Sunday, September 30, 2007


Overall the weekend turned out well. Friday I got my new cell phone activated. There was a Racing Model audition, so my friend Namu and I watched that for a little bit, then got something to eat. There was this awesome dessert drink that came in a little bowl, it was some kind of sweet rice thing. Then we went to a place that called itself a 'Family Beer Restaurant'. We drank and at some 'cajun' style chicken, that was really just fried chicken with a kind of mustard sauce on it.

Saturday I waited for the cable guy, who never showed up. Then I was going to go to this thing at the YMCA that offers Korean lessons to foreigners, but it turned out that would cost money. So my friend Namu said I should just come up with questions and he can spend some time with me weekly to specifically practice Korean. Around 2 I finally got on a bus to Suwon station so I could head up to Seoul on the subway for the Ssamzie Sound Festival. I met up with a friend from the Madison group, but he had to leave pretty quickly, then I met with one of my roommates from the workshop. It was really cool, lots of good bands, and especially some good heavy metal I wasn't expecting. But my cell phone died, and I got split off from my group so I headed back to Suwon a little early.

Today I went to a music shop I'd been meaning to check out for a bass guitar. They had three, they all felt pretty crappy and they didn't have any bass amplifiers for me to try them out on. I'll have to search more in downtown Suwon, or maybe even up in Seoul. Hopefully I'll get in touch with Jay, one of Rob's friends I met here on the first day, and he can help me out. He's a music major and plays the upright bass. I looked around the 'HiMart' for some computer stuff, but everything was overpriced. But I found some cheap yogurt drinks at the Lottemart, so that was pretty exciting.

Time to prepare my lecture for the week, I have no idea what I'm doing... But I know I want them all to pick out English names, then I'll do something to take pictures so I can try and remember them all.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Everybody spits

So here's a little something maybe you didn't know about Korea. Everybody spits. Absolutely everybody. While waiting at the crosswalk while I came home from school I was witness to 3 acts of spitting that struck me as unusual. First an elderly woman(60-80) standing next to me worked up a real phlegmy one and just spit right there at the crosswalk. Then there was a group of school girls at the other side of the crosswalk, and one just very casually pulled her hair back and spit to the side of her. Then a taxi cab driver that was turning left lead out his window and spit, without even really slowing down. Everybody spits.
Then it seemed like some sort of school girl gang war was going to break out. Because everyone where's uniforms it's easy to tell who is from different school. The girls with the grey button-up vests and white shirts were yelling and giving the finger to the girls with grey sweater-vests and blue shirts(my school), who then proceeded to spit more threateningly and give the finger and yell at the white shirts. When the crossing signal was given I really thought there was going to be some sort of Braveheart charge, but they just yelled louder and continued walking. Which is fortunate for my school, as the white shirts had reinforcements waiting on the other side.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Okay, I'll try to sum up the week I spent at the Labrador in a paragraph. First, La'Viedor(Labrador) is a resort that hosts the Gepik training program for new teachers. The presentations were pretty boring, I ended up learning more about how to teach just from talking to the other people at the resort. Most of the Q&A sessions were crappy, because people just complained about their own situations and how the ideas they were given didn't help. But my roommates were pretty cool, one of them spoke really good Korean and every time he did it gave me more motivation to study it on my own. Overall it was pretty uneventful, but a nice break from teaching.

Friday my friend Namu came over, a guy I met through my predecessor Rob. He brought some traditional Korean wine and we ordered some food. I'll have to come up with some words or phrases I want him to teach me, his English is really good and he seems open to teaching me some Korean.

Saturday we went to Seoul, which was pretty exciting. We stopped by a massive electronics building in Yongsan. It's 7 stories I think, with 20-30 shops on each level. It's like some kind of electronic village. I got a new cell phone, some CDs and a movie. Then we went into downtown Seoul, which was pretty quiet because of the holiday. Stopping by the folk village(a place with historical reenactments of traditional Korean life) we were able to see a traditional Korean wedding, with a big group of French tourists.

Overall it was a good first time in a big city, I think it was toned down a bit because of the holiday.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Fixing things

Today I managed to fix a few things around my apartment.

1. I got the M key on my laptop working again, by simply taking of a panel and putting it back on again... I still don't really know what the problem was but it seems to be fine for now.

2. I took the faceplate off my PSP and cleaned the buttons, the down arrow was sticking a bit.

3. I managed to put a drawer that goes under my bed back together, with nails and a pliers because I forgot to buy a hammer, again.

Tonight I might go to a Jazz Festival, but since I don't really know how to get there and can't get a hold of anybody I'll probably end up going tomorrow. Should be fun either way though.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

The Lottemart




So my major adventures for this week have been to the Lottemart. On Tuesday I simply explored the place, trying to figure out where most things were and failing to find the things that I went there for. Today I made a little more effort, and accepted the fact that I'm going to look lost, as I often do in Walmarts of the US. I found athletic pants, an ironing board, and suitable replacement keyboard. my keyboard's m key decided it was going to act all possessed, so now I have to copy and paste an m whenever I want to use it. Fortunately, Bob was able to send me a program that deactivated it, so that my typing doesn't turn out like mmmmmmmmthismmmmmm.

