So I've finally decided to get out and be active. There's dance lessons at a club across the street from the bar I go to for pub quiz. And last night I finally decided to go. Saturday is Salsa night. So Shannon and I made our way down there, and at first the club wasn't open....so we decided to get a drink at Sunset.
After...half an hour or so, Jeff, the owner/bar tender, told us that we could go over to Neo...so..we did. And there were only Koreans there. And by looks of it, lessons had already started. But this one Korean came up to us and started talking to us about the dance lessons. I guess those were the intermediate dancers, and the beginner's class hadn't started. So, we decided to get another drink...which in the long run was a bad idea.
However, a little later, the beginners class started. There was Shannon, me, a guy named Rio, and some older guy. And Michael (one of the owners of Neo) was our teacher. He started us off on the basic steps...that's easy enough. I remember that from when I had lessons in college. Then came the back-step...a little disorienting...but still fairly easy. Then came the turns. I hate turns. The right turn isn't that bad...I just always forget to make one step. But the left turn....uhg.
Left turn is complicated. And...I can never remember to pause when I'm supposed to and there are far too many steps involved. However...I'm gonna have to keep practicing it. Cause I guess I have to show up to Neo on Tuesdays now for Salsa meetings...where we don't learn anything, but dance and I guess there's a workshop for people who need it.
So now, I go dancing every Tuesday and Saturday for Salsa. And I guess starting next week, Fridays will be Hip-hop dancing. Which...I want to do. One, it's a great way to loose weight, and two, I can finally look cool while I'm dancing.
So, starting next week, I'll be out three times a week learning how to dance. At least I'll have a friend with me, so it should be fun. Though, I need to find different shoes for Salsa...the ones I normally wear gave me three huge blisters that really hurt. I guess I'm gonna have to find a new pair of shoes. Pity that Korean women don't have shoes my size. Stupid small-feet people.
But that's all. I've finally gotten out of my apt to do something fun. Maybe when I come back, I'll be an expert dancer. Haha.
Peace.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
And Now the News,,,Continued
And so to continue..
I left off just after Lunar New Year's I believe. If not, well there wasn't much missed.
Anyways. So since Kate left us, we were kinda screwed over, now being short some teachers. So we hired in a new teacher. Maya. Awesome girl. Was born in Busan, but moved to the States to go to University and what not. Her English is excellent. Much better than half of the Korean staff here. But, she was capable on picking up the slack left in the wake of Kate leaving.
I ended up getting Kate's Calvert 1 class. Oh...I almost forgot to tell you. Harry, the kid that makes me contemplate killing little Korean children, has left! Oh and I no longer teach Bad Kids 1, 2, but have picked up on 3 again (this month). But don't rejoice yet. Kate's Calver 1 (CS1) class is the WORST class I've had so far. And considering what I've had...that's saying alot. Seriously, I've gone off on these kids more times than I can count. They constantly play with their cellphones in class...talk in Korean...and don't do their work. Dear God Above. Just two weeks ago I went off on Ted for playing with his cellphone. Well..okay, he was setting his alarm, but he shouldn't have had the damn thing out in the first place. I guess I was yelling so loud that two other teachers left their classes to see who/what I was going off on.
And you would think that...with me going off on them on a daily basis, the two (Ted and Paul) would learn. But oh no. Of course not. Just today, I was pretty sure I was twitching in anger at them...
Aside from them, I had an adult class, and lost it. They never really showed up. No skin off my back. I was getting paid to essentially talk to them.
Oh! And Amy, the girl that was put in my kindergarden class and subsequently made two of my students leave, never showed up for class. Ever. There were two weeks in a row that she was gone..and showed up for her afternoon classes. Hell, she wasn't even there for graduation.
Which reminds me,
We had graduation last week. (Yes, I've skipped a ton of stuff, but it's not really important)
I was sooo stressed over it. I shouldn't have been, but I was. I wanted to make sure that my kids knew their speeches and could sing all the songs. We had to impress the parents and what not. But luckily, I had the smart class. They knew their speeches and songs. I was so proud of them. And graduation itself went off without a problem. Sadly, I will no longer teaching Sue or Jason. Sue went to another Hagwan and Jason is supposedly in CS1..but I haven't seen him.
I am now teaching Ted and Paul....again...in CS2. I want to kill them. The pair of them...I don't know how Kate could ever like them. It's a battle to get them to write down their homework in 45 minutes. Dear god...I swear...
