A Place To Walk In The Sun

8-25-2010
Day 174 of 365: Second week of English camp? Check. A week of vacation on a tropical isle (Jeju) with my sister? Check. Summer vacation officially over? Check. I was overjoyed that Uriah and Philip, and later my sister Beth and her friend Isela, came to visit me. It's more than I could have asked for when I made the decision to spend a year in South Korea. That being said, I am almost relieved that school is starting back up in a couple of days. This was the strangest, busiest, and in a weird way, most solitary 5 week summer vacation I've ever had.

Why was it strange? I can't quite put my finger on one specific reason, but would instead point out that there were so many funny/weird/strange experiences, mainly over the course of the 2 weeks that I had visitors, that they all added up together to make this impression on me when attempting to describe our time together. Just eating the living octopus with Uriah and Philip (last entry: The Boys Of Summer, Part 2) alone would qualify the summer as strange, but there were many other moments to back it up. I also think the flip-flopping weekly schedule (camp, vacation, camp, vacation, etc.) put me out of sorts a little bit. I'd want to be in vacation-mode during the weeks of camp, and then I'd find myself unwillingly switching into work-mode halfway through my vacation weeks, knowing I'd be back at school in a few days. I found myself always looking ahead instead of just enjoying the moment. Maybe I was just too busy.

Looking back, I realized that virtually every hour of every day of my summer schedule was planned out...by me. I wrote the lessons and made the plans for every day of my school's English camp. I planned and scheduled every trip, activity and site that we saw during the 2 weeks of vacation. In other words, there wasn't a day where I just sat back and thought to myself, "Let's just see what happens today". I was always at a tempo that was a little faster than Uriah and Philip, and a lot faster than Beth and Isela. Knowing they had a small window of time here and that they'd probably never have a chance to come back, I tried to fit as much in as possible. However, as far as I can tell, everyone who came had a great time (despite my madness at times), which is all that matters to me in the end.

This brings me to my aloneness (which is slightly different from loneliness). This may sound contradictory since I had so many visitors in a short amount of time. Other American English teachers were envious when they heard about my plans for the summer, but actually, it was hard to enjoy my guests being here, especially in the last couple of days of each visit, because I knew they'd soon be gone. Again, not living in the moment. I guess I need to work on that. In addition, several good friends I've made over the last 5 1/2 months have finished their teaching contracts and have recently gone back home to the United States. I feel like this has left a void in me that some might say God should fill, but right now I just want God to give me some friends to replace the ones who have departed. Needless to say I appreciate all my friends and loved ones back home much more these days and miss them dearly. Maybe I'll stop being such a wuss when school starts back up in 2 days and I'll have 700 youngsters to occupy me once again.

The Boys Of Summer, Part 2

8-12-2010

Day 161 of 365: Picking up where I left off from my last blog entry, this is a summary of the last 5 days of Uriah and Philip's visit to South Korea:

Monday 7/26 - Today we visited South Korea's largest outdoor seafood market, located at the Noryangin subway stop in Seoul. It had every kind of fish, clam, oyster, squid or octopus you could ask for. My first impression was the overwhelming smell of fish as you approach and enter the market. For that reason alone I could never see myself in this type of business.

For lunch we ate the infamous living octopus, which I had avoided until now, but it was at the top of Philip and Uriah's list of things to try in SK thanks to the Food Network. When I say, "living", I mean that even after it's killed and chopped up, the pieces keep moving for a period of time. This includes the suction cups on the tentacles being active and sticking to everything from the plate and chopsticks, all the way to your lips and tongue. The trick is to chew fast and often before swallowing. People have DIED from eating this. I'm not sure if that makes us brave, adventurous, or just stupid, but Koreans love this dish.

Later we met a Korean friend who took us on a tour of the most famous palace in Seoul, Gyeongbukgung. It was very beautiful and scenic, but it covered a lot of land and we were tired of walking by the end. This took us to one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seoul, Samcheong dong. Samcheong is full of shops, restaurants and small, interesting museums, but it doesn't have the tall buildings and foot traffic of other popular spots in Seoul. We rested here before going back to Itaewon to do some more shopping. We got home later that night and I made my mom's famous taco salad. It was for me as much as it was for them. Philip moment of the day: P loses his SD card to his camera in my apartment twice in the same night. It got to the point where he was offering rewards for it's safe return. Uriah and I each found it once, but we never cashed in on our prize.

