"Outta My Way"

Here's what has been happening lately.

Last week started the new school year. I must say, I'm excited this term because I have some wonderful kids. Last "year" I taught only the 3rd grade through the end of 1st term, and most of the 2nd term since I arrived in June 2009. The second term started in August and I taught only 3rd grade (9th US) until November when my co-worker left. Then I took on some 2nd grade classes before and after his replacement came.

Those second graders are now my 3rd graders since the new school year begins in March. My 2nd graders came up from 1st (I have never had them before in my class) but they seem eager to learn. My 1st graders who just came from the elementary school seem super energetic and excited about learning with me. They even want to have extra classes after school! I agreed with the school's offer, and will be making some extra cash! I only have to teach 2 classes on Mondays and 2 classes on Thursdays from 3:30-5. I normally would leave at 4:30 and have that time free - but hey, it's not bad when you're making an extra $100 a week.

*Random side note*: Salesmen come to my school and go to the teacher offices to sell anything from insurance, to stockings. The teachers just ignore them, and no one asks them to leave. No one calls the cops, or seems to care. But they've had instances where these strangers either steal purses, laptops, or other things unattended in the offices. Why they are not strict of not having strangers in the school is beyond me. Especially when you hear news stories like this one. 

As for this past weekend:

Friday night I got a bunch of expats in the area together to celebrate the new year. (Mainly we also had a party to celebrate my co-worker leaving the country, as a few of them met her and agreed we needed a couple drinks!) About 20 people showed up, and we did a pub crawl at some point in the late hours and hit up a couple of regular spots. It was great to see everyone and unwind after the first week back to the grind. My friend Domenick lives about 30 min by train, and didn't want to have to pay for a taxi back late at night, so I joined him in staying out until 5am. (something I swore I would never do again). I recommended a great fried chicken place that is open until 4am, and we had "breakfast" after our beers. Then just waited out the extra hour until the trains started running again so he could head home.

Saturday was spent Spring Cleaning! My apartment got a complete wash down. It's amazing how much grime settles in my place because of pollution. I'm near the train station, and a small highway, so if I leave my windows open, the place gets pretty dirty. It makes me miss the clean fresh air from home.

Sunday, Hwayoung cooked Thai food for brunch (yum!) and we played badminton in the park near her house. We love playing it and it's good exercise! I've dropped another 5lbs this month, and it's getting harder to lose weight without exercise. So we agreed we would both try to lose weight and help one another (although many people will agree with me that I don't think she needs to lose weight!)

One thing that is starting to annoy me though is how pushy and/or rude some Korean people can be -usually in the middle-age and older generations. I thought it might be a cultural thing, but my co-teacher told me that it's common in the older generations, but people just let it go because the younger generation should be respectful.

While playing badminton, these older men (part of a badminton club that was meeting and using the court adjacent to ours) kept walking through our game, almost like lions testing their prey and it's response to an encroachment on it's territory. About 10 minutes later, they approached us and told us we should move over so they could use half the court to practice. Then became annoyed as our unprofessional volleys were intruding on their practice (badminton courts are not large.) When we took a water break, another man asked if we were done. Hwayoung told them "no, not yet" and he proceeded to tell her we should play at another court so they could play with their friends. -- Dude, we were here first! Why don't YOU go somewhere else. We gave up after 5 minutes of mean looks and annoying shows of his impatience. (Sometimes I don't think you should respect your elders - especially when they act like rude children...). Another case is that they are more pushy on trains, and try to cut in lines (even if only 2 people are in line).

Monday night after work we finally got to see Avatar in 4D...yes...4D! The movie is normally shown in 3D, but in Seoul, The have four theaters showing it in 4D  (Gangbyeon CGV, Sangam CGV, Yeongdeungpo CGV and Yongsan CGV.) We went to the Yeongdeungpo CGV which holds the Guiness World Record as having the largest movie screen in the world! It was an amazing experience and we were both really excited. The movie is good (but I found it very predictable and basically a U.S. History lesson on how we treated our indigenous tribes). It was also kind of a rip off of Pocahontas.  (Click this link to see a funny comparison)

Avatar in Korean is: Ah-bah-tah

What is a 4D movie? 4D is basically a 3D movie (an awesome thing in general especially since the technology is improving). Samsung is also making 3D TV's in Korea by the way. But in the theater, the seats move with the action! You're chair is rigged to bounce along with the movement of running characters, shake with the vibrations of the helicopters, and you can even feel a thump on the back when a character falls on the ground. Also, there are fans blowing wind at you, scents of flowers and smoke are sprayed from the seat in front of you, mists of water are sprayed, air guns shoot behind your neck as arrows whiz by, and plastic "tails" strike your feet as the characters run through the woods. It's pretty cool! I was afraid I would get motion sick from the moving chairs, but it was pretty subtle, but enough to make you feel part of the action.

The tickets (if you can get them) are not too expensive either. A normal movie in Korea costs between $6-$8, while 3D and 4D films cost between $10-$16. Not bad for the experience though. In the US a normal movie cost at least $10! Popcorn and drinks (yes, you can get beer) are only about $6-7 for 2 beers and a large popcorn.

My students are obsessed with whatever is newest. Right now, their favorite movie is Avatar, but before it was Transformers, or Harry Potter. Maybe it's true with all kids, I don't know. But I'm interested in seeing what the next fad is for them to jump on.