Hi. I'm Zachariah.

Korea - America

Cat

When a friend found out that I was going to America he connected me with girl who had left her cat in Korea and wanted someone to help her get it back. I found out later, only after I got back from America, why she had left it in the first place (I didn’t inquire before, just went with it). It turns out she was teaching English for a hogwan (private school), but they didn’t secure her a proper work visa. Her visa ran out and she was rushed out of the country.

Anyways I, with silent reluctance, agreed to bring it back with me. She did all the work she could calling airlines and setting things up, and she offered to pay me for my trouble.

I got the cat the night before my departure from the guy who held it; then I went to dinner and a late showing of Avengers with friends (I came out in internationally before US, neener neener neener). While I was away it pooped on my bed twice. Yay! I chucked my bedding on the floor and crashed and tried to go to sleep ignoring the cats meows.

Travel

I set off and checked the cat with my morning flight to Seoul at 9am. At the Jeju airport there were a lot of highschool girls, in uniform. I’m not sure what they were doing. School trip? My freshmen went on a week trip to China a month ago. Do a lot of schools do that?!

In Seoul, I had to transfer airports, a 45 minute task, during which many Korean women awwwed over the notreallyvisible cat.

I got to Incheon airport and looked around for the name of the company we were using to ship it and couldn’t find it. “Oh great!” So I called a number I had and didn’t really get a response at first. After a bit I got a hold of a guy and through a hard conversation of broken English found out that I had to go to the cargo terminal which was in a different location. So I went back on the subway to the cargo terminal.

But when I got of the subway there were no buildings around! So I called the guy and we were confused and he just agreed to come pick me up. I later figured out there was a shuttle that ran by both the airport and subway that would have taken me to where I needed to go.

So after an hour of customs checks and paperwork and waiting, the cat was successfully and finally taken from me. yes! I went to the personnel airport had a delicious lunch and then flew away at 5pm, Friday.

America

I arrived in San Francisco at 10 am, Friday, 11 hours later. I really wanted a shower about then.

To transfer to my next flight I had to go through security again. There were three lines. I waited in the far left one. When I was almost to the front of the line the security lady checking passports in the middle line winked at me and kinda waved me toward her. I started and took a step then stopped. She didn’t continue looking at me, so I didn’t move, confused. She helped another person and I just stayed in my line and continued on through as normal.

Welcome to America. Lots of tall people, lots of fat people, and, I’m reminded as I walk through the airport, real beer on tap is common. Then, after writing the notes for that previous sentence, I get to my flight to Spokane and end up sitting next to a fat lady!

Wedding

Friday night we had a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The dinner was incredible. Tied for best meal of my life. It was 50$ a head. It was at a small hole in the wall wine tasting place.

The next day, the wedding went very well. It was amusing because my dad, brother, and I all had to get help tying our ties. I actually did as good of a job as the guy who unimpressively did it for me. Pictures, pictures, pictures. The ceremony was good. It was really long, and if it had been just a friend of mine I would have been bored. But as it was, my sister’s wedding and I in america, it wasn’t boring.

The reception was wonderful. There was wine at each table along with slices of multiple types of bread and large slabs of cheese, special cheese, the kind with a wax shell. It was great. And the cake was delicious. It wasn’t a shit cake. Most cakes are shit—especially store bought cakes in Korea. But this cake was real and rich tasting. Nom nom… The people and activities were good too ;)

Besides that I ran some errands and hung out. It was a great visit to America. I had draft beer every chance I got. So wonderful.

Return

Spokane Airport, 5 am. Going through security my backpack is called back and the guy asks to search it and then has to rerun it. While it’s being rerun, there is like an emergency. The stations are shut down, and the security guards are talking very seriously on their radios.

We all wait and listen to try to identify what is going on. I fear something, my large cheese, looking like plastic explosives? my cigars, looking like dynamite? have caused the problem.

Nope. After they stopped the whole show, they had two officers escort a man back to security from the terminal area. Not sure what that was about or why they realized they needed to rescan his pack… He was about my age but very casual looking. I don’t know what eventually happened; they let us continue on.

