(no subject)
Sunday, February 22, 2009.
Time for another week in review.
Last we heard, it was 32 degrees outside on Sunday afternoon. I walked outside my door and see a crowd of about 15 people gathered at the mechanic’s place. As I walked by, I was watching them. I noticed one man looking at me, and with his hand extended to me, palm down, moving his hand up and down. Clearly, the guy was telling me to mind my own damned business and keep walking. A little insulted, I turned my head and kept walking. Then two or three more people started doing it, until one man came over and grabbed my hand. It was then I realized the American hand gesture for “go away” means “come here” in Korea. Weird. The man grabbed me and brought me over to their barbeque. They were cooking bulgogi (thin slices of beef served by wrapping in lettuce), had clams on a grill, and several different sides. Two women were gathered by the grill, eating the clams with a couple of guys. One of the ladies fed me a couple of clams, and the men kept pouring shots of soju and beer and passing them around. Koreans like to feed each other, so I was eating right out of their hands. Kind of weird, but I got used to it pretty quick. We drank, laughed, and ate. I ate kimchi, a boiled egg, bulgogi, clams, several different thing. I drank shot after shot of soju, several cups of beer, a shot of whiskey, and got nice and wasteyfaced. It was a hell of a lot of fun. They are a group of runners, and they all live in the Daechi area, which is where I live. Every fourth Sunday of the month they go and climb a mountain. It was hella fun, and I made some friends. It was great. I went home and took a nap after about 3 hours of freezing my ass off.
The rest of the night was lame, especially since I couldn’t sleep. Every month or so I go a night where I just cannot sleep. It sucks. I probably went to sleep around five or so.
I had to wake up early and be at work at 11, when my boss Ms. Moon would take Kelly and I to the immigration office. Kelly needed a new Alien Registration Card, and I was getting mine. We spent about an hour and a half there, and then headed back to work. Mondays I teach only one class, my fifth graders. I really like that class. It’s a lot of fun, and the kids are great. There are 9 kids in there, which is fun. After that class, I do planning work. This week the kids took their end of term achievement test, so work was pretty boring all week.
We had a new guy get to Korea on Monday. His name is Graham, from Manchester, England. He seemed pretty cool upon first meeting.
Tuesday was work as usual, teaching two 7th grade classes. I like these classes a lot. The first one is 10 kids, and the kids are younger than than the second class. Our “grades” are based on achievement level, not on school grades. We just care about making sure kids are in the levels they need to be.
Tuesday night I did what I’ve been doing every night-coming home and watching episodes of House. I’m completely hooked on the show. I’ve got season one and I’m just watching all the way through the show.
Wednesday I do not teach, so I spent the whole time working on things for Jinhee-my supervisor-and grading essays from the week before. After work, we all went out and had dinner, compliments of Ms. Moon. We went to a restaurant and ordered some drinks. Our little high school part-timer got pretty drunk, which was funny. They brought out kimchi and a couple of other sides, then two big bowls of soup. The soup was set on the table still boiling. We spooned some out and put it on our little bowls. It was mushrooms, spinach, pig intestines, and a few other things. Overall it was good, except that it was unbearably spicy. I broke a sweat.
They then brought out the second course-a large tray with all kinds of mixed things on it. Vegetables, stuff pig intestines, mushrooms. Again, it was spicy as hell. I really liked the stuff pig intestines, it was tasty. We went home after that.
Thursday morning I took the subway to go check out a TV from a guy who was leaving the country. It was in a small town outside of Seoul, but on a satellite they look like the cities are connected. I decided I wanted tg et his TV, TV stand, bookshelf, some DVDs, desk, blender, several “Learn Korean” books, a fan, and some dishes, all for 400,000 won. The TV is an LG 32inch flat screen HDTV. We decided to see if we could figure out transportation. I thought my mechanic would be able to help me. If not, we’d find someone with a truck.
Thursday was work as usual. Graham was in the office all day, getting prepared and learning about our hogwon. My classes were good, 7th graders. During my last break, I went to the bathroom. The urninal is right in front of the window, which was open. As I peed, I noticed something was hitting my face. I was like “WTF?” Then it hit me, it was SNOWING!
