The Other

I wrote a poem, which is the first one in over three months. There used to be a time when I'd write at least a poem a day. I wonder what happened to all that creativity. Anyway, about this poem, I was walking home and it was drizzling, sightly chilly, and I met a man walking the other way. That small incident got me thinking and before I got home I had this poem. The rhythm is at times halting, but this is how I would walk if this realization dawned on me while walking home. As narcissistic as I am, I'd appreciate your comments and criticism on this.

The Other

Two travelers if they be called
Converged upon a yellow walk,
Twas brownish viewed within the day
But yellow lamps made it to match their hue.

The Other's shoes was all the Other one espied
For umbrellas did block their view
'gainst cold and wind and rain and dark
And carried each to hearth and home.

And in passing each decried
How like and like their feet were built,
And how their gaits were matched so well
As the pants that atop their shoes did sit.

The night, it had been filled
With wine and merrymaking,
But when the Other left he left his
Mistress sitting, smiling upon her bed.

And as the Other traveled, traveled with a smile
He thought about his wife to whom he tarried,
Who at that selfsame moment sitting upon her bed
Wore nary save a smile.

The Happiest Place in Korea

Grace and some friends decided last-minute to go to Everland, Korea's version of Disneyland or maybe Six Flags, on Saturday night and invited me along. We got there shortly after 7pm and the big attraction, T Express (which goes 140km/hr, or 79mi/hr) closes at 8, and I'm not at all sure why we didn't immediately go there but of course when we did eventually get there it was closed. I think the group didn't know it closed. Anywho, went on a couple of vomit-inducing rides (I was going to describe them but then realized how incredibly hard it is to describe rides), and ate some vomit-inducing food (not really, but I couldn't resist the pun). I told all my students today that I went to Everland on Saturday and they were all angry at me, and then I followed up my news with a test, so they really hated me today, mwahahaha! Ah, the joys of crushing the joys of children...

So my boss reminded me that one of the kids I taught last semester always comes to class in his hopkido clothes, so I asked me where his dojo was. He told me it's near Ori station, which is one subway stop from me, so I'm going to go there some morning this week, if I get up early, and try to find it, or I'll just go Saturday.

Wonderful news: I met a girl who is interested in me, and I share the feeling. One major drawback, however, is that she spends a LOT of time on Saturday and Sunday at church. She wants me to go to all her stuff, but it's in Korean so in refusing it looks like I'm a heathen (which I am, but that's not the point). Her English isn't great, but it seems like it's just rusty from disuse because from Saturday evening when I met her, to Sunday night when we said goodbye, her English had already improved. She's an EMT here, so we can share some stories about nursing and stuff. It's also funny the English she knows from being an EMT, like she knows what a laceration is, but not a scratch, haha. I explained it to her this way: laceration->cut->scratch.

[Insert Clever Title Here]

I bought a bicycle! It's certainly nothing special, it cost about $65 used, but it's a bicycle. I've ridden it around a little bit and it makes it much more convenient to travel to the 24-hour place up the street to eat. I found a halfpipe and I played around on it a little bit. I had never ridden a bike on a halfpipe and it was pretty scary. I didn't even ride to the top, which was no more than 5 feet, but I did start to get a feel for how to do it. I may keep playing around on it, I don't know.

The other exciting thing to note is that I organized a teacher get-together last night. 9 of us went out to dinner after work. More would have come but they had phone calls to make before the end of the month, which is rapidly approaching. I plan to make it a weekly thing. At first we went to a Korean barbecue place and had soju (the Korean rice liquor stuff). One or two left at this point, but we did play a lot of drinking games until the place closed down. Then we went to a karaoke place for an hour, where we drank more soju. Then we went to our favorite bar, which was closed, and then on to a seafood place that was still open, where we drank more soju. By 4am there was just 5 of us left, and we all went home in varying states of disrepair.

I figured the first few get-togethers would just be a time to dump on our bosses and vent some frustration that we otherwise can't because the office atmosphere is one that dissuades one from conversation and friendship, and that's exactly what this one was. One of the girls is quitting whenever they train her replacement, and she had some fun stories. It's really a shame because she's a good person and she enjoys the kids, and without smearing anyone on my blog, I will say there are irreconcilable differences and bridges have been burned. It was great for everyone involved to begin to feel a kindred for their fellow-workers, and I hope these weekly forays into the local bars continues for a long time (though in truth I could do without the karaoke).

I am still half-heartedly saving for an iPod, but I'm hoping for some bday money to get me to my goal (hint hint, mom). I've been without one for almost two months and want to convince myself that I don't want it (which is true), but I definitely want it enough to still justify the purchase of it. It seems like half the use my laptop sees is just as a music player, which is quite a waste of resources and electricity.

Due to John's inspiration in China, I've decided to take up a martial art. Taekwondo is the national sport, but the form I've wanted to learn for a long time is aikido. Unfortunately it's not popular enough to have a presence in the smaller town I live in, but maybe hopkido is close by. If nothing else I will just fall back on taekwondo because I do just want to do it more for the exercise. A potential hurdle I've been made aware of is my schedule. I am free in the mornings on the weekdays, when most others aren't and therefore many things are closed. I could do it only on the weekends, but that's not what I want because it wouldn't be a sustained, continual workout.