Tuesday 7/27: We woke up at 530am so that we could catch a 5 hour bus to Busan, which is on the southern tip of South Korea. Busan is the 2nd largest city in SK and has the most famous beach in all of Korea, Haeundae. The highlights of this trip were many. It started with us renting a motel room near the beach, but off the beaten path. The room was $60 a night, and when Uriah famously asked, "How many beds are there? 1 or 2?", as I walked into the room, I found that there were zero. Sleeping on the floor is common in Korea as I've learned over my 5 months, and they were now experiencing it first hand.

The next pertinent piece of information is that Philip bought some swimming trunks on the street for $5. This is only important because of today's Philip moment: Within hours of buying them, P ripped a gaping hole in his shorts where you don't want a hole to be. It was classic Philip, and though we were laughing hysterically, neither Uriah or I were surprised.

Other moments include us losing money at the local casino (giving us a record of 1-2 for the trip), a fire-breathing bartender, and football on the beach in which I got yelled at by a Korean lifeguard for swimming at night. This brings us to the end of the night, which instead of turning in, the guys decide that they'd rather take the midnight bus back to Ansan and lose our money for the room than sleep on the floor. So after 12 hours in Busan, the craziest taxi ride of our lives to the bus terminal (the guy was a maniac, but we didn't die) and a 5 hour bus trip, we arrived home at 5am.

Wednesday 7/28: Today was busy even though we stayed local the whole day. We slept in and went to the Ansan station street market sometime after lunch. It turned out to not be busy during the weekdays, so we buzzed through it quickly and eventually went to a Korean pool hall. We had the place to ourselves and played for almost 2 hours even though we only payed for 1. The guy at the counter was cool. Next we went to an arcade where we each took a couple of turns at shooting air rifles for prizes, winning a cute doll for Uriah's daughter. Later we went back home and actually got some exercise by playing soccer at one of the nearby schools. Everyone still had some lingering World Cup fever, so we had fun shooting penalty kicks and attempting shots on goal that were beyond our skill level.

After dinner we decided to indulge P in his request to go to a Korean night club. Having never been to one, I didn't know what to expect, but they almost denied us entry right off the bat because we were all under-dressed. I think the fact that we were Americans gave us our way in. The night club was a very large, dark and spacious room with many tables, a stage and a dance floor. On stage was a sort of variety show, rotating every 15 minutes with DJs, dancers, singers and bands. Being the only non-Koreans in the room, the 3 of us all felt very out of place at first, but many people in the club were speaking (or trying to speak) and attending to us, so it kept things interesting. Toward the end of the night, I was amazed to see the roof of the club open up to reveal the night sky. Overall it was a unique experience.

Thursday 7/29: We kept things simple, did a little shopping and went to a Korean league baseball game in the evening. Games here only cost $8 for general admission, there's a home and away side for fans, there are cheerleaders, and you can even bring your own food in. The fans are always cheering, which gives the stadium more of a college football feel than professional baseball. Americans could learn a thing or two from Korean fans.

Friday 7/30: Going home. It was great having these guys visit for 8 days. The only downside was that as they were preparing to leave, I felt more homesick than before they had come. It was worth it though. We'll see each other again soon enough. We did lunch one more time, then the guys packed their things. We hugged it out and took our pictures, then they caught a ride to the airport. Just like Don Henley sang in that song, "The boys of summer are gone".

The Boys Of Summer

8-5-2010

Day 154 of 365: For all the things I love about South Korea, I have to say that a 5 week Summer sucks pretty bad. While most kids in America are getting that itch around the month of May to go swimming, attend camps and just be lazy for a few months, kids (and teachers) in SK are barely at the halfway mark in their Spring semester. Our Summer vacation lasts from the end of July to the end of August. My 5 weeks break down like this: 2 weeks of teaching English Summer camp, 2 weeks of vacation, and 1 week of planning for next semester. I'm not a fan of the fact that I only really get 2 weeks off, but the upside is that I will still receive my full month's salary even during the break from school. It's a trade off I suppose. So far I've knocked out 1 week of Summer camp, 1 week of time off with the "boys" (more on that in a moment), and I'm currently in the middle of my planning week as I'm writing this. From what I've learned (and experienced), the end of each semester is generally the most stressful time of the year for most teachers in SK (not sure if this is true in the US or not, but I imagine so). I had both co-teachers jumping down my throat over random things one day and then be totally fine the next. Working on the plan for Summer camp wasn't a picnic either. I took my work home with me for 2 weeks straight so that I could come up with lessons and activities that would be fun and interesting for the kiddos. The co-teachers backed off when they saw how hard I was working, and I hope they will continue to cut me a little more slack come next semester.

