Korean Cantor

May it always, may it always, may it always be.

2010-03-12T02:04:00.000-08:00

Chaco

2010-02-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

Update

2009-12-02T18:15:00.000-08:00

Mara and I have been busy. She's been seeing a chiropractor (finally!) and getting her braces adjusted so that she can have them off by April. Healthcare is cheap but sketchy here. I've been reading and writing, trying to prepare for whatever grad school will have me.

The chiropractic care relieves Mara from a lot of her back pain. Thank God.

We've been helping out at a homeless shelter, teaching the kids some Englishee. The people and the kids who work at the shelter are great. Some of the nicest Koreans we've met. Also been marking time, trying to get our loans in order. We both hate debt, even if it is part of going to a worthwhile college.

Went to a YACHT concert a couple weeks back:

Mara and I had Thanksgiving at her place, after work. We're getting pretty well adjusted to Korean life. We're now on the downhill slope of our first year here. The plan is to head to Paraguay after our contracts are up and then move back to the ROK in the fall to teach another year, kill the student loans, and save a little money.

Also, I've been planning an interview project to try and create an oral history of our families and people around our families (which, if you think about it, is just about everyone we knew in college, church, high school etc.) Please email us if you're interested in getting involved.

Also, email us to let us know how you are doing. Not kidding here.

Yeah, it's pretty mundane on a day-to-day level. Flickr has a couple photos.

-NE

RACE!

2009-11-02T09:35:00.001-08:00

Well, I'd say this is about where we stand.

Reckoning with Torture: Memos and Testimonies from the “War on Terror”

2009-10-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

PEN American Center - Reckoning with Torture: Memos and Testimonies from the “War on Terror”

Big names taking on an age-defining topic. Definitely worth a listen if only to hear DeLillo's and Auster's voices.

One Wave in the Morning, One Wave at Night

2009-10-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

Almost into our sixth month here. My closet is now full of winter clothes and I have resisted buying articles made from the the same fur as my pet rabbit. Toony is now a full-sized, tumorless rabbit. He has a stuffed dog for a roommate and he never goes to sleep without moving it right next to one of his eyes.

I scanned my weeks and I have found a rough routine. Variations apply but this outline gives you a picture of things.

Mondays-
work, study Korean, cook, see Nick

Tuesdays-
work, study Korean or guitar or violin or read or paint or yoga or do something with the girls

Wednesdays-
work, study Korean, cook, see Nick

Thursdays-
work, go out to dinner with the girls, go to the Jimjillban with Jenn, go home

Fridays-
work, cook, see Nick

Saturdays-
teach homeless children, study Korean or guitar or violin or read or paint or yoga or go out

Sundays-
clean the apartment, study Korean or guitar or violin or read or paint or yoga or go out, teach North Koreans
____________________

Thanksgiving holidays are over in Korea. We were given two days off from work for the occasion. During this mini vacation Nick and I did not travel anywhere like most of our acquaintances here. We stayed where we are right now. Across from my apartment is a park where we read all day, played badminton, enjoyed the especially quiet streets, and had picnics. In the evenings we watched movies, read more, and went out to dinner. It was one of the best vacations I have had.

Tourism has always had a place in east Asia. The Orient, the Far East, the Eastern World is an exotic attraction for all types of people. They move here as English teachers and once they live in Korea they flock to the surrounding nations for vacation.
Human suffering continues as one of the thickest pillars that sustains tourism in exotic lands. An almost two week long Christmas break is coming up. Thousands of foreigners will temporarily relocate to the beaches of the southeast.
They are young and often void of malice, but their money will nonetheless flow into the hands of greedy businessmen, bartenders, hostel owners, pimps, and eventually some of it will trickle down into the hands of the masses.
Without ignoring that this influx of hard currency can certainly help the economic state of certain countries. There are still other opportunities available, like educational programs, that contribute to the poverty stricken and their regional economic plight in less offensive ways. By considering these, we can enjoy life at the least possible cost and in the interest of other people.

