Holiday break around the corner...

This time of year we planned to head to India to meet family, and have a good time. Instead due to some unexpected expenses (Transmission failure) we will stay in Korea. My friend wants to head to Muju and go skiing. Maybe we will go. I have been feeling a bit tired, and waiting in long lines to down a hill a couple of times...dealing heavy traffic in snowy conditions...ugh.

So I am leaning towards setting a another desktop for the boys, and installing some games, movies, and documentaries on it. They will have a blast with it. George wants to become a streamer so perhaps this could be his first rig. We will see..

Yogita is enjoying her time blogging, and teaching the boys. George is getting taller and some of the girls at apple like him a lot. Jeyo is well Jeyo having a good time and well...being Jeyo.

This world is going to nuts though....today a guy drove a truck into a crowd of people in Berlin. Also the Russian Ambassador was blown away giving a speech on live tv! 

Ugh... time to go!

/tata

Flu season...

Well we are in the midst of another flu season. I remember in 2012 we spent the winter in Lucknow India. I thought I was immune to catching the flu. It was funny to see people bundling up in weather that by my own standards seemed so mild. Yet I did get sick...for all of 18 hours. Then Yogita and Jeyo started coming down the bug. Jeyo at that time was being spoiled by my mother in law. So he was quite then and very picky. When he got sick it knocked him on his ass...totally. Lets just now he eats EVERYTHING, and this flu season like the last few in Korea he will recover quickly. Yogita had some terrible congestion, requiring inhalations of medicine.

So here we are..Yogita is congested again...using hot showers to loosen mucous in her lungs. She is basically out of the woods..just coughing a lot and needed a lot of rest. Me...I am fine. I fell sick for a very short period of time. Well we will have to see....

/tata

Three minutes till class

Today I met our new teacher. He is a nice guy, and has been to many places. I am sure he has a lot interesting stories to tell. I think he will do just nicely.
In other news...I upgraded my gpu...to a gtx 770. It is so nice. First before I even get to performance...it runs so much cooler than the GTX 560 ti. I think this is due to much better cooler with a triple fan set up. Also it runs very quietly on auto. If I need extra cooling it does get loud but....I love the sounds of my fans running.

The GTX 770 runs games very smoothly with no drop in frame rates. I tested it with Witcher 3, world of warships, and warthunder. Next I want to test it running Archage. In that game my gtx 560 ti ran very hot, and dropped frames like crazy in the big cities. Lets see what the GTX 770 can do. Also it has 2 gigs of DDR5 ram as well.

Let the testing continue...class time!!

/tata

Equus come back!!!

We got the car towed yesterday. My buddy (mechanic who is running his own shop) told the damage...to my wallet er bank account would be 950000 won. Ok this number looks awesome!! Considering what I had to pay for the Enterprise when the tranny went bad. That car I payed about 1.1million won...just for a tranny rebuild. This time around I am getting not only a tranny rebuild, I'm getting a new radiator as well. Oh and he is going to recharge my battery as well. I might have to buy a new battery anyway...perhaps in December when I get new tires.

So my Equus is coming back this Thursday...it will be nice to not have those...long moments commuting. Soon it will be leave work at 8 or 9...get home at 8:30 or 9:30.....sweet!

/tata

Living without a car...

It is kind of strange cause I have lived with a car for many years. I guess this time working in a city 30kms away makes  a big difference. On thing that I noticed...I eat less. I just don't have appetite when I need get that next bus, or I am thinking about taking a taxi, or a bus.

Life has more periods of...nothing. In my car I get home in 30 minutes, sometimes 35. At the end of that time period boom I am with my family. The familiar sounds, and smells of home around me. Public transport can not run like that. Well especially in our neck of the woods. In Seoul I am sure our car would collect dust, and I would disconnect the battery.

So I have plenty of...nothing time. Time between moments. Josh has helped me out A LOT in this regard. I have been crashing at his practically all of last week. Well most days I was staying over. That helped tremendously. Now my car will get repaired soon, and I will go back to the old routine. Kinda...weird living with a car...but kinda nice too...

/tata

Car repairs....it is that time again..

Well it has been several days since my car's transmission went bad. We will take the car in and have it fixed....it happens. It sucks not have wheels in this part of South Korea. We do not have the subway, numerous bus routes that Seoul and other large cities have. It isn't that it is needed in rural areas, it makes life much easier.

I now know which bus routes can take me practically right to my doorstep. I actually felt quite apprehensive taking the bus. After taking the bus yesterday...I feel like I can do it any day of the week.

Yesterday I crashed at Josh's place. It was nice we basically hung out drank, and finally went to bed. I think tonight we might drink more...so my liver will get a nice workout, while I will sleep like a log. I do miss Yogita ALOT but it is nice not having to take bus after bus. A very odd week. My poor little lady could not get to sleep so easily.

Ah...time to go...the rat race continues!!!


/tata

Getting colder....

Well winter is fast approaching and...it seems my transmission might not make it. So that means likely I will have to go to my friend. He told me I can pay off the repairs over 3 or 4 months. It will cost 1200 bucks including new radiator, transmission rebuild, and a transmission cooler. Ugh but if I can pay 400 bucks over 3 months...no biggie.

Yogita visited Apple last week, she had a wonderful time...so did I. Looks like we will head to Gwangju to buy some upgrades, or at least discuss some options. I will not make a purchase of high end gear at this time. So basically I looking to meet a contact who I can purchase from. Especially when the time comes to leave South Korea. I really do not want to buy high end gear in India. I would be paying waaay too much.

On a very positive note my morning class (I would teach that class then drive to Iksan), has ended. Finally I will have free time. One of the students....she cracks me up, English is like a religion to her. Anytime a persons free time is taking up with studying a language...and they do not enjoy this...needs to get a new hobby...for real!!

Ok time to run

/tata

A light at the end of the tunnel...

Oh well...looks like I made a big boo boo today as well. Turns out one class did not take my test yesterday. My co-teacher and I totally over looked it. Crud.....so I had to jungle 2 classes to take care of the situation. Looks like tomorrow morning I will be grading another batch of papers...

Also tomorrow we will have a team building even putting decorations for the party we are going have on Friday. Ugh.....but....I love it!!!! It seems I will also have to reform my messy ways. My desk looks like a family of rats are living in the drawers. So clean up will take place tomorrow.

/tata

Testing day two...

So this morning was interesting...my former boss who I am helping out wanted to talk to me. I am hoping that is means that she is finally shutting down my morning class. I am so about to quit. I want to focus on Apple. I love working here, the students, and more importantly my coworkers. Namely Josh. It is rare to meet good people who you then have to work with.

Testing is going well...I will try to streamline my "test marking", so that I can finish in good time. Either way I will likely leave for Gunsan at around midnight. Driving back at that time is soo....weird. The roads are so empty.

Anyways I gotta go..one more little person to test in the first batch.

/tata

Testing at Apple WOOOOHOOOO

Wow it was a crazy but busy day so far. Every 2 months we have testing, mid term, and the final. This comes with a rush of people working together to prepare test sheets, grade them, and finally place students according to the results. In addition new texts are chosen as well. So it looks like tomorrow will be a long day.

