Spring is here...

 I was actually enjoying the winter. We started our walking back up. I could feel weight burn off of me. Now spring now means starting a new contract. Well the papers are done for the year. Covid-19 really seems to be ignored by most people around us. People are still wearing masks. I assume people are washing their hands more when they are out and about. 

The cherry blossoms are blooming and the area we live in is very beautiful. I will take pictures and upload them from my phone. I will take some pictures at night, and during the day. They look great in both settings. Yesterday as we took a walk there was a super moon. It looked amazing. So bright and clear cutting through the light pollution like butter. It was a highlight of our walk. 

I am feeling that we can get through this year more smoothly, even though last year was not too bad for us. I lost about a week of work combined. However, we recovered quickly. Now this year we are looking to buy a car, and make some upgrades. 

Some changes this year: No movie theaters we will buy movies from the google / YouTube store.

I will download all of the marvel tv series and put them on a dedicated SSD (1tb in size). We will continue with our nightly walks. We will try to keep an average of 6kms a night. I might go on a drive to a nice spot and have a nice walk on Sundays. We do not walk on Sundays now so adding a little activity will be good for us. Our boys will be going completely digital this year.  No more heavy books (20-30 paperbacks really do add up). They will be getting some upgrades likely hand me downs from Yogita and I. George will complete his GED, and take the SAT. We hope to enroll him in online University classes by this fall. If not then 2022. Jeyo will start prepping for the GED earlier. Wow such a wall of text. 

Time to start the work part of the day!

/tata

Another year to begin in South Korea.

 I am sure the paperwork to renew our visas will go smoothly. This coming year we will see a number of upgrades. A far more active lifestyle is in store. We got through last year without getting sick. I have had no colds, no fevers, flu ... nothing. I feel that wearing a mask all of the time while outdoors has kept a lot of the dust out of my system as well. 

I plan to travel this year. I have not seen the east coast for years now. Also, I plan to try glamping and pair it with some long walks as well. Fun is fine but we ought to burn some calories at the same time. We both enjoy walking so why not? 

This year we are going to go completely digital. Ipads will be full of ebooks (textbooks as well). I will overhaul our pcs this year as well. I will be moving to m.2 SSD drives. They are even easier to travel with such a small form factor. Yet these drives can have huge storage capacities. George will get his GED which has been delayed due to the wonderful COVID 19. I think we will have Jeyo get his done next year. I hope to have George taking online classes this year. Perhaps this fall. He wants to study coding, which is a very good idea with the way I.O.T (internet of things) is coming along. Coding can be done from home with the internet bandwidth we have available today. With the hardware in PC's today, you can run tasks anywhere. 

We will be upgrading our internet plan from 100 Mbits/sec to 1 gigabit/sec. We used to have this speed in Gunsan until we moved to a crappy apartment. At that time we were not really using the bandwidth. Now? We have so many PC's. Our boy's stream, we stream, all our games need regular updates. At times we have to reinstall some of our games. This means downloading over 18 gigabytes. I am going to move away from having a side pc and will use a third monitor.

Yogita and I are excited but also reserved. A lot can happen this year. Yogita will be taking the Topek exams this year. When she aces them there will be some major changes! 

Ok took 4 days to get this post out LOL.

/tata

 Sometimes...Sometimes.....

Sometimes change is hard....but sometimes it's a welcome change...

I'm so excited and at the same time nervous about May...May will be the next turning point for me..for us... I'm excited because I know change is coming and I'm nervous because I know change will happen...so screwed up but so true...I EXCELL in tests..not bragging ..it's a fact.....on the same note I'm nervous as S**T because it's gonna be so different than what I'm used to...not like I haven't worked with adults, or in a company or done conflict resolution...I KNOW I'm gonna ace that...it's just the fact that I'm REALLY going to Live, Breathe and  Think in another language...of course, I do it now..but to do it consciously is totally another beast...guess what though. I'm ready and I'm going to do my best...feeling excited, nervous, and feisty! This is gonna be an AWESOME Year..YEAH!

