Something Negative About Korea!

Today I was walking down the main street to my house, which is about 2 kms long. As I was walking, I heard the sound of an emergency vehicle. The sound kept ringing at the same level for a couple of minutes. I thought the problem was where the sound was coming from.

It was actually an ambulance at a crossroad, trying to get to the other side of the main street. As I stood waiting to cross the road, I was horrified to see that the ambulance was stuck in the same spot and none and I mean none of the vehicles were stopping to let it across. Never mind that, they never even slowed down when they heard the sound or saw the ambulance.

There is a total lack of disrespect for emergency vehicles in Korea. The people don't care about them and it is something that should be addressed. This is not the first time that I have seen this. I have seen the same thing with fire vehicles also. It is just the first time that I have remembered to talk about it.

It was quite shocking to me and I just thought to myself how I would feel if I was the person in the back of that ambulance or the person waiting to get taken to the hospital. Those precious few minutes could mean the difference between life and death........ such a shame that the Koreans don't even think about that.

Further on from that is the general lack of good manners while driving. People turning right on red lights don't merge, they just pull round the corner. I wondered when I first got here why all the bus drivers and taxi drivers were honking the horn when they got to an intersection. It was because they saw a car approaching to turn right and were warning them not to turn in front of them!!!!!!!

People will pull their cars right smack in the middle of a bus stop where people are waiting. Cars will block the driveways anywhere, even the crosswalks or not even wait for you if you are using a crosswalk.

Scooters drive on the sidewalk and are a constant pest while you are walking. Even when the drivers pull over, they don't pull tight to the curb. They will pull over and have their cars turned at 45 degrees sometimes, blocking a lane and a half. They make buses go round them at bus stops, or the bus will stop two lanes over from the bus stop as there are so many cars blocking the bus stop.

Taxis will stop and pull over literally anywhere. I mean that in the true sense of the word. They will just decide to stop and that is where they stop. It is quite frustrating sometimes if you are waiting for a taxi or in the taxi itself. Again, something that needs to be addressed, but sadly it is not going to happen sometime soon.

One thing for sure is that you have to remember this motto when you come to Korea; "Cars first, people second." If you remember that, you will be safe most of the time. Don't ever forget that if you come here, or you could end up being seriously hurt or having some kind of injury.

One thing you never see here is bicycles on the road. They stay on the sidewalk. Now I know why.........it would be suicide to ride on the road!!!!!!

Today is Tuesday and Liverpool play in the Champions League tonight. A win coupled with a draw or loss by Galatasaray against PSV Eindhoven and we are through to the next phase. It will be on tv and probably on Star Sports. I have a program now on my computer called TVAntz. I can watch ESPN live and all the football from the Premier League. It is awesome.

They even had the Man City vs Middlesborough game on early this morning live at 3.45am. They have games on tonight, but I think it will be the Chelsea vs Barcelona game. I am sure that Star Sports will have the Liverpool game on though. Last time they showed the Liverpool game first and then the Chelsea game...... let's hope they do the same thing. I will be awake for it.

I have about half of my essays done now..... cruising I think for the next day or two. Went to the gym last night and didn't run at all. Needed a break. Just did some shoulders and biceps and had a nice soak in the cold bath and the very hot sauna. I am off there again tonight and will just run for about 35 to 40 minutes. No weight training tonight though.

It's Halloween as we all know, but in Korea you would never know it. Avalon have a few decorations up, but all in all the spirit has been lost, or was it ever even there?

Anyway, the kids were bugging us for candies and I told them to bitch to Avalon, as there was no way I was buying candies for 100 of my own students. Avalon are rolling in the bucks and didn't even give the kids any candies.

Excuse me, they did give some to the Korean teachers to give to the kids, but the foreigners didn't get given any. A few of the teachers mentioned something about it and were a little pissed off at the whole situation. We are dealing with 800 students after all.

Rebecca is going to be the new head teacher here at Sunae starting in December when she gets back from her vacation in Canada. Wayne is moving into a supervisory role at Migum, which some say is the trouble campus. We shall see how he likes it there.......I will keep you posted as to how things go.

As I mentioned before, they asked me if I was interested in the head teachers job at one of the campuses, but I told them I am going for a nice long holiday with no set date to be back and was going into Seoul when I returned. As I said before, there are loads of jobs out there with half the workload and the same pay compared to Avalon.

I will hurdle that obstacle when it comes anyway.

More Neat Things About The Land Of The Morning Calm

A very unusual picture and very rare, for sure! Usually Hummingbirds are very shy and will not venture near anyone or anything. This picture defies that logic and truly shows that they are eating out of someone's hand. Another cool picture that I got off the email from my Dad.

Korea has so many cool things, it really is hard to remember to talk about them. Living here we take these nuances for granted, but I think it is a very good idea to tell people about them and embrace the cool culture of another nation.

Korea is called " Land of The Morning Calm" and right now, it really feels that way. It feels like a mixture of Spring and Fall, especially the climate of the weather. It really is a beautiful time of the year and this is coming from a guy that loves hot weather. At night it cools off a little, but still not enough to be freezing, by any means.

One of the things that is really cool here is when you see people holding hands. It is very common to see girls walking down the street holding hands and also guys too. I have seen every age group, male and female, holding hands.

