i realize fully that this blog has been a gross misrepresentation of what my life has been like since i have moved to daejeon and i assume full responsibility for this. the next time that you link to the page and your heart falls painfully at the lack of new information, please picture me pitifully crouched on the floor in the hottest corner of my sparsely furnished apartment in order to maintain the internet quality necessary to convey these thoughts to you. do this, and we will all be better off.
that being said, i will try to catch you up on what i have been doing for the past several days.
saturday was a big day for everyone at my hogwan (korean word for english institute). it was their last day of intensives, a month of hell that happens twice a year where the teachers teach an extra class in the morning, adding up to nine hours of class per day. needless to say, they were all pretty excited to go back to their normal 4:30-10:30 teaching schedule. we celebrated this by hiking a mountain on the outskirts of the city and having a picnic at the top. it was alleged to be an extremely easy hike by the three who had done it before, so, laden down with kimbap (kind of like california rolls), soju, and beer, we set out.
after several minutes of hiking it became clear that this was not going to be the cake-walk we had anticipated. the three who had hiked it before admitted that ours was not the trail they had walked previously. but we were there already, so all 25 or so of us trudged up the steep incline, pausing every 20 minutes or so to cool off. it just so happened that sat was also the most humid day we had experienced in a week or so, and thirty minutes into the walk we were all dripping. we saw this guy on the way up and had to give him props for his support of the tigers. i think he thought we were crazy.
we finally reached the summit, ready to eat and play frisbee, only to realize that we were at the wrong summit and the one we wanted was on the other side of the ridge. as we had still several hours until sunset, we decided to walk over to it. by this point many were cursing their gods that they had decided to come, or perhaps that they had consumed beer instead of water on the walk up. regardless, we made it to the top, explored the fort wall ruins, played frisbee, had our picnic, and saw a mediocre sunset. it was too hazy. this is about half the group at the top.
we left the top a bit too late, not realizing how long it would take us to go the direct way down. and so, our group of 25 unprepared foreigners descended in the darkness without a single flashlight. we only killed off 2 or 3, but i think it was more the bears than anything else.
the next day was volleyball, a sport that has never been my strong suit. but i did alright and my team was undefeated for most of the day.
that evening was my first game of the DAEJEON CITIZENS, daejeon's own soccer team. it was awesome, with fans lighting off flares and chanting all game. the stadium was about 1/10th full and the team is really pretty bad, but it was a great time and we got to meet some of the players afterwards.
then i was on to fukuoka, japan to get my work visa. im legally a teacher, if not yet in practice. the hotel where they sent us was out of this world. this is a view of the sunset out my window.
as going to the consulate took about 30 mins both mon and tues, we had a lot of time to play. (i was with 2 coworkers). we spent monday evening on the beach meeting japanese people and hanging out. it was a really good time. these are some of our new japanese friends. please note that it is not just the peace sign that is popular, but also the spiderman webslinger.
tuesday we did some random exploring, finding a park with a huge lake in it and koi fish the size of my leg. against the warnings of a friend who had just been to the same city, i forgot sunscreen and got a bit red. oh well.that being said, i will try to catch you up on what i have been doing for the past several days.
saturday was a big day for everyone at my hogwan (korean word for english institute). it was their last day of intensives, a month of hell that happens twice a year where the teachers teach an extra class in the morning, adding up to nine hours of class per day. needless to say, they were all pretty excited to go back to their normal 4:30-10:30 teaching schedule. we celebrated this by hiking a mountain on the outskirts of the city and having a picnic at the top. it was alleged to be an extremely easy hike by the three who had done it before, so, laden down with kimbap (kind of like california rolls), soju, and beer, we set out.
after several minutes of hiking it became clear that this was not going to be the cake-walk we had anticipated. the three who had hiked it before admitted that ours was not the trail they had walked previously. but we were there already, so all 25 or so of us trudged up the steep incline, pausing every 20 minutes or so to cool off. it just so happened that sat was also the most humid day we had experienced in a week or so, and thirty minutes into the walk we were all dripping. we saw this guy on the way up and had to give him props for his support of the tigers. i think he thought we were crazy.
we finally reached the summit, ready to eat and play frisbee, only to realize that we were at the wrong summit and the one we wanted was on the other side of the ridge. as we had still several hours until sunset, we decided to walk over to it. by this point many were cursing their gods that they had decided to come, or perhaps that they had consumed beer instead of water on the walk up. regardless, we made it to the top, explored the fort wall ruins, played frisbee, had our picnic, and saw a mediocre sunset. it was too hazy. this is about half the group at the top.
we left the top a bit too late, not realizing how long it would take us to go the direct way down. and so, our group of 25 unprepared foreigners descended in the darkness without a single flashlight. we only killed off 2 or 3, but i think it was more the bears than anything else.the next day was volleyball, a sport that has never been my strong suit. but i did alright and my team was undefeated for most of the day.
that evening was my first game of the DAEJEON CITIZENS, daejeon's own soccer team. it was awesome, with fans lighting off flares and chanting all game. the stadium was about 1/10th full and the team is really pretty bad, but it was a great time and we got to meet some of the players afterwards.
then i was on to fukuoka, japan to get my work visa. im legally a teacher, if not yet in practice. the hotel where they sent us was out of this world. this is a view of the sunset out my window.
as going to the consulate took about 30 mins both mon and tues, we had a lot of time to play. (i was with 2 coworkers). we spent monday evening on the beach meeting japanese people and hanging out. it was a really good time. these are some of our new japanese friends. please note that it is not just the peace sign that is popular, but also the spiderman webslinger.
anyway, that should bring you about up to speed. in theory i will be getting a real apt this weekend and starting teaching some classes (i dont know which) on monday. ill keep you posted.
1 comment:
the asian smile.
by a real asian.
is this picture for real?
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