Day 373: Morning Fury

Pauline, Michael, Y-S, and I rolled out of bed (begrudgingly, of course - none of us wanted to wake up) rather late today. We looked at the clock and saw that it was almost noon. SHIT! Michael's hosting an afternoon get-together with all his classmates today and they're supposed to arrive in an hour! OMG!

The four of us, despite being hung over, went into Super Clean Mode and went nuts. There was a fury of bodies and there was mops and brooms, windex and bathroom cleaner, groceries and ingredients, clothes and bedding flying left, right, and centre. We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off but hey we got it done. The apartment was clean and looking amazing, and a variety of snacks and appetizers had been prepared. And just in time too! We had seriously just finished cleaning (and all four of us had showers and gotten spruced up ourselves in that time too) when two minutes later the first guest arrived. Just in the nick of time!

Almost nobody coming to the party spoke any English so Pauline and I decided to head into Seoul to have some lunch. We went to Jongno and had some chamchi kimchi chigae and it was delicous! (still my favourite Korean food!) After that we had some coffee at Starbucks and then headed to Kyobo to do a little book-shopping. I bought Lonely Planet: Seattle for Cecilia who is moving to America to learn English soon. We chilled around there for a while and then I headed on home.

Peter came over around 7pm and spent literally eight hours at my house working on my computer. It was as slow as hell and even a computer geek like him had a hard time figuring out what to do. In the end he thinks he finally got it back up and running again, which is great cause it sure sucks being without it. He also downloaded Norton to hopefully prevent any future virus outbreaks. Thank you Peter for getting my lifeline back!

Day 372: Bar-Hopping

Another great weekend for partying!

I had a mellow afternoon of just chilling out with some friends over coffee, but more than made up for it tonight. Tonight I went out on the town with Michael, Y-S, Nick, Angele, and Darryl and we all had a blast!

We all gathered forces and met at Route 66 in Hongdae. Route 66 was as lively as always and we all enjoyed a couple of their famous Long Island Iced Teas - tasty and secretly deadly as they tend to sneak up on you. After that we went just up the street to Tinpan where I had been for Ailish's birthday party just two weeks ago. It was fun in there too but was a little on the quiet side so after a while there we taxied to our favourite little hole in the wall over in Sincheon - The Bar!

The Bar was packed and crowded and just hoppin' with happy-go-lucky party-goers as it always is, and we spent the rest of our night there. We even ran into Ailish, as well as some of Michael's classmates! The gin and tonics were flowing of course, and we were all drunk and having a great time chatting and dancing away.

That bar is practically sacred to me - every time I go I have an absolute blast and have never not enjoyed myself. It's too small and kinda dirty and the bathrooms are outside in an alley but man I love that place! The music is always great, the crowd always friendly, and the spirits always high. And the fact that all my friends love it as much as I do makes it even better.

We decided to head home around 4amish or so (I think) and headed back to Michael's to crash. A great night out with friends, for sure! :-)

Day 371: Dare To Compare

The Parrots sure have come a long way! I realized this the other day during an assembly in the library. All five of Preschool classes were there for a birthday party, and as I looked around the room most of the kids were running all over the place or horsing around or getting into some sort of mischief. And then I looked down at my class, and every single one of them were sitting quietly on our mat. They weren't yelling or pulling hair or poking somebody or stealing shoes - they were just calm and still and patiently waiting for the party to begin.

And these are the PARROTS!

Rewind a few months ago and it was my kids who were notoriously known as the worst behaved in the school. Now they have the reputation of being the best behaved! I know that a lot of their progress comes from growing up a little and thereby gaining some maturity, but I also know that most of it is because of my hard work.

I was able to transform my little hellions into little angels (with Cecilia's help too, of course!) and now look how great they are! I've even gotten compliments from other teachers about how good they are. It sure makes me feel pretty damn amazing - really proud of my kids, and really impressed with my own abilities. Looks like I'm a half-decent teacher after all! ;-)

Day 370: Feeling Good

OMG!

I have wonderful news!!!

I HAVE AN OFFICIAL THEME SONG!!!

I discovered it thanks to the wonderful and amazing Addie. Her and I are both massively huge fans of Michael Buble, and she found out the other day that he's *finally* coming out with a second album. Well as soon as she heard that she went online and downloaded as many of his new songs as she could obtain. She put them all on her I-pod and brought them to work for me to listen to.

The first song I listened to, I was head over heels in love in about .367 seconds! By the end of it not only was I fully in love, but had decided that this song is the Theme Song for myself that I've always been looking for but never really found. The song is called "Feeling Good" and it's so incredible that words cannot even describe how much I love it.

Now why have a theme song you say? Well, haven't you ever watched Ally McBeal? Everyone needs a theme song! A song that you love and adore, that represents you. Think of it as your Musical Ambassador to the World. And now I have mine!

You must download it immediately and listen to it over and over! YOU MUST! Download it and tell me you don't love it right off the bat! Well now that you have it in your possession, every time you hear it you can think of me. And remember - it's MY SONG, so don't even think about trying to steal it! ;-)

"Hi! I'm Scottie Too Hottie, and I'm feeling good!" :-)

Day 369: Judgement Day

So today was the dreaded Judgement Day. And not dreaded for us, but by all our obsessive Preschool parents. Today is the day where us five Preschool teachers get together and place all our kids into levels for Kindergarten. Brace yourselves, parents! There's going to be some hard and sudden reality checks for many of you!

Namely Dennis' Mom! I know that you're wishin' and hopin' that your little boy is going to go into Level 1 or 2, but the truth is we're putting him right where he belongs. And that's in Level 6. (I assume this means no more generous presents for me?)

All in all the meeting went quite well and we were all over and done with it in just 20 minutes. The five of us were all pretty much on the same page for where all the kids should be. The hardest actually was placing the top kids. There's so many brilliant kids in our program yet Level 1 only has enough room for 12. It's was hard to pick only 12 but it had to be done. And hey it's not that Level 2 is a bad place or anything! (well, in our eyes - the parents may severely disagree with that fact!)

