There has been so much happening over the past little while that this is going to be a fucking long post, so bear with.
About three weeks ago I was pulled aside by my General Manager and Campus owner (John and Youngjoo, respectively). They did the usual banter about how was my weekend and If I had any plans for the upcoming holidays; time wasting crap. Then they started to talk about how I like Youngdo, how my classes were going and all that...then they really started getting into it. Basically, John said how I had been getting a few complaints from mothers and how my classes had been slipping. Then, out of no where, Youngjoo says "So this is your first warning and if you don't improve, we will have to let you go". Keep in mind, Youngjoo doesn't speak English that well, so to have her break this news to me was RIDICULOUS. They also said how they would work with me over the next week to help me improve.
One week passes and I still have not been approached by john or Youngjoo to see how my classes have been going. Also, keep in mind that I've been trying to improve in the areas they have suggested (student care, mainly) so I'm starting to get weirded out. Then, one more week passes and on Friday (December 19th) they called me in to the main office for another chat. Then, they go on another speech saying how they're sorry that they haven't met with me but noticed a big improvement in my performance and how everything has done a complete 180; basically telling me I'm off the hook. Great. Awesome.
Also, on Friday it was Riley's birthday, so there was a meeting for him and people brought cake and stuff. Then, in the meeting, Youngjoo steps forward and says "I'm sure you all know of Jonathan's story?" The room goes silent and I'm immediately thinking "where are you going with this?" Turns out, she has decided to tell everyone how proud Youngdo is of me improving me teaching and not sucking anymore (yes, she actually said "Jonathan doesn't suck anymore"). This made everyone, cringe in awkwardness and me turn as red as a bloody hand; probably one of the most embarassing moments of my life. Looking back on it now, it's an extremely funny story to tell, but at that time I wanted to kill myself.
Apart from that, my past two weeks have been filled with awesomeness! I had promised Peculia that I would teach her guitar a while ago, so on the 13th her, Michelle and I decided to head out to Jongo in order to make good on my promise. After about 30 minutes of hunting around, I managed to find her a good starter acoustic for 80 000won that included an extra set of strings, bag, strap and a tuning winder. Also, we decided to do secret santa at work, so I managed to grab my secret santa's present at the mart (he plays bass, so I picked him up some elixer strings). After that, we went over to Dongdaemun to meet up with Rosa and do some more shopping. Dongdaemun is basically a huge shopping area with stalls everywhere: in the subway, on the street and a HUGE 9-story mall. We went to the mall, grabbed soem dinner and proceeded to look around. However, I was so damned tired from the hunting around that I opted to head home for a nap.
After my nap, I headed out with Dave and Greg to Hongdae to meet up with Kelly, Janice and Doug. They were at Rocky Mountain Tavern and completely shitfaced. After about 20 minutes, Michelle, Rosa and Peculia meet up with us and we start to drink more. After that, we all headed out to Bar Oi for the first time and had a completely surreal time: green apple hooka, random masks, a gay server who's hilariously awesome, me buying a 40000 won bottle of champagne, Kelly getting lost and us trying to find her. It was one of the most weird and crazy nights that I have had here yet and it only went downhill from there.
Later in the week on Wednesday the 17th, Dave said that his buddy Collum had a couple friends in from Ireland and was wondering if I would like to come meet up with them for a mid-week drink. Now, I couldn't miss an opportunity to meet more Irish people, seeing as how they've all been amazingly rad, so I said yes. We met up with Tracey and headed out for one of the most intense drinking sessions I have had here yet.
First, we go to this amazing Galbi place where they all were eating dinner. It was Collum, two of his friends who were teachers and then there were the two Irish guys (one was named Danny and I forget the other guys name). They were all on their way to getting trashed and wanted us to go down with them. Generally they were loud, brash, hilarious and trainwrecks; at one point Danny snorted Soju and wnated me to do it which I declined by pretending to snort it but tossing it on the table at the last second. After the galbi place, we went to a noraebang and sang an array of songs while drinking more beer and soju. After that, and everyone was heading home, the Irish tried to literally corral me into staying and going to a club with them. They fenced me in and wouldn't let me leave until I backed up into a car, set off the alarm, and managed to duck out. So, considering what went down that night, I have come tot he conclusion that proper Irishmen are too ridiculous for me to handle and I'll stick to my subdues ones.
The Saturday after that we had to work in order to make up for one lost day, so the entire day was spent half-assing my classes and playing games (what else are you going to do when you only have 5 students in each class?). After that, Greg was playing an open mic in Anyang, so Janice, Michelle and I grabbed some food and headed out to a place that they all laughed at us for going to. Considering no one knows the layout of Seoul (myself included), I shall enlighten you: Anyang is outside of Seoul, and while it is not that far to go, everyone wtill mocked us for makign the trp out there.
We waited around for Greg, Elly and Darren New Zealand friend Leah to show up, and while doing so, we came to the realization that Greg is always late by at least 30 minutes. Once they had united with our tiny posse, we went to the venue which was dubbed Bar Psycho. The bar itself was really cool and had tonnes of graffiti on the walls; it kinda looked like Sneaky dee's but darker and more divey. Greg played a stellar set as always, and after a lot of alcohol consumption, we decided to wander out to find another bar. We ended up going to this club/bar where Michelle got us in for free (not 25000 won per person, like they wanted) and then we drank more. The club itself was nothing that special but I did end up talking to Elly for a good long time which was super cool. After the bar we hopped in cabs and headed over to Hongdae (about a 25000 won ride) only to go home agian because we were all passing out.
After that transpired (which was this past weekend), we had to work two more days and then Youngdo has been so kind as to give us from the 24th until the 2nd off. So, we did what any good foreigners would do: go out. On Tuesday night we did out secret santa gift exchange because Kelly, Janice, rosa and Dave were going to go to China the next day for their break. We went out to the Underground and proceeded to exchange. Riley got The Watchmen from Chris, and we spent a good 15 minutes trying to explain to him why his gift was awesome. Then, it was only when he opened it up and saw that it was a comic book that he seemed overjoyed. I got a harminica in the key of D from Peculia because I mentioned to her that I wanted one when I took her guitar shopping. Michelle got nice shoes from Rosa. Peculia got a phone charm, danging monkey statue, scarf and cat post it notes from Michelle. Kelly got lotion, a toque and a few other things from Dave. Dave got a nice shirt and a pair of leather gloves from Riley...and I forget what Rosa, Janice and Jenny got, but everyone was thoroughly pleased with their presents. After the exchange we decided to go home because we were absolutely bushed.
Then, on Christmas eve, I went out to COEX with Riley, Michelle and Jimmy (Riley's friend from the army) in order to search for a girt for Riley's girlfriend. He ended up buying her a pair of earrings and a necklace, as well as getting things to make her a cheesy coupon book ("one free hug", "one free body massage", those types of coupons). After shopping for a bit, we went to Uno's, got some pizza, then I had to go home and pass out.
After I woke up, Michelle and I met up to go out to Hongdae and meet up with greg and his friend Liz. Greg and Liz were a good hour late, but it didn't matter because in the subway, while waiting for them, there was this group of 25 people with different instruments singing Christmas carols. Also, on Christmas eve, all the couples spend the night together and the guys bring a cake for the girls (no joke), so you see tonnes of people walking around with cakes. There was even this one guy who was walking and his half-eaten cake fell out of his box onto the floor right in front of Michelle and I and Koreans, being as oblivious ad they are, proceeded to step on it and slip everywhere. Michelle and I were killing ourselves laughing and it helped pass the time until Greg and Liz showed up.
