Korea Life Blog - Blah

The only thing I've had anything of interest to write about lately is Windy. I updated that section again tonight.

Tomorrow night is club night in Seoul. I will be at the various clubs, Hodgepodge, Matmata, etc. I'm looking forward to a fun night out. I need to have a good time. Anyone who wants to meet, let me know.

Korea Life Blog - Spin Off

Windy and the Adult Class

Thanks to the comments and several e-mails, I decided to make a spinoff page for Windy and the adult class.

Korea Life Blog - Windy (3)

Nothing at all interesting to report today. The only thing of note was the "Adult" class, or should I call it, Windy's Therapy session. I REALLY wish I had a digital recorder tonight. Someone please let me borrow theirs!

She told me about her religion. She's Catholic. While this is so, she had no idea who "Jesus" is (in Korean or English) and she pronounced God as Gote (granted she knew His name at least, Hana Nim). Anyway, she only goes to Church twice a year. Christmas and:

Her: You know. The egg d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-day. Cow's home. Gote born in c-c-c-cow's home that day.

Me: Christmas? Jesus's birth?

Her: No. Cow's home. What is it?

Me: Farm? Barn?

Her: Yes, barn! That's it. Gote born in the barn. Eggs. Paint the eggs.

Me: Easter! I see. But you have Christmas and Easter confused, also God and Jesus.

I tried to explain but she got embarrassed. She told me how she used to be Catholic, but that her husband's parents didn't like it. They're Buddhists. So now her daughters are Buddhists and she's nothing. The story gets weird again:

Her: Underwear.

Me: Huh?

Her: We have to underwear to B-b-b-b-b-b-Buddha.

Me: You give your underwear to Buddha?

Her: If we're a bad year. Then we write our address on our underwear and give it to Buddha.

Me: What? Come on! What does he do with it, sell it on the internet? I joked. She laughed hysterically.

Her: I don't like this b-b-but my mother law wants it so we do.

Me: But Buddha is dead? Who takes the underwear? Where does it go?

Her: Temple. I d-d-d-d-d-don't know. I don't like it.

Me: I'd be worried about writing your name and address on you and your daughters' underwear. You know, perverts.

More laughing. She laughs at anything I say, actually. After several more "interesting" topics that went on endlessly for a long 50 minutes, it finally ended. My head spinning, I bolted straight home. I need a beer!

I forgot to mention that Stan, one of the male students showed up yesterday out of the blue...drunk. He's Windy's co-worker at the Office of Agriculture. (That's right. Windy works in an Agriculture center and gives lectures to farmers about farming techniques and soil and does hundred of other miscellaneous agricultural and unrelated duties I'll tell about some other time). He sat at the end of the table, thumbing through a cookbook and didn't say a word. A couple of times he started laughing at nothing. After class he stumbled out the door. Windy said he must be upset about something, but refused to believe he was drunk. "I asked him today at office, 'W-w-w-w-were you drunken last night?' and he said no." She believed him. He didn't come again tonight.

Update:

By request, I made a new page dedicated to Windy and the adult class. It will even have its own archive! Take a look, I updated it tonight.

Korea Life Blog - No More Health Club

After 7 full months I finally quit the health club a couple of weeks ago. While I was growing tired of being the foreign novelty amongst the regulars, I stuck it out mostly because I didn't have to pay. The owner charged me at first for 3 months - but then never again. While everyone had to swipe a card when they arrived, for the next seven months he would just smile at me and hand me a towel.

Well, who can beat that! I kept going thinking eventually I'd have to pay. I brought my credit card each time, just in case, ready to fork it over the moment of question. That never happened. I kept working out until yet another trainer started - a guy who does not leave anybody alone. He's the typical high school jock who never grew up. A stupid thug. Every time I would go there, he'd follow me all around, constanly touching me, trying to measure my muscles, tackling me in fun, coming up and tickling me while I'm lifting a heavy weight, and always putting his arm around me as if I were his best friend. At first I told him politely that I don't need help. And later I told him point blank to go away (bbali ga!) but he never listened. He was like a magnet. If I could have paid by the month for nobody to bother me, I would have gladly.

