there's a typhoon. it's not really fun.
actually, we're just feeling the effects here. rainy and windy. but i don't think it will be too bad here, since we're so far inland, and there are mountains around daejeon. but if you don't hear from me...
had some kimbap today. lamyeon yesterday.
i'm watching the x-files in korean, eating shrimp chips.
i just got home from a night out of drinking and noraebang. didn't spend a won. the school paid, and they want to make it a monthly event. i have no problem with that, as it was easily a W20k night (about $30). though, i'm running out of cash. i will get paid soon, on the 5th. and they owe me money for the plane ticket.
time to sleep. maybe i'll do laundry tomorrow, in my just fixed washing machine. oh, and i think i have to cave and make those damn flash cards.
i have moved.
yesterday, i dropped my stuff here on my lunch break. it's in a four-storey building, with no elevator. they call it a "villa" here. i live on the second floor. the room itself is quite nice, as the building is only about 2 years old. it's got a reasonably sized kitchen and bathroom, and the main area isn't bad too, for one person. there's no couch here though. but there are sliding doors, which are cool. i'll post some pictures later. those non-koreans among you will especially like the washroom, as there is no shower/bath area. koreans like to shower right there in the washroom. the floors, walls, everything, gets wet. and so you have rubber slippers which you wear when it is wet, and you want your feet to stay dry. despite that, i prefer this place to the highrise.
the floor is fun too. the reason is two-fold. one, it's hot water-heated, so in the winter the floor is never cold, and this is also how you heat your room. two, there is a picture of wood on it. that is, it's a vinyl covering, but it looks like hardwood.
there is a tv, and it's got ok picture. not great though, like the other tvs i've seen. nice flat ones. but the cable is not physically long enough to put it anywhere useful. this is a drag. i should have bought my coaxial coupler.
my washing machine is broken. someone is supposed to come fix it.
classes are getting easier to handle. i've still got a few difficulties with preparation, but one day, i'll sit down and actually make some flash cards. yes, i have to use flash cards.
i've got internet in my room too. yay!
oh, and i bought more underwear.
who wants to hear my underwear story? it's quite entertaining.
i have no idea where to buy underwear in the neighbourhood. there's a big department store, nearby, but it's still pretty far, and i had to get ready to go out. i stumble upon an underwear store. but it looks like a lingerie store. so i walk by sort of slowly, but not too slowly to seem like i am interested in looking at women's underwear shops, to take a look inside. but it's hard to tell if they sell men's underwear. i do this no less than three times, back and forth.
then i see a man, a local, walking towards the store.
he goes in.
i go in.
i buy underwear. boxers. i do not like boxers. but i like thong-like underwear less.
these boxers are actually bearable. i may have a new-found appreciation for them.
time to go. i'm doing laundry, and i have to catch a bus to seoul.
i've run out of clean underwear.
ah, friday. i only had three classes today (rather than 4 or 5).
i don't really have problems teaching, it's kinda fun, but when i don't have much prepared, the 80 mins goes really slowly. it's no fun for me when they're bored, and it's definitely not fun for them. evetually, i'll be able to come up with a system that will work out well, as all the other teachers have. basically, preparation. but i don't know where things are, and i don't want to have to make 30 flash cards of things that someone has already made. and i don't know yet what are good teaching aids/techniques yet, since a) i don't have a teaching degree, and b) i don't know the levels these kids are at yet. there are certain things where i can see that they need improvement. also, there are kids that are in fact very good, but just don't show it, or they are so bored that they don't want to do or say anything.
it was pretty easy today, though. i had the preschoolers writing and drawing for almost the entire class. only the afternoon class was difficult. these kids did not learn any english in preschool, so they're kinda sucky. they're in the second level, but it doesn't really show.
i've got to get ready, though, as we're seeing off some teachers who are leaving this weekend. not exactly sure where we're going, but i think the idea is to get sloshed.
today was my first day of full classes. i have two classes in the morning from 9:30 till 12:30. lunch till 2:20 when i have a one-hour class, and then on mondays and wednesdays, i have class till 4:50, and on tuesdays and thursdays, i have class till 6:20. friday, i'm not sure of, but it looks as though i get a longer lunch, and less classes, which sounds fine to me.
my morning classes were ok. the kids are really cute, but since i don't know all their names, i can't yell at them when they are misbehaving. trust me, you have to yell at some of them. i went in blindly to almost all of my classes today, and only the last two were real problems.
there's this one class which is IMHO, The Worst Class In The World. one boy is pretty smart, gets the best marks, understands the most, and speaks the best. and then there is a girl who is the best at being the rebellious little girl. she hardly knows any english, or at least doesn't show it, and talks all the time, and in korean (which is generally not allowed), and is the nemesis of that boy i just mentioned. she is actually kind of cute and funny, but just does not behave. i actually took her outside the class and threatened to leave her there for the rest of the class, which was 40 mins.
the rest of the week i hope will go better. the other teachers are so helpful with us newbies, as most of them were newbies themselves - foreigners with bachelor degrees in random things teaching little kids english. i didn't even have the teacher's manuals until the end of the day. now that i know what lessons i should be doing, it should only get better...
yay! i have a phone!