*deep breath*
Anyways, I also have a bunch of random classes on Mon, Wed, and Fri. I teach CS3 with Kevin and Anne, lost Ryan...but no real big there. Oh..speaking of loosing kids....when Jade left so did her brother Eric. Thank god.
OH!
So this week, we got new classes. I don't teach Calvert Kindgarden now...but ETS. I teach 9 kids...and got to name most of them!!! Yay! My first kids' names. I even got to name some in another class, cause Shirley never shows up. So in my kindergarden class I have a Ruby (came with the name), Crystal (gave it to her, but have to change it), Cai (came), Eric (came), Bill (came), Princess (she chose it), Martin (gave), Paul (came), and Issac (came). Then in the other class I gave two boys the name Jack and Kyle, the girl chose her name..Gina.
And that's it. You're all caught up.
On a side note...Ted and Paul stress me out so much that I've started to loose hair. Seriously, I'm almost tempted to see if I can switch classes with Mike. He teaches CS1...I can handle that. These two....uhg. If you hear in the news that an English teacher killed two of her students...well sorry folks, that will be me.
Outside of school, not alot has happened. Tried yoga...and stopped promptly. My back couldn't take it. Hmm..been hanging out with Shannon (the girl I met in Chicago, then again on the ski trip), and going to pub quiz regularily. Surprisingly, I get out more here than I did in college. And...I don't think that I've lost weight walking to work daily, but my legs have gotten skinnier. I think that once it gets just a tad bit warmer, I'll start walking back up the hill and that's when I'll start burning the fat off.
But that's all, I have to go teach now.
No more griping, and I promise to update more regularily.
Peace!
I left off just after Lunar New Year's I believe. If not, well there wasn't much missed.
Anyways. So since Kate left us, we were kinda screwed over, now being short some teachers. So we hired in a new teacher. Maya. Awesome girl. Was born in Busan, but moved to the States to go to University and what not. Her English is excellent. Much better than half of the Korean staff here. But, she was capable on picking up the slack left in the wake of Kate leaving.
I ended up getting Kate's Calvert 1 class. Oh...I almost forgot to tell you. Harry, the kid that makes me contemplate killing little Korean children, has left! Oh and I no longer teach Bad Kids 1, 2, but have picked up on 3 again (this month). But don't rejoice yet. Kate's Calver 1 (CS1) class is the WORST class I've had so far. And considering what I've had...that's saying alot. Seriously, I've gone off on these kids more times than I can count. They constantly play with their cellphones in class...talk in Korean...and don't do their work. Dear God Above. Just two weeks ago I went off on Ted for playing with his cellphone. Well..okay, he was setting his alarm, but he shouldn't have had the damn thing out in the first place. I guess I was yelling so loud that two other teachers left their classes to see who/what I was going off on.
And you would think that...with me going off on them on a daily basis, the two (Ted and Paul) would learn. But oh no. Of course not. Just today, I was pretty sure I was twitching in anger at them...
Aside from them, I had an adult class, and lost it. They never really showed up. No skin off my back. I was getting paid to essentially talk to them.
Oh! And Amy, the girl that was put in my kindergarden class and subsequently made two of my students leave, never showed up for class. Ever. There were two weeks in a row that she was gone..and showed up for her afternoon classes. Hell, she wasn't even there for graduation.
Which reminds me,
We had graduation last week. (Yes, I've skipped a ton of stuff, but it's not really important)
I was sooo stressed over it. I shouldn't have been, but I was. I wanted to make sure that my kids knew their speeches and could sing all the songs. We had to impress the parents and what not. But luckily, I had the smart class. They knew their speeches and songs. I was so proud of them. And graduation itself went off without a problem. Sadly, I will no longer teaching Sue or Jason. Sue went to another Hagwan and Jason is supposedly in CS1..but I haven't seen him.
I am now teaching Ted and Paul....again...in CS2. I want to kill them. The pair of them...I don't know how Kate could ever like them. It's a battle to get them to write down their homework in 45 minutes. Dear god...I swear...
*deep breath*
Anyways, I also have a bunch of random classes on Mon, Wed, and Fri. I teach CS3 with Kevin and Anne, lost Ryan...but no real big there. Oh..speaking of loosing kids....when Jade left so did her brother Eric. Thank god.
OH!
