I haven't talked as much about the expat community as I sometimes ought to, mostly because for the most part I simply don't care. In Korea especially many seem to feel that Korea is just a place to extend their frat boy lifestyles for another year, whether they are 25 or 35.
I feel that when you go abroad you are, whether you like it or not, a representative of your country or at least of your region (westerners, foreigners etc.). I don't think it is too much to ask that when you are abroad, especially in a country as outwardly conservative as Korea, that you behave (emphasis out outward, there is more gambling, prostitution and drinking here than in any western country, we just don't ever talk about it). The expectation that you will wear pants at all times when outside of your apartment is not unreasonable. If you can't not be hungover at work at least have the decency to have a shower before work and shut up about your hangover at work (it's what all your Korean coworkers who are hungover are doing). If you wouldn't dress like that at home don't do it here and if you were dressing like that at home perhaps you want to think about why you left (fled) in the first place. I am NOT saying you need to be a monk when abroad, but use common sense.
However, I am focusing on the negative. The fact is that Korea has exposed me to many of the most interesting people I have ever met. People who are outgoing, engaging and at times a bit eccentric, but never ridiculous and always entertaining. People who gave me great ideas, inspired people around them and who never got in a bar fight while wearing a cape and a mask in July. People who saw the expat life for what it was and knew what to do. Some I have met only for a day or two and I feel stupid listing them off, but several I have met I do hope to count among my lifetime friends. Even this blog, which exists only because of the time I spent with David in my first year of Korea (talk about a neat guy, I was disappointed when he stopped his blog). My exercise which now has me down 12 pounds and feeling great I owe largely to Mike and I think, at the risk of being conceited, that I repaid that with the idea of grad school, which we both ran (or are running) with. Talk about mutually beneficial. There have been many others who I shared a trip with, learned from and continue to get to know. It's hard to explain sometimes but when my friends back home are hanging out with their high school friends and I am at a Korean bar with a guy from Tampa Bay or a ball game with a guy from Texas, a guy from California, a guy from Vancouver and a girl from Taiwan it's fairly amazing. Some of them used Korea to grow and others used it to have a last hurrah before growing up, but the fact that they knew that was the case seemed to make them infinitely more interesting than the ones who were just washed up, and a lot of fun to be with.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to: Geoff Harrison, Mike Alpaugh, Kris Tsatsakis, Bobby Clauss, Angela Adair, Paul Christeller, Kris and Miranda Amon, Leanne Richards, Caroline Richards (no relation), David Boddington, Jarrod Clegg, Kurt Archer as well as the Korean friends I have made like Baek Hyunsim, Shin Kwangho and Lim Haemi.
I am sure I'll meet many more interesting people before I am done, but with grad school underway I feel like my time in Korea is suddenly entering the final lap. While that final lap may be two more years it does feel like Korea is winding down for me (though not the expat life necessarily, I really want to do a year in Taiwan). However, the people I have met have made the last four years an amazing adventure and I am excited to see who I will meet next.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Catching Up With My Mom and Sister... in London
My Mom has successfully made it to London to celebrate my sister's birthday and see the United Kingdom. I talked to them on their Sunday morning for an hour to hear about their trip to see a Shakespeare play and to see the Tower of London.
London is certainly among the coolest cities I have ever visited, and certainly the most cultured. While it's hard to compare London to a city like Bangkok it would easily rank among the coolest places I have ever been to visit.
Anyway they are doing a week in London then up to Scotland. I'll be looking forward to hearing about it when it is all over. My mom has also done very little travelling so this years UK, Japan and Korea will be quite a year.
I also love reminding my sister how her 365 day countdown to 30 has begun, she delights in the fact that she is still in her 20's while I have crossed over in to triple decades. Let the countdown begin. Muahahahahaha
London is certainly among the coolest cities I have ever visited, and certainly the most cultured. While it's hard to compare London to a city like Bangkok it would easily rank among the coolest places I have ever been to visit.
Anyway they are doing a week in London then up to Scotland. I'll be looking forward to hearing about it when it is all over. My mom has also done very little travelling so this years UK, Japan and Korea will be quite a year.
I also love reminding my sister how her 365 day countdown to 30 has begun, she delights in the fact that she is still in her 20's while I have crossed over in to triple decades. Let the countdown begin. Muahahahahaha
Mike Down
Since Mike and Kris left Daegu last year I have found that I have fewer good friends in Daegu. Most seem to have moved on to Seoul or another country. So it was great that Mike decided to come down on Saturday to catch up and do explore downtown Daegu on a Saturday night.
We ran in to Jarrod and met a few other westerners, but mostly just kept to ourselves, had a few beers and bbq and hung out. Plus watch the Room again. Oh Hai Room.
Anyway, I may go up to Seoul for a university meet and greet, but if i don't then the next time I'll see Mike is at Incheon Airport at 5am in a few Saturday's to fly down to Manila.
We ran in to Jarrod and met a few other westerners, but mostly just kept to ourselves, had a few beers and bbq and hung out. Plus watch the Room again. Oh Hai Room.
Anyway, I may go up to Seoul for a university meet and greet, but if i don't then the next time I'll see Mike is at Incheon Airport at 5am in a few Saturday's to fly down to Manila.
