Well, golly

OKAY! So, I am now currently typing a new blog from home. How is the feat of wizardry possible? Did I somehow acquire a laptop lightning speed? No. Did I miraculously ressurect my dead machine? Not quite. Some time ago in Colorado I visited an Internet room at a small hotel which had free copies of a linux install called Ubuntu. In the packaging were two CDs: one for a full install, and one which claimed to run straight from CD. I remember trying this second disk on two machines: one worked, one didn't. I was always impressed that it worked at all, and I've carried the disks around with me more for the sake of marvel than any real application. Well, now that demo is really shining. On an otherwise dead machine, I can temporarily load an OS, equipped with Firefox browser, that recognizes all my hardware sufficiently to allow my Internet to function. Presto! Updates from home! I still need to work on getting a permanent solution for writing and file-saving, but at least I essentially have a "terminal" now, if not a full-blown PC. Aint that something.

I'm back...sorta

Heyo, so soorry so long no posts. I still don't have a working machine at home, which makes regular posting pretty difficult, and picture posting almost impossible, but anyway, I'll try to get back on the horse here for awhile. In the next couple weeks, I'll have a new laptop if I can find an English-speaking one.

Let's see, it was Christmas last weekend. That was pretty nice. Things were pretty Christmas-y here. My Vice Director had a nice Christmas party at his place with real turkey, and fixings, and such. On Christmas Eve, our favorite bartender downtown let us bring eggnog ingredients over, so she could try to make us eggnog. Better than that was Christmas Eve dinner which JJ and I spent at a legitimate upper-scale Italian restaurant (Cin-Cin). The food was prepared correctly, the staff spoke excellent English, and, for awhile, it was like being in any fine western restaurant anywhere in the world. Definitely a jewel.

This weekend is up in the air. For the past several days except for today, I've been laid up with flu (not avian, just regular ol' pain in the neck flu), and, after I leave here (pc bang), I'm likely going to continue to rest through to Sunday. Anyway, I would love to type more, but in my current state the unfiltered cigarrette-laden filth they call air in here is killing me. Will try to type more soon.

Funny story for the day

Hey, they came up with the sentence, not me.

I AM bending as far as I can

Did yoga today. Now I'm running in the evenings around 10 or 11, and yoga-ing MWF morning's at 10. Works out pretty well. Evenings are much cooler, plus I'm a night person, and I run quite a bit farther and faster. Yoga seems like it will be a nice start to the day mentally. Physically, I can't touch my toes or keep my leg straight in many poses, but other than that these intro classes don't seem too bad, maybe even too simplistic. I assume I will get more out of it as time goes on.

Incidentally, the yoga instructor, who was very supportive and understanding, never gave me reason for the title of this post. That honor goes to the various school nurses, gym instructors, coaches of my childhood. Thanks for being so helpful. :P

Funny story for the day

What did your family do when your wagon became stuck in the mud?
(Colleen) We pushed it out.

What did you do when you saw a buffalo for the first time?
(Colleen) We caught the buffalo.

What did you do for fun?
(Susan) We threw the buffalo into the ocean for fun.

It's a lot funnier when you know how dull sentence writing in class can get.

Daecheon Dam Marathon

Some pics from the marathon Sunday...




It went well. I finished somewhere in the top 25% I think. I didn't catch my time, but met my goal of never stopping to walk. The next event is in Seoul in March, and I may upgrade to a 10K. I doubt I'll get more serious than that, but, with all the kids and walkers, the 5K was maybe a bit too casual.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was awesome. Will try to get pics posted soon.

Nachos and Aussie Rules

Quick post: Last week was long with monthly tests and such. Today I've got to scramble to finish grading, and finish my upcoming monthly syllabus. Also, we're supposed to do something fun today with the kids, so I've got to figure that out. Anyway, around 9:00PM it'll all be over, and JJ and I will be on our way to Hong Kong. Thank goodness. I need a break.

We did have some fun this weekend. Friday, being still sick, I went to bed early, but enjoyed being an off-and-on relay man of text messages from all my friends who were out until about 2:00AM. We then went to a ginseng fair Saturday outside of the city. It was exactly like it sounds - a lot of ginseng all over the place. Obviously, the the only reason for the town's existence. Saturday night we went to a few different places, and ended up having a good time at my favorite bar...which I now, after five months, know serves NACHOS (why didn't somebody tell me!). Sunday, because of Dingo, we watched Aussie rules (Australian football) finals at Keith's place. This itself deserves a little more explication, but I don't have the time.

