Visiting Seoul

우리 남동생 (my little brother)

Of course everyone wants to be proud of his family, especially if it's family that's a U.S. Marine. But to actually see a little brother standing with unquestioned integrity as a man among boys is something else. It's not surprising - the quality's always been there. But it is overwhelming.

The other guy is Haggarty, I think he's one of Eric's roommates. We'll be hanging out more this weekend, hopefully seeing some of the sights around the city.

A Magic Cup Ride

Thanks Kristin!

of late

It was warm for almost days and then not anymore.

It was my second week in college. I stared coolly across the top of a blueberry Italian soda, reflecting on thoughts too deep for most people to understand.

He stopped suddenly, a sense of danger sounding through his brain like a Klaxon. There on the ground, immediately recognizable to his trained eye, was the soft shell of newly shed skin. He shuddered. The beast could be anywhere now.

늘사랑병원

For over six months now, Lewis and I have been going to the hospital (nursing home) on Tuesday nights for a short service/Bible study. But since we're starting classes at 서강 this week, yesterday was the last day for ten weeks.

The jacket-wearing couple next to Lewis and me are the Sun-ho's. I don't actually know their names, but Lewis and I like to call them that because their daughter's name is Sun-ho.

The zealous looking man (leaning forward) is Brother Jacob, the missionary who invited Lewis and I to start coming to the hospital. He's really helped us get involved in the church, and given us some good opportunities for ministry.

Jesus Paid It All

David, Lewis, Steven and I played for the young people's outreach night this Saturday.

Mostly 안산 캠프

The foreigner guys getting ready to make some foreign music (that's David with his back to the camera - he's Korean but most of the time he counts as a foreigner).



Eating dinner at the camp.



STEVE!!! wearing traditional Korean 한복. Unlike the brightly colored silk stuff you usually see, this 한복 is pretty tough - kind of like Korean Dickies.



A couple foreign guys who have been in Korea for a long time... the guy with the beard is Doug, the missionary gentleman from our church. The other white guy is John, who's also been a missionary in Korea for quite some time, but he's from a different church so I don't know him as well.

Swirling mists in the somber hue of morning...

He peered out the window at the end of the hall. Strange gray forms loomed in the distance: a chicken farm, a church, and further on nameless towers that blended into fog.


Below, a field of snow lay white and hung with dreary shadows...


The red figure of a man gleamed between bare branches, cutting the somber backdrop like 한복 on Goth night. His flashing glance was a warning... an ill omen... of something...

... But Lewis set his gaze grimly and stepped forward. His resolve, fixed as though by eternal command, would not be broken. No spell or enchantment could undo the force of his will.

I've got nothing...

I know most of my readership is familiar with Lewis's (one 's' or two? I can never remember) blog already, but lately he's been a lot more faithful with posting so I'm just going to link his site so you can see what we've been up to lately.

http://www.lewisknundrum.com/february10blog.htm

robots

Justifiably, Korea has an intense fascination with robots. Despite their constant struggle against domestic margianalization, Korea's robot population has already acheived remarkable successes intellectually and artistically. Robots are working to expand their dominiance in education as well.

We only ask one question, and it's one Koreans are refusing to ask for themselves: Are they giving robots too much power?

Family Christmas

good coffee

You have to understand how much instant coffee we've been drinking. Only a few days ago Lewis and I were heartily singing the praises of Maxim Gold. "It's actually not bad," I said. And it's not -not morally bad like sin or reheated coffee. But the fact is, we all know well and good that instant coffee is only a memory of coffee - the ghostlike existence of a brew that lived and died long ago. You can drink it all day long just to wind up with a coffee shaped hole in your heart or maybe stomach ulcers.

So this morning when tasted Intelligentsia for the first time in many long months, I was absolutely blown away. It was a caffeinated journey for my senses -a hike through hills of floral flavors and and valleys of nutty nuances I couldn't begin to describe. I had just one carefully rationed cup and the delightful impression it made on my palate remained with me throughout the day. Thank you ever so much, Laura. You have no idea how happy you made us.

Reflections

Every month the educational office in our district (Uijeongbu) has something they call the "English Café." It's an opportunity for native English teachers in the area to get together with Korean teachers in a Korean cultural experience. I usually don't go, but this month's event was called "Extreme Taegwondo Musical."

They requested that we write a reflective essay afterward. I wasn't sure what that meant, but it sounded kind of like an assignment from the PCM class at MBI. In case there's any confusion, my somewhat garbled analogy is a complaint about the names-from-a-hat buddy system they enforced at the beginning of the event. Some of the Korean teachers didn't want to speak English so it made that situation a little uncomfortable. I don't think anyone else will read it so I'm posting it here. This is what I wrote:

Flashing lights, blaring sounds and extreme entertainment all tempered by a prelude of warm conversation and delicious food – these were the panorama of delights which awaited us upon attending the year’s final English Café.

