Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Another Day, Another Won (Korean Dollar)

So my internet is back up and running. Huray! Rejoice! I'm back to downloading movies, and American tv shows like it's my job. If the FCC or MPA wants to punish me I doubt they'll come get me in Korea. But many of you have asked what my week is like. I plan to make this a short post to let you all in on what a week in Paul's shoes is like here in Korea. First off, I wake up around 7 AM to get to school at 7:50AM.The first class of every day is EBS (English Broadcasting System) which starts at 8AM. It is 40 minutes long and I always have to teach it. Somedays I have to teach it on camera to the whole school, you can imagine how lame that is. But about half of the 40 minutes is spent watching an even lamer video made in 1979. After it I am just supposed to say stuff like "Why do they call him Billy Buttons? Do we like Billy Buttons? Who can facilitate a well thought out discussion on the disintegration of American imperialism?" You know, stuff like that, nothing difficult. Then the rest of the day is 45 minute classes. On monday I have 2, Tuesday 2, Wednesday 4, Thursday 3, and Friday 1. Thats right on Friday I teach for 85 minutes in the whole day. I usually have head to the lunchroom between 11:20AM and 1PM, and if there is all one thing we can agree on about high school it's that we don't miss the lunches, well in Korean high schools is the same. Actually some are okay, but nothing that comes close to Taco Salad back at good old Roxbury HS. So after lunch there is still plenty of school left, but we do have to stay the whole day, from 8AM to 4:30PM. What do I do with the open time you might ask? I'm still pretty slow at making lesson plans, and I have to make tests too (then of course I use G-chat and the internet for hours on end, like the rest of you do at work too). Once school ends I usually hit up the gym to lift some weights, but lifting kilogram weights makes me feel even weaker then when I lift at home. There is somthing about using weights with single digit numbers on them that just make you feel useless. After that I hit up the gymnasium and play some highly competitive Badminton. Did you know that's how you spell Badminton? I didn't up until recently, I mean who plays it? Or talks about it? Or even worse, writes it down? But I must tell you it is an awesome game. It's a ton of fun. It is much more like raquetball then I would have thought. It's fast, competitive, and a good work out. I would have never thought it, but I have really taken to it. But it is a "game", why wouldn't it be fun, people don't make games because they suck, they make them because everyone liked what they were doing. If you are reading this thinking "Eh, badminton isn't for me, it's for little kids, or losers" your only limiting yourself. As much as we all like to think we are different then other people, when you break it down we are all the same. If you get the chance, I suggest you try it. Then after badminton I usually go out for some fried chicken and beers with the other teachers...which only brings me back to my last point (we're all the same).

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