Weekend Warrior Report: Beach Blanket Busan Blow-Up!!!!! (June 26-19th)

Going to Busan has convinced me that somewhere on Cyworld (the Korean version of facebook) there is a fan site of me. You see, EVERYONE has a cyworld homepage in Korea. They post a lot pictures there (mainly from crappy cell phones) and I was stopped several times by various people to be in pictures with them. As I have stated before, I’m a physical freak in this country. I’m black, I’m big and I’m tall. It’s like some triple crown of oddness for Koreans and there is no place that I feel that freak show mentality more than Busan.

I went down to Busan with friends to spend the day at Haeundae Beach. I rarely leave Daegu, so I was looking forward to being out of the city. It’s only an hour train ride so it’s perfect for a day trip. We took cabs to the beach and grabbed lunch at a bar called Fuzzy Navel that serves Mexican food(!). Finally God has decided to bless me with a decent burrito here in S.K.

God – “I know you've been craving food from Atlanta, so I’m going to give you a preview of home. . . . starting. . . NOW!” (Cue choir singing the hallelujah chorus while lights shine on the burrito as a cute waitress brings me what will be a glorious meal.)

Ok, I’m finished drooling over the burrito. Where was I? Oh yeah, the beach.
First of all, I’m a southern boy. Second, I’m a city boy. I’ve only been to the beach a couple of times in life. I get excited about the idea of the beach because the ocean is a foreign thing in my eyes. What really stuck out to me is how different Koreans are at the beach vs. other groups of people there. The majority of the Koreans were on one side of the beach, mostly clustered together under umbrellas. Most of the women were covered up as much as possible and many shirts over their swimsuits. In fact, I didn’t see a single bikini on a Korean girl. It’s fairly well known that Koreans view white skin as a sign of beauty, so they protect themselves fiercely from getting tans. I’m honestly surprised that they would go to the beach much. It was so odd from what you might see in Florida or California. Just another difference in culture I suppose.

Foreigners were on the more open side of the beach and you would see a random mix of people out there. Russians, Tai, Philippine, Vietnamese. . . and each group seemed to be in a spot. I think the funniest thing we saw was the group of guys in man-kinis. The glorious neon colored evil thongs were on display and you could not get away from them. It was just awkward and glorious all at the same time.

Now as much as we people watched, people watched us. . . especially me. At one point, there was this group of about ten guys who just stood by and watched me. I believe they were Vietnamese, but they kept pointing and whispering from about six feet away.
Some group of Russians asked to take a picture with me which I thought was insane. Some random Korean people did and I caught a few kids trying to sneak pictures with camera phones. Then there was this group of people on the street who stopped me. Just before we left the beach, some kids walked up to me asking for pictures. At that point, I just shook my head and played it up. Apparently some of them thought I was a rapper (seriously).

I after leaving the beach, we were all sore. The guys (minus me – I didn’t want to spend the money) went to get massages and the girls wanted to shop. I tired some Vietnamese food and was pleasantly surprised. I usually have problems with new food, but I’m glad I tried it.

Every time I go to Busan I’m impressed by it. I really am tempted to look for a job down there if I stay a third year here. I’ve never lived on a coast and I think I could get used to spending time on the beach.

Weekend Warrior Report: Dance the Night Away???

I didn’t do anything on Friday. I’ve cut back to one night out during the weekend unless specific plans are made. Wandering the streets of Daegu with no true destination isn’t worth it on a Friday night. You think it would be, but no.

Saturday consisted of the usual fight club session. I’m finally getting better at some of the little things and I feel a little healthier. Because I had to be home for my washer to get delivered, I had to leave early. I went downtown and stopped in to Justin’s birthday dinner thing. I got to meet a few new people there, most notably a few of his co-teachers. I already knew one of them because she is friends with Korean Mom. After talking with them for a bit, I realized again how I WISH there were Korean teachers I could relate to at my school. As much as I would like to, there is no way I would feel comfortable inviting my co-workers to my birthday party. I wouldn’t think they would enjoy it nor would I feel comfortable.

I eventually made my way over to the Salsa party Susy and Melinda put together (pictures later). I didn’t know what to expect, but I was a lot of fun. It was also something different than the usual around here. Nick, Suzy and company did a little dance number which was pretty damn good. I think between that at the dance clinic they ran that they might get some new students. I was also happy that when the music started I didn’t like a total tool on the floor. I at least know basic steps and once my brain stopped frying I remembered how to do my basic turns. All it shows me is that I REALLY want to stay with lessons.

Korea: Year Two is shaping up to be pretty damn good:

-Fight Club & Gym
-Salsa lessons and etc.
-Korean lessons.

I always figured that year two would be more of me focusing on getting some things done. The adjustment is over. Time to get to work!

Splish Splash

I didn’t come to Korea with a lot of clothes due to a freak accident at the airport. I also can’t buy clothing here because Koreans don’t come in my size. Being the case, it’s important for me to take care of the clothing I did bring with me. Sadly, this also means I wash my clothes a lot. I don’t have a laundry day like most people. I wash something almost every day just so I don’t get caught without clothes.

So when Monday came and my washer broke, I wasn’t a happy man.

Luckily, I had recently cleaned some clothing, but this didn’t help me much the week went by. I was digging thru the drawers for something to wear to work each day. Fortunately my school was pretty quick to get a repair man to look at it. The repairman told them that the washer was dead, so they bought me a new one. I was so thankful that I finally had a washer. . . best of all, the new one is bigger than the old one so I can wash more stuff in it.

Ok, enough domestic stuff, let’s get on to the weekend.

Destiny is pre-ordained. . . Just like grades

Sparkling Korea hasn’t done this in a while to me, so I guess I was overdue for another headache moment.

For the next three weeks, I’ll be giving individual reading tests to students. I sit in a room and they come in one at a time. Each student will pick from a series of pre-prepared cards and read them to me. I will record and grade each student based on their ability. Simple, right?

Well, here’s the wrinkle in the system. When my co-teacher’s handed me the grading scale to use, they also gave me a set number of grades I could give out per grade. Which means if I have a class of 34 students, then only 5 can be A’s, 6 can be B’s and so on.

Excuse me????

So you mean to tell me that I have a set number of each grade to give out? This means I have worry about the fact that one student might just work their ass of and really do a good job, but because I gave all my “A’s” I have to give them a B? Are we serious?

Somehow they have pre-determined the grades for the students even before they start. How the hell?

I asked about this and while I didn’t get an exact reason, they just explained that I have to use each set of numbers. So I’m forced to be really conservative with my grades. Yesterday I found myself dinging them for every little thing. Plus, I’ve been here a year so I have a fairly good idea of who will do a good job and who won’t. But that doesn’t mean someone won’t harder.

This makes me wonder how many other grades come out like this????

Now it’s been brought to my attention that this isn’t that unusual a practice, even back in the US. To me, the idea of such a practice is insane. What happened to getting the grade you earned?