Sunday, December 7, 2008

Snow, Snow, everywhere.

Well, it was everywhere until yesterday. Sad. As I said before this city is really awesome when it's covered in snow. Now it was truly covered in snow this time. We had over six inches of snow on Friday. It was truly beautiful. Here are some pictures. I would like to thank Drew for taking these wonderful pictures while we were out and about in Seosan. On that note lets begin the wonderful exploration of this past week.

School has been progressing well. The school year ends here during the winter so the students are starting to get a little rowdy. They are also beginning their cycle of testing which determines their grades. Unlike back home, grades are determined by tests in this country. Honestly I feel bad for the teachers because while they can still use corporeal punishment there is little else they have to maintain order. Luckily with these students that is all most of them need. I've talked with several of my other teachers here and have finally found the largest difference between our two education systems. Surprisingly it's not the fact you can hit your students, it's the fact that students at home make you earn their respect. Here there is an utter lack of disrespect. No that is not a typo. The students here would not even think to disrespect a teacher. It's creepy. I actually find myself wanting a student to disrespect me so I can maintain some semblance of normalcy. I mean seriously. The worst thing they do is mutter to themselves in Korean. Even the ADHD kids aren't that bad. It's nuts. It's like I died and went to respect heaven or something. I wouldn't say teacher heaven because there are still problems with the system.

Other then that this week was pretty low key except for a small things. For starters my friend Drew, who some of you may know arrived in Korea to begin teaching on Friday. Once again I made the trek up to Incheon International Airport to pick someone up. What made this trip so much fun was the fact that in and around Seosan there was six inches of snow falling. In Incheon and Seoul there was no snow, but around home it was flurries. Which meant that for the last 60 kilometers of our journey we were traveling at about 35 miles an hour. What's even more sad is that while we were doing this our car actually ended up sideways at one point but still moving forward. We hit a patch of ice. However I must say thanks to the superior driving skills of my recruiter Ryan he steered perfectly into the turn and straightened us out without even having to stop. Mad props Ryan.

The other big event of this weekend was the Saturday drinking fest known as Carissa's birthday celebration. The night included a bottle of whisky, some boilermakers, and a giant fireball of 151 that may or may not have singed some peoples eyebrows. Luckily I was behind the fireball taking pictures. Needless to say it was a good night. Most importantly what night like this wouldn't be complete without the following two things, one a fifteen minute pick on Will session, and me completely misinterpreting a text message and almost totally blowing it with a girl because of that. Freaking Konglish.

This week promises to be a very calm week for me, however there is the possibility that I once again will run up to Seoul this weekend. Drew wants to explore the ginormity that is Seoul, and I'm thinking about buying some really cheap stuff in Yongsan electronics district. Until then.

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