Happy foundation day....which is today in Korea. I see by looking at the calender that it's been awhile since I last wrote something...ah well.... same old, same old.
A new teacher started at our school yesterday, which brings the number of foreign teachers up to 9. I guess I'm the wily veteran since I've been here the longest (although I only beat another two teachers by 2 days). But still...I'm the man, or so I'd like to think.
Sadly, our coordinator Agnes has left our school in search of greener pastures. It's sad because she is the nicest lady you could ever meet, but her replacement seems really nice, too. So I guess we'll be ok. Her replacement, Alice, is also a lot of fun. Some teachers and I went out for drinks and then to the No-rae Bang for some Karoake. In order to welcome her, I sang "Living next door to Alice" but of couse I had to add in the "Alice! Alice! who the !#$% is Alice", even though it wasn't in that version's lyrics. If you've spent any time in bars then you've probably heard the version I'm referring to.
I'm finding that the more Korean you learn, the more you realize that Koreans talk about you when they think you don't understand. I was in the elevator today and three girls behind me were discussing tall people (and not quietly at all). One girl asked her friend what she thought of tall people and the other said that she, "hates tall people". I started laughing so they stopped the discussion but I think next time I'm gonna have to bust-em on it. Something like, "That's ok, tall people don't like you." It was funny but then this was just three girls chatting...I can only guess what the men in pissy moods say about me...but I look forward to finding out.
I have putting my free time to good use by taking Korean classes. I've only been to four classes so far, but It's been a lot of fun. My class is filled with about 12 foreingers. Mostly Korean-Americans, and one Korean-Canadian but there's also a couple of "whities". Because everyone is from North America, there's a lot of English spoken in class between us. However, the teacher mostly only speaks Korean so it's gonna help my listening skills, which are the biggest problem right now.
Actually, to be honest, the biggest problem is getting up at 7am, so that I can make it into Seoul in time for class. It takes me about an hour door-to-door. But it's not bad cause the train station is only a few minutes walk from my house and it drops me off near the school. My boss was reluctant to give me the time off because he thinks that I'll be too busy to keep up with work. I told him though that I don't particularly care how well I do there. Whether I pass or fail doesn't matter cause I'm only looking for an improvement in my knowledge of the language. I could transfer the credits to my University but seeing as I already have a degree, I'm not too concerned about that.
It's less than 4 months till my contract is up. Time sure flies. Although with my contract being over at the end of January, returning home to Winnipeg in February doesn't sound all that appealing. Although I miss family and friends, these days I'm thinking that maybe I'll stick around a few more months and come back in the summer. My cousin is getting married in July and I don't want to miss the wedding. Hard to decide what to do when it involves the rest of your life.
I'm still not able to get pictures off my camera. I came here today to try it again but there is someone on the computer where my software is installed. So maybe I'll try later. I'm gonna have to figure it out soon, If not, I'm goinna go buy another flash card so I can put another 150 pictures on it cause there are a lot of things I want to document.
Well that's all for today. Keep sending email...I don't get a chance to talk to everyone and I wonder what you're up to.
�귻Ʈ
(Brent)
