Second day of class went really well. My littlest class 'Galileo' has already started to take a shine to me. Even the really really new kid that only knows one word in english ('purple', he's loads of fun to ask philosophical questions to) and can't remember his english name yet seems to ignore me slightly less with each passing day. This was my first afternoon teaching at the elementary school and that went pretty well too. Especially considering I was given the wrong schedule by the teacher I'm replacing. Understandable oversight on his part, but it meant that the prep work I had done was actually for my thursday classes. So I had to wing it. I've surfed around on line for some games to do with classes and broke some of those out (as well as one game of my trusty 'hangman', man the kids are gonna get so sick of that one. Maybe next month we'll play 'gallows gentleman'). The regular classrom teacher sat in on my lessons and was gushing in her cure broken english way (and she's thier regular english teacher) abot how good I was doing.
During one of my periods I had to record some words for the teachers to use with thier classes while I'm not there and we ran into a little bit of a snag. Namely with the words apple, brown, about and the letter Z. The teachers were used to the american pronunciations and had no idea what I was saying when I spoke those words. Thats ridiculous, I don't have an accent! No doubt about it! Anyway I delivered those words in an exagerrated southern drawl which seemed to please them. but when I'm alone with the students don't you worry they aren't going to get any of that mush mouthed verbal diarrhea from south of the 49th. There are going to be a class full of korean kids that sound like drunken newfies and know how to make snowmen by the time I'm done with them.
I think the new teacher (matt's replacement) started today- I was busy with classes but I think I spied another waygook (foreigner) in the halls today. Its too bad that matt has already given me all of his teaching tools and promised me all of his old furniture already. Well not too bad for me obviously. For him. the other guy. If you want me to break that down anymore just email me. I don't know his name yet but patrick has exchanged some emails with him and says that he sounds like a surfer. In emails. Thats pretty sweet. This is his first time taching inKorea too so it looks like by the end of this week when Matt is gone I'll be the senior foreign teacher at the Hagwon, which is a little scary. But honestly I'll have only been here a week longer that New Guy, so we'll pretty much be in the same boat.
I still don't know how to work the washing machines and don't know when to put garbage out. I'm either going to figure at least one of those things out or learn to redefine my hygeine levels.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
First day of teaching
today was my official first day of teaching. It actually wasn't so bad. I mean it was horribly uncomfortable at times and I drew total blanks on what to say for minutes on end but it could have been worse. Now I'm a talktative guy, the proper term might be 'never shuts up' but when these kids are only going to understand the most basic things I say it becomes tough to fill the dead air in class. Its really all about the games. The instructional books here aren't very good and the kids will quickly get bored of them, add to that the fact that we are only supposed to do two pages out of each book each class and you've got a recipie for alot of dead time. "Look at the ball. Spell the ball. Do you like balls?" and then you have 35 minutes left to kill. So most of the teachers here create some educational games for the kids, of course the educational value can be very limited. The kids all love 'Memory' but have long since added the names of every card to thier vocabulary so they really aren't getting any english out of it. Anyway I'll figure it all out in time. I know that I killed the Hangman game today, did it in a bunch of classes because I had absolutely nothing else prepared. Theres a bunch of websites with other games that I'm gonna check out soon. Shoudl be able to squeak through another day or so by the skin of my teeth until I get a chance to organize stuff, and tha twill also give me a good idea of what I need to do.
Right now I'm just concentrating on learning everyone's name. I teach a bunch of different classes at different age groups and they've all been given English names while at the school to get them used to how english names sound (koreans dont use the letter v for instance). But they are named by the teachers and sometimes they are given strange ones, either unintentionally by thier Korean English teachers or intentionally by thier foriegn English teachers. I have guys named Valentine, Joy and a pair of twins named Rod and Todd. Its actually funnier when the kids get to name themselves, which is what happens at the elementary school I teach at on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have a class full of girls named Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and every other disney character you could think of. Its very tough to chastise Cinderella without smirking.
I did my first workout at my new gym today. I suppose its passable, I'll be able to get in decent workouts as long as the weight area doesn't get crowded. Cardio is much more popular here and they have a tonne of machines for that. However they have only one squat rack, which is never a good sign, and yes some guy was doing curls in there. It felt good to work out a bit but I was too tired to do anything extravagant, I was wearing my dress shoes all day today and my dogs are beat. They're good shoes but just not meant for a whole day of walking and standing. I dressed up a bit today because I met my boss for the first time and wanted to make a good impression. And now I will just let my appearance slip until I show up to work in some dirty boxers. honestly though there is no dress code and I'll dress somewhat professionally for my own sake of mind. Paint stained t-shirts and flip flops seem to be staples for the other teachers.
I didn't get a chance to talk to the director about my apartment, but the other foreign teacher there Matt (patrick work fors the school but doesn't teach in the building) asked about it on my behalf and it really seems like nothing is going to happen. Which is fine, I like the area I'm in and the apartment can be fixed up to liveable standards. And honestly I hope to be going out and exploring the city every chance I get so maybe not having a kicking pad will make me less of a homebody. Matt is giving me a bunch of his old stuff since he's moving, a table, desk, nightstand, drying rack etc.. its super nice of him. Probably save me at least a hundred bucks if not more. Money I will likely put to buying a combo range/toaster oven I saw at E-mart yesterday.
