Too Much To Tell...

I know you've all been waiting anxiously for my next exciting blog entry, and I thank you for your patience! ㅋㅋㅋ Normally I would begin by apologizing for my laziness and lack of committment to this blog, but I feel that it's rather unecessary this time considering the level of kraziness my daily schedule has reached over the past few months. With that being said, please understand that the number of stories and life updates I have to tell can't be typed in a single work day (no classes today due to final semester exams). So some stories will be short, some stories will be paraphrased, and many stories will be skipped.

School life has gotten both hectic and more comfortable at the same time. My principal has already asked that I try to stay until the end of his contract at the school (another year and a half) and I've reached a point where I recognize or even speak to the majority of the current teachers in the school. Despite some recent unfortunate events over the past few weeks, I still call Changshin E.S. my home and can't imagine teaching anywhere else (for now).  I love my co-workers dearly and probably would have gone crazy months ago if it weren't for them. A couple times a week I give them private "English Lessons" in exchange for an occasional post-work snack like fried chicken, pizza, or my korean-favorite, 보쌈 (bossam = steamed pork). Please note that I don't accept any official payment for these lessons, therefore not providing grounds to void my current work visa... haha.  My students are becoming increasingly more comfortable with me (which is both good and bad), as are my four co-teachers. Periodically, we hold "English family dinners" which range from simple meals of gimbab (like sushi) or long trips into Seoul for a nice, sophisticated meal.

My weekly schedule is pretty constant... work Mon-Fri with about 3 trips a week to downtown Incheon to meet with western friends or my lady friend, Seunghee.  Saturday is reserved for basketball and occasional R&R.  And Sundays are still my days in Seoul with Yuri and the rest of my church group. Of course, my weekly routine has various deviations every now and then. For example, a couple of weeks ago I traveled to Busan (South-East coast) to meet up with some friends from orientation for a 3-on-3 charity basketball tournament. My team placed third in the men's league and 2nd in the mixed. Last week, Seunghee and I went to Caribbean Bay, one of the most famous water parks in Korea. Let it suffice to say that it was an amazing time and pleasantly relaxing during one of my most hectic and stressful weeks in Korea.

My hair is slowly evolving into somewhat of a Korean style hair-do... meaning, it's far too long for my liking.

The heat and humidity here are horrendous. It averages high 70s to mid-80s these days, but the humidity is so high that I usually have to change my sweat-drenched clothes at the end of each work day. Also, we're sort of in Korea's rainy season, meaning two days of sunshine and no rain in a row is seen as a blessing.

Most of you on Facebook probably noticed that I've been rocking an iPhone for the past few months... that's because my original phone was stolen from my office..... while I was in the office, somehow.  Even though my phone bill has jumped quite a bit, I'm quite happy to have a constant time-waster in my pocket to keep me busy for long bus and subway rides into the downtown areas.

I've been attempting to move into a new apartment recently. My current one has a pretty bad leak and lack of sunlight problem, leading to mold and peeling wallpaper issues that can't be controlled. Unfortunatley, my landlord won't give back the school's deposit unless a new tenant is found or my contract expires, so that won't happen until October. Some might ask, "But Mark, does that mean you're staying in Korea?"  The answer is a very probable "yes".  Work contract renewals for October GETs is coming up, and I'm currently planning on signing on for another year. I know this may be sad news for friends and family back home, but I don't think my Korean people are giving me much of a choice!

Lastly, as most of you probably know, I'll be coming home in two weeks! My flight arrives in Esky at about 9:00 PM on July 22nd. I'll be home until August 5th, so give me a hollar if you wanna hang out or anything. I'll have two co-workers with me, Youjin and Jinsung.  We plan on doing a lot of outdoors stuff, but probably some things like shopping in local shops too.

Sorry if this sounded kinda random and uninteresting, but I just felt like something needed to be said on here. Check my Facebook page for pictures that I was too lazy to put on here.

I have a lot more to tell, but it's time to head home! Look for another update soon (I hope).

Brace Yourself... It's a Long One!!!

