Sunday, July 19, 2009
New Photos
I have finally uploaded some new photos, check the slideshow to the right. Now that I have this "real" camera, I take photos in RAW mode which apparently means I can change the original data without losing any quality before I change it into a standard JPG. However, this also means I have obliged myself to go through each photo and tweak it before I upload it or consider it ready for general viewing. Editing 100 photos is just about infinitely longer a process than taking 100 photos. Oh well.
One night I was sitting in Caffe and Stuff with Eric and Paul playing Go/Stop, which means it was a Thursday. Eric was mentioning how he had joined Twitter and I decided to sign up, which was convenient and instantaneous since I had my laptop with me that night, due to the fact that the cafe had just gotten a new computer that wasn't set up yet and Paul wanted to look something up on the Internet.
Also, I figured I would stake my claim to my Internet nickname cyphecks, 'cause if anyone else ever took that I would be pissed. So I am now the owner of aTwitter account. For anyone who doesn't know by now, Twitter is a "micro-blogging" service that people update with short (140 character max) sentences or notes.
So it's done. Check http://twitter.com/cyphecks occasionally to read about some stuff I don't put in here.
Also, I figured I would stake my claim to my Internet nickname cyphecks, 'cause if anyone else ever took that I would be pissed. So I am now the owner of aTwitter account. For anyone who doesn't know by now, Twitter is a "micro-blogging" service that people update with short (140 character max) sentences or notes.
So it's done. Check http://twitter.com/cyphecks occasionally to read about some stuff I don't put in here.
Phrasal Konglish #2
All of today's specimens are from items in the juice and toast shop right outside of the subway in my neighborhood.
I am in love
you don't know how
I feel when you
smile at me like that
can't you see that you are the on-e
to bring meback to life ahh
I like that
Mother and sister, let us go and live by the river
With golden sands stretched for our limle gerdem
And need -
We are going to the with beans.
My siblings are waiting for me in the forest
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Fight!
Yesterday I was in class blabbing incomprehensibly in English like always, when, from the other side of the classroom, there was an unwelcome clatter of kids yapping and chairs sliding around, like always. I directed my attention to the two third-grade boys who were horsing around, play-fighting, and thought, "Great, more distractions." They were swinging their fists and wailing on each other pretty hard and it it took me a second to realize this was actually a fight.
I don't know really how the other 38 kids in the class were reacting because I was so surprised I had a real fight in my class, something exciting for a change. My co-teacher ran over and was yelling at them and trying to make them stop, but they were evidently too determined to keep wailing on each other so I rushed over and got in between them which proved still inadequate to get them to stop hitting each other, so I pushed them apart, sending one to the ground accidentally. I also had to drop my paper and pencil, dammit.
This seemed to get them to stop trying to kill each other temporarily. My co-teacher led them from the classroom into my office which is connected to the classroom by a door in the rear. I foolishly tried to resume my lesson, which was a fun Scattergories-style vocabulary game since my week's intended lesson had bombed due partly to the fact that it sucked, and partly to the fact that it was the last week of school before summer break and the kids probably cared less than I did. My attempt to regain control of the class failed, needless to say. And furthermore, a moment after the two brawlers were led out of my classroom, we all heard the sounds of scuffling in my office, so I had to go see what they were up to in there.
When I got into my office the kids were separated again, but screaming at each other and cursing their brains off, which I knew because I have made a decent survey of Korean swear words, and I could pick out 'ssi-bal!' at least a dozen times, which is the Korean equivalent of 'fuck'. The co-teacher was by now leading them from my office out of the door and into the hallway, with me trailing behind, but before they could make it to the door their curses turned to blows again and the fists started hitting faces. All in all, this was a much more exciting fight than the only other fight I witnessed in Korea, which was in Bucheon, partway between Seoul and Incheon. That fight happened late at night, after some friends and I got out of a norae-bang with some random English-enthusiast Korean kids. That fight was outside of an arcade or something, and the kids were maybe early twenties and were throwing the most rubbery girl-punches I have ever seen, and kicking people like they didn't even care. It was entertaining for sure, and I give them credit for the duration, since they kept starting and stopping, but it was a pretty sissy display of violence.
