hello again. let's see...new news. i guess last night i did some serious shopping and bought a lamp. that was a big purchase...it makes everything in my room more bearable. i can read at home now and i don't have to keep going out to find a place that's nice to read in. the kids have been horrible and the principals want us to plan lessons like we're at a private school but want us to discipline like we're at a playschool. the fact that they can't just come out and say that it's a business and they don't care if the kids learn or not really bothers me. it would save everyone so much trouble...i have a kid who falls asleep in 50% of our classes and so in her daily little book that i write comments in for the parents,i said it...but i'm apparently not supposed to write negative things about how children are brats in the school their parents are paying potentially half their income a month for. if i had a kid i was spending half my income on, i'd be sure they were learning...but i supposedly should only write good things, even if the child is the devil incarnate...and tomorrow we have the parents coming in to watch a class...i can only hope that the kids are more well behaved in the presence of their parents...
i'm listening to noel hart's album right now and i think it's pretty amazing. he did it all in a month. i should probably apply myself too and maybe i'd make something worth listening to as well. i guess buying a guitar is in order...but i shouldn't spend too much money right now because i bought a bike today. i don't quite understand the concept of the gears because things are in korean. so there's something i turn on the left and something i turn on the right...so yeah...it probably means something...but i bought it at the homeplus and it was 99,000 won, so about 66$! it's my early birthday present to myself. so i got it and took all the plastic stuff off and rode it home. it only took about 10 minutes instead of 30...so it's a really great thing to have because the town i live in is only 121 square km. so i could basically ride from one end of the town and back. so i'm excited about my newfound mobility. tomorrow evening is exploration time. i'm quite shocked that i rode as well as i did seeing as how i haven't really ridden one in a while. they're even letting me keep it in the basement so i don't have to worry about it getting stolen at night. huzzah! i also splurged tonight and didn't eat korean food. i know, i know. i went and got a pepperoni pizza from a place down the block called "i love pizza." i was skeptical certainly...it was about 4$ for a freshly made medium size pizza and so i went for it. surprisingly, it was pretty great. not much to speak of in terms of sauce...there wasn't really any...and the pepperonis didn't look red, they looked more like ham, but they tasted like pepperonis...it hit the spot and not the wallet. there's a papa john's, but the prices are astronomical. like 22$ for a pepperoni pizza! oh well, i cheated. maybe it's okay if i have american food once a week. the lunches at school are just devolving rapidly...even the other guy who's interested in trying the food can't stand it anymore. cold soup is the real killer. they have some pretty phenomenal salad in korea that uses yogurt as the dressing and i can't believe they don't do this in america. i eat salad almost every meal now because of this! oh! i almost forgot!!! funniest thing in the world...so one of the teachers hired with me is what i would call a stereotypical american...i mean, this is what people must think we all are...but i found out from patraig that he apparently BROUGHT MEAT FROM AMERICA IN HIS LUGGAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh my goodness, i thought i could've just died right then. it makes me hate him a little...but it's really funny to me...you don't understand...i'm a big guy, but he has me by at least 100lbs...and he deep freezed meat and kept it in a cooler during his 18 hour flight because i guess he thought they only eat dogs and tiger penises over here or something...
ok, well, i'm going to go now. i have downloaded flight of the conchords which demands to be watched. write me back, jerks.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
but i'm a lucky guy...