The weather is becoming chilly at night. Tonight's low is 14C, or high 50s for you people. The days rarely get further up the scale than the low-to-mid 70s, and the humidity is almost non-existent (at least to a sub-tropical native such as myself). It's quite interesting to see the seasons change in such a dramatic fashion, since I've haven't seen anything like it in 10 years. I look forward to the quickly-approaching winter. I hope to get some hiking in before the temperature gets too cold.

Chuseok is on October 3rd. Briefly, Chuseok is like Thanksgiving. It's a three-day festival, so it if happens to fall on a Tuesday or Thursday then a 5-day weekend results. However, this year, it falls on a Saturday, which means I get 1 day off. I don't want to complain, but can't Korea get its act together and make sure these holidays always fall on a weekday, like America does? This is year is the worst in recent memory for holidays falling on weekends. In the 6 months I've been here I've had 1 holiday off, and took 1 day of vacation off. I've worked most Saturdays and many Sundays. The next holiday isn't until Xmas and New Year's, and the one after that is March 1st, which may or may not be an important holiday, and anyway is the last day of my contract. With all the holidays added up, in the 365 days from March 1st, 2009-March 1st-2010, there will have been only 4 holidays that affect weekday workers. But at least I got a job.

Success!

I sit here eating the most satisfyingly-attained meal I've ever had. If I had caught and strangled a tiger with my bare hands, I scarcely believe it would be more satisfying. You see, I ordered delivery...in Korean. I gave my order, my address, and when it came, my money. So blessed is Korean delivery that there is no extra fee, nor tip. God Bless Korea.

P.S. for the curious, I'm eaing al toke toke bap (fish egg rice).

Whitewater Rafting: Canceled

So. Whitewater rafting. Love it. Gonna go. Got canceled. Frowny face.

Topia was going to go whitewater rafting today. It cost about $30 for everything, traveling, eating, and rafting. I was pretty excited. Then yesterday, I got to work and was told too many people had canceled last minute and transportation therefore became more expensive, so they canceled it. I'm almost speechless...almost.

The online overtime that they're outsourcing to the Philippines got a little change. They're not ready to outsource it yet, so they're going to allow us to do them for 1 more month. I'm really hoping that it continues to get pushed back. Anyway, since it's the last month, I told my boss that I'd do as many as I could, up to 100 per week. That'd be about 10-13 hours/week overtime, and would get me about $200+/week. I ended up grading 70 this week, but you have to factor in those students who didn't do it for one reason or another, so I've probably got 80-100 students who, if they all do it, will get me lots of money. As it is, 70/week is W175,000/week, or $143 right now, according to google. That'll be a nice chunk of change, at least for one last month. And another nice thing is that the quality of the ones I'm grading this semester is much better. One week, last semester, only 19 did them, and I had to fail 10. I nearly always faild 30% or more of them. This week, however, I failed 1/70. Not bad.

Yesterday was 9/11, and as fate would have it one of the books that the students had to read for the online overtime stuff is called Capital Kids. It's about kids who live in different capitals around the world or something. Anyway, the first part is about America, and one of the kids lives in D.C. It talks about the terrorists hitting the Pentagon, and 9/11. It was kinda weird to be grading them yesterday. Got me a little patriotic and I told my first two classes what 9/11 was (most know about it, but don't necessarily know the date, I mean, they're 7-9 years old).

The new iPods came out Wednesday, and should be available in a few weeks. I'll be saving up for one this month and it'll be my birthday present to myself. There was a lot of hype, as always, and Apple responded by delivering a wet fart of an announcement. All iPods got a video camera (but no still camera), except the Touch, which would benefit most from it. The nanos did not get a memory upgrade, while all other models did. The nano did, however, get an FM tuner which I don't need or want, a microphone which I don't need or want, 0.2 more inches of screen which seems paltry, ever-so-slightly better battery life, and an almost-useless pedometer. The prices on nanos dropped $20, and the Touches dropped as much as $120. The classic got a memory upgrade and price drop, and the shuffle got a price drop. Nothing special in the least. Quite disappointing. Some, however, will love the new features on the iPod, but I just want it to play music, and do it well, and it took 5 years for iPods to become as good at that as the competitors such as Creative. EDIT: Just found out that the iPods are available now, but the prices in Korea are expensive. A 16gb nano in America is $179, while it's $220 here. Very disappointing. Not sure I want to buy a new one now.

To end on a positive note, I'm enjoying this new semester with 2 less teaching hours. I am actually able to go into work at 2pm, and not early. And even then I don't always have much to do. Sometimes I just sit at my desk and read. However, as the semester gets into full swing, there will always be "something" to do, just like at any job, and I will try to always do something.

I can see!

