So That Was Christmas

I finished work, ran home, and gathered my things. I was on my way to Amanda's house to spend Christmas eve with her and our friends. I ran to the store to pick up hot sauce, cream cheese, and tortilla chips for dip and chips. Back home, I packed the food and a blanket in my backpack, grabbed my guitar, and went out.

I got to her apartment around 11 and our friends were there talking and eating snack foods. Anlee made a wonderful cream cheese and spinach dip. We pulled out the playing cards, played a game called Nerts (or nertz?) then started a movie. Elf, of course! After the movie, we all went to sleep, seven of us, in an apartment big enough for two.

The next morning we woke slowly and got ready. Then we headed off for a turkey dinner in Ansan! We got on the train to Jangnam Station, got off, (a cute Korean girl saw me looking, smiled bashfully and said "Hi") grabbed a bus, and went to the church where dinner waited. But first was the service. 45 minute sermon about how we are separated from God by our wicked, sinful ways, there must have been rejoicing somewhere in there, although it wasn't apparent, my friends apologized afterward, but I wasn't bothered.. just annoyed.

Then the food was served! The pastor of the church (not the one who spoke), stood up and invited us to eat, but sparingly at first, since there was enough to feed 100, and 95 people were there. In the end, I think it served plenty.

It was a fantastic meal: turkey, yams, rice, salad, pumpkin pie and some chocolates..... but it wasn't what my family had back home, that's for sure. Still, I can't complain. It was a nice treat.

After dinner, the friends split and Amanda and I went back to Sanbon where we stopped for a bottle of wine, took it home, and had a glass. She was tired and ready to unwind with everyone gone and I was ready to be home too, although I've always had trouble relaxing in the middle of the day.

I called my friend, Jiyong, once I left Amanda's and we planned to meet up, but when I got home, put my things down, showered, and he called, he invited me to his house where his family had just bought food and his mom prepared it. So I got back on the bus and went back to Gunpo, the town connected to Sanbon.

There was terrible traffic on account of a stalled bus (or was it a wreck?). But once we passed it, it was smooth sailing. However, with that bus out of commission and the other buses stacking behind in traffic, there were many MANY people waiting and getting onto my bus, causing for claustrophobia and confusion, a man's crotch pushed into my space by the pressing people behind and the noise drowning out the call for my bus stop, but I got off where I thought was right. I was wrong.

I called Jiyong, he said to grab a taxi and hand the driver the phone so he could tell him directions, so that happened and the driver dropped me off at the corner just outside the apartment complex where Jiyong lives with his family. We went in and his sister giggled, his little dog sniffed, and his mother brought out raw fish, cooked shrimp, pepper sauce with wasabi, and lettuce to wrap it. A Christmas special played on the big TV where pop stars looked beautiful and danced what appeared to be uncharacteristically sexy for Christmas.. "Oh, I like that," Jiyong would say... "Yeah.. it's not bad," I'd naturally agree.

We finished the fish, Jiyong got ready, and we left. I tried to be as polite as possible, say my please and thank yous... but they of course came out as jumbled words trying to approach manners... but missed the mark. But his mom smiled and understood well enough. At the door, I put on my shoes, struggling to balance on one foot in a small space with two bodies and a clumsy heavy coat on... then we left.

Back outside, the snow came and went, we stopped by the bank, hopped on the bus, drove back to Anyang. It bustled. People were everywhere. Groups, families, friends, couples.. so many couples.. Jiyong and I went to the coffee shop for some make-believe energy, sat and talked and sipped our warm Christmas, then we left for the arcade. We raced cars, shot bad guys, and stepped back out after a job well done.

"Where do you want to go?" "Monkey Bar?" "Sure that sounds great."

We stepped down into the basement shop to Monkey Bar for a drink and to play darts. We sipped our cocktails and Jiyong beat me all three games, then we paid and left for Liverpool Pub where the staff knows me and Jiyong and are very friendly. We ordered a beer each, sat and watched soccer play out on the big screen, then shot darts.

Christmas night and to my right, what to my sight but a husband and wife.. and their five year old child!

Darts and a sip and darts and a sip, back and forth for 7 games and one beer each, then Jiyong and I left.

Jiyong went to Gunpo to see his friends, I went home to call my family. And so, Christmas. None the excitement of home; tradition to the extent of a Christmas tree and a bell behind a red bucket. It snowed. Couples held each other close. It was a lovely night, especially to have someone close, like family, a lover, or a good friend.

Snowflakes and Sugar Plum Fairies

I went to see the Nutcracker with my friends last night. After the lights went down, the music started, and the first dancers appeared, I wept through the first two songs. I can't say exactly why, I feel overly-sentimental sometimes. But perhaps it's that, from/through/despite so much chaos mankind creates, man can yet create such beauty. The dancers were feathers floating after a pillow fight. It was incredible to see the lightness feet, soft landings, spinning pirouettes. Comical and jerky motions were still so smooth and perfect and the joy that was expressed by it all was overwhelming. The music was fantastic and, I learned, composed by Tchaikovsky. I loved every bit of the Nutcracker and strongly recommend it. 

This is the Chinese dance, but the ballet has changed, and changes with each place it's performed (as far as I understand), so what I saw last night was a little different. But the music's the same.


History of the Nutcracker

.. .in progress...

That Lesson I Learned

These lights, bah! These lights!
They drown the choir of laughter.
The sky, flooded white orange and blue
in chaotic chatter
and the soju blinds the beams
from the sky
where a rose,
threatened by wind -
she's so delicate and cold -
and a sheep -
four thorns are such naive defense -
cared for,
blossoms.
I know only from legend.
Bah! These lights' deafening glow!

However, I know
what matters
cannot be seen with eyes.
That which says nothing
always shouts most loud;
but laughter,
always silenced behind anger,
maintains,
like that rose,
cherished, loved,
tamed;
and her love,
tamed.

Bah! all these boastful lights,
these screaming neon banners.
My heart sees that rose
and that child.

Take my eyes, Anyang.
My heart knows what matters.
The horned fox told me.

just a thought

I look into the cooked eye of my dinner - scales, fins, and innards - and think to myself, "I can't believe this is normal."

Miniscule while life-threatening bones cling to the fishy meat stuck to its flesh. All the things Papa told and showed me how to remove still string the length from mouth to middle. I pick around, swallow down what I can, and wash it with dry steamed rice.

We need to find a new delivery service.. .

three stories

Youth Dew.

The youthful day bathed fresh in dew
the calm of morn’, life renewed
golden disc risen to blue
its burning streams spoke of You.

