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December 24th 2010
Published: December 24th 2010
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 Video Playlist:

1: Christmas Concert 67 secs
2: Jason, do you like POOP? 136 secs
"The Same""The Same""The Same"

It's the name of the band, I still don't know why they decided to name themselves this.
December 24, 2010
Hello Everyone,

Yeah I know I’ve completely neglected my blog for the last half of this year. I guess as I’ve settled into my life in Korea for several months things haven’t seemed as exciting or as new that needed to be written about. But with it being the holiday season I feel that it’s the perfect time to give another update. In light of the high tensions between North and South Korea, things are still good here. I am always concerned about what could happen but I so feel a sense of security in knowing that Koreans are some of the most non-violent people on this planet. I know neither one of them want to go to war and in the end it’ll be a loose-loose situation for both sides.

My general non school life in Korea hasn’t changed much since this summer. I did manage to take a trip to China for 8 days in September during the Korean thanksgiving “Chuseok.” It was a lot of fun but I planned too much in too short of time: Shanghai, Xi’an, Beijing, and Shanghai again. It was interesting to see the poverty mixed in with the ever growing wealth. This was especially prevalent in Shanghai and Beijing. Hiking the great wall had to the highlight of the trip, the shear size of it is just mind boggling.
Back in Korea I still hang out with the same small group of friends and I still go to the same Korean class in Seoul on a weekly basis. My understanding of the language is consistently expanding but my speaking ability severely lacks. I feel like my students, I have a general gist of how to say things, but I can’t complete the sentences during the moment. It’s usually at a later time will I figure out what I was trying to say. By this time it’s too late of course.

School has become much more stressful and demanding. Constant changes in scheduling and poor communication, or I should say the lack there of has caused me many difficulties and frustrating moments. In the classroom my relationships with most of my students and many of my teachers has only become stronger. This is especially true with those at my branch school. It’s a school where they don’t follow the traditional East Asia belief that a 100% cognitive based curriculum is the best form of education. Even though the students spend 8 hours a day at school (HS students spend 15 hr/day), much of this time is spent doing skills based activities such as: taekwondo lessons, Han bock (traditional Korean dance), band practice, and dual weekly school wide soccer matches. This allows the kids to be……. well, kids. They are able to be innocent and not be bombarded with a constant stack of responsibilities, unlike their peers at the other schools. Last Friday, I went to their Christmas concert which they had been practicing for months leading up. The kids and the instructor were elated when they saw my presence. They were surprised that I would spend my Friday night to come watch their performance. They did a wonderful job as the concert was excellent. I will hopefully include a video I took after I finish writing this. Yesterday, I received a surprise email from my 3rd grade branch school co-teacher. She sent me a collection of pictures she’s taken throughout the semester of us and the kids. I know the word ‘adorable’ is a rather feminine word and a straight guy like myself shouldn’t use it, but I’m gonna use it anyway. I truly do ‘adore’ these kids. They have the brightest souls and the most innocent personalities. They’ve provided me with so much joy this year, especially when I get stressed out with the less desirable aspects of the job.

I’m about 95%!s(MISSING)ure I’m not going to renew my contract. I hope to teach in Korea again, I just don’t know when, what or where yet.

Christmas in Korea is much different than it is in the states. Yeah the city will decorate the street lights with wreaths and a few lights, but it’s not the family type celebration as we know it. Someone described it to me as more like Valentines Day, a couple’s holiday. Even though I never did get too excited over Christmas in the past, it is a bit strange to be so far removed from what I know as Christmas. Not being around family is the obvious single reason. I will say though I do prefer how Christmas is non-commercialized here as it is out west. It’s simply a religious holiday.
Christmas as I know it hasn’t been completely non-existent for me. There is one tradition that I made sure I wasn’t going to skip. Every year my mother’s family gets together for one full day and has a tamale making party. With 3 families we would typically make 10-12 dozen tamales. Thanks to my wonderful grandmother who mailed me some much needed ingredients, I along with my buddy Brian spent a Saturday making the delicious Mexican treat ourselves. Oh, how much I miss real Mexican food! With American sports starting in the late morning-early afternoon, we sat there in my apt like little old Mexican ladies spreading the maza on the ohas (spelling might not be correct) while watching Boise State rob themselves of a chance to play in a BCS bowl. In the end I think we made about 7 dozen. Unfortunately my share is already gone. Most of them are in my belly, but I did spare a few to share with my Korean co-workers. Some liked them, a few didn’t but all were impressed that I can actually cook. Korean men just don’t. For Christmas Day I am cooking dinner for a few people. My fraternity brother Tyler who teaches esl in a city a few hours south of here is coming up for the weekend. We will be joined by about 6 other friends of mine that live in my area. With no oven I’ve decided that the best course of action for the main dish is to go buy about 3 rotisserie chickens. Yeah I know it’s pretty trashy but you got to make do with your limited resources. Along with some various western side dishes I’m contemplating the idea of trying to make my own eggnog. I’m bit apprehensive because I estimate that it will cost me about $25 (not including the alcohol) for the ingredients and if I ruin it, it will just be money wasted.
For new years I have no plans, probably go up to Seoul and see if there are any festivities along the Han River, but there is a good chance I’ll just remain in town. What I’m most looking forward to right now is my 45 day vacation I have starting January 14th. Yes, 45 days. I saved all of my paid leave all year and decided to cash it in around the Lunar New Year. On the 14th I will take a connection of redeye flights to Padang, Indonesia. From there I will travel solo up through northern Sumatra and eventually depart from Banda Aceh on Jan 27th. I have no exact itinerary yet, but I hope to visit some remote villages and find some of the famous Kopi Lawak, aka the “shit coffee.” If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Bucket List” you know what I’m talking about. I then plan on doing a jungle trek in hopes to spot one of the endangered Orangutans. Depending on time I may head out to Pulau Weh which is a snorkeling and divers paradise. From Banda Aceh I will fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 3 days where I will meet up with Bryan. We then have a flight on the 31st to Rangoon, Myanmar. Here we’ll meet up with a college buddy of his who’s been on a multi year trek in Africa. No itinerary here, just explore this area where the people are some of the friendliest in the world and the government is as corrupt as they come. On the 28th of February we fly back to Seoul. This should be an awesome vacation, I can’t wait!
The new semester will start within a few days of my return and it will be back to the usual until April 13th when my contract officially ends. From there I don’t know what I’m going to do. More traveling and of course a visit back to the states are on my list of priorities.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that all of you would respond and let me know how things are going for you, especially those of you that I haven’t stayed in touch with via phone, email or facebook.

Best wishes,
Jason



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24th December 2010

merry Christmas
Jason, Merry Christmas brother. I glad things are going so well in Korea. I as happy to read of your tamale making. My grandmother would send me a dozen every Christmas before she passed. I miss homemade tamales. Take care of yourself. Ihsv, paul
28th December 2010

Happy New Year!
Jason - I so enjoyed reading your Blog - it sounds like you are having a wondrous adventure. Your students are "adorable"!!!! They all look so happy as do you. Your vacation sounds almost too fabulous to be true - you should have an absolutely wonderful time!!!!!! When you come back to the States be sure to come in and say 'Hi' - Take care of yourself and keep writing - it's so interesting!!!! Michelle (Express Employment)

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