kbleevable

I totally forgot I had a blog.

Many things have happened since Day 1 of teaching...

For one thing, I have extended my original 6 months contract. So I'm still in Korea.

Yesterday was a good day. There is a new park that just opened in my town. There was an opening ceremony going on. I was only able to see about 20 minutes of it. But it was great. Such happiness. With so many citizens of Mungyeong coming to take part of this occasion. The shows, the fireworks, the people. It was awesome to be a part of. Even if I had to leave like instantly.

The reason I had to leave was because my friend and I had decided to start dance classes. It was fun, I just didn't know what was going on most of the time. And I didn't know what to do. Hahaha.
But it was fun.
I was the only guy in there though. My friend didn't tell me that would happen.

I had a great Wednesday night.

Day 1 of teaching was... a bit crazy. and went by too quickly for me to enjoy or reflect on I think. I'll try my best.

Started with 1st graders (who knows no English), 4th grade, and 6th grade.. I just felt like no kids overall knew any English. It was hard. One girl kept trying to 똥짐 me. It was really hectic.
I felt like talking in English got absolutely nowhere. I'm confused now. There was an EPIK teacher last year, I'm really wondering how she communicated with the kids if she knew no Korean...
Overall, it was madnesssssssssssssssssss! I felt like nothing got accomplished today. =[

Well after school was better. It was the school dinner with all the staff people. Dinner was good. It was 회 or seafood. My table didnt seem to eat much (well, a lot of food came out), so I got full from sushi (a hard feat). My table didnt really drink much so that was convenient in a way I guess. The other half of the room seemed to have more of the drinking people. Whatevs, it was all good. There was "round 2." All the teachers went to 노래방, or karaoke, and I loosened up some more. Sang a couple of the limited Korean oldies I knew. I think it was the first time a lot of the teachers saw me speak Korean. I think that made the teachers feel more comfortable with me since I knew Korean. I'm happy. I think the teachers generally like me now. Hehehehe.
I don't think the "I was just reading the Korean words off the screen" excuse will really work.

The day ended well... Tomorrow will be another day of teaching. It will be a smaller school. Hopefully it will have a better crowd of students.

I was too afraid of love.. Didn't want to make pains again.. It was too soon.. And now it's too late

So this weekend was interesting. The plan was to hop on the train to Seoul with no plan and just do something. Ha... not much of a plan at all.

It was tough for me. As I had the best knowledge of the area. That means....... We have no knowledge of what to do and where to go. But that is what makes things fun. hahaha

Went to Namdaemun Market. Then to Deahagno. Then to Coex. Then to Sinsa area. (that's just one day). The second day seemed a bit more organized. But maybe that's because we had a more exact plan of what to do. Go to church and get back to Jochiwon. Haha.

But again, it was fun. And tiring. Only danger is.... time and/or money can be wasted. But memories will still last. haha

So... if you don't know. I am still in Korea. Or, back in Korea rather...
I don't know if you would say it was a rather rash or hasty decision to come back... But I realize there are always be things you will miss if you are away from home. You know... you'll miss anything if you're anywhere, but it's when things are going on at home, it's where you feel bad. Maybe this is my first ever ever ever sign of home sickness.

If only people can be in more than one place at once. Hahahaha, that's what many people say. But then that would really lose meaning of you 'just being there.' no?

Anyways... Quick update/recap. I made a quick decision to come to Korea in Dec-Jan to teach at the hakwon in Daegu. After that decision, I decided to stay longer and applied to the TaLK program (English teaching program in Korea). Thus requiring me to run around applying and finding the correct documents to send to the TaLK office before I hopped onto the plane to Korea a week or two later... I got accepted...

So.. Since they offer a round trip ticket, I decided to utilize that. I went home to Atlanta with my original plane ticket. And now I'm back to Korea...

I really didn't do much in Atlanta when I went back. Ate some American type foods, hooked up some computers in our house, and met a couple friends. I was jetlagged so not much going on at night. Though it was great to see the JAMA people come in town. =]

So yeah.... thus begins another adventure in Korea. I think I come too much. I don't really know why anymore. Am I looking for my roots? Is it just comfortable for me? Is it... just where I need to be? Haha. I think the answer is 'yes' for all of them. It's been a couple days now since the TaLK orientation has started. Too many people to meet....... Would be great to meet everybody. Haha

So, this is something I've been meaning to write about. Since I've been teaching at the hakwon in Daegu, I have asked students to write topics on various topics. I have thought various classes for high school students and middle school students.

But it seems the topic, or just any sort of mention, of "success" always creeps up in many of the student's essays. It makes me wonder, is it their upbringing? You see, most of these students are international students. So it would seem that their parents have sent their children overseas to study in hopes for them to study and achieve some sort of 'success.' So it seems like these students know to have the idea to gain success.

But what does that really mean. When I read most of these essays, there's not much information backing what success really is. It may say "so and so is an example who have achieved success." But again, what does that even mean? It makes me even wonder...

What really is success? It seems the students don't have a great idea of what they are trying to do. Basically it's "I want to go to university and get success." Of course, many people strive for that. But I'm sure there are many answers for that. It's something that I can't ever answer clearly. It's not just the students who don't know...

But what thing I know is... dream big and do its

So I finished probably my last time teaching in Daegu this past Wednesday. I don't think I have any future reasons to return to teach at the hakwon anymore. Hmm, I didn't notice really think much of it but wow. I have such good memories from just being there. The past two summers and this past winter break holds some good memories. I would say the students, the co-workers, and especially my boss had a part in making my time there enjoyable.

So on Thursday, my boss and I went to go skiing. This would be my second time going this winter break so the times I have been skiing in my life has tripled. Haha. Yeah, it was awesome. The drive there had some amazing sceneries. And even once I got there at Muju, it was amazing. The ski slope we went to has the longest course of all in Korea (more than 6 km!). Here's a picture from my phone when we were at the top of the mountain.



So on Friday, made the trip up to my grandparent's home where I'll be staying. On Saturday, went to eat McDonald's with the little cousins. They really wanted to eat the bulgogi burger. I just stuck with the big mac.

On Sunday, after church, I went to go see a professional basketball game. There were more similarities in watching American basketball and Korean basketball games than there are with baseball. But unfortunately, we were watching the game between the two worst teams in the league. Overall, the game wasn't all amazing except for a few good plays. But mannnn, it is freaking loud in there. Not from the crowd (cause that's bearable), but from the music and the announcers blasting through the speakers... I think the volume could have been turned down a lot. But it snowed a bunch in Seoul on Sunday so after the game, we went to the park next door and stepped on the new snow. Hahaha

Today was a big fun day. We went ice fishing at Inje (인제). I think we got very good spots cause every time we pulled up our fishing line, there would be at least 1 fish that would come up. We didn't have to really sit and wait for the fish to bite. Just drop and pull. It was fun fun fun. Haha. And the view was amazing too. My first time standing on top of water like that. Crazy. I think the final count was 46 fishes. The people that walked up to us were surprised at how much we caught. I guess we were lucky.
Afterwards, we went on over to 속초 and just saw the beach area and ate dinner...
So.. that is my post work thus far~

So I've noticed something while I've been here in Daegu. No one really comes to visit me unless they are from California. I was just thinking back and noticed that this was true. So win one for Cali people. haha
Andddddddd, these are new friends I made while I was in Korea.
Interesting. hahahahaha

Sigh,,, Georgia friends just don't want to visit me down here. Always making me go up to Seoul??? boooo~

ha ha.....