The dew trickled up my legs
returning to clouds as the day’s heat sweat.
‘Shall we to the water hole?’ ‘Yea! Let’s!’
And the day burned to speak of You.

Arriving I saw naked beauty.
Bashful, nay – Heaven’s purity.
Placid flesh, soft breasts divinity –
she threaded the water to speak of You.

Cream flesh through gray silk,
body soft as silt,
though Devil tried, no flower twould wilt
as she wrote poetry to You.

Out of the water she shouldered the weight
of the breeze drying her dripping grace.
Her delicate form, erotic and chaste
required no effort to prove You.

She enquired to why I stood in dress.
I explained, “I’m shy,” and the rest.
She reached, unbuttoned my thoughtless vest,
Told me our bare selves liken to You.

‘Are not the trees raw?
Does not the night thaw?
Is nature not law?
I abide,” said she. ‘What say you?’

* * *

She chuckled for my naivete,
cried, ‘We ought live life joyously!’
In her gentle hand she took me,
smiled, ‘Come! I will show you!’

We entered a foggy meadow.
Sun had sunk and damp moon followed.
Fireflies flickered to an fro.
Bare as palms, we lain, and I saw You.

light steals sight

I sat beneath trees in high altitude NM
and peered through the needles to watch the stars glow
in a speechless fury. Silent like God,
the cosmos spin without worry - I laid back on the sod.
My company, in his machismo, demanded a flame -
I sighed with eyes closed. 'I can't see,' he claimed.
For me, the trees cast shadows neath moonlight;
for he, only burning bulb or blaze would suffice.
He piled the brush and lit the nest in the center,
stacked logs on top that cracked and splintered.
I opened my eyes and saw bright faces, then beyond, shadow -
the stars disappeared behind the fire's glow.
Around I saw tree bark, outside I saw nothing -
my hair cringed by the heat of my company's musings;
the light of the flame, bright and demanding,
stole my sight from the stars and confused understanding -
my panoramic view of the forest beyond
was gone.















Delinquency with a Slab of Ham on a Fishing Pole
(abstract as poetry)

Dope Pony led the mob to sand
but left the map behind.
Ant lied atop a golf tee.
When – his biggest fan – handed him a top hat,
said, “Rum?” “I prefer a meal,” Ant replied.
“Not an option,” said When.
They saw the Fox, Her Fist, and Fee.
Fee wore mink and Fox wore feaux.
Her Fist smoked a fag, lit a bomb, and lent an oat to a bum.
“No worries. We’re set,” Dope Pony told the mob.
They proceeded to applaud.
Sand storm came.
“I bid adieu,” proclaimed Dope Pony.
* * *
Peck Dabbles said “Let’s eat”
and handed out plates of meat.
so in the middle of the sandstorm everyone ate.
Storm Settled – he’s naïve – “Station a thousand
for fun. Shoot questions
with waste. Catch the big ones
with a hole and never leave late
but always be last.”
A bird flew across the ceiling in an excellent display of Date and Time.
Everyone looked up and said, “oh.”
Half were excited. Half said
after while “Hold it there! Once he told us
this was a game;
now my daughter’s missing.”
“But what about all that meat,” replied Peck Dabbles.
“Oh” said the mob. “Right.”
“Yeah.
Don’t forget the meat.”

robots

If

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

I first knowingly discovered Rudyard Kipling (happens to be the author of The Jungle Book, I later discovered) when I was moving Grandma Runge out of New Mexico. The books were many and mighty old and plenty had my great-grandfather's name in them. I wish I could remember his name. _____ Houghton. I look forward to returning to these and holding some for my own in the future.

Christmas Song

I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the clean room that attributes to my good mood. Life breathes easier with less clutter, we all know that. Sure, the clean room is nice, but so is the smell of chestnuts I’m roasting on the stove, their sizzle and crackle, listening to old songs, and rainy Sunday bowing goodnight.


I spent Sunday night home and cleaned my pigsty one-room and roasted chestnuts on the stove-top, which happens to be quite easy! You can also roast them in the oven, but I don't have an oven.

Either way, you must rinse your chestnuts thoroughly.


Then, it's vital to cut an X into the shells. This allows steam to escape and prevents the chestnuts from exploding. (One chestnut did explode and it was startling, but looked really cool, like a firework, in fact.) It also makes peeling much easier.


Next, spread the wet chestnuts on a cookie sheet (for oven) or skillet (for stove) and put over the heat. Set the stove to Med/High. The oven should be preheated to 425. Either way, cook for 20-30 minutes. On the stove, it's a good idea to cover the skillet (although I didn't) and rotate frequently.


Ahh, chestnuts with warm coffee and good music. Delightful.

Today is Yesterday is Tomorrow

MY Thanksgiving Post <<--link to my post yesterday


It’s 7 am Friday after Thanksgiving. I woke to call the family and it’s dark outside. It’s 4 o’clock there. The family ran the Turkey Trot this morning and now they gather at Mom’s house. Right now they bow for Thanksgiving prayers and sit to Granny’s dressing and jibblet gravy, the turkey, the cassaroles, the pies. Is today when they draw names? Or did they do that already? Are they even doing Secret Santa this year? (It never was much of a secret.) The Thanksgiving Day parade ushered in the Holidays and Santa came in waving at 35th street. The Cowboys play their yearly Thanksgiving Thursday football game. NFL broadcasts nation-wide from place and place under temperate – mild – snowy skies and fans cheer across TV trays with turkey dinners and glasses of wine. Everyone eats more than they’re stomachs are use to then the family roar lulls to sluggish chatter and most everyone fall into the traditional deep slumber. New grandfathers hold grandbabies, toddlers scatter the toy box across the floor, mixing theirs with those of their father. It’s 7 am Friday after Thanksgiving and the sun is not yet up, but my room turns blue as the sky slowly grows brighter and trucks and cars pass under my window. Yesterday went by with kimchi and rice, a soup made of fish organs that looked like blocks of inards and chicken feet. Amanda looked across the table at me, “Happy Thanksgiving.” We toasted our soju with a clink and shot them down.

Here Comes Santa Claus...!

Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus right down... 34th Street!

Happy Thanksgiving! I woke up this morning and thought:

Today is Thanksgiving... if you're in Korea. In America, Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Tomorrow, Thanksgiving will be yesterday, but will be Today in America.
A sphere rotating while revolving brings about the greatest cunundrums!

Turkey Dressing Potatoes Gravy Biscuits Rice cassarole Green bean cassarole Corn Chicken Wine/Tea/Dr Pepper Cookies Chocolate pie Pecan pie Pumpkin pie am I forgetting anything?

