I've gotta find my purpose

I realized two goals. And I set them. It feels good. They are attainable, in theory. They are measureable.
This was on the way to Rochester to see my father, riding a bus. I realized two goals, and I set them. I have a direction. It's been a long time. I honestly can't remember how it feels, and I don't feel any different yet. We'll see once I start working towards them.
Finally, I suppose this makes me less of a hypocrite.

White dunes, wind-blown
Cover farms, Carved forms
Cold irony, Crossing isolation
Like white washed winter beaches

How could we feel anything?
Sailing through an empty canvas.
Draw out all of me,
Still unable to paint.

Welcome Back, Luc

I'm currently back in the states. I've been back for a few days now. Already I have asked myself why. But the answers are obvious enough, so let's not assume that me asking means I don't want to be here.
Christmas here is quite a festival. I'm trying to be nice. It's quite an ordeal. Here in Minnesota we will be full of shopping, and big meals, and bulky clothes, and minor quarrels. But the snow is beautiful, cold weather is refreshing, family is lovely, games are hilarious, and gift-giving spirit is wonderful.
I'd honestly forgotten what it's like.

I got really confused (still kindof am) with plate-passing at the table. It's just not something that happens in Korea. Like, ever. And I'd completely forgotten how to do it. I almost handed my uncle my plate after dishing up my own vegetables, instead of giving him the vegetable bowl. -_- And I notice that I hardly ever look people in the eye anymore when they're talking. And I think they're a bit put off by it.
I'm also not yet used to the average height of Americans, or the average weight. Perhaps these are a bit more exaggerated here in the Norwegian Northwest.

But here's a little deeper look. Culture shock, first of all, is a real diagnosable psychological problem. Its effects are mostly pretty obvious, but the coping and the result of experiencing culture shock is what I'm focusing on here. There are generally 3 overall reactions to culture shock.

1. One is Adoption. An individual truly adapts to the new environment, takes on habits, language, attitudes, and values. They do this at the cost of their original identity. They normally remain in the new country forever.
2. Two is Cosmopolitanism. An individual adapts the points of the new culture they see as positive and retains aspects of their former selves or culture, creating a specific blend. They have no major problems relocating again.
3. Three is Rejection. These people find integration impossible, and that cultural differences are too great and unaccaeptable. They withdraw to a "ghetto" of their own culture and specific comfortable surroundings. They see return to their native culture as the only acceptable answer to the situation. Yet these people have the most problems upon return.

I've watched my students come and go from other countries, and seen various incarnations of all 3 outcomes. I've seen extremes of all. I know of a few cosmopolitans who've lived in 4+ countries.

What's the problem, you ask?............. I think I fit in between Cosmo and Adopter. And I don't want to be an adopter. I've watched myself very closely....... and thinking about it, I'm more Adopter than Cosmopolitan, and that's kindof a shame.

Philippines Pictures!

First of all, I'd like to say thank you to Cyworld, for their "Scrapbooking" system. Facebook's tagging feature is also cool, but scrapbooking is quite handy when you don't have a camera.
It sucks having no camera. I see pictures. I mean, really, I look around sometimes and I just see exactly the moment, or a frame or lighting that would make a perfect shot. And I have nothing to capture it with except my own eyes. The thing is, I could get a simple camera with a little effort to save some money, but honestly, I'd rather wait and get a DSLR or something close to it.

Anyways, here are some pics from that trip to the Philippines I keep talking about. I just scrapbooked them yesterday.

James Bond.
New nickname.

That would be a Stingray we saw in the Advanced Diver group.

2 of my Students, Mun-Oak and Haneul.
Cool.

Whether you know it or not, this picture illustrates exactly how advanced our diving skill is. Notice the lack of kicking or paddling or anything? And the horizontal position of our bodies? This is called mastery of balance. Bouancy balance that is. Just by controlling one's breathing and the air in your balast vest, you can regulate your bouancy, and maintain your vertical position in the water column. It is incredibly difficult to find the proper balance point, like standing on the ball of one foot. A distincive mark of an advanced diver.

More pictures to come.

And wrapping up my chronicle of The Philippines

The other side of my new Advanced Diver's License

The last day we spent sightseeing and shopping. This was a way of killing time off-resort while we waited for our bodies to readjust to being above water for 24 hours.
(Warning, science alert)
You see, when diving, nitrogen compressed in the air in your tank stays compressed in your body. The compressed nitrogen dissolves more readily in one's blood, and thus, if that person suddenly resurfaced, the excess nitrogen dissolved would basically undissolve, causing what is known as "Decompression Sickness" or "The bends." Actually, although we take measures to slowly return to the surface and avoid it, the nitrogen levels in our blood still do not fully re-adjust for many hours. Therefore, if we were to fly shortly thereafter, it would induce a similar or possibly more severe case of The Bends. In addition to the Nitrogen issue, the sinus passages and in general the respiratory system can become inflamed due to the changes in pressure, and if not adjusted properly, can trap compressed air which then will expand in a high-altitude setting and cause severe pain.
Ok, science lesson over.
Summary: If we fly within 24 hours of our last dive, severe pain/sickness.
So we waited.

