Korea Life Blog - The Delivery



Shipped on Thursday afternoon, the first box of 100 copies of my book arrived today, early Saturday morning. I had no idea how heavy 100 paperback books can be. Despite the weight, the shipping bills shows just 3,000 won ($2.65). I can't imagine how much something of this weight would cost to ship in America, even within the same state. I'm assuming a great deal more.




Here it is. I put the remote control on the box to give it some perspective.




I felt very happy opening this box. I've waited a long time for this moment.




I wasn't dissapointed. The press company made the adjustments I sent them since the proof copies and did a really good job. I haven't counted them, but it appears they've subtracted the "free" proof copies from the total here, but I'm not sure. The books look great anyway, actually much better than the Lulu version, though the Luly copy is nice too, bigger and the paper is a little thicker. Click on this photo for a full size view.

There is something on the back cover of the book that should have been fixed. It's not a big deal, though, and it's pretty funny if you ask me. I'll leave it up to you to figure out what I'm talking about.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Women...


Can someone explain this to me? Julie and I are about equal at pool (we're both terrible, or at least less than so-so.) We like to play just to have fun. Usually we bet something like ice-cream at Baskin Robins. Tonight we bet a 20 minute massage. Whoever won 2 out of 3 games would get the massage. I won the first two games pretty quickly. Since we had more time, Julie upped the ante. She said, "If you win, you get a 40 minute massage, if I win, cancel the 20 you won, and I get a 20 minute massage." I agreed.

The last two games were very close. Julie won the first one with some good shots. Then, during the second game, while munching on free dried squid, it came down to the very last shot. Chewing a squid tentacle, I sunk the 8-ball and I won the hour long massage!

Now, I was pretty happy. Hey, fair is fair. But Julie started to blame me and give me a guilt trip saying I was supposed to let her win because we were so close and that I'm a terrible boyfriend. However, if she won, I'm sure she would have been jumping all over and waiting in anticipation for the reward. WTF?

Anyway, I'm about to log off again and collect on my prize. She's a sore loser, but she's got to accept the outcome. :D

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - At the School


My A class is a little bad, not by much, but there's potential to be really bad unless I stay on top of them. Yesterday I held the five troublemaker boys after class. I gave them a lecture. I was never able to do this at any other school because I had no Korean assistant. Anyway, it went something like this:

Me: "OK, tell me what you learned today?"

Boys: (staring at the ground, one tries with "Is boy Jerry name!")

Me: (feigning anger) "I spent 40 minutes of class today teaching you two short sentences and you can't remember them?"

Boys: (getting really uneasy as Cathy translates)

Me: (pointing to Adam as an example) "I'm Adam. I'm a boy." That's it. I taught you that for 40 minutes. Is it THAT difficult? Why can't you remember that? Because you don't listen. You're rude and disrespectful, all of you. I came here from America, very far away, to teach you English. I can't see my Mom, I can't see my sister, I can't see my dog and cat - I can't even see my goldfish! My sister had a baby a few days ago, and I couldn't be there. Guess why? Because I care too much about Korea and your future. I love this country and I love my students. I came here to Korea to teach you (pointing at each one) boys. You have to speak English, and it's my job to teach you to do so. You have to listen to me and respect me..."

It went on like this for awhile. A couple of the boys started to cry and even Cathy looked a little choked up. Afterword, I made them write "I'm sorry Shawn teacher" 15 times while Cathy told me I have "Jung" (which means something like I have inner spirit and love). Before the kids left, they kept trying to hug me.


Today they were a little better than yesterday, but not by much.

I applied for my Alien Registration Card. I have to leave my passport with immigration until October 25 before it's ready. That's two weeks, just about. What are you supposed to do in the meantime if you need ID or if there's some kind of emergency? I think that's a warped system. Why can't they just look at the passport, then make two copies and sign them or something, then make the ID card later without it?


Cathy and I received a huge amount of new supplies from the school itself today (not the agency). Mountains of flashcards and games and other materials.

Cathy, however, kind of irked me later. A few weeks ago I showed her the copy of the Lulu version of my book and she was totally interested and surprised. Well, today she noticed the Korea copy I had on my desk and said, "Oh wow! Is Korea now? Can I read your book now it's Korea? Wow!"

"Well, sure. You can buy it tomorrow. It's only 10,000 won. Do you want me to bring you a copy?"

"What?" (probably didn't understand what I said)

"It's for sale. 10,000 won." (I said this in Korean).

"Oh, I see."

"So, you want one? I'll bring it tomorrow."

"Oh, yes, of course."

Later after classes are over:

"So, I'll bring you my book tomorrow, OK?"

(clearly uncomfortable) "Oh, um. I have to thinking first."

"Thinking what?"

"It's, well - it's expensive too much."

Now, I had been thinking 10,000 won (about $8) is a pretty decent price, so I was surprised. Also, she's a 26 year old single working woman who lives at home with her family, and she's my assisstant.

"Too expensive?" I asked. "Really?"

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too," I said, now uncomfortable myself and a little annoyed. It wasn't that I was disappointed at losing a sale; I didn't even really want her to read it in the first place, since some of the parts are a little personal for my co-worker to be reading. But she'd been telling me how interested she is in my book off and on for the past week or two and seemed so excited by the copy I had today. I guess she was expecting me to just give it to her.

If she didn't want to pay for it, at least she could have made a better excuse, such as "I'm afraid I won't understand it," or "Can I buy it in a few weeks?" or whatever. Oh, well.

On the way home today, I started thinking about the prices of books in Korea. 10,000 won ($8) for a new book by anyone in America is a bargain, even for mass trade paperbacks. Books are really expensive there these days, especially for a decently printed one.

