It's Not Polite, But It Had To Be Shared.

So I had a few rowdy boys in the back of one of my classes. While I had my back to them one of them, Tom, shot the other, Nick, a bird. Nick, appalled, raises his hand and yells, "Teacher! Teacher!" I turned. Nick pointed emphatically at Tom. "Teacher! He f*%ked me!"

Have a great week folks. Jen and I leave for Jeju Island on Wednesday, so this will have to keep you company. I'm also having fun playing with the blog itself. I think I added something to subscribe to it, I have no clue. I'm still pretty new at blogging. Seems no one needs a new 5.25" floppy drive put into a 286 anymore....

Dan(ger), this is for you. Enjoy.

-Al

Why Do Koreans Wear Sombreros?

Answer: No idea.

Alright, so you people are an unforgiving lot. Apparently I was way too vocal about my wicked long break Wednesday, because when ya'll didn't have a piping fresh blog waiting for you Wednesday morning (Don't forget, I live in the future), I heard about it. So now I'm doing it on Thursday.

"But Al, how can you do that? You don't have a wicked long break on both days, do you?"

Glad you asked, unassigned voice. No, I don't. But I do have 2 new teachers I am training, and one of them volunteered to grade my papers. So she is doing that, I am blogging, and my life essentially rules.

The new folks are named Mike and Clair, they're from upstate New York. They're really cool folks, but they're going to be working at a new Plus Academy about an hour Southeast of us. So that SUCKS. But I still think we'll be seeing (and you'll be reading) a lot of them.

The newer teachers are named Dave and Savannah. They hail from Chicago, and they seem nice. Haven't gotten to hang out with them much. They'll be taking the spot Jen and I tried (and failed) for. Dave likes poker, which makes me happy. No word on what they're doing about Head Teacher.

The newest teachers I haven't met yet, I don't know they're names, but let's pretend their names are Rhinehold and Moonbeam. They can be from Timbuktu. Moonbeam was an illegal arms dealer before coming to Korea. Rhinehold sold tea in a small shop outside the city.

In news I'm not making up, the wedding was SO freakin cool. I'm posting a bunch of pics slideshow style, so enjoy.

The outfit we're wearing is called a hanbok. If you really care, you can read an outdated article about them here. But to be honest, I wouldn't. It barely has any pictures, and no pictures of what they guy's hanbok looks like. Both outfits have the same name, dontchaknow.

So I put on the hanbok, and I have to admit, I felt pretty hardcore. We got lucky and chose our own colors, which is a big deal since they really dig pink and pastels. Since this wasn't Benoit's wedding, we got to wear man-colors. And I don't care how messed up the toast was, it was his fault for putting me in pink. Besides, Benoit doesn't read this thing anyway. And Layne, who I'm pretty sure does read it, still should have let us play "Seasons of Love" as the second to last song. Since she didn't, that 3:02 song will haunt her randomly for the next 10 years. Maybe longer, depends on how well my brain holds together....

ANYWAY, I'm with Sam (white guy), Sean (black guy), and Alex (Korean guy) thinking to myself how wonderfully multicultural this is (and how it's begging to be made into a joke that gets emailed to a bunch of people who don't want it, but read it, laugh, and tell their friends later), when they come over and give us these little straw sombreros. We went from looking like all we needed was a wicked looking sword to looking like all we needed was a maraca and maybe a chimicanga.

Now, theoretically, these hats were part of the traditional Korean hanbok, but *I* think it went something like this:

Random Korean Man 1: Wow, they look really good in those hanboks.
Random Korean Man 2: Yeah, way better than we do in them.
Random Korean Man 1: We should find a way to make them look dumber.
Random Korean Man Whose Really Jealous 2: I've got some really dumb looking party hats in my trunk. It was my daughter's birthday.
Random Korean Man Whose Really Jealous And Malicious 1: Great idea! I hate America.
Random Korean Man Whose Really Jealous And Malicious And Should Have Admitted How Awesome I Am And Given Me A Sword Instead 2: Yeah! Me too!

I'm certain that's how it went down.

