My obsession

I don't know if I've just become obsessed with things in rows recently, or if Korea just has a lot of stuff lined up.

For vegetarians

For the second of my food related blogs, any time that I'm in Insadong and want a light, meatless lunch, I head over to Chirisan (지리산). The directions to the restaurant are complex, but everyone in Insadong knows where it is - near the north end of Insadong start asking.

I usually order the Pyongyang Bean Curd Dregs (I can't remember if that's the exact English name on the menu) 평양콩비지 It's like tofu porridge.

They have a similar dish with kimchi mixed in if you think the regular one might be too bland. There is a fairly large menu, but I tend to order the things I know I'll like. I guess I'm not really very adventurous.

The restaurant has had major renovations at least twice in the last couple of years. It's quite pleasant now both inside and out. Floor seating only.

Buddha's birthday

Buddha's birthday is actually next week but they are already preparing the temples. I went to the main temple in downtown Seoul - Chogye Temple - today thinking that the three day festival was actually going to be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Don't ask me why I thought that. It might have something to do with the fact that I read it in a magazine and a newspaper, and I'm sure I read it online somewhere, too. At any rate, not much was going on today - perhaps tomorrow. I know the parade is Sunday night (I think). I went to the parade a couple of years ago. It was kind of cool. There were lots of candle-lit floats.

At any rate, here are some pics.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

I've started re-reading The Art of Happiness. I am always so awed by the lack of anger and bitterness in the Dalai Lama, so I find his words particularly meaningful. The quote below is from the beginning of Chapter 1.

"I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness..."
Dalai Lama

So, I thought, what better way to be happy than to go to one of my favorite restaurants. Lately, so much of the news has been depressing and outrageous, and I've decided that I want to blog with a bit of positive energy. Today, my favorite restaurant for chicken soup (닭곰탕) - 사랑방.

This restaurant is a somewhat old fashioned (as in 1960s) type of place: cheap furniture, not much decoration, napkins in a roll that looks suspiciously like toilet paper, but the food is great and the portions large (I feel a little guilty when I think of all the flocks of chickens that have been decimated for my meals). The basic side dishes are always fresh and tasty. In addition, they almost always give a little special side dish gratis (see the picture below on the right). Then, when you leave, you get a little Yakult to cleanse your palate. All of this for W3,500 (U.S.$3.70/CDN$4.17) - what a deal!


The restaurant is run by several really pleasant women. At first glance, one might think that a restaurant called 사랑방 (Love Room) might be some dodgy place that provides a little something special for desert if you know what I mean (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), but I suspect it is related more to their Christian beliefs than anything else.

To get there, stand at the front gate of Sogang University and look across the road (west). A little to the left you will see this building. You have to go into the garage as though you want to get your oil changed and up the stairs on the right to the second floor.

Next week, I'll tell you about the best bibimbap (비빔밥) in the world (not just in Korea).

A new resolution (again)

I have decided that I really need to get down to studying Korean again. Learning Korean has been a frustrating experience for me. In 1984, I completed the Level 1 course at Yonsei, and then I didn't practice. I know it's a crappy excuse, but, 20 years ago, the reaction of most Koreans to any non-Koreans speaking Korean was laughter and derision. It made it really hard to want to practice. Then, in 1985, I spent a few months at LTRC doing more basic Korean and didn't practice.

In 2004, I took the beginner course at Sogang University and loved it. After a month and a half, I felt like I was finally able to say some thing other than, "How much is that?" Oddly enough, one of the best converstations that I've ever had in Korean was in the Hollywood Bar with an American who, when he learned that I was studying Korean, refused to speak to me in anything but Korean. We talked for 20 minutes and I was amazed at my ability. Then I got a job teaching English and stopped studying and practicing. Now I'm back to the basic level again. I'm feeling frustrated with myself.

I found it interesting that Jodie has found a non-Korean Korean tutor. Perhaps someone who has learned the language can understand the needs of other learners better.

