Copied from an email a friend sent

I kind of liked what this email had  in it (I don't usually go for these things, but the little stuff at the end of it caught my eyes).



Life is too short to wake up with regrets.  So love the people you treat you right. 
Forget about the one's who don't.  Believe everything happens for a reason.  If you get a 
second chance, grab it with both hands.  If it changes your life, let it.  Nobody said
life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it

Life is w-a-y too short! So please forgive quickly, always remember to kiss 

slowly and love truly, laugh loudly, and never ever forget anyone who or 

regret anything that made you smile. 

Hope you get something from these quotes.

Trek to the Gym

Yesterday, (Tuesday) I found one of our classroom assistants on facebook chat.  I asked him if he could do a search for a fitness club in Korean for me.  He found a place called Star Fitness. So after investigating a map in Korean (which is not as easy as it seems), I made my way out the door.  I think the workout was just the walk to the gym.  It was almost a two mile walk one way.  Walking through the snow in my workout shoes was not so easy, but somehow they stayed dry.

I explained to the man running the place that I was a teacher at the local university, and that I just needed a month membership (all in Korean).  He gladly took my money, gave me a card, and a key to my locker.  It felt really good to get in there and hit the weights.  I did a little cardio, but the big cardio was my round-trip journey to the place.  When I got back to the dorm room, my calves were not happy with me.  Since I had a bunch of free time to myself yesterday, I got in a few movies.  I didn't bring any books to read from the states, so I've got movies and some Korean language learning to keep me occupied for now.  Interestingly enough, I visited the book store in Daegu over the weekend and found something unavailable at the moment in the United States - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is in paperback here.

Anyway, I watched Get Low, and The Town yesterday.  Get Low was awesome -- though I had already seen it with my mom once during the summer.  The Town didn't really excite me all that much though.  Any opinions on either movie?  Let me know what you think.

It's hump day, and I gotta get movin'.  Take care out there wherever you are and enjoy your week.

SNOW DAY

So today there is no camp - Day 1 of camp was let out a few hours early, since there weren't any city buses running, and the parents would have to come get some of the kids.  Due to the almost record amount, classes were cancelled for today as well -- OLLEH!!

The pitfall of all this is the lack of heating in our dorm rooms.  We were told that heat was turned on after 9pm in this dormitory, since there aren't any students here at the moment -- just a few foreign teachers and some teachers from the Mentoring Camp that's using the same office as we are.

The kids were fun to teach yesterday -- I forgot how much I actually missed this stuff.  My energy levels were climbing higher and higher as the day wore on -- and I didn't have any of those crazy supplements that I take -- it was all natural.  My class name is the USA class -- we also have UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.  The odd thing about that is all the foreign teachers are from the USA.  When we finished lunch, I took my kids outside for a little bit and we played in the snow.  The snowman idea lasted for about ten minutes, after the second layer was almost complete.  Then the poor guy got annihilated by some vicious ten year olds.

We were let about 2:30 pm, which was a relief.  I ventured out to find a gym in the area, since the one on campus is closed for the Winter Break.  My mission was unsuccessful though.  I did get some exercise, being that I walked almost two hours .  I had a nice dinner with Brad, and Holly (our one English Teacher from Korea). The dinner was great -- I even had one of my favorite alcoholic drinks -- makgeori -- which is kind of a rice wine -- good and healthy for ya though.  It's a good thing to have when you are sleepy at night.

I trekked through the snow with Holly to Baskin Robbins, and of course they were closing, so we walked around in the snow and ate some delicious BR.  I came home and studied Korean online -- found a cool website to study vocab.  I topped the night off with a movie on the 'puter.  The Fighter didn't excite me as much as True Grit did, but it's a movie about fighting, which of course I am going to like.  One of my favorite actors, Mark Wahlberg is in it.  The fact that it's a true story, makes it even better.  I'm gonna sign out for now -- hope everyone out there is doing well.  Enjoy some pictures from yesterday, and have a wonderful week.

Lovin' the snow

USA Class

USA Class (the other side)

Korean snowman

what can you do when you've rarely seen this stuff in your city?

Holly and Brad

I love this stuff

Record snow in Pohang City -- Classes for Day 2 were cancelled early

I'll be back with more details later -- I'm taking a Korean vocab quiz at the moment, and then it's time to watch The Fighter.

God Bless America | Playing For Change | Grandpa Elliott

this guy is an incredible street performer in New Orleans.  He is blind, and has been performing down there for almost 60 years.  He has traveled around the world with a group called Playing for Change.  You can google them to read more about their talented group of musicians.


Camp starts tomorrow!!!

So my weekend has been great.  Only one exception -- the heat in our dorm sucks.  It's turned on after 9 pm, and turned off sometime in the morning.  The same goes for the hot water in the showers.  It seems like I'm living in North Korea instead of South Korea.  The people I work with are super friendly folks though.  I will work with three other Americans (we are actually all dorm mates, I guess you could say).

There is Zachary, who is originally from Chicago, and he works in the Spring and Fall in New Hampshire at an educational facility there.  His girlfriend Savannah, is also here with him.  They work together in New Hampshire.  She is originally from Baltimore though.  Then there is Brett, who is from Boston.  He has taught in the school systems there in Massachusetts, as well as a short stint in Japan.  Out of the four of us, I am the only one with more than one month experience in South Korea.  Brett and Savannah had never been here before the camp.

Last night I had a nice dinner with my friend Mr. William, who has even given me the opportunity to speak during one of his company's leadership seminars last year.  For some reason he things very highly of me, and treated me to a nice dinner last night with his son Peter.  He also took me to the bus station and bought my ticket back here to Pohang (which surprised me).  Then he had someone take a picture of the three of us before I left.  Koreans love taking pictures -- it's great to have those memories.  During my last job, there were two of us that actually took pictures on a consistent basis -- guess we both valued those memories more than others.

Pictures from my CameraS

Traditional Korean game called Yut  --
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yut 

Teddy talking to the women like usual

Everyone is getting ready to play

Team A !!!

They are watching the sticks being thrown

"You go here, maybe"

These fine folks are the horses for their respective teams

Someone is about to win

My little buddy Peter throwing the porn on the burner

Yummy

Peter and I enjoying the food

View from my dorm room of the Pohang College campus

Some Pictures From my IPod

Airplane Meal -- the reason for picture number 2

I have no idea where we were at this point, but this picture is great

Banana flavored milk -- the light version

On the bus from Busan to Pohang

On the campus at Pohang College

Alternative energy at its finest.