Hi, everyone!! Lots of fun stuff happening around here and I wanted to share a few funny stories with you. Sorry that this email is so long but take a few minutes and read it when you get the chance. Or don't. Your call.

First things first, for those who have been asking about my job. I haven't actually started teaching yet. That starts on Friday, though all we do is give the kids a practice SAT and send them home. So the real fun starts on Saturday. Yes, I have to teach on Saturdays, too. I am teaching three classes a day: a four-hour SAT Verbal and Math combined class, then a two-hour Math class, and then a two-hour advanced Math class. The classes last for four weeks (give or take) but for the second two weeks I will be teaching a "Reading and Writing" class to junior high kids. I have desperately pleaded for them to switch me with someone but so far, no luck. Oh well, it's only two weeks.

In the meantime, I have been spending a lot of time in training. They are really making us "cram" for everything because training is usually two weeks and we're doing it in four days! But I am pretty confident with the math stuff anyway so I don't think I need much training. What I *do* need training on is how to handle unruly 17-yr-old Korean kids who would rather be spending their summer hanging out with buddies instead of listening to me! But I guess that's what they call "on-the-job training". =)

I am pretty sure that I have now met all of the other summer-term teachers. Everyone is really great and we all get along (for now!). I would say that there are only one or two other guys who like to drink as much (and as frequently) as I do but I think everyone is getting excited about the World Cup and that brings out the party-animal in most people! We don't always hang out in a big group (there are 15 of us) but the other night we all ended up in someone's room drinking beers and telling stories. It was a fun little impromptu house party. Just like college!

Anyway, last night was the big Korea-Poland soccer game and a few of us went to this big plaza where about 5000 people had gathered to watch it on a huge screen. There was a little fenced-off sitting area right in front of the TV and even though we got there 2 hours before the game, it was already packed full. People here are nuts over soccer. No way were we getting in there. But one of the Korean guys who was with us had an idea about how to get in there. He told the security guard that we were foreign tourists who had travelled all the way to Seoul to watch the game, and could he please let us go in there? And he did!! I tell you, half the people look at us like freaks and half treat us like royalty.

In case you don't know, Korea won 2-0. It was their first World Cup win ever and you can imagine that everyone was going bonkers. Lots of screaming teenage girls and guys were actually crying, it was that emotional for them. Unfortunately my camera ran out of film but I got a few good pictures of the crowd and the festivities. After the game, people were literally running through the streets, singing and cheering and waving the flag. I had never witnessed an outpouring of pure joy like I saw last night.

Since many of you have asked, it's worth mentioning that after the game I did have a bit of an encounter with some of the lovely women of Korea. Well, some of the lovely drunk women of Korea. But they didn't speak much English and my Korean-speaking friends told me to just leave them be. Besides, Korean guys HATE it when foreigners try to pick up Korean women and there was no way I was walking out of there with a Korean girl on a night of emotion and drunkenness like that one.

Speaking of drunken encounters, here is a funny story in which I'm actually NOT the one who was drunk!

Friday night was the first game of the World Cup: France and Senegal. I was out with friends and we wanted to find a "quiet bar" to watch the game. There are a few bars in our neighborhood but the one or two that we knew don't have TVs. So we went to a very busy section of town near our place (not necessarily "touristy") and, as the game had already started, went to the first bar we saw.

Now, there are all sorts of different types of bars in Korea: "hofs" (which are beer places), "night clubs", "rock clubs", "cafes", and others. I don't totally understand the difference between them all (I haven't been to too many places yet), but I am pretty comfortable with the "hof" concept. It is basically a place where you sit at a table and a waitress brings you beers and food and then you pay when you leave. Like TGI Friday's without the tackiness. Not too different from home, except that there is no bar to stand at. If there are no tables, you're out of luck.

Anyway, we went into a hof and they had no tables. Same at the next place. Then the next. And so on. We found a place that did have a table and were very relieved... until we found out that they had no TV! So we left. We ended up at a place called Mad Dogs, which, ironically, was the place we wanted to try in the first place (but was far from the subway). They said they had no tables but I saw one and convinced the guy to let us sit there. We couldn't see the big projection TV with the game on it (there was a pole in the way) but could see a little TV nearby.

The place was pack full of Korean business types and a few tourists and when Senegal scored, the place went crazy. Do they hate the French or were they just rooting for the underdog? I have no idea. Of the white people in the place, three looked British and the other was sort of non-descript, so I can't say for sure that any Frenchmen were there.

With about 30 minutes remaining and the score 1-0, a few drunk Korean businessmen walked past our table and one guy started yelling at us (insert insulting Korean accent here) "I work for a rich company!" Now, I am getting used to Koreans acting weird towards me but this was strange. I just laughed and ignored him.

Ten minutes later he comes back and asks if he can buy the three of us a beer. Who am I to say no?? The beers come and he sits with us and toasts "Here is to the defeat of your country". I assumed that since Korea is playing the US next week, he was just giving us a hard time. He asked me what I did and I said I was teaching and he said "You speak English very well."

Then it dawned on me.... he thought we were French! He didn't say "I work for a rich company", he said "I work for a French company"! He was buying us the drinks because he thought we were sad that France were losing. I was horrified that he had bought us beer on a false premise. I discovered this before my two friends and didn't know if I should go along and pretend to be French or if I should fess up. I did the honorable thing and told him we were all Americans. He thought that was pretty funny so I don't think he minded. Besides, he was totally piss drunk and probably doesn't even remember.

I've watched tons of soccer and tonight is the US-Portugal game, which I think will be humiliating but I guess I have to watch anyway. The US-Korea game next week is at 3:30 in the afternoon on a day when I have to teach, so hopefully all of my students will skip class so I can watch it!

So that's about it from here. I think I am starting to like it here, though I guess I've only been here a week so I should see how the summer goes. I definitely want to learn more Korean and definitely want to see more of Korea when I get the chance. So who knows, maybe I'll come back after September? We'll see.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well and I'll try to keep the emails a little bit shorter from now on. =) See ya!

Chris