Oh Korea

"The South Korean government now supports more than 40 treatment programs to deal with video game and Internet addiction."

"A South Korean man has died after reportedly playing an online computer game for 50 hours with few breaks."

"Every second household in South Korea has a broadband connection to the internet."

I think you guessed that children here play on their computer way to much. They even have professional video game players that are actually nationally famous. This post isn't about this but it might help you understand why I thought this next story was really funny.

Our text book follows the seasons. Right around christmas the video's on the cd started having snow and christmas songs in them. In one of the video's there are three kids talking about making a snowman after a heavy snow storm. While talking one of the boys (Bill) gets hit in the face by a snow ball by another kid (Joon). Joon starts laughing as anyone would and then you see his face turn to a fearful look. The other three are now chasing him with the base of the previous mentioned snow man over their heads. The children laughed and I did too. After the video I asked them, "What happened to Bill in this video?" Most of the kis in the other classes were able to say at least part of the right answer which was, "Joon hit bill in the face with a snowball." In one of my classes, a lower level one at that, everyone is silent for about 20 seconds. Right after that there were some words being thrown out such as "throw" and "snow ball." One kid even shouted out "Jay-kuh I love you." Although it's a good answer it isn't the right one. Out of no where, this kid who never speaks, or even looks up jumps up as excited as I have ever seen him and shouts out, "SNOW BALL HEAD SHOT!" Immediately I had a flash back to my teenage days of playing counter strike online with friends. When you shoot someone in the face the computer games spits out the phrase "HEAD SHOT." I couldn't help but start laughing, the rest of the class (even the kid) joined in too. Who said video games never taught anyone anything?


Video games for the most part are def. unhealthy for children in America. Lets talk about something a little better for good living. This past Sunday I went hiking with some friends. We climbed Apsan. Ap=Forward, San=Mountain. So combine the two and you get Forward Mountain...I hope. It is a mountain on the South rim of Daegu. We met downtown and made our way over. A buddy of mine brought his dog, a 3 year old bull terrier. Very cute animal, but a funny looking face. We got to the mountain and hiked up. It was a little more than a mile, but parts of it were very steep. All in all not too hard. The puppy was having a blast. He let her off the leash and she ran up the mountain and waiting until we got closer then jetted away again. It was really warm and was a great day to hike. We made it to the top after about 1 1/2. I realized then why it was a famous mountain. There were a number of different viewing places you could hike around to, but from every one of them you got an amazing panoramic view of the entire city of Daegu. You could see everything. At the top we met this Korean kid who's english was pretty kick ass. He started talking to us and introduced his twin brothers. Nice kids, and obviously he was excited to speak English. We were being nice of course since we are all teachers, then he went away and came back with some home made Gim Bop that his mother and father brought along on the hike. Gim bop is Korean sushi. It was really good, and we ate a lot. I gave him one of my nutri-grain bars but by his face I knew he didn't like it. They tagged along with us till the end of the hike and then left after getting someone's e-mail address. After the hike it was only appropriate to go to a Jim Jill Bong with the crew so we did. Mad relaxing. If you guys don't know what a Jim Jill Bong is read my past post about it. Pretty close to the beginning of when I got here. After that, went to downtown and got some good food, took a bus back watched a movie and passed out. GREAT day.

This will be my last post for at least until January 13th because I will be on vacation. I'll be in India and Thailand until the 13th. I can't wait, I leave Friday. For now I must leave you! I have to go dress up as Santa Claus for my Hapkido peoples. I'm the only white person they know so it's only appropriate. After that it's downtown for an ugly sweater x-mas party. Trust me, I bought an ugly fucking sweater. Got it for 2 bucks that is how ugly it is. Take care ladies and gentlemen, i'll have A LOT to write about when I get back.

p.s- GOT MY VIDEO CAMERA TODAY, SOME OF YOU SHOULD EXPECT DVD'S.

