I am conducting a bit of a test today.
Usually, at the girls' school I dress up in a dress shirt and a tie, and dress pants, or at least khakis.
In the last few weeks, though, I have noticed that the dress of my coworkers has become more and more casual. After months of wearing dress shirts or suits to work (with the exception of a few very cold days where he wore a turtle neck) last week wore jeans and a safari shirt. Two days in a row.
Naturally, I wore jeans the next day to see if this freedom applied to me as well. It did.
Yesterday, the other young guy teacher at the school wore an untucked golf shirt and khakis. So, clearly, untucked golf shirts are acceptable.
So today is test day... can an untucked golf shirt be combined with a pair of jeans with minimal disturbance to the natural order of things? Or will I disrupt the very fabric of Confucian time and space?!?!
Well, this really should have been written in past tense, because I got my answer long ago. Basically, I have been elevated to the level of "style demigod" at my school. I was told first thing by Mr Lee this morning that I looked "more handsome than usual", which I decided to take as a compliment, despite the unintentional subtext that I usually look like crap.
So, that's awesome. I wasn't aware that golf shirts were okay here, so that will be a big relief when the hot weather comes.
More later...
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Speakeasy Video!
Hey everyone!
This is a video I just posted of my performance at the Speakeasy.
Enjoy everyone!!!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1003603081892195452
This is a video I just posted of my performance at the Speakeasy.
Enjoy everyone!!!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1003603081892195452
Birthday Pictures
Me, after my first set. I was really hot. 
Birthday table. Below: Victoria and Jessie. 
Here's me during my second set. 
Back at the Biz for some post-bar relaxation...
Here's Gayan and the Afghan hound... there's a husky puppy in the cage. Very cute. 
Sarah and Rodrigo in the little tea house. Rodrigo loved those cups. 
Nice place, no? It was very romantic in there. 
Here's me at my birthday dinner at the Ryu's. 
This is our pizza dessert. And the whole family.
May 26th, 2006
So yesterday was my birthday.
It was a very good day.
It started at the elementary school. I had three good classes, and then one horrible one. Lunch was okay, even though some kid tried to dong-chim me up the butt again. He missed though. Lucky him.
Then, I was off work. My real birthday was beginning. First stop: Shin-hyup. The new bank. The bank where I was going to pay the bills. Boo-yeah!
Then, stop two. Sin Hair Room. Oh yeah, birthday hair cut.
Then, home for a post-haircut birthday rinse to prevent later birthday itching and chaffing. Also, birthday shedding on the hotel pillow.
I put on my new cowboy shirt, my stylin’ Korean-cut jeans and my black shoes. Birthday outfit? Check.
Then, to the bus station on a trip to Gwangju.
I met Jessie at the Starbucks near the bus terminal for a birthday coffee. We stuck around there for a while with Mary, another Native Speaker from Cape Breton who was working at the same camp as Jessie was. It sounds like they are having a pretty good time there. Like a non-stop vacation of social drinking and other fun.
Then, we headed to the Windmill (or winduhmil) motel to drop off my guitar and other stuff. Jessie told me we would have to hurry, because we had to go get my present!
She had me pretty wound up, because she kept hinting that it was going to be awesome, but I really had no idea what it would be. Of course, with her, there’s pretty little chance of knowing what will be coming if she decides to surprise me.
She led me down the street, and then when we reached a corner, she told me to cover my eyes so that I could not look up. Then we came to a door. Then, I wasn’t allowed to look up or back.
When we got to the top of the stairs, I heard barking. Lots of barking, and I saw a pink gate with a couple of dogs behind it. Behind them, more dogs. Behind them… you guessed it, more dogs.
It was “Biz”, the dog café. Holy crap, it was awesome. It’s a café with plastic couches, snacks, and dogs. Lots of dogs to pet and cuddle with, and lots of dogs to feed treats too. And a pregnant tabby cat, and puppies too small to be played with (about the size of a plum with legs). Oh, the whole back wall was covered with treats that you could buy for them. There were big dogs, including a big sheep dog, an afghan hound, a husky and a border collie, and small dogs, some so small that they were not allowed off of about a two feet by three feet space of counter.
After nine months (and one day) in Korea, it was amazing. Jessie described it pretty well when she said “I fell like I just had a massage.” After months of being around non-socialized dogs who do not want to be patted, it was pretty amazing to be in the middle of about fifteen animals who were all coming over to get treats and pats. They were so good too! They just waited to get handed a treat, they didn’t fight over it, and they weren’t nippy when you fed them. The border collie especially, he just gently plucked it from your hand by the farthest possible part so that his teeth were nowhere near your hand at any point.
We ordered apple juice (which is really good in Korea). It came in a sippy cup so that you could drink safely with all the dogs around, and not have to worry about crazy amounts of hair getting into it.
So, that was a great birthday present. The only bad part was that I forgot my camera. So I have no pictures of my birthday visit to the “Biz”.
After that, Jessie treated me to dinner at the “Outback Steakhouse”. On Steve’s recommendation, I had the “Prime Minister’s Prime Rib”, which was amazing. Thank you Steve, hats off. I added “melted cheeses” to my fries, which also greatly increased their size, and made it impossible to get the “Chocolate Thunder from Down Under”. We were both so small that we wound up going back to the Motel and just lying down for a while.
At around nine o’clock, we got a call from Sarah and Rodrigo, they were there, checked in on the floor below us. They were just getting ready, so we told them we would be ready soon too (Jessie had woken up from her nap by then…) and we got ready to go.
We headed over to the Speakeasy, and Shona and here friends were already waiting there. Among them were Eva, an Irish teacher from Gangjin, and Chris (I think), who I had met before, randomly, in Yeongam. Also, there was Rob, who by the sounds of it is just as bored as I am, so maybe we can hang out some time. And most randomly, there was Gayan, a Sri Lankan ship-worker from Mokpo that met Jessie at the bus terminal and who we invited out for the evening. What a nice guy! We’ll have to invite him out again.
It was nice to be somewhere that people knew me for my birthday. Actually, I’ve never had a birthday at a bar where the owners knew me. It was a lot of fun. They let me play two sets of about eight songs or so, even though the second set was pretty drunken.
We had shots sent over for our whole table, pretty common announcements from the band about my birthday, and the odd time the Irish bartender would just walk by, tilt my head back, and pour a shot or two directly into my mouth. And they were damned delicious.
It was a fantastic time, and it was nice to get to see so many people I knew and to get some new people on such a festive night.
After we left the Speakeasy, we went back to “The Biz”. There were about seven or eight of us, and surprisingly, most of the dogs were very eager to hang out even though it was two in the morning. There was a beautiful chowchow there that was not there earlier, and it was really friendly, which was really surprising, because usually you have to be introduced to a chow, so I was surprised they had one in that place. The really remarkable thing about the “Biz” was the fact that all the dogs were so well socialized. They were so nice! I’m definitely going back… maybe tomorrow.
By that time we were pretty worn out. Gayan was also just there for the night and would have to leave at 7 or so to be at work in Mopko the next day, so we took off for our hotel.
We woke up around 8:30 or so to meet Lorien for breakfast. I was surprisingly non-hung over, although my lack of guitar playing in recent weeks followed by two pretty aggressive sets led to a wicked blister on my right hand index finger and a sore left forearm. We went to Starbucks for breakfast danishes and coffees, and then Jessie stayed with Lorien and then went home, and I headed to my Korean lesson.
After my lesson I met Rodrigo and Sarah at a glasses shop where Sarah was looking for some new frames. They were so cheap. I started trying stuff on as a joke, and then I saw the price! $10 for frames! I figured that was too good to be true, and that they would gouge on the lenses. But they were only $20. Bottom line, I now have new glasses. They’re plastic frames (I’ve gone back), which is good, because then I don’t have to worry about how they sit on my nose (my old ones were set for a flat Korea nose, and no matter how much I adjusted them they always sat funny and hurt my nose).
After that we went to Art Street, which is a street in Gwangju where they have a whole bunch of art shops and cafes. We saw a whole bunch of amazing art… I could very easily fall into the habit of buying art all the time. There were some really amazing paintings that I would have definitely bought if I had 1% less self-restraint. Luckily I was sober at the time.
We were in a leather shop at one point, and this guy walked by. He had long white hair, and was wearing traditional garb, in light orange dyed clothing (dyed with dirt, I think). Sarah was fascinated and decided that we should follow him. We lost him, but we did find this wicked little tea room.
It was all wood interior, with rice paper windows on the walls. The menu was all in Korean, so using the phrasebook, I asked our waitress/hostess if she could recommend something. She pointed to something, so I said “Seigae!” which means “Three!” A few minutes later, she showed up with this bowl of iced fruit tea and three cups. She served it out to us with a ladle. It was so delicious. A few minutes later, she came back with a full tea set, and proceeded through this complex ritual of steeping and pouring tea. Then she took the tea she had put in our little shot-glass sized teacups, and using tongs, she poured them over the tea pot, so that the tea spilled over the pot and into the serving platter that everything was sitting on. Then she repeated the process, but this time, she served it to us. It was Aloe tea, and it was delicious. As we were about to sip it for the first time, Rodrigo said “One shot!”, the Korean equivalent of “Bottoms up!” and Sarah and I were reduced to hysterics in a matter of seconds. We wound up making ourselves tea for about an hour and a half, and just enjoying the ambience of the place.
When I got home (at 7:10), I remembered that we had been invited to the Ryus for a birthday dinner (at 7:30). I hopped into the shower (it had been a long day) and then we went over.
Mrs Che had just got home, so she was just beginning the dinner prep, and I was doubting myself for a minute. Did they mean to invite me on Saturday, or did I misunderstand? I was pretty worried… but then the grill came out, and it became obvious that a usual feast was on its way. About halfway through dinner, the doorbell rang, and it was a pizza! Oh Ryus, you are cute. Ordering the foreigner a pizza in the middle of this amazing Korean Birthday Feast. They saved it for dessert, which meant that by the time we got to it, we were all so full that we were close to being sick. And then there was watermelon.
They sang me Happy Birthday (kind of) but it seemed like they didn’t know the words, or the melody. Maybe it was a different song. I’m not sure, but it was really nice. I recorded it on my camera, which might have been weird, but I wanted to remember it.
They even got me gifts! Jaehee gave me a card that was very simple, just a “Congratulations on your birthday” note. Jaewon’s was a little more involved and had a nice little note in it. They got me this ridiculous picture frame, with pink and yellow cakes all around the edge. I saw the box said “picture frame” on it, so I was excited because I expected it to be a Korea souvenir, but it was this funny little dessert frame. It was pretty funny. It’s nice. I’m going to put a picture of the Ryus in it. I think that is that best way to honour it. So funny! I’ll post a picture. They also got me a pretty nice notebook.
It was a good birthday.
It was a very good day.
It started at the elementary school. I had three good classes, and then one horrible one. Lunch was okay, even though some kid tried to dong-chim me up the butt again. He missed though. Lucky him.
Then, I was off work. My real birthday was beginning. First stop: Shin-hyup. The new bank. The bank where I was going to pay the bills. Boo-yeah!
Then, stop two. Sin Hair Room. Oh yeah, birthday hair cut.
Then, home for a post-haircut birthday rinse to prevent later birthday itching and chaffing. Also, birthday shedding on the hotel pillow.
I put on my new cowboy shirt, my stylin’ Korean-cut jeans and my black shoes. Birthday outfit? Check.
Then, to the bus station on a trip to Gwangju.
I met Jessie at the Starbucks near the bus terminal for a birthday coffee. We stuck around there for a while with Mary, another Native Speaker from Cape Breton who was working at the same camp as Jessie was. It sounds like they are having a pretty good time there. Like a non-stop vacation of social drinking and other fun.
Then, we headed to the Windmill (or winduhmil) motel to drop off my guitar and other stuff. Jessie told me we would have to hurry, because we had to go get my present!
She had me pretty wound up, because she kept hinting that it was going to be awesome, but I really had no idea what it would be. Of course, with her, there’s pretty little chance of knowing what will be coming if she decides to surprise me.
She led me down the street, and then when we reached a corner, she told me to cover my eyes so that I could not look up. Then we came to a door. Then, I wasn’t allowed to look up or back.
When we got to the top of the stairs, I heard barking. Lots of barking, and I saw a pink gate with a couple of dogs behind it. Behind them, more dogs. Behind them… you guessed it, more dogs.
It was “Biz”, the dog café. Holy crap, it was awesome. It’s a café with plastic couches, snacks, and dogs. Lots of dogs to pet and cuddle with, and lots of dogs to feed treats too. And a pregnant tabby cat, and puppies too small to be played with (about the size of a plum with legs). Oh, the whole back wall was covered with treats that you could buy for them. There were big dogs, including a big sheep dog, an afghan hound, a husky and a border collie, and small dogs, some so small that they were not allowed off of about a two feet by three feet space of counter.
After nine months (and one day) in Korea, it was amazing. Jessie described it pretty well when she said “I fell like I just had a massage.” After months of being around non-socialized dogs who do not want to be patted, it was pretty amazing to be in the middle of about fifteen animals who were all coming over to get treats and pats. They were so good too! They just waited to get handed a treat, they didn’t fight over it, and they weren’t nippy when you fed them. The border collie especially, he just gently plucked it from your hand by the farthest possible part so that his teeth were nowhere near your hand at any point.
We ordered apple juice (which is really good in Korea). It came in a sippy cup so that you could drink safely with all the dogs around, and not have to worry about crazy amounts of hair getting into it.
So, that was a great birthday present. The only bad part was that I forgot my camera. So I have no pictures of my birthday visit to the “Biz”.
After that, Jessie treated me to dinner at the “Outback Steakhouse”. On Steve’s recommendation, I had the “Prime Minister’s Prime Rib”, which was amazing. Thank you Steve, hats off. I added “melted cheeses” to my fries, which also greatly increased their size, and made it impossible to get the “Chocolate Thunder from Down Under”. We were both so small that we wound up going back to the Motel and just lying down for a while.
At around nine o’clock, we got a call from Sarah and Rodrigo, they were there, checked in on the floor below us. They were just getting ready, so we told them we would be ready soon too (Jessie had woken up from her nap by then…) and we got ready to go.
We headed over to the Speakeasy, and Shona and here friends were already waiting there. Among them were Eva, an Irish teacher from Gangjin, and Chris (I think), who I had met before, randomly, in Yeongam. Also, there was Rob, who by the sounds of it is just as bored as I am, so maybe we can hang out some time. And most randomly, there was Gayan, a Sri Lankan ship-worker from Mokpo that met Jessie at the bus terminal and who we invited out for the evening. What a nice guy! We’ll have to invite him out again.
It was nice to be somewhere that people knew me for my birthday. Actually, I’ve never had a birthday at a bar where the owners knew me. It was a lot of fun. They let me play two sets of about eight songs or so, even though the second set was pretty drunken.
We had shots sent over for our whole table, pretty common announcements from the band about my birthday, and the odd time the Irish bartender would just walk by, tilt my head back, and pour a shot or two directly into my mouth. And they were damned delicious.
It was a fantastic time, and it was nice to get to see so many people I knew and to get some new people on such a festive night.
After we left the Speakeasy, we went back to “The Biz”. There were about seven or eight of us, and surprisingly, most of the dogs were very eager to hang out even though it was two in the morning. There was a beautiful chowchow there that was not there earlier, and it was really friendly, which was really surprising, because usually you have to be introduced to a chow, so I was surprised they had one in that place. The really remarkable thing about the “Biz” was the fact that all the dogs were so well socialized. They were so nice! I’m definitely going back… maybe tomorrow.
By that time we were pretty worn out. Gayan was also just there for the night and would have to leave at 7 or so to be at work in Mopko the next day, so we took off for our hotel.
We woke up around 8:30 or so to meet Lorien for breakfast. I was surprisingly non-hung over, although my lack of guitar playing in recent weeks followed by two pretty aggressive sets led to a wicked blister on my right hand index finger and a sore left forearm. We went to Starbucks for breakfast danishes and coffees, and then Jessie stayed with Lorien and then went home, and I headed to my Korean lesson.
After my lesson I met Rodrigo and Sarah at a glasses shop where Sarah was looking for some new frames. They were so cheap. I started trying stuff on as a joke, and then I saw the price! $10 for frames! I figured that was too good to be true, and that they would gouge on the lenses. But they were only $20. Bottom line, I now have new glasses. They’re plastic frames (I’ve gone back), which is good, because then I don’t have to worry about how they sit on my nose (my old ones were set for a flat Korea nose, and no matter how much I adjusted them they always sat funny and hurt my nose).
After that we went to Art Street, which is a street in Gwangju where they have a whole bunch of art shops and cafes. We saw a whole bunch of amazing art… I could very easily fall into the habit of buying art all the time. There were some really amazing paintings that I would have definitely bought if I had 1% less self-restraint. Luckily I was sober at the time.
We were in a leather shop at one point, and this guy walked by. He had long white hair, and was wearing traditional garb, in light orange dyed clothing (dyed with dirt, I think). Sarah was fascinated and decided that we should follow him. We lost him, but we did find this wicked little tea room.
It was all wood interior, with rice paper windows on the walls. The menu was all in Korean, so using the phrasebook, I asked our waitress/hostess if she could recommend something. She pointed to something, so I said “Seigae!” which means “Three!” A few minutes later, she showed up with this bowl of iced fruit tea and three cups. She served it out to us with a ladle. It was so delicious. A few minutes later, she came back with a full tea set, and proceeded through this complex ritual of steeping and pouring tea. Then she took the tea she had put in our little shot-glass sized teacups, and using tongs, she poured them over the tea pot, so that the tea spilled over the pot and into the serving platter that everything was sitting on. Then she repeated the process, but this time, she served it to us. It was Aloe tea, and it was delicious. As we were about to sip it for the first time, Rodrigo said “One shot!”, the Korean equivalent of “Bottoms up!” and Sarah and I were reduced to hysterics in a matter of seconds. We wound up making ourselves tea for about an hour and a half, and just enjoying the ambience of the place.
When I got home (at 7:10), I remembered that we had been invited to the Ryus for a birthday dinner (at 7:30). I hopped into the shower (it had been a long day) and then we went over.
Mrs Che had just got home, so she was just beginning the dinner prep, and I was doubting myself for a minute. Did they mean to invite me on Saturday, or did I misunderstand? I was pretty worried… but then the grill came out, and it became obvious that a usual feast was on its way. About halfway through dinner, the doorbell rang, and it was a pizza! Oh Ryus, you are cute. Ordering the foreigner a pizza in the middle of this amazing Korean Birthday Feast. They saved it for dessert, which meant that by the time we got to it, we were all so full that we were close to being sick. And then there was watermelon.
They sang me Happy Birthday (kind of) but it seemed like they didn’t know the words, or the melody. Maybe it was a different song. I’m not sure, but it was really nice. I recorded it on my camera, which might have been weird, but I wanted to remember it.
They even got me gifts! Jaehee gave me a card that was very simple, just a “Congratulations on your birthday” note. Jaewon’s was a little more involved and had a nice little note in it. They got me this ridiculous picture frame, with pink and yellow cakes all around the edge. I saw the box said “picture frame” on it, so I was excited because I expected it to be a Korea souvenir, but it was this funny little dessert frame. It was pretty funny. It’s nice. I’m going to put a picture of the Ryus in it. I think that is that best way to honour it. So funny! I’ll post a picture. They also got me a pretty nice notebook.
It was a good birthday.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Christmas money is finally spent.
So, my parents gave me some money for Christmas. I was looking for a copy of a particular painting, and I could never seem to find it.
It's this really nice painting called "Sun, moon and five mountains", or something to that effect. I could never findit on anything but a business card holder, which was not exactly the souvenir I would wish for. It really is famous. We saw it for the first time in Gongbukgeong (sp?) palace, the big palace where we went with Steve and Crystal on our first visit on Chuseok weekend. The original is now hanging behind the desk of the president in the "Blue House".
Anyways, after months of looking, having my coteachers, Jessie's coteachers and anyone else I could think to ask keeping an eye out for it for me, I finally found it. Now, the one I found was small, and mounted in a frame. I had no interest in paying for a frame, so I asked if he had any more copies, with no frame.
Well, he did. And it was great. It was actually much different from the original, and not a print, but an actual "done in the style of..." painting. It was not a summer scene, like the one I hadbeen looking for, but a winter scene, which I thought was good, considering how crazy Koreans are about telling everyone that they have "four distinct seasons".
And I can always get the other one too at some point, I'll be here for another year, I'm sure I can find it. And that will be an amazing contrast to have up in a living room or something.
ANyways, here it is. Because it's not framed, I had to roll it up, and it is currently being flattened under the glass on our kitchen table. Pretty good display, anyways. But unfortunately, it led to a flash spot in the middle of the photo.
It's this really nice painting called "Sun, moon and five mountains", or something to that effect. I could never findit on anything but a business card holder, which was not exactly the souvenir I would wish for. It really is famous. We saw it for the first time in Gongbukgeong (sp?) palace, the big palace where we went with Steve and Crystal on our first visit on Chuseok weekend. The original is now hanging behind the desk of the president in the "Blue House".
Anyways, after months of looking, having my coteachers, Jessie's coteachers and anyone else I could think to ask keeping an eye out for it for me, I finally found it. Now, the one I found was small, and mounted in a frame. I had no interest in paying for a frame, so I asked if he had any more copies, with no frame.
Well, he did. And it was great. It was actually much different from the original, and not a print, but an actual "done in the style of..." painting. It was not a summer scene, like the one I hadbeen looking for, but a winter scene, which I thought was good, considering how crazy Koreans are about telling everyone that they have "four distinct seasons".
And I can always get the other one too at some point, I'll be here for another year, I'm sure I can find it. And that will be an amazing contrast to have up in a living room or something.
ANyways, here it is. Because it's not framed, I had to roll it up, and it is currently being flattened under the glass on our kitchen table. Pretty good display, anyways. But unfortunately, it led to a flash spot in the middle of the photo.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
It was an uneventful trip, until...
So, I'm in Bucheon right now. Later today I will be meeting Steve's coteacher, to hopefully make some leeway for taking over his position when he leaves.
But the trip here is the real story (so far).
I brought my big bag to the school yesterday, because I was planning to leave right after classes, and not go home again. I mean my BIG bag, the 60 litre pack, not a normal backpack. I had all my school stuff, two changes of clothes, room for my slippers (berks) as well as some books for studying Korean (for my new class) and everything to make little packages for potential employers (reference letters, cover letters, CDs with my pictures and another reference letter on it).
No, this freaked some teachers out, because they don't understand why I carry a (smaller) bag on most days. They really don't seem to understand that when you teach at three schools and have no desk that you have to carry everything with you that you need to plan and to occupy yourself in the downtime. But, that's okay, I guess. The student teachers, who were semi-eager to talk to me, tried to explain why the teachers were weirded out, but I really didn't understand it. haha.
Anyways, just before my last class, I realized that I had forgotten the soup that I had made on Sunday and planned to bring for Steve and Crystal. So I left the school early to go get it again, which was good, because it meant that I could drop off all of the school stuff.
I made it to the apartment, dropped the stuff, picked up the soup, and made it to the bus station about 1 minute before my bus came. My luck with travelling was going to hold, it seemed...
I had a good twenty five minute buffer for the train too, which was more than enough time to get the tickets, and I managed to have a nice nap on the train.
The subway ride from Yongsam train station to Bucheon (where Steve and Crystal live) was another story. Very eventful.
Most of the event were the result of my interactions with a very drunk ajoshi who took a like to me. He had very very little English ability, but he kept trying to communicate with me, mostly through wild gesturing and slapping his chest, and then smiling like a little boy who just got a kiss (on the cheek) from the cute teacher.
At one point, he felt my arm, and then said "physical condition", which I'm assuming meant he thought mine was poor. Alright, you're an ass, but you're right. Then he wanted me to feel his arm, which I have to admit was "physical condition". Then he smiled.
Then he asked me "Do you have money?"
I said "Enough, yeah." I didn't like the possible direction that could take.
Then, he pulled out 8000 won from his pocket (about $8 or $9) and showed it off like he was the king of Kingsville. Then, he pulled out a new 5000 won note (just printed this year) and said "New. New money!"
I said "Yeah... nice!" I was still struggling to be polite at this point, but by now it was about ten minutes into the adventure, and he was getting pretty loud, so most of the subway was looking at me.
Then he tried to give it to me. I refused, and said again, "I have enough!" and then thanked him in Korean. Well, that would not do, so he shoved it into my pocket.
Okay, I'll keep it then.
He kept trying to talk to me... he didn't believe I was a teacher, even when I told him in perfect Korean. He just said "Student, student?" over and over again, louder and louder. Finally he grabbed some young guy who translated for him.
"He wants to know why you are in Korea..." he said awkwardly.
"I told him I was a teacher in Yeongam, but he does not believe me!" I said .
He believed the young guy though. Then he hit his chest some more and smiled. He said something about "Soldierman" and then slapped my chest. Okay...
By that time we had grabbed the attention of a much drunker ajoshi farther down the line. He had taken an interest in what was going on, so he came stumbling over to check it out. He and the other guy chatted a bit about me, and then he turned his attention to me.
"Elemench'eashermen!!!!" he yelled at me.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand! jalmalleoyo!"
"Elemench'eashermen!!!!" he yelled again, coming closer. Every step made him seem drunker, because A, he was stumbling a lot, and B, every step closer made the blood on his gums more visible, and the sick on his lips/breath more obvious.
"Sorry, mianhamnida" I said.
"Elemench'eashermen! Elemench'eashermen! I am elemench'eashermen!"
Finally, I realized, oh he's trying to speak English!
"You're an elementary teacher?"
"Yes, elemench'eashermen!"
"I'm a middle school teacher. Chung hakkyo!" He didn't relaly appreciate that I taught middle and he taught elementary, so he abandoned me and continued to talk (obviously about me) to the other drunk guy.
Finally, we reached my stop, Songnae. I ignored the first ajoshi's multiple invitations to join him for a drink ("You me, soju!!!" accompanied by many a chest-slap!) and literally ran off the train, calling out "goodbye!" over my shoulder. A young business man traded a sympathetic smile with me, and we both laughed and then I felt a lot better about the whole situation.
Last night was a good chance to catch up and hang out a bit. We hit this coffee shop, where I am right now, and had a snack before bed, and watched a bit of the soccer game, which seemed to have the whole city in a bit of a frenzy (a sea of red shirts).
Well, today I shopped around for everything else I needed to make my little resume packages, and this afternoon it's into Seoul to make some deliveries.
I'd better go!
But the trip here is the real story (so far).
I brought my big bag to the school yesterday, because I was planning to leave right after classes, and not go home again. I mean my BIG bag, the 60 litre pack, not a normal backpack. I had all my school stuff, two changes of clothes, room for my slippers (berks) as well as some books for studying Korean (for my new class) and everything to make little packages for potential employers (reference letters, cover letters, CDs with my pictures and another reference letter on it).
No, this freaked some teachers out, because they don't understand why I carry a (smaller) bag on most days. They really don't seem to understand that when you teach at three schools and have no desk that you have to carry everything with you that you need to plan and to occupy yourself in the downtime. But, that's okay, I guess. The student teachers, who were semi-eager to talk to me, tried to explain why the teachers were weirded out, but I really didn't understand it. haha.
Anyways, just before my last class, I realized that I had forgotten the soup that I had made on Sunday and planned to bring for Steve and Crystal. So I left the school early to go get it again, which was good, because it meant that I could drop off all of the school stuff.
I made it to the apartment, dropped the stuff, picked up the soup, and made it to the bus station about 1 minute before my bus came. My luck with travelling was going to hold, it seemed...
I had a good twenty five minute buffer for the train too, which was more than enough time to get the tickets, and I managed to have a nice nap on the train.
The subway ride from Yongsam train station to Bucheon (where Steve and Crystal live) was another story. Very eventful.
Most of the event were the result of my interactions with a very drunk ajoshi who took a like to me. He had very very little English ability, but he kept trying to communicate with me, mostly through wild gesturing and slapping his chest, and then smiling like a little boy who just got a kiss (on the cheek) from the cute teacher.
At one point, he felt my arm, and then said "physical condition", which I'm assuming meant he thought mine was poor. Alright, you're an ass, but you're right. Then he wanted me to feel his arm, which I have to admit was "physical condition". Then he smiled.
Then he asked me "Do you have money?"
I said "Enough, yeah." I didn't like the possible direction that could take.
Then, he pulled out 8000 won from his pocket (about $8 or $9) and showed it off like he was the king of Kingsville. Then, he pulled out a new 5000 won note (just printed this year) and said "New. New money!"
I said "Yeah... nice!" I was still struggling to be polite at this point, but by now it was about ten minutes into the adventure, and he was getting pretty loud, so most of the subway was looking at me.
Then he tried to give it to me. I refused, and said again, "I have enough!" and then thanked him in Korean. Well, that would not do, so he shoved it into my pocket.
Okay, I'll keep it then.
He kept trying to talk to me... he didn't believe I was a teacher, even when I told him in perfect Korean. He just said "Student, student?" over and over again, louder and louder. Finally he grabbed some young guy who translated for him.
"He wants to know why you are in Korea..." he said awkwardly.
"I told him I was a teacher in Yeongam, but he does not believe me!" I said .
He believed the young guy though. Then he hit his chest some more and smiled. He said something about "Soldierman" and then slapped my chest. Okay...
By that time we had grabbed the attention of a much drunker ajoshi farther down the line. He had taken an interest in what was going on, so he came stumbling over to check it out. He and the other guy chatted a bit about me, and then he turned his attention to me.
"Elemench'eashermen!!!!" he yelled at me.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand! jalmalleoyo!"
"Elemench'eashermen!!!!" he yelled again, coming closer. Every step made him seem drunker, because A, he was stumbling a lot, and B, every step closer made the blood on his gums more visible, and the sick on his lips/breath more obvious.
"Sorry, mianhamnida" I said.
"Elemench'eashermen! Elemench'eashermen! I am elemench'eashermen!"
Finally, I realized, oh he's trying to speak English!
"You're an elementary teacher?"
"Yes, elemench'eashermen!"
"I'm a middle school teacher. Chung hakkyo!" He didn't relaly appreciate that I taught middle and he taught elementary, so he abandoned me and continued to talk (obviously about me) to the other drunk guy.
Finally, we reached my stop, Songnae. I ignored the first ajoshi's multiple invitations to join him for a drink ("You me, soju!!!" accompanied by many a chest-slap!) and literally ran off the train, calling out "goodbye!" over my shoulder. A young business man traded a sympathetic smile with me, and we both laughed and then I felt a lot better about the whole situation.
Last night was a good chance to catch up and hang out a bit. We hit this coffee shop, where I am right now, and had a snack before bed, and watched a bit of the soccer game, which seemed to have the whole city in a bit of a frenzy (a sea of red shirts).
Well, today I shopped around for everything else I needed to make my little resume packages, and this afternoon it's into Seoul to make some deliveries.
I'd better go!
