Seoul Eats

But it doesn't mean what you think it might^^ titular |ˈti ch ələr| adjective 1 holding or constituting a purely formal position or title without any real authority : the queen is titular head of the Church of England | a titular post. • [ attrib. ] (of a cleric) nominally appointed to serve a diocese, abbey, or other foundation no longer in existence, and typically in fact having authority in another capacity. 2 denoting a person or thing from whom or which the name of an artistic work or similar is taken : the work's titular song. • [ attrib. ] denoting any of the parish churches in Rome to which cardinals are formally appointed : the priests of the titular churches.

I've loved all the Colin Hay songs off of Scrubs and even his guest appearance, so I went ahead and got his album, Going Somewhere. I've spent the last 2 days listening to it on repeat. I can't tell you the last time I've done that- really sitting and sipping and relishing every song off an album. I recommend everyone to get his album. Dan

I totally won't miss the toliets or the wheeled lunch trucks. ^^ Dan

Actually, I'm working on a writing project with a Wednesday deadline (god, I hate deadlines) and I was thinking of all things that I miss about teaching at a Korean Elementary School student. And since I've spent all day pounding my keyboard, I decided I would rather show you. These are the things that I'll miss about Wonmyeong School^^

  The students... 

I'm selling off stuff that I don't use anymore. One of them is my Samsung #11 Camera and my PC (I found out that I truly hate them and I'm going back to macs:) The camera is 6MP with shake reduction, 3x zoom, voice recording, and with PMP and movie functions. The PC is a AMD Sempron 2500 with a DVD player, ethernet, and a DVD player and CD burner. Here's the pics. If you're interested give me an e-mail :) Dan

I think I should have mentioned that I'm on vacation for the next two weeks. I apologize. Thanks for reading my blog. And I'm working on a new project^^ Dan

I am teaching middle school writing and I found some really good links.  Today we are talking about parallel structure, antithesis, hyperbole, and Ironic or surprising juxtaposition of detail.  Here are the links and the info.  Here is some stuff I got from Wikipedia and here are the links.  I've found teaching Irony to be an absolute chore.  I found a good picture on wikipedia that has a DEAD END sign in front of a cemetary.   http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/parallelism.htm   http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/antithesis.htm   Hyperbole   ·          "She has a brain the size of a pinhead." ·          "I nearly died." ·          "She is so dumb her IQ is probably -2!" ·          "I will die if no one asks me to dance." ·          "He is as big as an elephant!" ·          "I'm so hungry I could eat my own paste!" ·          "I told you a billion times not to exaggerate.&q

Here are some cool links that I've run across. Both of these have to do with the Fox tale myths.  If I remember my Asian Literature course, I should try to find a book called a Woman Warrior.  Fox Girl by Nora Okja Keller had some great myths too. http://www.cracklemountain.blogspot.com/ http://www.coyotes.org/kitsune/myths_korean.html -- Dan

...I'm not finished teaching. I'm just finished teaching at the public elementary school level. I have been teaching at this level for about a year and a half and I feel like I'm in a rut. I'm doing the same lessons or variations over and over again and I need to something that's a bit more challenging. I will be teaching at an SAT prep, writing institute in Cheongdam, Seoul. It's more challenging and I'll have a ton of grading to do, but I think it'll be good for me. I'll be teaching new material and I'll have my mornings to do my writing. Today for my sixth grade classes, I'm going to get the students to make Christmas cards for each other for part of the time and then I'll show Elf. Dan

Here are more Christmas cards that my Korean Elementary School students made. Aren't they great!?! Dan

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I got my students to make Christmas cards to my friends and to my parents. Here are some of their cards...no wait...blogger is acting all screwy and I can't get the pics up...wait a minute. Stay tuned. Dan

This is what I've dug up so far about paying taxes from overseas.  Where's an accountant when you need one! http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/index.html Dan Sometimes you've just gotta put it all on the line and go for broke in this poker game we call life.

This is my last week at Won-myeong Elementary School. I really enjoyed my year and a half here and it has been a wonderful experience. I'm going to finish this week by getting the children to make Christmas cards, play games and give out the ton of candy I've accommulated.

