Well, it's been another good while, but guess who's back again? I can't stay mad at you forever, Blogger, and even though last time I tried to use your photo feature you basically crashed my computer, I'm willing to give it another shot. I guess I can't blame you. The pictures my new camera takes are so powerfully awesome that you couldn't handle it. It's ok. I'll give you another chance.


Ahh, there we go! Much better. This is my feeble attempt at an "art shot" based on our near-weekly poker game at Music Cafe. I'd call it "friendly," but the competition gets pretty fierce, especially considering the buy-in is 5,000 won. That's only five bucks, folks. But it's always a good time. Matt, Yakubu and I are the regulars, with occasional participation from Ryan, Alex and Ashleigh (which would then comprise the entire foreign teacher population of Seoul Language Institute - Suji). Also in this wonderful picture you might notice a rather fantastic-looking potation. That's a bottle of Grape Soju cocktail, a delicious confection that has more sugar in it than alcohol - actually, that's true of most drinks in Korea. But this is a particularly enjoyable drink to share among friends, and the bottle looks like something straight out of a comic-store magazine cover.
Here's what may be my most prized purchase so far here in Korea. When I first rummaged through my cabinets upon arrival in my apartment, I noticed straightaway that I didn't have any glasses. Oh, sure, I had cups, but I lacked a true and proper glass. You know, a glass made of... well, glass. The kind of glass milk was made for. This was a situation that demanded rectification.

Then, one lonely evening on a grocery trip to Lotte Mart, when I was browsing through the dregs (read: the bargain corner) I found this precious glass, among mugs that said "We Are Wildmen" and discolored ceramic figures of Yorkshire Terriers. "Vitamin Your Life!" it commanded me. The giddily bouncing carrot promised me the ecstatic existence available to me if I took heed of the glass' sage advice. So I bought this glass. And, while I'm currently sick and not quite in a giddily-bouncing mood, I must admit that that cute lil' carrot does make me feel like I am vitamining my life, no matter what nutritionally-challenged drink I might happen to place in it.

Lately I have found many occasions to travel into Seoul, be they accompanying Matt while he gets his suit tailored, picked up the aforementioned digital camera, or even just going into Hongdae to hang out. The most memorable recent trip was a Sunday excursion to meet up with Dylan, a friend of mine from college, and his girlfriend Naomi in Seoul for some good old-fashioned wanderin'. We met up in Hongdae and had a delicious lunch at a real taco joint (a rarity here!) that they new about. We cruised the neighborhood for a while, then headed over to Namdaemun Market where the real shopping was. Namdaemun Market is a crowded jumble of already narrow alleys split in twain by food stalls, clothing stands and hundreds and hundreds of people who are apparently quite happy to plow through you if you're standing in front of them, even if it's not that crowded. I managed to take a few pictures above the heads of the passerby:

Ginseng!

Whoa, a picture with people! Dylan took this one of Naomi and I showing off our polearm purchases. I plan to use my giant foam pointing hand to call on students in class, but I haven't mustered the mustard to bring it in to school yet. Finally, here's an interesting juxtaposition I saw by the ancient city gate (in the middle of downtown):
Good stuff! A night trip into Seoul this past weekend yielded somewhat different picture opportunities...
These "ghostmen" rolled through the crowded neighborhood of Hongdae in their tricked-out Mini-Coopers dropping some serious bass and handing out flyers for an upcoming dance party at one of the local clubs. I have decided I have a new future profession. Forget teachin'. I want to ride around in a little convertible dressed like a mistranslation of the Blue Man Group.

Finally, one last picture to share tonight, as it is getting a bit late and my sickness demands that I get some sleep for once.
This is the fine fare available at my favorite place to eat in Itaewon: Smokey's Saloon. Maybe it's just the fact that these are the only real burgers I've had since I left America, but man, this was a tasty burger. Yes, it is as big as it looks. Those are onion rings on top. It's called Kiss Me Later, and it was filled with tobascoey garlicy goodness. Accompanied by seasoned potato wedges and washed down by a tall bottle of Cider, it was truly a meal for kings.

Well, in non photo-supported news, my spoken Korean is still nonexistent, but I can almost read the language fluently. Granted, I have no idea what most of what I can read means, but I can finally order from a menu without just pointing at it! I'm still a little shaky on some of the compound vowels, but my goal is to have a fully-functional understanding of Korean by the time my folks get here so I can impress them. That goes double for if/when Elise comes to visit.

Upcoming things I'll probably write about: tomorrow I'm going mountain climbing with Matt and my new weekend employer, one Mrs. Bo Daniels, and in a week and a half I will be going to North Korea. That's right. North. Korea. The final frontier of the Cold War! One third of the "axis of evil!" Needless to say my first opportunity to set foot in a Communist country excites me greatly. I'll be sure to write as soon as I get home so you know I didn't get detained for being a capitalist pigdog.

A Cascading Cavalcade of Catching Up

Well, gentle readers, it has been a good long while again since I updated with anything actually directly relevant to my personal life, so here I am! Life continues as usual here in Suji, teaching has been picking up gradually since the Chuseok holiday, and now we're back up to full speed and full class sizes. I must confess that it's been more difficult as of late, a little bit of that "new-job enthusiasm" is waning and my stockpile of Creative Teaching Ideas has begun to dwindle, many of those ideas having been proven ineffective for the students I've been teaching.

