Adventures in the land of the Morning Calm

Daejeon

2010-08-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

Pase los ultimo dos dias en mi cuidad natal, Daejeon. Daejeon tiene un lema, es daejeon. !Que simple! Pero es verdad, Daejeon es muy comodo y tiene todo lo necesario, excepto Taco Bell.

En la noche del Miercoles, encontre con mis viejos amigos y tocar musica en un bar maravillosa. El dueno de bar le permite los extranjeros hacer lo que quieron, todo bebe y pagar un poco. !Es loco! Cero que es impresionante que muchas extanjeros buenos han vivido alli por muchos anos y todavia (hang out) juntos. (Como se dice 'hang out'?) Yo siempre (miss) Daejeon pero siento bien sabiendo que esta alli y esta divertido.

En la noche del jueves, conoci a un profesor de aleman que habla espanol con fluidez. Tuvimos una buena conversacion en espanol. Le explique por qué quiero aprender el idioma y cómo puedo mejorar. El dijo que mi pronunciacion es mejor que la mayoria de los gringos y que no necesito vivir en Argentina para estar cerca de fluidez. Pero es uno de mi suenos todavia.

¿Es posible aprender un idioma bien mientras viven en un país que no lo habla?

Espero que si!

mi mision nuevo

2010-08-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hoy es una dia especial. Voy a reanudar mi diario pero ahora voy a escribir y pensar en espanol. Si puedes, por favor trate de tranducirlo en una otra idioma y por favor corrige mis errores!

Estoy estudiando espanol en Starbucks. Siempre estoy feliz cuando estoy en Starbucks. Porque? Starbucks tiene una droga feliz? No se y no quiero anunciar pero es verdad. No tiene razon por que Starbucks esta muy caro y estoy muy barato.

Anoche tuve un sueno impresionante. Realizado que estoy muy barato. En este sueno, mi tia me pregunto por que mis ropas son tan viejos y porque ando en todos partes. Lo hago porque puedo y por eso voy a ser rico, o no?

que te parece?

america 2010

2010-07-05T11:38:00.001-07:00

I'm in america, surrounded by cat fur and lephrachauns. The sky is insane, it rains, it storms, the houses shake, then it all subsides, and the sky is painted velvet rage and the air holds a feeling of confessions.

2009-03-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

Doo the Barber

2009-03-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

Doo the barber was very concerned about his country's image, at times too much. Just after waking for my 1st morning in Laos, Doo intercepted me on my way to find coffee. He gave me a thumb's up for the mohawk and invited me into his home/barber shop for some Laos whiskey. I declined but promised to return after my morning routine.

Chris and I were immediately welcomed into his family. Mother, sister-in-law, nieces and friends went about their lives as we sat on rusted benches and drank the 10$ bottle of whiskey he provided. I brought the guitar over and played my Thai songs while his 2 year old niece filled in the Thai lyrics I couldn't pronounce. We were having the perfect Saturday afternoon. Doo, with limited English, was a good conversationalist an excellent teacher of Laos language and an ambassador as well. I was asking him why Laotians aren't aggressive towards selling to foreigners like their fellow impoverished neighbors Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. He said, "it's tradition. I have no money or oil. I can die, OK, but a Lao man can never do that."

We gladly bought the 2nd bottle and then Doo took an unfortunate turn for the worse. His face was getting redder by the drink and, as the darkness fell, it was obvious that he'd reached his limit. But he still insisted on "taking care of us." -this was repeated to a annoying extent throughout the night. At first it was humorous that this man who couldn't sit up, and had a hard time keeping eye contact but still thought he was "taking care of us." "Don't drink so much, I worry about you, I take care of you," Doo would slur to Chris and I who were very much under control and were basically carrying him around. "Yes Doo, I love you too, yes, you take care of me," I kept repeating as I slowly walked him around. Eventually, we had to scold the Barber, much as his mom had earlier when she wanted quiet for her TV time. "OK, go home, go to bed Doo," Chris emphatically said and, finally, he did. We watched him walk slanted down the street to his shop and crash into a parked truck. We watched intently as Doo, our caretaker and guardian, eventually stumbled home successfully.

Thailand musings...

2009-03-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

We feel our roots grow under this bamboo palace. As we drive the dirt road, dust engulphing, the muslims stare under dark scarves and they show bright smiles. I want to say 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry.' Thank you for reminding us how it's possible to live. I'm sorry, in advance, for taking part in the destruction of this isolated paradise. You have lots of time still. I wish you take in every breath from this jungle, listen to all the forest life still fortunate enough to live, let the tide cleanse and experience this Thailand, your home, like a Farang(foreigner) who prepares to leave.

