He's Resting

Today was the last day of my middle school camp. Thank god. The first week was okay, but this week, I had no internet. Not to mention, there was no running water, the printers didn't work, my classroom was freezing, and my co-teachers were usually nowhere to be found. Fortunately, the boys behaved like princes. A lot of my plans involved the internet (including a project the kids were supposed to do in the computer lab, which went surprisingly well the first week but had to be scrapped this week). So, finally, I gave up and started watching movies with them. If the school doesn't care enough to provide basics like running water, then I don't care either. Of course, the kids didn't mind watching movies and playing board games all day.

I just had another bowl of swine spine stew (I love that stuff), and now I'm sitting in my toasty apartment. I took all my stuff from my school. I didn't bother saying goodbye to anyone. I'm feeling pretty resentful toward the whole Korean public school system. I think this camp was pretty indicative of how schools set up foreign teachers for failure. They put too much faith in us. They don't realize that we have no idea what the fuck is going on most of the time.

Basically, I'm glad to be getting out of the system. I know private schools have their own share of problems, but I'm willing to take the risk.

Speaking of which, the job hunt ain't going so well. I may have to settle of a job somewhere other than Busan. Actually, I just got an e-mail about a position in Ulsan as I was writing this, but I don't think I'm ready to concede and move somewhere I don't want to just yet.

I think I'll become a hermit next week. I've got the whole week off, so I'm gonna try to stay home and out of the cold as much as possible. I'm a little anxious about my elementary school camp. For one thing, I'll be with a co-teacher at all times, which is kind of a good thing, but it also gives me less of a chance to goof off (why do I still feel like I'm a school kid?).

I found a couch surfer for my first few days in Manila. He seems like a really cool guy. He's an artist, and he said he's gonna show me how to eat balut (fertilized duck eggs) and all kinds of other crazy shit.



Thanks to my friend who recommended this delightful song without even realizing it.

One last thing: Yesterday afternoon, I took a nap and had a lucid dream that I was driving a "bad ass" car. Like, I knew I was dreaming, and for some reason, out of all the cool things I could have dreamed of, I chose to dream that I was driving a bad ass car. I was driving like a madman. This is strange because I don't know or care about cars. Hmm.

Another meandering organ-based ditty: