Rule #1 - No Dying

So, blog... it's been a while since I rapped at ya.
Life here has been a bit overwhelming at times.
Our office situation is tense, but that's all I'll say about it.
Weekends have consisted of drinking and dancing to get my mind off of it, for the most part.

Last weekend was pretty kick ass, though- went to Yongsan to assist with some headphone shopping (it was fun although we didn't find any headphones), played my second game of Settlers here (I'm 2-0 so far), and did some pretty good work on a new (legitimately) electro/fidget-house track. So I've been pretty productive, and it's a good thing.

My students are warming up to me. This week, the students have exams at public school. It's exhausting. They spent all last week at my school preparing for them, so I didn't have classes. Since the students are busy with their exams, the majority of them aren't coming to my school. This makes for smaller (and more manageable) classes of exhausted students. This sounds worse than it is- I've been able to get them to participate despite their situation, and I've even had a few students do special assignments and tell me that they came to my school even though they didn't have to because they want to study English. This brings a smile to my face.

I finally got my student survey scores from Summer semester, and they were terrible... so I'm trying to adapt my strategy to the students a bit more, to do things they'll enjoy.. to do things that will make them dread coming to my school less. I remember what it was like to be in middle school, and I can only imagine how much I would've hated going to a private school afterward.

Seriously, Korean students might be the hardest working students on Earth. This weekend is Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving.. so I've asked students what they're doing for Chuseok. The majority have replied "Private school. Study. Go home. Sleep." It's kind of soul-crushing, honestly, that my students are being put through the wringer like that... it's a bloody holiday! Come on! Granted, Thanksgiving in 2006 and 2007 wasn't exactly a cakewalk for me... but these kids are 14 and 15. My situation was far more grave than they should have to deal with, and it was far different. I say give them their holiday... poor kids.

All in all, though, the students seem to be enjoying my classes a lot more. I blame Joel; he's taught me a few things about keeping students in line without making them hate me, and keeping students interested in the lesson.

Outside of school, I'm meeting quite a few new people and things are going pretty well. School takes up a lot of time, though, so 'outside of school' doesn't happen so much. I have tomorrow off for Chuseok, though, so that's a good thing.

Cashed in my coins today- had a staggering 44,000 Won in coins. They build up fast, especially when you don't use them intelligently. It's hard to use coins intelligently here because I'm still so used to American coins... furthermore, I'm used to using my debit card for everything back home. It doesn't really happen that much here. A lot of places don't accept cards and, if they do, it almost seems crass to use your card for a small purchase. I don't know why, it just does. If I'm going grocery shopping or something, sure, I'll bust my card out... but otherwise, no. I have to spend at least 20,000 Won to be okay with using my card and, honestly, that doesn't happen much.

I've been dreaming of buying an Akai APC40 (http://www.ableton.com/touch) when I get back home.

Oh! Also! There's a good chance that I'll be playing at Itaewon's Hae Bang Chon festival on Halloween. It's an all-day kind of thing that spans over a number of bar venues, which should be a lot of fun. I'm way excited. It reminds me, though, that I should put together a demo for a few of the clubs I've been to like Club FF (Hongdae) and Club Volume (Incheon)... I want to play more, damn it!

It's 2:00p- this means I should probably shower and get ready to go.

I promise, guys, that I'll keep you more updated in the future. You deserve better.

-Thom