Rainy season
Seoul.
Sidewalks,
Submitted to the seasonal rain,
Are flooded,
And couples,
Cheating rain,
Take refuge in European faux cafes with stupid forks.
The windows are thrown open to make a restaurant into an open-air cafe.
The seat-mate's back is to the rain
Her face being framed by cherry blossoms
Who are washed in the rain.
Passerbys cradle their umbrellas
In hues of pink, grey, gray, and rainbow
And he comments how his is broken.
Which is good, because later,
He will walk into the rain, sans umbrella
To hide his tears in the rain.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
That's very hot
Title is a reference to a Korean sketch comedy show, you can view it here: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otrl8bGejvU> . Remember, Asian men and Asian women will hold hands to show friendship, not necessarily homosexuality (but the two on the right are pretty clearly playing gay people). If anyone says anything contain the words "that's," "very," or "hot," they tend to break out into this for a few seconds. The song they sing, "Sorry," is a really popular K-pop song right now. The two guys in white are in the group that sings that song. Oh, and you guys in America might want to start getting used to this kind of stuff: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eodFU4b237s>. Apparently this group is about to release some stuff in America, most likely this song. I'm hoping something is lost in the translation b/c those English lyrics SUCK. I mean, it's K-pop so I don't know what I'm expecting, but I would be nice for some pop song somewhere to not suck (besides, of course, Aqua, whose entire CD which includes Barbie Girl is a definite winner and the only pop album I own, and proudly).
The title is also referencing the weather. Today is the first day of the year it'll break 30C (86F). Summer is definitely coming, only a few days away. I always love the summer solstice because it's the longest day of the year, and I always tell myself I'm going to get up with the sun and try to stay up 24hrs. I could've done that while in college since my schedule was whatever, but I definitely can't do that now. Oh well, maybe some day. However, since Korea doesn't do daylight savings time, the sun sets sometime after 8pm, not almost 10pm like in Charleston. It kinda kills some of the effects.
I've been working like crazy these past couple weeks. My mastery classes are a joy to teach, but they drain me with all the extra homework, grading, tests, handouts, etc. I spend 1 hour of prep time for every 1 hour of class time with them. That's pretty high, just ask any teacher. Then, I spend at least 1 hour of grading for every 1 hour of class time, so if you want to include grading as prep, the ratio is actually 2:1. In addition, I have 3 other classes that write essays or whatnot on a regular basis, and I have to correct it and give it back to them to rewrite. Unit Tests started yesterday, so I have to grade them, as well. I'm still doing online overtime, so everything considered I'd say I'm working about 60hrs/wk. My days have been going like this: wake up at 11.30, get to work by 1. Begin prepping, or grading, or do EBCs (online overtime), whichever is most pressing. Teach classes from 3.30-10, put grades and homework online, go to Cheers, a bar across the street (not named after the show, just named after the saying), and grade papers for an hour or two, go home, do EBCs or just veg out in front of my computer for an hour or two or three, go to sleep, repeat. Needless to say I'm getting tired.
Having made new friends with Grace's cousin and the bus stop girl (her name is Jade) really helps things, and I'm meeting Jade at 2pm Saturday to go to Mokdong. I've been there a couple of times but don't really remember the circumstances, so I can't say what there is to do there. Basically, I have no idea what we're doing. Doing that on Saturday takes away the time I would spend with the family doing language exchange, and I really love hanging out with them. I may see if I could start seeing them on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the week, but idk if that'll work with them. I haven't called Grace's cousin, but I'm considering calling her up and seeing if she wants to do something Sunday evening. Of course we'd meet in Seoul somewhere b/c there's nothing to do in Jukjeon (where I live), but even still she's almost 2 hours away, so even meeting in the middle means an hour of travel for each of us. I may just relax Sunday, idk.
The title is also referencing the weather. Today is the first day of the year it'll break 30C (86F). Summer is definitely coming, only a few days away. I always love the summer solstice because it's the longest day of the year, and I always tell myself I'm going to get up with the sun and try to stay up 24hrs. I could've done that while in college since my schedule was whatever, but I definitely can't do that now. Oh well, maybe some day. However, since Korea doesn't do daylight savings time, the sun sets sometime after 8pm, not almost 10pm like in Charleston. It kinda kills some of the effects.