I don't mind at all. I enjoy the busy work. I feel that this can help me develop better organisational skills. Well....times does fly during weeks like this.

We have one co-worker....ugh. Anyways time to burn a CD!

/tata

Kotesol / 16th honeymoon

Well well it has been too long since I have posted here. I think an update is needed. I am still working in Iksan, and commuting from Gunsan. The boys are well, and getting bigger. Yogita is also doing well.

Just 2 days ago Yogita I planned to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. However, we were attending a Kotesol conference. So here and there we snuck out for a coffee with Josh. It was nice. The conference was very informative. Josh and I were able to pick up a writing textbook for our classes.

In the evening we all went out Josh, Yogita, and I to some of his favorite haunts. Wow, it really brought back a load of memories. I wonder if Josh noticed the faraway look in our eyes. Seoul is such a dynamic city, it is always changing and evolving at a breakneck pace.

We had this waitress who well....gave us quite a show. Later two of my bosses young relatives showed up and we played some games. It was loads of fun, and extremely tiring. Yogita and I are going to take regular trips to Seoul with and with out the boys.

I guess the next thing on our radar is our trip to India in the winter.

/tata

Vacation...over! (late post this was early August)

Well it was awesome...9  days of bliss. Actually the last 3 days I was sick. I am still feeling yucky.
We drove up to Seok-cho had a great time. We did not stay in the resort but we explored all around Seok-cho. The highlights of the trip would be the cable car ride, and the cookouts we had in the evening. I even introduced vodka instead of soju.

Soju widely drank in South Korea, and most Koreans when they think of drinking adult beverages soju and beer come to mind. Well my best friend and his wife surprised me! They loved the vodka cocktails Yogita served.

It was a great time....need to recover now...

/tata

 

That time of year...again

Well Chu-sok is right around the corner and we are once again trying to figure out what we should do. This summer we had a blast. We went to Seok cho with my best friends family. This was amazing because usually he doesn't like traveling far from Gunsan. We had a very nice time grilling food at night, chilling on the beach. I rented the new sonanta sedan....boring. My friends taurus looked damned sexy.

And...now we are at that time year again....what should we do? We are leaning towards camping. We have gone camping twice this year. I need to up that number. Working in Iksan has been a lot of fun, even rapped a little bit at the last story telling contest.

Just some random pictures from 2014....

So...we shall see...and I will update this blog more frequently...

/tata

Muggy muggy days of summer.

Ugh I hate these muggy days. I got a some intestinal cramping thanks to this warm muggy weather. Working in Iksan has been very nice. However, it would be nice if I had a place to chill on days like this when I have a long break. I could run home take shower, or....take care of intestinal issues in the privacy of home.

Of course this heat pales in comparison to what I experienced in India. Strangely though I get more intestinal issues in Korea, I wonder why that is.

Time for some updates...it has been too long since I have written in this blog! This weekend we will help Josh move. Yogita has joined me in playing a smartphone game called Kritika, she just hit level 70 today. The boys got some new legos that they are having fun with, pictures are posted on facebook. Our vacation is coming up and for the first time...we are getting one week off!!!

A tough week ahead

It is at the end of the semester here at Apple, so that means testing, and student placement for the next term. Monday, and Tuesday we will be testing, and holding meetings until 11pm maybe even later. I know for a fact that once we are done...I will feel so good!!!

I need to chill and enjoy the fact that it IS Friday today, Yogita and I will go out on a date ( I LOVE OUR DATES), and have a good time with the boys tomorrow. It is just at the back of my mind....argh!!

We saw the new X-men movie....it was...ok, great acting but...I get confused with the apocalyse, and onslaught story line. So I will re-read the comics then watch the movie again later. We also watched Warcarft, a CGI heavy movie but very very good. The ending seems to allude to more to come!

If you know Warcraft then you should know starcraft, that as a movie would be epic!!

Last week on Friday Yogita came to Iksan, and we had a nice time...no LAN party. It was nice, could have been nicer if a certain person didn't bring a lot of negativity, that I took it on myself to defuse.

Ok I have 11 minutes to make sure my prep from yesterday is on point!

/tata

A couple of days at the beach...

We tried our best to head out earlier than we did last holiday. Even still...EVERY CAMPSITE was packed. Even though the weather was not the best, it was drizzling for a few hours, people came out in droves. One site the man said they had space for small tents....which really wasn't an option for us. The small tents are great on the beach, but if your spending all day and overnight, you're going to need a bigger tent. 

So instead of stuffing our gear into an over crowded campsite, we headed to a hotel. It was not far from the beach, so we set up our smaller green tent and relaxed all day on the beach. It was very relaxing. The boys made new friends, they were from Ulsan which is very far from the west coast. 

Our friend Lobo along with his dag Tito traveled with us. We had an awesome time. Kicking back on beach soaking up some rays, playing in the water, it was great. 

Like I mentioned the boys made new friends. They spent hours playing games (ipad, andriod tablet, and smart phones), they also played with fire crackers as well.

/tata

Perhaps a return to Iksan is needed?

Yeah so it looks like Yogi and I will return to Iksan and have some drinks with Josh, and Jon. I am enjoying where I am at right now. Where I am is so similar to my previous work place. We did many similar things, hung out with each other, helped each other out as much as possible. It was a very positive place for the most part. It is why I am a bit nervous about the new people who might be coming in the near future. Basically we have a very nice harmony right now, and it can take one bad egg to stink things up. We once had a teacher, who would come to class practically drunk. Her excuse? She was drinking with students from her evening class, so it should be fine with the boss.

UGH!!! The same teacher would literally fall apart when she received any form of criticism. She would cry and cry. It was a mess!!! So I am very happy right now..but...I am worried. Some people should never work in a foreign country.

/tata

Long time ...no camping...

The last few posts I mentioned that we would be going camping. Well we didn't...we just relaxed at home. Well this week we are going to camping....FOR REAL. It will be the second the camping trip for this year.

We plan on grilling some burgers, and hot dogs, and the usual pork belly, and pork shoulder that is quite ubiquitous here in South Korea. I am hoping we can get our hands on some cheap beef. I want to sear chunks of beef over the fire....and eat it medium rare! YUMMY.
I will be buying what Josh has named the BEAST. Erm...Josh is my coworker at Apple Academy where I work. He is a great guy, and I hope we can have a LAN party next week on Friday.

Ok...time for class gotta run!!

/tata

It's heating up!

So according to the news this summer will be a very hot one. I feel kinda bad because we had time to prepare and buy a air conditioner on the cheap. That is we should have bought one in the winter...very nice deals. NOW...we have moved to a new apartment, and now it looks like this summer will be a baking hot one.

It looks like it is time to browse Gmarket, an online shopping mall. Gotta escape the heat!!!

/tata

Friday....

Wow this week flew by. It started kind of normal, then once Wednesday was over...it seems my week is over. We are waiting on 2 new teachers, I am stoked because then the workload will lighten up on our lead teacher Josh. Today thought I would be hanging out in Iksan. Lets just say vodka not only relaxes, it can dull your senses,,,especially after a long day.

So next week we will have a good time together...in GUNSAN!! Actually, Iksan has more to do....it will be nice to show Josh, and Juan where Yogita and I hang out.