We started the night by going to this cool restaurant with a wicked sangria-ish drink and pretty tasty food. We also found this interesting liqueur that tasted like cherries and the waitress dumped a glass of water onto Gregs lap. The restaurant ended up cloaing down at 3 and we proceeded to mosey on to Bar Oi. They wouldn't let up get a hooka this night, so I protested by not buying a bottle of champagne. They were doing an anti-christmas celebration with a black dress code, so it kinda looked like a goth club in there. Also, the awesome gay server was there and we all danced and partied until it shut down at 5. Now, in Korea, the subway opens at 6, so we had an hour to kill until we could head out. We decided to go to a noraebang so Greg manages to find the most expensive noraebang in Hongdae and led us to it. It cost about 35000won per hour but the rooms were huge and had a keyboard in it. We procceded to sing a lot and by the end of our two hour session, we were all passing out on the couches. Then, as we parted ways, instead of taking the subway home like we planned, Michelle and I just hopped in to a cab because we were too tired.
After waking up at 4, I met Michelle and Peculia in order to go out for Christmas dinner. We headed out to this restaurant called Mad For Garlic where there was about an hour wait. We killed time by going to a coffee shop upstairs and I was so hungray I ate a bagel, after which I proclaimed that the hardest thign about Christmas wasn't being away from family and friends but that I had to wait another 30 minutes until I could eat again. ah hour passed, we went downstairs, got a table, and proceeded to wait for Greg, for he was also going to partake in our Christmas festivities. However, because he is Greg, he also turne dout to be 3 hours late which forced Michelle, Peculia and I to order. This restaurant was also really cool: it looked like an italian bistro and everything has massive amounts of garlic in it. I ende dup ordering the garlic fondue, a caprese salad and the garlicpeno pasta that was extremely spicy and delicious. Michelle ordered the gorgonzola pasta and Peculia ordered the seafood pasta. Then, Greg showed up and he ordered the same thing I did; damn Welsh.
After dinner, we were all at a loss for what to do, so we did what any good foreigner would do: we went to the casino. I have never been to a real casino before, so it was an exiting time for me! I decided that all I wanted to do was put money in and pull something, so we hit up the slots. I quickly realized that the novelty of the casino would only take you so far, and we ended up leaving after 30 minutes, however in that time I managed to double the money I put in and left with 23000won. We all parted ways after that and I headed home where I proceeded to call everyone and wish them a merry Christmas.
That's it for the wrap-up! Sorry for not posting for so long and sorry that this one is ridiculously long, but I have been busy beating Fallout and my kids; someone's gotta do it. I think this weekend I'm going to meet up with Andrew and finally buy myself a digital camera, we'll see what happens though.
I hope everyone back home is having an amazing Christmas, and that you're all staying safe. I'll try and be less sketchy and update this more. Hopefully next time, there will be pictures to show.
Friday, December 26, 2008
What a failure I am
First and foremost, I should apologize for the abyssmal state of this blog. I have not dropped off the face of the Earth, but rather have just been too damned lazy to post. So, in order to make it up to you fine folks, I shall post two! Aren't you lucky! This first one is just general posts as to what I have been doing over the past two months...in point form!
- Korean weddings are really weird. They last about 1 hour and 30 minutes from start to the end of the reception and it's set up kind of like a well-oiled machine: you stand around for a bunch, the ceremony beings (which they proceed to tell everyone who is present how lucky the bride is to marry this groom), they do some silly things, pictures are taken and you are shuffled off to the reception where you need to eat quickly so they can clean up before the next wedding. The wedding itself was in this nice hall with lots of flowers and it was quite sweet. However, the entire ceremony was a joke compared to North American weddings. As for the reception...picture a cafeteria, and that's what it was like. I really can't complain though, I got a free meal and an interesting experience out of it.
- About a month and a bit ago I decided I was going to make a silly purchase with my first paycheck. I decided on a DSLR and went out with Andrew and Riley in order to hunt for one at this electronics market called Yongsan. After getting there and scoping out the prices, they were a bit more than what I was expecting, so I sulked away all bummed out that I wasn't going to buy something with my newly acquired funds...then I bought a PS3. We went to the video game section and I managed to score a white 40GB PS3 with two Dualshock controllers, an HDMI cable, Little Big Planet, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Resistance 2 and Dead Space for 666000 won (which I found hilarious). So, part of the reason that I have been too lazy to update my blog is due to this glorious machine. Be jealous of me! Next up: camera and a tv (possibly...).
- I mentioned in my last post that I have been taking Korean lessons; that has ceased. I have picked up a few phrases here and there, so I am not COMPLETELY hopeless in Korea now, but I just can't be bothered to go anymore. I would rather spend my saturdays exploring and gaming than learning. Take that education!
- We have stumbled across a few other cool bars here over the past little while. The first one is called the Fish and Grill. This place is not really a fish place, but it is a fried food joint! It's pretty much the equivalent of a regular bar back home and they serve delicious food and FANTASTIC soju drinks mixed with amazing fruit juices. Damn cool. The second bar is called Bar Oi. Now, this place doesn't really have any signs anywhere, but once you've found it, you hit the jackpot. It basically looks like a melting cave and is reminiscent of the milk bar from Clockwork Orange; they have hookas, booze, cool music, and an amazing atmosphere which has made it one of my favourite bars ever. Bar Oi, I love you.
- After the Yeogio party, I have hung out with that stellar guitar player I mentioned. His name is Greg and he is a really cool guy and lives on the North side of the city. We have also vowed to jam together soon (I think this upcoming weekend). Also, I met a few other people there that night from England: Elly, Darren, Luke and Louise. They all work South of the city and are a damned riot to hang out with.
That's it for the mini update! Check in next time for a full scale assault on what has been happening recently.
- Korean weddings are really weird. They last about 1 hour and 30 minutes from start to the end of the reception and it's set up kind of like a well-oiled machine: you stand around for a bunch, the ceremony beings (which they proceed to tell everyone who is present how lucky the bride is to marry this groom), they do some silly things, pictures are taken and you are shuffled off to the reception where you need to eat quickly so they can clean up before the next wedding. The wedding itself was in this nice hall with lots of flowers and it was quite sweet. However, the entire ceremony was a joke compared to North American weddings. As for the reception...picture a cafeteria, and that's what it was like. I really can't complain though, I got a free meal and an interesting experience out of it.
- About a month and a bit ago I decided I was going to make a silly purchase with my first paycheck. I decided on a DSLR and went out with Andrew and Riley in order to hunt for one at this electronics market called Yongsan. After getting there and scoping out the prices, they were a bit more than what I was expecting, so I sulked away all bummed out that I wasn't going to buy something with my newly acquired funds...then I bought a PS3. We went to the video game section and I managed to score a white 40GB PS3 with two Dualshock controllers, an HDMI cable, Little Big Planet, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Resistance 2 and Dead Space for 666000 won (which I found hilarious). So, part of the reason that I have been too lazy to update my blog is due to this glorious machine. Be jealous of me! Next up: camera and a tv (possibly...).