surprise, i have all the parents coming to observe a class tomorrow. i was told yesterday to plan something i can do with all of them...the parents are such a big deal. they come and watch the cctv feeds of their kids in class...i hope they know what monsters they are. oh well. i have to go teach now. i'm hoping that they will have something to eat for lunch other than rice, radish, mystery soup, and kimchi. ok, bye bye.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
hardcore seoul
so i went to seoul yesterday with a guy from florida i met at the bar. said guy is straight edge/vegan and likes hardcore music for some reason...so i left my apartment and met up with him at 1pm to go to gangnam and then to central seoul. gangnam is the "manhattan of seoul." i can see that...we took a bus and he helped me figure out how to get an electronic bus card that i load money on and swipe so i don't have to have correct change every time. from there we took a series of subways, which i cannot keep straight, and arrived in hongde (spelling?). we walked through a nifty part of town with lots of touristy types. apparently there are about 6 universities in this place and so there are nothing but college kids. we went to a vegan restaurant. they had some weird looping video called "supreme master tv" and they kept showing this woman who owns the restaurants and they call her "supreme master." it's all about being vegan...but i didn't get the whole "supreme master" thing...it was pretty good food. i'm putting pictures up of it. my favorite was in the menu where it says "non-alcoholic bear." i would certainly hate to see an alcoholic bear, what a sad and angry picture.
after that we headed to a hardcore show to meet his friends. there were other westerners i met, but i most likely won't see them again, apparently that's how it goes anyway. i explained to them that i didn't like hardcore very much and they all seemed very disappointed. there were a lot of people at the show, i'd say about 100 or more in a little basement venue, total fire hazard. mostly koreans, but about 20 westerners and many of the koreans spoke some english and would strike up conversation from time to time. here's a video of one of the bands:
we stayed late and freaked out about the buses...you see, while gangnam might be the "manhattan of seoul" everything shuts down at 11. so we got on the last subway bus at 5 till 11 and rode that for about 20 minutes. everyone has little portable televisions or nintendo ds's...and people spit on the floor of the subway car...we ran to our bus stop, my pants constantly threatening to fall down (i enlisted the aid of a belt today), and there was a long line...so we waited and got on, but we had to stand for 45 minutes. it was rough because we'd been on our feet all day. i got home around 12:30 and tried to get a cab, but no one would give me a ride. i was really tired and just wanted to be home, and i had money...but 4 cabs refused to take me. so i walked 2 miles home...someone told me today that a lot of times cabbies will refuse rides to westerners...so that was no fun, but the day was pretty great all in all. i got home and watched lost...you can't watch it here on the abc website...so i freaked out and finally found lost-tv.info...man, that episode was goofy...it was great, i'm glad...but yeah, it was crazy ridiculous...i just don't want lost to pull a twin peaks and turn into a romance near the end of its course...what else...today i saw the watchmen. i loved it, though i thought the score music was a bit cheesy...the ambient chord and the soulful guitar stuff...maybe the sex scene was a bit too long and graphic, but overall i was blown away and thought the actors did really great jobs. the theater was great too. big giant seats. it was about 4.30$ to see a movie and the craziest thing was that you had to pick your seats in advance...there is assigned seating...that was weird, but i chose wisely. i did want there to be a giant squid though...sigh...then i ate at a corner shop, i had some udon and fried rice...so i've been a vegetarian all weekend. aren't you proud of me?
after that we headed to a hardcore show to meet his friends. there were other westerners i met, but i most likely won't see them again, apparently that's how it goes anyway. i explained to them that i didn't like hardcore very much and they all seemed very disappointed. there were a lot of people at the show, i'd say about 100 or more in a little basement venue, total fire hazard. mostly koreans, but about 20 westerners and many of the koreans spoke some english and would strike up conversation from time to time. here's a video of one of the bands:
we stayed late and freaked out about the buses...you see, while gangnam might be the "manhattan of seoul" everything shuts down at 11. so we got on the last subway bus at 5 till 11 and rode that for about 20 minutes. everyone has little portable televisions or nintendo ds's...and people spit on the floor of the subway car...we ran to our bus stop, my pants constantly threatening to fall down (i enlisted the aid of a belt today), and there was a long line...so we waited and got on, but we had to stand for 45 minutes. it was rough because we'd been on our feet all day. i got home around 12:30 and tried to get a cab, but no one would give me a ride. i was really tired and just wanted to be home, and i had money...but 4 cabs refused to take me. so i walked 2 miles home...someone told me today that a lot of times cabbies will refuse rides to westerners...so that was no fun, but the day was pretty great all in all. i got home and watched lost...you can't watch it here on the abc website...so i freaked out and finally found lost-tv.info...man, that episode was goofy...it was great, i'm glad...but yeah, it was crazy ridiculous...i just don't want lost to pull a twin peaks and turn into a romance near the end of its course...what else...today i saw the watchmen. i loved it, though i thought the score music was a bit cheesy...the ambient chord and the soulful guitar stuff...maybe the sex scene was a bit too long and graphic, but overall i was blown away and thought the actors did really great jobs. the theater was great too. big giant seats. it was about 4.30$ to see a movie and the craziest thing was that you had to pick your seats in advance...there is assigned seating...that was weird, but i chose wisely. i did want there to be a giant squid though...sigh...then i ate at a corner shop, i had some udon and fried rice...so i've been a vegetarian all weekend. aren't you proud of me?
