Thoughts on Home

Recently, the news had opted to focus all of its attention on a little country that means even less: North Korea. Such a relic! Its military is from the 1970s and its ideology from the 1950s, but its shame is definitely still present. Despite there being not a single shred of evidence that North Korea can A) hit the United States with a nuclear bomb; B) successfully mount a military campaign to invade Candyland or C) feed its own people, everyone outside of South Korea was worried about North Korea.

This. This is what North Korea loses to. Princess Lolly is going to fuck you up!!!!

Well, I’m glad that the American government felt that Secretary of State John Kerry needed to come out and personally apply pressure on China/appear with Pak Geun-Hye to resolve this situation. I’m sure some backroom deal was brokered to pacify everything. What I’m really confused about is why the American media feels the need to over-sensationalize every— wait. Wait. Never mind. I just answered my own stupid question. If anyone wanted to think about the situation calmly and rationally it would go something like this:

“Well, North Korea is making threats and using a lot of confrontational rhetoric. What does this mean?”
“Hmm. Let me think. It is a country that has recently just been sanctioned by the U.N. This is relevant for two reasons: 1) China, perhaps N. Korea’s last significant ally and the regional hegemon, supported the sanctions and 2) North Korea is angry because it has even fewer resources to continue its existence.”
“Wow. I didn’t know that. Go on.”
“Of course, Courteous Counterpart. North Korea feels backed into a corner and is a little paranoid, so it reacting the same way a 5 year old child does when Daddy takes away rights to the cookie jar and Mommy actually agrees with Daddy instead of indulging the little fat bastard: a small tantrum. Now let me ask you a question – are you scared of a five year old throwing a tempter tantrum?”
“No. A five-year old is too weak to really hurt anyone.”
“Exactly. North Korea is the same. It is too weak to really decide to try and cross the world’s most heavily fortified border to face a military with a huge qualitative edge that is backed by the most powerful country in the world and probably 90% of the world in general. Even assuming a missile launch or some other form of action towards South Korea, North Korea would be finished within a week. Ergo, nothing will happen and North Korea is just trying to call attention to itself (and maybe Kim Jong-Eun is trying to cement his leadership, using any resulting aid-deals or concessions as victory points).”

(Short of going into a political science diatribe on what constitutes a state and what characteristics/behavior are common to all states, I’m going to stop this dialogue.)

Wow. Wasn’t that succinct? Do we really need to over sensationalize all of— ah crap! I did it again. I tried thinking logically when all the major news sources care about is getting somewhere between 10-70% of the information correct in direct inverse proportion to how quickly they can release it and increase viewership considering most Americans are stupid sensationalist-loving excuses of intellectual creations. Oh, that brings me to another, more recent and more tragic event.

Boston holds a very special place in my life. I am a dyed-in-the-womb die-hard Red Sox fan. I have more Bosox clothing/Boston clothing than anything else in my wardrobe (I just checked). I love the feel of the city, the way it’s laid out (much better than NY), the architecture, the history, and so many other things about it. I love that Boston is an intellectual city (MIT, Harvard, BU, BC, Berklee, Emerson, etc.) and a blue-collar salty city. Boston is New England’s city. The Beacon on a Hill. The Home of the Fens… It’s not the financial center like NY, it’s not the political center, like D.C., it’s kind of a lower-Ivy of American cities – storied history and full of great accomplishments, but it’s not a giant. That’s partly why I was so shocked when I awoke the other day, opened my news and saw “Breaking News: Boston Marathon explosions…” Explosions that have left 3 dead and over 150 wounded.

