DIRTY THIRTY!

As of April 8, 2010, I joined the amazing 30 year old women club. It feels no different from 29, but age is just a number, right?
I had a very nice and quiet birthday. It was most definitely not the dance floor party of last year, but it was still a great birthday. My students, especially, made it extra special.

The first birthday incident was pretty hilarious...No, REALLY hilarious.

I was gazing out my classroom window at the beautiful mountains that surround Geochang...

Then I noticed one of my students getting out of his car in the parking lot. Next, I saw my student walk over to a nearby dumpster and glance bothways over his shoulder. 

I immediately thought, "Surely he's not going to...ARGHHH!!!!"

I shielded my eyes and ran screaming away from the window as my student unzipped his fly and proceeded to urinate in public!

Student's car and dumpster

I then noticed the time was two minutes past the class' start time, and there were no students to be found, which was really odd. Then I heard them talking in the hallway, which prompted me to open the door irritatedly. Then one student walked through the doorway and turned off the lights.

All I could think was, "Are they drunk, or have they just lost their minds?!?"

Then a student emerged carrying a chocolate cake, topped with lit candles! It was so sweet, especially since they are all twenty and thirty-something men. I'm not implying that men are not thoughtful, but let's just say women tend to get more excited about these kinds of things. (Personal opinion! Don't get your matching couple-wear panties in a bunch!)

And who, might you ask, was carrying the cake? None other than Mr. Pee-in-the-parkinglot Magee! And you KNOW he did not wash his hands! I just tried not the think about it as I ate my piece.

This is the cutest part. The cake was actually a pyramid of 20 Lotte Choco Pies with candles on top. They all get 'A's for resourcefulness. 

My camera was on the fritz, so I do not have an actual picture of the choco pie cake. :(

That night, I had an appointment in Daegu, but unbeknown to me some other students had planned a small surprise party for me. My absence did not stop them, however. For at 8am the next morning, I heard a knock at the door. I thought it was my neighbor and coworker Sarah, so I answer the door with my body and hair wrapped in towels. "SURPRISE!" I was three of my female students with cakes, snacks, and a cards. I told them to bring everything to class, and we would have the party there. (It was still technically my birthday for four more hours) But they refused to leave until I blew out in the candles, wrapped in a towel in my doorway! 

I think it's safe to say that I am lucky to have such a great group of students, public urination aside!

Grammatical mistakes included (some even misspelled their names), this was VERY sweet! And, yes, that says "Dookie." He is not one of my students, but I am assuming that he got the name from an athlete. The students have much difficulty grasping the concept that the name printed on a jersey is an athlete's family name, not given name.

After work, I met up with some of the Geochang waygooks for dinner and drinks, then had an extremely relaxing weeking with beautiful weather! 

Hello, 30! It's great to be here!

RISE TO THE OCCASION....At Korea Lift College

Time has flown by (up?) here at the good ol' Korea Lift College. I can't believe that I have already been here six weeks. If you're cool and in the know, it's just "The Lift." If you're Korean, it's Hanguk Seungganggi Daehak (Remember this. It will be on the quiz later.)

Korea Lift College is brand spankin' new, with March 2010 being it's first semester. It is located in a beautiful valley in Geochang, Korea.

"We are committed to turn Geochang into a `lift valley` -- with which we will try to emulate the success of the Silicon Valley in the United States -- a city of a lift standard and research bases," Korea Elevator Safety Institute president Kim Nam-deuk, said.

We have approximately 260 students, and enrollment is expected to double each year. The majority of the students are male, but we do have 12 female students. It is the WORLD'S FIRST college to specialize in elevator technology and engineering (impressed yet?). The college is currently working with Russia, China, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan to develop next generation "green" elevators, and they are hoping to recruit involvement from the United States and Europe, which I'm sure will happen sooner than later. No one wants to be left behind in eco-friendly, state-of-the-art elevator technology, right? I think not!

Mind-blowing Fact:
Korea Lift College does not have a single elevator on its campus. Two MASSIVE escalators are being installed, however, for hands-on instruction. The escalators freak me out a bit. They speak to you in a creepy female robotic voice as you walk past them. In my mind, they are saying "Going down??? To the fiery depths of Hell!!!" They are actually saying something along the lines of "Please keep to the right."

Please note that one must walk up concrete steps in order to reach the escalator. Ah, completely-blind-to-special-needs Korea, you make me chuckle.

We are also hoping to recruit students from all over the world in the next few years. Which means that all faculty and students will need to be fluent in English. There are three English professors at KLC, and, naturally, we speak English. But the other professors speak little or basic English, so we will soon be teaching the Korean professors, as well as the students. Considering we teach less than 20 hours per week, it's no sweat off our backs.

I think it will be extremely interesting to have students from all over the world. The word on the KLC street is that the first crop of international students will be coming from China and Vietnam.

Also, we are featured on the Elevator World and Elevator World India websites. Yeah. We're a big deal.

OK. Enough of the boring stuff....
Let's talk about my wonderfully hilarious students. They are so much fun, but it is very hard to imagine ANY of my students getting their hands dirty in order to repair an elevator. They are VERY metro-sexual, as are most Korean men, which I love. I wish more men around the world would jump on the well-groomed bandwagon!

The majority of my students are here because, and I quote, "My father told me I must go to Korea Lift College." I'm pretty sure, if given the choice, each and every one of them would drop out of school and form K-Pop boy bands. Because get THIS! Our college offers three elective courses: History of Cinema, Opera, and K-Pop Dance!!!! I, personally, am obsessed with K-pop and constantly ask my students to show me what they learned in dance class. I'm secretly wondering if it would be frowned upon if I showed up for the class!

This job is definitely a dream come true, and I hope to stay here for a few years. It provides two months vacation, so I will still be able to see my family once a year. I actually have not seen them in two years, so a trip home in June is way over-due!!!!

To sum up:
Love my job
Love my students
Love two months vacation
Love K-pop