsal... pig!". Which is kind of funny because just yesterday one of the other teachers told me the cooks made fun of him for referring to our meal as mulgoki, a word which apparently is only used for fish swimming in water, not fish for eating. Ah... language.
I forgot my camera today, so no pictures of the enormous classes at the Suji Jayeon, but tomorrow I start my regular classes and I will try to remember to take pictures of some of them. I can probably get the Korean teacher to take a picture of us, so I can be in it too. My camera also takes videos, so maybe I'll get a video of them doing something too. I'm really glad to be out of that school. I had no training for how to teach classes that large. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for Starfall.com, because without it I would have been lost. Also, the boiler was broken there, so there was NO HEAT. The poor kids don't complain at all, they just plop down on the ice cold floor and go about their day. Meanwhile I'm wearing my coat, huddled in front of a space heater the whole time.
Anyone, please feel free to give me a recap of the UI/UM game which I guess is coming up tomorrow morning for me/tonight for you. I-L-L.
Then he started saying other stuff that was mostly Korean and gestures, and I had no idea what he was saying. Finally he said "Gym today? Gym tomorrow?" I think he was asking when I wanted my membership to start, so I said tomorrow. Then he took my picture with a webcam. So on my page on the computer they had my name and my picture. I thought for sure there had to be more. Don't I get a card? Something to prove I just paid you 120,000 in cash? I said "Card?" "No card," he says. So I say "Tomorrow. I just walk in?" I'm not sure he understood me because he just said, "You very handsome." Nothing like a compliment to ease my worries I guess, because I just bowed, said "Kam sa hamnida" and headed towards the exit. He smiled and bowed, so I guess I did everything I need to do. We'll see tomorrow. Maybe really handsome people don't need identification?
I had a great meal today with the principal and a brand new teacher from America. We knew we were having dinner with her, but didn't know where we were going. And the principal speaks pretty much no English at all. The car ride was weird because I felt bad talking to the other guy, I mean, I know what it's like when you are standing there while two other people are having a conversation in another language. So it was mostly silence. Every once in awhile she would ask a really simple question, or make a very simple statement about the school. Mostly it didn't make sense and we would just smile and say yes.
Once we parked she said "Hot dog? Chinese? Spaghetti?" We looked around and those three options were indeed all around us. It's kind of funny because I have noticed that Korean people seem to think that Americans hate Korean food. I mean, they are right for most part, but hey we're in Korea, you should be forcing it on us. So we asked for Korean food. She took us to a samgyeopsal place, which falls in the Ko
rean bbq family. I just read the link I provided and it pretty much exactly describes our meal, except we didn't have soju. The picture is one I found on the internet, but it looks fairly similar to our meal. You just pick up a piece of lettuce, throw in pork, rice, kim chi, greens, onions, garlic, and whatever else is in front of you. It was really good! The table was filled with bowls of random stuff, which is how most Korean meals go down. Double dipping is not an issue. I have heard that sometimes people will use the opposite end of their chopsticks to pick up food, and then eat with the other end. However, I've never seen anyone do that. So it's pretty much chopsticks in the bowl, chopsticks in your mouth, chopsticks right back in the bowl. There was also hot and cold soup, some kind of egg soup/paste thing, and these really strange little rectangles that had the texture of cheese but tasted like something in gelatin family. Not really sure at all, but it's pretty good with pork inside of it. Oh and also when we were walking in she said "Samgyeopsal... pig!". Which is kind of funny because just yesterday one of the other teachers told me the cooks made fun of him for referring to our meal as mulgoki, a word which apparently is only used for fish swimming in water, not fish for eating. Ah... language.I forgot my camera today, so no pictures of the enormous classes at the Suji Jayeon, but tomorrow I start my regular classes and I will try to remember to take pictures of some of them. I can probably get the Korean teacher to take a picture of us, so I can be in it too. My camera also takes videos, so maybe I'll get a video of them doing something too. I'm really glad to be out of that school. I had no training for how to teach classes that large. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for Starfall.com, because without it I would have been lost. Also, the boiler was broken there, so there was NO HEAT. The poor kids don't complain at all, they just plop down on the ice cold floor and go about their day. Meanwhile I'm wearing my coat, huddled in front of a space heater the whole time.
