Title

So after yesterday's failure of internet and phone, I got to church and Grace told me that her mother offered to sign for me so I can get a 1-year contract with KTF, and thereby a free phone. She freely offered that, I didn't mention it to Grace or anything. My first night here, I discovered that Topia had not provided me with a towel in my apartment as per the contract, and Grace called up her mom (again without my asking) and she brought me a towel, a hand towel, and a bar of soap. They took my to Seoul and showed me around, and now they've offered to take me to the Cherry Blossom Festival on the next warm Saturday. The Cherry Blossom Festival, from what little I've read and heard, is a celebration of Spring I guess. I think there's a park with a lot of them, and they bloom as soon as it gets warm. Some are probably already blooming, and seeing them all will be amazing. I'll take lots of photos and put them up. They're good people, the Kims.

I went to Lotte Mart, a 4-story Korean supermarket, and spent an hour or so just walking around, seeing what was there. I had been there twice before with Paul, but he knew where stuff was so it was get in, get out. I wanted to browse and get a feel for what I could get. I found some Korean wine for $4 for half a bottle. I'll be buying that come payday. I also happened upon the cheese selections. Cheese doesn't exist here, it just doesn't. You can get it on your pizza, of course, but other than that, most people don't eat much cheese. It's a damn shame because I loooove cheese. When I turned the corner and saw an entire shelf devoted to cheese, my jaw literally dropped, and I may have uttered a bad word, but I don't remember those few moments too well. I'll be getting some of that on payday. Another beauty of Korea: they celebrate drinking. Case in point: Miller Lite Beer Girl, complete with sample cups of it...in Korean Wal-Mart! You should see the Guinness Girl and the Heine Girl. I saw them the first time I was there but at the time didn't feel like photographing them. Now I must go every weekend so I can photograph them for you guys; they look resplendent in their garb...

I leave you with some photos of the moon this evening. I had 15 minutes to kill while the lady was cooking my pizza so I took a walk.

PLUTO IS A PLANET

"When I was your age, Pluto was a planet." I've had to tell two different classes this because they had presentations this week and some were doing space. I told them that if they said Pluto wasn't a planet, they'd fail my class. I've successfully indoctrinated many students. In the same class, one child ran up to me with a planet glued to a stick and asked, "Is this Uranus?" I busted out laughing and had to leave the class. Call me childish, I don't care.

Yesterday was the end of the first month of this semester. Parents only pay one month at a time so the students who want to quit, yesterday was their last day. Two of my students quit, and I really liked them. One of them was a really smart little kid, a pain in the butt, but I liked her nonetheless. I feel a little bad because I accidentally made her cry on Tuesday, so I feel as though I may have had something to do with it. She did a really good drawing and I complimented her on it. Then I said "that's a good picture your mom drew. Tell her I said I like it." And she said "I drew it!" "Of course, of course, tell your mom I like it." She started tearing up at that. I had no intention of making her cry or anything, I was just having some playful banter with her, or so I thought. She was the worst student in the class, though, so that probably had a larger part to do with it.

I was supposed to get internet in my apartment yesterday morning. They were supposed to show up at 10am, but by 1:45 when I had to leave for work they still hadn't shown up. My boss had them re-schedule for this morning at 11, but when I had to leave at 3 they still hadn't shown up. They may show up Monday. It's starting to remind me of Time Warner, remember that John?

I also tried to get a cell phone today with Grace's help, but that didn't go so well, either. There are three companies in Korea: LG Telecom, SK, and KTF. SK is apparently the best, followed by KTF and finally LG. I went to SK and they have a 50 minutes/month plan for W20,000. That sucked...I assume that was a foreigner plan b/c I've heard some places won't even serve foreigners. Then we went to KTF who said that because my visa says I'm leaving next February, they can't give me a 1-year plan, which also means I'll have to pay full price for a phone. I offered to pay for the entire year upfront, but they said they don't do that. That's insane, who wouldn't want that money in their pocket upfront!? Basically, I have to contact the immigration office and have them change my stay to at least 1 year from today (I wouldn't have to stay that long, they'd just "allow" me to stay that long), or I can buy a phone and bring it in for them to activate. The plans aren't as cheap as I had been told, either. The cheapest one (and the one I'd likely get) would be 200 rollover minutes/month for W31,000, plus W1900 for 100 text messages. That's a little less than $25. Oh well, I may do the pay-per use, but just like in America it's not nearly worth it.

Sex Appeal

My favorite student, of all my 100 or so, is Juliet. She's 7, I think, and is soooo cute. She's really tiny and doesn't speak much, but when she does she speaks loudly and she's always correct. She has gotten 10s on all her Word Tests until Monday, and when she missed one she rolled her eyes and blew her bangs out of her face, hahaha. Anyway, I asked her if she knew who Romeo and Juliet were, and apparently every kid in the class did because they all started laughing (including her) and she blushed and hid her face. It was kinda funny. Then, one of my students asked me if I knew "sex appeal." Keep in mind, these kids are 6-7. I didn't make any face or let on that it wasn't something she should say, I just asked her to repeat it. She thought for a moment, said "hmmm," put her finger on her chin and said "shakes appeal." I said, "Oh, you mean Shakespeare?" and she said, "YES, Shakespeare!" Funniest moment of the day.

