Look at my new Hello Kitty money clip.

I bought this for 10,000won at the COEX Mall.

Justin Beiber totally looks like Donny Osmond

via totallylookslike.com

What I learned in Korean today:

Hangul/Pronunciation

• 내가 한국어를 충분히 공부를하지 않는것./Nae-ga han-guk-uh-lul choong-boon-hee gong-boo-lul-ha-ji ahn-nun-geot.

Translation

• I don't study enough Korean.

I've decided that we're just going to never get along.

So I had two classes today with the co-teacher I already dislike. She's gotten mad at me before for some dumb shit. She's accused me of not doing enough "research" for our classes, which doesn't make tons of sense, but whatever. So I spend my time working on shit THAT WE NEVER USE IN CLASS. She doesn't even give me a reason for why we don't use it. I asked her once about a powerpoint I made and she said it didn't relate to the material. I didn't say anything but I was sure as fuck knew that it was related to the material. She used to think that I spent all my time at work watching k-pop videos. It took a really long time to explain that I just have a 2NE1 screensaver and a SNSD wallpaper. That's also part of the issue, where she doesn't speak a lot of English. I'm not holding it against her or anything, but I can see that she gets annoyed when I can't understand her. She even tries speaking to me in Korean and expects me to understand it. I'm not even joking. One time she said something to me in Korean and then said something about condescending to me about not knowing the word for "Tuesday," BUT THAT'S JUST FUCKING RIDICULOUS. Especially since we were teaching the 5th graders the days of the week.

So after the two classes we have scheduled together today, she comes up to me and the first thing she says, "Don't get offended." I couldn't help but think in my head, "Aw, fuck." Anyway, she starts asking me why I couldn't lead the class. Then I just straight up told her that she never explains what we're doing in class beforehand and I prepare all this shit that we never use [in a polite tone because I'm not a rude guy]. I knew for sure that she was taken aback was already a little mad herself. She asked me if I wanted to just be in charge of designing the whole lesson plan. I'm sure she expected a no, but I told her yes. Since honestly, this would make work so much easier. I'd know what the class is going to be doing every single time and I can actually use the things I make. Anyway, I hope she just decides to hand over the class to me and let me work my education magic, but it'll probably just go back to me wondering what the fuck she's talking about and not knowing what to do in class.

Really though, my life at work isn't as bad as this one post makes it sound. I get along great with my other co-teachers. Even with this co-teacher, the one I dislike, there aren't any real confrontations like this usually, just a whole lot of awkwardness.

I was a little like this when I got here.

Except I was yelling, "Kiss me," instead of, "Saranghaeyo." Also, they weren't Korea pop stars, they were grandmas.

Image via allkpop.com

Hahaha.

It must be something I ate.

Crunky chocolate bar given to me by my co-worker

I just can't get over the name of this candy bar. It's basically a Nestle Crunch, but not as good.

It's fucking raining again.

Seriously, I don't see how people like the rain. I hate it. It makes everything more inconvenient. It's been raining on and off for the past few days, but unluckily, it hasn't been raining when I walk to school, just when I'm walking home. So for the past couple of days I've walked home without an umbrella and that shit sucks.

I used this in class today.

We used this song to review numbers today and I couldn't help but laugh. When he says, "Numbers help me count," I can't help but say, "LET ME CLEAR MY THROAT," in my head.

A chat with Kenny Wu on dog meat.

Me: Koreans eat dog. My co-worker told me it's a summer thing and it's supposed to be good for your health.

Kenny: Asians eat any shit that's supposed to be good for your health. You want to eat some tiger cock? It makes your dick strong.

Me: lol

Kenny: My grandma can get it on the black market.

Me: I'm putting this on my blog.

Kenny: Seriously though, can you imagine eating a tiger cock?

If you didn't know, Koreans do eat dog meat. I think it might technically be illegal, but I do know there's a restaurant in my neighborhood that serves it. I don't really know much about it, but you can find out for yourself on this site. Also, Kenny is Chinese, so that might make him sound less racist if that means anything to you.

10 Magazine's "Korea Awaits!" video contest

10 Magazine is having a video contest. You have to create a 30 second - 2 minute video promoting Korea. The video is supposed to show Korea from a foreigner's perspective and encourage people to come visit. The first place winner wins a trip for two to Tokyo. The other prizes are all really tempting too. I might decide to send in something short, but I'll have to see if I have time for that mess.

Girls riding bikes.

Taken in front of Munhak Stadium.

How many fingers am I holding up?

Twelve. Polydactylism for the win.

Ask away.

Baseball in Korea

I went to a baseball game yesterday at Munhak Stadium. It was the Incheon's SK Wyverns vs the Lotte Giants from Busan. Incheon won the game 14-4 and just demolished every picture on the mound. Seriously, a grand slam in the 8th was just overkill. Anyway, there's a lot of differences between baseball games in Korea and America and here are a few of them.

