Time for another update- and no pictures again :(
On the weekend Curtis, Drew and I headed to a basketball game with Drew's Korean friend who was able to get some free tickets (I forgot my camera!). The Daegu Orions is the name of the team, and we are one of the worst teams in the league. The stadium was small, but I estimated that there were about 5000 fans in attendance, and our seats were basically floor seats, about 4 rows from the action. The teams in Korea are allowed to have two foreign players, so basically each team consisted of two large African Americans, and a bunch of Korean guys. The Americans do most of the scoring, but the Koreans are really fast, and can shoot really well. The chants during the game were pretty funny. The way Koreans pronounce English words means that words usually get more syllables. DE-FENCE becomes DE-FENC-SUH, and O-FFENCE becomes O-FENCE-SUH. Our best player was a guy name Hawkins, so his chant was HAWK-KIN-SUH. We got pretty into the game, but in the end we lost. It was like we had been life long fans the way we felt after the loss. During intermissions etc. there were different games that occurred where fans could win prizes. At one point, the cheerleaders came out and threw 10 small basketballs to the crowd, and of course one of them tossed one to me. From our seats, we got to throw them at prizes set on boxes, and all you had to do was hit the box to win the prize. I was the last guy to go, and with 5000 people watching I totally blew it. I was aiming for the best prize, a pair or shoes, and the ball totally sailed off my hand- a complete embarrassment. Drew and Curt started smacking me around after that. The smart thing to do would have been to roll it in the direction of the boxes, it would be nearly impossible to miss. Other people had to throw it because of where their seats were, and the balls bounced over the targets, but I could have tossed a low bouncer that would have cleaned up. Oh well. Also, the mascot spotted us, and put on a little show by us. He pretended to have a sip of our beer before pretending to barf and pass out by some other people nearby. In contrast to an NBA game, the quarters are 10 minutes instead of 12, and music is played during the entire game, not just during breaks, which was pretty entertaining actually.
Other than the basketball game, I haven't really been up to anything that exciting. Work has changed for me again. Friday, Monday, and Tuesday I worked 5 t0 6 hours at Manchon with Curt and the gang, and then headed to my school to teach my regular classes. It was pretty tiring, but I calculated that I would make 1300$ in overtime if this kept up until the end of January. Apparently someone else was doing the calculations too, because my school (Chimsan) gave me Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday off. This was O.K. with me because I would still get lots of overtime, but I wouldn't lose my mind in the process, and I get a two day weekend. So I went to school on Thursday for my shift, and afterwards the manager told me that I would have the rest of January off at Chimsan. I wasn't that pleased about it because that meant I would lose that much more overtime. For the rest of the month I will be at Manchon school (starting at 8:00- even Curt doesn't start that early) , I teach for about 4 hours each morning and then mark essays in the afternoon for Curt and Shelly- or at least I used to. Heeduk told me not to stick around unless specifically asked to- I think he is concerned about my overtime. But this makes absolutely no sense, because Shelly is going to make a lot more overtime than me because of all the essays she gets. So either he pays me the overtime, or he pays her. Shelly figures she is going to make 1300$ in overtime easily. Curt and Shelly wanted me to stay and help them today but, I was not allowed to. Over the span of two days Heeduk told me to help Shelly with essays, told Shelly not to hog me and let me help Curtis and Chris, and then told me not to help anyone basically. I think his sleep deprivation is getting to his brain. I get essays to mark from my one class, so that will give me some more hours, but only if the kids actually do it. Its not as disappointing as I make it sound, I work 5-days a week, am finished by noon, and will still make 500$ overtime this month. AND I'm not at the circus that is Samduk.
Oh, I almost forgot, I was able to get to the gym with Curt since its in the Manchon building. It is a great facility with all kinds of weights and machines, and then another floor has all the hot tubs and saunas of different temperatures and herb "flavorings". We worked our upper bodies, and I told Curt to just do his workout and I would keep up as best I could since he had been training for a few weeks. After working out for close to two hours, we played a few games of pool, and then went to the spa area to relax and sooth our muscles. The next day, and today, I regretted working out as hard as I did. My muscles are extremely sore, it's painfully funny trying to put on and take off my shirt. If I try to stand up with the help of my arms, they shake. I'm super weak right now, but it definitely means I got a workout. It felt good getting to the gym, and I'm going to get a membership close to home soon.