Lucid Dream

Lucid Dream: A lucid dream is when you have a dream and are aware that you are dreaming. In this case, you can, to some degree, control what happens in the dream. You cannot control your environment, but you can control how you act in and react to your surroundings. Several days ago, I had a lucid dream. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced my whole life. Here it is summarized if you're interested.


I went to sleep on floor in playroom of carrollton house with the tv on. Saw Bob Dylan in an interview saying something regular then started talking in some crazy talk that confused everyone, but I thought was great. Started talking some kind of gibberish. Then I woke up in same place having kicked over a large glass full of water. Tv still on, I don’t know what, some creepy aura around me, but non-chalantly, I left. Showed up to Kyle Dias’ party somehow. Wondered how I got there, why I was there, wondered if it was a dream, kept on with the party. I talked about bob dylan. Someone at the party kept saying something to me, but I couldn’t understand and couldn’t hear. I pulled his head closer to mine by the neck, but still couldn’t understand, didn’t want to annoy him, so just nodded and let him go. Sat at a table and talked across to someone I remembered, but don’t know now. I was groggy and didn’t make much sense. Saw old elementary school friends, kyle, Mrs. Dias, others. Kyle looked sad, his mom looked sad, few people talked to me, but those who did didn’t remember me but were very nice and I recognized them to some degree. Someone offered me chicken, slapped me on the shoulder, said, “Come on, let’s go find some chicken.” He’d been eating a lot and was sort of behind for his age and big. I left the party.

I wore wheely shoes and rolled down a hill, unable to stop myself, going very fast, and nervous, and very very confused, but kept going. It was night. “Where am I? What do I need to do?” I knew there was something I had to do. “I need to get to campus so I can recalibrate and go from there.” Skated down and around a big slope (curve near GAB), something covered my eyes or I was not looking up, afraid, and I saw more cars and knew the road must be near, so I looked up and turned abrupt left in front of traffic, made it safe, and was in the middle of campus. Still confused, I thought, “If I’m here, I should go see Austin. But it will only be a brief time because I have to get back to Korea and that sucks, so maybe I shouldn’t see him at all. What do I need to be doing right now? This must be a dream.” I went through campus and it was dark out. I walked by some monument with people working on it and Jessica walked out calling to me. She pulled me to her and I sort of stumbled into her and brushed my lips on her chest, a sort of awkward sensuality that we laughed at embarrassed. She wore a white dress (from picture?) and was busy working on something. She tried to seem not stressed. She had to attend to something, told me to wait, and I shrugged without worry because I knew I had all the time I needed. She came back in a blink and we laid down and she put her head on my chest and we held each other and it was nice, then it was time for me to go. “I don’t know how I got here or what I’m supposed to be doing.” I tried to explain to her. “What am I doing here? It’s aldk;lakd oclock… in the afterNOON!.” I was supposed to be in Korea at work. I started to figure out this was a dream. I left Jessica and went one direction. “Wow, this is a dream,” I finally decided and started laughing and enjoying myself. The direction I went was wrong so I turned and went the other way. I gallavanted around careless, ready to do anything, say anything.

I saw a woman looking defeated. Went to talk to her. Her friend was very tall and grabbed my arm, said “Oh, wow,” I said, “Yeah, I can lift like, 300 pounds.” I said it because I knew it was a dream and could get away with anything, because it was MY dream. He sat down across from her. I started talking to the woman, but she couldn’t speak and I don’t think she could hear. She looked at him curiously, but back to me and understood well enough. She read lips. I kept talking. I told her that she should have better posture, saying, “Not for” and demonstrated a pretentious person from some royal court and said, “oh oh oh,” in a snooty tone. I told her because then she would feel better about herself. I moved my foot, which brushed her tall friend’s foot and he aggressively tried to play footsies with me. I ignored him. The lady had sad eyes. I told her, “Look like you just had an orgasm, because everyone loves orgasms and it’s such a pleasant look.” She smiled and sat up and somehow said thank you – either with her voice or signed. Behind her, Katie Johnson was waving my attention to show me how to sign something to the woman, but I didn’t understand, turned back to the woman, smiled and said, “Well, bye.” I went the wrong direction again, maybe on purpose because I went playfully and jumped around and up the wall and back down, and saw so many people sitting at tables that I knew, older and younger. At times I felt my legs tense like they are when I’m laying asleep. I didn’t focus on it because I didn’t want to wake up, but I thought that if I did wake up, I would find myself at the house in Carrollton.

I said to myself, excitedly, “This is a dream.” I wanted to play with the lights, because you can’t change lights in a dream, I’d heard, but I was outside, so couldn’t. I sat with someone and talked about something but wanted to go find Austin. I stood up from the table, saw Todd Young, walked down, passed Matt at a table, said, “Hi big brother!” in a tone to say, “Why am I here? I don’t know! But it’s crazy!” I walked down in front of a stage that had music and saw Matt again with some friends, said hi to them, looked up and Matt sat at the table still. Then second Matt was dancing. He wore some sort of kinda goofy shoes and tube socks pulled high that might have had lace, but I don’t remember and a country band played some song and I suddenly saw a music video. It showed a cartoon of a Man on a tractor wearing a sheriff’s badge, a cowboy hat, and a piece of straw out the side of his mouth. He was illustrated in bright colors. The song went “mean men come from texas. And they all got big ol’ boots. And the sheriff’s gotta be a mean sucker or else…” somethin o’ that. He looked slow-moving and non-chalant, but like he would take care of business in a casual manner. Suddenly, I was the man driving the tractor and I pulled into a used boat lot to buy a boat – bought a really big boat. Pulled onto the road with cartoon fields of green grass on either side and barbed-wire fences. A stalled car on the left, a line of on-coming bad guys, I started to turn around and a line of traffic came at me, but I turned anyway and managed to u-turn, boat in tow, in one lane of traffic, threw tractor into second gear, and flew past the line of cars and cut over before hitting another on-coming car. I looked in the rear-view mirror of what was now my jeep, or something like it, and the boat was still there, cartoon style. Everything behind was cartoon, but my jeep and everything around me and forward was regular. It was a dark road again with trees around. My headlights were on. A car passed without theirs on. Another car sat eerily stalled on the side of the road as I looked and saw my gauge lights weren’t on. I looked up and my headlights WERE still on. “This is still a dream” I told myself. “I can check the lights now!” I thought excitedly. I flipped the switch on my lights to turn them off, but my headlights stayed on and my dashlights stayed off. I switched it back on and still nothing changed. My stomach dropped and everything became suddenly scary. I steadily lifted out of the dream.

