I've been at Handong Global University for two weeks today. Classes look to be good this semester:

Law & Contemporary Issues
Introduction to Korean History
English Morphophonemics
American Society from Historical Perspective
Introduction to Psychology

My teachers are of multiple nationalities, and only two are Koreans.

The campus itself is quite new, but they are building new things constantly. The surrounding area is also quite nice, as evidenced by my latest Flickr madness.

I took a walk around, so actually the first you get to see is a bunch of off-campus stuff and no people, but at the end there are some pictures of campus. I'm not into taking pictures of people until I get to know them a later better... you know, politeness and all those concepts.

I had captions for them, but then the power to my laptop mysteriously went out. And by the time I logged back into Flickr I was in no mood to redo them. So, put on the Flash slideshow and enjoy.

For being a "global university," the college is, perhaps unsurprisingly, quite Korean. The I-House (my dorm) has an English-speaking-only rule, but I routinely hear other languages. I think it's strange to see so many English letters and numbers on signs even in Pohang; the United States doesn't randomly have signs and food products with other languages on them.

Other little differences... they do take off their shoes in the lobby of the dorm, so socks or inside-only flip-flops allowed in the rooms. Handong has a "freer" academic environment than LeTourneau, in the sense that they are not quite as strict about being on time to class, and an honor code among students means they are not monitored during tests.

Dorm life is a bit more structured than LETU; you need permission to leave campus at night or stay off-campus, and everyone must be in their room for a roll call at 11 PM. I always am, but the announcement over the intercom is kind of annoying.

I am currently doing six hours work a week as an English tutor/discussion leader. I am privately tutoring one fellow who responded to an ad my roomie put on a forum, and I'm leading two bi-weekly groups of eight students in open discussion. The discussion thing will start next week, but I've already met three times with Myung Kwon, who has basic speaking skills. We talk about lots of things... I try to mix it up; he's studying for the new speaking portion of the TOEFL test.

It's actually extremely easy to find a bit of work like this as a native English speaker.

I've met tons of people, but the hard part is remembering their names. People routinely greet me by name and I grin and say "Hi!" and I'm thinking "I have no idea who you are."

Or, when I do remember a face, I think "I know who you are, and I care about you!" but if you don't remember the name, that just doesn't cut it.

Now the all-important music question. I found ONE guitar and ONE piano, but both have a caveat attached. The piano is in a building that is always in use. I checked it a few times a day every day last week and wasn't able to play it once. I think I have an alternate scoped out in the recently opened international student lounge.

The guitar is sitting in its stand in a nice little cafe in the student offices building. There's a little stage and a mic stand and an amp, but I can't imagine when any of these are put to use in this little cafe. The owner doesn't speak English, but after my third visit for cheap coffee this week, she kinda figured out I was coming more for the guitar than the drinks. The first time I think she was worried I would bust out the Dashboard, but now she might like it, or at least doesn't mind.

There are two English-speaking churches in Pohang. One is in town, and I have no idea where it is. The other is the Handong International Church, which meets on-campus in the chapel building.

In conclusion, I leave you with a typical piece of Korean appliance (made, of course, in China). My new alarm clock. It's one of the old style round analog clocks, with two bells on the top and a vivacious little hammer between them, just dying to ring out and send you scrambling from bed. Behind the hands, ominously visible above the morning alarm marker, it says, in tiny letters, "I'm the happiest man in the world."

Why, I can't imagine, if indeed the happiest man in the world must deal with this alarm clock. Perhaps it's the alarm clock's bid to redeem itself in its owner's eyes, as if it's begging not to be shot or thrown across the room.

Or maybe it means nothing. :)