Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and we're working . . . 6:30am until 10pm. They just don't get it here. Happily though, after work it's off to Kevin's for some family time.

Toasty Bums!

You know that horrible feeling when it's so cold outside and you go to use the restroom and you sit down on a freezing cold toilet seat? Do you ever think, "They should invent something to help with this problem."

Well believe it or not, Korea has done something to solve this problem. We have heated toilet seats at work! It's awesome! Sometimes I just go in there and sit down to warm up because it feels so good. Our apartment doesn't offer the same luxury but we spend more time at work anyway. I'm going to look into this invention when we go back home. It comes complete with a key pad to control temperature. It has other buttons too but I don't know what they do because it's all in Korean.

Christmas All Around

Koreans don't typically celebrate Christmas. Christmas is a national holiday but most people give it the same amount of attention as any other day off. However, the strange thing about Seoul right now is the massive amounts of Christmas decorations everywhere. Every store, mall, restaurant, cafe and corporate building at least has a Christmas tree and garland with small reindeer and some of the bigger buildings are decked out in lights and decorations. The building next to our school has officially gone overboard and is beginning to look gawdy. One of my students works in a 40 floor building that is covered from top to bottom in garland. She was complaining that they can't see out the windows anymore. No one seems to really understand why they decorate for a holiday that has little significance in their country. My students have told me that the businesses do it because other businesses do it and nobody knows why but they have to outdo their neighbors by making the displays bigger every year. I have to admit, I enjoy the decorations but I'm not sure that is the common perception.

Last Day of the Session

I love the last day of each session! We are free to do whatever we want with our classes. Last night, both of my classes suggested that we go out and celebrate. So my business writing class took me out for coffee and dessert and my advanced conversation class took me out for drinks and appetizers. The evening culminated with all of the teachers going out together for . . . you guessed it, more drinks. I woke up with a little headache this morning but the night was worth it.

Congratulations Kevin & Monica!

My brother proposed to his girlfriend on Saturday night in Seoul! He convinced her they were going to the symphony and he took her to get her hair and nails done. After dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, he led her to a cafe that he had completely rented out. He had 1000 candles lit and rose petals everywhere. He played a movie for her that was a collection of pictures of them. He proposed with a beautiful ring. He also hired a photographer to take pictures of them all dressed up.

I have to say I was really impressed with his elaborate proposal. Nice work, Kevin. And I'm so happy to have Monica in the family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends! You're all in our thoughts and prayers. We spent the holiday working. Apparently, Koreans don't recognize the American Thanksgiving. Weirdos! Who wouldn't want to celebrate turkey, pumpkin pie and football? Okay, I'm drooling a little bit.

We did manage to enjoy some turkey. We went to Quizno's and ordered turkey sandwiches. We also stopped by the bakery for a little dessert. It was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember.

Legal? I Think Not.

We don't exactly have a great teachers' room. It's in the basement floor of our building. We each have our own desk which is about 2 feet by 3 feet. The room includes a copier which jams everyday and runs out of toner twice a week. We also have 2 computers to share among 30 teachers. Neither of the computers have Microsoft Word on them. The internet is the slowest internet I've come across in Seoul. We have a cheap $50 HP printer that doesn't always want to print. It broke 3 weeks ago and instead of buying a new one, the school called the HP repair guy who took 2 weeks to fit us into his schedule. We went 2 weeks without a printer. We also have a small book shelf with the books we are supposed to use for teaching.

Our director came to our teachers' room to make an announcement. Our teachers' room doesn't have the right permits to be a teachers' room so it's actually illegal that we are down there. So we spent this morning hiding all of our books and re-arranging the desks to make the room not look like a teachers' room. A few teachers were trying to protest because this isn't the first time our school has revealed that they're doing something shady. For the time being, we have no place to go at school but our classrooms. Our director told us that we just need to "hang around" but not at our desks for the next week while the school puts in the proper paperwork. Meanwhile, inspectors are coming to look at the building and when they come, we can't say anything about the teachers' room in the basement. When I first started working at the school, this would have amazed me . . . but it's starting to be just another ordinary day.

The First Snow

Simultaneously, 3 of my students received text messages and checked their cell phones in class tonight. One of them screamed, "It's snowing!" It's tradition to call family and friends on the first snow. They all jumped up and ran to the window.

