I feel good

4-13 So, Monday's are one of two long days as I have five classes to teach. Today I decided to try and teach James Brown's "I feel Good" but the kids did not like it as much as I thought they would. I was a bit bummed but it was just a learning moment as to what the kids like and don't. Otherwise it was a good day. Bomi did tell me I need to greet the principal and Vice Principal in the mornings when I get to school. Of course I attempted to do so several times this morning and they were both late! Yesterday after work we went to the bank to take out my money for my cellphone deposit and $50 for spending. After dropping off the deposit I went home and grabbed a shower. I though about venturing out for dinner but was tired and just decided on a jam sandwich and later a bowl of cereal.
Not too long after showering I developed an awful headache and just laid down and rested. I also brough home the first Pirates movie and completed the trilogy! I then listened to some music for a while before crashing around 10pm. I woke up this morning around 4 and had some more cereal before sleeping some before heading to school. I headed out for school around 8am while lstening to Avett Brothers on dad's Ipod he let me borrow while I'm over here. Tuesday's are usually very busy too but the students had testing so I had no morning classes, and just two in the afternoon! In 5th grade music we learned the farmer and the dell and the kids seems to like it pretty well. I actually have to go back to yesterday for a moment as that is when I made my first student cry. In the 3rd grade class we had a competition between the boys and girls over vocabulary words. The boys ended up winning and the girls were very upset with one of them even crying. After class, the girl who speaks English the best gave us a note that said "I'm very sad". Needless to say I felt pretty small at that point but was also encouraged as they did care about doing well in class. So, back to today. Bomi gave the 6th grade class a music test. She had the studens that failed stay behind and practic and during this I noticed that a girl was crying. I mentioned this to Bomi and she said that the girl has no parents and lives with her grand parents. She said people in the rural areas will leave their kids and head to the bigger cities some times. This is truly sad and there are too many kids around the world that suffer in the classroom because they have no support system outside of the school. It's 4:30 now and I'm heading home. Think I'll grab some chicken, mushrooms, onions, and throw them into the skillet for dinner.

Milk & Cookies

4-12 As I sit here having some milk and cookies, I also have the bedroom window open and I can see a kid playing what seems to be hide and seek while hearing others playing at the school across the street. I can't help but wonder how the kids play in North Korea. I wonder if they have the same freedom to play as the kids I see do. I'm sure I mentioned it earlier but I only live about an hour or so from the DMZ, which is basically the divider between North and South Korea. I'm pretty happy that mammaw never found out that I would be living that close to the border. One thing that I do find myself missing here in my new country is grass. Because there are so many people in such a small space (the country has 50 million people in a space that size of Indiana) that they do not have the luxury of nice manicured lawns as many of us do back in the States. I thought of this a lot as I gazed recently at Easter pics from back home. I am taking a break to eat dinner and to put away most of the rest of my clothes that are currently hanging up.
I saw a few socks as they are a little damp and I really hate wet socks. I am dining on ramen hopefully for the last time, as I should , from now on, eat
better. I really don't mind ramen except for the sodium is equivalent to what you should eat in an entire day. To drink I think I'm going to have water as I want to get back to the 100 oz days. I do have the kool-aid but I think I'll wait christen it tomorrow. After eating I'm going to read more of Walden, which I am really starting to enjoy. I just received a call from Bomi inviting me to dinner which is cool and I'll guess I'll use my card and hope dad put a little in so I'll have enough to at least pay my insurance. Ok, so I went with Bomi to Matt's apartment where we had a great dinner of Kimchi cooked with a mix like a pancake, soup, and rice. Matt also gave me a book of Korea which is cool and also an Ipod charger which absolutely made my day, I feel like I'm whole again with my music.