I must say that after 5 months of learning a new job, a new language, a new culture, and new ways of getting my butt kicked, it felt amazing to not have to go to school for 9 days.The "boys" are Philip and Uriah, great friends from Austin and my first official visitors in SK. It's hard to believe that somebody loves me so much that they'd come half-way across the world to see me. Actually, it's more likely that they used my being here as an excuse to see what half-way across the world looks like, but I'm not complaining. All I know is that for the first time since I left Texas, I finally have a "posse" again. After walking down these streets alone for the better part of my time here, I finally had a gang to walk with again. It felt good; like a scene out of Entourage, except none of us are that pretty.

The guys had did their homework and had some ideas of what they wanted to do while they were here, and I of course had ideas of my own. We mashed them all together and came out with a packed 8 days and 7 nights. Here are some of the highlights broken down by each day:

Thursday 7/22 - Met the guys at the airport in the evening and rode a shuttle bus back to my place, which is about an hour away from Incheon International Airport. Took them to dinner in downtown Ansan, also known as my "backyard", and had ice cream at Baskin Robbins afterward to give them something a little familiar. We kept the first night simple.

Friday 7/23 - I showed the guys my school and even let them help teach my last day of that week's English Summer camp. Uriah, who has a little girl of his own, jumped right in. Philip didn't do a lot of "jumping", but they both had a good time. Later in the evening we went to a Korean karaoke room, which is called a Norebong (not sure if i've mentioned that before or not). They're super popular in SK, to the point where there seems to be one on every block in the downtown areas of the city. We had dinner that night at Papa John's pizza, the job that we all had in common back in the states. Our pizza had corn on it, along with many other traditional toppings. I think we were all impressed with the result. Afterward we went to Baskin Robbins. Again. Comfort food?

Saturday 7/24 - The first big day in Seoul. We had Mcdonald's for breakfast. It's the American thing to do, especially since Korean breakfasts suck. I haven't mentioned that before, but I'll go into detail another time. We took the subway to Itaewon, which is the foreigner district. Then we took a taxi to the Seoul Tower, the highest point in Seoul. Later we lost money at a casino and got lost walking the streets, only to end up in one of most popular areas of Seoul, Myeongdong. Having many shops, cafes and restaurants, an estimated 1.5 million people traverse this area every day. It's there that we randomly met a guy from San Marcos, Texas and also had Korean BBQ for the first time. We spent 14 hours that day in Seoul, which matches my longest trip in.

Sunday 7/25 - After church in the morning, we headed to the COEX mall, which is the only thing I've seen so far that resembles a mall in the US. Uriah and I won money back at the casino there and then went to Gangnam for dinner and Dr. Fish (Blog Entry: Paging Dr. Fish). Philip moment of the day: P drops his mom's digital camera in his beef stew and then won't let us take a picture of the hilarious moment, which in the end made it even more hilarious. To quote a red-faced P Stylez, "There's not going to be any photographic evidence!".

And on that note I will stop for now. I'll post the second half of the trip in a few days, whenever it's not midnight and I don't have work staring me in the face in the morning. Check the pictures too, I think there are some good ones in there; none of Philip's mom's camera though.

Movies! : Dream Within A Dream...

8-2-2010
Day 151 of 365: ...within a dream. Throw in the ideas of dream invasion and manipulation, add some Matrix, Shutter Island and any heist movie (The Italian Job and Ronin come to mind) and the result is Inception, Christopher Nolan's latest cinematic juggernaut. It may be unfair to compare movies like this, but that's often what happens when a movie generates as much buzz and critical acclaim as this one has. Already approaching $200 million at the box office in just 3 weeks, Inception to date has also tallied over 100,000 votes on IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase) for an average of 9.1 stars out of 10, which is currently good enough for 3rd best movie of all time behind The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather on the IMDB Top 250 Films list. (IMDB is widely regarded as the most comprehensive website for movie trivia and info on the web. The IMDB Top 250 Films are voted on by fans.)

