Another Reunion Planned

North Korea's Red Cross is proposing another meeting of separated families between North and South Koreans.

These stories are incredibly heartwarming. Yes, it's terrible that there are people stuck across the border in the first place, but to see a family member you haven't seen since the 1950s and aren't even sure if they're alive has got to be one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.

Some really nice video always surfaces after these events happen, so I'll post that as soon as it comes out.

Here's one of the meetings from last year:

'Yoon Ki-Dal, 88, of South Korea thought such a moment would never come. After leaving his son and daughters when they were babies during the Korean War, he was able to hold the hands of his North Korean children last September. 

"Father, we thought you were dead," his daughter, who was in her 60s, told him, her face trembling.'

Again, it's just brutal that two bigger governments (The USA and USSR) could have agreed to separate an entire country and separate millions of people.

But at least there is enough cooperation for a few hundred families to meet every year. If that doesn't inspire hope, I don't know what could.

 

South Korean Clubs Dominate

South Korea's K-League had placed all four of its' entered clubs into the quarterfinals of the Asian Champions League. It's the first country in the history of the competition to do so.

Suwon Bluewings and Seongnam Ilwha will play each other in the quarterfinals, thereby eliminating one of South Korea's teams' chances. Jeonbuk Motors and Pohang Steelers are Korea's other two teams in the quarterfinals.

This could be a big year for the Korean clubs, who are looking to bring a 9th AFC title to the peninsula.

Melissa's Wedding and The Whole Trip

Well, I've taken plenty of time to recuperate and I've also been pounded with a heavy work schedule since one of our teachers is on vacation. But it's time to document my time back in America.

Overall, it was really great to go home and hang out. It was a super-short time, and we really had to rush around, but seeing my family and friends, giving Jeong Mi the tour, meeting her sister and having a little break were all very nice. The one major problem was the traveling itself, which is still haunting me as I type.

I'll break this up into three parts. So let's start with the first leg of our trip.

Heading back to America


The trip started off a bit ominously, but I knew it would be stressful, so I just tried to go with it. Jeong Mi's dad was going to pick me up at 1:30 p.m. on that Wednesday and we'd go to the airport, say goodbye and be on our way.

Well, as is the case in Korea, a plan is never actually set. Jeong Mi called me at 11 a.m. that day asking me to meet them at her house, instead of him coming to get me. Well, that would've been nice to know the night before, but I got all my stuff together, took a cab to the subway, and lugged my gear to her place.

I had a tiny breakfast with her family and we all hopped in the car and got on our way.

We got to the airport in plenty of time, checked in smoothly and headed to our plane. All was going well. I was even feeling saucy enough to upgrade our seats to get some extra leg room. Yep. All looked good.

We even got to use the Asiana lounge, which had a salad bar and drinks -- including beer. Totally worth the upgrade price.

Well, we got on the plane to find our first disappointment: The plane had no individual screens on the backs of seats. Now, we were close enough to the big screen at the front, but when you get used to having a personal screen and a ton of options, it sucks to suddenly not have one on a 10-hour flight.

Another problem on our United airplane was that even though we were on a trip leaving South Korea, there was only one Korean-speaking flight attendant. Only one! This was a plane with 200 Koreans and there was one Korean speaker. The attendant we had working our row subscribed to the theory of speaking louder if someone doesn't understand English. So when she came around and asked Jeong Mi how she wanted her coffee, and Jeong Mi didn't respond, she just practically yelled it. It came off as very rude.

After being in a country that caters to English-speakers, it was a little reverse culture shock to see how little an American company (flying out of South Korea) cared about speaking Korean.

Well, to add onto our already subpar experience, our flight arrived late in San Francisco. Then, we went through immigration. She had to wait a longer time in her line, because American immigration employees insist on interviewing people who don't speak any English. So I waited in order to translate for Jeong Mi, and had four different people try to make me leave the area.

The final person told me to leave and I got a bit testy and said, "I'm going to do you a favor and translate." The guy said, "Does she speak some kind of strange language we wouldn't know?" I said, "I don't know, buddy. Do you speak Korean?" And what a surprise, after that, they stopped bugging me.

