J.T. vs Maps

I thought I'd give everybody a little extra detail about where I live. The city is called Daejeon. Thanks to the sheer awesomeness of Google, I have a little map for you here:

That's me, right in the middle of the country. Here's a close up view:



Ah, a wonderful view of Daejeon. Where am I on this map? That's a very good question. Yes, an excellent question, indeed. Why, that is such an excellent question that, if I had the answer, I would most certainly be putting it right here, at this very moment. These words, the ones you are reading right now, would definitely contain the very information that you seek.

On another note, I have to give Google Maps a big "Thank You." The weather has just recently turned nice around here. I've been getting together some plans for some cool stuff to do. However, for some reason everybody neglected to tell me about this:


Yes, that is a huge, awesome-looking lake pretty darn close to the city where I live. Wouldn't that be one of the first things you mentioned to someone looking to explore Korea? Example:

J.T.: "So, Dae Jung, what awe-inspiring Korean territories would you recommend I frequent or explore?"
Dae Jung: "Huh?"
J.T.: "What are some cool things I should see?"
Dae Jung: "Ah. Well, there is a Pizza Hut down the road."
J.T.: "Yeah, but I've been to those before."
Dae Jung: "You have Pizza Hut in America?" (Actually question I was asked, by a Korean English teacher, no less)
J.T.: "Yes, it's from America. Any less-food-related ideas?"
Dae Jung: "So, nothing involving food?"
J.T.: "Unless it's Mexican food, because the lack of Mexican food here is going to kill me."
Dae Jung: "Ah, we had a Taco Bell once, but it wasn't popular and it closed."
J.T.: "You gargantuan fools!"
Dae Jung: "What?"
J.T.: "Nothing. Anyways, what else you got?"
Dae Jung: "Well, there's a nice shoe shop down the street you can visit. Or maybe you could check out the new sign they put up in front of Mr. Kim's noodle stand."
J.T.: "I said no food."
Dae Jung: "It's not food, it's a sign. I suppose if you are really bored, then there is this huge, beautiful lake filled with pristine, soul-blue water. It's surrounded by gorgeous mountains that pierce the heavens and has a view that stretches for miles, crafted by the mighty hand of God and unspoiled by the work of man."
J.T.: "Yeah, that one sounds good. Dae Jung, I have to say, your English is quite good."
Dae Jung: "I watch the National Geographic channel."

With my new found knowledge, I can add one more adventure to my list of things to not report in my blog because I'm too busy writing about meaningless junk. I swear, though, there are some good stories waiting to be told. But, until then, enjoy my senseless rantings.

J.T. vs. His Signature

Signature
Originally uploaded by Mental Desperado.

This is just going to be a quick update, since I should be getting some sleep...

Well, sometimes we all do weird things. Today was a productive, but rather normal, day. I still have a huge list of things I need to put into my blog. I certainly didn't think anything from today would qualify as blog-worthy. However, given enough spare time, we can all manage to create a little story for ourselves, even if you're just sitting at you desk in a bathrobe thinking about how much you should really go to bed.

Anyways, after eating dinner today at a yummy Chinese restaurant, I didn't have too much to do. I checked my email, websurfed a little bit, and watched some CNN. It was getting late, but I wasn't really all that tired. In fact, I had already laid down for a bit, but I didn't go to sleep. As I was sitting at my computer, wondering what to do with my time, I saw a piece of paper with my signature on it. I took this moment, as I have a couple of times, to appreciate the truly ugly nature of my signature (and handwriting in general, really). You know I speak the truth.

Well, with free time I wasn't expecting, I decided to try and develop a new signature. What could I do to make a new, more interesting signature? Well, improved handwriting was basically completely out of the question. So, that leaves some amusing gimmick. I decided, for whatever reason my warped little brain enjoys, to make my signature read identically upside-down as rightside-up. As it turns out, this is called an "ambigram" (thank you, sweet Wikipedia).

If it seems like it's hard, you're right. Just to make my "new signature," it took me about three hours of doodling and staring. Said doodles can be viewed in my Flickr account at the top of the page. However, I think the results are excitingly mediocre! I've posted an image of what I came up with. The "W" is a little funky, but I like it. If you doubt my honesty, you should stand on your head and look at it. That, or turn you monitor upside down. Or you could just flip it in "Paint," if you want to be boring.

Anyway, this is a just a little "J.T.'s really is still here" note. I'll get to writing my blog sometime when I'm not so busy with bizarre, self-induced wordplay. :)

J.T. vs. The Last Day at 둔원중학교

So, 둔원 (Doonwon) is a Jr. High school I’ve been teaching at for the past few weeks. They have a summer camp there every year, and that’s what I’ve been teaching the last 3 weeks, or so. Anyways, I teach all morning, and I have two different classes that I teach on alternating days. A lot of the kids are really nice. Even the kids who slack off way too much are interested in America, so they’ll listen to me (sometimes) if I talk about home. Well, yesterday was the last day of the class. All of the kids were really sweet. I had them do a review exercise (which I basically didn’t enforce at all), then we had a little pizza party with awards for the best students and such. It was nice. Both classes wrote all sorts of cute stuff on the board like, “We’ll miss you!” and “Don’t forget us!” Plus, almost all of them have cell phones, and almost all of those cell phones have cameras in them, so it was pictures galore for the whole morning. I knew that all the kids were going to want my e-mail (and I was right), so I made a new e-mail address the night before and gave it to all of them. I told them all to send me the pictures. One kid already sent me an e-mail with a picture. She was probably the goofiest kid of all of them which, of course, made her one of my favorites :-p I’m going to miss all the little brats. This particular school didn’t get funding for foreign language teachers, so I’ll be teaching at a different Jr. High in the fall. I’ll keep you posted on their coolness factor.

It was a good start to the day. I had been feeling a bit down during the week, but that made me feel much better. In fact, that started out a really nice day. After I got home and had lunch, my boss gave me a call to tell me that one of my classes had been cancelled. I was actually really happy about that, not because it meant more time slacking around my room, not updating my blog (tee hee), but I was happy for my student. Michelle (my boss) told me that the girl had quit the class. The class was to prepare her for an interview for the English-speaking College in the area, but it turns out that she was only doing it because her parents wanted her to. She really wanted to study Geology in America. So, I gave her some general interview help, and then convinced her that she should confront her parents and try to go to the U.S. I gave her the website for OSU, since I was sure she could get in there, and I’ve heard good things about the Geology department from a couple of ex-Woosterites I just happen to know there. So, when Michelle called to tell me that the girl had withdrawn from the class and wasn’t going to do the interview, I was excited for her. Hopefully, she’ll get to study Geology like she wants. So, that was more good news. Plus, it meant that I wouldn’t have to go to school for another hour.

On top of all that goodness, my adult class and I had decided that we were going to celebrate advancing to the next class level by going out instead of having class. So, they treated me to dinner. They laughed at me for a while, and I used the time to teach them some of the cultural differences between Korean and American table manners. Good times. Afterwards, we just hung around and talked a bit. They’re not a terribly advanced class, so it was still definitely teaching, but it was more fun and casual so we had a good time. I think we’re going to try and make it a more regular event.

Well, that’s all for now. Basically, I had an awesome Friday. I uploaded a few more pictures to my account, so check ‘em out! There’s a picture of a few of my students, including Anne (the girl from 둔원), and some of the teachers. Well, it’s dinner time for me. Later, peeps.