Lindz’s quick drawing about Boston’s spirit. I thought I’d share this

As much as I cannot understand why whoever perpetrated this act chose Boston, the Marathon, or even chose to do this in general, I also cannot understand two other related aspects – the news coverage and the American reaction. For my feelings on the news coverage, see the above Korean discussion about over-sensationalizing news for intellectually deficient Americans. Before I continue, I want to offer a little parallel. 1 year and 11 months ago I was in another conflict-lodestone of our world – Jerusalem. I was studying abroad in Israel after being evacuated from Cairo and the Egyptian chapter of the Arab Spring and had agreed to join my friend in running the 1st official Jerusalem Marathon. Two days before the marathon, some unidentified individuals (Hamas claimed responsibility and two individuals of another militant group are currently awaiting trial for their involvement) placed a bomb at a bus stop – killing one woman and wounding 39 more. There was speculation that this was a precursor of an even larger effort to be made at the marathon. I very much remember the fear at that time. I remember how, even in such an ever-stressed and contested state, there was that little edge of nervousness. An uncertainty as to whether or not something worse would happen. However, that nervousness was mitigated by the underlying belief that life must be enjoyed to its fullest – don’t let somebody else’s maybe prevent you from achieving your definite happiness. A lot of people from home and from Haifa University told the group of us going down to run in Jerusalem that we should stay home because it could be too dangerous. Most of us replied with “Why?” I distinctly recall feeling that you have to keep experiencing life. If you let others dictate how you are going to live and make your choices for you, then you aren’t living your life any more. Someone else is. Reflecting on that sentiment now, I begin to get a little more curious: what course of action did the Tsarnaev brothers (if they are the perpetrators) intend to force American lives into? What are they crying out for? What change are they hoping to affect? Who is trying to change how people live – were they by themselves or part of a group or is it all a conspiracy? I’m not asking these questions so that we can get the quick answer that sets everything neatly into our black and white worlds and we can go target the “individuals responsible.”

As you can see, my first thoughts aren’t what you typically see on the news or on your facebook feed. That brings me to my point about the American reaction. I was astounded by the number of posts I saw – both on news feeds and social media sites – that were some derivative of “DON’T F&^* WITH BOSTON!!! WE ARE GOING TO F***ING KILL YOUUUUUU!” or “AMERICA! GOD BLESS US!!!! F*** YOU YOU F**** SDI(R$Y*G REW*G(*GF # *)G WE’RE GOING TO KILL YOUUUUUU!” So many people beat their breasts and thumped their feet to the tune of violence and anger that I was reminded of a five year old with a hammer (see the similarity to the N. Korea story we talked about earlier?). You are angry and you think the best thing to do is swing your hammer about because you want to crush the thing that makes you angry. Let me tell you a little allegorical scenario: A little boy is playing with some dogs and puppies in a room. The boy is clearly not too smart, a little obese, and his mommy does whatever she can to make him happy or else he gets angry and swings his hammer (see where this is going yet?). The boy believes that play time involves pinching, biting, pulling, and otherwise hurting the dogs and puppies. But again, this little boy is too stupid to recognize that he may be a little too rough. Eventually, one of the dogs bites the boy because it was hurt too many times. The boy swings his hammer and cripples the dog. He goes back to playing. Another dog bites the boy after he hurt it too much. The boy swings his hammer and kills a different dog by accident. The boy goes back to playing and the cycle repeats. Not once during his play time does the boy ever wonder why the dogs are biting him, he just responds by swinging his hammer and doing the same thing. Do you get the moral of the story?

For some context: There are very, very, very few times you should ever wish someone dead. There are very, very, very few times you should voice that thought out loud. In my opinion, you should never ever combine the desire to wish someone dead with blind anger and nationalism. That is an incredibly heady brew, intoxicating in its consumption, that can actually create a critical mass if joined with other like-minded individuals or groups. The readiness with which so many people sprang to display their callous hate, nationalist righteous anger, and a desire for violence to the world is sickening. It was revolting to witness. I was disgusted, disappointed, and a little ashamed that many people I grew up with, those I consider dear friends, and such a seemingly large portion of the country all felt that this was the appropriate reaction to this situation. Maybe it is because my first reaction is to ask questions and get more information. Not call for blood. Maybe this comes from my viewpoint while outside America, as it was in May 2011 when I saw the same thing while in Israel regarding Osama Bin Laden’s death. Maybe I’m disgusted because I know that whatever caused the individuals to go to such lengths that they bombed a finish line at a marathon is not going to end with their deaths. Maybe it is because I would rather search for a way so that this will not happen again from any other person, rather than being so short-sighted as to only think of the here and now. Or maybe I am wrong/too idealistic.

In other news, my fantasy baseball team is not doing well, my real Red Sox team is, and I’m glad that most of my friends that I’ve gotten updates from are all safe, sound, and striving to achieve their dreams. Keep a steady hand on the tiller and sail for that horizon.

