The One Where Eric Becomes an Adult

There are a few steps in my life that I seemed almost determined not to take.  The concept of getting married and having kids always felt wrong to me. It seemed boring, like giving up.  I didn't view myself like Fonzi or Barny Stinson, an awkward lady's man.  The concept was terrifying.

This time in Korea has changed me. Colleen says that I am more lovey-dovey and am more comfortable with PDA.  She is right, Im freaking adorable now.  That has shown in a massive life event.   As of December 27, 2014, Colleen and I are engaged.  I took her to Ann Arbor to recreate our first date as closely as possible. We have done this before so she didn't see anything coming.  Our first date perfectly defines our relationship.

First, we went to Menna's Joint.  While we didnt go there on our first date, we did go there on one of our first few dates when I visited her at CMU.  Our first date we went to Blimpie Burger.  Menna's is a bare bones, picnic tables indoors,food after a late night drinking place.  The food is delicious but the vibe is very relaxed.  On our first date I needed to make sure that she could be relaxed and enjoy things for what they were.

Second, we went to Pinball Pete's.  On our first date I kicked her butt at Skeeball and Airhockey.  She kicked my butt at racing games. I wanted to make sure that she could be playful and challenging.  Neither of us are gamers but in our 3 years of dating, we have had hours and hours of heated Skeeball competition.  We will never admit defeat or give the other person an inch.  The playfulness is what I was looking for on our first date and it's carried over to our regular skype conversations while I'm in Korea and while we lived together in Ypsilanti.  Sure, we aren't always happy-go-lucky but that's not a sign of a good relationship - that's a sign of mental illness.

At this point I deviated from the path we took on our first date.  I suggested that we walk by some shops we like to stop in when we are in Ann Arbor.  They were all closed at this point and I knew that, I was just trying to get us in a certain part of town.  On our first date, we met in front of a Starbucks.  Neither of us are coffee drinkers so we didn't stop there but we met there because it was an easy place to find and wait if weather wasn't great.  At this point I stopped, said "I need to stop here for a second" and sat on the planter she had been at when we first met. I think she thought that I was just stopping to tie my shoe because she didn't sit down with me.  I pulled out the ring case and opened it.  I didn't have a chance to formally ask before she started saying "what!? No way!?!? What!??! Is this real!?!??" and ripped it from my hands (I took this as a strong "yes" and was the best response I could have gotten).  She immediately pulled out her phone and calls her mom and dad. I had to laugh because I stopped existing for a minute while she was in shock and passing on the information.

Finally, like our first date, we went to Vinology. Vinology is a wine bar and restaurant.  We found a Mascato there on our first date that is made in Detroit and it has gone on to become OUR wine.  We get bottles of it for romantic nights in and stop by for a glass on birthdays and big dates.  I ended up drinking the majority of our share this time around as Colleen was in too much shock.  She spent most of the time texting the people who need to know about engagements ASAP and making statements about how either she couldn't believe she didn't see it coming or making statements about her mind being blown and how in shock she was.

We are going to wait to get married after my contract is completed in Korea.  This gives us the time to knock down some student loan debts and get our lives in order before we combine everything.  Neither of us really wants a big ceremony.  Neither of us is religious and it seems fake to have anything resembling a traditional ceremony.  Colleen doesn't have much family to invite to the wedding anyways (though she is excited to "have grandparents again").  We are probably going to just have an extended reception ... I'll leave that up to Colleen and my wedding planner friend Maria to decide what that actually looks like.

Chasing Waterfalls

90's female super-group TLC once advised the world to avoid "chasing waterfalls."  This past weekend, my friends and I threw caution to the wind and did just that. 

That Time I Got to Experience the Miracle of Human Flight

When your flight gets delayed or canceled, it is very easy to get angry.  It is easy to swear off using one particular airline because you had to wait on the plane for 2 hours while maintenance fixed a malfunctioning flap.  It feels good. It feels like you are doing something when you are not.  The plane will take off without you, you contribute nothing to  this equation.  That being said, I just spent 2 days trying to make my way back to Korea and so far Im only in China.  Now, I never bought a ticket to China.  I was going to fly through Tokyo. I would have PREFERRED flying through Japan. 

.

