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So now that I got that out of the way

I think I've completely adjusted to life in Korea now, which means I'm getting lazier everyday. However, I found a gym and am willing to pay money to get my ass out of my apartment and do some exercise. I will also work on updating this blog more often.

I wanted to talk about the week I spent at the GEPIK teacher orientation. Oh my, meeting new people. It's been so long since I interacted with people I didn't know. Introducing myself and breaking the ice isn't as hard as it used to be for me, but I still suck at socializing.

I've been so used to socializing with people who share the same special interests I do. So when I do meet lots of new people with new cultures, backgrounds and ages, I hesitate cuz that switch in my head goes on and it tells me not to say anything offensive that I would normally say amongst my other friends (e.g. lol white people amirite?). Unfortunately, I couldn't think of anything else to say really. There were lots of lol white people there. Not that they were the majority. But lol.

It's been so long since I've had to interact with a lot of people who aren't really on the same page as I am, in terms of beliefs and a general mindest of how the world works. The real world hit me hard that week to remind me that the real world has a lot of socially popular, charismatic, charming, nonchalant moderate-conservative priveleged people in the world. And they are here in this country as well.

And a disproportionate number of them are marrying Korean women. But that's been common for a while. Still, it's hard to sort out my feelings about this. I can't tell if it's just some repressed nationalism/envy that's going on or I'm just disturbed by seeing this sort of gender power dynamic up close and personal. And then I feel all guilty cuz I'm condemning a couple's 'love' and then I try to convince myself that they just like each other for who they are but then I say 'bullshit' cuz I am a bitter old man.

I got kind of pushed around the first night I was there. Three people were assigned to one hotel room but my roommates didn't show up for the orientation. So I had the room to myself. But that first night someone from the staff showed up to my door asking if I could move into another room with two other guys. Apparently random white dude teacher has a girlfriend teacher in the same program. I think they both got into arguments with their roommates, cuz they wanted to fuck each other and they obviously wanted to do it right now in privacy, so they asked me if I could go. Jesus Christ, I thought, that's not cool. They can't spend 4 nights away from each other's genitals? But I was still in social mode so I moved out like a tool.

And thennnnnnn....oooh my roommates. I had one awesome roommate. Veteran teacher, masters in education, taking a break from writing a book, taught in America, WATCHES STAR TREK, PLAYS STARCRAFT, etc. Then the other dude. Hairy (HAIRY HAIRY HAIRY) middle aged white dude, says he's a writer, writes poetry, macked on one of the female Korean staff as he was talking to me in the Internet Cafe. AAAAAAAAAAnd at dinner, he actually used the colorblind routine. I almost laughed out loud. Really. I never thought I'd hear that from someone face to face. But he did. He looks at me so seriously, points at me and says so proudly -

"I DON'T SEE YOU AS A COLOR. I AM *PAUSE*....COLORBLIND."

At this point I actually told him that there was nothing wrong with him acknowleding I'm colored, because there isn't anything wrong with BEING a color or a minority. Honestly I was trying to change this guy's view but he got really defensive and then explained how he has black friends and black relatives. He went with the 'black friend' argument because there were some black south africans (cuz there are lots of white south africans too...) sitting next to us. Great dude, it's not like you offended me with that comment.....

The workshops themselves were very helpful. One speaker, a current GEPIK teacher, really gave me some insight on how to improve my teaching. A lot of teachers here are like me - recent college grads trying to save some money and have a good time. But we forget that we have a job to do and we all suffer when the teachers don't do their jobs - the students, the school and us. I'm going to keep my job in a more positive perspective from now on, because lately I've been focusing too much on the negative things (which are, honestly, few and far in between) and that has been affecting the level of effort I put into my work.

So in general...that week was really informative but the social awkwardness of it frightened me into never meeting new people ever again. At least, not that many and not all at once. I did make some friends, mostly people around my city and they're my type of person so it's all good.

The weekends are getting more dull each week...which is why I made a strange choice recently....but it's late and I need to get up and teach four classes in a row in the morning. Shit.