Life Update

Well, hey there. I seem to recall that we were in the midst of a conversation before I so rudely took my leave so un-announced. It appears that I must once again apologize for my disappearance, but segue into an observation: I have a tendency to write in one month cycles. I go 3 or 4 weeks without any writing pangs, but then I try to divest myself of as many written words as possible. Luckily for us, I have many many things that I have neglected to write to you about, which means we shan’t quickly tire of our re-connection. I’ll tell you all the details about everything I’ve been up to in the past few months, but first I will give you a few personal updates so you’ll know the end game of my previous few months’ experiences. (Disclaimer, these are not ranked in any order of importance, they are simply the order in which I remember them)

*Achem!* Perhaps of most recent newsworthy note, I have joined the ranks of the technologically literate (self-deludingly so) with the purchase, acquisition, and use of a new iPad 4. Ohhhh my goodness. I primarily use it to read books (I read the Picture of Dorian Gray right off and have moved onto “Starfish” by Peter Watts, as per Lindsay’s recommendation), however I have also found some fun games, use it for videos and flashcards in class, Skype with better camera resolution than my computer, and multitask by watching videos on it while I play games on my computer. Ah, the life of a first-world, white male and his fascination with gadgets that are merely redundancies (see Galaxy SIII and laptop computer). I dropped a pretty penny for this titillating tablet, seeing as Apple has a limited presence here in Korea, but I feel that it will pay off greatly in the end.

I have survived seven months here in Cheongju, ROK, and I A) have not been detained for public indecency B) killed a student C) been unduly tortured* by my students D) have not once been accused of corrupting public morals E) have not caught yellow fever F) or any other malicious disease G) have not started WWIII H) have not been asked to be the next Supreme Leader of North Korea I) have enjoyed some delicious crepes and baked goods at Oh La La** J) have yet to go to Busan or a beach, K) have consistently failed at budgeting my time L) started the “Insanity” workouts in preparation for warm weather M) finally made it to the roof of the Avalon building for some pre-class sunshine N) have felt the crushing weight of hopelessness regarding “What am I going to do with my life?” O) got an invitation to my High School 5-year reunion P) and promptly felt confused because WHAT?! IT’S BEEN 5 YEARS?!?!?!! Q) have felt immense pride in my sister for kicking butt down at Vandy S) have been shocked – pleasantly so – by how my brother is doing at Elon T) have missed my parents, not that I’ll ever tell them U) have gained a new appreciation for literally every single teacher/professor who taught me*** V) have re-discovered the joy of letting loose and hamming it up when singing W) have utterly failed at learning Korean X) realized I want to stay a kid a little longer Y) have met some of the best people in the world who are totally devoted to their dreams/travels/jobs Z) have 7 more months to enjoy!

*Point C is qualified since “unduly tortured” is a subjective term

**Point I mentions Oh La La: a fantastic bakery of cupcakes, crepes, and brownies that will soon make me fat and broke

*** Ms. Barlow, Mrs. Volpe, Ms. Merrill, Ms. Hughes, Ms. Hincks, Mrs. Hadfield, Mrs. McKenna, Mr. Terry, Mrs. Meyers & Mrs. Dunstan & Sra. Rochefort & Mrs. Hammond & Mrs. Pierce & Mr. Scott & Mr. Dion & Sra. Hook & Ms. Pavone & Ms. Buffan & Ms. Cancel & Mr. Stabile, Mrs. Izzo & Mr. Kenney & Mrs. Bucci & Mr. George & Ms. Lavoie & Ms. Amelotte & Sr. Mac & Sra. Chavez & Srta. O’Day & Mr. Collins & Ms. Schnacky & Mr. Lenox & Mr. Carniaux & Mrs. Mallozzi & Ms. Shaw & Ms. Parish & Mr. Petrucci & Mr. Downey & Ms. Harvey, Profs. Short & Swimelar & Morgan & Colbert & Taylor & Harmann & Brumbaugh & Ustatha Shereen & Sorensen & Digre & Crowe & Cockerell & Moreau & De Brigard & Allocco & TSaw & Lee & Lee & Hlavaty & Lily & Mor & Morris & Landau & Ustatha Jaldeti (Apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone)

I’ve sent home enough money to cover my loans for the next 9 months, which means I can now spend money with reckless abandon and still not have angry creditors! This does wonders for the psyche and promises to greatly improve my anemic social life. Well, actually, it may not do much of anything since I have my iPad, my computer and work. At the very least, I already feel more inclined to take expensive trips to experience Korea!