In Korea, if someone is your good friend, it is a sign of your friendship, if you hold their hand. I have had my hand held a few times, but it still felt weird, even though I know what the message is behind it. It is just sometimes, your culture blinds you from being able to embrace another's and I admit that I am guilty of it at times........ I am human after all.... haha.

Children look so cute when they are walking down the street, hand in hand and it actually puts a smile on my face every time that I see it. Nothing cuter than seeing that...... believe me.

It's Monday again and back to the grind. I actually like Mondays and have made a conscious effort not to be a Monday hater, like pretty well the rest of the working world!

I am going to enjoy a day in my life and not wish it was another day. I have all the essays to do still and no breaks today, but what the hell.

"Suck it in and get on with it", as Dave always says.

Finally went to the singing room last night. It has been a while and I enjoyed it immensely. Dave and I and my friend who is teaching me Korean went there. We sang our hearts out and had a great time.

Of course singing is good for the soul, no matter how bad or how good you are. Sing, sing, dance, dance your heart away!!!!!!

What Are You Going To Do This Weekend?

I ask my students every Friday, " What are you going to do this weekend?" An unbelievable amount of them reply with, "SLEEP!!!!"

It seems like a lot of them are sleep deprived or are so busy during the week that they look forward to sleeping on the weekend. It is quite disturbing to tell you the truth and sometimes bothers me. There has to be something wrong with the Korean system if so may children are looking forward to sleeping on the weekend.

Just this year, the students don't go to school every second Saturday. Before, they went to school every Saturday. They usually go from 9 until 1, as far as I know. Some Koreans told me a while back that starting next year, in March or so, there will be no more school on Saturdays.

The rumour is that Korean parents pressured the government because they didn't have family time with their kids and I guess the gov't listened to them! I hope it happens, as the kids spend so much time going to different schools like music, math, science, english etc.. Some of my kids go to 3 or 4 schools a day and sometimes they go to math class or korean language class for 3 or 4 hours, even on the weekends. I am sure if there is no school on Saturdays, the private schools will be busier and make more money. It is just the Korean style, but the parents don't want them going to regular school on Saturdays anymore.

It is not unsual to see high school kids taking a bus in their uniforms at 11 or 12 at night. I have also seen them on buses at that time. Buses drive them home when they are finished at the schools. Avalon in Jongja, which is a middle school campus, finishes at 11pm. By the time the kids get home, it is midnight and then some of them are up at like 6 am to do homework and get ready for school......... brain overload and sleep deprivation 101.




This picture turned out really weird; half of the body showing in the bottom and out of line!
Andy 2 is in the front alone and then directly behind him is Justin and beside him Andy 1.
I have quite a few students with the same name in my classes. I have 2 Alexes, 2 Johns, 2 Amys, 2 Julies and 2 Julias and 2 Jennys. Some of them are in different classes, but it makes it difficult when they are in the same class with the same name. I can't even use their surnames because a lot of them either don't understand or have the same surname.... hehehe.




Tommy is in the white shirt and beside him is Jacob, in front of him is Charles. Tommy's Korean name is pronounced Sonju, so when I first taught him, I used to call him soju, which of course is the main alcoholic drink that Koreans have when they go out to eat or drink.

The Koreans never have soju without food, by the way. It is very unusual for Koreans to have any kind of liquor without having food with it and actually if you go to any place that sells liquor or soju, it is quite impolite if you don't order any side-dishes to go with your soju.

Anyway, we used to have quite a laugh calling him soju and he was always a good sport about it. I taught him in a class when he was at a level below and now I teach him at the level above that he moved to. He is a really good kid and loves to draw. He wants to be an artist when he grows up. He said he wants to draw characters like Superman and Super Heros.

Charles was late every single class for the first 7 or 8 classes. I warned him that if he was late that he would get detention, but he didn't listen and finally, I had to walk him to the front desk and tell them to call his mother and ask her if it was okay if he showed up late all the time. One time he actually told me that he was late because he fell asleep at home!!! Again, he is a nice kid. He is not late anymore, by the way.

My school is the first school in Korea that has actually had detention, but I think Avalon goes too far with it. The kids have a Korean teacher's test each time they attend the school as well as a quiz in the English teacher's class. The only problem is that with the Korean teacher, if they get more than 3 wrong out of the test of 20 questions, they get a detention. You should see some of the words that they study and the sentences that they have to translate. It is actually quite ridiculous and there are always lots of kids in the detention room everyday. They have to stay for another hour after their classes finish. They are there already for 2 hours and 30 minutes!!!!!!!!!!

I actually asked the kids a question about the tests and the whole memorizing thing.
I asked them if 2 or 3 days later, they remember any of the words or the test itself. 99 percent of them said a tiny tiny bit. They usually just study for the test and then let it go out of their brain. My whole theory about memorization is that it is shite and serves a purpose only for the most common things we need in life such as multiplication and adding up and subtracting. Other than that, I think it is absolutely useless. I told my kids that if I can teach them to understand something, they will remember it forever, or at least parts of it forever.

It really is the style in Korea and one of the things that most of the English teachers have to fight against. It can be quite frustrating sometimes even talking to the Korean teachers about it, as they have it stuck in their heads that memorization works and most of the time they don't have a choice, they are just told to teach it.