I got a new laptop...this baby is fully modular, with dual graphics (on board, and a dedicated card). I even have a back up motherboard!! Usually when the motherboard goes on a laptop...it is the end of the road. Not this time! Oh and the motherboard has the cpu on it! Basically I have the bare bones of a laptop...meaning I could buy a broken m11 x r2 laptop pop this motherboard in, and I will ready to go!

It has a dual core intel i7 640 with hyperthreading which means each cpu can handle 2 threads each....it is like having 4 cores.

I hope Josh sells his monster Alienware I will grab that one up too. DUAL GTX 970's!!!!!!!

Ok Yogita will be ready soon

Oh yeah...camping tomorrow!!

/tata

What time we had!

Well last week was a blast. I really need to rush to get this out cause I have a class in 12 minutes. First, Yogita met Josh, and Juan. We went to nice pizza place and had a good time. Afterwards I learned more about Josh...the dude is famous!!! He has a book autographed by Anthony Bourdain. WHAT??    

Wow, and he plays the guitar really well! I have to say my brains got fried and bits and pieces are missing. Apparently I was singing Chasing Cars with Yogita. I remember listening to the music...crap I think I was singing in my head...well I guess I thought that was what I was doing..

The next day still recovering from Soju induced brain damage we went camping. The camping went really well, and Yogita and I posted pictures on facebook. It got really windy and blew half of the tent down. Bo, another friend who works in Gunsan, came up with a great idea. We used my car as a sort of wind breaker, as well as tying the poles to the rims. 
No more collapsing tent after that! Wow what time we had. We slept the rest of Saturday, and Sunday seemed to pass in a blur. 

Hey hey I got 4 minutes left! 

/tata

Long day ahead!

Well it is going to be a long day tomorrow. It isn't like I am not used to long days. Split shifts are killer, especially when your first class begins at 6:30 am, and you heading home at 10pm. I am covering for another teacher taking his late class. I am doing it for him because I have been in that situation before. Let me explain, basically he needs to catch a train at a certain time to travel with his girl friend. I have been in that same boat, where it would have been nice if I could have left earlier if someone covered for me. I kinda felt bad for him. He will buy me a burger king burger next week.....YES!!! I will skip breakfast that day!

So now I am about to finish up some paperwork, I am mentally preparing myself for tomorrow. I am very excited as well, Yogita will come to Iksan and meet up with me, and along with Josh we will go out on the town!

So...lets get it done!!!

/tata

Getting ready!

Last Friday we made plans to go camping for two days. My major concern is getting to the area early enough to secure a good spot. The location is the same place we went late summer last year. The campsite is very close to the beach, and I can park my car right next to our site. We will grill some of the usual fare: pork shoulder, and pork belly. We plan to go into town and buy some fresh seafood as well. Chun-jang-dae beach isn't far from Gunsan only 25 kilometers or so, and there is a small town not 5 km's away. If we need to get some additional supplies we can hop in the car, and get what we need. 

I am sure the boys are very excited about this trip. Usually, we only go camping overnight. Early the next day we pack up, and head home. Not this time! We will start for the site as early as possible, secure a spot. Then...it is ours for 2 days!!! I think it is 25,000 a day, plus 5000 a day for electricity. We will be going with our friend Bo, and I will invite Sun to come along as well. 

Oh well work calls..gotta complete those comments!!

/tata

A bit of a breather

Well everyday on Tuesday we have a staff meeting. At this meeting I found that I have one more week complete work that is about 80% complete at this time...awesome! However, our new teacher was absent from the meeting....it is a funny story why...but it doesn't belong here, unless I get his permission.

So next week we have a short week, and we have more time to take care of work that should have been due today.

Yogita and I are really hoping we will be able to go camping this weekend AND next week during the holiday. It sucks that payday is a bit to far away....but what can you do?

The nicer campsites have electricity provided, so we could even use a electric stove to cook our food. This might save space in our cars trunk. I wish mini vans were cheaper to rent. I will invite my friend to come along but...well we will see.

So..today is a nicer day that I thought it would be!!

/tata



We are looking for something like to use this year!

4 day weekend around the corner

Well it is that time of year again, children's day is around the corner. This year like in 2014 we are getting 4 days off! Instead of heading east, we will go camping! It is cheap fun, we are not far from home, and well...I love the outdoors! This past week was really busy, and it was a bit stressful. So I am looking forward to a 3 day week coming next week. I want to go camping at that time, so we will need to book a place..TODAY!!! This time I will put up our tarp first but leave the smaller tents for the evening. We will have plenty space to roam about and spend time (I am going to buy some pillows). It will be a lot of fun. I will invite my friend but...I am not optimistic that he can join us. His work schedule is brutal!! First we have to secure a spot, it beats going to the free site where we will not have electricity. Ok time to finish some paperwork and get started on this week!

/tata

A busy week after a great weekend!

Well it has been some time since I have updated here. Last weekend we traveled to CheongDo a small town south of Taegu to watch bull fighting. It really blew my mind! It was loads of fun! Watching the bulls size each other up, then fight. It sounds cruel, however after watching one "fight", it looks so natural. Unlike bull fights where the bullfighter kills the bull, in these matches the dominant bull struts around the ring, while the loser bellows,while sticking his tongue out, and with his tail between his legs is led from the arena.

Work is going well, we have a special event this Friday, I hope my class can sound as good as the other groups I can hear right now. Met a new teacher as well, a nice guy.
I also have homework this week...I gotta get on top of it cause this isn't something that can be done last minute!

/tata

First day impressions....

Wow it was a grind. However, I am used to that type of workload. Actually I am used to a lot more! Basically starting early in the morning 10am, along with lunch classes (yes I would eat a late lunch everyday!), then afternoon classes and finishing up with late night classes until 9 or 10 pm. The shift was a triple split, I have done that with few thank yous for YEARS.

Yesterday was just...ONE long grind. JUST ONE. I have always envied other ESL teachers' schedules. Now I am glad to be a member of that group. Now, any morning or late classes end up being over time which means more money for the effort, not just a part of a normal schedule.

It is time to start thinking selfishly, nice people finish last. I remember another teacher..she would always confront my old boss in a rude manner. SHE IS STILL remembered to this day...fondly.

So I will do the same. It is time for us that is my wife, and our boys.

I had a great time yesterday, it was like taking a trip down memory lane.

It was nice being able to eat dinner at a proper time, I felt human yesterday!!!


/tata

Time for change!

Well it has been quite the month! We moved to another apartment, and I got a new better job!
Now when I say better I do not mean like a fairy tale. It means that the contract is good..very good, teachers have worked there for years. The boss if full of energy and is very involved. The pay....is much better as well!

Basically our old boss has been acting very lethargic, not really listening to our input on classes resulting in 2 classes dying. Seemingly very detached as well. She even poured money into a project that had so much potential, and let it fail.... I will not go into details.

So recently she has been encouraging us to basically jump ship. Well finally we did! I got a nice offer and had a very nice interview. Basically my new boss wants an experienced teacher who is ready to grind. I have been doing that for years. If working on the weekends is needed...I am game.

To put things simply we have been very fortunate and blessed. We will stay in Korea for some time. We can actually make plans for this summer like invite mom and dad to South Korea. Camping this summer is on the table as well.

