The Internet Ramblings of the QiRanger

Howdy

Sorry that I haven’t been posting regularly, but the fact of the matter is that without the Internet at my apartment, I find that lugging the computer to the office to write or tape a video isn’t all that enjoyable. I’d much rather spend that time talking to Jo and other members of my family. I guess I could write in my down time at work… but I feel guilty enough, as it is sitting and twiddling my thumbs each day.

So as of this post, I have been in Korea for two full weeks.  To be honest, it’s like I never left. The only thing that I have found is that I really need (and should) work more on my Korean skills. There is so much to do each day, that I easily fill it up catching up on shopping or exploring after I call home, only to find that it’s time to go to work again. I’ll for sure have more free time once the Internet is connected at home, since I’ll be able to do things in the early morning and at night.

School continues to be awesome on a number of levels. My personal favorite is while I am at the school for 30 hour paid hours each week, I’m only teaching 13 of them. It makes for a very light load and lots of down time. I am actually looking forward to getting more students so I can be busier. It’s a far cry from the 8 or 9 classes per day I had per day last year.

The students are still awesome and a great joy to teach. I love playing off the competitive nature of the students. While the Korean Teachers typically use team-based games, I revert to individual scoring with the ultimate prize being able to line up at the door early (I always teach at the end of their class time). What’s even better is that they look at it from a game perspective, while I am actually reinforcing learning objectives. Points given for completing fill-in-the-blank quizzes (using vocabulary), word searches (must use the vocabulary word in a sentence to get help), Crosswords (checking comprehension of vocabulary), etc.

In other news, I have managed to get a gym membership. While I’ve been able to maintain my level of fitness over the years, one thing that I have let slip is my running ability. When I regularly attended a gym, I would always start off with a 2-2.5 mile run at 7mph. It was a good amount of effort and then I would jump right into my lifting. When I left the gym and started working out at my house, my running slowed to a pace of 6mph or so. Then, while in Korea last year, I had no distance markers and my running slowed even more. Now that I’m back in the gym, I can still run for longer distances at the slower pace… but I am committed to regaining my 7mph status!!!! Unfortunately… It looks like it will take a week or two to build up to that level.

I’ve also been cooking a lot. Well, not a lot… but fairly often. For breakfast, I will usually make a toast sandwich with an egg, cheese, and some spam (I know… SPAM!). For lunch, I will often make some rice on the stove and then add it to a large bowl of ramen. It makes for a very filling meal. I’ve also been known to cook some meat from the market (or SPAM) with some rice for a great fried rice dish (and add an egg and some sweet chili sauce).

Cheers all!