He's A Big Pig (Yup Yup) You Can Be A Big Pig Too. OI!!

That was a lot of freakin' pig.

But I'll get to that in a moment. First, I have been posting tons of blogs lately, so if you have too much time on your hands check some of the previous blogs. I got a big 6-month wrap up I'll have piping hot by Halloween. Second, I have big news for all of you. I have decided to post pictures here first, and then to MySpace/Facebook. That will ensure timely blogs, as well as giving my dear dear readers first glance at our misadventures. I know, I know... feel free to send thank you cards and notes of adoration.

So I am bothered. Our school has been doing a fairly major job of filming a new commercial. They've had film crews running around, bosses wagging fingers, the whole deal. They used one of our teachers in it, and then another. And today they pulled in the third. They got absolutely no warning. And it's pretty obvious that Jen and I are being left out of this on purpose.

Now, I hate to play the race card. Well, let's be honest. I love to play it. I think it's hilarious. But I hate to play it in a situation like this. But when they pull a teacher who has a history of saying offensive things to students (You will work at a 7-11. Do you understand? You. Will. Work...) and is clearly scrubbed out (jeans with holes, 3 day beard) rather than a well dressed very well liked teacher (Jen, not me. Don't be ridiculous.) then you have to start to wonder...

We've seen it several times out here. Anytime we do anything out in public (handing out flyers, a few other random things) Jen and I are always put to the side. Today it finally got to me.

To be fair, xenophobia runs pretty rampant out here as it is. Several of the other teachers have stories of pretty offensive run ins. One had a story of a mother who, upon seeing him in a major department store, actually screamed and clutched her children to her chest. And he was a six foot white Canadian. It's disappointing.

Mostly, though, on an individual level they're wonderful. I've made some wonderful Korean friends. The little old ladies who live in my apartment building always smile when I say hello, and sometimes they try to shake hands. Not much else to say about it.

Know what would make me happy again? Let's see those pigs again.

A friend of ours, Sean, organized this adventure. This is the second one he's done. He found a restaurant outside the city that provides all the fixins, and a beautiful facility, and all you do is pay and show up. The crowd was wonderful, the food was AMAZING, and all in all it was a wonderful time. Jen and I got another chance to see some folks we hadn't seen in a few months, and met some new people who live right around the corner. All in all, good times. I've got a few other shots to share.











This is Sean with Jen and I (he's the black guy in the middle). He really did a great job on the whole event. We had something around 75 people out there, all foreigners living in Korea. He's a popular guy. Problem was, there was suppose to be 97 people there. With about 25 people bailing out inside of 24 hours, Sean was left with some very nice Korean very seriously looking for another $250. Sean, sap that he is, was ready to foot the bill.




Did I mention I offered to help Sean out with this undertaking? I offered as soon as he told me about it, and I helped a little with some of the prep, and then went out to the site in the first van to make sure everything was clear at the facility while Sean waited back at the meeting spot. Ya'll woulda been proud of me too. I only offered to help. I kept my opinions all to myself. Until the matter of the $250.

See, I've organized an event or two. It SUCKS when folks bail last minute. It sucks bad. But not nearly as bad as having to eat their costs. First, I tried to convince Sean to give me their names and phone numbers so I could go collect the money. He didn't go for that idea. So, instead, I convinced him to let me take up a collection from the folks there.


I raised $350 in about 20 minutes. What can I say? I'm persuasive. And for those of you concerned about what I did with the leftovers, fear not. We just bought more drinks. $33 got us all the pig (and sides) we could eat, and enough beer, soda, and Soju to last us quite a while. Good times were had by all. Here's a few more quick pics.







They had a bunch of animals in cages for you to look at and harass unnecessarily. Here are some rabbits. Also out there were some deer, a chipmunk, and 2 cats on chains. No, I have no idea.




And here we have a Christmas tree, some guitars, a few speakers, and a sombrero all encased in glass. Why? To keep them from escaping! Duh!! Also, to preserve them for future generations. This stuff doesn't grow on trees. Wait...





Here's Jen out on the grounds. Beautiful, right? The grounds aren't bad either. (AHH! See what I did there?)