Friday, March 6, 2009
more americans
i met a few americans last night at an ex-pat bar. one of them is this shy straight edge guy from florida who goes to the bar with his friends to be social. tonight, he's taking me to seoul to go see a hardcore show. so that should be good. fancy beer is expensive here. a single duvel cost about 11,000w, so about 6.50$.
last night, me and some people went to the food court at the homeplus and bought food...they have these models to show you what you're going to get, and the one i wanted had beef or chicken and so i copied down the number and the hangul for "chicken" and they lady looked at me strangely. so when i got my food, i realized that it was chicken or beef, it was chicken and beef. so i got the following: fried rice omelette with chicken, fried rice omelette with beef, two pork cutlets, two bowls of soup, one salad, bowl of radishes, kimchi, and french fries. it was only 6$. the rice omelettes were pretty spectacular. i was a bit embarrassed, in no way did i need that much food, so my co teachers helped me eat some and we wasted a good bit. i took the bus and a cab for the first time. i don't know why, but my tolerance is incredibly low now and it doesn't take much for me to have had "too much." last night was one of those cases. so it was a desperate situation, we left the bar around 3am and someone told us that buses close down at midnight...so we were planning on walking 30 minutes home in the cold while drunk. luckily we found the taxi and it was only 2$ for the ride.
drunk korean people like to all put their arms around each other and stumble around. it's cute.
last night, me and some people went to the food court at the homeplus and bought food...they have these models to show you what you're going to get, and the one i wanted had beef or chicken and so i copied down the number and the hangul for "chicken" and they lady looked at me strangely. so when i got my food, i realized that it was chicken or beef, it was chicken and beef. so i got the following: fried rice omelette with chicken, fried rice omelette with beef, two pork cutlets, two bowls of soup, one salad, bowl of radishes, kimchi, and french fries. it was only 6$. the rice omelettes were pretty spectacular. i was a bit embarrassed, in no way did i need that much food, so my co teachers helped me eat some and we wasted a good bit. i took the bus and a cab for the first time. i don't know why, but my tolerance is incredibly low now and it doesn't take much for me to have had "too much." last night was one of those cases. so it was a desperate situation, we left the bar around 3am and someone told us that buses close down at midnight...so we were planning on walking 30 minutes home in the cold while drunk. luckily we found the taxi and it was only 2$ for the ride.
drunk korean people like to all put their arms around each other and stumble around. it's cute.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
computer charge achieved!
