There’s something about the nighttime skyline in any Korean city. If there’s a church, you can see it from miles away. Maybe that’s the point: to call in the lost and wayward should they need a guiding light after a night of Soju and Noraebangs. Since none of the churches that I’ve passed by late in the evening appear to be open and waiting for the inebriated and needy to come seeking succor for the soul, I must consider alternate explanations.

Whatever the reason, each and every church in Korea bears the same fixture atop its edifice: a gleaming red neon cross.  The neon cross is de rigeur, as if in order to proclaim one’s  existence as House of God, there must be a red neon cross, as specified in Chapter 3, paragraph 4, Subsection 6e of the Korean building code. I’m sorry, sir, since you don’t have the requisite neon cross, measuring no less than 2 meters high, using red neon #23, displayed in a prominent position on your structure, we’ll have to revoke your license. You may, however, continue to hold weekly bingo games in said establishment. until compliance is obtained and duly notarized. Since a building code or zoning laws most likely doesn’t exist in this country (that’s a whole different discussion on this blog I’ll have to do later) I’d have to give that option little consideration as well.

Perhaps its a tax consideration. Should one wish to remain tax free as a place of worship, its status must be visible to all, night or day.

My money is on homogeneity. Korea is one of the most homogeneous populations on the planet. Close to 97% of the people here are Korean. China, for example, has more than 90 distinct ethnicities. Japan has several as well. The US, well, that’s the classic salad bowl. But Korea, well, its a quintessential one trick pony with a lemming-like population. If a couple of Koreans get together and decide something is a good idea, you can bet the rest of the society will follow suit, right over the same cliff.

My guess is that someone, somewhere on this peninsula, decided that his church would look pretty darn fancy with a nice red neon cross on the top. Soon after that, red neon crosses (blue, green or purple just isn’t done) popped up all over the land like pimples on a teenager’s face after a chocolate binge.

And why not? Red neon is splayed throughout most other parts of any Asian towns, particularly on restaurants, bars, nightclubs and noraebangs. Why not a church? After all, it’s a fairly  accurate depiction of the crucifixion itself: poor, tired, beaten down Jesus, struggling to carry his old, rugged, red neon cross up the hill, trailed by throngs of wailing disciples and one very long extension cord.

As I mentioned in an earlier post…Just a short video I put together from a recent hike in the Yeongnam Alps, a small chain of mountains west of Ulsan. We hiked Mt Gaji and then went to Seok Nam Sa temple, stuck into a valley at the headwaters of the Taewha River that runs through Ulsan.

It’s been raining for the better part of two weeks here, but Sunday was fabulous weather. Too nice to stay indoors so we decided to head out and do some sightseeing.  We went up to Mt. Gajinsan, the highest peak in what the locals call the “Yongnam Alps,” a chain of mountains to the west of Ulsan. We drove up to Mt Gajinsan and took a short hike up. With all the rain we’ve had, the mountains were lush green and the foliage thick. It was difficult trail and we were only sparingly rewarded with glimpses of the countryside.

We did catch a few nice spots with a view toward Ulsan. The peak in the distance in the right is Munsu Mountain, a place I’ve written of often and climbed multitudinous times. Ulsan is (barely) visible in this shot, but becomes quite evident as we climbed further up the mountain. Yesterday, Typhoon Man-Yi rolled through south and east of Korea, sweeping much of the funk from the air, so it was relatively clear.

As the day wore on, however, the clouds returned. Just in time to make for misty shots of Seok Nam Sa temple, nestled within the folds of Mt. Gajinsan. The temple is renowned as a training ground for nuns. All of the accolytes there are females, their heads shaved and their clothes austere. The temple dates back to around 680 A.D. with various refurbishments and reconstructions throughout the centuries. Centuries – that word just astounds me, since our own history in America is limited to a just a couple of them. What few historical places America does have with that distinction, such as the Paleoindian cave dwellers in New Mexico, Utah or Colorado, have not been continuously occupied and are mere relics of a past age,  a page in a history book.

I took several pictures. This one doesn’t come close to showing the beauty of the place, but I liked the little family taking portraits in front of the stone stupa.

None  of the pictures show the place as beautiful as it is in person. I have far too many, in fact, to due it justice here. I’ll put together a short multimedia clip for this trip. I hope to have that done in the next day or so.  I should have time – the rains are back again today.

Well, not all of it. I’ve had issues with the post office here and their delivery abilities.

This week I had to send off my passport to a travel agency in Busan.I sent it registered mail on Monday and as of Thursday evening, it still hadn’t made it the 60Km to its destination. I went down to the PO today with receipt and tracking number in hand, ready to rip heads off shoulders. I was worried that not only would I not get to go on the vacation I’d setup to Beijing this month (more on that later) I’d have trouble getting anywhere until I got a new passport.

Well, long story short, the local PO not only tracked where my letter was, they also negotiated with the travel agency as to who received it, who shipped it from there to the Chinese consulate and who’s getting my visa ready. I’d have had a hard time communicating with all the Koreans if they simply gave me a name and number of who signed for it as Fed-Ex or similar would have done.

Minor catastrophe averted. Score one for the local post office.

At half-time, the score remains tied at 1:1. Film at eleven.

Just for fun, a few weeks ago I put in a link to Clustrmaps on the bottom of each page of my site. Maybe you noticed. Over the past several months, I had been monitoring the traffic I get on the site and it’s steadily grown. I found a link to Clustrmaps on another site and decided to use their stuff. It graphically points out from where  web traffic originates for  this web site.

It only logs those hits since I installed it, but in the past I’ve gotten traffic from Russia, Seychelles, Bulgaria and other semi-exotic locales.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and check it out. I’ve gone global. Is your location marked on the map?

Today was good. A normal start to the day followed by a fun day at school. The other teachers bought me some nice gifts: a coffee pot, a beautiful wall hanging and some Korean books (one for learning the language more, one for traveling around.)  Even a couple of the kids bought me gifts and had them wrapped: One gave me a small notepad and another gave me a pencil-case. A third gave me her soda and some candy – a little impromptu, but gratefully accepted nevertheless.

After work, Jessica called from Texas. That was cool. Always good to hear from one of my young ‘uns. Then, my girlfriend and I went out to one of our favorite restaurants for  dinner.  No big parties or anything and I’m totally fine with that. It’s 11:30pm and I’m ready for bed.

Another fine birthday and another year passed. At 47, I don’t feel old. At least not yet. Maybe it’ll kick in tomorrow.

This is what it takes to grow big-ass pears without the bugs and birds picking it to pieces. A few months ago, I took pictures of the infrastructure required to hold up the branches for these large fruit. Yesterday, on our way to the Munsu to do some rock climbing, we passed by this pear orchard. Each one of the small fruit has been bagged with a breathable cloth/paper covering big enough to hold the expanding pear as it matures.

They still use chemical pesticides here, but just early on, before there’s anything to bag. After that, they forgo the chemicals. I suspect its simply economics and not any adherence to “organically grown” or other marketing buzzwords. Chemicals cost money to buy, but there’s an abundance of cheap labor, mostly old folks, who tend the fields.

Soon, those bags will be filled with larger-than-softball sized Ulsan Pears (called Asian Pears back home.)

Several months ago, I shipped a few cases of Korean ramen noodle soup to Sam, who was then stationed in the middle east. The soup wasn’t all that expensive. In fact, the shipping cost nearly as much as the soup. She never got it, though. The Korean postal service, in all its wisdom, unilaterally decided what the postal code meant. Her military “state” abbreviation of “AE,” they decided, must mean United Arab Emirates. I mean, who cares if there’s really a “U” in front of the AE in that abbreviation? It’s close enough. So, sure enough, nearly four months later, the package of soup arrives back here as undeliverable. The good folks in the UAE had no clue where to send it, so they sent it back.

That in itself wouldn’t be so bad. But what really angered me is that the Korean postal service wanted additional funds to cover the cost of shipping it back. 50% more, in fact, than the original shipping costs. Had I been there when the package arrived, I’d have sent the delivery boy back out on his ear. Instead, our school receptionist received the package. Not knowing what was in it or from whence it came, she paid the costs. I’d rather not have her try and decide if future packages should or shouldn’t be accepted, so I quickly repaid her. This wasn’t her fault.  The Korean postal service is to blame, and if their English was better or my Korean was better, they’d get an earful.

In all, I paid the equivalent of US$16 for the soup. Another $16 for the first shipping to the UAE and then another $24 for it to be shipped back. That’s some pricey soup I now own – $56 for a case of  soup I bought at the corner store. But this case is special! It’s been halfway around the world and back!

Sam did receive the second package of soup I sent. But it was near the end of her tour of duty in the middle east and I just sent it to her home in Kansas. She probably could have purchased it there much cheaper. Or I could have had a friend ship some from one of the many Korean stores in Dallas.  In return, she sent me a nice bit of middle eastern garb – an authentic dishdashi, complete with red checkered head scarf. Perfect for Halloween or the next time I want to play  terrorist.

I’m working on my next book. It’s on my Writing pages if you’re interested in a sneak preview.

Back in early May they started ripping up the playground across the street from my apartment. I was afraid that the one place nearby I could take my dog for her toilet would be consumed by another highrise of some sort. There isn’t another piece of turf (that isn’t someone’s veggie haven) for a good walk away. Walking several blocks to take her out wasn’t my idea of convenient.

Well, they didn’t build a highrise. Instead they simply revamped and updated the playground. It didn’t seem that old or worn out to me. It was in pretty good shape. But they put in a new one anyway.

And it’s even kind of cute. They put in the children’s equipment with a tropical fish theme on the ground, although they neglected to replace the swing or jungle gym – just a set of slides.  The did, however, take out a bunch of useless, wideopen space and turn it into a small enclosed soccer field. Its getting plenty of use these days, too. If not for soccer, then nighttime badminton with an LED-lit shuttlecock.

Overall, they’ve done a nice job of it. It’s not even finished, though, as you can still see the orange cones on the far side entrance in the first picture. The picnic tables still have the foam wrapping on the benches and table-tops. The neighborhood was so limited in play space they most folks haven’t waited for any grand opening they might have and are just using the playground. It’s good to see it in use again.

