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A big thank you to Kenny who will promote anything. I think this is his finest promotion since he was hawking "The Quick Picking, Easy Strumming" self-teaching guitar course on television many years ago.

I took this picture in Pusan last night. I wonder if Kenny is involved. A "music house" is another term for a "singing room" I think. Singing Rooms are very popular among people of all ages, both young and old. What it is, is that you and some friends go to these places and get a room where you sing. I haven't been to one yet. They are all over the place in every town. PC rooms (play computer games) and singing rooms are two of the most popular entertainment destinations in Korea. I'm thinking of opening up a combination PC room/Singing room. I haven't seen one yet. Anyone care to invest?

I had a fabulous few days off and away. Why fabulous? I'm not really sure. Maybe it's because my life here in Gwangyang is so dull that anything seems good. Or maybe I really did enjoy being out among people and being social and doing a little self-discovery. I'm not sure and I'm not complaining. Good is good.

I "taught" 3 classes on Wednesday and then left for Pusan (it can be spelled Busan but is pronounced Pusan). The bus ride was approximately 2 1/4 hours. I slept or listened to music and was just so happy to be on my way somewhere that even the bus ride was good. I got off the bus in Pusan, walked outside the terminal, and was greeted with this:


As quick as you could say "Jack Robinson" I was in there. I don't like McDonald's but with the pounds melting off me, and not really being a big fan of Korean food, it was time for some good old American food. I rushed in and checked out the menu:


Mmmmn, looks good. I had a Big Mac meal or something like that. The hamburger had a tomato in it which works for me. I almost choked by eating so fast. I haven't enjoyed McDonald's so much since I ate at one in Shanghai after going 2 weeks without eating much and losing 10 pounds. If you're starving, McDonald's is like a mother's milk. (Oh, to wax poetic about Mickey D).

After that 2 minutes in time I went across the street to Dunkin Donuts and grabbed a couple of donuts. I was in heaven. Your expectations of the "good life" change when you live in a foreign country. Sometimes they can turn pathetic like my enjoyment of this meal was.

Now on a full stomach I grabbed a taxi to take me to the motel. I had the name of the motel written in Korean and gave it to the taxi driver. No problem. Not. He drives me to the International Ferry Terminal where I'm to be the next morning. I tell him no. I have no idea what was written on that paper I gave him and whether he was an idiot or Kelly was the idiot. I tell him the name of the motel but that isn't working. I called Kelly and gave the phone to the driver. She talked to him and the driver gave me back the phone. Kelly told me to give him the motel phone number so he could call and find out where he was to go. I gave the driver the phone number and my phone. He called. But he still couldn't find it. He stopped and asked for directions (and the meter is still running) and he finally finds the motel. Finally, my bed for the night.


I take the elevator to the 6th floor where the "reception" desk was. When you walked into the building you wouldn't know a motel was there. There was this small room with a glass window and nobody in it. I waited around and then this old woman came. She spoke no English but saw I wanted a room. She writes down two prices, neither of which were quoted to Kelly when she made the "reservation". I phoned Kelly and Kelly spoke to the woman and I got the price that was quoted. Kelly told me to just go to the woman in the morning and she would get me a taxi to the ferry terminal. She takes my money and gives me a room key and a toothbrush. The toothbrush was wrapped in cellophane. I have no idea why, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?

I went to my room and I'll just say that I've been in nicer. It was reasonably clean. It was as big as my apartment. So I was set for the night. I went for a walk in the seedy neighborhood where the motel was located. I like to see where I am. So I saw it and went back to my room.

When I got into bed I almost burned myself. It was heated and I wasn't expecting that. I found the temperature control and turned it off and went to sleep. I awoke in the morning and got ready to leave. I go to the old woman and she tells me nothing. I try and ask her how I get to the ferry terminal. No luck, but fortunately there was some man who spoke English and directed me there. It was only about a five minute walk.

I got my seat assignment and after a short wait I boarded the ferry. It's not like a regular ferry. You can get one of those but it takes 15 hours. This one seats about 200 and you can't go outside. It goes up on stilt-like things and makes it to Japan in 3 hours. I had a seat at the front so you could see out the in the direction you're heading. Big deal. It was raining and you couldn't see anything. The water was choppy but it didn't bother me. There were a few foreigner's like me on the boat going on the "visa run". I met a few Canadians and spent most of the time talking with one from Toronto in particular. He is working in Seoul and it's his 2nd year here. He loves teaching kindergarten and it seems like he has a much better class than I do. His other advantage is that his kindergarten class is for five hours. It's the kids real kindergarten so they're there not just for English. They're there to learn in English. He gave me the benefits of his experience and the time passed quickly.

I was also sitting beside this South African who was older than me. He commented about how much he "hated" kindergarten kids and he would never teach them. He is teaching at a University here. He was a bit of a "total" jerk. I had my suitcase in front of him and he stretched out his legs and used it as a footstool. I couldn't believe it and I didn't know what to say so I said nothing. It's such a joy to meet people with such outstanding manners.

