"Dancing in the Dark"

I am still a rookie at this living abroad thing, but I would hazard a guess that, for an american, the roughest part of the year might very well be the Thanksgiving-Christmas corridor.  If I wasn't missing the home-front before it would surely show now.  As it would happen, the Christmas weekend would be slightly heavier than the others.  Last thursday I made it official, I inked my contract extension.  I had thought about this extensively even before I had filed the paperwork for the extension, this was/is the right decision, I have no doubt about that.  It just happened to occur a day before I would have to say goodbye to 12 of my fellow EMU peers were finishing up there teaching and leaving Korea to go back home.  Saying goodbye to these friends was bittersweet, it was a great experience to have shared with them but sad to see them go. I have solace in the fact that I will, eventually, see them again.  This was just the first round of goodbyes that I have had to say.  The goodbyes were said on the 24th, and on the 25th I had a conversation with my English friend, Dave...  He remarked on the realization that this would be the first Christmas that he was not spending with his family, an obvious but profound statement.  Together we spent Christmas youtube-ing our favorite songs (holiday and otherwise), having some delicious korean food for lunch, then meeting some Korean friends for dinner.
In all honesty, the dinner pulled everything back into adjustment and focus.  Christmas in Korea more resembles Valentines Day (socially) than the western take on christmas with spending time with families, diner and the like.  Here, it is a true couples holiday and that is about it.  A friends Co-Teacher, Jinny, had planned a 싱길 크리스마스 파티, literally "Singles Christmas Party".  It was a true experience, the food was great, the place brews their own beer (dare I say the best I've had in Korea), all you can eat and drink for 20000 won...  I plan on going back.  Soon.  As it were, Dave, HeeSung, and I were the only guys at this "Singles X-mas", with 7 ladies.  Dave remarked later saying, "it's not everyday where I dine with 7 other ladies, less often when they are all that good looking".  I paraphrased that last quote, but Dave had said earlier that day about how he wanted to start sounding wiser, like Ghandi.  Whether or not that was "wise" remains to be seen.

I have to say I botched a skype date with my family that was supposed to happen after dinner in Michigan (5am in Korea).  I had set my alarm to go off the day prior at 5:00am instead of the day following.  This is not how alarms work, in this dimension at least.  What added insult to injury was that when I rolled over to check and see what time I actually woke up I saw that it was 8:50am, too far past to be fashionably late, and 10 min before I was supposed to be teaching my 1st day of English camp.  I broke some speed records getting into my classroom with 2 min to spare.  Luckily, my 5th and 6th graders were as apt in their punctuality as I was, and my rush into school was not overly apparent.

I've glossed over a few minor adventures, I went on a ski trip the weekend before.  The whole of my ski experience can be summarized with saying that I am from Michigan, I learned on snow covered mountains of trash, and coasted down a few bigger hills up north in the Lower Peninsula.  Korea on the other hand is a country of mountains.  Not exactly the Rockies or Alps, but deffinatley bigger than any bump the people ski down in the Mitten.  It was a great time, and I hear the mountains in the Northeast are even better!  I will definitely go again.

A month ago I had a grand plan to go somewhere over new years for my vacation, that plan fizzled out because of procrastination and a hundred other things.  I had accepted defeat, and resigned to realize that I would be spending New Years in Korea.  It was on Christmas day when a final push was set into motion...  Anywhere cheap, this was the only stipulation.  Not 12 hours ago did I book our tickets, and in 36 hours we will be in the air flying to Taiwan!  This is the sort of last minute planning that would make Chris Moeller proud.  Different country, different language, one American, one Briton, what is the worst that can happen?  Don't answer that.

Here is to a new year, a new chapter in an increasingly dynamic saga, a new ring of growth, and maybe, a bit more knowledge as well.

We have normality... Anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem."

A lull in adventures, as well as realizing I am an expat for at least the foreseeable future made me establish some routines and things to make my life seem more permanent and less touristy.

The 1st thing on the agenda was to nut up and get a gym membership.  But where?  And how?
After talking to some of the teachers it turns out I had two options...a cheap city owned center that is an hour walk away, or a more expensive gym that is an 8 minutes walk from my apt.  I ultimately chose the closer one after convincing myself I would never walk the hour to the other one even if I had a membership.  The membership includes gym 에오로빅 privileges and entrance to the spa 스파 and sauna 사오나 in Korea you just call it a 찜질방.  For those of you not in the loop, a 찜질방 usually has a few different temperature hot tubs(pools, really), a cold tub, a steam sauna, and a dry sauna.  More elaborate ones can have sleeping rooms with beds, and salt baths etc. A good time.  The gym is pretty regular, I am still figuring out if it is okay to wear my own workout clothes instead of the prison clothes they give me when I check in... A grey shirt to work out in?  This does my sweaty self no favors at all.
By the second week of going, I realized this... I didn't buy a membership to the gym with a sauna, I bought a membership to a sauna with a gym.  At least this is how it would appear after I spend 30 minuets working out and a hour and a half in the sauna.  Judge me, I love me some sauna (Finnish roots showing through here?).

Gym membership?  Check.
Costco membership to negate any gym benefits?  Check.
Logic?  Dead.