I went to the eye doctor Thursday morning with Grace and they determined that my glasses and eyes were matched, and then found out that the tear ducts in my right eye don't work right, so they prescribed me some eye drops. The whole thing cost less than $20 for the appointment, checkup, and eye drops. God bless Korea.

First day of the new semester

Well, it's official: I've got 6 months left. Today was the first day of the new semester. Lots of new teachers who have been slowly trickling in over the past two weeks, doing meaningless office work, today got to actually do their job. The atmosphere in the office is usually quiet, work-like, no family-feeling (which I hate), but the new teachers are changing that a little. I hope us teachers can feel more and more comfortable with each other, though it is weird knowing that just about everyone will leave after 1 year, or in lots of cases less than that.

And speaking of leaving in less than one year, my friend Vivian left. Before getting a job at the school, she applied to be an airline stewardess. She passed the qualifications and stuff, but they weren't hiring so they kept her on file. They called her on Saturday or Sunday and offered her the job. She came into the office on Monday morning and told the boss about it, offered to work for 2 weeks, but instead of congratulated, negotiated with to work longer, praised for her hard work, she was guilted and made to feel like crap for abandoning her job. As if this job is that important. They told her she could just finish the day and leave. That left quite a bad taste in her mouth, and she left last night, quite unhappy. I'm happy for her, she'll be doing more what she truly wants to, but of course we'll miss her and she'll miss us. She gets to work out of Hong Kong, and fly all over the world! Freaking sweet! I'd love to live in HK and fly everywhere!

Vivian's leaving affects me more than just on a personal level: she was going to be my desk partner, and she is notorious for giving her desk partners food. I have now, thanks to fate, been cheated out of a semester of candies and snacks. Woe is me, woe is me! My new desk partner seems nice enough, but no promises of candy in her eyes.

My first day this semester was fine, I had my mastery classes (kids that are basically fluent), which was no surprise because they like to give them to teachers for 6 months rather than 3, and I had even given them homework last Thursday so it was class as usual. My only other class today was an older class that is pretty good at English. I had actually taught two of them my first semester, so it's nice to see them 3 months later and see how they've improved, especially since the single greatest destroyer of teacher spirits is thinking your students aren't learning. I didn't need to be overly strict with them because, being more intelligent students, they're a little more mature and don't need to be beaten as much. Tomorrow, however, I have every intention of slapping around a couple of kids, laying down the law, that kind of thing.

Oh, and Grace is going to go with my to the eye doctor Thursday morning at 9am to get my eyes checked. After that I can order some glasses online and get them shipped here, hopefully within a couple of weeks, and will be able to see well again.

One more "Oh, and." Oh, and the weather here has been a-ma-zing since Friday night. Friday was hot, but the night got into the low 60s. Since then, the high has never gotten higher than 85, and the low has been about 65. I would rate the current humidity level as "unbearable," which is at least two levels lower than Charleston's "freakish death-level" humidity. Therefore, it is quite comfortable to me, while still quite sticky for everyone else. I can laugh now, but when the winter comes and my snot freezes, the glove will be on the other foot, so to speak.

The Meaning of Liff

Liff (n.): a book, the contents of which are totally belied by its cover. For instance, any book the dust jacket of which bears the words. 'This book will change your life'.

The Meaning of Liff is a 200-something page book by Douglas Adams (author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) that is simply a dictionary of made-up words, liff being one of them which lends itself to the title. I thought it was a pretty witty title, and as such makes it perfectly acceptable for me to steal as my own.

Since I've gotten my new eBook reader, I've read 2 full books, plus parts of many other books. I loves it. Also, in the past week I've rearranged my apartment, found the post office and mailed things to family, and started barefoot running.

First, to the barefoot running. My stomach is probably larger now than it has ever been in life, but that's kind of like saying I'm the fattest kid at anorexia camp. I'm not particularly worried about it, in fact I get a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when I realize that I'm not hungry, and that I'm eating at least 3 meals a day, unlike before I moved here and I was eating maybe 2 meals a day if I was lucky. However, my pants are starting to shrink or something, so I figure I'll get my waist to shrink a little along with them. And as for the barefoot aspect of barefoot running, of course I would do that and I'm sure none of you are surprised. While I'm beginning I'm just running around the block so my body can re-learn how to run properly. As my form gets more natural (and therefore better, faster, more effecient, etc) I will start running longer, obviously.

In the past week, a couple of changes have come over my psyche. Perhaps a quick history is in order. When I first started working at Topia, I was trying to make friends, and I was being myself. I didn't really make any true friends at Topia, and thought that maybe being myself somehow offended others, or something, so I began to chip away at myself. By that I mean I tried to talk less, be less the center of attention, be more comfortable alone, etc. At first I thought this was a good thing and that I would finally stop being so prideful and attention-needy. However, if that was my goal I wasn't going about it the right way, and looking back I can see I was kind of dying inside, and passing it off as something else. My self-confidence was slipping, my humor was going, etc.