Before I dissect this movie and upset the fans who have voted it so highly, I first want to say that I really liked it. The special effects were nice and it was mildly thought-provoking, but not "mind-blowing" as described by more than a few people I know. I loved The Matrix, which actually was mind-blowing. Any movie that uses the idea of environment manipulation (whether by dream, computer program, magic or whatever) unfortunately has a high standard to live up to, and The Matrix does "The Matrix" better than Inception. There's also the question of reality. What's real within the realm of the movie and what's fantasy? DiCaprio tackled that theme in his last film. Watching Inception almost felt like de ja vu, having just watched Shutter Island only a few short months ago. As for the plot, I don't want to say too much about the story so as not to give anything away; I hate "spoilers" as much as the next person, but it was basically a heist movie. Google the top 10 heist movies of all time and choose any of them to compare this one to.

My final point is concerning Inception's current ranking as the 3rd best movie of all time. I know that hot movies often start off highly ranked and then work themselves down over time, but there is, in my opinion, an unhealthy fan obsession with director Christopher Nolan. I'm pretty sure it started with his Batman movie reboot, Batman Begins (which I loved, by the way). The Batman movie franchise had tanked in recent years and Nolan single-handedly resurrected it, to the praise of millions of comic and movie fans. While much credit was definitely due, the ferver got a little too crazy with the release of the sequel, The Dark Knight (also loved), which was actually the #1 movie of all time on IMDB for several weeks in 2008 before dropping down to it's current spot at #12, which is still not too shabby. So now Inception is #3, but for how long? I'm not saying it's not a great movie, it's just not as deep as many people think and it's definitely not as original. In the end, I know there's "nothing new under the sun", but try a little harder to fake it next time.

Grade: A-

La Primera Copa Del Mundo

7-13-2010
Day 131 of 365: Has it been a month already? Congratulations to Spain for winning their first ever World Cup, defeating the Netherlands in a hard fought 1-0 slugfest. I guess I can get a decent night's sleep again since I won't be waking up every other morning to catch a 330am soccer match. This final was probably the most brutal for me, since the game went into extra time and didn't end until after 6am, when Andres Iniesta put in the winning goal with just minutes left on the clock. Not having enough time to go back to sleep again before work that morning, I ended up winging it on about 3 hours sleep that day. Fortunately it's the last week of school and we're just winding down the semester, and Spain winning was worth the exhaustion. Those who are keeping up know that the 2 teams I'd been cheering for were the US and South Korea, but after they both got knocked out in the round of 16, I needed to pick another team to cheer for, and I felt like Spain was too good to have never won the World Cup. I normally like a good underdog to take down Goliath, but in this case, Spain had paid their dues over the last few years and deserved the title.

Now that the World Cup is over, I'll be working my butt off for the rest of this week in preparation for my school's Summer English Camp, which begins the day after school ends next week. Unfortunately, this means that I'm going to have to break one of my own personal rules, which is to never bring your work home with you. However, I feel like this summer camp is an opportunity for me to prove myself to my co-teachers, since I'm doing all the planning and teaching. If I succeed, I think it'll make next semester go a lot smoother than this first one. If I fail, next semester will be hell. There's really no other way for me to put it.

I think I can say that I underestimated this job when I first got here. I thought it would be hard at first and get easier, but this first semester has actually been the opposite. It started off easy because my co-teachers were bearing the majority of the responsibility. For the first month I was just shooting from the hip and having a good old time. Over the following 3 months they've gradually given me more responsibility, to the point where I'm now basically doing everything and they're primarily in a support role. This is actually how it's supposed to be, I'm just gaining teaching experience by the bucket now instead of by the drop. In fact, on the morning that I only slept 3 hours, I made a student cry for the first time. This sounds negative, but it's actually not. My co-teachers have been getting on my case about being too nice, which causes problems with discipline. I didn't have any nice in me that day though. This kid had it coming all semester too, so I don't feel bad about it. I still don't know how to discipline girls though. They walk all over me.

