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If you look at the right hand side bar, you might notice that there is a new category over there-Photos. If you click on it, you will, eventually, get access to many of the photos I’ve posted on the blog at one time or another. This is a new addition, NextGEN Gallery (which I think is pretty cool), that I’m still getting familiar with, so be patient if it doesn’t work correctly. The main Photo Gallery link is still there, but I’ll be eliminating it some day (or maybe not), since there are hundreds and hundreds of photos on it, some good, some bad, and some relevant to only a few people. On the new link, I want to put only the better photos that I’ve taken and eliminate some of the clutter. In addition, the old photo gallery doesn’t work for the various search engines, like Google, Bing, etc. to archive the photos. Hopefully, with the new gallery, I’ll get some more exposure (good and bad  ). At the moment, I’ve only got some old Andong Mask Dance photos from 2004 posted, for testing purposes, but I hope to get some more recent shots up soon. I’ll keep experimenting with it and adding new features, so go ahead and click on it and let me know what you think.
A few recent events to mention:
First, in a showdown of co-leaders in the AL East, the Yanks knocked off the Red Sox, 3-2, in the first game of their 3-game series. I got a bit nervous when the Bombers fell behind 2-0, but they came back and the bullpen, the best in baseball, in my opinion, held onto the lead. For the Sox, David Ortiz hit another homer against the Yanks. Jeez, I hate that guy. No, not really. I’m sure he’s a fine human; nothing personal. It’s just that he seems to really outdo himself against New York. I dread it when he comes up in a clutch situation, although the Great Mariano Rivera took care of him in the 9th. Yeah, it’s only the first part of August, a long ways to go yet, but it’s always great to beat the Sawx.
Also, we haven’t felt any effects from Typhoon Muifa, yet. Today was pretty nice, a bit cloudy, but mostly sunny and warm (and the usual high humidity). Tomorrow evening and Monday, though, we’re supposed to get a bunch of rain and gusty winds, but nothing terribly bad. I’ll let you know. More later.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask. Did any of you watch the wedding on Friday? With an estimated viewing audience of two billion, I’m sure a few of you must have. I watched it for, let’s see, about 5 hours. Yeah, I watched the whole thing, including pre- and post-wedding coverage. I switched channels between CNN and BBC. The BBC channel here had a much crisper picture, so I spent most of the time watching it there.
I really enjoy the pomp and pageantry of these types of events, and the British monarchy does them better than any other institution in the world. I love the music, the clothing (how about those fascinator hats?), the tradition, the horse guards, and the celebratory atmosphere. The world doesn’t seem to have too many fairy tale stories these days, so this was, in my opinion, a feel-good event. Bravo, Great Britain. Fascinating. Hats off to ya. I just hope I live long enough to see a coronation.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention in my previous post that I’ll be signing on for another year here. Lots of reasons for doing that–familiarity with the job, pleasant people to work with, friendliness of the students and the people of the area, the beauty of the countryside, and, the biggest reason, the upcoming 2012 Expo next year, about which I’ve posted quite a few times. (Use the search box to find the relevant posts.) So, I’m pretty stoked about being here for at least another year.
The new contract begins at the end of August, so there’s still a bit of time to go before then. In the meantime, I’m heading down to Thailand and Laos in June. I purchased my ticket from Thai Air last week–I’d been logging onto their web site for about a month, waiting for their ticket prices to drop, which they do around this time of the year. Sure enough, prices went down about $100 for a round-trip ticket in June. Sweet!
I have a ton of frequent flier miles built up on the Star Alliance frequent flier program and they expire soon, so I probably could have used those for a free flight, if I’d been lucky enough to grab a freebie at that time. I’ve read that it’s very difficult to get a seat by using miles for free flights, and a more realistic scenario would have been to get an upgrade. However, I thought that wasn’t really the best way to go. I’ve decided to use the miles for a hotel room in Patong, Phuket, Thailand for a week for my friend Nai and myself. We’ve stayed at the Thara Patong Resort before, and we really enjoyed it, so I’m going to use the miles for that. It’s an upscale hotel, right across the street from the beach in Patong, with friendly staff, a very large swimming pool, and a pretty good inclusive breakfast in one of the restaurants. (I’m the early bird breakfast zombie–Nai usually sleeps in, lazy guy.
Here’s a quick snap of the pool from our hotel room, back in 2007.
So, as of now, my tentative plans are to fly into Bangkok on June 11th, take the overnight train to Nongkhai, Thailand on the 12th, arriving the next day, then goofing around in Nongkhai and Vientiane (Laos) with Nai until the 19th. We’ll then take the train back to Bangkok and fly out of the City of Angels on the 22nd for Phuket, returning on the 29th. Back to Korea on July 1st. Too short. But, it’ll do.
So, long term–another year in Yeosu. Mid term–the trip to Thailand in June. Short term–get in beach shape. I’ve taken off 5 kilograms (about 11 pounds) since the beginning of the semester in March, and I’ve got a long ways to go. I’ve been working out at the gym on the weight machines, so I’m trying to develop the physique, along with losing the weight. This recent illness has slowed my progress, but I’ve got a couple of months to go yet, so I’m hopeful that I’ll look like this guy. More later.
Not kidding about the physique. Jack LaLanne at 95 years old. Fantastic.
After a year-long struggle, my friend Nai’s mother succumbed to an illness last Friday night. I posted last May that the doctor had given her just a few months to live, but she held on this long, although she was often in great pain.
