Korea Life Blog - New Submissions

Be sure to check out the two new sections here and here. Please take a little time to send in a little something of your own. While not many people have been leaving comments over there, each page is getting 3-500 hits/day already. If you haven't taken time to send in anything at least leave a comment or two for those who do to make them feel appreciated.

Have a great day! I'm off to Seoul with Julie. Time for my tattoo removal and a night of partying.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Weekend

It was an uneventful week. Now it's Friday! My long day finally finished. No more noisy kids until Monday. The Spring weather is really getting into their skin; they've much more hyper than usual.

Julie is on her way down, the poor girl. It takes her over two hours to get here and all I have to do is relax in my apartment and wait. I was gonna ask her to pick me up a beer, but thought better of it. I ended up going to the store. I'm going to make her Spaghetti. I also picked up a Korean DVD: Baramnan Kajok, which translates to something like family members cheating. The English name is totally different: The Good Lawyer's Wife.




You may recognize the controversial poster:





I love that all Korean movies on DVD have English subtitles. It's opened a new world of movies up for me. Unfortunately the Nowhere-dong video shop carries about 10 dvds to choose from and this was the only one that seemed decent. I've been wanting to watch Memory of Murder, the story about the serial killings in Hwa Sung City some years ago. From what I heard each victim, all women, was raped and then strangled. The killer was never caught. It still haunts people's minds to this day - everyone in Korea knows about it.

As I type, a dog is barking outside. It hasn't stopped for over an hour. I hope it's not going to be a regular thing. I still have nightmares about the dog that lived behind my apartment when I lived briefly in Busan. In addition to the dog's owners who had screaming fights every night, the dog never stopped barking for a month, and it lived right outside my window, on a chain 24 hours/day in the middle of the winter. What thoughtful owners. Why have a dog is that's how you're going to treat it? No wonder it never shut up; it was probably freezing to death. One night I attempted to let it free, but it snarled and probably would have bitten me. I was never so happy to move.

Tomorrow I will go with Julie to Seoul. She has a job interview and I'm going in for my second laser treatment to remove my tattoo. As the doctor said, it came back a little since the first treatment. However, I'm hoping it will only take 2 more visits and not a total of 5 as he said. The good thing is with each treatment the cost of the laser decreases. I started at 80,000 won (plus 30,000 consultation). Tomorrow's should be 60,000, the next 50,000 etc. I'm not sure if each visit requires the consultation fee, but I'm assuming it does. Anyway, it's all really worth it to me. I've been hating this tattoo for 10 years and am so happy it's almost gone.

Tomorrow night we are supposed to go out to Sinchon and Hongdae. I hope the weather stays nice.

Update: I was completely surprised by what a good movie that was. Julie too. A very powerful story and well done. Nothing like what I expected. My new favorite Korean movie.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - More Drawings

Last week's drawing lesson was such a success I printed out a similar activity for this week. I don't know what I'd do without handouts and word search puzzles from the net. The kids love them. Even the noisiest classes quiet right down when it's time to draw.



This kid again - more evil. I'm not exactly sure what's going there at the department store. That hospital looks more like the Hotel California.



I love the police scene. Is that a mask or a black guy, I'm not sure. Whoever it is, he's getting shot to death. Notice the kid begging for leniency from his teacher. Forget it! 10 whacks with the stick litte bastard!



Girls always draw the cutest pictures. Get aload of the overhead angle at the restaurant. I thought that was pretty creative. The chef is pretty funny too. What is he doing? Flipping pizza or going bowling?



Another girl. That is one well done example of a chef. I certainly can't draw that well. Check out Dr. Pig. That stethescope looks a little big.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Introducing Two New Sections


I've added two new sections today.

Readers Submissions - Finally a new place for your stories somehow related to Korea. These can be funny or interesting tidbits you have about living and/or teaching in Korea as a foreigner or gyopo. Koreans are welcome to contribute if they have had an amusing experience involving foreigners or better yet about their experiences living in a foreign country. Include a title and your name. Relevant photos are also welcome. In fact if you just have an amusing photo send it along with a couple of comments.

