Hello -
It is officially the end of my first year abroad. I am sitting in Narito, Japan awaiting my next flight. The last thing that I can thank my boss for is buying me a flight that included a 16 hour layover in Japan followed by a 6 hour layover in Chicago. It really is a fitting end to this past year. This year has been a year full of change and I have had so many experiences. It is an odd feeling to leave behind my current life (my miniature apartment, friends, students, and a girlfriend) and return to what now seems a previous life. This past weekend has been a flood of emotions and stress. I first was told that I could stay in my apartment until I left for home and then on Tuesday I was told that I had to be out on Thursday. I had to rush and pack my belongings, it is amazing how much can be fit in such a small space. I finished my last day at work and that was also quite difficult. My students seemed to be genuinely sad that I was leaving and that made me feel as though I had made an impact on them. I'm not sure how much of this impact was due to my teaching skills or lack-there-of, but I think that my students will all remember my time with them. I had only one student over year that seemed to genuinely dislike me and I consider that to be a positive. The boy I am referring to is a middle school aged boy and he actually wanted to fight me one two occasions. Thankfully nothing happened but I would like to think I would have come out victorious if we would have came to fisticuffs. This boy was about 4'10 and probably weighed 100 pounds. Regardless, I had a couple of criers and the rest of the students asked me when I was coming back and asked me to stay. My students were really great. I can't imagine what it's like to be a parent because these kids drove me nuts many times, but I did love them and am glad that I had the opportunity to spend a year with them. I hope and pray that I will never have to deal with another human being like my former boss. I have been lied to and taken advantage of repeatedly over the past year and that really made the year difficult. I found out that my boss was stealing money from the former English teacher when he said he was depositing it into a pension account and when the teacher tried to cash out he found out that the school is currently registered as out of business with the government. He was basically stealing money out of all of my checks as well and when I asked to see tax documents my checks magically rose by about $100. I tried very hard to not let him get to me but it gets very difficult when worrying about pay every week and then having to listen to lies. I guess that I'm probably coming out of the whole thing a better person and I think my patience has grown to insane levels but he nearly single-handedly ruined my entire experience. Other than that man I can say that my year here has been a great experience. My Koreans co-workers were great and I had the opportunity to get to know quite a few of them because of my boss. (I guess that could be one way of looking at it, but the Korean teachers would quit quite often) I got to meet with several of my favorites during my last few days and it was fun to reconnect with them. They got it even worse than me and when talking to them it is hard to explain. There are currently about 5 teachers who are waiting on their money from the school and some have been waiting roughly 3 months. I guess you could say that I worked for a crook. Who knows, I just am very happy that I got (almost) everything that I was promised and lived to tell about it. My boss and his wife also said that they wanted me to come back and they said very nice things about me so I feel like I didn't lose my integrity or do anything that I will come to regret. I have seen so many amazing places in Korea and it really is a beautiful place. I traveled to and through quite a bit of places and the mountains and oceans are something I will never forget. I have also gotten the chance to meet so many interesting people and I truly believe that you can make life-long friends with an incredibly low level of verbal communication. Many of my Korean friends can speak English very well but perhaps the most fun I had with friends has been the last few months. I have been dating a girl named HyunHee and I got to know several of her friends very well. There were 3 main friends named Jae Jeong, Song Min, and Su Won and they really made my last few months great. They barely spoke English but they could say "Kevin" perfectly. I have not laughed so hard in my entire life. We would go out for dinner and the whole time I would hear "Kevin!" and then they would try to communicate via hand motions and random English vocabulary. Following every attempt they would add "Okay?" with a thumbs up. Many times I got the main idea of what they were asking but then it was my turn to try to communite. I know a handful of Korean words but my Korean level is roughly the same as their English level. I would imagine that I had to look similar to how they looked to me but I will not forget these friends. They would call HyunHee and ask if I was with her and tell her that she could go home if she would drop me off with them. They also asked me repeatedly when I was going to come back and eventually they taught me 'brother' in Korean and when I would see them they told me to call them brother. (Hyung) Jae Jong recently opened his own real-estate company and a Korean tradition is to have a big pig head surrounded by fruit. People put the equivalent of $10 bills into the holes in the pig's head (nose, mouth, ears), followed by 3 bows, and then drinking a glass of rice wine. This is supposed to be good luck for the new business (I have never seen such a supersticious culture, it seems that everything means something and they know if it is good or bad. Dreams, baby actions, etc) The weirdest thing about this whole ritual is the food that follows. I never have considered myself to have a strong stomach but this year has changed that. I have eaten so many things that I never thought I would and now I will try almost anything. I did, however, meet my match at his office. There were cuts of meat near the table and I took one. I felt something hard (that used to be my excuse to not eat something when I was younger) and I had to spit it out. The meat was