A Day In The Life Of...

After almost a month and a half of living in Korea, I have finally settled into a nice routine here in Cheonan. Say what you want about spontanaiety and living everyday to the fullest, but in a land where everything is unfamiliar it is nice to have certain days to look forward to. It is like having a friend that you can depend on when you are in a pinch. When I get a little down or lonely, I know that I will always have poker night to look forward to. Without further adieu, here is my rock steady schedule here in Cheonan.

On Monday the work week begins. As most of my co-workers are still recovering from the weekend, the teachers room during breaks and lunch hour tend to be a little quieter than most other days. We still don't have a theme night for Monday, although we sometimes go bowling right by my house. I hate Mondays!

On Tuesday people are usually fully rested from the weekend, but are still not very happy as the mere thought of 4 more work days frightens them. Tuesday nights are usually the tamest nights of all as the foreign teachers are resting up for what is to come.

On Wednesday my co-workers and I are very excited as we are looking forward to Wednesday night which just happens to be pool night. We always have a tournament and there are some pretty good pool players at this tournament. Each week I reach the final or the semi-final but I have yet to win a tourney. But don't worry sports fans, I'll bring home the title soon enough. Wednesday is also pretty awesome for me as I have just joined my bosse's soccer team. Call it networking or call it trying to work off my gut. Either way it is fun as hell, except that I sprained my foot this week scoring a wicked goal. My team won 6-2 and I scored 2 and set up 2 more. Do you think I could be an honourary Old Boy Shadi?

On Thursday the mood in the staff room is kind of one of indifference. Most of the teachers (6 including me) are tired from the work week but are also looking ahead to the weekend slightly. Thursday nights I go to Korean class so that I can actually understand what the old Korean men are yelling at me. So far I have had one class and I can ask for fruit in Korean like a pro.

Fridays around these parts are like the second coming of the christ. Nobody actually believes that it will happen and when it does they rejoice in song and dance. Not only is it the end of the work week but it is poker night which is a huge draw around these parts. We always have poker night at my place on account of it's huge and right downtown. I will post pictures of the last tourney on my flicker site. This past Friday we had 11 players and at least 6 or 7 spectators. Like pool, I am always in the thick of things but I have never actually won a tourney yet. Oh yeah, we almost always go to a bar after poker and stay out drinking until 6am. Bars are open until 9am here and we almost always leave the bar when it is light out.

Saturday is a recuperating day. Saturdays usually enttitle laying around in a pool of you own filthy drunkeness until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon whereupon one will drag their ass out of bed and crawl to the nearest Western-style fast food joint to grab some hangover grease. One will then ingest the grease and usually head back to bed to rest up for the night time activity. That night time activity is usually drinking at a bar. This week most of the foreigners went to a new bar called Coyote Ugly. I would have gone except that I am sick as a dog and I spent the whole day and night in bed watching season one of Arrested Development on my laptop. So the day wasn't a total waste.

Sunday is again a recuperating day, but also a cultural day for me and my friends. There have been talks of a hike on an upcoming Sunday, but as of yet noone has gotten out of bed before 1pm. We also play basketball against a team of Korean guys on Sundays at 4:30pm on the other side of town. It is usually really competitive and to be honest those Korean guys can really ball! I will not play today on account of my sprained foot and my illness. Maybe I will go and be a cheerleader.

Which brings us back to Monday. God I hate Mondays! Oh well only 10 months, 3weeks and 11 hours to go before I come back to my favourite city in the world. I'll be counting down, I hope you will too.

Ronnie