2009-02-26T03:56:00.000-08:00

2009-02-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

Loas

2009-02-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

2009-01-31T01:14:00.000-08:00

Koh Lanta

2009-01-31T01:06:00.000-08:00

Koh Lanta

2009-01-27T02:37:00.000-08:00

A man could ask for no more than this. I see a lone Swedish girl wading in the water. The sun is directly above her, leading a path to me. Behind, at the bar, is a man so chill that he's lost the ability to fully open his eyes. On this island, maybe babies are born that way, no crying, just pop out of that womb with a yawn. The Spaniard next to me operates in two gears: vegetable and rock star. This 25yr old tour guide actually picked up a nubian Scottish princess girl by simply laying outside fo the bathroom and looking at the stars. Koh Lanta is a place where tourists come to become locals. Anaka, a dreaded German girl, sells hemp gear while her Thai Rhasta boyfriend plays bongos with his band. They own a bar here but, like most the locals, they only work enough to be able to sit, smoke and not work so much. She's been here so long she's no longer bothered by the jelly fish as she takes her morning swim. I have lasting memories after 4 days here of people that I will leave. They will remain and fight old age with a stress-less life. This island's largely empty, it seems the "farang" (foreigners) haven't ruined it yet. I feared Thailand, because it seemed everyone had been here but me, but I see now that there's always another island, and the Thais quickly learn how to cater to us without becoming a bother. I think I may have found a retirement destination....

Island Ballin'

2008-12-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

The most beautiful sight I've seen thus far are the dilapidated basketball courts all throughout this country: on mountains, in the jungles, sandwiched between churches or next to cemeteries. These Filipinos really love the game. The baskets are often make of bamboo with plastic tying it all together. The surfaces are usually dirt with large, metal scraps sticking up through the ground. And, oftentimes, there will be a goat strolling baseline to baseline or a pig asleep at the top of the key. The strange thing is the majority of these courts lay abandoned while dudes everywhere can be seen doing nothing more than lazily passing the time, shooting the shit with their neighbors. Is it too hot? Not enough money for a ball?

Yesterday, on Batayan Island, I found a guy near my age shooting around. He flashed me that pure, Filipino smile and invited me to join. After hitting a few sweet Dirk step-back Js, I noticed a crowd was gathering. From out of the jungles, under cars and off scooters, it seemd all the town's men were attracted to the courts like flies to a Koolaid spill. They cam shirtless, hungry and cautious. Eventually, a guy asked if I wanted to play 5 on 5. "Of course," I said. Then he explained that they always bet on their games and asked if I'd cover his team. As always, I was skeptical but Gally told me this was how they did it. Anyways, they only asked 1.50$ so I was happy to give it for a game.

Immediately, I saw that Filipinos really can ball. They all play in flip-flops and play on when one slips off. They aren't like Koreans, or even the Chinese when it comes to ball. They handle, cut, cash, rebound and finger-roll with style. And it was all very organized, with a ref to keep for disputes brief.

There were occasions when my teamates continually didn't get back on defense or dropped my sweet dime at the hoop that I wondered whether they were hustling me, losing on purpose. But they kept giving me the ball, and I kept punishing the mal-nourished on the post. We lost by one point, on a freethrow. A freethrow!!!??? Game point turned into some fiasco where we just foul 5 shots in a row until they get a freethrow to win. Eitherway, it was a good game and a crowd of tanned islanders went home happy. Next time, fearing the fix is in, I'll be less unselfish and, if they're really unlucky, I might UNLEASH THE SHEED!

Malling

2008-12-19T05:14:00.000-08:00

I asked some Filipino guys my age what they do for fun on a day off and they responded, "malling." It was a very adolescent thing to say but it sounded oddly fun coming out of their excited faces. Upon entering the gigantic, festive, well-organized and modern mall, my attention was quickly drawn to the Sabarros Pizza. Holy shit, I thought, I'm so happy to see that joint, I feel like I'm 13 years old again. We went in and out of stores nad the staff smiled and welcomed but didn't harass me any extra for the color of my skin. I asked about an alarm clock and Gally said, "sure, let's to go Ace Hardware." Ace Hareware???!!!! In the Phillipines???!!! "Is it right next to the Weever's Music?" I asked. Shit, I congratulated her on her country's sucessful seige of my childhood. As our bodies started to weigh heawvier than the need for a TS, we found a movie theater upstairs and watched a uniquely, awful high-school vampire movie called, "Twilight." I kept wondering why these actors and filming crew even bothered. Luckily, Filipinos talk loudly throughout the movies, so I was easily distracted from the throw-up in front of me. I also was impressed by the lack of subtitles and I wondered if this wouldn't kick my Koreans into gear a bit. Then again, I must remember that I'll never watch a foreign film without subtitles; ethnocentricism be damned!
After the movie, I had "malled" myself down to nothing, so we made our way out. After the 12th frisk of the day, the doors opened and traffic screamed in chaotic fury, dirt-faced children started crying and pulling at my sleeves for money, the smell of exhaust and decomposing trash raged and I knew I was back in SE Asia and I missed the innocence of Sabarros, malls and childhood.

