Day Off

Ian and I didn't wake up until about 11 this morning and we didn't manage to get up and out until about 4pm.  It was a nice way to spend my day off, just relaxing and goofing.

We met Ben and Amy at the theater at 5 because we thought that The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus was still playing. It is, but the only showtimes are 10am and 12:10pm.  Very strange.  So, we went to dinner and then to Emart to wander around and to get ice cream.  Ian and I got a new clock because our flip clock was busted.  The Emart Baskin Robbins didn't have the ice cream fondue we all wanted to try (even though it was on their menu), so we settled for regular old ice cream.  We came back to our apartment to play a game and download the movie.  We played a few epic games of Jenga (there are photos, but they'll have to be posted later), but the downloads didn't work.  So, we watched (500) Days of Summer instead.

It was a great time and I'll probably post the pictures tomorrow.  We are off to bed, since we are getting up at 6.  We have to do our lesson plans and then we are off to the gym to get memberships and workout.  Good night!

Weekend School

I was pretty grumpy about having to go into work today, but once I got there it wasn't so bad.  My classes were pretty empty, so it was laid back and I studied a little Korean between classes.  A lot of my students said they were tired, so I think they were more bummed out about being there than I was.  In one Basic 3 class we were talking about the beach and my students were trying to figure out the word 'buried.'  They drew people half covered in mounds of sand.  When I told them buried and drew a hole on the bored, they got concerned and said, "No, not dead."  I agreed, and told them that it didn't mean that the person was dead.  Then I had to qualify it with, "Well, sometimes people are dead."  It became the quote of the day and my students randomly repeated throughout class.  I like it when my students understand ironic humor.

After work I met Ian downtown for pizza and a movie.  We ran into Julia outside the theater.  She and her family were going to see a movie, too.  There's a pizza and toast place attached to the theater, so we all went in there.  As Ian and I were ordering our pizza, Julia walked up and paid for it, though we protested.  It was very nice for her.  She said it was for working on Saturdays.  After eating, Ian and I watched The Road.  It was very interesting and Ian said it stuck close to the book.  It's sad on a very deep level and the narrative hardly has a beginning, middle or end, so it's a strange audience experience.

Ian cleaned the apartment while I was at work today.  He also picked up a toaster oven for me.  It's tiny (only a little bigger than an Easy Bake Oven), but I'm so excited about it.  Maybe I'll make something tomorrow.

Good night!

Strange Evening

So, as it turns out, Ian and I were invited to the company dinner party.

On Fridays, I normally have a break from 4:30 to 5:20, so they moved my 7:30 class to that spot today so that I could go. Knowing that my day was capped with more work related activities made it stretch on and on. The Sinback teachers, Gene and I headed to the party right after my lass class. It was held in a reception hall and catered. There were a few things Ian and I could eat, so that was nice. Ian and the rest of his school were late, so Gene and I awkwardly waited for him at our table for about fifteen minutes. After people finished eating, things got interesting.

Noribang! They wanted us to sing, but we escaped unscathed.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Korea. The woman in the video is sober, standing before her entire company. They act embarrassed enough to vomit as soon as they leave the stage, but you'd never know it.

The evening was pretty dull otherwise. People were being given awards, so we asked Gene why. He told us that they were being rewarded for selling the most English books. Apparently, the women who work for Yoon's are primarily book salesmen and secondarily English teachers. That explains a lot.

Terry (left) and Gene (right).

We walked home from the party in the freezing cold like the lonely foreigners we are.  As we were approaching our apartment complex, some guys in a van drove by us slowly, and as they did they rolled down their window and said hello.  We replied, but kept walking.  They caught up with us just before we got into our building.  Long story short, they wanted to talk to us about religion.  We didn't see it coming because it was 9:30 at night.  They were very friendly, though it was difficult to disengage and we were freezing.  I don't know if they actually target foreigners, but it sure seems like it.

Well, I've got to call my loan companies and get all my accounts squared away.  Oh, tomorrow I have make up classes for the snow day.  Due to some scheduling snafu with the buses, Ian's make up day is next Saturday.  So, two weekends down the hole.  Gene tried to help us out, but to no avail.  Good night!

