Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bulsajo]

Get a student with a digital camera to give you a hand. I can't be the only one dying to see Korea's oldest and largest swamp. Let us know if it freezes over in the winter.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I see the requests for photos are pouring in. Since the demand is so overwhelming, I will do my best. This will require not only conning a kid into taking the pictures with his phone, but also getting them on to this page, which is a total mystery to me. (I am the sort who considers a ball point pen hi-tech. I'm concerned that when we get indoor plumbing here in Swampville, I may end up drowning myself.) Please be patient and I'll see what I can do.

[Ya-ta Boy]

A Polite Request About An Indelicate Subject

Yes, this is going to be about the hwa-jang-shil. In all my years in Korea I have managed to avoid using a squat toilet except for once, and that was a near disaster. Let's just say I tipped over and very narrowly missed having to walk home downwind.

As luck would have it, Swampville High School comes equipped with the said dread squat toilets. The nearest upscale sit down model is 4 or 5 km away at home. There is a very high likelyhood that I will not get through a whole school year without nature calling.

So I'm beating nature to the call by asking if anyone has seen a set of portable monkey bars I could stuff in a backpack and park under my desk. Then when the need occurs, I can assemble it over the throne and have something to hang on to. I would also accept any alternative suggestions that do not involve a cork.

[desultude]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Something happened at school this week that I thought was interesting. When I came outside on Wednesday morning, two boys were washing windows and it wasn't school-clean up time (2:00-2:20 everyday). They continued to do that all day. Clearly they were being punished. I had to wait till Friday to get the story.

It seems that Tuesday night they stole a bag of rice from the middle school. I don't know how they got caught. They had to return the rice and wash all the windows in the school. Late Friday afternoon they came in the office and bowed to all the teachers. Mrs. Lee seemed to give them a lecture without turning around to look at them. I'm sure she said the equivalent of "Let this be a lesson to you. Now go and sin no more."

What struck me was the attitude of the teachers. No one was angry or abusive as far as I could see. It seemed like they marked it down to 'high spirits' or something like that. Kind of a 'boys will be boys' attitude. I was impressed. I think I was surprised because I've seen teachers carrying their love sticks to class. Mr. Moon, the funniest teacher, has one that has been used so often it is seriously bent.

[pet lover]

If it weren't for the fact that my youngest dog would inevitably use it as a mini-swimming pool, I'd really want a squatter in my own bathroom. I very much prefer them. If I have a choice in a public bathroom, I always choose the squatters because squatting is so much easer than hovering.

I want to take the opportunity to repeat my request for photos. You can always blur the faces of the locals if they get in the way of a shot, but pictures, please. I'm sure you can do it. Taking a picture is, in many ways, much easier than working a ball-point pen, which, let's face it: can be a deadly weapon in untrained hands.

Very curious about the theater major. Wonder if he posts here? Guess you will never be able to say much for fear of him finding himself here. hahahaha

[Bulsajo]

Q: WTF would 2 boys do with a bag of rice? Did you hear what they had planned to do with it? They weren't poor kids were they? They were just taking it because it was something that would be noticed as missing and they could snicker about it I guess?

[Ya-ta Boy]

From what I gather, it was just a prank kind of thing. I got another detail this afternoon. There was a third boy in on it, but he ratted out the other two. Plea bargaining must have been involved since he didn't wash windows.

[JongnoGuru]

[Ya-ta Boy]

That is a remarkably ugly child you are foisting on us, Mr. Guru. Is it natural or photo enhanced? And even more to the point, is it yours?

[Ya-ta Boy]

This week we are offering a bonus to our subscribers. PM me for details.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[pet lover]

Wherever did you get the idea that I'm down to one rosemary plant? I've got two!