Our old boss worried us a lot with the recent change in attitude. Nothing against us, just a change. The current boss reminds of my old boss about 5-6 years ago. I remember her telling me back then "I will reward good teachers like you, and your wife, with more hours, and preferential treatment". She actually said that and she meant it!! I remember her telling some new teacher to basically shut up and consult me on one class. You see the new teacher was criticizing my choice of textbooks for a certain adult class. My old boss basically told her to shove it and follow me lead.
I got raises, and extra classes, I made more money than all of the other teachers. Basically she was not just saying stuff...she really meant it! Now fast forward several years...that spark is gone!

So I am off to a better place, which means more hard work, and I am more than happy to step up to a new challenge!

I will post on monday night about my experiences on the first day...

/tata

P.s I still miss you dad!!

Perhaps I will see you this summer or fall!!

.....updated the wrong blog....ugh

It happens.....today was a little nutty...we moved to another apartment and I thought I forgot thw keys to the school.

So we had lunch at the bakery in our building on the first floor.

We had a good class I will review vocabulary tomorrow.
However, after the class I found that the keys were buried in my pocket......ugh.

It was ok though....
/Tata

A very cold March..

Well like in 2014 the cold is lasting longer than usual. I plan to make sure that if we leave Korea that we will bring with us AT least 4 heating blankets. When we were last in India Yogita and I suffered due to not enough heating blankets. This was my fault as we left a perfectly working heating blanket in Korea.

So this time round BRING MORE THAN WE NEED. It is amazing how much good they can do! So this summer I will be on the look out buying them off of Gmarket. They are great when camping as well. Even in summer months it can get a bit chilly at night when you are out in the open. For that matter, spring, and fall can be chilly as well.

Since we have a pretty long stretch before there are any holidays we do not have much planned. One thing Yogita and I have been talking about is downloading loads of mini series. You never know when the time will come when you have to leave a country.

In South Korea right now there are war games about to take place. North Korea has stepped up as they always do around this time of year with threats of attacking South Korea, and the USA. One recent threat perhaps a couple of days ago, was that North Korea is able to place nukes in warheads.

So basically if we have to get out of dodge so to speak, there are some vanities I want to take with me. I want to create a digital library of mini series. They are such great fun, and we do not need to worry about internet access, and bandwidth.

I have a friend in India Alex. I think he is on a 4mb/s connection which is actually decent for up to 720p videos to stream on say youtube. But if you want that finer detail like 1080p, or if you have a 4k monitor...you had better suck it up and pay big bucks for fiber net. I have done it, and I think I will do it again. However, having a large library of stuff to watch means that it will not crimp our style. We can download new stuff at slower rates while watching the older stuff we have.

I know it seems stupid to be considering this when nuclear war might be on the menu tomorrow....LOL. However, it is the little things, the creature comforts that seems to make sense at times like this. In South Korea the mood is "slightly concerned, but likely not a big deal".

I wonder what people said in Crimea when the Russians were massing.

/tata

Black lives matter....

These days in the media we are seeing this movement. It seems like a civil rights movement. We have the black lives matter movement. Basically this started  out as a protest against the killing of black Amercans at the hands of cops. In America the African American community is in a strange place. I do not have the exact figures I think it is something like 30% of black men will have some kind of run in with the law. 40% of inmates in America are black...even though we make up only 12% of the total population. Another website wikipedia states that over 60% of inmates are black! 

So we have a problem where many black males are getting locked up. I will not go into the reasons for this, so many theroies abound. Whites online seem to simplify it as Blacks being barbaric, criminal by nature. I had a run in with the law...the cops wrongfully identified me as the perp they were looking for! 

If I were white that would not have happened. But then the question arises why didn't I end up just another statistic? Well one is this...family, strong family bonds. My father was not on streets selling dope. He was a firefighter, paramedic (part time), and a nurses aid (part time). My mother was not a drug addict, she was a dedicated mother, suffering from a strange hard to diagnose disease...lupus. 

So after my run in with the cops, I still went on to get my GED, and start college later that year. I stayed away from certain people in the "game". Or in other words selling drugs. 

I like hiphop music but I see it for what it is...bullshit. Most of the successful rappers are not the hardned criminals they want their fans to see. They are entrepreneurs. So for the black live matter movement....at this point in time...BLACK LIVES DO NOT MATTER. If they did the statistics would look very different. We are all free moral agents. While I believe in America black males get heavier hand of justice, longer sentences, it seems crimes commonly commited in the hood result in black males spending longer time in jail. What I mean by this is that in white neighborhoods other drugs are sold and when caught they carry a lower jail term. 

Let me get to the point here. Black lives do not matter because of the black American males are in control of their own lives. Too many wish to perperate stereotypes, and follow bad role models. This results in the prison industry booming! It also means too many black males have violent run ins with profiling cops who looking at statistics, and stereotypes are more likely to respond with violence...in some cases...more than with other ethnic groups death results. 

So instead of getting upset because no black actors won an oscar, educate these black men. Provide more postive role models for them. And why in the world do black actors care if no blacks won an oscar???? There is a black awards ceremony for ONLY BLACK ACTORS and ACTRESSES. That sounds so racist!!! If there was a white only awards ceremony the country would be in an up roar. 

Black lives matter as much as the black person whose life it is cares about said life. IT IS THAT SIMPLE. Regarding police violence...it is a problem affecting many in America. Yes more blacks are killed, however lets not forget whites, hispanics, asians, and other ethnic groups who also suffer due to police misconduct. ALL LIVES MATTER!!!

Cold Monday...

Well we had a nice weekend, well...Yogita and I had a VERY exciting time out together. I feel so bad for my best friend because, I feel he should do the same with his wife. He called me Saturday night....I knew from the get go that he had already drank too much. He likely wanted to meet up with me, and well...lets just say once he gets to that point it is best if he heads home.

Our Saturday was nice, we watched some movies, the boys enjoyed more documentaries. I can not drive my car until I get the battery situation worked out. Basically it needs to be recharged. If I can find some multi purpose device that can also give a car battery a trickle charge, I will buy that, and service my own batteries at home.

You see Car batteries is a weird tech to have in a world with li-ion batteries. I am pretty sure a smaller sized LI- ion battery could jump start a car plenty of times, while using the alternator to give it a low level charge like a USB port on a pc does. It is basically what the alternator does with a lead acid battery. While you drive the car it provides a low level trickle like charge that replaces what the battery used to start to car. The alternator is not a battery charger!! Something that I am learning more and more every day. It provides the electricity to run the car, while allowing the battery to "recover" some of the energy it used to start to the car.

The battery pack I have allows me to start my car 20 times. It recharges at home in 3 hours. So if you treat it like a cell phone battery you would not even need a big heavy lead acid battery. I am sure it is more complicated than that. For example the money it would take to change car designs, electrical systems, and even a proper charging system for a li-ion battery pack. Too many drivers today will not be happy to have to charge yet another device..especially something that starts your car.

So I want another piece of tech that would allow me to maintain my battery at home on a biannual basis, but it would have some other useful function as well... I know something is out there...I just need to find it!

/tata

And another interesting person post....

