BUILT TO SPILL

WELP it happened, blog.

Finally slipped and fell on the ice. Hands were deep in pockets so it was only your basic butt-straight-to-ground spill. Pride only mildly damaged, knee kind of sore. Luckily I was going to go GET coffee, if I was on my way back there could have been some real consequences and repercussions.  Other than that the week has been good! It's almost over and besides some test grading tomorrow should be easy going. I spent most of tonight cleaning up the apartment for something to do. Feel like I officially live here because I bought and used a Swiffer.

See that shine? That's a Swiffer Shine.

SICKNESS

Don't worry blog, I'm not sick.

Thankfully. (Only a matter of time though....) But one of my co-workers is ill and it's CHAOS. I guess it's only chaos because the school/company has no system at all of substitute teachers. Co-worker came down with some real-bad-business-stomach-virus yesterday. Maybe from eating an expired (or not)  assortment like this.....

MMMMM mini octopus....

 I've been trying to figure out a way that it would be possible to have substitute teachers and I just don't think it's feasible as a company policy. So basically what happens is that all the weight from the absentee teacher is put on whatever co-teacher has that class period off to teach the class, and if that doesn't work the manager will step in.  Teachers get what amounts to about 1.05 paid sick days off. A YEAR. And the difference between taking that day off or not taking that day off is a $300 end of the year bonus. So taking the day off to recover/not spread the germy-goodness is not really an option.

SUNSNOWDAY

 It started snowing this morning, and now it's really picking up! dah!

I went out to take this picture after layering up double time, but when I walked outside I was reminded that the previous notion that I had was wrong. I always assumed that if it was below 32 degrees there HAD to be snow. That's not true apparently. So last week when it was 5 out it didn't snow but the cold was to the bone, and today I wore like 6 layers to go out and it was around 30 and not that bad at all! I looked like a goon when people in just hoodies walked by. Anyway here's the pic. We call this walk way (insert snobby voice) "The Promenade." It is one block from our apartments and just has shops, bars, restaurants and such for two or three blocks, so I was standing in the middle of it. It looks great at night I'll get a pic of that up soon.

To the right on the bottom floor is a DUNKIN DONUTS. Sometimes known as my best friend, other times my worst enemy, it's the place that makes it way to easy for me to have a coffee and mocha donut for breakfast on or around every morning. 'S just how it is. Oh if you look closely there are green plastic palm trees on the left. That's a cool restaurant, mostly it's just good to see trees with (fake) leaves on them.

That's another thing - Where I'm from trees don't lose their leaves, and so I didn't notice that there are so many trees around because they have no leaves! Also, where are all the birds? I haven't seen a bird since I got here. Do they all migrate? Do pigeons even migrate at all? What's the deal?

Didn't mean to get that Andy Rooney on you there.

I decided to stay in today (and clean :/ )and there's no real new Korean life news besides my astonishment of snow. But before I go I'll leave you with a quick recipe for "Matt's Famous Purple Spicy Chicken Vegetable Ramen Dish Dejour"

AQUA SEOUL

That title sounds like a waterproof shoe. Anyway

Hey blog,

Last post was sort of downeriffic so I thought I'd post something to lighten the blogmood !!

No need to look twice (baha, get it?) - that's a two headed turtle.

I feel bad for the left eye of the head closest to us. I took this at the Coex Aquarium. It's inside the COEX mall. I'm not sure exactly what the COEX Mall is but I got the feeling it is a massive massive mall, or it might be it's own self sufficient city I couldn't tell.

That's the outside, admission was sorta steep and I hear good things about the Kimchi Museum down the way somewhere in that complex, but on this day the Aquarium it was. A lot of the fish looked exotic and beautiful and the lay out was pretty interesting. Kind of a strange place, as there were rabbits, bats and a few other animals that - hate to break the news - are not in the slightest bit aquatic. Besides the choreographed underwater show for the kids featuring a scuba man dressed as a bunny rabbit (?) surrounded by fish doing underwater dances, these guys were my favorite part:

MONTANA

Dear Blog,
 
Start off by saying it was my fault that I committed the cardinal sin of modern society today. I went shopping at CostCo on a Saturday. I think half of Seoul made the commute to be there.

It's two stops up the subway so it's close and a friend described the directions to me. I got the CostCo membership card first and that went pretty well, there were only two working pens for the forms and a couple dozen people so that was a bit of a mess. I made a goofy face for the picture they take and I don't think they clerk thought it was all that humorous. Usually the food court is outside the store back in the States so I decided to grab a slice of pizza before I did any shopping (never on an empty stomach right??) and that's when my life turned into an Escher drawing.

I don't know if I've mentioned it but this is a very fast-paced and pushy society. Check your personal space at the door. Although people are usually pretty friendly, cars will clip you, grandmas especially are feisty will hip check (so knee check to me) if you're in their way, people start walking into elevators before the people riding have gotten off, and you can't walk a block with out someone running past you. This experience was that only magnified, intensified, and surrounded bags of detergent the size of a small child.

 I was worried I wouldn't be able to spot it...

STRANGE LOOKING FOREIGNERS

 I was at the grocery store tonight and I saw this (I assume) American couple pass me going the other way on the escalator. We smiled and nodded and it was cool.  Got me thinking about what it's like to see other westerners. Twice (that I know of) I've walked into a room or a restaurant and a small child will drop their jaw, point to me and shout something along the lines of "MY GOSH, MOM, A WHITE PERSON!" I figure this by his or her Mom's reaction to this statement and apologetic smile. I smile or make a silly face and go on about my business.