India Auto Rickshaw Spectacular

Some of you have been informed already about my upcoming adventure. Dec. 29th I will be leaving for India to participate in the 2007 CEAT Autorickshaw charity race. My friend from orientation, Art, and myself are leaving from Seoul (the capital of Korea) on the 29th at 1050 in the morning. We land in Thailand at 4:45 pm and have a one night lay over there. It will be nice cause i'll get to see a little of Bangkok. We leave the next morning at 1055am and land in Chennai India 1245pm. We are getting picked up from the airport by transportation provided by the event. When we get there the fun begins. This race is a team event. Each team recieves a Tuk Tuk, or Autorickshaw, that they will use for the duration of the event. The Auto rickshaw is basically a motorcycle taxi. One wheel in the front, two in the back and bench seat behind the drivers seat all enclosed with a roof. Forget the doors here. They vary in size but basically on the smaller side. It's gonna be funny Art is about 6' 2". I'll take plenty of pictures of him squeezing in. Some are in better shape than others but they are all basically guaranteed to break at least once in the event. But hey, getting them fixed is all part of the fun. Since they are really popular in India there is no shortage of repair men. Even the smallest town has at least one specialist. THE RACE: It is a 10 day, 600+ mile race down the South East coast of India. It starts in Chennai and we work our way down the coast. We race in every type of terrain India has to offer. From deserted roads to thick jungles, from busy paved city streets to dirt roads in a monsoon. The race is tour de France style so we start at a checkpoint and end at another one for the day. That night we all get dinner and hang out until the next morning. The people with the best time at the end of the race win. Let me say right away I don't give 5 shits about winning, the experience in itself is rewarding enough for me. We will be seeing places that many tourists have never been. I plan on stopping many times when ever we want to get out and look around. My team name is The Hanuman-iacs. It was Art's idea and a very good one at that. Hanuman is a monkey god in India. He went around India in his time and caused all sorts of trouble, he is very popular among the Indian people. It should help us out especially in the smaller towns. Adding iacs to the end to make maniacs was just as necessary as taking showers. It made it THAT much better. When we get there first thing is to go through the check in process. Right after that we learn how to actually drive the thing. Since I drive a bike I think it will be easier for me than others but all in all it shouldn't be too hard. Basic gears and clutch so we should be good to go. Next we get to paint our rickshaw. It should be obvious that we are going to paint a big picture of a monkey on the thing. I requested orange base paint so we can be seen better but I don't know if that will work out. Either way, there will be painting. After the first day of learning how to drive we all hang out together, the next morning the race starts. I can't explain how excited I am about this whole thing so I won't even try. I bought a video camera specifically to film the event so i'll make some DVD's and put stuff on my facebook. I'll have this footage when I get home so if ya'll wanna see what's good it'll be there. After we finish the race it will be January 9th...yes new years will be celebrated in India...IN A COCONUT GROVE! Off the hoooook. We fly out of India on the 10th (hopefully with tailor made suits and jewlery cause it's maaad cheap) and land in Bangkok later that night. We are going to an Island right off the coast. Art lived there for 6 months while teaching so he knows the area. We got a little cabin literally on the beach and i'm gonna chill there until the 13th when I fly out. I can't wait. Jealous?

Sorry

Sorry i've been slowing down with the posts. Just getting busy again...and what i'm not busy i'm lazy. But I should be writing more tomorrow. Some things to look forward to. My India Autorickshaw race is coming up, my co-workers birthday was wed night, and I had my first hapkido sparing match at practice. Tonight is a friends birthday party...yeah happy birthday amelia and peter...so maybe there will be something to write about there. Keep reading, probably write tomorrow.

I've been watching this video

I've been watching this video non-stop. I think it's the sickest thing ever. This is a group called Naturally 7. they are an ocapella (sp?) group. This is out of control. They are rocking a Paris subway. I've been memorizing peoples!



Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I also got some more funny shit, so enjoy this too...It gets me through my work day when my classes are over.

White water and white foam

This weekend I went to a province called Kongwondo. I took 2 buses and a cab to get to a town called Bong-Peyon...population 3,000 people. I met my friend Art there and we went out to dinner. We ordered one dish, and actually a second one by accident...but it didn't matter because the guy brought out 3 other dishes and kept saying "service!" That is Konglish for free. So we got a huge meal and my buddy picked up the tab because he loves me. Then we went out to a bar a little buzzed and ordered more beer and soju. After a long day of traveling it was necessary. We were at the bar and met these Korean kids. It turned out they were really kids and only in highschool. But whatever, it was fun. It turned out they were friends with the bar keeper and they paid for all our drinks. So that night I DIDN'T SPEND A PENNY! I love small town life. We went back to my friends house and he pulled down an attic latter, we climbed and there was a room to sleep in. It was so funny. It's a small ski town so he lives at like this bed and breakfast place. His landloard even does his laundry for him. What a lucky dick. Anyway needless to say he is right by the mountains. The next morning we woke up at 7 am and walked out his door and 4 mins to the right. We found the trail head and started hiking. 2 hour hike, it was beautiful and good to sweat out the night before. Showered and then took 2 more buses to the place we needed to get to. We were suppose to meet up with our friends at 11:50 and we got there at 11:48. Talk about close calls. When we got there we met up with friends from orientation and a couple of people I didn't know. We did some more traveling to an adventure place and went white water rafting. Rapids weren't that big but it was still a good time. We then proceeded to celebrate after a short trip back to town. Celebrated what you might ask...BEING ALIVE! It's worth a celebration ain't it? Anyway, after getting given 1,000 won ($1) by some Aussie embassy worker who spoke english because I was that much short for my second and longest bus ride back home. No atm and my credit card needed a pin number...didn't have it and the bus left in 15 mins. If you guys see any Australians in need GIVE THEM A HAND!The seats were awesome and comfy and after all that traveling I went downtown to pick up the book "The God Delusion." Complex sentences and eh right now, still interesting. Got some food, and now i'm home. I'm fucking exhausted right now and I don't even know why i'm writing all of this instead of sleeping.
I was tired at school, but then pepped up because I realized it was time for Hapkido. I took the first class with the younger kids, then I decided to stay for the second one. Hell it's free why not! So I took the second class with the advanced kids and we were doing so much more fun things like spinning back kicks and double kicks and some crazy flippy spiny kick. The kids are older and better. I can def. learn a lot more doing this class but i'm only going to double up once or twice a week...maybe three times if i'm feeling like a champ. Other than that I'M SO TIRED and I start ABC English tomorrow...so i'm going to hit the sack...or the floor actually. Yo-style baby. Until next time, peace out!

