Typhoon Kompasu (that's "Compass" in Japanese for the mentally impaired) slammed into Seoul in the early morning hours today. I am sure that if you read any Korean blogs you have seen other people writing about it, and if not, well, then you won't be bored by my take on it. I knew the typhoon was coming in the back of my mind, but I don't pay too much attention to the weather, so I didn't do anything in preparation.

That turned out to be a big mistake, because at around 4:30am things started to get noisy and wild. I tried to ignore it, but the wind was so strong that it was blowing in the windows and knocking things off the shelves in my apartment. I still tried to ignore it, under the assumption that anything that could be knocked off the shelf already was, and there was no reason to get up and do anything about it. This lasted until about 5:00am when I heard stuff banging around out on my terrace.

At that point I figured that I had to do something, because I didn't want my outside plants to die and I certainly didn't want my grill to fly away. So, without getting dressed I went out there to pull what I could inside. Little did I know, at the same time my neighbor was also doing the same thing. So I rolled out there in nothing but my underwear and right into my next door neighbor's line of sight. If you don't live in Korea, you might not think this is such a big deal, but even being shirtless as a man is considered unacceptable, and here this lady saw me in all my glory.

I assumed that since she already saw me there was no reason to go back inside and put clothes on, so I started moving my stuff in. First I grabbed the grill and tossed it inside and then went to grab the plants. Every single one of the plants was knocked over, but fortunately none of their pots were broken. I managed to bring them inside and then decided to check the windows to see how much rain was coming in.

Well, in the living room, the television was soaked and the entire kitchen was covered in water, but except for that it wasn't too bad. I still closed all the windows before returning to bed and trying to get back to sleep. Unfortunately, sleep wasn't going to happen, because so many things were banging around the neighborhood. In particular, there was one rhythmic banging sound about every fifteen seconds that made it completely impossible to relax. It wasn't often enough to tune out, and it wasn't irregular enough to rest in between. Just about every fifteen to thirty seconds there would be a huge BANG! I couldn't figure out what it was, but it kept me from resting at all.

Finally, after an hour or so of just lying in bed listening to wild windy noises, it was time to go to work. When I stepped out my front gate, I saw what was causing the largest part of the racket. The building across the alley from my house has a metal garage door. The wind was so strong that it somehow managed to pull the door right off of its tracks. Once the door was freely flying, the wind then proceeded to torque it so that it could be regularly banged against the garage wall. Outside it was deafeningly loud, and I can't believe that the people living in the building were such slobs that they just let it go without trying to fix it.

After checking out the garage scene, I walked up to the subway to find out that Line 2 was out of commission on the above ground parts (aka where I live), so I would have to take a bus. Due to this there were sixty million people waiting at the nearest bus stop so I decided to walk a few blocks and take the direct bus to my school.

Walking to that bus stop, I passed in front of the Nonghyeop Hanaromart and saw that half a dozen trees (recently planted) were completely upended, root balls and all and dumped into the street. When I caught the bus, I noticed scenes like this left and right. Unfortunately this made the traffic horrendous, so my bright idea to take the bus directly to school didn't work out. I had to bail out after a few stops and catch the subway (it goes underground two stops from me) the rest of the way.

When I finally arrived at school, I was hot, sweaty, and unable to turn on the air conditioning because the building's power was out! To make matters worse, my lessons are based almost entirely around presentations I make using the computer and a projector. Without my technology, I was in deep trouble. Well, it turned out to be not so bad because I could improvise around it, and the students didn't pay attention to me at all anyway.

Finally, it turned out that the cafeteria couldn't cook lunch without any electricity, so the students were released at 12:10pm to fend for themselves at home. Unfortunately for me, it was decided that all teachers had to stay until 4:00pm, which makes me hungry and slightly annoyed. That was tempered a bit by the fact that a coworker gave me two Krispy Kremes, though. It will be tempered even more when the Chinese food I ordered finally shows up. Unfortunately it seems a lot of people ordered out today, and they said it would be nearly an hour before they could deliver. ARGHHHHH!

I finally got a new work computer. When I first started working at this school, they rolled out an OLD laptop for me to use. At the time I wasn't that worried about it because it was better than the nonexistant work computer I had at my previous job.

Over time, however, the thing became very annoying. It took at least fifteen minutes to start up, couldn't multi-task, and would randomly just freeze up for ten minutes at a time. It also was like having a personal space heater on my desk, it was hot! So after working here for about a year I decided that I needed a new computer for both my productivity and my sanity. I let the tech guy know that the computer I was using belonged in a museum and that I needed something else.

