The Adam Times

ADAM WEEKLY HEADLINES

2011-06-13T04:17:00.000-07:00

Week in Review>>

•After an epic weekend turned up-side-down, life and love find a way to work itself out.
•Gator roles, and boot chooting dominate dominate a Han River Harrier awards night.

South Korea>>

•Adam's next visitor and University of Kansas amigo Marcelo touches down in Seoul. Although a brief visit, Adam and Marcelo reminisce on old times, fill in gaps of the present, and hope to reunite in the future in either Singapore where Marcelo currently resides, one of the many beautiful hot spots in SE Asia or if it comes to it in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. Shazam!

Family>>

•After what seems like a month, Adam gets a needed refreshing talk with his amazing sister Alicia about day-to -day events, the cuteness of Ella & Daniel, future plans, the psychology of women and the awesomeness of Game of Thrones.

•Adam speaks with his mom, Queen Netti, who will make a touchdown in Seoul this coming August. Festivities to honor are scheduled to begin in the coming weekend.

Work & Education>>

•Due to a shaky start to the week, Adam takes a needed sick day.
•The work load continues to grow as the principal initiates a new reading program to begin and preparation for the after school program takes way.

Kat>>

•After a brief vacation, Skeegers returns to the Kat cave and brings along with him new found friend Po. Brinkle approves and the trio are turning into what could be a start to a beautiful friendship.

Lifestyle

•With its incredible charisma and influential nature, Adam's moustache is steadily taking over not only his physical appearance but mentality as well. What begin as a joke could be turning into something remarkable with the endless amounts of moustache opportunities available.

Health

•An interesting read on what habits many people should be doing differently, Adam considers making number of habitual changes, using squat toilets for #2s being one of them.

Sports

•With a lot of heart and a fighting spirit, the Han River Harriers win 1-0 vs a tough Seoul Storm opponent and find themselves moving into Division for the fall 2011 season. With a handful of players moving on from Korea, a new recruitment of players commences.
•Celebrations at Dillingers Bar, HRH sponsor, follow after the epic win with the Hong Kong 7s and now Dillinger/HRH "choot the boot" tradition. Some players find the tradition easier to handle than others.
•Adam known to many Harriers as either Backstreeet, the Mexican and/or Frodo receives a mighty recognition at the Han River Harrier awards ceremony for his numerous amount of soccer heading winners.

Travel

•After talking extensively with his fellow amigo Marcelo and his extensive travel experiences in SE Asia, Adam turns his eye toward somewhere in the SE Asia region as the next destination to visit. Borocay, Puket, Bali, Singapore top the radar charts.

Movies

•Although receiving high viewer and critic acclaim, X-Men The First Class turns out to be a disappointment. However, Kung Fu Panda 2's constant witty humour and action prove it to be picked as one of Adam's winning summer flicks to watch.

Television

•The latest "Game of Thrones" episode fails to disappoint once again. Although being over-rated by some, Adam deems it could be one of the greatest series of all time.

Music

•With the mounting number of music files accumulated but never listened to, Adam contemplates a massive music file genocide and possible annihilation.

ADAM'S HEADLINE NEWS

2011-06-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

WEEK IN REVIEW>>
∙Recent and not so recent endless drinking escapades inspire Adam to stay sober for the month of June.
∙With a four day weekend on its way, a Saturday barbeque/lamb roast, a Sunday football victory and celebration, a Monday Hamilton Hotel pool visit and possibly a Tuesday hike all paint for a beautiful weekend in Seoul.
∙While friends successfully swim across the Han River in Seoul last Saturday, Adam Kostecki and Kevin Cowell's attempt to paddle across turns into an epic failure.

SOUTH KOREA>>
∙Adam's first visitors, Beth and Nate come to Seoul. A close battle would seem likely but Seoul comes out victoriously after dominating the couple’s last Saturday night. An awesome weekend but a painful 3 hours at the end of the night for Nate Ruhter as he struggled to maintain consciousness and his dignity while puking on himself and wanting to fall asleep in the Gangnam gutter.
∙The (yellow) spring dust is finally clearing out as a hot summer approaches. Rooftop parties, camping trips and river front afternoons look promising.

U.S.A.>>
∙With the historical amount of tornado warnings happening through the Midwest, Southern and Eastern United States, the famous Kansas Wizard of Oz quote, “There’s no place like home,” takes on a whole new meaning.

WORK & EDUCATION>>
∙Adam decides against the George Mason Masters program after deciding that he doesn’t want to get certified in ESL for his teaching career. A decision on another program in the U.S.A. or Canada is expected in November 2011.
∙Plans to continue working in Korea until February 2012 are solidifying as new work contract dates approach.
∙Adam confirms that his co-teacher, Wonny (Oh Kyung Su) is the most amazing co-teacher in South Korea. With her impeccable classroom management and activity designing skills and Adam’s goofiness and student attention retaining skills, are they the best elementary school co-teaching couple in Seoul?
∙After over a year, Adam’s after school soccer class awaits its last day on June 8th. Adam will begin an after school phonics, reading and story time class to begin on June 13th.
∙Adam’s weekly evening schedule to begin afresh as he approaches his last day of tutoring on June 9th.

KAT>>
∙Adam’s amazing girlfriend Katherine Chan reconfirms her awesomeness with an array of quotes, which include:
“I’m gonna get my nails done with Sarah. Do you want to go creep out (sit on a balcony, drink beer and watch/creep people as they walk by) with Kevin?”
“I had my battery on the whole time…DICK!”
∙Skeegers, the newest family member of Ms. Chan, smooths his way into a promising friendship with veteran monkey, Brinkle.
∙Ms. Chan anxiously anticipates a much needed break and visit to Mississauga, Canada in August 2011.

LIFESTYLE>>
∙Adam contemplates bringing back the Charley Chaplin look after his month long mustache growing spectacle begins its second week.
∙An epic era on its way out. Adam fears he may suffer from heterosexual life partner separation anxiety as his best friend Joel Nalley and girlfriend Maria Monroe prepare a move back to Colombia after accepting teaching positions in Barranquilla, Colombia. Both are set to leave South Korea in early August.

HEALTH>>
∙With summer around the corner and love handles getting more evident, Adam adopts a running a biking program 2-3/week.
∙Adam’s struggle with alopecia continues. He recently received to steroid shots to the chin. The stress with Korea apparently continues.

TECHNOLOGY>>
∙Adam’s recent iTouch jailbreak opens up endless productive or time wasting opportunities? The fates will decide.

∙Settlers of Catan board game obsession dominates not only Adam’s board game play but iTouch application usage.

SPORTS>>
∙The possibility of joining a 5-a-side soccer team opens up as does Adam’s evening schedule.
∙After a disappointing Fall 2010 season but redeeming finish after winning their last game to stay in Division 2 Sunday League Soccer, the Han River Harriers play their final game of the Spring 2011 season on Sunday, June 5th with the opportunity to move into Division 1.

TRAVEL>>
∙The countdown the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens Rugby tournament weekend carries on with 294 days until the epic weekend. Martin Buschell, Kevin Cowell, Louis Skeegan, Ben Hough, Clifford, Patrick Tilden, Clifton Tyron and Adam Kostecki plan to keep the Street Fighter idea with the hopes of a Chung Li there as well. Katherine Chan being the most likely candidate might have something to say about that since the 2011 Seven’s took place on her birthday. However the 2012 weekend won’t. Time will tell.
∙Finding it difficult to save money, Adam’s travel plans this coming summer may be limited to only the southern Korean peninsula. Former roommate and high school friend Jeremiah Bridges, currently in Istanbul Turkey, is the front runner to the next Adam touchdown.
∙An Adam appearance in Topeka, Kansas during the Christmas season is hopeful but still uncertain as Adam waits to hear from his school when exactly his yearly winter camp dates. The outlook looks promising but not certain quite yet. Fingers are being crosses.
∙A rescent trip to Jeju island with Kat, Mike Carlin and Michelle Nikoomanesh was just the right relaxing trip these couples needed to get a way from Seoul.

MOVIES>>
∙The most anticipated movie of the week goes to the new X-Men movie, with the possibility of watching it in 4D.
∙The most disappointing movie of the month goes to the new Pirates of the Caribbean.

TELEVISION>>
∙Trumping all other opponents, the “Game of Thrones” series on HBO becomes a weekly viewing necessity.
∙ “Modern Family’s” popularity rebirths after a month long recession.
∙ “Mad Men” season 5 along with “Entourage” season 7 become the most anticipated series to date.