Anyway, enjoy the pics, and the random explosion of randomness that is my blog....

-Al

What?

So I was at (yet another) going away party for someone awesome last night. I introduced myself to this girl sitting next to me at dinner. When I told her my name she said,

"Oh, Al. I've heard about you."

She'd been here SIX WEEKS.

Seriously, what the hell? I'm just sayin...

Ok, I'm officially giving up that whole "keeping under the radar" thing. 4 months was a great run for me. But enough of that mess. I'm going to own this town.

Ok, to be fair, I can't own this town in a year without at least... let's say 4... maybe 5 of my boys from home. There's just too much area to cover. Wishful Thinking could own it in a day and a half. Toasty Babies could own it in a week, but mostly because we'd take a lot of breaks.

By myself, I'd say owning it would be a bit much. I'll rent it.

-Al

P.S. Soju and tequila are a bad bad... bad idea. Don't mix them. Ever. Just... don't. Trust me.

Shutter Shades and Saying Good-Bye

Howdy.

So there's not a ton to report, but it is Wednesday, so I feel like I should provide an update as long as I'm rocking this huge weekly break. We attended a Shutter Shade Party last weekend. I looked awesome, obviously, but Jen wasn't looking to bad herself. Note how both of us made sure to match our shades with our clothes.
Alright, not match, but there's purple in my shirt. I promise. The part was good times. And because you've been really good little blog readers, I'll even add some more pics. I know, I know... you're welcome.

This is Norman and Jess, rocking the shades.

This is Jen and some of the other party folk, proving she had the best shades. Except for mine.

This is Brendan and Tienne. Brendan is taking Dave's roll for me while I'm in Korea. He's adorable. Tienne may actually enjoy shopping more than Jen, but how can we actually ever determine something like that? I mean, we're only here for a year.

This is me posing with 2 pretty Korean girls, mostly to make Matt jealous. Jose, find him, show him this, and tell him I said hello.

This is a cute little boy outside the restaurant rockin the shades. Good Lord, the girls we were with loved this kid. Dad and dad's friend better have taken him out for ice cream, that's all I've got to say.

Also, and I'm very excited about this, it looks like I'll be a part of a traditional Korean wedding this weekend!! A friend of mine was asked by a Korean friend of his to help him find folks to help out, and he chose me. No, not as a DJ. Turns out in some traditional circles it is custom for the bride to be carried in on a type of Korean litter called a gama. You can read more about them here. But be careful, I used Wikipedia, so it's obviously wrong.

Basically, it's a chair with really big handles that people carry you in. It's right up my alley- all I gotta do is show up and carry heavy stuff for a little bit. Jen's snagged an invite to. I tried to explain that since I was the reason she got to go, she should have to carry me around in one. She pointed out that it takes 4 people to carry one, or in my case 16, and she couldn't do it by herself. I countered with a piggy back ride to the kitchen. She refused. Selfish, I say... lazy and selfish...

I'll make sure she takes a lot of pictures, at least. It's a really cool opportunity to see a side of the culture that it doesn't mention in the guidebooks, and to be honest I'm actually quite honored. There was talk of getting to wear a hangbuk, a traditional Korean outfit now only worn for special occasions, but no dice. All the same, it should be really cool.

Alright, so the part that's not so cool...

The Shutter Shades Party almost didn't happen. Sarah, who arrived with her friend Rob around a month ago, was helping to host this as a going away party for Laura, another friend. Unfortunately, Sarah had a death in the family and was on a plane less than 12 hours after the phone call. She's made it home safe, but obviously the tough part is just beginning. It got me thinking, and we all know how that goes...

See, folks average a year out here. Some stay longer, marry into the culture, etc. but some end up leaving early. Some due to tragedy, some because they always planned to, and some just don't have the stones to survive in a culture so drastically different. But the thing is I can't help but meet some of the coolest people out here. Like Laura.