When I exercise, I just want to be left alone, to do my work out. I don't need somebody correcting my every move, counting my every rep. I've been exercising for a few years now and I know what works for me, even if it isn't the best method. If I do a routine that's not comfortable, I won't be able to stick to it. I'll quit like most people do after a month because I won't enjoy what I'm doing. I've also learned that every trainer does things differently. Whenever I have conformed to one trainer's methods, a new one would come in and say, "No! no! what are you doing? Like this!" causing me to sigh and think, "here we go again."

In a shopping center, you don't want to be bothered. You want a salesperson only if you have a question. However, in Korea they are unavoidable. They suffocate you and stand by your side while thinking they are being helpful. The same holds true at the health clubs I've joined here. There's always a trainer and/or the owner who thinks they are doing you a favor by showing you how stupid you are. Why can't they all realize people like to be left alone! If they would just keep quiet, help you only when asked, you'd be much more comfortable and likely to return.



My new weight set. 10kgs each. Not much, but was all I could carry home. They cost me 40,000 won at E-mart, but they're well worth it. I've been working out at home for over a week with them. It's amazing how much of a decent workout you can do at home and how much more relaxing it is. I crank on my favorite tunes (no more of that Korean techno music at the gym!). I do hundreds of pushups and situps on certain days. The rest of the week I use the weights to do arms and shoulders. For legs I hold these to the side and do squats. I'm not going to get much bigger, but I don't need to. Doing a lot of reps, I'll tone myself up. When the weather breaks I plan to start jogging or speed walking up the hills nearby. It's a lot better than that scene at the health club. I just hope I stick to it.

Korea Life Blog - Fiona's Fantasy


While I was looking through the drawings of pictures of me, I was a little disturbed to find this scene drawn on the back of Fiona's paper. Apparently I fell out of an airplane. It's not clear whether I've jumped or been pushed out. Either I'm about to land on the mountain and die and be greeted by a friendly English speaking ghost, or I've already died and now that ghost is me. (At least I think that's a ghost.) This reminds me of the gory scene she drew on halloween. Some little girls have little crushes on me. Fiona fantasizes about my horrific death. I think she's still angry about the time I wouldn't give her a talent sticker for erasing the board months ago. Talk about holding a grudge!

Korea Life Blog - Flash Puzzle

Check out this cool flash puzzle if you haven't already: Crimsom Room

It'll give you something to do while you're waiting for an update here.

Korea Life Blog - Is it Me?


The students had an assignment. Draw three students and compare noses. Some of them chose to draw me. Then the question, "Whose nose is the biggest?" Guess who they picked... I cut out a few examples:


Now I know my nose is a little big by Korean standards, but this is ridiculous. Come on! My nose isn't THAT big! The one on the top left is my favorite. The student forgot to even draw a nose. Can you tell I didn't shave that day? The kids always notice that.

Korea Life Blog - Jab Chae Bap



One of my favorite Korean Chinese food dishes is jab chae bap, vegetables and noodles with rice. I eat it several times a month. The current price is 5,000 won ($4.50). Who said American portions are too big. Look at this mountain of food. It's easily enough to feed two (normal sized) people. I usually eat half then the rest later. Like bokum bap (somewhere on this page) it comes with the delicious jam bbong , spicy red seafood soup. Yum!

Korea Life Blog - Surprise Visitor


I was horrified today to come home and see this: a goddamn mosquito. I thought I wouldn't see the flying bastards again until June. For a few days the weather breaks and already they're coming back. It's just a matter of time before they can live through the whole winter, causing eternal havoc and aggravation year round. I can't remember in my life ever seeing a mosquito in February. Good thing I still had some F-killer left over.

Before anybody says anything, it took this zoomed shot to make me realize how dirty the wall is behind my range stove. I went ahead and cleaned the wall, then the range, then under the range, then under the counter, then...that was enough for this month. Next month: the bathroom. Gross. I can't imagine what's living under my bed. I'm afraid to even look.

