Socialism, a New Schedule, and China

I've wanted to write something on here for a long time, but I figured that it would just alienate people. So I haven't, but yesterday Nanny and I had a great political conversation. There were no quarrels. It was just a nice, great chat. That conversation has inspired me to write just a few words on America's present situation:

Make no mistake, America has a huge dilemma on her hands. Yesterday, Nanny and I just started to draw lines between the parallels of this "recession" (it's a depression) and the Great Depression. The list was endless. I reflected on our convo for a while. My first reaction was simply amazement at the hardships that came from such tough times. My grandma lived through this even trading sugar rations for shoes! My great-grandma's cosmetic factory was turned into an ammunition factory. The sacrifices of that generation have no equals. Nanny also made the astute commentary that FDR did not bring us out of the Great Depression, World War II did. The history books have been far too kind to one of America's worst presidents. America got out of the depression despite FDR and his New Deal policies, not because of them. Nanny also reminded me of when the government confiscated all the gold. The slippery slope is descending this way. Our liberties are vanishing. Who can honestly tell you that that won't happen again? Just listen to the language of these politicians; it's desperate, fear mongering propaganda.

Then I started to think about America's direction, and it gets a little "depressing" if you will. George Bush Jr. is Herbert Hoover and Barack Obama is FDR. Obama is bringing change no doubt about that. I'm not so sure if you want the change he's bringing. My point to all this is just to shed more light on the situation, here are some videos and podcasts that do just that:


The judge FreedomWatch is a great weekly show airing every Wednesday that frequently has Ron Paul and Peter Schiff as guests. Just press play. Freedomwatch

Peter Schiff discussing the Crash. This is a highly entertaining educational podcast.

Tom Woods an economic historian, who knew that the two were not mutually exclusive? (podcast) Both of these are on LewRockwell.com, which is a small government, free market website with great podcasts and articles.

If just one person listens to them, I'll be happy. Lets hope we get out of this, but it won't be because of an idle American population.


On the lighter side, Meg and I get to come in an hour later to work. This is so exciting. We now work from 4-11 pm. This frees up a large part of our day. Now I have no excuses for not working out! We can also get outside our neighborhood and have a larger selection of foods. I'm happy.

Here is the China itinerary:

Apr 13(Mon): Entry Beijing
Our guide will hold a welcome sign to meet you outside the
baggage claim area at the Beijing Capital Airport according
to your international (internal) flight schedule. Transfer you to
the 4-star hotel for 3 nights stay and please relax for the rest
of the day.

Hotel: Holiday Inn Central Plaza (4 star) - the best Holiday
Inn Hotel in Beijing

Apr 14(Tue): Beijing
Stroll along the famous Tiananmen Square - the largest
square in the world, and reach the Forbidden City. This
afternoon, transfer to visit the Temple of Heaven. The Beijing
Duck Dinner is served at a famous restaurant followed by a
lively Peking Opera performance at the Liyuan Theatre.

Apr 15(Wed): Beijing
Morning excursion transfers you to climb the China Great
Wall - Badaling section. A spicy Sichuan cuisine lunch is
served at a notable restaurant to recruit your physical energy.
This afternoon, stroll across the Sacred Path and reach the
Ming Tomb. On the way back to downtown, drive by the Bird's
Nest (Olympic National Stadium). You will see its appearance
at a distance.

Apr 16(Thu): Beijing Exit
Bid farewell to the city after having a stay at the Summer
Palace.

I'm seeing red. It's not because I'm mad either. When Meg's parents get here in the middle of April, they're taking us to China! I'm going to the red state next month; we're heading for Beijing! I already got my visa*. This is really happening. I'll try and buy as many knock off luxury items as possible.

* 105 dollars just to travel in China for a week! I can't believe it costs that much money just to get inside the country! I have used way too many exclamation points so far.

Maybe the knock off luxury items will be a thrill, but I'm really excited to walk along the dragon's back. A trip to China couldn't even be considered to be complete without a visit to The Great Wall.















I'm very excited about this trip, even the food. The food in Korea is pretty out there based on my western experiences. Koreans will tell you how crazy China's food is! There is even an old Korean joke, "Chinese people will eat everything except the legs off the table." Just look at this great picture of gigantic grasshoppers and "yummy" scorpions. I'll try one of each...maybe.

More on China later...

Classroom Adventures Part 1

My school (I think company is actually the better word to use here) has a policy; no cell-phones in the classroom. It's not hard to imagine the majority of 13 to 14 year old American teens owning cell-phones, but in Korea, the percentage has to be 95%! Every child has one and often has a backup. Before every class, teachers are required to pass around a cell phone collection bucket. I'd say only half the students put their phones in the basket, which is fine by me, as long as I don't see the phones during my class.

