I'm Pomme

A couple of weeks ago, somebody spilled water on my keyboard (I can't imagine who the irresponsible person could possibly be, sitting in bed, with a glass of water and laptop, outrageous) and apparently water causes the "r", "f" "4", and "volume down" keys to cease operation. This is especially annoying because I can't write about the F4. I have since learned that r's and l's are especially important in my life because all of my passwords contain one or the other, meaning I cannot sign into to blogger to access this blog. Fortunately, I'm perma-signed into Facebook, otherwise my life would be over. And so, I find myself once again sitting in a PCroom, among noisy boys shooting things and strategising at computers that don't have spell check. Although, I just discovered that if let the cursor hover over a work long enough, I am given the Korean spelling and English pronunciation, unless the word is spelled wrong. I suppose one of the upsides of the PC room is the "service" free green tea (!) and Korean keyboards (아싸!). I am not really too bummed about the the destruction of my laptop, this is the perfect excuse to buy a new one (macbook macbook macbook!). Mac's are just too good, they never fall apart unless you spill water on them. My iBook G4 is an archaic four (4!) years old. I have been avoiding sending messages or typing on my laptop since the someone wrecked my laptap, either I have to replace the r's and l's with x's, which is awkward to read, or I have to copy and paste the r's and l's, which is rather time consuming. This accident, coupled with a few lazy lazy weeks is the main reason for not posting here in over a month.
Now I shall try to make up for it by updating everything from the past month or more. I sit here in the PC bang, surrounded by notebooks and loose sheets of paper containing all the items I want to write about and you, dear readers, shall eventually get it all, but I'll try to be nice and divide the posts. Also, there is a good chance that I'll have to pee soon, at which point, I'll feel to awkward about leaving my computer and will just pay and leave. Let's begin.

In the past month, I have accomplished a number of things that were on my list of things that I needed or wanted to do before I left Korea and a few things that were necessary before I die.

1) See Big Bang perform live. The Asia is One Asia Song Festival was in Seoul in the middle of September at the World Cup Stadium. Not only did I get to see Big Bang, I also got to see 2NE1, Super Junior, and Girls Generation, along with performers from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Ukraine (random, I know). Each group or performer only got to do two songs, with the exception of Super Junior who did Sorry Sorry as the encore. Big Bang was the last group to perform but had to leave immediately because G-Dragon was performing right after the Global Gathering. The Global gathering actually would have been my preferred place to be but the tickets for the two day event were 180,000 ₩ while the Asia Song Festival was free. The stadium was packed with adolescent folk, screaming their love for the various bands. Each of the Korean groups had their own fan club. Fan Clubs here are officially business. These kids are card carrying members of these clubs and the perks are apparently fantastic, including preferred seating and glow sticks. I am considering joining Big Bang's fan club, but I can't read Korean, a problem, I assume. They sang a song I didn't know and Lies. I was really hoping for Haru Haru but I guess it was good anyway. I would have also liked to see G-Dragon sing Heart breaker but beggars can't be choosers and I am just thankful that I got to see Big Bang in person. It was awesome.

2) Drink and hang out at a convenience store. I drank beer and ate snacks with my friends on the plastic furniture outside a Family Mart. Most convenience stores have plastic patio furniture set up outside and it is common for people to hang out and drink at these makeshift self serve hofs. It has been a dream almost since I got here to do this. Sarah, Sally, and I hung out for a while eating chips and drinking crappy beer until we were finally sufficiently creeped out by the old drunk dude sitting at the table next to us who kept looking at us and talking to himself. At one point he even took some of our chips. The cashier tried to cash him away and tell him to leave us alone but he was persistent. It was getting late anyway. Although, my original dream was to order pizza and then eat it at the convenience store while drinking beer, I will settle for this. It was still a lot of fun.

3) Attend a Korean wedding. I have heard a lot about them and I really wanted to experience one for myself. In the middle of September, I attended the wedding of two Friends, but it wasn't exactly a Korean wedding as only one half of the couple was Korean. Amber invited me to the wedding of her former co-worker. I gladly agreed to attend. I had heard the wedding is merely for show and really all about the pictures. I thought it was an exaggeration, I was though wrong. There were two or three photographers and a videographer, all of which were on stage with the couple and the officiator. They had no qualms about moving things around and even going so far as to reposition the bride and groom as needed. It was a Christian wedding and they didn't even stop for the prayers. The ceremony was relatively short, although there was a small sermon, which I couldn't understand for obvious reasons. After the ceremony, we went to the dining hall. (I should back up... weddings in Korea are almost all held at Wedding Halls, huge buildings dedicated to weddings. There are usually a number of floors so there are multiple weddings being held simultaneously and the reception is just a buffet of which more than one wedding party might be partaking. ) The food was awesome and there was a huge variety. This was my second favourite part. My favourite part was being introduced to Amber's co-workers as Justin Timberlake's girlfriend, as this is how they remember Bryan (and apparently still talk about him). I was so proud.

