iamcooking: The First Soup/Stew
So, I had some chicken that was going to go bad unless I figured out what to do with it. Being the lazy tard I am. I stuck it in the fridge since I had run out of freezer bags and we were on day 3. I had just lost a package of chicken breasts to this same incompetence and I wasn't about to lose a whole sliced up chicken.
STEW
That was my master plan to deal with a bunch of bone-in unskinned chicken. Cooking the chicken this long makes the meat fall off the bone and skin while making use of the bone in the first place. This is the part where I wish I had paid close attention to my mom's soup because that stuff is delicious. Then again, that soup requires me to make dumplings and slice yams (which I can't even get) so I guess it doesn't really matter in the end.
Things I Miss In Korea: Black Women
Imagine this guy with a black jacket and few less teeth and you have my mugger.
I'm walking the street and some old man literally grabbed me and then just smiled and waved. Don't misunderstand, he didn't run up and announce his presence. He did not tap me repeated on the shoulder. He casually walked past me and then yanked my arm as I trailed the group. Did I mention I was with a four-man set?
The Great Divide
This is the least creepy photo I could find without taking one.
I was originally going to post about how I resonate better with my students than I do with my co-teachers but after thinking about it, I know that's not the case. What is true is that I find myself trying to appeal to both groups.
Korea: Serious Business
Koreans show their support for their national football team.
"You are in Korea. You must remember."
That was the threat I got from my third graders last week. How did I go from a peaceful light-hearted lunch conversation to threats on my well-being?
Minor Blog Edit
You may or may not have noticed the small change to the site. I removed the pages part of the site and reorganized my categories. The links up top now display category pages so if you're looking for my posts on Korea just click the link and you can successfully ignore all my tech, gaming, nerd, rants, and boring life posts.
As far as 'Projects' are concerned, it's mainly space for my budding game development information but I don't know what else I might end up working on so I gave it a generic label. 'Korea' is all my adventures abroad, if I manage to visit another country I'll relabel to fit the content. I imagine that's what most of my friends are here to see. Trust that more content is on the way. I still have to do the obligatory apartment post (with video) and I want to do a sort of video tour and photo walk around Yeongcheon. I might do some Daegu content but downtown Daegu is a bit too big for me to run around filming, I might just talk about my favorite spots. If you have any ideas about what you want to learn about Korea I'm game to do a piece on it. Try to ask for something you can't already learn with a Google search (e.g. food, Chuseok, noraebang, etc.)
Lately, I've been sleeping and doing the same stuff I did back home (watch movies, hang out with friends, sleep) so there isn't anything interesting to report as of yet.
Fun Fact: Scott Pilgrim vs the World is an American movie, with a Canadian star, using a English director. The actor playing Knives Chau is not Chinese but Cambodian (and pretty attractive when not styled to be a 17 year old).
The Silencing “Why?”
One day I walk in to class. As usual, the students are doing their rounds of "Hi, teacher!" Instead of my usual superstar correcting English and saying hello he was kinda down. After the lesson I noticed he was gone for half of it (yeah I miss things). Anyway the point is, I went and asked him what was wrong. At first I thought he was saying "What?" indicating he didn't understand what I said. That happens a lot so I repeated it a couple times. Then I realized, I was the one misunderstanding. He was saying, "Why?" I pretty much looked at him with a puzzled face and then shrugged in agreement and went to lunch.
Acquire Currency
Two months in, and I've managed to save the effective amount of nothing.
I am at the unfortunate disadvantage of having school bills to pay back in the States. Even with those financial commitments, one would expect that when you're making over 2 million won you should be able to pocket some of that. Sadly, my consumption has decided against that.
I know what you're thinking, "Noky, you've only been there two months -- you have to naturally get items to settle in." No sir, I did that and then some. I think I just have a natural disposition to burn money. In fact, I know have a problem with sticking to a budget. I hoped for some reason things would be better here.
Anyway, I told you that story to tell you this one:
Yes, I’m in Korea
Yeongcheon Sidewalk and View
Korea is different. That's the great conclusion of my first full week at my post. Since this is the very first post of the saga, let's set some details down.
Location: Yeongcheon City, Gyeongsangbuk Province
Occupation: Public School Teacher
Grade(s): Middle and High School
If there's anything else, I can't think of it. I don't currently have a camera but rest assured -- I am working on that. Without a camera, it makes talking about a lot of things really boring. I can't show you any of the awesome stuff I'm talking about. Thankfully, my good friend Geoff can show you. Thanks to his blog, I found out I live pretty close to him; I was worried I lived quite the distance from everyone. His building looks nicer than mine. Anyway, check out his blog for now and trust that I will actually update mine in the near future.
Geoff's Blog: http://geoffsasianadventure.blogspot.com/
Let Your Seoul R.O.K.
I don't know what to post about. I don't have my camera so while I've seen a lot of different things, it's hard to share them with you without writing some mammoth post. Normally, this is the part where I write a short re-cap of what happened but this is Korea and I'm going to do it right. My friend told me to make a separate section and it sounds like a good idea. When the first post comes out, it'll be on a separate page much like the Project's section that never gets updated.
NOTE: The word play in the title is just to get it out of my system. I wouldn't dare subject you to it on a consistent basis.
Just Another Look Into the Future
So my recruiter is saying my NOA/contract is on the way and I need to prepare my tax papers. I'm not celebrating yet until I have a signed contract to go along with a location and start date. In case, you weren't aware. I applied, got accepted, and had my documents forwarded for final review in the pursuit of a teaching position in EPIK. The general area will be Gyeongsangbuk (Gyeongbuk) which is more or less the middle eastern region of South Korea. It's particularly warm so I'm happy I got my first choice. With any luck I'll be placed near Daegu but not actually in the city. Right now, we're looking at leaving in late July and starting in early August. I don't really have much else to say. If it doesn't go through, expect development to seriously ramp up.
I don't have a lot to expand upon. I got a lot to do and I really don't have the time to do it. I don't expect to be working for much longer, I really need to free up time to get everything taken care of. Maybe next time I post, I'll work up the energy to share my views on a variety of current events.
Until then, lets all wait for E3 and inevitably more information on Final Fantasy XIV.