Seen in Dongdaemun today - 3000 won.

You couldn’t pay me to wear this shirt…

My first week back at work was yesterday, and what an easy day it was.  Our classes officially start this week (a week earlier than other universities across the country), but all the classes aren’t fully up and running yet.  My conversation classes start this week, next week the kids classes begin, and the week after that, my speaking labs.  So, my truncated schedule this week is as follows: Monday and Thursday, 9:00-noon.  That leaves me with quite a bit of free time, so tomorrow, I’m going to Caribbean Bay.  It’s one of the most famous water parks in Korea, but I’ve never been.  Ras, Reardon, Barbara, and I will be leaving early, since the park opens at 9:30am.  For 55,000 won (~$55 USD) a ticket, we want to get our money’s worth.  Hopefully, the weather will produce more sun than clouds.

I think we’ll have a good time tomorrow, especially since Danny the intern loves it so much himself!

I enjoyed reading this post by Brendan Carr, who’s a lawyer in Seoul.  To summarize, he has a message for English teachers who call him up in the evening, complaining about their hagwon boss: “You can’t afford my legal services, so please stop imposing on my free time.”  I feel bad for him because I can image how many people are contacting him, wondering what to do about their horrible employer.

He gives a different link for people seeking legal advice.  I definitely agree with this:

And finally, have enough money available to walk if you need to. Do not come 5000 miles around the world, to a foreign country, without a cash-advanceable credit card that has about $3500 in available credit on it—so you can have a place to stay, meals to eat, and a return ticket home if you’re screwed over by the hagwon. I get a lot of Friday night calls from desperate hagwon instructors looking for a white knight to intervene and restore order to the world by Monday morning, because the instructor doesn’t have enough money for Cup o’Noodles. And the sad fact is, the legal system doesn’t work with instant remedies, if any remedy is available at all. So there’s nothing I can do for these poor, benighted people.

I can’t believe people would come to a foreign country and not have any way to leave, if a bad situation should come up.

I wanted to post some pictures from our bowling night in Suwon, which was almost 3 weeks ago.  This was also the first weekend that Ras got back from the States.

While bowling, whenever anyone got a strike, he/she had to do a little dance.  I think I danced twice, and the number one dancer was probably Eddie.  Ras has been enjoying bowling lately and wants to start a bowling night this fall.

Here’s a video of us sitting down for dinner, with a guest appearance by Ms. Lee Hyori herself.

Most of the pictures below are from The Crazy Duck bar in Suwon.

Ras and I brought our umbrella out during Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

The guys were crazy.