I learned how to read Korean in a couple of days in 1983 and I've been able to do basic things for a long time, but I haven't been able to get beyond the beginner level. Part of my problem is that, for all of the years that I've spent in Korea, I have not one male Korean friend. I know that the modern Korean man is different (at least until he does his military training and gets a company job), but Korean men my age (middle-aged) are often unpleasant to socialize with. When I don't want to drink anymore, I really don't want to drink anymore. I also don't want to hang out at a sleazy room salon. I don't find their stories of smacking their wives around or having sex with hookers funny. And, I don't really want to feel used for my English all of the time.

At my age, all of my Korean female friends are married, have children, and don't feel comfortable socializing with me.

So, the plan is now to study on my own at home for a few months. I might try to get a Korean who doesn't speak English to help. I refuse to do another Level 1 course. I'll make myself talk to strangers. Taxi drivers are usually pretty good practice. I have enough books, CDs, and material to get to Level 3 by the end of the summer. Then I'll see if I can get back into Sogang. I might even take the official Korean language exam to inspire myself.

Wish me luck, and give me a kick in the ass if you see me on the street.

Now I'm off to study (Tuesday, Thursday, and either Saturday or Sunday for at least two hours at a time - do-able baby steps).

King Kong

King Kong is out on DVD now, so I bought it watched it last weekend when I should have been working. Cool. I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad that I now have a big screen tv.

DVD is really great because of all the extras. I've really been enjoying the making-of-the-movie disc.

I liked Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody. I particularly liked Brody and I can't believe that I've never seen any of his other movies (I'll have to rent The Pianist). I have to say, though, that I thought Jack Black was a bit over the top. Yes, that's right. In a movie with a giant ape, dinasours, huge worms, oversize spiders, and numerous other weird creatures, one of the characters was a little too over the top. I kept thinking, he's the vaudeville star - but he wasn't.

All my female colleagues were quite impressed with Kong and wished that all males were like him. I'm not sure that I really understand the attraction, but, as I get older, I'm getting a lot hairyer and a lot gruffer. I'm hoping that that's what they want.

All in all, a very enjoyable movie.

Corruption Part 2

Clean politics illusion

I was wrong (so what's new?) . It seems that, in fact, salaries for politicians are large enough that they don't need to be corrupt to recoup the bribes they pay to get nominated. Of course, that doesn't mean that they will stop being corrupt if they are elected. It's just that they don't really need to be.

How have the nominations for local elected offices become so pricey? The fact that local councilmen will receive fairly substantial salaries is just part of the reason.

So, what do these high salaries mean?

The price for the candidacy in a county, city and district chief election ranges from between 500 million won to 1 billion won, a provincial or special city council candidacy requires 100 million won and a county council candidacy comes in at about 50 million won, according to "estimates" by the authorities.

And the result is:

The Election Management Commission has so far detected more than 1,600 cases of election law violations and referred them to the prosecution. In addition, law enforcement authorities are receiving numerous tips from individuals, mostly members of rival parties or dejected insiders, about the sale of party nominations for the May 31 local elections.

Now, I would like to believe that there is hope because of all the whistleblowers. However, it seems that a lot of it is "members of rival parties or dejected insiders." Are these people just jealous?

Democracy - the way of the future

The last time I really respected a politician was in the early 70s. When I am a resident of Canada, I always vote. In the 30 or so years that I have been old enough to vote, I have voted many times, and I never voted for anyone who has won their seat. I guess I've always been a socialist living in conservative ridings.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about the only politician I was a passionate supporter of:

Robert Stanfield, PC , QC , BA , LL.B (April 11, 1914–December 16, 2003) was Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob". As one of Canada's most distinguished and respected statesmen, he was one of several people granted the style "Right Honourable" who were not so entitled by virtue of an office held.

Admittedly, I was pretty young and idealistic in the 70s - but wasn't everyone? I did have some hope with the New Democratic Party in the 90s but, when they got into power, they were just as bad as all the others, and they couldn't seem to get their snouts in the public trough quick enough. Two of their leaders resigned after corruption scandal allegations.

Now that I'm in Korea, I get to see it all brought to a new level - an avarice that even I, a bitter cynic, find hard to comprehend.

