Atypically Normal

Another year finishes and another starts.  How will I look back on my life 12 months from now?  What will I have learnt?  Onward!

School life:  A "State of Mind"

A year ago I dreaded this class, now they are my favorite class some days.  My high octane 3rd grade kiddies!

Add "hamster" to the list of animals that I have had come to my English Class.

So nice to see these Kindergardeners get a chance to play and learn at the same time.

The brain is fascinating, I love to see it work grow with my students.  This aspect of educational psychology is almost magical to see at work.  It would not be profound to say that adults and children do not think alike, but I remind myself of this everyday.  Nothing is more satisfying to me than watching a student "climb" the mental scaffolding and produce a new and greater understanding by their own intellectual means.  I have a few professors to thank for showing me this avenue of metacognition to explore.  I was trained in school to "think" like an adult.  But, as a teacher of children, I must learn again think as a child...  At the risk of opening some sort of learning psych paradox, I feel strongly that I need to learn and experience more with this. 

Life Life: Atypically Normal

Risk: "Hours of fun, resentment until the next time we play"

It seems like I do as much hiking in the winter as a do in the other 3 season... Just as well, less crowded. 

Getting my x-mas sweets fix, and spreading the joy of apricot cookies around the world. 

Keeping busy isn't really a problem, I am happy to be able to spend my free time doing things with some wonderful people.  It brings a healthy balance to my life, as teaching can have some very exhausting moments.  

Snow: Wut?

Oh it's snowing again?  Must be Friday...

Almost with clockwork-like precision, it has snowed every Friday in December.  This is after I have described winter in Korea as "Cold, but Sunny.  No snow... Definitely no snow at all." many dozens of times.  Sigh, the only thing constant about the weather is its inconsistency.  

People: See you when I see you

Here is to a stellar 2013.

Life Beckons

After a few months of neglect and half-hearted attempts at writing something to put here I have decided to discard a few of my previous drafts that had begun to look like spectacular monoliths of beige verbose-ness. I want this to be a light and fluffy croissant, I say this as much of America is dreaming away a Tryptophan induced Thanksgiving coma.

For a while I have wanted to see a sunrise on a mountain top.  While the instructions to do so are both simple and short (be at the top of a mountain in the morning), the logistics are more difficult.  I had thought about camping out near a peak, but plans to do so never came to fruition, autumn came and is basically on the way out and winter in Korea is no time to be hanging out at 3000ft all night.
I was invited to do a late fall road trip to Jirisan, or Jiri mountain with some friends, so I thought this would be a nice change of pace from what a normal weekend might be, and it was probably the last time I could do a hike this year.
Public transportation, while amazing and affordable, has a few drawbacks... mostly when traveling to more rural areas.  To get to Jirisan, our group would have had to take 3 buses to and 3 buses to get back.  For a 2 day weekend that is a lot of time of buses and lot a lot of time in nature.  So the planners decided to rent a car for the weekend.  Wow great!  ...but who will drive?
I had gotten my International Driving Permit in August, and, was therefore selected to be driver....
Now, I had had limited driving experience in Korea prior to this, but as different as things might seem between driving in SE Michigan and Korea a lot of things are similar and just a few differences.

Pushing the "go faster" pedal in Korea

Similarities:
     -Drive on the right side of the road
     -People generally drive with very little perception of anything happening around them
     -4-wheels, gas, brake, steering wheel
     -Green=go
     -Red=stop

Differences
     -kph
     -what is a kilometer, anyway?
     -Ajjumas entitlement complex

I now know how my Dad felt on road trips...

That being said, the driving was without incident, and traffic was manageable with the exception of a bit of a backup on the way back.  Gas is more expensive here, than in the US, but because we drove an LPG car and nobody knows what a "gallon" is here (crazy, logical metric system) I can't know how much more for sure.
I love nature, and the convenience of being on my own time schedule put this idea of getting a car here had put a thought-bug in my head.  We'll see where this goes... Gangwon-do beckons.

Whatever reservations and uncertainties I had had about the trip before the weekend were wiped out because we had a blast.  It was really a great time, and so beautiful.  We stayed in a big log cabin type of lodge that looked like a big tree house bunk bed room.  From there it was about 25-30 min to the peak.  Would recommend to a friend.
But don't take my word for it, look at the pictures...

Our room for the night.

Day 1 afternoon light. 

