April at a Glance

T.S. Eliot started his famous poem "The Waste Land" with the line, "April is the cruellest month," and were I to write a poem about my April, it might start with something similar. Not that it was a bad month, but it was certainly the most tiring, gruelling, stressful, and busy I've had in a long, long time. It started with Juan's visit and concluded with my Dad and Donna's a few weeks later. In between those two very busy periods I had lots of work to accomplish as I was tasked with developing and teaching a three-part writing class over a period of three weeks. In addition, I had to complete a variety of menial tasks. And of course Jenny also kept me busy. But as tough as April was, I wouldn't have traded it for any of the other months I've spent here--the work really was worth the results it produced.

The family visit went quite well overall. There was a little trouble with the food (particularly raw seafood, an abundance of spiciness, quirky vegetable dishes, and foods I just couldn't explain in English) and the cultural oddities, but the rest was quite successful in my opinion. They were able to meet Jenny's parents, who treated to an excellent seven or eight course meal at the first meeting. The next day they rented a van and both families took a drive to Gyeongju for a look around at Korean cultural sites. We were again treated to a nice lunch and a spectacular duck dinner at a restaurant that overlooked placid rice fields and gentle mountains. I should also mention that we had a mid-afternoon coffee break at a gorgeous lakeside cafe. More about that in a subsequent post...

Jenny and I had an eventful month as we met each other's parents and tried to plan out the future a little more. We haven't reached any definite conclusions about the next year yet, but we do have a Plan A and a Plan B that we'd like to pursue.

Next week I'll go into more detail, perhaps also mentioning the four day trip to Japan.

Juan's Trip

If you are a regularly reader (not that I can imagine that there actually would be such a person) you would have noticed that I didn't post an entry last week. Well, it was because nothing much happened until the weekend when Juan showed up for a visit.  Juan arrived at the train station on Saturday night, and David and Hye Song were kind enough to drive me there to pick him up. We all went out to eat some samgyupsal and Juan was later introduced to the game of darts. On Sunday we went to play soccer at the World Cup Stadium practice field--the first grass field I'd played on since being in Korea--and I has a none-too-impressive premier there. Oh well. I took Juan to my church's Bible study, then we met up with Jenny for dinner before going to play some pool at Billibow. 

We got up early on Monday morning to hike up Palgong Mountain where a 1,400-year-old hatted Buddha sits on the summit to receive worshipers and pilgrims and the thoughtful masses who wish merely to contemplate his serenity. Juan found it hard to make the journey, and so it took us much longer than I anticipated for us to reach the top and return to the bus. Because of that, I was a little late to work, but I was able to switch classes. Tuesday was a day that will go down in my memory forever: the day I ate dog soup. Juan, Kai (a Korean student), and I took a taxi a few minutes away from Wall Street to a sketchy-looking place that smelled quite foul. We were ushered into a small room that looked as though it had been a child's bedroom a few decades before it's current operational status as a dining room. We were promptly served a boiling soup within which was a healthy (in all senses of the word) portion of dog meat and vegetables. I eagerly enjoyed my soup, finding the taste to be quite good. Juan, however, and perhaps to his credit, found it difficult to stomach the meat. I ended up eating about half of his portion after he gave up on it.

Wednesday we went to Chilseung Market so Juan could get some souveniers. Unbeknownst to me (since it was my first time there), boiled and roasted and gutted dogs were in abundance at the market for your casual perusal and photo-taking pleasure. We partook, as Facebook can now attest for you. We saw lots of seafood as well, and ended up not getting any souveniers at all. We instead went to Doctor Fish, the place where you can dip your feet into a fish tank to have them nibbled on. From there, I went to work whilst Juan enjoyed a 90-minute Thai massage. On Thursday, Juan had to catch the train to Seoul to depart, so we went to the train station and said our goodbyes after a quick but packed trip.

Other than that, I saw the Renee Zellweger film about her going to Minnesota (I don't know the name, because the title was translated into Korean) with Jenny and we had a nice date in the now-warm weather. It's like Daegu went straight from winter to summer, with no time for spring. She still has a cold, but when she gets to feeling better we might go to Gyeongju. My dad and stepmom arrive on the 23rd, which now seems like just a few days away. I'll have some time off work then, which I'm looking forward to. It's tough not having a spring break this year....but not having to teach high school is more than ample compensation.

Meet the Parent

Normal work week, with the exception of the an introduction to Gorilla Burger, a newish restaurant that serves ridiculously large, savory, and delicious burgers at a decent price. It's unheard of in Daegu, but nevertheless, they are there. I had my first taste and David, Doug, and I have agreed that eating there is to become a weekly event.

Juan is coming this weekend to stay about a week. I'm hoping it'll be a great time. My dad's coming three weeks from today, so I'm also looking forward to that.

Jenny and I are doing well these days. We saw the movie The Reader on Saturday. Not a fan. It was absurd to me and not much romantic at all. I was dumbstruck by the selfishness exhibited by the characters, which while quite realistically depicted, was frustrating and exasperating to watch. Plus it was a little creepy. Oh well. I met Jenny's mom on Saturday night at a coffee shop. She was a stereotypical Korean woman: well-dressed, polite, direct, observant, and faintly formal. Though Jenny translated all our conversation back and forth, I could tell she studied my words and face with scrupulous attention. Jenny told me later that her mother, who had never before seen a foreigner up close or heard one speaking to her, was surprised by my "yellow eyelashes and strange eye color." Apparently my appearance was too alien for her to adjust to comfortably, but I expect comfort will come with time. After all, I hardly notice I'm surrounded nearly exclusively by Koreans. It just seems normal now.

I finished Song of Solomon (did I mention that already?) and am now halfway through The Painted Veil. I'm looking forward to finishing it and moving on to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night but I'm enjoying Veil for now. It's just a little too normal to enjoy, considering what I've read recently. My mom's also sending me Moby-Dick in an Easter parcel which I'm greatly anticipating (for many reasons) and I'd like to cracking on more of these books that I've got on the shelf, although it looks as though April may not be my month for getting lots of personal time for reading.

There's more to tell but I don't know that it's necessarily suitable for the blog at this point. But I can tell the next month is going to be fantastic, and May even better...

Weekend in Pohang

The last week was amazingly lucky for me at work. Each day I was scheduled for six classes, but massive cancellations dropped me down to four (and one day three, if I recall correctly). It was nice to have the extra time, because the previous weeks had been so busy and also because the National Program Manager came down from Seoul to observe each of us teachers using the new curriculum in a class. I was observed on Wednesday and the student in my class was brilliant. She had just recently returned from a few months in Ireland and so her conversation skills were higher than average and she made very few mistakes. Thursday all of the Korean staff had to go to this computer training for about two hours, so several teachers and the NPM manned the front desk to handle student bookings. I learned how to make reservations and more about my company's booking policies, and as mundane as it seems now that I'm typing it, it was pretty enjoyable.

Friday was my day off. I lazily got up and piddled around my apartment washing clothes and dishes, then around noon I took off for Pohang, where Jenny teaches. I got there around 2p, and thus had a few hours to kill before she got off work. I went to one of the six or so beaches in the area and walked around for a bit, but the weather was chillier than I thought so I just read a book at a coffee shop. We then met up at this 'mall' for dinner and a movie--Slumdog Millionaire. We both enjoyed the film and talked about it over gelattis afterwards. That night I stayed in a jjimjilbang and I overcame my final cultural apprehension. While I've stayed in these places before, I was never fully accustomed to the male nudity that is expected of inhabitants, and thus I stayed covered and necessarily more awkward than anyone else. However, I got over it and acted (almost) just like the Koreans, enjoying the spas and pools and showers sans clothing. I decided that staying in a jjimjilbang is the benchmark in cultural adaptation: if you can feel comfortable with fifty other guys while striding around a pool, spa, and shower in your birthday suit, you can handle just about anything else that comes your way.

Saturday Jenny was feeling more sick than before, but she was a trooper. We ate some duck for lunch (actually, alot of duck) before boarding the bus for Daegu. The bus dropped us off right by an E-Mart (the Korean version of Super-Walmart) so we picked up some groceries in anticipation of cooking a meal at my place. When we arrived, I promised to cook up some spaghetti for us for dinner, and so began the preparations. However, Jenny soon realized that the mastery of cooking I had previously alleged was more bluster than substance and she immediately assisted my flawed efforts. So we worked together with the few ingredients I had to make a decent meal, but to our mutual disapproval. Jenny was also none too pleased with the fact that I had only one fork, one knife, and two spoons. She (oddly enough) expected a bachelor living in a foreign country to have a full set of silverware. The following day when she came back to cook spaghetti 'properly,' she arrived with a bagful of extra silverware from her mother, so now I'm more adequately equipped to handle guests.