Despite the widely publicized investigation by prosecutors into the sale of party candidacies, a Democratic Party official was arrested Thursday after being caught, apparently, red-handed. Cho Jae-hwan, 57, the secretary general of the party, was arrested by police on the spot Thursday in possession of 400 million won ($421,000) in cash from a party member who hoped to be named a party candidate for the May 31 local elections.
...
Mr. Cho gave his car key to Mr. Choi who then ordered his aides to deliver two apple boxes, each containing 20 bundles of 10 million won in 10,000 won bills, to Mr. Cho's car.
...
Mr. Cho denied the charges against him and told the police, "I met Mr. Choi just to have dinner and gave him a car key since he said that he had a present for me. But I did not know that those boxes of cash were in my car."

And, Cho is just one of many. Do they have no shame? What happened to the concept of public service? The people asking for the bribes are disgusting, and the people who pay these huge bribes are no better. They are obviously expecting to recoup their money somehow. Since their salaries won't be enough, they must be planning to get the money back some other way.

And the list seems endless:

Mud flies as Uri calls Seoul, Ulsan mayors corrupt
2 GNP legislators resign from party after accusations
Prosecutors widen probe into election sleaze

I would really like to admire a politician. Does anyone know any good ones?

Let's get serious

The Dokdo Island issue has been receiving some pretty disrespectful treatment lately. I hesitate to name names: Blogger A, Blogger B, and Blogger C just to not name a few. Even the valiant Dokdo Raiders have received a salacious slagging.

So...the braintrust at my school today was trying to come up with something to really put Dokdo on the map (so to speak) in a way that no one could make fun of.

A Dokdo Marathon was suggested, but I think that we could do better. I think a Dokdo Ironman Triathalon could rival Hawaiian Ironman. By my calculations, to match Hawaii's event with its 3.86k swim, we would have to swim back and forth between the two islands 25 times. The running part of the race would have to take place on a specially built running path that circles the larger western island (Seo-do). Matching the 42.2k run in Hawaii would require that runners run around the island just 24 times. Of course, the most difficult part of the race would be the road road by bicycle. However, the 102 trips around the island could be done on the running path. Many might scoff at such an event being held on such small island; however, the thousands of spectators would have many opportunities to see each competitor hundreds of times. The two islands are so close that overflow spectators could be put on the eastern island. This could be a marketer's delight - T-shirts, a special Dokdo road racing bike, snacks, sports drinks... Once we get a few international competitions under our belt, no one will remember the names Liancourt Rocks or Takeshima - the whole world will know Dokdo and the special Dokdo Dance (adapted from the World Cup dance).

Another important scientific discovery

Yes, we really needed a team of scientists to tell us this:

Catching sight of a pretty woman really is enough to throw a man's decision-making skills into disarray, a study suggests.

Any teacher who has taught classes with boys (or men) and girls (or women) knows:

...that the sexual cues distract the men's thoughts, preventing them from focusing on their task - particularly among those with high natural testosterone levels.

I didn't know, though, that a man whose ring finger is longer than his index finger has more testosterone and is more likely to be distracted. Now I'm going to be going around looking at all of my colleagues' hands.

I'd really like to know how you could write up a proposal for funding for this kind of research. I think it must take a great creative writing ability.

Hyperbole or dementia?

All those years spent reading Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, and Blake - if only I'd known.

...comic books aren't just for children in Korea. Employing as much depth and creativity as any serious fictional works, they were more a medium connecting all generations.

Such superiority of Korean comic books finally seems to be recognized overseas...(and about time too)

Oh, but wait...

Although the Korea Culture and Content Agency provides translation support for popular comic books, the translation quality of comic books is still in question for many titles. Because publishers are often hasty in printing out English versions, many translated copies fail to bring out the emotions of the original book. (I have evidence: "Being or not be. That a questions." - Wiliam Shakespar)

"Comic books are one of Korea's finest cultural contents (I've long thought that other such cultural "contents" like celadon ceramic, pansori, and Korean calligraphy were far overrated) which we have neglected for a long time," said Kim Jong-bum, director of Urimana Solidarity. "We need to support more cartoonists for them to keep on developing new genres of comic books, and strive to improve the translation quality in order to keep the sales going overseas."

