Catalyst

This year the holiday season has hit me really hard. Last year I don't really remember it effecting me strongly at all. Well, I barely made it through Thanksgiving this year, and now Christmas is just a few days away. Something happened that started the downward desention into Christmas Depression '07.

Thursday night, while walking in downtown a group of high school boys, maybe 7 of them, started to yell at me. They shouted "pig." Then they shouted "fuck you." They followed me around the street yelling "pig, fuck you" and making pig noises. These were the first people in Korea that I have ever sworn at in Korean. I told them "fuck off, bastards" but it didn't really do anything. They followed me around doing this for a while.

I'm sorry to say that this middle school kind of behavior really got to me. I know it shouldn't have, but add that to the general feeling of malaise due to the holiday season, and it really has started my emotional tailspin. I can't wait for the holidays to be over with. I know I'll be fine, and that the day after Christmas I will be back to my normal self, but I hate these times when I'm less than myself.

Daniel's Big Night Out

This last weekend was Toni's birthday. She and Sandra (the crazy Aussies) were up in Songtan for the weekend to see friends, drink, eat meat, and buy many things. Here are some pics of the weekend festivities.

The owner of the Bellagio bar, MJ, was having a barbeque for Toni's birthday. She forgot the beef at home, and put me in charge. I had to take a picture. The bar wasn't really opened yet, so I had no responsibilites.

Jennifer took the same position as well. It's a good photo op.Here is Toni wearing the coat that Victoria gave her. She loves it! It kept getting passed around to lots of people to try on. She called it her pimp coat, and kept telling people I was the number one bitch in her stable.Recouping after a night of drinking with a cup of tea, that I made from behind the bar. Notice the bracelet, it was my gift to her. By the way, she came up to get her hair done too. She goes to this Korean woman named Ms. Piggy (I don't know where they get these names) because she has 16 years of experience cutting non-Asian hair (there's a big difference). Well, Ms. Piggy uses about a whole can of hairspray and makes Toni look like an old lady here in Korea. Like a big football helmet. It doesn't move when Ms. Piggy is done with it.

Here is a picture of me making the tea behind the bar. The bar owner, MJ is molesting me. I feel so dirty.Jude and Jeff (MJ's boyfriend, and another birthday boy, it was a two-fer) doing some grilling up on the roof. Everyone looks good with the coat on.Sandra, she loves being loud and singing and dancing. Here she is with a very drunk retired military guy. She's so awesome.Jude ran out of the bar real quick to buy a birthday cake. He even spung for the fancy candles. Toni loved it, Jeff had to go home by this time (military guys have a 1a.m. curfew). MJ spreak chocolate icing on Toni's cheeks and licked it off. I don't know if that's a Korean thing or if MJ is just a crazy girl. Probably the latter.

Later, we were joined by three more of Toni's friends. They were great guys. We went to another bar called the Scorpion. Here are some random pics from that night. Also, we ran into drunk U.S. military guys wearing crazy winter hats. One had long blond hair attached to the hat. Enjoy the pictures!

Daniel: A Study

Here is a sketch that a friend of mine made of me. It started life as a doodle, and then he made it into me. He's not too fond of it, but I adore it and think it captures my cherub-like personality.

Black Face?

I have a very interesting question. There is currently a production of the musical "Hairspray" that is going on in Seoul right now. It's in Korean. I have two questions about this. First, the show is about a large girl. There really are no large girls in Korea, and if they find one, can she sing? So, who is playing the role of Tracy? The other question is this. The show is about race equality. Where do they find black people in Korea? And even if they find them, can they speak/sing in Korean? So that makes me wonder, does the show have Koreans in black face. I wonder so much about this right now. How do you perform a show about racial equality when there is only one race here?

Franchised

Soda Star, my favorite coffee shop in the world has opened up another shop. This one is about 2 blocks away from the original. It's much bigger, and decorated like a drag queen or Liberace exploded all over the place. It's very nice thought, and I'm sure Mr. Soda Star will cover the expenses quite quickly. By the way, the prices are much higher than at the original Soda Star. I did go on the opening day, so I received a free Soda Star Cafe mug. I'm so excited by it.

Deliciousness Revealed

Now, I've been in Korea for a year and a half. There are many street food vendors, and I haven't tried certain things. Usually, I make it a rule to stay away from squid and fish things, as well as anything that is simply scary looking.

The other week I tried a new food. It was amazing! They are called hoddeok. It is a stuffed pancake. It is stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar, and sesame seeds. God, they're so good. Now I'm angry at myself for not trying them a year and a half ago. Here's a woman in Songtan making giant hoddeok. In Anseong they are smalled and are 3 for a dollar.

