DMZ (Demilitarized Zone):A few weeks ago I went to the DMZ with a tour of like 45 people. It was quite interesting. Learned a lot of history and some fun facts. I was a bit annoyed because it was the first time it rained in about 3 weeks.... and it wasn't normal rain, it was like a damn monsoon!! Our tour took us to several locations; Imjingak, tunnel 3, tunnel 2, Cheorwon, and White Horse Hill. This pic is from Imjingak. The sign reads, "Do not come close or take pictures." No one really saw it until after we had walked passed it and taken several pictures of what we believed was the virtually unknown, North Korea. It was not until later that we found tout we were just looking at a road that simply leads to and crosses the actual DMZ and eventually into North Korea. The rain really made this experience not as awesome as it is supposed to be. We went into a couple tunnels that were supposedly built by the North Koreas in attempts to invade the South. The stories are really good.
Korea vs Uruguay:
World Cup fever is pretty intense in Korea.
The fans are pretty crazy and they truly show how much they love their national team. I finally met up with my buddy Mikie and some of his friends at city hall. It was around 8pm when we met and there were already hundreds of people gathered. Everyone was dressed in red tshirts and wearing devil horns..."Korea Fighting!" The day had been nice, but sure enough it began pouring down while at city hall. Everyone busted out their umbrellas and plastic ponchos. But this didn't stop the party. People continued drinking, screaming, and dancing around. There were quite a few kpop performers on the stage. The whole time I was hoping that Big Bang would show up and perform my favorite of the numerous 'official world cup songs' that Korea has, The Shouts of Reds. 오~대한민국 승리의 함성 - Oh Republic of Korea, shouts of victory! I had been listening to that song on repeat for the past week or so. I would constantly play it on the CD player in my classroom and made my students sing along to it. I dare you to say it's not an awesome song! So after 3 straight hours of rain and partying, the game finally began. It definitely wasn't the outcome that South Korea was looking for; Uruguay 2 - Red Devils 1. This was sad for two reasons; 1 - this meant it was the end of the parties at city hall. 2 - I was looking forward to a game between South Korea and USA at the quarter finals. After city hall, we headed over to Itaewon to catch the USA vs Ghana game at a foreigner bar. It was another party and another let down. But great times overall!Korean Class:
I have finished my first quarter of Korean class at Sookmyung University. I am very surprised that in a 10 week course [3 times/week; 2 hrs each], I only skipped once! This is by far my best attendance record ever, and I'm quite proud of it. I wish I could have had this type of attendance record at WWU. I learned lots of stuff in that class. First of all, I'm no longer ignorant to the fact that Korean, better known as Hangul, is nothing more than a form of tic-tac-toe. In fact, Koreans don't play tic-tac-toe because of the way Hangul is put together. I've learned how to read Hangul, however that doesn't mean I know what I'm reading. And I've also learned a few phrases that will help me in everyday life while living in Korea. I managed to get a B+ in the course and a sweet certificate!
Bits Language School:
So I've been having some troubles with this damn school. First of all, in Korea we only get paid once a month. That's not so bad if you know how to manage your money. I feel like I'm good at this. But it's not so good when I get paid late. The first month I was paid on time and in full. The second month, I was paid 6 days late and was $300 short. The third month.... well, this is when it started to get serious, it was 32 days late and $600 short. And this month, my salary is already 2 weeks late. The other foreign teacher and I had a meeting with our school director, Christine. She pretty much fed us lies and a sob story. Recently we found out that the school might be closing down. Christine is in lots of debt and has pretty bad business practices. She owes everyone money... 7 teachers, the cook, the bus drivers, the specialty teachers (taekwondo/ballet), even the custodian. This past Thursday we were told to go home an hour early and not to come in on Friday. Things definitely not looking good if they decided to close the school at the last minute. Apparently Christine is to meet with the parents on Saturday to decide the fate of the school. My coworker and I used our Friday to go to the Ministry of Labor and submit a complaint for unpaid wages. As of now, Christine owes me over $3K. The people from the MoL told us that it can take about a month for the whole process to go through. We'll see what happens. In the mean time, my recruiter is already starting to look for other teaching jobs. I've also contemplated moving to Taiwan!
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