Birthday Weekend

4-12 Ok, so I laid around until later morning again. When I finally decided to get up I started cleaning around the apartment. I organized all of the trash by the door to take out later. Taking out the trash is going to be a little weird as I am used to throwing it in a large trash bin. Here I just sit it across from my building and it get picked up. I also swept the apartment and had to use paper to sweep it into as I do not have a dust pan just yet. I ran my fist load of laundry which I still have hanging up, as I don't have a dryer. In addition I cleaned off my living room table, stored my dress shoes, dusted the tv, did the dished, shaved and showered. Afterwards I watched Dead Man's Chest, played Yahtzee, and read some Walden.
Around 2pm I headed out and was going to try my luck with the other dvd store near me. I had no luck there as it is Sunday and they were closed. I decide to moasy(?) over to Philmart with the few Won I had left. Once there I picked up bread, strawberry jam, milk, cereal, grape kool-aid and funnels so I don't make a mess with the kool-aid. Beth asked me if I'd found the Kool-Aid yet and that's what made me think of it. It's still got sugar but it still makes for a better alternative than soft drinks, plus it'll last longer. Once everything was home and put away I worked a couple puzzles. I sure hope I guess my travel money on Monday as I'm out of money. I want Bomi to help me get my cable on tomorrow and help me at the pc room, gym, and of course, the DVD store. I really have to get back in shape for sure. I'm also going to start working on a trip idea with Steve for the May break. I think I'm going to read a little bit. 'til next time.

Been a while Cont'd

4-11 Finally, we finished and I had my cell and one contact, Bomi. Afterwards, she dropped me off and said she'd be back in 30 minutes to take me up to the natural spring. I decided to grab a quick shower after a day of playing sports. the spring is up one of the mountains a bit and will be an excellent spot to run to as I get in better shape. Once back at the apartment I took a walk to the grocery and grabbed a beer and some sushi and enjoyed it on my roof while looking at the mountains in the backdrop. I actually didn't stay up there too long as I didn't have a proper chair and my back was killing me from basketball earlier. The back continued to be a source of pain throughout the night and it was difficult to move.
Now, it's my birthday, April 10th, what shall I do? I ended up laying around until about noon since I didn't sleep much last night with the back. When I did finally arise I showered and took a stroll to find some food. I settled on a place called BBQ Chicken and ordered what I though was a 3pc chicken meal, for 8,500 Won. Boy was I wrong, as I actually ordered the equivalent of the 10 pc meal and it was 16,000 Won. So, I picked up a drink and headed back to the apartment with my bucket of chicken. I watch the 3rd Pirates again and at my chicken, which was ok. Well, I ate part of it and save some for later. Afterwards I decided to go out and find something to do. I must admit it quite intimidating trying to gget into new things in a foreign country especially when you don't speak the language. I finally got up the nerves and checked out the dvd store. I picked out a couple movies and went to the checkout. Now, I assumed it was like home in that you create an account and you're good to go. So, I gave her my address card and then the fun began. I didn't think that the card was all in English and she couldn't read it. I also didn't think at the time to give her my ARC. I tried to call Bomi to translate but to no avail. Finally, I told the poor lady I'd be back. My first truly frustrating moment, and on my birthday. I was really frustrated at this point as I'm just not used to having no one to spend my birthday with.
So, I decided to walk up to the grocery store, where I ended up picking up some cookies and milk. When I arrived back at the apartment I enjoyed the milk and cookies, watched the 2nd Pirates movie, for the 4th time I belive. I actually fell asleep during the movie and was able to sleep better than Friday night as my back was feeling better. In looking at this weekend, I'm still settling in and getting acclimated to my surroundings. I'll get my travel reimbursement on Monday and hopefully get my 1st paycheck on Friday. If all goes well, I plan on seeing Steve next weekend and celebrating my bday again, in Seoul this time. I also play to get a few phone numbers this week so I can communicate with people a little better. Well, it's a little after 5am I think I'm going to sleep a little more.

Been a while

Ok, so it has been a while since I've last posted a blog. I've really been enjoying my time here with school and my new friends. I'm hopefully going to geet all the earlier writings transferred to this blog soon. Thanks!