The Rainy Season

7-4-2010
Day 121 0f 365: Happy 4th of July to everyone back home! Even though I can't eat BBQ and light fireworks with my friends and family back in Austin, I will find a way to celebrate the 4th in SK, hopefully with other American friends here. Unfortunately I haven't seen a single firework stand since I've been here, so they might not exist like they do in the states, or in Texas at least. It's a shame too since July and August are not drought months in SK like they are back home. It's quite the opposite. Korea gets more rain in these 2 summer months than the whole rest of the year combined. They actually have a name for this time of year too; it's called Jangma. The heavy rain started sometime last week. Checking the forecast for the next week, I found that everyday will be exactly the same - thunderstorms and showers. On the bright side, when it's not pouring, everything outside is green and beautiful, unlike when I first arrived in March when everything was bare and dreary. Since all the school playgrounds and soccer fields are sandlots and not grass, the kids hate the rain because it makes the ground muddy and unplayable very quickly. Over the last couple of months, I'd been stopping off on the way home from school here and there to play baseball with the boys, and more recently soccer. I even bought a soccer ball 2 weeks ago so that I can practice and not embarrass myself in front of the kids. Some of them are really, really good. The weather may put things on pause for a while though. I might need to find some different shoes to walk to school in too, since my sneakers are constantly rain-soaked now. Sandals?

In World Cup news, I was very disappointed that the SK and USA teams got knocked out in back to back games last week, but watching the remaining teams has still been exciting. There have been some major upsets, and there are now only 4 teams remaining: Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. It's really hard to say who I think will advance to the final game, but many people are speculating that it will be Germany vs. the Netherlands, with Germany as the favorite now to win the World Cup.

On the school front, I have 2 weeks remaining until summer vacation begins. I'm really excited, but I am super busy right now with end-of-the-year stuff plus preparation for our school's 2 week English Summer Camp. The only positive thing about it is that I get to choose the lessons, activities and games for camp, so I'll finally have a chance to teach them "The Eyes of Texas" (way back in: Keep 'Em Up) among other lessons in Texas culture. Hook 'Em Horns!

Question of the week: Mel - Do a lot of people understand English in Korea?
Answer: Me - I can get by for the most part by speaking broken caveman English to people.

A Real American Hero

6-26-2010
Day 113 of 365: It's been two weeks since I last posted an entry on my blog. That's the longest I've gone without a post since I started this thing almost 4 months ago. The reason is clear: the World Cup has taken over my life. Even now I am forcing myself to write something at 8:30 Saturday morning, when I normally would either be asleep or getting ready to go to Seoul, because I know I might not have a chance to write for several more days. Since the World Cup started, my schedule has been as follows: go to school in the morning, come home mid-afternoon, watch soccer in the evening and go to bed late after the games are over. It's no wonder I've felt more exhausted lately at school. I even skipped out on going to Seoul last Saturday so that I could watch Japan vs. the Netherlands. What the...?! One thing I can say is that at least I'm saving money. This is also a good time for me to write because the group phase, which is the first round of the 32 team tournament, is over. Tonight begins the matches for the final 16 teams. I've cheered primarily for two teams - USA and South Korea, who were considered underdogs to make it out of the group B. They both made it to the next round and will be playing tonight. I'll be wearing my "All the Reds" shirt for the SK vs Uruguay game at 11pm, followed by my G.I. Joe shirt to watch the US play Ghana at 330am. It's been very exciting for both countries and also for me, since I'm now connected to both.

Question: What do you get when you cross David Beckham, Lance Armstrong and Pearl Harbor? Answer: Landon Donovan. Two weeks ago I wrote about the South Korea team and the hero of SK, Park Ji Sung (last entry: All The Reds). Well the US now has a hero of our own. These two teams really know how to pick their team captains. As much as Ji Sung's brilliant play has kept South Korea alive throughout the tournament, "Captain America's" goal in the 91st minute of the USA's match vs Algeria to seal a 1-0 victory and a spot in the final 16 is the most dramatic moment of this World Cup so far. In the USA, where soccer is the 4th or 5th most popular sport at best, he's uniting divided sports fans and bitter rivals across the country under one cause. And the best part about all of this is that, as far as I can tell, he's actually a guy that you want to cheer for. He's the feel-good story that America hasn't had in a long time. He's not Bonds, Tiger or Kobe. Landon Donovan is one of the good guys. In a country that's full of sports scandals and political incompetence, he's a hero in country that is currently lacking heroes...even if it is only soccer.

It's also fitting for me to talk about heroes since my school had me give a speech yesterday on my grandfather's serving in the Korean war. July 25th, 1950 is the date that the Korean war began, and every year they have a memorial in South Korea to honor those who fought and died. Korean people especially honor the Americans who served to aid them against the North. During my time here, many people, including the principal of my school, have asked me if I had any relatives who had served in the war. After telling him about my grandfather, he asked me to be part of the presentation to honor the 60th anniversary of the 6-25 Korean War (as they call it). My grandfather died 2 years ago, so I had to speak to my mother and grandmother for specific stories and details. Above are a few pictures that I received from my mother. The men who serve and defend our country are the real heroes, and it was an honor for me to tell my grandfather's story.