Today, some of my higher students had presentations. One did hers on doctors, and it was ok. At the end, in her most confident voice, she said, "Treatment it does the favor of people who on bottle." It was hilarious. It wouldn't have been all that funny had she not been so confident, but that was the most confident sentence in her whole presentation, and it was the only one that made zero sense. Kids say the darndest things.

Children are precious (when you can give them back)

Some of my kids are so precious. They have to write journals, and one topic was "What do you do on the weekend?" This was one child's response, it just warms my heart to think of the innocence.

In spring, I can ride a bicycle. I like spring because it's weather likes warm, so I can play with something. In summer, I can eat ice cream every day, I can go swimming pool, sometimes summer weather have windy day. It's very, very windy and it have rainy day too. In fall, I can see the leaves fall, and step on the leaves. It's very fun. I step on it when it sound very funny!! In winter I can make many snow men, and I can have snowfight. I like snow. I step on it it's sound very fun too! I miss winter ~

That's verbatim. She's an LL2 student. The first L means low (young, 6-7 years old), the second L means logos (we have ethos, logos and thumos levels, which go in that order from easy to difficult), and 2 is the second semester in that level. Basically, she's in the youngest age group we have, and only a middle-level student, not that far along, and she can still write that well. So sweet, as long as I don't have to keep them.

Sunday Cruddy Sunday

(That's a Simpsons allusion, btw).  I got around 6 hours of sleep Friday night, so I assumed I'd get to bed early Sat night.  I didn't.  I didn't get sleepy until almost 4am and I needed to get up at 11 for church.  I managed to wake up, and stay awake during the sermon even.  The past two times I went to church I got a little headphone thing so I could listen to the translation, but it didn't work either time.  It finally worked today, and I kinda regretted it.  The sermon was your typical fluff sermon, only it was translated from Korean to English so what good was in the original got lost in translation.  Oh well, I'll continue going to spend time with Grace, to learn Korean, and to help the translators.  I met an older Aussie couple there today.  They are missionaries and English teachers and this is their third 3-month stay in Korea since 2006.  I wanted to talk to them longer but they had somewhere to go.

While in China, people were constantly saying "hi" to me on the streets, just to practice their English (or at least the one word they knew: hi).  I assumed that was going to happen here, but it hasn't, at least not until yesterday.  On my way to church two different people said "hi" while passing, and they giggled when I said "hi" back.  At church a girl was dressed up as Snow White (I thought of you, Lindsey) and she said "hi" to me, then giggled.  Then, on my way home from church yet another person said "hi."  I guess it was Say-Hi-to-Jason Day.  It was pretty funny.  I wonder, though, if people have been telling me "hi" and I just haven't been paying attention, idk. 

The weather has been gorgeous lately, highs in the mid 70s and lows in the 50s.  Like I mentioned before I had been wanting to get out and enjoy it but the threat of yellow sand keeps me in.  It rained saturday and Saturday night, though, and now it's gonna be chilly the rest of the week again: highs in the 40s-50s and lows around freezing.  Oh well, soon enough it will be sweltering here.

I'm getting a little worse from the yellow sand.  I went to the pharmacy yesterday evening to look for some mucinex, or something like it.  The guy looked it up and he didn't have it, but he gave me (what I assume is) something similar.  It only cost W2500 ($1.50) for 10 pills.  I'm gonna take it to Grace and have her decipher it before I go getting an ulcer from it, but I hope it helps me cough this stuff up.  It's kinda ironic because I seriously thought about brining mucinex; it's the only medicine I ever seem to take.  I decided not to take it when I thought I wouldn't have room, and when I realized I had plenty of room I guess I didn't think of it.  Oh well, so it goes.  

I rearranged my apartment Sunday, or at least my main room/bedroom which takes up half my apt.  (I made a diagram to explain it but it didn't work, sorry, try to imagine it.)  The way I have it now, it totally destroys my floor space, but I don't really care about that.  There's only one electrical outlet in this room and now my bed is by it, and the door no longer bumps against my bed.  I have drawers underneath my bed and now I can access them all.  I also can have a proper bedtable this way.  There are cabinets in the alcove above where the bed used to be and where the big table is now.  By moving my bed I no longer have to crawl on it to get to them.  I'm writing this Sunday night in my apt and posted it Monday at work, so at the time of writing this I haven't slept in the bed yet.  That's important because there is a huge light outside my patio that is fairly bright even with the blinds shut.  Being closer to the window I don't know if it'll be worse, or if the angle will be better and it won't hit me in the eye.  I have to sleep with the blankets over my head, but I've been doing that pretty frequently since I was working night shift at the hospital anyway.  

Am I in Korea?

So there are times when I forget I'm in Korea. I don't know why, but I'll be using the bathroom, or I'll wake up, or I'll be walking out of my apartment, and suddenly I'll remember I'm in Korea. When and why did I forget? I'm not really sure what this means. It's kinda weird, though, and funny.

In the early spring, winds pick up sand from the Gobi Desert in China and blow it across the sea to Korea. It causes slight respiratory discomfort to some, and I'm one of those lucky few. It kinda feels like I'm having allergy problems, but only in my chest. I have a slight cough but that's about it. It reminds me of tree pollen, the way it blankets cars and sidewalks. Some people wear masks over their faces. One of my student's name is Kat and she has one that has cat ears and whiskers on it, it cracks me up. I'd like to get one, but I think they're kinda dumb looking and only useful for a few days, though I don't think the Koreans know that. I'd like to get a bandanna or something but idk how that'll be looked at over here.

