Decision made

Looking out over Jeju City from Sarabong.  I'm actually really proud of this one and think it's one of my best pictures.  What do you think?  Click on the picture to see a bigger version.

You may recall last week I was facing the rather important decision of what to do with my future.  This decision had immediate ramifications if I wanted to start a PhD program next year.  And I have reached at least a partial decision.

As both my parents and Vicky pointed out, if I'm not completely excited, fired up and thrilled to begin a PhD then now is probably not the right time to start one.  Given the time, work and career narrowing aspects of a doctorate degree, it is not something to be entered into lightly.  I certainly haven't ruled one out.  But I'm not going to frantically scramble to get the paperwork ready and spend anywhere from $500-1000 on it (GMAT fee, flight to Seoul to take the GMAT, and application fees add up fast) unless i am certain now is the right time for it.  Perhaps next year i'll feel differently.

For now I'm going to concentrate on enjoying my current experience in Korea with Vicky and start thinking about what to do when this year abroad ends.  Whenever that decision gets made (and it won't be for a while), i'll let you know.

On a lighter note, I got my new schedule for November and it is wonderful!!!!!!  My worst class is gone!  It was a phonics class that was filled with such beginners that I couldn't even give them instructions or discipline them.  Sunny agreed with me that they would be better off with a Korean teacher and changed them to another teacher.  And not only are they gone, I teach only 5 classes a day and have at least one break every day.  This last month i've been teaching about 6-7 a day.  I also get to go into work later while still leaving at the same time.  I did a celebration dance in the teachers lounge when i saw this schedule (it was the gangnam style dance for those of you who are curious).

So with a great new schedule in hand, I head into next month excited for the possibilities and looking forward to the holiday season to come.

Jeju City as the lights begin to come on

Ping Pong on Jeju

 Halla Mountain as seen from Sarabong

This week has been fairly low key.  Aside from being nicknamed The Hulk by one of my classes (because of my penchant for picking up bad students and shaking them, sometimes upside down), seeing a 2nd grade girl in one class pretend the boy in class was her dog (and he played along by taking commands to sit, play dead and attack) and going with one of my coworkers to a restaurant only to find out her Mom owns it, other than all that it's been a quiet week (actually that's a pretty normal week for me here).

Jeju's lighthouse and part of the harbor

It sounds silly but one of the things I missed about Korea was good competition in ping pong.  There are many more tables and good players over here.  There are dozens of places just in Jeju City built entirely for people to come in and play ping pong.  They rent tables, paddles, balls and even ping pong shoes to people who go there.  And people wonder why Asians are better at table tennis.  Fortunately I always did love a challenge.

Sunday was a classic example of that.  I played against a Korean hagwon teacher.  His style made him a great defender.  Getting the ball past him was very tough.  My style makes me a great offensive threat.  My grip allows me to generate huge pace from almost any angle.  So my spins and power faced his quickness and defense.  The match was almost dead even.  And it was a blast!  I haven't played someone that good in a long time and i loved every second of it.  We even played Princess Bride style for a while (hint: "I admit that you are better than me."  "Then why are you smiling?"  "Because I know something you don't know.  I am not left handed!").  Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it and i'm thankful for the opportunity to have such fun during my time here.  And next week Vicky will be joining us too :)

For now it's time to relax and enjoy the weekend.  And thanks to the Cowboys game being the noon game and being the only decent game on this weekend, I might even get some sleep Sunday night :)

A redoing of my lighthouse picture from the last update.  Which one do you like better?

Walking around Sarabong

 The Lighthouse at Sarabong, Jeju

For those of you waiting on an update, sorry it's been so long.  I've been busy and distracted the last few weeks and frankly forgot to write one.  Plus I didn't have any new pictures until recently.  But without further adieu and with no more gilding the lily, i present your new update.

The last month has been good but busy.  Both Vicky and I have constantly morphing schedules.  For the last couple weeks, the middle school students here have been studying for their midterms constantly.  So Vicky especially had a lot of classes canceled because the students wanted to use the time for test preparation.  She didn't complain.

I've had quite a few classes added to my schedule.  Some I like a lot, some less so.  But that's all part of working.

Cool looking temple on the side of Sarabong

The biggest news/decision in my life right now is figuring out if I want to apply to grad school for a PhD.  My options for next year when we finish here in July are A) start a PhD program  B) try to find a job in Texas  C) find another teaching job abroad if I haven't quite got traveling out of my system.  Now making decisions for what I will do next July/August would seem premature except the application deadlines for most PhD programs for the semester next Fall are anywhere from Dec 1 to January 1.  And getting the necessary paperwork, recommendations, essays, etc together will probably take at least a month.  So it's decision time.   Right now I'm completely neutral, not leaning towards any of them.  I'll let you know when I decide which way to go.

