The Adventures of J-Mitch

Black Belt pt. 2

2008-12-01T05:42:00.000-08:00

Tonight was my first official night at my training center as a real-deal blackbelt. And it's funny to say ... perhaps it's just the look of the thing around my waist ... but it seems all different to me. First of all, it's tight ... you have to loop it around your waist twice and it's super thick so it's quite snug. perhaps it's just the symbolism of the whole thing that's got me thinking about it ... the training I've had to do, the moves I've had to learn and unlearn and then learn again the right way ... the times I wanted to take off and went regardless because it is a commitment ... the tired nights practicing and practicing over and over again the same patterns ... getting hurt and bruised, that part I actually felt was fun in some way :) ... the struggle of it all ... I think I've enjoyed the part about learning how far I can push my body and how I've learned to control my body and my emotions in the midst of it. There has been so much value in it all. I find that God speaks to me directly through the humbling process of getting kicked over and over again, something about the depths of this struggle of life we sometimes find ourselves in. That there is great joy in the hard times and that when we are done with it and on a higher plain of thinking, it all makes sense and comes together like a puzzle.

it only took about 15 months!

2008-11-28T04:10:00.001-08:00

I finally got to put it on yo! It only took about 15 months of training! We had a final test ... it was madness ... in truth, I didn't do that great ... we had to perform so many different forms I got some of them mixed up but there was grace since I had been working at it so long. Had to break some boards and do some fighting then ... booya! Here you go!

To answer your questions ... yes, I feel like a badass. haha!

new things

2008-11-13T17:28:00.000-08:00

I realize it's been quite a while since my last post ... who even knows if anyone checks this anymore? haha! My own fault I suppose!

Life has been busy of late. Let me begin by catching you up to speed on my life as it continues in Korea.

On October 18th I took my black belt test in Seoul. I had trained for over a year for this and was looking forward to it. Clearly anxiety and nervousness was abounding but I trusted in my training for whatever was coming. I must say it was quite the experience. We headed to Seoul in our team van with some other students who were also taking their test. To take the test we had to go to the Kukkiwon, the very center of the Taekwondo world. They dictate all of the rules, patterns, and various issues that govern the martial art for the entire world. That fact alone was unique in of itself. Just being in this place you could feel there was a sense of pride and honor in the sport for the Koreans and for me to be going into this place to be tested for black belt was a honor as well. I was the lone foreigner in the whole place. Loads of kids and only a few adults around my age. It was totally in Korean but luckily I had enough knowledge of the language and understanding of the commands that I could easily navigate through the night. The instructors who were doing the test were quite attentive to me as I was the only white guy in the place so they wanted to make sure I did well and had what I needed. We were tested on two different forms consisting of blocks, kicks, and punches. It reminds me of a kind of dance but with fighting moves. After this was easily accomplished we moved to the sparring part of it. This bit I was a bit nervous as to who I would spar against and what to expect. They paired me up with a young Korean probably 18 or 19 years old and about my size. The judge told me if I kicked him in the head I would fail so to stay away from that. Noted. We were only wearing head gear so it was rather light and easy. I only got a couple of kicks in before we were stopped and the test was over. The preparation itself took much longer than the actual test but I was glad to have completed it.

The perspective on black belts has changed for me quite a bit. I think in the west we believe most Korean, Japanese, and Chinese men have their black belts and thus some kind of toughness is attributed to this thought. In Korea all the young men when they turn 18 or 19 must enroll in the military and it is here the majority of them gain their black belt status. But within the military they only do very basic training. Think this is what you need for the test, learn it and here's your belt. I feel there is some misunderstanding on that level, most of what the west views as every Korean man having their black belt is only partly true. They have it and they have military combat training but within the sport itself they are on the lower end of knowledge of the art.

I know what you are thinking ... Master John, do you feel more dangerous now that you have your black belt? I guess I do. I've never had to use my training in a real-life situation and hope to never have to. If I did, I could handle myself well enough to subdue the other but I've also learned that not exactly what martial arts is about. It's more about controlling your body, your mind, and your emotions. It's more about being hard on the outside and soft on the inside is the balance most martial artists are going for. Truthfully ... would I love to use what I've learned one day ... maybe ... if there was some monster that needed to be destroyed in an epic battle of good and evil ... haha! But as this is real-life ... I guess that won't happen except in my head or in Mersinger's mind.

Since then work has been good. I've started bringing my guitar into class and doing a kind of music class with my students. It's fun and it makes teaching for me more enjoyable and also allows me to be more creative. We do songs like Twinkle little Star, Farmer in the Dell, Bingo, etc. The kids love it.

The picture above is from a night of swing dancing with my friends. I love the fact how this dance is enjoyed by all people in the world and it's fun watching the Korean enjoy themselves cutting it up on the dance floor.

that's all for now!

Anmyeondo!

2008-09-16T04:29:00.000-07:00

Good luck trying to say that word ... ha! It took me about a week to twist my tongue around that one.

Just got back from a long weekend at the beach on the western coast of Korea called Anmyeondo. A nice place to go and relax for a few days outside of the busy cities in Korea.

This weekend was Korean Chusok ... which is there holiday to celebrate with family similar to our Thanksgiving in the West. They also pay respects to family members who has passed away by cleaning up their grave sites and performing ceremonies in honor of their ancestors. This is quite a busy weekend for traveling as most people leave the cities prompting a mass exodus to various places over this peninsula.

A group of 6 of us took the journey to the beach. All English teachers at various schools throughout the Daejeon area. We took a bus to get to the coast and it occurred to me how easy it was to travel through alternate forms of transportation. You must have patience and often will have to accommodate conditions but for relatively short periods of time. It is so very easy to hop in the car and go but when you are without, you have to be creative and somewhat adventurous especially being in a foreign country.

As my friend on the trip commented, it's all part of the fun. We were a little unsure of our exact destination as only one of us had been there before. Add the language factor in there and you have a fun time. Collectively we could probably muster up a solid game of charades should the situation call for it but we got by good enough and to out little pension cabin for the long weekend.

As you can see from the pics above it is a beautiful place. So much of my life was spent on the beach and in the water growing up in Florida. Which I took for granted for sure. Being in a place such as this did make me feel right at home. Not only that but the bloody heat and humidity was about the same as well!

For the most part during the day we would sit on the beach and do some walking around the interesting outcroppings of rock formations from the beach. There was a massive resort about a mile down the beach from our location which we decided to check out on our first full day there. A rather luxurious resort, the only one of this size and magnitude on the island. It has a nice spa and sauna with great views of the sunset and ocean. Several of the spas had different theme tea leaf water but part of me doubts the validity of this. Nonetheless I enjoyed taking dips in the luke warm water of Green Tea, Mint, Roobios, and Jasmine just to name a few. A nice atmosphere for sure.

Overall a great weekend to get out of the city and relax on the beach. It took me back home if only momentarily to wade in the water and to walk on the sand.

is there more?

2008-08-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

this is me in front of a big palace near Seoul.

what else can I blog about? I have no idea ... I think I've run out of ideas of things to write on so I'll just type and see what come out ... deal? Ok!

so the other night coming home from taekwondo I fell of my bike and got banged up a little. My ego is more wounded than anything else. there I am riding in front of the bus stop, not going fast or anything and my chain slips, I miss my footing and tumble on the ground letting out some kind of yelp while doing this. mind you this is in the middle of the street. while I'm gathering myself my bag has wrapped itself around my arms and I'm having quite a difficult time standing up. also to note is my crash happened in the middle of the road and the light is green. it's a rather less traveled road so I was only mildly worried but still worried for the odd chance an insane cab driver will come by. so anyways, I laugh at myself and ride home. I'm 27 and still falling off my bike, what the hell I say!

Work is work. That's all I have to say about that. I'm trying to find joy in what I do no matter how difficult it can be. I love it when I can laugh at my kids, they are truly cute and funny but sometimes I'm just so focused on teaching them English I miss the fact that they are to be enjoyed as they have become a part of my life.

I just got my red belt in taekwondo and broke three boards the other night. Each board is about an inch think so apparently I'm getting stronger and better. I take my black belt test in October, it's really short, I only have to do 2 forms and some sparring. Easy I think. We'll see how it goes I guess.

home sweet home

2008-08-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

so I've made it back from a sweet vaca and am in the full swing of things back in Korea. The trip home was perfect ... yes it could have been much longer but I found it was just the right amount of time to see everyone, almost everyone, and do what I needed to do to recharge my batteries.

I did experience a little reverse culture shock arriving in Atlanta ... after a long flight no less ... it wasn't really the language that was overwhelming but more so the various shapes, sizes, and looks of people. America is so, so diverse. I loved it. I loved seeing that. Like it was a fresh view of my home, this is what it is ... it's messy and people are everywhere but it's beautiful in it's own way.

Jetlag wasn't too bad traveling to the west. A couple of hours of sleep lost at night but overall a rather smooth transition. Coming back to Korea was a different story. Probably a combo of things: jetlag, the culture, the new apartment. All of it.

It was nearly like I was never gone. Like one year didn't even happen. Much was the same except for new marriages and new babies. It made me miss that comfortable pocket I lived in back in the US. I love that pocket. Here it feels like a constant, not abrasive but constant struggle and fight to adjust. I've read in cross-cultural adjustment that the Asian culture is the most difficult to adjust to, it would take at least 5 years. Going home it took all of 20 mins to fall into line again.

So ... what did I learn from my first year in Korea? I learned how to fight. And I'm not talking about taekwondo ... which I test for back belt in October by the way ... I speak of simply being aggressive with people. I usually a laid back person but here if you are laid back, from work to the grocery store ... you'll get pushed around a bit. So you've got to learn to push back, get pissed, if only inwardly ... and speak your mind.