What a Nice Couple
There is an older couple who run a mart near my house where I often stop in late for veggies and canned chicken. Among many groceries I often buy kimchi. This initially amazed them as I guess a foreigner buying kimchi is a rarity. Anyway tonight I went in and as I was leaving the old man stops me and gives me a small container of his wife;s home made kimchi to try. He was explaining a lot to me and i didn't catch it all but the gist of it is for me to try it and let them know what I think.
It's so great to have such a sweet old couple in the neighbourhood.
It's so great to have such a sweet old couple in the neighbourhood.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Why I Gave Academia a Miss
One decision that has, in a few ways, defined my last five years was the decision not to go back to grad school right away. I opted to not do an MA in history but instead embark upon an adventure in Asia.
Kids, don't stay in school.
I don't mean that higher learning doesn't have real value, because it does. Without it I'd never have made it over here and wouldn't now be doing an MA in Linguistics/ESL (a degree that is actually applicable to the real world). I certainly don't regret my decision to go to university or study history, but at the end of the day, academia is a joke. As far as I can tell it's 200 extreme specialists arguing with each other about stuff that no one else knows or cares about, and that's just how they plan on keeping it.
This does not pertain to sciences as it does to arts and law. There may only be 50 people on this planet who understand how AIDS is treated (and now possibly cured?) but millions benefit from it. I may not know HOW Voyager is still transmitting back to NASA, but damned if it isn't cool. In contrast the arts have largely become irrelevant, or perhaps it's academics who have made them so, but it seems like we are at a point where huge amounts of tax dollars are going to fund angry people's hobbies. Between technology and elitism I can't honest identify what academics actually do anymore, and it seems like most are not really in to what they study anyway, and don't actually contribute anything to their fields of study.
Why do we need fields like cultural or social anthropology? 150 years ago these people went out in to places that various Europeans had conquered and studied locals. We actually owe these people a debt for what they brought to the west. Today? Let's say I want to know what a group in Indonesia does. I'll google it or add a friend on facebook from Sumatra and ask them. Or hell, my neighbour is Indonesian, I'll ask him. I want to learn about Korea, well the University of BC has a great Korean studies program..... of course being that I live here I think I'll give it a miss, though I'm sure some 19 year old who studies there would delight in telling me how what I've learned here doesn't match up to what was in his textbook (cause that's how I was taught to think). Or you want to study inner city poverty and how to alleviate it. Hmmm, well that's been studied with no real success since the first Roman census around 300 BC, but I'm sure the next study will figure it all out. I'm not saying that there aren't real answers, but they won't be found in an ivory tower. You want to talk to people who have had success bringing prosperity to inner city kids? Ask the NBA.... I'm serious. Their outreach programs do more than any study ever has because many NBA athletes came from that background and succeeded and so know what to do. I'm a middle class white guy, I have no idea what these kids need, but give me $70,000 a year and tenure and I'll come up with something. If you want to learn about what it's like in space, you ask an astronaut, not some guy who studies space. If you want to know about how government works (or doesn't) ask a civil servant or a politician, not a political scientist. Heck if I want to know how to play baseball I'll take tips from Derek Jeter, not some guy who's read books about baseball.
I should say now I love history and watch documentaries regularly and people who contribute to them are amazing, but what percentage of academics are doing this? For this I'll stick to history, which I do have first hand experience in. I can't tell you how many pissed off, perennially angry TA's I had at SFU. These were grad students who had gone from High School to BA to MA. They seemed genuinely unhappy. Well ask the person who is their "mentor" (seriously) and I get it. That person did a PhD as well and is now a professor in Irish history and has no idea why they did it. It wasn't passion, they just did the BA and figured they were stuck now. I can't tell you how many classes I took where all we did was study what was coined "historiography" or the study of the study of history (seriously). I did a class on Irish history where all we did was discuss classical interpretations of Irish history, revisionist interpretations of Irish history and neo-revisionist interpretations of Irish history (seriously). Still have no idea what actually happened in Ireland, other than the English probably did it, but also maybe not (seriously). You are taught to tear down another person's work, but not in a real way, but in a trivial way. Every idea has gaps in logic, those gaps need to be filled in, that does not invalidate the entire argument or idea. If you disagree with someone I'm all for a discussion, but there's discussion and trivial bickering. I'll cite two examples from my own life to illustrate the difference. My friend Kurt and I routinely discuss gun control. He and I simply do not see eye-to-eye on this. It is a fairly major issue and I really enjoy our discussions on the topic, even though we rarely agree. However the debate is always substance, not trivial bs. I can respect his ideas even though the idea of arming everyone is ridiculous to me. In contrast I met a guy a while ago (I'll omit names here) who seemed to delight in arguing with everything I (or anyone else) said. He was the local expert on everything. At one point I made an off hand comment about Buddhism as the oldest religion in the world (except Judaism) and he started in with "well do you mean as a philosophy or an organized religion, cause the structure of Buddhism ............". What I meant was that I made an offhand comment and have no interest in a debate so stop arguing with everything I say. Plus, Buddhism is like 500 years older than Christianity, why are you arguing this? For the sake of arguing seems the only answer to me. I feel most of academia and most academics are guy two and not Kurt.
I'll even argue that for many of them, arguing has replaced real social interaction, but that's just an unkind opinion and one not limited to academics either.
