May 2009
23 posts
6 tags
underquarantine.tumblr.com →
yooniverse:
The scoop inside the quarantine zone where some three dozen English teachers in South Korea are being held for exposure to Swine Flu.
Aside from being exposed to a potentially life threatening virus, I’m a bit jealous of these people. It’s like they’re having a very sterile vacation. The truth of it is, all these people will be just fine. They get exposed to...
12 tags
No Nukes Is Good Nukes
My sister sent me an e-mail asking if I’d decided to come home given the situation in North Korea. Just so i can say that I have officially addressed the situation, here’s my response…..
you know what’s awesome here? i told all my students that before the days end, i would get an e-mail about coming home, from either my mother or my sister. looks like you beat mom to...
7 tags
Dead Presidents
The former president killed himself over the weekend. Took a morning hike and threw himself over a small cliff near his house. He’d been embroiled in a pretty big scandal the last few weeks, testifying against allegations of bribery and some such business. I can’t claim to know too much about it, really. It’s very sad I guess, but the bright side is my free talk classes were...
12 tags
“I think, yeah, Jew are like fox.”
– Jeong-Yoon, a lady in my morning free talk class who really had a bone to pick with Israel and Jewish people in general. The article I brought in was about the Nazi prison guard they just found outside Cleveland. Rather than focus on that, she kept insisting jewish people want everything for...
Private Time
I have my private lessons every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. On Tuesday we read an article one of the girls brings in. After reading it, we go over new vocabulary and then discuss whatever the issue is. This can go very well or very poorly, depending on the topic and everyones mood. Sometimes they just have nothing to say, in which case I usually blather on to avoid any prolonged silences...
Pashion Paux Pas
More from the awesomely bad English on T-shirts file.
1- “This Is A Really Many” The quotation marks were actually on the shirt, so it’s possible, but not likely, they were quoting someone else’s bad English.
2- The Love Make Peace.
3- Don’t Look At My Shoes. The English here is fine, I just don’t know why I couldn’t look at his shoes.
4- Stylish...
WatchGood Stuff.
Three Kinds Of People
It is often said there are three kinds of people in Seoul; men, women and old married women, otherwise known as ajumma. As far as my understanding goes, an ajumma is any woman old enough to be married—say from age thirty and on. But there is significantly more to it than just age, or even marital status. Not having ajumma in America, there’s really no way to conjure up a decent...
This has nothing to do with Korea, but I...
And the Pulitzer Prize Goes To... →
Sweet.
Twitter Dumb; You're Using My Tytard?
I was going to bite the bullet and sign up for Twitter to see what it’s all about. Went to their homepage, started creating an account and found that someone else is using Tytard as their handle? 12 plus years of dicking around the interwebs using that name and now I’m running into problems? This beats all I tell you. So I command everyone within the sound of my voice (words) who...
May Babies
Happy birthday to all the people I know who have May birthdays. Thought I’d throw that out there right now, cause I’ll inevitably forget to say it to someone. Our parents should have spread the procreating around some more. Shit is too hard to keep track of.
5-24, out.
"Hello!"
I hear this screamed at me quite often. Now and again it is someone who actually wants to practice their English by saying hi and introducing themselves. ”Hello” they’ll say. ”May I introduce myself?”. It’s typically an older man and I’ll always oblige, cause why not? It isn’t going to hurt if two minutes of my day is spent listening to...
Party Time
Every night, just after 12 the parade begins. Drunken people, young and old staggering through the alley that runs in front of my apartment. Reserved and respectful in the daylight, these head bowing, button down types hoot and holler like it’s Bourbon street during Mardi Gras. Cans are kicked around, bottles get thrown, couples have it out, both for good or bad. Even with the windows...
Explanations and Duck
I tell people here all the time that my best friend in Seoul is Mr. Kim. Unless given some kind of proof, they usually don’t believe me. And why would they? There is no reason a 53 year old kalbi shop owner would be my closest friend in Korea, yet somehow it’s true. I tell people this and am usually met with rolling eyes and incredulous chuckles. At best they assume he is just a...
Rain Delay
Today is Buddha’s birthday. For the last month or so, paper lanterns have been popping up all over the city in honor of this day. He’s heavy into disposable party decorations it turns out. I’d planned on going to a festival at a temple with Sean, but it was cancelled due to rain. I don’t mean to knock Buddha or anything, but a better deity, Jesus effn’ Christ...