Assorted notes:

- United Airlines is so unpresentable compared to Asian airlines.
- I want a Tonton sleeping bag. 
- 6 hours left on this flight! Geeze. My last flight felt quicker.
- Are runway fashion models supposed to be attractive? Cuz their not.
- Asian flight attendants are soo cute.
- With United I flew 2 hours from San Fran to Spk with one stewardess not dressed up and in an unspacious and unappealing cabin; with Asiana I flew 1 hour with 4 nicely dressed and synchronized stewardesses in a comfortable and clean cabin.

Weird?

Some people thought I might feel weird being back in America, maybe because all of a sudden everyone is speaking English or the change in culture, etc. However, I actually found it surprisingly normal to be back in America. In fact, I felt weirder being back in Korea than being in America.

Korea - Field Trip (April 6th)

Probably the most interesting thing that has happened this second semester is the field trip to Udo Island with my second graders (the third graders went to a different place, and the first graders are on a week trip to China). It is a small island just off the east coast of Jeju. The ferry took 20 minutes. It was a beautiful day, one of the most summer-like days yet. After getting to the island we walked around the coast and up the cliff faced hill to the highest point.

Fashion

What was striking about the students was their dress. Instead of wearing casual clothes like Americans or wearing the colorful and excessive outdoor gear ubiquitous among Korean adults, they dressed in more formal stylistic fashion. They wore sweaters, ties, skirts, heals, and other layers. The clothes tended to be artsy in color. Koreans also use the term “fashion” liberally, as they do “drama.” (Hard to explain more than that.)

Their choice of clothing was bizarre and not what you want to wear for a day out and a mile walk in the sun. Some clothes came off, but here it is common for fashion to overturn comfort. I talked to a third grader, and she said that the third graders dressed more normal, that it’s just a thing all second grades do at that time. Huh.

Fish

Shortly into our walk around the small island we came to a beach. I was the first to jump down into the sand and walk along it. There I found a dead blowfish. It had dried seaweed and pebbles stuck to its body and among it’s thorns.

For the rest of the walk, I kept it with me and showed it to students. They continually freaked out and didn’t believe it was real. I chased a few of them around with it, or snuck up beside them slowly moving it into their peripheral vision until they screamed. Yeah I’m one of those guys.

I threw the fish off the top of the island cliff into the ocean. It was hard to throw because of the spikes, but I managed.

Lunch

Korea is very much a group culture, as are many Asian cultures. One thing that is very common is the sharing of lunches, especially on hikes. That happened on this fieldtrip too. Some students brought Tupperware of food, others brought only chopsticks. 

The teachers too brought group food, and I wasn’t expected to bring anything. The main food amoung teachers and students is Gimbap. I’m not really a fan, but I’ll eat it. There were also many other things, fruits, veggies, chicken, rice, etc.

And then one of the Korean teachers broke out the beer. I was quite astonished. They passed around cans of beer during lunch, with the students sitting in groups just 20 feet away. That would never happen in America. Interesting.

Being High

On the way home, we were all exhausted. On the bus, there was a tv up front showing Korean pop music videos. One song came on: “High, high.” The chorus is the namesake with the addition of, “I’m so high.”

I asked a student what “being high” meant. She, confused, pointed at the sky, and said, “High?”

I laughed, “Well yes,” and then explained what it meant regarding drugs. The students were aghast and embarrassed. They couldn’t believe what they were singing. It was funny.

Korea is conservative about drug culture. All drugs are illegal and hard to get a hold of.

Korea - A Break.

Deskwarming

For part of January and much of February I was “desk warming”. This is when you show up to work but have nothing to do. It’s kinda nice really—except for the school being freezing. I spent it reading and studying for the GRE. And since I live next to the school sometimes I would just check in and then go home. Paid to do nothing. Mmmm.

My official vacation was about February 9th through the 24th. I took three of the days and moved them to April so that I could fly home for an extended weekend for my sister’s wedding.

Thailand - Arrival.

I spent a week of my vacation in Thailand. I was able to to get a cheap flight from Jeju to Bangkok with a layover in Shanghai. My round trip ticket was 535$. I had a long layover but I read and played boggle (Scramble With Friends). China blocks Facebook, by the way.

