I had thought long and hard about not putting this on the internet for everyone to see, then i decided i don't care.
This is from one of our neighborhood karaoke places. You pay by the hour to sing using their rooms. Sometimes, you get bored....and this happens.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
these dreams go on when i close my ey-ey-ey-ey-eyes
i had a funny dream. i dreamt i was on the moon. but i was at a bar on the moon and a guy who looked sort of like a cowboy came and sat down next to me. there were lots of people hovering to get seats at the bar and he lucked out. so i started talking to the moon cowboy, and his name was james mcgregor. i don't remember what else happened, but after the dream was over and i was still in that weird post-dream state, i remember thinking "i need to google james mcgregor and tell him i had a dream about him." so i googled him, and turns out he's not the soulmate i had seen in my dream. my moon cowboy is this guy. great, you wrote a book about business in china, but i don't want to drink a beer with you on the moon, or see you in ass-less chaps. sorry. the alternate spelling is james macgregor. but another dud--a presidential biographer. i like presidents as much as the next person, but i don't like presidential biographers.
other stuff. i think i've talked before about family marts and their prevalence in all of chuncheon. pretty much every block has a family mart. they're just gas-less gas stations. anyhoo, there's one pretty close to my apartment, and one night i needed to get some sundry (i don't remember what). so i walked in, and the same guy who was working the last time was there--50-60 years old and super nice. last time he was reading the bible and he gave me a map of chuncheon. this time when i walked in, he said to me "soju?" so i thought he thought that's what i was looking for, and i said "no." then i wandered around looking for something in the direction of the office. sitting very low to the floor were 4 more middle-aged korean men surrounded by a huge spread of food and bottles and bottles of soju. so then i pointed to them and said, "oh, soju!" then the man "working" started blessing himself and telling me i needed to bless myself. so i did (incorrectly, i think), then he handed me some chopsticks and ushered me into this room of middle-aged men who didn't speak english. so one of them gave up his seat on a crate and then they started feeding me kimbop and soju. i told them i was an american english teacher (miguk saram=american person; sonsaengnim=teacher). but for the next fifteen minutes while i was awkwardly sitting there, this one guy just kept saying "blah blah blah canada", but really excitedly. after we finished one bottle of soju (in dixie cups, no less) one of the men motioned to me to move so he could get into the crate i was sitting on. turned out it was a whole case--probably 30 bottles--of soju. so we killed another bottle. at this point, i started to feel like maybe they were making fun of me, so i politely left. i had not been planning to drink that night, but it seemed like an opportunity i shouldn't pass up. and i ended up drinking the rest of the night. so thanks, random dudes.
the weather here for the past couple of weeks has been really great spring weather, but last week there was some random heavy snow. wednesday nights are my nights to go out to eat with a friend of a friend, so he picked me up and it was raining. by the time we got to the restaraunt on the mountainside, it had started snowing pretty hard. and nice big flakes. not sticking too much to the road, but enough to make the ground white . so it was just me and dude in this really really nice restaraunt overlooking the city. we were sitting right next to the window while this pleasant storm outside quietly worsened. though i couldn't really see the view of the city, i knew it was out there below me. but i was quite content to see snow instead of city lights. it was a really great meal and the conversation with my complete opposite was more natural than it has ever been. so a good relaxing night. when i got home, i propped my feet up in my giant bay window sill and sat in the dark watching the snow.
my korean is still progressing, slowly but at least slowly instead of not at all. every day when i go to teach these little kindergartners, i am amazed by their capacity to learn and their impressionability. they really are little sponges soaking up everything and learning through osmosis. i was skeptical at first, but i'm at the point now where i can actually hear their progress. i get to spend 3 hours a day with these same 3 little kids speaking nothing but english to them. even if i have no lesson plan, it has to have some positive effect on them. when i started the class, the one boy, owen, was the least vocal and most uncomfortable--not just with me, but with the other two girls. now the three of them are best friends and owen is constantly singing the songs we learn. granted he sings, "my name is amy" (and amy always tells him "your name is owen, not amy"), but it's better than nothing. they also seem to be understanding phonics a lot better than most of my other classes. i dunno. it's just cool to see/hear real progress and know that it can only be attributed to me as the only native speaker in these kids' lives. now if only i could learn korean this way...
on saturday, i met another friend of a friend who was the son of watermelon farmers. he's 31, lives in the dormitory and has seen forrest gump approximately 20 times. (if you think living in the dorms as a 31 year old is bizarre, consider the fact that people here live with their parents until they get married. no wonder there's so much societal pressure to get hitched. it's quite common for 28 year old men and women to still live with their parents and have to check in with them). anyhoo...we drove along the riverside, and it was serene and beautiful, despite the pretty constant barrage of rain. we ended up at this cafe by the river called rivercafe. pretty clever there. anyhoo, it seemed like a coffee shop that would have fit right in in austin or something. lots of randomly matched--and seemingly used, which is unheard of here--furniture. there also was a ton of art everywhere because the owner was a former art professor. so sculptures in the yard, paintings on the walls. it was quite refreshing and comforting just to be in an atmosphere characterized by someone who actually had some sort of obvious creative aesthetic, some humanity and a hint of passion in this space.