Day 1

2008-12-19T05:09:00.000-08:00

The first day of sobriety is strange, to say the least. Gally is a saint. I feel so sorry for the angle the cards fell for this girl. She has an ambition unmatched, a beauty by any standards and the work ethic of a Samsung man. Gally has the top job in this city, and still shares a tiny room with her co-workers and lives in relative poverty. She works overnight, calling Americans and negotiates their finances and, when the business is done, she walks through rubble and graffiti to get home. She is hardly ever given time off to visit her family and sends nearly all her money home to support her widowed father. These are the kinds of sacrifices that go on all over impoverished countries and a Westerner like me is chest-out proud to be 27 and finally, completely financially independant from my father. What a croc! "Lucky, lucky, lucky," I tell her as I give a dollar to the 1st, then the 2nd Xmas caroling group. Lucky is how I feel!

Ballaholic

2008-12-19T04:23:00.000-08:00

I've been jogging a lot to stop thinking about smoking and everywhere I go, little kids join in behind me and we run through the streets like Rocky. I'm not joking!

1st week

2008-12-19T04:11:00.000-08:00

An Interesting Ariticle on North and South Korean Relations

2008-12-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

No mention of Kim Jong-il
Glimpse of N Korea disappears
By John Sudworth BBC News, Seoul

Tourists and workers had become used to a more open border
The journey from Seoul to Kaesong is just a short drive between two cities on the same peninsula.
But the special tourist buses, which began running 12 months ago, are laden as much with symbolism as they are with passengers.
For thousands of South Koreans the chance to visit a real North Korean city, and to glimpse the reality of daily life, is an act of pilgrimage and time travel rolled into one.
At least it was.
From 1 December, the scenes of oxen-ploughed fields and Soviet-style cityscapes are once again out of bounds, hidden beyond one of the world's most impermeable borders.
That they were ever visible at all is remarkable.
From the end of the Korean war, for almost half a century, North-South relations were stuck in a seemingly unbreakable deadlock of hostility and mutual loathing.
'Sunshine policy'
Then in 1998 things began to change.
For the next decade, two successive liberal governments oversaw a "sunshine policy" of engaging, rather than isolating, the old enemy.
Billions of dollars in aid and investment were showered on North Korea, a country whose command economy was in tatters, and whose people had just suffered a devastating famine.
The Kaesong tourism project was only the latest development in what some commentators believed was to be a gradual thawing of hostilities between the two Koreas, and the slow opening up of the North.

Lee Myung-bak has insisted the North get rid of its nuclear bomb
But in February this year a newly elected conservative President, Lee Myung-bak, took office.
He made it clear that the policy of engagement would no longer be unconditional, insisting that the North get rid of its nuclear bomb, and improve its human rights, as a precondition for further aid and trade.
Nine months on and inter-Korean cooperation is back in deep freeze.
The most prestigious cross-border tourism project, the Kumgang resort complex on the North Korean east coast, has already been shut down after North Korean border guards shot dead an unarmed South Korean tourist in July.
Now, as well as the closure of the daily bus tours, North Korea has cut off almost all dialogue with the South, severing the telephone hot-lines as well as the only rail link, a freight train supplying a joint industrial zone.
The factory complex, close to the city of Kaesong, will also have to make do with fewer South Korean managers as the number allowed to travel across the border each day is to be curtailed.
So who is the real culprit in the current crisis?
The easy explanation, and the one put forward by Pyongyang of course, is that South Korea is entirely to blame.
The new administration in Seoul has seriously underestimated the North's willingness to put pride before economic advantage, the theory goes.
Rather than comply with the calls for faster nuclear disarmament and reform, a deeply angry North Korea seems perfectly willing to sacrifice the tens of millions of dollars it earns each year from the joint tourism projects.