BOOKS>>
∙The novels in Adam’s apartment continue to go unread as he struggles to find his pace with them. The most recent picked up novel, “The Great Gatsby,” is hoping to get completely read in the next week while the series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” by author George R.R. Martin is the next likely string of books to be read.

MUSIC>>
∙With an over abundance of music files to sort through most music listening has come from online radio, in particular from 8tracks.com. The most listened to albums, bands, rappers and/or singers include, “Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” “Gorillaz: The Fall,” “Blockhead: The Music Scene,” and “The Arctic Monkeys.”

I'm fine thank you and you?

2010-05-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

“I’m fine thank you and you?” That is one of the first phrases (and sometimes one of the only phrases) Korean people seem to know. And yes, I’m fine, thank you and you? I know it’s been more then 2 months since my last blog post but I gotta say I haven’t heard much from the other side of the world either. Don’t worry, I still love you~hope you feel the same. I’m not sure again where to begin (big surprise) so I guess I’ll start where I left off last time. Back to work and work has been EXTREMELEY busy but going really well. I think I’m turning into a Korean person in that I’m doing things in extreme fashion. Example 1: On top of teaching my regular 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th grade English lessons, I’m also teaching a teacher’s conversational English class once a week, I give an English broadcast Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday every week (which has upgraded my celebrity status with the students exponentially), I continue to teach my Wednesday soccer class every week and I co-teach a club activity with a Korean teacher every Thursday. Example 2: I’ve been going on a ridiculous number of dates during the past month. Example 3: I’m turning into a shopping fanatic and have been spending quite some time at different parts of Seoul to partake in Korea’s most lively past time, drinking. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, Korea has the most intense drinking culture that I’ve ever experienced. Quite fun but I know my liver has been suffering.

Although I’ve really been enjoying myself as of late I still have to mention the bi-polar feeling one can have towards the culture in Korea. It’s the feeling where one day you love where you are, you are glamoured by everything around you and in a moment’s time you are extremely frustrated and want to say goodbye to the ridiculousness formalities and awkwardness that confronts your daily grind. But, I must say that I’m getting past this feeling day by day. For that reason along with quite a few others I’ve decided to re-sign with my current school for another school year. And with this decision will have to come a dedication to learn Korean, which I’m confident will make my experience in Korea dramatically more enjoyable then it already has been. That said, learning Korean I think will be a very difficult task and one that will require a perhaps temporary lifestyle change. It’s quite embarrassing when I talk to Koreans that I’ve been in Korea for 9 months that I can’t speak basic Korean yet.

Right then~moving onto some recent noteworthy experiences I’ve had in Korea, one being acupuncture. Some weeks ago I bruised both of my heels while playing soccer and my co-teacher (Wonny my Korean mom) recommended that I get acupuncture. I was skeptical but thought why not have someone prick with me with 28 different needles in my body. During my first experience I didn’t know that once you get it done you are not supposed to go out drinking the same night. Pfff..how was I supposed to know that? Consequently, my body felt worse the next day. I went back to give it another shot, took it easy that evening and the next day surprisingly felt really well and noticed quite a difference. Not only do you get pricked in different parts of your body, you are also bled-yes just like in the old days. Of course, it’s bad blood that’s being bled…

I had my first experiences with yellow dust, a seasonal meteorological phenomenon which affects much of East Asia sporadically during the springtime months originating in the deserts of Mongoloia, northern China and Kazakhstan where high-speed surface winds and intense dust stroms kick ups dense clouds of fin, dry soil particles containing pollutants such as sulfur, soot, ash, carbon monoxide, and other toxic pollutants. (Wikipdedia)Sounds pretty awesome right? One day it actually felt and looked like the end of the world. It’s super eery out and everyone behaves like a zombie and doesn’t talk.

I also experienced my first Korean wedding. It felt kinda like a game show. It was by far the fastest and most high tech wedding I’ve ever been to. In Korea, many people get married in wedding halls, which book up multiple wedding parties in one day. Thus, wedding ceremonies are given a time limit. Romantic eh? Don’t get my wrong, the hall was beautiful and like I said, super high tech with spot lights on the soon to be newly weds and big screen televisions for those who don’t have a great view of the proceedings. During the ceremony half of the people, especially those in the back of the hall are talking throughout the entire ceremony about this and that, again adding to the romance and sacredness of the ceremony. However, the reception was the big kicker for me. The lunch/dinner is held in the same building and is basically a huge buffet. There is delicious food but quite different then your extremely ordinary western wedding where there is table service. And that’s it. No first dance, no real mingling between family and friends, no cutting of the cake, no dancing and surprisingly not that much drinking either until later in the evening after people go home for a while and chill out?? Apparently I missed out later in the evening when the wedding party and invited guests go out to the bar and get smashed. Next time, I’ll remember that I should go home, rest up and then prepare myself for the evening festivities.

I've acquired a new nickname, which I think is quite hilarious. Backstreet. One afternoon on a Wednesday during Children’s Day everyone had the day off so my soccer buddies and I went to a park and had picnic, etc. Another friend and I by chance were both wearing light colored jeans and white t-shirts. You can see where this is going. I’m not sure why I got stuck with Backstreet and my friend didn’t but the name is sticking and I’ve embraced it a bit and nicknamed my wireless network Backstreet. Tell you why? Because, “I want it that way!”

Adam’s Headline News:

First Korean Spanish speakers found in Seoul. This discovery has prompted non-Korean Spanish speakers to reconsider learning Korean.

Adam’s first MacBook experience has disarrayed him to the point of reconsidering the notion of love at first sight.

After reevaluating the possibility of going to the U.S. over the summer, Adam has decided to save this visit for Christmas. Most likely summer vacation destination, Japan.

Jorn, the destroyer, the friend, the Dutchman who thought he might stay in Korea for only a few weeks and went on to stay for over two months went to Japan for a month and is now back in Seoul. Thank you for the pictures buddy. Check out more of his pictures on his website http://mijnbrein.nl/

South Korea’s daunting task to pass the group stages of the World Cup has spawned Koreans and Foreigners a like to give up drinking the two weekends prior to South Korea’s first game. Sike!

Recent tension between South and North Korea have resulted in South Korean citizens and foreigners alike to speak even less about the possibility of war and more about what type of Korean beer they prefer Cass, OB or Hite.

Gangdeok Elementary School had their 24th and most spectacular sports day event this year involving dancing to 80s music, relay races, parades, and parents tripping and falling over during the race competitions.

The big winner of teacher’s day card of the year goes to Jung Hee Ho whose depiction of Mr. Adam’s red lips caught judge’s attention.

After the final episode of the thought provoking, plot twisting , 6 year historically amazing, critically acclaimed TV series Lost, TV followers are now looking toward what may be the most hedonistic, gut wrenching, profane and violent TV show to follow. They found their answer, “Spartacus: Blood and Sand.” Jupiter’s C*ck

Back to the Future

2010-03-03T04:07:00.000-08:00

Coming back to the future is honestly exactly how I feel after coming back to Seoul from 17 days in India. The trip truly made me realize the privileged, easy, no hassle life I live here in Seoul. There’s always something you can find to complain about but damn...I’m a spoiled brat. So then let’s begin with it shall we? Once again, my companion and friend in traveling and living abroad (Mr. Joel Nalley) started our journey to the Incheon International Airport at 6:00 am on February 11th during a torrential snow storm..at least so it seemed. Our plane was an hour and a half late because they had to de ice our plane before we could take off. Being “the sleeper” that I am, that didn’t bother me one bit as I probably slept on 70% of the flights to New Delhi. We flew Korean Air which has to be one of the best airlines there are and once in Hong Kong transferred to Air India which has to be one of the worst airlines there are (accept for Spice Jet). As soon as we got on our plane, I swear I could smell the curry. Although large, the plane was super old and didn’t even have air vents! Are you kidding me? However, after a few compliments from the Korean man sitting next to us that Joel and I were very handsome and to me that I looked like a celebrity (uh huh that’s right), more than a few Gin and Tonics and a really entertaining Bollywood film..Air India is allllright. We got into Delhi around 11:30ish and got into a taxi at around 12:30 a.m. We wanted to spend absolutely no time in Delhi and wanted to take the first train to Agra. After finding out that the first flight to Agra departs at 6:30 a.m. we decided to go to the train station, get the tickets taken care of and chill at the station until our train left. Little did we know that you couldn’t buy tickets by the time we got there and that the Delhi train station isn’t where most people spend the night in India, unless you’re homeless or just like the smell of burning plastic. All the guidebooks say “Once arriving into India for the first time, get a midrange hotel and ease your way into it.” Screw that, we did the exact opposite and rucked up with the local peeps and slept on benches at the train station with poor folks. Not the most comfortable night of “sleep” I’ve had but it makes for a great story.
After a record breaking amount of misleading offers from random sketchy dudes to rent a driver and drive all over Rajasthan (Northeast India), we finally managed to get all of our train tickets planned out and paid for about $70 USD each, which is crazy cheap. We left for Agra at about 11:30 that afternoon and slept most of the way to Agra. Upon arriving I really had my first glimpse of what is “really” India. Just before reaching Agra station there are walls in between the train tracks and small houses. In between the two there are stockpiles of trash. I swear I saw more trash on the ground then dirt, sand or grass. Once we arrived I also was unfortunately given the opportunity to witness a man with elephantitis feet (lymphatic filariasis). , it looked fake...like something out of a comic book. I found out later in the trip that this condition is quite common throughout India. Sorry, no pics. Moving on, after once again getting hassled and bombarded by approximately 20 different cab drivers we decided on the least sketchiest looking one (the one that talked the least) and made our way to the city center near the Taj Mahal. On our way to where most of the hotels and hostels are we ended up bumping into two guys, American and British, who ended up being pretty cool chaps. The hostel was pretty nice too and had a sweet rooftop and awesome view of the Taj. We decided to stay at the hostel that they were posted up at and around sunset went and saw the Taj Mahal from across the Yamuna River. From a distance it was pretty impressive and serene, especially compared with the next day when we saw it in the morning in what seemed to be the foggiest mornings in the History of India.

