Tuesday, September 04, 2007

August updates


Picking up where I left off, I went to Wando, a small island off the southern coast of Korea for a great day at the beach.

An ROTC cadet came to our unit for three weeks, and I had a great time showing him what I do, how to be an officer, what Korea is like, etc. It was a great chance to mentor someone young, something I'll be doing soon if my replacement actually comes like he is supposed to in October.

I did decide to extend my service in Korea for an extra year... I am trying to get stationed somewhere else though, somewhere further south where I would have more opportunities to learn Korean.

Our unit is still busy, and I doubt we'll ever have a week that we're not busy. We continue to get lots of new soldiers, which will make life easier over time though.

I returned to Chuncheon for Camp Fulbright's sports day, part of the new ETA orientation. It was a lot of fun to hang out with middle school kids again. It's fun times like those that I miss teaching.

The building I used to live in was condemned for, among other things, excessive mold. My new room is like a little studio apartment, a little smaller but with a nicer kitchen area and bathroom. It also gives me a chance to go through stuff and throw away what I don't need, and notice that mold did indeed get on some of my clothes.


This past weekend I went to Jeonju with my buddy Mike, and we had a great time, and ate famous Jeonju bibimbap (that's been on my Korean things to do checklist for a year and a half).

Thursday, July 19, 2007

July updates

I'm back from gunnery. It was three weeks in the "field" punctuated by one night back at Camp Casey... to clean up my room after the toilet in another room on the hall burst and flooded the entire floor. I say "field" because we got to stay in barracks and had showers (I made time for the showers every other day).

Gunnery was nonstop busy for me. I think my soldiers got some good training and field experience out of it. Probably the best thing was our company seeing the company medical treatment facility set up.

My college roommate Andrew "the Gammby" Miller got married in July (07/07/07!) to his longtime Canadian girlfriend Michelle. I'm disappointed I couldn't be there in person, and I really wish the both of them an amazing life together.

My brother Brad leaves in three days for a month long camp at Yellowstone! Have a great time Brad!

I'm not sure if I will stay in Korea for a second year... I'll probably have more about that in next month's update...

We just got a new battalion executive officer who seems very engaged and knowledgeable, so I'm pretty happy about that. I should be able to learn a lot from him. There is a lot of room for improvement in our battalion.

My good friend Henry is coming back to Korea to teach! He's already back in country and last weekend he, Forest, and I went hiking Korean style.

Monsoon season was in full swing today. I have a three day weekend, and I'm heading somewhere South. Stay dry until next month!

Friday, April 20, 2007

Korean food I've cooked

I live on base and have my own kitchen. This the first time I have regularly been cooking on my own. Last year I had my host mother to cook (and I wasn't really allowed in the kitchen area) and before that at college, there was the caf. I'm good at cooking, and I like to make time for it. Here are some Korean dishes I've made so far:

Samgyeopsal: grilled pork with leaves. That was a pound package I cooked...

and there isn't any left after I ate.

Dwang jang jigae - peanut stew.

Other than the gallon size sink, my kitchen isn't too bad.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Save internet radio

The copyright royalty board has decided to increase royalties that internet radio organizations must pay by 300 - 1200%, and making it retroactive so that companies would have to pay for the music they played in 2006 as well. The link above is a site to sign a petition against the raise in royalties. Or you could just pirate even more music than before if this is how the music industry will continue to treat music innovation.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Snow bunny in the bronx

Divis hits a home run with her latest article about living in the South Bronx.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Free NY Times access for college students

The Times has just announced that college students (or, for that matter, anyone with an .edu e-mail suffix) can have free access to the entire contents of the newspaper’s website, including the previously gated TimesSelect material. (via Freakonomics blog)
Very nice! It only works for American universities (they have the .edu ending) so far though.