Cargo trains will no longer run from South to North Korea
President Lee's political opponents take this view.
The main opposition Democratic Party has condemned what it calls "the continuation of the hawkish stance" and says Mr Lee must change his policy "before it is too late".
They want him to honour without precondition the previous agreements for further economic cooperation signed by his liberal predecessors.
But as always in Korean affairs there are plenty of credible observers ready to point the finger in entirely the opposite direction.
Contrasting citizens
They suggest that North Korea has never been comfortable with the mini-experiments in free market capitalism and bourgeois tourism trickling over its borders.
They have meant that 33,000 North Korean workers in the industrial zone have come to know their South Korean bosses.
And they've discovered that those bosses are not ogres or imperialist lap-dog stooges, but intelligent fellow Koreans with a standard of living they can't even dream of.
The North Korean citizens of Kaesong, a city without a private car in sight, witness the well-dressed visiting South Koreans in air conditioned coaches.
"At some point North Korea will face a tipping point and its elites will realise that it has failed," says Peter Beck, a professor at American University in Washington who specialises in Korean affairs.
"Engagement reinforces this fact."
So, the theory goes, North Korea is simply using the policies of new conservative government in Seoul as an excuse to disengage.
But perhaps there isn't really a crisis at all.
North Korea could simply be playing diplomatic hard-ball as usual, driving a wedge between allies by isolating South Korea while simultaneously trying to get closer to Washington as President-elect Barack Obama prepares for office.
The increasingly chilly relations, according to this explanation, are simply about calculated advantage, and could thaw again as quickly as they freeze.
As always with North Korea there is much speculation and very little hard fact.
Business uncertainty
Optimists point out that the new border restrictions stop short of a complete closure of the Kaesong industrial zone - at least for now.
The only thing that can be said for sure is that the uncertainty cannot be good for the nearly 90 South Korean companies that have set up business there.
And whatever its motivations, North Korea's recent actions have highlighted the dangers of too starry-eyed an approach to cross-border engagement.
In a recent article in the Korea Times, journalist and author Michael Breen raises the issue of political risk, given that investors, tourists and Southern politicians alike are subject to such unpredictability.
"You would think that only a raving lunatic would risk wealth and reputation dealing with North Korea," he writes.
"But it is surprising how many smart and well-meaning people get seduced into parting with them."

A letter from one of my Chinese students:

2008-11-17T20:01:00.000-08:00

Daniel, Greeting!

I really want to send you a letter. Actually my high school was set up by Chinese-American, there are so many American teachers and friends there. At that time, my English was good and I got a good long touch with them. We played football, basketball and volleyball...On Christmas Day we had a very exciting time together! With the time passed I went to another school, I dislike my new English teacher, from that time on, I gave up my English.

At present, I have been stayed in Korea for 4 years. When I want to speak English, in my frst thinking It's Korean. Wow,lol. I really want to have some interesting talking with you but I did not do that because of my bad English like now. When I met you, you look so kind maybe both of us like basketball. Also we are foreigners in Korea, haha, right? haha! Thank you. Because of you I got back my self-confidence. I found the power. You know the happiest thing in the world is struggle for my ideals, I believe I can fly..

And I wil try my best to do that. Wish you happiness I hope we have a good time and a free talking next time . Play basketball together!

Thank you! My buddy

2008-10-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

2008-10-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Firework Festival

2008-10-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

oh what a night it really was....

Fall Hike

2008-10-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Loving the Game

2008-10-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

I usually avoid inflating my ego too much with what the students say. Korean students are abnormally positive when assessing their teachers. But today, they really surprised me.

It was Final Exam day and the students were turning in their final essays. A talkative girl nicknamed 'Grandma' handed me her test. When I asked about her HW, she said, "there's a letter on the test." It said, "teacher, honestly, I'm not in this class. I passed the speaking test, so I don't need this class. I like your teaching, so I keep coming. Thanks for my favorite class."

As the day went on, I realized many students throughout this semester had passed the exemption test and should be enjoying their well-earned and much needed free-time. Instead, they continued to attend my class, even when we had difficult and stressful (for most) speaking presentations, they did the work knowing it had no bearings on their academic life here at PNU. That's the kind of compliment I can't ignore! I was so grateful and I invited each one of them out for lunch to have a chance at an actual 'practical' conversation in English. I'd do more if I had more free time.

This made me ask myself, "would I do the same in their situation?" Immediately, I think 'no' because I surely wasn't one of those 'above and beyond' - type students. Then I remembered the year after graduation. I had a college degree, which used to mean something, but I was delivering pizzas for Dominos. It was hard to hold my head up high. So, although graduated and not enrolled for classes, I started attending some art classes with my friend Lindsey. I asked the teacher if it was alright if I just came to class and didn't do the work, and they never had a problem with it. Did my request inflate their egos as my students did mine? I doubt it, they'd been in the game too long. 'Yes' I suppose I would if it was a class that meant something to me.

