| July 4th |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|06:55 pm] |
Woke up Saturday feeling like celebrating. Actually, no...a couple hours after waking up, I decided to do the 4th up right and proper.
I've been tired...still...again...I'm not sure exactly what it is, but the heat and humidity, ripening moon, longer weeks (even with the better schedule), and probably some dipshit worries struck a little hard this week. Nothing intense, but I really didn't think I was going to feel like doing much of anything this weekend.
I knew there would be expats drinking downtown or on the beach, but I got it in my head that I needed potato salad. I accomplished that quicker than I expected, so I added some doctored up baked beans (bacon, onions, and brown sugar), bought a disposable grill, a package of higher quality weiners, and a few bottles of American beer and decided to set off as a fully functional one man picnic.
One lady I've met tried to organize something at one of the beaches a little ways out of town, and while I had a sneaking suspicion that no one was going to show up, I decided that THAT was my destination. I called up my friends Josh and Mary and they, a little to my surprise, decided to go that route as well (they confirmed my thoughts that there were already counter plans afoot).
Chilpo beach has the reputation of swimmable, unlike Bukbu, which is right at the base of the mighty POSCO steel factory. And although POSCO spends a billion or so won a year promoting that they are "clean and green"...none of the locals will swim at the beach.
Anyway, the sun kept pushing through the rain clouds and I did get my picnic in, and my first swim in the "Korean" sea (the Sea of Japan to the rest of the world).
Later we met of with the carousers at Bukbu for a spell, and though stone sober, I almost hit--close enough to be nervously funny--some young Korean guy with the burst of a roman candle.
And then a dinner of grilled clams and scallops, and off to bed.
Don't worry, the good guy got away. |
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| Summer Semester |
[Jun. 28th, 2009|09:57 am] |
Usually the summer semester should feel a whole lot worse. I go from working 25 hours a week, to working 30 (though that was supposed to change, loyal readers will remember that I accidentally agreed to an extra class).
But I feel fine.
Last Sunday the heart was really thumping all night and morning, but that was right before the first day of the semester, and it has settled down quite nicely. The palpitations haven't stopped but they've lessened, and I'm getting better at ignoring them, so the problem is essentially solved.
No sure, why exactly I've been able to follow the simple advice of "relax"...but right now, even though the grammar class isn't going particularly well, and not much else has changed, except my schedule is spread out evenly instead of killing me on Mondays and Wednesdays. Somehow, I'm able to look at my teaching and shrug and say, well, this will go better next time, instead of beating myself up for it not going perfectly this time.
I am tired though. When Friday 3 p.m. rolled around, I really had to force myself to stay in the office and enter a few grades and do a modicum of prep for the next week. Most of said prep still needs to be done, but I'm off to the office in the next half hour and hope to be finished, or at least largely finished by lunch time.
And then in four weeks, I'll be in Thailand...to track down David Caradine's killer.
Last night I hit the town for a rooftop barbecue at my favorite pub, which was relaxing. Nothing extravagant, but there's a number of folks I like there, and drinking an icy, $5 Dr. Pepper in the sultry evening chatting with some folks was good enough for me.
Might bake an apple pie today. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 27th, 2009|07:24 pm] |
These were Jim Henson's first televised puppetry...wonderful, no?
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|03:10 pm] |
Proof positive that I haven't matured, even with my professional job.
"I'll take dat one."
Caption contest:
A) Frank finally decides to admit that he's living in a third world country and puts up the mosquito netting.
B) Frank finally decides to embrace his inner princess.
C) Damn, them's some big spiders.
This one's from Japan... |
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| My Last Free Friday for Five Weeks. |
[Jun. 20th, 2009|07:50 pm] |
I'm tired.
I should be.
Yesterday, I woke up at 6:45 am to get ready for a trip to Jirisan National park to climb the biggest mountain on the mainland: Cheonwangbong, which at 1915 meters is up above the cloud line at any rate.
My friend Josh is good catalyst for doing things. He's about 25 and still wants to make the most out of his days, and has read through the Lonely Planet guidebook numerous times to find "the good stuff." Most of the trips I've taken here in Korea, have been his ideas. When I find myself--like tonight or with any given weekend, week, or month--faced with an open period of time with which to pursue my own designs, I usually do jack-shit. Any project that needs a little bit of organization, follow through, and definitive time comittment will be set aside in place of small time wasters (like this), minor chores, or more likely a movie, a book, or a walk. So it's nice to have him around.