The part that disturbs me, though, is the unbelievable disregard for their new park’s cleanliness. Barely in use a week and the ground is already littered with enough candy and snack wrappers to fill several bins. I’ve taken SaTang over several times and she’s more interested in whatever food she can find under the slide (and there’s plenty) than in using the grass to empty her bladder or bowels. They’ll think nothing of throwing down a plastic bottle when its empty or a food wrapper as they open and eat whatever it is. I’m not above telling someone when I see them throw trash down, but it’s a little like swimming upstream. I’m afraid I’ll end up being the “crazy foreigner” who nags about the litter.

When I was small, America was like that. Trash was everywhere along the roads. Beer and soda can tops were everywhere. Then there were commercials on TV with that Indian dude crying as litter was thrown from a passing car.  America changed its ways, but not quickly. I’ve seen one commercial here in Korea that was similar, but I’ve only seen it once. I think it’ll be awhile before things change here.   Until then, I’ll just have to resign myself to gently telling them they dropped something when I see them litter.

A big-ass bucket o’ chicken feet?

Well, friend, that’s too long!

I found these little lovelies at one of the vendors in the outdoor market that happens every five days here in Cheonsang. He usually just has chickens, either whole or parts, and hasn’t carried the feet before. He only had a dozen or so chickens for sale, so he’s either been saving these babies up, or there’s a boatload of chickens hobbling around the farm on crutches. Of course, its entirely possible the chickens have been to Six Flag in KY recently, too. 🙂

I find it odd that they keep animals parts like this just out in the open, in a box. The weather was blazing hot when I snapped this picture (on my poor quality hand phone camera). Our health inspectors in the US would have a field day. But if anyone here gets sick from eating chicken that’s been in the sun all day, it doesn’t make the news. It’s SOP here. It makes me wonder if Americans a) worry too much, b) have much more sensitive digestive systems, c) have been suckered into having extensive inspection costs added to our food or, d) Koreans just don’t understand the dangers and have been lucky so far.

Who says she watched the other video over and over.

Because she asked.

Gwen had recently read a book that involved some fictional locale here in South Korea. She wanted to know what a typical Korean neighborhood looks like. Far easier said than done, said I. For several reasons. I’ll enumerate them.

When Korea was liberated from Japan at the end of WWII in 1945, it was an agrarian country and one of the poorest in the world. Subsequently split in half by FDR and Stalin at the Yalta conference into North and South Korea. Within just five years, North Korea decided to invade the South in an attempt to reunify the two nations. That war did a good job of destroying what the Japanese had during their occupation the previous half of the century. Few places existed that had any serious history.

After the Korean war, an influx of foreign aid helped South Korea grow from a 3rd world backwater farming country to what is now the 10th largest economy in the world. Beginning with light industry and consumer products, and then shifting to heavy industry, Korea has gone through unbelievable growth. All of that has occurred just since  1953 when the war ended. That much growth doesn’t come without a price.  Tremendous numbers of apartment complexes, factories and shops were built, thus causing the wholesale removal of older, traditional housing.

The old style still exists, but they are off the beaten path and, well, old. As cheap as it seems to build here, tearing down and starting over seems more prudent for many.

The neighborhood pictured below is near Ulsan. All of the homes have external walls with a courtyard of sorts. None have grass. What land there is is put to use growing foodstuffs, like the rice paddy in front.

Many of the external walls surrounding the homes are more function than form. They’ll use whatever material is available, be it stones from the ground or cinderblocks.  The house roof is typically clay tile, although may be steel. The yellow/blue roof beyond the trees is an older home with its blue steel roof corroded and peeling.

This is a small road that runs up through the neighborhood. What roads exist in these older places generally are wherever the homes aren’t, twisting and turning in labyrinths around the irregular shaped plots. Buildings codes and zoning laws are non-existent, even in the city. It not uncommon to see fairly old and rundown structures like the one on the left adjacent to a newer structure like the brick building further up. The stone wall building on the right serves as a barn and houses half a dozen cows.

Some of the homes are fairly nice. The two below  appear to be relatively new. Number 11 uses stones to hold down the shed roof.

While we might places pictures of our family and ancestors above the fireplace mantle, these Koreans place theirs above the front entrance.

  Although the buildings are larger and evidently newer, even Seoul retains its flavor of roads built around homes rather than the opposite, as westerners do. This picture was taken from Seoul tower looking down onto one of the older parts of town. It clearly shows the haphazard placement of thoroughfares around structures. Most of these are “villas”, consisting of three or four stories. Many of the walls surrounding walls won’t be there, but it will have the look and feel of a maze.

How’s that, Gwen? Does it give you a feel for what Korea is like?

So, its been raining off and on for the past several days. No big deal. I don’t mind spending time inside. I have lots of things to occupy me. I can read, watch Korean TV, surf the internet, play computer games, and most recently, watch some classic movies.

Entertainment Weekly came out with their picks for the all time best Action-Adventure and Sci-Fi movies and TV shows. Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s read their articles. After searching for some of these classics on the bit-torrent websites, I’ve found a great number of them with multiple people downloading and uploading. So, being the internet pirate that I am, I’ve gotten my share of the great ones.

Some of the more interesting ones include “The Battleship Potemkin,” a 1920s silent film on the Russian revolution from the perspective of the sailors aboard a warship. Heroes (The TV series) is another good one. These just aren’t available at the local Korean video store. I’m pulling down”Gunga Din” and “Pitch Black” at the moment. I never seen either, the latter I’ve never even heard of. One has to act quickly on the internet. As news travels fast, it also fades fast. Wait another few weeks and they’ll all be off the boards and generally unavailable again.

Bit-torrent is awesome. One day, they’ll figure out a way to kill it. In the meantime, I’m taking advantage of a window in time and technology and getting mine. Call me a thief, a pirate – whatever. I’m just enjoying whiling away the time waiting for better weather.

If you don’t know bit-torrent and want the scoop, email me. I’ll fill you in on all the details.

June 21st is the official beginning of summer in Korea. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be hot and nasty. Many of the locals refer to it as the “rainy season.” So, our rainy season began today, not with rain, but with sweltering humidity.  It was only in the mid-70’s today, but  you could almost swim from place to place rather than walk.  The humidity was 95%.  As the day worn on, however, the humidity finally solidified and turned into a wall of water. Right on time. The rainy season.

The last tour I had in Korea, it wasn’t terribly rainy but it was unbearably hot. I had no air conditioner and resorted to placing bottles of frozen water in front of a fan to stay cool at night. Everyone swore 2004 was the hottest summer they could remember. The foreigners kept telling me we’d never climb in the summer for the rain, but that didn’t hold true.

This year, we still haven’t had a really hot day this summer and I still haven’t turned on the air conditioner the owner has installed since I was here last. I guess we’ll see what kind of summer we get this year.  So far, the weather service is calling for rain for the next several days.

We were going to go rock climbing on Sunday, but the weather turned to drizzle in mid morning and we decided to take a drive out to the coast. We ended up in Ganjeolgot, a rocky outcropping that is the eastern most point on the Korean peninsula. It is known locally as the place where the rising sun is first visible in Korea and is quite popular for sunrise pictures and So-ju drinking during the Lunar New Year festival. We obviously didn’t get up there early enough for a sunrise picture. I’m more of a sunset kind of guy anyway. We got there in mid-day, but a cloudy day makes for nice photos since there aren’t heavy shadows to deal with.

MyeongHee puts on her best smile.

The point, with its oversized postal box. The East Sea is filled with freighters going to and from Ulsan, which is just north of Ganjeolgot. The picture below is zoomed in heavily (10x) but shows the sprawl of Ulsan and its petrochemical plants. It was quite windy and the sea was whipping up the whitecaps.

Out on the point, is a statue of a woman in a traditional Korean Han-bok dress with her two offspring. I decided she could comfort me and my pup as well as her stone children.

Meanwhile, MyeongHee decided she wants a “ho-tteok” a kind of pancake pastry filled with brown sugar. The ho-tteok didn’t do anything but make me hungry for something more substantial. We decided to head up the coast a bit where a mass of Korean-style sushi houses serve up seafood straight from the boat to the platter.

Before we could get off the point, however, SaTang decided to make friends with an azumma selling kelp stalks. The azummas are a funny bunch. Described by most Koreans as a “third sex” these old women must try hard to find clothes that clash. I have yet to see one with any semblance of a coordinated outfit or even a bland, nondescript wardrobe.

Nevertheless, she was kind enough to offer SaTang a few scraps of seaweed from her treasure before shooing her off. SaTang, not knowing any better, happily snarfed up the scraps before spitting them out seconds later. Straight off the pile, they’re heavily salted as a preservative and should be rinsed before eating.

At the Sushi house, we tied up SaTang outside while we sat at the short tables and feasted on mounds of whitefish wrapped in lettuce leaves with garlic and sweet bean paste. Appetizers included steamed mussels and the ever-popular Sea Penis. I’d seen these horrid things often enough, but never tried one. I ate several bites of the dreaded water-wang, drenching mine in soy sauce and wasabi. They’re not wonderful, but neither are they horrible. There’s no reason for one to go out of one’s way to find and order these little ocean organs; they’re fairly bland and have a texture akin to what innertube must be like to eat. All told, it was a pretty good day.

I tried not to do windows a couple of years ago, and it just didn’t work out. Not the glass kind, the computer kind. I’ve used several other kinds of computer systems in the past, but the only reason  I moved over to windows was because they were so popular and most everything one needed was running on them. I’ve never been very fond of Microsoft’s stuff, but the choices were fairly limited. It was either Windows or a Mac. I’d already worked with one cult computer, SGI, so getting on the Mac train wasn’t my idea of fun.

When I say I tried not to do windows before, I loaded one of the open-source Linux operating systems on my computer. I tried Fedora, a spin-off from one of the early Linux innovators, RedHat. Back then, in 2005, it was Fedora 4, and while it was cool, it just didn’t have everything I needed. The iPod support was the most lacking, but several other things just didn’t work like I’d hoped. I gave it a good geek-boy effort to try and get off Windows, but eventually I went back.

This year, I gave Fedora another whirl. Three major Fedora versions have come out since then, while good ol’ Microsoft has barely pumped out one. And the one it did, Vista, turned out to be nothing but a big turd. I had a chance to work on a friend’s new Vista machine here in Korea and I was completely unimpressed.  Seeing the writing on the wall that new computers would soon be sporting this ungainly pile of code, hacks, cracks and spyware, I decided that maybe Fedora or another Linux operating system would suffice. The innovation provided by the thousands of developers who write the software because they want to is just too compelling. In addition, free is pretty hard to beat, especially when Micro$oft charges so damn much for their stuff.