3) See middle school students get flirty. I have sub categories here.

a) I caught a sweet and generally well-behaved middle school boy texting in class. I was going to let it go, but then he got a bit rowdy and eventually I had to demand the hand phone. With great reluctance, he eventually handed it over. At the end of class, I gave it back to him with a smile. I really like him. Later, as I was leaving the school, the boy chased me down, very worked up. He shoved the cell phone in my face, showing me text, full of exclamation marks. It was in Korean. “My girlfriend!” He yelled. “You...my hand phone.... she....soooo angry.” A look of horror on his face. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen. This skinny middle school boy with his geeky glasses and his sweet smile; he has a girlfriend. I immediately had a mental image of them together and I could picture them holding hands and maybe singing to each other at noraebang. I bet he is a really good boyfriend.

b) In a different class that has a few more outgoing students, I was a witness to some middle school flirting. It wasn't much, but at least the boys and girls were talking to each other. It was fun class in which little was accomplished. It was heartwarming. It was the last class before the middle school students got a break for testing and it was the last time I will probably see a lot of those students, many of whom were my favourite middle school kids. It was nice to see them come out of there shells for a moment. I freaked them out by reading Korean. We laughed a lot. They thought I was sad. I was. They noticed. I love them right now. I will probably hate them tomorrow. The sexy sullen boy wasn't in class that day, which is probably why the girls were more comfortable.

4) I went on a trip on which, every meal consumed outside the pension involved seafood. Literally every meal. And there was a variety. Stewed fish, raw fish, broiled fish, claims, prawns, crabs, squid, stuffed squid, everything. Stand-out being a dish that sounds kind of sick but is mazing. A cold spicy soup with raw fish and lettuce. Muel-Hae. It was freaking delicious.

5) Attending a day long competition between two of the biggest and best universities Korea. Maybe this wasn't actually on the list of things I need to do before I leave Korea, but it should have been. I went with Sarah to witness Yonsai University compete against Korea National University in various sports. Apparently, these schools have a big rivalry and one day a year all their sports teams compete in all events. I happened to witness Rugby and Soccer. Although, the stadium was rather full during the rugby game, I'm pretty sure that only a handful of people were actually watching the rugby game. Most spectators were focused on dancing harder and shouting louder than the other fans. The cheerleaders never stopped, not even during play, which was fine because their stages blocked the view of field anyway. There were also lives bands and canned music and dancers, lots and lots of dancers. It was intense and deafening. It was awesome. We left during the soccer game to avoid being rained on, which were anyway in the dash from the Stadium to the subway station.

And it various unrelated matters...

I have have a younger elementary student, who has taken to giving me whatever loose change he happens to have in his pocket, so far I think it adds up to about 550₩. If this keeps up, I’ll be rich soon. He is also generous with his gum, g-u-m, gum. I have him in a regular class and he is also a regular out the extracurricular speaking class I have twice a week. He is in a much lower level then the other two boys that regularly come, making it difficult to play a lot of games, as he has a super unfair disadvantage. He is kind of a brat, but not a mean-spirited one. He is kind of frail looking and doesn’t like to wear shoes. He takes them off as soon as he gets to class and walks around on the dirty Kang Tae Woo floors in his socks. I bet his mom gets so mad at him. He is extremely likable and cute. She probably can’t stay mad at him, just like my mom could never stay mad at my brother. Asshole. Sometimes he is the only student in the speaking class and we play hang man for fifty minutes and then I him give candy.

I was really looking forward to 09/09/09 and I totally missed it. I love when things are all the same. I remember 06/06/06 everybody thought the world might end and that scary movie was released.

Although most Koreans would claim that their daily kimchi consumption protects them from Swine Flu (or whatever we are supposed to be calling it now, H1N1? not nearly as catchy as Swine Flu, damn pigs!), most Koreans are terrified of contracting this illness that kills fewer people than regular flu strains. This has caused a huge spike in the sale of hand sanitizer and led to the addition of soap in the bathroom at my hagwon. Prior to fear of the flu, it was difficult to find hand sanitizer, I was keeping my eyes open for it due to the lack of soap in the bathroom at the academy. A few weeks ago, it started popping up everywhere and suddenly, I find myself being forced to use the hand sanitiser a lot more frequently than I would like (here is where I rant about not allowing our bodies to become naturally immune to diseases, eventually making us a weak society of constantly sick people), like at the University game I went to, we all received a squirt of hand sanitiser before we were allowed to enter the stadium. At the gym, bottles have appeared on every desk and at every entrance. I found fancy sanitisers in the beauty shops, it doesn’t smell quite so bad, so it is probably less effective. When the students enter the hagwon, a T.A. checks their temperature with a ear thermometer and makes gives them a squirt of hand sanitizer. I guess an epidemic here could be particular damaging because the kids have so much contact with each other. They see some kids at school and then see different kids from different schools at hagwon. But they eat a lot kimchi and so they have nothing to worry about, I eat it, too.

I have been here in the PC bang for almost two hours emailing and blogging. This is a lot of work.
I will hopefully hit one up tomorrow morning before I go grocery shopping (I'm out of raisins) and continue the up dating for those of you who still read this. My typing muscles are sore.