The events of the day

Today I bought a new comforter. Unfortunately due to my lackadaisical shopping habits (mixed with only a mediocre knowledge of Korean, I purchased a fitted sheet (good), one pillow case (when I need two), and a duvet cover in lieu of an actual comforter. Luckily, the weather is getting warmer and my apartment is usually really really really hot due to my 10' by 7' westward-facing window. As such I will put off purchasing a new comforter (the old one is old and gross and also has a print that will show through the white parts of my duvet cover.

In my defense, how the hell was I supposed to know the 이불커버 meant comforter cover. 이불 just sounds like evil. granted, 커버 sounds just like cover, but still. What the hell is an evil cover?

After a quick Google Search, I discovered that this, in fact, is what an Evil Cover looks like. Or at least what A Touch of Evil cover looks like.

Anyways, my new comforter is really cute (not that my old one wasn't, it just had holes in it), and it's bright so hopefully after a terrible day of school, it will cheer me up. That's the goal. It does spunk up the place nicely.

Plus, the new comforter has *almost* inspired me to actually pick up a bit around the place. Currently on my bed there is only my purse, a sweatshirt, my cell phone and me. This lowers my average amount of crap on my bed by at least 80% Of course, now everything is just sitting in piles on my coffee table. I swear once I get rid of my stupid dell laptop, I'll fix everything. Luckily that day is quickly approaching. All I have to do is find the IP address or whatever it is so I can connect my computer to the ethernet that I am paying for (instead of stealing someone else in my apartment's wireless), and transfer the remaining word documents to my macbook, and all ties to my dell will officially be cut. Then my mac will take it's rightful place upon throne: a shitty, bowed, poorly constructed, duct-taped to hell gray desk.

Wacky Week and Shanghai

After having an incredibly wacky week last week, I'm very much looking forward to the very very relaxed upcoming week I have ahead.

Last week, my schedule was thrown curveball upon curveball at my school. Monday morning, my co-teacher tells me, hey Wally, "tomorrow's classes are all going to be 70 minutes long instead of the standard 45 minutes. There are listening tests, so there had to be a schedule change."

my typical class schedule

Oh, okay, cool, 70 minute long classes. Not that I'm prepared to teach for a 70 minute time block, but sure, no problem. Luckily, I discovered that my activity in class took much longer to do than I had slated, and the students didn't get to finish the backs of their worksheets. Problem solved.

Well, later that day I'm informed that due to the 70 minute classes, 5th and 6th periods were cancelled on Tuesday and students were released slightly early. Oh, great, cool, I get a whole extra afternoon free as a result.

Well, still later, my co-teacher hands me a copy of the weeks schedule which is as follows:
Monday: regular classes.
Tuesday: periods 1-4, 70 minutes, period 5-6 cancelled
Wednesday: periods 1-4, normal times, periods 5-6 cancelled.
Thursday: all classes cancelled, Monday classes periods 1-3, Tuesday periods 5-6 during periods 4&5, Wednesday periods 5&6 during Thursday periods 6&7 (on Thursdays only this semester, classes start 40 minutes early and we have an extra period)
Friday: normal classes

An exact copy of the schedule change my co-teacher gave me on Monday around noon.

wtf? So now, as a result, two of my four monday classes are a week ahead, and my two thursday classes are a week behind. My school claims that this is to enable the classes to make up for missed days, but I was able to condense or expand my lessons to keep everything on track, and now my school does THIS. bla&*!sdlk%#roa#@itg;kfja! Anyways, my Monday classes will be corrected next week because there is a holiday. However, my Thursday class (as well as my Wednesday classes due to Election day, a holiday here in Korea) will be a full week behind. Thanks a whole effing lot.

Anyways, on the brighter side, I have no school on Wednesday because of Election Day. My co-teachers were shocked and appalled to discover that in the States people have to work on election day. they also admitted that even with a full day off work, none of them ever vote. wtf? I voted even when I didn't have a day off. How can that even be?

Plus, my Korean class got cancelled because we were supposed to have a week of vacation during the six months, but our teacher never did it, so here we are, two weeks left in the semester, and the second to last one she has to use for vacay. Unfortunately she gave us a crapton of homework that I can't do because it's too difficult.