Anyone, please feel free to give me a recap of the UI/UM game which I guess is coming up tomorrow morning for me/tonight for you. I-L-L.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Must Sleep...
So today was my longest day yet. As I said earlier, this is my first week of having a full schedule of teaching. The only wrench in that plan was that this week is "open week". Open week means that, depending on class sizes, each kindergarden teacher has to teach one or two classes with all of the students' parents there, and a camera person. So all of the teachers hate this, obviously, because it's super stressful and impossible to get the kids to act normal with all of those distractions. Thankfully they made special arrangements and had one of the more experienced teachers (who was supposed to be starting at a different school this week) cover my kindy classes. So she had one open class yesterday, and has another one tomorrow. So on Thursday I will actually begin my real schedule.
While she is doing that, I have to cover her morning classes at the Suji branch. It is a lot different over at that school. From what I have heard it is the "forgotten" school. There are a bunch of huge condos being erected right next to the school and apparently it's really driven attendance down. Well, for attendance being down, there sure are a lot of kids. I have eight 25 minute classes from 9-1, and each class has about 25 kids. My lesson plans are getting really repetitive, but the kids somehow always keep your energy up. My new favorite song is the short vowel song, it is super addictive. "A-a-a-a apple, e-e-e-e egg, i-i-i-i inchworm, the short vowels we do sing..." Oh man it is great, and I can't get it out of my head.
Anyway, then I swung back over to the Bojeong school because I had a 1:50 class there. The girl who has been covering for me just wanted me to prepare those kids for the open day tomorrow, which meant make sure they have all of these vocab words memorized. Which meant 55 minutes of Go Fish and Memory! I was like, "Really?" But she told me that was the best way to get them to know the vocab, and I certainly wasn't going to argue. At 4:10 I have my class that I have had ever since the first day. That class is getting more and more interesting, because the kids all know me now, and some of them are starting to act up as they get a bit more comfortable. There is this one girl who knows all of the answers and gets really mad when I don't call on her. Then when we're supposed to all read together she purposely reads way faster than everyone else. It's like having a little me in my class, and I love her.
Then at 5:10 I had my "free-talking" class. It was just three kids (two girls, one boy), and they were all 13 or 14 (which in Korean age, I guess they were maybe 12 or so). There is no curriculum, the head Korean teacher told me I could just do whatever I wanted. So I just spent the whole class talking to them about whatever. I asked them what I should do for fun in Suji (apparently the Suji Royal Sportscenter is the place to be, I'm gonna have to check it out), what they liked to do, what did they do this weekend, etc... It was a pretty fun class. They were a little tough to crack, but they started opening up eventually. We talked about video games, and they said they liked Sudden Attack. They had never heard of any of the first person shooter games I brought up (seriously, you all love "Sudden Attack" and no one's heard of Halo?) One of them said they went to sing karaoke this weekend so I asked them what kind of music they like and they said Big Bang and Wonder Girls. I had actually already heard of both of them so I was pretty proud of myself.
I have to take a second to talk about Korean music. They are absolutely obsessed with pop music. That's all there is. It's hilarious. And they still love the thing that was really popular a few years ago where a girl pop singer would sing, and then some rapper would rap. You know like all the songs with Mariah Carey and Big Pun, or whoever was collaborating for that last chart-topper. That's every song here. Pop, with some rap verses. Also, in order for it to be a legitimate Korean hit, you have to toss some English into the chorus. Points are NOT added if the English words make sense, so no sense in overexerting yourself. But I do have to say that it's hard to change the channel when the Wonder Girls come on. Even though they are basically the Korean Danity Kane, it's somehow different. It's just hard for Koreans to look like nasty hoochie skanks, even when they're trying. It goes back to the classiness thing. Oh, and they're super hot.
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Anyway, if you were adding it up in your head, I had 7 hours of teaching today, and my contract says that I don't have to do anymore than 6 a day, so I got overtime today (as I will every Tuesday and Thursday when I have my free talking class).