Unfortunately, I didn't run Saturday and Sunday, but I did have a good run Friday. Today, I was sucking though. Then again, I'm not yet over this cold, so at least I was out there. Two weeks to the marathon. Hopefully, there will be some nice paths in Hong Kong.

That's it for now.

Incidentally, if you don't keep up with Joe's blog, and for those of you who know me, you may find this kind of funny: http://recklessegghead.blogspot.com/2006/09/gerken.html.

Looking forward to 추석 (Chuseok)

Gave a bunch of midterm-type tests today. Pretty boring. Now I have to grade them. I ran terribly this morning. There's definitely a little cold in the back of my throat, and I didn't get enough recovery rest anyway. I'm going to go home and try to convince myself to fall asleep, but I'm in a mood where I don't know if I'll be able to. Anyway, I can't even think of a funny story comment for today. Oh well, vacation next week. Yay!

SleepyTown

Super-tired again today. Yesterday, I went out to Troy's dong to nab my winter stuff instead of getting to sleep early. His area is pretty cool. It's kind of like a suburbs, although the buildings, and establishments are all the same as ours. His dong just has more space, and more kids wandering around at night.

Ran again today, and continue to see improvement. Feeling a little sick tonight, but I may be able to just sleep it off. Classes went reasonably well today. My funny story...what is my funny story? I don't know. My 3A(M) kids did presentations today, and they were pretty creative. One girl had something about her father's pet worm, and then an uncle's pet turtle eating the worm, or something. I'm fading here. Well, hopefully, I'll be more awake tomorrow. All in all, I had energy through the day, but I just need some rest...

Tired

Today was a long day. Didn't feel like getting up this morning, but I did and I ran anyway. It sucked, but I ran further and faster than Friday. Need to figure out just how long 5K/3.3 miles is.

Like I say, it was a long day. Kind of normal, but I was tired. I can't think of much funny, but a couple of my students from earlier today just found me, and asked me to cheer up when they found out I was tired, so that was nice. I think that's about it for today.

Sutonggol (수통골)

Today, Jeff, Tracy (our new foreign teacher), and I went hiking around Sutonggol (valley) and Dodeokbong (Mt.) (도덕봉, 440m), another facet of Gyeryongsan National Park. I didn't run yesterday or today, but I think the two hours of scrambling up and down the rocks today made up for it. Will run again tomorrow. I'm registered for a 5K in three weeks. Tracy's going to run the half marathon. I don't think I'll end up anywhere near the front of my race, but I should be able to finish.

My beetle did die. I think maybe a lack of humity did it. On the other hand, a large ant moved into the terrarium. A sadder possibility is depression brought on by captivity, and lack of social interaction with other beetles (if they are even social). It might've just reached the end of its natural life-cycle too.

No funny stories today. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

ROCKY

C'mon, it's true -- But that don't bother me -- I just wanna prove somethin' -- I ain't no bum... It don't matter if I lose... Don't matter if he opens my head... The only thing I wanna do is go the distance -- That's all. Nobody's ever gone fifteen rounds with Creed. If I go them fifteen rounds, an' that bell rings an' I'm still standin', I'm gonna know then I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood...

http://www.awesomefilm.com/script/rocky.html

Running and yesterday's funny story

Ahh, a little slow this morning. Fourth run. Hurt worse than the second day, but ran farther than the previous days. I take a Tylenol, and don't hurt too bad during the day, so that's a good sign - don't seem to have injured myself yet, so my pace must be okay.

Funny story for yesterday wasn't all that funny for non-Korean speakers, but it was hilarious to my 3B(M) class. Apparently, the way I pronounce dokboki sounds like chicken. As one student put it, "Teacher you can't even think of this!" Apparently, the word I create is somewhere between chicken string cheese, and rubber. Like chewy chicken. Anyway, it was a topic of high-interest for about five minutes.

I think my beetle might have croaked. I'll have to check it again later.

Get on gmail you freak

Choon-ah (전어) Festival

Last night we wandered down to this tent festival we noticed on the Yudeungcheon. The reason for the festival was a certain fish that tastes very good this time of year. The fish is small, and they don't bother to clean it. They just cook it whole, and that's how you eat it too. Overall, I thought it was pretty good.

Speaking Classes and Troy

Alright, this morning I'm writing after two days of morning jogs. Yesterday was brutal, but today was twice as good.

