My Time In the East

English and the Signal Ball

One of my main volunteering jobs that I do on a regular basis to teach English to Korean ROTC Cadets. It may seem funny for those of you that know me, as English is not my forte. But, these classes are used to suplant their normal English instruction, which is design to pass the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication). A satisfactory score is required for the Cadets to graduate and be commissioned an officer. Most of the students that I've spoken with are doing ROTC (and the subsequent commission) in lieu of basic conscription. (Korea has compulsory military service for all males.)

It is fun to do and we take the subway to and from the University. "Teach," which is really a dialog with the Cadets so they can hear other native speakers rather than just the clean and correct pronunciation from the audio tapes. After class we have a quick lunch in the cafeteria and head back to the rest of our weekends.

Except this weekend...

Today officially began "Ball Season" for me. As I will be attending three balls in a five week period. The first out of the hopper is the Signal Ball. While interesting, the ball that I'll be attending next week is a lot more exciting. For me, it was a chance to wear my Dress Mess (a black-tie tuxedo equivalent military uniform). I found that I like the Dress Mess more so that my usual attire to these events which would be Dress Blues. Anyway, when I get a chance to get a copy of some of the photos that were taken, I'll post one.

Dress Mess Jacket with Ribbons and Medals

Dress Mess "Party Shirt:. Notice the tropical fish motif?

We sent a small contingent from our unit, there were five total of us. Of course, since we're not in a "Signal" unit we really didn't know very many people, but we did see a couple of people that were alums of the unit and were there with their spouses (and felt just as left out as we did).

It was a good event, and gave my NCO a chance to get a tour of the facility before our unit's ball next week.

Evening capped off with another call from DVN2RCKR before she ran off to manage the chaos of a small amoeba of the US Government.

posted by Unknown @ 3:00 PM