A Little Christmas Leftover

We pulled ourselves out of bed a little earlier than we would have liked this morning to run to the post office and the bank.  Just as we were about to leave, the deliveryman rang our doorbell and gave us the package we were planning to retrieve.

Thanks Mom!  The comics calendar is great!

Thanks Al and Kat!  The action figure is rescuing Santa on top of our t.v. and Ian's stoked about the Secret Origins book.

My day was great.  It actually felt good to be back in the routine.  I hope that feeling lasts.  Though, my happy day may have something to do with my accidental double dosage of cold medicine this morning.  It wasn't actually double the dose, I just took two doses too close to each other because I miscalculated the time.  But, it put me in a really good mood.

Ian and I are trying to figure out whether we're actually invited to a company dinner tomorrow night.  Gene told us about it, but it's at 7 (we're not finished until 8:30).  They've excluded us from several dinners before, so it wouldn't be new.  Gene seems to think we're invited, but no one else has invited us and when Ian's principle was talking to him about it today, she was uncomfortable and she didn't say much.  So, we'll see.  I can't wait to actually be included in a work environment when we get home.  It's bad to count the days so early, but we do.

When I came home I noticed that our Spidey-Santa isn't fairing so well.

Gruesome!  It's okay.  The adhesive just gave out.  He's being put away this weekend anyway.

Good night!

Gene to the Rescue

I hardly slept at all last night and I woke up feeling terrible.  But, Ian and I trudged through the snow to the meeting.  Gene said that he wanted to take us down to the pharmacy to see if he could get us some better medicine.  We agreed and Ian reminded me to tell him that I can't take anything with ephedrine in it.  We walked to the pharmacy and Gene showed us where the Sinback gym is along the way.  He translated my symptoms to the pharmacist and showed her the translation of ephedrine that he'd looked up on his phone.  She said she understood and gave us a box of ibuprofen and one of a cold medicine called outcoll.  There was a water cooler in the pharmacy, so I took the pharmacist's recommended dose and Ian and I went out to wait for the bus.  The buses were running really late, so I went down to the corner to catch a cab.  I waited for about ten minutes and every cab that passed was already full, so I walked back up to the bus stop where Ian was still waiting.  He was just hanging up the phone and told me that Gene had called him.  Apparently, the pharmacist called Gene (how she had his number, I have no idea) to tell him that the medicine actually did have ephedrine in it.  Since I had taken the medication fifteen minutes prior, I was now a ticking time bomb.

Ian and I got on the bus, figuring it might be easier for me to catch a cab downtown.  It was on the bus that my body began it's ephedrine induced meltdown.  For those of you not blessed with a sensitivity to stimulants, this is what that includes:  heart palpatations (that easily lead to a panic attack), cold sweats, dizziness, fading vision, nausea and a general sensation of panic and agitation.  When I finally got into a taxi, Gene called me and said that he would take my last three classes, so that I could go home.  My first two classes were very strange.  I couldn't concentrate and I'm pretty sure everything I wrote on the board was just squiggles.  I gave up, handed them their worksheets and sat down.  I can only hope that they didn't think that teacher was having a mental breakdown.  The cold medicine was very effective (ephedrine really does work), but it simply swapped my cold symptoms for those of, I'm not sure, coming off something cold turkey.

So, Gene showed up and I ran him through the lesson plans for the other classes.  He said something about maybe not being able to go home tonight, because he'd miss his last bus.  I told him that I wasn't going to leave unless I knew that he would make it home.  He figured out that he could take the train (actually cheaper, which is nice), but he would have to end the last class early.  I told him that it would probably be no problem to do that.

So, I grabbed a cab home, turned on the heat and tried to take a nap.  The ephedrine wouldn't let me sleep, so I watched a Korean movie on Netflix called "Treeless Mountain."  If you're interested in Korean cinema, that might be a good one to start with.  It's subtle, but smart.

Ian has made me a big bowl of ramen for dinner, so I'd better get after it.  Good night!

When I was your age...

I had to walk to school in the snow.  Uphill both ways!