p.s-i'll put pictures up later. It's taking too long now*

Soon Dae

There is this food called SOON DAE. That is how it's said. I was taken there by co workers before that hapkido demonstration. I wouldn't say I got tricked into eating it but I wasn't informed. On the awning when I was walking in I saw that there was a picture of a pig...like every food place in Korea there is a picture of either what your eating or what the dishes look like. Really dumbs it down for the foreigners. I can't tell you how many times I get the waiter to walk outside to the pictures and I point and put up one finger. It's easiest sometimes. Annnyywho, I didn't think anyone of the food because like I said, I already saw the picture of the pig and there is A LOT of pork in this country. So I sit down and presented with a bowl of soup and in it is what looks like maybe mushrooms and noodles wrapped in a piece of tubular meat. I wasn't thinking I was just eating and watching chuck noris on the big flat screen t.v. It was good. After I went to the Hapkido thing and that was that.

At night time I went to this opera with some friends and I told my friend scott that I ate soondae...He immediatly said "EWWWW THAT IS SOMETHING I CAN'T EAT." I was immediatly scared to find out what it was...but I asked anyway. I found out it was noodles wrapped in intestines (that explains the tube shape) kindey's and liver. MMMmmMmMmm! They are lucky they didn't tell me what it was before or I would have ran out of there!

ABC English

Just to let you know, I don't proof read these things so if there is a mistake JUST DEAL WITH IT! Anyway.

I have to start this thing called abc english. Not so excited for this. It is a program for poorer kids and I have to call about 6-12 of them over the course of an hour and talk to them for at least a little bit. If their English is as bad as some of my students the conversation will be basically like the following:

Me: Hello
Them: Hello Jay-kuh
Me: How are you?
Them: I'm fine thank you
Me: What did you do today?
Them: Nice to meet you Jay-kuh
Me: How is the weather outside?
Them: So Hansome
me: Can you tell me what day it is?
Them: I love you

.....I hope it's not what I think it is

Hapkido

"Hapkido aims to be an effective form of self-defense and employs joint locks, pressure points, throws, kicks, and other strikes. Hapkido practitioners train to counter the techniques of other martial arts as well as common "unskilled" attacks. There are also a range of cold weapons including short stick, cane, rope, sword and staff which vary in emphasis depending on the particular tradition examined.
Although hapkido contains both long and close range fighting techniques, the purpose of most engagements is to get near for a close strike, lock, or throw. Hapkido emphasizes circular motion, non-resisting movements, and control of the opponent. Practitioners seek to gain advantage through footwork and body positioning to employ leverage, avoiding the use of strength against strength." -Thank you wikipedia.

SOOOOOoooo basically....a lot of my co workers take Hapkido. They all told me that the Kwan Jang Nim (the owner/operator) of the place wanted to have me come and watch them in their final practice for their exhibition. It was being held one day before their tounament. I arrived there and sat in the Kwon Jang Nim's office. I immediatly noticed the massive amounts of trophies on his wall. The next thing I noticed was all the pictures of him with different rich looking Korean people. In every picture he wasn't smiling, just looking dead ahead. I asked what they were and my co workers told me he use to be a body guard for Korean movie stars and comedians. Needless to say I was impressed. The guy walked into the office, standing about 5' 5" and pretty thick since Koreans are generally skinny. He definitely looked tough. Didn't speak any English really but it didn't matter, hopefully that will help my Korean. I was brought into the room where they practice and I sat down. They started doing their demonstration. They had 6 mins to show what they wanted to the judges. There were people jumping over other people doing back rolls and some other guys flipping off of their partners hands, this one girl was dis-arming another guy with a knife, they were dive rolling over a line of people ducking down. One of the assistant Kwon Jang Nim's dove over 14 people. It was rediculous. After that was done the Kwon Jang Nim showed me some different kicking techniques. There are only 9 levels of black belts for Hapkido, there are only about 10 people in the country that are that level. The man in front of me was a level 6. When he started to kick I could see why. He did a spinning back kick on a punching bag and basically almost knocked the thing off it's base. I could feel the impact and I was standing 5 feet away. If he kicked me in the face he would not only break my jaw but probably cause me to go blind and possibly shit my pants. The assistant was doing all kinds of double spinning kicks and a back flip kick which was all really awesome.