Talk about cold shoulders being given to you for seemingly no reason at all. The funny thing is if the 2 people I am about mention had just said hello, I would not even be mentioning them on our blog.

Actually this is more of a story of 3 people, a married couple, and  Philipina. The husband's name is Jay which is a nickname. It is really funny when I ask people in Korea why they chose a particular nickname. Some people mention favorite actors, or a former English teacher gave them the name (I am guilty of this as well!). Anyway, when I asked Jay why he chose that name he mentioned that foreigners have a hard time pronuncing his name. I do not remember his name but....it was not difficult to say, nor was it hard on the tongue. 

When I met Jay he first attended a class that was not suitable for his level. He kept interupting other students, and giving feedback! I of course had to keep cutting him off. Eventually I had to tell him directly that he needs to stop, he is making others uncomfortable. His attitude spoke "teacher! very loudly. So when he was asked what he did, and he acted very coyly, saying that it was a "secret" I told him I know exactly what your job is....I just don't know which subject your responsible for.

Anyway, I was annoyed, and after class I told him not to attend, the level was not suitable for him. I reccomended another class. His listened to my advice, and told me he would try out that class the next day. So the next day he comes in with a pretty Philipina on his arm. They looked like a couple, standing very close together, she kept hitting him playfully, and refering to him by his nickname..Jay. It was the way she said it that made all of us in the class blink twice. It was as if my wife was calling me, it was intimate. He even spoke about he dislikes Korean women, and prefers foreign women....note: No one ask him about his preference he just blurted it out. In class they leaned towards each other going over the photo copy of the page we were studying. She woud scold him (in a cute way) if he made a mistake. 

The next mornng he attends my morning class, with the Philipina in tow, and I had a tall lanky woman join my class that day as well. The class was progressing well, and I was about to introduce Jay and the Philipina (who has an American father...), when the tall lanky woman I think her name is Ju, spoke up and mentioned that Jay was her husband. Now the seating order was like this, Jay was sitting VERY close to the Philipina like he was doing yesterday. The flirting was a bit toned down, I thought it had to do with well....it was in the morning, perhaps they were too tired for the hormones to be running wild. However, when the tall lanky woman who I now knew was Jay's wife spoke up, my other students were shocked. 

The funny thing is they didn't seem to notice the shock on our collective faces yep, my jaw was hanging open along with my other students. The Phililpina I forgot her name realized how odd they looked. She then said that she helps Jay with his English since he has great difficulty with the language. HUH?! Jay did have issues, poor vocabulary, I had to often stop him and correct him as I found that his listening comprehension was weak as well. However, he DID NOT need a tutor, or should I say translator. The wife was nodding while this exchange went on. They studied at our ESL school for  month. They were so STRANGE. Yogita and I finally figured out that yes something odd was going on between Jay, and the girl. We found this out due to her profile picture and messages. Her profile picture would have a picture of them both. When something bad happened between she posted this message "I am so sad but I have to let you go". She wanted to meet with us and talk, but we were busy at that time. 

Figured out that she is actually a maid/babysitter who teaches adult and Elementary kids English. We also found out that they wanted to teach adults in same way we did, and they were actually spying on us to learn our techniques. Ju, Jay's wife would ask me odd questions like how would you teach this type of student? Or ask me questions about company classes, test prep classes. I never answered and simply said "it is a secret" with a fake wide smile.

The reason why I am bringing this up because yesterday we saw them at the same resturant. They gave my students, and yogita the cold shoulder. I am sure that they are embarrassed because we know why they were buddy buddy with us. The spies! LOL But in all seriousness who cares?! I know that the Philipina pretends to be American (her father is American) but she has a Philipino passport. I know that she is basically a maid, many Philipinas working in South Korea do suck work. I am not going to judge a person based on what they do for a living. I have no businesses judging anyone!!

If I see them again (At the time I was too preoccupied with my steak), I will go up to them say "Hi Ju" "HI Jay" ask the Philipina what her name is greet her and walk away. In South Korea some foreigners act like saying hello to a another expat will kill them. Odd Balls!!! LOL

/tata 

Met an interesting person yesterday

So it is late Feb. and there is a new student who is trying out my morning class. I can see that he is young in his mid 20's, in fact he is 26. I can also tell that he has a fairly good grasp of English. So I figure maybe he is preparing to enter some company, or going overseas.

I talk with him some more, some intro style questions that ESL teachers use to gauge a students basic range of English. I detect a very natural Australian accent. When I say natural I mean that it is mixed with a Korean accent. So I figure "this guy has studied, worked, or lived in Australia for some time". Well I was right. However, I quickly figured out that his range of English topics is very very limited.

After speaking him some more I figured out why. You see to learn a language in a foreign land you have to really get immersed in it. Make real lasting friendships with people. I found that this young man was working long hours in order to support his education. This is so commendable when you see so many young people leaning on their parents. However, even though it means that actually living life, for example making friends having a real social life, know what is going on in the world around you, is next to impossible. It is still pretty cool what he is doing.

In the future once he as according to his plans, settle and get a job in Australia, his English ability will develop just fine.

I meet so many people who have studied overseas, and I mean Koreans, they lean on their parents, get "tired" of working hard and end up coming back to Korea. The guy I met yesterday....hats off to you!!

/tata

Update!

Well I got the battery pack and I will jump the car tomorrow evening. It is very nifty not too heavy but not exaclty a light wieght unit. Like I mentioned it can charge cell phones, and other devices like laptops. 

I am glad to have this device as today cars get more and more tech heavy, batteries are bound to run out of juice. We have to pay car taxes, that will be taken care of next week..perhaps wednesday or so. Tomorrow I am going to meet my friend hwa-nil and his wife hye-young. We will go for a few drinks and conversation. I will talk to Hwa-Nil about setting up a payment plan for my transmission rebuild project. This is the perfect time to get it done, and company classes will likely start up in April, or May. Heck company classes might start up in March...so I need to get on top of this. 

The boys are doing well, they are not getting into any serious trouble. They do their chores, complete thier assignments, and enjoy their free time. I will take them to see the Superman vs Batman movie in March. On another side note they want a pet....we will go to Emart next week (Saturday) and see what options are there. 

Yogita and I have more free time as  the winter rush of classes is over. So it is nice to slow down somewhat. I will be looking into getting the TESOL certification very soon. 

This was taken backk in 2013 in November. Of course they are both bigger now....

/tata  

Battery jump pack

Well....my battery died again....
When you drive luxury cars (I hate that term) they have multiple computers monitoring different systems in the car. Nowadays I do not drive as much as I used to. This means that my car might sit for 2 or 3 days in a week. We are coming off of a very long holiday, and a nasty snow storm that left my car buried and....not driving for over 2 weeks. The result? Yep a dead battery.

This time I will get this a portable battery pack with super capacitors to help dead batteries. Another cool thing is that it can used as a smartphone charger as well. Actually it can charge all kinds of electrical devices like mp3 players, ipods, tablets ...you get the idea.

For me this gives me peace of mind because my car is important to my work as well.
Not to mention life in a small Korean city..a car is a must when you have a family.

Plus I have a bad track record of leaving my doors half open, or leaving my lights on.....ugh.

Price around 65 bucks?

