Matthew's Life -Slash- Destination Korea

It's Been A While

2010-07-20T01:52:00.002+09:00

So I think Im going to start this up again. I have been wanting to but haven't had the "time" only to realize that I do actually and that is no excuse. Another friend inspired me and made me realize that this a good place to use as a release and vent if needed. So to start, a few things that are coming up in the near future.

Intensives start at work this week and I have the most students for my two classes so far. I haven't finished everything I need to do hence the trip to e-Mart in the morning to pick up activity supplies.
Vacation starts at the end of this week. A change in plans due to a communications breakdown and commitment issues but nonetheless I have rerouted and Im going to Thailand for 9 days. It will be nice to escape Seoul and Korea all together and get out for a while. China, you can wait for a shorter weekend.
I have stepped down as Faculty Manager at my branch and will just be a regular instructor at the end of this term. Not everyone at work knows and nobody seems to want the job but as for me, my heart isn't in it and Im keeping it for the wrong reasons, mainly money and the title. The official announcement will be made at tomorrow's staff Meeting.

Other than that those are the big things going on right now. I will try to make future posts not as extensive and more frequent and if I am able I will blog from Thailand. Time will tell, if not I will update when I get back. Until then, you can start following again. I have a feeling things are going to start getting good.

Day 5, Productive

2009-11-17T00:30:00.002+09:00

So it's a new week and being it Monday I didn't have to go to work, so the long "weekend" continues. At this point I feel fine and have been going out more. I really don't care who sees me at this point seeing that the story to cover up my absence is not only a fabricated lie but also absurd. So I kinda want someone to see me so it gets back to the school thus leaving my work to have to put out some more spin. I might just tell the kids what really happened when I get back. We'll see how I feel and I will be less inclined to do so if my pay for while I was gone is negotiated fairly.

As for today, it went quite quickly despite the fact that I woke up early and didn't do much.

Got up at 9 and made an All-American Breakfast with the food I got at Costco. Eggs, bacon, hash browns, and a huge slab of cheese. In no way healthy but so good.
Watched the Colts vs. Patriots game that was uneventful until the end, which I only later found out because Mike had to leave for work leaving 5 minutes left in the game.
Retreated back to my room and took a nice 2 hour nap.
Watched the end of the Colts game only to find they came back for a stunning win and the headlines are buzzing with the Patriots Coaches call that gave the game to the Colts.
Set up a meeting time for the girl who was going to buy my old Television, leaving me plenty of time to do nothing until 6:30 when I was supposed to go down to Sinchon.
Started to walk the TV but after two blocks I gave up and took a taxi the short distance to the rotary, which saved me energy and also having to walk in the 30 degree cold.
Handed off the TV as soon as I got in front of McDonalds, got my 100,000 Won, and walked back, stopping for Starbucks.
Stopped by Alpha Mart, which I have gone to everyday since last Friday to pick up random supplies for my desk, I'm still a sucker for office supplies.
Came back, made sure everything was going well at work, which it was, and started to cook dinner for myself and Mike.
Successfully pulled off pan grilled chicken stuffed with cheese and bacon bits, with steamed carrots and zucchini, and french bread.
Got my computer back, still no audio, but everything else works.
Got caught up on the latest episode of Community.
Set up the printer I got from work that finally made it back to my place, its now networked and I can print things for work from my computer wirelessly.
Printed up all the materials that I would have gotten had I gone to the update meeting on Saturday, they will be reviewed before Thursday for the Instructors meeting.
Went BACK to Alpha Mart, with Mike this time, for more water which I am going through at a surprising 2 liters a day.

Now Im just playing around online debating what to do next. Im actually kinda tired but I think I might put on some more Deadwood, at least one episode before turning in. The meds are done and I think I will take advantage of my remaining days and go out before I have to return to the daily grind on Thursday.

Day 4, Escape

2009-11-15T22:25:00.002+09:00

So I continue to feel fine. I still think its the meds but Im ready to go back to work that's for sure. But alas, 3 more days until that is to happen. So, a lazy Sunday it was, nothing like on SNL but I did manage to get out of the confines of my apartment for a time. So last night I did end up staying up late not only playing Wii (which only lasted about an hour and a half due to frustration) but also watching more of Deadwood (until sleep overtook me).

As for today there was a bit more excitement because I exposed myself to the outside world, including some time before dark. Risky I know. Let's see, what did I do today. . .

Woke up at 1:00 only because my phone rang and Mike needed the vacuum, for the best I guess.
Made breakfast, cereal today and round 4 of Tamiflu.
Folded the whites that were done yesterday.
Watched more "Deadwood", I'm now halfway through the series.
Escape #1- To Hi-Mart across the street to look for more vacuum bags (success) and replacement lint trap for the washer (fail).
Escape #2- To Kyobo and another bookstore in Gwanghwamun to look for maps and things, no maps but a Korean textbook as found and purchased that might help me learn some of this language after more than a year.
Watched a person in a car back into a motorcyclist, knock him over, and then drive off in the opposite direction, that is two motorcycles I have seen go down in 2 weeks.
Escape #3- Costco. My fridge is now stocked as well as my cupboard. I spent within budget and Mike and I split almost all the food we bought. All around a good haul. And a Chicken Bake and pizza to boot!
Mini Escape #4- Back to Alpha Mart to get backs to split the food and pick up some more necessities.
Came back, put all the food away, divided up our spoils, and Im now excited that I have diversity in my daily menu.

Now I sit wondering what to do next. I did improvise and I made a lint trap out of the end of a pair of pantyhose I bought at Alpha Mart, we'll see if my next load of laundry is lint free.

Im thinking more Wii, Im kinda showed out right now. Probably won't be up too late. I wanna wake up to watch the Patriots vs. Colts game, a rivalry that is bound to be a good game. As for the rest of the day, who knows.

Day 3, Restless

2009-11-14T19:32:00.004+09:00

So, considering it is a weekend day I didn't really feel any different waking up late or not doing anything because I have spent Saturdays like that before, I guess the difference this time is that Im not hungover, just hungry, AND I know I can't go out.

For some reason I was up at 8 despite going to bed at 3. But I did fall back asleep from 10 to 1 to make up for that. Knowing that I really couldn't lie in bed all day and since my stomach was growling I got up to get my life started. So here are the events of the day. . .

Breakfast, eggs, coffee, toast, tamiflu.
Finished Season 1 of "Deadwood" meaning that I have spent 12 hours of the last two days watching TV.
Started Season 2 of "Deadwood", now 4 episodes in.
Did a load of whites and bleached them.
Got caught up on the breakfast dishes.
Counted my other jar of change, grand total for the two 204,000 Won (About $190!)
Got a reply for the old TV Im trying to sell on Craig's List, hopefully it will leave my apartment soon.
Got the lowdown on the update meeting that I missed from Mike, only to find out that I didn't miss much.
Had McDonalds brought to me for lunch, courtesy of Mike coming home through Sinchon.
Watched the sun set from the inside.
Escaped out into the night to get some more supplies, Alpha Mart was off the hook.
Watched Mike almost get hit by a car, of all times a Korean could have honked they didn't this time.
Now, Im debating between more "Deadwood", starting "Sons of Anarchy", playing Wii, or to continue siting in the dark.

On a side note three things come to mind,

Its really cold outside, and Apple Weather has snowflakes for Sunday so we'll see what happens.
I think there is a cat dying outside our apartment, if its at the hands of the Koreans I thought I saw playing with it earlier I will be extremely unhappy.
And yesterday, I got a text from a student who managed to steal my phone number (another story) that sent me a message of condolence that read, "Metthew I'm Kelly. I heard your news. And I felt very sad. Please cheer up!!"

With that this lie is getting deeper, thanks Korea.

Alright, thats pretty much it, more to come tomorrow. I might even go rouge and try to venture out. If so, it will be photographed like an undercover documentary.

Trapped Day 2

2009-11-14T01:26:00.003+09:00

So I know it has been a really long time since I have written anything about my life here in Korea but I need an outlet for my boredom and I think I will start to do this more often. So with that, I will in no way try to recap all that has been done in the last 6 months or so but rather what is big at the moment. So here we go. . .

So, Fall Term is nearly over which means. . .
I have worked with 3 new Native Instructors since September.
Mike now works for me and lives next door.
I am now a full fledged Faculty Manager for April with the pay and workload to prove it.
We are fully staffed with 8 Instructors, 4 Korean and 4 Native.
I only teach 8 classes and have 62 students total. (Compared to 11 classes and 100+ for everyone else)
My Branch Manger got married and I think she is in a better mood for it.
Management is still under the impression that I can read minds.
And Swine Flu is running ramped in the Korean Elementary School System.

The last thing above strikes a cord with me personally.
I was sick a few weeks before, common cold, nothing special. Worked through it, drank lots of water, vitamin c, all that, but like always the cough lingered . . .
Last week, I was dragged to the hospital because I was "coughing too much" and Laura was worried. Fine, I went, the doctor said I was getting over a cold (that is what I said but I guess the doctor's opinion was needed), and I got 4 days worth of cough meds to clear it up.
Monday, this week. Feeling Better.
Tuesday, OK but not 100%
Wednesday, its back with a vengeance, the cough, the runny nose, and now, its really warm everywhere I go.
Wednesday night, cough and fever (the drinking stopped after that, haha)
Thursday morning, cough, fever, aches, headache, and a sense of doom.

So I go into work early, and sick. They wanted me to go to the hospital alone. Laughing I said, "Im going to take someone with me, I don't speak Korean, remember" Especially medical terms.

So we go, I register, I wait, my head is throbbing, and I just want to get this over with so I know whether or not I have to work that day.

The visit. . .
After only 30 minutes I am called in, the Doctor by the way speaks fluent English and didn't need my co-worker to translate much (but finding the right rooms, registering, and explaining why I was there would have been a bitch so Im glad she came). After telling him all the symptoms as mentioned above, the diagnosis was read, "After what you have told me I'm 99% sure that you have SWINE FLU."
Excuse me, what?
Followed by, "I think you should not go to work for the next 7 days."

Not quite what I was expecting, Lisa just sat there and my first thought was what am I going to tell Laura. So then we leave, mask over my face and go to pick up my drugs, Tamiflu, Aspirin (for the high fever, which was 101.7 at the hospital), and a cocktail of pills to take with breakfast. lunch, and dinner. All told with the visit and the drugs, it cost $20 or 24,000 and the Tamiflu was free! Gotta love Universal Health Care, suck on that America, and Im not even Korean. They take better care of their foreigners than we do our uninsured, but more on that later.

The taxi ride back was interesting, I enjoyed my last taste of freedom because I knew I would be told not to leave my place for the next 7 days. I told Laura, she was mad, but I was promptly sent home at 3:30 after saying my farewells to my workplace for the next week. The instructors were informed and get this, on top of my sickness Michelle the Korean HI had it too. So now with the middle management out, the other 6 were left leaderless and had to fend for themselves. I ran the show from home, trying to help as the re-adjusted classes. Mike kept me informed over Facebook as to what was going on. I had to write a letter that was to be posted on the school's web page saying that I had to take a sudden leave of absence for "personal reasons". Wanna know the "personal reason" they decided to use as the story? That I had to go back to the states for a funeral because of a death in the family. So now, not only did someone in my family "die", but I can't even be seen walking around my neighborhood because I am supposed to be in California. O the lengths Koreans will go to cover their tracks.

So, now in day 2, I am completely bored.
Things that I have done so far. . .
Watched Clerks, G.I Joe, 2 episodes of "The Wire", and nearly the complete 1st season of "Deadwood"
A load of laundry, done and dried.
Organized all the bills I have saved and put them in chronological order from October 08-Present.
Did e-Learning Grading for my classes at work.
Called into work to make sure things were running smoothly.
Picked up my dry cleaning.
Got more water, oranges, bread, and eggs. (secretly of course)
Counted all the change in my change jar. (147,000 Won)
Did the dishes and emptied the sink trap that was starting to stink up my apartment.

So yeah, that is my life in the last 48 hours. 5 more days to go. I have tons of shows to watch. I might dirty dishes and laundry for fun. And I am going to think of disguises to wear for when I need to go out in the future. Don't worry, with all the time on my hands, more updates will follow. O yeah, as of now I feel fine. Im not dying and these drugs really work.

Swine Flu Aftermath: When It Rains, It Pours.

2009-06-23T23:22:00.003+09:00

I know it has been a while yet again and you would think that I would live up to my promise of frequent updates but as you can see that has not been the case. Im on a computer all day and recently the last thing I want to come home and do is type up a summary of my week. But since I have let so much time go by so much more has happened. More in relation to work than anything else, go figure. We are now well into our fourth week but so much has happened that a post regarding the stress, turmoil, and triumphs of my job is warranted. We will break this down by week seeing that enough has happened in each to make a nice well rounded update.

Let's see. Starting with Week 40, so the 1st week of term I come back to a company in turmoil. The whole swine flu quarantine was handled so poorly by all of CDI that my branch was doing major damage control to stop more parents from leaving the "epicenter" of the Swine Flu Epidemic that swept through Seoul. Between the two floors we lost 50 kids in April and 100 kids in CDI. Not something that management wanted to hear after an already burdensome financial loss. I was also scolded for switching the rooms of three instructors who didn't mind the change but this was yet another thing that I thought was ok but should have been run by Laura first who once again thought I was disrespecting her. There was a fuss made about room numbers not matching the teachers names in the computer and the resulting confusion it would cause the children. After a quick fix of switching the REMOVABLE room number placards all was well in my mind. Of course it was, it was not a big deal but she wanted to make it one. That night when I asked if she wanted to "talk" about the issue more rather than just before class was to start she didn't even remember that she had asked for a meeting. Another case of Korean overreaction.

Also, that Friday, Ben had his friend from home come into some of his classes and Eunice, my co-teacher, who normally has her husband or mom watch her son had to have her son at work for one 45 minute class period at the end of the day because for some reason they were both unable to watch him. I was called into a meeting that night with Ben, Eunice, and Laura with Laura in an outrage that this was not run by her and mad because she was not in control of something. When I asked why I was there Laura said she wanted me to observe as well as give my opinion. Friends had been there before, as well as family of Ben's and I could not understand why now it was a problem. She had said that she wasn't happy 2 months ago when the last visitation occurred but didn't want to say anything because it was family . Needless to say at the end of the meeting, Ben was livid, I was beyond pissed and Eunice was sorry even though she did the right thing as a mother. I walked out of work shaking which put but me in a bad mood at the start of a weekend. But in Korea, when it rains, it pours.

Week 41, Week 2 of the term. That following week, after all the stress that the staff was under to put us back on track there was another huge upset. Walking into the lobby between classes one day I saw 3 of the staff gathering their things to leave. This was highly unusual seeing that they are always there before and after I leave work. One of them Sarah, just told me plainly she was leaving and they walked out. I found out later that they were yelled at earlier to work faster and harder and the job that they were doing was not good enough. Already fed up with the way that Laura was handling things and tired of being treated terribly, they quit the next morning. So in a day we went from a staff of 5 to a staff of 2. This was something that we really couldn't afford to have happen and something that should not have happened in the first place.

So after this, meetings were called by the owner for all the instructors individually and we were told what "really happened". In my meeting I had to have Michelle translate because after only two minutes of sitting with the owner my thought were running a mile a minute and I was speaking English to fast to get my point across. So I told her that once again the problem lay in the communication style and delivery that Laura used with the Staff and the Korean Instructors. In so many words I told the owner that Laura was a great recruiter for students but a terrible communicator and didn't have the positive teamwork approach down. I told her that there was a way to tell people to do things that had others want to help rather than feeling that there were being told what to do. I highlighted all my successes in previous jobs in which I worked effectively with others even if there was a hard task at hand. I can be done, you just have to have someone who can deliver a request the right way in order for it to get done. Not saying that I was the best, but I was the one handling all the communique during the Swine Flu situation as well as breaking news the others about Saturday make-up days not to mention the other things in the last few months that have come up and there was not an uprising on my hands, Im just sayin'. I also said that you can not change someone's leadership personality, even it was a totalitarian and dictator-like in quality. But rather I was wiling to help with communication issues in the future AND I was willing to work WITH Laura to help with matters concerning the Instructors.

Week 42, Week 3 of the term. I was approached by my newest Instructor Tanya after the Instructor's meeting on Tuesday that she had found another job with better hours, more pay, and more creativity, and that she too was quitting. I now felt like my staff was dissolving around me. She told me her situation and she thought that I would be mad but I was truly supportive of her decision and I understood how she felt. The only reason I could think that I didn't feel the same way was because I was HI and I had other work and could feel accomplished in other things besides just teaching. Otherwise I too would feel that I was doing the same thing day in and day out. To me the job I was doing was worth it on all levels both in terms of satisfaction, teaching, and the money. So, with that she wanted to start her new job at the beginning of July, so a sub/replacement instructor would have to be found to finish out the term. I was supportive but the management was once again thrown for a loop. They are now trying to guilt her to stay, having her pay the penalties, and aren't really trying to find a replacement. So, regardless of how long this drags out, I will have a completely new staff for the fall term.

So, now that all the bad things have been listed there are some good things that have also happened in the mix. One of which being that I DO get a new staff at the start of fall term. If all goes according to plan, which it is seems to be so far, I will have two friends working at my branch from home and from college. One of which is my good friend Mike, college roommate and fellow Korea Adventurer who came here with me last August yet we went out separate ways in terms of teaching situations. And the other is Casey, a friend from High School, College, and the Central Coast who wants to teach in Asia and also wants to teach at my school. So with Mike needing a change from the low-paying and low-respect public school life, with Casey wanting to fulfill her interest in teaching in Asia, and with myself ready for a positive change and some stability I am really looking forward to what this Fall term will bring.

Finally, I was informed that I would be getting a pay raise at the start of the the Fall term regardless of student numbers, which was the stipulation the last time that it was discussed. Reason being, I am being promoted from Head Instructor to the Faculty Manager of CDI April Mapo-Gongduck. This came as a shock seeing I was not excepting to ever make it to that position and the fact that they seem to think I am doing a really good job to give me that position and title. I really do like my job and I like who I work with and what I am able to do. To be made Faculty Manager will put me on the same level as Laura for the most part with more time to devote to my leadership and managerial duties. Not only that but this was a recommendation from the owner herself, who I think saw the truth in what I had to say about leadership and communication in our meeting. So with this I believe I will have more say in the daily operations of the branch as well as being someone who can be a stronger go between for everybody who works there. If they don't want to talk to Laura and fear that they are side-stepping her authority they can come talk to me.

So that is work drama and turmoil in a nutshell. These last three weeks have been like a real-life fun house never knowing what new challenge or problem would try to knock you down when you walked through the door. I'm not going to lie and say that it hasn't stressed me out and left me with a few restless nights because it has. But all these happenings are great experiences for many other situations that I may find myself in throughout life. I told my co-teacher that these days have been defining moments, moments that I will be able to look back on and draw experience from to help in all aspects of my life. Korea has taught me a lot not only about culture and teaching, but about the business world as well. I try not to let all these things worry me. And it seems that because of my level head and straightforward responsive nature to spontaneous problems I have been rewarded with a title that will hopefully strengthen the bonds of management and Instructors and make for a better working environment for those that will join me in September. I think now the worst is over and I look forward to what the future holds in the Land of the Morning Calm.

Back To Reality- Post-Swine Flu Summer Term

2009-06-04T00:35:00.003+09:00

Well after the last update, a lot happened with both work and life. I did end up getting the week and then some. We did have to work the Saturday prior because of the Speech Festival, and because of that we were going to get Wednesday off. But thanks to a company Swine Flu epidemic we got so much more than that. 10 days total of paid freedom, but like anything with CDI there was a catch.

As mentioned before, I never came in direct contact with the infected instructor but I was treated like I had. All because I went out the last night that my friends were in town and for this I was somewhat punished. I was told Monday to stay in, which I did. I went along for the most part but you can't give me 10 days and expect to me to sit inside all week while the weather was really nice for once and I didn't have to be inside. So by the end of Monday I did as told, didn't go out much, just to buy the necessary thermometer to check my temperature twice a day (I was reimbursed for it so I went with a digital one that was easy to read) and a face mask that I still haven't worn. The result of a day in, my apartment was spotless and I had all my laundry done.

Tuesday, I defied orders with my friend who worked upstairs, Jiren, and we walked all over Sinchon getting things done that normally I don't have time to do. Such as a hair trim, not so much a cut because they just cleaned up the mess that my hair had become. I bought random things for my apartment to make it more organized. Attending to things in my apartment that have been neglected, mainly souvenirs that have been put in corners since my trip to Thailand. We went to the University and enjoyed a picnic lunch outside. Attempted to play badminton but the courts were locked, since I was at Sogang I also tried to go to church on a weekday but the website lied and there is NOT a daily mass at 730 in English, so I put that off till Sunday. Then went to a movie, but not without being harassed with text messages to check my email about Swine Flu updates and news that one of the instructors that was at the Friday dinner had been infected and to use extreme caution, meaning "Don't go outside". Feeling guilty on the walk home that night we thought it best to stay in and say that we hadn't hung out at all.

Wednesday was cleaning day number two. Some walking around town was done. A lot of movies, some reading, to tell you the truth I really can't remember what else I did besides talk online all day. But at this point I didn't like living in fear of random texts checking up on me and the fact that the CDC of Korea had my address and may or may not drop in, so the next day I decided to go into work and set things straight and show that I wasn't dying.

Thursday, after getting out of bed at somewhat of a decent time I headed to work. I wanted the facts about work in a face to face conversation, not over the phone. And I wanted to show that I was able to function. So, dressed in something that my co-workers have never seen in and I walked to work. T-Shirt, shorts, flip-flops, and sunglasses, in true California style I roll into work, complete with double takes. First the are surprised to see me, second they said I looked like I should be at the beach (if they knew were I grew up they would understand why it is hard to wear pants after 18 some odd years of beach attire), and of course they asked if I was OK. Before I was able to sit and talk to Laura she took my temperature, with a sound 36.7 degrees Celsius (98.1 degrees), I was clear to sit down. Finally I got the story straight. We were not sure when we were going to open, HQ was taking a day to day assessment given how many more instructors got sick but it looks as if the opening day would be Wednesday the 3rd. I also complained that they keep calling me management but I was left completely out of the loop on this one. And this was something that I should have been told about right when the news was breaking. Regardless of April vs. CDI it still effects my floor. So with Laura taking the blame and many sorrys I was told it would not happen again. I also gave an overview of where I intended to go in the coming days and there seemed to be no objection. So answering to my real boss I was cleared out from under the suppressive thumb of CDI so to speak.

That afternoon Jiren and I tried to see a movie but it seemed that the new Wolverine movie was not out in the local theaters anymore. So we headed home where upon my return I got the clear to come out to Incheon for the night from MIke. Freedom at last as well as my chance to infect everyone on the hour bus it took to get me out there. So gathering my things I was out by 5 and off to Incheon for the night. In all it was good times, I got to go to Trivia at a bar he always goes to on Thursdays but given my work schudule I could never make it because I get out too late. We didn't win but it was a lot of fun, however with the help of another trivia mate I was able to clear the entire Bible category, 8 years of Catholic School paid off for Thursday Night Trivia at the bar.

Friday I got to see Mike teach at his elementary school. That had to be the highlight of the week. For one it was nice to see kids running around seeing that I had not seen mine in over a week. Second, it was SOOO different than what I do on a daily basis. More kids in the classroom, 35, the school has 1200. Mike was the only foreigner there so to see another white tall guy just blew the kids minds. Not to mention we were dressed alike with the same haircut to they thought we were brothers. The constant stares were awesome, as were the nervous hellos, and all the waving. Eating lunch in the Cafeteria was priceless. Imagine 300 kids all eating and staring at you at the same time. I also saved Mike from having to teach a lesson he didn't prepare for because with me there it was just a 30 minute Q&A session. His teachers seemed nice and were not the crazy Koreans that he described them to be. Although I don't have to be with them everyday and put up with the terrible teaching tactics they come up and force Mike to do.

Heading back to Seoul in the early afternoon there were plans to go to the East Coast for the weekend but they fell through and we settled for a local night out and then a hike on Saturday. Friday night was spent in Sinchon with a bunch of Tanya's friends, who happened to be German. The bar was one I had never been to before and had an good DJ for the night. And no night would be complete with with a trip to Norea-bong (Karaoke) and it ending at 5 as it became dawn in Seoul.

Rude awakening at 11 on Saturday to go hike Buhkansan, just 25 minutes up the line from my apartment in Northern Seoul. It was a great hike with not so great views of the city seeing that it was really hazy but it was nice to get outdoors and do something active and get some much needed sun. The hike only proved that I was really out of shape and needed to start getting out more to get exercise. That night was spent in Gangnam another popular hang-out area in Seoul. Dinner at TGI Friday's (Good American food tasted awesome after a day on the mountain), and of course Norea-bong once again, this time at a classy Luxury Karaoke place. A bus trip back home around 1 and we all called it a night.

Sunday/Monday, more relaxing, heading out around town and I finally got to use my new bike and go down to the river trail on the Han River. Jiren and I biked 10 kilometers, I only know cuz the trail is marked and saw a much different view of the city. I gained a new appreciation for Seoul after this and realized that this city had so much more to offer me than just nights out and a concrete jungle. There actually was open space to enjoy right in my own backyard. Monday we jog/walked the river, same trail, 6 kilometers this time. 3 exercise days in a row, I was feeling good. O, and I Norea-bonged on Monday night as well. Closing out 3 days in a row for that as well.

Tuesday, after chatting with the family, I enjoyed the best thunderstorm in Seoul that I have seen so far. There have only been 3 that I can remember but this was the best one. Tracking it from Incheon because of Mike, it moved into Seoul in a second. It got dark, windy, soon thunder was rolling through this industrialized canyon, followed by flashes of lightening, and an hour downpour. That night was a trip to Iteawon for an amazing Italian dinner for Jiren's Birthday followed by an equally amazing dessert. The closing to a good, relaxing week off was a trip to a wine bar, something that I don't have as much access to as I did back home.

So that was a recap of my week in "captivity". I will still be paid in full for doing nothing and getting out and exploring my city. But that is not to say that upon my return to work there were not a whole other list of problems that I had to deal with before my first class even started. But seeing that the battle is not over yet with things that have happened, the dealings of this week will most likely warrant its own blog at the end of the week. I don't think it would truly be the start of a new term with out some work drama to go along with it. Until then, stay tuned for it looks as if my weekly updates are back on track.

Swine Flu Hits Home- CDI On Lockdown

2009-05-26T07:54:00.002+09:00

I know that I have not posted in a while but recent events have warranted me to update my audience as to what is going on. It all started out as a pretty nice weekend. I had to work this past Saturday but it was OK because it was at an awesome English Village and it was for a Speech Festival that I and my staff have been working on all term for my kids. But come Sunday, rumors on the wind turned to something more concrete that actually affected my job.

Sunday night I went out to dinner with a bunch of friends from upstairs CDI, 3 of them were finished with their contracts and were heading home after a trip to Thailand and China. So we all meet at this chicken place they had been wanting to try for months. Before hand I had stopped at their apartment and picked up a bunch of things that they were giving away so I could stock my own apartment at little or no cost. When we left their apartment building I was first told the story of what was going on.

Summer term started yesterday for CDI and starts next Monday for April. So, for the last week, they have been training the new Instructors at HQ and they have all been housed in the same hotel, COETEL, that I was in when I first got here downtown in Gangnam. Well, one of the trainees was on a flight from New York that had 3 infected kids on the plane. Kids that had Swine Fuu. I don't know if she had it before, but somehow she contracted the virus and then went to training. So for that entire week she had a roommate at the hotel and then trained, in close quarters, with all 70 of the other Instructors that were supposed to start at their respective branches yesterday.

Well this one girl who tested positive turned into her roommate testing positive. After that, more people started to get the symptoms of the flu and before they knew it, CDI was look at a mini-epidemic of their own. As the count stands now, there are some 15 new Instructors with the flu and the about 50 in quarantine somewhere downtown under the watchful eye of the Korean Center for Disease Control.

It gets better. Before they knew how bad this was they shipped everybody to their branches to meet the staff and existing instructors all over Korea. 3 came to our school on Friday night and had dinner with the management and most of the teachers. I, as well as Ben and Mike, were invited to go but couldn't seeing that we had to be up super early on Saturday to head to the Speech Festival. Well Sunday night, this story was starting to make its away into the Korean News outlet. The only reason it was not front page stuff was because the last Korean President had committed suicide on Saturday and about 90% of the Media was covering that.

So at this farewell dinner on Sunday was one of my friends, a Korean-American, who was getting news updates from his wife throughout the meal. They could not say what academy had the infected instructors but the hints they were giving had all fingers pointing to my company. Basically the news report was say that it was a major hagwon (academy), based in Gangnam, whose name started with the korean character "ch" (Chungdahm). That really didn't leave much open to interpretation. The kicker was, my co-workers in CDI above me had been scrambling all weekend reshuffling the schedule because they were told these new instructors would be quarantined for the week while more tests were done. Odd, they knew all about it but as HI of April and working on the floor below I was told nothing. Given the interaction that happens between our staff on any given day I should know as much as everybody else so I could inform my own instructors. Needless to say my own management is going to be bitched out later.

Come Monday morning the plot thickens. I told my other HI friend to keep me informed seeing that my own management failed to. That morning I was getting up and starting to get ready for work when I get a text from Laura, my manager, saying, "No management meeting today, problems at CDI, see you at work". I texted her back saying that I knew everything and that we would discuss when we got there. Then I get a phone call from Wayne saying that one of the instructors that came to visit the branch on Friday was infected. Great, I am now separated by 2 degrees from Swine Flu because I hung out on Sunday with CDI people who were at that dinner. So I call Laura and tell her that I was with CDI people Sunday evening. She asks if I feel ok, saying yes she says we take precaution at work later.

30 minutes or so I get another call from work, saying that they have decided to close down April for the day. This was after I was told by another friend that they were closing our CDI down for the week. Now every time someone calls they ask if I am ok, I keep saying that I am fine and will tell them first thing if I feel any different. Some time goes by and I get a call from the FM from upstairs, Young. He asked what I knew about April, I told him that that we only got the day off so far. He then asked me who I hung out with the night before. He sounded peeved seeing that he had asked his instructors to stay in and keep contact to a minimum seeing that they were still waiting for results. He tells me that he thinks the closure is company wide so after I get off the phone with him I call work again, no one can talk but they call me back.

Laura then confirms that not just Mapo, but the entire company is shutting down for at least a week to prevent the spread of the flu to any students and staff. They effectively gave 2,000 instructors and 15,000 students an unforeseen and instant vacation. However there were rules. I also got an email from HQ that effectively said that every instructor was being quarantined on the honor system. We were to stay indoors Monday and keep outside contact to a minimum and stay in our neighborhood until June 2nd. They didn't just give us any ole' amount of time off, they gave us an incubation period off, 9 days plus. They also told us to go and buy face masks and thermometers (I got a nice digital one because the memo said we would be reimbursed) to check our temperature twice a day and report the numbers back to our management.

So yeah, as you can see a Sunday night conversation and gossip has turned into the temporary closure of my company and an advisory quarantine for all instructors. Giving my contact I was told to stay inside Monday, which I did. I cleaned my apartment, watched movies, napped, and got things done I have been neglecting. I seriously doubt I will get sick, so come Friday, seeing that we don't have to be at work till next Wednesday I think we are planning to go somewhere for the weekend. Other friends are jetting off to other places and they can't force us to stay in town. So as the days go on I will keep you informed as to what is happening with the CDI Swine Flu Scare Vacation.

That Was A Close One Korea.

2009-05-01T06:58:00.003+09:00

This week was one of the most interesting and stressful weeks that I have had in Korea in and while, I have had a few other instances where I could claim this but week 35 takes the cake. This week my faith in my company and those that I work for was shaken, to the point where quitting and coming home in June was a huge possibility.

This week didn't start out like any other. It was Level-Up test week. A test that the kids love and hate at the same time. These tests determined if the kids would stay in the same level or move up to a higher level for the next term. This is something that all the kids stress about but for the instructors its the easiest 2 days of the entire term. All we have to do is teach a 20 minute short class, then give the test for a little over an hour. The review test and practically the entire chapter become homework, which the kids love. As for the test, all I do is pop in a listening CD for them to listen to and answer questions. Then they do reading comprehension questions all while I sit and watch and play around on the computer. This was done Monday and Tuesday so the start of the week was pretty easy.

However, it didn't take long before a storm came to CDI April. There had been rumors circulating about "program changes". In the past this hasn't been a bad thing. We all actually liked the program change that occurred this term for it allowed for a break in the monotony of teaching the same 3 parts of a lesson day in and day out. But as I learned more about this "change" from my Faculty Manager, and as my friends from all over Seoul who worked for CDI got wind of the proposition, I went on the defensive and the situation became hostile.

