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Today marks the beginning of the 3-month long Buddhist Lent period, known as Khao Pansa (or Phansa or Vassa). It occurs at the start of the rainy season, and it’s the time when Buddhist monks return to their home monasteries, there to remain for the remainder of Lent. It’s also a time when ordinary folks increase their spirtual activities and, perhaps, give up some of their luxuries (smoking, drinking, meat) for the period, much like the Christian Lent period. Click here and here for a couple of web sites that talk about this in more depth.
I talked to Nai last night, and he and his family were busy preparing an elaborate meal to serve today to the monks at the wat near his house. I was present several years back during this time, and below are a couple of photos from then.
Here’s the meal, with Nai and some friends who helped serve it.
Guess who got to wash the dishes afterwards?
This is merit making, doing good deeds, not because it’ll gain you spiritual favor, but because it’s the right thing to do. Another way of merit-making is to release animals, like birds, fish or turtles, that have been captured. Many of the animals can be purchased near the temples (a bit of a racket, it you ask me) and then released at the temple or elsewhere. While I was in Laos this summer, Nai made merit this way in the hopes that his fatally ill (according to Lao and Thai doctors) mother would gain favor. First, he purchased a couple of small turtles at one of the markets, then bought some birds at Wat Si Muang, where he prayed for about 10 minutes with one of the monks. Then we went to the Mekong, where he released the birds and the turtles.
Here are a few shots of the various statuary at Wat Si Muang.
Nai also told me that the local villagers have been warned that a repeat of the flooding of 2008 is once again a possibility. Many people blame it on the upstream dams built by the Chinese, but there’s certainly been a huge amount of rain in China that’s contributing to high water levels. Let’s hope they don’t get higher. More later.
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I decided to walk down the hill to one of the smaller markets in the area, rather than take a bus to Lotte Mart or E-Mart, the big Wal-Mart style markets. Of course, by the time I returned to my apartment, despite having an umbrella, I was completely drenched from the waist down, thanks to the wind which seems to blow constantly near the university, plus it was pouring. Numerous kids were out and about, enjoying splashing through the puddles. At the bottom of the hill, where the terrain is flatter, the storm drains were unable to handle all the rain; water was gushing from the man-hole covers and the intersection was about ankle-deep in rising waters. Thus, I would guess, the lower, flatter parts of Yeosu are probably getting flooded.
The rain has let up for now and radar shows that it’ll probably stay that way for a while. As of 1 p.m., the weather site shows Yeosu has had 283 millimeters of rain since midnight. That’s more than 11 inches, which, if accurate, means that we’ve had more precipitation in half a day than many parts of Montana get in a year. Accurate or not, we’ve had one hell of a lot of rain. The nearest in total to us are the nearby cities of Namhae (199 mm), Masan (123 mm) and Goheung (93 mm). Really, unbelievable. I’ll have more later.
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Holy moley, it’s noon and, according to the weather report previously cited, we’ve now gotten over 10, yes, TEN inches of rain since midnight, and it’s still coming down. Awesome! I just hope there are no mudslides or flooding that might put people in danger. I’ve gotta go grocery shopping, so I have to go catch a bus. I’m curious to see if any of the streets have flooded. More later.
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The rain continues to fall and the lightning is at times uncomfortably close. The weather report now shows that we’ve received nearly 6 inches (144 mm, to be exact) since midnight.
I braved the elements, though, and walked to my office. I was a bit apprehensive because, even though the lightning had let up somewhat, it was still flashing and crackling in the area. On my way, I glanced over at the golf course, and there was a large torrent of water, a waterfall, really, pouring from the edge of one of the fairways, down toward the road below. It looked contained, so I think it is part of the drainage design, but if you slipped and fell into the thing, you’d probably die. Seriously, a real gusher.
Oh, well, I’m safely ensconced inside the Language Center, preparing for my classes. I wonder how many of my students will make it in this morning? More later.
