Bit of music and a bit of info.

Hello special people, how I do miss you all.


The energy problem (in case mom hasn't been keeping you up to speed) has not vanished, but the doctors say I'm perfectly healthy. The fatigue in itself I could probably handle, but this dizziness and lightheadedness is tough to accept, if I'm so "totally healthy." So for now, we're ignoring it, and hoping it goes away.


Can't complain too much about things here, our second vacation is coming up (t-18 days) and we're heading to an island of the eastern coast of korea for 5 days. Exploring a volcanic crater, lots of swimming, and a few drinks are in order. With any small amount of luck Tylor will be there with us. Our bosses plan was to get him here before the 15th, but he's giving us no details about his manoeuvres, so we have no update on whether or not that is still happening. He doesn't technically need to be here until the end of September, (IE his first classes are slated for October 1st) but the boss really wants him here to be able to get some training from the teacher he's replacing. Originally he asked if me if Tylor wanted to be here earlier, around the 7th, but I barely see him making it for the 15th as it is. We'll see.


I've set up a super professional recording studio in my room, (pictured below) and this past week recorded a few songs. Hopefully, in time, I will learn how to a) properly sing into a mic; and, b) better use recording equipment, so that I actually can record things that sound decent, but for now I give you a few links to what I hope will eventually become the 'before' music. It's super simple, basically just sit down plug in my guitar and play to record, so I'll be probably posting a lot of stuff with my posts. Don't feel obligated to listen.

Super. Professional.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9590851


http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9571788


http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9570776


http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9570775


Just click the link and then click on 'play hi-fi' to listen. Once again they aren't great recordings, simply a hint of what I've been up to lately. You're my best friend and not your savior are covers. The other two are my own.


Other than that, not too much going on. September and February are the two months we get our scheduled completely rearranged, so the next few days are a bit hectic, figuring out who our new kids are / what their levels are / what books to use / which ones are assholes makes for a busy time of year.


But for tonight, I'm sitting here with a glass of wine, watching some mythbusters, and then going to bed. A lovely evening, this.


Oh, I watched a movie recently that I recommend no one watches if they want to keep on eating meat with pure conscience and a calm stomache. It's called earthlings, you can (if you dare) watch it from here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6361872964130308142# , and it contains in it by a large margin the most disturbing images I've ever seen about the meat industry feeding y'all. Cheers.


And with that bit of discontent content, I'm off.


Later Skaters.

August is the time for leaving.

Hello internet, how have you been?

Not too much to talk about today, but I will give a small update about the small goingsons around here.

Me and Cynthia

August seems to be the time for contracts to finish, as we said our goodbye's to our coworker and dear friend Cynthia (from California) a week and a half ago, and a new teacher, Rhonda (from Minnesota) is here now. She seems like a good gal, and I'm sure we'll hit it off. It's kind of rough that she started in the middle of intensive, but once it's over she'll feel a lot freer from school. 

Speaking of intensive, we have two more days. Monday and Tuesday our children still come in the morning, but wednesday its all over. It's going to be a good week this week, because by the time wednesday rolls by the bulk of my week will be over. Also, kids are all taking placement tests last week and this coming week, and starting in september we get totally different schedules with all different kids. Since I've been around for a while, I've already taught 90% of the kids, but the change of pace is really nice. 

I wish I could put up some more recent pictures but it's been a long time since I've taken that camera out. When I get my new classes I might bribe them to let me take class photos. ;D

Orla holding up some poo personified

Other than Cynthia, last night we went out in the city to say goodbye to our friend Orla, who taught at our school last year, and came back to a different school this year. She will be missed, and she's really sad about leaving, but it's hard to feel bad for her as she's going to study in Amsterdam for a year.  She's going to have a blast, and I wish I could figure out a way to visit her. 