I got to Bangkok after 2 am. My bus was at 7:30am, so I puttered around the airport and read and tried to sleep on a bench.

Eventually I went to the Koh Change bus counter and bought my ticket. Then the bus left 30 minutes late or so. The bus ride would be over 5 hours with one stop for lunch. We stopped at a Thai side of the road, open, food place and I had a rice thing with an egg on top. It was good.

On the bus I slept and listened to The Catcher in the Rye. I loved it. Finally we got to Trat and then took the ferry to Koh Chang. There we split into two parties, one in a mini van and the other in a taxi (a pickup with a roof). I was in the minivan, crammed in the front seat with another girl and the driver.

We set off. There were many tourists riding rented scooters on the road. And the road was windy and sided with lush foliage. 

Koh Change is very mountainous, it doesn’t have the exponential curve that Jeju does; instead it it immediately mountainous from the waters edge. There were some really pretty views.

We passed through beach town after beach town, stopping in each to drop of our load. 

I knew what town I made reservations in, Kai Bae, but not the actual location of the bungalows. Fortunately I saw a sign on the side of the main road and got dropped off.

Bungalow

From what I hear hostels are not too common in Thailand because bungalows are and are cheaper for your own room. I stayed at Paradise Bungalows. It was not the cheapest around. Some like to travel dirt cheap, backpacker style. I’m fairly frugal but I will pay for comfort.

I only booked two nights head of time. But when I got there and checked out some other places I liked where I was best—especially after seeing a lady covered in red bites.

I paid ~28$ a night. Had my own room with air conditioning and a tv and a bathroom with hot shower. The location was great too. I was just off the main street. So I was close enough to access everything conveniently, but I wasn’t bothered by the loud partying at night.

Stay

For a week I did nothing but read and walk around, swim and sunbath, eat yummy Thai food. I also walked a few miles, and thought I was lost on the way, to a large waterfall on a state park. It was wonderful.

Return

The return was a bit nerve-racking. My flight was at 2am. So I decided to take the bus at 5, and I expected it would take ~7 hours to get to the airport—like my trip out. However, first it turned out the bus would leave at 6 instead (It started at 5 from the other side of the island?). Then it turned out that there was a “ferry accident” and we would have to take the next ferry.

So the entire time I’m looking at the clock and calculating and wondering if I’ll make it and imagining the worst and being nervous.

We didn’t even get to the mainland until after 8. Then our new driver for our van didn’t seem to know what was going on. And he also was a bit off, coughing a ton and sipping like a mini energy thing? It was unsettling.

But, the good thing is, he drove really fast. But he drove in a bipolar way, gas, break, gas, break. It really didn’t make any sense. But I’m glad he went fast. It was also a bit bumpy at times. And I was still paranoid that I wouldn’t make it. I swore I wouldn’t make it in time.

But then we did, got to the airport at 1am.

Flight

However, my flight “never came”. And that is the only explanation I got from China Eastern. So they put the whole flight (?) into a hotel room. It took us about 30 minutes to get there. And then at the check-in counter, at 2:30am, there was a whiteboard that with our flight on it that said, “Meet at 4am for shuttle to airport.” Really? Wow. Incredible. Amazing. Why would they do that? It makes no sense!

Well. I set my alarm. It woke me up. Then I got a phone call waking me up. Then I got a phone call saying, “never mind,” that I don’t need to be to the airport until 11 am. Okay so I slept. And it felt really good. I needed the sleep. And it was a fancy hotel too. There was a tv in the shower and a bureau and a safe.

In the morning we got free breakfast buffet. And it was the best breakfast buffet I’ve ever had, I think. So much selection, and good quality. Nummy.

Shanghai

So my flight left without a hitch, at like 12:30. I got to Shanghair at about 6:30pm. Unfortunately my flight to Jeju was at Noon. And because of that the security people figured I didn’t have a flight out of the place, and being strict, held me until they could get my Airline to come to them to confirm a re-flight. However, it didn’t make much sense to me. They held me for like 2 hours, instead of letting me just go 150 yards over to where the China Eastern Airline people are stationed and figure it out with them.