so i have a lot to discuss. first off, i love south korea. secondly, my job is horrible. i teach 4-7 year olds. in a month there will be older kids, but not yet...i have currently been "making lesson plans" for the last 3 hours, but i have really been surfing the internet because lesson plans go out the window as soon as you realize that your real job is baby-sitting. 4 year olds barely know their own language, much less a foreign ones. there's some dodgy stuff about how much i actually work as well. i'm getting paid to teach 30 hours a week and after 30, i get overtime...so they make sure that you never "teach" more than 6 classes a day, 5 days a week...but that doesn't mean i shouldn't be here at 9am. you see, i have to be there to greet the kids off the bus...then at 9:30, i have breakfast with them. this is usually some rice cakes or a muffin or a porridge, etc. from 10-11 i teach, 11-12 i teach, and then i have my "lunch break" which consists of me eating with and supervising the children in my classroom. 12:40-1:40 i have a class and then from 1:40-2:40. till about 3 i'm helping the kids get ready for the bus. from then till 6:30 i'm making lesson plans. but they don't know what i'm saying still and it's pretty discouraging. you know? it's sort of devistating also because i'm constantly under surveillance. if it's not one of the korean teachers watching me from out the window, then it's the parents or my bosses watching me on the CCTV which is in every classroom!!! that makes me so nervous, and so i'm always going because someone is always watching and by 12 i just want to collapse. my voice is almost gone. i never lose my voice...i guess that's because i've never had to shout this much. initially, i was taken aside a few times and told that i was being too nice to the children and that they wouldn't respect me. so i've been getting progressively meaner and i think i understand what jackie told me about discipline. here's a picture of when my kids decided to hide under the table with a pink gorilla:
regardless, this is the boring stuff. the real reason i'm here is not to teach children, it is to live in another country (and to make money). so let's hear about that:
the city i live in is called Suwon. i love it here. it's about a 10 or 15 minute cab ride to Seoul. i'm afraid to use the taxi right now, so i walk everywhere. the food is pretty amazing so far. i don't like the two americans who showed up with me, but i do like another teacher who works here named patraig. he's from scotland and on the second night he came and asked if i wanted to have a beer. ultimately, we drank about 3 each and talked for a few hours. the only beer they have available that i like is hoegaarden and it's really expensive. a four pack is about 6$. they have asahi as well and that's cheap. a pack of dunhill cigarettes cost less than 2$ and over there in the states, the same pack runs around 5.50$ or 6$.
westerners don't talk to you if they see you. but i don't talk to them either, so they're probably blogging about how a red headed bearded man saw them and didn't acknowledge them...i did meet some westerners tonight in a bout of desperation. everything is recycled. so you have different colored bags for different things...but i couldn't find any trash bags all week. so i asked a girl from oregon and she told me and helped me with some other things. i told her it was my first week and she said "oh! do you need friends?" so we swapped emails and hopefully i will have made my second friend in korea! because of the recycling thing, there are no public trashcans on the sidewalks anywhere. if you make waste, you either throw it on the ground or take it home. most people throw it on the ground.
koreans are funny so far. today, one of the principals asked me to shave my beard because she thought it would make me more handsome. i told her that she had seen a picture of me before i was hired and that i turned down another job that wanted me to shave (lie). i agreed to keep it close, but it's a cultural thing and she couldn't just say she didn't like it or that koreans didn't like it or whatever. korean men all look smarter and wiser than i will ever be. they wear glasses and smoke in their business suits. the young men are all incredibly hip for the most part, at least by what we would consider "hip." but it's the normal thing over here, so they probably have some crazy "hip" that i don't even know about. the korean women are incredibly gorgeous. even the ugly ones are still hot in some way. the problem is that all of the girls are soooo pretty, but no older women are. i can't figure this out still...but surely, these old women used to be young and these young women will be old...the thing i've said is that korean girls are beautiful and then at the age of 35, they get a man's haircut so that they will no longer have to endure the shame of leering western eyes.
ah, communication barrier. it's tough. people keep talking to you even though you obviously can't speak korean. i'm going to try learning soon. but last night, i went out with patraig for chicken and we ordered cokes. she even repeated what we said: "coca cola." and so it was really funny when we were brought beer. i specifically said to patraig that i wanted coke because i don't want to drink beer all the time. oh well.