In our free time we watch

2009-10-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

this, over and over again:

Great Article in the NYTimes

2009-10-08T01:25:00.000-07:00

on unwed mothers in Korea:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/world/asia/08mothers.html

HAWT

2009-09-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

Beaten Into Exceptionalism

2009-09-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

Physical Abuse
Many of the children I teach are beaten. It is the same for hundreds of foreign teachers in South Korea. Some are aware, most might not be. Many claim that culture provides enough ideological flexibility to allow such behavior. Beatings come for any achievement less than 100% on vocabulary quizzes, on essays, on tests, on projects, on homework assignments. Sometimes it escapes into the essays that I assign. I will pick up an essay expecting to learn about a family unit and suddenly I will read that her father sometimes hits her, that her sister is the good one, and that his mother is scary. Food is withheld for the same reasons that children are beaten. Many people claim that culture provides the ideological flexibility to make excuses.

Emotional Abuse
Many of the children I teach have no self esteem. Their eyes and mouths say that they are worthless unless they achieve academic perfection. I am surrounded by machines in puffy dresses and little bow ties. They are programmed to achieve a success that leads many South Koreans to commit suicide.
_____________________________

The Domestic Child Protection Laws website posted by those at Yale and dealing with South Korean legislation presents a hole in the national legal system. Only in 2001 did this country begin to openly account for a lack of Child Protection laws. Yet, no exact definition of child abuse has been presented. Cultural beliefs structurally retain the hierarchy of aged importance shoving aside the true needs of the adolescent members of society. Although Family Rights began to meet the public eye during the beginnings of Korean movements for women's rights, it was to shadow the importance of the feminist undertakings that these laws were propelled into public debates. Women wanted more attention. Consequently, more attention was supposedly given to Family Rights.

The South Korean Juvenile Protection Act outlines offenses against juvenile individuals. Aside from those dealing with selling young men and women, is stated the punishable act of "abusing juveniles." Considering the power given to relatives during court proceedings, this vague statement is mostly useless. By comparison, the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act in the United States defines "child abuse and neglect" as:

"Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm"

This does not include the definition for sexual abuse of a child and other abuses listed. When dealing with children and their right to live freely specificity is required. If a nation promotes democratic governance then freedom for its citizens is not debatable. Throughout history, freedom for the weak has been stifled in and by silence. We might not hear the abuse, but many of the children we teach are hurting in unimaginable ways.

DMZ visit part II

2009-09-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

Following the lookout point, with it's view barrier designed to serve taller people, all members of our tour group crowded onto the bus and headed to lunch. There was an unidentified disturbance that day so our visit to the DMZ itself and the lookout point were cut short.

The 3rd Tunnel.

Discovered in 1978 and now used as a money making tourist attraction, the 3rd tunnel of aggression is a bit over a mile long, approx. 6 feet tall and wide. Only 44 km from Seoul it was declared a coal mining tunnel by the North. Workers smeared coal on the sides of the tunnel to make it appear as such. But, what the South Koreans also found attached to the sides of the tunnel were drill markings for dynamite attacks. All pointed toward South Korea.

Of four tunnels found, and more suspected, the 3rd tunnel has been successfully clothed in gaudiness. Very much like South Korean cartoons, bedding, wallpaper, and other home essentials all designed in bright floral prints.

In all of its makeup, the DMZ shines before an audience. Tourists advertise badges of courage upon their return from one of the most dangerous places in the world. They forget the ones who can't leave.

I went to the dmz Part One

2009-08-17T03:45:00.000-07:00

Remember, I am not Korean. This does not invalidate my observations, but know that I am not claiming to think as a Korean. I am also not assuming that I possess the same points of reference as any of the Koreans involved in North Korean issues.
With that said...

Seoul's secrets surrounding the North are comprised of various human rights abuses. Including the ignored kidnappings of South Korean fisherman by the North, sealed lips about continued small scale attacks by the North, and the massive shovel of aid that is still sent to the North. Predestined for consumption by the wealthy party members of Kim Jong Il's nightmarish regime. I suppose some would excuse politicians' amnesia as it falls in line with the Sunshine policy. A political move most survivors of the Korean war and families of kidnapped South Koreans abhor.
Along with the bastardization that politics has brought to the Korean populations, the DMZ tours provide exemplary political marketing and mind-numbing propoganda in support of the Southern "Democracy". All while diverting one's attention away from the South's mostly deaf responses to Chinese deportation of Korean defectors, and Kim Jong Il's continued terrorist activities. With that said, I suppose any attention given to the DMZ, if providing somewhat valid histories, is better than no exposure at all. At least people can choose to look behind the propoganda raining down from all sides. If these tours peek an interest in getting involved, then they have served a mighty purpose.