A Weekend In America

This last weekend I went to Songtan, also called America Town or Little America. It's where the airbase is, as you should all know by now. I went with Victoria and Jennifer, and we met up with Jude and Toni. We had a great lunch and wonderful time hanging out. Here are some pics from the day.

Here is a picture of my friend Jude with a woman who hands out flyers to passersby. The flyers were for manicures or something. She decided to do something very "There's Something About Mary" to attract attention. I think it worked.

After meeting for lunch, the ladies went off to Miss Piggy's. She is a hairdresser with lots of experience working with white people's hair. She is where everyone goes to when they need a dye job or hair cut. While they were in the salon, Jude and I went with Dini and James to the market area of Songtan. I've never been to this Korean market section. Saturday is market day and it was very crowded. Being a large American it was a lot like going through an obstacle course. Here are some shots of the market.

While at the market I spotted something that I've never seen before. Everyone knows that Koreans eat dog meat. I don't judge this. It's cultural. These are people who have endured times of extreme hunger, so you can surely understand where eating dog must come from. Anyway, here is a pic of dog meat for sale. You can see that it's a front leg and shoulder from some unlucky hound.

Later, when the ladies were done with their hair, and looking HOT we went onto the base, thanks to Dini and James and ate at Chili's. Jennifer was totally freaked out. She's been in Korea for a month now and to step onto the base and into a Chili's that is exactly like those in America really threw her for a loop. There was even a while lady who worked there who opened the door for you! Toni's birthday is in a few weeks, so she was treated to a song from the waitstaff and a milk shake.

After dinner Jennifer left for Anseong. I decided to get a hotel room so I could continue the party with everyone else. We went to Bellagio, Toni and Jude's favorite bar in Songtan. By the way, Toni adores my beard. She kept petting it and scratching at it as if I were a dog. It was cute.

Rock and Roll

This is a wildly popular song here in Korea. It drives me crazy. My favorite part is the Korean rapping (or, Krapping as I call it) in the middle. Enjoy and go insane with the catchy feel good sensations of the song.

Winter Arrives... Futility Abounds

Today when I woke up I saw that it was the first snow of the year. Winter has officially arrived to Anseong. On the drive to school there were many accidents as people here simply don't know how to drive on snow or ice and there is no one spreading salt on the roads. Yet more compelling reasons not to drive in Korea.

It is final exam time for the seniors. They will finishe their exams on friday, November 23. They will then have about 6 weeks of school left before the end of the school year. What are you supposed to do with students who have already taken exams and gotten into college for 6 more weeks? If anyone has a good answer to that question, please let me know.

Futility reigns at Juksan Comprehensive High School. There is another poster of shame that has been hung up in the hallway. It looks as if that first poster of shame really worked wonders here. I don't know what this new student's sin is. If I find out I will let you know.

All of the teachers here are at their wit's end. They all want out of this school and they want out now. I don't blame them. It's the end of the school year and everyone is tired and ready for this year to be finished. Good news for me is that I have only three and a half months of actual teaching time left. After you factor in showing a movie at the end of the year, which is all you can do really, I will have about 3 or 2.5 months of teaching left. There is light at the end of this tunnel.

The other day Mr. Yoo said to me "how about staying in Korea for another year?" I told him very politely that there was no way I would stay another year. Everyone knows this is my last year. I'm coming into the home stretch now.

Pictures

I know I've been lazy lately in my posting and in my picture taking. Here are some new pictures that I have take over the last month or so.

The art teacher had students painting a mural on one wall in our stairwell. It turned out so nice. I really like the painting. Here are some action pics from the painting session. I hope the other students don't destroy the mural too quickly.

While walking down the pedestrian central business section of Anseong, I passed a stairwell that had another mural painted on it. This one was scary! The weird thing is that the people mural doesn't really go with the sunflower mural up the other side of the stairwell. It's strange. While shopping in Songtan, I took a picture of some of the very strange animal hats that you can buy. I understand that they're very warm.
There are many tailors in Songtan. I will probably get a couple of suits made for myself there. Victoria thinks I should get this coat. It's a beautiful dress coat, but I don't think I can afford a $220 cashmere Sherlock Holmes coat.Also, while in Songtan I ran into my friend Marlina, who lives in Anseong. She tried on these obnoxiously large sunglasses. Sure, she looked like an ant, but they were cute. As always, the requisite peace sign for pictures in Korea.

Obscenity For Teens

I was shopping in Comma, which Koreans pronounce as "coma." It is a store for teenage girls mainly. I go there to buy some stationary and the occasional school supply. It's a popular place for teenagers to gather and shop. Here are a couple of things that I found.