Um, "Buddy Christ"?

And I saw this wonderful Bleeding Heart Jesus Statue in a cathedral next to Magellan's Cross. Man, people are serious about some Christianity. But this being in the cathedral was comical. I guess seeing Dogma made me lose some of my reverence.

Shopping. Gigantic shopping mall. Most of my students don't speak English well. I spent about 30 minutes getting money changed and directing a few of the ones I could help. Then I abandoned everyone to look around on my own.
Everywhere you go, people are people. The sky is still the sky.
I saw college students in school uniforms playing DDR. And bored Filippino Nike store workers. And Jollibee.
For those of you that don't know, Jollibee is like McDonalds, only kinda creepy. So actually I guess it's just like McDonalds.
I found a clothing shop called Human that I really liked. My style clothes. And not expensive. Apparently an originally Filippino clothing company. I rocked about $60 and got a bunch of stuff.
Then we came back .
Waiting for planes sucks.
What sucks more is that when I extended my Visa for the second year of teaching here, the extension on my Visa was not a "Multiple-Entry" Visa. And I was not told this. I found out later that even the people who renewed my Visa (as in Daejeon's official Immigrations Office) did not know this. So what happened? Well, obviously, they confiscated my Registration Card. (like a Green Card) I had unknowingly invalidated it by leaving the country and attempting to return. And my Visa was completely nullified and cancelled. I am on the verge of finally correcting this, but it is too much a headache to discuss further right now.

Me in Korean Airport Mode.
Which is not unlike flip mode.
I throw down.
On Swine influenza, that is.

Lastly, I had the odd experience of running into about 40-some soldiers fromthe US Army and Air Force waiting for buses in exactly the same place we were supposed to meet ours. I felt bad for talking with my students about them in Korean. I know they couldn't understand me. But we didn't say anything bad. Just "Hey, are these Americans?" "Yeah, they look like Americans. Accent is American. Oh, look, there's a tag, yeah, they're American." And then I said, very kindly, and in English, "Welcome to Korea." For which I just got weird looks. Then one of my students laughed. That didn't help. Awkward.

Totally Random

I was walking back from a meeting with my boss today when the strangest urge struck me. (Pun intended)

I met Chairman Kim to discuss a kinematic study he was finalizing. It felt good to be the helpful as the resident physicist and resident native english speaker in the department. I pointed out a couple errors in the English version of his Abstract, and helped consolidate his statements. Then I pointed out a possible implication of the results of the kinematic analysis, which got him excited and wanting to review his data again. ^_^ Happy face.

But then as I was walking to my office, I saw a couple students carrying what looked like styro-board models of office complexes they designed. (architecture presentation or something?) And this one student was very short. Maybe as tall as my shoulder, he looked about my age, and he was carrying his board in his arms in front of him like a giant plate of food. And I got this sudden urge to walk a little closer to his route across the street, and when I was close, just judo-chop the whole board in half. Like high-school bully meets Austin Powers.

So of course I didnt.

As hilarious as it looked in my mind, I then wondered, "What the hell's wrong with me?" I get random impulses like this all the time. Not always violent ones, but geez. And I know I'm not the only one, but should I be asking myself some deeper questions about why an impulse like that would surface in the first place, and where it might have come from? Is it time to do some psychology homework?

Let's see, what else.....

Well, I've been gone for a year and a half now, and I have to say it's remarkable that I can stay in contact at all with any of my old friends. I mean, this seems obivous, but the physical distance and the distance in time that separates our lives and our worlds is tremendous now. I don't expect that upon my return in January that people will have the same space in their lives for me as they once did. That's preposterous, and pretentious. There will be some level of reminiscence and inclusion left, but what more could there be? I know that my feeling of friendship and my memories don't change much, but that does not make for a friendship, exactly. It's a realization I've been stewing over for a while, and here's the point:

As globalized and inter-connected as societies are nowadays, as small as the world seems in light of the global economy, global climate, and global attitude.... The one thing that will always remain incredibly local is the scope of human life and existence.

Most people live within about a 50-mile radius. Most people who've found their "soulmate" report finding them within a 50-mile radius of their hometown. We consider it extraordinary to make more than a 30-40 mile commute to work or school, or extracurriculars. In fact, many people consider destinations more than 50 miles away from home to be a vacation, even if it is a "day-trip," or we can go by high-speed transportation. And people that move far away from their hometowns, even after long and happy lives there, even feeling split between the world they enter and the world they left behind, don't seem to merge the two well. Our lives, our friends, our jobs, fit into a very local scale.

Lastly, I'm getting tense. I should do all my final exams a week early, so I can grade them and handle all objections before going to the US for a month. But I want to give the students more time to study, so no. I also am still waiting on the necessary documents to re-acquire my visa. (It was confiscated when I returned from The Philippines. Big mess. Not my fault.) I also want to buy a new phone before I return to the US. It's been a priority for a while to get a new smartphone. (Like, since my Palm Pilot broke 3 years ago.) And I'ma either get the brand new Samsung Omnia II or if I can find it, an Android-based korean smartphone.