Elsewhere there were a couple picnic tables in a stream, covered by a tarp. Why the tarp? To keep them dry. Wow, not to swift today, are we?




Here's me in love with meat.


Sunday was also a good day. We toured a palace with Mike and Claire, and then we stumbled across an International Food Festival. Here's some more pictures.


Here's the tour guide. Her English was good, but that outfit looked awfully hot...




In the palace's private garden there was this pavilion, where the king would fish. Every time he caught a fish ceremonial music played. I'm trying to sell Jen on this idea, but she doesn't seem to think finishing a can of coke warrants music. I disagree.




This is a dramatic "East meets West" "Past and Present" picture. Contemplate how you personally destroyed culture all over the world, then scroll down to the pictures of food.





Believe it or not, this was not the American pavilion. There wasn't one, actually. There was a Costco pavilion, but they closed up shop before I could snap a pic. Sorry Dave. I actually can't remember which country this was, but they had fried eggs, french fries, and some kind of meat. They slapped it on toast and sold it for $5. I love this country. But I didn't get that.






I got this. This was at the Uzbekistan tent. And let me tell you, those Uzbekistanis know how to cook some lamb. It was amazing. They served it with onions and some surprisingly good yellow... stuff... Mmmmmmmmmm.....






Also, here's Claire eating nachos with chopsticks.


Ok, I'm spent. I've still got the six month post I'm trying to do. Someone had better be reading these damn things....


I'm not doing slideshows tonight. If you'd like to see more photos of the Pig Roast, click here.

For more pictures of the Palace tour, click here.

Much love folks. Jen and I think of you guys often. And by often, I mean always.

-Al

Top Ten Things Al Misses From Home

Ok, so let's be clear. It's obvious I miss my friends and family more than everything else combined. Ya'll are beyond amazing, and I can't stress enough how much I love all of you.

Mushy crap aside, here's what I'm craving. This is only things that I haven't found at all, or are so difficult to get it's just not worth it.

10. Milk (Yes, they have it, but it sure doesn't taste like TG Lee.)
9. "Dirty" apple juice
8. Central air
7. Soft beds (as opposed to the box spring I've been sleeping on for 6 months)
6. Real NY style pizza (Why does a pepperoni pizza have corn on it? Why?)
5. "American" sized underwear (Keep the comments clean...)
4. My car
3. A clothes dryer
2. The beach
1. Garbage disposal

You thought I'd cop out and do the whole "Friends and family" thing at #1, didn't you? Well, then you underestimated me.

If you didn't see garbage disposal coming, though, don't feel bad. Recycling is required by law, which is cool, but it only comes once a week, and they don't exactly provide bins. Also, you have to sort all the trash between the six or seven different categories. The rest of it has to be put into specially marked bags and disposed of elsewhere. Food waste can be disposed of any time, but ONLY food stuff, not in a bag or anything. I HATE cleaning the trap under the sink. I'm sick of trying to sort out only the food waste into this little red bucket, which starts to REEK. I was prepared for most of this stuff, and I know I'm spoiled to have had a garbage disposal for most of my life. If I didn't have to always separate it, maybe I wouldn't be so close to violence. Maybe.

Anyway, there it is. I know there's been a lot of blogs being spit out, but fear not. I'm a blogging machine. I've got another blog for your Wednesday morning, plus a 6 month wrap up before Halloween.

Much love,
Al

At Least It's Over

Good Lord, what a long freakin' week.

I've got no clue if I have my pension money, but it appears that I have health insurance, which is the more important of the two. But I swear this work week had at least eight days, and 5 of them sure felt like Mondays.

To be fair, it hasn't been all bad. On Wednesday night Jen had a little girls night, so Mike and I went to a party that a friend of mine was throwing. One thing I do like about cities: rooftop parties. This was the second one I've been to, and it's pretty cool. This one was mostly European students at Korea University, right around the corner from me. Not only was it great fun, but it left me with a great quote to share. Mike stayed the night at my apartment, and the next morning, as we're just waking up, Mike says:

"You know what Germans don't like to talk about? Hitler."
He seemed genuinely surprised by his revelation.