Sunday was a re-do. I went to a department store before church and got some better groceries, and after church and a special shopping trip + hair cut we again cooked spaghetti. This time the result was much better and the sides and desserts and coffee were all perfect. We spent the better part of the evening talking over plans and making big life decisions.

When I look back on these days I see myself as different, much different, than the previous months in Korea. I'm still the happy, jovial, fun-loving, adventurous person as before, but I feel a gravity about my decisions and behavior that didn't exist previously. It's definitely not a bad thing, but it's a noticeable difference in my life. I guess I'm just transitioning from the last vestiges of carefree youth towards the more serious phases of life.

Roller Coasters and White Day

Part I

Roller coasters are one of my favorite things in all the world. I love the thrill and excitement they provide while simultaneously offering security and safety. Indulge me as I wax metaphorical with them for a minute. Roller coasters (typically) take you up a smooth incline only to drop you dramatically with pressure such that you might never otherwise feel in all your life. They are filled with ups, downs, twists, turns, loops, and periods of braking and acceleration. They make me feel thrilled, excited, surprised, terrified, happy, carefree, overwhelmed, unhinged, and safe--all within sixty seconds. Where else can you get such an experience? 

Real life.

For me, this past weekend was the beginning of real life. I'm not going to expand on the specifics right now, but it should suffice to say that I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. I've spent twenty-five years on the smooth, up-hill, preparatory incline, and in the last month I reached the zenith. You know the zenith if you've ever been on a roller coaster: the 0.5 seconds when you can see your car three miles away in the parking lot and the entire surrounding countryside in the blink of an eye, right before you drop recklessly down the tracks. This past weekend was that drop, the drop that lets you know you aren't on a merry-go-round eating a lollipop and waving to your mom but on a ride for grown-ups who could pass out, vomit, or, better yet, thrive in the experience. My life now is that fast-paced drop that tells you that you have begun the real ride. I'm happy to say that so far I'm thriving with the challenges and the new-found excitement, but I've got a bit of that nervousness that accompanies any fall of a hundred feet or more at high speeds. But I know God is my harness and that regardless of the spins and loops and brakes and boosts I won't go flying off the tracks. 

The roller coaster has really started and there's no where else I'd rather be.

Part II

March 14 was "White Day" in Korea, and as racist as it sounds, it has nothing to do with white people. It's actually Valentine's Day reloaded, because February 14 is when girls buy guys something, and White Day is when the guys return the love with gifts of their own. Naturally, I had to participate--and I was happy to do so, I should add--and so Jenny and I met on Saturday evening and had a nice date in a department store. And yes, I realize that sounds ridiculous, so I should elaborate. In Korea, department stores are the equivalent of shopping malls, and so the one near my house includes a grocery store, a wine shop, a food court, nice restaurants on the tenth or twelfth floor (I can't remember which), a Starbucks, and a host of other things typically found in a mall. So I bought her some roses and wrote a lovely poem in her honor, and we ate at a Japanese place. Following the meal Jenny, who had her hair done that day, picked out some hair clips and a hair dryer that I was also happily obliged to purchase as White Day gifts (by the way, I'm totally clueless as to why March 14 is called White Day. Pi Day is so much more reasonable to me) before getting some coffee.

At the coffee shop our conversation moved into serious territory and it's now more clear than ever that this is the most serious relationship I've ever had and things are moving in the right direction, albeit speedier than I expected. It was sometime in the evening that I hatched this roller coaster scheme--it seemed apt for the situation. The talk was really positive and helpful and we both got a much better understanding of where we are heading, so I'm really glad we had it.

Sunday morning I got up before 7am to play soccer. It was cold at first but it warmed up some, and after doing some laps and drills, I felt ready to play. Unfortunately my left leg wasn't so eager, and midway through one of the games it cramped up on me and I had to do some quick stretches to avoid some serious pain. According to David, cramps are the result of a lack of salt, although if someone else has more scientific answers, I'm open to them. I was invited by the team to play with them on April 5 at the practice field next to Daegu World Cup Stadium, which will mark the first time I've played on grass in almost a year. That will be exciting.

More exciting on April 5 is Juan's visit. He told me yesterday he has purchased his plane ticket, so he'll arrive on the 5th in the late afternoon or early evening and will stay here for about a week. I'll be working up an itinerary for his time here, but I can already tell it'll be a fun but exhausting month come April. But I'm really, really looking forward to it. His visit will also be a trial run for my dad and Donna's visit two weeks after that. Life's getting happily busy--all part of the roller coaster experience, I think.

Peace and love--

The Farm

Seems like I've been to busy enjoying life to make some time to sit down and write this out. Work's been busy still--there's this project we've been (collectively?) working on for about two weeks that is nearing completion, and that will give me back some of my breathing space there. It's not been bad, but I haven't had the time to read and/or that I like.

Saturday I went to the Daegu Arboretum (sp?) and had a picnic while reading Toni Morrison'sSong of Solomon. Ji Hye (Jenny) was at work in Pohang until the afternoon, so we weren't able to meet up until 6p or so. So I went to the tree park and enjoyed the warming weather, despite being stared and wondered at profusely at the very Korean park I had found myself in. Honestly, I sometimes feel like I know exactly what it's like to be a celebrity. For example, I happened to pass a school that let out at exactly the time I was walking to the tree park, and hundreds of middle-school and early high-school aged kids stopped their conversations to stare and comment about my passage in the street. Many of them waved and attempted a feeble hello, but more were in awe at my mere presence in their world. It's actually a feeling I enjoy at times, but it's the constant attention and my inability to shut it off when I'm sick of it that sometimes gets to me when I'm tired on the subway or walking hurriedly home after a long day. Anyway, Jenny and I met up for dinner, choosing a Japanese place. For dessert we found a gelatti place, and we began a hand of poker before we were told it was not permissible on the premises, so we had to relocate to our favorite wine bar a few blocks away. We shared a bag of chocolate popcorn that Vicki Parman had sent me while we whiled away a few hours chatting and playing poker. But Jenny was quite tired from her first week at work, so we left by midnight.

Sunday I went to a farm with some coworkers. It was a plan several weeks in the making and a good opportunity to enjoy some Korean traditions in a rural setting. I enjoyed lots of activities there that I'd never experienced (or hadn't in a long time)--riding in the back of a pickup, digging out veggies from a field, making some kind of rice krispie treats, herding and collecting rabbits, picking strawberries and eating them right off the plants, smashing rice with a hammer, playing jokku, and chopping wood off a block. It was a good day. See my Facebook album for more explicit details.

Watched Watchmen--not that impressed. Too many unexplained phenomena turned me off to the story--it was never clear which part to take at face value and which part to enjoy as fictionalized. Been writing a bit of poetry each week--getting happier with the results. Hope to actually crank out a short story some time this month. Nothing special coming down the pipe this month, but the next one will be busy. Weather's been good, as has everything else. More details as they happen.

The Buscapade and Other Adventures

One of the best parts about being in Korea has to be that as I look back on each month they seem to better than the previous one. It's certainly no exaggeration about February, which was one of the best months I've had, ever. 

The last week was a bit like a roller-coaster--twists, turns, ups, downs--but a good week nevertheless. I guess I'll start with the bizarre bus story first. Ji Hye planned to move to Pohang on Sunday evening to begin her teaching job the following day, and she was to take the bus from this area of town that has a few bus terminals that offer bus transportation to different parts of the country. I had wanted to give her a going-away gift, but I was busy much of Sunday and so was she with packing. Well, around 5p I was drinking a black tea latte with a friend at a coffee shop when I suddenly spied Evian water for sale. Evian water isn't really anything super special, but it's not easy to come by and it's Ji Hye's second-favorite kind of water and one that she had asked me to get her sometime. So I hatched a plot. I would buy the water, find out when she was getting to the bus terminal, and surprise her with the small gift while she waited for the bus to take off. It seemed like a good idea at the time...