In short, the President of the company thought that the 2 day Tuesday/Thursday Class schedule that we run wasn't being profitable enough, at least not as much as the Monday/Wednesday/Friday Class schedule. (Ummm, duh! MWF we can run 4 sections, but TTH we can only run two because we have to fit 3 lessons into 2 days.) So, to overcome this he decided that it was in the best interest of the company to run a 6 day schedule, Monday/Wednesday/Friday Classes and Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday Classes. That means, that as instructors we would work 6 DAYS A WEEK, with only Sundays off. There went my life and weekends to explore this country that I really want to know more about.

The kicker was that all this was being decided behind closed doors and in hushed tones. I seemed to be the only one of my friends who really knew anything about it. We were never called into a formal meeting to discuss this, we were not given a chance to debate this or ask questions. It was basically assumed by the company that we would comply. Well we were not going to go down without a fight. All the Branches all over Seoul and beyond did not want this. The Branch Mangers, Owners, and Faculty Managers were all opposed. The HI's, such as myself could not see the logic in this decision, and the Instructors, well, it was a given that they thought this was bull shit.

It was a breech of contract, something they would overcome by trying to get us to sign a new one saying we would do this. I was getting calls from headquarters asking my opinion. I feel bad for the guy who called me because I was really short with him on the phone. I told him that we were in the dark, that this was unfair and something that we were never consulted about, and that it was a breech of contract. When asked if I would do it if it was implemented I said no. When asked if I would quit I said yes. His response, "Are you aware of the consequences". My reply, "Quitting because of injustice such as this far outweighs the consequences you could throw at me". I told them that my branch and staff were pissed. They had received an email saying that they had 100% compliance from us when actually none of us agreed. I told him there on the spot that if this happened he was looking at a 100% pull out from the Instructors at this branch, all 7 of us without question.

So after much talk amongst ourselves we agreed that if this was to happen we would leave. We would "sign" the new contract. But would wait until our paychecks cleared our accounts on the 10th of June. If we told them now we were leaving, they would have time to hire and train a new Instructor. To do that WE have to pay 1,000,000 Won for the retraining fee. If we don't say anything, we were going to get paid and bounce. Leaving them with no staff and myself with my million won, problem solved. Solidarity was they key and luckily everybody agreed. And, the parents would pull out in a heartbeat if one week they saw that their kids were being taught by Instructors with 6 months+ experience who were then suddenly replaced by new ones with no experience. Koreans, especially the mothers, love stability and they would not be happy.

So I came into work yesterday awaiting the word on the decision that was supposed to be handed down that day. I spoke at a seminar for parents letting them know about the plans that we have for summer term. All the while thinking, "If Im still here to teach your kids for summer term". That went well and the parents had a good response to my ideas. People were messaging me all day asking what I knew seeing that I seemed to know the most. Finally I walked in and asked Laura what the verdict was. She said that the decision had been postponed, (I don't like the sound of postponed), but that we were safe through the Summer Term. At least that offered 4 months of stability and time to figure out what I would do should it happen.

These last few days really got me thinking. I was not ready to leave this country. I love teaching these kids. I was ready to resign and work another year for this company as HI. Mike is willing to come and work in August when Ben leaves and it was going to be good times. I told Laura I have nothing against you or who I work with, I want to stay but I don't want to be walked all over and with this I had to put my foot down. She said that she really enjoyed working with me and would hate to see me go, I felt the same way. It seems that every time I get comfortable and start to enjoy my job they find a way to throw a wrench in the works, and this time it almost brought my drive to teach to a grinding halt. So we will see what these next few months have in store. I really hope they find a solution that works for all us because I would hate to leave these kids because of screwed up business practices. The crisis has been averted for now, and only time will tell what will happen in the Fall.

A Weekend of Festivals: From Jin-do to Jongno

2009-04-27T01:28:00.006+09:00

To whom this Festival was dedicated, Grandmother Pongg and her tiger friends.

The highlight of the festival, walking across the miracle road.

Suiting up for a walk across the tide flats, I made these orange goulashes look good.

Angela, Jiren, and Myself on the Road.

My co-worker Tanya and I after partaking in the Korean Exodus.

One of the many floats for the lantern parade, a dragon no less.

A Phoenix as well, quite elaborate.

What this parade was all about, lanterns!

The start of the 2 hour Buddha's Birthday Lotus Lantern Festival.

Dragons in action, on of the many animatronic floats in the parade.

Last week was a quick week but not quick enough given that I had a lot planned for the weekend. Now that the weather has been getting nice, I have climbed out of my hole and my weekend hang out spots and have started to explore Korea again. Ill give a brief summary of the week and then on to the best part of the weekend, double festivals steeping me in Korean culture.

At the start of the week we were finally able to get the Pen Pal letters sent off to Oceano Elementary, something that I have been waiting months to do. So in all I was able to collect and grade about 27 letters in total. Everyday, the kids who sent them come in asking if they have gotten any letters back. So they are really excited for it. Nothing would have happened had I not taken the initiative and got it off the ground again. Let's see, an amazing meal in Iteawon on Wednesday, a Chicken Ceaser Sandwich with a good beer, always nice to have non-Korean food every once in a while. I have gotten really bored at work lately on Tuesdays and Thursday because I have those breaks at the start when everyone else is teaching. Going out to lunch for 45 minutes, sometimes with Michelle has become a weekly ritual. I go to the same place and order the same thing, only because its cheap and delicious. Coincidently its the same place we drink on Fridays, Kanggo's, but he gives a good deal because we are excellent patrons. It's even better when Ben's student's see us walking behind the building and go crazy, I don't have to calm the class down and it's worth it. I also just realized that I have been teaching only 20 hours a week this term, so 80 of the 120 I could be doing. But when you add in the other work I do I guess it evens out.

Friday finally came without much of a flourish because I knew I wouldn't have any plans. I purposely did not plan anything or try to find them because I was going out of town for the weekend. My friend Angela had heard about this Sea Parting Festival at the very southwest tip of Korea in Jin-do that was supposed to be famous and well attended. We had gone to get tickets on Thursday at Yongsan Station, for this trip involved a train ride, my first in Korea. But, the only tickets that would get us there on time and cheaply were at 5:20 in the morning. So early to bed Friday night after sushi and only a few drinks. It was Ben's pre-Birthday weekend but those plans were made so short notice that I didn't really feel that I was missing out on much. This festival had been in the works for weeks, so little sleep and an early morning train ride would be worth it.

So with that, I was up at 445 in the morning and at the train station shortly after. The train was awesome, but I was too tired to really stay up and enjoy it. We took one of the two high speed trains that get you to the south of Korea, the KTX. Once situated I only had to move once and I didn't sleep much. When we got to Mokp'o, stop one, it was cold and only 845, 200 miles covered in a little over 3 hours. Then it was a bunch of bus transfers, a lot of questions for both Koreans and foreigners alike but finally we got there, just before noon. Once there, there wasn't much going on yet, but we found Tanya and her friends and started to walk around. The further we walked the more stuff was happening. There were booths set up for cultural stuff, and hands on experiences, and food tasting, and bouncy slides, and more food for buying, and singing, and dancing, this was more of a festival than the Cherry Blossom one that was a bomb a few weeks ago. We walked, got food, did some stuff, but just walking around in the cold and wind was a little exhausting, especially since none of us got much sleep the night before. So after lunch we found an indoor waiting room and a bench couch and dozed. It would have been perfect except for shortly after we got there a large korean family decided to come in and eat there lunch. Not only did they have kids with them but as more Soju was consumed they got louder. Regardless sitting inside and out of the wind was nice.

The highlight of this festival was walking the "Miracle Sea Road" that opened up only a few times a year. The tide goes out at about 5 p.m. and a rainbow shaped road opens up from one beach to a beach on an island 1.8 kilometers away. Legend has it that Grandmother Pongg was separated from her family on the mainland when the village and her family fled to the island because of tiger attacks (I know right?!?), she sat on the beach and prayed to the gods to reunite her with her family. The gods answered her prayers in the form of this "Miracle Sea Road" (A mini Korean Exodus), and she was able to cross. But because of her exhaustion and waiting she only made it half-way as her family meet her from the other side. She then died in her arms but was thankful that she was able to see her family one more time. So we headed to the staircase to get down to this now open sea path to walk as far as we could, the tide went lower the next day allowing for a complete trek, but this day you got to go out at least 1 kilometer. We all bought 5,000 Won rubber goulashes and made our way through the tide flats and out on the road. There were SO many foreigners here it was crazy. But the walk was awesome, it was cool to participate in a local legend and some culture, and I got some great pictures of the coast. The weather had been crappy and windy all day, I didn't get to use the board shorts and sandals that I had brought but it did get sunny and calm when the walk started, a miracle in its own right.

The ride home was a bit arduous, we missed the last bus so we had to cab it back to the Jin-do bus terminal, 18000 Won split 5 ways(not bad), and the cab driver drove fast and furious. We then caught the last bus back to Mokp'o bus terminal where we would catch the train the next day. The bus was packed with everyone coming back from the festival so some people had to stand. The bus ride seemed so much longer than an hour but I had Juno on my iPod so I was entertained. We then found a cheap hotel near the bus terminal for the 5 of us that night. Two rooms for 75,000 wasn't bad at all, and we saved a bunch of time by coming back that night. After dinner, beer, cards, and TV, it was time to call it a night after a super long but miraculous day.

The next day, Sunday, we caught the train back to Seoul at 9:20 and were at Yongsan by noonish, nothing eventful except that I got my own seat to sprawl out on and I slept the entire way. We all went home to rest and to get ready for Korean Festival part 2. In Seoul was the kick off for Buddha's Birthday, happening downtown near the temple at Jongno. It was the Lotus Lantern Festival which had events going on all day but we got there in time to check out some of the floats and performances before the real parade started at 7 (which to me was like the Korean Rose Bowl Parade). The parade was 2 hours and it was awesome. It started with a procession of the "Royal Family" and was then followed by thousands of people carrying lanterns, walking alongside elaborate paper floats, and some performing Korean song and dance. It was worth the 2 hours that we all stood there watching it and Angela and I even walked in the parade with the foreign section for some time. An old Korean couple gave me a candle and lantern, and we bought some other handmade paper ones for only 1000 Won (about 82 cents). Afterwards we walked over to where all the floats were parked to take more pictures and also meet up with Ben's contingent. They had not eaten but whom I was with earlier had, they had all left so I joined Ben and some more of my friends for dinner at Tomatillo, a really good mexican food place that I have had 3 times before, for dinner. I actually had eaten there with my crew earlier that day so I wasn't hungry but I did get a Margarita night cap as they all ate.

Being exhausted from two days travel and just wanting to relax and watch a movie, I headed home while Ben and the others headed out elsewhere with plans that were of no interest to me. All and all it was great weekend and the travel was worth it. I love trains in any country and riding the KTX only confirmed that. I feel that I got exposed to a lot of the culture that Korea has to offer. It was also one of the last weekend trips I get to spend with my friends whose contracts are up at the end of May. This week is going to be super easy, and has been so far seeing that I wrote this blog while watching my kids take their Level-Up test. But next weekend is going put everything I have talked about so far to shame, it is so epic that I am not even going to hint as to what it could be. You will just have to wait until next week to see where I end up this time.

Don't Cry for me South Korea: Partying, Hikes, and Football

2009-04-23T22:03:00.006+09:00

Rachel, Myself, and Jiren at King's Tap in Sinchon.

FC Seoul vs. Dageu, nil-nil.

A view of the cheering section in the North from the West seats.

Namsan Mountain, N Seoul Tower, city center.

My City, My Life, Seoul, South Korea.

A view of "downtown", Gwanghwamun.

The 3 trekkers, Myself, Angela, and Jiren.

Thing to do at the top, thousands of locks as mementos.

N Seoul Tower by night.

Sparkling Korea, Seoul at night.

For some reason I was really excited to go back to back to work this week. With everything I was doing recently the days have been going by really fast and for that I have been grateful. I was still recovering from the busy weekend but after a call home for Easter Sunday I was good to go.

First, the work week. Monday was usually they day set aside for our Management Meeting with the Vice-Manager (William) and my Faculty Manager (Laura) but the last couple of weeks we hadn't had one. So I assumed we wouldn't be having one this monday "slash" I didn't want to get up early so I decided not to go. Oddly, without previous warning or a message there WAS going to be a meeting that day. So I got there at my normal time and was scolded more or less for forgetting. My excuse for not having a meeting the last couple of weeks didn't hold much water but she (Faculty Manager Laura), gave me the agenda to look over and I was supposed to message her back later with what I thought. Given all that I do and see over the course of the day I really did forget about the paper agenda. By the end of the day I forgotten all about it until I got home. Well apparently that was a bigger mistake than I first realized.

I randomly checked my work messages that night at home and saw that my FM had sent me a message, saying that she was "embarrassed" that I had forgot to send the message before I left work. So, not wanting this to get any worse I decided that the next day I would go in earlier than usual and type up my reply before my own Instructors Meeting. A done deal, right? Wrong! Not in Korea. I got to work the next day, sent the reply, had my meeting, and then was confronted by a now freshly composed yet previously sobbing FM. She called me into her office and told me that she was angry. Why? Because she had read over my reply 3 times and did not find an apology or any mention to the fact that it was late. I thought my prompt answerings would have been mention enough but apparently not. So once again I was scolded, we talked about the points, and I was told not to let it happen again. I know now that if something slips my mind it will cause great anguish and hurt to those around me and that an apology must be included in writing in the response. Way to take it personally Korea, otherwise dully noted.

The rest of the week carried on and it was not as dramatic or emotional as the start had been. There was a chicken truck chicken night, some laughs at work, but all in all the week zipped by and before I knew it, it was Friday once again. Not having any real plans they were more or less thrust on me when some of our Northern Seoul friends decided to come out to this end of town and hang out. The night started out with friends from work and then as a group we slowly migrated to to the different hang out spots around our neighborhood. Given our location the final destination ended up being Hungdea, a short 5 minute cab ride from my front door. Ending up with a different set of friends than when we started out with I called it a night around 4. The others were still out and proceeded to call and text well past the time I had made it to bed. All and all the night included less dancing than I had originally hoped for but it was still a lot of fun.

The next day I did manage to get a decent amount of sleep in order for me to head out at a decent time the next day. Stop one was a trip to Yongsan, the magical land of electronics, so a friend of mine could pick up the same camera and deal that I had gotten in February when I bought mine. She was able to score the same deal that I got; a case, extra battery, a memory chip, a tripod, AND screen protectors (something that I was not able to get), so she actually did a little bit better. After a quick trip around the computers and DS accessories we got lunch at the Thai food place in the mall and headed out.

Stop two of the day was to World Cup Stadium for my first FC Seoul game of the session. It was Football (it's not soccer to me anymore) Season again and they were playing Degeu, a city in south-central Korea. I planned to meet up with a friend from Incheon and his girlfriend to see the game. Mike was supposed to show but never ended up making it. Peter was there with Nikki and we got in line to buy tickets. Before I was able to buy my tickets this Korean guy come up to me and gave me two free tickets for my friend and I to the West Section (20,000 Won seats!), Peter had already gotten his cheap North Section tickets where the fan cheering action was so we decided to meet up after the game. It was a good game but it ended in a draw, nil-nil. From there it was off to Sinchon once again to show Peter and Nikki where a bar was that was going to be playing a huge Premier League Football match, Arsenal vs. Chelsea. Pete being a huge Arsenal fan was going to say up to watch the game live in Seoul. After we showed them them the way it was off to Hungdae once again to a Chezch restaurant, Castle Praha, for a hearty meal and some good beer. We meet the rest of the crew for that night there, more friends from work and also our English speaking teller from our local back and her friend.

After that we headed back to Kings Tap, where the Arsenal vs. Chelsea game was to meet up with Pete once again. Before the game it was many cheap cocktails, darts, shuffle board, and witless banter, all that coupled with good music (but no where to dance), it soon was 1:30 in the morning. That was the start time for the game. It was a great game that I watched in gross fascination all the while wishing I was born in the UK. Listening to all the British accents around me felt like I was in London, if only. But Arsenal lost, Pete was mildly put off and the night ended at 3. The grandiose plans to go to an amusement park, Everland, just outside of Seoul had fallen through but new plans were in place to go hiking the next day. The hour of departure was somewhat earlier than I had wanted but a 12:15 meeting time wasn't to bad I guess.

My alarm went off at the appropriate time to get ready and I did not want to move. Hedging a bet that everybody else also felt the same way, I didn't make any calls to see what the others were up to. Thankfully I called their bluff and they also had no intention of getting up at 11:30. So I slept and dozed in bed till 3 before actually starting my day. But after a delicious tonkas sampler at the local Korean restaurant I was ready for our hike and I meet up with my other two friends Jiren and Angela. So we trekked out to Namsan Mountain, the highest point in metro Seoul atop which stands the highest tower in Korea, N Seoul Tower. Forbidden to take the cable car, we hiked up the thousands of stairs and meters of inclined pathways to get to the top. The hike was great but it made me realize how out of shape I was. Once at the top we enjoyed some entertainment, ice cream, coffee, and then walked down after dark to take pictures of the city at night. The hike up and own allows for great pans of the city, it really helps to put things into perspective when you live in just one small section of a sprawling metropolis. Also the weather that day was perfect and I was in shorts and a t-shirt until 11 that night.

The weekend ended with a trip to HomePlus (Korean Target and so much more), to try and find some pants and stuff to wear seeing that my clothes were starting to wear out a bit. A pair of pants and a cheap dress shirt were found, much to my delight, as was a cheap bottle of red wine. Despite the day not starting until the late afternoon I would call it a success. All that I wanted to do was accomplished and I was ready to start another week of work. The end of Week 34 held some promising prospects for adventure, some of which have been finalized. But one must wait till next week to find out where in Korea I will end up next.

Spring in Seoul: Its All Down Hill From Here. . .

2009-04-15T22:06:00.006+09:00

The Han River at the bike trail in all its finest.

Ellie and I starting our evening at the Intercontinental Wine Bar Buffet in Gangnam, Cheers!

One of the first stops, Club O.I. with Darcie, Ellie, Julia, and Zach.

Our second stop, Club Envy with quite and International Crew: Australian, Scottish, Korean, Mid-West, and West Coast.

A multicolored Cherry Tree in full bloom at Yonsei University (the less people place)

Artistic picture juxtaposing sculpture and blossoms.

Cherry Trees in bloom lining the main avenue through the University.

Just another random picture with an Asian dragon statue.

Looking down towards Sinchon from the top of the University.

So this last week was the first time in a LONG time that the weather started to feel more like Spring and less like the bitter winter I had to endure. The temperatures finally got into the high 60's and low 70's so I finally felt the need to wear sunglasses on my walk to work and actually get up and do something with my morning instead of sleeping in. So a few times this week I took the initiative and got up and out to enjoy the morning in shorts before I was forced to don pants and work with the children.

Work was work, meetings, babblings, sitting at my computer for hours making something out of nothing. Tuesday morning I got up and out and decided to start my day with a Starbucks (always a good day when that happens) and listened to music while walking around my neighborhood. Thursday however was a planned excursion to walk to the river using a street that we walked by everyday but have never been down. The river is really only about a mile or less from my apartment. So getting out a little earlier than normal Ben and I walked through Mapo and down to the river before work. The weather was perfect, a little hazy, it was Holy Thursday, and there was really nothing ahead of me in my work day. The river was nothing really special. Its pretty wide, a stagnant body of water that cuts this huge metropolis in half, no really boat traffic thanks to North Korea but its still a major part of the city. It was a great walk and an good excuse to get out of the house for a change, and that night was enjoyed with staff and instructors from work. A little team bonding with food and drink.

The weekend was well, interesting to say the least. A lot happened in only a few days and it felt like I got a lot accomplished in a time that usually goes by too quickly. Friday night was another local night hanging out with staff from work. Later we were joined by the other CDI crew at our regular watering hole. It wasn't very eventful except for the fact that I was starving by the time work was done and on top of that I couldn't eat meat due to the fact that it was Good Friday. Thankfully the menu there offered other choices that I was able to eat given the religious restrictions. Good Friday also brought along another anniversary of great importance to myself. As of Good Friday I was at the half way point of my CDI April contract, it had been 7 and a half months since I have got here and I now have 7 and a half to go. I had peaked and now with my remaining months I really have to start to think about what I am going come the end of November.

Saturday was a full day even though I did not start it until 2:30 that afternoon. It was nice to sleep in and not worry about getting up at a certain time for work. But that afternoon I walked all around Sinchon with my CDI friend Jiren. I needed a lot of random little things for my place and since payday was the day before I now had money again to spend, seeing that I was down to the wire due to the laptop purchase last month. The big ticket item of the day was the suit that I got hemmed and tailored for 100,000 Won. The real issue I was having was finding something in my size. I didn't want to pay a fortune yet on a nice tailored suit. But this fit the bill, a pair of pants that fit, and a jacket whose arms had to be taken out an inch to come close to being long enough. Nonetheless, it was black and it worked. A done deal.

That night I got to wear the jacket out to celebrate a friends birthday at one of the nicest hotels in Gangnam, the financial district of Seoul. It was in the lounge that included an all you can drink wine bar and finger foods for only 23,000 Won. It only lasted until 9 but it was a great way to start the night. On top of that I got to hang out with friends that I had not seen in a really long time. No night would be complete without it ending at Hungdae and that is where our group ended up. The good thing was its on my side of town. Also there is something for everybody seeing that it is a major party district in Seoul. So after much club hopping and dancing it was soon dawn, literally. When I got out of the taxi the sun was starting to rise and the glow of dawn could be seen lighting up the neighborhood, it was 6a.m. The first time in a long time that I was out that late.

The start of my Sunday and Easter came earlier than I had wanted it to but there was still time left in my weekend to get some more things checked off my list. For a while now we had been hearing that this was the last weekend of the Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival along the south side of the Han River. It was a park in October, that has since been ripped up, and will soon be a premier outdoor recreation area for the people of the city. Now it is just dirt and construction fences. We walked to the park from my apartment, a good mile and a half I would say only to find that the festival wasn't much of a festival at all. There were a lot of people just walking around and eating lunch on dirt patches. The Cherry Blossoms were on the street and not that aesthetically pleasing. There was a whole mess of Koreans and the subway was packed. There were no booths, or music, or cherry flavored snacks and confections so it my book it wasn't much of a festival at all. So shortly after we got there it was decided that there was nothing to do here, but that better blossoms were to be found elsewhere.

So after a somewhat roundabout subway ride to avoid the crowds we ended up at Sinchon, just down the street and proceeded to Yonsei University just behind the rotary. Even for Easter there were a lot of people out and about. The walk there and up to the University was really nice. It was like being on campus again, except the buildings were kinda futuristic and Korean. The buildings at the top of the hill looked like something out of an Ivy League school setting. But here were many cherry blossoms and way less people. It was nice to be in an open space with grass and trees that was not chocked off by the city. But by staying local and in the neighborhood I kept my own personal promise and was able to make it to Easter Mass that night with a friend in tow. It was well attended, the choir could use some work but it was good to go to Mass on Easter.

Going to Mass I really felt like I got the most out of my weekend, it was great way to end it all. Well, the real icing on the cake was the fact that I had some pretty decent Mexican Food at Across the Border with friends in Sinchon. Out of all the mexican food I have tried, believe me I have been on a constant search since I got here, this was the most "commercialized" Mexican Food, like El Torito or Chevy's, that I have found and it was pretty damn good except it came at a price. With that, the weekend was over and half way through this week already I hope the weather holds out as well as the fun that can be had in shorts and no more jackets.

New Teachings and the East Coast

2009-04-10T00:13:00.005+09:00

Lina, Eunice, and I at Lina's going away party.

The Magnificent Mapo 3, My teaching team at CDI April, Stephanie, Myself, and Eunice.

Myself and Angela on the East Coast of Korea, it look so much like home.

Angela and I with the boys that we befriended while eating free fish.

The green line down the center of the table is the worlds longest kimbap.

Myself, Jiren, Megan, and Angela after the kimbap rolling at the Festival.

The four of us on the boat ride out into the harbor.

A view of the coastline from the boat ride in the harbor.

The crab that made this festival, each of us got one.

A silhouette shot of us at the port at sunset.

On the valley hike in the middle of the river.

Looking up the valley that we were hiking into, so much scenery!

So the first week in April welcomed in some new beginnings on all fronts. Some were at school and others involved my quest to see more of Korea which I am staring to fall more in love with. I am starting to feel more and more like a manager at my school and I now have the feeling that I am actually in charge of something. Its been fun training and coming up with new ideas for my staff. I don't mind the meetings and the work and as of right now I am having a blast at having a job. It also feels good to be appreciated for what I have done so far.

FIrst off, things at school have been changed up a bit and I am no longer teaching the same thing over and over like I have been for over the last 6 months. Before it was article reading, dialogue practice, storyboard summary, and acting memorization day in and day out. That was the role of the speaking teacher ever since I have started this job. Now, the jobs have been switched up for both the Korean instructors as well as the Speaking instructors. Now I am teaching the reading section, so it adds a little more spice to my day and breaks of the monotony of what was. I now deal with comprehension, plot summaries, and story mapping. So every other class I do this new reading thing. The other half I do what I have been doing since I got here. Thankfully this was seen as a welcome change and all the instructors have taken to it kindly. After the training and all the mock teaching that I conducted with my staff I had faith that this would go well. After mapping out the new schedule which has changed up just a bit, I have really enjoyed this new way of teaching. The main issue up till now has been time management for the new sections but I think in time this will be remedied.

With change came other changes that were harder to handle. The business manager, Lina, that Ben and I have been working with since we got here left CDI April for another job. She didn't speak much English but she was awesome to work with. She was already ready help, knew computers and graphics inside and out, and was always bringing treats and things into the classrooms for all the instructors. So Friday was her last day and CDI did it right and threw a going away party for her that included all you can eat side dishes and all you could drink beer paid for kindly by our work. It was great having the whole staff there, literally everybody, eating, drinking, and bonding. Too bad someone has to leave in order for this to happen but I think it should happen more often. But earlier in the week when I found out that she was leaving I thought that for all that she did for us we should get her a gift from the instructors. So heading down to my favorite place in the world besides the beach, I bought an awesome assortment of gifts from my neighborhood Starbucks. She had expressed interest in a tumbler, but I went a step further and picked up that, a mug, coffee, and tea to be given from all of us. That night at the dinner we gave her the gift as well as a giant hand made card signed from all of us thanking her for the work that she had done over the last 7 months. As HI, I got to give the speech before the gift and the card were given to her. I'll never turn down an opportunity to speak in public. But afterwards we were talking in small groups with whoever was sitting around us. Translated through my co-teacher Eunice, she told me that I as doing a great job as an instructor and as HI. Also, from how she has seen me interact with the kids that I would also make a great father. That really made my night, along with the other compliments I had gotten from my staff and even my boss on my job performance I really felt that the job I was doing was worth all the pain and hardship it sometimes entailed.

Needless to say the night did not end there, but rather about 3 hours later at 2 in the morning after a trip to Kangco's with the more dedicated staff. Normally that would not have been a problem but seeing that I had to be up 4 hours later it kinda was. Over a month ago I booked yet another trip with Adventure Korea for a Snow Crab Festival that was being held on the East Coast of Korea in Uljin. So at Deaheung Station at 6:40, and on the bus by 7:05 I was off to uncharted portions of the Korean Peninsula. What I did not know was that this was going to be a 6 hour bus ride, but thankfully given my tired and somewhat hungover state this was just fine. I slept pretty much the entire way except for the rest stops for the bathroom and lunch. The best part of the ride was the last rest stop for lunch when I woke up and got ready to get off the bus. I had been asleep and was unaware of my surroundings until I actually stepped off the bus. Looking to the left was a sight to behold. Stretched out before me was the Sea of Japan (The" East Sea" to Koreans), along with white sand beaches and miles of coastline. Being here felt like home, the temperature was perfect and you could smell the salt in the air, for all I knew it could have been any part of the California Coast that I had left not too long ago.

It wasn't too much further to the actually festival. Once there it was an afternoon packed with fun and good memories. We were shown the Snow Crab showcase in which we were able to pick up crabs from a giant tank and take pictures with them. From there we headed to the main stage, shown as a meeting point, and for an hour afterwards we were able to wander around. Being white and tall, I was called over to a tent where a family was catching and preparing fish. This whole festival was right in the port on the water so everything was oceanic and fresh. They allowed us to eat raw fish and BBQ fish fillets for free as we talked with the 5 boys that were part of the family and wanted to know all about us in their limited English. A forgotten point, I went to this festival with 3 other CDI friends, Angela, Megan, and Jiren.

After much fish and more Korean/English questions we headed back to the main stage to participate in the making of the world's largest Kimbap 김 밥 (Korean Sushi). It had to be over 300 yards long and every year it held the Guinness Record for such an item. We were given the dried seaweed, the rice, and all the fixings and before we knew it we were rolling kimbap and the end result was a long great snake of Korean sushi. We all held it up, pictures were taken, and then it was cut up into thousands of pieces and given all to all those that were in the vicinity and in attendance of this record breaking feat. No kimbap and victory would be complete without beer and the fact that it was served in crab head dishes.

The day also included a boat ride out into the harbor. Once we pulled away from the dock, looking south along the coastline really hit home because it looked like home. After that it was to a dining room for a "tasting" of the crab that this festival was for. Tasting in my mind screamed Costco sample in a cup. Much to my surprise, a tasting was an entire snow crab for each person. With no spices, or butter, or garlic to lather on the meat we were just given the crab and that was really all you needed. It was delicious and I ate my fill. Megan, Angela, and Jiren went to town on the crab heads that were not eaten by those that did not eat all the crab. They said that I was missing out on the head meat and the brains but I begged to differ and I was content with the legs and claws I had eaten.

The night ended with the opening ceremonies which included hip-hip dancing, speeches, and fireworks. We didn't stay for the entire ceremony and about an hour in we headed back to the bus to our accommodations. The itinerary said that we were staying at a spa, four to a room. Slightly lied to it was a spa but we got there too late to partake. That and it was 7 to our room. But there were good people who brought catch phrase. Before we knew it our room was full and we had 14 people from all over the world playing one of the best group games ever. The beer and energy ran out around midnight and knowing that we had to be up at 7 for part two of the trip we went to bed, on thick mats on the floor, in one of the more famous Spa areas in Korea not knowing how good it really was.

Day two, we were up at 7, and after a meager breakfast of two pieces of jellied toast and 4 ounces of coffee we were back on the bus to our hiking area. Once there I sort of regretted not wearing shorts because the weather was so nice. But the hike was an awesome escape from the city. It was in a beautiful river valley that we followed for a good two hours and then turned back. Apparently we were not walking fast enough so we didn't make it as far as the guide wanted us to but it was nice to be in nature and hear the running water of a clear mountain stream. I took many a picture along the way, even some underwater given the capability of my camera. Had some good conversations with those that we were hiking with, saw some interesting and nature-tastic things that have been absent from my life as of recently and then it was time to head back home.

The bus ride home was also a 6 hour odessy that included 3 stops this time. We left the wilderness valley hiking area around noon and got back to our stop in Seoul around 6:40. We watched two full movies, Dream Girls (not my top pick for a bus movie but there was no vote), and The Curious Life of Benjamin Buttons (interesting to say the least). I was so ready to be off the bus by the time we got back to Seoul. It was a long weekend and a lot of bus riding but also fun and culturally enriching. No weekend would be complete without a Sunday night fired chicken dinner at Sogang Chicken, just down the way from my apartment. It was a good feast and after a day of hiking and fresh air and the fact that the weather was taking a turn for the better I was ready to conquer week 32 with a vengeance. Some things have occurred with even better prospects for a good read on the horizon so stay tuned for next weeks chapter.

8 Months and Still Here Update

2009-04-03T10:22:00.004+09:00

I know I have been getting messages wondering where I have been, Im not dead, just busy and slightly unmotivated. It has been a while since my last post. The DMZ blog has been sitting waiting to be published for weeks now and I just got around to finishing it last night. Typing it out made me realize how much I do miss my weekly blog updates so now I promise I will stay on track and keep my global audience informed.

Stealing an idea from a friend (Thanks Stephanie), I will catch all of you up with short blurbs regarding the happenings of the last month. Then on Monday I will get back to my regular weekly updates. The last major thing to occur was blogged in detail, my trip to the DMZ on February 22nd, that was Week 25 and we are now in Week 31. So. . .

