Korea Life Blog - Fatcat Stops By


Fatcat, a cat who used to be fat but has since lost weight after the winter and needs a new name, was hanging around the other night near the front of the building. For fun, I picked him up and brought him inside.



After hiding under the bed and meowing for awhile, he finally comes out to have a look. Or maybe he was just more scared under bed. I haven't cleaned under it since I moved in 11 months ago. Who knows what's living there!



I was out of tuna, so I made up a bowl of hard dog food, some scambled eggs and french fries - what else could a cat want?



He didn't seem all that impressed at first , but later, after relaxing, hanging out on my lap, and getting brushed for half an hour, he ate quite a bit.



Out in the kitchen, he wants more attention but I've grown tired. As you can see, I'm wearing stylish boxers and ready for bed.



After checking out the Coca-Cola bottles, he notices a familiar sound from above.



Great. Attempting to check it out, he climbs all over my stove and frying pan. Damn, now I have to clean...well, maybe.



He can't comprehend the screen and keeps butting his head against it. It's a nice warm night and he's ready to go back out and chase some young fertile felines.



OK, Fatcat. Time to go. I opened the screen and he jumped out (and 7 mogies flew in). It was pretty funny though. Once outside he seemed confused, staring up at me and meowing. I went back outside to leave the bowl of food and he started rolling around. He's a good cat. I'm so worried to find him dead on the road someday.

Korea Life Blog - New Poll


There's a new and exciting poll to take. Here are the results of the previous exciting poll.

How old are my readers?

15-20 31 (15%)
21-25 67 (32%)
26-30 56 (27%)
31-35 24 (11%)
36-40 9 (4%)
41-45 9 (4%)
46-50 3 (1%)
over 50 6 (2%)

205 Total votes


Not a lot to say, the results speak for themselves. I'm surprised I have that many teenage readers. Since I just turned 30 over the weekend, hurray, I feel a little out of touch with the newest generation. Keep it real, y'all. It's all good. If you don't like it, talk to the hand.

As for the older readers in their 40s and 50s, too groovy of you to come by, man. Hope you hip daddies come back soon.

Korea Life Blog - Peter's Story

Check the Windy Times section for tonight's update about Peter's unique friends.

Korea Life Blog - More Updates!

Update: I updated the Windy Times section with a pretty interesting story from tonight's class.

Added section 19 to part 6 of the Geoje-do story as well. Wow, what a night! I have no life!

Korea Life Blog - Fukuoka Again

I decided to update the Fukuoka section. I cut and pasted from the previous post and posted the disappointing photos I took and added commentary. Have a look here if you're interested. I suggest checking it out only if you're very bored or somehow enjoy reading about uneventful experiences in Fukuoka.

Korea Life Blog - Weekend Update

1. It was time to renew my visa, so I went to Fukuoka over the weekend. It was pretty much the exact same trip I took before except I met a friend there who used to teach here. He now teaches in Fukuoka. While he loves it there, he plans to return to Korea because Japan is just too expensive. We had a good time except he had no money and I ended up paying for dinner and beers. I didn't mind though as it was nice having someone to hang around with. He took me all over and I learned a lot about the teaching scene there. We also went to a really cool guitar shop where I spent 2 hours contemplating whether or not to buy this really nice Japanese Fender Strat. Unlike the Mexican and Chinese licensed Fenders, this one played and felt just like an American one and it was half the price. Still I wasn't sure I should shell out $550 on a guitar in Japan on a whim. Would hate to get it back here and find some problem with it. So basically I just played it for a few hours and frustrated the shop employees and my friend. Fortunately, unlike in Korea where the shopkeepers never stop bothering you for a second, in Japan, like in America, they leave you alone.


Because the rest of the trip was basically the same as before, I didn't bother to take many pictures and there's really not a lot to say. It was nice to get away from Korea, even though it was just for the weekend. I really like Fukuoka. It's clean and peaceful, cheaper and not as crowded as other Japanese cities. It was voted best city to live in Asia in 2000. If I were ever to teach in Japan, I'd likely start there.


2. I ate an entire large pizza last night. Then, so tired from my trip (about 4-5 hours sleep each night) I fell asleep at 8:30 and woke up today at 10:30AM.