I’ve been running Fedora 7 now for just a couple of weeks. I don’t have everything the way I want it, but I’ve been quite impressed so far. It has everything the average user would need. All of the internet stuff, Office products, audio and video applications, and even iPod apps are there. Today I created both a “powerpoint” presentation and “word” document on my Linux system, took them to another Windows computer and it read them just fine. Total interoperability. Same with my iPod – it can see the device, and load to and from it. There’s even a nice “Photoshop”-like tool for image manipulations. There’s just not much else I do these days that makes me think I have to keep my Windows stuff around. I will anyway, at least for a while, to make sure I don’t run into any serious problems. But I think it’s going to be fine. I’m writing this blog entry on it now, just as I wrote the last several.

Obviously, Linux isn’t for everyone. If you have little idea what you’re doing with computers, then it’s definitely not for you (This means you, Dad!) Fedora/Linux takes some know-how and understanding of computers to set up.  If you’ve done things like change your browser from Internet Explorer to Firefox and moved all your bookmarks, you could probably set up your own Fedora box. If you ever had to setup your own internet connection, you could probably do it. If you’ve ever moved all your email addresses from one email client to another, you could probably do it. It’s not rocket science, but its not for the timid key pressers who are afraid they’ll do something wrong and lose everything.

However, once in front of a Fedora 7 system, I’d challenge anyone reading this that you could be immediately productive. As a user, its easy, intuitive and you honestly can’t screw it up. Nor could you download something that would harm your system – no viruses, no spyware, or malware.

I didn’t really intend for this blog to be a diatribe on how cool Fedora is. I just have a lot of time on my hands and what money do I have I don’t want to give to Microsoft. Whats more, I think Microsoft had better get their shit together.  Why pay them when free stuff that works quite well is out there? A few more major revisions of Fedora and it really will be childs play to set up your own system and be cool – like me!

I got a nice Father’s Day package in the mail from Jessie and Tt. Thanks, girls. I like the coffee – I was almost out of the fairly bland stuff I buy here. And the Claritin knock-off will come in real handy – it helps a lot in fighting off the occasional crud in the air here. I haven’t read the Grisham book, so I’m excited to tear into that, too.  Great picture of you both, also. It sits proudly on my desk in the school for all to see the beautiful daughters I have.
SaTang really likes the chew toys you sent too. She says “woof” which means “com-sam-nida” (She hasn’t mastered the Enlgish version of “thanks” yet)

Sort of. I’ve mentioned several times in the past couple of weeks, either in emails or chat sessions to folks back home that life is pretty stress free here for me. I make decent money, my rent is free and the bills are cheap. I’m not rich by any means, but the stress of not having enough is completely gone. Unlike living in the US, where, for the past several years I had virtually no health insurance – the ‘what if’ of should something happen (and usually did) was always there. I always seemed to scrape by – barely. I just don’t have those worries any more.

I’ve also mentioned recently that my biggest stress is what to make for dinner. That probably sounded flippant to some, but the truth is, that really is both the truth and a  source of stress. After having lived in the land of a million genres of food for most of my  life,  having just Korean food doesn’t cut it. I really do like their grub, but I’m used to having Mexican one night, steak the next, Italian another and having Sushi or Chinese the next. The point is, I had a plethora of places to placate my palate back home, but here it’s Korean, or cooking in my own kitchen.

Now, I’m a pretty good cook (for a guy) but that’s just part of it. First, one must find the ingredients to make the food one wishes. Raw materials are easy to come by – beef, chicken, pork, fish and plenty of fresh veggies are everywhere. Try and find some spices, though, and salt and pepper are likely the only thing one will find in the average Korean store. I had a hankering for basil to go with some tomatoes I tossed over pasta. No luck. I made of pot of split-pea soup using some fresh shelled peas I scored at the open-air market the other day. It turned out pretty good, but a bay leaf would have made it perfect.   Tonight, I’m making garlic-lemon-butter chicken with mushrooms. Some capers would sit nicely on top of that – but only in my dreams.  I could even make my own barbeque sauce, but the chili powder available here is strictly the five-alarm variety.

So, if I sounded as I I didn’t have a care in the world, that’s just not so.  Finding the goods to make western style dishes is something many foreigners spend a significant amount of time on. It might be dried oregano at this store and chicks peas at another, but eventually everything can be cobbled together.  I long for a cupboard stocked with all the things an American boy could cook with.

A big, gnarly-ass bacon cheeseburger with tater-tots wouldn’t hurt, either.

Or not, I suppose the title should be. I’ve just about lost all faith in the Korean postal system to ship packages. Twice in the past three months I’ve had occasion to use their services and I’ve found them lacking. The recipient of the packages I’ve sent, in contrast, has found nothing. Twice I’ve sent cases of Ramen soup to Sam, twice they’ve not arrived. The second still could be enroute, but its been long enough that for the price I paid for airmail it should have arrived. At least one package has not arrived, either. Former roomie Xiomara said she shipped something a long while back but I have yet to see anything arrive.

Of course, its more than difficult to lay blame on any one place. It may not be the fault of the Korean postal service. Having no insight into their inner workings, I simply have to take them at their word that what I pay them to send for me for will arrive.

I can’t help but think, however, that somewhere there’s some old crone slurping up the noodle soup I sent, all the while cackling at the exorbitant price I paid to ship some cheap Ramen junk food soup while her cousin Lee Fuk You ships daily to K-Town in Dallas for a fraction of the cost.

I think I’ll start sending DHL or something from now on.

Again.

Dang, when I catch a cold here in Korea, its usually a nasty one. I had one back in February and it took me off my feet for a couple of days. Luckily, the worst day occurred on a holiday and I was able to spend time at home resting without missing work.

This week, I’ve got the same thing. A nasty cold – this one has my throat in a hammer lock and can’t even talk without sounding like Mel Torme. Again, though, I’m lucky enough for it to hit me on a holiday so I’m not skipping out on the job. The folks I work for a really great and I don’t want to leave them without a teacher. Getting a sub is not an option for them.

They are so good to me, in fact, that they’re helping set up some private lessons. I start this Saturday teaching a group of four girls in another tony part of town. Its only 2 hours a week, but at $40/hr its decent money. They want to do several sessions a week during summer vacation so I should be able to save some serious coinage.
I just hope I kick this cold before Saturday. Right now I don’t even have the energy to go take pictures of my cool new set of $5 bikes. Instead, I’ll post a recent picture of me and my pup, SaTang.  She’s a hoot!

Turned out to be my frickin’ treasure.

Earlier, last week, a couple of bicycles showed up in the trash near the house. They both looked like complete, unbroken bikes on casual inspection, but they were chained together and thrown in a heap. I suspected they were stolen and the thieves were unable to defeat the lock so they ditched them in a garbage pile in another part of town.

Like many things here, they do things different. They put their phone numbers and names on everything. It’s common to see the owner’s phone numbers on almost every car windshield – something American women would be loath to do. Anyway, there was a phone number on one of the bikes, so I called. The woman who answered hung up on me, so I suspect my Korean pronunciation was horrible. I had my school director call and he got almost the same treatment. He talked to her just long enough to find out she didn’t care about the bikes.

I picked them both up and carried them to my apartment. No small feat considering I live on the fourth floor. There, I had a chance to check out the lock. It was just jacked up – frozen solid and the dials on the combination wouldn’t budge. Maybe she decided to just pitch them both since she couldn’t get the lock undone.  Maybe the weren’t stolen but just unwanted. Either way, I went out and bought a $5 hack saw and became the proud owner of two perfectly good bicycles: a mountain bike and a racing bike. Both are Korean manufacture and nothing anyone at home would recognize. But for $5, I think they’re awesome.

I scratched off the number and immediately went for a ride. While cruising the neighborhood, I saw one of my students. He asked me if I got a new bike. Of course, I told him. Then he asked me why my new bike had some Korean dude’s name on it. I had seen it before, but assumed it was the manufacturer’s sticker of some sort. Nope, a name. Busted. I sheepishly explained in more detail how I got the new bike, but I suspect he thinks I’m a criminal.

I added my temple photos of YongGunSa to the photo gallery today. Check them out.

Whaling has been an important part of the culture in this area for thousands of years. There are several petroglyphs in the region with depictions of whales and whale hunting. It’s not surprising that they have some affection for their history and culture. So much so, in fact, that they defy the world ban on whale hunting imposed in 1985. Moreover, they don’t particularly care if the world thinks differently than they do. They are going to continue hunting and killing whales in the name of science and research for the pleasure of eating and whatever else they do with them.

Anyway, I put together a few clips of last week’s Whale Festival here in Ulsan. Here’s a few bits and pieces from the festival. Grab a few chunks of whale meat and sit back and watch how the Korean’s celebrate their whaling heritage.

Yes, I always read the comments on this blog. And yes, a little more airtime of me and my pup was a good idea. I like to show the world where I am and what goes on here, but I forget sometimes that folks back home might actually miss seeing moi. And, since my new pup is such a cutie, Circe’s suggestion of posting video of me and SaTang in some bi-lingual training was a great idea.

We just came back from the vet’s place where SaTang got her 3rd round of shots. She whimpered, but once it was all over, she was her usual playful self. The vet always gives us freebies when we visit so I used his snacks for some training.

And since fair is fair, maybe some pictures of folks back home would be nice, too. I’ve seen pictures of Nicole’s, Kim’s and Corey’s kids and Circe’s grandson, but none of my own kids or of any of my friends. I did see some pictures of John in China and a graduation picture of Cameron, but like most things, more is better.

Today was a holiday in Korea, celebrating Buddha’s birthday, although they call him Bu Cheo Nim here.

The city has been decorated for the holiday for the past couple of weeks, but it was rather muted decorations. One of the main rotaries (a circular drive where multiple roads come together) was dressed up in lanterns and a Buddha-bubble-boy while the adjacent bridge over the Taewha river also adorned with lanterns.

Overall, the city’s decorations were light compared with Christmas. Its pretty close to 50/50 Christians and Buddhists, but the Christians do a better job dressing the place up. The above Buddhas and lanterns are about all you could find in Ulsan that signifies the holiday today.

