scraps

End of first Korean Class and off to Vacation!

2012-01-30T14:01:00.003+09:00

Today was the final in my first completed Korean class. It was actually the second class, because they thought I'd picked up enough Korean in my previous failed attempts to learn the language to skip the beginner's class.

I think I did ok in the reading and the part that requires you to detect errors, but man, I need to work on the rules for adding the verb stems to the verb roots. I'd be surprised if I got 20% of that stuff right, partly because they focussed on irregular verbs, but still.

Now, a couple more classes in the third course, and then Yvonne and I are off to Hong Kong for 5 nights and 4-days. Should be fun, since I have also made friends with the editors from "Asia Review" (who hooked up with me through my blog, and were just here in Korea to work with LTI Korea on an upcoming edition that will be all about Korean fiction - it should be awesome).

Anyway, they're based in Hong Kong and should help us acclimatize a bit.

"Cheap Holidays in Other People's Misery!" Ague and Away!

2012-01-27T16:57:00.004+09:00

A last memory of the most horrible ague ever. On Wednesday night as I was returning from the 10 Magazine podcast (which I have to go to as I am the recordist and engineerator) I was still fevered as hell and thus the -9 temperature was giving me the chills, shakes, and teefs-bumps. So, having to pick up something for the wife, I thought I'd hop into the 7-11 at the bottom of the hill, and get warm and shop.

And turned the corner and the insane swine who ran the place had BOTH FRONT DOORS PROPPED COMPLETELY OPEN SO THAT ARCTIC WINDS COULD BLOW SNOWDRIFTS INTO THE SPACES BETWEEN THE STACKS OF "NEARLY FOOD PRODUCTS" AND "DRINKS CERTAIN TO CONTAIN CARCINOGENS!"

I'm not angry, my finger just slipped onto the "All Caps" key and I can't be arsed to go back and change anything.

Bastards!

Ok, maybe a bit angry....

The good news? 여행 is just around the corner!

Weekis Horribilis

2012-01-26T16:05:00.002+09:00

LOL.. Last Friday I had my annual pratfall.... cleaning the kitchen and stepping out onto the veranda where wet foot met met laundry soap and created one of those super-cooled frictionless interactions in which an object (me) finds no purchase, spins and eventually submits to the indignities of gravity.

Said indignities manifesting as my fat buttockal region hitting the doorjamb at obesity-velocity [terminal velocity*(.33BMI)/BAC)]. No permanent damage done, but it did jar loose the ague particles which had previously been in dormancy amongst the adipose tissue.

Accordingly, by 5pm on Saturday I was prostrate in bed (interrupted by occasional thrashing and groaning) with a fever, headache, chills, body-aches and a bit of whatnot. I remained in that state, and in bed, for 60 hours. This was Seollal holiday, so I had Monday and Tuesday to recover, but was still so slaughtered that I missed my first Korean class on Wednesday.

Here it is on Thursday night and I think that I will be able to make my class tomorrow.

Definitely the worst flu/cold/thing I've had in decades....

But.. holidays hover near!

Worst Ague in 20 Years?

2012-01-24T12:49:00.002+09:00

Must be farking Dengue fever... spent the last 60 hours writhing in bed. Now, a little bit better, I've got a blanket on the floor and plan to let the ondol do its healing work..

Thank god this hit on Seollal, so I had nothing better to do than groan.^^

WHO'S OLD?

2012-01-19T14:31:00.001+09:00

Me! (Excellent photo taken by self with iPhone at Chans Bros Coffee in Gyungnidan)

It just takes me and me to make a meme....

2012-01-19T00:40:00.002+09:00

Can we all just agree the "Shit (this kind of people) Say to (this other kind of people)" is totally worn out?

Or get the hell on board with -

• Shit live people say to corpses
• Shit multiracial people say to transexuals
• Shit short tall Indonesian women say to dwarfs
• Shit NBA players say to older white women with perms
• Shit albinos yell at the sun
• Shit composters say to compost
• Shit shitheads say to other shitheads

Repeat as totally unnecessary

If you don't understand what I'm posting about, good for you.

Farking internet memes

Wednesday..

2012-01-18T17:26:00.004+09:00

The KTLIT site is down for the SOPA protest, so I spent today without purpose.^^

Went to Korean lessons in the morning. I'm actually kind of into the Johnny Lunchpail feeling of getting up and catching the bus in the morning. The class continues to be fun, and to aid my scattered memory I take picture of the board. Normally the 선생님 runs like hell to get out of the picture, but today I caught her hard at teaching:

Then I met the wife for banking and some 갈비살 for 점심 식사 (Barbequed beef for lunch).

You can tell by this picture of Yvonne after clearing off the entire grill:

Then into the office for some pre-term cleaning and to pop my syllabi onto UDrims, our super-computer-system for academics. After three years here I've finally got my classes semi-organized, so the two that will run as they are were just cut and pasted into various boxes. I'm going to revisit the other two classes tonight, and smack them up tomorrow.

Tell the women in the office what textbooks to order and I should be set for the semester...

Tonight, some students whose names I don't recognize have invited me out, so I'll probably have to drink and eat some anju.

Oh well, it's been quite a while since I've done that, so it should be new again.^^

If you've been missing my voice..

2012-01-17T22:32:00.001+09:00

I am now the podcaster-master of the 10 Magazine Korean Culture Podcast... which used to just be the Korean Culture Report.. but now..

well.. go here.. http://10mag.com/the-10-magazine-podcast/

Note to Self about Shopping on Seollal - DON'T

2012-01-15T16:43:00.003+09:00

Being essentially retards, we chose to drop 180,000 won at Costco on the weekend before Seollal, the Korean New Year. This was a horrible mistake, as every one in Seoul was doing the same thing so they could be stocked up for the 4-day holiday and the inevitable onslaught of relatives.

This cattle call was the line for receipts

And it became so crowded that at the entrance, staff members were barricading aisles with shopping carts to force people to follow a kind of clockwise, maze approach to traffic.

Self Study?

2012-01-14T11:50:00.002+09:00

My acquaintance Shanna, over at Hangukdrama, asked for a piece on self-studying versus structured studying. So this morning I whipped out the following piece detailing my hideous failures as a self-studier...

One of the remarkable things about Shanna is that she is using (well, til last semester) primarily self-study to learn Korean. I, on the other hand, am the living example of how self-study can be a failure. Which is odd, because in most other arenas, I am a complete self-studier. When I was a webmaster I learned to code all alone in my office. When it came to literature, I just sat in my office, coffee shops, bars and at home, and read. But with language? I am not a self-studier.

I came to Korea over three years ago, and my Korean is still shameful. Prior to leaving I took a few months of Korean at a hagwon in Sunnyvale California, but its classes were inconveniently scheduled, and I had a more than fulltime job. So when I got to Korea, I could say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ and that was about it.

I did quickly learn to say “Cass오백 씨씨 주세요!” but that was about it. So, I bought a Korean textbook and brought it to my little apartment. I opened it once, diligently worked away at the first chapter, memorized about 15 words, then tossed the book on my desk until “the next time.”

The next time was about 10 days later, I could remember none of the vocabulary I had ‘memorized,’ and the work I had done looked like hieroglyphics. So, I plunged in once more, and with three phrases memorized (“nice to meet you for the first time”/ 만나서 반갑습니다 and “goodbye” in two forms depending on who was departing 안녕히 계세요/ 안녕히 가세요). I then marched out into the world and tried to practice my exciting new knowledge.

Alas, this turned out to be harder than I thought. As it turned out, I worked primarily with English speakers (except in the classroom) and even when I met Koreans, it was incredibly artificial to try to force my phrases into conversation. I mean, how often did I really meet someone for the first time? So I might learn a few phrases, but I could rarely use them, practice pronunciation, or learn what the responses to them might be.

I was also in Daejeon, which I will just say, trying to be polite, is not that cosmopolitan, and the natives seemed to have no interest at all in my cruddy Korean. So, I buckled down to reading translated Korean literature, which became my little window on the culture (did I mention my blog at www.ktlit.com is all about modern Korean literature? Well, now I have.^^)

Next year, I moved to Seoul and repeated the textbook/desk/real-world cycle about three times.

Even when I did sit down with the textbook, I found that I was easily dis--- hey, did you know that you can find streaming NFL games on the internet? And I wonder what my friend Martin is doing right now? Hmmm… do I want a snack? --- tracted.

And when I went out to practice my Korean, I ran into several problems. The first was that I still only had this list of artificial phrases to use, and they were rarely relevant to events in life. I could scarcely use them in real situations. The second problem was where I worked, in the English Interpretation and Translation Department at Dongguk University. The professors and students I worked with were all effusive in offers to help me, but their English was simply too good for this to work out. Everyone in my division is an excellent English speaker and when my Korean faltered, they would just code-switch and, bang(!), we’d be back in English.

As it turned out, cabbies and restaurants DID want to engage me (the lure of easy 돈!) so like many expats, I did self-learn taxi-Korean and some restaurant-Korean.

On occasion I took a tutor, but fitting them into my schedule was difficult and they were expensive. In addition, many of them didn’t really seem to have taught before, and this meant a lot of time was wasted.

I met Steve Revere, whose Korean is brilliant, and he gave me copies of his two “how to learn Korean” books. I repeated the textbook/desk/real-world cycle yet again. And got distracted. And got busy in the translation area. And traveled. And drank. And generally just passed my Korean textbooks as I whisked myself out the door.

I also looked at the many resources on the internet, but as my interest in one waned I would just skip to another, and I couldn’t settle down with any one (or two, or three, or four…..) site and make any progress.

I made one abortive attempt at doing Korean pen-pal with my best friend back in the States (he’s Korean by birth, and bilingual), but as soon as he returned my first email, I just let it sit there, with other emails to answer, and in a language I’m OK at.

As it turns out, I am not a self-learner. The mighty intarwebs (via Wikipedia) says self-learners have these characteristics.

self-observation (monitoring one's activities);
self-judgment (self-evaluation of one's performance) and
self-reactions (reactions to performance outcomes).

To me that first one is all about discipline… watching what you do and scheduling what you do. Let’s just say that I suck at that.

The second one is also problematic for me. Language-learning takes time, and I’m a short-attention-span-theater person. If I study something and don’t see immediate progress? I move to something else that has an immediate payoff, like a popsicle, beer, or watching downloaded episodes of Trailer Park Boys. So in the short term I judged progress (which is the improper scale) as insufficient, and lost the will to continue.

The reaction? I’ve described it above: on to pursuits with quicker results; putting down the textbooks.

Sure, in three years I did learn something’s, but as last semester ended I re-indulged in step 2, and realized that my silly expectations and lack of discipline had conspired to pretty much halt me in my tracks.