Speaking of visiting Europe, me and Brendan were talking tentatively about taking a month sometime and doing Europe proper... Italy to France to Germany..etc etc etc, you can get month-long passes for the trains, and it would be a great (if a bit expensive) experience. Though I'm not sure when we would do it, as I definitely need some time home after this contract. I miss trees. 

It was getting irritating not being able to be gotten hold of (great sentence English teacher) so I bought a new phone yesterday. So.. if anyone would like it, and wants to see if it is possible to reach me, (and cares to brave international calling rates, I will write down here what I think is the proper thing to dial to get to me: 011-82-10-2698-2632. My actual phone number (ie the one people use to call me here) is 010-2698-2632, but I'm told you drop the first 0 when calling internationally. Anyway, might be fun if y'all get bored. 

We got paid friday and I went on a small shopping spree. Including the phone I got some really nice (and a touch expensive) headphones for my ipod, and a small stereo for the apartment. Me and Heather split up a while back, and a couple weeks ago I moved back in with Brendan and korean Jeff. It's a lot better a situation for everyone, I think, but the boys apartment is a lot less....well kept... than the girls. Today I'm going out and buying a slew of products and useful items for this house, and then I'm going to keep the rest of my money safely hidden (from me).

And that's it, I'm going to give me ma a call now as it seems about several years since I've talked to her, hopefully shes home. 

Bye for now, 

j

Let me preface this post with two warnings. One, it is a big ole block of text, and I apologize for its length. The second is that it I may seem a bit down, in general tone, and I apologize for that as well. I'm doing well, I'm not depressed, just tired, and I'm hoping to end that soon. 


Allo folks. Sorry about the no posting lately. It is a result of the following two specific occurences in my life:
         (1) My general level of health as of late (or lack thereof), which I'll get into in a bit; and
         (2) The summer intensive period, which I will get into right now.


Intensive


Twice a year, once for the full month of January and once starting in late July and going to mid-august, we have 'intensive' periods at school. In Korea, kids get winter vacation in January, and they get summer vacation for about a month as well. Since there is insane pressure here on Korean parents to have their kids studying and working to death throughout the entirety of their childhoods, the parents can pay some cash and sign kids up to go to our school (or others) in the mornings. So, while they do have public school off, they still have to come to their English private school, and probably all kinds of other schools as well.


What this means for me. 


My regular schedule is basically teaching from 3pm-8pm every day. In 5 hours I'll teach anywhere from 4-7 classes of 40 or 50 minutes each. This doesn't seem like a lot, but is a full enough day. The kids have a lot of unused energy, and teaching is pretty exhausting. If I teach energetically, all the way through, by the end of the day I go home and could pass out. It often feels like a 12 hour day rather than a 5, if I've put myself into it. Not that I don't enjoy it, mind you. The kids are a blast, and energize as well as wear out. It's more a mental power-sync than a physical one - at the end of the day, thinking is just no longer a priority.  During intensive, however, we also teach 4 40 minute classes from 9:30-12:25. So today I got up at 8:30, went to class from 9:30-12:30, came home until 2:30, and back to ECC for classes from 3-8. This schedule, every day for a month, is entirely exhausting, and certainly not fun in any way. Winter is worse because it's freezing when you wake up, but 40 degree weather certainly doesn't make Jason any better at teaching. Ah well, two more weeks and it's over, and I can't wait.


Side Note - When I say that the kids are worked to death I don't think I'm exaggerating all that much. A good proportion of my kids wake up at 6am, go to public school from 8-2, ECC from 3-5, Science academy from 5-8, Chinese academy from 8-10, get home at 11 and study and do homework for one hour and then go to bed. Any number of those academies could be switched out for - music lessons, taikwondo, math classes, etc. But the schedule is all to often the same. Me and Brendan were out drinking one Saturday night and went to buy some things at the convenience store across from our school, when we saw 3 of our kids, middle school kids, coming out of ECC. It was 1:30 AM.