Thinking back to college, I remembered my Spanish teacher, Senior Gomez, very clearly. He was old, looked like he had a hard time waking up and dressing himself in the morning. He was a real Spaniard, very accustomed to a more relaxed style of life, drinking wine and talking culture. I recall him spending a large part of the lecture just ridiculing America's lack of taste and dishonest politics. Beyond that, he'd hit on all the girls in a cute, old-man kind of way, not perverted in the least. Although I can't say my Spanish improved much in the class, I still remember this man very fondly, and it's because he was in the moment. His lesson wasn't just regurgitated material he'd been spitting for years, he was with us, REALLY talking to us. That was unique in my college experience.

Of course I want my students to improve their English ability. But, looking in the rear-view mirror, I'd like them to remember me as a teacher who wasn't so fixated on a plan, that he forgot to look at them and think about their lives. I know they're busy, I know they could use the free-time and I fully appreciate those who attend my class not because they have to, but because they want to.

Update Pics

2008-10-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

This is a taste of what's going on with my life these days. I went to an International festival yesterday and met many old friends, students. You can see me surrounded by Indonesia. It was a strange feeling because, as I walked around all the countries' respective booths, I realized how many international friends I have. The US is the 'melting pot' but I mainly interacted with other WASPS back home and it wasn't until here that I was forced, or able to, meet folks from all over the world.
Also you'll see pictures from our CD release party a couple weeks ago. We played a big block party that night. The following weekend, I went to my old Korean stomping ground, Daejeon, and was happy to see the CD sell-out. We're now trying to make our setlist tighter (it's difficult to present original music in Korea) and we're preparing for some upcoming concerts.

When Korea becomes Asia...

2008-09-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes this country actually does feel like Asia. I have an ex-student named Amy. She's extremely sweet, and had? a big crush on me. I always felt there was something different about her. Tonight I realized, it's because, unlike most Koreans my age, she hasn't forgot about her ancient traditions. I was put in my un-spiritual westerner place tonight, and it felt good, awkward, but enlightening as well. I still don't know what I did, but the story goes as follows....

[11:02:30 PM] daniel.panozzo says: i just got done with a strange Korean experience[11:02:34 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: oh?[11:03:02 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: my ex student, Amy, invited me to a "traditional ceremony, wear socks"
[11:03:04 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: did you finally get a scrub at the sauna?[11:03:05 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: by text message[11:03:08 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: that's all I knew[11:03:13 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: uh oh[11:03:29 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: then she led me up many stairs to this sollemn 'study house' type place[11:03:36 PM

] Amanda Schweitzer says: amy is the one from coffee at the beach?[11:03:48 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: her English isn't that good, so despite my questions, she couldn't explain what was happening[11:03:49 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: yup[11:03:58 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: ok -- i'm with ya[11:04:18 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: there were about 10 women in the place, all studying something, or preparing scrolls, or fruit- they looked really busy[11:04:28 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: then we went to a back room, with a table of fruit[11:04:33 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: Chuseok style[11:04:38 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: ok[11:04:40 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: Amy came in with another women, both n Hanboks[11:04:48 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: then another dude stood by me against the wall[11:04:54 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: I thought she was tricking me into marrying her[11:05:05 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: i was thinking that or a funeral[11:05:40 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: yeah, they lit candles[11:05:49 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: and you said i do?[11:05:53 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: and started doing buddhist monk-ish chants[11:06:06 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: I just tried not to look like Mr. Ignorant American[11:06:15 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: it was really sollemn[11:06:22 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: I had no idea what I was supposed to do[11:06:35 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: uh huh[11:06:41 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: there were all kinds of rituals, and, in between each, we would do about 45 full bows[11:06:52 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: wow[11:06:58 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: I was sweating balls and thanking Amy (in my head) for helping me work off my American gut[11:07:19 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: then we crouched to the floor, face practically on it, and I felt the blood
rushing[11:07:25 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: that went on for a long time[11:07:37 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: I could tell I was praying, but I wasn't sure what I was supposed to pray for[11:07:49 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: so I improvised (a good Bulls season)[11:07:56 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: :)[11:08:02 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: then they lit a scroll on fire and handed it to me[11:08:09 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: and I prayed that I didn't burn this building down[11:08:12 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: really strange now[11:08:12 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: lol[11:08:26 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: all the while, we're chanting something about the four elements of life[11:08:44 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: finally it ended, and good thing cuz my knees were about to give out[11:09:10 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: and we ate the fruit while an older women explained in above-my-head Korean the ceremony to the other participant[11:09:28 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: and they told me to be careful not to step on the door frame when passing into a room[11:09:33 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: the other guy was waygook?[11:09:37 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: I thanked all the women and left[11:09:43 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: nope, super serious Korean[11:09:46 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: hmmm[11:09:50 PM]

daniel.panozzo says: he could bow like nobody's business[11:09:52 PM]

Amanda Schweitzer says: lol

The boys can still get down!

