McD and Me. Did you say delivery?

'Anyone notice my cool hat?

The feast at our apartment. 

Must destroy burger.

Did somebody say McDonald's?   There is nothing strange about eating McD's.  With over 99 billion served, what in the world could I find so interesting to write about.  Well, let me tell you.  McDonald's delivers in Korea.  Yes, they deliver.  You wait maybe 10 min for your order.  This service gives a whole new meaning to the words fast food.   It is delivered right to your doorstep.  You simply call them, place your order, and boom you get fatter and just a little lazier in an instant.  No walking to the restaurant, no having to wait in line, no screaming kids in the play area.  Just really fast, unhealthy grub delivered to your place 24 hrs. a day.  Fantastic, actually.  This is the first time I have had McD's in a long while.  It was delicious.  It was also my first time having food delivered to the apartment.  It is without a doubt the coolest way to  guzzle a Coke, and scarf down a Big Mac with fries.

The only problem is the food is delivered by my arch nemesis here in Korea, the scooter guy.  I have written about them previously.  I have been controlling my urges lately.  I have not clothes lined anyone yet.  They still obnoxiously honk and drive within a  few inches of you on a regular basis.  However, my experience with them tonight may have turned the tides on my feelings......at least until the Soju takes affect next Sat night ;)

McDean

One of my co teachers, Lucia. 

My room

Korean writing: Che-edumun (my-name)  Dean-ip-ne-da. (Dean-am/to be).   Korean sentences are structured Subject Object Verb.  They speak like Yoda. The self portrait I draw everyday is always destroyed by the students. They turned me into Medusa yesterday.  I am going to start a before and after picture.

My desk

These are pictures of my classroom, one of my co-teachers, Lucia, and the hallways.  The school is 5 years old and very clean.  I definitely enjoy the fact it is air conditioned.  Some public schools are not.  That would not be cool (no pun intended, well maybe).

I have heard some great one liners from my kids.  "Teacher Dean you must be very old because you have white hair."  "If you are so old and not married you must be crazy" (crazy is kind of a bad word here).  "Teacher Dean, do not look at me with your scary blue eyes."  "Why do you change the color of your arm hair to clear, do you have to change it often?"  When I go around and help students with their work they get a close up view of my arms.  They are so curious about my arm hair it is unbelievable.  I have to let them rub it so they will go back to their work.

The younger students here are very touchy feely.  They grab onto me and I have to hold hands with them as I walk down the hallway.  I tried to avoid this at first.  I do not know what the rules are between teachers and students.  In America the affection that Korean teachers and students show would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.  They always want hugs, to hang on you, pats on the back, etc. I even saw a student giving a teacher a neck massage.  The concept of personal space does not exist here.  I have created some boundaries which I feel are necessary.  They like to sit on my co-teachers lap.  That is not happening.  They run around like wild hooligans jumping on each other and other teachers.  I had to put a stop to that. 

The little girls love holding hands.  At first I was walking around the halls with fists clenched or in my pockets.  It did not work.  They would just ask, "Teacher, teacher let me see hand."  Then they would hold onto it.  That was strange for me at first. (Side note: Everyone holds hands in Korea.  It is a cultural thing.  It is common to see women, girls, and drunk men holding hands all the time.)

I made the mistake the other day of lifting one student up by there arm.  As a result now they all want me to. "Fly me teacher Dean, fly me."  It gets them to trust me so I do it.  They go crazy for it.  "Sung-sang-nim (teacher) you are so strong.  Sun-sang-nim can you beat my Dad in fight?  I lub (love) him but he has soft belly."

The kids think I am super smart.  I find this comical considering their English is much better than my Korean.   I study Korean everyday and can write basic things in Hangul (Korean language).  Not many Western people study Korean.  The basics are not really that hard.  It just requires you to put the time in.  The kids think it is unfair they study English and we are not required to study Korean to teach here.  I agree somewhat.  We do not speak other people's languages when foreigners come to America.  Why should I speak English to people outside of the classroom?

So far it has been a good week of teaching.  I am getting the hang of it and the kids seem to like me.  I hope it stays that way.  I will have some updates this week.  I am going to try and get some shots of the kids.
Deano

Fast times at Busan High

Well, it is official.  I am a teacher.  I am called Sung-sang-nim Dean (Teacher Dean).  I have been teaching since last Thursday.  I feel I have done enough to give an honest first impression.  My manager's name is Rara.  She is very by the book.  She is a nice person and speaks English well.  She gave me a brief overview of how paperwork is done and the order in which everything is to be presented.  She figured out my routes to school and showed me how to get there.  It was very very helpful.