different colors and textures and I then asked what it was. It turned out that the meat we were eating was a compressed pig head. I asked several people because I didn't believe it at first but everyone told me the same thing. They take a pig head (brains, bones, etc, the eyes were the only thing disputed) and they smash it somehow until it's flat and then they cut it up. I struggled to eat this but the host continued to ask if it was good and urged me to eat. This was very hard to keep down but thankfully I had a cold and I could tell him that I wasn't feeling well. I have been staying in hotels the past week and when I say a hotel it is not quite what you think. The Korean culture seems to accomodate cheating. I don't know if it's accepted but it's certainly tolerated. There are many "love motels" in every city. They are the kind of place where you can rent by the hour or by the night at a reasonable price but they are eveywhere. These motels are actually quite clean and nice. All 3 of my hotels have had huge flat screen tv's, refrigerators, and big beds. The nicest one was amazing and worth describing. The first night out of my apartment I was in a hurry and had to stay close because of all my luggage. There are only a few of these hotels in my town so my choices, as well as my time, were limited. I paid a/b $50 for the night and it was totally worth it. This room had a computer, huge tv at the food of the bed, (the following show why it is known as a 'love motel') a see-through shower and bathroom door, and mirrors throughout. WHen I say throughout I mean the walls and also the ceiling. Ha, I had the best shower in a year in that motel and enjoyed the luxury even if it was only for a night. I have no regrets and I am looking forward to being home with the next few days. This year has been incredibly happy and also sad. I am coming home to a beautiful neice that I can't wait to see but I am also coming home minus half of my Grandparents. It was inredibly hard to be away from my family during the deaths of my grandparents and I think that will be my only regret but I know that both of them were very proud of me and they told me many times. I have so many different emotions sitting here in Narito, many positives and also negatives, but I want to thank all of you for keeping up with me and letting me know you care. 2009-2010 has been an incredible year of growth as well as change and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store.
See you all soon,
Kevin
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
1.22.2010
Hello -
It's been quite awhile since my last update and I was just thinking that I would give a quick review of the past few months.
There haven't really been too many changes but I have had a few experiences that people may be interested to hear about. I guess first would be the situation at school. I have been getting a crash course in international relations with my boss. I have had great employees since I've been here but they continue to change so it's a bit of a weird thing. We are down to 2 Koreans and me now, and the newest change is me being alone on Tuesday and Thursday. When my last head teacher quit she was teaching 1 class on those days and I was teaching 5, but she still had to be there the same time as me and she was only allowed to leave maybe an hour and a half before me. She would come from 1:30 to about 7:00 or so and she would only teach for one hour. That was one of the main reasons for her quitting because she doesn't get a salary; she is paid by the class. Their new idea was for me to teach the classes by myself and call them free-talking, which is just a way for them to take the students money. I don't get any books or anything and they expect me to entertain the kids and keep them happy. I have one class that I have taught since I started, it is 2 elementary school girls, who are actually very interested in studying English and they work hard. There was another class with kindergarteners that was moved to M,W,F and one boy couldn't do it. They decided to put this kid in the same class with girls who can have conversations and read really well when he can't say the alphabet or read a single word. I told them that I couldn't teach because of the differences in ability and they said that they knew, but just try. That was the end of it and I have been trying to keep the 3 happy for the past 3 weeks. This is probably the worst class for criers, whether it is for taking a cell phone or telling them no, crying with this class is at least a weekly occurrence. My other new class is a brother and sister who are moving to China because their Dad just got a job. I was told to prepare them for an interview at a hogwan in China. I had no idea what this meant and I told them and they just said to check the internet. I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to fill a few months preparing for English oral tests, but I have been trying.
Two of my teachers who had been there almost since I started quitted about a month ago. We decided to go bowling. We went to a little run-down 3 story building that turned out to be a whole underground health center. They had a pool, bowling, ping-pong room, and sauna. We decided to bowl in teams of 2 with the winning team buying the games. I wasn't really aware of the bet until we finished and I would like to think that I wouldn't have accepted if I had known. One teacher had never bowled, another teacher hadn't bowled in about 10 years, and the other had only bowled a handful of times. I was paired with the girl who had never bowled and we started our first of the 2 games. My partner bowled around a 35 this game, the other team had a career-best 70 and about a 45. I bowled a 135 both games and it would have been a fairly close competition if I was on my own team. The second game my teammate stepped up and bowled a 50 while the other team had a total of about 80. One girl got 9 in the last frame to bring her total to 27 and the other girl was under 50. Needless to say, we won the competition and didn't have to pay for bowling. (These scores are rough estimates, we went about a month ago but I know that the score of 27 was accurate) We had a really good time, complete with several broken nails and a blister which caused my teammate to bowl granny-style for 8 frames of the second game.
