it's all the same only different

I'll probably say this a few times in my tenure here, but "same shit, different country"

I went out with Julz and James, the kiwi boys from Go-Chung (just outside Daegu) last night. Just hung around mine drinking and shooting shit til 11 when we spruced up and headed out for dancing. Started at the Gypsey Rock, where I learned that Julz was telling the truth about how fondle-y korean girls can be on the dancefloor. They are certainly not shy about where they put their hands and also not shy about where I put mine. Had I been less drunk I might not have bothered to find out, chivalrous gent that I am, but I was that drunk. It was kinda interesting, but I despair of the communication factor. Anyway, we stayed there dancing til about 1 and headed off to Bubble, which was having a special deal on covers with the Frog.
It has to be said: I am easily the best dancer I saw all night. OK, so maybe I could tone it down a bit but noone on the floor could carve it up like me.
But
Long experience has taught me that being a solitary guy dancing can get to be a pretty fuckin lonely thing (smiles and high-5s aside). I always wind up asking myself: "Who's the show for, Glenn?" as in, what am I trying to prove? Historically, it's been for the ladies and any guy who appreciates what it is to move in time to the beat, but it happens to be an ineffectual pulling tool. Julz has the knack, fuck him and I am jealous. How a guy can pull a girl and not even speak her language is beyond me. Then he has the audicty to complain(!) that Korean girls are starfishes in bed. But anyway, my dancing has resulted in at best smiles. I guess I must have expected things to be different here far from home but no. No matter where you go, there you are - always the same.

I stated that my intention in getting away from New Zealand was to bring about a big change in myself. Break those barriers and inhibitions, you know? It did occur to me to ask "How exactly will another country accomplish that?" but I never managed to answer. The answer so far is: it can't. Same shit, different place.
Oh well, I'll keep on trying I guess.

"i'm-fine-thank-you-and-you?"

OK, my Current Events (CE) class, is probably the coolest class I have at the moment. y task: I am supposed to grab some news, edit it to make it readable and propose some conversation/thought-provoking questions to a group of 23-30yo graduate students and slackers. It's my favourite because their ages are very similar and also because we don't have to work to "the book". God bless. So it's basically just me hanging out in a classroom with these dudes (one girl), interviewing them about their opinions on various shit - marriage, study, superheroes, cell-phones for developing countries, sino-korean relations, nude beaches and the pamplona bull run. Some topics provide diverse responses but I've had a couple of efforts where there's nothing controversial to say about the story and I only realise once I've read it in class with them. It's like "So... thoughts?......." pin drop "Ohhhhh-kaaaay, next story? Yeah....". Bummer is, the class is from 8-10pm so sometimes dudes don't feel like talking. In fact, some guys will only talk if I stare directly at them for like 10 seconds or something. Then maybe someone else will pik up on what this guy says and ra-de-ra. It's supreme when I can get them talking to each other rather than me as the facilitator, but ten I get afraid that I've lost control. Oh well, fuck 'em. They're payin for it and they can take what they want out of the class. Also, they're all grown ups - it's not like I have to hold their hands and guide them through the jungle of "conversation with peers". Evidence suggests that the quiet ones are so due to lack of English proficiency, but they are all able to express opinions (the major difference between level 3 and 4).
I think tomorrow I'll write down a list of nice controversial topics, find stories to match and go with that.
cu

shizer

This damn korean thing! I want to change all the settings on this blog to make it more easy to read but all the script for instructions and shit is in korean. it was driving me nuts but I have just this second got over it.

Vasana offered me saturdays next month and I'm going to take them. If you work Sats it puts paid to the splits which suits me fine. And once I get paid I'll be able to join "Health Camp", the gym just up the road from here. So my week will be Mon-Fri 6:30am-12:00pm, Sat 3:00-7:00. Sweet. If I take a night class or two I also get mad overtime. Tempting, but I'd prefer not to split my sleeping too much. then again,. I am here to make money and I don't have a life. What's a po' nigga to do? I'll decide after a fortnight of it I guess.

My korean is coming along sorta. Not really enough to be able to read much shit enough to make any sense of it but I can order the food I want, by the items I want and get taxi drivers to take me places.

Funny how when you finally sit down at the blogspot everything you had in your head just flies out the window.
Oh well.

today's highlights

Today I was a driven young man. I woke at a reasonable hour and after a nana smoothie waltzed down to the school and proceeded to revise my "Teach Yourself" Korean textbook.
I did all the exercises in chapter one and then went to lunch down at my new favourite place where the old ajumas are recognising me now. I imagine I'll get mad props when I can say more than "hi, noodles please, thanks". On my way back to school I popped in at Family Fresh F-something, Daegu's equivalent of a starmart or citystop. Here I had a nice mango jiuce in a can while i read all about PS2 piracy and SinCity in the Korea Times.
Then I went back upstairs and did the next 2 chapters from the book. Result: now I can say (theoretically) "I want to x" and "I can't y", as well as the obvious "I am currently z-ing"*
Something else too, but I can't remember.
Sill doesn't help me order dinner., though. I walked past at least a half-dozen places because I was too embarrassed to spend ages staring at a menu I couldn't understand and then wincing as they bring out some amazing weird thing. I like to pretend that they're all talking about me in words I can't understand, while I just stare ignorantly out the window.

I would very much like to go out and get drunk but I have only 20000 to last me until Monday, when I collect my advance. I've decided to not use Mr Credit Card except for big purchases. Vasana said next week he would help me sort out a cellphone. If I study hard I might be able to beat him, but I doubt it. I will probably just get rolled again.
But anyway, drunkeness. This means going home and getting some gears on suitable for nightlife (it's 9:20pm or so - thank god the guy next to me has stopped smoking) and then catching a bu into downtown. It's not so much that I can be bothered it's more that I am sick of sitting around my room. I feel a little sorry for Gary as his room has even less stuff than mine. I'd go drinking with him only I don't know where he lives and he doesn't drink. Sad.
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The guy next to me is playing some neat game where he is doing electrical spells on what look to be muddy ogres out in the desert. Yawn.

*Note that the same sentence in Korea can also mean "We are z-ing", "I z-ed" and about a dozen other things depending on the context