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

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