150 Films

Some of the film majors in college kept lists of every film they had ever seen. I briefly contemplated making a list of my own when I realized several things; I wasn't that compulsive about all cinema, and second I could never remember the names of every film I've ever seen and neither would I really want to.

But, with Korean films I would want to make such a list. And as an added bonus it would help me from buying duplicates of DVDs (which I've done several times since the covers are sometimes different).

My list consists of the film name in Korean, the film name in English, and a brief synopses. At the top I have the number of films and the date of the most recently watched.

As of tonight I have seen 150.

I have seen almost all of the top grossing Korean films and would love to work on the local equivalent of API's top 100 films. But let's be honest, how many of these actually have subtitles and could I even find half of these titles?

Pain in the Back

Sunday morning, after walking around for a bit, my back had the most incredible pain in it. I sat down and I felt a numbness from my chest up. As I sat there the feeling went into my face, I was told my lips went white and I soon lost my vision.

Laying down I felt much better, but I knew I needed to go to the hopsital.

Sunday isn't a great day for visiting the doctor's office since so many are closed. But thankfully I was with a friend who found a back specialist who was open. We crawled into a cab and took a ride over. Much to my surprise the doctor had a very high level of English ability; which is unheard of in a small clinic.

They took 6 x-rays and within a few minutes the images had been scanned and send to the other side of the clinic. Viewing them on a 40" screen and being able to play with the brightness gave great flexibility to these digital copies. I should not be surprised but I have not heard of this in a hospital before.

After looking at the scans the doctor said the problem is not with the bones in my spine but was somewhere else; either muscle related or something more serious with internal organs.

He wrote a prescription (which later proved nearly impossible to fill since it was special meds. But we were turned to some over the counter for $6 which did the job). The nurse gave me a muscle relaxant shot and I was sent upstairs for 40 minutes of physical therapy which consisted of a hot pad, ultra sound, and a strange massage machine which had four large suction cups.

Total cost with national health care: $10 (10,100 Won).

A few days have passed and my back feels much better. I have much more flexibility. Our family has done some research on exercises and things to avoid this again in the future. And this could be my chance to try more than two needles worth of acupuncture. Hmmm~

College Prep

My Korean class has finished and from now I'll be going outside of class, studying with the same materials and with a friend or two.

This means I no longer have the 45 minute commute in rush hour nor the restrains of 4-hours a day schedule. I have heard about a program in Gangnam that a friend recommended.

Yonsei's program is good but the speed is designed for Korean-Americans.

I'll go at my own speed for awhile and see what happens :)

This also gives me a good chance to finish applying for grad school. I'm looking at a Master's in TESOL and I should hear back around January sometime.

Schedule & Korean Class

I've noticed that as I become more accustomed and more comfortable here the less free time I have and the less I post on this blog. My current schedule involves being a full time Korean student and working 3 days a week at an academy. Toss in some errands or meeting with a friend for an hour and I am only at home to sleep. I leave at 8 am and my early nights get me home around 9.

I've found out a critical bit of information concerning the Korean classes at Yonsei; they aren't deigned for Westerners. Officially they are designed for people whose 'native language is similar to that of Korean' and unofficially they are designed for Korean-Americans who have grown up hearing Korean at home or at least at family gatherings. So they tend to go at a break-neck speed even if you are only studying and not working. So with me having a job i can keep up with the lower levels since it's mainly review and filling in the pieces. But when it gets to purely new material I won't be able to keep up.

So once this term ends I'll be joining a gym and doing group study with a friend. I might have a bit more of free time and we'll see what all happens.

ID Card and Halloween

The cell phone provider I have is not the best. Everytime my visa runs out they cut off my service "at my request". It's happened 3x in the last few months. So to fix it I need to bring in my Alien ID card and prove I am still legal. But this time I have no card to show them and if I don't show it within two weeks they close my account.

Contacting Immigration they said I won't get a new card for about 3 or 4 weeks. So my account will be dead and I'm concerned at getting my deposit back.