When it was over they brought me into the office again and asked if I liked it. Kwon Jang Nim wasn't there, but I told them I loved it and asked how much per month I had to pay. This was by far the best part. The answer was FREE! The Kwon Jang Nim wants me to come as often as possible...which will be mon-fri for an hour or two, and train with him and my co teachers all for 0,000 won. He is even giving me the get up too for no charge. I can not tell you how excited I am for this. My Mon-Fri schedule will be as follows.

School 8:30-4:40---->Hapkido 5-6--->gym 6:15-8:00---->Shower, dinner, sleep. Then do it all again.

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am. I know this one girl who is paying 80,000 won a month ($80) just to take classes and her Kwon Jang Nim isn't even half as bad ass as mine. When I get home i'lll be a jedi Hapkido master

Jim Jill BONG

This was all before chuesok I just didn't write about it until now. I don't have a korean key board on my laptop but there is something in this country called a jim jill bong. That is exactly how you say it. Some of you might be familiar with these but only by word of mouth or internet research because we don't have them in the U.S.A. Another name for a jim jill bong would be a "public bath house." Yes, I went. My buddy scott took me. It was quite the experience. First you walk in and there is a room with a desk. You get a key for a shoe locker, then go into the next room and give the shoe key to another guy behind another desk. You give him 5,000 (or $5 bucks) and then money for anything else you want. EX: tooth brush and shampoo. You walk through an opaque glass door to reveal the "meat" of the operation. about 50 random korean guys buck naked walking around from sinks to toilets to lockers and everything in between. Now I have obviously never done this before but my friend scott has been here for 3 years and even though born in the u.s.a is a korean himself...So I followed him around the entire time. There is system to the jim jill bong for ultimate relaxation. First to the lockers to free yourself from the ties that bind. Then through another set of doors that reveal more naked men and an amazing number of jacuzzi looking pools right in front of you, stand up showers to your left and rows and rows of sit down showers to the right. First you are expected to take a shower with communal soap to rid you of your sweat and etc. Just like a pool back home. Then you put your stuff in a basket and leave it in a spot, in my case it was my tooth brush. After I followed my naked friend into the first of the many jacuzzi's. Different people do different orders of pools but I wasn't about to make up my own plan. It's like trying to create football plays and never even having watched a game before. Into the first tub. The hottest one of them all, I knew this because the temperature was there in celcius to tell us what temperature we were cooking in. Then to the next one, a little bit cooler in temp. After that we went into a tiled tub with about 5 chairs built into the tub's wall. These had strong jets in them. You sit down and the water comes up to your neck and you put your back against the jets. This one was just warm and VERY VERY wonderful. Scott and I sat there for about 10-15 mins talking about the previous night and who went where with who and how awesome the rock show was at that really cool bar around that really cool university. Time to exit the massage chair. Into the first of the sauna's...and of course the hottest one of them all. We stayed there for a little bit with a bunch of sweaty, and of course naked, asian dudes. Apparently it's o.k to most things in there so while i'm hanging out this random guy let the loudest fart I have ever heard go. I looked around to see if anyone was bothered by it but hey, it's a mans place. This was o.k, I was at home. After that we walked to an outside area. You had to see this it was so amazing. There was a typhoon in town for the last week so needless to say it was still rainy and foggy. There were two small tubs...but that wasn't the nice part. Over the chest high wall were two mountains covered in low lying fog. That combined with the rain and everything else was just breath taking. I looked around realized where I was and what the scenary was around me that thought escaped me. We sat down in the first of the tubs. It was not hot at all, very cool to the touch. It was dark water, scott informed me that it was water straight from a spring on the mountain that had salt put into it from a tank. Unfortunately we couldn't see the mountain from our sitting position. It would have been nice to have lower walls but then when the guys stood up out of the tub there would be people staring and taking pictures from across the way. I realized the need for the high walls. Two way glass would be nice...the kind they have at the police stations in the interigation rooms. Anyway, we sat in there and when we were done we went into the "salt room." It's exactly what it sounds like. A huge room with walls covered in salt and a big wooded bucket of salt in the middle. You rub the salt all over. I was saying something about how crazy the room was and then immediatly after asked if you were suppose to put it everywhere. Scott said "yeah" so I put the salt on my face. Right after that he said "no." Apparently he was saying yeah to what I said before my question..but told me it didn't matter really. So now I am standing there in a suit of salt on my way back into the first of the hot sauna. I figure it out immediatly why you shouldn't put it on your face. As soon as I started sweating again my eyes were burning from the salt dripping form my forhead into my eyes. My buddy scott started cracking up as I was saying OW! and so were the other asian guys. I told him to go screw himself and I ran to one of the showers and washed my face off. I went back into the sauna a min. later and the old guys were still laughing and def. thinking "silly foreigner." I didn't mind, it was a cruel joke but still funny. After that room it was basically jacuzzi jumping for another 15 mins followed by another shower with this exfoliating wash cloth thing. It was a nice end to a previous night of drinking and a morning of relaxation. When we finished up we we back into the room with the lockers, redressed and drank a whole shit load of water from the cooler they had. Packed up and left. I have been looking for a Jim Jill bong around me for the last week. I am motivated to find one. Been nice talking to me, peace!

