6 Months

It has been exactly 6 months since I have woken in this country. 6 months. Wow. I honestly cannot believe it. I hardly remember my first weeks here, they seem so long ago. Yet at the same time I feel so new to my job and my friends (more like family) here. I haven’t done half the things I’ve wanted to do in this country, but half my contract has passed. If you have kept up with the blog, then I see no need to recapitulate everything I have written. Instead I’ll just talk at you a little longer and wax nostalgic.

6 months ago I boarded a plane as a wide-eyed and foolishly (falsely) over-confident lad bound for the Riches of the Orient. Enticed by tales of gold and adventures rarely seen by my peers, I nervously pledged myself to a full year of cheerful service. I must admit, the first half of that year was less than cheerful at times. Yet life is about perseverance and resolve. In my first taste of the real world, I have seen a little more of what life has to offer. Strangely enough, I have come to find that life in the real world isn’t always so upbeat as life was previously back home. I have begun to see that there are so many people in life who shelter each of us from hardship and pain. So many people who provide us with seemingly unceasing fountains of happiness: Friends, Family, Significant others, and Co-workers, all of whom provide a solid presence and comfort through our everyday trials. At home I had those protectors in spades. Now, having flown halfway around the world and presented with the opportunity to forge new bonds of friendship to support me… Well, the task has been immensely rewarding and all colors of fun. I truly am grateful to everyone here who has made my life easier and helped me reach this point in my life. I am happy, I am dedicated to my job, I am content in my current situation.

Looking back, I guess I can classify these past 183 days as a time in my life where I built. I built friendships. I built confidence. I built experience and built upon my skills. I built my life in my own patterns and fashions in my environs. I have built a foundation for the next 6 months. With my comfort, I want to seize every opportunity and strive for more experiences – travel to more cities in Korea and see more culture, really dedicate myself to Korean language instruction, try to bring as much passion and love of learning into my classes as possible (we can make these kids want to learn, I swear it!). So much to do and so much I have to look forward to. I think if I had to sum up the past 6 months of my life in one word it would be “foundation,” but for the next 6 months I want it to be, “immersion.”

Well, I bore you. Apologies. I will go seize the opportunities that life presents and wring every drop of happiness from them – both for myself and my friends. Then I’ll write about them so you can share in this ambrosia. Now! I must prepare myself for a night in Seoul to celebrate!

A Brief review of November

If you get this, you’re a nerd. If you don’t, go to amazon.com and buy every single Steven Erikson book, wait for them to arrive, read them all, then come back and read the first paragraph of this post again and appreciate it…

Before the previous post extolling my regrets in search of pardons, I was so closed-hearted, closed-minded, and distant as to have not posted in over two months. The indecency of it all! And not once did anyone remind me that I hadn’t, The affrontery of it all! As such, I can only conclude that either your esteem of myself had fallen so far as to refuse ackowledgment of my mere existence, or you were so grateful for the cessation of my seemingly interminable ordure that you deigned to ignore it in hopes that it wouldn’t restart. Well! I accept a challenge and, like a resurgence of a cold late in the season, will return with full force to win back your affection and restore my honor! Ha! Avast, ye devils of my literary spirit, thou shalt be vanquished by the words of greatness (Get it? “Words” is an anagram of “sword!”). Attend! and Witness.

Apparently, I have not posted since November 18th, 2012. It being February 5th, 2013, this is inexcusable. So, I have too many stories to recount satisfactorily in a single post. I will therefore simply waste a post in the condensed recording of the events that transpired between November 18-30.

I don’t remember much about the end of November. It was the end of my first semester here in Korea and all of us teachers were trying to prepare ourselves for the transition. At the beginning of December we were losing a number of esteemed colleagues – Craig, Mike, and Haru (2 foreign teachers and a Korean administrative person, respectively) – and were starting a new semester full of new students, new rules, new placements, and new expectations. So, the last few weeks of November passed smoothly: using the weekdays to shape the multi-cultural leaders of tomorrow, using the weekends to blow off stress. As I recall, I got heavily into the TV show Castle around this time, as well as several other tv series and movies. Actually, I know this to be true because a severely distressing incident occurred in the midst of a Castle episode – my beloved of four and a half years, my MacBookPro, died. Turned into a brick and would not start again. So, I bought a new computer the following weekend (A Toshiba satellite with better specs than my Mac for only $400!) and made plans to fix my Mac when I could. That was a fun trip with Andrew, as I recall, and I am mighty pleased with the solution, all things considered (although I do plan on returning to the realm of Mac as soon as I can afford it). Pretty uneventful, but still exciting.

Oh wait, you know how I am less than enthused about the “sport” of golf? Do you know how I’ve never done anything more professional than minigolf in my life? Well Korea has something fascinating:

Look at that form!

Oh yeah, screen golf! For $20 you can buy a round of 9 holes, bring your own booze, food, and extra entertainment if you so desire. Phil, Chris, Andrew, Josh, Jesse, and I played a full round, watched Caddyshack, drank a little, and ended up somewhere between 20-40 over par. Yay.

“But, Jon!” you squeal into your screen, “What about Thanksgiving!” Well, I must admit, Koreans don’t do Thanksgiving the way Americans do, so we didn’t really celebrate. A couple foreign teachers decided that we would go out for a nice meal on Saturday at the “best restaurant” in Cheongju – VIPS. It’s a steak place that is apparently one of the most expensive in Cheongju at $25 a plate. I had planned to join them, but was laid low by a little illness and could not join them. Sad for me, I know. Aside from that, the month wrapped up smoothly. If I can’t remember anything big, I guess nothing happened. My facebook doesn’t offer any evidence to the contrary either. Feel free to correct me if you can recall.

Hope you liked November. Onto December posts!

All apologies

I’m sorry…

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears, for I am abased in your eyes and must offer my person up for judgment. It has been over two months since my last missive, which means I have failed you and broken your trust. Indeed, it is with a heavy heart and downcast eyes that I stand before you in digital form, pleading my case for one more opportunity to regale you as I did before: To sing to you of vaunted towers in Seoul, to confide in you in manners of business, and to conspire with you in the plans of life yet unseen. Ah, such a life as I can share. Lifting back the curtains with a hesitant hand, I can give you (only you, I so solemnly swear) a glimpse of the vista beyond. Perhaps you’d like to hear the tales from days of yore when men were men… and… and… we’ll that’s another story for another time. Instead, if my grovelling has successfully warmed the cockles of your heart for sufficient pity to steal into your veins and stay your hand from execution…! Well, then I see no need for me to continue on this course of unceasing deprecation and can return triumphant to the more important matters at hand.

As forgiven as the babe who wanders lost in the forest, so I shall be. As repentant as the sinner reborn, so shall I be. As loquacious as the great orators of old, so shall I endeavor. Excelsior!

Please, dear friends, let us dwell on this triviality no more. Nay, let us redouble our efforts to comingle our lives instead, for the very essence of life is that ephemeral spirit of contact. Huzzah! New posts shall abound!

Society and Korea!

Well well. It certainly has been a most eventful few weeks. Perhaps first and foremost I should say that it has ever been my intention to mimic the prodigal sons of old to go abroad and seek my fortune. Indeed, the reason I accepted my current position was not for the chance to experience a new culture, language, and job field, but for the vast sums of money I accrue every pay cycle. As such, I wanted to show you a glimpse of the riches I have gained in my short time here:

MADE IT MA! TOP OF THE WORLD!