This week was pretty good I suppose, nothing remarkable besides the students cheating on the Unit Test. I think I'm losing weight, or at least some fat, around my stomach. I now have to tighten my belt to the last hole. I suspect it has something to do with eating more regularly and healthily, and getting more exercise (teaching kids can be a workout). I hope I don't lose anymore, though, or my pants will fall off. I suppose Koreans pants might comfortably fit me then, at least in the waist.

It was Friday last night, so we went out. We had Korean barbecue. I think I've explained it before, but there's a small grill inside the middle of the table and you cook the meat and veggies right there. Then, you take what you want, wrap it up in a lettuce leaf, and shove it in your mouth. It's delicious. Anyway, we went to a bar afterwards and closed it down around 3-4, then went to another place until 5.30. The buses stop running between I think 1am and 5.30am, so if you need to go somewhere then you have to catch a cab. Well, cabs are expensive, and on top of that they jack up their rates at night, so we just stay out til 5.30 instead of taking a cab home. I probably fell asleep at 6, but I still woke up at 11.30 for some reason. I suppose I'll sleep well tonight.

Well, anyway, today was a gorgeous day and I wanted to walk around but besides recovering from last night, the yellow sand kept me away. I had to grade EBCs, and as usual I waited to the last minute to get them done. I started them at 3pm, but only half-heartedly, and come 8pm I had only gotten 5-10 finished, when it normally takes 45-60 minutes for 10. Well, I was on track to finish a few minutes before midnight when the website crashed, so I still have 5 to do but can't. I emailed Paul about it, I don't think it's gonna be a big deal. I've got a lot of papers to grade, as well, because my upper-level students have an essay a week to write, and I have 20-30 students, so that's 20-30 papers/wk. They're only one page, luckily.

I don't know how many of you have Skype, but I did in America and I was never IMed by random people. Now, in Korea, I get a random IM from an Asian chick almost every time I'm on Skype. They're usually from Korea but I've had a few from China and even one from the Phillipines. Apparently it's the thing to do, IM people you don't know and talk to them. I suspect, though, that part of it is that they want to practice their English. Anywho, I got an IM tonight from a girl, but her English was actually pretty good so I talked to her for a while. She lives in Busan, which is on the southern tip of Korea. I had been wanting to visit Busan, and my dad's flying down in June, so I told her I was going to Busan in June. She then offered to be my tour guide and she gave me her cell phone number. I'm not quite sure how to take it, but I'm gonna call her when I go to Busan, and I'm sure I'll talk to her a couple of more times on Skype. She did seem pretty cool, as much as you can tell when someone's typing to you.

I got my Alien Registration Card today, so I'm official. It's just got my passport photo in the top right, the dates it's valid, my name and Alien number, I guess, my country, and my visa type. Then it's got a lot of Korean stuff, obviously idk what it says. Basically, I can buy a cell phone now, so I'm going in the next couple of days with Grace and I'm gonna get a plan. Also, stepping even further into the 21st century, two of my coworkers live in my building and I've mentioned us sharing internet. I'm still not sure about it b/c I'll just be in my apt more, but it would make doing the EBCs easier, and I could call you people at 2am while I'm in my apt rather than sitting outside on a bench looking like an idiot.

Manic Monday

Boy, Monday sure was a Monday.  First off, I realized that I forgot to grade some papers over the weekend, so I hurried to get them graded before classes began, but I failed.  I still had a few to grade while I had to teach class, but fortunately two classes had Unit tests so I finished them then.  However, I missed two and had to grade them during the class I was supposed to give them back in, oops.  As usual, I ran out of time in one class and had far too much time in another.  I'm really working on time management in class, but it alludes me often.  I caught two children cheating on a Unit test, which is kinda weird because all the students cover their papers, even during a simple word test.  I was very disappointed, called them out in class, gave them extra homework, and marked the question wrong they were cheating on.  I told them that if I ever caught anyone cheating they would get a zero on the whole test.  Anyway, I graded all the tests and in one class everyone did very well, but in my other class everyone did very bad.  

I'm getting much better at reading, though not as fast as a native speaker yet.  I've started learning a few phrases, such as "hello" (an young ha say yo) and "goodbye" (an young hee ga say yo, only said when you're leaving and the other person is staying).  I don't think I mentioned this before, but Grace's dad wrote a book called How to be a Better Speaker than Obama, which I think is a hilarious title for a book.  It's in Korean, and I've started reading it, though of course I don't know what I'm reading, yet.  I'll probably make it through the first third of the book before I can even recognize most words, then I'll get to the last third of the book and finally be able to understand most of what I read, but I won't know what I'm reading b/c I missed the first 2/3 of the book.  At least I've got a lot of reading material to practice with.  Before I was grabbing the free newspapers and saving my receipts to read later, haha.

I had a meeting with Paul today who said that everyone's really happy with my work and what I'm doing, and their only critique after observing me (via CCTV, so I didn't know) was time management, and I'd agree.  I think I'm doing a good job because the students are learning, and I'm glad to know that my bosses agree.

