Hallowe'en

Wow, what a good and awesome and strange weekend.
On Thursday, I started on my costume. In University, one of my housemates had dressed up as a milk carton, so I thought I would see how I fared in a boxy costume of my own. I went to the local "Big Mart" in an effort to find me some big boxes. I was out of luck though, they didn't seem to have any that would suit. But they did have chicken breasts and garbage cans, so I picked those up while I was there.
I went to the post office, my last resort. It should have been the first place I tried, the boxes were only 180 won each (about 18 cents), and they were perfect for it. It was fun too, because I walked in and asked for two big shipping boxes carrying a garbage can and a pakcage of chicken breasts. They kept asking me where I wanted to ship my stuff, and it was a little confusing. Finally I asked if I could draw them a picture, which looked something like this:

Well.. I was going to draw a picture, but it turns out I don't have a "paint"-type program on this new laptop. Basically it was box +box+ stickman = man in a milk carton.

Anyways, he laughed, and sold me the boxes.

Then it was off to the paint shop. I picked up a jug of white housepaint, which turned out to be a bad decision. Once I got the first two coats on (Thursday and Friday nights) and started doing the detail and blue painting, it became obvious very quickly that the housepaint did not like having other paints put on over it. Luckily, the other paints dried really quickly, so multiple coats were possible on Saturday before the party.

Here's how it turned out. I'm not wearing it, because I thought I would need help getting into it, and I did need help to cut arm holes. I would have been hard to set up the webcam with no armholes! It's reversed, I don't know why.



The trip to Yeosu was quite an adventure. Foreigners here get a lot of looks, but they get a lot more when they are walking around with a huge milk carton with a head hole cut in it. When I was waiting in line for the bus, little kids kept coming up and looking in the head hole, like they thought it would be full of candy or something. And old ladies and young people would smile and laugh, and say "Oh my God! MILK!" in Korean. But people whoe were in their thirties or forties would ignore me! Blatantly! They were actively avoiding looking at me, as though they didn't want to condone my mischief! I'm not exaggerating, it was painful to see the lengths that some people would go to to avoid looking at me, or making eye contact. Like trying not to look at the girl you like in church! Dude! It's obivous!

When I got there, I was a quick hit with the crowd there, and started to feel a assured of a prize in the costume competition. I continued feeling confident when we moved from the hotel to the bar. When we arrived, it was actually pretty dead! I had expected the halloween party to have more of a dance component to it, and I was honestly disappointed to arrive in a lounge-type bar with couched and little to no dance floor. Mostly because I was in a costume that made it really difficult to sit down. Or impossible, actually.

I wandered the room, and introduced myself to most of the people there. It was pretty difficult, because my movement was pretty limited. Reaching my beer over the bar stools when getting served was a problem that limited my drinking all night. I was pretty assured that I had a chance at the top prize though: a bottle of whiskey. Sweet.

Then some really awesome costumes arrived. The competition was thus is order of threat:

Terribly offensive pope: In a full gown and big hat, with a huge erection that created a nicely tented region and a baby boy doll to carry around.


HOLY SHIT!: Dressed entirely in brown, with a pantyhose leg stuffed with foam to create a piling effect, corn kernel shaped yellow cardboard cutouts, and a halo.

Fan death: If you're a faithful reader, you'll know that fan death is a phenomenon that occurs in an apartment with the fan on and the windows closed, where the oxygen in the room spirals up, suffocating anyone who might be asleep in the apartment. Fan death's costume included fan blades in the hair, a burned and artfully coloured paper fan, deathly makeup job and a phone cord around the neck. Why the phone cord? Well, it turns out that fan death is a bit of an excuse used to hide family suicides! I had no idea, but it is good to be educated.

Oompa Loompa: I'm not talking about the digitally multiplied "Deep Roy" kind from the new film, I'm talking about the classic green haired, brown coveralled, white eye-browed kind. As soon as he walked in, I knew that I had no chance at the top rpize anymore. Seriously his suit was custom tailored. It was breathtakingingly awesome.