Living abroad for over 20 years...

 What can I say? I love what I do. Ever since I travelled to England in 1999 it changed my life forever. When I traveled and settled in I found out that language is much more complex. I actually cried in my room during the second week of my stay. I could not understand the English accent. I told myself that I need to get with the program because I could not just quit. 

So I decided to go out and make friends, and learn British English. Well, my brain did an awesome job once I stopped holding it back. I made friends EVERYWHERE. I learned a bit about English culture. I was only there for 6 months. However, what I learned made we want to stay there forever. My love attraction, and fascination with Asia drew me here. 

Once I married and we figured out a way to make ends meet, we stayed here. I can not imagine a life where I stayed in Philadelphia. I dream of Lucknow, Seoul, Iksan, Gunsan, Hyderabad, Mumbai, London, Hong Kong, Osaka, Seok-cho, Manchester and so many other cities. This represents only a few countries. However, I do not believe in back packing....... I believe in living and breathing a new location. 

Overall it has been easier than many who discouraged me 21 years ago thought. Fools who did not know where South Korea was. Fools who said "But you do not know anyone there" when I was headed to England. If your heart yearns to live in a place far from where you were born...go for it. You never know who you will meet. I met the love of my life and now we have two wonderful boys. Of course we are living in times that are difficult to deal with. There are so many "isms" we live with now. Recently violence towards people of Asian descent is in the media. People of non-white descent have ALL experienced crap due to our skin color. That is a topic for another day!

Walking has been good last week we took break on Wednesday but still clocked 31 kms. This week ought to be 34 or 35kms.

/tata

Mid week events...

 We both decided to take a rest from walking yesterday. Wednesday is our siege night. We have an online battle very late at night. I love this night because we listen to music (at a low volume). We also change the class of our characters in Archeage to better suit the defending or attacking armies we are members of. We play with friends who are mostly from Europe. 

This is our mid week tradition. Over the years we have had many different events mid week. We used to go to a chicken restaurant our neighborhood. It was very nice to just take a load off over beer and fried chicken. Another tradition that lasted for years and years was our movie night. In Korea perhaps 15 years ago there used to be a large number of video rooms. You could sit in your personal room and watch a movie for a nominal fee. It was like having a personal movie theater. The sound system and video quality was excellent. Yogita and I were their top 3 costumers. We could even bring food with us. The owner only allowed us to do this as we always left the room cleaner than we arrived! It was such a nice thing to look forward to. 

So now that it is Thursday we have other events that take place on this day well. 

Ok time to go my students are watching me.

/tata

The Scale Of Happiness

For some it's money..for some property or accessories...a big house...a nice car.....a fancy job.....but is that REALLY happiness..or just fulfillment..a sense of satisfaction...

Totally different than true happiness...I might be fulfilled because I finished a job successfully or I might feel a sense of satisfaction because I helped someone in need or because I had a really delicious meal...BUT is that HAPPINESS?

According to a popular survey likely NOT...Happiness could not be measured in monetary terms...while money was an important factor in answering the questions ...the focus was on overall satisfaction...and for a LOT of people QUALITY of life was more important than the QUANTITY or MATERIALISTIC VALUE.

Can money substitute waking up every day in a loved one's arms or spending quality time together or sharing a kiss or a moment...The ANSWER for most of us believe it or not is a resounding NO.

Most of us know it, realize it... AND.....yet find it so hard to break away from ...

I just wanna say...Don't give up! Keep trying! The truth is out there. GO FIND IT!

Copy cats...

 In the ESL industry, it is cutthroat. One thing that you can not escape is people copying your teaching methodology or curriculum. In private academies it is annoying. You find that teachers are printing documents that you created then telling the students they made them. 

This really is easy to get around you have two choices use your own tech, or just ignore it. Really most teachers when I saw this happen only taught for one year. For them, Korea was not about a real job just some fun to fund backpacking. So it is easy to ignore them. Actually, we tend to not want to spend time with people like that. 