But in the end this is how it went down for the Parrots:

Level 1 = Isabelle
Level 2 = Rachel, Khai, David
Level 3 = Hae Keun
Level 4 = Andy, Grace
Level 5 = Hyun Ji, Brittany
Level 6 = Dennis

My class, like all the others, is a nice cross-section of all the abilities that are found on the Preschool English-speaking spectrum. I've truly enjoyed teaching all of them, and hope that I don't get lynched by the parents for placing all of them in the top levels. Ah well! I know that some of the moms will probably pull their child out of POLY because they're 'too embarrassed' but that's their decision, not mine. I'm just here to be a fair and fun educator, and not to play games.

Day 368: I Hate Computers

I hate computers!!!

My computer has contracted a virus and is now all messed up. What was already a lethargic and slow-as-molasses-in-January piece of shite is now even slower - if that's physically possible - and full of annoying pop-ups and porn ads. Lovely!

I know close to nothing about fixing these damn things so I'm not going to attempt it myself. Knowing me I'll just fuck it up even more or something. My buddy Peter at work is really good with these contraptions - maybe he can fix it up for me?

In the meantime I'm without email access at home, and am already soooo far behind on my blog. Depending on how long it takes to fix this thing, it's probably going to get even further behind. Please be patient! I'll try and be back online soon!

Wish me luck!

Day 367: One Year Already???

Today is Monday, February 14th, 2005!

And today is my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of being here in Korea!

Wow!!! I can't believe that I moved to Korea exactly one year ago! Man, time flies by so fast!!!

If I've been keeping a journal for every day that I've been here, then why is today Day 367 and not Day 365? Oh, last year was a Leap Year...maybe that threw it off? I dunno...the math doesn't make sense to me!

Also, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! And HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Wow! Today is a big day for everyone all around it seems!

Seriously though, it's hard to imagine that that much time has passed. I still remember getting on that AirCanada plane back in Vancouver and thinking that a year away was going to be soooo long. How was I going to last for an entire year on my own in a foreign country? It was as equally exciting as it was frightening at that moment, but now I look back and it was a breeze. (And without doubt the fastest year of my life.)

Okay sure there were some major bumps along the way, namely in the form of a greedy fucked-up former boss, but otherwise it's been the ultimate adventure of a lifetime! I've been able to pack in so many experiences and memories into one single year that it's hard to comprehend. Just think, in one year I've worked at two different schools, added four new stamps to my passport, gone river-rafting, hiking, and camping, hiked volcanoes on Jeju Island, got tossed around by girls in bikinis at mud festivals, participated on a game show on television, consumed more than my fair share of alcohol in countless bars and clubs, met many amazing people from all over the world, practiced meditation with monks at a Buddhist temple, ridden crazy motorcycles and upside-down rollercoasters all for the first time, impersonated Harry Potter, sang and danced and mimed for children of all ages, gazed upon Communist North Korea, wandered amongst the skyscrapers and markets of Hong Kong, swam in tropical waters in Boracay, ridden high-speed trains cross-country, meandered through historic palaces, temples, and old neighbourhoods all over Seoul, and even eaten (and grown to love) kimchi!

What an incredible year!!!

Just think of what lies in the year ahead! Stay tuned for more amazing adventures here in my blog. Let's all chant together now: "Long live The S2H World Tour!" :-)

Day 366: I Can't Even Imagine

Michael, Pauline, and I slept in today and spent a good part of the day just lounging around. I was browsing around on the internet on Michael's computer and came across one of the many home videos taken by terrified tourists during the SE Asia Tsunami. Being in Korea I did not see any of the media images from that disaster. Today was literally the first time I had seen any video footage, and it was completely shocking. We ended up watching like 20 different videos taken from different people and each of them were frightening and unbelievable. I can't even imagine what it must've been like to have gone through that first hand.

Well here's one way you can try. Below is an email telling the story of two Canadians who happened to be on Ko Phi Phi when the waves came flooding in. I don't know them personally (they're friends of friends...) but it's a terrifying read. Just reading it made me shudder with horror at what that must've been like to go through. Check it out:


Hello everyone

Where to start... we are alive.... Thank-you to everyone for your e-mails and support through everything. It really has meant a lot to know we have so many people that care so much. So sorry we havent been able to email sooner but we havent had email access as all systems were down in Thailand and then when we got home hotmail was down!! We have been through so much and im sure will still be going through some difficult times ahead but having our friends and family near is making it a lot easier.I'll try to explain in detail what we have been through but its hard because the things we have seen are undescribable and incomphrensible even to us.

We were on Koh Phi Phi about 15m from the beach in our hotel room. I had booked a beach bungalow but they screwed up our reservation and ended up putting us in the concrete hotel in the back of the resort. Thankgod they did or we probably wouldnt be here today. We had just gotten back from breakfast and had our bags all packed as we were just about to checkout and catch the 11:30 ferry to another island. Because we were about to leave we both had our passports and money in our pockets.

I heard a noise like a washing machine was overflowing went out in the hallway to look (the hallways were exterior hallways open to outside) I looked down the hallway and all I saw was a man carrying his two children running towards me with a wall of water behind him. We were on the second floor of the building. I turned to Marty who was in the room still and told him toget out and run.We started running down the hallway and were then swept buy the wave which carried us the rest of the way down the hall. We got to our feet again and had
water to our chest.We then held on to the railing and braced ourselves as the second wave hit which came to the same level as the first. The building was shaking and half of it collapsed behind us,including our room with all of our stuff. About 2 minutes later thewater retreated quite a bit and we tried to walk back to our room but it was gone.

By this point we were scared shitless, we had no idea what it was until someone told us that there had been an earthquake earlier and it was a tsunami. There were people freaking out all around us, bodies everywhere and injured people just hystarical. I remember getting very angry and thinking no this isnt how Im going to die. It was beyond scary it was absolutely terrifying and it was weird how we just immediately went into survivor mode. We then managed to get to the third floor of another building by men who were pulling people over the railings. After that we tried to see where we could escape to but all of our exits were blocked by water or destruction.There were bodies floating all around us as we looked down to the ground. We couldnt help anyone because the water was so high still and we couldnt get down from the building. The feeling of having people screaming and looking up to you for help and not being able to was so incredibly hard.

More waves kept coming but not as high and they gradually decreased.We then climed a tree and got to the roof of a three story building. We stayed there for about 2 hours until it was safe to come down and we knew that the water wasnt coming as high as before. We then went into all the rooms of the building and got as much food, water and clothes that we could find. By this point we were with fourNorwegians and one English girl. One of the Norwegians had a severe leg injury and we had to carry him out of the building. The English girl was also very badly cut up and had a fractured knee.