I learned how important my family is. How much I love them. How much I love my friends. And, oddly enough how much in all my traveling and globe trotting ... how much I do want to settle down and start my own thing with a girl and start a family. I would like to think I'm becoming a better and stronger man by being here ... maybe I am maybe I'm not ... I guess time will judge. But I do believe that "oppositions can either break or solidify a man." Perhaps it's both for a time but in the end a more solid and strong man emerges.

aerial view

2008-07-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

This is the view from my veranda looking in ... first the living room to the kitchen and then the bedroom near the front door. Scroll down for better pics!
This is my living room area. You can't see the magical orange leather couch that was donated by some friends of mine here in Daejeon.

Looking to the right out of my veranda. The massive buildings on the left are government buildings and a nice giant park which they are currently renovating.

Here is my desk and book cases. You can just picture me sitting there blogging away to you people can't you?

Here is a good shot from my veranda in my new apartment. Amazing. Although if you look directly at the bottom of the picture above you can see a rotting carcass of a construction project that halted due to unknown reasons. Apparently this little square as been festering for some time. But you must look beyond the nasty to the pretty city and mountain views past it.

Here's to the left ... the big building is a mega-church where I go on Sundays.

no A/C!

2008-07-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

so for the most part my move is largely over with ... I now have a much bigger and spacious place closer to the sun ... it's rather strange being in here though, I got used to my cubbie of an apartment all too much over the last 11 months.

Now I find myself at an ... interesting realization of my personality ... I don't have A/C for at least a few days maybe a week or more and rather than embracing how much of the world lives their daily lives I've been crying like a 27 year old baby. I laugh at myself but also am rather shocked at my sudden exposure of an addition-like love affair with a simple machine that cools the air. Did that just rhyme? Amazing. So while you fat cats are sitting in your climate controlled rooms enjoying the comfortable balance of your natural body temp to the degree of the room you are in ... I am sweating like a gorilla ... literally like a gorilla people! And complaining about it too!

I'll post some pictures in a day or so ... apparently in the move I lost my computer charger so I have to conserve power.

once again moving ...

2008-07-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

here we are once again I find myself moving ... this time not across the Earth but rather down the street and up 14 stories into a much nicer abode for my time in Korea. I've begun the process of packing up my stuff again ... the term "on the move" would greatly characterize my life since college I would say.

I cannot believe the things I've accumulated over the last 11.5 months ... actually I can. Now looking at my bags stuffed with various items I realize a great deal of it is sweaters and winter type clothing which I was sorely lacking upon arriving in a place with all 4 season instead of the 1.5 seasons of steamy Florida.

I will post some pics of the new place once I get settled and having the place looking respectable. Also the view is rather nice and I'll show you that as well and you'll probably wish you were here. Muahahaha!

In other news, today I had to journey up to Seoul to get some paper work done to secure my visa and alien card for the next year of stay so I needed to visit the embassy. The place is a fortress and we only occupied 1/50th of the place for all citizen requests and things of that nature. Makes me curious I suppose ... lots of mystery and intrigue maybe? Probably just paperwork and government workers in cubicles playing solitaire.

Also, I come home in 2 weeks! Hooray! Fantastic! Super-duper! And other things you can scream. I'm excited to get a vacation and see my family! I hope they are excited too! I'm sure they are, how could they not be? ha! If you are one of those people, I can't wait to see you!

Awkward!

2008-06-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

So I realized I have not blogged in a while so I'm kicking this one off with a bang! Sort of ...

Just a funny story really ...

After a long week of work and long days it is usually beneficial to unwind in someway to relax and get geared up for the weekend to recoup. You can understand this I'm sure.

So this Friday specifically I decided to go to the local public bath as it seems to help relax and make you exceedingly tired by sweating and sitting in absurdly hot rooms. At this point I've worked all day and had a decent workout at taekwondo so I'm ready to get my sweat on and kick back in desert like heat. As I'm purchasing my pass to go into the bath house I notice my schools assistant director at the counter making the same transaction as I had only minutes before. Not wanting to be noticed I act like I didn't see him and head straight for the elevator up to the sweat boxes and relative peace and obscurity. I hop in the elevator wishing these damn doors would close faster when low and behold in walks in Mr. Lee, the school Assistant Director, maybe the equivalent of a Vice Principle back in the States. Although I'm not 100% sure of what he does to be honest, I don't see him too much and it seems like he's never around the school. He was the guy who picked me up from the bus on my arrival into Korea smelling a bit like beer. But I digress ...

We meet in the elevator of inevitability and I give the standard respectful greeting, "Annyong-haseo." We exchange a few short phrases both in English and Korean. In the back of my mind I'm hoping tonight won't be the night I'm hanging out with my school's vice principle naked in a public bath house. But alas the universe has a way of putting me in strange and awkward places in my life. I head into the bath house to unwind and of course our paths cross again. He strolls over to where I am slowly unwinding from my week and strikes up a conversation with me. Great! Just GREAT! Could this be any more awkward?! Yes it probably could and it does. The fully extent of the situation is rather removed from me at this point considering it's been some time since this happened but nonetheless the memory of it all is burned into my mind. There we are the two of us, employer and employee having a normal conversation in public bath house, except we are completely naked. Nothing great in the topics of various conversations we had except he called me stupid for not having a Korean girlfriend yet. Then the funniest part of the night ensues. He exits the pool we are in and signals me to follow, perhaps to another pool or area of the bath house to continue our conversations. But no ... he challenges me to a push-up contest in the middle of the place. He probably pushed out about 10 reps, looking back I should have showed him up and sent him to the abyss of failure but I respectfully declined and told him he was stronger than me, all in Korean no less! Perhaps it was the heat or just being completely naked chatting with my employer but I walked away from that laughing at myself and just the randomness of the situation.

Only in Korea can this seem to happen. So ... the next time you are naked just be thankful you aren't sitting next to your boss chatting about the mundane of life in a pool of hot water.

Also, the pic is of me, clearly, in a biggest port in Korea called Busan. Lots of fish. Yummy.

Waste

2008-05-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

This picture has nothing to do with what I am blogging about here but I thought it was an interesting shot taken of some Daejeon buildings at night ... very nice indeed.

There is something rather interesting I've noticed during my time over here in Korea about the matter of waste and the disposal thereof. Now ... Korea in general is a rather small peninsula there is only so much room on this bit of land for everything under the sun that we humans require to live and function in a somewhat proper manner. And one of those issues is that of what we do with our waste. When you touch down in the ROK (that's Republic of Korea, duh) you quickly become aware that they seem to recycle and reuse everything. If you eat at a restaurant or some kind of quick meal establishment, you will see how there are at least 3 or 4 bins to place various objects in. Once you figure out what is required of each bin you see that everything has it's place. The paper goes here, the plastic lids there, the food waste over there, the paper cups go in there, and the liquid waste you dump into this little container. I truly am impressed by this and was personally glad to see they do this in a way of saying that everyone can take a moment to separate your trash for means to recycle. After all we only have so much land on this little bit of Earth.

Then the baffling part begins ... often you'll see litter everywhere, in the streets, in your face, everywhere. At night it has become common to see young men "passing" out flyers for local bars or clubs in the area. But I'm liberal with the term "passing" here. In truth they are taking a handful of flyers and dumping them on the streets and on cars parked near-by. Picture a young guy just aimlessly walking and dumping flyers on the streets as he's walking along. It's quite a sight to behold really. I was quite shocked the first time I saw this but have since learned this is rather common. The contrast is really striking and leaves one with the (?) hanging over your head.

I have no clear and pointed thing to say at this point. Simply my pondering of the strange ways that people live ... in one hand there is a great system in place for recycling and reusing and on the other hand just outside in the street there are young people just carelessly "passing" out flyers to anyone who would love to pick up some trash on the street and read about a random place of business. Strange huh?

breaking through

2008-05-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

This is a recent picture of me breaking two wooden boards during a Taekwondo test ... but don't look at my face it's quite scary to behold. Plus I'm closing my eyes for some reason. At this point I am a brown belt which is just one color away from black belt. I've actually been learning some cool things but apparently you don't learn the really cool stuff until you get into the black belt phase of the training: things like street fighting and knife fighting and other pummeling acts of violence. I have to laugh at myself sometimes because I love it but I hate violence just for violence. This becomes far more apparent when we spar with each other. We gear up in pads and whatnot to protect our vitals and go at it. Each time I've engaged in this type of training I always end up laughing or lightly hitting my opponent. Perhaps it's the light atmosphere of the training or the equal mirth expressed by my opponent ... or maybe I just don't take it serious enough to want to genuinely hurt someone. Either way it's still a lot of fun ... I supposed I've learned of myself through this that I really do abhor violence that is needless and would rather laugh than to inflict hurt on another. Man I sound really soft right now ... I would like to say that in the given situation I could hold my own by way of fisticuffs but I have really never had to so something like that so how could I truly know at this point. May I never have to use what I've learned ... this is what I want to get at. But I do feel I would like to use my skills on my brother-in-law Chris Rattigan just because I feel it would be fun and give me some laughs.

I didn't forget about the Blog ...

2008-05-06T06:22:00.000-07:00

no ... I didn't forget about my blogging and truly a lack their of. I'm not trying to save any face here either, I've just been lazy about it. I'm getting old ... all of 27 now. This is a current picture of me and my friend Jin Soo on a hike with some friends from church.

Let's see what news ... what news ... so I'm staying for another year. The powers that be determined I'm a valuable enough asset to keep and to give some nice stipulations on my contract as well. I'll be back in the States for just under two weeks ... a very, very short time indeed considering I've missed so much with weddings and new additions to my family.