- I mentioned in my last post that I have been taking Korean lessons; that has ceased. I have picked up a few phrases here and there, so I am not COMPLETELY hopeless in Korea now, but I just can't be bothered to go anymore. I would rather spend my saturdays exploring and gaming than learning. Take that education!
- We have stumbled across a few other cool bars here over the past little while. The first one is called the Fish and Grill. This place is not really a fish place, but it is a fried food joint! It's pretty much the equivalent of a regular bar back home and they serve delicious food and FANTASTIC soju drinks mixed with amazing fruit juices. Damn cool. The second bar is called Bar Oi. Now, this place doesn't really have any signs anywhere, but once you've found it, you hit the jackpot. It basically looks like a melting cave and is reminiscent of the milk bar from Clockwork Orange; they have hookas, booze, cool music, and an amazing atmosphere which has made it one of my favourite bars ever. Bar Oi, I love you.
- After the Yeogio party, I have hung out with that stellar guitar player I mentioned. His name is Greg and he is a really cool guy and lives on the North side of the city. We have also vowed to jam together soon (I think this upcoming weekend). Also, I met a few other people there that night from England: Elly, Darren, Luke and Louise. They all work South of the city and are a damned riot to hang out with.
That's it for the mini update! Check in next time for a full scale assault on what has been happening recently.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Learning every step.
Hello all you random followers! There wasn't an update last weekend because I felt that there was nothing to really update about. However, upon further inspection, it seems as though there is only only thing to comment about: Halloween. The reason for this is two-fold: 1) I didn't do anything on Saturday and Sunday and 2) I was (and am) in dire need of funds.
I had originally planned on doing nothing at all for Halloween seeing as I only had $70 to last me 10 days. However, I managed to get a pay advance from my school which netted me an extra $100 to piss away. So, with my newly received funds in my pocket, I finished up work, we went out for dinner, and then split into separate parties in order to get "prepared". Now, because I hadn't originally planned to meander around on this particular day, I had no costume in order to robe myself in. So, I merely changed my sweater and ventured out.
The party consisted of Rosa, Kelly, Michelle, Chris (semi-new teacher who has a different teaching schedule than us), myself, and a new teacher: Janice. Janice is from BC (although where exactly still confuses me), and she has fit snuggle into our group of social misfits and psychonauts. So we all ventured out to Hungdae in order to meet up with our friend Tracey who was supposedly waiting for us. Long story short, Tracy was at a bar in Itaewon, even though she told us she was at the same bar in Hungdae (the Rocky Mountain Tavern). So we went to GoGo's again (which was packed) and then to Club FF downstairs (which smelled gross).
One thing about Korean Halloween is that the nationals don't really celebrate it, but the ex-pats love it. So I was expecting to see a lot of wicked costumes walking around Hungdae...but instead saw a bunch of stupid idiots with the lamest costumes known to man. A LOT of baseball players and nothing really memorable. I was sorely disappointed and really pissed at myself for not compiling everything needed for a Rorschach costume. all in all it was a pretty lame Halloween.
So me and my trusty teaching crew plucked along for another week and the following weekend looked like it was going to be more of the same: poverty induced boredom.
Friday was just that: everyone went out for food, but I decided to play it safe, stay in, and watch the Naruto Shippuden episodes that I had downloaded. I forgot how much I loved that show and it's still really growing on me. For all of you that are scoffing: shut up and watch it. It's really cool for anime and not really as kiddie as you may originally anticipate. But! Alas, I digress. There was another reason that I wanted to stay in and do nothing: Hangul lessons.
I had been meaning to go along with Kelly to Korean lessons ever since the first weekend that i arrived in Korea, but I always stayed out too late on Friday and slept through the lessons on Saturday. Now, it's not as if the lessons were at 11 or 1 or something but instead, they start at 3:00 on Saturday. I am a pathetic human who needs to prioritize.
Anyways, I managed to wake up at a semi-respectable time on Saturday, got ready and then went out to Hangul lessons. They are all the way near the Women's College (which is about a 40 minute subway ride) and they are free, with the exception of a 1000 won donation. I had to start in the basic first level seeing as I only have a VERY base knowledge of the Korean alphabet (thanks to Andrew!) and have even managed to somehow forget a lot of what he tried to teach me. So I was separated from my crew, went into my class and started my lessons.
The teacher was named Jun and his English wasn't the best, but he was really nice and tried to make some jokes (even though he refrained a lot saying how he wishes there were women in his class because guys don't laugh at his jokes). The first class was only focused on learning about the vowels and a few of the consonants in Hangul, so I only learned about 17 letters, but that's fine. In the Korean alphabet, there are only 10 vowels and 14 consonants, with some of them being able to double up. It's really confusing when you first look at it, but really easy to grasp the concept of. The other cool thing is that there isn't really any accent to the Korean language, so all the phrases are just said flat. It's pretty easy to grasp and I'm just wondering how hard of a time I'll have once I move up to level 1 which is about saying phrases.
After Korean lessons I met up with everyone again and met two of the guys who were in level 1 with Kelly and Janice: Doug and Chris. Doug is from Austin, Texas and is really spastic at times and really random. Kinda seems like he's on coke or something, but a really cool guy overall. Chris is his buddy who is travelling around taking a break from life. I forget where Chris is from, but he was really chilled out and had a great sense of humour. After we left Korean lessons, I was going to head home and have another quiet night, but everyone managed to convince me to come out and enjoy the Saturday night.
There was a party being thrown for foreigners for this site called theyeogio.com (yeogio meas "stop here" and you use it when you want to talk to a waiter, waitress, get a cab drive to stop, etc) so we missioned all the way over to Apgujeong subway station in order to find it. Apgujeong is kind of a shopping area and place where a lot of bars are located; basically a really cool place to hang out no matter what time of day you visit it.
We had a hell of a time locating the venue and by the time we reached it, we were all starving. We found this chicken joint with a name that escapes me right now and headed in for some grub. What no one told us though was they half of their menu was just for decoration and we could only order plates of chicken. after some hilarious arguments by Doug and the waiter we ordered a bunch of beer and three plates of chicken: one was chicken fingers breaded in rice crispies, one were these awesomely spicy wings and the last was this chicken that looked like it had been hacked with a machete and boiled. The first one was really, really tasty and came with some dipping sauces which were a great comfort to Janice and me who love our sauces. The second one ruined everyone except for Michelle and I who can handle obscene amounts of heat. The third one looked gross but tasted pretty good, even though Doug complained that it looked like human. After our dinner debacle, we wandered over to the party where the real fun began.
On the Facebook invite we were informed that there would be a 5000 won cover and there would be drinks and snacks until midnight when we could go our separate ways and drink some more. It turns out that all you had to do was sign a piece of paper with some basic information on it (name, e-mail, address, phone number, and the ilk) and you were given four free beer tickets. So we wandered in, grabbed some beer and snacks and settled in for a fun night.
