Golden Bell [update]

WOO GOLDEN BELL! WOO! It was exciting and simple and short, and I got out of work in order to do it, so WOO! Both days were smooth sailing and I really enjoyed being a part of a quiz show. There is a video link here, but i'm not sure that it works if you're using a mac, and i'm even getting reports that it won't load on PC's... good luck.
News Story about the Nowon District Office English Golden Bell Quiz Show:

http://www.nbs.go.kr/brand/brand03_view.aspx?pubseq=2506&gotopage=1

There is a significantly hilarious part of the video that goes to a clip of me with the microphone saying... "And the answer is... DUODENUM!"
I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.

Here's two other links to a write-up of the event, and a page of pictures (a few of which, i'm in ^_^)

http://nowon.newsk.com/bbs/bbs.asp?group_name=109&section=9&idx_num=5471&exe=view

http://www.yonhap21.com/detail.php?number=1245&thread=22

Hope everyone is enjoying the cool weather as much as I am! Can't wait for October to roll in, my coworker is getting married on Halloween and she did not say that i COULDN'T dress up in costume for the ceremony...

Golden Bell

I suppose I'll prepare my nerves a bit as well as inform the small mass of ya'll reading about the student quiz show i'll be co-hosting next week.

GOLDEN BELL

About a dozen schools will be sending their smartest students to compete in this academic competition. There will be roughly 120 students competing for the grand prize (a very large gift certificate to a department store, perhaps) and bragging rights to say that YOU rang the golden bell(only the winner gets to ring it, heh). The questions will be presented in English, but the answers will be accepted in both English and Korean.

There will be a Korean MC who will do a majority of the hosting duties, while I will be the native English speaker reading the questions. The questions are, of course, supposed to be difficult enough to weed out a few kids each round, but not so difficult to eliminate half the field in one question. Therefore, my secondary job will be to 'pump up' or 'deflate' the difficulty for each question in order to maintain an appropriate level of competition throughout the program.

There is a time limit to the competition, because this will be televised on the Nowon District's private TV station. So it won't be programmed into every TV in Seoul, just localized in my neighborhood on a select channel... come to think of it, i'm not even sure how one would go about watching this even if you did want to watch kids sweat through test questions read by a crazy foreigner. Regardless, it's my job to make sure we stay on schedule and weed out enough kids or keep enough kids alive to keep it interesting. I really just hope that somebody is keeping a sharp eye on which questions are too hard/easy so they can tell me what to say.

Lastly, the only other real concern is the Korean words that i'm expected to pronounce when reading these questions. I'll have some phonetic shorthand notes, but that won't save me from getting laughed at for my slaughtering of the word "cheomseongdae" or "daejanggyeong".

Wish me luck ^_^

bringing sexy back

Great night out in Kwangwhamun tonight.

There is a statue of a Korean Admiral who overturned the Japanese invasion with 1/10th of the ships. Japan had landed troops and steamrolled the mainland, but this admiral took on the japanese navy and dominated through guerrilla tactics and "home court advantage." Much like Thermopylae, he lured the Japanese troops into a choke point where the tides mixed, and if you didn't know how to navigate the pass, you'd be dead in the water. This Korean admiral regained power on the mainland from the sea with 30 ships vs. the Japanese 300 ships. BUT HE WAS A BAD STUDENT.
[all information comes from co-worker, Billy]

The area we were in had statues and theaters and art galleries and sky scrapers and huge intersections, and was only 1 stop away from City Hall and the the snazziest hotel i've seen in the whole country. It was so exciting to even walk around, amidst thousands of people getting off work and hanging out, going to bars, getting chicken like us, drinking beer like us, catching cabs like us, and enjoying the end of the week like we were.

I guess i should mention who i was with. Billy is an ex-marine who seems as cynical as i am about Korea, except he has been here for over a year and has several Korean friends, and can speak practically fluent Korean (among the 8 other languages he knows). Varrick is a black guy from Chicago, and the only reason i mention his skin color is because he gets a lot of attention from Koreans at bars, on the subway, street, in McDonalds, 7-Eleven... you get the point. He's really fun and went to see G.I. Joe with me. We applauded when the line "Yo Joe!" occurred, really nice guy. And Chloe was with us, she is a Korean teacher at our school who is not only funny and helpful at work, but dances with us and shows us around town after work. My new job is awesome.

So we missed seeing a movie, but instead went to "Table Bar" for a couple hours dancing and drinking REAL BEER. (Picture the bar as 3 big bar-height tables with piles of ice and beer in the middle) They had a live DJ too, which makes the night so much more enjoyable.