Frozen Burning Mountain

In the car, the kids are rowdy, Mom and Dad let them, I sit in front where my bag spreads my feet and my knees kiss the dashboard. We’re going to Chung Ju country-side where apples, pears, and walnuts grow. The sun set an hour ago and dusk became twilight became nighttime and the kids have settled to the hum of tires over pavement and the lullaby tones of Mom and Dad talking slow and thoughtful. The car is wrapped by outside freezing temperatures across its metal frame, but inside, on cloth seats, behind the cozy glow of the digital clock, warm air blows through the cabin. In the darkness ahead, red lights peer at us and we approach their menacing stare. We find traffic. The kids still sleep. Mom and Dad have stopped talking. I’m trying to stay awake. The traffic lasts an hour, then a second hour. We enter a tunnel where the slow progress has worn one driver mad and he blares his horn, which echoes through the tunnel and sounds like a duck-and-cover drill for a N.Korean airstrike. At one point his horn blares solid for twenty seconds. The boys are still asleep. “He’s crazy,” laughs Dad. “He must be,” I respond. By the end of the tunnel, the horn has stopped and Dad tells me I can sleep. But I’ve reached my second wind. I fall asleep a while later.

I wake up and doze off again during the final hour of the drive as we go over slow roads through small towns and wind between mountains. It begins to snow and, at a stop sign, we put down the windows to feel the cold air rush through and watch the flakes flutter down. Then we turn left to keep going and arrive up the mountain. We park down the hill from the house and hesitate to get out. We put our coats on before opening the doors because it’s freezing outside. We open the doors to an alarming cold, but the darkness won’t allow us to go up, so we wait around the car under pitch dark cloudy skies and wait for Grandpa to come down with flashlights. I look up and see one star peaking through the clouds with a flare on its left side burning in an arrow downward. It seems like it’s trying to tell me something. The wind pushes against us, heavy, and burns our bare cheeks. We gather our things from the car. The youngest son pees facing down the mountain. In the dark distance, dogs bark.

An old man comes bumping down the hill over its rocky pathway and holds a large flashlight. We greet him. He asks Dad who I am. Dad says “Sansangnim.” Grandpa says with a bit of joy, “Hello.” I return his greetings bashfully, “Annyang ha se yo.” He hands off the flashlight to Dad and a second smaller one to the youngest boy, then gets at the back of the line, behind me, with a cigarette and we wobbly hike up the stoney, uneven path. Near the house, dogs bark at us, each latched to their individual shelter by 14 links of chain giving them less than one meter to roam. Their breath snarles in the cold, but they’re not ferocious, just scared. We go to the door, take off our shoes, and go inside to hide for the night from the cold. Grandma, with thinning hair and a beautiful smile, greets us.

The house is two stories. Just through the front door and across a hard, yellow floor is a narrow staircase that anyone with much added weight would struggle through. It u-turns half-way up to lead to the one bedroom upstairs. To the left of the stairs is the kitchen and a door for Grandma and Grandpa’s bedroom. On the wall to the right hangs a large square clock one would only find at Grandma’s house. To the right of that, a closed door to the bathroom, another door to a coatroom, and the living room. There is no furniture except for the entertainment unit that holds a flat screen HD TV and all the components for digital cable and other systems with buttons and nobs. I notice one other small table on which sits several plants and two jars fermenting some kind of mountain root to drink later. There is a shrine to the left of the TV with the Virgin Mary and Jesus, a candle, and rosary beeds. On one wall is placed a crucifix with a pine branch nestled behind it that drapes over the top. On the wall behind the TV is a picture of Jesus, a painting of a bird, and a family photo. On the small wall opposite the TV hangs a tapestry of a black ink drawing in classic oriental style. Dad is the only person I can speak to, which is always trouble anyway, but he and Grandpa have to go out to do some sort of late chores. I stay inside, in front of the TV. Mom and Grandma prepare dinner. The boys spin tops on the hard floor. It nears midnight.

Dad and Grandpa return from the bitter cold chores around one o’clock and wash their hands. Dad pulls out the low-standing table and sets it down with a manly grunt to impress us all with his task. Grandma loads it with lettuce, sauce, rice, meat and garlic, peppers, and shrimp. Each person gets a set of chopsticks and a spoon. There are three mugs of water for us to share. We sit on the floor around the table and start eating. Break the stalk off the lettuce, place rice, meat, garlic, wipe sauce on with chopsticks, wrap, shove in my mouth. We eat and eat and wind down dinner. Grandpa goes to the side and crushes walnuts for the boys with a heavy stick. Dad asks if I want soju. “If you want some, sure.” He tells Grandma to bring the soju and glasses. She leaves and returns with an old plastic juice bottle with their own alcoholic concoction inside. Dad pours two shot glasses and we drink half. He discusses something about the drinks with Grandpa, who shows us the fermenting roots in the jars and explains them, which I can’t follow and sit there looking at the alien roots. We finish the second half of our shot. Grandpa pulls one jar over, opens it, and Dad dips his shot glass in for a sample. He doesn’t like it and pours it back in. Grandma brings over a different plastic juice bottle and we each take a shot of it. I don’t know what it is, but Dad puts his elbow to his groin, makes a fist, and grabs his wrist in a powerful way. I laugh and tell him, “Ok." His wife sits beside him, which makes me feel uncomfortable, but, this is Man's country, so such a gesture is accepted, expected almost. We finish the drinks and Grandma has retired to sleep. Grandpa tells Dad some story I can’t understand. Grandpa’s eyes drape low in the corners. His gray hair is neatly parted on one side. He's a farmer with a farmer’s hands, aged and grimy, calloused and rough with black in the crevaces of his fingernails, but his arms are youthful and strong. He sits with one foot pulled over his knee. Mom sits behind Dad and they both listen. I wonder if it is rude for me to stand up and go away, since I can’t understand, but I decide it’s better to stay and listen, because although languages are different, tones of voice seem to be rather universal, and his story is somehow fascinating. The boys break walnut shells with the big heavy stick.