my uncle and aunt were so kind to buy me a phone (it's hard for foreigners to get cellphones). it's silver, has a colour screen, and makes funny sounds. i have yet to figure it out.
i'm hoping there might be a way to change the language, but it looks doubtful. the manual is all in korean too. i can read, but not too well.
i think my cousin sms'd me, but i don't know how to open the message...
yesterday the computer crashed as i was trying to post. i'll try again
i'm at my temporary apartment right now. i'm living with another teacher named chris. it's a pretty big three-bedroom. though my room is full of stuff, including this computer. hopefully i'll be out by the 26th, which is when some teachers are moving out of their singles. just bad timing i guess.
by the time i had actually got home, it had been over 30 hours since i had left my parents' house in toronto. i got in at 2 (eating bibimbap on a plane is pretty fun), as you may recall, took the bus at 6 am (we stopped along the way and i ate kimbap for breakfast), arrived in taejeon at 8:40 am, was picked up and taken to the school where i sat in on a couple of preschool classes that i'll be taking over. can you imagine? then, i had a bulgogi lunch with the supervisor in one of those restaurants where you take off your shoes at the door, and sit on the floor to eat. then we did some minimal paperwork regarding my schedule, and finally came back here to crash. i was in dire need of a shower, and eventually, beer.
the phone here was cut off, so i went out. i bought some korean stout at the 7-11, and called my uncle. i talked to my cousin instead, and she said my aunt went out. i said i'd call later. so i drank my beer and proceeded to fall into a really deep sleep. i was woken by some people outside my widow calling my name. half awake, or half sleeping, i answered that i was here, and was told to open the door. i saw a girl who looked familiar - my cousin - and my uncle. i asked how they found me, as i didn't have a phone number, and didn't really know my address to tell her. pine tree apartments, or something, as it turns out, 103, #813.
it's the epitome of apartment ghetto, but they're like this all over korea. in a given complex there will be somthing like 5 or 10 buildings of various sizes that otherwise look exactly the same. each has a giant number on its side; mine is 103. i've got a picture, which i may post later.
so i asked my uncle how he found me, and he said that he saw my legs through the window. the language barrier, and my groggy state prevented me from getting a better answer. as it turned out, my aunt had called the school and asked where i was staying. i was swiftly taken to my uncle's apartment, which is in another complex not too far from here. his is much nicer. my aunt's brother's family was also visiting, and had kalbi for dinner.
after dinner, i went out with the kids to get some dessert. my uncle has two daughters, and their cousins were there too, a girl and boy. we went to some crazy place with rocking chairs and swing-benches that served fruit and icecream. we walked around a bit, doing some shopping, borrowing comic books, bought more icecream to take home, and then came back.
i called all of my great-uncles in seoul. i'll have to go visit them soon too. though i think i'll wait until i'm more settled in, and better at speaking korean.
i'm gonna go try to find a place to eat lunch. most likely i'll be going to another aunt's house for dinner tonite. and we're gonna try to get me a cellphone. they don't really give them to foreigners without korean credit cards. (you can rent them at the airport, but it's costly.)
i'm sitting here in the airport. the flight was considerably shorter than i had expected. i got in at about 2 am rather than 3:20. this basically meant i had to wait even longer before i could get on a bus to daejeon. the first bus is at 6 am. it is now 4 something. no one is even selling tickets yet. and no currency exchanges are open, so i have no korean money.
it's a really nice airport, as its brand new. there are nice HDTVs set up all over the place. i'm watching people play video games on tv. there was a starcraft rookie competition on efore, and now it's some sort of rpg, which i may guess is lineage. however, the commentary is in korean, so i'm not following.
hopefully i can get some cash soon, and then buy a bus ticket, and then sit on a bus for three more hours. it's 4:31 am on friday. but this is posted later, as i didn't have internet access on the bench where i sat.
as an addition, i later saw the guy i sat beside on the plane, who was also going to daejeon. he lives here. he was on a trip to canada, and saw toronto, montreal, quebec city. when he got off the bus, he said have a nice life. i've never liked that phrase, especially if its someone perhaps that you've been dating and have broken up, and she says, 'have a nice life', as if you would never see the other. but in this case, i don't think i'll ever see him again.
last night i made the first attempt at packing. i failed. i packed way too much stuff (just clothes even) to carry reasonably. so i've reduced it now to something that i can lug around. recall: that no one is picking me up from the airport, and that i have to take a bus from the airport in incheon to a bus stop in daejeon - three hours away - by my lonesome, at about 5 in the morning.
i've received word that i'll have to share an apartment for about 10 days until a single becomes available. the problem is that 8 teachers have their contracts ending right about now, and there are probably about 8 more new teachers arriving right about now, myself included. so i guess it's understandable that i might have to deal with something like this. i fear that not having a fixed address will prevent me getting my alien card right away, which will then prevent me from getting a cell phone, or internet, or a bank account...
this will most likely be my last post from toronto, well, canada even. 24 hours from now, i should be over british columbia...
so after many hours of trying to get this thing to work, and also to look the way i want, i am done. i suppose that this will for now be the sole purpose of magnetonic.org, to host this weblog. that, as they say, is that.