Finishing a book and getting through tests is a big thing that appeals to Korean parents, even at smaller schools and in more relaxed situations. The director of the school usually always pressures the teacher to finish the book and get onto another one, regardless of how well the student knows the material. It is all for the parents........ such absolute bullshit at times and every teacher here can tell you stories about the same situation.



I didn't realize that I had a picture of the two girls with the funny laughs. Well, I do! Here they are! Esther is the goat or sheep in the pink t-shirt and Amy is the cross between a pig and a cow or some kind of animal, in the yellow top behind her. Chelsea is sitting next to Amy.

Chelsea was really lucky with regards to her health. She was sprayed by hot oil in the kitchen and it went all over her face and neck and other parts of her body. She was covered in gauze and other things while attending school. She was also lucky as she has no scar tissue. She still has some blotches on her skin, but her skin is mending quite nicely and as I said, she is a very very lucky girl. She is quite shy, but her English level is improving and she is learning to speak a lot better.



Above is a competition that I would never win. My Mum would be embarassed with some of the clothes that I wear. My Mum always looks at your clothes and will say, "That needs an ironing, don't you think?"

There are dry cleaners everywhere in Korea and I mean everywhere. I have one at the bottom of my elevator, but I am too damn cheap and lazy to use it. I still always think of what my Mum would say when I wear clothes that are wrinkled. My sister and Mum would win the ironing competition hands down, anywhere. They even iron socks and underwear.... hehe. I am serious about that too!!!!!!

Korean people have everything ironed and shoes polished. There are very very few people in Korea that don't take the extra time to look good. There are shoe shine places in all the public baths too. You can get your shoes shined for two dollars. Just leave them and the fella will have them done for you when you come out. The Koreans are very particular about their appearance.

Most of us foreigners that come here are quite slovenley compared to the Koreans. I thought my clothes were a little wrinkled sometimes, but I hold nothing on some of the teachers and what they wear to school. I have worn jeans to school this last 8 months and I don't like doing it, but I have no good dress pants, something that will be addressed when I go to Canada in February.

I just think a teacher should at least look a little professional. A lot of the teachers at my school even wear t-shirts with writing on them. One of the teachers had a Tiger Beer t-shirt on the other day. Another teacher at my school is growing a mohawk, well as he puts it, a faux hawk....... whatever, not a good thing to be doing as a teacher as far as I am concerned, but what do I know..... I am an old fashioned stuck-in-the mud, as a lot of the teachers call me when we discuss these kinds of things. I pull them up on it sometimes too... their attire that is.

I am not sure, but I think buses and taxis are allowed to go through red lights if the way is clear. I was on a bus today that did it and also in a taxi tonight that did it and I have seen loads of other buses and taxis doing the same thing. I don't know if they are breaking the law or if there is a rule that says they can do it. Either way, sometimes it freaks me out.

If you don't wear you seatbelt here and get caught, there is a fine. A whopping big one compared to North America. It is 30 dollars!!!!!! Also, another thing that is not common, but does happen to the Koreans occasionally, is jaywalking. There is a fine of 30 dollars for that too and quite a few of my Korean co-workers have been nabbed over the years. The other thing also is talking on your cellphone while driving. If the cops see you, you get a 30 dollar fine too. My ex-director who is a friend of Tony from Ulsan, got nabbed 5 times in one month while I was in Ulsan, back in 2004/05.

When you get into a taxi, if you sit in the back, the driver will not say anything to you about wearing a seatbelt, but if you sit in the front, he will always tell you or gesture to you to put the seatbelt on. I think it is because he is responsible maybe if the cop sees you without your seatbelt....... not sure on that one though.

Some Great Halloween Costumes!

As Halloween is fast approaching, I thought it would be good to put some funny pics of some costumes on my blog. I got them off my Dad by email. There are some good ones here!!!!

Everytime I think about the time difference between continents, it always freaks me out a little bit. The world is an amazing place and to know that my day is just ending and someone else's is just beginning, is just FREAKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saying that, the clocks in North America and most of the rest of the world, go back an hour this Sunday morning at 2am. That means that I will be back to 14 hours behind Canadian time and 9 hours between English time. The English time is very important to know the time difference, as the football game start times are of the utmost importance...... haha.

Halloween here is not celebrated at all except by the foreigners or the children that are in private schools with foreign teachers. There is no "Trick or Treating" although the kids always ask what it is like. They like to hear me tell them stories of what the children do and how much candy they get.

"Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!" The kids like it when I sing that one to them and ask me to say it again and again. Most of my kids understand what it means and they always ask me, "Teacher, why smell my feet?"

Today is Friday and as usual I blog after my last teaching class of the day. I still have some work to do and of course the 91 essays, but have enough time to have a break and have some down time. I am going to start marking more essays, once I am done finishing this blog.

Yesterday, I had one of the funniest classes that I have ever had in Korea. There is a girl called Amy and she has one of the most unique laughs that I have ever heard. I noticed this a few weeks ago and everytime I have that class, I want her to laugh as it makes my day! Anyway, yesterday I was joking with the class and making a point of how funny Amy's laugh was, and of course Amy started to laugh. Her laugh sounds like something between a cow and a pig, but a little grunt and then a breathe.

