Awkward!

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

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

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 ...

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

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.