Chuesok

For no reason at all this site decided to go back to being in Korean and I completely forgot how I changed it the first time. Thank god that I learned how to read the korean alphabet or else I wouldn't have been able to get to my dash board or make a new post. Dash board is actually spelled out in Korean and sounds like "dash-uh Bo-ard-uh. Kinda funny.

CHUESOK-
Chuesok is the Korean thanks giving and it did just that. I gave some thanks because I was off from work from after I finished class on friday to today (wed. the 26th). As I have been sitting here at my favorite bus stop right outside of my school (since I still don't have internet at my home) I have seen about 10 of my students and they have all crossed the street or stopped behind me to say hello and stare a little. I was originally planning on going to Japan but the ferries were all booked and I wasn't about to spend all that money on a plane ticket. So me and a couple of my friend decided to stay in this country and head down to Busan. It's south east of Daegu and on the shore line. THE BEACH! I have to tell you it was an amazing city. We were going to take a cab to a place about 5 minutes away from the famous beach there...Hyu-dae beach. On the way we passed the beach and when I looked out the window I saw hundreds of motel and hotel signs. I told my friends we should get out here and just find a motel. Turned out to be a good idea. We walked around for about 15 mins and found a place that was 40k a night...$40 bucks. B/t 4 people only 10k a night. Not bad at all. It was so nice to be able to go sit on the beach again. The water was really warm and I got to swim in the East Sea. The sand wasn't as soft as I imagined but it did it's job. We basically stayed around our area and met up with a couple of friends of ours from orientation that lived in Busan. I liked it so much I might request to stay there for my next year. I have pictures I'll put up at a later date.

I'm back home now and ready to go to work tomorrow after a nice long vacation. I have my Korean drivers license, which I don't think i'm giving back when I leave, so everything is comming together nicely. 2 things left to do...get internet in my apt and get insurance and a license plate for my bike. I am almost officially a Korean.

-ER

Today in class I was suppose to take pictures of me teaching the kids...no idiots, I know I can't take pictures of myself teaching...my co teacher took them. Anyway I have to maintain a page on the school's website that the kids would be able to ask questions in english to me and I would put a response up. I have to memorize the buttons to press because the site is in korean. But on the site they wanted me to put pictures up.
Tomorrow the school will be inspected by the ministry of education inspecter. I'll bet you 10,000 won that they take him to my class. It's o.k though because for this week my co-teacher and I have a kick ass lesson. I think my co-teacher isn't as nervous as the rest of the teachers because she has me...especially since she can blame it on me if something goes wrong. Nooo she wouldn't do that. Today's lesson was really funny however. Besides the kids completely getting into it one sentence in particular is laugh worthy. Lesson 9 part 3 is teaching them how to use the -ER ending...ie: he is taller than her, or I am faster then you. Towards the end of the class I always play a game with the students. Today I put them in pairs and gave them cards with sentences on it from the back of their book. All the sentences were normal but one was different. The kids had no idea why I was laughing and I don't even think my co-teacher knew... because after all of my 4 classes she asked me why I laughed at the one sentence. I told her I was just laughing for no reason. Now what was this sentence you ask???? Could it be the one that read "My pencil is bigger than yours!?!?!?!?!?" HAHAHAHAHA OF COURSE IT WAS

OH YEAH!
I got my motorcycle today. The guy was suppose to come to my apt. after 5pm....he called at 1030 and said i had to meet him down town and said he was there now. Of course that wouldn't work so my co teacher told him to come up here and drop it off at school. He did that but it was embarassing. Not that it was dropped off at school, but because I had to run down in b/t classes and take the stupid key from him. I was pissed, I don't think it made me look bad but that was my worry.

