Korea Life Blog - Computer Addict




Julie's busy preparing for her private tutoring lesson...hmm, I don't need to use the computer - there are plenty of things I can do.



Looking good. Wait until Julie sees me...what a lucky girl. Are my muscles turning to flab? Nah, couldn't be. No exercise = no problem!



When I wasn't looking, I secretly replaced the premium Walmart brand coffee with Foldgers crystals. Let's listen in: "Mmm, this coffee has a rich, full flavor. It reminds me of a cafe in Paris..."



Ouch! Aisheee! I'll get you mosquitos if it's the last thing I ever do!



Ah, finally back to updating my website, chatting to my friends and family, writing, checking e-mail, surfing the web, illegal downloading...

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Notebook Note


Julie and I went to Rodamco Plaza tonight across the street to eat frozen yogurt at the Red Mango franchise. Inside the plaza we passed a modern little shop selling unique notebooks with pages made from recycled paper. We picked up a couple despite knowing full well that after a week or less of scribbling in them, we'll probably get bored and throw them out the window. Happens every time, at least for mew anyway. I buy a notebook with the intention of keeping a daily journal. This goes well until I actually open it and stare at a blank page, scribble some ridiculous thing or other, throw my hands up in despair, then never use it again.



Here they are together. Mine is on the left, Julie's on the right.



Julie's is really practical, of course. Hers has a calendar and this daily planner where she can write down what we buy at the store and total the cost, a daily memo, and then a brief section for her thoughts (Shawn is wonderful, handsome, romantic, kind..etc.)



Mine is full of blank, recycled pages, environmentally friendly and waiting to be filled with the profound ramblings of a lazy oaf. I actually impressed myself by filling the first four pages with my thoughts about Cass Mania, an absurdly named bar nearby our apartment. Cass being the name of a watery Budweiser-ish beer. The ridiculous part was they served practically ever bottled beer and liquor except Cass, which was only available in a pitcher.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Fahrenheit 9/11


Julie and I finally saw Fahrenheit 9/11 on Sunday. I don't know why it took so long to come here. In Korean it's called Hwa-sshi 9/11. I don't want to get political on my website, there are lots of other ones out there specializing in that field, but I've been a Moore fan ever since his ground breaking documentary on GM's pull-out of Flint Michigan, Roger and Me. I will say I agree that Fahrenheit 9/11 reminds us that we need to see and hear more than the government and media allow. The scenes of the war in Iraq and it's horrors and the effect losing a son (to a seemingly unworthy cause) has on a family are among the things we should be seeing, in my opinion.

Koreans seem to love the movie. We couldn't get tickets anywhere either Friday or Saturday. Sunday we went all the way to Seoul Theater in Jongro and got the last two tickets and we were 4 hours early. The theater was jammed packed. I hate to say it, but I was stuck next as an enormously overweight foreigner - eating popcorn and slurping down a huge cola - who flowed over into my chair leaving me squashed against Julie. Still, I'm glad we went and I really enjoyed the film. Julie too. She was dumbfounded as we left the theater, looking at me a bit oddly, and saying, "What is wrong with your country's government?" I take it that's a question most people wondered as they walked into the Korean night. For others, including me, it just confirmed the fact the world in general, not only the US, is run by a bunch of unscrupulous and manipulative assholes.



Here is the promotional movie flyer for the film. I took a couple for memorabilia.



Here's another for the upcoming Tom Hanks movie. He's one of my favorite actors and I'll be sure to see this.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Welcome German Readers!


I checked my stats for the first time in a while (I kind of gave up on them when everybody was viewing my site through a proxy)...and I was was surprised to see this:

Page views today: 2075 (and counting)
This hour: 41
This week: 3934
This month: 3934

This week and this month refer to Aug 1-4.


I checked my referrer log and 430 page views came from this site:

Beepworld

I used Babel Fish for a quick translation and here's what it came up with:

A very interesting LifeBlog over the life in Korea in all its facets. Particularly to consider the many leckeren pictures are to the meal. It has an odyssey behind itself, which floated into into rather all corners of the country, even after, as it designates it, "nowhere dong" ... * g * it does not save also at justified criticism at the predatory exploitation in the country.