Finally... a blog entry!!!

Today is a special day where I've found time (and more importantly, energy) to update you all on my life in Korea!!! It's been awhile since I've posted and I've done some sporadic updates/picture posts on Facebook over the past few months, so forgive me if this entry is a little scattered and/or repetitive.

I'm finally back into a regular routine at school. At first, I was supposed to teach 24 classes this year (two of them yielding overtime pay) but somehow I ended up getting 21. Not complaining about this... I still get paid for 22. But as most of you know, the money is much less important to me than the opportunity to "educate young minds":)  Not to mention, my job is still extremely fun and rarely seems like a chore.

Mrs. Lee

I have two and a half new co-teachers this year (I'll explain the "half" in a minute). Mrs. Lee is the sole returning English teacher from last year. Despite my major disappointment with Sally and Clara leaving the school, I can now comfortably say that I'm glad that Mrs. Lee was the one who stayed. She's sort of become my school "guardian" and is very definitely one of my best friends here (along with Jin-sung and Yuri). 

Mrs. Kim

My new head co-teacher is Mrs. Kim. If Mrs. Lee cares for me like a mother, then Mrs. Kim is definitely the grandmother. Not a single work day goes by without her smiling at me and telling me how wonderful of a person and teacher I am. My daily confidence and self-esteem boosts from her are 100 times better than my morning and afternoon cups of coffee (which I've grown to REALLY appreciate). 

Next is MISS Lee. She has no relation to Mrs. Lee... this coincidence is due to the fact that like 30% of Koreans have this surname. To avoid confusion, I'll just refer to her as Youjin.

Me and Youjin (Miss Lee)

I'm rather comfortable calling her this since she's the youngest actual co-teacher I've ever had (32) and I've become quite accustomed to closeness with women around that age (more to come on that little tidbit). Finally, there's the "half" co-teacher, Sunny. I still know very little about her and still can't remember her Korean name. This is because Sunny is a temporary teacher at our school who only comes on Thursday afternoons. Later in the year I'll actually start teaching with her. But until then, my mentioning of her will most likely remain scarce.

At a Teachers' Dinner

Making Hotteok (Korean Pancakes)

My new co-teachers and I have become extremely close, VERY quickly. We've already been dubbed "the English family", which also includes Yuri and one other female teacher. I have no problem being the only male in this little group of ours... especially since the majority of the group consists of young, beautiful women. My only complaint comes from when they decide to have long conversations about fashion styles and skin care products.

My English Family:)

Of course, I couldn't talk about life at school without bringing up my wonderful students :) It's awesome seeing the familiar faces, as well as my new group of 3rd graders (who do nothing but increase my desire to have a child sometime in the near future). But my favorite classes are the ones that have students who attended my winter camp. Of course, Lena and her class are on top of this list, especially since she's the best behaved in her class (probably because she expects me to give her candy in exchange for good behavior). I also love Lily's class... Lily sits in the front row and tries her little heart out during every single activity we do. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna name my first daughter after her. In my 6th grade classes, I have Alex, Paul, Simon, David, Lucy, and Jenny back. Jenny is my Tuesday "laugh of the day" because she recently decided she wants to change her name to Lauren. I told her that I'll never be able to stop calling her Jenny, so now I use the name repeatedly just to get a rise out of her. David still showers me with "I love you Mark teacher"s for no apparent reason. Some people would find this behavior a little "iffy", but I happen to know that David is among the school's top "skirt chasers". This quote is brought to you by my trusty co-teacher, Mrs. Lee. Lucy and Alex are still their old selves... and I'm constantly telling them to put their hands down so that others may contribute to the class.