Twice, I had entered formal classes in Korean, and in the three weeks that I had stuck with that (Yeah, I know, lame), I had achieved most of my progress. My university did not have me teach a winter-session class this break, and that gave me the opportunity I had been evading. As I type this I am halfway through my first month of formal classes. That is, the first month of formal classes that I will complete. The formal classes impose upon me the discipline I lack, and the instructor’s responses are based on rational calculation of how anyone would be doing two weeks in. If she says I’m doing well, I can ignore the evidence of my lying eyes.^^ This means that steps 1 and 2 of the “self-learning” characteristics are (thankfully) being imposed on me.

In that two weeks I have learned more Korean language (as opposed to vocabulary, a surprising amount of which it turns out I have picked up along the way) than I did in the previous three years combined. Even better? I’m enthusiastic about the process and intend to take two classes next month. In the Spring semester my schedule is a blessing – I will be able to continue my lessons if I choose to.

For the moment, I choose to!

So, while I give mad props to the folks like Ms. Tan, who can buckle down and teach themselves, I have to say that it is bricks and mortar for me.

Books I will not be purchasing...

2012-01-13T21:56:00.003+09:00

I hope this one isn't a dirty book:

This sounds like a book about party games for children...

(Should be "Twisted" for those not au courant on Korean literature)

Will not purchase!^^

More Writing..

2012-01-12T13:57:00.002+09:00

With Freda Payne belting out "Band of Gold" in the background (does that song rock or what?), the last of today's writing efforts is on the Digital Pigeon on its way to Yonhap.

Tidy day... edited an piece for The Translator, wrote a letter of recommendation for one of my awesome students, and finished cranking out 1,200 words of high-velocity puppy chow. Coffee is almost done, however, so this calm and happy state is threatened.^^

And it should give us all hope, that Freda could still crank it out as recently as 2008.

More things that might make you say, "Whaaaaa?"

2012-01-11T18:41:00.003+09:00

Hmmmm..... maybe that's a "cure" I should take?

And then, there is this rare opportunity, if I could only figure out what the heck that opportunity is:

Life remains reading, writing, and studying Korean (with a bit of cleaning tossed in), which is just how it should be.

Oh, and coffee.... more than usual.^^

Aaaah... days off

2012-01-10T11:24:00.003+09:00

Sluggardized my way about the house randomly cleaning things and 빨래 하기 (doing laundry), then a quick trip down the road to the coffee shop an Americano and working on another piece for Yonhap News. 400,000원 if I finish it. Fortunately I have a previous paper which I can cannibalize, so it shouldn't be hard graft.

Later today I may do my new favorite thing and get on some random bus and see where it takes me.

Heh.. save the Korean study for later...^^

2012-01-09T21:50:00.004+09:00

Walking home from Korean lessons today, I see this banner on the side of Namsan

It seems to say

Hundreds of thousand massacres, Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong Il, Father and son are heroes
A brave man cries at the start of war.

I'm guessing that's sarcastic, or I've done something hideously wrong in guessing the translation?

Anyway, it was a lovely 90 minute walk and the slight morning snowfall was nowhere to be seen.

Walking home from 하국말 수업

2012-01-06T15:09:00.005+09:00

When it isn't too wind-whipped the walk home is rather nice.. a bit over an hour with a stop for 김밥과 코피. As I set out I saw something I think I've posted here before, but it always makes me laugh.. the "BS" tour company.

On the way, passed City Hall where the annual ice-skating rink has been set up and Koreans ice-skate with the same ferocity they attack any sport/exercise - heads down, looks of grim determination, and a certain amount of laps to complete. Fighting! The picture also has a cute mascot - skating Haechi (해치) a mythical creature which protects cities from fires.

Finally, as I wended my way down from the Namsan hillside, through Haebangchon, I spotted this sign advertising pizza, which may not exactly convey the intended message, at least it didn't for me.

Then to ChansBros coffee to download the last Trailer Park Boys special. I love the series as a white-trash buddy comedy, but I'm kind of scared to watch this one. The final official episode ended happily for the idiots involved and I know this one doesn't.

Hmmmm... should I leave my happy memories where they delusionally rest, or plow through to see the inevitable horrible ending?

Anyway, Yvonne's best friend is landing late this evening, so it should be a weekend full of hijinks, capers, and other whatnots..^^

The Life of the House-Husband

2012-01-05T20:18:00.002+09:00

Now that I have no fixed responsibilities other than my Korean lessons (alas, only 6 hours a week, MWF from 10-12 - though that will double next month), I have been able to settle in to domestic bliss.

Today the "encleanening" continued, finishing up the kitchen and attacking the living room. Also, debulking the office. We had baked chicken last night, so it was also time to start a lovely chicken-stock, which is still simmering as I type. Then a quick ride to the office to drop off some small things that were cluttering up the living room, shopping, and a trip home to make rice, some unidentifiable meat/rice concoction, lightly pickled carrots and cucumbers, and sauteed zucchini.

How domestic was today? I even opened the drapes and moved the plants to the floor, then following the sunbeams so they would stay photosynthesizing.

Now, listening to sports podcasts interspersed with more studying. LOL, if I don't know a substantially greater amount of Korean after this month? I may just move to the United States and learn English!^^

Winter Vacation!

2012-01-03T12:01:00.002+09:00

Now this is one of the reasons I love my job. Other than the standard email complaints from students about grades, I have fully transitioned to vacation mode.

This means, get up in the morning (well, after 10) walk down to drop Yvonne off at her taxi (she is still working), grab a cup of coffee and come back up to the homestead. Actually, stopped at the store to pick up some vegetables as well.

Now, it's puttering about cleaning, studying Korean, listening to podcasts, and a bit of reading and writing.

May even take a walk up Namsan later.

And what are you (solo reader) doing today?^^

New Year's "Whuts?"

2012-01-02T22:30:00.003+09:00

Mainly calm New Year.... some drinking, chocolate eclair and then sleep. Well, for me. The lovely wife was caffeinated and sugarized, so she stayed up til 4am!

Cleaning the computer I found some photos of odd things.

this one actually makes sense, I guess, since in many bathrooms you are expected to place your toilet paper in a bin.

However -

This makes no sense at all. The Korean merely says "danger" and then "electrical shock danger." Where the bedspread came from is a mystery to me.

And just to prove no one knows anything about anything, I found these two adjacent books at What the Book in Itaewon.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T13:13:00.003+09:00

Refusing to be foot-soldiers in the socialist war on Christmas, Yvonne (currently sleeping on the couch) and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Yes, that is our lovely xmas tree with all the presents.^^ We miss all of you who are overseas and look forward to seeing you this summer.

For now, there are little pockets of snow on windowsills and in streetcorners and we are safely in our warm apartment with the a deceptively friendly sun shining on the trees and rooftops.

If I only had some eggnog.^^

LOL.. my student facebooking and referring to my class

2011-12-22T21:22:00.001+09:00

Something else not on Google...

2011-12-14T23:29:00.002+09:00

"You look wasted. Look how still I am"

It sounds like poetry and came from one of my students...

now it IS on Google!

Isn't that sweet - deranged^^ student wants me as PhD advisor

2011-12-13T12:33:00.002+09:00

No way the university will let a foreign devil (well, actually a non-tenure track lecturer) do such a thing, but I'm happy that my name comes up in that kind of discussion among students..

All you pieces of sh*t

2011-12-12T22:27:00.003+09:00

who never told me about the Dropkick Murphys can choke on your Guinness!

Jesus, some of you fairies probably don't even drink.

Seasons Change and So Do I (mainly? I get older^^)

2011-12-09T11:38:00.003+09:00

Had a lovely birthday a few days ago. The lovely wife took me to the local where one of the bartenders had created this lovely piece of art(?) in recognition.

Today.. the last day of formal instruction.. it finally began to snow, but so lightly it was more like fairy dust than snow. Here is the complete damage:

Next week, as soon as finals are over - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Some updates..

2011-12-06T22:25:00.002+09:00

My Yonhap feature on Chi-young Kim (a truly great translator) is published: http://bit.ly/uXm20p

And today I got an award from LTI Korea for an essay I wrote about Kang Yong-sook's "Brown Tears." They gave me an Ipod Touch which I immediately donated to the lovely wife....

And vacation starts soon.....

After the Fallout, Fallen, I Fall for you...

2011-11-19T13:31:00.003+09:00

I have a $500 job for Daesan Foundation (screening some translated fiction) that I need to finish. so it was quickly up to the Hyatt to spend 40 bucks on a green tea, coffee, and apple-crumble and then a walk over the hill to work. There is still a substantial amount of Fall in the air, and I had to stop and take a picture when I spotted an ajjumah who had dressed to accoutre the trees.

Then, as "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" came into the earbugs, I turned the corner on the Dongguk Tomb (of the unknown student?), where I stopped for a melancholy meditation on mortality.

But it got a bit cold, so I moved on (LOL - the earth is, as Sydney Smith once said, a coarse enough place).

Now, with Elton John (flashback!) pumping on the speakers, I'm trying to do some work.

Sort of failing.^^

Fall has Fallen - Shots from Namsan...

2011-11-11T20:12:00.001+09:00

R I Famous Y3t?

2011-11-11T19:59:00.003+09:00

LOL - just won 2nd or 3rd place (depending on whether or not the list is in alphabetical order) in the LTI Korea "Korean Literature English Essay Contest." The essay was on Kang Yong-sook's Brown Tears (despite what the page says), a really great story. LTI Korea doesn't allow deep linking, but the page looks like this:

Down in Anseong in Fall

2011-11-09T21:34:00.011+09:00

On a bus at 9AM on a rainy Saturday. The bus is sparsely populated with my students and a few professors, and heated to “boiler room of Hell” levels, a mode the interior of anything in Korea is switched to the minute the temperature drops below 20. We are headed to somewhere called Anseong (I think) In Gyeonggni-do for a series of career seminars for our students. I am along in some kind of show of foreigner solidarity, my foreigner counterpart having buggered off to parts unknown.

At least we are on a bus – leaving Seoul on a Saturday morning can be fraught for the individual automobile and as we passed over the might Han (a thing I never get tired of) the automobile traffic clotted like blood in my aorta. I have a kind of upset stomach as the lovely wife shifted last night’s dinner away from a healthy stew to a pepperoni pizza. She was very hungry, I guess, as when she landed home with the pizza and I left the bedroom to say ‘hello’ she hadn’t even taken the string off the pizza box but was already down to the crust of the two pieces of white-bread she had stuffed into her mouth as soon as she got home!

Anyway, one of the bad (are there good?) things about oldage is food that I like now routinely upsets my stomach, and pepperoni is on that list.