We actually wound up hitting the road only slightly later than our projected time of 8 a.m., but it took us a good hour longer to get to the hiking site than we figured and rolled into the park's parking lot a little afternoon, mostly because of a some slow country road as we neared the park, one of which was even closed, and the "detour" we found was essentially a car-width sidewalk that threaded between some rice paddies for a few miles. I forgot my camera at home on this trip, though I doubt that I would have thought of the photo op anyway, but while I knew that is what the winding cement slab is there for, it was a surreal feeling driving along it. It felt a little like a comedy bit for a road trip movie. Augmenting the hilarity would have been the following scene where Josh and I wrestled (just six inches too futility) with the barricades on the far side of the closed road after having inadvertently got back on the main road too early.
Anyway, we had heard different time estimates for ascending the mountain ranging from 4.5 to 6 hours one way. Given that 8 p.m. was probably the safe outside time for usable light, we were a little concerned, though determined to get up the mountain...after lunch.
So at 12:45 we finally start hiking up the mountain after a brief thought of just spending the night and doing the hike in the morning. The big problem is that most of the parks/trails/whatever-is-cool is jam packed on the weekends.
Anyway, we pushed ourselves harder than necessary, and got up the mountain in under 4 hours, though in doing so Josh's thigh cramped up pretty severely about 50 meters from the summit, which he felt extremely bad about, though the view of the surrounding mountains was really just as good from there and the 20 minute delay didn't bother me (or the extended rest on the top). Going down wasn't as bad on my knees as usual (though I believe I am going to invest in some of those dorky retractable hiking poles when I come home in August), and since it was getting late and a weekday, I was able to skinny dip in the icy mountain stream near the bottom. Being submerged in pure, icy water may make me feel better than anything else I ever do.
Being thus reinvigorated, we decided to drive about 3 hours back to Daegu to get some good Western food and hit the town a bit, which wound up to be nice meal of quesadillas with a huge margarita followed by a tour of six of Daegu's bars, the latter half accompanied by a lovely and affectionate, yet crazy, artist.
3 a.m. I was back at the hotel, and alas, awake by 8 am, tired, sore and with a slight headache...though I did get a great double cheeseburger with a side of chili fries for lunch. |
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| Jirisan |
[Jun. 19th, 2009|07:15 am] |
Heading over to one of the nicest parks in Korea (so they say) in a few minutes.
It's too far away, the mountain is too high, and I'm too outta shape.
We shall see what happens. |
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| Vacation...sorta |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|07:20 pm] |
I have 6 days off (4 more)...though since I have to prepare for next semester, which includes 2 classes I've never taught before, it's not a complete rest.
Still, I went into the office today and got some stuff done, and that felt good.
The big one hanging over my head is the TOEFLE review class, which is more grammar than I usually care for, and it's for passing a standardized test that I'm really not familiar with, though I do know it's one of those "best answer" tests that can frequently be tricky.
Anyway, not too worried about it at the moment.
I also got the secretary to help me with the pile of mail I had stacked up for the past month or more...probably close to two months.
Most of it is for the guy who lived in my apt before me, but it's addressed to him in Korean, so I'm never sure...though actually, I can read enough now to decipher if they were trying to use my name in Hangul...Puh-rain--kuh.
My hearts been fine for the past two days, so yeah, it looks like all that aflutterin' was just stress. Kind of pisses me off though. Not really much for me to really be stressed about, especially to the health altering level. We'll see if I can at least keep it from coming back.
Went for a hike today...though I was yelled a warning by two adjumas (old women) who were out weeding the lawns...one made a shooting motion and said dedgi (pork)...so it looks like they're thinning out the wild boars again.
Each apartment has a speaker where announcements are made. Thankfully, I can turn the damn thing off (I couldn't in my last apt) since I can't understand it anyway (though I can hear it echoing from the hall)...and it's a little too 1984 for my taste.
The Koreans have a high tolerance for gov't intrusion though. Even young people think it's a good idea that everyone be made to sign up for an Internet ID, so the gov't can easily track your every online move. Some famous actresses committed suicide (supposedly) because of the mean things people on the internet said about them.
Anyway, off to play some Euchre with some guys I know...not my favorite card game...but it should be alright.
Ate some lentils and carrots this evening. Damn nice to have some alternative flavors every once in awhile. And since I'm just looking at 5 more weeks until I'm done for the school year...I can did into the storehouse with abandon. |
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| Drat |
[Jun. 13th, 2009|12:20 pm] |
Blech...
Looks like I'm back down to only being able to spend 6 days in the US...and that's counting the day I fly into Chicago at 9 p.m. and the day I fly out of Detroit at 3 p.m. Considering there's about a day's drive from Chicago and to Detroit...that leaves me with all of 2 days to spend in Neg/Mqt.