I was about 2 months behind in pay as of a few weeks ago and I finally got most of those issues solved. I was lied to several times; the first time I talked directly to my boss and he told me certain specific paydays and when those days came around he said he didn't understand what he was saying. I then talked to his daughter on the phone and she served as a translator. When this day came he didn't do what he said and he said that he didn't know what she said. I then had a sit-down with a Korean teacher and him and we talked for over an hour about pay and how he has repeatedly lied to me. He told me that if he didn't pay me completely I could find a new job and after this he proceeded to not give me everything he promised. It is so insanely frustrating to speak to someone who can lie to you to your face, through a translator, and with a face-to-face translator. I am getting pretty worried about my last time here because I am owed quite a bit of money and also a plane ticket home and it seems like it is going to be like pulling teeth to get everything that I was promised. I have contacted a guy who passed the Bar Exam in NYC and has lawyer friends here. He is in HR and can help me if I come into any big problems. I have also found the labor department in Korea but I think that this isn't really a great option. I have heard that labor disputes involving foreigners generally take forever and most people just end up leaving because costs are too high and results are not typically positive.
I went on a cross-country trip a few weeks ago to a place named Gyeong-Ju (Ke-yong-Ju). We rode from the Northwest corner of Korea to the Southeast corner. The countryside is really beautiful and full of mountains. We wound back and forth through the countryside through countless tunnels and it was a great drive. This city is a historical city with no tall buildings and many different tombs, museums, and temples. The tombs looked more like little hills but they would bury their kinds under these hills and the more important the king the bigger the hill. In the pictures below there is a family buried together (the 3-4 mounds). We also went through a big historical Buddhist temple. We had to climb a big hill to get to the temple and walked around for a few hours. There is a picture or 2 below of stacks of stones. I guess these are a type of wishing stone and I guess people make piles and they are supposed to represent wishes.
I also went to a place called Ains-World (Koreans say Ice-World) which is a bunch of miniature models of different cities from all over the world. We went on a day that was a Korean holiday (can't remember the name) and we didn't see another person until we had completed our loop. It was freezing cold but it was a really cool experience. They had model buildings from China, Turkey, France, US, Egypt, etc.
There aren’t really a whole lot of new things to report. I guess I am really getting used to the lifestyle here and I have gotten used to the routine. I am really looking forward to coming home and I believe that I only have about 30 working days left. I have been counting down the days since I got back here in January. I am very sick of dealing with my boss and having to beg for the money that I finally get months later than promised. I'm very worried about getting everything that I'm supposed to get when my year contract is finished but I still have a few weeks before I really have to get into those discussions. I hope to get at least 1 or 2 more updates on here before I head back home (May 5 should be my last day) and thank you for keeping up with me.
It's been quite awhile since my last update and I was just thinking that I would give a quick review of the past few months.
There haven't really been too many changes but I have had a few experiences that people may be interested to hear about. I guess first would be the situation at school. I have been getting a crash course in international relations with my boss. I have had great employees since I've been here but they continue to change so it's a bit of a weird thing. We are down to 2 Koreans and me now, and the newest change is me being alone on Tuesday and Thursday. When my last head teacher quit she was teaching 1 class on those days and I was teaching 5, but she still had to be there the same time as me and she was only allowed to leave maybe an hour and a half before me. She would come from 1:30 to about 7:00 or so and she would only teach for one hour. That was one of the main reasons for her quitting because she doesn't get a salary; she is paid by the class. Their new idea was for me to teach the classes by myself and call them free-talking, which is just a way for them to take the students money. I don't get any books or anything and they expect me to entertain the kids and keep them happy. I have one class that I have taught since I started, it is 2 elementary school girls, who are actually very interested in studying English and they work hard. There was another class with kindergarteners that was moved to M,W,F and one boy couldn't do it. They decided to put this kid in the same class with girls who can have conversations and read really well when he can't say the alphabet or read a single word. I told them that I couldn't teach because of the differences in ability and they said that they knew, but just try. That was the end of it and I have been trying to keep the 3 happy for the past 3 weeks. This is probably the worst class for criers, whether it is for taking a cell phone or telling them no, crying with this class is at least a weekly occurrence. My other new class is a brother and sister who are moving to China because their Dad just got a job. I was told to prepare them for an interview at a hogwan in China. I had no idea what this meant and I told them and they just said to check the internet. I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to fill a few months preparing for English oral tests, but I have been trying.
