KLB - Food


A couple of small restaurants opened in the lobby of our building over the past few months. They're both really good. I'll have to get a picture of the sam gyeop sal/kimchi chigae place. Here's what we ordered from the other place, which is a bun shik jeom (meaning something like simple food restaurant).



It's a giant pork cutlet and rice, a fresh roll of kim bap, u-dong and some a few small side dishes including kimchi. All this, plenty for two people for a total of 6,000 won ($5.50) delivered piping hot to our door by the owner. Great!



Julie had a craving for spaghetti, so I'm in the process of making the sauce now. I usually start with a jar of sauce, then add in some stewed tomatos, a fresh tomato, garlic and the usual seasoning. There are some big chunks of mushroom in there, but they will boil down.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

KLB - Happy New Year!


Happy New Year everybody! And what better way to celebrate the new year than by picking yourself up the Rambo Trilogy on DVD. It's the opportunity of a life time. You can't let it pass you by. Click the photos for more info:














In other news, I sold my computer today. Not sure exactly when I will be getting a new one, so I will be using the computer at the PC rooms and at work in the interim.

I removed the "Cathy poll" as somebody with no life was manipulating the results all day by deleting cookies and voting repeatedly. Oh well...seems most people don't really care what I write about as long as it's something. Hopefully, though, I will have more exciting things to talk about in the new year.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

KLB - Sick Assistant


Despite being deathly ill, Cathy dragged herself to work today. She had blisters all over her mouth and looked pale as a ghost. She made it through the first class, then told me she had to leave to go to the hospital.

"Yes, I understand. Get some rest. Have a nice day."

"So, I'm so worried about you and the students."

"No, it's OK. Everything will be fine."

"I called to Bonnie and let her know. She said it's OK."

"Yes, good."

"And I told Mrs. Kwon (head of the English department at the school) that I will be going to the hospital. I'm so sorry to her. We both worried about the classroom. You have to turning off the lights and locking the door."

"Wow, that sounds complicated," I joked. "Go on, it's OK, really. You need a break."

"So, I'm so sorry I can't stay here and help you today and blah blah blah..."

This went on entirely too long. At long last, after an odd, in depth apology to the students in class B (in English) she finally staggered off to the hospital. For those of you who never lived in Korea, Koreans go to the hospital for pretty much everything. Unlike in America, where even if you have insurance a hospital visit can cost you quite a bit, it costs next to nothing in Korea because of the national health insurance system. So, when I say she went to the hospital, it doesn't mean her condition was as serious as you might be thinking. Still, it's obvious she is stressed out and needs a break. She's been sick with something or other since the start of the year, actually.

I hate to say it, well, no I don't because I expected this - but without her in the room the last two classes went extremely well. The entire atmosphere changed, and the kids picked up on it. Not a single student in class C even asked me where she was. We played games and sang songs and I didn't yell, "No Korean!" or "Minus one point," and yet the kids were well behaved. When the last class ended, I didn't have that urge to zip right out the door. I held some kids after class for a little extra study and I did the paper work for the day. I also put on some music and swept the room and reorganized the desks. It was such an odd feeling, like for the first time it was my classroom. I wish I could feel like that everyday.

Maybe you know a person like this too, but she reminds me of my boss (George from my book) when I worked as a mental health counselor. He ran himself ragged. He'd come to work early, stay long into the evening, take on all sorts of extra work. Most of what he did seemed to have no other purpose but than to impress everyone by display of his diligence. He also thoroughly relished in his position as team leader - and seemed especially at his game when the employees would come to him for help.

One night, I had a minor emergency with one of the residents in the program who cut himself with some scissors. I took him to the hospital where he got a few stitches and then brought him back home. I called the assistant supervisor, who was my friend (Rick from in my book) and explained what happened, and he decided not to call George. I did the necessary paper work and filed it. When George found out about how we handled the situation without him, he was schocked. His feelings were plainly hurt. He wanted us to call him. He wanted us to be unable to handle things without him - I guess to give a sense of purpose to his madness, or as I said before, to fill some kind of personal need by being needed.

Someday, if I ever get better at expressing myself, I would like to write a piece about such a character. I've worked for or have know many people like George and Cathy and I'm assuming most others have to. They drive me crazy, but they really make pyschologically interesting subjects.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

KLB - New Blog Name


I've been told by a friend I should change the name of my blog to Bitch and Bitch and Bitch and Bitch about Shawn's Co-Teacher Life Blog.

I agree I have been complaining far too much. Especially considering how easy my job is overall. The truth is, as much as she does annoy me, I probably wouldn't even think about work if it wasn't for my blog and needing a topic to explore. That's part of the point though. If I didn't have this blog, I probably wouldn't be writing. At least it's something, and based on the hit count lately (1200-1700/day) some people seem interested in it.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

KLB - Great Employee, Awful Co-Worker


Cathy does make a good employee - hell, I'd probably hire her. I could pay her very little while she mindlessly does everything I ask of her.