The snow was beautiful. Enormous white flakes were falling from the sky. For a minute the city looked so peaceful. Then about ten minutes later, the snow turned to icy rain and we could hear horns honking and tires screeching. It's not exactly the sledding, snowmen and snowball fights snows that I remember. My happy memories turned into thoughts of the cold, slushy wet walk home after class and the crowded subway. Luckily, Ryan swiped someone's umbrella so we stayed dry most of our walk. Winter in Korea is a officially here.

1 point Cane, 0 points crazy stalker

When I was walking to class the other day, I was stopped by a Korean man on the 4th floor of our building. He started asking me questions which led to asking me on a date. He wasn't deterred when I explained that I was married. He continued to demand my phone number which I don't know anyway because Korean cell phone numbers have like 11 numbers. When I asked him who his teacher was, I learned that he didn't even attend the institute but he saw me outside and was waiting outside my classroom. He was physically blocking my path to class until I accepted his phone number. I reported the incident to my director who referred to the man as a "f#@*er" in conversation with Ryan.

Cane, our director, took the phone number from me and called the man. He explained that he was with YBM security and that they caught him on camera and his picture is now posted all over the school. They also have identified him with his name and number and if he comes too close to the school, YBM will pursue legal action. The man begged Cane not to take legal action and promised to stay away from the school. He explained that he was just looking for a friend. Cane didn't hang up the phone until he was sure that the man had crapped his pants. I'm liking our new director more and more.

The Notorious Noraebongs

Ryan and I ventured into Itaewon a few weeks back to check out an International festival. The festival focused mainly around food and so it didn't hold much interest for us aside from the gigantic pig snout that seemed to be popular and the biggest stack of sliced mystery meet I have ever seen. There was a stage set up with mostly Korean girls in miniskirts and gogo boots who were unsuccessfully trying to sing American pop songs. It was really more frightening than anything else.

Kevin and Monica took us off the main road to an area commonly referred to as "Hooker Hill." While most of the hookers were inside the buildings, they occasionally popped their heads outside the door to persuade lonely gentlemen to join them for a "party." The hookers are at first difficult to distinguish from the regular girls because the common style in Korea among girls are the "barely there" shorts and skirts anyway.

Kevin recommended we find a noraebong. A noraebong is a karaoke room in Korea. So, let me tell you, we weren't exactly enthusiastic to go. My only memories of Karaoke are picnics at my Dad's work and Tiffany's 21st birthday . . . and neither of them made me a contender for American Idol. However, after much persuasion, Kevin convinced us to take a try at karaoke. After all, there were all 4 of us and no one else would ever hear or know (well, except now that I'm writing it in the blog). To my surprise, the noraebongs are much better designed than the karaoke bars in the U.S. Each group at the noraebong gets their own private room. The music is also playing too loud for anyone to actually hear how bad you are at singing. It was almost enjoyable to scream into a microphone at the top of my lungs. What a way to relieve stress!

While I won't go to a karaoke bar in the U.S., I did enjoy myself, possibly too much. Next time Kevin makes this suggestions, I won't resist quite as much. The highlight of the night would probably have to be Kevin and my rendition of Eminem's "Real Slim Shady." You might not think so by looking at me, but I am a true ghetto rapper at heart.

Seoul Land

Imagine Six Flags . . . roller coasters, rides, log flumes, games, fried food and ice cream. Now remove all the screaming children and drunk overweight people in bikinis with mullets and rat tails and replace them with children dressed in slacks and sweater vests and women dressed in sweaters, skirts and high heels . . . tada, you have Seoul Land.

I have to admit when my brother, Kevin, compared Seoul Land to Six Flags, I had mixed feelings about going there. I love rollercoasters and rides, but unfortunately most of my Six Flags memories are of seeing men with bare chests and beer bellies hanging over denim cutoff shorts that are a few sizes too small, taking up two seats on roller coasters or spilling beer on their children.

Seoul Land was a blast. The lines were short, the people were considerate and sober and had all of their clothes on. The highlight of the trip would have to be the giant swing drop. We were strapped into harnesses and pulled up higher and higher . . . and higher. A little too high for comfort, but by the time we reached the top it was too late. We dropped. The first ten seconds felt like an absolute free fall. When I finally felt the tug from the harness and realized we reached the bottom, it was the most exhilarating feeling. We swung back and forth over Seoul Land and had a great view of the mountains. What an adrenaline rush. However, I have now lost any desire I ever had to go bungee jumping or skydiving.

