Well, many things have happened since I reported in last time. For one, I found out why I was unable to view my blog. I guess the government of South Korea had placed a nation wide block on blogs of various sorts, so no one in the country was able to access them. Apparently, they've lifted the ban. Not sure what the reasoning behind it was, but I guess all is well now.
Anyway, other than that, I went out with Edward on Saturday. Not a group thing this time. We just happened to run into each other earlier in the day and decided to go for food and beer later. The food was chicken and ginseng soup. It was alright, a little bland, though. This is a very traditional summer food here. When it gets hot out, ginseng soup is the food of choice for most Koreans. Edward told me that the ginseng gives your body strength and helps mediate the effects of heat. This was good to hear as the temperature has been brutal lately. I know, its summer and its hot, that's how it works so I should stop complaining, but when the temperature hovers around 39C with 95% humidity for over a week complaining just becomes a part of life. Well, after food came a change of location and beer, as per usual. I spent Sunday cleaning and doing laundry while hungover.
On Monday we started our new schedules at work. I'd be teaching seven classes from 9:30am to 4:10pm with three 30-50 minute breaks scattered about in there. Not a bad schedule, really.
However, I ended up only teaching the first two of those seven and I don't remember much from the second one. You see, my first half hour break comes right after my first class and I used that to go upstairs and grab some stuff I forgot. I went to pick something up which had fallen on the floor under the window in my living room (I don't remember what it was), and stood up rather quickly, forgetting that the window is inset into the slanted wall and above me was a solid concrete overhang. I whacked the back of my head really hard, but after the initial pain I felt alright.
I went back downstairs to get ready for my second class, which is with a little boy by the name of Michael. As that class progressed, I started to feel very dizzy, weak, and sick to my stomach. I realized pretty much right away I had hit my head harder than originally thought and now had a concussion. By the time class was over, I could barely stand and just wanted to lie down and vomit.
There was no way I could possibly teach vocabulary to seven year olds, which was coming up immediately. This was recognized quickly by Cathy who told the director. She went to get James, the best of the English speakers, to find out what happened. I told them. It was in a scattered and confused way, but I know I was emphatic about the fact that I had hit my head. They offered the diagnoses of 1) food poisoning, 2) alcohol poisoning, and 3) heat stroke. I continued to insist that no, I ate no bad food, had no alcohol since Saturday, have been sitting in an air conditioned room all morning, and that I HIT MY HEAD. I wasn't rude about it, but they didn't seem to think that hitting my head could cause these symptoms.
Regardless, they were all very concerned and insisted they take me to the hospital. It sounded like a good idea to me, so everyone except Cathy, who had to stay and teach all the classes on her own, piled into a car and we went to the hospital. When I say everyone, I mean the director, James, and some lady who was sitting in the office with the director. I think it was her sister or sister-in-law, but I can't be sure. Once at the hospital I was shuffled about a bit, like at any hospital, then ended up on a gurney in the corner of a large room populated with various groaning people. Time had become meaningless, but I was feeling less horrible when a doctor arrived. He waggled some fingers in front of my eyes, asked me what happened, first in Korean, then English. I told him. He said to me, and I quote, "you have, I think... ear disease." I explained to him once more that I had hit my head on concrete. He nodded, then told me he wanted me to have a CT scan and to stay in the hospital for a week.
Now, I'm not generally one to argue with doctors, nor one to mess around with my health, but I thought both of these measures were a little excessive. I discussed this with James, in a still rather scattered way, and he agreed. The nurse then handed us the potential invoice. That sealed the deal. I would go home, no CT scan, no extended hospital stay. The doctor walked by at that point and James told him our decision. He waved and said he was going golfing, apparently. So, we up and left. At no point did they see my ID or anything, so I don't think I'll get billed, and no one else seemed overly concerned about doing this, so I just went along.
The got me up to my room and I sat there. I just stare at nothing for an endless period of time. I could think pretty clearly at this point, but couldn't read or eat and didn't want to move around or sleep. So I stared and listened to music.
Some time later, one of my students pops up out of nowhere. I was still sitting and staring and didn't notice him until he tapped something on the floor. I look over and there is Tom, an 11 year old boy, kneeling outside my bedroom door with a pack of AA batteries in his hand. He slides them across the floor without a word and then leaves as silently and abruptly as he had arrived. I decided to wait until later to think about how weird that was.
I eventually was able to read and started to feel remarkably better. My queasiness had turned to hunger, so I decide to get up and make some food. I got up, stepped on a package of batteries, confirming that that was not a concussion induced hallucination. Even now, two days later, it makes no sense to me. Why did he think I needed new batteries? Oh well. I felt even better after eating and spent a peaceful night at home punctuated only by James bringing me Tylenol and the director from the other academy next door bringing me a strange milky/icy concoction with red beans and marshmallows. I politely ate it despite its overpowering sweetness. It was a rather nice gesture, I thought.
