My picassa web album link

For you folks who don't have a Facebook or Myspace account here are my pics thus far.  Not too many I know but there will be more to come, I promise.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jasontbrown99/NewAlbum92808312PM#

Nighty night.

Jason

Kimchi madness

So the amount of foreign friends I have now officially is larger than the amount of Korean friends.  This is both a good thing and a bad thing.  Bad: I'll not be learning as much Korean via immersion or maybe just not as fast as before.  Good: Um everything is good about meeting more people I think.  Its nice to have conversations with people that are, funny, fast, fluid, and we have a similar sense of humor.  I was worrying that I may forget how to use prepositions (the, a, an, and the such).  My sentences were becoming a streamline of verbs, nouns, and me motioning the action with mighty intent and expressive eyes.  "Me go here.  Fast.  Now.  Where I find immigration office?"  My beard was growing back and all I needed was a club made from a tree branch and an orange cloth of some sort draped off my right shoulder to complete the Fred Flinstone scene I was sliding into.  But alas I had my teacher training workshop this last week.  It was actually really useful.  New games and activities were presented to all the "native speakers" as they like to call us.  "Uh, me native speaker.  Me no like kicmhi.  Only chicken."    It also gave me newfound confidence in my teaching watching some of the example videos they showed us of a good "native speaker" teacher.  Man was he bad.  

I'm really tired but just wanted to say a few things before getting some Z's.

So there were some "native speakers" at the workshop that have been teaching for years.  To some this was their fourth or fifth workshop.  I was speaking today with one of my co-teachers about this phenomenon and she said that they were attending so many workshops because their teaching marks were really low.  Now really, 'cause these teachers had no idea why they were attending so many workshops.  Yes instead of actually telling these people they suck they just assign them to more workshops!  Apparently some teachers, when they went to reapply for their jobs were denied the job because they did such a poor job.  Now logistically this doesn't sound too shocking but these teachers were none the wiser to their school's perception of their teaching abilities.  This seems strange to me.  But maybe I'm a weirdo.  

I just had an amazing home cooked meal from some of my closest Korean buddies.  I hate to admit this but I still can't pronounce their names correctly and still have a hard time remembering their name from time to time . . . kinda like now.  Yep I'm an ass.  This language is no joke folks.  I can't wait to get back to learning Spanish.  After trying to learn Korean (or Hanguel as they say it) most languages seem like a walk in the park.  K that was a tangent, sorry.  So dinner, yes.  We had roasted mackerel, two kinds of kimchi, marinated eggplant, some kind or shark jerky stuff that is apparently really special, rice, and goodness.  It was really amazing.  But the most amazing part of the meal was that I learned that my host has a refrigerator completely dedicated to kimchi!  And this is no small fridge either.  It takes about a month for the kimchi to fully ferment so you always gotta have some in rotation I suppose.  They are so serious about this stuff over here its amazing.   See you have the traditional kimchi made with a cabbage/bock choy sort of plant, you have the radish variety, the more soupy kind of both of these, and the list goes on and on.  I think there are actually over 300 different variations of kimchi and there is always a small dish of at least one kind at every meal.  Her kimchi was absolutely the best I've had thus far.  Maybe there is something to be said for kimchi made in small batches.  The stuff served in restaurants and at school is not that great and generally has some fish rankness to it.  

Some new korean words of consequence:

yok - subway station (very important since I live right above Jangsan-yok) it took two and a half weeks to learn that small, vital bit to add on the end of my directions to taxi drivers

pull-bul-I-yo - I'm full (good to know 'cause Korean friends will otherwise stuff you silly)

a-ssah  - their equivalent to "rad" or "awesome"

Nah-nun Jason im-ni-dah  - My name is Jason.  (my first full sentence!)

ko-gee   - fish

soh  - cow

dah(k)  - chicken (you can barely hear the k on the end of that; and chicken is a very important word, c'mon!)

twe-dgy  - pig

mul - water

and yeah, can you tell how incredibly slow this is coming along . . . ?  there are probably a few others but this is the majority of what I know.

OK REALLY FREAKY !!!! This just happened as I'm typing this.  I think Spiderman or someone trying to be Spiderman was just tapping on my window.  I live on the ninth floor and there's no ledge.  My bed is next to the window.  I'm almost positive it was my window 'cause it was really stinking loud.  The hair on the back of my neck is still standing on end.  I have those rings of adrenaline running through my body.  I don't want to look over at the window even though I know no one is there.  Do I have to go lay down soon?  Where's my bow-staff or some ear plugs and a blindfold would work nicely as well.  The curtains they bought for me are kinda see-throughish.  Thats what I get for picking out the sample in a huge book.  The lights coming from the elevator hallway in the adjacent building light up my room as I lay in bed trying to sleep.  Okay I just looked.  No more Spiderman, at least for now.  