2008-09-01T01:44:00.000-07:00

Migook in the 08

2008-09-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

With a perpetually full belly, a lifetime's worth of memories of good friends, I left America's awe-inspiring blue skies and green landscapes behind. I'm back under the grey midst, subconciously sweating as the dampness rises and the sewer-rats hide. It's crowded, busy; it's the first day of a new semester.

I watch the students pass and wonder how many are premiering a new outfit, bought just for this occasion. Hell, if I had a girl these days, I'm sure I would've got some new slacks, ties and shirts. On my own, the chaos of Korea's department stores is too daunting.

This is the start of my 4th semester here at the Uni. As I said to my co-worker, ya gotta improve the Big Show each and every time. The rookie's eager passion to impress is gone but I have a cool and resolve now that I believe makes me a more effective teacher. By now, I've taught these lessons over 40 times. It's hard not to put it on auto-pilot and start quoting myself. For this reason, I'll be in the office today re-working my worksheets, re-wording my essay topics, and re-thinking my stradegies. Gotta elevate the Big Show!

Outside of the school:

Korean food still blows my mind. The streets are alive as ever. Anyone care to come test my praise?

I'm watching Spanish TV's presentation of the Gold Medal game. Boy, they really thought they had a chance. Silencio says Kobe!

I drafted Kyle Orton in my fantasy draft yesterday. Can't help but play with my heart.

If you look closely, you'll see my brother caught in a picture. This shot only happens once in a lifetime. Good job Stolly!

That's it for now. Annyeong in your well-fed faces!

Reality TV

2008-07-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

Things are happening. The world......man! I'll be home in a couple weeks and I haven't had a second to think about it. It's probably better this way. I'll descend upon Migook fresh, with no expectations and ready for reverse culture shock. Actually, I've been experiencing what I've termed "KMS" or "that Korean time of the month" lately. This is where very trivial inconvenience annoys me and I hear myself saying things like, "Damn, why can't Koreans properly form a line," or "I want to crush all those stupid sun umbrellas! It's just the sun, don't hide from it," or simply, "STOP STARING AT ME!!!" It's the same stuff that always happens and is usually brushed off without a thought but it's been too long since my last trip home and my patience is gone. Oh well, all this will be OK soon...

On the bright side, my band HajiMaMa is nearly finished with our first EP. Produced by our bassist, we've put together a mix of 8 original tracks poking fun at the experience of being white in Korea, and one disco-cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day." I'm especially proud of this because I've been front row to many foreign bands here, most of them being much better than us. But, they don't play originals and they certainly don't have a CD of their own tunes. This might move us out of The Basement (our home bar) and open up some doors for us to gig. And the timing couldn't be better because

I spent last week plugging the CD on national TV as a contestant in a week-long Reality Documentary. CMB channel paraded me around Korea on a tour bus with 9 other musicians from all over the world for an International singing contest/show. It was one of those special experiences that I doubt I could get back home. A half Filipino/half American buddy got me on the show and I joined professional contest winners from Uzbekistan, Russia, India, Columbia, China, etc. to have our lives taped, to find out what happens when people stop being real and start being fake!

Oh, and how fake I was! At every opportunity, I would answer some infantile question like, "Daniel, how feel today?" with some apocalyptic, meaningless rant like, "Well, that's the thing about time, it rolls on, immeasurable really, and we can try to pin it down and ourselves, but we'll all be in that void some time or another." The camera men couldn't speak English, so they'd just smile and say thanks, waiting till their translator goes over the footage. ha ha. Maybe all my musings will end up on the cutting floor, but I wasn't going to waste my chance by saying the nonsense they wanted me to say. I'd rather say the nonsense I want to say.

The TV show paid for and filmed all our meals. They took us on cultural tours each day to learn and traditional music and and the art of covering your body with mud. We went to a coal museum, saw some beautiful gardens, and danced like crazy in mud. At about 10pm each night, we were free. This is when we got really candid and the best footage was shot. Myself and two other acoustic guitar crooners would gather the camera men and security and take over bars, beaches and street corners with hours of jams. I've been doing this busking business since I got here, but these sessions were special. "Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd," and we brought one with us everywhere we went. When an old drunk man tried to ruin our fun by shooting street fireworks in our face, security would pounce on him and the show would go on. And we earned some dough too. Through it all, the TV show would still insist on paying and not allow us to touch our wallets. Ah, the good life...

