I'm Back!

As you may (or more likely may not) have noticed, I've been away from blogging for a little while. The thing is, when you move back in with your parents the last thing you want to do is tell people about it. Well, actually the last thing you want to do is bring a girl home, but closely behind that is blogging to everyone you care about that you've shacked up with Mom and Dad.

So if you were wondering, I've been in Tennessee for the past 9 months (WoW it sounds like a long time). Why Tennessee you ask? Because my parents feel like they're in college all over again down there and they don't have to pay the property taxes that are in Jersey. So I've been living the retired lifestyle for a while and it's definitely something I could get used to. Of course I wanted to spend some time with my parents who I hadn't seen for the whole year while I was away in Korea, and my 95 year old grandmother that was staying with them too.

Those aren't good enough reasons to move back home, you say? Well, yes those weren't the only reasons, but it was really nice to spend some time with my parents when I wasn't dealing with my teen aged angst (yet I've realized you will always feel like a child when you go home, no matter how old or successful you are). The real reason is that I decided that I wanted to go back to school and the idea of looking for an apartment, a job, and a school all at once seemed overwhelming. That makes sense right?

Oh yeah, and I wanted to train to play college football :-p

Punting Session -

So here's the low down on what has happened to me in the past nine months, the abridged version: I trained everyday to get better at punting. I put on about 20 pounds. I started teaching English to Russians online. I made lots of friends with retirees and Russians. I became an Irish citizen. I won a national punting competition in Florida. I turned 26. I got a division 1AA full ride offer to the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff to play football. I turned down a division 1AA full ride offer to UAPB because of eligibility rules. I made cool friends in Tennessee "around" my age. I moved to Missouri. I'm on course to get my Masters degree in English, my K-12 teaching certificate, and play Division II college football at Missouri Southern State University starting this summer. I moved into a really terrible house that was about to fall apart. I moved out quickly and found a GREAT home that's nearly brand new with a cool roommate and a cool dog :-)

...And that's just about where I'm at now. I'm really happy, and trying to be hopeful about starting school and playing football again, but both prospects also make me really nervous (but excited too). I wanted to keep blogging because I still rarely see any of the people that are always on my mind and I wanted to let you all know what I'm up to and that I still think of you.



I hope I can keep doing this every once in a while and if you haven't heard from me in a while, I'm sorry, but I was just a little embarrassed...no offense Mom & Dad.

Looking For A Job?

I can't believe it but Shinjin is actually looking for someone to fill my position for next year already. It totally doesn't seem like it's been a whole year, and I know it's cliche' but time really does fly. I thought that putting the classified add up on my blog would be interesting for everyone to see. Here is what they're looking for...

Shinjin Science Technology Academy is currently looking for English teaching instructors. We want sincere and experienced native speakers. If you are interested, please send a copy of your resume, diploma, teaching credentials, TESOL certificate, and a recent picture of yourself to the address below. Job description is as follows.

-Preferred Qualifications
1. M.A. or B.A. (if possible, Education or English major is preferred)
2. TESOL / TEFL certificate and ESL / EFL teaching experience
3. An enthusiastic and good cross-cultural personality preferred

-Contacts
Kim, Joong- KI
Email: jjooongkim@hanmail.net Phone: 02-355-6709
Mobile: 010-3708-6844

-Address
Shinjin Science Technology Academy
114-1, Eungam1-dong, Eunpyeong-gu
Seoul, Korea. Postcode 122-010

© Conditions & Benefits

-Employment
a. Contract Length: 1-year minimum (Renewable, if needed)
b. Initial Employment date starts: March 1st, 2008 – Feb, 28th ,2009

1. Monthly Salary: 2.4 million won (some 2,500 U.S. dollars)
2. Class hours: approx. 20 hrs/week
3. Work days: Monday to Friday (8a.m to 4:30 p.m)
4. Work Place: Eungam1-dong, Eunpyeong- gu, Seoul
5. Holidays: approx. 5 weeks of paid vacation will be given : two weeks during summer vacation and three weeks during winter vacation.

-Transportation
Airfare (economy class) will be paid from your location to Seoul upon your acceptance to our school.
ø Contract Completion Bonus: Paid Flight Home

-Accommodation
School offers private spacious housing close to school
(furnished, two bedroom, living room, kitchen and washroom)

-Others
School will pay 50% of Medical insurance.
School will pay 50% of the compulsory payment to the national pension fund.
School will pay one-time settlement allowance of 300,000 won.
Part of everyday luncheon expenses will be met.

-Application Deadline

Jan. 18, 2008

I've actually done a bunch of interviews for the school already and there are some really good candidates. I just hope the people who replace Rachel and I like the job as much as I did.

Alright, I'm off to go pick up my parents at the airport. Yup, Mr. and Mrs. Kroll are on their way to Asia as we speak. I have 2 weeks of quality family time ahead of me, one week as a tour guide of Seoul and the next as a tourist in China. Can't wait, and I am looking forward to blogging about it all as soon as I can. I'm sure there will be plenty tell.