It’s starting to get warmer here in Korea, which means that Summer is nearly upon us! A magical time of warm sun, constant sweating, and the looming typhoon season! Yay! I’m hoping that the warm weather will help get my lazy butt in gear and go running again/get in shape. Even if it doesn’t, I look forward to post-work relaxation sessions in the park or outside the local quicky mart.

Otherwise, I’m trying. My life is settling into a nice groove/routine and I’ll soon be a little more complete when Lindsay gets over here. I’m happy because I’m still in a new place. Yes, Korea is incredibly frustrating and seemingly contradictory/paradoxical, but it’s still fun to get tripped up by the cultural gap. This gap hasn’t gone away yet. I still find new things every day. Yes, sometimes I try to find them and sometimes I try to pry them open until I fall in. It’s a mad world and if you don’t laugh at the insanity, you’re liable to wind up seriously in trouble. I am trying to figure out how I am going to live my life after my contract is done and I honestly cannot say for certain whether this has helped me decide my future. What I do know is that I have a bunch of kids who I need to focus on as much as possible. I’m not going to win any Teacher of the Year awards and I’m probably an Average Teacher at best, but I’m trying. You know that phrase “you don’t get points for trying?” I just want to say that you may not get “points,” but you can get better. Ustatha Shereen always told us that life was about living/trying/doing with good feelings and positive thoughts, which create expanding bubbles of positivity that link with others’ bubbles and so forth until good things happen. I’m trying, Ustatha Shereen. That’s where I’m at: I’m trying.

That’s the news from Cheongju-si. Where all the teachers are strong, all the cafes are full, and all the children defy the average. Don’t worry about us, North Korea isn’t doing anything.

Election and News about Home

There have been many invasive posts both on my facebook and on my newsfeed about something that may or may not being going on back at home right now. I am now vaguely aware that, just like four years ago around this time, all of my friends are suddenly experts on the political system, the political actors within said system, political ideology, and how to solve all the problems – real and imagined – that our country currently faces. Based on what I’ve seen, people seem to equate the President and Presidential power as the sole determinant of whether or not these problems get solved. Many people also think that political decisions should be decided on one issue and where a candidate stands on one issue, rather than evaluate the entire candidate, his/her philosophy, where that person stands in the political system, and what I would like to call context. Although that might be a little too generous, seeing as many people simply vote by a party or simply their perceptions of what a party is. In addition, everyone in America suddenly “wakes up” and decides to have an opinion (ill informed as it is) and refuses to participate in a calm, reasoned discourse. Rather, most prefer a screaming match, an emphatic contradiction, or, failing that, simply professing blind ignorance of any and all issues in some primeval display of measuring power and influence over your misguided attempts at figuring out these issues on your own. If they simply say something enough times, with enough force, they will enlighten you and bring you to a higher state of being (which actually means they have to force you to agree with them). Clearly this is the only demonstration they can make about how much smarter they are than everyone else. Overall, an unpleasant experience. Also, one that infuriates me. Oh, I do plan on voting as soon as my absentee ballot gets here and I also have a small bet going with a buddy on this election. To be fair, this is my first time being able to vote for President, so I am very excited!

As for trying to find other news of U.S.A., well that is buried somewhere farther underneath all the political. Last I saw, the Giants and the Tigers are in the world series, meaning I care about baseball about as much as I care about the NFL, back-alley bar fights, and the NBA (trick question, since the NBA and bar fights have the same actors and bar fighters have slightly more integrity). I also saw something about the NHL still in a lockout, the economy is still an economy, and everyone and his mother is obsessed with Gangnam Style. I didn’t say that I heard news worth reporting.

As you probably know by this point, the way I get most of my news is through BBC World, Al-Jazeera, Google, Skype, and Facebook. The last two of those are for my “social life” of all you back at home and have been invaluable for alerting me to the most important of details. For example, I found out that Chase and Katie are apparently engaged. That’s huge! Congrats! I also found out that many of my recently-graduated friends went to Elon last weekend for something called a… what was it?… “Homecoming?” Many of you are settling into jobs, or flitting around the world and experiencing life, or knocking the Hell out of grad school. See? I pay attention!