• You can bring food and drinks into the stadium. Even though the mark-up on snacks and beverages inside the stadium isn't that high, it's still cool that you can bring in as much food and beer as you want. There were a lot of people yesterday that brought in pizzas or entire coolers.
• There are cheerleaders.
• The crowd's a lot more involved. The cheerleaders lead chants and songs that everyone knows. There's even assorted clap patters and dances that accompany them. The highlight of last night was that the crowd started doing the wave. They did a few normal waves and then they did one in slow motion. That was probably the greatest thing I've ever seen a crowd do.
• The pitchers are worse. None of them are throwing in the 90's or even high 80's. It probably makes the game more exciting though, since the players are hitting the ball more often. There were three guys on the Incheon line-up that were batting over .400 and that's just ridiculous, even if we are currently leading the league.
• There are a foreigners who play in Korea, but there's a limit on how many the team could have. From what I've seen, most foreigners are pitchers.
• There's no 7th inning stretch in Korea.
• A lot of fans don't just wear jerseys or hats, but some die-hard ones come in full gear. They're dressed in baseball pants with the high socks and everything. It's sort of cute when kids do it, but seeing grown men in the full gear is a little funny.
• In between innings, there's a 2-minute time limit to help speed up the game, which I haven't really made an opinion on yet.

To be honest, I think that the games in Korea are a lot more enjoyable than games in America. Sure, I'm not as invested into the games since I don't really know the players or the teams, but it's still a really fun time.

Sound familiar?

Does it sound familiar? It's the song "Boy Bring It Back" by Canadian group Cookie Couture. That's probably not why you know the song though. If it does sound familiar, it's because Hyori's song "Bring It Back" is a straight rip.

There's more details involved like a lot of her songs on her new album being rips, but that's too much for me to blog about it. You can read more about the story and her label's response to the accusations at allkpop.com where I originally heard the story.

It's been a beautiful weekend.

It might just be because I'm from California where the weather's always nice, but the weather in Korea has been horrible since I've been here. It was way too humid when I got here and then it was cold for so long. I feel like I haven't seen the sunlight in a long time. However, this weekend has been perfect. It was in the 60's and the sun was out. I even went biking down the Han River and it was great. Sure, this forecast says it might rain or whatever, but if it's going to be like how it was this weekend for the next month, I would be happy.

More on the Jisan Valley Rock Festival

I don't know when they updated the set list, but here's the new poster from their site. In addition to Belle and Sebastian, Muse, and Massive Attack, Vampire Weekend will be playing (I guess that's sort of a big deal). I'm pretty excited for Kula Shaker. I'm seriously going to start browsing Korean sites to see if I can get anymore information on the event, since I'm really interested in going.

10 things I learned about America from watching TV in Korea

I watch a lot of TV in Korea. I watch way more TV than I should. I have cable TV too, since it only costs me 4,000 won. It's really no surprise that there's a lot of American programming on TV here. Almost at any time of the day, I'm able to find something on in English. Anyway, here are some valuable insights into American culture that I've gotten from Korean television:

1. CSI, Bones, Law & Order: SVU and NCIS all show that there's a lot of crime in America. Run-of-the-mill vandalism and auto theft don't really happen in the United States, just extremely violent, often sexually motivated, murders occur.
2. Unless you're in Florida, because in Miami there's a lot of drug running and organized crime. It's okay though. Horatio Caine will take care of it.
3. The narrative of American history is one of crime and violence. Cold Case makes sure we know that.
4. American athletes like to come to Korea and play sports, especially baseball and basketball.
5. Steven Segal is the greatest actor of all time. I see Steven Segal on TV more times than I see my own shadow.
6. Chan Ho Park and Shin-soo Choo are the only two players worth knowing in MLB.
7. Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Denzel are all close contenders for that title.
8. America only makes action movies.
9. Every American carries a gun. If you don't have one, you're going to get killed and raped (see #1).
10. Sex only happens in America under the craziest of circumstances [anyone else in Korean can back me up on saying that the amount of soft-core porn that comes on after midnight is ridiculous].

What I learned in Korean today:

Hangul - Pronunciation

• 나랑하고 싶어요. - Naranghago shipoyo.

Translation

• I want to do it with you.

I actually studied Korean yesterday, like actually useful phrases and words, but I went to a bar afterwards and some dude taught me this. It might be more correct to say, 나랑색스하고 싶어요 [narangseksuhago shipoyo], which means I want to have sex with you.

I think mammoths are badass.

The Korean network, EBS (Education Broadcasting Company), is going to have a three part documentary on mammoths. It's airing next week. Check for more information in the article. I think the reason I'm so excited is that I actually enjoy nature shows even though I can't understand anything they're saying. They're also using computer graphic images and the picture on the site looks like it's well made.

I remember when Park Jae Bom was in 2PM.

Park Jae Bom, or Jay Park as he goes by in the U.S., was kicked out of 2PM a little after I got to Korea. Now he's making a name for himself back home and that shit is crazy. Apparently people went crazy over the cover song he posted on youtube. Now, according to the article, he's already recorded tracks with Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, and Krayzie Bone. The article also says that he's going to be in a documentary on b-boys that they're going to start filming. That shit's nuts. If his career really takes off, he'll probably be bigger than the Wonder Girls, Rain, and Boa combined.

