December: The Short Version (What the hell has Kyle been doing in December?)

Korea has been a very exciting place ever since December has started.  A presidential election and shifting of grades at my school have been some of the major events but here are a few others:

- The first major snowfall came to Gimcheon a few weeks ago. Not only was it the first major one, but one of the largest snowfalls Gimcheon has seen in years. In fact, it’s been a very uncharacteristically cold winter for Korea. Combine this with the large amount of rainfall this summer and you got a weather season for the record books.

- With some help and encouragement from a friend, I have started a regular workout routine, twice a week, for about an hour and a half at a time. It’s a simple start but with a combination of lifting weights and watching what I eat protein wise, I feel much better. I actually look forward to working out, something that I can honestly say I haven’t felt in a long time. Also, my girlfriend seems to appreciate the results as well, which is always a good thing.

- November and December have both been very pricey for me.  This has meant that my traveling and leisure options have been limited along with my purchasing options. When you combine this with the biting cold weather, it leaves a lot of weekends spent at home playing games, watching movies and eating cheap food. This leads me to another realization…

- I used to not mind doing this at all. In fact, I used to love simply doing nothing but gaming and watching movies however as I grow older, and especially since coming to Korea, I seem to dislike long periods of doing nothing or having nothing productive to do. Even on vacations if I’m not out and about, simply relaxing feels not as enticing as it used to. Make no mistake I still love movies and games but the hours of movie and gaming marathons become less and less appealing.

- I have made it official that I have resigned my contract and will be staying one more year teaching in Korea at the same school. Not only is the pay level and benefits enticing, but the students and teachers are overall very good. Combine that with a ability to teach older students useful materials, I feel like this is the best option as the job market for me back at home still isn't as welcoming as I would like it to be.

- Along with resigning for another year, EPIK gives its teachers a two week vacation bonus to go and do whatever they wish. While it’s not set in stone yet, I am planning on going home during the month of February to see family and friends again. I am enjoying the time and the people very much in Korea, but I do miss my family and friends quite a bit.

- Korea has elected its first female president Park Geun-hye as the new leader of Korea. While some people predict that given her party affiliation, many things in Korea will continue to stay the same I am hopeful that given her position and her attempts to shrug off the image of her father and make some progressive changes for Korea.

- I saw the Hobbit this weekend and overall enjoyed it very much. I was able to see this with HFR 48 FPS and Dolby Atmos and I can now vouch for this new technology firsthand. The images at first appear slightly fast and super clear (similar to a documentary or drama), but becomes much better once your eyes adjust and instead offers a highly detailed look and feel to the movies. Also, as someone who usually dislikes 3D, I can say that the 3D in this movie was extremely well done and probably the best display of 3D I have ever seen. As for the movie itself, it was a lot of fun. It dragged slightly during the middle but overall was fun to watch with some great performances by the actors, some spectacular CGI work (especially Gollum) and a nice fantasy feel.

It’s been a busy month and it’s not even Christmas yet! I love the fast paced living in Korea and continue to consider myself lucky that I have a paying job that allows me to participate in events like this every day. 

"I'm Going on an Adventure!": How The Hobbit is related to all of us

This was a slightly unusual week for students (and many other foreign teachers) in Korea. I had a two day mini weekend during the Tuesday and Wednesday this week. My school is currently in the process of enrolling new students at our school along with the election of the new president on Wednesday. This meant two days spent doing anything but coming to work. I did the two most logical things I could think of: I visited my girlfriend and we saw The Hobbit.

I had previously read The Hobbit when I was younger. I was still just a middle school student, and the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was about to be released to theaters. I was curious about the source material, so naturally I tracked down all four books and began reading away.

The Hobbit at the time was a book that I found enjoyable but a bit simple. It wasn't until years later after taking a more in depth look at its narrative structure and characters that I realized that this seemingly simple tale was something so much more than that. It was a book that went beyond a simple journey to slay the dragon. It was a deeply personal journey about having the courage to leave your comfortable and familiar world behind. It was the call to adventure that we all harbor inside us, but sometimes lack the courage to find.

Watching The Hobbit reminded me of this, and given the current circumstances, was the perfect time to watch and be reminded of where I have gone and where I want to go.

As I finish up my first year in Korea and my first major job overseas I have watched many things change. 