Tony Chin Style

PIctures of my apartment and my desk at school. Read On



RESPECT:
First off, I know tony is reading this so yes buddy this one has to do with you. My parents always thinks it's so "cute" how Tony always bows when he says hello. They probably do realize it's his culture
(i know your not korean so shut up, same idea), but they don't actually picture it and know what it's like. EVERYONE in this country, be it a personal friend or a respected co-worker bows to each other. It's their ways of shaking hands. You do shake hands in this country but there are ways of doing it, just like pouring water...or soju for someone. To show respect you use two hands to shake. When you pour the said beverage you use one hand to pour and place one hand under your elbow to steady your pouring hand. When someone pours a drink for you it is customary to use two hands to hold your cup to recieve. The saying "when in Rome" applies here 100%. I refuse to be rude because that would only make my job harder. If you give respect you get respect, same all over the world for the most part. So yes everybody, I bow. What will be hilrious is when I get back home I will be so use to bowing I am almost positive by then it will be instinctual for me to bow.

CONCLUSION: Just as Tony Chin bows to my parents I will be bowing to other people as well. At least just until I break the habit. Or maybe I shouldn't break it because I might want to stay longer.



AGE: Intresting enough in America i'm 22 years old. In Korea I am 24. When you come out of the womb in Korea you are already 1 year old. Add the other 9 months while your in the oven and you get almost 2 years more.


I want to leave you today with a question.

If you spin an oriental man in a circle does he become disoriented??

Odd

So today's lesson was suppose to teach the kids how to say stuff like "that is mine" and ask "Who's sock is this." etc. The text book comes with a cd and has activities and videos on it. One of the videos was of three boys shirtless in a locker room after swimming. What they had on didn't look like bathinsuits, it looked like underwear. When it went on all the kids were giggling like even they knew there was something weird about that. NOTE TO WHOEVER MADE THIS: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!? Who puts 10 year old kids in a locker room in their underwear and films them for the specific purpose to show in elementary schools to other kids. What a sick fuck. Now that I got that out...

Today I finally met my last new class. Again they all cheered and yelled that I was handsome and they love me. Even the children I have seen for the last two weeks still follow me in the hall ways and want to shake my hand. This leads me to think WHEN WILL MY FAME FADE??? Not that I want it to but it's a question every famous person or rock star has to ask themselves at least once in their career...And believe you me, I am a rock star. I had a group of kids rush into my office with a pen and paper asking me to sign a piece of paper. My co-teacher told them no and that they could only come in to say hi and try to talk to me, they agreed. I took a picture of them (on the bottom left)....As soon as that happened one of the little kids whipped out the pen and paper and bum rushed me. He shoved the pen in my hand and kept saying "sign sign" my co-teacher kicked them out (as you can see in the top picture). I was laughing so hard. Oh yeah, by the way the lady in both pictures is my co-teacher. A really nice lady who helps me out with everything. My second mother except Korean....and not actually my mother. She took me to the bank to get a bank account, to the cell phone store for a cell phone...she makes calls for me to the bank and everywhere else that I need...she even takes me shopping for food and appliances. She has two kids so i'm a third one...only bigger and whiter and I talk funny.

I'm back in elementary school

Today we gave the kids a game to play just like every other day. It's an end of class thing. They had to cut something up and use them for a game. I look over and like three kids whip out box cutters. Huge blades. Anywhere in New York (and i'm pretty sure most other states) they would take those away and suspend the kids. It shocked me...why don't they just use sissors? What happens in a week or two if some kid gets mad at the other kid and stabs him with it during a game??? It's a horrible thought but they are just little kids. They wouldn't know any better. The most common thing a kid says after he does something like that is "I thought he would get right back up." I wouldn't allow it. I'm debating on if I should say something to my co-teacher...but again, who am I to intrude on their culture and rules.

On a happier note I love my 5th grade class. Today when I walked into the room they screamed so loud I literally jumped back. They still keep yelling out I love you and everything along those lines. They even yell it out in the middle of class while the Korean teacher is talking. This girl even gave me chocolates today (which were so fucking good). Some of the kids are so funny with what they say. Just like the previous blog about going "to the Jew." Today some of the kids were, instead of saying Lederman, were saying Ledermommy. I thought it was hilarious even though they were making fun of me. They meant no harm. I don't even think I have ever heard that one before. So much more original then anyone in the states.

Some of the kids in my class were actually crying today. Two in one class and on in the other. The one kid was crying cause I think another student hit him, but i'm so baffled as to why the other two were crying. I don't think that my co-teacher hit them. I didn't see her do that or hear anyone yelp. It was after an english test and possibly they were crying cause they didn't do well? One girl was actually balling. She was convulsing with sadness. I had NO idea what to do.

