Miss H's weaselly hagwon

I sure picked the wrong time to try and revamp my vlog. 

It seemed safe to expect things to calm down now that it's the end of the semester. They always do. Once the frenetic rush of grading and inputting is finished, events taper off. There's half a week where students are allowed to complain about their grades and plead on bended knee for clemency, and then the grades are finalized and printed and handed in. (I just did that today, as a matter of fact.) Then, after that...nothing. If you don't have summer classes, you're a free man for two whole months. From July 2 (the end of the finalization period) until the first Monday in September, it's vacation time. 

Customarily, things calm the heck down during that period. 

But not for us. Oh no. We lead a charmed life, Miss H and I. Just a scant two weeks before I leave for Vietnam, my fiancée's school decided to pull the rug out from under us. They asked us to move out of our apartment.

I know, right? 

We were shocked, of course. We've been here a scant four months. Moreover the whole reason Miss H signed a contract with this school is so we could have this huge apartment all to ourselves. That was the agreement. Now all of a sudden the school says "You have one month to move out"? Oh no they didn't!

So we went in and talked to Miss H's immediate supervisors in person last week. They backpedaled and clarified, assuring us that they wouldn't revoke our housing completely; this was simply an expensive apartment, too expensive to have just one teacher and her pseudo-spouse living in it. They'd provide key money and rent for any other apartment, as long as said rent was ₩400,000 per month or less. According to the contract they'd signed with Miss H, they were legally obligated to do at least that much. 

There wasn't much more we could do but agree to that. I'm the moocher here. I don't work for Miss H's school, and was allowed to stay with her in this apartment for no extra money down. But it just wasn't fair of the school to kick our stilts out from under us out of the blue like this. 

Miss H and I quickly decided that there was no way we could find a new apartment, rent it, pack up this apartment, and move everything we owned in the scant ten days remaining before I departed for Vietnam. It just wasn't happening. So we went into meet her supervisors again just a couple of days later and asked them if we could stay in this apartment if I forked over my share of the rent. The supervisors told us that our place costs ₩800,000 per month for the school to rent, and I'd need to stump up half. After a little hemming and hawing and a halfhearted attempt at bargaining, I acquiesced.

But now I'm rethinking even that. If I shell out ₩400,000 per month (roughly $400), that's almost three thousand dollars I'll lose by March 2015—for no reason at all. It's money which should be used to make a security deposit on a stateside apartment, buy a car, and acquire miscellaneous housewares. Miss H and I got it in writing that no one else would be billeted with us in this place, but unfortunately we never secured the school's assurance that we'd never be charged extra rent or made to move out. The school's got us over a barrel. 

I wasn't finished yet, though. On Thursday I marched to the Itaewon Global Village Center, which is on the same floor in the same building as the international clinic where I got my travel vaccinations two weeks ago. The Global Village Center, according to its own website, "offers a variety of services to support foreigners living in the area, and we have classes and programs that help to facilitate cultural exchange and understanding between foreigners and Koreans residents." Among those services is free legal consultation. I made an appointment at 10:00 AM on Tuesday the 8th to see a lawyer. 

Here's what he said: there's nothing in the contract to prevent the school from charging us extra for this apartment. They only agreed to let this apartment to the two of us exclusively. As the lawyer put it, "It was a favor, not a promise." However, there was one spot of hope: if we had a witness to corroborate the school's agreement to let us live here at no extra charge, then we'd have a case. He advised us to get in touch with Miss H's recruiter and obtain her testimony, which I thought was a good idea. I'll keep you posted on what comes next, but...

All this would be hard enough to deal with if I wasn't leaving for Southeast Asia on July 12. That sure complicates things. It's really put the pressure on both of us. But Miss H and I really don't want to move. It's costly, it's a lot of effort, and frankly, we feel that we were promised this apartment and shouldn't have to abandon it because Miss H's school is worried about the bottom line. Moreover, after what we went through in Gwangnaru (living side-by-side in a studio apartment and sharing a twin bed and all that nonsense) we feel that we're owed a nice big apartment for our final year here in Korea. 

And now you've heard the whole story. The fight's not over yet. I'm not going to pay those crooks a single won if I can avoid it. Stay tuned. 

upcoming jaunts in 2014

Good morning, hangers-on! And ain't it a fine April day? The sun is shining, the kkachi (magpies) are screeching love songs, the yellow dust is nearly gone, one of my students told me I've lost weight and I'm almost over the 24-hour bug I caught. Time to plan some trips.