4/8- Today was an interesting dday as it was music day at school. First, though I walked to school and it was a nice cool morning, perfect for walking. In music class today we taught the kids the "Hokey Pokey" and they loved it! Imagine teaching kids the Hokey Pokey, now imagine teaching it as a second language. We also worked on Old Mcdonald again with the older kids. We uploaded videos of both songs to Facebook and they are great! During lunch the principal asked me if a I drink and I said yes. He told Bomi we would have to drink some time, interesting. In the afternoon we only had one class and we had a scavenger hunt for words and they had to find me and say the words in English. After class Bomi and I sat around thinking about what to do for our break in May (5-9). She's thinking of going to Japan and I looked into doing that as well.
Next, I checked into a trip to Beijing but decided against as you have to have a visa to enter China and I wouldn't have the time. It also way more expensive to get a visa for China if you are an American($130) versus any other country ($30). So, I think I might head east to the beaches and see the sea. It's pretty cheap to travel in country so that's probably my best bet. I'll discover Korea and still have plenty of $. Also, they're throwing me a birthday party tomorrow and I'm ver yexcited to see what they do. We are also goin to play some basketball with the older kids, so I'll get to show off some of my moves! Pluse the goals are only about 9'and I can dunk, the kids love it.
Bomi and I also talked about baseball and I'm thinking of basically becoming a coach for the school. Would be a ton of fun and another way to teach English. Once I got home today I was exhausted from the Hokey Pokey and fell asleep for a bit before eating ramen for dinner. I also forgot taht I uploaded my pics today and received a lot of positive comments. Charging my camera for the big day tomorrow! Going to read a little Walden and head to bed.

4-11 Thought I'd write a bit about the last two days a bit. I had bee looking forward to Friday as I knew my 6th graders were throwing me a bday party! Well, the morning started, I guess as you would expect, with the kids being sluggish. However, the afternoon was a lot better, especially with the party. So, our last class on Friday is 6th grade English and they were throwing me a party. I knew they were doing this but was overwhelmed as every kid brought me a card and I also received a drink, candy in a heart shaped box, a candy box and more candy. the cards they gave me were awesome and very hear warming, as they wrote: "you are very handsome, I love you, hansome boy, brilliant teacher, honorable, admirable, when I first met you I was a little scared, but now I love your English class" One drew pictures of basketball and baseball, and seong-Chan Kim wrote "I am sorry for not getting a present for your birthday. I will graduate next year so I hope I make a good memory". Well, you already have Seong. After reading all the cards, the kids opened up their snacks and we feasted. I went around table to table and they kept giving me food.
I took pics with each table and made one my profile picture later that day. After our feast we went outside to play some basketball and baseball. The only problem is that I'm out of shape and I believe I pulled a muscle while dunking once! never the less I went over to baseball and pitched a little before taking a few swings. After hitting a few balls, harming no one, I headed back to basketball. Once back in the room I decided to upload the pics from the day and also got some great news as my ID Alien Registration Card (ARC) came in!
After school we headed to the bank, Nonghyup, to open my account. It's interesting there as they give you your debit card right on the spot and you just give them 1,000 Won. These cards do not go through Visa though. I am probably going to have to open an account with another bank too as Nonghyup doesn't transfer or exchange currency and I will need to transfer at least a few time to pay off my loan back home. Nonghyup also charges you 500 Won to take money out when they're closed which is a load of you know what. After getting my account open we went to get me a cell phone. I've learned over time that there are certain groups of people that are pains in the rear, and cell phone people are in that group, doesn't matter what country you are in. We were there FOREVER, and just way too much trouble.