As for news from home, I can share that mom and dad are shopping for houses in Louisville, Kentucky. I don’t know what that necessarily means for our RI residence, but I’ll let you know when I know. I don’t know what is going to happen and I know that I don’t have any control over what happens, but I think it is fascinating that all of this is happening. Well, I find it fascinating that this is one way that I am reminded how life goes on for other people. You mean I’m not the center of everyone’s world and that my consultation isn’t needed for every decision in my family’s life? Inconceivable! Oh how the mighty are brought low! I guess this means that Dad is doing well enough at GE that they plan on staying for a while. As for David, I guess he is still doing well at Elon (no one has told me whether or not he has been “asked to leave and reconsider his life priorities” as President Leo would say). Julia is understanding that college isn’t as easy as I made it look (being the perfect older brother and all), but she is still sticking with it. Oh, and her ACL has healed to the point where she can jog now, even if she can’t do sports. So everyone is alive and healthy (last I heard), we are going through some potential family relocation, and I’m still the favorite child.

Wow, this whole news thing is looking pretty good. To be honest, I only talk with family and people from home about once a week. If I can bring up this almost-dead horse once again, not having a constant means of communicating with you all really inconveniences me. How else am I to learn all these little details about your lives so that I can one day control you? To my coworkers and former professors who are reading this, I promise that I don’t actually do that… If any of my friends from home say otherwise, they are liars! The veritable embodiment of benign non-interference, I am.

The whole point I’m writing this to you is because I’m discovering more and more about the habits I’ve formed. I’ve become more aware of what certain activities and people I valued and relied on before I crossed the Pacific Ocean (first and foremost, my Pulse app. After that? Probably just the ability to text Teagan about the video games we were playing in the rooms next to each other). That cliché about “not knowing what you got ’till it’s gone” holds true, I guess. Still, it’s amazing that suddenly not having something can reveal little things about who you are. My desire to stay current on news was very strong for the last year I was in the States, but I didn’t really care about talking with friends. Not that you were boring, just it all seemed stupid with the “Oh, guess who XYZ slept with this past weekend?” and “I hate my Biz-Econ-Ethics-of-Self-Congratulations-We-Made-a-PPT-All-By-Myself-(and my groupmates) Class.” Now go five weeks where your primary means of communication is facebook and realize that you have more free time than Willy at the end of his movie… Suddenly I want to know what life is like in Boston working as a bean counter, or in Raleigh as a geek, or back at Elon as a nerd (Ha! NERD!), or in X-City at Y-University going for your Master’s with your part-time job. Conversely, if I look at a news site for more than fifteen minutes I lose interest.

Basically, we live in a developed world of (at least potential) constant interaction through internet and cell phones. Many people like to go off the grid for a little while and get away from it all if they feel hounded by this constant interaction. Others thrive on having their hands on the pulse. I’m finding that I may be one of those in-betweeners: I won’t use it most of the time, but I like the option there if the mood strikes me. I want to be able to directly contact the people I’m thinking of, not wait for a scheduled Skype date or a response to an email or facebook post. Call me pushy. If, while reading this, you are struck by a sense of guilt at having not updated me on the news of your life, maybe you could get on that? Maybe send me an email? Facebook? Comment on the blog? I’m not hearing a noOOoo… *WooooOOOOP woop woop woop woop woop wooop*

Burnt Dog, New Tricks

I have been a little confused lately because of two conflicting phrases: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks and Learning is a lifelong endeavor. As you may or may not know, I don’t consider myself blessed with anything approaching a fully functional brain, especially as it concerns memory (hint: no memory). However, I want to learn more about everything in life (I’ve referenced all the languages, skills, musical instruments, and general information in another post) and I don’t know how feasible it all is. Between these two innocuous sayings and my ripe old age of 21, what am I to think about possibly educating myself in all the things I’ve never done before? Can I learn anything new? Sure I can try to keep mentally active by doing crossword puzzles and the like, but I’m more and more curious about whether or not I have used up all my limited brain capacity to learn on the boring stuff from school. I guess I got thinking about this the other week when I went to a seminar about how to teach at Avalon. I can’t say that I understood most of what they were talking about (or I thought it was stupid, not sure which one), but I do want to learn how to teach. This teaching stuff is all uncomfortably unfamiliar to me and I wish there was some way to make it all easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

