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!