Anyway, here are the pictures I took. Some speak more of the South's performed construction of surreal danger. A task deflecting one's focus from the sins of both sides.

Guarding the door to the North.

Do you see him swaying from side to side. This was repeated approximately every 30 seconds. Whether from exhaustion, hunger, or to serve as a distraction I am not quite sure. Can you find the watcher hiding in the window?

Next pictures were taken in a building on the lookout point. There were curtains hanging from the ceiling in front of this giant window. It added a great degree of theatrics to the army boys mowing the lawn outside and dancing while drinking their Korean Gatorade. We were not allowed to photograph inside. Oops. I must not have heard that.

Just outside is the photo line.

See how far it is from the lookout binoculars? I'm too short to take any good photos from that line. Which is exactly what I told the officer who tried to take my camera away for having another tour member lift me into the air for this picture. I must have indirectly, and unintentionally, made him think that I deleted it before I left. Otherwise they would taken my camera from me and probably thrown me over the barrier.

Here you are looking at one of Seoul's northernmost villages. You can also see a portion of the North Korean propaganda village. A village that was built for show. It remains mostly uninhabited.

Hopefully one day things will actually change. For now, small steps are what we must be thankful for.

(hanging inside the North/South meeting offices on the DMZ)

We went to Jejudo

2009-08-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

On the thirteen hour boat ride.

Cruising around the island on our hogs.

Stoppin' for some fun in the sun.

There were lava tubes.

The anti-Japanese memorial them park.

One day ride to the Southern end.

The train ride home.

Japan/East Sea debate

2009-08-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

For Dan's birthday a group of KOC staff members went to the East Sea (also known as the Japan Sea...I suppose it all depends on whose side you take). It was relatively empty the day Nick and I spent at the beach. Most everyone had left by then. Those who hadn't traveled home met up with us later. It never occurred to me before I came to Korea that there could exist a peninsula of people afraid to drown in any pool of water larger than a bathtub. Everywhere you look at Korean waterparks, beaches, pools, there are waves of flotation devices. I no longer question how the neon-colored, cartoon-themed adult-sized floaty industry was able to remain successful for such a long time.

Being accustomed to beaches like Sandy Hook in New Jersey, and the small insect infested lakes of landlocked Paraguay, this beach was beautiful. Only one beach ranks higher in my mind and I doubt that I will visit that Puerto Rican haven again. Though, I'd rather travel the three hours required to get to the coast anyway.

It is not difficult to live in the shadows of Korea's beautiful mountains. The perfected landscapes hide loneliness, fear, war. Remembering that I am only miles away from the isolated population requires constant attention. Involving myself in an organization that helps the forgotten hermit country takes time.

Twirling through entertainment

2009-08-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

He's gone now. But, while Nick Abbass was here, he took Nick and me to an electronic market in Seoul. There was every kind of product that you would expect to find. But, what I didn't anticipate were the drunken mascots on a centered stage in the courtyard. I'm not sure why they didn't choose to stagger their drunkenness. Why they didn't take turns. It might be the first question I ask when I die though. It's also very puzzling to think of these animals living in an aquarium with enormous fish.

Here is the cow. Along with the shared performance of facing the wall, he was also a dedicated fan of pelvic thrusts and useless wandering.

This is cat and man doll. She was a bit scandalous considering her audience of about 50 toddlers and kids. Lifting her skirt up during dances was not enough though. She had to ride the speaker to get her point across.

They provided an entertaining show, but there was an overshadowing insincerity. No passion. No excitement to be working with kids. No enjoyment or pleasure taken in what they were doing. Dry. Drunk. Strange. Fake.

It isn't entirely raw

2009-07-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

Last night I went on a walk with Naomi. Through a magical forest hidden away behind a middle or high school. Across from a bridge covered in color-changing lights that overlooks the busiest street in Suji. I had eaten a salad and chatted with a Korean friend at a coffee shop just before. I guess you can call her a friend. Everyone here wants to learn English and that pretty much serves as their reason for talking with foreigners. We were talking about North Korea.

me: North Korea is considered one of the worst situations in the world.

friend: I don't know what is true. Some people say it is the worst. There are others who say it is just like any other place.