Ok, so this is Laura. Laura and I only got to hang out 3 or 4 times, but from the moment we met we clicked. I have rarely laughed as hard or as long as I did when we were hanging out. Her boyfriend Brendan and I got along great, and I know that if we'd had more time the 4 of us would have been great friends. But Laura left for other destinations on Sunday. I've heard some of the other teachers who've been here a bit longer talk about how they just don't have much desire to get to know any of the number of new teachers showing up, seeing as they'll only be around long enough to miss them. Everything here is so transient, and while I can't say I agree with them on that point at all, I can tell you that they've got a point. Jen and Sarah were really close, and her leaving was rough on Jen. Saying goodbye to Laura just really really clear that I was saying goodbye to someone I could have been friends with for 40 years.

But hey, that's the way it goes. The good news is that we knew them at all. Besides, Lord knows I've already had crazier things happen than to have my path cross again with some of these folks. It's just the nature of the beast.

But I don't want to end on a down note. Jen and I are doing really well. Jen's got a big girls night as we bid a fond farewell to a few more folks- along with their good bye parties this weekend. So tons of pics for you next week!!

ALSO!!!!!!! A HUGE thank you to Laura Scully, Jen White-Castle, and my mom. The letters showed up yesterday, and it took about a week. For anyone else who might drop a line, add the zip code 136-813 to the very end of the address, just like you would on local mail. It looks like it takes about 2 weeks for stuff to arrive, but it makes it, so we're thrilled.

Anyone else willing to drop a line, please do!! Even short notes scribbled on cocktail napkins are wonderful. Heck, that was how I proposed to Jen, and it worked! Gotta love antibiotic side effects.

Final note- Jen and I have officially registered to vote for the presidential election. The one in the US, I mean. Point is, if we can do it from the opposite side of the planet, you can do it from home. NO EXCUSES. Vote or die!!

-Al (& Jen!)

Al's Wearing Women's Clothing. Again.

Hello Readers!

So among the more interesting and thrilling parts of the job is new students. See, if a new student doesn't have an English name, we get to help them choose one. This is always fun. Several of the teachers had gone on some pretty random trips with it (I taught a child named Golden Human, and another named Golden Mouse), but I'm more of a theme kinda guy. So when some of the others went on a "Random TV Name" trip I grabbed shotgun. And now I've done it.

I named a girl Topanga.

I also named a girl Leia. And then another girl was being difficult, so until she comes up with a better one she's named Topangaleia.
As soon as possible I'll name a child Slater. If I manage to convince a kid to take the name Screech then somebody owes me a Coke.

I was in the grocery store with Jen and we wanted some onions. I had my handy dandy phrasebook, so we opened it up and found that the word for onion was pronounced "Young Pa". So before we went and asked, we wanted to make sure we had it right. So I sound it out a few times. Around the fourth time it occurred to me how incredibly stupid we looked standing in the middle of a grocery store repeating the word "onion" over and over, trying different inflections, etc.

There's a pretty cool market in a section called Dongdaemun (Dong-day-moon) that goes 24 hours. Jen and I headed out that way with some friends, and you get to see some pictures from it, you lucky lucky people.



This is just a random shot of the market.



Here's a picture of Colin after he stole the wig of a mannequin. Don't worry, he put it back.


Here's a collection of some of the more popular "street meat" they offer in Seoul. I can tell you the bratwurst looking things are NOT, in fact, brats. But they've got a chicken terryaki thing that's pretty good and runs about a buck. It's not in the picture because this person sucks.


You may be sitting there thinking to yourself "Is that pizza and waffles being served side by side?" The answer is yes. The pizza was better than I thought it'd be, and was less than $2. The waffles are a very popular here. You can find them all over Seoul, usually with some kind of apple butter syrup thing, and occasionally with two scoops of ice cream. In any event, the whole thing is folded in half and then you go to town on it. I almost finished an ice cream waffle, but went into anaphalactic shock and collapsed due to sugar overload. Some guy who tried to help me after I keeled over got diabetes.


But this, my friends, is as good as it gets. They take a hot dog, bread it like they would a corn dog, but then before frying it actually cover it with french fries. Yes, I'm serious. I started crying right then. I'm not ashamed. I also ate 7.