I miss having a piano at my fingertips (bad pun...see: amysund),  but my mentor teacher asked around the school and found one I can play on mondays and sometimes wednesdays.  It is in one of the 6th grade teachers rooms so I can only play it when we both do not have to teach.  I learned how to say 피아노 좀 써도 되나요 to ask if I can use it.  It felt good to pound out some Brahms again, even if it was a little rough after not playing since late July!  I must not have sounded too horrible because a few of the teachers were talking (gossiping) about it the next day.  I happened upon a ordinary looking doughnut shop in my town and to my surprise I walk upstairs and there is a piano!  What is even better is it is pretty dead at night so sometimes I am the only one there, or there are only a few people mulling about.  If it isn't too crowded I help myself to a little piano, if I am alone I and get down to shedding some licks. I don't think the owners mind and I try not to be obnoxious.

Piano playing outlet?  Check.
Rental fee: Tea and doughnut?  Worth it.

Last weekend I went to my Mentor Teacher's wedding, I was excited to see what the Korean take on "wedding" was.  Getting there was an adventure, the invitation was in all Korean (not surprising since I was the only english speaker invited).  I got basic instruction from my MT the day before... "go to Daegu, go to Hyundai apt store, get on one of the 3 busses waiting there, sit on the bus for 3 1/2 hours, get off, eat lunch, see marriage, repeat in reverse order.".  Easy...not.  I had to get up at 6am to make a 7am train, grab some breakfast, walk around, find dept store.  This much was easy.  When I got to the store there were not 3 busses waiting there, there were 17.  Some were clearly not going to the wedding because they were full of people dressed like they were going to climb a mountain.  Some had people dressed regularly, fancy, sporty, oddly.  So I did the tourist thing and pulled out the invitation and looked  confused.  After walking around for a while showing it to people I finally found the right group, I met my MT's brother and mother there.  Apparently Baek (MT) had let them know a confused looking American was going to show up for the wedding.  They were helpful in escorting me to the right bus!  Baek told me I could call her if I had any problems, but I told her she was crazy and I wasn't going to call her to help me out on her wedding day.  Selfless, but dumb.  I brought along my friend Tarrah, and it was nice to have somebody to talk to and share looks of confusion and surprise.  Once we arrived to the place we piled out of the busses, up 4 flights of stairs and into a lobby where the bride was in a room on a chair (throne) to take pictures with.  I was met by some teachers and people from my school, they seemed surprised and happy to see me there, I walked into the picture room to see Baek decked out in white talking a mile a minute with some guests only to hear her blurt out "OOOH Michael HI!", this was followed by everyone giggling.  Awesome.  Before the wedding, everyone eats lunch.  I liked this, and ate lots of food.
The wedding itself is a pretty casual affair, there was the parents (lighting the wrong candles and having to start over), the MC announcing everything, the dress primper, fixing and primping non-stop, and vows, the post vows bad saxophone player (not me) with midi jam track, the post sax ballad groom norebang dance session, and the postlude (no kiss).

Korean wedding?  Check.
Weird-ed out?  Check.
30 min or less?  Yup.

Korea does optometry well.  Just like how medical treatment is outrageously overpriced in the US, so is getting glasses.  Korea simplifies it tremendously, why it isn't this simple in the US is mind-boggling.  This is how it went down... 7pm on a Friday, I walk into a Optometry store.  I communicate that I would like new glasses, he takes my current glasses and a machine analysed the prescription, five min later I am picking out new frames.  Frames start out at 10000\ or ~8.50-9.00 dollars, I splurge getting 25000\ frames (20 bucks) and reduced thickness lenses (because I am blind) total is 50000\.  Nice.  This is the point in time where I would wait 2 weeks for the store to send out for lenses & frames or something to make me wait, not the case in Korealand.  They have a lens making machine in the back, he tells me 20 min.  Well, okay.  Sure enough, for under 50 bucks and in 30 min I have some new specs, with no insurance.  Wut.  I spent more money with insurance the last time I bought glasses.  Take notes bloated US health and wellness industry.  In addition, no appointment AND at 7pm on a Friday.  Work ethic.

Sexy Specs?  Check.
₩on for days?  Check.
Glasses for every outfit I own?  Why not.

I have been practicing my Korean with my co-teacher.  I can order food without pictures now.  Moovin' on up...

Two Douglas Adams quotes in one post?  Why not, I'm feeling very cool and froody (Guide reference) .

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."

