Thursday, I went out with a couple of my friends for a feast of horse. I love horse meat. It is so tender and delicious. The horse here was unlike the horse I ate in Mongolia. Mongolians eat their horse cooked. Jejuians, like theirs raw. We ordered a set menu with a few different courses. The first course was thinly sliced raw meat. Quite tasty. The meat just melted in my mouth. So so good. The second course was a almost a ground meat, more stringy than ground. It was piled on a plate with a raw egg on top. It was drizzled with sesame oil and radish strips. Probably the best tasting part of the meal. The third part of the meal, I could have done without. It was steamed intestine. Intestine is something I have never enjoyed. It just has a strange flavor and texture. The next part of the meal was thin strips cooked on a hot stone. Also very good. The final course was a horse dumpling soup. Nice! The only other part of the meal was a tea that was made with the blood. At least that is what I think it was. That was.........ok.
Last weekend was a 3 day weekend, thanks to Memorial Day. I decided I needed a break from my island, and journeyed up to the mainland for a little break. So I went and visited some of my friends from orientation that live in Busan, just a short 45 min plane ride away.
I arrive Friday around 10. I go and ask for the bus to Busan and next thing I know it is an hour later. It should have been about 30 minutes to my friends house and I jump off the bus and have to hire a taxi. This was the wrong bus. It took me well out of my way. So this trip into the city that should not have cost me more than 7 dollars is now around 50, thanks to the fuckin Korean lady who was helping me. I arrive at my friends place and immediately take off for a baseball game. Korean Baseball is an experience. It was a holiday and they over booked the stadium. Standing room only. Not the best way to watch a game. But anyway, they chant all the time. Each player has their own chant. They put curses on the opposing teams pitchers Almost everyone in the stands had a pompom made out of newspaper. They are nuts. Everyone cheering in time. Busan was down from the first inning. I guess they aren't that great, but they made a small rally. That is when the orange plastic bags were brought out. They are filled with air and placed on top of the head. Strange rally caps, but when in Korea.
Following the game, we went back to my friends for a few drinks before heading out. Whilst in the city we decided to hit up this place called Dr. Fish. No not a restaurant. It is a place with fish baths. Basically these fish eat the dead skin off of your feet. Kinda tickled, but it makes the feet nice and soft. One of my friends decided to eat one of the fish for about $10. Kinda gross. Afterwords we went to a bar on the beach.
Saturday was spent shopping and sleeping, before going out for Marnie's birthday. We started with a tasty meal of spicy chicken. Following that we went to Fuzzy's We spent most of the night there. They had a fire show. I will try to upload the video, if I can. There we drank and danced on and behind the bar. Good good times. Following that we went to a club. The club sucked. Couldn't move, couldn't dance. So we didn't stay long. On the way to the next bar, Jason and John decided to wrestle. Jason is a big guy, strong big. He is a Maurrie, from New Zealand. If you watch Rugby and the All Blacks, they are the big fuckers. They look like muscular Samoans. They are going at it and somehow I get involved. Jason goes for a choke hold on me, and I manage to spin out of it and put him in one. Thinking he is going to tap out, I don't let up. Yeah he didn't tap out and I choked him out. I let up and his eyes are rolling in the back of his head. He came to in about 30 seconds and wanted to continue. But that was the last of it for John and me. Freaky freaky shit.
We had another drink at the beach bar and decided to call it a night, or morning as the case may be. John and I went out for breakfast and then called it. I woke up just in time to have a shower and head to the airport for the end of my weekend. Overall it was much needed and enjoyable. It is just taking me days to recover from it. I am not a young'n anymore.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Teaching and the like
I am now about 3 weeks into teaching at my new center. It is going pretty well. I have 3 classes a day, 4 days a week. I have my Mondays to plan. So they are my favorite day. That's right I like Mondays. My 3 classes are E1, or Elementary 1, E3 and M1, middle school 1. My E1 and E3 classes are great. Easy classes to teach and a lot of fun.
I have noticed a design flaw in my room. The chairs are way too big for most of my students, and they are on wheels. Who ever decided to get chairs with wheels for kids was an idiot and should die a slow painful death. They spend more time rolling around on them than sitting still. That is why they all sit on the floor now. No more bumper chairs.
My M1 class is probably the hardest to teach. They are of different levels. Well there are only 3 that usually show up. Two are smart and have a decent grasp of English. The other has minimal English. So they are hard to plan for. The class is a bit sporadic. Some days I will get only the 3 others up to 10. When there is only 3 kids, it is a difficult class. I run out of things to do with them. I go through my material so much faster.
