Why was my site down for so long? I forgot to pay for the renewal of my site and it’s been a costly and expensive process to get everything working again. My domain name currently is not working but should be in a few days. The sooner the better.

I’m back!

I was able to FINALLY renew my website! Woohoo!

I guess I should give an update on what has happened since my last post.

- I have a girlfriend.
- I am enjoying school.
- I have a six day weekend this week due to high school exams.
- I’ve been in two car accidents now in Korea.

This week are high school mid-terms. Which meant last week students used my class to study for midterms. I am told to not come into school until next Monday. So how will I spend the time?

I’m hoping to see girlfriend sometime this week. She’s going to university and is working part time and living an hour apart makes it sometimes hard to meet up. I’m also going to Seoul to do some shopping and eating of delicious foods.

I am also going to start uploading lessons I have used as well this year and last. Keep your eyes posted!

The weather in Mokpo has been getting much nicer as of recent. There was some snow that fell last Monday but it is now long gone. The weather Sunday was beautiful. Great weather for a walk up Yudal-san. I’ve been back at school in my second week now and I’ve realized several things:

1)Some of my second grade classes could be a real pain in the ass this year.

2)My first grade classes could be really good this year. I need to contiously engage them with questions. But they have been decent this year. I hope it continues.

3) I need to be stricter with students this year. I tolderated too much crap last year and I need to change this quickly.

I have no classes today due to assessment exams being done at school all day. This meant I got to sleep in this morning and sit in my apartment and listen to hockey games via online radio. What a great way to spend a Wednesday!! Plans for today are walking around Peace Park, shopping at Lotte Mart, then going for Dalk Kalbi with friends tonight.

My Bad.

I have no credit card and have been unable to renew my domain name without. So it’s been a bit of a clusterfuck. I will promise to update on what’s happening in Mokpo this year.

I am on my second contract at Mokpo Girls High School.  So far it has been a good start to my year. The second grade girls have been great so far and the first graders are shy and easily impressed.  Basically it’s great to be back in the class!

I will try not to be so lazy in regards to blogging.  I will be posting more of my lessons this year for use. I never felt confident in sharing the lessons I made last year, feeling they could have been much better. I have learnt so much from last year and will be putting my lessons up on my site when I have them completed.

To aLL

York U Strike

Took this one in April of 2007 at the Arts building (the name eludes me at the moment). To me, this sums up my thought on the York strike.

Follow Your Routine

Taken at York University January 2007 at Scott Library.

I sometimes sit here and wonder what will be the next stage life after I leave for Korea for good (whenever that may be). It is a very scary thought because I am unable to come up with any solid answer for what comes after here. The whole thought of a domesticated 9-5/kids/white picket fence kind of life is not appealing to me whatsoever yet I do want to settle down to some capacity. Homesteading was one thing that has always been close to my heart but who knows what will happen. Some more education is in the books as well. I got thinking about this after reading an entry from Drifting Focus’ blog entry that touched on being nomadic and whether it was truly possible to truly settle down.

I have lived on couches before, I have road tripped, I have been nomadic before and I’m feeling the urge to do so again. I would like a small plot of land to act as a home base but travel will always be a part of my life (or so I intend for it to be). Humans were originally nomadic peoples and maybe I’m better suited for that lifestyle?

With that aside, Mokpo has seen a bunch of snow fall. Several inches at least. I have to admit I was getting sick of cold weather and no snow to make it pretty. It’s bloody cold but at least we have snow.

I am poor. Why? I sent the majority/almost all of my money home while the exchange rate was good for the Won and the Canadian Dollar. I’ve been the little money I have left. Luckily I’m getting one meal a day at school. I have enough to get me to Inchon and that’s about it.

I am still teaching my one hour a day winter class. That ends Thursday. Then I go HOME! Canada!

Student Works

I’ve been meaning to do this for quite some time now and am finally getting around to it. I am posting some of the works my students from the 2008 school year have done. Some are weird, some funny, and some brilliant. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. The grammar isn’t perfect in some of these peices but the works themselves are absolutely amazing!

I am Canada bound in SIX days! I have four classes between Korea and home. I am also very very poor as well, having sent the majority/almost all of my money home while the exchange rate was good (it has since plummeted).

Ant

I’ve become the ant that I did not want to become. I am on autopilot, going through my day without much human interaction. I find I’m the ant when I have my iPod on. I block out the world and block out chances of human interaction when I retreat into my audio world. I don’t want to be an ant, you know. I will be leaving my iPod at home and try to take in more of the world while I am able to. We never know how long we will have these oppurtunities. The clip is from the movie Waking Life.

Drinkie Poo

I am disappointed and pissed off at some people who view being here as a gap year and have poor conduct and ethics in regards to teaching and being here. On facebook status I read this morning was of a person whom I know. It said that person X was still drunk and going to school to teach. UGH!

What is wrong with you? You were hired and brought to Korea to do a job and to be a professional. Going to school drunk tells me that
A) You are not serious about your job.
B) You are hardly anything close to being professional
C) You are a fucking idiot.
D) You have no work ethics.

I’m pretty disappointed in the person and hope the person will show better work ethics than they are now. Believe it or not, you are supposed to be a professional. This isn’t college this is a job and if I showed up to any job drunk, I would be fired so quickly for poor conduct. Sometimes it’s hard to take ESL as a serious job or profession while in Korea or anywhere, but please TRY to be a professional and try to conduct yourself as a professional. It will get you further in life than being the local drunk. I can give you some advice on what you can do though.

A) Put down the bottle.
B) Realize you are a professional and TRY to act like one.
C) NEVER go to school drunk. Going hungover is bad enough.
D) If you work tomorrow and go out for a few drinks, go to bed early enough to not be drunk/hungover in the morning.

My rant is done.