So let's debate WHY Hitler took control of Germany. It is a valuable lesson. Well Germany was impoverished and angry from WWI. This led to a dictator. Okay, but explain all the countries that have had major depressions but haven't resorted to fascism, war and genocide. I think that's a valuable discussion. Too bad the guy who studied German history as his specialty didn't study British history as well. Let's have a conference. Too bad 75% of them will spend the whole time tearing each other's bibliographies apart (seriously) and argue trivia rather than have a discussion. Again, a gap in logic does NOT invalidate an idea. As to points of debate. If the British government had sent redcoats to America instead of India in 1778 imagine how much different the world would be today. Great debate. Interesting discussion. Should I collect a paycheque to discuss it? Probably not. It's all academic (now you know why that expression is what it is). Can I get a paycheque to discuss whether Jeter or Ichiro (both 38 this year) are going to have a better season? Of course not, it's just a fun discussion. I can't tell you the number of times I was handed a paper or an essay and essentially told to "tear this apart". I took classes on Latin American history, US history, Irish history and Canadian history where I never did learn what actually happened, but I learned that most people who study it are idiots (a dual lesson there that the prof didn't intend I'm sure).
This is not to say that I didn't have a few great professors in university. Paul Crowe taught Asian studies and I use what he taught me here daily. But he lived it. He lived in Taiwan for a while, he translates texts from ancient Chinese to English. In short what he does is useful, interesting and, well, cool. He is also involved in the Chinese Canadian community in a real way, not in a "I'll ask you questions and write a report" way but in a "I'll practice Daoism and chat with monks" way. My High School history teacher Kevin Benoy who taught me history as questions. WHY did xyz happen, not how can I tear apart someone else's theory about why it happened. David Delafanetre who followed that theme in a more academic way and encouraged us to ask why and consider big picture implications and who actually taught us what happened. There were a few others as well but many were clearly more interested in their research than in us, though I can't help but admire their dedication, but I'm sure one of the 75% who make up the rest will tear it all down for them.
So I guess to make it personal again, academia let me study the real world from an ivory tower. Going out in the real world allowed me to go out in to the real world. I studied Japan in history class but nothing compared to being there. I wrote a paper on the division of Korea in first year. Academically it was okay I guess as it got a 94. Not sure how much of it stacks up to what I learned here. I am NOT saying that a classroom has no value, but unless you get out there and do it your education is worthless. I also think that if I ever did go back for an academic MA I would use my experience to do a better job than any 24 year old could, not that he CAN'T but he is 24. I remember reading an MA dissertation by a 24 year old who's whole argument was that Churchill was not a great man. He had some decent points but here's the thing. Who cares? What are you actually trying to prove? He is a hero to millions, he did keep Britain in the war in 1940 and without him the allies may never have defeated Hitler. He destroyed the Nazi's, what have you done? Sure he made a few mistakes and had attitudes on empire that were outdated even in his time, but he lived in the real world, and outside of the ivory tower mistakes are made and it's how you deal with them that separates great men from mediocre ones.
I guess at the end of the day academia is for people who want to study the real world, the real world is for people who want to live in it. Trust me, the real world is awesome if you do it right, and far more educational too.
Kids, don't stay in school.
I don't mean that higher learning doesn't have real value, because it does. Without it I'd never have made it over here and wouldn't now be doing an MA in Linguistics/ESL (a degree that is actually applicable to the real world). I certainly don't regret my decision to go to university or study history, but at the end of the day, academia is a joke. As far as I can tell it's 200 extreme specialists arguing with each other about stuff that no one else knows or cares about, and that's just how they plan on keeping it.
This does not pertain to sciences as it does to arts and law. There may only be 50 people on this planet who understand how AIDS is treated (and now possibly cured?) but millions benefit from it. I may not know HOW Voyager is still transmitting back to NASA, but damned if it isn't cool. In contrast the arts have largely become irrelevant, or perhaps it's academics who have made them so, but it seems like we are at a point where huge amounts of tax dollars are going to fund angry people's hobbies. Between technology and elitism I can't honest identify what academics actually do anymore, and it seems like most are not really in to what they study anyway, and don't actually contribute anything to their fields of study.
Why do we need fields like cultural or social anthropology? 150 years ago these people went out in to places that various Europeans had conquered and studied locals. We actually owe these people a debt for what they brought to the west. Today? Let's say I want to know what a group in Indonesia does. I'll google it or add a friend on facebook from Sumatra and ask them. Or hell, my neighbour is Indonesian, I'll ask him. I want to learn about Korea, well the University of BC has a great Korean studies program..... of course being that I live here I think I'll give it a miss, though I'm sure some 19 year old who studies there would delight in telling me how what I've learned here doesn't match up to what was in his textbook (cause that's how I was taught to think). Or you want to study inner city poverty and how to alleviate it. Hmmm, well that's been studied with no real success since the first Roman census around 300 BC, but I'm sure the next study will figure it all out. I'm not saying that there aren't real answers, but they won't be found in an ivory tower. You want to talk to people who have had success bringing prosperity to inner city kids? Ask the NBA.... I'm serious. Their outreach programs do more than any study ever has because many NBA athletes came from that background and succeeded and so know what to do. I'm a middle class white guy, I have no idea what these kids need, but give me $70,000 a year and tenure and I'll come up with something. If you want to learn about what it's like in space, you ask an astronaut, not some guy who studies space. If you want to know about how government works (or doesn't) ask a civil servant or a politician, not a political scientist. Heck if I want to know how to play baseball I'll take tips from Derek Jeter, not some guy who's read books about baseball.
I should say now I love history and watch documentaries regularly and people who contribute to them are amazing, but what percentage of academics are doing this? For this I'll stick to history, which I do have first hand experience in. I can't tell you how many pissed off, perennially angry TA's I had at SFU. These were grad students who had gone from High School to BA to MA. They seemed genuinely unhappy. Well ask the person who is their "mentor" (seriously) and I get it. That person did a PhD as well and is now a professor in Irish history and has no idea why they did it. It wasn't passion, they just did the BA and figured they were stuck now. I can't tell you how many classes I took where all we did was study what was coined "historiography" or the study of the study of history (seriously). I did a class on Irish history where all we did was discuss classical interpretations of Irish history, revisionist interpretations of Irish history and neo-revisionist interpretations of Irish history (seriously). Still have no idea what actually happened in Ireland, other than the English probably did it, but also maybe not (seriously). You are taught to tear down another person's work, but not in a real way, but in a trivial way. Every idea has gaps in logic, those gaps need to be filled in, that does not invalidate the entire argument or idea. If you disagree with someone I'm all for a discussion, but there's discussion and trivial bickering. I'll cite two examples from my own life to illustrate the difference. My friend Kurt and I routinely discuss gun control. He and I simply do not see eye-to-eye on this. It is a fairly major issue and I really enjoy our discussions on the topic, even though we rarely agree. However the debate is always substance, not trivial bs. I can respect his ideas even though the idea of arming everyone is ridiculous to me. In contrast I met a guy a while ago (I'll omit names here) who seemed to delight in arguing with everything I (or anyone else) said. He was the local expert on everything. At one point I made an off hand comment about Buddhism as the oldest religion in the world (except Judaism) and he started in with "well do you mean as a philosophy or an organized religion, cause the structure of Buddhism ............". What I meant was that I made an offhand comment and have no interest in a debate so stop arguing with everything I say. Plus, Buddhism is like 500 years older than Christianity, why are you arguing this? For the sake of arguing seems the only answer to me. I feel most of academia and most academics are guy two and not Kurt.
I'll even argue that for many of them, arguing has replaced real social interaction, but that's just an unkind opinion and one not limited to academics either.
So let's debate WHY Hitler took control of Germany. It is a valuable lesson. Well Germany was impoverished and angry from WWI. This led to a dictator. Okay, but explain all the countries that have had major depressions but haven't resorted to fascism, war and genocide. I think that's a valuable discussion. Too bad the guy who studied German history as his specialty didn't study British history as well. Let's have a conference. Too bad 75% of them will spend the whole time tearing each other's bibliographies apart (seriously) and argue trivia rather than have a discussion. Again, a gap in logic does NOT invalidate an idea. As to points of debate. If the British government had sent redcoats to America instead of India in 1778 imagine how much different the world would be today. Great debate. Interesting discussion. Should I collect a paycheque to discuss it? Probably not. It's all academic (now you know why that expression is what it is). Can I get a paycheque to discuss whether Jeter or Ichiro (both 38 this year) are going to have a better season? Of course not, it's just a fun discussion. I can't tell you the number of times I was handed a paper or an essay and essentially told to "tear this apart". I took classes on Latin American history, US history, Irish history and Canadian history where I never did learn what actually happened, but I learned that most people who study it are idiots (a dual lesson there that the prof didn't intend I'm sure).
This is not to say that I didn't have a few great professors in university. Paul Crowe taught Asian studies and I use what he taught me here daily. But he lived it. He lived in Taiwan for a while, he translates texts from ancient Chinese to English. In short what he does is useful, interesting and, well, cool. He is also involved in the Chinese Canadian community in a real way, not in a "I'll ask you questions and write a report" way but in a "I'll practice Daoism and chat with monks" way. My High School history teacher Kevin Benoy who taught me history as questions. WHY did xyz happen, not how can I tear apart someone else's theory about why it happened. David Delafanetre who followed that theme in a more academic way and encouraged us to ask why and consider big picture implications and who actually taught us what happened. There were a few others as well but many were clearly more interested in their research than in us, though I can't help but admire their dedication, but I'm sure one of the 75% who make up the rest will tear it all down for them.
So I guess to make it personal again, academia let me study the real world from an ivory tower. Going out in the real world allowed me to go out in to the real world. I studied Japan in history class but nothing compared to being there. I wrote a paper on the division of Korea in first year. Academically it was okay I guess as it got a 94. Not sure how much of it stacks up to what I learned here. I am NOT saying that a classroom has no value, but unless you get out there and do it your education is worthless. I also think that if I ever did go back for an academic MA I would use my experience to do a better job than any 24 year old could, not that he CAN'T but he is 24. I remember reading an MA dissertation by a 24 year old who's whole argument was that Churchill was not a great man. He had some decent points but here's the thing. Who cares? What are you actually trying to prove? He is a hero to millions, he did keep Britain in the war in 1940 and without him the allies may never have defeated Hitler. He destroyed the Nazi's, what have you done? Sure he made a few mistakes and had attitudes on empire that were outdated even in his time, but he lived in the real world, and outside of the ivory tower mistakes are made and it's how you deal with them that separates great men from mediocre ones.
I guess at the end of the day academia is for people who want to study the real world, the real world is for people who want to live in it. Trust me, the real world is awesome if you do it right, and far more educational too.
Monday, March 25, 2013
March Weather
Well I can't complain TOO much about the weather in March, but after a 26 degree teaser day two weeks ago it is again down to the 12-14 daytime high range. Not that that is cold, but it still gets down to freezing at night. I had hoped to put my winter jacket away for the year but I may have to hold on a couple more weeks.