But after a while, every time I see a western looking person, I do a cartoon-like double take and I think the same thing! It's just so unusual to see foreigners, aside from your co-workers, and especially how here in the burbs. The States and CA are such a melting pot you get used to seeing all different types of people around and it's no thing. In Europe if you saw someone you thought was American it was because of the way the dressed or the way they acted that tipped off some impulse in your brain, or because they were looking at you with that same sort of curiosity. It also sort of bothers me that some westerners won't return a smile or a nod, but that's sort of how we are.

Bought a bunch of fresh produce and some chicken, and a green plastic chopping board in the shape of an apple, let's put the 'cheaper to eat out' theory to the test yea?

CLASSES & CARD

NICE Thursday is done! Today is my toughest day, not because of the classes themselves but because there are 8 consecutively, and another later in the day. Classes are 40 min with a 5 min break to prep and get situated for the next class. So 8 in a row is about 6 hours worth of classes. Usually it's about 3 or 4 in a row then lunch, then 3 and a break or some variation of that pattern. But my Thursdays are stacked with no break.

Good news is that Fridays are pretty breezy. Headlined by a 3 hour break in the morning, I can come home and cook a decent breakfast (scrambled egg sandwich ftw) and there are a few more 45 min breaks crammed in later in the day too. Some of the classes are a little more challenging on Fridays but I don't have to keep up my energy level for extended periods of time so it balances out nicely.

You guys probably already know but tomorrow is also the qualifying round for the company wide spelling bee! I am lead judge at our school. Good thing about judging a spelling bee is that there is no judging at all they either get it or they don't. Hey Mom - I taught them E-N-C-Y-C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A! hahah. Next week is the regional round mark your calendars.

O also some good news is that yesterday I got my Foreigner's Card, the real deal form of ID here. The vital stat is that I can now open up a bank account. Equally as important it means by that soon I should have a cell phone and a Cost Co and life will be complete.


Ah side note - my manager and I went yesterday to sign up for my bank account and we chatted up the bank teller a good deal (my side was mostly smiling a lot and making banking related hand gestures) and today the teller came into sign her kids up at our school! My manager and I should go door to door recruiting! Or I could get a commission :)  

KEYLESS

Most apartment doors have a lock and key but also a digital key code for the door too. I thought it was way more complicated to program the code (like go by a screwdriver and take it apart complicated) so I've been carrying my key around in my wallet for 3 weeks, but turns out it's pretty simple and I figured it out tonight. Good piece of mind to not worry about losing keys and being locked out. I also found out that going in the hallway in socks to fiddle with the door was like walking on ice cubes. Noted.

FOOD

Well first of all the food is delicious, that's not the point. Mostly I was just thinking today bout HOW the food in many of the restaurants here works. It's often communal. Say you are with a group of four total people, then you order between 2-4 (or more or whatever) separate plates of food and share that between the group. I suppose you could get a plate all to your self but they are sort of in appetizer form where it's all one thing - not a meat + sides if that makes sense.

Same thing for Korean BBQ where you order a specific meat and then then share that cooked meat along with the sides. It's a pretty good system but I find myself always measuring how much I've eaten compared to the rest of the group.

I saw something interesting the other day that made me start thinking about this. I was in a McDonald's (that's right, MickyD's, I had a Big Mac and it was delicious) and I saw a table of about 4 friends in their late teens or early 20's and they had each gotten a separate meal with a sandwich, fries and a drink. But they had dumped ALL their fries onto one tray and were just eating off the mound-o-fries as they went along. I just couldn't see me and my friends doing that, ever. But that's how they do it here.

This pic something called Kim-bop. It's only a couple bucks and it's a great snack. I see some radish in there (dark yellow), some egg, ham, carrot. Although with my co-workers there is something called Jay-Uke-Dup-Bop that's pretty popular. Like 3 or 4 times a week popular. Also it's made at the restaurant IN our building so that's a big draw too. I'll try to attach a pic the next time (probably soon) I get it for dinner.

Will get into more specific foods later so check back.



MATT

MY SCHOOL...and STREET

Hey guys this is the building at which I work. If you see one floor from the top there are four alternating white and reddish signs? That's the teacher's room at my school. Below us there's that nike store, a place called coffee besco that has $7 coffee drinks but they come with a free slice of assorted cakes, on the second floor there's that haircut place I've told some of you about,  and the other floors are offices I believe. Not sure what that big U is about on top of the building....

The building behind it is my apartment building! It's pretty tall but I'm on the forth floor which is awesome because if the elevators are taking a long time I can just walk it...also because heights sort of give me the heebeejeebees. Unfortunately my only view from the apartment is of the building up front in this pic, but at least I can tell if it snowing outside. 

I took this pic the other day in late afternoon. The sky is so blue! Think that's the moon in the back there too. But it was also 8 degrees out, and it was 3 the night before. Have gloves, a scarf, and a winter coat now so it's tolerable and I bought big headphones so I don't need ear muffs. I think Sunday is shopping and errands day because I've never seen so many cars out.

The streets to the right and left of this pic are full or shops and neon signs so maybe I'll snap a few pics for a later post soon. Maybe when it's warm enough to feel my fingers with out gloves. 

BAISC INFORMATION

This are the softball questions to get the general stuff out of the way:

I moved here after Christmas, 2010 from southern California and signed a one-year contract with a specifically English only school.

I live in Hwajeong, Goyang, South Korea. It's close to a well known suburban city called Ilsan of about 500k people, and about 30-1h out of the main districts in Seoul by subway.

I teach English with four other American and six other Korean teachers to kids ages 5-12 Monday through Friday.

I live in an a studio style apartment called an Office Tel. It's awesome.

The school is in the next building so I highly enjoy the 45 second commute, plus elevator time.

I like baseball and my favorite color is green.




Matt

HEY GUYS!

This is my blog to hopefully keep people posted on things going on round these Korea parts...and hey maybe even a few pictures.

So check back now and then and see what's new!! 

Matt