So this week, we got new classes. I don't teach Calvert Kindgarden now...but ETS. I teach 9 kids...and got to name most of them!!! Yay! My first kids' names. I even got to name some in another class, cause Shirley never shows up. So in my kindergarden class I have a Ruby (came with the name), Crystal (gave it to her, but have to change it), Cai (came), Eric (came), Bill (came), Princess (she chose it), Martin (gave), Paul (came), and Issac (came). Then in the other class I gave two boys the name Jack and Kyle, the girl chose her name..Gina.
And that's it. You're all caught up.
On a side note...Ted and Paul stress me out so much that I've started to loose hair. Seriously, I'm almost tempted to see if I can switch classes with Mike. He teaches CS1...I can handle that. These two....uhg. If you hear in the news that an English teacher killed two of her students...well sorry folks, that will be me.
Outside of school, not alot has happened. Tried yoga...and stopped promptly. My back couldn't take it. Hmm..been hanging out with Shannon (the girl I met in Chicago, then again on the ski trip), and going to pub quiz regularily. Surprisingly, I get out more here than I did in college. And...I don't think that I've lost weight walking to work daily, but my legs have gotten skinnier. I think that once it gets just a tad bit warmer, I'll start walking back up the hill and that's when I'll start burning the fat off.
But that's all, I have to go teach now.
No more griping, and I promise to update more regularily.
Peace!
Monday, March 2, 2009
And now the News
So...a little birdy has told me that you all want updates.
Well here they are.
Chistmas
Well the party went as well as can be expected with only two days of planning. Granted, there were no fires/injuries/calamities that anyone can account for, so, it went well. Luckily, I didn't have to try and teach the little hellians how to do that hip-hop dance to silent night. Hell, they couldn't even remember how to do the small hand-motions to Santa is Coming to Town, let alone try and remember a complicated dance routine. But, I think the high-light of she show was when we all had to sing Deck the Halls, and well...NO ONE but Kate knew the words after the first verse. So..we all sang the Fa La La La La La La La Las while she sang the rest of the song.
I'm sure the parents found that slightly entertaining.
Let's See...
Oh and the Silent Night part was good, almost had a few hair fires, but we made sure that no child's hair was singed off. Couldn't be slacking infront of the parents. After the singing and what have you (I'm gonna completely skip the part where I had to stand in the middle of a circle and dance while the kids sang) Santa came.
Well Patrick dressed up as Santa that didn't fool a single kid. Seriously, these kids knew. All they kept saying was Santa Patrick-Teacher! But the kids were happy none the less. They got presents, some of them bigger than the child receiving them. All-in-all it turned out to be a good day.
Colleen came to visit me Christmas weekend too! It was great. She bought me an iPod for an X-mas gift and we went to go see the family in Seoul. It was nice to see them all again. Of course, since I hadn't seen them in like 3 or so years...things have definately changed. One being that Yun Su and her brother shot up. Man. I feel short compared to them. And only three years ago were they tiny little whelps. The others look about the same. And I can assume that Yun Cho looks the same as his brother, Yun Ho, as he's in Russia at the moment. Aunt cooked us great food...I love her cooking. Almost stole one her cats and brought it home with me. It was adorable. A little black and white cat...kinda looked like Big Foot. But..alas, my happiness was not allowed. Yun Su wouldn't let me take the cat back. *sigh*
Things from there got a little un-eventful. Jade and Kerri left my kindergarden class because their parents didn't want another student to join because they hated her parents. Yes, I lost two kids because thier parents were acting like kids.
New Year's
Well nothing really to report there aside from the fact that on New Year's Eve's Eve I got completely smashed. Like...I hadn't been that drunk in at least 2 or 3 years. I don't remember alot of the night. I know we went out to Karaoke...and I think I fell there...then we managed to make it to some club, where there were guys stripping on the stage. At some point they opened the ceiling and fake snow poured in. I remember this part...cause I was to the point where I was sick and crabby from drinking and loathed the fact that they were letting in snow. Mind you it really wasn't cold enough for snow outside. Hm...New Year's itself was rather un-eventful. I went out with a few friends, didn't drink much, stayed out til about 5 am when I called it quits and went home to sleep. Had to work the next day. Yea, that's right. I had to work the day after New Years. AND! Only the afternoon classes. Which was annoying cause I originally only had 1. Nice and easy work. Then they dumped others on me. Bastards.
Hmm...