I find myself second guessing everything when going somewhere new.  I have to make sure I do homework before I head off.  I have only been on the subway in the states a few times.  I am getting the hang of it here.   Navigating the subway station when transferring lines was a little shaky at first.  Numbers, symbols, colors, and people everywhere can throw a few bumps into the journey.  I did it today for a meeting and got there just fine.  I was slow but I did not take any wrong steps.  I just have to slow down and be damn sure to check everything twice.  Some things are in English, but not all.  A lot of people come over here unable to read the language.  They must be much smarter than I am.  If I could not read Hangul I would not be able to make it.  There are simple words such as EXIT (chul-gu, or na-ga) that do not usually have English under them. How do you know if you are heading to the bathroom (hwa-jang-sil) or exit?  You do exit in both of them but they are completely different. 

Teaching is fairly easy.  I got thrown into it after watching just one class.  I have winged it the last few days.  I follow the syllabus and go through the workbooks.  If I have extra time I go back to what I know best.  I draw on the board.  I do silly pictures of what we studied during the day.  The students try and  guess what it is.  Once they do they have to spell it.  It keeps them engaged and they seem to like it.  I watched a guy teach today who was really good.  He was sarcastic which it what the kids like.  He did little games that keep them talking.  I am definitely stealing a few pages from him.

The curriculum is really easy.  It is basic English, nothing too hard for anyone with a high school diploma.  You have to have a bachelor's to teach though.  You can tell the kids that get it and those that do not.  There are some really smart kids and then some who have no clue what is going on.  They all know the American cuss words.  I hear the F-bomb quite a bit.  They think it is funny.  I asked them if they knew the definition.  No one had any idea.  I think I will let their older siblings help them figure it out.  I have received a few paper dolls and birds from the students.  I am going to keep them and start a scrap book.  My co teachers are great.  They have even invited me out to bowl.  I am excited to work with them. Co teachers make or break the experience for the teacher and the students. 

It is still a little early to call this my career, but I do like it so far.  I enjoy working with the kids and they are energetic, loud and can be really goofy.  Sort of like me sometimes.  I have no pictures of them yet but I will soon.

Hope you enjoyed,
Deano

Moms are Moms and friends are friends wherever you go

s

Going to Busan

Hey all!  I do not have much to write about today.  I figure I would give you a preview of my weekend.  I am heading to Busan, South Korea.  It is Sungjoo's home town.  I will meet his mom and brother for the first time.  We have some different things planned.  We are going to the beach, various restaurants, bars, and lots of driving.  I will post pics as soon as I can.  I do not know if I will have internet access, but if I do I will throw them on here.
I visited another one of my classes yesterday.   I was just observing the order and flow of the curriculum.  This class is a  rowdy bunch.  There was one student who kept calling me "u-gew-ly" ugly.  It was funny at first. After the 200th time it got a little annoying.  Since I was just observing I did not say anything.  Monday that s*it will stop immediately.  I will have to steal a page out of my father's play book.  "Put the fear of God into them".  Like father like son.  Then we will play fun games and learn some English.  They will just have to know who the boss is.  This class tests the current teacher's limits.  I am not sure she realizes it.  She is a little older than I am.  She is a good teacher and speaks English well.  She was just not assertive enough when I thought she needed to be.  Anyone with advice on classroom management feel free to drop me a line.

Sungsangnim Dean (teacher Dean)

Baseball, Coca-Cola, and Pizza

I went to my first baseball game in South Korea. It was a little different than what we have at home. It is still the same great game anywhere. The pace of play is faster over here. When there is a pitching change they load the players into a mini smart car and drive them to the mound. That was a huge surprise. I looked up from my pizza and there is a car on the field. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on.
There are some serious fans here. They are reved up by some of the liveliest, prettiest cheerleaders I have ever seen. There are scissor lifts that pick the cheerleaders up a good 60 feet. The crowd follows the cheerleaders' ques and goes absolutely crazy when they are roused and become quiet when their team is pitching. People have bags on their heads, plastic sticks they bang together to make noise, and a dozen songs and chants they sing whenever the situation calls for it.
One of the coolest differences is one I wish America ball parks would adopt. You are allowed to bring food, booze, and drink into the stadium.  There are no restrictions. Well, no glass is allowed, plastic only.
I am looking forward to going to my next game. If you like baseball and ever visit Korea I highly recommend going to a baseball game. Totally worth the money.
Deano