Oh yeah and I've joined a music meditation class that meets every monday!  So far I've only been to two classes and its been really nice.  The class begins with the master giving lots of info to the other students while I sit there and stare at the wall.  Some of it gets translated to me from my friends but its kind of like the scene from Lost in Translation where Bill Murray is in that commercial shoot and the photographer goes on and on for about three or four minutes and his translator says "Turn to the left."  So I think I'm missing a few details here and there.  But I'm supposed to be meditating anyways, right?  Then upon my fellow students que we pull out the large pillows and lay down.  The master turns off the lights and turns on the music.  So far the music has been a mix between what sounds like Japanese old time music with the flutes and hand drums and some Indian percussion music.  The music lasts for about ten minutes or so and its pretty great really.  I have yet to fall asleep during class but give me some time.  Then we go and have acupuncture!  Yeah buddy!  Acupuncture is great.  So I've only done this twice ever but it feels really great.  Well not at first, but after a while I get soooo relaxed.  They also put on these heated blankets on your belly as you lie down for the treatment.  I told them that I've been having a hard time sleeping and my right hand has been really shaky since showing up so this time the needles were way deeper than last time.  Initially it didn't feel that great but once the deep breathing began my right arm actually had this weird shifting thing going on.  It felt like all this pent up energy was suddenly leaving my arm through the contact points.  Cool stuff.  I'm going to read up on this soon.  If any of you know of any solid links about acupuncture I'm all ears (well eyes I guess).  

And just briefly some things that have made me happy recently:

I just bought a cheap guitar.  Its actually really nice for about $110.  I brought some theory stuff from home with me.  I aim to be really diligent about practicing and finally becoming good at this danged instrument.   I took a number of years off there for a while and have been really excited about getting back into it just before I left for Korea.

I now have a small table for my computer.  Its red and was really cheap.  Now I don't have to shuffle my stuff around every time I want to eat something in my place.  Its the small things in life.

There is an international film festival coming next week.  I bought a few tickets to some shows.  Hopefully I wont fall asleep during the movies.  I made sure they were early screenings.

Oh and I'm going to Seoul next weekend!  We have three days off and I'm heading up there with some of my new buddies from the workshop.  We are taking the KTX train which has a top speed of 255 Km/hr or something ridiculously fast like that.  Lets see you tap on that window you freaky deaky Spiderman.  Speaking of which . . . I gotta hit the sack.  Good night folks.  

Love ya,

Jason

ps.  If you are feeling so inclined I would like to add:

Cumin and or some taco seasoning 

and Hoody's peanuts (its the red bag -salted and roasted-) New Seasons has them in the produce section (fyi)

if you feel like sending me a love package.  I could send some kimchi in the mail.  Its an acquired taste.  Or so most of it is.  YUK!  I'll stick with the home versions thank you.  

Toodaloo!

Out of the woodwork . . .

NOTE:  This blog may contain Too Much Information (TMI), depending on you.  To others this may be fairly entertaining.  Now that I have your undivided attention I shall continue J

So this park . . . k well I was strolling along close to where this public pool is supposed to be (I probably walked right past it but didn’t know ‘cause I can’t read a dang thing over here) and I found this walking path.  Hey, well, I like to walk so I just followed the sucker for a while.  Next thing I know I’m following this path along a gulch.  This was a nice change from the car and scooter dodging I mentioned in the last post.  Part of the beauty of the path is that it is made from the same cushy material school running tracks are made of.  Rad.

I’ve noticed that only older people hike in Korea.  Older people and kids who play in the streams to keep themselves entertained because their parents or grandparents dragged them out to go hiking.  