It's spring time here in Korea and it is just fantastic. The weather is great and with the occasional shower here and there the temperature and breeze is just right. The cherry blossoms where beautiful during the early stages of the season. I never realized how much I love the color of trees and flowers until all is stripped away during the winter months. It's almost like I completely forgot what plant life looked like. I think living in Florida really spoils it all considering it's always green there year-round.

Within the last month or so I've gotten plugged into a young adults group at a large Presbyterian church across the street. They do have an English ministry there but I wanted to check out the full scope of things and be submerged, at least somewhat, in a Korean cultural experience. With the exception of the language and various expressions of their faith, much is the same as in the West. Although here, church seems to be an all day event, you wake up in the morning, attend service, then at a later service serve in someway, then go to a small group, then after the small group have dinner with your small group ... and that's a pretty standard Sunday in many Korean Christian lives. Me ... I want to get in and get out to some degree haha! That just shows my seemingly Western standard of things as far as church goes. But the people I've met there are fantastic individuals and the ones who speak English do what they can to help me muddle through the translation. With all that being said I've met some really great friends there who don't seem to be just interested in speaking English or talking to a Western guy but who are genuinely interested in me as a person, which is of course great.

Ok! Hopefully I can write more soon! I realize the last time I wrote was almost two months ago! I'm a terrible blogger. Peace to you!

John

me and my gold tooth

2008-03-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

I fully realize that for some of you this photo will literally gross you out ... but I wanted to show you I now have joined the ranks with some amazing people in having a gold filling in my mouth! I would like to state that now, officially have a million dollar smile ...

As the story goes ... I went to the dentist for my bi-decade dental cleaning and realized I had ONE cavity, which I will say is pretty impressive since I haven't gone to the dentist in a very long, long time. So I had a choice, fill the cavity with porcelain, silver, or gold ... and I thought to myself, "this is my mouth for Pete's sake ... I'll take the gold!" And thus, we arrive at the gold filled smile now captivating Koreans everywhere. I showed some of my students last week and they said, "Teacher, that is unhealthy!" I said, "You are right young one ... but look, it's so shiny!"

Moving on to other happenings in my life ... after the dentist visit, I thought it would be necessary to visit the local Oriental clinic for some accupunture ... a doctor from the clinic goes to my Taekwondo training center and offered to help me on account of my teeth grinding habit at night ... I must be anxious about something ... so I had several, and when I say "several" I mean about 10 or 12 needles sticking in my body in various places ... hands, wrists, feet, and my face ... yes I said face. They don't really hurt that badly actually, the press the needle in and push it in some predetermined distance until it hits some nerves and gives you a nice little jolt of electricity. This, although seemingly painful, is quite relaxing and it would seem that the effective remedy they are going for is only able to sustain for a few days or for the most part of a week, then you need more. Which is fine with me because it's all free.

I've just passed yet another color of belt in Taekwondo and thus moved up the ladder of becoming the most dangerous person on the earth ... trust me friend, you'll want me in your corner. Learning the martial arts is quite enjoyable, I've spent a great deal of time in the gyms tossing the weights over my head and away from my body and can honestly say at this point that perhaps some of my best exercising has been at Taekwondo ... trying to become flexible, an on-going thing and using my body to punch, block, kick, and twist has whipped this white boy into shape.

Teaching is still going well ... I've got a new group of kindergarten children, they are cute and wild as I try and struggle to impart to them discipline and focus for studies ... and all is in English, as you can imagine, this is fun and not stressful at all! ... actually it gets easier every week as they understand more and more. I'm seriously considering another year over here ... I have made some reasonable demands on my contract and if all goes well I would be back in the States for a few weeks in August and then back to Korea for another year of teaching.

I hope this post finds my friends and family in good health and in the best of spirits!

John

New Photos

2008-03-02T00:59:00.000-08:00

So I still can't seem to get my Thailand photos up ... but here are some recent ones of a day-trip into Seoul to do some sight-seeing and tourism-type activities. One thing is for sure ... so many more people in Seoul than in Daejeon!

I went to the War Museum which oddly enough had the display of the Dead Sea Scrolls and some other artifacts from the region: it was pretty cool to see these really old documents and to learn more about the culture and history surrounding this unique find. I still can't seem to understand why they were on display at the War Museum of all places, a paradox for sure ... or perhaps not and I just need to adjust my mind.

After the Scroll exhibit we went to a nice shopping district near our next destination which was one of many Palaces in Korea. This place was named Insadong and had soooo many people, the street markets were packed yet it still held a nice atmosphere of enjoyment for all. I was amazed at the Palace ground and History of the place. I was reminded just how old this civilization was and is and how they have done an amazing job preserving their heritage. In some of the pictures you can see the direct contrast between these ancient buildings surrounding by fantastic mountain ranges only to be met just across the street by a modern sky-scraper. In this place I could really feel the vast gulf of difference between modernization and the ancient ways of the Korean culture.

We also visited a Buddhist temple ... I think it was the biggest one in Seoul ... there were lots of people praying and offering various gifts and petitions to their ancestors. The temple itself was quite beautiful and serene; it was once again another unique and enjoyable experience.

Before we boarded our super-high-speed KTX train to come back to Daejeon we ate dinner at a place that served primarily chicken ... I don't know why but we opted for the super hot sauce that reminds me of the kind my dad used to make when I was visit. Being fully exhausted at this point we boarded our train to make the journey home and thus concluded a great day in that massive and ancient city.

choppys

2008-02-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

a goofy photo ...

something rather strange happened to me last night ... do not fret, nothing bad or anything of the sort. I was getting dinner before my taekwondo class and I ordered a dish of pork-cutlet and of course they give you silverware to eat this: a fork and a knife. As I began to cut into this delicious and juicy meal I realized how hard it was to eat with a fork and knife. I know it sounds dumb to some extent ... then it occurred to me that I hadn't used a fork in six months. I had been eating only with chop sticks and spoons. So on some level and in some way my hand has learned and developed muscles that are accustomed to using chop sticks. All that being said, I found it much easier to use the choppys rather than the fork. The fork would slightly cut into my finger and it hurt a bit. So I cut up the pork and picked up my sticks and proceeded to enjoy the meal. I had to laugh a little inwardly as I was mildly in shock of this new revelation of my cultural experience. Will I ever go back to using the stabbing way of eating with forks? Probably one day ... but for a while I'll choose the extension of my fingers to eat my food as it seems easier and to me now.

funny story (maybe)

2008-02-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

so ... I've been here six months ... and only recently did I find out that I should NOT be drinking the tap water! ahhhhhhhh!

All is well though ... do not fret ... I haven't gotten sick other than the normal common cold that I picked up from one of my kids coughing in my face or wiping their noses on me or something to that effect. This simply sheds light on my seemingly unfailing daftness. I seriously have to laugh at myself and at my Korean friends who are telling me this: half yelling-half laughing I said, "why didn't anyone tell me this when I arrived here 6 months ago?!?!" But alas, I digress ... don't worry, nothing serious has befell my youthful and sculpted frame. In fact I think I'm a bit more fit and healthy, riding my bike everyday and eating all kinds of ocean life and veggies ... can't go wrong with that.

this is a funny picture I took while visiting some islands in Thailand ... this is my friend Chris, I don't know if it was cold or he stepped on something, it just looks as if he's in water and doesn't really want to be.

I have no work for 5 days ... which is a gift from God. It's the Lunar New Year so perhaps I'll howl at the moon ... cheers for random holidays!

John

six months ... still under construction

2008-02-04T04:50:00.000-08:00

so I am at the six months mark in my journey here in Korea. what have I learned ... what have I forgotten and must soon re-learn? well ... the basics in life I'm sure.

all is well. work is good ... I rather enjoy teaching ... teaching English is good, but I really like teaching the kids more random things, like an idea to aide them in learning will come into my mind and it will end up being the most enjoyable thing we did that day. I love days like that, they are moments that truly cannot be replaced. back to the topic at hand ... what have I learned ...

I miss my home / I miss my family / I miss my friends / I love the new sights / I love learning the new culture, I truly cannot get enough of it / learning language is hard but it's enjoyable and most people who speak what you are learning are patient and so it works out almost every time I attempt to speak this Asian tongue and screw things up / I still have a strange back-of-my-mind desire to get a motorcycle / I really enjoy learning martial arts more so than what I did for all those years in the gym lugging weights around / I like that I can still talk to my friends and family over the internet or phone call, it makes me feel less far away / I like the food / I like how I came to teach little ones but they are teaching me more than I could ever teach them / I hate that I've missed out on my nephew's first few months of life / I hate that I have to miss the weddings of friends and families / I hate February / I enjoy cold weather - not a surprise! / I like that I don't have or need a car / I like that I can speak 3 languages, one well and the other two sparingly but still I can speak and function ... somewhat (english, spanish, korean) / I like that I make six figures in Won / I like being an outsider / I don't like being an outsider / I hate culture-shock / I like that I've realized how much I love and miss my family, I had to come to the other side of earth to realize that: I would like to say that proves the pure stubbornness of anyone with the last name Mitchell / and ... I'm sure there's more! but another time!

John

the cold ...

2008-02-03T00:29:00.000-08:00

so I realized just how adjusted to the colder weather I am when I work up and check the weather and see that the hi today will be in the upper 30s ... oh, that's not bad at all, in fact that's kind of mild ... what ... has ... happened ... to ... me ... I still fully don't know ... but it's in the 30s and 20s most of the time, sometimes less ... and it's really not that bad. I think perhaps it's easier to adjust to the cold, you put on warm clothes but the heat, you are always hot, no matter how little clothing you wear, unless you are in cool water of course. At any rate, I found this interesting ... my left foot is larger than my right ... I'm finding out all this stuff about my limbs this year, my arms, now my feet ... perhaps next I'll find out I have super human strength ... oh wait, I already knew that one.

hope this finds you well!

