Andover Hagwon

I'm really getting sick of this unhappy country. I would really like to go back to Chicago right about now. Noah got hit by a car yesterday in Seoul, by the way, and the Korean who hit him just drove off with Noah on the ground literally shaking with fear.

Andover hagwon has won. Not some respectable battle fought on the grounds of wits or ethics, but a mere battle for my resolve. They've destroyed it. I dare say not a single poor soul at my hagwon is happy with their current lot. Andover hagwon has us rehearsing an "open class" lately for the parents. It's supposedly a normal class that parents can view, but it's most definitely not. I'm performing for the third time tomorrow in front of the hagwon owner. I can't help but predict epic failure.
I never claimed to be an amazing teacher, I just claimed to speak English. My school has no curriculum, and they change everything constantly so it's not exactly easy to be a good teacher here. They also hire other foreigners for short times that are on tourist visas, yes, illegal, but somehow as an American I'm the one with questionable morality and a bad work ethic.
In any case, the new teachers who haven't breached the 6 month mark are having a much harder time. The hagwon treats new teachers much worse, only because they have to pay a $1000 penalty if they leave before 6 months, so they know they can give the new teacher more shit. It's a horrible system and they should be ashamed, but there's nothing I can do about it.

I was also reading this Article about Korean education and ethics which I found strikes very close to home. I've been told by my boss to give students who can't speak a word of English good marks so that their parents will keep paying and this article really describes the educational atmosphere here in Korea quite well.

I've completed 8 months of my contract, only 4 more to go.

Coincidentally, there is another great post on the aforementioned site that might give a bystander an understanding of the way foreigners are viewed here in Korea. Give it a read if you have a moment.

Feeding time

My brief sojourn in Korea has improved drastically after recently having an epiphany about my personal tastes: I don't like Korean culture. Don't misunderstand, I like traditional culture from almost any country based solely on its longevity and as one would expect I find the hanbok and Yut interesting in a pedestrian way but modern Korean culture generally just annoys me. My enthusiasm for Korea is a linear asymptote piqued at a low level and the food is the only thing keeping my flailing arms above water. People driving cars on the god damn sidewalk, being bumped constantly sans apology, incessant self photographing, yellow dust, positively kitsch design on building and person alike, these are all qualities of South Korea that have beaten me down and capped my morale at a point I thought reserved only for Grand Rapids Michigan.
My savior is food however. My school tricked me into thinking I had breaks, which I don't, and plenty of free time, which is also curiously absent so I spend most of my time whining and dining. Foreign restaurants are abundant and varying in quality, and I've been to several. I had compiled a list of restaurants I've visited and it topped 90 different establishments as of a week ago. My favorites being Vietnamese and well.. I'm not sure what that place is supposed to be, but the veal is amazing. I won't lie, I don't like kimchee on everything. Sometimes I just want a normal meal.
I can't say I dislike being in Korea however, I've had quite a good time and made some very good friends but I need a change of venue for work and meals. I need to figure out a way to land a university position so I can take advantage of the month and a half of vacation time they get every year. Yes, this is what I need to do.

Andover School

I've been lurking, waiting in the surreal polluted fumes of my Daegu studio apartment tempting fate by convalescing with chicken based dishes and soju. Two new teachers have finally arrived to fill the capacious void left by Cyndi's abrupt departure to Busan, so my hours have finally been reduced from the third-world horror I was subjected to for months earlier.
I actually considered accepting a job offer to teach English in Japan for far less money, but I eventually declined and am now considering a move to Seoul for the remainder of my stint in Korea.
I've found Korea quite interesting both for reasons of leisure and maternal curiosity, but I definitely need to find a new school. Andover has been less than enjoyable, and tomorrow marks my 6 month anniversary of arriving. It also marks the date in which I can quit my job without having to reimburse my plane ticket.
In any case, i've spent the last few nights updating my kubuntu packages in Parallels and adding arbitrary code to my z80 assembler from a terminal to give myself some semblance of a connection to the computer world.
My shoulders hurt from walking down the street and being inevitably bumped by Koreans who apparently never learned how to walk, and my soul hurts from intellectual stagnancy. Somebody needs to come correct with an egregiously glamorous job offer, or I might just end up grabbing an F-4 visa and spending the rest of my days living on the streets of Seoul, unemployed.

Well..