Another misguided law pending

As with so many rules everywhere, but especially here, this law would penalize the law-abiding and reward the rule-breakers.

I think that it is not so unreasonable to ask people who create a disposal problem to pay for the disposal, and I think that W100,000 is not a lot to pay to register a pet that you love. A revision to an animal protection law is being proposed because people's pets produce crap.

South Koreans have about 5 million pets, and the amount of pollutants they produce per year, such as excrement, is equivalent to that of Pusan City... (I'm not sure if they are suggesting that the city of Pusan is a pile of crap)

...[the] revision plans to levy charges on pet owners because the pets cause environmental pollution by their excrement

However,

The money will be used for animal protection and environmental preservation. (not just clean up)

If the problem is excrement disposal, charge people for the cost of the disposal of their pets' excrement. But, as with so many laws, the honest, law-abiding citizens will pay even if they don't like it, and numerous scoff-laws will ignore it. There seem to be a lot more scoff-laws here than in Canada (and there are a lot of them there, too) because enforcement of laws is pretty lax. Ironically, the law-abiding citizens are usually the ones who clean up after their pets.

And, of course, the usual idiotic criticism of this proposed law:

Some people raise puppies and kittens saying they are cute, but abandon them later when they grow up (so how will this charge change their behavior?). Such people will no longer keep animals as a result of the charge, and only those with a sense of responsibility will raise pets,'' an Internet user with the ID ``kamerzzz'' said.

Yes, let's not bring in a law because it will cause the irresponsible to stop raising pets. Actually, if a W100,000 charge would control stupid people, it might be a great idea - perhaps it could be used to control other stupid behavior.

British American Tobacco

I don't like smokers and I think that auto racing is pretty boring, but this news is serious. BAT is withdrawing its sponsorship of Korean auto racing. They have the hottest car girls. What are we going to do? I mean, really, did you even notice the car?

Canada in Afghanistan

I’ve avoided discussing politics on this blog. Partly this is because I feel like a lightweight when compared to many of the really good bloggers whose blogs I read. I have also always thought that the news I get from CNN and the BBC is not the full story, so I don’t really know what’s happening. I think that what governments tell us is news with a purpose, so I don’t fully trust them.

There are a lot of bloggers who actually study, discuss, and think about these issues much more than I do. I don’t have the time, energy, or inclination to really study the issues. Korean politics seems so murky that I doubt I’ll ever understand it. And, to be honest, I’m pretty sick and tired of a lot of the news. However, as the war in Iraq drags on, a looming confrontation with Iran heats up, and the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East in general seems to be deteriorating, I have been thinking more about the catalyst for much of what the West is doing now – 911 – and what Canada is now involved with as the head of the NATO forces in Afghanistan. I recently came across an article in the Christian Science Monitor called, Wake up, Canada - we're at war! by Rondi Adamson, and, while I feel a little uneasy agreeing with him (he seems a little right wing), his criticism strikes a nerve when he says, “…Canadians have been in love with the image of themselves as blue-hat wearing do-gooders, convincing everyone to get along while never firing a shot.” The reality is that we are not going to get out of Afghanistan without firing a shot. It made me think about why we were there in the first place.

I was in Dubai when the attack on the World Trade Center took place. I remember driving home from work and hearing on the car radio about the first plane hitting one of the towers. I didn’t really understand what was happening. I got home and turned on CNN in time to see the first tower collapse and then watched in horror as the second tower came down. The numbers of dead were first estimated to be around 10,000. It was the most horrifying incident I’ve ever seen live, and I was shaken for many days.

The response of many countries was in support of an attack on Al Qaeda and the Taliban government that supported them and provided them with shelter. Canada was part of that assault, and I thought (and still think) that we were right in participating.

I’ve always thought of myself as a liberal and a bit of a pacifist, but I think that governments have a responsibility to protect people from the attacks of criminals. To ignore the existence of evil people is wrong (and I don’t mean “evildoers” in the trite George Bush sense). To hope that if we leave people alone that they will leave us alone is just wishful thinking. Al Qaeda didn’t leave us alone. I doubt very much that we could ever sit down with them and talk things out. I think we had an obligation to all of the victims of that attack to try to get Osama bin Laden and his gang. They actually attacked and killed innocent people. It should be clear that everyone does not want to get along.