Two 7th gens... and one guy we just met. 

Early morning on day 2

Some snow, but mostly heavy frost. 

Beautiful

So windy, but so worth it. 

This isn't really a formal announcement, and it might come as little surprise to some... I am switching teaching programs in March, to a full time position and will be on a year contract.  Some things will change, and others will stay the same.  I am excited to continue down the road towards becoming a Master Teacher, something that I must always strive for and work towards everyday.

"Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death."  A. Einstein 

Sunsets and Sunrises in the land of the Morning Calm

I am not sure what kind of entry this post will be.  It seems the longer I go between posts, the more wayward, backlogged, and difficult it is to write...  Even if it is writing about myself.
Instead of shoving two months worth of travels and mishaps down your throat, I will try and break them off into easily digestible morsels.  Delicious and Nutritious.

If at any time you feel as if I am shoving a verbose fruitcake down your esophagus; Take a break.  Go to the kitchen and pour a glass of wine, take a PeptoBismol shooter and start where you left off.  Or don't do that, I was never one for giving sound advice.

I'll include some pictures, because who doesn't like pictures.

This journey starts and ends in Korea, like a sandwich.  Two pieces of bread with enough in the middle to satiate... someone who is difficult to satiate.

The final two weeks of my 2nd contract finishing at the end of July was filled with new things, old things, and too many KXT trains to Seoul.

EunHye and I looking smart.

EunHye and I were destined to work together, it would seem.  A few years ago she was my friend's Co-Teacher where she taught in Korea (a year before I arrived), then she was a TaLK coordinator and helped me retrieve my laptop when I had mistakenly/ stupidly sent it to a province of Korea in which I had no plans to actually be in pick it up (see Sept 2011 entries).  Then she got a job teaching in another school in my city.  So, really it was bound to happen.  

She asked me to help her talk about roles of Overseas and Korean Scholars in my program, in addition to a demo class on co-teaching.  This is something I like to do and is a progression to teaching teachers, something that I could see myself doing in a few of the infinite number of futures that I can see/realize for myself. 

The lectures were fun, and even though I had to trek 3 hours from my town into Seoul a few times it was worth it to juggle the lectures and English Camp at my School at the time.

Public transportation at it's best. 

My only regret being so busy this week is that, due to trains leaving Seoul on Friday afternoon, I missed a final "Goodbye Dave" dinner with Dave, his Co-Teacher, and friends.  I mean, I had already had about a dozen "goodbye" type of occasions, but it hurt a little to miss.  In all honesty though, I'll see Dave again somewhere, sometime.

The Golden Age of Yeongcheon-Chilgok Relations

I had a day of packing and cleaning before I set out on the longest day of my life... Normal days are limited to 24 hours.  However, when you time travel (overseas travel) it is possible to extend a single day to 36+ hours.  Here was my day...  Get out your abacuses boys and girls!

Saturday:

-3am alarm wake up
-4am train
-5:30 transfer
-7am arrive at Seoul Station
-7:30 AREX train to Incheon Airport
-7:35 to ~8:30 chocolate break
-9am check in for flight/security mojo
-10am last meal in korea before vacation
-11am board flight
-Time travel
-2pm, Land in Chicago after 13hr flight
-4pm land in Detroit
-4:40 let lagged hello to family
-6-10pm Food, Family, Confusion, and Bobby
-10 to forever... Coma

See ya in a bit, Korea.

I had only a few expectations and "to-do" items for my 3 week vacation back in the States.  They were:

1.  Eat all the food without reservation.

2.  Drink all the beer, but with at least a little more restraint than what I showed when I demolished that bowl of guacamole...

3.  Don't miss my return flight.

I'm going to skip the daily log of what my vacation entailed.  Which, had I included it, would have added a volume of writing that would put Tolkien's un-edited version of Lord of The Rings to shame.  Suffice to say, it was nice.

Before I knew it, I was in Chicago having my last meal (bbq pulled pork) with my Aunt Jan the evening before my flight.  It was a good vacation, I didn't see everyone nor did I do everything but it was time to go back.  Back home?  I've said that before, but it was easier to say this time.

I had thought about separating this entry in two.  But, then I thought that people might read them out of order, then I thought that people might not even care.  My penultimate thought was that the people who might read this probably know me at some level and have already realized that I am a bit aloof (see: idiot) and have accepted me for it (or at least tolerated it).  My final thought was that I was thinking too much and that make my head hurt.