i have more to say, but this is a long post already. i bought one of the "brick" transformers and it seems to be working right now. it was about 30,000 won (20$)...you take off 3 zeros and then take 2/3 of that and that's how many dollars it is...at least, that's how i've understood it. alright, i'm going to go, but please tell me if there are subjects i should write on specifically. i will put up more pictures at some point. i'm just tired right now and need to clean my room up a bit more. goodnight...oh, and send me emails: holding.rabbits@gmail.com
regardless, this is the boring stuff. the real reason i'm here is not to teach children, it is to live in another country (and to make money). so let's hear about that:
the city i live in is called Suwon. i love it here. it's about a 10 or 15 minute cab ride to Seoul. i'm afraid to use the taxi right now, so i walk everywhere. the food is pretty amazing so far. i don't like the two americans who showed up with me, but i do like another teacher who works here named patraig. he's from scotland and on the second night he came and asked if i wanted to have a beer. ultimately, we drank about 3 each and talked for a few hours. the only beer they have available that i like is hoegaarden and it's really expensive. a four pack is about 6$. they have asahi as well and that's cheap. a pack of dunhill cigarettes cost less than 2$ and over there in the states, the same pack runs around 5.50$ or 6$.
westerners don't talk to you if they see you. but i don't talk to them either, so they're probably blogging about how a red headed bearded man saw them and didn't acknowledge them...i did meet some westerners tonight in a bout of desperation. everything is recycled. so you have different colored bags for different things...but i couldn't find any trash bags all week. so i asked a girl from oregon and she told me and helped me with some other things. i told her it was my first week and she said "oh! do you need friends?" so we swapped emails and hopefully i will have made my second friend in korea! because of the recycling thing, there are no public trashcans on the sidewalks anywhere. if you make waste, you either throw it on the ground or take it home. most people throw it on the ground.
koreans are funny so far. today, one of the principals asked me to shave my beard because she thought it would make me more handsome. i told her that she had seen a picture of me before i was hired and that i turned down another job that wanted me to shave (lie). i agreed to keep it close, but it's a cultural thing and she couldn't just say she didn't like it or that koreans didn't like it or whatever. korean men all look smarter and wiser than i will ever be. they wear glasses and smoke in their business suits. the young men are all incredibly hip for the most part, at least by what we would consider "hip." but it's the normal thing over here, so they probably have some crazy "hip" that i don't even know about. the korean women are incredibly gorgeous. even the ugly ones are still hot in some way. the problem is that all of the girls are soooo pretty, but no older women are. i can't figure this out still...but surely, these old women used to be young and these young women will be old...the thing i've said is that korean girls are beautiful and then at the age of 35, they get a man's haircut so that they will no longer have to endure the shame of leering western eyes.
ah, communication barrier. it's tough. people keep talking to you even though you obviously can't speak korean. i'm going to try learning soon. but last night, i went out with patraig for chicken and we ordered cokes. she even repeated what we said: "coca cola." and so it was really funny when we were brought beer. i specifically said to patraig that i wanted coke because i don't want to drink beer all the time. oh well.
i have more to say, but this is a long post already. i bought one of the "brick" transformers and it seems to be working right now. it was about 30,000 won (20$)...you take off 3 zeros and then take 2/3 of that and that's how many dollars it is...at least, that's how i've understood it. alright, i'm going to go, but please tell me if there are subjects i should write on specifically. i will put up more pictures at some point. i'm just tired right now and need to clean my room up a bit more. goodnight...oh, and send me emails: holding.rabbits@gmail.com
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
i may not be able to talk long. my computer is running out of battery and i have blown up THREE converters. they blow up for no reason. they should all technically work...maybe not the first one i bought, but anyway...i'm afraid it will destroy my computer. the plugs here are 220 or 240 or something...either way, america is 110v, so i have to get down converters. no problem, i buy them...my computer plug says 110-250v and so i was told all i need was a converter, so i got the right one. this was confirmed by many a person...so now i'm almost out of battery life and i have the light as dim as it will go on the screen...that leaves me with 2.5 hours of life left. please help me figure this out since i won't be able to look it up very much and i don't even have an address right now...so i can't order anything to be sent. so i might not post for a while until i can figure this stuff out, just let me know what i should if you could be so kind.
currently reading: palm sunday by kurt vonnegut, it's a collection of essays, interviews, and speeches and is, as always, very insightful. i have only 20 books with me and so perhaps when these are done you can send me more??? hopefully. thanks.