As Omar and Rodort put it:
"I'm really happy to hear you're enjoying yourself over there."

Couldn't have put it better myself :D

coffee shop sittin

Coffee shops are everywhere. Coffee is sold at a disgusting rate all over the world and millions of people down cup after cup during the day to bust their humps at their thousand-dollar an hour jobs as well as their dollar an hour jobs. It's a substance that is sold in thousands of combinations and sizes and it's no different ordering it here than at home. Except how it tastes. I'm not a big coffee drinker, and i rarely order anything when i come to a Starbucks or (at this moment) Angel-in-us Coffee. The thing that i can't get around is how foreign it feels to sit here.

Probably due to the fact that i can't understand a single word anyone is saying at the moment, but sitting in a coffee shop in Korea isn't as nostalgic as i assume it should be. Maybe i'm just determinedly homesick :/

July = omitted

I have had a lot of requests to continue writing about my experience here in Korea, so here is the first step back in the pool. A lot of stuff happened in July, mostly boring vacation time away from work sitting in my apartment waiting for my next paycheck (which comes TOMORROW, WOO!). But starting my new job at Nowon English Village also occurred in July. As well as a long-overdue recap of my trip to Thailand.

But we'll skip that for the most part, because July was not a happy month. I missed 4th of July at Grandma's more than ever, have seen friend's birthdays come and go on facebook, shocked and overjoyed at the news of a cousin's wedding that again, i missed, monsoon rains off and on soaking me skin deep even with an umbrella, and not having any money (at all) here prohibited me from getting out of my room to go see other friends or to even buy a decent meal. I'm happy to move into August, even with the spike in humidity and increased work hours with summer camp.

I'll be breif about Thailand: don't get robbed, and don't leave your camera at a bar next to your hostel. :(

Changing jobs was the best idea i've made in my entire stay in this country. Working for a very strict private academy was not a good fit for me, and i don't think it's a good fit for anyone working there. Moving out to Nowon (outside of the downtown, quieter, fresh(er) air, mountains, and more friendly faces) has been a huge relief to my homesickness. Fun note: when a Korean is homesick, they say you are "kimchi sick." As in, you miss eating your kimchi at home. I'm positive that i'm catsick, as well as Leesick. But my apartment complex/school has a pool, which i can jump into at night, which is so relaxing. Showering in my bathroom/toilet/closet does not compare to being submerged in water surrounded by trees and stars. Nice.

The work itself is incomparable. This week i've been rushed (more like harrassed on how to complete paperwork correctly ("learning process")) to finish report cards for all of my classes. This workload that is required of me once a month per class is equivalent to my workload for every class once a week at my old job. Picture me typing on a computer and printing out teacher comment forms with a smile while sipping on a cup of coffee and whistling to myself.... yep.

That's all I have time for right now, I'll be sure to continue writing and keeping it updated more often now that I've busted through NOT writing on here.

The Prodigal Son Returns

KIWON IS BACK HOME.

I'm currently overwhelmed with the emotional response of seeing a familiar face here in Korea. It might also be the absolutely divine meal we just ate (galbi... marinated pork sliced moderately thin and cooked on the table in front of you... kind of like brisket but with completely alien spices). I ate a lot, maybe that accounts for the surge of endorphins. But having Kiwon back here makes this place feel like a home more than I ever thought it could. He just got home from his SECOND year abroad... i'm feeling homesick after 6 months. He has been through the culture shock at not only a younger age, but in High School when practically everything comes as a shock. I'm happy to see him mostly because he's grown up a bit and enjoys talking to me and asking me questions (his English has indeed improved) but also because he is someone that I knew before I left for Korea. We both know where he hid his cig butts in the backyard, we both know how good a cook my mom is, and we both know how crazy living in Seoul can be. He's a point of reference. He's like an anchor back to a place and a family and way of life that i miss. Sure, i want to come home, but being abroad just got a whole lot more exciting. I feel great. I'm leaving for Thailand tomorrow and paying for a vacation for the first time in my whole life. I miss you all back home and i will hopefully fill in the past few weeks after i finish packing here in the next few hours.

Korean culture

We were told today at work that it was not ok for any of the male foreign teachers to hang out with any of the female Korean teachers at our school. It "would not look ok", whatever that means. I couldn't help myself and asked if it would be ok for a male Korean teacher to hang out with a female foreign teacher. "Yeah, of course."

Double standard slam dunk.

Us guy foreign teachers were also told it doesn't look good when any of us bring a girl back to our room at night. I fail to see how this is unacceptable when we are A.) consenting adults, and B.) NOT CHILDREN.

I'm ready to leave Korea at least for a little bit.