What I learned in Korean today:

Hangul - Pronunciaton

• 블링 블링 - beul-ling beul-ling

Translation

• bling bling

Yesterday, one of the students in the broadcasting club was making poster. She wrote this at the top of the poster and I was really confused by it so I asked her what it meant. Of course she didn't understand me. It turns out that she finished the poster yesterday because I walked into school today and saw the poster. There was a big diamond drawn on it.

formspring.me

Have you ever seen a gigantic teddy bear wearing underwear?

• I have and it's hilarious.

Did you ever hang out with the gas station girl?

• Er, I'm not entirely sure who you're talking about. If you're talking about the girl who works at the mini-mart down the street, then no. My phone stopped working the week we were supposed to hang out so that never panned out. It also looks like she stopped working the graveyard shift, so I don't really see her anymore. If you're talking about the girl who works at a gas station, then no, since I've never talked to a girl that works at a gas station.

Ask away.

LSD Bikes

I went with my friend to look for bikes after work today in my neighborhood since there's about four bike shops within walking distance from my place. Well, we went to all of them and didn't find anything he liked. It makes sense too, since the choices are all really limited. At most shops you can find foldable bikes and cruisers for about 200,000 won or less, mountain bikes in the same price range, or a road bike that's over 500,000 won. I haven't even seen a BMX since I've been here. Anyway, the only money that you're going to see me spending on bikes now is if I decide to drop a GRIP of cash on a fixed gear or if I just decide to convert the road bike I have now. I've asked a few Korean guys where they get all their shit and they mentioned this shop. I haven't gone to check out their store in person, but it looks like the have a decent selection online. The only other places I know that you can get some fixed gear shit is near Hongdae, but it's not like that I'm looking too hard.

How to use Twitter in Korea

I didn't join the Twitter bandwagon when I was back home. I just never felt an urge too. However, since I decided to start taking this blogging shit seriously, I figured that I might as well. One of the problems was, that I couldn't update my twitter from my phone, which is one of the coolest things about it. This problem was solved when my buddy Chris told me about HanTweet. Since Internet capabilities are just way too fucking expensive, HanTweet is the only real option left if you want to tweet with your phone. It's an app that you register for and it gives you a number that you can text. It'll then take your text message and post it on your twitter. It works really well and I've never had a problem with it. I would make a guide for everyone to use, but there's already a really comprehensive one here.

I've stumbled across a secret love affair.

Last night, I walked down to the mini-mart down the block for a 2AM cigarette run. On my way back to my place, there was a man and a woman standing behind a car like they didn't want to be seen. These two, I'm sure are in a love affair because they quickly parted ways when they noticed me approaching and like myself, they couldn't be up to any good at that time of the night. Anyways, the woman started walking swiftly, but in the direction of my apartment. Luckily, I was smoking a cigarette and didn't proceed to enter my building because it turns out that she lives in it. Not only that, since she took the elevator up to the fourth floor, so she lives right next to me. So, here are the things I know about this woman:

1. She's having an affair.
2. She has to be in her thirties or forties. I didn't get a good look at her, but I was able to tell by her haircut.
3. There are only three units on my floor, mine, the one right next to mine where a new dude moved in two weeks ago, and another one that I've never seen anyone go into. She probably lives in the third one. However, I know that the new guy is a cab driver and I really hope that she's married to him and having an affair because that would mean some crazy drama going on next door.

I'll be trying to keep you updated on what happens with this, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to find anything out. Especially since I don't want to look crazy and I've lived here 8 months and have never seen that woman my whole time here.

The 4th World DJ Festival in Seoul.

I copped my tickets yesterday. If you you wanted to go and still don't have your ticket, then you should cop them today before they jump up to 55,000won. You can check out more at their website.

The flowers are blooming in Korea.

Too bad when I went to Yeouido this weekend, the cherry blossoms were a huge disappointment. I'll probably go again later this week to see if they're out.

Also, I'm well aware that these flowers aren't cherry blossoms.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming back.

He's making his return with a small part in the movie The Expendables. I really expected nothing less from my governor.

formspring.me

What Asian country would you most want to visit/explore next?

• There's a lot of places that I want to see while I'm here in Korea. I'm not sure where I want to go the most, but China is probably my next destination.

Who is a celebrity you most admire?

• Ash Ketchum.
  

Ask away.

There are two things crazy about this picture.

1. They're have Starcraft on in a subway station.
2. Someone's watching Starcraft in a subway station.

What I learned in Korean today:

Hangul - Pronunciation

• 너 없인 살수 없어. - Nuh obseen sarsoo obseo.
• 제발 가지 마. - Jebal gajee ma.
• 날 언제나 사랑할 거야. - Nar eonjena saranghal geoya.
• 우리 그래도 친구야? - Oori guraedo chingooya?

Translation

• I can't live without you.
• Please don't go.
• I'll always love you.
• Can we still be friends?

