Slip Stream

I feel time slipping by me. Standing at the window of my 4th grade class looking out over the city like I do every Thursday. It's the lull between 3rd and 4th period and the chaos is getting to me, so I roll up the blinds, open the big windows and lean out to breath in some fresh air. Ignoring the screaming brats behind me for 5 minutes I soak up the scene before me. The trees are almost bare, a few colorful leaves speckle their grey reaching branches. The city is packed into the valley and the mountain behind my apartment rises in the not so far off distance. Summers are hotter here and winters are slower in coming. I feel like a boulder in the stream of time. I'm stationary and the world is flowing around me. I would say its passing me by, but I really don't feel that way. It's nice to be this boulder for a while. I love my routine, my friends, my city. Life is good. Just thought i'd share a pleasant moment with you all. I love and miss you! Happy Thanksgiving!

Ebb and Flow

I feel on the ebb flow of a great wave of joy. My life of the past 3 weeks has been spectacular. It started with the weekend of the 23rd. Friday night I went to a Poko Lambro show (listen to "Long way down"). They are my favorite band here in Busan as well as being great bar friends. I had a great time, as I always do at their shows. That weekend was the Busan international fireworks festival so on Saturday we headed to Gwangali around 3pm to claim our spot on the beach as thousands and thousands of people poured into the area. We spent the afternoon eating costco pizza and playing catchphrase on the beach with friends old and new. 8pm brought the most spectacular hour of fireworks I have ever beheld. Ahnna posted the video of the 10 minute finale to her facebook, but i'll try to get it up here.

The next weekend was of course Halloween. They don't celebrate it here, but that doesn't stop us weigooken (foreigners) from making fools of ourselves. Friday night was the trial run for our costumes. The girls all dressed up as a K-pop group and I was their manager. It was fantastic.

"The fab six" dressed up as K-pop group "K-rage" and their manager.

Extensive photos are available on Facebook. Saturday night was an amazing costume party pub crawl in Kyungsung University district. A whole block was completely packed with weidrunken. There were concerts and dancing and it was probably the best Halloween I've had since I became too old to go trick-or-treating.

This last Saturday was my birthday and we celebrated it in style with a huge taco feed for my favorite Busanites. Perhaps 25 people showed up, all told, and once my neighbors started to yell we took ourselves down to my favorite bar Metal City and continued our shenanigans. The next day Ahnna and I met up with Nick and Natty (great friends of ours met through couchsurfing.org) who had come into town just for my birthday. They rented a scooter and we spent the afternoon hiking along the ocean cliffs at Igadae park.

We finished up the day with Vietnamese dinner at Gwangali beach. The next day we got up early (10am) and took them up to Geumjeon sanseong mountain, the sight of an ancient fortress

with a great view of the city on a clear day. After that we headed to Nakdong Bird Sanctuary and then adventured our way through unfamiliar streets to find our way back to the bike shop and say goodbye. The weather has been turning cold recently but that particular weekend was perfect. sunny and cool but not cold. I've rarely had a better time.

Ok... i forgot to publish this post, so now its a couple weeks later... P.S. we won 3rd place in the costume contest... Free night of drinks baby! Yea!

Coffee and World Domination

Why is it that every time I have too much coffee I become convinced that I can do anything? It has to be a pretty massive dose, but then my brain starts spinning out webs of possibility that I convince myself are feasible in the face of overwhelming personal historical evidence to the contrary. It is at times like these that I come up with ideas like...

- I'm gonna start working out 5 days a week

- I'm gonna write a blog post every week

- I'm gonna get a black-belt in every martial art ever created

- I'm gonna become fluent in Korean and Spanish, and then, just for fun I'll throw in Mandarin!

- I know! I should write a book! A vampire novel! Yea! Fuck, if Stephanie Meyer can get published in that genera anyone can! Oh! and seeing as how vampires are immortal, I should make it a historical fiction so that people can learn at the same time that I am entertaining them with my witty prose and morbid imagery!

What I can't decide is whether it is sad or noble that when the caffeine rush wears off, I don't let go of these delusions. I Clutch to them like life preservers in the sea of my growing apathy. It is due to these ridiculous notions that

- i make it to the gym at least 2 times a week

- you ever get a blog post out of me

- I continue to study different martial arts when time and the budget allow

- I continue to study the language of the whatever country i'm in even if its only once a week for a short time

- I have made it through 4 different audio lecture courses on roman history.

