Korean Blog

twitter

tobiasbreer — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:35:12 +0000

Just wanted to let you know that since I have not been blogging much, and I am sure you are all wondering what is going on here, I decided to open a twitter account and you can follow what I am going on there too. If you want, go to twitter.com and you can find me by searching my name, “Tobias Breer” Cheers!

spring

tobiasbreer — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:51:18 +0000

Today felt like the first day of spring here. It has been warming up and looks like it will continue to get warmer in the next few weeks. On my walk home, I noticed that the trees are starting to spout little leaves and some of the flowers are even starting to come out! Seeing the country come to life again is really exciting. I think there is something so magical about your first spring in a new place. There is a tree I have walked past two times almost every day since I got here, and only today did I found out that the tree has flowers. I think there will be many things like that here and that is very exciting. Also, I can’t wait for mid-April because that is when the cherry trees blossom! There is a temple here that is really famous because it has cherry trees that grow by the path to walk there on both sides for maybe 3/4 of a mile. The other wonderful thing about spring is how great a time it is for photographs. I can’t wait for things to really start blooming where I can get out there and have something to take pictures of that is not brown!

School is going well here. After a month I have finally become accustomed to my new classes and schedule. I am hoping that it will be some time before my schedule changes again!! We got a new person this week as one of the other teachers contracts is now up. It is so interesting to go from being the new person to being the person who has been there the longest in such a short time! I guess that is how it goes for almost everyone here though.

I am off now to get some rest and recharge for a long day of teaching tomorrow. an-nyeong hee kay-se-yo

Yellow Dust

tobiasbreer — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:10:16 +0000

I am not sure anyone will have heard of this, I certainly had not till yesterday, but we are experiencing yellow dust [also called Asian dust] today. Because of this, we should not spend much time outside. Basically, there is bad dust in the air and it is not good for you to breathe it in. Basically, dust from the deserts of Mongolia, China and part of Russia are picked up and caught in prevailing winds headed towards us. When it hits China, it is mixed with pollution so is it not good to breathe in. Here is a satellite image of the dust:

It is not like we cannot go outside at all, you just should not spend a long time outside without a mask on. It is not dangerous at all, because they can monitor how much there is in the air so you know when you should no be outside for a long periods of time. We do not get it nearly as bad here as some places in Asia. Things in Beijing get really bad, they have huge sandstorms there that are really intense.

lately

tobiasbreer — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:37:54 +0000

Lately, I have been doing so many things. I have been pushing to get my paperwork all ready to apply for jobs again. Hard to believe I have been here almost 7 months now. Time goes by so quickly sometimes. At times, I think I am going to just wake up and be 40. It will be a while before I get there, but at times time seems to almost disappear.

The thing I have been working on most lately is paperwork. It is such a hassle to get documents from the U.S. and get them authenticated and then mailed to me here. I am finally almost done with the process and that is encouraging. It is nice to see progress. The frustrating thing is that I have been getting all this ready and today I found out that I am not sure I can work where I want to because I have to be available from training two weeks before my contract ends and I am sure my academy will not let me leave two weeks early. We will just have to wait and see how things play out. I need the documents where ever I end up applying, so it is good to get them in order early either way.

I am really starting to have a solid life here in Korea. It is really exciting because I love it so much. Korean is coming along so well. I feel like I have made some great progress in the past few months. However, it is easy to feel like you are doing well when almost none of the other teachers here speak any Korean at all. I am not sure I can make my goal of being conversationally fluent in a year, but I am well on my way which is exciting.

I am really excited for it to warm up and become nice here again. We have had cold weather for a long time and it even snowed here last night. It all melted today, but still it is so late so have snow! It is really an odd thing and everyone was really surprised. So much for global warming… ^^

I am off to Taekwondo now to get a workout and have some fun. I will try to write more now that things are calming down again!

better people

tobiasbreer — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:40:40 +0000

I have been so busy lately that I have not even had time to think, let alone write. However, today I thought of something that I wanted to write. I was thinking and it occurred to me that I think everyone would be a richer person if they would wait tables from a year and teach for a while as well. I have learned so much about people from those two things that it is amazing. In addition to that, I have learned so much about myself and grown so much. As much as I hated waiting tables, it taught me so much about people and they way they can be. The interesting thing is that you learn both the good and bad of people. Teaching is the same was in some ways but so vastly different too. I have learned so much about dealing with kids and like waiting tables I have learned the good and the bad in them. I am not sure there are many other professions that teach you as much about people as teaching and waiting tables.

ugggg…paperwork!

tobiasbreer — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:11:25 +0000

Well, I am right back where I was 8 months ago. Currently, I am working on all my paperwork to stay here in Korea for another year. Applying for jobs and visas takes more paperwork than anyone ever wants to think about! It is terribly frustrating too what you have to go through to make those documents valid overseas. Basically, I have to mail stuff all over the place and then mail it back here for them to look at. So interesting since I already live and work here, so obviously I am legit and qualified, but that is not how it works.