Next would be Lunar New Year's
Okay. So Korea doesn't really care about the changing of the years. It's all about Lunar New Year's here...or better known as Chinese New Year's. It was nice. I got a a 5-day holiday. Paid for too. However...what sucked was we hadn't gotten paid on time in January. And didn't get paid until a week and a half later. Can you imagine how pissed I was? Seriously. I only had maaaayybee $30 to go off of, or about 50,000 won. Yea. Not too happy. And I was also supposed to go skiing that weekend. The first social excursion that I would have had since......
Well a really long time. However, Eddy pulled through in the end and paid us on Friday. Which was good, cause I was leaving at 5 am Saturday morning. Oh, and by the by, this also happened to be the weekend that one of our teachers quit cause she couldn't take it anymore. I can't blame her really. Our manager yelled at her for having strep. Like it was her fault that she caught it from one of the kids.
Anyways...skiing was a blast. It had been about 6 or so years since I last went skiing, so needless to say, I was a bit rusty. But after the first few runs I had it down. It took us about 6 hours to get from Busan to ... where ever the hell we were. All I know is that when I woke up at the first rest stop, there was snow on the ground and it was COLD. I mean, almost Michigan cold. Which was a bit of a shock to my system. I was getting used to nice warm weather. In all honesty, I was kinda excited and...took pictures. Yes, I know, I hate snow. But I hadn't seen any real snow since last year (2007) and wanted proof that it did snow in Korea. Anyways, Our driver had no clue where he was going. We got lost at least...6 times before we finally parked at the resort.
Oh funny side story that slightly relates...
I met a girl here. No...not like that. It was funny, and shows what a small world it really is. So, wayyy back in November when I went to the Consulate in Chicago, I met a girl that was going to Busan too. I asked her where she would be working, but she didn't know. Hadn't given it a thought since I arrived. In all honesty, I completely forgot her after I left Chicago. However..2 months later on the ski trip...there she is. We randomly met again..and well have become great friends.
Back to the long story.
Skiing...great times. Cold as hell, but great. I only fell twice. Once when I was standing, and tried to turn aroung....yes, I know. I know. The other time, I was flying down the slope, and my glasses started to fog up. I couldn't see anything, considering the fog and blizzard, and well..there was just the tiniest of snow piles right in front of me. I hit it and went flying. Not too sure what happened for about 5 seconds because I blacked out. But I woke up as I hit the ground full-force, sliding on my back, backwards. Must have flipped somehow. In the process of sliding I saw one of my skis near me. Okay..not half bad. I got up laughing, considering that I hadn't broken anything. A miracle for me. But...getting up was unusual. I could stand up with no problems. Which meant I had lost both skis, not just one. It was a bit higher up the hill.
Needless to say, I got them back on, and continued down the hill, and kept skiing til about 10 that night. Surprisingly I didn't drink alot that weekend. Though, I did polish off the 5 bottles of wine I brought along with me. 2 of them were on the bus on our way back home. Met some great new people. It was seriously one of the best times I had in a long time.
Seeing as this is really long....I'll continue it in another post.
Well here they are.
Chistmas
Well the party went as well as can be expected with only two days of planning. Granted, there were no fires/injuries/calamities that anyone can account for, so, it went well. Luckily, I didn't have to try and teach the little hellians how to do that hip-hop dance to silent night. Hell, they couldn't even remember how to do the small hand-motions to Santa is Coming to Town, let alone try and remember a complicated dance routine. But, I think the high-light of she show was when we all had to sing Deck the Halls, and well...NO ONE but Kate knew the words after the first verse. So..we all sang the Fa La La La La La La La Las while she sang the rest of the song.
I'm sure the parents found that slightly entertaining.
Let's See...
Oh and the Silent Night part was good, almost had a few hair fires, but we made sure that no child's hair was singed off. Couldn't be slacking infront of the parents. After the singing and what have you (I'm gonna completely skip the part where I had to stand in the middle of a circle and dance while the kids sang) Santa came.
Well Patrick dressed up as Santa that didn't fool a single kid. Seriously, these kids knew. All they kept saying was Santa Patrick-Teacher! But the kids were happy none the less. They got presents, some of them bigger than the child receiving them. All-in-all it turned out to be a good day.