If i can just make the leap from stubborn to dedicated I could be the man i want to be... Oh well... the rush is wearing off now... I'll keep trudging along. There is another blog that is partially finished about our trip to jeju, but its getting long and I thought I'd post this one in the mean time just to get something up.

Forcing the Seoul

Ok... I'm getting really bad about blogging. I usually just wait until i'm inspired to write because i feel like i write better... i usually don't like what i write when i force myself to do it, but thats resulting in not writing which does nothing to improve my writing, so from now on i'm gonna try and force one out on a regular basis... we'll see.

This last weekend (October 1st) Ahnna and I took the KTX up to Seoul for a bendertastic unplanned weekend of sleepdep and boozeling. We bought the tickets a day before hand and made no plans for where to sleep. Friday night was my good buddy Travis West's last night in Korea before he jets off for southeast Asia and then home. We met up with him at around 10pm and had a enjoyable night of so-maek, Galbi and random drunken discussions including Taoism vs budhism and whether Dogma is intrinsic to religion.

We ended up at Travis's apartment (which he was supposed to be moved out of) at around 7am, Travis and I continued to wax philosophical until we passed out on the floor, Ahnna and Travis's good Korean friend (who's name I really should remember) took the two beds in the apt. I woke shortly and joined Ahnna just to have the moving crew show up at 9am... we slept as well as we could while they moved everything out of the place around us... next we awoke it was 10:30 or so and the landlady was gasping to find us there as she showed the apt to a Korean couple. once we stumbled back to our feet Travis spent the rest of the morning giving me shit. (all the stuff he was going to throw away otherwise) and then forcing his favorite meat down our throats. Dweji-bulgogi (spicy pork korean BBQ [couldn't find a link for it]) we weren't really hungry, but it was delicious. We spent the late morning and early afternoon giggling foolishly at such sleepdep induced silliness as the above vulgarities.

After we said goodbye to Travis, Ahnna and I had a few hours to kill so we went to a DVD-bang. The reality is a bit more seedy than that little article implies. I got a short nap out of it.

Saturday night was another good friend's (Nick Wade) birthday party. We went to Itaewon. That is the foreigner city in seoul... I was not impressed. Many of the places we went were nice, but we ended the night on "hooker hill", the red light district of Seoul. In retrospect i suppose it was a cool experience and something I am glad I did before leaving Korea, but at the time I was mostly just disgusted by the foreigners that we observed legitimizing all the negative stereotypes that Koreans hold against us. The Hookers seemed classy by comparison.

We took an 8am bus home and caught our first semblance of sleep on the trip.

Ok... so many of you (not that there are many people reading this based on the lack of comments) are wondering... what happened to the road trip. Well... it happened, it was awesome and i will blog it... i'm gonna try and blog backward which should be interesting because as you read it later it will appear chronologically... if you get what i mean.... anyway... I'm off for now... in the next installment... Jeju.

The Cicada's Scream

The cicadas scream and summer swelters. Its a sticky heat, the humidity makes you feel in need of a shower 2 hours after the last. The beach is better. Ocean breezes lack the stagnant muggy feel of inland air. I don't think I'll ever settle anywhere inland. The sea is the best AC. At least once a week friends gather for fun in the waves sand and sun. Beers and rummy and bullshit. Its been quiet recently, everyone is on vacation somewhere... Philippines, Thailand, Jeju Island... a welcome break, but they are missed.

Not much written recently... nothing actually. Not much to say. Living a great grind. At work 40. Evenings; M/W Korean classes, T/Th Brazilian Jujitsu (on a one month Hiatus for summer vacation), Fri or Sat party with friends somewhere in the city. Saturday/Sunday one rest and recovery day, one go out exploring day. Repeat.

A few things worth noting:

*Buddha's birthday. 3 day weekend on Dok Jeok do Island up near soul was a Blast. Hundreds of Waygooken (foreigners) basically rented out all of a small hotel, and when we were booted from the beach by mother natures tears, we had a hotel party... like, the whole hotel, room to room to room party hopping. Made some great new friends.