I got to the airport in Detroit (DTW) at 5:20 am in order to catch my first of 4 flights through 6 airports.  This trip mirrored the one I took to get to Detroit nearly 3 weeks ago but substitutes Chicago for Dallas.  I got to Chicago, went to my gate to negotiate a non-rev upgrade, then went to relax in the first class lounge ("'cuz I live a dope life and I do dope S***" -Kanye West).  When I go back to the gate to board the plane, I see that it has been delayed by 30 minutes for repairs.  15 minutes into that delay the gate agents begin passing out meal vouchers.  Now, when an airline passes out meal vouchers, they know you are going to be at the airport for at least 2 more hours because they are required to provide food after that long of a delay; they don't do it just to appease the grumpier among us.  I took my voucher and returned to the first class lounge. I saw no point in hanging around angry travelers and the ticketing agents in the lounge are generally quicker to provide an upgrade to appease you (they don't have to know that I didn't pay to be there!)

That flight ended up being canceled.  Since that flight was canceled I lost my spot in business class.  The ticket agent I saw gave me two options: take the same flight tomorrow or fly through Beijing (PEK) instead.  Everyday that I am not at work after a break costs me $200 from my year-end bonus.  I opted to take the Beijing flight.  This raised a different problem.  Before I was upgraded to business class to Toyko (NRT) I had purchased $300 in seat upgrades to make my 14 hours in a metal tube more comfortable.  The gate agent didn't care. Instead of a window seat in Economy Plus where I could stretch out and sleep, I got the seat in the exact middle of the plane where 3 people would have to move if I wanted to use the restroom or stretch my legs.  Not worth my $300 (granted, this was covered by my American Express flight allowance ... but they don't need to know that!)

The flight to Beijing was 14 hours.  In reality it took us 16.5 hours because, surprise, we were delayed 2.5 hours.  Normally I'm pretty relaxed because I book a 3 hour layover at every airport when I make my own schedule.  The lovely ticketing agent to booked my flight did not do this.  She booked a 2 hour layover.  I never had a chance of making my connection.  Thankfully, it was American Airlines fault and they are required by international treaty to get you to your final destination.  Part of this is that they are required to provide lodging for layovers over a certain amount of time.   I'm thankful for this because I stayed in the nicest hotel I have ever stepped foot in. 

Right now, I'm sitting on a flight between Beijing (PEK) and Seoul (ICN).  I'm going to miss my connection that will take me from Seoul (GMP) to Jeju (CJU) by an hour.  I booked this last leg on a separate itinerary so American is under no obligation to compensate me for the missed flight. Right now my plan is to make my airport transfer and try to talk my way into a free ticket change.  That probably won't happen.  My second option is to book a ZED fare using my flight benefits.  This is like a non-rev seat but on a partner airline and for a small amount around $50-100. My final option is to just buy the cheapest seat I can find on any airline.  If it comes in under $200 I will be in a better position than if I miss work tomorrow.

The title of this post comes from a routine by comedian Louis C.K. where he reminds the audience that everybody on an airplane should be constantly in shock that they are "flying through the air like a Greek god" and not complaining that the seat doesn't go back very far.

The Day I Put on 7 Concerts

One of the perks of teaching at a boarding school is that there is always an audience for concerts.  We actually use one of our “Curricular Saturdays” for music, art, and drama performances.  What this means, though, is that all of the performances have to be back-to-back. I can’t  have choirs one day and bands the other.  What this ends up looking like is:

9:10 am - 6th grade choir

9:30 am - 7th/8th grade choir

          Intermission/Stage Change

10:30 am - 6th grade band

11:00 am - 7th/8th grade band

11:30 am - Orchestra

12:00 pm - “lunch” (yeah right, I was setting the stage)

1:15 pm - HS Choir

1:45 pm - HS Band

2:30 pm - Art activities with my advisory students (thankfully I was able to pass some of the buck here)

3:30 pm - Closing Ceremony 

4:00 pm - pass out

Yes, that is 7 musical ensembles plus working on set-up, lighting, and sound.  This is the life I volunteered for.

Here are some pictures from the day.  They are mostly long shots or pictures of me.  There isn’t FERPA here but I’m so used to working under it I feel guilty breaking what would be a FERPA rule.

