I first heard about this tragic news yesterday. You can read about it here - S.Korean media want minister out over DMZ shooting . My heart goes out to the families of the Soldiers involved. The reason cited for this attack was verbal abuse from senior Soldiers. Now, verbal abuse happens to greater and lesser degrees in all the military workplaces I've encountered. It can be as little as wisecracks or jokes. It can quickly escalate up to and beyond the point of a group insulting a...
We'll be getting our new input of students tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. We're conducting an experiment here at DLI and I'm going to be one of the MLIs that gets to participate. Some of the other schools have already started this program, but this will be the first time we try it out in the Korean school. Instead of our normal input of 30 students per class on day one, we're going to start with only 12 (maybe less). Also, instead of breaking them up into three sections of...
Just got my hands on the memory card for the camera and looked over the pictures from the Army Ball. There were some really nice ones of my wife but most of the ones of the two of us together didn't turn out so well (insert joke about me here). Either the camera was moving or the lighting was bad! Oh, well, we did get a photo package done, so hopefully those will turn out nice. Also, hopefully I'll get some pics via email from some of the others at our table. I'll post more if I get dece...
Stopped at the new Chili's in Seaside on the way home from work today for some take out. My wife wanted the Triple Play Combo and I got the Monterey Chicken (thought about calling it the Seaside Chicken since the Chili's is in Seaside, not Monterey) for myself. When they gave me the total, I had to ask if they had it right. Turns out, Chili's gives a 50% discount to military members in uniform! 50%! That's right, I said 50%! How cool is that? I'll tell you how cool it is. It's super...
As I posted last week, I attended the Army Birthday Ball on Friday. It was a few days early, but also as I stated before, the Army is old and doesn't like to party on a weekday, just like me. Well, not just like me, the Army is 230 years old, I'm only 34. But still, we both prefer to celebrate on a weekend rather than a work night. I was surprised by the number of people there. There were over 50 tables, each with 10 people seated. I was also very surprised by the number of junior enl...
My wife and I are going to the Army Birthday Ball tonight. It's a little early, but the Army is is old and just like a person, it doesn't really want to celebrate on a weekday. It'd rather do it's partying on the weekend! This will be my first ball after nearly 13 years of service. Never had the desire to go before, really. In fact, I'm only going out of some minimal peer pressure. HAHA! But I am a lifer, so I guess I should start doing this sort of thing more often. I am looking ...
Spending a few days in a team building workshop with the teachers I'll be working with when we get our new students in a few weeks. We recently rearranged the entire department in preparation for the new class. The new class is going to have to meet much higher standards at the end of the course, but we are also making changes to set ourselves up for success. The new standards are going to include covering all of our course materials in 2/3 the time. We'll spend the entire third semeste...
Been a while since I had staff duty. I can tell you that I have not missed it. I'm dead tired and still have a little over four hours to go. On Tuesday I was asked to support the other Korean school for their Joint Language Training Exercise on Wednesday. I answered that it would be no problem without even thinking about it. I wish I had remembered staff duty. There were other MLIs available to help out, but I never thought to ask them. It wasn't until later in the day that I'd rea...
Don't know why, but CRS (Can't Remember Shit) Syndrome has been really kicking my ass lately. Three times in the last week I've forgotten to grab my cell phone on my way out the door. I know, some of you may think that's freedom, but I like to have it with me. I've gotten away from wearing a watch all the time, so I rely on it for the time more than almost anything else, really. Not only did I forget my phone this morning, but I also forgot my ID. So, when I got to the base, I had to pul...
Language Day 2005 is over now. It was a long day for me. My day started at 0430. I got up and drove to San Francisco. My wife took a week long vacation to visit some friends in Hawaii and she was flying back in. Traffic wasn't too bad getting up there. I got to the baggage claim area about five minutes before my wife came out of the security area - perfect timing! Traffic getting back to Monterey was pretty good, too. I was able to get to work about 20 minutes before the high sc...
Tomorrow is Language Day. It is an annual event here at DLI. Thousands of high school students and teachers, mostly from California, but some from across the nation, come to our post and get to see what life is like here. We put on teaching demonstrations that the students can sit through. We have cultural entertainment lined up on the main stage for the entire day. We also have cultural displays in various schools where the students can learn a little about the art, culture, and histor...
I found out earlier this year that someone was trying to donate sections of the Berlin Wall to our post. Apparently, legal wranglings have kept it from happening for a while (years), but those were finally resolved. And today, I got the chance to stand on both side of the Berlin Wall. It's still hard to believe how something as simple as standing in two spaces, just meters apart, can be so significant. We have three sections. They are not chunks. They are not bricks. These are full s...
The Base Realignment And Closure Committe published its list today. And it looks like the Presidio of Monterey and Defense Language Institute are safe for another year. Much to the chagrin of the real estate speculators and doomsayers in the Korean school. The base has been on the initial list every year since long before I was a student here but has always survived. Even during the lean years after Ft Ord closed down. And yet, every year the people that work on base get worked up ov...
I just found out about this program today. You can find more information at the Freedom Team Salute Program site. Basically, it allows any Army Soldier, whether they be active duty or reserves/national guard, to recognize the people that support them in a special way. Active duty Soldiers can recognize one spouse and two parents and the reserve and national guard Soldiers can also recognize their outside the Army employer. Veterans can also go to the site and nominate themselves....
As I stated in another post, the past couple of weeks have been extremely busy. My class recently took their final tests, the Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) and the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). I also posted recently about how nervous and excited I was for them and their results. The class did very well. Of the 21 students in my class, only two did not make the 2/2 standard on the DLPT and two others did not meet the 1+ standard for the OPI. The two that didn't get the...