The person I spoke with the most on the boat (Robert, from Toronto) and another teacher from his school (who's name I can't remember but she's from Edmonton) agreed to share a taxi to the hotel after clearing customs. At customs they went through my suitcase because my suitcase looked too big to be just there for one night. I explained that I was staying the weekend in Pusan after leaving. They let me in.

The three of us got a taxi to the hotel and checked in. The room was quite spacious as you can see:


The three of us then shared a taxi to the Korean Consulate to turn in our applications for a work visa. As you can see quite a few people do this:


Then we spent the rest of the day together walking around. Robert is 29 and the girl/woman is 23 and younger than Elana. I relate well with the younger set. She was born in Canada but her parents are Vietnamese. I really enjoyed their company and it was a real pleasure to spend the day with others just talking away and sharing experiences. I will visit them when I go to Seoul. In fact, I made tentative arrangements with Robert for the weekend I'll go up there. He said he'd show me around and pick me up at the bus station. I think we bonded. Here are the 3 of us before they departed Japan:


Although I didn't really "see" Japan, it was easy to see that it's one expensive place. We spent time in a mall walking around and checking out prices. And of course, there was the obligatory visit to your friendly Starbucks.


While walking around Fukuoka I made lots of new Japanese friends. It's always been a dream of mine to walk around Japan with a camera and now that dream has been fulfilled. My camera was able to capture some pictures of me with some of my new Japanese friends.




I also met a man from Ottawa who just came over to teach here at the age of 54. It's something he's wanted to do for about 10 years. Some people make life-altering decisions in the blink of an eye. Some people take just a touch longer. His name is Gord and he lives in Pusan. While in Japan I made plans to do dinner with him on Saturday night (yesterday) while in Pusan. I did have dinner with him but more about that later since I like to go in chronological order.

On Friday I went with Robert and the girl who's name I can't remember to the Consulate to pick up our visa's. We then walked around some more and visited Starbucks again. Their ferry left at 2:30 while mine left at 3:30. Since it was cheaper to share a taxi, I went to the terminal the same time as them.

The 3 of us spent the whole time in Japan together except for sleeping. I really enjoyed their company and not because of desperation. They are genuinely nice people. It was a pleasure to be talking with people again and even if they weren't "meaning of life" conversations, they went deeper than surface level. I appreciate hearing the experiences of other teachers and perhaps picking up a pointer or two because I can use all the help I can get.

I do need to go back to Japan for a good visit. It's expensive but I'll do it on the cheap. I'd be a fool to be over here and not take advantage of the closeness of Japan and visit it. And although you may say I'm a fool anyhow, I won't be a fool about this.

Robert said that if I'm not happy I should leave the school. He is of the opinion that I know now if I'm happy. I won't walk away now. I'm giving this school and city until June before I make up my mind. Regardless of what I think of Kelly, she did put out the money for me to come here and uses me as a selling feature for the school. She does try within the limits of her ability. Sometimes that's not enough, but I'll give her plenty of leeway as long as I can take it. Some days are better than others and if I become a better teacher, then perhaps I'll enjoy school more. If I get out of town more, being in town might be more tolerable. And who knows, I may still meet people. I'm signing up for Yoga this week so that's a start.

I've now done the "Visa Run". I also learned about work visa's in Korea and the "Midnight Run". My work visa enables me to work at the school I'm at, and only that school. If I want to take a different teaching position I would need to get a release from my contract. I would also need to get a new work visa with my new employer. That's a pain. Some teacher's who aren't happy and want out just sneak away. They say nothing to no one, and then on the weekend they vacate their apartment and leave town. That's what's called the "Midnight Run". I'm not sure if you can get another job with the "midnight run" or you have to wait until the end of your contract period before working for a new school. I don't want to personally find that out.

I've had people say to me that they thought I'd be better working in a University rather than with elementary kids. I've given it some thought. Of course you can't really know anything until you've done it, and it's only been six weeks, but knowing what I know now, I think I'd be better working in a high school. I do relate well with kids, but the kids have to be motivated to try and learn. I enjoy talking with them and I treat them as adults and speak to them that way. From my experience at this school, I know the kids 13 and up appreciate that from me. I think I need decent students and am not qualified to work with difficult children. And besides being not qualified to work with difficult children, I have no desire to. The student doesn't have to know much, they just have to try.

So that was the Japan portion of my time away. I'll put my Pusan visit in my next post. It's 12:30AM (Monday morning) and I'll probably do that in the morning. Before I depart for now, I'll give you a picture of me standing outside the Yahoo Dome. After all, if Kenny Rogers can promote a Singing Room, then surely Yahoo can put their name on a dome.


And before I leave, please remember to "Stop The Copy Goods"!