It is also the cherry blossom season in Korea, with the blossoms already starting to bloom. It does make for some beautiful flowers if that is your thing.
Personally, I'm just looking forward to another 26 degree day.
It is also the cherry blossom season in Korea, with the blossoms already starting to bloom. It does make for some beautiful flowers if that is your thing.
Personally, I'm just looking forward to another 26 degree day.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Yellow Dust
Well this morning the yellow dust that blows in from China was very noticeable in the morning sky. Gross.
Yellow dust is actually dust from the eroding Gobi desert that is blown east across Beijing and the Yellow Sea. While most of it doesn't reach Korea enough does to make for some terrible air quality for a few days each spring.
On the plus side, it does keep temperatures a bit warmer, with today's high at 17 degrees.
Still, I'll be happy when it blows through.
Yellow dust is actually dust from the eroding Gobi desert that is blown east across Beijing and the Yellow Sea. While most of it doesn't reach Korea enough does to make for some terrible air quality for a few days each spring.
On the plus side, it does keep temperatures a bit warmer, with today's high at 17 degrees.
Still, I'll be happy when it blows through.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Up Geumosan Again
Last Saturday I went up Geumosan with a few friends from Daegu. I had previously done this mountain and written about it here and here. Both of these times were later in the year, and it was considerably warmer.
Actually the weather here has been fantastic for March, but the top of Geumosan still had plenty of ice, so we didn't try for the stone Buddha I wanted to get to. Instead we went for the peak, which is a great hike in it's own right and offers spectacular views of Gumi and the surrounding valleys.
We made it up the mountain in good time and Jarrod was good enough to bring makgeolli to the summit. I was impressed that everyone made it up okay and was really happy that it seemed so easy for me, after the last couple of times when it was a real struggle (all that gy and running must be paying off).
It was a great day and I'm hoping to do it again in May with whomever is interested to see the Mae an Buddha, which is the real treat up there.
Actually the weather here has been fantastic for March, but the top of Geumosan still had plenty of ice, so we didn't try for the stone Buddha I wanted to get to. Instead we went for the peak, which is a great hike in it's own right and offers spectacular views of Gumi and the surrounding valleys.
We made it up the mountain in good time and Jarrod was good enough to bring makgeolli to the summit. I was impressed that everyone made it up okay and was really happy that it seemed so easy for me, after the last couple of times when it was a real struggle (all that gy and running must be paying off).
It was a great day and I'm hoping to do it again in May with whomever is interested to see the Mae an Buddha, which is the real treat up there.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Nice Weather We're Having
Well after a fairly miserable Korean winter which was made worse by having spend October outside of Korea and much of this winter in MUCH colder Seoul it is finally nice out. Yesterday was 26 degrees! Very unusual for this time of year but I'm not complaining. Today is sunny and 15 and it's expected to stay there for the rest of the month.
Not that I am complaining about the longer winter, I mean I wasn't in Korea in October because I was in the U.K, though when it's still 25 and sunny in Daegu when you leave and you land in England at 14 and rainy it does mean your warm weather is over. Also, the trips up to Seoul were hardly a bad time, but I don't think I ever really appreciated just how cold it does get up there, certainly the coldest weather I've ever experienced and really would make me reconsider any desire I have to live up there.
Regardless today is warm(ish) and sunny and I'm heading out soon to enjoy it. We're not at sandal weather just yet, but the worst of winter is finally behind us.
Not that I am complaining about the longer winter, I mean I wasn't in Korea in October because I was in the U.K, though when it's still 25 and sunny in Daegu when you leave and you land in England at 14 and rainy it does mean your warm weather is over. Also, the trips up to Seoul were hardly a bad time, but I don't think I ever really appreciated just how cold it does get up there, certainly the coldest weather I've ever experienced and really would make me reconsider any desire I have to live up there.
Regardless today is warm(ish) and sunny and I'm heading out soon to enjoy it. We're not at sandal weather just yet, but the worst of winter is finally behind us.
More Mobile Uploads
Just a few more pics from my phone camera, nothing too exciting:
a gift from my coworker Diana.
Haven't seen one of these in
10 years.
Coming in to Seoul Station.
A KBL Game. Goyang Orions vs. Ansan
(both Seoul teams). Basketball isn't huge in
Korea but the league gets a few people in.
Again at the KBL game. Basketball isn't exactly
my favourite sport to watch but live it is great.
Me, Ange and Bobby
Ange in a pitching cage.
La Festa, in Goyang (NW Seoul) on a
VERY cold night.
WaBar
Ange and Chris at BBQ
Large Apartments in Beomeo, Daegu.
The Flags are out for another anti-Japanese
holiday (I think they celebrate about 15 of them).
Apartment Complex in Yongsan.
My bus stop in Sangin, I go here Mon-Fri
to catch the bus to work.
Pruggio Apartments in Sangin near a street
full of restaurants.
Burial mounds on the side of the mountain
near my favourite hiking trail.
A decent sized valley full of rice terraces in west Daegu.
Mountains near my place.
Not the most exciting set but a neat assortment for anyone interested.
My Unfinished Hike
One thing Geoff and I always said we'd do before he left Daegu was do the complete hike that connects the mountains near Sangin to Apsan. It's around 11 kms total and we planned on it taking around 5 hours. We always did the first part of the trail but then cut back down passing through rice terraces on our way back to where we started.
Being that Saturday topped up at 26 degrees I decided to finish it. It was indeed around 5 hours not counting the 30 minute walk to and from my place and I don't mind admitting that it was intense. Anyway here are a few pics:
we started on the blue trail at the bottom centre next to the lake park and
followed it until in connects with the red trail. We then followed
it to the yellow trail in the middle, then
headed back down. Keep going left and the trail goes for another
few kilometers and turns blue on this map for no
reason in particular.
Unfortunately time got away from us and it never happened.
walking to the mountain
Lake Park with some fog (smog?)
Starting up
Dalseo-gu from about halfway up.
Mountains through the trees
Mountain again
Valley and rice terraces from about 1/3rd
of the way up.
Same terraces but from the other side
where we never made it.
I hiked that.
and followed that near ridge.
To be honest the best part of the trail is the part we used to do. In the future I wouldn't do the last half as it runs in valleys and there is little to see or enjoy, Next time I'll go down through the rice terraces again, which is a much nicer (and shorter) hike.
Still a lot of fun and I'm glad it was finally done, even if Geoff didn't finish it with me.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
People Going
Well as I've blogged about before, the temporary nature of Korea life never becomes more apparent than when a few people leave. I have to admit I notice it less than some, being that many of my good friends are also planning to be here for 3-6 years and being that I spend way less time in the expat community now that I'm out of my first year culture shock, so a lot of what I blog about relating to this topic is not a day to day thing. But with Ange, Chris and Bobby all out (though Bobby will be back in May for another year). With those departures Korea does feel a bit emptier. In particular I will miss Ange a lot. I didn't get up to Cheongju to visit as often as I wanted but I managed a couple of times and we also had a few good weekends in Daegu and Seoul. It was also nice to have that connection to Vancouver, no matter how much our opinions on that city may differ :P. She will be sorely missed.
I think it's also that those who are out are all having such a good and productive time, which is making me moderately jealous. Ange is off to Bali and Thailand until August, volunteering, studying and relaxing and Bobby just landed in Germany after a good holiday in Vietnam. He hits Germany, Spain and home for a few weeks in the States before coming back right in time for Korean spring (which is amazing).
I guess with all the goings I can't help but be somewhat selfish and wonder and worry about myself, but then I pay for my grad school and a Philippine vacation and stop worrying. Everyone seems to be where they need to be, and there is something comforting about that.
Still, it does make me think about my final day in Korea, whenever that may be.
I think it's also that those who are out are all having such a good and productive time, which is making me moderately jealous. Ange is off to Bali and Thailand until August, volunteering, studying and relaxing and Bobby just landed in Germany after a good holiday in Vietnam. He hits Germany, Spain and home for a few weeks in the States before coming back right in time for Korean spring (which is amazing).
I guess with all the goings I can't help but be somewhat selfish and wonder and worry about myself, but then I pay for my grad school and a Philippine vacation and stop worrying. Everyone seems to be where they need to be, and there is something comforting about that.
Still, it does make me think about my final day in Korea, whenever that may be.
New Gym Pass
This morning I got to the gym around 10, with the idea of renewing my pass before I started. I went to get it and found out that it had actually expired on February 8th, not the upcoming March 8th that I thought it did. I got a week "service", which was very nice of them (though I was told if you refer people they give you a week free too, so I may have got it for bringing Nathan in) but regardless that still meant that I was three weeks overdue. They didn't seem to care and I paid my past three weeks plus am paid up for the next 2.5 months.
What amazed me is that no one said anything for almost a month (it was an honest mistake). I mean what if I left Korea today instead of paying up? Not that I don't appreciate the trust (I mean I have been going there for over a year) but how long could I have gotten away with that?
What amazed me is that no one said anything for almost a month (it was an honest mistake). I mean what if I left Korea today instead of paying up? Not that I don't appreciate the trust (I mean I have been going there for over a year) but how long could I have gotten away with that?
The W.B.C.
Well the first round is over here and the obvious BIG upset is that Korea is out. I guess I am a little sad as now Koreans won't have any interest in the tournament and it's fun to cheer for Korea when you actually care about the sport (I actively want them to lose in soccer events). However it goes on with japan and Taiwan representing Asia. However, I think this year it will be the US or Dominican republic. Japan's best are sitting it out (Ichiro, Darvish, Fukudome and Matsui are all out, though in Matsui's case he did recently retire).
Team Canada starts up Friday very am here so I doubt I'll get to watch any of their games, however despite Russel Martin's absence the team looks good enough to get in to the next round. I'll try to watch as many as I can but it may prove hard. I'm more likely to see the Taiwanese and Japanese games.
I'm also going to defend Martin here briefly from the flack he's getting in Canada. First off, Lawrie's a piece of shit and anyone who throws a helmet at an umpire should spending the rest of their career in the Mexican pro leagues. Second, he has a HUGE contract with the Pirates and wasn't willing to catch without the warm up required after an injury filled 2012. Fair enough. Many top stars passed on the big game including the above mentioned Japanese players. His bid to play shortstop was stupid and he should have pulled out a bit sooner but so what, get off him. Votto didn't opt IN until the last possible minute, is he a dick? Perhaps if Canadians could be bothered to support any sport besides hockey there would be more than two catchers to choose from.
Anyway, I'm calling the US or Dominican as this years winner. Japan looks good and have the best of NPB playing with them but without the real big stars they are in trouble.