Another lighter note. The 4th graders (i don't have them in class) were following me today and every time I turned around they froze. And then continued to follow me into my office. It was so much fun. I kept hiding around corners and scaring them. Elementary school red light green light. I LOVE IT

The American teaching teachers

So today started just like anyother day. It was a little hot, but again i'm not complaining. At least it isn't raining and it's not too humid. I had my first class of teachers today. All the teachers that want to come and learn about my culture and language are allowed to come to a class held two times a week, tuesday and thursday. All the english teachers are required to have these classes for the teachers if the school asks them to (side note: someone is blasting Korean rap right now as i'm sitting at the bus stop typing, it's silly, and another person just blatently ran a red light and almost hit a scooter. Yikes). I talked to my friend before hand that already had his teacher class and he said that there were about 3-4 teachers that showed up...There are 80 teachers in total in my school. 23 of them showed up! That is just over 25% of teachers that came to hear me speak and hopefully learn something from me. It actually was extremely flattering. I mean that is a huge chunk of the school that came to be taught. The teachers are not all english teachers so similar to my students they all have a different range of Englis ability. Unfortunatly some of them are really cute...but I have to remind myself "Poison Ivy." I can look BUT I BETTER NOT TOUCH! That could cause a problem...mixing business with pleasure. If any of you have any ideas for what you think I should teach them i'm open to suggestions. Leave a comment if you please. I'm about to pack up and go home so i'll catch ya'll later.

Students cracked me up

The students in each class vary in english capabilities. Some can't even read or pronounce words, some aren't that bad at english, some aren't that bad but try and speak anyway, and some can have a normal conversation. The idea is teach to the middle. It might be too hard for some and too easy for others but at least some will learn something...hopefully. today the students were playing a matching game. One of the sentences said "I went to the museam." The picture it pointed to was someone going to a zoo. I asked them "is this correct?" They answered correctly and said "no." I asked them what the correct sentence was. So some of them who actually knew what I was talking about and decided to answer yelled out very loud what they thought was the right way to say the sentence. Now remember, they don't have a Z sound in their language so what was suppose to be I went to the zoo today turned into "I went to the JEW today." I started cracking up on the spot. None of them realized what they said but i'm pretty sure my co teacher did because she was laughing too. I thought in my head, "guys, you have been going to the Jew for the last 2 weeks, get over it!"

THE START OF SCHOOL AND A NEW APT.

Alrightttt peoples what's good? It is wed. the 5th. I have been teaching for 3 days now. When I walk around school I feel famous. All the students want to say hello and shake my hand, the little ones that don't even know how to say hello just stare. But they stare from about 2 feet away and when I try to get them to say hello they just continue to stare. It's funny but kinda awkward. Even right now, after lunch, I am sitting in my office and they come in just to peek and say hello...then when i talk back they run away. It is a good booster for my spirit especially on this rainy day. All the teachers I work with are really nice, they guys and principle keep telling me all the girls who are single. Even the female teachers say hello and then snicker and run away. The school is a pretty decent looking school, 360 degree rotating fans on every ceiling (no a.c), and a t.v in every room...even the food is good. Everyone was impressed that I can eat with chopsticks. Especially the Korean ones because they are metal slippery and flat. What can I say, I got skills. I have basically just been doing listen and repeat excercises with the kids I teach mostly 6th grade classes but today I had my first 5th grade class. They were very excited to have a native teacher (me). I teach 20 classes a week and have 3 lesson plans to perform. Not always, but not more than twice a week, I have to teach an after school program for the kids who want to learn more english or I sit down with the teachers and they ask questions about what they want to know how to say. Yesterday after lunch I sat down with my guide (the lady who is helps me with my shopping and my immigration cards) and one of my two co teachers and just bull shit for an hour or two. They are very nice and funny too. Their english is good so I can communicate o.k as long as I speak slow. Everyone here drinks hot tea and coffee even in the 1,000 degree heat and rediculous humidity. I can't bring myself to drink that at this temp. I just drink cold water, they think i'm crazy. haha. As for my apt. I like living alone but it can get a little lonley since ya'll know i'm a people person. Today though i'm meeting some friends from orientation down town to get some dinner and drinks. It's nice to have people to chill with. Last sat night was crazy. Lots of Soju and beer. It's not as easy as I thought to get me some Korean chicks but that won't stop me from trying. I will try to set up a "language exchange." WORD, I like how that sounds.

The city of Daegu is mostly spread out but the down town area is busy and packed. It kind reminds me of a mini NYC...I say mini because the buildings are only about 3 or 4 stories high. Everyone is fucking beautiful which is nice. I'm waiting for international hug day:) It isn't an unusual sight to see two men walking arm in arm or hand in hand. Homosexuality isn't viewed the same down here. It is perfectly o.k for two straight men to walk down the street like that and it wouldn't turn any heads. Don't worry, I won't try to hold any of your hands when I get home. So basically every day I am done with class no later than 2pm and I sit in my office until someone tells me to do something. Tomorrow I am suppose to teach only 5th graders but they all are going on a field trip so I lucked out. My 5th grade co teacher's english isn't very good so she was really nervous about today...I had to get my other co-teacher to translate what she wanted me to do. We actually did well, the kids had fun and she did well. It's cute how they try so hard to communicate. All the teachers want to practice their english. I want to practice my Korean so it's o.k. I started to try and learn how to read Korean. I know the vowels already and their symbols. With a piece of paper with the other symbols on it I can read words...I just don't know what they mean.