Week 26- Was the last week of the term at CDI April so in short the kids didn't care enough to pay full attention seeing that most of them were about to level up. I am sure there were meetings and things I had to do that I shouldn't have because that is how my life at work had been going at the time. The last two days of the week at school I took a lot of pictures of my Winter Term Classes. As for review tests and teaching, I think I cared as much as the kids so we didn't do much. That Friday was the end of term dinner for both CDI and CDI April employes. The other CDI had ended a week earlier but they waited for us. It was at an outdoor Korean Galbi Place (Korean BBQ). There was a lot of food, a lot of fun, many pictures that will never be published, and the night ended at a Norebong (Karaoke) with about 12 of us until 4 in the morning. It was a long late night but worth it. The rest of the weekend I spent in Incheon. MIke just wanted to hang out and I managed to cook a meatloaf in his toaster over. A major success that was cheered with a bottle of wine each. The rest of the weekend we just looked around his area and found some stuff that not even he knew was there.

Week 27- Was the first week of the new term, Spring Term, at work. We had a sub come in who helped teach while we waited for our permanent instructor to finish training. So there was a lot of question answering, learning new names, and finding out who left us. But with this new term we were at 357, a big jump from the 178 that we started with. A new schedule was also started as well. 7 classes on MWF and still 6 on TTH. But as HI I also got my own new schedule and I don't have to start teaching until 520 on TTH so I can use the first 3 hours for "management duties". The weekend consisted of a few outings. Nothing special, just going to some of the good restaurants in Mapo, walking around the area and finding out more about the neighborhood I live in and another trip to HO bar to meet up with a party in progress. The party continued on elsewhere but a few of my friends and I did our own thing and avoided utter debauchery.

Week 28- Was payday week for March. A week that I was really looking forward to because as you know money burns a whole in my pocket. I can't think of much that happened during the week. Its still too cold to go out on weeknights and work was just the same old same old. Friday night Mike came into town and he hung out in Seoul for the weekend. We invited our new speaking teacher out with us for a time and showed her what Kangco's was all about. We went down to Sinchon to see her new flat. MIke and I ended up getting McDonalds and heading to another bar before retiring to my place. Saturday we took the subway out to East Seoul and walked around the Olympic Complex. It was not as impressive as I thought it was going to be but it was till cool to the Olympic rings all over everything. That night we meet up with some of my CDI friends who had friends from San Francisco in town and we went out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Hungdea. The night included but was not limited too Dancing, Guinness, free candy, free shots, and a late night snack at Mapo Mandu. Sunday was day that I had been waiting for. Mike left early in the afternoon for he had to get back and type up lesson plans. I however headed to Yongsan with Angela and Jiren, there we met Michelle (one of our Korean co-teachers) and she helped me and Jiren buy new computers. My old laptop was slowing dying so I am now the proud owner of a brand new MacBook! I love it and despite the fact that Im kinda brooke I don't regret the purchase.

Week 29- Even though I had my new laptop to play with, this week still managed to be even more eventful. It was PTA time once again at CDI April so that meant early mornings and long days. However a new twist was thrown into this week when Tanya started teaching with us as our new Speaking teacher, Jina (the sub) left, and I managed to get food poisoning (All this happening on Monday). Work ordered me a sandwich in the morning and by 630 I was throwing up in the bathroom. I had Jina teach my last two classes and I went home early to crawl into bed and die. It was only 24 hours that I felt like crap and I was at work the next day but they wanted to take me to the hospital. All night I had a fever, the chills, and stomach cramps and my co-teacher and boss kept texting me to see if I was ok while I wanted to do was sleep. But I prevailed and taught the rest of the week. St. Patrick's Day was uneventful for I was still not feeling well enough to go out, so I watched Boondock Saints at my apartment with Ben. I tried Bennigan's for the first time (a Mid-West/East Coast thing I assume) and spent the rest of the week recovering. Friday night I didn't go out because I had training the next day for program changes at April. Saturday morning I was in East Seoul again for training and I had Java City coffee before it started, Java City mind you is all over Sac State Campus and started by a Sac State Alum so it was really weird to see it in Korea. That night I headed back to Gangnam to go to the Casino, get some free food, lose a little bit of money and finally head to an all-you-could-drink wine bar for 12,000 Won for a friend of a friend's birthday. It was raining really hard that night so after the wine was gone so were we. The next day I spent recovering at the Termedan Spa in Icheon, an hour outside of Seoul and ended the weekend with some delicious fried chicken with my Spa mates (CDI People) and their friends who were visiting from San Fran.

Week 30-During the week I had to hold workshops for training all the instructors regarding the changes that I went to training for that last weekend. In short we would all be teaching parts of the book that we previously hadn't so we had to learn how to do it so we could start the following week. I got to use slides and handouts and explain things and guide and lead. So for the first time I really felt like I was in charge of something as the Head Instructor. Overall the response was good and not much else happened with work over the course of the week. Earlier in the week I had made plans to go to Incheon and hang out with Mike and some of his friends. So after work on Friday I left Seoul by bus and escaped to Incheon to get away from the city and those it contained. Its good to have a somewhat distant place to escape to where the chance of running into somewhere you know, unless by choice, is slim to none. That night Mike and I went to a few bars. Saturday we headed out to meet up with our British friend Pete and hung around his neighborhood. We hiked, walked, ate, played various sports with the local Korean kids at an outdoor sports complex that included Basketball (which I hadn't played in a long time but my shoot wasn't that bad), and touch rugby, which was a first. The night included good food and 노래봉 or Noreabong or Karaoke. Picking the classics and then some not so well known ones it was a good time. Im sure the Koreans who watched the three of us singing in our room got a kick out of the crazy foreigners. After a night on the floor it was back to Mike's area for some real Subway sandwiches, a few movies, and a rest. I went with him to Homeplus before I left and scored a toaster oven for only 25,000, and since I put it on my credit card, only $20! So now I can make real food and not just stove top food all the time. After lugging my toaster oven and my belongings on buses, subways, and taxis, I got back to Seoul on Sunday ready for Week 31 and the first days of April.

Ok, the "missing weeks" update is complete. I have more to say regarding Week 31 but since that was only the last week I will do a separate normal update in the coming days (including pictures). Thank you for baring with me while I caught up on my happenings here in Korea. The lack of postings has been no fault but my own and I promise it wont happen again. I know I have an audience out there who enjoy these ramblings and my neglect will also make it harder to write my book when I am done. So until next time, Stay classy California and thanks for stopping by.

44km to North Korea- The DMZ

2009-02-26T22:31:00.005+09:00

Me conducting the 1st ever April Speech Contest, to early and to few students.

Standing with the Freedom Bridge to North Korea in the background.

Mike and I at the entrance fence to the Freedom Bridge, prayers and well wishes were left on the fence.

Korean Statues hard at work guarding the Imjingak complex.

It was said this train is ready to ride the rails of freedom to North Korea, but all it can do now is wait.

The U.S. memorial to Freedom and Unification, each base had Seal of one of the 50 states.

Everybody else was trying to push it together, the opportunity to oppose was just to great.

Mike and I standing with the South Korea guard at the entrance to the Dorsan Station platform.

Myself with my newest passport stamp in front of the boarding area to Pyeongyang.

Pyeongyang or Seoul? The choice is yours, almost. . .

The week after the 15th carried on without much incident. So much so that I really can't remember much that happened during the week except the fact that it was the second to last week before the term was out and that I took a lot of pictures of my kids in class to remember the Winter Term.

For the first time in a long time I actually went out on a week night. The reason as of late has been because it's been too cold to venture out after dark. The weather has been trying to get nicer but its hit or miss these days. It is nothing like the bitter cold of January in which the days never really got out of the teens. But recently there have been some really nice days. Nice meaning the the days stayed in the high 40's or low 50's and the nights didn't get much colder than freezing. I am still having to wear pants all the time when I go out on the weekends and I never leave my coat behind, so I am not quite out of the grip of winter yet but I can feel it coming.

For this occasion I left right after work with Ben to meet some friends in Gangnam, in Southeast Seoul. They have had the ritual of going to a particular bar every Thursday for the last couple of months and we got invited to join, despite the cold and the fact that it was snowing a little I really didn't have an excuse not to go out. Now that intensives were over I got to sleep in until noon again if needed. It was a fun night out needless to say that ended a little to late but I had plenty of time to recover. Its always easier to bounce back from nights like that when you can go to Mapo Mandu and get dumplings at all hours of the night.

Im pretty sure that Friday had a meeting thrown in there somewhere, because that is how my life at work has been going. We have meetings, and even meetings about meetings. CDI is so weird, I had no idea that I would be working for a major company when I moved here but that is definitely what I am doing now. I am part of the corporate structure of the ESL business in Korea. So with a corporation comes a methodology and a practice that must be followed, and I being middle management have to learn all about it and then implement it. But at the end of all this I had something to look forward to, my old roommate and friend living in Incheon was coming into town that night to spend a weekend in Seoul. Not only is Mike a link back to home, but it also allows me to interact with someone that I have known longer than 6 months, which is nice. So in between meetings and planning I ran and got him at the station and brought him back to the school for a short time before we headed out. Of course I was not allowed to leave until I "meet" with the other instructors to discuss the criteria for the Speech Contest that was to be held the next day. So after a few quick scribbles on the board I said I would deal with it tomorrow and off we went.

We didn't have to go far, because Kangco's was just behind work and that is as far as we had to walk. Michelle was in tow as well and Ben had left earlier to meet up with his Grandparents that had come into town. So before we knew it, we were joined by other CDI staff and instructors. It didn't take many people to fill up this small establishment but it was a packed house. This was just one of the first stops for the evening. But here I was finally able to introduce the "Roommate Friend From Incheon", to all my Mapo friends. Right off the bat Michelle understood why he was my friend and accused the both of us of being "Californias". We spent some time there, then to Hongdae, of course, to club OI to continue the party for a few of the consultants that we were with who were leaving. The majority of us were there no longer than 15 minutes until the entire party except for about 7 of us decided to stay. Here the revelry continue for sometime, a few more drinks, some Hookah, and a ceremonial Won burning, more a a symbolic gesture of our currency exchange going up in smoke. Deciding that we wanted a little more action 5 of us continued on to Ho Bar V (No, not action like that, its just the name of a chain of bars in this area, by all accounts they are ho-less for the most part). There was some good dance music and some cheap beers but the night was pressing on towards 3 in the morning and I had to get up, along with Mike, for the Speech Contest at my school. So no late night would be complete without at trip to Mapo Mandu with our remaining contingent and then finally off to bed.

It was not too early of a morning but I did feel the effects of the past two days when I got up at 9ish to start the day. Mike and I had to be at my school by 1030 because the contest started at 11. I found a pre-made speech grading criteria form online, changed a few things and printed it out as my own, thus saving me the trouble of making my own. WIth that and a few quick introductions, mainly the students meeting Mike. The ill prepared contest was off and running. Only 12 students participated and it took all but an hour and a half but the kids who did do it were super cute. They all talked about how much they loved their families, especially their brothers and sisters. One of my favorite students were there, so it was fun to see them on a non-school day, the interaction is so different. It went well, and after deciding the winner, my favorite student coming in third, they ordered lunch for us and we were free to continue our weekend.

Saturday day was just a lot of Seoul sightseeing and subway traveling. After getting to Jonggak Station, I showed Mike the bookstore in the underground that is even better than Kyobo, dare I say. They have so much more stuff than just books; cafes, stationary, school supplies, electronics, toys, and other things and its much less crowded than Kyobo. I spent more money on things for my kids as well as a few other things that caught my eye, like cheap pens and notebooks. Then another lunch was had at Tomatillo, the Mexican food place that is almost like Chipotle but not as good, decent however for Mexican food in Korea. Then to Yongsan to pick up a 10,000 jacket for Mike, which they still had surprisingly. I also saw one of my students which was a shock, I had just said that I never saw any of them, even in the neighborhood. **Time Warp**

Sunday was all DMZ all day long. Mike and I had to get up kinda early to get to the subway stop on time to catch the buses for the tour. All was going well until it was time to catch a cab, which took longer than usual, but nonetheless we got there on time and boarded the bus. There were quite a lot of people who were getting ready to go on this trip, rightfully so, seeing that it was a must do for any foriegner who is teaching in Korea. The bus ride did not take long, an odd feeling seeing that Seoul is really only 36 miles from the closest point to the border. As we got closer, the bank along the coast was lined with barbed wire and gun outposts. They made it clear that we were now heading towards the most heavily guarded boarder in the world.

The first stop was Imjingak, a unification village that was set up to commemerate peace and freedom for both sides of the boarder. There were various monuments and memorials that had been set up all through the area. As well as a Bell of Peace, a memorial for Korean soldiers with rocks from every major battlefield in recent history, and a Peace Center with World Flags from all over the world with the Seals of the 50 States at the base of each of them. The main thing to look at was the "Freedom Bridge" that they used to bring prisoners of war over after the war had ended. Its no longer in use now but its one of the last rail links into North Korea.

The next stop was actually inside the Civilian Control Line. We had to cross a barricaded bridge and a South Korean Army officer escorted the bus across and checked all our passports as we made it over. From here on in, we were closest to the DMZ that most civilians can get without actually crossing. We stopped for lunch that was provided and then went on to the different points of the day. The first being the 3rd Tunnel Complex. Now a tourist attraction, the 3rd tunnel was found in 1978, it was also the closest tunnel to Seoul at only 58km, or 36 miles from the outskirts of the city. It is now sealed off and used as an attraction to show how serious North Korea was considering invading the South. It is over a kilometer and a half long, over 6 feet high, and had the ability to pass 30,000 fully armed North Korean soldiers through its walls every hour. We also watched a documentary/propagada film there showing that South Korea really does want a unified Korea. A museum also showed many things collected from the tunnel when it was discovered as well as other information from the DMZ. Making the long trek in and out with only a few bumps on the head through a hard hat, it was worth walking to the end and seeing the elaborate plan to take over South Korea by the North Koreas.

The next couple of stops allowed for an actual view into North Korea and the DMZ itself. The actual border lies at the middle of a 2 km buffer zone, a kilometer on each side of the border for each country. Because this is a No-man's-land it is the largest area of preserved wilderness in the world because nothing inhabits it besides animals and plants. It was pretty hazy the day we went but we were able to see into North Korea and at the same time wondering what lay beyond the mist. The most notable feature at Dora Observatory was the two flag poles that North Korea and South Korea were building as a competition. South Korea found it stupid to continue, so North Korea's is taller. They had coin operated binoclars set up to look into North Korea but there was a line you had to stand behind to take pictures which was a good 5 or 6 yards back from the edge of the observatory.

The last stop on the tour was Dorsan Station. This is the last station that the train stops at in South Korea before it heads into North Korea. The line was opened and joined with North Korea a few years back. But the train does not go into North Korea, it stops and turns around to head back to Seoul. Its more of a symbolic gesture now but in the future it can be used as a direct rail link to North Korea and ultimately beyond. If and when the train can run into North Korea, it has access to rail lines that would allow you to take a train from Seoul all the way to London if you so pleased. There was not much to see and a train did arrive while we were there but the real highlight was the fact that you could get a passport stamp for the station seeing that it was the last International Departure point from South Korea. I stamped the "ticket" that you were given to see the platform and also my passport, so we'll see what kind of trouble I get into with immigration when I try to get back into the US.

At this point it had been a long day and we headed back to Seoul. Thankfully the bus drops off in a part of Seoul that has a lot of food options so afterwards MIke, myself, and a few of his friends headed out for dinner. After Indian food Mike and I headed back to my place so he could get all his stuff and head back to Incheon. Im really glad I went on this trip and I would go again. There are other trips that can be booked, ones that include a trip to the UN protected conference center inside the DMZ where they hold the 6 party talks between the two nations. This will be done for sure when the weather gets nicer. Until then time for a massive update.

Won: It Burns A Hole In My Pocket

2009-02-15T22:53:00.005+09:00

First picture on my new camera, Angela and Jiren also bought the Nintendo DS's with me, the trio was formed.

This is what 472,000 Won ($340) can buy you in Korea, gotta love electronics and cheap deals.

Nayoung (doing magic?), Ellie, and I at the Magic Show.

Me and the birthday girl, Darcie, strike a pose.

Angela, Jiren, Megan, James, and I at the Termeden Resort in Icheon (not Incheon, different place)

Enjoying the body jets and my waterproof camera.

My Sprout 2 class, one of my smartest classes.

In Insa-dong drinking Green Tea Korean style.

The art of pouring tea with a authentic Korean style tea set.

Sporting the new 10,000 Won ($7) jacket, complete with fur on the hood.

So these last two weeks since I have gotten back from Thailand have been pretty uneventful so I am going to condense them into one blog. The highlight I guess you can say of these previous weeks was the fact that I went on this vacation and spent all this money only to come home and get paid again, thus having more money. Its the crazy cycle, earning a steady income every month, but I have quickly gotten used to it.

The first week that I was back was kinda tough. Monday actually didn't go nearly as bad as I thought it would seeing that I hardly got any sleep on the flight, the subway, or the 3 hours before I was supposed to work. When I came back, I was tan (the kids asked me in the best English as they could and the Korean teachers in Korean why I had changed color), somewhat refreshed, and the sad thing was it felt like I had never left. The only redeeming part of the first two days of that week was the fact that it was once again time to administer the level up tests, so that means for half they day I got to sit in class and watch the kids take the test while I played around on my computer and got other stuff done. But come Tuesday the travel finally hit me, I was pretty tired but I managed to make it through not only the day but the week. And like nothing had changed on Friday I headed to Kangco's with Ben and Michelle only to be joined later by the rest of the CDI crew with whom we hung out until closing at 2.

As mentioned before in the Thailand Tales, I had my camera stolen while I was on the trip. So all week I was looking forward to going to Yongsan to buy a new camera with all the money that I still had left over from the last month. I had my heart set on the same brand that I had before, a Fuji, and when Ben's brother Marc was here he bought a really nice one that I was going to get as well. So with 200,000 Won cash in hand (you get a better deal with cash and its easier to knock down the price if you only have "so much"), we set out to Yongsan, a group of 6, to not only buy a camera for myself but for many purchases and inquires that people had that day. Walking to a few different stalls in the mall I found that the camera I wanted was only left in pink. They wanted to sell me the the next model up for 230,000. But even then they didn't want me to buy a Japanese camera and before I knew it they were showing me an Olympus. As he started to show me the features and explain it more and more it grew on me. It was shockproof from a 4 foot drop, waterproof for 10 feet (as in capable of taking underwater pictures), and freezeproof down to 14 degrees. It had all these cool recording and picture taking features and he was asking 230,000 for it. But then I tried to knock down the price and also add in more accessories that people usually got when they bought a camera from this place. So after asking and persisting, for 250,000 Won ($180), it got the camera, a carrying case, a 2GB memory chip, a tripod, and an extra battery. Quite a deal for only 30,000 Won more than the asking price. The suggested retail price on the Olympus website was $250 for the camera alone. But my day was not done.

My other friends had come looking to buy a Nintendo DS because the price had just dropped. So after going with Angela to see what she got, my other friend Jerin and myself caved and impulsively bought one too for the same deal. So I am also now the proud owner of a white Nintendo DS that came with headphones, scratch proof screen film, a scratch proof case, a USB uploader drive, and an R4 cartridge that came pre-downloaded with about 40 games (a game individually back home can be anywhere from $15 to $40) for only 180,000 Won ($130). Alone the DS back home costs the same price without all the extras, so another great deal. I also picked up a much needed web cam for 30,000 that ended up not working but that was remedied this weekend.

That night I got to try out the camera for the first time at the magic show birthday party that I went to for two of my friends. It was a great show with all you can drink cocktails for 3 hours for only 30,000. The night continued in Hungdae and I ended back up in Nowon, an hour away from where I live. The next day I headed back home so I could meet up with my CDI friends who were planning on going to a Spa Resort for the afternoon in Icheon, about an hour outside the city by bus. Since we were there later in the day we got a discount and relaxed in the hot tuns, indoor pools, saunas, and baths for only 18,000. With all the water around I also got to try out the underwater features of my camera, it actually worked! The bus tickets were cheap too, only 5,000 Won each way (the trip made short because since 3 of us had our DS's with us we were able to link up and play games wirelesses while siting in different parts of the bus). The had many other cools things to do at the resort that closed down at 6 so we were not able to take advantage of them. But for the price to get in and how easy it is to get there it will be worth going back there a second time. So with that adventure I got back into town around 11, grabbed dinner with those who went, and then headed home to go to bed.

The highlight of this last work week was that I had to be up at 8 on Monday so I could go to an HI training before work, an hour or so subway ride from my side of town. That day I was doing work related things for over 12 hours and by the time the day was done I was ready to go home. The rest of the week marched on like any other. The kids are not putting as much effort into class now that the level up tests are done so its kinda hard to keep them motivated. Nonetheless I got through another week without much incident. The only interesting part of the week didn't happen in my class but on Friday a student threw up in my co-teachers room at the end of the day. O the joys of teaching little children.

Friday night saw another night at Kangco's which is now becoming the end of the work week ritual. It was just the 3 of us, Ben, Michelle and I, but we were joined a little later by 3 of the consultants from upstairs who we sat with for a while and then headed home, not before stopping to get Mapo Mandu to go before calling it a night. Saturday morning I was up and out kinda earlier than normal because I had to tie up some lose ends at work. Seeing that the night before I didn't want to be there till 10 or beyond doing online grading homework I said I would finish it the next day so I could leave that place on time. So after 2 hours of getting petty things done I was ready to start my day. Ben came over and we got lunch and then I waited for Jiren to phone so we could head to Youngsan again to exchange out my faulty web cam and so she could pick up some MORE accessories for her DS that she has only had for a week.

Once at Yongsan I didn't spend nearly as much as I did the weekend before but I still walked away with some pretty good deals. I picked up a new winter coat (seeing that Ben has been wearing my other spare since he left his in Incheon over two months ago) for only 10,000 Won, yeah only $7! I also got my web cam exchanged for a Japanese model that actually works. I picked up some more movies, a hair trimmer, and a 4GB key chain USB drive all for only 34,000 ($24). All and all another good trip that didn't break me. So with my new purchases I headed home for a rest.

Not wanting to go to Iteawon for what was sure to be a rowdy evening, I had already told myself that I was going to have a quite low key weekend. Also not really wanting to sit in my apartment alone on Valentines day I meet up with my CDI friends in Mapo for a late dinner, many pitchers of Soju punch, and witless banter. It was also one of the CDI consultants birthdays so for a second night in a row I cheered to him and helped him celebrate. Not out to much longer than after midnight my DS friends and another consultant headed back to my apartment to link up and play against each other till 3 in the morning. Falling asleep after that I had no plans for Sunday which did not worry me.

Waking up rested and around noon, I played around on my computer and watched Independence Day while chatting with friends from home. At about 230 I got a call from Angela (CDI), for lunch and Korean Style Tea in Insa-dong (a location made famous in Seoul after it was visited by Queen Elizabeth in 1999). It is now a huge tourist area with authentic Korean food and gifts and many traditional tea houses. So for only 11,000 Won we had a feast of a lunch for the 6 of us, (Megan, James, Alex, Angela, and Jiren), with 5 courses and many side dishes. We walked around a bit and then went to a tea house that Megan and Angela had been to a few times before and where Angela's boyfriend had befriended the tea matron while he was here on vacation. So we got shown how to properly serve Korean tea, enjoyed the culturally atmosphere, and were treated to various Korean tea snacks. It made for a nice afternoon and a great way to settle the stomach after eating as much as we did for lunch.

Not motivated to do much afterwards we headed home and here I sit in my apartment. So far I have watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, updated my travel journal (the writing portion is not as caught up as the blog), did a few chores and now Im watching Lord of the Rings. All and all it has been a relaxing weekend and as you can see in the last two weeks you now know that the name of this blog is quite fitting. I don't have many other wants and desires to spend my money on (except for a new MacBook), so the following weeks shouldn't be as intense on the account. So here's to another weekend in Seoul and the closing of week 24.

My Week in Siam: Bangkok (Part 4)

2009-02-12T23:54:00.005+09:00

Khao San Road by day, the real fun started at night.

Ben and I with the spires of Wat Pho.

I have this odd fascination with Thai dragons.

Inside one of the temples with Buddha behind me.

Chillin' with the Reclining Buddha, (massive right?)

Banging the Buddhist Gong.

At the Ministry of Defense, with a picture of the king in the upper pediment.

Ben and I outside the Standing Buddha.

Ben, myself, and more Thai dragons at the bottom of the steps of Wat Saket.

Looking out over the city at near the top of Wat Saket.

. . . Well this is the last day and what I promise will be the last Thailand related blog. But so much was done in the last 12 hours of my Thailand stay that I thought that the length of its description and the need for more pictures warranted its own blog. So it was now Sunday. And thanks to some quick action on the phone three weeks prior I was able to change the day that we were supposed to fly back from Friday to Sunday. Thus giving us an extra two full days without a penny more spent on airfare. So with this, I intended to get the most out of these extra days, Sunday especially, seeing that the flight I booked did not leave until 11p.m. that night.

So it was early to bed, and somewhat early to rise on Sunday to see what we could get out of the city on a limited budget, only 3000 baht between the two of us for the day. I had gotten a lot of my shopping out of the way the day before so this day was set aside for whatever fares might be accumulated while sightseeing. Ben and I were up and out by at least 10 and thus checked out of the room shortly after. I had asked before we came if it would be possible to store our bags somewhere for the day even though we had checked out early. As it were, we were able to lock our bags to a rack in the lobby, one less thing to worry about as we traveled around the city. We really didn't know where we wanted to go and the only thing we had to go off of was a recommendation from Ben's grandparents to see Wat Pho. Grabbing breakfast I also paid for two tickets on the airport shuttle for that night at 8. I figured it was best to do this now so in case for some reason there was not any money left at the end of the day at least we had a ride back to the airport. It wasn't bad actually, just 150 baht a piece, but it was paid for.

Avoiding "The Road" at all costs we headed to the taxi pool. But before we got far, a temple within walking distance caught my eye and we headed over. This walk through temple was on the map that my friend had made me, so it was close enough to check out without having to pay anything. It was all white and gilded and inside contained many statues and representations of Buddha. This was interesting but I knew that more was to be had if we got out and explored. This was a country full of culture and history, and little did we know that it could be found almost anywhere one looked. Not knowing how far Wat Pho was to where we were we hopped into a taxi. I followed the route carefully only to discover that with a proper map we could have walked there. We were dropped off, paid the 40 baht to get in and set out exploring this huge temple complex, home of the Reclining Buddha. That however was the main attraction so it was saved for last. In the meantime the rest of the complex had huge ornate spires and many other smaller temples each dedicated to the respective Buddha within. There were monks walking around, accepting charity, and praying and chanting. Each temple was unique and beautiful in its own right. I have seen many Cathedrals around the world but this was something totally different, it was great to experience the places of worship of other religions other than my own. But the coup de gras of Wat Pho was the Reclining Buddha. This was no where near the size of the others that we had seed so far. This Buddha was massive. In more of a laying down position it was about as long as a football field and a little over two stories tall. It filled the entire temple that it was housed in and it was covered in gold, jade, and mother of pearl inlays. There was a path all around it and at the end you could purchase coins to drop in 50 separate buckets each representing a prayer for Buddha. So while taking in this sight you also heard the clanking of hundred of coins dropping into these brass buckets as people walked by them. We spent a good two hours at Wat Pho and after looking at my watch we still had hours to kill.

So as said before, I paid close attention to the route that got us there and the landmarks that we needed to pass to get us back to the road. Along the way I noticed some other cool landmarks that would be worth looking at. So setting out for a walk, we passed through a beautiful park, the Ministry of Defense (oddly a colonial style building giving the fact that Thailand was never colonized), a city dedicated monument and worship center, and the street markets and canals of Bangkok. To Ben's utter surprise, I got us right to the back alley that dropped us in front of New Joes Guesthouse. My powers of direction and the ability to quickly map out the lay of the land never cease to amaze me. From here I asked the desk for a map and the travel agent for some recommendations for things that could be done in an afternoon. Finding that most places were about to close but at the same time were within waling distance we decided to try our luck and walk back towards them, coincidentally were we just were.

But we had not made it very far until we were stopped by a wandering and inquisitive Thai who asked about us and where we were going. Usually going on the defensive, I was apprehensive as he plotted out open temples and places that would allow me in because I was wearing shorts (just like Europe some things don't change). So after circling four "must see" temples with Buddhas in various poses, we took his advice and flagged down the nearest tuk tuk driver and showed him the route that was now on our map. Astonishingly the price for all this was exactly the price that the guy who helped us had quoted, 50 baht, only $1.50, to take us all around the city for an afternoon, he would wait at each place he took us and then end at a place that was within walking distance of the road. All this seemed too good to be true, but sounding like a great way to see the city Ben and I hopped in and were whisked away in an open air taxi to see Bangkok in the remaining hours of our stay.

Although I now know that the entire city is in on this "pre-packed", 50 Baht tuk tuk tour, but even with that said to my surprise there was not much scam involved. It was, however, a carefully calculated route that not only showed you the sights but also took you to places that would get the tuk tuk driver commission if we purchased something. The first stop was legit, a cheap temple complex with a giant sitting Buddha. It was only 40 baht to get in and the interior of the temple was painted a vivid deep blue with thousands of Buddhas painted on the walls in clouds floating around the blue background. Some of the scenery that was depicted was as detailed as that of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican but with its own Buddhist flair, it was impressive. The next stop was a commission stop, a tailored suit shop (the only one I thought there was going to be but more were to follow). Then to the "Thai Export Center" that turned out to be a high end jewelry store that was completely out of the price range of even a modestly paid English Instructor such as myself. Then to a travel agent to book some other getaway, even after we told the tuk tuk driver that this was our last day he still took us here. We sat down at a desk and were asked were we wanted to go, after we told the lady that we were flying out that night we were then rudely told to leave. Then back to legitimacy we were taken to the Standing Buddha temple of Wat Indrawihan. Like the Reclining Buddha, this Buddha was massive, only standing up, at least 7 or 8 stories tall. We walked around here and then up the stairs behind the Buddha to take some pictures of the complex and then off to our next destination. This next place was also a commission stop, this time a gem and jewel factory were stones were cut and made into expensive pieces. The rooms contained thousands of beautifully cut stones, all once again terrible expensive for a budget traveler, but in terms of prices of gems in the States this place was cheap. I could not afford anything from the locked cases but I did manage to pick up a sterling silver chain to replace the one that had broke (the one I got in Mexico on Spring Break mind you), for only 300 Baht, or $9. So all was not lost on this stop-over. Our last place was Wat Saket, a temple mountain in its own right in which you were able to get spectacular views of the city once you reached the top. For about an hour I stayed at the top taking pictures, looking out over the city, and reflecting on the trip. We were actually the last people to leave the viewing area because the guard had to come and get us just as he was closing the gated door. All and all it was only 50 baht that we had to pay the tuk tuk driver and the after looking out over the city and quickly finding where we were in relation to what I had seen that day I knew exactly where to walk to get us back to the road.

This was a great way to end the only real day we had to explore Bangkok and even though there were commission stops thrown in, the advice of the wandering Thai turned out to be helpful in getting us a cheap and interesting view of the city that severed our time constraint perfectly. Getting back to the road just at sunset, we were left with about an hour and a half to eat as much Thai food as physically possible and that our budget would allow. It was a good thing that Khao San Road had cheap food because at this point I didn't have too much money left and I was hungry. So naturally a plate of Pad Thai was had, as well as my last fresh banana milkshake, and a banana and nutella Thai Pancake, and mango with sticky rice, all for about 200 baht or $6. Now well fed and with one last purchase of a giant, cheap cloth bag to put my bulkier souvenirs in we were ready to head back to the guesthouse to pick up our things and wait for the airport shuttle.

The rest of the trip went off without a hitch. The shuttle picked up on time, it got us to the airport 45 minutes faster than advertised so we had more time to kill in the airport. After walking in sandals all week, something I had not done in months, my feet were killing me. We boarded our flight and were then heading back to Korea, something hard to do after tasting life outside the country for a week. I didn't get much sleep on the flight even with my Thai Air eye mask and they keep waking me for drinks and "breakfast" (5 o'clock in the morning is far to early to eat an airplane egg breakfast). Once off the plane it was now 7 in the morning and I was standing in the immigration line to be readmitted back into the country. The luggage took longer than expected but shortly after we were on the subway and headed back to Seoul and Daeheung Station. Our T-Money cards were out of money but that was remedied after a trip to the info desk at the Gimpo Airport stop. I was then in bed by 9 in the morning and slept for a solid 3 hours before I had to report to work at 130 that same day. There was a method to this madness, I was able to get the most out of my Thai trip while at the same time teaching like I was a zombie watching the day float past me. The kids knew none the wiser and it actually didn't hit me till the next day.