Last night Jen and I went to a good-bye dinner for Claire, one of our Korean teachers. She has been an absolute sweetheart, and she'll be missed dearly. Ironically enough, she's leaving Korea to go do nursing in the US. Poor girl is headed for Minnesota. I love the U.S., but if I had a choice between the two, I'd probably take Seoul over St. Paul. Just sayin'.

These two bright spots are what kept our sanity for what was otherwise one crappy crappy week. And tonight we're going out to dinner with one of the PLUS managers, and we don't exactly know why. Best theories put it as an olive branch to try to avoid having the teachers at my branch start rioting. Which, to be fair, is a valid concern.

Ya know, I hear foreigners here complain about getting stared at all the time. While it's true that Koreans stare at us a lot, after six months of being here I'd stare at a blond haired person too.

English is an obnoxious language. My students constantly ask me why we have one rule or another, and ya know what? There isn't a good reason. Do we really need articles? Really? (a, an, the) I'd say Korean is an easier language, but they have a considerable Chinese influence, and anything with Mandarin involved instantly becomes 3 times more difficult. Let no one tell you Chinese will be the world's language. It's only spoken by the largest number of people because there's so many of them. But even the Chinese are learning English by the boatload.

I know this hasn't been my best blog, but it's an honest one. This weekend should be a lot of fun- we've got a pig roast with 97 other people on Saturday, and my boss at RMT just got engaged, so we'll be partying with him Saturday night before work. I'll have something happy and picture filled soon, I promise.

Much love,
Al

Money? Naw, We Do This For The Children...

I gotta tell ya, I don't feel like blogging today.

It's been one helluva week for it only being Wednesday. After the health insurance issues, Jen and I became a little suspicious, and decided to double check our pensions. The way it works is the Korean government takes about $100 out of our checks each month for what is basically Social Security. Our boss has to match it. Once we've got a plane ticket, the Korean government gives it all back to us. It'll end up being about $2,000 a piece, after it's all said and done. So, after several phone calls we were right again. They stopped paying into the pensions as well. Here was my favorite part:

Jessica, one of our coworkers, was the first to talk to our Korean supervisor (Sunny) about this. Sunny calls the main office, and comes back and tells us that what she was told was that this was a simple typo- Jessica's name was down as "Jessie", and so the money didn't get where it was suppose to.

I gotta pause a minute and share a little bit about growing up in the Sterling Household. With kids like my brother and I things like breaking, slacking, wandering off, and losing tempers were just a normal part of the day. And when you made a mistake, there was a good chance sitting down was going to be less comfortable for a while. But when it was over, it was over.

I share that because while that could suck, it was tolerable. You just sucked it up, and moved on. What was NOT kosher was lying. Lying put you in a whole different kind of trouble. Like minimum security rich people jail to maximum "Don't Ask What He Did" jail.

So I'll tolerate the screw ups. I'll stay pleasant, as long as it's fixed in a timely way. But then they lied about it. And they didn't just lie to us, they lied to their own staff. Maybe Sunny knew it was a lie, and maybe she didn't. But it seems pretty obvious that since the Koreans use a different ALPHABET that they'd probably just use the Alien ID number like every other agency in Korea.

I mean, they didn't even come up with a good lie. They didn't even try. Really? Really, PLUS? Is that the best you could do? I mean, I know the language barrier makes it a little trickier, but come on. At least put in a little effort.

It went downhill from there. Jessica walked out of work and refused to teach. Her boyfriend almost put Sunny in tears, and we didn't see much of her after that.

Us? We're fine. I'm heading down to the Pension Office to become an expert on how the system works here in Korea. Then I'm going to make them give all of it back. PLUS keeps taking money from us, they just never put it where it should go. There's also an Office for Foreign Workers that will end up hearing from me soon if things don't improve. My gut is telling me that going there is kind of like dropping the word "lawyer". Ya don't toss it about if you aren't ready to go to the wall, and we're not there yet. I've put a few other more complicated and less interesting things in motion as well, but the end result is the same- can't nobody take my pride. Can't nobody hold me down. Oh no. Yeah, you guessed it. I gots ta keep on movin.

The whole thing has left me drained and frustrated, though. I got my little self back to the hospital today to get my refund, and make certain we now had health insurance, and it turns out today was a big anniversary for the Seoul International Healthcare Hospital Thing-Place, and so no one was there. Of course. Why wouldn't that happen?

