Last and This Weekend

Just a few pics from last weekend in Gangchon. It was a lot of fun and made me want to get out more and see more of Korea. I'm going to Gyeongju with my dad and brother in a couple weeks. Dad's coming in tomorrow night and I still have some apartment cleaning to do. I'm also on the verge of finalizing my summer vacation in China.
I'm really proud of my students today after reading some of their speeches that they have to give for their English class. I'm really interested in what kind of people they'll become in the coming years. These are my third graders who are graduating high school next March.
Yesterday I was given a huge jar of this ginseng liquor. I teach some moms and one of them brought it for me. It's expensive stuff but she made it. I tried some last night and it's definitely an acquired taste. Another mom brought me some pear juice. They're kind ladies.
Yesterday after school I went to the photo shop to get my visa photos. The man that worked there was really nice. It was all proof that I need to get out more during the week because I think I'd forgotten how nice people are in this country. Sometimes they ignore you and make you feel like an eyesore but you are, you're white and tall, well at least I am. But yesterday was great. I was totally gay for Korea yesterday.

Great Albums, etc.

I expected Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion to be my number one this year but so far it's received scant listens and it lacks a lot of the things I love about the band: the chaotic elements that they can turn into a beautiful tune. Instead there's none of avey tare's screeching yelps. I do think bluish is one of their best and panda bear's song about a normal day is nice, but there's no grass or fireworks or for reverend green. Well, what I want to get to is what I can't stop listening to these days and it hasn't even come out yet. shhh. I pre ordered a copy of it on vinyl, so I'm going to support this band hands down. It's a group called The Dirty Projectors and the album is called Bitte Orca. It's something you have to listen to and listen to again and maybe a few more times. It's not the easiest music to like but it's really grown on me and has helped me get through the last couple months, which have been extremely difficult at times. I don't know exactly what it is about the album that I love, maybe it's that they have created that beauty out of chaos, but while I haven't heard the much hyped Grizzly Bear Veckatimest yet, I don't imagine it will hold a candle to Bitte Orca.

I woke up this morning dreaming about opening a coffee shop in a Korean neighborhood in the states.

This week's been rough. I didn't get enough sleep most days and then I sacked out yesterday from when I got home at 430 to about 10, ate a snack, watched a tv show on the pc then crashed again around midnight. School's been stressing me out but I think it's just because I had to work last saturday and only had one day when I didn't see good ol chunghun high. I'll be glad when the final bell rings today and I can have a real weekend.

I'm really looking forward to summer vacation, coming up the first two weeks of August. And the chinese teacher at my school is teaching me a little chinese. Dad's gonna be here soon, too. Only about two more weeks, which is exciting.

There's a going away party tonight for a korean friend who is moving to work somewhere far away in Korea. Wednesday I met a Korean girl who worked with Oren at the College. She's pretty cool.

Skype is set up on my computer, so I'll be utilizing that soon.

Teacher's are higher than the sky

I just had one of my worser classes, but it wasn't so bad. Just a crazy boy that fuels the fire by yelling out random things in Korean.
Yesterday was my Korean class and it went alright, but I'm starting to find faults in their system, like why do they pair people up with different people every time? It's difficult to adjust and figure out the level to work at when you're having a language exchange for the first time.
Last Friday was Teacher's Day and our school had a ceremony where all the teachers received a carnation from one student. It was sweet and even cuter later on two of my girls came by to my office and very shyly asked to sing me the teacher's day song, which compares teachers to high flying fighter jets or something. It was awesome. I also got a bite of a cookie and some pink balloons that are still on top of my computer.
Last weekend I went to see an awesome movie. I think the English translation is Kim's Island. It's about a dude who loses his job and girlfriend and starts to live on this island in the middle of the Han River in Seoul. It was one of the best Korean movies I've seen even though there were no subtitles and my friend Harry had to translate for me.
Sorry, but I gotta ask, is anyone reading this?

Jo Ah Yo

Despite the hardships of dealing with a death back home a couple weeks ago, things have been rolling along as usual here. Tuesday was Children's Day and I went with some friends to Seoul Grand Park and to the Contemporary art museum. There's a giant temple like structure made out of TVs with hyperactive video clips playing on each one. And there are paintings. We went bowling afterward and I'm seeing my score steadily improve. I went from bowling 40 on Sunday to 100 on Tuesday. Yesterday I was back at the museums with some teachers/friends from my school. We ate duck for lunch which was amazing. It was stuffed with rice and berries. And I ate dog stew the day before. It's not bad. We saw some India Art at the gallery, which was a little meh, but there was some good photography. It was pictures of two older Indian women posed to look like paintings. I wish I had written the name of the artist. The last picture in the series was a black and white mugshot of the two women. Of course all the descriptions are in Korean, hehe.
I went to a Korean language class last night and tonight I'm meeting a friend in Sindorim. Tomorrow I'm going to a baseball game in Jamsil. Dad'll be here in about five weeks. Listening to Dinosaur Jr.'s 07 album. cha cha

Today, Yesterday

Today's going well, but I'll be glad when this lesson's over. We're reading about Angel Falls and the CN Tower. Why can't we talk about America! Canada makes me bored. I'm half joking here.
Tomorrow starts my first parent class. That's right, I'm teaching parents of students and a few other adults. I don't really know how to go about this yet so I've got some planning to do.
Yesterday was ahight. I went to my Korean language class, but my partner was a little too intense, drilling Korean into my brain with a jackhammer. I was too tired to keep up and it was kind of intense. Which is surprising since he's one of the leaders of the group. I thought he'd be a little more easy going, but he acted like he had no patience whatsoever. Whatta drag.
There's some Japanese noise dude playing this Friday and there's a lantern festival this weekend that I want to go to.

Tally Ho!

I was listening to the Crystal Stilts but i switched over the The Clean

It's a student's birthday today. We hung out during lunch and ate snacks. Now I'm sugar overload. But it's bliss.

Finished Savage Detectives by Bolano and now I'm starting Zadie Smith's On Beauty.

I got coffee and dinner with a friend last night.

Tonight I'm going to a spin off of the Korean Language Group. It's an English group for Koreans, but it's all good. I say words and we all say words. Together!

Weekend's up in the air, which is ahight with me. It's been bizzy.

Micachu

I'm in love with a new band called Micachu and the Shapes. Everything I was looking for in new music in 2009 is in this band.
I was at a English Teacher conference for the last four days. Sleeping in a room with two dudes I never met before, drinking after the day long lectures. And I'm wondering why the sky isn't blue today?
I do feel refreshed and woken up and like I can handle up on the teaching biz a little better. I think I was just starting to get really entrenched in my social life around Anyang so I was uprooted when I went out to Bundang for the conference and shoved into a group of foreigners. I met some pretty cool people, though, so I'm not hating too much. Played some ping pong and pool the last night. I'll take ping pong over drinking almost any night. Made some ethnic friends. It's all about the ethnic friends. F$*(! Whitey!
Of course coming back home was a bit of a turn around thirteen times with a blindfold on then take it off. Oh yeah, I'm in Korea, so it was back to being the standout in the crowd.
Ho hum, another year here is looking more and more the option. I just don't know how I'm feeling. I'm young so I got time but I'm young so I wanna see places. It's a decision to make, but I guess wtih travel time I'll be able to fulfill the needs. Time's running out for decisions.
One thing I really like here is you go to a cafe and sit by the window and you can see people in the restaurant across the street. It's a happy zoo.