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