It was so frustrating. I swore to myself a ton. And in the end they didn’t accomplish anything, just said, “Okay, go to the China Eastern people.” I was so frustrated.

But there, standing in line to get a new ticket, and waiting for our shuttle to a hotel. I met some people. One was a couple from Australia. And I met a Chinese man who is a lawyer and PhD student in Australia. He was on his way back from Harvard where there was a convention on “The Future of Asia”. So I talked to him a lot about intellectual things.

When we got to the hotel, they insisted everyone share a room (because they only had two bed rooms). The first two people in line were middle aged men, and they were upset about that. I however was okay and shared it with the guy I just met.

The next day I flew home to Jeju. Wew. And finished The Brothers Karamazov.

Korea - Winter to a New Year

Weather (December)

The winter weather in Jeju isn’t exactly tropical, it is rather something like Oregon. We had a few snow falls, but the temperature has been hovering in the 40s (F), about 10 degrees warmer than up in Seoul.

Christmas

I had snow at my place the entire Christmas weekend. Those in the city, Jeju-si, didn’t get much as or any; it is warmer there. For Christmas we organized a get together akin to our Thanksgiving gathering, which I see I didn’t write about…

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we had a potluck with our friends. We crammed about 15+ of us into one of our apartments, each of us bringing a dish. We tried to get traditional food, us Americans coaching those from the UK, South Africa, Canada, and Australia on what to bring. In the end we got a lot of random food. There was traditionalesque dishes like ham, chicken (we couldn’t acquire any Turkey :( ), cranberry sauce, rolls, wine, mashed potatoes, mini pies (home made in a toaster oven, the best we have here), and there were random additions like KFC and chili. It was a lot of fun :)

Back to Christmas

For Christmas we did a similar event, but bigger. To accommodate the side of our outreaching social circles we got a man we know who owns a bar and we rented it for our exclusive use for Christmas afternoon. We also contacted an Indian restaurant and ordered a load of chickens for the meat course. The cost of both of these was 10$ a head ‘entry fee’. Then people brought all sorts of side dishes. Adam, a Brit, made a bunch of mulled wine, which I had never had before. It was good. I tasted nutmeg and citrus in it—very holiday-y!

Adding to the festivities, I suggested (in the planning) we dress up in ‘ugly sweaters’, which a few of us did (There’s a great picture of us on facebook). I also suggested that we do a White Elephant gift exchange. It was a lot of fun. I was the second person to pick—which is second to worst. I opened and got a knit R2D2 beany, knit beard, and knit Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo all made by Samantha while desk warming (being forced to be at the office with nothing to do) (Facebook Picture).

It was great. Everyone loved the gift I got and said, “There’s no way you’re gonna keep that.” But after I put it on and sat down, there was such agreement that it fit me perfectly and familial love that no one stole it from me. In the end, it was a good Christmas.

New Years

For new years, Olivia in Incheon (next to Seoul) planned a get together of our clique. We rented a Hilton Suite for 5 people and snuck 13 people inside, so it was cheap per person (20$). Our friends are from around Korea, but most are from Daejeon. We went out for a nice Italian dinner and then hung out at our suite and celebrated New Years: played games, watched K-Pop, and watched countdowns and firework shows on TV.

Many of my friends on Jeju went to Seongsan, which is the crater thing that is one of Jeju’s icons. It is the first place in Korea to see the sun rise, and they have a New Years festival there every year.

Camps

While school is out in the winter and summer the district office coordinates teachers into camps around the island. I had two elementary camps that lasted a week each. They were a LOT of fun. The kids were FREAKIN’ ADORABLE. The girls doted on me, “Hansom, teacher, hansom” (boys say it too). I love kids. I talked to them in between classes—as much as our language allowed, which is part of what made it fun; it was like a game trying to communicate, and full of smiles—or adorable frustration.

There’s this thing a couple of the boys did; after asking for help, one on one, when they understood they said, “okay, okay, okay.” (Ironically, today I left my hat on the bus and so taxi’d to the terminal and talked to numerous Koreans in pursuit of it. The final man to help me, responded to me like this, and I thought of the boys at camp.)