Phone of Dreams?

So, who has an advanced scuba license?

Yeah, add another point to my resume.

Luc does.

Alright, scuba was not bad. In fact, I was worried I'd forgotten everything, but I hadn't. Just a few small things. Like which direction my BC connects to my air tank. And that if you stop-breathe (hold your breath momentarily at the end of exhalation or inhalation) for a long time, you come out of the water with a headache. I'd also forgotten the strange sensation of my sinuses being basically inflated. It feels like the passage between your nose and mouth is somehow closing, and you want to blow your nose or something, but that's impossible. So, after the first 1 or 2 nervous dives on the first day, I was fine. We did 3 dives, rested, ate, and played for about 6 hours, then went for 1 night dive. (Only a small group. I was leader of the Advanced-Course group of students) The night diving was incredible, but a bit scary. I know I used considerably more air than normal. (Rapid breathing)

Sleep, wake up at 5:30, repeat. The advanced group went out on boats the second day. We did 3 more dives, this time reaching depths of 45 meters, and saw stingrays. (That's 148 feet, or roughly 15 stories underwater. Sweet, right?) We ate and played in the waterpark at a brand new resort where our scuba center was located. The buffet was so awesome it had made-to-order pasta, pizza, and udon, as well as salmon and (holy shit) tuna sashimi. O.O But the best part, (chocoholic warning) was the chocolate fondue fountain.

Sleep, wake up at 5:30, repeat. My advanced course group was broken up to join the 3 normal groups and everyone did boat diving together. The regular course students were so cute because they were like, "Wow! It's a boat! I never thought I'd be on a boat!" As a side note, riding on the front of a boat is still awesome. That evening, we went back to our resort, had a buffet including one of those whole roasted pigs.... apple and everything. (Just like last year, but still, weird) and we all received our licenses. Then we went out to a club. (Yes, me and 30-several of my college age students and the scuba instructor went to a club together.)

I'm not going to let myself

be one of those people who starts a blog to keep in touch or chronicle their life and adventures and then drops it after a few months because they get tired of writing, or worse, runs out of things to write. I've got plenty of stuff to write about, it's just not all been worth putting on this blog lately. Plus I've been busy.

Somebody like Luc should make it at least a year before he drops the blogging habit.

First of all, I def have a technology obsession. And my internet connectivity does not help that. I've set up quite a digital "eye" that allows me to easily follow consumer electronics and software development in some areas. But it's time consuming and almost pointless, because A, I'm not buying a bunch of electronics or anything, and B, it's not like anyone needs that information from me. Like, if I worked at Geek Squad or something, this addiction would make sense. But I'm a Physics teacher who teaches English..... and Martial Arts. So it's kindof a waste of time and a killer of productivity.

I'm going to explain now what's been up this month..... sortof.

When I went to The Philippines (which was beautiful and stuff)

there were a few problems. First of all, we flew Cebu airlines (not splendid, but anyways,) and I had to spend about the first 30-45 minutes of our time at cruising altitude explaining the entry/customs forms to my students. (Even if you've studied a foreign language, do you know how to say "Nationality" or "Place of Issue"?) I was in the flight attendants' way, apparently, but they seemed charmed by the young English teacher helping all his students. Then I finished all that, finally fell asleep (dead tired.)

Suddenly, I woke up to the flight attendants shaking me and the students around me asking me to wake up. "Sir, one of your students was _________ .......... we had to confiscate______ ............ lands a police officer will escort him......." in a hurried Filippino accent (or any accent, I suppose) is not a pleasant way to wake up. After waking up, I learned that one of my students (who'd never flown outside of Korea before and didn't understand the flight announcements which were only in English) smoked in the airplane lavatory about 3 hours into our flight. I was pissed. But then I remembered that I'm not actually in charge of these students. This is not my class trip. And the scuba professor speaks decent English. So I sent the flight attendants away.

Anyways, we landed, this kid got scolded and arrangements were made for him paying his penalty fees after he returned to Korea, and then we went to the resort. The Philippines makes me sweat.

Gangster convention.

Before anything else, I forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago this friday was professor Kim's birthday. (My boss) Just because I remembered, he was touched, and the cake and socks the assistants and I gave him moved him. ^^

Cake in the classroom.