He told me, more or less, to go pound sand. Apparently there is a rule that you can not get a new (or newer) computer until you have worked at the school for two years. Since I had only been here a year, no dice. This didn't make me happy, but I figured that I couldn't do anything about it, so I let the matter drop. Then about six months later, there was a mail sent out to all teachers asking if anyone needed to upgrade computers. Apparently they were doing some computer buying and needed to gauge demand.

Naturally, I sent a message back saying that I was interested in a new computer. I got the same response that I hadn't been at the school for two years yet, so couldn't get one. Again I let the matter drop. Then a couple months after that a message went out that the school had just purchased ten new laptop computers and anyone who wanted to switch to a laptop was more than welcome to. This time I had wizened up a bit and decided to try a new tack. Instead of going in and saying that I wanted a new laptop computer, I sent a message to the tech guy asking him to give me one of the used computers that another teacher had traded in. I really thought this would work, but again he told me to pound sand.

Finally, resigned to my fate, I gave up. I thought that I would never get a new computer, and I would just be stuck using the terrible piece of trash I had from the beginning. I was really irritated, but thought that I had no recourse. There were times where I became so frustrated that I wanted to just toss the piece of trash out the window, but I always managed to keep my cool.

Then, suddenly, the tech guy came to my desk and told me to backup any personal files I had left on the computer. I was shocked, I asked what he meant by it. He told me that he had marked my two year job anniversary on his calendar because I was such a pain in the ass, and it was finally time to get a new computer. I looked at my own calendar and saw that it was August 25th, exactly two years to the day from when I started my job, which qualified me for a new computer.

So here I am now, typing away like I don't have a care in the world. This new laptop is a glorious machine and I couldn't be happier. Thanks, tech guy, even though I made you mad!

Yesterday my cousin Tim, his wife Candice, and I went to see a movie. It was pouring down rain all weekend, and when I say pouring down rain, I mean POURING with a capital everything. For an example of how much it rained, take a look at what the Dorimcheon park looked like yesterday evening. I went for a walk there about six hours after it stopped raining, and the stream was so high that the walking path on the side was covered in about six inches of water.



What's terrible is that wasn't even the worst part of it. There were weeds stuck on the tops of the guardrails, which lead me to believe that the water was at least waist high earlier in the day. I can't even imagine that kind of flooding! I sure hope that no one was down there at that time, because that water must have been moving fast.

But that isn't too important. The important thing is that Tim and Candice and I saw a movie together. We were trying to see Expendables, but apparently that isn't too popular in Korea, so barely had any show times. Since I wanted to go in the afternoon in order to take it easy on Sunday evening, we couldn't make it happen.

The only other English movies available were Predators, which they had seen, and Piranha 3D. Since we had no other choice, Piranha 3D it was. And what a magnificent movie this was to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Sure, the gore was overwhelming, sure the nudity was way beyond the realms of good taste. But that was really what made the movie so watchable in my eyes. Ostensibly it was billed as a horror movie, but I honestly don't think that I stopped laughing for the entire 90 minutes.

I can't remember the last time I had so much fun watching a movie. Yes, there were terrible gross out moments, yes, the plot was horrendous and made no sense. Yes, I loved every minute of it. Piranha 3D isn't the type of movie that you would go to and expect to think. You roll in there, turn your brain off, and have a very enjoyable hour and a half. I couldn't recommend this movie more highly.

Of course we went and saw it in 'Real 3D', which is somehow different than 'Digital 3D', but I don't know how or why. Still, this is one of the phew movies that I think really are made better by 3D. So, if you go, and I am urging you to, watch it with the glasses, you won't be disappointed.

As you may or may not be aware, my cousin Tim and his wife Candace decided to move to Korea. They got the same job as me through the Seoul education office and finished their week of torture/training yesterday. After being introduced to their coworkers and shown their apartment, they had time to meet up with me and have a good old fashioned hoe down.

Since they had only eaten cafeteria food up to that point, I decided to take them out to a solid Korean meatfest and drinking party, because nothing says 'I love you' better than eating grilled pork and drinking soju. Their apartment is actually a dorm on the education office training ground, which is conveniently located next to my place of employment. It is also close to Sadang station, so that is where we decided to meet up.