So by the time I realized that my two students were pounding each other in the face inside of my office door, they had each landed a few punches, and I pulled them apart yet again. My co-teacher led the one she had control of out of the room to who knows where, and I had the kid that was still with me just sit at the little table in my office and cool down. I went back into my classroom where the kids were chattering about the fight, I'm sure, and put on a movie which I just happened to have lurking on my computer for months, a documentary film about an international breakdancing competition called Planet B-Boy, which is a sick film and features two Korean teams. This got the classes attention after the wild interruption.
The film was on for a bit and my co-teacher had returned and I just let the kids watch the film for the last 25 minutes of class rather than trying to get them to do something productive. Watching Planet B-Boy was a good choice, I probably haven't seen so many kids pay attention to something in my classroom ever, or at least not make any noise.
I had previously noticed a few drops of blood on my sleeve, but it wasn't until after class that I noticed there was a splash on my arm too, I guess from the kid who I had kept in my office. His shirt was also bloody and he had a black eye already and the teacher with whom I shared my office had come back to her desk and told me after class the kid said he was ashamed he got hit so much. I guess you could say he was the loser of the fight. He was also the one I had accidentally pushed to the ground when I was first trying to separate them in the classroom. I asked the reason for the fight, and apparently one of the boys had 'playfully' slapped the other one, who had not taken the slap so playfully. "Maybe it's because of the weather," she said, but I have never punched someone in the face because it was humid and hot. "Boys will fight sometimes," she said, and I asked if there was any punishment for them, or if their parents were informed or anything. "No," she said, "because they are good boys," she said, and I mentally added the obligatory "usually".
After the class, when I had removed my shirt to wash it in the sink in my office to try to get as much of the blood out of it as I could, the two boys came to me to apologize. Their faces were red, not from embarrassment, but from getting punched, and they were cheerful and unaccompanied, and comfortable with each other as they are friends apparently. I said it was no problem, and told them to be nice, and they left and that was the end of that.
I don't know really how the other 38 kids in the class were reacting because I was so surprised I had a real fight in my class, something exciting for a change. My co-teacher ran over and was yelling at them and trying to make them stop, but they were evidently too determined to keep wailing on each other so I rushed over and got in between them which proved still inadequate to get them to stop hitting each other, so I pushed them apart, sending one to the ground accidentally. I also had to drop my paper and pencil, dammit.
This seemed to get them to stop trying to kill each other temporarily. My co-teacher led them from the classroom into my office which is connected to the classroom by a door in the rear. I foolishly tried to resume my lesson, which was a fun Scattergories-style vocabulary game since my week's intended lesson had bombed due partly to the fact that it sucked, and partly to the fact that it was the last week of school before summer break and the kids probably cared less than I did. My attempt to regain control of the class failed, needless to say. And furthermore, a moment after the two brawlers were led out of my classroom, we all heard the sounds of scuffling in my office, so I had to go see what they were up to in there.
When I got into my office the kids were separated again, but screaming at each other and cursing their brains off, which I knew because I have made a decent survey of Korean swear words, and I could pick out 'ssi-bal!' at least a dozen times, which is the Korean equivalent of 'fuck'. The co-teacher was by now leading them from my office out of the door and into the hallway, with me trailing behind, but before they could make it to the door their curses turned to blows again and the fists started hitting faces. All in all, this was a much more exciting fight than the only other fight I witnessed in Korea, which was in Bucheon, partway between Seoul and Incheon. That fight happened late at night, after some friends and I got out of a norae-bang with some random English-enthusiast Korean kids. That fight was outside of an arcade or something, and the kids were maybe early twenties and were throwing the most rubbery girl-punches I have ever seen, and kicking people like they didn't even care. It was entertaining for sure, and I give them credit for the duration, since they kept starting and stopping, but it was a pretty sissy display of violence.
