July 3, 2009 at 11:05 am · Filed under Lifestyle
In 1998, I remember walking into Foot Locker and shopping for new shoes. I saw a pair of blue/yellow and yellow/blue Adidas shoes. They were low cut, basic style, flat soles, and suede body. I didn’t know it at the time, but they were durable tanks. The yellow/blue pair looked too much like bananas, but the royal blue/yellow shoes were just right. It was love at first site.
10 years later, I was still wearing them. I may have put them away for a year or two, but they were always around. I never did any physical activities in them. (Although, I let my high school friend wear them for tennis a couple times. They got dinged when he skidded his feet) Structurally, they remained sound and without tear. They were “getting around” shoes. At the heels, the soles were wearing down from when I dragged my feet. The royal blue lost it’s pristine tone and turned navy/black. The yellow stripes turned brown, but they got better with age.
In my hagwon days, last year, I wore them to English classes and incorporated them into my lessons.
“Are my shoes dirty or clean?”
“They are DIRTY!”
“Are they new or old?”
“They are OLD!”
“HOW old are they?”
“…”
“They are 10 years old. How old are you?”
7 years old!”
“*grimace* “Are they pretty or ugly?”
“They are UGLY!”
“wrong.”
After 10 long years, the only problem was the smell. If I wore them on a hot summer day, the smell after taking them off was putrid. It was the smell of granola and sweaty ass. It couldn’t be subdued. It penetrated my socks and my feet. No amount of Febreeze or baking soda could tame the smell. And for that reason, I had to retire them.
They still reside back at home, but only because I couldn’t bare to throw them away. I wanted to send them to a Nike recycling center. That way they might be resurrected as a rubber turf or track. But, recently, I decided it was time to move on. Fortunately, I found a pair of the same style, but different colors.
June 29, 2009 at 9:52 am · Filed under Lifestyle, Techy
At the end of last week, I went to a couple of my usual dorrent sites. (You know how it goes. I need my weekly download of “So you think You Can Dance”.) However, I was greeted by an error message. It was a lot of undecipherable garble. I thought the website might be down. So, I thought nothing of it. Websites go down, but they come back up.
Well, today. I go back to the website and it’s the same mess. I went to another website, and it was the same message. NOO. I tried a dorrent site that I never use. Gahhhhh! I went to the blog “dorrentfreak”. RAAAGGGEEEE! I see what you did there.
These websites didn’t go down, but these websites have been blocked from the network. And whose network would I be using? The School. You cheeky bastards.
I guess someone has noticed my bandwidth usage. I’m using a static IP, so they must know its coming from me. But rather than talking to me about it or asking me to lower bandwidth usage, they blocked me from visiting the websites. You think you’re *sooooo* smart.
My dorrent client will keep working. They can’t block that or keep it from connecting to peers. (unless they cut off my internet) But they think they’ve stopped me from downloading dorrent files from visiting the websites. lol
I WILL reduce the bandwidth I’m using. But, if I can’t use the school network to connect to these websites. I’ll just visit these sites through someone else’s network. You haven’t won.
June 25, 2009 at 10:54 pm · Filed under Lifestyle, Little Things
You know that scene in Kill Bill 2. Michael Madsen’s character is a bouncer for the strip club. He shows up late for work, and gets called in the boss’s office. Madsen’s reasoning for being late is based on the logic, “I’m a bouncer, but there ain’t no one here to bounce.” The boss retorts, “Let me get this straight. I’m paying you to do a job, and you say you have no job to do.” That’s kinda what shook down today.
Since I’ve been at the school, I’ve witnessed the Winter final exams and Spring mid-term exams. During these 4 day sessions, I have no English classes. Students come to school from morning ’til the afternoon and take exams. That’s it. What do I have to do? … Nothing. There have been additional days when there were no classes as well.
Previously, the heads of the English department went to the Vice Principal, and asked if I could be excused from attending school. Many times this was on short notice, like thee day before short notice. The Head of the English department would come to me and say, “Tomorrow, and the next 3 days you don’t have to come to school. You can just enjoy you’re time.”
Yes, it’s great to have some days off. But, the last minute-ness of this really pissed me off. They would then ask, “What will you do on your vacation?” … What?! You just fucking told me about this. In the last 2 seconds, I haven’t had time to make a daily fucking itinerary?!