Old Korea

Saturday I went with Grace and her family to Seoul.  Her mom knows some of the history, so she acted kinda like my personal tour guide.

We stopped on the side of the road for this shot.  I like this shot b/c on the right you can see the old-style roofs, and in the distance you see huge buildings.  If there were a theme for Korea it'd be: Old meets New.


We went to some antique stores, and I saw the original crown that the king of the Chosun dynasty wore.  There was no photography allowed, but of course we snuck one in.  The thing was magnificient!  The flash of my camera kinda reflected badly on the glass, sorry, but trust me it's pretty cool looking.  

We parked right across from this huge stone, which is basically the Korean Declaration of Independence from the Japanese, who invaded in

 1910.  They were there until 1945, after WW2.  That's when Russia was supposed to "help" N. Korea and USA was supposed to "help" S. Korea, but instead we just split them and made them sympathetic to our respective politics.  Obviously that's Grace in the picture; she's cold. 

This building is where the King worked during the Chosun dynasty (July 1392- August 1910).  The Korean alphabet (hangul) was created during this time by King Sejong.  Before this there were a couple of "alphabets," all using the Chinese characters with special Korean

 characters that would help with the grammatical differences.  Very confusing.  Hangul is made

 up of 14 base consonants and 10 base vowels, and when added to them you basically get a total of 38 letters.  The letters are made from a vertical line (representing man), a horizontal line (representing earth), and/or a circe (representing heaven).  The shapes of the consonants g/k, n, s, m and ng are graphical representations of the speech organs used to pronounce them.  After you learn how to pronounce the letters, they really do make sense because your mouth is literally forming the shape of the letter, while pronouncing it.  Words are made up of 1 or more syllables, which consist of 2-3 letters, occassionally 4.  The syllables are written clockwise in a block format.  Take the word "hangul:" the 'h' would be on top, the 'a' to the right, and the 'n' underneath, making the first syllable, the to the right (or occasionally underneath) with no space, the the 'g' would be on top, the 'u' to the right, and the 'l' underneath, making the second syllable.  There would be a space between "hangul" and the next word, and so on.  It's one of the most accessible languages in the world, preciselly because it was created instead of evolving, like ours (and most Western languages), over thousands of years.  

We went to a fancy tea place, fancy enough to have celebrities visit and sign their wall.  It was

 really good tea.  I ordered jujube tea, which came, not in a cup, but in a bowl and was so thick as to almost be soup.  By far the most filling tea I've ever "eaten."  The view out the one small window was pretty impressive.  This part of town seemed a little older, and you would commonly see the traditional roofs (as see out this window) on buildings.  It was near the King's palace and, I suspect, a rich neighborhood.  The antique places we went to were in this area.

This post is kinda out of order, but that's due mainly to the pictures.  Moving them around on the blog is really clunky so I had to cut-and-paste my paragraphs to fit where the pictures were, haha.  Oh well.  

Getting My ARC

The Alien Registration Card (ARC) is an alien's ID during an extended stay in a foreign country, and it allows me to work.  I went to immigration today to give the paperwork that is required, and I will be getting my ARC in 10 days.  Paul, my immediate boss, told me that Topia arranged a taxi to pick me up at 10am this morning.  I woke up at 10:03, and was out the door by 10:04.  Daero, who was also going with me to get his own ARC, was actually just about to knock on my door, so we went downstairs to the taxi.  The taxi driver then asked Daero (in Korean of course) where he was going.  We were a little confused because  we were told that the school had arranged us to be picked up, and part of that (we thought) was they would tell the taxi where to go.  The driver showed Daero the text message he received from his boss and it said "pick up foreigners by bank"...that's it.  So Daero had to call Sydney, the Korean equivalent of Paul, on his own phone and give it to the driver and they talked for a few moments.  The driver then hung up, and Jin, Paul and Sydney's boss, called Daero back, who then passed the phone to the driver.  It was at this time that the  shouting began, and I saw my life flash before my eyes.  An irate taxi driver, in Korea, with a phone in his hand, was weaving in and out of traffic with me in the back.  Apparently, Jin told the drive that just because they're (me and Daero) foreigners, doesn't mean you can screw them and take the scenic route.  He got quite upset at being accused of conning us, and thus the yelling.

Well, after quite some time, we arrived at Immigration and the taxi driver asked if we were going to pay.  We said no, the school is, so he wanted to see Jin.  We told him that the deal was for him to take us, wait, then take us back.  That's not what he had been told, so we had to pay him (Topia reimbursed us), and send him on his way.  Jin was under the impression that we were given an envelope of cash to pay the driver, and then catch a different cab on the way back, but we weren't.

So, it took me about 30 minutes of waiting to hand in the paperwork, which isn't bad, and then we were out of there.  We found another cab who took us straight back to Topia, and the fare was half of what it was going to immigration.  So after all that yelling that he wasn't a con man, he did screw us.  Jin called the cab company and told them that they were failures at their job, that the driver didn't know how to get there, he was rude and cussing, etc.  So, fun stuff.

The weirdest thing was that Topia was going to send me alone, but Daero got his stuff together last minute and went with me.  Daero was born in Seoul, if you remember, but spent most of his life in London so he knows the language.  Had Daero not been with me, I'd probably still be somewhere in Suwon, crying, poor, and hungry.  