Aside from going to Agra Fort (Although impressive, there are so many forts in Agra that it’s easy to take them for granted), visiting the manic markets and drinking beers on our rooftop with our new buddies our stop in Agra was ending and a new train ride was beginning. Our train was as expected in India, two hours late so we rucked up on the train station floor again with our peeps once again. At this point Joel ended up falling asleep first and I was to wake him up when the plane arrived. Of course I ended up falling asleep as well and Joel ended up waking my disillusioned self up. It was pretty funny too because I was so disillusioned when he said let’s move further down the patio that I told him “wait I have to get my friend Joel.” Bad decision by Joel as he should know I’m the sleeper. After enough convincing on his part and the train arriving in 15 minutes after we were on our way.
Our next stop was to Jaipur “the pink city” and capital of the state of Rajasthan. We arrived super late and asked our rickshaw driver to take us to the closest midrange hotel. At this point it was around 1:30 a.m. and the Hotel didn’t have rooms ready. No problem though, we ended up sleeping in the Hotel’s restaurant on some small but pretty comfortable seating areas. I gotta say it was one of my better nights of sleep. We woke the next morning realizing that we were in a pretty nice hotel where there was a continental breakfast and pretty plush rooms. (Also only $30/night) Although many people said it’s a just a bigger Agra (dirty, manic, cows everywhere) it actually was pretty cool. We visited the Hawa Mahal which is where Royal ladies back in the day were allowed to view the local markets. Quite a privilege I assume since the Lords and Rulers of Rajasthan didn’t allow them to even view other men. We also went to city palace which was pretty cool and also outside the city to what’s called Monkey Temple. Yes, there were a ton of monkeys (and lots of cows of course) up there and some pretty awesome views of the city. We only spent the day in Jaipur and by nightfall were on our way to Jaisalmer, which is relatively close to the border of Pakistan.
After a 12 hour train ride, we arrived in Jaisalmer around 1:00 p.m. We got a hotel recommendation from our buddies we met in Jaipur and also knew right away that we wanted to do a desert trip. After arriving to our hotel we booked our desert trip that same day and by 4:30 p.m. were mounting our camels and heading into the dunes. OH, I almost forgot...I’m not quite sure for how long this was taking place but Joel managed to grow a quite impressive mustache for our India trip. When I say impressive this is not just coming from me but also from the numerous compliments he got from everyone in Rajasthan. On top of his mustache we both got turbans and at that point were fully on Indians.
You might think, as I did, that riding a camel in the desert is so cool..which it is. But man am I happy that we only did it for one day because by the end of the desert trip I had some major chaffing going on and a sore ars. But I’m glad I can scratch a camel trip in the desert off the list. The trip was super fun though, took tons of awesome jumping pictures, met a really fun and random crew of travelers, ate a really delicious meal under an incredibly bright sunny sky and had some beers. Great times.
We headed back to Jaisalmer at 9:00 a.m. the next morning, ate a delicious Nut Cake at a German Bakery, I got suckered into buying a bed mattress which I lost later that day (don’t ask), walked the streets of Jaisalmer and had an amazing dinner that night with our friends from the camel trip. The next day came quickly, our train rides had come to an end and we took our first bus ride that next morning (which was also an hour late) and headed to Jodhpur, “the blue city.”
I knew more about Jodhpur beforehand than any of the other cities that we traveled to. A friend of ours, Jorn who had been and is still visiting us in Seoul talked highly about it. Even with all the buildup, Jodhpur held its own and was really impressive. Our first day in we decided to stick around our hostel and relax, since we really hadn’t done that the entire trip. Later in the night we went to one of the nicer restaurants in the city and drank what had to been the best Gin and Tonic that I’ve ever drank. Blue Falcon I believe was the name of the Gin and damn it was tasty. The night didn’t last long due to everything shutting down at 11ish and the seemingly lack of bars anywhere and everywhere in Rajasthan. The next morning we visited the Megrangarh fort which I thought was even more impressive than the Taj Mahal. It just really captured the majestic image of Indian royalty and luxury. It almost seemed more like a palace then a fort and also had a really entertaining audio guide. After getting our full we headed outside the main area, had a delicious spicy lunch and hit some of the local manic markets. At this point, the constant site of cows was really overwhelming. It seemed like there were more cows in Jodhpur then the rest of the places we had visited combined. We made friends with another traveler at the hostel, purchased another delicious bottle of Blue Falcon Gin and talked late into the night (11:30 p.m.). Pathetic but whatever, we opened the bottle at 6:00 p.m. and never looked back. Our time in Jodpur was coming to an end and the next afternoon we were at the airport on our way to visit our friends in Chennai (Madras) via Spice Jet, also known as the worst airline ever.

Our Iowan friends Brad and Sarah who we met while living in Colombia work at Chennai International School and are one of the coolest couples I have met. We couldn’t have asked for a better greeting at the airport as their driver waited for us with a poster of the Colombian flag with our names painted with golden sparkles. Chennai is in Southern India and is really a completely different country. The language is Tamil not Hindi, the people are generally mid-night black in complexion, there weren’t nearly as many cows on the streets and it’s boiling hot. Luckily we weren’t there during the super hot season. Anyway...at this point of our journey we were now officially on vacation. Brad and Sarah stocked their fridge with American style food and liquor, we went to a beach resort on the Bay of Bengal, ate at an amazing all you can eat brunch buffet at one of the most luxurious hotels in Chennai. was awesome...unlimited top shelf liquor, sushi, Thai food, Steak, Lobster..and our champagne glasses were never empty. And for only $40 USD! Amazing. We did one cultural thing which was crushing the Shore Temple UNESCO Heritage site and visiting the caves that are quite close. And of course, amazing jumping pictures were involved. Sadly our time in Chennai was coming to a close and we had to depart from our ridiculously hospitable friends and hosts. We were now onto our last stop, Bombay.

We fly into Bombay on the morning of Tuesday, February 23rd. Yes, it’s also known as Mumbai but we were told that only tourists call it Mumbai. Anyways..Bombay was a major change from any of the cities that we had visited before. I could count with my hands the number of cows we saw, people were sophistically dressed, main streets were relatively clean (compared with anywhere else we had been in India) and prices were much higher. We saw the local sights near the Fort area but at this point we were both pretty much over seeing “the sights.” Joel had a friend in Bombay, Adele, who was he had met in Colombia. Adele and her friends showed us around, took us to Elephant Island where we saw some really spectacular caves and the last night in India Adele had a small get together at her place.Before we knew it our trip was over and we were on our 24 hour return to Seoul but not before eating a delicious Goan lunch from Adele’s mom. India was definitely like no other place I’ve been to. The staggering poverty, the chaotic but somehow harmonious comings and goings, the manic markets, the smells, the sites, the cows...it was definitely a trip to remember.
And now I’m back in Seoul and to be quite honest, I’m very content here and think I will stay for another year. For that I’m determined to better my Korean and quite honestly start bettering myself by step number, cut back on drinking. We’ll see how it goes with the immense pressure in Korea to go out. I’m up for the test anyway. I’m back at school this week and its feels like a brand new school to me. My Korean mom is now one of my co-teachers, I’ll only be teaching 5th grade with my previous co-teacher and I’ll be working with another brand new co-teacher that will be new to the school. But more than any of this, the overall attitude of everyone at school seems to be brightened and the stress level has gone down. Plus spring is on the way, soccer season has started, people are coming out of their shells and the days are getting longer. Life’s good.