Whoopee.
Anyway...I'll at least get a brief peek at my family. |
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| Week before Exams |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|10:29 pm] |
I'm quickly losing my steam.
However, I'm thankfully almost at the end of the semester, and while I have a more condensed 5 week intensive session (5 day weeks! Oh no!) following this...I'll have a 6 day break to prepare and rest up for that.
This week I don't have my morning or evening classes, so it's much, much nicer, though the sudden freedom has oddly left me more tired and stressed out than I have been previously. I fought to stay awake until 9 p.m. last night, awoke around 1 a.m. for an hour, and then slept in until about 8 a.m. Still, when I came home today around 2:00 I took a small nap and generally felt crappy until I forced myself to go for a short trail run.
Sunday in order not to think about work, I made a german chocolate cake from scratch, and it might just be one of the finest cakes I've ever made. I've never made the coconut-walnut frosting before, but it truly superior to any I think I've eaten before, and the chocolate cake turned out quite nice too.
I had a couple over tonight to help me finish the dregs of said cake, and we played a game afterwards and just shot the shit about life. A nice evening.
I sometimes wonder how I will do going back at some point to a 9 to 5 job, after having all this freedom, but really, I could have stayed at work and been moderately productive on their time. Looking forward to a job recently that I can totally leave behing at 5 p.m. Easier said than done, I suppose. |
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| Weekend |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|11:33 am] |
Been feeling rather stressed out I guess...not really feeling it mentally, but I've been having heart palipitations even during the day recently.
The semester, fortunately, is almost over and then I get a nice six day break after I give and correct an exam on the 15th.
Then the intensive summer session runs for five weeks, and then I get five weeks off.
I'll be teaching an English skills class that I never taught bfore and that'll be a nice bit of review for me on some of the trickier parts of the English Language for ESL users. I'm trying to think of it positively, as the finer points of the language are not that familiar to me...I'm better at seeing the forest than the trees, let alone the leaves, acorns, and lichen.
Had a guy I knew from Mqt visit me yesterday, and while he showed up about 3 hours ealier than I planned, it was a nice visit. Saw the newest Terminator movie, ate a lot of good food, and drank with some different folks, then dropped him at the Ferry terminal this morning.
It's a nice col morning here...and I should get to correcting papers, but not sure that's going to be in the cards quite yet. |
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| The Weekend |
[May. 31st, 2009|08:57 pm] |
I was going to do nothing this weekend. I felt I should/would be very busy, but when the opportunities arose, so did I.
Glad I did. Friday I took the bus down into Busan and wound up doing close to a 10 mile hike along an old stone wall above the city. Since it was Friday, and getting late, my friend Josh and I saw few people, which was welcome...though the hiker we followed off the mountain trail and back to the subway station probably shaved at least an hour off our time by cutting down some small trail-lets and through some back alleys.
Saturday, I met up with a friend and finally explored one of the boardgame cafes that Korea is famous for. I was pretty damn impressed, even if the Koreans who were running the place took forever to figure out that if they gave us the English directions for the games, they wouldn't have to fret about trying to explain them to us. Anyway, you rent table space by the hour, and can play as many games as you want, plus the ice-coffee's they served were pretty damn good, and Korea can really fuck up coffee.
Sunday, I almost tried to worm my way out of a second round of paintball, but they needed me to drive, and I once again had a lot of fun, though I didn't wear the nifty jumpsuit this time because of the heat, which while it is not yet severe, it's enough that running around in a black jumpsuit isn't a good thing.
Anyway.
Feeling pleasantly tired. I was lucky enough to find some pork roast and gravy from last weekend in the fridge, and watched a nicely macabre movie, Franklyn.
Going to bed at 9 p.m.
Well see if I sleep. |
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| Vacation... |
[May. 28th, 2009|06:40 pm] |
Sheesh...who knew earning cash was such a pain in the ass.
Well, maybe most of you.
It's a novelty for me though.
I have to be out of the US for 330 days in order to stay tax free, which as you may imagine, is a significant chunk of change to surrender if it can be avoided.
I'd feel guilty about not helping to fund the vast new spending plan, but you guys broke the place while I was gone anyway.
I was getting pretty depressed while trying to play because I spent a long vacation last time in the US (26 days), and I thought I had lost additional days because you can only count full 24 hour days that you've spent in another country towards that 330. Therefore, since I left the US on August 27th of 2008 and didn't actually land in Korea until August 28th (thanks to the international date line) I couldn't count my time served overseas until the 29th.
