KLB - Good Karma?
Maybe donating to the ASPCA has given me some good Karma because I had a great day today. It started with the train. For the first time in weeks I got a seat! Believe me, it makes a difference between sitting and standing during that hour on the way to work. I don't get a chance to sit at work or on the way home.
Then, my worst two students in A class were absent. Without those two little pencil case-dropping, "no" shouting rascals the class was much quieter. As a matter of fact, a lot of kids were absent today. And, of course, because of the smaller classes, teaching was a lot easier than usual. It's my opinion a foreign teacher should never have more than 10 kids in a class to be effective. Having smaller classes really does make a big difference. The kids that were there today definitely learned a lot more than usual.
Later Julie called me to tell me Seoul Selection wants to order 30 more copies of my book. Apparently they've been selling better than expected. That was nice to hear. I still haven't gotten around to doing any marketing for it. Maybe I should work on that. They won't sell themselves, I guess.
On the way home, the bus driver welcomed me on board with a boisterous "oso-o-shipshio" and when I got off he beeped, smiled and waved goodbye as I crossed the street. Usually the bus drivers just grunt and beep for you to get the hell out of the way.
Now it was two-for-two! I got another seat on the train! That never happens. I almost always stand both ways. The only downside was the guy next to me gagging and clearing his throat every few seconds.
Anyway, it was a nice day and it's not over. Julie, though she still hasn't joined the health club, is in a good mood after a nice birthday yesterday. We will go out and have a simple dinner together. Then it's to work on the new book I've started. See you later.
The news gets better. I came home to find out Jade Empire finished downloading - all 6 GBs. Since it was too big to burn onto a standard DVD-R disk, I extracted the files using XISO. Then it was just a quick transfer via ftp to the Xbox and I'm now playing one of the hottest, most anticipated games of the year without having to wait for it to make it's way to Korea. Bit Torrent is a life savor for those of us living abroad.
Julie's sound asleep. She's been crashing at 10:00 lately. I can't remember the last time I fell asleep that early, except for the night we stayed in the country a few weeks ago. While she's been asleep I worked for a bit on my new book project. I'm existed about it and have a lot ideas, and certainly enough experiences and material to draw on. Before I get too involved this time, however, Julie's working on a proposal for Korean publishers to see if they'd even be interested, as I'm aiming the material towards Koreans this time.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this but a couple of Korean publishers turned down Island of Fantasy because they felt the material would be offensive to Koreans. One guy with some connections even gave the book to a sample audience and several readers thought my actions in the book were plain rude, such as when I turned down an old woman who tried urgently to sell me boiled silkworm larvae. Not to mention my description of "Wonder School" and its owners didn't exactly please them either - I'm sure they just thought of me as an ungrateful foreigner. Maybe I should send the book to some publishers outside of Korea. I need to buy one of the big writer's guides to publishing. For now, at least I've done fairly well with self publishing. I never expected to sell that many copies on my own without paying for a lot of advertising.
Though I didn't think my first book was all that negative - it wasn't my fault my first job was a virtual hell, but I tried to contrast that with the mystery and beauty of Koje Island and the intersting experiences I had - with this new material I will focus on the more upbeat parts /experiences of the last few years. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to send me an e-mail.
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written by shawn matthews
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KLB - Happy Birthday Julie!
It's Julie's birthday today. She's now 24 years old. My birthday is 5 days later, and so like last year we've planned to celebrate together this weekend but I couldn't help myself. I just ran over and got her a gift at the department store and will take her to a nice dinner when she gets home. As there are no really formal or romantic restaurants in Korea, I guess it's TGIF again or Outback Steakhouse. Happy birthday, Sweetheart!
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written by shawn matthews
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KLB - ASPCA
One of our favorite programs on TV is The Protectors on Discovery's Animal Channel. (I guess it's called Animal Precinct in America.) This show documents the animal police in New York city who rescue mistreated animals and, whenever possible, arrest the responsible culprits. Tonight's episode featured two dogs that were left in cages with no food or water in an apartment and abandoned. They were practically dog skeletons when the animal police arrived. Another day or two and the dogs would have died. It was sickening. Fortunately, the ASPCA was able to nurish the dogs back to health and after a few months they were like new dogs, full of energy, licking everybody and wagging their tails. The show is very touching. In the words of Helen Keller: Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
Anyway, after seeing the show so many times, I felt compelled to make a donation to the ASPCA and did so at their website. Click here. You can sign up to donate monthly or give a one time gift. You can also apply for the Chase ASPCA credit card (what a caring bank - just don't make a late payment) which you can read more about on the site.
As for Korea, there is also an organization devoted to the prevention of animal cruelty and they accept donations too, of course. However, the site looks sorely outdated. In fact they even have on there the last update was made in 2002. Perhaps my readers have more information or links to other related organizations in Korea.
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written by shawn matthews
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KLB - Yay Monday
After a nice weekend, I went to work in positive spirits today and it was a decisively better day than Friday. I like Mondays because I make new seating charts and therefore the kids, insecure about their new group mates, are usually quiet and attentive - until later in the week when they get comfortable and start chattering. Then Friday is always my worst day. Still, the kids are mostly good and you can't blame them for being sick of studying come Friday when they study day and night all week and even on Saturday.
Perhaps Ally was just putting on a show for Cathy last time because today she was very laid back and casual. The first impression I had of her eroded with each class. She basically sat at her desk and did some paper work, always smiling and helping out only when I asked. For example, whan I asked her to translate a few words, she simply did so. Cathy would have had a panic attack. "Shawn! We can't speak Korean!" I could almost hear her saying.
In fact, much to my surprise, Ally didn't interrupt my classes or say a word about planning. She even used the computer room to make a packet for phonics! I was shocked. Nice job! It also impressed me that at exactly 5:00 she declared herself finished and went home. I like that. Cathy never left before at least 5:30 or 6:00, unless she had a meeting downtown, and then she worked at home all night on various work-related paperwork. I never understood that and it bothered me how hard she worked for no real reason other than martydom, it seemed to me. I'm hoping that Ally will be less serious and more efficient as she appeared today.
Also on a postive note, as I was signing out in the main office the secretary, for the first time, struck up a short conversation with me. It was a bit awkward, but I pulled it off and made her chuckle with my goofy sounding Korean. Perhaps because the vice principal wasn't looming at his desk for once, everyone in the office seemed more relaxed, actually. I bet he's the cause of all the tension day to day.
Well, Julie just called. She's on her way home and is hungry. I just put on some rice and now I have to get the side dishes ready. Ajuma-Shawn's work is never done, phew. I bet you feel sorry for me. Well, it's not like I made the side-dishes. I bought them. Wait, actually Julie bought them. All I have to do is open the tupperware lids. As for the rice, just pop open the bap sot, dump in the cleaned rice and add water, close the lid, push a button and poof, 10 minutes later the rice is ready. Eating Korean style is fast and easy.
After a lot of encouragement on my part, Julie is finally joining the health club with me tonight - or so she says. She was supposed to joing Saturday, then yesterday it didn't work out. Now she sounds tired. We'll see.
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written by shawn matthews
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