Movie of the Month: Wannted, 2009
Book of the Month: The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao –Junot Diaz
Music of the Month: The xx
Quote of the Month: It’s never the changes we want that change everything. –Junot Diaz,

Don't Stop Believing!

2010-01-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

An era has come to it’s end...I finally finished watching The Sopranos. Some of you may not understand the significance in this accomplishment but let me tell you that it takes dedication and loyalty...and a whole lot of your time. Six seasons in approximately 3 months everyone, that’s like 1 entertaining but sometimes grueling episode a day. And of course, there were days where I didn’t watch an episode that day so I had to make up for it by watching two, three and sometimes five episodes in one day! Whatcha gonna do...gotta pay my dues somehow. Anyways...although you could argue that I spent way too much time watching the Sopranos I will say that it was some of the best television that I’ve ever watched...from the acting, story line, character development, editing...everything about it is spot on. It’s no wonder it is the most financial successful cable series in TV history. After finishing the last episode I’ll be honest by saying that I felt a bit rattled emotionally...a bit sad, disturbed, depressed. But I knew what was coming and it couldn’t have ended any better. I reckon this end of an era will definitely free up a lot of my time.
On that note, I’ve now been finished with my winter camp for 12 days. According to many friends of mine that I spend time with (aside from a select few and some friends that live in my area) I’ve been MIA. I agree with them. Lately I’ve been trying to go out less and have been spending more time with Korean friends that I’ve made. One Korean friend in particular has been super fun hanging out with..Mike. Mike is one of the most honest people I’ve ever met and is not hesitant to give his honest opinion on matters.

Example:
Me: Hey Mike, if you could learn another language aside from English what would it be?
Mike: Oh, definitely Japanese.
Me: Oh cool, why Japanese?
Mike: Porno.
Me: Oh! I see.
Mike: Yes, there are many good stories in Japanese porn and I want to know what they’re saying.

This is just one example of the admirable honesty of Mike. I’ve learned a lot from him about Korean culture including the importance of first impressions (hence Koreans obsession with their looks, clothes-shopping, makeup, etc.), formalities in relationships and friendships. Although as a foreigner it’s not as necessary to follow the Korean/Confucius customs I’ve definitely noticed the formalities of how people behave towards others that are older or younger or to people who are more respected because of their job, etc. For example, no matter what the case is, respect is always given to someone that is older. That means the type of language the younger and older person uses is different, the younger person bows either more or lower, and the younger person is usually more timid. However, the older person always picks up the tab. And usually, because there is an age difference between two people (even if it’s just a year or a few years), although there might be a type of friendship established (more of a mutual respect type of friendship) the two people usually don’t spend time together as close friends due to their age. Mike and I are the same age so he says to me that we can be very good friends because of our age. Fascinating eh? We’ve also talked about the theories of why and how South Korea became so economically successful, which is quite astonishing if you think about it. There are of course many factors involved including a lot of foreign aid after the Korean, the value of education that Koreans have, their hard working nature, etc. But, one theory that Mike made me aware of is the effect of Korea’s drinking culture. As I’ve mentioned before, Korea’s drinking culture is HUGE and according to Mike this helped economically to create a lot of cash flow in the market which ultimately lead to a lot of trade a business development. Some food and drinks for thought.

Some other happenings recently include entertaining my Dutch friend who is traveling all around Asia for about a year. I hope to do that some day. Joel and I met him and his girlfriend when we were in Bolivia in the summer of 2008. Just recently I shot a gun for the first time at a shooting range. I was an 86% shot..not bad for my first time. I’ve jailbroken my iPod which allows me to download tons of apps for free! Holla! I think I’ve been holding true to my New Year resolutions so far. Hopefully I can keep it up and try and blog more!

Movie of the month: Avitar
Music of the month: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Book of the month: Franny and Zoey by J.D. Salinger (the only book I've read!)
Quote of the month:"They who works selfishly for results are miserable" - "Bhagavad Gita"

New Years, Ends and Beginnings

2010-01-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

As I expected (which is part of the problem) my consistent blogging is diminishing. After some insightfulness from my big sister Alicia I’m going to try and blog more frequently but make them shorter in length. On that note, it’s hard to believe that I’ve coming up to nearly 6 months living in Seoul. As this New Year begins and I’m becoming older and ugh hmm having more responsibilities my new year’s resolution is to start acting my age and be more responsible. What does that mean you might ask? Well, for starters don’t lose your camera on a random Saturday night out, stop spending so much money going out to bars, start saving up some serious cash, exercise more, start taking my job more seriously and continue to make the best out of situations that I’m in. All in all, I think that I’ve been doing an OK job but could always do better. So, after 5 months I’ve finally started learning Hangul. I’m still only in the extreme beginner stage and am learning how to read and write consistently. Surprisingly learning Hangul in the beginning stages is phonetically very easy. It’s actually pretty fun to learn, although I need to really push myself if I want to improve. I think anyone who has lived abroad would agree that even though you can live and socialize with other English speakers in a foreign country, when it comes to gaining a fulfilling cultural experience, if you are unable to speak with the locals you are generally sitting on the sidelines as a spectator. The question that I have been continually asking myself for the past month has been “what do I want to get out of your time living in Korea?” There is a chance that I will only be living in this country for another 6 months and if that’s the case, I want to take away as much as I can from being here. For that reason, I’ve been keeping myself busy lately..trying to learn Korean on my own and setting up language exchange opportunities with Koreans. Even though its bitter winter weather, I’m trying to see more of Seoul, watching some famous Korean movies, “Old Boy” being one of them, trying to organize my teaching materials, learning computer programs that will be useful in teaching and making more Korean friends. I hope I can keep this motivation up. I do currently have a Soprano’s addiction but am on the 6th season so I hope to knock that out this week. I’m teaching a winter camp along with 5 other native English teacher friends for one more week and then will have 3 weeks off. A vacation to the Philippines was in the making but I decided to save some cash for my India trip in February. What the future holds I have no idea but am still very up to anything that comes my way. I’ve been in touch with a school in Istanbul, Turkey (Terakki Foundation Schools) whom I have already had an initial interview with. Tomorrow I’ll have a second interview with the foreign language coordinator. If I get offered this job I don’t think I’ll be able to pass it up but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. One day at a time.

Movie of the Month:
“Old Boy – Chan-wook Park”

Bands of the Month:
“Atlas Sound – Logos,” “Death in Vegas – Scorpio Rising”

Quotes of the Month:
“Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against with.” – Robert Frost

“The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” – Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopy

Eyelids, Scooters and Man's Best Friend

2009-11-17T01:39:00.000-08:00

So...I thought I’d start off this blog with some follow-up from my last post, Halloween. As with almost every Halloween I can remember before, the weather was shitty. I started off the day playing my first soccer game with my Saturday team on possibly the worst conditions possible. Dirt/sand field (which is very typical in Korea btw) with torrential down pour and puddles everywhere so you can barely pass the ball. I got a lot of playing time in my right-back position so I was happy. Appropriately the final score was 0-0. Later on in the night I ended up meeting up with Korean school girl dressed Joel and some other lads for some pre-partying. Took a taxi to the oh so sketchy part of the city called Itaewon, got out of the taxi to walk the rest of the way to our destination and realized that I left my cell phone in the taxi. Tried hunting down the taxi and calling my phone but had no luck. This of course is my 5th time losing my cell phone while living overseas (1st time in Seoul) so I have some experience in “letting go” to the mobile life and wasn’t all that disappointed...actually felt a little refreshed to be honest. But, low and behold I called the taxi driver the next day, actually not I but a friend of mine who speaks Korean, and the Good Samaritan taxi driver left the phone at his office where I picked it up later on Monday morning. I would say I have a newfound respect for taxi drivers but I’ll hold my tongue because I know this was a rare case because usually taxi drivers try whatever way possible to rip you of and there have been many cases in Seoul where a taxi drivers have made more than inappropriate gestures towards intoxicated girls who are getting rides home at night. But anyway...coming back to Halloween, the night overall was just OK. My original idea was to be Dionysus but my red sash made me look Roman. That didn’t stop people for somehow mistaking me to be dressed as Jesus however. Not sure how that was thought up but I will I say I look damn good in eye-liner. Since it’s already been almost 3 weeks since Halloween I won’t go any further into the night as there’s not much more to report.