At my first camp I taught one lesson to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and maybe 5th graders (I don’t remember). At my second camp I taught 4th and 6th graders multiple lessons. At the second camp, a girl gave me a little foam creature I assume she put together. And another little girl gave me an envelope that I put in my bag and forgot about until days later when I opened it and read the letter was totally melted.

Next I taught debate as a winter class at my high school for a week. I really enjoyed working with them in a smaller group (3 students).

Then I had my own high school’s English camp. It was a blast. Instead of being a normal camp where teachers just rotate and teach one or two lessons to tons of students, each lesson was only taught once, and the teachers did rotate but less. The camp had a theme “cultural differences” and culminated into each class performing a skit based presentation on the final day.

The students were fully responsible for every aspect of the skit, writing, directing, acting, etc. But the teachers also had to act in the plays, as the students directed. It was great and a lot of fun. I think my class’s presentation was the cleanest and most put together. We got third place, and we each got a pen :D . First place went to the class that did the most singing and dancing (regardless of it being on topic or not)—big surprise :P.

C’est tout pour maintenant.

Short Story: The Lollipop

The Lollipop; Or I did it for the act, not the beer.

It was a Saturday night and the gang went out for dinner as is the birthday habit. Then, as is not the habit, we headed to Boris Brewery. I think, Boris owes me a beer for the number of people I’ve turned onto the place; but only some will stick.

The twelve of us dribbled our way in twos and threes up the hill from City Hall and left at the Rotary. We shifted who we talked to like a segment of choreographed dance on a stadium floor. We were almost to the brewery when I saw a long stemmed lollipop lying on the sidewalk just past a lasting construction site. I turned and picked it up, forcing others to sidestep and some asked what it was.

I kept it. It was an unopened green sucker with the sheen of a butterfly’s wing. The head was of normal size, but with the stem it was a foot long. When held the head bobbed back and forth like a metronome or a child’s toy.

The sucker remained with me the rest of the night. I bobbed it, I swung it, I bonked others on the head with it. And sometimes I pocketed it. At the brewery Amber and I were interviewed by Chelsea, who used it like a Bob Barker microphone. Later at the Reggae Bar, I danced with it, and sang into it. I also turned it upside down, holding it with the head covered, and when people asked what I drank, I flipped it up and they raised their eyebrows.

Sometime throughout it all, I discovered that it was actually a normally stemmed sucker snugly stuck into a removable plastic tube. At the Reggae Bar people sang, drank, and wiggled (there wasn’t a widespread dancing mood that night). For a moment Amber stood across from me in a shifting circle with a mug of the ubiquitous Cass in hand.

I pointed over her shoulder, towards the bar, “Who’s that?”

She turned and looked. I slipped the sucker out of its extension and slid it like a straw into her drink, which she still held, and I sipped while she looked and wondered who I was asking about. I hadn’t planned it and was surprised as the seconds ticked by, myself sipping lightly to not at all—I wasn’t in it for the beer. I looked and sipped with the accidental surreptition of Mr. Bean.

Still looking questioningly, she adjusted herself, now shoulder to shoulder to me. Our heads, side by side, looked onward like a father showing his child a wild animal. I held my left hand in front of us in a vague gesture. My lips still held the lollipop extension in her drink; the arrow if it inching straight past the curve of her jaw.

Feeling that my time was running out, while thinking she’d realize at any moment, I slapped and swished the air with my extended hand as if to say, “never mind”. I stole back my straw and rejoined it to the lollipop with a sleight of hand that evaded her notice.

“Nevermind,” I said, drowned to a mutter under the music.

Amber wasn’t sure what had just happened, she had the sense, fueled by the glancing and creeping smile on my face, that she had missed something, and she gave another look at the bar before deciding it was nothing. I noticed that a few of those at the bar facing outward had watched what I did and were chuckling or making in-the-know facial expressions. One said, “I’m watching you” by flipping two fingers between their eyes and mine. But it seemed that they too were surprised by what had happened and didn’t know what to make of it.

