The new semester started on Friday and it was ridiculous. I didn't get my schedule until Thursday night so when I got to work on Friday, I had about an hour to find the books for all my classes. You'd think that'd be plenty of time, but the book shelf is in no kind of order. Some of the books aren't even on the shelf. I found them all eventually, but then the schedule changed about six times through the course of the day. I was literally about to walk into a class when someone told me I wasn't teaching that class anymore. Luckily, most of my classes this semester are listening classes, which basically means I go in, throw in a tape and they listen to it. Those classes are golden. A whole lot better than teaching grammar, which just isn't something an unqualified smuck should be teaching.

The kids continue to astonish me with their cruelty. I showed a class a photo of my family and one girl looks at it and goes, "Ugly, ugly, ugly" as she points to each member of my family. Then at the end of class, this same girl has the nerve to ask me why I didn't give her the penny for being the best student of the day. What a bitch.

Erika missed her flight home on Saturday. She got to the airport at 10:15am for an 11:00 flight and they refused to let her check in. She stayed at a hotel last night and hopefully she's flying home right now. I could make fun of her here, but I love her too much and she'd probably fly back to Korea and kick my ass.

It's gotten really cold here over the last week. And I don't have a winter jacket. I've got my Richmond sweatshirt and a hat. I thought that would suffice and I could beat the cold, but I'm already losing that battle. Bender got a jacket from his boss for his birthday. Maybe I'll ask for one tomorrow. They'll probably give me a roll of toilet paper and tell me to wrap myself up.

One of the lessons last week involved naming Disney movies and since the kids weren't paying attention and probably making fun of me, I helped them out and suggested "Bambi." Bambi does not mean cute young deer in Korean, though. It means "Dung." So that was great. Sometimes I think the kids are just messing with me. I asked the Korean teachers what Bambi meant and they had no clue. Or else they were just trying to save me the embarrassment.

Bender and I went to Seoul Tower today, which is easily the most touristy thing we've done here. On the walk there, we got detoured a bit when Bender spotted a casino. So obviously we immediately went off course and headed inside. Thankfully the blackjack tables were full so I wasn't tempted. Bender, however, dropped $50 on roulette in about five minutes. The casino thanked Bender for the donation and we were back on track. Getting to Seoul Tower is a bit of a trek as you need to walk up and around a mountain for a good half hour. Not much of a problem if your body is accustomed to any kind of physical activity, but we were both ready to pass out when we reached the top. Once we got inside the tower and as the ticket lady was about to scan my ticket, the power went out. Lucky bastard. Once we got to the top of the tower, which thankfully involved no walking and just a 30 second elevator ride with about 500 Koreans, most of whom seemed to be making out, we got a stunning view of the city. I use the term stunning lightly because there's really nothing stunning about this city. Yeah, we were up high and you could see a lot of buildings and what looked like bombs going off near North Korea, it wasn't all that exciting. Plus Bender kept insisting that the tower was moving and there was a strong possibility that it would fall over at any second killing us all. The outside of the tower was much cooler because it changes colors every 30 seconds. I was fascinated but Bender kept yelling at me for taking too many pictures.

I'll probably have to work some overtime this week because the new foreign teacher is still in Japan getting his visa worked out. I'm not too bummed, though, cause I'm really enjoying the teaching at this point. Every class, even if the kids are covering my desk in chalk or pouring drinks on each other, provides me with a decent level of entertainment.

I haven't gotten a haircut in three months and while looking like homeless bum seemed kind of funny for maybe a month, it's getting out of hand now. The kids always point at me and ask, "Perm?" They are serious, though so I have to explain to them that guys do not get perms unless they are Korean. They also enjoy calling me "Ajuma" while laughing hysterically. Ajuma means old Korean woman. I guess my hair does kind of look like that, damn it. I'm afraid to go to a barber though because really, there's no way that's turning out well. Most Korean guys are rocking the mullet and that's just not something I'm going to be comfortable with. Maybe I'll just shave my head so I don't have to get a haircut for another six months. The kids would rip me apart though and I'd probably need to start seeing a therapist. Whatever, I'll figure something out.

(Photos- Erika's last night and Seoul Tower)