Anyway you can probably tell by the lacky of jokey-jokey in this entry that I'm dog tired, so I should probably sign off and get my food ready for tomorrow. The school provides me with a lunch that isn't that bad, as long as I supplement some protein and eat some fruit instead of the rice (Atkins forever!)
You stay classy San Diego.
Right now I'm just concentrating on learning everyone's name. I teach a bunch of different classes at different age groups and they've all been given English names while at the school to get them used to how english names sound (koreans dont use the letter v for instance). But they are named by the teachers and sometimes they are given strange ones, either unintentionally by thier Korean English teachers or intentionally by thier foriegn English teachers. I have guys named Valentine, Joy and a pair of twins named Rod and Todd. Its actually funnier when the kids get to name themselves, which is what happens at the elementary school I teach at on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have a class full of girls named Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and every other disney character you could think of. Its very tough to chastise Cinderella without smirking.
I did my first workout at my new gym today. I suppose its passable, I'll be able to get in decent workouts as long as the weight area doesn't get crowded. Cardio is much more popular here and they have a tonne of machines for that. However they have only one squat rack, which is never a good sign, and yes some guy was doing curls in there. It felt good to work out a bit but I was too tired to do anything extravagant, I was wearing my dress shoes all day today and my dogs are beat. They're good shoes but just not meant for a whole day of walking and standing. I dressed up a bit today because I met my boss for the first time and wanted to make a good impression. And now I will just let my appearance slip until I show up to work in some dirty boxers. honestly though there is no dress code and I'll dress somewhat professionally for my own sake of mind. Paint stained t-shirts and flip flops seem to be staples for the other teachers.
I didn't get a chance to talk to the director about my apartment, but the other foreign teacher there Matt (patrick work fors the school but doesn't teach in the building) asked about it on my behalf and it really seems like nothing is going to happen. Which is fine, I like the area I'm in and the apartment can be fixed up to liveable standards. And honestly I hope to be going out and exploring the city every chance I get so maybe not having a kicking pad will make me less of a homebody. Matt is giving me a bunch of his old stuff since he's moving, a table, desk, nightstand, drying rack etc.. its super nice of him. Probably save me at least a hundred bucks if not more. Money I will likely put to buying a combo range/toaster oven I saw at E-mart yesterday.
Anyway you can probably tell by the lacky of jokey-jokey in this entry that I'm dog tired, so I should probably sign off and get my food ready for tomorrow. The school provides me with a lunch that isn't that bad, as long as I supplement some protein and eat some fruit instead of the rice (Atkins forever!)
You stay classy San Diego.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Happy Halloween
Yep last night there were halloween celebrations at some bars and clubs in the city.
I spent the day getting aclimatized to my area abit, went to a local dollar store and bought some essentials for my place. I went to a street market and had an old lady fleece me on some veggies. I paid almost ten bucks for some apples, yams and brocolli. I was convinced that produce must be super-expensive here. Walking back to my place I bought some bananas from a guy on the street, seeing that they were only a buck and thought that at least I could get a not too horrible deal on that. I gave the dude the money and he filled a bag with a bunch of bananas. I mean a freaking tonne. There must have been well over a dozen on the bunch and then he threw like 5 more loose ones in the bag. Holy Schnikies!
So if anyone is in the busan area anytime soon swing by my place andI'll hook you up with a frozen banana, I've got a few to spare.
I had picked up some dish soap and some scrub pads so I could do dishes and ended up using those two things to clean my entire apartment. Started with just wiping down the counter and it snowballed. So now my place is actaully clean (ish) and smelling faintly of pomegranate. The place actually doesn't look too bad now, I'm considering staying there.
I joined a gym in a building that is about one minute from my front door, which was an adventure in communications. My Korean needs a lot of work, but in the end I got a membership. Or agreed to marry the owner's daughter. I'm not sure which. Gym looks decent enough for my uses, and there's a sauna included in membership that takes up the entire top floor of the building that is supposed to be sweet. fountains and stuff.
I ran into Patrick on the street, easy enough bloke to find. Long haired, white and six foot something. We caught a cultural festival in the city hall park. Not sure what it was about, maybe halloween, there were some people dressed like spiderman and batman entertaining the kids. but there was also traditional dance and music. Patrick bought me a local drink. Some kind of sweet beverage sweetened with rice, it was very sweet, and had sugary rice floating in it. Koreans seem to like any non-alcholic beverage to be instantly cavity inducing. Right now in the internet cafe I'm having the first black coffee I've had here in busan. With crap like this I understand why they fill it with milk and sugar. Of course at ten cents a cup I'm getting ready for my third.
I had very vague plans to meet up with Julian at a western bar called Ol' 55, for halloween. But of course neither of us having phones made it very easy for me to miss him; which I did. The bar was in a different part of town, Patrick had given me directions. I got lost. His directions were great, but much like exceptioinally dull children I sometimes confuse my left and rights. Luckily by making two lefts instead of two rights i still ended up in the proper place. Somebody up there likes me. Not enough to give me basic navigatoinal skills, but enough.