Ah, the riches of the Orient. What do I do with my millions, you ask? I spend only what is necessary to cover my modest living expenses – food, bills, weekend festivities, and my phone bill. Ah, what’s that? You didn’t know I got a phone? Interesting. Looks like I couldn’t call you with that info, hmm? Whose fault is that? Well. I am the proud new owner of a cell phone here in Korea equipped with all the latest in technology. I have the lightning 4GLTE, I have a camera, I can use apps, and it even, yes even, makes phone calls and texts. Wow. Astounding! So, if you need to reach me, please download the Viber app and call me at +82 010 9418 6493. Or download the app and send me your number and I’ll get in contact with you. Now I am woven back into the social fabric and able to take on the world!

Part of taking on the world involves experiencing Korean culture. You know that I have already done some more traditional/historical cultural events, but I also have an obligation to the current Korean society. So, on Saturday night I got to cross off a very Korean item off my list. I have never played Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, I have never been to a PC Room for gaming, and I have never played against Koreans in videogames. Well… Hadn’t ever…

Daniel setting up Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. We totally kicked @$$!

MWUHAHAHA! Protoss!

We had gone out for Josh’s birthday on Saturday night to a little conveyor-belt sushi place called “Fun Fish,” but had some time to kill between dinner and hitting the bars.

Fun Fish. Ryan (l) and Andrew (r) were excited at least…

In that hour of time, I joined a Korean coworker – Daniel – in finding something to do. Side note, Daniel has led a pretty interesting life. He is in his early 30s and just came back to Korea from 10 years in Canada where he studied and worked. In his earlier days at the tail end of university, he was a video game tester (Need for Speed Undercover!) and is still heavy into the video games. That’s what made this all relevant – him, time to kill, going to a PC Room – and worth recounting. So, he set up another account and had us gaming in the limelight…

Strike that one off the list. I’ve gamed with a Korean on Starcraft II in a PC Room. And. We. Won. Oh, by “we” I mean that the entire UI was in Korean and Daniel had to tell me what to do for the most part. Pretty awesome stuff, I know! Now I just need to go to a tournament…

Of the Making Glorious Journey!

If you are reading this, then you are clearly a literary masochist. Or maybe the equivalent of a fascinated car-crash-watcher. Either way, get yourself checked, sir or madam, as you have a serious condition that I aim to use and abuse in vainglorious attempts to satisfy my ego. Thank you. You are so kind.

As you can guess from my title (not at all a broken English translation of something that sounds vaguely racist), I have arrived in Korea. Yay! Said feat of derring do began on Friday morning at 7:45 departing Boston to Chicago O’Hare, where I transferred to a noon departure for Seoul, and ended at Cheongju on Saturday at 7:15 PM (local time) at the bus station. How much fun were my flights, you ask? Were they hassle-free, you also ask? Did you engage in illicit acts and end up getting taken out by security, one of you asks (you’re in the back and wearing a hoodie, but I will find out which one of you it is!)? No, I didn’t, in answer to that last question, which was clearly voiced by a deranged lunatic who probably enjoys herding lemmings off of cliffs. Again, get yourself checked since you are clearly in need of severe emotional and mental assistance. Can we be friends after you query so in public, especially in light of my readership of esteemed colleagues and former professors (see previous post) which has so dearly embarrassed me? I will forgive, since that is always in my power, but we shall see about reparation. We shall see…

