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Hello and Welcome to Korea!

I have written a bunch today so this may be on the short side, but i wanted to post something.. I got a couple of nice responses about my writing lately and was inspired to keep doing it. So thank you.

School has been going well, so, of course, now things are going to change. Sue-teacher, our schools administrator in charge of ordering books, making syllabi, making sure everyone knows what they're doing, and God knows what else, is leaving to move to Oklahoma City with her daughters. She's also someone I trust and will miss. I had my phone interview with her months ago and have become somewhat attached to her, so this is kinda hard. Regina-teacher, a morning teacher, is taking over her job and quitting mornings, which means her classes are getting dispersed among the remaining teachers. Great. Whoo boy.

We recently took the kindies on a field trip to Ecology World or somewhere.. we saw about 5 dragonflies and a spider, it sucked, but anyway, here are some pictures of cute kids:

-Philip. The youngest in the school and the absolute weirdest kid on the planet.

-Dean. That's Elly on the left and Peter on the right.-Jack.-Julie, our resident crybaby. Julie is a very sweet girl but she cries entirelly too much. I think she may be younger than Philip actually. She doesn't understand a word of what I say. She taught me that 'Omah' means 'Mom'. Judy. My favorite.
And then here are some of my favorite afternoon kids:

Isabel, Stephanie, Tommy, Jade, Barbie, Tony, Joshua. Stephanie might be the smartest girl in the whole school and she's only in 2nd grade. The boys in this class, particularly Jade, are very funny but can be a handful. The kids here have a terrible habit of talking when I am in the middle of a sentence that is driving me crazy.. I have to say everything 3 times.. and this class is by far the worst when it comes to that. And the boys here are obsessed with Nintendo and will say "It's a me, Maaaaario" over and over until I yell at them or take away a star. (Stars are our point system.) Joshua told me that a Korean invented Nintendo which is not true.

The same class. Thats my spot up there though I rarely actually sit. Here are some first graders. I took the camera out and they all lost their minds. This is Leo, Lucy, and Cindy in the pink. Clockwise from top-left are Brian, Thomas, Cindy, Lucy, Judy. I love these guys but they are dumber than an empty cardboard box. I say things like, "A dune is a hill made of sand. What is a dune?" And nobody can tell me. Brian has come a long way in the two months that I have been here. He used to not like me I think and would get really depressed and check out when he didn't understand me. Now he is interested in making me happy and will even help out other students with their reading. For some reason he will randomly stand up on his chair, as seen here. It's so funny because it looks like he doesn't even realize he's doing it and its.. just.. no big deal. 'Why wouldn't I stand up on my chair right now?'

These are some 4th graders. This is my last class on MWF so that probably has something to do with why they are my favorites. Also they are hysterical and really pretty savvy. This is Daniel, Kevin and Michael on the right here.

And on the other side of room, same class, are Lisa and Sonya. (above.) They're always eating and my only rule for the older kids regarding eating is 'it's okay as long as you give me some'.

Here is a video of this short dialogue I had this class memorize and perform.

Here's a piece that Amber's art class made. I think it's actually supposed to be Becky but I stole it.

These are some shots from last weekend on top of this guy Jason's apartment. I was very jealous.

I knew the country was mountainous but I didnt know there were mountains all throughout the city like this. Kind of cool. I think thats a driving range up there on the right.

Seoul Tower from Jason's apartment near Noksapyeong.

This is one of my favorite vices here. All over the city are these claw games out on the sidewalks. i don't know who runs them or how they get the stuff that goes in them but its all crazy weird junk that they should pay you to take off their hands. I haven't played ina while but so far I got a small wooden ship that must be a paperweight, a wooden finger, an electric shaver that doesn't really work so well, and a lot of cell phone medallions. (Everyone here has a personalized charm that hangs from their cellphone. I don't even have a cellphone.) They make it really easy to get stuff too. Most things have that metal cage or rubber bands for the claw to snag and hook on. I've seen a bottle of Johnny Walker in one (it wouldn't budge) and several real-looking guns. Mostly there are lighters and cell phone charms.

That's a very real-looking Beretta. I tried to get it, if for no other reason some kid didn't get it first, but I only had a little change and couldn't get it to go. They don't have guns here in Korea so seeing a realistic one as a toy isn't that weird to them.