90 minute Star Wars Episode 2 review

Here's part 1 of 9 of the Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Review. It's 90 minutes in its entirety and it's hilarious. You can catch the rest of the parts and an Episode I review at Red Letter Media's youtube channel.

It must be something I ate.

Some sort of chicken a co-worker gave me yesterday at school

I have no idea what it's actually called or where it's from but it was good. The chicken was fried and then glazed with something sweet. One of my co-workers came up to me after class and then handed it to me. All they said was, "Here, eat it." I usually wouldn't bother posting something that I really know nothing about but it was really good so I had to.

SNSD's ads for the Nintendo DSi.

Saw this video on allkpop.com. The DSi just dropped this week in Korea and I have to admit, that the launch colors are pretty sick. I'm even really considering picking up one for myself. The fact that Maplestory DS doesn't hurt either.

Dude, we hung out with the Korean president.

So my friends and I were at a bar called Boobi Boobi the other night just drinking like we always do. Then guess who walks in. FUCKING LEE MYUNG BAK, the South Korean president. He came right up to me and then asked if he could wear my shirt and jacket. Then he wanted one of my cigarettes so I gave him one and he just sat and drank with us the whole night. That was one badass night.

It must be something I ate.

Jajangmyun at a restaurant in Incheon's Chinatown

I ate this yesterday, April 14th. The date's really significant since it's Black Day, an informal holiday in Korea. On Valentine's Day in Korea, women give men chocolate. One month later, on March 14th, the men give women back candy. Black Day is for single people and what they do is go out and eat jajangmyun. I think it's a hilarious concept so I got some people together to go out get some in Chinatown. I guess I should go ahead and drop a little bit of knowledge about Incheon's Chinatown:

• It's listed as a tourist destination, but overall, it's rather tiny and unimpressive. It's worth a look, but not really worth a trip on its own. It's near Wolmido though, which is pretty cool, so you could make a trip out of visiting both of them.
• There's Chinese people there and they've been there for a long time. Since the late 19th century according to my travel book.
• It's the birthplace of jajangmyun.

If you were wondering, jajangmyun is made with a black paste of some sort, honey, onions, and noodles. Also, it's pretty fucking tasty.

This is way too funny.

K-POP STAR RAIN BE HUSTLIN'

According to the Korea Times article, a man is accusing Rain of embezzlement. The accuser claims that he invested 2 billion won (about $1.8 million USD according to google) into a fashion firm the pop star was associated with. He believes that Rain and the fashion firm straight hustled him out of his money by some shady means. I think this is funny, especially because we all know that Rain is going to get away without anything really happening to him.

Predictions about the iPad in Korea.

I've been hearing all this hype about the iPad on my facebook feed and I don't know if I'm entirely sold on the idea yet. I'll probably never get one anyway. I have to agree with the article that the netbook isn't going to be replaced by the iPad or a similar Apple product anytime soon. Korea's just way into PCs for anything like that. Samsung or somebody is probably going to develop a more powerful netbook with touch screen capabilities. That would be badass.

On a side note, I'm probably going to be getting an iPhone when I go back to the U.S. I feel like blogging everywhere I am is a great idea.

formspring.me

Can I have your kidney?

• If this is Laura, then yes, you can have my kidney. If you're anyone else, then sorry, it's reserved for Laura.

Fievel Goes West or Land Before Time?

• Land Before Time, hands down. I don't even know why you bothered asking.

Did we say anything about muthafuckin Songdo?

• Nah, we don't even need to say anything. Motha fuckas already know.

Does it bother you that you seem to be getting increasingly random/nonsensical questions? Would you prefer if people were asking real questions about you, or are these just as fun?

• The questions themselves don't really bother me. It was bothersome having my blog cluttered with all these questions. I even deleted some yesterday because I didn't think they were worth posting. I feel bad about it now, because I realized that I can just make a post answering all the questions like this one. So for now on, they'll all be answered in one post just like this. Questions will be answered weekly or bi-weekly depending on how many questions I get.

Ask away.

Steven Segal is keeping mistresses!?

According to the article, Segal has been hiring female assistants to basically satisfy his "sometimes violent sexual desires." I'm really not surprised by the Korea Times writing this story. Especially since if there's anything that I've found out from watching Korean television, Segal is pretty damn near close to god.

It must be something I ate.

Tuna kimbap and cheese kimbap from the place down the street

You really can't go wrong with kimbap. I napped through dinner time yesterday so I had to go to the 24-hour kimbap place down the street. I usually get donkasu so I surprised them a little by ordering something different. Since Law and Order was on, I decided to take it back to my place. The broth they gave me was given to me in a plastic bag which I had to cut open and pour into the bowl. It shouldn't be any shock that half of it ended up on my table.

This probably is the greatest battle I've ever seen.

I don't know why I decided to look up Dumbfoundead now. He's a Korean-American rapper from K-town and I saw him at R16 when I got here. Anyway, his battles are pretty legit. In this one he battles another Asian dude and it's fucking hilarious. Also, here's part 2 of the battle.