My costume consisted of a pair of groucho glasses I picked up that afternoon. I usually break out all the stops with halloween but I didn't have my f/x makeup kit on me from university- and in any case only pockets of the population celebrate the night and I didn't want to ride the subway looking too odd. The bar was filled with mostly white people, it was my first real western bar experience here. Well mostly western, the Konglish version of a kinda divey music bar. There was a Korean band playing nirvana and sublime covers, with only a loose phonetic grasp on the lyrics. The costumes there were decent enough, but much like haloween nights back home in bars that aren't absolutely wild it wasn't all that exciting. I stayed for a bit, shared a few pints with a finnish engineer named Tom and headed home. the subways stop running early so I took a cab home but couldn't get the driver to understand whereI wanted to go, despite knowing the word in korean and pointing at it on a map. i settled for getting dropped off at my hagwon (english school) and hoofing it back.
Today is my first sunday here and my last day before starting teaching. I'm gonna prep some stuff for class, try to buy a foreman grill and a toaster oven but just lie low for the most part tonight. I think a quiet night in might be good before my first week of work.
So anyway until next time; keep your stick on the ice.
I spent the day getting aclimatized to my area abit, went to a local dollar store and bought some essentials for my place. I went to a street market and had an old lady fleece me on some veggies. I paid almost ten bucks for some apples, yams and brocolli. I was convinced that produce must be super-expensive here. Walking back to my place I bought some bananas from a guy on the street, seeing that they were only a buck and thought that at least I could get a not too horrible deal on that. I gave the dude the money and he filled a bag with a bunch of bananas. I mean a freaking tonne. There must have been well over a dozen on the bunch and then he threw like 5 more loose ones in the bag. Holy Schnikies!
So if anyone is in the busan area anytime soon swing by my place andI'll hook you up with a frozen banana, I've got a few to spare.
I had picked up some dish soap and some scrub pads so I could do dishes and ended up using those two things to clean my entire apartment. Started with just wiping down the counter and it snowballed. So now my place is actaully clean (ish) and smelling faintly of pomegranate. The place actually doesn't look too bad now, I'm considering staying there.
I joined a gym in a building that is about one minute from my front door, which was an adventure in communications. My Korean needs a lot of work, but in the end I got a membership. Or agreed to marry the owner's daughter. I'm not sure which. Gym looks decent enough for my uses, and there's a sauna included in membership that takes up the entire top floor of the building that is supposed to be sweet. fountains and stuff.
I ran into Patrick on the street, easy enough bloke to find. Long haired, white and six foot something. We caught a cultural festival in the city hall park. Not sure what it was about, maybe halloween, there were some people dressed like spiderman and batman entertaining the kids. but there was also traditional dance and music. Patrick bought me a local drink. Some kind of sweet beverage sweetened with rice, it was very sweet, and had sugary rice floating in it. Koreans seem to like any non-alcholic beverage to be instantly cavity inducing. Right now in the internet cafe I'm having the first black coffee I've had here in busan. With crap like this I understand why they fill it with milk and sugar. Of course at ten cents a cup I'm getting ready for my third.
I had very vague plans to meet up with Julian at a western bar called Ol' 55, for halloween. But of course neither of us having phones made it very easy for me to miss him; which I did. The bar was in a different part of town, Patrick had given me directions. I got lost. His directions were great, but much like exceptioinally dull children I sometimes confuse my left and rights. Luckily by making two lefts instead of two rights i still ended up in the proper place. Somebody up there likes me. Not enough to give me basic navigatoinal skills, but enough.
My costume consisted of a pair of groucho glasses I picked up that afternoon. I usually break out all the stops with halloween but I didn't have my f/x makeup kit on me from university- and in any case only pockets of the population celebrate the night and I didn't want to ride the subway looking too odd. The bar was filled with mostly white people, it was my first real western bar experience here. Well mostly western, the Konglish version of a kinda divey music bar. There was a Korean band playing nirvana and sublime covers, with only a loose phonetic grasp on the lyrics. The costumes there were decent enough, but much like haloween nights back home in bars that aren't absolutely wild it wasn't all that exciting. I stayed for a bit, shared a few pints with a finnish engineer named Tom and headed home. the subways stop running early so I took a cab home but couldn't get the driver to understand whereI wanted to go, despite knowing the word in korean and pointing at it on a map. i settled for getting dropped off at my hagwon (english school) and hoofing it back.
Today is my first sunday here and my last day before starting teaching. I'm gonna prep some stuff for class, try to buy a foreman grill and a toaster oven but just lie low for the most part tonight. I think a quiet night in might be good before my first week of work.
So anyway until next time; keep your stick on the ice.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Trip to Japan
Hey all, got back from my trip to japan to get my visa yesterday and had a great time. I took lots of pictures but have no way of getting them online until I get my laptop hooked up to the net. So I'll describe the trip as best I can and post the pics later.
I took a cab for the first time ever here on Thursday to the port, and grabbed a ferry to Japan. I met a few other foreigners going on thier visa trips too: Ben; a young british guy, Julian; an older Brit and Andrew a young American. Ben warned me off of the shitty coffee they were selling at the little restaurant there. He told me it tasted horrible and cost a fortune. It was almost like he read my mind b/c I was jonsing for a coffee bad. I hadn't slept too soundly the night before because of the jet lag and hadn't had a good coffee since I left canada. So I settled on a can of Nescafe from a vending machine cause (yep a can of coffee) it was cheap and black. It turns out it is also served ice cold and sweeter than hell. Well ont o the ferry I went.