Two of my teachers who had been there almost since I started quitted about a month ago. We decided to go bowling. We went to a little run-down 3 story building that turned out to be a whole underground health center. They had a pool, bowling, ping-pong room, and sauna. We decided to bowl in teams of 2 with the winning team buying the games. I wasn't really aware of the bet until we finished and I would like to think that I wouldn't have accepted if I had known. One teacher had never bowled, another teacher hadn't bowled in about 10 years, and the other had only bowled a handful of times. I was paired with the girl who had never bowled and we started our first of the 2 games. My partner bowled around a 35 this game, the other team had a career-best 70 and about a 45. I bowled a 135 both games and it would have been a fairly close competition if I was on my own team. The second game my teammate stepped up and bowled a 50 while the other team had a total of about 80. One girl got 9 in the last frame to bring her total to 27 and the other girl was under 50. Needless to say, we won the competition and didn't have to pay for bowling. (These scores are rough estimates, we went about a month ago but I know that the score of 27 was accurate) We had a really good time, complete with several broken nails and a blister which caused my teammate to bowl granny-style for 8 frames of the second game.
I was about 2 months behind in pay as of a few weeks ago and I finally got most of those issues solved. I was lied to several times; the first time I talked directly to my boss and he told me certain specific paydays and when those days came around he said he didn't understand what he was saying. I then talked to his daughter on the phone and she served as a translator. When this day came he didn't do what he said and he said that he didn't know what she said. I then had a sit-down with a Korean teacher and him and we talked for over an hour about pay and how he has repeatedly lied to me. He told me that if he didn't pay me completely I could find a new job and after this he proceeded to not give me everything he promised. It is so insanely frustrating to speak to someone who can lie to you to your face, through a translator, and with a face-to-face translator. I am getting pretty worried about my last time here because I am owed quite a bit of money and also a plane ticket home and it seems like it is going to be like pulling teeth to get everything that I was promised. I have contacted a guy who passed the Bar Exam in NYC and has lawyer friends here. He is in HR and can help me if I come into any big problems. I have also found the labor department in Korea but I think that this isn't really a great option. I have heard that labor disputes involving foreigners generally take forever and most people just end up leaving because costs are too high and results are not typically positive.
I went on a cross-country trip a few weeks ago to a place named Gyeong-Ju (Ke-yong-Ju). We rode from the Northwest corner of Korea to the Southeast corner. The countryside is really beautiful and full of mountains. We wound back and forth through the countryside through countless tunnels and it was a great drive. This city is a historical city with no tall buildings and many different tombs, museums, and temples. The tombs looked more like little hills but they would bury their kinds under these hills and the more important the king the bigger the hill. In the pictures below there is a family buried together (the 3-4 mounds). We also went through a big historical Buddhist temple. We had to climb a big hill to get to the temple and walked around for a few hours. There is a picture or 2 below of stacks of stones. I guess these are a type of wishing stone and I guess people make piles and they are supposed to represent wishes.
I also went to a place called Ains-World (Koreans say Ice-World) which is a bunch of miniature models of different cities from all over the world. We went on a day that was a Korean holiday (can't remember the name) and we didn't see another person until we had completed our loop. It was freezing cold but it was a really cool experience. They had model buildings from China, Turkey, France, US, Egypt, etc.
There aren’t really a whole lot of new things to report. I guess I am really getting used to the lifestyle here and I have gotten used to the routine. I am really looking forward to coming home and I believe that I only have about 30 working days left. I have been counting down the days since I got back here in January. I am very sick of dealing with my boss and having to beg for the money that I finally get months later than promised. I'm very worried about getting everything that I'm supposed to get when my year contract is finished but I still have a few weeks before I really have to get into those discussions. I hope to get at least 1 or 2 more updates on here before I head back home (May 5 should be my last day) and thank you for keeping up with me.
Pictures 1.22.2009
I can only upload 4 pictures at a time so this may be confusing but the first picture is where I live in Korea and there is another GPS picture from Gyeung-Ju.