"Not all who wander are lost." Tolkien

Last week was the first time since I left for Korea that I did not have a conversation with myself about extending my contract, this was largely in part because I had made the decision to stay.  I am not one to rush into a decision like this with any shred of ignorance, I had to try and absorb the scope of commitment that I was going to be signing on for.  One of the things that make living here in South Korea fun and exciting are the people I socialize with.  This is pretty broad actually, from the teacher and students I interact with everyday to the other English teachers from my town, and around the country.  Anyone in this situation needs to be okay with a certain amount of solitude, and while teaching EFL has me interacting with lots of people and students it is not exactly like chatting with old friends about my day.  One of my prime concerns with extending my contract was asking "how am I going to keep myself from turning into a hermit and talking to myself until August?".  I had been hanging out with a few people from emu on any given Friday or Saturday, this is all fine and dandy until you take into account that they will be leaving at the end of December.  So I thought to myself I ought to see who is sticking around for the year.  I went to Busan with Brandyn and Tony, they are in for 12 months, other people that are cool (12 month contract) include Ian, Josh and Dave.  Dave was quite peached to find out that I was sticking around, and I will make sure that by the time he goes back to see the Queen he accent is all but gone and he pronounces all the syllables in British towns and cities.
Perhaps an even larger issue I had to sort out was the one involving me graduating college and needing to figure things out.  I don't know exactly what the job employment situation is back home but word from a few (very) close and respected people in my life are that things in the mitten are glum,  I believe the words used were "shit" and "a pit of despair".  If I were to have come back at the end of January, I would have went to work subbing, and generally grinding things out until summer.  In addition to this and being old, I would have to scrap for health insurance and all that costs too much money in the United States.  While I am a healthy individual, my health coverage here in Korea is reimbursed 90% of what I pay, and treatment is pretty cheap to begin with anyways, so why stop a good thing?  I think my mom is worried about several thousand things to do with my life but one of them probably has to do with me not getting a start on looking for/ getting hired/ moving my stuff out of the house/ being less than 6000 miles away.  Rest assured I am aware of this, sorry for the gigantic mess I left around the house and in my room, that will be dealt with in due time.  For now, I have an opportunity to teach and experience the world at a time in my life when I have finished round #1 of college and have only begun to trek out into the unknown.  This is okay because I don't plan on kicking the bucket any time soon.  Living like this would be hard to come back to when I encumber myself with things like car payments, rent, morgage, and anything "adult-like"...It makes me shudder just to think of it.  I know my outtake on life is a little bit eccentric compared to others but I have surrounded myself with friends that understand this or at least accept that I see things this way.
One of my friends back in michigan, Emily, was nervous to see me go to Korea.  Not because I didn't know the language, or culture, or being a billion miles away.  She thought that even though I said I was only going away for 6 months I would fall in love with everything or nothing in particular and extend my stay.  Clever girl.
Staying until August allows me some flexibility in my travels, I am looking to spend new years someplace warm and tropical (Thailand?).  Jeju Island in the spring, Japan before I come back, and who knows where else.  I aim to have a few more stamps in my passport before I have my next Oberon!
It feels weird to have the future as an open book.  Never before has my life direction been this open, there has always been something on the horizon (school mostly) that I could have my sights set on.  I have read about adventures of travels through Tolkien & Adams, now I can live them.

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” Einstein.

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky"

My travels take me to exotic places, rich with culture and adventure, there is never something that replaces "home".  While my apartment is not my home in Michigan, it is becoming a place that I am becoming more "at" home.  After teaching I make a point of going to the roof of my building with a cup of tea and catch the sun setting over the mountains, it is a nice moment of reflection.
I have never had a frosty relationship with any of the teachers at the school, though I felt that I didn't have a thriving one.  One of the reasons for this is the language barrier...  The teachers have all had english education at some point in their own education though many don't use it enough to be able to converse (a lot like the spanish I took in high school), and are too shy/don't want to use poor english in front of students to speak with me.  I have been trying to use a few Korean phrases with some of the staff (sometimes successful, and other times not) and have even had a brief conversation with my principal on the walk back from the cafeteria (he has, near as make no difference, zero english).  It is good motivation to improve my Korean, and certainly isn't doing any harm in developing my staff relationships at school.  It is something that will only improve with time and perseverance.  
Teaching the kids is a wild ride.  Some days I feel like I have pulled everything out of my bag of tricks, other days I can have the most effortless class where everything fell perfectly into place.  Then there are some days when my students throw a left hook out of nowhere.  A situation like this presented itself last Tuesday...
My 2nd grade class is, using my kindest words, energetic.  Other words I might use to describe them would be, bananas, crazy, run amok, bane of my existence for 40 minutes two days a week.  I was guiding the craziness through the lesson when Hellia busts into my classroom with a shopping bag, and goes "Teacher!  Look!".  Naturally I am curious, so I peek into the bag...A chick, a baby chicken.  I think, "What is this doing in my classroom?".  This was a moment to just roll with the punches, but when they are come fast and furious one can only "roll" so much.  This is one of the many things they do not cover in university teaching method courses.
I've been writing this post for a while now and I apologize for any lack of continuity.  It will without a doubt be edited after I post it.  In return I give you a candid picture of a 2nd grader throttling a baby chicken.  Cute.

As I have mentioned before, there has been a constant internal dialogue dealing with my length of stay in Korea.  I am at a point in my existence where I have nearly full reign of the direction of my life.  While most of the EMU crew have 5 month contracts I signed for 6 months because I did not need to make it back in time for the winter semester (one of the perks of graduating).  This 6 month contract would end in January and have me subbing until June and looking for a full time teaching gig over the summer.  From a conservative point of view this would be a pretty logical choice.  On the other hand, I quite like teaching here.  I am learning massive amounts about myself, classroom actions, the importance of communication with students (and how much I took it for granted in the US), and many more I didn't name, and are unaware of myself.
Extending my contract would mean leaving my Family (that includes friends as well), and all that I have grown to know and interact with on a social level for a while longer.  While I could easily look externally for an answer to my questions I know the answer is not to be found anywhere but inside myself.  I'll not make a formal announcement with any great fanfare and such, but don't be surprised of either possible outcome...
On the light side of this subject, Dr. Koh (my professor from EMU) came and visited my school to talk with my administration and supervising teachers to be sure that everything was going smoothly.  Soon after the initial greeting of "good to see you" & "how have you been?" this is the conversation we had (quoted to the best of my knowledge)...
Dr. Koh:  "Your school likes you, Michael"
Me: "I like them too"
Koh: "They want you to extend, I want you to extend"
Me: "I think about that everyday, I might very well extend"
Koh: "Do you have a Girlfriend back home?"
Me: "No..."
Koh: "Good, you can get one here"
Me: "Well, you know I wouldn't be opposed to something like that..."
Koh: "Oh!  Do you like Korean women?"
Me: "They aren't ugly."
Koh: "Do you know Chelsea's Co-Teacher? she is very pretty"
Me: "Yup" (poker face)
Koh: "Michael, listen.  Michigan is shit right now.  Nobody has jobs, even professors are worried.  Extend your contract, I will come back in April and visit.  If it is still shitty at the end of another 6 months you can apply for EPIK, I will make sure you get a good placement...I don't want to see you back in Michigan, you don't have a girlfriend to come back to, your parents can wait.  Julie thought about extending but she didn't and she still doesn't have a job."

Leave it to a 5 foot nothing Korean lady to lay it out straight poop for you.  The Koh-ster does not beat around the bush.

This is shaping up to be one of my more lengthy updates as I have not had one in a few weeks.  If you need to, use the bathroom or grab a beer because it is time for some adventure stories.

My friend, Brandyn who is an EPIC scholar lives in the middle of nowhere so I don't see him all that much.  He had planned a trip to Busan for the International fireworks festival they were having down there the weekend before Halloween.  I was game for that, plus it gave me the chance to meet some new people (I love having adventures with my emu crew, but logically, if 90% of them are ditching me in December I need to branch out to people who are going to be around longer).  We booked a Hostel, I've never stayed at a Hostel before so I did not know what to anticipate, but since the last time I stayed in Busan it was at a seedy Motel with a mosquito problem...I was cool with anything else.
For 20$ a night, not a bad view (insert moderate sarcasm here).

The weather wasn't perfect, but it didn't stop us from having a good time.  After taking a 40 minute KTX train ride from Dong Daegu we were in Busan, and we met up with two of Brandyn's Friends from the EPIC program, both from Ireland.  A taxi ride from the station to our Apt. where the Hostel was at and we were ready to start the weekend.  The guy who runs the Hostel is called "Tiger" he left us a note with instructions for where to put our things and whatnot, he said in the note to call him when we got in s he could meet us near the university and he would take us out.  Before I knew it, I was mingling with travelers from England, Japan, Ireland, South Africa, and Iceland (a few Koreans in there as well).  It was good fun and Tiger was a blast, he trades stocks and acts as a middle man in the import/export business, I gathered he runs the hostel for fun.  Good times were had by all, and the next day we ventured out to Haeundae Beach.  Fortunately it turned out to be a nice October day.

We met a group of Hagwan teachers on the beach wearing costumes, drinking Makoli and eating pumpkin pie.  They offered us some and we broke bread with them for a while.  After that we went to the aquarium...

After dinner we had to make our way back to the Hostel to go to the hill nearby and watch the fireworks.  After some transportation debacle we made it there just in time for the weather to become absolutely foul.  The rain lashed, the wind howled, the temperature dropped.  It would all be worth it when the show started...  And then it started.  It was now that the group realized that there was a gigantic mountain between us and where the fireworks were being shot.  Words were said and the fact that we were all soaking wet only added to the comedy.  At least they sounded cool.
Before I left the next day I made a trip to the world famous fish market that is in Busan.  The view on what fish are normal to eat in the US is pretty narrow; Cod, Salmon, Shrimp, Tuna, the normal stuff.  In Korea, anything is game and all of it is at the market, in tanks still alive, ready to eat.  They have restaurants where you can take whatever you just bought and they will cook it for you.  And if you thought that was fresh, they have an entire floor of sashimi booths.  Point to the fish you want and 30 seconds later is is on a plate in front of you complemented my some garlic bean paste and Soju.  Not for people who are not fond of seafood, I loved it.  Brandyn, Tony and I all agreed to make a point of eating down here when we had more time (I have my eye on some gigantic snow crab).

So beside the fact that I missed the event that we initially came down to Busan for, it was still a weekend of adventure and excitement.  I was exhausted until wednesday when I had to start planning things for the next weekend in Seoul, for a friends birthday.  Even though that has already happened it will have to wait for another post,  Mama Mia!

Here is to keeping the book of life wide open, and finding my own path through it.  A quote from Twain (a traveler as well), "Ideally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own."

“Education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.”

