Just another day at the office

I've taught these guys all the insects, so if none of them become entomologists, I'm going to be seriously pissed. They know them all: locust, cockchafer beetle, ciccada, mite, bowl weavel. All the basic ones. They're actually my pride and joy, because even the dimwitted ones have learned them all after months and months of serious drilling. In case you're wondering where this lunacy comes from, its the Insect poster in the front of the classroom, and the need to kill the last two minutes of class.

An Easy Week

Work seems a LOT easier now that I don't have to teach Orda from 1-1.30 MWF. It really spreads out the work load having a really long break 3 days a week instead of 2. Plus the fact that I now get off at 6.10 on Fridays. Its a pretty sweet schedule now. It'll be really nice for Corie when she takes it over in December (presuming they don't screw it up between now and then). All the girls have been chased out of the baby class. Jenny left this week, I don't know why, and Leah is going to be home schooled now! Crap. Now its just 6 hyperactive little boys. Not that I mind Jack and Josh's attempts to constantly act out the vocabulary... its all good as long as the decibels are kept below a certain level. Of the 6 pioneers in that class, all but 1 are now gone. Its been by far my most active class. Columbia class, in the 12 months since I started, has lost only a few people, including a year change. With a just a few transients like the long mouned Brent. He was awesome.

Ahh the ascetic lifestyle

My slight illness couldn't keep me from hiking. I went out for a super long hike yesterday, soI got some Kyochon and muffins and headed up the hill. I got pretty tired by the time I got to the top of our local hill, so I read some of "The Interpreter" which
is getting to the intense part now. I moved on and took a nap in some long grass some place further on. It was really nice in the warm sun just lying there with no Koreans rambling by or at me. Continued on, and unfortunately had too much Kyochon, so I had to use the woods for some business. The first time that's been necessary in Korea. Kept going, pretty far down the hill's spine and I saw a lot of those sort of pheasant/quayle birds they have. I eventually turned back, and wound going home through that dog eating village. It hasn't changed at all (not since the stupendous day they introduced neon signs I imagine). The chicken farm still plays techno for them for whatever reason. By the time I got home I was tired and lay down for another rest.

돌고래

The kids have, pretty much since the first day, called me dolphin, because they can't manage Th, r, or f. so hence DoLPHin. Anway, my Monday evening class has now decided to give me a real Korean name, not like gimchi-hi, or anything like that, but a name than fits with my real name, which is the Korean for dolphin, or dolgorae, 돌고래. I kind of like it!

That class is awesome, at least when Ricky isn't there. He would be awesome as a tutoring student, but he's so disruptive in a classroom setting. That class cracks me up because the girls are so collosally smarter than the boys. They aren't idiots, but they just postively, absolutely do not give a flying crap about learning English. Anyway, Maisy and Sally are excellent students, so much potential it brings a tear to my eye.

Driving

Everyone says Korean drivers are crazy, but I don't find the hype is vastly overblown. Not that they aren't aggressive in their own way, but, as usual, the rumours are greatly exaggerated. They are about as aggressive as drivers in many large cities. The main difference is that they follow several different standards.

*First, honking is far more pre-emptive than reacitve. This has its merits, as it keeps people from having to slow down in order not to kill each other.
*Second, they do actually drive on the sidewalks. Not at full speed, but they do drive up there sometimes as a short cut, or to get to better parking.
*Third, parking is much more ad-hoc. People specifically leave their numbers on their dash, so drivers they are blocking can call their mobile phones to get them to move. That's why double parking actually works. As does parking on the sidewalk.
*Fourthly, U-turns which are a great innovation. Any road has a designated U-turn area, to avoid the long drive around to switch direction. Excellent traffic planning. This needs to come to Canada.

My old blog was too crusty

My old blog didn't allow for paragraph creation so I decided it was time to upgrade.

Today I'm mostly annoyed by my boss. Not that he's done anything really bad to me, but he's really just a pain in a paternalistic, authoritarian, insensitive, myopic, middle aged Korean businessman kind of way.

* He told one of our teachers that she should look for a good husband because she wasn't the working type!
* He also told her she shouldn't have got divorced, and that she was a silly woman. Despite the fact that he is divorced and has two kids himself!! Just lucky he has his mother to look after them. What a prick.
* He demanded that all the Korean teachers cook food for the BBQ last Saturday, telling them on Friday evening. Then, when they decided there was no time between getting off at 9:00 in the evening, and Saturday morning, so they would pitch in some of THEIR OWN MONEY and buy some stuff at Dong-A, he got really pissed and let them have it. Despite the fact that he lives with his mother and gets her to do that stuff for him.
* He is utterly and completely disorganized and never tells anybody about anything until the last minute, and then gets pO'd about it not working out. Or he is simply negligent, shows up late for pay day, and then calls people back to work, late in the evening because its not convenient for him to pay us the next day.
* He puts on this "kindly uncle" act with the kids which is really lame and phony. He wouldn't know how to play with a kid if he spent a year in a daycare.
* He constantly gives us inane and contradictory directions based on his careful research of looking into the classes for twenty random seconds every couple of days. "I want the kids to have more fun, and be engaged by the work. Oh, by the way I won't allow any more games, and you have to assign more homework." The man's obviously never taught for two seconds in his life. Oh, and he won't actually tell you himself, because then you might be able to defend yourself, but rather get his minions to come and tell you.
* One time he kicked a kid out of school, and was acting all tough, but then refused to do the hard part and actually phone the parents to tell them. The Korean teacher got that fun assignment.


Now he does have redeeming virtues, but they really should barely count as virtues except that so many other owners are ever bigger jackasses.

* He does actually pay us.
* He takes us out to dinner periodically.
* He usually doesn't insult us to our faces.

So all in all, despite the fact that I'm being culturally insensitive, I think I can safely say he is a capital porker.

A New Chapter

Well, Corie left. We went up to Seoul this weekend to drop her off at Incheon for the horrendously long trip back to Halifax, via Tokyo and Newark.

We had a good day visiting Mark and Jen at their awesome new digs in Seoul. Although their apartment is a bit smaller than their last, it is nice and has an vastly more excellent view. Their jobs sound enviable. Normal hours, and basically only a couple of classes a day. Mark apparently plays badminton all afternoon.



Obviously it was difficult to say goodbye at the airport. Its really wrenching, even for an insensitive and emotionally stunted clod such as myself. Especially after this year of living together and going through so much in such a strange environment together. I don't know what to expect living alone here. Its going to be a bit lonely... I'll be banging around in that apartment all on my own. Not that it won't have fringe benefits like having a whole single bed to myself. Too bad this couldn't have been in the summer ;-)



Anyway, Candace and Tammy were also up in Seoul for the weekend, so we all kind of travelled around together. We went up the tallest building in Korea (the 63 building) and drank vastly over priced cocktails at the top overlooking the conglomeration of Seoul at night. We even managed to get lost in the subway again, even with local guides, maintaining my perfect record.

We also fooolishly didn't reserve tickets on the KTX on Sunday night, meaning we had to wait for ages for a train. Makes me thank our lucky stars when Corie and I lucked out on Canada Day, squeaking in on the two last tickets.