random tidbits

I walked home from work today. I was thinking that I would have to remember to write about how everything here is divided into little shopping districts, with several of the same type of store together. The reason that's significant is that on the way home I have the pleasure of walking through the "artificial limb" district. VERY creepy. Almost led to a Buster Bluth hallowe'en costume. Well, that was what I was thinking, but then I looked up and realized that I had taken a wrong turn.
Luckily, it wasn't TOO wrong a turn, and I got back ontrack pretty quickly. Actually, I think I shaved a few mintues off my trip.
In other exciting walking home news, I found a 10 000 won bill folded on the sidewalk on the way home. That's good, since I have been living off my air fare reimbursement since I returned, and it's almost gone! I picked up some samgyeopsal on the way home (think bacon with more fat) and had a rather delicious meal when I got home of friend pork and tofu (vegetables? What;s that?).
I went to Mokpo this weekend for Mary's birthday party. Mary's a girl I met through Jessie last year. They worked together at a couple of JLP camps. It was good to see the old JLP gang. The night started off with some initial awkwardness. I didn't know where the pub was where everyone was going to meet, so I met everyone at Mary's apartment. Everyone turned out to be all the girls doing some pre-party primping... It was a little strange, a little high-school-esque and a bit awkward to meet new people in that situation. I wasn't in the parfect mood for that situation, unfortunately, so it left me more shy than outgoing.
We ate a good dinner at a small restaurant (23 of us altogether, I think) and then wound up at a club called "plastic". We were promptly kicked out. We weren't rowdy, or too loud. We were told that we were being kicked out becuase we didn't order any "anjou" or side-dishes. But that was honest-to-goodness bullshit. We were kicked out for being a big group of foreigners. The proof? No waiters or waitresses even come to our tables to give us a chance to order anjou. I was super pissed, as were many of the people.
To lighten the mood, it was decided that we should sing Mary Happy Birthday. Then it was decided that that was the perfect way to communicate that the manager of the club was a dick, so we went back inside and sang it in the stairwell. He, of course, called the cops. Fortunately, we were long gone before anyone showed. And besides, what are they going to do? Arrest us for singing Happy Birthday?! You jerk!
We wound up ending the night at P-Bar, and then I slept on Mary's floor for the night.
I went a little overbudget, and wound up with only about $10 to get myself home. Not the wisest thing I have ever done. The train was only 3400 won (about half the price of the bus, somehow) so I went with that option, and spent the rest of my money on oranges for breakfast. I felt bad because I had tentative plans with Brooke and her boyfriend from work, and I had no way to communicate to them that I would be later than I had expected, and no way to even know if our plans had been upgraded from "tentative".
SIDEBAR: I was just going to crank my stereo to get some kickin' "The Drinking Song" by Moxy Fruvous going, only to realize that it is 12:30 am. I'm still not used to working nights.
Anyways, I was out of money, so I had to tkae the bus home, and that takes about 45 minutes from the train station on the edge of town. I was late... but the plans fell through, because everyone was hungover, apparently. I picked the wrong night to be responsible and not drink too much. haha.
Last week's students were a little more challenging. Especially a grade nine class that refuses to speak. That's fine, I'll just give them writing assignments. I mean, it's not really why their parents send them to the school, but hey, that's what they seem to want. Wait, idea! I'll get a novel, and everyone will take turns reading from it. Take that, a-holes! Seriously, you have no idea how frustrating they were.
In complete contrast to my grade nines today, a class of six, who all talk, even the exceptionally shy boy. I like that class! What a fun way to end every day!

Well, I should go. A guy I met named Darren is coming over to play guitar tomorrow. I should clean up a bit, and get all my work done for tomorrow.

the day's events

So today was exciting. I had a new crop fo kids, and I msut say that for the most part it went pretty well. We were all laughing and talking to eachother, even after I "laid down the law" and introduced them to rules, which are apparently new to them.
I don't think that these rules are unreasonable, but maybe you do:
1. Raise your hand to ask a question.
2. Be Quiet when Matt is talking. (we're encouraged to use our first names)
3. Always bring your pens and books. Every day.
4. No speaking in Korean. English Only.

Well, apparently that is totally unreasonable, a point which my grade nines felt they had to drive home by refusing to speak at all if they could not speak Korean.
Seriously, this was my first class, and they weren't asking about me (unheard of for foreign teachers), and they wouldn't answer my questions about them.
So then I asked them some easier questions... still nothing.
So I said, Fine, if you don't want to talk, then you can write about it, and told them to write ten sentences about themselves. They finished pretty quickly. I asked if they would rather write or speak, and they said write. So then, five more sentences about their families.

I told them at the close of class that the other classes had had fun, but that being stubborn wouldn't get them anything... they probably didn't understand stubborn. Crap. I told them that starting tomorrow participation would be five marks per day.

I don't know what I will do.

But at least my other classes are still good, with the exception of some bad notes being passed to me that led me to embarassingly reassign homework today.

Crap. haha.

But I have my first band practice tomorrow ngiht after work, so that should make everything better. Or at least seem better.

W00t!

Test notes

So, at this school I give the students tests. This means that you get updates on hilarious mistakes!

So far, one student wrote "favourite", with a u, and then drew a Canadian flag above it and wrote "Canadian" above it after I made a point in class that I might sometimes write it differently from the text, and that both were correct. Very cute.

One student just wrote "anally" in the vocab section when he should have written "alone". It's spelt correctly... so I wonder where he learned it. Hopefully it's just a coincidence.

A student just wrote "fart" instead of "part of".

(hours later)

So, that was not quite as entertaining as I had hoped... oh well, there will be plenty of tests to come.

Marking them though, I realized how much I like it at Munhwa. I was recognizing names of kids and imagining their faces as I was marking their tests! I've never known kids' names before, how the heck did I ever teach before? It's so nice, and they are really cute. I'm happy here so far.

catch up!