the other day in my last class at school, two of the boys were talking in korean so i barked "only english" at them. kevin looked at me and told me that ryan loves me. and that's what they were talking about. my face got really red and the other little kid was mortified.
one last random thing. in the cab the other day i heard two songs back to back that i was not prepared for. the first was juice newton's "queen of hearts." the second was "black diamond" by kiss. i think i would have been more impressed had it been the replacements, but shit, i'll take kiss in chuncheon, south korea anyday.
other stuff. i think i've talked before about family marts and their prevalence in all of chuncheon. pretty much every block has a family mart. they're just gas-less gas stations. anyhoo, there's one pretty close to my apartment, and one night i needed to get some sundry (i don't remember what). so i walked in, and the same guy who was working the last time was there--50-60 years old and super nice. last time he was reading the bible and he gave me a map of chuncheon. this time when i walked in, he said to me "soju?" so i thought he thought that's what i was looking for, and i said "no." then i wandered around looking for something in the direction of the office. sitting very low to the floor were 4 more middle-aged korean men surrounded by a huge spread of food and bottles and bottles of soju. so then i pointed to them and said, "oh, soju!" then the man "working" started blessing himself and telling me i needed to bless myself. so i did (incorrectly, i think), then he handed me some chopsticks and ushered me into this room of middle-aged men who didn't speak english. so one of them gave up his seat on a crate and then they started feeding me kimbop and soju. i told them i was an american english teacher (miguk saram=american person; sonsaengnim=teacher). but for the next fifteen minutes while i was awkwardly sitting there, this one guy just kept saying "blah blah blah canada", but really excitedly. after we finished one bottle of soju (in dixie cups, no less) one of the men motioned to me to move so he could get into the crate i was sitting on. turned out it was a whole case--probably 30 bottles--of soju. so we killed another bottle. at this point, i started to feel like maybe they were making fun of me, so i politely left. i had not been planning to drink that night, but it seemed like an opportunity i shouldn't pass up. and i ended up drinking the rest of the night. so thanks, random dudes.
the weather here for the past couple of weeks has been really great spring weather, but last week there was some random heavy snow. wednesday nights are my nights to go out to eat with a friend of a friend, so he picked me up and it was raining. by the time we got to the restaraunt on the mountainside, it had started snowing pretty hard. and nice big flakes. not sticking too much to the road, but enough to make the ground white . so it was just me and dude in this really really nice restaraunt overlooking the city. we were sitting right next to the window while this pleasant storm outside quietly worsened. though i couldn't really see the view of the city, i knew it was out there below me. but i was quite content to see snow instead of city lights. it was a really great meal and the conversation with my complete opposite was more natural than it has ever been. so a good relaxing night. when i got home, i propped my feet up in my giant bay window sill and sat in the dark watching the snow.
my korean is still progressing, slowly but at least slowly instead of not at all. every day when i go to teach these little kindergartners, i am amazed by their capacity to learn and their impressionability. they really are little sponges soaking up everything and learning through osmosis. i was skeptical at first, but i'm at the point now where i can actually hear their progress. i get to spend 3 hours a day with these same 3 little kids speaking nothing but english to them. even if i have no lesson plan, it has to have some positive effect on them. when i started the class, the one boy, owen, was the least vocal and most uncomfortable--not just with me, but with the other two girls. now the three of them are best friends and owen is constantly singing the songs we learn. granted he sings, "my name is amy" (and amy always tells him "your name is owen, not amy"), but it's better than nothing. they also seem to be understanding phonics a lot better than most of my other classes. i dunno. it's just cool to see/hear real progress and know that it can only be attributed to me as the only native speaker in these kids' lives. now if only i could learn korean this way...
on saturday, i met another friend of a friend who was the son of watermelon farmers. he's 31, lives in the dormitory and has seen forrest gump approximately 20 times. (if you think living in the dorms as a 31 year old is bizarre, consider the fact that people here live with their parents until they get married. no wonder there's so much societal pressure to get hitched. it's quite common for 28 year old men and women to still live with their parents and have to check in with them). anyhoo...we drove along the riverside, and it was serene and beautiful, despite the pretty constant barrage of rain. we ended up at this cafe by the river called rivercafe. pretty clever there. anyhoo, it seemed like a coffee shop that would have fit right in in austin or something. lots of randomly matched--and seemingly used, which is unheard of here--furniture. there also was a ton of art everywhere because the owner was a former art professor. so sculptures in the yard, paintings on the walls. it was quite refreshing and comforting just to be in an atmosphere characterized by someone who actually had some sort of obvious creative aesthetic, some humanity and a hint of passion in this space.
the other day in my last class at school, two of the boys were talking in korean so i barked "only english" at them. kevin looked at me and told me that ryan loves me. and that's what they were talking about. my face got really red and the other little kid was mortified.
one last random thing. in the cab the other day i heard two songs back to back that i was not prepared for. the first was juice newton's "queen of hearts." the second was "black diamond" by kiss. i think i would have been more impressed had it been the replacements, but shit, i'll take kiss in chuncheon, south korea anyday.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Seoul (a little late...)