Those of you that have read any of my previous blog entries will know that I have at least one paragraph that I use to vent about work and this blog won’t be any different. The good news is that I’m really getting along with my co-teachers. The bad part is that I’m bored out of my skull with the content that we’re teaching. Unlike in Middle School and High School, in Elementary School the curriculum that is supplied is used more. This makes is exceptionally easy to teach especially if you are a new teacher and don’t have any teaching experience. I however, find the content painful to even think about and honestly feel like my motivation to be a teacher is getting sucked out of my brain with a straw. Did I mention that the 5th grade class is driving me crazy! I definitely had my moment with them where I decided that this would be my last year teaching English to kids. I’m trying to stay positive but it’s a real big challenge. I even consider contacting SMOE and asking them if I could switch to a Middle or High School in February. I want to see this year through with my current school but I’m not sure how long I can take this. On top of this I found out today that my co-teachers and I have to decide on 15 of 25 audio/visual books and create a 50 question test for an English competition that will take place in mid December. I wouldn’t mind this extra work but 4 other native English teachers and I also have to create lessons for an annual winter camp that we have to attend. These three 45 minute lessons for winter camp are due by this Saturday. And the thing is, my bitching doesn’t have necessarily have to do with the amount of work I’m doing, it’s the English level that I’m creating this material for. Whatever, at least I have a long winter vacation that starts after the first long week of January.

Moving on to the upcoming winter break, India is officially on! Joel and I bought our tickets last week and the flights and visa add up to around 850 USD which is pretty awesome deal. We’ll be flying into New Delhi and making our way south towards Agra to see the Taj Mahal and at some point meeting up with one of the most fun married couples I have yet to meet, Brad and Sarah who Joel and I met while living in Colombia. The trip will be about 2 weeks and will start in mid February. Can’t wait! I probably should get on getting all of the random ass shots I’ll need before arriving into India. With my luck I’d get the scats for the entire trip! I’ll still have 3 weeks of vacation in January that I’m trying to figure out what to do. I have one friend Jorn (who Joel and I met during our Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia trip) that’ll be here in early January but I’ll definitely have time for a quick trip somewhere if I have enough money saved up. Winter is definitely on its way. It’s cold as balls out right now so I imagine January will not be a nice month to hang in Seoul. I have discovered some new areas of Seoul that need recognition, most notably an area called Hyewha. It’s known to be a theater district neighborhood and there are at least 2 close universities close by so lots of young people everywhere. I randomly stumbled across the area with some friends who whom I was with an afternoon. We decided to walk there from another point called Insadong and were thinking that it should only take around 20 minutes. We took about 15 wrong turns however and it took more like 2 hours. Not the most ideal way to stumble across the area but I’m glad it happened.

So onto social life and random thoughts. I’ve been playing tons of soccer lately and I might just say that I haven’t looked this good naked for quite some time. I’m playing on a Saturday and Sunday league and there are only 3 games left for each league. Got my first few goals as Stryker on the Sunday league (holla!) and have been playing my 1st choice right back position on the Saturday league. I also played on a Wednesday 5 vs 5 game with a friend from my Sunday league. Gotta ride with him on his scooter to the game. If I knew I was gonna live here for another year I’d buy a scooter right now. I hang out more with the guys from my Sunday league but the Saturday league fellas are gold as well. I also have a new friend...TV. I never thought I’d be that guy that starts watching multiple TV shows but I now have my computer connected to my TV and have started watching The Sopranos (starting from season 1), Californication (Showtime) and Mad Men (AMC) all of which are extremely entertaining. I also bought some books that I want to get on, which include “Cannery Row” by John Steinbeck, “1984” by George Orwell, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz, “Franny and Zooey” by J.D. Salinger and “Fragile Things” by Neil Gaiman. I’ve been to preoccupied with The Sopranos lately to put in enough time on them but hope to knock them out in the colder months ahead.

So, for those of you readers who don’t know, plastic surgery in Korea (as well as in Japan) is huge. Getting your eye-lids modified, for lack of better words, to look more “Western” is the surgery of choice. For a long time I couldn’t tell the difference and now I can’t help but to look at everyone’s eyelids to see if they got plastic surgery. Actually, it doesn’t even matter if they’re from Korea or anywhere else, eye-lids are the first thing I look at now. It’s weird I know. So, in Korea as in many Asian countries respecting your elders is extremely important. In Korean subway cars and buses there are areas specifically laid out for elders, the disabled and for pregnant women. I understand the concern but if respecting your elders is that important why wouldn’t people just get out of their seat when an elder comes on board? A train can be shoulder to shoulder with no elders on the train but there will be no one sitting in the elder section. It doesn’t make any sense to me.

Here are finally some pics from the last few weeks. This is not the most graceful ending to this blog entry but I’m not the most graceful writer either. I’m gonna bite off my buddy Joel. Holla!

Music of the Month: Grizzly Bear: Vecktatimest (amazing Indi stuff)
Podcast of the Month: TED Ideas Worth Spreading (If you haven’t listened to any of their talks, get on it)
Movie of the Month: Inglorious Bastards (this was easy, it was the only movie I’ve watched lately)

86ing Two Months in Seoul

2009-10-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

Well, well…as expected from myself this blog came later than the previous one. But I hope that this blog has some stories and thoughts that will entertain not only myself but those of you who may happen to read it (yes my selfish reasons for writing this outweigh any other reason). And as before and reflecting upon how random of a person I am at times, I’ll start be writing about a random thought..So in Korea or at least in Seoul during times when high school students are taking exams that basically determine whether or not they will shame themselves or live up to their family’s pride, airplanes are not allowed to fly over Seoul. Yes that is a run on sentence but I’m not really sure how to fix it and I think that it being a run on sentence brings out my personality as one who either speaks for too long or too little...oh I forgot to mention that planes also don’t fly over Seoul when middle school students and primary school students are taking tests that determine..actually I’m not sure what they determine but obviously something really important to Koreans. And you wonder why there are so many suicides by young people in Korea.

This random thought leads me into my first not so random thought which is related to my and every other foreign teacher’s day to day life which is disciplining in Korean public schools. I may have mentioned this before but the stereotypical perfectly behaved Asian student is completely false. Are there students of mine who are angels? Yes, absolutely. However, there are plenty of students in my school and in middles schools and high schools throughout Seoul that’s absolutely don’t meet the stereotype shared by many. Many Korean teachers (at least at my school) either use old school methods of disciplining (on your knees and hands in the air, slap on the hand, pulling of the ear) or no school methods. Unfortunately for all of you capital punishment supporters who would choose old school methods, at my school the no school disciplining method is used more often. The justification by many Korean teachers and parents to be light on disciplining kids is that since students spend immense amounts of time studying until the evening hours, they should be allowed to behave crazy in class and at home. Whatever and honestly this topic is boring for me to write about and so I’ll end it there.

So moving on...there’s so much I want to say and such a lack of lexicon power on my part to write it cleverly. Let’s write about Korea...Korea is an interesting place to say the least. It’s a country that has progressed so fast and has been so successful economically but in my opinion hasn’t given itself the time to reflect upon things and develop any kind of subculture society. I’m not a social economist and am not even sure if that is an official title but I think any foreigner that has been living in Korea for a few months would agree with me on this (as would I imagine most Koreans). This is of course most noticeable in popular culture. Music, movies and fashion are the easy examples. Korean Pop or better known as K-Pop is everywhere and is adored by all it seems. And...there’s really not much else. However, I did happen to go to a jazz bar last Monday (30 person max capacity) that inspired me to relearn the piano, saxophone or pick up an instrument in the future. Another easy example to talk about is fashion in Korea. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Koreans are extremely fashionable and dress very well. In fact the amount of shopping available here and the relative price you would pay in comparison to other countries makes me want to almost become a hipster. Sike! Not quite a hipster but I would like to sophisticate my wardrobe while I’m in Korea and I am guilty of splurging a little bit on some clothes here and there. Going back to my point, although people are “fashionable” and are up on the new fashion fads, people lack their own original style. Everyone here dresses the same, follow the latest trends and don’t try and stand out too much. Whatever though, I already have my shopping list made of what I’d like to buy next!