The oddest thing would have to be the gigantic vinyl mountain. Thousands of feet of vinyl were stretched tight in the air. The vinyl was stretched into mountains and hills. Hundreds of children were just running up and down the hills. Kevin joined in and got a few of them to barrel roll down the hills with him. After his adventure on the vinyl and an entertaining attempt at "Dance, Dance, Revolution," Kevin and Ryan decided to prove their manhood by playing the game where they have to hit the target with the sledgehammer. Kevin won a key chain duck that had red lights on the sides of the head for his girlfriend, Monica. Ryan stepped up and won a 3-legged armadillo. The strange thing was the tag of the armadillo which read "100% assholes" I guess cotton is too expensive here.

Some Call it Cozy

I hit my head on the wall again as I tried to sit down on the toilet. We need a bigger bathroom. Either that or foam walls.

You Will Respect My Authority!

Today my students brought food for class. One older gentleman and renowned plastic surgeon (he's written 10 books and given presentations in more than 50 countries) brought a selection of food and another girl brought small cakes and everything was placed on my desk. I reached to pass the food around and the plastic surgeon stopped me. He told me that the Teacher is the highest position in class and holds a title of great respect and so no student could select food or eat before the teacher eats.

Heehee. I tried my best to keep a straight face. I'm hardly teacher. I have had to learn more about the English language in the past two months that I've learned in 4 years of college. Honestly, what normal English speaker can explain the 12 English tenses without looking them up (such as the present continuous, present perfect and present conditional)?

It's still awesome to walk into a classroom and automatically have the attention and respect of 15 college students and business men who I can guarantee are probably a lot smarter than the teachers at my school. Solely because I was lucky enough to be born speaking a language that is now considered the global standard language, I am respected. This rocks!

I did question the importance of English in one of my classes. The students assured me that anytime they work abroad, which is the majority of the time because Korea is so small, they speak English. When they speak with Chinese suppliers, Italian customers and French subsidiaries, they always speak English. Kudos to America & England for forcing their wonderful language on the rest of the world.

Fashion in Korea?

October 3rd.
Hello Everyone!!!
I just wanted to take some time to expand on the fashion trends in Korea. Well, there are none. It seems that Seoul, Korea is the Manhattan of New York. Anything and everything goes. There are of course some things that seem to be popular with certain Koreans. Popular footwear (men & women) seems to be "old school" Chuck Taylor's. All colors!! Also, for the men well, they seem to like man purses. Yea, they all have them. All styles, colors and name brands. Along with the man purses they also seem to take a liking to what women in the US call Capri pants. The pants that are to short to be "real" pants, yet to long to be considered shorts. Not flattering in an already vertically challenged society. On the other hand the females seem to favor the promiscuous stockings that stop just above the knee with shorts or mini skirts. Covering the back side with well the "bare" minimum of cloth. I really don't want to get into the hair styles, all I will say is black and bangs...lots of bangs. As for headgear, Major League Baseball caps seem to be a choice by many. Oakland, San Fran, Boston, and of course the New York crap teams just to name a few. I ask my students if they like the A's or the Giants and they look at me with a deer in the headlights face, sporting the MLB apparel while responding "huh, what's that", I just shake my head and respond "are you crazy? never mind" and move on with class. You see, Koreans will buy anything that deals with a "brand" from the US. Most don't really understand what they are buying. They just know that it is from the US so they buy it. For example, Annie and I were exploring our neighborhood last weekend and walked by a Korean teenager with his family and he was sporting a shirt that said " I'm Black and proud of it", all I could do was laugh. Not really sure what else to say about that. Speaking of style, business men love their silver business suits. Not grey, silver. It seems that the older they are the brighter the silver. I'm guessing to match the hair. Don't worry I will be sporting one soon. Gotta fit in!! Of course I am trying to take pictures for all to see. Coming soon I promise. Take care all.
Stay Safe
Ryan

Feel Free to Send American food

For those of you who requested our address, it is more likely that we will receive mail at our school. Apartment landlords tend to slack when it comes to delivering mail to tenants. Here is our address at school:

Annie and Ryan Cross (Annie comes first)
YBM Si-sa Language Institute Yeoksam ELS
826-1 Yeoksam-dong, Kangnam-gu
Seoul 135-080, Korea

Safest Place in the World

Since we arrived in Seoul, everyone has been telling us this is the safest place in the world. I now officially agree. There's absolutely zero crime. Koreans tell horror stories of walking into convenience stores in the U.S. where they are able to purchase weapons from mace to what they refer to as Pirate Knives. The right to carry law in the States is also horrifying to them. In the month that we have been here, I do not think a single crime has been committed in this city of 15 million people. There are more attempted bank robberies in a day in the U.S. than South Korea has seen this decade.