After subtly getting a rough idea of when she was taking the bus, I went back to the coffee shop and got the bottle of water. I also wrote her a little note with some teaching tips that I had learned the hard way in my few years in the classroom, and that seemed appropriate seeing as how Monday was the first day of school. I took the subway towards the side of town with the buses and then went to the express bus terminal to wait for her. Then I realized the problem--the bus terminal I was at didn't have any buses going to Pohang. I didn't panic because I knew there was another terminal nearby. So I walked over there, but to my amazement, that terminal also had no service to Pohang. Luckily (so I thought) I saw a third bus terminal with passengers queueing, and I hiked it over there. To my double surprise, this terminal also had no service to Pohang. I decided that prayer was better than panic, and after that I felt like I would find her regardless of the quickly vanishing window of time. I had the bright idea to call a Korean friend to ask about buses, but he was clueless. I was basically on my own. Finally, I found a fourth bus terminal, but again, no luck. However, instead of walking out dejectedly, I thought to ask the employee where I could get a bus to Pohang. She politely wrote out directions that I should give to a taxi driver--apparently I was in the right area, but there was a separate, remote bus terminal some blocks away that I would otherwise not be able to find. I happened to be out of cash save for an emergency $10 that I keep in my wallet, so I pulled that out and told the taxi driver where to go. He hesitated when I told him my location, knowing it wouldn't be a big fare, but he relented and took me over. Meanwhile, I wanted to keep all of this a surprise from Ji Hye, so I sent her a text wishing her a good trip, hoping to find out where she was. As the taxi driver pulled up to the right terminal, I got her response: "I'm in the bus now."

It seemed like all my effort and time was for naught. I called her, knowing that the gig was up. When I told her where I was, she was so surprised that we both laughed about the misadventure, and I asked how long she'd been on the bus. She said that they'd actually just left and that they were waiting at a stop light. Sure enough, I looked down the road a bit and I could see a big bus sitting in the middle of three lanes of traffic waiting for a light to change. I ran off in the direction and she hurried to the door of the bus, and the slightly befuddled driver obligingly opened the door to admit the passage of the Evian and letter to Ji Hye. It was an amusing moment that lasted just a second, because the light soon changed and she was off. We both found the situation extremely funny and really silly, but I was soooo happy that I could actually give her something as simple as a bottle of water for her trip. 

The rest of the week was interesting as well. I taught Ji Hye to play Texas Hold'em, and it turns out she's a natural. We played for a few hours at an all-night ramyun noodle place, and played more on subsequent evenings on Facebook. Saturday night I invited David and Hye Song over to play GoStop and poker with me and Ji Hye. David absolutely destroyed me in GoStop and I was soon out of money and had to borrow from Ji Hye just to keep playing. It would've been more shameful, but the fact that Ji Hye didn't win any rounds made me feel better. =) It was definitely David's night in that game, so we switched to poker. I'd been playing a lot recently, and early on I won enough from the other players to pay back the borrowed money to Ji Hye. However, paying her back significantly lowered the amount I had to bet with in following rounds, and I ended up busting and having to borrow the money back again.... She's really, really good at games like that and it's awesome that we can play for hours on end and enjoy ourselves a ton. 

I think I may have found a new best friend.

How Can I Describe....?

The past seven days have brought me to the brink of what can only be described as a monumental, seismic shift in where I'm heading. Not that I can elucidate exactly what that means, but I feel the change coming like small tremors that signal a continent-cracking earthquake.

I had what has to have been one of the best weeks of my life last week. 지혜 and I spent every night on the phone together. I've never had more open, direct, fun, serious, enjoyable, and rewarding conversations with a woman, and the hours spent conversing and sharing our lives passed like only minutes, and it was on more than one occasion that we realized it was 3, 4, or even 5am and we'd been talking for untold hours.

Friday was my day off. We went to see Brad Pitt's "Benjamin Button" flick and then grabbed some dinner at a Pakistani restaurant. The place was empty except for us and quite cold, so we had to request a heater be brought to us. The food was quite spicy and they played some Bollywood entertainment on the television inside. It made me authentically feel as though I were in Karachi on a cool winter night. After that, she attended a Friday night prayer service at her church while I did my obligatory duty at a monthly school-sponsored event. When we each returned home we talked for another four or five hours on the phone, and finally cut it off half-asleep at 4:30a or so.

Saturday we again met up, this time for a romantic and classy date. We both dressed up a bit and met at the Keimyung University Arts Center to see the musical "Notre Dame de Paris," an adaptation from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was my first time to see a live musical, and despite it being exclusively in Korean I enjoyed the show. (Thankfully I had been divinely granted the foresight to read the musical's plot summary the night before, so I could reasonably follow what was happening.) After the curtains closed we went to Outback where we enjoyed a fairly good meal, and then we made our way to the wine bar we'd visited the previous week so we could finish the bottle we'd started. Once there, I found a few games scattered around our candle-lit table: Chinese chess (not checkers), ba-du (a Korean game), and Connect Four. Connect Four, for those that may not know, is a kid's game where you just try to match four colored tokens in a row before your opponent does. So we decided to play this game with the understanding that the winner could ask the loser any three questions they wanted. And, after a few rounds of playful and curious questioning, we got serious about the game and about asking each other the tough questions that people often try to hide. So, we spent the next few hours playing the most competitive Connect Four imaginable. Spectators would've thought it was an Olympic contest or a match between to chess grandmasters had they observed the seriousness with which we applied ourselves. It was a really, really fun night.

Sunday I went to church for the 1pm service and 3p Bible study. The translation at the service was better than before and I could follow the sermon fairly well. At the Bible study one member brought pizzas, and since I somehow hadn't eaten thus far that day, I dug in quite eagerly and sat afterwards most contentedly. We talked about obeying and honoring our parents from Ephesians 1, and it was interesting to see how the different cultures present (Korean, Armenian, and American) all approached that issue. Following the service I went grocery shopping and then went to Jason's house for dinner and to catch up. We shared some fried chicken and talked while watching soccer highlights from Korea's Park Ji Sun (a player for Manchester United). I got a call later that evening from 지혜 asking to meet up, so I took a bus to a different part of town and we had some ice cream and chatted til 2am. All the other customers had long left by the time we took off. I guess I never really thought it was possible to carry on conversation for so many consecutive days, but I'm happy to be wrong.

I guess I should summarize these happenings for anyone who's reading. Instead, I'll post a poem I wrote this weekend in the hopes that you can ascertain something for yourself.

How to best describe the way I feel?

Perhaps like an orange stripped

of its protective peel?

Or am I more like a book with its cover ripped?

 

Maybe I'm like a safe, unlocked and open,

or a rose bush without even a single thorn,

or a knight whose excalibur is broken,

or a newborn baby, no clothing worn.

 

For now I've no defenses, no protection,

nothing at all now left to hide.

I'm open to your full inspection,

even those things that I'd buried deep inside.

 

And all those experiences I at one time had-

what I did and didn't do-

all my decisions, the good and the bad,

I've shared them entirely with you.

 

Now looking back on what's been done,

I see He's been orchestrating and priming

through battles lost and battles won

His perfect and pristine timing,

 

So that now I can see

what I know to be true-

God has guided and led me

directly to you.

Valentine's Day

So the last seven days have been pretty much a fast-paced, life-changing whirlwind. Work started off as usual these days--busy and without much of a break. Three of my six coworkers chose to take their personal days last week (and a fourth tomorrow), meaning more classes and fewer breaks than normal, and that was on top of working six days straight. Needless to say, it would have been a tiring and fairly uneventful week had not I met quite possibly the most perfect person in the world for me. I say "quite possibly" because one never really knows how these things will turn out, but I've got feelings I haven't had in years and the hope that something special might come from this. As a warning to those readers who are hoping to glimpse something about Korea or my teaching experience, you will find none of those things in this blog. So, unless you are really curious about the details of the ongoing adventure that I term a love-life, you may want to quit reading now.

Her name is 지혜 and I first met her six months ago within my first two weeks of arriving in Daegu. She worked at my school as a personal tutor for struggling students. We went out to lunch together back in August, and I was instantly smitten. Our conversation was so surprising--she had studied literature in her undergraduate career (she has a master's in education) and she knew many of the authors that I did as well. She quite adeptly and impressively touched on Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and Kate Chopin, topics of conversation that are hard enough to find in America, much less Daegu. Turns out she studied a year or so in Louisville, Kentucky, and so she had remarkable English as well. Of the many other qualities she exhibited at that time, however, was a strong spirituality balanced with an open-mindedness to other viewpoints. As we talked over our traditional Korean food, I thought that I had to get to know this girl more. It wasn't until the end of the meal that the killer news came--she was going to America for six months, and she was leaving the following week. I was dumbstruck as to how to behave during the subsequent days, knowing that a single lunch date is not enough to really know someone nor to ask either of us to wait for the other in any way. Plus I figured in six months I'd have found another person just as awesome, since it'd only taken me two weeks to find her. Turns out I was waaaaay wrong. 