Korea Life Blog - Photo Edit

My friend Swiss James over at Lost Seouls works at the airport. He's in charge of security, or something like that. Instead of keeping the airport safe as possible, however, he spends his time using a computer, posting thought provoking messages on ESL forums, updating his eye-popping website (ranked 612 for best Korean Blog), and editing pictures such as the one on this page. He was inspired by this comment:

Cool photo... haven't seen that one before.

Think how spooky that could be if some enterprising graphics tool guru made an animated gif or mpg or flash of it opening it's eyes to reveal slit pupils in serpentine yellow eyes (like http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0767802497.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg) or something worse...
jtb | Email | Homepage | 02.17.04 - 10:35 pm | #

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blown away with inspiration, Swiss James abandoned what little attention he was paying to security, and took up the challenge:

"I use this freeware program called The Gimp, it's absolutely mint, I could play with it for hours. Oh wait, I already do." - Swiss James

Thanks, James. I love the animation. But I have to wonder about the safety of millions of travellers whose lives may depend on someone playing with his Gimp for hours.

Korea Life Blog - Windy (2)

All day long I was in a good mood. One of my coworkers told me that Windy called and said they're going to a skii resort for the day and her children would miss class. Since one of her daughters is in the last class before the adult session, I assumed Windy would also be absent. After that class, I hung around excited by the fact I wouldn't have to hear her non-stop stuttering about every detail of her pitifully mundane existence.

Sure enough, just when I thought I was in the clear, she ran in, panting. "Sorry I'm late! I h-h-hurry! Don't worry. I'm here n-n-now."

She then told me how they finished skiing a little early and drove fast so she could study with me. Masking my inner turmoil, I smiled and said, "Wow, I am lucky to have such a great student." At this she laughed merrily and, covering her mouth, exclaimed, "Rearrry?" Oh no, I'm egging her on. How can she be so gullible?

Today she informed me, out of the blue, her dream is to live in the country in a house made of clay and grow "wide" vegetables, catch fish (she enacted catching a fish with her hand) and make tofu. One of these days I'm going to get an MP3 player with a digital voice record built it, then I'll be able to record some of the bizarre things she says and post them for download, perhaps mixing certain quotes with techno music.

These days she is in heaven because she has my direct attention all to herself. And she has no shortage of things to talk about, usually strange things at that. No matter what we're discussing, she will break in with some random story, not in the least way connected to the topic. Last week one of the male students started talking about weight-lifting. The second he paused, Windy chimed in with, "So, my daughters and I made pogy (fog) today," and proceeded for 15 minutes to tell us all about the dubious science experiment. The next day, he quit.

Whenever she talks, she only looks at me, so she is oblivious to the expressions of disdain on the other's faces. Not that she would notice anyway. A few times I've been unable to keep from sighing and rubbing my face, but she doesn't flinch. Not only that, but she is clueless as to why the other students don't show up, calling them lazy and blaming it on their drinking problems.

I've had several students that could barely speak English at all, and Windy would laugh at their struggling. To show her ability, and in her mind impress me, she would quickly correct them and/or answer for them. Perhaps she thinks she's being helpful, but in fact she's intimidating everyone, making them feel uncomfortable and inadequate. Many of those students quit the same day or week, making off with a quick refund. I've told my boss, but he has no advice and he probably blames their quitting on me.

Oh well, I guess I should be thankful I don't have a class full of adults that can't speak well. Windy has kept that from happening, at least. I just hope a few more students will join. Maybe, at that time, I should have a talk with her. It'll be hard though, because she's very emotional. That's why I haven't said anything yet. My class is literally the highlight of her boring day. What a dilemma!

Korea Life Blog - Fat Cat's Offspring

I just spent the last 15 minutes trying unsuccessfully to get a picture of what must be one of Fat Cat's offspring from the past. I mentioned before he's the only non-orange and white cat that hangs around here. Well, I just saw the ugliest cat of my life. The poor things is Orange, White, Black and Gray. It looks like a freak of nature. It's pretty big, so I'm not exactly sure where it came from, but it could very well be Fat Cat's. By the time I got my camera, it was gone. Hopefully it'll come back around sometime.