I've been working like crazy these past couple weeks. My mastery classes are a joy to teach, but they drain me with all the extra homework, grading, tests, handouts, etc. I spend 1 hour of prep time for every 1 hour of class time with them. That's pretty high, just ask any teacher. Then, I spend at least 1 hour of grading for every 1 hour of class time, so if you want to include grading as prep, the ratio is actually 2:1. In addition, I have 3 other classes that write essays or whatnot on a regular basis, and I have to correct it and give it back to them to rewrite. Unit Tests started yesterday, so I have to grade them, as well. I'm still doing online overtime, so everything considered I'd say I'm working about 60hrs/wk. My days have been going like this: wake up at 11.30, get to work by 1. Begin prepping, or grading, or do EBCs (online overtime), whichever is most pressing. Teach classes from 3.30-10, put grades and homework online, go to Cheers, a bar across the street (not named after the show, just named after the saying), and grade papers for an hour or two, go home, do EBCs or just veg out in front of my computer for an hour or two or three, go to sleep, repeat. Needless to say I'm getting tired.
Having made new friends with Grace's cousin and the bus stop girl (her name is Jade) really helps things, and I'm meeting Jade at 2pm Saturday to go to Mokdong. I've been there a couple of times but don't really remember the circumstances, so I can't say what there is to do there. Basically, I have no idea what we're doing. Doing that on Saturday takes away the time I would spend with the family doing language exchange, and I really love hanging out with them. I may see if I could start seeing them on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the week, but idk if that'll work with them. I haven't called Grace's cousin, but I'm considering calling her up and seeing if she wants to do something Sunday evening. Of course we'd meet in Seoul somewhere b/c there's nothing to do in Jukjeon (where I live), but even still she's almost 2 hours away, so even meeting in the middle means an hour of travel for each of us. I may just relax Sunday, idk.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
An almost all-nighter
Grace had free time yesterday (quite a rarity) so I spent the afternoon with her in southern Seoul, a place called Gangnam. It's a really, really nice part of Seoul, I've been there about 5 times. Dr. Fish is there, the place where you stick your feet into the fish tank and they eat dead skin from your feet. Grace's cousin also came along, and the three of us had fun.
Grace had to be at church around 7pm so she left early, but her cousin and I had nothing to do so we walked around for a long time, then ate dinner at a sushi place. It was really good sushi, and then names were cool, too. I got Charlie Brown sushi, she got Treasure Island sushi. Good stuff. After dinner I suggested a movie, so we went and bought tickets to The Taking of Pelham 123 (the worst acting I've ever seen from John Travolta and Denzel Washington, btw, don't waste your time unless you just want to see action). The movie didn't get out until midnight, and the subways close at 11pm on weekends. I was under the impression that the buses had stopped running as well, so I thought I was stuck. Grace's cousin, meanwhile, was closer to home and took a taxi.
I hung out at the bus stop with a hundred other people trying to catch the last bus home, but I didn't know if mine would come. I finally asked a cute Korean girl to make sure I was even headed in the right direction, and her English was surprisingly good. Another problem was I had no money on my travel card, and I didn't have exact change (buses require exact change to ride). She offered to pay for my ticket since she was headed in the same direction, and of course we struck up a conversation on the bus. Turns out she lives about 10 minutes from me, and works two days on, two days off at a hotel. I'm actually about to leave right now to have dinner with her (still not 100% positive if it's a date or not, it may just be a language thing) before she heads to work.
So, instead of pulling an accidental all-nighter in Gangnam, I met a friend, got the last bus home, slept in my own bed, got up for church, and might have a date right now.
Grace had to be at church around 7pm so she left early, but her cousin and I had nothing to do so we walked around for a long time, then ate dinner at a sushi place. It was really good sushi, and then names were cool, too. I got Charlie Brown sushi, she got Treasure Island sushi. Good stuff. After dinner I suggested a movie, so we went and bought tickets to The Taking of Pelham 123 (the worst acting I've ever seen from John Travolta and Denzel Washington, btw, don't waste your time unless you just want to see action). The movie didn't get out until midnight, and the subways close at 11pm on weekends. I was under the impression that the buses had stopped running as well, so I thought I was stuck. Grace's cousin, meanwhile, was closer to home and took a taxi.