I do have an unusual problem with two of my classes this year... one of them is from a 6th grade class and the other is with a 5th.  Apparently, some of the girls are becoming much more comfortable with expressing themselves towards me. To put it more frankly, I have little girls falling in love with me. Yikes. In my 5th grade class, this actually plays to my advantage. Three of the girls (in the same class) have become bold enough to lock arms with me while I'm walking through the hallways and one of them even tries to rest her head on my shoulder while I'm waiting for the class to begin. I shake these things off as nicely as possible, and in return, they act both as my class stimulants and peace enforcers. They try like hell (and actually speak English very well) and help make the classes more interesting. At the same time, they keep order with the other students and make sure they're always paying attention. This class' 6th grade counterpart isn't quite as helpful. In said 6th grade class, there's one girl in particular who has become quite infatuated with me. She sits completely still and silent through the entire 40 minutes I have with her every week. Last week, Youjin asked her why that was. Her response... "I... can't.... speak. Mark teacher.... just... too ...... handsome!" I thought this was ridiculous, so I walked up to her during a class while they were all working on worksheets. Without even saying anything to her, she instantly turned the darkest shade of red I've ever seen on a Korean face. While walking out of the room after class, her friend who sits in front of her was chanting, "Sarah loves Mark teacher! Sarah loves Mark teacher!!!!" <sigh>.... kids....

But I can't lie... all of the attention I get from the students, even the creepy "I love you"s, make me love my job more and more each day. My students are what keep me going and I honestly wouldn't have the desire to teach without them. Sometimes they frustrate the hell outta me and other times they make me want to fill out adoption papers. Krazy? A little bit. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Church Cell Group

My personal life has gotten much less dynamic over the past couple of months... but that's not to say it's gotten less interesting. Outside of teaching, much of my time has been devoted to taking Korean language lessons. I have two personal tutors who work with me whenever my schedule allows, as well as my co-teachers who love exchanging Korean lessons for English exercises. I also found a group of westerners to play basketball with every Saturday afternoon. Throw that in with a language lesson on Saturday night and my church/Seoul day with Yuri every Sunday, my weekends are pretty much booked solid nowadays. 

Seunghee

But the big news that people seem most interested in lately is the addition of my new lady friend, Seunghee. We met a little over a month ago and have been going on little dates about once or twice a week. Do I like this girl? Bet your ass I do. She's a lot of fun! And the pictures I have of her don't quite do her justice... but take my word for it that she's very beautiful. But am I going around telling people she's my girlfriend? Absolutely not. Things are a liiiiiittle complicated with her. 

On the subway back from Seoul

She lives in downtown Incheon, so it takes about an hour to get to her... her English isn't perfect, but passable.... oh yeah, and she's 33 yrs old. On top of that, she's an assistant manager at Samsung HQ in Incheon, cell phone division. In other words, she's got some money. So yeah... she sorta outclasses me in every way possible. Not to mention, it's very unusual for Korean women her age to be single and without a family... so you know what's on her mind. She's quite possibly thinking things that I'm not quite ready to jump into. So we'll see how things work out. No sense in being hasty... for either of us.


In closing, I'm absolutely ecstatic for my brother and friend Kim to be coming here on Wednesday. Ok, maybe ecstatic is a bit much... but I am very very excited to see them. I've done a lot of work to prepare for their arrival and to keep them happy and entertained while they're here. Hopefully it all pays off... I'm sure it will:) Anyways, keep checking for updates and look to Facebook for complete photo albums.


Peace!

Few Quick Fun Facts...

In case you guys haven't been able to tell, I've settled into Korean life quite nicely :) But every day there seems to be someone or something that reminds me that I'm still the foreigner in the bunch. Other times, there are things that make me realize how I've changed since I got here. I find these happenings to be quite interesting and sometimes entertaining. Here's a few of them that have happened today...

- This morning, I walked into my office and said "good morning" to Mrs. Lee like I always do. She replied, "Oh, congratulations!!! Your team won the Super Bowl!!!" I loved this because she has no idea what "my team"'s name is and she knows nothing about American football. But she still took the time to research who won and what the final score was.

- I had lunch with the 5th grade teachers today. I got my typical 돈까스 (pork cutlet) and tore into it. One of the teachers said something to me in Korean... Sally translated it to, "When you first came here, you ate like a bird. Now you eat SO much!"  I don't know if I should be happy that they acknowledge my appreciation for Korean food, or be weirded out from the fact that they always watch me eat...