I used to go to that area often, but I moved out of the area a couple years ago and stopped going so often. I do, however, know of a wonderful black pig restaurant that I frequent with my coworkers. We went there and got a bunch of black pig with a side of squid on the grill. Naturally we also ordered soju and beers and then drank them. The food at the restaurant was excellent as usual, and the soju went down like beer and the beer went down like water. The water went...well you get the point.

After eating, we decided to make a pit stop at my long time favorite odeng bar. I don't think the place has an actual name, but it is a hot spot. There are only about ten seats in the whole place, clustered around the odeng bar itself, so we were fortunate enough to be able to get a seat. Since I am a (former) regular there, we got a hearty welcome from the owners, and then settled down to drink some cold Japanese sake with odeng.

As probably mentioned before, odeng is some kind of fish something or other. I call it fish spam, but that might not be exactly right. It is one of my most favoritest things in the entire world, whatever it might actually be, so even though my stomach hurt, I still ate a lot of it. Along with the odeng, we drank three cups of cold sake each, which put my head abuzz. No big deal for me, being that I don't have anything to do today.

For them, however, perhaps it was bad of me to get them drunk before their first day of work. Whoops! Anyway, it is nice that I have some family in Korea now, and it is also nice that I have these virgin minds to despoil. They don't know anything about Korea, so everything I tell them they will take as gospel. I can't wait to start spreading terrible lies and hurtful propaganda!

Two of my coworkers didn't come back to work from the summer vacation. One of my coteachers was forced into retirement and the guy I share an office with went to the hospital. Let's start with the retiring guy, since it is slightly more positive.

The coteacher who retired would continuously ask me to proofread work that he had translated. At first I was doing it out of the kindness of my heart and boredom (mostly boredom), but then he gave me 100,000w, and that motivated me some more. Since he was retiring, I was holding on to the hope that he woudl lay more money on me due to the fact that I did a bunch of proofreading work for him.

Fortunately for me, it all panned out and he dropped another 100,000w my way. That was a nice touch. Aside from a bit of coteaching and some proofreading for him, we weren't very close, so I can't say that I am all broken up about his leaving. What does excite me is that we are having a going away party for him at a restaurant called Juk-Ka-Ni (죽카니). They serve king crab there, and the menu looks outrageously expensive. Since I will be eating on the company dime, you could say that his retirement brought me quite a windfall.

On the sad side, my officemate came down with pleurisy and ended up taking a two month sabbatical. Apparently even that wasn't enough for him, because he got checked into the hospital last Thursday. Because of him being in the hospital, a group of teachers decided to go pay him a visit. As much as I despise hospitals, I wanted to go along and see what was happening. Besides, the guy sat next to me for the past six months or so, it would have been rude of me not to show up.

So yesterday after work, eight of us loaded up into a teacher's minivan and drove over to the Gangnam Severance Hospital to pay him a visit. The first thing I noticed while driving there was that these people really live a different lifestyle than I do. My neighborhood is filled with prostitutes, low rent bars, trash and run down buildings. Dogok is filled with stores selling luxury goods, the streets are clean and wide, and it is a totally different world. I had always known what it was like over there, but for some reason it really hit me this time.

Once we got to the hospital, everyone put in 20,000w and we stuffed the cash in an envelope to give him. Personally I think this is very strange. If I was in the hospital and coworkers came in with a bag of money, I would feel slightly insulted. Sure, I would take it, because I like money, but I would feel a bit strange about it. However, that is just Korean style, so I chipped in my share and went along with it. When we went to his room, I felt pretty bad. He was sharing a room with maybe six or eight people, and it looked really uncomfortable. He had a tube coming out of his chest that was apparently for draining liquid from his lungs and it was filled with some weird kind of gunk. He was also breathing through a respirator.

However, the moment we came into the room, he jumped out of bed and took off the respirator. Of course he immediately started coughing and hacking, but I had never seen a bigger smile on the man's face. He was beaming ear to ear, and I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't have to work for two months, or because he was happy to see us. Whichever the case, he was very happy, and that is the important thing.

The important thing for me, however, is slightly different. I'm talking about cash. The retiring coworker gave me 100,000w for previously done proofreading work, and also is having a big going away party at an outrageously expensive king crab restaurant, so I made out like a bandit from him. The sick coworker cost me 20,000w, which is weird, but not too bad. All in all, I am up 80,000w and a forthcoming king crab feast out of the deal, so I can say that losing coworkers can be a pleasant and profitable experience.

Here is a photo album of pictures of my house. They are the exact same photos that were on Facebook, so if you have seen them you can ignore this. For those of you (Vic) who don't use Facebook, here are the pictures of my new house.