Fast forward six months to the end of January. I went to Gwangju on my long weekend and wrapped up the lengthy debacle that I called my friendship with Sharon (meaning we are still friends, I guess, but anything else is permanently off the table) and finally felt clear of that. It was one of the most therapeutic things I could have done, and combined with prayer and God's grace, became one of the best decisions I made in a while. I also ended the short relationship with someone who wasn't really who I thought they were. I say all this to say that I had a clean emotional slate for the first time in years, and I was quite happy (and still am) with my single life. Events in 지혜's life were also working out towards the same result, and one day, out of the blue, a coworker said to me, "Did you hear that 지혜 was back? She came by to visit yesterday." No one had known about our short lunch date so many months back, and I knew the information was just innocently stated. Hearing her name brought back some of those initial feelings I'd had. It wasn't that I'd forgotten about her, but I honestly didn't think she was that into me, nor would she remember me if I called her or something. Regardless, I began to make some cautious inquiries. It turns out she had the same phone number as before she left, and so I texted her to welcome her back and find out about her trip. Instead of texting back, she instantly called me back and we had a great talk. She had introduced me to Dongbu Church at that first meeting we had, and so she asked if I was still going there and how life was other than that. I was scrambling to carry on the conversation and simultaneously think of a way to ask her for a casual meeting when we suddenly got on the topic of speaking English, and she asked me if I had time to practice conversation with her. And I did. And I asked if she could also teach me some Korean. And she said yes.

We chatted a few times after that, although our appointment to meet and study on Monday was cancelled due to her receiving a job interview in another city. So, on Tuesday she suddenly arrived at our office to meet some friends. Fortuitously for me, I had a four-hour break (the first one in weeks) on that day, and so we went out to get lunch and catch up. In the ensuing four hours, I felt like I was back in that restaurant in August with an amazing woman who spoke and carried herself in a way that I found irresisibly attractive. Sitting at that table I had the sudden revelation that this girl could be "the girl." It also seemed like some feelings were mutual, and so when we finally parted later that night, I felt the first real hope in ages that I'd met someone I could spend my life with. We met the day following for coffee and got to know each other better, and I asked her out for Valentine's Day to dinner and the movie "He's Just Not That Into You." Because this was on Wednesday night, I spent Thursday, Friday, and most of Saturday (I had to work til 4p) in a state of total anxiety and expectation.

I had bought her a single rose and a chocolate mousse cake and these I gave to her when we met. It was the first time I'd done anything remotely romantic since.....uh.....yea, I don't know when. Sophomore year of college? I'd even gone out and bought a real razor the night before and shaved in preparation (she prefers the clean look to the goatee, and I don't blame her). We ended up chatting over coffee before going to an Italian restaurant. I spilled a large amount of sauce on my pink shirt (it was Valentine's Day, after all) and fumbled a bit as I finally asked her what she thought about there being an "us." She didn't seem all that surprised by the question, but rather than answer, she enigmatically told me that she'd answer after the movie. My heart sunk, because that seemed like a "I'll break your heart after we have a good time together, and then you can go home depressed" or something similar. Anyhow, we changed topics and soon were off to the movie. It turned out to be quite entertaining and appropo for Valentine's Day, and after heading out for ice cream, we talked about the various characters and relationships portrayed. It was then that I expected the answer, but none was forthcoming. Turns out she was in the mood for some wine, and so we found what has to be one of the most romantic wine spots in Daegu near the ice cream place. It's lit only by candles and has about ten or so alcoves that couples can sit in secluded from others by four foot walls. Customers sit on the floor on pillows and mats and the whole ambience recalls a Persian palace. We spent about three hours talking and eating the chocolate cake, and her answer was, thankfully, not the one I feared. All that to say this: I've met someone I'm really interested in who has a similar interest and who is everything I've been looking for. The real reason I'm telling this tale is because I don't have any other outlet for my feelings right now and it's hard to think about much else. Cheesy, I know, but honest. I guess that's what blogs are for, after all.

The day the CEO came to town...

Nothing in the past week was particularly noteworthy--reading, eating lots of food, a night of Halo 2 on legendary, and a renewed interest in studying Korean-- until Friday, when the CEO came down from Seoul. On such an occasion, a dinner for "morale" is in order. The majority of the staff and half of the teachers went to a samgyupsal restaurant (Korean barbecue) around 8:30p, but a few of us remained to teach the balance of the classes until 10p. When we finally closed up and arrived at the place to join the fifteen or so diners, it was evident that a fair amount of soju had already been spread around the room. Soju, for those that haven't been to Korea, is Korea's version of vodka and a standard accompaniment (for Koreans) when they eat barbecue. Several of my coworkers had red cheeks and were more giggly than usual--tell-tale signs of the soju exchanges. A few minutes after our arrival, dinner was served a second time for us, and I ate enough for about three Koreans as part of my campaign to increase my weight a few kilos. While I consumed a huge amount of barbecued pork, my coworkers poured one another shot glass after shot glass, and after two hours, they were tanked. Somehow in this time the CEO had come to my end of the table and sat next to me to chat about his business accomplishments, physical abilities, monetary prowess, and to offer drinks to me and those around me. He jovially put his arm around me and talked about the wonderful Daegu teachers that worked with such professionalism, care, and friendliness. In the midst of the reciprocal brown-nosing that we were obliged to indulge in, one of my fellow teachers loped his arm around the CEO and announced "Chingu! Chingu!" which is the Korean word for friend (a definite no-no in Korean culture, where younger people have to speak to elders exclusively in formal language) and they poured one another glass after glass of soju. This carried on for some time. As a person who prefers not to get drunk on soju in the midst of all of my coworkers (or at all, for that matter), I attempted to make conversation with colleagues that appeared to be merely in the latter stages of sobriety rather than the early to mid levels of serious inebriation. The conversations didn't go far, as every one minute we'd all have to turn and see the latest caper the CEO and co were instituting at the table and laugh about it. Nevertheless, one girl apparently garnered enough liquid courage to suggest that we see a movie together on the weekend, an action I could never have imagined a Korean girl doing otherwise. It was in such banter and amusements that we whiled away the hours, leaving around half past 1.

After thanking the generosity of the CEO and wishing him well, I set off down the street with a Korean worker, Chris, and a fellow teacher (who will remain nameless on the off-chance someone in this country reads this blog). The teacher, who in his hobnobbing had had quite a few more soju glasses than anyone else, insisted that we accompany him to a bar while he enjoyed one of his rare drunken moments (flashbacks to his college days, he said). I suggested otherwise, but as he was determined, I opted to follow him around to make sure he didn't end up in a fight or an alley in the next few hours. Thus began my vicarious first excursion into the world of late-night drunkeness. All the things you see portrayed in movies--threats and fights, solicitations, vomiting, broken glasses of beer, wads of money spent frivolously, ridiculously spoken profanities, stumbling, yelling, and eventual collapse--played out before my eyes in the next two hours. I shall relate these tales only to serve as a warning to those who think that such a life has any appeal at all, and because some of them struck me as remarkable.

Episode One began with my friend wanting to find a bar. Being in no state to do so in the labyrinthine streets of downtown Daegu, we followed Chris to a place he knew. On the way, two drunk girls holding one another up ambled across our path. One of them took a passing fancy to me, and escaped the grasp of her cohort to offer me a "Hello!" She then stared vacantly at me, being unable to recall any other English. I returned her salutation and watched with amusement to see what would happen. After a few seconds of staring at one another while I waited for her to say something that she was evidently working very hard to produce, the girl's friend called her and she went to rejoin her. We watched to pair go off again, but suddenly the girl left her friend for the second time and returned to say "Hello!" Again she seemed to be searching for more to say, but seeing that she could not do so, we encouraged her to leave with her friend. We then continued on down the streets, with my friend asking us to stop now and then so he could figure out where he wanted to go. We ended up down a side street where we passed some other quite smashed foreigners. One of the shouted out loud to his buddies, "Hey look! It's one of them Mormons comin' down here to...uh...." He said this because my friend was dressed with a tie on, and the rest of us, still in our work clothes, looked a bit classier than this guy and his pals. Much to my disappointment, the comment was not lost on my friend, and his pretended ignorance and subsequent replies to the guys only made the situation worse. We tried to walk off, but somehow came across the same guys two other times, each time seemingly on the cusp of throwing down. I was not confident in my abilities to keep the drunks apart or to hurry them along the street either, because the participants in both groups were unsteady on their feet. Finally we stopped in an alley to let the other group pass and we endured their comments and stares and threats without violence.