However, we went to a temple in Busan, today, and there the atmosphere is quite a bit different. MyeongHee is Buddhist and wanted to pay her respects for the holiday. We went to Haedong Yong Gung Sa (해동옹궁사) which is a spectacular temple situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the East Sea on the far southeastern corner of Korea. There I was literally blown away by the finery and beauty of the place, both because of the place it resides in, but also the colors, architecture and pure spectacle of it all.

The original temple was built in 1376, but like many Korean places of interest, it was destroyed in the 1590s by the Japanese. Rebuilt in the 1930s, it has all the grandeur one would expect from one of the country’s more popular temples, especially during Buddha’s Birthday celebration.

I took quite a few pictures, but they won’t all fit in here. I’ll create a slide show and have that up before next week. There are so many wonderful things to show you all!

It’s difficult to find comparable places of interest in America in terms of history or architecture. Much of this country has been around for centuries, despite the frequent periods of destruction wrought by the Japs. I have to admit, the continuity of a culture for hundreds or even thousands of years is something that holds enormous interest for me.

I uploaded a batch of pictures from Sunday’s outing at the Whale festival.  I’ll have a video of  sorts a little later.

MyeongHee and I went to the Whale festival this weekend. There were lots of things to see and do, but this video was just too cool not to immediately share. This is another set of Korean Folk Dancers, this time a troupe of teenagers. The dancing with the streamer coming off his hat was awesome to watch. A little too windy to do all the tricks I suspect he wanted to do, but we still enjoyed it.

I hope to get a few more pictures and videos up this week. They did a very cool reenactment of a prehistoric whale hunt – I’ll have to edit the video first for that one, though.

Speaking of editting, I finally put together some video of my Lunar New Year vacation to 무주 (Mu Ju) Ski Resort. I put that up on my Photos folder if you want to see that one.

By the way, I thought it was cool that I could both read and understand the Korean writing on the side of the building behind the dance troupe in this video. I’m still a long way from fluent, but I do pretty well these days.

Or, at least that’s what Korea’s national motto is supposed to be. I snapped this picture of a Honda Goldwing motorcycle this weekend that some fancy-pants rider decided to trick out with his biker club’s flag. I always get a kick out of the guys who have to show their intellectualism by having it written in English only to do it badly. It’s sort of a badge of brains of some kind to show the other Koreans you know some English. However, this clown didn’t bother to check his work. Although he’s got the right spelling on one part of the flag, the other, larger one is horribly misspelled. Maybe he didn’t know jack about English and was just hedging his bets, thinking he’d get one or the other right. Just above the Goldwing logo on the flag, is the correct “Morning Calm” lettering. The larger one caught my eye from a long way back. It’s still a nice bike.

It really is Land of the  Morning Calm, by the way. Many of the stores, including the grocery stores, don’t open until 10 am. However, the guys across the street are still pounding away on both destroying the playground and building the new building, both at 7am.  Hopefully, when they’re done, it will be “carm”  in the morning again

Sometimes, translations aren’t always correct. A few weeks ago on Easter weekend, we went to Eunyong for wild duck followed by a visit to the flower festival. Among the many things we saw to eat, one bowl of roasted flesh was described as “Dolphin.” Well, It wasn’t Dolphin.

This weekend, another festival comes to Ulsan. The Annual Whale Festival. MyeongHee said she wanted to go, and that’s when I learned that what she thought she was telling me was dolphin was actually Whale meat.

Well, we’ll go check out this festival (http://www.whalekorea.com/) and see what the fuss is all about.  Google or AltaVista can translate (albeit rather poorly) this site into English. The early buzz on the festival says it more about hunting, killing and eating the mammals than saving or preserving them. That 97% of the rest of the world has banned whale hunting is not a deterrent to the Koreans. They hunt and kill them under the banner of “science.” They even have special processing facilities (called restaurants) to dispose of the carcasses after the science is complete, so it’s all ok.

The playground goes under as well. Again, early in the morning, the machines enter my world of sleep.

A few days ago, they started tearing up one of the last remaining patches of bare ground in Cheonsang. Not that any place is actually bare – it had some ad hoc gardens that neighbors had created. Whatever efforts they had put into growing their veggies vanished as their gardens simply succumbed to the march of progress.

This lot is just across the street from my apartment. I have a bird’s eye view of the destruction/construction.

Progress isn’t kind. Especially to those nearby. Before they could pour the foundation for this new building they had to break up some underlying rock to level it out. I woke up to these clowns pounding the ground at 6 AM! Give a listen to this.

When I was in Korea in 2005, Jessie teased me that she wasn’t ready to have kids and make me a grandfather yet. But, she would introduce me to my “grand dog” when I came home.

So… if her dog Shelby is my grand dog, is Sa Tang Jessie’s sister? 

I’ve been single for five years. I figured it was time to get serious and stop being alone.  So, say hello to Sa Tang, my new best friend.

One of the teachers I worked with had a dog that puppies seven weeks ago. I say “had” because the mother had died giving birth to the five pups. Sa Tang and her litter mates have been raised by hand, being bottle fed with special puppy formula. She’s very affectionate. In fact, she’s totally people oriented. She wanted to be held most of the night when I got her last night and it didn’t take her long to get comfortable enough to stretch out on my lap and fall asleep. After getting acclimated to my home, she very readily went into her kennel slept the whole night there.

Sa Tang, by the way, is Korean for candy. She’s pretty sweet.

Stay tuned for a major announcement regarding a change in family size.

This is the view from ByeongYeongSeong, the site of a former police barracks and fortress in Ulsan built in the 1400s. It isn’t much today, but it does have a nice view of the river valley and its masses of covered nurseries. I stitched three pictures together (somewhat poorly) for this panoramic view. Below is a thumbnail view.

Click to enlarge.

Check out the old woman in the lower right corner, just sitting there, enjoying the view. I’ve often wondered what thoughts were going through her mind as she looked over the expanse. Her family? Her life? Tremendous growth the area has seen? Or how much money she could make from her garden.

This site had served as the headquarters of the military commander in Gyeongsangjwa province until 1894. Now, it has been reduced to just another vegetable garden.

Just a little self-aggrandizement. I was belaying Bryan, a relatively new climber, from the heights when my pal Jack snapped this photo. The climb is only a 5.9 but its very long, stretching almost 40 meters.  I had already done my climb here, in addition to leading 3 other routes, and was feeling pretty manly.

It is rather invigorating up there, standing at the precipice. The wind in your face, the cliff to your back, and a half-dozen Koreans nearby on the trail to the temple in awe of our prowess, telling us how brave, good and handsome we are.

An hour or so earlier, Bryan and I are caught in a rather more pensive mood. We were relaxing a bit having just done a couple of hard routes when Ji-Gyoung, Jack’s girlfriend, took this picture.

It’s not often I’m in front of the camera. I thought I’d share.

I have been hitting the rocks almost every weekend here. Sometimes, both Saturday and Sunday.  Lately, MyeongHee had come with me just to see what it was all about. Her ideas of rock climbing before seeing it were terrifying and she had no intention of ever doing it. She watched us climb on a couple of Sundays and decided it really wasn’t all that scary. I came off the rock on a 5.10c climb and fell no more than 2 feet before my belayer reeled things in.  I heard her suck in wind between her teeth in fright when I fell, but she realized that it was all ok.

This past weekend, she decided that she would try it. She trimmed her nails and put on one of the other climbers adjustable harness. She went in regular sneakers as no one had climbing shoes anywhere near the size of her dainty feet.  She climbed the first one, a 5.8 of about 13 meters, with only a little hesitation in the middle. We talked her through where and how to go and she was elated when she reached the top. She did the second one, beforebragging about how easy it would be. She was right. She scampered right up it. She did great, considering she didn’t even have the right shoes.

We went back into town right after coming off the mountain and I bought her a proper pair of climbing shoes. Looks like I have another climbing partner.

You know the rest. Except it isn’t Old Macdonald, it’s old Kim or Lee or Park. Everywhere there’s a bit of land that isn’t covered with a home, an apartment building or business, the Koreans have turned into a source of food. I’m amazed at how resourceful they are and able to grow things in the smallest of places.

This guy has turned his smallish front yard into a cattle pen. There’s actually two cows there; a smaller one is laying down in front of the hay bale, it’s brown face just peeking out on the right. Most of the valley, any valley, is criss-crossed with stone walls similar to the one below his farm. I’ve often wondered how many people it took, how many years to build and how many years they’ve been there.

This lush wheat field is just a few 100 meters from my neighborhood. Cheonsang is just a small suburb that is built into the one of the many valleys of Munsu Mountain. Just past the point at which roads would be difficult to build, the farms take over. The wheat field is atop a short rise that makes for a nice green contrast from the stark white highrise apartments in the background. This patch of wheat is no bigger than a bus, but will give some old woman another bowl of foodstuffs to sell on her sidewalk grocery.

Further along the narrow valley, on the more gentle slopes, pear orchards abound. These require some serious infrastructure to hold them up as these are Ulsan Pears. Each pear is larger than a softball and can weigh almost a pound each. Grow a few of those on each limb and you can see why they need reinforcing rods and pipes to hold them up. They’re called Asian Pears back home and they absolutely rock! If you haven’t tried one yet – don’t. It’s better to save your money and get a fresh one here.

These lovely ladies were playing at a ceremony just around the corner from my apartment. There was some sort of official hoopla or other going on but I honestly don’t know what it was. I asked in my best, most polite Korean what was happening, but the women running the place spoke too rapidly and used vocabulary with which I was unfamiliar. So too, was the music, dancing, its purpose or any underlying symbolism there might have been. Of course, that adds to the mystery and adventure of it all, but sometimes I wish I weren’t in the dark all the time.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed their performance. I only caught the last few minutes of it. I heard the drums from my apartment for nearly 30 minutes before I realized it wasn’t some distant hammering but an actual drumbeat. I love the bright colors they wear. The paper hats are cute, too.

Most Korean cities look the same to me, once in the heart of them. Every city seems to have distinct neighborhoods, each with its own  infrastructure. Mine is no different and I’ve become quite enamored of its charms. Within a short walk from my home is the bank, the gym, several small grocery stores, multiple restaurants and, every five days, an open-air market.  Although I have a car, I use it only for excursions into town. Sometimes, it sits for days, parked out front, as I have no need to travel outside of Cheonsang (천상.)
I remember when I came back to America the first time. The isolation I felt within the first week until I bought a car. There was nothing within the immediate vicinity of our apartment in Plano except the Albertsons and a smattering of small shops across the street. I resented having to spend a decent amount of my savings on something to just get around town.