Now when you play in the big leagues because most of the money made is ESL is in running your own private network of privates along with your regular job, or actually running your own academy. I laugh when I hear "professors" with Masters degrees brag about teaching at a Uni. 

When you own your school the copycat nonsense can get very serious. People end up "stealing" students from a larger school. Starting rumors which are just mean and childish. On the other hand, it can cause a loss of money. Then people start taking people to court, it can get that serious. 

I feel that there is competition, then there is surviving. Which is more important in the midst of a pandemic? So many have lost jobs. A lot of good talent left South Korea due to covid-19 fears. That means those that are left it is easy to see, which parents and students are really happy about. Which students are really learning, and are excited to come to class. 

Since coming to Iksan I have been spied on. Yes, one person actually pretended to join my class and have an interview. While this was going on the mom went around watching the teachers. She decided that whatever I was doing at the time was the best. In Gunsan we were the leaders in adult ESL. So people would join our classes for a short time. The whole while asking strange questions that students do not ask. At one point on the second day, it felt like we were at an information-sharing workshop. Then I realized that it was not actually sharing. It was me lecturing on classroom management of adult classes, and how they differed from other age groups. 

Once I fired a few questions at them they let slip that they have a school in a nearby neighborhood. A very strange experience. But people only do that when you have some measure of success. It is not a good feeling. If they need help just ask me. Anyways, we do not want to stay in this field for long. It is NOT sustainable how ESL is being taught now. Parents are more internet savvy. They can examine the materials their kids are studying. They are going to make a shift towards smaller schools, that have smaller classes. Parents are going to want REAL fluency, not this parroting that is still popular. 

Wow...a wall of text. 

Walking has been going really well. We did over 35 km last week. We will likely do a bit less this week but still in the 30km range. Yesterday we started with 6.5kms!

/tata 

 Change Is In The Air

It's time to change to a butterfly...

time to fly...

to soar high...

Another time this world has let me down and 

realize it's not a place for me,

not somewhere, I love to live and thrive.

The jealousy, the hatred,

the messed up superiority complex.

Nah! you ain't high,

If u can't even fly,

calling stuff. that's not even yours,

stuff, you don't even own,

point day ain't even yours,

so stop calling it yours,

before I have a fit,

cause that's not gonna be a hit,

but let me tell you this,

this ain't it,

I'm gonna come back,,

and kick your ass,

cause' you don't know,

how far I can go,

I'm me,

I'll make you see,

you can copy,,

but you can NEVER be me,

Peace Out!!!! 

 Live Your Life!

I was talking about how Jemal and I like to do things together...how we have so much fun together...in fact, given a choice..we would choose to hang out with just each other, instead of with other people....

Now, on average, most people tell us how we are an unusual couple because we like to spend time together...or how we are so LUCKY because we like the same things...I hate and cringe a little every time I hear the latter statement...because let me tell you, just for the record....it's not easy and it's definitely NOT Luck...Believe it or not, we WORK on our relationship...we take time to listen to each other ...to talk and to spend time with each other.

I think the difference is that we Don't Care about how other's may perceive how we live our lives...or how society and culture dictate, how we should do things...or simply what other people think we should or shouldn't do...

We do what we think is right...what works for us.....not saying that it's the right way...just saying it's the JeYo way...it works for us...we are happy because our priorities are our kids and each other...staying together...spending time with each other...

I think if more people stopped comparing (and/or) competing and just lived their lives...did what works for them...they will be happier!

Live your life...do what makes you happy...Stop existing, Start Living!

Online MMOs

 The world truly is a smaller place. Via the internet we can connect with people all over the world in almost real time. MMO RPG games are massive multiplayer online games. This means that a large number of people can connect to the same game server and play together. However, this brings new aspects into competitive game play. 