As she was laughing, Esther in the front of the class started to laugh. Well, her laugh was just as funny if not funnier than Amy's! It sounded like a whining goat, heheeeeeheeeeheeee....... it was so funny. Well then it was like a mini symphony going on between Amy and Esther. All the rest of the kids were hysterical, including me. Some of the students were actually crying, they had laughed so much. I started to get a sore jaw and also a sore gut. We tried to stop, but everytime someone would read or do anything, we could hear Amy then Esther laughing again.

After about 10 minutes of non-stop laughing, we were all quite exhausted and all smiling from ear to ear. It felt so good to have such fun with a class and it did make my day. It was such a moment, one that I will never ever forget.

I love being a teacher and especially ESL (Enlish as a Second Language). It can be quite demanding sometimes, but at times it can be the most rewarding feeling in the world, when you connect with a student and especially like yesterday, when I connected with the whole class. We did all of our work too, by the way!!!!!!!!!

This photo above is just wrong! Imagine having the balls (literally) to be able to go out looking like that and wearing nothing but your birthday suit. I wonder if he did go out or if it was just shot in a studio for the effect?

The cold weather has finally hit Korea. When I say cold, I don't mean really cold, I should really say that it has just cooled of significantly. At night it gets a little nippy(pardon the apparent racial remark.... not!!!!!) and you feel a little chilly if you don't have a sweater or a light coat on. The Koreans feel the cold a lot more than we do.... the opposite effect to the heat, when we fight with them to turn on the airconditioning.... we now fight with them to turn OFF the heat. It is way too hot for us in the office right now, it feels like a sauna.

I still had the air conditioning on in my apartment on Monday. Must be all the fat that I have that keeps me warm and always sweating... hey I am trying to get rid of it..........

Off to mark essays now and then off to the gym to run off some of the fat, have a sauna and then go out for a few drinks and hang out at Dublin's... probably.

Thursday And The Week Keeps Rolling On!!!!!!!

To all of my friends that read this blog, I am quite serious...... just ask for my bank account on your next email and I will be glad to provide it for you.... hope to hear from a few of you soon.

I get lots of these jokes from my Mum and Dad and to tell you the truth, they are very funny and very age relative. I decided to put a couple on, as they give me a good giggle most of the time that I read them.

I can't believe how quickly this week has been going by. It really seems like it was Monday, like a day ago. I have been pretty busy as always, but this week seems to be going faster than ever.

I have not been sleeping well at all and keep waking up almost every hour..... seriously. I am feeling a little run down this week, but will keep going and try to hang in there, the best that I can. I am not willing to take any sleeping pills and I have tried everything; not eating before bed, eating before bed, not exercising before bed, exercising before bed and on and on and on. Hot milk, cold milk, tea, no tea, coffee, no coffee.



I even signed up by email to one of the sleep disorder sites, but that doesn't seem to be helping either. I think I just have a sleeping problem and believe me, it is not because I am depressed..... I have nothing to be depressed about...... really.



Talking to people that I meet and some of the teachers in my school, it is a common problem with a lot of people. It is more common than people think. Anyway, I hope that my sleeping improves, but if not, I have lasted this long without a proper night's sleep and I can do it for many more years to come.

On a happier note, I will have completed 9 months of my contract next week. Only 3 months to go now before I finish at Avalon. I am getting a little excited now at the prospect of having a good holiday for the first time in a lot of years. I already have somewhat of a travel plan. Tentatively it is Canada, England, Ireland, Holland and Germany. I don't have a set plan, but I plan on seeing a few countries that I have not been to and want to see Gus in Ireland, Elmira in Germany and visit the family in Liverpool and Dave's family in Holland.

It will have been two and a half years since I saw Mum and Dad and my sister, which is a sin in itself. I know that I have mentioned it before, but I will not allow myself to have that much time apart EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!

I am off to the gym tonight and I am going to do chest and arms and a 2 km run. I lift weights one day and then run without weights the next day. I am determined to get some more of this baby fat off me, if it literally kills me because if I don't get it off me, it will eventually kill me in the long run.

More Photos Of My Students

This is Rose. She is a very shy girl, but a really nice student. Her English level is good and she tries very hard, but is very difficult to hear sometimes, as she speaks so quietly. I did get her to smile in the picture, but she usual is very straight faced in the class. She is not miserable, just very shy. One of the better students in this class.

The boy on the left is Jae. He is a special student because he speaks with a very posh English accent. He spent some time in Manchester and actually visited Liverpool. He speaks so differently from the other students, who have predominantly American or Canadian accents. Cool to hear him read and talk of course! His English is not that good considering he spent some time in the U.K. He is a little lazy though. That is probably why he is not doing better than he really should.

The boy leaning over the side of the chair is Jiu. He is a funny kid and always has a smile on his face. He speaks very well, but like Jae is a little lazy also. I don't blame any of the kids for being lazy in my class, as the Korean teachers give them test after test after test. They just get fed up after a while. They are only elementary students after all!!!!!

From left to right; Christopher who used to be Nicholas. On my attendance sheet they have him listed as Nicholas, but he told me the first day that his name is Nicholas. Behind him, Benjamin, who I always call Benjamin Franklin. He is a great kid and always happy in class. Next to him is Eunice. She is a great student and always tries hard in all the tests and quizzes and is a great student to teach. Nana is the girl in the orange. What a strange name! I told her that Nanna was a name for Grandma in England. She didn't like that too much, but still kept her name... haha. Next to her is Christine. She is a very sweet girl and has a lovely personality. She is a little quiet just like some other students, but a very good student. Behind her is Judy, who is covering her face. She spent some time in Canada, New Zealand and America. She speaks English very well, but her written stuff is a little rusty. She is a good student and has lots of personality. Next to her is Steve. He is quite a character. He talks with a little bit of a lisp, but is a genuine joker at times. He and Judy are always being told by me to be quiet, but they are not bad kids. They are both good students.