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We were supposed to get some rain today, according to the weather report of last evening, but it was only going to be in the neighborhood of half an inch or so. However, I woke up at my usual time around 4:30 this morning and we were in the middle of an intense rainfall. I quickly fired up my laptop and checked the weather radar and it was reporting that we were getting rainfall totals of around an inch-and-a-half to 2 inches an hour. Right now, it’s slacked off a bit, but the Korean Weather site is showing that we’ve received nearly 4 inches of rain since midnight. We’re also getting our first dose this summer of intense lightning. The good news–no jogging this morning. 
It’s odd, too, because Yeosu and the immediate area is about the only place in all of Korea getting hit with this much rain. It’s as if a small, but extreme, thunderstorm is sitting right on top of us and not moving away. In reality, it appears that the intense part of the system that’s moving in (rain forecast for the rest of today and tomorrow) is sliding just across Yeosu, like we’re in its crosshairs. An interesting morning, so far.
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If you’re a baseball fan, then you must know by now that George Steinbrenner, The Boss, principal owner of the Yankees, died Tuesday of a heart attack. His presence will be sorely missed by all of us Yankee fans.
I think that many fans of other teams openly hated him, but admired and respected him in secret because of his single-minded determination to win, and these fans of other teams wished their owners had that same drive. There are probably quite a few other owners who are only in the game for the money, but the fans of these teams suffer more often than not. I’m sure that Steinbrenner cared about increasing the value of his investment in the team, but his main focus was on winning and putting money back into the organization, rather than pocketing any profit.
When I worked with the Yanks in the Dominican Republic, I always hoped that George would make a surprise visit to the academy, but, of course, he never did. I once tried to call him or, at least, get a message to him. This was way back in ‘77, I believe, and it was during the game in which manager Billy Martin and outfielder Reggie Jackson almost came to fisticuffs in the dugout. I found the number for the Yankee office and gave them a call, but the line was busy. I tried for about half an hour, but I never could get through. I just wanted to let The Boss or someone in the Front Office know that I supported Martin and that Reggie should be disciplined or traded. As it turned out, poor Billy was hired and fired about 5 different times, and Reggie is now a special consultant for the Yanks. George loved both of ‘em.
RIP, Mr. Steinbrenner.
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Lest anyone think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth, I’m still kickin’. I returned from Thailand last weekend, and Language Center classes for the public-at-large began on Monday. I’m teaching 4 classes a day until children’s classes start in a few more weeks, when I’ll have one additional afternoon class. Right now I have classes from 9-12 and 7-8 in the evening. Thus, I’m off from noon until around 6, when I go to the office to prep for the next day’s classes. I also go in around 7:30 or 8 in the morning for more prep work.
I’ve been starting up my jogging program early in the morning–I mean EARLY; I go to the soccer field around 5:30 a.m. and jog for about an hour, then back to the apartment for breakfast and a shower, then up to the office. Around noon, I go to the gym weight room a few days a week for more punishment (well, at least I will be going–I just started yesterday and Thursday, and, geez, am I sore today). I finish the weights about 1 o’clock, then it’s time for lunch and . . . ummmm . . . time for . . . errrr . . . being lazy. Nap time, reading, watching TV, playing OOTP Baseball on the computer. Whatever. But, I haven’t been working on the blog. I’ve corrected that today. I’ve also been processing the photos today that I took on vacation, so I’ll be posting some of those soon. (Fingers crossed ) Anyway, stay tuned for more later.
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After an uneventful journey on the overnight train to Nong Khai, I met up with Nai and we decided to stay in the small border city for a few days before going to Laos. At the moment, I’m in Vientiane, and I still haven’t decided whether to venture up to Vang Vieng or to go back to Bangkok tomorrow and then to either Phuket or Hua Hin to take in a few days at the beach.
Nong Khai hasn’t changed all that much, unlike Bangkok, which has dozens of new buildings going up and old ones being torn down; the skyline seems to be in a constant flux, undecided as to what face it wants to show. Everything is open again, at least those places not destroyed by arson in the recent protests. There are very few signs of the trouble, though a cleaning man pointed out a couple of bullet holes in the metal railing of one of the skywalks near Central World, courtesy of the Thai army, he told me.
