Month: September 2004

Whew, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Sometimes I just get so lazy . . .

We’ve got several days off because of the {{link http://www.askasia.org/Korea/r14.html Korean Thanksgiving, Chusok}} (pronounced, approximately, chew-sock, not a pretty image). Fortunately, this year the 3-day holiday occurs on Monday through Wednesday next week, so we have a 5-day break. Then, the week after, there is a 3-day sports festival at the university, so we’ll have another 5-day break. On top of that, the annual {{link http://maskdance.com/ Andong Mask-Dance Festival}} begins Oct. 1 and runs through the 10th. This is a big event in Andong and is one of Korea’s highly anticipated festivals. We’ll host many other foreign teachers from around Korea, travelers from around the world, and, of course, many Koreans from around the country. Many mask-dance troupes from other countries perform, including dancers from Thailand, Poland, Kenya, Australia, Malaysia and elsewhere. Quite a big event, really. I’ll be sure to post photos and blog entries.

I heard from Andrew, one of our former teachers who took a position in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was shopping in a market when his van driver hustled him back to his compound. It seems there was a {{link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3660000.stm random execution}} of a Westerner just a few blocks away. Other than “incidents” like that, he seems to like it there, mainly because of the big bucks he’s making. The compound in which he lives is protected by machine guns, sandbags, armored humvees, and security patrols. And here I was upset about a late bus the other day LOL

Still, I will look into getting a position in the Middle East next year, among other options. I probably won’t want to go to Saudi Arabia, but there are other countries there that are relatively safe, like Oman or the UAE. Of course, Thailand is still large on the radar screen, if I can find something there.

As I sit writing this, I’m also watching the Yanks-Red Sox Saturday evening game on my computer (it’s Sunday morning here), thanks to my subscription to {{link http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/video/daily.jsp MLB.com}}, a great deal for a small price each month. Looks like the Yanks are very close to wrapping up the division title, but have a great chance of facing the Dead Sox again in the playoffs. Too bad work sometimes interferes with what’s really important. (ha) More later.

Still packing winds of 130 mph, it looks like Songda is going to miss us, crawling up the west coast of Japan instead. We’re forecast to get 2-3 inches of rain tonight through tomorrow, so Andong will feel some of the effects of the storm. It’s raining now, at 5am, Monday morning. Meanwhile, tropical storm Sarika is forming south of us in the Pacific, but it looks like it will swing northeast early and miss us and Japan entirely.

Why am I up so early? Adult education classes start today before regular classes and continue for seven weeks. We have 2 such sessions, and I wanted to teach the first 7-week course so that I can get an early jump on vacation time in December, since I don’t normally work during both sessions. Forgot to mention that, indeed, I have signed a new one-year contract at Andong National University. I’m teaching 7 freshman classes this fall, so I have plenty to keep me busy.

Ok, Typhoon Chaba was a bust, at least for Korea, though Japan took a pretty good hit. But, not to fear–as usual, another one, Songda, is menacing us, churning and boiling away out in the Pacific. With windspeeds averaging 145 mph and gusting to 165, it is forecast to hit us in about 4-5 days. But, again, the tendency is for these monsters to veer northeast as they near us, which means this one will probably bring only some unsettled weather, but may also rake Japan pretty heavily. We’ll see–it’s still a ways off. {{link http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/ Weather Underground}} is a good site to track storms.