I am involved in the interview process when my school hires a new English teacher. One of my coworkers is retiring in a couple of weeks, and another had to take a 2 month sabbatical because he got pleurisy (I guess it is a type of pneumonia). Because of this, my school is looking for two short term temps. The one temp would stay here for two months to replace the sick guy, and the other temp would stay about six months to finish out the school year for the guy who is retiring.

Since I was on vacation I wasn't involved in trimming down the selection. However, today a final interview was held with the last two candidates. They were both already hired, but the school wanted me to help decide which person fit into which job. So I went down to the interview room to see what was going on.

In the final interview it was me, two coworkers and the two vice principals. The interviews were pretty standard, they wanted me to ask some English questions and give each prospective teacher a score between zero and ten. One of the interviewees came in and really was prepared and professional about the whole interview, so I ended up giving her a nine out of ten (I won't get into my scoring criteria as it is completely unimportant in terms of the story). The other lady came in, however, and was a nervous wreck. She couldn't understand the questions, was stuttering and scared. It wasn't good. Her English ability seemed like it was decent, but I couldn't tell for certain because she was interviewing very poorly. Because of that, I gave her a three.

After the two interviews were done, everyone handed in their score papers and it was time to tally up the scores. My paper ended up on the bottom of the pile, so I watched as the scores were added up. The first paper showed scores of nine and eight. The second eight and nine. I guess the lady who I thought was a bumbling incompetent did better in the Korean portion of the interview, but either way after the four preceding papers, it was deadlocked at thirty four points a piece.

This is where the trouble started for me. I didn't realize that everyone would be scoring on a curve. No one told me that I should give a nine to the best one and an eight to the worst one, so I really buried her. When my paper came up, the paper reader said the first score was a nine, which got tallied. When she scanned down to the second score and saw it was a three she looked up at me and asked me what I was doing by giving her a score like that.

Naturally I started laughing uncontrollably, which is something that can easily happen to me in an uncomfortable situation. At this point the vice principals and my two coworkers are looking at me like there is something completely wrong with me and I can't stop laughing. Finally I manage to get my laughter under control, and I try to explain that I didn't understand the voting process. Of course by that time it is too late, and I think they just discounted my vote and argued it over themselves. I came out of it looking like a moron, and now I probably won't be asked to help interview candidates any more. Oh, what trouble!

Seriously, though, if you want to just have a one point scoring system, why not just have a vote? We could put a thumbs up or thumbs down on the paper or something. How am I supposed to know the intricacies of the interview scoring system if no one tells me? I mean seriously!

I took my dad to the airport this morning and he flew out around noon today. He was here for nearly three weeks, and we had a great time together. I will get into our vacation in a later post, but I did want to let my two readers know that I am back in business. I have a bunch of pictures and tons of stuff to blog about, and now that my dad left I have time to sit in front of the computer and organize my thoughts.

As I said, the trip was great, we had a great time, there were really no problems, and actually I am pretty sad that he is gone. I am also sad that I have to report back to work in two days, but that is a problem to deal with when it comes up. For now, I have about two hundred emails to read (ok, they are all webcomics I have emailed to me), a ton of pictures to go through, a house to clean and a lot of relaxing to do. My dad and I were pretty much nonstop doing things from the moment he landed, so I am looking forward to sitting around and being a couch potato for the next two days.

But I did want to get something on the blog because it has been a long time, and I didn't want to lose the single reader that I have (I know I said two earlier, but I figure that I lost one of you after the second paragraph). I did promise pictures of my house weeks ago, and I did take a lot of pictures of the place, but I haven't had a chance to go through and resize/crop/whatever them. I'll take care of it tonight or tomorrow, and hopefully have some pictures on here and Facebook by the end of business tomorrow. Until then, however, have a sneak peak at my lovely front gate. You can't even imagine the pleasures that await beyond, it is a veritable garden of eden in there.

I'll be back soon, I promise. My dad came to visit Korea and we are just hanging out so I have had no time to update. Here is a picture to keep you going, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't been updating recently. However, I do have a good excuse for it. I am moving out tomorrow and have been getting everything in order. The computer is the last thing to pack up, and it is about to be shut down for the move. Don't worry, though, I have an appointment with my dealer, I mean internet guy, to hook me back up at 5pm tomorrow. Hopefully everything will be running smoothly and I will be able to show you pictures of my new digs around this time tomorrow. Until then, keep fighting the good fight, people.