I've seen my share of wacky japanese television back in North America and was wondering how odd the country would be. The movie they were playing on the ferry however was Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate factory- a psychedelic mess that proves when push comes to shove no one can out-crazy americans. The trip was fairly uneventful, the ocean view gets fairly boring ater a few minutes.
We got into Fukuoka Japan and decided to split a cab to the Korean consulate so we could drop our passports off for the visa and enjoy the rest of the day. Cabs are ultra expensive in Japan but split four ways it turned out to be cheaper than the bus ride and a lot less confusing. The consulate was on luch by the time we got there so we had an hour and a half to kill at the mall next door. We stopped into a 'Family Mart' which I would like to call Asia's version of 7-11s, but they have those as well. It was here that I spied one of the 'englishisms' that I have enjoyed so much here; translations that don't work out so great. This time it was a can of chocolates that said : "TRY MY LOVE, ITS WORTH IT!". I've also seen a cartoon sun on a girl's pencil case that said "I PREY FOR YOU!".
We then went to a coffee shop called the "HERO CAFE" and I had a coffee that lived up to the "GOOD TASTE COFFEE" slogan on its side. We saw some pretty OC looking americans wandering the mall and tried to make nice but they weren't especially friendly. We all stifled a 'fucking americans' exclamation for the ake of Andrew. The consulate soon opened and we were among about a dozen other visa seekers. Some friendly like the guys I was with, some not so much. they were from all over Korea but mostly Busan and Souel. After the application process and dropping our visa off to be picked up the next day we headed back to the hotel. Andrew was staying at a different one but we met another american named ally at the bus stop.
We got off in the downtown and had a surprisingly eventful walk to the hotel. Fukuoka looks like Yorkville only bigger. The guys and I played a quick game of curling that was set up in front of an office building on some astroturf, there was a camera crew there so we think it was for some news show or something. We also met a small pony some guy had on the street. Wow those last two things could really use some pictures. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel the two brits led us in a search for a bar. we settled for food first and hit a small noodle bar with some sweet old ladies behind the counter, and lots of pornographic magazines under the counter. Japan is weird. I hear that men read those thing while riding on the subway in japan.
Afterwards we continued the bar hunt. I wasn't really dying for a pint but the fact that no one knew where we were going turned it into a nice walking tour of the city. In korea a bar at 4pm is easy, in japan we kept on getting told to come back at 8. We accidentally walked in to a gay bar called g-hard, but honestly if they were serving yet we would have stayed. We made reservations at a bar called "The Happy Cock", and killed time at some after work bar for buisnessmen until that opened. Ally got drunk after one pint there and went back to hotel while we went to the 'cock.
The happy cock had an 'all you can eat/ all you can drink all nite' deal for the early birds for 1000 yen (roughly $10). Unfortunately when I got my wristband they forgot to take my money. Now knowing how much the Japanese pride themselves on efficency I thought it best just to quietly accept it rather than point out the oversight. The bar was nice, the food wasn't the best though. Pizza, fries, donuts and cookies for the most part. The bar got fairly busy, we ran into some other visa runners, and listened to bad american music from a long time ago (kriss kross will make you jump jump). Julian and Ben took turns trying to hit on the smoking hot japanese bartender, while I fed free beers to some guy from PEI I met there who didn't have a wristband. I probably only hadfour or five beers total, but the bartender must have I thoughtI had at least twice that. There was a black guy at the bar selling his rap CDs, he called himself Black Eyez. I told him I'd buy one if I had any cash left after my drinking, which he seemed to buy even though I had a visible wristband. At about 130am we decided to get going, Ben made a last ditch effort for the bartender's digits which he got. Although he was not looking too smooth at that point and i wonder if that was actually her number. Ben Julian and the PEI guy headed down to another bar called FUBAR while I went home. I was tired and frankly had had enough exictement for one day. Most other people on thier visa run had been in korea for weeks at least, so I was the only jet lagged one.
It was about 2:30 am when I got to sleep and woke up promptly at 4:30 am like I had been for the past few nights. Which is strange because 330 in the afternoon has no special meaning for me back home. Normally I would get back to sleep eventually but that night I couldn't. By about 6am I was getting hungry and new that I had a free breakfast buffet included with my trip that opened at 7am. So I took a shower and had a really nice breakfast. Many cups of coffee, some really lean sausage and bacon, some japanese seaweed food, some good fish, some pancakes (just so I could eat them with chopsticks) and tons of pineapple and fruit. I ate and drank coffee for over an hour, and was the only visa guy in the hotel up at all.
I went for a little walk around town and met up with Julian and Ally and waited until it was time to go pick up our visas. We also waited for Ben who didn't get into the lobby until about ten minutes after checkout. He and Julian had went to about three bars after Happy Cock and finaly got kicked out at five am. We went back to the consualte, picked up our visas and explored the tourist area near the basbal staium for a bit. they had hundreds of bronze cast hands on display of famous people that had visited the stadium for concerts etc. Once again damn pictures would be handy.
Well I'm getting damn tired of writing so suffice to say I got back to Busan safe, had a great ime in Japan (wish it wasn;t se expensive though) and might meet up with Julian at a bar in Busan tonight for Halloween. Didn;t think to bring a costume so I might try to cobble something together today. But this is my first weekend before worka nd I have a lot of stuff to buy/do. I'll check inwhen I can and hopefully put some pics up soon.
