Screw Korea. I hate it here

Screw Korea.  Everyone's mean.  I hate teaching and I'm bored of everything.  The food sucks and honestly, I flat out hate teaching.  Like seriously parents--raise your own kids.


I'm going to be scheduling a plane home in the next week or two, so you can all see me sooner than you thought. 




Oh, and by the way--April fools from Korea!  They celebrate it here too!!

I love Korea!

I saw this ad in a subway station. Have I mentioned I love Korea yet?

My appartment video!

So my computer's sick.  Like really sick.  I tried to fix him, but whatever's wrong is more than I'm able to handle myself.  Oh well, it's got applecare on it and there's an apple store in Seoul, so next weekend I'll fix it.  It's really not that bad either, because the iphone's practically it's own minicomputer.  Seriously.

For example--I shot a video of my apartment and then uploaded it to youtube using the thing!  Which brings me to my next point--I took a video of my apartment!  It's below, and hopefully ya'll enjoy seeing what a korean apartment looks like.  For the record, I usually make my bed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omSZDpOFwqc

Another morning post

Well, another quick post this morning. I'll post a bigger one after the weekend but for now this is just me checking in.
So basically, the fact is that due to my schedule and the time change here versus the US, it's really hard to call people. So what that means, is that if anyone wants to talk to me over the phone, you better make an appointment! It's really cheap, but just kind of hard to find the time. So let me know when we should talk, I want to catch up with everyone!

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Bus to work

iPhone acquired.

So here's the deal. This is the first post coming off my brand new iPhone! Pretty sweet. The funny thing is that even with all the sweet tech stuff korea's got, the iPhone is still hands down the best phone out anywhere. Gotta freaking love apple! Anyway, this is coming from my morning commute on the bus, and here's a picture to prove it.







Word.

- Posted from my iPhone

MORE Pictures! Hiking and teacher party

Last weekend I went out hiking with my friend Derek, and a korean guy named Peter.  Peter speaks really good english and we've been hanging out a lot.  Plus he's using his connections here to get me an Iphone, which is pretty cool!

The mountains in korea are a lot smaller than the rockies or sierras in america, but things are still really pretty.  Here's the proof...



So there's like a zillion people who hike in Korea.  These people are ALL going to the mountain...  Good thing we decided to go to the less crowded one.





Korea's pretty.




Thats my friend, Derek.  He's the one who got me the job, and a frequent hiking partner.


So this weekend has been pretty sweet too!  Friday night we had a big dinner for school because there are like 10 new teachers, including ...me!  So we all went out to dinner, which consisted of the usual "old people get drunk and try to get the young people drunk too" thing.  I managed to avoid the old teachers enough to avoid getting completely drunk =) 
Following the dinner, we all definitely went to a Kareoke room.  All 50 of us.  For the record, I'm the 2nd youngest teacher at the school, and almost everyone is at least 40.  In korea it's a little different though, and partying with older coworkers is pretty freakin awesome.  They definitely got more into the singing than anyone else I've been with, and reeally loved it when I busted out Help!  by the beatles. 




For the record, the principal definitely made me dance with him.  Haha, I mean like swing dance style.  I love my job!



Honestly tell me you don't want to get to know a guy with a face like that?



Yup--like I said--they reeeeeally get into the singing.  It's pretty hardcore.



But anyway, things continue to go very well here!  The school has finally accepted me as a "good" foreigner, which means things are a lot more relaxed and have a better flow at work now.  Life is pretty sweet at the moment, and I'm expecting things to keep up like this. 

Word.

I'm getting a new phone!

So a short update tonight, and a longer one will come tomorrow.  I'm getting a phone finally!  Sure sure, I've had a cheapo pay as you go thing that is rediculiously expensive, but now I'm getting a nicer one.  I'm thinking... IPhone?  I debated for a while, cause Korea's got some pretty sweet technology in the phone department... but seriously.  It's a freakin Iphone!