This may seem like small potatoes, but when you are down to thinking you have just six days to spend, and you're trying to see your Grandma in Chicago and your sis in Detroit...losing those extra days (it'd be three of them first flight out, Feb vacation flight, and current flight) was making it look impossible.
Fortunately, I checked the rules myself, and my accountant didn't realize that planes fly over Canada to get to Korea, and there's a rule that states that if you fly over another country during your flight before midnight of the day you leave, you can count the very next day as a full day: enter 3 more days.
Having 9 days instead of another three weeks (or more) is still is a bit disappointing, but it's all of a sudden made this trip not seem like so much of a suicide mission.
My current thought...soon to be cemented is that I'll fly into Chicago on the 10th and out of Detroit on the 23rd.
And perhaps spend a little over a week in Thailand before that. |
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| License Renewed |
[May. 24th, 2009|02:30 pm] |
Yeah, they're keeping me for another year.
Yay. |
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| Job |
[May. 23rd, 2009|04:38 pm] |
Well next week, I'm supposed to find out whether my contract will be renewed or not.
After all the energy I've spent trying to convince myself that I should spend another year here, I'm a little apprehensive that I'll be given the boot.
I feel that my teaching has gone well, but I've had some low evaluation scores (one class I was given 5 awful evals...a class I had failed 5 students in), my class observation had a 25 minute portion which my supervisors considered "a waste of time" (where we chose an opinion, brainstormed support, and then organized and ranked the importance of said support), and I've spoke up in meetings a number of times to question questionable practices.
So, I wouldn't really be surprised if the declined to renew my contract.
And while I'd really like to be the one pressing the eject button, a large part of me feels like Brer Rabbit about to be tossed in the Briar Patch.
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| Spending... |
[May. 21st, 2009|11:19 am] |
I like his approach, his demeanor, and many other things...
This, I don't like:
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| Pics from Beppu |
[May. 17th, 2009|07:49 pm] |
Been awhile, but I still have pics and stories to relate.
Actually, there are still stories I want to write down about my trip back home in February as well...we'll see what happens.
Here's some pics from my time in Beppu...
The couple hundred year old bathhouse...snuggled in amongst the minivans.
Sadly, Americans are still hated around the world. I barely escaped from this roving gang. Don't let the capri pants fool you, that is the scissors of death clan, one of Japan's most notorious mobs.
Nothing too fancy, but the tub was great, and since no one else was around, I soaked for a long time in total peace, except for the occasionaly shoveling sounds from beyond those sliding doors.
There are Pachinko parlors all over Japan. I was taking a long leisurely walk along the coast after my sandbath and hottub soak...but was enticed by the bright lights.
Though this man was friendly and energetic...he couldn't explain to me how to play the game (I think I needed to use a credit card, which I didn't think was a good idea in a gambling parlor), so no Pachinko for me.
This had the reputation for the best Ten-don (tempura battered shrimp and veggies) in Beppu, so I stuck around until it opened at 11. Although it looks a little classier than our diners...
...they still get the same sketchy clientel.
I was impressed that they fried everything in two woks...not sure if the temps or oils were different or what, but I'd never seen that done before...
and it was the best fried food I've ever had. No question.
And ya gotta love a town that decorates its manhole covers...
and erects a statue to a guy who liked playing with kids, even if they did give him the unfortunate moniker "Shiny Uncle". |
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| The Weekend |
[May. 11th, 2009|09:38 pm] |
Okay, I had prepared a detailed report of the weekend, but then for some reason switched to a different website and lost it all.
So you will get the pics and that's about it.
I drove up the East Coast for a few hours with some friends on Friday stopping to explore a cave (Huck-Finn-sized) and a temple.
See the butterfly?
Then we ate and drank with an old friend, a new friend, and a waitress.
Morning time, we went off to another cave (James-Bond-Villian-Sized))in the mountains.
Then we stopped at a lovely, seaside sculpture park on the way home.
Oh...and I fought a giant crab.
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| Grrrr... |
[May. 10th, 2009|10:01 pm] |
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Just wrote up a long, pic-filled posting from the weekend, and it all disappeared. |
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| Pie |
[May. 9th, 2009|10:41 pm] |
I brought a pie tin from home in February, and while I have twice made strawberry shortcake, I have as yet to make a pie.
I'm not missing pie this evening, but I miss sitting in a booth eating pie and having a cup of coffee.
Just talking to someone I just feel like being around for an undeterminate amount of time.
Not caring how tired I may be in the morning.
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