I didn't get a chance to blog last night. The day went well. Classes were pretty good. I had to get a little strict on some students, but they actually often like that. Crazy nuts.

After work, Keith and I hung out at a local pub, and Troy caught up with us again. We visited a few more local establishments we hadn't seen before. Our dong is great because there is so much in such a small area, and it's very local. It's kind of fun to go into a bar, and try to talk with these folks who can hardly speak a lick of English. Helps improve my Korean as well, and everyone is very nice, and thoughtful.

Troy seems to be adjusting extremely well. He seems pretty non-plussed by the travel, and his classes. Also, the lucky bastard gets to teach classes of like eight kids max, junior high and high school level. Nicely, his hours coincide with ours. But, he got here alright, he looks good, and he already reads and speaks better Korean than Tremendous...not that that's saying much, but... ;-)

As far as my funny story of the day for yesterday, I have these speaking classes. Our school doesn't really specialize in conversation, so it's a bit of a creative struggle to figure out how to conduct these classes. Also, they're supposed to be fun (no homework), but too little structure drives these kids wild. Anyway, it's always a bit of a stressor to figure out how I'm going to edutain this kids, and one class in particular seems to always get out of hand. Anyway, my first speaking class comes in, one that's not generally too bad, and it's just like four or six kids (two show up late), and for whatever reason they spontaneoulsy get on this magic kick. They're showing me silly little tricks, and just being pleasant and jovial. I just thought, why mess with this, let it go. I don't know if it's exactly what the school and parents would have wanted, but I think the kids had more real enjoyment, and better communication during that session than I ever could have engineered at my curent skill level. Anyway, I had fun, and thought it was a good thing.

Then, of course, my next class came in like a pack of wild animals, and they're the ones I had to get punitive on.

The eye of the tiger

So, today, I am just waiting for Troy to arrive. He called me yesterday, and surprised me by saying he would be in Korea today around 4:00PM. This morning, Dingo told me he would be in Daejeon around 9:30PM, and she would bring him to our dong/neighborhood this evening. Unfortunately, I think the dong he will be in is a little far away. Maybe 15-20 minutes. That's alright, but the group of us often like to eat, or go to the pub after work. So, it'll be a little more expensive and wearying for Troy to join us. We will just have to be sure to visit his area as well, and we should see more of Jenny's area too. Jenny's area is nice, but there aren't as many establishments nearby her apartment as there are nearby to ours'.

As far as my funny story for the day, nothing really sticks out except that there's a push right now to make ReadingTown fun because the kids are overworked at the moment between their elementary school's and ReadingTown and whatever other activities they are involved in, AND two of the Korean teachers said the students enjoy my classes. This is great because I'm not sure how good a job I'm doing, and also if my kids are happy I'm happy from both a teacher and employee standpoint.

Oh, we've finally seen all the Rocky movies, and we're more inspired than ever. The new foreign teacher is an avid runner, and I think I'll start joining her running in the morning. Tremendous also wants to do yoga, and some of us will probably do that too. Also, one of our Korean friends is apparently a pretty good Tae Kwon Do-er. But, besides that, all five feet of him is pretty damn fit - like a little Bruce Lee. So, hopefully, we'll get into some good routines here pretty soon.

"The eye of the tiger!"

Weather changes and new semester

Okay, I'm going to try to do just a little post everyday. I still have a backlog of photos to post, but that'll just have to wait. So, as of today, we are a few weeks into a full semester of four months. Things are going well. The weather is changing, and the coolness is delightful. Some of us went hiking on Daedunsan last weekend, and it was really nice. As I meet more Koreans, I'm slowly learning more Korean words. If you're not talking to Koreans regularly, you really only need to know a few foods you like, and how to get around. JJ and I are scheduled to go to Hong Kong over Chuseok, so that should be cool. Also, I've gotten a few odds and ends, wall hangings and baskets, for my apartment so it looks a little less cold. I also bought a Korean beetle a few weeks ago, and a couple plants.

Our friend, Dingo, always asks us for our funny story of the day, so I think I'll start posting them here too. They're not always super funny, but usually they are at least interesting. Today, the one that sticks out in my head was an essay about dogs that one of my students wrote:

The Dog's Job

All the dog has the job. It is all different. Many dog is for fondle. But some of the dogs are work for police, finding dead person, or finding the way for not-see person.

I had the fondle dog. But my mother had allergy so I can't raised my fondle dog. So I want to get the dog.