John

public nudity

2008-01-26T23:39:00.000-08:00

yes I said "public nudity." Feel free to squirm a little, I'll wait.

First, here are more pics of Thailand ... I though you would enjoy the perspectives of different views in the world and these are among the most interesting and beautiful. Now to my thoughts ...

For the last few weeks I've been able to frequent a public sauna and bath house near my school. This is a new and interesting thing to me. They have these huge rooms, saunas really, where Koreans, and a few Westerners, cram into and sweat out the sweat. It's all quite nice and relaxing and the end of the outing is finished by washing off in the public bath house. Personally I have no problems with showering in public places ... I have been used to this from my summer camp of my youth at Camp Sea Gull in North Carolina. But this is not just some row of shower heads ... they have everything, and I mean everything. In my mind I will simply enter in and shower and head out ... but this is not the complete way of doing things. There are several hot spas, there is a sleeping area and little "caves" for one person to take a nap, they have steam rooms, cold baths, and really, really hot baths all coming from some underground upward welling spring source. There is a level of, "man this is weird" but I realized hell everyone else here is naked why do I care. I think perhaps I stand out a bit with my different physical features that are not normal to Korean men such as hair on my chest, the color of my hair, and being the only naked Westerner in there. As I'm writing this I'm wondering why exactly I'm sharing this with you ... I don't fully know so forgive me if this is odd for you. There is one thing though ... aside from the strange display of public nudity that my western mind is simply not used to I rather enjoy it and always leave feeling refreshed and renewed a bit. So who knows, perhaps soon there will be public bath houses in the US ... I would say to try it ... it's weird and different but it's a unique thing to experience a way, however strange and odd to us, how a different culture relaxes on the weekends.

Also this weekend I picked up the Planet Earth DVD series fro BBC. It's quite amazing and I highly recommend it ... the visual aspect and the landscapes are quite breathtaking and there is so, so very much about this world that I had no idea about. Especially if you have the HD thing on your TV, apparently that's what it is made for.

Ok, all is well! Enjoy yourself!

John

just words ...

2008-01-12T20:48:00.000-08:00

Above are more photos of my trip to Thailand ... as you can see, we saw many things ... including a Muay Thai fight where the first bouts were between children no more than 10 years old. Yes, I was disturbed by then until I looked near the ring and saw one of the young fighters mothers yelling at him in much the way a soccer-mom in the west would yell at her kid. It was a truly universal moment ... and a unique view into this culture. The country side is also beautiful, this area at the foot of some mountains on the island of Phuket, was, I believe, somewhat new. After arriving back in Korea I read an article stating that Phuket received 30% of all Thailand's' tourists. This is a huge amount ... something like 1.5 billion dollars.

I have been trying to post all of my photos from my trip but have been having a bit of trouble with uploading them ... so hopefully soon I will be able to get more loaded to share with you all.

Now for the update on me ... I am doing well. I believe, and hope really, that I have somewhat passed through the difficult stages of the whole culture shock cycle. It did, however, coincide with the holidays so with that it was especially hard this season. It's a peculiar thing to be so far away from family during the holidays with all that has happened this past year ... I can remember enjoying time with family but also wanting to be elsewhere doing something other than what we had always done ... but this year wanting, more than I thought I would, to be doing the very thing I had done for the past 20 years of my life or so with my family. The question seems to linger at all times ... what will I do after my contract is up? I will be the first to inform you, I have no idea. I find that my mind changes as much as the weather ... two months ago I would have told you I'm going to stay ... now at this point I would say I'll probably leave. All this talk and thoughts of "what's next" can be very consuming but it seems to come back to the fact that truly I still do not know what I would like to do. I may want to finish out the school year with my kids in the end or may feel that moving west is the best course. I do question the longevity of it all being here ... perhaps a bit more schooling for a different part of the world ... perhaps something in the humanitarian field ... perhaps teaching in the States. The options seem to be endless.

As for school right now. The school year is coming to a close soon when we will get new classes and new schedules. I'm trying to make the most of it and give my students all that I have and to, more importantly, teach them the best and most effective ways that I know how.

So that updates you as of now and what I am thinking and other things. Email if you get a chance!

John

photos

2007-12-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

Thailand

2007-12-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

I'm very sporadic with my postings and if I said I will try to post more I would probably be lying ... haha. Things have been great here. It's snowing quite heavily here in Daejeon, which is odd ... it seems everyone felt it only snows, "a little" but I'm looking out there and it's coming down pretty heavy ... but then again I'm from Florida so my perspective is off a bit.

Just got back from a week in Thailand. An interesting place is a great way to describe it. We first went to Bangkok for about two days before our flight into Phuket (poo-ket) ... a times the country reminded me of my travels in India or of Mexico as well. Bangkok is of course a highly modernized city with some interesting sites to see. While there we visited the largest street market I've ever seen where all things from soap to shoes to puppies were all sold by hundreds possibly even thousands of vendors. I bought only a couple of things, Reef sandals for about 4 dollars, a shirt for a buck 50 ... everything was cheap. Later on in the trip in Phuket I bought two Polo shirts for $2.50 each ... I know you can't find that deal anywhere. They are probably rejects from a factory somewhere or simply not real at all.

I will be writing more about the trip in the coming days. There are many stories to tell and thoughts to share about all that I saw and witnessed. So for now I'll leave you with the photos at the top ... this was a one day trip we went on for sightseeing of beautiful islands and snorkeling, as you can see, in some of the most crystal clear water I've ever seen. If I were to ever go back to Thailand, I would simply make it a diving trip and spent all my time on the islands. They are truly beautiful. We even went to the same island where "The Beach" was filmed. There ... that'll leave you intrigued for a while. I hope your holidays have been good.

John

a flood ...

2007-12-01T05:54:00.000-08:00

just after I posted my last ... well ... post. I was catching up on some grading I had been neglecting and set my foot down in just the right spot on my floor to hear the soft squish of my sandal catching the incoming tide into my room. Confused as always these days I look over my shoulder to see my laundry room overflowing ... yeah what fun! So what do I do? I jump into action and start throwing towels on the floor ... in no particular order to do any good really just throwing ... I even started taking my clothes off and throwing them at the laps of water getting closer and closer to meaningful stuff.

Long story shortened ... and many towels later ... I now have a slightly cleaner floor than I did this morning ... and I held back the tide ... and I finished grading my papers too ... all on a otherwise lazy Saturday. No picture for this ... nothing exciting to look at really. I think we've all seen what water looks like on the floor. And no, even my sweet camera skills can't make that look special. On another note ... the Korean word for camera still sounds like camera ... so there you go, I teaching you Korean now! Exciting. Take care!

something new ...

2007-11-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

Above: these are two of my friends from school: Amy (left) and Tahara (right).

So I've recently observed how long my arms are. I've never really noticed it before ... every time I go to tae kwon do and train there is a huge wall-length mirror and more and more I'm slowly realizing just how truly long my arms are. Honestly if I let them hang down my side I can nearly touch my knees, only short by 6 inches or so. I think I might be an ape ... knuckles dragging on the ground and all. Perhaps I am the missing link. Weird I know.

And another thing ... everyday I take a shower and after my shower I clean my ears out with a Q-tip. Every day there is something in there. What's the deal with that? Back home I would only clean them out once or twice a week and there would hardly be anything in there ... now everyday I'm pulling some goop out ... maybe I should start making candles to sell back home to supplement my income.

hope you are well wherever you are today!

John

on fall and death ...

2007-11-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

now that fall is pretty much coming to a close ... all of the beautiful leaves have fallen off the trees and there are only a few remainders of the season left ... I thought I would share my thoughts on the beauty of it and just what I've been thinking about in light of this truly being my "first" fall in such a vast and different place from what I'm used to.

I have to ask the question why is it that that when leaves die, they are so beautiful ... it's almost as if the landmarks of nature ... trees ... are bidding farewell before the coming winter and biting cold that comes with it. I've never seen such amazing and striking colors as I've seen as during the fall. The crispness of the air is sometimes painful to my lungs but the clarity at which we can view things around us is all together amazing. I wonder in these thoughts of what this means to us when in just one year, for myself and for my family, we have experienced so much loss and victory in the short time of a few months. I see the death I see in nature as a thing of beauty, I do not believe many people can dispute this. We love to go to places where the leaves change color and simply gaze at it; it's the beauty in this that captures our attention and holds it for the entire season. But I cannot say the same for death in human terms. Most of the time I feel as if it is anything but beautiful ... rather more painful, gripping, heart wrenching, sorrow-filled, and other terms that describe this event that happens to us all. Even trying to look for the signs in nature while looking forward ... the coming winter is filled with cold air and the trees are seemingly dead ... but then after the winter and the death comes new life. It seems that even nature itself bears witness to the life that comes after death is one of beauty and joy and comfort even.

My family this year we have seen many go into that death but I've found that in witnessing nature perform its natural course and the hope that comes after the cold, dark night of our souls ... these are the things that make fall and winter and finally spring beautiful. We have seen giants in our lives pass and we have seen new life born with George Allen Randall.

So I say these things not to depress but hopefully to encourage. And after all these are just my thoughts on what I've been thinking about over the last few months during my time here.

I hope you've had a great Thanksgiving back home. I had some very delicious duck with some friends and went hiking this weekend on a beautiful island on the southern coast of Korea. Truly I've found this land beautiful. Sometimes it reminds me of the Appalachians around Tennessee or Kentucky and other times it's totally foreign to me. The island we were on was how I pictured Ireland ... I've have to post them soon for you to see. But ones at the top are from the hiking trip I took two weeks ago near the very end of the leaves falling off the trees.