*The I.C. Picnic. Kim In Cheol (The last name comes first in Korean), as good a friend as can be asked for. He took Ahnna and I and 7 of our nearest and dearest to a park for a picknick with his family and extended family. After which we piled into his minivan (do the count, thats 12 people including I.C.'s wife and baby, in a space smaller than my parents Aerostar, hurray Korean engineering.) and he took us around Busan. Introducing us to our own city as only an insider can.

*Mudfest is exactly as it sounds. Festival of mud. Inflatable mud-wrestling rings were a free for all of take-down craziness. Guys, girls, know, unknown, anyone was fair game. Inflatable obstacle courses filled with mud, a huge inflatable muddy slide and much more. When done getting dirty, play in the surf of the Yellow Sea to wash off. We had a blast. Our time there was too short.

That is past and now is present. Kids are on vacation, summer camps are over and I sit at my desk getting paid to watch The Wire. Tomorrow starts "paid leave" and Ahnna and I are planning to take my motorcycle on a road-trip around Korea. The scooters replacement falsely reports "Harley Davidson" where it should say "Daystar" and that is the only thing I don't love about it. Our plans are ambitious, but cheap. Couchsurfing, temples and a tent for sleeping arrangements. Raman and Gimbap for food. 6 national parks, a bamboo forest, and an abandoned amusement park. Plans exceed expectations. If mother nature doesn't throw a tantrum and forgoes the hurricane we are currently being warned about, we'll set off as soon as we know the weather man is full of shit and see what we can see.

Fuzzball Phoebe should not go unmentioned. 기쁨 (Geebeum- joy/happiness) is her Korean name and she is our new bunny. She is about 3 months old we're guessing, and has been with us for 2 of those. Ahnna made the mistake of stopping to look at some baby bunnies in the subway and the gentleman selling them plopped one into her hands. Ahnna just couldn't bring herself to give it back. Pheobe has been a great new source of entrainment and love in our lives. She is litter-box (her cage) trained, stays on the porch when we are not home and has reign over the bedroom when we are. She comes when we call and will stand up for treats. I hope she lives to her full 10 years, but god only knows what we will do with her when we travel.

So thats it, this is the wrap up. Questions? Korea still amuses. Korean commentary in the next installment. For now 20 minutes of work stands between me and walking out the school doors back into the cicada's scream.

Big nose! Small face!

Its been too long dear friends. Since I have basked in the glow of your smiling faces, or, you know, written a blog post. Today I have no classes, and therefore no excuse not to catch you up on my life here. We have been here for almost 3 months now and we are loving it.

I love my job. The kids are fantastic. The things that come out of their mouths are a constant source of entertainment. If you ever want to know what its like to be a celebrity, come teach English in Korea. Children come during their lunch hour just to stare in the window at me. My life is a source of gossip among the other teachers. People I don't know buy me drinks when I go out to the bar. Everyone stares. Koreans, known and unknown to me, say things like "Love englishee!" and "very handsome". Koreans have an odd idea of good looks. A third grader pointed to a picture he'd drawn on his paper durring one of my classes and said, "This you. big nose!" When I went to Ahnna's school for a volleyball game I was surrounded by a gaggle of giggling girls who were calling out "small face! small face!" It was explained to me later that these are considered beautiful traits among koreans. Apparently these guys would do very well here:

We have a great group of friends here thanks to the EPIK (English program in Korea) orientation (a week long crash course in living and teaching in Korea). We were all grouped according to where we would live at orientation so we have 30+ awesome new souls in our life and a never ending stream of things to do. Today we will go to a Baseball game with our friends Heather and Beau Dobbin. The Lotte Giants are the Busan baseball team and the games are similar in decibel levels to a seahawks home game.

I haven't been saving as much money as I had hoped because I have made some large purchases. I bought an AMD quad-core gaming grade desktop computer and have been accepted for beta testing of Starcraft 2. I put in a little more screen time than I probably should. I bought an ipod touch and it is currently filling my ear holes with the melodious constructions of Muse. And last but most important, I bought a scooter!!! Driving it to work and back is a highlight of every day. Sidewalks? Fair game. Traffic lights? Mere suggestions. The traffic? A nation of Asian drivers... need i say more? Development of super spider senses has been a necessity for keeping my hide intact. Top speed? Usually 80kph, but it'll hit 100 if i push it. I'm a little in love.

