I have woken up the past three days to snow! Yay, snow! Fun! NO! When thinking about how cold I am only one thing comes to mind--Jack London's short story, To Build A Fire. It is about one man's struggle against the forces of nature (i.e. the -70 degree tempratures of the Yukon) in order to get to his a camp where his friends are waiting for him. While it is not below zero, and my situation is not as dire as his, I do feel at times as though the cold here is something which I have never experienced before. About two to three minutes out of my apartment and my hands and feet already begin to lose feeling. At times it is almost unbearable, and I struggle not to sprint to the closest source of heat! And it is not just the cold per say but its coupling with a strong breeze that always seems to be blowing into my face. Luckily for me I recently got a gym membership for a fitness center within 400 meters of my apartment; otherwise, running and exercising would be incomprehensible!
On a different note, teaching for me has proven to be somewhat of a catch-22. The classes I teach are arranged in order of my students capabilities and aptitudes with the English language. The curriculum I have been given for each class is assigned according to the classes abilities. In approximately fifty-percent of my classes my students are very shy and thus it is a struggle to create any type of class participation. So, when I am instructing them and they do not answer, giving me just a blank stare that makes me unbelievably uncomfortable, I assume that they do not understand. So i, for lack of a better word, "dumb" it down for them. I ask if they have questions, and none of them do. At the end of my day my boss tells me that these classes tell him that the instruction is too easy and that I should teach the curriculum as is. So the catch-22 is--should I teach it no ever knowing if they are getting it or should I go slowly and easy to assure that they are acquiring the information? Anyways, Mr. Gu writes the checks, so at the end of the day all I really need to know is what my boss tells me. This is a minor bump in the road, and if it's the greatest of my problems then I would say that I am blessed.
At the end of all my blogs I am going to start a section where I tell any of you who may be reading someting that kicks ass about Korea and something that sucks ass about Korea. So here goes: the first edition of What kicks ass and what sucks ass about Korea.
KICKS ASS: They have four American movie channels that are free and show damn good movies around the clock.
SUCKS ASS: I would say that cold, but since I already talked about that I won't let my self off that easy. So, what sucks ass is
that at most bars I will buy a drink from a bartender, who are almost all female, and they will bring one for me and
one for them. And this is how it goes all night. I would say that I just wouldn't go back to that place and for now
I haven't. But this has been the case at every bar I have been to but one, and that sucks ass!
(did not proofread)
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yeah, I know that blank stare you're talking about! I don't know if it's the same in Korea, but here they kind of open up more to me if I try to speak their language to them outside of class. I guess they feel better when I make an idiot of myself :) oh, and I bribe them with candy.
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