Monday, May 22, 2006
The bitterness comes out... in pointed question form
So yeah, I'm a little bitter.
Just because I teach English with/to teachers who do not know how to speak English. I know it's not a big deal. Just because they have degrees in it, it's not like they could be expected to know.
(Before I offend anyone, I will mention all the awesome people I so often mention as being awesome)
Anyways, the worst offenders, in that they offend me the most, are the ones in my workshop who come because the board makes them come, and instead of seeing this as an opportunity to improve their knowledge of their specialty, they just sit it out. Last semester was really bad, this semester was worse.
I was constantly wondering to myself just how to drive the point home that this was not a situation they should be proud of. And then it came to me, like a blinding flash of internet light...
An article in the Korean Times entitled: "DAILY PRACTICE MAKES DIFFERENCE IN ENGLISH SKILLS"
Oh yeah, this would be sweet.
I finally got to ask the questions I always wanted to, but never could without obviously saying "Hey, if you actually practiced your English, you would be a better teacher!"
Anyways, it worked well, I made the point, got the pain of last semester off my chest, and, I think it was a bit of a wake-up call for a couple of them.
The non-surprising pattern that emerged? The ones with the best English actively pursued learning after class every day. For hours sometimes. The ones who actually can talk to me all researched, studied and read/watched English books and movies every day!
Even in the face of this, some still fought me at the suggestion that they speak more English to their students. yikes.
Just because I teach English with/to teachers who do not know how to speak English. I know it's not a big deal. Just because they have degrees in it, it's not like they could be expected to know.
(Before I offend anyone, I will mention all the awesome people I so often mention as being awesome)
Anyways, the worst offenders, in that they offend me the most, are the ones in my workshop who come because the board makes them come, and instead of seeing this as an opportunity to improve their knowledge of their specialty, they just sit it out. Last semester was really bad, this semester was worse.
I was constantly wondering to myself just how to drive the point home that this was not a situation they should be proud of. And then it came to me, like a blinding flash of internet light...
An article in the Korean Times entitled: "DAILY PRACTICE MAKES DIFFERENCE IN ENGLISH SKILLS"
Oh yeah, this would be sweet.
I finally got to ask the questions I always wanted to, but never could without obviously saying "Hey, if you actually practiced your English, you would be a better teacher!"
Anyways, it worked well, I made the point, got the pain of last semester off my chest, and, I think it was a bit of a wake-up call for a couple of them.
The non-surprising pattern that emerged? The ones with the best English actively pursued learning after class every day. For hours sometimes. The ones who actually can talk to me all researched, studied and read/watched English books and movies every day!
Even in the face of this, some still fought me at the suggestion that they speak more English to their students. yikes.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
A day in Gwangju
Yesterday I had my first Korean lesson. Well, actually, my third, but I missed the first two. They were on the alphabet and writing, which I already know, so I decided not to get up early so I can make it to the lesson for those days...
Actually, I timed it well. I planned to catch the bus at 9 (it usually comes on the hours), but it didn't come until 9:10. I got to Gwangju just a few minutes before the lesson, and managed to be only a few minutes late even though my cabby didn't know where I was trying to go.
There were only three other people in the class.
"Wow, big class!" I marvelled sarcastically as I entered.
The other three students chuckled, and our Korean tutor said "No, actually, it is very small class!". Another Korean doesn't get sarcasm... surprise, surprise.
The class was actually perfect, just what I need. They covered pronunciation, especially of double consonants, which is what I have a really hard time with. I actually asked her about it after class, because it sounded to me like the double consonants just get pronounced louder.
"No, not louder, stronger!" she said.
So I tried again.
"There, your pronunciation is perfect!"
"But I'm just saying it louder!"
So on the one hand it was nice to get told that I had good pronunciation, on the other hand, I still don't really understand what I am doing. Oh well, if I have perfect pronunciation (yeah right) then I guess that is all that matters.
The other students were hagwon workers from what I gathered, and a couple seemed rather peeved to be out of bed that early (class started at 10:30). They were a little shocked to hear that I had travelled an hour and a half to come.
The language exchange with the Ryus has really been paying off. We haven't learned a lot of words or phrases, but they really have helped us a lot with reading and writing. In fact, The tutor commented to me after class that I was doing really well, which was nice.
The downside is that in a beginner class that focuses on reading and pronunciation, I felt like a little bit of a showoff sometimes. When we were playing a game, the other team would struggle, and then my team (me and another woman who had good reading and pronunciation) would whip off an answer, then struggle... then BAM!
After the lesson, I walked out to find the street blocked offand a stage being set up. It was "Red Festa" day, apparently, judging by the signs. It was related to the celebrations for the May 18th memorial, which was a democratic uprising in Gwangju that resulted in the deaths of a number of protesters. There's a large memorial in Gwangju, and they do re-enactments.
There was very little English though, so I couldn't really appreciate the history behind it. I watched a re-enactment, which was all in Korea, and full of usual Korean problems, like mics that don't work and speakers that are cranked up too loud.
Then I just walked around and checked things out, and that's when the fun really started.
There was a high school band warming up. They were pretty out of sync, the drummer especially. But they weren't overly cocky, and they seemed to just be having a really good time. So, I stuck around. They played "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" a la Guns and Roses, and it was hilarious. I tried to call Steve to let him hear it over the phone, but they stopped moments before he picked up. The drummer kept losing the beat, so everyone else kept having false starts. The singer was good, vocally, but was of course heavily accented. Then they played the big soccer anthem, which was funny, because their audience was all middle school girls and me, so their "audience participation" bits (cue the drums, no instruments, singer waving his hand and holding his mic outward to the audience. Well, I know middle school girls, and good luck, guy, they're not doing it. And I don't speak Korean. So I can't repeat anything.
While I was watching, a girl came over and asked to take my picture. An hour later, it was hanging up on a wall of mesh. It is probably one of the best pictures of me from this whole year.
Later, I was asked for an interview for TV. That was pretty neat. Jessie said she knew it was not MTV, because they dfidn't ask who was the sexiest man in Korea.
Later, a lady tried to give me a pamphlet. I said "Sorry, no Korean! Only English!" She waved me over to a counter and told me to get one there. When I got there, there was no English. There was, however, a lady who forced a pen on me. I was then ushered over to a tree with pinwheels all over it. I was told to do something to it... but I didn't understand. So I wrote my name, and pinned it on.
That's all for now.
Actually, I timed it well. I planned to catch the bus at 9 (it usually comes on the hours), but it didn't come until 9:10. I got to Gwangju just a few minutes before the lesson, and managed to be only a few minutes late even though my cabby didn't know where I was trying to go.
There were only three other people in the class.
"Wow, big class!" I marvelled sarcastically as I entered.
The other three students chuckled, and our Korean tutor said "No, actually, it is very small class!". Another Korean doesn't get sarcasm... surprise, surprise.
The class was actually perfect, just what I need. They covered pronunciation, especially of double consonants, which is what I have a really hard time with. I actually asked her about it after class, because it sounded to me like the double consonants just get pronounced louder.
"No, not louder, stronger!" she said.
So I tried again.
"There, your pronunciation is perfect!"
"But I'm just saying it louder!"
So on the one hand it was nice to get told that I had good pronunciation, on the other hand, I still don't really understand what I am doing. Oh well, if I have perfect pronunciation (yeah right) then I guess that is all that matters.
The other students were hagwon workers from what I gathered, and a couple seemed rather peeved to be out of bed that early (class started at 10:30). They were a little shocked to hear that I had travelled an hour and a half to come.
The language exchange with the Ryus has really been paying off. We haven't learned a lot of words or phrases, but they really have helped us a lot with reading and writing. In fact, The tutor commented to me after class that I was doing really well, which was nice.
The downside is that in a beginner class that focuses on reading and pronunciation, I felt like a little bit of a showoff sometimes. When we were playing a game, the other team would struggle, and then my team (me and another woman who had good reading and pronunciation) would whip off an answer, then struggle... then BAM!
After the lesson, I walked out to find the street blocked offand a stage being set up. It was "Red Festa" day, apparently, judging by the signs. It was related to the celebrations for the May 18th memorial, which was a democratic uprising in Gwangju that resulted in the deaths of a number of protesters. There's a large memorial in Gwangju, and they do re-enactments.
There was very little English though, so I couldn't really appreciate the history behind it. I watched a re-enactment, which was all in Korea, and full of usual Korean problems, like mics that don't work and speakers that are cranked up too loud.
Then I just walked around and checked things out, and that's when the fun really started.
There was a high school band warming up. They were pretty out of sync, the drummer especially. But they weren't overly cocky, and they seemed to just be having a really good time. So, I stuck around. They played "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" a la Guns and Roses, and it was hilarious. I tried to call Steve to let him hear it over the phone, but they stopped moments before he picked up. The drummer kept losing the beat, so everyone else kept having false starts. The singer was good, vocally, but was of course heavily accented. Then they played the big soccer anthem, which was funny, because their audience was all middle school girls and me, so their "audience participation" bits (cue the drums, no instruments, singer waving his hand and holding his mic outward to the audience. Well, I know middle school girls, and good luck, guy, they're not doing it. And I don't speak Korean. So I can't repeat anything.
While I was watching, a girl came over and asked to take my picture. An hour later, it was hanging up on a wall of mesh. It is probably one of the best pictures of me from this whole year.
Later, I was asked for an interview for TV. That was pretty neat. Jessie said she knew it was not MTV, because they dfidn't ask who was the sexiest man in Korea.
Later, a lady tried to give me a pamphlet. I said "Sorry, no Korean! Only English!" She waved me over to a counter and told me to get one there. When I got there, there was no English. There was, however, a lady who forced a pen on me. I was then ushered over to a tree with pinwheels all over it. I was told to do something to it... but I didn't understand. So I wrote my name, and pinned it on.
That's all for now.
Bizarro world nears election day
Just when I thought it could not get any crazier, there's going to be an election.
May 31st, election day. A day off school. A national holiday.
The news was heralded by flashy trucks that zoom around townand park at one main intersection after another. Their mission? To blast shitty Norae-bang (karaoke) music as loud as humanly possible. Not even live, 50% of the time, just a recording of some warblings over synthesizer bleeps and taffs. Why do they do this? TO WIN YOUR VOTE!
These trucks are accompanied by speeches delivered through the town's air raid public address system.
Hey you! You, listening to music! Prepare to be drowned out!