Yes, I realize I’m bitching. I actually have work pretty easy at my school, and a day off is a day off. But I never understood why I they had to ask permission all the time from the Vice Principal, and they couldn’t tell me this news sooner. We have the school schedules. We know when the exams are coming up. Do I have to be here or not?
Well, this particular time, I have to remind you who is the current Head of the English Department: The Godfather. He’s a blessing and a curse. In this case, he was lazy, the Vice Principal felt like being a dick, and I made the mistake of assuming.
Wednesday, I knew that final exams were coming up. Thursday was the first day of tests. Friday was the school’s birthday? And exams would resume from Monday through Wednesday.
Eventhough, I never actually heard the phrase, “Mers, you don’t have to come to school during final examinations.” No one said, “Mers, you DO have to come to school to do XYZ during the final exams.” My only job is to teach these English classes. When I’m not teaching, I have nothing else to do. I went ahead and assumed that I didn’t need to come to school. I didn’t have to come the last 2 times, why would this be different.
So, let me reiterate. I AM bitching. I do understand Korean culture. Korean teachers work over twice as hard as I do. Along with regular classes they have to monitor their students, and they have individual tasks within the school. I have things pretty easy. Even though, I can get these days off. Korean teachers sure as hell wouldn’t get any slack or sympathy. They are employed by the school, and they’re gonna be there and put in a full day. Period.
So back to my story.
Today, I woke up and lounged about my apartment. The doorbell rang, and it was the Korean teacher, who I get a ride to school with. I told him, I wasn’t going. I have no classes. He was ok with that answer and left. But in the back of my mind, I thought that was odd. Every other time that I’d been “officially” given the day off, he knew about it. Why was he ringing my doorbell, today? And that got me a little worried, no one “officially” came to me and told me I had these days off.
I was enjoying my time off. Rather than using ATMs, I like to personally walk into the bank to pay my bills. On school days, there’s no time for this. I’m at school from the time the bank opens and closes. The same applies for the post office. So, I paid my bills, picked up a crisp new 50,000W bill (just issued), and mailed letters. Any other week day, I have no time for this. I got home and started flipping through my archive of photos. Around 11:30, I get a call from the Godfather.
Godf: “Mers, where are you?”
Mers: “I”m at home. Why?”
Godf: “Why didn’t you come to school today with Mr Chin?”
Mers: “The students have final examinations. I have no classes today.”
Godf: “Yes. But, Mr Vice Principal asked about you.”
Mers: “Am I supposed to be there.”
Godf: “I want you to enjoy your time.”
Mers: “Okay.”
Godf: “So, you should come to our school, now.”
Mers: “… *sigh*”
So, I threw on some clothes and taxied it to the school.
Let’s be clear. The Godfather is THE Godfather. He, of all people, understands the need for time off. He doesn’t teach his classes with me, like he should. He sleeps in his chair. I told him that none of the students were attending my after school classes. He said, “You’re still getting paid. Just enjoy your time.” The Godfather couldn’t care less if I showed up today or not. He knows I have nothing to do. He has seniority, … except from the Vice Principal. And that’s why this went down. This one time, the Godfather didn’t ask permission if I could be excused for these days.
So, for whatever reason, the Vice Principal noticed that I wasn’t in the office today. I wasn’t blatantly sitting at my desk with my thumbs up my ass, reading blogs, and downloading videos. You know, … “working”. He had to inquire about me. “Where is Mers? Who said Mers didn’t have to come today?” And that responsibility fell on the Godfather.
I arrived at the school and went to see the Godfather. The Godfather wasn’t upset with me, but he had to save face with the Vice Principal. His character and personal responsibility were on the line. It wasn’t mine. We went to the cafeteria, where the VP was eating lunch, and we explained our situation. I played the role of the innocent confused foreigner. The Vice Principal didn’t seem to give two shits, and he said that I could take Monday through Wednesday off.
Thank you, I’m glad we cleared that up. /sarcasm
This is Korean society for you, and like I said I AM bitching. I’m thankful that the Vice Principal thinks and includes me as one of the Korean teachers. I’m thankful for the trips and many lunches we have, but painstakingly, I’ve gotta put in that time.