This was the first weekend in recent history that didn't involve me running myself into exhaustion with travel and adventure.  That isn't to say that I regret travel by any means, and it also does not mean that I didn't have a fair bit of adventure earlier in the week.  This weekend of respite gave me the chance to reflect and think about the blur that has been the past 2 1/2 months.  The chapter in my life that I knew and thrived in had ended, and a new one had begun.  Today, after school I was on the roof of my apartment building having some tea and enjoying the sunset as I realized that it had been a while since I had one of those "OMG I am in Korea" moments.  These moments would come a few times a day during orientation, and then a heavy downpour of them in my first weeks on my own at my apt.  I guess the shock of being in a foreign country and the venerability that accompanies it has worn away steadily as I am forced to deal with the issues that crop up.
The issue that is on the forefront of peoples minds, including myself, would be the language barrier.  This is such a broad thing to try and tackle with any continuity that I am slowly cutting off smaller bits of success and strategy to make it just that much easier to chew.  Learning to read Korean (Hangul) was easier than I had thought, I put it off for a while during orientation but as I found myself staring dumbly at a menu or sign with no translation wishing that I could decipher just anything about it I decided to give it a go.  It was really something that I should have just done and started the learning process to get things rolling.  The sounds and vowels are easy enough, I can now sound out anything with some degree of accuracy... given enough time (what the words actually mean is another issue entirely).  Now I am having these "Eureka!" moments.  Take for instance this situation...  On the walk home from the train station I pass by the same building, no english translation for the building signs.  Seeing how I do a fair bit of walking here in Korea it affords me lots of time to practice my Hangul, street signs, bilboards, advertisements, trash, food stands, and this... 사우나 an "hmm" I thought, "sssaaah.... ooooooo.... ssaahooo...nahhh....sssaahhoonnaaah. Oh.  Sauna.  It's a Sauna.  Sweet".
The long, slow challenge of linking what I read with actual vocabulary knowledge is the road I have ahead of me.  In a bit of cruel irony, this happens to be loosely related to what I am supposed to be doing when I teach, except it is English to Korean and not the other way around.
Travel still requires a bit of planning.  This is a symptom of being without a car, something I took for granted (more or less) for the last 8 years.  However, I don't miss the financial upkeep that comes along with owning a car like insurance, repair, and fuel.  Since public transportation is pretty cheap and convenient to use I don't miss the freedom of having a personal vehicle on tap.  I walk to school, walk to downtown, and walk to the train station.  From the train station I can catch a train without waiting too long to any city (usually Deagu or Gumi), from there I can hop a KTX to Seoul or Busan, or take the subway to the express but terminal and take a bus to any decent sized city not on my train line.  Whatever inchonvieneces might initially be apparent are quickly dispersed by the accessibility and connivence (being a passenger) of a well oiled mass transit system.  This is where planning comes into play, train times are posted online as well as bus times, if I don't anticipate a busy weekend or time of day then I can get stuck with a standing only ticket.  This has happened at one time or another coming back from Daegu, Busan, and Seoul.  Daegu is small potatoes (20 min), Busan was inconvenient (2 hours) and Seoul was a pain in the butt (4 hours).  All these were small reminders that I pay the price not knowing exactly what train I want to catch before all the other people decide on the same train.  Live and learn, then stand up for a while.

Korea is an education, from a study abroad stance it offers the tangible experience of teaching EFL (with all the intangible moments included), as well as the life broadening experience that is sort of a "take as much as you like" style.  I say "take a much as you like" because not every experience is created equal, and rightly so.  Depending on a persons Social Education, ties (emotional baggage) to things an ocean away, and the corresponding degree of openness expressed to the culture as a result yields a rough recipe for the experience in store.  During a meeting before I left Michigan, the lecturer said (to my knowledge this is a quote of a quote), "Expectations are like a reservation with disappointment".  I'm not one to subscribe to something with blind admiration, but there was something inside me that resonated with my ideals.  While it would be easy to create a list of "things I have to do or else" including abc xyz 123 & 789 in that order and completed with snapshots of all the right places.  I left my internal itinerary pretty short and pretty vague.  In a way it is a form of "Ignorance is Bliss", but since it was deliberate can I call it Scholarly Ignorance?
The title quote is from John Dewey, one of my favorite educational philosophers (is it odd that I have favorite ed philosophers?).  Throughout formal education emphasis is put on the knowledge that we gain in the classroom and that it is necessary for our progress through life.  I can't disagree with this, this schooling has played a major role in where I am today and given me the tools to do what I do every day. I will say that I think that there is a social aspect of education that is tossed by the wayside when society focuses so much on the tangible results and neglects the intangible experiences that shape the soul of a person.  For example, while my formal education has given me knowledge of music, teaching, etc. etc. etc. my social education has led me to where I am today (Korea), how I act and interact, and how I view culture and society (throw in humanity too, for good measure).  By my own admission I will say my thoughts and philosophy on this matter are crude and unrefined at best, but I know that it cannot be rushed into completion and time will weather it down to what is most true to me, and that is everything I can expect of a self-philosophy.
This is what kind of thinking and reflection a free weekend affords me.  Although I didn't spend the whole weekend staring out my window drinking tea...
I had been told that there was a Costco in nearby Daegu, if ever I wanted a slice of home it would be found there.  That is what I was told at least.  I was having a craving for Mexican for a while, but for all the chili spice in this country there are very few mexican places to eat.  So I went for it, I guessed that for all the talking that I had done with my friends nobody would ever step up and get a membership.  I took a train to Dongdaegu and rehearsed how I was going to say Costco ga jchoosey-yo to the taxi driver.  It was easier than I thought it would be, within 30 minutes of getting off the train I was staring at a Costco size bag of tortilla chips and salsa, job done Michael, job done.  They have a pretty decent bakery section and are rumored to carry frozen avocados.  I can take two guests when I go, so I can imagine that I'll be going there on a fairly regular basis.
I realize that there were moments in this post that advocated both the importance of planning and going off the cusp.  I realize this and have this to say... I am figuring it out, my traditional educational mind strives for a clear, well defined answer while my socially educated mind wants to mix all the colors together and color outside the lines and make a mess.  Like the Taegeuk in the Korean flag, the ultimate reality is a mix of all things.

