Once a year in Korea, the students give presents to their teacher’s in honor of their tireless struggle to enlighten and educate the young minds of the future. In my kindergarten and elementary hagwon, I got a few notes and a few little presents, nothing like Christmas, but still satisfying. Even if the students were forced to give gifts by their parents, it is nice to receive things handwritten in childish script. Ones that say: “You are handsome and strong,” “I will work harder for you,” “Thank you for being a great teacher,” and the classic, “I love you.” Continue reading
Author: william
Forget Floyd
“Floyd Mayweather wins by surprising knockout over the Filipino fury, Manny Pacquiao.” “The boxing world has found the true pound for pound champion.” “No more questions, we have our answer.” “A Cinco de Mayo for the ages!” Is what the headlines could have read…But, of course not. Floyd continues to skirt around the only true competition left near his weight class. Continue reading
What’s My Age Again?
For years, I’ve always looked younger than my age. I suppose at 12 I may have looked twelve, but after that, I was always mistaken for a younger version of myself. Once, around 27, a local campaigning politician came to the door of my parents’ house and asked for my mother or father. I replied they were out, and she asked me if I was old enough to vote. Continue reading
A Titanic Question
The Titanic re-release in 3D for the 100th anniversary of the tragic sinking may have been seen as a money grab for either 20th Century Fox or possibly James Cameron; which it may have been, despite the fact that Cameron, according to IMDB, forfeited his director’s salary and share in the gross to get the extra money needed to finish the film. But the film is a modern classic with amazingly cheesy yet famous one-liners, a thrilling story behind a dramatic love story, all set in an extremely sad historical event. Continue reading
A New Woman
Recently, Jenna Talackova tried to enter the Miss Universe Canada beauty contest to be eligible to be crowned, unofficially, the hottest woman on Earth. She ran into a snag though. She was born in Canada, looked beautiful and was in the age range. The problem was that she has the Y chromosome. She was born a man. However, she is one gorgeous (wo)man, now. After doctors performed reassignment surgery on him/her, she came off the operating table looking like Ivanka Trump’s younger sister. Continue reading
Water
Water is the life force of Earth. Nobody needs to be reminded of the universality of our liquid manna. From plants to animals to humans, we rely on it to such an extent and for most of us; it is provided with such ease that it is basically the most taken for granted thing in our daily lives with the possible exception of the radiant sun. Continue reading
Facebook Famous
It seems with the rise to mainstream prominence of Facebook and Twitter; we see much more hyperbole in the day-to-day life of normal citizens. We often read about, “best weekend ever”, “best friends forever”, “greatest night in the history of Fort Lauderdale”, “most hilarious thing ever”, “this is amazing” et al. I believe this is not always even believed by the people who write it, but perhaps to make others believe that the author was involved in something so great, so stupendous, that not only must others hear of it, in turn feel jealous of it, but know, that since it was “the best girlfriends in the world partying in Miami for the weekend” that no one can ever top that wonderful moment. Continue reading
Small Pleasures
Hungry after a long day at the hagwon with a slight headache breathing through my temples, I wandered into a local eatery. There were no less than 7 policemen in their full blue and gray gear, loudly, violently and quickly consuming a crowd of plates. They ate with typical Korean gusto. However, one always feels good eating where the local cops eat. I ordered my mandu-gu soup and leaned back in the chair. Continue reading
Dualism of Life
In the hot and cold waters in the sauna, I contemplated what I had learned from last week’s hike. The man and woman, the day and night, the sick and healthy, the weak and strong, attractive and ugly, rich and poor, tall and short, I had found the two sides of it all. Continue reading
First Grade Moments
Today, my favorite student (any teacher will be honest and tell you they have a favorite) shocked me again. Olivia is the happiest little lark I’ve ever met. She is about 5 or 6 years old, never frowns and has a bright round face with a perfectly infectious smile. She used to call me over to her table, “Teacher, teacher, come here.” She’d motion with her hand as if she had a secret to tell and look at her feet trying to remember why she’d called me over. Continue reading
William Sabia 