Now that Canada is in Afghanistan in larger numbers and things are heating up, there is fear that the public will begin agitating to bring the boys home. (Canada Braces as More Troops Head for the Perils of Afghanistan, Colonel Hope: Afghanistan is not Canada's Iraq) When we sent soldiers to the Balkans, I still remember some of the soldiers’ family members on TV saying that their loved ones hadn’t signed up with the military to be put in such dangerous situations, I was puzzled. What did they expect? For some, I hope, the military is a calling – a call to public service. For others, it is at least a job for which the military personnel have accepted money in exchange for doing a professional duty. Adamson says, “A peacekeeper is a soldier first and foremost, one whose actions, we hope, will bring about and maintain relative peace. He is not a Quaker.” I agree. When you sign on as a soldier, that’s what you are. It’s a dangerous job, and, in this case, it is a job that needs to be done. If we needed any convincing that peacekeeping may require action, all we have to do is think about what happened in Rwanda. At that time, we should have fired as many shots as was necessary to stop the massacre.

I don’t like a lot of what the U.S. did in response to the attack on the World Trade Center. I was shocked and revolted by that nasty bastard Donald Rumsfeld and wish that we didn’t have to be part of anything that he is leading. I don’t like what the U.S. did in attacking Iraq, and I’m glad we didn’t get involved with that. I think that we did the right thing in staying home from Iraq, but going into Afghanistan was the right thing to do. Now I hope that we won’t just walk away from Hamid Karzai and the others who believed us when we said we would make things right after we put down the Taliban.

I wish that the U.S. had focused on Afghanistan and done things right. If the billions of dollars that are now being spent on Iraq had been spent on Afghanistan, perhaps Afghanistan would be a shining example of a democratic Muslim nation. Perhaps the Taliban would be no more; instead, they now seem to be making a comeback. Perhaps we would have Osama bin Laden in a prison (or dead). However, we can’t just curse the U.S. Canadians need to remember why we went into Afghanistan in the first place. If we did the right thing then, we have to do the right thing now – stay and do a good job – even if there is a cost in lives. The Canadian general (Colonel Ian Hope - now if that's not an inspirational name I don't know what is) who is leading the NATO forces in Afghanistan said, “NATO has the political will and the military muscle to stick it out in Afghanistan, even if it takes a decade or more to rehabilitate the country…” I hope he is right. And, I wish that none of this was necessary - but it is.

Word verification

I've been getting some mildly irritating spam comments lately, so I've added a word verification element to the comment section. I hope it stops the problem without irritating anyone.

I'm confused

I still haven't really forgiven David Beckham for the whole metrosexual thing. This topic has been a bit overdone, so I'm not going to say much about it. However, I came across this in the Joongang Ilbo.

Mr. Jung, who won second place in the men's clothing division at the 2006 China Cup International Fashion Design Contest, is far from having his head in the clouds. (Right on!) "I want my clothes to be constructed in a way that is experimental but also feasible for everyday wear," the designer says. (Well, I just had to give one of his outfits a try.)

"I do not want to limit my designs to just the Korean customer. I hope that my clothes will be appreciated in a broad spectrum and this contest was the perfect opportunity for my ‘international' introduction," Mr. Jung says... (I don't know if I could wear this in small town Canada.)

One leather jacket with a bolero-style fur top attached was made by combining transfer paper with synthetic leather to create a rugged, worn-in effect. (I really liked the rugged look. Eat your heart out Arnie.)

Mr. Jung hopes that men will feel more comfortable "wearing something that is fashion-conscious." (I imagine that my students will really appreciate this. "Prof...")

On second thought...I dont' think so.

As someone who has been around for awhile, I am a little confused. It has always been hard to understand women. Now the men are becoming difficult to understand. It all seemed so much easier when we had to forage for food.

