Oscarfest's Not-So-Hangover

"I know I did something, Lord what could it be?" -Sublime's Tequila

"Quien quiere otro tequila? Pero del bueno, eh, del bueno!" - Paulina Rubio's Dame Otro Tequila

"Mostest most on tequila, Bestest friends on tequila" -Alanis Morissette's On The Tequila

So I have to be careful with the smallest things I say sometimes... So my coworkers in the English department love going out in a group (I may have mentioned this before in a blog/tweet/or status update somewhere). Well this past Friday we went to this really cool restaurant in Songtan where you make your own spring rolls. I love spring rolls, especially back home with a hot bowl on pho. It was a farewell to summer welcome fall type of celebration. So the food was great, and soju and rice wine was being passed around. At some point one of my coworkers, I believe it was my co-teacher Mr. Lee, mentioned that he knows soju and rice wine are not popular in America, so he asked what type of liquors people drink over there. I told him the prime candidates are vodka, tequila, and rum (in no general order).

Well it seems that with the smallest thing I say, it gets turned into an "Oscar Event." I like to call it the term my friend Claude once coined when thinking about Oktoberfest and instead blurted out "Oscarfest" (I like). I should've learned by now that any idea or mention of anything I do back home gets turned into an after-dinner event. This happened once when I said something about karaoke and turned into a full-on norebong night. So Oscarfest got turned into tequila night. One teacher mentioned a bar, while another bought 2 bottles of Mr. Cuervo. I then turned into Mr. Navarro when I had to teach them all how to do the following:
1-salt
2-shot
3-lime/lemon
Being volunteered as the example meant I had to do many explicatory shots, for education purposes of course. Next thing I knew two of my coworkers passed out. Literally asleep at a bar. It was quite humorous to watch. I was fine actually, not affected at all. Everyone was surprised at how well I handle myself. This is of course not a reflection of what some of my friends think back home ;-)

So it's Monday, and the talk of the day was who did what and how hungover people got. One teacher said he slept for 24 hours after he got home, while another said she still felt the headache. I didn't boast about a great fact that my friends know by now. I don't get hangovers. It's a scientific fact. In fact, I think the night-after gives me more energy. Like let's-go-to-IHOP-and-stack-up-on-pancakes-the-next-morning type of energy. So when they asked how I was I just said "Ok" and that I didn't feel bad at all, I left it at that. I figured I wouldn't kick them while they were down (or trying to still recollect the events of that day).

Well, that's all. Oscar needs to watch the smallest words during after-work social hours. In the meantime, here goes my favorite song dedicated to this happening drink, which reminds me of my friends back home every time I play it:

Things that make me happy and make me smile and make me laugh

3 month slump

The 3 month slump is like one of those tales such as "the freshman 15" or "senioritis." It is an expression I've recently heard of from the other SK teachers in Pyeongtaek. It seems that when a foreign teacher in SK reaches his/her third month there's a type of depression phase that comes with it (warning: the rest of this entry is pretty much a downer). Some of the other teachers have or are currently experiencing it. It's the whole "just wait for it" mode for me right now. Maybe I'll feel it, maybe I won't, I guess I have to wait and see.

The thing about the third month that I can see being a downer is that it would be more intense for me because that third month date comes in September. For those who don't know, my birthday is in September. I've always enjoyed birthdays, my family members' and my friends' birthdays have always been fun. So far I've missed a couple of their birthdays, and tomorrow I'll miss one more. Phoebe's birthday is usually an indicator for me that I need to start looking into what I want to do that day. She's the first Virgo birthday (among many to follow) so her birthday is a Go light for me.

I've always had fun on my birthday with the exception of the bittersweetness that was 2001. Last year it was a fun party with Pat, Nick, Beto, and I celebrating together while Villa de Lobos played rock en espanol songs. Before then my birthdays have consisted of Tequila Jack's, hookah night, Disneyland, black forest cakes, CJ's, and great meals with the family.

Ah! I'm giving this too much thought!

I should just go about my business and stop mentally ranting about it so much.

Cheers, to the upcoming third month!!!

"Three is the charm, two is not the same, I don't see the harm, so are you game?" -B

p.s. Happy Birthday Phoebes!

"I said good day" -Fes from That 70's Show

So 9/09/10 we get Fes, not just one, but four. Four foreign exchange students will be coming to our school to study this semester. At first I was told it would be one, then six, and now the number has been dwindled to four. My co-teacher just told me that two will from France and two from Taiwan. Although I will try my best to meet the French students halfway by retracing my middle school conversational French, I have no perception of how to approach students from Taiwan. I know that European education is multilingual and based on a 20/20 special I saw some time ago, it is conventional to speak many languages in their education system. We shall see. My co-teacher informed me that the education system in Taiwan also strives for a multilingual basis, and that in fact he feels it is better than French education as he has had exchange students from France in the past.

