The long One

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So this is version 2 of my long blog of random thoughts and notes I've been jotting down for the past two weeks. Version one just suffered an unholy demise at the accidently pressing of Gmail's inconvienently placed discard button! Anyway I know this one is long, but I think you'll have fun reading it. I even have subheadings, how many emails can claim that? Ok here it goes:

Random Question:

To preface this, let me bring everyone up to speed on the state of Korean Television. First of all there are about 6 channels total that play English Language shows/movies as well as CNN international. Koreans love CSI, CSI MIAMI, NCIS and pretty much every other cop drama ever devised. Their movie channels have a plethora of Bruce Willis films and they generally love action and romance flicks with the occastional comedy. This country also has a love affair with late 60's early 70's tv serials. For instance every night without fail at 10:30 the Wonder Woman show plays on channel 39. I was never really a fan of this show back home, mainly because it went off the air before I was born. But here with my limited options I find myself watching it a lot.

Anyway this is my segue into the random question. In one of the most recent episodes I've seen Wonder Woman in conjunction with the Secret Service must stop the Nazi's from stealing the plates used to press $2.00 bills. If the Nazi's succeed and start printing these bills apparently the world will be over as we know it. Now none of this is really important to my question except for the part about the secret service. See I understand that the Secret Service was originally formed to investigate counterfeiting and only later became the presidential gaurd. What I can't understand is why the were originally called the Secret Service? Why did that not have a more apt governmental title like the Bureau of Money Affairs? Calling yourself the secret service just sounds conceited and like they were trying too hard to be cool.

And my second question is whatever did happen to the $2.00 bill why did we lose that but still have the penny?.

Another thought about TV:

I find it very hard to watch Korean Gameshows because there isn't that same sense of "Oh that sucks" when someone loses. The currency translation rate just seems to make winning any amount worthwhile. For instance I was watching 'Yes or No' (the korean version of deal or no deal) and the guy ended up with 5,000,000 won. Which I just couldn't feel sorry for, I mean his prize was in the millions, even if it was only worth about 5,000 USD. To me its like winning 100 shiny 1948 minted pennies versus winning a 2004 beaten up dollar bill. The pennies are worth a dollar no matter how you spin it, but it just seems more novel having 100 of them.

Continued Random TV thought:

It is pretty sad that I am starting to get pissed about watching reruns that arent even in English. Its not like I really understood what I was watching the first time, but having it repeated ad nauseum doesn't make it anymore understandable and drains out any enjoyment I might have gotten from the context clues.

A By the Way Moment:

In Japan, Tommy Lee Jones is a cigarette spokesmodel. His lovely face can be seen on every street corner and in every conveinence store in the country. Also while on the topic of Japan and cigarettes I thought it would be good to make everyone aware that it is illegal to walk while smoking in the country. I can not think of any particular safety reason for this, but I imagine it has something to do with littering, because if you stand still you are perfectly within your rights to exhale. It blew my mind that they actually have a police task force this that walks the streets of every major city armed with clip boards and ashtrays. Then again I was pretty blown away with who clean their cities were, how fresh their air was, and how blue their waters are. They are definitely a testiment to a truly modern industrialized nation who has begun to come to grips with cleaning up their messes.


Why the Chinese will never overtake the world:

Plain and simple its their language. Did you know that every passport in the world is internationally mandated to contain Romanized Script of their native languages? I imagine this is to make it easier for costumes agents to process them, and seeing as there are only 26 characters that does make it easier. With the chinese however their language has thousands of characters and it takes years and years to learn. I could not see how they would ever convince the world to drop the 26 letter system. My mind quickly wanders to the DUI scenario: Sir could you please say the alphabet backward? 8000 characters later you'd be sober and probably really hungry.

Friday in the Classroom:

I realized that so many things I learned while in kindergarden that I had long since deemed useless actually do have merit in my adult life. The other day I was starting homeroom for my students and I was incredibly parched and my usual coffee mug was no where to be found. Quicker than you could imagine my hands suddenly remembered how to fold those origami cups and within moments I was no longer thirsty. I have also found a plethora of knowledge tucked away in my brain that helps me enertain these kids when I have run out of english to teach. Things such as nursery rhymes, camp fire songs, origami, an other random things I had forgotten since childhood have come rushing back to me.
I do have to mention too that I have found an unbelievable rush in realizing that I am actually teaching these kids something and that they are absorbing things. Watching them progress and learn is very rewarding. I've only been with them a month and I've seen such a huge development in their skills. Makes my day worthwhile.

Bring on the Cherry Blossoms:

So I know every year in D.C. they have the cherry blossom festival and every year I could not understand what the draw of watching some flowers bloom was. That is until I got here. The blossoming of the cherry trees is truly an amazing site. One day I was looking upon a vapid winter wasteland devoid of all color and the next the grass is turning green and all the trees have suddenly grown beautiful white flowers. The whole landscape has begun to grow beautiful my eyes, even stuck in this highrised drench concrete jungle, nature has found a way to make me smile. And in a week all these flowers with fall on the ground will covered in a botanical snowfall.


