Why I'm buying an iPad

I decided to buy the iPad last week.  It's probably one of the first things that I'm going to do when I get back to America.  I'm actually really excited to be getting one, but I'm sure that a ton of people are going to ask me why I'm getting one now, so here's a list:

• I need a new device.  The netbook I've been using the past year belonged to my school so I had to give that back.  Also, the laptop I actually do own is getting on in years.
• I think it's really cool.  Touch screens and all that.  It's the future, man.
• The iPad is sort of limited in what it can do, but it does everything I need it to.  All I ever do on a computer is log on to facebook, google dumb shit, and blog.
• I'm coming back to Korea and I can't wait for the 2nd generation.  If I was going to be staying back in the U.S., I would totally wait.  That's just being a smart consumer.  However, since Apple products take forever to come to Korea, I'll have to make do.
• None of the competitors have really made a big splash yet.  Sure, there are going to be ones that are going to come out later this year and 2011 that will be worth talking about, but it's going to be too long until they hit Korea, if they ever do.
• Wi-fi is going to be everywhere in Korea.  It's true.  I even read in an article that KT is supposed to be installing wi-bro egg devices in the subway cars.
• There are all these cool apps.  I even started making a list of apps that I'm going to download once I get it.  A lot of apps on the list are games, but there's some cool and useful shit like a learn Korean app.

So, that's how it is.  There's probably a few more that I can't think of at the moment, but this is the jist of it.

I'm in Seoul for the next few days.

Since I had to move out my apartment on Thursday, I moved all my stuff to my friend Alex's house in Hongdae.  It's been a lot of back and forth between Incheon because I've been taking care of some stuff but I'm finished now, so I'm just going sit back and relax for the next few days.  I might do some sight seeing and probably a bit of shopping.  I should probably buy a few souvenirs or something before I go back home on Friday.

My last post from Hyundai Officetel.

The new English teacher is supposed to move in at 5:00, so I'm technically not supposed to be here, but I left some of my stuff here and I still have the key, so whatever.  It's a little sad that I'm leaving.  The room looks so barren with all my shit gone.  Despite how small it is, the lack of hot water in the winter, and the strange smell that comes from the kitchen cabinet sometimes, this was still home for the past year and I'm going to miss it.

Packing is hard.

Really, it's tough.  I've picked up so much random shit this year that there's nowhere to put it.  There's a lot of I'll probably never use again and should probably just throw away [when will I need a horse mask again?], but I just can't put them in the trash.  It's like I'd be throwing away memories.

Also, I dropped a small mirror and it shattered.  I'm not one for superstition, but as I was taking out the trash bag it was in, I cut my leg on a piece of it that was poking through the bag.  Then some of the blood ended up on a white dress shirt.  Goddammit.

Five things I probably shouldn't have done this year as a teacher

1. Accidentally cuss in front of my students.  I've done this a few times.  The worst time I did it was when a kid ran into me from behind while I was looking at him and I ended up hitting my head against the wall.  I yelled, "Fuck."  Then I turned around and said, "You better fucking quit that shit."  I did it all without thinking.  Luckily, I said it fast enough that the kid didn't understand.  I got caught once typing out Korean cuss words on my computer though.  I was spelling them for practice and one of the students walked by and made a big deal of it.  That time, I was lucky that none of my co-teachers were in the office.
2. Play favorites.  I know that I shouldn't, but it's just too easy.
3. Mess with my kids' stuff.  Usually, I'm all up in their things.  Pencil cases, notebooks, sometimes backpacks.  It's always interesting to see what they have and mess with their stuff.  My school has a digital class.  The entire class uses laptops and e-books instead of textbooks.  Each student has their own laptop.  One time they went to go do a health check-up or something and they left their computers on their desk.  I went on all their computers, taking pictures of myself on their webcams and then putting that picture as their desktop background.
4. Chase the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders around the school.  I let them chase me sometimes.  I usually surprise them with how quick I am.  Anyway, I shouldn't do this because one time I was chasing this girl and she ran into a desk and proceeded to start crying.
5. Teach my students weird things to say in English.  I don't particularly feel bad about this.  Teaching Min Seok "ballin" was probably one of the greatest things I've done as a teacher.  I do feel a little guilty about teaching a lot of the third graders the sentence, "I like Joseph-teacher better," though.

It's my last day at work.

It's a sad day, really.  I don't have any classes today so I've been walking around just hugging kids and saying good-bye.  I've also been taking care of some shit that needs to be done, like cleaning my desk out.  I'm really going to miss my desk.  I've spent a lot of time at it and all that.  I've moved all my files over to an external harddrive.  I'm also going to clear out the browser history and delete all my shit when I'm finished.  The next English teacher doesn't need to know that I spent a lot of my time looking up k-pop lyrics, playing Super Nintendo games, and all the random shit I've googled.  I should probably change the 2NE1 screen saver to something else too.  When I'm finished cleaning up the computer, I'm only going to leave my best powerpoints.  I'll let my replacement think that I'm a good employee or something.

Longshan Temple