When I first got to my school I wrote about how I was the "new puppy" everyone wanted to play with, and now I can already see it happening with the Fantastic Four who will be coming in a short while. This whole exchange student business is part of my principal's activity through the Rotary Club. As a member of the Kiwanis family (through Circle K), I have some understanding of how these clubs function. Rotary and Lions clubs are really big here is Asia, just a side note. Kind of nice to know I won't be the only foreigner on-campus. My duties so far have been to inform the English Club what of what a foreigner might like in SK (from an American perspective of course) and I will have to inform the staff of what I feel their proficiency levels are so that I can place them in the right class. Good day!

The First Day

"Out for summer / Out till fall / We might not go back at all" -Alice Cooper's "School's Out"

So today is the first day of the Fall semester in S. Korea and it seems that with every teacher I've talked to and with every Korean teacher's Facebook post I've seen today that the message is clear: It's a weird day.

It might be the weather, who really knows. It was beyond hot this past weekend in Songtan and Pyeongtaek. I had a lot of fun though partying like summer was over, like it was 1999. It then starts raining like crazy today. My coworkers tell me that it may be the transition between summer and autumn weather, which I'm really excited about.

But what mainly seems to be weird is the fact that the first day of school feels like the first day ever. The first day I ever had students, the first time I came to Korea, the first time I ever taught in the history of ever. Even my coworkers and fellow foreign teachers agree. Nice to know I'm not alone on that one. One of my coworkers was so out of it that she walked into the wrong class during the wrong period ready to teach the students who were there. It proves my point: weird day.

The gloomy clouds are hovering over the school at the moment contemplating if they're going to rain over me on my walk home. Come on clouds, give Osc a chance.

I must say I got used to my summer, which rocked, so maybe this is how everyone is dealing with having to see it go.

I must also add that I missed the school's cafeteria, it was mashisoyo!

Time to get the gears grinding on this routine business again.

In the meantime in between time, here goes one of my favorite teaching skits, enjoy!

"Te puedes ir a la CHINA en un cohete, no hay rosas ni juguetes" - Paulina Rubio

Here it is, my synopsis of China!

China has many beautiful sights with amazing architecture. It was such a fun trip and I was really happy I got a chance to go.

Shanghai- day 1

Landing in China was a breeze, only a two hours flight from S. Korea, pretty sweet. It's almost like flying to San Francisco or Vegas from LA. Korean Air is a great airline, I would definitely fly with them again. Going to Nanji was really fun, it's a huge pedestrian shopping district. The only thing I disliked was how many people approach you trying to sell you swag and scam tourists. You have to play it cool there, that's why I put my aviators on and kept on walking. Later it was time to go to the Bund. What a great view of what Shanghai has to offer. The Pearl Tower looked surreal. Went to a brewery there which was really nice and then it was time to head inside the Pearl Tower. Talk about crowds. It was at this moment when I realized that the fact that China houses 20% of the world's population was no joke. The pushing, cutting, and length of lines were discouraging but that all went away when we reached the top. It was beautiful. The view was amazing.

Shanghai- day 2

The Jade Buddha temple was amazing. As stated in an earlier blog, I had an experience with some Spaniards there. The temples that surrounds the Jade Buddha has huge statues that are just out of this world. I caught a musical number by some monks.

Although I took many pictures of the property it was a shame that pictures of the Jade Buddha itself were not allowed, but it was a great sight. Then it was time to head to the World Financial Building, the highest building in all of China. This tourist sight was WAY MORE organized than the Pearl Tower and the view just baffled me, and it still does. The Pearl Tower looked like a toy from up there and it had a good view of the world's tallest hotel.

Ended the night at the Bund, which was all lit up in a mesmerizing sight. I was glad to see a Subway sandwich shop, eat fresh!

Shanghai- day 3

The Shanghai World Expo 2010. This expo is just gargantuan, too much to see in one day. It is a large property of many buildings, each building devoted to a country. I like to call it "United Nations Land" or "It's a big world after all". Seeing all of these countries and what they had to offer was amazing. I got to see real Guatemalans in Asia, that was pretty cool. Here's the video from the USA building, they show it to you when you first enter. Go Lakers!