Coming to Korea has changed me on many levels. In just one year I have learned more about myself than any other point in my life. I learned where I stand on issues and how I choose to interact with people. I discovered that the purest joys in life come from the little things and most importantly, I have discovered that my biggest areas of growth came from discover and exploration. I discovered that curiosity usually always equaled rewards and that failure didn't always mean the end.

There are several points during The Hobbit where Bilbo decides to go home or continue on his journey. Always afraid of the consequences of leaving his comfortable home and having several opportunities to turn back, he always decides to continue on. He knows that he can die any minute. He knows that if he returns, he will not be the same person he was before. He goes along willingly. He knows that opportunity for reward and adventure outweighed the fear of death and failure.

There are moments that like Bilbo, I miss my home. I miss the comfort of people and places that I saw daily. I miss the comfort of lying in my own bed in my own home. I miss the ease of simple tasks such as communication. The US is, and always will be my home. This will never change. There is not a doubt in my mind that I will return home one day. Perhaps for a little while, and perhaps indefinitely.

However, I can also say that I still have a little time left in me. I still have a yearning to explore and travel. I still have a yearning to see the world beyond the scope of my own home. While I can still afford to, while I can still manage too I will remain open and ready for the next big adventure, whatever it may be or whenever it may come.

I think The Hobbit is such a resonating work of fiction that still holds up decades later in both print and moving picture form is that we are all Bilbo. All of us like peace and comfort, knowing that it is around the corner whenever we need it, but at the same time, there is the yearning to break out beyond our walls and explore the bigger world. Humans are curious by nature. I believe that inside all of us, there is a burning need to indulge our knowledge and wanderlust. I believe that we all need the thrill of adventure once in awhile to make us feel alive. To show us that we are more than a biological drone that goes through the daily motions. Some just need a bigger push than others.

Korea was my unexpected journey, but now, I cannot even imagine my life if I never came here. I have had opportunities that I could only dream about back at home and have met people who have made a lasting impact on me. I've learned to be afraid and feel despair. I've also learned to find joy and happiness from life. I've fallen in love with the adventure and the people in it. Some of whom I love and cherish more that I thought I was capable of.

My adventure in teaching continues. One more year awaits and I cannot wait to see what else happens. As Bilbo said: “I’m going on an adventure!”

Snowfall and the future

After a false start, and a few flakes of snow slowly drifting past my window, the first real snowfall happened yesterday in my town of Gimcehon. When you combine that with the dropping temperatures and frozen droplets of water on my bedroom window, it is no longer a fact that is able to be hid, winter is here in Korea.

My hometown was only one hour from Chicago, and therefore only one hour from Lake Michigan, which in the winter would be responsible for some of the coldest winter and largest snow drifts you could imagine. I imagine it would be worse in other parts of the world, but to someone growing up with it every winter, the snow and cold was a permanent part of living in the Midwest.

Snow brings a new mood and a feeling freshness to any setting you’re in. Its clean white flakes drifting in the air and falling lightly on the ground always stood as a symbol of purity and fresh beginnings. I welcomed the first snowfall like I welcomed the first orange leaf or blossoming flower, with excitement and a sense of a new chapter beginning again.

I feel eager to start another year in Korea. I was recently asked if I wanted to re-sign my contract, and by choosing yes I am now able to pursue a second year with both the experience gained from my first and a selection of new ideas and lessons to present to the students. I have been told that as with many things in life, a second chance brings with it the opportunity to do even better if you embrace it.

Admittedly, I have been thinking about the future lately, and how I fit into the coming years. I had always had a solid plan of what I wanted to do and where I want to go next. While I still retain this plan and have an idea of what I want to do, the methods and the timing of achieving this have changed, a year in a different country has brought forward new possibilities and new options. Admittedly I don’t want to think of all of these options quite yet as I do not have a solid plan of what I’m doing next. All I know is what I want, how I get it is a plan in pending.

For now, thoughts of the future and what ifs are left to dwell at the back of my mind, my attention is now on my present situation.  While it may look like I’m putting off the inevitable, I would say that I am instead choosing to enjoy and experience on what is in front of me. The future will soon become the present and just like everything in my life, I will deal with it appropriately.