International Love - After seeing the results of the marriage poll I came up with this idea - a section dedicated to those who are involved in an international relationship (with Korea being one of those nations). If you're in this kind of relationship and you'd like to share your story and I will post it here. Stories can be about anything involving your relationship including cultural differences you've had, difficulties in adjusting to a new home if you moved abroad, the time you met the parents, your wedding, your honeymoon adventure in Siberia, whatever. This can even be about an awkward date you had or a relationship that lasted only a couple of days.

Only English will be accepted. (There's already a popular Korean forum for this here.) Also, if you read a particularly funny/interesting experience in Korean and have permission, please translate it and send it to me. Include names and photos if you'd like or you can remain anonymous of course.

All contributions should be sent to assakorea10@yahoo.com which I set up just for this reason. Stories can be as long or as short as you want them to be. Keep in mind however that most people don't like reading novels on the internet. A few paragraphs to several pages would be the ideal range. If you have your own blog, please feel free to send me one of your favorite posts and I'll reference the link back to your site.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - At The Hagwon (5)


I went at 2:25 today and prepared for my 2:30 class. At 2:30 I started teaching. A few minutes later, the Korean teacher of that class came in and said my schedule changed and I don't teach this class until Friday. It didn't bother me this time because had I come in a little earlier, she may have told me. She didn't see me come in, she said.

I checked my schedule. Now I have only 3 classes on Monday but 7 in a row on Friday. Monday is a pathetic breeze, Friday a total nightmare. I'd much rather have a balance of the two, if possible.


Today would be my pay day. With time to spare, my next class not until 4:10, I went up to the bank and sent home the remainder of last month's pay, about 1,400,000 which came out to be $1,180 US after the fee. The fee is a standard 13,000 Won at this bank. For the first year I was in Korea, I used another bank - the account of which was set up by my school for me - that charged a flat fee and a percentage of the amount being sent. It would cost me a total of 40-45,000 won to send home a thousand dollars. Plus my bank in the US charges a $15 fee for the transfer, a concept I still can't figure out. They charge you a fee to put money in their bank and then make more money off your deposit. A win-win situation for them and a loss for us.

I used to send home my money when I got it, keeping what I thought I'd need to get by for the month. Because I never actually had a lot of money around that way, I felt poor. Every time I got that huge chunk of money, right away 75% was gone. Now I keep all of my salary on hand and send whatever's left on the next pay day. I'm still spending and sending home about the same, but I feel much better psychologically having a mound of cash nearby. And instead of getting depressed on payday, I feel great. I'm able to send some decent cash home and I get another mound to replace it.

After I wired the money, I went back to the school to hang around until 4:10. My boss asked me for my bills, a good sign he remember my payday. I taught a class, then during another break, I strategically took the his two sons for ja ja myung and mandu down below.


Once again another easy class, three students. We played some games and then they did a puzzle. Then I had yet another break. What an easy day. I ran home and did as many curls as I could in 30 minutes then ran back for the adult class. As I waved goodbye to Windy and Stan, my boss handed me my pay and said, "Thank you." I bowed and thanked him too and joked that now I can buy a chair. Perhaps the gesture of taking his kids for dinner paid off. He stopped me and asked me again why I need one. I told him my friend's have to sit on the floor. He nodded and said he'll find me one. Whoo hoo!

I went into the office to get my coat. The Korean teachers and the boss's wife were having a meeting (keep in mind they arrive at 10:00 AM every day and it was now 8:00 PM). My schedule was sitting in front of them. I'm pretty sure at that moment they were figuring out a way to balance my Friday with the rest of the week. We'll see tomorrow. Either way, said goodbye and left feeling pretty good about things.


It's been awhile since I posted pics from around the school so here are a few new ones:



Several cute girls. The one to the left, Bonnie, is one of my favorites. She's very cute, quiet but smart - the perfect student. The girl in the middle is a handful.



Here is the new math class. You can see how it used to be a playroom for the kids. I guess it's still technically a playroom, but only when math class isn't in session. The big screen TV and DVD player are gone.


Here's the room where I teach the middle school kids on Friday and the adult class during the week. I sit at the end. Windy sits to my right and Stan to my left.


One of the three regular English classrooms. After playing with the kids for awhile then a brief lesson, I sit in that chair while they do their "assignment". If my butt gets soar, I walk around and tickle the kids for fun.


My boss picked up this ancient computer set for the other new math classroom. I'm not sure if it's just for decoration or what - nothings hooked up. Get a load of the printer. How old is that thing?

written by shawn matthews    -|link