- I came up with the idea to teach Kim how to read Korean so her and Thomas have an easier time when they visit. I was excited to tell this to Clara... the one who helped me fine-tune MY Korean-reading abilities.

- My little book of Korean flashcards is almost full. I've learned about 90% of the words in it. Some of the words I've learned include the foods I like (sushi, cutlet, bulgogi, etc.) and "I want to eat..."  As important as those may be, I still have trouble remembering how to say "restroom".

There are a bunch more but none that are coming to me at the moment. I'm sure I'll post more of these little fun facts in the future.

Winter English Camp

3rd/4th grade class on break

For the past week and a half, I've been teaching a winter vacation English Camp at my school. I have four classes a day, two with a 3rd and 4th grade group and two with a 5th and 6th grade group. I'd tell you which one is my favorite, but they both have qualities that keep me excited for work every day. My younger group has some of the most adorable little girls and one of the most hilarious little boys I've seen in Korea, while the older group is full of students who find me fascinating and constantly want to talk to me about my American life.  All of the students came on a voluntary basis, so very few of them dislike English (only a couple of them have obviously been forced by their parents to come).

Joon (L) and Alex (R)

Most of the other western English teachers in Korea have the freedom to design their winter camps the way they want. Since my school takes English education so seriously, all of my camp classes are designed to follow along pre-selected text books. Sometimes I wish I had the freedom to change my classes more, but this structure makes less work for me and gives me a bit more of a challenge with my creativity, since this is not a mandatory event and the kids should still have fun.  So I work with what I've got... and so far, camp has been a blast!  The best part of camp is that I have the same students every day, rather than only have each class once a week, which means I develop somewhat of a relationship with most of them. With about 14-17 showing up in each of the two groups every day, I'm even able to remember all of their names! Of course, since it's an "English" camp, they all have English names which are much easier to remember. Well, most of them have English names. One of the girls chose "Serolet" which is not a name I'm familiar with... and one of my boys chose "Joon", which is just half of his Korean name. Most Korean names have two syllables, for example mine is "Joon-Min", so the name "Joon" could also apply for me.

Lena

Lena getting a cookie

I know teachers aren't supposed to have favorites in their classes... but I definitely have mine. In my 3rd/4th grade class, there's a little girl named Lena (leh-nuh... not lee-nuh). Other than my great-niece Abbey, she's the only kid I've ever wanted to kidnap and call my own. But she's a sneaky little devil... every day we give out treats to the kids and yesterday we gave each of them a cookie. Lena managed to sneak two in class, and pull a third one out of the container right in front of me and my camp co-teacher, Mrs. Lee. Before that, she managed to get a handful of taffy from my desk and today she snuck a couple of chocolates out of my office (after eating a chocolate pie). All of this should be upsetting to a teacher, but in all honesty it just makes me love her even more.

Lucy

In my older class, I have a student named Lucy who may or may not secretly be an American. Her level of English is so far beyond the other students, I've had to resort to telling her that she's not allowed to raise her hand anymore. If I called on her every time she knew an answer, the others would never get a chance to speak! But she's also the kindest little girl I've met here. Whenever a student does something well in camp classes, we reward them with a piece of candy. Lucy averages about 8 pieces of candy a day and won a box of chocolate chip cookies last week... and yet, I've never seen her eat more than one piece of candy in a day. I ALWAYS see her sharing her prizes with her friends and she even gives a piece or two to the boys, despite being in the "boys are gross" stage of her life.

Mrs. Lee with 5th/6th graders

The only problem I really have in my winter camp is getting my students to leave... especially the younger class. I literally have had to push them out the door the past couple of days in order to be able to start my 5th/6th grade class. And yeah, a lot of our class time is spent cracking jokes and discussing totally unrelated subjects, but we have the right to have fun. These kids are still technically on vacation... and as far as my personality goes sometimes, I'm still technically a kid!

WE WANT CANDY!!!