Shanghai- day 4 & Beijing Day 1

This day consisted of mostly killing some time and catching the train from Shanghai to Beijing. That was a ten hour ride, but luckily I got a train ticket for a sleeper. After sleeping on the train I got to Beijing, got to my hotel, showered and had my first event: the Hutong tour. This was aboard a bike taxi. I learned about about Chinese architecture and got schooled about what different symbols represent. I got to see the Drum Tower and the highest bell tower in all of China. I booked my tour for the next day...the most important thing to do in China and a focal point in human history....

Beijing Day 2

The Great Wall of China. It was great to get to visit this wonder of the world, the only one visible from space. The walk to the highest point on the wall has intense, but well worth it. The whole time I just could not believe I was there. ME! The ride up and the ride down was not what I was expecting as it was something out of Disneyland:

We then headed over to the Jade Museum for lunch, and I must say that it was the best meal I had on the whole trip. We then saw the Jade Museum and went on to a tour of the Silk Factory...but that's when things turned........turned into Mission: Nearly-Impossible.

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The flight was set for the night of the last day in Beijing, which was cool because the brochure said we would be back at our hotels by 6p.m. the latest and my flight was at 9:15 p.m. Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a real pain in the ass about punctuality. So it was 6:10 p.m. and we're still on this Silk Factory tour, which was not on the brochure and our tour guide thought it would be something cool to see. I had talked to tour guide about the flight and how there was still luggage that needed to be picked up from the hotel that they were holding. He then told the bus driver to go to the hotel. It was all haul-ass from that point on. From the hotel, to the subway, to the airport express train, to finding out what terminal stop I needed to get off at (which was made possible by a Chinese man who allowed me to use his cell phone to call the train support line, luckily he spoke English), to getting to the airport and realizing it was all okay. Made it to the gate with an hour to kill....phew!

A special thanks goes to Lizelle and Hunter, thanks for all your help!

News Report Project

The Spaniards

I came back from China this morning, at it's about 11:30 p.m. More on the trip later.

So in Shanghai I went to the temple of the jade Buddha. Pictures are not allowed, out of respect I think, but it was so wonderful and I was glad I was able to see it. Well while I was looking at the Buddha there was a Spanish-speaking Chinese tour guide for a group of obviously Spanish-speaking people.

Well I was looking in awe at this jade Buddha and this tour group kept talking about it's history. I was happy because I was learning from the tour guide as well. So then one person from the tour says "Shhh" to indicate to his group that he felt they were being too loud to the other guests. I then chimed in and told them in Spanish that it was okay because I was learning too. They took my comment well and after we left the temple that housed the jade Buddha, we made our way to another corridor and we began speaking in Spanish. Next thing I knew the conversation took a turn from this trip being about the Buddha to being about me. They asked me about my lineage and background and they were just really listening intently to the story of who I am. I came to learn that they were a group of professors, mostly biology, from Spain.

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Fast forward to a couple of days later when I was in Beijing staying at my hotel. I was walking to buy a soda from the main lobby and I saw a group of people about my age sitting together and talking in Spanish. Here comes socialite Oscar once again and I began speaking to them in Spanish and we talked about one another. Well leave it to geographical coincidence, they were from Spain too. Two of them were managers at an IKEA while another was an art professor. Again, there was a sudden interest into who I was, where I came from, and what I do. It was getting late and they had to start packing as their flight was leaving later that same night. All in all.....Spaniards love me. Ole!

The Foreign One

As my niece Julie would say "What the barnacles?" It's August already?! I can scratch month two off. I must admit it is after month three what I am looking forward to the most....as that pay raise kicks in (woo hoo!).

So the concept of the foreign one is an homage to my friend Sarey. Sarey has been labeled as "the foreign girl" "the foreigner" "the Peruvian" and "Ay, Sarey!" for a very long time. She's even been referred to as Bashiba and Sarah Towers. Yes Sarey is a foreigner because she lives in LA and was born in Peru, land of the lamas and guinea pigs. Granted I have friends who were not born in the states as Yaya was born in El Salvador, my twin Etna was born in Mexico, and my friend Phoebe was born in the Phillipines. But for some reason I would never label any of them with the term "foreign." I think I attribute this to the fact (and friends you can agree) that Sarey's assimilation is a working progress, an assimilation that has cracked us up so many times. Case in point: some of her birthday wish list request, wishes that only partially change from year to year. While I'm here, I might as well wish Sarey a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

So the tables have turned. I am now foreign. It's so weird because before I come to the realization that I'm foreign through some comment or gesture I think "I'm not foreign, I'm American!" Right after I have take a look to my left and right and come to terms that I'm the odd man out. It hits me: Oh yeah, I have a work visa and an alien card here. I think it hits me in repeated intervals because of where I live (aka "little America") and all of the English-based services that surround me.

Can't wait til I get back home and chow down some food from Chipotle...the taste of freedom!