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."

Waegwan, Gumi, Andong, Seoul.  Two train rides, two bus rides, 4 taxi rides, a handful of subway trips and enough walking to ruin a pair of socks and a shirt.  One weekend, all on 8 hours of sleep.  This is an abridged version of what could certainly take up several books.
My plans for the weekend were roughly sketched out, and this was a good thing because they completely changed from what I had in mind on friday morning and when I was done teaching for the day.  Still I managed to fill it out, it was Gumi on Friday night, back to Waegwan to get my things for going to Andong for the Mask Dance festival that is going on this week, maybe Seoul, then who knows.
I met up with EMU friends had dinner and ended up at a bar to meet some Korean scholars who live in Gumi.  We met up with BoGun first, he is HeeSung's Co-teacher.  He goes to college for TESOL and he had an interview to study in the US for his masters degree.  Great news, he got in.  Nebraska will not know what hit it.  BoGun is a class act, his family owns an apple orchard and he brought us all apple juice from it, it was delicious and while I was having it I had one of the feelings that showed me a 3rd person snapshot of what was happening...I was having freshly made apple juice from a Korean farm with the son of the farmer, on the floor with 4 of my friends before going out for soju cocktails, Max, and who knows what else.  We went to "Our Friday night hangout" and started to celebrate BoGun's successful interview.  Another Korean Co-Teacher showed up with two of his friends, so we migrated and mingled with the new people.  If you had told me these would be 2 of several dozen new people that I would meet this weekend I would have looked at you in confusion and amazement because you claim to have the ability of clairvoyance.  The same person might have also said you will be be wearing the same clothes you are wearing now on Sunday", and "You will make many trips to the ATM, but it will be worth it".  All of these would be true, and I wouldn't change anything.  I stayed out a little late and because of this could not both go back to Waegwan to get my bag for the weekend and catch the express bus to Andong in time.  While at the bar that night we mingled and danced with some other new people we just met.  After, we went out for chicken.  Jess and Kitty were their English names, and they were as loud and raucous as us so it was a good fit.
This was going to be my first experience having to catch the bus to go somewhere without a Korean liaison.  The bus station is small because we have a train station, and, although Waegwan is not a small town, it is sandwiched between Daegu and Gumi which are large cities.  There is not a direct bus to Andong from Waegwan, which is why I wasn't just leaving from where I live.  I was wearing the same clothes from the night before because I chose to do Korea well, instead of doing Korea in a practical manner.
The weather was gorgeous, it was crisp fall weekend when I arrived in Andong.  We met up with Milliza and dropped stuff off at her apt.  I did not have anything to drop off on the account of me only having my jacket, ipod, wallet, and cell phone with me, in retrospect this was all I really needed.  We met up with some other scholars and proceeded to have some of Andong's famous dish, ddockboki.  This is like a spicy chicken stew with rice noodles, it was delicious.  I would tentatively say now I am getting used to the spicy food of korean cuisine.  I still sweat when I eat hot things, but I kind of like it, and I like kimchi.  When I don;t have it for a few days, I start to crave it.  It is weird, but I know what I like, and I like kimchi.  Next, I downed a few coffees and headed over to the Mask Festival.
This is a festival the Andong is famous for and it did not disappoint, I had the chance to make my own mask, see traditional dances, hear traditional drum music, and this was all before the main show.  The group I was in was recruited for some "dance competition".  Mind you, we are quite clearly foreign, but that makes it easy for people who find people like us interesting to mingle.  After waiting for a while this event kicked off.  It was a dance where each group of 40-60 people danced into a clearing by a stage and danced around a circle of ~20 drummers.  There was not really any specific dance, just a bunch of people having a good ol' time.  Each group represented a part of Andong or surrounding area (at least this is how I understood it) and got 20 minutes to strut their stuff.  We were the last group to go, but nobody told us this so we were anxious.  The group of foreigners started off at around 20 or so and each group that went on somebody would tell us all to go and run out there.  This turned out to be other group coordinators trying to steal us from our coordinators group.  Each time some people went out before our coordinator grabbed us back.  When it was finally our time to go we rolled out and went nuts.  This was something that I might not have done 3 months ago, but there I was dancing a fool with 10 other english teachers and 60 Koreans from 4-80 years old.  The cameras loved us, the Koreans loved us, it was a genuinely fantastic experience that I will never forget.  Picture this, everyone wearing masks and costumes, drums pounding, music playing, bright colors, flags, laughing.  I was mid dougie when an old guy in a monk suit and pipe grabbed my hand and ran me up to the front to dance.  He put his hat on me and gave me is pipe (ornamental) and started to spin me around this was when no less than 9 photographers surrounded me and made me feel like I was having a wardrobe malfunction on the red carpet.  The atmosphere was opiating, it was a rush.  The old guy spoke no English, but managed to invite me out for dinner and drinks.  This further gives credence to my idea that Koreans are some of the most generous and polite people as long as you meet them with a smile and an open mind.  No sooner had the festival concluded then I found myself on an express bus to Dong(east) Seoul bus terminal.  I managed to take a little nap but I don't sleep well on things that move.
We arrived in Seoul around 10:30, hopped on the subway and headed for Sinchon.  Now, a tangent to the subject of vowels in the Korean language... To the English ear a lot of words can sound similar.  Take for instance, our destination, Sinchon.  Sinchon is a district in Seoul, so is Sincheon.  One letter, and moving your tongue 2 mm backwards.  The same can be said for Hyundai, Hundai, Haeundai, Hundae, Hyundae.  One is a car, three are places in Seoul and one is a beach in Busan, all five sound pretty similar.  We met up with some other people and dropped our stuff off in the motel room.  I took a well deserved shower and dowsed myself with body spray and anything to hide the fact that I was going on 24 hours wearing the same thing.  We then headed to the University district of Hundae and hit that scene for a while.  U.S. military are not allowed into Hundae, because too much drama and fights happen because of stupid people being stupid.  There were a few groups of soldiers (they stuck out pretty clearly by being typically young, loud, stupid, and american), there were a few places that checked my Alien Registration Card to make sure I was not military (my ID says that I have an educators visa [E-2] and that I am a teacher).  We were coming out of a restaurant in the wee hours, and through some chance encounter we got to talking with these three Korean students that were computer electronics majors at Hongik University.  We asked if they wanted to roll to another place together and they came with us, just another random friend meeting in Korea.  We talked about life, girls, traveling, everything.  It was just another weekend in Korea, full of fantastic new experiences and people.
Sunday was Seoul Tower day, so we rolled out and made our way to the subway.  Seoul subway is pretty extensive, it has to serve lots of people, but it is pretty user friendly if you take a minute to plan out your route before you hop on a train.  I have an iPod app with the subway and surrounding street maps, it is a good tool to have for me because I like to constantly check and re-check my whereabouts and progress, call me OCD, but it is how I do things.  When I stepped off in the Myeong-Dong district, the only things on my mind were replacing my wardrobe.  My shirt was only a few weeks old, but it had seen a lifetime of action and seeing as I paid 5000 won for it, it had been a good investment.  Mu socks too were smeely casualtys of the weekend.  I bought a sweet knock off hipster lego t-shirt and some mario socks found the nearest bathroom and became a new person.  Sure the shirt was a bit tighter than I had anticipated, but it is in the korean style of tight fit and I wasn't in a situation to be picky about anything.  The mario socks are awesome, all the socks in Korea are pretty sweet and always only 1000 won (less than a dollar) for a pair.

