Back from Malaysia!

Each year teachers for the EPIK program (English Program in Korea) are given some paid vacation time. I used some of my days this winter to go on vacation to Malaysia with my good friend Heather. I am still in the process of unpacking and reorganizing myself, but please stay tuned for superb video footage and photographs of my two weeks in Malaysia. In the meantime, check out the seashells I brought back! To Henry, my younger brother, who is my shell-collecting rival: "I found the biggest turkey wing"

this is a test of my new Hero GoPro camera! *love you mom* in the video you get a view of my apartment and school. I am leaving for malaysia tomorrow. 14 days of vacation, and I am excited! More photos and videos to come:) -Dave-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIwpcrpEez0&feature=youtu.be

also, I had two of my disposable cameras developed

the photo's come from Gyeongju cultural field trip, Bulguksa Temple, Halloween in Busan, Seoul, and Daegu

Bulgugksa Temple

At the Beach in Gyeongju with Cara, Rebecca, and Maurice

Good luck comes to those who touch the golden pig.

Gwangali Beach on Halloween/Fireworks Festival

in the pouring rain with Cara, Rebecca, & Scott

Making prayer kites outside the burial tombs

of the Chosun Dynasty kings

The Ghost and the Darkness

Steven, Gareth, Jessica, Vy, and Jermaud after having scrapped the kites

because of lack of wind

a fantastic performance of Korean traditional music using

Gayageum, Hyang Piri, Danso, Haegeum, and Buk

Eli is stoked about something, but I cannot recall what it is.

My friend Yongsung and his girlfriend helping me navigate Seoul

Stephanie and Cara

Sarah and Jamie preparing to get groovy at Global Gathering

99 bottles of beer on the wall

Colin pounding the potato

Yong and his girlfriend (forgot her name)

The devil and Cara

Stephanie, myself and Barrington enjoying the courtyard at our lunch spot

during the cultural field trip

The Daegu Dukin Elementary guitar squad

She wouldn't take off her glasses, because she was hungover (still can't remember her name)

My friend Seura took some action shots of me on the pitch

Nicole, Steven, Colin, Rose, Eli. There is too much

going on in this photo

Sydney Street FC (football club)

Barrington and my prayer lanterns. My prayers for the

Tennessee Titans weren't decorated well enough

It's a contact sport

Rebecca and Scott during rainy fireworks in Busan

오늘은 저의 생 일 입니다 (It's my birthday today)

Today is my 24th birthday. In Korea, I'm 25. Newborn babies in Korea are one year old...so they all claim to be one year older than they are. Mostly these are old photo's but I want to catch up on the blog anyhow. The photo above was taken atop Apsan mountain. My coworker, Mr. Um, invited me to join his hiking club for a night hike. We took flashlights and bundled up and hiked for about 3 hours total. Afterwards, we had a spicy soup made with cabbage, seaweed, sprouts, and a curd made from the blood of an ox. It is called 해장국 (heng-jahng-guk). It was surprisingly delicious This is our oxblood soup, some kimchi (spicy cabbage) red beans and rice, anchovies, and some unidentified spicy-tentacle-something. This has the reputation for being a very healthful meal, and it is the Korean hangover remedy.
This was a birthday card I got from one of my students. She's a young girl named Do Gyeong Kim. I will transcribe the note so you don't have to strain your eyes to see it. First, I'd like to pause and say that the people who print this stationery are not very good English speakers. The stationery says "like a rainbow...only you can do make Oh this world seem right." Fantastic Engrish! Ok so Do Gyeong writes, "To David teacher: Hello! I'm Kim Do Gyeong (김도경) Tomorrow is your birthday, right? So I want to say, 'Happy Birthday~' to you. Really really happy birthday~! I'm always thank you for you because, you always teach me and my schoolmates. I have a little present to you. I just want you use nice. And sorry for always I'm late in past morning times. Lastly, Happy Birthday and Happy New Year! Thursday, January fifth 2012" She really melted my heart. The gift ("a little present to you") was a day planner for the year 2012.

These are some of my students from kindergarten, dolled up for paegant day in December. I took videos on my cell phone, but I am still working on getting them to the internet.

I helped out with some snappy costume changes, as well as keeping the kids from slipping into chaos.

They sang, they danced, they performed skits in English. As always, they smiled.

Preparing for samulnori (traditional korean drumming performance). It was quite a racket, but I've never seen so many proud Korean parents.

One of my favorite mischeif-makers giving me impromptu Taekwondo lessons
Here I am :) This is the night view of Daegu from my evening hike with Mr. Um. I am working on getting the photo of the entire club, but that was taken on someone else's camera. I'd like to now give special thanks to my family who has taken the time to send gifts and cards and make me feel really special on my birthday. I love you all. Before signing off, I'll explain the Korean birthday. It's not really a celebration of the person at all. It is a celebration of that person's mom (because she really did the heavy haul). So thanks to my mom, and my loved one's who make me feel special on my birthday. Stay tuned for more from the land of high speed internet and ugly wallpaper!

Happy New Year!