Oh yeah can;t figure out how to run spellcheck with this korean OS and don't have time to proofread so deal with it.
I took a cab for the first time ever here on Thursday to the port, and grabbed a ferry to Japan. I met a few other foreigners going on thier visa trips too: Ben; a young british guy, Julian; an older Brit and Andrew a young American. Ben warned me off of the shitty coffee they were selling at the little restaurant there. He told me it tasted horrible and cost a fortune. It was almost like he read my mind b/c I was jonsing for a coffee bad. I hadn't slept too soundly the night before because of the jet lag and hadn't had a good coffee since I left canada. So I settled on a can of Nescafe from a vending machine cause (yep a can of coffee) it was cheap and black. It turns out it is also served ice cold and sweeter than hell. Well ont o the ferry I went.
I've seen my share of wacky japanese television back in North America and was wondering how odd the country would be. The movie they were playing on the ferry however was Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate factory- a psychedelic mess that proves when push comes to shove no one can out-crazy americans. The trip was fairly uneventful, the ocean view gets fairly boring ater a few minutes.
We got into Fukuoka Japan and decided to split a cab to the Korean consulate so we could drop our passports off for the visa and enjoy the rest of the day. Cabs are ultra expensive in Japan but split four ways it turned out to be cheaper than the bus ride and a lot less confusing. The consulate was on luch by the time we got there so we had an hour and a half to kill at the mall next door. We stopped into a 'Family Mart' which I would like to call Asia's version of 7-11s, but they have those as well. It was here that I spied one of the 'englishisms' that I have enjoyed so much here; translations that don't work out so great. This time it was a can of chocolates that said : "TRY MY LOVE, ITS WORTH IT!". I've also seen a cartoon sun on a girl's pencil case that said "I PREY FOR YOU!".
We then went to a coffee shop called the "HERO CAFE" and I had a coffee that lived up to the "GOOD TASTE COFFEE" slogan on its side. We saw some pretty OC looking americans wandering the mall and tried to make nice but they weren't especially friendly. We all stifled a 'fucking americans' exclamation for the ake of Andrew. The consulate soon opened and we were among about a dozen other visa seekers. Some friendly like the guys I was with, some not so much. they were from all over Korea but mostly Busan and Souel. After the application process and dropping our visa off to be picked up the next day we headed back to the hotel. Andrew was staying at a different one but we met another american named ally at the bus stop.
We got off in the downtown and had a surprisingly eventful walk to the hotel. Fukuoka looks like Yorkville only bigger. The guys and I played a quick game of curling that was set up in front of an office building on some astroturf, there was a camera crew there so we think it was for some news show or something. We also met a small pony some guy had on the street. Wow those last two things could really use some pictures. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel the two brits led us in a search for a bar. we settled for food first and hit a small noodle bar with some sweet old ladies behind the counter, and lots of pornographic magazines under the counter. Japan is weird. I hear that men read those thing while riding on the subway in japan.
Afterwards we continued the bar hunt. I wasn't really dying for a pint but the fact that no one knew where we were going turned it into a nice walking tour of the city. In korea a bar at 4pm is easy, in japan we kept on getting told to come back at 8. We accidentally walked in to a gay bar called g-hard, but honestly if they were serving yet we would have stayed. We made reservations at a bar called "The Happy Cock", and killed time at some after work bar for buisnessmen until that opened. Ally got drunk after one pint there and went back to hotel while we went to the 'cock.
The happy cock had an 'all you can eat/ all you can drink all nite' deal for the early birds for 1000 yen (roughly $10). Unfortunately when I got my wristband they forgot to take my money. Now knowing how much the Japanese pride themselves on efficency I thought it best just to quietly accept it rather than point out the oversight. The bar was nice, the food wasn't the best though. Pizza, fries, donuts and cookies for the most part. The bar got fairly busy, we ran into some other visa runners, and listened to bad american music from a long time ago (kriss kross will make you jump jump). Julian and Ben took turns trying to hit on the smoking hot japanese bartender, while I fed free beers to some guy from PEI I met there who didn't have a wristband. I probably only hadfour or five beers total, but the bartender must have I thoughtI had at least twice that. There was a black guy at the bar selling his rap CDs, he called himself Black Eyez. I told him I'd buy one if I had any cash left after my drinking, which he seemed to buy even though I had a visible wristband. At about 130am we decided to get going, Ben made a last ditch effort for the bartender's digits which he got. Although he was not looking too smooth at that point and i wonder if that was actually her number. Ben Julian and the PEI guy headed down to another bar called FUBAR while I went home. I was tired and frankly had had enough exictement for one day. Most other people on thier visa run had been in korea for weeks at least, so I was the only jet lagged one.
It was about 2:30 am when I got to sleep and woke up promptly at 4:30 am like I had been for the past few nights. Which is strange because 330 in the afternoon has no special meaning for me back home. Normally I would get back to sleep eventually but that night I couldn't. By about 6am I was getting hungry and new that I had a free breakfast buffet included with my trip that opened at 7am. So I took a shower and had a really nice breakfast. Many cups of coffee, some really lean sausage and bacon, some japanese seaweed food, some good fish, some pancakes (just so I could eat them with chopsticks) and tons of pineapple and fruit. I ate and drank coffee for over an hour, and was the only visa guy in the hotel up at all.