Let’s just say that it’s fortunate I have a row to myself, and leave it at that.

And we got kind of trapped on the freeway... so I snapped this lovely picture of a traffic sign to my old hometown, Daejeon.

Yeah, it was exciting.

But we did get there, and even though the outside looked like Shawshank Prison, the inside was pretty nice, and it was a free room with a TV.^^

One of the features on the inside was that all the coin-operated stuff was free. This caused me some confusion on Sunday morning, as I tried to find a coffee vending machine that would accept my money. Eventually, I figured it out and enjoyed a deliciously bitter coffee. Here are a couple of students enjoying the vibrating chairs:

While the kiddies were in their career-planning sessions I took the opportunity to sneak out and take a walk, since in this part of the country it was in full autumn and the trees were going completely insane.

Then, of course, because I work at a Korean university it was time for a quick, small dinner, followed by an epic drinking session with beer, soju and makkeoli (some slight anju as well). The students were still going strong, drinking with abandon, at midnight, when I decided to go to sleep. I told everyone present that I would miss breakfast the next morning in order to sleep in, but that didn't stop each individual student and professor from knocking on my door in the morning (beginning at 7 AM) and asking if I was coming down for breakfast.

I stayed inside.

Some of the students were also feeling it.

The kids had to go in to get some more (hungover) career counseling and I took another walk.

On the way home, we got the disco bus!

Back to the Future: 49ers Edition...

2011-10-31T20:32:00.001+09:00

OK.. so maybe not.. but after yet another victory I actually dredged the old U2 song "Out of Control" up on iTunes as it was the song we played, one Sunday long ago, during a Super Bowl, every time the 9ers scored...

Awesome!

And you can see the game highlights on a "hidden" youtube track, here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVWY6WAZ-NQ&feature=player_embedded#!

My Hood...

2011-10-24T17:43:00.002+09:00

Is it that big a victory? (Snoopy Dance!)

2011-10-21T18:57:00.003+09:00

Oh man.. I've been trying to get the last book in the Modern Korean Short Stories collection for about a year. There are 10 books in all, and I've picked most of them up here in Korea at used bookstores.

The book is Early Spring, Mid-Summer.

Unfortunately, the only swine selling it wanted $318.50 for it, and when another copy popped up the other swine priced it at $318.51.

I see what you did there.

However, randomly cruising Amazon today, I seem to have found a victory.

3 Dollars.... if true, that's epic. I've ordered it and it is being sent to the BKF's house.

Crossing fingers!

LOL... my students judge me..

2011-10-20T22:43:00.001+09:00

It is nearly beyond belief

2011-10-16T15:03:00.002+09:00

At about noon this morning (Sunday in the land of tomorrow) Yvonne and I and a friend who had spent the night headed into Itaewon for breakfast at Sam Ryans. It's a good place to eat, because you can order everything a la carte.

Which Yvonne took advantage of in spades.

Yvonne ordered...
4 eggs
4 pieces of bacon
4 pieces of toast
Large orange juice.

The waitress then asked if this was the order for both of us!

As it turned out, it wasn't enough, and Yvonne added another 4 slices of toast and two cups of tea (as they did not have hot chocolate) to the mix (there is the extra toast in the background):

The waitress asked Yvonne if she were pregnant, and came by after Yvonne left to call her a "really big customer."^^

LOL.. maybe it's true it's the students who keep you going?

2011-10-12T22:01:00.002+09:00

My mystery ability to have birthday every day on Facebook causes a student to post this to me:

WoW! Happy birthday first before everyone else post on your wall!! wish you all the best!. I was talking about your positivity with other friends. how enlightening you are. great spirit. Thats what Koreans need..God bless you..!

Now.. that's either a student who really likes me, or one who knows how to get an A+!

Well, an A. There should be an apostrophe in "Thats." ^^

Yes, this means YOU!^^

2011-10-10T15:54:00.001+09:00

Grandfather watches the grandfather clock
And the phone hasn't rang for so long
And the time flies by like a vulture in the sky
Suddenly he breaks into song

I'm waiting by the phone
Waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone
I'm waiting by the phone
Waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone

Hello, speak up, is there somebody there?
These hang-ups are getting me down
In a world frozen over with over-exposure
Let's talk it over, let's go out and paint the town

I'm waiting by the phone
Waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone

Cause I want somebody to shove
I need somebody to shove
I want somebody to shove me

You're a dream for insomniacs, prize in the Cracker Jacks
All the difference in the world is just a call away

And I'm waiting by the phone
Waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone
Yes I'm waiting by the phone
I'm waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone

Puttering Saturday

2011-10-01T13:11:00.008+09:00

After an awesome Friday and a night of sleep that was good except for.. well..

{Yvonne enters room at 3am}
Charles: "You're going to need to go out and get a blanket."
{Yvonne snatches blanket from off of Charles}
{Charles curses and snatches blanket back }
{making as much noise as humanly possible, Yvonne goes out and gets a blanket she tosses and turns for 15 thoroughly awakening minutes then leaves to sleep on the couch}
{Charles spends 2 hours trying to get back to sleep}

The good news is that I then slept til nearly 11! Then we both headed down the street to get a coffee (mine a delicious double shot) and shop for plants. I bought some green-looking one, for that is what I favor in plants, as well as some fertilizer (비료). The entire project looked like this:

With the project successfully concluded (use your imagination - it's that plant in a larger pot), nothing was left but to continue to monitor the chicken stock from Wednesday night's chicken dinner.

Yvonne is off to Gwangwhamun, so I'm at home to do a bit of cleaning, and write a couple of articles that are coming due.

Windows and shades open as it is a lovely day in Seoul...

Forget dogmeat.. eat a stupid horsie!

2011-08-28T20:20:00.005+09:00

Over at Roboseyo's website, some cultural imperialists are arguing it is wrong to eat dog meat. These folks are mainly vegetarians (LAME!) and vegans (LAMEST!), who I will not judge, for judgment is wrong (THEY ARE LAME AND DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THEIR TEETH ARE FOR!). Then there are the idiots who claim that dogs are different from other meat because they fetch our newspapers and can lick their own balls (these anthropomorphists, I believe, are jealous of that and thus over idealize dogs).

But forget dogs... you can eat an animal that is a pet, a source of travel and in Black Velvet.

Yup, on Jeju you can eat stoopid horsies!

We got in the restaurant accidentally, because it said "Galbijjim" (Imagine that in Korean, if you can). But we sat down and I noticed there were "course" meals that included all kinds of weird things that are NEVER together in a normal Korean restaurant: sashimi, galbijjim, some soups, etc). The galbijjim landed and was very gamey... I then looked over my shoulder and saw 말고기 (horse flesh) which is a way a live horse is never described..

Suddenly it all came together and I realized all the pictures of the noble horses running on the beach, nuzzling their puppies (or whatever little horses are called), and rearing up on their back legs?

That was to get my appetite going!

Yvonne ate it up like it was morphine-based candy!

Yvonne wAntZ dinARZ..

2011-08-25T20:07:00.003+09:00

So, as we walk around the streets of of Jeju-si she asks if we can eat in the local restaurant.

Yeah, that's her food!

Jeju Day Three

2011-08-24T16:05:00.021+09:00

After our rainy walk on Udo, we set off on the first "proper" section of the Olle Trail. We grabbed a cab from the hotel, which took us back to where we had been dropped off on our first day (a story that the Blogger ate, which I will repost shortly.) There, a few feet from the bus-stop, was the entrance to the first Olle Trail. On the other side of the road from it, there is an information booth that also sells small things like energy-bars and water.

That lovely picture is the beginning of the trail, and off to the right you can see the first 오름 (or "parasitic volcano' or 'small inactive volcano'). We walked for a bit, and then headed up it for a total of about 2.9 kilometers in. The views were ok, but not as good as from the 오름 we would soon go up. It was through pretty land, pastureland really, with lots of greenery, and occasional rain and cows. Also, of course, cowshit. Tons and tons of cowshit.

After a walk through the valley of the shadow of cowshit, we headed up the second 오름 the top of which had a brilliant view of Udo and a massive geographical feature that we weren't yet familiar with 일출봉, or "First Sunrise Peak." We'll get back to that.

Here is Yvonne trekking up the second 오름

And here she is triumphant, unaware of the evil that is to follow.

The first evil was that I, in shorts, managed to slip on the way down a relatively easy dirt trail. This smeared mud on my left calf to such an extent that the next day I had a differential sunburn. I tried hard not to contemplate what the cowshit % of the dirt was, and soldiered on.

Then the trail wandered down to a small store and then a flatish area with the traditional stone walls of Jeju (which I will post below this, because they are everywhere and kind of cool) and various plots of land. We wandered through this for some time, our packs growing heavier at each step.

Finally, we broke out of this (think of hedgerows in Europe) and came to a small village, in which we promptly became extremely lost, but unaware of the fact. We did notice that we were no longer seeing any of the painted blue arrows, or blue ribbons that indicated the trail, but we were confidently following a Korean family that had been on the Olle with us. One thing about the trail, if you're a "spaceout" hiker like I am, you can miss changes in the trail direction.

The evil town in which lostness ensued!

Anyway, we eventually got to a ferry port which was quite clearly NOT on the trail. By comparing a Jeju map to the Olle map, I figured out that we were on the "Shore Road" somewhere, and that by heading down it we would either rejoin the Olle, or figure out where on it we were.

Yvonne violently disagreed with this conclusion (an annoying thing she did at every opportunity) and it took some convincing to get her on the tread again. We walked a while and, sure enough, we eventually saw the reassuring blue ribbons and paint that marked the trail. Part of the reason we had got lost is that ALL road features on Jeju are marked in blue paint (e.g. gas lines, manholes) so it is easy to see false positives for trail markers. I'm not sure why the Olle folks didn't choose a different color?

Anyway, we were now on the "esplanade,' which just means footpunding regular old road. We walked past a bunch of squid hanging up to dry, and stopped for a beer and coke at a lovely roadside cafe directly after an equally lovely statue of a Haenyo (female diver for which Jeju is famous.

Then we plodded on, with so-so views of the ocean to our left.

An hour or so later, I was amazed to discover we had done a big loop... we were back at the hotel in which we had stayed the first night. Even more amusing, the guy who ran it heard our voices as we passed, and leaned out a 2nd story window and said hello to us (this story will make a bit more sense when I repost the first day). We trod on, until it became clear that we we going to end up about 300 meters from our hotel, before we finished the last 3-4 kilometers of our day.

The temptation was too much, and we headed for the hotel. ^^

We had meat for dinner, as we did basically every night that Yvonne and I were together. It's her all time favorite Korean food, though it sometimes wears me out.