Occasionally, I do see phones in class, and I have developed a fun way to cope with renegade students who decide to text their crushes, browse the web, or play games on their phones. I offer them this deal: "Okay, Jenny* I'll offer you a deal, even though I should keep this phone for one week considering you broke school rules and my classroom rules. You can come by tomorrow and get your phone, or you could play me in rock, paper, scissors. If you beat me in rock, paper, scissors, then I'll let you have your phone back today, but if I beat you I get to keep your phone for one extra day. What do you want to do?"

*Random knowledge: The majority of cell phone abusers in the classroom are female. Does that come as a surprise to you? I would have thought it would be the rebel males. Jenny is by far the most popular English name chosen by female Korean students. The most popular name chosen by boys, by the way, has to be John. I have had three John's in one class before, which is pretty remarkable considering there are usually only 15 people per class, so roughly one third of the boys in that class were named John. I called one John, one Johnny, and the other boy John John.

Rock, paper, scissors is called gawi, bawi, bo. I should have an entire post dedicated to the phenomena that is gawi, bawi, bo. Let's just say they play it all the time. I mean, I think every decision is made by playing this game. Examples:

~Simple Decisions, (based on daily scenarios that take place while trying to figure the labyrinth of underground routes that is Seoul Metro Subway)

Man: I think we should take the train to Wangsimni and transfer to the two line down to Gangnam. We'll only have one transfer this way, which will save us both time and energy.
Man 2: Yes, that's true. But we could take the train to Gunja transfer to the seven line and then transfer at Konkuk University on to the two line. We'll have about three less stops this way but 2 transfers...
Man: Gawi, bawi, bo.
Man 2: Fine.

Complex Decisions (based on a made up but theoretically possible scenario)
CEO Samsung: With exports at an all-time record, let's buy this American micro-processing firm. We'll cut down on competition and acquire a potential cash cow.
Chairmen of the Board: Are you crazy? In this volatile economic environment, you want to buy a firm?
CEO: Gawi, bawi, bo.
COB: Fine.

Life Changing Decisions
Woman: I want to have a baby.
Man: I want to shit gold.
Woman: Gawi, bawi, bo.
Man: Fine.

I could go on, but judging by the raunchiness of that last one I think it's time to move on...

At this point, the classroom goes crazy, because every student knows the gravity of the upcoming situation. One day without their cell phones is a monumental loss, right up there with losing Goldie their pet gold fish. But two days, OMG! Call the ambulance we got an emergency! The boys have their fists in their hands before I've even finished my proposal, ready to throw. The girls are much more deliberate. You can actually see the wheels cranking. They go through the odds, and they weigh the pros and cons of the situation. The risk adverse girls take their lumps, and will come collect their phones the following day. But most of them play, because* they love the game. And most of the time they win, I'm only batting about .300 in winning percentage. A good number for batting average in baseball, but a poor percentage in rock, paper, scissors. If I lose, the majority of the children all gasp. They want the student to go phoneless for two days. If I win, then the place erupts with cheers!

As I finished writing because, a student just came up to me to collect her phone. She lost the game, and I got her phone for two days. After receiving her phone, she throw her hands up in the air in rejoice.

-Teaching Style
Our new books are long-winded, and I find myself having trouble to get through my lesson plans. To get through the vast amounts of exercises, I have to lecture the entire time. I have no time for disciplining, so I've become a pretty strict teacher. I implement a two strike system, the kids only have one warning. That's my rule anyway. Unfortunately, it's a lot harder for me to enforce it, and I'm beginning to realize I might be a pushover when it comes to parenting.*

*There has to be a thousand parallels between teaching and parenting.

Because the text books are dense, I usually assign more homework for them to complete to keep up with the syllabus. I have become that teacher. The one that assigns a lot of homework, keeps horeseplay to a minimum, and assigns detentions regularly, and I love it.

My Life Is in Your Hands!!

This is the man, who at any given moment, might do something very scary. But it looks as if they aren't going to launch any "satellites" until April. I should be save until then...

Living with Danger: A Korean's Perspective

This is spot on, Koreans I talk with are not concerned. There's no panic at all, even as the tension on this tiny pennisula is the highest it's been in over two decades! I don't want to alarm anyone, but my weekend plans are to ride bikes with a tour group along the Demilitarized Zone in Northeast South Korea. If I survive this weekend, then I'll have some pretty cool pictures to post from an area of the DMZ that rarely gets tourist attention.

