Movies, US Taxes, 10K, Return of Godzeera, and a BBQ

Hey again. It's hard to believe, but I've already celebrated my 3 month anniversary in Korea. That means I'm already a quarter of the way through my stint here! Feels like I just got here. I feel like I've finally gotten over the learning phase, and I'm starting to fall into a comfortable rhythm (i.e., grit my way through teaching kids all week, have a glorious weekend, rinse, & repeat). Speaking of good times, I've had some pretty eventful times since the last post:


In my last note, I forgot to mention that I had finally filed my US taxes. My taxes are pretty straightforward every year, but I still procrastinate as long as possible because I dread it! I really don't know why though - you would think that I wouldn't mind the process after doing accounting for all these years. On a side note, I have an accountant friend who prepares his taxes by hand every year (he manually prints in ink on the hardcopy IRS forms. Kind of archaic, huh?). He believes that a 'true' accountant should do so, because he's experienced in the mystical ways of numbers. I don't think so - I rather agree with my other friend who compared this as follows: 'I have a pair of legs, therefore I should run a marathon'. Think about it. So I guess the tax process is just another thing that I'll never get accustomed to - just like the summer heat in the southeastern United States. So anyway, I finished the chore, and was even rewarded by Uncle Sam with a nice return!




In April, I joined the Kindergarten classes on another one of their monthly field trips. This one was a visit to a nearby energy plant. We visited the educational area, where they talk to the kids about energy generation, distribution, conservation, etc. Since my last job was at an energy company, I figured that I might be able to lend some knowledge, or perhaps another perspective. It basically was just another babysitting session, and everything was spoken and written in Korean, so I didn't get much out of it. But parts of the visit were enjoyable, so I wouldn't call it a total failure.



I saw the new movie, Clash of the Titans, at the local theatre. I remember watching and enjoying the 1981 Laurence Olivier version, but this modern version is even better. I've always really enjoyed Greek mythological stories, and this one definitely does not disappoint. The guy from Avatar plays a good part in this one too. I didn't get to see it in 3D, which may make the movie even better. Check it out if you get the chance.


A couple Fridays ago, we held our first monthly Movie Night at SLP. I'm saying 'monthly' because we're hoping to make this a habit. It was organized by one of the supervisors, and the director even supplied beverages. About 15 of us stayed after work, and a few other friends joined us too. We have an auditorium classroom complete with a projector and a big screen, so it's a perfect place to watch. Everyone chipped in for some pizza and food, and we watched 'Yes, Man' with Jim Carey. I had seen the movie before, but forgot how funny it is. Kind of the familiar Jim Carey schtick (if you ask me, this one is very reminiscent of 'Liar, Liar'), but still very funny. There's even a plotline in the movie where Jim takes Korean language lessons. At one point in the show, he speaks Korean to a woman, which was very amusing to our group of Koreans and Korean novices.




Last Saturday, my city held the Yongin Marathon. Me and a couple fellow foreigners signed up for the 10K about a month ago, and the three of us had a great time (Travis is fellow Yankee, and Toby is a Kiwi). I believe Toby is the first person that I have even known from New Zealand. Sounds like a really nice place. Have added it to my 'to-visit' list.


















Here's our gold medal ceremony after finishing the race. (Yes, they really did give us medals for finishing! Will be a nice addition to the trophy room.)



Last weekend was also the official Cherry Blossom festival in my city. The trees have been gorgeous around here lately. They say this year's fluctuations in temperature was especially erratic, so I'm sure that has affected the blooming. So maybe I didn't get to experience the optimal cherry blossom season. I guess this will give me an excuse to visit Asia again in the future.

The night after the race, my race buddy Travis (the fellow Yankee), and his wife had a bunch of us over for a barbeque. It was exquisite. You can imagine how much you can come to miss the comforts of 'home' when living abroad. Even when this comes in the form of hot dogs, hamburgers, and beer. We had a big crowd of mostly other teachers, but we always have the few token Koreans around too.

Here's most of the gang from the BBQ:

And Travis with his puppy, Otis. Great dog. He's a boxer, so is about 10X the size of all these little Korean apartment dogs.

Monday morning we were greeted by the return of our favorite supervisor, Susan. Susan is genuinely one of the best bosses I've worked for. She's very competent in her job, handles things in a timely manner, is constantly busy, but never appears flustered. As alluded to in the title (and mentioned in a previous blog), the students have what I will call a 'healthy fear' of Susan. That makes her a great asset when trying to handle rambuncious groups of kids. All of the kids seem to have great respect for her, and even some appear to be deathly afraid of her. That first week of her return, cries of child terror could be heard throughout our school of 'Susan Teachaa'.