Yesterday, well actually this morning we had a siege, an online battle over a castle in Archeage. Sounds childish until you hear people in their 20's to 50's shouting at each other as we struggle to fend off a major counter attack. Or, we are about to breach the walls. MMO's started way back in 1990's with telnet based MUDs. These were, and are text based mmos. The internet at that time could not handle the traffic that game servers send today. It makes sense to have a text based game. I loved it! So did many people my age 20 years ago! 

Fast forward to today those people never lost their love of these games. In one sense these games seem like an extension of real life. We send messages about events in the game to each other on various social networking applications. 

In the game winning competitive events grants your faction advantages. For example in Archeage now that we have 3 castles we can craft higher tier gems that makes our armor and weapons stronger, and more effective. We are also able to level up faster with some protection. Players can also earn in game money from completing various quests on a daily basis. 

I pity those the label things with a big brush. Those that call us MMO gamers childish need to understand "different strokes for different folks". 

Ok I have to go, and I look forward to next weeks castle siege. I think we will be defending next week.

/tata

 The Choice Is Yours!

This is an Urdu Shayari or poem. Shayari is a form of poetry that comes from the part of India I'm from. I've loved reading and writing poems since I can remember. Growing up this was one of my favorites. What it means is:

that failure is only experienced by those who try (Only riders fall from the horse), and how can you expect anything even failure from those who never try (how can someone fall if he doesn't even walk).

Another one of my favorites is:

this is so true...everyone falls...we make mistakes....it's NATURAL...it's NORMAL but what's important is what you do next....do you stay down or do you get up, brush yourself off and continue....staying down is a CHOICE....staying in a toxic situation or abusive relationship or a job you hate..not saying it's easy to walk away...just saying walking away is STILL YOUR choice....

SO why am I rambling is ..because I don't understand and agree with this generation that has it so easy that as soon as the going gets tough they want to quit...they give up at the first sign of hardship.....

so I'm watching this documentary on youtube about poor kids in AMERICA..get this... they get social security benefits plus the food stamps ..but they are suffering BECAUSE they CAN'T buy chicken nuggets...when there are kids in Africa and India that are 7 years old working as manual laborers providing for their families...go figure!

We feel so ENTITLED...that's WHY we are so selfish...that's why LOVE IS DYING OUT

it's not hard to be nice and kind...smile instead of frowning...be kind instead of being a smart ass.....be polite instead of being rude...show love and compassion...smile first...be the first one to hug..to say sorry..to say please',  'thank you' , 'excuse me' ...follow the Greatest Man That Ever Lived......live your life by Jesus' example...be blessed! be happy! be kind!

Cases are to spike back up...

So here I am talking to a good friend of mine. He is a professor at the local university. We discuss a number of topics and of course one of them is the cov-vid-19 pandemic. 

The seasonal flu is a killer. However, it can be a very silent killer. Lets say you go to the hospital for some minor surgery. Minor surgery from  your bodies point of view is an invasion. Tissues get torn and spaces can be formed when tissues are removed. The body moves in and clears this space, this causes an immune response. 

However, this hospitalization occurred during the flu season. So while you are in hospital, you contract it from a person, or just breathing. Boom, you end up with double pneumonia. Ok perhaps both lungs are not effected but you get the idea.

Locally, we are seeing a few more cases, and it looks like there might have been a super spreader event in the Seoul metro area. I have already said this but I will say it again. We have all likely already been exposed to this virus. My main fear is getting hit with a mutated form. 

My friend sent me a document that shows that the scientific community has not actually isolated the covid-19 virus. It is very likely that this strain is just a mutated form of the common flu virus. Still very dangerous but we do not need these crazy lockdowns. Masks, responsible social distancing, and lockdowns effected areas for about two to three weeks would be better. Millions of people have had their savings wiped out, and are drowning in debt. 

It seems this pandemic will result in people being worse off than before. If a person is debt ridden, they become dependent on the state. In that case they are easier to control. 

Ok time to go!

Walked 32 kms last week, and we did 5.6 kms yesterday!

/tata