Anywho...

...Chapter II: 2nd year in Korea

As appearances go not much has changed; I am in the same City, same school, same apartment, and many of the same students.  What has changed is what is on the inside.

I remember a year and a month ago when I was a fresh face in Jochiwon at TaLK orientation, our Group supervisor Kevin said something to this effect... "You will look back at where you were a week from now and be amazed at what you have experienced, same for a month from now.  Imagine how you will feel when you look back on yourself a year from now."

I can finally do this, look back on my year in Korea.  Change from day to day is gradual in the same way a single step climbing a mountain is largely unremarkable, but when you take the compounded days, weeks & months you get something unique and stunning.
I would be a different person had I spent the past year playing Minecraft in my parent's basement, but I'd like to think I've made a more positive metamorphosis spending the past year as I did, teaching abroad.
I like to look at this as if an evolution of sorts is taking place day-to-day.  I have my ideals & goals, and as time passes certain aspects or traits of my life are either strengthened or eliminated.
It is a little odd loosening my mental grip on ideals and goals that I have had for years, it almost feels as if I am taking my foot out of a door that is closing on me.  After some time passes I loose my myopic view of things and begin to see a new set of opportunities in the distance. This is how I am beginning to see things.

What I have realized

I love teaching.  Nothing is as simple, or as cerebral.  It is dynamic, and tiresome.  It is what I make it, and maybe the most profound; It is everywhere.  I get paid for what I do in the classroom, but being a teacher is so much more.  The more time I spend with students interacting, and socializing.  The greater the returns are in the classroom.
I still believe very much, that education not what is assessed on exams, but more on how an individual is socialized and how they interact within their society.  Education is natural, learning is natural, We get holes in the process when we isolate learning without an acceptable base.  We are most comfortable with tangible goals, something visible to strive for.  A number to aim for; it could be a test score or a dollar amount, it is ingrained into our global society.  To play the game, you have to follow rules.  I see people associating happiness with attachments of these goals and failure for not reaching them.  Enter the quintessential phrase "money can't buy you happiness", maybe happiness has more to do with my perspective on life than societies opinion on my wallet.  I think I was talking about teaching elementary school students before that little tangent.  Summary:  Teaching is good.

Do I miss teaching music?

Something inside me tells me I should, it is what I have studied to do for nearly 7 years before leaving for Korea.  I think I could love teaching music too.  I am sort of dancing around my own question here...  I don't regret continuing to teach English rather than going back to the states to teach music.  I can't regret such decisions.  If at some point in the future I find myself teaching music, then so be it. I can't go down both paths at the same time.  I am in a place I had not foreseen, although I never felt trapped I wanted out of the box that I was building myself into.  I jumped out the window and left the GPS at home, I'll know where I am when I get there.

Do I miss home?

As my mother has pointed out to me, it is humorous to imagine that I would take to living abroad as easily as I have when you realize that I was the kid who couldn't sleepover a friends house the whole night until 5th grade because I would get homesick.  Home is not dead to me but I realize that missing home does little good to me.  Sure, I wish that there were more than two Taco Bells in Korea.  Sure, I miss my dog.  America is where I grew up and I'll have those memories forever, but I'm not bound to it like Gollum and the Ring.  If anything I am a bit like Bilbo, and my thirst for worldliness is Gandalf's prying influence.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?...1 year... next week... tomorrow... what are you having for dinner?

I am hesitant to communicate in finalities because I am all too aware of the constantly changing nature of my life, and, in a much greater sense, the universe.  But, if I talk about my plans and convictions with hesitance and conditional clauses, I might as well equate the progression of my life with the amount of sogginess that accumulates in a bowl of graham crackers after you spill, say, a gallon of milk on them.  You get the picture...  Life changes, adjust, reflect, grow, reassess.

If you stayed tuned until the end, thanks.  Hope you enjoyed a bit of everything.  You're probably satiated, but take some leftovers home until next time...

My piano, and 7 other wonderful mistakes I've made in Korea

Exhausting, yet fun-filled times with some wonderful people.

It seems as if I've fallen into the same category as seemingly every other Joe that posts their ramblings on the internet by apologizing for not updating in a frequent enough manner. However,  I'm not sure enough people care about reading my written spew to warrant an apology anyways so I'll just gloss over it and indulge you in the misguided adventures of a college graduate teaching in Korea.