Even after spending 20 minutes at the immigration area, we still had to wait for almost 25 minutes for our luggage to finally roll around. At that point, we had missed our next flight. We were supposed to fly to Denver next, and then to Pittsburgh. We got re-booked on a direct flight to Pittsburgh that would get us in one hour later than before. How stupid is that? Why didn't they just book us on that flight in the first place?

Either way, we got on that plane (with excellent flight attendants) and got to Pittsburgh, where mom and dad picked us up, and took us through Sheetz for a snack. It was awesome.

Franklin, Pittsburgh and Erie

We got up the next day, and I took her through our quaint little downtown area, where we got some coffee and checked out some of the shops and the park. It was really nice, and she loved our town. A 6,000-person American town is obviously different from EVERYWHERE in South Korea.

After that, we headed down to Pittsburgh so I could show her where I spent the last 6 years of my life before coming to Korea.

We checked out Piper's Pub in the South Side for lunch, rode the incline and then headed to Lawrenceville where we hit the Blue Moon and Belvedere's for 80s Night. It was awesome. The bartenders and DJs remembered. It was strange to see how little had changed. It's like time stood still while I was gone.

She and I both loved every minute of it.

The best part was seeing Joe, Amanda, Matt and Joe's wife. It was so great to see my best friends again. We went right back to our old routine, and it just felt so good.

The next day, we woke up, grabbed our stuff, and headed up to Erie, where the wedding was taking place. We stayed at the Sheraton Bayfront Hotel. It was in a really nice location on the lake.

After we arrived, we headed to the church for the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner. The food was great, and Jeong Mi started meeting everyone. She was pretty tired, so she took a bit of a nap, but we had a nice dinner.

After that, it was back to the hotel where we got in the hot tub for a bit before winding down. Her sister, Limmy, came at about 3 a.m., so she went to meet with her for a bit.

We were both awake by about 7 a.m., so we went for breakfast with dad. We also headed over to the beach to check it out. She was pretty impressed by a lake that was so big it actually has waves.

Then, she went to hang with her sister while I was headed to the church at the terribly early hour of 10 a.m. for pictures. Our groomsmen pics took about 15 minutes, followed by roughly 3 hours of just standing around bored out of our minds. Totally unnecessary.

The wedding went by just fine, everyone was happy and whatnot. And then, it was onto the good part of the night.

Jeong Mi had already started meeting everyone, but it was at the reception where she really had to be on her toes. Of course, right after dinner, the travel had caught up with her again, and she had to take a little nap. She missed the Chicken Dance, but was back soon for more dancing and fun.

We even did a salsa dance in front of everyone. She was a bit nervous and wasn't wearing great dancing shoes. We also didn't have a salsa song. But it was a Latin tune, and we pulled out some moves and had a lot off fun. Everyone really enjoyed it.

Then, my night got even better as Lynn and I sand 'Dream Lover' on karaoke. It was my special day and everyone knew it. Haha.

We wrapped up the night by hanging out in Paul and Pauline's room with some of mom's side of the family, and then hanging in Limmy's room for a bit. It was a really nice way to close down the night.

Sunday in Erie and Franklin

I woke up the next day with a pretty big problem. My eye was swollen shut and I was in serious pain. I always have some issues with sensitive eyes because of the airplane and hotel air. It's really dry, and it makes wearing contacts a bit tough sometimes.

Well, we had dinner with the family in the morning to say goodbye to everyone, then headed to a clinic, where I got the wonderful news that I cut my eye. Most likely, it was when I was taking my contacts out. My eye was probably really sensitive at the time, and I probably didn't go easy enough.

Well, we headed over to the beach for one last quick visit, then back to Franklin.

At home, we did a Bruckart family tradition and had a campfire in the backyard complete with hot dogs, beans, mac 'n cheese and , yes, DILL pickles. It was all so good and it was nice to show Jeong Mi how nice life was back home.

We were fast asleep soon after that, and up early to head to Pittsburgh for our return flights. And that's where the stress really happened.

Heading Back To Korea


Here's a little tip for any of you traveling to South Korea. Don't go through China. Our tickets took us to Beijing to transfer, and it was a nightmare. First, in Pittsburgh, they weren't confident about letting me get on the plane, because they were convinced I'd need a visa just to transfer in Beijing. After about 30 minutes of phone calls and searching, they found out that people staying less than 24 hours and not leaving the airport don't need a visa.