At the end of this gulch I found this park where people were milling about, children were playing everywhere, and old folks were just relaxing.  A small  reservoir akin to the ones at Mt. Tabor provided the water source for this gulch.  Just on the other side are these huge metal sculptures of waves.  On the other end of the park is a huge cement ampitheater.  “Why always with the cement here?”  This was on the other side of this road that headed further into the park.  OOoooooh where does this go?  This road went directly into the heart of one of the coolest parks I’ve ever experienced.  There are miles of heavily wooded trails meandering through the hillside.  There is a rather large stream that flows through the center.  There are Buddhist temples that speckle the forest, and lots of people.  People are taking a break next to the stream, sleeping on picnic benches, taking a break underneath these gazebo-type structures (that have a Korean twist to them of course),  walking on the trails, walking in the street, and are working out at the “physical park.”  Yes at the end of the road there is a “physical park” where people can hoola-hoop, do pull-ups, there are benches are designed for sit-ups, benches designed for push-ups, all sorts of rings for pulling and pushing, and there is even a water fountain complete with cups to drink from.  Eureka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I just found heaven.  This morning I was thinking about how city-arrific this place is.  I was thinking about how much longer it was going to be before I had a meltdown from being surrounded by too much cement, cars, scooters, and people.  But this place has just cured me from any worry.  There are miles and miles of trails to be ran; workouts to be had; hours to be spent by the stream reading, relaxing, and talking to my new friends.  And thankfully there are bathrooms.  This bit of information would have come in real handy earlier in the day . . .

 

I have not been regular here.  Not in the least bit.  Traveling does a number on my system.  The lack of sleep, the nervous tension of wondering if things are going to work out, the crazy change in diet, and lack of working out.  Yes I am excited for the day things return to normal . . . whenever that may be.  Ok so I started my wandering today with a rather large, spendy cup of coffee from the Bucks.  (Real quick on a side note:  I did find that they do sell a reasonably priced French Press so I’ll be buying one of those soon enough!!!!!)  Ok so I drink this huge cup of coffee.  I find this trail and get excited.  I begin to walk faster and faster.  I’m going uphill faster and faster.  I’m so excited to find a place where I don’t have to be doing any intense urban running (I’ll explain that later.)  All of the sudden my stomach turns.  Oh shit (no pun intended)!  Um I have no idea where I am nor have any knowledge of any bathrooms.  There are loads of people everywhere.  I can’t just walk off the side of the trail a short ways ‘cause there may be people there too.  So I begin to sweat more than I already am (humidity generally ranges from 80-95% here and its still about 85˚).  I’m unable to walk fast.  “Houston we have a problem.”  Oh man Tom Hanks where are you to save me.  Batman, Superman, Ironman, I don’t care who you are just give me a hand . . . or some tp.  This woman toting a hiking stick and a bright pink sleeveless capeline shirt passes me.  Thankfully I remembered to bring my pocket phrase book.  To get her attention I say to her “Anonghaseyo,” as I reach for my trusty book.  I fumbled through the book looking for that sweet, sweet phrase, “Where are the bathrooms?”  My hands were trembling and drips of sweat where creating damp circles on the pages of my book.  I still didn’t find the phrase when I looked up and all I could see was the bright pink shirt walking away from me.  “Um, excuse me . . . this is urgent,” as if she could understand me now.  Like the panicked, sick look on my face and clear, fast English was going to make her turn around.  She turned the corner and was gone as fast as she appeared.  I’ve noticed that either Koreans act only in two ways towards me:  They either want nothing to do with you even if you directly engage with them; or they are the most generous, most helpful people in the world.  I experienced both sides of this spectrum today.  She clearly was of the unhelpful camp. 

 

Oh man its serious now.  I’m approaching critical mass.  I’m having massive stomach pains.  I look into the bushes for a place to go.  Oh I think I found one!  Wait, what the hell . . . is that a tent?  Are people camping here?  Does this really surprise me by now?  Jeez.  I keep walking, slowly.  I can’t make it back.  There is no way.  Another man is coming.  I contemplated just shitting on the trail.  I’m going to be seen anyways.  He disappears.  I’m at a place now where I think I can walk deep into the woods and not be seen.  Okay I’m making a break for it.  1 . . 2 . . 3 . . GO!  I’m off crunching small sticks, walking through the most thick, intense cobwebs I’ve ever known.  How are the spiders here?  I don’t know, poisonous?  I hope not ‘cause I gotta take a shit.  The bushes were thick.  Small thorns that apparently grow on vines were digging into my legs and hands as I tried to free myself from them.  Who is watching this by the way?  I thought for sure an old couple were watching me struggle off the beaten path in a frenzy.  But I didn’t care.  I keep pushing my way through countless cobwebs, which are now hanging from my unshaven chin.  I’m bleeding.  I’m in pain.  So I do my thing.  I keep my head down, just in case someone is watching.  I don’t want to know.  When I return to the trail I have sticks and leaves hanging from me.  I’m dripping with sweat.  My legs, arms, and hands all have small trickles of blood.  I feel sooo relieved but totally ridiculous. 