On a related note, I put my "Bad Day" playlist back together. Gotta love Billy Joel. And Queen.

UPDATE: It's now Thursday night, and things have smoothed out. I want to get this one up, so I'll save the details for later....

-Al

Al Sterling: Union Boss

So I'm making a concerted effort to blog more often this month, and we're starting with a Monday morning special.

I mentioned last time that we were having some insurance issues. Well, turns out it's a little bigger than I thought. Korea has nationalized health care, and it works pretty well when your whole country is roughly the size of Indiana. But that's not the point.

The point is we haven't had insurance since September. Turns out several of our teachers were lied to about it being fixed, and everything came to a head today when two of the teachers here (not us) refused to work until the insurance issue was resolved. PLUS had it fixed pretty quick after that. But they also took money from us for September insurance, which we didn't have. Now have insurance, and they are basically telling us that they can't give back the September money because it has been used to buy September insurance retroactively, which I almost follow since PLUS was bought another bigger company, and that went into effect on September 1st. Also, we had teachers who visited the hospital for a few minor things, all were reimbursed. The whole thing smells fishy, obviously, but I'm not thinking we'll see the money they took last month...

The thing is, another teacher (not at PLUS) about a year ago was told he had insurance. His apartment caught fire, and he was very badly burned. It was then revealed his school had lied, and he didn't have any insurance. The hospitals went looking for their money, while his family was trying to fly him home. Foreign teachers across the country raised tons of money to try to fly him home (it requires quite a lot to get a medical transport that far), but in the end he died. It was a tragic case, and one that made a lot of teachers out here very jumpy about this kinda thing. But fear not, loved ones, we're fine. PLUS is a big school, and can't afford to be violating federal laws like that. And even though I went to the hospital and had to pay the entire thing out of pocket, I've been told that I can go back to the hospital and all of my $35 back tomorrow. I'm not sure if the $17 worth of meds is covered yet...

We're feeling much better, by the way. The doc gave me some good stuff for the stomach cramps, and said I just had to wait it out. No worries. Of course, Jen came down with a cold this morning. Which means I should have it by tomorrow. I'm not sure how we'll survive the winter- it hasn't even hit the 50's yet and Jen and I have been sick all of October.

But the Union Boss part- well, obviously that's a bit of an overstatement. But Jen and I were trying to get the other teachers here to see the necessity of collective bargaining a while ago, and we were ignored. Now PLUS has done away with the Head Teacher position, and our coworkers are having issues left and right- everything from a lack of furniture, door locks being broken, cell phones not being replaced, and now insurance. And for the most part they're left twisting in the wind. Now folks are making noise about working together.

People ask me (Ok, us...) all the time 'Al, is it hard to always be right?' and I say, 'No, not really. You just start being right over and over again, and eventually..."

Personally, I'm still not worried about any of this. I'm double checking to make sure the insurance thing is settled, though I'm sure it is at this point. But these guys can't hold a candle to some of my previous employers. Jen and I will get everything we're suppose to (though, thankfully, not what we deserve). And if they get difficult, so will I...

Much love,
Al

Al and Jen Join Hell's Angels

Hey guys!

I know I'm being a very bad person and not keeping up with the blogs like I should. This stomach bug still has a hold on me and is making it difficult to be creative. Or positive. Mostly, it just makes me look at each meal and cry a little. Jen's got it too, albeit a slightly kinder version.

We did not, however, let that stop us from taking advantage of our 3 day weekend. Jen and I took a trip out of the city with some friends of ours. Here's the highlights:


What you're feeling right now is a little intimidation, and likely some desire. That's perfectly normal. Jen and I do look pretty amazing with our hardcore gang of misfits on our incredibly powerful hogs. Dangerous? Obviously. But that's the way it is with a lifestyle like ours. And no, a cheap straw fedora in no way takes away from the amount of pure hardcoreness that emanates from us in overwhelming waves. That's just how it is. We rented these bad boys for an hour for just $10. They probably got 15mph with a full charge on the battery, and we tore apart that quiet beach side town with our lawlessness and disregard for authority. James Dean ain't got nuthin' on us. Nuthin'.

