HUNGRY

I seem to be hungry late at night, every night. I’m having fast food cravings that can’t be scratched because the fast food restaurants are few and far between, and are not 24 hour establishments. Sometimes I miss the U.S.

I did have Korean barbeque chicken one night during hunger pangs. It’s actually better than a burger and there are plenty of barbeque places that keep all hours so I guess I can frequent them if hungry enough. I also think Pizza places keep long hours so there is another possibility. I had pizza on Saturday from this place I saw on the street. You get a decent sized pizza for about $5 so that’s a good deal for me.

On Friday Min Kyung told me I was “King of the school”. I asked if it was because my name is Martin King and she said no. The reason was that it was September 1st and no rooms were allowed to have the air conditioning on, except my room. She was quite amazed. The teacher’s room couldn’t have the air conditioning on, but my classroom could. She was jealous and I’m now “King of the school”. I don’t have it on today as the weather is quite comfortable.

I had a “business trip” Friday afternoon. In Korea it seems that any time you leave your place of work to go elsewhere related to your job, even if it’s just 10 minutes away, they call it a business trip. I spent the afternoon at a different school mostly just shooting the breeze with the foreign English teacher there. The object of my visit was to find out how they did broadcasting there so we spent a few minutes on that topic. He tapes two 15 minute shows for each week. There are 3 years of classes in a middle school so 2 of the classes have the broadcast twice and week, and 1 class gets in once a week. This is a far cry from the 5 day a week, 40 minutes a show that I’ve been told. What he does makes sense because 30 minutes a week is more than enough. He shared some of his ideas which were good and made me think up some ideas of my own. I’m prepared for them to freak when I suggest only 30 minutes a week and it will be a tough decision for me whether to bend to their unreasonable and undoable demands, or to stick to my guns to have the best broadcasts possible.

Friday night was drinking night. I’ve never been in a public place for so long. We started about 8:30 and left the bar at 3:45AM. I may have had quite a few to drink but didn’t feel plastered. I felt good and relaxed. I have no idea how this bar stays in business since we were pretty well the only customers there the whole evening. There was another American who’d wandered in who was here on business so we chatted with him. All in all a very enjoyable evening and one I hope to repeat (but I don’t think on too regular a basis).

On Saturday a friend of mine discovered a coffee shop on the Internet that we checked out. It wasn’t Starbucks and it was here in Paju. She called (she’s Korean) to find out where it was and we were given rough directions. I drove to the area of the city where it was and she called the coffee shop again. The owner then drove to meet us so we could follow her back. You have to love some things about this place. It was in a quiet part of town and in a house. The owners live upstairs and the shop is downstairs. They have many different coffees from around the world and they take great pride in how they prepare the coffee. We were invited to sit at the bar and watch. We spent a lot of time talking to this woman (I just listened and had things translated for me as the woman spoke no English) and it was an enjoyable couple of hours. I had a cup of Columbian coffee which was absolutely delicious (much better than Starbucks) and they threw in a cup of Kenyan coffee which was also excellent. The coffee is not cheap as it was about $5.50 for my coffee. I won’t be a regular but I will visit again for it’s pleasant atmosphere and friendly people. It’s great to find new things that are enjoyable and transcend the country you’re living in. Coffee lovers are universal and so are coffee shops. Language isn’t important.

I blew a tire on my car last night driving on the freeway. The front tires are apparently in pretty bad shape. It would be nice for me to pay attention to these things. The shoulder is so narrow that I couldn’t try and change the tire without being hit by traffic so I asked my friend what I should do. She said to call my insurance company which I found strange since it’s not what we do in North America. Apparently I’m covered for flat tires and getting a tow of up to 20 kilometers. The tow truck came and drove us into the closest city (Ilsan) but there were no car centers open on a Sunday night. The driver said my spare looked okay to use so he was going to change it for me. However, I didn’t have all the tools for changing a tire (I suppose I should have verified the tools when I bought the car). He called someone else who came and changed my tire. I have to go out later and buy 2 tires. I need a new spare and to replace my other front tire before I kill myself. It’s a good thing I was with a Korean when it happened or I would have had major difficulties and a long walk to get anything done.

I’m getting annoyed at my supermarket. I haven’t been able to buy any Snapple Peach Iced Tea for over a week or any frozen French fries. I think I should get someone to write a letter for me to the manager requesting that they keep these things in stock for me. Supermarkets sometimes honor customer requests like that, so I have nothing to lose.

I was reminded by someone (and I can’t remember who) what the worst thing as young students that could happen to us was, and that was the dreaded note home for the parents. I asked Min Kyung if they did that in Korea and if it might help. I didn’t really get a straight answer. It was something like it’s not common and many of the parents in this area are poor or work long hours or the kid doesn’t live with the parents so no one really cares. She said she tried it in the first semester but it didn’t help but she was curious about me trying it and what kind of response I would get. She asked me how I would write it as I don’t write Korean and the parents don’t speak English. Boy, she can be dense. I told her I’d write it in English and have someone translate it to Korean for me. She said she’s too busy to do that for me, but I knew that and assured her I wasn’t asking her to do that. So, I’ll give it a shot. I figure I have nothing to lose and I’m getting tired of constantly waiting for silence in the class and once getting it only having it last for 30 seconds.

One idea I read about was a yellow card/red card system of punishment and a system of reward. The card colors come from soccer (yellow is warning, red is penalty). If a student is sleeping or some other minor infraction they get a yellow card. If they get a 2nd yellow card then it’s a red card and they have to come into class after school and write lines in English and Korean like “I will behave in class and not disturb my fellow students”. You can give a red card right off the bat for some serious infraction such as playing with their cell phone during class. It’s not a bad idea.

The reward system is everyone gets a card and you give out stickers for good behavior. When the card is filled (and it takes a while to fill a card), you give the student a certificate suitable for framing during a ceremony in the class honoring them, attesting to their good behavior and their efforts in English. Apparently some other English teachers find this system of reward to be quite effective because the children and their parents are quite proud of the certificate. I hate the reward system for what should be normal behavior but I’ll have to seriously consider it if I hope to make some progress.

So another week begins. I’ve had 2 annoying classes so far but I don’t let them bother me which is good. I’m still sending kids out and the new rule I’m telling every class is if you don’t bring your textbook (it’s at home) then you stand in the hall. If you talk one time you’re out in the hall. I may end up with 90% of the kids in the hall but it’s worth a shot. I wish I would stop getting those emails for University jobs in China. I’m starting to salivate when I look at them.