If I do a trip during my 5 days off in February, it will likely be to Fukuoka Japan, so I'll keep you posted. Its a really expensive country, but its also easier and cheaper to get to. I think I'll budget my trip based on whatever overtime I make. That's it for now. I promise pictures next time I post.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
January Cont'd
So a few people have been asking about an update. I guess it has been a few days, but there hasn't been too much to report. Work is good at my school, I got treated to some cake and crispy creme donuts the past couple of days..so thats always welcome! Last Friday and this Monday I was given work at Manchon to help all the teachers get caught up on their marking. I marked Essays for Curtis for 5 straight hours on Friday, and marked some SAT writings for Shelly for 5 hours yesterday. After those shifts at Manchon I then had to go to Chimsan and teach my regular classes..so I'm pretty wiped by the end of the day. I basically leave the house around 7:30 and don't get home until 9:00. I don't mind at all though because its good money, and its totally different work so it doesn't get repetitive. The essay marking was pretty fun actually, there were four of us in an office, drinking coffee like fiends and sharing all the funny sentences we come across. You couldn't purposes create some of the comedy gold that we find in these essays. The students sometimes use a similar looking, but totally wrong word, or they punch words into the thesaurus to try and use larger more intelligent sounding words. You either chuckle because the sentence is so destroyed that you can't even begin to make out what they are trying to say, or you can follow their train of thought- but they have a limited vocabulary so its very convoluted. A memorable answer was a paragraph about how jetty's or break walls were in place to try and stop the sea from eroding the sand, but it wasn't working. Only, he had used a thesaurus and found the word "groin" which apparently can mean break wall / seawall / jetty / etc. He used the word groin like 10 times - "there were groins all along the beach, but the groins were making the erosion worse". That wasn't even the funniest one at all.
Another good moment was when Curt and this new guy Chris were sent on a coffee / headphone / lunch run. Shelly is a New Yorker with one of those ten-adjective-long Starbucks coffee orders. Latte- shot of this - milk this-etc... Curt wrote it down, but something still went wrong. After waiting an hour, and me having to listen to Shelly moan and groan for the hour, the drinks finally arrived. Shelly's cafe latte extreme turned into a black tea latte not so extreme. I think I saw tears in her eyes...
Heeduk's brother Heedal is heading back to New York to finish his Ph.D. (i think) and thus I was told that I would be covering some of his classes at Manchon next week, leading me to believe that next week I'll be pulling doubles Monday through until Friday. However, I won't get my hopes up because I know how these things change, and for instance, Roy recently sent an email to Heeduk begging him to save him from the rodeo that is Samduk. Anyways, I'm going back to Manchon this Friday, so I'll find out then. Since I mentioned Samduk, I hear that the new teachers aren't too thrilled with it either, even the girl that was all "I love my kids" a week ago. I knew the honeymoon wasn't going to last. A few people were sad to hear that my January schedule got messed up, and I know I sounded really dejected, but as long as I'm not at Samduk I'm happy! If I ever go back to that school you will know I have hit rock bottom.
Today I just wanted to sleep in because of the long hours I pulled the day before, but I had to go to the immigration office in the morning to change my visa. It was a single entry visa meaning that if I left on a small trip, I wouldn't be able to get back into Korea (I already entered once when I originally came here). Single entry visas are all that we can get back home, and we have to change it once we are in country. It was easy enough and cost 50$. I only knew I had to get it done because a friend had pointed it out, otherwise I could have easily been stuck somewhere in Asia after a trip. I have 5 days off coming in February for Chinese New Year- I think its New Years in a lot of Asian countries. Relatedly, this makes it a busy travel time, so I'm not sure if there are any cheap deals like are around all the rest of the year. I want to go somewhere tropical if at all possible, but if airfare is ridiculous then I might head to Japan ..not too sure. After the immigration office I was off to my Korean lesson, it was a test day for me. I was assigned about 2 pages of dialog to memorize, being able to play both parts. She gave me an 80% on both pages, although I deserved closer to a fail on the second page. She is going to give me the same test next week +2 more pages. If I get perfect she will buy me a coffee, but she thinks thats impossible and that it is highly likely that I will fail in which case I will buy her a coffee. She says it in jest, buts its funny because its true. She appreciates that we are both adults so she understands if I am too busy to study my notes a lot, but at the same time she pushes me because neither one of us wants to waste each others time. That's it for now, sorry there are no pictures!
Oh - one more thing. We tried to go bowling at this place called Billa Bow. It had a blown up bowling pin so we were sure it was a bowling alley. Actually, Billa is short for Billiards. Imagine a miniature bowling ally table - like a super stretched, narrow pool table with wood grain. You use a pool cue to shoot a ball at a bunch of miniature pins. Its actually quite fun, and not that easy to get a strike. Good fun in the end, but we still want the real thing!
