I'm not going to let myself

be one of those people who starts a blog to keep in touch or chronicle their life and adventures and then drops it after a few months because they get tired of writing, or worse, runs out of things to write. I've got plenty of stuff to write about, it's just not all been worth putting on this blog lately. Plus I've been busy.

Somebody like Luc should make it at least a year before he drops the blogging habit.

First of all, I def have a technology obsession. And my internet connectivity does not help that. I've set up quite a digital "eye" that allows me to easily follow consumer electronics and software development in some areas. But it's time consuming and almost pointless, because A, I'm not buying a bunch of electronics or anything, and B, it's not like anyone needs that information from me. Like, if I worked at Geek Squad or something, this addiction would make sense. But I'm a Physics teacher who teaches English..... and Martial Arts. So it's kindof a waste of time and a killer of productivity.

I'm going to explain now what's been up this month..... sortof.

When I went to The Philippines (which was beautiful and stuff)

there were a few problems. First of all, we flew Cebu airlines (not splendid, but anyways,) and I had to spend about the first 30-45 minutes of our time at cruising altitude explaining the entry/customs forms to my students. (Even if you've studied a foreign language, do you know how to say "Nationality" or "Place of Issue"?) I was in the flight attendants' way, apparently, but they seemed charmed by the young English teacher helping all his students. Then I finished all that, finally fell asleep (dead tired.)

Suddenly, I woke up to the flight attendants shaking me and the students around me asking me to wake up. "Sir, one of your students was _________ .......... we had to confiscate______ ............ lands a police officer will escort him......." in a hurried Filippino accent (or any accent, I suppose) is not a pleasant way to wake up. After waking up, I learned that one of my students (who'd never flown outside of Korea before and didn't understand the flight announcements which were only in English) smoked in the airplane lavatory about 3 hours into our flight. I was pissed. But then I remembered that I'm not actually in charge of these students. This is not my class trip. And the scuba professor speaks decent English. So I sent the flight attendants away.

Anyways, we landed, this kid got scolded and arrangements were made for him paying his penalty fees after he returned to Korea, and then we went to the resort. The Philippines makes me sweat.

Gangster convention.

Before anything else, I forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago this friday was professor Kim's birthday. (My boss) Just because I remembered, he was touched, and the cake and socks the assistants and I gave him moved him. ^^

Cake in the classroom.

So, I had this funny conversation with a friend yesterday that became way more relevant today.
He said last night that he hates people in my department. Wait, what? He hasn't met anyone from my school yet.... But he meant he hates people in sports majors or exercise-related departments. Ah, ok, I get it. Why would someone hate that university department? Because in Korea it's like a fraternity, just being on a sports team or in a sports major. As in most countries, they get excused from classes and exams, etc, they can effectively get away with anything. In Korea, this goes a step further. Because of age-based hierarchies, the senior students can be pretty terrible to the younger ones.... as in, "Hey, go buy me a soda." or "What did you say!? *kick*" and so on. And we've had issues with seniors getting in serious trouble for mistreating their subordinate students. Anyways, I pointed out the gang-like nature of my department, and how even good or intelligent students fall victim to the mob mentality. (Had to teach him that term) Like me. I'm cool, and would have no part in that stuff normally, but I love my students, and when they have a gladiator-like showdown after a class with people cheering all around them, I just smile and watch and think, Oh, my young rowdy students. (Cue fatherly, proud smile)

And guess what I found when I arrived at the University this morning? A gangster's convention in our gym. The national sports games are going on right now, and our university was chosen to host soccer and wrestling. It was a mess. Hundreds of competitors, hundreds of coaches and directors and such. Honestly, all the angry-looking, scar-faced, short, and squat suit clad men silently waging war against each other while waiting for their students to compete was pretty intense. I was intimidated just going in to give my exam in the lower floors. This is my university, for crying out loud, the way they looked at me like I was encroaching on their turf is just ridiculous. I despise those people for creating that kind of atmosphere. It has never been so palpable to me. I have nothing against boxing, martial arts, sports, wrestling, or whatever, but those specific people are a manifestation of the stigma against exercise.
Vent closed.

Check out some new clothes!

Anyways, I had a pretty bad weekend at first, but the end of it washed away my frustrations.

I had a kind of beef last night that you eat with vegetables and a kind of bean sprout. It was excellent. The beef is sliced into thin slivers, and you grill it (each piece takes about 30 seconds) and then put it on a sesame leaf, add bean sprouts, kimchi, onion, garlic, sauce, etc and wrap up the leaf like a mini green burrito and eat. Sounds complicated, and it is unless you're used to korean style, at-the-table-barbeque, but man, it was awesome. I ate till I was stuffed. And I had some Sake with dinner, it came out in a special pitcher that had ice inside a glass bubble inside the pitcher... weird, but cool........ get it?

Oh, and I gave a test today that I made from scratch with scissors and glue and it looks awesome. Labelling body parts. Teacher Luc=ftw

It's been a long few weeks.

And after several days of good meals and some showers and sauna trips, I am finally recovered. So here's what's been up.

First, I went to Seoul with Professor Kim, my boss. This was 10/3, it was Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving. Then I went the next day with him to Asan where his wife's family lives. The weekend can basically be summed up thusly: We ate and drank a lot and stayed at home with his family. Same as last year. I understood everything that was going on this year, but still didn't have much to say. Not exactly my family, you know? But it was nice. And in Asan we went to a famous volcanic hot springs which has an almost 600 year history, including patronage by many Korean kings.

Then we launched directly into festival week. It was the founding day festival for the university. Strange, actually now that I think about it, because why was the university founded in the middle of the second semester of a school year? Anyways, lots of fun and games and stuff. It's kindof like homecoming at US universities. Only more awesome because the main event isn't just a football game. Games and prizes everywhere, 3 nights of performances by quite famous Korean musicians, and of course, outdoor tents for each department. Sweet. Anybody say Pojangmacha? lol. Anyways, In addition to all that, I did a demonstration with my department's hapkido demo team. It went pretty well. I intended to put a video of it in this post, but when I tried to copy the video file, it was 18 GB, because they ripped it at maximum quality. 0.0 "And I was like, ' WHaa~AAAAT?'" Anyways, maybe I can imbed that later.

I would've had a pretty good weekend after that, except the new student entrance practical exam was saturday. That was a bit funny at some points, but generally just boring. I spent the entire day from 10AM to 5 PM watching students perform the basics of their respective martial arts. Some of them were quite good. I didn't even grade them. I was what they call 얼굴마담. (olgeul madam) This is a Korean phrase that means "Face Madam" and basically the meaning is that I was only there to look good or make a certain impression on the crowd. I find that expression hilarious. Anyway, I gave a couple welcome speeches to students and parents and tried to maintain morale in my students who were working the exam.

This week is review week for Mid-terms next week. One class I taught "discussion with friends" recently. Here's one of the dialogues I wrote as an example:

A: I'm dead tired. Let's skip class.
B: What? Don't be funny. Midterms are next week.
A: I know, but I hate the professor. He's so~ boring.
B: Yeah, but you can't cheat on his exam. It's speaking only.
A: Oh shit.

I laughed a lot in that class. Especially when the whole class said together, "I hate the professor." Then I pretended they hurt my feelings.