But in good news I can change to a cheaper service, will probably get a new phone, should be able to transfer my numbers, etc. And in other good news my Halloween costume is almost ready. We're hosting a party at our home and are expecting 20~30 people to attend.

I have a costume I've been putting together for the last few weeks. It includes camo from Greece, a flight cap from Ukriane made under the USSR, and a big scarf from the Philippines. I am hoping to get some flight goggles to add to it. And I've changed the wiring in the flight helmet so I can no hook up the communication system to my MP3 player ^_^ v

End of Story

Tuesday night:
I decided that this would become a vacation and attempted to make it into one. Took several hours walk and found where I stayed before.
Stumbled across several Pachinko parlors that just had hundreds and hundreds of these machines.
I found a cool pet shop with puppies and kittens costing $1,500 ~ $2,500 USD.
I found a great noodle shop and got a front row seat next to the cooking area. Real dirty looking kitchen but oh so good.

Wednesday:
Made it to the office and dropped off paperwork. Spoke Korean to the Japanese workers.
Was able to contact friends and co-workers in Korea informing them of change of plans.
Changed my airplane tickets and found an easy way to the airport.
Got some bubble tea from Quickly Tea Shop. Now I've been to their shops in the US, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
Found "Rough Cut" DVDs for sale with big signs up :) So glad to see that. Wrote down some movies I would like to research.

Thursday:
Couldn't sleep. I got upwards of three hours total last night. Too much green tea?
Went to visa office to pick up passport with new visa.
Listened to a bunch of Jpop and Jrock and wandered around the city more.
Found a traditional market, temples, elementary school, post office, and just here and there.
Ate at Lotteria and studied last years' Korean notes for a few hours.
Made it to the airport, slept on the bench for 20 minutes, made the flight back, got back home around 9pm and went to sleep an hour later.

Hit the Ground Running - Visa Run Continued

Tuesday Evening:

Well I did something new today. I arrived at the checkin counter for my international flight 3 minutes before take-off. They didn`t let me procede.

So I got new tickets and most of a refund from my old tickets during crazy pouring rain and a few hours later was able to get on the flight and go to Japan.

I made it here sucesfully despite Immigration on both ends of my flight hauling me off to the side initially refusing me entry / departure. Not to mention they confascated my Korean National ID card (insert profanity).

Being tight on time I got a $30 taxi and made it to the consulate 30 minutes beore they closed. However they stop taking visa applications an hour before that and refused me access to the building. So I`m going to need to change my tickets again and I might come back on Thursday if everything goes smoothly at the consulate. If somehow they get really crowded then I will come back next week. Would I still have a job by that point?

The last time I did this I made friends in the consulate and we got adjoining motel rooms together. This time no luck. Tried to find the motel I went to two years ago but was unable to find it ~ I might have found the right subway station, but am unsure.

I followed a big bright sign to an inn only to find out the whole building is under construction and it`s completely closed off; metal baracades and everything.

Through some tourist pamphlets at the airport I found an inn and have internet access in the lobby. It`s $5 cheaper than the love motel I found and this place looks just a bit more respectible. I didn`t plan for this much expenses so I didn`t have the cash; thank you credit cards.

Gosh, I`m batting 1000 today aren`t I? I haven` had this much adventure traveling since China. And if I am ranking things I should say dysentary in Manila comes in third.

Gone to Japan

Tuesday morning:

Well my visa is expiring and this time around I need to leave the country and get a new visa. So in a few hours I'll be making my way onto an airplane and visiting Japan for 24 hours.

So I'll be back by Wednesday.

Bye bye~

Properly Balanced

If a language class is not properly balanced then a majority of the students will have the same native language. They no longer need to rely on the language being taught to communicate within class, but they instead reply on their native tongue. Our Korean class at Yonsei has changed the students daily in five days. We dropped two, added one, dropped that one, added two more, and got one of the first students back. The class was more balanced before with speakers of a number of different languages. But now a third of the students are Japanese and we still have no Chinese students (which I had heard there is a large number of).