My job also entails that I teach a simulation lab, or sim lab. Being a camp counselor was a big help in this area of my job. Being loud and stupid really gets the kids motivated. My center has a airport, airplane, restaurant, park, hotel, doctor's office, book store and a department store in it. I take the kids through the airport, airplane and the restaurant. It's not too bad. 20 minutes for those 3 sections and then I pass them on to the other teacher here. The airport they get to go through Immigration and then they go to the airplane where they basically learn some new vocab. The hardest part of that is getting to say seat. When they say it, it comes out as shit. So it is a shit, and a shit belt. Funny for me though. After that, security. There is an x-ray machine. Well it is just a conveyor belt with a box over it. They get to put bags through it. The younger kids get to go through it. They get a kick out of it.
The restaurant is just chaos. I get the kids screaming. I WANNA CORN DOG!! Basically I have them name off all the fake food we have. But they are usually so quiet, I have to get them yelling. Which entails me yelling. So by the end of the day my throat is a little hoarse. They take turns being costumers and clerks. By then it is time for them to go. Easy easy work. It just gets to be a bit repetitive.
I have noticed a design flaw in my room. The chairs are way too big for most of my students, and they are on wheels. Who ever decided to get chairs with wheels for kids was an idiot and should die a slow painful death. They spend more time rolling around on them than sitting still. That is why they all sit on the floor now. No more bumper chairs.
My M1 class is probably the hardest to teach. They are of different levels. Well there are only 3 that usually show up. Two are smart and have a decent grasp of English. The other has minimal English. So they are hard to plan for. The class is a bit sporadic. Some days I will get only the 3 others up to 10. When there is only 3 kids, it is a difficult class. I run out of things to do with them. I go through my material so much faster.
My job also entails that I teach a simulation lab, or sim lab. Being a camp counselor was a big help in this area of my job. Being loud and stupid really gets the kids motivated. My center has a airport, airplane, restaurant, park, hotel, doctor's office, book store and a department store in it. I take the kids through the airport, airplane and the restaurant. It's not too bad. 20 minutes for those 3 sections and then I pass them on to the other teacher here. The airport they get to go through Immigration and then they go to the airplane where they basically learn some new vocab. The hardest part of that is getting to say seat. When they say it, it comes out as shit. So it is a shit, and a shit belt. Funny for me though. After that, security. There is an x-ray machine. Well it is just a conveyor belt with a box over it. They get to put bags through it. The younger kids get to go through it. They get a kick out of it.
The restaurant is just chaos. I get the kids screaming. I WANNA CORN DOG!! Basically I have them name off all the fake food we have. But they are usually so quiet, I have to get them yelling. Which entails me yelling. So by the end of the day my throat is a little hoarse. They take turns being costumers and clerks. By then it is time for them to go. Easy easy work. It just gets to be a bit repetitive.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The New Indy movie and 1st Jeju home win
Friday night. I went out and saw the new Indian Jones movie. I've been looking forward to it. I have heard some of the hype and bad press it has been getting, but still wanted to go into it with a clear mind. Sitting down beer in hand waiting for it to start. It started well. Until it came to the jungle scene, motorcycle chase was good, the jungle scene was not. It was the beginning of the downfall. It was a bad bad movie. Did not enjoy it. I will skip the details in case anyone has not seen it, but intends on seeing it. Spielberg hasn't directed a decent movie in a long time, with the exception of Munich. He keeps going back to the well trying to reinvent movies he has done and is fucking them up! Maybe I am bitter that they kept us waiting for so long for this new flick and it was that disappointing
On to happier new. Juju United have their first home win of the season. They did it with style and finesse. They played a much more aggressive game. The controlled most of it attacking quite a bit. I think they had more shots on goal in the first half, than we have seen all season long.
They started off with a 1-nil lead after a nice goal from about 15 meters out, 22 minutes in. The crowd went wild. We were jumping up and down. The flares were lit, the confetti cannons went off. It was pandemonium in the stands. That was until the game was equalized 8 minutes later. But Jeju was not backing down. Jeju kept pressuring before half, when in the 38 minute Romulo scored his second of the night. The Jeju faithful were up in the air. Chants were being sung. Hugs and high 5's were abundant, and the beer was being spilled. Jeju was on top again. This was twice as many goals as we have seen at home all season long.