So I went through the Korean calendar and I found out that 2014 is the year of three-day weekends. Here's a list I compiled of holidays (and the potential trips which might accompany them). I might not be traveling overseas for every little break I've got here, but it's intoxicating to contemplate the possibilities. So here you go:

1. May 3-7 (Children’s Day, Buddha’s Birthday): nothing planned, as it's probably too late; though I might see if there's a last-minute deal for Taiwan or something, just for me. I have five days, but Miss H and Miss J have four. Ha-ha. [blows raspberry]

2. June 6-8 (Memorial Day): Miss H and I were thinking about Jeju Island. We need to jump on the web tonight and book tickets NOW, though.

3. July 12-August 10 (my summer vacation): my big trip. I've shelved Mongolia for the moment, as it seems all the good stuff there is really far apart and requires guides and prepaid tours to access. I'll have to save that for later. But I'm still going to do Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and whatever country Miss H and I decide to visit for...

4. August 2-10 (Miss H's summer vacation): she and I still need to work this out. And fast. Hong Kong might be too small to sustain a week-long trip, so we're thinking Japan—Kyushu and southern Honshu. We could see Miyajima (its sacred torii gate which seems to float upon the water at high tide); Kyoto; Nara (Japan's ancient capital); Hiroshima; Nagasaki; Kagoshima (known as "the Naples of Japan" for its smoking volcano, tropical climate and hot-tempered locals) and other stuff. Yeah, I like that idea. Maybe we could even visit a hot spring and Miss H could sample her first capsule hotel. It'll be my third trip to Japan, but there's still so much I haven't seen.

5. August 15-17 (Liberation Day): another three-day weekend. Might have to be used for a rest period, understandably. But if Miss J's summer vacation lines up with it...that's a different story. Hong Kong anyone?

6. September 6-9 (Chuseok): four days. Always tricky to travel over Chuseok, as that's precisely what the other umpteen million Koreans (and a lot of Chinese folks as well) are doing. But we'll figure it out. Someplace tropical, we're thinking.

7. October 3-5 (National Foundation Day): another three-day weekend.

8. February 18-22 (Seolnar): a full five days! We gotta do something! 

After February 2015, of course, Miss H and I will head back to the U.S.A. (most likely Las Vegas or Tuscon), settle down, and embark upon our careers and family lives. I won't hang up my travelin' boots, though. I hope to pull in enough money from my writing to take time off and globe-trot some more. Miss H and I still haven't seen Europe, and I've got some trekking in South America and some safariing in Africa to do yet. I still need to ride trains through Canada and Australia and Russia and India, too.

But this'll do for right now.

30 Days to a Better Man, Day 24: play!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, right? Especially if Jack's a writer.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull b--

I should probably stop before you get freaked out.

Anyway, today's challenge is to play. Thirty minutes of pure, unadulterated fun time. Yes, I know that's not really specific. But that's the point. There are many different types of "play." You can do anything you want, as long as it isn't video games. I really like what the AoM article says. "Keep in mind that some of the best play involves novelty, curiosity, and most of all, exploration, whether of the limits of your body, new physical locations, or the corners of your mind." You should stretch a point and do something creative. Build a model, go bouldering, shoot pool, ride your bike, challenge your buddies to a pick-up game of basketball, bust out that jigsaw puzzle, go exploring, whatevs. You just have to make sure that you're doing it for no other reason than fun. The point of the activity is the activity itself. It's time to let go of all those manly responsibilities and have some fun. 

I kind of wish I'd done this challenge in summer. It's hard to get into the mood to play when it's cloudy, slushy, and drippy outside. I have a quick errand to run at Sejong University and then I'm a free man after lunch. I have this whole wide city to play in and I can't decide what to do. I really want to do something outside this jail cell of an apartment, I know that much. I had originally planned to hop a train down to Suwon and see Hwaseong Fortress, but it'd look so dreary in this weather.

Okay.

I have an idea.