Eating Bugs and then some:

Korea has several things to offer foreigners that take them away from where they are. Not that you ever really need an escape but these places offer a breif reprieve. One of those places is the Costgo also known as America Land where you can get all those rare treats you took for granted at home. The other is the Ayriana Hotel. Every friday and saturday this hotel opens its banquet resturant to the masses and for fifteen dollars you can enjoy an all you can eat buffet with foods from around the world and you get all the microbrewed beer you can swill in 4 hours. Meanwhile this killer Phillipino Band belts out hits ranging from Aretha Franklin to Tracey Chapman to Sublime and Bob Marley. So after reading this much you are probably wondering about this subheading, well let me enlighten you. At this buffet I had one of my OH WOW I AM IN KOREA MOMENTS. See here they have this delicious snack food called Bondegi, also known as silkworm larvae. It is actually really delicious and I've been eating it from time to time never really thinking about it. But in the midst of this lavish buffet at Ayrianas was a big old bowl of Bondegi and thats when it hit me -OMG I AM EATING BUGS-. Whatever I still think they are delicious.

Beware of the Yellow Dust:

In the past few days there have been a lot of signs placed through out the city warning of the evil yellow dust. Advising to stay in doors and avoid opening windows. Well my foreigner friends and I just thought it was an ignorant way of refering to pollen and that they were just really scared of hayfever. That was what we thought atleast and the Sunday happened. When awoke the city was drapped with this horribly dense yellowish fog that stung the eyes and dried the throat. After spending the day ignoring warnings walking around downtown with my friends sans the signature asian facemasks we found out that the 'Yellow Dust' is actually dust from China laden with an abundance of pollutants. Man o' Man if you think the US knows how to pollute you don't have any idea. The chinese are light years ahead of us when it comes to environmentally destructive policies. Come on America we've got work to do, kick on those dryers, turn on those tvs and lets just let our cars run idle in the driveways for a while.

Random Fact about TP:

So it turns out that toilet is much more useful than one would have ever believed. In Korea it has totally overtaken paper towels. It can be found in resturants, in the kitchen and even in the classroom. It's super absorbancy makes it a great candidate for cleaning up spills, it works great on dry erase board and is a lot more versatile than I ever imagined. Best of all, I am not sure you are all aware of this, but I wasn't, toilet paper is made from nearly 100% recycled paper. Weird!

Kids songs:

Alright just a quick blurb on this on I swear. I hate this things but I am now convinced that Nazi Germany had something to do with manufacturing these things. They are very obviously methods of mindcontrol that can take an entire class of rowdy students and rendering them into chanting zombies. Its amazing that little bunny foo-foo can captivate Korea children that don't even understand the word hello in English.

Propaganda for Sale, Come get you Propaganda:

Every so often the streets of Chilgok are blessed with the presence of some street vendor who got his hands on a recording device and a megaphone. The result is a 1984esk presence of this droning Korean voice chanting something that sounds like a vague warning about impending doom from Godzilla. My friend Jonny has informed me that what the guy is chanting is actually an advertisement for his most honorable rice cakes. Despite this knowledge I still want to pretend that someday if I cross my fingers hard enough I might actually get to meet Godzilla.

*Sidenote* All and all this tactic can be compared to the American Ice Cream Man who obnoxiously plays ditty's from his megaphone speaker and lures children away from their parents and off to certain doom.

Cellphone Pillows:

Here's some interesting food for thought. Tow trucks in Korea are used for actual emergency situations and do not prowl the streets like the gustopo. While parking is atrocious in this country and people often resort to double parking and blocking others in this is not such a big problem. The method they have devised is ingenious and rather polite. They will either leave their car in neutral so it can easily be moved or they will leave pillows embroidered with their cellphone numbers in their windshield. There we go, problem solved, no need to be a dick and call a tow company! Stupid f@#$ing annapolitians!

One of those moments:

A little prose from the mind -

My mind drifts to spring time back home. Flashes of my younger days play in my head. Convienently I filter out all the mundane and boring times and my past is reassembled into an exciting string of big memorable moments. I envision trips I planned vut never went on and I remember memories of times that have long since blurred. As a strange paradox in my being physically detattached from my past, I have suddenly become very reconnected with myself. For now I stand at the crossroad between my shortlived youth and my future. I am longing for a place that no longer exists and for a world that hasnt happened yet.


Well that's about all folks. I know it was a long one, but I hope you enjoyed it. Everything happens so quick here its hard to keep everyone up to speed. I'd love to know what you guys thought. Please write me back and let me know how your lives are going, fill me in and keep me up to speed. I miss you guys so much and I can't wait to reconnect!

Much love,

Matt

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