Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Brooks luh da kids
What's crackin' everyone. I'm finally settled into my apartment here in Seoul. My place is located about 35 minutes outside of the city center by subway. It is further out than I would have hoped but what are you gonna do. The school I am teaching at is about a 5 minute walk from my apartment and I am pretty happy about that. At the school I have three co-teachers (3rd, 4th, and 5-6th grade teachers). They have asked me to think of them as my older sisters who can help me with anything. So far they have been great. They have taken me to a couple of lunches and dinners and bought me everything from a bedspread to a microwave. The principal of my school also speaks decent English and he is a character. When he's thinking of something to say to me in English, he leans back real far, takes big breaths, and then blows out real slow. I have had to catch myself from laughing about four times. My co-teachers tell me he is really into drinking beer so I'm gonna pick the guy up some good imported stuff in the next couple of days.
Unfortunately, I don't have internet at my apartment yet so I'm still not gonna throw up any pictures. All my internet action so far has been from an internet cafe (called a PC beong here in Seoul) across the street from my apartment building. I have tried to take pictures of a couple of the places I've been so far but their size can't really be expressed in megapixel form . This place is massive. I went to a tech market called Yongsan the other day and it was probably one of the greatest places I will ever step foot in. Imagine three buildings about the size of Bellevue Square except each of them has 6-7 floors. On these floors it is wall-to-wall vendors of any electronic/gaming/musical device you can imagine. As you walk past the vendors they are shouting at you in Korean to come try out a camera, or laptop, or whatever they're hocking. They also have about every throwback system you can imagine, so if any of you are in the market for a Sega Nomad, or a Virtual Boy, just let me know and we'll figure out the shipping details.
My first weekend in Seoul proper also would not have been complete without massive consumption of beer/soju and a trip to a norae beong (karaoke bar). I met some other fellow teachers in an area called Gangnam which is known for it's wealthy residents and kickass nightlife. We drank pitchers and ate some Korean birthday cake (now competing with pie for my favorite celebration baked-good) then picked up a ton more booze and headed to the norae beong. As a karaoke rookie, I soon found out that I do not have the vocal range for basically any song that I like. My first attempts included Tatu - All the Things She Said and some other terrible pop song. The night ended at about 4am with a few people assed out in the room and me clutching the last bottle of soju and singing Wham - Pick Me Up Before You Go-Go. Wild night.
My first day of class was also today and it was great. I showed my 4th and 6th grade classes a powerpoint about where I'm from, my favorite foods, favorite activities, and I showed a little slideshow of my friends. They were disappointed that Josh wasn't from Korea because they all hate the Chinese and Japanese. They also loved the picture of Mason with his dog Louis. They said that "Neeck look jus like Louisu! KEKEKE!" Anyways, you guys are now all famous at Jong Gok elementary so you should think about visiting. For now, I'm gonna go watch some pirated movies I just bought and kick it on my Murphy bed. Stay in touch!
Note to Josh: If you come to Korea, your name will be Josh Jin Park.
Unfortunately, I don't have internet at my apartment yet so I'm still not gonna throw up any pictures. All my internet action so far has been from an internet cafe (called a PC beong here in Seoul) across the street from my apartment building. I have tried to take pictures of a couple of the places I've been so far but their size can't really be expressed in megapixel form . This place is massive. I went to a tech market called Yongsan the other day and it was probably one of the greatest places I will ever step foot in. Imagine three buildings about the size of Bellevue Square except each of them has 6-7 floors. On these floors it is wall-to-wall vendors of any electronic/gaming/musical device you can imagine. As you walk past the vendors they are shouting at you in Korean to come try out a camera, or laptop, or whatever they're hocking. They also have about every throwback system you can imagine, so if any of you are in the market for a Sega Nomad, or a Virtual Boy, just let me know and we'll figure out the shipping details.