The next day, Yvonne was to meet up with our friend Joy (Of the "Foreigner Joy" website) and the big geographical thing we had seen earlier turned out to be right behind the hotel. So, we decided that our next day would be hiking up that, retracing out lost section of the first trail, and then continuing on to finish the last bit of it.

At this point, I had begun to develop some awesome blisters, and a semi day off seemed quite appealing.

Olle Trail 1.1

2011-08-13T19:51:00.006+09:00

On day two we headed over to Udo island to walk a 15 kilometer "easy" course around that island. We grabbed a cab, which was a bit ridiculous, because the hotel was close enough to the port that we didn't even get the meter turned over for the cabbie. I felt bad enough that I tipped him to the next chun-won, which was still a pathetic 3 chun-won.

The ticket office was jammed, and we got our tickets and hopped onto the ferry, which took us to one of the two ports on Udo.

We went a lot of cool places, which I will talk about when I get home and can post pictures.. Mainly, as Udo is known as "mini-Jeju," it gave us some hint of what to come, including some brilliant basaltic volcanic stuff, more of which we saw as we headed up the Olle Trail. That picture, by the way, is Yvonne tramping up the butt of the cow (Koreans believe that Udo is an island in the form of a cow lying down, but you know, with cows, they can lie down a lot of ways).

But at a certain point we not only lost the trail (which was actually the second time we'd done so) but it began to rain in horrible shitty buckets. We cranked our way past the lighthouse and to the rather nice beach on the backside of the island. Unfortunately it was really pouring by now, and Jeju is quite windy, so the rain comes in sideways like bullets. While we were stopping so that I could take a picture of Yvonne in full raingear, a car with a young/middle-aged couple stopped to make sure that we were ok. More of that lovely Jeju attitude.

We trudged on until we came to three young girls on bicycles who had stopped by the side of the road to figure out where they were going to go next. They stopped us in the middle of the road and showed us their map, and where we should go. As it turned out, even on our lost walk we had pretty much followed the Olle trail (not unlikely given that it's a small island that you just kind of walk counter-clockwise on). We dried out in a bus stop with a halmoni, and caught a bus that sort of drove us back the way we had come, and brought us back to the port.

We returned to Songsan and our new hotel pretty unimpressed by what we had seen of the Olle trail. It had basically been on a main road except for some rather random and short excursions into horse-fields and meadows that then immediately dumped us back on the road.

Underwhelmed, we contemplated out plans. We decided we would do Olle Trail 1 the next day, and see if it was a bit better.

For dinner we had some of the fattiest pork we've had in Korea....

An unispiring day, and we were kind of beat down by all the pavement we had walked on, and all the camping equipment in our backpacks - and we hadn't seen a single site worth camping in.

Alas!

Oh well, we had seen some cool basalt formations in the sea, some cool beaches, and at least gotten a start.

Day One - getting there

2011-08-12T16:45:00.000+09:00

WARNING: This post may contain incidents of extremely friendly and supportive behavior from total strangers!

Yvonne and I headed to the airport (Gimpo not Incheon, so much closer to home) on Friday morning, and boarded a Jeju Air plane to Jeju city. The flight was relatively boring, except for that bit where the waitresses-in-the-sky put on bunny ears and ran two games of rock/paper/scissors for everyone in the cabin. We had no idea what the gifts were, but by the second game Yvonne played vigorously but unsuccessfully, being knocked out in round number one.

Then it was out to hot and sweaty Jeju. We grabbed a local bus to the intercity bus terminal, and there grabbed a bus down to Siheung-ri, the bus stop from which we had been told we could find our hotel. The trip down was uneventful, except for the fact that there are two really similar busstop names and I freaked out for a moment when, 20 minutes into the ride that name came over the intercom. I raced out my map, and figured out by highway signs that there was no way we were close to our stop. So I could resume my typical near-coma state.

At this point, we began to get the notion that Jeju was very different from Seoul; in fact, much friendlier.

It became clear we were not going to make it to our hotel at the time we had agreed on. My lovely wife called the hotel and got the guy who knows absolutely no English. They confused each other for a while, during which time two young ladies got on the bus, one of whom sat next to me. I asked Yvonne for the phone and called the hotel. In my (what is more than 'broken?') Korean, I told him we were on the way, but used the wrong numbering system in talking about time. After I hung up, the woman complimented me on my Korean (in Korean, which is one of the few bits of business in Korean that I can now easily hear - it's all that follows that is gibberish to me^^). We then chatted for a bit before she opened her purse, pulled out a just-dead starfish, and offered it to me as a gift.

This was touching but bizarre. Without going into nasty detail, "starfish" is a word that some expatriates use to describe Korean women in a derogatory way when they are in, shall we say, compromising positions?

Still, she had sat down, started a conversation, and was just about to help us on the phone when the hotel guy rounded up someone with some English, who sorted things out with Yvonne.

When we finally did get to our busstop, and it turned out that all the Olle Trail busstops are announced as such in Korean, English, and Heathen Chinee, we hopped out into the middle of what looked like nowhere.

We wandered, tentatively, this way and that, but it was really in the middle of nowhere and there were no taxis (which is how the hotel had told us to get there).

So, before calling a taxi company, we talked to some people on the scene. One woman had no idea, but when we talked to two ajjumah getting into a car, they sprang into action. They called the hotel to find out where it was. We had communicated to them that the hotel said we should take a taxi, and when the first ajjumah put down the phone from talking to the hotel, she started rapidly talking to her friend in what was clearly disbelief that the hotel had guided us here.

So, she pointed to where the hotel was, and then put us both in her car and drove us there!

This meant crossing a highway, driving down a gravel road, cruising through a couple of of walled neighborhoods, and then dropping us off at the hotel, which, as a bonus had been renamed!

I simply can't imagine this happening in Seoul. Jeju is unbelievably friendly.

When we got to the hotel, the hotel guy was super sympathetic/apologetic that we had got lost, and helped us into the room. One look at Udo (the island offshore) and I began to change my plan. Udo has an "optional" Olle Trail, and I decided that would be a good way to start. So Yvonne went down to ask the hotel guy if we could get a second night.

Alas, the hotel was booked.

10 minutes later, he came up and knocked on our door.

He had begun calling other hotels in the area, and had found us lodging for the next night that was even closer to the ferry port that his hotel.

Again, an act of massive and gratuitous friendliness.

We walked into town and had some BBQ pig, then headed back to the hotel for some sleep, with the real fun beginning the next morning.

Ajjumah

Hotel Guy

LOL at ITunes

2011-06-21T14:39:00.002+09:00

When it gives me the Von Bondies "C'mon, c'mon" backed with the Buzzcocks "Hollow Inside" it seems to be asking me to do something with some particularly sharp cutlery and a few arteries. ^^

Is Dennis Kucinich (spelling?) just one bottlebrush moustache away from Hitler?

2011-06-18T00:59:00.002+09:00

Really Google? Really?

2011-06-12T15:45:00.001+09:00

My search for Korean Literature turns up this on the 3rd page of results:

Общий форум - Blond lesbian granny fondling teen on sofa.9

Rapture in the Hood

2011-05-22T21:01:00.001+09:00

My new hero stands on the edge of the street with a bottle of beer in his right hand, and a bottle of soju in his left....

Doctor, Doctor, Please.... Oh, the Mess I'm In... Part 1

2011-05-21T17:21:00.009+09:00

Oh.. such a bad blogger and so much has gone on...

two nights ago I wandered into the local and ordered a beer. My friend, an army nurse/administrator was sitting there. He's a crew-cut and fit dude of roughly my age.. to the right of him were a group of younger men with the same look but a bit younger, some of them nearly out of swaddling clothes.

There was no room at the bar as they were drinking car-bombs, Jaeger-bombs, and beer. Much macho banter (which should be the name of a drink) filled the air. As the conversation at the bar continued these guys rotated in and out of the seats.

Until the point that the crippled one tried to get on a chair.

He was lanky and red-headed and had some kind of disease that hampered his ability to get up onto a bar stool. The bar stools at the local are particulary tall - the wife has to acquire the services of a sherpa to ... well enjoy sex... but also to get up on the bar stools.

I think I've said "stools" too many times?

But this dude had a right arm that was in some kind of curved rictus and I nearly got up to help him onto his barstool.

Which would have been wasted effort because the crippled lad bolted from the bar.. barely escaping the open glass doors to the right, to vomit profusely ... partly onto the shoes of his buddy

To the left of me one of this buddies said, "he shouldn't have had those two ambien."

Outside, the red-head vomited again.

His leaving had given me a chance to sneak up to the bar, rather quickish.

I asked my friend if these were his buddies, and he said, "no, but I know them."

Turns out they were the bomb squad (Hurt Locker, for you LA fucks)

For the rest of the evening (to be related next post) they played that macho game of dismissal/love/homoeroticism (in a thoroughly non-gay way)/brawl that all us boys love to play...

Ah.. yeah.. the wife and I also went to Hwaesong... google it.. or I may post...

It's totally cool..

the walls of a fortress include the cool full fortress part and a killer park. Then they lace through the community as well..

Come on over to Korea.... Yvonne and I will show you around!

all the wires are black! and tangled.

Fridazzled...

2011-05-14T21:03:00.003+09:00

Didn't even see a berry flashing those high beams

Got to work and it was presentation day, which is always an easy one. I just sit there and grade them, and the grading is done by the time I leave the classroom. After that it was sitting around for 45 minutes waiting for the “teacher’s day” celebration of the English Interpretation and Translation Department.

This even is always super-fun as the students enjoy anything communal, and it involves cake. I was able to bust out about this much Korean when it was my turn to speak

Everyone, students and professors, welcome. That student (pointing to a guy who had spoken earlier) has good English. I have bad Korean. I will practice it (I botched that sentence badly!). I love teaching my students. Now, I will speak in English.

It was pretty ragged language, but students always like the fact that I even try – in fact Koreans in general will treat foreigners who know a little Korean better than non-speaking foreigners.
Once all speeches were done, the cake-candles blown out, and the pictures taken, it was time to call it a day. The video of the episode of the cake is here:

The day was too nice to go back home and after calling Yvonne without results, I headed down to City Hall Underground Shopping Center and bought a book I had been looking for and that seems to be out of print even though Amazon offers ‘new’ ones; Everlasting Empire.

Then it was up to City Hall Square where some enormous festival was setting up. On the side was the “adoption day” (입양 달) booth, and they had some cute kids drumming. So I took a lovely home movie which I have reproduced here.

It was still too nice to head home, so I headed for a Starbucks, relatively deserted by Seoul standards, and grabbed an Americano and typed all this.

My weekly three-day weekend begins tomorrow!