To say the least Thailand was amazing. There are some things I will do different next time but in all this trip was a vacation and a learning experience in its own right. I got to see a new country to tick of the world map, I meet some great people, I got to know others even better, and I came back with a much needed and amazing tan in the middle of winter. Even with the last minute planning, the hassles, the missed flights, and the petty theft I had a great time. I don't regret one penny I spent to make this vacation possible. As I have always said, if there is one thing one should spend their money on with no qualms it should be travel. I think I achieved a great balance of relaxing and fun and I came back reset and ready for another 5 months of work before I can do this again.

Thanks for sticking with me through this 4 part mini-story. After this I will be returning to my regular Seoul updates, that is until my next big adventure. Greece, Malaysia, Cambodia? Who knows, but you can count on one things, that I will blog all about it.

My Week in Siam: Bangkok (Part 3)

2009-02-11T23:16:00.004+09:00

Slightly weary, we had arrived, inside Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International headed out to find a taxi.

At the outdoor under overpass Thai restaurant, we looked happy only because this was before we found out we got taken to a place that wasn't cheap.

Even on Khao San Road we managed to find buckets.

Some cute Thai Kids showing us their moves, they were happy to pose for the camera.

An official Pad Thai cart, they were numerous, delicious, and cheap. I am pretty sure I ate my weight in it while I was there.

. . . So I disembarked the miracle flight and I was now at Suvarnabhumi International, I had arrived, for real this time, in Bangkok and I was ready to start the last leg of my trip. But overcoming one obstacle did not mean that they were all over. I got off the short flight and we were now set lose in this Thai metropolis. It almost felt like the day that I was let go in Seoul with my life in two suitcases not knowing what to expect. But this was only 48 hours, nothing to serious was bound to happen and it was going to be another Asian themed adventure.

Problem number one was the fact that I could not ensure that we had a place to stay that night. As mentioned before I missed our earlier flight that would have gotten me into Bangkok before the hostel check-in time of 6p.m. Now it was well past 8 and I had not made any attempt to inform the Guesthouse that I was running late. After claiming our bags, first order of business was to call the hostel to let them know that we were on our way. However, the previously purchased calling card did not work in any of the airport pay phones, even with airport personal assistance. But alas, a bright idea. I could get a calling card in the airport to use for the cell phone that my friend had lent me for the trip. It was a cell phone from Thailand that was pre-programmed to use these cards, genius and quick, right? Wrong, no sooner did I dive into the pocket were it had been all week, I found that it was gone. It was not any place else, not between clothes or in my carry-on. Gone. Also, in that same pocket, was my camera of two years, the one that got me through college and so many good times, O the things that camera has seen, also gone. So stolen were two items of importance, the phone my friend trusted to me and our link to the outside world, and my camera. Somewhere between the ferry from Koh Phi Phi to the airport in Bangkok someone other than myself was in possession of these two things. Blast.

After the realization that this had happened we had to find a cab into the city. After talking to everybody and trying to get a good metered price we ended up catching one for 450 Baht for the three of us to our Guesthouse that we did not know if the beds were reserved or not. But using the taxi drivers cell phone and also finding that this place was in the travel guide, we found that we did still have our reservation. After, a 45 minute taxi ride into the city we were now in the middle of this vibrant, bustling, Southeast Asian hub that was Bangkok. And not just any place in Bangkok but Khao San Road, the hub of all foreign activity for the budget/youth-aged traveler like myself. The signs led us down this twisting alley to the front of our place, a nice guesthouse that was well suited for our short stay in the city. There was a restaurant, helpful desk staff, and the rooms were cheap and comfortable. So we set our stuff down, got situated, showered after a day of traveling, and I psyched myself up to step out into Bangkok.

Khao San Road was a trip. There was so much going on on this strip: food, shops, bars, suit places, souvenirs, random knick-knacks, and tuk tuk drivers coming up to you wanting to take you to the shady parts of the city that are better left untouched. Wanting to continue my Pad Thai eating binge, that was the first thing that I was on the look out for. But before I was able to turn right towards the smell of Pad Thai I found myself on a tuk tuk, due to Ben's enthusiasm, for a night tour of the city that included a stop at an authentic outdoor under-overpass Thai "restaurant". We had told the tuk tuk driver that we wanted cheap food, but the point did not make it across when the bill came to 1000 Baht for the 3 of us, far more than we had wanted to spend for something "cheap". After other sights, it was back to Khao San to continue the night. Low and behold we found a street bar that served buckets, it seems that one could not escape them even when leaving an island on three different modes of transportation. We walked around some more, took in the sights in this part of town that seems to never sleep. But after a visit to the bathroom in a nightclub and a short stay, sleep was sounding pretty good after a days worth of traveling and unnecessary anxiety caused by stolen memories.

Having come back to a different part of the road than where we were dropped of, we had to find our way back to the guesthouse. After some quick directions from a guy we ended up talking to we found it and headed to bed around 5. I probably could have stayed out all night, like some of those nights in Seoul, but I actually wanted to get up and get a taste of the city the next day. The next day also happened to the be last day that Christie was going to be in Bangkok, for she was heading home a day early, so with that we had a lot to do in a little time.

Well getting up super early was once again not in the plan, at least this time there was not a flight to be missed as a consequence. Slowly starting the morning we were out by noon to downsize from a 3 bedroom to a 2 for the second night, had a some breakfast in the restaurant downstairs and then hit the road. I have never seen so many random things for sale in one concentrated area. The stalls sold everything and anything from more fisherman pants, hats, t-shirts, suits, Thai things, electronics, dvd's, food, and much much more. This was the day to scope out souvenirs for family and friends and get a feel for prices. After shopping and eating it was time to relax and take a break, thank God there were plenty of Thai message parlors, the "clean" kind, all along the alley we took to get to the road. So for 200 Baht, about $6, I got a full body hour message along with Ben and Christie, to take the edge off. It felt amazing except for the fact that I was slightly sunburned in some places and my legs were covered in mosquito bites. But other than that it was one of the best and by far the cheapest messages I have ever had.

We went back to the guesthouse to drop off our things that we had collected from the day, it was a lot seeing that we did not even leave the vicinity of the road and plotted our next move. The night before we had gone to an outdoor bar that had good drinks and a good atmosphere so we decided to hunker down there and enjoy the evening. But this was not before we walked around the road a little more and to my utter surprise I found a STARBUCKS, which I took pictures over and ordered a drink. I can now add them to my collection of Starbucks pictures from around the world, and yes I have such a collection.

So the selling point of this place was that they had towers of Chang Beer, a Thai staple, for only 450 baht. Mind you this tower was 3 liters and over the course of the evening we had gotten two of them for the three of us, just enough mind you for the time given. But while we sat there and watched the sun go down, the people watching and all the activity around us was probably some of the best that I have ever seen. There was so much going on, so many different people walking by all getting something totally different out of their trip to Bangkok. From the vacationing backpack travelers like us to families with pregnant mothers, it seemed every walk of life had ascended on this part of town. The people that were around us all had different stories for being there. Walking street vendors came up to us and sold us everything from noise making wooden frogs to silver bracelets with elephants on them. Thai kids played around as well as sold what they could like flowers and small toys, surprisingly many of them spoke better English than the ones that I teach here in Korea for their age. It was interesting to sit and watch all this happen around me when my biggest reason for this trip was to relax and so far I had done a pretty good job.

But even sticking close to home and not doing much during the day left me ready for an early evening in. I left the group a little early to go back to the guesthouse and read for a bit. They joined shortly after as soon as Christie had to leave downtown to get a taxi back to the airport for her flight home that night. Having been out late the night before and doing as much as we did in the last two days I said I was probably going to stick around the guesthouse for the night. Christie left to the airport and Ben went up for a rest and never came back down. I was glad nothing crazy was planned because the next day was going to be a marathon. To cram in as much sightseeing as one possibly could before we had to leave to the airport, and this was one flight that we could not afford to miss seeing that we were kinda cutting it close already. So after more reading and a lite dinner I too was in bed before the stroke of midnight ready to map out a world-wind tour of Bangkok the next day. But having droned on quite long enough, please stay tuned for the action packed last segment of this Thai saga, coming soon to a blog near you. . .

My Week in Siam: Koh Phi Phi (Part 2)

2009-02-04T22:48:00.008+09:00

Phi Phi Leh and the entrance to Maya Beach

Me, Christie, and our French friends JP and Jane

Me with an official Koh Phi Phi bucket

The water taxi longboats

Our bungalow, I know right?

On the way to the "mainland", into town.

Ben and I living the dream, and tan.

A view of the Andaman Sea from the main hut and Phi Phi Leh in the background.

The infamous free tasting table (canoe)

Looking up the path to the bungalows from the lodge.

The Viking Nature Resort

A view of the main beach form the bungalow.

The Bungalow deck, room to the left.

. . . So we had arrived, this was Koh Phi Phi and it was amazing, just from looking at it from the boat. As I said despite the confusion I made it off the dock and we were now on the island. We had reclaimed our bags and made it in to town. Of course the first thing that we encountered were the locals trying to sell us a place to stay. Saying that we had already booked our accommodations we got to bypass the "welcoming committee". It was then on to solve the first problem of the day, the fact that I had no money and after a quick exchange I was now rolling in 8000+ Baht ($240). The next order of business was to eat something, that too was not a problem. Just off the dock was a maze of souvenir shops, dive shops, restaurants, hotels, and bars. A tropical paradise that was catered to the tourist. After walking around a bit and wanting to put some Pad Thai in my mouth as soon as possible we found the Koh Phi Phi bakery that also sold a wide array of Thai food. Finally getting my Pad Thai and a fresh banana milk shake I was ready to conquer the island, or at least find out where our place was.

According to a map it looked like a far walk, the locals confirmed my suspicions, it would take about 30 minutes and I had a full backpack and the mentality to relax. We also got multiple quotes of a 100 Baht taxi boat, so after many referrals we finally got in a boat to take us to our resort. So on the taxi boat across the crystal clear waters of Koh Phi Phi I got my first taste of the island life. The boat started pulling up to the beach and after seeing what was behind it I could not believe this is where I was going to be staying for the next 4 days. It looked like somewhere that Hollywood A-listers would spend a week vacation or a honeymoon. The Viking Nature Resort was amazing, a secluded tropical paradise surrounded by tropical paradise. I could really get used to this. We meet Christie in the restaurant/lobby/reservations hut, yes a hut, and she lead us up to our bungalow. As if if could not get any better, it did. Our bungalow was the second story of a two story accommodation. We had our own deck, bathroom, outdoor table, deck bed, hammock, and a perfect view of the beach and the water with Phi Phi Leh nestled in the background facing west. Once again, if I saw a celebrity walk by I would not have been surprised, all this for $33 per person, we had it made. Christie was keen to point out that the majority of guests were French people. Any place that was being used as European vacation get away by the French and the like was bound to be good.

As it turned out we hung out with these two French People, Jane and JP, all week, who lived in London and Paris respectively. I pretty much followed the same routine everyday so there is no real need to give a day by day account. By day I sat on the beach and soaked up some much needed sun. My tan had faded to a sickly pale white after being stuck inside and out of the sunlight for the last 3 months due to this thing in Seoul called, "a real winter". While on the beach, I could walk easily to the warm waters of the Andaman Sea and swim around to cool off from the blazing tropical sun. Mind you, once we got here it was around 85 to 90 the entire time with almost no humidity, so the weather was perfect. Also, I could summon a resort worker to bring me plates of fruit or fresh coconut milk served in a fresh coconut to my beach chair and in the same breath charge it to my room. By day, life was good. I actually stepped it up while I was there and due to my long absence from the sun and from California I used SPF 15 sunscreen and not my usual SPF 4. We got free breakfasts every morning of the American or Australian variety and Pad Thai was on the menu of which I ordered many plates throughout my stay. The locals were friendly and accommodating and did their best to make my stay pleasant and enjoyable, which they did.

In the evenings I could watch the sunset from the beach or from the deck of my bungalow while swinging in the hammock as cool ocean breezes brought the sounds of the ocean to my ears. Even though the bungalow was 5 star and first class, I really didn't stay there much. By dinner time we were usually down in the main dinning hut/lodge to indulge in the free tasting that they put out every night to sample the Thai cuisine that was on the menu. Oddly enough, we seemed to be the only ones who tasted, so every night we ate our fill as they refilled the pots of food that were meant for more people than us to enjoy. Honestly we did not boggart the food, many people passed by and said it looked and smelled good but we were the only ones who took it a step further and ate it. So in the end we did not want the food to go to waste as the rest of the resort missed out.

After the free tasting buffet, we took a taxi boat into town to take part in the night life. Each night out varied in length from 2 in the morning to at one point 5. There was much to do and behold once you made it into town each night, the place never really shut down. There were bars and restaurants on the beach as well as inland with people walking around at all hours. The signature drink of Koh Phi Phi were the 2-4-1 buckets that everybody had. They were small run-of-the-mill sand castle buckets, innocent in a sense for what they were being used for, but you got to carry them around from place to place like Vegas. Each place had something different to offer, one place had Thai boxing where foreigners and thai alike could suit up and beat the crap out of each other, the girls who did it that were "friends" were the best to watch. There was also fire juggling, dancing, and jump-roping at the beach clubs, along with large home depot sized community buckets. Everyplace was blaring Bob Marley, reggae, or some type of island music as you walked around. The nights were the most fun, meeting people from all over the world, mainly from Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.

The last full day we spent walking the town and the other parts of the beaches that surrounded the port. There were many island gifts and trinket shops and the main item that was being sold were Fisherman Pants. They are these super light and airy pants that are perfect to wear in a hot tropical environment. Among other things that the tourist traps sold it was always possible to barter down. Also just a side note, Koh Phi Phi was completely devastated by the tsunami in 2004. The island was completely wiped out and they were literally left with nothing. But since then, the island had been completely built back up and there are only a handful of places on the waterfront that are still under construction. It is amazing how much work was done after mostly everything was washed away. But it was weird being someplace that I had watched being laid to waste from the footage that was broadcast in the States. Im am glad that they have been able to bounce back and that everything has returned to normal.

Our last day it was really hard to leave the island and this tropical paradise, at the price that we were paying to stay there, if I was able to drain my korean account I could have lived quite comfortably for a couple of months. However, I liked the stay so much that the last morning Ben and I slept past the launch of the first ferry back to Phuket that was supposed to get us into town and to the airport on time to catch our flight. I was so relaxed that I actually didn't care that I missed the first ferry and ultimately the flight which required me to spend an extra 3600 Baht ($100) to get out of Phuket. I am pretty sure that I booked the last two seats out of Phuket for that day, coincidentally on the same plane as Christie and probably the only Boeing 747 in in the world that files a 1 hour commuter flight when normally they are better suited for transatlantic excursions. That was not without its worries, because after we got off the ferry that left Koh Phi Phi at 230, we were in a race against time to get to the airport in an airport shuttle that seemed to be taking the longest possible route to get us there. I honestly thought we were going to miss the flight but we made it to the check-in counter by the skin of our teeth. The flight left at 6:30 and the last boarding was at 6, I am pretty sure we got there at 6:03, I have never missed a flight in my life but it would have been something to miss two in one day.

Boarded and airborne I left that tropical paradise and headed to the big city. I was not really sure what to expect from Bangkok, only that everybody told me that it was going to be a trip. I really didn't have any idea of what I wanted to see when I got there but I am sure that some opportunity would present itself. So I was ready to enter the last leg of my Thailand trip, trying to stay as open minded as I could while entering a city that I really knew nothing about. I may be leaving paradise but the adventure was far from over. I didn't leave all my worries on the island because before I even left Suvarnabhumi Airport, I was met with another set of unforeseen adversities which only add to this great adventure. . .

My Week In Siam: Phuket (Part 1)

2009-02-02T17:05:00.004+09:00

Last week was my much deserved winter break after the terrible month of winter intensives at work. With all that I had to do to get these 9 days and all that I went through to get to them I was not going to let them go to waste. Needless to say the week went by super slow in anticipation of what was to come but I managed to get through the week of meetings from hell and finally the weekend had arrived. I spent it making last minute purchases and arrangements and before I knew it, it was Monday. Monday meant that I was now enjoying a third day of no work, something that I had not experienced since October. Also Monday was the kick off day of my vacation to Thailand. With snow on the ground and my new backpack packed I was ready to leave this city for a week. It seemed that it did not want to let me go to easily when the train to the airport broke down, but even after I was stuck on the tracks for about 20 minutes I made it to the airport, with Ben, on time and before we knew it we were leaving snowy Seoul behind at 10 in the morning and heading to sunny, hot, and humid Thailand.

The flight was like any other International flight I had been on, Thai Airways was really nice and the food and drink was abundant on my way there. Our first day was a lot of travel, for we had to make it to our hostel in Phuket that night. Landing in Bangkok, my fifth world capital to date, I arrived at Suvarnabhumi International (pronounced So-wanna-pum), in the early afternoon, and after a quick immigration check and a new stamp in the passport, we were headed to the domestic departures concourse in the same airport to catch our hour flight to Phuket on Air Asia, the Southwest of Southeast Asia.

The airport in Phuket is right on the beach. This was the same part of Thailand that was devastated by the tsunami in 2004 but since then everything had been built back up and was back in operation. Proving that it was a small world, the man sitting next to me had family that lives in San Luis Obispo and knew all about the Central Coast so that was a good chat. Thanks to me getting everything in order before I left, someone was waiting outside the airport with my name on a card ready to take us to our hostel in Phuket. The airport is about an hour outside the main city and it was still daylight so the ride was both scenic and interesting. Never thinking that any other country besides England was like this, people in Thailand drive on the right side as well, so it was interesting to see all the traffic backwards in a sense as well as the driver sitting where the passenger should be.

Thailand was definitely not what I expected and was like no place I have visited in the world. It was green and tropical while at the same time kind of old and third worldly in some parts. There were some really nice parts as we drove through but they where almost equally balanced with the not so nice. Families rode in the backs of trucks, kids on parents laps on motorbikes, street stalls and people selling things all over the place, and nestled on every street corner and in most allies were small alters for Buddha so people to could leave their offerings.

I arrived in Phuket at dusk and we were taken right to the hostel. Not wanting to cash all my money and carry it around, I only exchanged 100,000 won at the airport in Bangkok, and got about 2000 Baht, or $60. Well after the taxi ride from the airport and having to pay for the night in the hostel which was only 700 Baht, as well as some other expenses like the taxi/ferry combo to get to Koh Phi Phi the next day, Ben as well as I were totally out of baht. Seeing the look of anguish on our faces, the hostel desk lady let us keep our deposit and took our passports as collateral instead. So with about 250 baht for the night we set out to find our first Thai food.

We walked about to take in this part of the city, it was older and very Thai, there was a main roundabout with shops and restaurants and many foreigners walking around. There was a outdoor street market just down the street at the end of which we found an uninhabited restaurant/night club and got our first meal. I had spicy and delicious garlic chicken and basil, rice, and fresh cucumbers. After eating we went exploring a bit more, hindered only by the fact that we had no baht and envelopes full of Korean Won that was useless. I was not about to pull money out on my home visa so soon. So at the local Family Mart, just the same as Korea, we were only able to afford one small tube of toothpaste and a liter of beer to share. With our somewhat disappointing first night items, we headed back to the hostel to drink our beer, hang out, and meet people.

Not wanting to sit inside on the first warm night I have had in months, I suggested cards on the deck, haha, no pun intended. There we meed two vacationing Swedes as well as a Canadian and another American that taught English in Busan, another Korean city on the southeast side of the peninsula. We traded stories of teaching in Korea and also found out that we would be on the same taxi to the port as well as the same ferry to Koh Phi Phi the next day. It had been a long day and there was not much that we could do with our exhausted funds so we turned in to our 2 bunk bed sleeping room near the deck. I wrote in my travel journal recalling in detail the events of the day. Our two other roommates, both from Seattle and on a round-the-world-tour, came in shortly after we had settled in and we talked about what they had done and where they had been. It was nice to get some suggestions and ideas for what to expect while being in Thailand, this was only more information to take in after all that was told to my by a friend the had lived here for a year.

A days worth of travel finally caught up to me and after the lights went out in the hall I feel asleep to the sounds of discussion on the deck and the busy Phuket street that seemed to offer every sound short of a murder right outside the window. I didn't sleep well the first night, mostly likely due to excitement, but also because of the noise, the heat, and the mosquitos, who seem to attack me in any part of the world I visit. But nonetheless I was up early to catch the taxi to the port where in turn I would get on a ferry to Koh Phi Phi. Thanks to my line of work, having no money for some sort of breakfast was OK seeing that I can go for hours on end without eating living only off the energy of my kids. Well adrenaline took over this time but I managed to make it to the dock and beyond without anything to eat.

The dock was a crazy place, with all the boats leaving to take day tripers or one-wayers (thats me), to Koh Phi Phi. Four boats, huge ferry boats mind you, all loaded to capacity with standing room only, left for Koh Phi Phi at once. It was a two hour ride to the south of Phuket out into the Andaman Sea. Originally we had found a place on the bow, but after about 30 minutes of being splashed by waves off the bow we moved our stuff inside and found a place on the starboard side railing along with the follow English Teachers from Busan that we had meet the day earlier in our hostel, Nina and Lilani. Continuing our stories about teaching and also how much fun Koh Phi Phi was going to be the trip actually went by quickly as the coastline of Phuket got smaller and the outline of Koh Phi Phi emerged in the distance. I felt so at home on the boat. As we pulled away further it looked like any part of the coastline off the Central Coast of California. With the sea smell, the ocean all around, and the feel of salt on my skin it was hard to believe that I was off the coast of Thailand and not just on my way to Catalina Island or off my own Pismo Beach.

We finally arrived to the islands and the boat took us around the smaller, uninhabited island, Phi Phi Leh, where the movie "The Beach" was filmed in 2000 with Leonard DiCapro (he was not there during my visit). Then they pulled around the island, allowing for some amazing pictures, and then onto Phi Phi Don, the main island where our beach bungalow and Christie awaited. There was some confusion getting off the boat because groups of people were being shuffled off for different tours and lengths of stay, but we had finally made it to the dock and were ready to disembark onto paradise. . .

Week 21: The Uprising

2009-01-23T23:49:00.004+09:00

This has been the most tension filled, long-lasting, physically draining week of my life. I have been through a lot when jobs are concerned but this has put my skills to the test. This week I would say I had my first real job confrontation regarding something that I felt was unjust. The situation has gone from bad to worse at work this week. It seems that all complaints and problems have fallen on deaf ears. They say they understand where we are coming from but the really don't. So here is the story of my last five days. The first of which I actually wrote down to make sure I captured all the emotion.

Today (Monday) it was not the staff meeting that mattered, it was the meeting after work. I had requested a meeting with William (the Branch Manager) and Laura (the Faculty Manager) but after they saw right thru Ben this morning and the anger that had finally surfaced, they wanted to meet with the both of us. With the usual small talk cut out I knew they were up to something when they wanted to buy us coffee for the meeting to butter us up, a tactic they had used before in the form of pizza and introducing "special class" so this time I was on to it. Casually sipping on my Mocha Latte I laid it all out on the table after Ben had said his piece. I let them talk and discuss but then when asked what they could do for us I pulled out a list from my pocket and I was ready. Some of the things had been touched on before I had to reach for the list. Things like the contract not telling us fully what we were getting into, the busy work that was outside of the normal "6 hours" of teaching that was stipulated in the contract. This included the grading, the online speaking homework, the comments, the reports, and random things such as seminars and PTA. All of these things were adding up to unpaid work hours that left us overworked and pissed of.

I also pointed out that we were not trained properly. Four hours, for me at least, was not enough to let me know all that was going on behind the scenes and what went into a normal day of work. Had I had the full training I would have been able to walk away mentally prepared for all that was about to come at me and also would have been better informed. What it came down to was a miscommunication on all levels. The contract did not relay the full details of the job, headquarters failed to inform, management figured we had more of an idea, I also came here under the false pretense of less work and more play.

So point one of this was better communication between us and all staff: instructors, the desk, and the management. We all need to know what is going on within each others spheres, the healthier open work environment starts here. Im tired of being told things secondhand or finding something out only because I stumbled across a piece of paper or heard it through random conversation. I have every right to know why students come or go and what is happening with decisions that are being made. Not only am I an instructor but I am also HI, its part of my job to be informed for my staff.

Also the parents need to know that we are not superhuman English teachers and that things are not going to be done at a breakneck speed because they want them to. We are not normal CDI with 40 students total in 2, 3 hour class blocks. In a given week I see over 120 students and all that means I will be backlogged for a few days. I think the "within-a-week" grading compromise is well within reason. I am not Korean and at this point I don't quite understand the work practices here. But I am not going to subject myself to the will of mothers who will complain about something when previous things have been done to fix it and we have all been doing the best we can.

That was round one. I was in a meeting with Laura and William everyday this week, sometimes for more than an hour discussing the complaints that I had as well as those from my staff. Tuesday was one on one discussing the importance of being a manager. Wednesday was a draft list of concerns, questions, complaints, and proposals, that I presented to Laura and discussed at length in two separate meetings before and after classes. Every thing from incentives for being the number one branch, to discrepancies in what was told to all of us when we were hired compared to what we are doing now. Also that I didn't want to be told things short notice and that the my staff was at the breaking point in terms of the work that we were doing.

I really thought I was making progress until yesterday. After literally hours of explaining that we had all been at work for 10 to 12 hours a day, that we were overworked, exhausted, and that we were all looking forward to a break. We (Ben, Ari, and myself) were approached after our last intensive class of the month, about opening another late evening class in February to accommodate all the new upper level students that they had recruited in the last month. I couldn't believe it. Had everything I talked about meant nothing? They truly didn't understand a thing I was laying out for them. We were getting ready for a vacation that was well deserved and also looking forward to returning to a normal and manageable schedule in February only to be asked to work more for a month after we got back, "temporarily". When asked if we wanted to do this and assured that our opinion would matter we all said no.

Then came the meeting last night in which I was basically told that as a manager I sometimes had to do things I would not want to do for the sake of the others, the students. I was being guilted into teaching these new sessions, they were trying to sell it to me as something that would be, "not that bad". The timing for this request could not have been worse, after just putting in 200 hours in the last month. At this point I had enough of this job and this company that I walked out with the other instructors with only a "good night" and no explanation when asked where we were all going.

Today there were no intensives but I was at work at noon for yet another meeting. Ben was in tow because he too wanted to express his feelings on this matter. Promising that he was going to be good we were ready for yet another round of this ongoing battle. This meeting was well over an hour. We were shown the schedule for next month, also for next term, and told the reasoning behind it. That being, we were a growing branch, if we would have gone to any other established branch that was open for a year, we also would have enjoyed the stability of a full 12 class schedule. Since we are still adding to our numbers, the schedules and demands were subject to change as we all grew and learned together. We are working more to establish this new branch, but the salary would have been the same if we walked into an established branch.

So in all it seemed to be a half fulfilled coup. They understand that we are angry and pissed of, exhausted, overworked, lied to in a sense, and left in the dark until now. We also excepted the terms to work the extra classes and agreed to the new spring term schedule. There were many apologies and regrets on their side but I think at least now there is an understanding. I never was nor am I afraid now to make noise if I feel that I am being treated unfairly. They now know that communication is key to keeping us all happy. I know from other jobs that morale plays a big role in overall staff productivity, yesterday the meter bottomed out, but I think the start of February should start to see the needle climb out of the "pissed-off" range and back into "indifferent", who knows, it may even return to the happier times of fall when this was "enjoyable". Regardless Ill make that judgment after a 10 day vacation from this place.

I am very happy that this intensive period is over. I really want to help the kids. They are awesome and I want them to feel like I have taught them something when they walk out of my classroom each day. They are growing up in a society that has worked hard to get where they are now and who also won't except anything less than perfection. They are all being subjected to the same unhealthy competition to be the best, to be better than their friend or neighbor so they can be the one to advance farther. Learning English is a big part of that puzzle and in a way I am feeding into this mentality. But even if there kids are entering this race to the top at such a young age I want them to know that as their teacher I do care about them. I want to make it a fun environment without being questioned by my superiors. But in order for that to happen the management and myself have to reach an understanding. This week I think was a big step that should have been taken months ago. But at least now they know how we fell and I think from here I can start to enjoy my job again.

Upside, Thailand, 3 days and counting . . .

I gotta get outta here. . .

2009-01-19T21:58:00.005+09:00

Friday morning snow in Seoul, this is looking out onto the street from the school window.

This snowman was built by some kids behind the school, Megan and I took the appropriate picture.

This is a shoot of one of the main intersections in Namdaemun Market, a crazy place.

Some interesting Seoul architecture near the market.

A night shot of Meyong-dong Market, a huge outdoor strip mall.

Our International Seoul Family at dinner: Wes, Ben, Ellie, Christie, Darcie, Nayoung, Julia, and Myself.

Our bowling crew, that would be William Wallace and the Wallettes on the left.

Elllie and I take our bowling match ups very seriously.

Well week 20 was also the third week of winter intensives. Needless to say it was still intense and I have gotten quite tired of this routine. Getting through the day is not hard, its just the back to back song and dance that leaves me tired by 8:30 and ready for bed by 11. The 8 kids I teach still don't seem to care as much as I do, which is bad because then Im not motivated to do my best for them if they are not going to appreciate it.

But there has been some recent developments that have left me totally distracted from my work and thus effecting the education of my children. Before it would have been enough to know that I was able to get myself and my staff a full weeks worth of vacation including weekends for total of 9 days. That was up from the original 5 days that they wanted to give us with only one weekend that would have had us back to work the last two days of the week because another school was doing the same. But no, I triumphed and prevailed so with that something equally fantastic to be done with the time given.

The idea at first was an idea, but with the with time to make real plans slowly passing by I knew I had to act. I could no longer rely on travel agent friends or good deals to come up. I had to take matters into my own hands and book something. So after searching as many Asia based airlines as I could and running the numbers through countless discount ticket search engines I found what seemed to be the best deal out there, $500 round trip tickets from Seoul to Bangkok. I'm going to Thailand! With Ben of course. But I was not able to book that night for some reason, so I woke up at my earliest convince to get the days that we wanted, mainly as many of the 9 days as possible. But alas, at work I could do no better than five, Monday to Friday. At that point I was a little disappointed by I was willing to pay the price to leave Seoul for a tropical paradise for 5 days.

However, my quest was not done. Getting home that night I checked online again and found the days that I wanted, early Monday to late night Sunday. The price was the same but I already bought the tickets. Searching Thai Air, which is who I bought the tickets from, I found their customer service line and Skyped them, o the beauty of computer technology. I was connected and on the phone with a ticket agent within minutes. Not only that, he was able to rebook my flight changing the return day from Friday to Sunday for no charge for the same price. Assah! So now, I have a booked flight for two from Monday morning at 10:05 to Bangkok till Sunday night at 11p.m. that gets us back to Seoul at 6:35 Monday morning, and at work 7 hours later, it will be a return to remember.

This was not without finding a flight to Phuket from Bangkok and also searching for accommodations in Phuket and the surrounding islands. This was all done while I was teaching my morning winter intensives, I kept the kids occupied with worksheets and sentence writing while I pulled up flights, tracked down info, and paid for a vacation to remember. So as it now stands, I touchdown in Bangkok and am off to Phuket in the same day, then a boat trip to Phi Phi Islands, off the coast of Thailand for 5 days and 4 nights in the sun on the beach in a bungalow with another friend. From a 20 degree morning to a 87 degree evening all in one day. Then a Friday return to Bangkok where we will spend the rest of the weekend before we return to Seoul and back to reality on Monday morning.

No the weekend to recap. First off, Friday morning I woke up to it snowing, quite heavily actually, that got me to work covered in snow but happy because I got to walk in it. We started the weekend with another night at Kangco's with the co-workers, fast become a friday night ritual. Then Saturday, I met up with Wes who showed me to a backpack store in Namdaemun Market, where I picked up a backpack for this Thai trip for only 55,000 Won. This is a place I have never been to and now know that you can find everything and anything is this huge street market. Then to Yongsan where I finally bought a legit DVD player after I destroyed the other one with a shoe that crapped out on me. Among other purchases we made our way to Meyong-Dong, a huge outdoor strip mall shopping district that also had everything one could want, clothing, good food, and entertainment, all rolled into about 7 square blocks.

After an excellent Indian dinner with 8 of my friends and plenty of wine and laughs Ben went to the casino and Gangnam while the rest of us enjoyed three games of bowling. None of us scored above 100, but we all got close. But the night did not end there. It was off to a Noribong to do some karaoke singing, we had our only private room and a book full of American Classics. If anybody knows me, my contributions included Journey- Don't Stop Believing and Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody. Still deciding that the night was not over, I was persuaded and dragged out to Hungdea by Darcie, Ellie, and Nayoung for some dancing and late night eats. A fun night ended on a bad note when Nayoung's wallet and camera were stolen at the last club we went to around 6 in the morning. I still find it odd that it happened seeing that we never left the sight of our bags and I was literally standing over them the whole time. So Nayong and Ellie went back to deal with the police and Darcie and I headed home, by the time I went to bed it was 7 in the morning and I was ready for it.