Korea Life Blog - New Pic

I put this new pic on the home page if you didn't notice. If your screen resoultion is different than 1024x768, it will probably look strange. Let me know if this is the case. Also, if you know how I can make it show up proportionally on different resolutions, please tell me how. I added a new blog list as well.

Korea Life Blog - Korean Style

At 1:30 the phone rings. It's my coworker. "Shawn, you have to teach first class. Where are you?"

"But my first class is at 2:30."

"No, you have class. First class on Tuesday."

"I'm looking at my schedule right now. It says 2:30."

"I think you make mistake."

"I'm looking right at my schedule. It clearly says 2:30."

"But you have class at 1:40 on Tuesday."

"Well somebody must have changed the schedule. I didn't know."

"Hurry, please."

"I can't come now. I'm busy."

"But you have a class."

"I'm sorry but I didn't know that. Next time tell me if the schedule changes. I'll teach the class tomorrow."

"I see, nae...."

This situation has happened to me many times since I came to Korea. The schedule changes, nobody tells me, then it's my fault I missed the class. Sure enough when I went in, I got the evil eye from the Korean teacher who had to cover it. Of course, nobody would think of blaming the boss for changing the schedule and not telling me. When in doubt, blame the foreigner!

Korea Life Blog - A Sad Day for Julie

Saturday afternoon, her phone rang. Immediately Julie began to sob. Her grandfather had been in a car accident the night before. He didn't survive.

He was a traditional Korean man who owned a small farm and a hill. Through tears she told me about the many wonderful times they had together simply talking and eating delicious side dishes. While they were very close before, Julie hadn't spent spent much time with him recently. She feels guilty because she knows he was lonely since his wife had died years before of cancer.

I'm pretty sure everyone can relate to how she feels. I know I can. All over the world, people are basically the same.

Korea Life Blog - Hodgepodge

Here are some of the pics I took on Friday night.



After an hour and a half on the bus and train, I finally arrive to Hongdae Station, 20 minutes late. Julie and her friend are waiting, but I take the time to snap this exciting shot.



Well, here's Julie. She's excited about a night of partying. Her friend, Unshil, is not pictured because I forgot to ask her permission. We hung out at US66 where I met Swiss James, Kevin, the infamous Tiger Beer on ESLcafe and his girlfriend.



After some rounds we finally headed out to Hodgepodge. Since it wasn't "clubday", we ended up staying here the rest of the night. It costs 10,000 won to get into a club on a regular weekend. Clubday, the last Friday of each month, you can get into all the clubs for a one time fee of 15,000 won.



You walk inside and there's a throng of Korean girls there dancing. It's a great place to meet one, I would guess.



Tiger Beer and his girlfriend. She's from the Philippines, but she emmigrated to the US. She's visiting from Las Vegas, where she works in a Casino.



Down on the floor some guy is shucking and jiving with some other foreigners. To the right, a guy with evil red eyes watches.



Well, maybe this guy's shuck isn't all that jive after all. The evil virus has passed to the guy on the left.



Julie looks bored here, but she spent a long time dancing with Unshil and Kevin's girlfriend.


As for me, I spent most of the night talking to Kevin. I hadn't socialized much in the past 6 months so it was nice to talk to foreigners for a change. I must have been drunk. What the hell am I doing drinking Bud Weiser?



Not a great shot of the DJ, but he did a pretty good job of keeping everyone happy. The place was packed well into the night.



The bartenders. I was surprised. These are the same ones that were working here ages ago when I came. (the link to the exact post is broken, just scroll down)



It was really dark in the club. Later in the night I just held up the camera and started snapping pictures. I got at least 10 of absolutely nothing. But eventually the system paid off. Some, like this one, came out pretty good.



And this one isn't bad either. Nobody should be disappointed I didn't show Korean girls dancing.