I was disappointed by, in my opinion, the lack of balance in the class until a few days ago. The teacher was explaining a term and the German student did not understand. They attempted several times to no avail. Then the Japanese-born yet Korean-by-blood student turned to our German friend and started to explain this in Chinese.

And it got better when the German replied back in Chinese to clarify a detail. They went back and forth for a minute until "Okay, I understand now."

Turns out he has a degree in Chinese. Go figure. But I guess we have a more balanced classroom now~

Oh, and to clarify it turns out that the first morning classes have a ton of Japanese and the second afternoon classes have a large number of Chinese. Apparently it is like this every year.

Language Classes and NamSan Park

Tuesday I didn't have work yet and the Korean classes didn't start yet, so I took a hike on Namsan. The trails start about 5 minutes away from our apartment and after an hour and 20 minutes (with the last 20 minutes being me making my own path) I reached the Seoul Tower. Coming from the other side is a cable car which I've taken before.

A lot of couples have gone up to the tower and attached locks to the gates as a sign of their unbreakable love. A little more than a year ago there weren't many locks. Now they number in the 10s of thousands.

Well my dinner plans for tonight were canceled so I walked from my university to home skirting around Namsan at the same time. Total time was 2 hours 20 minutes. I think I'm enjoying walking again...

And today also marked the first day of Korean class again. Our class has 13 students from the US, Germany, China, Japan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia. I've stepped back in terms of levels since some of my foundation isn't as strong as I want it to be and I need to improve my grammar from the bottom up. My plan is to take at least 6 months of full-time courses (while working part-time) and see what happens then.

New Job

Wednesday was my last day of work. I searched some job vacancies on Wednesday and applied to one on Thursday night. Friday morning I get a phone call, a few hours later I get an interview, and we will sign paperwork and start on Monday.

It's part-time, 3x a week, 6 hours a session, visa covered, and covers my expenses so that I can go to Korean language school and still have time for homework and friends and if I am careful I won't need more tutoring to keep myself afloat financially.

Now the question is if the company can get the paperwork in order fast enough so my roommate and myself can do the visa run together.

Oh yeah, and all of this happened with a head cold :)

Transitions

My job has officially ended. Well, officially by the first contract but not by the second but...ah forget it. My last day was filled with games and told the older half of my students; a large amount of whom didn't understand that a new teacher would be coming in the next day. Oh well.

I have been very happy every since. I have about a week of vacation and then I become a full-time language student again. I'm looking for supplemental work so I can continue to be a language student. And I have extended my visa for 30 days which gives me more time to look and prepare.

North Korean Infiltration Equipment

Work was done and I was headed to Costco and in a nearby park I see something that I remember from a James Bond movie. It's several tanks, the first is an air tank for divers and the other is a larger tank with a propeller on it, like a mini submarine.

This was on a table next to a truck that was opened to display various North Korean army / spy equipment captured in years past. All of the items were bilingual except for the background information section. There was everything from AK-57s (newer models), to tourniquets, 300mm zoom camera lens, night goggles, and even "counterfeit South Korean Army Fatigues" and North rank patches going up all the way to general.

While I was looking the curator was taking pictures of myself looking at the items. Who knows, maybe I'll end up in some brochure for this mobile infiltration library.

Moved In

My bedroom, the guestroom and kitchen are fully scrubbed down and cleaned.

Internet is hooked up ( 6mbps at the old place, now 54mbps for $38 a month ). In speed tests our home was doing over 2x the Korean national average and more than 10x the national US average ^____^ v

New shiny rice cooker has arrived.

Gave away my kitty to two girls who looked oh-so happy to take her from me.

Got two movers to bring in the big, heavy, and awkward things including the washer which the 57 year old man hauled on his back and by himself climbed two flights of stairs.