This is probably the the truth.

via Slogan Maker

Here's the video for Lee Hyori's new song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." I remember when people were talking about her ten years ago and I think that it's crazy that she's still around. Anyway, this video is all over the place, but it's still pretty entertaining. The song is catchy too. Anyone else think that the background girls at 0:54 look like Lady Gaga?

Still, this video ain't got shit on this one:

What I learned in Korean today:

Hangul - Pronunciation

• 나는 워요일에 허슬링할거야. - na-neun wol-yo-il-ae heo-sul-ling-har-geo-ya.
• 나는 화요일에 허슬링할거야. - na-neun hwa-yo-il-ae heo-sul-ling-har-geo-ya.
• 나는 수요일에 허슬링할거야. - na-neun soo-yo-il-ae heo-sul-ling-har-geo-ya.
• 나는 목요일에 허슬링할거야. - na-neun mok-yo-il-ae heo-sul-ling-har-geo-ya.
• 나는 금요일에 허슬링할거야. - na-neun geum-yo-il-ae heo-sul-ling-har-geo-ya.
• 나는 토요일에 허슬링할거야. - na-neun to-yo-il-ae heo-sul-ling-har-geo-ya.
• 나는 일요일에 허슬링할거야. - na-neun il-yo-il-ae heo-sul-ling-har-geo-ya.
• 매일 난 허슬링해. - mae-il nan heo-sul-ling-hae.
• 매-매-매일 난 허슬링 - mae-mae-mae-il heo-sul-ling-hae.

Translation:

• On Monday I'm hustling.
• On Tuesday I'm hustling.
• On Wednesday I'm hustling.
• On Thursday I'm hustling.
• On Friday I'm hustling.
• On Saturday I'm hustling.
• On Sunday I'm hustling.
• Everyday I'm hustling.
• Ev-Ev-Everyday I'm hustling.

What would you do if you woke up in Megan Fox's body?

Masturbate.

Ask away.

Do you believe in KAT TUT, the all mighty? He defeated PYRAMID in a massive battle to claim all the MON MON. What's your take?

We talking about Peggle, because then yes, I'm a full believer in Kat Tut.

Ask away.

Hiphopplaya.com's 10th Anniversary Special [part 1]

This hip-hop show is going on this weekend. I can't go because I'm going to a birthday party, but if you have nothing to do you should go check it out. I'm not sure why it's part one. I guess there could be a part two eventually, but yeah. It looks legit. Epik High and Supreme Team? That shit's going to be awesome. Here's the flyer too.

You can also check more about this here.

Religion in Korea

I was raised Catholic, went to a Catholic elementary school and was confirmed and all that, but by no means am I a religious person now. I don't really have anything against religion either. Anyway, religion has never been a real issue back home. However, since coming to Korea, I've had more instances where religion came up in conversation than ever. I sort of knew in the back of my head that this would be the case when I came here, but I'm only bringing up this now since I had two run-ins with religion today.

The first one was at school. My co-teacher is Christian. I knew this the first week of the school year since I noticed that she brought a prayer journal with her to work. She asked me too, what my views were when we started working together and I let her know how I feel. Anyway, she asked me today why I looked so tired all the time and I told her I have trouble sleeping, which I really do. She then stopped me to tell me that she thinks it's because I don't go to church. It took me a lot of effort to not laugh, since I know that my sleeping issues are related to poor eating habits, drinking on Tuesdays, and a crippling addiction to the Internet.

The second occasion today was in front of a mini-mart while I was outside with my friends. We were standing outside and approached by Mormons. One was a white guy and the other dude was Korean. I think that I overlook the fact that Mormons are in Korea a lot. I just usually guess that foreigners in Korea are in the military or English teachers. Anyway, Mormons in Korea are just like Mormons in America. There's just less of them.

LOOK WHAT I GOT.

Joseph Gutierrez | Promote Your Page Too

I kept seeing these everywhere and never knew how to make them. I know this is shamelessly promoting myself, but everyone knows that I'm an Internet slut anyway.

What is the one quality you HAVE TO HAVE in your next significant other? ;)

I know that I'm being really specific, but I really look for a girl that reads my blog and asks me anonymous questions. I don't know if I'll ever find someone like that, but I mean... ;)

Ask away.

I watched Clash of the Titans.

I saw it this weekend at the CGV in the Technomart at Sindorim, which is a badass place by the way. I don't really watch many movies, but watching them in Korea is sort of fun. The seats are assigned, which is really weird, but the theaters are all really nice.

To be honest, the movie sort of sucked. I kept thinking Beowulf in my head the whole time. The plot line was really predictable, but it's okay for what it's worth. I don't want to spoil it for anybody who plans on watching it, but did anyone else think that the gods on Olympus were funny looking. I mean, all their shit was bedazzled. I watched the movie in 3D too. I'm not sure if I'm entirely sold on the 3D craze yet, but that's an entirely different story. It's a neat idea. The funny was that the subtitles were in 3D, so I had Hangul right in my face the whole entire movie.

