So Tank has been a pretty great addition to our Korea experience... well if you ask me anyway :) .... Paul might tell you something different ;)
However, every silver lining does have a cloud... and well Tank is a pretty little cloud.
Complaints about him barking have caused us to basically take him around everywhere. By this I mean... everywhere. Wherever we go, he goes. In addition, he's turned into an alarm clock... not that I need an an alarm clock, but I am up by 8 every morning thanks to the little critter :)
Well, enough of that, here are some pictures from the last 2 weeks so you all can vicariously live through our experiences :)
We talked about last time, that Tank made a new friend, Leeds... well, I don't think it quite captured the spirit of Leeds... so here is one that does :)
She's pretty much as high maintenance as a dog can get :) We like to joke that you can stick a stick on her head and use her as a mop :)
And the little one sleeping!
Oh here are pictures of some of my students.. I took pictures of them with name plates so I'd have an easier time remembering all the names. It worked!
I like Jayna a lot because she reminds me of Eun Joo when she was younger... She's really quiet.... needs glasses.... kind of on the dark side ;)
These two kids are Wendy (on left) and Lisa. They're sisters and OMG so cute :)
They always wear pink and they're super super super nice.
This is Alex, a 5th grader. He likes to chop up his eraser and throw it at Tiffany, a 4th grader in the class. A crush? I think so.
And last, but not least, this is Leo. He's definately one of my favorites.. teehee. He's one of my middle schoolers. He's not the smartest, but definately one of the hardest workers. He makes me happy. :)
Anyway, Paul says I shouldn't post up too many pics of my students... :( so instead I'm just going to give you all a smathering of random videos from the last year :)
Here is Tank "being born" ... you should laugh... we did!
Here's a video from the last post about the changing of the guards... I guess this falls into the "educational" category.
Here is a video of Paul & Tank... yes another one.
And here's a pretty old one (from the summer) of EunSun :)
Last but not least... Paul on his new bike...
Yes be concerned... be very concerned...
Sorry the post is kind of lame... but life has been pretty boring (but busy!) the last few weeks. Maybe we'll go somewhere today :)
The busy life with Tank!
Long Weekend Fun
Well, here we go again! The long weekend was a nice break from the crazy schoolkids.
Here we are at the Garak Market, whose website claims that it is the largest agricultural market in the world, or some such nonsense. However, I am almost inclined to believe it, as this market fills block after block after block with the most delightful veggies, fruits, animals, and more. The fish area can be smelled from very far away and strikes fear into this humble blogger's heart. And did I mention that everything is SUPER CHEAP because it comes directly from the farms? For example, we got a grocery bag full of mung bean sprouts for about US$1. We bought cucumbers, green onions, sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, shingo pears, and more, all for ridiculously low prices. It was a welcome relief from the price-gouging of urban groceries.
We finally did some more culturally-based events on our next excursion into Seoul proper, with our first stop being to Gyeongbokgung, which used to be the royal palace back in the day. We got there just in time to watch the final changing of the guard for the day. And, in case you were wondering, they are more just unemployed people looking for a quick buck in an acting gig than actual guards.
Here I am in front of what was once the main reception hall to visitors to the king. It was also where he convened court to discuss things with his ministers and so on.
These kids stopped me and interviewed me for what I can only assume was some sort of school project. I babbled in English about the site for a while, then they asked Amy to translate, which was not the easiest task. But in the end everybody went home happy.
This picture shows the crazy dichotomy (trichotomy?) of images present at the site. The traditional style of Korean architecture is seen next a Western-style building constructed in the 1880's when Korea was beginning to modernize and ape its Western counterparts. Finally, you can see the ultra-modern tall buildings of Seoul in the background. 
Amy and Tank by the fountain in front of one of the Western-y buildings. I believe they used to contain embassies and other international-ish borganizations.
Me in front of the building by the fountain. Today it is an art museum. We didn't go in that day. It was only about US$1 to get into the palace grounds, but the museum cost an extra $9 or so...
Finally, some random Tank pictures. He does more or less fit into my shoe, but he refused to cram into it even for a quick picture. Additionally, he is close to the camera, so is stretched extra-large.
He does, however, fit quite well into my cargo pockets.
That's all for this time! ^__^
First Week of Real Work... Survived!
Hello, Paul writing for once! Another week in Korea has run its course. Tank has been quite the little terrorist (mostly detonating biological weapons left and right in the apartments), but he is beginning to shape up. I guess he telepathically figured out that complaints had been received about him, so he has quieted down a little, too.
Our first week of work was really only four days long, because Friday is Memorial Day here in Korea. But those four days were more than enough for me. It's very interesting to finally be on the giving end of education instead of the receiving end. My students range from 1st graders up through all years of middle school. The younger ones can be quite a handful, though the older ones hardly speak up in class. I guess I'm a certain pot here. Most of the classes I teach are based around various levels of these accursed "Daily Warm-up" books, which are fairly standard reading comprehension books with short passages followed by some questions. Going over vocabulary encompasses much of my teaching time. It's quite difficult to explain words like "progressive", "reform", "Quakers", "independence", "worship", and the like to random foreign kids.
Here I am waiting for the subway train to arrive...
It's pretty great to have such an extensive public system of transportation available. However, this weekend I may check out some scooters up for sale around Seoul, for cruising in style...
Here is the horrendous Korean "Jamba Juice" rip-off found in the Gigantic Mall O'Death (picture to follow later) where Amy and I wandered in a daze for hours, resulting in flaring tempers, aching legs, and parched throats. It's pretty great to see, for example, leather bags shamelessly using the picture of the accursed cartoon cat Garfield, or to shop at wonders like "E-Mart", "GS-Mart", and so on.
Here is the front entrance of the Mall O'Doom (well, to the train station that sits between its two terrible sections, at least)
For dinner tonight, we went to a restaurant called "Wood Fire Pizza", where we ate the advertised menu item. So, we had a nice little "Patate" pizza with potatoes, bacon (ham? mystery meat?), peppers, and such. While rather bland, it was indeed tasty. And I loved using Kraft parmesan cheese (which I saw at a supermarket for around $9US (!) and Tabasco.
After dinner, we wandered the town plazas with Tank, where dozens of people of all ages fawned over the little guy. We talked at length with 2 shopkeepers, and Tank met their Maltese "Leeds" (named for the store, spoken butcheredly as something like "LEEDSU"), seen 2nd from the right. Another lady with dog arrived later to the party, seen on the far left.
All in all it has been a pretty busy week, and I am looking forward to another great weekend.