Tuesday morning I felt pretty good, but once I actually had to concentrate on teaching, I felt ill again. I managed to get through the day, but I did fall asleep at my desk during one of my breaks and ended up sleeping through a class (Tom's, incidentally, denying me the chance to ask about the batteries). My fellow teachers decided that they shouldn't wake me up. I made sure to tell them that if it happened again the next day to kick me awake. I made it through the rest of the day alright. I was a little off and slow, but I got through it.
On Wednesday, I was perfectly fine. The whole day, I felt completely normal (well, as normal as I can feel, anyway). Classes went well and two of the guys from my TOEIC class (Chang-wan and Han-tai) invited me to go to a folk festival that night to see a play called Heaven and Hell. They told me it was a musical about Zeus and Pluto, so I went in expecting a classical-type Greek/Roman play with song and dance and performed in Korean.
Well, I was partially correct. There was much song and dance. It was performed in Korean. Other than that, it was nothing at all like what I was expecting. The music was absolutely awful. It was basically a Korean version of 'nSync and Christina Aguilera. There were many points where I found myself wishing death for either them or myself. It was that bad.
However, when they weren't singing, it was actually rather entertaining. The actors worked very well together and with the audience (it was partially interactive) and despite the language barrier, I could figure out what was going on, for the most part. There was some good physical humour and a very heavy dose of sexual innuendo.
The basic scenario of the play was your typical violin-playing-boy makes fluffy-pink-dress-wearing-girl mad, girl leaves, boy searches for girl, girl joins gang of toughs who wear leather pants or camouflage and falls in love with leader, and boy challenges entire gang to dance competition which ends in a draw. At this point it got really bizarre and began to involve Zeus (which was pronounced more like Zaius, as in Dr.), Diana, Thera, Cupid, and some other gods I didn't get the names of. They danced provocatively with each other, then with the gang of toughs, then with the fluffy-pink-dress-wearing-girl who had shed her fluffy pink dress in favour of tight jeans and a sparkly mid-riff revealing top (which I think was meant to signify her loss of innocence since joining the gang of toughs). At one point Zeus ends up dancing alone with Cupid while making buzzing noises. Cupid then rips his clothes off leaving him wearing a mesh shirt, wings, and a golden thong. He jumps and dances around the stage, Cupid leaves and the fluffy-pink-dress-wearing-girl-who-lost-her-innocence-and-now- wears-tight-jeans-and-shows-off-her-belly-button comes back out to dance with him. There has been no sign of our violin-playing-boy for over an hour, but the gang of toughs comes back and challenges the gods to a dance competition. This also appears to end inconclusively. Finally, the violin-playing-boy returns. The girl has changed back into her fluffy pink dress and bids a fond farewell to the gang, especially her nemesis, a girl with an attitude and very tight leather pants. Everyone seems genuinely happy that the boy and girl are reunited, however the girl ends up wearing wings and on a ladder above everyone, which I took to signify that she was dead. However, everyone, including the violin-playing-boy, are still quite happy. The show ends with more insipid pop music. I left the show very confused.
My conclusions about the meaning of this performance are that girls who wear leather pants and boys who wear black and ride motorcycles are of the devil, but can be redeemed through bad pop music and the influence of girls in fluffy pink dresses. As well, to be good, you must wear either pink or white, but you can still dance all sexy-like. Oh yeah, and its ok to wear only a thong and wings. Zeus said so.
Aside from the show, I had a good time just hanging around Han-Tai, Chang-wan and their friends. I learned that they are in a band, and Chang-wan apparently has a fanclub, which may explain his propensity for pick up lines.
So, yeah, that's my past few days. Tomorrow morning I catch train to Pusan to get my residence permit card and explore a bit. I'll let you know how that went later.
Steave
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Friday, July 23, 2004
22: What is it?
Well, the wet season continues. It doesn't rain very often at all, although when it does it's an absolute downpour. Still, all remains in a constantly damp state. This dampness is quite clearly a combination of extremely high humidity and excessive perspiration. It makes hanging ones clothes to dry a three day enterprise, despite the intense heat. My fan has been rendered useless as it now just blows hot, wet air at me. However, to look on the bright side of things, this weather appears to have two favourable aspects. For one, the mosquitoes appear to despise it more than I do and have failed to appear for a number of days. Now that I've said that, though, I'm sure they'll come back in force. The other benefit is that for about five to ten seconds after turning on the tap after getting home from work, I have hot water! Not that I want a hot shower or anything, but its nice to not have to boil water to wash the dishes. This discovery has led me to question the source of my water. I've deduced that the water storage is on the roof, thus the heating during the day and the large cistern sitting up there. So, is my water rain water? Or does it come from the water treatment plant I've heard so much about? I don't know. But it is at least pumped to the roof, if it does not fall there, where lately it gets well heated by this steaming country.
It was in this palpably hot, damp air that all of the kids (every class except the TOEIC class and the 15 year old girl) and teachers went out on a field trip today. We went down to the river, pretty much the same place I took the the TOEIC class last week. It was interesting in that it seemed an awful lot like they were taking me on a field trip as well as the other way around. They showed me things, told me what they were in Korean, and I told them what they were in English. All in all, I didn't serve that much of a real purpose on the trip as James and Cathy (who varies the spelling of her name between 'K' and 'C') translated the English words for them so they understood them more quickly, and then proceeded to help them with pronunciation too. I really felt more like a participant today, not a teacher. As for the heat, it is good to know that this heat is not normal, as everybody was uncomfortable and commenting on how hot it was, not just the weakling foreigner.
Before the field trip today, I had a rather entertaining TOEIC class. I think I mentioned before that I'm alternating every Friday between field trips and music study. Well, this week was music study. I had a request last time for something a little heavier (I played the Cure last time), and specifically for Skid Row. Now, I don't have any Skid Row on my mp3 player, nor do I ever intend to. But, I wanted to find something that would appeal to them. So, I thought about it and decided on Epic by Faith No More. Half the class liked the song, the other half didn't. Two of the guys only like lighter stuff and one guy wanted really heavy music. Next time, I play two songs, a soft-ish one by a band I haven't determined yet and one heavy song, maybe something by Kittie. Anyway, after we discussed what we thought of the song musically, we moved on to the lyrics. After explaining what slang was and definining such words/phrases as 'groovy', 'outta sight', and 'knock you off your feet' we began to discuss what the song meant. Unfortunately, we ran out of time, so their homework assignment is to tell me in English their opinion of what the answer is to the question, "What is it?" And I stressed that "it's it" is not what I'm looking for. And to be fair, as those lyrics are so vague, I promised them I would come in with an interpretation as well.
My TOEIC class is so very easily my most entertaining. Just getting to sit around talking about stuff and have it called teaching is great. The week, up until today's class, was spent working on their skills in giving directions and describing people and places. I had them describe me, and was told by Chang-won that I have sexy lips. Obviously, I haven't broken him of his pick-up line habit yet. Still, they're my best class. I really like how they're willing to try to explain things to me even if they have no idea how. It makes classes go by so much better than those with my more reluctant students.
Well, on a completely different subject, I went on a bit of a walking adventure a few nights ago. I figured I'd spend the hour or so after work but before dark wandering around taking pictures. I ended up in a part of town I'd never been before, then I went around a corner and realized I was no longer actually in town at all. I walked along this farm road behind the hill that the temple in what I thought was the middle of town is on, knowing that it would lead me back in the general direction of home. It did just that, but once I'd gotten around the hill I noticed that the water level in the river had risen considerably and the road was washed out the rest of the way. It was really starting to get dark at this point and it was a long way back if I went around on the unlit road I had come in on which, incidentally, was also infested with rather large spiders. My only other option was to go over the hill. The hill is steep. The paths are narrow, windy and and at points slippery. Darkness was truly my enemy at this point. I decided that the quick route over the hill was the best route (really, any route that avoids large spiders is a good choice)in order to take advantage of the little bit of light left. I scrambled and slipped my way unscathed to the other side and got home with what I hope will be some good pictures.
Speaking of pictures, I do have some to share with you. The nature-ish ones are from my hike up to the Buddhist temple as recorded in Korean Dispatch #5. The social scenes are from 20: Can't come up with a clever title this time, sorry.
Well, here they are:
this is actually a house just across the street from the school
this is a Buddhist temple at the bottom of the mountain
and this is some bamboo part of the way up the mountain.
Debb did all the borders for these ones. It's kind of funny, really, to think that I had to take these pictures and develop them in Korea, but I sent them to Canada to be scanned in, then they got sent back to me in digital form to be posted here so people in Canada and elsewhere can see them.
These next shots were all taken by Edward at our last outing:
Cathy on the left, and two new people whose names I sadly don't remember. I do remember that the girl on the right is Cathy's friend from Pusan, though.
Me (with glowing redeye), Chu-Myun, Cathy and one of the two girls from the previous photo whose name I can't recall. She came in with Chu-Myun, though.
Peter on the right, and yet another person whose name eludes me. In my defence, I was introduced to many people that night and that was two weeks ago. Haven't seen any of them since (except Cathy, who I work with) to help drill their names into my head. You're lucky I remember the ones I do.
and this is me with the girls from the previous pictures.
at the Blue Moon bar, at the end of the evening. Note the elaborate fruit plate.