Seriously, I don't know how windows are not shattering closer to the speakers, because half the time the speeches drown out our television, and they appear to be about 500 m (at least) away. Now, I'm assuming that these speeches are election related. I have no evidence for that though other than the coincidental timing. If they aren't for the election, then it's just one more crazy thing.
Yesterday I went to Gwangju. There I saw even more election-related insanity.
First, in Naju, on the bus ride. Four women standing in the back of a truck. On the truck, two walls have been constructed to create a "corner of a room" effect. Both these walls have been decorated with a blown up face and ad slogan, just like a billboard. Next to the face is a huge number four. The woman are now dancing, holding out four fingers on each hand. They are thirty or forty, decked out in matching tracksuits (the same colour as the poster background) and ajuma visors (think Darth Vader meets welder meets accountant). Why the fours? As near as I can figure, the candidates each have numbers. So, vote number four!!!!!
Leaving Gwangju, more of the same. This time, a bank parking lot, and about thirty women. The candidate's number was not thirty, that I could tell. The truck was there, the posters, the crappy music. And the women were dancing what appeared to be the Macarena and taking up about half the parking spaces. What's even stranger is that there were just as many people standing there watching the show!
These scenes were scattered throughout the city. So many women in matching suits, dancing away to some of the worst music I had ever heard...
And the music. There's something about Koreans, it's hard for me to understand. They are all about volume when it comes to music, to the point of losing so much quality. They will blast something, for no reason. They will crank a very powerful stereo or PA system to max when half would do. if you ever come accross a concert or dance performance, you had best avoid walking anywhere in the cone of sound from any speaker, because it will physically hurt you. And the speakers are popping and hissing, and making that horrible crunching sounds everytime someone pronounces a "ch" sound, which they do a lot in Korean. It's horrible, it's unnecessary, and it hurts me.
And I've been to a few Big Sugar concerts, and I liked them. So you know they had to be really freaking loud.
May 31st, election day. A day off school. A national holiday.
The news was heralded by flashy trucks that zoom around townand park at one main intersection after another. Their mission? To blast shitty Norae-bang (karaoke) music as loud as humanly possible. Not even live, 50% of the time, just a recording of some warblings over synthesizer bleeps and taffs. Why do they do this? TO WIN YOUR VOTE!
These trucks are accompanied by speeches delivered through the town's air raid public address system.
Hey you! You, listening to music! Prepare to be drowned out!
Seriously, I don't know how windows are not shattering closer to the speakers, because half the time the speeches drown out our television, and they appear to be about 500 m (at least) away. Now, I'm assuming that these speeches are election related. I have no evidence for that though other than the coincidental timing. If they aren't for the election, then it's just one more crazy thing.
Yesterday I went to Gwangju. There I saw even more election-related insanity.
First, in Naju, on the bus ride. Four women standing in the back of a truck. On the truck, two walls have been constructed to create a "corner of a room" effect. Both these walls have been decorated with a blown up face and ad slogan, just like a billboard. Next to the face is a huge number four. The woman are now dancing, holding out four fingers on each hand. They are thirty or forty, decked out in matching tracksuits (the same colour as the poster background) and ajuma visors (think Darth Vader meets welder meets accountant). Why the fours? As near as I can figure, the candidates each have numbers. So, vote number four!!!!!
Leaving Gwangju, more of the same. This time, a bank parking lot, and about thirty women. The candidate's number was not thirty, that I could tell. The truck was there, the posters, the crappy music. And the women were dancing what appeared to be the Macarena and taking up about half the parking spaces. What's even stranger is that there were just as many people standing there watching the show!
These scenes were scattered throughout the city. So many women in matching suits, dancing away to some of the worst music I had ever heard...
And the music. There's something about Koreans, it's hard for me to understand. They are all about volume when it comes to music, to the point of losing so much quality. They will blast something, for no reason. They will crank a very powerful stereo or PA system to max when half would do. if you ever come accross a concert or dance performance, you had best avoid walking anywhere in the cone of sound from any speaker, because it will physically hurt you. And the speakers are popping and hissing, and making that horrible crunching sounds everytime someone pronounces a "ch" sound, which they do a lot in Korean. It's horrible, it's unnecessary, and it hurts me.
And I've been to a few Big Sugar concerts, and I liked them. So you know they had to be really freaking loud.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Some more pictures
Well, here's our living room. It's really taken shape as a living area in the last couple weeks, because I finally bought some simple art to put up in it when I went to Art Street in Gwangju with the Coxes. Then, randomly Jayhee Ryu gave me two paintings that she had done when I congratulated her on winning a prize at the art fair at the Wangin festival. They're up too.
Here's two of the paintings that I bought on Art Street. They were only 15000 won each, or about $18. They're obviously very quickly done, but perfect for spicing up our drab walls. 
Hanging opposite to the painting is this little guitar that I bought in Thailand. It was about $60, which is pretty nice. It doesn't play too well, but it's worth it just for the beautiful thing hanging on my wall, and the stories of carrying it back on the plane. That was tough, and the strings kept stabbing my legs!
Here's little UB. UB stands for underbite. The dog has a huge underbite. In spite of this, we tried to take her in. Seriously though, she is very friendly. She is the only dog that will walk up to us on the street and turn over to have her belly rubbed. We thought she was stray, because her collar disappeared. But she has a house, which is good, but bad, because it means that we would have to steal her to adopt her.
Here we are during the Mokpo Miracle, which can be seenin the top right corner. The fact that I had to point it out MIGHT make it less of a miracle, but let's just pretend that it's majesty could not be captured by conventional photography. This is a great picture! I actually never saw it until I posted it, and now I must say, it is great. We are happy people!Thursday, May 18, 2006
So the word-connect game did not go so well with the grade twos. I'm not really so surprised though. The grade twos are so far behind the grade ones, and it seems like 90% of the problem is enthusiasm. I can't understand how one year seperating students can make such an incredible difference. But I go from the grade ones where I can't hear the answers because they are all yelling, to grade twos where I hear no answers because either they don't know, or they mumble so quietly that I only know they have spoken because they rapidly turn their head away when I look at them.
So, the game went from strings of forty or fifty words to strings of only five or ten words before they got stumped.
Oh well, it just meant more rounds.
I really can not understand the lack of participation. I mean, they must have moticed that the classes where they participate go faster! And the coteacher could help more, she coudl explain to get things going rather than just standing there while I try to explain things in yet another new way only to havethe kids get more and more confused...
Oh well...
In other news, I might meet a university English teacher who had offered to hook Steve up with a job. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to make a good impression on him too.
I officially have the time off to go to Seoul next week, which is really great news. Hopefully that will all work out.
What else is new? Well, there will be no summer camps in Yeongam. Which is good, because camp almost drove us crazy last semester. But it's bad, because it means less money. Still no word on the ticket situation, I guess I'll have to wait and see.
I also asked Sukkyeong for a reference letter today.She said she would be happy to do it. I wrote her a long letter about the work I feel I have done here, and told her she can use anything she feels is true in her letter, and that she can ignore anything I said if she does not agree. I get the impression that reference letters are not a common thing here. I guess they would not have to be, since so many jobs are given through connections anyways.
It rained today. It wasjust drizzling when I left school, so I thought, 'No problem, I can still go to piano'. I was wrong though. By about half way, my shirt was sticking to me pretty much everywhere, and my hair was dripping. Next thing I knew, I was home. I had just blocked out the whole trip.
Jessie was home when I got home. She had stayed home today because she was not feeling well. It was too bad, but it's nice to get home when she's already home.
That's all for now.
So, the game went from strings of forty or fifty words to strings of only five or ten words before they got stumped.
Oh well, it just meant more rounds.
I really can not understand the lack of participation. I mean, they must have moticed that the classes where they participate go faster! And the coteacher could help more, she coudl explain to get things going rather than just standing there while I try to explain things in yet another new way only to havethe kids get more and more confused...
Oh well...
In other news, I might meet a university English teacher who had offered to hook Steve up with a job. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to make a good impression on him too.
I officially have the time off to go to Seoul next week, which is really great news. Hopefully that will all work out.
What else is new? Well, there will be no summer camps in Yeongam. Which is good, because camp almost drove us crazy last semester. But it's bad, because it means less money. Still no word on the ticket situation, I guess I'll have to wait and see.
I also asked Sukkyeong for a reference letter today.She said she would be happy to do it. I wrote her a long letter about the work I feel I have done here, and told her she can use anything she feels is true in her letter, and that she can ignore anything I said if she does not agree. I get the impression that reference letters are not a common thing here. I guess they would not have to be, since so many jobs are given through connections anyways.
It rained today. It wasjust drizzling when I left school, so I thought, 'No problem, I can still go to piano'. I was wrong though. By about half way, my shirt was sticking to me pretty much everywhere, and my hair was dripping. Next thing I knew, I was home. I had just blocked out the whole trip.
Jessie was home when I got home. She had stayed home today because she was not feeling well. It was too bad, but it's nice to get home when she's already home.
That's all for now.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
WHAT?!
So, I was getting pretty excited, and thinking I had quite the little plan worked out.
Here's where it was at.
I would be returning next year, because I want to save more money. Now, in the last few days we had the bombshell dropped on us (maybe a little over-dramatic) that we could not just take our vacation on the last days of our contract. Our plan had been to leave with our vacation, and Jessie would stay, and I would come back whenever my next contract started. But, they're being technical, saying you have to be in the country on the day your contract ends, or you will not be payed any severance. Leaving two weeks early with your two weeks vacation technically means (somehow) that you are two weeks short on your full year, and the board will not pay your severance, because it is only available after one year.
Well, fine. That sucks. It meant that I might have to come back to Canada alone, and then come back to see Jessie off, because she could not leave yet, and I would have to be back here for the last day of my contract. It would suck, but if that was what had to be done, then that is what I would do.
I just have to add an aside here. Sometimes I feel bad about how much time I spend writing this thing, but sometimes I realize it's okay. This is one of those times. I just looked over and saw that the phys ed teacher has fallen asleep at his desk while watching a movie on his computer. At least I knid of look like I'm doing work. And, as I type this, the vice-principal's snoring JUST becaomes audible.
Travelling back for vacation would be payed for in the following way: my trip home would be courtesy of this contract, reimbursed as my "trip home" ticket, and I had hoped that the trip back would be payed for by my new job.
Unfortunately, today I found out that they usually do not give ticket money to people who are staying in Korea. I think that it's criminal, it's basically penalizing people for not choosing to remain in the same area. If a ticket home is in the contract, than to me, that suggests that your compensation for work includes the price of a ticket. But, apparently, that is not correct, at least not here in the land of crazy.