But I already knew the day would be nuts.

Our flight to to Newark went fine, and the transfer in Newark was a piece of cake. It was in Beijing where things were a mess.

First, we got sent to about 10 different places, some of them twice, just trying to get through to pick up our bags and check back in. While all the employees spoke English well, none of them knew the process we needed to go through. So it was back and forth between various lines and counters, getting information and misinformation along the way.

As our time was getting exceedingly close to missing our flight, we finally got through, only to find out that we had to ride the tram to a different building, get our bags, re-check in and then come back to the building we were currently in.

While, we were stressed and it was insane, but after running around everywhere, we made it to our plane as it was boarding.

And here's the sweetest part: We flew Asiana from Beijing to Incheon. So we were coddled the whole way back. And that is a great way to end a trip.

Back to Work and Normal Life


And that was pretty much that. I went back to work the next day and one more before hitting the weekend. And last week, Geoff left for a little time off because his contract is finished, and he's re-signing. He's taking  little trip at home. Unfortunately, that means we're getting pounded at work.

But fortunately, we only have one more week and a Monday before Chuseok, the Korean harvest and family holiday. So we'll get four work days off, and the following weekend. Jeong Mi and I are planning to hit Jejudo with Popper and his girlfriend. After that, I'll have hit pretty much every major thing in South Korea. So I'll be ready to start checking other countries.

It's going to be a busy week or so, but it's nice to get back to the familiar routine.

The only real problem is my eye is still bothering me. I've gone to the doctor a few times, and have at least one more trip next week. Also, I can't wear my contacts for a month, which is terrible. I'll have to wear my glasses in Jejudo. That's not cool. But oh well.

So, except for the glasses, it's back to normal. Enjoy all the pictures. I posted a few different sets in the previous blog posts. So check them out and see our time in America. Enjoy!

More Wedding Pictures

Here are more wedding pictures, which obviously include my time at home.

Here are mom's pics.

Here are my aunt's pics.

As always, enjoy!

Wedding Pics and Tiny Update (Anger)

Here are the pics from my sister's wedding. Notice how happy I am during most of the images. I will not be that happy again for a long time.

While I was at home, I scratched my eye. I think it was because of the dry air in the airplane and the hotel, and not enough downtime in between the trip over and trip back. Because my eye was irritated, I must've scratched it when removing my contacts.

I'll give a description of the trip later, but as for now, I can't even open my left eye because it is throbbing with pain. The doctor told me that I can't wear my contacts for at least a month, and gave me a bunch of pills and drops. So the next month of my life is going to be pretty terrible.

Check out the wedding/travel pics here.

Back In A Flash

At 5 p.m. today I board a plane to head back to America for a week. My younger sister is getting married on Saturday, and I'm using my only vacation time this year to go to the wedding.

The one good thing about it is I'll get to see all my family in one place. On my last visit home, I had to do a ton of traveling around. This time, I'll stick to just Franklin, Pittsburgh and Erie.

Another good thing is that I'm taking Jeong Mi with me. This is a pretty big trip and I'm excited that she's coming along. I'll get to do a lot of translating since she doesn't know English, but I don't mind showing off. Her sister, who lives in San Francisco, is coming to the wedding as well. It's cool they'll get to see each other since they'll be a bit closer than 7,000 miles apart.

I'm so thankful my co-teachers at Hambak have a system worked out to allow us to take some stretches of vacation here and there.

I'll be quite busy at home, and might not have much time to get to a computer. I hope all goes well for everyone in Korea while I'm gone.

See you in a week!

Annoying Traits of Korean Students

All is going pretty well for me right now, and I have no major gripes. But since I'm taking a quick week-long break in America, I wanted to post something tongue-in-cheek so I can get it off my chest.

So I'm putting up a list of things Korean students do that I absolutely hate, and would go nuts over if I was fresh off the boat.

Keep in mind that these things can be chalked up to Korean culture and just the fact that these are kids. I'm basing these on my own teaching experiences, and comparing from my time as a student (although that is a long time ago) and as a camp counselor working with kids (only a few years ago).

10) Slamming doors
     You know you're having class if students are slamming doors. They could be coming in late, leaving or simply entering and exiting rooms with no agenda. You can be certain that that door will slam shut.