It is, I think, a terrible system. Kids are stretched too far to gain any real amount of knowledge, while at the same time they're being robbed of the lot of their childhood. They learn little to nothing in the time I get with them, shuffling from one class to another,  like sleep-deprived zombies. Kids need excitement, independence, fun, freedom and a host of experiences good and bad to properly grow, and it is easy to see the results in the amount of socially underdeveloped adults that we work with. The majority of the female Korean teachers at work keep their heads down and don't talk to anyone, and there isn't a girl in the office who likes any of the male korean teachers (4 of them) who, I will admit, are all too often strange to an insane degree.


The lifestyle of the kids here would be tantamount to child abuse back home, but hey.. I'm culturally biased. Sorry about the rant, it's just kind of annoying that it seems so obviously idiotic, yet is so ubiquitous here. What I really wonder is what's going through the parents' heads. I find it so hard to believe a rational adult could think by cramming a kid's hours full of class after class that they will just absorb all information put in front of them. Most of my kids don't even do my homework because it's  not as important as their other homework (e.g. they won't get in as much trouble with me as they might with a korean math teacher, which is absolutely true) and they've no time to do it.


But, as a conscientious observer, all I can do is try to teach my kids to the best of my ability each day. I can feel when I'm doing it, and I know that when I do bust my arse I'm able to get through to kids pretty well. If I try hard I'm not a half-bad teacher. Many times better than a year and a half ago, let's say. Usually I feel like most days I'm putting out this 110% attitude and providing the kind of learning environment I want to be. That is, historically, unless I'm hungover or sick. Lately though, with so many classes, and my general energy levels, it is a rare occurrence. This is something I'm hoping will change very soon, which is a great segue to my next topic. Health.


Health


  For a little over a month I've been having a lot of energy related problems. I went to the doctor two weeks ago with a note that in korean something to the tune of 'no energy, dizziness/lightheadedness/can't sleep. The note also explained that I had a vegan diet (and what that meant) and I was worried that I might be deficient in something. He concluded without any tests that it was the lack of sleep that was my problem, and gave me some sleeping pills. He also told me to eat a lot of protein, which I feel I'm definitely eating enough of, and sent me on my way.


The pills were for seven days. I took one the first night after seeing him, right as I was going to sleep as he suggested, couldn't sleep for hours, and woke up worse than ever with a huge headache. I didn't keep taking them. I genuinely feel my slight bout of insomnia is a symptom rather than a cause, and don't think the pills will help me. I don't like taking pills in any case, and they make it harder for me to relax and sleep.


Not satisfied, I went to a bigger hospital with the same note, this time with another one saying I wanted blood work done to see if I was deficient in something. The doctor concluded that lack of sleep was my problem, and after I told him the pills didn't work he prescribed me different sleeping pills he assured me would. I didn't fill the prescription, but I did get blood taken so now I'm just waiting on the bloodwork to get back. I'm to go back to the hospital next wednesday to find out.


I'm really hoping they do find something, because at this point I'm just going through the motions of my daily life. I don't prepare for classes, I do the bare minimum of teaching and give the kids a puzzle or free time for the rest of my minutes. I've no interest in doing anything after work, I've not even the energy to read a book, and I usually just watch bad TV and go to bed.
I've never been a great sleeper, and it usually takes me a while, but lately It might take 3 hours and I regularly wake up exhausted. (This may be a fault of the heat, as it is often 27 and up in my room at night)
The dizziness isn't getting any worse, I feel, but it is pretty severe. If I tilt my head back for about 10 seconds, the world starts spinning. Getting up or laying down always takes me 5 seconds or so to reorient from the headrush, and if i'm sleeping on one side and roll over to the other too quickly, it is the same.


Let's hope this is just a small slump, and get past it asap, yea?

Enough of this depressing stuff. Zoey. Your package arrived two days ago. Thank you so much. The hat is brilliant, and as I haven't been talking to mom as much as I'd like to lately, she didn't ruin the surprise at all. Super happy about it. I confess I've already eaten the bars. They were delicious. Thanks again. You're a pro. And now a gift for you, though not quite so tangible, are some pictures of my kids I took today. With these I am out. I will update y'all next week. I've no plans for the weekend but a lot of nothing, for which I can't wait. Later players. 

