I have not written in a while because I have not really had anything nice to say about anything. I've been spitting acid lately and I'm just now getting over myself. I didn't want to fill up blog after blog about all the things that bother me so I just didn't write for a while. But now, the weather is getting warmer and the sun is shinning brightly almost ever day. We've had really good luck at my job and have been getting in great groups of kids lately so that makes the job better. But most of all I recently started the day shift, the 9-5 shift and it is wonderful. I'm a big morning person so I'm already up by six most days anyways. I love the shift because I get to teach more classes and I don't have to do all the annoying activities the 1-9/weekend teachers have to put up with.
I wouldn't say I've been homesick but I've been here since October of 2007 and I'm not as....impressed as I was in the beginning. I'm sure if I reviewed my blogs (which I wont) I would find a steady downslope about my opinion of South Korea. Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible but there are many other places I would like to visit and I would NEVER live here. The people are O.K. I have not been mistreated badly, but a large majority of the country is full of trash. Unless you get out to the country there is trash every where. Being a clean freak I can't stand that. Sanitation is not very big over here and the weird thing is they are a modern country. But they still use bar soap in the public bathrooms and they don't disinfect areas. Custodians use the same mop over and over again, they do not use bleach and the don't dump their buckets of nasty water out. Now I'm sure there are some areas that are very clean and sanitary but I have not found them. I went to the dentist and I had to ask the people to put gloves on before they touched my mouth. I think this is why Americans might come off as assholes, but I'm not going to have a fucking stranger who just coughed into their hand then use that hand to probe around with inside my mouth. I'll start an international incident if need be.
Danielle and I went looking for some vitamins and supplements....it did not end well. Danielle summed it up to me when she said something like, "they act like vitamins are brand new, so they price them really high". She was looking for zinc pills and I was looking for glucosamine pills. I found some for around 120 dollars for 80 pills. Now...what the fuck? In the States, these pills would cost me around 30 bucks for 100 and I could find them on sale for around 19.99 if I looked hard enough. Danielle was telling me last night that she wanted to buy a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and they were asking for 200 dollars. I mean that is absurd!
There has been a mass exodus of foreign teachers from my job because contracts were ending and many people did not renew. I've been asked by a lot of people to apply for a head teacher position that is opening up but I don't think I have the patience at this time to supervise folks. I'm thinking about it but not seriously right now. The main problem at this job is that the foreign teachers treat administration like they are Westerners and administration treats the foreign teachers like we are Koreans. We are both wrong and nothing really gets done because of it. There have been a lot of problems because there is no one who can bridge the gap that exist between the two groups. It's odd to have the tools to do something about a problem but not the motivation. I really need to get off my ass and offer some help. Then maybe my 150,000 dollar education will come in handy. There is a lot of blaming going around but we're both to blame really.
This little adventure has been stressful at times but I'm sure it will make me a better person in the end. I appreciate my country more but I still am not ready to return. There are too many other places I want to check out right now. I do feel my age creeping up on me though. I'm old. I don't have much to show for it either. I have to put some of my sperm in a freezer just in case I die. That way my blood line will go on! I would say just kidding, but those of you who know me know that I am not kidding. I don't feel the need to pursue the American dream (whatever that is) but I do feel this need to have a deeper understand of the people in my life. My dad just turned 57 (I think), but I feel like every year he turns 57. I feel like I've been waiting to hear my parents are 60 years old but it never seems to come.
People at my school are from all over the world and it is very interesting to hear their opinion of the United States. Especially with the elections coming up. I can honestly say that our country has a lot of diplomacy to do for at least the next decade. We have a lot of bridges to rebuild and a reputation to clean up. I won't go into some long political tirade but I will say this....no matter who ends up with the trophy in the end, they better care more about world then they do about themselves or their close friends. There is a reason high school is for the young. When you're old and you still act like you're in high school, no good will come of that. Especially when you're the president of a very large and powerful country.
I have finally found some "friends of color" again. I have not had many friends who were black since high school. I took that time of my life for granted. I had no idea it would take until I was in my thirties to have black friends again. Who knew all I had to do was move to Korea for a year. I should have known though, everybody knows if you're looking for black friends you should go to Korea??? Seriously though, it's nice. I know way too many white people, I'm going to have to start cutting some of you loose. Sorry Alex...you knew you'd be first on my list. I'll keep Anya though, I've always like her more than you anyways.
Danielle is finally in her "permanent" city and job. Of course, with the luck she has had in Korea that could change. I don't know how she's stayed as stable as she has but she did. She had to switch jobs because her recruiter messed up her original contract. All the problems were stressful at times but I think she's over the hump now. She has just started teaching Kindergarten this week. She has her own class of 11 little Koreans who speak no English what so ever. Those kids are lucky as hell because I know she's going to make sure they have a great year. She's going to start training for some marathon in October which means I'm going to start running more often too. This isn't because I'm running in the marathon, I'm not, it's because I'm super competitive and I refuse to let her get into way better shape then me....so I will train too! Don't tell her.
Well, it's getting late and I've had a long day. I'm sure I will write more often now that I've sat with my displeasure of certain things for a while.
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