::A Geek in Korea::

My vacation is mostly going to consist of spending the last few days before the semester trying to figure out what I need to do in class this semester. The time for procrastination has ended! I will shake off the heat-daze that has prevented me from getting any real work done, and go to work for real this week. Really. Honestly.

I must admit, the summer vacation this year has been a lot of fun. First of all, I got through a vacation to the States with my wife and daughter and had a great time just hanging around the house sleeping and catching up on the World Cup games. Then I returned to Korean to teach a single “Survival English” class that I claimed “was death.” After that extremely underwhelming class was finished, I got to teach elementary and middle school students. It was a much needed change for me. I enjoyed it a lot more than the difficult college intensive course I taught last winter. I gave the farewell speech to the audience at the end of the elementary school camp, and I had a good time doing it. The entire camp was a blast. As long as the winter camp is run by the same people, I’ll be volunteering again without reservation.

Now it’s back to the grind of planning my syllabus, working on materials, and preparing for new classes. There has been a miscommunication with the office, and I’m scheduled to teach institute at night once again, despite it not making any bit of sense to anyone that would look at my schedule. I’ve asked for a change, but once again, being the lowest person on the rung of the security ladder will only make that harder. I’ve also been alerted to a potentially HUGE change in who I am teaching. There is a chance I might end up teaching middle school students during the semester, not just at camps. This is the first I’ve been told of this. Other than the time of the class itself, I am indifferent about the idea. From what someone let on, the class is running EXTREMELY late in the evening for me, so I’m a little annoyed that I haven’t been told about this before now. I had two goals this semester. Get out early, and spend less time at work. The office is trying to suck me right back in again, and I don’t like it now that I have a taste of freedom.

If I don’t get to change my schedule to move my classes to the morning schedule, I’ll be getting a few more hours of sleep. I’ll just be up later every evening working all the time. This extra sleep in the morning would help, but that would also require my dog and daughter to follow along with that particular script. As of right now, I wake up two or three times a night to a screaming, inconsolable daughter. If she wakes up when it is dark, I let my wife handle it. If she wakes up when the sun is up, I try to take her out of the bedroom to settle her down. If the semester starts and she is still sleepless, I’ll end up banished in the spare bedroom once again. Daddy needs his sleep. Even in a hot room without an air conditioner, Daddy needs his sleep.

Because I have a problem saying, “No time!” to people with similar interests that want to spend time with me, I’m not only planning a schedule for an entire semester, but also planning out a low level campaign for Dungeons and Dragons. This is a labor of love, not unlike writing daily for this website, but it is also a fair bit of time commitment for a week where I really should be focusing on something else. I built a map and picked out a scenario to run for Wednesday after I finished my chores today and whittled down my sleep debt to a more manageable amount with a short nap. I’m nervous about what is going to start happening when the play by post game I am involved with starts going again during the semester and I have to juggle two games potentially, one periodically offline, one daily online.

There is a lot of other stuff going on. We have to deal with any potential abandonment issues Glow might have from her short weekday trips to daycare. I have to find some time to exercise, and walk Yoshi in this unbearable humidity. I have to help with the housework and all the other responsibilities of being a parent. With no sleep…and a time deadline looming. It’s a bit worrying that I still don’t have the drive to sit down and be productive this close to the start of the new semester. Last semester I had a clue as to what I was going to be doing for the entire first half of the semester. Now I’m still trying to decide if I want to make the students buy the workbook, or have them just do copies I make available on the web. Eventually I’ll have to start deciding on those choices, because my schedule is running out of free time.

Ratatat – Drugs from Blink on Vimeo.

This is my favorite track off LP4.

A reader to this very website contacted me about a game of Dungeons and Dragons. I agreed to be the Dungeon Master of the adventure, as long as they could provide a couple of players willing to sit around and play. I had two weeks to find my adventure setting, set up the plot, make tokens and game representations of the characters and monsters, and generally get back on top of all the rules required to play the game. I’m not going to lie, it took me a few tries to start thinking like a DM instead of a player, but I think I achieved that brain-space long enough to put together an set up and series of encounters.