Yesterday's Rain

2011-05-10T17:15:00.002+09:00

The lovely wife came home for lunch (Monday is my day off), and after I hurriedly despatched my rentboy out the bedroom window, we headed over to Yongsan to get ink for our printer, and then took advantage of an empty restaurant with a wide open front, to snarffle down some tueji galbi....

A nice mid-day surprise!

Some Marriage Thing..

2011-05-08T21:07:00.003+09:00

The sun struggles up, another beautiful day
And I felt glad in my own suspicious way.
Despite the contradiction and confusion,
Felt tragic without reason,
There's malice and there's magic in every season

So yesterday our friend got married and with all the best signs - free booze, barbeque, and the rain dissapearing into the ether. This last thing important for a wedding conducted on the roof of the Somerset Hotel (up there by Angguk Station). It all went well and it was free booze for nearly 5 hours, which has left me nearly unmanned today. ;-)

Still, a super event and I believe the picture below suggests a happy marriage will ensue. They are already ignoring each other, and he has a bottle of beer tucked into his elbow...

Nice-uh, as we say..

Seonyudos and Seonyudonts! Being part uno...

2011-05-06T22:54:00.010+09:00

Last weekend the lovely wife and I both had Friday off as a result of a class-switching (I became toff) binge with another foreign instructor who wanted to go visit China to attempt to procure a mail-order husband.

So we decided we'd head down to the Gunsan and then catch a ferry to Seonyudo, which is one of three very small linked islands off the southwest coast of Korea. It's sort of an expat "todo" and by getting there on Friday we'd be in advance of any other tourists, which was likely to be a small number as this is not "island visiting time of year" (Koreans work to internal and unknown clocks that would be the envy of the Borg).

Consequently, we got up early on a day off and headed to Yongsan station to catch the Saemaul to Gunsan. This was good for me as I love the Saemaul ("New Village") and had work to do. The Saemaul has a totally cool club-car and I went in, grabbed a delicious sammich and coffee and worked on sound edits for www.kcreport.net all the way down. Yvonne, as is her wont, napped. As we crossed the river to the north of Gunsan I noticed a sign that said "Ch'ae Manshik Literary Museum" (Except, like the cool dude I am, I noticed it in Korean). Manshik is one of my favorite short-story writers and I put this away in my head in case I ever got back to Gunsan.

At Gunsan sation, while waiting for the bus, got bored and grabbed a taxi to the wharf. Probably a good move as it turned out, since it was a pretty long haul and the bus would have been even more boring.

When we got there, Yvonne talked to the ticket office which immediately put her on a cell-phone with an English speaker.

Drats and confounderation! Bad weather had stopped the ferries from running.

About 15 minutes later we headed out of the terminal and to the exact same cabbie who had brought us from the train station. He asked if the time had been bad ("shigan" something or other that was clear enough to me to answer in my shit Korea.... I answered the weather was bad and then sat sulking in the cab as I realized I should have said the sea was bad. I suck at Korean).

This time, since we had nought all else to do, we headed over to the Ch'ae Manshik Literary Museum where I got that treatment I sometimes get - Korean docent going mad that foreigner gives a crap at all about Korean literature.

The man, the legend!

This was wildly exacerbated by the fact that I accidentally had "My Innocent Uncle" (A work by Manshik) in my backpack. I spoke what little Korean I have and the docent went mad, chattering at me like a chihuahua with an amphetamine suppository in its ass. All, good... I got a bit of it and she was super happy to lecture, particularly about the museum's kind of cool map of Korea and regional authors.

The joint (on the river, so kind of nice)

Finally, we went out to catch a cab, but as we were in the middle of nowhere, had to hike back into town. Probably only an hour overall, but because we had supposed to have been at a beautiful island, I was dragging my laptop and all my camera gear in a backpack with only one strap. Then there was the shitty weather - which had halted our amphibious assault on Seonyudo. It sprinkled ever so lightly, but threatened consistently. I loudly, repetitively, and without much imagination, blamed Yvonne!

Once in town, we caught a cab from a cabdriver who couldn't understand anything I said in Korean or read a map (In Korean!). He left us on the bayline of Gunsan which is, to be fair, an absolute asshole of an area.

It is slated for urban renewal (apparently) and walking around it was spooky as all the stores are closed.. the houses broken. We could see no restaurants, and it took us a very long time to find a yeogwan. This was partly because when we were in an area with restaurants, Yvonne insisted we keep walking until we find a galbi joint.

Said "find" never happened.

Walking into the yeogwan the proprietors were on the stoop (all of a sudden this area is reminding me of bombed out areas of New York...well, you know.. minus crime, vandalism, or graffiti) and immediately ask me, in Korean, "do you speak Korean well?"

I laughed and said I spoke very little, but wondered what would have happened if I couldn't respond in Korean? What a weird question to ask in Korean.

Didn't matter.. for 30,000 won we got a very simple (large) but adequate room with a big TV and no computer. Also, it didn't have the usual "love pack" of condoms, lube, and whatnot, although we did get toothbrushes and a razor I wouldn't use on the corpse of Osama bin-Laden. Shortly, Yvonne got on the iPhone and hassled the help enough so we got directions to a galbi restaurant that was only about 10 minutes cab drive away.

To cool down we went to a "coffee/drinks" place across the street that was probably nice once. It was spacious and had big booths with couches, but also had no customers, plenty of flies, a weird smell, and a staff consisting of a completely bombed (but quite understandable?) Korean man and his wife who, once we were served, went back to their business of fighting with each other. One drink and we were out.

So we headed up to the galbi place, ate well, and came back for sleep.

Big slabs o' Tuegi Galbi

During the morning the promised storms came through.. rattling the metal rooftops of the surrounding buildings and with thunder crashing....

Yvonne, of course, slept through all that bit.^^

Yvonne will have to drag me out of Seoul in various leak-free bags

2011-04-28T15:24:00.007+09:00

Ship to ship, in and out,
I give and they take.
I punch that clock,
And punch it hard enough to break
So join the rank
This is the rank
We are the rank
Oh rank and file and there is no denial
Rank and file
Join the rank and file
This is the Rank and File
And there is no denial!

After a day like today I fear returning to that shite in the US^^...

Switched my evening class and tomorrow morning's class away to my co-prof who will need me to cover her classes next week.

Took the "best class EVAR!!!!" down to the park for pizza.. these guys are super-duper-stars and the weather cooperated. This picture was taken at a critical part of our little party as you can see there is only one ("1"!) piece of pizza out there. It lay there forever, with no one wanting to take the last piece (after a nearly magical disappearing act on the previous 5 pizzas) until one of my male students grabbed it so quickly that part of the topping slipped off.

It was funny to watch what got eaten.... the pepperoni pizzas were gone first (Yay Globalization!), but my students being Korean, the potato pizza was the next to go (Yay Korean Exceptionalism!), with the bulgogi (beef) pizza coming in a sad, but eventually digested, last.

The woman giving the peace sign and pulling the horrible face is probably my best student, and that is NOT what her face really looks like. The woman behind her is a crazy dynamo... all these students rock.

I should note that the class switching noted above will allow the Lovely Wife and I to head south tomorrow and check out Seonyudo.. three linked islands of Gunsan.

Then it was off to gwangwhamun to visit the Ilmin Art Museum and take in the Black, White & Pink ( A decent title for a porno movie, now that I look at it) exhibit and the Urban Depth (Holy cow, two porno titles in a row?) exhibit.

Both really great.. but you'll have to wait and go over to www.kcreport.net to hear about that.

Then back home to put the "Rank and File" music I've downloaded into Itunes. And, yeah, I paid for that shit when it was vinyl so I don't give a rat's ass that I downloaded it.

Cause I'm a rebel like that.

The song "Rank and File" may be the loveliest (and countriest) song of desperation ever. Well.. no.. of course Johnny Cash did that one. So let's just say it's the best country-punk song of the country-punk genre, with horse-gallop drumming, some of the coolest lead treble-chorded guitar ever, and the best melding of vocals Rank and File ever did.

Now chilling at a home that the Lovely Yvonne cleaned in expectation of the podcast boys tonite.. That will entail having a drink, and cavorting brain-wise.

Outside the window the sky turns increasingly blue and clouds from a finger-painting hang, merge and reform.

I may just take a nap..... ;-)

Thanks, thanks a lot
I got a broken heart
that's all I got
You made me cry
And i cried a lot
Honey, thanks
Thanks a lot

Weekend Wrapup

2011-04-24T21:05:00.004+09:00

Spent Friday and Saturday morning prepping for my presentation at KATS (Korean Association of Trans.... something something) at Ewha. Hopped up on Saturday morning and ran to work, printed various things out, caught a cab and was at Edae in time for lunch.

Presentation went well.. I'm a bit off in the field, because I'm interested in data, marketing, and then there's that language I speak.^^ After I headed back on the subway and met my newish friend Paul, with whom I'm working on a new podcast project, The Korean Culture Report.

The rest of the day was spent chilling with him, then the lovely wife, and watching the Korean movie, Peppermint Candy (which will be reviewed shortly on the blog I just linked).

Today was spent working on the website, bookshopping with the wife, and relapsing on the cold front.

Anyway.. also looting the camera.. some pics of how beautiful the Uni is right now with the flowers blooming and the Buddha's birthday about to happen. The Uni ajusshi ring the Uni with lanterns, and as night fall it's something like Disneyland.

On the way to my office....

During the day...

As evening descends (like a SCYTHE!!! REAPING US ALL!.. ahem)

Hey look.. I'm even more famous than EVARz!

2011-04-20T14:31:00.002+09:00

Well..

I got a feature article on Yonhap, at any rate

Catching up on a busy weekend

2011-04-20T14:10:00.007+09:00

It was a very full weekend. After two years of talking about it, we finally booked a tour and headed up to see the DMZ. This was not a USO tour, so we didn't get to Panmumjon, but in some ways that was better as we didn't have to catch the bus until 9:30 AM and we were back in downtown Seoul by 5:30.

The DMZ focuses on trains a lot - because it is still one of the ways that the countries are connected: This lovely train below is the "peace train" and I could almost hear Cat Stevens singing as it left the station.
Then there was the somewhat confusing "suicide statue" which apparently shows two intrepid explorers about to hurtle to their death.

There was also the requisite commercialism:

And two idiots who went about acting fools. I got back to work on Tuesday and one of my colleagues asked, "were you on the tour with the Russian idiots?" I initially said no, because these guys were on the other tour bus, but as soon as my colleague said a tour-guide had yelled at someone on our tour for inappropriate behavior I knew it was these guys. I hadn't got close enough to them to hear their language, but have to confess I was pleased to hear they weren't from the US.