Click, flash again. I'm surprised nobody got angry. But it was almost 4 in the morning at this point so everyone was probably drunk anyway.



I know I was. I have no idea who this guy is. I vaguely remember meeting him, but that's about all. Why I have my arm around him and a crazy look on my face is beyond me. He looks a little skeptical, but at least he isn't angry.


Well, that's it. Having so many, I didn't spend a lot of time commenting on each picture. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed my night out in Hongdae.

Korea Life Blog - Hongdae

I'm back from Hongdae. I got lots of pictures but I'm too tired to do anything except lay down. What a night!

Korea Life Blog - No rain!

Update: It hasn't started raining yet so I decided to give it a go. I'll be in Hongdae tonight and I'm bringing my camera.

Some goober was manipulating the poll I had running and leaving obnoxious comments so I changed the question and will have to moderate it for awhile. Honestly, I'm surprised this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. Those who voted legitimately, I appreciate your taking the time. I had been wondering if anyone would be interested and now I know. Most people would be and some people might be and only a few wouldn't at all. That was better than I expected.

If you haven't checked, I added a couple of short updates to the Geoje-do section this week. While not nearly as prolifically as when my arm was broken and I had nothing better to do than write, at least I'm still trying - so no need to send me complaints on e-mail for awhile.

Korea Life Blog - Ironic Weather




I had planned a night out on the town with Julie and some friends. I was excited this morning to see the sun and the weather so warm. Unfortunately, nearing the end of the day, that warm air is causing the sky to turn dark gray. Looks like a storm's coming in. Now I'm worried it will pour. Snow wouldn't be problem, but I doubt I'll trek all the way to Seoul to hang out in Hongdae all night if it's raining. Of all the luck. It seems for the past few months the weather has been nice during the week and turned to crap on the weekends.

Korea Life Blog - Cats Update



The suns out today, the snow has melted for now. I took a look outside and all 5 cats were hanging out behind the building. It's the first time I've seen them all together. All the cats are orange and white except for Fat Cat, eating first of course. Why he's always hanging out with these orange cats, I'm not sure. But he's by far the friendliest to humans. Everytime he sees me he starts rolling in the dirt and flapping his tail. He lets me pick him up and he's been known to hang out under my bed on a really cold night, but don't tell the other cats. They think he was out braving the elements in search of tender vittles. As far as the orange cats, the mother and the youngest had been living under my building up until I went to Taiwan. They've since moved to living with the father under that green trailer in the background. Fat Cat also lives there, which I find odd. How he managed to smooth that one over is definitely a cat mystery. But it may have something to do with a bloody red spot I saw on the father's head.

Korea Life Blog - (Off Topic) Sara


It's been 10 years, I realized tonight. Ten years since I met Sara, the girl who worked the drive-through window at McDonald's. My friend who had just gotten his license had been driving. I can still remember an early evening; we pulled up. She had long blond hair and bright hazel eyes, she chewed gum, she was beautiful. She was sixteen years old.

My friend and I ordered a couple of Big Macs. Somehow I ended up with her number. When we drove away I was ecstatic. My friend was also happy for me. He already had a girlfriend. We parked and ate by the water listening to Iron Maiden. He kidded me.

Would a Big Mac ever taste so good again? I doubt it. I could hardly eat. Listening to the music and looking at the lake, joking with each other, I shivered joyfully. All I could think about was Sara and her blond hair, her colorful eyes. Her number in my pocket. Holy shit! I had her number! I checked it every few seconds to be sure.

My friend dropped me off at home. Within an hour I called. No answer. I called several times. Finally, late, she answered. She was excited to hear from me. It was the beginning of a long relationship. My first love.

Three years later, when I was a junior in college, she dumped me for another guy. It must have been the worst time of my life, the way I felt. For two long months I could barely sleep. I couldn't eat. I could hardly drag myself to class. I turned pale. My heart was broken. Crushed. I was completely crushed and wanted nothing more than to die. Many times I contemplated it- as I lay awake every night. Long, endless nights.