The other cool thing about this party is that it was an open mic night too, so a bunch of musicians were signed up and played (including Doug who did a lot of drunken covers where he forgot the words and I cringed in embarrassment). One of the guys was a wicked guitarist from Wales who had amazing technique and didn't sing at all: really melodic and frantic songs. I ended up talking to him and his friends a lot and hopefully we'll be able to meet up for some jamming soon (once my dreadnought's fixed...fuck). Apart from the cool music and rad people I met, they also had a caricature artist and fortune tellers on site! So I managed to get my fortune read twice (I need to work on my career paths more and gather more information before I try anything...crazy lunatics) and a hilarious caricature of myself holding a spear and dressed like a baby (which I think I left at the party). Overall, the party was wicked and I met some really awesome people.
...Then Michelle found me and told me we were going to a Jazz bar; this is where is starts to get kinda fucked. It turns out she has met this Second Lieutenant in the American army who was going to a jazz bar with his friends and wanted her to tag along. So we left the party and headed out. Here's the short form of what happened:
- The jazz bar turned out to be a house club/wine bar where movie stars go.
- We ended up ordering over 300 000 won worth of wine (two bottles).
- His friends turned out to be other officers and a Lieutenant Colonel (I was informed that this was the third highest position in the army).
- There was also this cool German woman named Verlena who had a sweet accent.
- I learned A LOT about the army, including the acronyms.
- Dan (Second Lieutenant) ended up buying me a $65 Dominican cigar because there were some at the party and I mentioned to Michelle that I liked cigars.
After we left the bar, Michelle and I bid goodnight to the officers and I had to wrap my head around what the hell just happened.
Today I woke up late and am bumming around at home doing nothing. The majority of my friends all went out to Seoul National Park and are going to the horse races where there is a special foreigner section where the minimum bet is 100 won. Some days I just wish I woke up on time.
I had originally planned on doing nothing at all for Halloween seeing as I only had $70 to last me 10 days. However, I managed to get a pay advance from my school which netted me an extra $100 to piss away. So, with my newly received funds in my pocket, I finished up work, we went out for dinner, and then split into separate parties in order to get "prepared". Now, because I hadn't originally planned to meander around on this particular day, I had no costume in order to robe myself in. So, I merely changed my sweater and ventured out.
The party consisted of Rosa, Kelly, Michelle, Chris (semi-new teacher who has a different teaching schedule than us), myself, and a new teacher: Janice. Janice is from BC (although where exactly still confuses me), and she has fit snuggle into our group of social misfits and psychonauts. So we all ventured out to Hungdae in order to meet up with our friend Tracey who was supposedly waiting for us. Long story short, Tracy was at a bar in Itaewon, even though she told us she was at the same bar in Hungdae (the Rocky Mountain Tavern). So we went to GoGo's again (which was packed) and then to Club FF downstairs (which smelled gross).
One thing about Korean Halloween is that the nationals don't really celebrate it, but the ex-pats love it. So I was expecting to see a lot of wicked costumes walking around Hungdae...but instead saw a bunch of stupid idiots with the lamest costumes known to man. A LOT of baseball players and nothing really memorable. I was sorely disappointed and really pissed at myself for not compiling everything needed for a Rorschach costume. all in all it was a pretty lame Halloween.
So me and my trusty teaching crew plucked along for another week and the following weekend looked like it was going to be more of the same: poverty induced boredom.
Friday was just that: everyone went out for food, but I decided to play it safe, stay in, and watch the Naruto Shippuden episodes that I had downloaded. I forgot how much I loved that show and it's still really growing on me. For all of you that are scoffing: shut up and watch it. It's really cool for anime and not really as kiddie as you may originally anticipate. But! Alas, I digress. There was another reason that I wanted to stay in and do nothing: Hangul lessons.
I had been meaning to go along with Kelly to Korean lessons ever since the first weekend that i arrived in Korea, but I always stayed out too late on Friday and slept through the lessons on Saturday. Now, it's not as if the lessons were at 11 or 1 or something but instead, they start at 3:00 on Saturday. I am a pathetic human who needs to prioritize.
Anyways, I managed to wake up at a semi-respectable time on Saturday, got ready and then went out to Hangul lessons. They are all the way near the Women's College (which is about a 40 minute subway ride) and they are free, with the exception of a 1000 won donation. I had to start in the basic first level seeing as I only have a VERY base knowledge of the Korean alphabet (thanks to Andrew!) and have even managed to somehow forget a lot of what he tried to teach me. So I was separated from my crew, went into my class and started my lessons.
The teacher was named Jun and his English wasn't the best, but he was really nice and tried to make some jokes (even though he refrained a lot saying how he wishes there were women in his class because guys don't laugh at his jokes). The first class was only focused on learning about the vowels and a few of the consonants in Hangul, so I only learned about 17 letters, but that's fine. In the Korean alphabet, there are only 10 vowels and 14 consonants, with some of them being able to double up. It's really confusing when you first look at it, but really easy to grasp the concept of. The other cool thing is that there isn't really any accent to the Korean language, so all the phrases are just said flat. It's pretty easy to grasp and I'm just wondering how hard of a time I'll have once I move up to level 1 which is about saying phrases.
After Korean lessons I met up with everyone again and met two of the guys who were in level 1 with Kelly and Janice: Doug and Chris. Doug is from Austin, Texas and is really spastic at times and really random. Kinda seems like he's on coke or something, but a really cool guy overall. Chris is his buddy who is travelling around taking a break from life. I forget where Chris is from, but he was really chilled out and had a great sense of humour. After we left Korean lessons, I was going to head home and have another quiet night, but everyone managed to convince me to come out and enjoy the Saturday night.
There was a party being thrown for foreigners for this site called theyeogio.com (yeogio meas "stop here" and you use it when you want to talk to a waiter, waitress, get a cab drive to stop, etc) so we missioned all the way over to Apgujeong subway station in order to find it. Apgujeong is kind of a shopping area and place where a lot of bars are located; basically a really cool place to hang out no matter what time of day you visit it.
We had a hell of a time locating the venue and by the time we reached it, we were all starving. We found this chicken joint with a name that escapes me right now and headed in for some grub. What no one told us though was they half of their menu was just for decoration and we could only order plates of chicken. after some hilarious arguments by Doug and the waiter we ordered a bunch of beer and three plates of chicken: one was chicken fingers breaded in rice crispies, one were these awesomely spicy wings and the last was this chicken that looked like it had been hacked with a machete and boiled. The first one was really, really tasty and came with some dipping sauces which were a great comfort to Janice and me who love our sauces. The second one ruined everyone except for Michelle and I who can handle obscene amounts of heat. The third one looked gross but tasted pretty good, even though Doug complained that it looked like human. After our dinner debacle, we wandered over to the party where the real fun began.
On the Facebook invite we were informed that there would be a 5000 won cover and there would be drinks and snacks until midnight when we could go our separate ways and drink some more. It turns out that all you had to do was sign a piece of paper with some basic information on it (name, e-mail, address, phone number, and the ilk) and you were given four free beer tickets. So we wandered in, grabbed some beer and snacks and settled in for a fun night.
The other cool thing about this party is that it was an open mic night too, so a bunch of musicians were signed up and played (including Doug who did a lot of drunken covers where he forgot the words and I cringed in embarrassment). One of the guys was a wicked guitarist from Wales who had amazing technique and didn't sing at all: really melodic and frantic songs. I ended up talking to him and his friends a lot and hopefully we'll be able to meet up for some jamming soon (once my dreadnought's fixed...fuck). Apart from the cool music and rad people I met, they also had a caricature artist and fortune tellers on site! So I managed to get my fortune read twice (I need to work on my career paths more and gather more information before I try anything...crazy lunatics) and a hilarious caricature of myself holding a spear and dressed like a baby (which I think I left at the party). Overall, the party was wicked and I met some really awesome people.