I'm a Science Teacher!

So I've been forgetting to mention this for like 2 weeks now-- I'm also a science teacher!

When I first got to the school, my principal really liked the fact that I have a degree in environmental chemistry, so he asked me to start teaching grade 4, 5, and 6 science!  It'll be a supplemental science course in addition to the normal curriculum, and I'm teaching it in english.

The best part is that I get to make my own lesson plans, and so I'm going to be teaching the science of nature!  I'm thinking of structuring it kind of like how I would teach an outdoor education class, but from the perspective of indoors.  Koreans really love nature and hiking and all that, so I think it will be really well recieved.

But... here's to actually using my college degree!!

Bargaining and shopping

Just a short post before classes start again.

Things are still going pretty solid here!  Classes are smooth, and the kids are good.  I've been doing some shopping for clothes the past few days, and I've learned that Korea's interesting.  They're kind of a mixed country, with some people being really rich and some people not so much.  So depending on where I go to buy my clothes makes a BIG difference in price!  I'm currently wearing a pretty nice dress shirt I bought for 5 bucks, but if I went to a department store, I'd be spending about 50 bucks for the same thing.  It's all about the bargaining too!  People tend to see a westerner and try to charge me more money sometimes... but almost always I can get a (sometimes significant) discount if I offer a lower price in Korean.  I looove bargaining, so it's fine!  It actually makes shopping fun!

Over the weekend I hit up a big mountain near Seoul National University.  All of the mountains here are smaller than america--the biggest one is like 1600 meters (around 5000 feet)  but they've still got some exposed rock, and are a blast to climb!
We also went to a Noribang (kareoke room) again with like 10 people so it was an adventure in itself.

Later today, all the male teachers are going out for dinner (probably drinking too) and it should be fun.  Since they're older then me, they'll probably only speak in Korean, so it should be good practice to get some listening skills down!

Let me know if you've got specific questions about life here too!  I'll be quite happy to fill ya in on anything!  Catch ya'll later!

PICTURES!!!

Well, I promised...and here they are!  See... my internet has sorta been slow coming, but it's here now!  (Temporarially anyway =)  )

Maybe some news before the pictures though... and I can't remember if I said this or not, but whatevers.  I think I'm going to move to the smaller town of Gwangju, which is the same place that I actually teach.  It's a less populated city than my current Bundang, but the fact is that everything is MUCH less expensive.  MUCH MUCH MUCH less expensive!  Like, seriously.  Also, the pace of life moves slower there, and there are less foreigners there to interact with.  (I really only try to hang out with koreans.  Helps learn the language much quicker I've been told.  Thanks Uncle Johnny =)  )  But anyway, Gwangju is a town of around 40-60,000 people so it's really got everything I'd need.  Plus, it's an easy busu (korean for bus) ride into Seoul, and there are MOUNTAINS EVERYWHERE!!  Like, Gwangju is in a valley and there's monster hiking everywhere!

But perhaps the most important reason for the move?  I've got a freaking 1.5 HOUR COMMUTE BY BUS!!!  BAAAAH!!  As you can tell, I really hate the commute.  It's unpredictible, and I keep ending up almost late for work--no matter when I leave.  Weird.  But yeah, the fact that I'd be essentially 5 minutes away from school via a nice walk through town is quite appealing!

I've also been studying korean like a madman!  I can now have conversations with people! ...weeelll...  they're very short, broken, and require the occasional use of a pocket dictionary, but hey man--it's still a conversation in Korean!  Heck Yes!  Along this line, I also started going to Korean classes every tuesday and thursday nights.  That, plus a "total immersion" style of living where I either try to be:

Going to Korean class

 Listening to Korean music

Watching something in Korean on TV

having a conversation with Korean people

reading like every sign I see (to increase my written korean reading speed...)

and I think I'll learn this language pretty fast!  ...well, that's the hope anyway.  I guess we'll have to wait and see. OK--on to the pictures!

