For a record tying third blog post in a day, let me share with you the news I just heard today.
Apparently the county is cutting back funding in the schools: the cost of cafeteria lunch is going up, they will not replace the old school buses as planned, and funding for native English teachers will be limited to elementary and middle schools. That's right, my job is disappearing at the end of my contract. So my previous plan of hoping to stay until the end of the school year in February is kaput. Well, it just proves the old adage about the best laid plans; I've got to make a new one for next autumn and winter at least.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Fun times in Busan
After the long weekend at the beginning of the month, I spent a couple weekends staying local. It was raining, and I felt like I need to relax anyway. I did alos get a gym membership this month, cause I felt like I'm not getting enough daily exercise. I made a few new friends this way, which is nice, but the best part is after you are down working out. They have a dry sauna, three hot tubs (bubbly, extra hot with sea water, and green tea enhanced), and an extra cold swimming pool; it's very relaxing.
Last weekend the weather was good at last, just in time for a planned trip to Busan to meet up with a bunch of frisbee friends again. Busan has Korea's most popular beach, in the summertime you cannot even get a tan there because the sand is almost 100% covered by umbrella shade. But May is not official beach season, so even on a ncie day there was room to set up some fields and play some beach ultimate. We had a tournament. It was lots of fun, and my team ended up winning. To make it more memorable I had one of the my best catches ever in the finals: full field huck in hard to read wind, full extension layout grab, and it was game icing (took a 2 pt lead to 4 pts, and we just needed one more for the win).
Also I found a new trick to drink for free when we went out Saturday night. At dinner someone told a lame story about how he and a friend had a bet to see who could stand on one leg the longest. The loser stepped down after 18 minutes. So I disparaged their endurance, and asked a stupid question "Which leg got tired, the one dangling on the air, or the one that was supporting the weight of your entire body?" and it was on. Almost a dozen people ended up taking part in the challenge on the rooftop of a bar. After half of us outlasted 20 min we demanded shots of liquor to continue. In the end 4 of us got about 4 or 5 free drinks each over the course of another hour before, in a show of solidarity and boredom, putting our other foot down in unison for the tie. Then I went downstairs and won a game of connect 4 for my final drink.
Last weekend the weather was good at last, just in time for a planned trip to Busan to meet up with a bunch of frisbee friends again. Busan has Korea's most popular beach, in the summertime you cannot even get a tan there because the sand is almost 100% covered by umbrella shade. But May is not official beach season, so even on a ncie day there was room to set up some fields and play some beach ultimate. We had a tournament. It was lots of fun, and my team ended up winning. To make it more memorable I had one of the my best catches ever in the finals: full field huck in hard to read wind, full extension layout grab, and it was game icing (took a 2 pt lead to 4 pts, and we just needed one more for the win).
Also I found a new trick to drink for free when we went out Saturday night. At dinner someone told a lame story about how he and a friend had a bet to see who could stand on one leg the longest. The loser stepped down after 18 minutes. So I disparaged their endurance, and asked a stupid question "Which leg got tired, the one dangling on the air, or the one that was supporting the weight of your entire body?" and it was on. Almost a dozen people ended up taking part in the challenge on the rooftop of a bar. After half of us outlasted 20 min we demanded shots of liquor to continue. In the end 4 of us got about 4 or 5 free drinks each over the course of another hour before, in a show of solidarity and boredom, putting our other foot down in unison for the tie. Then I went downstairs and won a game of connect 4 for my final drink.
Friday, May 22, 2009
More "little things"
I forgot to update this topic for a long time. It is the kind of thing that you think of a lot of good ideas for, but they slip your mind when you are in front of your computer. So here are some more of the details of lesser significance but nonetheless cool aspects of being in Korea.
Full service food delivery. Everyone likes a hot delicious meal right at your door. Korea goes one step farther. When you order delivery they bring a basket with solid dishes, metal cutlery, and depending on the meal your ordered, a mini gas cooker to keep your stew simmering as you chow down. For $20 you literally get a family size feast and $60 of hardware delivered to your door. Then they make the return trip to take back there equipment and take care of the washing up.
Drinking in the streets. Besides Vegas and Mardi Gras, where in America can you just walk the open streets with an unshielded container of alcohol? This society is surprisingly libertarian in a lot of ways, although drugs outside of alcohol and tobacco are very harshly controlled. Another example is that in some provinces red traffic lights are treated as stop signs at night.
I'll try to do a better job, and add a few more of these in the not too distant future.
Full service food delivery. Everyone likes a hot delicious meal right at your door. Korea goes one step farther. When you order delivery they bring a basket with solid dishes, metal cutlery, and depending on the meal your ordered, a mini gas cooker to keep your stew simmering as you chow down. For $20 you literally get a family size feast and $60 of hardware delivered to your door. Then they make the return trip to take back there equipment and take care of the washing up.
Drinking in the streets. Besides Vegas and Mardi Gras, where in America can you just walk the open streets with an unshielded container of alcohol? This society is surprisingly libertarian in a lot of ways, although drugs outside of alcohol and tobacco are very harshly controlled. Another example is that in some provinces red traffic lights are treated as stop signs at night.
I'll try to do a better job, and add a few more of these in the not too distant future.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
2 quick pregnancy stories
I posted some new pics on flickr. Activities within the last month include: trip to cherry blossom scenic road, student sports day at highschool, Buddha's birthday a national holiday - green tea festival, trip to Tongyeong: a coastal town a couple hours away where a frisbee friend lives, a little hiking and met some more interesting young teachers. To flesch out the post here are a pair of stories involving pregnancy.
I was talking shop with a teacher about school discipline. At some point I asked if any of her students had been expelled, and she said just once. So I had to try to guess what he did. "Fight with a knife?" "No, much worse." Eventually I gave up. Turned out a senior in highschool had gotten pregnant. The interesting thing was that the boy was a year younger. In many states she would be technically a rapist, but over here he was expelled, while she had to stay in school.
Here's the second. One day at lunch one of the female teachers went up for seconds. Unprompted, she explained to me that she was pregnant. She wasn't showing at all so I asked, "Really?" and it was confirmed. Later she missed a few days of school, and again two weeks later. Cut to yesterday when I brought in some homebrewed beer to share at the post-volleyball game party. She asks for a taste, but I say no, you have a baby. She says, "no baby" with a smile. Now I'm confused, was it a joke from the beginning? did something happen, if so why does she seem so happy? Her English is quite poor, and I was too shy to ask.
I was talking shop with a teacher about school discipline. At some point I asked if any of her students had been expelled, and she said just once. So I had to try to guess what he did. "Fight with a knife?" "No, much worse." Eventually I gave up. Turned out a senior in highschool had gotten pregnant. The interesting thing was that the boy was a year younger. In many states she would be technically a rapist, but over here he was expelled, while she had to stay in school.
Here's the second. One day at lunch one of the female teachers went up for seconds. Unprompted, she explained to me that she was pregnant. She wasn't showing at all so I asked, "Really?" and it was confirmed. Later she missed a few days of school, and again two weeks later. Cut to yesterday when I brought in some homebrewed beer to share at the post-volleyball game party. She asks for a taste, but I say no, you have a baby. She says, "no baby" with a smile. Now I'm confused, was it a joke from the beginning? did something happen, if so why does she seem so happy? Her English is quite poor, and I was too shy to ask.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)