Listed

Well, I got my listing on the Korean Blog List. It's cool, I guess. I've already gotten some traffic from it. Although, I'm not even sure why I care. It's not like I'll ever put any ads on here or try to sell anything.

Nothing much has been happening lately. The new term started at my hagwon (academy), so I've just been busy with classes and getting to know my new students. It's too bad that we are only with each class for three months. I don't think that's really enough time to get to know the kids. I'm a much better teacher when I have kids who've been in my classes for a term or two. That way I know the methods that suit those particular kids the best.

Hagwons can be a little bit like fast food sometimes. Get them in and out quick, punch the little hamburger button on the cash register, and move them along to make way for the next customer. Sometimes I wonder if the average kid is learning as much as they could. The best students will always learn, but the average kids suffer. They get pushed through the levels to keep their parents happy, even though they should be staying at the same level.

We have to make it appear as though the kids are actually learning, even if they aren't. So we push them up a level if the parents bitch enough. It results in kids who are reading shit that's college level English, when they're barely high school level, sometimes even lower.

Anyways, I'll bitch about Korean education some other time.

This weekend my girlfriend was all pissed. For once she wasn't pissed off at me though. That was actually nice, to have her pissed off at someone other than me.

She's pissed off at her parents, and she's pissed off at her brother. Her brother is getting married in January. His fiance's parents want them to get a nice apartment after they get married. The way it works in Korea is that the guy has to pay for the apartment and the girl buys the furniture. It's all bullshit if you ask me, but hey, it's their traditions, who the hell am I to tell them the way they should live their lives.

The apartment the girls parents want them to get is like $80,000USD. A pretty fucking hefty chunk of change for a 29 year old Korean guy to come up with. I think he's only actually had a job for about a year. The 28 year prior to that he just lived off his parents.

This brings us to the reason why my girlfriend is pissed off. Her parents are giving them $50,000USD. Because of this, they have to move out of the apartment they now live in and move to a smaller place in Dongnae. My girlfriend loves her culture, but she understands how fucking stupid this is. She said to me "It's Korean tradition, but why the fuck do they have to give him the money?" Yeah, she even said 'fuck'.

So she's pissed. We'll get $0.00USD from her parents when we get married. And personally I don't give a shit. The last thing I want is to be indebted to her parents. I wouldn't want it even if they did offer anything like that. But it bothers her. She's upset with her parents, in part because it means that she has to move also, and because they're following the retarded tradition that the first born son is king of the shit heap. She wants her parents to treat her equally, and I don't blame her. And she's pissed off at her brother, because he's receiving this gift that causes his parents the hassle of having to sell their apartment and find a smaller one. And she hates his fiance because she thinks she's a greedy bitch.

Anyways, that's the conversation we had this weekend on our way to church. Then we left church early because the 4 year old kid in front of us kept getting up and down, and spinning around in the aisle. The little pain was so antsy that my girlfriend got so dizzy watching him that we had to leave because she thought she was going to get sick.

Church day

It's Sunday morning, and all of you who read this know what that means. Church day. You also know that I'm not really a church guy. I told a friend of mine I went to church and the only reaction I got was "Wow, you go to church?" Yes, I go to church. It's the best hour of pure reading time I have all week. And I don't understand anything of what the Korean pastor is saying, so it's really more like an hour at the library than church. I don't mind. It keeps my girlfriend and her parents happy. That is enough of a reason for me.

Yesterday morning we woke up and my girlfriend was mad at me. I never did find out why she was mad. My suspicion is that she was mad because I woke up an hour earlier than she did. Not only that, but I'm actually in a good mood when I wake up in the morning. I told her my theory and she neither confirmed nor denied. I'm pretty sure that's the reason. She just won't admit it because she knows how crazy it is for her to get mad at me for that.

We didn't have this conversation until later. She stormed out at 8:30am yesterday without saying a word. She just had an angry look on her face and refused to talk. I can tell when she's mad. It's not that difficult.

After she left I watched the Bruins get their asses kicked by Montreal. That's why I posted the old PJ Stock fights, it was better than watching the game. It was Montreal's big 100th anniversary, so I expected it to be a tough game for the Bruins. They came back today and destroyed Toronto, so all is right in the world. Savard got a hat-trick and Kessel ended the game a -3. Hockey justice.

When the game was finished I had to go to the bank and withdraw some cash from my US account. I'm still a little broke because of my vacation, so I had to dip into my funds back home. My phone rang when I was getting back to my building. It was a friend of mine. He told me he just saw me outside the building. He called me an ignorant bastard. I asked him why.

"Why? Because you're wearing the stupid fucking White Sox hat." He's from Chicago...guess he's a Cubbies fan.

"I know. I have to wear it once in a while," I said, "_____ bought it for me. She gets pissed off if I don't at least wear it once a month." My girlfriend heard me say I'm a Sox fan, so she went out and bought me a White Sox hat. It's the thought that matters. She told me later she knows I'm a Red Sox fan, but she thinks the color of the White Sox hat is better.

I don't really care. She later bought me a Red Sox hat, which I wear constantly when I'm not at work, but I have no problem wearing the White Sox hat. It's the least I can do to keep her happy. If I was back in the States it'd be different, but it's not like anyone here knows the difference anyways, so I'm fine with it.

The only place I refuse to wear the White Sox hat is poker night. I've taken enough shit for wearing it there already. Now it's Red Sox on poker night. That is if I ever have enough money to go back again. Like I said, I'm broke because of vacation. I'm also trying to save enough cash to buy a PS3, so poker night will have to be put off for another couple of months.

Anyways, we did manage to go to Nampo-dong for Christmas shopping yesterday. This blog's getting a little long though, and I have to get ready for church, so I'll fill you in on the Christmas shopping details a little later.