First Month in Busan -- Some Thoughts (stream of consciousness)

Friends, Enemies, and Parents,

I write to you at the end of a work week, 40 minutes before the final bell sounds and I have two days of sweet, sweet freedom.  Not to say I don't like my job.  I love it.  I'm having a blast teaching; it's impossible not to feed off the energy of cute foreign kids who are eager to learn.  And walking through the halls is surreal.  I'm like a celebrity.  The kids run up to me, yell "Hi!!" and rub my hairy arms.  Kids are really respectful and attentive in class, too, which is quite nice.  But the weekends are awesome because I can explore, enjoy a few beers, and, best of all, sleep in.

Outside of school, one of the first things I've been pleasantly surprised by from life in Korea is that I'm finding the women here very attractive (yes, of course I went there first).  It is indeed a pleasant surprise, because never in my past have I caught yellow fever.  But portion control and exercise is very important here, so pretty much all the women are fit.  the only variable, then, becomes the face, and Koreans have such great skin that their faces are usually very attractive.  And man, oh man, do they show off legs.  Zero cleavage, but shorts and skirts that are shorter than their pockets.

Sadly, foreign teachers I've met aren't that great looking (which is why you won't find this post linked on facebook).  It means I'm probably going ot chase Korean girls, but that's a dangerous game because they're not known to "mingle too freely.  So I'm waiting to meet a girl who blows me away, and then make her my girlfriend.

The main thing I've been doing in free time, even more than looking for an exotic girlfriend, is Tae Kwon Do.  There is a studio half a block from my apartment, and I take classes Monday through Thursday for an hour and a half.  It's a crazy good workout, and once the year is up I should be at least competent in self-defense.  As it stands, all I really know is the fetal position.

On the weekends I usually go out Friday and Saturday nights (often to the beach, because fireworks and drinking are both legal), and then Saturday day and Sunda day I'll go explore somewhere.  There are some pretty crazy fish markets, tons of temples, and lots of good hiking to do once the weather cools down a bit.  I also like to go to sporting events here; the Lotte Giants baseball team is insanely popular and the stadium is rocking.  Plus, tickets are only $8 and you can bring in your own beer.

I'll probably start dedicating some free time to music soon, as I was given a 6-string ukulele by another foreign teacher.  It had been left in his apartment.  I'm a bit confused by it, though, because apparently there are alto and tenor 6-string ukuleles, and I'm too ignorant to tell the difference.  I'm working with the music teacher here to try to figure it out.  I can't wait to wrap my head around it, because the instrument has a beautiful sound.

The food here is AWESOME.  And incredibly cheap.  Stuff your face Korean BBQ places cost about $10.  Traditional Korean food, also delicious, ranges from $3 to $6.  The foreign options are good too; a solid burger and fries runs for about $10, as does a personal pizza.  Big sushi rolls cost about $5.  And, best of all, there is a place by my apartment which sells a waffle wrapped around four scoops of ice cream for 97 cents.  I get those waffles all the time.  If it weren't for Tae Kwon Do I'd be pretty fat by now.

I think that just about covers it.  And with enough time to watch an episode of the Daily Show before I leave.  Mr. Stewart beckons, hasta luego.

New Photos and Videos!

Hi friends!

I finally got internet in my apartment! Total game changer. I've uploaded all the videos that I've taken and about half of the photos. Will try to get the rest of the photos up this evening. Check em out if you're so inclined.

Videos: youtube.com/MaxDaAmateurMusician

Photos: profile.imageshack.us/user/maxrattner (chosen because it does not have a monthly limit on photos and photos can be up to 5 MB. Sadly, the interface is crap. I can make albums but they don't appear to be accessible to public viewers. So use the tags in the upper right-hand corner, that will get you to photos from specific places).

Week in Review

Oy. I’m sorry I haven’t written lately. I know how many of you spend all of your time sitting at your computer clicking the refresh button every 5 seconds in hopes of reading my latest blog entry the instant it’s posted. For those loyal, page-refreshing fans: I’m sorry. I know that you must be thirsty, hungry, and, inevitably, covered in your own excrement. Probably wasn’t worth it. So go clean yourself up, Jeremy.

Jeremy’s poop aside, it’s been a fun and busy week. I started teaching last Monday, which has been a blast. School has been stressful, though, because I have to plan an entire semester’s worth of material for three after school classes by tomorrow. Luckily, I can use the same material for two classes: fourth grade and fifth grade (the goal of the classes is to improve speaking ability, not to teach grammar, so I’m using the same stories, songs, and movies to just try to get the fourth grade class and the fifth grade class talking). The third class, on the other hand, is an English class for teachers, so that lesson plan has taken a lot of thought. It’s tough to think of material which is easy enough for a limited speaker to comprehend but, at the same time, isn’t patronizing. But enough of me wining, let’s get to the good stuff. (Editor’s note: I really just wanted to give Jeremy an explanation as to why I’ve made stew in his own bile for a week). As I’m still busy, I’m going to keep the stories short.