After my roommate would fall asleep and begin to snore, I'd get out of bed and sneak Pink Floyd The Wall into our stereo. All night long I'd listen to it, the most depressing album of all time - the most comforting in time of depression. Side A, Side B, Side A, Side B again. All the while thinking about my life - a father who'd taken his life because of Vietnam, a grandmother who loved The Honeymooners and read to me as a child - then died cruelly of cancer. And of course Sara, that bitch. That slut. I imagined her in the arms of her new lover, embracing him, calling out his name in passion. At the darkest hour, my lowest point, when I had failed to sleep for weeks, when I couldn't even eat a bowl of cereal, when I thought life was over, at last I started to pray. But not like I did when I was kid. I didn't recite passages from the Bible, Hail Mary's or any of the like. I said, "Hello, God. It's Shawn." And then I talked. I closed my eyes and just talked. About anything that came to mind. Anything and everything. Past to present. In the lone hours, God was my friend, my only friend, my best friend. A long winded stream of consciousness flowed throughout each night. I questioned, cursed, cried, apologized, accepted, thanked. I would talk until the sun rose over cold blue Lake Ontario.

I continued to suffer for some time. But every night I'd listen to Pink Floyd and I'd pray. Then one night as I was talking, I drifted to sleep. For the first time in months, I slept. I woke up to the sun and birds tweeting on a tree branch. I could smell hashbrowns from the dining hall. I'll never forget it. It was still early but I didn't care. I jumped out of bed. Everyone was still asleep. I went down to the dining room and ate. For the first time, I really ate. I stuffed my face.

Of course, the hurt didn't entirely go away that day. There were still many long sleepless nights ahead. But for me it was the beginning. The beginning of an inspiration that still lives within me.

When I hear this music and lyrics I think of her:

"Said Sara,
You're the poet in my heart
Never Change
Never Stop."

Fleetwood Mac

I like to think she feels that way, all this time later. I know she's still in my heart. And she's never stopped inspiring me. And I've never stopped being thankful for my life and the things that have moved me.

Korea Life Blog - Curious

How did you find my blog? If you have a moment please answer in the comments section. If you could be specific, that would be great - such as "Google search for "korea life" or "www.website.com". Thanks!

[Update - check the Geoje-do section for the next update. It's short but I promise to update the section more frequently now that I'm sure everyone wants me to.]

Korea Life Blog - Laughing Ajushi


A few months ago: a rainy day. I needed groceries. I grabbed my umbrella and headed off. It was a real downpour, elephants and buffalos. In Nowhere-dong, the roads don't drain well. They flood.

I was hurrying down the "sidewalk" - broken chunks of concrete, parking spaces and mud that runs alongside the main road. Almost to the store, running desperately in need of eggs and kimchi, suddenly a car, failing to slowdown despite road conditions, seared through a gigantic puddle, spraying the muddy water, drenching me. Shocked, I stopped, I cursed, I raised my fist in the air, I sighed. The car zipped out of sight. As I was wiping myself off I heard laughter - a tremendous, bellowing laughter. Loud, relentless guffawing. I turned to look. An older Korean man on a scooter, a delivery ajushi was pointing at me. He got off his bike, removed his helmet, kicked the kickstand then pointed at me again, now bending over in in side splitting agony, laughing insanely. At first I was angry. Then I realized yes, it was very funny actually. The lone foreigner in such a small town, drenched by a passing car. I chuckled and hurried off.

Since that day, every once in awhile as I walk to the store, I hear the familiar laughter of the delivery ajushi. I saw him again tonight, pointing and laughing. He still gets a kick out of the memory. One of these days I have to order from his restaurant and take revenge. What will I do? I'll wait for him to pick up the dishes. When he's in the hallway I'll hide his scooter. Wahahahahahah!

Korea Life Blog - New Poll (7)


There's a new poll to vote on, a question I've been wondering about. Here's the results of the previous poll:


let's see who's reading...what are you?

