Has It Been Two Months Already?

It's the time of the semester when things start to snowball, a busy week turns into a busy month, and the next thing you know you're grading finals. You start living for the weekends, and the weeks become a blur.

I had my first day of midterm interviews today. Each student sat down for around five minutes and we had a conversation as best we could, depending on their English skills. My better students did as expected, they knew their stuff, and you can have an honest conversation with them without worrying about if they used any possessive pronouns or whatever. The other students who aren't as proficient in English, well...not so much....but God bless 'em they try hard. On one hand, this is my favorite part of my job. I get to talk to my students in a way that doesn't happen in class, especially with the more quiet ones. Talking about Starcraft, arguing about who the hottest girl in Girl's Generation is ("You like Sunny?" *fist bump), busting chops, or just getting to know them in general - it's good times. But on the other hand, we're having these conversations for a reason, to give them a grade. That part sucks, and unfortunately, there's no one to take the heat and play bad cop for me. There are just some students that I cannot, in good conscience, give anything resembling a passing grade to. How do you look a trembling, watery-eyed Korean girl in the eyes and say "I know you tried your best, but today....that's not good enough." ?

For some reason, in Busan there are a lot of Russians...real Russians. I didn't really have any preconceptions about them before coming to Korea, except for the whole commie thing, the women were supposed to be good looking, and jokingly, that the men all wore blue and white horizontal striped shirts. Turns out, I was only right about one of these, well, maybe two. I have yet to see an attractive Russian woman (Seriously, who started that rumor? They don't hold a candle to the Dutch, let alone the Koreans), and I can't verify their political affiliation; they're not exactly sporting hammer and sickle tattoos. BUT, I swear, at least one in every group I've seen is wearing a blue/white striped shirt. I'm not even exaggerating, it's nuts. Also, they're built like tanks, it looks like they've been hauling around anchor chains their whole lives. The combination reminds me of Kirk Douglas in 20k Leagues under the sea, had he been on steroids. I get quite a few laughs out of it.

The weather is getting colder, and I'm sleeping better every night. I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't wake up until 10:30 Saturday morning...which I haven't been able to do since getting here. OK, so maybe it was more just laying in bed drifting in and out of consciousness than full sleep, but you take what you can get. I did have a dream that I was Iron Man, the second this week oddly enough, except I was loosing my powers, which also happened in the last dream, and has been a recurring theme in many dreams for as long as I can remember....

I've been listening to "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" by Brand New quite a bit lately. It is dark, passionate, subtle, sonically violent at times, complex, original, and just plain amazing. I don't like to deal in absolutes, so I won't say it's my favorite album of all time, but it's at least in the top 5. Also, The Smiths, and Brian Fallon (do yourself a favor and click on the link).

"If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody."
-Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye

Now Listening To:
"The Blues, Mary"
Brian Fallon