Sunday was a day of rest that did not start till 3. The first thing I did was go with Ben to Grand Mart to pick up ingredients to make Mandu from scratch. We actually found everything we needed including the pre-made mandu skins and we got to put Ben's new mandu steamer to use. Had it been any other day without the steamer, I don't think we would have done anything, Ben's excitement won out. So while watching Ratatouille we made about 30 mandu, with ground beef, garlic, glass noodles, onions, tofu, and spices. I got mine to have a cool crimp around the edges, Ben's were just flat but irregardless it actually worked and they were delicious. The night ended with "The Office" episodes, a sore body (from bowling?), and a desire not to return to work today but in all it was not that bad.

The only thing that is going to get me through this week is that at the end of it I have a 9 day vacation that includes 7 days in Thailand. I will be able to escape Seoul and this job for a while not only to reset myself but also to knock of one of the many countries that I want to visit while I am in this region. I may have an update or two to recap this weeks events for I already have a story to tell one day into week 21 but it will have to wait. Until then 7 days and counting till paradise, Monson Out!

Underpaid: Hwacheon Ice Festival

2009-01-15T22:03:00.008+09:00

The river and the Ice Festival in Hwacheon city, Gangwon-Do

Ellie and Myself with our fishing gear and ice fishing hole

The fished loved this more than we did I think

Our International Ice Festival Crew: Chris (England), Wes (West Virginia), Darcie (Australia), Ellie (Scotland), Ben (Illinois), Me (California).

On the ice with the ATV

Yes, those are dancing Soju bottles behind me

The frozen ice pond that I was in 30 minutes prior for bare hands fishing

At the bonfire, roasting marshmallows with Scott and Angela

Our own lodge for the weekend

On top of marker 5, as far as wanted to go on the hike we missed.

So my last update brought us to the 4th of January, now its time to recap week 19. 19 weeks, I know right? It seems like such a long time but it really has gone by quite quickly. Its weird to talk to friends and say, "Remember we did that a couple of months ago?". But in those 19 weeks, Seoul has become home. It feels good to walk into my neighborhood after being gone for a weekend. I am becoming more and more familiar with my surroundings and the layout of this area is finally making sense.

For the record, the only thing that got me through this last week was the fact that I had made plans to leave Seoul for the first time since I got here. To me Incheon does not count because in the population count it is still part of the Seoul Metropolitan area. I had made these plans to go to this Ice Fishing Festival in Hwacheon city, Gangwon-Do, about 3 hours outside of Seoul, for over a month. But of course, CDI wouldn't let it be that easy. As fate would have it, Headquarters decided to schedule a mandatory, once a year, unrecorded seminar for HI's the saturday that I had booked this trip. I got the email from them and I immediately said that I couldn't go. Thinking that was that I left it alone, apparently I did not realized the gravity of this meeting. I was pulled aside by both my Faculty Manager and my Vice-Branch Manager telling me how important it was that I attend. I told them that I would go if they wanted to give me my 140,000 Won that I invested in the trip, in so many words that is. After trying to guilt me, which so did not work, I told them that I was not going to let this Saturday meeting set an early precedent for this company to call me away any time they pleased with short notice. The meeting was on the 10th and the first email notification was on the 3rd. It was settled that if another instructor agreed to go I was off the hook so to speak, I felt bad but Michelle went in my stead and did her best to get something out of the meeting that she A:she should not have been at, and B: had no clue what is going on. For that I promised her a nice dinner with wine for her troubles, in the end I think all parties were as happy as one could hope.

So between the guilting, the teaching, the intensives, and the early mornings I got through 5 long days of double classes that left me exhausted at night and in bed by 11. The culminating experience of the week was the PTA conferences that were scheduled on Friday, the only day that we did not have intensives but somehow they found a way to get us in there at 9 anyway. So for three hours, I sat there with a smile on my face, showing these parents what I do in class and then let my Korean co-teachers do all the talking. With the last session ending only 40 minutes before we had to teach and adding the fact that I am positive the faculty manager sent our lunch to the wrong floor on purpose, we wolfed down our lunch totally pissed off with only the angry clattering of chopsticks and spoons to break the silence. The day was long and in defiance I told my korean co-workers not to call any mothers, not to grade, and not to write their daily reports till Monday. With that said, all 5 of us walked out of the building less than 10 minutes after the last class let out and we headed straight to Kangkco's, the bar right behind work and shared our grief and a couple rounds of drinks.

We could not stay out too late that night because the next morning Ben and I had to be up at 6ish so we could make it to the Hogkik Univeristy Subway stop by 7:30, not too far away mind you, so we could catch our bus to the Ice Festival. It was early but we were good to go. After picking up the rest of our friends at another stop we were all headed to Hwacheon city, Gangwon-Do for the Ice Festival weekend. I slept most of the way only getting up to get some food at a rest stop and towards the end to banter with those around us but around 11ish we arrived.

Once again we stumbled upon an event loaded with Koreans. This festival was set on about a mile stretch of frozen river that included many events, most of which our group of 6 partaked in. At our first stop, after receiving our festival passes, we got our ice fishing poles and set out to claim our holes on the ice. Between the 6 of us we grabbed four holes but yielded nothing after about an hour and a half. This all happened while the Koreans and others were catching fish around us. The press loved seeing a bunch of westerners trying their hand at this Korean tradition so many pictures were taken after they told us how to pose with our poles and while eating raw fish. Using others peoples fish to take pictures we left empty handed to see what else there was to do.

The rest of the day we walked around and rode ATV's on an ice track. Watched dancing Soju bottles and relay races in which the parents raced their children to win Soju prizes. We played ice soccer. We saw ice sculptures and walked through ice castles. And all around took in the sights that this festival had to offer. The last part of the day before we headed to our accommodations, was the gladiator type event in which a large group of Korean and Foreigners alike watched a bunch of idiots in track shorts and orange t-shirts, jump barefoot into a pool of ice water and try to catch fish with your bare hands. Of the 40 or so people who participated in this event I was one of those idiots. I did this along with 3 of the other 5 people I was with including Ben, the Brit Chris, and the Scot Ellie. I lasted about a minute until I could not feel the water or the gravel beneath my feet. I did not catch any fish but was glad to strip out of the ice cold clothes and back into my many layers of winter clothing that I had worn all day.

Just after that it was time to make it back to the bus and head to the cabins. It took about as much time to get out of the festival area as it did to get to the place where we stayed but I once again slept the whole way. No trip to a mountain camp with cabins would be complete without a 24 pack of Cass tall cans, a dozen or so roman candles, and one bottle of soju per person. WIth many other snacks we were ready for the evening. After breaking into our groups of 8 and getting a cabin it was time for an amazing dinner of Korean goodness. We all sat in this large mess hall, about 80 in total who participated in the organized event, and ate our fill as they refilled our plates. After a little pre-gaming and some cards it was time to hit up the bonfire that included our roman candles and imported marshmallows for roasting.

Before heading back to the cabin after the fire, we as a group commandeered the ice sleds that were on the frozen pond in the middle of the camp and played with those like little kids for a while. Heading back to the cabin we settled in for some games that would help us consume our beverages quite quickly. It was funny how the entire group of 80 ran out of alcohol simultaneously around 1a.m., I felt like I was in college again, but by then most had succumbed from the exhaustion of the day and were ready for bed. All 6 of us roomed together along with two other Canadians that I don't think were too happy with our tame rowdiness but it all worked out. I wanted to be functinal for the hike that was to take place the next day.

We had an egg and toast breakfast made for us the next day. And we thought we were on time for the hike only to find out they had left about 20 minutes sooner then they had said. So we set off to hike the mountain ourselves and only got as far as the first major uphill obstacle before we decided that it was worth the pictures at least and turned back towards the camp. We then had enough time to get our things together, "clean-up" the cabin and hike back down to the buses. Climbing on to the warm bus we all soon fell asleep. Our first stop was in the next town to have an hour and a half lunch break in which we cleared 3 large plates different kinds of fried chicken. Then back on the bus I awoke only to get off at the rest stop and then to watch our entrance into Seoul, once again returning to reality.

Taking the subway home I was so tired when I got back that I crawled right into bed around 4 and did not get out to do much else besides make some ramen around 10. The weekend was totally worth it and it was spent with good people. The only downfall was that I left the window to my "balcony" area open for the weekend and since i did not use my shower for two days I am almost certain the water froze in the hot water pipes. I had to wait until the next morning to take a hot shower that I so longly craved after my return but other than that I would call the weekend a total success.

I am now almost through week 20 and I already have some amazing things to report on, but I think if you are interested in the events of this week and beyound you will just have to check the next edition of my adventures on Sunday.

Overworked: Winter Intensives

2009-01-12T09:49:00.013+09:00

Shopping at World Cup Mall, who knew?

All the kids wear these animal winter hats, I will get one before they are gone.

First off, something I have not done in a while- Observations. Since it is cold, and winter, and a New Year I thought I would start off with a few.

1. Seoul is really cold, it has not been above freezing for the last week, this is the coldest winter of my life.

2. The winter weather in Seoul is almost as bad as the weather in the Mid-West, once again reaffirming the fact that I am never moving to the Mid-West.

3. You don't really notice how much people spit in this country until its cold, because now its sits in frozen blobs on the sidewalk.

4. Winter gear and clothing is surprisingly cheap, good thing seeing that I don't own any.

5. If you speak a handful of Korean words to the students they say you are Korean.

6. By the time I leave this country I will have the vocabulary to tell a korean child to stop doing anything and everything that may be distracting in a classroom setting.

So I have now gone thru two full weeks of winter intensive course. Half way through and I can't wait to be done. There is nothing to report on for things that happen during the week because I don't have time to do anything. My week consists of getting up at 8, getting to work at 9, prepping for an hour, then starting my Intensive courses at 10. Mondays and Wednesdays I teach, Novel Reading, Writing, and Speaking. My four students are reading really short stories and writing about the plot, characters, and such. They also have to memorize a short summary of each lesson that they recite to me on Mondays. In fact they are practicing right now.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I teach Creative Reading and Writing. My other 4 students read a short passage and then they have to analyze it critically and write about what they read. This class is a little harder I think because they want these students, who are new to English, to think outside the box and try to come up with alternate answers to an idea. Some of their vocabulary is up to it, but others have a hard time.

That lasts till 12:20. Then a get an hour and a half "break", they pay for part of my lunch (so kind), and then we start teaching our regular classes around 2. That lasts till around 6:30. Then comes the grading. Depending on how far behind I am, that could take anywhere from half and hour to two. This gets me home around 8 or 830 at times. If you have been keeping track this schedule you will notice that I am here for almost 12 hours a day. All this extra work and these classes only add up to a 200,000 Won bonus for the month. When I get home, I don't do much because I am to tired to do anything but watch TV and doze.

The weekends are all I have, thats why I want to make the most of them as soon as Friday hits. We are going back to two weekends ago since this update has run long with ranting. Even though I had to work the next day, yes on a Saturday, I did not let it stop me me from doing things Friday night. Since we got New Year's Day "off", we had to make it up on Saturday and not at our normal time, to give us the rest of the weekend we came in at 9 in the morning. So that night myself and fellow co-workers from upstairs went to the casino in Gangnam for a little gambling and free food and drinks. I got home late and really didn't care.

The next day was super long, not only did I have to work that make up session that was mentioned earlier but I also had to attend this "Bling in the New Year" party that was being hosted for both CDI and CDI April. There were about 50 people in attendance who all took part in a buffet (that was actually better than expected), and karaoke, a talent contest, and a candle lit new years resolution confessional. All and all it lasted too long and I was ready to go once I hit the 2 hour mark, it lasted for 2 hours more.

After a quick rest, more like a two hour nap, I was ready to go out on the only weekend night I was given. There was this place that had cheap beer that served it in these 1, 2, or 3 tiered lantern like glasses. Since it was the last night that Ben's family was going to be there we wanted to show them a good time. With about 10 of us we went through a pretty good amount of these multi-tiered flasks until we went to my favorite place in Sinchon, Sky Bar. Unfortunately the owner was not there that night so we did not get the royal treatment I was used to but it was nice to hang out. I called it a night around 2, as my other friends and I plotted what we were going to do the next day. My only day of the weekend.

We knew that the Ice Festival was coming up in a week and that this last Sunday was the only real day that we had to get ready for it in terms of clothing. So around 2, we headed out to Iteawon first to grab a bite to eat at the Paraguayan restaurant that has now become a staple of my diet at least once a week. My other friends where thoroughly impressed with it as much as I was and we left full and ready to conquer the day. Next stop, World Cup Stadium. This was on the list for many reasons, mainly because we could get everything accomplished that we wanted at one place AND there was a form of entertainment there that I had to do in order to make my winter experience complete.

Before we set foot in the Mall we went Ice Skating for only 3,000 including skate rentals. You can't get that kind of deal in the state. Even in Sacramento I paid $10 for an hour or so of skating on a crappy rink that was melting in one corner and skated with skates that didn't have a pad over the screws on the bottom. Here the skates were nice, the only drawbacks were that it was really cold, anywhere you go there are going to be way more Koreans then their should be, and the rink was not properly zambonied (sp?), but after you avoided the cluster of children and the bad divots in the ice it was an all around good time.

Next was the shopping part, and I am glad that I had my sights set on what I needed therefore it was in and out for all of us. I needed a good pair of hiking/snow boots that I could wear because my traction-less skate shoes were not going to cut it. I found some cheap ones that ironically had UCLA Bruins stamped all over them with the World Cup brand name right along side, they screamed copyright infringement but they worked. Along with snow pants, warm gloves, a winter hat, and some hiking socks I was set. No matter when I go to HomePlus, rested or not, crowded or not, its always an overwhelming experience that leaves me exhausted. We were all ready to call it a night and I had enough energy to get dinner and go to bed.

Besides mentally preparing myself daily for the Winter Intensive classes, not much else has happened. The update this past weekend is to come shortly. It takes a lot of motivation to think back and type what has happened. But I do it for two reasons, well three actually. To keep me sane, to keep improving my typing skills, and to eventually turn this into a coffee table memoir book. But with that its 11 and time for bed, kinda sad when I was going to bed around 4 not tired and now I go to bed because I can't stay up any later. O well, all in a 12 hour days work.

4 Days In To 2009

2009-01-04T20:12:00.005+09:00

Pictures: 1) Christie and I in downtown Seoul for New Years complete with riot police. 2)The whole CDI Crew, consultants, instructors, bus drivers, and managers. 3) Jiren, James, Angela, Megan, Scott, and I taking the resolutions vigil very seriously. 4) Another night at Sky Bar, this time with Marc the twin. 5) On the ice at the World Cup Stadium rink

Well, here I am 96 hours into the New Year and I can say that I think I see what is in store for my future for the next 11 months. I already gave my recap of 2008, so now I guess I can set my sights on the next 361 days.

First off, New Years in Seoul was the probably the most fun thing I have done here besides the Foundation Day firework show. Everybody said that it would be crowded and that we would not have been able to get close, but that was not the case. I am pretty sure that we caught the last train that stopped at Jongkak station before the trains bypassed it for festivities. We walked up about 100 yards from stage left which is pretty close considering how many people were already there. There really were hundreds of thousands of Koreans, some random performances, and then they projected a countdown on the side of a building at least 10 stories tall. The entire square counted down in their respective languages and then the party began. When you looked down the street there were roman candles going off as far as the eye can see, I was in heaven. Lighting off a handful myself we then continued on to Hungdea to party until 4. Without work the next day it was a good way to spend the first couple of hours of the New Year but most places started to run out of beer around 3 so I called it a night shortly after that.

I had the next day off, so I got to sleep away the morning and the first part of the afternoon. Ben's dad and brother were still in town so we took them to some more sights which included the Kyobo bookstore and World Cup Stadium. At Kyobo they had the new J.K. Rowling book, "Tales of the Beetle Bard". Its a small book of Wizarding World Fairy Tales they was featured in the last book in the series. I ended up staying the night at the hotel. I can't complain, sleeping on the couch in a carpeted room that is fully heated had its perks.

We were almost late to work when the alarm didn't go off. We made it home in time to change, shower, and get to the office on time. Intensives also started this week. So now, some of the kids come in for 3 extra hours 2 day a week to be taught extra material that may or may not help them level up. What it does do is suck away their childhood while at the same time making them learn while they should be on vacation. I try to make it fun for them as well as for myself seeing that I am at work for around 11 hours a day now. Working all day did not stop me from going to the Casino at the Coex in Gangnam, you can pretty much eat and drink for free if you sit at a table, so I played 1000 Won roulette for about 3 hours and at one point I was up 6,000 but then I just played to play. I only lost 10,000 Won and got home at 3:30.

That should have been the start of my weekend but seeing that we got New Years Day off we had to make it up on Saturday. Thinking they are doing us a favor they scheduled the classes to start at 9 in the morning so we would have the rest of the afternoon, given that I was out late the night before I was in no mood to wake up and start teaching at 9. They day would not have been that bad had I been able to go home right after work. But the branch also decided to have a New Years Party that same afternoon. So I never really had a chance to go home. The food was good, there was a skit contest that I won along with my group, showcasing a day and a life at CDI April. But by the time we went around the whole room of about 50 people telling what our new year's resolutions were I was almost dead from exhaustion.

It lasted an hour and a half longer than projected so before we went out that night I went home to take a two hour nap. A group of us went out to Sinchon with Ben's dad and brother for their last night out and to escape the memory of that long day. We went to a couple of different bars, including Sky Bar, the place that has a drink named after me but the owner was gone and it was not as fun as it could be. Calling it a night at 3 once again I headed home knowing I could sleep as late as I wanted.

Today was my only full day of the weekend and my only day to run errands for next weekend I am going to be out of town for the first time since I came to Korea. I had to pick up warm weather clothing for the Ice Festival that me and about 12 of my friends are going to. So with 4 others, James, Megan, Angela, and Scott, we started out with lunch in Iteawon at the Paraguayan empenadas place that I am now a regular at. We ate our fill and then headed to World Cup Stadium to ice skate at the outdoor rink for about an hour. It was a lot of fun dodging little children and fallen Koreans as I zipped around the rink. Then we were off to World Cup Mall where I got some sturdy and warms boot-like shoes for the Ice Festival, some water proof gloves, some warm wool socks, and a pair of fleece pants. A trip to World Cup Stadium is always exhausting so when we were done everybody was going to head home. I stopped by Mapo Dumpling to get dinner and now here I sit typing and watching Rent.

There is more that I could talk about but I think I will tell more about that over the week. Including New Years resolutions and more strife that I have been subjected to at work. Until next time, I do think it is time for me to try and clean my apartment and then get to bed.

2008 In Review

2008-12-31T12:41:00.003+09:00

I sit here at my desk in Korea when a year ago I was in Mt. Shasta with my family and Grandpa enjoying the snow. I never would have thought that a year from then I would have transplanted myself to Seoul to teach little children English but it only goes to show how much can change in a year.

2008 was a year of many firsts, triumphs, minor tragedies, and of course the normal ups and downs. Friends were made, some were lost, the status quo changed completely and I watched my stable lifestyle dissolve around me in a matter of weeks. This is in no way a bad thing, I just didn't see certain events coming and it made me realize that you really can't plan for more than a day in advance.

This year included awesome roommates in Sacramento in a house that I really do miss, both materialistically and for the friendships forged there. I can't believe I graduated, it took five years but that weekend was a blur, looking back now it seems that so much lead up to the event that it was just a moment in the bigger scheme of things. I also left a easy and great job at the bookstore. Despite all my complaints it did give me most of the friends that I made while I was going to school at Sac State, some of the best in fact that I hope I don't lose.

I had an official spring break in Cabo San Lucas, 5 of the best days of the year for many reasons. For the first time Tess and I were able to do something together for spring break. I went with two of my best friends, Mike and Stephanie for an "elated" time in the sand and sun, including countless hours on that awesome boat.

Orientation once again was one of the best ways to spend the summer. The people that I worked with now are some of my best friends. I learned many lessons both on and off the job. Plus the ability to give back to my school that I really to love is rewarding even with all the long hours. I can look back and say that I made my mark on my University in positive way.

Summer in itself was interesting, I had my highest high and my lowest low in the course of a month. From Graduation to my house dissolving as we all went our separate ways was really hard. But little did I know that the summer would conclude with something that started out as an idea in the beginning of May.

By the end of August I was on a plane with Mike to Korea to teach English, from that point the rest of history and a full recap of that adventure can be found in the preceding 26 posts that I have put up since I got here. Not to say that these last four months have not been an interesting and eye-opening experience. I have learned so much and I am sure that in the next 11 months I will learn so much more.

In all 2008 was probably one of the most interesting years I have had in my life full of unexpected surprises along the way. At times I conformed but at other times I took the road less traveled. I am going to spend nearly all of 2009 in a foreign country. Who knows what new sights I will see or who I will meet but hopefully 2009 will treat me as well as 2008 did. Its not hard to live one day at a time, just do so knowing that the next will be an adventure that shapes who you are.

Christmas In Korea

2008-12-29T21:43:00.004+09:00

I know it has been a while but since the last time that I have wrote but work has been quite stressful. No one said that a promotion would be easy but little did I know that in doing so I would be selling my soul to CDI until next November. Becoming HI has thrown me back into a position in which I am stressed out about my job. Back home one would say that time is money and there are only so many hours in the day. Here, your life is work, and however many hours are needed to get the job done are expected with out much complaint. Well for one I didn't come here to work my ass off, for two I am not Korean, and for three, I expected to get paid for what was not outlined in my contract.

Winter Intensive classes started today, so I am teaching my normal set of classes plus an extra two and a half hours every day, four days a week, for four weeks for only 200,000 Won more. According to our contract that should be an awesome overtime check but the going rate for 200 hours of work in a month seems to be just tha, about $180 extra. This is on top of all the other things that I am supposed to be doing as an instructor and HI, and I refuse to stay for 12 hours a day for so little money and a measly 4,500 lunch stipend. However I feel even more sorry for are the kids. They are on winter break and they didn't escape school, their parents are sending them to us up to 4 hours a day to study English even more. They are up early, I'm up early, all around its a sorry and somewhat depressing situation.

As for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I had to work. Christmas Day I had to go into work early. The thought behind that was they would be giving us the afternoon and evening off to "enjoy Christmas". Basically I taught as little as possible, one reason being I had gone out the night before to forget out all the stuff that seemed to be coming at me at 100 mph, and second was, one of the first things that one of my students told me was, "Teacher, why do we have to study on Christmas?". It broke my heart, so I vowed to make it an easy day that included long showings of the original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas", because I am sure that the kids and I had a mutual feeling towards our prison like stay at the institute for the morning. Well afterwards instead of going home we went to a farewell steak buffet lunch for one of our consultants that is moving to England (lucky bastard), to go to school and learn more English. It was paid for by our owner so given my angst I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu and ate myself silly. Ben and I did get Kenny a gift that he got a little emotional about; a nice leather journal and a fountain pen that we told him he had to write in english in to document his stay. So with that, it left Ben and I little time to get the food and stuff that we needed for our own Christmas Party that we were having with all our teachers. In the end it was worth it; Christmas Movies (A Christmas Story and The Nightmare Before Christmas), good food, good company, a gift exchange, and a healthy amount of wine.

I did finally manage to go to Church. A blessing I am sure, there is one at the Catholic University, Sogang, just up the street less than a 15 minute walk from my place. The church is actually really nice, low attendance, but the congregation is all college students and they were really welcoming. I actually celebrated the last Sunday of Advent AND the first night of Chanukah in the same day which was cool and culturally enriching. It has snowed twice in the last couple of weeks and the weather still surprises me at times with how cold it can get. I also supported a just cause that my friend Mike and his friends put together for a local orphanage in Incheon.

Despite the crazy work hours, and my internal work-o-meter slipping from "indifferent" to "I hate my job", the last weekend was pretty low key. Well for me at least, if you asked Ben you would find that he is super stoked that his dad and twin brother are in town for the next week. Friday we ended holing up in Kangco's the CDI bar behind work for some dinner and drinks which lead to a pretty relaxed saturday. During the day we hit up Iteawon for some good eats, I made the suggestion of the Paraguayan empenadas restaurant that is there and it turned out to be a jack pot. I used even more of my Spanish and talked to the owner and these two Mexican ladies that came in who were thoroughly impressed with how fluent I was. The spanish paid off with free shots of Paraguayan taquilla and a full stomach. We kinda had plans to meet up with Mike but those fell through and we ended up at World Cup stadium and HomePlus. I picked up some winter gear, wine, and stole a look at the ice rink set up there and then we were off to meet Ben's dad and brother, an hour and a half ride to airport island in Incheon, were I landed no less than 4 months ago.

The saving grace was that we took a taxi back that brought us right to the hotel. The excitement and enthusiasm that Ben had did not match the exhaustion of that his brother and dad showed when they got off the plane and to the hotel. Ben and I were ready for a night out but his Dad barely made it thru dinner and his brother never made it out of the hotel. Given the luxury that we were surrounded by and even though we didn't come prepared we stayed the night. There was carpet and central heating and couches and a tiled and regular shower with exotic soaps and shampoos. I was sold. He next morning I was treated to an amazing breakfast buffet that included all the american eats that including good coffee. Then we were off on a world wind tour of Seoul, seeing that this was really the only full day Ben had with his family.

We showed them our apartments, were the school was, Yongsan to get cameras and DVD's, World Cup Stadium, HomePlus, World Cup Mall, food court chicken, and of course my favorite, the Seoul Metro. Then it was back to the hotel, I didn't need to think twice when asked if I wanted to stay the night. Given the day, I was exhausted and a night on a couch that was softer than my bed in a 5-star hotel was just the ticket to get me prepared to start teaching at 9 the next morning. The best part was the authentic Italian dinner complete with fresh parmesan reggiano, San Pellegrino water, Australian Beef, and red wine. A scotch on the rocks was a perfect way to end the night and to end what turned out to be a long weekend.

Getting up this morning was one of the hardest things I have had to do since coming here for two reasons. For one, I would be doing this for the next four weeks when normally I am up at noon and not 8. Second was that the hotel and the stay on the couch was such an escape from reality that walking through the revolving door to the awaiting line of cabs meant that I had to return back to the life I didn't intend to move here for. We shall see if I can readjust my life back to that of my previous Orientation schedule which meant early mornings and long days. However this time it does not include a free lunch, an awesome staff of 25, and a university that thinks so highly of me. These next four weeks will be interesting to say the least and I am sure that I will have more to rant about in the near future.

Just To Keep It Up

2008-12-16T01:52:00.003+09:00

I am writing this entry out of obligation and not necessity like I usually do. Seeing that this was probably the quietest week that I have spent here in Seoul, nothing has really happened that is worth mentioning.

The major thing that I can recall during the week was that my 3rd payday was on Wednesday. I made it with money to spare so it passed without much jubilation. I did go to the bank to pay some bills and look into the slowly rising exchange rate. I feel that it is going to get better so I am going to hold onto my funds for a little bit longer before I send them home.

Two friends that had once worked upstairs at the normal CDI came back from there trip to China before heading stateside so we hung out Tuesday and Wednesday night. The first at the local bar behind work, I know now why people tend to gravitate towards bars that are close to their workplace. And the next night we went to Iteawon for some great Hamburgers at Wolfhounds and a some good company and trivia. The only downfall was that when we got out it was raining. Finding a cab in Iteawon is nearly impossibly, odd due to its popularity by the foreign population in Seoul, maybe that's why. We walked a good mile until a cab finally picked us up well after we had left the general area of Iteawon. I was wet and tired, it was a great way for Lindsay to spend her last night in Seoul though.

A major triumph as HI also occurred this week. I was able to get my staff the entire week of the Lunar New Year off. They had previously wanted us to work the last two days of the vacation period and hold "special classes" for our campus only because another school in the area was doing that. I later found out that they have to give us that option, this was forced on us and it sounded final. But after a few well placed emails to headquarters I think I made them nervous, my Branch and Faculty manager that is, because they called a meeting the next day with me and the two of them and told me we had the week off. Upstairs only gets 4 days, we have 9 thanks to me. They told me at the meeting that if there were ever any further conflicts of interest (said much simpler than that) to talk to them directly and tell them how I feel. In other words I don't think they want to be talked to by headquarters again for a possible breech of contract. It was great and the power of persuasion felt awesome!

My Christmas package came on Friday after my Korean co-worker Stephen called and had it shipped from the holding center to the school. I got the Cliff Bars I had been craving, trader joes trial mix and ravioli, Christmas Decorations, vitamins, The Nightmare Before Christmas and A Christmas Story (they were wrapped and I opened them), and a small nativity scene. My Korean co-workers love when I open my gifts a work. First they think my parents are amazing (and they are), for sending me stuff, and everything that I pull out of the box is "So Cute!". They love it, even though its not there's I am sure it feels like Christmas for them too.

The weekend was uneventful, although not without its adventure. Friday night right after work I headed to the north of the city, a 45 minute subway ride away, to Nowon to meet up with some friends for dinner and to watch Twilight which just came out here. It was what I expected; bad acting, predicable lines, Final Cut effects and editing at times, and a teeny bopper vampire love story. But it was good and it followed the book pretty well.

I stayed the night at a friends house so I wouldn't have to pay for a taxi back, an easy 30,000 cuz the subways were closed. I slept in and meet another friend in Insa-dong, the cultural and authentic Korean souvenir center of Seoul. There are temples, parks, and shops selling everything Korean. We got a Insa-dong street food staple, a fried flat rice cake filled with melted cinnamon sugar. Balance that with Indian food for lunch life was good. After a short trip to Yongsan I headed home without any solid plans. The night ended up just being Ben and I drinking wine and watching movies on the new furniture that he had gotten while I was out. He scored a complete 4 person Korean dining set in this chest that he bought, at least 40 pieces in all and stained an interesting Asian red. He was pretty proud of his purchase.

Sunday I only got up because Ben knocked on my door at 1:30. I was content laying in bed but I figured I should do something. I went to the same place that he got his cheap used furniture and got a legit coffee table and a desk chair for my desk. So I was able to get rid of the TV box covered in a sheet that was serving a "table" of sorts. Went to Iteawon for lunch. I was able to use my Spanish when I ordered empenadas from a store that was run by Paraguayans, it was awesome. I spoke and heard a language that was foreign that I could understand. The fact that the empenadas were amazing made it even better. That was a snack, we meet up with another friend to have Mexican food that she had been craving. It was not as good as expected but the Margarita, despite it being around 37 degrees outside made it worth it again.

After lunch we meet up with two other friends, now making 5 of us, to head to Costco on the other side of the river. Our numbers soon dropped to 4 when one of our friends did not get off the wrong subway train fast enough and was left pounding on the door as the train pulled away and the friend that we meet was on the other side. She went back to look for her with no luck. Friend 4 finally meet us at Costco, well after I went and got her at the subway stop and I was able to get us into Costco with my new Gold Member Costco Korea Card. We were able to get two cards on one account because some how I was able to convience the membership lady that Ben and I were cousins because we lived right next to each other. So after that I only spent 13,000 for my Costco membership. It was nothing like the frenzy that was HomePlus last weekend but it was a mad house. But we walked away with a good haul. More cheese, cheese balls, hash browns, cold cuts, yogurt shots, Costco muffins, and other stuff. The night ended with my head in pain and TV watching, I don't know if it was caffeine withdrawals or over stimulation but either way it felt good to go to sleep.

This is now Week 3 as HI, I can't wait to see how much more power I can wield before they lock me up. Now that I was told I can speak my mind Ill see how far I can push the envelope. Its not as stressful as it was so I guess now it can only get better. Other than that, nothing really on the radar for the coming week. But then again this is Korean and you never know.

A Wintery Weekend in Seoul

2008-12-07T19:55:00.004+09:00

There is not much to report on for the end of the week at work. Only that I continued with the meetings and questions and managerial duties that now come with my new position. Friday was a welcome end to a hectic first week. It was exciting and long but also toilsome and stressful.

Friday night ended with a meeting and then the real night started just behind CDI at the bar that has become a popular hang out spot for us teachers, Kangco's. He's an interesting guy. He has a cat in the bar, there are always Christmas decorations up, he has a map of Japan and not Korea on the wall, and is cool and hip in a Korean sort of way. All around a great atmosphere that usually leads to a great experience. The night was spent with Ben and our new co-teacher Michelle. Others from upstairs CDI joined us as the night went on. It all ended around 2 when we closed the bar, only after 100,000 won was spent on drinks and food. Thanks to our loyalism and monetary contributions a free bottle of Champagne was thrown in.