I could hear and see two girls snicker in the corner. They recognized me. Once while I was eating dinner with Dave and Nick (coworkers) they stared at us the entire dinner. I could hear one of the girls was translating for the other. Exactly what I had just said but with an entirely different tone. They both snickered and I stared at them. This is humanity. The suffering people are humanity. These two girls are humanity.
______________________________________

After work today I bought a cup of fried chicken and walked home. I'd been here about 15 minutes when the downpour started. Along with the rivers caused by the torrential rainfall went my plans of going to the discount fashion district. I wanted to find some shoes for Nick and maybe a dress for our trip to Jeju island. Yes, on the 31st of July I will board a boat with some coworkers and Nicholas. We will endure the 13 hours instead of an equally priced one hour flight because we are interested. In the people, in the language, in the culture, and in the sights. We are interested in it all. I never thought that this would be my life after college. I had never wanted to hold such a job. Never wanted to take vacations and be a part of it all. I am impatient.

I love it here. But, I hate it here too. I am so close to the people I want to serve. I am so close to the people I want to know and love but loans, and time, and work get in the way.

The world falls through the cracks if you don't seek it out. Genocide escapes like a snake in the high grasses of greed, superficiality, sentimentality, and busyness. People are forgotten.

This is what I was made for. The process. Life. I cannot fall asleep for even five minutes or my soul will drain. My heart along with it.

(image of a North Korean refugee attempting to enter China)
(not my photo)

A few things we've been doing:

2009-07-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

1.) Mara and I go to Exit, a shady, mostly Korean-filled bar on the third floor of a building in Suji and eat stale popcorn and split a beer (it's expensive and near tasteless) and throw darts. We are abysmal, but we're getting better. The owner is kind and the best fried chicken I've ever tasted is made across the street.

2.) We also go to Jukjeon Nura Sauna, a jimjilbang not too far from Mara's apartment. We use the massage chairs. We sit in the hot tubs and sweat in the ten different sauna rooms. We lay on the accupressure floors that probably don't do anything. The footbath is pretty great. Again, I'm going to point out that this place is cheap.

3.) We take daytrips:

These are from yesterday, when we went to the Korean Folk Village just outside of Suwon.

4.) We sample the local cuisine. I eat bulgolgi dop bop every chance I get. Mara gets served good lunches of rice and beef at her school. We've eaten galbi, fire chicken, most fried things off of the street. After a bad experience with shabu-shabu, I tried it again the other night. It worked out just fine. Golgi mandoo has become a staple of our diet. I avoid sandwiches as they always contain some kind of mayonnaise. Before we hit the jimjilbang we eat in the basement of EMart, which actually serves up some pretty darn good dan kas in really big servings.

4a.) On a similar note, I no longer feel like I'm sinning when I shop at a big box store like EMart. It is, in fact, shopping local when I shop there. Most of the items are made in Korea or in neighboring asian countries. This cuts down on petroleum consumption (yay!) and in turn makes the cost of living really, really cheap around here. On the other hand, it still feels like whatever kind of culture we saw in the Korean folk village has been devoured by the commercial culture and westernization that places like EMart promote. Hm.

You can follow some other things that we're doing on my Twitter or you can email us at njerber at gmail.com.

Renoir's position on weight loss

2009-07-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

Busy weekends. To see all that we came to see, Nick and I have enjoyed many. Dangerous crosswalks. To see all that we came to see, Nick and I have endured many. Here is a photo taken at one such crosswalk in Seoul on the way to a Renoir exhibit last Saturday. The round one story building behind all of the oncoming traffic is Seoul's City Hall.

Seoul City Hall also happens to be a popular protester gathering place. Because Korea is a relatively safe country the young men fulfilling the necessary two year military service do so while standing in a straight line every day, waiting for the oncoming rioters. When the uproarious people began shoving, the police moved out of the way. Never losing their perfect line.

Nick got left behind while we were pushing past the police to get to the museum and after a laborious two and a half minutes, I saw him emerge from the policemen with a look of confusion crossed with fear.