And on a completely unrelated note, (I took this video and want to share it). As a general rule, Koreans are always in a hurry. All ages, genders, walks of life, anywhere, and at anytime. It's sometimes quite amusing to watch people run around like beheaded chickens. The various modes of transportation are the best way of seeing what I'm talking about. One great example is the buses. The drivers all must be mentally ill. I've learned through experience that prior to stepping onto any bus, you must mentally and physically prepare yourself. It's kind of like psyching yourself up before going, say, skydiving. Case in point, check out this video I took last week on one of these busrides. Notice how the driver rarely stays in one lane, he frequently speeds up and proceeds to cut off other cars, and it looks as though a cameraman from the show COPS took this video. Enjoy:

Monkies, Easter Eggs, Bombs, and Swing Dancing

Happy belated Easter!

Earlier this month, being a major Christian holiday, I felt the need to go to church. And you can imagine the rarity of English-speaking churches around here. Well a Korean friend, Jongwha, invited me to come to his church - it's about 25 minutes by bus, and called Antioch Methodist Church. Rumor has it that I'm the very first foreigner to attend! Obviously, my buddy speaks English, and there were two other congregants that I could talk to (one man, and a young 3rd grader). Apart from not understanding 95% of the verbal portion of the service, it was very nice. The music and the choir were really good, they fed us lunch, and even sent us home with food and easter eggs. So overall it was a worthwhile trip. The people were all very nice to me, and of course, they all want me to come back every Sunday.

The choir, including my friend Jongwha:

And the ubiquitous Easter baptism - he was a cute little tyke!

After church, I went shopping at the local department store (and if you know me, this is a rare feat, as I hate shopping!). Although, I actually found buying clothes in Korea to be somewhat more enjoyable than back home - the sizes actually fit my slim frame! And fortunately for me, my buddy works at the store, and he let me in on the employee discount! I bought a pair of pants, but still need a few shirts. I'll have to break down and go back for some more clothes another time.

Some new threads:

On the Saturday of Easter weekend, I went to the Seoul Zoo. It was really interesting to see a different perspective on animals. Most of the animals in the zoo were ones I was familiar with - elephants, giraffes, lions, many birds, cats, etc. A few were different species than I knew - for instance, the dolphins were all the Pacific kind, unlike the Atlantic ones that I've usually seen.

Some familiar critters

I promised some monkies :)

Last weekend, I visited the Korean War Museum in Seoul. It was a really nice museum - very thorough and seemed to be an accurate portrayal of history. It's a very large place - with huge outdoor displays of planes, tanks, trucks, etc, and the building itself is 3 floors full of stuff from ancient Korean warfare up through modern war. The outside especially took me back to my previous life as a member of the military. The third floor inside showed us a 'War Experience' room which was a presentation where you walk into a dark room, and the walkway looks very much like a WWII foxhole. You stand in the room, looking out onto a battlefield reconstruction, and there are sounds of explosions, gunfire, and your (Korean, of course) compatriots yelling behind you. The room fills with smoke and lights, and it felt quite realistic. Pretty cool, but quite frightening at the same time.

The statue of Two Brothers at the entrance of the museum

Another monument. These men were 2 stories tall!

A Soviet tank out in the Yard

A centerpiece outside. For those AF folks out there, a B-52 BUFF ('Big Ugly Fat ..er.. Fellow')

This Tweet was my biggest reminder.

And a gorgeous blooming magnolia tree outside. It's almost Cherry Blossom time here!

After the afternoon at the museum, we ran into one of the coolest things I've come across so far in Korea. Walking on the streets of Seoul on any given weekend, you're bound to come across some type of outdoor performance. So far, I've seen several traditional music and dance shows. The latest was a 1950's-esque swing dance performance. It must have been some local dance group, because there must have been over 100 people. Everyone was dressed in retro clothing, and there was even a band that seemed to be channeling Buddy Holly!



Here's some of the dancers decked out in their bowties and rockabilly dresses:

This past weekend, several local teachers got together for a potluck dinner. One of my co-teachers, Jackie, has held one of these for the past couple months. Last month was to celebrate her birthday, but it looks as though this may become a monthly affair. It's so good to all get together, and everyone (mostly other foreign teachers like me) cooks some really good dishes. We have some Korean food, but mostly Western-style food that we all crave so much! Here's a picture of our pre-feast:

I'll keep you updated when some more interesting things happen out here, as I'm sure they will. Hope you're well & bye for now..

Matt