Take care where ever you are!

post-halloween

2007-11-05T05:28:00.000-08:00

sorry I haven't been able to post in a while ... I've tried to but the connection keeps crapping out ... but now it seems for the moment I'm back. It seems the blog site won't let me post photos right now so maybe later with some good Halloween shots.

Things here are about as normal as they can be. Fall is in fully swing and it's rather cold out for me. I'm getting used to it however; I've bought some warm clothes and some gear for when I'm riding my bike all around town. I've still got a few more things to get but for now I'm pretty well set with warmth and some relative security from the cold chill of the fall air.

Ok, hope all is well with you because all is well with me. I'll write more soon when I have more time.

John

taekwon anyone?

2007-10-25T02:34:00.001-07:00

some thoughts I've had on learning martial arts and learning more about myself in the process ... my Korean teacher told me recently that taking taekwondo is a great investment for me into the Korean culture ... for several reasons but namely because it was invented here in Korea and also for the reason she told me the formation and process of it represents the national Korean character ... and this I can see is true looking at the various patterns we must learn to advance further and further are named after founding individuals and various beliefs held by the collective Korean mindset.

But the thing I like, aside from the "fighting" aspect of it is that it promotes inner strength before the outer strength ... that truly you can have the outer strength but if you have no inner fortitude then you are still weak. This has been an interesting revelation to me simply because it seems so opposite in the "natural" world of things and objects and muscles and so-called "tough guys." It is not the outer strength that defines a person but what they possess inwardly.

As often as I do I think of home and I wonder and ponder what things help form the American mindset and "inner strength" that seems very widespread in the Asian cultures. What are the things the define my friends and families' mindset? Where do we truly get our strength from? Is it our jobs? Our education? Our friends? Our family? Our various beliefs and religions? I could go on and on I'm sure ... Just thoughts I guess and intriguing questions ...

I would love to hear what you feel helps define our national character?

ps: I haven't been able to post any nice fall pics I said I had taken I think because I need to size them down a bit, they take a really long time to load ... sorry!

and now the negative ...

2007-10-24T05:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a couple of experiences I had that weren't exactly pleasant ... I realize that most of posts I have usually have something positive and unique that happen to me over here. Well I want to take a more balanced approach to this blog-writing thing so I figure I'll share a couple of instances, however brief, that have helped to define my experience here as one that has been "interesting."

Let me say this first, this has only happened twice and I've almost been here 3 months so I don't want my family to worry or think twice about my safety here. For my countless hours here a grand total of about 30 minutes have been unpleasant but nonetheless I will share those 30 akward moments with you all.

After leaving taekwondo, on both occasions, I had the luck of running into a few intoxicated older Korean men who felt either bold or just arrogant enough to try their English speaking skills on unsuspecting-John. For me, this is at the end of a long and trying day of teaching and then working out. I'm usually in a fairly friendly mood so I'll say "hello" in Korean if they say hello to me. At any rate, the first encounter wasn't bad other than the smell of alcohol and the rough and broken English and several akward moments in the elevator. The second however is another story. This guy stops me in the street as I'm walking to my bike and wants to shake my hand. So I say "hello" and he grabs my hand hardily and shakes it and then proceeds to hold on to it for the next 20 minutes or so. This was a bit strange but I know the Korean culture is all about touching and being close so I thought a little hand holding was a bit strange but I was close to my bike and knew if things got out of hand I could easily do something about it. All this guy knew in English was "nice to meet you," "you are handsome," and "you are friend." In truth I knew about as much Korean ... I told him I was an American and teaching English in Daejeon and that it was nice to meet him too. After about 10 minutes of the going-no-where conversation I wanted to leave and this guy wouldn't have it ... I could decipher if he wanted me to have a drink with him or if he wanted me to hang out with him back at his place or to go meet his sister ... I had no idea what he was getting at. Then he seemed to get pissed because I was giving him the cold-shoulder and walking away, keep in mind we are still in contact or he is still holding on to some part of me like my arm or my jacket. Then he proceeds to pull his finger out in a gun-type position and act like he wants to shoot me. In hindsight, at this point I should have just broke his arm and walked away but regardless lesson learned right? In the end, a Korean who was standing near enough to see what was going on just told me to leave and I complied. As I'm leaving he yells something like "little brother" or maybe another curse at me and I go off into the night without his and releaved.

So ... what did I learn from this? Obviously not everyone is friendly to foriegners, espeically when they are drunk and that I shouldn't be afraid to walk away, forcefully if necessary, when I come across someone who wants to "talk" to me and carry on about nothing at all. So a good lesson for sure! But not to worry, I'm a white belt in taekwondo! haha.

peace and grace to you!

John

Fall in Daejeon

2007-10-21T02:28:00.001-07:00

here are some pics I've taken with my new sweet camera ... I love it. Today was great ... no work, cool weather, all the time in the world ... nothing to do but look for something beautiful and take a picture of it. I took a whole lot more than I could put up on the blog site, I'm sure they'll make it up sometime in the future.

There was something I didn't photograph but that made me laugh ... in the middle of the city I see this huge pile of poo ... I'm not talking just big ... I mean, I seriously considered the fact that wild bears may be roaming the streets this thing was so huge. Anyways, I restrained from photographing it and forever to my shame I'm sure ... ha! I will always be unsure what kind of animal or "human" was able to produce this kind of thing. I know ... lovely stuff right?

Ok, all is well. It's cold here, really cold. This, I suppose, is my first "real" Fall season and it's rather nice now that I've gotten used to it. It seems that I'm constantly on the hunt for some warm clothes and most all the stores haven't really yet put the winter stuff out there. Next weekend I'm going to brave it in the elements doing some hiking ... should be a good time.

Hope this blog finds you well and in good health!

Peace to you!

John

my kids

2007-10-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

here is a current picture of my kindergarten kids ... I have two classes and they are mostly 5 and 6 years old. They are all cute and some can be little monsters, as to be expected ... but I love them all and they are fun to be with. This day we went to the park to draw some pictures and play games ... I know, I know, life is so very hard over here.

My co-teacher, Sonya is in one of the pictures, she's a great teacher and helps me out alot with teaching and other various Korean things I don't understand. Enjoy!

John

finally!

2007-10-11T02:22:00.000-07:00

I know, I know ... it's been sooo very long since I've last wrote. I will not apoligize ... I was sick and I was very, very busy with work. And I'm stubborn, so that's the end of that.

The picture above ... I must give credit where credit is due ... the picture was taken by one of my fellow co-teachers Simon Nicholson who is from Scotland. He is obviously quite the photographer for those of you who enjoy ticking your eyes with pretty sights ... here is some of his work he has posted on the internet ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/luminous_swan/

So ... what's new ... well, I'm just now getting over a pretty bad flu-cold-virus-disease-coughing-fever-hot-cold ... cold ... you get the picture here. I would image I picked this up from my kids at school considering they touch everything and everyone and then come up and touch me and want me to hug them ... it's the circle of life it cannot be stopped my friends. So after my battle with the killer sickness I'm not starting to feel better and just in time for some amazing weather. It's in the 60's pretty much everyday, which is the equivilant of the Florida winters back home. Needless to say, I need to invest in a larger jacket and maybe some long underwear.

I'm still learning Korean ... I can read pretty well now so at this point I'm working on vocabulary and expanding my knowledge of grammar and basic social situations. I wowed the parents at my last parent-teacher meeting by saying "my name is John, I'm an American, it's nice to meet you." This sounds so little but trust me, it was quite a mouthful of symbols and words. Luckily, I've got so many Korean teachers backing me up that they are at all times constantly willing to correct and help me out. I should be fluent in no time! ha!

Other news ... I've given up my desire to purchase a motorcycle ... for now. ha! Kidding. I like the biking around, it gets me where I need to go and I don't have to deal with too much traffic, except the random Korean who doesn't see me and steps right in front of me. In that case the bell is useless and I have to hope in already dull brakes.

Ok, this is all for now folks ... most of the busy-ness has slowed down at school so hopefully I should be writing more in the coming weeks. I did make plans for Xmas though, Bangkok and then onto Phuket, pronouned pu-ket, yes I got a laugh out of that one too. I will take lots of great pics of the tropical paradise and send them home, do not worry! Until the next time! Grace and Peace to you!

John

ha ...

2007-10-02T01:58:00.000-07:00

I really should blog something soon ...

more country-side and Jochiwon

2007-09-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

here are some photos of where I went for the Korean Thanksgiving called Jochiwon ... it was a 25 minute train ride away from Daejeon and was, as you can see in the pictures, a quickly developing city. For the most part this is a farming community and their major crops are peaches and pears among others. The weather is starting to get very, very nice ... cool in the evening and dry during the day ... I don't miss the Florida heat at all.

In other news, I really want to buy a motorcycle. In the end I probably won't, but it just looks like so much fun. And! they are pretty cheap here. I'm sure I'll get some responces back from this comment, so don't worry concerned family and friends, I haven't bought one as of yet ... muahaha! Seriously it just looks like fun!

My 5 days off from work have been very, very nice and full of rest and relaxation. Until the next time ...

John

country-side photos ...

2007-09-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

here are some photos I took while doing some off-road biking with some fellow teachers ... You'll notice the way I threw my bike by the way side in a hasty fashion ... the trail was fun for sure, got a little muddy but do plan to attack it this week again ... we found a weird hobbit farm, I'll have to take some pics soon to show you.

Apparently along this trail is a dog farm (wonder what that is) ... I'll let know you know once we find it and check it out ...

John

new languages ... 존 미첼

2007-09-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

So I've been learning Korean for about 3 weeks now and already I can read most of what I see. Don't be too impressed ... I read it really, really slowly and for the most part I have no idea what I'm saying. When I'm watching TV and trying to sound out the symbols to make the sounds I can usually only get the first sound out before it disappears and onto the next phrase. So I usually will try to read signs I see on the road.