I'm confused about what I'm supposed to think about people who work very hard and don't complain no matter what. I've been brought up to think I should admire and emulate them. Fortunately I've never fallen for that. To me, most of these people are being taken advantage of and are foolish not to see it. Or cowardly when if they do see it, they don't do anything to change their situation and simply conform because that's what everyone else is doing.

In this world, if you want to get anywhere you have to work very hard. See, I bet you just read that sentence and nodded your head in agreement. There you have it - you've also been brainwashed. Scary, isn't it? Don't feel bad - you're not alone.

Step 1. The only way to get ahead is to lower your liabilities, or in other words, the amount you spend. I call this Expenditure Concept 41C - Common Sense Liability Diminishing to Greater Wealth Building. Increasing the amount you earn won't help unless you've mastered step one. Step 2 to come in my new book: 7 Steps to the New and Rich You.

So, Cathy's been calling all the parents in her free time and finding other students to enroll in the classes during the one month winter vacation. She told me today we will have quite a few new students. Before she started doing this, we were to have just 10 or less in each class - which made me relieved because of the length of the classes (about 2 hours). It's hard enough to control/entertain them for an hour. But now it looks like there will be around 15 in each class. It may not seem like it unless you've taught elementary school before, but that's a big difference, especially since we only have six tables (when they doubled the size of the classroom they never bothered to give us any more desks).

In fact, she spent the whole day today out in the hall calling up parents and urging them to enroll their kids. So, when she told me the news, she seemed to be proud of herself. Try if you can to imagine this situation: she, beaming with pride that's she's gotten so many new students - when the only reward she or I will get for her hard work is more students and more work - and me staring back at her in stupefaction.

"Cathy, why are you trying so hard to get new students?" I sighed, rubbing my temples.

"I have to, of course. Bonnie told me to do like this."

I wanted to say to her, "Of course she told you to get more students. Why do you think? So she can make more money. Is she going to pay you a commission? I don't think so. You don't have to try so hard." However, I knew she would be unable to comprehend how I could even think such a thing much less say it out loud, and so I simply made the usual sneer-of-contempt and returned to my desk. As I said, she's a good employee but a damn annoying co-worker.

I spent the entire day teaching grammar and writing. The poor kids have been bored to death this week, but this is what I have to do. I think I'll just return to the way I was teaching, making it fun and focusing on speaking skills. The program potentially ends at the end of February anyway, and I have the option to quit at that point. Why not at least make it fun while it lasts and not worry about the consequences. If parents are not satisfied, they can send their kids off to more expensive hagwons if they so desire and we both win (while the student loses).

written by shawn matthews    -|link

KLB - Final Tests


I graded all 50 "final tests" last Friday after work. I don't understand why the kids took the final test two weeks before the end of the semester, but that's another story.

Cathy made them. She did a good job (photocopying pages from supplied tests in the teachers' books) but they were much too hard. My class has been based on speaking (and why the hell not?) but these tests were based on writing (shouldn't Korean teachers be teaching writing and grammar?). As to be expected, with some exceptions, most kids did poorly and quite a few failed.

So, the kids were wondering where their tests were. I wanted to give them back and reward the kids that did well and show the kids who did poorly why we'll be focusing on writing for the next few weeks. Cathy said we can't give the tests back. Why? Because the parents will be angry - of course. OK, whatever, forget it; I didn't argue...until she handed me one last test I hadn't graded yet.

"You have to check this test," she said.

"Why?"

"It's the test. You have to check it."

"But what for? We're not giving them back, you said."

This is where a lack of communication can turn ugly. She didn't understand my point and thought I was trying to get out of grading it - as if it would kill her to grade one herself, what else does she have to do - but that wasn't the point. Frustrated, she repeated herself yet again. "This your job to grade the test."

"What's the point, Cathy?" I said, starting to get aggravated myself. "You just told me 5 minutes ago we're not giving the tests back to the kids, so why do I have to grade this? There's no point."

"Shawn, just you do this, OK?"

Once again, on the verge of a verbal lashing, I bit my cheek and smiled. "I'm going to check this test. No problem! But I want to know why, because the student won't see it."

"Oh, I see. It's so we know the student score." Oh, wow, that's so important, I thought with a sneer. I didn't say anything else, though. So I sat down at my desk and instead of starting class on time I sat there and checked the test. I'm not spending one more minute of my own time grading something that will be thrown in the garbage.

Several other things have been getting on my nerves about her. Yes, she is good at organizing the classroom and doing the Korean versions of the lesson plans on paper. But in my opinion, none of that stuff matters. It's all a waste of time, really. What I want her to do is make things based on the book that I can use to supplement the lessons. Not walk around all day yelling "No Korean! And minus one point!" (I'm so tired of hearing this!) Bonnie has told me several times that whenever I need something I'm to tell Cathy. However, since Cathy always looks stressed out and is constantly telling me how busy she is outside of work, I never ask her to do anything except make copies.

Today, after she told me the kids failed the test because they don't know phonics (implying this is somehow my fault?) I started hinting around that we have no materials to actually teach phonics with. You simply can't teach phonics only using English and a board marker, unless you do it day in and day out, but we can't with all the other things we have to do. I suggested we need a phonics book. I mentioned a book I used in the past that worked very well.

