Hi, everyone!! This time you get two weeks' worth of updates, all in one email!! Which is why this one is so long. So sit back and enjoy... =)

We've reached the halfway point of our stay in Korea. Hard to believe it's already been six weeks! It has gone by so quickly.

July 2 was the start of the second term. New classes, new kids. I have found that I really miss my old classes, if for no other reason that they were at least familiar to me. I am starting to warm up to my new classes, but for the most part they are SO boring. I sometimes think it's me, that I just don't have the energy or the enthusiasm that I did in June. But even when they beg me to play a game in class, and we do play a game, they just sit there and don't participate. So I don't know quite what to do with them. I think it's all just luck of the draw.

This also means, sadly, that Lolita is no longer a student of mine. I say "sadly" because she at least made class interesting! I see her every now and then and I am *trying* to get a photo of her so you guys can see this chick, but she has so far eluded me. You will also find it ironic that the other day I was in a bookstore with my roommate and we picked up a copy of... "Lolita". I had never read it nor seen the film and I am about halfway through it now. It's quite good, in fact. And the fact that I am reading it lends itself to all SORTS of double entendre jokes (spending the night with "Lolita" by my side, that sort of thing).

Though teaching is, of course, what I am here to do, the interesting stories have to do with what goes on outside of work. So here's the good stuff (and yes, Lolita is in here... the girl, not the book).

I guess I can start off by saying that my life outside of work has degenerated into an episode of "The Real World" (or "Friends", as Andy has said). So we'll have to do this in chronological order, and you'll have to be introduced to a few of the supporting characters.

The very first day of teaching (back in June) I met a teacher whose name is Ivy. She is Korean-American but more American than Korean. She went to boarding school in Andover MA and went to Univ Wisconsin so she is a bit of a party girl. She's about 21, quite tall for a Korean girl, and very, very, very aggressive. Anyway, the night after I met her, she and a teacher named Steve started hooking up. They were sort of the first "couple" to form and we all just sort of accepted that we wouldn't see much of them anymore.

About two weeks ago, we were all hanging out in one of the apartments and Ivy started dumping all this stuff on me, about how Steve has a girlfriend back in Canada and how Ivy doesn't think that Steve really likes her but rather is using her and all that crap. I guess I am pretty good friends with Ivy but I was surprised that she was telling me all this.

Anyway, the next night was Fourth of July and I was out with Rob (my roommate and best friend in Korea) and at about midnight we get a call from Ivy. She was totally piss drunk and wanted to know where we were. She said that she and Steve had just broken up, she had been drinking, and she wanted to hang out with us. I went to get her and she was a mess. A mess in the "so drunk as to be messy" sense. She was more angry than upset and there was lots of swearing and lots of throwing things. She ended up going back to our apartment and in case any of you think that I would try to take advantage of a girl who was THAT drunk and had just broken up with her boyfriend, you'll be happy to know that she ended up puking in my bathroom and passing out on our couch.

A few days later, Ivy called me at about 6pm on a Sunday (our day off) and said that she was out having a few drinks. I asked who she was with and she said "the kids". By which she meant "her students". This is totally not allowed but Ivy is a bit of a rebel and, hey, it's only illegal if you get caught. I knew what class she was with and, well, who is in that class but none other than Lolita herself. So how could I resist? Rob and I caught up with them in a bar, and I would say that I recognized about half of the dozen or so kids. Some were former students of mine and some were just kids I've seen before. And yes, Lolita was there. I proceeded to get very drunk and flirt quite shamelessly with her, but I think that my drunken flirting was a little more than she could handle. She sort of avoided me after a while. So I like to think that I can out-flirt a 16-year-old tart, but maybe I'm just a dirty old man. I actually spent much of the night hanging out with the boys, who all thought my tattoos were bitchin. We all ended up in a karaoke bar (which had no English songs and didn't allow drinking) and went home way past our bedtimes.

Okay, you may want to take a break here and stretch and get some water because here comes the birthday story...

You will probably not be at all surprised that I shamelessly and selfishly promoted the fact that Sunday is my birthday. Yes, even in Korea, it's still "all about me". =) So the other teachers had virtually no excuse to miss the fact that we were going to go out and celebrate on Saturday. Rob (my roommate) put himself in charge of organizing everything and kept me in the dark up until the last minute. I knew there wouldn't be geisha girls or a trip to Hooker Hill involved because the women we work with were joining us. I figured it would just be lots of drinking. And I was pretty much right.