Hello everyone.
I'm back now, in Gwangju, South Korea.
I was a little worried for a few weeks about how life was going to go here, but it seems like everything is coming up roses.
Things are pretty tough without Jessie here, I'm having difficulty adjusting to living alone. It's weird, I tend to forget to eat sometimes, and I am a little lazy about going to bed. I mean, I'll stay up just because I don't want to change. weird, eh?
Anyways, the new school is pretty good. It's an interesting cast of characters. For the most part, teaching there is a breeze. There's enough curriculum that I can lean pretty heavily if I want to, but I'm also allowed to divert and change it if I want to. So that's good, because it means that the adjustment to planning with curriculum will be pretty easy. The kids are easier to handle too, because I mark them, so I can take marks off of their tests for disciplinary matters. W00t! That makes things super easy.
The other teachers are a mixed bag. There's two other young teachers. One is pretty awesome, very funny and easy to get along with. Her boyfriend is also pretty cool, and is another audiophile, so we should get along well. The other seems very cool, but she's up on the next floor, which has proven to be way more of an obstacle to getting to know her than maybe it should have. She's almost finished her contract, it sounds like she will be leaving in early December. There's one who has a lot of physical problems, that seem to be effecting her in other ways, including jumping from topic to topic in conversation. She's pretty lonely, but she can be a little hard to be around, because she's pretty needy. Harley, also know as Mr C, is pretty nice. He really cares about the kids, and they really seem to like him too. He drinks more coffee (instant) and smokes more than I think is healthy, but hey, that's his business.
The other night we were walking home and chatting, and he tossed a butt in the sewer. The streets here are pretty disgusting. Korea hasn't really clued in to the harm of littering yet, and apparently they don't see it as a problem. Apparently tonight was different, and the careless tossing of his butt (which I still don't really approve of) into the sewer was enough to light a small fire under a nearby man. He started to bellow at Harley. Harley got right in his face and started bellowing back, and I got pretty freaked out by the whole thing. While Harley is pointing to all the trash within a foot of the sewer where he had tossed his butt, the guy gets right in his face, like within an inch. Then he sneaked his hand up and tried to poke Harley in the eyes!!! I couldn't believe it! It was the dirtiest fight move in history. We started walking away, and when we went into the restaurant where we were going to eat, he tried to follow us. I blocked him at the door for a bit, but he pushed his way in eventually, and proceeded to disturb everyone in the restaurant while he went on a huge tirade about us, and probably about how "Americans use the world as their trash can", I can only assume. The staff showed him out, and he just waited outside for us for about fifteen or twenty minutes. He was gone when we left though, thankfully. It wasn't that nice, and it's especially bad for Harley, who is extremely stressed out right now (he's writing text books and drinking about 15 instant coffees a day) and not in the best health (15 coffees).
The new apartment is pretty nice. I have a nice little kitchen (only a small fridge, unfortunately), a living room (big flat screen TV) a dining area, a real western shower, and a huge bedroom. Oh, and a spare room. My room is basically set up as the sweetest-ever dorm room, which is a little sad. Laptop for TV, recording stuff, and an over-filled closet. Damned parents and their bargain-hunting/clothes shopping addictions rubbed off on me! The neighbourhood is pretty good so far, except for the occasional angry Korean street fighter (cue Three Stooges eye-poke-block).
I played at the speakeasy for the first time on Friday night, and I think I played for at least an hour or so, although time gets all warped when you are onstage. It went pretty well. I wound up staying until almost 4:30 and going up on stage with the owner and the durmmer from the band I played before for a little jam.
The good news is that from the looks of things, we will be forming a band for the bar. So that should be really fun!
I went there last night again. There was a band playing from Suncheon, and I have to say, the guitarist was pretty incredible. It was a good night, because I wound up meeting up with a bunch of old JLPers that I had met at the camp in Novermber of last year in SeongAm. So it was a good night, and we got some good catching up/meeting in, and I wound up staying out again, until like 3:00 or so.
Anyways, that's all the pertinent news. There will be more updates now, as I have broken the ice, and all awkwardness is gone. haha.

Inactivity

Hello everyone!
I would like to apologize for the inactivity of late, I was at home in Canada, and my parents cancelled their internet. So I had nowhere to write in, and really, not much to write about.
But all that is changing!
I've been back in Korea for one week now, just started at a new school, and things are exciting out the wazoo. I'm getting internet tomorrow at home, so look for lots of updates to come in the near future.
Here's the short version:

• The new school is great. It's no dream, but it's quite nice. And apparently, it is quite impossible to get fired from. Woohoo! Just kidding, not an issue.
• The apartment is great. It might actually be bigger than the apartment that Jessie and I shared! I'm starting to get it a little bit personalized, which makes it feel a little more homey. I shared it for a week with the teacher that I was replacing, which was actually really nice, because I didn't feel quite so overwhelmed. He was an interesting guy, and he'll be hard to replace.
• My arm hurts.

That's all for now.