After another ten minutes of walking, the other teacher and Chris found a bar suitable to accomplish whatever mysterious purposes they thought they could achieve with further alcohol. The teacher called the bartender over and ordered beers for all three of us, against our combined protests. And this is the Episode when things got ugly. No sooner had my friend had a good amount of his beer in his belly did the two alcoholic drinks now there residing brawled and tumbled in a way that made my friend quite sick and irritable. He began to answer any queries with obnoxious language, and, evidently and suddenly quite sick, he hurried towards the toilets and ended up opening the door to the ladies' room before being caught by a worker who redirected him to the men's room. He returned on the phone with his girlfriend, and he was telling here that he was at home, obviously a fallacious claim. When this strategem failed to appease her, he asked Chris to pretend he was the CEO to soothe his angered girl. She didn't accept this either, and so the teacher went downstairs (the bar was on the third floor of the building) to explain things to her. When he hadn't returned after fifteen minutes, I took the elevator downstairs and found him against a building shouting angrily into the phone. He was upset by the whole turn of events that had gotten him sick and angry, and he returned to the bar to grow sicker. By this time another Korean had joined us, and he began chatting with the cute bartender. She was giving me and my friend a friendly smile, which I took only to be a professional skill to get customers to buy more drinks. It worked, for soon my friend ordered more drinks for everyone. As soon as they were poured, he clanked glasses, and he did so with one so forcibly that it broke the glass and scattered sharp miniscule shards onto the bar. One beer wasted, plus the glass. The cute bartender stayed around to chat some, and the two Korean guys with us asked her if she'd go on a date with me. She said she would like to, but because she couldn't speak much English (her major was Chinese), she was nervous. They finally convinced her that going on a lunch date with me in a few days would be a good chance for her to learn more English. I hope my readers would know that it goes without saying that she is not my type, and the possibility of having lunch with someone who cannot speak more than ten words of my language nor I hers does not exactly thrill me. Anyhow, it was an event that happened, so I have here recorded it as it was.

This brings me near the close of this entry. While the Koreans were convincing the girl that a wordless date wouldn't be so bad, my now significantly drunker and sicker friend had disappeared. Having now tallied a $55 tab for the drinks he'd purchased, I thought it was best to again attempt him to go home. I took the elevator downstairs again and found him slumped on the stairs on the first floor. He didn't look well. I told him about the finances and asked him to come back upstairs to settle the bill and to get his coat, and then I realized how drunk a drunk can get. He couldn't walk or speak intelligibly, and his listening comprehension now equated the bartender's. I got him into the elevator when he told me he was going to be sick. So I told him to stay put and to give me the money and I'd get his belongings and take care of it. He handed me his wallet, and I was thumbing through it for the necessary bills when the elevator opened on the third floor to a group of Koreans attempting to get inside. I can well imagine the scene they saw before them: one guy slumped drunkenly against a wall, and another guy thumbing through an unfamiliar wallet to take out cash. It made things worse that I was leaving without him towards the bar, so I did my best to let the suspicious crowd know that I was his friend. I hurriedly went to the bar, handed over the cash, and grabbed my friend's coat, but when I returned to the elevator foyer, I found that my friend had escaped the secure elevator and was now in a corner where there was a large, ornamental Chinese pot. He sat atop it brokenly, and then I noticed the slime around his legs and the walls and the floor. It was not a pretty scene. We got into the elevator but he refused to put his jacket on until we were outside. In his attempts to put on his jacket in the street, his iPod headphones slipped from a pocket, and, quite astonishingly, he tripped over them and crashed onto the pavement. I helped him up in the midst of a furious spitting furor. He was trying to get the remnants of the vomit out of his mouth, and in the process he landed a large amount of spit on my supporting arm. The disgusting stream of liquid on my jacket sleeve created a stronger empathy for him than I realized I was capable of, and we laughed it off as he searched for something to clean it with. I got my arm around his and headed off towards my home, and after about fifteen or twenty slow-going minutes, we arrived. He went immediately to the bathroom because he felt he would be sick again, and so I prepared my couch for his eventual slumber. He was still in the bathroom five minutes later, and as I called to him, he said he was okay. I waited another five minutes, and when I slowly opened to door, I saw him snoring soundly on the cold tiles. I went to my room, and about an hour later I heard him get up and make it over to the couch. Throughout the night I heard crashes and the sound of moving furniture, but when he awoke around 1p Saturday, he was feeling better. After making sure he was fine, I saw him off to his home.

I tell this tale to share a strange night in my life and to further elucidate some reasons why I stedfastly refuse to get drunk. I just can't understand the fun in spending tons of money for an experience that leaves me totally sick and without any memories of the previous eight or ten hours, but it does give me sympathy for those who do choose such things. 

Short Week

I arrived back in Daegu at noon Thursday, and hurried home to change clothes before arriving at work by 1. The teaching was still heavy, as it's been all month, what with us being a teacher down and it being the winter vacation period for universities (and students come to study English when they don't have their college classes to worry about). I went after work to our monthly after-hours student-teacher party and then joined a group of around fifteen people at a noribang (spellings vary). There we took turns belting at songs for nearly three hours, after which our voices were rough and raw. But it was one of the most fun things I had done in some time in Daegu.

Saturday I had to work a half-day, and after hours I went to a dinner with my church friends. The door of the restaurant came off the hinges midway through our meal and we watched bemusedly as they refastened it lacksadaisically. We also got into a small argument because one of the members tried to insist that certain races held advantages over others, a notion that I largely reject. It was basically a nature versus nurture debate, and it grew uncomfortable as a comment was made to our single black member about his race's ability to jump and run faster than other races. Anyhow, after the meal I went to Doug's and watched Star Wars Episodes V and VI as David hadn't seen them before and wanted to fill in the story.

The day following I went to the Bible study and the 5p service. I hadn't gone to the service in a while because the simultaneous translation proved too frustrating to endure, and it was the same story Sunday evening. Afterwards I had a talk with my girlfriend that resulted in the demise of our relationship, to our mutual relief. It was about a week late, but it finally happened. Then I went to David's and saw the remaining episodes he hadn't seen, II and III, and that concluded my all-too-short weekend.

설날 and the train ride of destiny

I celebrated my first 설날 the past few days. 설날 (Sulnal for the non-Hangul readers) is the beginning of the lunar year, so it is celebrated with a three-day holiday where families gather together for various activities. Having no Korean family to celebrate with, this could have posed a problem for me, but thankfully I had been invited to go to Seoul to join Yun Hye's family for a few days to celebrate. On Saturday I sojourned up to Seoul and met Yun Hye's parents and sister, and we went off to explore some shops around the area. We met up with her cousin Han Sol, who I from then on referred to as Han Solo (Harrison Ford's character in Star Wars, for my non-Star Warsy readers) to my constant bemusement. The three of us ate some Japanese food in honor of Yun Hye's recent birthday. My dish was a soup filled with ice, the first time I'd tried such a dish. It had the normal vegetables and beef and egg but the icy broth caused me constantly to pause as I ate. It was a strange experience. We then went to see "The Changeling" with Angelina Jolie, a movie that failed to impress or interest me much. I was far more pleased with the caramel popcorn purchased at the theater than the seemingly pointless story about the false restoration of a missing child, a story geared only at pulling emotions from the audience.

Sunday morning we woke up early to attend a 7:30am church service. When we arrived at 7:30, the auditorium was full, the service had started, and I fought to stay awake during the half-hour Korean sermon. Upon returning to the apartment, we ate brunch and loaded up in the vehicles to head off to Wonju, a city about three or four hours distant by car. Traffic was pretty awful so I ended up reading much of McCarthy's Blood Meridian stopping only to eat some nearly frozen glazed chicken at a rest stop. The ride was worth the wait, though, for we arrived at a beautiful (and largely empty) luxury complex that hosted a golf course, a ski resort, and numerous other diversions. That afternoon I met the family in full--there were several of Yun Hye's uncles, aunts, and cousins, plus her 90-year-old grandmother who looked fifteen years younger. I honestly thought they were lying to me when they told me her age, for she moved, spoke, ate, and participated in all activities with the aplomb of someone much younger. After introducing myself and listening to the introductions of the various gathered couples, we played GoStop, a Korean card game. This game is quite unlike any Western card games, it being perhaps a mix of rummy, poker, and uno. I had learned the rudimentary rules some weeks prior, but I was that day schooled on the finer aspects of strategy and skullduggery while playing. Upon finishing the game, we prepared to go skiing, the lift ticket being cheaper after 6:30p. So we bundled up and went out. I rented skis, poles, a jacket, and pants and with my lift ticket included the cost totaled around $40. Granted, we had a discount, but it still seemed to be a great price. After gearing up, we met the slopes and I had my first rounds of night skiing. It's really pretty similar, except you don't have the incessant problem of sun glare. I tried all the runs available, even their sole black diamond, and throughout the four hours I fell not once. Translation: it's not a real black diamond if I can ski it unharmed. Nevertheless, it was fun and I feel like I honed my skiing skills to the point where I need further challenges to stave off onsetting ennui. Which led me to try snowboarding on day two.