This one is especially for Brett and Josh, but I'm sure lots of you will get a kick out of it. On Saturday night we had stopped at a little street vendor and while I was just looking at the wares all of a sudden the dude working the stand started saying something and pointing at me. One of the girls I was with says, "OH! He's saying you look like Jude Law." And he's like "Yes! American actor! Jude Law!" It didn't seem like the appropriate time to tell him Jude Law is British so I simply said "kam sa hamnida!" Anyway, got a pretty good laugh about that one, since somehow that became a big topic of conversation back home. So far that is 2 Jude Law's, and 0 Steve Nash's that I've gotten since being here.
Ok, I'm going to bed now, I still haven't learned how to use my Korean laundry machine, that is tomorrow night's project I guess. For now, I'm off to find out if Chuck and Blair can somehow get it together and be happy.
While she is doing that, I have to cover her morning classes at the Suji branch. It is a lot different over at that school. From what I have heard it is the "forgotten" school. There are a bunch of huge condos being erected right next to the school and apparently it's really driven attendance down. Well, for attendance being down, there sure are a lot of kids. I have eight 25 minute classes from 9-1, and each class has about 25 kids. My lesson plans are getting really repetitive, but the kids somehow always keep your energy up. My new favorite song is the short vowel song, it is super addictive. "A-a-a-a apple, e-e-e-e egg, i-i-i-i inchworm, the short vowels we do sing..." Oh man it is great, and I can't get it out of my head.
Anyway, then I swung back over to the Bojeong school because I had a 1:50 class there. The girl who has been covering for me just wanted me to prepare those kids for the open day tomorrow, which meant make sure they have all of these vocab words memorized. Which meant 55 minutes of Go Fish and Memory! I was like, "Really?" But she told me that was the best way to get them to know the vocab, and I certainly wasn't going to argue. At 4:10 I have my class that I have had ever since the first day. That class is getting more and more interesting, because the kids all know me now, and some of them are starting to act up as they get a bit more comfortable. There is this one girl who knows all of the answers and gets really mad when I don't call on her. Then when we're supposed to all read together she purposely reads way faster than everyone else. It's like having a little me in my class, and I love her.
Then at 5:10 I had my "free-talking" class. It was just three kids (two girls, one boy), and they were all 13 or 14 (which in Korean age, I guess they were maybe 12 or so). There is no curriculum, the head Korean teacher told me I could just do whatever I wanted. So I just spent the whole class talking to them about whatever. I asked them what I should do for fun in Suji (apparently the Suji Royal Sportscenter is the place to be, I'm gonna have to check it out), what they liked to do, what did they do this weekend, etc... It was a pretty fun class. They were a little tough to crack, but they started opening up eventually. We talked about video games, and they said they liked Sudden Attack. They had never heard of any of the first person shooter games I brought up (seriously, you all love "Sudden Attack" and no one's heard of Halo?) One of them said they went to sing karaoke this weekend so I asked them what kind of music they like and they said Big Bang and Wonder Girls. I had actually already heard of both of them so I was pretty proud of myself.
I have to take a second to talk about Korean music. They are absolutely obsessed with pop music. That's all there is. It's hilarious. And they still love the thing that was really popular a few years ago where a girl pop singer would sing, and then some rapper would rap. You know like all the songs with Mariah Carey and Big Pun, or whoever was collaborating for that last chart-topper. That's every song here. Pop, with some rap verses. Also, in order for it to be a legitimate Korean hit, you have to toss some English into the chorus. Points are NOT added if the English words make sense, so no sense in overexerting yourself. But I do have to say that it's hard to change the channel when the Wonder Girls come on. Even though they are basically the Korean Danity Kane, it's somehow different. It's just hard for Koreans to look like nasty hoochie skanks, even when they're trying. It goes back to the classiness thing. Oh, and they're super hot.
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Anyway, if you were adding it up in your head, I had 7 hours of teaching today, and my contract says that I don't have to do anymore than 6 a day, so I got overtime today (as I will every Tuesday and Thursday when I have my free talking class).
This one is especially for Brett and Josh, but I'm sure lots of you will get a kick out of it. On Saturday night we had stopped at a little street vendor and while I was just looking at the wares all of a sudden the dude working the stand started saying something and pointing at me. One of the girls I was with says, "OH! He's saying you look like Jude Law." And he's like "Yes! American actor! Jude Law!" It didn't seem like the appropriate time to tell him Jude Law is British so I simply said "kam sa hamnida!" Anyway, got a pretty good laugh about that one, since somehow that became a big topic of conversation back home. So far that is 2 Jude Law's, and 0 Steve Nash's that I've gotten since being here.