"Haha," she laughed. "Good idea but it's not possible."

So, then I hinted that phonics flashcards would be helpful, with the different sounds written on them and some drawings of different objects depicting words with those sounds. Of course, not understanding what I was talking about, she didn't get that hint. "We don't have anything like that," she said. So then I said, "Well, maybe you can write down some important sounds on index cards, like ck, ow, ou, sh, for example." At this point she looked annoyed, like she has no time to do such things, or as if that's somehow my responsibility. It's not. This is a part time job - I don't get paid to sit around and make materials in my spare time. Perhaps if I lived nearby and didn't travel so long I wouldn't mind doing extra things. However, I get paid by the hours that I teach, nothing extra. Making materials is part of her job description. I'd rather see her sitting around doing things like that than hanging about like a camera watching me and the kids' every move - or having me grade tests that have no meaning.

I've been getting really close with the kids these days and it's a shame all the other people involved with this program are taking away from that. I think all I should be doing is teaching them how to speak - much in the same way I am actually learning Japanese by only listening and speaking. It's amazing how much more effective a system that is than any writing study. Writing should come later. And, God forbid, Cathy actually teach anything. Ideally she should be doing nothing except teaching writing and grammar, and I should teach all the speaking and pronunciation. I can't imagine how quickly the kids would be learning if this were the case.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

KLB - Ssam Bap


I mentioned before we went to a restaurant in Songnae where we had a mountain of food for just 6,000 won ($5.75) each. Well we went back there again today and this time I brought my camera.



A sea of utterly delicious side dishes. If only I can get Julie to cook for me like this. But it would probably cost a fortune.



This poor woman has to get them all ready and then serve them too. What a chore. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...25



This fish is called kkong chi in Korean, or mackerel pike. The site of this probably would have made me cringe years ago, but now I love it. It was really good.



Can you believe how many different dishes they serve you? It's utterly amazing, if not near ridiculous. Plus you get free refills of whatever you want. We've been eating here once a week. What you do is wrap up bits of the different foods in those leaves there and stuff them in your mouth. Wonderful.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

KLB - DVDs


By popular demand, Julie has now added a few DVDs to her store. Unfortunately because of a few factors they are a little pricey, but still not too bad. This is because we can't buy them in quantity as we're not sure if people will buy them. Also, Korean DVDs, especially popular ones, almost always come as deluxe multi-disk sets, meaning they are nicely packaged and heavy. However, if you're looking to see a new kind of movie these are some good ones you might like. My personal favorite is The Good Lawyer's Wife.

You also can trust that we will package them well and get them in the mail right after your order. Delivery times have been averaging just 5-10 days, so it's not that bad of a wait. Thank you for all the e-mails everyone.

Click here to see what's available:

written by shawn matthews    -|link

KLB - Christmas Lunch


All the restaurants at the department store were jam packed yesterday, Christmas Day, so we ended up walking down to TGIFs. Neither of us particularly like the place, but it's one of those places you go in Korea on special days. And it turned out to be pretty good.



All of the waiters and waitresses were dressed in these Santa-Wannabe suits.


Because it was so crowded here as well, we decided to sit up at the bar. A decision that soon paid off dearly. The bartender, a really nice guy who, all alone, was very busy making all the drinks for the entire place, came over to us with 2 free draft beers (normally 4,000 won each). He had made some kind of mistake on someone's drink order. Since he couldn't just bring over one beer, he made the second for us too. And since Julie doesn't drink (Christmas was a rare exception), I ended up with both of them. Yah! My opinion about TGIFs has changed radically. I love it there!


Here they are. Normally a rip off at 4,000 won (most places around here charge 2,000), but a real steal for free.



Complimentary nachos. I don't get it, but hey why not. Julie liked them.



Julie ordered the chicken quesadillas. They were really good. Especially with the free beer.



I don't know why I got this again. It looks a lot better than it tastes. I just really wanted a western style burger. It wasn't awful, but it's too big (yes I've been in Korea too long) and greasy and hard to eat. At least I had some free beer to wash it down with. That'll make anything taste good.


Did I mention free beer. I'll say it again, two free ice cold beers. FREE!


The watch Julie gave me was very nice. However, I've been so used to not wearing one for the last few months that I forgot how nice it is not to have anything on your wrist. (The bit about my Timex breaking 6 years ago was a joke - it broke a few months ago). I also don't need one here since I carry a cell phone everywhere which displays the time. As I said, the watch looked very sharp but was thick and rested right against my wrist bone. So, we talked about it and decided to go have a look at least at other models. Then we just decided to return it.


The only thing I really needed (besides the new smurf figures and Season 1 DVD) was a pair of sneakers. As you know, finding a pair that fits me has been a real hassle. We tried all the name brand stores and finally, at the last place, we found this nice pair of Reebok sneakers. I like the styles this year. They're pretty much a cross between shoes and sneakers, meaning I can wear them out and about and also to work. That's good for me as I travel so far and long to get to my job. I'm very happy with my gift. Thanks, Julie!

written by shawn matthews    -|link