From Busan With Love

"Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet."

- Roger Miller -

Monsoon season has begun and I couldn't be happier. The heat and humidity was sucking the energy out of me. On top of feeling lethargic, the heat has also brought about a strange smell in the streets of Busan. The only way I can describe the smell is a hybrid scent of rotting eggs and stale beans. I was in college at one point in my life, so I'm familiar with the smell combination. With the rain, the temperature has dropped to the mid 70's and the streets now smell like world peace.

Speaking of the world, South Korea will be playing a pivotal game against Uruguay during the World Cup tomorrow. This whole country is just a sea of red (the official color of team Korea): hats, shirts, jackets, pet dogs, etcetera. Except me, because I'm not going to pretend I like soccer. I never have, and I never will. To me, soccer is as exciting as watching old people trying to parallel park: something exciting might happen, but it's totally not guaranteed. However, the camaraderie and general excitement you share with Koreans as their team make history is definitely worth being part of the game.

I got to leave school a little early today, so I decided to walk around the neighborhood to take pictures and give you guys a little taste of what it's like to live here. The streets aren''t usually this barren, but because of the rain many people were indoors rather than out. Only the crazies were walking the streets. The crazies AND prostitutes, I should add.

This is my apartment building. The front door is on the right side and my actual apartment is not visible. I live on the first floor, which definitely has its disadvantages. For example, if you have elephants for neighbors living above you (like me, for instance), then certainly it could get annoying.



In this last picture, we can see two worlds collide into what Korea deems to be the golden age of integrity and history versus the age of modernity and innovation. These two conflicting realms of Korea will, I hope, strengthen her peoples culture and remind the world that Korea has a rich history that's helped define what she is today and what she'll be tomorrow.

I also want to share a concern I had this week regarding one of the "elite four". The "elite four" is a group of four students that I've labeled bad students. There used to be five of them, but the worst of the worst actually had a change of heart after I had a one on one talk with him. Anyway, one of them was being more disruptive than usual last week by punching other students, talking to his friends, and generally being an ass. My co-teacher started screaming at him in the middle of class, so I had to stop the lesson. I could tell my co-teacher was super frustrated by the hue of her face. Her face was beet red from all the screaming. I decided that Paolo teacher needed to take over and put this student in his place once and for all.

This would be the third time I've talked to him about his behavior. This is the most time I've ever had to talk to a disruptive student. All my ammo's have ran out and it was time I used the big gun. I walked calmly to his desk and just shook my head. "Student, I'm not going to yell at you. I'm not going to make you do push ups. I'm not even going to make you apologize." I realized then how quiet the classroom was. I generally have a lot of fun in my class and students don't really see me lose my cool, but when I do the students know it. I stood in front of the bad student and crossed my arms and told him "Student, this is what I'm going to do. We're going to walk to the administration office and we're going to call your mother and your father. We will tell them all the bad things you have done in class. We will also tell them that you will be suspended from school."

At that point I heard a few gasps from his classmates. The bad student stood up and bowed to me. "Teacher, please forgive me," he said, "Please don't call my parents." It had worked. I had this assclown in my hands. "Come with me," I said. The student didn't move. "Don't make me go crazy, student," I muttered. I was going to make good with my threat. The student slowly followed me and we were soon in the presence of administration. His parents were notified, he ended up not getting suspended, and he got a verbal lashing from one of the counselors. I thought it was a fair punishment. It was all up to his parents at that point, because I was told that if he misbehaved again he would be kicked out of the school.

Anyway, fast forward to this week with a brand new lesson and hopefully a brand new start. I greeted the class and was about to start my lesson when I noticed dark spots on the bad students face. He had bruises all over his face and not to mention a visibly black eye. "Student, what happened to your face?" I asked. He lowered his head and quietly said "Nothing, teacher. I'm sorry." I looked closer and it looked like he was having a hard time seeing through his blackened eye. "His father punished him," my co-teacher informed me.

I didn't know how to feel about that. The kid's certainly a bona fide jackass, but did he deserve to get beaten to a pulp? Debatable. What do you guys think?