Lots of the students change their names when they get sick of their English name. None of the Korean teachers know them by their English names. When we want to communicate with them about how a student is doing, we have to give them the Korean name. My sheets have the English name and then I make all the students write their Korean name next to it. It helps me out too as I have 2 Jennys, 2 Alexes, 2 Andys, 2 Johns, 2 Julias and on and on. Some of them are in the same class too! I have to call them like John 1 and John 2. Can't call them by their surnames. That doesn't work in Korea.

Sally is on the left with red top on. She is one of my favourite students. Such a nice girl and always so sweet. She was huffing and puffing today in class and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that one of the girls in school had done something very bad and the teacher didn't know about it. She said that all the other students want to tell the teacher, but were not sure if they should or not. I just told her that if telling the teacher would change something for the better, then she should tell the teacher, but if not she should mind her own bee's wax. I think she understood and one of the other girls Eunice, who I mentioned earlier, said that she thought the same way that I did.

In Korea, people introduce themselves with their surname and then their first name or names. For example in Korean, I would be Campbell Paul James. It is difficult for the students to understand that, as they have been saying it that way for such a long time. I try to explain it to them and they do understand, but they still say their name in the same order in English as they do in Korean.

For example one of my students name is Unjin Park. She introduces herself as Park Unjin. Lots of their first names have two parts also, which in itself is difficult for English teachers to remember, hence all of the kids in our classes have English names. English teachers have a hell of a time trying to remember their Korean names and vice-versa for the Korean teachers trying to remember their English names.

One picture, or an attempted picture of the whole class. Half of the girls are hiding and the boys don't want to get anywhere near the girls. Finally, I got some of them to at least look at the camera.

Kate is on the left at the front and next to her Belle. Kate is a great student and Belle is the best in the class and also the youngest. Both of them have spent time overseas also. Belle spends every summer in America. Most of the students that go to Avalon are from quite wealthy families. Avalon is one of the most expensive private schools to go to compared to the other schools and has one of the best reputations for good students and the students being prepared for the special all English middle school called Chongshim. That is Avalon's main claim to fame.

Belle gets perfect on her tests and her essays are unbelievable. She totally thinks outside of the box, but hits her head against the wall during the class all the time!!!! We are always laughing about it, as she does it at least twice every class.

Belle is also a year younger than most of the kids in the class. She is in grade 4 and most of the other kids are in grade 5.

Behind Belle is Julie. She is a really tall girl and looks like she is about 15 or 16. Next to her is Marriane. I have a little story about Marianne.

I always like to sing songs with the kids names in them. So of course the song, "Hey Marianne, what's your name now, can anybody play?" was perfect for her. I used to sing it all the time when she would come up to have her homework checked. Another example is a girl called Rhonda. "Help me Rhonda, help help me Rhonda, help me Rhonda, yeh, get her out of my heart."

All the kids liked me singing or still do and usually it is not an issue. Every student has to come up to the front where I am standing and get their homework checked and then they sit down. I called Marianne up of course and started singing as usual. Usually the students will sing in harmony too, or try to sing along with me. This time Marianne started to cry!!!! I asked her what was wrong, but she just kept sobbing and wouldn't stop. One of the other students said, "Teacher, she doesn't like you singing a song with her name in it and feels really sad everytime you do it! "

So needless to say, I had to stop, but only with Marianne. She is a very sweet girl and always does all of her assigned work. She is a little shy, but she likes me much better now that I don't sing her name. Quite funny, really, but children are all different, so we have to accept each one for their unique personalities. Although I didn't mean any harm, I learned a valuable lesson that not all people can be treated the same way. I knew that before, but I try my best to improve myself as both a teacher and a human being everyday.

I hope I am not boring you too much with all my pics, but I figured I should post some pics of my kids, so that you can see what they look like, at least.

I will post some more later of my other classes. Remember, I have 4 classes of 1 hour and 15 minutes a day, twice a week. Then the other two days are 3 classes of 1 hour and 15 minutes and then Friday I have two classes of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remember also, I only have 5 minutes between three of the classes and one of the classes 10 minutes. The old mouth gets quite tired after 5 hours non-stop of talking, teaching, asking questions and the like.

I know that seems hard to believe for some of you that know me, but I get tired of talking too!!!!!!! Don't laugh too hard, I can hear you all the way over here in Asia....... hahahaahahahahahahahahah.

A Few Pics Finally Of My Students

This is a picture of Shawn and Alex. Shawn is on the left and Alex on the right. They are both characters, but good kids. Alex is lazy and only does his homework some of the time, but I still like him. Shawn always does his homework but drifts off in class.