So, yes. You are now up to date, and have some pictures. As I get more pictures from Debb, I'll post them for you all. Have a lovely time.
Steave
It was in this palpably hot, damp air that all of the kids (every class except the TOEIC class and the 15 year old girl) and teachers went out on a field trip today. We went down to the river, pretty much the same place I took the the TOEIC class last week. It was interesting in that it seemed an awful lot like they were taking me on a field trip as well as the other way around. They showed me things, told me what they were in Korean, and I told them what they were in English. All in all, I didn't serve that much of a real purpose on the trip as James and Cathy (who varies the spelling of her name between 'K' and 'C') translated the English words for them so they understood them more quickly, and then proceeded to help them with pronunciation too. I really felt more like a participant today, not a teacher. As for the heat, it is good to know that this heat is not normal, as everybody was uncomfortable and commenting on how hot it was, not just the weakling foreigner.
Before the field trip today, I had a rather entertaining TOEIC class. I think I mentioned before that I'm alternating every Friday between field trips and music study. Well, this week was music study. I had a request last time for something a little heavier (I played the Cure last time), and specifically for Skid Row. Now, I don't have any Skid Row on my mp3 player, nor do I ever intend to. But, I wanted to find something that would appeal to them. So, I thought about it and decided on Epic by Faith No More. Half the class liked the song, the other half didn't. Two of the guys only like lighter stuff and one guy wanted really heavy music. Next time, I play two songs, a soft-ish one by a band I haven't determined yet and one heavy song, maybe something by Kittie. Anyway, after we discussed what we thought of the song musically, we moved on to the lyrics. After explaining what slang was and definining such words/phrases as 'groovy', 'outta sight', and 'knock you off your feet' we began to discuss what the song meant. Unfortunately, we ran out of time, so their homework assignment is to tell me in English their opinion of what the answer is to the question, "What is it?" And I stressed that "it's it" is not what I'm looking for. And to be fair, as those lyrics are so vague, I promised them I would come in with an interpretation as well.
My TOEIC class is so very easily my most entertaining. Just getting to sit around talking about stuff and have it called teaching is great. The week, up until today's class, was spent working on their skills in giving directions and describing people and places. I had them describe me, and was told by Chang-won that I have sexy lips. Obviously, I haven't broken him of his pick-up line habit yet. Still, they're my best class. I really like how they're willing to try to explain things to me even if they have no idea how. It makes classes go by so much better than those with my more reluctant students.
Well, on a completely different subject, I went on a bit of a walking adventure a few nights ago. I figured I'd spend the hour or so after work but before dark wandering around taking pictures. I ended up in a part of town I'd never been before, then I went around a corner and realized I was no longer actually in town at all. I walked along this farm road behind the hill that the temple in what I thought was the middle of town is on, knowing that it would lead me back in the general direction of home. It did just that, but once I'd gotten around the hill I noticed that the water level in the river had risen considerably and the road was washed out the rest of the way. It was really starting to get dark at this point and it was a long way back if I went around on the unlit road I had come in on which, incidentally, was also infested with rather large spiders. My only other option was to go over the hill. The hill is steep. The paths are narrow, windy and and at points slippery. Darkness was truly my enemy at this point. I decided that the quick route over the hill was the best route (really, any route that avoids large spiders is a good choice)in order to take advantage of the little bit of light left. I scrambled and slipped my way unscathed to the other side and got home with what I hope will be some good pictures.
Speaking of pictures, I do have some to share with you. The nature-ish ones are from my hike up to the Buddhist temple as recorded in Korean Dispatch #5. The social scenes are from 20: Can't come up with a clever title this time, sorry.
Well, here they are:
this is actually a house just across the street from the school
this is a Buddhist temple at the bottom of the mountain
and this is some bamboo part of the way up the mountain.
Debb did all the borders for these ones. It's kind of funny, really, to think that I had to take these pictures and develop them in Korea, but I sent them to Canada to be scanned in, then they got sent back to me in digital form to be posted here so people in Canada and elsewhere can see them.
These next shots were all taken by Edward at our last outing:
Cathy on the left, and two new people whose names I sadly don't remember. I do remember that the girl on the right is Cathy's friend from Pusan, though.
Me (with glowing redeye), Chu-Myun, Cathy and one of the two girls from the previous photo whose name I can't recall. She came in with Chu-Myun, though.
Peter on the right, and yet another person whose name eludes me. In my defence, I was introduced to many people that night and that was two weeks ago. Haven't seen any of them since (except Cathy, who I work with) to help drill their names into my head. You're lucky I remember the ones I do.
and this is me with the girls from the previous pictures.
at the Blue Moon bar, at the end of the evening. Note the elaborate fruit plate.
So, yes. You are now up to date, and have some pictures. As I get more pictures from Debb, I'll post them for you all. Have a lovely time.
