Today my free talking class asked me how much I weigh. I said 2000kg (4400 lbs). They believed me. They asked me what I ate for dinner. I said 20 large pizzas from Dominoes. They believed me. Kids will believe anything.
Also, for some reason every time I see people welding in Korea...they are NEVER wearing a mask. What the hell is that about?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Stress?
My boss is very much against me and my co-workers from talking to each other...ever, going so far as to stand next to us whenever we are talking or even telling us to go to our rooms. Today he asked me what my co-worker Joseph and I talked about. I said that we just talk to de-stress between classes. He said he didn't understand what would cause us stress. It was very hard not to say "You".
Friday, July 30, 2010
Josh tries live Octopus
So let it be known that on July 30, 2010, I tried something I never thought I would....live octopus. I was invited out to drink Makkoeli, a weird Korean alcohol that I am told is made the same way as beer is, so for all you home brewers out there I mm assuming (but not entirely sure) that Makkeoli is like drinking beer wort...but more alcoholic. It tastes NOTHING like beer, so I don't quite trust this claim....but regardless.
The whole experience is a lot of fun. You have a metal kettle that you pour the makkoeli into small bowl...and drink from the bowl. With each kettle of makkoeli you buy, the also send you some kind of food to eat with it...and the more you buy, the better the food. When you empty a kettle, you hold it up in the air and shake it and it makes a loud clanging noise.
Well after a little while, the owner brought out a plate with some greens on it...and a LIVE OCTOPUS. She then tossed it on the plate and because cutting it up with a scissors with some scary precision. Once it was all cut up, the pieces are all still moving and it looks terrible.
The lady handing me a piece which immediately suckered itself to my tongue. I started to chew and chew...and chew...and chew....and chew. It was very rubbery. It didn't have much of a taste, but the texture was off putting, and had this weird creamy/buttery slime on the outside that I almost choked on. It was definitely an experience...but not one I want to have again any time soon.
Heres a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw2un8nFnuY
The whole experience is a lot of fun. You have a metal kettle that you pour the makkoeli into small bowl...and drink from the bowl. With each kettle of makkoeli you buy, the also send you some kind of food to eat with it...and the more you buy, the better the food. When you empty a kettle, you hold it up in the air and shake it and it makes a loud clanging noise.
Well after a little while, the owner brought out a plate with some greens on it...and a LIVE OCTOPUS. She then tossed it on the plate and because cutting it up with a scissors with some scary precision. Once it was all cut up, the pieces are all still moving and it looks terrible.
The lady handing me a piece which immediately suckered itself to my tongue. I started to chew and chew...and chew...and chew....and chew. It was very rubbery. It didn't have much of a taste, but the texture was off putting, and had this weird creamy/buttery slime on the outside that I almost choked on. It was definitely an experience...but not one I want to have again any time soon.
Heres a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw2un8nFnuY
Monday, July 5, 2010
4th of July in Korea
I’ve written previously about how incredibly proud you become when you sing the National Anthem in another country. That experience, however, is trumped by spending a 4th of July abroad. Just to make it clear, I would have much rather spent my 4th in the USA, but you gotta make do with what you got.
My friends and I decided that we were going to make the 4th a weekend long celebration, and do something big both Saturday and Sunday. Because of this, we decided to stay in on Friday night…but I still managed to have a blast drinking in my apartment while talking to friends on Skype. I ended up staying up until 4am…which is ungodly late for me, but it was a good night talking to my old friend Melanie.
Friday night Spencer, myself, Stacy, Cheoseouk, Eva, Eva’s friend Paul, and Feel Moon decided to go to a restaurant called VIPS which was supposed to be this high end restaurant. It was a nice place...and extremely expensive (we each paid at least $40…which is about 4 times what we normally pay for dinner. I got bar-b-que ribs. They were underwhelming to say the least. Unfortunately my desire for ribs got the best of me because I broke my own rule. I NEVER eat at rib places I don’t know, and never try a new one unless someone I trust recommends it to me. I’ve eaten at a lot of places in my day, and there are only 2 I will eat at these days. Jerry’s Old Towne in Germantown, WI and Bobby Q in Phoenix, AZ. What made me thing they would have good ribs in Korea…I will never understand. So despite the high price tag, the ribs were mediocre. Each meal with with a “salad bar” which was basically a buffet…but still I’d estimate the quality of the food to be akin to Ponderosa….edible, but not worth the price. The night ended with everyone going back to my apartment to drink soju, but was sadly interrupted when Eva’s mom called to ask her to come home.