Another good moment was when Curt and this new guy Chris were sent on a coffee / headphone / lunch run. Shelly is a New Yorker with one of those ten-adjective-long Starbucks coffee orders. Latte- shot of this - milk this-etc... Curt wrote it down, but something still went wrong. After waiting an hour, and me having to listen to Shelly moan and groan for the hour, the drinks finally arrived. Shelly's cafe latte extreme turned into a black tea latte not so extreme. I think I saw tears in her eyes...
Heeduk's brother Heedal is heading back to New York to finish his Ph.D. (i think) and thus I was told that I would be covering some of his classes at Manchon next week, leading me to believe that next week I'll be pulling doubles Monday through until Friday. However, I won't get my hopes up because I know how these things change, and for instance, Roy recently sent an email to Heeduk begging him to save him from the rodeo that is Samduk. Anyways, I'm going back to Manchon this Friday, so I'll find out then. Since I mentioned Samduk, I hear that the new teachers aren't too thrilled with it either, even the girl that was all "I love my kids" a week ago. I knew the honeymoon wasn't going to last. A few people were sad to hear that my January schedule got messed up, and I know I sounded really dejected, but as long as I'm not at Samduk I'm happy! If I ever go back to that school you will know I have hit rock bottom.
Today I just wanted to sleep in because of the long hours I pulled the day before, but I had to go to the immigration office in the morning to change my visa. It was a single entry visa meaning that if I left on a small trip, I wouldn't be able to get back into Korea (I already entered once when I originally came here). Single entry visas are all that we can get back home, and we have to change it once we are in country. It was easy enough and cost 50$. I only knew I had to get it done because a friend had pointed it out, otherwise I could have easily been stuck somewhere in Asia after a trip. I have 5 days off coming in February for Chinese New Year- I think its New Years in a lot of Asian countries. Relatedly, this makes it a busy travel time, so I'm not sure if there are any cheap deals like are around all the rest of the year. I want to go somewhere tropical if at all possible, but if airfare is ridiculous then I might head to Japan ..not too sure. After the immigration office I was off to my Korean lesson, it was a test day for me. I was assigned about 2 pages of dialog to memorize, being able to play both parts. She gave me an 80% on both pages, although I deserved closer to a fail on the second page. She is going to give me the same test next week +2 more pages. If I get perfect she will buy me a coffee, but she thinks thats impossible and that it is highly likely that I will fail in which case I will buy her a coffee. She says it in jest, buts its funny because its true. She appreciates that we are both adults so she understands if I am too busy to study my notes a lot, but at the same time she pushes me because neither one of us wants to waste each others time. That's it for now, sorry there are no pictures!
Oh - one more thing. We tried to go bowling at this place called Billa Bow. It had a blown up bowling pin so we were sure it was a bowling alley. Actually, Billa is short for Billiards. Imagine a miniature bowling ally table - like a super stretched, narrow pool table with wood grain. You use a pool cue to shoot a ball at a bunch of miniature pins. Its actually quite fun, and not that easy to get a strike. Good fun in the end, but we still want the real thing!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
New Years / January
Happy New Years everyone!
So, maybe you remember that I mentioned for January my schedule was changing. Kids have a winter break of a month of two from public schools, so Manchon is offering morning classes to all these students that are on "holidays". I would be working early hours, 5 days a week with Curtis and Shelly at Manchon, teaching older kids that you can actually have a conversation with. WELL, let me tell you about how big of a screw up LIKE schools is...their ability to be unorganized is remarkable.
We have already had several meetings with Heeduk discussing what the plan was etc etc. So on December 31st, I taught at Chimsan and noticed I was still on the schedule for the week, so I casually asked who was taking over for me on January 2nd (we got the 1st off). My manager Mr Lee had no idea what I was talking about, and didn't know I was teaching at Manchon for January. He quickly got on the phone, and I went to teach a lesson wondering what kind of can of worms I had just opened. A while later I was called into our lounge area to celebrate New Years, we all ate some nice cake and hung out while our kids did whatever. Mr Lee came in, not too happy, and jabbering in Korean with one of the secretaries. He was clearly not impressed, and it all got resolved (kind of)...of course I get the short end of the stick again. There was no teacher lined up to take my place for one, and two, the kids at Chimsan have gotten used to me, like me, and he didn't want to give me up.