Being a hype man during the HS Choir performance.

This staging reminds me of Seasons of Love from RENT.  Next time, Ill focus the lighting.

6th Grade choir with hand drum accompaniment done by the students (not easy parts for them, either)

Before every winter themed song I stopped to tell terrible winter themed jokes.  They went over pretty well.

7th/8th Grade Choir with our rock band accompaniment for “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

6th Grade Band warming up - yes, I am in the back row doing an emergency repair on a french horn.

7th/8th Combined Band with John on the podium.

My Middle School String Club. They are small but they are monsters for their age.

On Wednesdays, We Compose

In one of my recent posts I said that I was going to be redesigning one of my classrooms for a composition unit.  Well, here it is:

At our school (and most schools in Asia) we do not have bells to change classes but little 4 measures tunes.  Since the students are so used to hearing these tunes I decided a good introduction to composing would be to write new bells.  The students are intimately familiar with the style of the bells so they can easily replicate them.  We also have a technology initiative at our school so I had the students using Finale Notepad and a template that I created with the accompaniment from the original bells already placed in.

This is the template and my composition to model what an A+ would look like

The 3 pianos in the middle of the room are for idea generation.  Almost every student has taken piano lessons at some point in their lives, so it is easier for them to spontaneously produce a melody there than with notation.  They are then able to experiment with the notation to find the melody. They are essentially isolating musical processes.  There are also guitars for my few guitar players.

Here are the kids actually doing the project.  I had to remind them a few times that a melody (in the sense of what Im trying to get them to create) must be singable.  The tables of girls to the left came up with the idea of having the program play the melody and having the entire table try to sing it in order to determine if it was a melody.  7th graders are clever.

The Hawaii of South East Asia

All of the tourism literature for Jeju-do refers to the island as “The Hawaii of South Korea/Asia”.  I woke up the other day to see a very familiar sight for a man from Michigan.  Snow!  I’m going to the frigid North in 2 days.  Is Jeju trying to make sure I’m prepared?

Perhaps it really is like Hawaii here, this picture was taken 2 hour later.

Twas the Day Before Xmas Break

Today was the last day I saw my high schoolers before Christmas break.  Since we finished our concert last week and I don’t have new music for our next concert I decided we should spend our last 80 minutes together caroling.

We went to 11 classrooms and offices.  I told the kids about the tradition of carolers not leaving until they are given some sort bribe.  They didn’t believe me until the teachers started frantically searching their rooms for candy.  Moody high schoolers started to enjoy themselves more once that happened.

They’ll probably never admit it but they secretly enjoyed themselves.

The "Be Less Fat By Christmas" Challenge

A few weeks ago, I announced on Facebook that I was going to be putting myself through the “Be Less Fat By Xmas” challenge.  This isn’t a formal challenge, there are no memes being passed around by female recent college graduates like most of the memes I see.  It is really just my challenge to myself to look better when I arrive in Detroit on December 20 than I did when I left on July 31.

Me on the second day I lived in Jeju.  Look at my little belly!

When I left I hadn’t done a proper workout since I stopped working out in preparation for joining the U.S. Army.  The Army didn’t pan out so I didn’t really have a reason to workout.  My arms got skinny and I developed a little paunch.  It didn’t help that I was constantly eating out when I worked at EMU as I didn’t really have time to go get lunch or workout.

That has all changed now that I’m in Korea.  It’s almost impossible to eat out.  There are no fast food restaurants near my school or my apartment.  There are plenty of pizza places but even I have my limits.  The school has two gyms that I can use (only one where all of the equipment works but I survive.), tons of healthy options for lunch, and water fountains EVERYWHERE.  There is no reason for me to remain fat here.

AND IM NOT!!!

It’s only been 2 weeks of being disciplined with my diet and exercise and Im already down 6.5 pounds as of this morning.  Im being very careful to be healthy and get enough calories. The biggest change is that I cut out flavored drinks.  I was pretty successful getting pop out of my diet when I first came here but I quickly substituted the pop for gatorade/poccari sweat.  When it comes to carbs and empty calories, those aren’t a good replacement.  There was a short stretch of 2 days where I went a little overboard and gained back some of the weight but it’s again and staying gone!

