December 15, 2009 at 10:25 am · Filed under Lifestyle
I really think Koreans need a lesson on logic.
The school bathrooms are cold, but fortunately there is a heater in the teacher’s bathrooms. When the heater is on, the bathroom gets warm. It is comfortable to poop and pee when the air is warm. It is a convenience.
So, why would you open the windows or turn on the ventilation fan?
Seriously, all the warm air gets sucked right out. What’s the point of having a heater, if you’re going to blow in cold air? The bathroom is clean, it’s not like it reeks of urine and feces. Dammit, stop being stupid!
There are some foreign teachers that have to teach English to the Korean teachers. I don’t do that, but if I did… Lesson 1 one would be “Were you raised in a barn?”
Occasionally, I hear foreigners talking about Thanksgiving plans, and I want nothing to do with them. One website has a list of restaurants that will serve Thanksgiving dinners. They’re all expensive and will most likely be disappointing. Eventhough, I love me some mashed taters and green bean casserole, it has to be homemade the way my family does it. The Korean interpretation would be subpar, because their idea of a Thanksgiving dinner is different than mine,… as everyone’s is.
Years ago, Black Friday was a secret kind of thing only for the early risers, who picked up the newspapers. I mean – we only had the newspapers to go on, and you only knew about the Black Friday deals the day of. It was much smaller. Now, it seems like Black Friday, is it’s it’s own holiday. Now that the secret is out, it doesn’t seem as alluring.
I have iPod headphones, but I think I want to buy a pair of headphones to keep at school. I’ve been listening to the 24 hour NPR stream at work. This week, they’ve been talking a lot about Thanksgiving food, the alternatives, and the tradition breakers.
Last week, I read that Microsoft started denying XBOX Live accounts to people using modchips. Without XBOX Live, people started selling the 360s for cheap. Since, I…well…never play online games. I thought that was interesting. If I were back in the States, I’d probably buy one of these hacked XBOXs and load it up with off-line titles.
I always watch The Ultimate Fighter. I’m looking forward to the finale, but Wikipedia shows that the coaches wont battle it out. Rampage is pulling out of the fight, because he took a movie role. Lame.
I looked at the St Rams record, 1W – 11L. Terrible… I still want to watch some football these days.
E-book readers interest me, but I dont know why. I’d only buy one if there existed an online library. I’d like to check out books for a rented period of 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, it would automatically delete or I could renew it for a small fee like $.05. For someone like me, I think a fee would be good, because it would give me an incentive to hurry up and finish the book. I could be a procrastinator or pay up. The money would then go to the online library.
BTW, I’m still reading Hyperion. It’s been over 3 months.
Today, 2 of my classes are canceled. A teacher said the students were getting lectured on the flu (again) and receiving flu shots. FLU SHOTS! I asked the teacher about he and I. Could we get flu shots? He said, “No, we have to die.” He chuckled and walked away.
I know Mom wants a Blu-Ray player for her HDTV. I dont think she’s ever watched anything truley HD on that TV, yet. I keep looking at these mini computers, because they have more flexibility. A set top Blu-Ray player is just a minimalist computer, anyhow.
December 2, 2009 at 2:27 pm · Filed under Lifestyle
2 weeks ago, the high school opened the ‘English Zone’ and the new teachers lounge. The best (only) good feature of the teacher’s lounge is the standing vibrator machine. You stand on it, and the floor shakes up and down. It works your legs and abs as you balance yourself. You can also work you upper body, if you kneel on the floor and put your arms on the shaking floor. However, the real beauty of this machine is that I have the best bathroom breaks afterwords. It loosens me up; No joke.
Secondly, there is a flat panel TV in the lounge. I’m going to lobby to put a Nintendo Wii and Wii FIT in here. I dont care if I have to buy it myself. I would get so much pleasure, if I walked into the room and saw a group of teachers playing Wii Sports. That would be awesome! The school needs the Google-plex atmosphere. Entertainment and games stimulate activities, learning, and work.
November 2, 2009 at 9:24 am · Filed under Lifestyle
I think this will be my last semester with the Korean church class. I’ve paid for the semester, and I’ll keep going for the snacks. But if something else comes up on a Saturday, I wont hesitate to skip the class. (and I think I may have found something else to occupy my time)
The teaching focus just isn’t up to my standards anymore. It could be that I’m studying 2 chapters ahead of where the class is in the book. It could be that the teachers are all volunteers and don’t put their full effort into the class. It could be that the most vocal students all get on my nerves. It could be that I commute (sometimes) 2 hours into Seoul in the morning to study Korean, and I don’t want to dick around in class.
The class was useful when I was starting out, but now its not maintaining the same amount of difficulty for me. I can learn the grammar focus and vocab at home on my own. I dont want to fill out the workbook during class time. I want to spend my time practicing and using Korean in the classroom.
In 2 weeks, they are organizing a field trip for Saturday and Sunday. But the trip isn’t going to any Korean culture destinations. They’re going to a recreational site maintained by the church. The itinerary has a lot of questionable time blocks.
11:20~12:30 “Mission Impossible”
3:30~ 5:00 “We Will Rock You!”
8:00~ 9:00 “U Can Do It!”
10:20~11:30 “We Are Champions”
I’m sorry, but I wont be in attendance for this. My Saturday and Sunday free time is too valuable for whatever team building or motivational activities you have have planned.
October 27, 2009 at 10:10 am · Filed under Lifestyle
The school may have a festival coming up. One of the clubs will raise money by selling baked goods and coffee.
My Korean teacher said the supervisor of the club wanted to combine two words, like bakery and coffee shop into one “cutesy” word. I said, “No, we’re not doing that.” I wont have any part in Konglish or the process of mashing words together.
He said, “Yeah, but brunch is a combined word.” I told him that brunch (though questionable) is a universally understood English word made popular by English speakers. When Korean people do it, native English speakers will snicker, because it portrays a misunderstanding of the English language.
Instead, I did a thesaurus search. I wrote down 6 appropriate words and said, “Pick one”.