Steave
Saturday, July 17, 2004
21: Pick up lines, dragonflies, and a twist. And can I get that to go?
Hello all!
This past week has yet again been a quick one, but with an interesting twist at the end. I'll get to that in a bit.
My classes went fairly well. My favourite class is the TOEIC one with the university students. They actually seem like they want to be there for the most part, which is nice. They're picking up English phrases pretty quickly and I think they are now able to introduce themselves to people in English. My next goal is make those introductions not sound like a personals ad. Here's an example from earlier this week, "Hello, my name is Chang-wan. I'm 24 years old and I like walks along the river and hiking through the beautiful mountains." Actually, and this may just be my twisted mind, but I find that almost anything they say in an introduction sounds remarkably like some sort of pick up line. Another example, this time from the middle of an introductory conversation but again from Chang-wan, "Do you like to walk in the rain? I'd like you to visit my house." There are many examples of this, but I'll let it go for now. However, when they aren't sounding like they want to pick you up, they sound extremely formal, using phrases like, "Good evening, how do you do?" and "I would be honored for you to accept my invitation to dinner tomorrow evening." I really need to work on getting them to sound more casual, but I guess that will come with time.
The other classes all are sticking to their patterns of studious 11 year old boys, a reluctant 15 year old girl, and children bringing large, live insects to class. Things will change a bit next week though, as I'm told that every Friday will now be field trip day. I had my first field trip yesterday, and it was with the university students. We walked along the river, talked about hiking and music. It was fun. There were dragonflies everywhere. I've never seen so many of them. But the field trips with that class will be every second Friday. Its the kids class I'll have to take out every Friday from now on. That has me very nervous as I often have a hard time controlling them in class. I can see them just wandering off or making me look like a complete ass somehow. I may in fact be a complete ass sometimes, but I don't actually want to look like one. One other schedule change is that I will be staying at the school until 7:30 each evening. They didn't tell what the reason was, just that I will be. So, anyone who was looking forward to talking to me on messenger in the wee hours of the morning (aka, Debb), you'll now have to stay up even later or just wait until the next day before I go to work.
So, that was my week for the most part. Now for the twist. After I was told about the schedule changes and field trips I was told another tidbit of information. Apparently if the school doesn't double its enrollment by the end of August, they're going to close it down. Now, before you get upset or worried, fear not, things are being taken care of. Should this school closure come to pass, I will simply (?) be placed at another school, likely in another city. This isn't that big a deal for me. I'm adaptable. Plus this will give me a greater exposure to Korea in general and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm fine with staying if the school stays open, but the thought of moving is pretty exciting to the truth. And starting anew somewhere else means I'll get my name back! Yay!
An now we are again caught up. Until next time,
Steave
This past week has yet again been a quick one, but with an interesting twist at the end. I'll get to that in a bit.
My classes went fairly well. My favourite class is the TOEIC one with the university students. They actually seem like they want to be there for the most part, which is nice. They're picking up English phrases pretty quickly and I think they are now able to introduce themselves to people in English. My next goal is make those introductions not sound like a personals ad. Here's an example from earlier this week, "Hello, my name is Chang-wan. I'm 24 years old and I like walks along the river and hiking through the beautiful mountains." Actually, and this may just be my twisted mind, but I find that almost anything they say in an introduction sounds remarkably like some sort of pick up line. Another example, this time from the middle of an introductory conversation but again from Chang-wan, "Do you like to walk in the rain? I'd like you to visit my house." There are many examples of this, but I'll let it go for now. However, when they aren't sounding like they want to pick you up, they sound extremely formal, using phrases like, "Good evening, how do you do?" and "I would be honored for you to accept my invitation to dinner tomorrow evening." I really need to work on getting them to sound more casual, but I guess that will come with time.
The other classes all are sticking to their patterns of studious 11 year old boys, a reluctant 15 year old girl, and children bringing large, live insects to class. Things will change a bit next week though, as I'm told that every Friday will now be field trip day. I had my first field trip yesterday, and it was with the university students. We walked along the river, talked about hiking and music. It was fun. There were dragonflies everywhere. I've never seen so many of them. But the field trips with that class will be every second Friday. Its the kids class I'll have to take out every Friday from now on. That has me very nervous as I often have a hard time controlling them in class. I can see them just wandering off or making me look like a complete ass somehow. I may in fact be a complete ass sometimes, but I don't actually want to look like one. One other schedule change is that I will be staying at the school until 7:30 each evening. They didn't tell what the reason was, just that I will be. So, anyone who was looking forward to talking to me on messenger in the wee hours of the morning (aka, Debb), you'll now have to stay up even later or just wait until the next day before I go to work.