After a moment, when Amber’s demeanor had returned to normal, feet spaced stoutly at shoulder width—as she does, free arm locked extended into pocket, mug in hand, and her head rocking in small scoops with a facial expression that says, “Just chillin.”

After this, at normalcy, I told her.

“I drank your beer.” And Doc Holiday’s Cheshire cat smile animated my lips.

“What?” She cocked her head.

“When I pointed, and you were looking over there, I drank your beer.” I detached the straw and brought it to my lips and mimed it for her.

“What?!” she said, positively astounded and smiling. Then, “Do you want more?” She held her mug to me.

“No, no, I did it for the act, not the beer.”

She broke speechlessness with exclamations and I tried not to grin like a fool or take more credit than I deserved. It was accidental artistry, such as is common among the breed.

-

Later that night, on an apartment roof overlooking the city, we six or so, shivered and snuggled in the slicing wind. We had partial success, some more than others, taking our mind off the cold with candy and beer and banter.

Long after settling, I looked up to the call of Raynell. She held my lollipop in her hand, her arm was cocked back, and she threatened to throw it over the edge. Amber cried out on my behalf, and I told Raynell to put it down and that I’d punch her in the face if she didn’t. She reluctantly brought it down, like a would be suicide yielding to the audience. And I kept it with me then. And I brought it home.

Why I Love Russian Circles

This is kind of a digression from my previous post about Youtube comments—essentially it is a plug for myself as a constructive contributor to the chaotic internet.

From time to time I take the time to comment on things—I have even contributed a line or two to Wikipedia. Here is one contribution that I am proud of—because it was so explicitly responsed to—such that I remember it two years later.

Here is a modified version of the comment I posted to the Russian Circle song “Death Rides a Horse”:

“I’ve thought a few times about why I love these guys. And I think it’s the structure and suspense they have. There are plenty of faster or harder bands that may make you want to rock out. Russian Circles sounds epic and makes me want to rock out, yet withholds that chaos and keeps me in this beautiful structural progression: it produces a hooking tension where it feels like it’s about time to rock out, but the rock-out doesn’t quite come, a drawing out of the climax that keeps me on the edge of my seat.

Plus not having lyrics allows the listener to relax the brain and enjoy the aesthetic beauty of the song.” (Modified because I think you care more about my commentary on Russian Circles, than the authenticity of my comment.) 

The up-puffing reply I got was: “I believe that is the best explanation of why Russian Circles is such an amazing band i have ever heard.”

A note and (pseudo) study on Youtube comments

We’re all well versed in Youtube, it now being a regular service in our culture. It’s a  go-to for humor, music, and the like, a source of attractive time-killing links we regularly click.

We also are familiar with the general cesspool of commentation that videos receive, everything from impossible to follow arguments (often about religion), to exclamations that music isn’t what it used to be or that Bieber or Gaga need to die. But this is nothing new to you.

I have made an interesting observation though. I first made it a couple years ago, noted it, maybe shared it with a couple roommates. Recently I came across the same phenomenon.

Here’s the bit, there are certain videos whose comments display a remarkable lack of negativity and argumentation and plenty of the opposite. The first time I noticed this was with Brooke Fraser music on YouTube. Wondering the cause, I noted that she is a New Zealand artist. And at the time I saw that some other Kiwi and Aussi artists, that I might have found through her (I don’t remember), had similar comment lists.

Fast forward to the present: through Gotye, I was introduced to Kimbra whose videos brought this again to my attention, exhibiting the same characteristics. Interestingly, she too is Kiwi. I find this rather interesting. Here is an image of what I am talking about (as of 11/11/27):

 

Notice how many thumbs-up the top comments have. Notice how many of the subsequent comments are full of skyward thumbs. This is not normal.

When I noticed it a few weeks ago and mentioned it to a friend, it was “Settle Down” that exhibited this trait (I specifically mention this one song as it is what I mentioned to my friend in our chat log). And with that song, it wasn’t just the first page, the next three or four pages continued to have positively thumbed comments sometimes up into the hundreds. I find this rather bizarre.

Upon this post, that page no longer has the same sort of thumb count. But the same artist’s “Cameo Lover” (as I think it had weeks ago) still does.