In between these pictures are first pictures of Ice-World and the other pictures are the ones from the Buddhist Temple
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
1.26.09
1.26.2010
Last weekend I went skiing and it was an experience. I went with 2 friends, HyunHee and another friend named Bell (his Korean name translates to this, and I couldn't remember his Korean name). Bell had a car so we rode together and were stuck in stop-n-go traffic for almost 2 hours. To top it off, Bell apparently was cold-blooded. We would ride for awhile and he had the heat on high the entire time. I was sitting there sweating and eventually he would open the sunroof for about 2 minutes and it would be comfortable but then when he closed it the heat went right back on. You may be thinking, "why didn't you open the window" but this wasn't possible because he just had them tinted and they couldn't be opened for 2 days. I was pulling my pant legs up, taking off my hat, unzipping my coat, and whatever else I could think of to cool off a bit but apparently he never noticed because it lasted the whole trip. This was supposed to be a 40 minute trip but there was a traffic jam due to construction from the point we got on the highway until we got off. One highlight of the ride was buying a squid on the highway while in traffic. There were people in between the lanes of traffic during the jam selling dried squid and oranges to motorists. We eventually made it and went to a ski rental shop outside of the resort to rent skis and I snow pants for me. I have never heard of renting coats, gloves, and snow pants but it is possible in Korea. We were told that the resort was packed and that we wouldn't be able to ski too much. We said okay but still wanted to go so we went to the hills. We bought our ticket for 12:30 - 4:30 and the hills/mountains were actually pretty big and it was really good. We got out to the slopes about 1:00 and had to go to the learning hill first because HyunHee is not a good skier. I have never seen so many people at a ski place, (see Exhibit A below). We got in line with a couple hundred other people all trying to get to the lift but in Korea there really isn't anything that resembles a line. People come into the line from all directions and people cut all the way up to the very end. We stood in this line for almost an hour waiting for our first chairlift. We got up to the top and started to go down, turns out that what I thought "not very good" was much different than what the Koreans considered to be not good. Bell wasn't bad but HyunHee would go back and forth down the hill almost directly sideways with a stop each time before turning around to go back the other way. I would go down, stop, look up the hill and wait, she would catch up to me and talk, then we would start the process all over again. It took probably 20 minutes to get down the hill which could have been ridden in about a minute. I hadn't skied in about 2 years but it's safe to say that I was one of the top skiers on the slope that day. I am not a great skier but skiing here was crazy. People go down a short distance, fall, and then congregate until they decide to attempt the hill once again. The hills are filled with people stopped and talking. I would bet that the majority of people on the hill are not moving. It was really a crazy sight. The people would repeatedly fall I had a ton of time to watch because I was constantly waiting for the other people skiing with me. After our first lift we decide to head to the bigger hill with a 6-man lift. This lift wasn't nearly as bad and we waited about 10 minutes for this one but the hill was longer and it took that much longer for our group to get down. Needless to say, we ended up going up 3 chair lifts in 4 hours of skiing and then had time to eat before heading home. Bell ended up coming home dizzy because he fell and hit his head and Hyunhee said that she had bruises covering her legs and arms the following day. Ha, I don't really know what else there is to say about this trip but the it was really fun and I hope to go again sometime and get the chance to go down a few more hills. They actually have night skiing here, which is midnight-4 AM and that is hopefully going to be the next adventure and I would like to think that it would be much less busy. No other stories here and nothing else really on the horizon but who knows.
Exhibit A
Kevin
PS - I forgot my camera cord in MI and am waiting for it in the mail but hopefully I will soon have new pictures up from the past few weeks
Last weekend I went skiing and it was an experience. I went with 2 friends, HyunHee and another friend named Bell (his Korean name translates to this, and I couldn't remember his Korean name). Bell had a car so we rode together and were stuck in stop-n-go traffic for almost 2 hours. To top it off, Bell apparently was cold-blooded. We would ride for awhile and he had the heat on high the entire time. I was sitting there sweating and eventually he would open the sunroof for about 2 minutes and it would be comfortable but then when he closed it the heat went right back on. You may be thinking, "why didn't you open the window" but this wasn't possible because he just had them tinted and they couldn't be opened for 2 days. I was pulling my pant legs up, taking off my hat, unzipping my coat, and whatever else I could think of to cool off a bit but apparently he never noticed because it lasted the whole trip. This was supposed to be a 40 minute trip but there was a traffic jam due to construction from the point we got on the highway until we got off. One highlight of the ride was buying a squid on the highway while in traffic. There were people in between the lanes of traffic during the jam selling dried squid and oranges to motorists. We eventually made it and went to a ski rental shop outside of the resort to rent skis and I snow pants for me. I have never heard of renting coats, gloves, and snow pants but it is possible in Korea. We were told that the resort was packed and that we wouldn't be able to ski too much. We said okay but still wanted to go so we went to the hills. We bought our ticket for 12:30 - 4:30 and the hills/mountains were actually pretty big and it was really good. We got out to the slopes about 1:00 and had to go to the learning hill first because HyunHee is not a good skier. I have never seen so many people at a ski place, (see Exhibit A below). We got in line with a couple hundred other people all trying to get to the lift but in Korea there really isn't anything that resembles a line. People come into the line from all directions and people cut all the way up to the very end. We stood in this line for almost an hour waiting for our first chairlift. We got up to the top and started to go down, turns out that what I thought "not very good" was much different than what the Koreans considered to be not good. Bell wasn't bad but HyunHee would go back and forth down the hill almost directly sideways with a stop each time before turning around to go back the other way. I would go down, stop, look up the hill and wait, she would catch up to me and talk, then we would start the process all over again. It took probably 20 minutes to get down the hill which could have been ridden in about a minute. I hadn't skied in about 2 years but it's safe to say that I was one of the top skiers on the slope that day. I am not a great skier but skiing here was crazy. People go down a short distance, fall, and then congregate until they decide to attempt the hill once again. The hills are filled with people stopped and talking. I would bet that the majority of people on the hill are not moving. It was really a crazy sight. The people would repeatedly fall I had a ton of time to watch because I was constantly waiting for the other people skiing with me. After our first lift we decide to head to the bigger hill with a 6-man lift. This lift wasn't nearly as bad and we waited about 10 minutes for this one but the hill was longer and it took that much longer for our group to get down. Needless to say, we ended up going up 3 chair lifts in 4 hours of skiing and then had time to eat before heading home. Bell ended up coming home dizzy because he fell and hit his head and Hyunhee said that she had bruises covering her legs and arms the following day. Ha, I don't really know what else there is to say about this trip but the it was really fun and I hope to go again sometime and get the chance to go down a few more hills. They actually have night skiing here, which is midnight-4 AM and that is hopefully going to be the next adventure and I would like to think that it would be much less busy. No other stories here and nothing else really on the horizon but who knows.