We climbed through all of the rubble, bodies, limbs and destruction as the entire island had been completely flattened, most of the buildings were made of wood so only some of the concrete buildings were still standing. We walked across the beach to higher ground and found a resort half way up a mountain with bungalows, where marty kicked in the door of one bungalow which had 2 beds were we laid the injured people we were with. At this point it was almost sunset.There were people everywhere anxiously waiting for something. We noticed helicopters and jets flying by which was a good sign since we didnt know if anyone knew about it or how big this catastrophe was. We then heard about an earthquake which made us realize why there was a tsunami.

At night fall we carried the injured Norwegian down to the helicopter landing landing zone which was a tennis court so that he could be evacuated but he ended up going on a boat and found out later that he made it to a hospital. The smell of the landing zone that night was terrible...So in this bungalow that we broke in was a couple of backpacks were we found some dry clothes and other stuff. We assumed that the people who were in this bungalow died but they obviously werent when they came back. We felt bad because we were wearing their clothes!!! That night was a looooong night. We couldnt sleep because of the fact that we had to sit outside since the beds were too bloody to sleep on. We also couldnt because the helicopters kept coming every 20-30mins to evacuate the injured. We got eaten aliveby mosquito's.FUCKIN MUSQUITO'S MADE US CRAZY!!! God, I hate musquitoes.At sunrise we decided to make our way down to the beach so that we could get the hell out of there! There were lots of people waiting for the ferries which were coming quite regularily. We managed to get on a ferry after about a 2 hour wait.

We then arrived in Krabi and were still with the injured English girl so we got in an ambulance with her and went straight to the hospital. The hospital was complete chaos. Injured people everywhere but somehow they seemed to have it quite well organized. We cleaned our own cuts up and then got on a bus to a shelter that a hotel had set up. They had converted the conference rooms into a shelter with blankets clothes food and water. Because we had our passports and money with us we were able to get a room.

We met up with the English girl who ended up having about 30 stitches in different places and a fractured knee. She had also lost herboyfriend so we had her stay with us until her Father came from England then next morning to get her. So we then got on a plane to Bangkok where the Thai government put us up in hotels for 2 nights and then got on the first plane back to Canada that we could.So now we are in Toronto. We have both been to the hospital here, Marty has a torn meniscus and some cuts. Kelly has an insane amount of Mosquito bites, very badly bruised legs and arms and a bad cold. We are extremely tired too. Weve been busy seeing all of our family and friends and we really appreciate everything everyone has done for us.Thanks again for all your love and support it means a lot to us. We hope to get back to Japan in a couple of weeks but have lost our phones (alongwith everything we had) so everyone please send us your digits.We would also like to encourage everyone to donate whatever they can to the Red Cross or Unicef as you cant even being to imagine the destruction that we saw. You see it on the news but to see it in real life is 5 million times worse. This experience has changed our lives and we just want to again say how much we appreciate all of our friends and families concern.

Love you all

Kelly and Marty

Day 365: Every Twelve Seconds

Tonight was supposed to be a fun night with friends on the ski slopes, but it sure didn't turn out that way. Okay, the whole night wasn't a total loss, but it certainly had a rough start.

Tonight myself, Michael, Young-Seok, Nick, and Angele decided to do a little night skiing at one of the local ski hills located about 45 minutes south of the city. It was a smaller hill but still looked like a great place for a little winter fun. But by the end of the first run down the shit had already hit the fan.

Angele had decided to try skiing for the first time tonight but hated it instantly and had to walk down the icy slopes because she was too afraid to continue skiing. There was tension between Michael and Young-Seok. And then there was me getting run over - twice - and then later nearly passing out. Good times, eh?

As mentioned before, skiing in Korea is ridiculously crowded. There are just WAY TOO MANY people out on the slopes. And add the fact that the Koreans are not exactly the most graceful or athletic lot, and you've got a sure-fire recipe for disaster on the ski hills. Snowboarding is the big popular sport here, but as far as I can tell, none of them ever actually take any lessons. They just wake up and decide one day that they're gonna try boarding and so away they go on the slopes, having no clue as to what they're doing. They race down at Mach 9 with seemingly no concern for the safety of others. They have absolutely no control so they're constantly wiping out and crashing into each other. Seriously, we sat and watched and timed it once with one of the slopes. We observed that there was a wipeout somewhere on the slope on average once every twelve seconds! Holy Fuck! It's like trying to ski through a mine field!

So there I am going down my first run on the Bunny Hill, and don't forget that I've a novice skier myself who is overly-cautious and underly-confident as it is. I was about half way down when I heard the dreaded skidding sound behind me. A second later someone plowed into me from behind bringing the both of us down in a fury of flying snow. I was not injured, luckily, but was certainly pissed off. Well, accidents can happen, for sure, but what pissed me off is that the bastard boarder didn't even apologize! He just looked at me for a few seconds and then got up and continued on. I don't speak fluent Korean but I know well enough what an apology sounds like. And all I got was silence.

When I got to the bottom of the slope I saw Michael and Y-S standing next to the line for the chairlift. I was shuffling over to them when all of a sudden *another fucking out-of-control snowboarder* plowed into me. Down I went again. No injuries this time either, but also no apology again! Fuck! How rude! Two times in just one run down! This is not my idea of fun on the slopes!

It was at this time I began to feel extremely dizzy and was on the verge of passing out. A bit of a background on me - I'm pretty sure I'm hypoglycemic (I've only been self-diagnosed) which means that I have to eat at fairly regular intervals or I get bitchy and dizzy. And when I mean bitchy I mean B-I-T-C-H-Y (just ask my friends, they've got stories!) But sometimes I get really, really light-headed. Once in a while my blood sugar levels drop so low I just pass out. It's happened before, but not in a long time as I can usually identify the warning signs before it happens, or just make sure I eat something.

Well it must've been the combination of being hungry, a bit tired from having just exerted myself as I was skiing down the hill, and being angry for having been taken out twice by snowboarders. But for about ten minutes I came so close to passing out I didn't think I was going to make it. I couldn't stand up, most of my vision was a blur, and I was feeling horribly nauseated as everything was spinning around me and I felt like I was sinking deeper and deeper into a bottomless hole.