Our last new coworker arrived on Thursday as well, Christina (Christine?) from Arizona, born in the Phillipines. Met her very briefly.
I finished work, and was excited to go walk in the snow. The thrill went away quickly, as I realized snow was cold and wet. I went on home.
Friday morning I went over to my mechanic’s shop, and he called and ordered a truck. While I waited, I played in the snow. Not any on the ground, but there was some on the cars and in the bushes. The driver came, and I gave him the directions of where to go, written out in Korean, and we were off. The snow was everywhere. It was very exciting. Soft, powdery snow everywhere. Very fun. We loaded everything in the truck, and brought it back. The driver helped me carry the stuff inside, and I set everything up how I wanted. I would have to get the proper cords to be able to watch TV, but at least I have a TV now.
Friday I teach my 5th graders again, and that’s always fun. Good, fun kids. My second class is a 6th grader. Just one kid. He’s extremely shy, very quiet, and doesn’t have a creative bone in his body. It’s a horrible way to end the week. Can’t wait until next term!
After work I went home and fucked around online for a while, then went to bed.
Saturday morning I slept in until noon, then went to Yongsan Electronics Market, in search of the cables I needed to watch TV, and the cords necessary to hook my computer up to my TV, so I can watch my downloads. Possibly porn too. ☺
I went to Yongsan, and could not find the computer to TV cords. I then headed to meet a guy to buy a humidifier for my apartment. I decided to take a cab, since 1. The Yongsan subway station is confusing and 2. I figured it would be faster. This was the weirdest cab experience I’ve yet had. We passed a store called “Cosby”, which had little cartoon apes on either side of it. I found it pretty funny, especially since it said “ape” on either side of the word “Cosby”, so I took a picture of it on my phone. Well, this gave the cab driver an idea. He said something to me, then handed me his cell phone, with it in camera mode. Well, I guess he wanted me to take a picture of himself, so I took it. He didn’t seem to like it, so he kept taking more and more pictures of himself, using the mirror, or holding it backwards, whatever. He kept saying things to me, which I had no idea what he was saying. The cab ride ended up taking 30 minutes, and he didn’t get me where I needed to go. I called the guy I was meeting, and he spoke to the driver in Korean, and tried to get me to the right place. In the end, we just decided to stop at the nearest subway station, and the guy would meet me there. Needless to say, I took the subway home.
I went to COEX to see if I could find the cables I needed, and I hear this guy “excuse me”. An older man stopped me, and asked me for money. He said he was homeless, spoke pretty good English, not particularly poorly dressed. Brown dress jacket, khaki pants, chucks. I told him I’d buy him food, but I wouldn’t give him money. We went to Sbarro, and I told him to tell the lady what he wanted.
“I will just have whatever you have.”
”No, I’m not getting anything, just order whatever you’d like,” I respond.
“I cannot. I have a phsychological problem, I cannot talk to her.”
Things were now weird. I didn’t like any part of this situation, especially since I had my laptop with me. I was being really careful, but just in case the guy really was homeless, I wanted to help him. Still, I was firm.
“I’m not ordering for you. Just tell her what you want. If you can’t order, I’m not buying anything for you.”
He shuffled up to the lady, ordered his food, and then went down the row to pay. When they gave him his food, I sent him away to find a table. I did not want him near me when I took my wallet out. I paid the guy and walked away.
Saturday night I met Graham and Chris at CUBE at 10, and we headed to Itaewon for some drinking. Graham was excited because there was some kind of “football” (Soccer) game he wanted to watch. We went to some American style bar, filled with foreigners, and we hung out, drinking several beers. Kelly came and joined us around 11:30. It was a good time. We then went downstairs to this other club and hung out there. We downed some Long Islands, got nice and shitty, met some Russian girls, who were not particularly attractive, but no biggy. We had a really good time there, though.
Next thing I knew it was 1pm and I was in my bed. I made sure I had my wallet, cell phone, camera, and everything. Instead of fighting off my massive hangover, I went back to sleep. I woke up at 4:30, went to COEX for dinner and a search for the cables necessary for my TV. I saw the homeless guy again, but this time I just kept on walking. He tried to stop me, but I ignored him. I helped you yesterday, buddy, pick someone else.