If you have the same car battery woes....check this out!

/Tata!!

It is a Tuesday Friday!

Yeah so basically it is a two day work week. It is so strange even after 15 years of living and working in South Korea I have still not gotten used to it. I mean after a long holiday, which for us was 5 days, the day after really seems like Monday.

I feel really bad that I did not take Yogita out during the holiday even though she asked me over and over again. Basically, we did go out twice on date, but she really wants to see greenery. She loves nature and every so often I should take her out on a drive. It really helps her deal with stress, and is very up lifting for her. I think this is one of the reasons why she enjoys camping so much.

So here we are making plans to go somewhere, and do something. I have decided that we should have some sort of objective; try a famous restaurant (not to crazy about that idea, Gunsan has some AWESOME resturants!), go to another city and purchase something we need basically shopping far from Gunsan but enjoying the journey, or perhaps visit some national tourist spot...but once you have seen a few...they are all too similar.

I am leaning towards try an interesting restaurant, while getting some hardware upgrades for our pc's that we need. Well cheap pc upgrades, I am going to dump money on hardware, there are certain reasons for this...namely SLI tech, and prices keep falling....so it is better to wait on more expensive upgrades.

So after I post this I will search and see what useful things I can find. Who knows? Perhaps I will find something useful! It looks like it will rain this weekend...so nature viewing might...suck...

/tata

Post holiday musings...

Well what a nice holiday that was! 5 days of relaxing at home. I was able to get the pc for the boys online. Next I will get a wireless card for it....I will disable it when we are not at home. I wish I had my hardware from India, because I have 2 wireless cards there. It is no big deal as they are dirt cheap.

We planned to take a road trip, but..to be frank...I just wanted to relax at home. Yogita understood, and we had a couple of Subway deliveries for her. The boys loved it!! They got a break from their studies watched documentary after documentary, played games, enjoyed their toys....you know..kiddy stuff.

Yogita and I took a lot of time for each other as well. Staying up way too late, talking, reading, playing, watching TV together. It was so nice! We only get this kind of time together twice a year in Korea. Either is a 3 day holiday, 4, or in less common situations a 5 day holiday.

So all in all, I feel great! No crazy traffic to deal with, just relaxing at home. Today, having super fast Internet at a cheap rate is the BEST entertainment money can buy! Oh yeah and not to mention the cheapest!

Korea is not like India where there are so many holidays here and there. So when we get one like this...you gotta enjoy it to the fullest!!

Oh and Chu-sok which is even bigger than the lunar new year will be..... 5 DAYS!!! A very nice 2016 indeed! Of course this year I will NOT waste money like I did in 2014. Heck even last year we went overboard with traveling at bad times, dealing with vacations that SUDDENLY we found out about like a week in advance. Not this time! I want to take my family overseas this year. Our target is Southeast Asia, so planning and saving for that starts....NOW!

/tata

I am a rare guy...

When I was little I would have to face the public school system in Philadelphia. My mother knew that there would tough times ahead. In her heart she wanted to home school us. Well with a strange aliment which she found out later was LUPUS, limiting her she had no choice. We had to enter public school. We were loving to each other before entering the hell that is public school. After experiencing bullying, the peer pressure, and for me an environment where teachers could not insure your physical safety. It changed us my siblings and I. I can not speak on how it changed my brothers, and sisters. I can speak on how it changed me.

Today, many parents feel that kids need social lessons. They feel that the nonsense that I faced in school is a good social lesson. Here in Korea the situation is very different. So I will not fault Korean parents, they just do not know what it is like to raise kids who are going to low income public schools. My experience was a circus. Fighting most days, with cruel taunting everyday. I admit I was a fool. I did not communicate what was going on. I felt like I could handle it on my own. I am so glad I grew up when I did. If I did what I did today...I would have ended up dead.

I fought. I hated bullies. I hated kids who would pick on other kids, make them cry or shame them in different ways. Perhaps making them do some simple task as if they are a servant. It ignited an anger I never felt in my young life. I decided I would fight them if they decided to do the same to me.

My battle was a silent one at first. I would refuse to cry or show fear while the bully would pummel me. Looking back it is so amazing how the bully was so perplexed. He just could not understand how one kid would not cry, or do as he said.
Eventually this just would not cut it. I became a punching a bag. I am a person with a short temper. I did not know this then. So one day one bully was hitting me, my temper went red hot. I literally threw him to the ground and started pounding him. Something amazing happened after I did that. That kid left me alone!! I had peace of mind for the first time in years.

So I started punching back! I would take on bullies taller, heavier, and sometimes stronger than I. You see I was small but I had more power than one could tell from looking at me. The downside was that well...I was not trained in hand to hand combat. In addition I had very little endurance at first. I would swing several punches, that would surprise the bullies. However, soon I learned I needed to practice somehow. I would tire too soon. The result? I would fight kids that would bully other kids. It got to the point that weaker students would run to me for help.

I felt like a hero at times. Being a hero was actually a stupid idea. I was a child. I was not equipped to deal with trying to help other students. I was a student myself. Well, finally it got to the point that the bullies finally respected me and left me alone. However, the fear they had of me did not go away. You see the "respect" was not a normal respect you see people showing each other in a civilized world. It was something out of the animal kingdom. They knew that even if 2 of them would attack me, one of them would get hurt. Even when 10 students would attack me, I made sure to put a hurt on one of them. Usually the poor sucker who ended up in front of the pack got several nasty punches from me. Of course they would over power me, and I would endure an ass kicking. But I was used to taking pain.

The animal kingdom style respect was more dangerous than I could have realized. When animals fear another animal they form packs to hunt said feared animal. That is what those bullies did. Eventually they learned that I am actually human after all. One of them hit me with a rock. I saw more blood pouring out of me than I had ever seen in a lifetime. Here is the kicker though. I was not afraid of the bullies. While this happened I was planning to knife the one who attacked me the next day. I was about to throw my life away with out even consulting my parents.

Fortune smiled on me that day. When I got home covered in blood but fuming. My mother and father took the reins out of my hands. They confronted the teachers and the administrators. They saved my life. I had a knife in my jacket, and was waiting for an opportunity to attack the kid who hit me with the rock. If I had succeeded I would have ended up in prison, and my life would have been terrible. Instead while in the school my parents refused to let me "get something" from my locker. They stuck with me.

Fast forward today. I am married to a wonderful woman. I have two sweet boys. I am a real traveler. I live and work in foreign countries. Instead of fighting bullies, I help people better themselves. I am in a country where violence is frowned on. I have learned patience. I even prevented one massive solider from pummeling another solider. How did I do it? Did I fight him? No I simply said sorry, and managed to calm him down. We became very friendly afterwards.

I am a rare guy. My parents had issues yet I was never forgotten. Now that my mother has passed away I have gained another mother. She is so loving, so sweet, where my mother had to hard, strict, my new mother has shown me softness, tenderness. I am not taking away from what my biological mother did. She did the right thing, another reason why I am such a rare guy (well my brothers and I).

Oh and it is friday....yeah boy!!!

/tata

India....

India is such a dynamic place. It sucks when I hear Koreans talk about India. It is frustrating. This is mainly because in Korea package tours are really really popular. Along with the insulated resort style of traveling. All over Korea there are resorts. Thanks to my friend I have been able to see what they are all about.