Found a fried chicken place that sells for $7 and a rotisserie chicken truck that sells 1 for $7 and 2 for $12. I've got my orange juice, head of lettuce, and honey mustard sauce and a French action film ready to rock.

Found a bus + subway route to work and timed exactly how long it takes.

And lastly spent a few hours cleaning the old place and handed in the key. I still have a few things there including a bike that I need to move, but I have several weeks to do that within.

The old place was nice but this place feels like a home.

Job and Housing

Jobs at most last a year here with few exception. The middle of next month is when my contract expires and I start working for someone else. I missed the window for university jobs so I'll try those again next term. Our vice principle, who I have never met, said he wants someone else and hence won't renew my contract.

With a job comes housing, the two are always tied together. Usually after you sign a contract you get an apartment for the same term as you are working. So no job = no home. I'm tired of my employer holding housing about me and I don't want to get pressured into getting a new job quickly, so a good friend and I have gone out and rented a place with our own deposit and in our names. There is about a month of overlap in which I own two apartments (the last one was end of summer and that's bad timing).

I'm going from an 11 pyong (pyeong) apartment (390 squ. feet) to a 26 pyong apartment (925 squ. feet) as a three bedroom (it's either 1 bedroom or 3, we can't seem to find 2 bedrooms here). So my friend Wade will have the masterbedroom, I will get the next one, and the last one is open for friends and family when they visit.

It's next to the foreign district (bummer) but it's also a short bus ride from the heart of the city (yeah~).

Thunderstorms and Lightening

It's officially Monsoon Season as it started raining heavy last night and at about 2am had super bright lightening and thunder that rumbled out honestly 10 seconds or so.

Now, 10 am, chubby rain is still (off and on) falling from the sky. Weather.cnn.com gives a very optimistic picture of "FOG" and tonight having "showers".

Weather.com gives a more honest posting with some cool icons for thunderstorm~

The 50,000 Won Bill ($50)

In Korea the exchange rate has been pretty easy to understand for a long time. Much like $10.000 = 10 dollars (delete the .00 and it equal dollars) take 10,000 Won and it equals 10 dollars (or less recently).

In terms of bills we have 1,000 Won, 5,000 Won, and 10,000 Won bills. If you want a few hundred bucks in cash your wallet is going to be quite large. But shopping malls have been selling gift certificates in terms of 100,000 Won ($100) for quite some time. So it makes sense that it's time to have a larger denomination. As of today, ladies and gentlemen, we have the brand new 50,000 Won bill~

The front features Chin Saimdang on the front and bamboo and an apricot tree on the rear. I'm actually surprised to not see a map on the back since I heard they wanted an old map of the entire Korean peninsula showing Dokdo on it and couldn't really find one.

Don't believe Dokdo is Korean? Just talk to Snoopy; on his "map of the world" which shows all of 3 countries on it (but only one is named, we don't need to talk about the others).

And before I forget, some possible prototypes including one for a 100,000 Won bill. Pretty huh?

Roh Moo-Hyun Commits Sucaide

The last president of South Korea killed himself yesterday by jumping off a cliff in his hometown. News are blaming the suicide on pressure from the indictments over 2 bribes totaling over $6 million USD.

But don't worry, all police work has been called off the corruption case. Because apparently, if the receiver of the money is dead, then the family which possesses and has used the money, as well as the individual who has a history of evading taxes and bribery, no longer need to be questioned either.

A few thousand people gathered to "mourn" the man which quickly turned into a anti Lee Myung-bak demonstration with riot police being assaulted.

But it gets worse. When he transitioned out of office he did a bit of house cleaning. An aide of the new president said "We have some trouble doing our job because many of the former president's records were classified as confidential."Those files are sealed for the next 15-30 years. The other files were on computers which were wiped or on the 238 hard drives (72 terabyts) which were swapped out and no one knows where the originals are. Only 25% of all records of that administration remained.

But he was a good enough man that he had the first state funeral in 23 years.