Ok, ok, I only ate one. See, the thing is that I'm upset. How in the world did Korea come up with this before us? Seriously, what the heck is going on? We didn't let Russia beat us to the moon, did we? NO! So how can we let Korea beat us in developing food to kill us before we finish it? We're getting lazy, America.

And that's fine. I mean, look at what we eat. But we can't let laziness stop us from making food that makes us lazy. Consider yourself inspired.

Oh, yeah, the market also sold clothes and stuff.







Hey! I got a cool hat! And by that I mean that Jen said I could have it, and that I didn't look like a complete moron to the point she wouldn't be seen in public with me. Equally as good, I found Cherry Coke!!!!!!!!!!!! And by that I mean that Jen was out with some of her girlfriends and they came across it, then Jen took me there the next day. I am *SO* the man.



It turns out Orlando doesn't have a nightlife. I was a little surprised at first, but I've just been forced to come to that conclusion. It's not only about the 2am cut off to serve alcohol, though that obviously plays a role, it's also the types of nightspots. Check out this place. It's a little tough to make a picture work, but the place had a real nice set up. This was the VIP area (someone else paid). Nice sofas, nice decor, the whole nine. I've got a few other cool spots we've hit up in a little bit.

Oh, and that thing sticking up in the middle is the top of a hookah. It's out of the Middle East, and you smoke with it. Yes, tobacco.



So guess what amazing advertising medium the U.S. is COMPLETELY missing out on? Stairs! That's right, just think!! We'll start with the set Rocky ran up, and give us a year or two and their won't be an Aztec temple without a Pontiac ad across all one hundred thousand trillion million steps.




Speaking of things we're failing at- matching outfits. These two didn't actually know I was taking their picture, but they did seem a little nervous after I followed them around for several hours trying to get the perfect picture without them noticing. I have 800 more if anyone wants to see them.



I really can't say enough about golbi. I love this stuff. I'm literally eating it 3 or 4 times a week. It's just SO DAMN GOOD. This is a picture of the carnage after we said goodbye to another teacher.

Maybe I should be more concerned by the overabundance of people leaving lately. I'm starting to wonder if there's something I don't know...

Speaking of which, Jen and I have made contact with an orphanage in Cambodia. We're planning on volunteering there for a bit after we're done here. We got the contact through yet another teacher whose leaving soon. She's had a great experience with them so far, and I figure if a 100 lbs. blonde girl makes it through then Jen and I will be ok. I know, I know, it's classic Al to send a someone smaller and more of a target to figure out if it's going to go bad. Reminds me of when we use to take nature hikes through the swamps and I'd make the bad kids walk up front as gator bait. Good times...

Actually, Melissa (the 100 lbs. blonde girl) is a world traveler and a tough cookie. She's been all over, and is basically wandering for 6 or 8 months throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and ending up in India for a while. We're hoping to see her in Australia when we're done here- it looks like the timing will work out. The point of telling you all that is that I'm hoping she'll let me know if the orphanage will be too hard for me...

It's going to cost us $5 a day for food and lodging while we're there, and we're figuring on staying a week or so. They should be dropping a DVD in the mail, I'll post more info as I get it.
I'll be sharing more of our travel plans as we get closer. The beginning of September will find Jen and I taking a few days in Jeju Island, the honeymoon spot for folks in this part of the globe. It's off the southern tip of Korea, and features a bunch of random stuff, including a park called "Loveland". Based on what I've seen, I won't be able to post pics here. But it looks hilarious. Korea is a strange place sometimes.

But who am I to judge?

So let's chat about this past weekend. I've got a slideshow running after I'm done, most of which I've already put up on Facebook and MySpace, but it's only here, on the only (aside from Jen WhiteCastle's) blog worth reading, that you'll get the play by play.