Grandpa finishes his story, the boys play with tops, Dad breaks walnuts and talks with Mom, then looks at me and asks, “Tired?” I say, “Yes, pretty tired.” He takes me upstairs and Grandpa prepares my pallate on the hard floor. He lays down a white, floral comforter, then a pink comforter on top. Dad takes me outside. We’re barefoot in pants and longsleeves, but he shows me the balcony, takes me to the roof, and we sit. Shivering, our breath rolls out of our mouths and drifts away. “This use to be pears,” he tells me. “But pears are very, uhm, difficult.” His English is broken and slow. “So now, apples.” “Oh, ok.” “Do you like, uh, country-side?” “I do. I’m excited to see it tomorrow.” “Ok.” He taps my knee. “Let’s go.” We laugh at how cold it is and move fast as we can off the roof, onto the balcony, and back inside. Grandpa has finished the pallats and gone to bed. “Do you want to brush your teeth?” Dad asks. “Sure,” I reply. I get my brush and toothpaste, go down, brush my teeth and tell them goodnight.



Upstairs, I lay down on my stomach, with my head on my arms and the light on. The boys run up, loud and full of energy. The youngest boy climbs onto my back, which in fact feels remarkable, like a moderate massage. He jumps off and the two run downstairs, then back up and he gets on top of me and walks on my back. Again, it feels great, but they’re not ready to settle down and I’m exhausted. On my stomach, with my shirt off, I’ve exposed the tuft of hair on my lower back, which throws the boys into excited laughter and they fiddle with it. Korean men don’t have much body hair. After a few minutes of their final burst of energy, Dad walks upstairs. He gets ready for bed, gets the boys ready, and we all lay down to sleep on the floor. After some quiet chit chat in the dark, we fall asleep.

The house is heated by a unit that runs under the floor. The unit in this house is run by Grandma and Grandpa, who must be very cold. Not long into my sleep I wake up on a hot spot and roll around trying to find a cooler space, but the entire floor is quite warm. One of the boys starts kicking uncomfortably. Dad opens the door a crack to cool the room, then closes it again. I fall back asleep. Not much later the boys are awake again for a bathroom break. Dad takes them and gets them water downstairs. He comes back upstairs and turns on the light. “Brian. Do you want water?” I look up, wonder why I’m offered water in the middle of the night, accept out of delirious politeness, and go back to sleep. I wake up again from one of the boys moaning from the hot floor and kicking my back. He settles down. I fall asleep again.

It’s 7:30. The sun shines through the windows. The boys run around the house. Dad goes with them, takes them in and out from the balcony and on the roof. Flies come out of their corners and land on my toes. The floor is hot. The boys shout. Dad shouts. It’s apparent I ought to be awake. I look up. Dad’s cutting apples and peeling the skins. “Brian, do you want apple?” “Sure,” I groggily reply. It happens to be the most juicy sweet apple I’ve had and a delicious treat to wake up to. Dad and the boys go downstairs and I get dressed. It’s 8:30.

Downstairs, only Mom is in the house. “They are outside,” she tells me. “Oh, ok.” I get my jacket and hiking shoes and go outside to find them. The sun splashes contrast over the mountain opposite, burning with autumn leaves, Evergreens, and frozen shadows. Grandpa farms the land. Dad takes me to the apple trees. One tree has three apples near the top. Another tree has two hanging on a low branch. It’s too late in the season for apples. All but five have already fallen. We walk around in the thick cold air for about 20 minutes and are called for breakfast.



Breakfast is last night’s dinner, but without the lettuce to wrap. We pick at kimchi, pork, shrimp, and peppers, and of course rice. We have two mugs of water for everyone sitting down. Dad asks me what my religion is. I tell him my family is Christian. He says, “My mother is Catholic, so she wants me to go to Catholic,” he pauses for the word, “service. So we will go. Are you ok?” This is my invitation. “Sure,” I say, sort of unsure because I wasn’t expecting church, somewhat excited for the experience. We finish breakfast and I go up to get ready. “What do I need to wear?” I ask. “Is this ok?” Dad tells me yes and shows the clothes he’s going in, which are sweatpants and the things he wore last night and planned to wear today. I go downstairs and brush my teeth, but when I step out of the bathroom he tells me, “You will not go to Catholic. Because the car is small, so only we will go.” “Oh, okay.” “You will stay here and help Grandpa farm.” “Oh,” I said, surprised. “Alright.” I nodded in agreement. “Is that ok?” “Sure, that’s fine.” “Ok.” Soon after, they leave. I follow them out to Grandpa who fills a bucket with seeds and wraps it diagaonal over his shoulder. “You watch tel-vi-chon,” he tells me. I look at him confused, and then realize, as he says, “TV,” that he said television. “Ok. You don’t need help?” He waves me on. Dad, Mom, Grandma, and the boys leave. Grandpa spreads seeds with his hands in the brisk wind that weaves through the mountains in the cold morning. I go inside and upstairs. The distant dogs still bark. “It sounds like a kennel,” I think. “Oh God. Is that a dog ranch?” A place to breed and raise dogs for meat, like we do with cows, pigs, and chickens back home. I laugh to myself slightly, think, “Oh my God.” I lay down and fall asleep on the hard floor.



“Hey!” I’m startled awake from shouts downstairs. “Hey! Hey!” I jump up and go downstairs trying to throw the weight of sleep off me and look alert. “Kopi?” Grandpa asks. “Oh, yes, sure, please. Kamsa habnida.” I sit down and he puts a kettle on the stove, walks over, and turns on the TV. He hands me the remote and I find something to watch. I stop on something in English. He has an ear to know the different sounds of languages. He asks me, “English?” I tell him yes. He stands up, offers me an apple, then brings me a knife from the kitchen. He goes back, finishes the coffee, and brings two cups. Still steaming, fresh from the stove, I hesitate to drink. But he sips his quickly, slurping between slightly spread lips that only age can give a person. I don’t know why or how. I gingerly sip as I can so he doesn’t drink alone, but he finishes and goes back to the kitchen. My cup is still full. The English on TV has become Japanese. Now it’s a commercial. Now there’s a love song playing and a “reflection” scene because, I guess, a couple just broke it off. And for some reason, my eyes well up and I try like hell to shake it off because what have I to cry about? The people speak Korean now. Action replaces love. I’m watching IRIS, which is similar to 24 in the States. Grandpa comes back after fifteen minutes or so with a skillet full of roasted chestnuts. He lifts one off the skillet with a spoon and pries the shell off with his farm-calloused fingers, cradling with his indexes and middle fingers, pulling with his dirt-stained thumbs. I lift one for myself, but it’s burning hot and I struggle to peel it open without flinching as he starts eating, somehow slurping. IRIS plays. We brake and peel and eat. He shows me how to eat the chestnuts the right way so that nothing is left in the shell. He’s patient and non-chalant. Someone speaks on TV. “French?” he asks. “Ne,” I tell him. We watch more TV, eat chestnuts. He tells me “Yong-guk” means English person. “That makes sense,” I say. Miguk means American. Hon-guk Means Korean. Hongul is the Korean Language. Yong-o means English. He points to the family picture on the wall. “England,” he tells me. “Oh, wow.” The converstion is very broken. He tells me things I don’t understand and I respond to what I think he says with things he doesn’t understand, but we nod in appreciation of the patience and quiet company that sits across the chestnuts from us. After while, he gestures for me to eat all the chestnuts I want, but he must get back to work. He puts on his gloves and shoes at the door, shuts it behind him, and I’m left with my apple, chestnuts, and IRIS. I’ve finished my coffee.

