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.