9) Being late
     Students are habitually late here. This is definitely because they're a product of Korean culture. I simply expect the afternoon students to be late, and 75 percent of them are. But when the actual school class is late, that blame falls to the teacher. What do you think the kids are absorbing from a teacher who doesn't respect the schedule? Just a vicious cycle.

8) Impatience
     This may be just because they're kids, but my kids at the summer camo never acted this way, so I'm throwing this in the culture bin as well. Anytime I give students a worksheet, kids are asking me what it is and what to do before I can even get the next one passed out. When I play a video, the projector takes about 10 seconds to adjust its brightness. During that time, I will hear 50 times about how the kids can't see. I know you can't see. You don't have to tell me.

7) Swearing
     I know kids swear. My friends swore when I was in elementary school. I'm not dumb. But my friends didn't swear in front of teachers. These kids continue to do it, even if they know I speak Korean. They do it even after I tell them not to. I have to threaten to kick kids out of class sometimes to get them to stop swearing.

6) Disobedience
     But I can't throw them out of class anyway, because they won't leave. When I was in school, if a teacher threw a kid out, the kid left. Maybe the pleaded, but they still left. Not here. I tell a kid to leave. He or she blatantly tells me no. I stop class and tell the kid to get out, they say no. Then they ask me why. But that doesn't matter. I can explain it clearly and they still won't leave. I've successfully thrown two kids out this year. Both times, I had to grab them and pull them out of the room. They fought the whole way. The problem is that there's no real punishment at this level of teaching.

5) Hitting
     That brings us to this topic. I hate hitting. I simply hate it. I'm not some softie, either. I wrestled and played hockey. I like contact sports and I liked hurting people and winning. But they hit all the time. Someone makes a joke. Someone else hits him. A girl drops a pencil onto someone else's table. Someone gets hit. They play a ton of stupid games where the punishment is hitting the loser. When the rest of the world sees pictures of Korea's congress in over-dramatic half-fights, know that it all stems from the fact that they're raised in a society where hitting is the norm. When I was a kid, a fight USUALLY didn't start until one kid outsmarted or out-witted the other. That was the offensive thing.

4) Touching
     Now, any of my friends will tell you that I don't like to be touched, but this goes to a brand new level. Besides hitting each other, kids aren't shy about touching the teachers as well. One of my friends had a girl try to do some spinny taekwondo kick to him after he punished her for something. Kids come up to me all the time and touch my arms because I have hair on them. Koreans never see hairy arms, because they have no testosterone in their society (my theory, not scientifically proven). Again, this is a society where dudes hold hands walking down the street.

3) "Suddenly!"
     Koreans have a universal word they use when they're surprised. The English translation is "suddenly," and it basically is used when someone is caught off guard or surprised or shocked. But you have to keep in mind that this is a country where 90 percent of the people are totally oblivious to their surroundings. So you can't get a kids attention without hearing this phrase. The part that's annoying is that when they say it, they look at you like you just jumped out at them in a dark alley. But really you were just standing in front of them the ENTIRE TIME.

2) Sneezing, coughing, etc.
     Part of this can definitely be because they're just kids. When they sneeze or cough, they don't cover their mouth. But here's why soceity is to blame as well. In America, young kids do this, too. But we try to weed it out as they grow up. We remind them to use their manners and cover their mouths. And for most people, it seems to work. Not here, every year the kids get older, but at no time do their manners regarding this topic get any better.

1) Begging
     This might be the worst because it happens EVERY SINGLE DAY. It's clockwork. Kids come in and ask for candy. Or they ask to play a game on your phone. Or they ask to take a drink of whatever is in your cup. EVERY DAY. And they do it with no shame. And when you tell them no, they say you're a bd teacher. Who are these teachers and parents who give these kids everything they want? Why are these kids learning no boundaries? Why do they expect us to be their personal grocery store? Stop touching everything on my desk!!!


Okay, so I feel good venting about that. Like I said, this is stuff that I've mostly come to accept, and only bugs me if I'm tired or having a bad day. Mostly, I just let it pass over me without thinking about it anymore. But I feel relieved to write it down, anyway. Cathartic, even.

The good news is I won't have to worry about this stuff for the next week. Sometimes that's all it takes.

Do you have any pet peeves that students do? It could be in Korea or any other country. What do kids do that really bug you?