I miss a few things that are absent from my life here in Korea, most of them being food (Shwarma, Avocados, Taco Bell, ground beef that isn't more expensive than gold), but among the non food items would have to be my piano.  So I did what any bozo with 400,000Won would do and bought one.
It's not fantastic, but it is really nice to be able to wake up brew a jug of green tea and jam out some Brahms in my under-roos before I go to school.  As a result of me having the piano, and a second larger bed in my Korean size apartment I don't have much room for anything else.  Probably for the best.

It didn't take long to look as disheveled as my baby back home,
 disheveled is what I do best.

Here is a short list of mistakes that turned out to be wonderful, or at least non-fatal...

2.  Learning Korean
          -100 reasons I don't have to
          -a few reasons why I should
          -even a 2yr old level of Korean helps out exponentially

3.  Instant coffee.  It's how they do it here in Korea, probably toxic but helps me run with 1st grade.

4.  Befriending an Englishman.  We've been to Taiwan and back without any planning whatsoever.  Socks, Marmite, Ministry of Silly Walks.

5.  Traveling off the cusp.  While it can be done, next time I'll probably book a hostel beforehand or something.

6.  Meeting random people.  I've had a conversation with a Korean in Spanish, chatted with a Swede in Korean.  Been corrected by a German in English.  If there isn't a common language we can always play charades.

7.  Walking.  Not having a car to worry about is liberating.  Of course the mass transit system here is fantastic, but walking everywhere gives an intimate knowledge of what you pass by and see.  Much more so than what you take in from a car going by at 120kph.

8.  Making lists of things on the fly.  I originally wanting this to be a solid "10 things" sort of list but I can't be bothered to think of anymore so this is all you get.

Seoul is huge, annoying, smelly, expensive, and beautiful.  

I really don't enjoy Seoul, but sometimes it can be fantastic.  I made a trip up to Seoul in May with Dave, Jihye, and Su-jin to visit our friend, Jinny at university.  She was My friend's co-teacher last semester and through some complex randomness we all are connected.  It was a simple weekend with dinner, Hongdae clubs, ice cream, and a Bike ride.

Dave catching some Z's by the Han River.

Ultimate Frisbee season had long been finished, but some wonderful people down in Busan organized a two day tournament on one of the less crowded but equally beautiful beaches.  It was nice meeting some new people and having some fun on the beach.  Also nice wining a few games, which was surprisingly rare in the regular season.

The Megalodons ruled the seas for a million years, now we take the sand.

Teachers had a Wednesday off for a holiday so a few of us went to Daegu to climb Palgongsan, it is a mountain I have climbed before, but I did a different rout and the weather was a lot nicer than the last time.  Getting a summit has a way of making you feel like you've done something with your day, it also takes the guilt out of going to the gym and only using the Sauna (guilty).

If the humidity wasn't always above 70% in the summer you could see my house.
Now you can only see my sweat. 

An odd and wonderful group of misfits. 

Open class time for some is a time to freak out, open class for me is a regular class where I get to ham it up for an audience.  My mentor teacher asked why I was not nervous, I said I have been judged and criticized during my undergrad studying music.  I know the kids will be great, I know the principal and administration will love me.  Call it narcissism if you want, I keep my head out of the clouds most of the time.  I am a believer of self-fulfilling prophecies, a little bit of butterflies are good but lets keep the positive thoughts going,  eh?
The class went splendid, students were awesome and energetic.  Transitions went smoothly, and everything was covered.  I was a bit surprised to find out so many teachers from other schools and even a few higher-ups from the office of education came including a previous coordinator for the program I am part of.

3rd grade ready to take on the elusive "L" sound.
Lollipop - Rorripop

Gettin' that English.  All day, every day. 

Max teaching the class because my feet hurt teaching a subject shows the greatest
level of mastery. 

"You are smart, pretty, and everyone loves you."

Whenever one of my Korean friends post something in Korean on Facebook, there is an option for translation.  Sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes the results are hilarious.

A new day yesterday ran out of shit is on fire, and because it was my friend, after a home visit by saying that is was instigating a cans of beer at 2am and went...
I'm sorry buddy but I can't eat that shit today, capping a trial soon, and my heart says a stomach is drinking.
This is to get up and eat and sleep at night again and bring about true do you think Sal...