Exhibit A
Kevin
PS - I forgot my camera cord in MI and am waiting for it in the mail but hopefully I will soon have new pictures up from the past few weeks
Sunday, January 17, 2010
1.17.10
Hello -
It has been awhile since I last updated and I have quite a few stories from the past month or so.
I went home for one week on Christmas and I was lucky enough to be on the flight that landed right after the guy tried to blow up the plane on the way to Detroit. I had landed after about a 13 hour flight and then after everyone got up to deplane they said that there was a security issue with a plane coming from Amsterdam. They said that it shouldn't be too long so everyone stood for about a half hour and then the pilot came back on the intercom and said that no one could go through immigration until the issue was taken care of and we should sit back down because it was going to be awhile. After another couple of hours the pilot again said that it should be soon and we were the first flight to be let off the plane so we should be able to get to customs relatively quickly. After another hour or so most people sat down again. The last time the pilot said that it should be about 10 minutes until we're off and this time hardly anyone got up. I stood up and got toward one of the first sections of the plane and while another hour passed people slowly sat down so I was near the front of the plane when we finally were let off. In all we were on the plane for about 4 hours in Detroit and then once we were let off the plane there was some mix-up between employees and we were stopped again and had to wait about 15-20 minutes but then we all walked quite fast to customs and I was toward the front of the line. I think I was probably number 20 in my line but by the time all the planes had been emptied the line was snaking back and forth and the room was almost filled. I was through in about 20 minutes and then I was lucky enough to find my bag which could have been another disaster because there were bags all over the floor and there were no numbers on the luggage claims because there were so many bags coming in at one time. I was really lucky but I'm sure some people were probably there for hours waiting in customs and then waiting for their bags. Unfortunately this whole thing caused me to miss most of Christmas Day but it was really great to be home. My parents were also on News 8 and they saw the guy being wheeled out in handcuffs.
I had a great time at home, although it was very short. I got back to Korea on January 4 and walked into drama. I have 7 days of vacation and I was only allowed to take 3 days and then 4 days the next time. I had asked my boss about holidays and when it would work to get the most time using only 4 days. He came up with leaving on Christmas and then coming home the next Sunday because X-mas and New Years would be vacation days. I asked if I could add any time to that and was told no. That would be okay and I was fine with it but then when I came to school to start preparing I saw that the other teachers only had to work on the Monday I was gone. I then asked the teachers what happened and they told me that the boss had told them that they would get Thursday and Friday off for New Years (he told me only Friday) and then he decided to give them a winter vacation from Tuesday to Friday. I got back and found out that my '4' days of vacation turned out to be 1. My pay has also been getting later and later and this month was the latest yet. The different thing about this was that the Korean teachers also got their checks late and on Monday all 3 of my co-workers tried to quit. (Welcome back...) The boss said that only 1 could quit and the other 2 had to stay. Ha, I don't really understand how this is possible but now the wife of the boss who sits in the teachers room won't talk to the other teachers unless she has to and she won't look at the teacher that is quitting. Ha, it's quite an atmosphere at my hogwan and I can't say that I missed this. All of these things happened on Monday, the first day I got back.