SO, I will in fact not be teaching at Manchon for January- hugely disappointing. This means I won't be teaching with two of my best friends here. I will keep working 6 days a week instead of 5. I will be teaching little kids instead of smart older kids that want to do well. Curtis and Shelly's schedule is 8:00 - 3:45. Mine is 3:45 until 8:15. Curt and I were going to join the gym in Manchon because we get a discount at the building they work in, and can work out together - cant do that anymore. Curt and Shelly will likely easily make 800$ in overtime at Manchon because of all the essay marking. Also, Manchon had Wednesday off so a bunch of us had plans to go skiing / snow boarding a few hours away - but my school was open so I had to work while Curt, Roy, and some other people hit the slopes.
So Wednesday the 2nd I went to work, and while photocopying I could hear Mr. Lee going on still about how Heeduk wanted me at Manchon. I think it really rubbed him the wrong way...especially how I was the one to tell him - and only did I barely tell him. Well I guess I skipped over New Years - we all stayed in Daegu and celebrated the New Years. This New Years is not as big as Chinese New Years in February. We went to Bell Park, as we call it, where there was a firework show. People were handing out roman candle fireworks and people were just holding them in their hands firing them into the sky. Its lucky nobody stumbled and took someone's eye out! The traditional Korean thing to do is to go to the ocean and watch the sunrise, so I suspect the East coast was jammed with Korean people. We thought about doing it, but Curtis and Shelly worked until 10:30 so it just wasn't feasible.
Because Roy went skiing, I was in charge of his dog Bart for Tuesday night and Wednesday. He is just too cute, kept me company, and warm at night. He did get a little excited and left a puddle in my room, broke a dish of food, and was constantly gnawing on my hands, but it was fun to have him around.
Today (Thursday) I was at Manchon, and tomorrow as well, because of the last minute changes I needed to fill in until they figure it all out. It definitely sucked getting up at 6:30 in order to be there by 7:30, but it felt more like a real work day, and I left work while the sun was still out! The school was super busy with lots of kids and teachers, and it was a bit hectic as everyone tried to get organized for this special month. I think Heeduk works like 18 hour days, every day for January. I got to teach Curts economic class for 1 1/2 hours, and a bunch of essay classes. Econ was easy, we just took up a test and did some readings. The essay classes were basically brainstorming and making sure they knew how to write a good essay. It was so much better than teaching basic English to youngsters. It wouldn't be so disappointing if they hadn't offered this to me and then taken it away..It would have been so much better if I was just never offered this position.
One nice thing this week was the Heeduk took Curt, Shelly and I out for Galbi (Korean Barbecue). Even this little trip epitomized the LIKE school way. Mr and Mrs Kim asked where the other teachers were, and we all thought "Well, you have to actually TELL the other teachers they are invited for dinner if you want them to show up". We went to a big restaurant that serves only the freshest beef. The meat is always from a cow slaughtered that morning so you can eat the beef raw. We tried several kinds. One kind you cooked first, but you basically ate it super raw, browned and warmed up a little bit. Another plate we got you just eat raw with chopsticks. It was delicious! It just melts in your mouth. It might make a vegetarians stomach turn, but it had our mouths watering for sure. We also had pork, but you had to cook that well like we would back home. On the other side of the restaurant it serves fresh fish and seafood. All of the fish are alive and swimming in tanks, and you choose which one you want to eat, and then it gets butchered in front of you and you eat it (raw, I think). It was a very interesting place for sure. Also, Heeduk had a cousin join us for dinner who will be at our school in January. We thought she looked out age and we were like, "Oh, she is teaching?", and he was like "no, she is in her first year of highschool". You know, 25, 15, whatever..its crazy how hard it is to tell people's ages over here!
Oh, this week I also tried Beondegi, silkworm larvae that are boiled and seasoned, and sold everywhere on the streets here in Daegu. It was not tasty, and I was spitting and sputtering a little bit, although I did get most of it down.
So, maybe you remember that I mentioned for January my schedule was changing. Kids have a winter break of a month of two from public schools, so Manchon is offering morning classes to all these students that are on "holidays". I would be working early hours, 5 days a week with Curtis and Shelly at Manchon, teaching older kids that you can actually have a conversation with. WELL, let me tell you about how big of a screw up LIKE schools is...their ability to be unorganized is remarkable.