I knew I was in good shape when the elements of my campaign were all in place before I started listening to the GenCon lectures about how to make interesting adventures, villains, and encounters. I pulled heavily from different online sources for tips and tricks, and I had an idea of the setting I had in mind before I started. Instead of bogging myself down in details, or trying to guess what the players were going to do, I set up a few different competing interests, gave them a motivation I could consistently base their actions around, and set them loose. It’s up to the players to build on what they’ve been given and see how they can put their character’s interests into the game. There were a few character build issues, but other than that it went fine. No one died, and only one character got swallowed by a giant evil frog man. Twice.

Despite the hot weather, and a few encounters that went on a little longer than I realized they would, the afternoon gaming session was a great success in my opinion. The players were talking about how they wanted to deal with the aftermath of their looting spree, and how they were going to deal with all the competing interests that were vying for their attention and their items. They want to play again this week, while all the players are still on vacation! A guy who is moving back to Canada wants to squeeze in one more game before he leaves. They were talking about turning it into a regular gaming night while I was packing up my bags. I didn’t know any of them before we started playing, and now I have a gaming group with an addition to feed. I must lay the smack on pretty hard, because they it looked like they were already going through withdraws.

This party would rather play in person than online. I also greatly enjoy player interaction over dice and a board, but getting a schedule cleared is a huge issue. Finding the time to set aside several hours is going to be tough, let alone finding the time to plan out adventures as the DM. I can run the encounters I find, as long as I can keep coming up with threads that put them together, otherwise, Eek! Time investment overload! I don’t even know if that’s possible. I’m going to be busier than ever this upcoming semester if my current class time demands are any indication. This new semester is going to be a little weird, schedule wise, so unless I lock in something regular now, I might never get fit it in.

I’ve taken to the DM role a lot more than I did in the past. I think running and making monsters is a skill I’d like to develop. I had a few “OH CRAP!” sort of reactions to one of the monsters I built for the game today, which is encouraging. The next series of encounters shouldn’t be much harder to prepare. I already have an idea of where the story will go for the adventure this upcoming week, and the party will resolve the next few steps of the campaign via email before we get to the table. As long as people continue their interest in the game, I’m more than willing to put a little time in for now.

One thing that Android has is tight integration with services using Google accounts. You can see your mail, and you can manage your to do lists from the phone, or the web. However, the Google Market doesn’t work on the PC like it does on the phone. You still need to navigate the clunky, cluttered, and limited Android Marketplace to find applications. Well, you did, but AppBrain singlehandedly improved on the Google App Market and then took it to the next level of awesome.

When you install AppBrain, you can see a list of all the applications you have install. You can sync your phone with the website, and it will then use the applications you have installed to recommend new applications you might like. That is an improvement, because the popular applications in the phone version of the market aren’t recommended by any sorting metric other than popularity.

With AppBrain, you can also set which applications you can install. You sync with the phone, and the AppBrain application on the phone will instantly take you to the install page of the Marketplace so you don’t have to search for each application individually. Excellent time saving feature.

The thing that takes AppBrain from useful to absolutely essential in the South Korean market is that it can get around regional application install limitations. South Korea has a law stating that all games sold online must first be put up for review for a Korean rating based on content. Rather than submit all the games in the Marketplace for this ridiculous law, Google simply removed the game section of the Market. It is empty. There are no games available for Korean Android users…unless you use AppBrain.

To get around this limitation, do the following:

Install AppBrain and log in.

Sync your account.

Install “Fast Web Installer” in the Google Market.

Enable Fast Web Installer, and allow it to install programs on your phone.

When you find a game you would like to play on AppBrain, click “Install”.

It will instantly start to download on your phone.

Enjoy your games.