Thursday

Went to school but did very little. Returned home and watched Korean TV.

Friday

Again went to school but didn’t teach. Went out in the evening. Started badly on the girl front. The first Korean I tried to strike up a conversation with said “English very, very, very, very no.”

Later, at a bar with other Max and Nick, Max somehow got himself down at a table with four pretty attractive Korean women. More impressively, he did this while Nick and I were striking out with two gorgeous Korean women at another table. We ended up staying out with them until 3:30am, in the process of which we went to another bar and a karaoke bar. Fun night.

Saturday

Slept until 12:30. Met up with Nick and Max by 2:00. Went to Haeundae Beach (roughly 25 minutes by subway) to walk around. It’s cleaner and more scenic (at least in terms of landscape) than Gwangalli. That said, Gwangalli has a really novel “city meets the beach” feel—skyscrapers come right up to the shore and the impressive Gwangan Bridge stretches across the water—which I think makes it a lot cooler that Haeundae, but I digress. At Haeundae there were lots of foreigners, but nearly 100% of them were huge bros. That was disheartening. I think my favorite part of the visit to Haeundae was watching this Korean woman just spoil this living shit out of her poodles. After she took it off the beach, she put eye drops in its eyes, and then proceeded to wash its entire body in a water fountain, including its butthole. I thought that was funny and weird, especially since they eat dog in Korea.

After hanging around Haeundae for a while, we went to Gwangalli to walk around and get dinner. The weather was absolutely fantastic, so we decided to try to find a place with outdoor seating. It took a while to find a place with a patio and reasonable prices, but we ended up getting a primo table at a Thursday Party restaurant, which is a restaurant and bar company targeting foreigners. I got a chicken breast sandwich with bacon, which was pretty bomb. Also, the waitress took our order in English and gave us forks, which, even though we didn’t use them, I suppose was nice.

The only unfortunate part of the evening was when some toothless crazy Korean man tried to join our table. Before we’d received our food, he came up and said “Hi, can I sit here?” in very broken English. Luckily, Nick was quick on his feet and told him that we had a friend coming. I suppose the man didn’t buy it, though, because he proceeded to yell at us in broken English. The only thing I could make out was “stupid!”

Aside from that mishap, dinner was great. The food was solid, but it was the atmosphere that really made the meal. The weather was perfect. The streets were packed with interesting people to people watch. Most importantly, the area was sparkling with vibrant lights. The star was undoubtedly the Gwangan Bridge, as multicolored lights covered the roads and arches, and they were constantly changing colors. But all the buildings by the water, too, lit up to compliment the majestic bridge.

Now I don’t know what happens at Gwangalli on a typical Saturday night, but as far as I know this past Saturday wasn’t a holiday or anything. So imagine our surprise when, after dinner, we were treated to a fireworks show over the Gwangan Bridge and two different concerts, both on the beach (before you get too jealous, one was a god-awful Christian Rock band singing in Korean. But the other was a smorgasbord of instrumentals and was pretty neat-o). We didn’t stay out too late, though, because we were wiped from Friday.

Aaaaaaand I’m getting long-winded again, back to short form.

Sunday

Went to Jagalchi fish market with Nick and Max. Place is crazy. Packed with vendors, smells awful, fishes of all shapes and sizes everywhere (and being killed everywhere). We got a sashimi lunch, which was pretty darn tasty but more expensive than I’d anticipated.

Other than cleaning my apartment and doing laundry, the only thing on my agenda was to meet another EPIK teacher to pick up a ukulele. It had been left behind in his apartment and he didn’t want it, so he put it up for grabs. Sadly, he missed my last facebook message and didn’t bring it to our meeting. The silver lining was that he was going to play ultimate Frisbee, and since I didn’t want to waste the trip I decided to join. It was pretty fun; a really cool collection of foreigners were playing. And only one bro!

Monday

First day teaching, but only had one class. Just presented a self-introduction PPT. On the way home realized that my Sperrys don’t match. The body of each shoe is the same color, but the flaps which have the holes for the laces are slightly different hues. My suspicion is that I accidentally swapped a shoe with my dad. So check your Sperrys, Pops. We may be burdened with the same shoe affliction. If so, I blame you.

Tuesday

Taught four classes. Definitely picking up on teaching. Received lots of compliments from co-teacher about my “rapid improvement” and lots of swoons from students.

Took a huge dump and clogged the toilet, had to find the 70 year old janitor to plunge it through (they don’t have plungers in the stalls).

Joined a Tae Kwon Do gym by my house. Have class Monday through Thursday with only four other students. For around $80 per month ($5 per class), it’s a steal! They are all Korean, barely speak English, and are all awesome (both personality-wise and in terms of Tae Kwon Do skill).

Wednesday

First class with 3^rd graders today! They’re the cutest things ever.

Tae Kwon Do in the evening. Currently sore.

------

And that’s all I have to say about that. Catch ya on the flip. Sorry about all the poop imagery.