I knew not what to expect, for I’d not forayed on previous adventures of the said company. Yet even had I an inkling of what was to come, my mind would not have been able to encompass the scope and vision of what would ensue with the evening’s activities. It may be an overstatement to cite the scriptures – “Eye has not seen nor has ear heard” – yet in my mind the similitude is not to be overlooked. Because no one can know quite what to expect of a situation before it is upon him.

Certain aspects of the English Café I enjoyed overwhelmingly, and any negativity conveyed in the proceeding thoughts should not preclude that no matter how slightly. To have enjoyed pleasant camaraderie with countrymen and diverse bearers of my mother tongue is a privilege I should be loathe to despise. Nonetheless, there were elements of the aforementioned nocturnal expedition, namely the mandatory and seemingly perfunctory social couplings, which did nothing to increase the joyfulness of our shindig but in fact were somewhat to the detriment. Invoking the medium of analogy, I imagine each member of the party as words in a sentence from a mid-nineteenth century Gothic novel. In no way would I want myself understood as obdurate towards those with whom I share a dissimilitude in etymology – for we are all but entries in a dictionary of common making and these deviations enliven our sultry prose in every way. Yet it cannot be overlooked that some words find themselves uncomfortable with their preordained literary citizenship (which is why we have such a detestable plethora of kitsch lining our bookshelves, newspaper stands and magazine racks). It is in no way the fault of the words themselves. Rather it is a result of an author's discombobulated thoughts or some vacuum of scribal proficiency. Let sentences be written naturally and freely, infusing a variety of words and ideas of their own accord and not from a misguided sense of necessity. That is my only contention, and I thought it bore mention as a constructive adjunct to the rest of my accolades.

But enough dull talk of prose. What of the free verse that followed; the fine flowing lines of thought and body merged with the voice and soul of music? Mellifluous? Yes! Obtuse? Perhaps somewhat! Campy? By all means, yes and yes. And one of right mind would not have had it any other way. For with such things there is no other way. I offer my thanks for the opportunity. In all sincerity I hope the oversight of these outings brought you much joy and blessing.

Pepero Day and other things more important

While many among our readership are proudly and solemnly observing Veteran's Day, the Koreans have another tradition (albeit nontenured and not necessarily revered). November 11th is Pepero Day in Korea - an unabashedly commercial holiday which enables the Lotte conglomerate to cash in on the sale of Pepero.




Here's to you Kristin. I hope you have a great day, and that you don't mind too much our feeble musical tribute.

Will You Help Me, Please?

The inspiration for this was The Good Samaritan. Unfortunately we lacked the costuming and actors necessary to reproduce the entire storyline. So we settled for a very basic plot, much lacking in the power and compelling morals of Jesus's parable. This is for our 6th grade chapter 12 lesson, "Will you help me, please?"

more of the same

the show

Lewis, Steven and I put on a show at the local coffee shop this past Wednesday. There was a great turnout, and everybody was super enthusiastic so it was really fun to play. Here's a link to Steve's Youtube channel where he posted some of the videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/kewlness0#p/u/1/3HbpY7hNce0

(Please disregard my slightly out of tune tenor parts and accordion hacking, I'm sure it was much more amazing live).

Here's a link to Steve's Myspace as well, where you can check out more of his great music: http://www.myspace.com/stevenmorel Here's Lewis' site again too in case you've forgotten how to get there, or missed the last time I posted it: http://www.lewisknundrum.com/music.htm

a touch of color

This is what it looked like when I walked home today. It's been gray skies mostly, but the trees have a touch of color that's nice to see. 가을냄새정말 좋아요.

a picture post

Here are some pictures taken by our new friend Alex. He's the co-teacher of our other new friend, Steven the Canadian. Alex is a great help with learning Korean and he's super encouraging despite my incomprehensible pronunciation, minuscule vocabulary and non-existent grammatical structures .



Once I was a yangban (양반).



Another time we were models for trendy Korean jackets.




That tepee is just like what we used when I was a young Korean boy growing up in the village. We were much shorter back then or maybe there was just food in it, I don't remember.


The point of the teeter-totter jumping game is not to knock the other person off or to break his legs, I learned. You're just supposed to keep jumping. It didn't make sense until I found out it was a girl sport.

Is this your book?

Is this your book? No, "The Stories of Anton Chekov" is not mine. In keeping with the subtle Russian themes, I tried using Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto as a film score. The melancholic folk melody and brooding accompaniment nicely underlined the tension we wanted to evoke in the "search" sequence. But in the end, it made the denouement feel somewhat preemptive. The drama speaks most clearly for itself against a backdrop of silence.