Team Canada starts up Friday very am here so I doubt I'll get to watch any of their games, however despite Russel Martin's absence the team looks good enough to get in to the next round. I'll try to watch as many as I can but it may prove hard. I'm more likely to see the Taiwanese and Japanese games.
I'm also going to defend Martin here briefly from the flack he's getting in Canada. First off, Lawrie's a piece of shit and anyone who throws a helmet at an umpire should spending the rest of their career in the Mexican pro leagues. Second, he has a HUGE contract with the Pirates and wasn't willing to catch without the warm up required after an injury filled 2012. Fair enough. Many top stars passed on the big game including the above mentioned Japanese players. His bid to play shortstop was stupid and he should have pulled out a bit sooner but so what, get off him. Votto didn't opt IN until the last possible minute, is he a dick? Perhaps if Canadians could be bothered to support any sport besides hockey there would be more than two catchers to choose from.
Anyway, I'm calling the US or Dominican as this years winner. Japan looks good and have the best of NPB playing with them but without the real big stars they are in trouble.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Technology. It's Awesome.
I've been having this discussion randomly with several friends and family members, including some my age and even younger, who are lamenting the way technology has made life so easy, taken away kids character and work ethic, made everything a browser game. Absolute nonsense.
I'm not directing this at anyone, and some who I was talking to actually agree with me, but discuss VCR's nostalgically rather than lamenting their demise. I have a lot of nostalgia for the 1990's, but I wouldn't trade my life in 2013 for any other moment in my life so far. So I'll make that distinction now. Nostalgia is a cool thing, just remember that you are thinking highlight reel, not day-to-day.
Anyway, every generation has new technology and the ones who didn't grow up with it have two choices. Get with the times or talk about the "good ol' days." I think what you choose says way more about you than about the technology being debated.
Here's a few of the arguments against our internet age:
Kids aren't social anymore - Yes they are, in fact with facebook, twitter and kakaotalk they are probably more social than we were. They can talk to their friends whenever they want. Twenty years ago I phoned my friend, if he wasn't home too bad. I stayed home and played Super Nintendo. Now I text or chat and we meet. Heck I want to play video games with my friends, we'd better all come over and take turns on my Super Nintendo. Now we can all get on skype and all play a game together. I have done this on a simple level playing Civilization with Mike over skype and the internet. He is in Seoul and I am in Daegu. we can't exactly play Nintendo after school, but we can do that. How is that LESS social? Since it's possible to communicate over huge distances using a device that fits in your pocket you can talk to friends in London, Bangkok, LA and Vancouver AT THE SAME TIME. Of course it's not as good as face to face and it never will be, but how many kids today actually think it is? How many people don't travel to visit family because they have the internet? Not many.
Kids today are shut ins - Yes, SOME are. Some kids spend all day inside playing World of Warcraft and have a social life based exclusively around that. It's kinda sad. In the 70's they had Dungeons and Dragons. However, today I go outside regularly and always manage to see people under 30, so they can't all be weird shut ins.
Information is just a click of a button now - See I can't even begin to figure out whats wrong here. You want to know what the capital city of Tajikistan is. Okay let's go dig out the encyclopedia set or go down to the library or start calling friends and.... well I don't care that much, do you? Quick, what won best picture in 1965? who was AL rookie of the year in 1947? What were the years Benjamin Disraeli prime minister of Britain? Whats the population of Goa? Who won the Nobel prize in physics in 1993? Those five questions could take all day to answer twenty years ago. Now they take all of three minutes. I can learn five new things in three minutes. Why is that bad? By that logic the printing press was bad because it made books accessible to everyone and allowed newspapers.
Kids today are unhealthy - Not untrue, but equally true in 1970's. Processed and fast foods contribute to obesity and a lack of energy in kids and are far bigger problems than lack of exercise.
*sorry, while writing at this stage my friend Bobby msg'd me on skype. He is from California and is currently in Vietnam. I'm hearing about his trip before he heads out for the day.... damn technology*
anyway yeah, forget kids here, if you are an adult and you cut out fast food and canned food you will get in better shape without exercising (though it helps a lot). The day we decided that processed meat was as good as real meat, pasteurized milk was as good as real milk and canned veggies were the same as real veggies in the day we started getting fat and lazy. Wanna learn more about living a healthy lifestyle. Google it.
Kids today have no character - That's what your parents said about you and what their parents said about them and what their parents said about them all the way back to an ancient Egyptian grandmother going on about these new fangled Heiroglyphs and how kids today (2500BC) don't need to remember anymore. Yeah, they spend lots of time talking with friends and not doing homework and playing video games and being lazy and rude. Of course at 16 we all spent our free time studying physics and learning languages didn't we?
Anyway, I'll sum it up like this: I have, on my desk right now, three devices that together give me access to every book ever written in an easy to use format, every fact and study ever done, the sum knowledge of the human race in a nutshell. They hold all of my media and entertainment and allow me to access whatever other media I want almost instantly. I can communicate instantly with friends and family on multiple continents in real time. They are a laptop, a smartphone and an e-reader. Yes, some people use it to look at pictures of cats or find out what Paris Hilton is doing (or who). But the internet did not invent frivolous entertainment (anyone remember the Gong-Show or Inside Hollywood) it's just a new medium for it. But stack against that the idea that you can learn whatever you want, whenever you want. Go to youtubedocumentaries.com. Watch hundreds of documentaries free. Browse wikipedia and look at the reference section at the bottom if you want to get academically reviewed books on the subject. I'm not sure what character we lost or what fun we are missing out on but it seems that the gains FAR outweigh the losses. Also, I'm sure that wooden sailing ships, chariots, bronze tools and silent films all built character and were fun too, but anyone want to bring them back?