So I mentioned earlier about the nightlife in Seoul. I'll say again, for those with short term memory loss, it's incredible. Even if I never touched another drop of alcohol, these places are just too cool to pass up. Friday night was Daisii's birthday party. Jen, Daisii, and I, along with some new friends Molly and Stacy, started out the night at Ice Bar. The place is, predictably enough, made entirely out of ice. The cups, the bar, all of it. They give you some parkas, and around $15 gets you in with a free drink. It's one of 7 Ice Bars on the planet, and you can see a pic of the folks who held out the longest. They were Americans, and they cleared 13 and a half hours. Since they were from the good ol US of A, I'm not going to take the record from them. That, and I don't have the time/money/fortitude/permission from my wife. They also have a special "louve shot" where they take an ice sculptures with a small tunnel through the middle, and pour the shot in the top. You drink it when it comes out the other side. I can't post the pics of Daisii enjoying her free birthday drink here, because NSFW (Not Suitable For Work) doesn't begin to describe it. Hilarious stuff, none the less. I'll be saving these pics for blackmail at every major moment in her life from now on. What can I say? I'm an amazing friend.

Following the Ice Bar, we went to a night spot called OI. OI looks like the inside of an ice cave, despite it going for a more "beach theme". Every weekend in August they fill the canals running all throughout the place with water, about ankle deep. That's right. It's a bar full of people in ankle deep water. A girl was telling me she was there last weekend and she slipped and bashed her head so hard she bled. Not being the picture of sobriety, she merely splashed some more water on it, and continued her evening. She apparently passed out 2 or 3 times as the night (morning?) wore on.

Our crew managed to make it out without any concussions, but I watched some awesome wipeouts while I was there. Beautiful stuff. Jen and Daisii, after being splashed so many times they just stopped caring, also decided to hang out in the outdoor area. This place was relatively calmer, aside from a random guy who decided to take of his clothes (awkward, and not me), but that didn't stop them from hopping into a pool, and throw rose petals at each other. In case you're wondering, they're sober. That's just what happens when Daisii and Jen decide to have some fun.

After arriving home entirely too late, I got a call at 11am from my buddy Sam, who informed me I was going with him to the Hi Seoul Festival at Yoiedo (Yo-EE-Doe) Park, which goes along a stretch of the Han River. We saw the Ice Sculpture in the 90 degree heat, as well as the snow machine, a couple pools, and a really good live jazz band. But the pics... well, see...

It's called BirdMan. Red Bull does this thing too, where you make a contraption and try to make it fly by going off a cliff, or high dock, and seeing how long you stay afloat until you hit water. Welp, if you didn't make one it turns out you can also just dress up in one of their costumes, and see if you can fly on your own. It was free to sign up, and it included a free gym bag with doughnuts in it. I was sold.
Sam opted for the muscle suit with the Luchador mask and nunchucks. Strong, yet understated. I liked it. Personally, I went for the Sailor Moon outfit, accessorised with a sombrero and a battle axe. The Koreans got a real kick out of it, and I've even got a video of my interview and jump. Note the jump- it was good form all the way around. They also took a TON of pictures of me, and videoed everything. I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure I made Korean TV. Pretty cool, huh?

And by cool, I mean wicked awkward.

The weirdest thing of all was the number of Korean girls who were trying to chat me up. Maybe it was the way the outfit hugged my hips, or the way the pink bow brought out my eyes. Don't worry, I was a good boy. Gesturing to the ring finger still gets the message across.

Saturday night found us back at my favorite volunteer spot, RMT, where we just had a good ol time. I got to do a few games with the guests, and in general had a blasty blast. Sunday Sam dragged me, yet again, out before I should have been out of bed and made me join him at Hamilton Pool, the spot to see and be seen on any hot weekend. I don't want to brag, but I am an amazing wingman.

Anyway, enjoy the pics and the video...







Well, I'm feeling like this was more than enough to keep you entertained for a day or so. We miss you guys so much, and want to send out even MORE congrads to the Benoits and the Scullys. Your kids are adorable!!!!!

Love always,
-Al (& Jen!)

Al Needs Something.

I know, I know... what else is new?

So we're trying to figure out the address, and how long it takes for things to arrive here. Daisii is claiming she's getting packages in 4 days, Jen's care package from home never made it...