Other than that, things are going really well. Working on paperwork has kept me pretty busy. In addition to that, we start our new school year tomorrow so that means all new classes for everyone…so…things have been crazy at work too. I am still really enjoying myself and having a wonderful time, but I am ready to get classes going again and for things to calm down! I am off now to work on more school work and then I need to get to bed. Sorry I have not written much lately, things have been so busy.

job applications

tobiasbreer — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:50:32 +0000

I have a phone interview today with a recruiting company to try to get a job in a public school for when my contract is over at my Hagwon. The interview went well, and I am part of their system. Now, I just have to wait for them to contact me and I can work with a placement specialist, or something like that, to try to find a job.

Also, I am trying to decide if I should take the TESOL course (certification for teaching English as a Second Language stuff) I am thinking that it is maybe a good idea because it boosts my salary about $300 a month and the course only costs me $170. Just not looking forward to how much studying that is. I think you can complete the course in a month though and that would not be too bad at all and then I would have that certification. So many things to worry about that I never thought I would even consider in my lifetime!

going’s on

tobiasbreer — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:36:00 +0000

walk in the rain, originally uploaded by Tobias Breer.

I have to pre-warn you all, the picture has nothing at all to do with this entry, but I hope you enjoy it none the less because of that.

Today, the weather here was really fabulous. It was 54 degrees and sunny. Although this is not perfect weather, it is much better than the 32 and cloudy that we have had for a while now. Needless to say, it was a welcome change.

I spent the day shopping and continuing my quest to find a sewing machine. Today, I hunted in the market with some luck. I was able to find a fairly large fabric store and even a place that sells sewing machines [literally the only place in the entire city] although the store that sold machines was closed. It was still nice to look in the fabric store and see what they had though.

From there, I went shopping in the “going out” part of the city with one of my friends and that was nice. I did not buy anything, but I still love shopping at Zara and my friend found something nice that was really on sale.

After that, we went to get sushi and that is always wonderful. We have a really good sushi bar here and it is not too expensive either. My personal favorites are salmon and tuna sushi…so good. I want to start eating more raw fish like that because it is really healthy for you and your brain.

I am just realizing that my previous comments about a sewing machine may not be understood as I have not explained on here well. I have been looking for a sewing machine because I have decided that I am going to start altering and [hopefully] eventually make my own clothes. I have wanted to do this for a long time, but I have never had the income to do it till now. Not really sure what will come out of all this, but I am excited to try at least. I am good at making things with my hands so I am sure that I will be able to pick this up as well. I am really wishing that we had a library here that had books in English though! That is how I have taught myself so many things…for now, I will have to rely on the internet until I can find a good book to order.

I am off to bed now and then it is another week of work!

dreams…

tobiasbreer — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:38:28 +0000

Last night, I had some interesting dreams. Amongst the really weird stuff that happened, I was back at home in the U.S. and it was 12:00am. I was so bored because for me it seemed like it was 5pm, so I decided I was going to go do something. Everyone else was asleep so I decided that I would just drive somewhere. As soon as I decided this in my dream, I realized that I could not drive my car since it did not have insurance. So, I just paced back and forth in the living room and then I woke up. The kind of humorous thing is that I do not even own a car, lol.

I am not positive, but I think I will go a whole year without driving a car at all… for America, I know that is such a strange concept as we drive everywhere [especially in the mid-west]. It is something interesting [but worlds better] I have had to get used to is public transportation. Even my friends who have cars take public transportation because it is just better, especially if you are going between cities. After living somewhere with so much good transportation, I am not sure I could live somewhere that does not have it. I love how cheap it is to not have a car and I have no problems what-so-ever getting anywhere I want to go.

Today, I do not have much going on…I am going to meet someone for a nice dinner, but other than that it is just going to be a relaxing day with not much being accomplished. One thing I have really been working on is living a life with the least about of stress as possible. Stress is one of the most unhealthy things that you can have in your life, and Koreans are really good at living a fairly stress free life. This is so interesting because they are also some of the hardest working people in the world. I am not sure where the disconnect comes with Americans and stress. Maybe it has something to do with always seeking that next level. Everything is a race, a competition, and unless you are on top you are not respected and are thought of as nothing. Here everyone respects everything and shows them honor no matter what they do for a living.

Taekwondo is going really well for me. I think I am going to be able to move up another belt this month, but I am not sure yet. We did something the other night where you ran and jumped off something with your right foot and then kicked a thing someone was holding up in the air with your right foot. I was able to kick higher than anyone [I could jump off the thing and kick at ceiling hight] which was really cool and fun. I am starting to become friends with a lot of the other students in the class, which makes class even more fun.

I hope you all are well and that you are living life as wonderfully as I am.

공기~Gong-Gi

tobiasbreer — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:10:02 +0000

At school today, my student taught me a really cool game. It is called 공기 or Gong-Gi in English. It is a game that is really close to playing jacks, with some differences. Basically, you have five pieces and you have to throw one in the air and pick some of the others up and then catch the one you threw. It is a lot of fun and I can’t wait to play it again!
Here is a video of someone playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVJBvknTL64