Spring is here

Spring is here, and things are going ok. The magnolia trees are blooming, and so are the cherry blossoms and, oh, yes, snow is still falling. You know, Korea is like a pit bull - it holds onto cold weather as if it were a dirty sock.

The job's going good. I'm making extra money, about $300 a month. It involves teaching a couple 1st grade and kindergarten classes, which is easy enough. To top that off, I don't have to work more than my usual 8 hours a day. More money, same hours? I'll take that, please.

Things with Song have been going good. More like great, actually. She's like an ice cream shop, and I'm a little kid.

My class at Pima has been going ok. I messed up and forgot to order the book on time, so for the first two weeks of the class, I'm making up a couple answers as I go along in the assignments. I mean, most of the stuff I can check out on the internet, but I should be reading three chapters a week in the book, and so far, the only thing I've read is the front cover. It should arrive here next week though, thanks to Song.

I had a poker night with some of the local guys. I bought a small barbecue grill for about $30 and we grilled some pork from Costco. It was good, and reminded me of hanging out in America. I really miss grilling with Phil and Eric. Phil and I used to make the best mashed potatoes, and Eric...well, Eric was really good at eating things.

My kids have been pretty par for the course lately. They haven't done anything outrageous, just the normal stuff that they do all the time. Since the weather's been barely less than brutal lately, I've been wearing short sleeve shirts, and that's brought out a renewed curiosity in my crazy arm hair. Some kids like to pet it as I walk by them, and others will try to pull it to see if it hurts me. When they do that I just pretend to pull some off and throw it on them. Well, they think I'm pretending, anyways.

They've been asking me most of the same questions that they always ask me: am I married, where am I from, do I like food, do I have a girlfriend, is she Korean, can she speak English, can I speak Korean, do I like my co-teacher, etc. The best one in recent memory was when a little kindergarten girl asked me in Korean if I was Korean.

I've decided to give up trying to be sociable with my teachers at work. Aside from my co-teacher, no one really makes an effort to try and be nice to me. Or, when they do make the effort, it's so puny that it would've been better if they hadn't tried. I think it all boils down to cultural differences. It's one of those instances where I can't help but compare things to how they would be back home. In my mind, Americans are usually pretty nice to foreigners, and even if their English sucks, we still try to talk to them and make them feel at home.

That's one thing: I've gotta stop comparing things to America. It's human nature, and it's useful, but, like most people, I only do the comparing with things I don't like. I rarely compare the things that are really good.

I've had some health problems recently. A bunch of colds, and a problem with some major body cramps due to some bad food (I think I left some bacon sitting around for too long). Then, last week, I found out that I have an inflamed prostate. Man, nothing makes you think "Hmm, maybe I should trade in my boxers for some whitey-tighties and start complaining about young people more" more than when you start worrying about your prostate. Anyways, the doctor said I should stop riding my bicycle so much.

My Korean's kinda leveled off. I just haven't had time to do much of anything with it lately. I'll start back up at the end of May though. For the mean time, I'm catching a good portion of what my kids are saying to me. Today, one girl told me in English that some of her friends had said that I was cute, and then she turned to her friends and told them in Korean that she had just lied to me. So be it.

My camera broke, so I got a new one. Contrary to what you'd think, cameras are more expensive out here. I bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH1 for about $180. It costs about $150 back in the states. But, then again, the sales tax is already included in things out here, so....

My MP3 player has been cruisin' for a bruisin' lately too, so I had Eric ship me out a new one. Also, one of my kids stole my portable hard drive, so I might be getting a new one soon. Hmm, what's next?

I've been hitting up the sushi restaurant from the video lately. Usually I'll go there on Friday after school because it feels like a reward for the week. It's $10 for 20 plates of sushi. There's two pieces to a plate, so that means that, if I so desired, I could stuff down 40 pieces of sushi. I have yet to make it into the 30s though. Oh, and the chef there always asks me what kind of sushi I like, so last time I told him that I liked rolls, and he asked me if I liked salmon, and I said that I loved salmon, so...yeah, i had about 27 rolls of salmon sushi. $10. $10. I'm more than willing to compare that to prices back home.

I've been trying to do the hermit thing as much as possible lately. It saves me money, and, honestly, I'm tired of hanging out with people that I probably wouldn't hang out with back at home.

Does that end things on a bad note if I leave it at that?