I hope you find one of the snacks I often enjoy interesting. I dedicated an entire post to it. I had my normal Iced Mocha with whipped cream today. Sungjoo then added to my norm a refreshing dish called pak bing sue. It translates exactly (pak) bean (bing) ice (sue) water. The characters that spell out the name are written in Chinese. Here is a bit of a side note. Hangul is the name of the Korean writing system. Before Hangul was invented Koreans used all Chinese characters. Chinese is a horrible language to try and learn. Just trust me on that one. There are Chinese characters all over Korea so you have to be familiar with them. They are not phonetic at all. All you can do is memorize them. When something new is invented there is no character for it. It has to be created with the product. No one on earth knows all the Chinese characters since new ones are created constantly.
My pak bing sue (my bean ice water) was absolutely amazing. There are many variations of pak bing sue. There is a green tea version that is great. It is called nook (green) cha (tea) pak bing sue. Other versions have various fruits, coffees, and teas. I have even seen a peanut butter and jelly version. The version I enjoyed today had kiwi, bananas, nuts, red beans, light chocolate syrup, and a powder made from a mixture of vegetables. You do not taste the powder at all. The ingredients are placed on top of shaved ice. You then have to mix the contents together so you can eat it without making a mess. (ma she soo yo! Delicious)

Red beans, red bean paste, and red bean extract are used in many dishes. They add a sweet taste to many foods that is not too overpowering. Let me emphasize how amazing they are. It was one of those happy strange surprises I discovered when I came over.

Thanks for reading,
Red Bean Dean, or Beans as Mrs Trainor, I mean Mrs Jones would say)

Next blog post is dedicated to baseball, Coca-Cola and pizza......Korean style

My senior picture going back into school. So serious.



Hello everyone. Today was a big day for me in Korea. I got dressed up in my suit, shaved and then combed my hair. (That is different from my norm these past few weeks. I have been a t-shirt, 5oclock shadow, and gym shorts kind of guy. There is no point in sweating up good clothes unnecessarily. It has been really really hot). I got dressed up to meet the principal of my school. I had my suit dry cleaned before I left. Amazingly it did not get wrinkled in the flight. It took me a bit longer than usual to get ready. I retied my tie three times before I thought the knot was good enough. I combed my hair until I no longer looked like a ruffian, and made sure there were no wrinkles anywhere. I spritzed a little cologne and almost made it out the door when Sungjoo said "picture". I happily agreed and we struck a pose. He has never seen me dressed up before. I am either sweating as we are walking, or sweating profusely and sometimes bleeding from his training and sparring. He was amazed at how much more grown up I looked. I sort of was too.
A few minutes later I met a young man who works for my placement agency. He is really nice and I believe I struck up a friendship. I am going to dinner with him and his wife later this week. He drove me to my school in his car. I was really happy I sprayed my cologne because he was a chain smoker. When we arrived at the school I was amazed at how new, big, and clean it was. We walked in but I got yelled at to stop in the entry way. "Shoes off, I was told. This was a little bit of a surprise for me. I took off my shoes and looked for a pair of sandals that fit. As you can imagine, no such luck. All I could find in my estimate were size 9 or smaller. That is 4 sizes too small for me. I could not be late so I had to make due. Of course when I was trying to be professional looking (pressed suit, Ohio State tie, and nice new shiny shoes) I find myself getting ready to meet my boss looking like a total putz. My feet were overflowing onto the floor and I am sure I looked uncoordinated as I walked. Thank god I did not wear a sock with a hole in the toe. That would have been a complete bust. I met the principal who was very traditional. He gave me a drink and told me the only English I bet he knew "one shot". (Basically drink it all in one try or you are not a man). I downed it, and wow was it terrible. It was some sort of wheat grass, vitamin C energy drink. The principal was amused and so was my chaperon friend from the agency. I think it was somewhat of a joke and it definitely went right over my head. I then walked to my classroom and met my co teacher and some of my students. The kids shrieked and screamed at me when they found out I was their teacher. "Teacher you teach? when you start? You tall and white hair." My co teacher is younger than I expected. She is around 33 and speaks English very well. I am looking forward to working with her. I did not want to work with someone who was old, ready to retire, and angry. Over all it was a good day and I am ready to start working and get paid. School loans, your days are numbered!

One last little story. I went to a bar around my apartment on Saturday night. I went alone to scope out the scene and see what Korean nightlife was all about. I arrived a little early, had a few beers, and tried to observe how people were interacting for an hour or two. I started noticing westerners in the bar. More kept showing up. I was sort of excited. (Rhythm and Booze, check em out on Face book) I was thinking maybe I will meet someone from America. The bartenders were Korean, but spoke English. It took me a while but I finally made it into a conversation with some other Westerners. I started talking to a kid with red hair. He had been in Korea for two years and had graduated form Ohio State! I was amazed! The first person I meet over here without any previous introduction had gone to Ohio State. We did a round of Tequila and had Soju. I did not have a cell phone so I did not get his info. His girlfriend was from St Barts. She said they are there all the time. I am going to go back in a week and see if I can find my fellow Buckeye friend again. Just one of the perks that goes with having attended a huge school with a huge alumni.