When we awoke, it was Monday morning, the official 설날 day. That morning I witnessed the traditional bowing and respect paid to elders. First, since I was with a Christian family, they sang a hymn twice through and then listened to a sermon recorded on tape. Following this, the grandmother sat on a couch while her adult children gathered, bowed (all the way to the floor), and then gave her envelopes full of money. Next, the grandchildren bowed, and they received from the grandmother different envelopes of money according to their job status, school year, or other factors. I also participated in the bowing at the urging of the family, and not being one to ever want to make a cultural offense, did the bow with the sharpest precision I could muster. Relatives then switched places with the adults now on the couch and their children (and me) now bowing, and again money was proffered to the children. Despite my wishes to the contrary, two envelopes were issued to me and I was extremely honored by their gifts. Following the ceremony the family gathered for a second traditional game, yunori. In this game there are four sticks that are tossed on each players turn, and depending on which side they land on, that players pieces can move around a board. The first player to move all four pieces into the final spot wins. This game is actually much like "Sorry!" with the notable exception of the thrown sticks. I played as a representative of Yun Hye's family against the children from the other families, and again money was involved. The first place person had to pay no money to the pot, but the second, third, and fourth place finishers needed to pay 3,000, 5,000, and 10,000 won, respectively. Thankfully I came in second place. We then ate a traditional lunch soup named dokku, and then headed out to the resort's leisure area. There we had the choice of either joining the sauna or the swimming pool. I chose the swimming pool mainly to avoid the naked men that would be in the sauna and to instead play around in the heated pool. Unfortunately, none of the family members that spoke English (there were four) went swimming, so it was a very quiet hour for me. After playing several games on my own we returned to the room and prepared to return to the slopes. I was determined to try snowboarding given that the slopes were fairly uncrowded and minimally steep. It seemed like a good idea at the time. And it turned out it was. My first two attempts on the beginner's course were frustrating failures. The course sloped so gently that it was hard to maintain balance and I fell perhaps thirty times, landing on outstretched wrists most often. I then insisted to my teacher, Han Solo, who also was snowboarding, that we go to an intermediate course. There he told me the basic motions I needed to stay upright and moving at a reasonable speed, and on that course I grasped the concept and began to feel success. I refuse to believe that anything done well by millions of people is in any way out of my grasp, so armed with that determination I picked myself off the packed snow and kept trying until I could negotiate the entire course without falling. However, the belief that I was now fully competent in the basics was premature. I tried a different intermediate course by myself and near the bottom after having picked up speed I found myself going backwards down the hill. My attempts to slow myself or reorient my board resulted in a quick fall and the back of my skull colliding with the hard ground. I didn't black out, but I didn't get up quickly. It may have been concussive, but after having told myself I wasn't a quitter, I wasn't about to quit. I continued on with Han Solo on other courses and the only further injury I had was a small collision with a safety pole. Oddly enough, I consistently snowboarded better on the steeper terrain, and only when I reached the slow-going areas did I have difficulty staying upright. I returned that night battered, bruised, and with a pounding headache, but victorious nonetheless. I was really pleased with my courage to try snowboarding, because I'd avoided it in the past on the grounds that I am a good skier (which is true), but really I was afraid I'd be awful at it. Turns out I was pretty bad, but I did improve enough to not collide with other people or trees and I have that new experience under my belt.

Tuesday proved far more uneventful that 설날. We ate, packed up, and returned to Seoul, stopping at a restaurant for lunch. Yun Hye and I talked for nearly three hours in the van, which impressed me wen I stopped to think about it. When we arrived at Yun Hye's apartment we all ended up taking naps. That evening we ate a delicious bulgogi meal, and Yun Hye's sister Yun Gyeong and I went to get some Baskin Robbins ice cream for the family. We got a tub full of five flavors and returned to watch the latter half of "Casino Royale." Her sister and I had a good chat about destiny and living our dreams, and I'm hoping that it will have been beneficial to her. I also arranged for her to go on a blind date with a student from my school in Daegu, so we'll see how that works out.

Wednesday I woke up after an uncomfortable night's rest on the couch. The nap had ruined my sleepiness and made me restless. Yun Hye and her sister were off at work, leaving me with just her parents and an hour to kill before leaving for the train station. We shared an awkward bulgogi breakfast together (yes, leftovers from dinner can be eaten for breakfast here) and attempted to speak to one another. At one point her father took out a bowl of chocolate powder and a container of milk. By all appearances we were going to have chocolate milk, but after pouring my glass full of milk, I was instructed to eat a spoonful of the chocolate powder and then drink the milk. In any other situation I would have refused, thinking I was the butt of a silly joke. But I did as I was told by her eager parents knowing they weren't trying to humiliate me. I scooped a healthy portion of powder, dumped the dry stuff in my mouth, and then followed up with the milk. They sat watching me with amusement showing in their eyes and then her father scooped nearly twice the amount I had into his mouth and drank his milk the same as me. No joke, apparently. I'm still not exactly sure why they consume the powder in this way. It could be an idiosyncratic gesture of her father or a common Korean way or drinking milk. One may never find out. After the meal I was escorted to the subway station and I rode that to Yongsan Station and boarded my train bound for Gwangju. The ride was a bit uncomfortable because the fairly old woman that sat next to me in the aisle seat insisted on looking out the window over my body and stealing glances at me for about two hours. I tried to focus on the final pages of my book but found it difficult. Nevertheless I finished the epic novel and sat considering it pensively. The story concluded with a discourse on destiny and so I ruminated on that theme for the better part of the trip.

Upon reaching Gwangju I was accosted on the steps of the train station by a taxi driver who wanted to drive me wherever I was going. It was a bad choice. He insisted on being the stereotypical angry taxi driver that you see in movies, and he played his role well: yelling at elementary school vans, running red lights, intermittently cursing cars, flooring the pedal at lights he didn't run, etc. When I finally arrived at my destination I was glad to depart that wretched vehicle. I met up with Sharon and after work we chatted and then went downtown for dinner. We ended up talking for a long time and then met up with her boyfriend Dan. It was a good visit and it was nice to see an old friend.

So, basically this was the best trip I've taken thus far in Korea. I had some wonderful and unique cultural experiences, some fun on the slopes, and good times with my friends.

Bronchitis isn't as fun as it might sound.

I spent about three days in the throes of bronchitis this week. I had been a bit sick for a few days before going to Seoul last weekend on what was possibly the coldest weekend of the year. I had to take off work Wednesday and Thursday, and though I wasn't fully recovered I still had to go on Friday. But thankfully it is gone now. My Bible study leader came over and brought me some ginger tea and prayed for me, and many people back home sent me some good medical advice.

Over the weekend I went to work, caught a Korean movie (with subtitles) I'd been wanting to see, and started listening to Fall Out Boy. I also went to Home Plus with my girlfriend to buy real groceries (good cereal, strawberry jelly, bacon, pancake mix, carrots, and a few other things) and gave her some valuable driving tips. She's an infrequent driver and uncomfortable at the wheel and needed lots of confidence to make it the ten blocks to the store. I actually found turkey with her translating help, and we had that for lunch. For me it was the first time in six months, but it wasn't all that good or even that similar to turkey back in the States. It was darker and flavored with a seasoning altogether unfamiliar to me, but it was a nice change nonetheless. After that I went to my Bible study and received a lovely Sulnal (Chinese New Year) gift, which I then regifted to a family that invited me to dinner that night. They cooked a lavish meal for me and we had a nice time. Philip, my soccer friend, had wanted to introduce me to his family for some time, and so it finally happened Sunday night. His mother had studied opera vocals in Germany and Austria and so spoke German, and she insisted on using it regularly in our odd conversation despite being the only one who understood it. I caught a few words here and there ("Herr" stands out) and found the experience to be funny. His father is a history teacher, so we had a lengthy topical chat about that, and his second cousin who was there studying voice from his mother asked me lots of questions about American culture and the differences between American girls and Korean girls (she's a seventeen-year-old high school student who doesn't really study all that much and gets most of her information from stuff like Gossip Girl).

I'm working on Blood Meridian these days and have taken a strong liking to Cormac McCarthy. I also tried a bit of stream-of-consciousness writing and found the results pleasing. Next weekend I'll be going to Seoul to meet Yun Hye (Kris' girlfriend) for Chinese New Year and I'll be spending the long weekend with her family at a ski resort. It'll be a pretty authentic Korean experience, I hope. 

Apparently, Winter = Cold

Having lived in Florida for most of my life has spoiled me in terms of winter. I didn't own a winter jacket, a scarf, or any kind of head-warming gear back in the Sunshine State, and now experiencing my first winter in decades in a cold place is a little difficult. I was Seoul for the weekend and there was no escaping the cold, despite wearing my thermals and all the winter gear I own. Went to a museum with an exhibition on loan from the Pompidou Modern Art Museum in Paris, met up with some friends, and drank a good amount of coffee (I drink a little coffee now).

Not a lot else going on in Daegu. We are teaching more classes these days since one of our teachers is gone, so I don't have as much free time at work for reading. I haven't been reading much anyhow since I got stuck on Henry James' Portrait of a Lady. I think I'll have to give up on it for now and try another Cormac McCarthy. I ordered a memory foam mattress and I'm expecting it in the mail soon, and I'm getting a humidifier for my apartment so I won't shrivel up anymore in the middle of the night from the dry weather. I'll share more if anything comes up.

New Year

The last week has been rather extraordinary for me. Koreans have a superstition/tradition/saying that in life you get three big opportunities, and it's what you do with those three chances that determines your success and future and happiness. I don't subscribe to that theory, but I would say that my chance meeting with Ji Hyung on the airplane back from Tokyo certainly would seem to qualify. We had both traveled alone to Tokyo for four days, coincidentally having gone to and returned from Tokyo on the identical flights. We both live and work near each other in Daegu, a large city of three million people, and we are both Christians, scuba divers, travel enthusiasts, etc. We hit it off immediately on the airplane and continued our conversation as best as we could on the bus ride back to Daegu (despite a bus driver saying we were ruining his concentration), and had a great first date on New Year's Eve. All that (and much more I could say) to relate that I think this relationship has lots of potential. Ji Hyung studied English for a year in Australia, giving her an understanding of Western culture that few other Koreans have, and I think that will be valuable to work through any differences that might arise later down the road.

As for actual events that have happened recently--Ji Hyung and I went to the Daegu bell-ringing ceremony on New Year's Eve and saw lots of performances before the clock struck 2009, upon which the massive bell was struck thirty-three times and spectacular fireworks went off. After that, we went to a restaurant with David and Hye Song, and from there we watched Star Wars Episode 1 in accordance with David's wishes to see all those movies. We tried to stay up until sunrise, as is Korean custom, but ended up calling it a night at 6am. The next day, I got a call from some of my Bible study members, so I joined them for a dinner of broiled chicken before meeting up with Ji Hyung to see the movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey.

Since then I've talked a good amount with JJ and Kris via Skype, and it's been good to stay in contact with them some. I'm also looking forward to helping Jessi with her class as they try to Skype with me for a project. 

The craziest thing in the past week was playing soccer on Sunday morning. David came with me on a whim, and we witnessed what was certainly a unique thing. During a break in between the games, a severed pig's head was brought into the middle of the field and placed on a table. All the players then gathered around to begin the New Year's ceremony. They placed money in envelopes and then took turns bowing to the pig and placing the envelopes in the mouth of the pig. Apparently the prayers were offered for safety for the players, and they weren't directed towards anyone or anything in particular. The ceremony wasn't all that serious--some players were laughing and chuckling as the wine oblations were being poured out around the table. It was a strange ritual to see, particularly when given the non-serious nature of soccer. David and I shook our heads and watched as this all took place, and I wondered what the pig's head was going to do with all that money...

Tokyo--Days 3 and 4, plus my thoughts on the city

I woke up after a long sleep on Saturday morning with plans to explore in detail the more historical places in Tokyo. So I set off for yet another shrine and came across a big souvenier shop in Asakusa, where I found a Godzilla keychain for Sasha. I saw yet another shrine and the related gardens, but I was really more impressed with the big incense pot that seemed straight out of Leviticus. I hiked it over to the museum district next and went to the Tokyo National Museum. I had high expectations that it would be akin to the fabulous British Museum, but this one turned out to be quite limited in its displays for whatever reason. It was large, but nothing on the scale of a European museum, and I covered the whole thing in a little over an hour. The samurai armor and katana swords were interesting, as well as the Japanese paintings. I particularly like the paintings that depict ocean waves. I also saw an interesting exhibit on the expansion of Buddhism across Asia as seen through sculptures of Buddha, and they had good maps explaining how the philosophy/religion spread from India to Pakistan, China, Korea, and Japan, and how each of those cultures depicted Buddha differently. I liken it to seeing pictures of a white Jesus in American pictorial Bibles or a black Jesus in others, when it's quite obvious that he was Semitic and nothing like those pictures. As I left I came across the Japanese Museum of Western Art, so I went in. It was free, and after perusing the small inventory, I could ascertain why. They had some good pieces, like Monet's Water Lilies, but it was (understandably) really just tiny in comparison to other places I've been. They also had lots of Rodin sculptures outside, and my favorite, The Burghers of Calais, so I quite liked that.

After my fill of the museum district (having ignored a number of other non-promising edifices), I headed for another busy ward/area/district of Tokyo that houses the Toyota Auto Salon, Ikebukuro. The showroom was impressive because you could see all of the most recent models, but none of the cars were really familiar to me because they were the Japanese versions, not what they sell back in the States. I walked around Akihabara some and ate dinner near my hostel, and after strongly considering a trip to Roppongi that night, decided to just rest. Looking back, I wish I'd have gone down there, but I was just discouraged because of my inability to communicate well.

Sunday I finished up going to some places I had previously not had time for, and I took in the sights and sounds for a final few moments before ineptly locating a train to take me back to Narita. I got to the airport with two hours to spare, so I went around the gift shops and ended up writing a list of everything that had happened in my life in 2008 on a month-by-month basis. Before making the list, I'd thought of the year with a slighty negative overtone, but after reviewing all the events and considering them as a whole, I had to admit it was a pretty good year with just a few problems, and I had a tendency to highlight those negatives instead of the far more numerous and significant positives. Anyway, it's an exercise I recommend, because you will probably surprise yourself with all that's happened in your life in a year. I feel this past year could have comprised a decade of events, and I guess I wouldn't want it any other way.

So, my summary thoughts on Tokyo: basically, I compare it to an Asian version of Paris. It's busy, fashionable, upscale, somewhat touristy, expensive, and the center of all things Japanese. It had its own Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysee, royal palace (like Le Louvre), and a dozen other things that cause it to strongly correspond to Paris. It was good to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. I found the Japanese less friendly than Koreans, and far less likely to help a lost foreigner. But that's not to say it was a negative experience, because overall it wasn't. It's just not my ideal place. But to see a city that has such a high population that yet can function so well was certainly impressive. I was in awe the whole time and thought the city to be a monument to human achievement.

Anyway, the best part of the trip for me was the return flight, for two reasons. First, I felt much more comfortable back on my home soil in Korea, and second, I met a great girl on the flight back. We are going out to downtown tonight to celebrate New Year's. There's a park with a big bell that is rung every year at midnight, so I think it'll be fun to check it out.

Tokyo--Days 1 and 2

So Tokyo is pretty big. I've spent several hours just walking up and down a hundred different streets with my brain totally overloaded from all that I've seen and experienced. It's been busy since I arrived, so I figured I ought to write down my thoughts before they vanished into the haze of this trip.

