Level Tests - Day 1

The next two days will be filled with my students level tests at Hanvit.  For my students, level tests mean hours of stress and lots of studying and then three hours of vocabulary, grammar, listening, and reading tests.  They have to give up their phones, sit up straight, behave way better then normal, and remain quiet the entire time.  For me, it means sitting at my desk in my classroom for about 5 1/2 hours straight watching the kids take their tests.  I get to push the play button once to start the listening, but otherwise, I am left with not much to do.  I have some essays to grade, but not very many since I finished most yesterday and this morning.  I also have journals to finish.  All that should take up the first three hours of the first day.

As for the rest of my time in these tests, I am working on a list I hope to complete.  So far the list includes, editing my story, writing three poems, and drawing one good picture of my students.  I will also write in my journal both days and prepare for the craziness that my classes will become in the next few weeks.  Not only will the students who level up be switching around, but we have Shannon coming back and one of the korean teachers leaving for awhile and that has created the need to rearrange the teachers again.  And, as if that isn't enough craziness, the next few weeks are exams for my students at school again, which means they will be in and out at random times, and it means we will be getting in a new crop of elementary kids.  It is going to be one super crazy month.

Homerun x4

I went to my very first baseball game in Korea last weekend.  Now, I may have said it before, but if you all have forgotten, I love baseball.  Not all baseball.  Pretty much, I love the Brewers.  But, I can't imagine a summer without at least one ball game.  So, when Chris asked us teachers if we would be interested in checking out a game for his birthday weekend, I jumped.  The original plan was to meet up and go to this restaurant by one of the lakes here that lets you rent a large barbecue grill and provides you with meat to grill and sides and drinks.  Eddie, Blaine, Dana, Jack, Chris, Keller, and I all met up at 12:30 and headed to the lake.  Sadly, when we arrived, the restaurant was no longer there.  Not something too unusual in Korea, but depressing nonetheless.  We then began to wander the area around the lake looking for someplace else to eat.  There were a lot of fish places, but Dana doesn't eat fish, so we kept trucking.  We found a place that specialized in duck, but Dana doesn't eat duck either.  We continued to search, coming across a lot of places that were closed for afternoon cleaning, until we came around a corner and spotted a galbi place that seemed to be open.  It was!!  We sat out on the porch, and ordered samgyeopsal and german galbi.  They were pretty amazing.  And the side dishes were not bad either.

After lunch we headed to the game at Daegu Citizen Park. Once we got there, the hunt was on to find tickets, chicken, and beer.  The tickets get bought up early by scalpers, so find a good price was not as easy as we had hoped it would be, but we eventually found some and some beer and headed into the stadium.  The seats were pretty much full, so we grabbed some stairs and settled in to the game.  Chris and I sat in water, which was okay because it was a hot day and the sun dried it pretty quickly.  Once the game began, I found it a little hard to follow, simply because I was looking all around me at all the stuff going on.  The game itself is very similar, but being there is totally different.  Koreans do a lot of chants, and I could only follow those that were player's names.  It was a lot of fun.  The food at this game was like nothing I have seen at a game before.  Besides fried chicken, there was sushi, ramen, dried squid, and more....  There was one familiar thing at the game besides beer and baseball,  The Wave.  It was like being back home.  The best part of the game??  Samsung Lions, my team, got four homeruns, two in the first inning alone.  What a game.  

After the game we went home to change and get to Blaine's Battle of the Bands.  As his band usually is, they were amazing.  By this time, I was super tired and all I wanted was to go home and sleep.  I didn't even want to go to the show.  But, blaine needed support from his friends and no way was I going to let him down.  I made it through his set, and got to see some of the Koreans I teach with who also showed up at the show.  I think that really made Blaine's night, as well as the rest of ours.  After his show, I went home to pass out.  I found out on monday that his band won and is headed to the next round.  Super happy for him and I can't wait for the final show.  