I should have already written this, but oh well. Last week we went to Seoul for the first time (refer to video blog...). It was pretty wicked, I'll be honest. Even the trip there was awesome--something about riding on a train, going through mountains and everything was really, really cool. It made me feel like I was on vacation or something, I don't know. I've just always liked trains. It was mine and Rory's first time out of Chuncheon since we've been here, and seeing parts of Korea that were really tiny, little communities was nice. Communities that looked like neon threw up on them, but still smaller than Chuncheon. We did a little train drinking, and soon enough we were there. So we had to navigate all of these subway/train lines and where they meet up, and we did it with a little help from some friendly Korean men. One of them was this super nice, older man, who had worked for AT&T for a long time. He spoke very good English and seemed amused by Rory and all of our collective love of dakgalbi and Korean food in general. He helped us through a stop and a transfer. Nice, nice man. When we actually got to the subway station we needed to be at, it was ginormous, like an underground mall--people everywhere in this giant maze. We found our terminal, and as soon as we walked out we saw our bar/restaurant where we were meeting people. The first two people we saw were sang and Clayton. It was so awesome to see Sang especially (no offense to Clayton, but we had already seen him in korea). It was a reminder of both home and the reason we are in Korea at all; we're definitely indebted to Sang. We also saw two girls from some MU TESOL (I think) programs. I will not butcher their names, but it was nice to see them. Did some "networking" (drinking) with the other MU alum, did a lot of eating, and moved to a different bar. Long story short, we went to two different bars and a karaoke room after that; Sang bought all of us so much freaking food, fruit and alcohol; Clayton made some clubworker feel really uncomfortable (some of the funniest stuff I've ever seen, i think); and Rory and Jamie both did solo dances in this giant, cheesy techno club. We partied until 6 in the morning, got on a train back to Chuncheon and had to work at 10:00. It was a long day.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
beatle bailey
i ate one of these. so did rory. it tasted like dirt. and also beetle.
www.flickr.com
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Monday, March 20, 2006
karaoke!
So this weekend was another fun one. It seems like now that I work 10-5 (ish) Monday through Friday, the weekend time has become more precious to me. Friday night we had another office party, which involved going to this bar called "Tombstone", drinking a lot of beer and watching these Korean bartenders "perform" bar shows for patrons and birthday girls. Apparently this is a common theme--you're not a bartender until you can chuck a bottle of flaming malibu behind your head and catch it. Frowny face. I thought just being charming and having a lot of cleavage made you a good bartender. Maybe I'll practice at home. But yeah, flaming bottles of alcohol, drinking crappy green beer and dancing, eating really cheap, undercooked corn dogs while waiting for a cab. Good times. The next night we hung out with a dude that Rory met at English Zone (the ESL bookstore). His name is Chris and he is from Vancouver. He runs his own hogwan (private english school, like the one we teach at...) out of his apartment with his Korean wife, English name "Miriam." They cooked us dinner and filled us in on Korean life. They were the coolest people we have met here thus far--not just because he is a white guy who speaks perfect English (we've actually been trying to stay away from white folks...), but because they were totally down-to-earth people with no pretense about them, ready and willing to show us everything or nothing about Korea if we wanted. Chris brought out his guitar and played some U2 and we sang along. Jamie joined us a little after they had already cleaned the table, but Miriam pulled everything out again and remade dinner for her. And they were just totally cool. The kind of folks who have traveled everywhere and lived all over and done incredible things but don't sound like they are just bragging about it when they talk about their experiences (they were like a Korean/Canadian version of Zsuzsa and Adam). And they did it all in a really kind of motivational, you can do whatever you want through "imagineering and engination" sort of way... And they took us to a karaoke singing room. It was so awesome. For $3 a person for however long, you can rent these little rooms and sing as loudly as you want. And they are totally set up with couches and 2 microphones; Korean and English songs. The first song we sang was "Don't stop believin'". It was just awesome. I think my voice is still recovering.
Today we made these cool oil/water/buttton/bead/glitter/bottle things--"light catchers", I called them (or convinced the kids to call them). Before they had gotten on the school bus, two kids dropped theirs on the floor, busting them and getting oil and glitter everywhere. Mine survived, though, and they look lovely in my classroom window. We also made sausage and egg biscuits. I had never made biscuits from scratch before--funny that I'm just now doing that in Korea.
Today we made these cool oil/water/buttton/bead/glitter/bottle things--"light catchers", I called them (or convinced the kids to call them). Before they had gotten on the school bus, two kids dropped theirs on the floor, busting them and getting oil and glitter everywhere. Mine survived, though, and they look lovely in my classroom window. We also made sausage and egg biscuits. I had never made biscuits from scratch before--funny that I'm just now doing that in Korea.
SKYPE
thanks to the zsuzsa, i've been introduced to the wonderful world of SKYPE. it's an internet phone program. it's free. if any of yallz get the gumption to download it, our skype name is "roryjuliechuncheon" all you need is a computer mic, and maybe some headphones. i haven't tried it yet, but it seems pretty cool.
that is all.
that is all.
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