Saturday was a bit more exciting. I hadn’t heard of any parties or anything and I couldn’t afford to go to Seoul for the weekend, so I got a bunch (12 in all) of my friends together for dinner. We decided in the name of the holiday we had to go American…so there really was only one choice of places to eat…TGIFridays! Maya and I decided to pre-game before we went, so we were both a little tipsy by the time we got there. The food was excellent. I had a combo meal that included boneless wings, chicken fajitas, and a brownie. I also drank 3 mudslides which were tasty as always. After TGIFridays spencer and I went to MillerTime for a pitcher and waited for Feel Moon. He picked us up and we took a little drive through the Red Light District in Jeonju. It was exciting because they girls are gorgeous, and there is always an element of danger involved because the place is run by Korean gangsters and foreigners are NOT welcome. I took two videos of the drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuREijF6chQ
http://www.youtube.com/wcath?v=uyuGvIW6H08
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July…I can’t wait to celebrate next year back in the States!
My friends and I decided that we were going to make the 4th a weekend long celebration, and do something big both Saturday and Sunday. Because of this, we decided to stay in on Friday night…but I still managed to have a blast drinking in my apartment while talking to friends on Skype. I ended up staying up until 4am…which is ungodly late for me, but it was a good night talking to my old friend Melanie.
Friday night Spencer, myself, Stacy, Cheoseouk, Eva, Eva’s friend Paul, and Feel Moon decided to go to a restaurant called VIPS which was supposed to be this high end restaurant. It was a nice place...and extremely expensive (we each paid at least $40…which is about 4 times what we normally pay for dinner. I got bar-b-que ribs. They were underwhelming to say the least. Unfortunately my desire for ribs got the best of me because I broke my own rule. I NEVER eat at rib places I don’t know, and never try a new one unless someone I trust recommends it to me. I’ve eaten at a lot of places in my day, and there are only 2 I will eat at these days. Jerry’s Old Towne in Germantown, WI and Bobby Q in Phoenix, AZ. What made me thing they would have good ribs in Korea…I will never understand. So despite the high price tag, the ribs were mediocre. Each meal with with a “salad bar” which was basically a buffet…but still I’d estimate the quality of the food to be akin to Ponderosa….edible, but not worth the price. The night ended with everyone going back to my apartment to drink soju, but was sadly interrupted when Eva’s mom called to ask her to come home.
Saturday was a bit more exciting. I hadn’t heard of any parties or anything and I couldn’t afford to go to Seoul for the weekend, so I got a bunch (12 in all) of my friends together for dinner. We decided in the name of the holiday we had to go American…so there really was only one choice of places to eat…TGIFridays! Maya and I decided to pre-game before we went, so we were both a little tipsy by the time we got there. The food was excellent. I had a combo meal that included boneless wings, chicken fajitas, and a brownie. I also drank 3 mudslides which were tasty as always. After TGIFridays spencer and I went to MillerTime for a pitcher and waited for Feel Moon. He picked us up and we took a little drive through the Red Light District in Jeonju. It was exciting because they girls are gorgeous, and there is always an element of danger involved because the place is run by Korean gangsters and foreigners are NOT welcome. I took two videos of the drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuREijF6chQ
http://www.youtube.com/wcath?v=uyuGvIW6H08
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July…I can’t wait to celebrate next year back in the States!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Divine Intervention
Today at work my boss made a comment to the new teacher about how I was losing weight and how much bigger I had been when he hired me.
He then went on to proceed to tell her that he didn't hire me as a business decision, because if it had been a business decision he wouldn't hire a big person like me. Instead...he hired me because he thought I was sent to him by God to be saved.