Ok, I'm going to bed now, I still haven't learned how to use my Korean laundry machine, that is tomorrow night's project I guess. For now, I'm off to find out if Chuck and Blair can somehow get it together and be happy.
Monday, January 12, 2009
First Weekend
So i got my first taste of Korean nightlife, and I was not let down. This weekend was a complete drain, I think I'm going to have to just stay in and watch a few movies next weekend (typical Monday talk there).
So Friday night started off with Hollis and I making our way to downtown Suji. I brought my camera but the stupid battery was dead, so hopefully I can get some of his pictures later. Downtown Suji is pretty sweet, there is a lot of stuff going on down there. Our first stop was Subway, because we had both been craving it. It did not disappoint. I got the Cold Cut Trio, which is my old standby, and was shocked when they were putting nice slices of what looked like turkey, ham, and some other fresh looking meat on it. Anyone who has ordered a Cold Cut Trio before knows that this is a step up. Next time you're in a Subway ask the person who is making your sandwich what kind of meats are in a Cold Cut Trio. They will not know.
After that we made some power-ju (or poju, as it is also apparently referred to as) and started to walk around and scope the area since it was a little early to go to the bar. We got really cold really fast though, so we ended up just hanging out in the McDonald's and finishing them there. In Korea it is perfectly fine to just sit and chill for a long time in the McDonald's without ordering anything, so that is exactly what we did. Eventually we headed out and started looking for Exit, the bar we were going to. I thought I knew where it was, but anyone who has ever trusted me to know where something is will not be surprised to learn that I was wrong. We wandered for awhile, and with a little help from some locals, we eventually found it.
It was a really nice bar, the music wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be (they played Limp Bizkit, and some of the Koreans went ka-razee, haha), the drinks were cheap, and it was filled with what seemed like 80% of the foreign teachers in Suji (not really, but a lot). One of the other teachers from my school was there and she introduced me to so many nice people. Also, they have Jaeger bombs, just with Bacchus (Smarties-flavored energy drink) instead of Red Bull. So that made me feel right at home. It was a great time, and I hope to become a Friday night regular.
Saturday night it took me a little while to get going, and I actually briefly considered staying in. Then I drank that Korean plum wine, and although it was completely nasty, I give it props for changing my mind. One of the other teachers, her friend and I got on a bus and headed into Seoul. We encountered a few problems with our cabs (problems = went the wrong way for a long time), but eventually got to our destination, a bar called Sensation in Hongdae. I walked up to the bar and looked in the fridge and saw that they had Guinness, so I excitedly ordered one, and handed the bartender 10,000W (~$10). Whe
n I received 1,000W back I looked at the menu, and much to my chagrin realized I had ordered the most expensive drink in the bar.
The bar was a cool place, there were dj's early in the night, and then eventually a few people got up and rapped. Firs
t up were two American guys whose songs were kind of cheesy and terrible, but freestyling skills were above average (this evaluation is based solely off of the fact that I have seen 8 Mile 1.5 times.) Next was a Korean guy who was really drunk and kept forgetting his lines. He got a lot better once he started rapping in Kore
an.
I also met a cool guy from Chicago who went to U of I, he invited me to do this wine making thing with some of his friends, so hopefully I can make some friends outside of school. Also he lives in the Hongdae area, which is by far the best area in Seoul for seeing live independent music. Back when I was at home I started listening to a few Korean hardcore bands, and pretty much the only one that caught my ear was this band called Hollow Jan (I don't expect this link to entertain anyone not named Tim Franklin - the Hyacinthus song is awesome). They are playing at a bar in Hongdae next Friday and I might actually try to go by myself and see if I can make some friends. I have talked to a few people about music, and have definitely met people with good taste, but no one who would really enjoy a hardcore show I don't think. It seems like every person I have a music conversation with attended the Jens Lekman and Bjork show, which is pretty cool. Other concert buzz: The Roots are coming but it is apparently almost $100, and I am going to see Digitalism at the Ritz Carlton in a couple weeks.
Ok, got a bit off track there, back to Saturday night. At about 3:30 we ventured out to find Ice Bar, which was our goal for the night, since none of us knew where it was. After asking a few people we actually found it pretty easily though.