Moving along about Korea...speaking loudly in public (standing out I’d like to say) is very uncommon in Korea. As person with a naturally loud voice, I’ve gotten unpleasant stares on subways, been yelled at by older men in Korean to shut-up I imagine, and have even been told by a train attendant (stewardess?) to lower my voice. The rule of thumb I guess always changes after alcohol is involved which of course applies to almost all cultures I imagine. So went to a casino a few weeks back with a group of about 8 and played some poker. Casinos, by the way, only allow foreigners inside..no Koreans. What may have turned out to be a terrible decision since it was during the week after a few drinks, turned out to be an excellent decision for me as I won 250,000 won (~$215) in about 20 minutes playing poker. I felt kinda bad since I was playing with friends but in the end, I didn’t feel that bad. Last weekend some soccer buddies, a few guys with girlfriends and I went to Ganghwado (a pretty large island east of Seoul) for the weekend. The weekend was composed of me not getting any sleep the night before and consequently being the first person ready to go in the morning, celebrating a new found friend Amelia’s 22nd birthday, rolling around in huge muddy areas on the edge of the island, bonding more with soccer buddies and making a road trip to a city south of Seoul to play soccer with only 12 players. It was a great trip to say the least and considering my previous weekend it was an excellent weekend. I’ll spare the details but the previous weekend involved me making a terrible decision to go out on a Friday when my body and mind were telling me not to, falling on the cement and seriously injuring my elbow and losing my just bought bratwurst in the process, paying 30,000 won for a taxi home and making a rash decision to not only send a “You’ve been 86ed” message to girl that I’ve been interested in but thought was giving me the run around but also removing her as a friend on facebook. I felt like a huge dick because that’s really uncharacteristic of me and it was a really inappropriate thing to do especially when I wasn’t in the best state. It’s funny how removing someone as a friend on facebook nowadays is a really serious dis.

But what’s done is done. But in light of this terrible decision due partly to an excessive amount of alcohol consumption as well as the facebook (aka crackbook) fixation, I’m highly considering to take a month off from boozing and cutting down on time spent on facebook. I tried to quit facebook completely but found out that it’s nearly impossible since it’s basically my new email. No, I’m not gonna kick the facebook habit nor am going to completely cut out drinking but I am gonna hopefully start playing on a Saturday soccer league, start reading more, perhaps find some additional ways to make money, do some more exploring of the city and try spending more time with friends I’ve been making and of course my partner in crime Joel who felt a little left out since I haven’t mentioned him in any of my blogs yet. I have a feeling that these resolutions will however come after Halloween weekend. I’m going to dress as Dionysus (Greek God of Wine) and am going to always have a bottle of booze ready to go but mainly for my company, not me. HA! Pictures on their way! Happy days to come!

Kids, Office Space and Overdue Housewarming Parties

2009-10-12T04:22:00.000-07:00

Busan Domination

2009-10-12T04:09:00.001-07:00

Reflections, Contemplations and Continued Awkwardness…

2009-10-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

My once a week blog has inevitably turned into a maybe once every two week blog. I know the suspense must be killing all of you avid subscribers. HA! Tis all good. My stories, reflections, contemplations and continued levels of awkward encounters to share with the world are exponentially growing. Prepare yourself. To continue the randomness of what I write I’ll kick this off by talking about the recycling in South Korea. Granted I’ve never lived in the Western U.S. where recycling is extremely important and after living in Santa Marta, Colombia for two years where you’d be surprised if people know that recycling exists, I must say that for a city it’s size, Seoul’s recycling system is impressive. Recycling isn’t a choice here. You HAVE to recycle and if you don’t the manager of your apartment can fine you up to 200,000 won (~$100 USD). You have to separate everything (organic, plastic, vinyl, metal and glass) and use special plastic bags for anything organic. Additionally you have to be sure those special plastic bags are specially marked for your neighborhood. What a pain in the ass? Actually it’s not and I would fully encourage and support this kind of regulation for every city.

Moving on, I recently returned from a last minute trip to Busan which is South Korea’s second largest city and is located in south-eastern Korea. Don’t be confused it’s written as Busan but is actually pronounced with a P as in Pusan. Confused? Yeah me too. This past week Busan hosted (supposively) the largest International Film Festival in all of Asia. Met up some buddies I play soccer with along with some other fellow SMOE teachers for two days and one night. Was it worth paying 100,000 for a train ticket there and back? Absolutely. Busan is beautiful city, the locals I thought were friendly there than in Seoul and being more of a beach city the atmosphere was more laid back. Saw two really excellent films, an American film called “The Messenger” and a Chinese film called “Running with Karma” that stole the festival in my opinion. If you haven’t already seen it, do it. You will without a doubt be super entertained. Also visited the famous fish market in Busan where you can buy what seems to be any kind of seafood imaginable. Ate some delicious fresh sashimi and the freshest fried fish I’ve ever tasted in my life. I’ll definitely be making a return trip to Busan once the weather warms up in the Summer months. One word summary of the trip “BENDER!!!”

So, this experience so far is definitely pushing me to edges I haven’t ever been to. I can say that I am officially over my honey-moon stage in Seoul. As a foreigner, you always undoubtedly stand out in any foreign country you live in but I would think that unless I were to live in another east Asian country I will never stand out as much as I do here. I am usually the one who can blend into crowd but that is an absolute impossibility here. This realization is not something that makes me feel awkward as I had this expectation coming into this situation. However, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the type of miscommunication and indirect ways to get messages across to co-workers. I’m still coming to terms with my role as a native English speaker “teacher” here in South Korea. And as the first foreign teacher at y school working and interacting with a group of 99% woman who may have never actually had this much contact time with a foreigner and a male foreigner at that. So where is this going?? Okay well...I’ll start by relaying some information I gathered from my newfound Korean-American University of Kansas buddy Pauline who has been my Korean ambassador since I’ve arrived. How you are perceived is EXTREMELY important in South Korea and I would imagine is the same in Japan and China. And I thought perception was important in Latin America?? ppfff. Example…my co-teachers (one more so than another) have of course been friendly to me but I feel as though recently have been also feeling the inevitable clashes of culture shock (miscommunication, lack of common interests to talk about, lack of language skills to get messages properly relayed) as I have. As a result there has been an extreme lack of communication (small talk for lack of a better word) between us. Basically, they both haven’t talked about anything non work related with me unless of course I bring up a topic. Granted, we are still getting to know each other etc. Although I can’t help to find this situation awkward I am beginning to understand why this happens. Since they are both very new teachers and also very young (in their low-mid 20s) they are still in the process of gaining respect from the older teachers and principal/vice principal at our school. In other words, they don’t want to give off any impression that they are being in anyway unprofessional to other colleagues by being overly friendly with me. What????? Yeah, my thoughts as well. Anyways…I just recently (last Friday) had a long overdue “house-warming” party to help spawn more laid back interactions between my co-workers and I. I thought that the house-warming was a success even if it was a bit awkward at times but we shall see as the year progresses. We ordered Chinese food (apparently very common at house-warming parties) played crazy 8’s. I got a 70,000 bill out of it (host always pays for the meal) with not much sympathy as my Korean mom #2 awkwardly pointed out to two other home-room teachers that I earn more money than both of their salaries combined. I did get a house plant for my apartment although it was supposed to be delivered today but wasn’t.

Referring back to me experience as a native teacher English speaker in Seoul, I’ll be completely honest by saying that I’m not really diggin it. Am I having fun in Seoul? Hell yes. Am I meeting a lot of fun/cool people? Absolutely. Is this experience a great teaching experience? Don’t think so. However, as I said am coming to terms that my role here isn’t necessarily to teach English. It’s to help my co-teachers better their English and to give them an expansion of ideas to consider when twaching, to make English fun for the students and to give of a positive impression of Native English speakers to both my work colleagues and students. Do I teach English along the way? Of course I do. But, the reality of this is that my responsibilities are so little, I really don’t get to spend nearly enough time with the students to build a strong bond with them, I don’t (in my case) discipline the students, I don’t lead the lessons, and I again am basically teaching at an EFL level that for most of the students equal to that of Kindergarten. Am I okay with all of this? For the time being, yes I am. Will I be scouting out jobs at Universities and high schools in Korea as well as jobs abroad? Yes, I will.

Some more exciting news, this week (Wednesday) I have my first soccer coaching lesson! Jigga what! Really excited about that. I also have my first lesson where I will be teaching the Korean teachers English and I’m going to the South Korea vs Senegal soccer game. Plus….drum roll…I’m going to travel to India during winter break!!! More details later! Post a comment!!

Bromantic Weekend in Seorak

2009-09-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Pictures of my bromantic weekend hiking Seorak Mountain.