All this was leading up to our singing performance at Korea's famous Boryeong Mud Festival Friday night. We spent all day Friday side-stage, doing make-up, costumes and TV stations from all our stuck cameras in our face and asked how nervous we were. There was a lot at stake, 3,000 for 1st, 2,000 for 2nd and 1,000 for 3rd. But the others were the real deal; professional singers contacted through their embassies and flown here. So I wasn't nervous, just hoping I could put on a good show in front of a large crowd and television. Due to my eccentric interviews, they decided I had an "electric personality" and should perform first. Finally, as I walked alone to the mic, I was as nervous as a 12yr old on the 1st day of middle school. I envisioned Dave Strackany next to me as we prepared to wet high school cheeks with "Imagine," many years ago.

That's how I started, after a brief but comical speech in Korean about my love for their country and how nervous I was. "Imagine there's no countries..." Midway through, I segued into my original Korean we-love-our-country work cup anthem and started working the crowd to clap and sing along. Bart, my boy, was in the front row conducting everyone. It was magical! I had them and I could've taken it further but I already felt too lucky, so I went back into "Imagine" and finished before I got carried away. The crowd's response was overwhelming and I left the stage as high as Dennis Hopper in the 60s.

Rockstar week

2008-07-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

2008-07-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

what a week...

2008-07-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

2008-07-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

Mudfest Reality Show

2008-07-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

Seoul and Busan Beach

2008-06-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

2008-06-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

Lucy's visit

2008-06-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

2008-06-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

My Week-Long Birthday Party

2008-06-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Update

2008-06-07T16:33:00.000-07:00

Bubbly Bear, aka. bubs, aka. brently, aka. the gift, aka. the right stuff, aka. the ice-cream pusher, aka. roomate of the year has demanded an update.

It feels like forever that I've posted anything on this blog. I know I'm in jeapordy of losing the few people that still check up. As always, I apologize. What do we have today.....

I can count the amount of sun I've seen this past week in hours. The rainy season is supposed to wait until late June or July but things aren't going according to plans this year. My boy Kurt Vonnegutt would say that's our fault for idiotically destroying the Earth, and having fun doing it. I just know it's hard to show someone how beautiful the mountains and beaches of Busan are when it rains everyday.

That brings me to Lucy. Lucy is a half/fillipino, half/australian that I met in Vietnam and she's in Korea touring the country with me. She's proving to have the perfect amount of sanity. Enough so that she can have intelligent conversations, while drinking the night away, but not too much that she's too timid to up and come here despite not really knowing much about me. She's smaller than a mosquitoes turd and she goes in my pocket when she's being bad. (wait for pictures). We've just finished a few days watching baseball and having a reunion with my Daejeon boys and now wer'e off to Seoul to finish the tour.

I guess things are going well except that I'm starting to get sick regularly, like real people. Ever since I came to Korea, I've been unbeleivably healthy despite living in unhealthy lifestyle. Last Sunday, Lucy and I had taken a ferryp and we're exploring a nearbye island when I started to feel weak and feverish. An aweful sore throat came on and the next morning the doctor told me, in broken English, that I have tonsilitis. - Not a good illness for a conversation teacher. I joked that maybe this was some kind of karmic punishment for having too much fun making too much money in this country. I took the meds, and got better in a couple days. Now, I'm back on the road and the tonsilitis has returned. That's probably why I'm writing this right now; I can't talk!

I'm gonna go back to the doc, take more meds, and probably get better soon. Then it's my time to enjoy the end of the semester, a lighter work-load and hopefully better weather. Then, in a matter of weeks, I'll be back home eating too much and searching for a car and phone as always.

Bubzy, good enough? You got a job for me at the icecream shop?

love,
DP

Good People

2008-05-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

Buddhist Lamp Festival

2008-05-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

Playing the streets of Seoul (reunion)

2008-05-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

My New Band

2008-04-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hajimama isn't what you'd call "tight," we're not "talented," we don't have a real "drummer," or a "bassist," we can't "improvise," but we do play some originals and get lots of laughter- whether with us or at us.

RIP- Brian Denofrio (1981-2008)

2008-04-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Goodbye my friend. I miss you already. You were and always will be HOME to me.

My life as a psychiatrist

2008-04-16T05:51:00.001-07:00

Lately, I've taken on a different kind of role. Besides the teaching, we're often asked to be life-counselors, comedians, performers of all kinds and, most of all, monkeys. The past six months, I've been developing my psychiatry skills.

I started teaching Shunter about six months ago. Usually, this is the kind of class that the teachers dread. He's a very prominent, serious business professor nearing 60 years old. At that age and status, Korean men tend to be very stoic and mum. They possess a vocabulary higher than my own but they can't string together 4 words without bombarding their listener with um's and half the class is spent in deliberation of the appropriate next word. Shunter was exactly this student when we started. I used to get lost in my own thoughts as he tried to explain his family and then I'd quickly have to come back to reality and try and act like I was listening. But, through it all, he was as sweet as the girl next door and equally as dull.