When I found out I was actually going to be able to come here I decided that I would study martial arts again while I'm here. Originally I was thinking taekwondo, but then someone told me I should try Hapkido, another Korean martial art. What did I end up doing? Brazilian Jujitsu. MWO???(that means "what" in Korean). I don't know how it happened, but the workout is amazing and it is arguably the most effective martial art in the world. I really want to continue doing it, but I'm not sure god wants me to. Every other week I either injure myself or get sick. First it was my back, then I had an awful fever (101.3 for 5 days) and I was finally getting back into it the week before last when I was washing dishes and a glass broke and cut into my pinky so deep it nicked the joint. 5 stitches. They come out today and I can go back to circuit training next week, but no grappling for another 2 weeks. Arrrrgg!!!! Am I swimming upstream against fate? Or is this just a test of my determination and dedication? Should I pick a different martial art? I figure I'll go back one more time and if the universe intervenes again I'll try something else.

That about covers it. Simple celebrity status. Lots of new friends. Starcraft 2. SCOOTER! Brazilian Jujitsu. My life so far in Korea. I love you all!

Attack of the Elevators: The Korean Experience

Motorcycles jump the curb and weave through people on the sidewalk. Traffic laws are loosely followed and even more loosely enforced, yet there appear to be very few accidents. The food is tasty, spicy and cheap! Kim chi(any of various vegetables[usually cabbage] pickled in ginger, garlic and red chili pepper powder) and Pickled white radishes are served with every meal. Drinking is a large part of the culture, and on any night drunken groups of businessmen with their ties around their foreheads sing NoriBang (private room karaoke) and old men and students can be found weaving down the streets singing or just slurring at each other. There is next to no crime. The people are universally friendly and though they do not speak English very well, many understand the basics of what you say, whether you mean for them to or not. Passive aggressive seems to be the accepted mode of communication. This sounds like a bad thing, but its not. The culture requires you to read the feelings of those around you through subtle gestures and body-language, they call this ability nunchi, and you use it to read the meaning behind their words. Any of you who know me understand that this will be good practice for me.

Oh yes... and one more thing... Elevators Attack! There is no cool laser to detect when someone is in the door and hold it open. So step quickly between the jaws of descension and ascention because they will snap shut on you.

Blogger Fail

Ok, so... I COMPLETELY failed at documenting my road trip around the USA! I tried to journal first and then copy that to my blog, but I never got around to copying it, and somehow forgot to save the file when I reformatted my computer. We have an outline of the road trip somewhere on paper, so maybe someday i'll go back and fill it in. Highlights were:

-Seeing family and friends all around the country!!!

-Glacier Natl. Park : #1 place to go back to and backpack.

-Crazy Horse Monument and the black hills of South Dakota : most impressive.

-The Peninsula in Michigan and the great lakes : most peaceful.

-Ottawa Canada: Coolest spider statue.

-New England : gorgeous and quaint.

-Boston and the Samuel Adams Beer tour : Best time with friends and beer.

-Niagara Falls : biggest and wettest.

-Rickets Glen State Park in Penn : coolest waterfalls.

-Pisgah brewing outside Asheville North Carolina : best beer.

-The Outer Banks of North Carolina : Best Beaches I've ever been to.

-Tennessee : Surprisingly pretty drive up the middle of it.

-Chicago: At the time, the biggest city I'd ever been to; great deep dish pizza.

-Omaha Nebraska Zoo: Coolest Zoo I've ever been to.

-Rocky Mountain Natl. Park: Most Immensely gorgeous sight I have ever beheld.

-Great Sand Dunes Natl. Park in southern Colorado : most sandy.

-Ouray Colorado The Switzerland of the USA : Best Scenic loop from Durango Co to Telluride Co.

- Mesa Verde Natl. Park : Coolest Native American Ruins

- Arches, Canyon lands, Bryce Canyon, and Zion Natl parks in Utah: Who knew brown and red could be so Beautiful!

- The Grand Canyon : Grandest

- Las Vegas : Best waste of money and coolest Performance (Zoomanity by Cirque du Soleil)

- Death Valley Natl. Park in Cali - Hottest

- Yosemite Natl. Park in Cali - #2 place to return to and go backpacking

Then we went up the Cali coast and Home. There is so much more to tell, but again, maybe some other time. For now I need to start a blog for my Newest Adventure... Teaching English in Korea.