It was an Internet blackout. Part 2

This blog will cover the week of February 23-March 1.
Well this week was just as one would expect the last week of a semester to be. The kids had completely checked out as well as us teachers. Who could blame them though. The material was terrible and you can only do a task so many times before you want to freak out, which is exactly what is happening in this country. They are not raising educated kids as much as they are creating robots who can answer standardized tests. The books for this past semester were repetition of filling in the blanks that were both too easy and far from what the kids will be faced with on the test. We have hopes for better books in the upcoming semester but with the education systems in this country being behind those in the west it will probably be some years until the education system finds its proper balance.
And i digress......
The rest of the week was pretty good.
On Thursday we went out for lunch with Lindsey, our head foreign teacher, since it was her last week with us. Replacing her is going to be Jameson. You might wonder "hey Mark, why not you?" So to that I must remind you to think hard about who I am. I am a pot stirring asshole, who will tell you how is is rather than bend to your will. I like things to be done right instead of confusing and repeated. So Jameson was the next in line and a rather good choice. He has however chosen me as his Secretary of Defense because I stand fast on my policy of "if you have a problem F-Off. It's going to be a good term.
Well on Friday we were all ready to get out of the office and away from the kids and stress of an upcoming semester. Also, I was a little psyched because I was possibly meeting up with a semi-blind date Friday in Hongdae. She was a girl I met the night of Brady's birthday in Itaewon, and we had planned to go out for a few beers if possible. Unfortunately, I missed her call due to a farewell party at work for Lindsey and when I tried to call back she had left home already. C'est la vie. Jameson and I went to Hongdae anyways to meet Blake, Junk, and Charles. We stayed for a few hours but took off before it got too late. We got a ride home from one of Junks friends at which time Charles fell asleep on Jameson's shoulder..........awkward.
Saturday started out as a personal day. I slept late, then got up and cleaned my apartment, did the dishes, and just hungout watching saved episodes on my computer. I wasn't planning on going out until Blake phoned me around 9 and said he was at a social club and wanted me to go meet everyone. This club was an organized platform for language exchange. There were Korean men and women in their 20's and foreign men and women, mostly men, who wanted to meet people and exchange mostly English. Even though it was far away from my end of town I went anyways. I showed up to a mix of people most of which had been drinking for a while and were very social. I sat down and talked with lots of different people over the next few hours and did my best to help Blake wrangle some of the better looking girls. It was a good night and we have been invited back to future gatherings and even asked for outside meetings. Making friends left, right, and center around here.
On Sunday Jameson, Brian and I met up with Lindsey and a couple of the Korean teachers at our school for lunch in Anguk, a traditional area of town with some great museums and palaces. We had a very traditional Korean lunch and then went to a tea house before walking around for a bit. After we split up Jameson and i went to check out a well known spa called Happy Days Spa. One of our co-workers always goes and we thought why not. We wanted to hit a sauna and get a massage but when we got to the place nobody would help us and we walked around pretty much lot for a while. Eventually we found some saunas and the massage room. It was a two hour wait for a massage so we settled for a quick sauna and a sit in a outdated massage chair. They had nicer ones but they were all taken. After our disappointing time at the spa we went for some dinner and resolved to give it another go later the next month.
Well there we go I am all caught up on my Blogs and you are all caught up on my life hither.
I've got some big plans for getting out and doing some more photo taking soon so that I can get some more albums up on facebook.
Take Care and thanks for reading.