I remember in particular asking him once if he'd ever had a bad date. This was his answer:
"my wife was the only women I've dated. And every moment with her is perfect. So I haven't ever had a bad date." - that's about as boring as an answer could be but, looking in his eyes, reading his honesty, I could only feel envious and touched by his benevolence. This is a feeling I often get here in Korea.

We went along like this, me dreading the class and him fumbling through, until recently. Since I came back from my Korean odyssey, he's had so much more to say. Instead of giving one quick sentence, he now elaborates on things and doesn't want to look at any textbook. Our classes now are natural conversations you'd have with a friend about politics, demands of work, weather, current events, ect. And through these conversations, I've noticed something. He views me as his confessional.

As he reluctantly admitted after months of prying, he's big time. Shunter's the top financial researcher in the country. He's often flown around the world to speak at international conferences and receives constant grants to publish academic papers in journals. When it comes to finance, he's Korea's man.

But he's an extreme introvert. He doesn't talk much to anyone and all most people know about him is his research. And yet he comes into my class bearing his soul in our 1 on 1 discussions twice a week. He's begun to tell me about all the political corruption occurring in the university and his department. He tells me about the little things that annoy him about all the frauds in the academic world. He tells me about the real Korea and I love every minute of it. The class has become a highlight of my week. And, like a good psychiatrist, I nod my head, say things like "yes, um...., ok..., please continue, etc," and he gets everything off his chest.

And he too loves the chance to sit in a room with a foreigner, so completely disconnected from his world, that he can divulge everything. I think we're both learning from this cathartic experience. This is one of those situations where teaching English conversation transcends the usual boundaries of learning.

Sorry to be so dark

2008-04-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

but, I was on CNN today and saw this video and article about a former Cambodia prisoner visiting the Khmer Rouge prison I saw a couple months ago.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/07/amanpour.pol.pot/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

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Uncle Ho

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tunnels

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High-end Fashion

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The War Remnents Museum

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the streets of Saigon

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Life on the Mekong.

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That's Michael. These are his pictures. You can never have enough dollars ready in Cambodia.

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they took us to an alligator farm

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my summer home...

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Mekong River Trip

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It isn't Southeast Asia without some monkeys!

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The victims, there were rooms filled with these pictures.

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Cambodia, riverside

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Ankor Wat

My city, done well.

2008-03-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

Ode to my camera

2008-02-28T00:26:00.000-08:00

Dear friends and family,

I'm back in Korea after a month of chasing the sun in Vietnam and Cambodia. I'd like to show you hundreds of pictures of mountains, lakes, rivers, bays, museums, poor but happy people, bamboo, French architecture, motorbikes, baguettes, beaches, shoe-less children, guesthouses, busing, The Killing Fields, buses, trains, Angkor Wat and Darryl and I enjoying it all, but I can't. Darryl's camera was stolen on the beaches of Nam and mine in "Heart of Darkness" bar in Cambodia. I don't care much about the camera but the loss of memories is hard to swallow. Darryl, Obama bless his pure heart, was able to look at the positives. The sale of our cameras could feed families there for months. After losing them, we were able to spend the last week taking the sights in with our eyes, naturally. We didn't have to travel behind the lens like so many annoying Koreans and Japanese were. (They walked around this terribly depressing museum honoring the Cambodians executed by the Khmer Rouge and filmed everything. It may not be against the rules, but it felt completely disrespectful. You're not a professional journalist, put the camera down and feel!) So we were retro travelers, the kind who store the images in their minds and explain them in dark, smokey bars. *raincheck for anyone who wants to see what I've seen* And finally, the loss of all our pictures means we will have to take this trip again. -That's gotta be the best thing to come out of the theft.

The way out

2008-02-28T00:22:00.000-08:00

Jan 30th, 6AM:

We were on the bus towards the airport when it stopped abruptly in what looked like nowhere and more than half of the bus walked out into dawn's cold mist. Seeing everyone get out, I thought we must be at the airport. But the ride was supposed to be much longer, so we remained. The bus began driving again and we passed hundreds of Koreans walking very uniformly on the right and there, on the left, was every one's destination: rows and rows of factories. It saddened me to see so many folks getting up before the sun and fighting their way into THAT. Then again, Koreans forget, and so do I, that this is still Korea. Despite David Bekham on cellphone adds, Mickey Mouse on old women's Tshits, and posters of Shaq in pizza parlors, this is still Korea. And for dawn's early factory folk, unlike me, this is no the beginning of a long vacation.