Something I've clearly realized through all of this is that it is iimmensely easier to learn the language once submerged in the culture than to go to school and learn it. I think we probably all remember the high school language requirements ... in Florida we had at least two years of Spanish ... most of which none of us remember. But here, surrounded by people who do not speak English, the simple level of communication drops to a small contingent of people who I know, mostly those from the West. And while this has been good for a time, it does get old. After all I am hear to experience a new culture and to learn everyday something new the world and it's people are teaching me. This past week I asked my most advanced class if they like studying English ... and emphatically they all said a resounding, "No." This is no suprise to me as it is difficult to master any language when you are constantly not speaking in it except one or two hours a couple of times a week. I got my point across to them by telling them about my experience with Spanish and now with Korean and that if they choose to decide to go to the West and go to school or live and work there, they will be greatly rewarded with their hard work in their present schooling.

With all that being said I have a much greater appreciation and respect for those who can speak two languages, or even more. The ability to communicate with people who are not your "own" people is a great reward and one that I hope I can accomplish before my time is up abroad. I keep thinking back to my time in India where the children we met with could speak 3 or 4 languages and this was simply a requirement put on them by the school. Granted it makes their schooling much more difficult but it also opens up tremendous opportunities for them later in life to be able to travel and communicate with others all over the world. There is a joke about all this, I know I've probably told it to one or two of you and some of you probably have heard it: what do you call someone who speaks 4 languages - Indian ... what do you call someone who speak 3 languages - tri-lingual ... what do you call someone who speaks 2 languages - bi-lingual ... and what do you call someone who speaks one language? American. Laughs all around. But it is a sad fact I think. I do not think this will inspire anyone to learn a new language or anything of the sort. These are just my thoughts on the importance of communication between people groups and simply the value of it too.

There is one Western teacher here who is fluent in Korean and I have, and believe many Koreans have, respect for the time, effort and patience he put into learning that language so he can simply commuicate with the people here.

So to my friends at Wesley back home, I know many of you wish and desire to travel abroad ... I cannot stress enough the grave importance of learning that language. Perhaps you are like me and will on a whim go somewhere unexpected ... I urge you to learn that language when you arrive in that place, find someone who will teach you and also let them teach you about their culture. Something my Korean teacher does is we will get food after our lesson and it's always a traditional Korean dish, and I will be honest, everytime we eat I am a bit nervous as I don't know what to expect. The other night I ate whole shrimp without peeling it, squid, octopus, various fish parts like intestines ... they truly eat everything except the bones. But it was great and new and different ... and a little scary. I figure if they can eat it so can I.

존 미첼 ... in case you are wondering what this is all about ... This is just my first and last name in Korean. The first symbol is John, and the second and third are MI - Chill ... that's pretty much what it sounds like. There are many English words that are simply transliterated like movies and some fruits and veggies. It's pretty funny to sound out the Korean way of saying Harry Potter, simply because they replace there R's with an L sound. Anyways, it's fun and interesting.

Sorry no new pics this time ... will try to get some soon!

John

a quick thanks ...

2007-09-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

to all my close friends and family who have sent me care packages ... they are a blessing in so many ways ... and they remind me just how much I am loved ... which is always a great reminder. So ... thanks!

In the meantime ... I've been thinking up some good topics to share with you on the blog ... when I have a little more time I'll be writing soon about learning Korean, teaching little ones, taking taekwondo, riding a bike in a large city, and many, many other weird and interesting things ...

sorry no picture this time ... although I'm sure there will be some funny ones coming up with Chusok around the corner; I've been trying on some interesting traditional Korean clothing called Han-Bok they are making all the teachers wear this Friday, so stay tuned for that as well.

much love to you!

John

hmmm ...

2007-09-15T00:43:00.000-07:00

here's the thing ... I know people like to check the blog to see what's happening in my life ... truthfully I do wish I could say so many amazing and cool things. But I have to be honest, things have been pretty normal here for the last couple of weeks. Although I did get a new bike. And ... my class schedule is kind of an endurance challenge at times ... and ... I'm really, really starting to have more respect for my teachers in the past now that I'm having to do report cards ... and ... I'm still doing taekwondo ... hmmm ... what else ... what else ... that's the pic of my sweet new bike ... I love it and it came equipped with a nifty little bell that I can ring at peopl instead of yelling, "get out of my way!" The bell doesn't exactly chime with tones of masculinity but it does the job nonetheless. Actually, here's a story ... apparently when it rains my bell doesn't work really well ... or at all to be exact ... so this lady steps right out in front of me and I start ringing it like a madman with issues, she doesn't hear it I swerve last minute to miss her, it was great. Don't fret though, while the traffic here is hazardous to health in general, I've been rather safe and they mostly watch out for people walking and people on bikes. It's truly fun.

here's something ... next week I may go through my first typhoon ... exciting I know. It's exaclty like a hurricane but it's called a typhoon so ... I know it's nothing like what we usually get in S Florida and it has been raining here the last couple of days, which makes it really difficult to ride my bike. I'm learning, I think, to take joy in the simple things in life ... I don't have a car so if I want to get somewhere of distance I have to hop in a cab, but getting a bike changed all that, now it's actually kind of fun going places and exploring the newness of my home here in Daejeon. Tomorrow I might actually go see the World Cup stadium they built when the Cup was here in 2002. It's only 5km away ... holy crap that's another thing ... thanks to the American school system, everything here is in metric ... shoe sizes, all kinds of distances, my height is in cm which I don't really know, and a slew of other things. Luckily I have a conversion calculator on my computer ... but still, perhaps one day the US will convert to metric ... it's funny how the small things make so many differences in our lives.

I know I'm kind of rambling here so I'll just keep going with it ... today I saw the Bourne Ultimatum with some friends, the movies here come out about a month and a half after they come out in the states. It was a good one, I recommend seeing it if you haven't already.

I do have some interesting events coming up in the next couple of weeks that I'll be able to post about and share some cool photos hopefully. Chusok, which is the Korean Thanksgiving ... at work they are getting us Han Bok, which is a Korean traditional dress for the holiday, not sure what it looks like but I'm sure it'll be interesting. Also, we get 3 days off of school so I'm going to try to go to Seoul and see what it all about. If I can I'll hopefully tour the DMZ, the safe parts of course ... see some of the old historical palaces, and do whatever it is that tourists do there. I'll be sure to keep you updated on the trip. Still don't have word yet on what I'm doing for Xmas yet ... sitting on a beach in some exotic land no doubt ... haha!

Ok, that's all for now folks ... hope you are well!

John

my pics of my new home town

2007-09-08T23:49:00.000-07:00

hola everyone! these are some pictures of my neighborhood ... basically what I see everyday and night as I walk to work and then walk home to sleep and do it all again. Exciting, I know! Most all of the businesses are resturants and convience-type stores that are run by "mom and pop" type establishments. Plus, the general market here for business is flooded with so many of each, the prices are low and nothing is that expensive so it's nice if I need something small and don't want to go all the way to E-mart downtown.

Things are going well and smoothly with work and Tae kwon do. That's probably why I haven't written in a few days. So to all my readers who are chomping at the bit asking yourself day and night, "why isn't he writing?!?! ahhhhh!" I know this happens don't deny it! ha!

I'm still enjoying Tae kwon do. The people there are really nice and eveyrone wants to meet me because I'm probably one of the only white person they've met in a while. My instructors say I have good form and I'm a quick learner ... who knew!? So far I've learned some cool punches and blocks. I can't wait to do the cool spin kicks. I think we begin sparring with each other at the next belt up. I'll probably get my butt kicked, but that's how I learn in truth.

The weather here is unreal! I wish you could be here right now. It's like it is in the late Fall early Winter in FLA. Dry, low heat, low humidity ... it's soooo nice. Speaking of it being nice outside, I'm about to go for my first Korean language lesson. One of the teachers at my school is going to teach me, I hope I can stick with it. I know I lose intrest when I have to put some work into learning something new like a language that's difficult. I'll let you know how that goes.

Other than that ... things are well. I hope you are well! Write me and let me know sometime, I love hearing from friends back home ... also, if you want to talk with me without cost, download Skype on your computer. It's a free program in which we can talk to each other over the net ... it's not like talking on the phone per se but the quality is good enough and plus it's free to talk over the net and it doesn't cost a thing. Plus, I have a camera on my compy so you can see me and if you have a camera, we can talk like I'm not on the other side of the world. You can find my screen name, its JohnM416 ... and that's it, you'll find me and we can chat. Let me know if any of you have this program and let me know your name so I can put your name on my account.

Hope to hear from you soon!

love and grace to you!

John

p.s. Chris, your posts are hillarious ... keep them coming ... and yes, I was in Beverly Hills Ninja.

training has begun!!!!!

2007-09-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

Yes I'm pointing to you! You are next my friend! To answer your questions ... yes, Tae kwon do has begun ... and ... yes I broke that board I'm holding. Although not with my head, I broke it while I was at the place ... and with my foot. If they send me the picture I be sure to post it.

First, I get sweet looking fighting clothes .. which, I look pretty fierce in ... and it's a lot of fun. The people there are really nice and helpful and they are fun to work with. One of the Masters, yes Masters, speaks English really well so I train with him. So far I've only learned to kick and punch and do some business stuff like bow and the ready stance and breathing techniques and such. I think it takes a little over a month to go a belt up so who knows ... if I can stick with it I could be pretty far along in the end. I thought it would be something really different than just getting in a gym and throwing some weights around. Tae kwon do was founded in Korea so why not learn some sweet moves while I'm here right? Be very afraid when I come home ... very afraid.