It is embarrassing that the AppBrain team has improved on the market experience so much more than the default service, but it is also awesome that Android freely allows for users to make such solutions without shutting them down. That’s why a more open approach to development ultimately improves on service for everyone.

The first application I wanted for my Android phone was a proper podcasting service. I listen to all of my podcasts on my phone exclusively now, and I needed something that could connect via WiFi at set intervals, update and check feeds, then download the programs that were newly released. The feed management system needed to be robust and easy, and there needed to be a way to organize my feeds into a playlist so that when one show finished, the next would start automatically. I’ve found that the best application for all of those things is DoggCatcher. It has all the features I need, and a few more. It distinguishes between audio and video podcasts and keeps them in distinct playlists. It will also recommend new podcasts for you based on your listening habits, and will easily allow you to add more from different sources like rss or online channels like Revision 3.

Now that I’ve got it automatically downloading the last few podcasts released from a feed, I can just turn on my phone in a WiFi zone at work or at home and have something new to listen to at any time without needing to be constantly poking at my phone. It even has a series of settings so that it can remember where you left off in any particular show. If you want to skip to another program and return, it will let you do that, even from a widget on the home screen. That’s one less step and several less seconds of work. When I take out my headphones from the jack it will instantly stop the show too, meaning I don’t have to worry if the cord gets tugged when I go for a walk or something.

It is an expensive application at $6.99, but it has solved all the problems for one of the major uses of my phone. It is absolutely worth the money to me, and I uses it hours daily. I’ve never had a single problem with this program, and the other podcasting applications on my Android phone drove me into fits of rage because of their bugs. Support this well made program! I’ve got more time to listen instead of waiting for things to download all the time. I’ve added a few new podcasts since the last time I gave some recommendations too. Here are some of the programs I am listening to now:

The Educational Shows:

Stuff You Missed in History Class – I was a history and civics geek in high school, but that was the last time I did anything related to the subject despite being a follower of politics now. Listening to this podcast about historical figures is very insightful. Sometimes I can imagine teaching a lesson on one of these topics to my old higher level middle school students, even though I don’t teach that sort of class anymore. I find the podcast interesting as it weaves a story out of the figures, often building on previous episodes to take a more in depth look at people’s impact on history. The shows only run around fifteen minutes, so while they do require careful listening, they aren’t too exhausting.

Skeptoid – This is a critical thinking podcast, with lots of debunking going on. Some of the topics remind me a lot of the Stuff You Missed in History Class, except with a skeptical bent to them. It also has a short run time. The host of the show has a strong point of view, and doesn’t hold back on people he considers frauds. I’ve taken a strong interest in supporting skeptical media recently, and this is one of the best. I’m also a big fan of The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe.

The Comedy Shows:

WTF with Marc Maron is the newest podcast I listen to. I’ve been looking for it for a while, but when I found it I was surprised at the quality of guests on the show. The host is acerbic towards some comics, but some of the interviews are very interesting. I’d recommend the two about Carlos Mencia (75. Direct: 76). The show is extremely [NSFW], but if you are interested in listening to comedians when they aren’t doing their acts, this is a very unguarded, honest sort of show. Learning about how comedians approach their craft is a very interesting.

Doug Loves Movies This is a [NSFW] game show and interview podcast. The majority of this show is devoted to the “Leonard Maltin game” where people have to pick the right movie by listening to a few hints and a few bottom billed actors. It’s a great game you can play at a party, but sometimes the guests take forever to understand the rules and that can drag on the fun. I’ve only guessed the right movie a handful of times, but it makes me feel like a genius. Learning about which movies people are excited to see, or recommend is fine, but this can be a very Los Angeles sort of scene. The show is usually a short 30 minutes, most of it spent playing the party games. It’s pretty funny, and there are good guests most of the time.

