I was walking home from the bus stop last Monday when I saw four or five guys gutting the local Beer Plus with crowbars and sledgehammers. The Beer Plus was just a place to get cheap Cass on draft and though it was a helpful landmark in my neighborhood I had no real attachment to it. I figured the construction workers were just giving the place a much-needed face lift so I continued on my way expressing little interest in the torn drywall and 2X4’s. While making my way out to the main road the following morning I was shocked to see a fully operational Family Mart convenience store occupying the space where the Beer Plus had stood only 15 hours before. The Family Mart looked like it had been there forever and there wasn’t a hint of construction in the vicinity. That small crew of construction workers must have worked through the night to erect the convenience store in that location. The work ethic required for such a task is truly astounding.
I spent four days this week at a GEPIK sponsored conference for foreign teachers which was a welcome change of pace from the demands of a middle school class room and I was happy to be provided with so many creative lesson plans. The strongest strategy I learned for relating to my students is to incorporate K-Pop into the lessons, a method that never seems to fail in captivating a large class of 40 rowdy teenagers. I personally hate K-Pop, finding it to be annoying, artistically sterile, and the shameless musical embodiment of materialism but if it makes my work that much easier I suppose I’ll give it a shot. Check out these K-Pop songs and see what you think.
The classes were okay, some far better than others, but the food sucked miserably. I guess it was all right for free. The seminar took place on a large two building campus in the Osan countryside and about 400 foreigners were in attendance. I was happy to mingle with so many English-speakers who not only live nearby my town but also have an equal amount of experience in South Korea and again my notion that South Africans are the coolest people in the world was repeatedly reinforced.
Recreational time was spent hitting balls at an on site driving range (where this nice guy Brett managed to launch a club into some overhead florescent lights, sending forth a terrible bang, sparks, and broken glass), attempting to climb a 60 foot cargo net but continually chickening out in the absence of a safety line, and sneaking contraband Soju through the compound’s security
perimeter. My roommate was a socially inept Mormon fellow who could not be convinced to join the larger crowd for a good time. Perhaps it is a character flaw, but while I always try to remain open-minded it is no secret to my friends that I speak quite frankly and can often be abrasive in social situations. I realize that my sense of humor can be overbearing while my interaction stratagem rather tactless and with these particular qualities I often question how I’ve managed to garner so many friends in the first place. Needless to say the conflicting personalities of the chaste Mormon and myself reacted like ice cubes in a deep fryer and on more than one occasion my friends commented that our turbulent scenario was perfect sitcom material.Friday was challenging to say the least. Since I was just recently paid I wanted to buy plane tickets for Rachael and I to vacation on Jeju Island in August. The cheapest tickets were available online but I would need a credit card to purchase them. At the present I only have my MasterCard debit card from my bank account in Pennsylvania so I would have to transfer money to the States using my Korean bank’s Web-banking service. Web-banking here is extremely secure and complicated, compounded even more so by the difficulties of the language barrier. Instead of just logging onto the bank’s website like back home you are actually required to download some strange software for security purposes but since this software isn’t compatible with my Macbook I had to download it onto the POS terminal at school. This means that every time I want to transfer money home I have to do so from my classroom. So on Friday afternoon I made my way to Chilbo, trying not to be seen by my co-workers because I was unshaven and dressed extremely casually. It took me close to half an hour just to log onto the Web-banking site due to the virus-ridden terminal I was using, the unnecessary amount of passwords that the bank has forced me to remember, and a non-existent understanding of the Korean language. I then spent another hour imputing various values, addresses, bank numbers and alien characters while simultaneously struggling with the definition of words like “remittance” and “beneficiary.” Error messages bombarded the screen and in the end I was unable to convince the all-knowing system that I was worthy of a transfer, but with my boundless creativity I managed to conceive a solution to my problem. I called up my buddy Jared, and knowing that he had a credit card in Korea, convinced him to pay for my tickets in exchange for cash. Wheew, I need a vacation from planning this vacation.
After departing Chilbo Middle School I rode the bus up to Suwon Station and got my first Korean haircut. I had brought some passport photos with me to illustrate to the stylist what I was hoping for but after a botched Koreanesque trim and an alteration in which the hairdresser attempted to make my bangs resemble the front of a 68’ Mustang, I just had her do the whole thing with the buzzer. The resulting look is functional but reveals the beginnings of a peninsula-like receding hairline that clearly foreshadows a presence identical to that of my father. Still, the ladies were really nice and it was a fun experience.
Today I rode the train out to Songton because I needed new work shirts and I was told that it was a great place to go shopping because of how near it was to the U.S. Air Force base. The town was in fact really cool. Foreign military personnel were everywhere, people drove American muscle cars and Harley Davidsons, the Korean merchants spoke fluent English, and there was a ton of cool, American stuff to buy. Also there are bars and clubs just like in the States with good draft beer, rugged bartenders, pool tables, and most importantly balls-to-the wall American hair metal. While I love knowing that I can hop a quick train down here whenever I happen to feel a little homesick, there is a part of me that feels like the soldiers who have Americanized this town and made it their own are cheating themselves out of the richer cultural experiences that Korea has to offer. Still, I’ll be back shortly and next time I’ll bring my camera.
Well that’s enough for now. Before I go I’d like to reflect on a significant change that I’ve noticed in the way I respond to external conflict. With so many little frustrations and challenges playing a part in my day to day life I’ve become aware that I can handle almost any situation with composure and that it takes a great deal of pressure to really upset me. Just one of the life skills I was hoping to further develop in the Land of the Morning Calm.
Cool Thing About Korea #13: Electric and Gas Bill $17, A month of cell phone service $10, Cable TV and Broadband Internet Bill $13
oh yeah...the greatest guitarist I know, Al Bloominhour, just went to England to hang out with Steve Vai. Props bro for doing some globetrotting.
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