Anyway, in the past week I've decided to throw all that crap away and just do what I feel like. In other words, do what I want and consequences (and others) be damned. As a result, I'm much more happy, my self-confidence is returning, and I crack jokes whenever and however I want, and if someone's offended well then they aren't listening right. I'm not entirely sure what has caused this change, but it could be a couple of things. In the past two weeks I've attended a meetup group that just improvises and jams in a guy's apartment, so music has returned to my life. I also attended an atheist meetup group whose sole purpose was to explain to each other why Christians were wrong. As a result, I got the chance to discuss religion. Those are the two greatests passions in my life, I've realized, and they were missing. Another great passion in my life is reading, and it, too, was missing until I bought this eBook reader. I was also under the impression that a co-worker didn't like me, despised me even, for a reason I could not begin to fathom. I finally asked a close friend of hers and he responded with absolute confusion, and said that idea never crossed his mind. This, too, has put me at ease because in my times of weakness and self-consciousness, I had invented all kinds of terrible things I unwittingly did to her/didn't do to her, and thought that she had convinced others I was a terrible person. I was kinda creating my own personal hell, though it's difficult to accurately represent the situation to you because my current state of mind is so contrary to what it was just a couple of weeks ago. In all likelihood I'm representing it much too graphically, but I'm trying to get it right.

As you can see, many changes have happened and I'm not sure what, if any of them, are solely (or even particularly) responsible for my new-found happiness. All I know is, I've got a new book toy thingy, and I don't give a damn no more.

Great News

We got our schedules today, and we do get 2 less hours next semester, yay! I have a 1-hour break on M and F, 2 1-hour breaks on T and R, and no breaks on Wednesday. That means I can finally eat a normal dinner 4 days out of the week! I'm so happy.

However, this can still all go downhill. A foreign teacher had some problems back home and said as recently as two weeks ago he may leave in September. I have heard nothing more from him, though I believe things are working out now. If, however, he were to leave, I imagine we would all get those 2 hours back.

Also, good news, my diarrhea has basically gone away. I still have some stomach problems, but nothing debilitating.

Oh, and I've found out I'm allergic to apples now. This started happening shortly after moving here. I had some apples, felt fine, but then one day I bought a bunch and as soon as I finished an apple I was sneezing and felt that my throat was tight. A week later I had 2 slices of apple that a student gave me, and I felt a similar sensation. Tonight, at work, they gave us green apples and peaches. I tried one slice of green apple, hoping the color difference may help, or that the allergy had gone away with me not eating any, but it was worse than ever. That single slice made my lips tingly and almost numb, made my throat feel tight, and my tongue feel funny. Hopefully I'm not allergic to apple sauce as well because that's one of my staple foods in America.

If I may recap my health problems since coming to this country: I've developed an allergy to one of my favorite fruits, I've developed plantars fasciitis, my eyesight has gotten significantly worse (my eyes feel strained all day and night, and small signs further than 10 feet away are blurry with my glasses on), I wake up with back pain everyday, I had a canker sore while first here, diarrhea, increased lactose intolerance, and I'm the fattest I've ever been in my life (though that's not saying much). Other than the fattness and eyesight, I don't know what to do about anything else. Maybe this post wasn't full of great news, I guess I lied, haha.

Good News (possibly)

Two bits of good news. First, and most important, I was unofficially told that most of us teachers will only be teaching 24 hrs/wk next semester (in one week). I currently teach 26 hrs/wk, and while a 2-hour deduction may not seem like much, it is. 2 hours less teaching means 2 hours less in the classroom, 2 hours more of office-time grading (i.e. not grading at home), and less time preparing for those 2 classes I don't teach. This would equate to about 5 hours less work/week. In addition, we are definitely losing the potential for online overtime, which is going to take $400/month from my pocket, but also give me 5-7 hrs/wk more free time. Odds are I won't be using that free time in any productive way, but I can hope, can't I? This is still unofficial, but I'll be finding out this week.

Second good news is that the eBook Reader that I've been waiting to come into stock is finally in stock, and I'll be heading to their main office on Tuesday morning (they have staff meetings Monday morning and I work in the afternoon) to purchase one for about $250. I'm incredibly excited. I have over a thousand ebooks downloaded already, mostly classics and sci-fi (and one Bible), and can't wait to start reading, especially since I can't check out books from the public library for two weeks. I didn't return one of their books for two weeks, and the punishment is no more books for two weeks. I'm not sure if it's a 1:1 ratio for the punishment, but it did seem like it. I would have rather just paid a couple of bucks, but oh well, I'm getting the ebook reader.

Now for some bad news. I've been at home all day with a terrible case of diarrhea. Yesterday, I had kimchi fried rice with an egg on top, some soup, beans, curry on rice, and a rice ball with kimchi in it (kimchi is the national food, delicious, fermented, and healthy). Nothing out of the ordinary, and I'm beginning to think I have some sort of worm or something. The past couple of hours have been fine, however, so hopefully it'll continue to get better. However, if it's so bad that I can't work tomorrow, then I may get my eBook reader one day early, haha.