I went for a little walk around town and met up with Julian and Ally and waited until it was time to go pick up our visas. We also waited for Ben who didn't get into the lobby until about ten minutes after checkout. He and Julian had went to about three bars after Happy Cock and finaly got kicked out at five am. We went back to the consualte, picked up our visas and explored the tourist area near the basbal staium for a bit. they had hundreds of bronze cast hands on display of famous people that had visited the stadium for concerts etc. Once again damn pictures would be handy.
Well I'm getting damn tired of writing so suffice to say I got back to Busan safe, had a great ime in Japan (wish it wasn;t se expensive though) and might meet up with Julian at a bar in Busan tonight for Halloween. Didn;t think to bring a costume so I might try to cobble something together today. But this is my first weekend before worka nd I have a lot of stuff to buy/do. I'll check inwhen I can and hopefully put some pics up soon.
Oh yeah can;t figure out how to run spellcheck with this korean OS and don't have time to proofread so deal with it.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Day 2 I suppose
Its really tough to tell how long I've been here with the time zone changes and everything, but I think this is my second day. In any case I've had a good day, got to see a lot more of the city and figured out how to get to my work and home by foot.
Last night when I got home one of my fellow teachers that happens to live in the apartment next to me took me out downtown for some barbequed pork, squid pizza and couple of drinks. He took me downtown on his motorcycle which was a bit of a trip in itself. Whatever few traffic laws the average Korean driver follows a motorcyclist does his best to break. So after quite a few red lights and sharp turns we ended up downtown. Downtown Busan is quite a sight, on a tuesday night it was as busy as a toronto friday night and much better lit. Patrick took me to a korean barbeque house for dinner as I had mentioned that generally what I like to eat is meat veggies and fruit. This place did satisfy two of those menu items although I suppose I'm giong to have to get used to fatty cuts of pork when people say 'meat'. Not the broiled chicken breast or extra lena beef I'm used to. i had some kimchee and can say that I wil probably get used to it but as of now it doesn't agree with me too much. I also had a shot of the infamous korean liqour soju. I don't do the straight liquor so much anymore but it tasted to me like a really light whiskey. It would be fairly easy to get completely wasted on it. We grabbed some squid pizza on the street afterwards, and then after walking around found a bar (there are lots) and stopped in for a pint each. It was a slightly 'western bar' which basically means that it looks alot like a bar back home. I had hoegarden while the bartenders asked patrick and I all sorts of questoins. Patrick has been in Korea about six months but has already picked up a lot of the language so he was acting as translator/ guide for the night. the most common questions the bartenders were asking were my age, my name, where I'm from and whether i have a girlfriend. Funny thing about ages here, since they start counting it at conception and with the different new year everyone basically adds a year to thier age. So I introduce myself as 27, and doing so makes me feel ever so old. I'm really going to have to pick up a lot more of the language to even have any semblance of getting by here. in any case Patrick went a long way to making me feel settled here. Getting to know some people here has helped me
Oh and before anyone rags on my spelling in this thing just keep in mind that these computers present everywebpage in korean so spellchecks are impossible buttons to find. Add to this that these computers also have extra keys on them in the strangest places and you've got a recipe for typos.
Well I had another day shadowing Jarod at the school, which will be my last day of training before tkaingover his classes on Monday. I'll be spending the next two days making a trip to Japan to get my work visa and coming back. It should be a long boring boatride followed by getting lost in a small japanese city. I do get a free night in a hotel and free breakfast though. I might get a few hours to look around but from what I've heard there isn't really much chance to enjoy yourself too much. Not being at the school on friday means that I'll miss thier halloween party, whcih is too bad. Korea doesn't really celebrate halloween but places like the english school I'm at try to push western culture on the kids. There should be some halloween stuff going on downtown at the western bars, which I might check out.
Its a little strange with my apartment right now, I could do a bit to make it more liveable but I sdon;t want to bother too much if I'll be moving next week. I won;t find anything definite out until monday when I meet the school director, but I've seen Jarod's apartment now and I know that it would be a step up.
I want to start making my own food and start up at a gym real soon. Things like that will just help normalize things a lot for me. I've located two gyms that I'll check out after I get back from Japan andI'll probably try to do some real shopping over the weekend to get all the little things I know I'll need.
Well I have to get up really early for my visa run so I think I'll sign off. Internet cafes are super cheap here but I would still like my own computer going.
Last night when I got home one of my fellow teachers that happens to live in the apartment next to me took me out downtown for some barbequed pork, squid pizza and couple of drinks. He took me downtown on his motorcycle which was a bit of a trip in itself. Whatever few traffic laws the average Korean driver follows a motorcyclist does his best to break. So after quite a few red lights and sharp turns we ended up downtown. Downtown Busan is quite a sight, on a tuesday night it was as busy as a toronto friday night and much better lit. Patrick took me to a korean barbeque house for dinner as I had mentioned that generally what I like to eat is meat veggies and fruit. This place did satisfy two of those menu items although I suppose I'm giong to have to get used to fatty cuts of pork when people say 'meat'. Not the broiled chicken breast or extra lena beef I'm used to. i had some kimchee and can say that I wil probably get used to it but as of now it doesn't agree with me too much. I also had a shot of the infamous korean liqour soju. I don't do the straight liquor so much anymore but it tasted to me like a really light whiskey. It would be fairly easy to get completely wasted on it. We grabbed some squid pizza on the street afterwards, and then after walking around found a bar (there are lots) and stopped in for a pint each. It was a slightly 'western bar' which basically means that it looks alot like a bar back home. I had hoegarden while the bartenders asked patrick and I all sorts of questoins. Patrick has been in Korea about six months but has already picked up a lot of the language so he was acting as translator/ guide for the night. the most common questions the bartenders were asking were my age, my name, where I'm from and whether i have a girlfriend. Funny thing about ages here, since they start counting it at conception and with the different new year everyone basically adds a year to thier age. So I introduce myself as 27, and doing so makes me feel ever so old. I'm really going to have to pick up a lot more of the language to even have any semblance of getting by here. in any case Patrick went a long way to making me feel settled here. Getting to know some people here has helped me
Oh and before anyone rags on my spelling in this thing just keep in mind that these computers present everywebpage in korean so spellchecks are impossible buttons to find. Add to this that these computers also have extra keys on them in the strangest places and you've got a recipe for typos.
