Wednesday, August 11, 2004
I'm working on making a new template, bare with me as it changes...
Warehouse Anmok Beach Party
Last weekend was the Warehouse Beach Party. It was at Anmok Beach, one I hadn't been to yet, and was taken on a wild ride by my cab driver through downtown before finally arriving around 5pm. The party was already well underway, but the sun was still shining and we weren't banned from swimming yet.
They had set up a tent right down on the beach; Ras, Lee, Ryan and the two girl bartenders were working. I had a few beers, went swimming, hung out...it was nice just being on the beach. They served up free barbecued samgyeopsal. The no name brand gochujang was a bit runny, but damn good anyways, thanks to Melvin for being the official sauce holder for about an hour while searing his arm over the grill.
By that time, I was feeling a bit loopy and suddenly a mother appeared with one of my students, Jason....and his brother and their friend. After some small talk, I was left with Jason chasing me around for the next three hours...me with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other chased him back. He didn't say much, he seemed really excited to see me "in person" outside of the classroom and it was fun seeing him too, he's a good student.
About an hour later, the soldiers came by and shut down the beach. I mean, shut down the best part of the beach, by stringing a rope from one end to the other so we couldn't go down to the water. We now had only a few feet in front of the bar to stand. Then they made us take down the tent, but left the tables. Really a big hassle, but I guess North Korea could attack at any moment. There was about eight soldiers who spent the rest of the night hovering around our part of the beach, AK47's slung over their soldiers making sure we didn't step out of line.
A few ajeoshi's meandered in from the beach and started causing shit. Ras had to put one of them in his place. I don't really know what happened, just that he was trying to fight.
A little bit later, there was a limbo contest. Not entirely fair, as the stick was sitting on crates and moved down about a foot each time. By it's second position, I was out, although most of the girls did really well, especially Nae Kyong, who amazed me with her flexibility. A bunch of drunken Korean guys joined in on the fun, but were being stupid, and started pushing people over as they tried to go under the bar. Anyways, it was tequila shots for everyone afterwards...
The night wound down, the stars came out, it was time to go home...
Ice Skating
This morning I went on field trip to the Ice Rink with my Morning Kindergarten class. I love field trip days because it means I don't really have to teach all morning and can leave all the behavioral problems up to the Korean teachers. We finally managed to get to the rink at about 10:45....45 minutes into my morning which was good...those 45 mins were spent letting the kids have playtime while everyone else got everything ready for the trip.
Now I haven't bee ice skating in about 13 years and then only two times in my life, so I was a bit hesitant. I was really fearing bruises and ice cold hands, maybe losing a finger from an uncoordinated students stray blade. In the end I decided to do it anyways, and let me tell you I amazed myself. I only fell once, and then only because a kid was coming straight for me and couldn't stop. I got the hang of it after about 20 mins, I could turn and stop with no problems, I was even weaving cones they had placed on the ice. Alright!
Of course, there's always one student who's more uncoordinated than all the others (put together). For my class, this is Ken, he's a little scientist, whenever I ask him what he did on the weekend he always responds with "Me reading science books teacher." Ahhh...in my own likeness...Anyways, he must've fallen about a fifty times in a 45 minute period...poor kid, but he always go up with a smile on his face and snot dripping out of his nose...I kept telling him "Ken kohmuri nawa," (Ken, your nose is running!) which he reciprocated by wiping his sleeve across his face...
I should also mention that I'm being paid late again this time. Dammit! I really am not prepared to go through this shit again, she says she'll pay on Friday, so we'll see...
CBC Korea
Rachael is doing a story for CBC Radio St. Johns on her experiences in Korea. Episode 3 is now available online: http://stjohns.cbc.ca/morningshow/realaudio/20040805borlase-esl.ram
You'll need RealPlayer from www.realaudio.com