I wish the current president has more morals but his line about ugly prostitutes giving better massages leave a lot to be desired. Then again he seems to be in line with law enforcement which has, multiple times, announced the dates for future prostitution crackdowns even mentioning specific areas by name, again ahead of time.

Past presidents haven't fared much better:
The prior president, Kim Dae-jung was soft on organized crime, didn't take good care of the economy, and his sons stole billions of dollars. And he was also kidnapped before his presidency, then put in jail, and finally reinstated after the current leader was assassinated. In good news he was given the Nobel Peace Prize for the Sunshine Policy, which meant South Korean turned a blind eye to everything bad North Korea and actually supported the Northern Regime in more ways than one. And actually that summit was found to have been a bribe to the North of several hundred million dollars which led to the suicide of one individual invovled.

Before him was Kim Young-sam who ran a sucessful anti-corruption campaign which includign arresting of two of his predecessors. Only drawback was his son was also implicated in corruption.

Before him was Roh Tae-woo who was the the country's first democratically elected president and led a number of reforms and tried to better relations with North Korea, China, and the Solviet Union. He was later on trial for bribery, treason, and mutany for his role in the Gwangju massacre. He was given a 22 1/2 year jail sentence.

Chun Doo-hwan came before him. He was former military who retired only after promotign himself to a four star general and ousting the 4th president in a coup. He centeralized the government and led to great economic growth. He was nearly killed by a bomb blast in Burma which killed 21 other people. After his reign his family was accused of embezzling $4 billion USD. He spent two years in a Buddhist temple as a sign of repentance for the excesses of his regime. Despite this he was sentenced to death for treason and mutany connected with his takeover for power. He was pardoned by the man he had sentenced to death 20 years prior.

Choi Kyu-hah assumed power due to an assassination of the previous leader. He made a new constitution and held elections which he won. He lost control by the next year to a coup which left him with no power. With Chun Doo-hwan in charge, martial law was declared which leading to multiple uprisings the most notable of which was the Gwangju Massacre which left 987 civilians dead. Choi resigned soon afterwards.

Park Chung-hee was the 3rd 'president' despite actually being a dictator. He served in Manchuria with the Japanese army during the Japanese occupation of Korea. After Korea gained it's independence he joined the army but was kicked out for membership in a Communist cell. He took power in a coup in 1961 but officially took power in an election in 1963. He normalized relations with Japan, and had an upward fight as North Korea was stronger and had more finances than the Souths meager $72 per capita income. He stopped freedom of speech and of the press, rigged the electoral system, and changed the Constitution so he could "run for office" a third time.

After his third electrion he declared a state of emergency which suspended the Constitution and dissolved Parliament. He had two assassination attempts, both involving the North, the second which killed his wife later in the day. Despite his wife having been shot in the second attemt, he continued his speech while aides carried his wife out of the room. He was finally assassinated by a group of Southern men. A movie which I highly recommend, was made about the events of that day. He was officially in office 16 years and on TIME magazines list of top 100 Asians of the Century.

Yun Bo-seon was the third president of South Korea. He came to power since the former leader was ousted by a student-led pro-democracy uprising. He officially lasted less than two years in office but reality was less than a year in power due to a coup by Park Chung-hee.

Rhee Syngman was the first president of South Korea. He was arrested for demonstrations against Japan which lead to him going to the USA and obtained several degrees. He was the first "president" from 1919 - 1925 of the Provisional Government which was located in Shanghai. Despite being impeached he was annointed provisional leader of South Korea by the Allies after WWII. Three years later he gained a seat at the First Assembly of South Korea by a parliamentary vote after left-wing parties boycotted the election. He won a landslide vote against an opponent who did not know he was on the ballet. In less than two years Rhee assumed a dictatorship position overseeing several massacres.