So Ice Bar is what it sounds like, it's a bar made out of ice. You go in and you have to pay 15,000W, and that gets you one drink. I ordered something called a Strongman which had gin, rum, tequila, and some other nasty stuff in there. When I read the description it sounded like a Long Island. Well it managed to be even more gross than the worse Long Island I have ever had (anyone remember Skank from the PT days?). It only proceeded to get more gross when one of my friends kept swiping bottles from behind the bar and adding shots to our drink when the only employee wasn't looking. The best part about the drinks were the ice glasses. They were made of ice - we know - because we licked them (just remembered that... gross. I mean, they aren't washing those things - they're ice! And I doubt every new customer is getting a new glass sculpted for them. So that means... best not to think about it.) It
was really weird in there. It was really small, and we were the only four people for awhile, then three more people walked in. We finished our drinks and left after about 15 minutes.
From there we went to a couple more dance club type places. I kind of zoned out for this portion of the night. I was getting tired and my friends were all dancing and that is just not really my scene. I sat at the bar and talked to a couple people, but the conversations in a club at 4 in the morning aren't usually the most stimulating. Luckily we left soon (both of the other guys we were with at this point had their coats stolen at the coat check. Mine was there, but uh... lesson learned - don't trust the coat check. One guy said that was not the first coat he's lost at a coat check.)
The last stop of the night was a more pubby type place and I had a lot more fun there. We played pool against some dudes from Cote d'Ivoire and totally dominated. Eventually they made us leave the bar, even though I was told that bars in Korea don't close - lies! Anyway, it was about time SOMEBODY told me to go home. At this point I had lost my teacher friend, who was the only other person from Suji. Luckily her friend used to live in Suji, and put me in a cab and told him to take me to the bus stop I needed to go to.
I got on the bus, and looked at my clock, because I knew it was going to take about 40-45 mins, and I was going to be needing to pay attention in order to see which stop to get off at. All of that was for naught because some period of time later I was awoken by the bus driver yelling at me in Korean and pointing towards the door. I looked at him with clear distress in my eyes and just said "Suji?" He pointed at the bus stop across the street.
So I trudged across the street, the sun was now up and I had no clue how far past Suji I was. After waiting for about 5 mins, a few cabs started pulling up and stopping in front of the bus stop. I walked up to one and said "Suji Middle School?" I had been told no less than 20 times how to say this in Korean, because that is the one landmark that almost any cabbie will know that is near our place. At this point my brain wasn't in the mood for "remembering", so English was going to have to suffice. A few of the cab drivers talked amongst themselves and eventually one of them motioned for me to get in.
Once we were riding I started counting how much cash I had left, since I knew it had been an expensive night. 7,000W in bills, and another 2700W in coins. Keep in mind I have no idea how long this ride is going to be. Pretty soon we are cruising at like 50mph and the meter is racing above 8000W. I tap the cabbie on the sholulder and hand him all of my money and then hold up my palms. He counts it at the stop light, and keeps driving, I was kind of hoping he would just take sympathy on me. But fortunately we quickly arrived at the only area of Suji I recognize and I had made it back safely! And it was only 8am!
So yeah, the weekend was nuts, but actually kind of reminded me a bit of Chicago. There is nothing anyone here can throw at me I haven't already experienced back home in the drinking department. Brett, Josh, Matt: thank you, I think?
Other stuff:
1) I just ate Papa Johns and it was delicious! They have a crazy extensive menu here, but I was boring and just got a supreme. I have eaten pizza over half the nights I've been here, but mostly from this place called Pizza School that is ALSO delicious, and cheaper. Papa Johns still gives you the Garlic Cheese dip, but no pepperoncini peppers. They also throw in sweet pickles (why? gross) and tabasco (awesome, saving that for later).
2) Just read about the Golden Globes. There are a lot of movies I haven't seen. I have super fast internet now (no longer stealing wireless) and am currently downloading: Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road, Milk, The Wrestler, and Vicky Christina Barcelona. Considering I haven't watched any movies since I've been here, I should have them all watched by never. I was very happy to see Slumdog Millionaire, John Adams, and Anna Paquin do well!