My friends didn't realize at first what was happening to me but then they noticed how pale and spaced out I was. Angele went and grabbed some pop for me to drink while I sat and tried to get my bearings again. The liquid and the sugar helped me almost instantly, and we decided that then was definitely a good time for dinner. We went and got something to eat and I felt a lot better after that.

I was still kinda tired and dizzy the rest of the night, but was still able to continue skiing. It was an okay night. I enjoyed being out in the fresh air, but again it was too crowded and I was feeling nervous. The slopes on this mountain are really narrow so skiing here is like taking a giant bucket of bowling balls and just tossing them down the hill watching them bounce off each other.

Hmmm...right sport for me, wrong country perhaps?

Day 364: Saved!

Hooray for the internet!!!

Our Friday TV Nights have been saved!!!

After our bitter disappointment last week when we failed in taping an episode of The OC, we've already discovered our resolution! We can just download all the episodes we want to see, since Korea is several months behind the TV schedule back home!!! SWEET!!!

Chris downloaded all 12 of the current episodes that have been aired for Season 2 and had them lined up us to watch after work today. We watched The Apprentice and then it was on to the coolest TV drama in...ever? We decided to pace ourselves and we only watched one episode, but you can't imagine how excited that made all of us!

It's amazing how thrilling just watching some English television can be for an expat! Now kick that jubilation up another dozen levels or so when it becomes access to a show as beloved to us as The OC!

Woohoo!

Day 363: Apartment Hunting

Today was the last day off for Lunar New Year. I went into the city with Pauline because she's looking for a home and went to go and check out an apartment. I didn't have any afternoon plans so I tagged along. The apartment was in Hongdae which is where much of Seoul's best nightlife is. And it's right next to Sincheon, which I firmly believe, is the city's coolest neighbourhood. If Pauline gets an apartment here that's going to be so sweet ass!

Looking for an apartment back home can be a daunting and exhausting challenge. Now imagine doing it in a foreign country! The biggest challenge here, besides the obvious language barrier one, is how Korean landlords rule this country with an iron fist. They totally have all the power. Leases here are always and only for one year, and heaven help you if you break it. It's not like back home where you just pay a small fine and then you're free. Here you still have to pay all the rent for the rest of your contract! (unless you can find someone to take your place.)

There's also the issue of 'key money.' Key Money is the massive deposit that you have to give to the landlord before you're allowed to move in. Once again it's quite different from back home. Here it's not just paying for one month's rent or something, you have to pay in the *thousands* of dollars!!! Most places are between $2000-5000 just for a very basic simple apartment. It's money that you get back in the end (usually, unless the landlord can find one of the million and one reasons why he shouldn't - ex: 'I feel like repainting the apartment') but it's still A LOT of money to have to come up with!

The apartment we saw was really cool actually. It was big and spacious and within walking distance of a subway station. It's a little on the expensive side, but with Pauline's boyfriend moving here in a month or two that's not that big of an issue. There was another apartment in the basement of the same building that we also looked at, but it was dark and crampted and just had really bad ju-ju so we said ixnay on that one.

Pauline wants to shop around before making her choice, but I hope she gets this one. Looks pretty great to me!

Day 356: Permanent Rotation

Oops! This is an entry that I had forgotten to write in my last wave of already way-too late entries. Sorry, entry!

And it's another entry about music!

At work, they've become obsessive about standardizing lately ('they' being the school's head honchos.) The latest victim of their all-encompassing standardization fetish is classroom music. Before we were allowed to play our own music in the classrooms (the Preschool & Kindergarten classes, that is.) Obviously we all chose our music carefully, ie: stuff that was fun for us and still appropriate for the kids - you didn't hear us blasting out any Eminem or Lil Kim or anything like that!

Well now we can *play* children's songs! Ugh! I guess this does make sense, considering that we are in fact teachers of young children... Still, the prospect of having to listen to those lame kids' CD's they've provided day in, day out does NOT sound appealing at all!

Luckily Addie intervened and 'saved' us with some Disney music. It's fun and lively and not uber-annoying, yet still falls into the category of being 'children's music.' So I've been playing her CD's non-stop and once again I'm falling victim to the 'Seeping In' Effect. Those songs have become permanently absorbed into my cranium and now I can't get away from them.

In my afternoon classrooms I'm humming "Hakuna Matata." While walking along the streets I'm whistling "Be Our Guest." In the shower I'm rocking out to "Part Of Their World". And the worst yet has gotta be the fact that in the last three days I've had "Supercalifragalisticexpealadocious" on permanent rotation in my head!

Oh God! Make it stop! ;-)

Day 362: A Very Bad Boy

Oh I was a very bad boy tonight! I'm so ashamed of myself!

*hiding face out of embarrassment and grimacing in pain over disappointment in self*

I ATE BEEF!!!

Okay, it was actually only a tiny little bit, but still I ate dead cow and I'm so not impressed with myself! Argh!

I could be a cop-out and totally blame Jake & Shannon for it, but I gotta be a man and take the responsibility. You see, this afternoon was our Trivial Pursuit Marathon game, and what a marathon it was. It was Lorraine & Shannon vs. Jake & Paul vs. Pauline and I. And what a long, brutal game! We literally played for *five hours* and still at that point no one had six pies yet.

Well we had been in their apartment all day long and the whole time Shannon had had a crockpot full of chili quietly brewing away. By the time we were getting sick of the game, I had been smelling that delicious chili all day and was absolutely starving. Shannon offered to serve dinner to everyone and I was feeling the temptation... I hadn't eaten chili in over a year and I love chili! Maybe I could just pick out the beef chunks?

Well I looked inside the crockpot and saw that the ground beef was all mashed and mixed up in the chili. There was no way I could separate it. It was either eat the chili and therefore eat that red meat, or starve and be forced to chew on my own skinny little arm. And so I chose the chili....

The chili tasted damn good but it was strange at the same time with the bit of sensation of that beef in my mouth. I ate a huge bowlfull and afterwards had a bit of a tummy ache. This is the first time I've eaten any measurable amount of red meat since I gave it up over a year and a half ago and my stomach was feeling a little...upset. In all reality it was probably more out of guilt than actual indigestion because the amount was so little.

I still would never ever eat like a steak or hamburger or anything like that, but still feel like a bit of a failure for my tiny yet note-worthy consumption of red meat tonight. Ugh. I'm a bad, bad boy!!! :-(

Day 361: Music Mania

Today was the first day of our Lunar New Year holidays and a really relaxing one.

Addie, Michael, and I went down to Yongsan Electronics Market to do a little shopping so that Addie could buy a GameBoy Advance, but then we discovered that most of it was closed because of the holidays. So instead we went to the giant Kyobo bookstore over in Kangnam. We did a little book-browsing and then I did some shopping in the CD department. I was in a bit of a music-buying mood so I actually ended up picking four CD's - The Best of U2: 1990-2000, Depeche Mode Remixes: 81-04, the new Duran Duran album, and also Travis' Singles collection. Good stuff!

After that we had a really nice dinner at Nolita Garden. Nolita Garden is a pretty fancy French-Italian place with a big juicy menu and surprisingly lean prices. We gorged ourselves on delicious pasta, and then made our way back to Michael's to pick up his car. We drove on out to Ilsan to steal my VCR for the night, and then went back to Michael's to have a little slumber party.

We wanted to watch The Goonies (and therefore finally cross that one off my list) but alas, my VCR is a piece of shite and refused to play that movie clearly. Addie and Mikey said that I could only watch it if it was all nice and clear so out it went. We watched Priscilla Queen of the Desert instead, then played a very competitive round of Scattergories, and then off to bed.

Day 360: Rapidly Aging

Today was Monday, but it was no ordinary Monday. Wednesday is Lunar New Year, so only have a two-day work week this week. Unfortunately our work week is split up between today and Friday which is a rather odd schedule, but coming in today knowing that I was off again tomorrow - for three days - was pretty awesome. Half my kids weren't even here today cause they were away on holidays, so that made it even easier.

This means though that in Korean age I will be turning 28 on Wednesday! Dear God where did the years go by?? ;-) In Western age I'm only 26 so that may seem confusing. Let me explain. In Korea all babies come out as one year old, even though we would only view them as one day old. You're born with one year of age already, so that puts you ahead.

And then, actual birthdays, in the literal sense of the day you were born, are not celebrated as much as they are back home. They're a day for celebration, but your age does not change on that day. Instead, when the Lunar Calendar switches over on Lunar New Year, (a day that floats around in February for reasons I know not), *everyone* turns one year older. Together. So as of Wednesday everyone here in Korea is suddenly one year older. It's a strange concept at first, but easy once you get used to it.

And that's where those two 'extra' years come from.

The funny thing about this is that a baby could be born here in Korea today and be one year old. But in two days on Lunar New Year that same baby will be two years old. So in other words a baby that we would view as being only two days old, in the eyes of the Koreans would be two *years* old. Wow, talk about some rapid aging!

It's also fun cause it means that on Wednesday Pauline will be 30! Haha! Take that, Pauline! :-)

Day 359: Playing Host

I received a really fantastic compliment tonight from Pauline.

She's been staying with me for over a week now and keeps meaning to move on to go and stay with Nick and Angele in Seoul, but keeps putting it off. Another day goes by and still she finds another excuse to stay with me a bit longer. She's been fantastic company and I love having her around so I've been really enjoying this. Anyway, we were joking about that tonight, and then she said "I keep meaning to go, but I'm just *so* comfortable here!" Awww, thanks Pauline! You just made my day!

I've learned a lot of great lessons about life from my two wonderful parents. One particular lesson that I learned from my mom was the importance of being a good host. My mom has always been a really fantastic host. She throws together these spectacular dinner parties and camp BBQ's and family reunions and all other kinds of amazing events. And her guests are always well-fed and entertained and continually having fun and comfortable. Anyone who ever stays at our place leaves feeling happy and well-rested and in great spirits. That's my mom for you!

I picked up on this when I was little and so ever since I've moved out on my own into the world, whenever I have guests over I always try to make them feel as comfortable as possible. And I think Pauline's comment tonight verified that I've been fairly successful in that mission. Thank you Pauline, and thank you Mom for teaching me something so handy and worthwhile! :-)

Day 358: The New Math

Here's The New Math:

3 Birthday Parties

+

1 Crazy Evening

=

2 Much Drunken Fun!

My social calendar outdid itself tonight. I had *three* birthday parties falling all on one single evening. Can you believe it!?? Now unless Hermione lends me her Time Turner I have no idea how I'm going to be able to be in three different parties all on the same night...

Well Miss Hogwartz Smarty Pants didn't feel like sharing that night, so I had to come up with my own solution. I split up my evening into three 'shifts', and would just have to travel *really* fast inbetween the parties so that I could maximize my time spent with my celebrating friends. I'm up for the challenge! I can do it!

Party #1 was Addie's Birthday Party, and that consisted of a really lovely dinner at 'Our Place' in Itaewon. I had just eaten there a week ago with my other friends, but it was a fantastic meal nonetheless. It was a nice meal of eating and socializing and just enjoying the quiet atmosphere. Happy Birthday Addie!

After dinner ended I actually had some time to kill before I was off to Hongdae for Party #2. I jumped on the subway and made my way over to a restaurant called Carne Station to help Ailish celebrate her birthday. I'm thankful that I had missed dinner here, as this restaurant is bascially a meat-lover's paradise and was dripping with animal carnage everywhere. For a relatively small fee you get open access to their 'all meat' buffet - and their liquer cabinet! Everyone there was completely sloshed and covered in blood and bits of farm animal carcass. But I got to see Mark and Chris and Emma, and of course Miss Ailo herself!

After things wrapped up there we all moved as a group to a bar called Timpan not far up the road. It was my first time there and was a really cool place. A spacious, relaxed bar cranking out 80's hit after 80's hit - sounds like my kinda place! I went up to the bar and who did I run into? Why it was Chris and Tim from work and their buddy Laz. Right on! I still hadn't had a sip of alcohol yet, but that quickly changed as Laz bought a round of tequila shots for all four of us. Whew, what a way to start the drinking portion of the night! I spent another hour or so there and then it was time to dash off again.