A different sort of isolation was also present, although not immediately evident.  Being in a car to get wherever I need to go, there’s no personal interaction with those around me. Here in my little neighborhood, as I walk from place to place, I am continually greeted by those I pass. Shopkeepers whom I have frequented will smile and bow as I pass. Children frequently say hello to test their English skills. My own students will stop and chat for a second, and if their parents are with them, will also chat briefly. Even strangers will sometimes smile and nod their head in a curt bow.

I feel connected to my surroundings. There are no megastores here, where everyone is just another faceless customer, although I can drive to those if need be.  In Cheonsang, nearly everything is small enough so that its customer base is a core set of those near it. That’s reflected in how people treat each other.

Other than having a yard and landscaping to enjoy, its hard to imagine the benefits of the American suburban lifestyle where everything is an automobile ride away. I might need some help in remembering why that’s a good way to build cities.

There aren’t many western restaurants in Ulsan. McDonald’s is everywhere, but there are only three sit-down style places I know of. There’s a TGI Fridays, a Bennigan’s and an Outback Steak House. Not many choices for a boy who needs some western food to balance out all the garlic and red pepper ingested over the previous few months. MyeongHee and I decided to go to Fridays this weekend. I ordered a grilled steak which was actually pretty decent (Outback pan fries their steaks, which I consider an abomination.)  MyeongHee ordered the “Sanghai Salad,” (bad spelling theirs) which she thought would be an Asian dish of some sort. It was sad to see it come out as some sort of Korean-ized version of an American-ized version of some marketing guy’s idea of what a Chinese salad might be. I had a few bites and don’t think I’ve ever had salad as hot as that. Even she thought it was to hot, and she’s accustomed to eating raw hot peppers that kick my butt. My tongue required more than a couple of dousings of water and beer to cool the heat.  I’m betting the red pepper liberally sprinked on was to blame. It was the same with the fries that accompanied my steak – just a bit too much red pepper to call them “French” fries.

I think I’ve been doing the right thing all along: any western food I have a hankering for should be properly prepared here at home with whatever fresh ingredients I can find. The Koreans tend to use red pepper as we westerners use black pepper.  They’re just not interchangeable.

I spent both Saturday and Sunday rock climbing this weekend. Saturday was here in Ulsan at Munsu Mountain, our typical haunt. One of our group of climbers, Dee, is heading back home to Canada this week and she wanted to see some of the other rocks faces. After a rip-roaring going away party on Saturday night, we all got up early and drove down to Busan to check out their mountains.

Nothing is terribly far away in Korea, although the lack of a multitude of highways, the mountainous countryside and the numerous cars on the road make any trip an adventure. It took us about an hour and a half to drive the 30 some kilometers to Busan. Once we got to the old fortress walls on Mt Geum Jeung, it took us about the same amount of time to find the cliff faces from the scanty directions we had. We scrambled our way among several paths (the directions said take “the” path without mentioning there were several) and we enjoyed the terrific view of central Busan from the top of Mt. Geum Jeung. We went back down and found the proper path, but not before taking a few pictures from the summit.

I usually like to just insert pictures, but this time I decided to put in a thumbnail photo and link to the real one. And another is here. Busan from Mt Geum Jeung There’s just too much detail to scrunch it all down in a web suitable shot. Behind and below me is Busan, with Busan National University in the foreground. In the far right behind me, buried in the haze, is the East Sea/Sea of Japan. I would have taken several more, but my camera batteries died early.

The mountain itself is ringed with the remains of a stone fortress dating back several hundred years. Numerous trails thread their way through the lush and hundreds of Koreans, old and young, hike the trails every weekend.

When we finally found the cliff walls, it was almost anti-climatic. The routes we exceedingly difficult, with 5.10a being the easiest there. It was like taking a long drive just to take a beating. We all climbed several, though, and I led a 5.10b, which completed my day. After the climb we drove back into Busan for a tasty meal of Kalbi before heading back to Ulsan.

On the way it started to rain. We’d finished an entire weekend with the rain finally coming at the end when it no longer mattered.

It’s 9:30 Sunday evening and I’m settling in for an hour or two of movies and some warm compresses for my worn out fingers.

This weekend I traveled with MyeongHee and two of her friends to Eunyong for a little excitement. First, we ate at a restaurant tucked back in the woods and had “오리” or wild duck. They also had wild rabbit and venison on the menu, which I would have loved to have tasted, but since most meals are eaten family style we voted on the duck. It was fabulous, cooked right in front of us and eaten wrapped in lettuce leaves and with various forms of fresh and pickled vegetables.

Eunyong was also having a flower festival for all the cherry blossoms in bloom. During the daytime, photography is much easier and highlights the plummage these trees sport.

At night they had an entire lane of blooming trees lit up. They formed a beautiful pink canopy of flowers under which an arts, crafts, food and fun fair florished. Unfortunately, I only had my camera phone which has doesn’t do very well at all in poor light. I hope this at least conveys the wonder of walking in a tunnel of pink.

Under this awning of pink, the shops and food stalls were an amazing sight. Had we not just feasted on wild duck I might have sampled some of the goodies. No less than a dozen hogs had selflessly sacrificed themselves for the festival and jumped onto huge spits over blazing fires. Piles of oysters shells littered some stalls.  Some things weren’t quite so appetizing.

Roasted Dolphin meat (above) and vegetable-stuffed, roasted squid (below)

After walking the nearly half-mile long tunnel of stalls and entertainment, we finished off the evening with a bottle of Soju (I stuck with Sprite) and grilled fish. For $10 we got a bottle of Soju, some soda, our own grill and big pile of fresh fish to grill them on.  I love grilled fish and picking it right off the grill with chopsticks was a tasty treat. Forks are sometimes too cumbersome and chopsticks make it extra easy to sift through the bones and grab just the tender flaky pieces.

On Sunday, MyeongHee and I traveled to Daegu for  a little shopping. Since half the country is Buddhist, the other half concedes the Easter holiday and most shops were open. Along the way, pear and apple trees graced the hills with white and pink blossoms while Kennedy shrubs with their bright yellow flowers  dotted the highway  barriers. In all, it was a fine weekend filled with flowers, friends and festivals.

Spring is very much here in Ulsan. The cherry blossoms are everywhere. Most of the dust that plagued us over the weekend has dissipated and skies are clear. It’s still quite cool at night, but just cold enough to feel crisp and clean. I took a couple of pictures from around town, but they can’t capture the essence of a drive along the river where the whole panarama of the bamboo forest, river and blossoms collide.

This picture is along the Taewha River that runs throught the middle of Ulsan. They’ve lined it with cherry trees which are in full blossom. Pears trees closer to the street will provide a brilliant green in just a few weeks. I like the contrasting pink blossoms with the  bright green hedge near the deep red brick sidewalk.

At the end of a path through a small grove of trees I found this small blossoming tree alongside a willow. It almost looks as if the willow is the one with flowers.

Entire fields are fluffy pink from all the blossoms. This looks like it might be outside the city in the country somewhere. In fact, it is near the busiest part of town. It is a bend in the Taewha river that is too low for development and the hillside beyond too steep. Just outside this view is a raft of aprtment buildings and shops.  Visible in the far right are a few of the rocks that comprise a small climbing area within sight of town.

A couple of weeks ago I took some pictures of the misty mountain of Munsu. Today, the mountain looks similar from down here in the valley, but that ain’t no mist. Neither is it fog or smog. The Koreans call it a “Hwang Sa” or “황사” if you set your browser to show Korean fonts.

The haze you see in these pictures is courtesy of the Great Gobi Desert in Northern China and Mongolia. Every spring the desert throws up a curtain of fine dust. Some years it isn’t too bad. The spring of 2005 it was barely noticeable,  but this year it’s pretty intense.

When I took these pictures, it was only about 5:30pm on Sunday. Normally still nice and  bright for a spring evening. But the bus has its lights on and the traffic lights would be barely visble if they weren’t on. Many of the people in Cheonsang outside are wearing masks. I walked to the store with my T-shirt over my nose. No one looked twice, pointed fingers or made fun of me. Other than a short trip for groceries and to take her home later in the evening, MyeongHee and I stayed indoors all day and watched movies. It was eerily quiet for a Sunday as everyone else seemed to be staying indoors unless they absolutely had to get out. The dust is very fine and can cause some nasty respiratory problems if you breath in too much of the stuff. On the news, the pictures from Seoul were far worse. They have about 50% more of the dust in the air than we do. Near the North Korean border, it’s twice the density of here.

Just for fun, here’s a picture from May of 2004 when I first moved into this apartment. The air is significantly clearer and the peak of Munsu is plainly visible behind the foothill in the foreground.

It hasn’t been real cold here so far. Only a couple of times since January has it dropped below freezing. Still, it’s been cold enough that spring tooks it time in getting here. The last couple of days has been warm and clear and the flora is taking advantage of it. Cherry blossoms are in full bloom and many other trees and plants are blossoming as well.  I think the last time I was here, it was close to the time I was heading back home and I was more concerned with that than experiencing the wonders of spring. I’ve always enjoyed spring and the rebirth of nature from it’s winter sleep. This weekend I hope to get out some and see a little more it. Gyeongju is renowned for its landscaped beauty. A picture of taken in Gyeongju in the fall graces the banner headline of this blog.

If not for the sign attached to the traffic lights informing me I wasn’t allowed to go straight, I most certainly would have. I tell you, the rules we have to put up with here in  Korea are just sometimes too much to bear.

I’ve posted many pictures of climbing at Munsu-san in the past. Take a look at some pictures of the other side of the misty mountain: the temple at Munsu-sa.

I’ve published a gallery of photos of Munsu-sa on my Photos folder

Every neighborhod has one of these. Some old man or woman (I’m not sure which in these photos) comes around with a cart to collect cardboard left at doorsteps of homes and businesses. Koreans generally recycle the hell out of everything. What surprises me, though, is that they’ll come pick this stuff up. I have to haul my own plastic, bottles, cans and glass myself to the nnumerous recycle areas. Moreover, why do they pick it up in such a labor intensive manor by relatively frail folk. Most of them are very old.

