Hellos and goodbyes, part two

Despite all of the recent goodbyes, there is one big hello, as Schuyler arrived last month to teach in nearby Uijeongbu for a year. He and Val teach at the same school, but their school is so big that they are in different buildings.

Schuyler hit the ground running when he arrived, as less than 48 hours after landing, he went to Seoul with me to Becky, Nicki, and Amy's farewell party. He has also started Korean lessons, and is making friends rapidly. Welcome, and congratulations, Schuyler!

Top to bottom:

1. My first successful attempt at picking up a Korean gal!
2. Charlie Brown and my Linus impersonation.
3. Me, Lucy, Schuyler, and some new friends.
4. Schuyler, me, and YuJin at Sharon's going away party at The Ice Bar.
5. American-style breakfast with Heather, Ryan, and Schuyler.

Hellos and goodbyes, part one

I have made many, many wonderful friends here, and I am sure that I will meet more great folks, but it was really tough for me when Becky and Nicki left last month. They had been friends with each other for many years, but when I met them last May, they instantly welcomed me into their circle and we have been great friends ever since. I can't imagine what life would have been like during my first year in Korea without those two (cue Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy"). They are traveling around Asia for the next three months or so, and then Nicki is starting grad school, and Becky has some plans/schemes/ideas up her sleeve. I miss them a lot, but I know that we will see each other again in various places over the coming years.

Also saying goodbye recently were the very hilarious Heather (who, like Nicki, will move back to Chicago, where I will surely see them again), Sarah and Amy (both in Canada), and Sharon (from Scotland). Sharon's goodbye party was on Saturday, and I hope it is the final one I have to go to for 11 months or so.

Top to bottom:

1. Val, DooHee, and I at Nicki and Becky's going away party.
2. Nicki, her parents, and I.
3. Me (and DooHee), smiling even though the gals are leaving soon . . .
4. and 5. Becky and I.

A lot has happened since my birthday

. . . which is about when I last posted.

The news today is that I renewed my visa this afternoon, after signing a contract for a second year at my school. So it is official: I will be at my school until April 4, 2010.

It seems as if I just recently arrived, even though I have been here just a few days short of a year (April 7 will be my one-year anniversary).

Here are some highlights from the past two months.

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

I had two fun celebrations with different groups of friends. First, a bunch of us went to Our Place for Italian dinner and cocktails. Marysol, Valerie, Dana, Nicki (who is not in the photo because she took it, if memory serves), and her very cool parents helped me have a wonderful, wonderful time!

The following day some other folks went to a Korean Basketball League game and/or Mexican dinner at On the Border with me. Kathleen took those photos (thanks, K) and because of my formatting issues, you might not know who is who, but Kathleen, Lia, Heather, Sarah, Ryan, Val, Kimmy, HeeWon, and Deon were all there to make this a fun-tacular day.

By the way, I shared my birthday with Lunar New Year this year --- January 26, 2009.

Okay, Blogger won't let me add any more photos to this post, so I will start a new one . . .

Top to bottom:

1. Thanks for the puzzle-rifficness, Kathleen and Liam!
2. Val, Kimmy, and me
3. Me with Heewon and Deon
4. Me with Val, Heather, Sarah, and Ryan
5. Me with Kathleen and Liam
6. Marysol, Valerie, Dana, and Christina are in the back row, and Mary and Becky are in the front.

Birthday rawk

For those friends who enjoy overinterpretation, subtext, and psychoanalysis as much as I do, I offer you the first song that came to mind when I woke up this birthday morning, "Someone's Looking at You" by The Boomtown Rats: http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=w7WCsDWsv8E

And for the second song that came to mind, it was the same group's "Diamond Smiles," at http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=8J3fhiDXBuA&feature=channel


Enjoy!

Christmas and New Year (two New Year's, actually)

As most of you know, Cohen was here from December 14 to January 4, and what a time we had! Naturally, it was fantastic just to see him and spend time with him again for the first time since I came to Korea in April. But add to that Korean Basketball League games; a Korean pop concert by the country's reigning pop icon and my cultural icon hearthrob, Lee Hyori ("Perry teacher! You love Hyori? You marry her?" my fifth and sixth grade girl students ask me quite often) ; lots of culinary delights such as military stew, king mandu (giant dumplings), and dessert pancakes stuffed with honey and nuts; video game arcades with NBA games featuring a Blazers starting line-up of Briant Grant, Arvydas Sabonis, and Scottie Pippen, along with Asian awesomeness such as a taiko drum equivalent of "Guitar Hero"; the amazing little jazz club La Cle; and lots of other sightseeing and everyday fun, and you can see that we had a blast. Of course, I am most happy that he could meet almost all of my wonderful friends here!