The family returns and I’m in trouble. Grandma says I’ve peeled the apple the wrong way. I’ve cut too much meat off. There’s no tenderness when you make a mistake in Korea. Nothing to suggest, “It’s ok. You’re new.” I get flustered and butterflies move frantic in my stomach and my heart beats fast and I become a little angry because you don’t need to tell me in that tone of voice that I did it wrong. She’s finished telling me how to do it and I’m left with the apple. I cut pieces for everyone and Dad tells me to come outside with him. I go upstairs for my jacket, back down to the porch, put on my shoes, and catch up to him where he’s giving the kids a ride in a motor cart. The back of the cart is like the bed of a truck and it rolls on two belts revolving around four wheels on each side like a tank. It’s controlled by levers and handles. Dad drives. He tells me to get in. I lean on one side with my elbows. On the opposite side, my legs, mid-thigh down, hang over the edge. Dad drives us to Grandpa who sprinkles some sort of white something-or-other across his small patch of land where he just previously sprinkled seeds. Dad goes to the tiller and struggles to drive it. He makes several passes as I watch, but nothing is tilled. The blades roll over the surface of dirt. The sun is high. Our breaths go up into the clear day. I wrestle with the boys in the not-yet-turned soil. After Grandpa shows him how to work it properly, Dad calls me over and puts me in charge. I make one pass, then a second, and he tells me, “Work break.” I laugh to myself. My hands hurt from gripping the shivering metal with the vibrations caused by spinning blades, and I love it. I want to till the whole property. This is the work I enjoy. I think of my friend Keenan who grew up on a farm. He and I have spoken about a co-op farm together. I’m not made to be a teacher.

As I stand to the side and Dad goes up and down, shuttering and jerked around by the tilling machine, I notice an old woman coming up the mountain. She looks confused at Dad, as if to wonder what that man thinks he’s doing. “He’s not made to farm.” She passes with a sickle and a visor on her forehead and goes to a small plot of soy beans. She lops them at the base and stacks them to the side, then bundles them to be picked up later. Grandpa takes over the last of the tilling – it’s a small plot. I stand with Dad a moment and mention the dogs. “Dog farm,” he tells me. “Really?” I’m shocked. “I thought so, but, man…” I didn’t know what to say. We stand there a moment and I decide to wander down the mountain. The boys follow me to the bottom and Dad calls down to us. I get the boys to follow me by having a race. They trot a little, but stop, distracted by the many wonders that are found on a mountainside. We make it back to Dad. “Lunch,” he says. “Oh, great.” I run a ways down the mountain and pick up the straggling son and run with him back up to Dad. We go to the house. Dad points at a bowl of persimmons sitting on the porch. Grandpa pulls out three and we eat, spit the seeds onto the ground and toss the skins to the wire fence away from the front door. We go inside for lunch.

Lunch sits on the same table with two mugs of water to share. Everyone gets rice, chopsticks, and a spoon. In the middle of the table sits kimchi, kimchi-ji-gay, which is a kimchi soup, shrimp, peppers, and the meat left over from breakfast. After lunch, Dad says, “We will go home now.” “Oh,” I say. I gather my things upstairs, take a handful of final pictures, and go out to the car. Dad’s with Grandma gathering apples and chestnuts. I make friends with the dogs who, the whole time, have seemed afraid. Two dogs are narrow with brown fur. The third is a thin, beautiful husky. The husky keeps me alert when I’m near. Even when it seems accepting, he’s not fully comfortable and snips at me, just once. I dismiss it as uncertainty, but move to the next dog. Squatting, petting one of the thin, brown dogs, Mom comes up to me and says, “He is food.” Oh my God. I can’t believe it. I don’t know what to think. I pet him a little more and stand up to wander around as I wait. Mom, noticing I pet the dogs, goes up to the husky expecting an accepting frame, but she doesn’t realize the delicacy to give to these animals. She steps toward it too quickly and it snarls, barks, and bites at her, snipping the leg of her pants, but lets go, and she gets away, looking at me, laughing flustered and startled. The youngest boy makes noises to scare the dog and put it in its place as lesser than Man. That’s why the dogs accept me. I approach them as companions whereas others go to them as something for kicks and leave behind when “friends” arrive. What are friends anyway? People? People who speak my language? People who understand? Anything that understands loneliness, being afraid, feels the weather and wishes someone was around to comfort him? What is friendship?



Dad and Grandma return with apples and chestnuts and hand me a sack FULL. “Ah, wow. Kamsa habnida,” I tell Grandma. I tie it at the top and put it in back. The boys get in the car. Mom gets in, then I get in the front seat, Dad behind the steering wheel, and Grandma gets in behind me to take us to find something else Dad is looking for. We wave goodbye to Grandpa and pull away up the mountain to the road being constructed. We park on the side. Dad and Grandma get out, walk up the hill a bit, pick around for something and return to the car. Dad gets in, Grandma says goodbye, and we head off for Anyang.