It’s weird. When I see this I wonder if they (Kiwis) are more positive and/or cohesive as an audience. What brings the viewers of these videos to not have spats but to say things that everyone evidently agrees with?

There isn’t enough support here to come to any definite conclusions. And the fact that a song that had this trait weeks ago no longer does is suspicious. It could be happenstance on my part. It could be a fluke in YouTube programming. Who knows.

P.S. I just found a compilation of highly thumbed comments. Unfortunately there isn’t much information about the videos themselves. Thus no analysis can be done. :/ Phooey.

Korea - Thankfully

This post will just be a few interesting notes and experiences.

Tutelage

At work, sometimes I have students come in between classes or on breaks for help. Some ask for proofreading on scripts they in tend to read over the intercom at lunch, others want help on college essays, and one girl had me proofread a translation done by the book translating club. I really enjoy the one on one work. I feel more productive, and there’s more engagement and, hopefully, understanding. But what’s kinda amusing, is that the students are often too shy to interrupt and tell me they have to leave for class. They’ll just sit there listening to me until I ask, “Do you need to be at class,” to which they will eagerly nod and zip away.

Grunt

One thing that is different in Korea is the mannerisms. Sometimes an entire conversation on the phone will consist of differently intonated 네s. I suppose we do similar things.

Another thing they do is what I have termed the “Korean grunt”. It’s like a guttural ”uh”. I realized a few weeks ago now that I have pretty solidly adopted it. I caught myself grunting to affirm a sentence in my reading—while alone. Anyway, I like it, it fits with my laconic personality.

Newspaper

A week ago or so I had a four day weekend, so I took a few days to visit Seoul. I stayed with a friend and saw a few sights (Seoul Tower, a book store, and we tried to go to a lantern festival but gave up because of the endless line). But one of thing I found really interesting was when my airplane was taking off literally a third of the people on the flight were holding and reading the newspaper. It was an interesting sight, to look up the isle and see tons of newspapers. I tried to take a picture, but it didn’t turn out. So it goes.

Korea - Fall Begins

Korean Language

My attempt to learn Korean is progressing nicely. I have a number of methods of study and exposure. So far I’ve gotten the most from talktomeinkorean.com. And the least from the free community language classes. The classes have mostly been a guy just giving us a lot of phrases, often related to teaching—which I have no desire to learn. Not only is it a low priority topic, but I want structure and language building blocks so that I can build my own sentences, not prefabricated phrases that I can only regurgitate. 

I have also been using the flashcard application Anki to study vocabulary and phrases. This last week I got my first bit of knowledge about verbs and am very excited about the possibilities that opens up.

A few days ago I bought a Korean Grammar book, which I am very excited about. I have also done a bit of the Korean program on this university website, as it is good for listening and reading practice, as well as more advanced phrase comprehension.

Yesterday I also listened to the first day of a Pimsleur course, which is great for pronunciation and practical phrases, and I hope to keep it up.

Finally, today one of my co-teachers (English name: Joe) asked me to his office for some coffee after lunch. He sneakily began to teach me Korean, and eventually got around to asking me to come everyday, which I’m okay with :). He talks a bit slurred, both in Korean and English, but I think it’ll be good to have yet another time of Korean exposure and use.

One interesting thing that was queer to learn and hard to accept is that Korean lacks the abundance of pronouns that other languages have. It even goes beyond Latin (in which the recipient derives information about the subject by the conjugation of the verb) and often forces the recipient to rely solely on context to know the subject of a phrase. If clarification is needed, it will tend to come in the form of “teacher,” “student,” “sister,” “Mr.,” etc.,” or a name instead of s/he/etc.

Olle Again

This last Saturday I went on an Olle trail with a large group (~50) of teachers and students from my school. At my apartment it was overcast and it looked like it could be a rainy day, so I brought my jacket. But I didn’t bring a backpack because I didn’t have anything to carry. 

I was wrong. I would have to carry my jacket, because it was flippin’ gorgeous at the trail. We did a section of Olle #8. It is on the south side of the island and the weather was totally different there, enabled by the mountain’s division.