Well I had another day shadowing Jarod at the school, which will be my last day of training before tkaingover his classes on Monday. I'll be spending the next two days making a trip to Japan to get my work visa and coming back. It should be a long boring boatride followed by getting lost in a small japanese city. I do get a free night in a hotel and free breakfast though. I might get a few hours to look around but from what I've heard there isn't really much chance to enjoy yourself too much. Not being at the school on friday means that I'll miss thier halloween party, whcih is too bad. Korea doesn't really celebrate halloween but places like the english school I'm at try to push western culture on the kids. There should be some halloween stuff going on downtown at the western bars, which I might check out.
Its a little strange with my apartment right now, I could do a bit to make it more liveable but I sdon;t want to bother too much if I'll be moving next week. I won;t find anything definite out until monday when I meet the school director, but I've seen Jarod's apartment now and I know that it would be a step up.
I want to start making my own food and start up at a gym real soon. Things like that will just help normalize things a lot for me. I've located two gyms that I'll check out after I get back from Japan andI'll probably try to do some real shopping over the weekend to get all the little things I know I'll need.
Well I have to get up really early for my visa run so I think I'll sign off. Internet cafes are super cheap here but I would still like my own computer going.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
First day
Well I think I've officially been in Korea 24 hours now and I have gone through quite the rollercoaster of emotions since getting here. And we're talking a scary rollercoaster here, not like the ghoster-coaster or anything. Fine I did cry my first time on the Ghoster Coaster, but I was eight and a pussy to boot.
When I got here last night and saw my apartment I almost had a relapse to crying eight year old Kevin. Its small, on the ground floot and only has a kitchenette. the stress of the flight, coupled with the lack of sleep had put me in a fragile emotional state and when I did get to sleep all I wanted was to wake up in canada. Funnily enough when I woke up in the morning the placement of the window and shape of the room made me think that I was there for half a second. It was kinda like when you think you see a dollar lying in the street but upon closer inpection it turns out to be a rock.
I woke up this morning not knowing when I was being picked up to go to the school so I wandered a very little around my new neighbourhood. I bought a bottle of water at the corner store. to me this was a great accomplishment, because my korean is still in its fetal stages and not many people here speak that great of english. So I scurried home and drank my water. I was afraid to tread too far away from my place in fear that I wouldn't be able to find my way back.
I shadowed the teacher I'm replacing today and got a feel for the classes. It seems to be pretty simple, the actaul lesson plan takes no time at all to do. the real challenge is keeping them behaved and entertained for the whole class. but out of everything here so far the teaching itself seems like the easiest part.
there are some things stressing the hell out of me, like trying to figure out how to get to the schools I teach at. I'm not within walking distance and bus routes are not intuitive.
The biggest source of stress right now is my apartment which I've let them know I am not happy with. I won't be talking to the boss until monday, the only one that can switch me to another place, but so far it looks hopeful that I'll be able to switch into one of the places that a leaving teacher is vacating.
so right now the general mood is less being attacked by a shark and more being attacked by a badger. Still scary but maybe a bit more of a fair fight.
I've got to go to japan later this week to get my working visa, which should be an adventure. A long boat ride and a lot of complicated directions is what it looks like. I'll probably get a few hours for sightseeing but theres really too much to do.
So I'll update when I can with more about the actaul classes and kids and stuff. And any anecdotes I can think of. Such as the secretary of this school told me this mornign that I look like Tom Cruise. I don't think news of his craziness has really hit here so that was actually meant as a bit of a compliment. Now aside from my height I don;t think I could look less like tom cruise than any other white guy (heck there are black guys that pull it off more than me) but its a funny little bit of culture shock.
Its about 7pm here and I feel ready to go to sleep, I guess the jet lag is catching up me.
When I got here last night and saw my apartment I almost had a relapse to crying eight year old Kevin. Its small, on the ground floot and only has a kitchenette. the stress of the flight, coupled with the lack of sleep had put me in a fragile emotional state and when I did get to sleep all I wanted was to wake up in canada. Funnily enough when I woke up in the morning the placement of the window and shape of the room made me think that I was there for half a second. It was kinda like when you think you see a dollar lying in the street but upon closer inpection it turns out to be a rock.