And now that I was back at the school, I had to put in that full day of work. Examinations were finished for the day, lunch was served, and the students were going home. It was 1 PM. So that left me with 4 hours of “Shoot me in the head. I don’t have my laptop or Korean study books. I’m fucking bored, and I have to stay here unitl 5PM. FUCK … ME.”
June 20, 2009 at 8:18 am · Filed under Lifestyle
This week I attend an Introduction to Korea for GEPIC teachers. Now, looking at my teaching history, one would assume that I need no introduction to Korea nor the classroom. Nonetheless, I went.
Throughout the orientation, I carried the pregidace that these classes weren’t for me. My goal for this orientation was to study some Korean and read my books. I got a fair amount of this accomplished. I cracked my textbooks during lectures. At night, I choose reading in my room over drinking and socializing, But I always felt that I wasn’t doing enough.
On Wednesday, I had to wait 15 min for my teaching partner. We were going to go to the computer lab and work on our powerpoint. Rather than sit in the lab, I choose to wait in the foyer and read my book. I’d also keep my eyes open for my partner. As I waited, some girl disturbed me from my reading time.
She started off by apologizing for interrupting me, but her reasoning was that “She was an extrovert, and liked to speak with introverted people.” What! Since when does reading in the foyer make me an introvert! She, also, had a goal for herself to meet everyone in the orientation and mark their names off the printed out list. In a round about way, I felt insulted. Introverted!
I explained to her that this orientation wasn’t my cup of tea. Most of the people here fit my categorization of the “typical” foreign teacher. I hate the small talk conversations of “What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” “Why are you in Korea?” Everyone asks the same questions. And realistically, the probablitity of me building a friendship outside this orientation is slim. Most people I spoke with couldn’t find their city if you gave them a map of Korea.
She asked for my name, so she could mark me off her list and I said “No, I’m not giving you that.” She said she’d write me down as “guy in red shirt, confident, and no hair.” I told her she could write me down as she might really be thinking, “black glasses, bald, and arrogant.”
Because she disturbed me from my reading, I decided to hit her with a hard and overall inquisitive question. I asked her, “What does your smock dress have to do with your religion?” I’ll admit. It was a directly rude question, but I had already established myself as arrogant and ignorant. But truthfully, I wanted to know with a straight answer.
Her appearance was one that you’ve probably seen. It’s where the females dress completely conservative with a long unattractive dress. It looked completely smock like with two straps at the top and a front that extends above the chest to her ankles. She wore the same dress the day before, so I knew she was “one of those people”, but honestly, I don’t know what “those people are.” Typically, they have long unfashioned hair as well, but her’s was wrapped under a scarf. What’s the name of your religion and how does the unrevealing skirt have to do with it? To these questions, I have never known the answers, and still didn’t get a straight answer.
She didn’t tell me the name of her religion. She did tell me that the dress doesn’t have to do with her “religion” as much as her “relationship with Jesus”. Her future husband, children, and lifestyle all relate to her relationship. BUT WHAT IS IT AND WHY? To these questions, I couldn’t get a straight answer, and at this time I spotted my partner and choose to make a getaway.
In passing, I saw her a few more times. She said, “Hello, Mr Confident!” Under the guise of being polite, I felt she wasn’t being honest. I responded with, “It’s ok to call me arrogant.”
Did I, perhaps, hit her with a difficult question off the bat? Maybe. But if you’re going to interrupt my reading, tell me YOU’RE an extrovert, and I’M an introvert, you’d better be ready to talk. Because, I don’t want to have the superficial small talk.
Now, that that’s over. Let’s get back to my question. “Who are these people?” and “What does their dress have to do with their ‘relationship with Jesus’?”
June 19, 2009 at 1:27 pm · Filed under Little Things
Long story short, I met a guy this week who said that he majored in Sign Language.
*head explode*
It was surprising for me. I suppose Sign Language has it’s own right to be a University major. After all, I need not go into the many *bulgogi* majors out there. But I had never heard or met someone who was majoring in Sign Language. However, a greater explosion came after he told me that he was picking up “Korean Sign Language”.
*head more explode*
WHAT! Sign Language isn’t universal! Out of every language or form of communication, I thought this was standardized. Nope. I guess that only makes since too, right?
It’s unfortunate to think that Cocoa the Gorilla has to learn another country’s signs to speak with Korean or Swedish Gorillas.
Ya learn something new everyday.
Next entries »