Other than this, nothing too big has been going on lately. It's been raining for a week and a half and it's just slowly bumming me out. The weather has been quite nice becuase the sun has been hidden but the wetness of everything is just not fun. At school things are going well. I had one student say some curse words he learned from a pocket dictionary he had and he shouted it out in one class ... I will admit it was funny but I had to stop him and tell him it was a bad thing to say. After this, he proceeded to figure out how to say he wants to go number 2, which during the assignment we were doing he answered one of the dialog question of "what do you want to do?" and he answered "I want to go poop!" I just kind of smiled and moved on, it was funny though. In my kindergarten class, the kids there are taking a liking to me well enough. The boys love to fight and punch as hard as they can, to test their strength and to see if they can do some damage on a bigger guy than them. I let them get away with some of it ... but then sometimes they are right at the height just below my waist so on a number of occasions I've taken a fist or a running head-butt to the crochal region ... which is great. Sorry I don't have any pictures of that to share.

Ok, that is all for now. miss you all! more to come!

Grace and peace to you!

John

cool pic

2007-08-30T06:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a cool picture one of my co-teachers took ... this is a big road ... as you can see ... between my neighborhood and the where the school is. I thought you would enjoy what I see everyday. Although it never looks this cool, even at night ... perhaps I need new eyes or just a cool camera. I hope you enjoy it!

this is funny ...

2007-08-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

I want you to look closely at both of the photos I posted here ... This a brochure that the school has just put out about their new library. I guess it's a rather new and nice feature so they want all the parents and others to know about it.

So ... just to let you know ... my career as a model has begun ... and in Korea! haha! I will sign a bunch of copies and send them home so you can start selling them on Ebay. I would like a portion of the proceeds though, my manager will be in touch with you. Who even knows where this will lead ... besides more laughs ... perahaps you will see my face on the side of a bus or some hip new fad that will make you want to vomit ... I have new goals for my life now. Enjoy!

John

and the winner is ...

2007-08-26T03:52:00.000-07:00

ok, some of you have participated in my re-naming of the blog contest and I must say I was happy with some of the results and some where funny but there is no way that I would put that up as a blog name, Steve Mersinger I'm talking to you buddy!

So ... the winner is ... Molly! She dug down deep and got super creatvie with "The Adventures of J-Mitch" which I like, and seeing as how most friends lovingly call me this from time to time, I will go with it. Good job Molls! I will send you a phone card soon!

Other than that, nothing new to report.

But possibly coming soon ... I am thinking about taking Tae kwon do ... I figure while I'm hear to teach and observe a new culture, why not learn how to kick some ass while I'm at it? I think if I stick with it, I could be a black belt by next summer time, just in time to come home and clean up everyone who's out of line back home! So watch yourself ... me and Chuck Norris will come knockin' and there'll be hell to pay! ha!

I'll let you know what I decide soon ...

Enjoy the random photo I took with my lappy camera!

John

random info

2007-08-25T04:18:00.001-07:00

So the photos are the updated and "improved" status of my apartment. And if you are wondering ... that's right, I have tin foil on my windows, I love the sun up at 530am and everything but this is the cheapest and most cost effective way of keeping the sun out so I can sleep the whole night through! I know it probably looks silly and I truly have to laugh at myself ... but the curtains were like 40 bucks! I'll get curtains when I get married, so until then ... it's foil that does the job! (sorry if you are grossed out by the pic of my bathroom, I just wanted to show you what it looks like!)

Moving on ... things have been good with me. This past week I do believe I finally have gotten over my jet lag. I still am getting used to the still bed, my back doesn't hurt when I wake up which is a good thing but still getting used to things in general. I do not have anything amazing and exciting to report ... just some random cultural things I have found to be interesting and to keep my readers occupied for a bit longer until something cool happens to me ... wait, what am I talking about, I'm living in South Korea! So I hope you are able to laugh and raise an eyebrow with interest as you read ...

- with the exception of the grocery store, there are no lines in South Korea, you either take a number and sit down or you just push your way to the front ... so that makes a fun time anywhere you go.

- the parking situation here is like any big city ... scarce ... so everywhere there is double parking. The interesting thing is that every, or almost every car, has the owners cell number in plain view on the dash so if you need it moved, rather than towed, you call the number and have them move it. Or you can simply push the car out of the way ... most of the people who are double parked simply leave their car in neutral so people can push them around and move them out of the way. Now that is trust!

- when I give something to someone who I respect, I give it to them with my right hand and support it with my left, this is a sign of respect.

- it's polite to slurp your noodles and soup and to eat with your mouth open, it's shows that you are enjoying it ...

- you never tip when you eat out ... this is considered rude and implies that your server is not making enough money to support him/herself ... this I like!

- it is not polite to look someone in the eye who you do not know, it is considered disrespectful.

- there are two channels on the TV that are specifially for "video game sporting events." I'm sure this will catch on in America soon ... so you can enjoy it too!

Ok, that's all that comes to mind right now. Oh yes ... to my family and friends I was thinking about coming home during the week I had off for Christmas but after thinking about it, I think it would be a long trip for such a short time so I will not be coming home during Christmas this year ... sorry! I'm not sure exactly what I am doing, possibly sitting on a beach in Thailand but I will let you know and take lots of pictures. I will miss everyone during the holiday season but I know I will see everyone again in good time. So that pretty much updates you on my life for the moment.

Take Care!

John

... thoughts ...

2007-08-20T05:17:00.000-07:00

These are some recent photos of a little trip I took with some co-teachers to a river nearby Daejeon to go for a swim ... the water was great and the weather was hot enough to make us pant for the cool and refreshing waters. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the river or of the bridge where we were near ... I can assure you that it was a name long enough for me to just forget about because I knew neither I nor my friends/family back home could say it either! ha! (the two on the right are from Canada, the young man in the Manchester United jersey, a British football club, is from Scotland, and the guy on the left is from Bangalore, India ... a rather international mix I would say.

Now for the real reason of this post ... finally! I love the Koreans sense of community. We drove up and down the river looking for less populated areas where we could swim and be "alone" from the kids and throngs of people. We must have stopped by half a dozen people on the road and asked them where we could go and they all pointed us back in the direction of the bridge, where we ended regardless of our search. This at first was rather annoying, but then it dawned on me how much they love to be around one another. We in the West love our space, our individualistic freedom, our sense of ownership and separate-ness from the masses ... yet what do I see when I think of this ... all the truly lonely and disconnected people in America. Ok, I'm not preaching ... back to the story ... South Korea is home to something like 12 of the largest churches in the world, one is close to a million people in Seoul. I don't think they hate to be alone, but more like they just love to be around one another. Even if they don't know each other. They certainly didn't know us as outsiders to their culture, but as soon as we walked up, as we got many intriguing looks we also got many smiles and waves of greeting. Now, I don't know what kind of person you are with regards to community like this but I'm the kind where I truly do love to be around good company but I do need my time alone to do my "own thing" whatever that is. As I ponder on what this means for the culture and society as a whole and how it makes up the collective psyche of all the communities of South Korea, it seems to come to a result of truly being that "good neighbor" or even giving itself to the loving thy neighbor mindset where there is no room for fear of someone unknown to you. I have only been here a short time, but there doesn't seem to be as much fear in the people that I come across on my daily activities, which I love and is very disarming to me.

So that's all I really wanted to write, just thoughts on community as I've witnessed here. If I learn nothing else from this point on, I will have felt blessed to have learned what I have this far into my journey.

Grace and Peace to you!

John

The basics aren't so basic anymore ...

2007-08-15T01:06:00.001-07:00

Today was offically my first day to get some things done in my new villa ... needing to get grocerys and various things that just don't come with the place, like laundry detergent and a mattress pad ... so today was a day off due to the Korean holiday Independence Day and I decided to venture out and get some things picked up, also I knew this would help with my settling in feeling, which as it turns out, it does.

Last night I hung out with some friends from work and got home around midnight, I was beat and I didn't wake up until noon today ... just a note, I don't usually sleep that late and I knew my body needed it to fight off sickness and exhaustion. So I was glad for the long and needed rest. After I got going I hailed a cab and asked to be taken to the E-mart, which as I said before is about the same as a Super Target back home. As far as public transportation works around here, it's a bit of a change of pace for the most part. I walk to and from work and if I need to get anywhere outside of a mile from my place, I have to take a cab or bus or subway. There are lots of cars here so I'm not sure what percentage of people actually drive and which don't, I think alot don't. For the most part, the Korean taxi drivers don't speak English so I just say the name of the place I need to go and hope he understands what I'm saying, I've been lucky so far. My friends Andrew and Christina, a married couple from the school, have these neat little flash cards with the various destination in both English and Korean, they are pretty handy and hopefully I'll be able to secure a set for myself.

Shopping itself was easy enough, you have to pay 100 Won to use a cart, which you get back after you use it and when you buy grocerys you have to pay for each plastic bag, which is rather a smart way of doing things while considering the environment. Most places I've been to have ample opportunity to recycle and you basically have to separate your trash when you go to throw it away. I like this aspect of the culture, they respect the small things we can do and just learn to adapt if it is something of "huge" burden like having to buy plastic bags for grocerys. Back to my shopping experience ... for the most part, the western food was easy to find and purchase, I bought some PB and J and also some bread. Although items like butter are pretty expensive so I waited to go to Costco for that one. As I said before, alot of the food that is considered traditional Korean is seafood and so you'll see unique items in the food isles like octopus or squid or eels. On a side note, I had some octopus last night with dinner and I must say it was rather good ... truthfully it didn't taste like anything much, and it was a little strange looking at it and then putting it in your mouth, tentacles and head and brains and all ... I would recommend it though, try something new!