I’ve noticed that most Koreans don’t sweat a whole lot.  Nor do they drink the amount of water I do.  I drink the stuff constantly to keep from passing out.  One teacher at school even remarked to me “Do you always drink that much water?”  I just filled up my Nalgene for the third time at the water cooler in the teachers’ main office.  I think they just have efficient bodies for this part of the world.  Maybe I don't know  . . . k

So I'm sweaty, covered in blood, and look like I've been rolling around in the bushes for some time.  I start heading for home 'cause now I want a shower.  I find the stream to wash my hands.  Then I find this Buddhist temple?!  Wha?  En Serio?  Wow this park is pretty cool.  I walk around it briefly and head for home.  Just beyond the temple I find these elusive bathrooms.  Not only are they the CLEANEST public bathrooms I've ever seen here but they also have these cool stalls where you just pop-a-squat and hover.  They are these ceramic u-shaped holes in the ground where you do your business.  And did I mention these bathrooms were clean?  Man someone is laughing at me somewhere . . . Okay so THAT episode won't happen again.  I continue walking down the path and this man with glasses approaches me.  I don't remember how we began talking.  It was something like, "Excuse me are you having a good day?"  or something really kind like that.  We began talking and I spent the next hour with him chatting.   I asked him some cultural questions that I've been wondering about since arriving.  Like "Why do some people wear particle filters over their mouths?  Is the air here really that bad?"  He doesn't think so and some people are just paranoid or he still has yet to figure it out.  I asked him questions about where to find a guitar and some other things.  Turns out he studied in the states for ten years.  Taewan Kim (or Dave) got his masters at University of Colorado in Boulder and got his PHD in International Relations in DC.  The guy is really cool and laid back.  He's married and has three really adorable kids.  He lives remarkably close to me as well.  He invited me over for dinner.  (Insert the last blog here.)  

When I see Dave he's worried because he had just gotten into a big fight/discussion with this wife because he invited me over for an inpromptu dinner.  He had told her that I am a cook and this made her worry.  I suggested that I buy something for dinner.  I bought ice cream and a Frappachino as per Dave's suggestion as a token of good will for her troubles.  "This will be nothing special," he kept telling me.  "I'd rather it be that way," I told him.  I was sooo exited to be trying a typical home cooked Korean meal and I've only been here for less than three weeks!  I tried lotus root (which looks like brown wagon wheel pasta), small crispy sardines (which are apparently high in calcium), fried spam (Hawaii and Korea love Spam; I have no idea why), marinated potatoes, steamed rice, and . . . I LIKED THE KIMCHI!!!!!   Usually its made with this rancid fish sauce stuff which is the nar nar.  But his stuff was void of any rancid fishiness.  Yay!   After going to his house for dinner with his family I feel like I've known him for a while now already.  We hit it off well and his family is really warm and welcoming.  His wife was still a little put off do to the suddenness of it all.    After dinner Dave told me some of the finer intricacies about tea as we ate fresh pears and apples.  He tells me black tea wasn't around until the English brought tea from China to England on their boats.  During the long journey the tea fermented and turned black.  Also he said that most tea comes from the same leaf, there are just different variations.  There are the raw, half fermented, and the (really) fermented leaves.  We had some of the half fermented leaves some of his university students brought from China.  It was delicioso.   Dave ended the night by taking his daughter to buy her a new Nintendo DS.  Funny enough cause I tried to buy one at McDonalds last Friday night.  

I had had a few drinks and Dave, Lindsay and I were in the mood for late night eats.  Mickey D's here is open 24/7.  I still hate to support them but when I've got the urge for late night eats and something familiar they do the trick quite nicely.  They had some kind of promotion for cheap Nintendo DS's and I thought I could buy one there.  Dave's kind of sold me on them . . . its the Mario Kart and the free endless games you can apparently download from the net onto you system.  So, to Dave's suggestion I asked for one.  "They're cheap here man you should get one!"  "I'd like a Spicy chicken combo meal and a Nintendo DS please."  The girl behind the counter just shook her head.  She crossed her fingers to make an 'x.'  "We no sell here."  She said.  dangit.  Maybe next time.

Oh so the uber urban running.  Yeah dangerous.  I don't recommend it to the kiddies.  Its fun though.  But I'm just worried about being nailed by a bus, taxi, scooter, or running over anyone myself.  The streets and sidewalks often have potholes or are really uneven.  People just do their own thing milling about.  No one is watching out for me.  So I have to take to the streets a lot.  People stare even with more intensity.  I don't dare run across streets with out the signal.  I tried that once and almost got nailed by two speeding scooters one after another.  Sometimes I feel like Jerry Rice running through the neighborhoods of Haeundae.  Except I'm not as cool as Jerry Rice and not nearly as fast as Jerry Rice.  But hey . . . whatevs.  I want to attach a camera to my forehead and make a video of this.  I think it would be fairly entertaining, especially if I played it back at four times the speed.  It would be like those cool bike messenger videos of New York or San Francisco.  Those are sweet BTW,  those videos.  If you like biking in any way check one out on You Tube.  Those fools are crazy, makes me feel like a sissy in Portland.