I’m guessing that there’s more of a market for cardboard at the recycling collection center and the old ones are just supplmenting their income by taking it directly. It’s always the same kind of cart, never a truck or car. It’s as if there’s some consortium of Cardboard People who all get the tools of the trade from the same place. Sort of a Sam’s Club for box folk.

I don’t make fun of these people. They work hard – for whatever the reason. I just thought it interesting and decided to share with the friends and family who read this blog.

I got an email from my step-niece this weekend. Sam, whom I’ve never met, is a soldier in the middle east somewhere.  Somehow, she’d gotten my email from someone back home who knew I  am in Korea. Apparently, she’d lost her contacts in Korea who were able to send her some of the spicy Ramen noodle soup. I told her I’d send her some and today I shipped out four cases of the stuff to her.  I also sent along a decent pair of stainless steel chopsticks.  It’s cheap stuff, and it costs more to ship than to buy.  I was happy to oblige.

I may be vehemently against the war in there, but I’ve never been anti-troops. Those men and women in the military work hard and do great things.

There’s rarely a need to find a grocery store if you just need some fresh veggies for dinner. It quite common to find old women (an ajumma, pronounced “Ah-zum-MAH”) sitting on a street corner selling them. Sometimes it’s from their own garden, sometimes is from a co-op just so they can round out their offerings.

Since it’s still fairly cold sometimes, they’ll wear a mask like the woman on the right, below. It doubles as a dust protector as in the spring there’s a decent flow of dust that blows in from the Gobi desert in Mongolia.

The ability to sit for hours on a little plastic stool, or worse, on the bare pavement, is a testament to the hardiness of these women.

I’ve seen some of these old women sit for hours on end without making a single won. I really wonder if this is just supplemental income, or this is THE income.

The opposite of Valentines’ Day in Korea, White Day is when boys give gifts to their girlfriends. MyeongHee and I went out and chowed on some tasty seafood last night. The spread before her is typical of most Korean restaurants – one main dish with a couple of million side dishes. That’s a lot of food! We barely put a dent in the Hae Mul Jim, the main course of seafood and veggies.

The day at school was a lot of fun, too. As a male teacher, it’s proper for me to give out candy for White Day to the girls at school, but in the interest of fairness, give it out to all of the kids. I bought a couple of large bags of hard candy and doled it out to each class. Then I spent time teasing the boys about how many girlfriends they have and whether or not they had already kissed them (Ewwww, teacher, NO!)

I have finished rewriting my first novel, Internal Strife. I finished the first draft in June of 2005 and tried valiantly, but unsucessfully to get an agent and publisher for it. No big deal. This is the information age. I spent some additional time honing and polishing the book and want to get some eyeballs front of it.

Very soon I’ll place the novel into my Writing and Prose blog. I’m not really into the money, but giving away several months of hard work for free isn’t something I’m interested in either. I’m working on a method of data protection as well as purchase fulfillment, but I’ll probably put the first chapter or two out there before then as a teaser.

We’ll just see how much interest there is an up-and-coming novelist. Book #2 is already in the works.

Ever since sometime in 2005 I’d come to despise Wal-Mart. Their business practices disgusted me in the way they destroy small towns and family businesses, encouraged their employees to use state medical resources rather than provide decent medical insurance (which means US citizens pay for Wal-Mart employee health care) and treated their Chinese factories like sweat-shops, complete with hamster-size living quarters. I wasn’t dismayed in the least to learn that they’d packed up shop and moved out of Korea. I used to shop there for the western foods I could not get elsewhere in town. But understanding their business model and tactics since then I would refuse to go even if they were still here.

Instead, I went to Daegu in central South Korea where they have a real live honest to goodness Costco with huge amounts of western foods. They don’t have the same horrid business practices as Wal-mart either.

I made the trip to Daegu yesterday and stocked up on all the yummy things a growing boy needs that can’t be found (either easily or cheaply) elsewhere in Korea. I bought oatmeal, granola bars, real cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, beef jerky, V-8 juice, and a pile of other goodies too numerous to mention. Of course, I had to buy in bulk, but that keeps me stocked up on some of these things for months.

I like Korean food and eat it often – at least one of my meals everyday. But sometimes, a man’s just gotta have the kind of stuff that, when consumed and he’s satiated, he can sit back and reminisce about it being “almost” like mom used to make.

I miss you, mom.

In cruising the international news sites, I ran across this article from the International Herald Tribune on teaching abroad.

I’d say the best line in this piece is from a Canadian who wrote

My eyes and mind have been opened to an acceptance of many other cultures. I have grown as much as my students have — the learning curve is unfathomable.

I do enjoy learning, whether it’s language, culture, new friends or new experiences.  Just thought I’d share.

Yesterday was beautiful weather for a drive. Nice and sunny if still a little on the cold and windy side. MyeongHee wanted to take me out to Jeongja beach so we drove out to the coast. The East Sea (Sea of Japan to the rest of the world) was a fabulous blue. The beach, while not soft sugar sand like some places, was a bed of smooth pebbles ranging from pea size to baseballs and still easy for walking. Miles of coastline allowed plenty of undisturbed space for a walk. 

We didn’t get much walking, though. Fashion is sometimes much more important than practicality to Korean women and MH wore high heels. We walked a little on the beach, but she had to keep dumping the pebbles out of her shoes.

Just a short distance up the coast was this little shop. I thought it was cute the way they made it look like a mushroom.

I got a new phone today – my boss bought me one ‘cuz the old was one, well, old. It was new when he got it in June of 2004, and that’s ancient in terms of electronics. This one is very coolio little LG SC300 slide phone. 

My new number (easier to get a new one than transfer the old number to this one) is 010-8804-6063.  Operators are standing by.

MyeongHee asked why my boss is giving me so many gifts. He’s given me the phone, a vacuum cleaner and a bunch of other stuff. I told her I figured it was because a happy Marty will stick around longer. I told her she could give me gifts, too, and it might work for her as well. I’m such a shit sometimes 🙂

If you’re wondering why the blog has been so quiet, its because I’m still fighting the jet-lag/time-zone thingy. I normally like to be up and around and seeing things, but this week all I’ve been able to do is work. I can’t seem to get to sleep at night no matter how many sheep I count. I might actually fall asleep around 6 or 7am and then get a few hours shut-eye before going to work at 1pm. By the time that’s done, I’m off to the gym, a little dinner and TV and then try to go to sleep all over again. It hasn’t been working too well. 

Last night, however, I went to sleep around 2:30am and didn’t get up until 10am. During most of my sleeping it was actually dark out!  I have a real need for a nap today, but I’m fighting it so I’ll be really ready for bed tonight. I hope I can get a decent night’s sleep as MyeongHee wants to show me the Jeonja coast along the East Sea. Maybe I’ll have some pictures from that trip for the blog.  

I adjusted pretty well to the shoe thing – that seemed to make sense. Chopsticks were never a problem. I’ve learned the language enough to get the basic care and feeding required.  I didn’t even bitch much when the toilet was nothing more than a glorified porcelain hole in the floor with a bucket next to it for all the nasty tissues.  But I still can’t deal with the semi co-ed bathrooms in most public places.

Many of the restaurants and businesses in Korea have a single bathroom.  There’s a stall for the girls, a stall for the boys and the stand-up urinal for the boys. Whether I go #1 or #2, I just don’t feel comfortable in either the stall or urinal with a woman in the same room. Sure, its a natural bodily function and all that, but I was just raised to have one room all to myself or at least all to everyone of the same sex.  I have a real hard time in the school I teach at – the thought of being at the urinal when one of those cute little 6 year old girls walks in to go in the girls stall just doesn’t sit right (no pun intended.) 

I lock the door when I go in at school. If someone else needs to use the john, they bang on the door as if its unheard of for someone to lock anyone else out. They look at me funny when I come out as if I have some communicable disease.

I think they’re just going to have to deal with it. I can’t get used to peeing in a place with a bunch of little girls around. And don’t even think about #2 – I save that for my own place. And if an emergency comes up at work, well, I’m only two floors below my apartment.  I’ll run up the stairs rather than pollute the one room we have.

Imagine a dish of noodles and seafood, swimming in a sauce so rich and deep red that you’d think the Italians came to town. Well, they didn’t. It wasn’t a tomato based sauce but a red pepper sauce, within which floated a sea of whole crab, fish, octopus, oysters and mussels. Everything was whole – they waitress had to cut out the shells and legs. It made me wish for some Italian pasta, but that didn’t last long. The red pepper sauce was hot but not overbearing and the seafood was fabulous – guts and all.

That was my first dish of Hae Mul Jim, a mix of whatever they can find in the ocean that moves and mix it with goju-jang, the ubiquitous red sauce of Korea. We had dinner Saturday night at a restaurant where MyeongHee’s friend SookHee works. The restaurant sat high on a ridge overlooking the city on one side and the coast on the other. As many places as I’d been in Ulsan the first year I was here, this place was new to me. Several times I had to open the window and use the cold night air to cool my lips from the spicy goju-jang. Each time I did, I was taken aback at the expansive panorama  of city lights before me and wondered aloud that I had not found this place before. I wish I’d had my camera with me, but decided we were just going to have a small dinner and I left it at home.  It might be worth another visit, not just for the food, but the view.

One of the benefits of coming to places like this and hanging out with Koreans rather than the other foreigners is that I get the red carpet treatment. The owner came into our little private dining area to introduce himself and check on us. When we left, he waited for us and bowed respectfully at the door.  Getting treatment like this, its no wonder I like to travel. It’s rare to get anything like that in the US and the Korean people are very sweet.  American business owners aren’t bad, lacking in manners or disrespectful, but its just rare to feel so appreciated there, except when I’m paying for it.

I uploaded a few old blogs. I added my Thailand blog and my blog from the first year in Korea here. None of the pictures came across, and the text is interspersed with links to the pictures that were there, but all the text is there.  Not terribly slick, but its there.

I also updated my writing blog with the things I’ve gotten published.

All three new additions can be accessed from the top level at of this blog. 

I got my new ride last night. The couple I bought it from are moving to New Zealand and I got it on the cheap for a mere $400.  It’s the same age as the one I gave away to Amanda last year and probably in the same condition – moderate at best. But, it’s wheels, it’s warm and it carries me from point A to point B.

