Rinse, Lather, Repeat

There's no way I'm gonna sit here and complain about being in South Korea; I love it here. But lately I've been thinking about coming home a lot and I've been thinking about how my life here and become very routine. Hockey on Monday nights and maybe bowling if I'm not too tired, pool on Wednesdays, poker on Fridays, drinking on Saturdays, and usually we finish the week off with a movie on Sunday night.

Now I know there are worse things in life than what I have just described to you. I know that I am very fortunate to have this opportunity to come and make good money in a new country with new sights. It's just that the first 7 months I was always out doing new things and seeing new things, but lately I've not done anything uber-interesting. Sure I've been to Seoul to a rad Patty's day party and I've done some hikes, but I need to give myself a shot of get-up-and-go. I've only got four more months left and I feel like sometimes I am just counting down the days until I come back home.

Too many temples, too much coastline, and too many things I may never see again to waste by sitting on my arse. I make a pledge right now: I will make some more unreal memories before I come back home. And of course I will write about each and every one of them and surely there will be pictures as well.

St. Patrick's Day

Seeing as there are as many Westerners in Korea as there are in Western society, someone in Seoul thought it would be a good idea to have a huge St. Patrick's Day party. I applaud that person because I went to a Hooley last night that was unreal. The party was in the Westin Chosun right by City Hall in Seoul and it was simply massive. The party was in an Irish Pub in the basement called O'Kims (funny right?) and this place was more like an Irish Emporium. I mean I didn't thin k they could fit a bar that big in the basement of a hotel (for some of the kids back home, let's say it was slightly bigger than the Rendez-Vous).

There were about 10 of us from Cheonan that went to this little shindig and we ended up seeing other people from Korea that we knew and ended up meeting other foreigners from as far as Busan (5 1/2 hours away). They had all you can drink Guiness and all you can eat food. While the Guiness wasn't as good as some of the Guiness you get back home in the Irish Pubs, it was definitely better than Korean beer and put simply, the best drinking I have had in Korea thus far. I did'nt always enjoy Guiness, but after living with Ido he really taught me to appreciate a good meal of the stuff.

So we got there at 7pm and the place was packed! They definitely oversold the place. It took us 20 minutes to get our first Guiness. It got a little better once everyone got their first beer, but there were still huge lineups to get beer almost every time. All in all, I still drank and ate my moneys worth and I had an ab fab time. Although I have just woken up with a huge draught beer hangover.

A Triumphant Week

This past week was by far the longest and most interesting week I have spent in Korea. It started off with a really hectic first couple of days back at the office. You see we started a new semester at the school, which meant we had a whole new crop of students. This new crop meant new classes and a myriad of tests to see which classes each of these students fit into to. This led to hours of giving tests, marking tests, and trying to figure out a level of English comprehension for each student. It was all for naught in my opinion as the directors just ended up putting the kids in classes arranged by age and whether or not they knew other kids in said class.

Also, we received 2 new foreign teachers. Derek and Alix are from Vancouver and they are a married couple. As it were, it was a very challenging time for them as they had to both adjust to Korean life and a new job that demanded a lot of energy. We also had to teach them how the scheduling works, how the classes are best taught, and we had to give them tips on how to manage their classrooms. All in all, the work part of my week was challenging and draining!

Enter the social aspect of my week; one of the best I have had since coming to Korea. On Wednesday I not only won the Masters Pool Final, but I dominated! I won the Quarterfinal match against Jackie 2-0, I won the Semifinal against Suki 3-0, and I won the Final against Alan (who I would consider the 2nd best player in Cheonan) 4-1. So I ended up celebrating that night until about 7am. I got a call 5 minutes after I was supposed to start work asking why I wasn't there yet. Let's just say that Thursday at work was exceptionally long.

On Friday, we had our usual poker night. Wouldn't you know it, I won poker night too! It's the first time since I have been in Cheonan that someone has won pool night and poker night in the same week. The winnings were especially nice since my very good friend Alan had decided he wanted to go to the race track in Seoul for his going away party. So I used my poker winnings to supplement my gambling at the race track, which by the way is both massive and very beautiful.

So the race track we enjoyed on Saturday afternoon, and on Saturday night we went for ribs and steak at Outback Steakhouse, followed by some whiskeys at WaBar, followed by some NoreyBang (Karaoke). Let me tell you that we had an amazing time getting drunk together and then singing like a bunch of monkeys all night. Alan, Scott, Suki and I finished off the night playing some hard core pool until 8am Sunday morning. Let me tell you that I finally got a proper sleep at 4pm Sunday afternoon. It is now 6am Monday morning and I just woke up. All in all, it was a great week and an even greater weekend. But I'll tell you: I hope this week is not as interesting as last week. I don't think I could handle it!

The Phil Mickelson of Cheonan

Since I have been in Cheonan I have been very invested in the outcomes of the Wednesday night pool tournaments. You see, I have always been a bit of a pool junkie and the weekly tournaments are extra special because they give me a little piece of my life back home every week.

I have won over 50% of the tournaments I have played in including 5 of the last 6 tournaments. Having said this, I have never won the coveted Cheonan Massif Masters Pool Tournament. This tournament encompasses a qualifying round for the top 20 players from the last three months with the top eight seeds moving onto the final night. The top eight players are seeded and play a knock-out tournament on the Finals Night.

Well kids, the Finals night is but 2 hours away for me and I just so happened to secure the number 1 spot for the Quarterfinals ( it means I will have an easier draw as I will play the number eight seed). I hope to buck the trend of being the best poopl player in Cheonan to never win a major.

I hope the next post that you see on this site will show me hoisting the ever-valuable Masters trophy over my head. Who knows...they might even give me a green jacket!

Graduation Day

Earlier this week, my kindergarten kids had their Graduation Day. What does this mean to me? It means that I will have new students next week and it also means that I may never see some of my students again.

It was pretty sad day for me considering I spent the last 6 months caring for these little people. We spent 5 hours a day together, me teaching them English, and them teaching me that kids can be a lot smarter and a lot cooler than peole give them credit for.

So the ceremony was nice and afterwards I got to talk to some of the parents. They were really happy for theirs sons and daughters and they thanked me so much for taking care of their kids. Then came the time to say goodbye, and I'll tell you I got a little choked up. When I thought of all the things that would make it hard for me to leave Korea, I never thought that missing my students would be near the top of the list.

So now I will have 5 months to mold and shape 10 new 6 year old Korean students. I am looking forward to getting to know these new students, but I'm not looking forward to having to say goodbye to them when I leave Korea.

P.S. I hate Kevin Lowe