Retreat and rafting

Okay, I'm on lunch break. I realized I never posted photos of the rafting trip the Korean teachers took us on several weeks ago. The river was REALLY slow, and the water was kind of nasty, but we had a good time overall, and it was nice to get out. The previous night we stayed in a kind of retreat. We had an excellent all-you-can-eat-and-drink dinner, and slept on the floor in air conditioned rooms. There was a Korean sauna too. The rafting pictures were all taken by the rafting company.

Warm-up Exercises

Tremendous is not feeling too tremendous from the previous night

More photos at: http://blinkdog.smugmug.com/gallery/1747552.

Maybe later

...okay folks here are giving me the eye because everybody's leaving...may have to save my posts for tomorrow, unless I get to a PC bang later...

Yudeungcheon 2

Some pictures of the Yudeungcheon Stream back during the rainy season.

Cable

I finally remembered to bring my camera cable to work. I'll try to post a bunch of updates today.

WT's engagement in Chicago...

Not me or Daejeon, I just really like this picture.

"The Future"

(Congrats WT!)

More posting soon

...I've got some pictures on my camera, but I keep forgetting to bring the cable to school. I should have some updates soon with visuals. Hope everyone's well!

getting sTRAWNGER!

(Rocky was on the other night. badabaa badabaaa)

Quick post

My hard drive failed the other day, so I'm going to be stuck updating through work, and PC bangs for awhile until I get it up and running again. We did finally get out of town this last weekend (my school had Monday and Tuesday off), and I will post those pictures soon. Everything's going pretty well still. Jenny and I found the 1000 Won store (i.e. dollar store) downtown yesterday, and had a great time buying up the place. She is still off for the rest of the week, and I only have two more days until the weekend. We may try to go bowling tonight. The weather is still pretty dang hot.

Spicy Stirred-Fried Chicken

I pulled some old pictures off my phone camera the other day. Here we are (June 2nd) eating dakgalbi (닭갈비) at a restaurant downtown.

Code mellow

Things are definitely getting better. I was worried about the new semester, but the past two days were great. I'm still adjusting to the earlier hours, but I have an easier collection of classes, and more manageable students in general. Also, since the lesson plans are more or less complete, I don't really have to worry about that. Finally, too, I'm beginning to retain important details...like students' names :-(, and how various processes and chores work in general.

We're also getting closer to the Korean teachers. For awhile there, there was a bit of a divide. Tremendous said it wasn't like that when he started, but whatever arrivals and departures happened shook the balance a little bit. But the Korean teachers took us out to a retreat Friday/Satruday, and that really helped. The place we stayed was pretty neat, and we rafted the next day. I'll try to get pics up soon.

JJ and I also had a nice time last night going about and eating in her neighborhood all by ourselves without assistance. This country is amazing how it gets to you. It's all sorts of seemingly minor things that just accumulate until suddenly you've flipped over, and thinking back to when you thought differently and couldn't understand what people thought was so great about the place is cloudy and remote.

Be sure to check out JJ's blog if you haven't lately. She's putting up some great stuff...

Howdy Ho

Hey, just wanted to apologize to folks I haven't talked to in awhile. The job here is sapping most of my time and energy lately. I don't like to talk to folks too much when I'm in a bad mood, so I've been in a kind of holding pattern until the job lightens up a bit. I think next week, or even later this week will be much better.

Update

So, not much happening at the moment. JJ wasn't feeling well over the weekend so we didn't go to the beach. On the other hand, it's been raining pretty steadily with major flooding in some areas, so it wasn't that big a deal. This coming weekend the Korean teachers have scheduled a float trip somewhere in the mountains. That should be fun. In the meantime, this is the last week of the current term. We have a new one month "summer" term coming up for the month of August. It'll be pretty intense, but it's only a few weeks long. Then, we go into a more normal several month term. I've been told that my classes will be more similar next term, which means less lesson planning...which would be great. Other than that, I've gotten pretty used to the lifestyle over here. The language barrier can sometimes be frustrating obviously, but for the most part we've got our favorite eateries, bars, and places to go, and we still try new things. One place I still haven't gotten to is Expo Park and the surrounding area - lots of museums, and cultural centers. I also told Tremendous recently that we should start systematically trying ALL of the bars and restaraunts in our immediate neighborhood. The area's thick with them so it will take some time. Then, of course, we have the whole new area where Jenny lives to explore.

So, basically, everything's going well. It could be a little cooler and drier, but you have to be happy with one or the other this time of year.