This is a statue in front of what we thought was the museum. It turned out to be a cultural celebration center. But the security guard was kind and sent us in the right direction. We were with Naomi, who'd been there many times before, but she was also lost.

I forcibly had this picture taken with Nick. He was quite hesitant. But I wanted all of you to enjoy the horrifying pixelation on this advertisement as much as we did.

I have never been to a museum as full as this one. It wasn't even the Seoul National Museum. Just a smaller one that happened to be showing Renoir and a fantastic modern exhibit that blew our minds. There were scultures of gigantic tigers made of tires. We overheard a Korean woman exclaim in wonder as she saw them.

Korean woman: TRANSFORMERS!!!!

I guess the workers at the museum couldn't help but add their own touch to the Renoir showing. They separated his nude females by lining one wall with the thinner, more "attractive" women. Then, they lined the opposite wall with the heftier "uglier" women. This is my warning to you. A bit of advice. If you are in any way predisposed to eating disorders because you think you are overweight or because you think your weight determines how beautiful you are...then you should probably rethink moving here. As for me, in case you were wondering, I love it here!

Accidental animal rescue

2009-06-29T02:42:00.000-07:00

Chupi was left behind. And although no animal will ever fully replace him, a bunny rabbit of about the same size seemed like a proper short-term substitute. So, for my birthday, Nick bought me a tiny, baby rabbit. After much deliberation, with input from my coworkers as well, we decided to name him Toony. I decided to name him Toony. Nick always calls him Tony after Tony Soprano from the popular and yet gruesome TV show The Sopranos. Never in all of my limited experience with rabbits have I seen one with such character. Here he is taking a nap for example.

That, right there, where he is resting his paw is his poop bowl. Yes, I did train him to poop in a bowl. Trust me, it makes cleaning up much easier. I call this purchase a rescue because Toony unfortunately has a reddish growth underneath his chin on the left side. As he swells in girth the tumor slowly grows. Although his days are numbered, Nick and I have decided that we adore this little guy and will keep him nonetheless. Here he is with his proud papa on the rescue day.

Sometimes, I let him roam the apartment. He scurries about playing an animalistic game of tag with me or with Nick, or even with my animal loving coworker Dave. Until the tumor overtakes him, we will adore our beloved Toony.

This is what I do I sit on you

2009-06-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

I went to work lugging Nick's camera with me. Why, you might ask. Simply, because I thought you might be interested in seeing the place where I awaken the minds of young children and ignite in them a passion for learning. So, here is my desk...where all of the brainstorming takes place.

Right outside of the teacher's room is where all of the classrooms are. This might not seem like a poor layout, but when all of the children are pushing at the door like a spartan assault while yelling CHOO CHOO CHOO CHOO, it is revealed as such...a poor design. Take a left out of the teacher's room, and you get to see this.

It's actually a very attractive environment. I like working here. I'm exhausted after work, but once I do my daily session of yoga in the park with my coworker, I regain my energies for the evening. I even have my own classroom. We do rotate classroom during the kindergaten (kindy) part of the day. But for tutoring the primaries in the afternoon, this room is all my own.

Don't be fooled by the two massive tables. They are never even close to being filled by the number of students I have in a class.

POST SCRIPT:

Here's my mailing address.

Mira B/D 5F
1082-1 Pungduckcheon 2 dong,
Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Kyungki-do, Korea 448-172

Sports balloons; children love orange rainbows

2009-06-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

Even though the sun was scorching and all of the children were complaining, last Thursday was the annual KOC Sports Day. It was also the day I woke up at 6 am thinking I had to be at the hospital for my health check at 7:20am when my actual arrival was at 8am. It went well. Felt more like going through different checkpoints at the airport than like a hospital. Very efficient, clean, provided in English, and payed for by my school too.

This picture is more for my mom than anyone else.

My favorite student Sean sat next to me most of the time. Sadly, there is this explosive green color covering the top corner of his face.

During Sports Day all of the kids wear KOC shirts, bring their matching KOC backpacks full of snacks and drinks, then we all sweat out the provided games together. There are three teams dividing all of the classes so that ages are evenly distributed. I was on the pink team along with Greg teacher. I was on the losing team along with Greg teacher. We received $5.00 gift certificates to the nearby mall as a reward for our forced participation. They made me run a bit, but other than that and the sauna-like circumstances, the day was a great way to avoid teaching while spending some fun time with the kids.