After the Korean War broke out, Rhee encouraged the citizens of Seoul to remain in the city while he himself was already on his way to refuge. He destroyed the bridges over the Han River which trapped civilians (I've heard this is one of the main reasons why Koreans don't trust their politicians). He did everything he could to twart ceasefires for he wanted to rule a united Korea, not a divided one. He was also mad at the US for not bombing China despite Chinese soldiers joining on the side of the North. He also imprisoned Empress Sunjeong of the Joseon Dynasty as a bid for himself to keep power.

His fourth term in office won by a 90% vote (his main opponent died several days prior). However during elections for vice president the public claimed the election was rigged. A student uprising happened soon after which resulted in the CIA whisked him out of Korea in a DC-10 as protestors converged on the Blue House. During his exhile in Hawaii it was discovered he embezelled $20 million USD. He died of a stroke 5 years later.

So after our not-so-brief history lesson, which one of you wants to become president?

Korean Class -> New Movie?

Due to a lot of self study I was able to skip Level 1 Korean and was able to go into Level 2. Our teacher was amazing, the co-students were wonderful. And since I had studied so much on my own before I got there, half of the vocab and a number of the grammar forms were review.

I studied on the bus to and from work, occasionally went to a coffee shop to study, and found it was sufficient. Now in Level 3 we don't have vocab lists (we need to make them ourselves) and most of the vocab is new as are the grammar forms. I know that studying on the bus everyday won't be sufficient. I know I am missing more pieces as I have missed part of the skipped Level 1.

My ideas has been to pass Level 3 and get through Level 4 best I can and then take a term off and let it all sink in.

Our Level 3 teacher was horrible. I was considering swapping to the other class but didn't want to leave the other students. Thankfully she went on maternity leave and the class chipped in and got her a "going away present" which some students did not want to participate in. They had to be sold on the idea of a "good riddance present". The replacement teacher is much better but we only have her for a few more weeks before the term is over (middle of next month).

The sad part is our class is breaking up. One student's job called him to another country 3 years early. Another student has missed so many classes (as we all have full time jobs outside of Korean class) that he won't pass. Several other students are going back to their home countries for summer and another student is thinking about going to a university where speaking is more emphasized.

That was Thursday night. On Friday morning I got a phone call from the producer I worked with in the past. He said they are working on a new movie and production starts next month. He asked if I would like to meet next week for dinner and discuss it. It looks like I'll be taking my term off a little earlier than I was expecting...

Hanyang Universities 70th Anniversary

Through a friend at who works at Hanyang University and another school, we got tickets to Hanyang's 70th Anniversary. Today was the first of two nights of musical performances; the first being traditional Korean music and the second, tomorrow, being more modern music.

We heard his ten students would be in the performance and so I was surprised to see such a large group on stage. It was also interesting to note how the conductor would lead the group by a single clap of his wooden board to signal the start; much as how a drummer would start the timing of a song by tapping his drum sticks together three times. Unlike Western conductors who are constantly giving hand motions and waving their conductor's stick, the conductors I've seen at these performances always stand by the side not intervening except for a single wooden clap to start each song and then three claps to note the end of the music.

We later joined some of his students and sat around drinking tea and coffee until 11 pm. Everyone seemed to click really well and so we swapped some phone numbers and made plans to meet again.

Packed Like Bean Sprouts + Parents

Our school is either the largest or second largest elementary school in Seoul; aka in the nation. Our cafeteria, which can be packed pretty well, still doesn't fit many students. Most of the students get carts wheeled to their classrooms and eat inside then stack everything near the elevators. This is just from the 3rd floor. Our building has 6 floors~

Recently I showed up at work to see an abundance of parents swarming around classrooms. I look down the other hallway to see the same thing. I peek into a classroom and at first it looks normal; 공기밥 교실 which means "classroom packed like bean sprouts" (packed like sardeens).

With starting a new school year parents were allowed to come and observe for a day. Parents Teacher Day (parents + teachers but no students) will come at a later time.

Excuse me, pardon me, you'll never know we are here. No no, it's okay, keep teaching. Don't mind our cameras.

