Monday, January 30, 2006

6 Months Down, 6 To Go


Well these may have been the fastest 6 months of my life. I guess it's hard to be a judge of that when you include being a baby and toddler, so I'll say it's been the fastest 6 months post age 3. It's seems like just yesterday that I missed a flight scheduled to take me across a dateline, an ocean, and plop me in a land that can alter minds and senses like a certain fungus has been known to do. Fortunently, I caught a flight the next day, landed in Incheon aiport via Tokyo, and stepped into a reality that to this day I find very difficult to understand, grasp, and occasionally, live. Korea is a great country. The people may stare at you constantly and I've unnessarily wiped my nose many times just to be safe, the food may be monatonous, the roads, slopes and supermarkets lawless. They don't watch football, they teach their kids to hate the Japanese, they're technically at war and they don't wear deodorant. Yet there's a kindness to the country. Sure it smells, there's trash outside all the time, and on Saturday and Sunday the sidewalks are littered with vomit still potent from the previous night's/early morning's Soju fest. But you know what? These people are warm. If they ask you to hang out, they'll pay for your activities all night and constantly make sure you're enjoying yourself. If you look cold they'll make you coffee. If you're good to their kids they'll surprise you with a cake on your birthday. Shit, other than the U.S., I'd like to know another country that has both a professional basketball and baseball league. Yeah, they're about as nationalistic as they come(ie the Canadians) but who wouldn't be if they had been invaded by various neighbors constantly throughout their history. Sure they're whole confucist society thing is pretty geeked but it instills manners, and I know a few of you out there could use an installment. They can't make a sandwich worth a shit, but they make faboulous soups. It's the most wired country on Earth, post-Katrina it donated an exurbinate amount of money to the Gulf Coast, it wants to reconcile with the North(to the dismay of the US), it has some of the best doctors, scientists and gadget-inventors in the world. Grandmothers can buy cheap prescription drugs, eyeglasses and cigarettes. There's an eccletic variety of fruits and vegetables, pork is cheap, fish is a plenty(unfortunently mackeral is a staple in many dishes, so that goes to show something about there palets).
I've made some great Korean friends. I don't even like inserting the Korean in there. They're just great friends. They weather's horrible in the summer and bad in the winter but the scenery is beautiful and fall was nice, to my dismay it only lasted a month. Anyway I can't be a spoiled brat when it comes to weather. Not everyone is born and raised in SB...quit you're sneeveling girly man. Yeosu is mixed with country side and high rise apartments. Leather faced old men hasten cows pulling straw filled wooden carts with the cracking of a whip, as cars fly by playing the lastest Kanye West single.
They value family. They push their kids to the limits, not because they're narratic, but because the want them to have a better life than themselves. Although I disagree with their methodology(study, study, eat rice, study) who am I to say how one can raise their children. Grandparents are treated as living dieties, thosed passed are revered and buried beneath intricate headstones large enough to be mistaken as replicas of Stonehenge, Ok that was an exaggeration, but they're big.
The girls are beautiful. My students are adorable and smart. The cost of living is low. I'm reading Korean and able to get by speaking. I'M LIVING IN FREAKIN' ASIA! It took some adjusting and I'm still adapting but I have zero regrets coming out here. So far it's been a faboulous experience. I'm completely, 100% certain that I made a great decicion. Hold on...just had to give myself a pat on the back:)
Peace and Love To All,
Tyler James
ps. Happy Lunar New Year.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Keep on Rockin...



Another Monday gone and a Tuesday on the horizon. This last weekend was swell. Friday I had a field trip with my school. We took the youngins to a "sledding resort." They, as well as myself, had a blast. I'd put a four year old on my lap and we'd haul ass down the hill. I'd try and start us with a little spin so we'd be doing 360s the whole way down. There was a ton of other kids there from other schools and I happened to be the only white person. Sometimes being the minority is such a trip. For example I was sittin inside the cafeteria eating lunch next to a floor to ceiling window and these kids would come up and practically push their faces against the window and just stare. You'd think I was an animal at the zoo. I'm surprised they didn't try to pet me. Korean kids always say hello whenever you're walking down the street. I know it's a nice jesture but usually when you respond with a "hello" they run away giggling. I've come up with a solution. The preemptive hello. (We Americans love preemption) Any random kid may get one. It throws them off guard, but the way I look at it I'm only playing by their rules. What an interesting place.
Saturday was also a very enjoyable day. My buds, their female Korean co-teachers and I went to Muju ski resort and tore it up. Brad and I snowboarded and Kenny and Mike skiied, well at least they said they did (that's another story that I don't even wanna get into). Although all the snow was man-made there were some really nice runs. I love that free feeling you get when carving down a nice wide slope. It's like nothing else exists, no work, no responsibilities. Just you, the snow and gravity. Snowboarding is one of the cooler things on Earth. We stayed out there Saturday night, ate a tasty homemade Korean meal, and drank some below average Korean beer. I felt good the next morning and was certainly eager to ride again. But seeing that this is the South and not their Stalinist brother in the North, democracy was inacted. I was out voted 4-2 with two abstinations. No prob, I'm thinking about going up in 3 weeks with a crew of foreigners. The cool thing is the mountain is open till 10pm, so you can leave here in the early morning, get up there in three hours and snowboard all afternoon and night(they take an hour and a half intermission from 5-6:30. The slopes get groomed, and the lights and buzzes get turned on. I slept during the break).
Speaking of sleep, it's undoubtedly one of my favorite things to do. It is also something I most certainly underappreciate. I get home from work tired and may take a nap but rarely do I fall asleep before midnight. I know your wondering what could I possibly be doing? Honestly I don't know. Drinking tea, watching TV, reading a book, transfixed to the internet like a serpent lover admiring Modussa's beauty, I really don't know. I'm gonna make it a point to fall asleep during the 11 o'clock hour at least once a week. Then I'm gonna push it up to twice a week. Even if I get the same amount of sleep it's still nice to wake up in the morning drink a cup or 3 of coffee, and have sometime to clean, make breakfast, read the news or a book, and relax. You know what? It's 11:45 right now, I have my teeth brushed and my eyelids eager to drop the curtain. I'm signing off. I hope everyone is well and is still checking in with the blog from time to time.
Oh yeah a few more things. (This is o why I go to bed so late, whatever) Kobe scored 81 points? Oh my god. I can't stand the guy but wow. Seahawks vs. the Steelers. I wanna see Cowher, Hines and Bettis get rings. The exchange rate is killer for me right now, pretty stoked. I've got a three day weekend coming up and a Japanese girl I met on my trip is coming to visit. Should be fun. My bro is turning 21 on February 14th. Uhhh Fro! I'll be there in spirit when your drinking your spirits. Take pics sonny.
Love you all,
Tye

Monday, January 16, 2006

One For Ray

Two Saturday's ago one of my students' dad passed away. The 11 year old boy, Ray, is easy going, funny and a true ladies man. He can flirt with the best of 'em. Today was his first day back to school. He definitely was down but he's a strong kid. I would've loved to listen to him if he needed to talk but I feel like coming to school is a wonderful distraction from the saddening fact that he will never walk through his front door and see his dad reading the paper or cooking dinner, or share a laugh with him over an inside joke that mom wouldn't approve of. The boy will never be able to cheers his dad, his father won't see him get married, heck, Ray will never introduce a girlfriend. Ray won't have his dad to put him in his place when talking back to his mother or coming home with a poor report card (not that I think Ray will have one, he's a really smart kid.)
The death of a parent is hard for any son or daughter, no matter the age. Not that I have felt that pain personally but I've seen the sorrow on other's faces. I truly cannot fathom the agony this boy must feel. I wonder if he realizes that his father is forever gone. Only one week after the fact, at such a young age, how could he? It makes me sad. But I'm gonna help this boy as much as possible. In class I'll teach him well and keep him in check when he goofs off. If he needs to talk, I'll lesson. If he needs to cry, I'll be there and try to keep my eyes dry. This is a thing I've come to realize about teaching. It's not only about memorizing irregulars verbs and prononcing 'glacier' correctly. You have to be a role model, friend, and mentor. I'm a male parental figure (as much one can be for 25 to 45 minutes a day) for many of these kids. And I plan on stepping it up with/for Ray. You have to pass on the things you've learned throughout your life to the younger one's. That's what I plan on doing.
These kids can teach you a lot also, albeit sometimes completely unintentionally. They teach you about yourself, about culture, about family, about caring for others, about parental and societal pressures, about the beauty of life and procreation, about the innocence and mischiviousness of humans, about love, and, sadly, about death.
It'll take time but Ray's gonna be OK...I'm gonna try my hardest to see to it.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

"Oh the Streets of Rome are Filled with Rubble"

Well, well, well. Look at what the cat dragged in. A new year. 2006. I wonder what this year will bring. Love, adventure, relaxation. I'm aiming for all three. That's my New Years resolution, "love, adventure, relaxation."
When I say love I don't necessarily mean finding a serious girlfriend. My thought of love encompasses many things; caring about your friends and enemies, thinking of others, not necessarily before yourself but along with yourself. I wanna love what I'm doing, put my mind and heart in to what I believe. Passion, that's what I'm aiming for. I want to be passionate in/for/because of life. Honestly, right now I feel like I'm accomplishing this to an extent. It's not something that I'm trying to develop purposely, it's more of who I've become over the years. Thanks in part to all of those who have influenced me in one way or another.
Adventure. Well, that's a given. After getting a shot of travellers adreniline when in Japan, I'm ready to see what this world has to offer and what I can offer in return. Europe, Southeast Asia, and India are all calling my name. The Middle East and Cuba are always in the back of my mind too. I'm happy I got this bug at a young age. I'm gonna travel so much in my life, I know it. Thai jungles, Romanian castles, ice melt from the Himalayas. Wow!
Relaxation. It's being accomplished right now. A cold one, the headphones on, and writing. All I need is a massage, a manicure and a facial and I'm complete. By no means when I write of relaxation do I mean laziness, although sometimes laying in bed all day encompasses both. What I mean is working hard and then relaxing. I believe in order to truly relax you have to be in situations that can be stressful and that are generally obligatory. If you just sit around all day and claim you are relaxing I'm calling you a deadbeat.
I think 2006 is gonna be an awesome year. The Niners are gonna win 6 games, family and friends are gonna stay healthy, the Kurds are going to acquire statehood, Co's turning 21, Stallone is coming out with not only a new Rocky but also, possibly, anoher Rambo. Arnold and Bush are gonna continue to suck and my shares of Sirius are gonna hit $12(I actually read this projection today...cha-ching). Raise your glasses and lets toast to another year on this marvelous planet.
peace and love,
Tyler James
ps. Sorry about the inconsistancy of my posts. I just don't have much to say.