The girls are from left to right; Angella, Laura, Alexandra, Sarah, Christina and Johanna. They are my best class and we always have a great laugh in our class. The two boys above are in the same class too. This is the smallest class that I have. All my other classes have from 12 to 14 students in them, so it hard to get around them sometimes and allow every one of them to speak. This class is great though and three or four of the girls have all studied overseas. Laura is going to New Zealand to live in December. She used to be so diligent, but now that she knows she is going, she has really become lazy....... don't blame her really. She still is a good student, but not as hard a worker as before. She was in one of my classes last semester.

Angella speaks very well, but needs to just practice more, but is a great student. Alexandra is a little sweetheart and her English is awesome. She lived somewhere abroad and she writes, speaks and understands English at a very good level. She is so cute and such a good student in my class. I met her mother and she looks just like her mother and her mother seemed very sweet too.

Sarah just joined the class about 3 weeks ago and she speaks very well, but doesn't do much of her homework. Still a great student though.

Christina is very shy and talks very quietely, but again is at a very good level. She is also a wonderful student in my class.

Johanna, and yes that is the way she spells her name, is good too. Her mother is an English teacher and she ended up being a friend of the girl's sister that teaches me Korean on a Sunday. What a small world eh! She asked me one day, " Do you know a girl called Caroline? " I said yes and she said, " I am friends with her sister, Amy!"

She is a nice girl and all of the students in this class all have a really nice disposition. That is why it is my favourite class.

Sorry that I have not being blogging much, but with the trip to Taipei and marking essay and doing comments and now I have about 90 essays to mark again!!!!! Avalon never gives us a break.... it is getting on my nerves to tell you the truth. Pure overkill on their behalf. I marked 90 essays and then they told me I had to write comments online for the parents. 78 thank you very much! Then we had a speaking test, which we had to mark more essays that the Korean teachers give them for their half of the tests. Now 90 more...... I am miffed to say the least..... ah screw it.......... no use bitchin' Just need to get on with it. I only have 3 months to go.

Neat Things About Korea!

I know that sometimes I sound a little negative about Korea, but it is never meant that way..... .really.

It is just a way of saying that certain things about living amongst another culture, can sometimes be frustrating, both for yourself and the host country!!!!






First of all I would like to talk about the general 'no cheating' amongst the students. I have actually had students give me a marked test back because I have added up the score wrong; too high!!!! When this first happened, I was in shock and slowly realized that it is just part of the culture. They don't want to get something that they don't deserve. Don't get the idea that Korean children are little angels, by the way because they are not. They are just as disrespectful as children from any country, but they do do some neat things sometimes. They help each other with lots of things in school and it is not uncommon to let someone completely copy from you..... I caught a few of them today copying their homework. I gave the one copying a zero and the one who let him copy -2 out of 10. I have to do my job, come on, I am a teacher!!!!!!!!!

One time I offered money for the winning team when we had a mini-quiz game in class. I am talking about 2 dollars. There was one team with three girls and one of the girls didn't answer a lot of the questions, but the team ended up winning. I gave the girls a 1000 won bill, so they had to split it three ways. It would have worked out to 330 won each, which is about 50 cents. When I said that, the one girl said, "Oh no, she is older than us two, so she gets more money," which meant that they would give the older girl 400 and the other would take 300 each. Again, I was shocked, but in awe of what had happened and realized that age here has certain advantages.

One of the first thing that people ALWAYS ask you here, is how old are you? Age is a very important pinpoint of your status, i.e. They will treat you in a certain manner or with an appropriate amount of respect due to your age.

Another neat things about Korea is the way that EVERYBODY will share their food or snacks with you. You will never see the Korean teachers with a snack or some food and not offer it to everyone that is in the room. It is a cultural thing about food and it is very important to Koreans that they eat and share their food at all times.

I was told that way back in the earlier times of Korea when it was quite poor, one of the most important questions was, "have you eaten something yet?" That has carried on to the present day and the exact same question is posed all the time. I hear it all the time. It is one of the phrases that I know quite well in Korean. "Pamogossah?" It literally means; have you eaten something?

I am trying to keep a list of some of the cultural differences that I encounter, but it is sometimes difficult and as usual, I find myself not being organized enough. I will try my best to keep going on some of these neat things though!

This picture above is just some picture taken off the funny pics website of what some people wear for Halloween. I think it is a great costume and I am sure that the fella got loads of compliments on it while he was wearing it.

One of the other things that is really neat about Korea is the whole thing about selling things. You don't need a licence to put up a stall or to have a truck selling something out of. You can see lots of people that sell at the subways or on corners, although I have noticed you don't see a lot of abuse of the system. There are trucks that sell all kinds of foods and usually quite healthy. It is such a neat thing to see and I love that part of Korean culture.

Another thing is that the variety stores and grocery stores all sell booze. From whisky to vodka to beer and soju and it is 24/7!!!!! You see lots of variety stores here with tables and chairs outside where people will actually sit down and have a few beers or a cigarette. Dave and I did it Tuesday night. We sat and drank 2 bottles of soju mixed with orange juice. It is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a drink at a bar or hof and really nice to do sometimes when the weather is awesome.

Most Koreans will not walk around drinking beer or booze. You are allowed to do it, they just don't look at it as being the right thing to do. Lots of the foreigners that come have done it and are still doing it. Koreans want to go to the businesses that sell alcohol and give money back as such. It is also a very social thing as 99 percent of Koreans always eat while they drink. That is why all the eating places are so popular and always full.