Colleen came to visit me Christmas weekend too! It was great. She bought me an iPod for an X-mas gift and we went to go see the family in Seoul. It was nice to see them all again. Of course, since I hadn't seen them in like 3 or so years...things have definately changed. One being that Yun Su and her brother shot up. Man. I feel short compared to them. And only three years ago were they tiny little whelps. The others look about the same. And I can assume that Yun Cho looks the same as his brother, Yun Ho, as he's in Russia at the moment. Aunt cooked us great food...I love her cooking. Almost stole one her cats and brought it home with me. It was adorable. A little black and white cat...kinda looked like Big Foot. But..alas, my happiness was not allowed. Yun Su wouldn't let me take the cat back. *sigh*
Things from there got a little un-eventful. Jade and Kerri left my kindergarden class because their parents didn't want another student to join because they hated her parents. Yes, I lost two kids because thier parents were acting like kids.
New Year's
Well nothing really to report there aside from the fact that on New Year's Eve's Eve I got completely smashed. Like...I hadn't been that drunk in at least 2 or 3 years. I don't remember alot of the night. I know we went out to Karaoke...and I think I fell there...then we managed to make it to some club, where there were guys stripping on the stage. At some point they opened the ceiling and fake snow poured in. I remember this part...cause I was to the point where I was sick and crabby from drinking and loathed the fact that they were letting in snow. Mind you it really wasn't cold enough for snow outside. Hm...New Year's itself was rather un-eventful. I went out with a few friends, didn't drink much, stayed out til about 5 am when I called it quits and went home to sleep. Had to work the next day. Yea, that's right. I had to work the day after New Years. AND! Only the afternoon classes. Which was annoying cause I originally only had 1. Nice and easy work. Then they dumped others on me. Bastards.
Hmm...
Next would be Lunar New Year's
Okay. So Korea doesn't really care about the changing of the years. It's all about Lunar New Year's here...or better known as Chinese New Year's. It was nice. I got a a 5-day holiday. Paid for too. However...what sucked was we hadn't gotten paid on time in January. And didn't get paid until a week and a half later. Can you imagine how pissed I was? Seriously. I only had maaaayybee $30 to go off of, or about 50,000 won. Yea. Not too happy. And I was also supposed to go skiing that weekend. The first social excursion that I would have had since......
Well a really long time. However, Eddy pulled through in the end and paid us on Friday. Which was good, cause I was leaving at 5 am Saturday morning. Oh, and by the by, this also happened to be the weekend that one of our teachers quit cause she couldn't take it anymore. I can't blame her really. Our manager yelled at her for having strep. Like it was her fault that she caught it from one of the kids.
Anyways...skiing was a blast. It had been about 6 or so years since I last went skiing, so needless to say, I was a bit rusty. But after the first few runs I had it down. It took us about 6 hours to get from Busan to ... where ever the hell we were. All I know is that when I woke up at the first rest stop, there was snow on the ground and it was COLD. I mean, almost Michigan cold. Which was a bit of a shock to my system. I was getting used to nice warm weather. In all honesty, I was kinda excited and...took pictures. Yes, I know, I hate snow. But I hadn't seen any real snow since last year (2007) and wanted proof that it did snow in Korea. Anyways, Our driver had no clue where he was going. We got lost at least...6 times before we finally parked at the resort.
Oh funny side story that slightly relates...
I met a girl here. No...not like that. It was funny, and shows what a small world it really is. So, wayyy back in November when I went to the Consulate in Chicago, I met a girl that was going to Busan too. I asked her where she would be working, but she didn't know. Hadn't given it a thought since I arrived. In all honesty, I completely forgot her after I left Chicago. However..2 months later on the ski trip...there she is. We randomly met again..and well have become great friends.
Back to the long story.
Skiing...great times. Cold as hell, but great. I only fell twice. Once when I was standing, and tried to turn aroung....yes, I know. I know. The other time, I was flying down the slope, and my glasses started to fog up. I couldn't see anything, considering the fog and blizzard, and well..there was just the tiniest of snow piles right in front of me. I hit it and went flying. Not too sure what happened for about 5 seconds because I blacked out. But I woke up as I hit the ground full-force, sliding on my back, backwards. Must have flipped somehow. In the process of sliding I saw one of my skis near me. Okay..not half bad. I got up laughing, considering that I hadn't broken anything. A miracle for me. But...getting up was unusual. I could stand up with no problems. Which meant I had lost both skis, not just one. It was a bit higher up the hill.
Needless to say, I got them back on, and continued down the hill, and kept skiing til about 10 that night. Surprisingly I didn't drink alot that weekend. Though, I did polish off the 5 bottles of wine I brought along with me. 2 of them were on the bus on our way back home. Met some great new people. It was seriously one of the best times I had in a long time.
Seeing as this is really long....I'll continue it in another post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)