recent developments

First off, I apologize for my extended absence from the blog. Last week was test week, which is surely what hell resembles. Deb and I had to correct an obscene amount of worksheets and spelling tests, write report cards for all of our students, and rank them. It was a trial, but in the end, we prevailed over carpal tunnel, paper cuts, and mind-numbery.

Last weekend, we attended the Gunsan International Migratory Bird Festival with Mr. Choi and our coworkers. It was great fun. We ate kebabs, bounced eachother on this giant see-saw thing, watched a 3-D movie which none of us could understand (but which Mr. Choi assured us was "so dramatic"), and mostly looked at a lot of birds. Here are some:

a pretty bird


a turken (gross!)


chuck-teacher and another pretty bird

Last week, Deb and I started Korean lessons. There are a handful of Korean ladies who work at the Ivy school as either teachers or secretaries. So Mr. Choi, in his infinite wisdom, decided to pair the English teachers up with the Korean ladies, and have us trade off English lessons for Korean lessons. So now we're doing that every day for a half hour. My teacher/student, Miss Shin, is a real ball-buster and gave me a phonics test on Friday. I passed, thus successfully avoiding the knuckle. This weekend, we bought sets of Korean alphabet (Hangul) magnets so that we can practice our newly-acquired skillz on our fridges. As you can see from the following photo, I am advancing at a rapid pace, and can already write my own name in Hangul:



Lastly, on Friday we received our first full paychecks (envelopes stuffed with cash). To put it into perspective: By the end of the contract, we will have been paid $24,000... entirely in tens.

"What should I do with all this won? Scatter it to the wind? Use it to light my ceegars? Or perhaps simply fan myself with it?"


Floyd Mayweather, eat your heart out.

In short, there were ups, there were downs, there were birds, there was won. That was last week. Now I've gotta get ready for another. Later y'uns!