I woke up this morning not knowing when I was being picked up to go to the school so I wandered a very little around my new neighbourhood. I bought a bottle of water at the corner store. to me this was a great accomplishment, because my korean is still in its fetal stages and not many people here speak that great of english. So I scurried home and drank my water. I was afraid to tread too far away from my place in fear that I wouldn't be able to find my way back.
I shadowed the teacher I'm replacing today and got a feel for the classes. It seems to be pretty simple, the actaul lesson plan takes no time at all to do. the real challenge is keeping them behaved and entertained for the whole class. but out of everything here so far the teaching itself seems like the easiest part.
there are some things stressing the hell out of me, like trying to figure out how to get to the schools I teach at. I'm not within walking distance and bus routes are not intuitive.
The biggest source of stress right now is my apartment which I've let them know I am not happy with. I won't be talking to the boss until monday, the only one that can switch me to another place, but so far it looks hopeful that I'll be able to switch into one of the places that a leaving teacher is vacating.
so right now the general mood is less being attacked by a shark and more being attacked by a badger. Still scary but maybe a bit more of a fair fight.
I've got to go to japan later this week to get my working visa, which should be an adventure. A long boat ride and a lot of complicated directions is what it looks like. I'll probably get a few hours for sightseeing but theres really too much to do.
So I'll update when I can with more about the actaul classes and kids and stuff. And any anecdotes I can think of. Such as the secretary of this school told me this mornign that I look like Tom Cruise. I don't think news of his craziness has really hit here so that was actually meant as a bit of a compliment. Now aside from my height I don;t think I could look less like tom cruise than any other white guy (heck there are black guys that pull it off more than me) but its a funny little bit of culture shock.
Its about 7pm here and I feel ready to go to sleep, I guess the jet lag is catching up me.
Monday, October 23, 2006
almost there...
well, not geographically. I'm actually in chicago right now with another half hour until i board for the fourteen hour flight over the ocean. Its been a crazy day so far with me waking up late having to rush to airport and undergo my first plane ride ever on three hours of sleep.
I had a really good last day in canada. talked to a couple of really good friends on the phone, met up with my friend les for a few hours, and got to hang out with my girlfriend heather for a few hours and go to dinner with her.
I'm gonna miss lots of stuff in canada but she is definitely topping the list right now. its been the greatest relationship ive ever been in, we've been togethe a year and we're going strong. my job my friends, toronto I'll miss but she's special. anyway not to get weepy but it will be very different not seeing her for a whole year. but the time apart could be great for us. I need time to grow and become a better person, and thats so tought to do when I'm around her. cause when we're together things already seem really great and the motivatoin to better myself is small.
anyway yeah I'm scared shitless right now. don;t know what korea will be like. don't know if I'm gonna have a hlaf assed night's sleep and then start work the next day. but its an adventure. as my brother says, it'll rattle my cage a bit. and that is what I need. something on my resume besides a theatre degree and three years as a personal trainer might be good too.
anyway goodbye heather, I'll see you real soon.
Friday, October 20, 2006
The Stress begins..... Now!
Okay I just got the info on my flight, I have two days left in Canada then I'm gone. I think I'm pretty much just about ready. I still have to finish packing and pick up some gifts. Its customary to bring a gift for my new boss, not really sure what to get. Apparently a nice jar of Maple Syrup is a popular choice, although I think years of Canadians coming to Korea has dulled the shine of that gift. Maybe a bottle of Crown Royale, Koreans do likey to drink. Any other suggestions?
The pic here is kinda my good bye to Canada, and this is just about the purdiest pic I had of our country. And this isn't some stock photo stuff , my girlfriend took this pic when we were up at her step-dad's island on Lake Temagami. Yep he owns the island. He's wealthy. As Chris rock puts it: "Shaquille O'Neal is rich, the guy that signs his paycheck is wealthy." Canada is a beatiful country and I love it to death, but much like a lot of things in my life I have to leave it behind for a little bit. But don't worry I'll be back.
Anyhoo I'll try to update again before I go but right now i gotta get busy procrastinating packing.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
No I haven't left yet...
To the best of my knowledge I will be leaving for Busan sometime this weekend, although I haven't heard any specific flight info yet. This is torture, I'm no good without deadlines. If I knew my flight left on Friday no probs, I'd pack, do my banking stuff tie up all my loose ends and presto: productive Kevin. Since I have no deadlines I find myself hesitating on doing any of that stuff just yet. Well I'll find out when I find out, and I can;t use not knowing as an excuse not to be productive I guess. One of the reasons I'm taking this job is to get myself on a regular work schedule again. I've had way too much free time over the past few years and I'm hoping my upcoming lack of such will actually motivate me to do something productive with what little I end up with.
Oh and a note to those who are wondering about the 'kimchi' thing in the title: Kimchi is a very popular dish in Korea and is made out of pickled cabbage. I cannot eat cabbage. I'd rather sit down to a fear factor buffet of road apples and smegma than eat cabbage rolls. I have found myself unable to kiss my extremely kissable girlfriend after she eats cabbage. When I was a young boy I was once hit in the head with a cabbage patch kid (they had very hard heads). So really this trip is gonna be a knock down, drag out battle between me and the cabbage. Which is of course allegorical to the titanic struggle betwix good and evil. You can all vote on which one I represent.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Insert Blog Here
Well I'm gonna keep this blog to keep everyone interested updated on every cool thing that happens to me in Korea. I'll start posting for real when I have anything actually interesting to write. Okay? Okay.
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