It seems like we all agree that new inventions are an amazing, wonderful thing right up until we hit about 25. From then on it becomes this useless stuff that makes us lazy and characterless. Though it seems to be the same age of 25 whether you are 30 or 50 or 80. I think the truth is that your view on our changing world says more about you than it does about our changing world.
I'm not directing this at anyone, and some who I was talking to actually agree with me, but discuss VCR's nostalgically rather than lamenting their demise. I have a lot of nostalgia for the 1990's, but I wouldn't trade my life in 2013 for any other moment in my life so far. So I'll make that distinction now. Nostalgia is a cool thing, just remember that you are thinking highlight reel, not day-to-day.
Anyway, every generation has new technology and the ones who didn't grow up with it have two choices. Get with the times or talk about the "good ol' days." I think what you choose says way more about you than about the technology being debated.
Here's a few of the arguments against our internet age:
Kids aren't social anymore - Yes they are, in fact with facebook, twitter and kakaotalk they are probably more social than we were. They can talk to their friends whenever they want. Twenty years ago I phoned my friend, if he wasn't home too bad. I stayed home and played Super Nintendo. Now I text or chat and we meet. Heck I want to play video games with my friends, we'd better all come over and take turns on my Super Nintendo. Now we can all get on skype and all play a game together. I have done this on a simple level playing Civilization with Mike over skype and the internet. He is in Seoul and I am in Daegu. we can't exactly play Nintendo after school, but we can do that. How is that LESS social? Since it's possible to communicate over huge distances using a device that fits in your pocket you can talk to friends in London, Bangkok, LA and Vancouver AT THE SAME TIME. Of course it's not as good as face to face and it never will be, but how many kids today actually think it is? How many people don't travel to visit family because they have the internet? Not many.
Kids today are shut ins - Yes, SOME are. Some kids spend all day inside playing World of Warcraft and have a social life based exclusively around that. It's kinda sad. In the 70's they had Dungeons and Dragons. However, today I go outside regularly and always manage to see people under 30, so they can't all be weird shut ins.
Information is just a click of a button now - See I can't even begin to figure out whats wrong here. You want to know what the capital city of Tajikistan is. Okay let's go dig out the encyclopedia set or go down to the library or start calling friends and.... well I don't care that much, do you? Quick, what won best picture in 1965? who was AL rookie of the year in 1947? What were the years Benjamin Disraeli prime minister of Britain? Whats the population of Goa? Who won the Nobel prize in physics in 1993? Those five questions could take all day to answer twenty years ago. Now they take all of three minutes. I can learn five new things in three minutes. Why is that bad? By that logic the printing press was bad because it made books accessible to everyone and allowed newspapers.
Kids today are unhealthy - Not untrue, but equally true in 1970's. Processed and fast foods contribute to obesity and a lack of energy in kids and are far bigger problems than lack of exercise.
*sorry, while writing at this stage my friend Bobby msg'd me on skype. He is from California and is currently in Vietnam. I'm hearing about his trip before he heads out for the day.... damn technology*
anyway yeah, forget kids here, if you are an adult and you cut out fast food and canned food you will get in better shape without exercising (though it helps a lot). The day we decided that processed meat was as good as real meat, pasteurized milk was as good as real milk and canned veggies were the same as real veggies in the day we started getting fat and lazy. Wanna learn more about living a healthy lifestyle. Google it.
Kids today have no character - That's what your parents said about you and what their parents said about them and what their parents said about them all the way back to an ancient Egyptian grandmother going on about these new fangled Heiroglyphs and how kids today (2500BC) don't need to remember anymore. Yeah, they spend lots of time talking with friends and not doing homework and playing video games and being lazy and rude. Of course at 16 we all spent our free time studying physics and learning languages didn't we?
Anyway, I'll sum it up like this: I have, on my desk right now, three devices that together give me access to every book ever written in an easy to use format, every fact and study ever done, the sum knowledge of the human race in a nutshell. They hold all of my media and entertainment and allow me to access whatever other media I want almost instantly. I can communicate instantly with friends and family on multiple continents in real time. They are a laptop, a smartphone and an e-reader. Yes, some people use it to look at pictures of cats or find out what Paris Hilton is doing (or who). But the internet did not invent frivolous entertainment (anyone remember the Gong-Show or Inside Hollywood) it's just a new medium for it. But stack against that the idea that you can learn whatever you want, whenever you want. Go to youtubedocumentaries.com. Watch hundreds of documentaries free. Browse wikipedia and look at the reference section at the bottom if you want to get academically reviewed books on the subject. I'm not sure what character we lost or what fun we are missing out on but it seems that the gains FAR outweigh the losses. Also, I'm sure that wooden sailing ships, chariots, bronze tools and silent films all built character and were fun too, but anyone want to bring them back?
It seems like we all agree that new inventions are an amazing, wonderful thing right up until we hit about 25. From then on it becomes this useless stuff that makes us lazy and characterless. Though it seems to be the same age of 25 whether you are 30 or 50 or 80. I think the truth is that your view on our changing world says more about you than it does about our changing world.
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