3) Had my first day of full teaching today. I had to cover for another teacher at the Suji branch. Instead of 55 minute classes, they have 25 minute classes. So I taught 10 mini-classes today. Which means I sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" 10 times! And loved it a little more every time! These cute little Korean kids remind me of this song --> Kids Are So Small.
Bye!
So Friday night started off with Hollis and I making our way to downtown Suji. I brought my camera but the stupid battery was dead, so hopefully I can get some of his pictures later. Downtown Suji is pretty sweet, there is a lot of stuff going on down there. Our first stop was Subway, because we had both been craving it. It did not disappoint. I got the Cold Cut Trio, which is my old standby, and was shocked when they were putting nice slices of what looked like turkey, ham, and some other fresh looking meat on it. Anyone who has ordered a Cold Cut Trio before knows that this is a step up. Next time you're in a Subway ask the person who is making your sandwich what kind of meats are in a Cold Cut Trio. They will not know.
After that we made some power-ju (or poju, as it is also apparently referred to as) and started to walk around and scope the area since it was a little early to go to the bar. We got really cold really fast though, so we ended up just hanging out in the McDonald's and finishing them there. In Korea it is perfectly fine to just sit and chill for a long time in the McDonald's without ordering anything, so that is exactly what we did. Eventually we headed out and started looking for Exit, the bar we were going to. I thought I knew where it was, but anyone who has ever trusted me to know where something is will not be surprised to learn that I was wrong. We wandered for awhile, and with a little help from some locals, we eventually found it.
It was a really nice bar, the music wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be (they played Limp Bizkit, and some of the Koreans went ka-razee, haha), the drinks were cheap, and it was filled with what seemed like 80% of the foreign teachers in Suji (not really, but a lot). One of the other teachers from my school was there and she introduced me to so many nice people. Also, they have Jaeger bombs, just with Bacchus (Smarties-flavored energy drink) instead of Red Bull. So that made me feel right at home. It was a great time, and I hope to become a Friday night regular.
Saturday night it took me a little while to get going, and I actually briefly considered staying in. Then I drank that Korean plum wine, and although it was completely nasty, I give it props for changing my mind. One of the other teachers, her friend and I got on a bus and headed into Seoul. We encountered a few problems with our cabs (problems = went the wrong way for a long time), but eventually got to our destination, a bar called Sensation in Hongdae. I walked up to the bar and looked in the fridge and saw that they had Guinness, so I excitedly ordered one, and handed the bartender 10,000W (~$10). Whe
n I received 1,000W back I looked at the menu, and much to my chagrin realized I had ordered the most expensive drink in the bar.The bar was a cool place, there were dj's early in the night, and then eventually a few people got up and rapped. Firs
t up were two American guys whose songs were kind of cheesy and terrible, but freestyling skills were above average (this evaluation is based solely off of the fact that I have seen 8 Mile 1.5 times.) Next was a Korean guy who was really drunk and kept forgetting his lines. He got a lot better once he started rapping in Kore
an.I also met a cool guy from Chicago who went to U of I, he invited me to do this wine making thing with some of his friends, so hopefully I can make some friends outside of school. Also he lives in the Hongdae area, which is by far the best area in Seoul for seeing live independent music. Back when I was at home I started listening to a few Korean hardcore bands, and pretty much the only one that caught my ear was this band called Hollow Jan (I don't expect this link to entertain anyone not named Tim Franklin - the Hyacinthus song is awesome). They are playing at a bar in Hongdae next Friday and I might actually try to go by myself and see if I can make some friends. I have talked to a few people about music, and have definitely met people with good taste, but no one who would really enjoy a hardcore show I don't think. It seems like every person I have a music conversation with attended the Jens Lekman and Bjork show, which is pretty cool. Other concert buzz: The Roots are coming but it is apparently almost $100, and I am going to see Digitalism at the Ritz Carlton in a couple weeks.
Ok, got a bit off track there, back to Saturday night. At about 3:30 we ventured out to find Ice Bar, which was our goal for the night, since none of us knew where it was. After asking a few people we actually found it pretty easily though.