Sunsets and Language

One benefit of living in a desert is seeing the sunsets. The dust in the sky somehow makes it look beautiful. Well with the yellow dust from China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, do make for some pretty sunsets. Two more shots from the roof of our building.

The US military even has a site to update us on the levels of dust within the air.

Thankfully we don't get it nearly as bad as cities like Beijing do.

In other news night class Korean Level 3 has begun. Got the new book, most of the students are the same, our old teacher is teaching the other class (No~ we want her back >_< ) I'm looking forward to seeing what we can learn and how my level will improve by the end of this term.

Korean Class

The numbers are in. My overall grade for evening class level 2 is 82%.

Listening was my strongest with 95%.

Reading was also high with a score of 91%.

Conversation was lower than I was expecting with 74%. All of the points I love minus one was because of missed grammer markers 이, 가, 을, 를, 으로, etc. Teacher said people have no problem understanding me and my pronouncation and accent are good. So if I had all of the grammer solid I could have gotten 99% on that section. I've also been complimented by my peers in terms of speaking. Considering my history with languages (see below) I'm very proud of this.

The writing section was the lowest with 67.6%. I've known this is my weak point so I wasn't exactly surprised. Again the grammer was the main reason for missing points. I've been spending a lot of time on the bus with a grammer book and the questions I am asking in and out of class have been a lot more grammer related then before.

I've always struggled with language classes. Spanish in high school was pathetic. Korean as an exchange student was hard and knowing that I would stop learning Korean after that affected my so-so studying at the time. The summer class I took before was mixed with the idea that I would only be in the country for a few months mixed with my dad visiting and me having been away from Korea for years. My grade there was alright but...I actually don't remember my score. Oh well.

With that as my history, I think this is the best I've done in a language class period. My average was a low B and I aced two sections of the exam. I'm real happy~

2 Days

I've been enjoying my Korean class for quite some time. I'm performing well in the class and apparently I've developed a reputation for my laughter (no surprise) and for my accents (little surprise that I am more comfortable using them in groups) and for cracking language related jokes in class (this I really like).

Last night we had a practice written exam. There were two questions tied together. Listen to the conversation then select which activity they did and select the younger sibling from the photo taken during the event. After going through everything the teachers went over each question and answer to help us.
One teacher asked "So how did you know which activity they did?" clearly wanting us to tell which word tipped us off.
People were a bit scared to answer so I said "I looked at the picture!"

The pre-test went pretty well. After class I wandered over to the park close to my house and found two guys plays bongos and a guitar and singing some songs that I recognized. Hung out there for a bit before going to Choi's Tacos and got my chicken burrito cooked by Mr. Choi himself. He went to Mexico and learned burrito making don't-cha-know.

English classes went pretty well. Watched a short documentary after work (45min), followed by a music video that grew on me quite quickly. A lot of identity searching eh?

And finally I met with a friend and we went to an authentic Chinese resturaunt which are really hard to find since Koreans only really like two Chinese dishes. I've been craving real Chinese food for quite some time. Shoot, even Americanized-Chinese food would make me happy. But this, oh this was Heaven.

Gee Gee Gee Gee Gee

This is a very catchy pop tune with a real bright and colorful music video. Normally I wouldn't care enough to post something like this but I enjoyed hearing the song being sung by 1st graders on Friday. It made a cute song even cuter.

Oh yeah, and the group has nine members.

But we've seen other large girl groups in the past. Korea has also had "7 Princess" (sp) with seven really early preteens while Japan has had Morning Musume which has had anywhere from five members to around 13 or so. Morning Musume has had 25 past and current members and a total of 38 singles to date.

Lack of Time

I'm really not sure the last time I updated this. I have had tons of ideas and things I would love to talk about and pictures to link to and just haven't been able. With this site blocked at work and getting home at 9:30+ 3x a week (Korean class), I just haven't been able to.