...Then Michelle found me and told me we were going to a Jazz bar; this is where is starts to get kinda fucked. It turns out she has met this Second Lieutenant in the American army who was going to a jazz bar with his friends and wanted her to tag along. So we left the party and headed out. Here's the short form of what happened:
- The jazz bar turned out to be a house club/wine bar where movie stars go.
- We ended up ordering over 300 000 won worth of wine (two bottles).
- His friends turned out to be other officers and a Lieutenant Colonel (I was informed that this was the third highest position in the army).
- There was also this cool German woman named Verlena who had a sweet accent.
- I learned A LOT about the army, including the acronyms.
- Dan (Second Lieutenant) ended up buying me a $65 Dominican cigar because there were some at the party and I mentioned to Michelle that I liked cigars.
After we left the bar, Michelle and I bid goodnight to the officers and I had to wrap my head around what the hell just happened.
Today I woke up late and am bumming around at home doing nothing. The majority of my friends all went out to Seoul National Park and are going to the horse races where there is a special foreigner section where the minimum bet is 100 won. Some days I just wish I woke up on time.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Weekend Warrior starring Yo La Tengo
Well, another weekend has passed and another shit show has gone. This weekend, your favourite adventurer found himself in some interesting predicaments...
So the weekend started off on Friday with drinking, and the weekend always does. I was having an absolutely shitty week because my last classes were being a bunch of bastards, so we (being Rosa, Michelle, Riley, Dave, Jenn and Peculia) went out for some pig BBQ and drinks. Once we finished dinner, we moved our asses to the Underground (which seems to be where we go every weekend).
So we sit down and tried to decide on what libations we were going to imbibe. We settle on a pitcher of yogurt soju and this weird rice-based drink that was served from a giant bowl into smaller ones; I forget the name of it, but it tasted like white wine, and when mixed with yogurt soju it was even more of a devil's brew.
After a few rounds of that, stories and other such shenanigans, a little Korean girl appears out of nowhere. She says that I am handsome and was wondering if I would like to visit her table of friends for some drinks (seeing as how she had already had way too many). Well, not being one to pass up free drinks, I oblige and bring Dave and Michelle along with me for security (really, I was just happy when they followed me down my doomed trail). We meet with her friends and do the general small talk (Koreans are really easy to talk with. Just call them handsome, tell them they look like famous musicians and drink with them, and they're fine) until it all goes sour and Michelle and I have to pretend like we're boyfriend and girlfriend to get away from this...tiny...thing. Apparently, which none of us knew, once we proclaimed that we were dating, we shattered her soul and she kept apologizing. Now, picture a 5' Korean girl begging you for forgiveness and how she didn't mean any offence and that's kinda how weird it was. So the three of us return to out table, sit down, and she comes ambling over trying to apologize some more. I try tot ell her that it's no big deal, that I'm sorry if I led her on in any way, while my other friends are cracking up. So we booked it from there and then went home. The best part of it all though was when I stood up for the first time and her neck immediately craned...Michelle nearly fell off the bench laughing so hard.
The next day I was up at 2 waiting for a guy to come over and set up my Internet. He came, went, and I proceeded to sit around and read...until Michelle showed up. We decided to go out for some Japanese food when we get a call from Rosa and Kelly. See, we originally were going to go see Yo La Tengo play at a festival, but the tickets were insane amounts of money and it was not worth it for one band. Rosa said that Dave had found a hill where we could watch the concert and drink outside, so we booked it over to meet them.
Once we got to Olympic Park where the concert was being held, we searched around for Dave and his friends Collum and Tracey and this mystical hill, but could not find him. After a while of searching, Kelly called Dave and got him to meet us. We picked up provisions and sauntered our way over to the hill, which was surprisingly close to the main stage (I don't know how far exactly...maybe a football field? maybe more?) and settled in for some good times.
So the festival area was surrounded by vendor tents, and I guess no one told them that Yo La Tengo was playing on stage, because there was one tent that was blaring very loud techno music. It almost ruined the whole vibe of the show, but Yo La Tengo managed to salvage it.
After the show, Dave had the brilliant idea to go to Hung Dae, which is basically a big bar/club area where people party on the weekend (and also shop during the day, if you so desire). So we climb onto the subway, make it out to Hung Dae, and then the REAL disasters started.
We first started out by Dave and Michelle picking up Poweraid, Soju and vitamin c drinks, which they mixed together into a concoction dubbed Poju: basically rocket fuel. We sucked on those for a bit until we got to our destination which was a rock bar with a name that eludes me. Once inside, we proceed to drink. Hard. It was a cool bar though: a real dive with a pool table and a darts board with fairly decently priced drinks.
After drinking for a while and hearing some crazy stories form Dave, we decided to go downstairs to Club FF (or FM...whatever) so we could dance. This club was also pretty rock-oriented and it was kinda like the Dance Cave, but smaller, and before it sucked massive balls. Once inside, again, we proceeded to drink, and this is where things start to run together.
I know I had a lot to drink. I know there was a lot of dancing. I know that I met a guy from the states who had a Misfits tattoo and was talking about Misery Signals. I know that dude gave me two shots of Jager. I know Michelle met these guys in a band who were wearing wigs. I know she got punched in the face. I know Dave started dancing with some girl on the floor. I know at one point in time Rosa, Kelly and Dave left leaving Michelle, Collum and myself. I know I made it outside. I know I spent all my money and we had to borrow some from Collum for a cab home. I know that I was standing in the middle of the road trying to hail a taxi. I know (now) that I got home at 5:30 and proceeded to pass the fuck out. All this I know...but there are still gaps.
Regardless, I woke up at 4 in the afternoon and was supposed to go to Costco at 1 but clearly overslept. Thus, I spent the rest of the day cleaning and reading and detoxing.
So, things we've learned this weekend:
1) Short, drunk, flirty Korean girls get REALLY depressed and borderline suicidal when you fake that you have a girlfriend to get away from them.
2) I need to remember to save $10 for cab fare if I ever go to Hung Dae.
3) Nothing good comes from Hung Dae. Plain and simple.
4) Yo La Tengo makes me sleepy.
That is all.
So the weekend started off on Friday with drinking, and the weekend always does. I was having an absolutely shitty week because my last classes were being a bunch of bastards, so we (being Rosa, Michelle, Riley, Dave, Jenn and Peculia) went out for some pig BBQ and drinks. Once we finished dinner, we moved our asses to the Underground (which seems to be where we go every weekend).
So we sit down and tried to decide on what libations we were going to imbibe. We settle on a pitcher of yogurt soju and this weird rice-based drink that was served from a giant bowl into smaller ones; I forget the name of it, but it tasted like white wine, and when mixed with yogurt soju it was even more of a devil's brew.