This means that now I may not be able to go home, because saving might take priority over going home. It really sucks, because I was really looking forward to getting back for a while. Actually, I'm walking around a combination of sick to my stomach and feeling like I just got punched in the stomach since I had realized this.
So I may just have to go straight from old job to new job without any break or trip home, just several useless weeks of sitting around in Korea doing nothing, waiting for one contract to end and the other begin. crap.
But what new job, you might be asking?
Well, I've been talking to Steve about the possibility of taking over in his position near Seoul. It is a pretty great deal, I would be in a good school, with good students, from the sounds of it, a good coteacher, and a good principal and vice-principal who sound quite sane.
Anyways, it seemed like everything was lining up, because just as I was starting to be convinced that this was probably the best thing I would come accross, I was told that I would probably be having next Wednesday and Thursday off, because my school has a field trip to Jeju, and I won't be able to go (I work here two days, it's for four days). So that would be perfect, I can go meet his coteacher, attempt to make a good impression, and line myself up for a smooth transition.
Mom always says that everything happens for a reason, so I was feeling like this was a sign that I was doing the right thing....
But then all that other stuff with the ticket money happened. And now I'm wondering if this other position with Steve is really as sure as I thought it was, and I'm in a huge spiral of doubt and despair... well, not really.
I wish I'd just fallen asleep watching a movie instead of asking about the ticket money. yikes.
Here's where it was at.
I would be returning next year, because I want to save more money. Now, in the last few days we had the bombshell dropped on us (maybe a little over-dramatic) that we could not just take our vacation on the last days of our contract. Our plan had been to leave with our vacation, and Jessie would stay, and I would come back whenever my next contract started. But, they're being technical, saying you have to be in the country on the day your contract ends, or you will not be payed any severance. Leaving two weeks early with your two weeks vacation technically means (somehow) that you are two weeks short on your full year, and the board will not pay your severance, because it is only available after one year.
Well, fine. That sucks. It meant that I might have to come back to Canada alone, and then come back to see Jessie off, because she could not leave yet, and I would have to be back here for the last day of my contract. It would suck, but if that was what had to be done, then that is what I would do.
I just have to add an aside here. Sometimes I feel bad about how much time I spend writing this thing, but sometimes I realize it's okay. This is one of those times. I just looked over and saw that the phys ed teacher has fallen asleep at his desk while watching a movie on his computer. At least I knid of look like I'm doing work. And, as I type this, the vice-principal's snoring JUST becaomes audible.
Travelling back for vacation would be payed for in the following way: my trip home would be courtesy of this contract, reimbursed as my "trip home" ticket, and I had hoped that the trip back would be payed for by my new job.
Unfortunately, today I found out that they usually do not give ticket money to people who are staying in Korea. I think that it's criminal, it's basically penalizing people for not choosing to remain in the same area. If a ticket home is in the contract, than to me, that suggests that your compensation for work includes the price of a ticket. But, apparently, that is not correct, at least not here in the land of crazy.
This means that now I may not be able to go home, because saving might take priority over going home. It really sucks, because I was really looking forward to getting back for a while. Actually, I'm walking around a combination of sick to my stomach and feeling like I just got punched in the stomach since I had realized this.
So I may just have to go straight from old job to new job without any break or trip home, just several useless weeks of sitting around in Korea doing nothing, waiting for one contract to end and the other begin. crap.
But what new job, you might be asking?
Well, I've been talking to Steve about the possibility of taking over in his position near Seoul. It is a pretty great deal, I would be in a good school, with good students, from the sounds of it, a good coteacher, and a good principal and vice-principal who sound quite sane.
Anyways, it seemed like everything was lining up, because just as I was starting to be convinced that this was probably the best thing I would come accross, I was told that I would probably be having next Wednesday and Thursday off, because my school has a field trip to Jeju, and I won't be able to go (I work here two days, it's for four days). So that would be perfect, I can go meet his coteacher, attempt to make a good impression, and line myself up for a smooth transition.
Mom always says that everything happens for a reason, so I was feeling like this was a sign that I was doing the right thing....
But then all that other stuff with the ticket money happened. And now I'm wondering if this other position with Steve is really as sure as I thought it was, and I'm in a huge spiral of doubt and despair... well, not really.
I wish I'd just fallen asleep watching a movie instead of asking about the ticket money. yikes.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
trapped?
So, it sounds as though I may be trapped here.
I am planning on signing a contract with another area and staying for one more year. Unfortunately, the school board seems dead set on me staying here for the remainder of my contract, even though I will be on vacation for the four weeks prior to my contract ending. If I take a vacation home after that, I will be too late to complete a one-year contract before returning home for teacher's college, which is the current plan.
So, maybe I am trapped. I guess that if I can't go home, I'll just take the money for my tickets and use it to go home at some other time over the year, maybe in January. But I don't want to go home in January... I want to go home in August. They're pretty far apart.
I guess I have to be adult about the whole thing and realize that it may be better to not go home.
I had plans for August.
Gah!
I am planning on signing a contract with another area and staying for one more year. Unfortunately, the school board seems dead set on me staying here for the remainder of my contract, even though I will be on vacation for the four weeks prior to my contract ending. If I take a vacation home after that, I will be too late to complete a one-year contract before returning home for teacher's college, which is the current plan.
So, maybe I am trapped. I guess that if I can't go home, I'll just take the money for my tickets and use it to go home at some other time over the year, maybe in January. But I don't want to go home in January... I want to go home in August. They're pretty far apart.
I guess I have to be adult about the whole thing and realize that it may be better to not go home.
I had plans for August.
Gah!
Dodging bullets.
For some context, I suggest you review: (link)
I got an e-mail from Jessie a few minutes ago.
She (and guest) were invited to dinner at one of her coteacher's house. We went there before, it is the coteacher with a German husband and a little boy. Her name is, of course, Mrs Kim.
I got the e-mail minutes before I went to go speak to Mr Lee between periods. Added to my list of conversation topics was "Can I leave early to catch a bus to Mokpo?"
I am so thankful for that invite... first off, I like Mrs Kim, and she's a good cook. Secondly, I was about to be invited to a TRADITIONAL KOREAN DINNER!!!!
Before the invite could be offered for the staff dinner, I asked if I could leave early. "You see, I raelly don't want to leave the school early, because... well, you know, the kids... but you see, we were invited to this dinner with Jessie's coteacher, and I have already RSVPed, so you know, it might be bad form to... "
"... yes yes, of course, no worries Matthew. Of course, I am your dear friend, and I understand that you have a prior engagement. I also know that many Westerners do not like this kind of food. Of course our dinner is raw fish."
Mr Lee (pronounced "mystery") actually talks like that. He's really cute, and he's a great
coteacher, because he actually seems to understand what's going on inside my head most
of the time, rather than assuming Canadian brain=Korean brain
I could have kissed him. Really.
At lunch, things were less awesome. I was eating with Mr Hyun, which is usually the same as eating with a scratched record that repeats "Don't you thnk Korean food is delicious?". This just keeps happening until someone bumps the table, and then he skips randomly over words and phrases that make no sense until he comes to rest again at "You chopsticks very good!"
It's funny, because class 1-2, who he says is the worst class, was asking about him before he arrived again. They really don't like him. He writes them off as the worst class, but they seem to be the only class that really understands that he really doesn't understand.
Oh well... at least I know that most of these girls will have good English teachers in high school. Well... better English teachers.
I got an e-mail from Jessie a few minutes ago.
She (and guest) were invited to dinner at one of her coteacher's house. We went there before, it is the coteacher with a German husband and a little boy. Her name is, of course, Mrs Kim.
I got the e-mail minutes before I went to go speak to Mr Lee between periods. Added to my list of conversation topics was "Can I leave early to catch a bus to Mokpo?"
I am so thankful for that invite... first off, I like Mrs Kim, and she's a good cook. Secondly, I was about to be invited to a TRADITIONAL KOREAN DINNER!!!!
Before the invite could be offered for the staff dinner, I asked if I could leave early. "You see, I raelly don't want to leave the school early, because... well, you know, the kids... but you see, we were invited to this dinner with Jessie's coteacher, and I have already RSVPed, so you know, it might be bad form to... "
"... yes yes, of course, no worries Matthew. Of course, I am your dear friend, and I understand that you have a prior engagement. I also know that many Westerners do not like this kind of food. Of course our dinner is raw fish."
Mr Lee (pronounced "mystery") actually talks like that. He's really cute, and he's a great
coteacher, because he actually seems to understand what's going on inside my head most
of the time, rather than assuming Canadian brain=Korean brain
I could have kissed him. Really.
At lunch, things were less awesome. I was eating with Mr Hyun, which is usually the same as eating with a scratched record that repeats "Don't you thnk Korean food is delicious?". This just keeps happening until someone bumps the table, and then he skips randomly over words and phrases that make no sense until he comes to rest again at "You chopsticks very good!"
It's funny, because class 1-2, who he says is the worst class, was asking about him before he arrived again. They really don't like him. He writes them off as the worst class, but they seem to be the only class that really understands that he really doesn't understand.
Oh well... at least I know that most of these girls will have good English teachers in high school. Well... better English teachers.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Days off. To be followed by more days off.
I have so many holidays! It's like they don't want me around at school.
I had Thursday off. It was midterm time at the boys' school, so obviously my classes were not happening. On Wednesday, I had done the crossword review, and I was wondering what to do on Thursday. Should I study my correspondence course? Should I just sit and nap, or surf the internet?
Luckily, towards the end of the day, James Park came to me and told me that I would not have to come the next day, since I had no classes.
SWEET!
Well, that was great. Bad news, though. I would have to go to school on Thursday morning, to "report to" my vice-principal. So, you can have the day off, but we will take away the best part. That's right, no sleeping in.
So, I go in. I was dressed pretty casual, but I usually am for days when I have to come but am not teaching. No reason to wear a tie if I will only be sitting around in the English lab all day. I have a seat at my desk, because I thought if I am reporting to school, I should at least sit at my desk. After about ten minutes (around 9am or so) I look over at my vice-principal, and I see that he is taking a nap.
It's 9 am. In the morning.
I couldn't believe it. There are times when he's asleep in the afternoon and I think "Wow, shouldn't you be working?" but I usually figure, well, he's put in a full morning, maybe he needs to recharge. But not at 9am! What, did you have a rough drive to work? What is your problem?!?! (the idea that he was hungover was later brought up)
AT any rate, I wound up sitting at my desk for over an hour just waiting for my vice-principal to wake up. I didn't want to wake him up, because that seems rude in any language. I mean, especially here, where you VP is your captain and you must respect him, do I wake him up by saying "Hey!", "Hey-yo!", or "Hey-imnikka!"? I mean, I want to use the proper level of respect. Especially if he's all cotton-mouthed and cranky.