So, that was my week for the most part. Now for the twist. After I was told about the schedule changes and field trips I was told another tidbit of information. Apparently if the school doesn't double its enrollment by the end of August, they're going to close it down. Now, before you get upset or worried, fear not, things are being taken care of. Should this school closure come to pass, I will simply (?) be placed at another school, likely in another city. This isn't that big a deal for me. I'm adaptable. Plus this will give me a greater exposure to Korea in general and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm fine with staying if the school stays open, but the thought of moving is pretty exciting to the truth. And starting anew somewhere else means I'll get my name back! Yay!
An now we are again caught up. Until next time,
Steave
Monday, July 12, 2004
20: Can't come up with a clever title this time, sorry
Hmm, well, it looks as though it has been a full week since I posted something, so I guess I'm due.
I've had a new class added to my schedule since we last talked. This one consists of college students looking to study for their TOEIC (Test Of English for International Communication). From what I can gather, there are 3-5 people in this class. Now, as I've already taught this class three times, you might think I'd have a more clear idea as to the number of students but so far only two have been there for every class with the other three coming and going with no discernible pattern (perhaps three days is too early for trying to note patterns, however). Not yet have I had a full class of five, but haven't had less than three yet either. It's a three hour class, including a couple of breaks. I get the middle portion (about 50 minutes), and I'm to focus on situational conversational skills. Things have been hit and miss so far. I think they may be past their shyness and are certainly trying, but I may be trying material that's too advanced right now. Tomorrow I'll try something simpler. Don't know what yet, but something. This new class has also changed my schedule a bit so that I now have no break at all from 2-6. However, 4 hours without a break really isn't that bad, so I'm not complaining.
On the weekend, after a week layoff, Edward and I went out again. This time we had a whole bunch of other people join us. It was a good time. We went for more Korean BBQ. It was pointed out that we were eating pork cheeks this time. It was good, but I didn't notice that it was any different from other pork. I experienced a rather friendly Korean custom during dinner as I was fed by another person. She, a girl by the name of Chu-Myun, wrapped some pork in a leaf and popped it into my mouth. I felt obligated to reciprocate and this was encouraged by all. Later, this same girl and I had a bit of a hot pepper eating contest. The collective gasp at the table as I took a substantial bite of hot pepper dipped liberally in hot pepper paste was absolutely great. Does no one outside of North America believe that a North American can eat spicy food? It was my crowning glory for the evening. Afterwards, Chu-Myun and I toasted our pepper eating glory by linking elbows and downing a shot of soju. After the BBQ pork came some tasty Kimchi and mushroom soup.
After food, we headed to a bar called Blue Moon. This bar was easily the trendiest of the bars I've been to yet. Simple white brick walls with black wood trim and blue lighting with couches for seating. The customers themselves also seemed a bit trendier. We sat around, talking and drinking beer for a while, then the bartender came around and passed out bingo cards for us all. It was up to us to write down the numbers 1-30 on the paper, wherever we wanted, and whatever table got fives lines first won their choice of a bottle of whiskey or a gift certificate of some sort. We lost. But a fun time was had by all.
Not much else has gone on lately, thus the lack of postings. Fear not, I'll be sure to let you all know of anything of interest that happens, and probably a few things not that interesting, too.
Steave
*** update on a previous posting ***
it's been pointed out by my Korean friends that I had spelled Steave wrong in Korean (which I thought was funny as they had spelled it wrong in English, but its not my name anyway, so no matter). Instead of ㅅ팁 like I had before, its 스티브, which if you are familiar with the way Korean reads, turns a one syllable English name into a three syllable Korean name (seh-ti-beh, with the accent on the middle syllable, as they say it). So yeah, I sure wrote a lot for such a minor correction. But don't forget to mail me stuff!!!
I've had a new class added to my schedule since we last talked. This one consists of college students looking to study for their TOEIC (Test Of English for International Communication). From what I can gather, there are 3-5 people in this class. Now, as I've already taught this class three times, you might think I'd have a more clear idea as to the number of students but so far only two have been there for every class with the other three coming and going with no discernible pattern (perhaps three days is too early for trying to note patterns, however). Not yet have I had a full class of five, but haven't had less than three yet either. It's a three hour class, including a couple of breaks. I get the middle portion (about 50 minutes), and I'm to focus on situational conversational skills. Things have been hit and miss so far. I think they may be past their shyness and are certainly trying, but I may be trying material that's too advanced right now. Tomorrow I'll try something simpler. Don't know what yet, but something. This new class has also changed my schedule a bit so that I now have no break at all from 2-6. However, 4 hours without a break really isn't that bad, so I'm not complaining.
On the weekend, after a week layoff, Edward and I went out again. This time we had a whole bunch of other people join us. It was a good time. We went for more Korean BBQ. It was pointed out that we were eating pork cheeks this time. It was good, but I didn't notice that it was any different from other pork. I experienced a rather friendly Korean custom during dinner as I was fed by another person. She, a girl by the name of Chu-Myun, wrapped some pork in a leaf and popped it into my mouth. I felt obligated to reciprocate and this was encouraged by all. Later, this same girl and I had a bit of a hot pepper eating contest. The collective gasp at the table as I took a substantial bite of hot pepper dipped liberally in hot pepper paste was absolutely great. Does no one outside of North America believe that a North American can eat spicy food? It was my crowning glory for the evening. Afterwards, Chu-Myun and I toasted our pepper eating glory by linking elbows and downing a shot of soju. After the BBQ pork came some tasty Kimchi and mushroom soup.
After food, we headed to a bar called Blue Moon. This bar was easily the trendiest of the bars I've been to yet. Simple white brick walls with black wood trim and blue lighting with couches for seating. The customers themselves also seemed a bit trendier. We sat around, talking and drinking beer for a while, then the bartender came around and passed out bingo cards for us all. It was up to us to write down the numbers 1-30 on the paper, wherever we wanted, and whatever table got fives lines first won their choice of a bottle of whiskey or a gift certificate of some sort. We lost. But a fun time was had by all.
Not much else has gone on lately, thus the lack of postings. Fear not, I'll be sure to let you all know of anything of interest that happens, and probably a few things not that interesting, too.
Steave
*** update on a previous posting ***
it's been pointed out by my Korean friends that I had spelled Steave wrong in Korean (which I thought was funny as they had spelled it wrong in English, but its not my name anyway, so no matter). Instead of ㅅ팁 like I had before, its 스티브, which if you are familiar with the way Korean reads, turns a one syllable English name into a three syllable Korean name (seh-ti-beh, with the accent on the middle syllable, as they say it). So yeah, I sure wrote a lot for such a minor correction. But don't forget to mail me stuff!!!
Monday, July 05, 2004
19: Camping, Banking, and Aging
Have I mentioned before the similarities between my time in Korea and an extended camping trip? There are many.
I'm sure I've mentioned my exclusive cooking tool, the Sun Touch Portable Gas Range (aka camping stove). I get much use out of that. Plus everything I cook on it is done in my solitary pot. Very much like a camping trip with me where I forget to take something important like a frying pan.
But the similarities go beyond the camping stove. For one, there's the constant scent of mosquito coil smoke (aka camping incense). Without that blessed smoke, I'm sure we'd all be swollen, puffy masses of itch. I get pretty close regardless, and can only imagine how much worse it would be without those wonderful little coils.
But wait, there's more! Korean coffee is terrible. It's highly sweetened and milky instant junk (aka camping coffee). It's everywhere, too. Vending machines dispense it in little paper cups, or if you prefer, cold and in a can, and these machines can be found on practically every block. The vending machines are not all that camping like, but the coffee itself sure is.
As well, there are the cold showers I'm forced to take due to not wanting to spend the cash on heating oil right now. I'll take care of that come winter. Right now I'm willing to suffer, and really, on some days its pretty nice. Mostly, though, its not. It actually tends to make me shower less than my usual daily routine, which can make me on some days a bit smelly and greasy, and really, you don't get much more camping than that.
On top of these is the inconsistent weather which is stormy one day, hazy and humid another, or blazing hot on others. That is the epitome of any camping trip I've ever been on.
Add on to these the fact that I've been spending most of my spare time playing my guitar, and you've got a camping trip. Now, obviously not everything is like camping. I'm not sleeping in a tent (although, the roof leaks so I can't say as I'm truly out of the elements). I'm sitting at a computer, so that's not really camping-like, and I am in a city, thus have easy access to many things not available while camping. I also don't get to light bonfires and roast wieners in my living room. They frown on that here for some reason. And no one wants to be frowned upon.
In other observational news, I noticed that my bank also doubles as a small grocery store. In every respect except for that, it is an average looking bank. Then you look to the right and see a wall of shelving filled with huge bags of rice and beans, jars of jellies and pastes, and bottles of various juices. I'm told that my bank is the Korean Bank of Agriculture, so I guess it makes a little sense, but I still find it odd.
So, I had the age thing I was confused by before explained to me. I still have a hard time with it, but this is why I'm 31 here as opposed to 29 at home. First off, a persons age here is meant to include the time spent in the womb, but seeing as how it's extremely difficult, in most cases, to pinpoint the exact day of conception, they have decided that everybody will be considered a year older on January 1st. Now, what if you were born on that date, or on some other date early in the year? Well, that problem was solved by just adding a year. Thus, since I was born in 1974, my age is calculated as such: 2004-1974+1=31. Now, they certainly solved the problem of including the gestation time in age for people born early in the year, but this brings about an entirely different issue for people like me who were born late in the year. You see, by this method of age calculation, I was a year old months before even being conceived. As well, I turned two only thirteen days after being born. So, I just have to go with the fact that I'm a youthful 31 here and that I turn 32 thirteen days after I turn 30. In the past few years (I don't know how many, could be 20-30, could be 5) people here have been celebrating their "western birthdays" on the date of their birth. I think this is just to give them another reason to go out and party, but hey, that's fine by me. But there is one thing I do like about the January 1st thing. I makes for one hell of a birthday party on New Years Eve.