We had a bit of a party in our apartment, and I was really happy to see that some of the other office staff (ie, people who don't live in the apartment bldg with us) were there, too. In fact, virtually everyone I know in Korea was there at one point or another. We all took taxis up to Itaewon, which is the tourist neighborhood. I had been force-fed quite a bit of rum and Coke by this point, and was feeling good from all the attention. I am such a slut, aren't I? Anyway, we all went to an Indian restaurant that had set up a huge table for us and had a really nice buffet. I hadn't had Indian food since arriving and I was really looking forward to it. I would say that there were about 25 people there, and we had cake and ice cream and they sang "Happy Birthday" to me and it was great. Not as great as hanging out with you guys back in America, not by a long shot. But it was really nice to see everyone come out just because it was my birthday.

We went to a bar called the Three Alleys, which is the same bar where we watched the USA-Germany game. It was considerably less crowded, of course. As soon as we arrived, I could tell that things were going to start falling apart. This being a German bar in a tourist neighborhood, there weren't a lot of Koreans there. So the Korean teachers looked a little bit wary of the place. I said to Rob "they probably feel out of place here" and he replied "yeah, now they know how we feel when we go out with them". Too true. Soon after, three of them left without saying goodbye. I was like, what the fuck is THAT all about? At least say goodbye! They were immediately dead to me. So you can imagine what an ass I felt like when they came back and said that they had simply gone out to the cash machine. D'oh!

I mostly hung out with Rob and told stories of birthdays of years gone by (anyone remember the Back Bay Brewing Company party?). People started to trickle out, but at least they said goodbye. There was a movement afoot to go to a dance club but I wasn't at all interested in that. A few people said "well, we'll go wherever you want to go" and I said "I am not going anywhere; I am staying here". I pointed out to them that they should do whatever they felt they wanted to do. That if they wanted to go to a dance club, they should go to a dance club. That if they wanted to stay with me, they should stay with me because they WANT to stay with me, not because they feel obligated to. But don't try to talk me into going somewhere I don't want to go, just so we can all stay together.

As expected (and feared), pretty much everyone decided to go to the dance club. I wasn't that bothered by that, especially considering that I had just said "do what you want". But what bothered me was that my so-called friends were outside yelling "Come on! We're going!" and didn't even bother to fucking say goodbye. All but five people left, and a few (my closer friends) came back in to say goodbye after realizing that they had left rather abruptly. But I was shocked and hurt that everyone else left and didn't bother to say goodbye. Am I asking too much? Did I set myself up for this? I suppose I should have known better.

Anyway, Rob, of course, stayed with me. My one true friend in Korea. A few other teachers stayed but eventually they got bored and left. I guess not everyone is comfortable with spending lots of time sitting in a bar, doing nothing but enjoying the company of friends. Rob and I drank a lot, flirted with the Irish girl working the bar, and left when they kicked us out at about 2:30. So did I have a good birthday? I don't know. It started out great and I was really riding the high of having so much attention, but I guess if you live by the sword, you die by the sword, and disappointment was inevitable. I wish I was back in Milford or Boston or San Francisco, but I definitely had fun given the circumstances.

Today being my ACTUAL birthday, a few of us are going to lunch and then we're going to see "Attack of the Clones". I don't really have any plans other than that today.

Okay, one more story. I'll make it quick. The other night, Rob and I had a few beers with our boss at Princeton Review. The point of our "meeting" (all business is done over alcohol here) was to see if there was a possibility of us staying in Seoul and working for Princeton Review after the summer ended. We had asked a few weeks ago and got a very positive response, but now it seems that there are only two full-time jobs available and about six people who want them. I would say I am towards the bottom of that list (based on not having taught the material before) so it's not looking likely for me. However, there are tons of other teaching jobs in Korea so I am going to look into them, but staying with Princeton Review seems unlikely.

Phew!! Made it to the end! Sorry this was so long. I guess it's been a while. And you know how I love to tell a story. Anyway, I hope all is well back home and I really miss you guys. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in September. Take care!

Chris