Ahhh, life abroad. One of our teachers who’s leaving this sunday flew into an emo temper tantrum today in the teachers lounge after he discovered we weren’t going to be moving into his apartment, and as a result, the stuff he’d acquired (as one easily does) over here would have to find proper homes, and not pawned off to the new tenants. The stuff that flew out of his mouth was amusingly shocking considering it came from someone much older than a 12 year old Linkin’ Park lipstick wearer, but mostly, it was depressing and downright nasty.
While his soon-to-be empty place is, by all descriptions, larger than ours, we’re happy to hang out at our little hovel known as Starus. And plus, who could argue with a roof top patio that plays movies on a projector every weekend and has a putting green?
That’s the thing about being abroad that’s often funny. People’s personality can change on a dime, often over misunderstanding, or sheer acts of outright asshole-ness. There are a lot of great, nice, kind foreigners out here teaching; people who we’ve only known for a few weeks or months whom we’d consider friends. And there’s also a lot of maladjusted jerks; and sometimes all it takes is a bottle of the green meanie (aka Soju) or a misunderstanding to bring it out.
I guess Korea’s just like the rest of the world after all.
At the end of the day, it’s the people that make living abroad so much fun. The good, the bad, the crazy, and the kids. Teaching’s like trench warfare, and you can spot the good ones, the ones who take their job seriously and, despite the shortcomings of living the life of a second-class citizen at times, it’s a blast sharing a brew with a guy from Philly next to gal from Phuket and a couple from Sydney, with little in common other than the here and now and the joy of seeing new things.
So after the aforementioned teachers cockery, the impending worry that our school is having trouble finding new teachers after two pulled runners (aka, leaving the country on a friday night without notice), and a stressful week of open classes in front of Korean parents, I found myself in a minor funk about the now, and the future. But like all funks, it was quickly cured by dancing.
That’s right, dancing…
Around the world dancing!
And in my opinion, the guy’s pretty good too!
Cheers!
-D-
Part blog, part travelogue, part random musings, odd-ball photo repository, and more often than not, stream of consciousness rants about everything that entertains, amuses, or inspires us enough to put our butts in a chair and punch the keys. Expect to be enlightened, occasionally offended, and most of all, entertained.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Tory // Jun 26, 2008 at 10:20 am
Brilliant!
Miss you guys!
2 David // Jun 30, 2008 at 6:12 pm
This writing definitely has an edge! Without reading too much into it, one gets the sense that your world traveling observation of human “sameness” across the globe has you simultaneously charmed, disarmed and frustrated. Perhaps your real satisfaction of observing the same good and bad tendancies in each of us is knowing that the closer you get to the joy and horror of common human behavior the closer you are to the discovery of truth . Truth that transcends the superficial distractions of differences radiating from various cultures, races and geographical divide . You as a “world traveler” have a unique reference point from which you can observe the common “hard-wiring” within us all…………… as agreeable and disagreeable as that can be…………. and common hard wiring makes a compelling case to continue the search within the frame-work of the common natural laws and common super natural laws that ultimately are the “gold standard” of human conduct to which one should aspire. Keep observing and keep searching for the truth………. beginning with your most profound observation “I guess Korea’s just like the rest of the world after all.”………………. great read!……….don’t tire……….stay the course……………the kids and the Korean people need a “high-quality”
American “teacher/writer”………..smile
3 Jo // Jun 30, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I didn’t get to watch that video when you first posted, but it really sums things up nicely! I want to dance in all those places!!!
4 -Gnawbert- // Jul 1, 2008 at 4:42 am
@ Tory
Miss ya too! Come visit, bring Kate!
@ David
Thanks for the kind words. ^_^
@ Jo
Glad you enjoyed the video. Poor Marissa has had to deal with me playing it non stop in all my classes.
5 Apop // Jul 2, 2008 at 5:31 am
I wanna see a remake of this video where Matt is doing the Pee Wee Herman, IMHO. Maybe even a ’sprinkler’ dance here and there, especially in Seattle. Haha!
Leave a Comment