But otherwise, yes, my flights were delicious, fun, and hassle-free. I sat next to a Dave Castoldi on my flight from Boston to Chicago who was a 70 year old grandmaster of jujitsu (10th degree full red belt of awesomeness) and trained under several notable figures in the martial arts world such as Professor Wally Jay (one of the guys who trained FREAKIN BRUCE LEE). Mr. Castoldi (Grandmaster Sensei Castoldi? I am terrible with titles) was very talkative and shared many fascinating stories about his “street self-defense” programs and even proffered a few sagely proverbs in the course of our three hour flight. He even showed me a couple finger locks! Cool! My flight to Korea was a little less eventful. I sat next to a grandmother and her son’s father-in-law who were on their ways to Vietnam to visit family. How… familial. I do have three important items of note from this flight, however, and they are life-shatteringly important. First, I flew over Russia. Suck it. Suck it long, suck it hard, I have pictures of Siberia (crappy ones, yes, since apparently when I asked for a window seat not over the wing, the counter-lady decided to put me at the back of the wing). Notation: for those of you who don’t know, I have a slight fascination with Russia and Siberia. And I have pictures, so I have that going for me, which is nice. Second, I watched the Avenger’s movie. I give it a 6/10 simply because the plot sucked, it was a comic book hero movie (which means the plot sucks and the dialogue is generally equivalent of Terrence and Phillip), there was little consistency in characters’ actions, and so many actions occurred for no apparent reason (other than simple “we must move the plot in this way, quick make it happen now”) that it made the plot suck and kept pulling me out of the movie. However, I give it all 6 points because of the one part where Hulk side-face-fists Thor out of nowhere (By the way, f*@& Marvel for turning a demi-god into a whiny hero who would lose to Iron Man, do you understand what demi-God who wields a hammer that can unmake the world means???? His hammer can level a mountain but not crush Iron Man????). That scene was amusing, the rest of the movie wasn’t. Oh, and third I tried watching the Lorax. I valiantly dashed my pride and obduracy on the rocks of open-minded curiosity and genuine desire to be proved wrong by one of Dr. Seuss’s most magical books made into an animated film (despite the dubious choice of casting Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, and Danny DeVito), hat in hand and beseeching forgiveness since many of my friends have said “it wasn’t that bad.” My friends, you are no longer my friends. I could not get past five minutes. The opening song alone was akin to forking my eyeballs and being hit by a bulldozer in the ear-drums. Correction: I was Hulk-fisted. You caused this. You are why I can’t have nice things…

But that was about it from the flights. Lots of fun overall. Landing in Seoul was uneventful, getting on a bus to Cheongju was uneventful, and being greeted by several of my soon-to-be co-workers at the end of the line was a pleasant surprise. Expecting one person from the school administration to pick me up, show me to my apartment, and leave me to my wanderings, I was pleasantly surprised when I was instead received by a delegation of one administrator and three fellow “foreign” teachers (us white people being foreigners here in Korea, look at you learning!). Unfortunately, it would appear that the teacher I am replacing (Ben, a decent chap I am told) won’t be departing until Friday, so he is still in the apartment I will be living in, and thus I am ensconced in the Four Seasons Motel for the next week. Thus, the Delegation brought me to my new, temporary accommodations and gave me just enough time to divest myself of my baggage before we headed for dinner and drinks on the town. Ah, who are the members of such an august delegation, you ask? Aiee! I proclaim, remembering my lack of manners. The administrator from Avalon English was Haru (a very nice fellow) and the foreign teachers were a 31 year old from Nebraska (Phil), a 24 year old from Toronto (Josh), and a 25 year old from “Eastern Canada, in a place you’ve never heard of” (Jesse). We went to a Korean BBQ joint, introducing me to Korean dining (absolutely delicious) and the “sweet potato ‘vodka'” called Soju. Here we were joined by a fellow teacher, Chris, who is from Oakland and went to Stanford (and sounds almost exactly like Chali2na, for those of you who get that. Needless to say, I was kind of excited). After dinner Haru departed and we merry makers continued to a bar to play dominoes and drink more soju and beer, then to a karaoke establishment. Apparently karaoke in Korea (future album title. Claimed. No taking, you thieves) is slightly different from what we are used to in America, since you rent a private room and make an ass of yourself in private (Again with soju and beer. Sensing a theme?). I acquitted myself well, displaying my musical range from You’ll Be in My Heart (Tarzan you uncultured swine! Oh Phil Collins!) to Incubus and The Darkness (Why, yes, I do believe in a thing called love…) Phil and Jesse are the best harmonizers, Chris is a close second best at everything, and Josh and I are decent at lead (read here as: we sing the main melody and can’t do much else). Actually, Josh can sing the main melodies and I simply vocally vomited all over the walls of the private room until my chords died and have become the possible “screamer/growler” of the group. Did I mention there was soju and beer to assist? Ah, such is life.

