Teaching with Barbie, Vol. 1

Yes, my Korean co-teacher's English name is Barbie...and she lives up to every expectation. We've been working together for almost 8 months, and I thought I would put up some of our more memorable conversations. It should be noted that these conversations are not word-for-word as I didn't write them down immediately afterward. However, they have not been sensationalized at all....and I guarantee Barbie's grammar was much, much, MUCH worse :)

I came in to find Barbie closely studying one of our 2nd grade reading books....
Barbie: Can you explain this to me? I don't understand.
Quote from the book: "Of course, the most well-known of all the big cats are the lion and tiger."
Me: What don't you understand?
Barbie: What does it mean?
Me: Well, it means there are a lot of big cats, lions, tigers, panthers, cheetahs, but if you ask a kid to name one, they'll probably says "lion" or "tiger."
Barbie: But why do they call them big cats?
Me: Because that's what they are. They're cats. They're big.
Barbie: They're not cats. Your pet at home is a cat.
Me: Well, that's a house cat, but they're all part of the cat family.
Barbie: Cats have families?!?!

Last Monday afternoon while I was preparing for classes....
Barbie: This weekend I saw a documentary called 2012. It really scared me. It said the world is going to end in 2012.
Me: Barbie, that's not a documentary. It's a movie.
Barbie: No, it wasn't that movie. It was different. It was a documentary. I didn't believe it at first either, but it was really scary, and it convinced me. They gave scientific evidence that it's true.
Me: Barbie, you can make anything sound scientific. The whole thing is based on the idea that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. You'd have to be pretty stupid to think that all that was real.
Barbie: I told you, I didn't believe it at first either, but they had scientists, Jeff. SCIENTISTS!

While walking out of school at the end of the day....
Barbie: Use some of my hand sanitizer. It will protect you from the Swine Flu.
Me: You realize that your hands are actually covered with good bacteria that help fight off the sickness. That anti-bacterial sanitizer you're using kills good AND bad bacteria, and since you're not actually washing your hands, it leaves all the dead bacteria on your hands. Swine Flu is a virus so you're basically killing your first line of defense and leaving the Swine Flu virus unaffected on your skin. Technically speaking, you're making yourself more susceptible to Swine Flu.
Barbie: Okay. So here, have some of my hand sanitizer.

More to come....

The American Dream....in Korea

A bunch of American guys with their Korean and Chinese girlfriends (a wife in my case) watching NFL football while eating Mexican and Japanese food and drinking cheap beer in Korea. My friend James (American) and his girlfriend Mijin (Korean) were also there but aren't in the picture, and I think James put it best. "This is proof that we won the Cold War."

Another Autumn Gone

Trash and I have had a great few months. We have been busy as usual but are also really enjoying our time here in Korea. We've realized that, according to our plans, we only have another year and a half here in East Asia so we're really trying to make the most of the time we have left.

Two weekends ago we had a much needed weekend off from our busy band schedule. We've been playing shows almost every weekend, but that Saturday, we spent hiking at Dobong Mountain. It was absolutely beautiful! The leaves were at the peak of their Fall colors, and we had perfect hiking weather, not too hot and not too cold. We spent the better part of 5 hours on our round trip to the highest peak and back. That included a nice picnic at the top with some traditional korean meat, kimchi, kimbab (rice/vegetable rolls) and makgalli (korean rice wine).

Then came Halloween. Trash and I organized a big Halloween punk rock show/costume party in the Hongdae neighborhood. There were 7 bands, and it started around 10pm. The music lasted until around 2:30am, and when we left at 3:30, there were still a few regulars hanging around. At the busiest time (which is also when we were on stage), there were about 100 people having a good time and some exceptional costumes; Kim Jung-Il sang for a local hardcore punk band. Dr. Manhattan (the version with a suit) was seen walking around for a while, and my whole band dressed up as Swine Flu (Alex and I in scrubs. Honggu in a shirt, tie and Doctor's coat. Trash as a sexy nurse...all of us with pig noses). It was the Trash's first ever Halloween party, and we really enjoyed it.

(outside before the show)

(Kim Jung-Il singing HARDCORE!)

(Bint Eastwood)

(...Whatever That Means)

(My lovely wife and I)