Party #3 was for Pauline's birthday, and it was at The Bar in Sincheon. Another party, another bar, another neighbourhood of the city! There I met up with Pauline, Jake, Shannon, Lorraine, Paul, Mijin, other Paul, and some of his friends visiting. It was a fun night full of A LOT of gin n tonic, silly dancing to great music, and watching drunk girls make out with each other. Oh those crazy, drunken weguks!

Time flies when you're having fun and before I knew it, it was 3:30am and we were all very drunk and crashing quickly. I caught a cab home with Pauline, Paul, and Mijin and we had some rather interesting and surprisingly intellectual discussions about the existence of God and the presence of religion in our childhoods and the corresponding absence of it now that we're all adults. Gotta love drunken conversations!

It was a fantastic night, and a new personal record for the number of birthday parties in one night for me. Mission accomplished, baby! Scotty pulled it off with flying colours! (But did you ever have any doubt?) ;-)

Day 357: All About The OC

My most favourite show in the entire world is The OC.

Okay wait I lied. It's my second most favourite show in the entire world. Nothing can hold a candle to The Amazing Race, but a close second is The OC. A show that I once loathed and refused to watch for many months because of the main character's permanent vacant gaze which annoyed me to all ends, I was tricked into watching an episode one fateful December night by my sister. And it was love at first sight. And ever since then I've been hooked!

I watched the last half of Season 1 when I was still living back home in Canada, and then was able to 'catch-up' with the first half when I came to Korea and they played re-runs here. Well then Season 2 began back home last fall and I was without my drug of choice. How tragic! At work Chris and Jeremy are as big a fans as I am, and we had many a whine session lamenting the fact that we without our weekly fix of Ryan, Seth, Summer and Marissa. You can imagine our sheer elation when we found out that good ol' AFN was gonna start airing Season 2 here in Korea. Oh happy day!

Our moment of pure joy was soon shot to hell when we discovered that the show was only going to be aired on Friday nights from 7-8pm. We work til 7:30pm and don't get home until just before 8pm.! Noooooo!!!! All of us own VCR's but heaven help a foreigner who can actually figure out how to work their's here in Korea. Isch!

But I had hopes of a miracle occuring. Miss Pauline is still staying with me these days and would be home at the time. Hey, I could just ask her to slip in a tape and hit record! How difficult could that be? Our saviour is here! And I'm gonna be the most popular boy on the block for getting back our precious OC! Hooray!

Well as soon as work was over I turned on my phone and received a very saddening text message from Pauline. My VCR *refused* to allow her to tape manually. It just spit out the tape over and over again. Dammit!! We were so close to our dream, and now it's so very far away! What ever will we do? :-(

Day 355: The Cure-All

In Korea there is a cure-all which can quickly and effectively solve any problem or disagreement that may arise. And this magical remedy is known as Rock Scissors Paper.

You would be amazed at the power that one can yield with this game. Here in Korea this game is practically worshipped, and its results are always trusted and never challenged, and so English teachers use it all the time. Two kids will be fighting, and that could be two Preschoolers over a crayon or two of my Grade 5's over who gets to read first in class, and all I gotta say is "Alright kids! Rock Scissors Paper!" and SHAZAM! it takes care of itself. The loser always just accepts their loss, and rarely with anything more than a slight grumble. No more fighting, no more arguing, no more yelling. Regardless of the outcome, the kids ALWAYS accept it right away and move on. It really is *that* easy!

This has been absolutely beautiful for classroom management because not only does it solve the problem in mere seconds, but there's no repurcussions and no resentment from the kids. The risk of a potentially 'unfair decision made by the teacher' in the eyes of the kids is non-existent, and all the blame is taken off the teacher's shoulders. It's all just left to the randomness of the game and so everybody wins. It's awesome!

There's variations of this game here, using Korean words instead of English ones, or doing 'Best of Three' or 'Best of Seven' rounds, but for the most part it's just the classic version you're familiar with. And it's ubiquitious across the country - every kid in every classroom is familiar with it and accepts it as a means to solve disagreements. I wonder if this game is this effective/popular in other Asian countries? Or what would happen if I tried to use it in a classroom back home? haha!

Day 354: Glorious Grease

Today was February 1st, and Addie's birthday! Happy 25th Addie! Welcome to the Quarter Century Club! hehe! ;-)

We decided to go out and have a celebratory dinner after work. We went to Outback and ordered the best dinner ever - cheesy fries, a bloomin' onion, and cheesecake! Mmmm...yummy grease and fat! And oh yeah, because we're also sensible adults we each ordered a side salad too to balance things out. It was a wonderfully greasy dinner and we totally gorged out on it - completely guilt-free! I took care of the tab, courtesy of the massive gift certificate that Dennis' Mom had given me for Christmas. Thank you Dennis' Mom!

After dinner we went back to my place and played Trivial Pursuit with Pauline. It was a good game and a fun night with friends. And there's still another birthday party for her this weekend! Right on!

Day 353: The Lonely Planet Whore

I am a whore. A Lonely Planet whore, that is! ;-)

Maybe saying Lonely Planet King, or Lonely Planet Addict would have been a nicer title, but today I feel like being a little dirty. And I think 'whore' is appropriate enough. Basically when it comes to those books, I'll take it wherever I can get it. And I'll never say no. And I just can't get enough. And the more I get, the more I want. I don't care about the colour or shape or size or quality. I just want it. Or 'them', I should say. More more more!

At work today I got a package in the mail today from WhatTheBook - my favourite local bookstore. I had ordered some books, and one of them, of course, included a new Lonely Planet. Today's addition was the massive China book, and that edition now completes my Asian collection. And it brings up my grand total to thirteen! Wow! I have an entire shelf on my bookstore that is all Lonely Planets. It's awesome. And yet I still want more!

They're so helpful and informative! When I went to Hong Kong my LP copy was my bible while there. My trip wouldn't have been the same without it. Now I'm not one of those silly travellers who will *only* go to places that LP reccommends, cause after all it is just one person's opinion (or at the most a few), and half the fun of travelling is just stumbling into places and falling into adventures that you never ever could have planned for. But they're certainly useful in helping oneself to decide what places to visit, eat at, sleep at, etc. With my big trip coming up in just a couple of months I've got a lot of research to do, and working out all those little technicalities (required visa entries, transporation, currency info, health regulations, etc.) can be daunting without a little guidance.

