He will huff and he will......uhh is this age appropriate?

Sungjoo's old friend and my new friend, Myong Sop, enjoying some grape Soju.

Door knob!  Anyone remember that game?

Yeah, great for 12 year old girls.

We were shaking our mixture of rice, fried egg, and other goodies in tin boxes. 

Dr. Sungjoo Park and me in his new office!

My associate, Unjun, at Buan.  Some random student.  No clue what her name is.

My typical dinner.  Ramen, Chom Che Kim Bap (tuna and rice), a pastry of some kind, and fruit.

Hey everyone. A lot has happened since my McDonald's post. I have been teaching now for two weeks. It is very easy and I do enjoy it. I think a year of it will be enough. The kids are very young and emotional. Even at this young age they are stressed out. This causes them to act out and be prone to misbehavior. I had to lay down the law with them a little on Monday. After that the week went really well. I feel bad for them. They have a grueling schedule of school, study, and after school classes in English and Math. They start at 7:30AM and do not finish until 8PM or even later.

I do not have to create a curriculum for the students. That makes my job easy. I just take the syllabus and do what I want with it. I am a little disappointed in some of the books they must read. You would think The Three Little Pigs would be harmless enough, right? Well, not this version. Somewhere some idiot thought is would be a good idea to change the story. They mixed Arabian Nights, Little Red Ridding Hood and The Three Little Pigs into one book. The story does not flow at all. The new version has very difficult words. Try explaining “opensaysame” to kids who do not speak your language. Then on top of that the Big Bad Wolf no longer tries to huff and puff and blow your house in. He bends over, grabs his ankles and blasts them down. Yes, the Big Bad Wolf tries to gas them out. The illustrations are priceless. I could not make this stuff up. Check out my pictures. I had to do a triple take when I first read it. I thought it was a joke. The kids were not even that amused by it. You can actually see the wolf's anus in the pics. I was not sure that was age appropriate for 12 year olds.

Korea as a whole is very enthusiastic about education. I believe 80% of citizens are college graduates. The competition to get into a good college is incredibly fierce. I do not teach high school but I hear that high school kids are walking zombies. They do nothing but go to school and study for national exams. Everyone must take them. These exams have 15 categories on which they are tested. Their futures depend on the scores. You have no idea how lucky you are to have grown up in America. Take it from a guy who hated, hated, hated going to grade school and high school. If I would have been required to do what the students do here I would have joined the military at 15. I have heard from more than one person that some of the best parts of childhood are taken away from kids in Korea. I can see why they believe that. However, the end results are some really smart people.

My daily schedule is not that difficult. I get up around 8am and run every day. I leave by 9:15 and get to work by 10. I take public transit almost everywhere I go. (I have become much more comfortable with the whole process. I still have to be aware of my surroundings at all times. Especially when going somewhere new. It is getting easier to navigate around Bucheon. I am recognizing landmarks and signs. It is nice now that everything is not so foreign). I prep for my classes and then start teaching. I have lunch at 12-1 and get off of work around 6. I get home around 7 and then hit the gym with Sungjoo. After the gym I eat dinner and study Korean or watch a movie online. I get to bed around 12 and start it all over again the next day.

I was walking around Bucheon and realized I was getting comfortable with my new home. I know some of the cheapest and best places to eat. People recognize me and say hello in my building. If I had a better grasp of Korean I think I would have more friends in my area. It is hard to communicate intentions with the language barrier. I am going to dinner on Wed. with my work associates. That should be fun. I really enjoy the little things about Korea. On the bottom of my building there is a quick mart named By the Way. You can purchase almost anything there. If I am hungry I just go down and grab a snack. I then go outside, sit on a lawn chair and watch Korean TV. Well decipher is a better word to use than watch.

I really want to thank you.  I can not believe how many hits I have on my blog.  I know 220 does not seem like that many compared to big sites like Google.  However, I really appreciate it.  I will keep posting as much as I can, and try to keep good posts coming.  Best to everyone back home.
Num-dung-sang Dean