A New Name For My Car

The adage is true that you get what you pay for, though.  This pay period I have had to replace all four tires ($250) and now I have to replace the alternator ($110).  I’ve now put in a fifth of what I originally paid for the car.  Really though, it makes me feel like I’m in an episode of Top Gear.  A plucky little car, bought for almost no money, with a personality.

This hasn’t happened …. yet!

 I have owned 4 cars in my driving history and each has had a name: Olba, Mrs. Donner, Kassem, and now …. Lazarus. You can’t keep him down.  He floats like a Chevy Spark and stings like a SmartCar.

The story of actually getting the car repaired is pretty funny.

The closest mechanic doesn’t speak any English.  He is a happy little man and we communicate one word at a time.  I had stopped by his shop after work to set a time for him to pickup my car.  His wife writes down “17:30” on a piece of paper and tells me I can leave.  I sit in my apartment, watching comedy central shows I’ve missed, waiting for 5:30 to roll around.  At 5:22 I decide I should go outside and wait for my buddy … who has already outside, has opened up my car, and is jumping the battery.  No owner needed!

After I come down, he shows me that my battery is holding plenty of charge and that my alternator is the problem.  He does this by making me hold a multimeter while he sticks his hands into the whirling, 57 horsepower beast that is Lazarus.  “Battery. No.” he says, crossing his arms into the shape of an X.  “Your friend. We leave.” he says.  I need a friend to follow me to his shop.  

We drive down the backroad, through the orange orchards, in an awkward caravan.  My headlights are off and I avoid using my wipers to clear the rain on my windshield as my battery is clinging to life.  I was smart to do so. The car sputters and stops as our parade comes to the the turn onto the highway.  I get out and get my mechanic buddy’s attention.  What comes next is the sort of ingenuity and disregard for safety that Korea should be famous for.  My mechanic literally ties the jumper battery to the hood of my car, connects the leads and drives it back to his shop … leaving me to drive his work truck.

You have to laugh.

Maybe he will come back looking like this!

I have read a TON lately

I have read a ton of books to finish my unit/thesis for school.  I read all of these in the period of about one month.  These are not all of the books I read over the course of the semester, some are digital or had nothing to do with education and did not get added to my pile ... yikes.

Stockholm

My couchsurfing host fell through for Sweden so I was left high and dry to find my own way around and my own place to stay.  It really wasnt a problem.  I walked around the old city (Gamla Stan) until I found a hostel.  I lucked out in finding a good one.

I really dont have a whole lot to say about Stockholm because everything I experienced is from my own perception and I dont know many facts about what I saw.  The princess got married and there was a huge festival to go along with it called "Love 2010."

Here is a panorama I took of the Stockholm skyline:

 
It is about 16 MegaPixels big so you should be able to see quite a bit if you download the picture or enlarge it.  The cluster of light colored buildings on the right is Gamla Stan, the old town.

Munich

I didn't plan anything for Munich other than where I was going to sleep.  In my mind Munich is just another big city where I can go to churches and museums.  This is why I prefer to couchsurf.

The night I got to Munich was Germany's first game in the World Cup.  At the Olympiastadium, where the Olympics were held 40 years ago, there was a jumbo-tron set up and thousands of screaming Germans.  Valery (My host), some of her friends, and I went to the stadium to watch the game.  Germany won 4-0.  I also got the Germany flag painted on my face ... when in Rome.

Me, Franzi, and Mario (Valery is taking the picture)

Me and Valery 

Valery lives really close to where the Oktoberfest takes place so I made a point to walk over there.  It isn't very pretty.  There is a big church at one end and a big statue at the other.

Apparently, every Monday there is something called "Blade Night."  At Blade Night there are thousands of people on rollerblades with a police escort riding through the streets of Munich.  Unfortunatly, they canceled Blade Night right before it was supposed to start.  We had already ridden around a bit before so we werent too upset.

I also saw churches and museums and I put those pictures on facebook.  They arent terribly exciting.

Also, the nice camera I was using was stolen at Stansted Airport so there are fewer and lower quality pictures from here on.

Memmingen

Memmingen is a very small town. Very, very small. I am surprised that they built an airport here.