I eventually made it home.
On Friday, we invited Matthew, the new foreigner and his wife over for dinner. I thought it would be nice, especially after they had helped us determine if we could take the dog in or not. Maybe I wasn't clear enough though when I invited them over that it was supposed to be for dinner. Hyeong-Mi (the wife) called around four, and invited us to come out for dinner. I said that I had made us a pasta sauce (us being Jessie and I plus her family) and she said "Okay, you eat that, and we'll come over around 8:30."
Then she hung up.
Well, it just meant more for us. It was good pasta too.
They did come around 8:30, and it was actually very nice. Their kids were so nice. Robert's kid... I can't imagine having into our apartment and not having to tie him up to maintain our own sanity. The younger guy, Jonathan, did make himself right at home and used me for a climber for about half an hour, and managed to do quite a number on my glasses, which I only managed to fix about five minutes ago.
We had a nice conversation, for the most part. The only awkwardness came from Matthew talking about the Korean hierarchial system using pretty strong terms right in front of Hyeong-Mi... I could not help but feel a little awkward. But even she seemed pretty annoyed with Yeongam. She said that the people here seemed very polite at first, because they spoke using very traditional language. But now she says that they talk about her and her husband all the time, and they talk about her even when he is not around. So, the town is pretty gossipy. Apparently, they're pretty rude too. I guess that we're lucky in that we can not understand anything that is said, so we can just assume that everything is nice or polite, as long as it comes with an accompanying smile.
Saturday, we were planning a trip to Gwangju. In fact it was planned out to be a pretty full day. We were to wake up early, and then we were to head to Gwangju for a Korean language lesson, and then a shopping spree. Jessie wants to get some spring clothes, and I just want to get out of the house. But, I woke up around eight, and thought about getting up. I don't know why, but I have been so tired for the last week. I just can't get out of bed, and when I go to bed, I have been falling asleep pretty much immediately. Long story short, we didn't go.
We didn't even go shopping. We were supposed to take the train from Gwangju to Mokpo. We were meeting Rodrigo and Sarah for the "Mokpo Miracle". That's what they call the sunset. Maybe you didn't know, but the sunset was invented in Mokpo by fishermen trying to come up with a reliable system of marking the end of each fishing day.
We had a nice picnic, even though we arrived a little later than we had planned. It was surprisingly cool by the seashore, which probably should not be so surprising to someone with a geography degree. I only wore a light hoodie, and I was pretty cold. Mostly my hands, but still. Rodrigo had made some hamburgers with some ground pork, and they were amazing. We had a fun little visit by the water, and we drank and were merry. Actually, I began to realize just how little I drank as the couple of glasses of beer and wine I had hit me pretty hard.
While we were sitting there, these four Korean girls came and started hanging out just down the way. We took pictures for them, and they took pictures for us. My phone started ringing. Which was surprising, because I was sitting with all the people who had the number. I looked at the display, and I recognized the number as being the guy who had called twice a few nights before and tried to talk to me in Korean.
The third time he called while we ate, I took the phone over to the girls and told them "This man, tell him, 'wrong number'". They talked to him for a bit, and it turns out that he was Mongolian! They talked for about five minutes, and at that point, I clarified that it was the wrong number, and she passed it on. Mission accomplished. I thanked them, and went back to our little dinner.
He called back five minutes later. The current theory is that the phone used to belong to his lover. You see, he's obviously a sailor. The picture of the women that shows when my phone turns on is of his lover and her friend. The baby that shows as the phone shuts down is obviously their love-child.
Around eight o'clock, they lit up the "Dragon Island" , which was right off the shore from where we were sitting. If you took the lumps to be the associated lumps on a dragon, assuming that you know what a dragon looks like, and you added and subtracted lumps from your mental image to make it fit, and then squinted your eyes until almost anything would look like a dragon, then Dragon Island would look just like a dragon. They had a row of lights up the back, which changed colour like Christmas lights in successive order from tail to head (I think). Then the the head (I think) lit up orange and green.
It was truly magical.
This entry is going way too long. But, you know, my life is just so exciting...
one more thing... Last week I asked Mr Lee if I would have Monday off, because it is Teacher's Day, and it was my understanding that most schools do not have classes during that time. Jessie had the day off, so I figured maybe if I had it off, we could go away for the weekend. Anyways, Mr Lee said that I had to come in. Then he called me on Friday night and retracted it! We could have made away plans! Argh! So now, we're doing our shopping spree tomorrow. Apparently he had wanted me to come for the ceremony (all in Korean) but for some reason now I don't have to.
SWEET!
I had Thursday off. It was midterm time at the boys' school, so obviously my classes were not happening. On Wednesday, I had done the crossword review, and I was wondering what to do on Thursday. Should I study my correspondence course? Should I just sit and nap, or surf the internet?
Luckily, towards the end of the day, James Park came to me and told me that I would not have to come the next day, since I had no classes.
SWEET!
Well, that was great. Bad news, though. I would have to go to school on Thursday morning, to "report to" my vice-principal. So, you can have the day off, but we will take away the best part. That's right, no sleeping in.
So, I go in. I was dressed pretty casual, but I usually am for days when I have to come but am not teaching. No reason to wear a tie if I will only be sitting around in the English lab all day. I have a seat at my desk, because I thought if I am reporting to school, I should at least sit at my desk. After about ten minutes (around 9am or so) I look over at my vice-principal, and I see that he is taking a nap.
It's 9 am. In the morning.
I couldn't believe it. There are times when he's asleep in the afternoon and I think "Wow, shouldn't you be working?" but I usually figure, well, he's put in a full morning, maybe he needs to recharge. But not at 9am! What, did you have a rough drive to work? What is your problem?!?! (the idea that he was hungover was later brought up)
AT any rate, I wound up sitting at my desk for over an hour just waiting for my vice-principal to wake up. I didn't want to wake him up, because that seems rude in any language. I mean, especially here, where you VP is your captain and you must respect him, do I wake him up by saying "Hey!", "Hey-yo!", or "Hey-imnikka!"? I mean, I want to use the proper level of respect. Especially if he's all cotton-mouthed and cranky.
I eventually made it home.
On Friday, we invited Matthew, the new foreigner and his wife over for dinner. I thought it would be nice, especially after they had helped us determine if we could take the dog in or not. Maybe I wasn't clear enough though when I invited them over that it was supposed to be for dinner. Hyeong-Mi (the wife) called around four, and invited us to come out for dinner. I said that I had made us a pasta sauce (us being Jessie and I plus her family) and she said "Okay, you eat that, and we'll come over around 8:30."
Then she hung up.
Well, it just meant more for us. It was good pasta too.
They did come around 8:30, and it was actually very nice. Their kids were so nice. Robert's kid... I can't imagine having into our apartment and not having to tie him up to maintain our own sanity. The younger guy, Jonathan, did make himself right at home and used me for a climber for about half an hour, and managed to do quite a number on my glasses, which I only managed to fix about five minutes ago.
We had a nice conversation, for the most part. The only awkwardness came from Matthew talking about the Korean hierarchial system using pretty strong terms right in front of Hyeong-Mi... I could not help but feel a little awkward. But even she seemed pretty annoyed with Yeongam. She said that the people here seemed very polite at first, because they spoke using very traditional language. But now she says that they talk about her and her husband all the time, and they talk about her even when he is not around. So, the town is pretty gossipy. Apparently, they're pretty rude too. I guess that we're lucky in that we can not understand anything that is said, so we can just assume that everything is nice or polite, as long as it comes with an accompanying smile.
Saturday, we were planning a trip to Gwangju. In fact it was planned out to be a pretty full day. We were to wake up early, and then we were to head to Gwangju for a Korean language lesson, and then a shopping spree. Jessie wants to get some spring clothes, and I just want to get out of the house. But, I woke up around eight, and thought about getting up. I don't know why, but I have been so tired for the last week. I just can't get out of bed, and when I go to bed, I have been falling asleep pretty much immediately. Long story short, we didn't go.
We didn't even go shopping. We were supposed to take the train from Gwangju to Mokpo. We were meeting Rodrigo and Sarah for the "Mokpo Miracle". That's what they call the sunset. Maybe you didn't know, but the sunset was invented in Mokpo by fishermen trying to come up with a reliable system of marking the end of each fishing day.
We had a nice picnic, even though we arrived a little later than we had planned. It was surprisingly cool by the seashore, which probably should not be so surprising to someone with a geography degree. I only wore a light hoodie, and I was pretty cold. Mostly my hands, but still. Rodrigo had made some hamburgers with some ground pork, and they were amazing. We had a fun little visit by the water, and we drank and were merry. Actually, I began to realize just how little I drank as the couple of glasses of beer and wine I had hit me pretty hard.
While we were sitting there, these four Korean girls came and started hanging out just down the way. We took pictures for them, and they took pictures for us. My phone started ringing. Which was surprising, because I was sitting with all the people who had the number. I looked at the display, and I recognized the number as being the guy who had called twice a few nights before and tried to talk to me in Korean.
The third time he called while we ate, I took the phone over to the girls and told them "This man, tell him, 'wrong number'". They talked to him for a bit, and it turns out that he was Mongolian! They talked for about five minutes, and at that point, I clarified that it was the wrong number, and she passed it on. Mission accomplished. I thanked them, and went back to our little dinner.
He called back five minutes later. The current theory is that the phone used to belong to his lover. You see, he's obviously a sailor. The picture of the women that shows when my phone turns on is of his lover and her friend. The baby that shows as the phone shuts down is obviously their love-child.
Around eight o'clock, they lit up the "Dragon Island" , which was right off the shore from where we were sitting. If you took the lumps to be the associated lumps on a dragon, assuming that you know what a dragon looks like, and you added and subtracted lumps from your mental image to make it fit, and then squinted your eyes until almost anything would look like a dragon, then Dragon Island would look just like a dragon. They had a row of lights up the back, which changed colour like Christmas lights in successive order from tail to head (I think). Then the the head (I think) lit up orange and green.
It was truly magical.