All The Reds

6-12-2010
Day 99 of 365: World Cup. Soccer. The world's sport. It's bigger than the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, and Tiger Woods scandal combined. "All the Reds" is the slogan this year for South Korea. In 2002, when the World Cup was hosted by SK, the slogan was, "Be the Reds", followed by, "All the Reds Go Together" in 2006. Never in my life have I been interested in "the other football" until I came here. Soccer is the national sport, followed by baseball, and then, I don't know...badminton? Honestly, no matter where you're at, it's hard not to catch soccer fever right now.

On the world stage, Korea's baseball presence might not be felt so much, with their most famous player still being ancient pitcher Chan Ho Park. These days, there are 2 big Korean names in sports. The first is Yuna Kim, the Olympic gold medal figure skater (who everybody knows), and the other is the guy in the picture: Ji Sung Park. I'd never heard of him until I came to SK, but he's a national hero, famous for being less talented than many of his peers, but working hard to get to the top. This is not surprising considering that in 2009, Korea as a nation averaged the most hours worked per week of any modern country. Now, Park Ji Sung (as he's known in SK) is the captain of the underdog South Korea team who put a whooping on Greece in the first round of the World Cup. He didn't disappoint, adding the nail in Greece's coffin late in the match to seal a 2-0 victory.

Having sent most of my money home 3 weeks ago to put toward my student loans and beloved Honda Civic (I miss her), I left myself the bare minimum amount of cash to get by with. Unfortunately, I forgot that there was a monthly maintenance bill due for my apartment building, which, in the end, left me with $10 for the next 11 days until I get payed next. It felt like I was in college all over again. This meant that, instead of making a trek to Seoul to watch the game with legions of Korean soccer fanatics, I quietly watched it with ten other people in a pretty little coffee shop in Ansan. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it was still a fun time and I'm glad SK got the win. I am now down to roughly $1.20 with 2 days to go, but I've got a new box of cereal and a carton of milk to help get me by. I was considering making a joke about knowing how North Korea feels now, but that would just be wrong.

After the SK vs Greece match on Saturday night, I had set my alarm for 330am so that I could catch the US team's first round match vs England. I dreamed that I woke up. Instead, I was up and at my computer around 830 the next morning to find that we tied 1-1. I think a lot of Americans were satisfied with this result since England is a superior team in most people's eyes. Naturally I'm cheering for my home country to do well, but it's been fun jumping in with everyone else and supporting my current home team also. "When in Korea...", right?

Brand New Day, Part 2

06-05-2010
Day 92 of 365: One day after my dismantling (last entry - Brand New Day), I decided that some changes needed to be made. I made up my mind to work harder and more diligently to gain back the confidence of my co-workers. There wasn't anything I could do immediately that morning, so instead I shaved my beard which I'd been growing for a solid 2 months. I'd never grown my beard until now, so I enjoyed having it (especially not needing to shave), but in a way, I didn't even want to look like the same person as before, so it had to go...at least for now. I also took some time to get my apartment in order; something I'd been avoiding for several weeks. I think I've been avoiding many practical matters lately in favor of excitement and adventure, so I took some time to remedy the situation, and I hope that I will be more aware to stay on top of things from now on.

Although I didn't run off to Seoul as per usual, I did have one obligation that afternoon that I was initially not looking forward to. Our school's Cub Scout troop was having a camp-out this weekend at our playground, and my Vice Principle wanted me to attend. The VP and many other teachers from school would be there, and he thought it would be good if I made an appearance. Having no desire to go anywhere near school grounds after what had happened the day before, I initially made up my mind that morning that I wasn't going to go. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it would be very good if I went. For one, even though some teachers who were talking trash about me might be there, I wasn't about to back down and show them that I was afraid to show my face after the "truth" came out. Second of all, I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout when I was young, so I owed it to the kids to come and help out. Lastly, I needed to show up to remind the VP, the teachers, the parents, and anyone else who may have doubted me, that all the kids love me more than them, and we have more fun together than they do, so they can stick that in their pipe and smoke it.