Oh, yeah, we did some other stuff too. Saw some mountains, something about a temple... there's a slideshow after I'm done rambling. But this part was interesting:

These guys were at the entrance to the palace inside Seoraksan National Park. It's the biggest national park in Seoul, and borders North Korea on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. There were four of them, total. Each was holding something different. The temple was Buddhist, and four were clearly guardians. But this was the interesting part.

This was their feet. All four of the guardians had at one or two unfortunate souls at their feet, furthering the "guardian" idea. The thing is pure Buddhism doesn't believe in any higher powers. There is no heaven, or hell. We live in a world of suffering, and we must break our ties to all earthly things in order to achieve Nirvana, which is thankfully a higher state of existence and not an obnoxious 90's grunge band. Unfortunately, no one there could explain in English this contradiction. I couldn't even find something to tell me when the temple was built, so this is going to have to be yet another unanswered question... well, for me. Most people couldn't care less, and those that do care probably did the extra leg work to find an answer. Nuts to that.


This is our little group. From left top: Tianne, Mike, Claire, Jen, Angel, Marika, and Yours Truly

And this is a giant mushroom man holding a smaller mushroom while giving the town of Sokcho a big thumbs up. I'm sorry if the picture is a little blurry, but the bus driver didn't seem likely to stop for us to snag a picture. I'm actually quite proud of us for this little adventure. Jen and I made all the arrangements on our own- choosing a location, transportation, lodging, activities, etc. We obviously had some help in the translations, but the bulk of the legwork we did ourselves. It went really really well, and everyone had a great time on the trip. If only our stomachs had cooperated...

To be fair, Jen and I are feeling better, if certainly not back to 100%. We've had stomach pains every day for quite a while. We've made some diet changes (not easy out here), and taken some meds. A trip to the doctor is the next step, but I'm a little concerned. The hospitals out here are top notch, there just isn't the same emphasis on things like cleanliness and privacy. It'll be an uncomfortable experience at best. My appointment is Saturday at 10:30am. Jen is planning on just swiping some of my meds, which is for the best, seeing as our school forgot to renew our health insurance. I'm trying to be more upset, but a straight trip to see a specialist, without going to a PCP first, is costing me a whopping $35. Since that's cheaper than most co-pays back home, I'll deal with it. All told, we'll just have to see how it goes. Say a prayer, Ill blog all about it, fret not.


So the 6 month mark is fast approaching and Jen and I are feeling good, all told. I can say that personally I'll be glad to have cleared the halfway point. This place is fun, don't get me wrong, but the dew is off the rose.

Thing is, I miss youth ministry. Constantly. They talk about it being a calling, not a career. I hadn't really understood that until I got out here. I'm excited about being here, and trying all sorts of new things, and all that jazz. But there is nothing like the feeling of standing in a parking lot at 6am going over how to fit 2 tons of gear and 17 youth into a 20 passenger bus. So many things constantly remind me of it, there's just no way around it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?

Jen and I have figured out our rough travel plans following our time here in Korea, and we're ironing out the kinks over the next few weeks. The hope is to have decided on a plan by the end of October, and start making arrangements by the end of November. A lot of it will have to be decided as we go, but flying is cheaper if you buy tickets earlier, so that's what we're doing. As soon as Jen and I get something we feel is final(ish), I'll pass it along.


Hey Dad! Look at this! Needless to say, if Korea loses power it'll be months before we get it back. This one isn't even one of the really bad ones, it just happens to be one we saw when the camera was handy. It gets much worse the more residential the area, but the whole thing makes me a tad nervous. I remember watching some of the Progress Energy folks in cherry picker trucks fixing lines to a hospital during a hurricane. I couldn't imagine trying out this bad boy...





Alright, lets get to some SIGN TIME!!

I had been worried about running out of material, but not anymore. Holy cow, I got tons. So much, today you get a twofer.

I know, I know... you're welcome.



Claire used to work at a Starbucks in New York (knew Eddie Whitewolf- how random is that?). She was pissed, not because of copyright, but because they weren't open until 5:30pm.



Aside from being a little morbid, don't you think it looks like the little guy just pushed his pops over the edge then went for the "look cute" defense?


Here's your slideshow. Enjoy!