So by the time I realized that my two students were pounding each other in the face inside of my office door, they had each landed a few punches, and I pulled them apart yet again. My co-teacher led the one she had control of out of the room to who knows where, and I had the kid that was still with me just sit at the little table in my office and cool down. I went back into my classroom where the kids were chattering about the fight, I'm sure, and put on a movie which I just happened to have lurking on my computer for months, a documentary film about an international breakdancing competition called Planet B-Boy, which is a sick film and features two Korean teams. This got the classes attention after the wild interruption.
The film was on for a bit and my co-teacher had returned and I just let the kids watch the film for the last 25 minutes of class rather than trying to get them to do something productive. Watching Planet B-Boy was a good choice, I probably haven't seen so many kids pay attention to something in my classroom ever, or at least not make any noise.
I had previously noticed a few drops of blood on my sleeve, but it wasn't until after class that I noticed there was a splash on my arm too, I guess from the kid who I had kept in my office. His shirt was also bloody and he had a black eye already and the teacher with whom I shared my office had come back to her desk and told me after class the kid said he was ashamed he got hit so much. I guess you could say he was the loser of the fight. He was also the one I had accidentally pushed to the ground when I was first trying to separate them in the classroom. I asked the reason for the fight, and apparently one of the boys had 'playfully' slapped the other one, who had not taken the slap so playfully. "Maybe it's because of the weather," she said, but I have never punched someone in the face because it was humid and hot. "Boys will fight sometimes," she said, and I asked if there was any punishment for them, or if their parents were informed or anything. "No," she said, "because they are good boys," she said, and I mentally added the obligatory "usually".
After the class, when I had removed my shirt to wash it in the sink in my office to try to get as much of the blood out of it as I could, the two boys came to me to apologize. Their faces were red, not from embarrassment, but from getting punched, and they were cheerful and unaccompanied, and comfortable with each other as they are friends apparently. I said it was no problem, and told them to be nice, and they left and that was the end of that.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Summer Blitz
Daegu is supposed to be the hottest city in Korea, which will suck when summer is in full swing. It's already been pretty bad, especially with the humidity. My friend Jeff lived here last year and said that he once simply lay on his bed with a block of ice slowly melting on his chest to cool off. That was only because he had no air conditioning in his apartment, and most people do here. I, however, am not most people and am lacking in such a convenience, so come August I may be laying around with ice melting on me. Another option is going to the beach, which I did today. It's officially summer in Korea when the beaches are officially open, which they are since July 1, and so that means people all of a sudden come out in droves, no matter if it was hot beforehand.
Chilling at the beach was just the most recent thing in a very busy string of events going back the past month. Before I went to the beach this weekend, I caught two shows, one in Daegu, one in Busan, both featuring my friend Dan as The Spookfish, Sighborg whom I had seen once previously, and some Korean-American DJ on a world tour. The weekend also featured much Go/Stop which is good because I was able to win enough money off of Eric for him to pay for my drinks and so on after I ran out of cash.
The previous week also saw me resolve to get a motorcycle since I am now committed to staying in Korea beyond the length of my original contract, celebrating Canada Day after I learned it was actually a holiday, and climbing in the gym after a two-week break.
Previous to that was a 5-day trip to Japan with mom. We continued our nonstop tour of tourist hotspots that began when she arrived in Korea and we went to Gyeongju and Seoul on the weekends prior to Japan. Never in two and a half weeks have I before seen so many temples, museums, castles, shrines, or tame deer.
Chilling at the beach was just the most recent thing in a very busy string of events going back the past month. Before I went to the beach this weekend, I caught two shows, one in Daegu, one in Busan, both featuring my friend Dan as The Spookfish, Sighborg whom I had seen once previously, and some Korean-American DJ on a world tour. The weekend also featured much Go/Stop which is good because I was able to win enough money off of Eric for him to pay for my drinks and so on after I ran out of cash.
The previous week also saw me resolve to get a motorcycle since I am now committed to staying in Korea beyond the length of my original contract, celebrating Canada Day after I learned it was actually a holiday, and climbing in the gym after a two-week break.
Previous to that was a 5-day trip to Japan with mom. We continued our nonstop tour of tourist hotspots that began when she arrived in Korea and we went to Gyeongju and Seoul on the weekends prior to Japan. Never in two and a half weeks have I before seen so many temples, museums, castles, shrines, or tame deer.
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