In the 70s, women wanted men who were rugged (Tom Selleck, Arnie, Sly) - men who were good at fixing things and carrying stuff. These were guys who knew how to dress up. They put on the t-shirt with no holes and wiped the dust off their boots. I started hang out at the gym. Then, when women found out that the guys often just wanted to hang around with the other guys, pump a little iron, watch a football game, and have a few beers, and that all they ever said was, "I'll be back," they decided that they wanted sensitive guys who had never seen the inside of a gym (Billy Crystal) - guys who wore sport coats and designer jeans. In the 80s, they wanted guys who weren't afraid to cry - guys who could express themselves. I became sensitive. Then, in the 90s, they decided that they didn't really like guys who could cry. They wanted a buff, sensitive guy who didn't cry (Keanu Reeves). Now, I don't know what they want - they like King Kong and Lee Junki. Why can't they accept us for what we are? We don't really feel comfortable in pink, and animal fur shouldn't be on anything unless we killed the animal ourselves.

Nice curves and something for the peckish

I love the traditional roof lines - gently curved.

The Weekend

It's the weekend and, as usual, I have work to do. However, I've decided that, either on Saturday or Sunday from now on, I will get back to my old routine of wandering through palaces and markets taking pictures, lunching in Insadong, and spending a little time in a coffee shop reading (Snow by Orhan Pamuk is my current read). Twenty years ago, Kyungbok Palace was my favorite place. I've been there hundreds of times (Really!). I remember when the old Japanese Goverment-General Building stood behind Kwanghwamun.

I really liked sitting at Hyangwon Pavilion. At that time, hundreds of artists used to have their easels set up around the pond. It gave the place an gentle, artistic feel. It was peaceful and relaxing. There also seemed to be a lot more trees in the palace. Two weeks ago, half of the palace was behind big grey metal construction barriers. I haven't really liked Kyungbok Palace as much in recent years anyways. It used to have a casual roughness that I liked. Now, everything is straight. All of the stonework is cut in sharp angles. It feels more barren and sterile. It's also crawling with tourists.

So...today I went to Chang-gyeong Palace. It has a much nicer feel. I also like the fact that, if you start at the Jongmyo Shrine side, you get to see thousands of old guys hanging around in the park at the front of the shrine. At 10AM, they were already serving pig's knuckle and shots of soju.

I wish that I could read Chinese characters because there are always a few calligraphers there with their work spread out on the ground. The park is also a huge draw for players of baduk (played with black and white and Jangi (Korean chess). They even had a trot concert. I love trot. For the uninitiated, trot is the saddest music in the world sung with a quavery voice that I cannot even begin to imitate. I had only ever heard it on tape and had never seen a live band playing. Then, a rather handsome, dapper old man (probably about 80 years old) got up and danced by himself in a large open space in front of the bandstand. And, all of this before I even paid my W1,000 and entered the shrine.

A little known secret is that I remember Chang-gyeong Palace when it had a zoo and there were little rowboats on the lake (circa 1976).

Doh!

She: We're lost. We'll never find him if you don't stop and ask for directions.
He: I don't need to ask for directions.

"Japan looked so small on the map that we thought we would find him straight away."

It had to be a guy and to top it off - a jock. What do they teach in schools in Singapore? Perhaps the damage wasn't just to the bricks.

The Love-in

I won't say much about Korea's bizarre love for a man who they probably wouldn't have given the time of day if he hadn't caught a ball in the endzone to help the Steelers win the Super Bowl. Jodi at The Asia Pages has a good post, and The Marmot's Hole also deals with this topic quite well. I am more interested in Hines Ward, the man. He seems like a nice man. He's not the most articulate person on TV, but he is, after all, just a football player (a darn good one for sure). I don't understand why he is here.

I can't say that I've ever really understood the burning desire of any people to find their "roots." As a 3rd generation Canadian whose grandparents came from Scotland, I admit with absolutely no embarassment that I don't feel drawn to Scotland at all. I wouldn't mind going to see it, and Braveheart was cool. And, maybe I'm wrong; perhaps I would feel something. Bagpipes do get my toes tapping. I don't think, though, that I'd be telling everyone in Scotland that I was a Scot.