PLUS, Friday afternoon, I'm flying to Shanghai, China, to compete with KUPA at a frisbee tournament. I'm really looking forward to it, and I think our team has a shot at doing pretty well. Keep your fingers crossed for us this weekened! We play Saturday and Sunday and then I leave Monday afternoon. I'm hoping to at least have time to see SOMETHING in Shanghai at least early in the morning before I have to run off to the airport.

This is the riverside promenade. This is my Shanghai goal. Even if I have to wake up at freaking 6 a.m. I'm going to see something in Shanghai.

xoxo,
A

Dream Concert 2010

So I'm clearly a lot late on this, but you know, better late than never, right?

In a change of pace from my last blog post, which was a relatively serious blog post about the recent development in the North Korea/South Korea dispute, I'll give you a review of last Saturday's (May 22nd) Dream Concert. I have mostly positive things to say, so be prepared for lots of doting on cute k-pop stars.

Me and my k-pop buddy!

The show was hosted by Kim Heechul (of Super Junior stardom), actress Shin SeKyung, and Ok Taecyeon (winner of the reallywally sexy body contest held last weekend at Dream Concert). Frankly, Shin SeKyung sucked ass. She was awful as a host, managing only to laugh uncomfortably at regular intervals and barely keeping up with Taecyeon, let alone the veteran Dream Concert MC (third year running) Heechul. Heechul was funny. This I could tell in spite of my not being able to understand 85% of what he said. Taecyeon did his best and mostly was just a walking, talking, singing image of sexiness embodied.

Hello Taecyeon. What's that? You want me to meet you backstage in an hour? Well, I don't kn... Oh, wow, lookie here, my clothes are already off.

There were a number of virtually unknown kpop acts that "opened" the show. I don't really remember them as being particularly interesting or talented, but who am I to judge (especially since I thought Ring Ding Dong by SHINee was the greatest music work to play on radio speakers since Michael Jackson sang Thriller).

Actually, come to think of it, they have a lot more in common than initially anticipated: red leather, intense hair, great dancing.

Then came the first of the 21 acts headlining the show. Those that are curious the total artists list is: U-Kiss, F.cuz, 4Minute, MBLAQ, SS501, ZE:a, Rainbow, SHINee, Kara, T-ara, After School, Davichi, Beast, F(x), Super Junior, SNSD, Rain, Lee Hyori, Wonder Girls, 2PM.

My friend and I were sitting in the SNSD section.

My favorite acts at the concert were the following:
1. 2PM~ clearly I am biased because I am a little bit in love with Taec, but yeah. They were really great, although I was really disappointed by other fan groups chanting "Park Jaebeom" throughout their performance. If I wasn't so in love with 2PM I'd totally become a hottest (their fan club member name)


2. F(x)~ shit they are good. And I've mentioned before my girl crush on Amber.


3. Rain~ Uh. Hello. You are the sexiest Korean man EVER. EVER. EVER. Oh, and he was really funny. It rained virtually the entire concert with the only break being when Rain performed. After his performance, he said, you know, I'm really sorry that it's raining (in korean it translates directly to the rain comes), but when RAIN (him) comes, the rain goes. kkkkk puns.

4. SNSD~ They were really good, and you know, as much as young girls (read: my students) hate them, they are freakin' gorgeous. Also sitting in their section was super fun and cuuuuute.

5. Super Junior~ A classic. Really, Super Junior is always epic. I love Shindong. Seriously. Love.

It's really unfortunate that he just proposed to his girlfriend and wants to get married asap. I'm hoping that sometime between now and his wedding, he will see me and fall in love with me. I love 통통한(chubby) Shindong. 너무 귀여워요!!

As I mentioned in my list, it rained. A lot. A whole effing lot. It sucked. I bought a poncho at the stadium and still my bag got completely soaked and one of the buttons on my poncho broke and I had to hold it shut for about an hour and a half of the concert. fml.

But, I did get to take about a billion selcas (self-portraits) in the rain and while waiting for the show to begin. It's a traditional Korean artform mastered by 14 year old girls. See below for my pathetic attempts:

(left) new outfit, special for dream concert (yes, I am that lame). (Right) the most popular selca pose these days. I'm not good at it.