Saturday was a relaxing day that I did not start until around 4 when hunger drove me out of bed. I was up earlier than that, around 11 or so, but I was so comfortable and rather enjoyed not doing anything that no real effort was made to change that. Never doubting that plans would surface having not previously made any, I received a text from our upstairs friends that Indian food and dessert were planned for the evening if I would like to join. That was not until 5:15 so I had ample time to get ready and not do anything. I really couldn't wait until then to eat nothing so a joint venture to Pizza Hand with Ben for some cheap pizza as a snack was carried out before we meet up. All and all it was a good thing we ate because we actually did not get into cabs and on our way until a little after 6.

The restaurant we went to in Hungdea was called Yetti and it was really cool and really good. It was a Indian, Nepalese, and Tibetan theme all rolled into one that had Bollywood videos playing on a projector screen just above us. The chicken curry was excellent, the Naan (Indian flat bread), and the Chai tea was all really good. We even ran into some friends from across town that decided to eat at the same place. After that it was off to dessert that including Korean cheesecake (no graham cracker crust but pie crust) and coffee. It was a place that my friends said we had to try so we waited in the cold for a table to open up. It was literally about 15 degrees FAHRENHEIT, yes Fahrenheit, O, I nearly forgot to mention that it is FREEZING here and this weather is not something that I am used to. Going out now involves, pants, a sweatshirt, a jacket, to layers of socks, a scarf, and a hat. Any way the wait was worth it our group then came to a crossroads.

Needless to say, Ben went one way with a friend and I went the other way, closer to home in Sinchon with all the CDI people. I proposed taking them to Sky Bar, the bar that I have been to quite a few times and consider myself a well established patron seeing that the manager knows my name. All and all it was a good choice, as soon as he saw me walk in with new friends we were given the royal treatment. This included stronger and cheaper drinks, a flair and fire show with spinning bottles and flaming alcohol, and a shot named after me in my honor. This was the first time that I had brought a Korean friend with me so she was able to tell me what the manager was saying. Basically it was that I was a great patron who always brought by good people and that he did not expect me to come with such a large entourage. Yes, I now have my own shot, a fun local bar, and an entourage. All my friends who came with me thanked me for showing them a good time and all want to go back again soon. All I can say is I am glad that I am getting paid this week.

Today was a day that did not involve too much but still proved to be enough for a sensory overload in only a few short hours. I woke up early once again, around 10 or so and dozed on and off. I had made plans with friends from the night before to meet up at the next subway stop over to do some winter clothes shopping and just to get out of the apartment. I had to wait a bit in the station but then we were soon on our way. We ended up at World Cup Stadium Mall and HomePlus, little did we know what we were about to get ourselves into. As it turns out, which I knew, HomePlus used to be HomEver. The grand re-opening was today and it seems that all of Korea decided to show up. I have never seen so many Koreans in one concentrated area in my life. You would swear that they were shopping as if their very lives depending on filling their carts as fast as they could. The most highly concentrated areas were the bargain bins and sample tables. I did manage to get another winter coat for only 50,000 Won, about $35 that normally cost 170,000 Won or $115. Basically it was a steal and it has fur around the hood, so now I fit in with all the other Korean guys and their winter wear. I also got a pair of cheap gloves, so I feel that I am now ready to brave the cold that I hear is only going to get colder.

Going to get groceries after was an even bigger mistake. Not only were there twice as many people, if that was even possible, but everybody was buying food as if the world was about to end. Nobody needs 8 packs of 24 count toilet paper but carts were full of it anyways among other large amounts of seamlessly unnecessary purchases. It was not long before my senses were exhausted and we all decided to pick up the rest of what we needed locally on another day. I would have to say the only thing that made the trip into the grocery section frenzy worth it was the fact that I found bottles of red wine for only 2900 Won, about $2.

Making it back I am now taking this time to unwind and reflect on the day. This is added to by the tranquil scene that is being played outside my window. For as I type at this very moment, there is a gentle snow fall that has covered everything in an even white blanket. It has been going on for about 2 hours or so now and its probably at a half an inch. It is supposed to carry on until tomorrow and the temperatures are supposed to drop steadily over the week. This cold weather snow thing is going to take some getting used to but thanks to a brave expedition to HomePlus I feel that I am better prepared.

Inaugural Week

2008-12-03T22:30:00.004+09:00

In my attempt to make my posts shorter and more manageable and easier to read I am updating just a few short days after the last. This has been a week of firsts, almost a baptism by fire if you will as I have been plunged into the position as a manager at my CDI April Branch. In just three days I can say that I almost liked being just a normal, naive instructor who was told things the day before they happened. Now I have the inside knowledge of everything that is going on and I then feel obligated to pass along the information because if I don't, they will be like me and be pissed off that they have to deal with yet another thing on the fly.

Among the other firsts, this is the first day of the Winter Term for CDI April. Besides becoming H.I. it also meant a shift in the established norm that has become the comfortable routine over the last few months. The kids either leveled up or they stayed, so all the classes have been shifted around. New classes have been added to accommodate for the new students and the new numbers in the different levels. I have kept some of my old kids but I have also picked up a mix of new students and many of Ben's kids. Its funny because the kids that hated me now love me. The kids that liked me and that I no longer have like me even more. Some were in shock when they found out that I was not going to be teaching them this term. Its going to take a little time to learn the new names and faces but I think this will be a good term. Mainly because I am teaching higher levels, which means smarter kids, and no Seedbed, which means no 1st and 2nd graders that can't string together a sentence in English to save their lives.

This is also the first time that I have started a term not totally pissed off at the world and at Korea. If you recall, my first day of the last term it was raining, I got lost in the rain, I was dragged all over Seoul in the subway and half way across town for my heath check while soaking wet, I had 4 hours of training the day before, I was in the country for less than 48 hours, and I started teaching just like that. This time I am in the know, familiar with the system, know the kids, know the staff, and I have a much better understanding of Korea as a whole.

With this understanding also comes a view into the darker side of operations. In a way I feel that I have opened Pandora's box of things that have been kept hidden or under wraps so far by become H.I. I have learned the truth of the vacation situation which only reaffirms my previous suspicious that I have sold my seoul (haha) to CDI until next November. I work Christmas (Im sorry Jesus) which after hearing from others I was not surprised. During Korean Winter Break, the kids are coming into regular classes and special intensive classes which means for about 4 weeks I am working double shifts. I have New Years off, with a catch, I have to teach the intensive class the next day, Friday, there are usually not any intensive classes on Friday, and we have to make up the missed classes on Saturday, yes a Saturday. Our Winter Term Break is not a full week like I previously thought but rather 3 days, the 26-28 of January, with special classes being held on the 29th and 30th. That is not going to stop the planned trip to Hong Kong however.

All and all I hope things smooth out. Between the online homework grading, the review test grading, the CCTV Viewing, Evaluations, Class Quality Reports, Workshops, Meetings, and the fact that we have three newbie and currently clueless instructors, Im not going to let the odds discourage me. The increase in pay does not seem worth it but if our student numbers increase my pay goes up, at least that is what I am told. My boss told me tonight that my eyes looked red and that I seemed tired. Really? I have a job that is now stresses me out, I don't know how Koreans work 10 hours days and Saturday but just because I am here does not mean that is going to be me. This term should be interesting and the flood gates just opened. I just wish that in my Inaugural Week I could have appointed a kick ass cabinet team to back me up, but for once in my many attempts to make it to the top I am in charge of something, in Korea no less.

Truancy, Accidents, and Thanksgiving.

2008-12-01T11:06:00.005+09:00

Pictures: 1) My homemade and amazing garlic mashed potatoes. 2) The small table that held the big feast, a condensed Thanksgiving. 3) A Thanksgiving in Korea would not be complete without fried mandu (dumplings). 4) Our Thanksgiving Party attendees. 5) I think Voldemort was on the move, my scar really hurt that night.

This last post will bring me up to date with the present as I sit at my school desk waiting for the first day of the term to start. I don't know why they wanted us here 3 hours earlier than normal but here I sit bored out of my mind until I am told what to do next. So I thought, what better way to pass the time than drink a cup of coffee and update on my weekend.

Seeing that Friday night was a relatively calm night compared to how they could go being here in Seoul, I intended to sleep in and have a nice enjoyable and stress free Saturday. Thanks to a phone call at 1130 that was not to happen. About a month ago, a rumor was circulating among all the foreign teachers here in Seoul that we were all to attend this informational meeting put on by the immigration office to provide more transparency between us and the office of education, which I think I ultimately work for. Those who first told me about this had heard about it a least a month ago, but in true CDI fashion I was given the paperwork and the flyer for it on Thursday, the event was to be held on Saturday. Having no real plans I quickly brainstormed on the few places I could go that would get me out of this. Coming up with nothing solid I smiled and said I would "go". Mind you, this piece of paper was handed to me by a co-worker from the desk, not my faculty or branch manager or some higher up. I thought that because it didn't seem urgent that I could let this one go.

The night before the Faculty Manger from upstairs stopped by the bar we were at behind work to remind all his people to attend. As new HI I was not going to go because the way that it was delivered did not sound important. Well now it did and I started to feel guilty. Two others were going to stick it out and go at 9:30 as stated. The rest of us were going to show up for the free lunch that was given in the last hour, also the point when attendance was to be taken, brilliant! Although that Saturday morning, comfortable in bed, I was in no mood to get up and go, till Ben called. He was going at noon with the two other defectors from upstairs. Not wanting to totally blow this off I begrudgingly got up to meet them. Taking a taxi to where this was to be held we talked of the food and cheating the system. It didn't seem that official anyway so why not right? Our arrival would have given us an hour and half to take in the last of the seminar. But upon arrival he seemed that nothing was going on. James even went inside to acquire and they turned him away. A quick phone call to those that had attended reveled that it had ended early and our trip was in vain. Apparently there were break dancers, The B-Boys, a raffle for a MacBook, Wii's, and other stuff, along with the boring informational session that was attached. Frustrated but not put off we decided to make the most of it and that since we were out we would go to Yongsan and do some electronic shopping.

Before Yongsan we stopped at grocery store heaven, called E-mart, and stocked up on supplies for our Thanksgiving Dinner that was going to take place that evening. Along with the purchase of chicken, beer, and mashed potato supplies, there were also copious amounts of samples that included food, beer, and wine. All around a great trip. The walk into Yongsan was freezing, literally, as the temperature drops each day but once inside electronic bliss it was all worth it. I picked up some more speakers for my room, so now I have a set in my bathroom and on my desk. I also got some more DVD's even though as of recently my DVD player has been on the fritz. We asked around for cheap X-Box 360 and Wii consoles, priced hard drives and new computers (including my Christmas present, the new MacBook), and hailed a taxi for what we thought would be an uneventful ride home. Little did we know. . .

We pulled up to our stop and told the taxi driver as best we could that we wanted to get out, clearly acknowledging us he pulled of the street to let us out, then disaster struck. Megan had barely opened her door a fraction of an inch when a guy on a scooter, who was riding way to close on the right side, clipped the barely open door and crashed about 5 yards in front of us. It all happened so fast and when I looked up I just say the guy and his scooter lying on the road. Dazed, he got up displaying a scrapped and probably broken right hand. We all stared at each other in shock and wondering what to do now that the language barrier was a serious problem. They debated in Korean and we decided that we just couldn't walk away. Luckily Koreans are always working, including the support staff for CDI who were just down the street. After a phone call to the desk, Kenny was there in less than 5 minutes to provide translation, first asking if we were alright. In the best interest of the parties involved the cops were called. More debating happened and the taxi driver tried to pin in on us saying that we lingered in the cab for 5 minutes and then swung the door open not caring to take in our surroundings. Refuting the statement, and after Kenny told the police our side, we were free to go as the scooter driver and the cab guy sorted out the rest.

Because of this our Thanksgiving Dinner had to be moved back half an hour as we stood on the freezing street for almost an hour. But the festivities continued no less and the opening conversation topic was the malicious attack Megan committed earlier in the day against the city of Seoul and their innocent scooter driving population. There was plenty of food to be had, even some Thanksgiving staples like corn bread (from Trader Joes), garlic mashed potatoes (thanks to me), along with rotisserie chicken, pumpkin soup, chicken curry, mandu, bread, cookies, mini pecan pies, and plenty of cheap red wine and beer. The food was good, the conversation fun, as was the looking up of all the current Korean Pop hit music videos.

The night carried on, we were all stuffed and at different stages of what to do next. A few wanted to still go out, some wanted to stay in, and others were indifferent. Not wanting to end my night too early I decided to go out for a time. This involved another taxi ride and then walking around trying to find a place that Angela had sworn she had been to. After walking in a few circles we found it and enjoyed a few drinks and the earliness of the night. The girls and myself wanted to go home, Ben wanted to say out. So I lead him to familiar territory and then we set of for a walk across town because the cabs in this popular party district refused to drive us when they realized it was such a short and unprofitable distance. The walk was not to long but it was cold and I was home and ready for bed after updating my blog and surfing the nets.

Sunday was truly a day of rest. The only plan that I had tentatively made was to go to the FC Seoul playoff game at world cup stadium. Even with a phone call from a friend to see if I was coming, it was not motivation enough for me to leave my apartment. I stayed in, did chores, and watched at least 3 movies, talked online to friends, until I got the a message from Ben telling me that he was home, awake, and alive, but barely. Unlike my night that was virtually drink free and ended at 1, his was not and ended at 7. Dinner plans were set and an hour and a half later we were ready to go after he pulled himself together. Cheap tonkas (amazing fried pork and sauce with all the korean side dishes) were just the ticket and my only meal for the day. Then it was back home to continue what I had done all day. I did manage to read the H.I. manual to prepare myself for today but that was the most productive thing that came of the evening.

Other than another late night reading, I was up and ready to go at 8:45 this morning. This is Inaugural Week for me as an HI, so all the fun that comes with that as well as my first two days of the new term will mostly likely be highlighted later this week, hopefully not taking as long as the last but thanks for baring with me. Until then, Happy December!

End of Term Update (Part 2)

2008-11-30T01:42:00.004+09:00

Pictures: 1) The Firework Farewell, the send off into the Han River. 2) Thanksgiving "Dinner" at The Buffet. 3) Group picture of our teaching staff including Michelle who starts on Monday.

Alright, so here is the promised second part of the catching up session that has been way overdue. This one should not be as long as the last seeing that I am only going to catch up to Friday. Since I am actually on top of this for once and seeing that this weekend is not yet over, I can safely update the rest on Sunday. So with that said we can pick up right where I had left off.

Monday was just another Monday, at school a little bit earlier than usual for a staff meeting, my first with a little power under my belt seeing the I was the HI elect for the branch. I also meet one of the new Korean teachers that was going to start with us the following week. This was the start of the last week of the term and I may have mentioned it before but the Korean teachers that I have taught with up till now were not going to stay for another term. So the branch was in the process of hiring 3 new Korean teachers to replace them, the extra one was to teach the Seedbed kids (the youngest who hardly understand English), which was a load of my back seeing that they were the hardest ones to teach. However that day we were informed that we had to write summaries for half our kids, about 40 students, that were due the next day. This was not something that could be easily done on top of the grading and all the other little things that I had to do. So that night when I got home I thought I would do a few while sitting in bed, that did not last long and thanks to a pre-planned distraction so in short I left my apartment along with the motivation to continue doing work from home.

It was already established that Monday night was the last night for two of my friends who worked upstairs to hang out with the rest of us before they headed to China and ultimately home. So I walked back to "work", but this time to the a bar that is right behind our building that I stare at everyday out my classroom window. Now I was inside and experiencing the awesomeness that was Kanckco's. The owner is chill, the space is unique, and that is were I headed to distract myself from the depressing situation that I had left at home. A few drinks later and some goodbyes the real fun began. In the last week Lindsay had make a paper mache man out of CDI papers that she wanted to light on fire and put in a boat to send down the Han River. The man was done and assembled at the bar. The boat, more pontoon style, was constructed out of water bottles at another friends house nearby. Then it was a short taxi ride to the river, quite close to the 63 Building actually, where you could actually have a launch from the water edge. Our concern was not getting caught with this pyrotechnics display but rather that we would set the Han River ablaze, I am happy to report that we were safe on both fronts. It was a traditional viking funeral were we all wrote out thanksgivings and miseries down on paper and sent the CDI Man nestled in with our hopes and dreams ceremoniously down the river with fireworks and fire. A good way to end an evening and great way to bring a close to the time that Tom and Lindsey had spend in Korea.

Launching the boat into the river with a blaze of fire at a late hour (around 1 in the morning) did not come without its repercussions. I was fully aware that I had a training seminar to attend that next morning at 9:30. Which meant that in order to get there the cheap way, by subway, I had to get up earlier and plan to be on the tube for almost an hour. But with a smile on my face and a cup of Starbucks coffee I was off and ready to go. It was boring and early, but I sat through it and headed back home with the knowledge of new CCTV grading scales and Seedbed 2 online programs. Great stuff. The only upside to my early odyssey was that I talked my boss in to letting me come in at 230 instead of 130 thus giving me time to unwind, eat, and relax a bit. Otherwise I would have gotten home and then rushed to work. Tuesday was a long day but I endured.

Jumping ahead to Thursday, it was raining when I woke up. This was another day in which I was up earlier than normal, 1030 and ready to go by 11. But this was for something that was worth getting up for. We were told a few days prior that all staff were to attend an end of term (Thanksgiving as it were), buffet. This buffet was at the same place that hosted the Korean Mothers Motivational Book Seminar the week prior. But this time we got to eat our fill on delicious Korean, Chinese, and Japanese food along with desserts and endless coffee. It wasn't turkey and all the fixings but I was still able to stuff my face and enjoy an endless meal on Thanksgiving Day.

This day was also the first day that my HI elect powers were tested. I found out that we actually had a teacher shortage on our hands. Of the 3 teachers that we were supposed to have ready and trained by this coming Monday, we only had 1. The other teacher had not been to training and was supposed to train AND start on Monday. And a third prospect was not even spoken of because it was non-existent. So I had to schedule observations for the non-trained teacher in Jamy and Lori's classes and then schedule co-teacher training sessions for the trained teacher in Lori and Jamy's class along with the stuff that i had to do. It was an interesting day to say the least and and I can't wait till next week to see how we function with 1 and a half trained teachers of the 3 we need.

Friday was end of term and the kids were crazy, but I pretty much let them do what they wanted. The review tests scores and lesson were irrelevant at this point seeing that they all had either leveled up of they didn't. So if my classes ended early, which most did. We played hang man, or in some cases I put on Korean music videos from YouTube and watched the kids sing along. It was a good day all around. Some of the kids gave me gifts and little notes thanking me for being their teacher. I had one special class to teach that night, to the youngest ones no less which went well until on little boy was shoved to the floor and hit his head on a desk. Crying ensued, the third such crying incident of the day, but all was well in the end and my day was done (the first set of tears came within seconds of each other in my first and youngest class when one girl ripped a review test out of the hands of another girl that always finished last, the little girl started to cry and then the girl that ripped the test away was then hit on the top her head with the book of the boy that sat behind her. This was a mess that called for Korean staff reenforcement.)

The day was done, I was starving, as was Ben and we both agreed that we didn't want Korean food for dinner. The end of term Pumpkin mouse cake and Krispy Kreme doughnuts (bad choice, i still hate doughnuts) was not nearly enough to suffice. I made the suggestion of Outback Steakhouse, an easy walk away, for dinner and at the point the sights were set. After getting there I was in heaven. The sirloin steak I ordered with a sweet potato, steamed vegetables, a Long Island Ice Tea, and a glass of red wine was the perfect end of term dinner. I did not even care that Outback Steakhouse in Korea is rather pricey and spent a good sum of money on the feast but it was worth every Won. After finishing we headed back to Kanckco's to meet up with some more upstairs staff as well as the new replacement teachers, fresh off the boat, to grab a few drinks. From there it was a walk to Sinchon in which we had to pass Sogong University, a Catholic University, that was all decorated for Christmas including a life size nativity scene. We ended up in this strange make-your-own-band karaoke jazz bar in which James played bass guitar as back-up to Koreans who were singing songs we could not understand. After that it was time to call it an evening and leave from this place that was way to happy to have us in there.

It has only been a day since Friday has ended and since my weekend started but so much has happened to make this last 24 hours interesting that a new post will have to fill in the rest of this week. Its a post worth waiting for because the events of this afternoon only prove my long standing observation that Korea is a crazy place and that just when you have seen it all, anything can happen.

End of Term Update (Part 1)

2008-11-28T00:25:00.007+09:00

Pictures: 1) Ben and I all dressed up to great the Korean mothers, looking good so early. 2) Mike and I eating raw and squirming octopus with the going away party. 3) Ending the night at Sky Bar in Sinchon, the place where we are worshiped. 4) Myself and Hello Kitty at the top of the 63 Building. 5) Our going away dinner party for Lindsey and Tom Apujong.

I know, I know, it has been a while since I have posted anything and I am kicking myself for letting this go. Some nights I just don't feel like coming home and typing, I keep telling myself that I should update every view days so I can remember what happened and so the blogs are not as long but this will be a summary of what happened to catch myself up to present.

Going all the way back to last Monday (the 17th), at our weekly staff meeting I was appointed Head Instructor of my branch. That means more authority, more responsibility, and more money. It kinda took me by surprise but I had been asked if I would be interested so at least it was not out of the blue. I am now in charge of holding workshops, keeping up morale, and grading instructor performance, among other things I am slowly finding out. The job takes affect on Monday December 1 so I will let you know how it goes. However that same day was made better by witnessing the first snow of the year outside my classroom window. It was mixed with rain but it was still snow. I only hope more is to come, we got shafted compared to the ground that was covered in Incheon but nonetheless.

Thursday I had to get up early and be the American Speaking Teacher face of CDI April at this motivational book seminar that our branch was hosting. Mainly every Korean mother of our students attended this workshop that told them how them and their students could be more successful in life. The point was to show that we cared about our students and their future. So I got up at 830 to stand in a suit and tie and greet parents as they sat down. No other job really, however I thank God that I brought my iPhone with me because there was wireless in the building and I talked to friends on AIM to keep my company. Needless to say that was a long day at work.

I did not go out on Friday because with this new Head Instructor Job came a training that I had to attend the next day. So I bought the next book in the Twilight series and a gift for myself congratulating me on my promotion at Kyobo bookstore after work. I am now the proud owner of a 120GB Black iPod Classic. So now I can take every song, picture, and movie with me where ever I go in Seoul which has been particularly useful on the subway. Especially since some of the recent trips have been up to an hour.

So with my new iPod in tow I hopped on the subway at 9 to be halfway across town by 1030. Not knowing how long it would take I gave myself and hour and a half only needing 45 minutes. So I went and grabbed a bite to eat and started the training around 11ish. I learned how to handle the instructors, who to talk to when I needed help, what kind of leader to be, all that jazz. After grabbing lunch with a new fellow HI I headed home to really start my weekend around 2.

Ben had called me and told me that he really wanted to get a coat at the World Cup Mall, having not brought one with him (and he's from Chicago=cold winter?) and tired of wearing a sweatshirt I agreed to go with him upon my return. We had been to HomePlus before (kinda like a mall/Target/grocery store all in one) but never upstairs. This is full mall including a movie theater all nestled around the perimeter of the stadium that is a retail paradise complete with and amazing food court. I now know where I can go shopping for cool American yet uniquely Korean style clothing and much much more. This place had everything and I do mean everything and of course no trip to HomePlus is complete without a trip to the Wine Section, so with two bottles in hand and Ben's new boy band jacket we were really to roll.

There were plans set up for that night to hang out with some of the upstairs CDI teachers, three of which whose contracts were up at the end of this month, last Friday actually. So after sitting here with the wine and a good movie I convinced Mike to come out from Incheon and join us for what would be a good night. About 10 of us took taxis to Hungdea, the party area near Hongkik University for a night on the town. This started with return of some stolen and repainted art to the University student art walk by two friends that were leaving. Next we embarked on our mission, or rather Tom and Lindsay's wish, to eat live octopus before the left. This was accomplished by the entire table of 10 of us as well attempted to pick up live and squirming octopus bits with chop sticks. It was cut up but you had to kill it again by chomping down quickly so the suckers would not stick to the inside of your mouth, your teeth, skin, or worse throat.

Not knowing where the others were going, Mike, Ben, Wayne, and I headed to get coffee and then walked back to Sinchon, the neighborhood that Wayne is from and one that is a very short walk from my apartment. We stopped and ate two pizzas at at 24 hour pizza place with some good convo and thes bid farewell to Wayne and headed to our favorite bar in Sinchon, Sky Bar. They love us there now, the drinks are twice as big and twice as strong. We closed that bar, which is impressive seeing that most bars in Korea close at 5 in the morning. We finished our drinks and taxied home. Upon arrival to my apartment, reminiscing ensued between Mike and I. We both agreed that it was time to try and get some sleep when the faint glow of dawn could be seen through the window around 7.

Sleeping in till around 2 when I got a call from Lindsey who was dropping off more stuff from their now empty apartment Mike and I went to grab some food, Burger King as it was. After that it was slow and quite afternoon until 4 when I meet up with some friends, the same ones who were leaving, and sent Mike on his way to the subway station that would get him back to Incheon after I left the taxi. The plan for that night, at least the first part was a trip to the top of the 63 Building, or the Yoksam Building, the tallest building in Seoul. Knowing that it was to be a cocktail party I was all dressed up and ready to go leaving Ben, who I assumed was dead/still recovering, back at his apartment.

The top was an art gallery that was actually a Hello Kitty exhibit. I saw Hello Kitty portrayed in every way possible: the good, the bad, and the ugly. It was quite interesting and I had no idea that so many variations were possible. After that, it was off to dinner. We had a hard time figuring where to go after the place that had been planned on was closed on Sundays. So we decided on this pretty ritzy area that was all Italian Restaurants, Wine Bars, Dessert Places, small shops, and cafes. Deciding on one that had a Greek name (Thiera) and theme yet served amazing Italian food and palyed Korean background music, it was perfect. 2 appetizers, 3 pizzas, 4 pasta dishes, a bottle of Champagne, and a bottle of chianti between the 10 of us(now including a revived Ben) we were ready for dessert. Desert was not hard to find seeing that we were surrounded by options, but the place that was decided on was just as good as the dinner. The night was made complete with a Creme Brule and a cappuccino. Afterwards it was homeward bound and a great wrap and another fun weekend here in Seoul.

I know I promised a summary but that was just the last week up till Sunday. I have not even dived into the fun that has transpired this week yet. But I will probably update tomorrow to put myself on track for the coming weeks. I have to get back in the habit again so just bare with me. Until tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving!

Culture, Attractions, Nightlife, Furniture, Rest

2008-11-19T22:42:00.003+09:00

Well here I am on another Wednesday evening, hump day if you will however now it's week 12. Only one more week and I can say that I am a quarter way through this experience. I know that I am teaching and that I have a job but what this boils down to all around and from every angle is an experience.

There is little to comment on during this last week, nothing really comes to mind as I sit here that is even remotely worthy of writing down. The minor, things that I can think of are payday and laziness. Monday I got paid again for the second time, I am happy to report that without some major expenses thrown in I am able to live on half of my paycheck and still have a good time. The other half I am able to send home to pay off various things and put into savings. It feels good to have money in my savings account AND pay down my credit cards that have had money on them since I got them 3 years ago. This savings thing is possible thanks to the fact that I don't have to pay for housing which would come to 620,000 Won ($425) a month. The other big thing is laziness. I would have to say that all last week I stayed in bed till the very last minute except for the mornings when new money beckoned and the one morning I put aside to call home. Even that was pushed back a day because I wanted to sleep in. I hope to change that and at least make something of my time before I go to work but we shall see.

Friday, so no real plans surfaced and that did not bother me. Some nights I just want to come home and relax and not think about where I would end up that night. I always end up home but it is the time and locations in between that are uncertain. However I did make plans to go about an hour north to visit a friend and see the new Bond movie Quantum Solace. It was really good and as is custom in Korea we had our assigned seats which were really good, high up and dead center. Seeing that the movie got out after the subway closed I stayed the night. It was a late evening of random TV watching and just hanging out.

Saturday morning I awoke to. . . rain. I thought I was dreaming but when I looked out the window the look matched the sound, wet and dreary. It always astounds me that when you are working, and walking to work the weather is always nice and perfect. But the second that you want to spend some free time outdoors the weather turns on you, like a cruel joke, just one more way to hold you captive indoors. I want to get as much out of my weekend days because I have heard from many sources that the winter is brutal not allowing much outdoor exploring. So with that I headed back to my end of town to go and grab lunch at an Australian Pub, I recharged my phone with minutes, for it had died the night before after making strange beeping sounds during a call, and I made it back to my place in just enough time to shower and get ready for what would become a whirlwind tour of Seoul culture, attractions, and night life.

So Ben and I had made plans a week or two ago to spend a night on the town with our Korean co-teachers Jamy and Lori before the left at the end of this month. After some waiting Lori picked up in her white Lexus and proceed to drive us around to places the girls had arranged to take us. First stop was a famous restaurant in a smaller, more neighborhood-y feeling part of Seoul. There were houses and not apartments, cafes and restaurants, street shops and markets, definitely the more uppity part of Seoul. The dinner was excellent and the conversation was good but it was soon time for our next stop. However before the next planned part we took a detour to Insa-dong, the cultural street of Seoul. We hate some awesome cinnamon sugar filled fried rice cakes and went into some legitimate and authentic souvenir shops were I bought my first korean gift. I will have to go back there before I leave to get things for all those at home.

Lori had gone to this hip-hip dance musical a couple of weeks (or years, it sounds different every time she explains it) that she wanted to take us to. We made it just in time, I asked where the tickets were and she said that they were on her phone. Being here long enough that did not surprise me and we were ushered to our seats. It was a musical based loosely on love and growing up through the different human phases and it was all played out by amazingly choreographed hip-hop, break dancing, and gymnastics routines. With a little acting, singing, and plays on light thrown in. There were many older people in the audience as well as a more college aged crowd, even an old man was invited up to dance in the finale of the show. After an hour and a half on this stunning display of Koreans and their modern dance culture it was time for the next stop of the night. We thought the car was close, but after getting a little lost we found it after at 20 minute walk through some pretty steady rain sans an umbrella or jacket.

Since I found out what it was I had wanted to go to Namsam Seoul Tower, its the highest point in Seoul. The tower itself is only 777 feet but it sits on a hill in the middle of the city so when you are on the observation deck you are actually 1500 feet above sea level. We got there and parked only to find there was no clear way up to the top because we did not take the cable car. The guy in the kiosk said that they were only allowing buses, (which we did not see), and taxis with foreigners up the road. Luckily for me I am foreign and American so that was our ticket through the gate. They actually wanted us to prove that we were foreign, Ben and I, but as we walked up to the kiosk I think our looks alone were enough to convince him without ID. WIth the taxi, and little walking, and 7,000 Won, we were at the top. The restaurants were closed and since it was raining all day it was foggy (which actually played to our advantage because we got a rain check ticket for the bad weather, I can go back free after 6 months). We walked around, I peed in the highest bathroom in Seoul which had a huge plate glass window looking over the city, had coffee, talked about our jobs without the CCTV cameras listening in and then headed down after an hour. After kinda getting lost on the bus we made it back to car for our final stop of the night.

Still in the white Lexus, Lori dropped us off in Gangnam, one of the richest districts in Seoul, at Club Mass, where the world renowned DJ John Digweed was going to be that night and somewhere that all our friends were congregating for the evening. Tickets were a bit steep but I have money now and it was worth it. What was not worth it were the drink prices but I found a way around that with a trip to the 7-11 across the street. The club was impressive with an awesome light show and a sound system that left my ears ringing for a few hours after. The music was techo/dance/eletronica, the club was packed, and the evening ended with a trip to Burger King and cab ride home at 4:30.

Awwww, Sunday, a day of rest. And that's what it was. I didn't wake up until the necessity to acquire my new furniture from my friends down the street drove me to call them around 2. We had been playing phone tag all weekend to try to set up a meeting time and Sunday afternoon seemed to work out best. Literally just around the corner I went over and talked for a bit. Then we agreed on what was to be taken and in 3 shifts up and down the back street I now had in my possession my own couch, a leather armchair and ottoman, a desk, and misc, leftovers that they though I might like, including a magic bullet blender and a mosquito catcher thing. We all went out to lunch, Ben, Lindsey, Tom, and I and ordered a feast. Having not eaten since last night and seeing that it was late afternoon I was quite hungry. All that was ordered was consumed and after a short trip to Starbucks to keep me awake long enough to fall asleep later than that moment I went back to my apartment and vegged with my new furniture watching movies and doing nothing. For the first time in a long time I feel asleep before midnight, 10:30 actually, wondering what this week would bring me.

It is only Wednesday but there are some exciting and promising new developments to report on. Seeing that more is to happen between now and the end of the work week I am going to wait till then to give an account of those happenings, both past and future. Two more days to go till what promises to be a quite and enjoyable weekend.