If Scottish government decided to invite me to Scotland, I'd undoubtedly go. If they decided to make me a knight, and perhaps, if Sean Connery himself gave me the key to Edinburgh, I could squeeze out a tear, but I have to say, if my wee grandmother (you have to imagine me saying that with an abominable fake Scottish accent to get the full effect), said, "Those bloody Scottish wankers used to spit on me," there is no way that I would fly halfway around the world to let someone kiss my ass (and then use me for crass commercial and political ends).

I mean, honestly, his mother left Korea because Koreans treated her badly. Korean-American kids treated Hines so badly that his mother told him not to play with them anymore. She didn't really look very happy to be here on this trip. So, I can't imagine her raising him to love his "homeland."

Kim (Hine's mother), said she had spent 30 years “without looking at Koreans and without thinking about them. What do you think would have become of us if I had kept living here with Hines? He would probably never have been able to be anything but a beggar. Do you think I would even have been able to get work cleaning houses?”

So, why is he here? Is he at all embarrassed to be part of this dog and pony show? Is this just a money thing? Is he just going to make more money modelling clothes for Fubu?

As for him tattooing his name on his arm in hangul, I suspect that's just another version of a westerner getting a Chinese tattoo because it looks cool. I, myself, have often thought of getting some hangul on my bicep - perhaps stud (종마 Someone whose Korean is better than mine might comment on this.) - but I'm afraid that it would come out meaning something like construction stud (i.e. a piece of wood 샛기둥). And, then, of course, the connotations of "stud" in the west tend to be somewhat positive, it probably wouldn't go over so well here. I doubt that it would help me score. The whole thing is kind of stupid. Besides which, I kind of like the shape of this Korean word more than any other Korean word 꽃 and it means flower - guaranteed not to help me.

Country bumpkin

I haven't seen this very often in Seoul in recent years, and I never would have expected it at an institute of higher learning. What's that you say? A western style toilet? No, my friend, they are everywhere in Seoul now. Look at the toilet seat. What's that? Surely - NO! It can't be - footprints! (On rainy days, it looks even worse.)

Those of you who have never lived in a country where the squat style toilet was widely used won't know that there was a transition period when some people had never seen or used a western style toilet and they didn't know what to do. Some didn't trust a western style toilet either, so they'd never put a butt down on a seat that someone else's ass had touched. 20 years ago, footprints on the seat was common. I thought that it had passed.

I still remember being in the washroom at the Chosun Hotel in Seoul in the '80s. I had finished my business and was washing my hands when, from one of the stalls, came a loud splash, a bit of scrambling, and some serious cursing in Korean. Clearly, someone had been standing on the seat and his foot slipped into the toilet. This custom is pretty old-country though. I think that most Korean houses use a sit-down rather than a squatter.

I can't decide whether the cultprit is just an old professor or if he is from the countryside where squat toilets are still common. Perhaps we should get an adapter. I, for one, find the thought of someone's dirty shoes on the seat much worse than that thought of someone's butt leaving germs there.

New Years Resolution

When I started blogging again this year, I swore that I was going to be more positive. I swore that I wasn't going to spend all of my time bashing Korea. And, I think that I've done pretty well inspite of the fact that the Chosun Ilbo, The Korea Herald, and the Korea Times online have provided so much fodder. Finding material of the inane (insane) sort is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. I want to be positive. I want to be happy here, but I'm about as sick and tired of Korea as I have ever been (without leaving as I usually do). Lately, I've been so angry it frightens me. I don't want to hurt anyone, but I'm afraid that I'm going to say something that will lead to a fight or, worse yet, bump someone too hard or lash out and hurt someone.

I think that, if I make it to the end of the semester and still feel this way, I will have to leave. I woke up last night with a pain in my chest (not my heart this time, but undoubtedly not good for my heart). Last Friday during my Friday morning group meditation time, the teacher asked who was breathing so hard and loud. I think it was me. He said, "That's not Zen." Lately, I've been so tense that I've been breathing short, shallow breaths, and I can't control it. Great! I can't even breath properly.