However, looking at the selection of Korean books at Walmart tonight, I kept seeing pretty nice looking books the size of mine for about 7,500 ($6) or 8,500 ($7). Korean books are so cheap. What gives? In America we have trillions of trees to make paper with. In Korea there aren't that many extra trees. What is it? The ink? Or just greedy book companies or what? Anyway, I wonder if my book really is too expensive, but I just want to keep it 10,000 won to make it nice and even and easy.


Maybe, for a joke, I'll tell Cathy tomorrow that I feel terrible about her money situation and offer to loan her, say, 20,000 won, since she is so broke. Maybe even bring her a sandwich, too. Hehe.


One other thing annoyed me today as well. I got a complaint from one of the parents who called the school. She reported to the principal that I said the word "babo" (which means something like "silly" or a light-tone "stupid") in class. Sometimes I use that word just out of habit. It's so common and makes the kids laugh too. It must have been the other day when I kept asking this one boy "Are you happy? Are you sad? Are you angry? Are you funny?" and he kept replying with the same answer "Yes, I am." So I asked him, "Are you babo?" And he answered the same way, "Yes, I am."

Needless to say, the other students burst out laughing. I can just see it now, the kid running home and telling his mother how the teacher called him stupid and everyone laughed at him. Meanwhile, down the hallway, the Korean teachers are screaming at their kids, cursing, hitting them, whatever, yet the foreigner gets in trouble for saying "babo." Aigoo!

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Squid Warrior



For over three years I've walked these streets without the urge or the need to chomp on dried squid, but that has all changed now. Thanks to John, I'm now a squid addict. He's a squid pusher and should be avoided at all costs.



I dragged Julie over to Walmart with the sole purpose of buying a big bag of squid. You can't eat dried squid without a beer, so I also picked up a small bottle of something German (brewed and shipped in the USA).



A close up shot of the squid. Actually, this kind isn't as good as it looks. I prefer the fresh kind that I can get at the nearby department stores.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Island of Fantasy Korea Edition


To anyone who may still be interested: the book is ready for ordering in Korea. English only. It looks pretty good. The price is only 10,000 won which includes the shipping.

Click the picture below to find out how to order.

By the way, it turns out it will be cheaper for me to ship the book anywhere in the world besides America from Korea. This is because it's cheaper to print books here and, of course, there are no Lulu fees. Also, international shipping, even to Canada, is cheaper from here than from America.


If you live in America, just use the Lulu site. It's still a decent price and you can get it within days.



This is the Korea edition. The cover looks much better than in this photo, I just realized, but now I'm too lazy to take a new shot. Lots of wonderfully fascinating ordering information available by clicking the picture anyway.


If anyone would like to design the cover for the second printing later on, the dimensions should be 6X9 and set to 300-600 DPI. I'll give you credit in the book and on the back cover as well as a couple of free copies when it's printed. You can use any photo from my website or any that you have. Just e-mail me if you are interested. Kojebook@gmail.com

Come back tomorrow for an update on how I lectured my Class A students on paying attention and also for a few wonderful photos of squid. I'd do the post tonight, but Julie's going to ring my neck if I spend another minute on this computer.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - My Sister Had a Baby!


My sister had a baby boy, Michael Jacob, over the weekend. I found out about it on Sunday morning. I was hoping to get a few pictures before posting about it, but my sister's camera doesn't work. For now, I'll just post these old pics of me with her daughter, my niece, Sierra. These were taken about a year and a half ago when I was just about recovered from my broken right arm and about to return to Korea.



She knows she's not supposed to be anywhere near the computer, especially when she's eating cookies!



My grandfather feeding her his homeade blueberry pie. Hey, where's my piece?



Ouch, I remember how much this hurt picking her up while my right arm was still recovering. You can see how she's struggling to force a smile. She hates being held...by me anyway, the big scary looking guy with a deranged arm.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Island of Fantasy Comes to Korea



My book will be available in Korea by the end of the week. I'm getting a proof copy in the mail tomorrow. It looks like it will cost just 10,000 won and you should be able to order it from me directly and/or pick it up at a few book stores to be announced. More details to come soon.


Work is going really well. I guess I've been doing a good job because we've attracted seven new students. Almost all of them seem to fit right in with one exception, an older elementary student who doesn't even know the alphabet well.

By the way, on the train on the way to work, I witnessed and ajusshi and I guess his wife having a huge argument that involved a lot of screaming and swearing in Korean. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they were fighting about. Times like that I really regret having such limited Korean skills. I wanted to know what all the fuss was over. It went on for 20 minutes until I got off the train.

Today, as I was teaching, Bonnie from the agency popped in. She was there to meet with the school and also to decorate the spare classroom. Then, all of a sudden, a little bit later, a Korean woman came into the classroom and sat down and started taking notes. I had no idea who she was. I thought she must be a parent, or someone else reviewing my teaching. So, I went up and beyond the call of duty and really did a good lesson, which isn't really hard since the kids are so good and since I have a lot of experience teaching now and tons of materials. However, I was jumping all over, making jokes, inspiring even the worst kids to take part - basically the performance of a lifetime. Then I found out after class that this woman is just a new Korean assistant for a foreigner who will be starting soon at a different school. Oh well, unbeknownst to him/her, that new foreigner has some expectations to live up to now.

That's about all. Here's a picture of me and James and John from this weekend. That's also Julie in the background giving the rabit ears. James already posted the pic on his site, too. We all went out to the clubs in Hongdae and had a blast over the weekend. Well, James was a little tired though. Click on the photo to go to his site.



Also be sure to check out John's site for more.

written by shawn matthews    -|link