Korea's top 10 English blogs.

Sadly, I didn't make it, but I am in the top 18. Maybe I'm not as cool as I thought. Thanks for voting for me if you did.

What is your message?

Only the mailman walks.

Ask away.

I took some sticker pictures earlier today.

It's a really huge thing in Korea. There's entire stores just full of photo-sticker booths. These stores have hats, wigs, and props that you can use in your pictures. They even sell little key chains that you can put one of your pictures in. Some of the machines they have are far more complicated than any of the ones I've seen back home. The one we used today, had two separate halves. One part we actually took the picture in and the other part was another screen where we chose and decorated the pictures we took. Anyway, I think they came out pretty well.

Some good news and some bad news.

Good news: The McDonald's in Bupyeong has finished renovating and is now open again.

Bad news: The Costco in Youngdeungpo-gu has started closed its food court temporarily. When I went with my friend earlier this week, an employee said that it was going to reopen in October. The guy hopefully had it wrong and that's some kind of mistake, since I don't know if I can go half a year without a chicken bake.

SNSD has a new TV show.

This is part one of the first episode. I haven't finished watching the whole episode, but it looks like they're going to be just followed around cameras all day. I'm sure it'll be full of overwhelming adorableness.

On a scale of one to ten, what are the odds that you will "jack it" today?

Over 9000%

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What has been your experience as a Mexican in Korea?

I had a tough time deciding if this question was for real or if it was a joke by one of my friends fucking with me. I decided that I guess someone could actually confuse my ethnicity since I don't really post pictures of myself. Anyway, my parents are from the Philippines.

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LOVE your post about Min Seok... however, I'm from a small, midwest town. Please elaborate on the definition of "ballin'" :)

To be honest, I could only come up with two definitions for the word "ballin."

1. Kim Min Seok
2. joseph-gutierrez.com

I hope that helps you.

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Beer pong in Bucheon!?

This isn't going to happen for a while, since it's on May 1st, but I'm currently taking applications for a partner. I'm not out to have fun either. My partner's gotta play to win and get fucked up at the same time. It's the only way I do things.

How did you end up in Korea?

When I was a little kid, my best friend was this Korean girl. We basically spent all our time together. When I was nine, her parents died and her grandparents took her back to Korea. We sent letters every now and then, but then they suddenly stopped my senior year of college. So after I graduated, I decided to come out to Korea and see if I can find out what happened to my best friend.

Seriously though, I answered this question before.

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Will you be my boyfriend? Check yes or no.

I guess I could be, but I need to know for sure that you're ready for commitment.

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Kara's commercial for Pepero

I seriously like Pepero so this video is awesome in all sorts of ways. There's a few other commercials too and you can check those out at allkpop.com, where I originally saw the video.

I've been playing this video all day.

I've been teaching my 5th graders about prepositions. This song is just way too catchy.

Do you have stairs in your house?

No, I don't.

This is also a really weird question.

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Everyday I shock. SHOCK!

Actually, I don't really like this song or video [Shock by Beast/B2ST, whatever the fuck it is]. Seriously, that knee kick like they have someone in a Muay Thai clinch is a little lame.

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Which k-pop dance is your favorite?

That's a tough question. It's still probably the one with those two dudes dancing.

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OMG! A Jersey Shore-like show set in K-Town!?

Holy shit. I caught whiff of this on allkpop.com and this shit is going to be crazy. It's definitely got potential to be one of the trashiest shows in reality television history. It's even more funny, since there's no one going to be watching it because it's an ethnic group that the majority of America knows absolutely nothing about. I can seriously imagine the first episode now...

Generic looking Korean dude with a bad tattoo saying, "Yo. My name's Jonathan Kim, but my buddies all call me KP, for Korean pride, because I love being Korean.

Here's the real kicker though, Tyrese, most famous for his amazing performance in 2 Fast 2 Furious alongside Paul Walker, is the co-producer. Holy shit, this is going to be great.

Who was your favorite Golden Girl?

I didn't really watch it or anything, but I know that my favorite is the oldest one. The one who was the mom of one of the other ones.

Also, that's a really weird question.

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Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic?

Elastic, elastic, elastic, elastic.

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Min Seok is ballin'.

There's this 5th grader at my school named Min Seok. He's a really nice kid but he doesn't speak any English. The only thing in class he ever says is, "English... no!" It's not like I've given up on the kid. I teach him English along with everyone else. The problem is that he really likes talking to me but he can't say anything. So I decided to teach him the word ballin' because that shit is hilarious. I have him say it in response to anything I say to him now and it makes our small talk really funny. Here's some examples:

Me: How are you, Min Seok?

Min Seok: Ballin'.

Me: What are your hobbies?

Min Seok: Ballin'.

Me: How's the weather?

Min Seok: Ballin'.

Me: What level is your Maplestory character?

Min Seok: Ballin'.

Me: What are you doing this weekend?

Min Seok: Ballin'.

There's a part of me that feels a little bad about it because in 10 years, he's going to actually have to speak English to someone.