You would think that based on those sentiments I would try to learn something useful: how to manage kids, various teaching pedagogies, what nerves you can hit for non-lethal takedowns for class control, etc. You get the idea. (Un)Fortunately, a coworker of mine, Heather, recently shared a lovely site called coursera.org where professors from “Top Universities” in the world offer free classes about various topics, ranging from the introductory to the advanced. Inspired by my recent brush with intellectual insecurity and beginning to feel that maybe watching whole seasons of shows in a day or two isn’t the best use of my time (I still stand by my decision to watch Better off Ted, Newsroom, Supernatural Season 7, and Beast Wars Transformers, though – Castle is queued up next), this website suggestion seemed a curious coincidence, nay – a conspiracy!

Thusly seized by the moment (I must admit that I didn’t seize it, nor The Day), I browsed the catalog and signed up for several courses. The first class I joined started on October 15 (so I started a week late, big whoop) and covers an introduction to the Python programming language. Yeah, pretty cool stuff, right? I figured, “Hey, I got a good handle on SAS in three months, I can get a good handle on Python in the same amount of time. Plus, I can make myself silly little games and learn more about math!” Ok, I wasn’t as excited about the math part, but I like to think that I am quite logical and that I can understand equations. Did I forget to mention that I’m awesome and a genius, possessing so much awesome inside that a lesser man would burst? So this should be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy! Well then I started taking the class. Let’s just say that Python is not Awesome and clearly is immiscible with Awesome. But Awesome ever prevails, it never falters, so I’ll keep you updated on my progress and blow your minds with the programs I create as I make them. Feel free to bow before me when you see them. Or if you are so awesome that you already defeated the evil Python (HA!), then please share your tale, wizened warrior, with a young challenger (a.k.a. *gulp* help?)

I also signed up for a course on Community Change in Public Health and a course in Cryptology. The Community in Public Health is an homage to my college studies in public policy and public administration, something I did fairly well at. Might as well keep current (and the course is taught by a professor from John’s Hopkins, so it can’t be too bad) and take a course that plays to my strengths (read as “not math”). That class just started a few days ago and I feel pretty solid in it. The Cryptology course starts in a week and a half and is something that I think would be really cool (although, again, math and equations – yuck). I hope I don’t stretch myself too thin over the next few weeks. I do have to stay on top of my actual schoolwork (at my job), keeping in touch with everyone at home, a social life, sleep, and improving myself in order to be the most Awesome person ever (I got my eye on you Barney Hakeem-Olajuwon-Thomas-Jefferson-NPH-Tesla Stinson!). One of those will slip, and I’ll just use it as an impetus to find purpose in life (I got my eye on you Barney Hakeem-Olajuwon-Thomas-Jefferson-NPH-Tesla Stinson!). Yes, I repeated that.

Awesome with a side of awesome?

I highly encourage everyone to check out the coursera.org site if they have the time. Maybe you’ll find something interesting! Join me in learning ALL THE THINGS! *Achem* Please, join me in discovering all that life has to offer through your own gifts and talents.

Life

Sorry that I haven’t posted in a while. I haven’t really been in a writing mood, apparently. Actually, it’s more the fact that I can’t think of anything worthy of posting. Life is pretty hum-drum here: wake, watch TV, work, watch TV, repeat. The weekend changes it up insofar as watch TV is replaced with going to the bar/club/noreabahng.

The biggest news I have is that this past Wednesday marked one month here at Avalon, teaching English to little children here in Korea. I’ve held a job for a month without getting reprimanded and/or fired! Although, I hear that employers wait a month to see how the newbies do before they start publicly humiliating you or generally letting you know if you suck. So, yay? In reality, this month has been very exciting. Between teaching, meeting new people, settling into a new country, and finding things to do that constitute “living life,” I can honestly say that the past month has been one of the most memorable. To be fair, I can’t remember anything before college and only bits and pieces of that (something about graduation, people?). I take what I can get though.

The teaching part I’ve pretty well covered in previous posts, so unless you want to hear more, I’ll just skip that. No, never mind, I am going to mention that some of these classes drag me down to the gates of Hell and make me wish I could give these kids something more than Daily Bridge (detention). It’s very difficult when these kids have little to know intrinsic motivation and I have no manner of extrinsically motivating them. I’m trying a new tactic of being nice, happy, and crazy in an effort to sweeten the class to buy their interest (and pumping them full of candy to actually sweeten class). Yet, since I am more familiar with scaring kids straight, maybe being able to fail the kid to make their schoolwork more personally relevant would help, but I’m at a loss for how to make that happen. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thankfully, the kids who are smart and pay attention make up for most of the baddies.