Bromance, Challenges and Skirts

2009-09-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

I’m not even sure where to start since it’s been two weeks since my last blog, so I’ll start with the most recent and most random…my bromantic weekend. Joel and I along with 3 other Canadian girls who we met through SMOE (the public school teacher employer in Seoul) plus about 15 more random people, mostly exchange students and hagwon teachers did an overnight hiking trip to Seorak Mountain which is the third tallest mountain peak in Korea (1,708 m (5,604 ft)). The hike was actually organized by a hagwon teacher recruiter that Joel and I were working with before we decided to teach at a public school. Anyways..the hike was absolutely amazing. Korea has 4 very distinct seasons and right now had to have been the best time to go because of the leaves changing into multiple shades of red, orange, yellow and green. Moving on…the hike kicked all of us in the ass. We started the hike on Saturday around 1:30 pm and didn’t arrive to our shelter until 7:30 pm. Then the next day hiked to the top of the mountain leaving at 4:30 am and getting there just at sunrise. Incredible views to say the least. Now back to the bromance…so upon arriving to the shelter at 7:30 pm we found that the men’s shelter was not just already full, but full of about 50 dudes packed in to a shelter the size of let’s say a very large kitchen with a tiger balm funk in the air. In avoidance of the hassle it would have been to try and find a funkdafied spot on the ground Joel and I decided to sleep outside on top of one of the dinner tables. Seeing that I didn’t bring a sleeping bag with me (dropped the ball, yeah I know) and Joel did and is of course my heterosexual life partner we decided to use the sleeping bag as a blanket for both of us. After getting hysterically yelled at by a random Korean woman sleeping next door in the woman’s shelter because Joel and I had laughing attacks imagining how ridiculous we looked sleeping on table together on top of a mountain (30 degrees Fahrenheit) sharing a single sleeping bag, semi-cuddling and occasionally breathing on each other to stay warm we eventually fell in and out of sleep. I amazingly slept (actually not that amazingly because I am known as the sleeper) and snored while Joel tossed and turned for most of the night. Needless to say Joel and I brought our relationship to the next level. Returning to the topic of hiking…hiking (along with drinking and shopping) I would say is probably in the top 3 past times of Koreans. Korea is an extremely mountainous country with seemingly endless hiking paths. I feel like you would never find a Korean without top notch hiking gear speeding up and down a mountain bumping into you and urging you to hurry as you try and safely ascend and descend up and down a mountain. This is my second hike and I can definitely say one more of many to come.

Moving on..so it’s been over a month now since I arrived. Things continue to go well with my school. Starting October 14th every Wednesday from 1-3 pm I’ll be the schools 5th and 6th grade soccer coach and will be getting paid up to $600,000 won extra a month! Pretty freakin awesome. All of these kids know how to play soccer as soccer is super popular here. So a lot of what I’ll be teaching is basic English vocabulary related to soccer and will try some technical and strategy skills. The past month hasn’t been without its challenges however. I’m still pretty busy at work getting my bearings, getting my bank in line, went to the doctor a few times (once because of a stiff neck-sounds lame I know, and once for a super dry noise-sounds lame too I know)..bottom line is that I haven’t had a lot of time to plan and prepare lessons well with my co-teachers, especially my 5th and 6th grade one. There was some expected awkwardness and miscommunication or lack of communication between us. As a result a heart to heart talk to get back on the same page was necessary. Things are much better now and I think we all feel a lot more comfortable talking and interacting each other. A few weeks ago we had an open class where the principal, vice-principal and various teachers came and observed the class. For this open class my co-teacher was the one getting evaluated as she is a first time teacher as well as a first year teacher at the school. The feedback given by the principal was not taken well by my co-teacher as she prepared a lot for the lesson and the class was, what I thought, a great lesson. However, the principal’s main concern was that she thought the lesson was too difficult for the students. The sad part is that she’s probably right and I’m slowly coming to the understanding that although I’m teaching elementary school kids I’m teaching EFL to Kindergarten English level students, which is as you might think really boring at times. I only have 40 minutes with each class so it’s very difficult to plan a lesson that is engaging with their level of English. Unless they get private English lessons or attend English Academies (hagwons) for many of these kids I’m really their first native English teacher that they’ve ever had and I only meet with them once a week. And on top of that the curriculum that is used in Korea emphasizes a lot of listen and repeat which isn’t the best way to encourage kids to speak English. I’m trying to do the best I can but sometimes I really feel like I’m pulling teeth. Luckily I still retain my celebrity status so the kids’ enthusiasm level is high still. I continue to get about 100 “Hellos” a day and about 10 “Handsome guy” remarks from both boys and girls throughout the day.

So....on to more interesting things such as girls skirts. First off, skirts are awesome..maybe the best type of female clothing there is a part from a few other items. Many guys come to Korea and get what is called internationally as the “yellow fever” which seems kind of like a derogatory saying but anyways…I don’t think I’ve quite caught it but I will say that Korean woman have amazing legs. I’m not sure if it’s the diet, the clothing they wear(Korean woman dress extremely fashionable), the hiking and exercise they get but they got it. And…the skirts they wear make it that much more apparent. I’ll end this blog with some local insight. To make something clear…some of you may imagine that an Asian school girl with a short skirt is a pornographic image. The fact of the matter is that she is not a pornographic image but an image very normal and acceptable in Korea. I guess they’re taught young that showing their legs is completely acceptable.. and you know what I say?? Amen.

Pics from the Dong

2009-09-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

My apartment and pictures of the closest intersection near me in my dong at night.

My 3 Week Dong

2009-09-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Koreans get crunk!! Those of you who know me well know that I like my drinks and seem to be the kind of guy who can put a few back. Well…Adam was in rare form Friday night. Went out with all my soccer buddies for the first time and let's just say after beginning to the night with god knows how many beers throughout the night (they kept on buying more and more and more), after moving on to a billiards club where I put in the worst pool showing of my life and then ending the night with Long Island Ice Teas my night moved into the dark side. You can see where this is heading…I’ll spare the details but let’s just say as much as the team contributed to my sloppy night they were right there for me to get me situated and back home safely.

Alright enough of that! So I truly feel like a super spoiled adolescent. My co-teacher (Korean mom) continues to buy me random presents. This week it was a cover sheet for me down comforter. And it looks like I may get a pay raise in December depending on my teaching evaluation by my principal and vice principal. That isn’t normal I believe because you usually have to be at a school for a year before they raise your pay level. And of course I got taken out to dinner by my work colleagues…again. I can’t complain about anything and I sincerely appreciate my comfortable life style. But to be quite honest, I almost feel as though things are too easy..You might be thinking, “Wtf are you talking about you sob?” Well I’m a firm believer that when you’re not struggling, when everything is given to you, when your comfort level is overflowing..you appreciation level decreases, you (perhaps) don’t work as hard and you tend to lose interest in things. Now you’re probably thinking “What the f*ck ever..” and you might have a good counter argument. Whatever the case is it’s taking some time for me to adjust to this new life style and I just hope I can keep busy, keep my motivation and keep appreciating everything around me.

So damn…there’s so much I’d love to talk about but I’ll keep this to a minimum so as to not overwhelm anyone or myself. My dong is called Gangdong-gu. I can’t help it but I love saying my dong. Call me immature, I know I am. In Gangdong-gu as well as almost everywhere else in Seoul there are students everywhere! It’s easy to recognize that by the fact that from middle school until high school students wear easily distinguishable uniforms. Seoul I believe is the 2nd most dense city in the world after Tokyo so I’m not exaggerating one bit by saying students are everywhere. On a side note, because of this super high dense population I feel like Koreans have absolutely no sensitivity of space, which is not surprising. Education seems to be on the top of Korea’s to do list and most kids (at least those who can afford it) study all night long. There are private English academies called Hagwons that many kids attend after school and there are also many kids who have private language (mostly English) tutors after school as well. Although I think education should be the number priority in any country/society these kids have so much pressure it even stresses me out thinking about it. On almost all of the subway stops (soon to be all) there are glass barriers between the platforms and the track to prevent super pressured kids (usually) from committing suicide. Yeah..no sh*t. Working hard and doing your best is pretty much always expected and is super emphasized once you enter into high school as students are studying constantly.

I’ll save my thoughts for a later blog. This is definitely my most random blog to date. I’ll end it by posting pictures of my dong at night. Ha!

First of Many Hikes

2009-09-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of my first hike with Raul and Rich. Don't ask about my facial expression. It was bright up there!

Conferences, Dinners and more Dinners..

2009-09-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of an Education and Technology conference I went to with my colleagues. And some pictures of my co-teachers, colleagues and I getting dinner.

Emmaculate English Classroom

2009-09-05T19:05:00.001-07:00

My immaculate room.