It is almost like profound poetry.

Continent hopping. 

It might be okay to say now that, I've been approved for another 6 month contract extension to stay and teach at my school.  I have a flight home and will be bumming around 'merica for just under three weeks before I fly back and go head first into a new semester of teaching in Waegwan.  It'll be bittersweet to see the people who I have shared a year in Korea with go back home to Canada, England, America, Australia, and South Africa.  It is part of the circle of life of anyone living abroad and so much so in a program that has people on 6 month or 1 year contracts.  It's a good healthy dose of cherish the past, plan for the future and living the now.  

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.

 -Thoreau

The Weird and Wonderful

For better or for worse, teaching is delightfully unpredictable.

Being here for 8 months and counting, I look back and reflect on things I used to be shocked by that seem utterly normal and mundane now.  I guess it is still as odd as it was on day one, only that I’ve become a little more used to the shock and spectacle of it.

I roll into school, go through the greetings settle down and get my room ready for today’s circus classes.  I hear the kindergarteners walking to lunch, which is my cue to make my way to the cafeteria to eat with the 1^st graders.  As I walk along the covered dirt path in my indoor sandals the janitor grandma accompanies me and talks my ear off about who knows what, she speaks fast and has a tone quality that would give Tom Waits a run for his money (I think I pick out something about soju and a kimchi festival…).  As I walk into the cafeteria I see 85 kindergarteners rear their heads around as if SNSD just walked in, I bask in the spotlight and try and ignore the fact that the kindergarten teachers now have to corral a handful of their students who were eating just fine until I crashed the party.  I grab my lunch tray and see what surprises the day has in store for me.  Purple rice with little things of not-rice, sweet!  The lunch lady puts a death grip on my tray with one hand as she scoops an unnecessarily large amount of rice onto my tray, she winks and puts another scoop on top of the already massive pile of carbs.  I continue down the line and pick up some fish thing, shredded vegetable something, and spicy soup, 잘 먹겠습니다! 

            Back in my room, I continue to ready my lessons and whatnot.  It isn’t long however, before my door slides open with various students saying hello, drawing on my board, telling me so and so went to the hospital and can’t come to class today, and of course the odd game of tag that wanders through my room.  It isn’t long before I find myself staring my 1^st graders in the face… cue the music, song and dance man.  The day turns into a blur, I remember bits and pieces, MinSoo put markers up his nose, Seong Kyeong just laughed the entire time, I don’t think Boo Seong actually sat down once.  Rinse and repeat for 3^rd grade,  Dan is trying to tell me a story about something with lots of explosions, Ashley doesn’t remember how to spell her name, Lauren and Annie are convinced I am in love with my co-teacher and Lily asks me if I want to marry her sister.  Yikes.  A random fact about my 5^th grade: however small in numbers, the idea of an intimate class dynamic with thoughtful conversation goes straight out the window after you find out that ALL of them go to the same Taekwondo academy.  Talk about keeping me on my toes.  I breathe a bit air after the 5^th grade K-Tigers leave and pack up, I’m not done yet, though.  Two teachers have their kids in kindergarten and twice a week I read a book to them, they are darlings and full of hunger for knowledge (they haven’t started the Hagwan circuit yet).  I say goodbye to them and find that their mother has left a pumpkin rice cake on my desk with a note that says “Thank you”. 

            On the good days the feeling is intoxicating, and on the bad days I feel like a bus hit me.  At any rate I hang my hat on the fact that tomorrow is a new day to try something else, or to improve on the successes of yesterday.  My life/ Korea, Weird and Wonderful.  Same-same. 

"With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now." ~Emerson

What a whirlwind of activity this past month, a truly wonderful time.  Winter has left Korea and spring is almost ready to explode from the trees, the cherry blossoms will be in full effect very soon.  Flowers are sprouting, my students have a renewed fervor (which is wonderful, but I could do will a bit less sometimes), and the farm next to my apt has fertilized and planted this years cabbage crop.  

Teaching is an ongoing process, some days are exhausting but rewarding and other days are just exhausting.  With the new year, comes new students and a new class dynamic.  I have some large disparities of english levels in my 5th and 6th grade classes, some students go to Hagwons and have a high level; others in the same class struggle with the alphabet and low level vocabulary.  I am not sure how to best tackle this, it will be a big challenge.  