Here's a sample of a script I'm writing using William as a character. I'm only going to put up about half of the script. If you want to see the rest, then leave a comment^^ Dan William Tells All Monsters will bite your Ha Ha. White screen. WILLIAM, a precocious five year old boy, enters the screen. [WILLIAM can jump from foreground to background and he is able to control the story at will. He'll often do funny things in the foreground. FOREGROUND WILLIAM will be called FG_WILL from this point on. WILLIAM will be shortened to WILL (even though he hates being called Will.)] WILL: Ummm.... hello... Yesterday Dadda kicked a rock while he was walking and he said a word that he said I'm not allowed to say. I asked him why? And he answered that it is a curse word and if I say it then I would cause bad things for someone. CUT to the scene. WILLIAM and DADDA are talking in their front yard. WILL: Dadda, like what? DADDA: Well William, like w

This is what it's like to work in a Korean Elementary School. Most of the days, they're cute and wonderful...but sometimes they can be complete brats.

My thoughts on the economy. I've been recently trying to hedge my risks by putting my money in a couple different investments. Right now, most of my stocks are in the tech sector mainly because it's what I know. I tried to follow the Warren Buffet school of investing about a year ago and all my stocks are at the same level they were (or lower when i bought them.) I've recently bought a Korean CD from KEB bank. It is dollar account and it pays 5% every three months. That's an awesome rate compared to the states. Now the reason I went with dollars rather than the Yen or the Won is that I believe the US economy is intentionally keeping the dollar low. I think they are doing this because the trade imbalance with China. China has a ridiculous stockpile of dollars right now. Soooo...making the dollar stronger would offset most other currencies in the the world and China could use this power to try buyouts of US firms like Japan did when the Yen was very strong in the

This is a website that I've been checking out these days. It's a bit wicked, but you know...I like it like that. It's called Milk and Cookies.

I did the White Room game in my class today and it was great. It worked a lot better than Viridian Room. Here's the walkthrough. Dan

William is an inquisitive, kleptomaniac, 5 year old boy that I wrote into a play. In the play he was the psychological manifestation of a woman who had guilt over an abortion. The play was a failure, but I always liked William and I've decided to see if I can develop him into a character of his own- possibly a children's book or a comic book. Here are some beginning sketches of him.

I'm currently searching for info on how to go about paying US taxes from Korea. If anyone has any info, please send me an e-mail. Here's a couple of links I dug up from Dave's ESL. http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=68158&highlight=Taxes http://www.hrblock.com/taxes/doing_my_taxes/international.html

The opening chase sequence between James Bond and a terrorist bomb maker is mind boggling. The physical interchange between Bond and the bomb maker is a refreshing way to reveal character traits. This Bond is shown to be a raw, impulsive man, with excellent instincts that uses his intelligence and drive to defeat his superior foe. He is razor sharp and very cold and this new Bond (who is actually the old Bond.) lets his actions speak instead of catchy one liners. This isn't the suave bond of the past. He is raw and the movie has a feel more like the Bourne Identity than the Pierce Bronson Bond we've come know and possibly become disillusioned with. Eva Green was sweet and sultry but of course she couldn't be the virtuous girl that takes Bond away from the spy life, no, no, no. Of course she has an ulterior motive for loving Bond. The villian was just so, so and wasn't over the top like others and this Bond movie seemed like a "who's done it." at

Actually, it's raining today....but...it's all good. This week is going to be super easy. It's only a three day week because the little midgets are having tests on Thursday and Friday! AZA! After this week, I've only got three more days until my elementary school days are over! I'm going to miss it, but what can you do? Today in third grade I'm going to start by asking them the weather and then 1) I'll start with the chant in the book: It's Snowing. 2) I'll do the look and speak. 3) I'm going to do the roleplay about the Ant and the grasshopper. I'll get the students to act it out. 4) Review 5) Game: Passing the card game. Students get in a line and have to listen to me and pass the lines from back to front repeating the phrase I say, i.e. "It's Sunny, let's go outside. It's snowing! etc. There will be referees to make sure they are saying the phrase.

