Joseph Gutierrez

I've started playing Dungeons and Dragons. I guess that it isn't really surprising. The idea of playing was always there in the back of my mind and I think that it makes sense with all of the other dumb hobbies I've had over the years (Magic the Gathering and World of Warcraft in particular). It's just funny to me that I started playing here in Korea, but my co-workers said they were going to start and it wasn't something that I could turn down. Anyway, now you know how I'm spending my Thursday nights.

The past few weeks have been a little hectic for me. At work, I had to do the summer camps we had on top of my regular work schedule, so I have been an absolute mess for the past while. The extra classes ended on Friday though, so now I can finally get back on track with my life, which means going to bed at 4:00AM and sleeping in until 2:00PM the next day.

It started yesterday and runs until the 24th of July. Luckily, I live in walking distance of all the theaters for all the events. I still have to see what movies I will be able to catch, but I took a look at the program and it all seems like good stuff. I want to see if I have the time to watch the live-action Gantz movie in particular. Anyway, you can take a look at the program yourself at the the official Pifan site if you're interested.

is waking up at 1:00 PM and then realizing it's too early, then going back to sleep and waking up at 4:30.

The phone I got right when I got back to Korea decided to malfunction last night. I haven't dropped it or anything, it just stopped working. Luckily, it's on a warranty and they can fix it. Otherwise, I would have to get my fifth phone in the sixteen months at I have lived in Korea.

So, it's really early in the morning and I don't have to be at work until 3:30 so I feel like I should do something with my day. I'm going to head into the city and buy a new backpack since there's so much time. I'll probably snap a few photos as well. There are a few problems, since I have never taken the bus I'm planning to take. I'm also not sure if the store is still open, but I figure that I might as well.

I'm saying this because I woke up to three mosquito bites and I just spend the last five minutes trying to hunt the damn insects in my room. It isn't that humid yet though, and I'm glad it isn't raining like I know how it will be later on in the season, but I just don't enjoy the Korean summer very much. It's just a matter of time until I'm going to be scratching mosquito bites and sweating my ass off nonstop.

I really have been meaning to read these books for a while now. I don't think they're great or anything, but since a shit ton of people have read them, I feel like I should at least know what all the craze is about. I just got through the first book and I'll probably start the next one today. By the end of next week, I should be able to get through all of them. Then I'll probably have something else to talk about with my students besides Harry Potter and which kpop groups I like the most.

I'm sure you're thinking, "Don't you already have an iPad?" That's true, but there is all this hype about the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 coming out that I'm really interested in copping one of the 7-inch models. I really would like a 3G capable device and I feel that the 7-inch model is just small enough that I can carry it around everywhere. The price point just dropped and I feel that it's at a point I can afford. Especially now since I'm taking the extra hours on Saturdays, so it won't be setting me back too much. Besides, I just love gadgets and since I'm in Korea, I might as well own a Korean one.

I knew that when I chose to work at a hagwon that it might eventually come to this, but I didn't want to really think about it. Starting next week, I will have to start working Saturdays. It's sad to think that today is the last Saturday afternoon that I get to enjoy for at least three months, but we'll see how it goes. It shouldn't be too bad since the classes start in the afternoon and I do get out early on Friday nights, but I won't be taking any weekend trips for a while. At least I'll be saving myself some money.

I got into the elevator of my building yesterday to go up to my room. At the same time, guy carrying two large plastic bags of live eels up to the seafood restaurant on the second floor of my building. When the elevator stopped he went to pick up the bags of eels but one of them opened up a little bit and three live eels spill out onto the elevator floor. The eels were squirming around, the guy was trying to pick them up without spilling any more eels onto the ground. The whole time I was just holding the elevator door open so he could just get out and I could be on my way. The whole ordeal took about four minutes and the only thing that I got from the whole experience is that I'm never going to eat at that seafood restaurant.

While at work yesterday, one of my middle school students was sitting by himself during break messing with his iPod. I took a look at his screen and saw that he was on Kakao Talk, a messaging app that Koreans use. I asked him who he was messaging and he said his girlfriend. I told him that was a nice thing to do and all he said, "Not nice. I quit girlfriend." At this point I couldn't help but laugh. Then I told him that he should have at least called her, but he told me that it would have been too hard and that break time was almost over and that we had to get back to class. I guess he's got his priorities figured out.

In Korea, there are a ton of claw machines and other various games that you can play to win prizes. I spend a lot of money on these things. I never really gain anything of use, but it finally paid off last week when I won a free ticket to Jeju. It was pretty good since I was just wandering around drunk waiting for my friends to choose the next bar we were going to. I also won it in my first try, which is great, since I can usually spend about 3,000 won if I think I really can win the prize. So now I have an open-ended ticket to go to Jeju and the weather is finally starting to look nice. Hurray for me.

I was teaching class the other day and one of the kids farted. It was pretty bad. The entire class spent an entire two minutes blaming each other. They even blamed me, at which point I said that all of them farted and it doesn't really matter cause they all stink anyway. Well, after the two minutes of heated debate, the class decided that it must have been Chris, one of my students, that actually farted. At this point, Chris starts crying. Not bawling in the middle of class, but the minimal tear, head down on the desk crying. Of course, I'm trying to get the class back on task and reading, but of course, one of the kids has to point out the fact that Chris is crying, so all of the other kids have to try and get a better look to see if he is actually crying. I guess it's a lesson learned. Next time this happens, I'll just blame it on the air conditioner or something.

The TOPIK is the Test of Proficiency in Korean. I always say that I'm going to start studying Korean more, but it has been difficult. I have been wading through my books and trying to study for the past year. To be honest, I feel like that I have learned some stuff, but at the same time, I probably don't know as much as I could. My studies have been unguided and lack structure. For the most part, I've only been studying things that I thought were useful or things that I think are really funny. As a result, I don't know much vocabulary and I can say some pretty dumb sentences. Studying for the TOPIK should structure my studies more and give me direction. Now only if I could somehow give the rest of my life some structure and direction.

I had dinner with my 누나 last night. Technically, she's my old co-teacher from last year, but I refer to her fondly by the Korean title for older sister. We went out to celebrate me getting back to Korea and getting my first paycheck. It was nice and all that. However, the thing that struck me the most though, was that after dinner, she took me to Home Plus and bought me a bunch of strawberries and some food to eat because she was worried that all I eat is instant ramen and pizza. I told her that I didn't need it, but she insisted anyway. It's so once knowing that someone cares.