me and my gold tooth

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

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

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)

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

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 ...

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

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