Pizza Party, Planetarium, Pee, and Pleasure

2008-11-12T01:07:00.003+09:00

Pictures: 1) My class that won the pizza party, Seed 1. 2) Our group for the Planetarium, tallest in the back. 3) From the observatory looking down to the space center along the cable car line. 4) The "Space Center" and the observatory. 5) Stephen, Claire, Timmy (student) and myself in front of the "Space Center" dome.

So I really don't know whether to call this a pro or a con but this job and its related work schedule has made me become somewhat of an insomniac. It is just after 1 in the morning and I am not even tired and probably wont be for the duration that I type, edit, and upload the necessary parts to make this blog complete.

However there are two upsides to what I do, for one, it has made be an insanely good typer. Seeing that I spend a lot of time on the computer and doing activities such as this I have gotten to the point where I can stare at my kids with a watchful eye and type a comment or reply to an email with little or no mistakes quite quickly. The kids seem to be amazed, they are easily fascinated by the little things. Also, not wanting to spend too much time on the computer I find myself reading a lot. Almost as much as I did when I worked at the bookstore before I moved to Sacramento just without the perks of books that I could read and then put back slightly used on the shelf when I was done. My latest find and pleasure has been the Twilight series that will soon be a movie on November 21st. I finished the first book and left right after work on friday to make it the bookstore before it closed across town to buy the second. Its an addictive teenage vampire love story whose plot doesn't bothering me even though it was written for a much younger crowd. It's no Harry Potter but the fantasy element and the book length suit my needs for a good read. Reading for pleasure is far more fun than burying your face in a text book.

Besides the Election, which came with its own special edition blog, the rest of the week seemed to fly by because of that. (side note: one of my classes did win a pizza party for how well they did on their online homework which meant that I got to spend 20 less minutes on teaching and be the envy of Ben, Lori, and their students as Jamy and I ate pizza and they did not.) I rode the emotional high of that Tuesday all the way until Friday night when I suddenly realized that it was Friday night. I purposely made no plans for Friday seeing that I was told way in advance that the following day I would be participating in a sort of field trip with 30 of the students from my school to a Planetarium outside of Seoul. After the run to the bookstore I grabbed McDonalds and settled in for a quite evening and prepared myself for the rude awakening that would resound when my alarm would go off at 730 the next morning. Far earlier than I have woken up in a long time.

But with an excitement for something new and unseen I gladly woke up and got ready, after a cup of coffee, and was at the school by 830 as promised. Slowly the children started to arrive and before I knew it we had enough to fill two of our 20 seat CDI buses with 20 of my own students in my charge (with korean staff there to handle the language barrier of course and to add to the fun). Many of them were afraid to talk at first or to show any emotion that they were excited because they thought that I was going to yell at them. A few actually made wide circles around me as they came in after they saw that I was in jeans and a sweatshirt and not my normally business causal attire. The kids were excited and so was I not really knowing what to expect from a Korean Planetarium (Songam/Starsvalley). The bus ride was about an hour and the time passed with kids taking pictures of each other with there cell phones and of me and random Korean pop tunes blaring from an untold number of mp3 players.

We got to the parking lot and I felt like I was a kid on a field trip even though for the first time I was experiencing what many of my teachers had except I was now on other end of things, the disciplinary and educational end. The valley was aglow with the colors of autumn, deep reds, yellows, and oranges surrounded our group as we walked up the road to the "Space Center" one of two buildings that made up the complex. The second building, which was our first stop, could only be reached by a cable car ride to the top of this small mountain, so soon after I found myself crammed in this car with 27 students surrounding me along with Ben, and 5 other Korean co-workers.

The first stop started with a bang as I witnessed a technological marvel that until now I had only ever seen on YouTube. For 3 minutes and 47 seconds, six robots performed a choreographed dance to music that included clapping, tumbling, and break dancing. I stood in utter fascination as I captured the whole performance in video with my camera. After that the rest of the time was spent watching a movie, in Korean, about the sun and then viewing the sun through an array of different telescopes set up for the kids viewing pleasure. With that part said and done and lasting about 2 hours we headed back down via cable car to the "Space Center" for lunch. Teriyaki Chicken, Rice (of course), French Fries (a welcomed American Twist), and Corn Salad. The kids picked at their food while I ate my fill of french fries and we were ready for our next phase.

This included an awesome presentation of constellations and a movie about preparing for and living in space that was projected onto a giant domed ceiling which allowed the audience reclined below to view in 360 degrees. I watched as the more tired adult staff slept and kept an eye on the kids who were too enthralled to cause much of a disturbance. After lunch also included some play time: soccer, tag, kids running around being kids, all without me having to yell at them to pay attention and to stop talking for once. Then they got to play with pressurized air powered rocket launchers and other cool space-like demonstrations and then it was time for the writing contest and educational space activities.

This included some kick-ass word searches and crossword puzzles that were perfect for our young ones that I had found online and that the staff praised me for. Earlier they were divided into 4 teams for the days events which earned points throughout out the day. Sticking with the theme of space they were: Jupiter, Sun, Meteorite, and Big Bang (which coincidentally is the name a Korean Pop Band and the group that I was in charge of, good music too). The kids also did this mind mapping thing relating vocab words from the day to connect the ideas of space to the larger picture of their lives. Surprisingly they did really well, I think because there are cash prized involved for 6 winners.

Around 4:30 we called it a day but they fun was just beginning. What was an hour bus ride there turned into a 3 hour bus ride back because we hit traffic on the major freeway into Seoul. When you put about 15 kids, myself, Claire (desk staff), and Laura (the Korean Consultant) together in a bus for that period of time, things are bound to get crazy. It started off well enough but after 2 hours they kids were restless and bouncing off the walls. Endless games of rock, paper, scissors were played. Also, every hit Korean pop song was sung by the girls in the front without music, however sometimes with the aid of their cell phones. Then the need for a bathroom and hunger set in, a bad combination with children. One of my students and one of the youngest on the bus decided that he just could not wait for the latter. So in silence he peed into an empty water bottle, making most of it but also managing to get some of it on the floor and then showed his accomplishment to the bus after an load announcement. Panic and mass hysteria ensued and soon all the boys that were near him were scrambling away towards the front of the bus as Andy (the boy with the peed filled water bottle), tried to touch them with not only the bottle but all the damp tissues from the floor. With the help of Claire we cleaned it up and got the situation under control. Sensing the urgency of some fresh air and a real bathroom, the bus driver pulled over at the World Cup Stadium to let them all out to use the facilities. Laura bought them all a snack and we were on our way arriving a half an hour later with the kids and one exhausted me.

Needless to say I got home and crashed, Ben had different plans and mine did not start till later. I was determined to rest up and go out so I could drink away the memory of what I had to deal with in the final hours of the bus ride as well as tell everybody what had happened. I am glad to report that both objectives were achieved. It turned into another night that lasted till 5:30 and after a short taxi ride I was home.

The talk of a possible hike faded with me not waking up till 1:30. I headed up to the apartment of some fellow CDI teachers who are leaving at the end of the month and heading back to the States. In turn they are trying to get ride of some of the things that they have accumulated over the last year. There loss is now my gain in the form of much needed furniture for my somewhat bare apartment. For only 90,000 Won (about $66), I will soon be the proud owner of a couch, an armchair, a desk, a blender, and a mosquito catcher. The visit turned into afternoon plans being made so a little later I joined them and some friends for an relaxing afternoon in Gwanghwamun (near the Embassy), for lunch, a trip to Kyobo (my new favorite bookstore), Cheonggyecheon (Inter-city creek walk), a pizza dinner, and a Starbucks discussion. Coming home beat I had bought a large world map to cover a wall of my bare apartment and was ready to call it a day.

So as predicted, I am still not vary tired. Its 2 in the morning and 39 degrees outside but I am nice and toasty thanks to my built in total floor heater. Yesterday was payday, tomorrow is Wednesday and from the looks of it I have pretty exciting weekend coming up that I already can't wait for. Until then Im done and done and Monson Out.

A Victory Felt Around the World

2008-11-05T22:26:00.004+09:00

So, today I sat vigilant, glued to my 21" screen television, from 7:30 in the morning (3:30p.m. Tuesday), till the polls on the west coast closed at 1p.m. (8:00p.m.) in California. The only station that had nonstop election coverage was CNN and that was all I needed. The night before, the TV played muted in the background should I wake and happen upon some interesting or altering news as millions of Americans headed to the polls and voted in this historic election, myself dreaming of what a change this could mean for my country.

An hour before the polls closed on the east coast my hopes remained optimistic, this was the point of no return. Little did I know that a collective decision of the American people less than five hours later, a decision that I was a part of, would be like the smoothing ripple of a pebble dropped in a turbulent pond. Although I was 5,000 miles away from my own state of California and more than 7,000 miles from the epicenter that was Chicago last night, the impact was instantaneous. As the projected win of Obama flashed across my screen, the minute the polls closed on the west coast, I was no longer part of a collective movement but now a worldwide feeling.

First it was shock, then elation, as the crowds on TV cheered and a smile broke across my face. The only words I could utter were, "O My God, We Did It", it was more of a whisper than a statement of confidence but I had just witnessed history. I was late to work and I did not care, I have never be so proud to be an American, the fact that I was in Seoul, South Korea did not diminish that feeling, in fact I think it enhanced it. The smiled etched on my face was blatantly apparent was I walked into my school. Stating that Obama had won, I don't think the enormity of this election was really felt by my Korean co-workers.

However, being an International Relations major I did my best to show them. After some frantic searching I found live streaming video of Obama's victory speech online at ABC.com from Grant Park in Chicago. As Ben, Lori, Jamy, and Myself stood watching, I could only smile as I answered questions about our new President Elect. Already knowing that he was an eloquent and well versed speaker, his speech still moved me, I didn't even try to fight back the emotion that griped me as I watched.

Today was a historic day for both Democrats and Republicans alike. For the first time in our history we had a competitive primary that included a female candidate and a long oppressed minority. For the first time we saw a woman vice-presidential candidate on the ticket with a well known, established and respected Republican leader and war hero. We saw minority voters come out in droves, African-Americans, Hispanics, and all those who have felt that their voices for too long had been left unheard in our bi-polar political landscape. My own demographic showed overwhelming support for Obama, a candidate who promises change and security for a generation that is growing up in a society where stability in our immediate and long term future seems to hinge on this pivotal moment in history. As quoted from the coverage of this historic election, "Only the least gracious would say that this is not a watershed moment for America." So let us be humble on this day of victory, let us try and reach across the aisle as well as across the world and find common ground to stand on, the soil that we call American. For the ground that we stand on is not painted red or blue as we look across our great nation, but rather it is the same earth that our founders generations before us saw as a land of opportunity free from oppression and discrimination, a land were dreams can come true no matter who you are or what your background was, a land that we can stand together united and truly be one as the United States of America.

From Dobongsan and Back Again

2008-11-02T15:23:00.005+09:00

Pictures: 1) Halloween at CDI Apirl. 2) Literally on top of it all, the city of Seoul spread behind me. 3) The autumn colors of the valley. 4) I held up this rock to let the others pass. 5) Our hiking crew that day. Myself, Ben, Brandon, and Christie

Well this week started out really easy. I had forgotten that the first two days of the week we were giving the kids level up tests to see if they are ready to well, level up. They would move from the section they are in to the next to start learning a more advanced form of english than they are already on. So basically for two days, I taught for only 20 minutes condensing and entire chapter into that time and then for 65 minutes I watched the kids take the test while I was online reading emails, updating my blog, or just sat there doing nothing. I finished those two days surprisingly refreshed and relaxed. Not only were they easy days but since the kids weren't really learning anything and there was nothing to grade I got to go home as soon as I finished my daily report. So I got home with two extra hours on my hands not really knowing what to do.

Wednesday the Halloween decorations had come so after my only real day of teaching I got to help set up the office and the classrooms for Halloween. We had to do two days of Halloween festivities because the kids are on two tracks, Mon/Wed/Fri and Tue/Thur. So that night we put pumpkin lanterns on the lights, balloons and streamers in the office, and stuffed 174 little pumpkins full of candy to pass out to the kids. We each got a silver or purple witches hat to wear while teaching. But alas at this point we did not have costumes because from I looked most everywhere and they couldn't be found. This turned out to be another early night. I went to Homever, which is the equivalent to a grocery store and Wal-Mart rolled into one. They have everything you could possibly want. Its built into the World Cup Stadium that I so frequently visit so its only 6 stops away on our line. I really just went to look but I knew they had a great wine selection and cheese. So I left with a bottle of white wine and some brie. That night I cooked my first real complete meal in my kitchen. Korean Chili Sauce marinated chicken, rice, and a side salad. It was amazing, the only downfall was that my apartment smelled like that for a good 24 hours after.

Thursday was our first Halloween or "Candy" day. However that day started a lot early than normal. Since our branch does not have an HI or Head Instructor we had to go to the training session offered to 20 other teachers in the same position as myself. We learned about class and student management, acting tips for the plays we do at the end of class, and about the methodology and approach that April takes compared to other English Schools. Basically all things that I should have learned in training but since the first was only 4 hours long I was now learning this 2 months later. Overall it was beneficial but it made for a very long day that included a morning commute to and from the HQ on the freeway packed with asian drivers, you do the math. At school I put on Nightmare Before Christmas sing along YouTube videos and had fun with the kids. That night after work at a meeting I was buttered up with pizza ordered by my branch consultant and then told that we were going to be teaching special classes on MWF after our regular classes to help students who have a B- or lower average on their last review test. So more teaching and responsibility that I was told to have to do in the ever present Korean passive/aggressive manner.

Friday, much of the same expect it was really Halloween. We had all the right decorations expect there were no carved pumpkins and i was not in costume so it was kinda half of what halloween should be. The day went by quickly and soon it was over and I once again got to leave early. It was too early to head out and try to find some halloween fun and none of my friends had any real Halloween plans so Ben and I just planned to go with the flow. As it turned out there was not even a flow and we ended up going somewhere that we always went, the only difference was it was decorated for Halloween. Otherwise the night was just a series of taxi rides around the city trying to meet up with friends that really didn't turn into anything. I would have to say it was the most disappointing Halloween's I have had in recent memory.

Saturday thankfully allowed for the weekend to redeem itself. Ben, Brandon, Christie, and I went hiking in Bukhansan National Park to the top of one of many peaks that made up Dobongsan. The ending -san in Korean means mountain. So if there is a subway stop with that in the ending there is a mountain that you can most likely climb nearby. The entire city of Seoul is ringed by moutains on all sides except for the west. The climb up to the top of this peak allowed for spectacular views of the city that surround us. It only helped to gauge how big this city really is. It is Fall so as we climbed to the top it did get progressively cooler. But all the pain and toil was worth it for the pictures that I got at the top. The valley was already in the throws of fall so all the leaves were starting to change and it had just rained the day before so everything smelled fresh and clean. It was nice to get out of the city and into some fresh air and nature. By the time we made it down it was already dark. We went into the neighborhood where Christie and Brandon lived and grabbed dinner. Soon after we went to the subway station and Ben caught the subway to a party that he wanted to go to in the south of the city and I went with Christie and Brandon to go see a movie at Lotte Cinema, Body of Lies. It was a good movie, just really intense. I called it a night after that and took the subway home just in time. I only had to transfer once but when I got on my line my station was the last stop the train made, it wasn't even near the end of the line. They kicked everybody else off, whether they needed to get off or not, because the subway closed down. With an answer to a prayer I made it home by midnight. Putting on Harry Potter I drifted off to sleep letting the the fatigue of a good day lead me to slumber.

Today I woke up around noon but laid in bed as certain parts of my body throbbed from the past day's adventure. I had fallen only once on the way down but when I did I tweaked my left knee and it was swollen when I got home and today it is kinda sore. I now sit at Starbucks drinking a mocha and eating a sandwich from the bakery nearby enjoying a relaxing Sunday. Tomorrow back to the daily grind with the twist of an extra class thrown in, we'll see how it goes.

Soccer, Lightening, and Korean PTA

2008-10-27T16:37:00.005+09:00

Pictures: 1. A little playground fun. 2. Korean sunset in the World Cup Stadium Park. 3. The CDI crew on the steps of the stadium, post victory. 4. Our group sitting at the last FC Seoul Home Game. 5. clouds of the thunder and lightening storm that moved through.

I guess you can say that they defining moment of the week had to be the PTA meetings that occurred at the end of the week. They took place on Thursday and Friday in our own rooms before and after class. The only downside was that I had to get up relatively early to be at school 2 1/2 hours before the usual time. I have myself an hour to prepare and then the parents started coming at noon. They each got 5 minutes to talk to me, well me through a translator that was one of the desk staff teachers, and away we went. The saving grace was that after 4 minutes a monitor poker her head in and said time was almost up. That saved us from having to hear a parent ramble on while i smiled and nodded. For the most part it went really well, a couple of the parents were even able to ask about their child in fluent english which made it really easy. Having the parent/teacher conferences really gave a new perspective to my job. These parents really want the best for their kids and they are sending them to me to help them learn english. I am really glad that some of them came into to talk about the problems that some of them were having, that way I can direct better attention to them to help. In all they said that their child really enjoyed my class and that they had fun and liked coming. I as so happy to hear that, I hope that I am making this experience as much fun for the students as it is for me. I even walked away with a mango juice gift set for time and good work. We are supposed to do 2 of these a semester so know that I know what to expect I am sure that the PTA meetings of the future will go a lot better, although still needing a Korean to English translator.

You would think that after being at work for nearly 10 hours that you would be tired and want to rest. On Friday that was not the case and I headed out with Ben to meet up with some of our friends in a nearby neighborhood only 2 stops away. Needless to say this was another night that when I looked at my watch it was 6 in the morning. After some much needed Burger King I was in bed shortly after and stayed there till 3. It was a good thing that the weather cooperated with my mood for the day because I laid in bed as it got cloudier and cloudier and by the time that 6 o'clock rolled around it was raining pretty hard and flashes of thunder and lightening could be seen. Despite the storm Ben and I were hungry and headed up the line to Iteawon "little America", for some good eats. We meet up with another teacher that teacher up stairs and he was going to the same place. He recommended a few places, one of which was a Mexican restaurant and I was sold. We walked in and it even smelled like a Mexican restaurant. The churrizo burrito that I got for my dinner was amazing and I will got back there again when I have a craving. That was pretty much all the strength I had for that day and I spent the rest of it finished my book and watching movies.

Sunday, well that was a day and a fun one at that. Not really wanting to get up too early or get to the stadium to early for that matter my day started around noon and I was out the door and on the Subway by 130. The World Cup Stadium is in our neighborhood and only 6 stops up the line, the other way from Iteawon if you are trying to get your bearings. We were going to meet other CDI teachers there and the first occurred right when we got down to the station. We meet up with our friends, got our 8,000 won seats and made our way inside. We were playing the number 1 rated team in the K (Korean) League so of all the games that we had gone to this was the most heavily attended. It is a big stadium but I would say about a quarter of it was full. We had about 12 people with us so we had a good turn out as well. FC Seoul scored the only and winning goal in the last 5 minutes of the game, the crowd went wild. The rest of the games are away games but I hope to go to at least one of them. We are now ranked 1st in the league, up from 3rd.

The consensus after the game was that we were all hungry. I knew there was a big plaza in front of the stadium which I had never been too. I thought that naturally there would be restaurants all around. Well there was a large park with a lake, playgrounds, trails, and such but no food. After a nice walk however including an awesome sunset, we walked to the subway station to head back to more familiar territory to get good. It wasn't long long before we were in the thick of Hungdea and decided were to eat. A chinese restaurant caught the eye of one of the friends we were with and it looked like a good choice. It was seeing that they had an amazing set of 9 dished for only 75,000, split with 4 people I ate my fill and then some. After this we all went our separate ways, some of the group had to go as far as 3 hours before they were home. I called it a night as well and by the time I was home I was pretty much ready for bed. If I read I would have fallen asleep for sure so after a little TV and some computer updates I was out before midnight, the first time in a long time in which that has happened.

This week, consider a short week, only 3 days of actual teaching. Today and tomorrow the kids are taking level up tests. More on that later. A great start to week 9.

An Overdue Update (Week 7)

2008-10-20T23:06:00.004+09:00

Pictures: 1: Ashley, Kenny, and I on the trail. 2: What was in my nose after hiking, not really, its gummy green rice snack something. 3: A view from the top in my classic pose. 4. In front of the Buddist temple bell. 5. Ben and I in front of the main temple at the top of the climb.

Well here are some major things to report on since the last time that I posted, which in my opinion has been way to long. I will not become the once a month blogger that most tend to become when on trips like this. I need to write down what I do so I can write a book about this experience when I am done. So here we go. . .

I finally have the trifecta of things that make me feel like I officially live here. The cable I have had since last saturday. The internet was finally installed on Thursday morning. The router to make it wireless came on friday, it was all set up on last night and it works like a charm. Not to mention I FINALLY GOT A CELL PHONE! My co-workers meant well but didn't work fast enough, so I took the initiative and got one myself, with the help of Mike, when I went to Incheon, its the Korean version of the Verison LG Chocolate, $70 out the door and all I have to remember to do is pre pay it at one of the millions of cell phone stores around Seoul.

I found out that our co-teachers are only staying until the end of the term in November because they don't like the way things are run. So that means at the start of December I am going to have two new reading and writing teachers to get to know while I am stuck here for a year dealing with the way things are dictated to me. Im making the most of it and calling each step an adventure.

Another office staff co-worker quit on Friday. This was the guy that was social awkward and trying way to hard to try and hang out and be friends. Even to the point of calling out mine and Ben's names below our windows last Sunday because he was bored. He was a good guy with good intentions and I do wish the best for him. He by far was the best Korean to English translator we had, a service that will be sorely missed. The other are really good mind you, but his english was really good.

Heard the South Korean War Warning Siren last Wednesday while at work. Back home that means there is nuclear meltdown at the power plant nearby. Here I guess it means a nuclear warhead tipped missile is headed to the city. At least I know there is a plan and warning system is in place. I have even found the deepest subway station closest to my house. **FLASH** Duck and Cover.

I got my absentee ballot at my apartment today, some genius however decided to water the plant that the ballot was placed near and it soaked the bottom portion of the packet. The good stuff was saved but the majority of it is now drying out on my bed. Point being I can now vote in this election from Korea! (side note, i guess other countries don't do the absentee thing it seems to be only an american privilege, other countries don't seem to reach out to foreign placed voters).

A care package from home arrived on friday, ending a near perfect day. I got a whole bunch of cool teaching stuff. I have the days of the week signs, what the weather is like, cursive letters and matching words banner. Plus, Korean currency for children, stickers! I now have thousands, I told them they were from America and they went crazy. These will be a good incentive to keeping my kids in check. Also a Costco pack of trident, little books in English, hair product, Burt's bees chapstick, among other fun things. My bosses now think I am totally dedicated to this teaching thing and love it. They even called my parents to thank them for sending it.

My branch also sent a bouquet of flowers to my house in California. They had asked for my address and phone number and wanted to know if someone was also home during the day. I didn't know why and I was kinda weary but soon found out that they wanted to send the flowers as a thank you for sending their son to teach in South Korea and that they appreciate the work that I am doing. I thought that was pretty awesome.

A few observations:

1. Its really hard when a student starts crying in your class and you don't know why because they don't know how to tell you.

2. This country has a moral objection to cheese of any kind.

3. I don't know why ice cream in a pouch as not caught on in America, its simply amazing and fun to eat.

4. I am allergic to mosquito bites in any country

5. I also hate stairs in any country, I don't think I have ever walked up and down so many thanks to the subway

This is all for now, a weekend update will follow, although not much more happened that I can think of. Now pressing on into week 8!

Friday Night . . . Just Got Paid

2008-10-15T22:08:00.001+09:00

No observations really this time, just fact.

The weekend was, as usual way too short. Friday was payday, a glorious day. All my work finally paid off to the tune of 3.2 million Won, included my check, relocation bonus, and flight/hotel reimbursement (the hotel was not really supposed to be part of it but because they thought my plane ticket was to cheap I threw it in and they paid for that too). That same day I was told in so many words that I had to complete 6 weeks worth of backed up online speaking homework that I have been slowly catching up on but not fast enough. After a marathon session I finished grading at 10. I still find it convenient that a bar is located right below work, and that is where I went after work to blow off a little steam and celebrate. Ben and I were followed by one of our co-workers that I think is trying too hard to make friends in a suffocating sort of way. We ended up ordering about 70,000 Won, or about $65 worth of food and drink before we headed back to my place to watch a movie. Along came the co-worker but he didn't stay long because unlike us the office staff has to work on Saturday.

Saturday was supposed to be the day of internet and cable, sometime around 11. Ben was going to say behind and take care of the installation in my room while I made the trip out to Incheon International Airport to return the phone that I was borrowing. On my way to the subway I meet up with Kenny, another office staff co-worker who was going to help us out with the translation part of the whole contract and installation. But he said that they were not going to come till the afternoon so off to the airport I went, my longest trip alone. The round trip took about 3 hours, including the time to drop off the phone and grab some McDonalds for lunch. I brought a book and my iPhone and pretty much watched the Vice President and Presidental Debates that I had downloaded as podcasts. On the way back I tried my best to coordinate with Mike coming out to Seoul by way of pay phones and Skype because I was now phoneless.

As it turned out it worked and I picked Mike up at the subway just as he got here. From then we planned what the evening entailed but only after the installation guys, and Kenny, came to install cable, but not internet. At least it was a piece of the puzzle. From there it was a little TV watching and Korean Remote Control introduction and Kenny said his goodbyes. Now Ben, Mike, and I planned for our evening witch started out with some amazing Korean BBQ down the street. From there it was a trip into Sinchon that had us bouncing around bars and clubs till about 2 after meet up with some of Mike's friends and introducing him to some of my own, mainly the bartending staff at Sky Bar, they love us there. The night ended with a taxi cab ride home and some amazing steamed dumplings.

Sunday, a lazy day for sure. I didn't get up till around 12:30 and the day started an hour later. Mike, having stayed the night on the couch, myself and Ben proceeded to Starbucks for a quick pick me and up then to lunch at "the place" or The Palace as it is called, near the embassy and the Kyobo bookstore, second trip in a week. It is some where that serves and american breakfast that is called "American Breakfast", also cafe pizzas, pastas, and paninis . Then off to Kyobo Bookstore to look at some books, bought one, and got asked interesting political questions by a man who wasn't from the United States but understood everything about the country and wanted to talk. I listened to be nice and then pawned him off on Mike due to ignorance and general disinterest. There were plans to go to Costco but I think that will have to wait till another time. But like clockwork we ended up at Yongsan Electronics Market for some more movies and seasons. Calling it a day, we went out separate ways at Yongsan Station, Ben and I went home to go watch a few of our new spoils and read the books we had picked up.

Even for a Wednesday a lot has happened since then. So I think I will save the next post for tomorrow just in cause some more craziness is added to this week. Needless to say enough has been had already but they always say when it rains it pours.

Independent Living, Its Payday!

2008-10-10T13:13:00.003+09:00

Alright I would have to say that right now as of this moment I am really not a fan of South Korea. I was all jazzed this morning, even got up early with a smile on my face because I was under the impression that I was going to get a cell phone today, something I have been wanting for a while. But seeing that I am E-2 Visa status aka foreign, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen cheaply. I now seem to have the same problem with cable and internet as well. I am tired of my shity rental phone, I hate stealing two bars of internet from only one corner in my room, and I am pretty much over getting only 6 channels of fuzzy Korean Soap Operas and news that I follow only by the pictures. Now, onto other matters.

This Weeks Observations:

1.Our Korean landlord is still under the impression that Ben and I speak Korean fluently, he will proceed to tell us something for a minute or two and stop, waiting for us to answer. We shake our heads and say “English” and he just waves and walks away.

2. I now have some nice calluses built up on my fingers from the continuous use of chopsticks, which are used for everything. From the understandable rice and soups to pizza and fried chicken.

3. You can’t write kids names on the board in red marker. Apparently if you write someone’s name in red it is a curse and it means that you are going to die, now I may only do that to the kids the misbehave.

4. The entire adult population of Seoul goes on the move at noon for lunch. If you don’t want to wait in a long line at any restaurant (although they move quite quickly) you should get there before noon or after 1.

5. Any place that two streets cross in Seoul is a major intersection, an intersection would not be complete without honking, blocked crosswalks, and a couple of near misses (both pedestrian and vehicular).

6. American children play rock, paper, scissors. Korean children play rock, scissors, paper. This game decides any and almost all disputes.

7. If you a snack of any kind that comes with many pieces, like chips or crackers, be prepared to share. Break time is like the stock market with transactions of snacks happening as fast as students can pull them out of their bags and collect them.

8. In Korea, always expected the unexpected. The reason for my no-camera-left-behind policy is that you never know what you will stumble upon even if you are heading down the street for a bite to eat.

The highlight of this week had to be on Wednesday when I went over a review test for my youngest class. I had to have someone come in last week and explain how to take the test in Korean because they were still too young to understand the instructions in English. Then then this week I had to have someone watch the class as they took the test because they all used their books and flashcards, which is a bad thing too. Well after that, I went over the test. We do each answer on the board. As I finished each answer and they saw that they got it right they all cheered and yelled and threw their hands up in the air. It was the cutest thing. I can’t wait to see if they are that excited to correct the test today.

I went to the Kyobo bookstore on Wednesday as well. This bookstore is huge and is just like Barnes and Noble, but with all Koran books. However they had an impressive “Foreign Books” section that was pretty much every best seller many many more books in their respective categories like classics, business, history, and politics. I picked up “The Kite Runner”, which I am hooked on, and the first book in the Twilight Series, “Twilight”. I think from now on when I finish a book I will right a short review of it without giving too much away. So look forward to those soon.

One of my classes dialogue sections was about not knowing the capitals of countries. So the class had to write in the country like so, “What is the capital city of Australia”, then say, “Hmmmm, it is. . .”, then, “Do you give up?”. Finally they write in the last answer and then read it aloud to the class, “Hold on. I know it! It’s Canberra.” So to diversify the answers I wrote out a bunch of Asian countries which many of the students knew. Then I did the same for Europe of course, out of nowhere this one students started naming those too, in English! I was thoroughly impressed. I could have taught a world capital lesson all day, I as in my element. A life calling perhaps?

Finally, walking down the street last night we were on our way to get dinner after work. Ben had not eaten or drank anything in 24 hours because of Yom Kippur so he was starving and somewhat irritable. We crossed the street to the side of the University. In front on the University entrance there was a Kabob stand selling authentic chicken and lamb kabobs, amazing. Then we heard crazy dance music and saw a light show up the hill. A short walk later we find a stage set up in an open area with 5 young girls, dressed in next to nothing like pop stars, dancing to Korean and American dance music, not singing, just dancing, as the crowd jumped and sang along. Like I said before, expect the unexpected because even a short walk for food can turn into something interesting.

Well the weekend is upon me, 6 more classes this afternoon and I can enjoy 2 days off. I am sure I will have more tales from the streets of Seoul to write about Sunday night. Until then, time to teach!

Korean 4th of July (October) and More

2008-10-06T22:26:00.003+09:00

So, I realized that I probably should be updating my blog more often than I have been seeing that I have to try really hard to recall what I do over a weeks span. Its not that I don't remember, its just that so much random stuff happens that becomes memorable I lose track of what happens on what days. Personal goal, more updates.

So, onto the observations from this previous week, dare I say I didn't come up with many.

1. If there was ever a cellophane wrapping contest, Koreans would win hands down, no matter what the shape of the container or plate it can be wrapped, and tightly and with soups they have perfected a cellophane vaccuum seal, simply amazing.

2. You can get anything delivered, anytime, any place. This goes for most all food, furniture, basically anything that you can imaging that can be put in the back of a motorcycle or small truck can be brought to your location.

3. The subway is the most awesome, efficient, and cheap form of transportation in the world and I will probably say this more than once.

4. Where two ore more english speaking people are gather, there will be an equally large or larger group of Koreans looking, starting, and pointing.

5. Korean children have a hard time understanding differences in people, aka diversity. Mostly hair, eye, and skin color. I blame being raised in a homogenous society in which traveling consists mostly of staying in the country or the Asian region.

Now, onto what has transpired in the past week, twas far more easy going than last.

The week was once again uneventful, just working daily and learning more and more about what I was required to do but never taught in training. It seems that every week and new piece of the puzzle is added to what is to be done. They seem surprised that I was never taught and must be shown, I then in turn remind them that I only got 4 hours of total training.