I also have two dogs. Have for quite some time now.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Chusok �05 Update

Well, the big one is here. As far as I�m concerned it arrived at 3:15 Friday afternoon when school was dismissed early for Chusok. I even heard about this at 12:30, so I can�t complain that I�m not kept informed.  Last night the nearly full moon was beautiful but this morning the sky is gray and overcast. I hope that doesn�t continue. I have big plans to get out and about the neighborhood this long weekend and see some of my surroundings. The scooter tank is full (I prefer scooter to car for site-seeing. I can pull over anywhere and check out the view.) and ready to go. My engines are revved up�they must be because I got up at 5AM and cleaned house. The banana nut bread is in the new oven and the apart-uh is starting to smell like home.

I have a confession to make. But before admitting the truth I want to register the fact that I was lied to, deceived and misinformed by former student and present friend Seung-Kwang. It isn�t my fault! He told me that Youngsan is the home of Korea�s biggest and oldest swamp. It is not. That honor belongs to Changnyeong, the county seat of Changnyeong County. No doubt the presence of the swamp is why Changnyeong has that distinction. Youngsan is the site of a pond. A mere pond. A scum-covered, plastic bottle and chunks of Styrofoam containing pond. I am thoroughly disappointed and embarrassed that I passed along bad information. It isn�t mea culpa, it�s Seung-Kwang�s culpa.

One of the more important events of the week here is that the Village Idiot (the 6� guy who shuffles around town hunched over his portable tape player who salutes everyone including me) has dyed his hair orange. A kind of glow-in-the-dark orange. Quite attractive, I must say.

Another development on the local scene, one that was anticipated, is that there have been three reports that there is really only one foreigner living here. TM reports that 2 people have seen him where he was not (but I was) and I have been told that I have been seen in his apartment building every day. Since I have only been there two times, and the time of being told that I was seen there daily was only my second time, there can be only one conclusion. All way-gook saram do indeed look the same. Since both TM and I are of similar age and have beards and the same number of appendages I can see the problem. The fact that one is tall and thin and the other short and heavier than desirable is unimportant. The only solution is for one to a) shave the beard or b) dye it glow-in-the-dark orange like the Village Idiot. It seems only fair to me that that one should be TM, the new boy in town.

There were two notable events on Thursday. First, Lee Jong-Min the science teacher said (in sub-beginner English) that it was his day to stay all night in the dorm. It seems that each night one male teacher takes his turn to sleep in the dorm adjacent to our school where the out-of-town boys sleep. [As it turns out, Youngsan is a veritable Mecca of the education system of southern South Korea. Boys from Masan, Changwon and Busan are sent here to study�the exact opposite of the trend elsewhere where kids are sent to city schools to study in good schools. We have up to 10 (out of our 118 students) living in the dorm. However, at least one is not from out of town. The Mexicana Chicken family sends their son to sleep in the dorm.] Anyway, Jong-Min was to go on dorm duty at 9. Therefore, he was free from the end of school till 9. He asked if I wanted to eat dinner with him. I agreed and soon found that he invited Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Choi and Miss Han (all 4 are my students in the teacher English class). It also turns out that those four are all new teachers at our school. Seniority strikes again. We had a good time eating yang-yum chicken and drinking beer.

The other major event of Thursday was the final delivery of my stove. Ordered on August 29 and the wrong one delivered four days later, two days of negotiating an exchange and two weeks of waiting for delivery. It came at 4 (I had to be replaced in class so I could be home). The gas man came at noon on Friday. I made some Italian sausage and had spaghetti last night, and as I mentioned, the banana bread is in the oven now. I will be spared a cold food Chusok. That had me concerned. I spent Chusok �94 with no money, only cold ramyon made with cold water to eat and slept in an unheated apt-uh that year. I didn�t want to repeat any part of that experience.

Tourism note: About 40 km south of Masan you can visit The Bridge On the River Kwai. It isn�t really and is orange and not very high and serves no known purpose as far as I can see, but it is there for your enjoyment. The drive along the coast is quite nice though.

With a clean apart-uh, a stomach full of hot food and 4 days of freedom I can happily wish one and all a�

HAPPY CHUSOK!

[Bulsajo]