Here is the lovely wife posing:

And a detail from a somewhat poignant piece of art (The cities are Seoul and Pyongyang) at Dorasan Station:

Sunday, based on a similar premise as Saturday's trip - that is that we had never made it to see the cherry blossoms in our 3 years here, we headed to Yeouido to check out the last day of the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was quite crowded, but also quite pretty.

We got us some food -

I ate this terrifying thing, which I will never try again. It's a corndog deep-fried in an additional layer of something nasty that seemed to feature coconut. It was greasier than a horny Italian.

Some of the park was lovely

And we ended up walking down to Hangang Park and watching families play and kites fly.

This is that time of year when everything is ridiculously beautiful... Namsan is girdled in various flowering trees.. and I'm glad its midterm week so I don't have to ruin it with any work.

Dear "Open Office"

2011-04-19T20:37:00.001+09:00

Please don't install your bullshit with the default that it opens docx files..

You shitheads..

Thank you very much..

Charles..

WorkZZZZ

2011-04-12T20:07:00.002+09:00

For those of you who might want to listen to my nasally but grating voice deliver inaccuracies in broken grammar? You can go here where I have a lovely online podcasty-type-thing of my interview with TBS eFM about Shin Kyung-sook and whatnot.

On the written hand, my piece for Yonhap on Korean literature has been accepted, and the KLTI is having me write a short piece on humor in translated Korean literature.

Also, I think I forgot to link the article about me in the Herald. Again, Korean literature and whatnot. The whatnot includes my bizarre hairdo.

It's really, pretty much, all about the whatnot....

The AGUE slowly recedes..

2011-04-11T22:07:00.004+09:00

The Lovely Wife, more troubled in voice than I, had to go to work.

I stayed at home and resolutely ignored the fact that I was supposed to have a paper done by this evening. I figured I'd give some bullshit excuse and pass it off til tomorrow.

So it was I could experiment with Henry's levels of carrot insertion (Google it, maybe?) and work on some tapes of interviews I did with the translator of "Please Look After Mom." You can be an idiot if I interview you, but I will delete all interlocutory sounds.

Cause that's the law.

That's why.

Then the call came, late in the afternoon, that I couldn't bullshit to the next day. Two hours of hard grind at the laptop, and I had a defensible 2000 words to send off.

Call from The Big Publisher about a meeting, wife comes home says no way she's going, I go off to meeting, meeting good - I get invitation to his wedding, back home, my wife asleep, me nearly in coma...

And so there you are.... another Monday (or something like that to you), in the land of tomorrow!

For one moment I had a lot of friends...

2011-04-10T18:34:00.002+09:00

Sometimes..

2011-04-09T21:58:00.003+09:00

A man just needs to play some Johnny Cash on the Digital Jukebox...

If he never does, he is less than a man. ^^

It's Just Like Facebook!

2011-04-08T22:30:00.001+09:00

I took this test.. and what it said was

Thoughtful to the extreme, you are often obsessed with perfection and the rules governing your own personal interests. Your world is black and white. You love to work within a logical system, such as language, computer programming, or mathematics. Manipulating a system that can be completely understood is a distinct pleasure to you, because of your confidence in the underlying veracity of your belief system. Because of your appreciation for logic and order, those who speak or think in a sloppy manner are apt to generate more than their share of wrath. Although very amiable, you are not drawn to friendships out of a sense of personal need. You are just as happy by yourself with a good book or puzzle. Because you are so involved with thought, you will on occasion have difficulty dealing with the day-to-day problems of a normal life. Taking out the trash, doing the dishes, these are often left until the last possible moment, if at all.

Major (Le()AGUE Symptoms..

2011-04-08T16:37:00.002+09:00

The ague hangs on tenaciously, though I am not nearly as affected as my lovely wife whose loveliness, I must say was dented by intense snuffling, liver-coughing-up, and couch-sprawling.

I was at least well enough to come out today - a lovely day.. and as it turns out the stage of vAGUEness I'm in is perfect for editing... the words do lovely little dances and, strangely, I can concentrate better.

Which is good as I'm doing some super interesting stuff for an upcoming literary conference. It's well translated and fun to read.. the current article has some Korean discussing the ongoing death of the novel, and since he begins with "A Modest Proposal" in his title, I'm waiting to see what kind of shoe drops at the end of the essay...

Four day weekend, since today was mountain-climbing day for the school...

Good times..

Off for some coffe and a bAGUEtte.....

The (v)AGUE in the hizzy..

2011-04-07T22:48:00.002+09:00

We are both hell of ill, as the hella cool, having hellish fevers, feverishly say...

Tomorrow is "climb the mountain" day for our lovely Uni, which we had planned to attend (the Uni is closed for the climg), but now we will likely lay at home moaning in pain.

the Herald piece has already netted two other ones.. List Magazine (pretty prestigious) wants a brief article from me on humor in translated Korean literature, and some "hip" LG online mag wants me for an interview subject.

Weird in its way, but if any of this ever leads to ANY Korean institution supporting the Wikipedia Project? I'm all for it.

At the same time (to use a Konglish trope), we're struggling forward on the planned book of essays from expats (Say fellah! that "essays for expats" is a pretty hip title! Wanna work on a book?)

Eh.. we went out for dinner tonight with two servings of Kimchi, soup, and tons of lean meat. Hopefully we get healed...

Me in a Paper..

2011-04-06T09:03:00.001+09:00

Look Ma, I'm famous! KTLIT, The Wikipedia Project and Me, in the Korea Herald: http://bit.ly/gWqZAU

Dear NPR, your twee music sucks!

2011-04-05T23:25:00.003+09:00

So I will be listening to KQED online.... they seem to prefer content..

Sweeeeet!

2011-04-03T21:39:00.001+09:00

The big girl's joint (which is NOT the title of a porno) has a new quick editing gig...

Tons of work.. few days...

perfect...

Dentistry in the Land of Tomorrow?

2011-04-02T17:30:00.003+09:00

Maybe it was bloody smock on the dentist, or the fact that, as a sole concession to cleanliness, she turned the spit-stained gloves she was wearing inside out before examining me?

But I was nervous.

And the crusty pick with the head like the ball of a mace? The one she was trying to cram into my mouth?

Did not make me any calmer.

I woke up screaming..

Cool.. day to go to the dentist and it began with a dream like that.

As a bonus, I had a cold. Class went by quickly and then I slammed down two Nyquil as the idea of drowning in a pool of my own snot while some strange woman had two fists halfway into my larynx was not appealing. Well, it was kind of appealing, but I had the feeling the actual dentist would be dressed and probably not have ambiguous genitalia.

I hopped into the subway and headed for the wrong station.

This meant that the map I held in my sweaty palm was pretty useless. I finally figured out I needed to hop back on the subway and got to the right station. Here, the map made much more sense, and I ended up at the dentist’s office.

Which was AWESOME. Super new equipment, English speaking staff, and the dentist is the wife of a friend of mine.

Some technology I had not yet experienced. The X-ray was taken all at once with a rotary X-ray machine and then went straight to the monitor in front of the chair I was in. They also took photos inside the mouth of all my fillings. When it came time to test my bad tooth, I held a metal rod in my right hand while some cool gizmo shot electricity into my teefs. The bad tooth felt no shock, so the pulp (or something) was dead.

Dentist says, “root canal” and I start preparing (I was a Boy Scout, you see) to pee myself. She looks at the clock and says, “it will take about 20 minutes, can you wait?”

I’m quite happy with that and say yes. They also give me painkiller without using a needle. I’m not sure how that was done, but it was the first time it ever happened to me.

20 minutes later and the whole thing is done.

I walk out and make another appointment (for there is more to do). The receptionist quotes the bill..

Wha?!?!!?…. I heard “man…” something, something… Holy crap! “man” is 10,000 in Korean and my brain can’t assemble a number (in Korea) that starts with “man” that isn’t the price of a major appliance.

I get the bill and I’ve heard her properly, just not how little came after the “man.” The bill is 11,800 …. Pennies!!! Won!

I just had all of this work done for $10, US.

Amazing… fast, efficient, clean, painless, and unbelievably cheap.

US dental care is fucked up!

Off to the dentist

2011-04-01T13:02:00.000+09:00

After some time away..

this could be wrenching... ^^

Late Updates...

2011-03-31T22:57:00.002+09:00

Cuz Momz sed so!

Down about 4 kilos from my trip to the States..... not that, of course, you could see it yet.^^

Work continues to be good and the OTHER blog is blowing up because Shin Kyoung-sook is blowing up.

Also, got a really great gig with The Big Woman's Uni doing some editing...

Better than ALLLLLLz of that?

Spring may be here. Sure.. Yellow Dust destroying my lungs.. but man.. you can walk outside. ^^

LOLCATZ - LOLDOGZ, and the loathesome French...

2011-03-18T15:37:00.001+09:00

little willy lyrics~sweet

2011-03-14T15:35:00.002+09:00

Mr. Ed arrives sometime tomorrow.

And if you know Ed and know old rock?

You just switch "Eddie" into this song for "Willie".

I couldn't be happier..

Canadia in a nutshell (a highly appropriate place)

2011-03-11T12:08:00.002+09:00

From the lads at Get Fuzzy:

AM Ajumma ATTACK!

2011-03-07T11:04:00.002+09:00

Having slept like crap last night, I was still in bed at 9:50 AM when the Ajumma decided it was time for her annual inspection of the apartment. So, groggily, I hear some little bell ringing off in the distance and recognizing it is not my iPhone, I decide to ignore it.

Ignoration (one of my most honed skills) becomes useless when I hear a key in the lock and the door scraping open. Since I know The Lovely Wife is at her gainful employment, I also know it is the Ajumma. I crack open the bedroom door and croak out an "Ajumma" just as she is pealing out an "Ajumma" of her own - this is how she announces herself.

When she sees my tousled (but adorable!) head peeking out of the bedroom door and hears me saying "Just a minute," she flies into a panicked storm of high-pitched Korean. By the time I have my shirt and trousers on, she is gone.

Fortunately the house, while disheveled, is not that dirty. A quick 20 minute cleaning job and now it is ready for her sneak return which, I bet, will be a bit more sneaky now that she has been "caught," so to speak.

Still, it was good to have a chance to clean up TLW's detritus in the living room. The Ajumma would not have found much to be critical about, but she can cluck in disapproval like 30 divorcees drinking estrogen milkshakes. We can't have that.

Now the place is shining liking a diamond (but not too clean so she knows it's all fake), we should be in the clear.

Off to the coffee shop to do all these editing jobs that seem to have piled up over the weekend.

LOLCATZ - Beer Leg Cold Touch?

2011-03-05T19:31:00.002+09:00

So I'm doing some editing for a big important University here.. it's actually for one of the Korean Chaebol.