Now I know why there are so many variety store owners in Canada that are Korean. It is because there are variety stores everywhere in Korea. It is not unusual for there to be 3 or 4 on the same side of the street or within a block or around the corner from each other. Koreans buy things at them all the time and they do a fairly good business here in Korea. There are some chain stores, but there are also loads of independently owned ones. Most of the people that own the independent ones are either retired from their original jobs or its a family business. The range of things that can be bought at these stores is staggering. They really are not that much more expensive than the big grocery stores or the department stores either!

Enough for now. I have to go back to my list and try to find some more neat things about Korea. There are lots more and I will blog some more in the near future. I also want to post some pics of some of the kids in my school.

I am off to see Jay Z tomorrow night with Tony, my friend from Ulsan. I got the tickets last week and I heard that Beyonce will be with him... rumour is that she got a visa to come here sometime this week. I have the day off work, so it will be the gym in the morning, clean the apartment and listen to Jay Z all day on the computer. I have a cd that has 800 songs from him on it. MP3s of course!!!!!! It is called Library of a Legend; Sean Carter, which is his real name for those of you who are not down with it..... hehe.

I can't wait to go and Tony is hyped too. It is at the Olympic Park in the Olympic Gymnasium and starts at 8pm. Tony should be down here about 4pm. I am meeting him at the bus terminal, then we will drop his stuff off at my house and then head to the concert. It takes about 40 mins by subway to get to the Olympic Stadium, but it drops you off right at the entrance to the place, which is cool.!!!!!

Some Pure "Korean" Things!

This should be the new immigration policy to anyone that complains about living in the country that they immigrated to... or is that emigrated? Anyway, I got it in an email as a joke. It is tongue in cheek of course. There are thousands of grateful immigrants in every country and the few spoil it for the many. I thought it was a classic joke anyway..... sorry if it offends any of you.

One of the things that I always kept wanting to mention on the blot was the AJUMA hat. By the way AJUMA is Korean for married woman and can describe a recently married woman or a veteran!

One of the things that you see here all the time is the AJUMAS wearing this ridiculous looking visor that looks like something from a Star War's episode or movie. It is worn by all these women to protect themselves from the sun, but it honestly looks pathetic. Every time I see one of them, I am reminded of the time that Mum and Dad told my sister and I that if we ever see them starting to wear 'old foggies' clothes, to please stop them....... haha.

It is the same with this visor. Honestly the visor is not even normal size, it is about twice or three times what we in the West have seen. It looks more like a welding mask, come to think of it..... hey maybe it is and the Koreans have just turned it into their own unique fashion.

The male counterpart, the ADESHEE, wears his pants pulled up to almost his bellybutton and always wears a horrible antwacky belt to go with them. I am not exaggerating about how high they wear their pants. They never leave their t-shirts or shirts outside of their pants either and they all look the same!!!

I must say though that the ADASHEES always wear neat, pressed clothes and their shoes are always impeccably shined. There is nothing lazy or scruffy about their hygiene. Same goes for the AJUMAS as well. They are all well dressed, although some of the styles, like the ADASHEES, leave a lot to be desired.

I am no fashion guru, but I am sure that most of you, if you ever came here, would notice this right away.

Also, there are lots of AJUMAS that carry umbrellas around when it is sunny to protect their skin. The Koreans also believe that the rain makes you go bald. I asked all my kids and they were convinced of it hence why EVERYONE has an umbrella when it rains. It is quite hypocritical of them really as they wear flip-flops and sandals when it is pouring down..... their hair is important, but their feet don't matter.... haha.

Friday today. Tonight all the guys at my school are going to the grocery store to pick out some food and then cook it together at Sean's house along with some drinks, I am sure.

Went to the gym last night and did some squats. They almost killed me! But I decided to go to the gym at noon time. It ended up not being enough recovery time; 12 hours and I had the energy of a sloth! I walked for 2 kms and did a few exercises for shoulders and back and called it a day. I soaked in the tub and had a sauna, which was much better than pushing myself to the limit. I think I just need a break as I have gone everyday since I got back from Taipei.

Taiwan Continued...........

This picture came out a little blurred, but it was a picture of a house that was literally right off the main street and between a wall and then in a row of houses. The Taiwanese love plants as you can see and are big on putting them wherever they can. This actually ended up being a restaurant and we came upon it again at night and it actually looked even cooler. It was on the way home from our walk from the subway to our hotel, so we got to see it quite a few times.

I took this picture out of the window while I was on the bus coming from the airport. It shows you the trees once again mixed in with the overpass and the parking lot. They are big on trees making everything look nicer and I actually think they have done a good job of it. It makes everything look a little softer instead of a full on concrete jungle, which it really is!

This is a guy that I saw passed out right before you get to the famous Lanshou Temple. He was right out of it. Every culture has these types of scenes, but Korea has a lot more people drunk than Taipei. Another assertion that I became aware of very quickly while I was there. He was actually the only person I saw in that state the whole 5 days I was there.

I saw a lot more handicapped people in Taiwan than I have the whole time I have been in Korea. I don't know why that is, but I think it is because in Korea there is not a lot of acceptance for handicapped people and not a lot of effort put forth to integrate them into society. Taiwan seemed very receptive towards handicapped people. I saw a lot and I mean a lot of people with bad legs or what seemed like stroke-like ailments. Again, not something that I went looking for, it just seemed very transparent.