So if anyone needs any information on travel in Southeast Asia, I'm your man. If anyone is looking to get rid of a Lonely Planet book that they don't need anymore, regardless of the place, I'm your man. And if anyone is looking for a travel literature whore who's in love with the books with the navy blue spine, I'm your man. ;-)

Day 352: Mega Report Cards

Michael, Meghann, and I went to Insadong today to do a little shopping, and I was a little reluctant to go there. I usually avoid that place on Sundays cause it's always ridiculously busy, and after spending so many weekends there doing Christmas shopping last November-December, I had placed an embargo on Insadong. After two months of the embargo I thought it would be okay to break it today, and surprisingly enough it was very quiet there and actually an enjoyable environment do so shopping. Asah! (Korean for "YES!" or "Woohoo!")

After shopping we went and camped out at Starbucks for a while to relax and chit chat. Meghann and I exchanged stories about our respective holiday trips and I had brought photos along too. She had to go home after that, but Michael and I stayed behind to work. He studied his Korean (he's now a student at Yonsei University studying Korean language) and I worked on my Mega Report Cards.

Along with having to make the big decision to place our Preschoolers, we have to do these ginormous report cards to go along with that. The report card package for *each* student is six pages long, and consists of number grading and then half pages of comments on each sheet. You multiply that by my ten Parrots and that means SIXTY PAGES of bloody report cards! Isch! It's a total pain in the ass but I guess understandable considering that these evaluations are like reviews for the whole year and will therefore be our 'paperwork' to back-up our placement decisions. Still, it's a lot of work and has been very time consuming. I had already put in about three hours of work on them on Thursday and Friday, plus a good two hours or so yesterday at Starbucks, and then another two hours or so today! Holy crap these are some huge report cards!

Young-Seok joined us later on and we grabbed a quick dinner before heading back to Michael's to pick up his car. We drove on out to Ilsan with the hopes of seeing a movie, but alas, our attempts were foiled again. A few days earlier I had seen that 'Vanity Fair' and 'Alfie' were playing at LaFesta, but when we got there they were nowhere to be seen. We missed them again! Once again the Week-Long English Movie Special Syndrome had struck us. Blink and you'll miss the English films here! LOL The boys decided just to head home after that and I hung out in my apartment with Miss Pauline instead. Not a bad weekend after all.

Day 351: Reunion

Today was a bit of a Reunion Day. Actually, this whole weekend's theme seemed to be meeting up with old friends. I had lunch today with my friend Carolyn, who I hadn't seen since May. Carolyn was a girl that I met when me and all my buddies went on that Green Tea Festival/Buddhist Temple Overnight Stay weekend trip. She was part of our tour and was a really friendly girl who I spent a lot of time chatting with on that trip. I hadn't seen or talked to her at all though until November when I ran into her at a palace. We re-exchanged contact info and were back in touch, and finally met up today.

We went and had lunch at Three Alley Pub in Itaewon and it was great to sit and catch up. I learned that she's been teaching in Korea for SEVEN YEARS now!! Holy shit! I joked with her that she's in danger of becoming a "lifer", and she was quick to refute that she wouldn't let that happen and was planning on leaving next year. (A "lifer" is the term one uses to describe a foreigner who came to Korea with the intent of only being here for one year, but got sucked in by the comfortable lifestyle and ended up staying much, much longer - some stay for the rest of their lives, hence the term.) We went and had coffee at Starbucks later on and chatted for quite a while longer before she had to head home.

I stayed home to work on some report cards, and then met up with Michael, Nick, Angele, and Pauline. It was the first time that the five of us have been back together in several months and it was so great to have the gang together again! We went and had supper at this really fabulous restaurant called Our Place. After a fantastic meal we headed back to Michael's place (minus Nick who went off to play pool with some other friends) and had a little slumber party together. We picked up Miss Meghann in exchange who we haven't seen since before Christmas holidays and brought her along to the party too. There was no pillow fights in pink panties - unfortunately - but we played Scattergories and stayed up late having a blast. It's great to have everyone back!

Day 350: The Return Of A Friend

So all day long I was super excited at work cause I knew I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me at my apartment when I got home - Pauline!!! My good friend who left Korea last November is flying back into town tonight and while she's looking for a new job is going to be staying with me. That means I've got a roomie for a little while - cool!

I had left my keys at work for her to pick up and so she was already there inside waiting for me. It was so cool to open up my door and there she was! I gave her a huge hug and we did a little happy dance of excitement and then we got to catch up. She had gone home for a couple months to visit her family and take an ESL teaching course, and then spent some time in Bali and Kuala Lumpur before flying up to Seoul so she had lots of great stories to share.

Pauline's one of the coolest people I've met since coming to Korea and I consider her to be a great friend. We had so many awesome adventures together last year and I'm looking forward to the many more we'll do this year now that she's back. Saying goodbye to friends here always really sucks, but having them come back is really amazing. I'm so happy you're back, Pauline!! (maybe now I can finally kick your ass at Scrabble! haha!) :-)

Day 349: Rock Stars

It's Thursday already and that means Fun Night after work. We decided to switch it up a bit and instead of going back to my place to play games we all went to a norabang. And this time we brought friends! There was seven of us altogether who gathered to rock out in our own private singing room - myself, Addie, Katie, Megan, Peter, Kara, and her boyfriend Miguel. What great turnout!

We went to our usual norabang and ended up staying about two and a half hours. I had a great time, even though I don't sing myself. Everyone else takes turns at the mic but I just sit and enjoy the show and cheer everyone on. Seriously, I really can't sing! At all! It's actually not just bad singing, but excrutiatingly painful singing that comes out of me. I'd love to grab that mic and just rock out, but then all my friends' ears would begin bleeding and really, that wouldn't be very nice of me to do that. And so I spare them the pain and suffering, despite all their efforts to get me to sing. (my singing is restricted entirely to the shower or when I'm alone in the car!)

We had quite the lineup of tunes tonight - some Britney, some U2, some Mariah Carey, some Bangles, some Bobby McFerrin, some Queen, and even some Spanish tunes courtest of Peruvian Miguel. Good times! It was a fun night out with my co-workers and it was great to see everyone have their chance to be a rock star for a night!