I finally got my Xbox working online, so now I'm able to play Halo 3 with friends. However, with John in China, Alex MIA, and the 13-hour time difference, I haven't played with friends much. Oh well, I'm already getting bored of the game again, haha.

I finally found where the post office is. It only took a month. Turns out there is no Jukjeon library, only Suji post office. Jukjeon is where I live, but it's in Suji, so I've been searching for a Jukjeon library (and strangely enough finding it online) and not being able to find it in person. Just in time to be 3 months late for Nick's birthday, nearly 3 months late for father's day, nearly 2 months late for my brother's birthday, and right on time for my sister's birthday. However, I haven't gotten anything for my sister yet. I think I'm going to just send the box I have now, and find something for my sister next weekend.

Good Weekend

This past weekend was pretty good. Friday night, work treated the foreigner staff to dinner and drinks, which is always nice. Nothing crazy happened, luckily. I did find out, conclusively, that our online overtime will be outsourced to the Philippines, which takes about $400/month from me, but there's nothing I can do. No one likes it, except of course the higher-ups, who will be saving a buck or two.

Saturday I finally went into Itaewon. Itaewon is foreigner central, and supposedly has the largest amount of crime in all of Korea. I wouldn't doubt it, the place looks downright shady. I had wanted to not go there ever, just because the stereotype about foreigners there is not very good, but I am planning on going there next Saturday to get some shoes custom-made, so I might as well go now. I met some people there for dinner and discussion. It was a group of atheists, and I suppose they assumed I was an atheist, too. I went because I had nothing else to do, and I wanted to have a decent discussion on religion. Religion being a don't-ask-don't-tell topic for many people, my friends and I don't discuss it. I really enjoyed the discussion, but at times it was all I could do not to laugh at some of them. They of course complained about Christians just regurgitating what they've heard others say without trying to think about it or research it themselves, but some of them did the exact same thing, and I had to correct them on some of their false assumptions. I don't really know what I'm going to do, I'm sure they'll ask for my religious experiences sooner or later and I'll have to tell them the truth, but until then I guess I'll just add another perspective (i.e. one that is well-versed in Christianity).

The group dynamic was pretty interesting. There was an ex-orthodox Jew, a couple of ex-Protestants, and a couple of people who'd never been religious. The ex-orthodox Jew of course knew a lot about Judaism, but the ex-Protestants knew about what the average Protestant knows, and the others knew even less. The next meeting is in two weeks and the discussion will center around a debate between a rabbi and some news guy. According to the ex-orthodox, it's pretty good and the rabbi holds his own.

Sunday, I met up with some fellow musicians and we had a 5-hour jam/improve session. It was pretty cool. Some of us were quite good, some of us were quite new, so laughs were had sometimes on purpose, and sometimes on accident. Afterwards a few of us went to an open-mic night in Itaewon (twice in two nights...) where one of the girls performed a couple of her songs.

Still on the quest for a good friend that I can share things with and just hang out with. As Grace gets closer to quitting Topia, she is becoming more involved with church. She is the kind of person who enjoys being busy, and she knows once she quits work she'll be bored, so I think that's why she's doing this. Seriously, she's probably doing something "churchy" at least 20 hours/week now, on top of working at least 40. It's sickening, actually, because at her church I see very little concern for working outside of the church. Everyone likes to sit in circles and stroke their god-ego. People are constantly trying to pull me in and get me more and more involved, and I just want to shout at them to leave me alone, that I'm fine without their useless Christian backrubs.

I bought an Xbox in early July and have never been able to connect to Xbox Live to download things. That means I can't download updates to games and therefore can't play them online. Basically, the Xbox is useless to me. I've spent at least 6 hours on the phone to Microsoft, and at least as many hours on the internet googling for solutions, and found nothing. I've tried to call my ISP here but I can't get through to anyone. I'm very close to just selling the thing and counting my losses. That'll give me more money to buy an eBook reader and/or iPod.

P.S. It's finally happening! <http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/13/cell.phone.wallet/index.html?eref=rss_tech>

To Have and to Have Not

So I lost a bunch of stuff today. I'll start from the beginning, since that's a pretty good place to start. First there was God, and His roommate Steve. Then, God created the universe, and most of what is in it today. Humans created some stuff, too, I guess. Steve didn't really do much.

That brings us to today. A few friends and I wanted to go hiking, so we decided to climb Bukhan Mountain. It's the most popular mountain in the area, and I and two others had been there before. We ended up doing the same climb I did back in early May. Anywho, we we met at a coffee shop at 10am, but on the taxi ride there my wallet fell onto the floor of the cab, and I didn't realized it at the time. I thought the "thump" I heard was a coin hitting the floor, and after a quick inspection and finding nothing, I left the cab. My wallet had my Alien Registration Card (ARC), my iPod, my debit card, my subway money card, and, most importantly, a coupon to Java City.