School is enjoyable, I've found my rhythm and really like the kids (though I'm careful never to tell them that).  I've decided to get a cell phone, but I need my ARC first.  Grace is going to help me get a phone.  I think I'd like to do a pay-as-you-go with a phone that can also work in America, basically one with a SIM card.  

Weekend Update

The title is an SNL reference, btw. Let's see, Friday we all went out after work. I'd tell you about it, but I don't remember it. Actually, I'm kidding, I do remember it, but you get what I mean (gotta keep this somewhat professional).

Anywho, I volunteered to interview children on Saturday for Topia. I got W25,000 for an hour's work, but it really only took ~30 minutes. The inteview process is pretty easy; there're six parts. Part one I point to pictures and ask "who are they?" or "what is that?" The pictures are of a stack of books, a lion, an umbrella, police officers, singers, etc. They have to get at least 10 points out of a possible 15 (points are based on the fluency of their answer. If they just say "book" instead of "that's a book" then they get less points) to advance to part two. In part two I ask some questions such as "do you like soccer?" "what is the weather like today?" "when is your birthday?" etc. Again, 10 out of 15 to advance. The other sections are comparing pictures and giving differences, giving directions using a map provided, interviewing me as different people, and simple debate. This allows them to be placed accurately into Topia. So, today I had new students that I probaby interviewed Saturday. Saturday night I spent almost five hours grading EBCs online, another thing I volunteered to do for money. I get W2500 per EBC, and each EBC takes between 5-10 minutes. So, basically, another W25,000 per hour. EBCs are voluntary on the students part. They read a children's book and answer questions online. Then, I grade them for spelling, grammar and accuracy.

Anyway, Sunday I was lazy b/c I drank coffee Saturday night and was up until almost 5am. I slept in til 1:30, so I missed church (my favorite language study) and did nothing all day. I didn't even feel like leaving my house to eat, but I eventually did. I actually got some real sushi for W2500. It was king crab meat sushi, and it looked awesome. I'm gonna get it again and take a picture of it just so everyone can see it. It seriously belonged in a 3 diamond restaurant, and it cost $1.50.

Today was Monday, as usual, and I taught. It's getting easier and easier, better and better. I'm finally beginning to learn most of my students names, which is good, because they look visibly hurt when you don't know their names. I don't know if their public school teachers are brilliant and can learn their names in one day or what, but I have them 2 hrs/wk. Humans being creatures of habit, nearly everyone sits in the same seat everyday, in every class, so I've made word files for each class where the students usually sit. Instead of just pointing to them and saying "you, read" I can just look down at the computer in the podium and say "Julia, read." btw, there are like 7 Julies or Julias, just on Mondays for me, and probably half as many Brians.

Getting Better

I've enjoyed the last couple of days of teaching.  After getting the kinks out and understanding some of the routine it's getting easier.  Suprisingly, I enjoy these little kids.  They say the funniest stuff on accident, an even funnier stuff on purpose.  The youngest group, though not the smartest, is definitely my favorite b/c they're so cute.  By the time they get to the middle or high group they're only a couple years older, but they have absolutely lost that cuteness that keeps me from beating them.  I consistently threaten to defenestrate them, and I've taught them that word.

I'm still basically getting up, going to work, going home, reading for an hour and going to sleep.  But since I own next to nothing, there's really nothing else to do, and I'm enjoying it.  By next week I hope to feel confident enough not to have to write an entire lesson plan for every class, since it's basically...do Word Test, check homework, make fun of their mistakes and make them laugh at them, read through a couple of pages in the book, make fun of them, give the homework, leave.  But, even if I am only at work for the required 8 hrs/day, I still don't have much else to do since all my friends work here and they'll be doing the same thing.  I'm seriously considering getting a cell phone, then I just need some friends outside of work as well as inside.  I'd help if I knew the language.

Teaching Kills

Yesterday was my first day teaching, and I felt totally unprepared. I even forgot to take my textbook to the first class! That standardized training I mentioned before was a total waste of time, I wish I had spent those days at Topia observing and learning. Everyone who went to that training feels the same way, too. After the mistakes I made yesterday, however, today went much better. On top of that I have two free periods on Tuesdays and Thursdays so it's a shorter day, too.

Teaching 8-11 year olds is really weird. These kids are infinitely better behaved than in the States, and they're pretty bright, but they're still little kids. I have to explain things to them that a middle schooler would know and understand. I have to walk them down the stairs at the end of the day. It's just so weird to be around these tiny children, but I'm acclimating quickly. Today and yesterday I basically woke up, went to work, came home, went to sleep. I was at the office about 11 hours yesterday, and about the same today. Unfortunately overtime only kicks in if I teach more, not be in the office more. After today, though, I feel really prepared for tomorrow and probably won't go in until I'm supposed to, at 2pm.

I only brought two novels with me, both purchased with the gift card Ami gave me for my bday. I finished one of them yesterday and am about 1/5 finished with the other. I've really been milking them for all they're worth, reading slowing and sparingly, but inevitably I will finish them. Fortunately, Paul has a couple of Vonegut books and there's a big bookstore in Seoul that has a decent-sized English section. By the time I'm done with Paul's Vonegut books I hope to be reading Korean children books, though, so maybe I won't have to worry about it. Speaking of which, I didn't do any language studies today or yesterday, but I think I'll have time the rest of the week so I still hope to be a fast reader between this weekend and next.

