24 October 2008

Thank You Kenya!

I have been waiting and waiting for a legit hit from Africa and I finally got one today. Someone from Kenya looked at my blog. I thought about calling Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates Africa but they are Asia. So now I have been read on every continent but Antarctica and that doesn't count. Some of you might wonder why this is important to me and why it should be important to you and why I am writing about who reads my blog and they answer to that is simple. I am vain.

The other answer is that I want certain people to know that a lot of people apparently find what I write interesting enough to check it out. Many, many people read this blog and many of you have taken the time to write and say hi or even to ask me questions. The last post, on teaching, generated some interesting emails from people who were teaching in Korea who had similar or dissimilar experiences and a couple of people who were thinking about coming over and had questions. I wish that I had done that and I am glad to help in any way I can. And if the last post came off negative I am sorry. I love it here and coming to Korea is the best decision I have ever made. It isn't easy and there are bad days but most of the time it is a dream. I wouldn't trade my time here for anything.

It rained here for a few days but today there is a high blue sky and visibility is incredible. From my classroom window I can see ships out on the ocean and that must be at least 10k. I have been going out for guy night every Thursday with Tom for a couple months and last night Brian joined us. Steamed pork and the batting cages. Tom and I have been hitting at least once a week and I am not joking we are getting pretty good. Last night I changed Tom's grip and he was cranking them. The pitching machines throw like Bob Gibson. I didn't hit much in the USA so I don't have a point of reference but these machines are wild. I mean throw at your head wild. A couple are consistently high but the one I usually hit (the fastest: 140kph) throws mostly strikes with the occasional beaner. The lefty machine threw a Rick Ankiel last week (about twenty feet high and outside). That will keep you on your toes.

I am now the only male teacher (out of thirty) since Clayton left and that is kind of weird. I have to go get the rice by myself now. Carrying two stacked pots of rice and water up six flights of stairs every morning is good for me. This morning the cook filled my pockets with tangerines as I left the kitchen.

Yujin had midterms this week and I can tell talking to her on the phone she is utterly exhausted. She is coming to Busan tonight on the train and I am going to give her some TLC and relaxation tonight. I think we are going to fly kites this weekend. I bought some small ones and Brian has a stunt kite and I think we are going to Daedaepo. It is a very wide beach with lots of room to run around. I think the water has gotten to cold to swim but I might try. Hopefully I won't get burnt.

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