After a few rounds of that, stories and other such shenanigans, a little Korean girl appears out of nowhere. She says that I am handsome and was wondering if I would like to visit her table of friends for some drinks (seeing as how she had already had way too many). Well, not being one to pass up free drinks, I oblige and bring Dave and Michelle along with me for security (really, I was just happy when they followed me down my doomed trail). We meet with her friends and do the general small talk (Koreans are really easy to talk with. Just call them handsome, tell them they look like famous musicians and drink with them, and they're fine) until it all goes sour and Michelle and I have to pretend like we're boyfriend and girlfriend to get away from this...tiny...thing. Apparently, which none of us knew, once we proclaimed that we were dating, we shattered her soul and she kept apologizing. Now, picture a 5' Korean girl begging you for forgiveness and how she didn't mean any offence and that's kinda how weird it was. So the three of us return to out table, sit down, and she comes ambling over trying to apologize some more. I try tot ell her that it's no big deal, that I'm sorry if I led her on in any way, while my other friends are cracking up. So we booked it from there and then went home. The best part of it all though was when I stood up for the first time and her neck immediately craned...Michelle nearly fell off the bench laughing so hard.
The next day I was up at 2 waiting for a guy to come over and set up my Internet. He came, went, and I proceeded to sit around and read...until Michelle showed up. We decided to go out for some Japanese food when we get a call from Rosa and Kelly. See, we originally were going to go see Yo La Tengo play at a festival, but the tickets were insane amounts of money and it was not worth it for one band. Rosa said that Dave had found a hill where we could watch the concert and drink outside, so we booked it over to meet them.
Once we got to Olympic Park where the concert was being held, we searched around for Dave and his friends Collum and Tracey and this mystical hill, but could not find him. After a while of searching, Kelly called Dave and got him to meet us. We picked up provisions and sauntered our way over to the hill, which was surprisingly close to the main stage (I don't know how far exactly...maybe a football field? maybe more?) and settled in for some good times.
So the festival area was surrounded by vendor tents, and I guess no one told them that Yo La Tengo was playing on stage, because there was one tent that was blaring very loud techno music. It almost ruined the whole vibe of the show, but Yo La Tengo managed to salvage it.
After the show, Dave had the brilliant idea to go to Hung Dae, which is basically a big bar/club area where people party on the weekend (and also shop during the day, if you so desire). So we climb onto the subway, make it out to Hung Dae, and then the REAL disasters started.
We first started out by Dave and Michelle picking up Poweraid, Soju and vitamin c drinks, which they mixed together into a concoction dubbed Poju: basically rocket fuel. We sucked on those for a bit until we got to our destination which was a rock bar with a name that eludes me. Once inside, we proceed to drink. Hard. It was a cool bar though: a real dive with a pool table and a darts board with fairly decently priced drinks.
After drinking for a while and hearing some crazy stories form Dave, we decided to go downstairs to Club FF (or FM...whatever) so we could dance. This club was also pretty rock-oriented and it was kinda like the Dance Cave, but smaller, and before it sucked massive balls. Once inside, again, we proceeded to drink, and this is where things start to run together.
I know I had a lot to drink. I know there was a lot of dancing. I know that I met a guy from the states who had a Misfits tattoo and was talking about Misery Signals. I know that dude gave me two shots of Jager. I know Michelle met these guys in a band who were wearing wigs. I know she got punched in the face. I know Dave started dancing with some girl on the floor. I know at one point in time Rosa, Kelly and Dave left leaving Michelle, Collum and myself. I know I made it outside. I know I spent all my money and we had to borrow some from Collum for a cab home. I know that I was standing in the middle of the road trying to hail a taxi. I know (now) that I got home at 5:30 and proceeded to pass the fuck out. All this I know...but there are still gaps.
Regardless, I woke up at 4 in the afternoon and was supposed to go to Costco at 1 but clearly overslept. Thus, I spent the rest of the day cleaning and reading and detoxing.
So, things we've learned this weekend:
1) Short, drunk, flirty Korean girls get REALLY depressed and borderline suicidal when you fake that you have a girlfriend to get away from them.
2) I need to remember to save $10 for cab fare if I ever go to Hung Dae.
3) Nothing good comes from Hung Dae. Plain and simple.
4) Yo La Tengo makes me sleepy.
That is all.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The Inevitably Long, First Post
Well I finally made good on my promise. This is going to be the blog where I record everything and anything (worth posting, of course) that has happened to my on my voyage to the land of the Asians. I`m sorry it took so long for me to get my act together; but, as you all know, I`m a lazy, lazy person. So, without further adieu: the first post!
The flight over here wasn`t as bad as it could have been. I mean, there were tearful goodbyes at the airport; I was tired and surly, which didn`t make the experience any better for me seeing as how it seemed to come all too quickly in one single moment. Words were said, bags were hefted and hauled onto a cart, and I left my family and girlfriend at the customs gate. From there it was a relatively painful trip through customs and onto the first leg of my journey.
I was cramped. No real surprise there, but it was still an annoying start to my trip. I didn't sleep, I was in a packed plane and I was tired as hell. Once we landed in San Fransisco, I grabbed my stuff, exited and proceeded to find my gate. I found it, along with a pretty awesome Mexican restaurant in the airport (where I ordered some shrimp tacos which slayed) and then waited to get on my next plane. Once we boarded, I found that this plane was infinitely more spacious than the last. To begin with: it wasn't completely full, so I had free reign to change seats into a middle section that only had one guy for five seats. I was more comfortable on that plane than the first one, which was a good thing seeing as I was going to be on it for about 14 hours; I still didn't sleep, but I was still comfortable.
After landing, I was met by a nice man holding a sign. It was kinda awesome to see a dude waiting for you with a sign, you feel like some sort of weird movie star, until you realize that there are a hundred similar signs, and I am immediately thrown back in to a world where anyone and everyone teaches English abroad. Me and my associate waited for another new teacher to arrive, who I was informed was named Jennifer (hereafter known as Jenn). After we picked her up, we were loaded into a van and then swept off to our apartments.
It took about an hour to get from the Incheon airport to where our apartments are in Seoul, but we made it to the area, where I was informed that my apartment wouldn't be ready until tomorrow, so I would have to stay in a love motel. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with these, they are places where young men and women come to bump uglies. You pay for them by the hour, and they have curtains over the parking area so no one on the outside (like a business partner or a suspecting wife) will see your car (or if they happen to spot it, it's ok because you can also get fake licence plates to put over your real ones). So my first night in Korea was spent in a motel where people go to fuck. Splendid.
The next day I was met by Junghee, who is one of the councillors at my school and helped me a bit at the end of my hiring time before I flew off. We walked to Jenn's apartment, picked her up and then moved my stuff in to my apartment. However, this apartment is not my apartment, and my apartment will be free when one of the former teachers moves out of it. This is absolutely aggravating because it means that there is no point inn unpacking and I need to live out of my suitcases for about a week. Once we unload my shit in my temporary apartment we head on off to the school and once we arrived, we were introduced to all the other teachers:
- Riley is a dude from New York who came to Korea 2 years ago. He worked at a couple of other schools before coming to Youngdo.
- Michelle is from Flint, Michigan and was a high school teacher before coming to Korea. She is extremely crazy but shares my love for the Norebang (karaoke) and is a blast to get drunk with.
- Rosa is from New York as well, but has family located in Korea. She has a boyfriend who gave her a "horsefish" and likes LCD Soundsystem (more on that later).
- Kelly is from Brampton and we share many stories about Toronto and it's surrounding areas.
