Monday - 10,000 days old

I've been doing some hiking for exercise recently, and with the recent rain and sunny weather, the mountains are becoming greener every day. I've noticed that lately, I can cover more ground faster, so I'm doing okay. Its a lot cheaper than going to the gym, and I get fresh air, and also a bit of privacy.




The pics were taking with my phone camera.

Then, work. Kids were more restless and feral than usual. It's been a long time since I've had to send kids out of class. The last elementary class, I had to send two kids out, because one kid got hit in the head with a recorder (as in the annoying instrument), because the other kid was teasing him. The kid that was teasing, is often a smart ass and does need a good ass-kicking, but I sent the older kid out first (and yes, he should have known better... lol), and then the younger one, after he stopped crying.

My job isn't teaching. For anyone who has come to Korea, and worked in a 학원 with young Korean children, you would know that. it's more about entertainment, and babysitting, with a flavor of English.

Oh yeah, and the always being referred to in the third person as "the foreigner" still shits me, but it's how it's done here. I was talking to my cousin, who is also a Primary school teacher in Australia, and he was really shocked with all the crap that I have to deal with here. When I first came here, I put a lot of effort into my classes, but I found out very quickly that my time, energy and effort was being wasted. In everyone's eyes, I am just "the foreigner" here.

Korea, in general, has no sense of multiculturalism, tolerance, or even empathy at times. I find a lot of people to be narrow minded, and not really able to think. But, luckily, not everyone is like that. Just enough are like that to give me an anxiety disorder.


Anyway, after work, I went to my favourite restaurant, because the 반찬 (side dishes) they have there are pretty damn good (see above). I got the usual 돌솥비빔밥, and it was good, as usual. It's why I go there. The 반찬, the 돌솥비빔밥 and the 갈비 are the best things there.

I was pretty tired after all that, so I came home, and I was in bed by 10:30, asleep by 11. For the past month or two, I've been remembering a lot of dreams, and in the past two nights, they have had to do with travelling, airports, tickets and other things like that. I'm all ready for my Japan trip (which is in 2 weeks) except for studying Japanese, and packing my stuff - which I will do the night before. I'm just really looking forward to it. I need some time off work, and some time away from Korea, even if it's just a few days. When I was in Australia, the time away from Korea was what I needed to put things into perspective. I'm really looking forward to having some time off from Korea.