This ended in the wee hours of the morning, at which point we all decided to head back to our respective domiciles. Psych! We went to a local convenience store and sat outside with our remaining beers and pine-bud-drink (yes, you read that correctly, pine-bud drink) to chat. When that all ended at 3AM, Phil assisted me in my 10 minute cab ride home where I was so tired that I slept for a full five hours (Get it? That’s not a lot considering I don’t sleep well on planes, trains, or plantains and I had been up all night and partying (which I need a further sub-notation to note: I don’t party often so I should be extra-tired) which should have helped me adjust better. Sarcasm! Look at you learning!) So I decided to dedicate my first hours on this Sunday (my last day of rest) to writing to you all, you selfish jackals.

So today I will try to further adjust time-zones and reduce my jet-lag and general fatigue while possibly getting a lay of the city and wandering to my heart’s content. Not the contents of my heart, but to the contentment. It’s not like I’m planning on using the day to meditate myself into a spiritual journey where I delve the deepest mysteries of my heart’s inner mystique to grow as an individual… I think that was last night (See: soju and beer and karaoke). So I will relax, use Monday and Tuesday to prep/shadow the teacher I will be replacing, and start on Wednesday. Trepidation and anxious excitement! Excelsior! I’ll try posting updates in the future, but I am told I will be very busy in the upcoming days…

Hello world!

A greetings to you all who have so bravely dared to read the first few sentences of my first attempt at a travel blog. I find myself more than slightly at a loss when it comes to blogging since I am a poor writer, at best, and a poorer writer when the subject is first person (For example I just wanted to write poorer writerer… I thought it was funny). And since I am writing for such a diverse audience – dear friends, meh friends, former professors, family, family friends (but not family professors I should think) – I may be writing in a tone or style that with which you are unaccustomed to me using. Therefore I apologize in advance for grammatical clumsiness, improprietous word choice, tonal disharmony, and other unfortunate writing-based side-effects of getting dropped down the stairs as a child. Well, since my apologies and fumbling introduction is a complete waste and you are still reading, I shall simply commence!

I am headed to Korea! Yay for me! For a year! To teach English as a Second Language in the esteemed and august Avalon Langcon English Academy! Such excite! I have been granted an opportunity to assist elementary and middle school children in the verdant and vibrant city of Cheongju, ROK (Republic of Korea, meaning South Korea, look at you learning!) in their efforts to master the confusing English language. Being so fortunate and realizing that many of my dear comrades have  not the same fortunes, I have taken such a burden upon myself to recount the events of my life over the next year so that you may all bask – er, share – in these riches. As I leave later today (it being well past my bed-time and my flight but hours away), I have endeavored in Herculean fashion to pack my belongings, muster my courage, and attempt to start a blog from state-side to state-side. I will let this slip and fall by the way side, I am sure, so if/when there is an obscene length of time since my last post, please contact me to resume writing. Or to inquire to my health as I may be suffering from some horrible life-threatening malady that you would feel very bad about not knowing. And just so my future self can’t convince you otherwise: laziness and “But I really don’t FEEL like it” are not life-threatening maladies that excuse not posting.

Oof, too much writing already. I’ll condense: I’m headed to Korea to fulfill the one-year teaching contract I signed for an ESL position at Avalon Langcon Academy. I am very very excited and look forward to this opportunity and wish to share some of my experiences with you all so that you know I’m alive and you can still influence my life. Providing perspective also helps, so anyone who is good at that will be welcome in the comments section (is there a comment section? I am so bad at this). I’ll see what I post over the next few days, but I’ll be flying, jet-lagggggged, and starting orientation! Woooooooo! Korea!