Pictures!

Recently, I had a class where nearly all of my students were absent, and the one who showed up was 45 minutes late. While sitting there waiting, I went on a photo uploading binge. I also found out that you can access my Facebook photo albums, even if you don't have a Facebook account. Enjoy!

First Seoul Trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2380589&id=10712264&l=b84222f65c

Gwangju Trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2415924&id=10712264&l=e2c2dabaf1

Seoul Zoo:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2415957&id=10712264&l=45f0dbd007

Portrait of Yours Truly by a Student

I like the sideburns.

The Roots of Rock and Roll

My kids have just started reading a book called The Roots of Rock and Roll. This is fun because I get to introduce them to the different types of music we read about. So far, they love Little Richard, like John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles, tolerate Louis Armstrong and Fats Domino, and don't care for Robert Johnson at all.

Also, they couldn't identify the singer of "Jailhouse Rock." I bet they would know Big Bang though. Ugh.

The Word Feared Throughout Asia

There is an observation (stereotype?) that people from Asian countries have difficulty distinguishing between the "L" sound and the "R" sound. As far as Korea goes, I can tell you this stems from the fact that they have only one letter, "ㄹ", which is about halfway between "R" and "L." So today I felt very cruel when I had to explain the word "rural" to my students.

I did, however, spare them from the title of the 30 Rock recurring gag, The Rural Juror.

The Ultimate Insult

As I've described before, boys and girls are extremely reluctant to work with each other here. This is why one of my students was reduced to tears recently. He fancies himself something of a class clown, but generally he just irritates his fellow pupils to the point that they tell him to shut up and work. It all came back to bite him last week when his partner for a group project declared that he would rather work with the girls. This was too much for the would-be funnyman, who completely shut down and started crying. I took him outside and told him that if he quit goofing off and worked harder then people would be more willing to work with him.

Really though, the girls are much smarter in this class, so I wasn't surprised.

Corrupting the Elderly

After physical therapy today I was waiting at one of Daejeon's interminable crosswalks. I decided to crack open the book I had been reading on the treatment table. As I did, a kind elderly Korean gentleman walked up behind me and asked, in English, "What is the name of the book?" Generally, I would be proud to show off the fact that I was reading a tome on evolutionary biology by the respected writer Jared Diamond.

Unfortunately, the title of the book is "Why is Sex Fun?"

The old man read the title and walked away, chuckling to himself.

My Kids Lose Respect for Me

Baseball season recently started here, and I told my kids I was looking forward to my first Hanwha Eagles game. They asked if I was a baseball fan, and they also asked who my favorite player is. Given the historical animosity between Japan and Korea, and the recent World Baseball Classic final defeat, I knew that mentioning Seattle's talismanic outfielder would be a mistake.

"You don't want to know," I replied.

"Who?" they pressed.

"You don't want to know." But they figured it out.

"Ichiro?"

"Yes."

"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH."

They knew he plays for the Seattle Mariners though, which I think let me off the hook a bit.