One more thing, I finally got around to looking into why using my real name wouldn't be appropriate here, and the results were not at all what I thought. I was expecting to find something terrible. Instead my name pronounced properly, you know the French Guy (기 in Korean) means 'flag.' The English pronunciation, guy (개), means 'dog,' so I can see the issue with that. The only other approximation of my name I could think of, gui (귀), means 'ear.' So, really, I'm not sure why I needed to change my name. I can deal with being Flag for a year. But it's too late now. I think I'm stuck with Steave.
And again, until next time,
Steave
I'm sure I've mentioned my exclusive cooking tool, the Sun Touch Portable Gas Range (aka camping stove). I get much use out of that. Plus everything I cook on it is done in my solitary pot. Very much like a camping trip with me where I forget to take something important like a frying pan.
But the similarities go beyond the camping stove. For one, there's the constant scent of mosquito coil smoke (aka camping incense). Without that blessed smoke, I'm sure we'd all be swollen, puffy masses of itch. I get pretty close regardless, and can only imagine how much worse it would be without those wonderful little coils.
But wait, there's more! Korean coffee is terrible. It's highly sweetened and milky instant junk (aka camping coffee). It's everywhere, too. Vending machines dispense it in little paper cups, or if you prefer, cold and in a can, and these machines can be found on practically every block. The vending machines are not all that camping like, but the coffee itself sure is.
As well, there are the cold showers I'm forced to take due to not wanting to spend the cash on heating oil right now. I'll take care of that come winter. Right now I'm willing to suffer, and really, on some days its pretty nice. Mostly, though, its not. It actually tends to make me shower less than my usual daily routine, which can make me on some days a bit smelly and greasy, and really, you don't get much more camping than that.
On top of these is the inconsistent weather which is stormy one day, hazy and humid another, or blazing hot on others. That is the epitome of any camping trip I've ever been on.
Add on to these the fact that I've been spending most of my spare time playing my guitar, and you've got a camping trip. Now, obviously not everything is like camping. I'm not sleeping in a tent (although, the roof leaks so I can't say as I'm truly out of the elements). I'm sitting at a computer, so that's not really camping-like, and I am in a city, thus have easy access to many things not available while camping. I also don't get to light bonfires and roast wieners in my living room. They frown on that here for some reason. And no one wants to be frowned upon.
In other observational news, I noticed that my bank also doubles as a small grocery store. In every respect except for that, it is an average looking bank. Then you look to the right and see a wall of shelving filled with huge bags of rice and beans, jars of jellies and pastes, and bottles of various juices. I'm told that my bank is the Korean Bank of Agriculture, so I guess it makes a little sense, but I still find it odd.
So, I had the age thing I was confused by before explained to me. I still have a hard time with it, but this is why I'm 31 here as opposed to 29 at home. First off, a persons age here is meant to include the time spent in the womb, but seeing as how it's extremely difficult, in most cases, to pinpoint the exact day of conception, they have decided that everybody will be considered a year older on January 1st. Now, what if you were born on that date, or on some other date early in the year? Well, that problem was solved by just adding a year. Thus, since I was born in 1974, my age is calculated as such: 2004-1974+1=31. Now, they certainly solved the problem of including the gestation time in age for people born early in the year, but this brings about an entirely different issue for people like me who were born late in the year. You see, by this method of age calculation, I was a year old months before even being conceived. As well, I turned two only thirteen days after being born. So, I just have to go with the fact that I'm a youthful 31 here and that I turn 32 thirteen days after I turn 30. In the past few years (I don't know how many, could be 20-30, could be 5) people here have been celebrating their "western birthdays" on the date of their birth. I think this is just to give them another reason to go out and party, but hey, that's fine by me. But there is one thing I do like about the January 1st thing. I makes for one hell of a birthday party on New Years Eve.
One more thing, I finally got around to looking into why using my real name wouldn't be appropriate here, and the results were not at all what I thought. I was expecting to find something terrible. Instead my name pronounced properly, you know the French Guy (기 in Korean) means 'flag.' The English pronunciation, guy (개), means 'dog,' so I can see the issue with that. The only other approximation of my name I could think of, gui (귀), means 'ear.' So, really, I'm not sure why I needed to change my name. I can deal with being Flag for a year. But it's too late now. I think I'm stuck with Steave.
And again, until next time,
Steave
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