For now, I have a lot to focus on and a lot to enjoy. I have a lot to worry about and a lot to accomplish. I have a lot of things in my present, the future can wait.

For now I watch the snowfall, because just like the future, the snow will give away to a beautiful layer, then a dirty slush to be melted away by the rain, to give way for the spring and a new future.

In my life, snow has never lasted forever so I enjoy it while I can, for as long as I can.

“I never think of the future- it comes soon enough” – Albert Einstein. 

Taebeak Mountain 태백산 설경

Thoughts of home and holiday

I love the holidays, the big holidays. The ones that you see on greeting cards and the ones that have songs played on the radio about them. They may have become more material (or rather more blatantly so) than before, but all the commercial glam and glitz I could care less about. I have in essence always enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas because of the two things it brought with it: the copious amount of free time and time spent with my family.

My family was never very large. All of my holidays have always been spent with my immediate family; my mother and father, my siblings and occasionally my grandparents.  When I was young this used to bother me. I would always hear stories about my friends going off to different state to visit their large families packed with uncles, aunts and cousins in some warm and sunny state while my holidays were spent in my own home in the cold and grey Indiana winter. As with all young children with a limited grasp of the world, I always wanted more, I always wanted what I couldn't have.

As I grew older and wiser, I realized that the idea of going to a faraway place to see relatives that I didn't really know or care about didn't appeal to me. It was no secret that my family was separated by distance and personal differences. Why make an effort to be with people who didn't feel the same. As I grew older, I began to appreciate the people who were with me all the time, the people that I actually enjoyed spending time with, I eventually grew to loving the small family and simple holidays that I had. They looked unspectacular to the outsider looking in, but for me their simplicity meant comfort. I could be myself, not have to put on a face to please other people, I could joke around with my siblings, drink more than I probably should and pass out on the couch later on in the evening. It was pure, comfortable bliss.

In a way, I already celebrated Thanksgiving in my own way a few months ago by celebrating Chuseok in Korea. I traveled with friends, had a great meal and overall had a great time. However, the strong sentimentally of the holidays and the end of the year approaching, I have to admit, that the slight feeling of homesickness is beginning to creep over me.

It comes in little unexpected ways. From little emails sent to remind me about Black Friday deals to tweets giving tips on who to stay healthy during the holidays, it’s the little clues that pop up the remind me that while my life in Korea, a new culture has been going along well, almost a new life, different from my old one, life and my family has been continuing without me, taking part in traditions and events that used to be a prevalent part of life still continue, minus one person.

I’m sure I’ll get over it and get back to my own life of working and living in Korea. It’s just funny how the littlest things can often remind us of home and the smallest hint of something can bring back happy memories from your past, making you long for the people and places of yesterday.

They say you can never go back, but as Korea has proven to me time and time again, this is not always the case.

To all back home and to all those around the world, Happy Holidays. Stay safe. Stay happy. Keep those you love in your minds and hearts.

The closest video I could find related to Thanksgiving. I must admit, I will miss the turkey and dressing. Also, Fresh Prince. 

November testing and beginning again

It’s that time of year for Korea high school students. It’s the time for testing and preparing to finish up their semesters. While the lower grades at my school face the three week onslaught of speaking and essay tests, grade three has recently finished what would most likely be the most difficult test for them so far, the college entrance exam.

Entrance exams are nothing new to me; I have had my fair share of them in my life before and during university. However, the ones in Korea are a bit different than any other exams I have taken before. Getting into a university is so important for students at my school and all over Korea, that a majority of the semester was spent with self study, simply taking a class period to prepare for the upcoming test for their university of choice.

During my little break, I was able to visit the beautiful autumn scenery of Jikjisa  Park

The US SAT has two general sections, English and Math. The Korean exam has five categories including Math, English, Korean, and Social Issues. The test is taken so seriously that the day before the exam is cut short and the other grades (and quite a few teachers) have the day off the day of the exam.  Even airlines are diverted and delayed during this time, to prevent any planes from flying over the school and causing a distraction to the students.

Education is given paramount importance in Korea. I can still clearly remember being told that education is more than a bright future and a good head on your shoulders, in Korea education is a resource.

“In Korea, we have no natural resources. We live on a rock, no minerals, no gasses or materials to export. The only thing we have, the only thing we can offer is educated and specialized individuals.”