I still like the idea of having a motorcycle and may still buy one. But the combination of a good deal and cold-ass weather persuaded me to drop some coin on this baby.

When I was working with Antje and Leslie as a recruiter in the marketing and advertising industry, I learned quite a bit about the business. Not near enough, mind you, to consider myself part of it, but at least I had become aware of the various roles and positions and their importance.

Before coming to Korea I had come across several advertising firms that needed Hispanic, bilingual copywriters. I understood well the need for a Hispanic copywriter and not just a gringo who knew the language. A copywriter needs to understand his audience in order to better market to them.

You might still be wondering (as I once was) what a copywriter really does. Copywriters , well, write copy.  The formal description of a copywriter was this:

Develops concepts and ideas for advertising and marketing materials and campaigns. Writes a wide variety of communications for print, TV, radio, and the Internet. Generates ideas with other members of the creative team. Works in both agency and corporate settings.

Of course, that still doesn’t describe it from a consumer’s perspective.  A copywriter is the person who writes (among other things) the flashy description of the product on the outside of the box, heralding its wonders and enticing all who view it to buy.  A deodorant can might contain such copy as “Smells Great! Keeps You from Smelling Nasty when You’re Sweaty!” or some such stuff (I told you I wasn’t qualified to be one of these guys.)

So now that I’m here in Korea, I see a need for native English speaking copywriters. Not just one who knows the language, but one who understands the audience and how to motivate them to buy their product versus another product. 

The reason for all this diatribe is that I went shopping for a hair dryer. I have to keep that new rock star hair looking swell and letting it air dry just wasn’t doing it. Oh, the copy I found on the various boxes of dryers I found! Some were pathetic and it was clear they had no one on staff who undertood more than basic English. Some were valiant attempts but fell far short of selling me. Others were simply hilarious. Some examples I found:

“…gives a large rush of warm air and provides a feeling of wellbeing.”

I needed a feeling of wellbeing, I just didn’t know it came in a hair dryer

“Three Settings – Hot, Warm, Off!”

I was worried about one that wouldn’t turn off.

“…driesit more faster with a great output of wind.”

My favorite. The ‘driesit’ is theirs, not mine.
But in the end, none of that mattered to me. I bought one with absolutely no English on the box – I simply chose the one with the highest wattage and lowest price. Momma didn’t raise no fools. Jessie is the one who is prone to buying based on the advertising alone.

In all fairness, there were a number of products with well-written copy on the packaging, so it isn’t like everything here is bungled up.  Its just fun to point out the ones where they skimp on translation services.

Maybe when I’m done teaching English I can find a job writing copy here. There’s certainly the need.   I can do as well as some of these guys.

As soon as I arrived in Incheon Airport in Seoul I exchanged some of my greenbacks for Korean won. I turned in $1000 and received 904,000 won. That’s quite a difference from three years ago when a grand would net me almost 1,200,000 won.

The way I look at it, US$1 is worth approximately 1000 won, give or take a few won. So, if you consider I had $1000 when I stepped off the plane, it took only a few days for a fool and his money to part. I spent $96 of it just changing it to k-won, most of that in exchange rates but some went to fees. I spent it all on (mostly) good things, though. It breaks down like this:

•  
  • $400 for a ’94 Hyundai Elantra. (motorcycles are fun, but I can never get the heaters to work on the damn things.)
  • $250 Health club membership for 6 months
  • $ 70 groceries
  • $ 30 power supply for the computer. (My motherboard wouldn’t work with the computer they gave me)
  • $ 35 household goods like soap, papertowels, etc.
  • $ 40 a night out for dinner with MyeongHee and her friends.
  • $ 30 on taxi rides around town
  • $ 94 on exchange rate and fees
  • $ ?? beer

I still need to pay for insurance for the car, which will cost me another $450 for the year. After that, though, my expenses should drop dramatically. Nothing else but food, gas and entertainment to pay for until March 1st when I get paid again. Gas, by the way, is quite a bit higher here than in the US; I’ll be paying close $4.50 – $5.00 per gallon of gas.

The picture on the left is how I looked the night before I left. The one on the right is after I shaved and got my new “Korean” do.

You decide which one is better

I spent all of Saturday with Korean folks. I didn’t see or meet a single native-English speaker. That’s not a bad thing, but it made me really understand how little I know about their language and culture. I went first to MyeongHee’s hair shop. She’d already asked me to shave off my goatee and she wanted my hair cut. I came over here with my long hair styled like a rock star and she wanted it to look more like a Korean rock star.  It’s still long, but she thinned out the side and swept it back  (I might post a picture later.)

Anyway, her friend Un-Jung was there and I stayed the afternoon at the shop and talked. Or tried to. Un-Jung’s English is almost non-existent. My Korean is limited to a few words and phrases, so MH had to do some translating for both of us.

After she closed the shop, we went to a nearby Hof house (a beer and soju joint that serves food.)  I love the way they do things here – the owners of the shop joined us at our table and they thought nothing of sharing the food they just brought to our table and the pitcher of beer we ordered. We talked for a couple of hours (I listened a lot and tried to make sense of it.) It’s so warm and friendly when you’re not just a guest or customer and they really made me feel like I was sharing their home, which, by the way, is not far from the truth.  They work there from 10am until the last customer leaves, so it may as well be home for them. They were sweet people and despite the language barrier, we got on well and laughed a  lot.

As I sat, I silently pondered how blessed I am to be able to travel the world, experience different cultures and to be accepted among them.  I’m a lucky man.

I went out Friday night here in Ulsan.  There’s a couple of bars the foreigners hang out in and they haven’t changed much since I was here in 2005. I went to Benchwarmers, a sports bar in old downtown that is owned by a Canadian and his Korean wife.  On Friday nights, they play Bingo. Woo hoo! I hadn’t played that in a long while. I initially thought, “Bingo? How lame.” But seeing how everyone else was going to play I joined in and actually won a game.  My new friend, Scott, played a trick on a girl and inked her beer bottle with a bingo dauber. She wondered why everyone was laughing at her and didn’t realize her lips and teeth were bright green. A dauber fight ensued and several people looked like a war party  of Comanches getting ready to scalp the settlers.

I made some new friends and met several friends I had known from last time, but, timing is everything.  A couple of the ones I knew are leaving next week. I’m happy to have hooked up with them before they left but will benefit from their leaving – they have some household things they’re selling I need (the last teacher to have this apartment swiped the coffee pot and grinder) . They also have both a car and motorcycle for sale.  

The car would only cost $400 and sounds nice, but I’m leaning toward the motorcycle.  Dealing with traffic here is so much easier on two wheels than on four. They allow motorcyles to ease up to the head of the line at any light or traffic jam. I got a ticket for that in Dallas and the cop (nay, Pig, a word I reserve for only the butthead cops) was a total ass who doesn’t deserve the badge he wore.  Here they understand that allowing the bikes to move up eases traffic, not inhibits it. Despite the weather and safety issues of riding a bike, swiftly moving through traffic to avoid the cars and jams makes it worthwhile. And yes, I’ll wear a helmet – its the law.

Tonight, I’ll check out Tombstone, one of the other foreigner bars, and see who else is still here or interesting enough to meet.

This video is something my daughters recorded the night of my going away party. It would appear they decided some advice and admonishing before I left for Korea. I wonder where they get their silliness? 

I don’t have a phone card to call home yet and the price per min is a little steep. However, I would invite anyone back home who wishes to call me. My two phone numbers are:

1. 82-10-9818-6063 (hand phone)
2. 82-52-244-0569 (house phone)

It would be great to hear from you. I gave a couple of phone cards away for Christmas to some special folks – you know who you are – don’t be shy.

p.s. If you’re a telemarketer or the IRS, I’m no longer reachable at these numbers. I, uh….moved. Yeah, that’s it, I moved.

The first time I came to Korea, I knew nothing of the language, food, customs – nothing. All I knew what that I wanted to see and experience other parts of the world.  I was in awe of it all and the differences between here and home.

This time, I understand a decent bit of the language, food and customs and its not quite so overwhelming. I breezed through immigration, this time with serious baggage inspection and questions. I was able to easily obtain some meds for a sore throat I developed the morning I left Dallas.  I ordered food without having to point to a picture, gesture and grunt. My boss already had a hand phone ready and waiting for me and I remembered how to write text messages in Korean to MyeongHee.  It was a couple of months before I’d progressed this far in assimilating.  I probably don’t have the deer-in-the-headlights look I must have had back then, either.

I’m still tired, though. I woke up at 6am and could not go back to sleep.  Its almost noon (9pm Dallas time) and I need another nap. I hope this jet lag doesn’t take too long. 

More later – after a nap.

I made it safely to my home in Ulsan.  I got in last night around 9:30 local time and then went straight to bed. I didn’t sleep much on the plane – just a few catnaps here and there. I tried not to sleep, actually, so that when I got into this time zone I’d be ready to sleep all night just like everyone else. I woke up at 7am, so I guess it worked.

My boss, Mr. Kong, picked me up last night. MyeongHee was also there at the airport, and we dropped her off at her house on the way back here. It was great to see her although we only visited for a few minutes – she looked fabulous! She thinks my hair style makes me look like a movie star.

Not much has changed in the aprtment since I’ve been gone. The computer still works, but its running a Windows98 Korean version. I’ll swap out my hardware today so I’ll have all my goodies on it. The coffee pot is missing, but that could just have worn out. I have an air conditioner in my bed room. No need now, but that will be great in the summer. I slept poorly that summer I was here without one.

Anywho, I’m here, I’m safe, I’m doing well and I already miss you all. 

Nothing left to pack but the hard drives and motherboard of the computer I’m writing this on. I keep walking around the house looking for something I might have missed. Sometimes I find something, and I have to decide if I’m taking it or leaving it with Mark.

With less than two hours before I leave for the airport, it’s time to pack this computer.  I’ll be back online next from across the globe. 

Ta ta for now.

Marty 

I’d heard early on Saturday that Traci, my former step-daughter, was planning on comming to the party. I was thrilled – I hadn’t seen her in 3 years. Not for lack of trying, but because she didn’t want to see me. At least that’s what I had always been told.

I took a truckload of things to store at Jessica’s house today. Jessica lives close to where Traci works and I thought I’d stop by on my way out. I figured if she was considering coming to the party Saturday, she wouldn’t be upset I came to her.