Thank you Beep World and welcome new readers to my site about living and teaching in Korea.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - New Job


I received this official e-mail last night from the people in charge of hiring for the public schools:


Dear Mr. Matthews,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been successful in your interview and would like to invite you for our contract negotiations and information day which will be held as a group of successful applicants on either Friday August 20th or Saturday August 21st, which ever is more convenient for you to attend. We will be contacting you by phone to verify the date of your attendance.

On the day of your attendance you will be required to bring all necessary documents with you including, but not limited to, the following:
Passport
University Degrees
University Transcripts
And any other relevant educational certificates

If you have any questions or problems please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Thank you and we look forward seeing you!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think I mentioned before that the job is part of a new after-school, government sponsored program to place native English speakers in public elementary schools throughout Seoul (and later the country). The program, still in its infancy, is meant to help decrease the burden on parents to send their kids to expensive language schools known, of course, as English hagwons.

The schedule is 1-6PM (elementary school students in Korea finish school before 1:00). There will be 4 or 5 classes/day, no more than 20 students/class, and I will be an assistant to a Korean teacher who hopefully knows what she/he is doing. Fortunately I have a degree in English Education and several years experience now which means I'll be getting the top salary on the pay-scale. Also there's a generous housing allowance, which means our apartment will now be free, if not profitable.

I have to wonder what hagwon owners think of all this. The effects might not be immediately noticeable, but if the program is a hit, and who knows really, I bet the burden that lays on the heads of parents will soon be shifted to the heads of the owners of the language schools.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Geoje-do Memoir


If you've wondered what I've been up to, over the past week I finished the Geoje-do memoir draft! I spent the last couple of days beginning to cut parts and add others, trim the excess, tighten sentences and dialogue and rewrite paragraphs for a smoother read. Actually I feel kind of embarrassed that I published on my site such poor writing in the first place. However, I read something once that really made sense. Many amateur writers never get far because they keep going back and trying to perfect what they wrote instead of moving forward. Rather than obssessing on what I wrote each time, I pushed out new parts now and again, scribbled in a journal, and now I have 200 pages. Also, I should give credit to my readers. If I didn't get so many comments and e-mails urging me on, I may never have come so far. Though the draft as it stands is still pretty bad, it's something to work with and I'm glad I wrote it.


For now you can get an idea of what I'm doing by looking at the these two paragraphs:


Original crappy paragraph

I was already annoyed. Didn't she realize I was exhausted? Patiently I answered each question one by one over the next two hours. Meanwhile she was driving much too fast, weaving in and out of cars, crossing into oncoming traffic and laying heavily on the horn. I have to admit, aside from everything else, the scenery was quite beautiful. I wanted to lay my head against the window and absorb the surroundings. Almost everywhere were the rolling hills covered with thick green foliage and interspersed with rice paddies. There were some small villages of traditional Korean homes with colorful blue and red roofs.


Improved crappy paragraph

In truth she was just curious about me and trying her best to speak English, but she was oblivious to the fact I had come halfway across the world, that I was miserable and exhausted. One banal question after another popped out of her persistent mouth. Meanwhile she jerked in and out of traffic, crossed into the oncoming lane, sped up only to have to brake hard, and continually hammered on the horn. It wasn't only her, though. All around us people drove in similarly reckless fashion. The chaotic flow of vehicles contrasted sharply with the peaceful scenery. Moments, during a rare, steady flow, I desired to lay my head against the window and absorb the surroundings which looked to me like pages from National Geographic. Farmers in bamboo hats speckled rice paddies flowing like wheat in the wind and bordered by great hills smothered in thick green foliage. Short, flat fronted pickup trucks toting metal and glass surged past villages of old wooden homes and structures with bright blue and red roofs. Just then, a zombie jumped onto our car, reached into the window and lopped off Mrs. Kim's head!


Well, back to work. I have nothing better to do while waiting around to hear about the public school position...

Update: As soon as I made this post, the guy called me and said I have the job and details will come tomorrow on e-mail.

written by shawn matthews    -|link