Korea can be a very honest place at times, so honest it's scary. I've heard stories of people getting the wallet stolen, then mailed back to them with only the money missing. My ARC has my school's address on it, so hopefully they mail it or call or something. My ARC, subway card, and debit card can be easily replaced, but my iPod and Java City coupon can't be. It has taken me nearly 5 months to fill in that whole card to get a free coffee, and now that I have I've lost it. Because I lost my subway card I had to buy single ticket passes all day, which cost a little more than using a subway card, and are lots more annoying.

Before we reached the mountain, two of my friends wanted to stop by a store that sold really cheap backpacks. The cheap backpacks were also low quality, so we started looking at nice, hiking packs, and they were cheap, too. I ended up buying a 40 liter Abba bag for about $30, which isn't incredible or anything, but probably worth about $50 in the States. It helped immensly on the climb, since last time I used my 11-year-0ld Janson backpack from 8th grade which left knots the size of baseballs on my shoulders.

The hike was great, much better than last time because, last time, not all the members of the group were equally motivated, and not everyone had the same goals in mind. It made for a somewhat stressful, at times not fun trip. This time, everyone was on the same page and it was much better. The weather, however, wasn't. There was much more foliage which took away a lot of the views, and it rained on us for about 30 minutes. I would like to show pictures of the hike, but that leads us to my next great loss of the day.

After hiking back down the mountain and getting back into the city, I hoped on my favorite bus, the 1005-1, to go home. I was quite tired from only 6 hours of sleep and the hike, so I dozed a little on the bus. While I was sleeping I had my camera in the crook of my arm, and at some time during the bus ride it fell out of my arm, but I didn't realized it. When I woke up I didn't remember ever holding my camera, so I didn't look for it until I got to my apartment and was unloading my bag. Found it at the bottom of my bag, nevermind.

So, the bad news is over, now for some good news. My camera was already messed up; it couldn't zoom and if I tried it would shut off, so it needed to be replaced sometime soon. I was also contemplating buying another iPod when the new ones come out in September, either the latest model or the one before it, since they'd be cheaper. I still shouldn't be purchasing such expensive electronics willy-nilly, and I don't "need" either one, so if I don't get them returned then I'll just do without for a while, but it would be nice to have them so I can sell them when I want to upgrade. Oh well, so it goes.

Life is ok right now, nothing bad, but nothing great either. Still haven't felt connected to this country or any people, so I'd like to go home when my contract is up in 7 months. The coolest thing going on right now is that I'm kinda hellbent on buying an ebook reader. I've stopped drinking and buying expensive foods, just to save up. So far, in just two weeks, I've saved about $100. I'm having trouble with my Xbox, so I may sell that and be able to buy the ebook reader now. In anticipation of getting one, I've downloaded a couple hundred books in the past few days: everything by Hemingway, Salinger, Haruki Murakami, Asimov, Douglas Adams, lots of Robert Jordan and Orson Scott Card, and a few odds and ends.

Oh, and the title is an allusion to a book by Hemingway, "To Have and Have Not."

P.S. sorry for writing so rarely, I had gotten out of the habit while I was busy in June and part of July, and I'm trying to get back into it.

Strangest...Dream...EVER

It was strange, but very comforting. Last night, I dreamed I was taken up through the most beautiful-blue sky, into Heaven. I have absolutely no recollection of what happened while in Heaven, but when I was placed back on Earth I remember being told a number: 8.22. There were one or two more numbers, but that is all I can remember now. For some reason, in the dream, I interpreted this as a specific date in 2010, but not August 22nd. There was some sort of logic involved, but I can't remember now because I can't remember the other number. Then, in the dream, as I realized it was a specific date (all I can remember now is it was sometime in the Fall of 2010), I thought to myself, "I need to remember this date, it's important, it's when the Resurrection will happen." The most beautiful, interesting thing about the dream, the thing I will probably never forget, is the color of the sky, and how comforted it made me feel. Now, of course I'm not saying I had some sort of vision or anything, but it was the only dream like that I've ever had.

The next dream I remember having was getting married. The date was sometime between now and fall of 2010, which makes me think it was an extension of the first dream, or something. It was the wedding day, and our families were all there and I remember us having to do stupid things that the families wanted. And by "stupid things" I mean weird stuff, like take our shoes off, and eat with only our pinkies. Anyway, just after the ceremony I remember thinking, "Oh no! My apartment is a mess (which it is right now), and we're going there right now." Another thought also occurred to me: I didn't have any condoms for the honeymoon. In short, I was unprepared for this wedding day. However, it, too, was a very comforting dream because of the feelings I had for my unknown wife, and the feelings I knew she had for me. We didn't have the wedding-day jitters, or that super-euphoric love, just an unstated, I-will-do-anything-for-you love.

Immediately upon waking, I tried to mix these dreams together and interpret them. I came up with the idea (and this is moments after waking, still in a dream-like stupor) that the Resurrection really was going to happen in a little more than a year, and that I would not be ready. I can't quite agree with that interpretation, however, because I'm not convinced I had a vision from God, and in the wedding dream I didn't feel bad because I was unprepared, it was something that just happened.