How do I know all this? I was standing in the room while he relayed this.....
What. The. Heck?
He then went on to proceed to tell her that he didn't hire me as a business decision, because if it had been a business decision he wouldn't hire a big person like me. Instead...he hired me because he thought I was sent to him by God to be saved.
How do I know all this? I was standing in the room while he relayed this.....
What. The. Heck?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
12 year old bitches
I am convinced one of the girls at my school is trying to get me fired. I have no idea why she hates me the way she does…but she has been going all out to get me fired. Joseph my co-worker feels the same way, as he has heard them discussing me (in Korean) in his class, It all started last Thursday (6/17/10) when she told my boss that I hit her. This was of course backed up by another student. On Monday, the class she is in said I was sleeping in class and reading a magazine. Then on Tuesday, she said I was trying to steal her property.
In response to the stealing of property, she pulled a rope, (yes, a ROPE) out of her bag and tried to throw it around me. I grabbed it and tried to take it from her. She wouldn’t let go and a tug of war ensued. My boss walked in, he made me let go of the rope, and nothing was said to her. In regards to the sleeping in class….this is obviously not the case, unless I have developed a skill of correcting pronunciation while sleeping. However, with the lack of enthusiasm these kids put in to the reading, it would NOT be hard to fall asleep.
The magazine, I will admit I was reading….but only because the kids were listening to a story on CD. I listen to these kids read the story 100 times, I do not need to be listening along with the CD while they do. As soon as the CD ended, I put the magazine away, and continued with the class.
Not I will address the alleged hitting of a female student, backed up by a “witness”. Obviously this is a complete fabrication. Why the hell would I, a 28 year old man, hit a 12 year old girl? There is absolutely no benefit for me to do something like that, and it really pisses me off. What pisses me off more…guess who’s side my boss is on this whole situation? He is ALWAYS on the side of the students when they complain about Joseph or me. It’s really frustrating when I can’t get any kind of support from my asshole boss.
At this point, I swear Korea is just out to get me.
In response to the stealing of property, she pulled a rope, (yes, a ROPE) out of her bag and tried to throw it around me. I grabbed it and tried to take it from her. She wouldn’t let go and a tug of war ensued. My boss walked in, he made me let go of the rope, and nothing was said to her. In regards to the sleeping in class….this is obviously not the case, unless I have developed a skill of correcting pronunciation while sleeping. However, with the lack of enthusiasm these kids put in to the reading, it would NOT be hard to fall asleep.
The magazine, I will admit I was reading….but only because the kids were listening to a story on CD. I listen to these kids read the story 100 times, I do not need to be listening along with the CD while they do. As soon as the CD ended, I put the magazine away, and continued with the class.
Not I will address the alleged hitting of a female student, backed up by a “witness”. Obviously this is a complete fabrication. Why the hell would I, a 28 year old man, hit a 12 year old girl? There is absolutely no benefit for me to do something like that, and it really pisses me off. What pisses me off more…guess who’s side my boss is on this whole situation? He is ALWAYS on the side of the students when they complain about Joseph or me. It’s really frustrating when I can’t get any kind of support from my asshole boss.
At this point, I swear Korea is just out to get me.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Annoying my students
Sometimes when my students piss me off, I like to point at one student, then another and make my hands in to the shape of a heart. The gesture is big in Korea to mean two people who are dating, and since my kids are all in 4th grade or under they realllly don't like the idea of dating one another. They usually get really upset and angry. It's hilarious. If I am particularly annoyed, I choose a same sex person and make the gesture. Koreans are not big fans of the gays so this REALLLY gets them.
On a side note, I had a one on one class today and the director walked in and sat down and told the girl that God loved her. I had a puzzled look on my face, so he explained to me that he was trying to get her to accept God' love because she (and her family) are Buddhist. Way to abuse your power!
On a side note, I had a one on one class today and the director walked in and sat down and told the girl that God loved her. I had a puzzled look on my face, so he explained to me that he was trying to get her to accept God' love because she (and her family) are Buddhist. Way to abuse your power!
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