December already?

How can it be December already?  Sometimes it just feels like yesterday that I was sitting here at my desk, sweating, wondering why they kept turning off the fans.  Actually, it has been unseasonably warm so far this fall, with lows in the upper 30s and highs in the low 50s, so I guess I shouldn’t complain about the weather, at least.  From what I remember of Korean winters, we’re about to enter the more dreary part of the season.  At some point the wind direction will change, and it’ll become dry, windy, and bitterly cold.  I guess I can hope for a warmer-than-average winter, but I’m not holding my breathe.  Actually, I’m kind of looking forward to trying out the mask and goggles I bought a few weeks back.  I have a balaclava and sun/wind/dust goggles to wear in the cold.  I’m sure I’ll get a lot of funny looks, but I don’t care.  The last thing I want to do is half-freeze my face riding to work and then have my nose run as I thaw.  I guess I shouldn’t be looking forward to that, though.  I’m sure I’ll be dreaming of the summer soon enough.

Not a whole lot else going on, really.  I just found out that we have another native english teacher meeting on Friday, which is just as well since that’s the day my school gets their flu shots, and I have nothing else to do that afternoon.  It’s supposed to be from 1-5, maybe with dinner thrown in, so it shouldn’t be too bad.  I’m supposed to have my winter camp lesson plans ready by then, so maybe i’ll work on them this afternoon, if I can wrangle-up the motivation.  What’s far more likely is that i’ll procrastinate until the very last minute and do it on Thursday evening.  I hope I don’t, but I’m starting to get to know myself pretty well.

An Iranian at Thanksgiving dinner.

I’ll tell ya what.  The food may not be as good, and most of your loved ones won’t be there, but expat Thanksgiving is likely to be more interesting than the one back home.  Melissa and I went to a slightly belated Thanksgiving get-together at our friends Shannon and Jaime’s apartment on Saturday afternoon/evening.  It was a pretty motley crew that was invited, to include Melissa and I, Shannon and Jaime, a Canadian by the name of David, and Chrissie, who is Mexican-American along with her Iranian boyfriend Darius.  Darius, though he spoke little to no English, semed like a pleasant enough man, seemed a little awkward at the party.  Maybe the irony of being Iranian at the second-most American of holidays had him weirded out a little bit.  I’m not trying to tie his nationality to his politics, as he must be pretty liberal to even be dating an American girl, but I can’t imagine how I’d feel as the only American at a specifically Iranian holiday party.  All in all, the party was a lot of fun, just really laid back, and the food was pretty good as well.  Melissa and I, and by that I mean I made green bean casserole, and there was also mashed potatoes, stovetop stuffing, carrots, candied yams, and some spit-roasted chicken.  I know that we should have had turkey, but its three times the price here as at home, and no-one had the means to cook such a large bird.  We have the largest oven by far, but it’s just a countertop model.  Oh, and there was pumpkin and apple pies for dessert.  All in all, the food was good and everyone ate themselves to misery, as it should be. 

As Saturday was dominated by Thanksgiving, on Sunday we went to the electronics market to buy Melissa a new laptop.  Hers was fried about two weeks ago when she spilled quite a bit of lemonade through the keyboard.  Her little Macbook only lasted 6 months, and I hope her new one lasts longer.  We couldn’t afford to get her a new Mac, as they’re a little more expensive, but we got her a nice Samsung model for about $650.  It’s not blazing fast, though its more than capable of email, powerpoint, and facebook, which was mostly what the old one was used for.  I hope this one lasts a little longer than the lasts.  Two laptops per year gets expensive fast.

I guess that’s about it for now.  Classes are about to start, so I’ll see ya later.

Surprise Field Trip!

Sometimes I love being the odd man out.  Sure, there’s a bit of sarcasm in that statement, but it sure can make for some interesting mistakes.  I came in at 7:45 as usual for my before-school 2nd year class, and no-one showed up.  One student is ok, none is boring as hell.  I sat there patiently until time expired, then I came upstairs to get ready for the day’s classes.  At 8:50 I went downstairs to my English classroom, as usual, and waited for the 3rd year students to show up for their regularly scheduled class.  Class started at 8:55, and no one was there, which really didn’t bother me since that class is notoriously late, even normally.  9:00 comes around, and I start to wonder.  I went upstairs to where their normal classes are held, and surprise, surprise, no one’s home.  Not a soul.  “Where are they?” I thought.  I went to the teacher’s room and as soon as they looked up, the teacher that is in charge of schedule changes starts to curse herself in Korean.  Through my co-teacher, I was told that the 3rd year students have gone on a special field trip today and they forgot to tell me.  Now don’t get me wrong, I like goofing off as much as or more than the next guy, but I’d like to know at least 5 minutes in advance.  Perhaps that’s too much to ask for, but a guy can dream, can’t he?  I guess I shouldn’t complain, though.  A sudden decrease in work shouldn ‘t be looked at as a problem.  So, instead of 5 classes today, I have two, and they’re spread way apart.  The first one is at 10:45, and the other is at 3:05.  All in all, things could be worse.