One funny story from school (and pardon the one bad word in this story but it wouldn't be funny if I changed it).  In one of my smarter classes, we finished a little early. Daniel (the smartest one in the class) started using the computer. It was horribly slow as usual. I sent him to Google Translate so he would have something to occupy him.  I set it to translate Korean to English.  He promptly typed something in Korean, then pointed to the computer. I glanced down at Google's English translation and saw only one word. "SHIT"

In between riotous bouts of laughter, i told him "yes it is Daniel".

Oh before I go, Vicky suggested I add a comment about our plan to save money on heating this winter.  Just as I did last year, we will be employing a combination of occasional floor heating and a hairdryer.  Why a hairdryer you ask?  Because in winter I don't care if the whole room is warm.  I only care if I'M warm.  Next time it's cold, try this experiment.  Get under a blanket, then turn a hairdryer on and blow the hot air under the blanket.  It will A) feel amazing as the waves of heat wash over you and B) keep you nice and toasty warm without the expense of heating the whole room.  But reason B is secondary to me.  I just love the way it feels :)

Buy 2 typhoons, get the 3rd free

 This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post.  It's an old picture from my trip to Japan that I re-edited and think looks pretty cool.

As the title of this post warns, we have yet another typhoon headed for Jeju.  This is the 3rd one in less than a month.  The first I posted about on here.  Though I think I failed to mention that it was a catagory 1 hurricane when it hit which frankly wasn't that.  And I definitely didn't mention that Vicky and I went out to Outback Steakhouse for dinner in it (we wore water proof/water logged clothing).  And I certainly didn't mention that after we got back, we changed into our bathing suits and met a couple friends at a nearby elementary school and played typhoon soccer, basketball and football outside during the worst of it.

The 2nd one was weak enough that I didn't even bother to say anything about it.  It was just a tropical storm and felt about like a good Texas thunderstorm.  This third one looks to be somewhere around a catagory 2-3 when it hits Sunday night/monday early morning.  I'm not worried about it but we are prepared just in case (extra water, candles, etc)

Otherwise life is pretty good.  Vicky is now comfortable teaching and thanks to her strong discipline, the kids are slowly behaving better (though it's definitely a work in progress).  My classes are going well.  One new girl I have is my first absolute beginner.  I'm teaching "hi" "bye" "I" "he" "she", the most basic of basics.  It's interesting and very challenging.

One randomly funny story that illustrates what it's like to live here happened to me the other day as I was taking the trash out to the dumpster nearby.  I dropped our trash and was heading back into the apartment building when a woman stopped me and said her 8 year old son would really like to talk with me.  Why you ask?  Because I'm a foreigner! So I ended up talking to both her and her son on the street for about 10 minutes before heading back upstairs.  Certainly keeps life interesting :)

Same picture.  Different editing.

Back to Jungmun Beach we go

 Sanbangsan near Seogwipo on the south side of Jeju

I'll start by saying that I'm in a fantastic mood today.  Those of you who know me well might be able to guess the cause.  My Cowboys just got done whipping the Giants in the NFL's season opener.  The heavy investment they made in cornerbacks this offseason looks like a great move so far and I'm really excited for the rest of the season.

So while I'm in a break at school and feeling so cheerful, I thought i'd tell you about last weekend.  On Saturday morning, Vicky, Jeb, Tom and I got up early and went down to the south side of the island to visit Jungmun Beach and it's huge waves.  This was Vicky's first trip down and a morning of bodysurfing was the plan.  Unfortunately the beach had other ideas.  We were bereft of wind.  An unexpected circumstance on this normally breezy island.  Without the wind, the waves were sadly small.  Fortunately we still swam, built sand castles and generally had fun.

Photographed at the peak of their hopefulness before a wave came to crush their dreams (and sand wall)

After an hour or 2 at Jungmun, we headed for a small nearby mountain named Sanbangsan (pictured at the top).  Again luck was not in our favor as the hike up had been damaged by the recent typhoon and the mountain was closed (yes in Korea they close whole mountains).  But again fun was had when we discovered a series of old Imperial Japanese caves along the ocean.  Exploring, hiking and pictures followed.

Cool huh?

The rest of the news is quick.  The two typhoons that blew through did little to no damage.  We actually went out and played soccer in the stronger typhoon (it was crazy fun!).  And after the typhoons moved on, the weather has been cooler and gorgeous!  High 70s to mid 80s has been perfect summer weather for almost anything we can think of.  And the cool evening zephyrs let us throw open our 7th floor windows and enjoy the night.  They also make walking home instead of busing it a very pleasant suggestion (20 minutes vs 6 by bus).  One Vicky and I are about to take right now.  Bye.

PS.  If you want something funny that is huge hit here and is becoming surprisingly popular in the US, click on the video link below.  It's for a video called Gangnam Style.  All you need to know is that it's mocking the richest neighborhood in Korea and the lifestyle it espouses.  And the dance is hilariously, awesomely terrible :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0