Doubting thyself

Okay I just need to say one thing . . . this place has a lot of people.  This is no bold statement by any stretch of the imagination but this is one thing I'm going to try to explain in a short period of time. 

Just for reference the metro area of Portland has about 2.1 million people

Seattle has just over 4 million

Busan 3.6 million

BUT has just under twice the population density than Seattle and about 4 times that of Portland.  

Source from ye old Wikipedia . . . I know,  I know,  bad source.  But if they are all equally proportionally off then we can just imagine that the numbers are right and move on, Mmmkay?

So for every person you pass walking downtown, Alberta, Hawthorn, NW 23rd, or Mississippi why don't you just think of them being accompanied by their family of four.  All the streets here are at least two lanes in each direction, if not more.    So with all of this said people clearly have a different definition of space than people in America.  I can't speak for you East Coasters but definitely different that us Portlanders.  When you walk down a street people don't smile at eachother.  Think about all that damn smiling . . . sometimes you just don't want to smile at everyone in Portland multiplied by four.  People also just cut you off when walking around on the sidewalk.  You have to move forward when you can.  There is only so much space and people have places to go.  I'm assuming this isn't rude.  Happens to me all the time anyways.  Scooters and motorcycles do not observe crosswalk signs so beware.  I don't know if I was hit by one while walking across during a green, who's fault would it be?  

When we went to Gwang-ali park that follows one of Busan's rocky shores there were people everywhere.  I was amazed.  This really drilled it into my head how many people there are here.  There were people fishing, picnicking, chatting, drinking, doing anything you do at a park and more absolutely everywhere.  People were found on cliff edges, rocky and sandy shores, on the trail, in the bushes, on top of huge jagged rocks, I mean everywhere.  Its like a human ant farm over here.  There is no mass amount of space that isn't filled with some amount of people.  Even the older folks who, in the states, would use flat, easy to navigate trails are on some rocky cliff drinking soju having a merry old time.  Maybe there is something in that stuff that we don't know about.  Soju, by the way, is only 40% alcohol, costs only $1-1.50 for about 12 ounces of the stuff and tastes just short of rubbing alcohol.  Maybe its their diet, which is primarily vegetarian accompanied by lots of fish.  But people are everywhere and they like to stare at you, well me and any other whities.   The stare is weird too.  Its not like a whoah that person is different than me.  Its like a "I'm sizing you up;  What are you doing in my country?;  Stay away from my daughter!; I don't like you!". . .  kind of stare.  This specifically comes from people who are about forty years old and older.  The younger generations give the "I'm intrigued," stare.  The really young ones give the "Holy moly he has blue eyes, different skin, and hair.  Thats totally crazy.  Are you from another planet?" . . . kind of stare.  I'm not used to this yet.  There are lots of expat teachers here and there have been for years so the staring is not going to stop anytime soon.  I just need to ignore it.  But I can't yet.  When I'm walking around town looking at my surroundings in wonderment while trying not to get run over by a passing scooter, I look at people and they are staring at me.  I smile at them.  They don't smile back.  Now I'm nervous.  Did I just commit some kind of cultural phopah *how does one spell fopah?* by making eye contact?  So I look away and continue to be curious, confused, and lost about this city and culture.  

So I have to admit something.  I have been more of a hermit than my usual self.  All of this stuff takes a lot out of me.  I don't have a lot of hermit time but way more than usual.  I go out with Dave and Lindsay a lot (I hope they aren't sick of me yet), I'm at school during the work week, and I do some errands on the week nights and during the weekends.  But I have been downloading loads, no, hoards of movies, shows, and music like never before.  I've been watching The Office, Weeds, Iron Man, Casino Royale, and tried watching Braveheart but it was overdubbed in Russian.  I've come across this Rolling Stone Top 500 songs of all time which is ruling my world at the moment.  Also some sweet huge Soul and R&B compilations and a big Hip Hop and Rap compilation that I'm pretty excited about.  I've been craving all things American like no other.  I guess I'm going through what is called culture shock.  