I've finally broken down and inquired about having my Playstation 2 sent from America to officially acquiesce to the dense mind-screw known as Daegu, South Korea. My job is horrible, I haven't learned any Korean, and every Korean friend i've made has either been interested solely in practicing their Japanese, or practicing their English which is insufferable on both accounts.
Two of my better friends have given up on Korea and are now moving back to Japan in March, which will leave me with a considerably boring existence here studying Korean and working. I've cut back on the drinking and going out mostly due to... well... I believe Matt said it best: "I don't go out anymore, it just makes me mad."
Koreans are dirty, I hate to say it but it's true. They spit, piss and otherwise cough freely in public (and sometimes on innocent bystanders) and they're a force to be reckoned with after a couple too many drinks. Every single one of my bosses has puked inside a building at some point during my 3 months here as a result of excessive drinking.
In any case, despite the soul drenching filth of Daegu, I still really enjoy being in Korea. I would rather be enjoying a Korean barbecue with a few friends in Korea than enjoying one, again, in Michigan. I must say however, the prospect of breaking my contract and moving to Japan is so tempting. I was very used to being fluent in the native language, and it's been a difficult adjustment moving to Korea.
I went out last night and my friend Cyndi walked out on a tab at another bar a Korean friend of ours had to pay the bill. This prompted him to call me instead of Cyndi, I haven't the faintest idea why, and ended with a verbal encounter in front of a club downtown. Somehow I was responsible for the fact that he had covered one of my friend's tabs even though I had never even set foot in the aforementioned establishment. I attribute this tussle to Korean men drinking too much soju and instantly becoming crazy. You would think I would be inured to it by now, after going to clubs or bars 3 or 4 nights a week, but I guess it's hard to get accustomed to sloppy drunks and this country appears to be sloppy drunk Mecca.

The Internet

I've finally managed to get my hands on an internet connection which, by all normal standards, is quite quick. I can upload at a ridiculous 200k if I want, which means that I have a tor server running at all times (not an endpoint for http traffic of course, but I digress). It's taken my employer some four odd weeks to organize this deal, only (g)(G)od(s) knows why, but hopefully my updates will become slightly more frequent. In any case, i've opened an empty bank account, and i'm ready to settle in to my new life in Korea.
All I need now is a nice new keyboard with the Korean characters on the keys...

Alive

I've miraculously endured 3 weeks in South Korea. My job is painfully thorough, and surprisingly difficult. I've managed to some how slip into a routine and have eaten at the same restaurants several times. I have a bizarre fear of frequenting eateries where I can't order by thrusting a finger toward a picture on the menu, so it has limited my options quite a bit. In addition, I haven't gotten paid a cent since I arrived which means that i'm bleeding money and counting the days until I get a paycheck.
I had been hoping to go abroad somewhere for my christmas break, but my lack of funds is making planning quite difficult. In addition, my bosses are severely disorganized and can't even properly tell me when my breaks are. I think there is a good chance that I will end up in Japan over the new year, it's simply the easiest option. I suppose the 7th time through Japanese immigration should make it easier, but I've yet to get inured to the process.
The weather has gotten slightly colder. It became quite a factor earlier today walking around Daegu with Noah who had been visiting from Seoul. We went to a few clubs, saw a few touristy spots, but mostly just enjoyed the company of fellow English speakers.
We're currently in the process of planning a brief jaunt to Beijing this summer to go to the Olympics. It really has potential to be quite an experience.
All in all, my complete lack of free time has been a bit frustrating, but the trip is a success in many ways. My studies of Korean are certainly not one of those ways, but at the very least I have enough Japanese speaking friends to maintain a semblance of Japanese ability while i'm here. Hopefully within a few months i'll be able to have some basic conversations in Korean, but i'm not holding my breath.
Cheers from Korea.

Teaching

It's been one week since I arrived in Korea. I haven't gotten a foreigner registration card yet, so i'm unable to get internet access in my room or a cell phone. The biggest thing on my mind lately are the discrepancies between my actual job and the contract that I signed..
Having been told we would be working 30 hour weeks, I was a bit surprised when the first week was easily over 40 hours of work. I can only hope this pattern subsides as the days flow by, but a part of me is worried that they just don't care.
In any case, I love being in South Korea. I went downtown to Rodeo street with my friends Matt and Rob who worked with me at the Expo in Japan in 2005. They've already been here for 8 months and seem to have quite a good understanding of everything that's going on. It's humbling not being able to speak the language, but I suppose only time will tell if I can overcome that hurdle. More updates as events warrant!