Like I said, I'm not convinced I had some vision from God, but that dream was very strange, different than any dream I can remember having, and it was so peaceful and reassuring. It was welcomed, because I've been so busy lately and I feel like I'm being pursued: by work, by worry, by time.

So busy

I have been sooo busy this past month with all my classes. Every week I have to grade 18 1-2 page essays, 17 short essays, 12 story summaries, 12 character analyses, prepare two pages of in-depth discussion questions for two classes (questions such as, how does the author use chiaroscuro in the story, what is the purpose of parody, what are the conflict, plot events, and resolution of the story, how does the author use housework to illustrate the deeper meaning of the story etc.), grade 12 word tests that include spelling, part of speech, and sentences, etc, and that's only for 6 of my 13 classes. Those are my most work-heavy classes, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to the others. As I've mentioned before, I tend to get to work an hour or two early, stay 30 minutes, grab dinner, then grade papers for an hour or so, then go to bed. Now, in addition to all that, I have midterms to grade.

Today, however, I caught up...somehow. I have nothing big to grade this weekend, and my usual online overtime is smaller this week for various reasons. In short, I am relieved almost to the point of tears. I want to assign less work so I will have less work to grade, but if I do that the students won't learn as much.

I traveled to a nearby city and bought a used Xbox 360 from a guy. I had been debating over it for months, and finally decided to do it. I had been spending between $5-10 a week in internet cafes, playing Starcraft b/c I was bored (until I got so busy, that is). I bought the 360 and two games for around $200, and I probably won't be going to internet cafes anymore, so technically I kinda saved money. In addition, John is moving to China and it'll be nice to play Halo with him, in addition to Mike and Alex who are still in South Carolina. I don't have Halo yet, but I've been able to talk to both Mike and John while playing different games, so that's pretty cool.

I've been thinking a lot about extending my contract or not, and it basically boils down to a job. If I don't have a job setup in America when my contract is up, there's almost no point going home to the economy and trying to find one. However, I can't imagine a situation in which I would extend more than 6 months, so I'll almost certainly be back in the country before September 2010. My friend Austin, however, has been doing independent website design. He's been able to make pretty good money and, from what I can tell, keep pretty steadily employed. If I can manage to study some programming languages while I'm here, I could head back to America after my 1 year, assuming nothing keeps me here (primarily the proverbial girlfriend). Doing programming will also allow me the opportunity to travel and see the friends who will, by that time, scatter to the corners of America. The problem will be finding time. Therefore, I'm considering not doing the online overtime next semester, which will cost me ~$100/week, but will also give me ~5 hours/week. Knowing myself, however, those 5 hours may go towards things not productive. It's all very tentative, as you can see.

On a totally unrelated note, ThePirateBay.org is being bought out for just under 8mil and it will become subsidized. A horrible blow to those of us who believe information should be free. I have never thought much of what I am able to produce or give, and have always had trouble charging for it. For instance, I taught surf lessons for free through much of high school and college, even though they go for ~$30/hour for a private, and I taught flute lessons for almost 2 years for free. I also have a difficult time imagining teaching private lessons here in Korea for money. It upsets me to see some charge outrageous prices for, what amounts to, frivolity. Thus, in Korea where there are no ramifications, I shall pirate all the media I can, while I can.

Umbrellas

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.

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.

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.

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.

End of Innocence or Education via Music

My youngest school children who are really good at English had a story last week entitled "Who Are You?" I asked them if they had heard of CSI and none of them had. I am constantly surprised at the amount of American pop culture these kids know, so I thought at least one of them would be familiar with the show. I guess they just don't get it over here. Anyway, I played the song, Who Are You, by The Who, and the kids loved it! I was shocked. I thought they would hate it because I've found very few Koreans who like Classic Rock. They loved it, and have asked to listen to it everyday since, and who am I to refuse little children who want to listen to The Who?

While at the beach last Saturday, I let Diane listen to the music I like since all she listens to is Korean pop music (keep in mind she's a 12-year old girl). First I had her listen to System of a Down. She didn't really like it. Then I had her listen to Dream Theater. She didn't really like it. Then I had her listen to Coheed & Cambria. She didn't really like it. Then I had her listen to Underoath. She didn't really understand it. All in all, I believe I've ruined the innocence of a number of children. I hope to ruin some more.

I have a friend whose school closed down and wasn't given any warning. She was going to find another job, but her boyfriend unofficially proposed to her, so she decided to go back to Canada instead. In the meantime, her school didn't fully close down, it just lost a lot of money and only had 10-15 students. She was still trying to teach when and what she could, but her school didn't really pay her. They also kinda kicked her out of her apartment.

This all happened in a matter of 2 weeks. She had no place to go, and a medium-to-large dog, so her friends didn't want to help her. I, who hates keeping animals as inside pets, whose apartment is immaculate, who hates dogs because they always lick everything, offered for her to stay at my place for a few days until her flight. It was an interesting 5 days during which my toilet seat got broken off my toilet, the entire floor of my apartment got licked, the dog peed twice in its kennel and as a result got bathed twice in my bathroom (hence the toilet seat), she nearly chewed up the ink pen I got in Guatemala, and hair and dander got EVERYWHERE, amongst other things too traumatic for me to remember. She left Tuesday morning, and I'm still cleaning.

