This post may be eclectic

I don't really have an interesting story to tell (not that I ever do), or something bizarre/troubling to report, these are just a few things that popped into my mind a coupla minutes ago before I sat down here and which I thought were blog-worthy.

Jason (my boss, my enemy [not really...but there's some antagonism going on...maybe it's b/c I have to fight him to get the power turned on in my apartment]) took me, AJ, and Drew to go sign up for our Alien Registration Card today. I just call it the 'alien card' coz it sounds cooler. Anyway, nothing exciting to report there, but on the way back I saw a billboard on the side of the highway which asked 'Are you gentle?' Whaddya think they were selling?

a)hand lotion
b)Singapore Airlines
c)a new SUV called the Gentra
d)a new slot-casino place

Answer at the end.

Today was Thursday, which meant I only had two afternoon classes. My later class only has five kids in it, and they're at about the 2nd or 3rd grade age back home. They're reasonably communicative but 3 of the 5 are pretty dang shy and things can be a bit rough. Anyway, when I came into class today the talkative pair were still chirping about what we did last session, on Tuesday.

Tuesday was supposed to be what we at SLP call a 'Storybook day,' which I think if you translate into 'Korea' (as everyone here says) means something like '40 minutes of bullshitting.' Anyway basically we (I) read a story for the class period and ask the kids questions about it, come up with games to play, yadda yadda.

Well on Tuesday I went up to class and thought I was prepared with the right book, and then realized as I walked through the door that I had grabbed the wrong thing. The owners and administrators frown on us leaving the classroom after we've entered and the cameras that monitor us make me inclined to obey, so I didn't want to go back downstairs and search for the right thing.

'Ok,' I thought. 'I'll just come up with something better, where the kids can use their own imagination and learn a little English.'

Bad idea.

You see, I asked the kids to write a story about a picture that was in their book. The pic was of a bunch of white kids swimming in the pool. I asked my bunch to imagine that there was something dangerous lurking underneath the water like an alligator or a dinosaur, and to write their own story about what would happen.

The three dummies had no fucking clue what I was asking, but the other two came up with reasonably decent stories, although they copied from one another a lot. I'll reprint the better one here, and also the story that I wrote to try and demonstrate to the kids what I wanted them to do. First, Jung-Won's story:

the wayne swem in pool the alligator fight the wayne wayne win alligator sad Jung-Won fight the wayne and win wayne mother fight the Jung-Won and the Jung-Won win and mother sad Jung-Won king!

Pretty compelling stuff, right? Michael Crichton, watch your back. My story:

Wayne was swimming in the pool and he saw an alligator eating Kahn-Young. Wayne fought the alligator and killed it but Kahn-Young was already dead. Then Jung-Won wanted to fight Wayne and they did. Wayne won, and Jung-Won cried like a baby. Then Wayne won the lottery and married Miss America. The End.

What else, what else...

I am running seriously low on funds, but payday is Monday.

I got my first package from back home last week. It was filled with homemade cookies, deodorant, and a coupla hats. Thanx, mom + dad.

I filled out report cards for the first time last week. It was nice and empowering to be on the other end of that experience, though I still couldn't say all that I wanted...SLP wants us to shy away from the 'your daughter is a complete and utter cunt who'll never amount to shit' kind of comments.

Someone pointed out to me where a dog restaurant is near my school. I'm gonna definitely try and hit that up soon. The Korean woman who told me about it was shocked when I said I wanted to try it, but it's like...I didn't come this far to NOT do new things. BTW, what did I have for dinner tonight? Something from McDonald's...

Answer:C