I still don’t know what took her life, but I suspect cancer or emphysema. I visited them last June, and it was very apparent how much she had wasted away. I’m heartbroken for Nai and his family. He told me that today he would “make fire” for her, meaning a traditional Buddhist cremation. He was practically inconsolable when I talked to him Saturday afternoon, but yesterday he was so busy cooking food for all the friends and family that were paying their respects that I think his mind was temporarily taken off his sadness. I imagine today will be quite sorrowful.
Below is a photo of her that I took back in August of 2006. She’s on the right, of course, with her youngest son Pui, Nai’s brother, on the left and one of her daughter’s girls in the middle. Rest in peace, Mer.
I just finished phoning my friend Nai in Laos and he breathlessly reported that Vientiane experienced an earthquake last night. I had trouble understanding him at first, but he told me, with his sometimes-bad pronunciation and his humorous, but creative, fracturing of English, that:
Last night we have same-same NieuwZhelind (it took a few repetitions for me to understand he was talking about the recent earthquake in New Zealand) and my house dancing (shaking) too much.
So, I searched the Internet, and, sure enough, there was a 4.6 magnitude ‘quake in the region last night. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but he said, in so many words, that some buildings had been damaged in the capital.
Strange and unusual, I thought, but a more powerful, 6.1 temblor struck in May of 2007 that rattled windows as far south as Bangkok, and again, fortunately, no deaths were reported. I’ve never thought of Laos as an earthquake-prone area, but I guess it happens every so often.
Wow, talk about an oxymoron. Peace – Bomb. They don’t quite go together. But, in a great example of making lemonade when life gives you lemons, there is an organization in Laos that is doing just that. They are making bracelets of the scrap metal of unexploded bombs left over from the incredibly intense and atrocious (and probably illegal) U.S. bombing of the country during the Vietnam War. The peaceBOMB project is selling the bracelets, which are made by local artisans in Laos.
Here’s a description from the website:
All sorts of amazing products give back, but the peaceBOMB bracelet is in a category of its own. Crafted by local artisans in Laos—the world’s most-bombarded country—these beautiful bracelets are made out of bomb materials and scrap metal from America’s secret war in Laos, which was waged alongside the conflict in Vietnam. A product of the peaceBOMB Project, each purchase supports the artisan families in Naphia Village where the bracelets are made. Your purchase also includes a donation to the locally run Village Development Fund, which provides loans to poor families.
Be sure to watch the video.
When I go back to Laos this summer, I’m going to see if I can buy a bracelet there. If not, I’ll order one. It would make a great gift (hint, hint). Please try to support this worthy project.
I know I’m REALLY dating myself here, but when I was a bit younger (ok, a LOT younger), my favorite weekly TV program was The Untouchables, which aired from 1959-1963. It starred Robert Stack as Eliot Ness, the Prohibition Era federal agent who helped put Al Capone behind bars, and was narrated by Walter Winchell, a popular and controversial gossip columnist of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. The series was very popular at the time and was a kind of film-noir of televison. It featured many great actors of that time and future stars, also. One of my favorite characters was the villain, Frank Nitti, Capone’s henchman, who was portrayed by Bruce Gordon.
I was recently able to get a copy of the series, and I just watched the first episode, The Empty Chair. Very nostalgic. The Nelson Riddle theme music, Winchell’s narration, the action and the atmospheric sets brought back many memories. While I was watching the episode, I kept interrupting it to look on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) for information on the stars and for other tidbits. According to the IMDB, Gordon, surprisingly, died only recently, on January 20th, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was 94, a couple weeks shy of 95. I was surprised that he had still been alive as recently as last month. RIP Mr. Gordon, a.k.a. Frank Nitti.
Here’s wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year. Yesterday was the first day that has really felt like this time of the year, with below freezing temperatures and a vicious wind contributing to very chilly weather. At least the sun is shining and there’s been no snow, yet. (Fingers crossed)
The first two weeks of my vacation have flown by and I assume the final week will go just as fast. I wish that working days would go by so quickly because the first 4 weeks back are going to be killers. I told my boss to give me as many hours as she could, if she needed someone to fill in some extra slots, and she obliged me. I’ve got 7 classroom hours a day, 5 days a week, from Jan. 3rd to the 28th! That’s a heckuva schedule when you figure in lesson planning time. I’ll be teaching 4 regular Language Center classes, the usual number for this time of the year, but I’ll also be teaching (babysitting, actually) a children’s English Camp another 3 hours a day. My first class starts at 9 a.m. and the final one finishes at 7:30 p.m. The few hours that I don’t have classes will probably be spent doing the next day’s lesson plans. I figure I’ll be pretty burned out by the end of those 4 weeks, but at least I’ll be making a lot of overtime pay, if I survive to collect it.
Again, Happy Holidays to everyone, everywhere. More later.
It looks like we’re going to survive through the S. Korean-American war games without our northern neighbors going ballistic on everyone. I’m sure my students will be happy about that, because the next few weeks is final exam time.
So, I’ll be busy with oral interview assessments of and classroom presentations by the students, not to mention all the paperwork I’ll have to do. But, that’s only until December 10, when we have a three-week vacation.
Unfortunately, my financial situation right now dictates that I not travel abroad like I normally would do. So, I’ll stay in Yeosu, take some photos, and whatnot, depending on the weather.
I’ll probably go up to Seoul to do a little shopping for some books and hard-to-find spices, and perhaps to Andong. Anyway, I’m really going to miss getting out of the cold Korean winter weather for a few weeks. I’ll just have to keep summer on my mind.
In case you didn’t realize it, the previous post about my birthday candles was merely a tongue-in-cheek satire of my increasing age. No, I didn’t really set the dorm on fire. Yes, there really would have been a lot of candles in that cake. More later (posts and candles, I hope.)
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