On Saturday we decided we'd try to see a KBL (Korean Basketball League) game. The team from Wonju, the Dongbu Promy, are the defending KBL champions. We checked their website and the time for the game said 13:00, which we took to mean 1pm. Just before one we walked the block or so to the stadium and found it pretty much deserted. We searched for somewhere to buy tickets and finally found the place tucked underneath the main doors. Checking the tickets the actual game time said 3pm. We decided to wait since other people seemed to be arriving and waiting for the doors to open. Over an hour later the doors finally opened. As we went inside a Korean man came out with a foreigner. When he saw us he smiled and started clapping at us. Little did we know this wouldn't be the only time we'd be singled out. We checked out the merchandise area and found jerseys for only 15,000 won (about $20 Canadian) and picked a couple up. They also had these things you blow up and smack together to clap with. I don't really know how to describe them. I'll have to post a picture of them another time.
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While we were waiting for the game to begin we saw this guy and C had to get a shot of his mullet. About a half hour before the game began he went out to center court. He saw us and called to us to come out on to the court. We had no idea what was going on, but we went anyway. Four Koreans also joined us and after lining us all up he began to speak to the crowd. We had no idea what was going on and just kind of went along as best we could. He went down the line and looked like he was asking everybody there names. He asked our names in English and then spoke a little Korean. We felt pretty stupid for not knowing anything he was saying. After he finished he got the girls at the end of the line to dance to some music they blasted over the speakers. When he got to me and said "dance" i just went with it. I closed my eyes and shook my scrawny ass as best i could. Apparently it wasn't very good and i got cut from the halftime show. (Un?)Fortunately for C she made it through and had to make an encore performance. She wasn't happy about being singled out and having to dance in front of people. She told me she was not going back out there at halftime. Just before halftime a guy came and told her to follow him. To my surprise she agreed. The second time at center court mullet man asked her where she was from and when she said "Canada" he asked "Vancouver?" I'm sure it's the only Canadian city he knows. Then he asked C to choose and she had no idea what he meant and she just said "I don't know." He said something in Korean and the people laughed a little. The only Korean word i could make out was "foreigner". After her the four of them danced each person got to spin a prize wheel. You could win pizzas from Pizza Hut, Pocari Sweat, and a bunch of other crap that was in Korean. When C got her turn and spun she didn't know what she'd won. Some guys brought out a triski. It's a three-wheeled scooter thing that we've seen people riding near the stadium on weekends. When C started to wheel it off mullet man tried to get her to ride it a bit, but she wasn't having any of that. They're actually pretty expensive and we have no idea what the fuck we're going to do with it. I would have been happy with pizza.
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The game was fairly entertaining. Even though it wasn't the best basketball, i'd still say it was worth the price of admission. The game we watched was versus Busan's KTF Magic Wings. The crowd seemed to get pretty into it and a guy lead them in different cheers during the game. All the little green things you see in people's hand are those clapper things. On the side we sat on only few nuts like myself had them. Both teams seemed to start slowly with some poor shooting. The Promy (what the hell is a Promy?) took the lead after a bit and took control of the game. In the third quarter they were on fire and had a 22 point lead at one point. They cooled off in the fourth and allowed the Magic Wings back into it, but they were able to hold them off. Final score: Promy 93 Magic Wings 80. We had a good time and are planning to see them again this weekend. Hopefully we won't show up as early.
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Beware of Canada

It's after 5am and i have to get up early to go to the exchange bank, but i had to share this photoshop theme on FARK. The theme is If Canada took over the U.S.... I think most Canadians would find it as amusing as i did.

Happy Pepero Day! Last Friday was Pepero Day, much to the younger children's' delight. Pepero Day is a made up holiday like Valentine's Day or Christmas in which children exchange chocolate covered bread sticks with the people they like. Apparently there was one company that produced the stuff, and somehow they managed to get kids to turn it into a mini-holiday. I managed to get a fairly decent haul of the stuff myself. Most of the chocolate in this country is nowhere near as sweet as back home and tastes pretty bland. We are able to find some things that are the same as home and savor them, even though we buy them on a regular basis.

I'm getting really frustrated with my classes lately. Most days i have trouble controlling the majority of my classes. They just refuse to listen and i'm past the point of caring. I just don't have it in me to get pissed off and yell at every class, and since most have very little English they wouldn't understand my rants anyway. Staring and other things sometimes work for a bit, but nothing keeps everyone in line. The other day one little bastard tossed some paper into the side of another kid's face and i told him to get out. Of course he didn't listen, and i got so pissed i picked the little fairly large child up and started to carry him out of class. I was thwarted by the three desks and other children that i ended up dragging with me. For the second time in as many weeks i had to get the owner to talk to him, and he was back in class five minutes later. Next time i kick a kid out i want him out for the whole class. If they bring them back in again i'm not teaching that class since the kids know nothing will happen. I've heard the kids here won't respect you if you aren't really strict with them and i believe it.
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I felt like perverted foreigner when i was taking this pic in Seoul. Oh, wait... I am a perverted foreigner. I guess that makes it OK. I think if C every breaks up with me i might come back to look for a new girlfriend. There are some cute girls here, but they all seem to have self esteem/image issues. Even more than at home. That helps even the playing field for a less than average looking guy like myself.

The last few weeks have been frustrating. Our superiors at school keep switching what they want to do when it comes to testing and handing out report cards. It makes an incredible amount of work for us when they keep changing things with no notice. On top of that i now have zero breaks, every other teacher has a couple at least. I have to take extra classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays to try and help some kids in a KD class i have that don't even know what sound each letter makes. At the end of the last semester i told them these kids shouldn't be moved up because they wouldn't be able to handle it. They moved them up anyway and they seemed surprised and worried that they're getting marks that are below 40. The kids weren't taught the basics for reading by the previous teacher, and now i have to try and make up for it in less than a month. Another KB kid i have doesn't show up half the time and the other half he misses the lesson when he's late. I told them he can't read anything and refuses to give answers in class. They decided to move him up with the others anyway. They say there's no other place for him because he's too old to go in a lower class. What the fuck? I thought we trying to help them learn. Shouldn't what level of English the kid has matter more? This kid will be way in over his head in KC. He should be starting at the beginning in KA. So basically i just babysit him for 40 minutes three times a week. There seems to be no logic to their reasoning. If the kid doesn't learn anything eventually the parents will wonder why the fuck they're paying all this money to the hagwon and pull him out. If you hold him back and he learns he may stay learning at the same place for years. They have more kids for the short term, but few will stay for the long term unless they keep pulling them in. They really need to decide whether we're there to teach or be over priced babysitters.

On top of things i've been feeling even more run-down than normal. Sleep has been shit. I can't remember what month it was when i last got 8 hours of sleep in a row. Even taking some natural sleeping pills last night i got less than 6 hours. It's also been over a month since i had any solid mucus in my nose. (Sorry.. too much info, i know.) It's like i've have the tail end of a cold forever. I do maintain hope that things will improve someday.
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