Happy 2008 Everyone!!!

Well the clock struck midnight here in Korea just over 1 hour and 42 minutes ago. It's still about 12 hours away from 2008 in NY & 15 hours away in CA where my girlfriend Flo is right now. I spent a wonderful evening hanging out locally in Miryang. I went to the Sauna/Bath House, and enjoyed lying down in the Steam Room & Sauna as well as dipping myself in the hot and cold bath tubs. Then I went to yoga class from 7:30-8:30pm (no Judo tonight b/c of New Year's). Then I rode my bike to the DVD Bang (room) where I met Orion and his girlfriend Theresa from Minnesota. He bought a pizza, I bought french fries & apple pie from McDonald's along with some beer & Korean plum wine. YUM YUM!!!! We "rented" watched DejaVu with Denzel Washington & Val Kilmer. It was a fairly intense, mind-boggling action thriller which we enjoyed. It's fun to be able to bring in food & drinks into a semi-professional movie room to enjoy while watching the movie. After that, there was still 35 minutes left until midnight & we decided to go to the local pub for a pitcher of beer. At the bar were many Koreans there with their families (wives, children, etc) A few (of the brave) Korean said "hello" to us and "happy new year" I proceeded to grab 3 tambourines from the karaoke section of the bar and shake them vigorously to make some noise, since it was only 10 minutes till New Year's. But evidently the owner didn't appreciate that gesture & took the tambourines out of my hands. I don't know why he did that. Maybe it wasn't appropriate thing to do. I don't really know. But we did end of making friends with these very nice Korean people who came over & introduced themselves to us. Gave us some of their beer, and welcomed us to Miryang & to Korea. It was great!!! These young couples were their with their precious lil, adorable children, who were visibly tired & cranky at well past midnight. It was really fun

Then I rode my bike home to my apartment & proceeded to stare in awe at all the beautiful twinkling stars in the sky. They really do twinkle, have you noticed that?" I was standing there in the cold, dark night, in awe at the beauty of the night sky. Since Miryang is a small city, without many lights, the stars are much more visible then they are back home. It was nice to stand there and reflect on the huge vastness & magnitude of this great universe (one song) of ours. Uni = 0ne and Verse = song. And just think that the same moon I see here now is the same moon that my mom & dad will see 12 hours from now in New York & is the SAME moon that Flo will see 15 hours from now in California!!!! That is just so cool to me!!!

So the holidays have come and gone. Did everyone get what they wanted? Here in Korea the favorite items on all the children's wish list seemed to be:
Nintendo DS
MP3/mp4 Player
Play Station 3
Money
Soccer Ball/Soccer Shoes
Puppy
Cell Phone (hendapone (hand phone) in Korean
Computer
Books
toy doll
WWE (wrestling) tickets - the kids (boys) LOVE WWE wrestling out here. They always talk about John Cina, Batista, Triple H'ee', Undertaker, etc. It's actually quite amusing to talk about wrestling with them & they just love when I mention Hulk Hogan and some other names with them!!
Some kids joking asked for a car, a house, airplane, etc. BIG Thinkers, I'll give them that much.

It's simply amazing to see how curious and wonderfully fascinated the elementary school kids are by me doing, what I would consider the most simplest things. For example, it's precious to see the way they all clamor around my desk in the morning, or before class begins to peek over at my computer screen to see what I'm doing. Most times it's just writing an email or chatting with a friend in Korea or back home via IM. They just stand there for several minutes looking with wide-eyed wonderment at what I am doing. It's really quite flattering but I must admit, it can be quite annoying and bothersome as well. It gives me the chance to practice LOVE, PATIENCE, COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING rather than anger, upset, violation, etc. Instead of looking at them as being "nosy, rude, or inconsiderate," I remind myself that they are 8, 9, 10, 11, & 12 year old Korean students who have never had this much interaction with a real, live Westerner before. They are fascinated & intrigued by me & that is exciting to them. I must also admit that it can get a bit annoying and quite old after a long while of the same old repetitious/admirable/adoring behaviour. As much as my ego LOVE the attention, after all day of constantly being bombarded with waving, hugging, bowing, saying "hello" it can get pretty old very quickly. Now I know a little bit of what celebrities go through everyday of their lives being constantly bombarded with raving fans who want to touch them, grab them, say "hi" to them, be introduced to them, etc. I really can see & feel what John Travolta, Billy Joel, Micheal Jordan, and Madonna must go through everyday of their lives. No wonder why Princess Diana's car sped away from the paparatzi the night of her fatal death. They just want to live normal, simple, quiet and peaceful lives away from all the craziness that their stardom creates. I'm not saying I'm anywhere near thew status of these people, but on a very small, microscopic scale, perhaps I am.

Well it's good to be able to update everyone back home as to what my most recent thoughts and feelings are. It's been a long while since I've consistently had the chance to update my Blog. That's mainly due to this long and arduous manuscript that I had to write and hand in on December 8th. My paper ended up being 58 pages long and took an enormous amount of time for me to complete. I wrote this manuscript b/c I have been assigned (along with 7 other English teachers) to train approx. 50 Korean Middle School English teachers. The main purpose of the 5 week Winter Camp is to help enable these teachers to gain confidence and practical skills with their English speaking ability. We will be training with them from 9am-8/9pm Mon-Fri in Changwon (the capitol of my Province). They put all of us up in a dormitory, feed us, and pay us an extremely nice salary above & beyond what we are currently getting paid to teach English regularly. So all the is work and preparation is definitely worth it.

Stay tuned for more updates from Winter Camp in Changwon which starts on Wednesday January 2nd and runs until January 31st.

Good Night & God Bless one & all with the BEST & BRIGHTEST year ever!!!

With Purpose & Passion,

Darren