Seoul tower was cool, there was an option of taking a cable car up the mountain it is on or walking.  I had thought it might be nice to not walk everywhere for once, but the line had about 400 people in it so I had to do a little convincing to sell the idea of not waiting in line for 2 hours (this bit of convincing was a little ironic because the other people in the group were universally afraid of heights, as well as having an irrational fear of the cable car crashing to their deaths).  You can be told the Seoul is a big city, you can read that Seoul City has 11 million people and metro Seoul has 25 million people, but when I got to the observation deck of the tower and saw the expanse of buildings, bridges, cars, people and then knowing that it goes on further then I could see behind mountains and beyond the horizon it is truly a sight to behold.

Teaching is everything teaching should be.  Sometimes classes go great and I am on a high, other times they go poor and I wonder what I am doing with my life.  Everyday I learn something, everyday I try something new.  Some things work, others fall flat.  I always keep in mind that tomorrow is a new day, I take that to heart and walk into school everyday with a smile and greet the kids head on.  And, it is a genuine smile, I eat lunch with the K-2nd graders and even though my 2nd grade class makes me want to throw kids out the window some days the smile on their faces when they see me grab my hand and go, "Michael Teacher Michael Teacher how are you I am fine hahahahahahha monkeymonkeymonkey bye bye goodbye trololololol" that sort of affirms that if I don't smile and laugh at the lighter things in life I am not only doing myself a disservice, but a disservice to the students as well.  It is my overall goal to get the students to talk.  Period.  They all have other english and grammar classes but I am the only native english speaker for them to talk to on a regular basis, the more natural I make simple  everyday conversations for the students the less intimidated they get when using english outside the classroom.  I make my students work, I ask questions and expect english in return.  They get frustrated, they whine, they struggle, but they come up with answers or else they know I will ask them again.  Then we have fun, we joke, we laugh, we balance the struggles with light times.  I am fully aware that I am as much a student of them as they are of me, sometimes more literally than figuratively.  I make a point to use little bits of Korean and written Hangul during each class, before, or after.  In fact, today before class I was going word for word with one of my 4th graders, Chloe.  I would give her a word to spell, and she would fire one back at me. In the big picture it is a double whammy for her because she is instructing me in English (save the korean word) a win-win for me and her!  There are days I think I could do this for a while, other days where I can't wait for my next meal at Taco Bell (there is only one in Korea and it is 14 hours round trip), I am leaving that door open for now.