Christmas is much different here than what we Americans are used to. Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and Lunar New Year are the two huge family holidays, and Christmas is one of the many "couples holidays" in Korea. They have the world's cutest ice cream cakes, dating opportunities galore, and kitschy stuff like fuzzy combination headphones and ear muffs that come with a n MP3 player filled with Christmas songs --- and this device was sold at, of all places, Dunkin' Donuts. In one of the photos, you will see Cohen sporting a white Christmas hat sold out at Paris Baguette. You should have seen the winter hats sold at BaskinRobbins --- a plush snowman eating an ice cream cone! At midnight when the 24th becomes the 25th, hundreds of couples gather at Myeongdong, a posh shopping district, to observe "kiss time" --- the lights in the businesses and on the streets are all turned of so that couples can kiss to celelbrate Christmas. This phenomenon occurs for only about 15 seconds or so, I am told, because, after all, this is conservative Korea, and usually kissing for 15 seconds in public would get a girl grounded for quite a spell. By "girl," I mean any female of any age still living at home with her parents, which most Koreans of both sexes do until they get married. See? I told you it was conservative here!

This Monday, January 26, is my birthday, and it is also Lunar New Year's Day. A few Korean folks have told me that this means very good fortune for the new year. I know some of my friends had a bit of a rough 2008, but for other friends, opportunity knocked, and they answered. It was an amazing year for me, and I feel strongly that 2009 will continue that trend. Happy Lunar New Year to all of my friends, family, and loved ones, near and far --- may 2009 be the best year ever for all of you!

Sorry I haven't been able to post more. Things are crazy around here, but at least they are simply lots-of-different-things happening crazy, and not so-much-work-it's-driving-me-insane crazy!

On Tuesday I had what should be my final open class of the year, which is where we rehearse a class to the point of absurdity and then teachers from all around my part of Korea --- sometimes more than two hours away by train --- come to observe. Preparation can be very stressful, and the formality behind the proceedings is unlike anything you would see in the States. It all went well, though.

The hilarious part is that I am the non-Korean face of the pilot program for Digital Textbook Afterschool English, in which my school is taking part. I seriously had three 40-minute photo sessions last week, mostly with children from grades 3-6, and that was after having already had multiple photo sessions and a slide show for open classes just three weeks ago. This time, however, our master teacher (third in command, just under the vice principal) made a fully professional looking multimedia presentation that included such things as a still photo of me holding hands with several children, which was put over a background of foggy hills, with dramatic music playing. A Korean historical figure --- don't ask me who --- then shared the screen with us, and I think he was talking about the importance of Koreans learning English. Suddenly, a flock of black birds flew into the scene over our heads (think of the animated opening titles to Hitchcock's "The Birds") and were then replaced by white doves! Unbelievable.

Then, no less than two dozen photos of me and the kids were shown, with dramatic music and an equally dramatic live lecture in Korean. Many teachers from my school and visiting teachers complimented me afterward about how I was a wonderful model for my school. And before and after the photo sessions --- two of which naturally occurred at the drop of a hat --- teachers were cheering me on because "you are our school's official model. We appreciate your hard work and handsome photos!" Ha ha ha --- I heart Korea!

Yesterday my city hosted an English Festival for schools in my city and neighboring cities. About 500 students and their English teachers attended. It was a lot of fun. Each school had a booth, and the students rotated every 20 minutes. Our booth hosted Aboriginal dot painting, and the kids loved it.

On Friday I finally get to visit the kindergarteners for the first time since arriving, to have a Halloween party with them. This will be a lot of fun. They are so cute! They have only seen me once before, when I came into their room to laminate some stuff. They were amazed, and two of them said "Hi" about 20 times, because it is the only English word they knew, ha ha! But some know more English than many of our sixth graders.

I am going to my first Korean Basketball League game this Sunday, and it should be a blast. I watched the playoffs when I arrived in April, and there were all sorts of breakaway layups (as opposed to breakaway dunks), a game in which both teams at one point had shooting percentages of .97, and another lopsided game that was like 72-24. In the "it's a small world" department, a former Portland Trailblazer for two years, Ha Seung-jin, is the league's #1 draft pick this season. I have a front-row courtside seat that set me back a total of 20,000 won --- just under $15. That gets you a seat in the last four rows of the Rose Garden for a Blazers game. Sure, the quality of play is different, but I have a feeling the overall entertainment factor won't differ that much.

The fifth graders --- about 200 of them --- and I went to Lotte World this month for a field trip. Lotte World is like a miniature indoor/outdoor Disneyland, one of three near Seoul. I need to go back, because the long lines and our tight schedule prohibited me from going on more than two rides. But it was a fun day, as you can tell from the picture.