My new kicks: Nike Legends in pink!!! *^_^*

boo rain.

still the cutest belles of the concert, even with the rain!

xoxo

A

North Korea vs. South Korea

Some of my friends back home have recently been asking me, "hey, what's the deal with North Korea? Are you safe there? What will happen if North Korea attacks South Korea?"

Here's what I know:

According to the recent New York Times article published here, North Korea has "cut[sic] all ties with South [Korea]" Also included in the article is a mention of "reports in Seoul that Mr. Kim ordered his military and reserve forces to be ready for war" Terrifying, right?

Certainly, Kim Jong-il is a tremendously feared (and justifiably so) leader, but does North Korea truly pose a threat to the South? While some, such as the author of the article, argue that this threat is unique from previous threats (and, indeed, threats are abundant and nearly constant, including skirmishes in 2000, 2003, 2006 and right after Obama was inaugurated in 2010). Differences include Kim Jong-il's preparations for his son to succeed his leadership (and his attempts to build up his son's military credentials and accomplishments) and the 8 weapons of mass destruction-worth of fuel that N. Korea is storing.

The future leader of North Korea: Kim Jung Un, described by former family chef as being "exactly like his father," and is expected to succeed his father instead of his older brother who was caught in 2001 attempting to sneak into Japan with a fake passport in order to go to Disneyland Tokyo.

As many know, this situation is related to the N. Korean attack of the South Korean ship, the Cheonnam. The Cheonnam marks the single greatest military loss in South Korea since the Korean War armistice was signed. Research indicated that the boat was sunk by a N. Korean missle. The United States supports this conclusion. Researchers and other military experts consider this attack the first military attack that N. Korea has made since the Korean War (all previous attacks were considered terrorist not military).

So, then, how are people feeling about N. Korea here? Well, some people are protesting avidly against N. Korea, arguing that something MUST be done, NOW, to right the Cheonnam incident. South Korea has reinstated propaganda radio broadcasts near the border. The inaugural broadcast was rung in on Monday with none other than South Korean music idols, 4Minute, and their new song HuH (Hit you Hard). With lyrics like, "When I say I want to appear on TV, when I say I want to become prettier, everybody says I can’t do it. Baby, you’re kidding me? I do as I please," 4Minute is clearly the best way to enlighten N. Koreans to the mistreatment and censorship they undergo daily.

 In South Korea, we are allowed to dress as fugly as we want. And I can become pretty or be on t.v. too. That'll "Hit You Hard" huh North Koera?

Oh, and Lee Myung-Bak has officially stated that N. Korea is their main enemy (for the first time since that clause had been dropped from SK's Defense White Paper list in 2006). I don't know who their main enemy was between 2006 and now, but apparently, it wasn't N. Korea.

 Lee Myung-Bak: "Maybe if we spin this arrow, we can figure out who to hate the most, now that North Korea is out."

Meanwhile N. Korea has decided to remove all South Korean officials from a NK/SKcooperative industrial park (but permit South Korean workers to stay...) and forbid South Korea from using North Korean seas and airspace. Korean Air and other major airlines have had to reroute some common routes that fly over N. Korea in order to comply with the development.

But, I'm evading the question. What is the feeling here? Well, I talked to my co-teacher and she said, "oh, no I'm not worried. It's election season after all" Wait, what? Election season? She told me that every time there is an election (even mid-term elections such as this year's) N. Korea ramps up the threat. It sort of makes sense (notice that the previous skirmishes were all 3 years apart... until now), but really, just for elections here?

Regardless, I'm feeling very safe in my big (albeit horrifyingly messy) apartment, working at my comfy public school job, and living very much alienated from the fact that that apartment and job is maybe 50 kilometers (just over 30 miles) from the demilitarized zone.

The general feeling is that South Korea is safe. But, every Incheon-ite I've talked to seems to say, "oh, I'm not worried at all about it" and then at the very end, trailing off, adds, "but, if something does happen, we'll definitely have to leave Incheon." So while they aren't worried, I think people have contingency plans.

That being said, what's my contingency plan? Well, probably to find a handsome, tall, perfectly sculpted Korean man with flawless hair to protect me of course. I've heard from Hollywood that that usually works perfectly. Right?

Oh, Taecyeon, I knew you'd come rescue me!

xoxo
A