All in all i'm having a good time, I just can't wait to be able to communicate back with those that don't speak english...like the restaurant owners. I can say beef, chicken, and rice...so I usually get one of those. I just have to make two thing clear...1) NO SANG SUNG (fish), 2) I'm a sun seng nim (a teacher)...people always think I am u.s.a military. They are trouble makers here, so much so they all have a 1am curfew. HAHA SUCKERS. I'll post more when I have more to say. BE GOOD YALL

MADE IT TO DAEGU

So we all went our different ways and went off to our cities. We just arrived in Daegu and we are all (about 14 of us) sitting in a room waiting for our co-teachers to show up so we can meet them. I'm just hoping I make a good first impression and we get along. It would make for an easier time if I get a good co-teacher. I hope she isn't hot or I might have a hard time concentrating. Daegu is a big city, not too big which is nice...the whole place is surrounded by mountains. I haven't seen my apt yet but I know it's in a brand new area..just built. So the apt should be nice, and I can flush toilet paper! SWEET!

I'll let you know how that goes after.

J.P from grandma's boy as a roommate

When I got here I was the only one in this dorm room. I thought we would all have our own rooms for the week of orientation, or at least some of us. When I found out that we were most likely getting roommates I didn't think anything of it because everyone is pretty cool. Only a couple of weird people but there is a couple in every bunch. I forgot that I have horrible luck when it comes to people putting me with others. This guy is probably about late 30's and seemed relatively normal at first even though his hairline starts half way up his head. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Every morning around 5ish or 6ish I get half woken up by someone talking...at first I was a little confused because nobody was in the room except for me and him. That doesn't seem to matter though because this guy straight up talks to himself. It's so creepy it's not funny. He doesn't only just talk but he has both sides of the conversation out loud. And this isn't a couple of lines here or there, it's a really long ass conversation. I would give him another couple of years and he will be exactly like J.P from the movie grandma's boy...Just my luck, i'm just hoping he isn't a serial killer or using my soap and towel when i'm not around. Yikes. Besides the fact that this guy has in depth conversations with him self which is weird enough....it's not like i'm not sleeping. STOP WAKING ME UP! I'm gonna try to keep my mouth shut because it's only a couple of more days but if he touches my stuff and moves it again or keeps this talking b.s up i'm gonna have to say something. Wish me luck

HUMID

If you think New York or where ever you are is hot and humid you obviously haven't been to Korea. It is the most humid place ever. Especially after the rainy season it is really bad. Everybody is always dripping, it could be worse though. At least after aug. it eases up. I have a lot to write but lectures are about to start and I have to go down stairs...but to leave you on a happy note....they have this wonderful thing here called soju. It's a rice liquor. A bottle of soju is only 1,000 won which is $1. This stuff is great, it' tastes just fine and makes you feel finer. We (the teachers) have been going out every night to a bar down the street and instead of buying stuff there, which is still cheap, i just walk in with a bottle of soju and play drinking games.

I SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT A FUCKING TOWEL! They gave me one that is the size of one ass check. Seriously it's small. Peace out, i'm going to sleep

O.K. First let me tell you the pain in the ass it was to try to see this site in english. Automatically everything is in Korean....now that makes sense because i am where...in Korea. BUT with an american computer you can understand the frustration. Especially after I spent a night out at the bar with a mix of Americans, Canadians, Scottish folk, Irish peoples, and of course the Welsh. The time I was here I just thought I was in flushing with all the Koreans and assorted asian folk. It didn't hit me that I was actually in a foreign country until I saw the construction workers. The construction workers were Korean...DUHHHH. In America they are Mexican. I never thought I would say this but I miss my mexicans. Even the guys that do the no say jobs are Korean. It's so crazy. When I can figure out how to get pictures up i'll definitely put them up...there are some funny ones. But for now...I am going to take my nice shower in that small ass room they call a shower....by the way....side note....you can't flush toilet paper in the toilet....you have to throw it in the garbage next to it. GROSS. Hopefully that is only in this dorm and not in the 3rd largest city where I am going to be. I solved that problem by crapping in the lobby. Let them clean my poop out of the garbage. WTF! haha, whatever. This is quite a place, I wouldn't trade it for N.Y quite yet. Enjoy your lives! Get back at you later

Posts soon

I'll start writing on the plane