Korea Life Blog - Gmail



Certain Blogger users like me were given a first chance at testing Google's new e-mail service known as Gmail. I had been eagerly anticipating getting an account and being one of the first to sign up was a welcome surprise. It made my morning! I was excited. Unfortunately, I was so taken off guard by the chance, I hurriedly chose my full name for a user ID before anyone else could claim it. After a couple of times of logging into the mail account, I realized my name is much too long. I envisioned trying to spell it out for Korean friends, etc. So I decided to make a new account. That's where I messed up again. Instead of checking into it ahead of time, I went ahead and brilliantly deleted my account, thinking I could simply make a new one. Wrong. The invitation link no longer worked and my account was gone. I e-mailed Blogger who referred my e-mail to Gmail support who e-mailed me back this letter today:

Hello Shawn,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately, there is no way to re-enable a Gmail account that has
been deleted. Each invite link provides a user with the ability to create
one account. Because Gmail is in a limited test period, we periodically
issue a small number of new user invitations. We are not able to reissue an
invitation for you to create another account at this time. We look
forward to announcing a wider release of Gmail, and we thank you for your
patience.

Sincerely,

The Gmail Team


Murphy's Law has gotten ahold of me once again. I have been a fan of Google since they launched their search engine and Google.com has been my homepage for years. I was happy and surprised when they took over Blogger and made a lot of improvements. When they announced Gmail a month ago, I immediately looked into it, frustrated to find out it would likely be 3 months or more before it's open to the public. Of course I would blow the early opportunity. That's me! Now instead of being something like shawn@gmail.com I will likely be something like shawn_102873@gmail.com. Oh well.


Desperation: If any other Blogger users have gotten the invite and don't want the account because of the privacy concerns or any other reason, please! e-mail me. You can sign me up for an account and giveme the password. I'd really appreciate it.

Update: A genuine thank you to Fatman in Seoul for donating his Gmail invitation to me. I am now registered with Gmail with the name I wanted. Make sure to check out Fatman's popular website . He does a wonderful job of making people happy and hungry, though he has been known to disappear from time to time. Unlike me, he has a life. Thanks again, Fatman!

Korea Life Blog - Weird Art

While walking back to the bus stop from Kwang Kyo San Julie and I noticed a long wall painted with weird art. There were at least 20-25 paintings like the ones below. I really don't know what to say about them because I have no idea why they are there, what the artist(s) is trying to say and because they are plain bizarre. I'll number them in case anyone has an interesting interpretation of one.


1.



2.



3.



4.



5.

Korea Life Blog - Odd Hagwon Names


A long time ago I felt funny telling my friends I was leaving America to work at a school called Wonderland in South Korea. It sounded nuts. Since then however, I've seen far worse names. Here's a just a few:


Yeah, I work at the Tomato Academy. No, it's not a farmers school, it's a language school of course. Out of curiosity I checked the URL and the website doesn't exist. Kind of adds to the lack of credibility, one would think. Next door is the Brain Hagwon. Is it a medical school? Ah, I see - it's the English institute where they use the ever effective Brain English System. Right.



Or is it the Brainy English system? Why is the name different on the sign than on the window? Anyway it's still a weird name for a school.



Either way Brainy Smurf would be proud. "OK class, repeat after me: He smurfs, she smurfs, they smurf. Notice that when they smurf they smurf without s. Now If you open your Quotations of Brainy Smurf Volume 16 to page 452, you will see..."

Korea Life Blog - Freedom of the Cats



Unlike the dogs, the cats are free and thriving in this town. Here's my favorite one: Fat Cat, though he seems to have lost weight over the winter so I may have to change his name. He's the friendliest cat out there, always rolling around and happy. As a matter of fact, he's sitting outside my window now.



Here he is rubbing against my leg. Look at those beautiful green eyes. He loves to be pet, the little rascal. If I were to adopt a cat, this would be the one. However, I had to leave my cat behind before and I don't want to have to do it again. Also, it's not fair to an outdoor cat to suddenly pen them up inside, especially with the nice weather. He'd probably just want to go back outside. He seems just fine where he is now, and I kind of like it this way. I pray he doesn't get hit by a car though.



Ah, the life of a cat. Nothing like rolling around in the dirt then a nice nap after getting pet for awhile.



Another one watches jealously. This cat is utterly adorable too, yet she is shy. She's fairly new around this part of the town, but I've seen her everyday for the past couple of weeks. She'll sit by me and meow and meow and rub against some branches. Then she'll come right up to me wanting to be pet, but then flips out and hisses if I try. Obviously she's wrestling with her instincts. It's actually kind of interesting and comical.

Korea Life Blog - Dilemma


I'm not sure what to do about this remaining dog, the one that lives with a chicken. I went out tonight and checked her food and water dish. There was a clump of something weird in the food dish, no water. I dumped in some dog food and tuna. She took a sniff and jumped around excitedly and then devoured it. When she finished, I took her chain but couldn't see well how to release the lever - too dark outside. She got scared and backed off. Afterward she wouldn't come close enough to me long enough to try again. She hasn't attempted to bite at all but just backs away into her "house". I tried for awhile, but all I could do is leave her there. I'm not about to climb inside and get attacked.