It was a beautiful walk along the trail which meandered along the coast line and through rural woods and towns and over small creeks. It was wonderful and hard to believe that it is almost November. I hope that the pictures I took on my iPod will show some of the beauty.

I also chatted a bit with my students and practiced my Korean. I also bought a slice of Pineapple on a stick—yum!

Hallasan Again

The next day, Sunday, I went with some friends to meet up with people, I didn’t know, to hike Mount Halla again. There are 5 main trails up the mountain. This time we took Eorimok up. It is the shortest trail and doesn’t go to the summit.  

First, we took our bus into town. Moments after getting off the bus I realized that I left my camera on the bus… That sucked. I had a friend call the station and they didn’t have it. So I don’t think that I’ll get it back. :S

Next we were to transfer to a rural bus that would pass the trail head.  Well it turns out that far to many other Koreans had the same idea. The bus was packed when it came to where we waited. There were about 8 Koreans waiting with us, and after waiting a moment, they all proceeded to cram into the bus like sardines. Like literally pressing each other into the bus. It was pretty amazing. I have a picture, but it doesn’t do it justice.

So we decided to get a taxi. Somehow we managed to get a deal for 13k won to the trailhead. Split 3/4 ways, that’s nothing. I sat shotgun in the Taxi. And after a minute or so of being in the car the driver like initiates a conversation with me and points to his calf and then at mine. I assume he’s pointing out that I’m wearing shorts. Summer ended for the Koreans 2 months ago, so I assume that he thinks I’m weird for wearing shorts when it’s “cold”.

But then he reaches over and squeezes my calf and has me squeeze his calf. (Ade informs me that from the back seat it looked like I was grabbing his crotch) So that seemed to put a hole in my shorts theory. I have no idea what he was getting at. maybe he thought my calf was too weak to make it up the mountain. *shrug*

We set off hiking the mountain and it was great. Whereas the last trail’s elevation change follows a exponential curve (getting steeper and steeper) this one starts off steep right away (then it ended up getting easier about half way up). As we set off I walked with a guy, Justin, who I just met. We talked about this and that. And ended up talking about beer for a good while. Turns out he’s done some of his own brewing in both wine and beer. And me and Amber talked to him about that, as we and a few others are looking to do that (not sure if it’ll happen..).

I liked this trail a lot more than the other trail we took. This one was a lot more open. Instead of walking through the forest most of the time, it was like walking through some forest and some open meadows and fields which allowed us to look out at the mountain and the island down below with it’s child peeks. It was really great. I think a couple of my pictures show the beauty (I’ll try to get them on fb soon). 

Oh and the reason we took this trail was because it’s considered the best to see the fall color change. Though we were also told that a week later the colors will be better. Also we took another trail down, so we got to see a different view—I like that. Yeongsil Trail took us along the edge of and down the side the cliff side of a large crater-like bowl in the side of the mountain.

Trailer Review: The Adventures of Tintin

I projected that one form of content on my blog would be reviews for various forms of media. One thing that I like to do is watch trailers and predict if they will be good or not. This is my first time putting my response down in writing. They will usually be short and just contain my overall reaction and feelings with any explanation that I can articulate. It can be hard to express my spidey sense.

This response is to the Trailer 2 for the movie The Adventures of Tin Tin. 

The trailer purports that the film is from the “two greatest story tellers of our time” which is a great way to put expectations through the roof. Unfortunately, I predict that this will not be a great movie. 

There’s something about the voice acting and the animation that doesn’t feel right, and it’s enough to drag the movie down. The music, voice, and dialog mingle to create a unappealing pseudo-dramatic feel; it’s trying to be something bigger than it is.

The film seems to communicate that what is important in this movie is the adventurous plot, but that is not enough, especially when the plot (at least as seen from the trailer) is as unoriginal as the search for a missing ship. That doesn’t exactly draw me in.

And when the trailer, putting it’s best foot forward, offers us incredibly unfresh dialog as, “Get out while you still can,” I have no hope for this piece.

This will be a mediocre (if not sub) movie that will rely on the original comic’s fan-base, pleasing some, wooing others through nostalgia, while in general being a disappointment to those who have expectations.