The first twenty minutes of the drive the boys and I dose off. I wake up and we’re stuck in traffic again. It’s endless. I fall hopeless. I know what to expect. I expect hours and hours of creeping cross-country to get home. We stack behind red break lights, go for a burst that, in the four hours following the initial 20 minute run, lasts no longer than three minutes at a time before we stop again. It gets dark and we’re not home. I hate cars. We go and stop and go and stop. I hate stop lights. We creep forward and stop in a line of cars waiting at an intersection. We turn and pull onto a highway where I can watch the spokes of tires turn like a ceiling fan on low. Dad tries to talk to me but I’m irritable and become frustrated by the lack of understanding. He’s very polite and I feel bad, but last night was next to nothing in the way of sleep, the night before was the same, I’m stuck in a car that’s stuck in traffic, my knees are kissing the dashboard again, and my butt’s fallen asleep. We keep going, as much “going” as we can in that cold flow of traffic. We get closer to home and Mom passes out dried apple slices. Just what I want to hear, smacking of dried apples from parched mouths, like under-watered dogs eating their first meal of the day. I press my forehead against the cold glass window trying to escape the smacking and blast furnace inside. “Are you tired,” Dad asks me. I’m feeling overly-honest, but, I haven’t been all that honest yet, so, this is ok. He’ll know I tell the truth when I feel to. “A little tired. But I’m just ready to be home. I hate traffic and I don’t like small spaces for this long of time.” He looks at me with a confused yet understanding look. It rushes to me, a sign that hangs on the wall at school: If you can’t convince them, confuse them. I don’t know why it’s there, but, I realize that he will understand that I have no desire to be understood by words, but that my emotions are rather on my sleeve presently and all I want is to be home. He tells me “Ten minutes.” “Alright,” I respond, certain with myself it will not be ten minutes. Sure enough, another forty five minutes pass before we arrive home. I get out into the cold night, put my bag on my back, go to the trunk for my chestnuts. Dad hands me three apples. “Thank you so much for taking me,” I tell him. I know that even if I didn’t have a wonderful time, it’s something I’ve never done before. I can say Koreans will eat apples for which I tilled the land. Dad says, “Ok. Bye bye.” Mom gets in the front seat. I tell the family bye and go to my room. It isn’t until later that I realize, I didn’t NOT enjoy myself, but nine hours round-trip to spend 12 hours on the mountain wasn’t really worth it. I turn on the heater, take my clothes off, pour a glass of wine, and lay in bed. I’ll sleep sound tonight.

The Monster Hushes for Shabat

A lovely damp night, cool with overcast skies of rains past. Quiet Sunday chatter of young friends before they return to school, old friends before they return to work; people walk or jog or bike along the soggy path in the soft murmuring night. Buses heave through stoplights and laughs rise; traffic slowly sighs over the rain-watered roadways. Distant apartment lights come on and balcony lights turn on then off. Mothers with daughters carry the weeks produce home from market. The neon lights never calm down, even on a Sabbath evening. Two old men speak in disgruntled tones, but what of? A family of three moseys through savoring ice cream cones and casual conversation. The daughter notices something above. Her father looks, but keeps going. She looks a little longer and lags behind. The family goes at its own pace, like their family name. A little girl chuckles into her mother and grandmother's downward glance. They lift her by each hand over a puddle. A boy and girl hold hands. An old man struts in his wind-suit. A young couple, laughing together, splits a husband and wife quietly strolling the opposite way around the park perimeter. An airplane casts its roar over the steady hum of traffic and conversation. An old man hollers some form of 'so long' to his buddies and peddles off. A cool breeze passes through the scene like a gentle whispered prayer. whish whish whish whish grows louder as she passes, power-walking under the cooling evening. Crickets mirr in the bushes and a dog starts barking. The sounds are mostly familiar and steady with an occasional man breaking in with violent coughing phlegm and a whlup to throw it out of his mouth. Lights reflect off the glossy pavement and dark figures amble through the empty park center. Three young girls bring a rush of silly and wrestle and tickle and giggle and squeel, then momentarily settle, but it rises and falls for a while as they carry the games further away. A man in a black jacket and black pants walks with a long black umbrella he uses as a casual walking cane, tapping the walkway with each right step. It's 8 o'clock and the clouds are low.

Some Things

Walking the damp pavement, the wooden soles of Spanish shoes scratching the grit of concrete in the quiet back alleys of An Yang City, and suddenly there were lit-pink rooms with lavishly dressed Korean women in exotic sequined dresses donning the windows. “Where have I ended up?” I asked myself. I still don’t know.



I watched, and the water still boiled!


Standing on my bed in my underwear, with a toothbrush hanging out the side of my mouth, I dive after a floating mosquito… and GET HIM! I also killed his two brothers. The trio of demons have bitten my right shoulder, left arm, and right wrist, and the night is still early.

Last night, killed three after getting in bed, and upon waking in the middle of the night, killed two more, and when I woke up this morning, killed another.... UGH!



Chance of Rain.


I sat at the coffee shop with my cup of coffee and my books of this and that. Two Korean girls with good form - I mean, healthy looking - sat at the table beside me with two cups of coffee and a cake to split between the two of them. They ate the whole thing! I guess it's Korea's "Ben and Jerry's"



Yesterday, Amanda and my two new friends Bol and Eunkyoung came over for an art party. We shared a couple bottles of wine and pastels and pencils and paper and pictures. It was a really great time! Bol and Eunkyoung brought me gifts. They gave me a Mickey Mouse pen, brownies, honey roasted peanuts, and FLASHCARDS! Now I can learn Korean for real. Actually, I have a test over 20 cards next weekend. Bol said that if I do well, they'll cook me a delicious meal! But if I don't do well, they'll cook me a revolting meal... but either way I get to eat! It was a good day.


Oh! and of course... HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANNY!! I love you!


Oh to be simply cat.

Halloween, and then it was winter

Brian in a cardigan. . ?

Sorry no pictures just yet. My battery's dead. So maybe I'll repost this later with pictures scattered about.

Well, Halloween's come and gone with no big to-do. We were going to have a Halloween party at school, but it was canceled because of Swine Flu. So instead, the students came to class and we had snacks all day and speaking competitions. So, instead of Halloween party, we had a Friday Celebration... The only change in the day was that fewer students dressed up. So weird. No real "Swine Flue aversion"...


this kids actually a demon child!

As for my Halloween, I laid in bed all day long. It was a cool day and dark, rainy all day long. I've been so tired lately that I just wanted to stay in my room and not do anything. It was nice despite the lack of productivity. No carving party here. No decorations except the pumpkin and card sent by my loving family. The candy corn they sent was eaten at school. The students and teachers were a little apprehensive, but some liked it, some didn't, and some were too scared to try.




Today is gray and chilly. It's not raining now, but could later. And tomorrow's high is 6 Celsius (42Farhenheit). That's the HIGH! It's supposed to get down to -1C which would be like, 30F. I'm a little nervous for if I'm prepared for this kind of cold. I'll say though, I hope it kills all these blasted MOSQUITOES! They eat me alive every night and the worst is hearing their menacing buzz right near my ear. It makes me shudder. eee

Other than this, I might spend my day in the coffee shop, drinking coffee, eating chocolate treats, and reading. What a great way to spend a cool, damp day :)

funny stories... oh, and send some cortizone........