So, I had this funny conversation with a friend yesterday that became way more relevant today.
He said last night that he hates people in my department. Wait, what? He hasn't met anyone from my school yet.... But he meant he hates people in sports majors or exercise-related departments. Ah, ok, I get it. Why would someone hate that university department? Because in Korea it's like a fraternity, just being on a sports team or in a sports major. As in most countries, they get excused from classes and exams, etc, they can effectively get away with anything. In Korea, this goes a step further. Because of age-based hierarchies, the senior students can be pretty terrible to the younger ones.... as in, "Hey, go buy me a soda." or "What did you say!? *kick*" and so on. And we've had issues with seniors getting in serious trouble for mistreating their subordinate students. Anyways, I pointed out the gang-like nature of my department, and how even good or intelligent students fall victim to the mob mentality. (Had to teach him that term) Like me. I'm cool, and would have no part in that stuff normally, but I love my students, and when they have a gladiator-like showdown after a class with people cheering all around them, I just smile and watch and think, Oh, my young rowdy students. (Cue fatherly, proud smile)

And guess what I found when I arrived at the University this morning? A gangster's convention in our gym. The national sports games are going on right now, and our university was chosen to host soccer and wrestling. It was a mess. Hundreds of competitors, hundreds of coaches and directors and such. Honestly, all the angry-looking, scar-faced, short, and squat suit clad men silently waging war against each other while waiting for their students to compete was pretty intense. I was intimidated just going in to give my exam in the lower floors. This is my university, for crying out loud, the way they looked at me like I was encroaching on their turf is just ridiculous. I despise those people for creating that kind of atmosphere. It has never been so palpable to me. I have nothing against boxing, martial arts, sports, wrestling, or whatever, but those specific people are a manifestation of the stigma against exercise.
Vent closed.

Check out some new clothes!

Anyways, I had a pretty bad weekend at first, but the end of it washed away my frustrations.

I had a kind of beef last night that you eat with vegetables and a kind of bean sprout. It was excellent. The beef is sliced into thin slivers, and you grill it (each piece takes about 30 seconds) and then put it on a sesame leaf, add bean sprouts, kimchi, onion, garlic, sauce, etc and wrap up the leaf like a mini green burrito and eat. Sounds complicated, and it is unless you're used to korean style, at-the-table-barbeque, but man, it was awesome. I ate till I was stuffed. And I had some Sake with dinner, it came out in a special pitcher that had ice inside a glass bubble inside the pitcher... weird, but cool........ get it?

Oh, and I gave a test today that I made from scratch with scissors and glue and it looks awesome. Labelling body parts. Teacher Luc=ftw

It's been a long few weeks.

And after several days of good meals and some showers and sauna trips, I am finally recovered. So here's what's been up.

First, I went to Seoul with Professor Kim, my boss. This was 10/3, it was Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving. Then I went the next day with him to Asan where his wife's family lives. The weekend can basically be summed up thusly: We ate and drank a lot and stayed at home with his family. Same as last year. I understood everything that was going on this year, but still didn't have much to say. Not exactly my family, you know? But it was nice. And in Asan we went to a famous volcanic hot springs which has an almost 600 year history, including patronage by many Korean kings.

Then we launched directly into festival week. It was the founding day festival for the university. Strange, actually now that I think about it, because why was the university founded in the middle of the second semester of a school year? Anyways, lots of fun and games and stuff. It's kindof like homecoming at US universities. Only more awesome because the main event isn't just a football game. Games and prizes everywhere, 3 nights of performances by quite famous Korean musicians, and of course, outdoor tents for each department. Sweet. Anybody say Pojangmacha? lol. Anyways, In addition to all that, I did a demonstration with my department's hapkido demo team. It went pretty well. I intended to put a video of it in this post, but when I tried to copy the video file, it was 18 GB, because they ripped it at maximum quality. 0.0 "And I was like, ' WHaa~AAAAT?'" Anyways, maybe I can imbed that later.

I would've had a pretty good weekend after that, except the new student entrance practical exam was saturday. That was a bit funny at some points, but generally just boring. I spent the entire day from 10AM to 5 PM watching students perform the basics of their respective martial arts. Some of them were quite good. I didn't even grade them. I was what they call 얼굴마담. (olgeul madam) This is a Korean phrase that means "Face Madam" and basically the meaning is that I was only there to look good or make a certain impression on the crowd. I find that expression hilarious. Anyway, I gave a couple welcome speeches to students and parents and tried to maintain morale in my students who were working the exam.

This week is review week for Mid-terms next week. One class I taught "discussion with friends" recently. Here's one of the dialogues I wrote as an example:

A: I'm dead tired. Let's skip class.
B: What? Don't be funny. Midterms are next week.
A: I know, but I hate the professor. He's so~ boring.
B: Yeah, but you can't cheat on his exam. It's speaking only.
A: Oh shit.

I laughed a lot in that class. Especially when the whole class said together, "I hate the professor." Then I pretended they hurt my feelings.

Bow down, people.