Another crazy thing that happened on the Monday I got back was a huge snowstorm. I got back to Korea late Sunday night and when I arrived a taxi driver came up to me in the bus line and told me that the bus wasn’t running because it was too late (I later found out that was a lie) and that I needed to take a taxi. He quickly grabbed my bags and took off at a mall-walk pace to the elevator and then to his van. He threw my bag in and took me to the door and I kind of figured that something was up. I asked how much repeatedly and he would point to and say "meter." I asked how much and he told me about $85. I could take the train home for about 5. I told him no and I grabbed my bag and ended up taking the train home. I got home about midnight and there was no snow on the ground. I woke up on Monday and there was about a foot of snow on the ground. I guess they don't generally get much snow and it was the most they have gotten in 41 years. They don't use snow plows and there were cars stuck everywhere and nothing was shoveled until the next day. I went to work and we ended up having so stay for 4 hours even though there were no students, I'm not sure why but I went out for dinner with my teachers and that's where I found out about most of the things I talked about above..
Anyways, those are just some random things but I have also had an interesting first week back at school. Last Thursday I had one student in one of my classes who was 'absent' the class before because he had surgery. I didn't ask about it and then on Thursday before he came my teacher told me that he had gotten circumcised. He is a 12 year old boy and I guess he had been in bed for a week and a half. My teacher told me that he was embarrassed about it so I shouldn't ask. I was teaching the class before him and when I finished he was waiting outside the door. I walked out and he said "Teacher, appo (ouch)" and then pointed to his man parts. He then made a scissors motion with his fingers and laughed. I didn't really know what to say so I kept walking and went to my desk. I then had his class and he proceeded to tell me about his whole surgery, complete with pictures. He told me about 8 shots in his 'eggs' and then stitches and when I would try to change the subject and tell him he was making me sick he would get right back to the story. I ended up hearing about his circumcision and then about when he accidentally cut his little sister. After his Father took her to the hospital he came back and started beating this boy with a belt. He said that he had a black eye and one side of his face was all swollen and droopy. I just sat there and couldn't believe all the things this little kid was telling me but it was probably one of the funniest classes I have had since I've been here.
Another story about my check. I had gotten about half of my check before I came home (which was 2 weeks late) I got the last part of my check on Wednesday night. This is over a month late and I was supposed to be getting my next check 5 days before. Anyways, I kept getting told that I would get my money tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. On Wednesday after work I was told again that I would get the money tomorrow and I got upset and just walked away. I was at home and someone knocks on my door at 11:30 PM. No one comes to my door at night and I was really surprised but I looked out and it was my boss. He came to bring me the rest of my money and he gave it to me and rubbed my back and acted really happy. It was actually quite weird and now it is back to waiting for my next check.
This weekend I went to a place called the 63 Building. It is a 63 floor building (thus...the 63 building) in Seoul and there is an aquarium, a wax museum, and then a lookout floor on top. It was really fun and there are some pictures below. I am planning on going skiing next weekend and I am looking forward to that. Other than that, not a whole lot of new news from Incheon. I have less than 4 months and I am hoping to fit in as many experiences as I can before I head home so I will try to keep up with this blog until then.
Thanks for reading...
Kevin
PS - Looks like I can't find my camera cord so there won't be any pictures until next weekend at least. I have been looking for the last 30 minutes with no luck. I met some really famous people at the wax museum and hopefully I will have them up soon
It has been awhile since I last updated and I have quite a few stories from the past month or so.
I went home for one week on Christmas and I was lucky enough to be on the flight that landed right after the guy tried to blow up the plane on the way to Detroit. I had landed after about a 13 hour flight and then after everyone got up to deplane they said that there was a security issue with a plane coming from Amsterdam. They said that it shouldn't be too long so everyone stood for about a half hour and then the pilot came back on the intercom and said that no one could go through immigration until the issue was taken care of and we should sit back down because it was going to be awhile. After another couple of hours the pilot again said that it should be soon and we were the first flight to be let off the plane so we should be able to get to customs relatively quickly. After another hour or so most people sat down again. The last time the pilot said that it should be about 10 minutes until we're off and this time hardly anyone got up. I stood up and got toward one of the first sections of the plane and while another hour passed people slowly sat down so I was near the front of the plane when we finally were let off. In all we were on the plane for about 4 hours in Detroit and then once we were let off the plane there was some mix-up between employees and we were stopped again and had to wait about 15-20 minutes but then we all walked quite fast to customs and I was toward the front of the line. I think I was probably number 20 in my line but by the time all the planes had been emptied the line was snaking back and forth and the room was almost filled. I was through in about 20 minutes and then I was lucky enough to find my bag which could have been another disaster because there were bags all over the floor and there were no numbers on the luggage claims because there were so many bags coming in at one time. I was really lucky but I'm sure some people were probably there for hours waiting in customs and then waiting for their bags. Unfortunately this whole thing caused me to miss most of Christmas Day but it was really great to be home. My parents were also on News 8 and they saw the guy being wheeled out in handcuffs.
