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