From Me to You

Since I was elated with the number of responses to my last posting I thought I'd treat you all. I know, I know, I shouldn't, it was your pleasure, but your kind actions compel me to return the favor.
This past weekend was the lone long weekend of the Korean school year calendar, it was for "Chusok" or Korea's equivalent to Thanksgiving. In the spirit of Chusok I got a gift from the school and I wanted to share it with you. That is my gift to you, "showing you my Chusok gift." Yea, it doesn't sound like much, but what were you expecting? An official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle? No way... You'd shoot your eye out. And being that you need your eyes to read this blog, I thought I'd spare you.
Now feast your eyes upon this, safe, extraordinary gift:
Yeah, if you're like me you might be thinking something like "They gave me a briefcase? Why would I want a huge briefcase like that?"
Then I picked it up and realized the case wasn't the present, there was something inside. But what was it?

Now I don't know what the heck it is. What can be in this huge box?

I finally open it and think, "Oh, they got me a coffee table. That's so weird but really nice." Now I'm not nervous anymore, but exited to see what's inside.

Upon closer inspection it was not a briefcase, or a coffee table, it was instead...Spam. Spam and tuna, and some cooking oil too. Every teacher in the school got Spam as a gift for Chusok. Not exactly what we give out on Thanksgiving, but it was still a nice gesture.
I hope you all enjoyed the gift, and can all give thanks to everything and everyone you have. I'll have more on the weekend coming up soon.

"I'm Kind of a Big Deal"

It's crazy to think how things can change in a few short months. Just before I left The Big Apple I was jobless, my lease was running out and it seemed like I couldn't get a freelance gig if my life depended on it. Who turns down free help, I mean really? Maybe the world didn't think I was ready, it wasn't my time, I was too young, too green, but just look at me now. I'm on the other side of the world and I've become the face of Shinjin High School. Ummhmmm, yours truly has become the new face of Shinjin. I guess it's slightly less prestigious than being the face of the McDonald's or Nike like Kobe Bryant, or even the faces of Bojangles 'Famous Chicken and Buscuits' like Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith...

Actually, when the dust settles from that barn I might have them both beat. It took them years to become viable advertising leads in such breathtaking commercials that leave the industry standard in the dust. But me on the other hand, it took me only 6 months, if that. I walked into school a month late, but someone there saw the twinkle in my eye. They saw that one thing, that thing you can't put your finger on, but you know it when you see it. Well, apparently I've got it...at least in Korea I do.
Well, there is enough of my "down on his luck model" shtick. The sad thing is that a lot of people actually come to Asia to feel more important. It's easy to get caught up feeling special over here because a lot of Koreans treat you as if you are a big deal, just for being white, or American. Little do they know how many of us are actually over because we can't cut it in our own countries. From bosses, to coworkers, friends, to friends family members, it always seems to be a more special occasion when the white person is around. People want to make the more expensive dinner when you're coming over, and drink a few more bottles of suju once you're there.
I'm definitely not saying that my situation is a bad one, but it is interesting. When the Shinjin website needed a makeover did they turn to the teachers who had been there for 20 years to project the wisdom of Shinjin? Or teachers who had been there for 10 years? Or even the good looking, young, first year Korean teachers? Nope, they picked me (and Rachel, but mainly me ;)
A white, English speaking, American who can't correctly pronounce the name of the school in it's native tongue is now the vision of:
I think it's awesome but I'm not about to get a big head about all of this and end up staying here forever. I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is. Just like I said, it's amazing how things can change, but while I'm here, "as a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, so must I become Derelicte!"



Shinjin Photo Shoot

A Three Class Week

Believe it or not this week concluded my second month here in Korea.

I was all excited for this week because we had known in advance that Thursday was a holiday, Buddha's Birthday, and we didn't have school. Initially I was disappointed that the holiday wasn't on a Friday (who doesn't want long weekends), but I got over it quickly after arriving at school on Monday morning and hearing some more good news. I was told that on Tuesday there would be no classes for "Sports Day", and Wednesday there would be no classes for "Music Day". That's right, the four day work week turned into a 2 day party(or a three class week for me) in just a few, short, glorious, moments of casual conversation with another teacher.

Tuesday was a beautiful day spent watching kids play the "wave game", soccer, basketball, foot-volley ball, "snatch the hat Game", and "nonsense quiz game". What does all that mean? Well, it means I came to school, put on mesh shorts, and then went outside in the sun all day doing nothing but eating, drinking, and laughing. Oh yeah, and there was also a "teachers vs students" basketball game that I was recruited for. That was quite interesting because every time I touched the ball the entire school was screaming "DUNK IT!!!". Sadly, I only furthered along the stereotype that, in fact, white man can not jump. But I didn't even play my best either because I was so confused. I figured we would murder the students because some days I stay after school and play with them, and there has never been a close game, but playing with other teachers really threw off my game.
Why, you might ask? Well can you picture little children around the age of 5 playing soccer? What do you see? All of them following the ball, from one spot to the next, well that's how the teachers team plays defense during basketball. It was like I was surrounded by four chickens with their heads cut off. The long and short of it was that we ended up winning, despite my lackluster performance, by one basket...which just happened to be my basket in the final seconds. Haha, so lame, but so true.

Wednesday wasn't even a full day. I got to school and went into the gym to watch kids perform Karaoke for a couple hours, and then I went home. It was that easy. In at 8 and out at 11 with some good singing, bad singing, hilarious singing, stand up comedy and magic in the middle. I'm not sure I've ever felt more like I was in the middle of a tv sitcom, but it was definitely something I enjoyed seeing. I really need to get some video of this for you in the future. It was a definite MUST SEE!

And all of these cool events were basically a surprise to me. I never really know about anything in advance here. It's as if everyone just expects us to know things, but we don't, and then at the last second they say things like "yeah, there is a tv studio on the fifth floor. Didn't you know that?". No one did say that to me because no one has a high enough level of English to put a sentence like that together, but I thought it to myself on Wednesday after the Karaoke. The Karaoke performances were being recorded by students, so when it was over I followed them to see who got the tapes. They led me to the "Internet Broadcasting Room". It is basically a small tv studio; lights, cameras, computers, tape decks, tripods, and even a blue screen. A FRICKEN BLUE SCREEN. This is a perfect example of people not sharing things with us foreigners. Everyone knows I was a film major, but no one mentioned the fact that the school has film supplies gathering dust. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this new found discovery, but I hope to take advantage of it during my time here, and hopefully my faithful readers (you) will get a few more video's to watch because of it.
I'm sorry I slacked off a little on my posting. I was sick for about a week, but now I'm as happy to be healthy as this kid was happy the race was over. Rejoice.

Field Trip Friday

This past Friday our school had its first field trip of the year. Rachel, myself, Mr. Jong, and Miss Son were all put on the same bus. We had about an hour and a half ride to where we were going, but of course we got stuck with Rachel's worst class. We left Seoul and entered Incheon, which is directly west of Seoul. We were destined for an island in Incheon. To be completely honest it was another one of those times where we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into. Some people told me there were temples on the island, some said there was a fortress, some said there was mud, and others said there was absolutely nothing of interest, and we got shafted. But the bus ride wasn't so bad, I sat next to Miss Son, who I thought didn't speak much English. Well, it turns out she's just quiet because we talked almost the entire ride there. But where were we going? Some teachers told me they were going to Han River, some to mountains, and others to see Spiderman 3, but I hadn't gotten a clear answer as to what was on our island. Ironically enough, our first stop was at an army fortress memorial from a war between America and Korea. I walked around hundreds of Koreans in a place sacred because America attacked it, or as the memorial put it "America instigated the war". I don't know why we ever thought we should be fighting this far from home, but it almost seemed surreal. The good thing was that "ironic", usually a hard word to grasp, was able to be understood by almost every teacher there within moments. Yup, I'm always working.

We did not spend too much time at the fortress though; our second stop was not too far away, at some Buddhist temples. It's always neat to see these types of things but it was nothing too special. What I liked about it most was that there were high school kids everywhere, drawing. I just thought that was kind of cool. Not my high school kids or course, but others, from an art school. That was nice, oh yeah, and our awesome lunch, that was pretty sweet too. We just found a nice spot in the woods and all the students carried the food to it.

Our third stop of the day was by far the best, and most eventful. We went to the beach, but not just any beach, the "Mud Flats". Yeah, I didn't know what to think of it either, but it was really pretty cool. In this area of the shoreline, during low tide ,the water retreats, but instead of leaving sand behind, it leaves mud. I'm not too sure as to why that is, but it's pretty cool. It's pretty amazing how far the water retreats, some teachers told me that it can be dangerous when the high tide starts coming in; if your out in the mud too far you can drowned. When you're not drownding though, the mud is supposed to be very good for your skin. And our students made sure to test out that theory.

After an interesting game on the shore, that I'm sure would not be legal in America (that you can see above), our students started getting interested in the mud. And when I say interested I mean, they started throwing kids in it, or throwing it at each other. None of the teachers seem to care at all. It was as if we were all just watching it on TV. There were kids being dragged into the mud kicking and screaming, but we just watched and laughed. We definitely did a lot of laughing. Mud throwing, mud wrestling, mud sliding, and whatever other things you can imagine you could do with mud, our students were doing it.

A quality field trip, I hope you enjoyed it too...more pics in my picasa photo album (as always).

First Fun Fact

So I've realized that I can't type something long everyday, but I don't want to keep having big breaks in my posts. So, I've decided to do a "fun fact" type of thing.
Fun Fact #1:
I wear shoes to school, but then when I get there I put on sandals. All teachers where sandals at school, during school, and not necessarily nice ones either. I bought simple shower sandals, and three other Korean teachers also have the same pair.

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).