 

So it's really Hard to explain jsut what the streets here look like.  Most Koreans live in an appartment complex that's got like 5000 people in it.  For all you nerds who would remember this--think like a simcity 2000 "arcology".  But because of this, you've got the residential areas built strait up, and away from the ground level.  This leaves almost all buildings on street level, and sometimes up to like the 10th floor FULL of shops!  Check out these pictures!  IT'S ALL LIKE THIS HERE!!!!!!!  No Joke!!

I tried to do a good job here of showing just what this JAMMED IN shopping is like.  Hmmm... Perhaps if you think of shopping for ADD kids, you'd get a good idea of what it's like =)

OK.  So 3 things here to notice that are pretty freakin awesome.

1.)  That is DEFINITELY the beissinger family calander that is in my classroom!  I totally use it for english lessons on family.

2.)  I am wearing crocs at work!  Korean culture dictates that you have indoor and outdoor shoes, and these are considered very professional for school.  Talk about living the freaking life!  I walk around in maximum comfort, aaaaaall day long.  You can start being envious.... now.

3.)  THERE IS A JACKALOPE IN MY CLASSROOM!!!!!  His name is Montgomery.  

...Oh yeah.  You can call me Mr. Beissinger.  I'm a freakin teacher!

 Is there anywhere this hasn't gotten too yet?

 During a hike up a mountain, we found an old military bunker.  I decided to explore!

At the top of the mountain, we got a big view of Seoul.  Remember, this is the world's 2nd or 3rd largest city, depending on who's counting.  Only Tokyo's bigger.  We're talking a city of 25 MILLION PEOPLE!!!

AKA, Seoul is big.

 

Really Big...

Really freakin holy shit big.  It's pretty unbelievible.

 

Some of my new friends!  The tall guy's my friend Derek Laan who got me the job teaching.  We met through Bike Racing.

 So I'm totally drinking out of a communal watering hole with a water pail.  They have this stuff aaall over the mountian!  Plus workout equipment, benches, and really well maintained stuff.  (Like bunkers =)  )

Wait a minute... are those Microphones?  Koreans...?  A small room and song books? Ohhh no...

OH HELL YES!  We're in a singing room (Noribang in korean)!!  It's pretty much a private Kareoke room!!  WAAA AWESOME!!  These are EVERYWHERE in Korea!  The best part, is that the place we were at is actually spelled in the korean alphabet to sound like "Shitty Noribang"!  Coincidence?   I'm not so sure...

 

Ooooh yeah, Korean students!!  I have yet to find out the reason for the facemasks.  I'd assume something about Hygiene, but I'll get back to ya'll with the details on that in a little bit.  This is one of my 10 6th grade classes.  You better believe they love english! 

Yup.  You guessed it--MORE KOREANS!!

 

Yup, I'm as suprised as you. I'm an actual professional!

For the record, I like going to work in a tie, and I am in some hardcore need of some "asian skinny ties!"  They're more fasionable you see.

Waaaah.  Loooong post.  But a good one!  Hope this gives ya'll some insight into my life here!  If you're real anxious for a phonecall, I can try to find out a way to make some time, but no promises, ya know?  Either way, I hope life is going well for everyone, and I'll shoot out another update after the weekend! Saturday, I'm going with my co-teacher to the famous Korean electronics market, "Yungsan market" to get a charger for my smaller camera and look at stuff.  It's suppose to be pretty hardcore!  The later a friend has a big birthday party I'm gonna go too, and then sunday we're going to go climb a bigger and badder mountain!  Exciting!

Pictures will come soon...

Well, I did take a bunch of pictures...
And I did upload them to my computer...
But I don't have the internet on that computer to do anything with them!  So I promise they'll come soon.

