Conor Meagher Fan Club

Today was the AMS (American Montessori School) Halloween Party at a local park. I’m thinking easy day, wear my Islanders jersey, give out some candy, carve some pumpkins, bada-bing bada-boom. Wrong… it was trick-o-treat madness. First we did this 1 mile parade which is no fun when you carry a banner. Then we had stations where the kids went to with their parents, I was the Fruit Loops necklace station. Next, the teachers made pinatas for each class to swing at. We made them like rocks and little Korean could even dent them. Last, we had them carve baby pumpkins so they could take them home. Just a little word of advice, baby pumpkins are not like the big ones. There’s nothing to scoop with the small ones, they just have to be cut on the inside and guess who got to do all 20 of them? You guessed it… me, myself, and I. If I smell anything pumpkin in the next 24-hours, I’m going to puke my guts out.

To add insult to injury, I got up early to listen to the Chefs get waxed. Why did it take Al Saunders a whole half to figure out that the Chargers are 26th in the NFL in pass defense?

Edit:
Pictures are up and they’re great! Check out the slideshow.

I’m finding it hard to keep my fans up-to-date with everything. Last Thursday I went to Fukuoka, Japan for one night to apply for my work visa. I know it sounds confusing, but basically it’s standard for teachers who get jobs in Korea to make a ‘visa-run’ to the Korean embassy in Japan, because Korean Law requires you to receive your visa outside of the country. It was a nice free trip, but it wasn’t like the Japan I’ve seen on Most Extreme Elimination Challenge or Lost in Translation. Fukuoka has an interational aiport, but that’s about it. The air was nice, but I really didn’t have any culture shock or get attacked by Godzilla. It actually reminded me of the States a little, because Japan is more westernized then Korean. I’m not going give up on Japan yet, because Tokyo and Osaka are still on my list for exploring.

The only thing I have to show besides bad pictures, is a video of me following a huge Japanese guy and I didn’t know my camera was set to video. I guess Japan has steriods too.
http://share.iloveconor.com/ftp/japanman.avi

My next post in the near future will be about my students which can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/conormeagher/sets/1211914/

It’s 2:15am and I’m listening to the Chiefs game online. They better not disapoint me. I’ve got class in t-minus 7 hours and 35 mintues.

Yesterday, I got a Korean couch which is basically a love seat in the US and a TV. I still do not have cable, but the sweet couch made up for it. Now I can have company over without feeling ashamed. Also, I put up my new curtains to keep my privacy from the T.G.I. Friday’s voyeurs. It was a complicated process, but I got them hung in a speedy 2 hours.

Sorry if any of you oversea’rs have tried to call me (probably not). The time difference is killer and during the weekdays I’m working, so it makes it more difficult. Plus not having Cable TV or Internet at home makes it more likely to not be there. But I’m working on getting Caller ID and Cable of course. Hopefully next time I write I will be living in a post Abbott & Costello era.

Did I mention my job is sweet? Lets just say that my research and patience was key in scoring my current job, but luck was also a huge factor. On Mondays we come to school 30 minutes earlier than normal for a staff meeting. This is the gist of the last one…

“Next Friday we take the kids to a park for Halloween…”
“Following Friday we will go on a field trip to a science museum…”
“Also were thinking of taking the teachers (only) to a nice resort for one night…”
“Good news, your winter vacation has been extended…”

It just keeps getting better. The greatest thing is that I work with good kids and a good staff. We’re all different in our own ways, but we have fun together and support each other. Sometimes, I feel bad because I’m the new guy, so I have the fewest classes which means I’m done early everyday. But I try to stick around to see what I can do. Plus, I’m sure Boss Michelle (responsible for the academic side) will give me more classes later on. So Joanne (foreign teacher) tells me to “take it while you got it”. I know keeping everybody straight is hard, but I’m trying to collect pictures at the school and put a picture with a name. I’ve got like 40-50 kids to remember who are generally only 2-3 years apart in age. Korean names, English names, and some kids with Norwegian names.

All my fan mail can be sent to the following address:

Conor Meagher
City of Angel II 305-ho,
165 Geumgok-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si,
Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
Zip Code 463-805

For my 24-hour hotline:

• Step 1: Check Time - http://www.timeanddate.com/
• Step 2: Dail 011 (Calling from US)
• Step 3: Plus 82 (Republic of Korea)
• Step 4: Plus 31 (Area Code)
• Step 5: Plus 711-1897 (Local Number)

Right now my apartment is pretty empty and I have a lot of free time on my hands, so I thought I’d do a little video/picture tour of my apartment. I live in “City of Angel II” building (there are 3 of them) in Seongnam City which is about 15 minutes south of Seoul. My subway stop is Miguem in Bundang which is usually the way you describe your location. Enjoy the movies and pictures!

• Hallway - http://share.iloveconor.com/ftp/vhallway.avi (Right Click “Save As”)
• Bathroom - http://share.iloveconor.com/ftp/vbathroom.avi (Right Click “Save As”)
• Kitchen - http://share.iloveconor.com/ftp/vkitchen.avi (Right Click “Save As”)
• Living Room - http://share.iloveconor.com/ftp/vlivingroom.avi (Right Click “Save As”)
• Upstairs - http://share.iloveconor.com/ftp/vupstairs.avi (Right Click “Save As”)
• Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/conormeagher/sets/1094070/

Plans for tonight: A fellow teacher at my school (Michael) and I are going to watch the England vs. Austria soccer match tonight. It’s a World Cup Qualifier game with huge significance. Also Michael is from London, so he’s been looking forward to it all week and I’m just looking to watch good TV (because I don’t have one yet). It should be a “bloody” of a game.

Yesterday was my first day of work and it was quite hectic. The kids can be crazy at times and some kids just don’t want to listen. But I made it through alive and when I actually make a connection with them, then it’s really rewarding. Plus, their little outfits and funny phrases makes it fun too.

Let’s talk about my second day at work, today. Well I finally got to move into my apartment last night because my school is so awesome. They did hire me without having an apartment ready, but they did everything to get it ready and paid a little extra for a bigger place. I’ll come back to the apartment another time, when I take some pictures of it. Back to today, well the apartment has an alarm clock built into it and you can set it to wake you up. Well, I didn’t have a watch or anything to wake me up. So I set it for the morning so I would have enough time to get ready and walk to school which is only about 5-10 minutes away. Well, there’s also a current clock that you set and when I tried to set the alarm, I must of changed the current time. So when I showed up at the school this morning, I was like 2 hours early! Nobody was around and the sun was still rising. Now I’m in a PC Bang (Internet Cafe) wasting time until 9am.

Today I finally got word back on my apartment and can move in after work on Tuesday. But until then, I’m staying at a guesthouse because of Erin’s mom visiting Korea. Plus I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. Since I’m not working yet and it’s the weekend, I thought I’d catch up on my Korean TV and sitting on my keyster. Well, I guess this is the best way to meet chicks because I met this girl doing that exact thing. We would spend the whole day together and go out to eat in the night. But after she left I realized that I still do not know her name. I guess there’s an international rule that states if you do not know a girl’s name after 15 minutes of talking, then your not allowed to ask, because your a moron. It’s ok, because she will be mine… oh yes, she will be mine. My night ended with another new friend from London who is in Korea to renew his Chinese visa for traveling. We borrowed a couple paddles and a ball from the house and walked down the street to Meokgul Station, a subway station, which had 5 professional ping-pong tables. How many cities have a subway system, let alone ping-pong tables in them? Brilliant.