Finding out which school I'm going to

This morning I woke up to a message from a stranger, asking if I was South African, and promising vital information.

At first I thought, "Oh no, another Nigerian prince wants to marry me, but only if I give him a whole lot of money."

But then he mentioned what I majored in, in my undergrad, and said that he's almost completely certain that I'm replacing the Kiwi NET at his school in Daegu. My school. Apparently the oldest and biggest middle school in Daegu.

It has a pretty tree and a big rock.

And it's quite close to downtown.

Now this guy is telling me he's called dibs on anything the teacher I'm replacing leaves behind in her apartment, and that he may in fact switch with her, so he gets the better one. Hmm... This guy has far too much power.

Far too much.

I dunno. He seems like a fun guy...

Well, apparently it is quite common for the NET who stays to get first dibs on the leaving NET's stuff. It's a seniority thing, and I can definitely respect that. Hell, I'd probably do the same thing in his shoes. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to put a photo of DJ Dictator in. 

Right now I'm just happy that I won't be teaching kindergarten.

What I know so far:
It's a middle school, and I'll be teaching about 1500 kids a week.
It's near the baseball stadium.
It's near downtown.
I found the school's website, which publishes useful info like the meal schedule for the cafeteria as well as calorie info per meal.
They celebrated Free Hugs Day last year. :)
The school was established in 1916, and was a girls-only school at first.
There's a very big volunteering program at the school, ranging from helping out at the school to helping in nursing homes, disaster relief, community gardening, helping the disabled...
They have lots of cultural outings, to art museums and so on. Maybe if I'm nice they'll take me with them.
It's near the opera house.
It's miles from the subway but when the third subway line/monorail is completed in 2014 that problem will be solved.

So, yeah. It looks pretty cool, I think.

UMF Korea ticket discount!

Some very helpful people just helped me to get hold of a ticket to this year's Ultra Music Festival Korea. As a South African from the bundus, I had never heard of it until Lola posted about it on Facebook, offering to help people to sort their booking out in Korean.

I'm not a huge house fan. I don't really like crowds. I don't really know what I'm getting myself into, but you know what? If I wanted to spend a year sitting in my flat, watching youtube videos and counting my teeth, I could stay home.

Instead, let me propose a toast to a year of adventure, new experiences, and new friendships. And some freaking awesome parties.

There's a special on, described by Lola as follows:

It's originally 161,000 w (roughly $160) for 2 days, but it's on sale for 80,000 w! The site is all in Korean, but there is an English option. But in order to get the discount, you have to call them at 011-82-1566-1369 for SUPPOSEDLY English option, but they only speak Korean (or in Jeremy's case, they just hang up on you if you speak in English) and give you an English speaker only if she is available.

In other news, North Korea is once again threatening to throw nuclear mud pies around. Maybe if they had concerts like this, they could unwind and enjoy life a little.

Oh, wait...