Now I must head to work to educate young korean minds in the mystery of the english language.  Actually, wednesdays are my best days.  Less classes, and I get to teach the supplemental class that I worked out a curriculum for.  I leave you with some pictures from the game.

check out the Korean scoreboard 

Not A Lot To Go On

Well, I am keeping up the writing at least once a week bit.  I don't have a lot of time right now, but tomorrow I will tell you all about my first korean baseball game, hunting for lunch, and Blaine's band's victory (thus far) in battle of the bands this weekend.  It should be a relatively extensive post.  So to make up for the short teaser-trailer I just gave you, here is a picture of a kitten.

Have a nice day!

Friends and Menthol

This last weekend, my good friend's sister came to visit me with a friend.  It was really good to see them and it was a great time.  I had fun showing off my newly cleaned and sparkling apartment and the rest of my fine city.  Even though the day was quite hot and sticky, we did some walking and shopping and exploring of the markets of Daegu.  For dinner, we dined on chicken and beer while sitting on the roof of my apartment and then juggled oranges and discussed a new invention in selling clothing.  After a trip to the bars to play some foosball, air hockey, and darts we wandered into Urban and we were lucky enough to witness a magic show and a Korean boy band dance off.  Good ending to the night.

While shopping we came across a shirt that baffled all of us...  One I opted not to buy because of the 16,000 won price tag, but I am now truly regretting it.  Three days later and I am still puzzling over it's possible meaning.  I share it with you now and if you figure it out..... TELL ME!!!!

A Promise and Palgongsan

The Promise

I have not been on here very much lately.  For the past month or three I have been dealing with some stuff that has been difficult and has made writing fairly low on my list of priorities.  But, the sun is stating to peek through and I am working to get back to focusing this journey on myself.  I came here to learn who I am and what I want.  In the first few months, I was really making strides in that department and then I got caught up in the drama and stresses the world inevitably throws in your path.  With the help of some of the best friends in the world (thank you, Jess and Kim!) and a lot of nights alone thinking about where my life is going, I have finally begun to organize the options I can consider possibilities and the ones that are simply wet dreams.

So.  My back-on-track, looking-forwards plan and promise to myself, and to others, is as follows:

1. Get back to focusing on me and no one else.
2. Get back to the working-out-regularly, healthy-eating, rarely-drinking life I was leading before I got here.
3. Make this rooftop garden work this summer.
4. Edit and write 4 more chapters in my novel and at least 20 new poems.
5. Fill my sketch book.
6. Get outside for an hour each day, even if it is just to read on my rooftop.
7. Read the books I have been meaning to read.
8. Work on my Korean a bit more.
9. Make a list of places I want to visit in Korea still and go to them.
10. See more plays.
11. Go to mudfest.
12. Make a list of places I want to see on my way back from Korea and plan the trip out.
13. Write in my journal at least twice a week, hopefully more.
14. Write on here more regularly, at least once a week as well.
15. Watch more documentaries, listen to more podcasts, and read more news.

So, those are the promises.  The most important promise I am making is only for me, and I will keep to myself.  Before I do any of these things though, I need to get my apartment in order and cleaned up.

Palgongsan

Yesterday, Dana and I bused ourselves out to Palgongsan and climbed our way up to one of the peaks. It took us about four hours to get to the top and about an hour to get back down.  When I woke up this morning, every muscle in my body was on fire and I could barely walk.  But the hike to the top was amazing and liberating and served as a little test to myself.  I let go of everything that has been bothering me and bringing me down on the way up.  When I get around the last stone and looked out from the top, I remembered why I came here in the first place.  I just let the negatives go, it was quite flower-child-like if I do say so myself. Coming back down the mountain, I felt refreshed.  Well, lets be honest, I felt dead tired and sore.  Emotionally,  I felt better then I have for a long time.  And I got to stop at a temple on the way down and pet the first cat I have touched in six months.  Total mood booster. I took lots of pictures on the way up and down, some artistic, some just pictures.  Have a look, and I will write again soon, I promise.