Ok, enough about that. I don’t have much to tell you about life in Korea or my social life. This week, two of my co-workers – Jesse and Heather – and I started teaching ourselves Korean. We are working on writing in Hangul (Korean alphabet), memorizing phrases to get around, and sometimes even speak. We haven’t started learning the mechanics of the language or grammar and so forth, but that to will come to pass. Jesse has really taken the lead on this endeavor of ours and given us some direction for the short-term until we can figure out a more traditional approach. This means that Jesse, Heather, and I are gathering material on our own and prepping some worksheets twice a week (hopefully that’ll increase) to learn about topics like travel, ordering food, shopping, etc. Jesse took the enlightened approach to this and suggested we learn some practicalities before we start in on the traditional learning. I’ll keep you updated on what I learn.

Other than that, it is situation normal. Hopefully I’ll get a phone this week and get connected to the world again, which’d make keeping in contact with you guys a lot easier. I’ll try to make my next post a little more exciting!

For the making rant-time!

This is a slight departure from the previous posts (I know, I know: with such variety of previous posts that isn’t possible). Instead of telling you about Avalon – it’s going well by the way and I haven’t been in any compromising situations (like killing a student or getting fired) – I will grace you all with some thoughts that have passed through my head in the previous few days. Interesting? I think so, but probably not. Sure to hold your attention? Maybe. Mind shattering out of sheer awesomeness? Definitely.

On the plane I realized you cannot listen to “Wake for Young Souls” by Third Eye Blind without smiling. Definitely want to try walking through a park on a sunny day listening to that one.

The refrigerator of the Four Seasons Motel (Motel, not Hotel) had three items in it: a glass, two boxes of juice, and two condoms. When I asked Haru (my co-worker/handler) about this, he chuckled and told me that some people think it increases stamina. So that was interesting.

Teaching is really hard. You have to navigate the class dynamic without letting the kids run the show, you have to finish the lesson of the day (but not too quickly lest you stand there looking like an idiot), but you also have to work with your co-teachers and management. So many expectations, so little me to go around!

I just moved into my apartment this evening, which still has a lot of stuff in it from the previous occupants (thanks, guys!), but I won’t have internet or a phone until I get my Alien Registration Card. Oh, that takes 4 weeks, by the way. So now I have no idea what I will do every morning…

My Red Sox are not performing as they should be/I want them to (read here as: they are last in the division and legal grounds for committing suicide in the state of MA). As such, I am slightly put off on the whole baseball season. My fantasy team isn’t doing much better. By the way, I have a fantasy team. Ha! Nerd!

I want to go back to that whole “no internet or phone until you get an Alien Registration Card (ARC).” Thanks, Korea. On the one hand I won’t be able to check my email on the weekends, skype home, talk with friends, chat with my associates here, find out plans about what co-workers are doing everyday, use the internet to teach me Korean/other fun educational things, and so forth. But then again: I’m off the grid!

Best lyric I have ever heard as far as pure rhythm and flow are concerned is still “Little old lady got mutilated late last night” from Werewolves of London. (Addendum: I hate Kid Rock. For those of you who don’t understand this, you are too young/have no taste in music/probably the spawn of Satan/stupid. Take your pick.)

I am still waiting for my trophy to go on my bookshelf that says: “Enhanced the 2012 election by not posting a single political comment on Facebook (because that is the perfect place to condense a complex decision into a single image and post it to the world, which totally achieves the aim of making you look intelligent rather than as a pompous idiot who is severely brain damaged)” This will go next to my trophy that says “This angelic saint did not once physically attempt the oft-desire (the raging kind that drives people into the most dire of straits) to kill every single person who posted a political message on a social media site”

For some reason, my music consists of Cake, Nappy Roots, and BT. Yeah, it’s kind of like that.

Well, enough ranting. I look forward to my weekend to explore Korea and see more stuff! I’ll let you all know what happens when I can. Oh and I survived my first week of teaching (1/2 week, but still…) Thanks, everybody!