I've got lots of stuff to show you, like I turned my UNO cards into an English Learning game (I know that using Uno to teach English sounds a bit contradictory...maybe the kid has to yell out ONE instead:) I'm also making some Christmas cards and I'll get my students to make some next week. I'm also doing some creative writing. I'll get all sorts of stuff up soon. Cheers! Dan

hehehe the Happy Lunatic is back! And he is going to be gracing my web blog. Stay tuned for more!

This was my comment on TUAW the unofficial Apple Webblog about how often do I watch video on my ipod: I watch video all the time since I found videoera. It's an open source video converter and it works pretty well. It's FREE and FAST! And I'm not saying it's free and and then you get only like 10 minutes of converted video like some converters. The only drawback is that it's only for windows. I used to use FortyTWO-DVD VXPLUS, but randomly my paid license stopped working. I DO NOT RECOMMEND you buy Forty-TWODVD-VXPLUS (who the hell came up with that name anyway). The service sucks and I've tried to call them and e-mailed them like 4 times and nobody answers my e-mails.For the Mac Podner is a good bet. So learn from me kids, don't buy FortyTWO-DVD VX PLUS. It's the stupidiest name I've ever heard of for a software program and the programmers are equally retarded!

I am doing a flash game in class today. It is called Viridian room. I did another game, "Crimson Room" in class last year and my students still ask me today to do it again. Crimson Room was much easier, but I think the students like the challenge of Viridian Room. Also only a few students have played the game while almost every student has already solved Crimson Room. Here's the link to the site. If you need a walkthrough look here. I suggest you let 2 kids up at the computer at a time and then get the students to tell those two students where to click and go in the room. It helps to have the walkthrough so you can also help direct the kids and keep the game moving.

My class today was an utter success. I did a department store situation where I put flashcards of random things like a TV, radio, pizza, a nose...anything really and I put prices above them ranging from 100 to 1000 dollars. I wrote a dialogue on the board. A: Hello. Can I help you? B: Yes. How much is that_________? A: It is __________dollars. B: Sounds good. Here's my credit card. or I'm sorry. It's too expensive. Then I got the kids to make their own credit cards because I figured making cash was too unruly. They really got into it and made some wonderful cards. I then picked 2 kids to be sales people and one to be a stocker. The stocker had to restock the sold pictures. I also had two kids standing at the entrance of the "Department Store" and greet new customers. I only let two kids in at a time and they could only buy one item. Some students started to greet students by saying, "Welcome to DolMakgo!" which was a popular movie title l

Hmmm...It's time to start shopping for presents. What should I get the fam? I can't get ipods for everyone and my father and mother are adamant against a bide. It's time for Korean Santa to get working. Oh, this is a cool print that I should get for Henry. Dan

Remind me to never drink soju again. Check out this post. Pocket books that identify exact calories and nutrients of 93 kinds of foods that Koreans eat most frequently will be distributed to people for free, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recently said. The pocket books, aimed at preventing people from becoming fat by having a balanced diet, have been written following a nationwide survey on Koreans’ eating habits conducted in 2001. A total of 400,000 copies of the book will be given to people across the nation. The pocket book provides information on the amount of exercise needed to consume calories gained from various types of foods. The book especially offers detailed information on nutrients and amounts of oil, sugar and salts used in various types of foods that are often served in an average Korean meal. According to the health pocket book, a two-hour walk is recommended to burn off the 540 kcal gained by drinking one bottle of soju. I had my last cup of soju

I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm going to do the textbook for as long as possible and then I think I'll make them writing a going away letter. I'm going to use my magnet characters. They can write a going away letter from Princess Cindy to the Big Bad Wolf or the Businessman to the Bear. Then I'll get them to play MASH on the board with the middle school questions and what they will do in the future. Dan

I'm back from a nice weekend. I saw the movie Prestige and I give it a B+. The acting was wonderful and David Bowie leaves a chilling, effective presence in the movie as the scientist Tesla. Hugh Jackman played his role, but it didn't have the gravity of Christian Bale. At times, I felt that I couldn't justify Jackman's character Angier's intelligence to pull off what he did. Now Bale stayed in character right to the end and I found my self going shifting my stance of his character from hate to empathy. I felt this movie was a bit condescending at time and undermined the intelligence of its audience by leaving very gaping hints at the eventual conclusion. There was a nice twist at the end, but the numerous hints destroyed the credibility of the movie and made it a "Sixth Sense"-esque thriller instead of an intricate "Usual Suspects" masterpiece. Dan