I arrived Thursday afternoon and started off the trip with two problems: 1. I left the wonderfully useful Japanese dictionary/phrasebook on the train on the way to the airport, and thus had no way to communicate, at all, and 2. Visa thought it would be funny to disregard the note on my account that said I would be traveling around Asia for at least a year, so they froze my account the second I tried to use my card at Narita Airport to exchange money. So I had to use my emergency cash to get enough yen to call Visa's 800 number so I could remove the hold on my account. I accomplished this task after a 600 yen phone call, and was then able to get the cash I needed. After those two early setbacks, everything else was great. I got a nice subway and city map, arrived at my hostel in the late afternoon, and then spent five or six hours wandering around. It was the first time I'd just wandered through a metropolis with no plan and no real direction. I really just wanted to take in the sights and watch the people and see what would happen, so I ended up doing just that. I witnessed Japanese pop culture, observed eating habits, explored entertainment districts, rode endless subway lines, and basically just absorbed everything I could. It was mentally exhausting and overwhelming, and I felt some strong culture shock for the first time. It was like I wasn't really there, instead I was just observing this alien city. No one talked to me, and I spoke to no one. It's a quiet city, too, for the most part. It seems like in Korea people are always out until after midnight, and the streets of Daegu are rarely empty, but in Tokyo, with the exception of a few special areas, the whole city is indoors and quiet after 10pm.
Friday I embarked on my plans to see some major tourist sites. I first walked to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where I must have been one of only 100 visitors that day. I learned lots about the history of the exchange and it's switch from a "call out" system like on Wall Street and instead to a fully computerized one about 10 years ago. As a result, inside the Stock Exchange you can only see a large glass cylinder where a handful of workers monitor the Exchange to make sure there aren't any crashes or problems.
From there I went to the Imperial Palace where the crown prince lives. It's only open on two days during the year, so the visitors can only see the outside moats and walls of the fortress. I left there after just a few minutes and ambled off towards the subway station, but on the way I caught a glimpse of Tokyo Tower, a knock-off of the Eiffel Tower that stands a few meters taller than its Parisian counterpart, so I headed towards it. Along the way I bought some food at a street stand, saw a random shrine, and climbed a thousand stairs. From the Tower you can see all of Tokyo and even Mount Fuji which is 50 or so miles away.

My next goal was a famous Meiji Shrine. The Meiji Emperor took over in the latter half of the 1860s and was critical in Japanese history because he opened up the country to Westernization (see Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai for a slightly ahistorical representation of the period). Tons of foreigners were around this site as it was also close to a popular shopping district called the 'Champs-Elysee' of Tokyo. The shrine itself wasn't all that interesting, and I wanted to kick myself for going while knowing that there wouldn't be much to see. It's just like seeing the Eiffel Tower or Times Square: you don't actually need to do anything there, but you just should go because you are in the city and it's a well-known place. Whatever. I went shopping from here and found a massive English bookstore with lots of good books, but the prices were three times higher than American stores, so I didn't buy anything. I then went to the hostel and crashed...

Christmas came early...thanks to Joy and Reed!

As of 12/22 at 13:18 eastern time, I became an uncle! Joy and Reed had Audrey Kate Parman in the early afternoon in Jacksonville, and that event constitutes the only regret I had in coming to Korea. I really wanted to be there to celebrate the birth and all, but at least I was able to see Reed and Audrey on Skype at a the hospital. Audrey was as healthy as could be, and I saw about a hundred pictures with her being held by every member of the family. Maybe I can photoshop my head onto one of the bodies so when Audrey asks me in twenty years where I was when she was born, I can show her some evidence. =)

As for life here in Korea, it's been fun recently. I finished up Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 and I thought it was one of the most fun, witty, and engaging novels I've ever read. It's good stuff...read it if you get a chance. I also saw a couple of movies recently: Australia and Tropic Thunder. Neither of them were that impressive, both receiving about a 5 out of 10 from me. Went to the board game cafe again a few nights ago and played Battleship (I beat David), Risk (I lost to David in a gutsy move and a single die roll), and Star Wars Epic Duels (Sasha, David, and I each won a round). =)

Sunday I went to a Korean wedding. It was astounding. The wedding hall (hotel) hosted five weddings, all within a few hours of each other. The ceremony itself lasted all of fifteen or twenty minutes, most of which was a guy talking to the couple. Some of the strange things were the bubbles that surrounded the couple as they marched up the aisle together at the outset, the staged smoke that shrouded their feet, the jumbo screen that filled one wall of the hall, the 50 or more guests who talked throughout the entire ceremony with total disregard for the processions, the wedding cake that was carted out to be cut by the newlyweds and then carted back, and the groom being made to do push-ups in his tuxedo. We went out to T.G.I.Friday's for the wedding reception and I partook of some lovely ribs. =)

Not too much else is going on with me at the moment, except I'm getting excited about seeing Japan and all. Some big news did come up today at work, though. Apparently the troubled economy is resulting in a 30% reduction in our workforce. Most of those cuts will happen in Seoul, but our center will be losing a teacher and several Korean staff members, and they will make all the decisions by Friday. That could mean some big changes for me and the staff in the next few days...which of course I'll miss because I'll be in Japan. =(

Tied Up

My new coworker David often wears a tie to work. I don't. Matthew, Adam, Doug, Patrick, and Chris--the entirety of the male staff--also do not wear ties to work. So I mentioned to David that wearing one wasn't necessary, but he persisted. So, we recently made a joke out of it. On Thursday, I also wore a tie to work with the intention of logging all the inconveniences related to wearing ties throughout the day so I could relate them to David. This was of course a joke. At the end of the day I had compiled a nice list: 1. It prevents proper and convenient usage of the water closet, 2. it hinders workplace cohesion by creating a foolish competitiveness among employees, 3. coupled with my blondness, it makes me irresistible to students, 4. it looks businesslike and professional...uh...wait, no....uh...., 5. you can't do yoga well in a tie (David attempted yoga in his tie on Thursday), and 6. ties make foreigners look like Mormon missionaries. As you can see, there's a lot of solid reasons for not wearing one. Somehow this tie debate turned into a "who-has-the-best-tie" contest later in the day, and despite my early lead at the polls with a 3-2 lead, I ended up losing 11-3 (I think it was conspiratorial). So we devised a new contest for Friday, "worst tie/shirt combination competition." Friday morning I bought a fabulous Korean tie: brown, green, and pearl with a bizarrely arabesque pattern. See Facebook for an image. I won the votes handily on Friday, 30-1. David's tie combo, intended to clash, actually appeared fashionable to a number of the Koreans. I was accused of cheating because of my tie purchase, but it was nevertheless a win, and our contest is now at a standstill--we are tied until further contests emerge. In other weekday news, I finished the French novel The Charterhouse of Parma, recommended as a classic from the 19th century. It was tolerably entertaining until the last few pages, which the author seemed to have carelessly heaped together to end his overly long story, and which resulted in them being absolute garbage. Oh well.

Friday we celebrated a staff member's birthday, Gemma. We also played some darts, and I was able to reclaim my status as "okay" after my disappointing prior showing. Saturday I had tentative plans to go to Seoul and see Yun Hye and Dana, but Dana was in the hospital recovering from an intestinal infection and was obviously indisposed for the weekend. So instead, I slept in on Saturday and went to get a Thai massage downtown. I had my coworkers call ahead to make sure the place was reputable, and feeling relatively secure in their assurances, I went to the 11th floor of the Hotel Amigo where the massage parlor was located. Much to my surprise, although it should have been quite evident at the time, the room I was taken to for my massage was simply a hotel room, complete with a small bathroom, a television, and a small wardrobe. On the bed was a change of loose fitting clothes, like pajamas, and I was feeling quite uncomfortable and tense by the time the masseuse came in. She was actually Thai, another unecessary surprise (I was told the staff was Korean), and she spoke only a few words of English. Despite the initial discomfort and awkwardness that has typified my international massage experiences (Brazil was even worse) everything was fine and the massage was quite good. She used her elbows and forearms often, rather than just kneading muscles with her hands, and the results were quite good. I felt more limber and relaxed than I had in many months after the session. From there I went to Kyungbook University to see a concert. The concert was okay--not great and not bad--and it finished around 7p. After returning downtown I caught up with David, his girlfriend, and about five of their old coworkers. David had been in Daegu a year teaching at another school before starting at Wall Street, so he was catching up with them when I joined. We also played some darts and chatted for several hours.

Sunday I woke up a bit late and did some reading. I finished all of Deadeye Dick, a Vonnegut novel set in Ohio. I really enjoyed it, as I do with pretty much everything he writes. I was inspired upon finishing to work on some of the short stories I've had swirling around in my mind, and so I got to work on some of them. I had lots of time Sunday, since church was largely cancelled for a packed-out performance of Handel's Messiah, which I had no interest in seeing. Later that night David and I went to Doug's place for a guy's night: movies and Halo and trash-talking and eating and laughing and punching each other and laughing some more. It's a fun life in Korea. =)

Talked to Joy and Reed on Skype for awhile Monday morning. It was good to catch up with them and swap stories, and it almost made me miss home. Perhaps without the convenience of Skype, I would miss it....

Reading The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James this week. It looks to be a challenge. I'm not excited about it thus far. I'd rather be writing. Funny side note: as I'm writing this, on the 16th floor of a downtown skyscraper, I'm watching two Koreans playing badminton on the spacious roof of a six or seven story building. It's got to be in the low 30s, lower with the wind chill, but that fact certainly does not deter them from getting in meaningful midday exercise. And amazingly, the shuttlecock hasn't flown off the building...yet. Going to Tokyo next week--trying to decide what to see while I'm there...okay, that's it for today.