The second half started off with fireworks to welcome our players back on the pitch. Jeju up 2-1, the crowd was behind their team. Jeju had a fair amount of fans in the stands. This maybe due to the $1 t-shirts that they were selling, with the t-shirt, you get free admission. The stands were amass with a sea of orange. It was a sight to behold. The stands were almost a quarter full. I haven't seen that many fans since opening day.
The ball was moving back and forth up and down the field. With a couple of near misses by both teams. That was until the 68th minute. Romulo received a nice pass, took the ball into the penalty area and faked out the opposing teams goalie along with several of their defenders to sink his 3 goal of the night. The fan faithful were running up and down the stands. Ponytail guy came up and started high 5ing all of the Soju Suicide Squad. The Soju Suicide Squad is the name of our little firm of loyal Jeju supporters. The die hards who never miss a home game and sometimes travel to the away games. We are trying to combine with the Insane Islanders, the local Korean supporters.
The Jejuians were chanting down the streets. The city was alive with the spirit of the Fighting Jeju. Chants were heard walking into Gecko's, shots were dealt out and chants were heard throughout the rest of the evening.
I finished off the evening with a nice soak in the sauna. Surprising how many people are there at 3 in the morning. I guess some Koreans stay there when they are on trip. They have a sleeping area and the like. It is much cheaper than sleeping in a hotel. It is also a place for the inebriated to sober up as well.
On to happier new. Juju United have their first home win of the season. They did it with style and finesse. They played a much more aggressive game. The controlled most of it attacking quite a bit. I think they had more shots on goal in the first half, than we have seen all season long.
They started off with a 1-nil lead after a nice goal from about 15 meters out, 22 minutes in. The crowd went wild. We were jumping up and down. The flares were lit, the confetti cannons went off. It was pandemonium in the stands. That was until the game was equalized 8 minutes later. But Jeju was not backing down. Jeju kept pressuring before half, when in the 38 minute Romulo scored his second of the night. The Jeju faithful were up in the air. Chants were being sung. Hugs and high 5's were abundant, and the beer was being spilled. Jeju was on top again. This was twice as many goals as we have seen at home all season long.
The second half started off with fireworks to welcome our players back on the pitch. Jeju up 2-1, the crowd was behind their team. Jeju had a fair amount of fans in the stands. This maybe due to the $1 t-shirts that they were selling, with the t-shirt, you get free admission. The stands were amass with a sea of orange. It was a sight to behold. The stands were almost a quarter full. I haven't seen that many fans since opening day.
The ball was moving back and forth up and down the field. With a couple of near misses by both teams. That was until the 68th minute. Romulo received a nice pass, took the ball into the penalty area and faked out the opposing teams goalie along with several of their defenders to sink his 3 goal of the night. The fan faithful were running up and down the stands. Ponytail guy came up and started high 5ing all of the Soju Suicide Squad. The Soju Suicide Squad is the name of our little firm of loyal Jeju supporters. The die hards who never miss a home game and sometimes travel to the away games. We are trying to combine with the Insane Islanders, the local Korean supporters.
The Jejuians were chanting down the streets. The city was alive with the spirit of the Fighting Jeju. Chants were heard walking into Gecko's, shots were dealt out and chants were heard throughout the rest of the evening.
I finished off the evening with a nice soak in the sauna. Surprising how many people are there at 3 in the morning. I guess some Koreans stay there when they are on trip. They have a sleeping area and the like. It is much cheaper than sleeping in a hotel. It is also a place for the inebriated to sober up as well.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Loveland
Jeju, being the honeymoon paradise that it is, has certain attractions to ease the new couple into marital relations. One such place is a gem that I went to with a couple of friends last weekend. It is called Loveland. It is a funny funny place. It has sort of become a foreigner must when on the island. The Jejuians love it as well. Families come to it. Which I do find a bit odd. Considering the parks theme.
The theme of Loveland isn't love, it's sex. They have statues of people in various different sexual positions. Some in more complicated positions that others. There is no way I can convey the wonderment of this place, so i will post some pictures for your enjoyment/ laughter.
Pics are in the newly created slide show on the right.
The theme of Loveland isn't love, it's sex. They have statues of people in various different sexual positions. Some in more complicated positions that others. There is no way I can convey the wonderment of this place, so i will post some pictures for your enjoyment/ laughter.
Pics are in the newly created slide show on the right.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Car
I have a car!! So if anyone wants to come and visit, I can give you a proper tour around the island. I rock. If you are wondering it is a 95 Kia Sophia. Now I don't have to spend 2 1/2 hours on the bus to get to work. Yay ME!!!!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Cheese, Hookahs and Assults.
