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).

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!

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.

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.

Snow bunny in the bronx

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

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.

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.