Hmm what did that say?

This is for those who are confused on how this works.. a sign going into the bathroom at a local establishment.

In Korea I have noticed countless signs, shirts, and advertisements that are hysterical. A lot of the English on people's shirts make no sense whatsoever. It is similar to people who get tattoos in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean back home. They think it means something special but translates to something completely different or nonsensical. When I was walking in Seoul there was a lady who had a tattoo saying, "A friend in deed and I am in need." That sort of makes sense, maybe? So if you are thinking about getting a tattoo in a foreign language, DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
Deano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdeqnFlCJk
Check out song number 29. I wonder who came out with it first. The American version or the K-pop version (Korean pop)

These are the views from my apartment. Sorry it was a rainy day. The view is not half bad.


I found shoes that fit here.  H.ooray!
It is official.  I am now an employee of the South Korean Public School System. Here is my ID card. The picture on it is from my trip to San Fran. I was fairly intoxicated in this shot, but I guess the school likes it. You can see the original on face book.
I now also have a bank account in South Korea. It was really easy to open. 5/3 could take a lesson from them; not too happy with my banking company back home, not very helpful when I needed them most. They will have a chance to redeem themselves tonight.
I have been to the hospital twice today for paperwork.  All is OK.   I can breath again.  I am completely normal.  No Tuberculosis, HIV, Swine Flu, Bird Flu.  I have all my teeth, I am not on drugs, I am not over weight, and I am mentally normal. (Apparently I did not have as much fun in college as I thought I did). I was trying to communicate with the staff when I met a nurse who spoke English very well. She gave me her card and told me if I need anything regarding medical treatment to call her. That is a big plus for me. If Sungjoo is not around and I need some help I can just call her and figure out what I need to do.
I have my first meeting on Monday with the principal of my school. I am excited to meet him and see what kind of person I am going to be taking orders from. I will have more info in a few days. I am not sure what I am doing this weekend but it will be something fun. I found a bar called Rhythm and Booz. It is a westerner bar. Americans, Australians, and Europeans go there to congregate and have some beers. I am going to see if I can make some new friends. Wish me luck,
Deano

I am officially a legal alien in South Korea. Months of work and research added up to this ID with a bad picture. I now can open a bank account, cellphone, and even get a Korean driver's license.

The hardest thing in Korea for me to do is....

The hardest thing for me to do in Korean is to sit Indian style on the floor in restaurants. I have to angle my size 13 feet under the table and push my knees down so everything fits. The tables are very low. You are not allowed to wear shoes. This makes it easier to fit your feet under the table. It is more painful though. Once I get my legs crossed and feet under the table I have only won half the battle. Sitting like that for more than 20 minutes is a true test of will. My feet are shaped so that the bones on the side of my feet and ankle are pressed directly downward on the floor. My feet tend to go numb. Feels great, lets you know you are alive! I thought I had worked at becoming fairly flexible the last few years. I am as limber as an I-beam compared to the people here. They might be related to Gumby somehow. I think his statue might have been somewhere behind all the Buddhas in the parks I visited. They have been sitting like this for so many years their legs and feet just flop into position like rubber bands. It is really impressive.
I have started stretching the joints and tendons required to sit like this everyday. I would like to sit through a dinner without having to stretch. It is considered rude, but I am a Me Guke, American. I do not know any better. Really this is not as hard as trying to learn the language, but it is a physical challenge I am losing for now.
PS- Do not take the Gumby pics too seriously, not making a statement on religion.

I found a swing. I am a big play baby so of course I had to give it a whirl.
Camera changed the coloring but still a fun pic
I am not the only big guy trying the swing out. They were much better than I was. It takes some getting used to.
This is my wishing tree. You tie a piece of paper to a 600 year old tree with a wish written on it. There are thousands. I hope mine makes it.
Not super tall but you can tell by looking at the tree it has been around for a long long time.
A cool shot to show how thick and twisted the tree is.
This type of mask originated in the village we visited. A random Korean asked me to pose for a picture with it. I happily agreed as you can see.
More of the big guy.
This is from a different village but the shot was cool so I figured I would upload it.
The foliage of South Korean mountains.
P1 and P2.....Two pees in a pod, get it?
Breakfast, what no waffles or coffee? Nope just fish, kimchie, and other Korean goodies. Delicious.

A traditional Korean dinning area.
The outside of where I spent the night.
Inside the compound.
The coolest part was it was in the mountains!
Hey everyone. Here are some pictures from my trip last week. No specific order just uploaded them and hope you like them.
Deano......Next post: The hardest thing for me to do it Korea is.............