Raw Fish: Oh How far I've Come

March is one one my favorite times of the year; my family celebrates about 90 percent of its birthdays in March, the sports world heats up as baseball players fine tune their game in either Arizona or Florida and basketball celebrates March Madness, and the seasons change as winter slowly fades into spring. I love March.

So far March in Korea has brought me two unique adventures, one of them takes place in a fish market. The breathtaking smell, I'm using breathtaking in a negative way here, was a little daunting at first as you can imagine thousands if not millions of fish can't be too pleasant. But my nose was quick to adapt and the smell quickly subdued. The next sense that was firing on all cylinders was my eyes. This place was cavernous, at least the size of a football field. Row after row of fish tanks!



As you can see, I was a little excited to dig into some freshly killed fish. This market is the biggest fish market in Korea and is open 24 hours a day. We were here at 1:00 at night. The selection of possibilities were endless, and I'm not even going to pretend I know the names of what I saw. All I have are these photos:












































The experience is very unique. You literally pick out the fish you want, after haggling with the
handlers, by the way the haggling was done in Korean... by a Korean. The lady threw in a couple plates of oysters to seal the deal. They scoop the fish out with a net, and then beat the damn
thing over the head with a blunt object. This isn't a pleasant experience for the squeamish. After bashing our food, the handler took us to a quaint little restaurant located in this gigantic warehouse.











We then polished off three plates of sliced and diced fish, and two plates of oysters. Eating the freshest of fish is gratifying, but I'll trade raw fish for a steak any time. Raw fish is very expensive, and I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. The very best sushi doesn't taste that fishy. It kind of tastes like chewy meat. My question, why bother? Everyone always hypes up our fish market experiences, (this is the fourth time) and I get excited along with them. And every single time I'm disappointed! I don't think raw fish is my thing. It's just alright.




My next adventure took me two and a half hours south of Seoul. It consisted taking a cable car up and hiking down a gorgeous mountain. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

































Indiana Jones. That's who I felt like while walking across some suspension bridges. Although, these were not the rickety bridges Indie was walking across and we weren't being hunted down by ruthless pygmies, these bridges did manage to sway in the breeze. It was the highlight of this hiking trip by far. I have to say this, I have become a hiker. I love it so much. I used to never love walking in scenic surroundings, but I can't wait for it now. Maybe it has something to do with living in one of the biggest cities in the world... These bridges were awesome, they had just enough of a thrill factor to keep it interesting.




































This March is not the same as my favorite time of the year back home. Tensions continue to boil between North and South Korea, (South Koreans still don't seem to give a damn) meanwhile family and sports are celebrating festivities on the other side of the world without me. Despite all these factors, March is still happening, and I love it. The weather is gradually changing. Everyday I spend hours reading about sports, and thinking about family. I love March, as long as N. Korea behaves. :)

Status Update

Lately I've been looking forward to writing blog posts as much as I look forward to receiving the random paper cut, but here's an update:

I'm proud to report that our company is working us to the bone. Instead of the normal14-15 classes we've been teaching, we're now at about 18. We can now discipline/punish more efficiently too. In short, we're almost teachers, yet we're not quite there. We don't assign them a grade in our classes. Our students are not dummies. They know that the foreign teacher's class doesn't count, and they act like it doesn't matter. But, I'm getting closer to being a real teacher none the less.

Meg and I are phasing out skiing with hiking. The weather has warmed up quite a bit in recent weeks. This coming Saturday we are heading to a mountain range 1 1/2 hours south of Seoul. The pictures should be breathtaking.

Zach and John are gone. It hasn't really hit me yet, and I'm sure it will soon. I bet leaving Korea hit them when they transferred their won into dollars. The won is at 1,560.25 per dollar! Yikes! When we came here it was roughly 1000 per dollar. They lost a boat load of money, and it looks as if I will too whenever I leave this place, maybe even more than the amount they lost.

It's been raining a lot, which I guess is better than snow. I've taken to the streets armed with a rainbow umbrella. I'm from the school of thought that rainbow colored anything is not the kind of fashion you want to be associated with, unless you live on an island and use the colors sparingly or if your umbrella is rainbow colored. Some guy was standing in the rain, probably in Ireland, and was thinking, "Everybody has got these dark colored umbrellas. Why don't I put some color on these things and make some money? I know, I'll put the colors of the rainbow on it!" Ever since that moment, rainbow colors are alright on an umbrella.

That's all I got.