Jeju United lost again. My soccer team isn't doing so hot. We lost this weekend to the last placed team. Well they are no longer the last placed team, we are. I think we need new coaches. We were playing like we had the lead. Playing too conservative. We were down 1-0 from 5 minutes in the game and our game plan never changed. We never pressured the other team
. We let them dictate to play. We have yet to win a home game this season. We have only scored one time on our home field. That shit just shouldn't happen. We need our home field
I missed most of the second half of the game though. Some little girls came up to me during half time and asked me some basic English questions. This apparently was enough for them to attack me during the second half of the
match. Here I am just minding my own business, drinking my beer and screaming at the game, when these girls start climbing on me and trying to steal my beer. Yes these 6-8 year old girls were trying to steal my beer. Crazy kids. This went on for almost the whole 45 minutes of the half. They were talking to me, climbing on me, they just would not leave me alone. I had no idea who they were. My friends asked me if they were my students. They weren't. They just laughed. I tried to pawn them off on others, it worked, for a short short time. They just started coming back.
Sunday night I was treated to a new joint here on the wonder island paradise I live on. It is a small bar type establishment. This place had a hookah and cheese platter. I don't know which was better, the cheese or the hookah. I have been missing cheese. Cheese isn't something that is popular in Korea. And this was fantastic. Gourmet cheeses. So so so tasty. I was in he
aven. The cheeses were complimented by our cherry flavored smoke in the hookah. We ended up ordering 2 plates of cheese and crackers. Though we didn't get a refill on the crackers for the second plate of cheese. Oh well. Still yummy.
. We let them dictate to play. We have yet to win a home game this season. We have only scored one time on our home field. That shit just shouldn't happen. We need our home fieldI missed most of the second half of the game though. Some little girls came up to me during half time and asked me some basic English questions. This apparently was enough for them to attack me during the second half of the
match. Here I am just minding my own business, drinking my beer and screaming at the game, when these girls start climbing on me and trying to steal my beer. Yes these 6-8 year old girls were trying to steal my beer. Crazy kids. This went on for almost the whole 45 minutes of the half. They were talking to me, climbing on me, they just would not leave me alone. I had no idea who they were. My friends asked me if they were my students. They weren't. They just laughed. I tried to pawn them off on others, it worked, for a short short time. They just started coming back.Sunday night I was treated to a new joint here on the wonder island paradise I live on. It is a small bar type establishment. This place had a hookah and cheese platter. I don't know which was better, the cheese or the hookah. I have been missing cheese. Cheese isn't something that is popular in Korea. And this was fantastic. Gourmet cheeses. So so so tasty. I was in he
aven. The cheeses were complimented by our cherry flavored smoke in the hookah. We ended up ordering 2 plates of cheese and crackers. Though we didn't get a refill on the crackers for the second plate of cheese. Oh well. Still yummy.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Opening Ceremony and other hooplaa
May 1st was the opening ceremony of my new center. It had all the hoopla and shenanigans of any Korean opening. There was a band, food, speeches, and famous Koreans and of course flowers. One can always tell when something is new here. There are reefs of flowers all around the entrance.
I missed the opening ceremony. Actually I wasn't invited. I had to work. Part of the ceremony was a tour. They brought in one class of students to run through our Sim lab. So I was teaching a bunch of girls how to order food at a fast food joint. Woo Hoo. I got to do this as my co-worker got to cut the ribbon. I'm a wee bit jealous. She gets to do all the fun stuff. My director was pretty proud. He told me that some guy's hand I shook was the big wig in charge of the school system on Jeju. Apparently it was a big honor. "Not everyone gets to shake his hand." is what my director told me. So what I shook some dude's hand, who I will never meet again. Come on! Not that big of a deal. It made him happy though.
Following the ceremony, we went to lunch. Nice restaurant. Though the food they served was a bit funny. It was all shellfish, prawns, clams, muscles, in a soup. The problem was, none of it was deshelled. So I had to go into my soup, dig out what I wanted to eat, pop it out of the shell and into my mouth. So go on eating. Some people are still eating, some are done. None of that mattered, when the most important guy in the room was finished, everyone was finished. Fucked up culture. Gotta love the Confucianism.