I'll pick a section of Seoul I haven't properly explored yet and go explore it. Yeouido Island might be a likely place to start. It's a big island that sticks out from the southern shore of the Han River. "Island" is a liberal term; only a tiny, muddy, meter-wide strip of water separates it from the rest of the peninsula. I've been there a few times before; I really love the park this time of year, and the 63 Building is pricey but has one of the best views of Seoul. I've never taken the time to stroll around and see anything else, though, particularly the National Assembly. I won't go in for the guided tour (you must make reservations three days in advance), but I can at least see the façade, the visitor's center and the extensive lawns out front. It's been a while since I went exploring for exploring's sake. I'll find myself a little mom-and-pop shop afterward and snack on gimbap, ramyeon or bibimbap, and then sit in a coffee shop with a view of the river and read Paul Theroux's Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. Sounds like a nice play-day.

Play along for Day 25.

Noshember (No-Shave November)

I'm participating, in case you didn't know. I'm going to try and grow myself a full beard. Never done that before. I got pretty close last spring, when I was looking at the cherry blossoms in Jamsil:

Then I shaved most of that horrid thing off and cultivated a sort of Gordon Freeman-esque Van Dyke for the intervening summer and autumn:

When November rolled around, I put my razor to bed. In the past few weeks, I've sprouted a bit. You saw how scruffy I looked when I went to Namiseom:

But get this: I'm not going to shave when we reach December. I'm going to keep going through January and possibly February. I'm going to grow this baby out. It took me two months to achieve that Van Dyke; now I'm going to see what four months can do to my entire face.

Hopefully this:

Say whatever you like about Robert Redford, he can grow himself a beardly beard.

Jeremiah Johnson-style. Yeah. Now we're cooking with gas. That's what I'm aiming for. By the time I tromp back to Korea from Hokkaido, Australia, and New Zealand (latest addition to the itinerary), I wanna be sporting a full beard.

Wish me luck...

cocktail review no. 72 - Gin Rickey

Okay, let's step away from vodka for a moment. I'll use the last of that godawful cheap bottle from Bucheon in my special penne-with-tomato-and-vodka sauce later this week. Then it'll be gone and I'll just have the lovely, quality Parliament-brand vodka that I got in the Russian quarter near Dongdaemun. I have nearly a full bottle of Gordon's, so it's time for some gin recipes.

The rickey was wildly popular back in the day, you know. It was invented in the 1880s, reached the height of its popularity just after the turn of the century, and remained prevalent enough into the 1920s that it was mentioned in several prominent works of literature, most notably The Great Gatsby. That means that F. Scott Fitzgerald knew about this drink, and likely drank a few. Awesomeness by association? Here you are.

But let's talk about the drink itself. Where'd the name "rickey" come from? And why are there so many variations?

Well, I'll tell you: drinks with names like "rickey," "flip," "crusta," and "sour" are actually written in code. "Rickey" is a codeword for a specific cocktail recipe, where the only variation is the spirit. The rest is just stock ingredients. There are gin rickeys, whiskey rickeys, rum rickeys, vodka rickeys, and bourbon rickeys.

In fact, the original rickey was made with bourbon: the Joe Rickey.

From Wikipedia:

In 1883, Colonel Joe Rickey was purported to have invented the "Joe Rickey," after a bartender at Shoomaker's in Washington, D.C. added a lime to his "mornin's morning," a daily dose of Bourbon with lump ice and Apollinaris sparkling mineral water. Some stories place the exact day as a Monday after Col. Joe Rickey celebrated his wager with a Philadelphian on the successful ascension of John G. Carlisle to Speaker of the House. Col. Joe Rickey was known as a "gentleman gambler" and placed many bets on the outcome of various political contests.

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Now, the gin rickey:

• 2 ounces desired liquor (in this case, gin)
• 5 ounces club soda (or mineral water, if you so desire)
• 1 lime wedge

Pour the liquor and club soda into a highball glass almost filled with ice cubes. Stir well and garnish with the lime wedge.

A few quick things before I get to my review.

Firstly, don't mix up highball glasses and rocks glasses (also called lowball glasses or old fashioned glasses). Capisce?

Second, if you live in a benighted, uncivilized country like South Korea that hasn't the faintest clue what a lime is, then you can just do like me and squirt some lime juice into the drink and call it even.

My diagnosis:

My goodness, I thought gin-and-tonics were refreshing and summery! The gin rickey blows every light, fizzy highball I've ever had right out of the water. It's easily the most cool, frosty, smooth and stomach-settling cocktail I've ever had.The mineral water does wonders for indigestion, the gin gives your head that pleasant, warm, humming feeling, and the hint of lime rounds the whole effect out. If you need to cool off, cool down, kick back or chill out, this here's your drink. And it takes roughly ten seconds to make.

You're welcome.

IT'S SUMMER!