Also, Hyejin came to visit. Here we are at a coffee shop in Gumi.

Besides the glut of exams and tests, November is full of events at my school, including the upcoming school festival and service day. It feels strange not actually teaching a class and making new lesson planning material, but just like the spring semester towards the end, the lack of new lessons stands as a sign of the times, a sign that it’s time to wrap up the semester and eventually prepare for a new one.

So now I use this newfound free time to help better and prepare myself for the new year ahead. Soon I will be having new students, teaching new lessons and hopefully spending another year in Korea.

Despite being busy, November has been very good to me. I’ve been doing a better job of keeping personal goals and writing more. I’ve had more time to get back in contact with friends from back home and reconnect with people I thought I would never hear from again. November has also been the month my writing has picked up substantially with articles, personal stories and the National Writer’s Month goal of writing a significant amount of words in a single month’s span.

The wedding of one of my friends, another happy event in November.

I’ve even managed to fall in love during all of this, and despite the distance, am very happy to be with a special someone and hopefully look forward to many more months ahead.

Lantern Festival in Seoul

I was once told that if you’re busy doing the things you love, you will not notice the time passing around you. This could not be closer to the truth, as it now is the middle of November, and I feel like some much has happened to me in a short span of time. As many things that have happened to me, I still feel eager and ready to discover more opportunities and jump into more adventure.

The year may be nearly over, but there are many more months ahead of me. I’ve come so far, and still feel the need to get started. This is a good thing. A busy thing. A happy thing. 

My thoughts on the future of Star Wars

This has nothing to do with Korea... pretty much at all, but its still something that I want to talk about as its as about as important to me as many things in life.

I'm going to talk about Star Wars.

Now for those who know me really well, this is nothing new. I talk about Star Wars all time to the point that I can subconsciously quote lines from the films with no afterthought. Ever since seeing them as a young boy, they have left a huge impact on my life and are responsible for opening the door to one of my biggest passions in life, watching, analyzing and enjoying the art of film.

It goes without saying that Star Wars has gone a little stale over the years with the dilution of the prequel trilogy and woeful expanded universe spin offs that were generally, not very good. There were a few bright spots, but for the most part Star Wars had become the definition of an over-milked franchise long past its due date. It's not that the core story was bad, it just needed a fresh start that took everything that the original movies stood for and presented them in new and exciting way.

This morning was the announcement of the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas selling the Star Wars franchise (along with Indiana Jones, ILM and Lucasarts) to Disney for $4.05 billion. While he would still retain creative consultation, the direction of these movies would be handed off to a new series of directors.

Honestly, this news comes as nothing more as pure exciting expectation The announcement of a new Star Wars trilogy starting in 2015 with a new entry coming out every two to three years. While this may sound like overkill, this is in fact quite possibly the best thing to happen to the series since The Empire Strikes Back.

The thing that held back the prequel trilogy was Lucas himself. While his creative visions were spectacular and inspiring, his writing in the movies was horrible. Stiff acting, nonsensical links to the original films and some of the most unlikable characters in cinematic history took Star Wars off a pedestal and into laughing stock territory and garnered enough fanboy rage to last several lifetimes.

Now with other fresh interpretations being brought on board, my mind boggles at the possibilities are. The fact that we are moving away from the prequels era that have been beaten into the ground and into the post Return of the Jedi era that fans have been asking for since 1983 leave me one very excited fan.

The list of directors that could very well craft a masterpiece of a Star Wars film is huge. The wonderful thing about the Star Wars series is the universal appeal and huge rang of its own universe, Literally any kind of story would fit in, a perfect medium for directors to play around in and the reason that the two to three year time period between each movie doesn't bother me. There's enough galaxy and stories for a hundred films if done properly.

Some worry that Disney buying the brand would only dilute the Star Wars we all know and love and that Star Wars has become a corporate entity and not a universe that we all know and love. To them I ask them two questions:

1. Where the hell have you been since 1977? Star Wars suddenly becoming a brand? It's been a brand since 1977.

2. Disney has proven that it cares for its franchises created through other sources. Many moaned that their purchase of Marvel would lead it to a downward spiral. Then The Avengers and The Cinematic Universe happened. Total dilution of quality right?


