9 Month Mark

Yesterday was the 9 month mark of being here in Korea. I'm not sure how to gauge the time here so far, whether it's flown by or dragging out, but I think it's somewhere in between. Shannon and I are definitely staying for another year, and will be re-signing our contracts at the end of this month, so it's safe to say the time spent here has been enjoyable, though not overwhelmingly amazing. I've always known that, if everything else in the equation on where to go was equal, I would have preferred another country to teach English in, most likely Japan. But it's hard to argue with 3 months of paid vacation a year plus a salary that allows you to save significantly more than most every other English teaching job there is. Since coming here, Shannon and I have:

Traveled to Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand
Put over $15,000 towards student loans
Traveled across Korea
Gotten by without having to worry about money (except for a few times where we're saving up for a big travel trip).

So all in all, it's been a very good 9 months, and I'm pretty happy to be doing it for another year after this one.

My Introduction to Korean Cinema

I watched my first Korean movie the other day, something that I've definitely put off for too long. It's not so much that I was avoiding anything from Korea, but it's hard to know what's good or what you might enjoy when it's all in another language. Anyway, the movie I watched is called "Old Boy", and was quite an adventure. You may have heard of it if you follow film at all, as it did exceptionally well at the Cannes Film Fest in 2004 (I think that was the year).

Watching it definitely took me a short while to get into. Like everything else in Korea, film (this is a big generalization here, perhaps not all films but just the film I watched) seems to have strong roots in 80's culture with overtones and themes you would fine in the imagination of any 13 year old (epic-ly absurd violence, overwhelmingly/unrealistic romantic moments, etc). Watching "Old Boy", I could quickly get by all these things I wasn't used to, since the movie took itself so ridiculously seriously, and it really was quite good. It's about a man, Oh Daesu, who's probably an alcoholic (his opening drunk tirade is sad and hilarious), and then wakes up to find himself imprisoned in a room for the next 15 years. That's it, that's what you get - the rest of the film, Oh Daesu trying to exact revenge on whoever imprisoned him, is so intense, it was like an idea a 15 year old boy had, but then waited around another 10 or 20 years till he was good enough to make a film out of it.

Well, I've gone on far too long about a movie and not my own life and activities. I will say though that watching the closing scenes to that were some of the more intense and disturbing things I've seen in a while, and if you can handle some violent moments, I'd recommend checking out "Old Boy".

Turnover

It's time for a new batch of teachers to roll into town here, though it doesn't look like there will be a lot coming in this time. Nearly 10 teachers are leaving town, but only 2 or 3 are actually being replaced. It seems some of the teachers leaving didn't give the best references for their school, and some jobs are now being left unfilled. It will be interesting to see the change in things here in town though. Mokpo has a small foreigner community, so you're moderately limited when it comes to finding people to hang out with. So, it's not so fun when people don't get along, which has been a minor issue here since as long as I've been here. It's not terrible, but for anyone's who's lived in a small town or found themselves in a tiny community for a long period of time, squabbles always seem to come about. I'm curious to see if they carry on with new people coming, or if they die away (ie. are the people themselves the problem, or are there always problems with people?)

Well, I've rambled on long enough here, and I've been cruel enough to not include any nice pictures to look at. On a funnier note, two of my students saw me walking to my house with a beer in my hand over the weekend, and now they won't leave me alone about it. What were they doing in my neighbourhood anyway? Probably looking for dirt on their teacher, I'm sure.