This picture was taken of two girls in their school uniforms. I asked them if it was okay to take their picture. Didn't want to seem like no pervert or anything. I told them that I wanted to take a picture because they were in their school uniforms. They were obviously quite shy about it, but they let me take the picture and I thanked them for it.

I took this picture as it shows the mixture of old with new. The two buildings are somewhat traditional style, but right in between them is the new 'Nokia' place. Chinese letters either side and English letters with one of the biggest companies in the cellular phone business beside them. Notice again all the scooters. The people are not in the stores by the way. That is parking area, like I mentioned before. There are parking areas like this all over the place, on every street, back alley and side street.






I actually took this picture at the airport in one of the souvenir shops. I just thought that is showed some of the stuff that they sell as traditional souvenirs. You probably could by the same stuff anywhere else in the world and probably cheaper.

One of the positive things about Taiwan also was that everyone on their scotters wore a helmet. Unlike Korea, where nobody wears helmets. This was a picture of a small stall off the main road that sold helmets and bike paraphanalia. They are big into the helmet design. I guess with so many scotters, the helmet can make you feel somewhat unique!!!!!

The drivers on a whole were much better in Taiwan. The taxi drivers didn't ride the brake or accelerator pedal and the bus drivers didn't drive like maniacs. The driving style was very smooth and crossing the road, pedestrians were given the right of the way all of the time, with a lot of courtesy. Sorry that I can't say that in Korea, where cars go first and people are an afterthought.

This is a shot out one of the windows at the top of Taipei 101. It is the tallest building in the world at about 388 meters. It also hosts the world's fastest elevator. It goes from the 5th floor to the 90th floor in approximately 37 seconds. It was a hoot going up it. My ears popped and the whole lot! It was dead smooth though and very cool. There was a picture of the elevator on the inside as a red square and it showed us moving up the floors. Quite a rush, I must say. It is officially entered in the Guiness Book of Records as the world's fastest elevator. This is a good view of a part of Taipei.

The temple once again that we visited. Actually Dave and I managed to lose each other. He ended up getting pulled aside by some monk or something and I couldn't find him. I guess he was still inside, but I didnt' look diligently enough. I waited outside for about 40 minutes and guessed he had gone off somewhere.... don't know why I thought that! Anyway, we ended up meeting each other about 3 hours later at the hotel. I had got a taxi back there and left a note on our luggage, which was in the front lobby, to tell him that I would be back there about 3pm. I checked in a couple of times in between and I guess we just missed each other an hour earlier. I ended up getting a hair cut and eating some very spicy curry at a restaurant downstairs from the hotel that we had booked out of.

One of the cool things is that even when you check out of a hotel, they will still let you keep your luggage in the front lobby. They give you a ticket and just throw a net over everyone's luggage. That way I guess they figure they have a better chance to get you to stay another night, if you want to.

This is another cool picture that shows how poor some of the people there are. Someone actually lives in this place, believe it or not! As far as I could see, there was no middle-class there in Taipei. There was rich and poor, very poor. This was taken on a side-street not far from the main road. We walked down it and also saw a small make-shift temple where a woman was burning the yellow pages with all the prayers on them in a traditional pot for the wishes to come true. The Taiwanese are very big on those kinds of spiritual things.

Another picture of a parking lot full of scooters. You can see more clearly from this pic just how many there are. This is one of many many lots similar to it all over the city.

This is the best shot that I could get of Taipei 101 from the outside. You can see they have tried to integrate the design as a kind of traditional Chinese building. It is an engineering accomplishment and something that Taipei is very proud of. There is a hall attached to the side of the building and across the street a very American style mall with shops and coffee shops outside. Dave and I had a coffee at the Starbucks right across from this building and hence that is where the photo was taken.

A photo of a fruit market on the main street. I thought it looked so colourful that I had to take a picture of it. They had Korean pears in the store! Some nifty looking fruit and Dave bought a couple of apples and peaches from there.

A picture of the mall that I was mentioning across from Taipei 101. We were sitting right next to this stall at the Starbucks. It was all Hang Ten products. This was the main entrance to the mall, which we didn't bother our arses to go in of course. Could do that anywhere in the world. Nothing special about shopping in an American style mall in Taiwan. Believe me!!!!!!!

This was a shot taken out of the hotel room window. The second hotel that we stayed at. It was much nicer and cleaner than the first one and about the same price. They had a fairly good breakfast too. It was away from the main downtown, but close enough to the subway and a few other areas.

This is a picture of "Snake Alley" which is part of the night market in an area close to the temple that we visited. It has all kinds of delicacies, from chicken's butt holes to snake soup and other exotic foods. We didn't like it that much as it was a bit stinky and dirty looking. Every other store was a sex toy shop too. The shopping at the night market was very disappointing and there were not really any good bargains or if there were, the stuff was shite. Nothing we expected from Taiwan. "Made in Taiwan" we thought would be a great place to shop........ not!!!!!!!

A monk on the subway. We saw quite a few of these all around Taipei. We were on the subway at least about 20 times. We got to know the subway very well and Dave was an expert with his beloved map.

Some more photos of the streets and the buildings and the traffic. Enough for now anyway. Don't really have that many more good photos, but Dave has a few that I am sure I can borrow. He had his camera with him 24/7, I however had mine sparingly on my person.