No More Mosquitoes! (Pleaz)

I hate mosquitoes. Last night I went a little crazy staying up until 1AM trying to kill all the mosquitoes in my apartment. I thought at one point that we could read each others thoughts. I thought the mosquito knew I wanted it dead and maybe it did. The satisfaction of reaching into the air and crushing one in my hand was bittersweet as soon after I turned off the lights I heard another buzzing near my ear. I hate mosquitoes.

Tuesdays with Morrie

I added a few more words about the park in the post. There's an explanation of why I'm on one leg kneeing a teenager in the stomach.




I just read this book called Tuesdays with Morrie and it changed my life and now I'm going to get a dog and spend more time with old people.
I'm joking, I never read that book or saw the hallmark movie. I think it had the dog from Fraser in it right?
A week ago the Former President of Korea died and my school got shut down for swine flu and it was my one year anniversary in Korea! Party!
I was pretty busy last week, meeting friends, coming in fourth in dart tournaments and watching movies. I went to a park on Saturday and it was a really beautiful place called Mulhyanggi Arboretum. Mulhyanggi means water smell, so it's the Water Smell Arboretum.
We ate Jok Bal which is translated as "shaven pig's feet" which sounds really strange but is actually really delicious. After eating pig feet, we walked around and had a chicken fight. I got beat by my friend's nephew who is in high school. Then we found a maze where we raced to the center and our team won. After the park we went back to a friend's apartment and he made us all spaghetti. We was me and about five Korean friends. All the foreignors were off at some island playing Lord of the Flies or something. I felt special and also a little lonely when everyone spoke in Korean and I just had to sit there like I don't know what you're saying people, speak English, but forgot I was in Korea.
Sunday Ryan came by Anyang, and we hung out with my friends in Sanbon and walked around Anyang a little. I don't know if it was not enough Ryan or just enough Ryan. Probably just enough. Because sometimes he says things that I don't want to hear.
Yesterday I went shopping and bought a lot of vegetables and spaghetti and some other groceries. I sat in a cafe and tried to read and block out girls saying 'blah blah blah migookin saram, blah blah blah migookin saram" migookin saram means American person, so I kinda sorta felt like they were talking about me, which makes me uncomfortable. It's one thing I can't get used to and I'm thinking about getting surgery so I look Korean.
Today I'm back at school and I don't know what I'm going to teach my first class because the copy room's locked but whatever, if all else fails, dance party, right? Or hangman, I don't know.

Chinese Drinks

Last night the owner of the English cafe where i go often to meet my Korean friends and one or two other foreigners took my father and me and a few of the aforementioned friends to a chinese restaurant slash bar and bought us a lot of chinese liquor. There were two types. The first came in a porcelain vase like bottle and had masks all over it. It was strong but good. The second was a little smoother and sweeter and had bamboo in it but I'm not a fan of sweet and while one shot would have been okay, the remaining uncountable number was not good. A little hungover today but we had a good time and I think my dad made a new friend.

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