In my travels I've just been so amazed at the differences.  I have always enjoyed rejecting anything remotely USAish.  When I got back from Guatemala I went through my first bought of culture shock.  But it didn't happen until I came home . . .  I was amazed at how comfortable I was on the bus and on the MAX.   I was taken aback by the super trendy clothes people were wearing.  I forgot how many people ride bikes in Ptown!  I was amazed at the choices I had at any store or restaurant.  I was amazed by the size of my house and the backyard!  But here I'm getting it right out of the gate.  This morning was bad.  I was being a real big hermit.  A GIANT hermit.  I feel like I have plenty of time to get out and experience things.  But I don't want to wake up one April morning and realize that I've been watching the world go by through my computer.  So this afternoon I went outside and began to wander.  I need to wander more.  I will explain after I have dinner with a PHD in Foreign Relations.   I just met him in an urban park that is just blocks away from my house (just found it today) and is on par with Forest Park.  I'm not shitting you either (he he).  This place is simply amazing.  I have to go.  I'll write more after dinner.

Moving in

My jobby job:  First of all I want to say something about the Korean way of communication at the workplace.  There is none.  With that said I shall continue :)

So I am teaching, at the moment, just 15 classes a week and its all me.  Forty-five minutes of a pure JBrown class.  The other English teachers are in the room, but all they do is interpret once in a while and help keep the students in line.  Each class has about 30-35 kids.  I teach 7 first grade classes and 8 third grade classes.  The kids are 14 and 16 years old respectively.  Their level of comprehension is much, much, greater than their ability to talk.  But I also think that the strict discipline the school has them under makes the kids really shy about speaking up anyways.  When I walk around the room to see how they are doing in on their worksheets they cower and look at me through the corner of their eyes.  Like, "Please don't beat me!"  Did I do that when I was a kid?  I remember being nervous and not wanting the teacher to hover but I don't remember acting in the way they do.  The first graders are a little more rambunctious than the third graders and much more willing to participate as a class.  The third graders just kind of stare at me like.  Its like they're catatonic or something.  Like in Weird Science when Lisa freezes Wyatt's grandparents during the party and puts them in the closet (love that scene!).  My my-coteachers say that these kids think they are too-cool-for-school and only the dorks and nerds are the ones really participating.  Ahhh, so this is what it was like for my freshman and sophomore teachers.  Wow, sorry guys.  I feel your pain yo.  

The first two days of class were a nightmare.  An hour before my first class one of the teachers asked to see the material I had prepared for class.  This is after my assigned co-teacher (my co-teacher is the person in charge of all the logistical stuff for me as far as my job and life in Korea are concerned; apartment, bank account, paperwork, etc.) on Friday said that I wouldn't be teaching until Thursday of this week or so and I would just be observing until then.  So I freaked out.  I came up with some sort of half assed introduction-about-myself power point that included pictures I could gather from myspace and a rapid google search of Portland, OR.  I came to my first class with no training, no heads up, and wearing shorts and a t-shirt because I had just gotten my golden bag containing the majority of my clothes and ALL of my work clothes THE moment I found out I had to actually teach.  I walked into the room.  I began to sweat and the humidity here wasn't helping.  I wasn't prepared and I knew it.  I've never been as good at bullshitting as most all of my good friends are.  I think thats part of the reason why I like you guys so much.  And you know you are good at it too!  So class begins.  I'm stuttering, sweating, inserting an Ahhh and an ummm way too much here and there.  My powerpoint ends and I still have twenty minutes left of class!  Ummm, ahhh.  Quick you college grad, think dammit!  The other English teacher that is in the room says "Jason likes to travel . . .,"  so I pulled out a map and showed them all the places I've been and had them repeat the names of the countries.  Good call, thanks Vickey.  So that ate up eight more minutes.  Now what?  Question and answer time!  "How oldeh are you?"  "30." "Do you hab a girlprend."  "No."  Is all I get.  C'mon clock!  Work with me PPPPLLLLLEEEEAAASSSEEE.  At this point I stole Vickey's fan that looks similar to one you could buy at a cheap Japanese tourist shop and am fanning myself in a panic.  The bell rings.  Thank the good lord, Buddha,  Muhammad, and all the other deities in this world.  I like being in front of people.  I like teaching people.  I don't know what it is but I really, really like it.  BUT I like to be prepared and know what the hell it is I'm talking about before going into the situation.  This was, perhaps the worst, nope, the second worst 45 minutes of my life.  I had another class that day but was able to find more pictures and filled in s'more time with some other banter about the geography and climate in Portland, OR.  I don't know if they understood it all but it seemed to work.  Tusesday I had the worst and the best classes of the week.