4-7 So last night I met with other teachers in the area. I believe I mentioned earlier we're meeting at Idong, a town up the road just a little ways from Ildong. Bomi is driving us there and we are picking up Ben and Alex at the bus terminal. Once we picked them up we headed to Idong to meet the others. There I met Lee who went to school in NYC and was now back in Korea after 6 years. I also met three other people while we ate but can't recall their names. We dined at a Chinese restaurant and had wonderful food and conversation. During dinner we talked about running races and one of the guys and I talked about the potential of running a 1/2 marathon in Korea. I can actually start back to working out as I now know roughly the where abouts of the local gym.
At the table I we had driver's licenses of 3 NY, 1 Ill, 1 CA, and 1 KY. After dinner we talked and Lee said that they do this about once per week and I'm excited to do that as I love hanging out with others from different places in the world. Lee also suggested attending a baseball game later this month which I'd for sure be down for. After dinner we piled back into Bomi's car as we picked up another passenger in Wally and once we got back to Ildong I learned that both Wally and Ben live on the same street as I do. I came back to the apartment and tried to watch Pirates again but quickly fell asleep.
4-7
Today was my easy day at work, as Weds. are a short day during the week. Today all I had was a class with the Kindergartener's at 9:50 am in which we worked on the alphabet, watched some ABC videos, and did some coloring of the letter A! At the end I gave them all a piece of candy; the rest of the morning consisted of FB, Farm Town, and chatting with people back home. At noon I went to lunch which consisted of Kimchi, bean sprouts with squid, beef, which you mix with your rice and then orange juice, a snack and soup. In the afternoons on weds I have an after school class which is predominately made up of 3rd graders. Today we worked on phonics and the letter C. We verbally did the words together, next they colored the pics, and I then had each verbally go over each word with me. Next they had to write each word 10 times and show me. The kids did outstanding as I only had to assist a little. I gave the ones that did the best stickers and one girl is particularly exceptional, especially for a 3rd grader.
Once after school was over I just hung out and listened to some tunes until it was time to go home at 4:30 pm. Bomi had a meeting so I was on my own on getting home and I decided to walk with it being such a nice day. It ended up taking about 25 mins to walk home, which is not a bad walk at all. On the way home I thought about Allison's I love you/miss you chat on FB earlier. It was great to chat but it also showed how much I miss not being around her as well. I changed clothes when I got to my apt and enjoyed a bowl of cereal. After a short time I headed over to the Philmart (Grocery Store) to get some dinner. I ended up picking up some ramen, chocolate, a Mt. Dew and I also found a pic uploader so I can finally put my pics online. I dined on the ramen and the chocolate while finishing Pirates (Worlds End). After the movied I grabbed a shower and decided to write in the journal. Now I'm watching a little Shrek and relaxing. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Not in Shape

4-6 The next morning I woke up and watched The Butler VS. Michigan St. game and was pleased to see that Butler won! Once Steve got ready we walked down the street and started my first hike in Korea! Hiking in Korea is basically the national sport and you can tell as everyone is decked out in serious hiking gear. We hiked up a ways an sadly I'm Terribly out of shape and didn't make it too far, but we did make it to the first lookout. Definitely not used to seeing this many people hiking. Here bring a spread with them on their hike as well and have a whole meal at the top while also drinking Soju, etc. After our hike we grabbed a pizza and chilled at Steve's before heading to take me back to the bus station.
I hopped back on the bus at the Dongseoul bus terminal and slept most of the way back to Ildong. Once i was back in Ildong I just hung out and got ready for the school day in the morning. Monday was a big day at the school as the Vice Principal spoke in front of the entire school at the beginning of the day and she spoke of where I came from, my family, especially my nine year old sister Allison. After she finished I spoke about myself for a couple minutes, touching mainly on my hobbies and where I had lived. On Mondays I teach 5 classes and with my 6th grade class we sang Hey Jude and Yesterday by the Beatles. In a surprise I had to stand up and sing in front of the class for both songs! The kids were very excited for me to sing, nice, more pressure.
We had a lot of fun though and I was exhausted after school and I hooked up the dvd player and watched Pirates of the Carribean that I borrowed from school and for dinner I had Sushi with soy sauce and some Pepsi. Tuesday is just as busy as Monday with 5 more classes the most fun during today was by far the 1st graders learning to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". We taught Old Mcdonald to the 5th graders and it was a great day again. i've been playing around on Facebook since and writing too while chilling to the Avett Bros. bomi has a teacher's meeting until 4:30 so I'm going to try and post on the blog again. After work we're having dinner with other English teachers in Idong, which is a town about 20 minutes from Ildong. It will be nice to meet others teaching in the area.