SO, here's what I'm asking:
Drop us a line, snail-mail style. It can be anything- a picture, a post card, a post it note- and then comment on this blog and let us know 3 things:

• date you sent it
• who you sent it with
• tracking number (if it has one)

I have quadruple checked this address, cleared the bugs, and I'm certain it's correct now. PLEASE don't think you need to send anything big/special/expensive. We're doing this mainly so we can know what to expect should we need something important/expensive sent, and because it's really nice to get notes from home out here.

Here's the address:

Al & Jen Sterling
6F Gerium Plus Academy
BR Building 625-2
Donam-dong Seongbukgu
Seoul, South Korea

We really appreciate it, guys. I'm working on a pretty big post, but it's taking a bit. As always, we love and miss you all terribly.

Peace.
-Al

We're 25% Down! Or 75% Left....

Hello Readers!

I realized that the end of July made 3 months we've called South Korea home. What's more, that means that the first quarter is over for us. How nuts is that? I thought I'd take a moment and share my thoughts as we pass this point.
The Korean people are amazing. I know I've been through this with you guys before, but the difference in culture, and in worldview, can't be overstated. If you have an open mind, and take the time to learn, it's still an amazing experience.
Learning the language has been the biggest challenge. It's nothing like learning Spanish. See, when learning Spanish, or for that matter German, French, or even Latin, there is a base language that we can recognize. Not so in Korean. You have to forget everything you know about English. The best thing I can compare it to is something I learned in math once. We work from base 10, meaning that we base all of our counting on sets of 10. Well, we don't have to. There was a lesson they did in a math class once where we tried doing some basic math from a base of 7. So when you count to 6 you go straight to 11. From that, everything else changes. Adding, subtracting, and everything else, it's all completely different. It fried my brain. That's how this feels. I don't know if that makes sense, but there ya go.
The people are amazing. The little bits of understanding we have had are wonderful. Oftentimes, the little old ladies at the restaurant refuse to let us do things ourselves, and they get a real kick out of hearing us try out our God-awful Korean. The people in our apartment building, and in the area around it, smile and wave at us. The guy at the chicken place bows every time he sees me. (What can I say? I love fried chicken...)

We've also learned a lot about ourselves, too. Our marriage is stronger, and we're starting to really look forward to the future. Sometimes I honestly lie awake at night and think about owning my own home, and being able to actually let my wife go to town decorating (a HUGE hobby of hers). And I, of course, have plans for a house-wide stereo system that I can control remotely from anywhere in the house. Ok, ok, NEAR the house. But 2 blocks, tops. And then there's the deck I want to build...

The worst part has been two sides of the same coin- we do miss home. The Scullys and the Benoits are both now parents, and missing the birth of their children has been frustrating for both Jen and I. God's praises that both of them are happy and healthy! Holidays are going to be rough out here, though. Christmas without my parents around is just going to suck. Period.
The other half of that has been frustrations with some of the moronic behavior of other folks from the West. The attitudes and ignorance leaves me spitting nails, and the petty high school level gossiping just makes me want to slap someone. Remembering the quality of the friends and family back home makes it particularly biting.

But there is a silver lining on both fronts. Just recently I managed to book Rocky Mountain Tavern (where I do that volunteer work) for an American style Thanksgiving. They are giving us the entire second floor of their main location, as well as use of their ovens, so that we can do a Thanksgiving you guys will be proud of. RMT is the one of the biggest foreign spots in Seoul, and it's all ours. The cost? Not a single won. They'll make sure they've got some wine and a bartender should we desire it, and that's it.
So, to recap, we're having an American Thanksgiving in a Canadian bar in the heart of South Korea, with guests from Korea, the US, Canada, South Africa, and at least a few Australians, Irish, and Brits. Say what you want, sounds pretty damn American to me.
The people here are getting better too. Two more new teachers showed up a few weeks ago, and they're great. We've got two more showing up in a week or two, and two more coming in after that. The end of October we'll get yet ANOTHER pair. I'm feeling pretty good that we'll be in good shape in no time.

So that's where we're at at the end of the first quarter. Don't worry, there's another blog coming right behind this one, and it's full of pretty pictures and random adventures. You guys are the best, we love you all, and think about you constantly.

Love,
Al & Jen