My first weekend in Seoul proper also would not have been complete without massive consumption of beer/soju and a trip to a norae beong (karaoke bar). I met some other fellow teachers in an area called Gangnam which is known for it's wealthy residents and kickass nightlife. We drank pitchers and ate some Korean birthday cake (now competing with pie for my favorite celebration baked-good) then picked up a ton more booze and headed to the norae beong. As a karaoke rookie, I soon found out that I do not have the vocal range for basically any song that I like. My first attempts included Tatu - All the Things She Said and some other terrible pop song. The night ended at about 4am with a few people assed out in the room and me clutching the last bottle of soju and singing Wham - Pick Me Up Before You Go-Go. Wild night.
My first day of class was also today and it was great. I showed my 4th and 6th grade classes a powerpoint about where I'm from, my favorite foods, favorite activities, and I showed a little slideshow of my friends. They were disappointed that Josh wasn't from Korea because they all hate the Chinese and Japanese. They also loved the picture of Mason with his dog Louis. They said that "Neeck look jus like Louisu! KEKEKE!" Anyways, you guys are now all famous at Jong Gok elementary so you should think about visiting. For now, I'm gonna go watch some pirated movies I just bought and kick it on my Murphy bed. Stay in touch!
Note to Josh: If you come to Korea, your name will be Josh Jin Park.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Hanging Out at Hyundai
Sup sup sup. I don't have much to report thus far. I was taken directly from the airport to a small city about 30 minutes outside of Seoul. I'm living at a Hyundai training facility in a dorm with about 120 other teachers that will also be teaching English in the public school system.
I basically have just been going to workshops all day and teaching practice lessons in the evening. I'm not gonna lie, I'm probably gonna be a pretty good teacher. My classroom is going to be fully wired with a tv, computer, projector, etc. so I can use a ton of multimedia to school these young bucks. Oh yeah, I know for sure I will be teaching 1st-6th graders. This was a relief to me because I didn't really want to deal with 13-16 year olds. Boys that age are testing the limits of rebellion and girls' bodies are doing all sorts of disgusting things that turn them into emotional trainwrecks(not for me).
I've met a pretty good network of people here so far. I have two roommates, one from Boise and one from Oregon (he's a Beaver). They have both taught in Korea before and assure me that I got the best possible job available in Seoul besides the coveted public bathhouse toilet-cam operator. I've met some Brits, Aussies, and Canucks here too. When you add the US to that list I think you can safely say that these countries have the most well-traveled people; they were all over Europe and they're definitely all over Korea. I'm enjoying meeting all these new people and I'm getting excited to start teaching. Once I move into my new spot on Friday I plan to take some pictures and get them up on here. I will probably hit the city pretty hard Friday and Saturday night and I'll get some good shots of the street vendors, bars/clubs, and drunk businessman (which I have been assured there are an abundance of).
I basically have just been going to workshops all day and teaching practice lessons in the evening. I'm not gonna lie, I'm probably gonna be a pretty good teacher. My classroom is going to be fully wired with a tv, computer, projector, etc. so I can use a ton of multimedia to school these young bucks. Oh yeah, I know for sure I will be teaching 1st-6th graders. This was a relief to me because I didn't really want to deal with 13-16 year olds. Boys that age are testing the limits of rebellion and girls' bodies are doing all sorts of disgusting things that turn them into emotional trainwrecks(not for me).
I've met a pretty good network of people here so far. I have two roommates, one from Boise and one from Oregon (he's a Beaver). They have both taught in Korea before and assure me that I got the best possible job available in Seoul besides the coveted public bathhouse toilet-cam operator. I've met some Brits, Aussies, and Canucks here too. When you add the US to that list I think you can safely say that these countries have the most well-traveled people; they were all over Europe and they're definitely all over Korea. I'm enjoying meeting all these new people and I'm getting excited to start teaching. Once I move into my new spot on Friday I plan to take some pictures and get them up on here. I will probably hit the city pretty hard Friday and Saturday night and I'll get some good shots of the street vendors, bars/clubs, and drunk businessman (which I have been assured there are an abundance of).
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