Others have said it and I've said it to others, if you can't stand the jostling and human physical interaction, you should leave. Perhaps I will. I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but it does. Yesterday, at the subway, I was waiting where the little footprints are at the side of the subway doors when the subway pulled into the station. Just before the doors opened a young woman on the platform looked at me and then stepped right in front of me. When the subway doors opened, she took a single step into the subway and stopped. She stopped and I had to move around her to get on the subway. She had looked at me before the subway came and, at some level, knew I was there waiting to get on the subway.

Then, at my destination, I got out and went into my favorite shirt shop (tailor made of course). Now this shop is only about 15 meters long and about 2 meters wide. It has all of its fabric hanging on one wall. There were a few other guys there so it was a little crowded. I had already stepped into the shop and left a couple of times the week before because it was too crowded, but I was determined to get my shirts this time. The normal procedure is that you look at the bolts of fabric and turn the corners under for the ones you want so that you can find them later. I had already done this to two bolts of cloth and was standing at arms length from the wall of fabric when a middle aged guy stepped in front of me and stopped to look at the fabric. There was less than a meter between me and the wall, but he squeezed in there. He then stopped and looked at the material that I had been looking at but could no longer see. Hello!!! Excuuuzzz me! When he came to the material that I had marked, he straightened everything out. I almost put my fist in the back of his head. However, I left the shop and now I still don't have my shirts. I'll have to go back again. How could he not have seen me?

Over the years, I have sat in crowded areas and looked in people's eyes, looked at their faces, and watched their body language in an effort to understand what Koreans are thinking. They aren't intending to bother others. I know this. I'm not taking it as a personal affront. I have asked Korean friends to tell me what is in people's minds at these times. Not only can't they explain it, they have no idea what I'm talking about. How, in the video shop, someone can stroll in front of you and take the movie that you were pondering. How, on a really crowded subway with no free seats in any car, people can push and shove through the center of the aisle to go from one car to another. To go where??? I just don't get it. How, in a crowded department store, people can stop at the bottom of an escalator to think about whether they want to go up or not. How, on a sidewalk with lots of space, people still seem to brush against you as they walk by. If it was an occassional thing, I would probably be okay, but I am really, really tired of it. I clearly don't have the ability that Koreans have not to notice. I do. I can hear my mother's voice, "Watch where you are going." "Don't block people." I'm aware of the sound of people who are behind me and about to pass me. How do I turn this hyperawareness off and preserve my sanity? I don't know. Perhaps I should accept that I just can't live here. Hopefully, I can make it through the semester, and then I'll think seriously about what to do. Perhaps sessional work at some hagwon in Canada won't be so bad.

If I stop blogging for a bit, it's because I don't want to blog a lot of negative stuff.

The party is over

I've added The Partypooper to my sidebar. He's no longer a man of mystery. When alerted to his shadowy existence at Sogang, I employed a little deductive reasoning to try to find him. When confronted with my suspicions, he caved in pretty easily and even admitted to adding anonymous comments to my blog. I had expected to that I would have had to at least threaten to use thumbscrews, but no! (I think that even Lee Junki might have put up more of a struggle).


I have to say I was just a tad disappointed. Initially, I had assumed that the "international man of mystery" would have had some of the qualities of a James Bond (and I mean Sean Connery, not Roger Moore), but he turns out to have more in common with Austin Powers (that Canadian contribution to toilet humor). Oh well, his blog still an occassional read.

Spring?

After a warm and pleasant beginning, March turned cold and April has been less than pleasant. I am seriously tired of winter and a very drab Seoul.

Some flowers are blooming and there are a few tree buds, but nothing to rival a Vancouver spring. As usual, the forsythia (yellow) are first, followed fairly quickly by the magnolia (mostly white but some purple).




















As my friends (and perhaps my students) will tell you, I've become very grumpy since I came back from Thailand - just can't feel the love for Seoul anymore. The bright spot of my day is on the way to school and on my way home (especially on my way home). This little guy is out on the sidewalk every day - always genuinely happy to see me. He doesn't smoke or spit (although he does crap on the sidewalk). He doesn't jostle me for space. All in all, a nice chap. We could easily be friends.