So Ice Bar is what it sounds like, it's a bar made out of ice. You go in and you have to pay 15,000W, and that gets you one drink. I ordered something called a Strongman which had gin, rum, tequila, and some other nasty stuff in there. When I read the description it sounded like a Long Island. Well it managed to be even more gross than the worse Long Island I have ever had (anyone remember Skank from the PT days?). It only proceeded to get more gross when one of my friends kept swiping bottles from behind the bar and adding shots to our drink when the only employee wasn't looking. The best part about the drinks were the ice glasses. They were made of ice - we know - because we licked them (just remembered that... gross. I mean, they aren't washing those things - they're ice! And I doubt every new customer is getting a new glass sculpted for them. So that means... best not to think about it.) It
was really weird in there. It was really small, and we were the only four people for awhile, then three more people walked in. We finished our drinks and left after about 15 minutes.From there we went to a couple more dance club type places. I kind of zoned out for this portion of the night. I was getting tired and my friends were all dancing and that is just not really my scene. I sat at the bar and talked to a couple people, but the conversations in a club at 4 in the morning aren't usually the most stimulating. Luckily we left soon (both of the other guys we were with at this point had their coats stolen at the coat check. Mine was there, but uh... lesson learned - don't trust the coat check. One guy said that was not the first coat he's lost at a coat check.)
The last stop of the night was a more pubby type place and I had a lot more fun there. We played pool against some dudes from Cote d'Ivoire and totally dominated. Eventually they made us leave the bar, even though I was told that bars in Korea don't close - lies! Anyway, it was about time SOMEBODY told me to go home. At this point I had lost my teacher friend, who was the only other person from Suji. Luckily her friend used to live in Suji, and put me in a cab and told him to take me to the bus stop I needed to go to.
I got on the bus, and looked at my clock, because I knew it was going to take about 40-45 mins, and I was going to be needing to pay attention in order to see which stop to get off at. All of that was for naught because some period of time later I was awoken by the bus driver yelling at me in Korean and pointing towards the door. I looked at him with clear distress in my eyes and just said "Suji?" He pointed at the bus stop across the street.
So I trudged across the street, the sun was now up and I had no clue how far past Suji I was. After waiting for about 5 mins, a few cabs started pulling up and stopping in front of the bus stop. I walked up to one and said "Suji Middle School?" I had been told no less than 20 times how to say this in Korean, because that is the one landmark that almost any cabbie will know that is near our place. At this point my brain wasn't in the mood for "remembering", so English was going to have to suffice. A few of the cab drivers talked amongst themselves and eventually one of them motioned for me to get in.
Once we were riding I started counting how much cash I had left, since I knew it had been an expensive night. 7,000W in bills, and another 2700W in coins. Keep in mind I have no idea how long this ride is going to be. Pretty soon we are cruising at like 50mph and the meter is racing above 8000W. I tap the cabbie on the sholulder and hand him all of my money and then hold up my palms. He counts it at the stop light, and keeps driving, I was kind of hoping he would just take sympathy on me. But fortunately we quickly arrived at the only area of Suji I recognize and I had made it back safely! And it was only 8am!
So yeah, the weekend was nuts, but actually kind of reminded me a bit of Chicago. There is nothing anyone here can throw at me I haven't already experienced back home in the drinking department. Brett, Josh, Matt: thank you, I think?
Other stuff:
1) I just ate Papa Johns and it was delicious! They have a crazy extensive menu here, but I was boring and just got a supreme. I have eaten pizza over half the nights I've been here, but mostly from this place called Pizza School that is ALSO delicious, and cheaper. Papa Johns still gives you the Garlic Cheese dip, but no pepperoncini peppers. They also throw in sweet pickles (why? gross) and tabasco (awesome, saving that for later).
2) Just read about the Golden Globes. There are a lot of movies I haven't seen. I have super fast internet now (no longer stealing wireless) and am currently downloading: Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road, Milk, The Wrestler, and Vicky Christina Barcelona. Considering I haven't watched any movies since I've been here, I should have them all watched by never. I was very happy to see Slumdog Millionaire, John Adams, and Anna Paquin do well!
3) Had my first day of full teaching today. I had to cover for another teacher at the Suji branch. Instead of 55 minute classes, they have 25 minute classes. So I taught 10 mini-classes today. Which means I sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" 10 times! And loved it a little more every time! These cute little Korean kids remind me of this song --> Kids Are So Small.
Bye!
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