Basically, I just don't know what I'm doing. Maybe I should just not worry about it. I don't know why it bothers me so much. Part of me thinks the dog is better off there. She has a "house" and I guess the owner must be feeding her as she's not too thin and she appears healthy. Maybe he just feeds her in the morning when I'm sleeping and the food and water is gone by evening. Still, it's not right to leave her endlessly every day and night and I feel pity. I can't rescue every dog, but every dog is not in my backyard. I want to help this one if I can. Freeing her may not be the right way, I don't know. There's not many other choices. Yet I have to wonder if it's the right thing.

Korea Life Blog - Heavy Weekend


There were a couple of instances this weekend in which I tested the limits of my strength. Let's take a look.



There's nothing quite like drinking Coca Cola out straight out of a glass bottle. I love it. Especially this style which is still available in Korea (not the short fat style from the 80s). You can still by them here because they reuse bottles in Korea (been drinking them like this for almost four years and never got sick!) In America, unfortunately, this system wouldn't go over well. Even though the bottles are sanitized, it wouldn't sit well with your average sanitization obsessed American. There they have a deposit on the bottles and just smash them to pieces upon redemption. Last I knew you could still by these Coca Cola bottles at certain stores, however, but when I was home last time I didn't see them anywhere. Here, they are for sale pretty much everywhere. Unfortunately, mostly restaurants use them and stores won't sell them individually for practical purposes. That means I have to buy them buy the case. The store is about a kilometer from my home. It was a long kilometer but I managed to make it home, sweating, my muscles ready to give out. It was a good work-out and I celebrated by drinking a cold Coke.


Julie and I went to Homeplus this weekend. We were going to eat there but as Murphy's Law would have it, there were having a norae bang (karaoke) show in in the food court. Loud and annoying. We decided to check out the Galleria department store down the street. I'm glad we did. After Popeyes Chicken and ice cold Naeng Myung (chilled noodle soup), we did a little shopping in the grocery store below. Check out what I got:


All wines were 20% off. I got this bottle of Yellow Tail Chardonnay from Australia for a mere 11,000 won. As lucky would have it, they threw in a "service" bottle of French table wine. They also carried four kinds of cheeses including this Danish Brie you see here which cost 6,000 won and is well worth it for a treat. As I was going to check out, I shouted with joy as the site of this big bottle of V-8 juice, my favorite drink. If you don't know it, tomato/vegetable juices in Korea are sweet, not salty. I don't like them sweet much, although they've grown on me somewhat. I'm sure there are other places to buy this, but I haven't seen any lately, and never in Nowhere-dong. It cost 7,000 won - expensive but again, I don't mind splurging on a treat for myself now and again.

The only problem was carrying all this. I put everything in my backpack which already contained Julie's sweatshirt (once again I told her not to bring it, but she insisted and then never wore it), her purse loaded with change, my camera and a book. It wouldn't have been that bad if we just went home. Instead we went to the Libro Book Store in Suwon Station. I wanted to buy Julie a book for "reading time" later. She spent 2 long hours looking while I walked around carrying this bag. To my anguish, she found nothing. Then we went shopping down below for dinner.

We bought shrimp and vegetable, and I picked up a nice piece of steak, something I hadn't eaten in ages. We had a wonderful dinner - fried rice with shrimp and vegetables, and I cooked up the steak with broccoli and mushrooms in wine sauce. Delicious. The Australian Chardonnay tasted wonderful, best wine I've had in Korea. Julie even had a piece of Korean style (terrible) cheesecake for dessert. A little later we had more wine and enjoyed the delicious Brie cheese.

My back hurt from having carried that heavy bag all day. Julie made it up to me with another hour long massage. I have to confess I am very lucky - she gives an amazing massage and her hands never seem to get tired. Unfortunately (or maybe a good thing, depending on how you look at it) she can't handle alcohol. After three small glasses, she was totally drunk fell fast asleep three hours before me.

Korea Life Blog - Odd Couple



This poor dog lives behind my building. She's an extremely quiet dog and I never knew she was even there until a few months ago. I was outside, feeding the cats when I heard a scratching noise. I looked over and saw the dog's paw scratching under the wood. Over time she managed to push out two slats. Curious as to why she just didn't walk around the backside I decided to have a look. What I discovered broke my heart: her chain is about 2 feet long - so short that she was unable to even walk outside her dog house. Sometimes I really hate people. This was one of those times. Maybe, though...maybe she's only chained up here occasionally, I hoped. Since then I've kept my eye out. Sadly, she is chained up like this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The owner pops out once a day to dump food in her dish. That's it. No petting, no play time, no affection. I can't imagine how this dog must feel day in and day out fastened to a short chain, barely able to move, no reprieve, no love. The guy that owns her - what a thoughtless asshole.



