the Pacific, how we would fight China, and Tocqueville...
ahh, the mysteries behind choosing the most ubiquitous title, and confusing all of you, making you wonder what in the world this post is going to be about....
well, this past week or so has been pretty rough energy wise. due to the unforeseen rise in the amount of pollution thats been hanging over the city for the past few weeks, I've been struggling with a really bad chest and nasal congestion. its comparable to being really sick from either allergies, or a really bad cold. the symptoms are all the same: runny nose, really tight chest, and congestion in my sinus' beyond compare. i'm pretty sure that its not allergies; I've been tested before, and nothing showed up (at home - hence my hesitation to say "no" allergies), and i know its not a cold - and the one thing that's making me sick? the super seoul pollution!! (the average evening temperature in my house is 32F, and right now, even though its early afternoon, my house is right now 27) its getting hot, and luckily, the rains haven't started yet. right now, i don't bother to look at the weather forecast, because even online, with all the technology we have with satellites, they still can't get it right. thats fine with me, but i'd love to know when its going to rain; over here, as i might have mentioned before, when it rains, it pours.
other than the weather, things are going good. my back is feeling pretty bad lately, and my newest workout scheme isn't helping. i'm sure that if it got worse enough, i could go to a korean chiropractor, but who knows what they'd do, and as always, communication would be a major issue. the shocking thing is that as of today, june 22, i've been in korea for four months. four months. nasty. on one hand, it seems like its flying by, which it its. but it makes me realize all of the stuff that i haven't done yet. either way, its strange to know that i'm a quarter done my contract. its still strange to see new people coming into the school, and having the new people refer to me as someone who knows what they're doing. i've been here for four months, and now that i know exactly how to do everything, its starting to feel comfortable. at the same time however, i've somewhat become more cynical to the whole process of teaching at my school; some of the things they do at my school can seem so incredibly backwards and frustrating. that happens in nearly every situation, any school, any administration. however, i'm locked in here, and things will likely never change here. the only difference is that this hogwan where i'm teaching is a business, not a school. he's in the language business to make money, not for the betterment of soceity. so there are SO MANY resources that could make our school so much better; but they all cost money, hence the lack of quality material that i use. we joke at my school that every time we see our director, he's smiling - we all think that the reason he's always smiling is that everytime he see's us, he see's massive "won" symbols walking around his school...we aren't too attached to our fearless leader.
well, right now, most of us at my school are looking forward to our one week vacation that's coming up in just over a month. for me, i'm heading off to china for a one week backpacking trip. i'm going to spend a few days in beijing, make a trek one day to see the great wall, and then after two days in beijing, i'll head out to xi'an, where i'll see the terracotta warriors, and then (hopefully) take a bus to chonqing (sp?), and then take a boat tour down the yangje river (soon to be the three gorges dam, removing all of the beautiful valley's, etc) so i'll go from chonqing to wuhan, and take a bus/train from wuhan to shanghai, tour shanghai for a day, and then go back to Seoul. the only problem is that theres a lot of "chance" and "guessing", such as "is there going to be a bus from wuhan to shanghai on the day i need there to be one, or a bus/train from xian to chonqing on the day that i need one? if not, my whole trip could be pretty disastrous. but i'm just going to have fun. i just need to remember that wherever i go, i just need to take my best friend "mr. master card" - then i should be okay. as long as i get back to teach, it'll be all good.
well, i need to be going - its time to teach, and its about time that i showered and got prepped. i hope and pray things are going well, and i'll talk to you sometime soon
living the dream...
well, this past week or so has been pretty rough energy wise. due to the unforeseen rise in the amount of pollution thats been hanging over the city for the past few weeks, I've been struggling with a really bad chest and nasal congestion. its comparable to being really sick from either allergies, or a really bad cold. the symptoms are all the same: runny nose, really tight chest, and congestion in my sinus' beyond compare. i'm pretty sure that its not allergies; I've been tested before, and nothing showed up (at home - hence my hesitation to say "no" allergies), and i know its not a cold - and the one thing that's making me sick? the super seoul pollution!! (the average evening temperature in my house is 32F, and right now, even though its early afternoon, my house is right now 27) its getting hot, and luckily, the rains haven't started yet. right now, i don't bother to look at the weather forecast, because even online, with all the technology we have with satellites, they still can't get it right. thats fine with me, but i'd love to know when its going to rain; over here, as i might have mentioned before, when it rains, it pours.
other than the weather, things are going good. my back is feeling pretty bad lately, and my newest workout scheme isn't helping. i'm sure that if it got worse enough, i could go to a korean chiropractor, but who knows what they'd do, and as always, communication would be a major issue. the shocking thing is that as of today, june 22, i've been in korea for four months. four months. nasty. on one hand, it seems like its flying by, which it its. but it makes me realize all of the stuff that i haven't done yet. either way, its strange to know that i'm a quarter done my contract. its still strange to see new people coming into the school, and having the new people refer to me as someone who knows what they're doing. i've been here for four months, and now that i know exactly how to do everything, its starting to feel comfortable. at the same time however, i've somewhat become more cynical to the whole process of teaching at my school; some of the things they do at my school can seem so incredibly backwards and frustrating. that happens in nearly every situation, any school, any administration. however, i'm locked in here, and things will likely never change here. the only difference is that this hogwan where i'm teaching is a business, not a school. he's in the language business to make money, not for the betterment of soceity. so there are SO MANY resources that could make our school so much better; but they all cost money, hence the lack of quality material that i use. we joke at my school that every time we see our director, he's smiling - we all think that the reason he's always smiling is that everytime he see's us, he see's massive "won" symbols walking around his school...we aren't too attached to our fearless leader.
well, right now, most of us at my school are looking forward to our one week vacation that's coming up in just over a month. for me, i'm heading off to china for a one week backpacking trip. i'm going to spend a few days in beijing, make a trek one day to see the great wall, and then after two days in beijing, i'll head out to xi'an, where i'll see the terracotta warriors, and then (hopefully) take a bus to chonqing (sp?), and then take a boat tour down the yangje river (soon to be the three gorges dam, removing all of the beautiful valley's, etc) so i'll go from chonqing to wuhan, and take a bus/train from wuhan to shanghai, tour shanghai for a day, and then go back to Seoul. the only problem is that theres a lot of "chance" and "guessing", such as "is there going to be a bus from wuhan to shanghai on the day i need there to be one, or a bus/train from xian to chonqing on the day that i need one? if not, my whole trip could be pretty disastrous. but i'm just going to have fun. i just need to remember that wherever i go, i just need to take my best friend "mr. master card" - then i should be okay. as long as i get back to teach, it'll be all good.
well, i need to be going - its time to teach, and its about time that i showered and got prepped. i hope and pray things are going well, and i'll talk to you sometime soon
living the dream...