- David is from Ireland and is practically as hilarious as Ross. He likes rock music and I hope he'll be my in to all the good live music happening in Seoul.
- Jennifer (not to be confused with Jenn) is also from Canada, but I forget where. She's been at Youngdo the longest and is a vegetarian. She's also really chill and lives with her boyfriend.
- Peculia is another girl at the school, but I unfortunately forget where she's from. She seems more mature than the rest of us hooligans, but laughs a lot at Michelle's not-funny comments, which in turn makes everyone else laugh. Great success!
After meeting everyone, Jenn and I were thrown into orientation where we got the gist of Youngdo.
In Korea, and throughout the majority of Asia, kids are run ragged with school. In Korea they go to their regular school from 7-3 and then go to academies after. However, because of the school system, kids in Korea take one test which determines which school they are placed in (Seoul National, Korea, And Yansi being the best three). So they go to regular school and sleep through it, and then learn everything they need to learn at academy's, which they attend from 3-10 each night. YES Youngdo holds classes from 4-10 each day, but teachers have to be there 2 hours before that in order to do prep. On Monday/Wednesday/Friday we have class from 4-6, 6-8 and 8-10; on Tuesday/Thursday there is class from 4-7 and 7-10. So kids come to us during those times to learn English and to try not to die under the weight of school and homework they have.
So Jenn and I have 2 days of orientation, which fall on Thursday and Friday and then the weekend comes. I basically stayed inside on the weekend because I had no way of contacting people and didn't know the area. I did venture out a few times to try and find my bearings, and managed to explore the Lotte. Lotte is a big department store not unlike walmart, but infinitely more high class: they sell everything there, and you can get everything. It's really quite magical.
After the weekend finished, Jenn and I had one more day of orientation and then we were thrown into classes on Tuesday. My classes were scary at first and I had no fucking clue what was expected of me. On Monday/Wednesday/Friday I teach Science and Social Studies to Grade (read: English Level) 1, Reading and English to Grade 4 and Reading and English to Grade 3. Then on Tuesdays/Thursdays I teach Science and Social Studies to Grade 2 and Social Studies and English to Grade 5. The kids are sorted by English level first and then by actual grade, but they're all mostly around the same age. Over the past few weeks I have discovered that I like my Grade 5 and Grade 4 classes the best (because they can actually talk really well) followed by my Grade 2 and Grade 1 classes (fun, but harder to communicate at times) and lastly, my Grade 3 class (they are in the 7th grade and are too cool for school, so it's teeth-pullingly hard to get them to talk in English). As the first teaching week wore on, I got more and more into the swing of things, and then the weekend came again.
The first week I taught was kind of a blessing because I didn't teach on Monday (orientation) and on the Friday of the week it was a holiday called Chusuk (spelt horrible wrong), which is like Korean Thanksgiving. So on Thursday night I went out with Michelle, Rosa and Riley and got good and shit faced. We stayed out until 7 in the morning and met up with these interesting guys named Cheng and Ook; we drank in a park and drink many different kinds of soju (like vodka, but half the alcohol content). On Friday, we slept in and the went down to CoEX (where I picked up a awesome pea coat the weekend after), which is a huge mall and somewhat of a tourist attraction. I forget what I did on Saturday and Sunday, but I know it was a rad time...I think we drank some more, but that could all be a horrible blur.
Then, on Wednesday I finally got to move in to my new apartment, which reeks of smoke from the previous teacher. There are ash marks on the ground and it's a small bachelor, but it's mine and I finally got to unpack.
Since then I have just been teaching on the weekdays, gaining more teaching prowess everyday, and then partying hard on the weekend. One random thing is that I went to see LCD Soundsystem this past Friday at a club called Mass. Now, everyone knows how I feel about clubs, but I didn't know what the state of live music was like in Korea, so I decided to snap up every opportunity I will have to see some live music. Now, it was a $30 cover to get into the club, and I thought that the drinks would be decently priced so that I could get good and smashed. Turns out the mixed bar rail drinks were $8 and if I wanted a long island iced tea or other such concoctions it would cost me $12. Well, regardless of this, I got good and drunk and danced the night away listening to LCD Soundsystem remix a bunch of 70's and 80's stuff.
Well, this post is getting a little long, but here are some random differences that I've noticed about Korea so far:
- They are insane drivers: you ALWAYS look both ways before crossing the street, and don't even think of crossing an intersection while the don't walk sign is on: a car could pull up at any moment and hit you. Also, it's not like they just swerve in and out of traffic and pull into tight spots but they'll go speeding down an alleyway and only slow down when they're right behind you. Also, they park on the sidewalks and you'll repeatedly see cars driving along the sidewalk trying to rejoin traffic. As for the mopeds, that's another danger completely.
- You can smoke anywhere: in bars, in clubs, in restaurants (maybe mot in department stores); anywhere.
- You can buy alcohol at any convenience store or grocery store. What's more, you can drink anywhere, so you just walk around drinking and hanging out.
- Saying a guy is handsome is the biggest compliment you could give him (it's like saying he has a huge wang or something). So if you ever want to flatter someone from Korea, tell them they're handsome.
- People LOVE English, so much so that they'll give you drinks and hug you if you have conversations with them; especially on a Friday or Saturday night. However, though they love it, there are copious spelling mistakes on everything. It's awesome.
- The beds are the most uncomfortable beds ever: really hard and often tiny.
- There are no ovens just gas hot plates and toaster ovens (you could buy a small conversation oven, but it's not worth it for the amount of time I'll be here).
- There are no dryers: you hang your clothes to dry.
- There aren't a lot of shower stalls, but instead just a faucet and shower head sticking out of your bathroom wall with a drain on the floor.
I think that's it. I'll hopefully write in this one a lot more, and once I get paid for the first time I'm going to invest in a camera so I can show you all the magic of Korea.
The flight over here wasn`t as bad as it could have been. I mean, there were tearful goodbyes at the airport; I was tired and surly, which didn`t make the experience any better for me seeing as how it seemed to come all too quickly in one single moment. Words were said, bags were hefted and hauled onto a cart, and I left my family and girlfriend at the customs gate. From there it was a relatively painful trip through customs and onto the first leg of my journey.
I was cramped. No real surprise there, but it was still an annoying start to my trip. I didn't sleep, I was in a packed plane and I was tired as hell. Once we landed in San Fransisco, I grabbed my stuff, exited and proceeded to find my gate. I found it, along with a pretty awesome Mexican restaurant in the airport (where I ordered some shrimp tacos which slayed) and then waited to get on my next plane. Once we boarded, I found that this plane was infinitely more spacious than the last. To begin with: it wasn't completely full, so I had free reign to change seats into a middle section that only had one guy for five seats. I was more comfortable on that plane than the first one, which was a good thing seeing as I was going to be on it for about 14 hours; I still didn't sleep, but I was still comfortable.
After landing, I was met by a nice man holding a sign. It was kinda awesome to see a dude waiting for you with a sign, you feel like some sort of weird movie star, until you realize that there are a hundred similar signs, and I am immediately thrown back in to a world where anyone and everyone teaches English abroad. Me and my associate waited for another new teacher to arrive, who I was informed was named Jennifer (hereafter known as Jenn). After we picked her up, we were loaded into a van and then swept off to our apartments.
