And it begins

1 million years ago, Japanese Stegasaurus came to Korea and ate Korean dinasaurs and they never say sorry!!!!

I'm leaving Korea tomorrow (thank god) and I'll be dodging motorcycles and beggers in Vietnam and Cambodia. I'm sure whatever I see will be something I didn't plan on experiencing in my life. Probably won't be available for much updates during the travels, but I'll take pictures and explain everything later. Hope everyone has a good month and finds ways to see something new.


love,
dp

Update (Bulls suck)

I've just finished my month-long winter program and my vacation starts now. This past month I've been teaching the same material as ever but my students were much older than usual. They were mainly seniors who, fore some reason, failed the course before. Most were near my age with a few even older than I. This allowed them to be more confident and brave than my usual collection of scared freshmen. They weren't afraid to make fools out of themselves and I loved them for it. Some of them have tried to befriend me and, although I know it's not against any rules, I think about my age and I try to distant myself from the students more than other professors. Sometimes I watch myself teach and laugh at how professional I am, knowing that's exactly who I'm not. I guess it all stems from my own fears of not being worthy of this position, this respect from a classroom of students only a few years my junior bowing to me in fascination of my native tongue. Damn, it's strange...

Still, there are always a few students who see beyond my veil or professionalism. I'm going out to lunch with a 27-yr old boy whose particularly interested in US politics. (It's amazing that nearly all my students are aware of the Hillary/Obama battle). Another Chinese student is helping me create an itinerary for my Vietnam/Cambodia trip a week from now. (Stay tuned for pictures/stories). Mainly, I have to keep the female students at a distance. On yesterday's final exam, there was an amusing note written to me by one of the older girls. As usual, I'll present it exactly as was written to me:

"Teacher,
Your blue eyes is gorgerous. I want speak to you but I scare look at your eyes. I love you."

I wonder if this happens in colleges back home...

Besides the teaching, I've been playing basketball about 2 hours everyday. Enough so that I hurt everywhere, all the time. I hope the Vietnamese appreciate my pale, beach-body. Yesterday was historical because my team of 5'8 white-boys was actually beaten by some Koreans. They had size at every position and they knew how to use it. I haven't slept right since. In fact, I'm going to hunt the courts now, looking for my pride and lost championships. Gotta bring it back to the Chi!