I think I should probably be trying harder to maintain my resposibilities. But I have many, so that's no easy thing. I guess everyone faces this dilemma. We fall behind a bit, we get ahead a bit, we feel accomplished, we feel failure. Our nature makes us inconsistent. We waver between desire and duty, between relief and reproach.
Chuseok (추석) is the traditional fall harvest holiday of Korea. It falls on the Autumn Solstice, which is this weekend. Similar in concept to Thanksgiving or Samhain, only without any indians or bonfires. Chuseok does include some religious tradition, however, from Confucianism (not a religion, I know) and Buddhism. Namely, families visit the gravesite of their family's ancestors and offer food, drink, etc as well as clean the area of the gravesite. There's also a special food associated with Chuseok, which is a type of small sweet-filled rice-cake called Songpyeon.
I can feel myself being swept up in a tide of Chuseok fever, like the swell before a holiday in any culture, I suppose. Everyone gets ready for said holiday, makes plans, collects special gear, gathers loved ones or friends, normal schedules are compromised, and lots of money and time get spent. The holiday comes with all it's associated ceremony, memory, reverance, criticism, joy, and festivity. The holiday is celebrated! Then it passes, and is missed. The feeling wears, and people drag themselves back into the parade of days that aren't so special as that one. Our endless numbered days. The wave receeds and the beach is changed, but no less or more flat than before.
I'm jaded, obviously.
I have a new nickname. From David, out of nowhere. Apparently I'm a greek dessert called Lucamades. lol. That one sounds like a greek god's name or something. God of Tasty Treats, LUCAMADES. Just imagine that in a giant booming voice. ^_^

Big Boy

I'm thinking a lot recently, and it hit me this morning, I had to admit that because of these thoughts, "I'm not a boy anymore." And I think I remember the exact point where that happened, the change from being a boy. I may still be young, but I'm a man, now. And these swirling, mature, big-decision thoughts constantly remind me of that. And I'm a bit sad. Not because I realized I'm not a boy anymore, but because these thoughts are big and heavy and I want to hide from them.

My schedule keeps getting whipped around. I'm kinda tired of that. But the first 2 semesters of my time here were like that, so I should be used to it by now. It's still annoying. Two of my superiors changed my schedule this week, one approving a change so I could do something with him, then another denying that possibility and changing it back. Like I said, annoying. Not sure what I want to do, either, so that doesn't help.

I realized this week that my current schedule of classes puts me in an exercise-oriented class more than 20 hours each week. Now, some of those hours I'm only teaching and not exercising a lot, or even lecturing a bit (about health or self-defense theory) but some of them I'm expected to lead or participate in intense workouts. 20+ hours a week. When I realized that, I went out to eat and had dessert after lunch. Then lots of pizza for dinner. I thought, "if I'm gonna be working that hard this semester, I'd better enjoy the caloric benefits!" ^^,

T

is for tired.
I hate sleep, and that's not helping me adjust to getting up early every morning. Luckily, most of my classes as of now aren't that early in the morning, and though I'm still supposed to be here at 9AM, nobody really knew or was hurt by me coming in late everyday this week. Next week starts the "SSI" class (actually I don't know what that stands for,) which is 8-9AM every weekday, and is basically just an english conversation session. Not quite looking forward to that, even though it's always entertaining. Also, my class schedule has changed a bit. Actually, the classes didn't change, but my role in them did. So I'm a little more busy time-wise, but it actually reduces the amount of planning I have to do, and puts me more at ease about those classes that changed. Odd, and on Wednesdays I no longer have a lunch break til 3PM, but it's all good.

In other news, I think I've isolated those funny feelings in my chest as either emotionally-based or exertion-based most of the time. Can't describe them, quite, other than that they happen at those spikes in exertion or emotion, feel kindof like a rush or like a cold sensation, and don't hurt. Dad once told me that he ignored for years the feeling they later told him was heart palpitations.... I'm hoping this isn't that, and now that I'm back into an exercise routine with classes, if it doesn't go away soon, I will see someone about it.

Couple new nicknames recently, too. "Luc-Navi" is one I picked up a while ago, because some of my Korean friends have no sense of direction, and though they may have more experience in an area, I usually still know better than they do where we are and where we're going. I just kindof have a good sense of direction. (Boy Scouts, maybe?) Then this past week, I got a few more "functions" to add to my hypothetical utility belt. There's "Luc-KyeongHo," which basically translates to "Luc-Bodyguard;" "Luc-Helper" because I'm handy and willing to help carry/move things, etc; and "Luc-Aid" because one of my teacher friends asked me to help grade a test. Yes, each one of them is button activated, and can be turned on/off. Users preferences are stored, and users can choose to have Luc-functions automatically activated in their presence. The Luc-Anycall is ready to help! Anytime, Anycall!
Although that last one sounds a lot like "Lucozade" which is one Dave gave me a long time ago.

I recently made a new playlist called "A Beautiful Sadness," inspired by a picture of one of my friends. Then I made another Mix CD called "The best of what's New(ternative)" after acquiring some new music. "Newternative" is a genre I use to deliniate the "Alternative" of the 90's from the current, new-flavor stuff. Music is awesome. I now have over 11,000 songs in over 50 genres. Go go, music collecting obsession!

Still Reeling

My heart feels funny. I don't know if I feel like it's beating funny, or I'm getting the wrong combination of caffeine & sleep, or what. But it's weird. I always felt it didn't keep a very regular beat, but occasionally for about 3 weeks now I feel it more. And I mean I feel it beating in my chest, almost constantly. And that's a little worrisome.