In non-school related news, it’s been damn cold this week.  Actually, the cold weather struck on Saturday, when Melissa and I went to see the musical, Jekyl and Hyde.  It was in English with Korean subtitles, so we were able to understand anything, but I wasn’t too impressed.  Granted, it was my first real live musical, but I wasn’t blown away.  The singing was great, and the sets and lighting were cool, but it just seemed too long.  Melissa wants to see Miss Saigon in March or April, and from what I know, that sounds much more my speed.  Melissa feels the urge to see musicals from time to time, and I suppose I could stand a little culturing along the way.  I’ll trade her arts for sports.  Since I suppose it’s my turn, we’ll go to a basketball game next. 

As I was saying, the cold weather worsened on Sunday was we met up with some friends to go to the zoo.  You might ask, why on Earth would you go to the zoo when it’s freezing cold?  I asked the same question, never-the-less, we went.  It was actually a pretty good time.  The only other two people to show up were Todd, a guy we met at a Halloween party, and a Japanese girl named Emi, who is a friend of Todd’s and a Japanese teacher here in Korea.  The Seoul Zoo is located near the Seoul Land amusement park a little south of the city, and is quite a nice zoo and probably a lot more fun to visit when the weather is nicer.  Just the same, we had a nice time even though Melissa was cold throughout.  I asked her, do you think it’s such a great idea to visit the zoo in the freezing cold, but once she has her mind set on something, you might just as well go along with it.  Let’s just say that we won’t be going to do anything outside again until it gets nicer.  And now this whole week so far has been quite cold, bitterly so in the mornings and only mildly so in the afternoons.  It still hasn’t snowed yet, though it’s more than cold enough.

I guess that’s about it for now.  Work has been going on reasonably well recently.  I guess I shouldn’t complain.  The job is easy if a bit tedious, and my co-teachers are really nice to me.  I just have no passion for teaching this age group.  I guess I’ll just finish out this contract and ask for elementary school next year.

My best class all semester

I had my best before-school class so far this morning.  I arrived at 7:45 as usual and started to read by book, waiting for the students to arrive.  They usually get there about 8:00 and  then we begin.  When the first student arrived, I looked at my cellphone to see that it was already 8:10.  That’s when I realized that he was it.  Just one student!  The first day there were 14!  The second day there was about 7, and it has gone on from there.  At least the best student is the one that keeps coming.  I found out this morning that he lived in California for three years, which explains why his English is so conversational.  There are students here that speak English well, but you always know when they’ve lived in an English speaking country.  They can just hold a conversation a lot better.  They can repond to unexpected questions and ask unique questions of their own.  We talked about what we did yesterday, since we didn’t have school because of the Korean SATs, if you will.  The test has a proper name, but it’s basically the Korean version of the Scholastic Aptitude Test.  They just love tests here, and that one is the most important one in life.  If you don’t do well on the test, you can’t get into a good college.  If you don’t get into a good college, you can’t  get a good job.  And if you can’t get a good job, you’ll be a disappointment to your family and a failure in life.  So, a student’s entire life is based on one day.  As I was told this morning, the test is only offered once a year, and if you’re sick or somehow otherwise incapable of taking the test, tough shit.  Wait till next year.  Which is what a surprising number of students are forced to do.  If you can’t get a sufficient score to go to a good enough college, you can spend a year studying for the test.  They have special apartments and cram schools just for this eventuality.  It’s a whole industry.  I can’t imagine anything like that happening back home.  The SAT is offered at least a few times a year, and it’s not the end of the world if you don’t do well.  You can still get into school somewhere, and if you do well, you can transfer.  Not so here.  You’re just stuck.  I  think that is way too much pressure to be placed  on a 17 year old.  But my disapproval of the system here isn’t going to make it change one bit.