simon, i will eventually write you guys. i just can't charge the computer right now and i'm freaking out about it. it's a problem.
lee, i am 14 hours ahead of you.
pete, yes, teaching is sort of crazy, especially when the kids barely know their own language (some of them are but 3 years old). i will check out m. ward when i have my charging problem fixed.
rachel, had 2 more electrocutions, making that a trilogy of electrocutions. nope, sorry, no one can take that phrase, that's the name of my first korea album, i've just decided it. so yes,there's my first self fulfilling prophecy.
wesley, i replied in the comments of last post
jackie, you have no doubt gotten my frantic emails.
currently reading: palm sunday by kurt vonnegut, it's a collection of essays, interviews, and speeches and is, as always, very insightful. i have only 20 books with me and so perhaps when these are done you can send me more??? hopefully. thanks.
simon, i will eventually write you guys. i just can't charge the computer right now and i'm freaking out about it. it's a problem.
lee, i am 14 hours ahead of you.
pete, yes, teaching is sort of crazy, especially when the kids barely know their own language (some of them are but 3 years old). i will check out m. ward when i have my charging problem fixed.
rachel, had 2 more electrocutions, making that a trilogy of electrocutions. nope, sorry, no one can take that phrase, that's the name of my first korea album, i've just decided it. so yes,there's my first self fulfilling prophecy.
wesley, i replied in the comments of last post
jackie, you have no doubt gotten my frantic emails.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
my ducklings
so much has happened in a single day and i have such a small amount of time to write. i don't currently have the internet and so i'm at my job. i left the airport on saturday morning at 8:45am and arrived in seoul at 5:45pm on sunday and the craziest thing was that there was no night. it was daylight the whole trip. it wasn't a literal day but still...it was about 20 hours of daylight. i got here and really wanted to sleep but i guess the school decided i needed to eat even though i insisted that i didn't (i really didn't). so we went to this crazy meal which i should've taken a picture of. it was massive. i tried so many bizarre things. kimchi, however, is one of the grosser things i've ever eaten. so many spicy foods. i also ate an entire salad for the first time. isn't that crazy? i'm a changed man. metal chopsticks are harder to use than wooden ones. let's see...what else?
my apartment is phenomenal. i love it. there are HEATED FLOORS! did you hear that america? heated floors. think about that. the shower is a bizarre free floating contraption and it just makes everything wet...but that's ok apparently. i have a laundry room that i'm going to record in. i also go in there to open my window and smoke. my biggest fear is that i will forget the code to my apartment and room. i don't have any keys. i just punch in numbers and it does it. the other two teachers who joined are idiots...sorry, i know that's negative...but one curses in from of the kids...one refuses to eat korean food and was talking about how she heard there was a papa john's. i woke up this morning and walked around for a few hours. i bought grape juice. i found out that there are about 3 convenience stores and 12 restaurants within a square block of me. i have pictures but i haven't loaded any on the new computer because i don't have the proper converters. i found this out when i received a powerful electric jolt from my hair dryer which coincided with a loud pop and some black resin on my fingers. it scared the life out of me.
the kids are adorable, but they do not know any english. i teach kids who are 5 years old. they are really cute...and they warmed up to me eventually, but one cried. i never found out why; she was removed. i was told i would leave around lunch time. it's now about 4:30pm and i don't know why i'm still here. i found out that i basically work 12 hour days. there is stuff that i have to do which i have no time for when i am here. so that's for home. i need to continue settling in and unpacking. i need to get some of those converters...i may have to get some sent...the one i bought was FOR koreans leaving the country, not for americans coming in. =( i was also told i live 15 minutes by foot from school...i must live at least 2 or 3 miles away. it took about 10 minutes to drive here. i am excited though. i don't know what i'm going to do for dinner. i think i will fast for the evening and just go to bed.
i miss you all and while i'm excited, this was a horrible mistake.=) well, not really, but i am going to regret not being there. ok, i need to go so that i will have battery left over the next few days. i can only make my screen so dim. alright, i'll post pictures soon. bye bye.
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