My classes are going pretty well. Met my monday classes for the first time. So now the first complete week of classes is through. They all seem like good classes. I'm not looking forward to the length of a semester's worth of planning, though. Not so fun, not something to look forward to. But then again, classes and students are worth looking forward to. And this first week of intro lessons, I've taught almost entirely in Korean. We'll see how the rest of the semester goes.

I don't write to people often enough.
My roommate is awesome, but we haven't seen much of each other since he moved in. Only a few times hanging out. But that's ok.
I miss Matt Bell.

Oh, right!

I almost forgot. I wasn't going to post anything today. But then I remembered yesterday was prettty cool, so here's a little update:
My friend and co-worker, Lee, Yun-Woo moved in to my apartment yesterday. I'm pretty happy about that. He's a cool guy, and we've always gotten along splendidly. And we have some experience living together for brief periods during department trips. I think it'll be great.
He moved all his things in and we talked about conveniences and habits and roommatey stuff. (lol, room-matey, I sound like a pirate.) It sounds like we have more in common than I thought. And not just the living style but attitudes and stuff too. It should be a good arrangement.
But at one point, at about 5:30AM (after waking up suddenly to write a poem) I realized that he being incredibly like me could potentially be a bad thing. I'm a pretty independent guy nowadays, and I've always been kind of both self-centered and self-loathing. So, suddenly I wondered: Is there room for another me in my life? Maybe not. lol. We'll see. We can both be pretty carefree guys, so I don't imagine many conflicts or anything will come up.
It's nice to have a friend just a few feet away again.

*Sigh* The end of summer.

And how do I know it's the end of summer? The last of the parade of visitors that came here has left. It was: (in order of appearance) Deanna (big sis), Nate+Laura+Maren(big bro & fam), Mom, Ross, Carl. Not sure if I should count Ross, since he didn't explicitly come here to see me, but he left yesterday. So, now I have a little over one week left to relax before classes start.
It's been an intense summer. In retrospect, there were only a few weeks, I think, in which I was not hosting or entertaining someone. And that's way more intense than it sounds. Korean people on average, don't speak English. I mean, there are a lot of catchphrases from English that are well-known or words taken from English, but that doesn't mean a lot. Getting around and staying well-fed are ok, but the best sightseeing, foods, and situations require quite a bit of Korean. (That is, unless you live in Itaewon, in Seoul, where all the foreigners live.) So, just having a parade of people relying on me to basically be a tour guide for them almost every day for several months has taken its toll on me. And then I remember how it was with my Korean friend/roomate the first few months I was here. And then I feel really bad.
I did a lot of travelling around Korea this summer for everyone. And I saw and did a lot of really cool things. And my bank account only suffered a little bit for it. That's pretty awesome. Lots of good pictures and awesome memories.

(following pictures credit to Carl and Ross)

So, it's been a long, crazy week. Got Carl from Gimpo airport, we hung out in Seoul with Ross and Hee Jeong, and Eun Ji. We went to 63 building on the South Side of the river, and drank some beer before Eun Ji had to leave.

The crew parting ways in the Subway. -_-

Then we went to eat dinner and such. Samgyeop-Ssal ftw. I was really surprised at the end of the night when Ross and Carl both agreed to go to a public bathhouse/sauna (찜질방) to stay the night. It's a wonderfully relaxing and cheap way to spend the night. The next day, we went to COEX (largest underground shopping center in Asia) and its aquarium. I like COEX. We then parted ways to head back to Daejeon. Carl and I just hung out and met my friends in Daejeon.

My sexy dinner pose in Daejeon.

He also saw 2 english classes and 2 taekwondo classes. I gave carl some "free-talking" time alone with them so he could see their English ability. I made my students try teaching him taekwondo as a test of their english ability and patience. We also obtained my Foreign Registration card for the coming year.

That's it, folks, it's official, down to the contract and the Visa....... I'm staying.

Carl did not tell me he'd shortened his stay to a week until we went back to Daejeon. Bad huubae. (junior) I was a little pissed about not being able to do much, but I was more sad than anything. oh well. So we went back up to Seoul for a day and a half, stayed in a hotel this time. We went shopping in the super-fashionable Dongdaemun market (where Carl bought possibly the pimpinest polo tee I've ever seen.)


We then failed to make it to the palace (Kyeongbokgung) on time, but we saw lots of cool things along the way. Like Gwanghwamun Plaza:

The recently opened Gwanghwamun plaza.

Then Carl and I went to Jogyesa temple, where we learned that the former president Kim Dae-Jung had died. We also met a very interesting woman who was researching the bronze bells of Korea, and because of her and a very friendly temple attendant we got to walk right up to the 4 sacred intruments at the temple. Pretty cool. I find those instruments fascinating.

Carl in front of the Dharma Drum and the Brahma? Bell

That night we met Ross and Hee jeong again for a bit of shopping in Insa-dong (Carl and I bought awsome hats) and then "The Ice Bar" near Honggik University.