Gold is at $622.00 an ounce. I don't think it's going to go down in price for a while. I think I'm going to have to buy soon. The real estate market at home sucks. My parents still haven't found a buyer for their house. Stocks. Apple hit a new high of $85.and some odd cents. Google is at $498.00 and it is about to hit $500! AZA AZA AZA! My Ebay shares are about to hit $35.00 which is what I paid for it back in 2004. I'm going to sell it as soon as it hits. Delta might come out of bankruptcy or be bought out. Turbochef is starting to show some promise, but I'm still at a loss with them. RUTH Chris Steak House is starting to gain momentum. Starbucks is at $38.00 All the rest of my stocks are simply holding steady or I'm taking a slight loss. I'm buying energy and gold exchange stocks next.

Hello my name is Dan and I am a gadget-holic. I am selling off stuff that I've accumulated over time. Most of the items I thought would be useful at the time, but I find that they are simply gathering dust. There are many message boards in Korea that you can use to sell off stuff, but the one that I use most often is Daves ESL cafe I think it's the one that most people use and I've never had a problem yet (knock on wood.) Here's the pictures of stuff because I'm going to link my ad to this post. Hey, if anybody wants anything, give me an e-mail or leave a comment. Here's my ad from Daveseslcafe. Dan

Ugh. I am still sick and the medicine the doctor gave me is making me sleepy. When I get sleepy, I get cranky. I already had a mini-outburst and offended some of my collegues. I apologized and they said they already knew about me and wouldn't hold it against me. What I'm doing today is mainly straight out of the book. 1. Monkey See, Monkey do- pick one student to be the monkey and they tell their classmates what to do, i.e. stand up, eat a lollipop, dance, etc. 2. "What do you want for Christmas?" Pick one student to be Santa Clause and one to be Mrs. Clause and then ask the students to tell the Clauses what they want for Christmas. Make them line up and ask in person. 3. "What does the Big Bad Wolf want for Christmas?" Get magnets of different characters and ask the students what they would want for Christmas. I have a Princess, Salaryman, Zeeto, Thomas, etc. They come up with some really interesting answers. But every class says that the Sala

I am sick so I'm doing the lesson for half the time and then letting them watch Shrek 2 . I am sick, not hung over. Flu season is upon us, beware. Drink lots of orange juice and eat kim-chi. Kim-chi chiggae keeps the flu bug away. Ugh. Dan

I'm sick today. I'm going to try to get through the lessons and hopefully recover before I have to teach tomorrow. I don't want to teach 6th grade while sick tomorrow. I might end up just doing the lesson for half the time and then show the movie for the rest of the time. 1. Today I'm going to start out with "I can...I can't ball." Students have to say one thing they can do and one thing they can't and then pass the ball to another student. 2. What can Santa Clause do? What can't he do? Pictures of various people or creatures and ask students what they can or can't do. 3. Book + Role Play- The Tortoise and the Hare. 4. Board Game for the rest of the time. Dan

My ipod died yesterday as I was watching The Departed on my iPod. I guess it's the hand of mighty Steve Jobs telling me that's a no no. Thank you Steve for letting me know that downloading videos to my iPod is illegal. I have been smited by the ye mighty hand. Praise be to Steve. Technically, the hard drive failed. Now, what am I going to do? I looking at the Archo's player that has WiFi. Too bad they don't sell them in Korea. I'm going to be iPod less for 1 week until they repair it. I was looking at the new shuffles, but the clip seems a little tempermental. I think I'd rather wait for the 1Gig 1st Gen Shuffles to go down in price and buy one of them. It was always my favorite one and it never broke like my nano (screen), iPod photo (some weird logic board issue), and now my iPod video (hard drive). It's not me! For real! It's not me, I treat all ipods like they're gold and I've never dropped the iPod video. Thank god for Applecare^