Zounds! A Competition!

I did not leave my apartment at all today. I literally spent almost the entire day working on this video. I know that you are now torn between deciding that it's great that I'm really dedicated or sad that I'm so wicked retahded at iMovie. I also did some laundry and other chores but, really, most of my day was spent creating and modifying images in GIMP and trying to dredge up some reasonable footage to explain the competition. I am 100% sincere in its application so start fightin' for my lovin'!

Belated

My posts are slowing, I notice. I have been pursuing some other activities and become a little self-conscious about quality and value. I shall, when I have time over the weekend, provide some of the fun pictures I took in Japan.

Back 'Home'

I have returned! I had to split my reportage from the capsule into two different files. I came home only to be rudely reminded that my toilet is broken, dishes need to be done, and that I left things a bit of a mess. I have made a short-term fix for the commode as it is a simple, yet annoying, failure of the flushing chain. So with this many messes to deal with after being gone only four days I dread to think what will have festered, piled up, or broken in a year. ;)

The capsule hotel was divided into a men's and women's section and while the women had a tv and a reading lounge the men got pachinko and video games. Bastards. Not that I want to play pachinko but, really, that's just so sexist! I bet there were beer vending machines in there, too. All we got was coffee, juice, and Pocari Sweat.

Without further ado:



And....

My First Day

Today was my first day of work. I made another video in order to showcase some purchases from the local 7-11 and share a bit about the teaching experience. Convenience stores in Korea and Japan are awesome. I have incredibly fond memories of all the goods you could acquire at the "conbini" when I was in Tokyo and, while not as extensive, the ones around here are great too.

First, you can buy liquor at conbini. Having grown up in Pennsylvania I am still awed by the far easier access one has to beer & wine almost everywhere else. In the American deep south you can buy beer at the gas stations and there are often bottle openers at the counter so you don't have to wait to get back to your car to start drinking.

Second, they have all manner of snacky foods and exciting treats. Granted this is mostly taking joy in the exotic. That is why I came to Korea: to have the otherwise mundane turned on its head.



I know that this stuff either is or soon will be totally uninteresting, dear reader-viewer. As it is I'm still pondering whether I'm really contributing to the greater good by making (bad) videos. Over time I hope to acquire a real camera and some actual editing skills but right now, so far from everything, this is how I'm fighting the isolation. Pay attention for a bit longer, though, because I have a challenge for friends and family coming up as soon as I complete a few things.

You Can Come To My 'Hood, I Will Show You My Crib

My fancy-pants new laptop allows me to make awkwardly filmed movies! Now you can see, in all its glory, my apartment:


Today was stressful. I had to begin planning the umpteen classes I'll be teaching tomorrow. It's a little scary and a little frustrating. I've only seen a few of the many classes I'll be teaching and since I've only been in country three days it's a little overwhelming. I did see one of the classes I am taking over and that was dominated by the misbehavior of two boys and climaxed with totally inappropriate vocabulary (theirs, not mine).

As for observations specific to my Korean experience thus far: questions that are considered rude in America about personal things are the norm here. On the ride from the airport Sunday night the guy driving me asked 1) "Are you married?" and 2) "How old are you?". I was expecting him to go for a hattrick and ask if I believe in God or how much I weigh but he veered into politics. Do I like President Bush? No. That's a fairly safe answer most places outside the United States. I do wonder how I would be received if I espoused how lucky the rest of the planet is that Bush is dishing whoopass and Democracy to all and sundry.

Today, I was introduced to various classes and got to field questions. What did I get to field? Teacher, are you married? Teacher, how old are you? Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have a girlfriend?

Whoah! Yea, that last one surprised me. The second time I had to own up to being single I asked the student if she was going to help me out in that department. The boy who asked me if I had a boy- or girlfriend asked me if I was lonely. Oh. My. God. I'm just waiting to come in one day and have innocent seven-year-old faces inquire what I'm doing with my life or if I'm worried that my ovaries (and today's inappropriate vocabulary lesson makes their knowledge of this word entirely possible) are going to turn to dust before I ever trick a man into marrying me. Good thing the kids are learning plural nouns - we can talk about the many cats I'll be living with.