Thursday, I bucked the trend of sleeping in late, basically until noon, and got up to go the the US embassy to take care of some business. As it turns out it really isn't that far from where I am leaving which I think is a plus. Although upon arrival it was nothing like embassy I went to in London, this was a barbed wire and surrender all your electronics kinda place. We got a magnetic number badge when we went in and I had to turn over my phone, camera, iPod, and graphing calculator before I could enter. When I got inside there was everybody and anybody who were all there for a variety of reasons. Marragies, replacement passports, citizenship papers, voting abroad, and many more. I took care of getting my absentee ballot sent to my Korean Address, as did Ben, and they said that they would send it to the US on my behalf and I should get the paperwork in time. I also asked about how to register myself while I am here in Korea, should anything happen they would know where I lived and the response time to my rescue and evacuation would be far faster than those that don't think ahead like I do. As it turns out I can update this web page (secure of course) to let them know anytime that I travel around the world and for how long, even if its short trips or vacations, so that was pretty reassuring. Leaving disappointed from my experience I was ready to get some food and we stumbled upon a buffet that served an "American Breakfast" that really was quite American. All and all it was a productive morning that left me tired that night.

Friday was a National Holiday, known as Foundation Day, basically the day thousands of years ago that they started to officially call this area Korea. The public school system was off but the kids still came for the English lesson. Because the academy had the kids interest at heart we held classes early, so instead of getting there at 1:30 in the afternoon I was up bright and early and at the school at 9 in the morning, a somewhat rude awakening. But the upside was it was a pretty laid back day and I was done at 2:30 to enjoy the rest of the day and get a jump start on the weekend. After a delicious celebratory lunch at this Korean restaurant down the street I went home and took a nap feeling rested and ready for the evening. Well rested soon turned to a headache and exhaustion as I ventured out with Ben at midnight. By the time I got home shortly after that my head was throbbing, I took some medicine, drank a bunch of water and rested up for what was supposed to be an amazing Saturday.

Saturday was amazing. Ben was sick from the night before and did not leave the apartment all day or go with me. So I ventured out on my own to meet up with a friend and a bunch of others who were going to the park to celebrate Foundation Day that was to end with a firework show at 7. So there we sat for 5 hours, eating, drinking, talking, taking in the sights, and listening to good music, about 15 of us, enjoying a day shared with tens of thousands of Korean families that were flooding the park. By 5 in the evening the subway stop that brought us to the park shut down but still the people came.

The firework show was awesome and lasted about an hour in two parts. I felt like I was in the states watching a 4th of July show but just surrounded by Koreans, regardless I felt extremely patriotic and thought a few times about singing the national anthem. The higher the firework the more the crowd ooooed, and awwwed in unison. One of the finale pieces was a cascade of fireworks into the river off a bridge that spanned the length of the Han River. We hung out for quite a while to let the crowds clear. In the meantime after watching everybody else and their mother shoot of Roman Candles, luck finally came my way when a group of kids came by selling them. The fun only continued when a man set down a box of them and starting selling them close by, 5 for 5000 won, about $5. I was in heaven, the smile on my face the entire time that I was shooting them off is priceless. The evening ended in some much needed Korean BBQ and a rooftop party at a friends house. A taxi ride home with another friend had me in bed by 3 thinking about how much fun I had that day.

Sunday was a relaxing day at the Yongsan market and movie watching. I found a DVD player that plays my DVD's from home as well as the bootleg ones I have gotten while I was here. I looked for a cheap cell phone but failed, they were all around $300, I didn't find any of the cheap used ones that everybody is talking about, I still think I am going to save that job for the Korean office staff to take care of. I did win a free pen in a street advertisement for a sale or something, I made some baskets while an MC rambled on in Korean, it was interesting I guess and I got a sweet gift. I wanted to go see a movie but what was playing near the market was nothing that I nor Ben nor Shadiyah were interested in. I guess I will save that for another day. So we tested our new purchases and they worked, Shadiyah bought one too. That night I watched 3 movies to commemorate this achievement, the last one of course being Harry Potter.

Today, actually it was an awesome Monday and start to the week. I only hope it stays this good. I got some new students in each of my classes and I named one that did not have an English name Harry, like Harry Potter, I have a whole list of character names that I am going to use for the next term. Once again, no real plans for the week or weekend, but as part of my new camera policy I take it everywhere I go because it seems something always happens that is worthy of a few pictures.

Picture line up from top to bottom. #1, the then empty park where everyone came to watch the fireworks. #2, the 63 building, the tallest building in Seoul (the big golden 1, haha). #3, the park filled up as people flooded down the stairs from the subway. #4, the look of elation on my face after I bought some roman candles of my own. #5, the awesome ride home on the subway where our squeezed in and crammed against the door.

After only 1 Month

2008-10-01T22:53:00.004+09:00

First Off, I think a new ritual of thoughts that I gather over the week:

1. I don't think I will ever get over being stared at cuz I am 6'2" and white in Korea, its classic.

2. Steve (a student) needs a intervention, enough said.

3. All Korean children can draw well, even if it all looks like Japanese cartoon art.

4. I thought I heard a student say beezy the other day, I nearly died.

5. Every student has a pencil case but oddly sometimes they contain no pencils, although I do have a pretty good eraser collection going.

6. Even in Korean the soap operas are dramatic, riveting, and somewhat addicting.

7. Put on a movie with Korean subtitiles (Monsters Inc.) and utter silence will follow.

8. Koreans have a love affair with Spam, it is sold in gift packs.

9. I haven't driven in over a month and oddly Im ok with that, seeing that if I got behind the wheel of a car here I might die or take out half the city, (about 5 million people).

Alright, now on to some things that I have done since the last time I updated.

Nothing really eventful till the next weekend. I quite night in once again turned to another night out till 5 in the morning on Friday. I tried to pay for these two German girls bar tab because the Korean guys they were drinking with walked out on them and left them with the bill. Ben told me kindly to, "put my credit card back in my pants". When the cops came I saw that it was something I should not mess with and left.

Saturday, watched the Aussie Rules Football Grand Finals at an Australian Bar near Iteawon, basically the foreign sector of Seoul because it is really close to the military base. I almost felt like I was in Australia for a moment as I heard the accents and listened to one of the girls explain how she was friends with multiple members of the team that lost. After that, given all the Americanness that is around, I had Quiznos for lunch and then proceeded for Yongsan (Giant Electronics Market, anything and everything cheap and sometimes illegal) for some more DVD's and a look at some electronics.

Upon my arrival to the Yongsan Station, I meet up with Mike, my roommate and friend from Sacramento and showed him around the area. We then found our way back to Iteawon for a Mexican dinner, (yes they have everything), that was not that good considering I come from California. We then went to another bar that was all white people, good music and cheap beer.

Another night that was supposed to end early, we meet up with some of Mike's friends from Incheon that were coming out of the subway stop that we were going into. Needless to say that one thing led to another and we all took a taxi back to my place at 4 in the morning, Mike slept on the floor in my room and his friend slept on the half couch in Ben's room. We figured it was best since we planned to go to the FC Seoul soccer match just up the line the next day.

Another FC Seoul Soccer match on Sunday, we won again. 3-0 against the Channum Dragons. This time we got more into the spirit and got rally scarves that ended up around our heads. We even joined in on the Korean chants and cheers that we could sound out. It was good times and this time we had more people in our ranks, including Mike's friends and some friends that I trained with and also worked for CDI, in all about 10. We ended up having dinner with this Korean guy that we had meet the night before in Iteawon and who meet us at the game, needless to say after a weekend like this I was beat.

So far this week at school we were told that there was going to be a parent/staff seminar about this writing program they were going to start to better prepare students for the next level of the program. Little did I know that they would have a free cafe set up serving all you can drink mochas and coffee, I was in heaven and I think my mocha count for the day was 7 or 8, small cups of course. Then for the last meeting at 8 we got to pass out flowers to the mothers that were coming in for the meeting. One of the Korean office staff made this really cool video that included welcome videos of both myself and Ben. I really want to get a copy of it cuz it was really well made.

Overall all it seems the work load and pressure increases as more seems to be expected from me but as of right now I am looking forward to this weekend. Odd though because I have nothing planned, but who knows what will happen this first weekend of October.

What I've Done, What I've Seen

2008-09-25T22:06:00.005+09:00

Alright, since last time some things I've done:

1. I got my Alien Registration Card, which means that I am officially Korean and can start to buy and get things like a cell phone, cable TV, a bank account, internet, and I am sure there is more that I don't know about.

2. O wait, I got the bank account with the help of my Korean co-worker, so I can start earning my korean paycheck however because I am a foreigner I don't get a bank card until november. So until then, I have to go into a bank and find the "english" speaking teller to get my money out.

3. Last Sunday I went to a soccer match at the World Cup Stadium here in Seoul. The Stadium was huge and awesome, the fans were great, and I now have a new club to cheer for, FC Seoul, with a jersey to match. If all goes according to plan I am going back this Sunday for another match.

4. On more than one occasion in the last week I have been able to order food with my limited Korean in Korean. I have been able to walk away both times satisfied not only cuz I was full but also because I am trying out a new language that I never guessed that I would speak and thus far have succeeded.

5. As for my classes, a kid in one of my classes had his tooth fall out. Not only did he dribble spit and blood all down the front of his shirt but it took about 10 minuets to calm the class down after they wanted to look at his tooth and the bloody hole in his mouth.

In my youngest class I killed a bug, the kids were pointing at it so I did my duty and swatted it down and stepped on it. Well they screamed when it was on the ceiling, they screamed even louder when it fell onto the floor. And once I stepped on it and it was on the ground the class when crazy, literally kids on their desks and the window sill to get away from this dead bug. Needless to say everybody asked why my class went hysterical for five minutes.

Besides the kids who can't shut the hell up and continue to disrupt my class and those that are so smart that it blows my mind the teaching thing isn't actually that bad.

Now onto more observations of my crazy new home that is South Korea.

1. In Korea there really are no road rules, I am surprised I have not witnessed a horrific accident or that I have not been run in to.

2. Anything that is paved can be driven or parked on, this includes corners, sidewalks, and most pathways, and right in front of buildings.

3. Apparently the weather in Seoul is just like the weather in the midwest, I am never moving to the midwest.

4. A red ink stamp makes anything official.

5. Koreans find it odd and utterly amazing that I can use chopsticks AND like Korean food.

6. Co-workers wonder how I can do things around the city and not speak Korean.

7. If I speak any korean in class or write my name in korean on the board the kids flip out.

8. Dumplings are the Korean Jack in the Box, cheap, delicious, and extremely close in proximity to my place.

9. My coffee addiction is fed by a single serve tube filled with instant coffee, cream, and sugar supplemented with a hot water dispenser/water cooler.

10. Most, if not every business sign that is written in english is grammatically incorrect.

A Short Week- 3 Days With Dr. Suess

2008-09-20T20:57:00.003+09:00

Well after last weekend this was a relatively short work compared to what I have been doing, just Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I am so happy that I worked as hard as I did on the handouts and lesson plans for the Dr. Suess books because my co-workers had games and activities tied to their lesson as well. The kids liked reading the books and I think that they got a lot out of it, not only was it something that they had never read before but there was also a whole lot of new vocabulary that they had never seen before so that was good. I think that if I ever did it again I would choose a story for each level. What ended up happening was that not all the kids came because it was a special week, so some classes got combined into one. On Thursday I only taught for 2 hours and on Monday and Wednesday I only taught 5 instead of the usual 6 classes. But it got kinda boring teaching the same material for Green Eggs and Ham for 80 minutes twice each day. I would have like to break it up with something else but I realized that a little to late, next time.

The one thing that was a bit of hurdle the first day was that I had done all the work on my Mac and they only have PC's at work. So I spent a good hour trying to download the right drivers to use the printer at work and just print from my computer to the printer. I had to use PC version crap the first day but the rest of the time I was able to print from my computer and it looked really good. Other than that I felt like a real teacher the whole time. I was making lesson plans, printing up stuff, making copies and putting together packets of material. It was awesome and I was in my element. I really hope we have to do a week like that again so I can put some more things together.

Not much socially happened this week. Although I think that I have officially changed my sleep cycle into that of an insomniac. I go to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning and wake up at noon. Its bad, but then again I really don't want to sit around my apartment from 9 until 1:15 doing nothing, there is only so much you can read on the internet or from a book until you get bored so I guess in that regard this works for now. Thursday night however I met up with one of the guys that I had meet briefly in my 4 hour training session, he came to the subway stop close by and we hung out at Ben's place and then went out for a few drinks and to show him around our area. It seems that I have lucked out in terms of where I ended up living and where I worked and that my english co-worker is also my neighbor. It seems that a line up like that does not happen very often and from what I have heard from others things could have been way worse.

Friday after work I went to my first official Korean office party. It was one of the office staff's birthday today so we celebrated after work. They said that it would be a small party and I was thinking good because I didn't bring anything for dinner so a few snacks will tie me over till I get home. When we walked into the room where it was there was more than a few snacks. 3 pizzas, 2 boxes of fried chicken, dim sum, sweet and sour korean fried pork, kimchee of course, and many other finger foods, needless to say when we where done I was stuffed. During the meal we all went around and said how we liked teaching for CDI April so far. I had said that the entire staff has done a really good job of helping me adjust and helping me out in general. Also for showing such concern when I was sick for the first week. Everybody has been so nice so far and that has really helped in coming to a new place where everything is so foreign. I got to bring home some leftover pizza and chicken. After that the girls, ben and I went out for a few drinks at the bar just below where we teach. We talked sports, and baseball, and about american universities, and our proposed plans to go to Japan in the spring. It was good just sitting and talking with them about things that were not work related.

As I was leaving the bar, we walked Lori to where he car was and at the same time we meet up with two of the girls who worked in CDI above our floor. We got to talking and they invited the both of us to go bowling with them that evening. So I got home and after a quick change we headed of to the bowling alley that was a 10 minute walk away. Obviously if you haven't caught on by now I walk everywhere and thank God everything is so close. So we bowled two games till about 2 in the morning and talked about work and adjusting to the culture cuz everybody I was with had been there for at least 4 months. We paid 7,000 won for the two games and shoes and then we decided to head to the intersection near my place to get some dumplings and korean food at a shop thats open 24 hours. We talked and ate, I showed the other CDI people where I lived and then headed home for the night. Once again not falling asleep until way later.

So today I basically woke up at 3:30, when I got up at noon I saw and heard that it was raining pretty hard so what plans I had thought I was going to carry out were scrapped because they involved being outside for a good portion of that day. After that observation I did not feel guilty at all for lying in bed and catching up on the sleep that I kinda don't get because I fall asleep so late. I got my day started at 4 and Ben and I walked the area around Grand Mart in Sinchion and found a really cool market place that sells anything and everything. I found an entire stall that sold american products, just one or two of each. There were some pretty good prospects that I may come back for all around. Then I picked up some much needed groceries and also some bulgogi meat, its like carne asada, cut really thin but marinaded in asian broth and vegetables. For dinner I cooked a pot of rice and stewed up the bulgogi meat (beef), and put it on the rice. It was really good and filling and I would do it again. After dinner we watched The Rock and now here I sit updating my blog. Hopefully I will go to bed at a decent hour tonight and I think I will seeing that I am tired for not having done much today. Tomorrow is another day, maybe back to Yongsan for some DVD's and a phone or the World Cup Stadium up the line. We shall see but whatever it is I will take pictures for sure.

After the Weekend of Choesuk

2008-09-16T22:41:00.004+09:00

After a 4 day weekend here in Seoul I have found out a lot more about this city, how to get around, and where to go. There was exploration, drinking, adventures, relaxing, sightseeing, and just plain living.

Lets see, Friday night Ben and I decided to go and just experience the night life in our neighborhood without a Korean guide. We would get food, go to some bars, and stay out until we figured it was time to go home. Our first stop was a restaurant that looked good based on pictures seeing that neither of us could read the menue. We got down there and they happened to have a waitress that spoke english and we bought a boiled meat and vegetable korean dinner. Seeing that it was cooking in a pot right in front of us we could add to it what we liked and serve ourselves. With beer and Soju we were ready to go. After that we hit up the bar scene, which is quite extensive in this part of town. Once again, not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into we dived in. The first was a korean bar trying to be american called Sky Bar, with american drinks like my fav, jack and coke, which I had two of. But the prices, not a fan, drinking out is kinda expensive in Korea. It almost seemed worth it to stick to our 1,200 won bottles of soju and OJ. But the people here were friendly and wanted to be our best friends so we stayed for a bit. After small talking with the bar tender we got her email address and that of her friend and left. On to the next, this one called Sexy Bar. That is exactly what it was, girl bartenders who came and sat at your table or talked to you at the bar wearing bathing suits and/or next to nothing. The drinks were even more expensive here so we got just one, talked a bit, tried the korean/english exchange, got another email address and left. I do believe the night ended with a snack at McDonalds and the walk home, time- 3:30a.m.

Wake up time on Saturday, around 1:30. Today was the day that we decided and Ben somewhat had to go to Incheon International Airport to return the loaner phone that he got when we got here. After about 4 subway transfers and a trip on airport rail we arrived and hour and half later to the airport that I barely remember seeing that i was so overwhelmed when I first got there. He returned his phone, I picked one up for 2 weeks, got a coke, looked around and left. We ended up getting on the express train rather than the normal subway back that I think we needed a ticket for, but it got us to our next station stop in half the time that the first way took, they didn't ask us so we didn't ask questions. We got back to our place, relaxed and then grabbed some Korean style pizza for dinner and then pre-gamed it before we were supposed to meet some other CDI folk for drinks a couple of stops down. We left the apartment a little too late and ended up missing our last subway transfer cuz all the lines closed down, so up to the street we went and walked. We meet up with some other english speaking people heading to where we were trying to go. After walking there and not finding our people we looked for the next group of english speaking people and went with. As it turns out they were from England, Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia and us. We didn't know them, and they didn't know us, but the common bond was that we spoke english and taught in Korea.

First bar of the night, a loud "American Bar" with american music and the drinks to match. I ordered a Jack Daniel's and got a shot, not jack and coke like i thought. I hate shots, but I did it anyway. Then I ordered a moosehead beer, it came with a tequila shot, apparently koreans think that every american loves and drinks tequila. Drank the beer, took the shot. This night was getting interesting. The next place, looked like something straight out of Star Wars, white wired shapes, it looks like a bar in a futuristic space port. Not only was this a bar but a hookah bar packed with more english speaking people rocking out to techno music (really big here). We stayed here for a while and our group of UK people left. But as we were about to leave a group of Koreans called us over and introduced themselves as a baseball player, a rockstar, and a pop stat. They had the drinks on the table to match. We had chips and salsa, hookah, and an entire bottle of jose cuervo. Once again, shots all around and I took them all like a champ. It was really cool but like all good things it came to an end around 3a.m.

Seeing that we took the subway and it was now closed we thought that we were kinda in the neighborhood so the walk should be too bad right? Well as it turns out after trying to follow some signs I had no clue where we were. Calling a taxi we told him to take us to the station that was right next to our house and for 2,000 won total we were home and hungry. I cooked up some ramen and pot stickers and at 4:30a.m. I called it a night.

Sunday wake up time, 3p.m. Although staring late in the day we managed to fit in two places of interest from the Seoul-you-gotta-see sightseeing map. The first was Changdeokgung Palace, a major palace in the center of the city that was authentically korean. We got there a little to late for the english tour so I want to go back but the sight from the outside was impressive enough. Next I had heard and seen pictures of this creek walk that they had just finished in town to spruce up the city. We made it there and walked a good portion of it looking at the creek art and the just people our for the holiday. With that seen and done we headed home for a quite evening in after the last two of debauchery. However, after setting a precedent for staying up late I was not able to fall asleep until 3 in the morning.

Monday, wake up time 2:30p.m. Pretty much all day I worked on a lesson plan involving Dr. Suess for our classes this week. Because of the holiday weekend the kids have a critical thinking lesson for the next three days instead of the regular lessons form the book. So at Starbucks, of course, we worked for a good three hours getting homemade lesson plans done for all 4 levels of our classes. Using clip art from the web and kick ass fonts and stuff I made the coolest looking hand outs these kids will ever see. More on the outcome of that later. Lets see, dinner was New York Pizza, and then more work on the the handouts till about 11:30 and keeping with the theme no bed till about 3:30.

Tuesday, wake up time 12:15p.m. I had to get up "early" today cuz we were meeting one of our korean co-workers so he could take up to this place that specializes in furniture sales and second hand stuff. Ben, having wanted a couch since we got here finally found one and I picked up a night stand for about 20,000 won. That only took an hour and after a ride back with the Korean delivery man to our station stop we carried all our stuff down the street and up stairs to put in our room. The day however was not done. I wanted to get another pillow for my bed seeing that the one small one was not cutting it and I accomplished that. I also had been told by several different people about the Yongsan Electronics Mall that had everything and anything electronic for good prices. After a round about way of getting there on the subway we made it and were blown away. This place had literally everything, from $300 laptops to every accessory known to man. I was dizzy after looking at everything they had to offer. The last thing we found and got was a stall selling 4 DVD's for 10,000 won. I think I will be able to seriously expand my DVD collection now that I know where to go. Lets see, we picked up Hancock, Wall-E, Dark Knight, and Iron Man. So far so good, the quality is amazing and there are no crazy korean subtitles, the movies are legit. This place can and will be a deadly place as time goes on. Any requests? Haha. They literally have binders full of older DVD's and of movies that are not even released in the US yet, you tell them which ones you want and then they call in the list and have them burned on the spot, pretty sweet deal. So yeah, come home took a rest and watched a few of the movies that we got. Other than that this has been a pretty good weekend! Only three days of teaching and then on to the next adventure.

On the Eve of the Korean Harvest Holiday (Choesuk)

2008-09-12T20:27:00.003+09:00

So I just kinda found out that I get the next four days off for the National Korean Harvest Holiday. That means four days to do whatever and learn more about this city. However I guess it’s a really big deal. The buses, trains, and planes all over the country are full with people going home to see their families. Both of my bosses wondered what Ben and I were going to do with ourselves for 4 days with no work. I assured them that we would be fine and that we had plans to explore the city more.

But this holiday also comes with gifts and unexpected surprises. For example, in one of my classes a student brought me a box of Milk Chocolate covered Macadamias, that I have been happily snacking on (and sharing) all afternoon. My boss, Laura, gave me and everybody else a box gift set of wine, if you know me there is really nothing better than that. And finally, we all get to go home early which means we can start hitting the night life that much earlier. As mentioned before everybody goes out on Friday so we are going to see what kind of trouble we can find. With four days coming up to do nothing a post of the weekend’s events will be in order.

Bored With Time To Kill

2008-09-11T21:09:00.002+09:00

So yeah, now it is just a matter of settling into a routine. I get here everyday at 1:30 and leave at 9:30, seeing that I finished everything like I was supposed to do, like grading tests, putting in participation grades, writing today’s daily report, I now sit here waiting for the last 20 minutes to go by while I listen to 107.9 streamed online for my hip hop enjoyment.

It rained this morning but nothing more than getting everything wet and nothing like the downpour I had to walk through last Monday when I got lost on the way to the subway stop to meet my boss. It has just been cloudy and really humid, I want "Fall" to start so the weather starts to cool down and the humid stuff goes away, not a fan.

Lets see, some things to clear up that I may not have mentioned. I teach no more than12 students at one time, sometimes as few as three. I teach alone and I am the speaking instructor, one of two, they want us for our accents basically, that is our resource we are giving to this academy. It is an after school academy and private so for the most part they want to be here except for the few that act out and you have to spend most of class keeping focused. I don't hit my head on the ceiling and my office is at the front of the room with my desk. Everything is computerized and I record the play acting they do at the end of each class so parents and students can watch online later. Classes are 40 to 45 minutes long and there are 6 classes in a day. I got business cards today with my name on them, I guess you know you are in when you have business cards. Other than that it’s just implementing the laid out format and lesson plan for each lesson and doing your best to make sure that the kids get what you are saying. O, and its a lot of slow talking and repeating yourself, having to explain, in simple terms, what certain words mean. Basically you say the same thing 3 or 4 times in different ways till they get it. A lot of single word pronunciation and practice so they know how to say words that they completely mess up.

I am still waiting to get some furniture to fill out my apartment. My co-worker and I have been staying up late watching movies and hanging out. But then I end up sleeping late into the morning and not being able to do much before work starts, a cycle that I hope to change.

I really don't know what plans I have for the weekend, I know that there are a bunch of CDI people getting together to go out late on Saturday night so I'll see what that is all about. Ben and I might do some more city exploring now that we have our T-Money cards that let us ride the subway a little cheaper than buying a ticket each time. I guess its only the second weekend and we have 50 more so I’m not in too much of rush to see everything. But whatever I end up doing I will let you know. Later!

As I Decorate My Classroom

2008-09-09T13:53:00.003+09:00

Here are a few things that I wanted to point out about Korea so far-

National Sponsors of Everything:
Samsung, LG, Sanyo, and Hyundai

Average Amount of People Everywhere:
Thousands at any given time

Korean Smell:
Seafood, Rice, and Fried Foods

National Drink of Choice:
Cass Beer and Soju (rice alcohol)

The Only Cars Sold:
Kia, Hyundai, Deawoo

Favorite Passtime:
Sitting outside in front of shops talking with friends

Transportation Conditions:
Effecient, Fast, and Clean

National Driving Habit:
Fast and Furious with Reckless Abandon

Average Building Size:
20 to 30 stories

Favorite Clothing:
Ambercrombie and Fitch, DOHC, anything America, even with writing in English that doesn't make sense.

So yeah, just some observatoins so far.

A Weekend of Seoul Searching

2008-09-08T22:54:00.003+09:00

So I just had my first weekend off in Seoul in which I had to do nothing but find something to do. Friday night as mentioned I went out with my neighbor and the Korean support staff for April English for some Korean hospitality. Well saturday we did not have to spend that much time sleeping it off because we had already set our sights on the shopping/tourist trap Itaewon, a few station stops away from us on our own line 6. So hopping on the subway we head to Itaewon. It did not take long, literally just to the top of the subway stairs did we realize that we pretty much found the most un-Korean place in the whole country. The question is what was not represented there: Quiznos, Cold Stone, Starbucks, Burger King, McDonalds, Northface, Adidas, Nike, Dunkin Doughnuts, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Subway, and countless others. When you walked around it felt like any other big city American Downtown. There were westerners everywhere, Americans, British, Canadians, Austrialians, pretty much every Commonwealth Country and former English Empire state had a representative walking the streets. We grabbed some lunch, got some cold stone, went into a few shops and found nothing worth buying, except for knock offs of almost every american brand at cheap prices, plus they had many shops that were for the "Extra Big", basically tall normal people like me, to buy clothes that would fit. So if I do need to buy any more clothes while I am here I know where to go, or if I have a craving for almost any major american eat I know where to find it.

We have also had the idea of trying to pick up some internship experience at the US embassy so we decided to try and go there and see what it was all about. The best I was able to do was to pull up the address on my phone and then we matched the district to the closest sounding or looking rather subway stop, so we set off. A few transfers later we emerged onto a street that doesn't look too promising and as it turns out it was not. Finding that we were no where near the embassy we just started to walk around. We got to the end of this street and found a hung korean temple or gateway sitting in the middle of a busy intersection (pictures to come), finding that the temple was pretty much it for the area we walked down the other side and found ourselves in a textiles and fabric bonanza, I half expected Tyra Banks to pop out and ask a group of women if they wanted to be American's next top model in Korea, yeah, that much fabric and fashion stuff it was ridiculous. We did happen on a rug and carpet store and Ben had to have something to cover the floor in his room, 45 won later it was his and he was very proud of this purchase. Sitting on it now and seeing how bare my floor is I think I will go back and get one for myself. Deciding to call it a day and get away from all of this madness we decided to head back home. From that point on it was movies, soju, and Burger King for dinner.

Sunday was a different story, I was up early and done with my internet updates so I took a book and some free time and went to the starbucks down the street to read for a few hours until our co-worker from the front desk was supposed to come with a friend and show us around our neighborhood. He came around 4 and we set out down the other way of the street that we had never been. We found shops and stores to our benefit. Once we saw that we set out on the subway to another area of Seoul teaming with people, like everywhere. We got dinner at this restaurant called Spicy Pepper and had our hottest Korean food so far, my nose was running and my tongue was on fire but I ate every bite. Then it was time for a little board game fun, we found none other than a board game bar. A book full of all the board games that they had was put in front of us and we started to flip through. The usually were there, Uno, Monopoly, Life (in korean), but some others were there that I totally did not expect. Sequence, the official game of my Father and New Years Eve, and Settlers of Catan, the Official game of myself and Jessica August or any Niagara House board game night. We got through Sequence and loved it, that was about two hours a good times. Finally we found ourselves in this little bar/restaurant for a final drink of the night. The drink was dongdong-ju and it was white rice wine with a sour bite, a sweet after taste, and smooth going down, very hard to explain but we drank the whole pot over some Kim-chi and an korean pizza that was covered in seafood and vegetables and then deep fried. We actually spent a long time, the four of us just talking about life and experiences, it was really cool. It was time to call it a night around 11 and we headed to the subway to get home. We got to try out our new T-Money cards, a reloadable card that you swipe or tap at the subway terminals and it automatically deducts the correct fare from the card, pretty sweet. It was just another night of music and hanging out after that.

Overall it was great weekend that got me reset and ready to start teaching again and to get ready for those little kids that are proving to be a bit of a challenge.

A Week In Review

2008-09-06T10:12:00.003+09:00

As I sit here in bed on Saturday morning I can say that this last week has been one of the most interesting of my life. From Monday to yesterday I had to just jump in and learn as I went along. Each day of teaching got that much easier as I got the format down for each lesson. I was also able to see how much my students actually knew and thus make the class harder or easier for them. One thing that got me however was the faith the branch manager and the director put in us seeing that we only had a day of what was supposed to be a weeks worth of training. So to make sure that we got what we were supposed to do we had to do mock teaching sessions from different lessons in front of our bosses and three co-workers and then they critiqued us on how well we performed. Needless to say that each time they were impressed with how well we did and were sure that as time went on we would get better at what we did. So from the first lesson on Monday to the last on Friday I guess you can say I have been "credentialed" by April English and given the green light to carry on with what I am doing. We are still recorded in every class and headquarters can review the tape and see if we need more practice but I don't think it is going to happen.
This sickness did not help one bit, pretty much Wednesday to Friday it was a struggle to teach and not lose my voice, because if you know anything about Orientation at Sac State its a lot like that, a lot of talking and a lot of shouting. Not to mention I had to walk to work with a fever, runny nose, and cough. The staff though was very understanding and gave me remedies and advice and always made sure that I had plenty of water and even tissues in my classroom. This weekend will be good seeing that i don't have to raise my voice or work an 8 hour shift in the evening for a few days. I ended up having to take my Korean Phrase book into the pharmacy down the street and i pointed to the phrases that described my condition. Finally able to bridge the language barrier a little I got some results and some medication to take to speed up my recovery. So at least I know if all else fails the phrase book works.
Ben and I are still exploring and figuring out where everything is in our neighborhood. We found a mega-grocery store and department store type place to get all our needs. I got a hanging rack and hangers for my room and some storage stuff. At least I know where I can go to get essentials for my place. Also the bottom two floors are all groceries, both Korean and even american items. I made sure i walked away with peanut butter and jelly just for good measure. Today we plan to go to this place called Itewon, our korean co-workers called it the "foreign city" because for the most part it is all Western Style shops. If we end up finding some more stuff to get to furnish our apartment, so be it, its kinda of depressing to walk into a bare apartment.
So I finally got food, something to hang my clothes up on, a somewhat better understanding of the area, and I guess you can call it a routine, at least as soon as this chest cold is done. There are still some essentials that I need to get to make this feel more at home, that would be reliable internet in my room which Ben and I are going to try to share. A cheap TV with at least a DVD player cuz my crap computer tends to eat them, and some misc furniture and wall stuff to contrast from the blank yellow walls that stare back at me. O yeah, and a cell phone. I carry mine around in my pocket even though it doesn't work just because it feels right and its my wi-fi internet searcher.
Last night was a great way to end my first week here. Right after work Ben and I had just planned to get some drinks and then watch movies. But the Korean office staff asked if we wanted to go out and the next thing we know we are on a bus heading to this huge lighted bar district in our neighborhood. If you think night life is big from what you remember, nothing can compare you for night life here in korea. EVERYBODY, and i mean EVERYBODY heads out on Friday night, the streets and subway stations are packed and people are just flowing everywhere. It seemed like all 10 million people got off work and went out to celebrate the end of the work week. Our friends took us to an underground bar, (full of smoke by the way, i felt like crap afterwards), and they proceeded to ask the two of us all about ourselves. As soon as the extensive introductions were done, we settled into what seems like a universal bar ritual for anyone of college age, drinking games. They taught us a few in Korean and we introduced them to the American ones that did not involve cards. It was a great night and a great introduction to the the people of this city.
Like I said, a great first week. It will feel less foreign once I branch out. Well, time to start my day and do something. Might as well explore while I don't have to work.