Everyone in Korea wears glasses like this, I think I want a pair, probably a different color.  Prescriptions are pretty cheap for glasses (and meds) in Korea.  It is like they haven't figured out that they can charge an arm and a leg for things like this.  Or maybe it is the U.S. that has it all wrong, getting charged way too much to maintain one's health.  I had to get a prescription for an ear infection I got after swimming in the ocean... The doctors visit, and four different prescriptions cost me the equivalent of 16$ US.  Yeah, America for all that is great and wonderful has gotten health care dead wrong.  I could have gotten 90% reimbursed by the government, but I would've had to fill out too much paperwork and for 15000 won, why bother.

I am a horrible sykper, I have a list of people I should call but then I don't ever get around to it.  Don't hate me for it.  I'll have a free day one of these months and knock it all out.

A brief period of introspectivness

The program I work for told us in so many words that we had to write an essay/letter thing and submitt it.  Being true to my procrastinator roots I waited until the last minute to do it, but I sort of liked how it turned out.  It might appear a little aimless in the beggining, that is because I didn't really know what I was writing about, just sort of spitballing words around.  By the end it felt good to reflect a little bit on the journy and what the heck I am doing with my life.  I still don't know what I'm doing really, but what I do know is that I am enjoying the journey. 

Prelude to the Sypmhony



      I was going to Korea, this was a fact.  When I told people what I was doing I got the same three questions asked to me…  Why?, Do you know Korean?, & Are you going to get a girlfriend/When is the wedding?.  The questions would always be in that exact order, and I would always answer them from back to front…  “I'm not moving 6000 miles away to find a girlfriend, there are websites for that stuff, I don't know why I am your friend.”.  “No, I don't know any Korean”.  Usually, they would stop me there and be appalled that I wasn't fluent in Korean (I'm Polish and Finnish, they shouldn't be that surprised that I don't know Korean.) and I was going to be living there, teaching the future leaders of tomorrow.  I never got around to giving my answer to “Why?”, this was probably a good thing because it was something that I was constantly asking myself. 
      “Why”.  It is such a short question with such an ambiguous, nebulous answer.  During some of my more introspective moments I would spin up something like this…  I am finally graduating college, I've spent the last 7 years working towards this elusive thing called my Bachelor Degree (some of you might think this is a typo and I really meant “Masters”.  It is not, and you should all be jealous that I found ways to avoid real life for so long.).  For the longest time this “Degree” and “Real Life” seemed like something that was as mystical and intangible as a leprechaun riding a unicorn over a double rainbow.  It just never happened, but I let my guard down for two seconds and the University shoves a degree down my throat and says, “don't let the door hit you on the way out”.  Well shoot, now I have to do something with myself, unless I can avoid this “real life”.
      What happened next is something that could only be chalked up to Fate pulling a fast one.  I was having this aforementioned crisis of me getting my degree and teaching certificate, being thrust out into the cruel world and being told to make something of myself when I received the email.  It was a perfect match, an opportunity to teach abroad, AND get paid to do it!  It seemed right, like dating a girl who is fun, cute, and likes watching football while knocking back a cold one on Sundays.  It only took a moment to decide that I wanted to go, it took a month to find the perfect time to tell my parents that I was leaving the country for a while.  I told them and they gave me high fives and talked about finally renting out my room at home.  I blinked in May and woke up on a Korean Air flight in August, the rest has been a blur.
      Even while writing this I've avoided giving a conclusive answer to why I chose to take part in the TaLK program, and I don't think I need one.  Since being here I have taken a bit of  “Dynamic Korea” to heart…
      There is only so much that one can be in control of, I've always found easier to roll with the punches rather than try and block each one.  I can fight the forces that be and change nothing, or I can throw caution to the wind and get on that bus going somewhere new and exciting.  I can smile at anyone, even though I am scared out of my wits, and lost beyond belief.  I can laugh at my mistakes when I should be crying and calling home to mom.  I can smile and nod to that old Korean dude with zero English that just talked my ear off for the last hour when I was waiting for the train.  I can do all of that because it so easy to play it safe, to stagnate in what I know and what is familiar to me.  That is easy, that is safe, and I hate that.  I did not come to Korea to be comfortable, I came here to throw myself into new situations.  I came here to fall flat on my face, and learn from it.  I came here to experience & embrace a culture that has roots running thousands of years deeper than my own.  I came here to teach, but I wonder if I am more a student.  I came here to avoid “real life”, but I am finding my life is more real than I would have ever imagined.