It's Friday night and I'm taking a break from the norm. It's 1am and I'm drinking a Dr. Pepper instead of a beer. I guess, things don't always stay the same. Then again, it's still early enough to go out and paint the town red. We'll see how long I sit here.
There was a big Typhoon that blew through Korea last Saturday where over 150 people are missing. Actually I was a little annoyed earlier in the week that nobody called or emailed me to check on me. However, since then, a couple of people have contacted me so now I feel like there are at least some people that still care about me. Just to let you all know I'm fine. The only personal casualties I sustained over the weekend were some new mosquito bites and I'll need a new umbrella after the wind kicked the crap out of mine.
Actually it's strange cause I never would have known that there would be a storm if I hadn't been taking to a Korean friend Saturday. Here there wasn't really much more than a lot of wind and some rain. I didn't even know that the storm was bad (the worst in 40 years) until I read the newspaper Monday morning. In some areas almost 800mm of rain fell. The worst hit was the East coast. I phoned my friend who lives there to see if he was OK. He said that there was rampant flooding and the water was so high near his apartment there were cars floating down the street. I can't wait to see the pictures.
School has been a lot of the same. The new teacher arrived and is settled in. I'm teaching 6 classes a day now, which is more than before but my schedule is good. My hours are generally 4-9 every day.
I had thought about looking for a job in business here. Why you ask? I dunno, I like Korea and thought it might be neat to work in my field while still experiencing the culture. However I've dismissed those thoughts cause I doubt I'd be able to find a job that pays the same money where I can still sleep in every day.
A Korean guy that I know (not very well) invited me to his wedding that is on Sunday. He's a friend of a friend and we've hung out a few times. I accepted thinking that it would be an interesting experience to see a Korean wedding. However, lately I've been wondering if he invited me to his wedding so that he'd get a gift?? Maybe I'm too cynical...I dunno...I'll have to consult Soo, before we go, on the etiquette pertaining to Korean weddings.
I'm starting to feel better about the Korean language. Lately I've found that I understand what people, and especially the kids in class, are yapping about in Korean. Of course, I try to discourage my students from speaking Korean. But with the really young kids, there doesn't seems to be a punishment severe enough to disuade them. Maybe I'll have to get one of those long sticks that Korean teachers carry with them to class. Of course I'd never hit a student the way Korean teachers do but the threat of me holding it might be enough. Heh heh (evil laugh).
As for the girl I have been seeing (Yun-Kyung is her name), I still don't feel like going into detail. Although I will say that I've found the language barrier to be a problem. Yesterday I had one of those "what you heard me say is not what you think it meant" situations that are inevitable even with Native-English speaking girls. It didn't even occur to me that she might have misunderstood me until I called her last night and she blew me off sounding peeved. Maybe nothing serious but it annoys me to think about it....
On a more pleasant note, the weather this week has finally been good. And when I say finally, I really mean it. It has been hot, humid, and rainy for so long now I'm thinking that that is what it's always like. Unfortunately the airconditioner at work has been acting up so even though it's cool outside the class rooms have been hot.
Well that's enough for me. I should probably head back to my recently remodeled apartment. Yes that's right, I actually got off my lazy ass and bought some stuff and then moved some furniture around and I gotta say, I really like the outcome (I'd take some pictures but my @#$ing camera is full and I can't get the picures off of it...but don't get me started on that). Now, I finally have blinds so the people at the bar across the street can stop watching me get out of the shower. I wonder if business will go up or down...Ha!
Have a peachy day y'all!!
Brent