100% korean 49 (22%)
gyopo in korea 9 (4%)
gyopo abroad 34 (15%)
currently a soldier in korea 5 (2%)
previously a soldier in korea 6 (2%)
currently an english teacher 27 (12%)
previously an english teacher 9 (4%)
thinking about teaching here 19 (8%)
other job in korea 12 (5%)
none of the above 48 (22%)

218 Total votes

I'm surprised so many native Koreans are reading. I guess you are curious as to how foreigners see your country. I get a lot of e-mails from gyopos born abroad thanking me for showing Korea to them with my blog. I'm also surprised there are so many "none of the above" votes. I didn't think anyone not connected to Korea would be reading. Thanks for voting everyone.

Korea Life Blog - Windy (1)

I finish my last elementary kids classes at 6:40. My adult class starts at 7:10. During that 30 minutes I sometimes run down to the Chinese food restaurant below and eat fried rice. Sometimes I run across the street to my apartment and pace. Other times, like today, I hang out in the office, twiddle my thumbs, read the Korea Herald, use the computer, all the while hoping none of the adult students show up. It happened once before, not a single one came. I wished it never did because ever since, I've waited for it to happen again.

Adult students are very inconsistent. They see a sign one day and suddenly feel excited about studying English again, just as somebody else gets enthusiastic about returning to the gym. At first they attend class every day. Then they start missing now and again. Eventually, sure enough, they quit altogether. It's understandable, though. They work long hours. They're busy. They're tired. I only have 2 students who have lasted the past 5 months since the class began. (Now that I'm writing this, I wish I had kept a journal since then - there has been a real cast of characters).

The consistent students: Windy and Stan. Windy is an ajumma - she's married and has two children both of whom I teach at the hagwon. Stan is her coworker. He's 32, handsome, single. He's very nice actually, and he drives a sports car. He can't find a date. If any girl is interested, let me know.

[Update: I got e-mails from girls in the states interested in meeting him, hahahaha.]

Windy is in love with English. She has traveled many places and wants to see more. She's studied English for the past 3-4 years almost incessantly. She's studied with a private teacher, at various hagwons, with study groups, with me, and everynight at home...she can't get enough. And that's the problem. In class she never shuts up with her sputtering, stuttering English. At first I found it annoying. But then I realized it has its benefits, two in particular. 1 - It takes a lot of pressure of me to fill time teaching. 2. It makes new students, those who can't speak well, feel uncomfortable causing them to quit. (This is good for me because if my boss had his wish, I'd have 20 adults in one class.) So, usually, I let her talk until her heart's content.

Well, I don't want to recount every detail of every class, so let's skip ahead until tonight. There's been more than one occasion where every student has failed to come except Windy. Honestly, one on one with her for 50 minutes is a stop short of hell. I'd rather have every student show up. Tonight, once again it happened. 7:10, no students. I felt giddy. A few more minutes passed precariously. Then, alas, just when I thought I could go home, in she wobbled, smiling as always, that wretched, relentless, oblivious smile. Windy! Argh!

The most annoying part is that when this happens, she feels proud. No other students shown up, but she did. She smiled at me as if I should also be proud. Painfully I feigned enthusiasm. "Yes, wow! You're so predicatable!" She had no idea what I really thought - that I'd rather teach a monkey. One time she went so far as to suggest I make a certificate showing her near perfect attendance record. In my mind I imagined a certificate: "Most Annoying Student!"

Without a choice I sat and listened to her for 50 long, boring, tiring, aggravating minutes. I suffered quietly through every uneventful moment of her long, boring weekend. I hope the other students show up tomorrow.

Korea Life Blog - Julie Thinks I'm Funny


Julie thinks I'm funny. She came over a few weeks ago with a few groceries. She wanted to make curry. I told her I don't like it, never did. Realizing that wasn't very considerate (seeing as it took her two hours to get to Nowhere-dong then shopping and carrying the groceries) I quickly rebounded that I wanted to try it again. I sat down to use the computer, click, type, click, click...within ten minutes, surprisingly, Julie was finished cooking. Turns out she bought instant curry from a bag. You boil the bag for 3 minutes: finished. Amazingly it tasted really good. I loved it, genuinely. Now I'm buying it all the time. It's easy to make and gives me something to eat rice with from my bap sot. I've also been trying the other 3-minute instant meals Ottogi makes:



They all taste great and there only about $1 each. To think of the hundreds of times I passed this stuff by, scratching my head wondering what to eat, often times throwing my hands up in despair and running off to the local restaurant to eat Kimchi Chigae for the millionth time, all because I didn't know what this stuff is.