Cute, Lovely, Short Son of a Bitch

2009-09-05T18:45:00.001-07:00

That's what my English name means when translated into Korean. Well..kinda...the word in Korean that sounds like Adam means cute, lovely and short and the word in Korean that sounds like Kostecki means son of a bitch. I'd say it suites me??

So..one week living on my own down and honestly it's been super easy. My apartment's small enough to seem like I've been living in it for a few months now especially when I have everything in here that I need..aside from a full size bed. Right now I have a single size bed which okay, can work but as one friend asked me..."don't you feel like you're sorta a little kid sleeping in that bed?" He said a little more than that but point taken and I think I'll start looking for full size. I'll have to prioritize my spending because I really want to buy a bicycle after my first pay check as well. I was even thinking of buying a scooter. Jigga what! We'll see.

The week has really just been a test run to Korean play time, eating customs and day to day grinds. So let's start there..play time as I like to call it. It's non-stop. People are constantly out with a limitless option of bars, clubs, and restaurants and of course karaoke places. Not to forget the seedy Korean spas, batting cages, movie theaters, casinos (that only foreigners can go to btw) private movie theaters, non-seedy Korean bath houses or jimjilbangs (one which I went to last night, I'll get to that later), golf courses, hiking trails, music events..everything basically is here and much of it is open 24/7. Some of the nightlife areas are definitely better then others. Having only been to two major areas thus far one a great area is called Hangdae where there are tons of Korean Universities, Korean and international students and English teachers. I can see myself going out there a lot. Then there's also the (in)famous foreigner friendly are called Itaeweon where there are tons of U.S. military guys, slutty girls, prostitutes, and super drunk foreigners running around. I'm sure it can be a fun time but I don't see myself spending too much time in this area.

Moving on I did my first hike in Korea followed by my first Korean jimjilbang (Korean bath house) experience. Two of my sister Adrienne's friends and Peace Core volunteers in Honduras, Raul and Rich, and I cruised up a crazy high hike (I forgot the name of the mountain and how high) but we made it to the top in an hour and twenty minutes which I think might be the new world records. Needless to say we were all a sweaty mess (especially me) afterwards and what better way to end a day of hiking than to go to a jimjilbang. Jimjilbangs btw are everywhere in Korea and can cost from $6,000 won to maybe $20,000 to get in. Families spend the entire day or night there and if you wanted you can sleep there (no beds but mats). There are different temperature saunas, freezing cold oxygen rooms to cool down, big screen TV rooms, computers, video game rooms, massage rooms, massage chairs, then the pool area that has 4 different hot tubs some of which are herbal scented, some that have jets designed specifically for guys (oh yeah) and then also cold pools. We spent a good hour and a half there tidying up the night. I’m sure I’ll be back to one of these down the road.

Last stop I’ll mention will be my work week. Again, I couldn’t have asked for a better school to work at. My principal is great, my co-teachers (although somewhat limited with their spoken English and teaching experience) are really nice and open to me and to different teaching approaches. My other co-workers are really sweet and always willing to help me with anything and the school is remarkably established and ran. I think I might be working at an especially exceptional school at least in my neighborhood. I have nothing to compare it to of course but after speaking to other teachers it really does seem as though my school has their sh*t together. Each classroom is incredibly set-up with huge flat screen TVs, endless amounts of teaching supplies, a high speed computer with internet and printer for each room, great lighting and they’ll soon get rid of their black and white boards and have interactive electronic boards in all of the rooms. It’s incredible to say the least. And another awesome part to Korean public schools is that one responsibility of the students is to clean their room as well as the entire school! In the morning and between certain classes and lunch students will be busy sweeping and mopping up the entire school! Talk about building up responsibility! Amazing…

I’ll think I’ll end this blog here. If you’ve read this far I’m impressed. Tomorrow I start my first day of teaching but it’ll mainly consist of me and my co-teachers re-establishing rules, expectations, procedure, reward systems, me giving a brief introduction/presentation of myself and going over attention chants with the students. It should be a quite simple week since I’m doing it for each of my classes. Extremely repetitious but simple. I know what you’re thinking right now…”that son of a bitch…”

Apartment Pictures

2009-08-31T04:45:00.001-07:00

My Korean mom and dad and apartment pictures.

I've Got the Golden Ticket

2009-08-31T04:12:00.000-07:00

So... after 2 days in my new apartment, after getting an additional $1,00,000 won from my school that I bought literally everything possible for my apartment, after getting chaperoned around Seoul by my co-teacher's cool as hell son, getting adopted by Korean parents who are the most hospitable people ever, getting taken out to eat constantly..I'm sitting in my apartment wondering how life could be better. I really feel like the luckiest gringo in Seoul right now. Went to the immigration office today with my co-teacher's super cool son who is studying in the U.S. (left work early with permission of course) to find out that I didn't have my medical form and couldn't get my Alien Resident Card. Bumer but will the school let me leave early to take care of this tomorrow? No...they're letting me take the entire day off. This couldn't be true but it is. And I thought I had celebrity status teaching in Colombia!

So..I'm the very first foreign teacher my school has ever had. This probably explains why I now have Prince Adam status. I'm pretty sure my 60 year old principal has a crush on me as she was writing notes to the other teachers saying something like "He's so handsome...if he touches your hand you should sue him." Sounded kind lost in translation but I was to take it as a compliment. I finally visited my school today. Every Monday morning there is a video news cast to all the students in their rooms and the principal introduced all of the new teachers. I gave a brief introduction to the camera and then visited my classrooms. One of my classroom looks like a movie set. I couldn't have imagined it looking more high tech. Huge touch screen, two white boards, centers, TONS of materials, windows all around. It'll be my 5th and 6th grade room. The other English room for 3rd and 4th grade isn't as high tech but still has a big screen TV and tons of materials inside. The two co-teachers I'll be working with are super young and haven't ever taught before aside from a month of substitute teaching. No actual teaching until next week Monday. Needless to say..my school is the bomb dig as is my apartment which moves me along to my neighborhood...

EVERYTHING and I mean everything is within a 5 minute walk. Coffee shops, bakeries, grocery stores, TONS of restaurants, every single kind of clothing store, gyms, batting cages, subway...EVERYTHING. And it's in a newer part of town so everything is super clean and modern looking. And as with most neighborhoods in Korea everything is compact and super cozy. I'll put up some pictures in a later post so one can fully understand the magnitude of it's awesomeness. There also two guys (The Erics as I like to call them) who live a floor up who are new foreign teachers through SMOE who hung out with and shared the first of many Soju (Korean liquor) shots. There is also a couple living in my building. I met the wife but not yet her husband.

All I can really say at this point is that I hope I can give back as much as I received. I'll do my best and enjoy the ride of royalty...

SMOE Lock Down University Pics

2009-08-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

A picture of the campus and dorm room.

A week of SMOE Lock Down in Seoul, Korea

2009-08-27T01:01:00.000-07:00

So...here I am. After almost a week in Seoul during my SMOE orientation lock-down, I'm freezing my ass off in my 21 degree Celsius dorm room, listening to the 100 Greatest Rap, Hip-Hop songs of the 90s (currently Mobb Deeb "Shook Ones") and am beginning my first blog post. Although we're not allowed to leave the campus I'd guess 60% of us have including myself. But regardless the time is passing quickly. So far I'm very satisfied with the orientation. Are there things to complain about? Yes. Are there things that could be going smoother? Yes. Are the SMOE staff doing there best? I'd like to think so. Am I complaining? No. I guess if this was my first time teaching overseas I'd be more anxious about everything and perhaps have more complaints. But as I've learned being flexible, expecting the worst, and hoping for the best is really all you can do.

One of my most pressing questions (What aged kids will I be teaching?) has been answered. I'll be teaching elementary aged kids (3rd-6th grade/7-12 year old kids). I'll find out where I'll be teaching and living by Saturday. My comrade Joel will be teaching Middle School and although the chips will fall where they may I'm hoping we don't end up on opposite ends of the city. I've meet some interesting folks from New Zeland to South Africa to the UK to the Americas. Been playing loads of soccer and am going to join a team playing on a foreigners league with some guys that I met here. Game times are every Sunday starting next week.

As I mentioned, Saturday I'll find out where my school is, where my apartment is and lastly I'll meet my partner in crime..my Korean co-teacher. I'm actually really looking forward to this experience. It'll really be the first time that I've ever worked with a co-teacher and I'm sure that it will not only be an excellent cultural experience but the relationship that'll develop will paint a memorable picture of my experience in Korea. What else can I say? The internet is wicked fast, schedules are constantly changing, Korean kids are absolutely adorable, nerves are growing an the adventure is just beginning...