I am staying with a local musician and actor named Martin.  His girlfriend, Stephie, is here as well but she normally lives in Munich.  Martin lives in the oldest house in town.  It is about 500 years old.

The first day I was here, after I dropped Whitney off with David, Martin and I went swimming with his friend from the theater where he works.  I ended up falling asleep under a tree.  The days of not sleeping while traveling with Whitney finally caught up with me.

The next day there was a city party.  It is a sort of founders day celebration.  There was beer, good food and brass bands.  After that we went to an old abandoned airfield where we rode longboard skateboards.  I dont have any pictures of that ... which is good because it was pretty embarrassing

That afternoon we went to a premier of a play at the theater Martin works at.  The girl we went swimming with before was the lead.  It was all in German so I didnt understand much of the dialog but the story was simple enough that I could follow it.

Today, the girl from swimming and the play is driving with me to Munich where I am meeting my next couchsurfing host.

London

This is a place holder until I have time to actually write and go through the pictures from London

Dublin

I am sitting in the common room at our hostel in Dublin with our French Canadian friends, Beatrice and Melissa.

Last night we went down to the Temple Bar for dinner with the Canadians.  We met a family from New Jersey and had a great time talking about travel  and trying to get through some language barriers.

Whitney was very tired after dinner and went straight to bed. I stayed up and watched Irish tv (a show with weird puppets) and helped Melissa practice her English.  Beatrice ended up going out with our waiter for a few hours.

Today we are going to take a bus tour around Dublin.  The New Jersey family was leaving town and had 4 extra passes to the hop-on-hop-off bus tours so they gave them to us.


Pictures coming soon. The internet here is too slow to upload them

Traveling Lite

Im doing a bit of my pre-packing for my trip.  I am leaving on Monday but I have something to do every day until then so I wont be back at my apartment  ... so this has to get done now.

Here is a little inspiration:

This is my backpack. This is the only baggage I am bringing.

This is the large part of what I am putting in that bag.  I haven't done any compression packing on the clothes yet so it will fit in a much smaller space in the bag when I do.  The blue towel (upper middle) is a camping towel that dries super fast, weighs nothing and packs small. It's like drying off with a Sham-wow. The black in the upper right is a cycling jacket that has all the same properties as the towel but it keeps me warm.

I have a hat because I can't sleep in the airport when it is bright, so I put it over my face.  I am also wearing my barefoot shoes.

The folder has my passport and all the confirmations for my trains and flights. This information is duplicated in my iPod and the black notebook.  Everything else is just there to feed my techno-addiction

Bring On The Learning Revolution!

The man is a great speaker and a great advocate for education.  If you haven't read any of his books you are truly missing out on a great insight.

(I didnt feel like setting up my camera, so I just used my webcam)

I have only read this book of his, unfortunately.  It is called "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything."  If anybody would like to buy me a birthday or any other holiday present, his other books are at the top of my list

Scrap Box

Jenn took me to the Scrap Box in Ann Arbor yesterday on our way to the local couchsurfing meeting.  She needed supplies for the summer camp she is teaching and I just like to build things so she thought I would like it too.

I found a tub full of Altoids tins.

Im going to bring two along with me when I travel next month to hold the types of money I am not using.  I will have to go between Crowns, Pounds and Euros.

The third is holding an old iPod that I use as an external hard drive.

I also found some picture frames and old National Geographic magazines.  One of them had this cool advert in it so I cut it out and put it in the frame and it looks nice.

How to Make The Perfect Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

... or in this case, Peanut Butter & Honey.  This way keeps the jelly from soaking through the bread or making a mess in your lunch box.

Cover both one side of each piece of bread with peanut butter.

Put a big glob of Jelly, Honey, Marmite, Nutella or whatever. Do not spread it around.

Put the two pieces of bread together and push the area around the crust together, making a bit of a pocket.  Enjoy!

In Preparation:

It is not often that I buy books, I am a very cheap man.  After seeing this book recommended in another good book that I read (and bought) recently I thought it might be worth checking out.

What I found was a man who shares many of my ideals and sense of adventure.  What I havent found yet is new information that will help me at all.  I guess if I hadn't already done the barely planned backpacking around the other side of the world I might get more from the book.  I still have about 50 pages to read, we will see what that brings.