And that's going to do it for now, I think. It's midnight and I have done little else but sit at the computer on this beautiful day so I am going to get off and go read or something. Come visit!

Love,

John.

currently listening to: The New Young Pony Club's album 'Fantastic Playroom'

currently reading: John Irving's The Hotel New Hampshire and a book of early Pinter plays.

currently eating for dinner: hard-boiled eggs.

Family Vacation

Ok, so , I am looking at a month and a half now and things have kind of slowed down. In a good way. I am getting used to the job and everything it entails, feeling confident in the classroom, and not having panic attacks every day in the morning. So there's that. It was really nice to get paid, too. Now I'm working on a balance between having fun and saving money.

It has really started to feel like home. I eat really well every day, excercise, pretty much like the job, have some friends, etc. One thing that really helped it feel like home was I went on vacation outside of Seoul last weekend and when I came back I felt for the first time that it would be nice to "sleep in my own bed." Weird how quickly that happens.

So, I went on a family vacation with my school's director (principal) and his wife and two kids, plus two of my co-workers, to a place called Gyeongju, which is considered maybe the most historic site in all of South Korea. It was the capital of the country around the 7th century AD, during the Silla Dynasty (pronounced She-la, but i call it the Silly Dynasty) before Japan messed everything up in the Seven Year War.

I am ultimately glad I went-- it was relaxing and I learned a lot. I was originally skeptical about going on vacation for 2 and a half days with my boss and his family, and I thought I was going to miss Ryan's play, but it all worked out in the end.

We left Friday morning (we had off due to Korean Memorial day) at 7am andgot there around 1pm. We went to the Gyeongju National Museum first.. if my parents ever took me to a museum for vacation when I was 7 years old I would have cried all day.. but the kids were okay. And the place was packed. I mean, everyone loves this place and its not what I would consider "fun" the way I would an amusement park or a beach. Anyway, it was fun for me just to see how excited people here are by their own history.

Tina and me, by the Divine Bell of King Seongdeong.

<-- Cheomseongdae; one of the oldest astronomical observatories in East Asia.

Don't know what else to say about the trip.. It was kind of wholesome, I guess. It was nice to spend time with Becky and Tina and kind of bond in the sense that none of us were actually part of the family.. Becky only got here a month before I did. At least Tina spoke Korean. We didn't know what was going on the whole time-- just went where we were led.

We ate incredibly well. It's been so long since I have regularly eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. The hotel rooms were a surprise, I must say. I'm used to furnished bedrooms, i guess.. like a BED, dresser with a bible in it, lamp, etc. Our room had literally nothing in it, just a couple of mats and blankets and pillows stuffed in the closet.

It was definitley the first time I had curry for breakfast.

My favorite part of the trip was Bulguksa Temple, which is one of the largest Buddhist compounds in South Korea (full of Silly Monks). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Temple Guards ala Legends of the Hidden Temple.

Stairway to Heaven.

Becky is very popular with the young girls.















Photos by Tina J. Han.

Becky and I are trying to figure out if our cameras have the function displayed by these
two pictures..































Weather has been great here and I don't have much to worry about other than getting myself to work and having fun when i can. I finally got a tv so i can at least lie around at night and watch some Korean programming. There are some movies in English though. I have seen Harry Potter 5, Batman Begins, Wild Things, Lakers/Celtics Game 3, and a whole lot of Law & Order SVU and CSI.


Among the three little pizza places around my neighborhood: Pizza Come, Pizza School and Pizza Cop, I think Pizza School is the best pizza and is also the cheapest at 5,ooo won (roughly 5 bucks.)
I'm tired and scattered so i am going to leave you with some pictures and go to bed. This blog post kind of sucks but at least you've got lots of photos. For way more photos, please visit my myspace page. Ask me for directions.






























Beach of the East Sea (Sea of Japan.)

Thats Tina.










Hands of Sangsaeng.
Not sure of the historical meaning but cool, nonetheless.























I mean really cool.




































Sky and Kate, Mr. Lee's beautiful kids. It's rare to see Sky walking anywhere.. he runs and runs and runs until he eventually collapses and can't move. They are both my friends.
This picture was up in the mountains outside the shrine with the really big buddha statue inside. Like huge. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures though. Sorry, Mom.

Thanks for reading , folks.

Goodnight.