It has been quite some time since my last posting. I apologize to those die-hard blog followers who may be checking the site with frequency. December was very busy and wonderful. Daegu had it's first snowfall. While most of the students are on holiday, my school offers Winter English Camps. I've been going to work as usual, but I am given a wider margin to have fun with the students and serve up English education more flavor and entertainment.
Speaking of flavor, this was lunch on New Years Day. Fish and sprouts. I read on the BBC news health webpage that a diet heavy in vitamins and fish will help to slow the aging process both mentally and physically. As for the aging process, my 24th birthday is this Friday. I will spend the morning teaching English, and then I have plans to have a nice dinner with coworkers and friends. After dinner, maybe hit the bowling alley. More details to come.
A fun place for the ex-patriot crowd to hang out. The cafe/bar is called BuytheBook. It's situated in the Daegu city center, and it's filled with novels and newspapers and magazines from the western world (mostly written in English). They also have a nice selection of board games. Sometimes they have live music or poetry readings. It's a very cool spot to unwind.
This is Korean frozen lake sledding. We took a field trip just outside the city with the students for a day of frozen boogers and cold fingers.
I made a trip to the Daegu art museum with some friends. The exhibits are very...artistic. As for me, I am something of a gourmand (the opposite of gourmet) when it comes to art museums. I walked around and looked at paintings and sculptures and said "hmmm" or "ahh." My favorite part of the trip was the Korean piano/cello duet playing in the museum's main atrium.

So for the christmas holiday, I visited my friend Lucy in Yeongyang. She is on the right in the the photo, next to my other friend Marlene. Lucy has a large apartment, which is more like a cottage all to herself. She has a loft, so we crammed about 16 people into her house for some holiday merriment.
This included Christmas caroling, a secret Santa gift swap, a potluck dinner, and some toasting.
On the afternoon of Christmas eve, we checked out a pingpong gymnasium.
This was our holiday spread. While my original plan was to bake lasagna, nobody really has ovens in Korea. Also finding Ricotta (or ANY good cheese for that matter) is difficult. I made the steamed carrots and the mashed potatoes.
Secret santa swap in front of the tiny tree. My friends Simone (purple) Dirk (Santa hat) Barrington (white hoodie) and Sarah (grey hoodie). Silly as it may seem, I both gave and received a bottle of wine during secret santa.

Merry Christmas!

It was a fantastic December. I want to post the Christmas photo while the date is still the 25th. I will get back to post stories from the past month once I have finished my lesson plans.

A Month of Mustache and Merriment

November has been very exciting! As I've gained a better rapport with my students, I've accepted some additional responsibilities around my school as a mentor and caregiver. This is a photo of my guitar beginners at the "Dream High" talent demonstration for elementary schools. Other schools' acts included traditional Korean drummers, cultural dancing, choral music, and comedic skits. Learning to play guitar while singing in Korean language was a challenge!

November 11th is called "Pepero Day" in Korea. Because the date is 2011, it was an extra special Pepero Day (11/11/11). The "11" is supposed to represent two lovers about to embrace. This unofficial holiday is akin to valentine's day in the U.S. and elsewhere. Everyone buys these candies called Peperos and gives them to their friends and sweethearts. According to rumor, the company that makes these candies started the whole craze to boost their sales. Instead, the resulting consumer trend is to only buy peperos around this time of the year. The company makes about 70% of their annual profit in a three-day period. I received quite a few from my students, and gave a bunch to the members of my badminton club.

This month brought my first serious battle with illness since I have been here in Daegu. The image above is an example of what a round of medication looks like in Korea. Each packet is to be taken with one meal. While I cannot be sure, my guess was influenza. I was running a fever of 102, headaches, nausea, sinus drainage, cough, and congestion. When I visited the doctor, he immediately gave me an injection in my rear end and put me on an interveinous drip (IV) for four hours. While this seems drastic, I can offer this explaination. In Korea, nobody has time to be sick and miss a bunch of work or school. They give you horse's dose of medicine so that you can beat the illness as quickly as possible. After the fact, my coteacher told me that the injection was probably a mixture of immune booster and steroids. All said the illness lasted about one week with the worst 3 days in the middle. Now instead of high fives, my students and I knock elbows to celebrate a job well done :)

Spending a week cooped up in my apartment called for some much needed outdoor fun. The following weekend I visited a theme park in Daegu with my friend Heather. We rode roller coasters and played parlour games for the afternoon. As the sun was setting, we rode the elevator up the 83-story observation tower of Woobang Land. And then...
We JUMPED! It was a very intense rush of adrenaline. Once you're harnessed in and clipped up, the safety attendant leads you to the edge of the platform in the photo. He asks you, "All you leady?" Ready to plummet to your doom? Ready to ride down the elevator in shame? There's no time for clarifying questions. He says, "1, 2, slee!" and then you dive :)

Most of the time when I get together with other English teachers during my free time, it's not as action-packed as the Skyjump from Woobang Tower. My friend Barrington, from Indiana, has gathered fees for entry into a bowling league. Soon enough, I will have a nifty bowling shirt with my name on it.
Thanksgiving was a splendid time! While I DEFINITELY missed the opportunity to gather with my family as well as the sacred American day of football viewing...I got together with some other foreigners. We had a big potluck, and everyone was able to get a good meal. My friend Rawiri (proudly sporting the 'Mo' to raise awareness for prostate cancer) from New Zealand taught me some proper Kiwi toasts, and we burned the midnight oils with belly's full of turkey and foamy apple juice (pictured above) *wink*
Hiking is the national pastime, and it gives me the opportunity to practice putting one foot in front of the other, both literally and figuratively. Walking up mountains on the weekend is a great way to gather your thoughts, practice your understanding of Korean language, escape the noisy city, or muddy your shoes. South Korea is pretty splendid.
To my friends and family who are reading the blog: I love you very much! Please send me emails with ideas for your Christmas gifts. But remember what Korean Santa says. "You must be the good behave if you want I bring you the playthings."