As I'm working through the text I'm also checking the URLs they have in it, to make sure there have been no typos.

What do I discover?

I'm editing for a product I think I can get behind:

Sounds good to me!

Oh so very out of shape!

2011-03-01T17:10:00.002+09:00

The lovely wife and I joined the gym today.... she's doing cardio (and I hope getting into a stretching class, since she's still kind of gimpy from that car crash a long time ago) and I'm doing cardio and some (embarrassingly light) weightlifting... Thank God my schedule means that I'm in the gym in relatively off hours. ^^

Instruction begins tomorrow, so its back to the kiddies. We got an extra day off today for the anniversary of the March First Movement.... flags everywhere on buildings and some stores closed...

Lazy afternoon at home, now, prepping for classes and writing my last set of book reviews for 10 Magazine..

Stalking Chicken Again..

2011-02-28T17:38:00.003+09:00

That lovely chicken stock I made the other day has now been made into two delicious breakfasts of tofu and mushroom soup. It looks like this:

And is surprisingly delicious. I think the chicken-stock thing might become a regular part of the old repertoire.....

And, unrelated, if you don't think that looks tasty? I've snapped the lovely photo below in which you are WARNED!

Does it make me a dirty stinking animal...

2011-02-26T09:32:00.002+09:00

That I'm just about to take my first shower since before I left the US?

If I'm going to see my new buddies today, I might as well not smell like the Bowery...

Back to the Grind!

2011-02-25T09:43:00.002+09:00

After a long and exhausting vacation, we are back in Seoul and attempting to settle into our own little domestic blister. The Lovely Wife is off setting up a doctor's appointment, while I putter around the apartment...

First step is to finish the reduction of my chicken stock. The night we got home the grilled chicken man was at the bottom of our hill and we grabbed two chickens. Yesterday, with what was left of them, I started a stock and today, with the grease removed from the top, it looks a little like this:

A bit of reduction and then into the freezer!

I also got my iPhone, which makes me feel super cool and with it. Today is all about learning how it works and syncing it to iTunes on my computer (I have been without portable music for about four months). This should also be good for my Korean study, as now I will have something to listen to when I am on the treadmill at the gym.

I also found a super-cool program (Bento) that will help me with my book-buying campaign here in Korea, and with the KTLIT thing. I've started databasing all the Korean translations I have (by "started" I mean I figured the program out, laid out my database, put two books into it, then became bored!). But once I get this inputting done, I will no longer accidentally buy duplicate books, and when I am looking for a particular short story I will be able to find it in whatever books it has been published in. Should simplify things vastly.

School begins next Tuesday, and after two years of having unspecific goals, I think it is time to go back to the model I used the first year here, and set out some very specific goals about work, play, travel, health, etc... because that first year I pretty much accomplished everything I listed, but in the next two years became a bit ad-hocish....

Tomorrow should be a great day - I'm going out to lunch with Bruce Fulton and Stephen Epstein and a whole crew of translation/blogger dudes and dudettes.. These are heavy hitters and its nice to be invited to hang out with them..

I Have a Whole New Personality

2011-01-16T13:48:00.006+09:00

It still sucks, but it turns out I'm not a Sagittarius as there are now 13 astrological signs, instead I'm apparently on the cusp of Scorpio and Ophiuchus/Serpentarius.

I'm still trying to figure out what it means.. but since I'm either the archer, the scorpion, or the snake-bearer, I'm pretty cool with it...

Piss off all you crabs, twinned fishies and sea-goats!^^

I wrote a little song:

With the sun in the ninth constellation
Mere concern burgeons to aggravation
Stupidity rules our mighty nation
and peace is only found in bars

this is the dawning of the age of Ophiuchus
the age of Ophiuchus

Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus

Agony misunderstanding
treachery and lust abounding
revealing falsehoods and derisions
horrific and satanic visions
and the minds complete submission

Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus


With the sun in the ninth constellation
Mere concern burgeons to aggravation
Stupidity rules our mighty nation
and peace is only found in bars


this is the dawning of the age of Ophiuchus
the age of Ophiuchus

Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus

It's a Deep Purple Kind of Day!

2011-01-08T13:02:00.003+09:00

Beauty.... it won't get below negative 8 today... some incredibly light snow flashing around horizontally. A fusion breakfast of half a tortilla, an orange and a tuna kimbab. Now, with the coffee in the cup and the rock and roll blasting on the office speakers, as is temporarily well.

Navigating the campus today is a bit ragged as it seems to be one of the days that freshmen and their families come on campus and the traffic control guys are all over the place - like epileptic rats on speed, attempting to cope with something they never thought possible: an entire generation of older Korean who are incapable of reading traffic signs, even those as simple as arrows.

I'm safe for now. And my office is clean, since the Arirang TV people came by last Thursday to film intro and B-roll for my upcoming show. They were super-pro; in and out of the classroom in less than 20 minutes, and then interviews with two students and Rob, from Roboseyo, whose interview answer was one-take and complete (and awfully nice). I commented on that, and he said, "toastmasters." LOL.. when he had to teach a speech class he enrolled, just to perfect his own skills.

Now it's time to print out some stuff for a writing job, go bookshopping and get home to clean the place up - we have a couch-surfer coming in tomorrow and I want to make an entirely artificial impact. ^^

Money and Fame

2010-12-29T11:49:00.000+09:00

Got a gig with the big Womans University here...... the faculty of Buddhist University and the big Womans University are slightly intertwined, at least in translation and the big Womans University translation unit needs editors.

I turns out I have skills in this area...

I turned out a massive intergovernmental project in a few days, and it looks (hard to tell because the people who send out the money info aren't as "Englishee" as the translators) that my first job will be about $1.6k.

This would help me and my enchanted bride in our trip to Oz....

Later, I got a call from a local TV station. They would like to interview me about my interest in Korean literature.

This sent me directly to the gym, as though one hour there per day could take away the pounds and ravages of the last semester. ;-)

Eternally optimistic in the short term, and dead pessimistic on the long haul. ^^

The Last Days in NZ

2010-12-27T23:31:00.007+09:00

Ho hum...

Been lazy poster...

NOW the end of the New Zealand (LOL the imperialist Blogger spell check tool refuses to accept that "Zealand" could be part of the English language) trip.

Got up on Sunday to walk in for the session I was hosting.

This was a bit traumatic as I wanted a cup of coffee and at 9am on a Sunday THE STARBUCKS WAS CLOSED! Those of us who live in civilized countries will not believe this, so I snapped a photo.

Then it was performance time. Our little Ph.D. student did well despite the fact her English is difficult and that she held on to the podium like it was a life-preserver. In between was an SNU professor, and then my colleague showed the room what a second-language performance should be like.

It was a small audience, being that early on a Sunday, and I was able to be the avuncular host when questions came.

Then my Korean buds headed off to check out more of the town, and I waited around for my performance.

It was some stuff I've done before, and other than missing the "two minutes to go" cue, it went as it always does.

After, with the Koreans still on the town, I found a nearby bar with wireless and had "jug" of beer.

With that concluded it was off to the NZ house of Parliament, or some other important thing, where the conference had miraculously placed its dinner. The opening speech was by the minister of culture who amusingly apologized for his absence the previous day as he was also the minister of "redress" (or something like it) and had spent the previous day with the Maori, as NZ continues to try to sort out its relationship with them.

His speech was funny, he noted that there were many issues to sort out, and mercifully short.

The outside of the Parliament (or whatever) building looked like this:

And where we ate, like this:

The next day I dithered around in town, had two beers, the squirts, and a dwarf hooker, before catching the bus to the airport.

One hour to Auckland, and then a shuttle ride to my hotel. The hotel was surrounded by closed liquor stores (alas), so I couldn't get shitfaced and puke on my evolving memories of NZ.

The next day to the plane.. an uneventful ride home... LOL, since Korea is home....

and for that day? The rest was silence.

This little piggy Kiwi-wii'd all the way home...

2010-12-12T13:48:00.005+09:00

Friday night I waited up until my Korean co-conspirators got in, talked to them briefly, and then went upstairs to watch stupid sports on TV. Saturday was a day to wander around. I headed down to the conference just to get registered. For the second straight day I was walking into a violent headwind. I made sure to hit just as the morning food break was put out, and after a cup of coffee and some nosh, I headed back out to check out the quays and the big museum.

On the way over I spotted the vessel the Steve Irwin, which was, appropriately considering what happened to him, all decked out in black.

The quays are beautiful and the water in the harbor was whipping itself frothy

I passed by something like a Korean outdoor/indoor market, a parking lot turned into an art market. Kind of cool, but not my thing, so I continued on to the museum without purchasing a single nicknack, gee-gaw, or nasty rubber novelty.

The museum was grand - 6 stories tall, of which about 4.5 were cool and totally free. I saw some dinosaurs, took a ride on the earthquake simulator, saw the bad news about the un-greening of New Zealand.

Then, exhausted, I went by the local for a “small” burger and a beer. The burger was, in fact, massive and the beer tasty. Then it was off to do a bit more book-shopping (alas, no books) and a nap back at the hotel.

Later on it was out again for dinner, and when I returned the Korean contingent were sitting in the parlor of the hotel, so we chatted for a bit and then retired. Like an idiot, once again, I stayed up late watching obscure Kiwi semi-sports. I would pay at 7:30 the next morning…

It should come as no suprise...

2010-12-11T16:53:00.001+09:00

That in a country not dominated by loathsome boy and girl bands?

The bar soundtracks are superior....

More news as I break it... ^^

My Escape From Fiery Death!

2010-12-10T08:41:00.004+09:00

Speaking of bookstores… as I did last post…. There are some grand ones here. As soon as I got off the bus from the airport I walked by an enormous two-story used bookshop and even though I had my luggage, couldn’t help but go in. Unfortunately the fiction was not categorized other than by last name (i.e. any translated Korean fiction would be folded in with the rest). But my second question revealed that some collections were collected by region and a quick visit upstairs netted me a hardback 1974 edition of “Flowers of Fire” of which only one seems to be available on the intarwebs (LOL - I should snap it up to own then ALLZ!). I also found a 1974 UNESCO version of “Virtuous Women” of which 3 seem to exist?

A nice haul, but it probably means I’ve cleaned out Wellington since I’m sure no one else has ever looked for translated Korean fiction and that these two books are the result of decades of buying. Too bad I won’t have more time in Auckland, which supposedly also has some good used bookstores.

Just to alienate my lovely wife, I also include this picture of yet another used bookstore that I just walked by:

The hotel is in the hipster section of Wellington, with many music stores, bars, performance venues, art-stores, and holistic health type stores. It makes a nice contrast with most of Seoul. Still, too many shit tattoos. ;-)

After that, it was just wandering around, watching TV, and then sleeping.