In terms of actual events affecting my life here, it is a very interesting and important time to be here in Korea, as I'm sure everyone has heard. Here's a great BBC article discussing some of the potential implications of this historic meeting. Having polled several of my students, I've been surprised at the variety of reactions these events have triggered. One of my more outspoken and articulate students, Jason, is strongly in favor of reunification with North Korea, because he feels that rejoining the Korean Peninsula would greatly improve the country's economic standing in what is becoming an increasingly competitive and important theatre - Eastern Asia. It's hard to argue with him when nearby economic Cinderella Story China is putting its vast resources to great use. Other students weren't as optimistic, indicating a long-held bitterness toward the North Korean government. As for myself, an my outsider's opinion, I'm cautiously optimistic about these peace talks. While I am 100% behind finally ending the stalemated war along the 38th parallel, and in that respect I wholeheartedly endorse the actions of the summit, I also believe that reunification would be a sticky and expensive matter. For South Korea, reunifying with North Korea would be an economic sinkhole, and the tremendously high standard of living enjoyed here in the south would take a hit as the government would be forced to split up very uneven contributions between the very wealthy and very impoverished nations. In other words, South Korea would be contributing the lion's share of the money.

However, Jason makes a good point, and in the long run, South Korea has a lot to gain in terms of international standing by reabsorbing its wayward Northern brother, despite initial financial setbacks. Reunification aside, as I mentioned before I still think the economic shows of good faith are an excellent idea and will hopefully assist the people who really deserve help - the average citizens of North Korea.

Moving on to more personally current events, the most salient where this blog is concerned is the latest addition to my pantheon of consumer electronics - a new camera! I have named him Hermes (after the messenger of the Gods, naturally):


Taken with my old camera, here is Hermes in all his tiny little glory. He's an Olympus (of course) 790 SW, which means I can take him underwater up to three meters, and even drop him from my full height and he'll probably be ok (I'm not taking any chances, though). Best of all, he boasts some pretty incredible video capabilities. Excellent framerate and sound pickup. One of these days I'll find something worth taking a video of, and I'll post it on youtube and get it up here.

Well, I had planned on sharing some more pictures and stories, but it seems that Blogger's Photo App. is a little under the weather at the moment, so I shall return later and try again. In the meantime, on a musical note, my favorite band as of late has been the irresistibly catchy, American Indie-pop dynamo The Format. In the interest of sharing them with you, a quick YouTube search turned up several of their music videos, which I hadn't seen and which are very creative and enjoyable.

This is the music video for "Dog Problems," the title track of their second and latest CD. I always thought it sounded like The Format was channeling Queen a little bit in this song (it has moments that sound quite like "Somebody to Love" and moments that sound a bit more like parts of "Bohemian Rhapsody"), and this music video, in a very strange way, confirmed it. Watch the formation of the hands during the bridge and tell me it doesn't remind you of the iconic formation of Queen during Boho Rhapsody:


And this is "She Doesn't Get It," which I think quite nicely illustrates just how catchy the band is:


In any case, they're an excellent band, just hitting their stride, and they've got a third album on the way. If you like what you heard, try searching YouTube for "Inches and Failing" or "The First Single." Those are two of my favorite songs by the band, and there are many fan-made videos for them.

I shall return when I figure out what's going on with the photo app. (the error message is, due to my IP, in Korean) I fear it may be the rather large size of my photos, but that's never been a problem before, so I'm not sure.

A break in the hiatus for a good cause

Hey, just a quick update to let you know of a good cause I think you should support!

Don't worry, this isn't turning into one of those blogs, although I think a bit more social awareness could definitely perk things up around here. Plus, this cause is definitely related to the theme of East-West interaction I'd really like to start integrating in amongst the more mundane details of my everyday life.

I have a friend from college, one Mr. David Degeest, who has been selected as a potential torch runner for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing! David will be running for his adoptive host mother, Ms. Yue, who took him in, fed him and helped him with his Chinese when he was in China for a fellowship after he graduated from Grinnell. Now, David is still in China, and he's started a really fascinating project. He calls it the China Dreamblogue, and you can read all about it here. It's a pretty impressive project.

So what do I want you to do about it? I would love it if you would head here to vote for David's bid to carry the Olympic torch. This is a fantastic opportunity for a friend of mine and an excellent way to spread awareness about his charitable project. The other Expat contestants got a little bit of a head start on him, but I think he's due for a last-minute rally! The voting only lasts for the next four days, so get to it! Oh, I should also mention that the website only accepts one vote per IP, so tell a friend or two! It's an excellent cause and it'll only take you about 30 seconds to support it.

Oh, and if you made it through all that, I have a free gift for you! Well, that's not quite accurate. Radiohead has a free gift for you. If you're me, and you like music, check out Radiohead's new LP, "In Rainbows." The band, being those crazy Limeys that they are, have released the album 100% free on this website. That's right, 100% legal and free. While I can't say it's as good as their earlier work, it definitely is a good album worth your time and (no) money. However, you have the option to donate money with your purchase. Being the philanthropist I am, I threw three pounds their way (like they need it) because I feel like CDs should really cost about $6, which I would be willing to pay for nearly any disc I really liked. So check it out. Also, Lucid-TV made a funny comic about it.