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!!!