The ironing board I found to be a bit disturbing. If you can't read it, the caption says "Playing at the beach is one of the best enjoyment of the summer. However, they are destined never to swim." I'm still not sure if I should be amused or depressed. But, it was the cheapest one there, and they didn't seem to have any that stood on legs, so I got it. I forgot to get tools(a screwdriver to take out my broken laptop keyboard and scissors to open the package of my new one) so I'll wait until tomorrow for that project.

On my way to the Lottemart I got some kimbop, a tasty little 'snack' that I made into a meal by ordering 3 of them. They're like sticks of california rolls, about 10 slices per roll. Pretty filling, and I'm going to say nutritionally balanced. Then I bought some banana milk at the Family mart and had my dinner on the corner of a busy intersection. I probably looked kind of funny, but it was the only place I could find a table and chairs to use.

I also failed to find cold medicine, so I'll have to ask my co-teacher about a place close by I can might be able to get that. The family mart probably has something. I have a little nyquil Rob left, and this spray that has helped my sore throat, but I could use something to keep my nose from running during the day.

Another kind of boring entry. maybe this weekend I'll do something exciting.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

First Week


I have about 800 students, in about 21 classes that I see once a week. They threw me into teaching right away, but I think by the end of the week I had a pretty good handle on it. I'll only have to prepare one lesson a week, but I'll do a little more to cater to their knowledge level for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. Everyone enjoys saying hello to me in the hallway, and many seem to enjoy saying my full name (Shaun Martin). I think because it's 3 syllables like most Korean names.

I had a pretty good bus experience on Wednesday, even though it took about 2 hours each way when I was expecting 45 minutes. The bus drivers are much more social with their passengers here, and if there was ever somebody in the front seat they always seemed to enjoy a good conversation.

I tried to buy a comic book on Thursday, which didn't work. I went down to a shop that said it had 'Movies, DVDs, and Comics'. Turns out it was probably a library of some kind... Since in my attempt to buy the comic I was told to leave. My first experience with an unfriendly Korean! And she didn't even yell at me.

I haven't gotten any mass E-mails from the TTGs that went to Seoul, so hopefully they had a good time. Otherwise they're still lost somewhere, in which case maybe I'll find them when I go up there in a few weeks.

Sunday, September 2, 2007


Today I tried a little harder to figure out where I am. That little green pin is my best guess so far. The yellow pins are just landmarks on maps I've found online, that I unfortunately can't print out yet. Hopefully there will be a printer at school, assuming I find the school tomorrow. I found quite a few shops to remember, though finding them again may be difficult.

Trying to find a map was fun. I tried to ask a girl at the bus stop(which has a map on it) which direction was north, but since I failed to learn the Korean word for both North and Direction, she had no idea what I was talking about. She told me which bus went to Suwon City Hall though(95-1), which I be useful later. I went to the 7-11 and bought some paper(because all my notes so far have been on the one sheet of white scratch paper I have) and asked them where to find a map. The girl there spoke good English and directed me to a store that sells paper, cheaper and in more varieties. There were no maps to be had there, though. So I continued North(which I thought was West) until I got to a busy enough intersection that I thought it best to turn around before I got lost. I stopped by a book store that had a map of the world in the back of it, but no city maps. The owner was very apologetic though, and showed me where another bookstore was. There we no maps at this other bookstore either, but some manga I may buy later. Defeated, I returned home to try and figure out where I was on the map I have here based on the bus stops.

On my way home I met a very friendly and somewhat drunk Mr. Kim. He stopped and talked to me about America and England for a bit, then convinced me to go have a drink with him. I had to respectfully decline his offer to pay for a taxi to innercity Suwon, though I think he understood I was still trying to figure out where I was. So we found a nice Japanese style restaurant and he bought me dinner and some drinks. He taught me a little more about how to eat Korean food, as some of it is very puzzling with all the tiny dishes. I failed to learn the name of the meal, though I was able to determine it was in fact pork and not dog. Though I remained suspicious of him throughout, he turned out to be a very friendly person and hope to return the favor when I know a little more about the city. Unfortunately there are probably 500,000 Mr. Kims in the city, so finding him again is unlikely.

So I returned home and took a nap, and now it is too late to call Choonok to get directions to school. I will call her early in the morning, I'm sure it wont be a problem. I'm preparing a powerpoint about myself, which I will give to the students tomorrow and throughout the week. I plan to meet up with another TTG(the group from Madison) tomorrow after work. Though the phone number she gave me is 10 digits and my phone says my number is 11. With any luck one of them will work.