This would be my first, first grade class.  The teacher I was paired with for this class is . . . to call her soft-spoken would be an understatement.  Like I said before the third graders are, um tame.  These kids, and this class specifically, is the quintessential loud, yelling, running around, hitting each other, 'problem' class you've seen in any movie where a new teacher is introduced to the school.  If you could take a step back and see the movement of the class it was if they were moving as one.  Like some giant, 14 year old Korean amoeba.  At any moment I was waiting for a paper airplane to appear out of nowhere and hit me square in the forehead.   My lesson plan was still shaky at best and I have never had to do any sort of classroom management, ever.  All the public speaking I've done so far has always been directed towards an adult crowd or in a university classroom setting where there were no amoeba's and no chance for paper airplanes.  Ms. Ha, to her credit, is a wonderful woman and did her best to control the kids.  So my lesson plan ended early again and these kids weren't listening to me, nor did they care about where I had been, or anything else for that matter.  They asked me the same two questions the other classes had asked me.  And still five more minutes of class left.  At this point I was running out of optimism and grim thoughts were running through my head.  I wanted to leave the room.  I really wanted to leave the room.  I stopped caring about how creative I could be in this situation and wanted to raise the white flag and call "uncle."  Then the bell rang.  But not after standing there for some time wishing that I had more tricks up my sleeves; wishing that I had some sort of training or warning about my sudden rush into my new teaching life.  I went to my office and didn't want to leave.  But my next class was in ten minutes.  I gathered my thoughts and took lots of deep breaths (thank you yoga) and went back into the lion's den.  But this next class was the third graders again and a new teacher.  

Ms.  Yoon is the oldest and most strict of all the other English teachers.  I work with three Korean English teachers in all.  As I began my powerpoint she began instructing the kids to write down new words I was introducing to them.  She asked me to explain in further detail what I was talking about.  I wrote out my family tree (going just back to grandma's and grandpa's) and explained to them what an uncle, aunt, cousin, and brother in-law was.  Ms. Yoon prompted me to explain other things that I had just glossed over in my three previous classes.  the students were engaged.  This was working!  Holy shit, I might be a teacher after all!  I gained confidence and soon began to smile again and have fun with the kids.  My lesson ended just two minutes before the bell.  I did it!  Walking out of class Ms. Yoon admitted to me that she had had a report from Vickey about my first class was nervous/not too happy about me.  But in the next sentence said that I had a knack for this and thinks that I'll be a very good teacher.  "The students really like you."  I was elated.  The rest of the week went fine.  The only other thing that has troubled me was getting the school to help me set up a bank account, go the hospital for my testing, and I still have yet to apply for my Alien Registration Card.  It has been like pulling teeth to get them to help me.  But after some repetitive whining about how I don't speak the language and that things could be lost in translation and saying "Well all the other native English teachers had help . . . "  I finally got just about everything that I wanted.  They still have yet to reimburse me for the plane ticket but I'm leaving that hurdle for next week.  

I feel like I'm in the future here sometimes.   Buildings are covered in signs on every floor.   Instead of the standard American buildings were you have businesses on the bottom floor and condos or apartments on the floors above, there are business buildings and then there are residence buildings.  I feel like I'm missing out on 80% of what Busan has to offer me because I fail to remember to simply look up.  After living in my studio for almost a full week now I just realized that there is a gym right across the street from my house!  Aside from the signs there are hoards of neon lights everywhere.  When night falls sometimes I feel like I'm living in a scene from Bladerunner.  

I live in a neighborhood of Busan called Jangsan (pronounced Gensan).  It's pretty much the richest part of Busan, richest in the sense that most of everything here is new.  There are literally hundreds of places to eat, drink, shop, bank, workout, you name it within a ten block radius of my place.  The grocery store is across the street, there are two coffee shops across the street and one just around the corner.  Yes my friends one of them is Starbucks.  Even South Korea is littered with 'em.  Oh and the coffee here is really, really expensive.  

• A "grande" cup of joe costs $3.70
• A "grande" latte costs $4.30

So if any of you amazing people reading this blog get the hankering, you can send me early birthday and Christmas presents for the rest of my life all within this year in the form of Stumptown coffee.  I will love you forever ;) 