Well, sleeping til about 5AM, when the fire alarm went off and the entire hotel was evacuated. It only took about 30 minutes, but it was a slight drag.

I grabbed my laptop and coat.. fortunately it was my ultracool Dongguk coat with Yvonne's camera in the pocket, so I took some out-of-focus "why the hell am I not asleep" photos, of which one follows.

Got back in the room before 6 and slept til 11. I pride myself on the fact that I touched nothing in the courtesy bar, because drinking at 5am would probably be a sign of something, narrow escape from fiery death notwithstanding...

Still, unaccountably, tired, but with nothing to do til Sunday, I should be able to catch up on my sleep.

Aukward in Auckland

2010-12-09T08:46:00.003+09:00

In New Zealand, they wear their GWAR t-shirts without the slightest hint of irony. This goes for t-shirts of nearly any bad heavy metal band that you can conjure up a name for. The solution to male-pattern-baldness is to develop, long, lank, curly hair on the sides, and often to get a garish tattoo on your dome. In fact, just plain lots of garish tatoos floating all about. NZ kind of reminds me of Louisiana in the late 1970s – you can’t turn around without seeing someone who looks like a roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then there’s the frank n’ beans for breakfast in the restaurant showing boxing at 10:30 on a weekday morning. The Wine of the Month is “Wither Hills!” The land is beautiful, but I’m not sure I’d like living here.

Not to jump to any conclusions, or anything. ^^

The plane ride to Auckland wasn’t bad, even counting the dickhead adjushi behind me who kept pounding on the back of my seat.

Only two things of interest in the airport… First, the name of a business that I might reconsider:

Second, a bookstore advertisement (constructed of books on shelves) at the airport that is kind of cute and advertises some service by which you can purchase bookstore scrip, more or less, for hundreds bookstores in New Zealand.

Once Again in Incheon Airport

2010-12-08T16:09:00.003+09:00

After a trip in the featured every mistake I could make...

Catching a cab to Seoul Station in the middle of the biggest police action since the Mad Cow riots

Trying to catch the A-rex from Seoul Station that doesn't begin running til the 29th

Deciding not to catch the Airport limousine from either Seoul Station or Yongsan

Missing the express train on the 9....

No worries though, as Incheon is the most efficient airport I've ever been in, so now I'm nursing a quick beer before the flight.

The Lovely Wife came along for the train ride, and is now turning back towards the Outback in Itaewon..

For me - 11+ hours.. at least I got the last aisle seat!

Two shots of Namsan from my back window

2010-12-02T09:37:00.003+09:00

Two shots of Namsan from my back window

Some days you wake up in winter in Seoul and it's like an old alliterative girlfriend of mine, icy cold but beautiful:

And sometimes it is just like me, foggy (if by fog you mean nasty particulate matter blown in from commie China) and confused:

Mixed Birthday Presents...

2010-11-29T14:56:00.004+09:00

1) The Beloved Wife took me to Danyang to go spelunking. +1

2) The City of Seoul gave me a FREE wake-up call, courtesy of early morning construction. -2

3) The EIT Department gave me a class cancellation to go see a poetry symposium. +.5 (I mean, a poetry symposium? How come this is never a scholarly introduction to the role of the tramp-stamp in post-modern pornography?)

4) The Uni just shut down heat in our building, despite the fact it is currenly 6 degrees. -3

Things are going to have to pick up around here!

LOL.. that island is practically surrounded by NK...

2010-11-23T20:05:00.002+09:00

Here's a map:

LOL at the S Korean left (semi-live blogging the war)

2010-11-23T17:48:00.003+09:00

some dude tweets: 천안함 때에도,,,,오늘도,,,,대통령은 지하벙커에 꼭꼭 숨어라??

Which seems to be a rhetorical question blaming LMB for getting into the bunker under the Blue House....

Really? That's the best you've got?

I'd be in a bunker if I could. ^^

Life in Wartime?

2010-11-23T16:58:00.003+09:00

A certain surreality pervades Seoul. I'm sitting in my office, as shells are falling on Yeongpyeong Island. Outside my window, students and faculty continue to walk around as though nothing were out of the ordinary. About three kilometers away, Yi Myeong-Bak is in a bunker under the Blue House wondering among other things, if the press reports here are accurate, if they should send a protest letter to the UN (wtf?). The ROK has scrambled bombers and fighters and while Lee says to "avoid escalation" I'm not sure that NK will see the planes as non-escalatory? I'm hoping the angels aren't ready to wear my red shoes. ^^

Me? There are two places I should go to in case of evacuation, but I'm certainly assuming it won't come to that. In fact, I think home is probably safest as, paradoxically, it is close to the US army base and if NK ever went for that things would be fully on, and Seoul would be the threatened "sea of fire" that NK blathers on about from time to time. LOL - and since those locations are listed on the US embassy website, they might make charming and known targets if NK wants to go all in

The news came in first on twitter - oh brave new world that has such things in it - and twitter is blowing up over here. Everyone is chiming in, though it is frequently the same posts being passed around again and again. The Honolulu Times is sending out tweets at an astounding pace, many of which are repeats and many of which are random and illiterate.

On expat Korean blogs things are only beginning to heat up..

the apologists are begining to come in:

I understand that people are hurt, but it’s not worth escalation. A strongly worded message is all they deserve.

And soon we will have the folks who blame this on S. Korea. There is a predictable trajectory (if I may be allowed that word when writing about artillery fire related trauma) to the political goings-on around here.

For now, my office is warm, outside is cool, and there is at least one corpse on Yeonpyeong with shells supposedly still falling.

I think I'll stop by the pub tonight and have a pint or two.

Stanford beats Cal - great quote that could ONLY come from Pac-10

2010-11-21T20:21:00.002+09:00

Stanfoo QB Andrew Luck knocked a Bear safety on his ass. After the game Luck's quote was"

On his long run, he said, "I didn't see (Cattouse) coming to hit me, but physics and inertia took over. Guys did a good job of blocking downfield. The O-line hustled their butts off. It was a good play to get things rolling."

LOL.. physics and inertia... you'd have to search the entire SEC (and I'm talking about their entire colleges, not their football teams) to find anyone who would put those two words together while describing football.

I need some backup singers...

2010-11-19T17:24:00.002+09:00

Watching Cee-lo's brilliant "Fuck You" (I mean, the title alone, yeah?). It's a beautiful flashback to the Detroit sound or the Philadelphia sound. Being white, I get confused about these things.

The music is great and the video reasonably cute. But what it really makes me want, is some back up singers.... Anytime I said something I thought clever (which is very often, too often, probably), I could just gesture and they'd pop up and sing it as a chorus.

How cool would that be?

I would be the envy of all Korea.....

Now off to download the entire album.

(This post was completed in the time it takes to listen to the song once)

Looking Back, Bad Back, Baekchu

2010-11-18T14:16:00.003+09:00

On Saturday we had a conference here at Buddhist U., and I was one of the lovely presenters. Did my new spiel about successes and failures of translation and it went over very well. I felt it was a bit scattered, as the room did not have a clock and I was trying to cut a few minutes off it (the previous presenter had gone a bit long). I met people from Ewha and HUFS, and they should be good contacts down the road.

Also. Seoul Magazine turned up an article short this month and put out a last-minute call for an author, which I jumped on as quickly as I could. 1,500 words on.. yes ... kimchi. Not exactly my expertise (other than eating the stuff), but exposure in the magazine is the best a foreigner can get in local mags, so it will be good in that way..

My back also started to tweak - symptoms like I had in my early 30's (5 years ago, I insist!). Taking no chances I immediately went to a 4-times a day stretching regime. Also, Yvonne has given me a gym membership for my birthday (a subtle hint^^) and running on the treadmill always loosens my back up. 25 minutes last night seem to have done the trick. I hope so, cause that last go-round was horrible and lasted months.

This weekend, I judge a speech competition and the division has another one of its lovely parties. Last year I won the "pop the balloon then drink the beer" contest, and I know all the young bucks are looking to dethrone me.

Won't happen!

Snapshots from Busan

2010-11-12T18:12:00.003+09:00

A couple of weekends ago Yvonne and I went down to Busan. She went on Friday, and I went on Saturday (did a lot of grading on the train!). It was beautiful and we met with Yvonne's friend Katie:

That picture is of a place called 태홍대 (If I'm remembering the Hangul correctly). It's a bit outside Busan, but beautiful and we walked all around it, taking in a jazz concert along the way. Also, Korean kids were doing the wacky things that Korean kids always do.

As we came around the back part of the island, we saw off the port of Busan, which had a lot of moored ships.

Then it was back to Busan and a dinner with Katie and her parents, who were wildly friendly and entertaining. It's a pretty town.

Dear Plagiarizer...

2010-11-10T16:52:00.004+09:00

While it undoubtedly seems clever to plagiarize from the University's PR materials in a paper about why to come here? You might want to plaziarize from, and re-write, the Korean version.

Because given that I do ALL the editing of English promotional materials around here?

I'm likely to recognize that perfect English you're using as the result of my superior editing skillZZ!

And, you know.. plagiarism gets you an F.

LOL.. Literature leads in to....

2010-11-09T20:44:00.002+09:00

Last night I did another of my bi-weekly radio appearances on TBS eFM. We talked a little bit about problems with current Korean approaches to translation and publication. You can find that lovely bit of palaver here. It'll be the first sound file on the top of the page and you can drink (if ears can drink) your fill of my scratchy yet high voice.

What made me laugh was the song used as our outro. I'd never heard of it before:

MAXIMILLIAN HECKER / THE DAYS ARE LONG AND FILLED WITH PAIN

Niiiiiiiice!

weekend wastrelsy

2010-11-08T14:49:00.004+09:00

Spent Saturday in the office working on various presentation things and getting my roll-sheets in order.

Saturday night was off to Sonofactory in Hongdae for a Nanoomi party at which I was also a presenter - giving my super-charged little speech on Social Media and the "task ahead" in popularizing Korean lit overseas. I was able to steal some slides from the presentation I'm preparing for next Saturday. Also, I'm a pretty good speaker now that I've been teaching the speech classes for a few years. A couple of tricks... put down the microphone, work the room, hold a glass of magkeolli. I made everyone shut up for the duration of my talk, which was more than the other speakers could do. ^^

That super fuzzy picture is of me in mid-rant.

Yvonne had a great time as well, she met the wife of my Radio-host-dude friend and they exchanged cards.

Yesterday was just about the lolling about......

Back to the grind today, it's cold and the fall leaves are swirling up off of Namsan like little red and yellow cyclones. Quite a view...