Learning the language

I've been spending 1-2 hours a day, on my own, studying Korean.  I've found an incedible website http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/ and spent probably 2-3 hours on it yesterday.  I try to write the alphabet multiple times a day, I read every sign I see (at least the ones that don't go by too fast), when I write or read I try to speak aloud, too, and obviously I'm hearing it and when I do I try to spell out a few of the words in my head.  I've always enjoyed learning languages and this is the first time I'll be totally immersed for such a long time.  I actually have the time to systematically learn the language rather than learn the necessary phrases like I did for Chinese.

My goal is to be conversational by summertime.  That shouldn't really be that hard.  I figure at the end of this week, or maybe next since this week I'll be very busy with the first week of the semester, I will know the alphabet well enough that I can quickly pronounce what I see and I should be able to spell most of what I hear.  After that I just need to start learning vocabulary and grammar.  Vocabulary is vocabulary, so it's just rote learning and with an hour a day I should be able to make lots of headway on it.  Grammar's a little different, though, because whereas English is Subject Verb Object (SVO), Korean is SOV.  In addition, there is a large emphasis placed on respect and how you greet someone changes depending on their age compared to yours, and their gender.  For example, there's one word for a man addressing an older man, another for a man addressing a younger man, another for a man addressing an older woman, etc.  That doesn't just apply to greetings, though, it applies to other things as well.  That's the main thing that makes learning Korean difficult, otherwise it's pretty accessible.  

I went to Grace Kim's church today.  It's a pretty large (what isn't in Asia?) Presbyterian church  about a 10 minute walk (what isn't in Asia?) from my apt.  The sermon is translated into English and you can get a little headset from them to hear it.  Grace is one of the people who translate it; I think there are 5 or so who take turns.  Anyway, the translation didn't come through and they decided later that a microphone or something was unplugged.  Kinda funny.   I really didn't mind, though, because from what Grace translated to me it's a similar service to what I'd get in America.  After service Grace invited me to meet her friends who do the translating, and by "meet" she apparently meant "help with translating" because that's what I did, haha.  After each service the whole group gets together and the person who translated the service that day goes over their translation and explains why they translated it this way or that way, and they critique and help.  Pretty cool idea, though it makes more since to do that before the service.  Anyway, I got to help them with some phraseology and I also got to proofread their Vision Statement that they had just translated into English.

The best thing about the service, though, was the music.  They had an entire orchestra with choir, and when I asked Grace if she ever plays her flute in it she said no, they're all professionals.  They sure sounded it, with the exception of the snare drum, haha.  However, they had a "praise" team on stage who did most of the playing and singing.  During that singing they had the Korean words up on the screen and I was able to follow along while they sang.  It was pretty difficult, especially on the faster songs, but it was an incredible opportunity to hear and read the words being spoken.  I get that on the sogang website, but only a letter or word at a time, not entire songs.  So, even if they do translate the sermon every week right into my ear, I'm going for the language practice.  And I'll be able to help the translation group with their translations, improving their English and more accurately translating the sermon for those who need it.

Differences

I'm sure a lot of people want to know all the differences between Korea and America, but it's tough to point them out because you really only remember differences that are negative, and there's basically none.  I'll try to list the positive differences, as many as I can recall.  Well, I suppose there is one potential negative.  There are no clothes dryers.  On my porch there's a clothes rack that hangs from the ceiling and can be raised and lowered kinda like blinds, but it's not very large.  I had to buy a clothes rack from the store today.  That's what my apt looks like on laundry day, haha.  The washing machine is awesome, though.  There are way more options on it than an average American one, and you can even set it for a delay start.  When you start the washer it spins once or twice and is actually measuring the weight of the clothes.  So high tech.

As for other differences, houses are heated by the hot water pipes which run through the floor, so the floor is the first thing to warm up rather than the last.  Why did the West not think of that?  I think I've already mentioned that showers don't have curtains so you can hose down your entire bathroom every day.  So much more clean.  You take your shoes off before entering a person's house and you put on shower shoes (think crappy sandals) before entering a bathroom.  But that's not everywhere, mainly in houses and tradition restaurants.  They don't have stoves, just range-top cooking (not really a good thing, but not really bad either).  They also don't have dishwashers, but I prefer that b/c I use a dish, I wash a dish, I put it in the drainer, done.  Space is expensive here, so housing is much smaller which forces people to live a more simple life; I love it.  Their public transit is fantastic.  The necessities of life are cheap, but the extras can be just as expensive or more-so in the States.  And by necessities I mean food, shelter, clothing, alcohol.  For example, 10 of us went to lunch on Thursday and then drank from 6-11 and we didn't spend more than $75 total.  Amazing.  A cell phone plan is $20/month, and internet would be about the same.  Everyone her

e is very polite, and everyone strives to be more kind than the next person.  There are heated toilet seats!!  Anything you need is within walking distance.  So basically it's a great place.

One more thing, I went to a Chinese restaurant today which is literally right next to my house.  This is a picture of it.  I mainly put it up for you guys that have been to China.  The food was great but not what we had in our City because the food's from a different region.

