Fishing Lessons

Korean Fishing TV lessons:

1. Koreans will eat (and go nuts about catching) fish that, under most circumstances, I would consider bait due to their small size.

2. Cane pole fishing is apparently a lot harder than I thought, or at least it looks that way on tv.

3. The only proper way to announce that you have a fish on the line is to say "Hee-tuh"

4. Regardless of the size of the fish you are catching, you will likely need to spend your life savings on the following items to catch them: 30 rods and reels of assorted sizes; fishing outfit consisting of coordinated colors from head to toe; a ridiculous hat; some sort of massive bag to carry everything in that also matches your outfit

5. Reeling in your fish with a motorized fishing reel is common practice when deep sea fishing.

6. Artsy shots of you looking out over the water, complete with feathered hair, makeup, and the already mentioned color coordinated outfit, are just as important as shots of you catching fish.

Fishing

I got some fishing gear as a gift from Kat's dad.

Address

Here's my new address:

303-607 Gwanak Apt.
1102-7 Bisan-Dong
Dongan-Gu, Anyang-Si
Korea 431-816

Vacation Survey

I want to start planning my vacation for winter break. I will get around two weeks paid vacation, and I want to make sure that I make the most of it. I am not considering anything in Korea, since I have some shorter vacations during the year that I can use (like going snowboarding again during the lunar new year). Here's my short list:

Ireland - I have always wanted to go, but it might be too cold
England - Same as Ireland
Germany - Same as before, but probably not as cold
Italy - Good food, better weather
Thailand - Amazing weather, fishing, cheap tailored suits
Japan - Cheap flight, Less travel time
Australia - Summer (southern hemisphere), fishing, kangaroos
Guam - It's on a US Quarter, Some guy I sat next to on a plane said it was cool
China - Giant country, Close

So where should I go?

School Pictures

Here's what you are looking at:
1. View of apartment buildings from my office on the 5th floor
2. The sitting area in the "Experience" room
3. The smartboard and podium in the "Experience" room
4. The school assembly room that is never used. (I messed up the seats to create a maze for my students to teach how to give directions)
5. Another view of the assembly room showing some of the art displays.
6. Art from a student hanging in the back of the hall
7. The music room that I never use. It has a tv with a karaoke machine hooked up to it.
8. The science room.
9. One view of the gym
10. Another view of the gym with some fo the posters about the Olympics and other sports
11. The "Multi" room. This is where I do most of my teaching.
12. The "Multi" room from the students' perspective.

Incheon Global Fair and Festival

This past weekend was the Chuseok holiday in Korea. That meant I had Friday off. So instead of being a bum I went with Kat to the Incheon Global Fair and Festival. It was an interesting experience.

The city of Incheon was created by Korea by dumping a lot of fill dirt off the west coast of Korea. Much of the city has been completed, but the area where the festival was held is still being built. It was cool to see a city that only exists so far on paper, minus a few buildings built to promote the city.

The theme of the festival seemed to be the future and Incheon's role in the world. There were many exhibits, like a world culture area, a robot zoo, a teddy bear museum, a green technology area, and some buildings built by some of the large companies in Korea to showcase their future work. There was also a building showing off different proposed designs for the city. During the festival there was also a parade with different culture groups performing, even though they were a little stereotypical.

There were both some perks and drawbacks to being a foreigner at the festival. When I went in I had to use a separate gate and have my temperature checked, and then scrub down my hands with sanitizer. On the plus side, I did get coupons for free food, plus at a booth for foreigners I was able to receive a free mug and a notebook. At many of the exhibits I also got preferential treatment (like at one booth where they were having some game and me and Kat got to jump to the front where we were able to win some free bodywash and hand lotion from a power company). Many of the companies gave out free stuff, like some canvas bags from Hyundai which I have been using for my groceries (since you have to pay a fee to get grocery bags), and a bunch of cell phone charms (including one that has a plastic coin that you can use to rent grocery carts at the store).

It was nice that we went on Friday, since that is considered a travel day for Chuseok and there weren't many people there.

On another note, I caved in and bought a DSLR camera. The pictures were taken using it. As you can probably tell, I still haven't worked out all the settings. Expect more pictures once I figure it out.