OK, little side track here. Confucianism is not a bad thing. Respecting elders and all that good stuff. The thing is, that Koreans have taken advantage of it. The old people and rich people think that they should get special treatment. They won't move out of your way, even if it is much easier for them to do so. I was in a car with a friend. An elderly gentleman, driving a nicer car was going down the street. Now streets here only allow one car to go at a time. My friend along with 2 other cars behind him, had to back up to let him pass. It was much easier for this guy to pull off to the side, but he wouldn't. That is just one example of many. I've played chicken with people on the island. I will walk in a straight line, with purpose, just to see if they will move out of my way. I've run into more than have moved. Then they look at you like you are crazy.
OK back to the school stuff. After lunch, we had to come back to work. Well come back and look busy. I've been doing the same stuff since then, nothing. I don't know what classes I will be teaching or if I will be teaching at all. If I do end up teaching, it won't be until the 20th of May. Until then, I don't have anything to do. I can't even lesson plan. So I am studying for my SCUBA lessons, and some Korean
So after school, it was dinner with the same people for lunch and drinking. That was fine. Food and a couple shots of soju isn't such a bad thing. I was ready to go and we start to leave, when Arielle and myself get hijacked. We are going to a Noribong, Karaoke bar. I wasn't in the mood for it, Arielle really didn't want to do it. But we had no choice in the matter. Our director wanted to go, so we were obligated to go. We get there and they order 4 bottles of whisky at $100 a pop. This was after Arielle got bitched out by our director for ordering a drink that cost $1 more than a bottle of soju, that they were sucking down. I tried to show them the proper way to drink it, yeah they were having none of that. Korean way is to shoot whisky. So they sip a $4 bottle of crap soju, but shoot good whisky. A bit backwards if you ask me. Sang some and danced some. The video is of my director dancing, enjoy. Sorry it is sideways. I can't figure out how to flip it.
I missed the opening ceremony. Actually I wasn't invited. I had to work. Part of the ceremony was a tour. They brought in one class of students to run through our Sim lab. So I was teaching a bunch of girls how to order food at a fast food joint. Woo Hoo. I got to do this as my co-worker got to cut the ribbon. I'm a wee bit jealous. She gets to do all the fun stuff. My director was pretty proud. He told me that some guy's hand I shook was the big wig in charge of the school system on Jeju. Apparently it was a big honor. "Not everyone gets to shake his hand." is what my director told me. So what I shook some dude's hand, who I will never meet again. Come on! Not that big of a deal. It made him happy though.
Following the ceremony, we went to lunch. Nice restaurant. Though the food they served was a bit funny. It was all shellfish, prawns, clams, muscles, in a soup. The problem was, none of it was deshelled. So I had to go into my soup, dig out what I wanted to eat, pop it out of the shell and into my mouth. So go on eating. Some people are still eating, some are done. None of that mattered, when the most important guy in the room was finished, everyone was finished. Fucked up culture. Gotta love the Confucianism.
OK, little side track here. Confucianism is not a bad thing. Respecting elders and all that good stuff. The thing is, that Koreans have taken advantage of it. The old people and rich people think that they should get special treatment. They won't move out of your way, even if it is much easier for them to do so. I was in a car with a friend. An elderly gentleman, driving a nicer car was going down the street. Now streets here only allow one car to go at a time. My friend along with 2 other cars behind him, had to back up to let him pass. It was much easier for this guy to pull off to the side, but he wouldn't. That is just one example of many. I've played chicken with people on the island. I will walk in a straight line, with purpose, just to see if they will move out of my way. I've run into more than have moved. Then they look at you like you are crazy.
OK back to the school stuff. After lunch, we had to come back to work. Well come back and look busy. I've been doing the same stuff since then, nothing. I don't know what classes I will be teaching or if I will be teaching at all. If I do end up teaching, it won't be until the 20th of May. Until then, I don't have anything to do. I can't even lesson plan. So I am studying for my SCUBA lessons, and some Korean
So after school, it was dinner with the same people for lunch and drinking. That was fine. Food and a couple shots of soju isn't such a bad thing. I was ready to go and we start to leave, when Arielle and myself get hijacked. We are going to a Noribong, Karaoke bar. I wasn't in the mood for it, Arielle really didn't want to do it. But we had no choice in the matter. Our director wanted to go, so we were obligated to go. We get there and they order 4 bottles of whisky at $100 a pop. This was after Arielle got bitched out by our director for ordering a drink that cost $1 more than a bottle of soju, that they were sucking down. I tried to show them the proper way to drink it, yeah they were having none of that. Korean way is to shoot whisky. So they sip a $4 bottle of crap soju, but shoot good whisky. A bit backwards if you ask me. Sang some and danced some. The video is of my director dancing, enjoy. Sorry it is sideways. I can't figure out how to flip it.
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