Oh, and another thing.  I had some sore on my gum that I noticed Sunday or Monday after I got here, and it got progressively worse so that it hurt to eat or drink.  I started googling  and it's a mouth ulcer that is caused by a number of things, but usually stress.  So, that whole week before I left where my stomach was in knots has created a mouth ulcer.  They tend to last 7-10 days and I can already feel it healing, but I just wanted to tell everyone that leaving you caused a lot of stress and I miss you terribly.

Lots to update

I have lots to update you guys about.  First, the best experience of my life was Wednesday.  I used the restroom at the Topia building in Seoul and the toilet seat was HEATED!  Best...thing...ever.  There was a control panel next to the toilet, as well, but everything was in Korean (duh) so I couldn't figure out how to flush the toilet.  I was standing to get a look at the control panel and decided to press a button that had a picture of what looked like a handle.  When I pushed it some mechanical sounds starting going and a small tube came out of the toilet bowl.  I was thinking maybe it'd spray water into the bowl and flush it or something, but it started spraying at me!  Turns out it was a bidet.  I threw the seat cover down to get water from spraying everywhere but I couldn't figure out how to stop it.  Took me about 2 minutes to figure that out, then I saw the handle to flush the toilet behind the lid, just like every other toilet in the world.  Amazing experience.

We had a short day Thursday and it was the end of our training in Seoul so a bunch of us went out all day.  I got some  pictures (scattered throughout the blog).  The guy is Daero, the girl with longer hair (above standing next to giant-headed manakins) is Nikki.  Bo's the one sticking her tongue out, Nuri is the one that looks like a doll with her hood pulled around her heard, and Vivian's blowing kisses at me on the street (below)

Another awesome thing in Korea is their bars.  Below is some fried squid which is the equivalent

 of peanuts at a bar.  It's kinda like seafood jerky.  Also, you may notice that my beer mug is sitting inside the table.  Well, that's because that's a beer mug holder, and it's chilled to 4C!  This has got to be the best city ever.  Oh, and that giant pitcher of beer?  It's 3000 ccs.  That's right, they measure their beer in cubic centimeters, and it costs about $8.    

Sorry about the formatting with these pictures, btw, the process is kinda clunky and it seriously took me 20 minutes just to get them where they are.  Anyway, after drinking in Seoul I caught my bus home, but I passed out and didn't wake up at my stop.  The bus driver woke me up at the end of the line and  when I got out I was drunk and couldn't speak Korean.  I managed to ask him where Juk Jeon is and where I could get a taxi, but as I started walking I realized I was within 20 minutes of my house.  So, moral of the story is, get drunk and pass out on the 1005-1 bus b/c the end of the line is close to my house.  

Friday I actually got to observe classes being taught by my coworkers and I can't wait.  The training was next to useless so I finally got all my questions answered and whatnot.  I've got one prep class I'll be teaching phonics to, and one young low-level class, but basically everything else is either young students with high proficiency, or older students with good-to-high proficiency.  And for everyone who asked me if I need to speak Korean to teach these students, the answer  is emphatically no.  These guys are way smarter than I would have ever imagined.  And, on top of it, they want to learn, and to anyone who's a teacher you know how much that helps.

Last night after classes were done we all went out as an "end of the semester party/going away party for Luke/welcoming party for me, Daero, Bo and Vivian."  I found out that one of my coworkers' hobby is to get as smashed as he possibly can, as quickly as he possibly can.  Interesting bunch of folks, I'm gonna love them.  

Basically, the culture and atmosphere is awesome, they have heated toilet seats and chilled tables, the students are bright and enjoy learning, the girls are gorgeous.  I think I'll like it here.  You guys should come.

Training

Well, today will be my third day of training.  Thusfar it's been ok; it's a standardized training held in downtown Seoul that everyone from every campus must attend.  It's kinda hit-or-miss, like most standardized training, but I have learned some helpful things.  It's also pretty cool to see all the new teachers and get to know them, and find out which ones will be at your campus.  Speaking of which, there are four of us who will be going to the Juk Jeon campus: Daero (Darrell), Bo, Vivian and myself.  Daero is Korean but moved to London when he was 9.  Bo is korean but she grew up in Melbourne and visited Seoul regularly.  Vivian is Korean and studied in America and Canada.  Really great people, and I'm excited to be working with them.  The past two nights we've gone to dinner after training and I just love the food.  I'm so glad to have three friends with varying experience in Seoul, all from different countries, all with different accents, haha.  

We've had homework every night from the training.  First night we had to write a reflective 2-page essay on learning, and last night we had to write a sample lesson plan.  I also got my schedule yesterday and I'm teaching only 26 classes as opposed to a possible 30.  I have 2 or 3 phonics classes, and the rest are reading.  I've also got everything from low-level to high-level, and 1st grade to 6th grade.  I'm pretty excited about having the full range as that'll give me good experience.  Most, however, are higher level and older, which should make it easier to teach them, though I can also foresee some problems with them being older and smarter.  Que sera sera.

I haven't been at Java City too much this week because Paul suggested that when I want to use the internet I should go up to TOPIA so I won't feel obligated to buy a coffee.  I like the atmosphere and music, though, so I'd like to be there often but it also provides a good segue by being up in TOPIA.  They play this great song that I really like: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3FDGviwiJo&feature=related>.  Anyway, gotta run and catch the bus to training.  While I'm in Seoul this week I'm gonna try to take some pictures.