This little guy grasping onto her waste from behind is only three years old. He is the youngest student at our school but he looks and acts very much like a lethargic old man. He also brings a toy dinosaur to class every day.

Dave is our tallest foreign teacher. An incredibly nice person, the kids all love to play with him because he never yells at them or displays anger. He's a cowboy who misses his horses, speaks Spanish, and is living in a short country with limited clothing options.

Jade and Lily are both in my K5 class. They're smart. Lily has much better handwriting than the other kids and Jade, well, Jade likes to wear gel in his permed hair everyday. He also picked the name Jade.

Thirty six hour birthday exhaustion

2009-06-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

Moving to a time zone with such an incredible difference from the states was a great idea! Unlike the rest of the world, my birthday this year lasted for not one, but almost two full days. There was the dancing celebration on the weekend prior to the actual day, and then there was the day itself. Our adventure started a block from my apartment.

Yes, those are my coworkers in matching shirts. It was red day at work on Wednesday. My gift from the coworkers was a pair of red heart-shaped glasses that Nick immediately put on. I wore them to one of my classes and the kids went crazy. That was during the same period when the Korean staff came in, sang happy birthday to me, and tempted all of the children with a delicious cake that none of them tasted but that all of them nagged me about for the next hour.
Nick picked me up for our night out with the KOC foreign teachers and he was dressed up as always.

Instead of choosing some fancy place to eat, like the tallest restaurant in Seoul, or the gourmet Vietnamese food offered here, I just wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant one stop away from Sunae (Nick's station). The food was wonderfully familiar, but unfortunately one of the main decorations was a coffin filled with christmas ornaments and cut up astro terf.

Pause....here is Nick with a bunch of bears last weekend.

Naomi, our head teacher, had on an awesome t-shirt with Rudy Giuliani spread out across her chest. It was probably one of the best shirts I have ever seen. Do you see the enormous sombrero behind her?

The guy on the left is also named Nick and the guy on the right is Dan. Their names are a lot easier for the Koreans to say than mine. But, the Koreans do a way better job than the Americans ever did. I replaced Nick's girlfriend at KOC (Kids on Campus). She left Tuesday, so he's been crying a lot. Dan might be dating a Korean girl...he's not quite sure what's going on though. All we know...is that she gave him a pretty nifty bracelet.

After dinner, Naomi, Nick, and I went to a jimjjilbang (Korean public bathhouse). The males and females are seperated for the bathing/hot tub/sauna/big hot pool of water with jet streams coming out from the wall part. When you're done being naked in the gender designated areas, you put on this awesome outfit that looked like an oversized shirt with ankle length shorts on me, and head off to the common area. Just when you think your adventures are over, you see a row of sweet massage chairs, stone bed/realignment rectangles on the ground, heated squares to lay on, a cafe, a special hot foot bath room, a pool, some wierd machine that looks like a small car wash and a time traveler put together, and more rooms! There is a cold room with decorative snowmen, a sand room that is like a really weak sauna, a salt room, a clay room, a tatame mat room, and more! It was incredible.
And so, my night ended as we left the jimjjilbang. I think I slept better last night than I have all year. It was a good thing too, because this morning I went to the hospital for a speedy health check, and then on to the park for our yearly KOC sports day which was ....exhausting.

Only home has spicy bathrooms

2009-06-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

Although I had heard horror stories about tiny hole-in-the-wall apartments in Korea, and I had seen pictures of absolutely disgusting places, my home is actually really nice and pretty big.

The bathroom is on your left immediately after you enter which helps when I run home to throw up after a disagreeable spicy dinner.

You get the idea. It's a pretty normal studio apartment. I like it, I like living in it, my coworkers like it, Nick likes it, so...I think I'll just keep it for now.

Dr. Fish and little yellow subway lines

2009-06-06T23:54:00.000-07:00

My usual idea of a good time is an evening without any hitting, kicking, punching, tickling, or biting. After a visit with the Chinese doctor fish in Seoul, I am hereby changing my idea of a good time. So, we walk around Seoul looking at shop after shop after shop. Shortly after passing a group of high school students wearing comfortable, and yes expensive, clothing who are rapping about the hardship I'm sure they would love to have actually endured, we arrived at doctor fish. It was actually Nick who spotted it. The first place we went to was closed down, but not to worry, here was a very busy Dr. Fish business. First, we locked our shoes in a TINY locker. Then, we had to wash our feet. This step was probably one of Nick's favorite parts of the entire trip.