Vientiane is also seeing a lot of activity, with new construction going on in the city itself and along the banks of the Mekong, where a new waterfront park is slowly taking shape. It’s been very dry and hot here, though we’re getting a bit of rain this morning. I’m not sure where my next post will be from, but I’ll certainly have more later.
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Last week and the week before, I managed to wade through all the interviews, exams and paperwork associated with the end of a semester, and now I couldn’t be farther from that atmosphere. I’m writing this post sitting in an outdoor bar/restaurant in Bangkok on one of the side streets of Sukhumvit Road, one of the main thoroughfares and tourist areas of The Big Mango. I said goodbye to each of my classes and most of my students were happy to see me go, ummm . . . , that is to say, they wished me well on my vacation. If you’re interested, you can view the class photos I took here.
When I left Incheon Airport yesterday, it was raining and had been doing so for hours. Bangkok, in contrast, was sunny, humid and hot. When I walked out of air-conditioned Suvarnabhumi Airport, I was smacked in the face with the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of Bangkok. I suppose it was more like my senses being eveloped by a big, wet dish rag as I was immediately soaking with sweat. However, it was not an unfamiliar nor unpleasant feeling, but more like a welcoming one. For those who’ve never visited Thailand before, the impression can be overwhelming and off-putting, or addicting. I’m addicted.
The best time to see the city is in the early morning, before all the hustle and bustle begins and when it’s still fairly cool. That’s what I did today, taking the sky train a few stops up Sukhumvit from the Nana stop, where my hotel is located, then walking to the MBK (Mahboonkrong) shopping mall, with time out to take a few photos of the Central World mall, site of a huge fire during the recent protests.
Here’s a shot of the former Zen World, an upscale portion of the huge mall. This one’s from my compact digital cam, and when I return to Korea, I’ll post some from the big DSLR.
(EDIT: I keep beating my head against a brick wall, trying to upload the photo using the computer from an Internet shop near my hotel, but it just isn’t working. I’ll try again at another time and place.)
(EDIT AGAIN: Got it uploaded finally.)
It was a nice walk, with the only bummer being that I lost my Mio watch, which has a built-in heart-rate monitor, timer, and calorie counter. It cost about $100 and it was great for jogging. The watchband had broken and I had put it in my bag where my camera was at. There was about 3/4 of the band still attached to the watch, and when I took out the camera, the band must have hooked onto the camera strap and then fallen to the ground unnoticed by me. I’ll probably order a new one from Amazon.com. In the meantime, I’ll get a cheap timepiece here. In fact, I saw a street vendor who is selling Rolexes for $20. Wow, what a great deal!
I’m taking the train to Nong Khai tomorrow evening to go see Nai. I’ll post more later.
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We’re elbow deep in final exams and paperwork. Today and Thursday I have 3-and-a-half hour morning-to-afternoon sessions (11-2:30) sitting at a desk and giving final 5-minute, individual oral interviews to all of my students, asking the same questions over and over, ad infinitum, a boring and ineffective way of measuring student progress, in my opinion. Korean administrators seem to love this particular version of hell, since I had to do the same thing when I was in Andong. At least we have tomorrow, Election Day, off, more or less (we still have to make up the hours–sheesh). Then, there is more classroom assessment at the end of the week and into next week and more paperwork to submit and entries to make into the online grading system and . . . well, you get the picture. Eventually, it’ll all be finished near the end of next week, and then we have three weeks off. I’ll be off, of course, to Laos and Thailand.
I did manage to go bicycle riding this past Sunday under clear, sunny skies with another teacher. We sped down the back way into the huge petro-chemical complex (we didn’t go in), made our way up and over a large hill that separates it from the rest of Yeosu, and out to the Soho Yacht Marina area, where we stopped and ate a quick snack at one of the many seafood restaurants that dot the area. Unfortunately, on the way back he got a flat tire (no spare) and we had to walk our bikes a mile or so to find a bike shop that was open. They got him up and running in no time flat and we were able to continue our ride without further difficulty.
It’s about time that I get going to my early morning special intensive TOEIC classes (8 to 10 a.m.), where I can tell the students about their final exam (oral interviews, again) next week. More later.
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