Day 348: Sledding

Today was such a great day. For this month's field trip we took all the Preschool and Kindergarten kids tobogganning! Now there's no snow on the ground here in Korea, but on a few hilly areas here they've been making artificial snow so that little sledding runs can be built for the kids. The place that we went to was right next to this golfing centre where underneath the giant net for catching golf balls are some really small hills are ideal sledding places for small children.

The little runs were packed with kids from other schools too (of course, cause what isn't crowded in Korea?) but our school soon claimed one of them as our own. I spent the entire morning at the top of the hill helping the little gaffers get into their sleds, reassuring them that they weren't going to die when they went down, and then giving them a little push. It was so much fun and the kids were adorable all bundled up in their snow outfits. They had a blast and it really was a truly wonderful day. I got to know a lot of the Kindergarteners and it was fun to hang out too with students that weren't my own.

It's days like this that remind me how much I LOVE kids! I never realized how much I love children until Korea and I really can't wait for the day when I have my own. Well, okay yes I can wait - I don't want them now. But I know that when that time in my life does come I'm gonna be the best dad ever. It was a fun-filled snowy morning that went all too fast and I was as disappointed as the kids were when it was time to go back to school.
There's nothing like a morning full of sledding to bring out the kid in you!

Day 347: The Heat Is On

Well the school year is winding down here in Korea, wrapping up at the end of February. The new school year starts in March and so then all the students will be graduating up to the next Grade Level. Not only that, but it's also their best chance to move up a level. All students at POLY at levelled according to their English-speaking ability, and what level your child is in is a HUGE DEAL in Korea. Having your child do well in school is a must for family honour and for the ever-essential and fragile 'status' of the parents. The only students who aren't levelled are Preschoolers cause when they first come in you don't know the students' abilities cause they've never been in school before.

This means that the transition from Preschool to Kindergarten is like *the* chance for kids to get up into the higher levels. It's sorta like once you're put into a level in Kindergarten, students don't usually move all that much, up or down, throughout the rest of their years at POLY. It's not that they don't have the option of mobility, it's just that the vast majority of students just seem to progress at the same pace beyond that. This in turn creates (self-induced, of course) massive stress levels for the parents who are paranoid that their child isn't going to be in that top one or two classes. The honest reality is, though, is that not every single student can (or should) be in that top level class. Someone's gotta fill up Levels Two through Six and that's just the way it is.

This means that these days I am under constant questioning from all my moms who are dying to know what level their little Parrot is going to be placed into. It's us five Preschool teachers who make that decision, but because it's such a huge controversial issue we're not allowed to disclose or even hint at what level their child is likely going into until announcement day. This doesn't stop the moms though from constantly (although politely) inquiring into their child's futures. This sounds innocent enough, but lemme tell you...some of those moms are REALLY persistent! It gets annoying after a while trying to dodge these incessant questions that we're not allowed to answer, and they just don't give up. Some of them even go as far as to give you presents (re: bribes) to try and give you some 'extra incentive' to boost up their child's placement.

Dennis' mom is the classic example of this. She is absolutely determined that her little boy HAS to be in Level 1, or Level 2 at the lowest. Now Dennis is a sweetheart, but lets just say that he isn't the brightest crayon in the box. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Dennis is gonna be down in Level 6. He's a space cadet most days in class and is just light years behind a lot of the other Parrots. But, again, I can't tell his Mom this. She's told me a number of times that if Dennis isn't in Level 1 or 2 she's going to pull him out of the school because she'd just be far too embarrassed if he was anything less. What other moms think of you is way too much of a concern here in Korea.

And so the presents have been flowing in from her. Gift certificate after gift certificate to Outback or Lotte Department Store, all in the hopes that this will help me make 'the right decision'. In fact, since September this woman has spent more than $500 Cdn on me in presents! WOW! I feel more than a little uncomfortable accepting all these 'presents', as despite her 'generosity' Dennis ain't gonna make it into Level 1, I tell ya. It may seem unethical to be accepting all these gifts then, but my bosses are fine with it as apparently this is common for parents to do this every year around this time.

So, if she wants to disillusion herself (Dennis' monthly report cards show he's not the smartest student) and wants to keep giving these little bribes, then that's fine with me. I'm not going to let them sway my decision, no matter what. I'm just not looking forward to her inevitable extreme disappointment that will be soon arriving on Judgement Day. Brace yourself, honey!

Day 346: The Sinister Hagwon

POLY School has an enemy, and that enemy is Gulmaek Hagwon which is directly across the street from us. 'Hagwon' is the Korean word for 'private English school academy' and once you've been here more than a week you pretty much adopt that word into your own vernacular.

Anyways, the schools have quite the rivalry going on just because the market for ESL students is really competitive these days, especially since the Korean economy has been in the shitter (and sliding deeper in) for the last couple of years. POLY School, luckily, has an awesome reputation and we actually have a waiting list of students who want to come study at our school. POLY is known as being a very prestigious academy where only the brightest of the bright go, and last year we were actually ranked the best hagwan chain in the country. So essentially, I work at the 'Harvard' of Korean English language schools. Pretty cool!

Well Gulmaek is also a pretty good school and so once a while they manage to 'steal' students away from us. (and the vice versa happens too.) It's always frustrating when this happens, and any loss makes you feel bitter. Gulmaek is the most evil of all hagwans. They're ginormous and have this dark industrial-looking exterior with tinted windows so you can't see what evil acts are taking place inside, and they don't hire foreign teachers at all, and have been known to actually send spies to our school library to try and sneak peeks at our much-coveted learning curriculam. Every time I look across the street at them it's like dark clouds move in over top with scary lightning bolts piercing their roof. I can practically hear their cackling... I swear they're doing experiments on aliens or serving puppies for lunch to the students or something! They're just So Evil!

Well I found out today that two of my brightest, most favourite students in my Grade 5-1 class are going to be lost to the Evil Gulmaekians! Their Moms have decided to switch schools, much to the disappointment of the girls who don't want to leave POLY. (Apparently Gulmaek offers math or something that we don't...whatever!) I was totally pissed when I heard this! Now, it's personal! How dare they steal away Agnes and Hayeon from me! Oooohhhhh..... That school is going down!!! I'm on a mission now to destroy them. Completely. I don't know how yet I'll accomplish this dire mission, but I must!

Watch out Gulmaek - your ass is grass!