Heart and Seoul

You knew this title was coming at some point - I might as well get it out of the way.

Actually, the title is a bit misleading - I don't really live in Seoul. I actually live just outside of Seoul (South West, if you will) in an area called Bundang (the dang is not pronounced "dang" as in old school Dover-slang, but actually more like "dong". I have to pay attention to these things now that I'm a teacher).

Let me paint a picture of this city in which I now currently reside. Some of the other English teachers don't really like it - they think there isn't much to do. But when you've just spent the last 4 months in Port Dover where the most entertaining thing to watch is [name omitted due to parents warning that I should be nice - take a guess] pick up women, you can't do much complaining. Me, so far, I like it. It's just far enough outside Seoul that you're not breathing in pure carbon monoxide, but close enough that you can pop into the city whenever you need to. When I look outside my apartment window I see little but hills, but when I walk outside my front door there's buildings as far as the eye can see. To me, there's tonnes of stuff to do. And once I learn more that 5 words in Korean, maybe I can start doing it . . .

5 days a week, 8 hours a day, I work at a private language school called SLP. Right now I teach preschool - 17 kids split up into 2 classes. Upon first sight, this bunch of 5 and 6 year-olds give the wrong impression. They look cute, angelic, and seemingly harmless. Spend 5 minutes with them and the truth comes out - loudly. By the end of their morning session, I need a warm compress, 3 aspirins, and my old friend Captain Morgan. It's not that I don't enjoy it, they often make me laugh and awww. But teacher's college is definately not a future aspiration of mine. I always keep in mind a few words of wisdom my dear pal Alexis Copeman wrote to me after my first few days teaching: "I agree, the little bastards can be a handful. Just be thankful that at the end of the day little hoodlums go home to a family that have to keep them, by law." Thanks for that Alexis.

The other 8 foreign teacher's at the school are cool. Very different in personality - from a gothic lesbian, to a Manitoban farm girl, to, well, a New Yorker. It's a strange mesh, but I think it'll work. Every Friday night we celebrate the end of the long work week by getting wasted. I have no complaints. At the end of the night we usually end up a type of bar called a Norebaum (I have no idea how you spell it). Anyway, you and your friends rent a room for a period of time and sing songs on the state-of-the-art kareoke machine's while having Korean beer or a potent Korean liqour called soju served to you constantly. I love it. Last weekend I was pretty hammered and walked into another group's room accidentally. Cut to five minutes later and I'm singing "The Power of Love" with some Korean guy. Nothing crosses cultural borders like Huey Lewis.

Anyway, this is getting long and I gotta go to bed and attempt to get some sleep. More posts will come very soon!

Korean word(s) of the day: annyong haseyo. Hello. (This is pretty much the only Korean phrase I've got down pat. Damn, this is a hard language).