Some may be cynical, but I could not be more excited. While I don't think we will be seeing a gritty and violent crime drama set in Star Wars' underworld, the new possibilities are exciting and the chance to expand  the universe in a new direction is something that I cannot wait to see.

In 2015, Avengers 2, Justice League and Episode VII will be unleashed in theaters for film fans around the world to watch and enjoy. I haven't been this excited for anything Star Wars since being a child. Bring em on. Bring em all on.

* Finally, because I obsess over stuff like this, here's a list of directors I would love to see make a Star Wars movie. My God, my fanboy mode is going insane..

James Cameron (Titanic, Aliens, Avatar)

Duncan Jones (Moon)

Neil Blomkamp (Distirct 9)

Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs, the World, Hot Fuzz)

Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises)

Joe Johnson (Captain America: The First Avenger) *note: He was on record for saying he would like to do a Boba Fett movie so who knows?

Brad Bird (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Incredibles)

Ridley Scott (Prometheus, Alien, Blade Runner)

Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth) 

Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit)

Joss Whedon (Firefly, The Avengers)

I really can't wait. Where I once saw Star Wars as a soulless husk I now see a glimmer of hope. May the Force be with us, all of us.

Goofy doesn't seem right as Darth Vader...

Fall time in Korea

When I was younger, I used to be relatively unbiased when it came to having a favorite season. To me, each season brought a new and refreshing take to the world outside and would always seem to come at a time when things were beginning to become stale. Just when I was becoming tired of the heat, the cool autumn breeze would come to greet me every morning. When I was beginning to tire of the cold and slush that hit me like thousands of needles, the spring would begin to appear and the once grey and cold landscape would begin to show signs of green and the promise of another year.

To an extent I still do appreciate the seasons, they all bring some variety and change that we all need. As I have become older though, and especially since coming to Korea, I have come to appreciate the fall season, my fondness for it increasing every day.

For one thing, I appreciate the cooler weather even more than I did back home. Summers in Indiana could be hot, but in Korea it’s not enough to just be hot, oh no, it’s the blazing sun and the stifling humidity combined that made the simple act of walking to and from school a miserable  experience. Before I had the sense to take a taxi or bus to school, a simple fifteen minute walk early in the morning often left me drenched with sweat and barely able to breathe without taking in a full breath of dry air.  Spending time in Korea had taught me to hate the heat and hate the humidity even more.

With the arrival of autumn the heat and humidity have slowly begun to vanish, making the walks to school much more pleasant and the morning chill in the air a welcome and refreshing wake up call. As much as I dreaded walking outside during the summer, I welcomed the opportunity to spend as much time as possible outside during the fall.

Fall also seems to have the largest amount of holidays and free days in Korea. Chuseok, Korea’s own Thanksgiving takes place during the beginning of October. Since I teach in a high school, a vast majority of time is spent preparing for exams and final projects, making the situation very stressful for teachers and students. I really do not mind as much as it offers a break from teaching classes all through the day and week after week.

I’m spending time having closer and more interactive lessons and conversations. It takes longer to prepare for lessons and sometimes provides a more difficult challenge of delivering higher concept lessons, but the results are much more satisfying. A majority of time for these students is spent studying and preparing for exams. The number of lessons that contribute towards that are much lower than the Korean teachers at my school simply due to the language barrier and the impossible task of being able to explain everything perfectly to them in a language they do not fully understand.

However, I discovered that my efforts are not a waste of time, but rather another series of lessons and things for them to learn. I have striven to teach my students to think critically and think for themselves. I’ve taught them there’s more to learning English than doing well on exams. I have taught them that learning a language is not an ends to a means, but rather a gateway to more opportunity. I tell how I have traveled, the wonderful experiences and people I have met and how my life has changed for the better since I began my journey overseas. I try to teach them that happiness is not always achieved in life through success, but personal goals. I try to teach them that it is sometimes appropriate and necessary to fail.

I seem to enjoy everything more in the fall. I enjoy going out a night more. I enjoy spending time with people more and I seem to be in a better mood on a more consistent basis.

It may not have the Halloween costumes, apple cider or drives down a leaf strewn road like back home, but I’m still finding ways to enjoy the season in my own unique way.

Happy Fall everyone. May it last until the winter season. 

The perks of having a school nestled in the mountains: beautiful scenery