Cambodia

        Phew. Really sorry about the lateness, but it has been a tired couple of days over here. Heather, Elisse, and I left for Cambodia on the 27th, and got back late on Sunday the 1st. We just got home to go to bed, and since we're in the middle of summer intensive, (I'll explain summer intensive a bit later for those who don't know what I'm talking about) basically all I've been doing is working and sleeping. When we combined all our pictures of the trip together we had about 850, and it was hell narrowing all of them down to what to add here. In the end I decided to put only a few pictures up here, and give y'all a link to a facebook album with more of them. I'm going to do a day by day here, to keep things organized better. 

The first day we got there around midnight, just in time to be picked up by a tuk-tuk (think a motorcycle towing a cart with the three of us in it) which is the main source of public transportation there. He held up a sign for us at the airport and took us to our hostel (room pictured above.) You can find tuk-tuks anywhere on the street, and barter them down to $2-3 dollars for a ride. They'll take you anywhere, stay and wait there for hours, and then drive you back for that price.


Speaking of prices, everything was insanely cheap there. Good meals for $4, most beer was $0.60. Because Americans used Cambodia to station troops as close to Viet Nam as possible during the war, the US dollar is still really prevalent there, and everything was listed in USD. I brought $300 with me, and lived like a king while I was there. The whole country, from what we saw of it, seemed like a giant resort. The fresh coconut was delicious.

On day two we went to Ankgor Wat for sunrise, at 6:30 AM (Had to wake up at 4:30 to get there in time) Then we went back to the hostel and slept, and then got up and went to Ankgor Wat again, which may actually turn out to be the coolest place I'll ever be in my life. We shall see, but it was nothing short of amazing. I'm not going to put any pictures up here, because there is a ridiculous amount of them in the facebook album, (and way too many pictures of the sunrise) and it'll be much better to see it all at once.

One of the things I really wanted to do that we couldn't is to ride an elephant, but theres some pictures of the wildlife, as well as pictures of our hostel just above here. The third day we went to the 'floating village,' an entire town of people living in floating houses on a river and a giant lake. When we got out onto the lake you couldn't see the other side. It was amazing how much it looked like the ocean...except dirt brown. We all used the bathroom at someone's house while we were there, which was a square room with a curtain as a door and two floorboards to stand on (and a hole to the water.) The same water that they get their drinking water from (they boil it) swim in, and fish from.  

The three of us were on a boat big enough for 15, and halfway through the ride they let me; and then Elisse take the wheel. Pretty exciting.

We went to the 'Killing Fields' which I won't get too much into, lets just say there was genocide in the 70's, and millions (accent on the s) of native cambodians were killed by an army called the Khmer.


The night life was great, and pretty much all contained in one street, called bar street. We didn't do as much clubbing as we could've (should've?) but we were out most nights having some cheap tropical drinks.


It occurs to me there just too much that happened for this to be any kind of effective forum to talk about it, and I'm going to stop now and let you guys take a gander at the pictures on facebook, and go to bed. I'll be chatting to you on the phone at some point, and that will be a much better venue to discuss the trip.
Though we did feed crocodiles. (When I asked for crocodile food I really wasn't thinking about what that meant. A little gross. I survived. Click here for 122 pictures of the trip. I'm really sorry I don't have the energy to write more, but if you have any questions, we'll be talking. It was lovely. I miss you all. Goodbye.

P.S. Tylor is coming early-mid September. That's not enough time for him to work out going to Viet Nam, so I'm cancelling that plane ticket and me and him and my friend Brendan will (probably) go to one of the tropical islands on the southern coast of Korea, a much cheaper journey. I'll post again this weekend to discuss my daily life a bit more, still too tired.