Ok, so what was I talking about . . . oh yes my hood.   I still live fairly close the to beach (they call it beachee here).  It's like a mile or so away.  Makes for a good run to the beach, then on the beach, and then back and I can extend the sucker with a sweet park on a peninsula!  So my place . . .  I'll post pictures soon.   The whole building is only like four years old or so.  My studio measures about 12x27 and has wood floors.  It came with a bed, couch, microwave (with a toaster built-in), a small kitchen, and of course the bathroom.  There is no actual shower stall within the bathroom, just a drain on one side of the tiled floor.  My place is really clean and modern looking.  I love it!  Oh other thing about where I live.  So I live in this really modern studio in a really modern, ritzy part of town right?.  Well for the contrast my school is located in the hills in a really poor part of Busan.  This part of town reminds me a lot of Xela (Shayla), Gauatemala actually with its tiny roads; small buildings where half of them look like they are either being torn down or are under construction; the marts are tiny and every nook and crany is filled with a potential item to sell, and the people even dress the part as well.  The main difference here is the writing you see every where and the language you over hear while walking down the street.  The street markets even look similar where people have all their fish, spices, foods of all sorts, socks and shoes, and miscellaneous trinkets for sale (who buys those things anyways?).  I wonder if Guatemala would look the same as my neighborhood if all the sudden it were given trillions and trillions of dollars that didn't go directly into the pockets of its government.

Last night I had an amazing night out with Vickey, the English teacher that accompanied me for my first-class-ever-nightmare.  She took me out to see my first Buddhist temple.   You climb this hillside for a while, leaving behind all the buildings and noise that is Busan.  The road continues into the trees and ends in a parking lot that was bordered by a restaurant?  We hiked along this path for sometime and then reached the temples.  It was like everything I've ever seen in any asian tourist book with the intricate paintings on the walls, the stone statues of lions roaring and Buddha himself, the large clay tile roofs that fan far out over the facade of each temple, and holy moly I'm here seeing it for myself!  I don't know if I can write the words to describe what I saw at the temples so I might just leave that for the pictures that I'll post soon enough.  It was in all, the most relaxing bit of time here I've had since arriving.  All was silent except for us exchanging a few words once in a while and the click of my camera.  There were very few people there as well.  I saw about five people praying, a handful of monks, and another handful of tourists.  This in of itself was strange because there are just so many dang people here.  You find people everywhere and yet I managed to find a place where there weren't any . . . at the temples.  Then she took me to the Pusan (this is the old transliteration of Busan, not sure how long ago that was.  But wouldn't it be interesting if Portland was one day called Bortland?)  National University neighborhood.  This is definitely a more hip place than where I live and its a ways away from me too.  But there are tons of small shops, bars, and restaurants with hoards of people walking around (this was a Friday night).  She took me to this restaurant that serves jjimdak.  This is stewed chicken in a dark sauce with potatoes and clear noodles served with a bowl of rice and some vegies.  You order it in a huge bowl and you pick at it with your dinner mate(s).  This is perhaps one of the best things I have ever eaten.  I can't wait to have it again!  And guaranteed . . . for any of you adventurous folks who want to come visit me, I will share this dish with you no probs.  I was also introduced to two new wonderful kinds of alcoholic drinks here.  I don't remember the name of the first one (not because I was drunk) but because its really hard to remember the names of anything around here people, places, anything really.  The pronunciation is hard enough and then trying to recall it on top of that!?  Ok so the first one tasted like a really great, fruity white whine thats 14% alcohol, so a smidge stronger that your average wine.  The second and my fav was called . . . dammit can't remember that one either.  Wait for it . . . Seouljuenmae . . . I think.  I'll get back you you cats on that one.  This is made from pears and it rocks.  Man, sooooo tasty.  Both of these you drink from shot glasses and you generally sip from them.  There is a custom here in Korea where you do not refill your own glass of alcohol.  It is considered rude and disrespectful.  So your compadres are on the look out all the time for an empty glass.  Oh yeah!  Vickey and I met up with some of her Korean friends after dinner for drinks.  This is where I found the pear drink.  This was my first, time outside of school, just hanging out with Koreans.  It was so nice.  One of them was an English teacher and her boyfriend could understand most English, as long as we talked slow enough.  I can't wait to learn more Korean.  So far all I have is:

ney - yes

a-knee-o - no

Gan-bay - cheers

Kam-sa-han-mi-da - thank you

Je-su-yo- please

A-nong-ha-say-yo-hello

Yogi (like the bear)- here     (transliterations done by yours truly)

Bathrooms are generally really easy to find and are everywhere.

and I think thats about it.  

But I don't have to think about saying them anymore.  So my list will continue to grow.  Vickey  is going to teach me how to pronounce the Korean alphabet (hangul) this week and I'm going to teach myself how to count this week as well.  Yep.  I need to get out of my place now.  This turned out to be a lot longer than expected.  I hope you all are doing well.  BTW in case you can't tell . . . I HEART Busan.  

Hugs and laughs, 

Jason