These are a meat flavored cracker. Proudly advertising it's high MSG content!

And here is Mr. P! He is a naked guy peeing into an ashtray. The bottom of the ashtray features a pool of urine. How amazing!

Consequences.

So, after that big hullabaloo with the evil student who grabbed the teacher's throat, here is what came about.

The student received some kind of "community service." I'm not sure what this entails. All I know is that I've seen the boy doing some cleaning at the school. Is that his community service? I have no idea.

The most interesting part of his punishment comes in poster form. Outside the teachers' office there is a poster that has been hung up. It is all in Korean, of course, with a big signature seal at the bottom. I asked my co-teacher about this. She said it gives the name and class of that student as well as outlining what he did and what his punishment is. I asked her what was the purpose of this. The purpose is twofold, first, it serves as a way to inform the students and to give them a kind of cautionary tale. The second purpose is to shame the student. When I heard this I turned to Ms. Park and said "Oh, that's so adorable how the school thinks this is going to shame that student." She didn't quite get it so I repeated "It's cute how anyone can think you can shame a student at our school."

What's my point? This poster lets the other students know that you can get away with anything without receiving any kind of realy punishment. Secondly, you cannot shame someone that has no self-respect or respect for others. The students at my school simply cannot be shamed. It doesn't happen. I think it's just funny that they think this is going to accomplish anything.

Craziness Continues

Well, yesterday there was another impromptu meeting. This one quickly dissolved into a yelling and screaming match. The vice principal got up and got his coat and left while the gym teacher, who is apparently the teachers' union representative, was talking. The lilliputian principal was screaming at the teachers. It was horrible.

Afterwards I talked to Ms. Kim the computer teacher. She is incredibly scared of being here now. The boy who grabbed the math teacher by the throat has apparently threatened other teachers. It's a very sad situation.

Today I talked to my co-teacher Ms. Park about it. She said this argument has brought up a lot of other grievences with the school. Apparently the boy is going to receive come community service. The principal and vice principal argue that by expelling the boy that he will certainly become a criminal. I know the kid. He probably already is. Ms. Park also said that by giving the boy community service and keeping him in the school that the rights of the teachers have lessened. It's a very slippery slope.

Not such a great time to be here at Juksan High School.

More Craziness

Yesterday during the lunch break there was an impromptu teachers' meeting. I had no idea what was going on. This was not a normal kind of teachers' meeting. This meeting featured a lot of talking, a lot of debate, a lot of heated debate. The meeting dragged on into the first period after lunch, when everyone has class. It took the entire class period. There was a vote amongst the teachers, on pieces of paper, and collected and tallied. What the hell happened?

After talking to a few teachers I now have an idea of what happened. First of all, Koreans do not like you knowing what is going on, especially if it reflects badly upon them. Knowledge is power and they guard this knowledge quite severely. This is what happened. A boy grabbed a male teacher by the throat. First of all, I'm glad it was a male teacher. He could have really hurt a female teacher here. The teachers were voting on whether or not to expell the boy. The teachers overwhelmingly voted for expulsion. However, the principal and vice principal vetoed this vote. Ah, democracy in action!

So, after the meeting, and this morning it is obvious that many of the teachers are very angry and upset. I don't blame them. Mr. Yoo said that many of the teachers want to leave the school now. I wish I could.

If this kid tries anything with me I'm not going to stand for it. I went to school in Detroit, in the ghetto. Detroit is the murder capital of the U.S. I'll totally sit on the kid if he tries anything.

Not While I'm Around

Thank God, this did not happen in my class.

Yesterday, the bell rang early, 10 minutes early. I knew it was too early, so I kept my class in their room while we finished watching "Transformers." The science teacher didn't look at the clock, he just left the room thinking class was over.

Well, next thing you know you can hear a blood curdling scream in the hall. I'm thinking that it sounds like someone is being murdered or something.

Later during my "teacher English conversation group," which is just me talking English while teachers try to understand, a teacher explains to me what happened. A freshman girl received a cell phone call. It made her mad. She screamed and punched out the window. The falling glass injured another girl who had to be taken to the hospital for stitches.

What in the world is going on? The bad thing is that no one will get to the bottom of this and find out what is wrong with this girl emotionally.

My school is not here to educate these kids. It's here to hold them, and try to keep them from killing each other until they graduate. It's like juvenile detention.

New Glasses And Beardgate

Here are a couple of recent pictures of me. The second picture features my new glasses. I got them in Songtan (outside the air base) for only $60. What a bargain!