The proper landing for a forward diving roll. note the hand placement and the head angled away from the point of impact. The legs are already starting to curl up to finish the roll in a standing position. 

This is me, agile as ever, doing a foward diving roll over my hapkido master. With the greatest of ease, I might add. 

My desk, a disgusting close-up. An attendance book, a textbook, an old calendar. About what you'd expect from me. 

It's so cold here that the girls of my 1.30 class still wear jackets inside. Luckily I have been blessed with an abundance of arm hair that keeps me warm in these winter months. 

The boys of my 1.30 class actually working. It's a miracle! 

A Noraebang (or "Music Room") is the Korean equivalent of the Karaoke bars of Japan. Rather than get plastered and sing in front of a room of complete strangers, you can get plastered and sing in a room with your closest friends. They have plenty of English songs, and Filipinos are the friendliest people in the world, so it was a pretty rocking time. I was dragged to one a couple of weeks ago by my bosses with my coworkers, and it was as uncomfortable as one would expect an evening with 7 20-somethings and two 50-somethings who are socially superior to be. However, with the church group, we were belting out hits like "Sweet Child O' Mine" and I even electrified the room with the Goldfinger version of "99 Red Balloons," and people were singing with me! Surprisingly, my bosses didn't know exactly what to make of that song. I don't know why someone doesn't import this idea of a singing room establishment to Lexington and just make money hand over fist. 

Singing at the Noraebang with Gene and Eduardo (who is actually from California and of Costa Rican descent, which makes him the second of two non-Pinoys in the party). 

Condom machine label. Note the man saying "No Thanks!" to AIDS and another STD. In Korea, if it's good for you, it gives you a thumbs-up. My Hangul is rusty, but I think in the red print is saying "Love Harmony." 

The aftermath. I don't know if you can pick out those little green bottles, but there are 7 bottles of soju in the picture. Not pictured: the ones under the table (at least 3). 

The ladies at our party. We have more in the choir, but these were the ones that could make it after Mass. L-R: Yola, Sister Eframia, bless my heart, but I just can't remember her name, and Bichi. Not pictured: how bad I mangled those spellings. 

Gene and Brian at our Godeungdong Seongdang Choir party. Brian plays the guitar, and enjoys the soju well. The bottleneck you see in the foreground is my beer, because I do not enjoy the soju at all. I would not, could not, with the choir; I would not, could not: it tastes most dire. 

Whee! The girl in brown is pushing the girl in pink, who is sitting on a tiny sled and steering with two pieces of wood, across the ice. 

Two girls playing on the ice. 

These boys are standing on the ice. Also, note that they are hitting the ice with sticks and pieces of wood. The ice that is holding them above the freezing water. 

How cold is it? Cold enough to freeze this stream enough that children can walk on it. 

Wahoo!

 

This is Kim Min-Hyeok. Each pen mark on his face has a story to tell. The forehead is him writing the word "fool" in Korean so that everyone who reads his face will know that they are, in fact, fools. Even though it is backwards because he wrote it looking in a mirror, I feel the sentiment comes across strongly. The stripes on his nose are because he wanted to look like a tiger. Why? Ah, the inscrutable mind of the 2nd grader. And the markings around his mouth are because I've regrown my beard (to combat the cold winds against my face), and he wanted to be like me, albeit with ballpoint ink. 

Along with my hagwon job, I also do a couple of illegal private tutorings on the side, and I figure the best way to get away with this is compile my own stock of photographic evidence. Here are my group of 8-9 year-olds writing on their faces. 

Sorry for all the people on my Christmas list that requested bear bile and bear penis, but as you can see, folk remedies made from the Half-Moon Bear of Korea are NOT FOR SALE! 

We're getting ready to leave Slimelight, and Matt's all bundled up from the cold when we leave. 

I have no idea, but it's too good not to use. This is my best mate in Korea, folks, and that picture about sums it up. 

Matt in 8-ball action shot in the Slimelight. Matt (and Finn, who is actually an artist-in-residence in Hiroshima, Japan) are from Doncaster, England. 

Finn playing a game of 8-ball in the bar situated within the club (S)Limelight. I have a picture where the flash went off, and it turns out that this room is actually painted red. Honestly, this is much more representative of the atmosphere, and I was surprised as anybody when I saw the room well-lit in my camera LCD. 

While that may look impressive, it's really only a 1:1 ratio with people sitting around the table. Not pictured, L-R: Tom, Sofia, Alex, Kim, me, Matt, and Finn. 

Tom's mate Alex from Tasmania, Sofia, Tom's girlfriend, and Tom. Sofia hates the way she looks in photos, so Alex and I lied to her and said we deleted. Score one for deception!