We have already had several meetings with Heeduk discussing what the plan was etc etc. So on December 31st, I taught at Chimsan and noticed I was still on the schedule for the week, so I casually asked who was taking over for me on January 2nd (we got the 1st off). My manager Mr Lee had no idea what I was talking about, and didn't know I was teaching at Manchon for January. He quickly got on the phone, and I went to teach a lesson wondering what kind of can of worms I had just opened. A while later I was called into our lounge area to celebrate New Years, we all ate some nice cake and hung out while our kids did whatever. Mr Lee came in, not too happy, and jabbering in Korean with one of the secretaries. He was clearly not impressed, and it all got resolved (kind of)...of course I get the short end of the stick again. There was no teacher lined up to take my place for one, and two, the kids at Chimsan have gotten used to me, like me, and he didn't want to give me up.
SO, I will in fact not be teaching at Manchon for January- hugely disappointing. This means I won't be teaching with two of my best friends here. I will keep working 6 days a week instead of 5. I will be teaching little kids instead of smart older kids that want to do well. Curtis and Shelly's schedule is 8:00 - 3:45. Mine is 3:45 until 8:15. Curt and I were going to join the gym in Manchon because we get a discount at the building they work in, and can work out together - cant do that anymore. Curt and Shelly will likely easily make 800$ in overtime at Manchon because of all the essay marking. Also, Manchon had Wednesday off so a bunch of us had plans to go skiing / snow boarding a few hours away - but my school was open so I had to work while Curt, Roy, and some other people hit the slopes.
So Wednesday the 2nd I went to work, and while photocopying I could hear Mr. Lee going on still about how Heeduk wanted me at Manchon. I think it really rubbed him the wrong way...especially how I was the one to tell him - and only did I barely tell him. Well I guess I skipped over New Years - we all stayed in Daegu and celebrated the New Years. This New Years is not as big as Chinese New Years in February. We went to Bell Park, as we call it, where there was a firework show. People were handing out roman candle fireworks and people were just holding them in their hands firing them into the sky. Its lucky nobody stumbled and took someone's eye out! The traditional Korean thing to do is to go to the ocean and watch the sunrise, so I suspect the East coast was jammed with Korean people. We thought about doing it, but Curtis and Shelly worked until 10:30 so it just wasn't feasible.
Because Roy went skiing, I was in charge of his dog Bart for Tuesday night and Wednesday. He is just too cute, kept me company, and warm at night. He did get a little excited and left a puddle in my room, broke a dish of food, and was constantly gnawing on my hands, but it was fun to have him around.
Today (Thursday) I was at Manchon, and tomorrow as well, because of the last minute changes I needed to fill in until they figure it all out. It definitely sucked getting up at 6:30 in order to be there by 7:30, but it felt more like a real work day, and I left work while the sun was still out! The school was super busy with lots of kids and teachers, and it was a bit hectic as everyone tried to get organized for this special month. I think Heeduk works like 18 hour days, every day for January. I got to teach Curts economic class for 1 1/2 hours, and a bunch of essay classes. Econ was easy, we just took up a test and did some readings. The essay classes were basically brainstorming and making sure they knew how to write a good essay. It was so much better than teaching basic English to youngsters. It wouldn't be so disappointing if they hadn't offered this to me and then taken it away..It would have been so much better if I was just never offered this position.
One nice thing this week was the Heeduk took Curt, Shelly and I out for Galbi (Korean Barbecue). Even this little trip epitomized the LIKE school way. Mr and Mrs Kim asked where the other teachers were, and we all thought "Well, you have to actually TELL the other teachers they are invited for dinner if you want them to show up". We went to a big restaurant that serves only the freshest beef. The meat is always from a cow slaughtered that morning so you can eat the beef raw. We tried several kinds. One kind you cooked first, but you basically ate it super raw, browned and warmed up a little bit. Another plate we got you just eat raw with chopsticks. It was delicious! It just melts in your mouth. It might make a vegetarians stomach turn, but it had our mouths watering for sure. We also had pork, but you had to cook that well like we would back home. On the other side of the restaurant it serves fresh fish and seafood. All of the fish are alive and swimming in tanks, and you choose which one you want to eat, and then it gets butchered in front of you and you eat it (raw, I think). It was a very interesting place for sure. Also, Heeduk had a cousin join us for dinner who will be at our school in January. We thought she looked out age and we were like, "Oh, she is teaching?", and he was like "no, she is in her first year of highschool". You know, 25, 15, whatever..its crazy how hard it is to tell people's ages over here!
Oh, this week I also tried Beondegi, silkworm larvae that are boiled and seasoned, and sold everywhere on the streets here in Daegu. It was not tasty, and I was spitting and sputtering a little bit, although I did get most of it down.
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