My favorite part, was when we sat down at a glass table and stuck our feet into water filled with tiny fish. The Turkish ones were smaller. Not sure if there is bad blood between the Koreans and Turks but I'll check it out. These smaller fish weren't action packed enough for us, so we moved on to bigger and better Chinese Doctor Fish!

Yes, they are actually eating the dead skin off of my feet! An hour and one beer later, a French family came and stole all of our fish. More accurately said, once they stuck their feet in the water, all of the fish swarmed around them. I guess the French should probably start opening Dr. Fish businesses in their own country.

Thunderous call to greet Yongin-ers

2009-06-03T18:36:00.001-07:00

After a long flight with a noticeable delay in Tokyo, I finally arrived in Korea. Leaving the safety of the airport behind I was greeted by a strange man holding a sign with my name on it. The words that came next were:

man with the cardboard sign: I'm SO TIRED! I have been WAITING SO LONG!

me: <> Sorry. There was a delay in Japan.

And so began my adventure in South Korea.
_________________________________
a few hours later...

2:30am...thunderstorm wakes me up. It sounds like Kim Jong Il is invading.

5:00am...jet lag wakes me up.

5:30am...I wake Nick up with skype, who has interestingly also been awakened by jet lag.

6am...shower and on to the adventure of meeting the city.
________________________________
a few hours later...

Nick came...we hugged, held hands, and my co-workers took us out to dinner.

BBC- Beware Before Coming

2009-05-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8069457.stm

The opportune moment has arrived for discussion with the South over possible positive discourse with the North....ern public. Not the government. A grassroots community of southerners can't just rally for community with their suffering northern brothers and sister. An alternative in which action and awareness jointly contribute to the betterment of both nations necessitates the contribution of members of both nations. As the elite women transcended hierarchy for unification with feminists of the proletariat classes, so it is the hope of many that the Korean people will become distinctly that....Korean. They are not the Koreans of the Choson dynasty. An identity implanted by foreigners will not suffice and neither will politically motivated suggestions. As contributors to a viable step forward, these three undeniably influential factors work. But, they are no substitute for the will and drive of a people enabled.

Interesting time for us to go. It is the best time we'll ever be afforded.

Venture for a Visa

2009-05-24T21:02:00.001-07:00

With an overnight stop in Ohio, Nick and I made our way by car to the Korean consulate in Chicago. Without a trip like this we would not have been able to enter South Korea and would instead have been left to tour the interior of the globe's airports in search of cultural experiences. Luckily, that alternative is not to be. To Nick's chagrin, I will now post some photos of our trip to Chicago because I think they are of interest to some of you.

This was right before we went to our appointment. We stopped somewhere for breakfast. We wanted to be there early so we arrived 2 hours before our appointment. I hope this is a positive indication of our ability to conform to Korean culture.

Here I am making my way back to the car after our relatively smooth interview with the Korean government workers. Actually, the woman who attended to me was quite angry that I went to Chicago instead of Houston. Here is a sample of our conversation:

Korean gov't worker: Why did you come here?

Me: Uh...because I could do everything in one day instead of going through the longer process that the Houston consulate requires.

Korean gov't worker: Well, that may be convenient for you, but it really isn't right...for us.

To which I responded with some arbitrary statement said in what I hope sounded like an extremely apologetic tone.

First cultural lesson...apologize, especially when a person of authority is involved.

Not going it alone

2009-05-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

The first day was spent applying, the second night I had the interview, and on the third night of this process I was offered the job. Although it took a bit longer for Nick to find a position, he has now received confirmation of a job in Bundang. He'll live just four metro stops away from me. That may sound far, but after a lot of panicking --mostly on my end-- we found out he is only about 15 minutes away from me. So, when I step off of the plane and begin my year in the Christian holy land geographically situated below an earthly hell, he will be there to hold my hand.

More to come

2009-04-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

....that's all for now.