As of last year, the Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Science Scouts, and all other types of scouts in South Korea were combined under the Cub Scout banner. It was fun to see both the boys and the girls wear their uniforms, learn to set up tents and cook their own food. The tent assignments were divided up by grade, with 5-6 kids to a tent, and about 60 scouts total. At dinner time the scouts cooked their dinner with portable stoves in front of their tents, and each tent decided what they wanted to eat. Some cooked bulgogi, others cooked curry or other dishes, and they all had kim chi and rice to go with the meal. Almost every tent I visited at dinner time tried to feed me, so the picture at the top is one of many samples that I had of the kids' cooking. It was all really good actually. That night they had a talent show presentation, followed by a bon fire in the middle of the playground. I didn't spend the night, but I stayed with them pretty late and had a great time not only with the students but with the adults as well. I think my coming, which really was optional, showed the parents and teachers that even though I may still have some shortcomings as a teacher, I really do care about these kids, which hopefully counts for something.

Brand New Day

May 31, 2010
Day 87 of 365: Friday sucked. Hard. And since there are many ways that something can suck (though far fewer ways for a Friday to suck), I'll tell you what it wasn't first: It wasn't a sad kind of suckiness, like when a student cried at school or a dog gets hit by a car. It wasn't a frustrating type of sucking, where I just couldn't figure something out or couldn't communicate effectively with the natives. It wasn't overwhelming, where I had too much on my plate to deal with. It wasn't an injury/illness related, homesick (well maybe as a side effect), or boring kind of sucky Friday. What this last Friday actually was...was embarrassing. It was angrifying. Furiating. Painful on a psychological level (yes, I am aware that I am making up words because spell-check is telling me so). I got pwned (Gamer term. I didn't make that one up).

Last Friday I was basically tag-teamed by my two co-teachers on what a bad job I've been doing as an English teacher. This blew my mind because all I've ever heard for the last 3 months is how I've been doing a great job and the kids love me, etc. Mixed messages? Check. Lost in translation of a verbal beat-down? Check. Wanting to throw a desk out of our 4th floor English classroom window? Check. There are only a few categories of people whose occupations bestow upon them the power to scold a grown man. A cop or a judge can do it. Been there, hate that. A boss can do it and so can a mom. Now I know that a Korean co-teacher can do it as well. I'm sure you'd like to know the details of the massacre, but that would be too much to read. I'm not going to say some correcting wasn't needed; I've only been doing this for 3 months. The problem was that they knew that I've never taught before, but they still let me go on this whole time doings some aspects of the job in the wrong way without saying anything. My pride told me to put up a fight, but it probably would have made matters worse, so I just took the beating instead.

The day never got better afterward. I had just gotten blown up, and the best thing that I can say about it was that at least it was on a Friday. That night I had some praying to do, because I was suddenly in a situation where why co-workers didn't really trust me to do my job correctly, I can't escape because I'm obligated by contract to be here for at least another 9 months, and every person who really cares about me is on the other side of the world. Literally. Sometimes we feel like the only way that God can hear us is to pray a super-spiritual prayer that can move mountains, when all we actually have to say is, "God, move that mountain.". If He wants to do it, He will. Otherwise, no amount of effort on our part is going to get it done. In my case, the only way I could communicate how I felt was to pray, "Lord, make me right.". Maybe I've been going about some things in the wrong way since I've been here. Some I've known were wrong, others I've had no idea about. I just prayed that He would make me right in everything.

This brings me to Saturday. As you can see, I don't really have a picture that would accurately depict the essence of today's entry. I guess I could have taken my camera out mid-thrashing to capture my 2 co-teachers taking turns going to town on me, but I didn't think of it at the time. Oddly enough though, I feel like this cover to Amazing Spider-Man #546, appropriately titled, "Brand New Day", sums things up pretty well. This comic was actually in a care package that I received a few weeks ago from my life-long friend Jason, so I thought I'd give him a little shout-out here. Thanks, brother. Saturday really was a brand new day for me. I was still hurting from Friday, but it was good to know that I had a couple days to get over it. Every weekend for the last 2 months I'd been exhausting myself by going 100 miles a minute in order to do and see everything I possibly could; often spending up to 12-13 hours each day in Seoul before making the hour long train ride back to Ansan each night. This weekend I just took it easy. The weather was perfect and I just enjoyed the day. I realized that sometimes bad things happen for a good reason, and in the grand scheme of things, what happened on Friday wasn't so bad, it just felt like it at the time. There's nothing that I can do to change what's happened during the first 3 months, but I can do things differently from here on out. There's a lot more for me to say about last weekend actually, but I think this is good enough for now. Maybe a part 2 coming soon...