Moving on ... after the regular grocery store, my friend Andrew and I traveled to Costco to pick up a few specific items you can't find at regular grocery stores. You know the place, everything is in bulk and truly this has been the only place I've actually felt like I was back home, weird I know. So now I'm pretty well set with a tonage of spagetti, a Korean favorite ... seriously ... and other things like raisins and cheese and some M&M's ... yummy. I am going to try to make an effort to get more Korean food on a regular basis, it's very healthy and sometimes can be an adventure itself just eating it! And as I said before, it's really, really cheap.

After I got some laundry detergent I have finally been able to get some clothes cleaned. My place came with a washer but no dryer so I just have to hang my clothes out to dry, which takes a little while because there isn't any room outside to place my clothes so I just have to improvise with what I have and hang my clothes here and there and everywhere.

My bathroom, or washroom as the Koreans call it, is pretty small and basic. No shower or tub like we have in the West, just a hand-held nozzle while you just stand there in front of your sink, next to you toilet taking a shower. All and all my bathroom is about 4 by 4 feet and the whole thing serves as a multi-purpose room, it's hasn't been too hard really to get used to it but I could imagine it would if you like to do stuff and have a process of bathing like some of my friends in the States! Actually I'm enjoying everything and all the new adventures I seem to go on daily, everything is new and here it's like I'm learning how to live more simply, even though I thought I lived rather simply in the States! I really enjoy public transportation but it does have it's draw-backs like going to the grocery story and having to carry your stuff to the cab, then to your apartment when you don't know how to direct the driver to your place yet. I like the Koreans view on life and living, they seem to be always ready for a good laugh and don't seem to be easily offened, even by forigeners.

In September I've got a bit of a holiday called Chusok, which is basically the same as Thanksgiving back home so this'll be a chance for a bit of travel. I don't have too much of a desire to go into China or Japan but North Korea sounds inviting and from what I hear, American are actually allowed into Pyongyang. To my family: it's totally safe, one of my friends at work went and she said it's super-structured, like only a Communist government could and it's simply and utterly interesting. So it I do end up going I'm sure it'll be a blast. If not, no worries, I'm just as happy to explore the mountains that surround Daejeon. There aren't any towering peaks like in the Western States but it does remind me of the Appalachians in the Eastern US. I'll let you know the closer it gets, the break is still about a month off.

For all who read this I have a little reader participation for you ... I would like to rename my blog ... now I know I could do this and rename is something weird and obscure or try to be deep and meaningful but that's just not my specialty thus "Living Abroad." So if you have 5 seconds and would like to give me a hand and help me rename this thing I will send the winner a calling card just so they can call me up! Yeaaa! I know, I know, it's an amazing prize, I know. But I thought it might be fun and interesting to see what people think I could call this other than "living abroad," that seems so "captain obvious." Or ... if you do like the Living Abroad title, then you should be ashamed of yourself ... I'm kidding ... funny though.

Grace and peace to you all!

John

Finally!

2007-08-13T04:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to post ... well ... anything on the blog site ... I've been over here in Daejeon for about a week and I just now got into my new villa tonight literally a couple of hours ago as I write this! It's got basically everything I need, kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, small living room with TV ... I still have to get my phone hooked up ... I'm actually "borrowing" this wireless signal off someone in the building. So for those of you who really want to talk to me, have some patience and hopefully I'll be getting a phone number by the end of this week, possibly sooner.

As I said before it has been officially one week. Although I will be honest and tell you it's felt more like 2 months already ... so much has happened in that little short time of seven days ... I've gone through ever emotion there is to have in the midst of culture shock ... love, hate, confusion (lots of that), joy, happiness, sadness, loneliness, closeness ... the list can go on and on I'm sure. I truly do not know where to begin to tell you all that has happened, there are so many things and my thougts on the each are equally diverse. From culture to food to the people to my co-workers to the new people I've been meeting randomly through simply being a foriegner.

Where to begin ... where to begin ...

Let's first talk about the food ... although I'm still getting used to most of it, it's all rather healthy. I do believe the Koreans eat anything that comes out of the ocean, well everything except the sand and water of course. There are octopus, squid, jellyfish, seaweed, the list goes on. I did find that when I ate Korean food and then came back to Western food, my stomach was wrecked from the oils and overall greasiness of it all. Much of the food here is very cheap, you can get a large meal for about 4 or 5 dollars and it's considered rude to tip.

Now on to Daejeon itself ... the city here is great. It's a very modern and advanced city to be living in and another upside of that is that my villa and school where I work are very close to the stores that I will need to get me through the year, like E-mart, which is like Super-Target. Oh yes, I don't want to forget the fact that there are tons of opportunities for "American food" should I feel that I'm missing out. There are pizza places everywhere, I saw a TGI Fridays yesterday, of course there is McDonalds, KFC, Popeys, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Subway, and I think I saw someone eating Burger King food today at work. So in that respect I'm sure I'll be ok. Another that's rather nice about living over here is the technology is a little more advanced than what we have in America. The digital cameras are a bit cheaper too, which is nice and the cell phones are pretty much right out of the factory being so close to Japan.

I've learned only how to say a few things like the area where I live so as to catch a taxi home and 'hello' and 'thank you.' So I would say I've got just enough to get by, although I still do use my hands to make gestures like telephone or bag or something like that. The people here are nice enough and they can tell I'm clearly American. Most people over here like Americans, though they may not like our governmental leaders ... suprise, suprise. I work with lots of Canadians which has been pretty fun. As you may have guessed, they say "Aaa" alot and they are all great and loving people, willing to help me out whenever they can. I've also met some folks from the States and also from Africa and Europe who are working here.

As for the teaching situation ... it gets better daily. Everyday I learn something more about my teaching abilities and about the kids I am teaching, what works, what doesn't work. In the morning I teach kindergarten and in the afternoon older kids in elementary and up into middle school age. Somedays I love them all and somedays the little ones are so, so much easier than the older ones. All my classes are taught in English and for the most part they do well, althought it is basically a lesson in frustration to try and have a conversation with any of them. But it's ok, there are also English speaking Korean teachers here too, they are fun to chat with and are all very nice.

When I get some pictures of my kids I'll post them on the blog ... other than that, it's about all I can think to write. I will be writing more soon I think. I miss you all my friends and family! I will let you know a number you can phone me at soon enough, just a little more patience. Buy those calilng cards! Grace and peace to all of you!

John

On my way ...

2007-08-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello all!

I am writing to you from Atlanta, GA ... where I will remain for the rest of today and will catch my flight to Seoul tomorrow afternoon. I had to stay over in Atlanta because I didn't have my passport and visa intact ... so now that I do ... I can finally decompress a bit. Plus I've got this amazing hotel room for one night with lots of time to just relax and think about things to come.

Crazy adventures are already abounding ... I have to be honest though, you should have seen me lugging my two gigantic 50-pound duffle bags to the bus terminal, it must have been a sight. Thankfully I'm able to drop off my luggage at the hotel and go with my backpack into the downtown area. On my way to downtown I find out my taxi driver is from Ghana, which is interesting and we strike up conversation about traveling and living abroad, he of course is the one living abroad from his home and I, on the other hand, am heading out myself. We finally find the building where the Consulate is located ... downtown Atlanta is crazy and nice at the same time, like any big city I suppose. After I picked up my visa, which was a huge relief, I grabbed a bite at the mall and just as I'm sitting down by myself, two random strangers ask if they can sit with me and I end up having lunch with a nice married couple from Las Vegas. Apparently there are at least a million conferences going on in downtown Atlanta so after I told them what I was doing here we continued on the small talk until I finished up and said good bye.

At this point, I fairly amazed just at traveling this short distance and the overall kindness of complete strangers. Maybe I have some sign on my head that says, "HEY, I'm here by myself, COME TALK TO ME!" And that's not the end ... as I leave lunch to pick up a cab back to my hotel, yet another random person strikes up a conversation with me and decides to walk with me for the next couple of blocks and helps me find where all the cabbies are located. It was funny, we talked about a little bit of everything and when I found a cab and decided to take off he gave me a big hug, probably just for talking to him and spending a few minutes of my day to chat ... and this was all before noon people! What a day already ...

What am I doing now, you ask? I'll field that question ... besides writing this little blog, I'm just relaxing and enjoying my last few hours in the States. Up to this point, I've been a little nervous about traveling by myself, but today is just another example that all I need to do is look around me and there I will find a new friend. That sounds pretty cheesy. Hang with me though, I'm only working on about 2 hours of sleep.

I should be arriving into the Incheon Airport at 5 pm Sunday, where I will then get on a bus for 3 hours to travel south to Daejeon. Then, Monday morning is my first day of work. I'll probably be going through training and orientation. My friend Steve and I figured out it will take me about 20 days to get adjusted to the new time zone, only 13 hours ahead. So if you really, really want to know about the future, don't read those horoscope things, just call me and I will tell you what's it's like.

Well that's all for now ... I will write more once I get to South Korea and get a little settled. I'm sure I'll have lots to write about. So until then ...

And in case you were wondering ... I didn't have an interesting picture this time, so I chose Molly's dog Lucy to do the blog justice ... probably the cutest dog, ever!

Pre-trip jitters

2007-07-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

That's right, I said jitters. I haven't actually left the States yet. I do plan on boarding that plane next Friday around 9 in the morning ... but between here and then, I've got a ton of stuff to get done: store all my stuff I'm leaving behind, store my car, call the bank, cell phone, oh yes-actually secure my visa to work over there (that's a big one), car insurance, credit cards, etc. Isn't this fun so far? Yes, the answer is yes my friend.

So this will be my first of many posts, hopefully many posts that is. And what's a good blogger without some kind of a picture to go with it? We will call this one "pre-flight excitment."

If you are one of my friends or family who I am leaving behind while I explore the world outside of the US, I will miss you dearly and I hope to hear from you either through this site or email me!