JJ

Yay, JJ's here. It wasn't painless, but she arrived here alright. Her neighborhood is a little nicer than mine, but not as lively. We're about ten minutes apart by car, and I think her school situation will be as good as mine. One of her co-teachers said the school would set her up with a cell phone in a few days, so that'll be sweet.

In the meanwhile, I'm busy preparing finals, and making sure we complete the books by the end of the term. We have a three day weekend this weekend, and will almost certainly hit a beach some where...possibly the mud festival, if we feel up to it.

Super duper

Oh, we did see Superman last Friday...which we basically agreed was too long and boring at times.

New post

Haven't posted for awhile. Thought I'd just mention I'm still alive, working hard and getting acclimated still. Still need to go back and touch up a few posts. I've got some interesting pics to put in some of my old posts too. We were going to go to the beach last weekend, but it rained. This weekend we have to work Saturday, but there's a holiday on the 17th, and we should be doing something interesting then...Cheju Island is booked, but there's also a "mud festival" (thanks, Troy, for the link)....

Scenes from the game last Saturday

Last Saturday, we watched the Korea versus Swiss game at World Cup Stadiun in Daejeon. The game was displayed on the stadium screens at four in the morning. We arrived the night before at midnight. From time to time while we were waiting, cameras on the field would display members of the audience on the big screens. We were frequent choices due to our novelty (read: westerners).

Tremendous

Danger

Oh, so sleepy

Birthday Pix

The cake my school bought me.

Three of my co-teachers...I have no idea what they are doing with their arms.

Yep, we eat our cake with chopsticks.

Mmm, cherry tomatoes on cake...of course!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am now 33 in Korean years.

Absolutely Drenched

It started raining this evening, not an oh I can do without my umbrella rain, and not a flash flood, but a medium-paced steady thick-dropped rain. I initially figured I could walk through it home, but within half a block I was soaked through. The weatherman was saying the beginning of the rainy season is coming, and it will last several weeks. The question is is this how it is, and does it stay this way consistently. If so, the outdoor activities we were planning are going to require a wetsuit.

Hangook Kwan (한극관?)

Before I came over here, we all tried out Korean food at Hangook Kwan in St. Louis. Some things tastes a little bit different here, but it was more-or-less the same. Anyway, it was delicious.

How can you resist?

한글

Today I begin my first real push to discern order from the written chaos around me. Up until now I hadn't thought it'd bothered me that much, but just a few symbols easily digested, and suddenly the power of literacy sets it claws in me.

There appear to be only 34 characters in Hangul, and the phonetic construction is highly regular...none of this ghoti business. Heck, I'll have it down in no time.

To suddenly be able to order food by sound, not pictures (For some extremely frustrating reason Koreans don't always seem to understand when you point to something on the menu, even if it's a picture. Sometimes a circling motion helps, but not always. I just don't get what can be more clear than actually touching what you want with the tip of your primary digit.), to be able to use the bus system, to hike and know where you're going and where you've been. The very universe unfolds.

Kids

Pretty steady rain today. I think I'm doing a better job at controlling my classes. Discipline is the hardest part. It's just not reasonable that someone should want to act like an idiot for a full 45 minutes, but I guess that's how kids are. On the other hand, when you do finally punish them, they seem to take it in stride, and behave better next time. It's just my least favorite of duties. And that's part of the reason I like the junior high kids, because they're just more reasonable...and much more interesting in regards to mental content. I have heard some say they are remote, but in my class that's not the case at all. We sit back, use the book as a guide, and learn how to talk to each other. If anything, they have quite a bit to say. Far more "original material" than the younger kids.

(Infectious) Pride

How to even begin to explain this...

Every single pair of red horns is a fan...and there were FAR many more red horns than these pictures would imply....

OHHHHH!!! PIZZAKOREA OHHHHH!!!! PIZZAKOREA!!!!

KOREA BEATS TOGO! [clapclap-clap-clap-clap!!!!!]

Breathe

Wow, I just had a student totally break down on me because I told her she had to go to study hall/detention because of her test score. Even after I changed the decision, she still kept sobbing. The pressure on these kids at times is pretty intense. Of course, the other two students who failed pretty much didn't care. Punks.

World Cup

Korea vs. Togo tonight. We're going to go watch on a big screen at some park. Should be nutz.

Layin' the smack down at a singing room

Neighbor's dog

Sitting on my little dogshelf

Gyeryongsan

Now that's a big drum

Oh, the brutality