I hung out at the bus stop with a hundred other people trying to catch the last bus home, but I didn't know if mine would come. I finally asked a cute Korean girl to make sure I was even headed in the right direction, and her English was surprisingly good. Another problem was I had no money on my travel card, and I didn't have exact change (buses require exact change to ride). She offered to pay for my ticket since she was headed in the same direction, and of course we struck up a conversation on the bus. Turns out she lives about 10 minutes from me, and works two days on, two days off at a hotel. I'm actually about to leave right now to have dinner with her (still not 100% positive if it's a date or not, it may just be a language thing) before she heads to work.
So, instead of pulling an accidental all-nighter in Gangnam, I met a friend, got the last bus home, slept in my own bed, got up for church, and might have a date right now.
Friday, June 5, 2009
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful
The weather here is AMAZING! Everyone kept telling me how hot the summer is, and I kept laughing in their face. Well, it's June and I still haven't turned on the a/c (unless you count my 5-day roommate insisting upon it being turned on...women). I've also had the windows open for almost a week now. It does get warm and sticky in the day, but I work until 10pm so by the time I get home the weather is beautiful. I sleep with a thick sheet on me, and I actually woke up around 10am this morning, a little chilly. It was wonderful. Eat your heart out you sweating Charlestonians. (side note, the weather thing on my blog is wrong. It's reporting from Argentina, even though I have it pointed at Seoul. I'm going to continue to try to fix it, or just take it off. I'm sure none of you look at it anyway, since you can't read celcius ;)
Saturday is Korean Memorial Day, and Topia is going to a baseball game on Sunday. From what I can tell, the baseball teams here don't have city names and mascots. Instead, the company that sponsors them gives them their name. For instance, there's a Samsung team, an LG team, etc. I don't know how the mascots work, but they probably have them. I have to imagine that in Asia, where everything that can be drawn as a cartoon is drawn as a cartoon, they'd have silly mascots.
My new classes are great. The two mastery classes that I teach are full of brilliant students. They're all fluent in English, and if they were in America they'd be in a gifted and talented class, or whatever you call it. As such, we're already getting into literary analysis with 4th and 5th graders. It's a joy to teach them, but it's also a lot of work. I have to do some serious prep work, and I can't always figure out the answers to their homework while in the class. So, I basically do the same homework they do, except the writing. My other classes are all new to me, with a handful of exceptions. I'm glad they're new, though, because I made a lot of mistakes last semester with discipline, and I can begin to fix that this semester. It sounds kinda weird and mean, but you really do have to train your kids like they're your pet or something. If you train them well, they'll act better and learn better, but if you don't train them then class is a pain and less learning gets done. I nearly threw a student out of class on the first day. That's the class I know I'm going to have problems with; they're in 6th grade and their English isn't very good. They've also been together for a few semesters so they're very familiar and comfortable with each other, and it's almost as if I'm walking in on a conversation, and have to awkwardly stand there until it's finished. I have to train them to look to me and not to each other.
Oh well, challenges ahead, lessons behind, weather all around.
Saturday is Korean Memorial Day, and Topia is going to a baseball game on Sunday. From what I can tell, the baseball teams here don't have city names and mascots. Instead, the company that sponsors them gives them their name. For instance, there's a Samsung team, an LG team, etc. I don't know how the mascots work, but they probably have them. I have to imagine that in Asia, where everything that can be drawn as a cartoon is drawn as a cartoon, they'd have silly mascots.
My new classes are great. The two mastery classes that I teach are full of brilliant students. They're all fluent in English, and if they were in America they'd be in a gifted and talented class, or whatever you call it. As such, we're already getting into literary analysis with 4th and 5th graders. It's a joy to teach them, but it's also a lot of work. I have to do some serious prep work, and I can't always figure out the answers to their homework while in the class. So, I basically do the same homework they do, except the writing. My other classes are all new to me, with a handful of exceptions. I'm glad they're new, though, because I made a lot of mistakes last semester with discipline, and I can begin to fix that this semester. It sounds kinda weird and mean, but you really do have to train your kids like they're your pet or something. If you train them well, they'll act better and learn better, but if you don't train them then class is a pain and less learning gets done. I nearly threw a student out of class on the first day. That's the class I know I'm going to have problems with; they're in 6th grade and their English isn't very good. They've also been together for a few semesters so they're very familiar and comfortable with each other, and it's almost as if I'm walking in on a conversation, and have to awkwardly stand there until it's finished. I have to train them to look to me and not to each other.
Oh well, challenges ahead, lessons behind, weather all around.
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