I did get paid for the experience, in a manner of speaking. She left behind some useful things, such as a full-length mirror, some decent speakers, a fitted sheet, an electric adapter, an outlet extender, some soap, a hammer and nails, a wrench, two small dry-erase boards, and some shoes that I will shortly turn into cash if she doesn't want them.

There's a girl who works at the front desk at work. She's a temp, and kinda cute, and she likes to look at me and smile, so I like to look back at her and smile. It's a nice routine we got going. Today, I was so bold as to ask my boss if inter-office dating were ok. I would never ask such a thing if it were a fellow-teacher, but she works at the front desk, AND she's a temp, so I thought maybe. Well, the short answer is no, and the long answer is no, and she likes to look at all the guys and smile. That kinda took the wind out of my sails, but oh well. My boss did remind me she's a temp, and she might leave soon. Here's hoping.

A Real Update

Sorry, it's been very long since I've said anything of substance about my life here.  I have a lot to say, but I may not remember it all.  I'm also tired so I don't feel like writing it and then putting it in order, so I'm just going to write it as it comes to mind.  If it's a little scatterbrained, that's why.

First, another installment of Flatter the Teacher by Writing an Insane Story and Putting Him as the Main Character (same student as Flying Pig, and this one is supposed to be about earthquakes.  It's ok, but the ending makes it great, to me.):

Once upon a time, the big forest is state at middle of peaceful country.  In the forst, there are small ccloset with dark energy.  It's monster closet.  Allof monsters are sleep at there.  One day magician came and locked there closet's door.

Long time later, big earthquake hit the peaceful country.  Country's land is break everywhere.  It's terrible accident.  The small closet's door is open.  Ghosts and monsters are freed.  Magician notice it and go t othe big forest again.  Road is very difficult to pass, but his magical power is wonderful!  When he arrived, monsters are beat with him.  Magician locked them in big new closet and throw it to underground.  Earthquake crash earth's surface and monster closet is fell to thhere.  So we can't see monsters and ghosts today.

This story's reason is earthquake is best way to destroy monster house or bad teachers.

Again, nothing showing that he understood the story or anything.  

I went to the beach Saturday with the choir from my church.  When we think of going to the beach, we think of swimming, and lying out, and swimming some more.  Apparently, when Koreans think of going to the beach, they think of playing dozens of organized games.  There wasn't one minute of non-scheduled time.  Basically, we played church games.  I was on the winning team of one game and got a prize.  When I got home I opened it to discover that it was 4 tubes of toothpaste.  Oh yeah, Koreans are crazy about their teeth.  Recently Korea put out the 3-3-3 campaign.  It means brush your teeth 3 times a day, for 3 minutes, and within 3 minutes of eating.  4 tubes is a year's supply, so that's nice, no more buying toothpaste for me.  

I also met a really nice, really cute Korean girl who was going to college in Kansas but was home for the summer.  She also has a really nice boyfriend.  So anyway.  The reason I went to the beach with the church choir was that my friend Peter, whose family I do a language exchange with, is in the choir and he invited me.  The entire day lots of people were trying to recruit me for their different church activities, which I abviously was having nothing of.  Koreans are busy, and I don't know if that's because they like to be busy, or if they're just trained to be busy from childhood, but they tried to make me busy.  Also, ah-ja-mahs (older, married Koreans ladies who wear really big sunvisors and/or pollution masks) were sizing me up for their daughters.  I got on the bus and within 2 minutes one was already asking if I was married, how old I was, etc.

Peter's oldest daughter came, but his wife and youngest daughter didn't.  His wife has sharp pains in her lower neck/upper back, and it sounds like a problem with the discs in her spine.  His youngest daughter didn't want to go without mommy, so she stayed home, too.  As a result, I got to spend a lot of time with just Peter and his daughter, Diane, who's 13.  I don't know if it's just a Korean thing, but it seems she and I feel comfortable sitting right next to each other and not saying anything for a long time, and then talking for a long time.  It's kinda weird to call her a good friend, but I do think of her like that, and also a baby sister.  

Today I got my list of classes for next semester.  I don't teach any of the same classes at all, so it's all new students (with a few possible exceptions due to repeaters and kids changes days, etc).  One thing I'm pretty excited about is that I get to teach two mastery classes.  These are students whose English is basically fluent.  I taught the level just below them, last semester, and now I get to teach them.  It could be fun, but I hear that we, as teachers, have a lot of homework because of that class.  Also, last semester I had 26 hours but this semester I teach 28.  We're getting lots of new students, still, because this will only be the 3rd semester this campus has been in existence.  We just hired 2 new Korean teachers and one new foreign teacher, though there are rumors that one of our current Korean teachers will be leaving for health reasons.  

I have even more to post, but I'll just send this through and hope to write more later this week.