Usually when we travel we would see them but avoided them, thinking they were tourist traps...which in a way they are.

Basically, you travel to any region in Korea, and in this small country there are so many beautiful places to visit. It is jam packed with variety. Skiing, river rafting, fishing, hiking camping, exploring caves, scenic farms, numerous festivals, pristine beaches, amusement parks, valleys, and nestled among them are the resorts.

So it doesn't surprise me when Koreans visit China, and from the pictures you can see that the food is "buffet" style and not really authentic regional Chinese food. Resorts are great in that they are a one stop for all. They have small markets, restaurants, pool halls, bowling alleys, arcades, spas, some of them have water parks. The main issue? They are ubiquitous. If you have been one you basically have been to them all. Here lies the problem for me.

When Koreans visit India business savvy people set up similar resorts (hotels), in which you can experience India but you use a tour package, and you get a very narrow view of India. If you are going to travel to India, please respect the fact that curry is one of the multitudes of food that is offered. India truly is a subcontinent. While Korea has many different regions, that offer different experiences to the traveler, India has that multiplied 100 times over.

When I was in India I remembered seeing Korean tourist huddled together with the tour guide. They were all wearing masks, and looking quite green in the gills. Yes it was a dirty area, with cow, and dog shit everywhere, along with open sewers. But, if you really want to experience a place....well that is part of it.

So they are huddled together looking like cattle, listening to the tour guide (a Korean), give an introduction on the area..yadda yadda yadda. I understand why it is popular, but it allows misinformation to abound. I wonder if they realize that Indians speak better English, and that India will be a giant economically in the future. I really wonder...because in Korea too many people look down on Asians from southeast Asia.

India is a place with so much to offer, but it isn't understood so well in South Korea. Partly India is to blame. I remember the first time I went to Lucknow, people told me to throw my trash on the ground. The ground was totally cover in garbage. I was horrified, and I think they saw that. They laughed and said "this is India don't worry". I know that they were being sarcastic, well I hope so. Looking back...they did not blink an eye at littering. BUT that is JUST that area!! Other regions are cleaner than Japan!!! Other places the literacy rate is amazing!!! Actually to tell the truth I find that Indians are VERY VERY knowledgeable about the world. In Korea......it is like some places in America where people can no see past their front yard!!

I love South Korea, and India, I just wish South Koreans could see India the way I do...incredible India!!!

/tata

PC talk!

The last time I posted about our plans for our pc's it was about possibly upgrading our video cards.

The last upgrade was RAM, and more hardrives. Well I got my hands on 2 more 300 gig drives. I will install another on yogis system, and the other on mine. This will place my total HDD space at 4.2 terabytes. It sounds like a lot but with so many tv programs, and games are getting larger and larger....it isn't anything special. It makes life easier for us.

We have some gtx 285 cards, they are dated but since we have 3 of them it means they can be used in SLI mode. Basically 2 cards working together to run a game. I want to experiment with them on another pc that I have...we will see.

Currently my LG LED monitor is acting up. It looks like some capacitors need replacing. Korea isn't the place to do this. Next time I end up in India I will bring it with me because in India...they fix everything! Your motherboard is acting up? Take it to a pc shop. For about 2 to 5 bucks they can fix it for you. In America the labor costs make buying a second hand or even a new one a better option.

So upgrades needed? At the moment a slightly larger LED monitor (which we will ship ahead of us if we ever have to relocate), and...that is basically it. Next month I might upgrade our GPUs. Nothing fancy perhaps gtx 760's? It is basically a upgraded gtx 560...about 30% faster...


oh well....one of my students has the gtx titan which is a monster of a gpu!! Of course it is just for work....so no fun there.


/tata

Man is so greedy....

Our banking system is going to fail....totally. Today in the news paper the main headline:
"Global anxiety rises as China growth falls". Only man would look at growth as a parameter that can fall. Due to this outlook people panic. We keep looking for more growth and economies that continue to grow. Isn't that a pipe dream? How is it reasonable to expect that economies will just grow and grow. Eventually we are going to reach a point where there is a maturation of certain markets.

Here in Korea the smart phone market is no different. They make big bucks trying to attract people to give up perfectly working older models, for newer devices that are really only about 10% better than the previous model. Many smart phones slow down over time due to people placing numerous apps that eat up resources. I am very proud of Yogita. She is still using her iphone 4. She makes calls over wifi, or the hotspot from my phone, saving the cost of a second phone. She even uses a few apps that she enjoys on it.

We have a banking system based on credit. In others words it is based on how much the system THINKS you can pay back, or how much debt the system thinks you can handle.

This is going to fail, already in Korea there are reports of rising household debt. Credit card use is at an all time high.

I saw the same thing happening in India, people who normally are very good with money getting sucked into the buy stuff you don't need nonsense. America is suffering from this in a very bad way.

There is one plus side for a guy like me....I will buy your old stuff. Cause guess what? 2 used gtx 500, or even 700 series graphics in SLI mode means that while you have that brand spanking new card, my performance is right up there with yours.

That car you sold at a loss, I can pick it up and save money and enjoy it all the more!

So while less money might be made in China this year....money is still being made!

Oh yeah we got the rest of the day off yesterday...we took rest, and watched izombie.
It is basically a police drama, with a chick who is a zombie......meh, Yogi loves it so I will watch it with her....but...really? It's meh in my book.

/tata

Heavy Snow....

Well...we finally got our big snow storm for this season. I really hope that it is just this storm. I think over a foot of snow fell over night and it is still coming down.
I personally think we should shut down most of the classes today, we will see if that happens. I think student attendance will be very low.

Ok enough about the snow....last week we had a great time at Charlie's grandmother's house. It is a nice little compound made up of three buildings. Two buildings are basically small homes with a couple of bedrooms, a bathroom, along with a small kitchen.

I had a chance to set up of my tarp, so that was very valuable practice for later this year.
We drank some really strong Taiwanese liquor it was about 116 proof! Jang, ended up having to sleep it off for a few hours but he was up and having a good time later!

George and Jeyo had a lot fun as well. Mr Jeong brought his family along and his two sons played with our boys. It was a very nice set up, with a very beautiful backdrop of low snow covered mountains. I look forward to more activities later this year! I wonder if camping is a big think in India. If it isn't I am sure it will become very popular, it is so much fun!!

Ugh let me check....yeah it is still snowing....I hope I can get a day off...it sucks sitting in an empty school because most people have the good sense to stay home. My Equus is buried under about a foot of snow. So I will start up her engine and clean her off. I want the batter to maintain a charge, and the oils to get a nice warp up.

Ah it seems city buses have shut down....perhaps this will be a stay spent playing eve at home???

ok gotta go


/tata

Yogita is an awesome teacher!

This post will focus on my little wife. She is one talented woman. In addition to being beautiful, sexy, alluring, super attractive....uh...you get the point. She has got the looks, and the brains!

When Jeyo returned from India there were some serious issues we noticed. Despite going to a "top tier" kindergarten he could not read a lick! Oh he was a cute little parrot. He could memorize passages, it was adorable. It was a sham though, everyone praised his school, only Yogita and I had the foresight to see beyond the "cute".