I've been busy though!  Life here does move fast!  There's a Korean word, "Pallae"  that means "hurry!"  and it kinda describes the flow of things here!  It's alright though cause I'm just fine with moving quickly! 
I've been teaching for 3-4 days now, and the kids are awesome.  The only difference here versus the US is that before I'd use sarcasm and jokes to get them to laugh and convey humor but now I gotta use grunts and body language.  It works pretty well =)  You'd be surprised by how much you can get across to someone with just a few grunts and points and actions!  For the record I'm gonna be pretty fantastic at sharades when I get back home!  I've also started working in some broken korean when I'm teaching.  This also goes super far in helping teach!

Anyway, I met up with my friend Derek Laan from Purdue, Indiana this weekend!  He's the one who suggested I come out here to teach, and it was nice to finally catch up with him!  He's been learning Korean like it's going outta style, so it was good hanging out with him because he can communicate with people waaay better than I can!  I met a bunch of his friends too, and we all had fun!  Friday night I went north of Seoul and stayed with one of Derek's friends where we went out and ate barbecue, then went to a "shooting room" which was like a arcade room where you shoot at ping pong balls with a BB gun.  Pretty crazy man.  We drank some soju after that with his friends and ended up going to sleep pretty late!

The next day we went to buy some supplies for me, and I GOT A PHONE!!  This is a big deal, because before that, I'd just been living off a piece of paper and email.  I know, I know--I'm a nerd and I feel naked without a phone.  Derek's friend Peter gave it to me, and it's really old and may break soon, but until I get my Alien Registration Card, It's all I got!  It's kinda cool though, because it's got this "Cow" skin on it, and the korean word for cow sounds like "so".  So I tell people it's my "so phone" =D  It takes them a sec to realize I'm speaking korean, and not misspeaking "cell phone"!

After I got the phone, we met up with two of Derek's friends who are Canadian english teachers, and went up and climbed a big mountain in Seoul!  It was probably about 300M tall, and gave a fantastic view of Seoul from the top.  I'll include the pictures when I post next.  (Seoul is pretty freakin huge)

After that we met up with like 6 other people (all korean, except for one girl named Sophia from Katar!) and then went out to dinner.  As always it was mega tasty, but after that the fun really started!  I had my virgin trip to a "Noribang" which is VERY popular in Korea!  It's directly translated into a "singing room"  and it's pretty much a collection of 5 or 6 private karaoke rooms you go in with your friends and sing in!  Ours was (seriously) called "Shitty Noribang!"  It could have been a coincidence that its korean name just sounded like the english "shitty" ...but then again... =D

Anyway, I'm actually going to be moving to Gwangju after all.  The lease is up in Pundang in a month, and I could stay there, but the commute is sometimes 1.5 hours!!!  Way too Long!!!  It's also SUPER EXPENSIVE in Bundang.  So I'm gonna move to Gwangju where my school is.  There's a ton of direct buses to Seoul, and pretty much anywhere I want to go.  Anywhere I can't get to by bus, I'm planning on getting a motorcycle too--so that should cover my bases. 

So next post, I'll upload the pictures.  They're pretty sweet I think =)

I'm here. And it's fantastic.

Aie Aie Aie.




No Phone for a couple weeks (until I get my alien registration card). No internet for a couple more days... I pretty much can't have a conversation with ANYONE I see... I feel like I'm disconnected from the world, even though I'm in one of the most tech'd out cities with the 2nd biggest population in the world!



Now don't get me wrong--it's still freaking amazing! I'm having a blast, the kids are great (not much difference between Korean, and American children. Except the whole language thing... but whateves) and I feel like a celebrity everywhere I go!



Most people are surprised at how "good" my Korean is... But I have no idea why they think it's good... I'm able to get around with some survival stuff. And say "sorry", "excuse me", "hello", and "thankyou" a whole bunch. However I've found that if you add a bunch of bowing to that mix, people seem to warm up to you pretty quickly =D

But either way, I gotta work on my Korean! I wanna be able to communicate with everyone! They seem cool!