I have a few short stories to share:


Today one of my students came into the office. I made a mean face at him for fun, he made one back. I shook my fist at him, he shook his fist and said, "Knuckle sandwich." I taught him that the other day in class. Then I taught him "right in the kisser," and "this is six months in the hospital, this is straight to the moon." And the alternative, "this is six months in the hospital, this is sudden death."He's a good kid and fun to have as a student.


This week I went to the coffee pot to grab some good ol' joe. Well, next to the pot stood a bottle on which was printed "Scotch Whiskey." "Whoa," I thought. Not something you'd have standing around a school in the states. Ends up it was plum juice in an old whiskey bottle. But still. Really? Didn't remove the label or anything! Means SOMEONE's been drinkin'!


My students take word tests almost every class. In my later class one evening, I passed the test out to the students and started saying the words. I looked up as one girl was looking intently, yet briefly, at her hand. She saw me look, then acted like she had to wipe her forehead, then rubbed her jeans vigorously to wipe off the words that she'd spelled out before class. I thought it was funny how she reacted.


I have to call students at home these days to have a brief conversation with them as if they are on a flight. I say, "Which would you like, beef, chicken, or fish?" And the student chooses one and says "please." It goes from there. Here's an excerpt from my conversation with Jada:

"Hi Jada. How are you?"
"Yes."
"Are you good?"
"Chicken please."
"Umm, okay, which would you like..."

Well, once we got on track, she pronounced everything fluently and clearly. Of course, listening is an important part of any language, I suppose.



Aside from these stories, I have a new case of poison ivy breaking out on my right shin. I have not been in any poison ivy, so I can only guess that SOMETHING I wore had poison ivy on it, but my wardrobe hasn't changed except for one pair of corduroy pants, but it was summer when I had poison ivy, so I wouldn't have worn those... I'm at a loss... and nervous, because I don't know how to take care of this kind of problem here.

Here's a video to consider (sorry it moves so fast):

Middle Night

I’ve been woken by angry drunk shouts by youthful lushes outside in the streets and the collapsing mounds of trash caused by stumbling drunk men will not cease clamoring. Men shout angry about what I cannot understand, but the drunken hopeless sadness outside my window refuses to quiet itself and persists through my now sleepless night. Of all those who’ve passed my window, I heard a group of three laughing together and the rest argued, shouted, mourned their lives staggering drunk and oblivious with nothing accomplished tonight except another lost mind to Soju and Cass. Now I lay here unable to drift away from the invading noise from outside, but certainly this can’t be everything..

This Weekend

On Friday I started coming down with a cold. I felt it coming. I hate feeling it come on while I’m at work, because there’s not challenging it. I have to stay there all day and become its victim like I’m clasped down onto a bed and injected with it.

Well anyway, I went straight home after work and had a small bite, did what I could to qwell the cold and went to sleep. I went to sleep early because I planned to meet my director at Soksu station Saturday morning to hike up Mt. Samseung. I went to sleep, but didn’t sleep well at all on account of my festering cold. But I woke up Saturday at 8:00, made some tea with the honey I got for Chuseok, got ready and left, filling a little ill, but not much worse than the night before.

I met my boss and we left the station to hike up the mountain. We hiked up for nearly four hours when we finally came upon an old Buddhist temple. A service was actually going on when we got there. The service consisted of a monk reciting prayers and followers praying, standing up, kneeling down, then bowing with their foreheads to the floor. They said a short prayer, then stood up again. It was very interesting to see. And there, on the side of a mountain.

It was beautiful.

Down the path there was a small garden. And what struck me as very odd were the famous set of large rocks that people visit, called “Fertility Stones.” Why are they called this? Well, they are shaped, by nature, to look like male and female genitals, and found just beside each other. People go there like they would go to a wishing well. It’s a little added luck, but not what they put all their hope in.

Me and the Male stone

We walked around the temple, ornately painted with beautiful stonework and I saw a massive drum and giant bell. The bell rings once on January 1, my director told me. And on December 31, it rings all day long, I assume once every hour.

It’s a very large bell. I don’t know what the drum is for.

Well, after we hiked the mountain, his wife picked us up on the other side and we went back to the school where he had to do some work and offered to feed me. All the blood that had been flowing easily through me slowed down and I started feeling heavily fatigued and terrible sick.

We went to the office and sat down to eat. We had noodles with a very thick dark sauce, which was less than appealing in my state, but I ate it, and it tasted fine, but I started to loose my mind looking into the bowl and thinking how tired I was. And without thinking through what I was saying, I looked up and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t eat this. I’m so tired and don’t feel well.” And I felt bad for how I said it because he was then very concerned for me and apologetic. I tried to reassure him saying it was okay, that I wanted to hike the mountain and that it was good that I did. He apologized again and I went to the pharmacy, bought a warm tonic medicine drink, a medicine powder, and a pack of capsule medicine, which cost me a total of 3 dollars (3000 won) and I went home.

I laid in bed unable to sleep, but relaxing with my feet up and the medicine working and when I finally got out of bed, whatever time it was, my director showed up with medicine. He passed it off, visited briefly, then left. I spent the rest of my night in my room, took medicine once more, fell asleep on and off throughout the night, and here I lie, 10 o’clock Sunday morning feeling much better – still sick, but it’s on the retreat.



This is only 1/4 of Seoul! You can see the gradient of pollution from a hazy brown to blue above... ugh!


The beautiful mountains... and the filthy smog from surrounding cities sifting through...


Somewhere, behind all that pollution, is my apartment in Anyang.


I love Dragonflies!

Hang-pok-han Chusok!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chusok is Korea's Thanksgiving. I think it goes way back to when the pilgrims and Natives ate their first peaceful feast together... :P okay, not really, but it is a time when families get together to celebrate each other and their blessings and pray and eat a big feast together and give and receive presents (sambun). (It's interesting, actually. "Sam" means "wrap" and is used in food, as many meals consist of meat and vegetables wrapped in lettuce, like Sam-gyeup-sal. And to further this lesson, "sal" means meat. "Gyeup" is a certain cut of meat. So Sam-gyeup-sal is "this-cut of meat, wrapped." And Sam-bun is... I don't know "bun," but I'd guess gift or item or something, wrapped.)

So! I get Friday (today) and Monday off!

I'm going to Seoul Land with Amanda and some other friends tomorrow (Saturday) which oughta be a great time! I'll let you know.

In the meantime, some photos:


My director gave me a gift for Chusok


Ends up it's a box of honeycomb honey!!






David


my good friend Yungeun






Yungeun and his girlfriend Youmi


My friends Oomin and Heenbeen










Height, Width, Depth