Sports Day

Great day at work – no classes. We had a sports day and it was hella fun. Kids ran races and played dodgeball and danced to K-pop. A boy gave me a balloon with my face drawn on it and my name below that. He said his dream job is to be an English teacher. He also critiqued the English of one of my co-teacher’s (I have two Korean co-teachers and one is usually present in class with me), and it’s true, he has less of an accent than her.

After school, went to dinner at a traditional Korean restaurant with about ten co-workers and I sat next to the vice principal. We started to drink Korean wine and somehow the two of us drank more than the others. I was fine, keeping it under control, and even though I drank more than the VP, he ended up pretty wasted. I think some of the others got a little uncomfortable. Some drank a little, but not as much as us, and the Christian women were probably squirming the most. I just wonder how much of it was my fault… did I encourage it? He didn’t make a total fool of himself - just a few sentimental speeches in Korean but I got the gist...

As we were all going our separate ways after dinner he stepped toward the women and I could see them take a step back... funny. I just hope he doesn’t think he embarrassed himself and blame me. I hope the others don’t blame me for revealing that side of him. But I think it will be okay.

The won totally gained value against the dollar today! If it stays down I'm wiring a few grand to my US account tomorrow and obliterating my student loan *KA-BLAM*!!!$%$!!%%

Back in the B.U.C.

Damn, it's good to be back. My apartment in Bucheon never felt more like home. I've spent the last four days attending lectures and playing ping pong and tennis. It's trippy to suddenly leave my totally Korean neighborhood and go to a compound with a few hundred English speakers from Canada, the US, the UK, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

I actually didn't do any drinking and related better to a Mormon and a Christian guy than the teachers who went into town every night to get drunk. There's something about most foreigners here that kind of disgusts me. That's why I usually prefer to hang out with Koreans.

Also saw a great Nanta performance, which only uses traditional Korean percussion instruments. Pretty awesome actually.

That's it! I'm back. Made some new contacts in my 'hood (including a girl born in Ghana who lives in the next building).

Let's move on.

A.A.

A question I hear a lot here, and a question I usually repeat back in a gay ESL sort of way, is: "What is your hobby?"

I usually answer with generic things like traveling, reading, hiking, and tennis.

When I ask the question back to them they say something like, "Alcohol. I drink soju every day."

Country of alcoholics.