First Day of Classes for the Fall Semester

Nothing spectacular lately but there aren't many posts this month so I figured I have to put something up. You may notice that the blog looks a little boring today. I'm actually in the process of teaching myself HTML, CSS, and Javascript to hopefully improve the over all look of this little publication and hopefully garner some credibility, but in the mean-time you'll have to excuse the appearance

Yesterday was the first day of classes at Chilbo Middle School. As much fun as my long vacation with Rachael was, I have to admit that it was exciting to get back with the kids. I didn't shave at all in the past month so I decided to give the carpet on my face an elegant trim and wear a beard to school. The kids were fascinated by it. I can't count how many girls called me handsome before running away giggling today. One boy came up to me and said, "You have hair on your face," to which I replied, "Yes where is yours?" His response was hysterical, "Oh, I shave this morning."

So for first graders I'm starting classes with a memory game called "A Ship Comes Loaded" and then we'll be making postcards about the things we did over the summer. For second and third graders I have printed out eight recent articles. They will divide into groups and summarize their article using Who, What, Where, When, and Why before presenting for the class. Thank you Mary Beth for the inspiration.

The current principle at Chilbo Middle School is retiring so yesterday evening the entire faculty went out for dinner. The principle gave me a designer towel as a gift. It's woven with expensive fibers and embroidered with intricate calligraphy that I can not possibly hope to decipher. It's such a nice towel that I'm actually hesitant to use it for anything. Well anyway, my Korean co-workers went balls-to-the-wall as usual. The pork galbi served was some of the best I've had in the country but it wasn't the reason my fellow teachers were there. I tried to limit myself on the Soju and beer because, despite it being an evening for celebration, I actually wanted to get some work done at home. Ultimately, my resistance was in vain. Korean peer-pressure is certainly the worst kind of peer-pressure. Resting on plush floor cushions and surrounded by 40 drunken, middle-age Koreans is a unique experience. The puckered language that fills the air becomes an unimportant drone and I find myself having lengthy conversations that cannot be fully understood, yet a misconstrued meaning manages to be derived by intonation, posture, and the conviction in ones eyes. As a fascinated observer I witnessed a lot of laughter, a little bit of crying, and a few things said that...well perhaps were best left unsaid. Another memorable night out with the crew!

So I got home last night, drank a gallon of water, brewed a pot of coffee, and made the terrible decision to reinstall my operating system. For some reason I always assume that procedure will take about 20 minutes when in reality it sucks up close to four hours. Tomorrow I'll go to a hash in Osan, then maybe explore new things in Seoul. I also want to use my weekend to freshen up this blog, research places to go sailing in Korea, and study more HTML. Well, that does it for now. Anyonghekaseyo.

Cool Thing About Korea #25: I guess it really has nothing to do with Korea but I discovered how to work the laminate machine this week...so I've got that going for me.