In the subway, it is common to see people sleeping next to a pile of new purchases, all laid out for anyone to swipe. Usually a purse lays a few feet from the unsuspecting sleeper. Yet, everyone is left to themselves. The real crime is the old ladies here. In the U.S., I think of older women as kind and fun. My warning to you is that if you ever visit Seoul, do not cross the path of a lady over 60. They are mean, fiesty and know how to get physical. My biggest complaint is when I have to stand next to an old lady on the subway because she has a way of sticking her hip so far into your leg that you want to scream for mercy. It doesn't matter if these women are the last ones in line to enter an overcrowded subway train . . . they can and they will get on the train, taking out unsuspecting bystanders.

September 20th

Day 21
We have safely arrived in Seoul. We appear to be a small minority here. Everywhere we go in the city and on the subway, we are met by wide eyes and open mouths. White people in Korea appear to be as common as elephants in Missouri.


The last American we saw before stepping out of the airport was Lance Armstrong. When we first walked out of customs, I naturally assumed all of the flowers, fans and photographers were for us. However, to my dismay, Ryan soon mentioned to me that Lance was about ten feet in front of us.

We stepped off the airport bus into the streets of Seoul carrying loads of luggage. We were let off on the busiest street in the 3rd most populated city in the world. It was a bitch. As we maneuvered our bags through the crowds, we took out people left and right. Luckily, most people are much shorter than us so we still had a good view of where we were headed.

We arrived 3 days before our first class. We received a two hour training session that consisted of talking about banking in Korea and dressing appropriately. For the whole teaching thing, we were kind of on our own. I think our own English has immensely approved in the first three weeks due to learning grammar as we teach. The only requirements to teach are to have a college degree, speak English and be white. Although, we seem to be very lucky in that we are teaching adult and college students instead of children.

We spent our first week living in a hotel. The room was so small that we could stand in the middle of the room and reach all 4 walls. Our bathroom consisted of a toilet and a showerhead that sprayed the toilet as we showered. I figured it would be the smallest bathroom I would ever shower in . . . until we moved into our apartment. Our apartment is 6 subway stops from work. We have a nice open room with a big window. We sleep on traditional Korean mats on the floor. It's not quite our mattress at home, but it gets the job done. We work from 6:30am until 10pm so we never have trouble sleeping. We would probably be able to sleep fine on the hardware floors.

In our second week of work, we had to work 6 days in a row. It made for an exhausting week and a short weekend. However, the Chuseok holiday starts tomorrow and we will have five days off. Chuseok is the equivalent of Thanksgiving in the U.S.

Eating has made for an interesting time. Luckily, we have many comforts of American restaurants such as Dunkin' Donuts, Pizza Hut, Outback, Bennigans, McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, Baskin Robins, Cold Stone Creamery, you get the picture, all in walking distance. The grocery stores are a bit difficult because everything is in Korean. But we have been able to indentify Skippy Peanut Butter, Frosted Flakes, Skim Milk, Bread, Eggs and Cheese. We plan to visit the International Grocery Store this weekend where we have high hopes of finding granola bars, tortillas and deli meat.

We have also been fortunate enough to spend weekends with my brother, Kevin, and his girlfriend, Monica. They have helped us adapt to some of the Korean culture and introduced us to kimchi and bulgolgi. We have yet to come across the notorious puppy meat and I hope we never do. We also visited the batting cages here with Kevin and Monica but unfortunately I was unable to participate because the cages are only set up for right handers. Until recently, all children were forced to be right-handed, so left handers are only beginning to be seen in the area. In other words, I'm a freak here. I did kick Kevin's but on the hit the mole game next to the batting cages. My little payback for all of those Scrabble games. The weather has been pleasant aside from the occassional thick smog and the week of typhoons we experienced. Our first month is coming to its end. So far, so good.