So in late 2013 as soon as we arrived Yogita went to work. Jeyo was reading well beyond his age group by Feb. 2014. Now he loves to read news papers (George learned how to read from Mom, my Indian mom!).

So she taught a child who learned how to mimic and memorize, to read. Phonics isn't about just making sounds, it is about recognizing how those sounds go together to make a syllable or a sound unit of a word. She did it in record time.

Last week I made post about her "Mission impossible". Well she did it again. The student is really making amazing headway. He can now write a full essay with only a hand full mistakes. Yup that is right a full essay with all of its parts. He has learned the basic structure of writing. It took her perhaps a week and a half!!! His public school teachers can not do what he is doing right now!!!

So hats off to my little lady! She is the hottest, smartest, most clever woman I know! (well there are other clever woman in our family but she is the hottest and smartest, cause...they can not do what she can!! They are wonderful too!)

^^


/tata

Rough year ahead....

It seems that this year bankers are crying foul, and in Scotland they are urging people to sell, basically get out of the market. Oil might hit 16 bucks a barrel! Something ain't right!

Well perhaps something is. The way things have been going simply can not continue. Evil agents of ISIS running around killing people. People inspired by these cowards committing heinous crimes in their name. It is nuts.

Seriously if oil hits 16 dollars a barrel, I can not see it bouncing back to 100 dollars plus and consumers accepting it. We are in for a very strange rough year. Last year was hellish, people getting getting killed because their governments decided that ISIS is evil. SO....shoot down an airliner. What the heck?!? They are even using human shields.

These days love for one's neighbor is dead. A man was stabbed on a busy street in New York...people just walked over him...for 20 minutes. The man desperate for help was begging people to help me. THEY IGNORED HIM. The poor man bled out right there.
I hate it when people focus ONLY on kids and women dying. What men are not human? Men can not be just as innocent. It is the total loss of life that is terrible.

Fathers, mothers, children gunned down, or in come cases forced to become suicide bombers. UGH crazy year ahead! I think banking institutions will fail this year. Or they will lose so much credibility that more people will hoard cash. China needs to devalue its currency by 20%, I think they will not do that. In turn there will be a market melt down this year. Actually it is inevitable, credit based systems encourages buying with out really looking ahead. If countries actually bought what they could afford, America would have many more carriers retrofitted and upgraded. Not this nonsense we have today when billions and billions are spent on stupid designs.

So yeah I am ranting....but this year.....yeah we will see the banking institution royally fail.


/tata

Iksan resupply...and my best friend

Well the trip to iksan was nice, parking was tough, we got what we needed, and I think we will go back in 3 weeks or so. Indian food is nice, and healthy. It was interesting to see the many foreigners. What many do not realize is that most of the aliens living in Korea are not from North America...they hail from Asia.

My friend wanted to hang out, but I had to turn him down. He is getting back in habits that I thought he had quit. Seems like old habits die hard. I will not go into details, I just hope that he comes to his senses.

So we had a nice laid back weekend we are almost finished watching The wire. One of my students (perhaps former student?) sent me a torrent so I will check it out! It includes one season of a new mini series.

So it is Monday but they won't suck so much for the short term!!
I have a break from one class which gives us more free time. I will enjoy this to the fullest because if there is one thing I have learned....times like this....do no last!


/tata

Time to resupply!

This weekend we are going to head to Iskan (about 30 kms away) and buy some much needed Indian ingredients for our meals. Daal. chick peas, masalas, and a few other things. I want to ask them about the cell phones they have. I might be able to get a prepaid unlocked smart phone for Yogita. Basically an upgrade over the iphone 4 that she has been using. Something with a slightly larger screen, that she can use to supplement her ipad2 until I can upgrade that as well. I think the perfect tablet for us will be something similar to the ipad2 (screen size, and weight), superior cpu/gpu, and the love all things tech related a real camera!!! I think the ipad air 1 meets our criteria as the price has dropped since 2 generations of ipads have been released since then. The Ipad air2, and the ipad pro. The Ipad air is about 400,000 won new. Yogita also needs an upgrade for her cell phone (iphone can be a back up).

So when I get to the store I will ask a few questions see what options might be useful for us. Of course they tend to over charge like crazy!!

Ok time to run...TGIF!!

/tata

Yogita's mission impossible!

I thought this would be a bigger rant, but I have new information....this will be a minor rant about Korean super moms.

We have special classes, basically they are prep courses where we help students who are going to study abroad. We help them in different ways, like improving vocabulary, to teaching them about living in a foreign country and what to expect. We also do interview prep courses as well. (I just got a new class this week, where I will help a student with an interview for a MBA program).

Well the young lad Yogita is working with will be going to Singapore. He will enter high school there. His major challenge is that his level of English is so low, he would fail his courses outright. He needs practice in all areas of English. I am not saying he is weak in every area but he needs about 6 months of prep work. Well I found out his father has a very nice plan that means he only needs about 2-3 months.

The main issue here is the boy's mother. She basically wants him to study all day with out a break in the library. Let me break it down ... he will get up at 8:30am head to our school. Start class at 9 am. Finish around 11 am, head home and eat lunch. Then, head to the library and study until the evening. No rest periods allowed. Just study in the library. Study material that he barely understands as of yet. Likely he will be studying grammar, a type of study that is USELESS out of Korea. Let me explain a bit more. In South Korea grammar well English grammar is studied like the bible. People memorize every aspect of grammar with out actually making practical use of it. For example actually having a writing composition class. Instead they study obscure grammar rules that even native speakers are not fully aware of.

This case where kids are forced to study to extreme exhaustion produces terrible results. Korea lags behind the OECD nations in terms of English proficiency despite logging crazy hours studying English. UGH

So the kid just arrived looking half dead....fatigue isn't condusive to learning!
These super moms think that because they know their children's nature that they fully understand educating them. 

Happy new year!....

Yeah so it is 2016, and the common phrase we all use when we see people again is "happy new year".

I just hate holidays at times due to the superficial nature of the "good cheer".
I could understand if we had an expression like "Best hope for 2016", or something like that.

Now our holiday was quite nice. We rested at home, caught up on loads of reading and rest. I have decided to wait until February to take that road trip. We are now official bloggers, so that trip will actually help us generate content.

Well here are some goals for this year:

Make sure that I read the bible everyday.
Stay awake and watch world events Jehovah's day is coming (reminds of a song "stay awake stand firm and grow mighty"
Continue educating our boys
spend even more time as a family, and give time for Yogita and I
Participate in the 5km marathon in April. (Maybe do it again in the summer).
Related to the topic above...get in shape.
As for work related goals: get TESOL, and EFL certifications.
Continue to build the English club we started last fall.
technical stuff: upgrade ipad2s--> ipad air or maybe Air2.
upgrade yogitas cpu (i5, or i7), upgrade both gpus (our current gtx 560's will be back ups). Which card to upgrade to? I am still researching this...
Car: rebuild the tranny, replace radiator (it will include a tranny cooler as well).

That is about it really.  Oh yeah I want to be more regular on this blog this year. Last year wasn't too bad. I want to double the number of post this year.

OK time to get ready for class!

/tata