I had a great time at home, although it was very short. I got back to Korea on January 4 and walked into drama. I have 7 days of vacation and I was only allowed to take 3 days and then 4 days the next time. I had asked my boss about holidays and when it would work to get the most time using only 4 days. He came up with leaving on Christmas and then coming home the next Sunday because X-mas and New Years would be vacation days. I asked if I could add any time to that and was told no. That would be okay and I was fine with it but then when I came to school to start preparing I saw that the other teachers only had to work on the Monday I was gone. I then asked the teachers what happened and they told me that the boss had told them that they would get Thursday and Friday off for New Years (he told me only Friday) and then he decided to give them a winter vacation from Tuesday to Friday. I got back and found out that my '4' days of vacation turned out to be 1. My pay has also been getting later and later and this month was the latest yet. The different thing about this was that the Korean teachers also got their checks late and on Monday all 3 of my co-workers tried to quit. (Welcome back...) The boss said that only 1 could quit and the other 2 had to stay. Ha, I don't really understand how this is possible but now the wife of the boss who sits in the teachers room won't talk to the other teachers unless she has to and she won't look at the teacher that is quitting. Ha, it's quite an atmosphere at my hogwan and I can't say that I missed this. All of these things happened on Monday, the first day I got back.
Another crazy thing that happened on the Monday I got back was a huge snowstorm. I got back to Korea late Sunday night and when I arrived a taxi driver came up to me in the bus line and told me that the bus wasn’t running because it was too late (I later found out that was a lie) and that I needed to take a taxi. He quickly grabbed my bags and took off at a mall-walk pace to the elevator and then to his van. He threw my bag in and took me to the door and I kind of figured that something was up. I asked how much repeatedly and he would point to and say "meter." I asked how much and he told me about $85. I could take the train home for about 5. I told him no and I grabbed my bag and ended up taking the train home. I got home about midnight and there was no snow on the ground. I woke up on Monday and there was about a foot of snow on the ground. I guess they don't generally get much snow and it was the most they have gotten in 41 years. They don't use snow plows and there were cars stuck everywhere and nothing was shoveled until the next day. I went to work and we ended up having so stay for 4 hours even though there were no students, I'm not sure why but I went out for dinner with my teachers and that's where I found out about most of the things I talked about above..
Anyways, those are just some random things but I have also had an interesting first week back at school. Last Thursday I had one student in one of my classes who was 'absent' the class before because he had surgery. I didn't ask about it and then on Thursday before he came my teacher told me that he had gotten circumcised. He is a 12 year old boy and I guess he had been in bed for a week and a half. My teacher told me that he was embarrassed about it so I shouldn't ask. I was teaching the class before him and when I finished he was waiting outside the door. I walked out and he said "Teacher, appo (ouch)" and then pointed to his man parts. He then made a scissors motion with his fingers and laughed. I didn't really know what to say so I kept walking and went to my desk. I then had his class and he proceeded to tell me about his whole surgery, complete with pictures. He told me about 8 shots in his 'eggs' and then stitches and when I would try to change the subject and tell him he was making me sick he would get right back to the story. I ended up hearing about his circumcision and then about when he accidentally cut his little sister. After his Father took her to the hospital he came back and started beating this boy with a belt. He said that he had a black eye and one side of his face was all swollen and droopy. I just sat there and couldn't believe all the things this little kid was telling me but it was probably one of the funniest classes I have had since I've been here.
Another story about my check. I had gotten about half of my check before I came home (which was 2 weeks late) I got the last part of my check on Wednesday night. This is over a month late and I was supposed to be getting my next check 5 days before. Anyways, I kept getting told that I would get my money tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. On Wednesday after work I was told again that I would get the money tomorrow and I got upset and just walked away. I was at home and someone knocks on my door at 11:30 PM. No one comes to my door at night and I was really surprised but I looked out and it was my boss. He came to bring me the rest of my money and he gave it to me and rubbed my back and acted really happy. It was actually quite weird and now it is back to waiting for my next check.
This weekend I went to a place called the 63 Building. It is a 63 floor building (thus...the 63 building) in Seoul and there is an aquarium, a wax museum, and then a lookout floor on top. It was really fun and there are some pictures below. I am planning on going skiing next weekend and I am looking forward to that. Other than that, not a whole lot of new news from Incheon. I have less than 4 months and I am hoping to fit in as many experiences as I can before I head home so I will try to keep up with this blog until then.
Thanks for reading...
Kevin
PS - Looks like I can't find my camera cord so there won't be any pictures until next weekend at least. I have been looking for the last 30 minutes with no luck. I met some really famous people at the wax museum and hopefully I will have them up soon
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