It was so cool, cooler than cool....

"An' what's cooler than bein cool? ICE COLD!"

Hilarious. Once I took a couple basic pictures with Ross' and Carl's cameras, I got excited about the photo opportunities. So I spent most of the rest of the time arranging "glamour shots" like that one. lmao Here's mine:

Yes, that's a glass made of ice. And a fur hood.
And that makes me a total b-a.

Deep thoughts.
Manly deep thoughts.
And Ice.
Sub-Zero, for Men

Then Ross went totally crazy.
And killed Carl.
While Heejeong and I stood aside and laughed and took pictures.

And then we went to another place to play darts and so on.

The next morning, Carl and I failed again to see the palace, this time on account of sleeping too late+rain. But we saw the palace museum instead, and then I bid Carl farewell at Gimpo.

It's been a damn good summer, everyone. To those of you that visited, I worked damn hard for you, and some things failed, (I'm not a perfect tour guide yet,) but I'll remember those golden times in Korea with you all for the rest of my life. It was beautiful. And I was really happy. ^^,
To those of you that didn't come, I thought about you a lot. You know, I love the people in my life back there in NC and here in Korea. To be honest, my people are the only reason I even want to come back to NC. So even if you didn't come to visit, and even if I hardly ever talk to you...... Well, when I look at the sky, I think of you, and smile.
*LOVES*

I'm a terrorist!

Apparently I'm a mean senpai. Carl says that's how he remembers me in high school. lolz
Outside perspective, anyone? I probably do hit my juniors too much, though. But Carl's kindof a beast..... Why does he let me hit him so much?
Seoul is great fun.
Carl and I have basically been partying since he arrived here. Hope we can meet Ross one more time. It'll be fun!
Oh! And I've had like 4 long, in-depth conversations entirely in Korean recently, and people understand what I'm saying! Korean level up!^_^

keepin it korean, son!

Yesterday, I taught the last of 3 classes for a group of about 21 chinese college students. They learned tae kwon do from me for 3 weeks, once a week. They were pretty funny. This last class was hilarious. I'd been doing my best to teach in Korean since they're only here on a one month experience sort of trip. You know, I wanted to keep it Korean for them. The last class they begged me to just teach in English. I guess even though they had a translator with them, who did a pretty good job, it seemed, translating from my korean to chinese, they were still getting confused because of the 0% korean they all understood. It was hilarious. I wish my korean students would beg me to teach them in english, but they wouldn't understand if I did. Korea's a little behind on the english.
Oh! And a couple of girls from the chinese college kids group turned fangirl on me. It's been happening quite a bit recently. Fangirls just pop up everywhere. lol But I'm so not used to it. I'm not a movie star or any other sort of star for that matter, and fan-girls still really catch me off guard, and make me shy. I mean, these couple girls in this college group saying they loved me and that I was handsome and stuff. They were so proud of their ability to say it in korean, too! hahahahaha except that their pronunciation was bad and I didn't get it until the 3rd time around. Then one girl told me I was pretty. Big laugh at that one. It's ok in korean language to use the word pretty for a man, but I'm still not used to it.
Gonna try again to go get my foreigner card renewed, this time with (hopefully) all the right documents.
I hate it when people cancel classes with me. I mean, I could have planned something else for that time. Or when students just don't come to my morning class during the vacation? Oh ho ho, that really pisses me off. I could've slept or eaten a decent breakfast or what, but no~~~~ooo, I had to come in to the University and no one shows up? And they all know my cell number, but do they show me that courtesy? No. Eezel. I almost cancelled class this morning just out of spite.
Oh, and one of the students in the running for the internship just got cut out, and so did Burlington. I'm only sending 2 students to Washington, now. One of them's name is literally the same as the way you say America in Korean. Mi Guk, which means beautiful country. I find that hilarious. But it's confusing as hell when I'm teaching and I have to talk about something in the US. So I started calling him America. lol
New nickname for today: Lu-"Cass" because someone spelled my name wrong in korean, and "Cass" is a popular brand of korean beer. So I'm beer. This beer also comes in 'Red' and 'Light' varieties, which is pretty damn hilarious. Blushing? Cass Red. Lose some weight? Cass Light. Come to think of it, I feel pretty bad for any girl named Cass or Cassie who comes to Korea. lol
I still want a camera.

Weekend!

Alright, so it was a weekend. And I had quite a few plans! One friend came into town after another.
The first was Bae, Jun Ho. (Family names are first) He and I usually just get together and talk over a few drinks. Honestly, it's not that exciting, and we often have a bit of trouble communicating, but not too bad. Just the occasional lookup of a word like "stubborn" is all we need for small talk. My korean knowledge carries the conversation these days, though I understand the broken english he tries. Not many friends I just talk to like him, though. It's nice. Oddly, though, I don't like a lot of things about his demeanor. But we stay in touch, and he's considering going to America, so he asks me a lot about it.