It's Fa-REE-zing

It is soooo cold here, but the temperature hasn't gotten below 27F or so, which isn't too bad with a couple of layers on.  Well, I got curious and went to weather.com and it turns out that the humidity here, right now at 9am, is 91%!!!  It's only 27% in Charleston at 6pm, which is NUTS!  That explains why it feels so cold.  Any skin exposed goes numb pretty quickly, and I'm trying to time just how long it'll take my fingers to go numb while I'm typing this post sittting outside Java City.  I've got to find out when they open, and never wake up before that.

I made it to almost 2300 last night and then passed out.  I woke up around 0645 which isn't bad.  I've got a couple of hours to kill before I have to meet Paul to go to training so I think I'm about to go walking, or I may go back to my apt and read or clean.

First day in "Seoul"

Turns out I don't live in Seoul.  I'm actually an hour south of it as the bus flies, or 20 miles as the traffic crawls.  This is a link to google maps that shows where I am in relation to Seoul: http://tinyurl.com/d7qsuk.  The picture is a little old as you can tell, since my apartment doesn't exist in the it.  I promise I don't live on dirt.  

Anyway, I'm sitting in Java City (yes, the same franchise that CSU has) again, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite places.  They play good jazz, occasional Korean music and lots of (suprisingly) decent American stuff.  I did, however, hear "My Heart Will Go On" which I thought I left in China, but Koreans love it too, I guess.  I bought a coffee (it was incredible) because I'm trying my hardest not to fall asleep, otherwise I'll be up at 4am.  I've been tired for the last few hours, and by "tired" I mean eyelids drooping, eyes red like a pothead, slow motor functions.  I'm hoping to stay up until at least 2200, but we'll see how that goes.  (Side note, four cute Koreans just walked in).  

After I woke up this morning I got my apartment in order which didn't take long because I don't have much and my apartment isn't much.  Then I needed a couple things: food, Korean money, and internet, preferably in that order.  Well, I remembered Paul talking last night about Java City having free wireless, and as I set out to find what I needed I saw the Java City sign right away since it's across the street from my apt.  I emailed Paul and told him I needed him to meet me at Java City and if he wasn't here in 30 minutes I'd call him.  I called him 30 minutes later and he told me that I can't exchange money today because it's Sunday.  I totally forgot it was Sunday.  He told me he'd give me some money to last me until I could exchange, so I told him to meet me at my apt at 1500.  Then, the thing I needed most I got last: food.  I went into some tiny restaurant and pointed at a picture of what I think was coconut popcorn shrimp.  It tasted good and cost W2500, or $1.60, which is good since all I had was W6000.

I had over 3 hours to kill before I had to meet Paul so I started walking.  Paul had mentioned some university last night, so I headed out in that direction.  The streets here are similar to China in that the shops are right on the sidewalk and you'll pass the same store 3 or 4 times before you get where you're going.  I don't know why there's the same eyeglass store every 5 blocks...I just don't know.  Anyway, the university was a little hike away, and all of it uphill which got increasingly steeper as I got closer to the university.  I was wearing my dress shoes, but as I got to the end of the campus there was a hill that promised a good view from it's top, so I climbed.  

The pictures are from that climb.  Climbed back down, headed back to Java City, made a couple of phone calls waiting for 1500 to come around, then met Paul at my place.  He took me to E-mart, which is like a 3-story Target, and I found a couple of things I'll need to buy once I get money, like an electrical converter, a space heater and a clothes horse.  We ate dinner at one of his favorite places and I had dumplings.  Not nearly as good as in China, unfortunately, but still good.  That's been my entire day.  Tomorrow I start training.

Sitting in Seoul

I'm currently sitting in Seoul, across from my apartment at a Java City.  It's actually closed, but the wireless is still available so I'm sitting outside, haha.  My apartment is so tiny, but it's all I need; I love it.  It's pretty cold but nothing I'm not prepared for.  I met Steve and Paul last night who are fellow employees.  We went out for some beers but I didn't drink any b/c it's bad for jet lag.  Cool guys.  Well, I'm pretty hungry so I'm gonna try to find some food, then I've got to exchange some money.

Tokyo Airport

I'm sitting in the Tokyo Airport at one of their internet kiosks. The 13.5 hour flight wasn't all that bad, I had a window seat and no one sitting directly next to me. I did, however, have two Japanese children behind me who enjoyed kicking my seat and jabbering incessantly in their mother tongue, pure bells and whistles to me. It's nearly 5pm here, making it 3am EDT. I didn't sleep at all the night before the flight but got some sleep on the flight from CHS to Detroit, and in the Detroit airport. I also grabbed about 3 hours of sleep on the flight, and with the sun up right now I'm not tired. I've also managed to eat even though my body is usually sleeping right now. I had some rice, japanese pickles, and miso soup. I plugged my computer into an electrical outlet at the airport after asking (in mime) whether it would blow up. It didn't blow up. I was very happy. Then a couple of others did the same, I think they were too scared to try it before someone else.

I've got about 5 hours before I get into Seoul, then probably another 2 hours before I'll be sitting in my apartment. I hope Lindsey is at the airport to meet me, that'd be so cool. I also hope that my luggage is at the airport to meet me, that'd be so cool. Well, I've only 1 minute left on my time so I've gotta cut this short.