I stopped in and ordered a coke and didn’t even recognize her. She knew it was me, though. She’s grown a lot since I saw her. She was only a gawky 13 then and now, at 17, she’s a very beautiful young lady.  We chatted cordially, laughed a little, smiled and as I was about to go, I asked if I could take her picture. She offered to have her coworker take a picture of us both. Bonus, I thought, so I waited while she went in to ask. And I waited and waited. And then I waited some more.

After about 10 minutes, her mother drove up. She came up to my car and with teary eyes explained that Traci was just not ready to see me, that she was in the back crying and wasn’t coming out.

I drove away disappointed and perplexed. I never did anything to that child to make her cry. The only thing I’d ever heard over the past three years as to why Traci wouldn’t email or call or respond to mine was that “she was too upset over the way I’d treated her mother.”  It makes me think now that whatever Kelly thinks was so horrible that I’d done to her has somehow twisted in her mind or that she’s twisted Traci’s mind. Someone has blown up whatever story there was to monumental proportions.

But it still seems odd that she would consider coming to the party Saturday, act friendly and cordial when I saw her at work and then be reported as crying and upset when I show up. I say reported because I didn’t see her cry. In fact, I’ve never heard Traci say she didn’t want to see me. I’ve only heard from her mother that Traci didn’t want to see me.

Maybe its time for a poll on what’s going on with Traci. 

I had already shipped three small boxes to Korea, mostly books and small electronics, and thought I’d covered my bases pretty well.  And over the last several months I’d done a decent job of purging my home of unneeded items. Things I couldn’t pack, shop or store I’d either sold or given away, sometimes to just the trash man. As far as getting things really ready, well my bases were covered.

I’m glad I had at least a day off before flying out. I don’t think I’d ever witnessed such a rapid uncovering of bases before. If I were looking to have my ducks in a row, we’d be quite nonlinear today.  I packed only two bags, each weighing about 60-65lbs and another backpack I’d take onboard the plane. That was all fine. It was everything that needed storing that got me. I completely filled Jessica’s closet in her spare bedroom and I made a nice dent in Dad’s storage shed. I still have a boatload of stuff and was surprised how much I’d purged yet still retained so much.

As I write, I have less than 12 hours to go. So many people to call, so much to contemplate – I have no desire to sleep, although I’m tired enough.  I’m trying to work out the hours I should sleep on the plane so I’ll be ready to go to bed when I get “home.” It’ll be 7am Wednesday here when I get to my place but 10pm Wednesday there.

OK, the party Saturday was awesome.  It was humbling to have so many friends and relatives show up. I didn’t get near enough time spent with everyone there and wanted to keep yapping all night. If you came to see me off, bless you, and thank you so much spending your Saturday night out with me. If you couldn’t make it, I thought about you anyway.  It was a fabulous night that I’ll treasure the entire time I’m gone.

The party stopping being fun for a just a little while in the wee hours on the morning. Some dork named Sloan had come with Serena. I like Serena a lot, but I think her picker is broken. She picked a real loser in this guy. I’m sure he’s sweet to her, but his social abilities were found wanting. He never introduced himself to me, although he appeared to have known who I was; he began asking me pointed questions about the “starving North Koreans” as if it were my fault or, at the very least, that by going to I supported their opposites in South Korea. Either way, not a good way to ingratiate yourself with the host. His lack of manners was just one of many things that annoyed me and several others – his body odor, his friends, his drunkeness, etc.

Mere minutes later, I found him in the kitchen with Mark, a knife in his hand and making threatening gestures. Mark and I persuaded him to drop the knife easily enough, but Mark had had enough and tossed him out clean of the house.  Fine, I thought, problem solved.

However, 10 minutes later, I found him still lingering on the front porch and I asked him to leave. He wanted to come back inside and talk to Serena, but I said he’d already been thrown out by one roommate and I wasn’t going to countermand that order. When Sloan started cursing me, I’d had enough, too. I punched him, right in the nose. He backed off down the sidewalk quickly enough, but Devon was there to stop me from making more of a mess of him, and I’m grateful for that. But dammit, that was fun popping that asshole. I haven’t punched anyone in years, but that may be because I haven’t met anyone as rude and obnoxious in my own home before.

He’s called a couple of times since then, mostly to curse us and tell us how upset he his. He told Mark that he and his friends just “play with knives” and we should have known he wasn’t serious. Sorry, life’s too short to play dumbass games with drunks.

Nice end to a great party. I get to go off into the sunset with my chest puffed up, my knuckles still deliciously tingly and feel that I saved the good people of Farmers Branch from an annoying drunk.   

The party was blast and there was indeed some drama – most of it of the melo variety. I can’t write too much at the moment, other than to say a punch to the nose occurred, for I am still feeling like my tongue has more fur than ordinarily like to wake up to.

But I at least wanted to share some pictures from the party. There’s a nice Public Service Announcement video from my daughters, too, but I need to figure out how to stream movies before I post that one.

Today is my last day at work. I’ve been really fortunate to work at Paladin these past several months. I’ve been working as a recruiter with my good friend Antje. The work is good, the pay is more than fair and the environment here is really awesome. We have a couple of kittens here that entertain us and Leslie brings her toddler daughter, Reese, a couple times a week. Sometimes, Antje brings one of her dogs to play up here, too.  Its very relaxed, but busy and the office has been at or near the top sales branch in the company.

Anyway, today is it. I have a couple of job orders I’m still working on, but mostly its going to be cleaning up last minute items and informing my better customers that I’ll no longer be here for them.  Its sad, as passings always are. The last day at a job is always full of emotion. Sometimes, its a good thing to be leaving. Other times, like now, it makes me a little melancholy. Its been a good job that fit well with my abilities and style.

I’ll miss the people, the place and the pace.  Of course, today is just a taste of what is coming between now and lift off when I’ll say goodbye to everyone else here in Texas. I’ll probably leak a little around the eyes some.

I get this all the time when I tell people I’m going for the second time to Korea. “Wow, you must really like it there. What do you like it about it so much?”

You’d think by now I’d have an elevator pitch down for that one. You know the elevator pitch don’t you? You’re a salesrep and you get on the elevator at your client’s office. You’re meeting an executive, but into the elevator walks the CEO of the company. You’ve only got a scant few seconds to give him your well-turned pitch of your product or service’s value statement and garner yourself an appointment before he’s off on his floor or you on yours. Its a golden moment and if your words are not carefully chosen the opportunity is lost.

Well, in my case, its not quite so dramatic. There isn’t a single, glowing reason, held high for all to see, as to why I or anyone else should want to spend a year in Korea. Nope, can’t think of one. Not one anyway.  Several reasons.

Here’s a list of ten good reasons, in no specific order, what I like about living in Korea.  

• Medical expenses. I’ll pay roughly $8-9 for a visit to a specialist. That’s not even with insurance. I can walk in, no appointment, and see the Dr., get a scrip and be on my way in 20 minutes.  If I want to get acupuncture to ease some recurring shoulder pain from climbing, it’ll cost me a whopping $3.
• Korean BBQ. If you ain’t never had it, it won’t do no good to ‘splain it here. Go to Chosun Kalbi at Royal and Harry Hines to thrown down on some real chow. Expect to pay 2-3 times what I’ll pay for the exact same thing there. 
• MyeongHee. Sweet woman. Totally sexy. Say no more, say no more.
• My total Tax burden will be 5% of my income. 5%. So how much is taken out here in the US? Roughly 20% goes out before I even get a penny. Then add in sales tax, gas tax, telecom excise tax, blah blah blah.  5%.  Suck it.
• I’ll work from 1pm until 8pm, 5 days per week. Fridays are “game days”, so work on 1 of those 5 days will be spent playing games that emphasize English. Difficult, stressful work, you see. Getting up before noon, working so late at night…  I’ll probably need plenty of those $3 acupuncture sessions just to chill.
• I get to learn a new language! How else to keep the mind sharp than to constantly challenge it? Research has shown that vigorous mental exercise prolongs ones ability to cope much later in life. When you stop learning, you’re dead.
• Rock climbing on 70+ routes, just a few kilometers from my apartment. There’s several other climbers in the same town still there. Tons of hiking and biking trails all over the mountains surrounding the city. Its a nice change from the concrete prairie here in Dallas.
• My tax dollars will no longer support a President that has lost my respect and the confidence of 2/3rds of the US population. I’m tired of watching GW try to turn the rest of the world into democracies by force while ignoring the constitution and democracy here at home. You send him your money. I’m done with that clown. Want to read more rants? Read my political blog.
• Asia!  I’ll be there, just an hour or two plane ride away from some of the most exotic places on the planet. Food! Culture! Adventure! Ahhh….smell that? Its wanderlust! Catch it.
• Writing. I haven’t done much of it lately. I have one book finished. Another started. I’ll have the spare time I haven’t had here to get in a 1000 words or so a day. That’ll show up on this site, too, on my writing blog.
• Are there more reasons? Sure. Come see for yourself. I’ll have room in my apartment for guests. Who’s coming?

I hope you’ll come back and read more. Its not the same as being here, but on my last trip I took a lot of comfort knowing that I could stay in touch with so many this way.

I’m using the Doogate-Maroon WordPress theme. WordPress has some nice features that allow some seriously cool things, like customizing your code to link to Flickr. The images above are pulled from Flickr automatically while the html is generated automatically by the PHP scripts that define these pages. I merely put in a keyword, in this case “Ulsan” and it brings up random pictures from any user whose pictures have the word ulsan associated with it. Slick. Massively slick. 

I sometimes miss being able to program from scratch like that, but I’m content for the time being hacking their code to my own nefarious ways.

A new journey calls for a new blog. Welcome to MartyPants.US/Korea, Marty’s blog on his 2nd trip to the Land of  Morning Calm.

I plan on having quite a bit more pictures and video than the last time, primarily because I’m not contrained with the website I write on. This time I decided to just buy a server rather than go with a blogging service. Even if they are free, I like the absolute control I have with my own virtual host.  I hope to be able to create several photo galleries, some streaming video and audio clips to more accurately convey a life abroad.  

So, bookmark this page and come back often. I’ll show you what its like to live in Korea. Maybe you’ll tell me about your life – feel free to comment and leave trackbacks.