The Nerdist Podcast is proof that geek culture is not as niche as it used to be. Chris Hardwick makes Dr. Who references all the time, or talks about he is good friends with Weird Al. They geek out about AMC shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead like I do.That’s awesome. There are times when this show lines up so closely with my interests that it is impossible for me to believe I am not subconsciously willing it into creation from a geek dimension that I never new existed before I listened. It’s not as edgy or as vulgar as WTF with Marc Maron, but is still hilarious. Every week there is a new guest that is totally in my wheelhouse. This is one of those podcasts that gets immediately bumped up in my queue when it finishes downloading.

I’m a relatively understanding when it comes to people approaching me on the street. It doesn’t happen as much as it used to, or if it does, it doesn’t take on the air of, “SIDESHOW FREAK! LOOK AT THE FOREIGNER!” anymore. That used to happen fairly regularly in a large city when I was new to Korea. Now it is only small children and the elderly that have issues with foreigners being around. Slow progress, but it is something. Three times I had something weird happen to me today because of strangers on the street.

The first time was when I was returning home from dropping off Yoshi. He badly needed a trim to survive the summer heat. As I was walking across the street from the pet shop, a lady TAPPED on my shoulder to get my attention. I get bothered on the street from time to time, but unless I am getting on a bus or entering an elevator, no one is going to touch me. I turned around expecting either a friend of mine, or at least an old student. Nope. A young girl with her clipboard folder held up like a shield, and a friend standing nearby was asking me about where I am from and how long I had been in Korea. Same old getting to know you “Taxi Questions”.

I was already somewhat annoyed by being stopped, but I deemed it polite to at least take off my headphones to listen to her…one ear, at least. She introduced herself, and I thought that she was going to go into some sort of introduction about a topic she was gathering information on, which was why she was holding onto the binder. Nope. It turns out she was a pushy religious lady that wanted to know my background with her particular sect. I told her that I had heard of them, but didn’t need to hear anymore. I told her I was inconvenienced by her chat because I was exercising at the time and the delay was affecting my workout, which was true. She let me go with little fuss.

She was definitely brave. She spoke English well, in a practiced way. She clearly had religious training in approaching foreigners to deliver her message. She wasn’t as pushy as some of the other religious people that approach foreigners. They will drop whatever they are doing to walk with you. Trying to escape that is a lot more tricky. You have to duck into a business or home.

Another person, a lot older and probably not as good with English, bothered not only me, but my daughter at a store. My wife was getting a refund for a defective item, stranding Glow and I at the customer service area while she negotiated the details. A lady approached my daughter and I and started asking invasive questions. “Your daughter….is she your daughter? Is she American? Her mother is Korean?”

Is that really the first thing you want to know? You don’t even want to know her name, or how old she is? Not even a polite question first? What the hell business is that to you who the mother is? Do you score extra points or something? Ugh. I can deal with a Korean kid pointing to me and saying, “Hey! You aren’t from here!” Trying to make me feel that my daughter is something different because she is of mixed descent is a good way to rile my righteous anger, NOT win favor or start a conversation. It was only after she approached me this way that she started telling me about her religious group. My wife walked back into the conversation at the point where I was grabbing the stroller and walking away to avoid a scene. I had already been bothered by this particular group once, and I didn’t need them to be in my face while I sat around at a store too. My wife swiftly dealt with the issue by saying we didn’t need her particular brand of religious opinion.

I used to complain I was never targeted for religious handouts on the streets when places of worship passed out religious paraphernalia emblazoned on tissues and pencil cases. Now they approach me and speak to me in English. I think I liked it better when I was ignored.

The best interaction I had with someone on the street was entirely non-verbal. I was walking Yoshi home after his shave, and an elderly man riding a bicycle stopped five meters in front of us. He looked at Yoshi, looked at me, then gave me a huge smile and gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up. I walked away smiling, and I almost wanted to stop and start asking him a series of questions about why he was so awesome, but decided I didn’t want to be a pestering person that bothers people on the street so I stayed away.

This is insanely awesome in a “will he break his neck” sort of sense.

