The eventful weekend in Seoul came to a dramatic close with announcement of the death of the North Korean leader Kim Jeong Il. Many people back home have been asking me what the South Korean response has been and, from what I have seen, there isn't much response. In general, the South Korean people are just tired of the ridiculousness that is their northern counterpart. There is a general fear that things will get worse, but little hope that things will get better of their own accord. There aren't parties or military parades. When asked, many students are glad he's dead but worried about the future. It's interesting. Because of the nature of their relationship with the North, the middle schoolers I teach are the most politically aware teenagers I have encountered. It's likely they are just parroting what they hear their parents, teachers or guardians say, but it is impressive nonetheless. I've noticed many South Korean students here like Busan, but have problems with Korea. They want to leave and study in England or the U.S. They do not agree with the signing of the FTA and they can provide reasons why, often. It's interesting.
Philly Cheesesteak or silkworm larvae...decisions, decisions...
Before the big news, we had a very eventful weekend. The company I work for, Avalon, had a huge end of year party where teachers and staff from all over South Korea came. We took group pictures, some teachers performed in a talent show and got cash prizes. The most surprising point of the show was when a Korean performer came on stage and busted out 'Rock 'n' Roll' by Led Zeppelin. I was pretty shocked, it was impressive! Come to find out it was a woman too! She had short hair and glasses and wasn't wearing dresses like most Korean women do. The Ceos and important people in the company gave speeches. It was a beautiful venue. The bus trip up was almost 7 hours long and we took three rest stops on the way.
Fun times but reaaaaalllly long.
After the event ended, we met up with a couple of people who had attended the orientation in Seoul with our teachers and now live there. They took us out on the town to see the sights. While Seoul was a great place to visit ful of interesting places to go and eat, I have to say I'm glad I live in Busan. Seoul seems like it'd take a while to get used to. I think it may be comparable to nicer parts of New York City but the people are quieter and less pushy. The cab drivers are still insane.
After we ate, I had my first kareoke experience in Korea. I can say it was actually really fun! Unlike in kareoke bars in the U.S. in Korea you pay for a room for an hour and it's just you and your friends with a Kareoke system. So you and people you are comfortable with are just screaming along to ridiculous songs. Oh and I played the tamborine. So my father's dream of me becoming the tamborinist in a band is semi-actualized. We stayed out very late, visiting many places because it was so cheap. We didn't get to where we were staying until 8am! At that point after walking around in the cold and lugging our bags around Seoul, it was really nice to curl up on a blanket on the heated floor and sleep. We all stayed with this guy Gary who was a hero and made us coffee in the morning and then went with us to help us get the KTX back to Busan. While the bus ride up was free, the KTX took less than half the time and cost 48,000KRW which isn't bad. At some points the train was going 300 Kilometers per hour. It was such a whirlwind of activity I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked and discovered too late that it's easy to take video with my iPod...But lesson learned and hopefully it's easy to upload video on here.
Hope everyone back home is well. I'm working on compiling a gift box for my family, but it's likely to get there almost a month from now...sorry. My classes are fun so far, but the biggest problem I'm having is figuring out how to make the students happy by making the classes fun and interesting, while still completing the work in the workbooks to make the administration and the parents happy. It's a difficult balancing act. We shall see.
XOXOXOXO
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