Nextly, Ross came to Daejeon!! With his korean girlfriend, Kim Hee Jeong. They're great, and Hee Jeong and I have good conversations due to our shared foreign living experience. She lived in Australia for a while, and also spent 3 months in the US with Ross. She's a cool and funny chick, and a bit shy. Very proper korean woman. ^_^ It seems the way that she and Ross met is like they were just pushed together by fate, and fell for each other. It's a great story, even if Ross isn't that good at telling it. (Sorry, Ross.) I'm happy for them, and wish them the best.
Anyhow, Ross coming to Daejeon was a pretty big deal. I invited as many of the previous Lee Brothers interns as I could. After some complications for some friends, the resulting crowd was Me, Lee Yujin, Choi Chang Un, Kim Se Young, and Kim Borami + Borami's friend. All meeting at seperate times and places, but we were all together in the end for dinner and games and drinks. POJANG MAJCHA! We watched G.I. Joe, went to the university, and played all over town. A great time was had by all.
Think I'll go to Incheon with Ross on Wednesday or Thursday. I'm excited because it's the beach and it's a festival. Hopefully awesome. Definitely awesome, if our plans come together well and we can stay overnight.

I was supposed to work over the weekend. I did, a little bit. Saturday mornings I'm practicing english as a favor to a friend with a group of 4 elementary school kids. They love me, but still almost treat me like a teacher. It's cool. Very comfortable there. All we do is play. I mean, we sit down and talk about a certain topic for a little while, but it quickly regresses to word/english games, and then to some other more active game. Free coffee and snacks, and a lot of fun. Their favorite game is hide-and seek.
Another thing I was supposed to do over the weekend, workwise, was proofread some very important and urgent letters. I have no internet access at home, and maintenance this weekend at the university meant I couldn't check from the office, either. I could've walked to the top of the hill beside my apartment, paid a few bucks worth at a PC room to check my e-mail and have it all done by this morning, but I opted to just chill at home. It's ok, I finished them before the end of business today, anyways. ^^

Hopefully, I can get a camera sometime soon, but until then, I'll have to rely on friends with cameras and a willingness to share. Should be some pics coming to supplement this post soon.

Time to go get medieval on some japanese and chinese historical figures, with some demons thrown in for good measure. That's right, I'm going to play "Orochi Warriors."

now THat's what's Up.

Srsly. For Rls

Ok, so I just signed a new contract to stay for another year in Korea. I love it here, miss people immensely, and continue back and forth. A little recycling:
"I almost just signed it without a second thought or glance, I've been thinking about staying for so long. But I made myself pause. Then I signed. My students cheered.......................
That pause when I was signing the contract last week brought it all back. Suddenly, I miss everyone again. And suddenly, a year feels like a very long time all over again.
Back and forth, back and forth.
My american life is like, all of my history so far. I grew up there. All my closest oldest friends are there. My memories are there. My family is there. Opportunities and dreams. The people I love.
Back and forth, back and forth.
All the lame stuff is there, too. All the mistakes, all the people I left behind for a reason. All the failures, all the boring day-to-day crap. All the bad attitudes. All the emo. The culture I hate.
Back and forth.
I ran away. That's exactly what I did. If I ran away, I should never look back, right?
Back
I never wanted to run away. It was just another experience, an unimaginable opportunity to learn, to help. A foreign experience period.
Forth"

And in other news: Official processes and red tape never cease to thwart me. I can't yet change my foreign registration card because they didn't tell me one of the forms I needed until I got there. Why? No one seems to know. I'll try again next week.

I've met some new people recently. 2 Complete strangers, who are just friendly enough not to scare me away. But I feel amazingly connected to these people. The things we've talked about just keep revealing commonalities. And both of them are considerably older than me and married, oddly enough. One speaks english quite well. The other doesn't. And yet, I've found in these two people a depth and a substance in conversation that I've lacked for a long time. And I just couldn't help but feel close to these people almost immediately, like we were old friends who go way back just after a couple of hours each. Good feeling.

I read the New York Times, or listen to BBC world news, and it just tells me the same kind of things, over and over. The world is fighting with itself, in a new place this time. Culture advances and mixes. There's a lot I'm not hearing about because it's always the same countries, and the same people on the headlines. Getting sick of the news.

This weekend should be hectic and fun. 2 private lessons, each followed by 2 parties. One party is for Ross and as many interns as I could round up! His girlfriend is great, I really wish them the best. It's just amazing the way they met. "첫눈에 반했다" my latest korean phrase ("Fell in love at first sight") I remember because of them.

My world is bombarding me at the moment, and in a moment of pause, I thought of another way to put that:
"The whole 'reap what you sow' analogy is a bit too shallow, because most people forget that when you harvest, you harvest EVERYTHING at once."

I'm starting this

Because basically I enjoy reading about other people's lives.
And I thought, "Maybe someone will get a kick out of this."

So here's a chronicle
It's not an exciting thing
But I'll make something up if it gets boring.

I always wanted an audience.
But I've not often much to say.
There's always plenty to write about, though. ^^,