Some things I wanted to mention:
-Snowed several times. Beautiful but never lasts long enough. The last time was Sunday at 4AM.
-Bumped into a press conference with Tom Cruise. I think I saw him but an not positive as I haven't been in an area that crowded since riding the subway Christmas Friday at rush hour.
-Am really enjoying the Korean class. Am trying to do the workbook (not assigned until now). Went there after class and stayed until closing.
-Met a guy with similar interests as myself. We met for coffee at 9:45PM and chatted until 1:30AM. The more we talked the more we found in common.
-Was paid so now I have more than $6 in my local local bank account. Ah it feels good.
-The school is forcing our employer to do things like build a waiting area and give us computers that work. Rock on~
-Another friend is being forced out of the country due to a power struggle. He was given 2 weeks before his visa would expire (in the power struggle the promised extension of the visa was denied).
-Am meeting a lot more people who I would love to spend time with but that is what I am lacking.
-Am getting more advice on real estate and know what to look for come this August/September. Am hoping to have enough $ that I can afford the deposit myself (read: stability and living in one place for as long as I want).

Well, it's past midnight, I should be going to bed soon. Night~

Big Fish Small Pond

Open this link in a new window. It is track 26 from the Road to Perdition soundtrack.

We have just started week two of the night Korean class. I must admit leaving at 8:30 am and then getting back at 9:30 pm is not the best of situations, but I have wanted this for years. Off and on I want to take Yonsei's full time language program but I am satisfied with 2 1/2 hours 3x a week. I took level 1A full time before in 2003. They have completely changed the book series for the better. So to a certain degree this is review from 5 years ago and from what I have been studying everyday on the bus and in my bedroom off and on since 11th grade.

With about five years in between taking the class for the first time and the second parts of it are review but now makes so much more sense. For now I am the big fish in our little eleven person pond. And surprisingly enough when I think of that I think of the commentary for Road to Perdition. When Mike Sullivan is in his small town, he's the big man on campus. But when leaves he sees just how small he really is.

I have always done terrible in language classes grade-wise. I always walk away with a lot of information but my grades leave something to be desired. I know that my language skills are low and will be years until they are high. I also know that within the expat community I have wonderful language abilities and currently in the class I am in partaking in I seem to be at the head of the class. I would love to be there. I would love for once to be one of the guys who can answer the questions involving vocab words we haven't been taught yet. And for the first time, I am. Some of my peers have asked if I want to be bumped up into a higher class; into a bigger pond. The time will come. My pond will get bigger and my size will continue to match it.

Christmas in Korea With All of the Dayls in My Home

My Christmas week presented in bullet points with linked pictures:

-Dayl was kind enough to come to Korea for Christmas and stayed the week.
-Got some funky socks and a dancing chicken from the kind people at Grace.
-Played with my cat.
-Got to try on my new shirts.
-Spoke four languages (English, Korean, Japanese and a touch of Chinese) while meeting friends at a Chinese resturaunt with "Sichuan" spices... I wish people would use actual 'whajao' in "Sichuan" food as they do in actual Sinchuan.
-Afterwards we sang songs karaoke in three languages (English, Korean, Japanese).
-Observed a unique advertisement on the subway.
-We fought any urges to rid ourselves of any PETS at the local 7-11.
-Enjoyed a photo op at the DMZ while looking across the most heavily armed border in the world.
-And thankfully my arrest was in Seoul as opposed to being at Panmunjom.
-And I'm afraid to say that Dayl suffered a similar fate...
-We rode several bullets trains.
-We visited my old workplace which provided Dayl with another audience for his yo-yo tricks.
-Started Christmas morning with family before we entered a kimchee contest and played with the camera features on cell phones.
-We also ate some Christmas tacos and took a stroll along the stream.
-Then we took a few pictures with a lovely couple before meeting with a well known comedian after he finished preforming in a sold out local play.
-The next day we got a taste of traditional clothing before I took a new image for my background in my computer.
-Then we grabbed some quick INFO Mation before getting fresh directions and heading home.