The "Rainy Season" and heat of summer in Suwon

Local Koreans call it the rainy season. "Beware of the monsoon season, John," they say. "It will be miserable." Half way through "monsoon season," and only a few days of what we 'Mericans would call a shower or two. What is unpleasant, though, is the mugginess. I thought the Midwest was humid in summer. You ain't seen nothin' yet, folks.

The heat, along with it being the end of the semester, are taking a toll on the students. They're more restless than usual, and attention spans have never been shorter. I think everyone (principal all the way down to the students) are ready for summer vacation. For the first few weeks of 'vacation,' I'll be teaching summer camp. This is a two hour class every morning, and I have permission to teach whatever I want. I've decided the first week will be a video production workshop (KHOP and MUTV compressed into a week), where the students will make the next Korean Tourism video to attract foreigners to visit the country. I thought I might as well mix some of my interests in with this camp...

As we all know, U.S.A. is out of the World Cup. The defeat happened only hours after Korea was eliminated in the group of 16 by Uruguay. Koreans were pretty upset, but it was an awesome few weeks to be in a country that lives and dies with their soccer team.

A side note: Foreigners are coming out of the woodwork lately in my neighborhood! In every adjacent apartment complex to my own, there is now an English teacher. It's been interesting showing around the newbies, as I can clearly recall my first days in Korea only several months ago.

Check out this interesting article, dubbed 'Chinese companies rent white foreigners'. I told you we are a huge novelty in this part of the world!
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.people/index.html?fbid=XPwxv9xtq3a

PICTURES:
Starbucks sign in Seoul. It's the only Starbucks in Korea that is allowed to have the sign written in Korea, therefore the only Starbucks in the world to be written in Korean.

My co-workers boyfriend and I. They were kind enough to show me around some areas of Seoul.

Only every four years...

I'm not sure if any of you back home have caught the World Cup Fever, but it's an epidemic on major proportions here in Korea. As many of you know, the first game was just a few days ago. There has been plenty of marketing on television and in stores here to get the fans ready for the first match. The South Korean national team fans call themselves the 'Red Devils,' based off of the British Premier League team, Manchester United. The Korean fans dress up in all red, wear little red devil horns, and shout 'Tay ha min goo!' (For greater Korea...interestingly enough, North Korea somehow made it into this years World Cup). The first Korean match was yesterday, and they drew none other than Greece. Impeccable timing for me (not that I'm a big soccer fan), but I've got to root for the fatherland. The result was a one-sided game in which Korea dominated for most of the game. We watched it in a bar, and the energy and atmosphere of the Koreans was unlike any sports experience I've had before. After the game, it was a big party on the street (everyone is singing, honking their car horns, and overall joviality).

Today is officially my three month anniversary in Korea (can I have anniversary's this early?)! I've got three weeks until final exams, and the semester draws to a close. I'll have a week or two of 'summer camp', which is basically extending normal classes. Then, as mentioned before, I'll have a few weeks of summer vacation where I can travel with my friend, Mr. Daniele. Hope all is well back home. Go USA!! Maybe we'll make some noise this year in the World Cup...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj9x4AyQ-is
This Joe guy is cuckoo for Kim Jung...