Almost Week 3...

woke up the other morning (circa 3am) to the sound of what i could only presume was a tank accompanied by the shouting of what i could only presume was an escaped war criminal inside the tank.....i don't know what he was doing and i don't care.....my blissful sleep was savagely accosted and i resented what his troubled mind was making him do.....anyways, it turns out some drunk korean man was wandering around the complex yelling and being a nuisance, so some sort of police unit was called in to chase him off.....apparently they just chase you off so you can wander someplace else and perhaps annoy some wildlife

on the subway, there are salespeople who come and pitch their product in between stops.....this practise is actually illegal, but nobody cares.....blind people also sing on the subway for change.....the good thing is that no one is rude to any of these people and it's simply a part of riding the subway.....the subway, for its part, is fantastically clean, fast, and efficient, sort of like everything else here.....i've spent a great deal of my waking hours zipping through different districts on my way to wherever it was that i was going.....one such stop was a place called TechnoMart, the greatest store in the universe.....9 floors high-tech gadgetry and pushy salespeople seducing you in with their hopelessly fragmented attempts at English waving mystifying products beeping and flashing at you, like some sort of evil candy.....i bought some.....i bought lots.....it felt good and i was happy.....there is also a lookout on the 8th floor which gives a great view of the Han river

i'm developed a taste for soju, the national drink made from potatoes.....at home, we call it 'moonshine' and usually makes you blind.....but koreans seem to be into that kind of thing.....there are places called nuraebangs (pronounced something like 'noo-ray-bung') where they lock you in a closet with 10 of your closest friends and you sing karoake as loud as you can.....you can also go to any number of 'hofs'.....hofs sell booze and food.....that's all.....if you order booze, you get food too.....if you order food, they bring you booze.....these places are EVERYWHERE

i've mastered my new cell phone and all of the incredible things it can do.....i think i could make it turn water into wine if i tried hard enough.....people text message me on my phone in class sometimes and all the kids laugh.....i respond with a terrifying gaze of resentment and a speech about how their parents didn't raise them properly (MY text messages are more important because I AM THE TEACHER.....no James, you can't insult me in Korean with Jenny while we're in class.....no James, books are not for hitting.....no James, I will not Kung Fu with you.....yes James, I am giving you a zero on your test.....no James, no one else gets a zero)

Korean food is fabulous.....i order out usually between 1 and 3 times a day because it's cheaper than grocery shopping (for the most part).....there are a lot of different restaurants here, all serving any number of mystery foods that are cooked in all kinds of sauces and spices so that you can't actually tell what they used to be when alive.....when you order out, the delivery guy brings your food in a fancy box.....then you eat it.....then you leave it on the stairs and the delivery guy comes back to pick it up.....it's awesome.....and nobody here eats very much.....most of my meals are in the 'dinner for 2' sections

teaching is actually very interesting.....it's a lot of prep work and a lot of time devoted to organization, but it is rewarding.....plus most of my kids are awesome.....except for James.....he's a friggin' eeeeeeeeeeeeediot.....i read 5 or 6 novels a week and teach lessons and give tests based on them for reading and writing classes plus auxiliary textbooks for vocab practise.....i also have TOEFL essay prep classes and 2 classes that just use a workbook for my younger students.....i teach 3 private lessons (1 student) as well, in which i evaluate the student and pick material that is suitable, and report on said student once a week.....there are grades for participation, quizzes, homework, and a listening section called CNN for each class every week.....it's a lot of stuff to take care of, but i like the way this school is run.....there are a bunch of teachers downstairs (teaching younger kids, K-4) who complain all day.....i wonder why they are here, if all they do is complain.....maybe i should give James a 'special' homework assignment and tell him that he has to go downstairs and not come up until all those teachers have quit

also taking a sweet trip to the DMZ on december 4th which should be pretty rad.....me and a bunch of people from wherever are all going down on a day trip.....it's going to be pretty interesting.....my apartment is also all set up, complete with arrays of electronic devices and a great 4th floor view of the courtyard.....it's a sweet homebase in an interesting area just outside of Gangnam, and has a river-side walkway and all kinds of parks and gardens to check out.....my bank account is finally set up as well, so now my school has no choice but to pay me for my time.....hahahahahaha, friends! power! prestige! the world is mine!!!

went to a sick jam in Gangnam at a club called Gong, which is located on the 15th floor of an office building downtown.....the ambience was super rad.....hard trance, hard dance, breaks and funky house until 7am.....no cover, 10000 won for all you can drink.....which is about $12.....got a henna tattoo while there and danced myself into an oblivious sweaty mess, effectively tattooing my shirt with multiple impressions of the one on my arm.....

i found a bar called "Bar Win" and an academy called "Academy Sweet".....that's sweet and it totally wins