I’m writing this on my laptop on a bus to Seoul. I will try and upload it when a wireless Network becomes available, but it might mean that no pictures will be up until I have more time. We decided against going to Japan for the Asian New Year due to the cost and time constraints. This blog kind of turned into a novel.
The last week of work at Manchon was pretty sweet. Some days I finished at 11:15 so I had the rest of the day to be productive. On Thursday, LIKE put on a debate and essay marking contest in a big conference hall at some Hotel. A rival school also rented out a hall next to us, so Heeduk wanted to make our area as grand as possible. He hired two models to wear LIKE sashes and to greet people at the door. There was a large flat screen T.V. that was looping a news broadcast that was filmed at Manchon. Curt and Shelly are in it, and they added some graphics so that it looks like flowers are growing out of Curt’s nose. Also, he got a colonel from the U.S. army to give a speech on leadership- slightly entertaining. Our job was to basically dress up, look good, and be proof that we have English teachers. Also, we ran all the debates and chose the winners of all the preliminary rounds. The semis and finals were in front of all the parents and we got to sit front row center to do the judging. The students put a lot of work into this, and it really showed; they performed awesomely. They debated English emersion in high school, a proposal that is getting some consideration in Korea right now. The winning team got a cash prize, and also we had to choose the best debater from the whole day. She came from the winning team, and is one of our favourite students- she won a new laptop. The student who won the essay contest also got a new laptop.
During the debate we met a woman from Kyungpook University and she told us about some websites where you can watch Korean movies and T.V. shows with English subtitles. Korean cinema is actually very good; we just don’t get exposed to it. Anyways, some of us have checked it out, and Shelly and I have become addicts. Mostly the movies are comedies / dramas/ chick flicks / and maybe documentaries. I saw one movie that I thought was hilarious, and highly recommend it. The quality isn’t great because it is streaming video, and usually the movies are broken into multiple parts. Anyways, if you have some time to kill, go to www.mysoju.com , and watch “My Sassy Girl”. This movie grossed more in Korean theatres than Shrek, Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter. It is being remade into an American version due out this year, but I don’t think many of the jokes will cross over very well, so I think it will bomb.
I’ve been getting out a lot lately to go birdwatching in and around Daegu. And I only mention this because I actually found something quite rare. It is called a Temminck’s Stint, a type of sandpiper, and it shouldn’t be in Korea right now. During spring and fall they move through, but never more than 100 in a given year. I contacted the birding community in Korea and apparently it is the first, or one of the first, over wintering records for Korea. It should probably be in Indonesia right now.
On Sunday, we went skiing at a resort called YongPyong (spelling?), it was about a 3 hour bus ride away, and part of the chain of mountains where Seoraksan is. For the bus ride there and back, ski rentals, jacket and pant rentals, and lift ticket, it was only 88$ - quite a good deal. The largest pair of ski boots was a 12 ½ about ½ size too small. I needed Curt’s help to cram my feet in, and having the “Cleland big toe” didn’t help either. It’s the nicest skiing place in Korea I believe and holds small international competitions. Curt and I wanted to hit some more challenging slopes so we paid 7$ to take a gondola over to another mountain where all the runs are double black diamond. It was definitely worth it, as the view was great, and the slopes were really steep and fast. The snow wasn’t too bad either, not too many icy spots. Also, there was a run from the top all the way to the bottom that was 5 km long.
I returned to work at Chimsan this week. It was nice to see my kids again, and they were all nervous because Monday and Tuesday were big test days. I’m not sure what the testing is meant to do, but the kids were pretty freaked out, it was pretty funny seeing all the brats being super polite. My job was to grade their reading, and then ask them questions of my choice and grade their responses. Basically if I could have a conversation with them they got great marks, if they couldn’t talk they failed, and then everything in between. Many of the bratty girls call me dirty when I have a moderate amount of facial hair, and right now I have the thickest beard since I’ve been in Korea. They say “dirty teacher”. So, during the testing I asked some of them “Is teacher dirty?” – and then picked up my pen as if to grade them. They were like “ uh..uh..uh..ha..uh..I don’t know”. On Tuesday we ate some cake to celebrate the Korean New Year. It’s the reason I have the next 5 days off. I think it is like the 8th cake I have eaten at Chimsan, that school is so nice. Also, all the like teachers from all the schools got a gift set of tuna and spam. I know that sounds funny, but some how it just seems normal here – and will feed us for weeks. Also, they paid us early so that we would have money over the holiday, and even though they took away a lot of hours from me, I still made 450$ in overtime for January.
I will try and add pictures etc when I have more time, and will also post about this present trip to Seoul.
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