I am steadily convinced that I do as much teaching (if not more) outside of my classes than I do during.  I only teach about 15-20% of the students in my school, but nearly all the students have a quick conversation with me when I am walking down the hall, or to lunch.  Even walking to the store or train station I often see students, I guess I strive to make myself as approachable for conversation to them since I know that 80 min of class each week is not nearly enough to make a significant dent.  

None of these girls are actually enrolled in my classes, they just run amok in between lunch and after school class. 

Same here.  These 5th graders come and clean my room some days, constantly remarking on how dirty it is. 

The ultimate frisbee league I joined has really been a ton of fun.  We aren't very good, but we get along great and always have a good time.  Over St. Patties day weekend we had a set of games in Busan, we played right on the beach, what a cool time.  The weather was a perfect as we could have hoped, we did manage to find some time to have a Guinness and a few green beers as well.  After our games on sunday we hobbled our broken bodies over to Jalgachi fish market and had a feast of seafood, so fresh and so delicious! 

A day of frisbee on Haeundae Beach.

So much fresh food, so good.

Next weekend we have games of two days in Gyeoungju, I am looking forward to it immensely.  It is happening the same time as the city's cherry blossom festival so there will be much to see. 

The rest of March is filled in with my mundane day to day activity...  Going to the gym/sauna, playing piano at my doughnut cafe, doing a little screen golf now and then, learning a bit more korean.  Pretty normal stuff, but it keeps me busy.  However, the mundane took a break this past weekend and let crazy take charge for a while.  It was my birthday weekend, no frisbee games, and with a week of nice weather Daegu was calling my name for a night out...

I had a pretty boring friday planned (Saturday was my "party").  I went to the gym, soaked in the sauna and gave an impromptu english lesson to a overly talkative kid in the steam room, and went to go jam on piano at the coffee shop.  The coffee shop was empty except for me and the two owners, I adore them and they like to chat as well.  They found out it was my birthday and they insisted to take me out for fried chicken and draft beer after they closed shop.  They told me I would be home by midnight, and it would not be a late night... Right.  We drove to Gumi to the restaurant which is owned by one of their friends.  I had met the owner once before at an open mic show a few weeks before, she found out I was coming and that is was my birthday so she gave me a bottle of wine!  Nice.  

Delicious chicken with the doughnut ladies!

We had only just finished the chicken before the owner shuffled me to her car and said we were going to another place for makgeolli (rice wine).  It is a beautiful thing how food and drink can bring together people and overcome the language barrier, as well as a good exercise in my practical korean skills.  This is an aspect of Korean Culture that is universal and beautiful, more on this friendliness later.  

as the clock struck midnight and it was officially my birthday the table sang me happy birthday... three hours later I made it back into my apt, so much for a relaxing friday night!

The next morning I met two frisbee friends downtown for a little game of golf and a par 3 course in my city.  After 18 holes we got some soup and decided that I didn't need a shower or to change clothes before going to Daegu for dinner and a night out with friends so we just played Korean Billiards until the train.  Nice x2.

We gathered at a restaurant for  pre-dinner and conversation.  Moved to a Japanese grill place, had skewers and traditional beverages.  Jin got me a cake, and the night took off from there.  It was a success, I'm not a huge fan of cameras on nights like these but the pictures do an okay job of story-boarding what happened. 

Birthday Drink.

Concerned.

Still concerned, but entertained. 

Wat.

Dave and I on the wall. 

Friendly Korean Culture...

At the place with the fire show, I met a brother and sister.  The older brother was visiting his sister because he is in the Korean Air Force, he spoke pretty good english but he wanted to have me talk to his sister because she had never talked with a native english speaker before.  I found out she is a pianist!  So we talked about music, Brahms, Saxophone, Chopin.  It was fantastic!  We met another group of Koreans (a flaming fire show is a good way to bring attention to yourself at a bar, I guess), one was an English teacher so we rolled out together and exchanged info to meet up again.  This just solidifies in my mind what a friendly culture they have in Korea.  

It seems like I just finished thinking about extending my contract for the 1st time, but it is time again to ponder the possibilities and weigh my options.  Living in the present is important, but some planning and foresight is needed from time to time.  Sigh.

The Guide's wisdom always puts things into perspective...

"You live and learn.  At any rate, you live."  D. Adams