As I was trying to entertain the dog, trying to make a little excitement in her tortured life, I noticed something there beside her.



What the hell is that? Apparently this dog is living with a chicken. How bizarre.



One of the cats walks by and they both turn to look. Weird. The poor dog lives with a chicken of all things. What is going on in my town?



There used to be a really cute dog that lived in this other dog house. A small dog with long ears, also attached to a short chain (from the blue hook to the dog bed) day in and day out eternally. Somehow though, now that the weather is warm enough, the dog managed to get free. How? - well I'll leave it to you to guess. All I'm going to say is that the dog that lives with the chicken would be free too if she didn't bark so loudly at the wrong time. She gets scared late in the night. Soon, though I'm guessing she'll be free.

Korea Life Blog - Kwang Kyo San in Suwon

Awhile back Windy recommended I visit Kwang Kyo Mountain in Suwon. There's a bus near my home that goes right to it. With nothing to do last weekend, Julie and I decided to give it a try, not really sure what to expect. Whenever I hear the word "mountain" I envision a real mountain. However, most mountains in Korea are just gigantic hills. There really needs to be a word for something between a hill and a mountain like you'd find in the Rockies.

Turns out Kwang Kyo San is similar in appearance to any mountain anywhere Korea, but it has a nice walking trail that runs through it. The slope never gets to steep and it's easy to traverse and pleasant. The mountain fairly popular but not overly crowded.

It didn't look like much at first especially. We had no idea that the trail would be so long. When we first started to go up, we realized we may need some water. Julie stopped an old man and asked if we could get water in the mountain. "Nae, mul ichi," he replied and walked off. He didn't bother to mention the water was 3 kilometers up the trail!

Anyway it was really nice to get away from society a bit and we had a great time. Here are a few pics:



Within minutes you're on the trail and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Almost immediately I could smell wood and flowers in the air rather than diesal fuel and/or sewage. A welcome change. They did a nice job with the trail as well.



An ajumma wearing decorative socks scuttles past us. Sure it's a great source of exercise, but isn't the point of hiking also to relax and enjoy the surroundings? So many older people treated it almost as a race. Don't they hurry around enough in their daily lives? Even worse was seeing people a little further up chatting on handphones.



Wow, flowers, trees, water? Where am I? No concrete and metal, garbage, highrise apartments or PC bangs to see for awhile. I remarked later though, McDonald's could make a killing with a restaurant halfway up.



The weather couldn't have been any better. We were worried it would be too crowded. While there were many people, it wasn't that bad. Sometimes we'd come across groups like this.



Other times we wouldn't see anyone around. During these junctures, I'd take the chance to plant a kiss on my lucky baby's cheek. Wow, what a romantic hero.



A sea of apartments in the distance. I wonder if they are visible from the moon...



Further up, less noise from the highways, almost quiet. I feel like I'm back in America in the country side near my hometown. I wonder what it would be like to have lived in a time when the whole world looked like this. In fact, walking through nature brings you in touch with past centuries. I could almost envision Confucian scholars walking the trail.



More scenery. It's nice that the leaves haven't grown back yet and you can see in the distance, yet I'd like to come back later in the season too. Another reason I'd like to come back, I forgot to take pictures of a couple of things: a few dug out holes lined with stacked tires to serve as bunkers in the event of another war. Also, we were so happy to finally reach the water tap I didn't think to take a photo there. We drank and drank the cold spring water for several minutes before sitting down to enjoy some kimbap and a few donuts. Suddenly a gigantic mosquito landed right on Julie's jelly donut and stuck to the jelly. Julie screamed so loud everyone stared at us. I can't blame her really, that was one huge mogie!

However, I should point out that she gets scared rather easily. Earlier in the day she cut her finger in the bathroom and flipped out in a panic. She thought she should go to the hospital. She swooned, she grew nauseous. I looked at her finger. The cut very small and there was hardly any blood. It took awhile to calm her down long enough to apply a small bandaid...

Well, that's most of the pics I took. I found out later if we kept going we would have gotten to the bottom where there are a lot of traditional noodle restaurants and a bus station. Instead, we turned back the way we came and eventually had spaghetti at a Sorrentos across town. First we stopped at Buy the Way. To my surprise the convenient store carries a decent collection of wines under 30,000 won. We picked up a bottle of California Red and drank it with our dinner. (Actually Julie drank about a teaspoon and I drank the rest.)

If you'd like a nice relaxing climb and have nothing to do on a weeked you may want to try Kwang Kyo San and make a day of it. It's easy to find being located right next to Kyungi University. You can take bus #32 across the street from Suwon Station. Many other busses go there as well.