Stranger: How are you?

Min Seok: Ballin'.

Stranger: Why are you using some old-ass slang?

Min Seok: Ballin'.

Do you believe in life after love?

You know... I can feel something inside me say, "I really don't think you're strong enough, now."

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What I learned in Korean today:

Hangul - Pronunciation

• 우리 집 이애요! - oori jipe ee-eh-yo!
• 이집을 보호해야되요. - ee-jipe-eul bo-ho-he-ya-dwe-yo.

Translation

• This is my house!
• I must protect this house.

I beat the biggest boy in my school at an arm-wrestling match earlier today. When I won I actually said, "This is my house and no one beats me in my house," in the middle of my classroom. No one understood it, but I thought that it was something that I should learn in Korean. My co-worker said it wouldn't make any sense if I said it to anyone, but that doesn't really matter.

A Buddhist temple stay

Jeremy, a buddy I met at pub quiz, runs the group IFX. They're organizing a weekend trip to a temple later this month if anyone was interested. I'd be really keen on going to this if I had the money. My buddy from Japan is coming the week after and I owe him some money for having sex with his hookers. You know how it is.

I might be too drunk to drive in Korea...

but I'm sure as fuck not too drunk to blog. I took a breathalizer before I left a Star Wars themed hof and it said I shouldn't drive. I do a lot of weekday drinking in Korea. It's not like I'm out getting smashed on Monday, but I hit the bars probably more days in a week than I don't. It's really just a social thing. Don't think I'm a raging alcoholic or anything, but drinking is one of the cheapest things I can do for fun, next to bowling, which is dirt cheap here.

How my after school hours go:

plans to clean my room + time = nap

If you knew you had only 2 weeks left to live, how would you spend those two weeks?

I'd probably spend 10 days of it spending all my money on doing crazy shit. I mean crazy too, like stuff I could die from even before the two week mark hit. I would then spend the last 4 days of it eating everything I could with family and close friends.

I'm not sure if someone really wants to ask me these questions or if formspring just generates questions for me when I don't have anyway.

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A mash up I've been working on.

Lollipop - Lil Wayne x Big Bang & 2NE1 [a work in progress]

I did mention this idea before and I actually decided to work on it. This is all I really have right now, since I don't have as much free time at work as I used to. I want to finish now that I started, but I'm not sure how long it'll take me. I'll probably start using a different program than the one I'm using now, so it could be a really long while. It'll probably sound really shitty when I'm finished anyways.

Lil Wayne started blogging from prison.

I found about this from the LA Times entertainment section. He's not really blogging from prison, because that would be too badass. Instead people are mailing him letters and he's sending his responses to the fans that run the site and they're posting them online. I want to send him something from Korea, but it's going to take me a while to think of it. That's alright though, since I have a little over 200 days to think about it.

Pink's was robbed at gunpoint.

The famous hotdog stand in L.A. was robbed at gunpoint. The employees couldn't get the safe open so all he made off with was the tip jar. He probably would have been better off coming at an earlier time and just robbing everyone in line.

Taken from the streets of Seoul down near Hapjeong Station

What I learned in Korean today:

Since I've decided to start taking Korean more seriously, I'm going to change the "What I learned in Korean this week" to a more regular feature. I won't be posting something new everyday but just whenever I decide to study. I'm also going to open this more up to rules about grammar and shit, instead of just vocabulary.

There's two things that I learned today.

1. I have to speak Korean with more feeling. I don't really consider voice monotone, but I'm not speaking with the proper intonations in Korean. This is the most apparent when I'm asking questions. When asking a question, you say the same thing as you would as a sentence, but sort of raise your tone at the end of the sentence.
2. Pronouns are often dropped when speaking in Korean, especially the word for "you." This makes things confusing sometimes.

Here's a good example of how both these things work.

Hangul - Pronunciation:

• 남자친구 있어요? - Namja-chingu isseoyo?

Translation:

• Do you have a boyfriend?

Translation when I say it without intonation:

• I have a boyfriend.

As you can see, no intonation + no pronouns = me looking gay.

I tried the Starcraft 2 beta.

Terra PC at the Arts Center in Incheon now has the Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty beta and I got to play it for a bit yesterday. It was a little tough playing since the game was in Korean. If you didn't know, Blizzard didn't make a language option for the first Starcraft, so they play the game in English. It's funny since a few of my kids know random English words like "supply depot" and "barracks" because of the game. Anyway, it was really tough playing the game because of it. I didn't get to try out all the units for each race since I couldn't figure out which structures I needed to make them. Even when I did figure out how to make them, I couldn't figure out where all their upgrades were and that sort of shit. I had fun playing against bots anyway. It's actually funny since they're programmed to say, "GG" when they've pretty much lost the game. I only played 4 quick games and I didn't understand any of the text, but here's a few things that I noticed while playing:

• The game looks really great. I can understand a lot of people saying they don't like the three dimensions, but yea, it still looks great if you like it or not. The terrain looks a little like Warcraft 3, but a lot better.
• Some units are entirely missing from the first one.
• With the graphics upgrade, the units were given whole new looks. One issue though, was that some of the units looked entirely different, like the Terran SCV's.
• I feel like the gameplay is a little slower. This might just be because the game wasn't running at its fastest and I didn't know how to change it in the options setting.
• Vespene gas is a lot more crucial. There were two geysers at each starting base on all the maps I played.
• The Terran supply depot can retract underground. It's going to make walling a whole lot easier for them.
• Cliffs can now be jumped by some units.
• Zerg buildings release some units after they're destroyed, a lot like those treasure chests that had beetles or some shit in them in Diablo 2. I'm not sure if this is an upgrade.
• Now there's an idle probe/drone/SVC button, which makes it a whole lot easier to keep track of them.
• The Terran structures have new attachments you can put on them, even the barracks.

Anyway, I'll probably try and go back later this week so I can sit and have more time with the game. You'll probably be seeing me in the top 10 of the Asia ladders when the game drops.

Pictures from the Seoul Pillow Fight

There were definitely a lot more spectators than participants.

This guy was definitely came prepared.

Sadly, the bear did not participate (at least from what I saw).

You can just see the enthusiasm.

He was chasing the high school girls.

Bathrobes and pajamas were aplenty.

There were Koreans participating too.

I wouldn't even know where to buy one of these in Korea.

There was a whole lot of pillow on the ground afterwards.

The event had a decent turn out, although definitely not as many people that the facebook event made it look like. I'm surprised that someone actually managed to organize the entire event. The funniest thing though, was that there was a Christian awards show that they were setting up for the entire time everyone was there.

It must be something I ate.

Galbi at some place I can't remember near Hongdae

I eat it all the time but this time but it was especially delicious at this place. Galbi's been my favorite Korean BBQ meat since I was a fetus.

It must be something I ate.

Galbi from some place I can't remember near Hongdae

It's been my favorite Korean BBQ meat since I was a zygote.

Seoul Pillow Fight

Here's a short video I took yesterday.

Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival

There's still no line-up posted for this event, but there's this video posted on their site. It looks like it's going to be a fun time.

Small addition to my camera equipment.

I bought a polarizing filter the other day from the guys I usually purchase camera stuff from down in Bupyeong. I'm not really sure how it's going to help me, but we'll see how it goes. I'm going out to the Seoul Pillow Fight so let's hope that I'll be able to get a few good shots.

My cellphone sucks.

So, the Korean government made it so foreigners had to get cell phones under their own name. Since the cellphone I got was part of a group account, this means that I have to get a new cell phone. Luckily though, I'm being provided with a new one from my cell phone provider. I'll be having the same number and everything. The downside is that they never received some documents that I had to send in. I managed to get that all sorted out, but I have no idea when they are going to send me my new phone. Currently, my phone can't make outgoing calls or send text messages. I can receive them just fine though, but it's now the weekend and it's going to be so much tougher. I sort of feel like this is how tonight's going to go down:

1. I get to the place where we're supposed to be a few minutes late and they call me to tell me to meet them somewhere.
2. I can't find the place they're at and I'm forced to make a call from a pay phone.
3. I eventually meet up with everyone after they all get annoyed by me trying to figure out where they are.
4. We all proceed to get really drunk and go to a club.
5. I get separated from my friends in a club because I'm making out with some super-hot chick.
6. They decide to leave the club but I miss all their calls because I'm still making out with the hot chick.
7. Super hot chick leaves the club with her boyfriend.
8. I look at my phone and see all the missed calls.
9. I realize that everyone went home and I'm stranded in Seoul and forced to take a cab home by myself all the way to Incheon.
10. I wake up the next morning and realize that I left my phone in the cab.

I'm about 90% sure that tonight's going to turn out just like this.

The Korea Times is reporting on twitter.

The article basically states that having tons of followers doesn't mean you're influential, but tweeting about one subject does. It's a lot of mumbo jumbo and shit people don't care about, but I just found it interesting that it was on the Korea Times.

What would your rapper name be?

My rapper name would be Kid Wisdom. I'd eventually drop the Kid part to become Brother Wisdom when I release my third album. My first hit single is going to be, "Gotta Get dat Money." I would also be the founding father of an all Filipino hip-hop collective called the Brown Town Wrecking Crew.

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That's some bullshit.

My co-teacher asked me for the key to the office at the beginning of the semester to make copies for everyone. She never gave me back my key, which isn't usually a problem since I'm the last one to get to work and I'm usually not the last person to leave. However, since I wasn't in my office today because I was getting a Korean lesson from a co-worker, my co-teacher left and locked the door, leaving me stranded. This isn't usually a problem since I don't really bring anything to work, but today I left my cell phone on my desk so now I'm stuck without a cell phone for the night. That's not a huge issue either, since I can't make outgoing phone calls from my phone because they're mailing me another phone. The big problem was that because I didn't have my phone to look at, I didn't realize that the clock in the office I was sitting in was off. So I ended up staying at my school for a whole extra hour and that's some bullshit right there.