Once again, Julie thinks I'm funny. She was sprawled out one night laying on the hard floor under a blanket for hours watching a movie while I was using the computer. She claimed it was warm and comfortable. Whatever you say, I guffawed. Click click, type, type... Later I laid down to try it. It was hard but warm, of course. Very warm. (If you don't know, in Korea apartments are heated through the floor and there's no carpeting). I didn't like it at first, because it was hard and I felt hot. When I got up though, I was cold. I laid back down. Oh, so warm and nice. Now every time she comes over we hang out on the floor. We laid there for two hours last night watching Magnolia. It won't be long before I turn totally Korean and sleep down there. It really is relaxing once you get adjusted. Try it, if you haven't.

It amazes me the things I find myself doing day in and day out. Things that years ago would seem preposterous, I find myself enjoying. That's one of the great things about living in a new culture for a long time. You cast aside stereotypes you once had and embrace new concepts, new ways of living. You open your mind. And, of course, it's also helpful if you have a girlfriend from the culture to encourage you.

Korea Life Blog - Changing Focus

I have decided to change the focus of my blog to simple daily updating about my life with an occasional picture or two thrown in. I have several reasons for doing so:

1. Because of so many photos I'm rapidly approaching my server space limit.

2. I am running out of everyday Korean things to photograph and I don't get out enough to find more.

3. I'm tired of carrying my camera everywhere I go and feeling like I have to document everything I do.

4. I want to get back to the Geoje-do story and update it more frequently until it's finished.

5. I want to write about my daily life, which I haven't been doing in the current style.

6. I have lots of Korea stories to write about which I haven't because I was focusing on photo-blogging.


Basically I think my blog will get better but there will be less photographs. While certainly easier than in the old days of making a website, the process of posting photos, from camera to the web, is still a pain and often puts me off from updating. Now I will update more frequently and include photos when I can/want.

Thank you for your patience. I hope you continue to enjoy my stories/adventues.

Korea Life Blog - Sold

I sold my notebook computer three months on for a little more than I paid for it. Not a bad deal for me or the person buying it - I had gotten a really good deal. Also, I kept it like new and installed some extra software. Now I'll be getting a desktop or a higher end notebook. I liked the Compaq, but the graphics card was insufficient and with all the downloading I do, the hardrive, 30 GBs, wasn't enough. It's not worth the price to upgrade a notebook, so I sold it. I won't have to hear that noisy fan anymore either. Now I'm back at the pc bang, but I'll be off to Yongsan tomorrow and see what I can get.

It amazes me how trusting some people are. The guy who came to get it said he didn't know much about computers really. As soon as it started he was happy and gave me the money. It made me think how easy he could have been cheated by somebody else. For all he knows, there's a Celeron processor in it/10GB hardrive, and a virus, etc. I think everybody who buys a used computer should check it out thoroughly - at least the system specs. Then again, it was nice to see someone so trusting and I appreciated it.

In other news:

My adult class likes to go out to eat every Friday. Today they took me for sam gyeop sal. There's finally a good combination of students and I'm starting to enjoy teaching them. It was rough for a while because the original students could speak English really well but many more joined and couldn't understand anything. My boss didn't care of course, as long as they all paid. But it may have backfired on him cause all of the lower levels have since quit. He should have made two levels. Oh well. I'm happy. Basically with the 6 students I have now, we just talk and laugh for 50 minutes. Everyone's happy. It's a breeze.

Julie's had the flu for the past 4 days. We're supposed to meet tomorrow. I'm sure she'll enjoy walking all over Yongsan in the blistery cold. I hope she's feeling better.