No, really.  Because of the paths I took to avoid drowning in a snow mound I managed to walk both uphill and downhill (equally difficult in snow) to and from work today.  Needless to say, the second snow day I was hoping for didn't happen.  I woke up dizzy, with a raging headache and one of those pitiful dry coughs, though my nose was running the length of a marathon.  Good times.  This job is the only that I've ever had where sickness is really a factor in how you perform.  So, thinking of calling out when I'm sick is new to me, but I really wanted to nonetheless.  I didn't, because the only replacement for me is Gene, who must come from Cheonju, an hour away.  So, I trudged off to work.

When I got there, the heat was barely functioning (the outdoor intake vents are poorly designed) and the floor was sopping wet.  Luckily, Ian had warned me (my classes start an hour after his on Tuesdays) and I wore three pairs of socks.  We ran out of cold medicine, so I was running solo at work.  I decided to ask the Captain if I could leave one or two classes early.  I was feeling uneasy about walking home in such cold feeling the way I do and in the dark with the already unpredictable Korean drivers in the snow.  I also knew that my voice and energy probably weren't going to last much past a few classes.

She said that she would call Julia and I went about preparing for the rest of my classes.  Thirty minutes into my second class, she opens the door and says that Gene will be here to take my next class.  That confused me, since that wasn't what I had asked for at all.  I didn't want anyone to be called in, that's why I showed up in the first place.  So, Gene arrived and I apologized profusely, telling him that I didn't ask to have my classes taken over, that I simply wanted to leave a little early.  He was completely confused, but he helped me ask Captain if my last class could simply be cancelled, but she said no.  Gene couldn't take the last class, as he had ridden the bus to Jecheon to avoid driving in the snow and the buses back don't run that late.  Gene said that maybe Terry could take that class, but I declined feeling like I'd inconvenienced enough people already.  Gene left and I finished the rest of my classes.  It's amazing how much you take for granted the ease of communicated your needs and wants within your own culture.  I know I won't make the mistake again here.

But, now I'm home, medicated and feeling much better.  Ian picked up some more medicine on his way home. 

Ian had an interesting and mildly disturbing homework assignment returned to him today.  The assignment was to write a story about this picture:

This is what the kid wrote:

"The cat play the guitar.  He practice the guitar.  Ten years after.  He made a band.  This band make a lot of money.  One day, gangster come his house.  Gangster kill his wife and son. He is very sad.  And he suicide.  The end."

Keep in mind that these kids are about ten years old.

I'm going to drink some of the aweseom chai tea my aunt gave me for Christmas.  Good night!

Snow Day

School was cancelled today because of heavy snowfall.  We got about eight inches from 8am to 5pm.  Here's hoping for more school tonight so that our vacation might be extended further.  I could use another day to not be sick or run to the pharmacy for more cold medication.  I feel like if I lived the 17c or so, doctors would tell me to leave Korea for a warmer climate because the air is bad for my health.  Doctors are always saying that in period films.  I wonder if those beliefs were actually widely held.

Today started normally, with us getting up and writing out lesson plans.  But Julia called to tell us school was cancelled and then our meeting was moved to Wednesday.  So, we sat around and went to see Sherlock Holmes this evening.  I liked it a lot, but I don't know if I'll write a review unless I have the opportunity to see it again.  I feel pretty foggy about the whole film.  Maybe it's the cold or maybe it wasn't that memorable or striking.  I'm not sure, but I did enjoy it.

We (Ian) took some pictures of the snow, but we didn't get out until dark there are fewer than we'd hoped.  But, here are some pictures of our Korean winter wonderland.

The school yard out our window.

The treacherous hill and parking lot.  Lots of sirens today.

Snow pile on our banister.  It's a very dry snow, at least.

A bus nearly mowing folks down.  This photo isn't taken through our screen, it's just that snowy.

Person brushing snow off the outdoor exercise equipment.

Umbrellas.

Snow build up.

We ran from this van because it was swerving it's way up the hill.

I don't really like snow, my face was just frozen that way.

This (below) last one's not from today, but I thought it was worth sharing.  There's too many of me in today's post.  I need to take the camera back.

Our hovel at the Incheon airport.  We slept on Friday there to avoid paying for a hostel while we waited for express buses to start running again.

Have a good Monday!  Good night!