Monday, February 05, 2007

My old barracks room doesn't seem so bad

I ran into a current ETA over the weekend who's in the process of moving schools and homestays. I didn't get into details, but she does like her city. It reminded me of ETA rule #1 from last year: you can't have everything. You have to settle in at least of one the areas of ETA life, whether it's the city, homestay, or school. Okay, so a few people end up happy with all three. But it's a good thing to think about as I try to wash dishes in my milk gallon jug size sink and notice the lack of Korean culture outside the base. At least I have a place to myself.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Recent links

A great article by Michael Pollan about how to eat healthy. If you get tired of reading the article (it's kind of long), good guidelines to follow are at the bottom.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
An article about how the insurgency wars around the globe are more "information operations" than traditional conflicts. Also kind of long, but very good and relevant.

Youtube video
of some lindy hop charleston style with daft punk music. Yes!

Friday, January 19, 2007

MLK weekend away

I walked out of the Army base. The Korean soldiers at the gate told me where the bus to the subway stopped, and after an unsuccessful stop at an ATM, I arrived at the bus stop. The subway then Seoul then Busan were my destinations. With the air cold and crisp, the apartment high rises of the small city of Ueijeongbu rising in the distance, the sun on my face, and friends from last year in Korea waiting for me, I was ready to kick it Korean style.

The elevator from the subway station to Seoul train station was packed with people. I spotted a global ATM on the way up, and I was in business, it was won time. Soon I was headed to Busan on the KTX high speed train and in between the familiar scenery speeding by and the smooth ride I felt excited. Near the end of the trip the passenger next to me woke up and we talked for a while. In Korean. I was back.

F.E. and I successfully met in a subway station, no cell phone presenting no problems. For dinner that night I suggested delicious samgyeopsal, and the tent restaurant delivered. The jazz bar we went to later that night provided a nice setting to catch up on each other's busy lives. F.E. is living the extension dream of a Fulbrighter: no host family, a great apartment in a great city, a comfortable school placement, and 2 months winter vacation.

After seeing the sights of Busan and making my triumphant return to karaoke, I headed back to Seoul to meet A.K. We also had a great Korean evening, capped off by more karaoke. The next day I completed my transition back to Korea by getting a cell phone. I was texting away in less than five minutes. Just like my rusty voice, my Korean culture has recovered after six plus months away from the singing rooms, and the country.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Back in the ROK!

After a six month break in America, I have returned to South Korea. I started life as an active duty Army officer, and trained at Ft. Benning and Ft. Sam Houston. I expected to feel different emotions when I arrived at the airport, something between triumph and a sense of destiny. After a 14 hour flight, I was just glad to be off the plane.

At the luggage carousel I discovered that Korean Air had lost my luggage. As I waited outside customs for the military bus to come and take me and the other soldiers to the base in Seoul, I noticed I didn't have that new surrounding anxiety I had the year before. I also didn't have as much hair, or my luggage... but I already mentioned that.

We've been restricted to military bases since our arrival, so outside of the Korean employees on the base, who speak English, there hasn't been much Korean culture to interact with. I doubted that the woman who gave us our two hour Korean culture and language brief was even Korean. I'm itching for samgyeopsal, also known as Korean bacon, Korean bbq, or three layer pig fat.

But other things remind me I'm in Korea. In America, I really missed being able to look out at the mountains. Texas and the Boston suburbs = pretty flat. Classic Korean geography - mountains and stretches of flat farm land, interrupted by high rise apartments - surrounds our base. To me, this is an AMERICAN base in Korea. To the soldiers who don't know anything about Korea, this is an American base in KOREA!

Like the mountains, nothing is immediate in Korea. Every relationship I had over here - with my school, host family, Korean food - was developed over time. This is where I wanted to be and I'm thankful I'm here. I have to realize that even though I'm very familiar with the country, it's going to take time to develop a relationship with the country as a soldier, not an English teacher. I've had plenty of time to study, and the large amounts of Korean language I forgot is coming back. My lost luggage is now back, and I'm back in the mountains.