One of the challenges of a rotating class session is that for two hours of the day when I teach the “doctor” class at the end of my summer class, I have no idea what kind of students will be walking in the door. The gradient for the different levels is so ridiculous that you can’t really tell who is good or bad. Unless they are at one end of the chart or the other there is no real way to tell if the “High Intermediate” is better than the “Lower Advanced”. I do my best to place students into the proper levels, but honestly there are not that many ways you can do it.

I have no idea what level walked into my class today, but I do know that they were in either fifth or sixth grade simply because they were huge compared to my normal students. They were very hormonal and clannish. There were clearly delineated social groups that would poke and prod each other during the lesson. I have two hours to start from nothing and get them working in a positive learning environment. I don’t know who teaches them most days, and how they normally behave, but when they came into class these particular students were looking to pounce on me.

Kids about the enter, or in middle school, will often be very defensive about their English levels. This is the point where their skill and testing ability will start to have a measurably impact on their future. Getting into a better middle school than a peer can be a powerful motivator, or can wreck a lower achieving student’s self-confidence. That increases stress, and can amplify the negative behaviors of students this age. Some of the students will be more likely to answer questions, others are more likely to shut down, but all of them are going to try to embarrass a teacher whenever they have an opportunity. Especially a foreign teacher, if you let them.

The students don’t know a thing about me. It’s very likely they don’t even know my name. I this is the first and only time I see them in class. As such, when they would struggle with some of the new vocabulary, I would give them time to try to take a Korean answer they knew and turn it into an English answer. At first the students would say something like, “The answer is X”, but only in Korean. I would react by saying, “Say it in English, please,” to which they would reply, “I know the answer in Korean, not in English.” I don’t mind this, as long as they can tell me that they know what is going on, but simply lack either the grammar or the vocabulary to put it into words. That’s my job! If I can get them to this point, all I need to know is either the gist of what they are saying, or trick them into rephrasing it in a way they do know how to say it. You can’t let them get away with speaking Korean the entire time in class. If they aren’t learning new words, you aren’t doing your job.

Today the work they was throwing everyone was “ankle”. In Korean it is “Pal-mok“, and it translates, rather logically, as your “Foot Neck”. Wrist works in a similar way, being “Sohn-mok“, or “hand neck”. The students said, “Oh, it’s a PALMOK!” when I pointed to the picture of an ankle. I responded by saying, “No, it’s not a foot neck. It has a special word, which is different than the other parts of the body in English. Does anyone know it?”

These students were quick. They realized that I must know Korean if I could literally translate their answers. The second thing students of this age want to do is put down anyone that doesn’t know Korean as well as they do. Foreign teachers bare the burden of this all the time. “DO YOU SPEAK KOREAN!? SAY HELLO IN KOREAN!”

I’ve long deplored the “dancing monkey” phase of Korean classrooms, and I won’t fall for that sort of taunting. As a foreign English professor, you have no reason to get in a competition with them about speaking Korean, because that isn’t the reason you are in the classroom. If someone asks me in class if I speak Korean, especially if they ask me in Korean, I answer honestly, “No, I don’t speak Korean in class. I don’t speak Korean in English class. I speak English because I am an English teacher. You should speak English too, because you are in English class.”

I don’t mock, or taunt anyone. If this doesn’t satisfy them, they can simply be left to wonder if I know what is going on or not. The students in my class today decided that, “Oh, he understands everything we say, we might as well speak English, because we don’t get any benefit by making fun of him in Korean…”

Once we got to this point, the class took a behavioral change for the better. We had finished our main lessons, and I let the students play a few games relating to the topic. By the time the class had ended, the students actually groaned in disappointment about having to go home. They complimented me by saying my class was fun.

Woah. That almost never happens.

In fact, I went in on the defensive, to actually winning over the students and having a very good time with them. I don’t know how they behave in class with their regular teacher, but they seemed fine once they got to know you.