This entry is going way too long. But, you know, my life is just so exciting...
one more thing... Last week I asked Mr Lee if I would have Monday off, because it is Teacher's Day, and it was my understanding that most schools do not have classes during that time. Jessie had the day off, so I figured maybe if I had it off, we could go away for the weekend. Anyways, Mr Lee said that I had to come in. Then he called me on Friday night and retracted it! We could have made away plans! Argh! So now, we're doing our shopping spree tomorrow. Apparently he had wanted me to come for the ceremony (all in Korean) but for some reason now I don't have to.
SWEET!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
More Korean Kraziness
So, I finally brought in my contract termination forms to Mrs Lee. After receiving about six different sets of instructions from about six different sources, I finally settled on bringing it to Mrs Lee, even though I had also been told to give it to my coteacher and to mail it in. I brought it in, because that seemed like the best course. The thing is, she didn't even look at it, although she insisted that I give it to her. She just likes to touch everything to justify her job, I think.
Today, the boys' school had exams. So I had no classes.
Yesterday, I made a crossword for review. I looked up words in their textbook, and then I wrote the Korea down for them. Then, all they had to do was remember the vocab words they should have been studying for their exams. Well, it was alright, but they were all copying. I tried to explain that they should not copy because it's just to study and it's not for marks. It's so crazy, they thought it was a real assignment, and no matter how many times I told them that they could not do that and instead just study, they insisted on copying the crossword from eachother. Oh well, I guess at least they were circling the vocab words. At least they might have learned Something that way. It's funny because that was supposed to be something that meant less work for me... but I put almost two hours into preparing it.
Today I had the day off, because of the exams. Usually I would have to come in for the whole day, but James Park was nice enough to talk to the vice-principal and explain that is I didn't have work to do, there's no reason for me to come in.
For some weird reason, he said that he wanted me to come in this morning to "report to him". I went in this morning, and James Park said that all I had to do was say hello, and then I could leave any time I wanted to.
The problem? My vice-principal was asleep.
I arrived at the very beginning of the day, and he was already alseep. He slept for the entire first period. I was literally just waiting for him to wake up.
He finally did, and I went over and said hello.
He asked me if I had gone to my promise with Mrs Lee (they mistranslate appointments as "promises").
I said "Yes."
He said a lot of stuff in Korean.
Then he said "You Korea... long!" and made gestures for about twenty seconds like he was patting an imaginary table.
I have no idea what he was trying to say.
There's this dog. We call it UB, as it has a massive underbite. It is super friendly, and Jessie walks by it every day on the way to the bus stop. I even make detours sometimes to find it and pet it. Jessie has fallen totally in love with it. The problem is, for a long time, we thought it was a stray.
Yesterday, we got together with the new foreigner Matthew and his wife, and they came with us to the house near where UB usually hangs out. The reason? Jessie and I decided that if it was a stray, we would adopt it.
I'm pretty sure that Matthew and Hyeon-Mi thought we were crazy.
Sadly, it turns out that it actually lives in the house near where we usually find it. We're happy that it has a home, but I'm pretty sure Jessie thinks she would be better off with us.
So, I'm looking for a new job for next year. Steve is leaving his school, and it sounds like it might be a very nice and easy transition to move to Bucheon and take his position at his school. It would be so nice, because I would know exactly what I was getting into. And, I'd be closer to Seoul, on the subway line, so I'm getting pretty excited about it.
That's all for now. Scroll down for pictures, they'll be appearing for the next few days.
Today, the boys' school had exams. So I had no classes.
Yesterday, I made a crossword for review. I looked up words in their textbook, and then I wrote the Korea down for them. Then, all they had to do was remember the vocab words they should have been studying for their exams. Well, it was alright, but they were all copying. I tried to explain that they should not copy because it's just to study and it's not for marks. It's so crazy, they thought it was a real assignment, and no matter how many times I told them that they could not do that and instead just study, they insisted on copying the crossword from eachother. Oh well, I guess at least they were circling the vocab words. At least they might have learned Something that way. It's funny because that was supposed to be something that meant less work for me... but I put almost two hours into preparing it.
Today I had the day off, because of the exams. Usually I would have to come in for the whole day, but James Park was nice enough to talk to the vice-principal and explain that is I didn't have work to do, there's no reason for me to come in.
For some weird reason, he said that he wanted me to come in this morning to "report to him". I went in this morning, and James Park said that all I had to do was say hello, and then I could leave any time I wanted to.
The problem? My vice-principal was asleep.
I arrived at the very beginning of the day, and he was already alseep. He slept for the entire first period. I was literally just waiting for him to wake up.
He finally did, and I went over and said hello.
He asked me if I had gone to my promise with Mrs Lee (they mistranslate appointments as "promises").
I said "Yes."
He said a lot of stuff in Korean.
Then he said "You Korea... long!" and made gestures for about twenty seconds like he was patting an imaginary table.
I have no idea what he was trying to say.
There's this dog. We call it UB, as it has a massive underbite. It is super friendly, and Jessie walks by it every day on the way to the bus stop. I even make detours sometimes to find it and pet it. Jessie has fallen totally in love with it. The problem is, for a long time, we thought it was a stray.
Yesterday, we got together with the new foreigner Matthew and his wife, and they came with us to the house near where UB usually hangs out. The reason? Jessie and I decided that if it was a stray, we would adopt it.
I'm pretty sure that Matthew and Hyeon-Mi thought we were crazy.
Sadly, it turns out that it actually lives in the house near where we usually find it. We're happy that it has a home, but I'm pretty sure Jessie thinks she would be better off with us.
So, I'm looking for a new job for next year. Steve is leaving his school, and it sounds like it might be a very nice and easy transition to move to Bucheon and take his position at his school. It would be so nice, because I would know exactly what I was getting into. And, I'd be closer to Seoul, on the subway line, so I'm getting pretty excited about it.
That's all for now. Scroll down for pictures, they'll be appearing for the next few days.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Boredom, Korean moment, contract woes.
So, Jessie's parents have left now. Not that I'm glad to see them off, but I'm kind of glad to get back to routine, because I feel like I'm losing track of my life here... I'm teaching tomorrow, and I can barely wrap my head around the fact that I have a job. So now I'm just puttering around and cleaning a little, and I'm bored.
I'm watching "Hell's Kitchen" on the style network and I'm contemplating my next move, cleaning-wise.
This morning, I was doing the same. I was cleaning up the mat in the spare room where Jessie and I had been sleeping so that her parents could have the bed. I pulled off the cover, headed to the window and shook off the dust that had collected. I looked up and saw a Korean woman doing the same, and I remembered all the times I had seen other people (women, haha) doing the same. It was a pretty Korean moment.
I always hate the end of vacation, because you jst sit and worry about what you forgot before you go back to work. And the Coxes, all packed and just waiting for the train, I hate that. You don't want to start anything, because you'll just have to leave... I don't like it. It's such an anti-climactic moment to a vacation. Anyways, they got off okay this morning. I was glad that I had the day off today and yesterday, I got to show them a little bit of our more "usual" life here, and today I got to show them to the bus station to make sure that they got off safely.
So, I was welcomed back to Yeongam with a phone call telling me that I was going to have a form brought to me that day by a boy from the boys' school that I would have to sign and return.
The form was brought to me the next day by Jaewon, the Ryu's daughter (who is a girl) brought me the form. It was only a form to resign, and I had wanted to re-apply to Gwangju, so I was a little upset about it.
I called around and stirred stuff up. I was a little pissed because I had expressed interest in returning to Gwangju, and had only said that I wanted to leave Yeongam. So, you know, why was I not being given the option? Everyone had received the same e-mail, but my forms were different!
Anyways, today I got it all straightened out. It turns out that because my contract is different, I have to resign and then reapply, because even though I received half of the same form as everyone else, I am not really associated with them. But why did I receive the same form and e-mail notices as everyone else? Who knows!
The one bad consequence of the whole thing, aside from the frustration, was that it has apprently gotten Minahn's hopes up that I will be staying in Yeongam. He called last night, all excited, saying "Mrs Lee says that you can reapply to Gwangju, and if full, you come back to our school. This brings me very happy!" (or something like that, I've helped the English, obviously). I politely said "Well, I don't know... I guess they might offer it again.", rather than just saying straight out "Hellz Naw!"
Well, if it's going to be this complicated, I think I probably will just resign and blow the whole thing off. Seoul/Busan will be much more interesting anyways.
Well, look for full details of our vacation time to come. And pictures!
I'm watching "Hell's Kitchen" on the style network and I'm contemplating my next move, cleaning-wise.
This morning, I was doing the same. I was cleaning up the mat in the spare room where Jessie and I had been sleeping so that her parents could have the bed. I pulled off the cover, headed to the window and shook off the dust that had collected. I looked up and saw a Korean woman doing the same, and I remembered all the times I had seen other people (women, haha) doing the same. It was a pretty Korean moment.
I always hate the end of vacation, because you jst sit and worry about what you forgot before you go back to work. And the Coxes, all packed and just waiting for the train, I hate that. You don't want to start anything, because you'll just have to leave... I don't like it. It's such an anti-climactic moment to a vacation. Anyways, they got off okay this morning. I was glad that I had the day off today and yesterday, I got to show them a little bit of our more "usual" life here, and today I got to show them to the bus station to make sure that they got off safely.
So, I was welcomed back to Yeongam with a phone call telling me that I was going to have a form brought to me that day by a boy from the boys' school that I would have to sign and return.
The form was brought to me the next day by Jaewon, the Ryu's daughter (who is a girl) brought me the form. It was only a form to resign, and I had wanted to re-apply to Gwangju, so I was a little upset about it.
I called around and stirred stuff up. I was a little pissed because I had expressed interest in returning to Gwangju, and had only said that I wanted to leave Yeongam. So, you know, why was I not being given the option? Everyone had received the same e-mail, but my forms were different!
Anyways, today I got it all straightened out. It turns out that because my contract is different, I have to resign and then reapply, because even though I received half of the same form as everyone else, I am not really associated with them. But why did I receive the same form and e-mail notices as everyone else? Who knows!
The one bad consequence of the whole thing, aside from the frustration, was that it has apprently gotten Minahn's hopes up that I will be staying in Yeongam. He called last night, all excited, saying "Mrs Lee says that you can reapply to Gwangju, and if full, you come back to our school. This brings me very happy!" (or something like that, I've helped the English, obviously). I politely said "Well, I don't know... I guess they might offer it again.", rather than just saying straight out "Hellz Naw!"
Well, if it's going to be this complicated, I think I probably will just resign and blow the whole thing off. Seoul/Busan will be much more interesting anyways.
Well, look for full details of our vacation time to come. And pictures!
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