It took about an hour to get from the Incheon airport to where our apartments are in Seoul, but we made it to the area, where I was informed that my apartment wouldn't be ready until tomorrow, so I would have to stay in a love motel. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with these, they are places where young men and women come to bump uglies. You pay for them by the hour, and they have curtains over the parking area so no one on the outside (like a business partner or a suspecting wife) will see your car (or if they happen to spot it, it's ok because you can also get fake licence plates to put over your real ones). So my first night in Korea was spent in a motel where people go to fuck. Splendid.
The next day I was met by Junghee, who is one of the councillors at my school and helped me a bit at the end of my hiring time before I flew off. We walked to Jenn's apartment, picked her up and then moved my stuff in to my apartment. However, this apartment is not my apartment, and my apartment will be free when one of the former teachers moves out of it. This is absolutely aggravating because it means that there is no point inn unpacking and I need to live out of my suitcases for about a week. Once we unload my shit in my temporary apartment we head on off to the school and once we arrived, we were introduced to all the other teachers:
- Riley is a dude from New York who came to Korea 2 years ago. He worked at a couple of other schools before coming to Youngdo.
- Michelle is from Flint, Michigan and was a high school teacher before coming to Korea. She is extremely crazy but shares my love for the Norebang (karaoke) and is a blast to get drunk with.
- Rosa is from New York as well, but has family located in Korea. She has a boyfriend who gave her a "horsefish" and likes LCD Soundsystem (more on that later).
- Kelly is from Brampton and we share many stories about Toronto and it's surrounding areas.
- David is from Ireland and is practically as hilarious as Ross. He likes rock music and I hope he'll be my in to all the good live music happening in Seoul.
- Jennifer (not to be confused with Jenn) is also from Canada, but I forget where. She's been at Youngdo the longest and is a vegetarian. She's also really chill and lives with her boyfriend.
- Peculia is another girl at the school, but I unfortunately forget where she's from. She seems more mature than the rest of us hooligans, but laughs a lot at Michelle's not-funny comments, which in turn makes everyone else laugh. Great success!
After meeting everyone, Jenn and I were thrown into orientation where we got the gist of Youngdo.
In Korea, and throughout the majority of Asia, kids are run ragged with school. In Korea they go to their regular school from 7-3 and then go to academies after. However, because of the school system, kids in Korea take one test which determines which school they are placed in (Seoul National, Korea, And Yansi being the best three). So they go to regular school and sleep through it, and then learn everything they need to learn at academy's, which they attend from 3-10 each night. YES Youngdo holds classes from 4-10 each day, but teachers have to be there 2 hours before that in order to do prep. On Monday/Wednesday/Friday we have class from 4-6, 6-8 and 8-10; on Tuesday/Thursday there is class from 4-7 and 7-10. So kids come to us during those times to learn English and to try not to die under the weight of school and homework they have.
So Jenn and I have 2 days of orientation, which fall on Thursday and Friday and then the weekend comes. I basically stayed inside on the weekend because I had no way of contacting people and didn't know the area. I did venture out a few times to try and find my bearings, and managed to explore the Lotte. Lotte is a big department store not unlike walmart, but infinitely more high class: they sell everything there, and you can get everything. It's really quite magical.
After the weekend finished, Jenn and I had one more day of orientation and then we were thrown into classes on Tuesday. My classes were scary at first and I had no fucking clue what was expected of me. On Monday/Wednesday/Friday I teach Science and Social Studies to Grade (read: English Level) 1, Reading and English to Grade 4 and Reading and English to Grade 3. Then on Tuesdays/Thursdays I teach Science and Social Studies to Grade 2 and Social Studies and English to Grade 5. The kids are sorted by English level first and then by actual grade, but they're all mostly around the same age. Over the past few weeks I have discovered that I like my Grade 5 and Grade 4 classes the best (because they can actually talk really well) followed by my Grade 2 and Grade 1 classes (fun, but harder to communicate at times) and lastly, my Grade 3 class (they are in the 7th grade and are too cool for school, so it's teeth-pullingly hard to get them to talk in English). As the first teaching week wore on, I got more and more into the swing of things, and then the weekend came again.
The first week I taught was kind of a blessing because I didn't teach on Monday (orientation) and on the Friday of the week it was a holiday called Chusuk (spelt horrible wrong), which is like Korean Thanksgiving. So on Thursday night I went out with Michelle, Rosa and Riley and got good and shit faced. We stayed out until 7 in the morning and met up with these interesting guys named Cheng and Ook; we drank in a park and drink many different kinds of soju (like vodka, but half the alcohol content). On Friday, we slept in and the went down to CoEX (where I picked up a awesome pea coat the weekend after), which is a huge mall and somewhat of a tourist attraction. I forget what I did on Saturday and Sunday, but I know it was a rad time...I think we drank some more, but that could all be a horrible blur.
Then, on Wednesday I finally got to move in to my new apartment, which reeks of smoke from the previous teacher. There are ash marks on the ground and it's a small bachelor, but it's mine and I finally got to unpack.
Since then I have just been teaching on the weekdays, gaining more teaching prowess everyday, and then partying hard on the weekend. One random thing is that I went to see LCD Soundsystem this past Friday at a club called Mass. Now, everyone knows how I feel about clubs, but I didn't know what the state of live music was like in Korea, so I decided to snap up every opportunity I will have to see some live music. Now, it was a $30 cover to get into the club, and I thought that the drinks would be decently priced so that I could get good and smashed. Turns out the mixed bar rail drinks were $8 and if I wanted a long island iced tea or other such concoctions it would cost me $12. Well, regardless of this, I got good and drunk and danced the night away listening to LCD Soundsystem remix a bunch of 70's and 80's stuff.
Well, this post is getting a little long, but here are some random differences that I've noticed about Korea so far:
- They are insane drivers: you ALWAYS look both ways before crossing the street, and don't even think of crossing an intersection while the don't walk sign is on: a car could pull up at any moment and hit you. Also, it's not like they just swerve in and out of traffic and pull into tight spots but they'll go speeding down an alleyway and only slow down when they're right behind you. Also, they park on the sidewalks and you'll repeatedly see cars driving along the sidewalk trying to rejoin traffic. As for the mopeds, that's another danger completely.
- You can smoke anywhere: in bars, in clubs, in restaurants (maybe mot in department stores); anywhere.
- You can buy alcohol at any convenience store or grocery store. What's more, you can drink anywhere, so you just walk around drinking and hanging out.
- Saying a guy is handsome is the biggest compliment you could give him (it's like saying he has a huge wang or something). So if you ever want to flatter someone from Korea, tell them they're handsome.
- People LOVE English, so much so that they'll give you drinks and hug you if you have conversations with them; especially on a Friday or Saturday night. However, though they love it, there are copious spelling mistakes on everything. It's awesome.
- The beds are the most uncomfortable beds ever: really hard and often tiny.
- There are no ovens just gas hot plates and toaster ovens (you could buy a small conversation oven, but it's not worth it for the amount of time I'll be here).
- There are no dryers: you hang your clothes to dry.
- There aren't a lot of shower stalls, but instead just a faucet and shower head sticking out of your bathroom wall with a drain on the floor.
I think that's it. I'll hopefully write in this one a lot more, and once I get paid for the first time I'm going to invest in a camera so I can show you all the magic of Korea.
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